RTHK: US 'to donate 500mn Pfizer shots'

The Biden administration plans to donate 500 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries over the next two years, three sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The United States is likely to distribute 200 million shots this year and another 300 million in the first half of next year to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union, they said.

The donations will go through the Covax vaccine program that distributes Covid-19 shots to low- and middle-income countries. The programme is led by the World Health Organisation and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi).

Gavi did not respond to a request for comment.

US President Joe Biden will announce the deal on Thursday at the Group of Seven meeting of the world's wealthiest countries in Britain, one of the people said.

The deal was negotiated over the past four weeks by White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients and the coronavirus task force team, one of the sources said.

CNBC reported on Wednesday that the United States is also talking with Moderna about buying some of its shots to donate to other countries.

A Moderna spokesperson said the company is interested in possibly providing the US government with Covid-19 shots to give to low- and middle-income countries but declined to comment on any discussions.

The White House and Pfizer declined to comment.

The US president told reporters before boarding Air Force One for Britain that he had a global vaccine strategy and would be announcing it but did not offer details. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Cabinet welcomes validation of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

Cabinet has welcomed the validation of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

This, Cabinet said, will enable the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) to expeditiously consider the application of Sinovac for emergency use in South Africa.

Last week, WHO validated the Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving 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.

Briefing media on Thursday following Cabinets meeting this week, Acting Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said Cabinet welcomed progress made in the COVID-19 vaccination roll out.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases on Wednesday said 1 524 589 people have been vaccinated in South Africa, with 1 043 278 having received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

In addition, over three million South Africans have registered on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS), which is a cause for celebration in our concerted fight against the spread of the virus, Ntshavheni said.

She appealed to more South Africans to register, and to help the elderly to register for vaccination.

With winter setting in and the third wave having gripped four of SAs provinces, Ntshavheni stressed the need to vaccinate .

The partnership with the private sector in vaccination, and the overall COVID-19 programme, strengthens our nations efforts to ensure that lifesaving vaccines and the message of safety measures against COVID-19 reaches more people, Ntshavheni said.

Cabinet has also reminded people to remain vigilant and adhere to restrictions under Level 2 of the national lockdown.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship is open for business at the International Space Station following its automated docking early Saturday.

Now, the Expedition 65 crew turns its attention to a pair of U.S. spacewalks to upgrade the orbiting lab's power system.

Flight Engineer Megan McArthur and Commander Akihiko Hoshide worked throughout Monday unpacking and activating science experiments delivered Saturday aboard the SpaceX Cargo Dragon. The U.S. space freighter launched from Kennedy Space Center on Thursday carrying over 7,300 pounds of new science, supplies and solar arrays to replenish the orbiting lab.

McArthur started the day transferring research hardware from Dragon to begin work for the Kidney Cells-02 study that seeks to improve treatments for kidney stones and osteoporosis. She followed that up configuring MERLIN and POLAR science freezers containing biological samples inside Dragon.

NASA Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Mark Vande Hei assisted the duo with the cargo transfers throughout Monday.

Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet partnered together Monday afternoon readying the U.S. Quest airlock and their U.S. spacesuits for two spacewalks set for June 16 and 20. The experienced spacewalkers, who had two spacewalks together in 2017 during Expedition 50, will work both days to install the first two of six new solar arrays on the space station's integrated truss structure. Robotics controllers will soon command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to extract the new pair of solar arrays from Dragon's trunk and stage it in time for the installation spacewalks.

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov spent the morning testing satellite navigation gear, studying space exercise and replacing orbital plumbing gear. The duo then wrapped up stowing and inventorying the tools they used during a seven-hour and 19 minute spacewalk on June 2.

On-Orbit Status Report

SpaceX (SpX)-22 Docking: Following last Thursday's successful launch, Dragon was docked on Saturday at 4:20 AM CT at the Node 2 Zenith port. Prior to docking the crew gathered and set up necessary tools required for the crew to monitor vehicle approach. After the vehicle docked, the crew completed Dragon International Docking Adapter (IDA) Vestibule pressurization and leak checks, opened Node 2 Overhead Forward Hatch, Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA)3 Androgynas Peripheral Assembly (APAS) hatch, and ingressed the vehicle.

Payloads:

ADSEP2 (Advanced Space Experiment Processor-2): The crew removed the ADSEP-2 facility from SpX-22 and installed it into an EXPRESS rack 5. ADSEP-2 was used to support the UMAMI investigation during its ride up on SpX-22. Understanding of Microgravity on Animal-Microbe Interactions (UMAMI) examines the effects of spaceflight on the molecular and chemical interactions between beneficial microbes and their animal hosts. Gravity's role in shaping these interactions is not well understood and microgravity provides the opportunity to improve that understanding. The project uses a simplified symbiosis between the bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes and its symbiotic bacterium, Vibrio fischeri.

ISS HAM pass: The crew participated in an ISS HAM pass with College Maurice Genevoix, Couzeix, France. Some of the questions asked included how to deal with the stress of a spacewalk, if the practice of Judo helped in the preparation for the first mission, and if the crew has encountered any serious malfunctions during their time in space. ISS Ham Radio provides opportunities to engage and educate students, teachers, parents and other members of the community in science, technology, engineering and math by providing a means to communicate between astronauts and the ground HAM radio units.

Kidney Cells-02: The crew transferred the Kidney Cells-02 hardware from SpX-22 to SABL (Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory), which is used to provide a controlled environment. Effects of Microgravity on the Structure and Function of Proximal and Distal Tubule MPS (Kidney Cells-02) uses a 3D kidney cell model or chip to study the effects of microgravity on formation of microcrystals in kidney tubules. In microgravity, these microcrystals are expected to remain evenly suspended, allowing better observation of their effects. Astronauts living in microgravity can experience dehydration, stasis, and bone demineralization, all frequent contributors to kidney stones. Results could support design of better treatments for conditions such as kidney stones and osteoporosis for astronauts and people on Earth.

MTPCG: The crew transferred the thermal insulation bottle ice pack and JAXA PCG Payload Box from the inner insulated container to FROST2 (Freezer-Refrigerator Of STirling cycle 2) for freezing. The Moderate Temperature Protein Crystallization Growth (MTPCG) investigation is designed to grow high quality protein crystals in microgravity. The crystals are returned to Earth to determine protein structures in detail; the structures are used to develop pharmaceutical drugs, and to explore the mystery of our lives. The protein samples are launched to the International Space Station by a cargo resupply vehicle and crystallized at 20C using the counter-diffusion method.

NanoRacks Module-9 ops 2: As a continuation of the NR Mod-9 science, the crew performed the second set of ops. These involved the opening of the clips on tubes 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 from box 1052, and shaking to mix the contents. The experiments range from studies of enzyme activity to the effects of microgravity on various plants and animals. The experiments use NanoRacks MixStix, miniature laboratories activated and deactivated by space station crew and eventually returned to the student teams on Earth for analysis.

Oral Biofilms in Space: The crew performed the steps necessary to hydrate and stimulate bacterial growth within the Oral Biofilms Session Packs for bag 1. However, it was noted there were disconnections of some of the fluid bags within several of the experiment bags. It was not possible to reconnect all of these. The team is discussing the issues and possible causes. Effect of Environmental Stressors on Oral Biofilm Growth and Treatment (Oral Biofilms in Space) studies the effect of gravity on the behavior of oral bacteria, including the structure of the bacterial community, and changes in bacterial response to common oral care agents. The findings could support development of novel treatments to fight oral diseases such as caries, gingivitis, and periodontitis. The investigation also could provide insights into how microgravity affects the microbiome of other mucosal surfaces in the body.

TICTOC: The crew set up the appropriate hardware and took photos of the 12 plant growth chambers. Th ground teams will use the images to evaluate the status of the growing plants. Target, the retail store, is funding the investigation Targeting Improved Cotton Through On-orbit Cultivation (TICTOC) that studies how root system architecture affects plant resilience to stress, water-use efficiency, and carbon sequestration during the critical phase of seedling establishment. Roots play a central role in plant stress resistance and survival, but their growth patterns depend upon gravity. This investigation examines how environmental factors and genes control development of roots in the absence of gravity.

Systems:

Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) Troubleshooting: On May 28th, during activation of ROBot via Space Station Computer (SSC) 12 and 16, ground teams were unable to communicate with the SSCs. On board troubleshooting attempts, thus far, have been unsuccessful at recovering communication. Troubleshooting steps have included attempts to ping IP addresses from the ground, rebooting the SSCs and verifying their respective modes, bypassing the Joint Station LAN (JSL) 20 port switch, and swapping out the Ethernet cable. Ground teams are currently discussing further on board troubleshooting options.

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations: Today, the crew performed EVA activities for the upcoming EVA on Wednesday, June 16. They performed an EVA Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) On-orbit Fitcheck Verification (OFV), an EVA Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) Installation Practice and initiated EMU Metal Oxide cartridge regeneration. The crew also cleaned their EMU helmets.

Completed Task List Activities:

PPSB switches status report

Today's Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

MSS power-up

SPDM RMCT stow

SPDM stow

ARS CDRA 4th half cycle

Look Ahead Plan:

Tuesday, June 8 (GMT 159)

Payloads:

FIR/LMM/ACE-T2 remove and T-11 install, CIR manifold bottle exchange, GLACIER EXPRESS remove, HRF urine setup, Iceberg-2 installation and Iceberg-1 t/s, Oral Biofilms, POLAR6/8 desiccant swap, TICTOC, Toilet maintenance, Vascular Aging

Systems:

ITCS node 3 Maintenance Canister install

EVA HECA install

Cargo Dragon cargo ops

Wednesday, June 9 (GMT 160)

Payloads:

AC Touch, AWP, BRIC-24, HRF blood/urine collection (repository), Kidney Cells-02, Lyophillization-2, Oral Biofilms, Phospho-aging, TICTOC

Systems:

EVA procedure review

EVA procedure conference

Cargo Dragon cargo ops

Thursday, June 10 (GMT 161)

Payloads:

AC Touch, Bioculture system install, NRCSD-20, Food Acceptability, HRF blood/urine collection (repository), HRF supply inventory, Lyophillization-2, Phospho-aging, RTPCG-2, TICTOC, TIME Perception

Systems:

EVA tool config

ITCS node 3 gas trap plug replace

OBT EVA ROBoT session

Today's Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Configuration

Advanced Space Experiment Processor-2 Payload Install

ADSEP-2 Historical Documentation Photo 2

HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval and Insertion Operations

Mouse Habitat Unit 6 Item Gathering

Cygnus Cargo Photo

Kidney Cells Transfer from Dragon

Cold Stowage Double Coldbag Icebrick Stow

TICTOC MWA Preparation

Mouse Habitat Unit 6 Mice Transfer for Another Cage

TICTOC Science Photography

Antimicrobial Coatings Touch

Nanoracks Module-9 Ops Session 2

Dragon Unpack Locker Remove

Extravehicular Mobility Unit Helmet Cleaning

Polar (Unpowered) Dragon Uninstall, Transfer, And Dragon Install

ISS HAM Columbus Pass Kenwood

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Equipment Lock Preparation Part 1

MERLIN (Ambient) Dragon Installation

MERLIN Pouch/D-Ring Assembly Install

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) On-orbit Fitcheck Verification (OFV) Extravehicular (EV)

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) On-orbit Fitcheck Verification (OFV) Intravehicular (IV)

Oral Biofilms In Space (OBiS) Fluid Chamber Power On

Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) Installation Practice

Metal Oxide (METOX) Regeneration Initiation

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The COVID-19 pandemic is here to stay for the next couple of years and technology is going to be a game-changer in terms of how we adapt to the new normal. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how channel partners leverage the opportunity and grow their business.

As various State Governments have announced unlock in a phased manner after the horrific second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, channel partners across the country are now geared up to restart their business in full capacity. However, unlike the explosion in demand for IT hardware solutions post-first unlock phase, partners do not expect a similar surge this time. RP tech India reached out to prominent partners across the regions to understand business prospects, challenges and opportunities post-unlock 2.0.

IT helped people survive the Pandemic

The IT sector played a crucial role during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was one of the industry, which grew multi-fold during the crisis due to an exponential increase in demand for IT hardware solutions and rapid adoption of digital services. Channel partners played a critical role in the fulfilment of IT hardware solutions and related services to various strategic institutions such as banks, hospitals, small and medium scale businesses etc. IT helped people continue their business and survive through the global slowdown. Partners say that the trend will continue post-pandemic and more organizations will embrace digitization to match the global pace.

Mr. Biren Yadav, Managing Director of Mumbai based Bluecom Infotech Pvt Ltd says that every component of the IT business will grow consistently for the next couple of years. We are surviving this pandemic because of IT and the industry is contributing towards the community to tackle the pandemic. As far as Bluecom Infotech is concerned, we are the system integration company and we serve some of the premier institutions in India. We were functioning during the lockdown as well and we were serving the community by supplying critical IT solutions to companies, he says.

Adding further he says, IT is an essential element of any business and I dont think the demand will go down post-pandemic. People will continue to explore the digital mediums to get their IT in place to match the world pace.

No big boom but gradual business

Partners say that, unlike the first unlock phase, the demand for computing hardware will not see a sudden spike this time but the regular retail business will pick up gradually over the months. Though a majority of State governments have lifted restrictions, there are certain regions, which are still under lockdown and hence, there is a challenge of product availability and price. Assam based Mr. Vikash Agarwal, Director of Universal Systems who supplies IT products in the entire Northeast region says that markets are operating with limited capacity and most of the fulfilment of the product have already happened last year. Hence, there will not be a sudden surge in the business post unlock.

Contrary to the big boom in demand we saw during the last unlock phase, this year the scenario is different. Most of the buying has already happened, especially in the online learning segment. However, there is little demand from the regular retail segment. Once the working hours increase and the regular transportation resumes, we expect a rise in the demand. We expect business from the Government and Corporate sectors but price rise and scarcity of products remain the main challenges, he says.

Free movement of goods critical for business

Partners say that free intra-state and inter-state movement of goods is very critical for business. They say it is important for partners to maintain sufficient stock of products to meet consumers demand.

Our entire business in the Government was stuck during the first lockdown due to restrictions on transportation and physical movement. However, this time the Government allowed transportation of essential commodities including IT. Therefore, we were able to execute the B2B orders in the Government segment. This was a good step of the government, which enabled us to do the business, says Mukesh Agarwal, owner of Lucknow based BM Computers.

WFH/LFH continue to drive business

Last year the industry had seen tremendous demand for WFH and LFH solutions from the consumer and SOHO segment. But this year the demand will be limited as the majority of consumers have already bought the products. However, WFH and LFH will continue to drive the IT business along with Government and Corporate sector as many people embrace digital technologies.

Unlike the last lockdown, the demand for IT will not rise exponentially during this unlock phase. The demand will rise in the next one month but after that, it will again go into stagnancy. Therefore, the situation is critical but we are optimistic with the business in hard drives, computer peripherals and accessories. Notebooks, tablets, laptops, headphones, webcams are some of the products, which are currently high in demand and we will continue to generate revenue through these product segments, says Mr. Jinkesh, Director of Chennai based Samkit Infotech.

The COVID-19 pandemic is here to stay for the next couple of years and technology is going to be a game-changer in terms of how we adapt to the new normal. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how channel partners leverage the opportunity and grow their business.
Ras Al Khaimah Department of Economic Development (RAK DED) has signed an agreement with talabat UAE as part of its continuous efforts to support Emirati home projects in the emirate.



The collaboration will allow Al-Ghad license holders to display and sell food items on talabat, enabling them to expand their business by increasing their online visibility and reach through direct access to the platforms large customer database and logistics network.



This partnership is aimed at paving the way for home business owners in Ras Al Khaimah to further grow and contribute to bolstering the emirates economy. By signing an MoU with talabat, RAK DED is forging stronger partnerships with private entities in order to improve the ease of doing business and support entrepreneurs and home business owners in the F&B sector, said Mohammed Mahmood Mohammed Al Mahmood, Assistant Director General, Director of Business Development Department at Ras Al-Khaimah Department of Economic Development.



He continued: This is in line with the ongoing digital transformation programme in the Emirate, that reflects His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimahs commitment to support local businesses by facilitating trade and promoting the progression of various vital economic sectors, ensuring that Ras Al Khaimahs economy continues to flourish and maintain its competitiveness across all areas.

Jeremy Doutte, Vice President UAE at talabat, commented: As the leading online food delivery and q-commerce platform, talabat shares the UAE governments vision and commitment to support local entrepreneurs and drive sustainable economic growth in the country. We are proud to partner with RAK DED and develop a specialised onboarding programme for Al-Ghad'' license holders in the emirate to help them accelerate their online commerce and increase their visibility and order volume."



He added: At talabat, we believe in empowering the communities we operate in, that is why we work closely with government entities to harness technology for good by enabling small and medium businesses to connect with a larger number of customers online and prosper. We also work tirelessly to advance the online food delivery sector across all Emirates by extending our knowledge and expertise to our partners, which is reflected in talabats significant growth of over 100% in Ras Al Khaimah compared to the same period last year. This shows the great potential for businesses to thrive in the emirate and we look forward to continuing working with RAK DED to help local traders chart their path to success.



Under this a memorandum of understanding (MoU), talabat will be granting RAK DED Al-Ghad license holders additional benefits, including zero cost registration fee, a free tablet from Sunmi, photography sessions for up to 40 menu items, one month of free delivery and free renewal fee for one additional year.



Home business owners can join talabat by sharing RAK DEDs Al-Ghad license holders with the talabat team via email to [email protected] Once the account is ready, talabat will send a technician to train the trader on the system before the account goes live.



The Al-Ghad license can be obtained through Ras Al Khaimahs Government website using the digital ID (UAE PASS) of the license owner to log in. Applicants can select the services of the Department of Economic Development and follow the steps provided on the website.



This license is a household license issued to UAE citizens in Ras Al Khaimah who are over 18 years-old, allowing them to engage in business from home. Al-Ghad license applicants should not have any previous business licenses as it should be their first project. Recruitment is not allowed under this license.  TradeArabia News Service
dnata, a leading global air and travel services provider, has partnered with Kale Logistics Solutions to develop a next-generation e-commerce platform for the cargo community in the UAE.



The partnership will see the two companies take dnatas existing platform, Calogi to a new level to provide best-in-class, one-stop services, including appointment and customs services management, to customers through advanced digital solutions.



dnata launched Calogi as a game-changer e-commerce platform in 2008 in Dubai. It offers a comprehensive, highly integrated, cost-effective trading platform to air cargo supply chain stakeholders, including general sales agents, airlines, forwarders, third-party logistics providers and ground handlers. Built mainly for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), Calogi enables the cargo community to seamlessly trade in a paper-free environment.



dnatas next-generation community platform will deliver additional benefits for the cargo community. It will connect partners with their customers and authorities on one platform, sharing information in real time among all users. Customers will be able to integrate the platform into existing workflows through APIs (application programming interface) and take advantage of all innovative functions while interfacing with their own system. The platform will also help customers simplify existing processes quickly and efficiently, without investing in multiple systems.



Bernd Leo Struck, dnatas Senior Vice President for UAE Cargo and DWC Airline Services, said: We constantly invest in digital solutions to improve customer experience and deliver world-class value for our partners. Our new e-commerce platform will help our supply chain partners and customers in Dubai optimise their operations and reduce costs through improved processes and enhanced visibility into their businesses. It also paves the way for a more sustainable business model, promoting paperless and cashless trade through collaboration and automation. We look forward to working with Kale on this exciting project.



Amar More, CEO of Kale Logistics Solutions, said: "We are very proud to collaborate with dnata in creating the next generation community e-commerce platform in Dubai. dnata and Dubai set a very high benchmark for the logistics industry, and we are happy to contribute to the growth of cargo in the region. We are confident that with our proven platform and with dnata's partnership and experience, the Dubai cargo community will benefit immensely through the platform."  TradeArabia News Service
Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has signed key development project deals worth AED367 million ($100 million) with Turkmenistan for the construction of an airport at Jebel in Balkan region and the setting up of a 10 MW hybrid power plant in Altyn Asyr.

This comes close on the heels of the three MoUs signed recently with Turkmenistan which included a joint study for building a chemical complex and infrastructure development projects with focus on renewable energy and air transport sector. Over the years, ADFD has allocated a total of AED182 million towards the development of several projects in Turkmenistan. On the new agreements, ADFD said the first agreement involved allocation of AED275 million towards the construction of the airport in Balkan Region, while the second agreement involved provision of AED92 million funding for the 10 megawatts hybrid power plant.

The agreements were signed by Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of ADFD, and Jepbarov Rahimberdi Jepbarovich, Chairman of the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan.

Commenting on the agreements, Al Suwaidi said: These agreements articulate ADFD's commitment to advancing Turkmenistans infrastructure development and driving the countrys economic growth. We are confident that both projects will go a long way in ensuring an improved livelihood for the countrys population and fulfilling its sustainable development goals.

"At ADFD, we prioritise building solid partnerships with the countries of the world through financing development and investment projects that contribute to sustainable growth," he stated.

"Since ADFD began its development engagement with Turkmenistan in 1999, both countries have made outstanding efforts towards expanding our relations and opening new avenues of investment and economic cooperation. This has led to the development of several joint development and investment projects," he added.

Jepbarovich said these agreements will further strengthen the bilateral relations with UAE, thus marking a key milestone in the development cooperation between both sides.

"Furthermore, it will enable Turkmenistan to accelerate economic growth through supporting key sectors such as infrastructure, energy and transportation," he added.

According to him, the Jebal airport project is aimed at improving air transport infrastructure in the Balkan region and also enhance regional air connectivity in Central Asia.

Additionally, it will help attract investments to the city of Jebel in particular, and Balkan region in general through improving the quality transportation services, he added.

The project involves construction of an airport terminal in Jebel with capacity of 100 passengers per hour. The project components include planning, designing, construction and delivery of the project as well as training the airport staff.

The hybrid power station project aims to provide clean energy alternatives to meet the needs of people in Altyn Asyr. The project consists of development of hybrid power plant with 10 MW installed capacity.TradeArabia News Service
Euro Motors, the official importer of BMW Group vehicles in Bahrain, will be kicking off the summer season by launching bespoke offers across select BMW vehicles.



The exclusive deal guarantees great savings and benefits on some of the dealerships most renowned BMW vehicles. Customers can have complete peace of mind with every purchase and revel in5-year complimentary roadside assistance, free registration and 3-year warranty.



Clients can enjoy these host of benefits on the renowned BMW 1 Series starting price at BD14,495 ($50,100), the BMW 3 Series, starting price at BD18,995, alongside the renowned BMW 2 Series and the BMW X1, both starting price at 15,995, and just BD233 per month.



Furthermore, prospective car buyers can now save up to BD5,000 when purchasing the sporty and agile BMW X3 30i M sport package, designed perfectly for spontaneous journeys.  TradeArabia News Service
For the millions of consumers searching for a vacuum cleaner that will fundamentally change household cleaning for the better, allows Samsung to introduce the Samsung Jet cordless stick vacuum cleaner  the next-generation appliance that brings performance together with power.

Tired of breathing in a face full of dust when emptying your vacuums dustbin? Simply place the dustbin on top of Samsung Jets Clean Station for a sterile, dust-free finish. The Samsung Jets Clean Station features an Anti-Dust Emitting Structure that prevents ultrafine dust from being released back into the air while emptying the dustbin.

The vacuums air-tight design, with its 5 Layered Filtration System, is 400 times more hygienic than conventional dustbins, trapping fine dust particles to keep everyone breathing easy. The Samsung Jets Clean Station even features Air Pulse Technology, which regularly oscillates air around the vacuums bin to remove trapped dust. These stubborn particles are then collected in a two-litre dust bag inside the device, which only needs to be replaced once every few months.

For homes with multiple surface types, the Samsung Jet comes with three motorised brush options capable of accessing each and every tricky shelf or crevice, all detachable and easily replaced on the device with a simple click. The basic Turbo Action brush is perfect for carpets, but can be used on any floor surface, with a 180-degree swivel head for easy maneuverability. The Soft Action brush is optimal for harder floor types and for those hard-to-reach areas thanks to its woven anti-static silver threads, while the Spinning Sweeper brush features dual spinning wet pads for mopping.

Moving from floors to furniture? Use the Combination Tool when covering large areas, the Flex Tool for hard-to-reach areas, the Long Reach Crevice Tool for small paces, and the Mini Motorised Tool to pick up dust and pet fur from sofas and beds.

The Samsung Jet comes with various innovative factors, and the spinning sweeper undoubtedly falls into this category. Keeping hard floors clean has traditionally been a struggle. As of now, this has never been easier with this cutting-edge feature. Its dual spinning wet pads enable effective cleaning with less effort, and users can use either reusable micro fiber mop pads or disposable wet cloths. It also works for up to 80 minutes, ensuring hard floors can be mopped to perfection. Whats more, the brush is specially designed to reach into and clean every gap and corner for a comprehensive cleaning spree.

As such, the Samsung Jet cordless stick vacuum cleaner comes equipped with a high-capacity battery that drives full charge performance for 60 minutes. Whats more, the battery is replaceable, meaning extensive household cleaning can be boosted by 120 minutes of full power cordless vacuum cleaning.

-- TradeArabia News Service
Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific has welcomed the decision of the UAE and Italian authorities to safely re-open traffic for all types of passengers between the two countries and remove the quarantine requirement.



The safety of passengers will be protected by applying a travel and health protocol already successfully implemented by airports in Italy and the United States. The airport association deems this agreement a best practice to support the recovery of a struggling sector.



The announcement follows recent travel corridor agreements by the UAE with Bahrain, Greece, Serbia and the Seychelles.



This is an important step towards recovery from the global pandemic and will give travellers from the UAE to Europe the opportunity to plan long-anticipated trips to one of the worlds 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 Italys example in leading the global recovery, said Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports.



Under the terms of the agreement, effective June 2, 2021, 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 in 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 free to circulate throughout the country without restriction. 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.



The tested flight protocols applied between Dubai Airports and three Italian airports, demonstrates that international connectivity for all types of passengers can be restored with the close cooperation between institutional and industry stakeholders, Stefano Baronci, Director General, ACI Asia-Pacific.



Science, data and technology have inspired a model that allows for a smooth process, including rapid tests at departure and arrival as a valid substitute to quarantine, without jeopardising the safety of the travelling public. This best practice will hopefully pave the way for other states to introduce similar protocols in the near future for the speedy recovery of the aviation sector.  TradeArabia News Service
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the relaxation of Covid-19 border measures for vaccinated passengers, and the broader use of affordable antigen testing adopted by Spain and France this week.

This is tempered by ongoing disappointment at the failure to implement harmonized measures across Europe and deep frustration at the lack of coordination among governments worldwide for a data-driven risk-managed approach to re-establishing the freedom to travel.

As of June 7, Spain opened its borders to most vaccinated travellers from around the world and allowed EU travellers to enter the country with a negative antigen test. Furthermore, passengers coming from low-risk countries (including the UK) can enter without any restrictions.

From June 9, France opened to vaccinated travellers from all but those countries assessed as high risk. Vaccinated travellers from medium-risk countries will need to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 antigen or PCR test, and unvaccinated people must still self-isolate for seven days.

Its encouraging to see more European countries taking steps to reopen borders. They recognise the opportunity created by vaccination and are making travel more affordable with the use of antigen testing. But this approach is not universal across the continent. Many European states have yet to significantly relax borders at all. This fragmentation should be replaced with a unified approach that is consistent with the recommendations of the EU to which they belong. People, businesses and economies would all benefit from greater alignment across Europe in relaxing measures and restoring the freedom to travel, said Willie Walsh, IATAs Director General.

A consistent approach across Europe is required if the EU Digital Covid Certificate is to be implemented effectively by 1 July. And around the world, governments need to allow digital certificates to be integrated in passenger applications such as IATA Travel Pass, in order to relieve pressure on airports and at borders from more complex passenger processing as the number of travelers ramps up.

IATA Urges a More Global Approach

These moves by Spain, France and other European states are a step in the right direction, but restoring global connectivity requires far more than regional or individual state initiatives. The G20 endorsed a data-driven approach to managing the risks of Covid-19 while re-opening borders. The upcoming G7 Leaders Summit on June 11-13 provides an important opportunity for these governments to use their leadership to kick-start a data-driven coordinated approach to re-establishing global air connectivity.

Connectivity needs countries at both ends of the journey to be open. Many of the worlds largest air travel markets, such Australia, China, the UK, Japan, and Canada remain essentially closed with no clear plans to guide a reopening. Data should help these and other countries to introduce targeted policies that keep populations safe while moving towards a normality in world with Covid-19 for some time to come. The G7 has an opportunity later this month to set a risk-managed framework for re-establishing the freedom to travel in a way that is both affordable and practical. Its critical that they take up the challenge, said Walsh. - TradeArabia News Service
Middle Eastern airlines posted an 82.9 per cent demand drop in April compared to April 2019, which was weaker than the 81.6 per cent decline in March, versus the same month in 2019, new data revealed.

According to figures released by the International Air Transport Association (Iata), capacity declined 65.3 per cent, and load factor fell 41.1 percentage points to 39.6 per cent.

International passenger demand for the month of April was 87.3 per cent below April 2019, little changed from the 87.8 per cent decline recorded in March 2021 versus two years ago.

Total domestic demand was down 25.7 per cent versus pre-crisis levels (April 2019), much improved over March 2021, when domestic traffic was down 31.6 per cent versus the 2019 period. As with March, all markets except Brazil and India showed improvement compared to March 2021, with both China and Russia reporting traffic growth compared to pre-Covid-19 levels.

Total demand for air travel in April 2021 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was down 65.4 per cent compared to April 2019. That was an improvement over the 66.9 per cent decline recorded in March 2021 versus March 2019. The better performance was driven by gains in most domestic markets.

The continuing strong recovery in domestic markets tells us that when people are given the freedom to fly, they take advantage of it. Unfortunately, that freedom still does not exist in most international markets. When it does, Im confident we will see a similar resurgence in demand, said Willie Walsh, IATAs Director General. - TradeArabia News Service
South Africa: Minister Cele to host Ministerial Izimbizo in KZN

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

The dam levels within the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS), with the exception of four dams have fallen this week while one remains unchanged for the second consecutive week. The system (IVRS) consists of 14 dams, which overlap Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State and the Northern Cape provinces. Continuing to drop weekly, the IVRS has... See more
Mercure Dubai Barsha Heights Hotel Suites & Apartments has adopted environmental best practices following the Green Globe Certification standard by implementing series of actions to minimise the impact on its surroundings.

The hotel has successfully applied the Aqua clear electro chlorination system, which uses natural products and salt to generate chlorine. The chlorine consumed through disinfection is converted back to salt and recycled to make chlorine again. This system makes the entire process safe, environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Moreover, Mercure's sustainable practices go hand-in-hand with its efforts in social responsibility.

To contribute positively to the community, the team volunteered to support the Beit Al Khair society by donating clothes for the less privileged children in the UAE. Furthermore, the Mercure Hotel Dubai Barsha Height team participated in the blood donation camp conducted by Dubai Health Authorities.

Levent Tasbas, General Manager of Mercure Dubai Barsha Heights Hotel Suites & Apartments, said: We are concerned with our customers' needs and at the same time concerned with the well-being of our world. Being certified by Green Globe means that this 1,015 room hotel has adopted the hospitality industry's best environmental practices. We constantly aim to improve our performance, identify specific focus areas, and explore additional social responsibility opportunities. Moreover, we will continue involving our guests, colleagues, team, owners, and business partners to protect the environment for a better future. - TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, joined hands with the Ministry of Culture to celebrate the Year of Arabic Calligraphy, by adorning two of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft with a special livery marking the initiative.

Presently, the two aircraft have flown to London, Madrid, Dubai, Riyadh, and Dammam with many more scheduled international destinations to come.

In addition to decorating the two Boeing aircraft with Arabic calligraphy, Saudia organised special events prior to their departures from the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, where calligraphers wrote the names of passengers in Arabic calligraphy on a boarding pass replica. Passengers were also treated to a live performance of traditional Arabic music and were presented with the coloring booklet Mandala Arabic Letter - one of the winning initiatives of the Ministry of Cultures Arabic calligraphy competition held previously. Both aircraft also displayed introductory videos and designs on their screens to familiarise passengers with Arabic calligraphy.

The Year of Arabic Calligraphy initiative was launched last year by the Ministry of Culture and supported by the Quality of Life program, one of Saudi Vision 2030 realization programs. The initiative was extended for an additional year to include more programs and projects that demonstrate Saudi Arabias support for the art. It aims to develop calligraphy as a distinct art that embodies the richness and aesthetics of the Arabic language besides highlighting the Kingdoms role in promoting Arabic calligraphy.

The initiative includes various programs and projects to emphasise the diversity of Arabic calligraphy, its role as a unifying force in the cultural heritage of the Arab world, and its links to the various fields of Arab civilization including religion, art, architecture, education, and craftsmanship. It also aims to familiarise people with the various types of pens, inks, and scripts used for Arabic calligraphy including Thuluth, Naskh, Ruqah, Diwani, and Kufic scripts, as well as the various typographies and artistic forms it has evolved into in recent times.

By supporting the initiative, Saudia aims to introduce the local and international community to the efforts to transform the art of Arabic calligraphy from a source of knowledge to an aesthetic icon that represents the Saudi identity.

Saudias participation in the Year of Arabic Calligraphy initiative is in line with the airlines cultural and community commitments, in addition to fostering awareness and understanding of Arab culture within and outside the Kingdom. Earlier this year, the airline partnered with the Saudi Heritage Commission and Lifebuoy to distribute heritage-themed personal hygiene kits for passengers, creating awareness about Saudi Arabias geographical regions. It has also partnered with the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) for a $1 million marketing agreement to promote AlUla as an iconic destination for Saudi tourists. By participating in various initiatives which also enhance its guest experience, Saudia aims to deliver on its commitment to facilitate the growth of the aviation sector and support the Kingdoms transformation into a global hub for air transport, in accordance with the objectives of Vision 2030. - TradeArabia News Service
Saudi-based budget carrier flynas has announced plans to launch flights from the kingdom to the Seychelles islands starting from July 1.

As per the schedule, flynas will fly directly from Jeddah thrice a week to Mahe, with fast connections to or from Riyadh and Dammam.

Operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the 5 hours and 40 minute flight will be operated on brand new A320 Neo aircraft with a capacity of 174 seats, said the statement from the Saudi low-cost airline.

The new flights, which will make travelling to Seychelles easier for Saudi residents, was initiated in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, alongside the Seychelles Tourism Board and the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, it stated.

On the new flights, Seychelles Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism Sylvestre Radegonde said: "With the arrival of flynas on our shores, the Ministry of Tourism is looking forward to seeing an increase in the number of visitors from the Saudi region."

"The three weekly flights to Seychelles from Jeddah represent another great opportunity for our destination, as not only will Seychelles be accessible directly to Saudi Arabian nationals but also the expatriates living in the kingdom," he added.

According to him, Saudi Arabia is the largest outbound market in the Middle East and with many in the kingdom looking to go overseas after the opening of borders, Seychelles is ready to play host.

"Accessible as never before, and with no visas required from any nationality, Seychelles, land of diversity and discovery is a great place to spend quality time and to reconnect with nature," he added.

Welcoming the flights, Seychelles Tourism Board CEO Sherin Francis said: "Our country is pushing forward with increasing the destinations reach and to attract new visitors worldwide. We are excited that flynas and Saudi Arabia have finally opened up the Saudi Arabia-Seychelles route."

"We anticipate that this new route will greatly enhance the visibility of our destination in Saudi Arabia and its neighbouring regions. We believe that this will help build travel confidence towards the Seychelles islands, not having to connect through other countries also makes it easier and more convenient," remarked Francis.

"We are very happy to open our shores to all travellers travelling from and via Saudi Arabia to Seychelles. It is an amazing opportunity for us to welcome them to Seychelles and to provide them with an excellent time with many beautiful experiences," she added.

Ahmed Fathallah, STB representative in the Middle East, said: "We are delighted to share this news with everyone. For a while now, the lack of direct flights has been a determining factor for travellers in the Kingdom who want to experience Seychelles."

"These non-stop flights will not only help the travellers but also our trade partners in the travel industry, as this will make it easy for them to direct their valued clients to the sunny islands of Seychelles," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
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In a letter to Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister, Housing & Urban Affairs, Govt of India, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind National President Maulana Mahmood Madani sought overall protection of the mosques and warned that no alternatives will be acceptable in this regard.

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NEW DELHI  Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind National President Maulana Mahmood Madani has expressed concern over the Central Vista Project at New Delhi and the status of religious places, more specifically the mosques falling within the ambit of the lands covered.

In a letter to Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister, Housing & Urban Affairs, Govt of India, Maulana Madani sought overall protection of the mosques and warned that no alternatives will be acceptable in this regard.

Maulana Madani pointed out that that there are various mosques on the land parcels covered under notification dated 20.03.2020 which includes Zabta Ganj Masjid (Mansingh Road), Rakabganj Mosque (Near Gurudwara Shri Rakabganj Sahib), Krishi Bhawan Masjid (Krishi Bhawan), Sunheri Bagh Road Masjid (Near Udyog Bhawan), A Public Masjid subsequently made part of the Vice Presidents House (presently within the lawn of the Vice Presidents Residence)

There are many rumours and public concerns about them, JIH President said, adding, With that view, a delegation of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind also visited these mosques on June 6 and gathered the required information.

Jamiat President Maulana Mahmood Madani said that these mosques are parts of our world heritage, if they get damaged, it would impact international reputation and will profoundly hurt the sentiment of a particular community.

Therefore we demand that the government comes with a concrete plan to preserve these mosques and they shall not be disturbed at any cost. We also, seek government indulgence for a clarificatory Government Order in this regard, he said.

The letter also shed light that the mosques falling in the area are functioning.

However, the mosque which falls within the campus of the Honble Vice-Presidents House also must be preserved for its uses. We have confirmed information that as late as 2016-2017, the said mosque was a functional mosque. While planning the area surrounding this mosque, appropriate provision for an easement must have been made in the developmental plans. Since the residence of the Vice-President and the compound attached therewith comes under the administrative and regulatory supervision of his Ministry, we request the Honble Minister (Housing And Urban Affairs) to facilitate us an inspection of the said mosque on a designated time and date, the letter added.
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South Africa: Consumers urged to intensify water conservation efforts

The Department of Water and Sanitation has urged the public to be careful in the manner they consume water to ensure the country has enough water stored until the summer rains soak the country.

The call follows the departments weekly report on the state of the reservoir, which showed a rapid decline in most dams across the country due to the dry winter season.

Department spokesperson Sputnik Ratau, noted that, with the exception of the Western Cape, most parts of the country experience satisfactory rains in summer, however South Africa remains a dry country when compared to the rest of the world.

The amount of water stored in our reservoirs across the country has taken a knock this week, declining to 83.8% level from last weeks 84.1%. This implied that we have 26 908.3 cubic metres avail for us out of a capacity of 32 116.4 cubic metres, Ratau said in a statement.

The North West has seen a slight decrease in level of dams, dropping to 81.4% this week compared to last weeks 82.0%. Mpumalanga dam levels have also slightly decreased to 85.7% this week, compared to last weeks 86.0%, as well as Limpopo whose water level declined from last weeks 86.6% to 86.4% this week.

Drought effects continue to affect EC

Drought effects continue to affect most part of Eastern Cape, with Nelson Mandela Bay being the most affected area facing acute water challenges.

Even though the provincial water storage is above 50% at 59.9%, a slight increase from 52.7% last week, the Algoa Water Supply System with five dams supplying the Nelson Mandela Bay is at a paltry 11.8% this week.

The department is also making interventions by supplying water with water tankers in areas that are experiencing water supply challenges across the province. These measures will allow communities to have access to fresh water, Ratau said.

In Gauteng, the dam levels remained steady at 99.1%, whilst Free State dropped from last weeks 97.2% to 96.8% this week.

The Northern Cape dams is the only province which has seen an improvement in its dam levels this week with 93.1% compared to 88.7% last week. The provinces Vaalharts and Douglas Storage Weirs are at 93.3% and 110.5% levels, respectively.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
by Richard Mallory Allnutt (Editor)

As we reported recently, the aviation-themed TV miniseries, Masters of the Air, has officially begun filming in Britain. Based upon Donald L. Millers compelling book, Masters of the Air: Americas Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, the production will follow the true and deeply personal story of the American bomber crews who brought the war to Hitlers doorstep in World War II. The saga is the third small-screen limited series collaboration between producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who also shepherded the highly-acclaimed WWII epics Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010) for HBO. This series will run on Apple TV+.

So far, we know of two locations in Britain where principal photography will occur: Dalton Barracks near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and another site in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire which the production team has already transformed to represent the bustling personnel hub of a US Army Air Forces airfield, complete with a collection of full-sized Nissen Huts and other outbuildings.

Dalton Barracks is presently home to elements of the British Armys Royal Logistics Corps, but until 1992 the base was an active Royal Air Force airfield known as RAF Abingdon, which dates back to the early 1930s. Based upon our research and images which recently appeared on social media, it looks like Dalton Barracks will serve as the production companys setting for outdoor airfield operation scenes for Masters of the Air. Once the news got out, it didnt take long for British aviation enthusiasts to make the pilgrimage to Abingdon in the hopes of capturing images of what was unfolding there. And indeed, one of these pilgrims, Nick Taylor, shared some of his pictures from the set with us which clearly reveal a pair of full-scale mockups for B-17 Flying Fortresses which served in the 100th Bombardment Group. According to reliable sources, these replicas, while not airworthy, were designed to be highly accurate reflections of the original airframe design, both inside and out. The fuselages, for certain, were built using original factory drawings, and at least one of the Forts has runnable engines.

From the photographs we have, it is clear that one of the replicas currently represents B-17F-85-BO 42-30064 Wild Cargo while the other is B-17F-30-VE 42-5867 Alice From Dallas. While these mockups will likely depict other tail numbers during filming, its clear that Alice From Dallas and Wild Cargo represent an aspect of the storyline, so it makes sense to delve into their histories a little

Boeing delivered Wild Cargo to the US Army Air Forces on April 4th, 1943. Her combat career began with the 418th Bombardment Squadron, 100th BG at Thorpe Abbotts, England on September 6th, 1943, however it was to be a brief affair. According to Missing Air Crew Report 647, Wild Cargo was declared Missing in Action at La Rochelle on September 16th, 1943. Her aircrew that fateful day included Bob Wolff (pilot), Chas Stuart (co-pilot), Larry McConnell (navigator), Fred White (bombardier),: Carl Simon (flight engineer/top turret gunner), Ira Bardman (Radio Operator), Bill Casebolt (ball turret gunner), Art Eggleston (waist gunner), Willis Brown (waist gunner), and Alf Clark (tail gunner). The report cites that flak and enemy aircraft disabled an engine, and that Wild Cargo crashed in the Atlantic, off the island Ile Madame, some 12 miles south of La Rochelle, France. While her crew escaped by parachute, all ten of them became prisoners of war.

Alice From Dallas was a Vega-built (Lockheed) airframe, rolling off their factory production line in Long Beach, California on April 2nd, 1943. She the joined the 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group at Thorpe Abbotts on May 30th, 1943, but lasted only a few weeks more than Wild Cargo. Missing Air Crew Report 678 shows that the Army Air Forces declared the Fortress Missing in Action on a mission over Regensburg, Germany on August 17th, 1943. Flak damage knocked out two of her engines, and while most of the crew managed to bale out, the ball turret gunner, Bill Hinton, and one of the waist gunners, Edmund Musante, were not so lucky. Musantes parachute hung up on the aircrafts tail, while Hinton likely died when the aircraft crashed five miles east of Hasselt in Langerloo, Belgium. Of those who did successfully bale out Roy Clayton (pilot), Ray Nutting (co-pilot), John Burgin (flight engineer/top turret gunner), Bill Quinn (radio operator), Chas Bailey (waist gunner) all managed successfully evade capture. The Germans managed to capture Oscar Amison (Navigator) and Cliff Starkey (tail gunner) fairly quickly, while Ken Lorch (bombardier) spent eight months on the lam before he too became a prisoner of war.

Another set of interesting photos came from Hal Colliver, a British aviation enthusiast and pilot, who shared the aerial pictures below with us showing Dalton Barracks. They clearly depict the B-17s on their hardstandings, mimicking how they might have appeared during their original forebears service at Thorpe Abbotts during WWII.

Given the aircraft movie props revealed so far, and that the list of actors presently cast for roles in Masters of the Air all represent real-life characters within the 100th BG, it feels safe to say that the series will focus upon that specific unit, and the many experiences of its personnel. Much like the way Band of Brothers depicted the Screaming Eagle paratroopers of Easy Company in their advance from training ground neophytes to the battle-hardened and withered ranks who ended the war triumphant at the Eagles Nest in Berchtesgaden, it seems likely that Masters of the Air will follow a similar narrative arc, leading us from the 100th BGs formation Stateside and their training, to the fight across the Atlantic (ground crew sailed aboard RMS Queen Elizabeth) to their wartime home at RAF Thorpe Abbotts in the flat farming country of Norfolk, England and the ensuing melee over Europe which followed. The 100th BG bomber crews experienced some of the steepest losses during the early stages of Americas participation in the Allied strategic bombing campaign over Europe, gaining the brutally-earned sobriquet, The Bloody 100th, so there will be plenty of high stakes drama to reenact faithfully on the screen. (As an aside, the late David Tallichet, who established a vast collection of flyable warbirds, was himself a veteran pilot from the Bloody 100th.)

As was true for Band of Brothers, the cast of actors in Masters of the Air will feature a long list of talented, though largely unknown names whom viewers will likely remember long afterwards. We can glean some idea of what stories may feature in the miniseries based upon the published list of real-life airmen being represented. These include Major Gale Cleven (Austin Butler), Major John Egan (Callum Turner), Major Rosie Rosenthal (Nate Mann) and Sgt. Ken Lemmons (Raff Law), all of whom have significant stories to contribute. Sgt. Ken Lemmons was a crew chief in the 100th BG, so his character will likely prove a focal point for the group crew perspective of the war. And given the other names listed above, it seems clear that two missions will feature prominently in the series; the August 13th, 1943 Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission where nine of the twenty one 100thBG Forts participating failed to return, and the October 10th, 1943 mission over Munster where just one of thirteen B-17s from the group made it back, that being Major Rosenthals Royal Flush. His B-17F limped home on just two engines, with no intercom or functioning oxygen system, and a gaping hole in the starboard wing; it was just Rosenthals third mission. Major Egan, who led that mission over Munster, became a POW that day. Interestingly, Egan, who was the 418th BSs commanding officer, was only aboard that mission to avenge his great friend Gale Cleven, who had gone down over Bremen two days earlier. Cleven and Egan were roommates during their training back in the U.S., so it seems likely that their friendship will feature closely in the storys backbone, much as the relationship between Lieutenants Dick Winters and Lewis Nixon featured heavily in Band of Brothers. Indeed, Cleven became famous during training for buzzing a runway, at tree-top height, with all four of his engines feathered, a scene which hopefully makes it into the plot line! Furthermore, both men were reunited as bunkmates, soon after being shot down, at the Luftwaffe-run prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III, which many may remember as the setting for The Great Escape

So one can easily imagine how much dramatic material the screenwriters will work into the plot, and given the producers magnificent track record, it seems certain that Masters of the Air will become the authentic masterpiece we all hope it is destined to become!
Law enforcement officials walk past an Operation Trojan Shield logo at a news conference, Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in San Diego. The global sting operation involved an encrypted communications platform developed by the FBI and has sparked a series of raids and arrests around the world in which more than 800 suspects were arrested and more than 32 tons of drugs  cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and methamphetamines were seized. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) PHOTO:AP Photo/Denis Poroy

Sting Began by Creating Message Service for Crooks

By The Associated Press

SAN DIEGO - When the FBI dismantled an encrypted messaging service based in Canada in 2018, agents noticed users moving to other networks. Instead of following their tracks to rivals, investigators decided on a new tactic: creating their own service.

ANOM, a secure-messaging service built by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, launched in October 2019 and solidified its following after authorities took down another rival. Popularity spread by word of mouth.

When ANOM was taken down Monday, authorities had collected more than 27 million messages from about 12,000 devices in 45 languages  a vast body of evidence that fueled a global sting operation. Authorities on Tuesday revealed the operation known as Trojan Shield and announced that it had dealt an unprecedented blow to organized crime around the world.

Each and every device in this case was used to further criminal activity, said Suzanne Turner, the agent in charge of the FBI in San Diego, where the investigation began in 2016. Users were upper-echelon, command-and-control figures in more than 300 criminal organizations.

Unbeknown to criminals, authorities were copied on every message sent on the FBI devices, much like blind recipients of an email.

"The very devices that criminals use to hide their crimes were actually a beacon for law enforcement, Randy Grossman, the acting U.S. attorney in San Diego, said at a news conference.

More than 800 suspects were arrested and more than 32 tons of drugs seized, including cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and methamphetamines. Police also seized 250 guns, 55 luxury cars and more than $148 million in cash and cryptocurrencies. An indictment unsealed Tuesday in San Diego named 17 foreign distributors charged with racketeering conspiracy.

The seeds of the sting were sown when law enforcement agencies took down a company called Phantom Secure that provided customized end-to-end encrypted devices to criminals, according to court papers.

Unlike typical cellphones, the devices do not make phone calls or browse the internet  but allow for secure messaging. As an outgrowth of the operation, the FBI recruited a collaborator who was developing a next-generation secure-messaging platform for the criminal underworld called ANOM. The collaborator engineered the system to give the agency access to any messages being sent.

ANOM didn't take off immediately. But then other secure platforms used by criminals to organize drug-trafficking hits and money laundering were taken down by police, chiefly EncroChat and Sky ECC. That put gangs in the market for a new app, and the FBI's platform was ready. Over the past 18 months, the agency provided phones via unsuspecting middlemen to gangs in more than 100 countries.

The flow of intelligence enabled us to prevent murders. It led to the seizure of drugs that led to the seizure of weapons. And it helped prevent a number of crimes, Calvin Shivers, assistant director of the FBIs criminal investigative division, told a news conference in The Hague, Netherlands.

The operation was led by the FBI with the involvement of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the European Union police agency Europol and law enforcement agencies in several countries, said Dutch National Police Chief Constable Jannine van den Berg.

Australian Federal Police Commander Jennifer Hearst called it a watershed moment in global law enforcement history.

The ANOM app became popular in criminal circles as users told one another it was a safe platform. All the time, police were looking over their shoulders as they discussed hits, drug shipments and other crimes.

Since October 2019, the FBI cataloged more than 20 million messages from a total of 11,800 devices  with about 9,000 currently active, according to documents, which cited Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia and Serbia as the most active countries.

They say the number of active ANOM users was only 3,000 until Sky, one of the platforms previously used by criminal gangs, was dismantled in March.

While primarily focused on drug trafficking and money-laundering, the investigation also resulted in high-level public corruption cases, an FBI agent quoted in the documents said. A goal of Trojan Shield was to shake the confidence in this entire industry because the FBI is willing and able to enter this space and monitor messages, the agent said.

Swedish police prevented a dozen planned killings and believe that they arrested several leading actors in criminal networks, according to a statement from Linda Staaf, the head of Swedens national criminal intelligence unit.

Finnish police said Tuesday that nearly 100 people have been detained and more than 500 kilograms (half a ton) of drugs confiscated, along with dozens of guns and cash worth hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars). In Germany, the general prosecutors office in Frankfurt said that more than 70 people were arrested Monday and drugs, cash and weapons were also seized.

In Australia, authorities said they arrested 224 people and seized more than four tons of drugs and $35 million. New Zealand police said they had arrested 35 people and seized drugs and assets worth millions of dollars.

As part of a global operation, the Australian government "struck a heavy blow against organized crime, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters. Not just in this country, but one that will echo around organized crime around the world.

European police last year delivered a major blow to organized crime after cracking an encrypted communications network known as EncroChat, which was used by criminal gangs across the continent.

In March, Belgian police arrested dozens of people after cracking another encrypted chat system and seizing more than 17 tons of cocaine.

The latest effort went even further before authorities decided to take down the service.

The operation will likely lead criminals to wonder whether services they use are run by a government, Turner said, and it has shown that authorities have abundant technical knowledge and international cooperation.

Nick Merrill, a cybersecurity researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, said the investigation offers a pretty good recipe" for law enforcement agencies to compromise an existing service or build one and wait for the right time to strike.

"Either way, these centralized services provide a central point of weakness, Merrill said.
The ousted leader faces up to 15 years in prison after she is charged for a seventh time. Meanwhile, regime opponents struggle to get medical treatment. A plane crashed this morning in an incident unrelated to the ongoing fighting between the military and anti-coup forces.

Yangon (AsiaNews)  Myanmars military regime has charged Aung San Suu Kyi with a new charge, the seventh.

The leader of the civilian government ousted by the generals in February is accused of corruption and abusing her authority, government-owned newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

According to the ruling military junta, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) accepted bribes in gold and cash worth US$ 600,000. This is the most serious charge against her to date, and for which she faces up to 15 years in prison.

Other charges include breaching official secrecy, the illegal importation of walkie-talkies and incitement to public disorder. Independent news website The Irrawaddy notes that if Suu Kyi, 75, is found guilty of all charges, she could spend the next 25 years in prison.

Her lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, told AFP news agency that the latest allegations absurd. In his view, the charges are a way to keep her out of the scene.

Meanwhile, fighting continues in various parts of the country. But, for regime opponents, it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain medical treatment.

Many of those hurt during the protests refuse to be treated in state hospitals controlled by the military, preferring instead to secretly turn to sympathetic doctors.

They fear arrest, said Marjan Besuijen, head of mission for Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) in Myanmar.

On Tuesday, the humanitarian organisation was asked to suspend its activities in the country. MSF operated in the town of Dawei in the south of the country, treating tuberculosis and HIV patients at its facilities.

Despite the unrest and violence of the last four months, MSF had managed to continue its work until two days ago. However, in a report last month, the humanitarian group wrote that some of their partners in Myanmar have witnesses raids on organisations providing first aid to injured protesters, and seen their supplies destroyed.

This morning, a plane also crashed in the central Mandalay region. A military aircraft, which had left the capital Naypyidaw for Pyin Oo Lwin, was carrying 14 people: a six-member crew, a senior monk and several donors. Twelve died while two were injured.

According to a statement from a military spokesman, Zaw Min Tun, the accident was caused by poor weather conditions.
by Tran Hung

The number of cases is not declining. Local authorities and Catholic associations are coping with the fourth wave. An emergency hospital has been built in Bac Ninh province. The Bishops Conference is urging dioceses to help pay for the vaccines.

Hanoi (AsiaNews)  Vietnam is struggling to keep the numbers of new coronavirus cases down. As of yesterday, the country has reported 9,635 cases.

Thousands of doctors, nurses, volunteer medical students and young Catholics have joined a series of initiatives to cope with the fourth wave of infections.

Local authorities and Catholic associations are concentrating their efforts in some provinces in northern Vietnam, in places like Bac Giang, which has reported some 3,000, and Bac Ninh, the second most affected area with 1,164 cases.

Recently, in the latter, local authorities have built an emergency hospital that can accommodate up to 3,000 patients.

Ms To The M. Hoa, director of the Provincial Department in Bac Ninh, explained that The treatment system of the provinces general hospital and its field hospitals is connected with the system of central hospitals.

Doctors, nurses and pharmacists working with the Department of Infectious Diseases have been sent to the most affected communities to assist and treat the sick.

Most of them work under spartan conditions, without dining and resting facilities. Fortunately, none of the health personnel have been infected.

The greatest joy for us is seeing the sick healed, discharged from hospital to return to their families in good spirit and good health, said Dr Pham Minh Manh, head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, speaking AsiaNews.

They often call us or text us to ask how we are doing and to encourage us, he added. We have also received praise and encouragement from relatives, friends and colleagues from all over Vietnam. Local authorities and state agencies are also supporting us in these difficult times.

Further south, more than 400 cases have been reported in Ho Chi Minh City. Local authorities have proposed a support package worth more than a billion dong (more than US$ 43,500) for those in a difficult financial situation, including, for example, many street vendors.

Yesterday, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam urged dioceses, congregations and parishes to contribute financially to vaccine purchase programmes as well.

So far, several religious organisations have made their facilities available (especially schools and large buildings) to house people forced into isolation.

The Diocesan Caritas and some congregations of nuns are helping people with free meals.
A 40-billion-dollar project to be implemented with the contribution of Russian and South Korean experts. At least eight reactors are planned, with a capacity of 11 gigawatts. However, it will not be easy to overcome the obstacles of a financial and geopolitical nature. In the 1980s, Saddam Hussein wanted a nuclear arsenal, but Israel destroyed the first plant.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - To stem the energy crisis and the chronic lack of electricity, the source of continuous popular protests, Iraq is thinking nuclear power. The decision comes despite the country being the second largest producer of crude oil among the nations of the OPEC cartel.

Kamal Hussain Latif, chairman of the Iraqi Radioactive Sources Regulatory Authority, says the goal is to build at least eight nuclear reactors, capable of producing up to 11 gigawatts of power. A project that provides for the collaboration of Russia and South Korea, worth a total of 40 billion dollars, with a repayment plan expected in 20 years.

The interruptions in the supply of energy and the scarce investments in extraction plants, now old, do not seem able to respond to a demand destined to grow by at least 50% by the end of the decade. Building atomic plants could help bridge the gap, although there are not a few obstacles - financial and geopolitical - that are looming on the horizon for the Baghdad government in carrying out the project.

We have several forecasts that show that without nuclear power by 2030, we will be in big trouble, Latif said in an interview at his office in Baghdad. Not only is there the power shortage and surge in demand to deal with, but Iraq is also trying to cut emissions and produce more water via desalination  issues that raise the alarm for me.

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia have also started nuclear projects to free themselves from oil. It will not be easy for Iraq to translate plans into concrete projects due to regional and international policy issues and the resistance related to the safety of atomic energy and the plants in which it is produced. However, for many Arab and Gulf nations the atomic bomb - which does not emit hydrocarbons - is the only way to cut emissions and achieve "green" policy objectives.

Baghdad, meanwhile, is examining an agreement with the Russian firm Rosatom Corp for a collaboration in the construction of reactors. In addition, this year South Korean officials have made themselves available to help build the plants, offering Iraqi colleagues a tour of the Emirati reactors managed by Korea Electric Power Corp. The authority, Latif emphasizes, has also entered into talks with French and US officials.

The country now has about 18.4 gigawatts of electricity, of which 1.2 gigawatts are imported from Iran. With the forecasts of addition, it should reach 22 gigawatts by August, still far below the real demand which, in normal conditions, is 28 gigawatts. According to data from the Ministry of Electricity, the peak of use during the hot summer months of July and August exceeds 30 gigawatts, while the demand will reach 42 megawatts by 2030.

The Iraqi nuclear authority has already selected 20 potential sites and the first contracts could be signed next year. Baghdad had already cultivated nuclear ambitions in the past: about forty years ago an Israeli air strike destroyed a reactor under construction south of Baghdad. According to Jewish state intelligence sources, nuclear weapons were being developed at the Osirak plant. And among the reasons - more or less real - that led the United States to attack and invade Iraq in 2003 was the suspicion of wanting to produce atomic weapons.
by Sumon Corraya

Every year the anniversary of the constitutional amendment recognising Islam as state religion is marked as a black day. If this state of affairs continues, Islamic extremism and communalism will end up creating serious problems, says the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council.

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  in Bangladesh, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian religious leaders yesterday marked Black Day together. On 9 June 1988, Islam became state religion following the adoption of the eighth amendment to the constitution.

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) has promoted the initiative on June 9 each year. This year, in a virtual meeting due to the pandemic, representatives of the largest organisation defending the rights of religious minorities renewed its call for the amendment to be scrapped.

With the amendment, the seed of sectarian politics were planted, said BHBCUC president Nirmol Rozario, a Catholic, speaking to AsiaNews. In a country where Hindus, Buddhists and Christians also live, a single religion cannot be the state religion. We object to it.

Constitutionally, Bangladesh is a secular country, but its state religion is Islam. This is a clear contradiction, Rozario explained. If this state of affairs continues, Islamic extremism and communalism will end up creating serious problems.

At the meeting, Sultana Kamal, a prominent lawyer and human rights advocate, noted that secularism was asserted at the birth of Bangladesh in 1971 in a bloody war. Hence, she wonders why the current prime minister[*] agrees with such discrimination. Usually, she noted, constitutions are changed to improve them, but in our country in 1988 it was done to favour only one religious group.

In light of the present situation, BHBCUC general secretary Rana Dasgupta called for the establishment of a security commission for minority communities. Religious minorities are often persecuted by the majority group. For our security, we strongly demand a minority ministry and a commission for religious communities.

[*] The current Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, is the daughter of the Father of the Nation Mujibur Rahman.
Two of the victims are members of Palestinian intelligence. The third is a militiaman linked to the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. The interim government authorizes the "March of the flags" for June 15, fears of renewed violence. Two days after the Knesset vote to end the Netanyahu era.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Israeli security forces killed three Palestinians overnight in Jenin, north of the West Bank, during a shootout between the parties.

According to an Israeli source, security departments "carried out an operation to arrest two terrorists who carried out armed attacks" in the past. A Palestinian who opened fire - the statement continues - was killed. Two other Palestinians were killed in the crossfire of bullets. The Palestinian agency Wafa also speaks of three victims, without specifying.

Witnesses say that a patrol entered the city overnight to arrest Jamil al-Amouri and Wissam Abu Zaid, both members of the al-Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.

During the operation, a shooting ensued in which two members of Palestinian military intelligence, Adham Yasser Eleiwi and Tayseer Ayasa, were killed. Another element, Muhammad Samer Al-Bazour, was also seriously injured. The third victim is a militiaman linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.

One of the three Palestinians killed was suspected of having launched a gunshot attack on some Israeli soldiers in the past. During the operation, no casualties or injuries were recorded among the security forces of the Jewish state.

The overnight operation is just the latest in a long series of Israeli army operations in the West Bank: on 25 May a similar attack took place near Ramallah, killing a Palestinian.

Yesterday, meanwhile, the Israeli interim government gave the green light to the controversial "March of the Flags", wanted by the ultra-right in Jerusalem and suspended by the security forces for fear of new violence, if the police "approve the route ".

In May, a similar demonstration, coupled with the controversy over disputed properties in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, sparked a bloody bombardment between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, with hundreds of victims including several children.

The decision is the result of an agreement between outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Benny Gantz. The demonstration is scheduled for June 15 by agreement between the organizers and the police.

Two days earlier the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, is scheduled to vote on the new Bennett-Lapid government, at the head of a coalition that could oust Prime Minister Netanyahu after 12 years in power.
Researchers link ancient wooden structure to water ritual

ITHACA, N.Y. - The Noceto Vasca Votiva is a unique wood structure that was unearthed on a small hill in northern Italy in 2005. Built primarily of oak and slightly larger than a backyard swimming pool, the exact purpose of the in-ground structure has remained a mystery, as has the date of its construction. Italian researchers estimated its origins go back to the late Middle Bronze Age, sometime between 1600 and 1300 B.C.

While that gap might not seem huge, in archeological terms it's like comparing the culture that invented the steam engine with the one that produced the iPad.

A Cornell University team led by Sturt Manning, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Classics and director of the Tree-Ring Laboratory, used dendrochronology and a form of radiocarbon dating called "wiggle-matching" to pinpoint, with 95% probability, the years in which the structure's two main components were created: a lower tank in 1444 B.C., and an upper tank in 1432 B.C. Each date has a margin of error of four years.

The finding confirms that the Noceto Vasca Votiva was built at a pivotal moment of societal change, and bolsters the Italian researchers' theory that the structure was used for a supernatural water ritual.

The team's paper, "Dating the Noceto Vasca Votiva, a Unique Wooden Structure of the 15th Century BCE, and the Timing of a Major Societal Change in the Bronze Age of Northern Italy," published June 9 in PLOS ONE.

Manning has led the Tree-Ring Laboratory since 2006, and his team has advanced a range of tools and techniques that have successfully challenged common assumptions about historical artifacts and timelines. Among the lab's specialties is tree-ring sequenced radiocarbon "wiggle-matching," in which ancient wooden objects are dated by matching the patterns of radiocarbon isotopes from their annual growth increments (i.e., tree rings) with patterns from datasets found elsewhere around the world. This enables ultra-precise dating even when a continuous tree-ring sequence for a particular species and geographic area is not yet available.

"Working at an archaeological site, you're often trying to do dendrochronology with relatively few samples, sometimes in less than ideal condition, because they've been falling apart for the last 3,500 years before you get to see them. It's not like a healthy tree that is growing out in the wild right now," Manning said. "We often measure the samples a number of times to extract as much signal as we can."

The Noceto Vasca Votiva is about 12 meters long, 7 meters across and roughly four meters deep - although the depth was a little ambiguous at first. When the site was fully excavated, the researchers found that the structure had a second tank beneath it, which had been built first but collapsed before it was finished. It was initially unclear how much time elapsed between the creation of the two tanks, which shared some of the same materials.

Judging by the size of the structure and the extensive labor that would have been required to excavate the earth and drag timber to the uphill location, the Italian researchers recognized that the Noceto Vasca Votiva was a major undertaking for its era and theorized its purpose. But they were unable to determine the precise date of its origins, and so turned to the Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory.

Manning's team made multiple attempts with different samples. While the wood from the Noceto site was well-preserved - a rarity, given its age - there was an unexpected challenge when the samples did not seem to fit the international radiocarbon calibration curve that is used for matching tree-ring sequences. This suggested the curve needed revising for certain time periods, and in 2020 a new version was published. The Noceto data finally fit.

By combining radiocarbon dating calibrated via dendrochronologies from southern Germany, Ireland and North America, along with computer-intensive statistics, the Cornell team was able to establish a tree-ring record that spanned several hundred years. They pegged the construction of the lower and upper tanks at 1444 and 1432 B.C., respectively; and they determined the finished structure was in use for several decades before it was abandoned, for reasons that may never be known.

The new timeline is particularly significant because it synchs up with a period of enormous change in Italian prehistory.

"You've had one way of life in operation for hundreds of years, and then you seem to have a switch to fewer, larger settlements, more international trade, more specialization, such as textile manufacture, and a change in burial practices," Manning said. "There is something of a pattern all around the world. Nearly every time there's a major change in social organization, there tends often to be an episode of building what might be described as unnecessary monuments. So when you get the first states forming in Egypt, you get the pyramids. Stonehenge marks a major change in southern England. Noceto is not the scale of Stonehenge, but it has some similarities - an act of major place-making."

Because the structure was located atop a hill and not in the center of a village, it wasn't used as a reservoir or well. The smooth layers of sediment that filled in the structure, and the absence of channels, imply it wasn't used for irrigation. In addition, the researchers discovered a large set of objects deliberately deposited inside the tank, including numerous ceramic vessels, figurines and a range of stone, wood and organic items. All of that evidence indicates the structure was used in some kind of supernatural water ritual.

"It's tempting to think it was about creating a reflective surface that you can see into, and where you put some offerings, but you're also looking at the sky above and the linking of land, sky and water (rain)," Manning said.

Given the fact that nearby settlements in this southern edge of the Po Plain were built with dikes and terraces, and the region was agriculturally productive with much water management, water was clearly important for all aspects of the builders' lives. At least for a time.

"The collapse of the whole social and economic system in the area around 1200 B.C. seems to occur because it becomes much drier," Manning said.

###

Co-authors include senior research associate Carol Griggs and Cynthia Kocik; and researchers from the University of Milano, Italy; and the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta - Museo Archeologico.

The research was supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
by Nirmala Carvalho

In a new attack in the district of Rayagada, Hindu fundamentalists have devastated the homes of Christians, forcing them to take refuge in the forest. The testimony of Nori Konjaka, one of the victims: "They can destroy our homes, but not our faith in Jesus".

Mumbai (AsiaNews)  There has been a new episode of violence by Hindu fundamentalists against Christians in Orissa. The attack took place on June 8 in the village of Sikapai, district of Rayagada.

According to local pastor Upajukta Singh, the village is home to 40 families 8 of them Christian. The extremists destroyed the homes of the Christians, then expelled them from their native village.

The mob came from a nearby center: "They could not tolerate the presence of these Christian families," explains Pastor Singh. Already when they went to get water from a well located a kilometre away, the Christian women were humiliated and forced to return home afraid and with empty containers.

"I admire their strong faith in Jesus despite pain, agony and fear in life they are continuing the faith which they have been practising for last fourteen years. The displaced faithful are now taking shelter in the forest," the pastor said.

Nori Konjaka, one of the victims, confirms that the attackers "can destroy our homes, but not our faith in Jesus". A complaint was filed at the Kalyansingpur Police Station.

Father Purushottam Nayak, a priest of the diocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, adds: The district of Rayagada is located in a mountainous region rich in natural resources, but also plagued by poverty caused by the lack of development. Self-motivated extremists attack the tiny Christian tribal community by denying religious freedom and the most basic human rights to these populations in Orissa, but also in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. Not even the pandemic has stopped them.

Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) President Sajan K George told AsiaNews: "We strongly condemn the attack on Christians by Hindu extremists in the Rayagada district. The extremist right continues their reign of terror against the poor and vulnerable Christians of Orissa. Secular India has a constitution that should guarantee religious freedom, but we already know that the complaint presented to the Kalyansingpur police station will not bring justice to the victims and will not discourage further attacks and threats."
By Warwick Bowen, Professor of Quantum and Precision Technologies, The University of Queensland

Warwick Bowen, Author provided

Youve probably seen images of scientists peering down a microscope, looking at objects invisible to the naked eye. Indeed, microscopes are indispensable to our understanding of life.

They are just as indispensable to biotechnology and medicine, for instance in our response to diseases such as COVID-19. However, the best light microscopes have hit a fundamental barrier  the bright laser light used to illuminate tiny objects can also destroy them.

In research published in Nature today, our team of Australian and German researchers has shown that quantum technologies offer a solution. We built a quantum microscope that can more gently probe biological samples, which allowed us to observe biological structures that would otherwise be impossible to see.

Creating a damage-evading microscope like ours is a long-awaited milestone on international quantum technology roadmaps. It represents a first step into an exciting new era for microscopy, and for sensing technologies more broadly.

The problem with laser microscopes

Microscopes have a long history. They are thought to have been first invented by the Dutch lens-maker Zacharias Janssen around the turn of the seventeenth century. He may have used them to counterfeit coins. This chequered beginning led to the discovery of bacteria, cells and basically all microbiology as we now understand it.

The more recent invention of lasers provided an intense new kind of light. This made a whole new approach to microscopy possible. Laser microscopes allow us to see biology with truly exquisite detail, 10,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair. They were awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and have transformed our understanding of cells and of molecules like DNA within them.

However, laser microscopes face a major problem. The very quality that makes them successful  their intensity  is also their Achilles heel. The best laser microscopes use light billions of times brighter than sunlight on Earth. As you might imagine, this could cause serious sunburn!

In a laser microscope, biological samples can become sick or perish in seconds. You can see this happening in real time in the movie of a fibroblast cell below, taken by our team member Michael Taylor.









Spooky action at a distance provide the solution

Our microscope evades this problem. It uses a property called quantum entanglement, which Albert Einstein described as spooky action at a distance.



https://images.theconversation.com/files/403506/original/file-20210531-1... 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403506/original/file-20210531-1... 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403506/original/file-20210531-1... 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403506/original/file-20210531-1... 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403506/original/file-20210531-1... 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">





Aleksandr Kakinen





Entanglement is an unusual sort of correlation between particles, in our case between the photons that make up a laser beam. We use it to train the photons that leave the microscope to behave themselves, arriving at a detector in a very orderly fashion. This reduces noise.

Other microscopes need to increase the laser intensity to improve the clarity of images. By reducing noise, ours is able to improve the clarity without doing this. Alternatively, we can use a less intense laser to produce the same microscope performance.





Read more:

Experiment shows Einstein's quantum 'spooky action' approaches the human scale





A key challenge was to produce quantum entanglement that was bright enough for a laser microscope. We did this by concentrating the photons into laser pulses that were only a few billionths of a second long. This produced entanglement that was 1,000 billion times brighter than has previously been used in imaging.

When used in a microscope, our entangled laser light provided 35% better image clarity than was otherwise possible without destroying the sample. We used the microscope to image the vibrations of molecules within a living cell. This allowed us to see detailed structure that would have been invisible using traditional approaches.

The improvement can be seen in the images below. These images, taken with our microscope, show molecular vibrations within a portion of a yeast cell. The left image uses quantum entanglement, while the right image uses conventional laser light. As I hope you agree, the quantum image is clearer, with regions where fats are stored within the cell (the dark blobs) and the cell wall (the semi-circular structure) both more visible.



https://images.theconversation.com/files/404726/original/file-20210607-2... 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404726/original/file-20210607-2... 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404726/original/file-20210607-2... 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404726/original/file-20210607-2... 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404726/original/file-20210607-2... 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">





Warwick Bowen





Towards applications of quantum sensing technologies

Quantum technologies are expected to have revolutionary applications in computing, communications and sensing. Australias Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) estimates they will create an A$86 billion dollar global industry by 2040.

Quantum entanglement underpins many of these applications. A key challenge for quantum technology researchers is to show that it offers absolute advantages over current methods.

Entanglement is already used by financial institutions and government agencies to communicate with guaranteed security. It is also at the heart of quantum computers, which Google showed in 2019 can perform calculations that would be impossible with current conventional computers.

Quantum sensors are the last piece of this puzzle. They are predicted to improve pretty much every aspect of how we see the world, from better navigation to better health care and medical diagnostics.

About a year ago quantum entanglement was installed in kilometre-scale gravitational wave observatories. This allows scientists to detect massive objects further away in space.

Our work shows that entanglement can provide an absolute sensing advantage at more normal size scales and in widespread technologies. This could have big ramifications  not only for microscopy, but also for many other applications such as global positioning, radar and navigation.





Read more:

The 'second quantum revolution' is almost here. We need to make sure it benefits the many, not the few





Warwick Bowen would like to acknowledge the continued support of the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems, without whom this research would not have been possible. He also receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Australian Defence, and the United States Army Research Office. He is a founder and director of the scientific instrumentation company Elemental Instruments.

Originally published in The Conversation.
Nearly 60% of those ages 18-49 have gotten at least one vaccine dose. About 42.1% of minors between the ages of 12 and 17 have gotten at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, the only one authorized for that age group.
We have long since had issues and concerns with the speed that drivers travel down Boston Street often late at night, Edelson said. If these measures improves safety there, provided they are done equitably, then we are very much in favor of them.
I cant believe the governor hasnt gotten us out of that state of emergency, Commissioner Stephen Wantz, R-District 1, said, pointing out Gov. Larry Hogans state of emergency has not yet been lifted in Maryland. Everything seems to be getting back to normal.
Now I appreciate that physical labor takes place in a far different world than the one in which Ive toiled through most of my life. Its hard to imagine being 60-something and doing the heavy lifts that come with the plaintiffs job. I admit to being sympathetic  that a man of the plaintiffs age, employed in rail work for most of his life, might feel bodily pains from a fender bender in a way that a younger person might not. I admit some prejudice against insurance companies. I appreciate the fact that, unsatisfied with a settlement offer from an insurance company, we all have the right to pursue costs and damages in court.
Installation was completed by late 2016, but just a few years later, problems are abundant. The ERTs have not been working for a host of reasons, according to the inspectors general report. Wires connecting the ERTs to the meters have come loose or disconnected. Other times, the ERTs fall into the vaults due to faulty clips, making it impossible for them to send a reading. In other instances, synthetic lids that Itron was responsible for putting on the vaults were never installed. Old cast iron lids block the digital readings, according to the report.
News Around the Republic of Mexico



U.S. State Department Eases Mexico Travel Advisory



Mexico is under a "Level 3: Reconsider Travel" advisory, but each state has its own status, as do many tourism destinations, where travel warnings mainly advise visitors to take routine precautions.







Issued on June 8, 2021, the updated advisory reads, "Reconsider travel to Mexico due to Covid-19. Exercise increased caution in Mexico due to crime and kidnapping. Some areas have increased risk."



However, the U.S. advises its citizens not to travel to five Mexican states and reconsider travel to another 11 due to crime.



Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan and Sinaloa and Tamaulipas should be avoided by U.S. travelers, according to the State Department, and citizens should reconsider plans to travel to Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Jalisco, Mexico State, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, San Luis PotosA, Sonora and Zacatecas.



Travelers are advised to exercise increased caution in the rest of the country. The Department of State continues to warn that crime poses serious danger to travelers. "Violent crime - such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery - is widespread," the advisory reads.



For more information, visit



While the State Department is advising travelers to reconsider a visit to Mexico, many are heading south of the border for summer vacation. Travelers who have already visited say that they feel safer in Mexico vacation destinations than they do in some U.S. States.



Mexico was among the first destinations to welcome back international tourists in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and is still one of the few countries allowing travelers to visit without proof of a negative COVID-19 test result. However, people returning to the U.S. by plane must show a negative test performed no more than three days before their scheduled flights in order to board the aircraft.



If you DO decide to travel to Mexico this summer, the Mexican government encourages everyone - even those who have been vaccinated - to continue wearing masks, respecting social distancing measures, washing their hands frequently, and coughing or sneezing into the inner part of the elbow to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. State Department on Tuesday lowered its travel advisory rating for Mexico to "Level 3: Reconsider Travel" as U.S. health officials revised its assessment of COVID-19 concerns for a number of nations. In April, Mexico was among the 150 countries that the U.S. State Department rated as "Level 4: Do Not Travel," based on the CDC's COVID-19 Travel Recommendations. Today that number has fallen to about 125 at the highest advisory level.Issued on June 8, 2021, the updated advisory reads, "Reconsider travel to Mexico due to Covid-19. Exercise increased caution in Mexico due to crime and kidnapping. Some areas have increased risk."However, the U.S. advises its citizens not to travel to five Mexican states and reconsider travel to another 11 due to crime.Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan and Sinaloa and Tamaulipas should be avoided by U.S. travelers, according to the State Department, and citizens should reconsider plans to travel to Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Jalisco, Mexico State, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, San Luis PotosA, Sonora and Zacatecas.Travelers are advised to exercise increased caution in the rest of the country. The Department of State continues to warn that crime poses serious danger to travelers. "Violent crime - such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery - is widespread," the advisory reads.For more information, visit travel.state.gov. While the State Department is advising travelers to reconsider a visit to Mexico, many are heading south of the border for summer vacation. Travelers who have already visited say that they feel safer in Mexico vacation destinations than they do in some U.S. States.Mexico was among the first destinations to welcome back international tourists in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and is still one of the few countries allowing travelers to visit without proof of a negative COVID-19 test result. However, people returning to the U.S. by plane must show a negative test performed no more than three days before their scheduled flights in order to board the aircraft.If you DO decide to travel to Mexico this summer, the Mexican government encourages everyone - even those who have been vaccinated - to continue wearing masks, respecting social distancing measures, washing their hands frequently, and coughing or sneezing into the inner part of the elbow to prevent the spread of COVID-19.



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Climate protection: Deep decarbonization by 2050 currently not plausible

Today the Hamburg-based Cluster of Excellence "Climate, Climatic Change, and Society" (CLICCS) publishes a new, essential study on climate futures. The study represents the first systematic attempt to investigate whether a climate future with net-zero carbon emissions is not only possible but also plausible. The authors examine plausibility from a technical-economic perspective, but also with regard to the societal changes necessary for such a future. They conclude that deep decarbonization by 2050 is currently not plausible - the current efforts to bring about societal transformation need to be far more ambitious.

The European Union is now increasing the ambition of its climate goals, and the German Federal Constitutional Court has recently committed Germany to implementing more ambitious climate action. So, are we already on the path to a climate-neutral future? "Which climate futures are plausible is not only a physical question, it is at present especially a social one," says CLICCS Speaker Prof. Detlef Stammer from Universitat Hamburg. "In the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook we investigate the transformative power of social processes and have developed a completely new method for doing so. We'll then combine the outcomes with findings from the natu-ral sciences, allowing us to narrow down, step by step, what's plausible."

The key factors being explored, also referred to as social drivers, include: United Nations' climate policy, national climate legislation, protests and social movements, divesting from fossil fuel industries, and media coverage. Crucially, none of the ten social drivers assessed in the Outlook appear to have enough momentum to reach deep decarbonization by 2050. Yet reaching deep decarbonization by mid-century is vital if the climate targets laid out in the Paris Agreement are to be achieved.

However, six of the drivers could foster a gradual decarbonization: "The majority of the factors we evaluated certainly support the net-zero goal. For example, the factor 'climate policy' has been strengthened by the USA's reentry into the Paris Agreement," explains Prof. Anita Engels, a social scientist at Universitat Hamburg and CLICCS Co-Chair. "At the same time, the extent to which climate protests can continue to put pressure on governments after COVID-19 will be an important aspect." Another crucial driver is the divestment from fossil fuels. However, companies often operate under long investment cycles, which means the effects will only become ap-parent down the road.

The authors concluded that, at the moment, neither high-emissions nor low-emissions scenarios are plausible: "Studies show that very high CO2 emissions can produce tremendous economic costs. What's more: global coal reserves are finite, and clean energy is becoming more afforda-ble. As such, governments and companies alike will be forced to change course," says CLICCS Co-Chair Prof. Jochem Marotzke from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. However, we're still lacking the technologies needed for the rapid and large-scale removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - an essential prerequisite for cutting emissions to net zero.

The authors further translated these findings about plausible emissions into an assessment of long-term warming, by incorporating the latest research on how CO2 emissions affect the climate: "Our results imply that global surface warming of less than 1.7 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 is not plausible, but nor is a rise of more than 4.9 degrees."

The Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook fills an important gap. Other studies-like the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C and the United Nations Emissions Gap Report-also assess which pathways might achieve the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement, but they focus more on the technical and practical requirements. "The Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook analyzes which social drivers can enable and motivate the change. We're using this new analytical framework to systematically assess the available data with regard to the necessary decarboniza-tion," said Prof. Engels.

The study's analytical approach is unique: "In the Hamburg Climate Fu-tures Outlook, we're not looking into what would be necessary, feasible or desirable. We're ana-lyzing which climate futures are plausible - and which ones aren't," says Prof. Marotzke, who was also one of the key contributors to the upcoming IPCC report. "The social challenge is far greater than many people can imagine," concludes Prof. Stammer. "As such, our findings repre-sent a wake-up call for the political community and society at large."

###

By June 10 the official website will be online: http://www. cliccs. uni-hamburg. de/ results/ hamburg-climate-futures-outlook. html

About the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook:

More than 40 researchers from the Cluster of Excellence CLICCS are contributing authors of the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook. They hail from such diverse disciplines as the natural sciences, social sciences, economics and law. In addition, there are ca. 20 national and international review-ers. With the development of the Social Plausibility Assessment Framework, the Cluster has intro-duced a new scientific method for both assessing the status quo of social drivers and projecting their future trajectory.

From 2021 onwards, the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook will be released annually. It analyzes both physical and social dynamics alike, and evaluates which climate futures are not only possible but also plausible.

The Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS) at Universitat Hamburg is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Based at the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) at Universitat Hamburg, it works in close cooperation with eleven partner institutes, including the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, the Helmholtz Centre Hereon and the German Climate Computing Center.

DOI: 10.25592/uhhfdm.9104

Contact

Prof. Dr. Detlef Stammer

Universitat Hamburg

Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN)

Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS)

Tel: +49 (0) 40 42838 5052

Email: detlef.stammer@uni-hamburg.de

Prof. Dr. Anita Engels

Universitat Hamburg

Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN)

Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS)

Tel: +49 (0) 40 42838

Email: anita.engels@uni-hamburg.de

Prof. Dr. Jochem Marotzke

Max Planck Institute for Meteorology

Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS)

Tel: +49 (0) 40 41173 440

Email: jochem.marotzke@mpimet.mpg.de

Ute Kreis

Outreach / Public Relations (CEN/CLICCS)

Universitat Hamburg

Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN)

Tel: +49 (0) 40 42838 4523

Email: ute.kreis@uni-hamburg.de

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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Hong Kong: Govt opposes EUs interference

The Government today firmly opposed the European Unions unfounded accusations against the decision on improving Hong Kongs electoral system passed by the National Peoples Congress.

As an initiative from the national level to improve the citys electoral system, the Decision on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passed by the National Peoples Congress on March 11 is entirely constitutional, legal, reasonable and rational.

Through constructing a democratic system that is consistent with Hong Kongs actual situation, the decision fully conforms to the constitutional order under one country, two systems and manifests Hong Kong characteristics that can put the city back on track.

The Government firmly opposed the EUs misleading claims about the improvement to the electoral system as well as their ulterior motives. It is hypocritical for the EU to attack China by creating issues in the Hong Kong SAR using the pretext of human rights, democracy and autonomy.

Since the implementation of the National Security Law, stability has been restored to society and national security has been safeguarded in Hong Kong, the Government emphasised, adding human rights and freedom are also enshrined in the Basic Law.

It strongly refuted the accusation that one country, two systems is undermined. As President Xi Jinping has stressed, the central government will unswervingly implement one country, two systems and ensure that it is fully applied in Hong Kong without being bent or distorted.

The Government reiterated that the legal basis for implementing one country, two systems is the Constitution and the Basic Law rather than the Sino-British Joint Declaration, noting that the basic policies regarding Hong Kong declared by China in the declaration were Chinas statement of policies, not a commitment to the UK or an international obligation as some erroneously claim.

It also opposed the EUs accusation against the arrest of so-called pro-democracy activists, stressing that law enforcement actions taken are based on evidence, strictly according to the law, for the acts of the people concerned, and have nothing to do with their political stance, background or occupation.

The international community should fully acknowledge this fact and stop interfering in Hong Kongs affairs which are internal affairs of China, the Government added.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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Starting in mid-May, a wave of confrontations between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have taken place in disputed border areas after large-scale fighting between the two states ended in November last year. While both sides trade accusations of violating each others international borders, there may be logical reasons for the recent spike in Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontations and their timing. Armenias upcoming parliamentary elections, unresolved issues of prisoners of war, the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the question of the Zangezur/Syunik corridor have all possibly contributed to the recent events.

BACKGROUND: Armenian media have recently drawn attention to the Azerbaijani armys alleged incursion into the Black Lake area in the easternmost part of Armenias Syunik (Zangezur) province. According to these reports, Azerbaijani military units are committing an act of state aggression, with over 250 elite forces being located in an area several dozen kilometers into Armenian territory. Opposition representatives point to the weakness of Armenian authorities which, following Armenias defeat in the 44 Day War of 2020, have enabled Azerbaijani aggression without any resistance. The governor of the Syunik province has also been vocal about the alleged aggression while some Armenian commentators assert that these events are part of a Turkish-Azerbaijani scheme to bridge mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhichevan/Nakhjivan exclave.

Although more recent reports indicate that some Azerbaijani troops have withdrawn from the Black Lake area, additional Azerbaijani Special Forces reconaissance units were spotted not only in Syunik, but also in Gegarqunik province. One Armenian soldier was killed on May 25, in an armed confrontation with Azerbaijani forces near Verin Shorzha village in Gegarqunik province. Earlier, on May 20, Armenian acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared that 500-600 Azerbaijani soldiers were currently deployed on Armenian territory. Further confrontations between the two sides occurred near Khoznavar village, where local residents reported that Azerbaijani servicemen occupied a number of strategic heights overlooking the village. According to the Armenian Ministry of Defense, 11 Armenian soldiers were hospitalized after a fist fight that occured between them and Azerbaijani forces near the village.

The recent wave of border confrontations was accompanied by large-scale Azerbaijani military excercises on May 16-20, involving over 15,000 troops and taking place in the Baku-controlled territories of Nagorno-Karabkh and in Nakhichevan. Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization have not been responsive to Armenian calls for assistance. While Russia has consented to act as a mediator, talks between the two conflicting sides have so far been unproductive.

IMPLICATIONS: Interviews were carried out with several Azerbaijani experts about the substance of the ongoing events.

A source in the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) who wished to remain anonymous claimed that the border troop movements is part of Bakus plan to exert pressure on Yerevan on the eve of the upcoming negotiations over Nagorno Karabakhs status, as well as the demarcation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan borders. Azerbaijan is allegedly showcasing its military superiority in neighboring Armenian areas in order to frighten the Armenian public and demonstrate Bakus determination to safeguard its interests in light of the continuous absence of tangible support for Armenia from Moscow. In Bakus analysis, this is needed since a significant part of Armenias population and political elites do not accept the outcome of the 2021 war. At the same time, concerns are rising in in Azerbaijan over Russias presence in Karabakh and its seeming intention to remain in the area, as demonstrated by Moscows sizeable investment in local infrastructure, aid to the local population, and expectations that Armenians residing in Karabakh will be granted Russian citizenship.

Likewise, many in Azerbaijans expert circles  including in the highest elite  have expressed concern over Russias backing of Armenian military forces in Karabakh. Whereas Azerbaijanis interpret the November 2021 accords to stipulate the complete withdrawal of armed formations from the Armenian-inhabited sections of Karabakh, Armenians have a different opinion as they plan to keep a police force  and, likely, some limited military formations from Armenia alongside the Russian peacekeepers. The Azerbaijani side is therefore pushing for a speedy solution to the Karabakh crisis in order to limit Russias opportunities to boost its presence in the region and to carry out anti-Azerbaijani policies should Azerbaijani-Russian relations worsen. This is a distinct possibility in light of Moscows pressure on Azerbaijan to comply with Russias integrationist agenda and its interests in the hydrocarbon sector; pressure that Baku seeks to withstand. In Azerbaijan, the recent events are presented as motivated by Yerevans disregard for the Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement of the early 1920s, brokered by Stalin, according to which Armenias control over Syunik (Zangezur) was conditioned on Azerbaijans control over Karabakh. Since the Armenian side disregarded the agreement, Azerbaijan argues it has a right to claim back Syunik  a once-contested area with a large Azerbaijani population that was partially expelled in the course of the 20th century.

On the other hand, several Azerbaijani observers have claimed that instead of pressuring Yerevan into a more acceptable position over Karabakhs status or paving the ground for the annexation of parts of Syunik  in itself an unrealistic proposition given Armenias alliance with Russia and Bakus unwillingness to engage in a large-scale war with its western neighbor  Baku is simpy seeking to restore the Soviet-era borders. In the 1980s, prior to the eruption of the Karabakh war and Armenias occupation of the seven areas neighboring Karabakh, the border between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan ran across the Black Lake. Even Google Maps shows the Black Lake as delineated between these countries. The argument is simple: Azerbaijan does not claim Armenias territory, it just wants to return to the legitimate Soviet-era borders; not just in this area but along the entire perimeter of Armenian-Azerbaijani borders. The uproar among the Armenian public is thus seen as besides the point and largely caused by anti-Pashinyan forces which seek to pitch the population against the impotent prime minister on the eve of parliamentary elections.

A combination of both explanations is likely driving Bakus policy regarding the contested areas along the Azerbaijani-Armenian borders.

Armenian sources hypothesize that the recent Azerbaijani advances are a mixture of opportunistic land grab attempts and reconaissance efforts in order to test Armenian defenses on the border. Bearing in mind that in addition to the lack of precise Soviet-era maps on republican borders, Armenia has no border defences in provinces bordering previously occupied Azerbaijani territories, which opens a window of opportunity for Azerbaijani forces to expand their control of the border by occupying strategic heights. A dominant opinion in Yerevan is also that Baku seeks to divert the attention of both mediators and the international community from remaining unresolved issues (such as the Armenian POWs and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh) by creating new negotiation agenda in Syunik.

Unlike their Armenian counterparts, Azerbaijani authorities are eager to complete the demarcation of republican borders in order to officially cement Bakus control over the territorial gains of the 2020 war. In addition, Baku continues to remind both Yerevan and Moscow about one of the clauses of the 2020 peace agreement; the Zangezur corridor, which is expected to connect Azerbaijans Nakhichevan exclave with mainland Azerbaijan, providing Baku with a direct land connection to Turkey. Bakus and Yerevans views on what the corridor should look like diverge significantly. While Baku envisions the corridor as a series of roads through Armenian territory to Nakhichevan, Yerevan considers it to merely mean that communications are to be reopened. Therefore, Yerevan also considers recent Azerbaijani advances in the border areas as efforts to lay the foundations for the corridor. Bakus unwillingness to return 200 POWs to Yerevan appears to be part of Bakus strategy to exert pressure on Armenia in light of these contested and highly sensitive issues.

CONCLUSIONS: Although Baku and Yerevan advance different interpretations of their recent and ongoing border clashes in Syunik and Gegarkhunikh provinces, both seem to be willing to use de-escalation of these tensions as a bargaining tool in forthcoming negotiations. On the one hand, it seems unlikely that Baku would be willing to cede areas recently occupied by its border patrols without noteworthy concessions from Yerevan. On the other hand, successfully liberating borderlands from Azerbaijani patrols at the expense of expediting the Zangezur corridor could work as a face-saving solution for Pashinyan, particularly since Armenian concessions on the corridor question are unaviodable in the near future.

AUTHOR'S BIO:

Emil A. Souleimanov is Professor at the Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague. Huseyn Aliyev is a Lecturer and Research Fellow in Central and Eastern European Studies (CEES), University of Glasgow.

Image Source: U.S. Army Europe photo by Spc. Stephen Solomon via Flickr
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'Roadmaps' of the brain reveal regions vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (JUNE 10, 2021) -- Much like a supply truck crossing the countryside, the misfolded proteins that damage neurons in Alzheimer's disease travel the "roads" of the brain, sometimes stopping and sometimes re-routing to avoid roadblocks, reports a study published in Science Advances by researchers at Van Andel Institute and University of Pennsylvania.

The findings shed light on how tau proteins, which form tangled clumps that damage brain cells in Alzheimer's, move through the brain. The study also provides new insights into why some areas of the brain are more vulnerable to damage than other areas.

"While the interconnected structure of the brain is essential to its function, these misfolded proteins commandeer that structure to travel through the brain and cause progressive degeneration," said Michael X. Henderson, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Van Andel Institute and corresponding author of the study. "By understanding how these proteins travel through the brain and what causes certain neurons to be at risk for damage, we can develop new therapies that can be directed to the right place at the right time to have maximal impact on disease progression."

Using models of Alzheimer's disease, the team mapped misfolded tau proteins as they progressed through the brain. They found that tau pathology moved from region to region along the brain's neural networks, which are similar to biological highways, but that it did not travel to every connected region.

To find out why some areas of the brain seemed to resist the proteins' spread, the team turned to gene expression patterns.

They identified some genes that were expressed more in regions that had more tau pathology than expected from protein spread alone. By understanding the genetic factors that control protein accumulation in the brain, the team hopes to identify ways to interfere with misfolded protein movement and slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer's and similar neurodegenerative diseases.

"We used these network models to test our hypothesis that tau spreads both forward and backward along connections between brain regions," said Eli Cornblath, Ph.D., an M.D./Ph.D. student at University of Pennsylvania and the study's first author. "After using our models to account for this two-way spreading process, we found several genes that could help inform new molecular targets to clear or prevent these protein aggregates from forming."

###

In addition to Henderson and Cornblath, authors include Howard L. Li, Lakshmi Changolkar, Bin Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., Hannah J. Brown, Ronald J. Gathagan, M.D., Modupe F. Olufemi, John Q. Trojanowski, M.D., Ph.D., Danielle S. Bassett, Ph.D., and Virginia M.Y. Lee, Ph.D., of University of Pennsylvania. Van Andel Institute's Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core also assisted with this work.

Research reported in this publication was supported by Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research award no. 16879 (Henderson); the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under awards T32-AG000255 (Lee), P30-AG10124 (Trojanowski) and U19-AG062418 (Trojanowski);the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health under award nos. P50-NS053488 (Trojanowski) and R01-NS099348 (Bassett); the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under award no. F30 MH118871-01 (Cornblath); and the National Science Foundation under award nos. PHY-1554488 (Bassett) and BCS-1631550 (to Bassett). Bassett also acknowledges support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the ISI Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Paul G. Allen Foundation.

ABOUT VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE

Van Andel Institute (VAI) is committed to improving the health and enhancing the lives of current and future generations through cutting edge biomedical research and innovative educational offerings. Established in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1996 by the Van Andel family, VAI is now home to more than 400 scientists, educators and support staff, who work with a growing number of national and international collaborators to foster discovery. The Institute's scientists study the origins of cancer, Parkinson's and other diseases and translate their findings into breakthrough prevention and treatment strategies. Our educators develop inquiry-based approaches for K-12 education to help students and teachers prepare the next generation of problem-solvers, while our Graduate School offers a rigorous, research-intensive Ph.D. program in molecular and cellular biology. Learn more at vai.org.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Exceptions will be made for Hopkins workers who are pregnant and those thinking about conceiving children, he said, and Hopkins will not immediately terminate those who have concerns about it. But starting July 1, all new hires will need to get the shot.
City Councilman Zeke Cohen, who represents the neighborhood, called a meeting Thursday of about a dozen business owners to share what he said was a plan from the mayors office to help. Four police officers already assigned to the district would be positioned in the popular Broadway Square, around where street brawls and gunfire broke out last weekend. Eight additional officers  one from each of Baltimores other police districts  will be deployed to Fells Point along with one commander. Two more officers from the Southeast District will be paid overtime to help maintain order.
The fair came a day after a group of Fells Point businesses sent a letter to city leaders threatening to withhold taxes if officials do not address crime and other problems in the neighborhood. Three people were shot in the area early Sunday morning. Though some of the businesses are separately affiliated with FPMS, the organization did not play a role in the letter, Mainhart said.
She added she worried about teachers who had to take care of their families because, with a son in college, she struggles to only take care of herself. McDonough, who is on the negotiations team, said she had the realization I dont want to work with these people anymore for not feeling properly compensated for her hard work.
Reeder is accused of entering the Capitol building without having authority to do so, according to a statement of facts filed in the District of Columbias federal court. He has been charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and knowingly entering a restricted building, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.
Cases in the city peaked at 224 in January, declined to 138 in April  when Harford County had one of the highest positivity rates out of Marylands 24 jurisdictions  and then plummeted to 32 cases for May. There have been three COVID cases in Havre de Grace so far in June, according to the mayor.
Credit: Liesl Harewood

Poor individuals are more affected by the local community than others. They rely more on their local networks and show higher levels of solidarity with their neighbors. If voting is the social norm in the community, then the chances are higher that a poor person will vote. This means that the political participation of the poor varies depending on the social ties in the community, a dissertation from the University of Gothenburg shows.

The well-established literature on political participation understands differences in political engagement mostly as an outcome of individual characteristics. For example that resources such as time, money and civic skills explain political behavior. Yet, this still does not explain subnational variation in the engagement of the poor as those who typically lack these resources.

Earlier research also emphasizes that individuals do not act in isolation from their social environment but are affected by the people around them. In more recent years, social network research found that, in particular, family, peer and elite ties affect voting and other forms of participation. Yet, how social networks and the ties between community members differ among poor communities is still not well understood.

Social norms and community ties are important irrespective of the country context

In her dissertation project Prisca Jost investigates when economically poor individuals do participate in political actions and why. The dissertation is dealing with these questions by looking at different country contexts, namely Tunisia, the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Malawi and Zambia). Even though these are arguably very different contexts when it comes to their historical and cultural context, there seems to be something about the importance of social norms and community ties for the poor that is irrespective of the country context.

"My results show that the poor typically rely more on their local networks and therefore, are more prone to social monitoring from the community. They also show higher levels of solidarity with their neighbors and are more likely to bandwagon with their neighbors. This dependence on the local environment and other community members, in particular, increases the poor's willingness to engage in socially based modes of local participation when asked by community members or to vote when voting is perceived as a community norm."

A need to draw a more nuanced picture of the political behavior of the poor

The dissertation further contributes to the understanding of the rise of anti-establishment movements as it shows that similar mechanisms may cause engagement in modes of participation that are more desirable in a democratic system and those that are directed against the establishment.

Though this seem to be contradictory at first, strong social ties combined with individual frustration and the sentiment of being excluded from the political system can result in the mobilization of those who feel excluded. Populist rhetoric dividing societies in them, "the elite," versus us, "the people," may be appealing, in particular, to those in need. However, this is not to say that the poor are generally more likely to support populist parties or engage in violent protests.

"Especially when living in socially dense communities, poor people often behave more pro-social and are also more willing to engage in community programs and to support others. My dissertation shows that social norms and ties can positively affect engagement in what we consider to be desirable modes of engagement, yet, it could also lead to disruptive behavior when people perceive that their voices are not heard through the existing channels of political participation."

This highlights the importance of the political inclusion of all social classes in established as well as young democracies. It also emphasizes a need to draw a more nuanced picture of the political behavior of the poor than previous research has done.

How should we understand who is poor?

The dissertation also draws into question how we should understand who is poor and what follows from economic deprivation. For example, in a case of Tunisia, young and well-educated unemployed citizens are increasingly experiencing frustration due to lacking job and life opportunities. So, even though they have obtained a high level of education and are typically not categorized as socioeconomically deprived, they still must be considered as economically deprived. This contradicts our understanding of poverty and the people we would typically consider as being poor.

In her first study Prisca Jost combines qualitative and quantitative evidence. She has conducted semi-structured interviews with political activists and civil society organizations during fieldwork in Tunisia in 2018 and relies on protest event data from the Armed Conflict and Event database. She also uses data from the Understanding Society dataset on the UK from the University of Essex and the Index of Multiple Deprivation for the second paper of the dissertation. The third paper that is included in her dissertation is co-authored with Ellen Lust, director of The Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD) at the University of Gothenburg. The study relies on data from GLD. Together with the GLD team, Prisca Jost has conducted household surveys in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia in 2019. The surveys also included a conjoint experiment.

Explore further Gender stereotypes still hold true for youth and types of political participation

More information: The Political Participation of the Poor: Local Social Context and the Impact of Social Ties on the Political Engagement of Poor Individuals. The Political Participation of the Poor: Local Social Context and the Impact of Social Ties on the Political Engagement of Poor Individuals. hdl.handle.net/2077/68338
Researchers demonstrated a new simple QKD system over a fiber network in Padua, Italy. A map of the city center [2021 Google] shows that the transmitter was placed at theICT Center of UniPD while the receiver was located in the Department of Mathematics. The transmitter and the receiver were connected by 3.4 km of deployed fibers. Credit: QuantumFuture Group, Universita degli Studi di Padova

In a new study, researchers demonstrate an automated, easy-to-operate quantum key distribution (QKD) system using the fiber network in the city of Padua, Italy. The field test represents an important step toward implementing this highly secure quantum communication technology using the type of communication networks already in place in many regions around the world.

QKD offers impenetrable encryption for data communication because it uses the quantum properties of light to generate secure random keys for encrypting and decrypting data.

"QKD can be useful in any situation where security is paramount because it offers unconditional security for the key exchange process," said Marco Avesani from Universita degli Studi di Padova in Italy, co-first author of the new study with Luca Calderaro and Giulio Foletto. "It can be used to encrypt and authenticate health data sent between hospitals or money transfers among banks, for example."

In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Optics Letters, researchers led by Paolo Villoresi and Giuseppe Vallone report that their simple system is stable over time and can generate quantum-secure cryptographic keys at sustained rates over a standard telecommunications infrastructure.

"QKD systems usually require a complex stabilization system and additional dedicated synchronization hardware," said Avesani. "We developed a complete QKD system that can bedirectly interfaced with standard telecommunications equipment and doesn't require additional hardware for synchronization. The system fits easily into the rack enclosures commonly found in server rooms."

The entire transmitter for the new QKD system fits in a 19-inch rack enclosure, which is commonly found in server rooms. Credit: Luca Calderaro, Universita degli Studi di Padova

Designing an easy-to-use system

To produce the quantum states required by QKD, the researchers developed a new encoder for manipulating the polarization of single photons. The encoder, which the researchers call iPOGNAC, provides a fixed and stable polarization reference that doesn't require frequent recalibration. This feature is also advantageous for free-space and satellite quantum communication, where recalibrations are hard to perform.

"Because of the technology we developed, the source was ready to produce quantum states when we moved our system from the lab to the location of the field trial," said Calderaro. "We didn't have to perform the slow, and often prone-to-failure, alignment procedure required for most QKD systems."

The researchers also developed a new synchronization algorithm, which they call

Qubit4Sync, to synchronize the machines of the two QKD users. Rather than using dedicated additional hardware and an added frequency channel for synchronization, the new system uses software and the same optical signals being used for QKD. This makes the system smaller, cheaper, and easier to integrate into an existing optical network.

To test the new system, the researchers brought their two QKD terminals to two university buildings roughly 3.4 km apart in different sections of Padua. They connected the systems to two underground optical fibers that are part of the university's communication network. These fibers supported the quantum channel carrying qubits and the classical channel needed to transfer ancillary information.

A quantum-secured video call

"The field trial was successful," said Foletto. "We showed that our simple system can produce secret keys at speeds of kilobits per second and that it works outside of the laboratory with little human intervention. It was also easy and quick to install."

In a public demonstration, the researchers used their setup to enable a quantum-secured video call between the Rector of the University of Padua and the Director of the Mathematics Department. The researchers note that the system's performance is comparable to other commercial QKD systems in terms of secret key generation rate while also having fewer components and being easier to integrate into an existing fiber network.

They are working to reduce the size of the detection apparatus and to make the system more robust to noise from other light traveling in the same fiber. The effort to develop a complete and autonomous QKD system led to the creation of a spin-off company called ThinkQuantum s.r.l, which is working to commercialize this technology.

Explore further Demonstration of quantum communication over optical fibers exceeding 600 km

More information: Marco Avesani et al, Resource-effective quantum key distribution: a field trial in Padua city center, Optics Letters (2021). Journal information: Optics Letters Marco Avesani et al, Resource-effective quantum key distribution: a field trial in Padua city center,(2021). DOI: 10.1364/OL.422890
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship with its Long March-2F carrier rocket is being transferred to the launching area of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gansu province, on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. A three-man crew of astronauts will blast off in June for a three-month mission on China's new space station, according to a space official who was the country's first astronaut in orbit in May. Credit: Wang Jiangbo/Xinhua via AP

The rocket that will send the first crew members to live on China's new orbiting space station has been moved onto the launch pad ahead of its planned blastoff next week.

The three astronauts plan to spend three months on the space station, far exceeding the length of any previous Chinese mission. They will perform spacewalks, construction and maintenance work and carry out science experiments.

The main section of the Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, station was launched into orbit on April 29. Cargo spacecraft sent up last month carried fuel, food and equipment to the station in preparation for the crewed mission.

The Long March-2F Y12 rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 spaceship was transferred to the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Wednesday, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said in a brief statement. Its tentative launch date is next Wednesday.

The space agency plans a total of 11 launches through the end of next year to deliver two laboratory modules to expand the 70-ton station, along with supplies and crew members. Next week's launch will be the third of those, and the first of the four crewed missions planned.

Another cargo mission is planned for September, shortly after which a replacement crew will be sent up, according to reports. The station's other two modules are expected to be launched next year.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the Shenzhou-12 manned spaceship with its Long March-2F carrier rocket is being prepared at the launching area of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China Gansu province, on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. A three-man crew of astronauts will blast off in June for a three-month mission on China's new space station, according to a space official who was the country's first astronaut in orbit in May. Credit: Wang Jiangbo/Xinhua via AP

China said in March the astronauts training for the upcoming crewed missions were a mix of space travel veterans and newcomers and included some women. China has sent 11 astronauts into space to date, all of them pilots from the ruling Communist Party's military wing, the People's Liberation Army.

The first Tianhe crew will be all male, though women will be part of future crews on the station, according to Yang Liwei, who orbited Earth in China's first crewed mission in 2003 and is now an official at the space agency.

The Tianhe builds on experience China gained from operating two experimental space stations earlier in its increasingly ambitious space program. Chinese astronauts spent 33 days living on the second of the previous stations, carried out a spacewalk and taught science classes that were beamed down to students across the country.

China landed a probe, the Tianwen-1, on Mars last month that carried a rover, the Zhurong. It also has brought back lunar samples, the first by any country's space program since the 1970s, and landed a probe and rover on the moon's less explored far side.

Beijing doesn't participate in the International Space Station, largely due to U.S. concerns over the Chinese program's secrecy and its military connections. Despite that, foreign science missions and possibly foreign astronauts are expected to visit the Chinese station in future.

Once completed, the Tianhe will allow for stays of up to six months, similar to the much larger International Space Station.

The Chinese station reportedly is intended to be used for 15 years and may outlast ISS, which is nearing the end of its functional lifespan.

Explore further China to send 3 male astronauts to its space station in June

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The antenna of an Argos satellite tag extends past the tail feathers of a female American robin as she feeds a worm to her hungry nestlings on a front porch in Cheverly, Md., Sunday, May 9, 2021. A new antenna on the International Space Station and receptors on the Argos satellite, combined with the shrinking size of tracking chips and batteries, are allowing scientists to remotely monitor small animal and songbird movements in much greater detail than ever before. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

A plump robin wearing a tiny metal backpack with an antenna hops around a suburban yard in Takoma Park, then plucks a cicada from the ground for a snack.

Ecologist Emily Williams watches through binoculars from behind a bush. On this clear spring day, she's snooping on his dating life. "Now I'm watching to see whether he's found a mate," she said, scrutinizing his interactions with another robin in a nearby tree.

Once the bird moves on at season's end, she'll rely on the backpack to beam frequent location data to the Argos satellite, then back to Williams' laptop, to track it.

The goal is to unravel why some American robins migrate long distances, but others do not. With more precise information about nesting success and conditions in breeding and wintering grounds, "we should be able to tell the relative roles of genetics versus the environment in shaping why birds migrate," said Williams, who is based at Georgetown University.

Putting beacons on birds is not novel. But a new antenna on the International Space Station and receptors on the Argos satellite, plus the shrinking size of tracking chips and batteries, are allowing scientists to remotely monitor songbird movements in much greater detail than ever before.

An American robin sits in a nylon net at sunrise, Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Silver Spring, Md. Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams uses nets to catch robins and possibly fit them with an Argos satellite tag. "It's astounding how little we know about some of the most common songbirds," said Ken Rosenberg, a conservation scientist at Cornell University. "We have a general idea of migration, a range map, but that's really just a broad impression." Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

"We're in a sort of golden age for bird research," said Adriaan Dokter, an ecologist at Cornell University who is not directly involved with Williams' study. "It's pretty amazing that we can satellite-track a robin with smaller and smaller chips. Ten years ago, that was unthinkable."

The device this robin is wearing can give precise locations, within about 30 feet (about 10 meters), instead of around 125 miles (200 kilometers) for previous generations of tags.

That means Williams can tell not only whether the bird is still in the city, but on which street or backyard. Or whether it's flown from the Washington, D.C., suburbs to land on the White House lawn.

A second new tag, for only the heaviest robins, includes an accelerometer to provide information about the bird's movements; future versions may also measure humidity and barometric pressure. These Icarus tags work with a new antenna on the International Space Station.

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams gently untangles an American robin from a nylon mist net Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Silver Spring, Md. Williams is gathering data and samples to possibly fit the bird with a Argos satellite tag. The technology has only recently become small and light enough for some songbirds. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

That antenna was first turned on about two years ago, "but there were some glitches with the power-supply and the computer, so we had to bring it down again with a Russian rocket, then transport it from Moscow to Germany to fix it," said Martin Wikelski, director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, whose scientific team is honing the technology. After "the usual troubleshooting for space science," the antenna was turned back on this spring.

As researchers deploy precision tags, Wikelski envisions the development of "an 'Internet of animals'a collection of sensors around the world giving us a better picture of the movement of life on the planet."

The American robin is an iconic songbird in North America, its bright chirp a harbinger of spring. Yet its migratory habits remain a bit mysterious to scientists.

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams gently lowers an American robin into a plastic cup on a scale as she gathers data and fits the bird with an Argos satellite tag, Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Silver Spring, Md. Tracking devices must be less than 5% of the animal's weight to avoid encumbering them. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

"It's astounding how little we know about some of the most common songbirds," said Ken Rosenberg, a conservation scientist at Cornell University. "We have a general idea of migration, a range map, but that's really just a broad impression."

An earlier study Williams worked on showed some robins are long-distance migrantsflying more than 2,780 miles (4,480 km) between their breeding area in Alaska and winter grounds in Texaswhile others hop around a single backyard most of the year.

What factors drive some robins to migrate, while others don't? Does it have to do with available food, temperature fluctuations or success in mating and rearing chicks?

Williams hopes more detailed data from satellite tags, combined with records of nesting success, will provide insights, and she's working with partners who are tagging robins in Alaska, Indiana and Florida for a three-year study.

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams fits an Argos satellite tag to an American robin, like a backpack, Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Silver Spring, Md. The device can give precise locations, within about 30 feet (about 10 meters), instead of around 125 miles (200 kilometers) for previous generations of tags. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Scientists have previously put GPS-tracking devices on larger raptors, but the technology has only recently become small and light enough for some songbirds. Tracking devices must be less than 5% of the animal's weight to avoid encumbering them.

In a Silver Spring, Maryland, yard, Williams has unfurled nylon nets between tall aluminum poles. When a robin flies into the net, she delicately untangles the bird. Then she holds it in a "bander's grip"with her forefinger and middle finger loosely on either side of the bird's neck, and another two fingers around its body.

On a tarp, she measures the robin's beak length, takes a toenail clipping and plucks a tail feather to gauge overall health.

Then she weighs the bird in a small cup on a scale. This one is about 80 grams, just over the threshold for wearing the penny-sized Argos satellite tag.

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams measures the beak of an American robin as she gathers data to possibly fit the bird with an Argos satellite tag, Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Silver Spring, Md. The American robin is an iconic songbird in North America, its bright chirp a harbinger of spring. Yet its migratory habits remain a bit mysterious to scientists. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Williams fashions a makeshift saddle with clear jewelry cord looped around each of the bird's legs. She then tightens the cord so the tag sits firmly on the bird's back.

When she opens her hand, the robin hops to the ground, then takes a few steps under a pink azalea shrub before flying off.

In addition to providing very precise locations, the satellite tags transmit data that can be downloaded from afar onto Williams' laptop. The data on older tags couldn't be retrieved unless the same bird was recaptured the following yeara difficult and uncertain task.

Wilkeski hopes the new technology will help scientists better understand threats birds and other creatures face from habitat loss, pollution and climate change.

"It is detective work to try to figure out why a population is declining," said Ben Freeman, a biologist at the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia. Better information about migration corridors "will help us look in the right places."

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams fits an Argos satellite tag to an American robin, like a backpack, Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Silver Spring, Md. Scientists have previously put GPS-tracking devices on larger raptors, but the technology has only recently become small and light enough for some songbirds. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams prepares bird netting in the hope of catching American robins, Thursday, May 6, 2021, in a backyard in Silver Springs, Md. Using satellite tracking tags, the goal is to unravel why some American robins migrate long distances, but others do not. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams, right, and a volunteer watch bird netting with binoculars from distance for American robins, Wednesday, April 28, 2021, in Cheverly, Md. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams sets up a sidewalk work station Wednesday, April 28, 2021, in Cheverly, Md., as she prepares to net and place Argos satellite tags on America robins. Williams hopes more detailed data from the tags, combined with records of nesting success, will provide insights, and she's working with partners who are tagging robins in Alaska, Indiana and Florida for a three-year study. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

An Argos satellite tag is seen on the back of an American robin, Thursday, May 6, 2021, in Silver Springs, Md. With more precise information about nesting success and conditions in breeding and wintering grounds, "we should be able to tell the relative roles of genetics versus the environment in shaping why birds migrate," says avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

The antenna of an Argos satellite tag extends past the tail feathers of an American robin as it bobs its head down to feed on worms and insects on a lawn in Cheverly, Md., Sunday, May 9, 2021. Putting beacons on birds is not novel. But a new antenna on the International Space Station and receptors on the Argos satellite, plus the shrinking size of tracking chips and batteries, are allowing scientists to remotely monitor songbird movements in much greater detail than ever before. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

An antenna from an Argos satellite tag extends past the tail feathers of an American robin as it darts around a front lawn in Cheverly, Md., Sunday, May 9, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams releases an American robin, too light to be fitted with an Argos satellite tag, after gathering samples and data and applying bands, Wednesday, April 28, 2021, in Cheverly, Md. The American robin is an iconic songbird in North America, its bright chirp a harbinger of spring. Yet its migratory habits remain a bit mysterious to scientists. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

A 2019 study co-written by Cornell's Rosenberg showed that North America's population of wild birds declined by nearly 30%, or 3 billion, since 1970.

He said tracking birds will help explain why: "Where in their annual cycles do migratory birds face the greatest threats? Is it exposure to pesticides in Mexico, the clearing of rainforests in Brazil, or is it what people are doing in their backyards here in the U.S.?"

Explore further Bird migration and conservation clues in robin and Turtle dove genomes

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Credit: Tel Aviv University

Researchers from Tel Aviv University took part in a new international study proposing an amendment to the widely accepted theory on the extinction of animal speciesby moving the focus from the animal's body size to its reproductive capacity. The researchers found gaps and incompatibilities between mammals and amphibians in the relation between body size and extinction risk: Whereas large mammals bear a smaller number of offspring per birth, leading to higher risk of extinction, larger amphibian females lay more eggs, reducing the threat to the species.

The researchers analyzed data from databases on both extinction risks and reproductive capacities of various species of amphibians (e.g., frogs and salamanders). Contributors to the international study included Prof. Shai Meiri from the School of Zoology at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University, alongside researchers from Queen's University Belfast, Nottingham Trent University, Exeter University, and the University of Lincoln. The paper was published in the scientific journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Prof. Meiri explains that the accelerated extinction of biodiversity worldwide is one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity today. Thus, for scientists in an age of global warming and rapid destruction of natural habitats, understanding the factors that drive the process of extinction is a very high priority.

The extinction theory that has prevailed so far in the scientific world claims that larger species are at greater risk of extinction. This approach is supported by the high number of large and familiar animals that are in fact on the verge of extinction, such as rhinos and whales. One contradictory fact, however, not explained by this theory, is that over 40% of the amphibian species, such as frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts, are endangered despite their small body sizein fact more so than any other vertebrate.

Amphibians. Credit: Tel Aviv University

While in other animals the number of offspring decreases as the body size increases, this is not true for amphibians. The researchers found that the females of the smaller amphibians, such as rain frogs (Eleutherodactylus), produce fewer offspring per clutch, compared to larger species like the American bullfrog (Lithobates), that lays up to 80,000 eggs every time. Thus, harmful impact on one generation of small amphibians due to the destruction of their natural habitat can drastically reduce their population and increase the threat of extinction.

Prof. Meiri says that "protecting nature begins with basic science, like this study which gives us more tools to understand the processes of extinction. As we learn more and understand these processes better, we can focus our preservation efforts and point to new, untried directions. An emphasis on the number of offspring rather than body size will help us examine which species and/or geographical regions require protection. In this way the present study can provide a basis for more effective activities in the global struggle against biodiversity loss."

Amphibians. Credit: Tel Aviv University

Dr. Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology & Macroecology from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen's University explains that "more babies per clutch or birth means more variety among the babies. To some extent, it is like playing the lottery: the more tickets you play the higher your chances to win. In this case, more numerous and diverse babies increase the chances that at least some can survive the stress of environmental alterations, such as progressive climatic changes."

Explore further Smaller amphibians have increased extinction risk due to fewer offspring

More information: Daniel PincheiraDonoso et al, The global macroecology of brood size in amphibians reveals a predisposition of lowfecundity species to extinction, Global Ecology and Biogeography (2021). Journal information: Global Ecology and Biogeography Daniel PincheiraDonoso et al, The global macroecology of brood size in amphibians reveals a predisposition of lowfecundity species to extinction,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/geb.13287
Researchers used the Curie transoceanic subsea fiber optic cable for geophysical sensing. The Curie cable connects Los Angeles, Calif., with Valparaiso, Chile. Credit: Google

In a new study, researchers show that the fiber optic cables that carry data across the world's oceans can also be used to sense geophysical events and monitor ocean and seafloor conditions.

Although buoys and cabled observatories can be used to monitor parts of the ocean, the information they provide is limited to their immediate surroundings. The new approach could offer a way to use the global network of subsea fiber optic cables to study otherwise inaccessible parts of the ocean.

"Once perfected, this new technique will allow geophysical sensing in the ocean depths, which are largely unexplored because of a lack of instrumentation that works in this environment," said Zhongwen Zhan, assistant professor of geophysics at Caltech. "It could one day be used to detect earthquakes with epicenters in the ocean, allowing earlier warnings of earthquakes and tsunamis, for example."

In Optica, The Optical Society's journal for high impact research, Zhan, together with researchers from Google and the University of L'Aquila demonstrate that the new approach can detect earthquakes and ocean swellscollections of waves produced by storms. They did this using the Curie transoceanic fiber optic cable that connects Los Angeles, California with Valparaiso, Chile.

Going beyond carrying data

The new technique makes use of the fact that earthquakes, pressure variations or other changes in the environment of a transoceanic cable create subtle changes in the light traveling down the optical fibers. Although transoceanic fiber optic links have been used to sense geophysical events in the Mediterranean Ocean, the approach used in previous demonstrations required extremely specialized lasers that are difficult to obtain and use.

This spectrogram shows ocean swells detected with the Curie cable from June 1, 2020, to July 12, 2020. Each swell lasted for a few days. Credit: The Optical Society (OSA) & Antonio Mecozzi, University of L'Aquila

"We used standard telecommunications equipment without any extra optical components other than those already present in commercial transceivers," said Zhan. "In addition, there is no need for a dedicated light channel because the data required for sensing can be collected without disturbing the regular operation of the optical transmission system."

Most transoceanic cables use sophisticated coherent light methods to encode data in both the amplitude and phase of the transmitted light. To analyze changes in the light traveling down the cable, the researchers developed a theoretical framework for using the polarization data generated by a coherent transmission system for sensing in the deep ocean. The method they developed measures tiny changes in polarization of the transmitted light.

"Any changes in the environment of the cable will induce a tiny, but detectable difference in the light's polarization," said Zhan. "We developed the theoretical framework required to interpret polarization data in submarine cables, which will enable further quantitative understanding of submarine geophysical processes."

Putting the theory into practice

The researchers used their new approach to detect deep-sea earthquakes and ocean swells based on readings acquired from the Curie transoceanic fiber optic cable. The measurements agreed well with independent measurements made with seismometers on land.

"The stability of the polarization in the Curie submarine system is so high that we were able to detect differential changes in the optical path length of two light polarizations of just 1.5 microns over the entire length of the cable," said Zhan. "This equates to just a fraction of the wavelength for the laser light traveling down the cable."

The researchers are still working to better understand how to use the polarization data to detect various changes in the environment for an undersea optical cable.

Explore further Using deep-sea fiber optic cables to detect earthquakes

More information: Antonio Mecozzi et al, Polarization sensing using submarine optical cables, Optica (2021). Journal information: Optica Antonio Mecozzi et al, Polarization sensing using submarine optical cables,(2021). DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.424307
While the book is intended for young business owners, Adinuba tried to appeal to everyone, she said. It took her about seven months to write and she submitted the self-published book to her printer in September last year and it came out a month later. It can be purchased on Amazon for $25.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

In a world-first, Monash University scientists have developed a new, environmentally friendly process that could drive the future production of green ammonia.

Ammonia (NH 3 ) is a globally important commodity for fertilizer production to help sustain food production. It is currently produced via a metal catalyzed reaction between nitrogen gas and hydrogen from natural gas, using an established technology known as the Haber-Bosch process.

The production of each metric ton of ammonia contributes to the emission of roughly 1.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide, and accounts for roughly 1.8 percent of global carbon emissions.

A team of Monash University scientists, led by Professor Doug MacFarlane, Dr. Bryan Suryanto and Dr. Alexandr Simonov, have discovered a process based on phosphonium salts that represents a breakthrough in overcoming this carbon-intensive problem.

The research, published in the prestigious journal Science, unlocks the potential to produce ammonia and fertilizers from renewable energy in reactors, as small as a refrigerator, that could be rolled out at the individual farm or community level.

Direct, zero-carbon ammonia synthesis methods currently being explored include the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction, which can produce ammonia at room temperature and pressures from nothing more than air, water and renewable energy.

But previous attempts to make this work have previously only been able to demonstrate very small amounts of ammonia, in part because of the need for "sacrificial" sources of protons, said Dr. Suryanto from the Monash School of Chemistry.

"In our study, we have found that a phosphonium salt can be used as a 'proton shuttle' to resolve this limitation," Dr. Suryanto said.

"In 2019, the total global production of ammonia reached 150 million metric tons per year, making it the second-most produced chemical commodity in the world. With increasing global population, the demand for ammonia will reach 350 million metric tons per year by 2050. Additional growth in the demand for ammonia is expected because of the growing interest in its use as an energy carrier or fuel.

"The Haber-Bosch process currently used to produce ammonia is extremely carbon intensive. Moreover, it also requires high temperatures and pressures and can only be feasibly achieved in large reactors in large industrial plants.

"Our study has allowed us to produce ammonia at room temperature at high, practical rates and efficiency."

Professor MacFarlane, an internationally renowned chemist, believes the use of carbon-neutral production technologies could also see ammonia used as a fuel and replace fossil fuels by 2050.

Ammonia is already widely considered to be the ideal zero-carbon fuel for international shipping in the future, a market predicted to be worth more than USD$ 150 billion by 2025.

"The technology that we have developed also opens up a broad range of possibilities for future scale up to very large production facilities for export, attached to dedicated solar and wind farms," Professor MacFarlane said.

"These could be sited in ideal renewables generating locations such as northern areas of Western Australia.

"Our discoveries have been licensed to a new Monash spin-out called Jupiter Ionics P/L who will be scaling up the process to demonstrate operation in commercial applications."

Monash University Faculty of Science Dean, Professor Jordan Nash, said the study represented a major contribution towards the development of a sustainable fuel for the future.

"I commend the outstanding work of our world-class researchers whose discoveries will help Australia to position itself as a leader in the ammonia economy," he said.

Explore further Researchers identify new process to produce ammonia with a much smaller carbon footprint

More information: "Nitrogen reduction to ammonia at high efficiency and rates based on a phosphonium proton shuttle" Science (2021). Journal information: Science "Nitrogen reduction to ammonia at high efficiency and rates based on a phosphonium proton shuttle"(2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi  1126/science.abg2371
The idea is that we want people to kind of let it marinate in their everyday life  if you will  so that they see that the history is there, its all around them, said Cox. Its not just going to downtown Annapolis to visit a mansion, but the history is in the street names, its in the local community organizations that still exist.
With both our grandfather and father being police officers and being raised all our lives backing the blue and trusting the blue, this has shook me to my very core, Deal wrote. The thought that someone stole from my dead brother was bad enough but to find out that it was the responding police officer that stole from him, made me question everything I thought was good in this world.
Ramos pleaded guilty to all his crimes, which he told the psychiatrist were indefensible, but maintains he was insane. He also pleaded not criminally responsible, Marylands version of the insanity defense, telling the state psychiatrist he found it useful because he thought hed have more access to a computer and internet websites at a psychiatric hospital rather than a prison. Both revelations of Ramos thinking came to light Wednesday.
Cause, scope determined for deadly winter debris flow in Uttarakhand, India

The Uttarakhand region of India experienced a humanitarian tragedy on Feb. 7, 2021, when a wall of debris and water barreled down the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga and Dhauliganga river valleys.

The event began when a wedge of rock carrying a glacier broke off of a steep ridge in the Himalayan mountain range. The resulting debris flow destroyed two hydropower facilities and left more than 200 people dead or missing.

A self-organized coalition of 53 scientists came together in the days following the disaster to investigate the cause, scope and impacts. The team determined that the flood was caused by falling rock and glacier ice that melted on its descent -- not by a lake or diverted river -- which will help researchers and policymakers better identify emerging hazards in the region.

The study, which used satellite imagery, seismic records and eyewitness videos to produce computer models of the flow, was published June 10 in Science.

"On the morning of the event, I was reading the news over coffee, and saw a headline about a disaster in the Himalayas," said co-author David Shean, a University of Washington assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. "I sat down at the computer and pulled up the satellite images that had been acquired that morning. When I saw the dust cloud moving down the valley, I started writing emails to other scientists asking if they were working on this. One email thread quickly became five, then 10, and the response effort consumed most of our waking hours for the next two weeks."

Initial hypotheses for the cause of the event suggested a glacial lake outburst flood. But there are no glacial lakes large enough to produce a flood anywhere near the site, the team determined.

"Our access to high-resolution satellite imagery and research software, and our expertise in satellite remote sensing were crucial to get a bird's-eye view of how the event unfolded," said co-author Shashank Bhushan, a UW doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering. "We worked with our French collaborators to coordinate satellite collections within days of the event and rapidly process the images to derive detailed topographic maps of the site."

The researchers compared the images and topographic maps from before and after the event to document all of the changes and reconstruct the sequence of events.

"We tracked a plume of dust and water to a conspicuous dark patch high on a steep slope," said lead author Dan Shugar, associate professor at the University of Calgary.

The dark patch turned out to be the scar left by the 35 million cubic yards of missing rock and glacier ice -- enough material to cover Washington, D.C., with a half-foot-deep layer.

"This was the source of a giant landslide that triggered the cascade of events, and caused immense death and destruction," said Shugar, who was previously an assistant professor at UW Tacoma.

The researchers also used the maps to determine how far the block of ice and rock fell.

"The failed block fell over a mile before impacting the valley floor. To put this height in context, imagine vertically stacking up 11 Space Needles or six Eiffel Towers," Bhushan said.

Then the larger team was able to quantify how the pulverized rock and ice were redistributed over the downstream areas.

"As the block fell, most of the glacier ice melted within minutes. This resulted in a huge volume of water associated with the flooding," Bhushan said. "This is highly unusual -- a normal rock landslide or snow/ice avalanche could not have produced such huge volumes of water."

For Bhushan, the work was personal.

"In general, doctoral research projects are very niche. I sometimes have a hard time explaining to my parents why measuring glacier dynamics is important," Bhushan said. "But due to the scale of this disaster, my family and friends back in India were very curious to know how this event unfolded, and they were expecting me to come up with an answer. These interactions provided me with a sense of belonging and motivation that some of my research can be of such immediate use to society."

The team also used satellite image archives to show that previous large ice masses had been dislodged from the same ridge and struck the same valley in recent years. The researchers suggest that climate change is likely increasing the frequency of such events, and that the greater magnitude of the latest disaster should be considered before further infrastructure development in the area.

"These high-mountain rivers are appealing for hydropower projects, and we need a better understanding of the full spectrum of potential high-mountain hazards," Shean said. "We hope that lessons learned from this effort will improve our ability to respond to future disasters and guide policy decisions that will save lives."

###

Shean, Bhushan and Shugar are joined by 50 additional co-authors from 14 countries. In addition to geoscientists, the co-authors list includes water policy experts and a social scientist. Shean and Bhushan were funded by the NASA High Mountain Asia Team and the Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science Technology fellowship. Other co-authors received funding from a variety of government agencies including those in India, Canada, France, Germany and Switzerland. The satellite imagery the UW team used was provided by MAXAR, Planet, ISRO and CNES, the French government space agency.

For more information, contact Shean at dshean@uw.edu and Bhushan at sbaglapl@uw.edu.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Federal prosecutors said according to his plea agreement, while being interviewed by special agents of the United States Capitol Police, Mathur denied that he submitted the message with the individuals name. During the same interview he admitted to placing the phone call.
As Mexicos most powerful drug lord, Guzman ran a cartel responsible for smuggling cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors say. They also said his army of sicarios, or hit men, was under orders to kidnap, torture and kill anyone who got in his way.
Ultimately the majority of Democratic legislators will have to vote for a plan and can override a gubernatorial veto. They may follow the model of GOP Senators on the vote for a Jan. 6 commission and ignore threats to democracy from within. Maybe they will say the more important battle to save democracy is the one for the House of Representatives, the ends justify the means.
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There is no parallel to the ways these powers were used. Volke and others argued that stretching them out more than a year went way beyond the intent of the County Charter that authorizes their use. No one had envisioned anything that might make them needed for so long.
 Functional life sentence finally becomes actual life (with eligibility for parole) sentence for person serving longest on death row | Main | US Sentencing Commission releases fascinating (and bare bones) "Compassionate Release Data Report" 

June 10, 2021

In 5-4 decision, SCOTUS limits reach of ACCA mandatory minimum "violent felony" predicates by holding a "reckless offense cannot so qualify"

The last big SCOTUS sentencing ruling of this Term that I have been eagerly awaiting was (yet another) one concerning application of the Armed Career Criminal Act. Today the wait was over, as this morning the Court handed down it opinion in Borden v. US, No. 195410 (S. Ct. June 10, 2021) (available here). And it is a big win for the defendant with Justice Kagan authoring the key opinion for four Justices (with Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Gorsuch joining), which starts this way:

The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e), mandates a 15-year minimum sentence for persons found guilty of illegally possessing a gun who have three or more prior convictions for a violent felony. The question here is whether a criminal offense can count as a violent felony if it requires only a mens rea of recklessness  a less culpable mental state than purpose or knowledge. We hold that a reckless offense cannot so qualify.

Justice Thomas writes a concurring opinion that starts this way:

This case forces us to choose between aggravating a past error and committing a new one. I must choose the former. Although I am reluctant to magnify the burdens that our [erroneous] jurisprudence imposes, Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 610 (2002) (Scalia, J., concurring), I conclude that the particular provision at issue here does not encompass petitioners conviction for reckless aggravated assault, even though the consequences of todays judgment are at odds with the larger statutory scheme. The need to make this choice is yet another consequence of the Courts vagueness doctrine cases like Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. 591 (2015).

Justice Kavanaugh writes a lengthy dissenting opinion (which is longer than the other two opinions combined) which concludes its opening discussion this way:

In my view, the Courts decision disregards bedrock principles and longstanding terminology of criminal law, misconstrues ACCAs text, and waves away the Courts own recent precedent. The Courts decision overrides Congresss judgment about the danger posed by recidivist violent felons who unlawfully possess firearms and threaten further violence. I respectfully dissent.

There is a lot here to take in, but I hope to figure all this out before too long. The key takeaway is that, thank to Justices Gorsuch and Thomas, Borden is the slimmest of victories for the defendant here and likely the start of yet another chapter of uncertainty about what comes next in ACCA jurisprudence.

June 10, 2021 at 10:16 AM | Permalink

Comments

Oh no, a "career offender" slipped into the majority opinion!

-CDL

Posted by: Joe O. | Jun 10, 2021 11:04:04 AM

Post a comment
 "Acquitted. Then Sentenced." | Main | Functional life sentence finally becomes actual life (with eligibility for parole) sentence for person serving longest on death row 

June 9, 2021

A different assessment of "Americas Dangerous Obsession" with innocence on death row

Thirteen years ago, in an article titled Reorienting Progressive Perspectives for Twenty-First Century Punishment Realities, 3 Harv. L.& Pol'y Rev. Online (2008), I explained the basis for my concern that "progressive criminal justice reform efforts concerning innocence issues, abolition of the death penalty, and sentencing disparities may contribute to, and even exacerbate, the forces that have helped propel modern mass incarceration." That old article feels fresh again upon seeing this new lengthy Atlantic piece by Elizabeth Bruenig titled "Americas Dangerous Obsession With Innocence." Here are a few excerpts from the piece:

It goes without saying that the state should not kill innocent people, and that it is a good thing to save the innocent from a fate no one thinks they deserve. I believe it is a good thing, too, to save the guilty from a fate some would argue they have earned. That the one stance may occlude the other reflects the death penaltys bizarre moral universe.... According to the national Registry of Exonerations, more than 1,000 people have been exonerated for murder in the United States since 1989. Many of these cases were initially decided when forensic techniques and technologies were less advanced and less accurate than they are now. People with plausible innocence claims have, in some instances, been able to bring new technology to bear on preserved evidence to great effect. That phenomenon spurred the innocence movement in capital-punishment advocacy as we know it. Around the year 2000, theres this ferment all over the place to create innocence programs, David R. Dow, the founder and director of one such program, the Texas Innocence Network, told me. Theyre kind of sexy. Funders want to fund them. People are beginning to pay attention to the fact that there are innocent people in prison. Marissa Bluestine, the assistant director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, told me that more than 50 innocence organizations now operate in the United States. They differ in size, scope, region, and budget, but they all have the same goals: They work to identify people who did not commit the underlying crime they were convicted of and they try to exonerate them. Thats well and good, except that the number of innocence claims that can be confidently settled in labs is not infinite, and may in fact be dwindling. Dow, who teaches law at the University of Houston, has represented more than 100 clients on death row in his 30 years of practice; out of that number, he counts only eight as credibly innocent. He doesnt suspect that his future will hold many more.... More generally, a 2014 published by the National Academy of Sciences found that if all of American death-row inmates were to remain condemned indefinitely, approximately 4.1 percent would eventually be exonerated  a proxy for the share of innocent inmates. Thats an admittedly conservative estimate. But even if the number of innocent inmates were doubled, the number of guilty ones would still make up more than 90 percent of death row.... To put it succinctly: Innocence cases indicate that some capital sentences are unfair, but decades of studies on death-qualified juries; race, gender, and immigration-status bias among jurors; law enforcement and prosecutorial misconduct; weak forensic science and poor representation at trial all suggest that a fair capital sentence is virtually impossible. Ultimately the fight should be waged not against particular injustices, but against the unjust system itself.

Especially for those inclined toward capital abolition, I fully understand the logic of speculating that there many not be that many innocent persons left on death row and so even more fight needs to be directed toward the guilty on death row. However, the fight against against all of death row has been pretty robust and pretty effective over the last 20 years (surely aided by the innocence movement). Nationwide, since 2000, death row has shrunk about 30%, the number of executions has shrunk about 75%, and the number of death sentences imposed has shrunk 85%.

But, shifting our focus from formal death sentences to what are sometimes called "death in prison" sentences, the modern story changes dramatically. As detailed in a recent Sentencing Project report (discussed here), the "number of people serving life without parole  the most extreme type of life sentence  is higher than ever before, a 66% increase since ... 2003." Moreover, while there are currently around 2500 people on death row who have all been convicted of capital murder, there are now roughly 4000 people "serving life sentences [who] have been convicted for a drug-related offense." And well over 200,000 persons are now "serving a life sentence, either life without parole (LWOP), life with parole (LWP) or virtual life (50 years or more)."

If we keep the focus on innocence, and use the 4% number discussed in this Atlantic article and extrapolate, these data mean we could have 100 innocent persons on death row, but also 160 innocent persons serving life for a drug-related offense and over 8000 innocent persons serving LWOP or LWP or virtual life. If there are lots of innocent groups and not a lot of "good" capital client, there would seem to be no shortage of innocent lifers needing help. (And, on the data, I am always inclined to speculate that there are now an even larger number of innocent persons serving life than death because capital cases historically get more scrutiny.)

That all said, I obviously share this article's sentiment that guilty persons ought not endure unfair sentences and its advocacy for assailing "the unjust system itself." However, the capital punishment system, for all its persistent flaws, still strikes me as somewhat less unjust than so many other parts of our sentencing system. There are no mandatory death sentences, jurors play a central role in every death sentence, and state and federal appellate judges often actively review every death sentence. There are nearly 100 people serving some type of life sentence for every person serving a death sentence in large part because life sentences are imposed so much more easily as subject to so much less scrutiny.

Put simply, and I have said before, I worry it is a continued obsession with the death penalty, and not with innocence, that may be problematic in various ways. But since that very obsession is largely what accounts for capital punishment's modern decline, I am disinclined to be too critical of capital obsessives.

June 9, 2021 at 05:52 PM | Permalink

Comments

"Ultimately the fight should be waged not against particular injustices, but against the unjust system itself."

And, many are doing just that. But, "the unjust system" is a lot to chew, and it often is the case that it is easier to target aspects.

Given in various ways that society remains conservative, it is not surprising that more people received more extreme punishments. While people are concerned about the death penalty, including possibly innocent people, various things were done to try to address that. I'm not really sure how much was "crowded out" or how much focus on the death penalty really changed the equation.

"still strikes me as somewhat less unjust"

The basic reason so much more safeguards are in place is a basic concern that life itself is the most precious thing. This is a basic human sentiment and something that is reflected in our system of law. Thus, "somewhat less" is not that much of a relief on some level, given the stakes are higher.

But, obviously killing people isn't the only problem out there, and many are pushing to address other issues. Much overlap.

"But since that very obsession is largely what accounts for capital punishment's modern decline, I am disinclined to be too critical of capital obsessives."

Shrugs, I guess.

Posted by: Joe | Jun 9, 2021 6:07:34 PM

Our "safeguards" don't seem to work particularly well. They also result in gumming up the system forever.

I think we have the wrong safeguards. We should get rid of some absurd rules, such as the one that lets murderers delay their executions by arguing that it will be painful.

In place of things like that, we should end absolute immunity, and start to have some degree of accountability for prosecutors. We could start with a high bar. For example, a prosecutor might be sued if he or she exhibits a pattern of conduct which shocks the conscience.

It should be difficult to sue a prosecutor, but not impossible.

Posted by: William C Jockusch | Jun 10, 2021 8:26:49 AM

"murderers delay their executions by arguing that it will be painful"

So amend the Constitution?

Posted by: Joe | Jun 10, 2021 10:56:26 AM

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China is looking to Turkmenistan to expand natural gas supplies as it cuts back on Australian energy imports.

Wrapping up a meeting with his Turkmen counterpart Rashid Meredov and the countrys deputy prime minister Serdar Berdymukhamedov in Xian on Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said cooperation on natural gas was the ballast stone of the bilateral relationship.

China sees Turkmenistan as a long-term cooperative partner on natural gas, and is willing to formulate a comprehensive cooperation plan with the Turkmenistan side with a future-oriented perspective, Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement on Monday night.

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The ministry said China and Turkmenistan agreed to further consolidate and expand cooperation in natural gas, and create a full industry chain strategic partnership in the energy sector.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says China and Turkmenistan should create new engines for cooperation beyond resources, such as trade, investment, connectivity and technology. Photo: China Foreign Ministry

Wang also said China and Turkmenistan should also create new engines for cooperation beyond resources, such as trade, investment, connectivity and technology.

China aims to further cut energy imports from Australia as bilateral relations continue to sour.

At least two of Chinas small liquefied natural gas importers were instructed by government officials not to make new purchases from Australia over the next year, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Diversifying gas and oil imports to ensure energy security is also a cornerstone of the countrys latest five-year development plan, which runs until 2025.

Turkmenistan is the biggest supplier of natural gas to China, and the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, also known as the Central Asia-China gas pipeline, is a signature project of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, a vast global infrastructure development project.

Story continues

Since the pipeline opened in 2009, China has imported over 240 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Turkmenistan, supplies that account for over 70 per cent of Chinas total imports, according to a report by the State Grid Corporation of China in December.

But the relationship has not always been smooth.

In 2018, China and Turkmenistan were embroiled in a dispute over the price and supplies of the resource, prompting Turkmenistan to dramatically cut flows to China.

But the levels gradually recovered the next year.

Australia accounted for around 46 per cent of Chinas LNG imports last year, according to industry data.

As the tensions with Australia escalate, China needs to beef up energy imports from Central Asia to ensure its overall supply, said Sun Qi, an international relations specialist at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Meanwhile, in a phone call with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for joint efforts to lift the strategic partnership between the two sides to new levels by expanding cooperation in various sectors including aerospace and vaccines.

More from South China Morning Post:

This article China looks to Turkmenistan for more gas as it cuts Australian supplies first appeared on South China Morning Post

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The race to become mayor of New York City really began in January, when Andrew Yang admitted he had spent much of the pandemic in a house upstate. Is he a New Yorker? I dont even know, Kathryn S. Wylde, who leads the business group Partnership for New York City, said at the time. For Yang, who has never voted in a city election, the perception stuck around. Why did you flee this city during our darkest hour? rival Eric Adams asked last week.

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In a nice bit of symmetry, the race will end this month with the roles reversed. This week it is Adams, the Brooklyn borough president leading in the polls, who is defending his New York bona fides. And it is Adams rivals, all of a sudden, who are on the offensive. Release your EZ-Pass records! Yang said on Wednesday, referring to the eastern U.S. toll-reader. But I have a feeling that he will not release his EZ-Pass records, because it will show very, very clearly that he has been living in New Jersey for most of the last two years.

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The campaign manager for left-wing candidate Maya Wiley released five questions for Adams, including: WTF?!?! and Does Eric Adams live in New Jersey?

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Adams rivals were reacting to a story published on Wednesday in Politico, which suggested he might not actually live in the Brooklyn apartment he has long called his primary residence. Instead, Politico suggested, Adams is spending a lot of nights at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Adams rivals seem to think the mystery is pretty simple: Adams may still be sleeping at Borough Hall, as he did in the early days of the pandemic, but he actually lives with his partner in a co-op he owns across the river in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

The Adams campaign says despite the paperwork issues noted by Politico, Adams is just a hardworking guy who spends a lot of time at the office.

But if youd like to go down the rabbit hole of conspiracies about the residence of the man favored to become the next mayor of New York City, join me for the tour of his Brooklyn apartment that Adams scrambled to give to to press this morning.

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Heres @ericadamsfornyc subterranean bedroom at his Bed-Stuy home. He invited the press to tour the unit after an article suggested he lives in NJ pic.twitter.com/FkU63pdGhN  Julia Marsh (@juliakmarsh) June 9, 2021

First, internet sleuths pointed out that Adams bed is flanked by some shoes that appear to be more the style of his 25-year-old son.

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not to go full conspiracy but here is his son wearing what looks like the red and black shoes in the background of this pic  pic.twitter.com/qWOnHMSL1o  Eric Krebs (@ericjohnkrebs) June 9, 2021

The contents of the fridge (sausage, salmon) dont seem like they belong to the famously vegan borough president. (They are his sons, the campaign says.)

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A peak inside the fridge



The salmon and other non-vegan items are his sons, according to his campaign team pic.twitter.com/McmhVEfIZa  David Brand (@DavidFBrand) June 9, 2021

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Most suspiciously, the fridge looks like an older, single-door modela contrast with the newer, double-door fridge that Adams showed off in a 2017 tweet of his groceries in Bed-Stuy. Might the double-door fridge in fact be from Adams crib in Fort Lee?

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Does it matter if Adams lets his 25-year-old son live in his apartment while he stays with his girlfriend? Maybe not, but thats not his line  for now. Voters head to the polls on Saturday, with a chance to give Adams a place to lay his head at Gracie Mansion, the mayors residence. Its just about halfway between Brooklyn and Fort Lee. As for the truth, well, we might have to wait until the public-records requests for Adams city-issued EZ-Pass come back.

To understand more about why former police officer Eric Adams is near the front of the Democratic pack, listen to this episode of What Next.
If it feels to you like the new Mark Wahlberg movie Infinite came out of nowhere, it turns out Mark Wahlberg is just as surprised. According to an article in the Hollywood Reporter a couple of weeks ago, it wasnt until a May earnings call that Wahlberg and the films director, Antoine Fuqua, found out that the movie was skipping theaters and going straight to the new streaming service Paramount+. (Its out Thursday.) The marketing hasnt done much to clear up the mystery, either. The movie didnt even get a trailer until Memorial Day, less than two weeks before its release, and even then, the trailer raised more questions than it answers.

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The trailer does explain that the move is about reincarnated beings called Infinites (?), of which Wahlberg is one. But who are the bad guys? What are they fighting about? And is there any in-universe reason that Mark Wahlberg is so ripped? Luckily, I watched Infinite, and bring you these answers. (Spoilers follow.)

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What is Infinite about?

As explained in the movies opening minutes via voice-over (and yes, that is how we are fed the basic premise of the movie), the Infinites have split into two groups: the Believers and the Nihilists. The

The Believers and the Nihilists?

Yes. The Believers want to use their powers to help protect human society. The Nihilists, meanwhile, believe that their powers are a curse, and so they want to end the cycle of rebirth. To do this, they have developed the technology to transplant a persons soul onto a sort of USB stick, so it wont keep reincarnating. Theyve also developed a magical egg that, when put into a bomb, will wipe out all life, leaving no bodies behind to be reborn into.

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Egg?

Egg.

So who made the egg?

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Bathurst, the leader of the Nihilists. Back in Wahlbergs previous life, when he was a Believer named Heinrich Treadway (an incarnation played by Teen Wolf heartthrob Dylan OBrien), he stole the egg, and now Ejiofor is trying to get it back. Luckily, there are other Believers around to keep Wahlberg safe while he gets his memory back and figures out where he left the egg.

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He has amnesia?

He just doesnt remember his past lives. Hes been diagnosed as a schizophrenic (at 14, he carved LOOK INSIDE onto his chest), and just accepts the fact that he knows how to do things he learned in past lives, like how to forge and wield a katana.

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Wait. The egg is inside Wahlberg, isnt it?

Not quite, but youre close.



Does the movie ever explain why Wahlbergs character is so shredded?

It does not.

Does Wahlbergs character ever get his memory back?

He does! Another Infinite, played by Jason Mantzoukas, puts him in what is essentially a Flatliners machine. The machine more or less drowns him in order to bring him to the brink of death, because then, you know, his life (lives) will flash before his eyes.

Jason Mantzoukas is in this movie?

I know!

OK, so he gets his memory back, and then gets the egg?

Welland heres where the spoilers really startit turns out that the egg is inside Dylan OBrien, hence why Mark Wahlberg was writing LOOK INSIDE on his own body as a teen. The Believers have also been keeping all of the bodies of their previous incarnations in big tanks of fluid that keep them from rotting, so finding the egg is actually pretty convenientor would be, if Ejiofors character hadnt gotten there first and stolen OBriens body.

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So then Wahlberg and Ejiofor fight, Wahlberg wins, the end?

Kind of? Wahlberg and Ejiofor do fight, first inside the plane from which Ejiofor plans to drop his world-destroying bomb, and then in midair, Point Breakstyle, as Wahlberg disarms the bomb while its falling. Wahlberg succeeds, then succumbs to his injuries, as do several of his Believer comrades over the course of the movie.

Wait, so the movie ends with them both going splat?

Well, they fall into water, so Wahlberg technically drowns, but pretty much. But remember, they can be reborn. The last scene of the movie is Jason Mantzoukas finding the new Wahlberg, now a teenage boy in Indonesia, and rerecruiting him to the cause. Its kind of cool, insomuch as, if this movie spawns a franchise, it will star a young Asian actor as its world-saving hero. That said, it probably wont spawn a franchise, and if it does, they might decide to jump one or two more incarnations down the line.

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Is Ejiofor going to reincarnate, too?

Luckily for the Believers but unluckily for the acting caliber of the franchise, no, because Wahlberg shot him with the USB gun before he hit the ground.

So should I watch this movie? It sounds nuts.

Its just as dumb as it sounds, and even if thats your kind of thing, Wahlbergs voice-over is truly calamitous. And while the idea of a midair fight might seem cool, its not worth slogging through the rest of the movie to get there. Id watch Point Break insteador wait for the Mantzoukas supercut.
It may seem that there are few policy areas where Democrats and Republicans are more divided than immigration. After all, while former President Trump let xenophobia and cruelty toward migrants drive his policy decisions, President Joe Biden has promised to implement policies that promote integration, inclusion, and citizenship and embrace the full participation of the newest Americans in our democracy. And yet the chasm in tone has not yet been replicated in many areas of substance.

For example, while the Biden administration has done a lot to expand the capacity of the Office of Refugee Resettlement to reduce the number of unaccompanied migrants under Border Patrol custody, it has also kept the border closed under Title 42, which closes the border to nonessential travel for public health purposes, turning away families and individuals (even those applying for asylum). It has also continued the use of immigration detention, and has in fact overseen a rise in the number of detainees since March. Finally, Biden plans to continue the militarization of the border as shown by his administrations $1.2 billion request for border infrastructure (compared with, for example, only $345 million for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to clear naturalization and asylum backlogs).

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It is in this context that we must look at Vice President Kamala Harris trip to Guatemala and Mexico earlier this week. Harris first international trip emphasized the administrations aspirations to attend to the root causes of migration. In Guatemala, Harris announced that the U.S. will support an anti-corruption panel that Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has maligned. Meanwhile, in Mexico, she and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced plans to collaborate on security and quell Central American migration through development, new U.S. investments in Mexican agriculture, and aid to implement new Mexican labor laws.

However, in the U.S., those substantive agreements were overshadowed by Harris comments in Guatemala, where she starkly told would-be migrants: do not come. Naturally, the line was widely criticized by policymakers and immigrants rights groups, who rightly saw it as a violation of U.S. commitments to asylum-seekers and a 180 on many of the Biden teams campaign promises. Furthermore, as many pointed out on social media, it took quite a lot of chutzpah for a U.S. government official to tell Central Americans fleeing danger or deprivation not to come to the U.S., when the country is at least partly responsible for creating the conditions of violence and deprivation in the first place.

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki later clarified that Harris was merely trying to protect migrants from making the dangerous journey. However, that journey is dangerous in large part because the U.S. has militarized the border and forced migrants into the shadows. If the concern was the dangerous journey, that could be solved by easing migration restrictions and demilitarizing the border.

Beyond their hypocrisy or gall, Harris comments are troubling because they signal another way in which the Biden administration is engaging in immigration policy continuity. Although, to be fair to Trump, telling people not to come did not start with his administration but with President Bill Clintons policy of Prevention Through Deterrence. Back then, the U.S. government made it harder to cross to the U.S. through more urban ports of entry in the hopes that migrants would be dissuaded from coming by the much more dangerous routes they would have to take. Judging by the fact that migration continued (and reached its historic peaks in the early 2000s), this policy failed on its own terms; judging by the fact that it led to the deaths of at least 7,800 migrants, it was also a moral failure.

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Since then, different administrations have sought to deter migrants from coming through different means, whether expanding the use of immigration detention or funding the militarization of Mexicos southern border. Simply telling migrants not to come is not the same as purposefully making migration more dangerous, but it is motivated by the impulse. However, all the evidence available shows that deterrence doesnt work. Given the fact that most people are coming because they are escaping violence or economic deprivation, how could marginally increasing the cost of migration change their decision?

Harris comments are also a political failure. She is conceding to the administrations critics that the U.S. cannot receive more migrants, even asylum-seekers. This is dangerous because it makes it harder to make the case for increasing paths to legal immigration. Yet, as economist Michael Clemens has argued, one of the root causes of irregular migration is U.S. restrictive immigration laws, because people will migrate regardless of what legal channels exist for doing so. Lacking regular and open paths to come here makes it all but certain that those who want to come will do so without legal authorization. Increasing paths for legal immigration will only be achieved if the Biden administration stops framing immigration as a problem. No longer telling people not to come is a good way of moving in that direction. Providing more ways for them to come safely and legally would be an even better one.
The Canadian company behind the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline called it quits on the project Wednesday, ending a decadelong standoff over the $8 billion pipeline that promised to transport 830,000 barrels of crude oil across the American plains each day. The decision to end construction on the project, which was first proposed by Alberta-based TC Energy, then known as TransCanada, is a remarkable victory for environmental activists and indigenous groups, both of whom fought hard against an additional pipeline slicing south from Alberta, Canada down through Montana, South Dakota, and into Nebraska, where it would join up with existing pipelines that would carry oil to the Gulf Coast.

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TC Canadas decision to scuttle what amounted to an extension of a pipeline system that already exists comes on the heels of President Joe Bidens cancellation of the companys permit to carry out construction. Nearly 300 miles of the pipeline had been built after former President Donald Trump on his first day in office reversed an Obama-era prohibition on the project. In 2018, however, a federal judge blocked further construction because the Trump administration failed to perform the environmental reviews required to receive a so-called presidential permit from the State Department for a cross-border project of that scale. The pipeline has languished since and, despite lobbying from the company to the incoming Biden administration to revive the deal, Biden revoked the permit, all but killing the pipeline.

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Biden couched his Keystone decision as an environmental one as part of a broader, much needed shift away from fossil fuels to combat climate change. Biden didnt see ponying up U.S. government support for a new pipeline as an indicator of American credibility on the issue as he tried to reassert some semblance of American leadership on the global stage. Environmentalists had targeted the pipeline construction as a procedural way to take on Big Oil and slow American oil consumption. The crude transported from the oil sands in Alberta required more processing than other forms of oil extraction, meaning it emitted more greenhouse gases in the process. Protests by indigenous groups and activists led to court challenges over use of land for the pipeline. There were also worries about that the proposed route through Nebraska cut through the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides groundwater for millions across the Plains States.

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The politics of oil has changed over the last decade, as have the economics; falling oil prices have made big, pricey fossil fuel projects less attractive. The oil industry and Republicans, however, have resorted to well worn lines, criticizing Bidens revocation of TC Energys permit as a jobs killer, while making vague protestations about American energy independence. The oil was coming from Canada, which is not a part of the U.S., so its not really a question of independence. TC Energy said it would cut more than 1,000 construction jobs when it suspended operations, but most of those jobs were only temporary anyway. The State Department pegged the number of full-time positions that the pipeline would bring at closer to 50.

In announcing the decision, TC Energy didnt give much of an explanation for its decision, but the Wall Street Journal reports it did say that going forward it would build its businesses in shipping and storing natural gas, liquid fuels and power to meet growing North American demand for cleaner fuels. And that, while not the final destination, sounds a lot like progress.
For years, Merav Michaeli has worn only black. Shes done a TEDx Talk pushing to cancel marriage. She casually quotes bell hooks. A few months ago, the former television personality became the unlikely head of Israels Labor Party. At a youthful 54, she is the latest last hope of the beleaguered Israeli left and, barring another unforeseen twist, a key member of its new government.

I have been in the public eye for most of my adult life, Michaeli said. For the past 25 years I have been, as my beloved nonhusband calls it, a professional feminist. In Israel, we started late, in the mid-90s, and this feminist wave that came thenI was privileged to have a big part in that.

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I first spoke to Michaeli before the recent Gaza War. At the time, Labor was part of a promising drive for a parliamentary change bloca right-center-left coalition united by its desire to oust the government of the increasingly lawless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under indictment in multiple bribery and fraud cases.

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My interview was pushed back again and again. I could almost feel the sweat coming off Michaelis comms persons WhatsApp messages. At one point, Michaeli called from a traffic jam and I heard her frustratingly reference Israels beloved map app: Aval lama lo histaklata al ha Waze?Why didnt you look at Waze?

After we first spoke, and as the change bloc was nearing an agreement to form a government, the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah became the unexpected locus of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Palestinian families fought eviction orders that would have seen them kicked out of homes theyve lived in for decades; Palestinian protesters bolstered the cause with street marches; and Israeli police responded with panicked, heavy-handed tactics that injured hundreds of Palestinians. What began as a civil protest movement became a military confrontation when Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces began a new round of retaliatory missile launches and airstrikes. According to the Gaza health ministry, after 11 days of fighting, 243 people were killed; among them were more than 100 women and children. According to Israels medical service, 12 Israelis, including two children, were killed. Within Israels mixed townsplaces where both Arabs and Jews livemob violence erupted.

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It escaped no ones attention that the conflict arose just as the change bloc was moving toward forming a coalition to replace the prime minister. Joining a chorus of criticism of Netanyahu, Michaeli tweeted, So what was the purpose of the operation?

When I spoke to Michaeli again after the cease-fire, I wanted to know: Did she blame Netanyahu directly for the tragic flare-up of violence?

Its clear that the tensions in Jerusalem and in Gaza and with the Israeli Arabs were mishandled, she said. Now, was it designed to lead to a crisis? Or is it just incompetence? It really is bad either way. The problem with Netanyahu is the fact that people even think it was intended. It goes to show you that he does not have a legitimacy as a leader any more. This is really dangerous for a country, for society, for democracy, et cetera.

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But did Netanyahu act purposefully to stoke a conflict and therefore disrupt the coalition talks that could have replaced him as prime minister? I dont know, she said. I really do not know. What I know is that the mere fact such a question is hovering over us is alone bad enough.

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I moved on to one of the original sparks of the current tensions: the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah. I was curious to hear how Michaeli, if she had been in control of the situation, would have handled it differently.

I would have handled everything differently, she answered. Its not how you deal with the crisis already on the ground. Its the whole attitude toward the Israeli Arab citizens that deserve a much more equal care by the government.

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In any event, if the conflict was part of a gambit by Netanyahu to hold onto power, it didnt work. At the end of May, and beginning of June, the eight parties of the change bloc finally agreed to form a government. Naftali Bennett of the right-wing Yamina party will serve as prime minister for two years, followed by Yair Lapid of the centrist Yesh Atidassuming this unlikely coalition of right-wing, centrist, left-wing, and Islamist parties lasts that long. With only a 61-vote majority in the Knesset, basically every part in the coalition will have a veto, including Labor. Michaeli is currently expected to serve as transportation minister in the new government, which is already putting her in the midst of contentious disputes over settlement construction in the West Bank. The formation of the government was nearly held up by last-minute wrangling between Labor and Yamina over a key judiciary panel.

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This is still a long way from the past power of the party of David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, and Yitzhak Rabin, but under Michaelis leadership, Labor at least will have a seat at the table again. Its not a path many would have expected earlier in her career.

Michaeli first made a name for herself as a talk show host in the early 90s. Eventually she developed into a public intellectual with a presence on campus-lecture circuits and an advocate for sexual assault survivors. She joined the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, as a member of the Labor Party in 2013.

During the run-up to Israels latest election in Marchits fourth in two yearsvintage Michaeli clips made the rounds. One, a bit from an old talk show, featured Michaeli and then newsman Yair Lapid climbing out from behind a couch, pretending theyd just had sex. Back in those days, Michaeli and Lapid were just two telegenic celebrities.

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Labor is Israels historically dominant leftist faction but has been hemorrhaging voters for decades as Israel has moved rightward. After the previous election cycle, just last year, then-leaders broke a promise not to join a Netanyahu-led coalition. Michaeli was the only Labor Member of Knesset to refuse to go along with it. She stayed in the Knesset as a rogue, unaffiliated member of Labor. She was, as she put it, a one-person opposition.

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The split suggested Labor was truly crumbling. Additionally, polling indicated that in the fourth election, Labor would fail to pass the minimum threshold of votes required to join the Knesset. The consensus was that it was over and done with, Michaeli said. Really, its dead, and that is the end. But when Michaeli won the primary to lead Labor, suddenly, the party shot up in the polls. And when Michaelis Labor eventually managed to win a respectable seven seats in the fourth election, it seemed a minor miracle. Haaretzs Uri Misgav wrote, Israels bruised and vilified Zionist left, the object of endless ridicule by its myriad enemies and detractors  came off the respirator on Tuesday evening.

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Any positive feeling was tempered, Misgav made sure to point out, by simultaneous historic gains made by a gaggle of far-right extremist groups, who all won Knesset seats, including Kahane Chai (deemed an illegal terror organization by the state in 1994) and Itamar Ben-Gvirs Lehava.

Practically speaking, what does it mean to have a feminist-led party in Israels government? In the short term, Michaelis Labor Party is the first ever female-majority faction in Israeli Parliament, she said. (Of Labors seven Knesset seats, four are held by women.) In the long term, we look at life through the angle of equality. Not just gender equality but equality for human beings. Any issue that we are dealing with has a feminist angle to it. But that can relate to how do you make every aspect of life in the state of Israel better for everyone? Where are the inequalities, and how can we fix them?

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Its an elegant answer that cuts through a lot of thorny issues. What do you want for the Palestinians? Equality! What do you want for the ultra-Orthodox? Equality!

In practice, the terminology can feel stilted or forced. As Haaretzs Allison Kaplan Sommer reported from a Michaeli campaign stop, Her metaphor for the current state of the Labor Party is that of a battered woman. (In our conversation, Michaeli said, the center-left camp has been behaving like the victim of violence that it is.)

We here in the center-left political camp need American Jews not to give up on Israel, and not to give up on us.  Merav Michaeli

Michaeli pines for Israel to return to an American-style two-party system in which Likud represents the traditional right and Labor represents the traditional left. She argues that Israel is deeply sunk in its never-ending political crisis because theres only one ruling party, and its Likud. This is not a democracy when you only have one ruling party. She catches herself. Critics of Israel argue Israels self-vaunted democracy is, in reality, fundamentally compromised by the occupation. Human Rights Watch just labeled it an apartheid state. But that, surely, is a more radical point of view than Michaeli intends to espouse.

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I mean, its not not a democracy, she continues. But its a flawed democracy. Like many other Western democraciesincluding the U.S.it is facing serious challenges and hardships and it is being, sometimes, eroded. But Im not saying that Israel is not a democracy anymore.

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As Michaeli campaigned, the reactions to her vision of Labor were impassioned. The extreme Left has taken over the Labor Party, one Jerusalem Post column screamed. Merav Michaelis nihilism will make Labor fall further from grace, squealed another. The reactionary critique is rooted both in the personal (Michaelis decision not to have children, in particular, provokes dismay) and in the political: Even Michaelis mild critiques of the state are deemed treasonous.

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From another point of view, Michaelis Labor is, naturally, seen as not nearly radical enough. The famously leftist journalist Gideon Levy argued that Israels Jews must vote for the Joint List, the Arab bloc. Anyone who dreams of genuine change, not [just] about replacing Netanyahu  must vote for the Joint List.

Michaeli, understandably, is focused primarily on replacing Netanyahu, and she seems to ascribe much of Israels political climate to Netanyahu alone. Israel is living in the Netanyahu era, she said. Its the process thats been going on ever since 93, when he became chairman of Likud and he started the campaign against the left and against the Arabs and against peace. (Netanyahu didnt become prime minister until 1996, for a three-year stint, and then again in 2009, until the current day.) He introduced to Israel language and standards that never existed before. He turned the word left into a curse, meaning a pejorative. Now the word left is evil. People are afraid to be called left! Seriously! It really is a synonym for treason. Shes not wrong. But will Netanyahu failing to hold on as head of state really make any of that go away?

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Michaeli is careful to explain that, in her view, Labor is now just at the beginning of something. We here in the center-left political camp need American Jews not to give up on Israel, and not to give up on us, she said. The political right in Israel is so heavily supported by this huge influence industry that is financed by very rich American right-wing Jews and the equivalent on the other side does not exist. So, Im telling them not only not to give up but, au contraire! This is the time to invest in us! Theres so much potential in Israel. Its here.

Throughout this latest round of violence, Michaeli was vocal in her support for the IDF. I ask her if its actually possible for an Israeli politician to criticize the IDF, or if doing so would be career suicide.

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I think I have criticized the army as a politician, more than once, she said. (Later, her comms person explains that Michaelis criticisms are rooted in lack of opportunities for women inside the IDF.) As for the recent crisis, she said, In this case the problem is not the armythe problem is the policy. And Netanyahu is the one responsible for the policy.

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This is what Michaeli is best at: presenting a humane, positive, and intelligent face for the Israeli left. Even if the undergirding facts suggest otherwise, it feels like she could be a sane savior. When she is covered in American mediaher accent in English is almost as pristine as Netanyahusthe focus is usually on the feminist credentials. Theres less talk on how Michaeli does not support the International Criminal Courts investigation into Israeli war crimes in Palestine.

After the clashes both in Jerusalem and in the mixed towns throughout Israel, it felt like the idea of coexistence between Arabs and Jews had been revealed as a myth, or a lie. Michaeli, ever hopeful, didnt see it that way. The majority, both of Jews and Arabs in Israel, are peaceful people who want to recognize the other as a human person, she argued. And there is the potential for coexistencenot coexistence, a shared society. A much more just and equal one thats thriving. The majority are people who totally see the possibility of peaceful coexistence. To bolster her case, she mentioned Israeli media reports that a majority of Israeli Arabs who had committed acts of violence had previous criminal records.

But there were also clearly documented cases of extremist Jewish mob violence, calculatedly and carefully organized via WhatsApp groups. And yet 90 percent of the indictments over the clashes in the mixed cities were Arab. When I cite the stat, she said, Listen, I never think that the blame game is constructive. There was a lot of Arab violence and Jewish violence but now, trying to figure out the percentage from each sideI dont see how that leads us anywhere. What we need is healing.
As President Joe Biden meets with Americas allies in Europe this week, trying to persuade them that our democracy is fit and fine, he might want to avert their eyes from New York City.

The nations largest city begins early voting in its mayoral election this week. (Actually, its the Democratic primary, but since Dems here outnumber Republicans 61, and since the two GOP candidates are both jokers, the primary is the election.) But these contests arent strong selling points for democracy in general, and this years is more chaotic than usual.

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If New York Citys political establishment tried to make its mayoral elections obscure and off-putting, they could hardly do a better job. First, its not just an off-year but an off-off-year election. There are no contests on the ballot except city contestsno big-name candidates (say, for president or U.S. Congress) to lure less than avidly interested citizens to the polling booths.

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And the citizens have responded accordingly. In the citys last mayoral race, just 18 percent of eligible voters turned out. By contrast, more than twice as many New Yorkers voted in the national 2018 midterms (39 percent) and nearly three times as many (53 percent) turned out for the 2020 presidential election.

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In that 2017 race, Bill de Blasio handily won reelection with 66 percent of the vote. But since that amounted to just 8.5 percent of the eligible population, many wondered, even at the time, whether it amounted to a mandate.

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This is appalling by any standard, but especially so for New York City, which (a) sets national trends in social policy, culture, and law enforcement practices; (b) raises and spends revenue amounting to roughly $90 billion a year (more than all but a few statesCalifornia, New York, Texas, and Washington); and, most pertinent, (c) invests almost all of its political power in the office of the mayor.

Given the very magnitude of New York City, the troubles its currently facing, and the impact that this magnitude and these troubles have on the country (and, to some extent, the world), this election is a very big deal.

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There are eight main candidates running for the office. None have whipped up much enthusiasm. In the latest poll, Undecided is tied for second place, with 16 percent. (The first place winner, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, only slightly edges out Dont Know, with 22 percent.)

Until recently, Andrew Yang led the pack by double-digit margins, owing mainly to his name recognition as a livelythough unsuccessfulcandidate in the 2020 presidential primaries. Then came the investigative reports and negative ads showing that Yang knows little about the city, has a flip attitude toward being mayor, never voted in a New York mayoral race, left town during the pandemics peak, and washed out as a nonprofit entrepreneur (raising tens of millions of dollars to create 100,000 jobs but in fact creating just 150).

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Yang has been eclipsed by Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, whose background as a former police captain has burnished his credentials amid rising fears over crime. Murders are up by 17 percent compared with this time last year. In one sense, this isnt as bad as it may seem. The number of murders is still low173, just 26 more than this time last year, and way fewer than the number in 2001, at the end of Rudy Giulianis term, which saw a famously dramatic reduction in crime. (If the current crime rate continues, there will be fewer than 500 murders for all of 2021. In 2001, there were 649 murders. In 1993, when Giuliani entered office, there were 1,927; in 1990, the citys peak, there were 2,262.) Still, any uptick in serious crime rattles New Yorkers, especially after so many years of downturns, and all the more so as the most publicized of these crimesknife slashings in subwaysare random.

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In the latest poll, Undecided is tied for second place, with 16 percent.

A year ago, defund the police was a popular political rallying cry. Now, not so much. Adams, Yang, and the candidate ranked third in the polls, Kathryn Garcia (with 15 percent), all oppose budget cuts to the police force. Adams, who is Black, has managed to retain at least some support among critics of the police because he led reform efforts during his time as a cop. Garciawho is white, though her ex-husband and children are of Puerto Rican descentserved successfully as de Blasios sanitation commissioner.* Earlier in the campaign, Yang, who is Asian American, said he would hire Garcia as deputy mayor; Garcia shot back that if shes needed so badly at City Hall, people should cut out the middleman and vote for her directly. The New York Times endorsed her, quoting that riposte and hailing her unrivaled experience in city government. (Yang began criticizing her when she rose in the polls and he floundered.)

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Ray McGuire, a Citibank vice president, was thought to have a good chance early on in the contest: a Black man with progressive leanings and financial experience, with deep pockets and TV ads directed by Spike Lee. But he has washed out as a campaigner; his policy ideas are vague; polls show him near the bottom of the heap.

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Theres something else at stake in this contest, even for those who dont live in, or care about, New York: It may boost or diminish the power of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and, more broadly, the left wing of the national Democratic Party. Just last weekend, AOC endorsed Black civil rights lawyer Maya Wiley as mayor, hailing her as the citys standard-bearer for the progressive movement, working on behalf of working people instead of billionaires.

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The endorsement came late in the contest, and with no advance notice to the candidate. But a Wiley victory would cement AOCs standing as a king (or queen) maker in the Democratic Party, a force whose movement cannot be waved away. If Wiley loses, more centrist Democrats, especially those in Congress, will cite the defeat as a reason to resist AOCs pressures.

I have mentioned the candidates ethnic identities for a reason. In his 1993 book To Be Mayor of New York, Chris McNickle demonstrates that, through most of the 20th century, the winners of mayoral elections often reflected the rising ethnic group of their time. For much of this time, candidates ran as a ticketfor mayor, comptroller, and City Council speakerand the party bosses chose them to attract dominant voting groups, usually immigrants. For many years, Irish Catholics were the dominant group; they were later joined or displaced by Jews, then Dominicans and Black New Yorkers. The winning ticket was often the ticket that combined candidates from each group. (The books subtitle is Ethnic Politics in the City.)

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As party bosses vanished in the face of mass politics, and as ticket candidacies were abolished through democratic reforms, this whole phenomenon evaporated. Then again, if Yang wins the primary, it will be due mainly to widespread name recognition but also to his appeal among the largeand more and more politically self-consciousAsian American population in Queens and Brooklyn, as well as to his calculated courting of the citys ultra-Orthodox Jews, many of whom vote as a bloc.

In more recent times, social trends or even random events have shaped mayoral elections at least as much as demographic trends. Rudolph Giuliani won in 1993the first Republican to do so since John Lindsay in 1966 (and Lindsay switched parties when he ran for a second term)mainly because of complaints over David Dinkins passivity in the face of soaring crime and taxes. But there was another factor: Ballots in Staten Island, the smallest and most conservative of New Yorks five boroughs, included a referendum to secede from the city; it was nonbinding, but spurred many disgruntled islanders to the polls, almost all of whom voted for Giuliani. Without those extra votes, Giulianiwho won citywide by a mere 3 percentage pointsmight have fallen short.

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Even odder was Mike Bloombergs win in 2001. A longtime Democrat, he ran as a Republican strictly to avoid a crowded Democratic primary. (He even said as much.) The billionaire candidate spent nearly $69 million in the general election campaign against his complacent Democratic opponent Mark Green. But the crucial bit was that the campaign coincided with the World Series. The Yankees were playing. Millions of New Yorkers, heart pounding loyalty to the city in the immediate wake of 9/11, watched all seven games. And Bloomberg placed several ads in all six. They were all brilliantly produced, and some of them featured Giuliani endorsing him. (Hard as it may be to recall now, Americas Mayor was widely lauded as a hero at the time.) Bloomberg won by 3 percentage points. In an attempt to diminish Giulianis influence over him, he credited his predecessor for 2 of those points. (I recall both of these elections, and reported them at the time, as the Boston Globes New York bureau chief from 19952002.)

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Finally, there is the strange case of the incumbent, Bill de Blasio. For most of the crowded 2013 primary, de Blasio trailed City Council Speaker Christine Quinnuntil two pivotal events. First, Quinn came under attack for having voted to extend Bloombergs tenure to a third term, which turned out to be fairly disastrous. (Few recalled that, when the City Council took that vote, most people supported the extension; the 2008 financial crisis had hit the city hard, and Bloomberg was seen as uniquely equipped to deal with it.) Then de Blasios campaign put out a TV ad featuring a handsome 15-year-old Black American who touted de Blasio, then casually said that hed say all this even if he werent my dad. It was a bombshell. Race relations were deteriorating as a result of Bloombergs hugely excessive use of stop-and-frisk policing. Few knew, until this ad, that de Blasio was married to a Black woman and had multiracial children. Maybe he could solve the crisis. He beat Quinn and seven other candidates by double-digit margins.

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There is one final peculiarity about this years primary, which may also make the current polls less meaningful than usual. For the first time in New York City, there will be rank-ordered ballotsnot just for the mayoral race but for the others (comptroller, City Council members, even judges). Voters can pick up to five candidates, ranking them in order of preference. If one candidate wins 50 percent of the votes, he or she is the winner. If nobody wins a majority, there will be a second-round count, in which the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and those whod listed that candidate as their first choice get their votes redistributed to their second choice. If theres still no majority winner, the bottom choice gets eliminated, another round commences, and on it goes, until somebody gets 50 percent.

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Robert Dahl, the Yale political scientist who proposed rank-ordered voting in the 1970s, saw it as a way to reflect the true preferences of voters, in a way that winner-take-all ballots couldnt, and to boost the chances of marginal candidates. But letting voters rank their top five candidates seems a bit much. (Dahl envisioned a second-round race between the top two or three.) Since most voters know very little about any but one or two candidates, letting them vote for more might wind up reflecting randomness more than preference.

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None of the main candidates have dropped out at this point, because they know that rank voting gives them all a chance. Even if they dont come out on top in the first round, they might win the primary because they win more votes, as the second- or even third-favorite candidate, than anybody else wins as the No. 1 favorite.

Its possible, in other words, that a minority of voters wind up happy with the results of this electionand recall, this would be a small minority of a minority of the voting-age population.

New York City is facing its most serious problems in decades: soaring social needs, a declining tax base, an outflow of residents, and now an uptick in crime. Its political system seems incapable of luring candidates strongly suited to solve themor voters sufficiently strong in number to hold them accountable.

Correction, June 10, 2021: This piece previously misidentified Kathryn Garcia as being Latina.

To understand more about why former police officer Eric Adams is near the front of the Democratic pack, listen to this episode of What Next.
This article is adapted from Judy, the seventh episode of Slow Burns fifth season.

In 2001, Stephen Engelberg was the investigations editor for the New York Times. One of his reporters was a Times veteran named Judith Miller.

Maybe a couple of weeks after July 4, 2001, Judy came to my desk, Engelberg said. She said, Ive got an amazing story. Weve got to go to go fast. This is really astounding stuff.

What she had did sound amazing: an intercept of a conversation between two members of al-Qaida.

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The first guy says something along the lines of, its really a shame the United States did not retaliate for the attack on the USS Cole, which was an American ship that had been attacked by a sort of suicide-bombing dinghy, Engelberg said. And then the second guy says, well, dont worry, were planning something so big theyre going to have to retaliate.

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Miller had been covering Islamic extremism for years, and it seemed like she might have a huge scoopplans by known terrorists to launch a major attack against the United States. Engelberg was interested. But first, he needed to know where the story came from.

Who are these two guys? Engelberg asked. Where are they? Are they high level? Low level? Or are they just two guys talking?

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Miller didnt have those answers but said shed try to find out. She came back and told Engelberg that she couldnt get any more detail. The story never ran. Two months later, al-Qaida hijacked four planes and killed 3,000 people.

After 9/11, we both at some point caught our breath and talked about this and sort of thought, wow, what if we had done the story? Engelberg said. You know, would it have changed history? Were they really onto this thing or was it just a coincidence?

There are two ways to think about the decision to spike that story.

The first: This is exactly how journalism is supposed to work. An aggressive reporter got a tantalizing bit of information. A careful editor pushed back to make sure it was properly sourced. It turned out the story just wasnt there. So the New York Times didnt publish it. The papers journalistic standards were upheld.

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The second way to think about it: the New York Times could have had one of the biggest scoops in historyif theyd pushed harder to get it. Or, maybe, if theyd gone to press with something that wasnt a hundred percent buttoned up. You can even imagine a scenario where the paper prints the story and helps prevent the 9/11 attacks.

Journalists have to balance two competing ideas: Get the biggest story you can, before the competition does. But also, make sure that what youre publishing is true.

Sometimes they end up being cautious, and big news never makes it into the paper. Sometimes theyre aggressiveand that can cause its own set of problems.

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In the run-up to the Iraq War, almost no one was more aggressive than Judith Miller. If you read the New York Times in 2002 and 2003, you probably believed the Iraqis had weapons of mass destruction. In the year before the invasion of Iraq, the media mostly backed the administrations narrative about WMD, even when the evidence was thin.

Why did I believe the people I believed? Miller said. Why did I believe the people who talked to me and not the people who wouldnt? Because these people, by and largenot all of them, but most of themhad been the very same people who were warning us about al-Qaida and 9/11. I had every reason to believe them because they had been right before.



I got it wrong. I got it wrong because I believed people who also believed themselves.

How did the press get the question of weapons of mass destruction so wrong? Why did so many reporters end up looking so credulous? And why was Judith Miller the one who took the fall?

Listen to Episode 7 of Slow Burn: The Road to the Iraq War on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Spain woos German tourists after remaining on UK amber list



Germany is Spain's second largest tourist market after the UK.

Spain has stepped up its bid to attract German tourists after remaining on the UK's amber list of safe travel destinations.

In a major blow to the tourism sector, the UK government failed to move Spain into its green list in the latest revision, continuing to recommend travellers remain in the UK this summer and insisting on a 10-day quarantine on return for those who do choose to visit amber countries.

So in a bid to reboot the tourism industry, Spain is wooing travellers from across Europe - bolstered by the issuing of EU Covid digital certificates - in particular its second-largest market, Germany.

"It may be that Germany will become our first issuing market this year, we must see how the British situation evolves," said Miguel Sanz Castedo, general director of Turespana, a public body for tourism promotion abroad, during a presentation of the 'You deserve Spain' summer campaign at the Spanish Embassy in Berlin on Tuesday, June 8.

While there is no doubt that people want to travel again, the issue is whether people want to holiday outside their own countries, and if they do, the challenge is to make sure "they choose Spain as their destination".

A European study shows that 70 per cent of Europeans say they will travel in the next six months.

But there is a drive for staycation (staying vacations), "with many people preferring not to fly, and to travel by land within their own country," warned Turespana.

To try to instill confidence in potential holidaymakers from Germany, the public body for tourism abroad presented a comprehensive list of practical information on entry requirements to Spain, restrictions by autonomous community, comparative rates of Covid incidence, and vaccination figures.

In regard to the latter, the Spanish government estimates that 70 per cent of the population in Spain will be vaccinated by mid-August.

"We want it to be easy for Germans to travel to Spain," stressed Turespana.

In 2019, 18 million tourists from the UK visited Spain, 11.15 million from Germany, and 11.14 million from France.

Twelve months later, the pandemic and consequent travel restrictions saw these figures plummet to 3.6 million from France, "clearly influenced by the geographical proximity", three million from the UK and 2.4 million from Germany.

And between January and April of this year, in which full mobility restrictions were imposed, 418,000 French travellers visited Spain, and 331,000 Germans.

Spain's tourism body stressed that "this must be a summer of recovery and stability," and forecasts the number of travellers to Spain during high-season will be between 60 and 75 per cent of those in 2019.

The 'You Deserve Spain' summer campaign in Germany features six videos comparing the last 15 months of restrictions with a "well-deserved holiday in Spain, at last".

And along with promoting sun and beach resorts - hugely popular with Germans - the campaign also highlights mountainous, hiking, nature and cultural destinations.

IMAGE: Archive
New expert opinion in Kuciak murder case provided as the trial is approaching. Interior Ministry inspectorate secured files on some open cases. Solar eclipse was visible also from Slovakia.

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Good evening. The Thursday, June 10 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes. We wish you a pleasant read.

Trial in Kuciak case approaching, new expert opinion presented

Alena Zsuzsova (Source: TASR)

The Supreme Court will convene in the murder case of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova on June 15. A new expert opinion is to convince the court that the Threema text messages were really full of hidden meanings.

In 67 pages, the opinion analyses the Threema messages between Kocner and Zsuzsova, which the twosome exchanged between September 2017 and late June 2018.

We came to the conclusion that these people, through the alternative use of expressions, sought to generate their ambiguity, obscure the meaning of their communication and deliberately encrypt it so that it remained misunderstood by a third party in the first place, writes a group of experts from Comenius University in Bratislava.

Interior Ministry inspectorate investigates policemen

Illustrative stock photo (Source: TASR)

An inspectorate of the Interior Ministry intervened on June 10 at the premises of the National Criminal Agency (NAKA).

According to the information of the Dennik N daily, they seized files concerning the currently investigated cases within the Ocistec (Purgatory) operation. This is related to the alleged influence of the investigation and the manipulation of the statements.

Interior Minister Roman Mikulec has repeatedly declared that all information he receives as a recipient by law is forwarded to the relevant departments of the Police Corps. Mikulec believes that today's act of the Inspection Service at NAKA was in full compliance with the law and based on the decision of the prosecutor.

If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism,buy our online subscription. Thank you.

Coronavirus and vaccination news

571 people above the age of 60 are interested in vaccination with the Sputnik V vaccine , the Health Ministry reported. A total of 3,626 people are waiting for this vaccine, as of Thursday.

, the Health Ministry reported. A total of 3,626 people are waiting for this vaccine, as of Thursday. Altogether 1,852,580 people have received their first Covid vaccine shot, and 1,046,405 have been vaccinated with the second shot as of June 9.

Travelling news

As of today, Netherlands has included Slovakia in its list of safe countries . Thus, negative test results are not required when entering the country, and the obligation of isolation does not apply. The same applies when transiting from Slovakia through the Netherlands or via air transport from other countries to the Netherlands. Safe countries also include the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Poland.

. Thus, negative test results are not required when entering the country, and the obligation of isolation does not apply. The same applies when transiting from Slovakia through the Netherlands or via air transport from other countries to the Netherlands. Safe countries also include the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Poland. Cyprus reclassified Slovakia as an orange ( safe) country as well. Passengers from orange countries, with the exception of the fully vaccinated, must undergo a PCR test, which must not be older than 72 hours, and complete a Cyprus Flight Pass form before entering, in which they must upload a negative PCR test result.

safe) country as well. Passengers from orange countries, with the exception of the fully vaccinated, must undergo a PCR test, which must not be older than 72 hours, and complete a Cyprus Flight Pass form before entering, in which they must upload a negative PCR test result. The national railway carrier ZSSK is resuming the first pair of InterCity trains from Kosice to Vienna and back on June 13. The company will include restaurant carriages in its long-distance trains, ZSSK spokesman Tomas Kovac said. As of June 18, ZSSK, in cooperation with the Austrian national carrier Osterreichische Bundesbahnen (OBB), will once again provide summer connections from Bratislava directly to Split.

Photo of the day

A solar eclipse was visible from Slovakia, but the lunar disk covered almost ten percent of the Sun, so it was only a partial eclipse. Slovakia will see another partial solar eclipse next year on October 25.

(Source: Tomas Slovinsky (astro-novinky.eu))

Feature story for today

The SNP Museum has recently found itself in the middle of a conflict between its management, national and international historians, and the government, after the Culture Ministry and the Defence Ministry agreed that the museum will effectively be transferred under the control of the latter.

Uprising museum to change hands. Foreign historians join critical voices against the move Read more

In other news

OLaNO MP Peter Pollak junior wants to open a discussion about the law on the compensation of Roma women who underwent forced sterilization .

about the law on the compensation of Roma women who . The European Commission decided to refer Slovakia to the Court of Justice because its national rules infringe upon EU law when it comes to holiday package rights.

when it comes to holiday package rights. Kia will stop the production of cars for one day on Friday due to the preparation of a line for a new model .

for one day on Friday due to the preparation of a line for a . Lawyer Martin Ribar , who was ordered by the Constitutional Court to be released immediately from custody a few weeks ago, was once again detained by the police . This was confirmed by his legal representative Matej Marhavy, stating that he is not yet aware of the reason behind it.

, who was ordered by the Constitutional Court to be released immediately from custody a few weeks ago, was once again . This was confirmed by his legal representative Matej Marhavy, stating that he is not yet aware of the reason behind it. At the Globsec Bratislava Forum security conference, which takes place on June 15-17, prominent politicians and world diplomacy leaders will take the floor, and even the Pope will join remotely. In addition to the presidents of Slovakia, Croatia and Poland, ten foreign ministers and several defense ministers are expected to appear in Bratislava. Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan will make a remote appearance. Apart from Eduard Heger,premiers Sebastian Kurz and Andrej Babis will also attend.

Do not miss on Spectator.sk today

The average Slovak drank seven cups of fairtrade coffee last year Read more

Slovakia is filling the gap on European car battery market Read more

Picturesque Levoca beefs up its offer for tourists Read more

Seven in ten people do not trust the government. Vaccination suffers, too Read more

If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk

10. Jun 2021 at 17:53 | Nina Hrabovska Francelova
Paytm, Infosys and MakeMyTrip are among companies seeking approval in India to provide online COVID-19 vaccine bookings, the head of the government's tech platform said, as the country tries to make it easier for its huge population to book shots.

Around 15 state agencies and private companies, which also include Indian healthcare giants Apollo and Max, and online pharmacy 1mg, have asked to be allowed to offer vaccine bookings, R.S. Sharma, head of the government's panel managing the CoWIN vaccination registration platform, told Reuters.

Softbank-backed digital payments app Paytm has more than 100 million monthly active users and MakeMyTrip has 12 million. Their popularity is seen providing more options to Indians looking to book their COVID-19 shots, particularly if they are struggling with an unfamiliar government platform.

"It will work in favour of the country, the union of all the entities is better than just one individual platform," Sharma said.

MakeMyTrip CEO Rajesh Magow said the company wanted to help people book their vaccination slots. 1mg said it was waiting for government approvals. Apollo declined to comment, while Paytm, Infosys and Max did not respond to Reuters queries.

Only 3.5% of India's 1.3 billion population has been fully immunised against COVID-19 and health officials say the pace will have to ramp up to avoid further deadly surges of the virus, like the one that swept the country in the spring.

While much will depend on a pick up in scarce vaccine supplies, experts say more booking options should help. Several software developers have already been using publicly available coding for the CoWIN platform to create tools that send Telegram alerts to help people book slots.

Read more: How digital vaccine passports will work for global travel in a post-COVID world

"Right now, even if you find a slot using alerts, you have to still go to the government website and follow many steps. Companies will be able to give a better user experience compared to CoWIN," said Berty Thomas, a software developer who had designed Telegram alerts for notifying people about slots.

Paytm too has enabled a notification feature on its app.

Sharma said vaccine supplies should improve going forward and praised the CoWIN platform, saying at least three African nations - Zambia, Nigeria and Malawi - had enquired about using it for their own vaccination drives.

"We will give them the portal free of cost and they can customize. This is highly scalable," said Sharma.
Facebook Inc said it will let all employees work remotely even after the pandemic if their jobs can be done out of an office, but may reduce their pay if they move to a less-expensive area.

Starting June 15, any Facebook employee can request to work from home, the Menlo Park, California-based company said Wednesday in a statement. If those employees move to a lower-cost region, their salaries will be adjusted accordingly and they will be encouraged to go into the office at times to enhance team-building.

Facebook said it will be more flexible for employees expected to return to the office. Guidance is to be in the office at least half the time, the company said. Facebook also plans to open most of its U.S. offices to at least 50% capacity by early September and reopen fully in October. Until the end of 2021, employees can work as many as 20 business days from another location away from their home area, the company said.

The social network had more than 60,000 workers as of March 31, according to regulatory filings. Employees have been able to work remotely since offices were closed at the beginning of the pandemic last year.

Facebook also is expanding the number of workers who are allowed to move to other countries. Later this month, any employee will be able to move from the U.S. to Canada or from Europe, the Middle East or Africa to anywhere in the U.K., according to the company. Previously, only employees in technical or recruiting roles were allowed to take advantage of this option. By January 2022, Facebook employees will be allowed to permanently move between seven more countries in Europe, the Middle East or Africa.

Other tech companies also are grappling with how to retain employees who have enjoyed the freedom of remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic. VMware Inc. is letting its employees become permanent remote workers, but they, too, will receive a pay cut if they move from Silicon Valley. Twitter Inc. and Square Inc., both run by Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey, have also announced that their employees can work from home permanently.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last year that he believes remote workers could make up as much as 50% of the companys workforce in the next five to 10 years.

We and a lot of other folks were very worried that productivity was going to really fall off a cliff, Zuckerberg told Bloomberg News. It just hasnt. We are at least as productive as we were before, and some people report being even more productive.
When will Flipkart IPO come? This is a question that is raging in the investment community regarding the Indian e-commerce major's expected turn to stock markets. Both Flipkart and payment app PhonePe continue to do well, Walmart International President and CEO Judith McKenna said while speaking at the DB Access Global Consumer Conference on June 7.

US retail giant Walmart has said it is "open to an IPO" for its Indian e-commerce arm Flipkart. "We always made it clear from the day we made the acquisition or the investment, that we would be open to an IPO," said McKenna.

However, she noted that there is no specific timeline for the Flipkart IPO.

Flipkart IPO Next Year?

Walmart Inc owns a majority stake in Flipkart. It had invested USD 16 billion in 2018 in the Bengaluru-based e-commerce platform to pick up 77 per cent stake. In July last year, it led a USD 1.2-billion round in Flipkart, valuing the e-commerce firm at USD 24.9 billion.

According to sources, SoftBank Group is in discussions with Flipkart to pump in about USD 500-600 million into the Walmart-owned e-tailer.

The transaction -- which may also see participation from Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Canadian pension fund CPPIB -- could value Flipkart at USD 30-32 billion, they added.

Flipkart is also said to be working on launching its initial public offering (IPO) next year.

McKenna further said both Flipkart and PhonePe businesses are doing well.

"I am really pleased with what they have done since we acquired them. We have said that clearly a number of times," she added.

E-commerce has seen strong growth in India amid the pandemic as containment measures introduced millions to the convenience of online shopping, and prompted seasoned online shoppers to buy more.

Social distancing compulsions, massive smartphone base and reliable broadband have galvanised e-commerce uptake beyond metros, deep into smaller cities and towns.

E-commerce companies are ramping up capacities and hiring to cater to the growth in order volumes.

McKenna also noted that after COVID, there is an increase in digital penetration overall in India.

Talking about PhonePe, McKenna said the payment platform has just crossed the 300 million users mark in a five-year period.

"So they (PhonePe) are going into new financial services areas, be that gold... insurance, mutual funds and different areas, which are all strengthening to the P&L... So confident and happy with the progress the businesses are making," she said.
Besides the Huawei MatePad Pro that was announced this afternoon, Huawei Malaysia also announced the Huawei MateBook D15 i3 for the Malaysian market at the price of RM2599. The pre-order for the latest laptop is now live and it comes with freebies with up to RM498.

For the record, you can only make the pre-order on the MateBook D15 i3 at the official Huawei Online Store here. We also mentioned the freebies earlier and this includes a simple backpack and a Bluetooth mouse so that's something. The MateBook D15 i3 is powered by an Intel 10th Gen i3 processor but if you want a higher specs variant, you may get the i5 models too.

To recap some of the highlighted tech specs and features, the MateBook D15 i3 features a 15.6-inch FullView display with 1080p resolution. The bezels on the screen panel are quite thin too, measuring only 5.3mm and when folded, the laptop measures 16.9mm in thinness and weighs 1.53kg only. Moreover, it comes with a 65W USB Type-C AC adapter that supports Huawei SuperCharge technology.

The Multi-screen collaboration feature is back too where you can use a Huawei device to pair with the MateBook D15 i3 laptop for work convenience. Lastly, the fingerprint power button is integrated into the power button.

The pre-order will end on 17 June 2021 at the said official store. If that's what you're looking for, you may visit the website to check it out, stay tuned for more trending tech news at TechNave.com.
Increase in broadband access. Credit: Michigan State University

High-speed internet access has gone from an amenity to a necessity for working and learning from home, and the COVID-19 pandemic has more clearly revealed the disadvantages for American households that lack a broadband connection.

To tackle this problem, Michigan State University researchers have developed a new tool to smooth the collection of federal broadband access data that helps pinpoint coverage gaps across the U.S. The research was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

"Nearly 21% of students in urban areas are without at-home broadband, while 25% and 37% lack at-home broadband in suburban and rural areas," said Elizabeth A. Mack, associate professor in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences in the College of Social Science.

"As more of our day-to-day activities continue to move online, including education, commerce and health care, it's essential that we understand where gaps in digital infrastructure exist. This is especially important if we want to address disparities in access related to demographics, socioeconomic status, and educational attainment," she said.

When the U.S. Congress first passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the goal was to encourage competition in the telecommunications industry while improving the quality of service and lowering customer prices. To determine the act's effectiveness, the Federal Communications Commission created a standardized form (Form 477) where twice a year, internet service providers are required to report where they provide service to residential and business customers.

Decrease in broadband access. Credit: Michigan State University

"To date, Form 477 data remains the best publicly available data source regarding broadband deployment," said Scott Loveridge, a professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics (AFRE). "Unfortunately, there are a lot of nuances to these data which to this point have prevented us from conducting useful analyses over time."

One of these nuances is that the data collected from 2008 to 2018 spans the two census reporting periods of 2000 and 2010. This has made it difficult to look at the data overall and align it with the shifting census geographies, which do change each census year.

Loveridge, Mack and John Mann, an assistant professor with the Center for Economic Analysis, and several other researchers at the University of Texas and Arizona State University, worked together to produce a new dataset that resolves some of these issues by linking the breaks in the Form 477 data into a continuous timeline and aligning the data to the 2010 census.

"We developed a procedure for using the data to produce an integrated broadband time series," Mann said. "The team has labeled the dataset BITS, which stands for a Broadband Integrated Time Series."

"We hope these (BITS) data will be a tool to diagnosing gaps in broadband availability to help close the digital divide and enhance the participation of all people in online activities," Mack said. "With shrinking public budgets and a need to pinpoint locations suffering from a chronic shortage of broadband, it is critical for policymakers to efficiently allocate the human, infrastructural and policy resources required to improve local conditions."

Explore further $1B in grants to go for broadband on tribal lands

More information: Elizabeth A. Mack et al, A broadband integrated time series (BITS) for longitudinal analyses of the digital divide, PLOS ONE (2021). Journal information: PLoS ONE Elizabeth A. Mack et al, A broadband integrated time series (BITS) for longitudinal analyses of the digital divide,(2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250732
Credit: Shutterstock

Governments and car manufacturers are investing hundreds of billions of dollars on electric vehicles. But while the electric transport revolution is inevitable, the final destination remains unknown.

The electric vehicle transition is about more than just doing away with vehicles powered by fossil fuels. We must also ensure quality technology and infrastructure, anticipate the future and avoid unwanted outcomes, such as entrenching disadvantage.

In Australia, the electric vehicle rollout has been slow, and federal action limited. But some state governments are working to electrify bus fleets, roll out public charging networks and trial smart vehicle charging in homes.

Australia's world-leading rollout of rooftop solar power systems offers a guide to help navigate the transition. We've identified three key lessons on what's gone well, and in hindsight, what could have been done differently.

1. Price isn't everything

Solar systems and electric vehicles are both substantial financial investments. But research into rooftop solar has shown financial considerations are just one factor that guides purchasing decisions. Novelty, concerns about climate change and a desire for self-sufficiency are also significantand electric vehicle research is producing similar findings.

When considering the electric vehicle rollout, understanding these deeper motivators may help avoid a race to the bottom on price.

About one in four Australian homes has rooftop solar, with almost three million systems installed. Solar companies have often sought to highlight the low price of rooftop systems over other considerations. This has created consumer demand for low-priced, lower-quality productsand led to potentially hundreds of thousands of substandard installations across Australia.

So what are the lessons here for the electric vehicle rollout? First, when planning public infrastructure where electric vehicles can be charged, construction costs should not be the only consideration. Factors such as night-time safety and disability access should be prioritized. Shortcuts today will reinforce barriers for women and people with disabilities and create complex problems down the track.

Like rooftop solar, the point of sale of electric vehicles offers a unique opportunity to teach customers about the technology. Companies, however, can only afford to invest in customer education if they aren't too stressed about margins.

Australias rooftop solar boom offers insights into the electric vehicle revolution. Credit: Shutterstock

"Smart" charging is one measure being explored to ensure the electricity network can handle future growth in electric vehicle uptake. Smart chargers can be remotely monitored and controlled to minimize their impact on the grid.

The point of sale is a pivotal moment to tell new owners of electric vehicles that their charging may at times be managed in this way.

2. Plan ahead

The uptake of rooftop solar in Australia has been a raging success. In fact, rooftop solar is now the largest generator in the national power system.

This raises issues, such as how rooftop solar systems will respond to a major disturbance, such as the failure of a transmission line. A large amount of solar power feeding into the grid can also challenge electricity network infrastructure.

In response, electricity networks have implemented changes such as limiting solar exports and therefore, returns to solar system owners, and charging fees for exporting solar.

Such retrospective changes have been unpopular with solar owners. So to maintain reliable electricity supplies, and avoid angering consumers, it's vital to plan where and when electric vehicles are charged.

If every vehicle in Australia was electric, this would add about a quarter to national power demand. The rise in demand would be greatest near bus and logistics depots and ultra-fast highway chargers.

Timing is key to maximizing the use of a network connection without overloading it. For example, if everyone charged their vehicle in the evening after they get home from work, as this would put further pressure on electricity supplies at this peak time.

Governments and electricity providers should encourage electric vehicle charging during the day, when demand is lower. This might mean, for example, providing vehicle charging facilities at workplaces and in public areas.

Electric vehicle charging infrastructure should be safe and accessible. Credit: Shutterstock

Until Australia's power grid transitions to 100% renewables, the use of solar energy should be strongly encouraged. This would ensure the vehicles were charged from a clean, cheap energy source and would help manage the challenges of abundant solar.

The question of road user charges for electric vehicles drivers is another example where it's best to avoid retrospective changes. Such charges are necessary in the long run and best introduced from the outset.

3. Coordination is key

Electric vehicle policy spans many government portfolios: transport, infrastructure, energy, planning, environment and climate change. Nationally, and from state to state, different ministers are in charge.

This makes coordination difficult, and creates the risk of policies undermining each other. For example, one policy might encourage the charging of electric vehicles from rooftop solar, to reduce carbon emissions. But because solar energy is so cheap, this might encourage more private vehicle use, which worsens road congestion.

So policies to encourage electric vehicle uptake should not come at the cost of creating more attractive and efficient public transport networks.

And new technologies can entrench societal disadvantage. For example, the rooftop solar rollout often excluded people who could not afford to buy the systems. Without policies to address this, the electric vehicle transition could lead to similar outcomes.

Lessons in the rear-view mirror

As Australia's experience with rooftop solar has shown, successful technology transitions must be carefully planned and attentively steered.

In the case of electric vehicles, this will ensure the benefits to owners, society and the environment are fully realized. It will also ensure a smooth-as-possible transition, the gains from which all Australians can share.

Explore further Why some electric car owners revert back to buying gasoline-powered vehicles

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The shake table's platen, or floor, is put back into place by two cranes at the Englekirk Structural Engineering Center at UC San Diego. Credit: University of California San Diego

A major upgrade to the world's largest outdoor earthquake simulator reached a milestone mid-April when the facility's floorall 300,000 lbs of itwas put back into place. When completed this fall, the simulator will have the ability to reproduce multi-dimensional earthquake motions with unprecedented accuracy to make structures and their residents safer during strong shakes.

The simulator, or shake table, will be able to test the world's heaviest and tallest structures to gauge how well they would withstand various types of earthquakes. The shake table will be equipped with the ability to reproduce all the six possible movements of the ground, known as six degrees of freedom. The first test following the upgrade will feature a full-scale, 10-story, cross-laminated timber building.

"This facility will save a large number of human lives by making the places we live and work in safer during earthquakes," said Joel Conte, the shake table's principal investigator and a professor of structural engineering at the University of California San Diego. Conte and colleagues lay out the details of the upgrade in a paper published in January 2021 in Frontiers in Built Environment.

In the paper, researchers also detail the impact that the shake table has had on building and design codes since it opened in 2004.

In San Francisco, approximately 6,000 "soft-story" wood-frame buildings are being retrofitted to make them safer in strong earthquakes. Full-scale testing of retrofit systems for these soft-story wood-frame buildings was performed on the UC San Diego shake table in 2013. Professor John van de Lindt from Colorado State University, who led this project, played a key role in writing the guidelines for the retrofit of these buildings.

Principal investigator Joel Conte (right), who is also a professor of structural engineering at UC San Diego, and Koorosh Lotfizadef, the table's operations manager, inspect the platen. Credit: University of California San Diego

In 2008, a test led by Professors Robert Fleischman of the University of Arizona and Jose Restrepo of UC San Diego led to new recommendations on how precast concrete floors, known as diaphragms, should be built into parking garage structures to improve their seismic behavior.

In 2011 and 2012, during a series of landmark tests, a team tested elevators and stairs inside a full-size, six-story building. The findings led to new, better guidelines for the way these components should be connected to buildings' structural frames so they don't detach during a quake.

How it works

The principle behind the table is relatively simple: various structures are built on top of the facility's floor, or platen, which is connected to a series of horizontal and vertical actuators, or pistons, that move back and forth, simulating earthquake motions. The movements follow precise earthquake records that researchers have gathered from around the world.

The facility is transitioning from one degree of freedomthe ability to move structures backwards and forwardsto six degrees of freedom, adding the ability to move up and down, left to right, as well as pitch, roll and yaw motions. To understand these last three, think of an airplane in flight: pitch is when the nose of the airplane goes up and its tail goes down; roll is when one wing dips and the other lifts; and yaw is when the plane's whole body slides from left to right.

Two additional horizontal actuators were added to two existing ones in a new configuration in order to move the table horizontally forwards and backwards; left to right; and to make a yaw motion. The six existing actuators that move the table up and down were hooked up to a new, stronger hydraulic power source.

Why do six degrees of freedom matter?

Reproducing earthquake motions in six degrees of freedom is key because during a temblor, the ground might move in more than one direction. For example, during the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the Los Angeles area, bridge columns punched through bridge decks, hinting at a strong vertical ground motion component. Similarly, during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, the buildings twisted and swayed, hinting that the ground was probably rotating.

Principal investigator Conte says he believes results of prior tests would have revealed additional ways to make buildings safer if they had been done in six degrees of freedom rather than one.

In San Francisco, approximately 6,000 "soft-story" wood-frame buildings are being retrofitted to make them safer in strong earthquakes. Full-scale testing of retrofit systems for these soft-story wood-frame buildings was performed on the UC San Diego shake table in 2013. Professor John van de Lindt from Colorado State University, who led this project, played a key role in writing the guidelines for the retrofit of these buildings. Credit: University of California San Diego

More power, better sensors

The upgrade will also add a new, state-of-the-art sensing and data collection system with a total of 768 channels to carry information coming from a wide range of sensors, including high-definition cameras, strain gauges, accelerometers and more. The software controlling the shake table also will be upgraded.

In addition, the mechanism that powers the shake table also been expanded and connected to a hydraulic power system whose capacity has quadrupled.

Explore further Huge earthquake simulator to get an upgrade
For urban planners, parking rules established decades ago have become a contentious 21st-century challenge. Parking takes up about one-third of land area in U.S. cities; nationwide, there are an estimated eight parking spaces for every car.

In 2017 Buffalo, New York, became the first U.S. city to stop requiring development projects to include at least a minimum amount of parking. Other cities followed, including Hartford, Connecticut, and Santa Monica, California. Many cities are now considering reforms, and a bill pending before the California Legislature would remove minimums for new buildings near public transportation across the Golden State.

But despite growing support for parking reform, there is little data showing how such changes affect urban development. As part of our work on urban planning, we quantified changes in construction during the first two years after Buffalo adopted its new "Green Code," repealing minimum parking requirements citywide.

We found that the Green Code is changing Buffalo's urban form in ways that had been difficult, if not impossible, under former zoning rules. As local leaders seek to reenergize the urban core and spark a post-industrial renaissance, public transit is now a priority. Inactive storefronts, underutilized historic structures and former industrial buildings are being rehabilitated, and vacant parcels are being developed in fragmented neighborhoods.

Most building codes prioritize cars

With rapid post-World War II development and an explosion in car ownership, cities and towns across the U.S. introduced minimum parking requirements during the 1950s. These zoning ordinances required new buildings to include off-street parking lots. The mandates remain nearly universal across America, raising real estate prices, bringing more cars into cities, increasing air pollution and carbon emissions and lowering use of public transportation.

Hidden parking rules affect cities in many ways, from housing to quality of life.

Parking standards were created arbitrarily, without adequate data. Zoning laws usually require one parking space per apartment, one per 300 square feet of commercial development and one per 100 square feet for restaurants. For context, a parking space measures 160 square feet on average, plus additional area for driveways and driving lanes, so an eatery's parking lot may be three times the size of its dining area.

Since the 2005 publication of UCLA urban planning scholar Donald Shoup's "The High Cost of Free Parking," many people have begun to question the amount of precious urban land currently used for storing cars. Planners, developers, urbanists and nonprofits are now offering market-driven strategies to realign off-street parking supply and demand.

Prioritizing cars limits space for housing, businesses, parks and other land uses that benefit citizens and contribute to local tax bases. It also increases construction costs, which are then passed on to tenants and buyers. In Los Angeles, for example, each parking space costs developers at least US$50,000a price tag that has scuttled some development projects.

In 2016 Portland, Oregon, waived parking requirements for affordable housing developments, showing how zoning changes could make urban housing more available and affordable.

On the left: a shopping center filled with stores, fronted by a sea of parking. On the right: homes that sit 100 feet from the stores, with no direct connection for walking. This is in Kennesaw, GA, but it's also all over. Dependence on cars, enforced by zoning. pic.twitter.com/sy0q4q5Bjn  Darin Givens (@atlurbanist) May 27, 2021

Main Street in Buffalo, New York, with light rail running down the center. Credit: David Wilson//Wikimedia, CC BY

Buffalo's natural experiment in parking reform

Buffalo's long-standing zoning code, established in 1953, reflected the emergence and dominance of the automobile as America's transportation mode of choice. Inflexible minimums ensured plentiful parking at bowling alleys, dance halls and skating rinks. The code did not ease parking provisions for mixed-use development or offer flexibility to reduce parking at small businesses providing neighborhood necessities.

The result: Nearly half of downtown Buffalo was converted to parking lots. Locals joked about parking: "If the goal was to destroy downtown, we only halfway succeeded."

Our review of the Green Code's initial effects found that from April 2017 to April 2019, the amount of off-street parking included in new building projects varied widely. Developers of 14 sites mixing retail space and residential units incorporated 53% fewer parking spaces than required under previous zoning. Four added no parking, opting instead to share parking with other properties.

In contrast, many single-use developers maintained or exceeded former parking requirements. Despite city leaders' ambitions for more accessible transportation options, the car remains king in development plans for office buildings and townhomes, hampering reform in a region characterized by suburban sprawl and travel habits based on car ownership.

Despite these challenges, we found that developers of 36 major projectsincluding two large housing complexes targeted to graduate students, with over 200 units apieceincluded 47% fewer parking spaces than previous zoning required. One-third of the developments in our study made parking an amenity, charging user fees rather than bundling it into rent or purchase prices. Overall, the Green Code encouraged less parking in transit-rich locations along primary commercial corridors.

A bike share rack in Buffalo. Credit: Andre Carrotflower/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

Optimizing land use

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed development projects worldwide. Though personal automobile use dominated COVID-19-era transportation for many, there is broad support now for returning to a pre-pandemic focus on making urban places more dense, with a focus on walkable neighborhoods. Millennials and Generation Zers drive less than previous generations. Growing numbers of people working from home and shopping online are reshaping traditional urban commutes and travel.

Without minimum requirements, costly and land-consuming off-street parking becomes an option instead of a mandate, paid for by those who use it. Rethinking car-centric urban planning allows for more green space, transit-oriented development and active living.

Rethinking urban landscapes

Zoning is just one piece of a larger urban design puzzle that also must factor in location, market demand for parking and land use priorities. Good public transportation is also key to eliminating parking capacity. The Biden administration has signaled a commitment to public transportation.

Though development slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the desire for livable urban places has not. Nor has the need for affordable housing. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced a bill that highlights the need for equitable development to address the nation's affordable housing crisis. It would withhold funds from development in areas that require parking minimums.

Meanwhile, parking reform is gaining momentum. In May 2021 Minneapolis struck down minimum parking requirements for new development as part of its climate and greenhouse gas emission goals. From San Diego and Salt Lake City to Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, cities are considering similar changes. In the future, U.S. cities could look quite different, designed for citizens rather than parked cars.

Explore further Scientists create application for finding parking spaces

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
SFU cybercrime team fights COVID-19 misinformation with artificial intelligence

Simon Fraser University's International CyberCrime Research Centre (ICCRC) is engaged in a new project to develop artificial intelligence tools to fight COVID-19-related misinformation campaigns on social media.

Throughout the pandemic, anti-science theories on social media that portray COVID-19 as a hoax or downplay the risk of infection have contributed to unnecessary transmission and death. Some research suggests that one-in-three people have encountered false or misleading information about COVID-19 on social media. And while COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out, misinformation on social media still fuels vaccine hesitancy in Canada and resistance to public health measures such as mask wearing.

To combat this, the ICCRC - in SFU's School of Criminology - has received federal funding from the Digital Citizenship Contribution Program for a six-month research project to develop an artificial intelligence tool to help social media platforms, online service providers and government agencies identify COVID-19 misinformation campaigns on social media and take appropriate action.

The research team has created a database of textual content from known social media sources of COVID-19 misinformation and is training machine-learning algorithms to be able to rapidly distinguish between accurate and false information using key words and phrases. When fully operational, the artificial intelligence tool should then be able to monitor new social media posts and almost instantly identify sources of misinformation.

Through this research, the team hopes to develop new insights into the motivations and behaviours of groups and state actors who abuse social media, predict the type of COVID-19 misinformation faced daily by Canadians and provide insights into how people are able to access more trustworthy information online.

###

AVAILABLE SFU EXPERTS

RICHARD FRANK, principal investigator, director, International CyberCrime Research Centre | richard_frank@sfu.ca

BARRY CARTWRIGHT, associate director, International CyberCrime Research Centre | barry_cartwright@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

ABOUT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

As Canada's engaged university, SFU works with communities, organizations and partners to create, share and embrace knowledge that improves life and generates real change. We deliver a world-class education with lifelong value that shapes change-makers, visionaries and problem-solvers. We connect research and innovation to entrepreneurship and industry to deliver sustainable, relevant solutions to today's problems. With campuses in British Columbia's three largest cities--Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey--SFU has eight faculties that deliver 193 undergraduate degree programs and 127 graduate degree programs to more than 37,000 students. The university now boasts more than 165,000 alumni residing in 143 countries.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Pakistan opposition party Awami National Party (ANP) on Tuesday said that mosques were collecting donations for Afghan Taliban and asked the government to act swiftly to end the practice.

Speaking at condolence reference arranged at Bacha Khan Markaz to pay homage to Sadruddin Marwat, the party's former provincial spokesman, ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan disclosed about the collection of donations, reported Dawn.

He said the people who were advocating for recognition of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Afghanistan could not be called as friends of Pakhtuns.

Aimal Wali claimed that though Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamaat-i-Islami were not allies in the government they were taking dictation from the same source, reported Dawn.

The ANP leader said his party had always pinpointed that the terrorists were regrouping in parts of the country but the government was least bothered to take stern action against them, reported Dawn.

He said keeping in view the past mistakes Pakistan should reset its priorities to eradicate terrorism once for all.

In January, Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), said the Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates continued to regroup in erstwhile FATA in 2020 and the National Action Plan by the country's government has not been "fully successful" in countering terrorism.

In a report, the PIPS stated that different militant, nationalist, insurgent and violent sectarian groups perpetrated 146 attacks across Pakistan, including three suicide blasts, which is a decline of over 36 percent from the previous year, Dawn reported.

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is a banned organisation in Pakistan, and its affiliates remained the major actors of instability in Pakistan in 2020 which perpetrated a combined total of 67 terrorist attacks or about 46 per cent of the total reported attacks in 2020, mainly in erstwhile FATA.

(ANI)

Also Read: Sindh leader slams Imran Khan-led PTI, warns of serious food crisis in Pakistan due to lack of water
It's possible my affection for the 41 pictures in Mark Brautigam's "On Wisconsin" is in part due to the fact that I used to live in Wisconsin and am familiar with the State, and have tried to take similar pictures myself. He's caught the distinctive landscapes of rural Wisconsin, some typical activitesthe deer hunters, the tubersand I love the guy with the big old "snow-thrower" in the trunk of his car. I knew some of these types. It's a nicely balanced set, and that stylethe half documentary, half art photography on 4x5 color film (I'm only assumingcould be 8x10, could be 6x7) was a typical look fifteen or twenty years ago.

If "On Wisconsin" has got some years behind it now (I first wrote about it on my old Blogger blog, NLA), Brad Walls' "Pools, from Above" is brand new, coming to my attention not even two weeks ago. (If you can't see the Times, here's the set at his website.) It's an interesting strategy, devised as a project that would allow the photographer to work despite COVID-19. He "scouted" the pictures using Google Earth, and shot with a drone, once making as many as 50 attempts before he got what he was looking for.

Neither of these are what I'd call portfoliosthey're projects or "bodies of work," single sets in pursuit of a unified idea. Very different from each other, each of them successful in my opinion. Do you like either of these? Do you agree with me that they're successful projects?

Mark is a former Marine educated at MIAD, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and Brad is an aerial photographer who lives in Sydney, Australia.

Mike

Product of Interest this week:

As Porsche does with the 911, Fujifilm just keeps refining its perfect pocket camera and making it better and better. Also available from Amazon.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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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:
As part of upcoming construction of Lake Ralph Hall near Ladonia, Upper Trinity Regional Water District is building a temporary fossil park which will include a parking lot and access point to the North Sulphur River for fossil hunters. Construction of this temporary fossil park has begun and is scheduled to open on June 18, 2021. It will be located on the north side of the North Sulphur channel river east side of FM 2990.
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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
A thick layer of slush coats the roadways of Poui Trace in St Marys Village, Moruga, where quarrying activity has trapped some residents inside their homes.

At least five households are stuck behind near crumbling slopes and a muddy path used as an access route to and from the village.

As trucks filled with material leave and enter the area, clumps of mud are left behind, sometimes blocking the road.
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.
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds says theres no secrecy surrounding a small gift of Pfizer vaccines given to the National Security Ministry by the United States government.

In a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, the minister said the small vaccine gift of 80 vials of Pfizer amounted to about 400 doses of the vaccine.

However, the arrival of these vaccines generated curiosity in the country as to exactly how the batch came to Trinidad and the handover process as well as who exactly will benefit from the shots.
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.
I am repeatedly asked by various stakeholders whether Covid-19 vaccination could be made mandatory, so today I offer some initial thoughts.

This is not a clear-cut legal question and there are good arguments on both sides. There is no law, precedent or policy which governs the matter at present. Labour law, public health and human rights issues intermingle and ultimately, what is reasonable and in the majority interest would likely prevail.
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At least nine people were killed and eight were injured when a five-story building collapsed suddenly on Wednesday while it was in the midst of a demolition process and fell on to a busy street in South Korea, officials at a local fire station said.

The building collapsed as it was being demolished in Gwangju, some 270 kilometres of southwest of capital Seoul, officials at the Gwangju Fire and Safety Headquarters said.

The reason for the collapse was unclear, according to the fire station.

Gwangju Fire and Safety Headquarters officials said the fire station had received the report of the collapse, which buried a bus that was near the construction site.

South Korean firefighters search for passengers from a bus trapped by the debris of a collapsed building in Gwangju, South Korea, June 9, 2021. Yonhap via Reuters

As of 8:25 p.m. local time, a total of 17 people were affected by the accident, said fire station officials, including nine who were confirmed dead and eight who were seriously injured and taken to hospitals.

South Korea has been known in the past for having a bad safety record in terms of infrastructure. A department store collapse killed more than 500 people in 1995, and a bridge collapse in 1994 killed 49 people, but the country has in recent years tried to improve its safety record.
The Ministry of Health reported 211 new coronavirus cases in Vietnam on Thursday, with Ho Chi Minh City 61 infections.

A total of 188 patients were logged in quarantine zones or locked-down areas, the health ministry said in a report.

Bac Giang Province, the countrys biggest epicenter, documented 98 cases, Ho Chi Minh City detected 61 patients, and Bac Ninh Province found 38 infections.

The remainder were confirmed in Ha Tinh Province, Hanoi, Tien Giang Province, Lang Son Province, Hai Duong Province, and Long An Province.

Vietnams caseload in the ongoing fourth wave, which broke out on April 27, has reached 6,596 cases announced in 39 out of the countrys 63 provinces and cities.

Bac Giang is the table leader with 3,696 patients, followed by Bac Ninh with 1,227, Ho Chi Minh City with 562, and Hanoi with 451.

Sixteen of the provinces and cities have found zero additional cases in the past two weeks.

The Southeast Asian nation has confirmed an accumulation of 9,784 patients, including 8,165 domestic cases and 1,619 imported infections, according to the health ministry's data.

The number of recovered patients has totaled 3,708 cases, 72 of which were recorded on Thursday, while 55 have died, most having suffered critical comorbidities.

The government has administered 1,389,887 vaccine shots to medical staff and other frontline workers since it rolled out inoculation on March 8.

A two-shot course has been given to 47,179 people since.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Check out the news you should not miss today:

Society

 Vietnam on Thursday morning reported 70 new cases of COVID-19, with 26 among 66 locally-transmitted infections recorded in Ho Chi Minh City, increasing the countrys tally since April 27 to 6,451, according to the Ministry of Health.

 Sixteen provinces including Yen Bai, Quang Ngai, Dong Nai, Nghe An, Quang Ninh, Quang Nam, Quang Tri, Thua Thien  Hue, Dak Lak, Nam Dinh, Hoa Binh, Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho, Son La, Ninh Binh, and Thanh Hoa have reported zero new coronavirus cases during the past 14 days.

 Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son expected the number of additional patients in the northern province of Bac Giang, the countrys largest COVID-19 epicenter, to see a sharp decrease in the next ten days.

 A restaurant owner and five customers in the southernmost province of Ca Mau have been fined VND90 million (US$3,913) for violating COVID-19 prevention regulations by gathering to drink and sing karaoke last week.

 Obstetricians at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi on Wednesday successfully delivered a baby whose mother from Bac Giang Province is in COVID-19 treatment at the hospital.

Business

 Thanks to the preferential tariffs under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, Vietnams footwear exports to the blocs 27 member countries increased 19.2 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2021 with an overall turnover worth nearly US$4.8 billion, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Education

 Four Vietnamese universities have made it into the list of top universities worldwide in the 2022 QS World University Rankings by UK educational organization Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

World News

 If the spread of COVID-19 continues at current rates it will be years before the virus is controlled in the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday, as it called for countries to share excess vaccine doses, according to Reuters.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
An eighth-grade student in Ho Chi Minh City has tested positive for COVID-19, while her teacher and eight classmates have been quarantined as direct contacts.

The medical center in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City confirmed on Wednesday that the girl, only known as H.M.C., is a student at Tran Quoc Toan Middle School.

C. visited the school from 3:00 to 3:45 pm on May 27 to receive a reward for her good academic performance during the academic year.

The girl had close contact with her homeroom teacher and eight classmates.

After she tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the nine direct contacts have been quarantined and tested for COVID-19.

Her indirect contacts have been asked to fill out health declaration forms and undergo home quarantine for 21 days.

C. is now being treated at the makeshift hospital for COVID-19 treatment in Cu Chi District.

Her house and four next-door houses on Street No. 385 in Tang Nhon Phu A Ward, Thu Duc City have been temporarily fenced off, according to Tran Thi Thu Hoai, the ward chairwoman.

Vietnam has recorded 9,635 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday morning, with 3,636 recoveries and 55 deaths, according to the health ministry.

The country has documented 6,451 local infections in 39 provinces and cities since the fourth transmission wave began on April 27.

Ho Chi Minh City has detected 527 cases in this bout.

All students in the city were required to stay home and switch to remote learning from May 10 due to the serious COVID-19 pandemic.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Three children drowned while swimming at a beach in Quang Xuong District in the north-central Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa on Wednesday afternoon.

The Peoples Committee of Quang Xuong District said on Thursday morning that the victims families and local authorities are working on funeral procedures.

According to the committee, the three victims were swept away by a strong wave while swimming with two other children at a beach in Quang Nham Commune on Wednesday afternoon.

After receiving the report on the case, functional forces and local residents began a search for the missing children.

They were able to recover the bodies of the victims, including T.D.A., 11, T.V.K., nine, and N.V.S., eight, by the evening of the same day.

They were all residents of Quang Nham Commune.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Children in treatment for COVID-19, as well as those in concentrated quarantine due to high risks of infection, will receive their meals free-of-charge until they are discharged, the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) has announced.

As stated in a recent report released by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, up to 42,000 Vietnamese children could be directly affected by the coronavirus by the end of 2021. Right now, that number sits at almost 7,000.

On the occasion of the annual Month of Action for Children in June, the head of the labor ministry as well as the deputy head of the NFVC approved a new welfare plan to distribute VND80,000 (US$3.5) each day to children in treatment for COVID-19 or in concentrated quarantine due to the pathogen.

The subsidy, sponsored by the NFVC, will be available from April 27 to December 31, and will sustain each beneficiary over their 21-day quarantine period.

The fund has also granted VND1 billion ($43,600) to each of the provinces of Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, and Dien Bien  three of Vietnams current COVID-19 hotbeds  in order to help quell the transmission of the virus.

In their announcement, the NFVC called on benefactors to support children affected by the pandemic with donations of time, money, and goods.

The funds goodwill ambassador, local comedian Xuan Bac, will join the fundraising campaign, which will run from June 1 to July 31, national radio station VOV said.

Donations can be directed to the National Fund for Vietnamese Children headquarters at 35 Tran Phu Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, or transferred to the following bank account:

- Account: Quy Bao Tro Tre Em Viet Nam (National Fund for Vietnamese Children)

- Account No.: 001.0.00.0000355

- Bank: Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank)

Vietnam is scrambling to curb the fourth wave, which emerged on April 27. It is considered the worst outbreak, with over 6,500 local infections having been recorded, since the beginning of the pandemic in the country in early 2020.

As per the nations current guideline for epidemic prevention, people identified as direct contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases will be sent to concentrated quarantine facilities over a period of 21 days, while indirect contacts must stay home and self-isolate for at least two weeks.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
As excessive burning of straw waste on rice fields in northern Vietnam is smothering air quality of multiple localities, including Hanoi, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has ordered local authorities to rectify the situation.

The direction was stated in an official dispatch issued on June 9 and endorsed by Vo Tuan Nhan, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.

According to the document, air quality in Hanoi and provinces along the Red River is deteriorating due to straw burning, which poses threats to public health and socio-economic development.

In a bid to curb air pollution, the environment ministry required leaders of provinces and cities in the area to have effective solutions against solid waste burning, including straws and other agricultural discards.

Farmers would need to sign a commitment form to pledge the discontinuance of straw burning, while those keeping on doing it would be subject to penalties.

Straw burning discharges fumes to the atmosphere in Hanoi. Photo: Anh Tuan / Tuoi Tre

Provinces and cities should devise projects to guide farmers on better practices in agricultural waste collecting, handling and processing, turning them into useful by-products, the dispatch stated.

They are also required take drastic action to enforce a government directive on enhancing air pollution control, as well as drawing up a plan to manage local air quality pursuant to technical instructions from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

After the harvest season in May and July every year, rice farmers in the rural outskirts of Hanoi, as well as surrounding provinces, start burning excessive straws and other solid waste from their agricultural practices to provide the soil with ashes as a type of natural fertilizer.

The municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment estimates that 300,000 metric tons of straw is burned each year, reducing Hanoi's air quality and causing problems for pilots flying into and out of Noi Bai International Airport, according to news site VnExpress.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Vietnams Ministry of Health has asked United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for help in speeding up the delivery of coronavirus vaccines to the country as it is battling the worst-ever wave of infections.

At his meeting with Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative in Vietnam, on Wednesday, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long requested the organization to work with COVAX, a global initiative for fair supply of COVID-19 vaccines, to accelerate the provision of jabs for the Southeast Asian nation.

Vietnam is facing the pandemics fourth wave, in which the appearance of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, first detected in India, has caused quicker infection and more serious disease progress, the minister told Flowers.

The country has placed orders to purchase COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate about two-thirds of its 98 million-strong population by the end of this year to reach herd immunity, but the delivery of vaccines to Vietnam is very slow, he said.

COVAX has pledged to supply 38.9 million doses of vaccine to Vietnam, but only 2.5 million AstraZeneca shots have arrived in the country to date.

Vietnam is committed to using up the supplied vaccine volume equitably and effectively," the minister told the UNICEF representative.

In her reply, Flowers said more jabs would come to Vietnam next month.

With funding from the Australian government, UNICEF, and some other organizations, Vietnam has registered to buy 1,910 high-capacity refrigerators for storage of COVID-19 vaccines, a source told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

These fridges, along with five million syringes, will be delivered to Vietnam in July.

So far, only about 1.37 million vaccine shots have been administered to medical staff and other frontline workers in Vietnam while those receiving their second shots have reached around 42,100.

As vaccination has merely covered two percent of the population, a low proportion compared to other regional countries, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested agencies concerned to boost implementation of the vaccination strategy.

Earlier, Vietnam donated US$500,000 to COVAX, representing the countrys high appreciation for this programs efforts to provide coronavirus vaccines for poor countries around the world.

The health ministry on Thursday noon confirmed 88 new coronavirus cases, including 86 domestic and two imported infections.

These new cases have taken the countrys tally of patients to 9,723 cases, including 3,636 recoveries and 55 deaths.

Since April 27, when the pandemics fourth wave began in Vietnam, the country has documented 6,537 domestic infections in 39 cities and provinces, according to the health ministry's data.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A restaurateur and five customers in the southernmost Vietnamese province of Ca Mau have been fined VND90 million (US$3,913) for violating COVID-19 prevention regulations when they gathered to drink and sing karaoke last week.

The Peoples Committee of Ca Mau City in the namesake province on Wednesday confirmed the penalty for N.H., the owner of Huyen Cat Tuong Restaurant, and five of her customers.

Each member of the group is obliged to pay a VND15-million ($652) fine.

H. and her customers were caught drinking and singing karaoke together using a loudspeaker at her restaurant when a local task force for COVID-19 prevention was patrolling the locality on the evening of June 2.

The group was uncooperative when authorities attempted to disband their gathering.

Their actions violated a mandate issued by the chairman of Ca Mau Province banning restaurants from serving more than four people at a table and over ten customers in a closed room, as well as requesting that all restaurants place tables at least 1.5 meters apart starting June 1.

Restaurateurs are responsible for collecting health declaration information from customers and reporting to officials when required, along with taking other disease prevention measures.

Ca Mau has recorded zero community coronavirus cases since the beginning of a new wave of infections in Vietnam on April 27.

The Ministry of Health confirmed 70 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday morning, including 66 local infections in Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, and Ha Tinh, taking the national caseload to 9,635 patients, with 3,636 recoveries and 55 deaths.

As many as 6,451 domestic infections have been recorded in the country in the ongoing round.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A documentary special showcasing Australian co-operative farmers and fishers screens next week on ABC.

Fightback Farmers: Feeding Australia Together follows co-operative farmers and fishers as they face the triumphs and tragedies of trying to stay on the land and keep operating through trade disruptions, climate disasters and even complete industry restructuring.

Business council of Co-operatives and Mutuals CEO Melina Morrison said: We are thrilled the public broadcaster is screening such an important and heart-warming documentary about co-operative farming. The ABC is committed to telling interesting stories about everyday Australians and we are expecting viewers to enjoy and appreciate Fightback Farmers: Feeding Australia Together.

At a time of unprecedented upheaval, Fightback Farmers is the story we need to hear about communities and families who keep striving to overcome adversity, and demonstrates why the co-op model is the right fit for these farmers.

Were a bunch of farmers one day, and the next were all coming together to form a co-op, says dairy farmer Stuart Crosthwaite after the collapse of dairy giant, Murray Goulburn.

He is joined by fellow dairy farmers Teresa Hicks and Scott Mackillop, winemaker Fred Pizzini, pasta maker Silvana Micheli and lobster fisherman Craig Slim Reilly. There are also interviews with TAFCOs Tony Vaccaro and Lachlan Campbell, who talk about having to completely reinvent their businesses after the tobacco industry suddenly closed.

Executive Producer Steve Bibb, from Barking Mad Productions, said: Ive long admired the Australian families who dedicate their lives to living on the land  farming, feeding and clothing our nation  generation after generation. As a city boy, I also know that most of us dont appreciate what is actually happening, that small family farms are disappearing. It begs the question: why?

In Fightback Farmers, I wanted to meet some of these small farming families  the great characters  who are going back to the future. These farmers and fishers are turning back the clock in a new take on an old away of working together. As we discover, theyre trying to stand strong in the face of adversity for their farms, the future generations, their local communities and a way of life.

Fightback Farmers: Feeding Australia Together was funded with the assistance of the Co-operative Farming project supported by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment through funding from the Australian Governments Starting Farm Co-operatives Program.

9.30pm Tuesday 15 June on ABC.

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Impact Australia is inviting applications for the second year of its screenwriter accelerator program, which will take place in person in Melbourne after being held virtually last year.

Supported by Learning Partner the University of Melbourne and state and territory screen agencies across Australia, the program aims to discover, cultivate, and empower Australian screenwriters.

An eight-week mentorship program begins on 13 September 2021.

Impact Australia far exceeded our expectations in terms of the number and quality of applications. The attendance at our Pitch Day and interest in the projects from global buyers and producers attest to the level of talent of the writers, and the quality of their projects, said Impact CEO Tyler Mitchell, It confirmed what we have long suspected and are excited to continue fostering  that Australia is full of talented screenwriters with stories that resonate with audiences everywhere.

I am thrilled that we are once again bringing the groundbreaking Impact program to Australia for its second season, said Gentle Giant Chairman and CEO Greg Basser, Melbourne and Australia continue to show the great creativity and imagination of Australian filmmakers, bringing a global focus to our home-grown compelling original IP.

During the program, local Creators will be paired with a world-class screen and television writer, or Shaper, to help craft their project and prepare them for Pitch Day with the goal of selling their project. Impact Australia supports participating Creators with all they need to succeed, including a stipend to allow them to relocate to Melbourne and focus on their projects during the eight-week intensive program.

While the program took place virtually last year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this year the program intends to be in-person on the Victorian College of the Arts Southbank campus at the University of Melbourne.

Following on from the success of last years program, we look forward to partnering with Impact again to discover fresh Australian creatives and provide them with a new pathway to global audiences, said Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason. Australian creators have exciting stories to tell and by connecting them with world-class shapers and key decision makers in the global marketplace through Impact Australia, we look forward to more Australian voices on the global stage.

With so many world-class writers who call Victoria home, Melbourne is the perfect city to host Impact Australia, said Minister for Creative Industries Danny Pearson. The Victorian Government is proud to partner with Impact, Gentle Giant Media and Screen Australia on this initiative that allows local talent to develop fruitful partnerships with established screen professionals, and creates a springboard for their work to receive global attention.

Named by FastCompany as the worlds second most innovative film and TV company in 2021  behind only Netflix  Impact is exploding the typical Hollywood development system to elevate fresh voices.

The inaugural Impact Australia program featured fourteen Australian writers who were mentored by Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Collateral), Shaun Grant (True History of the Kelly Gang, Berlin Syndrome), Sarah Heyward (Girls, Modern Love), Jason Smilovic (Condor, My Own Worst Enemy), and Kai Wu (Paper Girls, Carnival Row).

Eight of the 10 projects have been set up with attachments in Australia or the United States and three of the unrepresented writers found American representation. Alumni of the program have since been hired in writing rooms for Netflix and AMC, and hired on assignments by companies such as LuckyChap and Hoodlum.

Impact Australia is financed by Screen Australia, along with principal partner, Film Victoria. The program is also supported by learning partner the University of Melbourne, Screen NSW, Screen Queensland and Screen Territory.

Applications are open from 9  20 June.

apply.impact.net

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In the sumptuous surrounds of Eden life is dreamy.

A pristine surf coast and lighthouse to the right, ethereal forests to the left and a pampering wellness centre populated by tree-huggers in between.

Welcome to Eden, Stans latest local drama where a chilled-out paradise is but a facade for secrets and lies and young adult romance.

Shot in Byron Bay (and not the actual Eden NSW), the mystery begins when Scout (Sophie Wilde) returns home from New York. Her mother Saranya (Alexandria Steffensen) runs a wellness centre with boyfriend Huckleberry (Dustin Clare) which is home to robed retreaters spellbound in meditation, not far from hydrofoiling tourists.

Scout discovers her best friend Hedwig (BeBe Bettencourt) has changed since last they met, but it could possibly be from a lack of purpose.

Im angry with every single human being on this planet, Scout. The worlds on fire, the oceans choking Hedwig reveals. Hey at least youre not in lockdown, girlfriend.

Overlooking the coastal bad boys (Ill get to those), Scout has a thang for Hedwig and it only takes a few popped pills to reach ecstasy together.

Meanwhile recovering detective Ezra Katz (Sam Johnson) arrives in town after disgracing himself in the big smoke to work alongside a group of young cops whose sleek designer uniforms signpost that this force plays by their own rules. But Ezra has a heart, and is caring for his mother Florence, living with dementia and played by veteran Maggie Kirkpatrick -bravely willing to appear in a full frontal nudity. None of the lead stars matched her when they discreetly shielded their modesty.

Episode 2 offers an alternate perspective from Damian, an angry writer battling creativity (Mark Leonard Winter) and demanding girlfriend Cora (Cassandra Sorrell) who take up residence in a swanky rental, where Hedwig invites them to a local party. In Eden nobody seems to work much, either

The party is held by local movie star Andy (Cody Fern), not to be confused with actual Hollywood types livin the good life, wink wink. But in between the music and drugs, relationships and tempers become frayed.

Other characters include Rachael Blake as a local principal, Hunter Page-Lochard as Scouts boyfriend Fred, Claude Jabbour as a corrupt local cop and Keiynan Lonsdale as a drug dealing squatter -the latter will have a more prominent role as episodes progress.

There are also some heavyweight names behind the scenes including Every Clouds Fiona Eagger & Deb Cox (Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries, SeaChange), Bryan Elsley (Skins), Fiona McConaghy (The Kettering Incident, Rosehaven), John Curran (Bloom, Tracks), Peter Andrikidis (Underbelly), Mirrah Foulkes (Judy & Punch), Lizzie Gardiner (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) and Director of Photography Geoffrey Hall, who captures some lush scenic backdrops -one of the best things about the series.

Sam Johnsons experience in creating a character of interest quickly floats to the surface. But the script by creator Vanessa Gazy revolves too much around dull kids floating in and out of AirBnBs and bumping into trippy kids who have strayed too far from Nimbin (Christian Wilkins in a cameo). If this is how Gen Z is spending their time on the coast then Byron Baes has a much bigger problem than a few Instagrammers upsetting the local mayor

While its clear the show is also setting up its universe (for a probable whodunnit), theres too much gloominess and bickering at the expense of plot and characters, to stick around longer.

That just leaves us with the postcard backdrop which at 8 episodes is not enough without an actual Hemsworth involved.

Eden premieres Friday on Stan.

Related
Filming of Netflix series Gods Favorite Idiot has ended early in the Northern Rivers after star and producer Melissa McCarthy was rumoured to have returned to the USA.

Halting the planned production at around half its 16 episode run has also impacted an estimated 300 Australian cast and crew members.

This comes despite the production attracting some $10m funding from federal and state government incentives.

A spokesperson for Australias communications and arts minister, Paul Fletcher, told Guardian Australia no funding had yet been paid to Netflix.

A final report on the production  has yet to be provided to the Office for the Arts which administers the location incentive on behalf of the government, the spokesperson said.

Under standard practice of the location incentive funding, final payment is only made once final Australian expenditure is incurred on the production.

Location incentives from Create NSWs Made in NSW fund are also conditional on meeting agreed performance criteria.

In the series McCarthys husband Ben Falcone plays a mid-level Tech support employee who finds love with co-worker Amily Luck (McCarthy) at exactly the same time he becomes the unwitting messenger of God.

Updated:

TV Tonight understands Netflix has decided to move 16 eps to 2 x 8 episodes with filming having wrapped in Australia on the first 8 eps.

Sources denied rumours the production was due to Melissa McCarthy returning to the US or future quarantine in Australia. Government incentives are likely to be less based on actual production undertaken.

It is unclear where filming of the second batch will take place.

Netflix said in a statement, Weve wrapped production on eight episodes of Gods Favorite Idiot, which will premiere next year. Australia has been so welcoming to all of us and were thankful for their hospitality. Were grateful to our creative partners Ben and Melissa, along with our amazing cast and crew for their hard work and dedication to bring this show to life.

Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy added, We are so sad to leave Australia, as it has truly felt like home to us this past year. We were so lucky to have had the best, hardest working Australian cast and crew. We are so proud of Gods Favorite Idiot and cannot wait to share it with everyone.

Related
Research journal Science published the findings of an international coalition of scientists, which includes University of Dayton geologist Umesh Haritashya, that investigated the landslide and flood in India in February that destroyed two hydropower plants and left more than 200 dead or missing.

The study in Science published Friday, June 10, analyzed satellite imagery, seismic records and eyewitness videos. Haritashya examined before and after satellite pictures of the affected land and river basin for irregularities in the structure of the rock at the site. He also served as a remote liaison to scientists visiting the area.

Early indications in February pointed to a glacial lake outburst flood, but the high-resolution satellite images showed no nearby glacial lakes large enough to cause a flood, according to lead author Dan Shugar, associate professor in the University of Calgary's department of geoscience.

High-resolution satellite imagery used as the disaster unfolded was critical to helping us understand the event in almost real time, Shugar said. We tracked a plume of dust and water to a conspicuous dark patch high on a steep slope. This was the source of a giant landslide that triggered the cascade of events, and caused immense death and destruction.

The researchers are not clear on the direct link between climate change and this particular event but are sure climate change contributes to frequent mountain hazards in recent decades. The greater magnitude of the latest disaster is an argument to assess rapid developments in the area.

"Hazards don't always follow the pattern of past events," said Haritashya, whom The New York Times interviewed for two stories about the disaster. "This calculation and modeling allowed us to understand the critical combination of rock and ice mixture present in the failed mass that transformed it into a large and mobile debris flow."

"I hope policy- and decision-makers look at this study and think about disaster governance and sustainable development in the Himalaya, and evaluate large hydropower structures in development."

In addition to this study, Haritashya and his research team at UD have secured more than $3 million in research grants, primarily from NASA, to examine climate change impact on high mountain glaciers.

For more information, contact Haritashya at uharitashya1@udayton.edu. For interviews, contact Shawn Robinson, associate director of news and communications, at srobinson1@udayton.edu.
Photo credit: Chris Jackson - Getty Images

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have honoured Prince Philip with a memorial post on their official Instagram account, to mark what would have been his 100th birthday today (10 June).

The royal couple shared a photograph of the Queen observing roses at Windsor Castle, after the Royal Horticultural Society presented her with a Duke of Edinburgh Rose, named in his honour.

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The rose has been planted in the East Terrace Garden at the castle in memory of Prince Philip and sales of the rose will help support the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, a legacy of which the Duke was said to be particularly proud.

A message alongside the photograph read, Remembering His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, on what would have been his 100th birthday, before going on to explain the special significance of the flower the Queen received.

Members of the public expressed their condolences and commended the sentimental gesture, saying that Prince Philip is so missed by everyone, and its such a beautiful rose.

The official Royal Family account also shared images of Her Majesty accepting the rose from the RHS, whilst Princess Eugenie and Clarence House, the account for Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, chose their own personal commemorations.

Princess Eugenie said she was, thinking of Grandpa on what would have been his 100th birthday, sharing a smiling photograph of her grandparents alongside the message.

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Clarence House posted a photograph of Prince Charles in 1952 as a child, holding his fathers hand after the Duke returned from a trip to Malta.

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Leftist Pedro Castillo has cast himself as the winner of Peru's presidential vote, even though election authorities on Wednesday have yet to declare a winner in his race against right-wing populist rival Keiko Fujimori, who claims half a million votes are still in play.

With 99 percent of votes cast in Sunday's presidential poll counted, rural school teacher and union leader Castillo retained a tiny lead of 50.2 percent over Fujimori's 49.7 percent.

Late Wednesday Fujimori asked the National Electoral Tribunal (JNE) to annul the results of 802 polling stations, the equivalent of 200,000 votes.

She also asked for another 300,000 votes to be reviewed, so "half a million votes are in play," she said at a press conference.

Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former president Alberto Fujimori, led in early counting, but Castillo slowly gained ground.

As he overtook her, Fujimori alleged "irregularities" and "signs of fraud," telling reporters she had evidence of "a clear intention to boycott the popular will."

Both candidates had previously agreed to respect the outcome.

Peruvian authorities dismissed any possibility of counting fraud, as did the Organization of American States which said the count had "conformed to official procedures."

As Fujimori spoke, Castillo thanked backers rallying in his support. "Let's not be provoked by those who want to see this country in chaos. Therefore, we make a call for peace and tranquility," he tweeted.

Castillo earlier said party observers considered his triumph a done deal, even as authorities held back on announcing an outcome.

"In the name of the Peruvian people," Castillo thanked "embassies and governments from Latin America and other countries" for messages of congratulations on his "victory."

No government has officially recognized a Castillo victory, although Bolivia's former leftist president Evo Morales (2006-2019) sent a message of "congratulations for this victory."

Story continues

The win is "also for the Latin American people who want to live with social justice!" tweeted Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president.

Castillo is currently ahead by some 79,000 votes, but with ballots still being tallied and votes being challenged by both sides, the process will likely take 10 to 12 days to be fully resolved, an official from the vote counting authority ONPE told AFP.

As in Peru's three previous presidential elections, also tightly-run, the tail-end of vote counting has been slow due to delays in the arrival of ballots in Lima from Peru's rural and jungle areas, and from abroad -- where one million of the country's 25 million eligible voters live.

Fujimori has taken most of the expat votes counted, but Castillo is widely popular among rural electors.

Overcoming that difference for Fujimori "will be very difficult, because there should be more votes that remain to be counted in Peru than abroad," analyst Hugo Otero told AFP.

Both Castillo and Fujimori have said after the election that they will respect democracy and form governments that will lead to economic stability.

Late Wednesday Castillo supporters rallied outside the vote counting ONPE office in downtown Lima, while a pro-Fujimori crowd gathered in a large Lima park to denounce the vote "fraud."

- Three presidents in a week -

Peruvians voted on Sunday for their fifth president in three years after a series of crises and corruption scandals saw three different leaders in the office in a single week last year.

For Fujimori, the stakes are higher than mere power: she faces more than 30 years prison if convicted on charges of taking money from scandal-tainted Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to fund presidential bids in 2011 and 2016. She has already spent 16 months in pretrial detention.

Under Peruvian law, an election victory would see the charges suspended until after her term, but defeat could see her put on trial.

Peru's military committed itself in a statement to "respect the will of the people expressed at the ballot box," even as calls circulated on social media for the armed forces to prevent Castillo from taking power.

- Polar opposites -

Whoever wins will lead a nation battered by recession and the world's highest coronavirus death rate, with more than 186,000 deaths among its 33 million population.

Two million Peruvians have lost their jobs during the pandemic and nearly a third now live in poverty, official figures show.

Peruvians will also be looking for stability, with seven of their last 10 leaders either convicted or under investigation for graft.

Fujimori supports a neoliberal economic model of tax cuts and boosting private activity to generate jobs.

Castillo has pledged to nationalize vital industries, raise taxes and increase state regulation.

Fujimori warned that Peru risked becoming a new Venezuela or North Korea under her rival, while Castillo has pointed to the Fujimori family's history of corruption scandals.

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Vote For Your Favorite Super MILLION$ Hero Call

June 10 2021 Will Shillibier

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Related: GGPoker Launches New Power Game: Dan Bilzerian's Battle Royale

1. Grax on a Straighty Flushy Board

With his only cash and his only final table, Sebastien Grax took down the Super MILLION$ in early November 2020, defeating Christian Rudolph heads-up to win the title.

Heads-up, Grax held on a board with 4.2 million chips in the pot. He checked and his opponent Rudolph, holding just for a missed straight draw, bet the pot. Grax called and with 75% of the chips in play went on to secure victory.

2. Dzivielevski vs Addamo For His Tournament Life

Michael Addamo missed out on an historic fourth Super MILLION$ title in March, 2021 after running into Yuri Dzivielevski heads-up.

In a key hand on a river of , Addamo held for just king-high but moved all in putting Dzivielevski to the test for his tournament life.

The Brazilian held for just a pair of eights, but made the call to stay alive in the tournament and he would go on to secure his first Super MILLION$ title at this third final table.

3. Kotelnikov Against the Paired Board

It was a dangerous-looking board of heads-up between Joaquin Melogno and Audrey Kotelnikov. Melogno, who held , checked the river and Kotelnikov bet 2.2 million into 5.8 million with .

Melogno check-raised enough to put his opponent all in, and Kotelnikov eventually called. He took the chip lead with this hand, but it was the the Uruguayan who would go on to secure victory, his first in the GGPoker Super MILLION$.

Super MILLION$ Anniversary Schedule

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Dr. Tanya Bennett has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award for the fall semester from the U.S. Department of State and Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

The UNG professor of English looks forward to teaching in an American studies program at the University of Bucharest in Romania from October through January.

She is one of more than 800 U.S. faculty, administrators, professionals, artists and journalists who will conduct research and teach around the world during the upcoming academic year through the Scholar program. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. It is designed to forge lasting connections between people of the United States and other countries, counter misunderstandings, and help people and nations work together toward common goals.

"At this stage of my career, it's an honor to be able to do this," Bennett said. "It's a chance for me to share my expertise, but it's also a chance for me to expand my expertise by thinking about it from a completely different perspective."

UNG also had seven graduates selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for 2021-22 and has been named a top producer of Fulbright students four years in a row.

Dr. Christopher Jespersen, dean of the College of Arts & Letters, is eager to see Bennett take advantage of the opportunity.

"Professor Tanya Bennett's Fulbright selection is another exciting example of how UNG faculty are successfully competing for prestigious awards," Jespersen said. "She's most deserving and will make an excellent ambassador. Tanya's dynamic teaching style will undoubtedly be a big hit with Romanian students."

Bennett researched Europe to discover where her expertise could be most useful. She is excited to teach about literature of the American South. She also looks forward to exploring the Romanian countryside and the literary history of Bucharest, the Romanian capital, during her downtime.

"It's a country with a complicated history," Bennett said. "Romanians struggle with some of the same types of human rights issues we have struggled with in the U.S. South."

Bennett is no stranger to international experiences as a UNG faculty member. She has led study abroad trips to the United Kingdom, France, and Germany and took Honors Program students to Scotland. She traveled to China in 2005 when she was the English department head.

Dr. Laura Ng, assistant dean of the College of Arts & Letters and professor of English at UNG, said Bennett will thrive in Romania.

"She is in a unique position to expose Romanian students to cultural elements that create nuance in readings. She will create a true cultural exchange experience," Ng said. "As the students learn from Dr. Bennett, she will learn about their culture as well. What she learns there will help Dr. Bennett and the Department of English as a whole create better learning experiences."
When Justin Bray decided to give college another try, he picked the University of North Georgia's (UNG) Oconee Campus as the place to start since it was close to his home in Athens, Georgia.

"Once I got there, I really enjoyed it," said the rising senior pursuing a degree in communication with a concentration in public relations. "I liked learning and getting to know the professors there."

Though he initially intended to transfer to a larger university, Bray remained at UNG.

"The intimate connections and smaller feeling I got at UNG made me stay," the 31-year-old said.

Many opportunities and student-related activities emerged for Bray. He joined the eSports Club and the Vanguard, the student newspaper on UNG's Gainesville Campus. Bray also applied for a couple of prestigious awards through the Nationally Competitive Scholarships Office. In March, he was selected by Campus Compact as UNG's Newman Civic Fellow.

"It was super exciting to get that email from Campus Compact," said Bray, who will be one of 212 students from 39 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico in the 2021-22 academic cohort.

Campus Compact member institutions select the fellows who are community-minded student leaders on their campuses and demonstrate a commitment to finding solutions for challenges facing communities locally, nationally and internationally. The Newman Civic Fellowship is a yearlong program named in honor of Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact's founders.

Dr. Leigh Dillard, associate professor of English who nominated Bray, said he fits the requirements.

"Justin has a heart for service and community involvement," Dillard said.

That's apparent with Bray's full-time job. He is the program manager at Books for Keeps, an Athens, Georgia-based nonprofit that serves children in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade through the program called "Stop Summer Slide," and an opt-in peripheral program for sixth through 12th grades.

He hopes his job and path will lead him to graduate school.

"I am interested in public administration," said Bray, who plans to graduate in 2022. "I think I would like to lobby for change in the form of educational reform in public schools using the skills learned in public administration."
Stephanie Castillo wears many hats.

She is the primary caregiver for her grandmother, who needs a translator for appointments. Castillo works as a part-time nanny for two families. She is a full-time student on the University of North Georgia's (UNG) Gainesville Campus.

Castillo will add world traveler after completing a study abroad program in Barcelona, Spain. The junior pursuing a degree in psychology won a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which will finance the trip.

"I needed three classes specific to my major and they had three classes that fit," said the 20-year-old from Buford, Georgia. "It was perfect."

This was quite an accomplishment for Castillo, who was diagnosed with a conversion disorder about three years ago. Her anxiety causes her to become paralyzed from as short as 5 minutes to as long as 30 minutes. But thanks to doctors, medication and UNG's Student Disability Services, she feels prepared for this next adventure.

"I waited until I was physically and mentally ready," said Castillo, who credits disability services with helping her transition from high school to college. "I felt my disability hindered me when I was 17. When I got to UNG, I enrolled with UNG's disability services and it made a big difference. I felt that I could be a full-time college student, because I was so well supported by UNG."

Now, Castillo is an outspoken advocate for disability services, which provides numerous accommodations, services, and resources for students with disabilities and temporary injuries or illnesses.

"I'm not afraid to speak about it. I'm willing to open up about my disability," she said. "I have not let any part of it hinder my opportunities at UNG."

Her disability led her to change majors.

"The mystery of not knowing why my anxiety was manifesting in a physical way led me to understand the power of the brain," Castillo said. "That's when I knew I wanted to study psychology."

As a junior, she is in her upper-level courses and loving every minute of it. She also joined the psychology club on the Gainesville Campus and has participated in sociology club events, too.

"The faculty and students foster this supportive environment," Castillo said. "I feel I could reach out to any department and get the support that I need. And UNG has the biggest listening ear that I have ever experienced."
Ever since she arrived at the University of North Georgia (UNG), Maggie Simmons has diligently studied the language and culture of her birth country, China.

"A majority of high schools didn't offer Chinese language classes, but I finally learned it through dual-enrollment courses," said the 20-year-old from Snellville, Georgia. She said she was adopted from Hubei Province in China at 13 months old. "I decided to major in it at college, because I wanted to embrace my heritage."

Her concentration on the language and culture led her to enroll in UNG's Chinese Language Flagship. The program allows students to learn Chinese for four years at UNG and then spend a capstone year in Taiwan or China to give them language and cultural training through classes and an internship.

Simmons sought out opportunities to fund a study abroad. Her efforts proved successful.

For two consecutive years, Simmons was named an alternate for the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS). The highly competitive national program funds American undergraduate and graduate students to complete intensive language study abroad in the summer.

In spring 2021, Simmons earned the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. The program enables students who are eligible for the Pell grant to study or intern abroad for at least three weeks and gain skills critical to national security and economic competitiveness.

The junior pursuing a degree in modern languages with a concentration in Chinese for global professionals is excited about studying in Taiwan in summer 2021.

"I want to improve my Chinese language skills and gain experience abroad," she said. "And I think it would be fun to see my birthplace, experience my heritage and embrace my cultural heritage."

Her trip will fulfill one of the requirements in her major, but it will also accomplish her lifelong goal.

"I've always wanted to return to the place I was born, but finances prevented me," she said. "Now, with the Gilman scholarship, it is possible."

Simmons believes others should apply for scholarships like the Gilman and CLS and work on the essays as far in advance as possible.

"Start working on essays early to have more time for editing," she said. "Don't give up on the essays or decide not to apply for scholarships. Even if you do not win the scholarship, the process can help for future scholarship essays. Eventually, you will succeed."
One of the five minor fast days on the Jewish calendar is coming up this weekend: 17 Tammuz, the day when we mourn the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. On 17 Tammuz we also remember the breaking of the first set of tablets of the Ten Commandments when Moshe came down the mountain and saw the children of Israel worshipping the golden calf. (A side note: this year 17 Tammuz falls on a Shabbat, so the fast will be observed on Sunday, the 18th of Tammuz, instead.) 17 Tammuz is the beginning of the "Three Weeks," also known as bein ha-meitzarim -- "between the narrows" or "in tight straits" -- a period of semi-mourning which culminates with Tisha b'Av.

I didn't grow up observing 17 Tammuz or the Three Weeks (or, for that matter, Tisha b'Av.) The Three Weeks aren't universally observed in the liberal Jewish world. (See Do Reform Jews Observe the Three Weeks?) Some of us are unaware of this fast day, and others may feel some resistance to commemorating it by eschewing food all through the daylight hours of the day. What does it mean to mourn the siege of a city almost two thousand years ago, the breaching of the first wall which led to the fall of the Temple, especially when many of us no longer see the Temple Mount as the axis mundi, the umbilicus of creation, the place where communication with God is uniquely possible?

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb suggests that 17 Tammuz is a day to mourn the ways in which the structures of peace are being dismantled in our time. Hearing that, some of us may think of olive trees uprooted and homes demolished; others may think of the removal of settlers from Gaza. What are the impediments to peace in today's Jerusalem? There's passionate disagreement on that front -- which makes me also think: what are the impediments to peace between and among us, in our community, who see the situation in Israel and Palestine in differing ways? The Talmud (tractate Yoma) tells us the Second Temple fell because of sinat chinam, "baseless hatred," within our community. Are we any kinder than our ancestors were?

How are the structures of caring and compassion dismantled in our time? The structures of understanding, gentleness, kindness?

Whether or not you are fasting on 17 Tammuz, consider donating what you would ordinarily spend on a day's food budget to an organization which works to effect healing. Combatants for Peace works to create healing and change in the Middle East; RAINN (the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) works to create healing for those who have suffered rape or abuse. Or choose a group in your community which works to alleviate some of the brokenness of our world.

What can we learn from the teaching that Moshe shattered the first set of tablets, broken-hearted at the apostasy of the community he served, on this same day when we remember the breaking of Jerusalem's city walls? Maybe that hope lies in learning how to care for that which is broken. Midrash holds that the children of Israel carried the broken tablets along with the second set of whole ones in the ark of the covenant. That which is broken is still holy, is still deserving of our respect and our care. "There is nothing so whole," said Reb Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, "as the broken heart."

On 17 Tammuz; on every day of the year; may we learn to extend hope and kindness to all who suffer. May we learn that in our very brokenness lies the possibility of healing and transformation.
While made-in-Turkey combat drones continue to make headlines for their proven operational capability and export success, the countrys air force has faced questions over some of its aging equipment, despite growing support from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Daily Sabah reports. However, according to others, the alarm bells are still far from reality. They say UAVs provide many advantages for Turkey in both the short and long term as they become an inseparable part of the army.

Arda Mevlutoglu, a specialist in aviation, space, defense policies and technologies, in an exclusive interview with Daily Sabah said Turkey can easily fulfill the gap that may occur between itself and neighboring countries with effective use of electronic warfare (EW), long-range precision-guided weapon systems and advanced drones produced by the local defense industry.

Mevlutoglu said he personally expects Turkey's Air Force Command to become a force that exploits the full potential of all types of unmanned aerial vehicles, EW systems and precision-guided weapon systems, one that can link all these systems to communicate with each other.

The countrys air force currently has around 240 F-16C/Ds and around 30 F-4Es. The F-4Es are at the very end of their service lives, Mevlutoglu said, while some 35 aircraft in the F-16 fleet are Block 30 models that are receiving structural upgrades for prolonged use.

Ismail Demir, head of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), noted in earlier statements that structural upgrades to the F-16 Block 30 aircraft continue and that 1,200 to 1,500 pieces of structural parts per aircraft are being renovated while repair and replacement work is being carried out as part of the project.

The remainder of the fleet is more modern, consisting of Block 40, Block 50 and Block 50+ models.

According to Mevlutoglu, the air force's F-16 inventory is qualitatively and quantitatively superior to its neighbors, for the time being.

However, with regards to the latest trends in armament in the region, this superiority is at risk of being eliminated. Greece is acquiring modern Rafale fighter aircraft and upgrading their F-16 fighters to a more advanced level than Turkeys, he said.

Athens also wants to procure the F-35 fighter jet  the program from which the U.S. expelled Turkey, despite calls that the move had no legal basis.

Among others, Israel, a littoral country along the Eastern Mediterranean, is receiving deliveries of F-35s and is using this jet in operations in the region.

Israel also has a large fleet of F-16 and F-15 fighters thanks to its special relations with the United States, and equips all the fighter aircraft with indigenous weapon and electronic warfare systems.

Mevlutoglu went on to say that, Egypt, another important regional power, has been extravagantly investing in its air force with contracts for Su-35s and MiG-29Ms from Russia, Rafales from France; Negotiations for Typhoons from Italy are also reported.

Reiterating that current regional developments would seem to undermine the air force, Mevlutoglu said Turkey, however, has been spearheading the advancement of UAV technology and the local defense industry to meet newly occurring needs, both of which help Ankara to easily fill the gap.

Mevlutoglu said that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and its air force, in particular, has very extensive experience in conducting various types of operations, both national and multi-national, in large geographic areas and that this experience manifests itself in the development of national systems and solutions.

This fact alone is Turkeys main advantage, he said.

Turkey, indeed, has gained remarkable experience in recent years while was fighting the PKK terrorist group within its borders, which Ankara is expanding through neighboring Iraq and Syria via cross-border counterterrorism operations.

Baykar and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), among pioneering companies of the local defense industry, invested heavily in UAV technology  which the country was once unable to use against the terrorist organization due to restrictions and embargoes  that they now sell abroad.

Bayraktar TB2 (Tactical Block 2) unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) developed by Baykar were initially used in operations aimed at eliminating PKK terrorists. They gained further fame when operated against more capable military functions like the Russia-backed Syrian regime in retaliation operations. Russian air defense systems, whether operated by the Syrian regime or Armenian occupier forces in the recent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were particularly vulnerable to Turkey's UCAVs. Both the TSK and Azerbaijan army-operated drones successfully picked up and hunted down enemy armored vehicles and air defense systems.

They may not have dismantled tanks with small warheads, like a guided antitank missile, but they did render dozens of tanks irreparable.

Accordingly, demand from abroad is also growing as hide and seek games played between drones and armored military gear expands, paving the way for their export.

Poland last month signed a deal to purchase 24 Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, marking the first time a NATO or EU member state acquired drones from Turkey. Most recently on Tuesday, Latvia signaled it may also acquire Turkish armed drones.

European countries  including Hungary, Albania, Belarus, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic  with whom Turkey shares good defense relations, are all said to be among potential customers of the UAVs.

The unmanned machines are currently in active use in Turkey, Qatar, Libya, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in March that Saudi Arabia was also interested in buying drones.

Mevlutoglu, drawing attention to such developments, said the drones, whether armed or not, can safely operate in regions where friendly air superiority is established  like when Turkish F-16s provided an air umbrella from the countrys own air space while its UAVs eliminated elements in Syria.

Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) missions, conventionally conducted by fighter jets, were executed by Turkish Anka-S and TB2s. Their use was dubbed a good example of the complex and broader use of combat drones, which benefited from both the fighter jets and the EW elements that reportedly countered Russian systems.

Although the limited performance and situational awareness of drones make them vulnerable on the modern battlefield to air defense systems and fighter aircraft  especially those operated and commanded by well-trained personnel  Mevlutoglu said that if UAVs are supported by advanced EW systems and are equipped with long-range missiles, they might indeed pose a threat to combat aircraft as well.

This capability requires extensive development and testing work and is not an easy level to achieve, he said. As such, Turkey has been working on improving its capabilities almost nonstop, testing new technology nearly every month.

The country has already tested new versions of the MAM-L smart micro munition (MAM)  a laser-guided system produced for armed drones, light attack aircraft and fighter aircraft by another Turkish defense industry company, Roketsan  and used against the Syrian regime. The MAM-L is the thermobaric variant while the MAM-C is the high explosive one. The biggest of the bunch, the MAM-T, is used long-range.

The Aknc, a cutting-edge UCAV by the famed TB2s developer, successfully passed a firing test using the latest versions of the MAM in April. It is expected that the drone will carry broader kinds of ammunition as well  including Roketsans Cirit laser-guided missiles and laser-guided long-range anti-tank missiles (L-UMTAS); Bozok WVRAAMs (within visual range air-to-air missiles), Bozdogan and Gokdogan BVRAAMs (beyond visual range air-to-air missiles), developed with resources from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey's (TUBITAK) Defense Industries Research and Development Institute (SAGE); standoff missiles (SOM) and the Mark 80 series of low-drag general-purpose bombs (MK-81, MK-82, MK-83).

Apart from these combat drones, Mevlutoglu also added that when the national combat aircraft (MMU) commissioned by the TAI, Turkey can easily reestablish air superiority through indigenous capabilities and products.

It is true that Turkish drones made a name for themselves, challenging common beliefs like the best tank hunter is again a tank.

They also created new questions about whether air-to-air combat will include unmanned crafts apart from conventional combat using fighter jets while it is also true that Turkey will go its own way, drawing its own concepts when it comes to the future of its air force.
Azerbaijan has opened the countrys doors to vaccinated or recovered citizens of Turkey and Russia starting on June 10.

The Operative Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan made the relevant decision last week, explaining it with positive dynamics observed in the epidemiological situation in both countries.

According to the decision, upon arrival in Azerbaijan, travelers from Russia and Turkey should submit a certificate that would provide proof that they have been vaccinated or have recovered from the disease. In addition, they will have to provide evidence of negative tests for coronavirus carried out no later than 72 hours before departure.

Travelers under 18 will need to submit only a negative PCR test result, head of the State Migration Service Vusal Huseynov said.

All airlines operating direct flights to Azerbaijan must register only passengers who meet the relevant requirements. Passengers who do not comply with the requirements are not allowed to enter the country and will be returned on the same aircraft at the carriers expense.

Since early 2020, Azerbaijan has shut down its borders with other countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The opening of flights from Russia to Azerbaijan, according to some experts, could offer a new transit hub for the Russian tourists willing to travel to Turkey.

The Russian government has recently extended the restrictions on direct flights from Russia to Turkey until June 21 due to what was explained as an alarming coronavirus situation in Turkey. Russia first imposed a ban on flights to Turkey on April 15.
The United States does not want a conflict with Russia yet intends to respond to those actions by Moscow it considers unfriendly, U.S. President Joe Biden said at a meeting with British servicemen upon his arrival in the UK on Wednesday.

The U.S. president said that at his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva next week, he would "let him know what I want him to know." "We're not seeking conflict with Russia," he explained.

"We want a stable and predictable relationship, [...] but I've been clear: the United States will respond in a robust and meaningful way if the Russian government engages in harmful activities," he said at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.

As the Kremlin and the White House reported earlier, the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden will take place on June 16 in Geneva.
Around 20 tons of gold with a market value of $1.2 billion and 3.5 tons of silver reserves with a market value of $2.8 million have been detected by Koza Altn in eastern Turkeys Agr province, Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank announced Thursday.

The minister was speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Mollakara gold mining facility which he attended together with the Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez.

Koza Altn is expected to invest a total of $160 million in the gold mining facility.

TMSF head Muhiddin Gulal, in a press meeting held back in March, said they aim to extract 15 tons of gold in the 2022-2023 period.

Turkey had produced 42 tons of gold in 2020, the highest level ever. Donmez in January said the output made a $2.4 billion contribution to the economy.

The record supersedes the last set in 2019 when 38 tons of gold were produced, Daily Sabah reported.
The special forces of the Armenian police detained 10 representatives of the youth organization of the Dashnaktsutyun Party this morning, which is part of former President Robert Kocharian's 'Armenia' pre-election block.

According to Armenian media, young activists staged a protest action against acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

On June 9, supporters of Kocharyan clashed with supporters of Pashinyan in Gyumri.
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs have taken a "pro-Azerbaijani stand" on Karabakh, Armenia's acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today during the election campaign in Spitak.



"After coming to power in 2018, we inherited the negotiation deadlock on the Karabakh settlement. The problem is that the OSCE Minsk Group mediators (Russia, France, the United States) expressed the same position on the Karabakh settlement as Azerbaijan. But it is important to record that this position was formed not in 2018, but much earlier," Pashinyan said, complaining that back in January 2016 the mediators put forward a condition for Armenia to abandon the idea of an intermediate status of Nagorno-Karabakh.



"There were the 'land for status' and 'land for peace' formulas and there have been the 'land for nothing' formula from 2016 to 2018. We inherited the negotiation process precisely on this formula. We were set ab objective of returning the territories," Pashinyan complained, blaming the former Armenian authorities, in particular, ex-presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sargsyan.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Syria will be on the agenda of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden.

"Our position on the humanitarian access issue is well understood. We believe there has to be cross-border humanitarian access to save lives," he said, stressing that it certainly will be something that the two presidents discuss

The Russia-U.S. summit will be held in Geneva on June 16.
Turkey has administered over 32 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in mid-January, according to official figures released on Thursday.

More than 18.56 million people have gotten their first doses, while 13.45 million have been fully vaccinated, according to the Health Ministry count.

To fight the spread of the virus, Turkey currently has a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Monday to Saturday and a full lockdown on Sundays.
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev today has arrived in Tajikistan on two-day official visit at the invitation of President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.

The flags of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are flown at Dushanbe International Airport.

The visit program includes a trip to Khuhand, AKIpress reported.

Relevant aspects of bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, transport, communication, cultural, humanitarian spheres will be discussed during this visit.
Another batch of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine was airlifted to Uzbekistan on Thursday, the republics Health Ministry reported.

"Today, as many as 70,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V jabs second component have been delivered to Uzbekistan by plane," the press service stated.

According to the health ministry, the republic received the same number of doses of the vaccines first component in early June.

On April 1, 2021, Uzbekistan launched free mass vaccination with the AstraZeneca and Chinese Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceuticals drugs as well as the Russian Sputnik V jab. The Central Asian republic has already received some 240,000 vaccine doses from Russia. According to the health ministry, Moscow and Tashkent have reached an agreement to launch Sputnik Vs production in Uzbekistan.

According to the latest data, a total of 2,477,974 people have been inoculated in the republic. It is expected that this figure will surge to seven mln (20% of Uzbekistans population) by the end of 2021.

Since the start of the pandemic, Uzbekistan has recorded 102,605 COVID-19 cases, whereas some 98,592 people or 96% have recovered and 702 patients have died, the health ministrys press service noted.

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Other attractions that began requiring reservations during the pandemic say they plan to keep the systems, at least temporarily, including the Morton Arboretum, Field Museum and Skydeck Chicago. Reservations are not mandatory at Skydeck Chicago or the Field Museum, but both recommend them if visitors want to make sure they will be able to enter.
Some Vietnamese enterprises have invested in electric-car manufacturing and charging stations, but an overall electric car strategy has yet to be developed by the government.

The Government Office recently released a notice about the Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khais decision on electric car policy in the next five years.

Khai asked the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to join forces with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), Ministry of Transport (MOT) and Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) to collect opinions on Vingroups proposal about the development of electric cars and report to the Government.

At a working session with Government leaders and ministries on May 19, Nguyen Viet Quang, CEO of Vingroup, proposed that the Government offer tax and fee incentives so that enterprises can have more favorable conditions in a fiercely competitive business field like automobiles.

In April 2021, VinFast announced that it had begun taking orders for its first electric car model VF e34. The first products will be delivered to clients by November 2021.

VinFast said it is cooperating with Taiwanese ProLogium Company to research and develop solid-state batteries for electric cars.

Vingroup has made significant investments in making VinFast electric cars on a large scale. It has also been developing charging stations and researching batteries.

However, while the enterprise is following a methodical investment strategy, there still has not been a national electric car manufacturing strategy.

At this time, electric cars can only enjoy incentives in car parts import tariff (zero percent) and in luxury tax (70 percent of the tax rate applied to cars using internal combustion engine). Meanwhile, other taxes and vehicle registration tax are the same.

At this time, electric cars can only enjoy incentives in car parts import tariff (zero percent) and in luxury tax (70 percent of the tax rate applied to cars using internal combustion engine). Meanwhile, other taxes and vehicle registration tax are the same.

In the past, Mitsubishi wanted to manufacture and assemble electric cars in Vietnam. However, it became discouraged while waiting for policies on electric car development.

Some foreign-invested automobile manufacturers have become impatient recently, having working sessions with ministries about the country's intention to develop an electric car industry.

The enterprises want to scale up investment in Vietnam and make electric cars in the future.

Lagging behind

As for countries with developed automobile industries, challenges will arise once the automobile industry shifts to making electric cars. The car parts used for internal combustion engine cars, such as the engine and gear box, will be gradually eliminated. This means that the manufacturing of these parts will decline, which may cause the loss of hundreds of thousand of jobs.

However, Vietnam wont be affected because its automobile industry has not developed, and the industry doesnt rely heavily on cars using internal combustion engines. In other words, it wont be too costly for Vietnam to shift to making electric cars.

Moreover, Vietnam has great potential to develop an automobile industry thanks to its market and geographical position for global logistics activities. The country also has a skilled and industrious labor force.

Unlike Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, Vietnam applies right-side traffic law, which helps optimize production organization and cost.

All these factors are enough to turn Vietnam into an automobile industry headquarters in the future.

In Southeast Asia, Thailand and Indonesia are competing fiercely to lure investment in electrified automobile manufacturing, including HEV (hybrid electric vehicle), PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle), FCV (fuel cell) vehicle and EV (electric vehicle). They also want to become an electric automobile center of the region and the world.

This goal is being realized by the two countries through policies such as lower tax for lower CO2 emissions. In addition, they also offer incentives to investors and financial support to electric car buyers.

With these policies, both Thailand and Indonesia have attracted billions of dollars worth of capital from the worlds leading automobile manufacturers, including Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and LG, which have invested in electric car and battery manufacturing.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has no policy yet, despite increasing air pollution.

Nguyen Minh Dong, a respected automobile expert, said that in order to develop electric cars, it is necessary to offer more incentives and give support to manufacturers, including capital access for technology development, and infrastructure and supporting industry development. In addition, financial support should be offered to encourage people to shift to electric cars.

In one word, its necessary to build an electric-car manufacturing development strategy with feasible policies, Dong concluded.

Tran Thuy

Supporting policies to develop electric cars needed: official Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee Khuat Viet Hung talks about proposals to the Government to promote green and environmentally friendly traffic in Vietnam.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long met recently with the ambassadors of Australia, Switzerland and France in Vietnam regarding cooperation in epidemic prevention, especially the supply of Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam.

Australia is considering the possibility of supplying more vaccines to Vietnam, Switzerland has committed to speeding up delivery of 5 million doses of Moderna vaccine to HCM City, and France will consider the exchange and transfer of vaccine production technology.

Australia is considering the possibility of supplying more vaccines to Vietnam, Switzerland has committed to speeding up delivery of 5 million doses of Moderna vaccine to Ho Chi Minh City, and France will consider the exchange and transfer of vaccine production technology.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long met recently with the ambassadors of Australia, Switzerland and France in Vietnam regarding cooperation in epidemic prevention, especially the supply of Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam.

Australian Ambassador Mobyn Mudie said that the Australian Government has allocated 130 million Australian dollars through the COVAX mechanism. For Vietnam, the total funding is 40 million Australian dollars for three years to buy vaccines against Covid-19. Australia will also assist Vietnam in terms of implementation of vaccinations, and provision of professional and technical advice through UNICEF.

The Australian Government is actively implementing support solutions to provide more vaccines to Vietnam. Australia is producing vaccines against Covid-19. We hope that after half a year, we can supply vaccines directly to Vietnam, said Ms. Mudie.

Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said that Vietnam plans to vaccinate children aged 12-18. The Ministry of Health proposed using 13.5 million out of 40 million Australian dollars to buy Pfizer vaccines for children.

Swiss Ambassador to Vietnam Ivo Siebber.

Ivo Siebber, Ambassador of Switzerland to Vietnam, said that his country has contributed funds to buy three million doses of vaccine for the COVAX mechanism and provided technical support to many developing countries. Swiss pharmaceutical companies in Vietnam have affirmed their readiness to support Vietnam, especially in epidemic prevention activities, including access to Covid-19 vaccines.

Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said he hoped that the two pharmaceutical companies DKSH and Zuellig Pharma will speed up the supply of vaccines to Vietnam. Zuellig Pharma has been authorized by Moderna to deliver 5 million doses of vaccine to Vietnam. The authorities of Ho Chi Minh City have discussed with the Ministry of Health a purchase of 5 million doses.

"We hope that Moderna vaccine, through Zuellig Pharma, will soon arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, the city with the highest population in Vietnam and the highest risk of an outbreak," Minister Long said.

Ambassador Siebber emphasized that Zullig Pharma and DKSH would continue to work with the Ministry of Health to find the fastest way to bring the Moderna vaccine to Vietnam.

French Ambassador Nicolas Warnery said that Sanofi and a number of other French pharmaceutical companies are currently researching and testing a Covid-19 vaccine, now in phase 3.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said he hoped that France would cooperate in technology exchange and transfer and help Vietnam in vaccine development and production.

Ambassador Warnery affirmed that Vietnam's proposals are being studied by French agencies. He also proposed importing Johnson & Johnson vaccines and vaccinating the French community in Vietnam, with priority given to those over 55 years old.

Nguyen Lien
The freshly-concluded sixth Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Foreign Ministers Meeting offered a chance for countries to affirm their commitments to cooperation in addressing urgent issues in the region,

thus ensuring sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, a Vietnamese official has said.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung, head of Vietnams ASEAN SOM (Photo: VNA)

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung, head of Vietnams ASEAN SOM, made the statement during an interview given to reporters following the meeting and the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers Meeting, held virtually in Chinas Chongqing city. The Vietnamese delegation to the events was led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son.

The ministers reviewed and proposed orientations to promote the strategic partnership and comprehensive cooperation between ASEAN and China, and the MLC mechanism in the time ahead, significantly contributing to peace, security, stability and prospereous development in the region, Dung said.

At the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers Meeting, the countries stressed the strategic importance of the ASEAN-China relationship to the region, as well as its contributions to development in each country.

They consented to give high priority to collaboration in COVID-19 combat and recovery.



China pledged to further help ASEAN countries improve their medical capacity in response to the pandemic, and in vaccine research, development, production and distribution, while stepping up vaccine supplies to the nations.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (first from left) poses for a group photo with other ministers (Photo: VNA)

The ministers compared notes on regional issues, especially those regarding the East Sea and Myanmar, and affirmed that maintaining an environment of peace, security and stability in the region, including the East Sea, is the shared concern and interest of ASEAN and China.

They welcomed the organisation of the 19th ASEAN-China Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) ahead of the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers Meeting.

They also committed to further implementing the DOC fully and effectively and resuming negotiations for an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in line with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS).

The MLC-6 Meeting set out four priorities for the coming time, including cooperation on water resources and the environment to address major regional issues such as the Mekong River ecological environment, floods and droughts, and climate change, enhancement of collaboration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine production and technology transfer, and coordination in building the Mekong - Lancang Economic Development Belt and connecting it with existing economic corridors in the region.

Regarding the contributions of the Vietnamese delegation to the meetings, Deputy FM Dung said in his address at the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son affirmed that Vietnam will actively work with ASEAN countries and China to strengthen political dialogue, improve mutual understanding, trust and respect, and promote comprehensive cooperation, making the bilateral relationship a model of stable and sustainable partnership between neighbouring countries.

Son also called for strengthening efforts to respond to COVID-19 and promote recovery, making effective use of ASEAN  China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, expanding regional connectivity via connecting the implementation of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025 with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), promoting sub-regional cooperation, and stepping up sustainable development cooperation in line with the theme of ASEAN-China cooperation this year.

Apart from appreciating China's valuable support for Vietnam in COVID-19 response, the Vietnamese FM emphasised the importance of efforts by ASEAN and China to maintain an environment of peace, security, stability and rule of law in the region.

He affirmed that Vietnam will continue to work with ASEAN countries and China to fully and effectively implement the DOC and build an effective and efficient COC in accordance with international law and the UNCLOS 1982.

At the MLC-6 Meeting, FM Son proposed sharing experience in fighting the pandemic and transferring technology on vaccine production in a practical and effective way; facilitating the cross-border circulation of goods to support economic recovery during and after the pandemic; and stepping up cooperation in the sustainable management and use of water resources of the Mekong River.

During his attendance at the meetings, Minister Bui Thanh Son held talks with Chinese State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, and had bilateral meetings with Lao Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn to discuss bilateral relations and issues of shared concern./. VNA
Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Vietnam's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on June 9 called on the Sudanese government to strengthen its capacity to protect civilians and take measures to address violence between communities in Darfur.

Participants at the meeting (Photo: VNA)

Addressing a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the situation in Sudan which saw the presence of International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Ambassador Quy welcomed recent positive developments in Sudan, and hoped the Sudanese government to continue accelerating the transitional process to ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in accordance with the Juba Peace Agreement on October 3, 2020.

He highlighted that the country needs to take the leading responsibility in ensuring the observance of international humanitarian law, and preventing and punishing serious criminals.

Establishing accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and serious criminal acts must be carried out in line with the fundamental principles of international law, including respect for a States independence and sovereignty, Quy said.

Representatives from UNSC member countries voiced their concern about challenges in this country, especially the economic and humanitarianism crisis, and increasing violence between communities in Darfur.

They called on the government of Sudan and the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) to continue working closely in speeding up the transitional process there.

ICC Prosecutor Bensouda, who is also charge d'affaires ad interim of Sudan at the UN, affirmed that the transitional government of Sudan will continue to promote the transition process and ensure its responsibility to protect civilians in the country.

Ensuring justice in Darfur is one of the highest priorities of the Sudanese government, she said, affirming that the Sudanese authorities have full judicial capacity to handle violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws.

Participants expressed their support for the ICC's activities on the basis of Security Council Resolution 1593 (2005), and thanked efforts made by Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, whose term will end at the end of June, while calling on the Sudanese government to fully cooperate with the ICC./. VNA
China is facing a new outbreak of Covid-19 and has placed neighborhoods in Guangzhou, the capital of the southern province of Guangdong, in a strict lockdown. Thousands of people are being quarantined.

The New York Times reports, China has conducted a series of shutdowns starting about 60 days after the Covid-19 virus was first detected, but only after one physician who died from the disease was brave enough to go public with his concerns. The Chinese government has strictly held the number of infections and deaths the virus has caused, but one thing is certain the latest outbreak suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to be part of Chinese life for some time to come.

China has undertaken a great deal of effort to appear as if it has been able to get the coronavirus under control over the past year. Still, the truth is hundreds of millions of Chinese people remain unvaccinated. Its apparent from reliable sources on the ground in China that new variants of the coronavirus have developed, and serious questions remain about whether Chinas self-made vaccines are effective.

The latest outbreaks of cases are centered in Guangzhou, the capital of the southern province of Guangdong. Authorities in the province are apparently battling the Delta variant, which has and continues to cause widespread loss of life in India.

The city of Guangzhou has tested almost its entire population of 18.7 million between Sunday and Tuesday. Some of its population has been tested for the second time. City officials have put neighborhoods with more than 180,000 residents into complete lockdowns, which even restricts people from going out even to be tested.

According to The New York Times, Zhang Zhoubin, the deputy director of the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control, said at a news conference.

The early infections appear to have jumped from person to person at a cluster of eateries. Each infected person has infected more other people than in any previous outbreak that China has confronted.

Zhang Zhoubin went on to say

The epidemic faced by Guangzhou this time is an unprecedented opponent, and it requires more resolute and decisive measures to deal with it,

According to the New York Times

Test facilities in Guangzhou have been operating around the clock. Lines are long. Residents wake early to try to beat the rush but still find delays.

Mandy Li, a longtime resident of the citys Liwan District, where most of the infections have occurred, said she set her alarm clock for 3:30 a.m. She still had to wait an hour.

The Times quoted her as saying

In the queue, there was a family of three,

Some woke their kids to line up, and some had strollers. But everyone was cooperative and quiet, as we know some volunteers and medical workers worked very hard, and theyve been there all this time without rest.

Chinas approach has evolved since the coronavirus first emerged when Beijing initially put harsh restrictions on hundreds of millions of people. Today its lockdowns are focused on neighborhoods rather than cities or provinces. China has made vaccination the centerpiece of its strategy.

The outbreak has Beijing demanding that travelers from dozens of countries spend two weeks in employer-supervised quarantine even before flying to China. Once there, travelers must spend at least two weeks and sometimes three or longer in government-supervised quarantine, even if they are fully vaccinated. Rounds of tests can turn up a possibly false positive, leading to more tests and additional days or weeks in isolation.

According to the New York Times

A German national who flew into Shanghai last month said that he had been sent to a hospital isolation room for three days because he tested positive for antibodies, which he attributed to taking a second vaccine dose 16 days earlier.

Nurses took his blood twice a day and performed six throat swabs, four nasal swabs, and two anal swabs daily, said the German, who insisted on anonymity to avoid offending the authorities. The hospital room had no towels, toilet paper, and television, and the bed was a steel plate with a thin mat.

The German said that, after consistently testing negative for the virus, he was allowed to spend the remaining 11 days of isolation in a government-supervised quarantine center.

Many foreigners in China face a choice: If they leave to visit spouses, children, and other family members elsewhere, they may be unable to re-enter the country later because of the pandemic restrictions.

Jacob Gunter, senior policy and communications manager at the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, was quoted by the New York Times as saying

There is absolutely a growing fatigue for a lot of the foreigners who are here,

According to their official public announcements, Chinas leaders have been urging its citizens to get vaccinated and have administered about 800 million doses. That compares to the 300 million vaccinations administered here in the United States.

The Times further reports that

Yin Weidong, the chairman and chief executive of Sinovac Biotech, one of Chinas main vaccine manufacturers, told state television last Friday that Chinese regulators had approved the emergency use of vaccines in children as young as 3.

Still, administering 800 million doses  almost all of the vaccines require two shots  means most of Chinas 1.4 billion people have not been fully vaccinated. Some people remain hesitant to get the shots, and Chinese media outlets have used the Guangzhou outbreak to encourage skeptics to get inoculated.

The spread of the virus has raised new questions about the effectiveness of Chinas vaccines, particularly against variants. Seychelles last month and now Mongolia have both had large numbers of infections despite high vaccination rates in the past three weeks. Both have used the Sinopharm vaccine from China, although Seychelles also relied partly on AstraZeneca vaccines.

The Delta variant now circulating in Guangzhou has also shown the ability in other countries to infect some people who had already been vaccinated, a phenomenon known as vaccine escape. Research elsewhere has found that to be a particular problem for people who have received only a first injection of a two-jab vaccine and are then exposed to the Delta variant.

Researchers in Britain have found that receiving only the first of two shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines maybe only 30 percent effective in preventing infection with the Delta variant.

According to Raina MacIntyre, who heads the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

After two doses, effectiveness appears to rise to 60 percent with the AstraZeneca vaccine and 88 percent with Pfizer-BioNTech. With the degree of vaccine escape there is with the Delta variant, you really do need people to be fully vaccinated,

Mr. Yin, of Sinovac, told Chinas state-run television on Saturday

The third shot of his companys vaccine produces a tenfold increase in antibodies within a week. But Chinese vaccine manufacturers are not yet recommending a third dose.

As far as China is concerned, in fact, completing the two-shot immunization is the most important task for all the public.

Guangzhou tightens Covid-19 controls as mass tests expose more cases in Chinese city
The pandemic has diminished the use of professional and formal attire, leaving the dry cleaning business well below 2019 levels and causing cleaners to worry that COVID-19 has permanently altered the viability of their industry, which has struggled ever since no-iron shirts become popular. Its a decline that hits particularly hard in the Korean American business community, whose members own the majority of the dry cleaners in the state.
Missouri GOP Rep. Vicky Hartzler (MO-4) announced Thursday that she is running for the state's open U.S. Senate seat in 2022. The current incumbent, Republican Roy Blunt, is retiring.

Hartzler joins former Gov. Eric Greitens and Attorney General Eric Schmitt in the race. Also in the race is attorney Mark McCloskey who gained a measure of fame during last summer's Black Lives Matter protests. Most of Hartzler's GOP colleagues in the state delegation have also given consideration to running. The most prominent Democrat to announce is former State Sen. Scott Sifton. The current consensus rating is Likely Republican.

Missouri District 4

The district currently runs to the south and east of Kansas City, Hartzler won her 6th term by 38 points last November. While the state will maintain its 8 congressional districts over the next decade, the borders of the district will likely shift somewhat in the upcoming redistricting. Nonetheless, it will likely remain safely Republican and speculation has already begun over who will run.

House Retirements

Hartzler is the 13th current House member not seeking reelection next year.
I did the math and if every one I got is a separate fact I could use and I did one fact per night, these would last me 12 years, Coppins said. This will get me to when the two older kids are both out of the house, so thank you, Twitter. I successfully outsourced this part of my parenting.
Since the pandemic hit, COVID-19 has killed more than 184,000 residents and staff of long-term care, which includes nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other residential settings. Those deaths constitute almost a third of America's entire COVID-19 death toll, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In nursing homes, the infection and death rates peaked last winter, when close to 20,000 residents and staff were reported dead from COVID-19 in just four weeks from mid-December to mid-January; 1 in every 51 residents died from the virus.

Then, cases and deaths started to plummet, dropping more than 90 percent by mid-March, with the arrival of vaccines, tougher restrictions from governments, and high levels of natural immunity from months of high infection rates. Though the situation has improved, nursing home advocates say current COVID-19 rates in nursing homes shouldn't be accepted as the new normal.

"I certainly hope they're not, says Charlene Harrington, a nursing home researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. There's something terribly wrong if it is.

Susan Reinhard, senior vice president and director of the AARP Public Policy Institute, says that ten thousand deaths a year, just from COVID  that's a big number. Too big.

Visits and vaccine hesitancy

The federal government asked the country's 15,000-plus nursing homes to loosen visitation restrictions in March. Citing widespread vaccinations of residents, drops in COVID-19 infections among residents and staff, and the tolls of separation and isolation on residents and their families, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said facilities should allow indoor visits regardless of vaccination status of the resident or the visitor."

The resulting uptick in visitors could, in part, be contributing to the halt in COVID-19 declines, according to Jennifer Schrack, an associate professor in the epidemiology of aging at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

"Every visitor is another potential exposure, particularly those who are not vaccinated, she says. They have to really consider carefully if they're going to visit their loved one, and if they do, they should wear [personal protective equipment] and be very cautious, even if their loved one is vaccinated.  Low risk doesn't mean no risk.

Unvaccinated staff, which could represent nearly half of the nursing home and assisting living workforce, may be an even bigger factor.

"I think we've reached the threshold where most of the staff who wanted to be vaccinated are, Schrack says. The vaccination rate is still going up, but at a much, much slower rate than it was earlier this year, which aligns with this sort of steady state we're seeing."

Staff members have close contact with residents around the clock  bathing, dressing and feeding them  which means more potential exposure than from visitors. Additionally, at least a fifth of all nursing homes nationwide have reported a shortage of nurses or aides every month for the past year, according to AARP's new analysis, which raises the COVID-19 threat further. When facilities are short-staffed, workers are assigned more residents to care for, which can increase spread of the virus if a worker is unknowingly infected.

The CMS is slated to release official vaccination data for the nation's nursing homes this month. It released a memo in May that requires all facilities to offer COVID-19 vaccines to all residents and staff and to publicly report vaccination rates.

What's the new normal?

It's too early to consider the current steady state of COVID-19 deaths and infections in nursing homes as their new normal. What seems to be the case is that [COVID-19] is going to become like a seasonal flu of sorts, Schrack says, but we're still figuring out exactly what those numbers will look like and how to deal with them.

UCSF's Harrington is challenging the long-term care industry to resist using prior flu deaths and cases in nursing homes as a benchmark for COVID-19 impacts.

Before the pandemic, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study reported that about 90 percent of flu-related deaths in the U.S. occur among people age 65 years and older, many of whom live in nursing homes. The flu has killed between 12,000 and 61,000 Americans annually since 2010.

But before the pandemic, 8 out of 10 nursing homes were cited for infection control breaches, which can promote the flu's spread, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency.

"I don't think the flu rates were acceptable Harrington says, and I certainly don't think these COVID rates are acceptable, either. This pandemic has taught us that we need to do better with infection control across the board  to say COVID in nursing homes is just going to be endemic is just not right.

AARP's analysis, conducted by the AARP Public Policy Institute and the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio, draws primarily on data acquired from the Nursing Home COVID-19 Public File by CMS. Most nursing homes are federally certified and are required to submit data to the government each week.

The ongoing analysis focuses on five key categories of COVID-19 impacts: resident cases, resident deaths, supply of personal protective equipment, staff cases and staff shortages. It captures data only from federally certified nursing homes, not from all long-term facilities (such as assisted living, independent living, memory care and others), as some other tallies do. An updated analysis will be released next month as new federal data becomes available.
IRIS, a New Look Vision Group Company, Teams up with DIAGNOS in a Multi-Year Agreement to Implement Artificial Intelligence Technology with Support From the INVEST-AI Program.



IRIS Teams up with DIAGNOS to Implement AI Technology

Quebec, June 10, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Diagnos Inc. ( CVE:ADK ) ( OTCMKTS:DGNOF ) (4D4A.F), a leader in early detection of critical health issues, is pleased to announce the signing of a multi-year agreement with IRIS The Visual Group (1990) Inc. ("IRIS"), creating a world leading platform launch for the deployment and enhancement of Artificial Intelligence ("AI") based tests, screening for vascular changes in the retina for optometry clinics.This milestone agreement with IRIS constitutes a major breakthrough for DIAGNOS' path to continued global commercialization of its technology solutions.Initially, implementation of AI at IRIS will cover the province of Quebec in a multi-step approach as per the agreement with the INVEST-AI program. The INVEST-AI Program is managed by IVADO Labs, who receives financial contributions from the Government of Quebec to facilitate the transfer of AI to industry."IRIS continues to be at the forefront of implementing technology driven solutions for clinical optometry and optical retail. The combination of technological advancement and clinical experience will help elevate the health care experience and improve patient outcomes. Artificial intelligence will raise our standard when it comes to quality of care and we are eager to collaborate with DIAGNOS," said Eric Babin, President of IRIS.In addition, DIAGNOS has entered into a 7-year agreement with New Look Vision Group Inc. ("New Look Vision"), IRIS' parent company. The New Look Vision network totals 406 locations operating across North America. Outside of the initial implementation, supported by the INVEST-AI Program, this agreement further supports the development and deployment of AI across the broader network.DIAGNOS algorithms installed in our data center in Montreal will examine the retina images of patients. Patient's retina images are transmitted using a secure internet connection. DIAGNOS then provides the results of the AI assisted examination back to the optometrist in the form of a report. The optometrist may then use the results of the report to assist in managing treatment and potential referral. DIAGNOS is reimbursed based on a click fee per patient which includes 2 pictures of the retina (left eye and right eye)."We are extremely pleased to enter into this major agreement with IRIS and New Look Vision, a market leader in North America with more than 400 optical stores. IRIS and New Look Vision are ideal industry partners for the rapid implementation of DIAGNOS' technologies," stated Andre Larente, President of DIAGNOS.Introduction of AI in medical imaging has changed the market dynamics in recent years and is anticipated to massively influence the growth in the near future. DIAGNOS is committed to develop and market AI-based solutions in the field of medical imaging diagnosis, providing key decision-making support. Though the AI adoption is in the early phase in retinal technologies, rising demand for accuracy, efficiency, and patient safety is anticipated to significantly boost the adoption of DIAGNOS' AI-enabled medical imaging over the next several years."Clinics, optical stores, and diagnostic and research centers are expected to emerge as crucial end users of our image analysis solutions, owing to rising demand for our extremely efficient solutions for better patient outcomes," said Andre Larente. "In the future, these segments will account for larger DIAGNOS revenue shares as they increasingly rely on imaging services like CARA (Computer Assisted Retina Analysis), creating significant growth potential for DIAGNOS during its recently launched monetization strategy. Adoption of technologically advanced products such as our proprietary multimodality imaging platforms and benefits associated with the use of our systems, such as high-resolution imaging, convenient use, and flexibility, are contributing to constantly growing demand. Therefore, DIAGNOS is very actively continuing its global roll-out activities and the introduction of even further technologically advanced product updates and the advent of efficient information management systems are expected to drive the market growth in the coming years on a global scale. DIAGNOS has successfully started to transition to its international commercialization strategy, effectively navigating the regulatory landscape, in a highly competitive market, enabling its commercial products to get to market faster than the competition. Launching DIAGNOS' global sales campaign in the first half of 2021 has allowed the Company to achieve very tangible results for its shareholders already this year, including, but not limited to, the New Look Vision agreement. DIAGNOS is targeting to be cash flow positive by the end of 2021."About IRIS and New Look Vision:IRIS was founded in 1990 in Quebec. Since that time, IRIS has developed into the largest network of optometrists, opticians and ophthalmologists operating under the same banner across Canada. The company's locations combine clinical optometry and optical retail to provide a unique concept and a commitment to offering top quality products and services in the field of eyecare. For additional information please visit www.iris.ca or consult our LinkedIn page.New Look Vision is the leading provider of eye care products and services across Canada and entered the United States market in 2020. The Company has retail sales of optical products which can be grouped into four principal categories: (i) prescription and non-prescription eyewear, (ii) contact lenses, (iii) sunglasses, protective eyewear and reading glasses, and (iv) accessories, such as cleaning products for eyeglasses and contact lenses. The Company's network of stores totals 406 locations. Certain prescription lenses are processed at the Company's laboratory facility, located in Ville St-Laurent, Quebec. For additional information please visit www.newlookvision.caTo view the release, please visit:About DIAGNOS Inc.

DIAGNOS (CVE:ADK) (OTCMKTS:DGNOF) is a publicly traded Canadian corporation dedicated to early detection of critical health problems based on its FLAIRE Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform. FLAIRE allows for quick modifying and developing of applications such as CARA (Computer Assisted Retina Analysis). CARA's AI-based image enhancement algorithms provide sharper, clearer and easier-to-analyze retinal images. CARA is a cost-effective tool for real-time screening of large volumes of patients. CARA has been cleared for commercialization by the following regulators: Health Canada, the FDA (USA), CE (Europe), COFEPRIS (Mexico) and Saudi FDA (Saudi Arabia).

Additional information is available at www.diagnos.com and www.sedar.com
Now, as that deadline looms, Amato said the New York-based partners are unlikely to kick off work on the project until some point in 2022. That means it wouldnt open until 2024, he said.
The smaller statue, based on the original 1878 plaster model by sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, was installed just outside the museums entrance in 2011. This statue was cast using a 3D scan of another model in Paris, the news release said. It will be exhibited on Ellis Island from July 1-5, facing its much bigger sibling on Liberty Island. Then, it will be moved to the French ambassadors residence in Washington, D.C., where it will be on display from July 14, Frances Bastille Day, until 2031.
Good morning, North State. Here's what you need to know to start your day on June 10.

Early morning fire destroys Oroville's Church in the Barn

A fire that burned down a church south of Oroville. It happened at the Church in the Barn, on Little Ranch Road off Highway 70. The fire has been put out but firefighters were not able to save the barn. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Modoc County Sheriffs Office closes due to COVID-19 positive tests

The Modoc County Sheriff said it is closing its front office after several staff members tested positive for coronavirus. Office reps said they are closing the site in order to clean the facility and make sure inmates are safe. All events and meetings at the office have been canceled. It's set to reopen on June 21.

Regulators withdraw controversial California work mask rules

Workplace regulators are changing course by withdrawing rules requiring vaccinated Californians to continue wearing masks in the workplace. Just last Thursday, CAL/OSHA decided, despite the state's reopening on June 15, workers must still wear masks at work unless everyone in the room is fully vaccinated. The decision caused immediate controversy and confusion as the governor's order eliminates virtually all mask-wearing by vaccinated people beginning Tuesday.

Police: Hit-and-run in Redding results in pedestrian death

A manhunt is still underway this morning for the driver in a deadly hit and run. Redding police say it happened just before 5 a.m. Wednesday. Officers found the victim on South Bonnyview Road, east of East Bonnyview Road. Redding Police Department is asking anyone with information to call the department.

Butte County CAL FIRE opens new headquarters

The new state-of-the-art CAL FIRE headquarters in Butte County is officially up and running. There's a new high-tech fire station, fleet maintenance shop and administration building, all in one place. Located in Oroville, it took three years of work to complete replacing the former 70-year-old complex.

Cornings Thursday Night Market returns Thursday

The return of Corning's Thursday Night Market. The event will run every Thursday, through August 26 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. At Northside Park, between 6th Street and Colusa Street,

you can expect to see around 30 vendors, farmers and crafters.

Keystone XL pipeline nixed after Biden stands firm on permit

A win for environmentalists after the developer of the Keystone XL Pipeline pulls the plug on the controversial project. TC Energy announced Wednesday that it will end the pipeline project saying it had run out of options after President Biden revoked its permit. For more than 10 years, the project was on-again, off-again as protests and litigation mounted.
Gordon Ramsay is back, foraging for food and facing treacherous conditions around the globe in pursuit of culinary excellence in the third season of GORDON RAMSAY: UNCHARTED. The cooking expedition series will premiere on 10th June at 9pm on National Geographic India. The multi-Michelin-star chef and Ironman athlete buckle up this season as he serves up another thrilling adventure, exploring world cultures through food.

During these unprecedented times, UNCHARTED provides an exciting escape to explore the world safely from home, and inspiration to try new flavours and cooking techniques from the food experts I meet along my journey, said Gordon Ramsay. The world is a massive place, full of diversity and history, and we are just starting to dig into the boldest flavours the planet has to offer.

This upcoming season, Ramsay hits the road and feasts his way through Portugal, Croatia, Mexico, Texas, Maine, Puerto Rico, Iceland and America's Smoky Mountains, going off the grid and off the recipe to explore global cuisines and unique culinary customs. He herds cattle on horseback with the help of a helicopter and hunts for venomous rattlesnake in the backcountry of Texas. He braves giant pounding waves for fresh barnacles that cling to the rocky Portuguese coastline and struggles to keep up with a team of lobster fisherwomen off the coast of Maines choppy waters. He fights for oxygen while freediving for local molluscs in Croatia and rappels down a treacherous waterfall and kayaks through raging rapids deep in the US' Smoky Mountains.

Under the guidance of local experts and food legends he meets along the way, Ramsay partakes in culinary customs and learns about delicious delicacies and fresh flavours unique to each region. Every ingredient he harvests, the dish he tastes and the person he meets inspires him to create a recipe from scratch intended to represent the heart of that culture. Each episode concludes with Ramsay challenging himself during a final big cookout with a local food legend by his side, as they prepare a meal together for the locals he met during his journey.

EPISODES INCLUDE:

TEXAS

Gordon Ramsay journeys to the wilds of south central Texas and meets some tough, gritty characters to learn what it means to be from the Lone Star State. He herds cattle with the help of a helicopter, hunts for venomous rattlesnake in the backcountry and goes on a night hunt for invasive and ferocious feral hogs. He will need to dig deep and toughen up if he wants to show the acclaimed James Beard Award-winning chef Justin Yu and a group of locals that he has what it takes to cook his way through their state.

PORTUGAL

Gordon Ramsay explores the rugged landscape of Portugal, where the simple way of life is evident in the countrys incredible cuisine. Gordon chases black pigs across a farm to feed them, braves giant pounding waves for barnacles that cling to the rocky coastline and the open seas to fish for iconic sardines. He will need to roll up his sleeves and bring his A-game in order to beat local chef, Kiko Martins, in an epic feast for the Mayor of Nazare.

MAINE

Gordon Ramsay learns why Maine, United States, is called the lobster capital of the world. Along the rugged coastline, he struggles to keep up with a team of lobster fisherwomen, dives for clams, harvests oysters, forages in freezing waters and tests his lumberjack skills. Can he earn the status of a tough Mainer as he tests his culinary skills against local legend chef Melissa Kelly, a two-time James Beard award-winner?

CROATIA

Gordon Ramsay travels to the untouched peninsula of Istria, Croatia, for ingredients that rival the best of Italy in world-class quality. He fights for oxygen as he freedives for local molluscs, risks his pride fishing for rare cuttlefish and chases after goats for cheese and donkeys for milk. He learns the secrets to finding exquisite truffles and making exceptional olive oil before testing his newly found skills against local chef David Skoko.

PUERTO RICO

Gordon Ramsay explores the enchanted island of Puerto Rico, from the bright blue sea to the lush mountains of the interior. Along the way, he learns about Hurricane Marias recent devastating toll on the island and how food shortages have prompted locals to push for food independence. On this epic adventure, Gordon goes spearfishing, takes a helicopter ride to an organic coffee plantation, and rappels down a waterfall for delicious river prawns. Throughout his journey, he is hosted by laid back surfer-chef Jose Enrique, who turns up the gas at the final cook.

ICELAND

Gordon Ramsay heads to the land of fire and ice during the Icelandic summer to learn secret cooking techniques utilising the volcanic landscape. He fishes in a glacial river for wild salmon and cooks bread in geothermally heated soil before heading north to the sparsely populated Westfjords. After sampling fermented shark and diving for scallops in the freezing fjords, he joins Icelands first Michelin-rated chef, Ragnar Eiriksson, for a feast in a rainstorm.

SMOKY MOUNTAINS

Gordon Ramsay is pushed to his limits in America's Smoky Mountains. In his quest to unearth the regions culinary secrets, Gordon must rappel down a treacherous waterfall, kayak through raging rapids, and trek deep into the forest, attempting to find the most delicious ingredients in this magnificent mountain range. His culinary rival at the big cook is chef William Dissen, named one of Americas Most Sustainable Chefs, who knows these mountains, rivers and forests like the back of his hand.

MEXICO

Gordon Ramsay discovers the culinary secrets of the countrys legendary Oaxaca region, where mole reigns supreme. In addition to learning to make the storied chocolate- and chili-infused sauce, Gordon must rappel down a cliff in search of delicious butter worms, harvest the honey sacs from burrowing ants and fend off angry wasps in search of their coveted larva. In his effort to measure up to acclaimed Mexico City chef Gabriela Camara, he also engages in the punishing physical process of harvesting agave plants to make mescal.

GORDON RAMSAY: UNCHARTED is produced by Studio Ramsay for National Geographic. For Studio Ramsay, the executive producers are Gordon Ramsay, Lisa Edwards, Jon Kroll and Tom Willis. For National Geographic, executive producer is Betsy Forhan, vice president of production is Kevin Tao Mohs and Alan Eyres is senior vice president of production and development.
A strategic step towards international partnerships, IN10 Media Networks production arm, Juggernaut Productions, has joined hands with Nucleus Media Rights, a fast-growing UK-based television production and distribution company, and creator Brendan Foley, to bring to life the period drama mini-series, Mark Twain in India. Juggernaut Productions is the Indian development, production, and distribution partner for the project.

Mark Twain in India tells the story of author, Mark Twains life-saving and life changing tour to India in the midst of personal tragedy and ruin when all appeared lost. In a vast and remote subcontinent, he discovers his love for life through Indias history and humanity.

On the partnership, Mansi Darbar, VP - Corporate Strategy and Development at IN10 Media Network said, The collaboration is a significant first step for IN10 Medias Juggernaut Productions to bring forth its proven expertise to the international foray as we develop and produce the content, locally. We are glad to partner with Nucleus Media as it illustrates our commitment towards creating global content.

Samar Khan, Chief Operating Officer of Juggernaut Productions said, Creating content with inspiring concepts is what excites us, and we look forward to working together on the project. Mark Twain was a curious traveller and his stories have been a part of our growing up years. It will be exhilarating to exhibit India through his journey of the country that he undertook in what was a crucial juncture of world history

Khan will work closely with Foley and Nucleus on the project.

Prolific international writer Foleys recent work includes Nordic Noir series Cold Courage for AMC+, Lionsgate, Viaplay and Britbox; The Man Who Died, currently in production in Finland for streamer ELISA; showrunner for crime series Body of Water for ZDFE, Nucleus, 3zero2; Sherlocks Daughter for Starlings, Mediawan and StoryFirst; and Ghostwalk for Blue Ant and Canadas T+E channel. Past work includes TV with NBC, Viaplay, BBC, CBC and Croton China, plus features for Sony and Lionsgate and books including bestseller Under the Wire for Random House.

Foley said that: It's wonderful to work with such a well-known and well-loved character as Mark Twain, yet in such a little explored facet of his later life. Bankrupt and miserable, Twain rediscovered his love of life and of writing, as he explored India from mud huts to palaces, on an epic speaking tour."

Bruno Zarka, Chief Executive Officer of Nucleus Media Rights sees this collaboration as an exciting development as we broaden our international connections. IN10 Media Networks-Juggernaut Productions shares our vision of a highly commercial series with wonderful production values and an all-star cast. We are confident that they can help deliver a series that will appeal to mainstream audiences everywhere.

Nucleus expects to make further announcements shortly about finance and other partners for Mark Twain in India.
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.

In 2016 Vikas Lachhwani and Tarun Sharma launched mCaffeine  touted as Indias first caffeinated personal care brand offering Caffeinated products. They are premium and effective personal care for millennials, bringing out the real, confident and bold approach to self-care in Indian markets. mCaffeine is now the largest Coffee skincare brand. In just about 4 years, the company has crossed the Rs 100-crore mark in annual sales. Witnessing 12x growth in the last 2 years and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, mCaffeine is eyeing 3 x growth in FY20-21. With the biggest captive website of any personal care brand in India, mCaffeine has a CR rate of 70% higher than the industry average. mCaffeine is a bestseller in multiple categories across e-commerce platforms, being market leaders in the body scrub category and claims to have the highest revenue by product density across challenger brands.

In conversation with Adgully, Vaishali Gupta, Head of Marketing, mCaffeine, speaks at length about the inception of mCaffeine an affordable premium brand catering to both the genders, the need for start-up incubators in India and much more.

What is the core business proposition?

Offering an exciting range of Caffeinated products (Coffee, tea & chocolate) we position ourselves as premium, affordable and effective personal care for young and aspiring millennials.

We are a 100% vegan and cruelty-free, Peta-certified brand. Our products are FDA approved, made safe and dermatologically tested, with no SLS, parabens, silicones and mineral oils.

How did you identify your TG?

Geos  Pan India

Age  18 to 34

Gender  Gender Neutral

Our customers are self-care enthusiasts, explorers and experimenters of new trends. They are the people who always want to be aware of all the novelties of beauty, skincare and fashion. The caffeine family might have different lifestyles, hobbies and interests, but they all share a common interest in being the most updated and keep up with their adventurous self at all times.

At the heart, their extreme love for grooming, caffeine, and coffee is what binds us together. Thus, representing the altar of caffeine, skincare and lifestyle!

What were the challenges that you faced while setting up the brand and how did you overcome them?

Firstly, we are a product company and for us, our products are the prime focus. Being a digital-first brand, we had built our technology, and this was not our expertise. This was when we explored Shopify. Easy to understand and customise, the Shopify India team and partners were extremely helpful in helping us build this.

Secondly, saying NO to things. It might look exciting to try out, but wasnt relevant. We stayed focused and made sure we spent enough time towards building our short-term and long-term objectives.

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?

Capital is a critical element for any start-up. Over the last decade, equity investments in start-ups have come a long way. More and more angel investors have joined the ranks. However, there are two major opportunity areas that the banking system in India can capitalise on. Firstly, banking systems work largely based on evaluation of past performance. Secondly, banking systems weigh assets more than intellectual property. Start-ups could greatly benefit from a forward-looking orientation to finance with a focus on business moats and intellectual property. This will ease the finance requirements for capital expenditure and working capital.

Prime Minister Modi has announced a Startup India Seed Fund. How do you see start-ups benefiting from it?

Start-up Seed Fund is a great initiative. India needs many more start-up incubators. This scheme directly supports the incubators and will encourage more and more start-ups to come up and generate employment.

How is digital helping you further your business?

Digital is our core and since our audience are millennials, they are digital heavy, we like staying connected with our core target audience on digital platforms. As a brand, we focus on delivering an experience with our high-performing products and digital helps us define this experience in the best way.

What were your key learnings from 2020? How do you see the start-up ecosystem progressing in 2021?

The key learning that the brand saw in 2020 was the growth of the brand being in a digital stage, investing time and money on building technology at this stage was important. Technology solutions like Shopify helped us with a few challenges that we were faced with and gave us easier solutions.

There is a drastic change in the way people are looking at things now. The ecosystem is becoming more open towards new products and ideas. We have technologies to build products and services and put Indian brands on the global map.

What would be your message for the budding entrepreneurs?

Building a long-term approach rather than short-term decision-making always helps in a brands journey. Making data your guide and letting it give you answers is one learning experience. Investing in technology is important for a brand, it helps if you are going to capture the digital world.
Vijay Varma has left fans guessing about what is cooking with his latest post on social media. The Ok Computer star can be seen getting a haircut as he wrote on the picture, "Lockdown mop."

With the Mumbai rains flooding the streets, our sneakers fanatic thanks the rains in a funny take for the cleansing as his feet get dipped in the water flooding the streets. Vijay wrote, "Sneaker cleaning courtesy mumbai rains."

With the lockdown starting to ease and shoots all set to resume Vijay has left us wondering if this haircut is for a special reason. A source close to the actor informed, "Vijay has started prep for his next project which is why he is getting his haircut after the entire lockdown period."

While we can also see a photographer shooting him in the back everyone is wondering if this prep is for Darlings or some new project? Has Vijay already started shoot or is it a look test or a new ad for the actor? Anyway, we are hoping to hear about it soon as we cannot wait for more from the talented star.

Vijay Varma was recently seen in the sci-fi comedy, Ok Computer where he won everyone's hearts in his first ever comedy role garnering unanimous praises. On the cards next,the She star has Darlings with Alia Bhatt, Fallen with Sonakshi Sinha and Hurdang with Nushrratt Bharuccha and Sunny Kaushal.
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Bern, 10.06.2021 - Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, will travel to Austria on 11 June. In Vienna, together with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg, he will sign a memorandum of understanding on the strategic partnership between the two countries. The following day, Mr Cassis will take part in the Europa-Forum Wachau and meet with Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Bilateral relations between Switzerland and Austria are close and wide-ranging. The strength and significance of these ties were demonstrated once more in their joint efforts to deal with the pandemic. It is therefore in the interest of both countries to further consolidate this relationship. To this end, Mr Cassis and his counterpart Mr Schallenberg will sign a memorandum of understanding on the strategic partnership between Switzerland and Austria. The Federal Council already approved this memorandum on 24 February 2021.

It is a non-binding instrument designed to expand cooperation in selected areas such as reinforcement when representing interests and mutual assistance in third countries. Citizens of both countries will benefit from this further development of consular cooperation.

Europa-Forum Wachau

On 12 June, Cassis will attend the Europa-Forum Wachau, presenting Switzerland's viewpoints as set out in the Federal Council's decision of 26 May 2021. Chancellor Kurz, Lithuania's Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte and EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn will also speak on the occasion of the Forum's 25th anniversary, which is themed Heading for New Horizons. Following the Forum, Cassis will meet with Kurz.

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




After leading the world in new cases and deaths over much of the last year, the rapid vaccination program in the U.S. now positions it among the leaders of the global recovery. Nearly 64% of adults in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine dose and the average numbers of new positive cases and deaths in the U.S. are lower now than at any point since the earliest days of the pandemic.
https://www.aish.com/jw/s/In-the-Heights-6-Jewish-Facts-about-Washington-Heights.html

Little known facts about the setting for the new movie musical.

In the Heights, Lin Manuel Mirandas joyous Broadway play and new film, focuses on Manhattans Washington Heights large Latino community. The neighborhood has also long been home to thousands of Jews. Here are six little-known Jewish facts about Washington Heights' vibrant Jewish history and community today.

Jew Fighting for the Revolution

The highest point on the island of Manhattan is in Washington Heights. During the American Revolutionary war, Continental Army troops constructed a sturdy fortification at its peak and named it Fort Washington after General George Washington. The site was a key base in defending Manhattan from British forces.

One of the key American patriots fighting in New York was a Jewish immigrant from Poland named Haym Salomon. Soon after arriving in America 1775, Salomon became an enthusiastic backer of American independence. He settled in New York and joined the Sons of Liberty, supporting himself by setting up a brokerage house. Much of his financial acumen went to finding ways to raise money to support the revolutionary cause.

When war broke out, the British arrested Salomon as a spy. Imprisoned for a year and a half, Salomon worked as a translator between the British and the German mercenaries who were fighting in the war during that time. Unbeknownst to his British captors, Salomon used his skills of persuasion to encourage British soldiers to desert and for German mercenaries to support the cause of American independence.

Released then arrested again, Salomon was sentenced to death but managed to escape the British jail. He and his family moved to Philadelphia where he started a new brokerage house. In addition to speaking German, Salomon knew French and he soon became a major point of contact between the Continental Army and French forces who fought the British with them. In 1781, George Washington named Salomon the Superintendent of Finance for the new United States of America.

Over the next four years, Salomon raised $650,000 for the country, a staggering sum in those days. During the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, the Continental Army was completely broke and unable to pay American troops. Soldiers threatened to mutiny. Salomon raised the funds required to keep the army going, securing the loans himself. Unable to repay him, the new US Government defaulted on these loans, plunging Salomon into ruin. He died in 1786, at the age of 44, in a debtors prison. Meanwhile, the area around Fort Washington became a desirable place for New Yorkers looking for housing.

Yeshiva University

Washington Heights was gradually built up in the 1800s; many of the areas residents built grand estates and homes. By the early 1900s, when the subway connected Washington Heights to the rest of Manhattan, the neighborhood began to feel more urban. Waves of impoverished European immigrants began pouring into the area, including Jews from Germany. The neighborhoods Jewish community got a big boost in 1929, when Yeshiva College restructured and relocated to The Heights from the Lower East Side.

Today, Yeshiva University is one of the worlds major Jewish places of learning, educating approximately 7,000 students each year in its many undergraduate and graduate programs. Its one of the central institutions in Washington Heights.

European Jewish immigrants arriving in New York in 1887 (Frank Leslie illustration)

The institution exemplifies the ideal of Torah Umadda, the study of sacred Jewish texts along with the secular wisdom of the world at large.

Chicago lawyer Ira Piltz, 48, first came to Washington Heights to attend Yeshiva University in the 1990s, and described his experiences in the neighborhood to Aish.com. I remember walking through the neighborhood and how vibrant it was. There was a lot of life There were people outside, in the parks, playing music. Despite the neighborhood's busy character  and the high crime rates that plagued Washington Heights in the 1990s  Piltz recalls the many small mom and pop stores that dotted the Heights. It was a fun neighborhood: vibrant, alive, and colorful.

Frankfurt on the Hudson

While Yeshiva University was turning Washington Heights into one of most significant Jewish locales, another move was on the way: thousands of German Jews who were fleeing Nazi Germany started pouring into Washington Heights.

By 1934, the German Jewish community was so numerous that they began a newsletter that evolved into a newspaper called Aufbau. The paper published work by well-known German Jews including Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt. In its inaugural issue in 1934, buried among the many German-language articles is a stirring English language article about the story of Hanukkah, evoking parallels with the dangers in which German Jews found themselves at the time.

During World War II, Aufbu was one of the only newspapers in America to report on the Nazi crimes against Jews during the Holocaust.

After World War II, many Holocaust survivors joined the German-speaking Jewish community in Washington Heights, and for years Washington Heights was dubbed by some New Yorkers Frankfurt on the Hudson.

Torah in the World  and in Washington Heights

In the 1800s, the Jewish community in Frankfurt in Germany was one of the worlds most distinctive, shaped by longtime Jewish leader Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsh (1808-1888). Under Rabbi Hirshs leadership, Frankfurts Jewish community was proud and self-sufficient, with its own schools and other Jewish communal institutions. Rabbi Hirsch called for Torah im Derech Eretz  rigorously following the path of Torah, while participating in the world.

The need to strive for absolute human perfection, Kedusha (holiness), is addressed to each and every member of the (Jewish) nation, Rabbi Hirsch wrote. No station in life, no gender, no age, no state of personal fortune is excluded (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Parshas Kedoshim). He encouraged his congregants to live full lives as Jews.

A generation later, in 1939, Rabbi Hirschs grandson, Rabbi Joseph Breuer (1882-1980) found himself in grave danger from the Nazis. He managed to escape in 1939 and moved to Washington Heights, where he got a job as rabbi in a newly built synagogue there called Khal Adath Jeshurun. He brought his grandfathers vision of Jewish self-sufficiency with him.

Khal Adath Jeshurun

In time, the synagogue would be known simply as Breurers Shul or just Breuers. Like his grandfather, Rabbi Breuer encouraged his congregants to build a vibrant community, establishing schools, a mikvah, a chevra kadisha (Jewish burial society) and other communal institutions, which endure to this day. He continued his grandfathers philosophy of Torah im derech eretz  Torah in the World  insisting that Jewish learning and mitzvot influence daily life.

Alan Ettinger grew up in Khal Adath Jeshurun synagogue and serves as its president. His parents managed to escape from Germany in the 1930s and eventually made their way to Washington Heights where they built a life together. He described what it was like growing up in the neighborhood to Aish.com.

It was a bustling, thriving community. Mr. Ettinger attended the local Jewish school and notes there are still a number of boys  well now theyre men, older men  who still live in Washington Heights. It was a very cohesive community. I have classmates who Im still very close with. My classmates children and my children were in class together also. There were a lot of Holocaust survivors, people who came right before the war or right after or who escaped the Holocaust.

He notes that one of Washington Height Jewish communitys unique qualities is that you cant tell whose wealthy and whos not. People here are simple, not ostentatious Its a very harmonious community. There have been many changes in Washington Heights, but that quality of being low key and modest has remained a constant in the Jewish community.

Thriving Jewish Community Today

In 1992, The New York Times reported that the Jewish community in Washington Heights was on its last legs. In an article titled The Last of Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson; A Staunch, Aging Few Stay On as Their World Evaporates, the paper painted a picture of a Jewish community in its death throes. The Jewish people that live here now are the old ones and the poor ones, a local charity worker said: They are dying out.

Yet news of the demise of Washington Heights Jewish community proved to be premature. In the 1990s, the area became invigorated by an influx of Jews from the former Soviet Union. Today, the Jewish community is bursting at the seams with younger Orthodox Jews. The biggest recent change," notes Alan Ettinger of Khal Adath Jeshurun synagogue, is that a lot of Jewish singles now live in Washington Heights. Its all part of the gentrification of New York City.

As New Yorks Orthodox Jewish population has flourished, increasing numbers of young religiously observant Jews have chosen to make their homes in Washington Heights, revitalizing the area. Being one of the most affordable places to live in Manhattan has helped draw younger residents. Young couples and families are flooding into Washington Heights, the New York Jewish Week reported over a decade ago, drawn by affordable rents, convenient commutes and a vibrant Jewish community.

I never thought Id stay this long, chuckles Rabbi Yaakov Hoffman of Washington Heights Congregation. He first moved to Washington Heights from his native Maryland for college at Yeshiva University, and has called the neighborhood home ever since. Ill tell you what makes my shul special, he noted in a recent conversation with Aish.com. Theres a lack of emphasis on materialism. It makes it very pleasant to live here. Theres no keeping up with the Joneses.

His synagogue contains a wide variety of congregants, from young children to people in their 90s. Theres also a very wide range of religious styles and levels of observance. We respect the diversity.

Lin Manuel Mirandas In the Heights and the Jewish Community

Lin Manuel Miranda wrote his stage musical In the Heights while he was in college. He later explained that he was unaware of Washington Heights Jewish history at the time, but soon learned. (T)he summer after I wrote it, I got a job at the Manhattan Times. I started writing articles, and I learned a lot about the history of our neighborhood. I saw that even if there were no Latino people in Washington Heights, it would still be a classic immigrant community, given the large numbers of German and later Russian Jews, he told The Jewish Week in 2008.

When In the Heights had its first stage run in 2008, Miranda described older (Jewish) women who come up to me after the show and say I lived on 173rd and Pinehurst in 1943, and it felt just like that. We all have immigrant parents and grandparents who did a difficult job that nobody wants to do, so that their kids could do better. And people are responding to the universal nature of that.

The stage version of In the Heights did have one clue to the neighborhoods Jewish past. In the last act, when a sign saying Rosarios Car and Limousine is removed from a storefront, underneath can be seen the German word for bakery, Backerei. Its a hint to the neighborhoods German Jewish past. One that recently seemed on the brink of extinction, and continues to thrive today.
Two days later, I was on the phone with Rich, and a week later, I was on a plane to Chicago to do a tasting for him. We hit it off immediately, and he was very excited about the food I was making. He just immediately stepped into that role of being, like, the Yoda of sorts. He mentioned I had a little bit of a gap in European influence on my cooking, and then sent me to Europe for a few weeks, just after doing one tasting with him. I came back and became the chef at Intro in 2015.
Single lane highway near Medicine River looking east.

Overview

This study focuses on the 41 kilometre section of Highway 11 between Highway 22 and Township Road 390 (east of Benalto). Highway 11 is an important route for the movement of people, goods, and services. It connects national parks and communities with over 5,000 residents, including Red Deer, Sylvan Lake and Rocky Mountain House. CIMA Canada Inc. (CIMA+) will conduct the functional planning study on behalf of Alberta Transportation.

The highway often has limited passing opportunities. This study will identify and evaluate potential options and define a preferred twinning plan. The project will be built in phases:

Phase 1: the sections closer to Sylvan Lake and Rocky Mountain House will be twinned first.

Phase 2: The remaining sectionthe largest and the focus of this studywill be twinned after the first phase is completed.

In summer 2020, Alberta Transportation announced the twinning of Highway 11 (David Thompson Highway) between Rocky Mountain House and Sylvan Lake. The David Thompson Highway leads to some of the most breathtaking scenery in Canada and is a popular route for the tourism industry. Twinning this highway will improve access for Albertans and visitors alike.





Timelines

The functional plan for the study is expected to be complete by November 2022. The timelines for detailed design and construction have not been determined.

Benefits

The study will address capacity issues and make recommendations to support safe and efficient travel, including safe highway access as this area continues to grow and develop. This project is estimated to support over 590 jobs.

News

Improving David Thompson Highway and creating jobs

Contact

Planning study

For further information about this planning study, please contact:

Rene Rosvold, P.Eng.

Deputy Project Manager

Phone: 403-775-0100, ext. 7620

Email: [email protected]

Highway 11 information

For other information about Highway 11, contact Alberta Transportation (Central Region):

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)

Phone: 403-340-5209

Toll free: dial 310-0000 before the number (in Alberta)

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And Chus film succeeds on its own terms. Like the modest but wholly winning precursor to Hamilton it is, In the Heights works as an essentially apolitical embrace of the American possibility and the American roadblocks to that possibility, in a canny variety of musical styles, from hip hop to salsa. On screen, the biggest of the big dance interludes dives back into Esther Williams MGM territory, with Chus staging of 96,000 in and around the Washington Heights Highbridge public pool. Christopher Scotts the excellent choreographer. The way he gives Ramos so much to gaze upon in the opening number, through the window of his shop, crystallizes the dream along with the dreamer.
Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish roots, has warned that nothing should undermine Northern Irelands 1998 Good Friday peace accord. Some on the British side have viewed Biden warily because of his heritage. White House officials have said the United States does not plan to be involved in the negotiations and that Biden would not lecture Johnson but would urge that a resolution be reached expeditiously.
Towards the end of March of this year, delegations from the People's Republic of China and the U.S. Dept. of State convened in Anchorage, Alaska to discuss various issues related to trade between the two countries. Although the press described the meetings as contentious, the Chinese opening remarks expressed what they called "common values." They stated, "Our values are the same as the common values of humanity. Those are: peace, development, fairness, justice, freedom and democracy."

Many would not agree. Although the Chinese claim to be for peace, warships and the building of new Chinese ports in the South China Sea are aggressive actions threatening the independence and security of Taiwan and the Philippines. Further, their assertion of political hegemony over Hong Kong is not only an egregious imposition on the people living in Hong Kong, but a violation of the terms of the agreement made with the United Kingdom when the British gave up control over that territory. That agreement stated that the Chinese would not take over political control until the late 2040s at the earliest.

Presumably, every country wants to better itself economically, so each puts the idea of development forward as a common value. However, theft of intellectual property is commonplace in the PRC. Copyrights and international laws with respect to patents are consistently ignored. Further, it is well known that bribery is commonplace for doing business and for all sectors of the country.

The Chinese claimed that they, like all countries, want to be fair and just. First of all, how can a country be fair or just when the people don't elect its government? Daniel Bell, writing in the Atlantic in 2015, noted, "The government doesn't even make a pretense of holding national elections and punishes those who openly call for multiparty rule. The press is heavily censored and the Internet is blocked." An unelected and self-perpetuating class of leaders under what the communists call "the dictatorship of the proletariat" is inherently unjust.

The communist government certainly claims to represent the people, yet in reality, it is an entrenched evil coven of power-mad "leaders" who claim to inherit the mantle of the "Great Revolution" led by Mao. It is a one-party system, and the struggle for power takes place in what we in the West would see as "smoke-filled backroom deals." Secondly, the rule of law does not obtain. There is no constitution with any clause like our 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process. Thus, prisoners can have their body parts harvested for sale on international markets, and their kin have no basis for appeal. Chinese bogus fairness is not identified with worldwide notions of fairness largely drawn, insofar as a country even claims to be fair, from Western Protestant, individualistic, and legal ideals that do not obtain in the PRC.

The Chinese said in their remarks in Anchorage that they have their idea of democracy and we have our idea of democracy. Here they sound a bit like Nikita Khrushchev when he spoke in favor of "peaceful coexistence." It is an old, out-of-date communist song. The Chinese system is not in accord with anything that can remotely be called democracy. They are shamelessly authoritarian. They tell couples how many children they may have (five years ago, they raised their one-child policy to two, and recently that policy was raised to three). They persecute dissident Christian and Muslim (Uighur) religionists.

This meeting is one of a long chain of meetings intended to foster cooperation between the PRC and the USA, which meetings stretch back to President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic in 1972. Although he met at that time with their legendary revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong, "normalization of relations with China was not fully achieved until 1979, when Jimmy Carter and China's new leader Deng Xiaoping reached an agreement including, as an essential component, that the United States would fulfill its promise to cut off recognition of Taiwan." At that point, the communist identity of the Beijing regime became diluted in the American context. After 1979, the PRC was referred to as "China" and not as "Communist China."

Shortly after that recognition, Chinese premier Deng began establishing various "empowerment zones" in China. Those zones invited foreign investment and became centers for multinational businesses to access Chinese markets. During the next twenty years, the Chinese economy exploded as companies came in to access Chinese markets and to hire Chinese companies and labor to produce goods for world consumption.

By the year 2000, the USA under President Bill Clinton was ready to take the next step and welcome Communist China, without the word "Communist," into the World Trade Organization network governed by WTO rules of trade, conferring upon it Most Favored Nation status.

Pres. Clinton put an idealistic spin on his support for China's entry into the WTO. He said at that time, "By joining the WTO, China is not simply agreeing to import more of our products; it is agreeing to import one of democracy's most cherished values, economic freedom." However, the administration of Pres. Donald J. Trump believed that this admission of the PRC was a colossal mistake that cost the USA millions of job losses and a huge and ever-burgeoning trade deficit with China.

President Clinton, in addition to affirming the economic benefits of introducing more open markets into China, believed that this increased economic freedom would eventually lead to a more free or liberal political landscape there. For this writer, his assumption is most questionable. For the USA, it has not been economics that led to our ideas of rights and liberty. Rather, the ideas of liberty and rights were the source of our economic growth.

Self-governance rooted in local politics and individual fulfillment has driven our economic growth and freedoms. Our perceived need for regulation of the railroads and big corporations at the turn of the 20th century was because their "success" was impairing our freedoms. So Pres. Clinton's deepest assumption that economic growth will drive a society in the direction of freedom is not supported by the American experience.

Further, China's membership in the WTO was not only to benefit multinationals but was a giant step toward a global economy and the establishment of a world government. The U.N.'s Agenda 2030 now exists to take the WTO  combined with various so-called sustainability issues related to global climate change and resources  into the beginnings of a global governing structure.

We now understand that Pres. Clinton's support for the PRC's membership in the WTO was at best naive and over-simplified and at worst a manipulation on behalf of one-world government advocates working behind the scenes. The tensions that now exist between the PRC and the USA, both in the Trump administration and now with Biden's appointees, show that the economic opportunities offered to the PRC over recent decades were unduly optimistic.

Image via Max Pixel.

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Survivors of communist hells have always been dismissed or ignored on the left.

Here is the latest, via Twitter:

What a chilling warning for parents from someone who came to this country from China. pic.twitter.com/GOLmvntqgn  fightforschools (@fightforschools) June 9, 2021

According to the Daily Wire's accurately transcribed transcript, a survivor of China's "Cultural Revolution" told a Virginia school board:

"During the Cultural Revolution, I witnessed students and teachers turn against each other," she recalled. "We changed school names to be politically correct. We were taught to denounce our heritage. The Red Guards destroyed anything that is not Communist: old statues, books, and anything else." She pointed out that in China during the Cultural Revolution, students were also encouraged to report on each other: "We were also encouraged to report on each other, just like the Student Equity Ambassador program and the Bias Reporting System." She concluded, "This is, indeed, the American version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The Critical Race Theory has its roots in cultural Marxism. It should have no place in our schools."

Despite her hurried delivery (she was probably anticipating being dragged off), she is entirely sharp, clear, and true in meaning  all of it true.

Truth-tellers about communism have always been ignored or silenced, shockingly, even in the West. We expect that kind of repression in communist hellholes. Yet we see it here.

It happened during the Soviet period when survivors of communism from there would try to warn scholars about the evils of communism in the 1980s, as I recall, while I was an exchange student at Oxford University.

Or when Alexander Solzhenitsyn was said to have "suffered too much, he's crazy," as the great Tom Wolfe reported. He too tried to warn about not embracing that in the West.

I myself had many long conversations with the now-late Harry Wu about the sheer vileness of China's communism, including in Xinjiang in the 1990s, and the difficulty of getting that message out because the left establishment refused to listen.

More recently, it happened when Venezuelans tried to warn about communism in America, based on its incarnation in Venezuela. I wrote about one such dissident, Elizabeth Rogliani, who warned of statue-topplings in America, here.

And of course, Miami Cubans have always been denounced as troglodytes, incorrigibles, intransigents, and other crap, all for telling "their truths," as Oprah would put it, and the warning not to bring it here. Somehow, in the eyes of the left, their truths don't count.

The latest instance of a warning of communism is from a survivor of Mao's "Cultural Revolution" in China, who knows that Critical Race Theory today is the same old '60s Maoism regurgitated for today, a bad direction that will inevitably turn the nation into a social ruin:

What a chilling warning for parents from someone who came to this country from China. pic.twitter.com/GOLmvntqgn  fightforschools (@fightforschools) June 9, 2021

There ought to be a library, a park of honor, or a hall of fame for these kinds of truth-tellers, the people who spoke out again and again to the West to how communism started, how it unfolded, what it led to, and how it couldn't be ended by normal democratic means. What they are doing is supremely courageous, and in every case, amounts to the purest of truth. In earlier ages, such people were known as prophets. Such prophecies always require courage.

Image: Twitter screen shot.

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If you thought Democrats giving illegal aliens free stuff was appalling, wait 'til you see the other freebies these same Democrats aren't talking about.

According to the estimable Yale professor, Carlos Eire, writing at Babalu blog:

Once again, some U.S. senators who love to help repressive communist regimes have introduced a bill that would allow Castro, Inc. to purchase American agricultural products on credit. Naturally, this bill is being disguised as a humanitarian gesture that will help the Cuban people and enrich midwestern farmers. Its promoters are long-time lackeys of Castro, Inc., and, as always, they fail to mention in their press releases that U.S. taxpayers would end up paying for all of the American produce sold to Castro, Inc. on credit.

Here are the sneaky, pukey details unearthed by Eire, from Sen. Jerry Moran's website, dated May 21:

U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced major bipartisan legislation to lift the Cuba trade embargo. The Freedom to Export to Cuba Act would eliminate the legal barriers to Americans doing business in Cuba and pave the way for new economic opportunities by boosting U.S. exports and allowing Cubans greater access to American goods. The legislation repeals key provisions of previous laws that block Americans from doing business in Cuba, but does not repeal portions of law that address human rights or property claims against the Cuban government. "The unilateral trade embargo on Cuba blocks our own farmers, ranchers and manufacturers from selling into a market only 90 miles from our shoreline, while foreign competitors such as China benefit at our expense," said Sen. Moran. "This legislation will expand market opportunities for U.S. producers by allowing them to compete on a level playing field with other countries. It is time to amend our own laws to give U.S. producers fair access to market to consumers in Cuba."

So how is that taxpayer money? Simple: Under rules of international trade, the U.S., via the organizations known as OPIC and the U.S. Export-Import Bank, guarantees all foreign transactions. Since the Castro oligarchy has a massive history of running out on its tab  on Japan, on Mexico, on Russia, on China, on Venezuela, on pretty much every single nation it's ever traded with  you can bet it'll default on us, despite the Castro crime family being worth more than a billion dollars, according to the last Forbes estimate.

Castroites don't pay bills. Paying bills is for capitalists. Why would they? As communists, they already are convinced they own and are entitled to everything everyone has. Why would they give cash to a capitalist when it's normal for them to expropriate?

Of course, they'll default on us if they're allowed to trade on credit. They've done it to everyone else. They've done it to the tune of tens of billions.

Why do you think they're so keen to trade with the U.S.? It's because we're the only creditor they haven't been able to stiff. Everyone else has learned his lesson the hard way, though some have not learned much.

Eire speculates that there's something funny about Leahy's sponsorship  pointing out that Castroites have been known to use blackmail as leverage on politicians in the West caught in the act for something bad. Moran, from a wheat-producing state, is understandable, as is, to some extent, Klobuchar, also from a high-agriculture state. But Leahy, from Vermont, is a little weird. What do the Castroites have on him? That's the only logical question.

It's a terrible idea, done under the pretense of helping American farmers. What it amounts to is a just-in-time bailout to the monster socialist hellhole that thousands are still fleeing from, many now through our open border. Unlike the kinds of aid being arranged for Central America through Kamala Harris's offices, this is straight, naked aid to the hellhole regime itself as it profits from its coming theft.

This needs to be shot down by Republicans in the Senate fast. Not just "no," but "hell, no," Mitch.

Correction: Leahy is from Vermont, not Connecticut.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.

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Life is tough, as the saying goes. And it's tougher when you're stupid.

Which brings us to the Democrats, who can't stop hazing Sen. Joe Manchin, the most moderate Democrat in the Senate.

According to The Week:

In the hours after Manchin declared on Sunday that he won't support the For the People Act, the phrase "He's a Republican" trended on Twitter. A Democratic congressman accused Manchin of voting to preserve Jim Crow. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) similarly proclaimed the senator was standing up for the GOP and voter suppression.

What a bunch of creeps.

Manchin comes from one of the reddest states in the union and probably shouldn't even be in the Senate as a Democrat. He is, so they Democrats get some things from him. Now that he doesn't want to stack the courts, federalize national elections, bring in ballot harvesting, force same-day voting, end the filibuster, or spend like Joe Biden wants to spend on "infrastructure," he's a bad guy to them. As if two couldn't play those games (ballot-harvesting, filibuster, et al) when the shoe is on the other tootsie and Republicans take power.

Which prompted some 'bring it on' warnings from conservative Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen:

Democrats should be careful; their Senate majority rests in Manchins hands. They need to decide: Do they want Manchin to be their partys John McCain (R-Ariz.)  a maverick who went his own way on issues but stayed within the party fold? Or do they want Manchin to become their partys Jim Jeffords, the Vermont Republican who became the first senator in history to hand Senate control to the opposition by switching parties? In May 2001, Jeffords announced he was leaving the GOP to caucus with the Democrats. Then, as now, the Senate was split 50-50  which meant his defection put Democrats into the majority. Increasingly, I find myself in disagreement with my party, he said in explaining his decision. In order to best represent my state of Vermont, my own conscience and the principles I have stood for my whole life, I will leave the Republican Party and become an independent. Do Democrats want to hear Manchin utter similar words? Then keep right on attacking him.

And if he did, it would be only right. Right now the Democrats have the slimmest of majorities, yet are being jerked around by the farthest reachest of the far-left, the Chavista wing, so to speak, led by The Squad. That goes as much for the Senate as it does for the House, and it certainly applies to Joe Biden. The House Democrats just yesterday couldn't even work up a no-brainer vote to condemn Squad stalwart Rep. Ilhan Omar for insulting the U.S. military as no different from the Taliban, which is perfectly logical thinking to the rabid left as well as America's enemies. That's not how things usually are. When a majority is thin, the normal thing is to govern from the center. Instead, all we have are crazies calling the shots as if Republicans had lost big and been utterly rejected by voters.

There's a razor-thin majority in the Senate and a GOP Sen. Joe Manchin would hand the whole thing back to Sen. Mitch McConnell, a fine thing if you ask me since I still like the guy, and even if you don't, a fine thing, because true conservative senators, such as Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Tim Scott, and other good Republicans would be calling the shots.

And Thiessen doesn't say so, but there's ample reason for Manchin to do it, politics-wise. Internal polls have panicked Democrats with the news that a red wave is coming in 2022. Typically, when politicians of either party see that happening, some retire, and some jump ship and go to the soon-to-be winning party. Why not be on the winning side all the time and get the good committee seats? Get in early to line up the best ones. Such is the pressure Manchin must be feeling as the red wave heads the Senate's way...

A Manchin defection to the Republicans would put the brakes on Biden early in his extremist plan to "reset" America and continue the Obama agenda to its logical radical left-wing conclusion. No more puppet of Val Jarrett and Susan Rice or Obama himself, Biden would be forced to cut deals with Republicans, or be left twisting in the wind, even as NGOs and right-wing lawyers shutting down his executive orders. He'd have to go back to his basement.

Which would probably be fine for old Joe, being put out to pasture, as nature intended, but we know he likes his new power as an extremist.

In normal times, a razor-thin majority should always be governed from the center. Manchin as a Republican would probably be annoying to the GOP, but his handing of the Senate to Republicans to put some kind of check on runaway Joe would be worth the the cost of admission. Republicans should be showering this guy with candy and flowers, or whatever the heck he wants to bring him into the fold and teach the Democrats a lesson. Democrats seem to think they have a mandate, which makes them feel powerful and able to kick around Manchin, but they're too stupid to survive on this "abuse Manchin" strategy of theirs.

Manchin can now teach them a lesson. It would be nice to see this kind of backbone in a Democrat. But of course, if such a Democrat did have such backbone, he'd be a Republican.
Somehow, a concept formerly known as a conspiracy theory is generally being accepted as fact.

Even the Facebook Ministry of Truth has given it some acknowledgment, reprogramming its robotic detectors of wrongthink to lighten up a bit on the censorship.

The fact is related to a recent article in the famously left-wing Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists suggesting what you probably know by now: apparently, the coronavirus was human-engineered and somehow got out of the research lab in Wuhan, China. Potentially deadly viruses tinkered with at the Wuhan Institute of Virology had containment protocols no greater than those of a standard dentist's office, the article says.

While Democrat legacy media, for the most part, are downplaying emails linking Dr. Anthony Fauci to the Wuhan institute and the worldwide tragedy that followed, Thomas Frank, a former Wall Street Journal editorial page writer of an oddly left but independent bent, in a piece for the left-wing Guardian, describes recent events in ways similar to the shattering of a religious faith.

There was a time when the Covid pandemic seemed to confirm so many of our assumptions. It cast down the people we regarded as villains. It raised up those we thought were heroes. It prospered people who could shift easily to working from home even as it problematized the lives of those Trump voters living in the old economy. Like all plagues, Covid often felt like the hand of God on earth, scourging the people for their sins against higher learning and visibly sorting the righteous from the unmasked wicked. "Respect science," admonished our yard signs. And lo!, Covid came and forced us to do so, elevating our scientists to the highest seats of social authority, from where they banned assembly, commerce, and all the rest.

Frank's assessment of the left's view that this is The Way Things Are Supposed Be found itself punctured by the news of the Wuhan lab foul-up. Frank was just being the messenger in this case, but he reported the thinking of the left well.

Instead of the "populism" of the despised Trump and company destroying the world through their ignorance and foolishness, Frank writes of this realization with a shiver: "What if science itself is in some way culpable for all of this?"

And, as the 2008 international financial crisis undercut faith in capitalism and globalism, Frank is concerned that millions will join him in questioning their allegiance to science and to leftist causes in general.

In reaction to the fool Trump, liberalism made a sort of cult out of science, expertise, the university system, executive-branch "norms," the "intelligence community," the State Department, NGOs, the legacy news media, and the hierarchy of credentialed achievement in general. Now here we are in the waning days of Disastrous Global Crisis #2. Covid is of course worse by many orders of magnitude than the mortgage meltdown  it has killed millions and ruined lives and disrupted the world economy far more extensively. Should it turn out that scientists and experts and NGOs, etc. are villains rather than heroes of this story, we may very well see the expert-worshiping values of modern liberalism go up in a fireball of public anger.

Analyzing what happened, Frank says the ultimate cause of the disaster was a lack of critical thinking. Noting recent setbacks, including the Iraq War, the housing bubble, the Hillary Clinton campaign of 2016, and more, "all of these disasters [were] brought to you by the total, self-assured unanimity of the highly educated people who are supposed to know what they're doing, plus the total complacency of the highly educated people who are supposed to be supervising them."

Frank's candor is surprising. Leftists don't speak this way  especially for readers of the sharply left Guardian of the U.K. To be fair, Frank has been known to stray from time to time from rigid political orthodoxy, criticizing fellow leftists and even wondering how he and Steve Bannon could on occasion have the same thoughts. But the language of his recent Guardian column regarding science, the left, populists, Trump, and other things betrays part of his true thought processes, and he dares to reveal the pain of his shattered faith in liberal consensus: "these days the consensus doesn't consense quite as well as it used to."

Welcome to one aspect of a conservative viewpoint, Mr. Frank, although it's doubtful you'll stay here. And please note that despite the Wuhan fiasco, we're still surrounded by ongoing Soviet-style droning to be sure to get our vaccinations. As dictated, of course, by the science.

Mike Landry writes from Northwest Arkansas. He can be reached at landry_74464us@yahoo.com.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.

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Science is a buzzword on the left, but an Ami Horowitz video about masks, combined with Fauci's contention that attacking him is the same as denying science, shows that there is no difference on the left between science and ideology. The former is completely subsumed into the latter.

In my neck of the woods (the Southeast), even during the height of COVID mania, only about 50% of people wore masks outdoors. And depending on which store you were in, not everybody was wearing them indoors, either. Target had full mask compliance. Walmart and Palmetto Armory did not.

Things are different now. First, the CDC finally conceded that masks aren't necessary outdoors. More importantly, masks aren't necessary for people who have been vaccinated. And still more importantly, we know from Fauci's emails that he was lying to people when he insisted on masks. He knew all along that people weren't wearing masks that made the slightest bit of difference in stopping the virus's spread (something the data confirm).

Again in my neck of the woods, a conservative state, people are abandoning their masks with the utmost rapidity. That's not the case in many places. Ami Horowitz went out on the streets of New York to find out why vaccinated people were still wearing masks outdoors. He reminded all of them that, if you're vaccinated and outdoors, it is virtually impossible to get or give COVID.

What is fascinating is that most people really struggled to come up with an answer as to why, on a lovely spring day, they were suffocating themselves on the streets of New York. A lot of them said they had just gotten used to the masks. Some, though, had principled reasons, and I can say with absolute honesty that every one of their principles was the result of Stockholm syndrome or brainwashing:

What I hope jumped out at you watching that video is that science didn't factor into any of these. Remember, they were all vaccinated. It was all about feelings, attitudes, and peer pressure. Emotion ruled the day.

And that makes perfect sense because, for the left, science is not a process by which someone advances a hypothesis, conducts a rigorously controlled and carefully observed experiment to test that hypothesis, and then admits honestly whether the hypothesis lived or died. On the left, science is a thing in which you "believe" (kind of like faith), and it invariably supports one's political beliefs.

And if you have any doubt about that, take a gander at Anthony Fauci. He may be the biggest mass murderer in American history, defending himself for a year full of lies and derogatory statements about medicines that could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, all to defeat Trump.

He doesn't try to argue the merits of his many positions (he can't). Instead, he goes on the attack. When you, the conservative troglodyte, attack Fauci, you're attacking "science." I've cued the video up to the point at which he makes that risible claim, but I suggest you watch the whole interview. It's a miracle of doubletalk, in which his endlessly conflicting positions are all "science." Also, both he and Chuck Todd carefully ignore that much of what he said in public was belied by his emails, including the fact that he lied to Congress about the whole gain of function issue:

If anyone tells you leftism isn't a religion, Fauci's take on matters puts the lie to that claim.

Image: Ami Horowitz short. YouTube screen grab.

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Democrats are a mess.

Unable to condemn Rep. Ilhan Omar for her anti-Semitic tropes (without watering their resolution down with a condemnation for all forms of hate) in 2019, they're now crapping out a second time by failing to condemn her for equating the U.S. military (and Israel) to the Taliban.

Which has a funny sound to it, given that she otherwise seems to like the Taliban, but this was a statement aimed at offending Americans.

She tweeted it this way:

We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked @SecBlinken where people are supposed to go for justice. pic.twitter.com/tUtxW5cIow

'Seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S.'? She seems to be smoking something or perhaps drinking deep from terrorist propaganda. Her wokester pals in the U.S. military are no different from the Taliban committing atrocities? Something here doesn't compute.

Omar hasn't changed a bit in all these two years of her nonsense. What's appalling is that Democrats haven't either.

They're going downhill like a bus with no brakes. They're facing a wipeout in the 2022 midterms, and they still can't correct course. We all know that Omar's statement is garbage, and we also know that on at least some level, they do, too.

But they can't stop themselves. A mere twelve of them voted to condemn, most of them swing-staters -- the Daily Wire has a hall of honor here:

Reps. Brad Schneider (IL), Jake Auchincloss (MA), Ted Deutch (FL), Lois Frankel (FL), Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Elaine Luria (VA), Kathy Manning (NC), Jerrold Nadler (NY), Dean Phillips (MN), Kim Schrier (WA), Brad Sherman (CA), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) slammed Omar in a statement.

...who had this no-brainer resolution, sound in reasoning:

Equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided, they wrote. Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits ones intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice. The United States and Israel are imperfect, and like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalence give cover to terrorist groups, they continued. We urge Congresswoman Omar to clarify her words placing the U.S. and Israel in the same category as Hamas and the Taliban.

The rest of them voted 'no.' That's Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Steny Hoyer, Karen Bass, Cheri Bustos, Joaquin Castro, Jim Clyburne, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- all of whom are otherwise branded in news stories as "powerful" Democrats. Yet they can't condemn Omar, for even the most obvious expression of hate. Many of them are all-in for funding the wokester military. Can they explain why they'd like to fund these Talibans? Nobody asking? Someone should ask.

What it tells us is two things. Even as Democrats face down terrifying internal polls showing that voters want them out, they still fear Omar even more. Nobody wants this viper in their nest as her next enemy, it seems. So they pretend nothing is happening.

Worse still, in the case of at least some, they completely agree with Omar. The U.S. military to them is nothing but Nazis. That too shows how low they've fallen as the public grows restless.

Either way, the sorry specter of just 12 Democrats, out of a House Majority of 219 Democrat seats, voting 'no' on a no-brainer resolution condemning equivocating the U.S. military with the filthy stinking Taliban reflects poorly on the party itself and its leadership. It's almost as if ... Omar herself, is its leader.

Image: Gage Skidmore, via Flickr (cropped) // CC BY-SA 2.0

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Earlier in the week, I asked the question: What if Proof of 2020 Presidential Election Fraud Develops? I mentioned several remedies that have been widely talked about from impeachment to a Pentagon coup to rioting in the streets.

None is an ideal solution. The first wouldnt correct the problem, the second would turn the United States into a third-world banana republic and the last would bring about a modern version of the bloody chaos that characterized post-revolutionary France. An ideal solution would reverse Bidens inauguration and inaugurate Donald Trump as the rightful president -- and do so while maintaining our Constitutional Republic.

There is another option that theoretically could do that, one based on concepts familiar to Americans, thanks to shows from Perry Mason to Law & Order: Fraud vitiates everything and fruit of the poison tree.

In 1878, in United States v. Throckmorton, the Supreme Court held that There is no question of the general doctrine that fraud vitiates the most solemn contracts, documents, and even judgments. In English, fraud invalidates contracts  and an election is nothing if not a contract. Everyone knows if you sign a contract based on fraudulent information, that contract is invalid. That leads to void ab initio which means that fraud from the beginning taints everything resulting from it.

The other doctrine is one weve seen TV lawyers use to throw out evidence against their client because it was obtained illegally. The evidence is inadmissible as the Fruit of a poison tree. The Supreme Court, in 1939, explained this in Nardone v. United States which holds that, if a tree is poisonous, so too is its fruit. (Hat tip to Andrea Widburg, Donna Palen, and Al Simon)

This means that, if fraud is shown, the election is invalid. Biden is not president and every action his administration took is void as if it never happened. Of course, thats never been done in a presidential election but its happened a handful of times in lower elections.

The fly in the ointment is that this requires a court  inevitably, the Supreme Court -- to rule that the election was indeed fraudulent. Given the Supreme Courts general (but very selective) reluctance to wade into political areas  particularly highly volatile ones  and this particular Courts demonstrated cowardice, its unlikely that it would consider the matter.

Which, I think, leaves us with this: If the Constitution cannot remedy acts bastardizing it, something new must be done. As the Founding Fathers did in 1776, it may be necessary to rewrite the playbook. That rewritten playbook, while not a new Declaration of Independence, is a tentative Pact of Secession.

This pact would be among the states whose rightful votes should have gone to Donald Trump. These states should make it clear that fraud infringed on their citizens right to a constitutional federal government. If Congress does not remedy the situation, they will in unison secede. This Pact would not literally be secession. It would merely announce a proposed action that Congress could avoid by rectifying the 2020 elections demonstrated constitutional deficits.

If void ab initio fails, theres no blueprint to correct the 2020 election because Congress, the states, and the Supreme Court allowed an unconstitutional inauguration to occur in the first place. Nonetheless, the theft of the highest office in the land simply cannot stand. As New York, California, and other Democrat states are seeing in their streets today, if you allow thieves to steal or thugs to harass and assault with impunity, you get more of each.

The same holds true with election fraud, and the subsequent usurpation of the apparatus of government and the coercive powers that come with it. If this theft is allowed to stand, then no American can go forward with confidence in the nations elections and the system based on them.

Once again, the Constitution is nothing more than a piece of paper. It is the citizens loyalty to that Constitution and the system built upon it that makes it work. After all, the old Soviet Union, Cuba, China, and most other dictatorships regularly have constitutions that promise freedoms and rights to their citizens that the governments ignore. Words on a paper mean nothing if the government is not bound by them and the citizens have no confidence in them.

This is, as the British might say, a bloody mess. Indeed, the last time secession played a pivotal role in American history thats exactly what we got. However, we can avoid that. Spurred by a Pact of Secession, Congress will have an opportunity, in concert with the states themselves, to address the demonstrated fraud and ensure, in a cool, logical, and peaceful manner, that the 2020 election is never repeated.

There is a peaceful way forward but Congress must understand that, once Americans see there was a fire under the smoke from November 4th, they will not sit idly by and watch their Constitution shredded. Too many have paid too high a price so that Americans could live under the umbrella of liberty it provides to allow such a transgression to prevail.

IMAGE: Picpedia CC BY-SA 3.0 license.

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There are a lot of seeming contradictions in the street violence widely employed by the left. Rioters destroy their own neighborhoods. Look at Detroit, where the riots that started in 1967 have now devastated what was once one of the richest cities in the United States. Rioters in Portland attack the federal courthouse, the bailiwick of the Department of Justice, which has become a virtual tool of the left  keeping dozens of January 6 demonstrators in solitary confinements as hordes of left-wing rioters are not prosecuted or even cut free after being arrested.

This raises the question: why are they turning against their own?

Lee Smith, a brilliant political commentator, has a satisfying answer in Tablet. It is short, so I recommend you read the whole thing, but here is the core of his explanation:

The Democratic Party has had a problem. It's a small, incoherent, and privileged clique funded by billionaire oligarchs to push policies that even mainstream Democratic voters oppose. How to bridge the gap? The solution they chose, which party officials made clear this week, was simple: the way third-world elites always do  by using street violence to keep their clients in line. This week, pro-Palestinian demonstrators auditioned for the chance to join already established Democratic Party militias antifa and Black Lives Matter by attacking Jews in New York and Los Angeles. Apologists for the violence reason that the demonstrators are angry about the deaths of innocent Palestinian babies under Israeli fire in Gaza so they're taking their frustrations  admittedly misplaced!  out on American Jews.



YouTube screen grab.

We conservatives, the putative enemies of the left, are not the target. The real targets are their wavering allies, who get the message that failure to support them will come at the cost of violence.

Smith also includes the concept of "intersectionality" in his analysis:

This is all "intersectionality" really is  a branding mechanism to unite the various sects the Democratic Party has gathered under a big and potentially bloody tent. The current-day Democratic Party is a top-down structure paid for by the corporate establishment, led by Big Tech and finance, that appeals to a small class of managers, technocrats, and educators who for a variety of reasons, from self-pity to psychopathy, really do back the party's most sinister policieslike open borders, designed to impoverish America's working middle class. The party has lots of money and owns virtually all of the country's major institutions, from the press to the Department of Justice. What it lacks, however, is voters. So they packed together interest groups and turned them into clients.

The trick is making them all fit. From the outside, for instance, it makes no sense that activists from the LGBT wing show up in support of the pro-Palestinian terror wing. But what might seem to you like hypocrisy actually illustrates the basic premise, which is that these seemingly disparate groups actually do share a goal: upholding the Democratic Party. When LGBT activists are called to demonstrate on behalf of Islamic terrorists, they show up to fly the flag not for Hamas, but for the Democrats.

My only quibble with this analysis is that it under-emphasizes the role of hatred, which is the basest of political motives, but which is also a potent motivator. Intersectionality targets the enemy, which includes various races and classes, all of which are identified as the source of all the unhappiness. Some may see White males as the source of all evil, while others see capitalists as the responsible party. Some still cling to Donald Trump, who is both categories of evil. But what unites the intersectional people is their common hatred, not their common identity. I actually don't think there is that much love for the Democrats among leftists. The donkeys are at best allies in fighting the hated groups, at least for now.

Do take a few minutes to read Smith's argument and see if you agree. I think alliances on the basis of hatred inevitably disintegrate the closer they get to power. Hate, after all, divides, not unites.

There are more victims than beneficiaries of leftists' violence. Right now, the Democrats are starting to figure out that "defund the police" has been an electoral disaster for them. Support for Republicans is increasing among Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Bullying builds resentment.

If and when the left seizes actual unfettered power, then bullying will work because there will be no option for resistance. But as long as vote fraud is kept from full operation, there is the opportunity to fight back. And with the Democrats' plan to federalize election law with H.R. 1 foundering (thank-you, Senators Manchin and Sinema), there is hope.

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The Biden energy policy is not just radically naive and economically destructive; it's also dangerous. From placing constraints on drilling for oil and gas to stopping pipelines, the Biden policy puts America's critical infrastructure at risk and the safety and freedom of allies in peril, and it dismisses the importance of American jobs to appease environmental extremists.

We don't have to pit the environment against the economy. We can develop clean sources, create more American jobs, and develop more American energy. Renewable energy companies today are creating thousands of American jobs, contributing significant investments in American manufacturing, and proving that they can stand on their own, competing with conventional generation on price.

But the investment in clean energy doesn't mean we must be hostile to developing conventional fuels. The fact is, America should pursue an "all of the above" energy policy because it is in our national security interests to do so.

In recent years, America has seen major growth in our national solar power capacity as well as large-scale quantities of natural gas reserves, both of which are positive developments. It means we are independent of Middle East and Russian gas, can add American jobs, and will have a cleaner planet.

But Washington Democrats' extreme, progressive agenda would have us transition from our current 20-percent renewable sourcing to 100 percent of our national energy mix in only a few years. This is dangerously naive, as we can only reliably transition the U.S. electrical grid by 2 percent per year to renewable power (up from 1 percent per year today).

When America exports its oil and gas, our friends and allies are less dependent on hostile sources of energy. European nations receiving American LNG are less reliant on a Russian dictator's whims. In this sense, our energy resources are part of our security arsenal, just as much as our weapons capabilities. Their deployment makes the world safer.

President Biden would make the world more dangerous to advance empty environmental talking points. He wants to shut down drilling in Alaska, despite its strategic national value. With a stroke of the pen, he shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline, and then months later we saw how vulnerable we are as a nation when Russian cyber-attackers shut down just one pipeline, the Colonial Pipeline, that led to fuel shortages in the Southeastern United States.

This ransomware attack was a potential harbinger, foretelling asymmetrical warfare, launched with cyber-tools, by nefarious adversaries in Russia, China, and Iran, targeting our fuel and grid vulnerabilities. Eliminating pipelines and stopping drilling on environmental grounds is dangerous to the security of our country.

Moreover, the environmental benefits are illusory. For instance, in killing 11,000 jobs associated with the Keystone Pipeline, the president didn't protect the planet; he simply shifted the environmental risks to other parts of the globe. After all, there remains a market for Canadian tar sands even if America is no longer willing to transport them.

If our leaders think they can save the planet by killing American industry and Americans' jobs, while China and India cheat on environmental treaties, then one must wonder...whom are they working for?

Our approach should be to prioritize our energy independence with a clean, diversified mix of natural gas, solar power, nuclear, hydro, and other sources, providing America with low-cost energy, more well-paying American energy jobs, and a more secure planet for the freedom-loving nations of the world.

The Democrats have the wrong priorities, and we need to stop their dangerous agenda, especially as it pertains to energy.

Jim Lamon is founder and chairman of Arizona-based DEPCOM Power, one of the fastest-growing solar power companies in the U.S. He is running to replace Democrat Mark Kelly in the U.S. Senate.

Image: Oil wells in Buttonwillow, California (cropped) by Antandrus. CC BY-SA 3.0.

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RTHK: Asia-Pacific drug trade thrives amid Covid pandemic

Drug traffickers in East and Southeast Asia found ways to evade Covid-19 curbs to boost trade and diversify production, with Cambodia emerging as a large scale source for methamphetamine, the United Nations said on Thursday.

The trafficking of methamphetamine or meth, by far the region's most popular drug, suffered a short-lived disruption during the height of the pandemic but rebounded to a higher level than a year before, the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report.

Authorities in Asia seized a record of almost 170 tonnes of meth last year, up 19 percent from 2019, the report said.

"While the pandemic has caused the global economy to slow down, criminal syndicates that dominate the region have quickly adapted and capitalized," said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

In an effort to dodge Covid-19 restrictions, crime groups increasingly transported drugs through Laos  a small, developing nation with poor law enforcement  to traditional trafficking hubs in Thailand and Vietnam.

The report noted an emergence of large-scale meth production in Cambodia, although Douglas said the country's output was dwarfed by the still-thriving illegal drug production centre in Myanmar's Shan State, part of the Golden Triangle that also includes parts of Thailand and Laos.

"It looks like organized crime are hedging a bit and shifting some production so not everything is as concentrated," Douglas told Reuters.

Wholesale prices of meth declined in Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand due to the surge in supply. The UNODC partially attributed the rise in supply to the ease in obtaining precursors to manufacture meth and other drugs. The supply of synthetic drugs such as ecstasy, cannabinoids and ketamine has also expanded across the region, the report said. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The first lady wore a black jacket with the word love outlined on the back in silver beading as she and the president met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Thursday. She wore the same jacket more than two years ago to kick off Bidens presidential campaign.
According to 9to5Google, Google has a new subsea cable that it is planning. Googles Firmina subsea cable will be the longest cable in the world capable of running entirely from a single power source. What does that mean?

Well, it means that in the event that other power sources go out, Firmina will keep running. If other power sources go out Firmina will supply the cable with 20% higher voltage compared to previous systems. This backup will be important to keep things running smoothly.

Google goes on to explain this in more detail:

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With submarine cables, data travels as pulses of light inside the cables optical fibers. That light signal is amplified every 100 km with a high-voltage electrical current supplied at landing stations in each country. While shorter cable systems can enjoy the higher availability of power feeding from a single end, recent longer cables with large fiber pair count have made this harder and harder. 

Googles Firmina subsea cable will connect North and South America

Now the new subsea cable will connect North America to South America. It will start on the East Coast of the United States and run to Los Toninas, Argentina. In addition, there will be two more landings in Praia Grande, Brazil, and Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Of course, this isnt Googles first foray into subsea cables. In fact, the search giant has been building some over the past few years. The other cables are Curie which runs from the US to Chile and Panama. There is Dunant which runs from the US to France. Theres also Equiano which runs from Portugal to South America. Lastly, theres Grace Hopper which runs from the US to the UK and Spain.

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Google names their subsea cables after notable world figures. Of course, Google is keeping the tradition with the new Firmina subsea cable.

We sought to honor a luminary who worked to advance human understanding and social justice. The cable is named after Maria Firmina dos Reis (1825  1917), a Brazilian abolitionist and author whose 1859 novel, Ursula, depicted life for Afro-Brazilians under slavery. A mixed-race woman and intellectual, Firmina is considered Brazils first novelist. With this cable, were thrilled to draw attention to her pioneering work and spirit. You can learn more about Firmina in this Google Doodle.

Google does a lot when it comes to advancing technology worldwide. This new subsea cable will surely be a worthy addition to the companys portfolio.
The police did not know the extent of the childs injuries and were investigating at the scene when they saw Davis standing outside his car for a while and then leaving the scene, without coming back. Before Davis left, he told officers during an interview that another motorist had swerved into him.
Applications have opened in the UK and US for the Bafta Breakthrough talent scheme.

The project, previously known as Breakthrough Brits, has been running in the UK since 2013 and helps support emerging stars in film, TV and video games.

More than 160 newcomers have participated, including Bukky Bakray, Letitia Wright, Florence Pugh and Josh OConnor.

Letitia Wright is a former participant of the Bafta Breakthrough scheme (PA)

Netflix will again support Bafta Breakthrough, which uses a cross-industry jury of leading professionals to identify new talent.

The successful Breakthrough applicants will receive one-to-one mentoring and career guidance, Bafta said, as well as full voting membership of Bafta.

Amanda Berry, chief executive of Bafta, said: Breakthrough is a brilliant initiative that has been championing emerging talent for eight years in the UK, with a wonderful network of talented individuals growing each year.

We are excited to be partnering with Netflix for a third year, following last years global expansion into the USA and India.

We look forward to seeing who will be discovered as part of the next talented global cohort spanning the film, games and television industries.

Applications for Breakthrough UK and US are open now and will close on July 23 . Successful applicants will be announced in the autumn.

To apply, visit: apply.bafta.org/entrant/index.php
The family of a 13-year-old boy who died after being pushed into a river will appeal to the High Court on Thursday to review the decision not to prosecute the teenager accused of being responsible.

Christopher Kapessa was pushed into the River Cynon in South Wales by a 14-year-old boy in July 2019, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge the teenager and described the incident as a foolish prank.

Lawyers representing Christophers mother, Alina Joseph, will appear at the High Court in London on Thursday morning to ask for a judicial review of the CPS decision.

Ms Joseph has previously said she believes the decision not to bring a prosecution was because her son was black and has accused both South Wales Police and the CPS of institutional racism.

But the CPS has said race played no part in its decision making, and that it decided it was not in the public interest to prosecute the-then 14-year-old.

It also said there was nothing in the statements of the young witnesses at the scene to suggest any racial issues or that this was a hate crime.

The decision not to prosecute was confirmed in a review carried out by the CPS in July last year after Christophers family lodged an appeal, despite admitting there was evidence to support a prosecution.

Dorothea Jones, of anti-racism campaigners The Monitoring Group  who have been supporting the family, said the result of would have been different had the boy accused of pushing Christopher in the river been black himself.

Ms Jones told the PA news agency: The CPS say theres a prospect for a conviction, and the reason theyre not doing that is because the suspect is a good student and it would ruin his life.

But if the suspect had been a black child, the outcome would have been very different.

The fact his Christophers life appears to be deemed less than as they are not charging the person responsible , thats incredibly difficult for the victims family to take.

Its a shocking state of affairs, because theres no deterrent, theres no acknowledgement of the familys pain and suffering, for the loss of life and their experience of racism.

Ms Jones said the family would ultimately be looking at the private prosecution route used by the family of teenager Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in London in 1993, if the application is rejected on Thursday.

Were remaining hopeful and positive that justice will prevail, she said.
A number of warnings have been issued by police at a gathering of thousands of people in west Belfast.

Loyalists gathered in Woodvale on Thursday evening to stage a demonstration in opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

A parade then took place along the Shankill Road.

Footage on social media showed the burning of a united Ireland banner which was displayed on the nationalist side of the peace wall earlier this year.

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Police have estimated that more than 3,000 people took part, in excess of the number allowed to gather in public currently under the coronavirus regulations.

Chief Inspector Darren Fox said police were in attendance at the gathering and un-notified procession between 7-8pm.

He said a number of warnings were issued and footage gathered will be examined for suspected breaches of the public health rules.

Organisers of parades/processions are required to give formal notification of their intentions which was regrettably not provided or forthcoming, he said.

The numbers were also in excess of that permitted under the Public Health Regulations.

An evidence-gathering operation was in place. Police issued a number of warnings and we will now review all the footage gathered and consider any suspected breaches of the Public Processions (NI) Act 1998 and offences in respect of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations NI 2021.

West Belfast MP Paul Maskey criticised the gathering, which he said included masked men.

The appearance of numerous masked men leading and taking part in an illegal loyalist parade in the Shankill area of west Belfast is sinister and disturbing, he said.

We have witnessed the recent violence on the streets where property was destroyed, police officers injured and people left terrified in their homes. Those scenes cannot be repeated.

The PSNI now need to address this illegal parade and the actions associated with it.

Those within positions of leadership in political unionism also need to come out and condemn the scenes witnessed tonight, including masked men standing outside a DUP constituency office, and others holdings sinister banners targeting US President Joe Biden.

Hooded men on our streets or calls to provoke instability have no place in our society and those in positions of leadership need to make that clear.
The Home Secretary has faced calls to resign over comments she made about Napier Barracks, the military site being used to house asylum seekers who have crossed the English Channel.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, the SNPs Joanna Cherry suggested what Priti Patel said about the former army barracks back in February was simply not factually correct.

She asked: So why isnt the Home Secretary tendering her resignation as Amber Rudd had the grace and decency to do?

Ms Patel had told the Home Affairs Committee on February 24 that decisions about Napier Barracks were all based on Public Health England advice, using social distancing measures.

Nearly 200 people at the barracks in Folkestone, Kent, contracted Covid-19 during a major outbreak earlier this year.

Last week two senior health officials said it was still difficult to envisage the site being considered Covid-safe.

The discussion in Parliament comes after six asylum seekers formerly housed at Napier Barracks recently won a legal challenge against the Government as a High Court judge ruled their accommodation was inadequate.

SNP MP Joanna Cherry has called for Priti Patel to resign (Andrew Milligan/PA)

The Home Office has faced renewed calls to shut the site in the aftermath of the verdict, but says significant improvements have been made.

The issue of the barracks was raised in an urgent question on Thursday, with minister Chris Philp answering questions from MPs.

Ms Cherry said: Other MPs have asked the minister whether the current Home Secretary misled the committee in oral evidence on February 24 this year.

In response to those questions the minister keeps referring to a Public Health England letter from June of this year, which talks about full co-operation from the Home Office since spring of this year.

Of course when the Home Secretary gave evidence on February 24, she was talking about what had happened before then, not what happened this spring, and evidence presented to the High Court suggests that what she said  that the department had previously followed public health guidance regarding Napier Barracks in every single way  was simply not factually correct and the High Court has said the fact that the public health evidence was ignored meant the Covid outbreak was inevitable.

Several MPs raised the case of Amber Rudd resigning as home secretary in 2018 for inadvertently misleading the Home Affairs Committee over targets for removing illegal immigrants.

Conservative MP Damian Collins, whose Folkestone and Hythe constituency includes Napier Barracks, asked Mr Philp if the Home Office intends to keep using the site beyond September and was told no decision has been made.

In response to recent speculation about the ongoing Covid-safety of Napier Barracks, the Home Office said significant improvements have been made.

Their spokesperson said: During the height of an unprecedented health pandemic, to ensure asylum seekers were not left destitute, additional accommodation was required at extremely short notice. We make no apology for providing people a secure place to stay.

The court explicitly found that the conditions of the barracks, and the treatment of residents at Napier did not breach human rights.

At all times during the pandemic we took reasonable steps to give effect to the advice from the health authorities.

Significant improvements have been made to the site, including improved accommodation and more outdoor and recreational activities.

Also on Thursday, the Home Office announced measures to encourage more local authorities around the UK to take in child migrants who arrive unaccompanied.

It follows a threat of legal action by Kent County Council which said it faces extreme pressure on its services for unaccompanied child migrants.

The authority has said it may no longer be able to accept new unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) within days  a situation which came to pass in August 2020.
An investigation is under way after a teenager was stabbed to death in south London.

The Metropolitan Police were called to Prentis Road in Streatham at just after 4pm on Thursday to reports of a stabbing.

Officers and the London Ambulance Service (LAS) found a male  believed to be in his late teens  with a stab wound to the chest.

He was taken to a central London hospital, where he was pronounced dead at just before 5pm.

Police were at the scene on Thursday evening and a number of roads were closed in the area.

Local MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said on Twitter: My thoughts and prayers are with the family of the young man stabbed to death on Streatham High Road this afternoon.

Arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing in the area.

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The Met is continuing enquires and has urged anyone with information to call police on 101 quoting CAD 5897/10JUNE.
Here is a transcript of Prime Minister Boris Johnsons pooled interview with broadcasters on Thursday following his meeting with President Biden at the G7.

Question: Youve just come from your talks with President Biden, the first time youve met face to face, you clearly had high hopes talking about Churchill and Roosevelt. But how were the talks? And did you make specific agreements on anything?

Mr Johnson: Yes, I  look  I dont think it is any exaggeration to say that the relationship between the UK and the US is  the relationship between North America and Europe  which really sort of is incarnated in that Atlantic Charter of 1941, which weve renewed today between me and President Biden, is of massive, massive strategic importance for the prosperity, the security of the world, for all the things we believe in together, democracy, human rights, the rule of law, the US and the UK stick up for those two things together. So its incredibly important that we should affirm that and the talks were great, they went on for a long time, we covered a huge range of subjects, and its wonderful to listen to the Biden administration and to Joe Biden because on theres so much that they want to do together with us, from security, NATO, to climate change, and its fantastic. Its a breath of fresh air. A lot of things they want to do together.

Question: One of the things the US clearly wants you to do, though, is sort out the problem with the Northern Ireland protocol. Did President Biden urge you to crack on with that? Hes made his alarm about the situation very clear.

Mr Johnson: Well no, he didnt. But what I can say is that the America, the United States, Washington, the UK, plus the European Union, have one thing we absolutely all want to do and that is to uphold the Good Friday, the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and make sure we keep the balance of the peace process going and thats absolutely common ground and, you know, Im optimistic that we can do that.

Question: Theres concern what is happening with the protocol is inflaming tensions.

Mr Johnson: As I say theres complete harmony on the need to keep going, find solutions and make sure we uphold the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and I think whats interesting is that, you know, Northern Ireland is a fantastic place and its got amazing potential and its a great, great part of the of the UK. A great story to tell about its young people, its tech, all the exciting businesses going on there. And what we need to do now is make sure that we get the balance right in the new arrangements we have and Im sure we can do that.
Strictly Come Dancings Janette Manrara is stepping down as a professional partner to replace Zoe Ball as host of BBC Two spin-off It Takes Two, it has been announced.

The American dancer and choreographer, 37, will share hosting duties with Rylan Clark-Neal, who debuted last year, on the weeknight sister show.

Ball stood down as presenter in May after a decade on the programme, having replaced Claudia Winkleman in 2011.

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Manraras new role means she is leaving Strictly and new professional dancers for 2021 will be announced in due course.

Announcing the news on BBC Ones The One Show, she said: I will not be dancing. I dont want to well up because I have been welling up a lot today, but that has been the hardest part of accepting this amazing honour to join It Takes Two.

Its the realisation that I will not be on that legendary Strictly dancefloor anymore. But I feel that this is most beautiful and natural progression.

I am still a part of the Strictly family, I am still going to be seeing my fellow pros all the time and I will keep dancing as they say. I will find a way to keep dancing.

Janette Manrara with singer HRVY in 2020 (BBC/PA)

She added: I honestly have to say I am just so excited to be given this opportunity. The quote that keeps coming to mind when I think about it is, All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney said that.

My mum and my dad at home and my family back in Miami, they were immigrants from a small Cuban family, they came over and now their daughter is hosting a huge dance show here in the UK.

They couldnt be prouder. I couldnt feel more privileged to be sharing this with such an awesome group of people.

Manrara joined Strictly in 2013 and made her debut dancing with Welsh fashion designer Julien MacDonald.

She later partnered with Jake Wood (2014), Peter Andre (2015), Melvin Odoom (2016), Aston Merrygold (2017), Dr Ranj Singh (2018), Will Bayley (2019) and last year (2020) with HRVY.

She reached week 10 twice, in 2017 and 2015.

It Takes Twos executive producer Eve Winstanley said: We are so excited that Janette will be Cha Cha Cha-ing her way into the It Takes Two family.

Her love and passion for all things dance will bring something new and fresh to the show.

Alex McLeod, commissioning editor for BBC daytime and early peak, said: We know that our viewers are avid fans of Strictly and cannot get enough expert advice, backstage gossip and dancing tips and tricks.

I cant think of anyone better than Janette to do this. I am so excited that she is joining our It Takes Two family.

Strictly: It Takes Two will return to BBC Two in autumn.
A man is accused of stealing more than 500 blank vaccine cards from the California vaccination site where he worked, the Los Angeles County District Attorney said Wednesday.

Muhammad Rauf Ahmed, 45, of Las Vegas, was charged with felony grand theft after authorities said he took the cards from the Pomona Fairplex. Ahmed was a non-clinical contracted employee who was hired to support the site, officials said.

La Verne Police said they were notified about the alleged theft on April 27 and determined the suspect put the stolen cards in his car.

"While conducting follow-up, Detectives located more blank Covid-19 vaccine cards in the suspect's hotel room," police said.

A total of 528 cards were recovered, according to authorities.

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The cards are worth about $15 each if sold illegally, according to District Attorney George Gascon.

Selling fraudulent and stolen vaccine cards is illegal, immoral and puts the public at risk of exposure to a deadly virus, he said Wednesday in a statement.

Ahmed is due in court on Aug. 25. It is unclear if Ahmed has an attorney, and efforts to reach him by phone and email Thursday were not successful.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has a propositionfor illegal gun-makers who have become a menace to authorities trying to control circulation of arms in the country: give yourself upto us and we shall give you jobs.

Mr Kenyatta made the unusual promise to criminals involved in assembling home-made guns on Wednesday at an exercise where illegal small arms and light weapons were collected and set alight. Here, the President said that the presence of homemade firearms in the stack was both a negative and a positive.

"Today, I want to make an offer. Kenya has now began making our own small arms and light weapons and for you out there who are engaged in making these guns for criminals, come let us give you a steady job to make legal weapons. Help grow our economy and defend our country," he said.

The President also extended the amnesty to persons habouring illegal weapons to surrender them to authorities, while calling on members of the public to share information on illegal firearms that are in their midst.

Byconducting the public destruction of illegal weapons, Kenya joins other African Union(AU) member countries in efforts to silence guns.

"An illegal gun makes you less safe, not more safe. It doesn't matter how good your intentions are. An illegal weapon makes you a criminal and liable to the full force of the law. If you have any security issues please come forward. Your responsibility is to engage the government and not to take the law into your own hands," said Mr Kenyatta.

0ver 5,000 of the small arms that were destroyed today were surrendered by members of the public who heeded to various amnesty programmes and calls for community disarmament, while others that had been mopped up during operations by security agencies.

The exercise took place in Kenya's Ngong just 23km from the capital Nairobi in the presence of United Kingdom High Commissioner Jane Marriott, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i, Chief of Defence Forces Gen Robert Kibochi and Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku among other leaders.

Small firearms and light weapons claim more than half a million lives across the world every year, with majority of the victims being women and children.

(CGTN)
About 1:45 p.m., officers responded to an alert from ShotSpotter, the citys gunshot detection system, of 10 rounds in the 1100 block of South Karlov Avenue, according to the police report. The officers were flagged down by a male who directed them to the back porch of an apartment building, and officers found the boy lying facedown on the stairs.
The incident took place around 11.15 pm on Wednesday at the New Collector Compound on Abdul Hamid Road in the Malwani area

Mumbai: At least eight children and three adults were killed and seven other people injured after a single-storey house collapsed on another structure in Malwani area of Mumbai, a civic official said on Thursday.

The incident took place around 11.15 pm on Wednesday at the New Collector Compound on Abdul Hamid Road in the Malwani area, he said.

Fire brigade and other agencies immediately rushed to the spot and started a search and rescue operation, the official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

Eight children and three adults died in the incident, he said.

Three of the deceased, aged 8, 9 and 13, were identified so far, while the eight other victims were yet to be identified, the BMC official said.

Seven others were injured and the condition of one of them was critical, he said.

People rescued from under the debris were taken to nearby hospitals, he added.

According to civic and fire brigade officials, some people might still be trapped under the rubble and the search and rescue operations were on.

According to BMC officials, the house collapsed on another singole-storey structure.

An adjoining three-storey building was also unstable, they said.
Good Samaritans helped the man out of the water and he wasnt injured in the attack, which happened about 7:15 p.m. in the 300 block of East Jackson Drive, police said.
San Angelo, TX (76909)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Share This: New Hampshire businesses will be exempt from paying state taxes on federal disaster loans under legislation expected to be signed by Gov. Chris Sununu.

Sununu told the New Hampshire Business Review he planned to sign the recently approved measure, which will eliminate taxes on the federal Paycheck Protection Program for more than 25,000 businesses that received the disaster loans.



"Excited to move forward with yet another tax cut for the Main Street small businesses of New Hampshire," the Republican governor told the publication. "This plan is a win-win."

Senate Bill 3, filed by Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, passed the House on June 4, putting New Hampshire in line with a majority of other states that have exempted the PPP loans from taxation. The bill was previously approved by the Senate.



Congress exempted the disaster loans from federal income taxes, but New Hampshire was one of 18 states where the funds were scheduled to be taxed.



Lawmakers who backed the move argued that the state has plenty of surplus money and can afford to give back to businesses that have struggled to survive during the pandemic.



The state Department of Revenue Administration estimates the impact to state coffers ranging from about $80 million to $135 million.

The Paycheck Protection Program was approved as part of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress in March to help keep small businesses afloat during the current pandemic.

Under the law, borrowers are eligible for PPP loan forgiveness if at least 60% of the proceeds go toward payroll expenses.

A second pandemic relief package approved by Congress in December provided...
Educators and families went to incredible lengths to keep students on track throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The next few years will be critically important to helping students reach their fullest potential, ISBE said in an online fact sheet. These assessments allow teachers to pinpoint knowledge gaps and immediately adjust instruction and support to match students needs.
The LVCC Loops first official passengers were attendees of the World of Concrete trade show, which started June 8. The trade show is the first major convention for the Las Vegas Convention Center since the pandemic began.

At the same time, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) officially opened doors to the convention centers newly-built West Hall. TBCs LVCC Loop connects the Las Vegas Convention Centers West Hall expansion with the Central Hall and South Stall.

Before the trade show, TBC conducted test drives in the LVCC Loop and surpassed expectations. According to the LVCVAs CEO and President Steve Hill, the LVCC Loops capacity exceeded 4,400 passengers per hour (pph). TBC was happy with the results and believes the LVCC Loop could reach up to 5,050 pph in the future.

As TBCs LVCC Loop starts operations, its other tunneling project in Sin City, the Vegas Loop, is getting attention. Las Vegas Raiders President Marc Badain noted he is ready to welcome a Boring Company station at the teams new $2 billion Allegiant Stadium.

As soon as theyre ready to tell us where they want to put the station, well make the space for it, Badain told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. I think it really depends on how it connects to the rest of the Strip, to the airport and the rest of the community where theyre building the entire tunnel system.

The Las Vegas City Council unanimously approved TBCs special use permit application for its Vegas Loop project last December. The Vegas Loop will connect several notable places in Las Vegas, including Allegiant Stadium, The Strip, McCarran International Airport and some resorts and casinos.

We thank Teslarati for reprint permission.
DCT

AWD

Exactly like the Stuttgart-based competition, the four-ringed automaker from Ingolstadt offers three variants of the compact car: 40 TFSI with front-wheel drive, 40 TFSI quattro, and the go-faster S3 with quattro and a more potent engine. Base versions come standard with 48-volt electrification that provides a boost during take-off and torque-fill during low RPMs.The 40 TFSI channels 201 horsepower and 236 pound-feet (320 Nm) to either axle with the help of a seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission. For the sake of comparison, Mercedes's 220 and 220 4Matic develop 188 horsepower and 221 pound-feet (300 Nm) and they feature aas well.Moving on to the S3 Sedan, this variant sweetens the deal to 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet (400 Nm) of torque, figures that enable a zero-to-60 acceleration of 4.5 seconds. Some 15 millimeters (0.6 inches) closer to the ground than its A3-branded siblings, the all-new S3 can be further spruced up with S sport suspension that boasts active damping technology.Excluding $1,045 for the destination charge, the German automaker wants $33,900 for the entry-level Premium trim level of the A3 Sedan 40 TFSI. The quattroadds $2,000 to the tally, the Premium Plus grade is $4,000 more, and the range-topping Prestige is $7,300 more than the base variant. In the case of the S3, youre looking at $44,900 before the freight tax and options.These MSRPs are very similar to the A-Class Sedan, which isnt exactly a big seller for the three-pointed star. Daimler AG chairman of the board Ola Kallenius told analysts a very interesting thing last year, and it sums up the innate problem of premium brands going into the compact sedan class.Maybe we went at a bit too far to cover each and every space into each and every segment, he said, adding that  compact particularly comes to mind .
The hatchback is marketed as the sportier choice, which explains why Honda will offer a six-speed manual transmission instead of a continuously variable transmission with or without paddle shifters. Prospective customers will be further treated to a close-ratio stick shift in the upcoming Civic Si (sedan and hatchback) and Civic Type R (exclusively hatchback).To be unveiled during a virtual concert on the Honda Stage YouTube channel, the compact-sized runabout will be joined on stage by headliner H.E.R. and pop duo Majid Jordan. The sole picture of the hatchback reveals a sloping roofline topped by a shark-fin antenna, door-mounted side mirrors, a rather frowny front-fascia design, and a red finish.The color is called Rallye Red, and its one of eight available for MY 2022 . In no particular order, the palette also consists of Sonic Gray Pearl, Morning Mist Blue Metallic, Aegean Blue Metallic, Platinum White Metallic, Crystal Black Pearl, Meteoroid Gray Metallic, and Lunar Silver Metallic.Under the hood, youll find a free-breathing engine as standard. The 2.0-liter motor develops 158 horsepower and 138 pound-feet (187 Nm) of torque, which isnt too shabby for a lump designed to be reliable and efficient. Customers who prefer a bit more punch will have to settle for the 1.5-liter turbo, which offers 180 horsepower and 177 pound-feet (240 Nm).The only downside to the force-fed mill is oil dilution, a problem that Honda tried to solve (and failed to) with software updates. Honda eventually gave up, extending the warranty on more than a million Civics and CR-Vs with this engine. The extended warranty covers any oil dilution-related repairs that concern the spark plugs, rocker-arm assembly, and camshaft.
We have seen pixel master Timothy Adry Emmanuel (a.k.a. adry53customs on social media) have, on occasion, very strong opinions about whats currently going on in the automotive world. As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so everyones entitled to a view.We also know that hes a very kind and loving person, as he recently presented the entire virtual world with a digital love letter to his betrothed. It arrived in the form of a completely self-designed Glory concept car that stunningly mixed 1980s Corvette design lines with forged carbon fiber body panels, a burgundy shade, and the sole thing OEMa 707-horsepower 6.2-liter Hemi V8 of the Hellcat variety.Now hes giving us a taste of his dark side in the form of a truly sinister (but utterly fun-looking) Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat . Interestingly, this time around, he didnt just use his imagination as a source of inspiration and instead went for a mix between creations that are as real as they get.As such, the overall concept for the cars design comes as a commission ordered by fellow social media dweller sinister_srt, while the widebody design is inspired by the equally imaginative automotive work of widebody expert Shirokai. And all the work isnt just for show because the Hella Clean widebody Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat will soon become a palpable reality in its newly broadened form.Its always great when such great digital designs manage to break out of the virtual world and land onto the very real planet Earth, although this one might look a bit alien, or at least as if coming from a very dark and fiery place underneath the tarmac.
SUV

kWh

According to LArgus, Stellantis wants to do as Renault and Dacia and sell an affordable electric car in Europe. That vehicle will be the Peugeot e-1008 we mentioned above. The project P44 was conceived to give South American customers an affordable. Nowadays, they can buy the Renault Kwid, which is not an SUV but looks pretty much like one. European buyers can buy something similar but powered by electrons: the Dacia Spring.When the P44 is released in Brazil by 2025 as the Peugeot 1008, Stellantis plans to sell its electric version in the Old Continent. With a length of about 4.15 m (163.4 inches), it will follow the same concept created by the Ford EcoSport. It will benefit from a simplified CMP platform to be affordable. The EcoSport was designed in Brazil as a modified Ford Fusion (the European one) under project code BV226: V stood for Velho (old, in Portuguese).The simplified platform will not be enough for the e-1008 to achieve a low price tag: it will likely have a small battery pack and a modest electric engine. LArgus does not mention how big the battery pack would be, but the Dacia Spring counts on 26.8. What the French website knows is that the motor will not deliver more than 80 hp.Concerning the design, it has not been decided yet. In fact, Carlos Tavares would have asked Matthias Hossann to completely change what Gilles Vidal  his predecessor as Peugeots design director  had already presented. Vidal is currently in Renault. All LArgus knows is that it will be boxy for it to be as roomy as possible.Although the European Union and Mercosul have signed a free-trade deal, it is improbable that the e-2008 will be produced in Brazil. Instead, Stellantis plans to manufacture it at the Trnava plant in Slovakia. The Peugeot 208 and the Citroen C3 come from that factory.
EV

kW

From e-skateboards, e-scooters, and e-bikes, urban mobility is teeming with electric components. Recent advancements in electric technology have spilled over into every nook and cranny of this industry and are now starting to turn heads. This time, I'll be talking about the turning heads and questions I received as autoevolution let loose the Super Soco TC on the streets of Bucharest, Romania.Super Soco is a Shanghai-based company that has seen major funding back in 2015 from Xiaomi and a few other high-profile companies. In time, its collaboration with top-of-the-line component makers such as Bosch has brought forth a new generation of EVs , mainly in the shapes of scooters, mopeds, and motorcycles.Sure, it may sound funny when you read in the shape of, but thats kind of what youre getting when you grab yourself a TC, as thisis considered a moped. Yes, this beautifully attractive vehicle, with the body of a cafe racer and the feels of a motorcycle, is actually a moped! I, for one, was ecstatic to find this out as I only have a standard license, which means I can ride it. Oh, and how did I ride.I recently made a new friend over at Electric Is Better in Bucharest, and as it turns out, some folks are still open to giving things away to perfect strangers who sign a liability waiver. So I got myself a TC (if only for a couple of days) and rode the hell out of it just to find out what all the buzz is about.Now, if you find a local dealership in your town that has one of these babies lying around, do give them a call. Most places will be more than happy to offer you a test ride, especially when the vehicle theyll eventually sell you costs anywhere from 3,500 ($4,263 at current exchange rates) to 4,500 ($5,481 at current exchange rates). Sure, youre paying around $5,000 for a moped, but keep reading as things get juicy. Oh, and do check out the video at the bottom to see the TC in action.It was one oclock in the afternoon. My taxi had dropped me off at the corner of a dead-end street. I pay the man and step out of the taxi, looking for the words  Electric Is Better.  Honestly, I didnt even need to see the building because out in front, glistening in the afternoon sun, was the TC, waiting just for me.The TC is the sort of vehicle that you only need to see once to remember for the rest of your life. Its retro cafe racer styling is not the only thing the Chinese team seems to have done one hell of a job with, but its the main aspect that gets people saying, What is that thing?As I stood before it for the very first time, a huge grin crept across my face, followed by a soft, How you doin'? I think I even let Dan Bondoc, the middleman for this experience, talking to himself for a moment; I was in love. Once I snapped out of it, I signed some paperwork, got a five-minute instruction on what the buttons do, and got in the saddle.As it stands, the TC has a wheelbase of 1,320 mm (52 in), ground clearance of 198 mm (7.8 in), and width of 703 mm (27.6 in), so it isnt very large. That makes it perfect for squeezing through traffic like it doesnt exist; no joke. I would compare it to a 50-cc bike but with a slightly higher seat770 mm (30.3 in)and bulkier body.A wonderful round speedometer with an LCD and needlework completes the retro styling beautifully and sits right above a large, round LED headlamp with low and high beam function and LED turn signals. The inverter suspension fork looks and feels solid and helps add to the motorcycle feel.Something I found rather odd, but later grew on me, were the brake fluid reservoirs. Seeing them clamped to the handlebar, these two reservoirs give the Super Soco TC a bit of personality. I feel it looks like a bumblebee; wait, no, a hornet. Yeah, thats the proper description, a hornet.The bike's rear continues with motorcycle styling and cues, including a swing arm and a monoshock suspension, grab bar, and seating for a passenger. Also, here youll notice that the 17-inch wheel at the rear houses the motor.Once I was on the TC, the position of my legs felt all too natural. It shows that Super Soco really put some hard work into the design of the bike. The foot pegs even include three adjustable positions, and the handlebars position your body in a very relaxed upright position. There's no stress on your back or shoulders, and not so much on the wrists. However, I later realized that my wrist discomfort was my mistake and not because of design.If youve even ridden a 50-cc motorcycle, then youll probably know how to ride the TC, too. If youve ever ridden a moped, you can ride the TC. Honestly, I can even say that if youve ever ridden a bike, you can probably ride the TC. Why? Simple, its that easy and intuitive.Turning on the TC is an experience in and of itself. Every time your press the keyless ignition, the sounds and lights go off, giving you a slight toyish feel; I assure you that this is just an illusion.I havent ridden a motorcycle or moped in over 15 years (been busy), but the moment I got on the TC and finally twisted the throttle, the smooth, elegant, and constant acceleration did absolutely everything for me.Your bike riding instincts instantly kick in, and with a couple of trips around the block, youll be ready to kick it into high gear among traffic, assuming you have a standard drivers license and know what the road signs mean.After a couple of rounds testing out the inverted suspension and rear mono shock, and figuring out how the left brake activates CBS technology while the right only stops the rear, I was ready to hit the streets. Normally, your left lever is a clutch, but since no shifting is needed by the 3-(4-hp) Bosch motor mounted in the rear wheel, extra safety doesnt hurt.Currently, the TC has three top-speed variants, and even though the speedometer goes all the way up to 90 kph (55.9 mph), I got to ride the speed-capped version as I have no motorcycle license. But 45 kph (28 mph) is still more than enough to beat city traffic in rush hour.Just to give you an idea of how efficiently you can move around your town, I took a trip during peak traffic, and the one-way trip that would normally take 1:15 minutes to complete was finished in around 36 minutes and 17 seconds, according to the GoPro session. Half the friggin time!The motor pushes out a peak 3 kW (4 hp) of power, so it may not be the fastest takeoff youll ever experience, but you will feel that linear acceleration up to your speed cap. Actually, when I twisted the throttle hard and didnt let off, I was able to constantly break my 45 kph (28 mph) speed cap and even hit 53 kph (33 mph). That's a nice little treat if you ask me. The 83-kg (182-lb) net weight of the bike, plus my own 77 kg (170 lbs) extra, was easy work for the motor's peak 150 Nm (111 lb-ft) of torque (dependent on model year.)My first experience with the TC bobbing and weaving through traffic and being the first off the line nearly every time (once got beaten by an e-bike also sporting a Bosch motor) really made me feel like I was riding a real motorcycle. An idea that sprouted among our team from the experience was that the TC could be used as an introductory motorcycle to anyone looking to learn how to ride.One thing I do need to point out is that because the TC is a rather small motorcycle, what youll need to consider are bumps in the road; if its a big one, chances are youll feel it. There are a couple of moments in the video that point out what I mean.Because of its size, the TC presents itself as being a nimble little bumblebee, and it sure is. I really need to point out the fact that traffic jams do NOT exist for you when youre riding this EV.With the battery the TC comes with, a 60V, 30Ah lithium-ion pack weighing 11 kg (24.2 lb), youre looking at a max range of 80 km (50 miles). Personally, I cant say I was able to achieve this range, as I rode this thing mostly in third (the most soliciting speed), but was still able to cruise for about 70 km (43.5 miles) on full blast, more than enough to cover your usual visits to a cafe, picking up a friend, hitting up another cafe, and finally making it home, but not before you circle the city at least one more time.Sure, it may not be the next delivery vehicle with which to conduct your business, but the fact that you can add another battery pack to the mix and double your range makes it very appealing to just about anyone. Heck, if you play it smart, you probably could run a delivery service with one of these.Once your battery is out of juice, theres a few ways you can recharge. Option one is to bring a cable out from your garage to your bike and run it through the inverter. Option two is to detach the battery pack, all 11 kg (24.2 lbs), and lug it with you upstairs. Ill be real here, its quite heavy and you may need a bit of muscle to walk around with it. Once indoors, just plug the inverter into any standard outlet, and in three to four hours, youre set to ride again.Braking is more than enough for the bike in traffic too. I had no problems stopping from almost hitting a car in front because my hand slipped the acceleration at the wrong time. That saved me from buying a replacement TC on the spot. Even in a turn, if youre coming in too hot, it's not a problem for this set of disc brakes.Now, on my rides out with the TC, at one point it had rained, and the streets were wet. Even though I was initially worried about riding a bag-o-bolts on damp roads, the instruction manual stated that wet riding is allowed as long as I didnt wade into any large puddles or water reached electrical components. With that ease of mind, I hit the streets. Cleaning it was also a breeze and it only took me about 30 minutes using a non-aggressive soap, water, and a couple of rags for washing and drying.Currently, Super Soco claims that the TC can climb 17-degree slopes. After riding around my neighborhood, which sits atop a hill, going down to the base and back up tens of times over two days, I realized that the hill youre climbing doesnt matter for the TC; the acceleration is just as good uphill.To test this limit of 17 degrees, I took the TC to an underground parking lot, where the climb to get you out goes beyond the limit. Guess what; the TC did it. It struggled a tad, but it kept climbing.Ride and all, awesome, but the TC can do a bit more than what I've just described. Sitting down and talking to our TC dealer, I quickly realized that this EV is a whole lot more than a 45-kph (28-mph) mopedlike that wasnt obvious already.One thing to know is that the TC speed cap is software limited. That means that with the proper puppy eyes, a valid motorcycle license, or a friend who specializes in IT, you can unlock your TC to the maximum possible speed of 90 kph (55.9 mph). Personally, I had to ask Dan if he would do it for me, but we all know the answer to that question. Even your acceleration is software limited, which, come to find out, can be tweaked too, depending on the version youre running.Storage is also quite large on the TC. If you dont get yourself a second battery, that space can be used to fit a backpack or anything else you may need to store. In my case, I was rolling around with the charger, which, I must add, recharges the battery in as little as three hours. Oh, and the battery is removable, so if you happen to head over to a friend's house for a relaxing afternoon, you can easily recharge your battery as I did. Another storage tray is also available, albeit for a phone, water bottle, or wallet. Nothing more is needed, really.What I also found surprising about the TC is the fact that you can make this thing nearly theft-proof unless its two guys and a pickup truck. First off, you have the alarm. If you forget to activate it, theres a steering column lock that uses an actual key (usually attached to your remote). If you forget that too, you could always unplug your battery which needs to be accessed using the key. And if by any chance you also forget to do that, theres a hidden kill switch that you can play around with.Like I said, it can be stolen with two guys and a pickup truck because to ride off on it is damn near impossible without knowing where everything is. Oh, and if your TC happens to be on and someone comes around behind you and snags it, theyll still need to know one last button that needs pressing before the motor engages. That last one even got me a couple of times.Theres only one thing I disliked about the TC. As you get on the puppy and start cranking the throttle, you hear the motor producing a tsk tsk tsk sound that only gets faster and more repetitive as you go faster. Travel fast enough, and you won't hear it as the wind zooms past your head, but folks around you may.The experience left me with a better understanding of how a motorcycle feels, how it handles, the benefits of owning onean electric one at that. I even had a brief conversation with my middleman about lowering the price so I could get myself one of these.All in all, I loved my experience with the TC. It was the absolute perfect vehicle to get me back into riding mode. Above all, I could hear nothing more than the sounds of the world around me. Well, almost nothing. In my opinion, its a very small price to pay for the experience and attention this moped will bring you.
Until electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft become a common part of our reality, something still needs to be done about standard jets and helicopters, in terms of making them environmentally-friendly. Sustainable aviation fuel ( SAF ) is one of the best solutions and its already being used. But the problem is that its not being used on a large scale yet, and that current aviation regulations restrict it to a 50% blend with conventional kerosene.One of the most ambitious projects that want to take SAF use to 100% is VOLCAN (VOL avec Carburants Alternatifs Nouveaux  Flight with New Alternative Fuel). Together with the French Ministry of Transport, some of the biggest aeronautical companies in the world, including Airbus, Safran and Dassault, are joining forces once again, to take alternative aviation fuel to the next level.Launching at the end of this year, the project is part of the French governments aviation recovery plan.For the first time, a single-aisle aircraft running on 100% SAF will be used to measure in-flight emissions, with the purpose of analyzing SAFs compatibility with single-aisle aircraft, commercial aircraft and helicopter engines, when its used unblended.Airbus will be providing the A320neo test aircraft, equipped with a CFM LEAP-1A engine , and TotalEnergies will be supplying the various types of SAF. The other participating companies will be in charge of analyzing the test results, both in terms of compatibility with the aircraft and the level of emissions.Considering that the ultimate objective is to obtain 100% SAF certification for new-generation business jets and single-aisle commercial aircraft, this study will be an important step in preparing the aviation sector for the large-scale use of SAF.
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Im proud to be doing this here today, with all my friends watching, Juarez said before the ceremony. But to be honest, I dont feel all that different. This is the only country Ive ever known and Ive always felt I was an American. Ive always wanted to help my country in any way I could, whether I was technically a citizen or not.
Outgoing Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said in a farewell briefing to reporters on Tuesday that the Biden administration is likely to appoint a Middle East envoy who will focus on strengthening the normalization agreements between Israel and the Arab world and will push for more.

Why it matters: The Biden administration has said it plans to build on the Trump-brokered agreements, but hasn't taken any action so far. Ashkenazi said senior Biden administration officials told him they were waiting for a new government to be formed in Israel before starting to push the normalization issue.

Between the lines: State Department and White House spokespeople refrain from using Trump's Abraham Accords label for the agreements, using the term normalization agreements instead.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said at a hearing in Congress that he wants to push for more normalization agreements and had no problem using the term Abraham Accords."

The Washington Post reported Friday that former ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro was being considered for the envoy role or another Middle East job. The State Department has declined to comment on that.

What he's saying: There are many other Arab and Muslim countries we can normalize relations with but for that we need the U.S. engaged," Ashkenazi said.

The outgoing foreign minister said he was pleased that the Biden administration had not rolled back any of Trump's decisions on Israel or reneged on promises Trump made to secure the normalization deals  like selling F-35 fighter jets to the UAE and recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara  despite how sensitive the administration is on those issues.

"We managed to maintain a no-surprises policy, and we are in a good place," Ashkenazi said of relations with the administration so far.

Driving the news: A U.S.-Israel working group on Palestinian affairs met on Monday for the first time to discuss the Biden administrations intention of reopening the consulate in Jerusalem, which handled relations with the Palestinians before Trump shut it down.

Ashkenazi stressed that several legal issues need to be solved, but the basic assumption is that the consulate will be reopened, after Israeli approval, in the same location as before on Agron Street in Jerusalem.

Ashkenazi said the meeting on Monday also dealt with the reconstruction efforts in Gaza and how to strengthen the Palestinian Authority, integrate it in the reconstruction process and weaken Hamas.

Whats next: According to Ashkenazi, the biggest challenge facing the next Israeli government will be making Israel a bipartisan issue in Congress again. We are not there yet, and the progressive part of the Democratic party is a challenge we have to invest in," he said.

Worth noting: Ashkenazi said that in recent months, including during the Gaza fighting, he kept in close contact with seven Arab foreign ministers, some of them from countries that dont have diplomatic relations with Israel. With some of them I text daily on Whatsapp," he said.
Six months after a ceasefire ended the most recent civil war, the UN and U.S. have been expressing a rare sentiment: optimism about events in Libya.

The state of play: Libya achieved an unexpected breakthrough in March by forming a national unity government that was recognized by all the major players from opposing sides of the barricades.

Now all the country has to do is expel a medley of foreign fighters, unify its financial and military institutions, decide on a system of government, grapple with 10 years of on-and-off civil war (and four decades of dictatorship before that), and hold elections  all by the end of the year.

There's also the "elephant in the room," notes Mohammed Ali Abdallah, special envoy to the U.S. for Libyas Government of National Unity. Khalifa Haftar, the rogue general who attempted to overthrow the Tripoli government, remains a force in eastern Libya.

Haftar's offensive was repulsed last year when Turkey intervened on behalf of the Tripoli government.

What he's saying: In an interview with Axios, Abdallah acknowledged that Libya's recent history is littered with transitional governments that overstayed their mandates while failing to deliver. But he insists that this time is different.

"People are starting to realize that, you know what, those who were part of the [Muammar Gaddafi] regime or those who were part of the revolution, people who are from the East or from the West, people who were supporting a military takeover versus those who were holding onto the democratic process  the rivalries and the polarization are starting to blur."

The leaders of the transitional government  Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and Presidential Council chairman Mohamed al-Menfi  are intent on delivering elections because they know their political prospects will collapse if they don't, Abdallah contends.

Yes, but: A recent report from the International Crisis Group notes that Dbeibah was accused of buying votes to get his job and reportedly wants to keep it for at least two years.

A recent report from the International Crisis Group notes that Dbeibah was accused of buying votes to get his job and reportedly wants to keep it for at least two years. Still, the report notes, "The seamless power transfer  with no armed group mobilizing to prevent it and no foreign power trying to obstruct it  is historic for a country awash with militias and where foreign meddling has become the norm.

The regional winds have been helpful, including recent reconciliations between Haftar backers Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the one hand and Turkey and Qatar on the other.

Most promising, Abdallah says, is the dialogue between Egypt (another Haftar backer) and Turkey, both of which will have big roles to play in stabilizing Libya. The transitional government has even proposed a trilateral summit in Libya, he says.

That leaves just one major external player that "actually benefits from an ongoing crisis in Libya," Abdallah says: Russia, whose interests are represented by mercenaries from the Wagner Group.

Moscow has indicated that the mercenaries will withdraw if Russia is awarded infrastructure or mining projects or, most controversially, is allowed to establish a permanent military presence, Abdallah claims.

Moscow hasn't made that request explicit but has long wanted a base on the southern shore of the Mediterranean and is trying to prey on Libya's "vulnerability," Abdallah claims.

Like the UAE, Abdallah says, Russia has lost confidence in Haftar but continues to view him as a "bargaining chip."

Abdallah takes a very different tone when it comes to Turkey.

Ankara has a "legitimate military presence thats helping us as a country," he says.

Between the lines: The UN and Libya's own foreign minister have called on all foreign fighters to leave Libya. Abdallah says the militias Turkey brought into the country should leave, but Turkey's troops are a special case.

There is one country that should intervene more strongly in Libya, Abdallah says: the U.S.

Driving the news: The Biden administration last week dispatched acting Assistant Secretary of State Joey Hood to Tripoli alongside Richard Norland, President Biden's special envoy to Libya, in a show of support for the unity government.

Dbeibah (right) shakes hands with Norland while Hood (C) looks on. Photo: AFP via Getty

The transitional government wants the Biden administration to pressure the UAE and others to stop meddling in Libya while helping Libya develop its institutions and prepare for the elections.

Abdallah notes that many senior officials in the Biden administration witnessed Libya's collapse while serving in Barack Obama's administration. Some may see an opportunity to make a wrong a right," he says.

What to watch: Abdallah concedes that there are major constitutional and security gaps to be filled before an election can be held, and he even acknowledges that it might become impossible to hold a vote in December, as planned.
Lithuania's parliament passed a resolution on Thursday recognizing China's repression of Uyghur Muslims as genocide, joining the U.S. government and the parliaments of the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands in doing so.

Why it matters: China's campaign of mass detention, surveillance, forced sterilization and forced labor against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang has drawn international condemnation from human rights groups.

The big picture: While many Western governments have spoken out against China's human rights abuses, the U.S. is the only government to take the step of labeling the campaign against the Uyghurs as a genocide.

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China has helped lead the effort among backbench lawmakers to hold Beijing accountable for its abuses, including through resolutions condemning its repression in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet.

Lithuania is one of several former Soviet states that have advocated for a harder line against Russia, China and other authoritarian governments.

In addition to recognizing the Uyghur genocide, Thursday's resolution also called on China to revoke its draconian national security law in Hong Kong.

What they're saying: "We support democracy, as we will never forget the cruel lesson of living under occupation by a Communist regime for 50 years," said Dovile Sakaliene, a Lithuanian lawmaker and IPAC co-chair who sponsored the resolution.

Go deeper: Axios interviewed Lithuania's deputy foreign minister on the country's "realistic" approach to China
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party rejected on Thursday the comparisons being made in the U.S. between his efforts to block a transition of power and those of former President Trump after the November 2020 presidential election.

Why it matters: On the verge of being replaced after 12 years in power, Netanyahu has been working to delegitimize the incoming government and accusing its leaders of perpetrating the fraud of the century." But Likud tweeted on Thursday that Netanyahu wasn't challenging the vote count and was committed to a peaceful transition.

The backstory: Fears of potential political violence have been growing in Israel ahead of a vote on Sunday to confirm the incoming government, which is led by right-wing former Netanyahu protege Naftali Bennett and centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid.

Members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, have faced death threats and protests from angry Netanyahu supporters outside their homes.

Netanyahu has rejected claims that he and his inner circle are inciting violence, and continues to claim he's the victim of the biggest election fraud in history."

Axios ran a story on Wednesday comparing the responses of Netanyahu and Trump to their power slipping away, and a CNN segment on the topic was also widely shared.

What they're saying: Tweeting in English, Netanyahu's party said the prime minister had "complete confidence" in the election results but insisted Bennett was nonetheless committing fraud by forming a government with Lapid after promising not to do so during the campaign.

"Bennett hijacked votes from the right and shifted them to the left in direct contradiction to his pledges," the tweets continued. "If this isn't fraud we don't know what is."

"Bennett's actions are akin to U.S. Electors unilaterally switching the voters' choice for president against the will of the electorate," the party claimed.

Between the lines: This is a political argument rather than a legal one. While Trump took the vote counts to court, Netanyahu's aim has been to pressure right-wing members of the Knesset to abandon the Bennett-Lapid pact so that the vote fails.

The other side: Bennett argues that his choices were to either form a government with Lapid or plunge Israel into a fifth straight election. Netanyahu had already tried and failed to form a right-wing coalition.

What's next: Although Netanyahu party says he's committed to a peaceful transition of power, his aides won't say whether he'll attend the official ceremony on Monday in which Bennett is set to assume his office.
Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, arrived in the Armenian capital late on Wednesday from Baku where he met with President Ilham Aliyev and other Azerbaijani officials.

The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh and, in particular, an ongoing military standoff on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border were the main theme of his talks held in the two capitals.

As we made very clear in statements from Washington, we would like to see both parties pull back to positions, relocate to where they were on May 11, Reeker told RFE/RLs Armenian Service after meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and senior Armenian diplomats.

He said the troop disengagement is essential for preventing shootouts and other violent incidents at border sections where Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers have been facing off against each other for the past month. It should be followed by a demarcation of the long and mountainous frontier, he said, adding that Washington is ready to provide technical expertise for that purpose.

The State Department similarly urged both sides to return to their previous positions and cease military fortification of the non-demarcated border in a statement issued on May 27. A department spokeswoman said earlier that Baku should pull back all forces immediately and cease further provocation.

Pashinian proposed on May 27 that Armenia and Azerbaijan withdraw their troops from the disputed border areas and let Russia and/or the United States and France, the two other countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group, deploy observers there. He also called for the launch of a process of ascertaining border points supervised by the international community.

Asked whether the U.S. supports the idea of an observation mission, Reeker said: The talk of some sort of a peacekeeping mechanism or observers has long been part of the co-chair process. For many, many years thats been discussed.

According to an Armenian government statement, Pashinian told Reeker that Baku must withdraw its forces from Armenias sovereign territory and unconditionally free all Armenian soldiers and civilians remaining in Azerbaijani captivity seven months after a Russian-brokered ceasefire stopped the war in Karabakh.

I have expressed concern, as has the United States government repeatedly, over the need to have all prisoners, all detainees freed and returned home, Reeker said in this regard, commenting on his talks in Yerevan and Baku.
The Cook County states attorneys office did not prosecute Wilson in last years trial. But a few of their prosecutors were key to the dramatic way the case fell apart. Maldonado ruled that there are grounds to investigate whether any prosecutors, past or present, engaged in criminal conduct  not just the allegedly perjurious former assistant states attorney, Nick Trutenko.
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Mainly clear skies. Low 67F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear skies. Low 67F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
For some people, taking off a mask will mean just exposing the bottom half of their face, he wrote. But for others, it signifies that they must reevaluate their understanding of risk and danger yet again, with fewer emotional reserves at hand. I feel more clingy toward the routines Ive established, Whitney Robinson, a social epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told me. Summer feels like an unknown, and kind of exhausting. (It means) navigating new situations, reestablishing relationships, and deciding on COVID norms. It feels tiring. 
TIMELINE

1998: The Firebaugh Police Department receives a report from a man alleging Monsignor Craig Harrison abused him at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Firebaugh, where Harrison served as pastor from July 1, 1992 to June 30, 1999.

July 1999: Harrison becomes pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Bakersfield, where he previously worked from June 22, 1989 to Oct. 16, 1991.

2002: The same accuser who made accusations against Harrison to Firebaugh police makes allegations to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, which investigates and deems them unsubstantiated. The same year, the Bakersfield Police Department receives an anonymous allegation of inappropriate contact by Harrison involving a group of teen juveniles. The department says it cannot corroborate the accusation and closes the case.

2004: A retired FBI agent in Merced, assigned to investigate unrelated accusations against someone else, details allegations Harrison had sex with two high school students while he was a pastor in Firebaugh and that he would examine boys private parts every morning to check whether they were using drugs.

April 12, 2019: A man tells the Fresno diocese he was touched inappropriately by Harrison three separate times while serving as a 16- or 17-year-old altar boy at St. Joseph.

April 25, 2019: The diocese announces the most recent allegations and places Harrison on administrative leave. That same day, another man contacts the diocese alleging "inappropriate behavior" when he was a minor at St. Patrick's Church in Merced in 1988. Harrison denies the accusations.

May 2019: Former Harrison assistant Ryan Dixon alleges he was a victim of Harrison's "inappropriate touching, lies, manipulation and abuse of power." Dixon further alleges he witnessed Harrison touching and being alone with children and giving them gifts and money. Harrison issues a public statement defending himself against accusations of sexual misconduct and expressing sadness at having been "left to fight without support" from the diocese. The same month, a man who grew up in Bakersfield and attended St. Francis tells Bakersfield police he was sexually abused as a minor by Harrison seven to nine times during a four-year-period that started in 1989.

July 2019: Bakersfield police release an investigation report painting Harrison as either a hands-off father figure preaching tough love or a sexual predator who groomed his victims using guilt and gifts. It says a detective assigned to the case could not corroborate allegations the priest had touched anyone inappropriately, and concluded some acts Harrison was accused of allegedly occurred too long ago to be prosecuted.

August 2019: Harrison sues Steven Brady and the activist group Roman Catholic Faithful, saying Brady shared and published defamatory statements during a May news conference at a Holiday Inn in Bakersfield.

September 2019: Harrison files a slander lawsuit against Dixon, alleging his former mentee "negligently and maliciously" made false statements that caused Harrison emotional and economic harm.

November 2019: The Merced County District Attorneys Office says it will not file criminal charges against Harrison following allegations of inappropriate touching. It notes that because the incidents allegedly happened in 1987 and 1988, charges are prohibited because the statute of limitations had expired.

February 2020: Harrison files a defamation lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno and its chancellor/director of communications, who he alleges made defamatory statements on behalf of the diocese in May 2019. Separately, the Fresno County District Attorney's Office says it will not file criminal sexual assault charges against Harrison, even though allegations against him seemed credible, because the statute of limitations had expired.

December 2020: The Catholic church initiates canon law proceedings against Harrison after he refused to drop his defamation lawsuit against the diocese and two of its officials.

February 2021: Harrison resigns as pastor of St. Francis Church. Bishop Joseph V. Brennan later announces Harrison will be laicized, after which time he will no longer be considered a member of the clergy.

May 2021: A Fresno County Superior Court judge dismisses the lawsuit Harrison filed against the diocese.

Source: The Bakersfield Californian archives
In an effort to foster solidarity between climate activists and refinery workers, marchers with the Sunrise Movement made a pit stop Wednesday on their 400-mile trek across the Gulf Coast to support ExxonMobil employees still locked out from a facility in Beaumont.

More than a dozen Sunrise members arrived in the late afternoon at the United Steelworkers Union line off of Burt Street where workers were continuing the picket that started on May 1 when 650 workers were locked out.

Most of the group are in their late teens and 20s. A few even had to skip their last few weeks of school to make the long journey by foot. They still have around 11 marching days left before they make their final stop in Houston.

But group organizers said it was worth it. They wanted their journey to do more than make a statement. They wanted it to make a difference by stopping in Gulf communities like Lake Charles to assist with recovery efforts from May flood events.

Nathan May, a college student from the Dallas area, said the stop in Beaumont also was a chance to fight the narrative he believes energy companies use to convince workers that climate activists are coming for their jobs.

Were fighting for them to be safe and represented, because we believe that all people should have a right to safe work conditions, good jobs and livable futures, he said. We are on their side, and its about uniting to make sure we get fair treatment from the people at the top.

Members of the political action organization started their march on May 10 in New Orleans. They are continuing through Beaumont to Houston to call on President Joe Biden and the U.S. Congress to establish a more robust Civilian Climate Corps as part of the American Jobs Plan.

They say the CCC would replicate Depression-era efforts to stimulate the economy, transition to a carbon-free energy system and help the most vulnerable parts of the country recover from the impacts of climate change that are already threatening communities like those on the Gulf Coast.

Related: Watch: ExxonMobil pickets corporate headquarters

Bidens version of a climate-based CCC outlined in the $2 trillion proposed infrastructure plan would provide $10 billion for its creation and establish around 300,000 jobs, but groups like the Sunrise Movement and Evergreen Action have called for at least 1.5 million positions.

While on the picket line, activists talked with locked out workers that have been maintaining their watch in shifts at the companys gates for more than a month.

One of those workers, Brad Wiegand, has been making the rounds in front of the gates at least two times a week, joined by his wife.

Hes a third-generation worker in the refining industry and remembered hearing stories about lockouts and strikes from his grandfather. But he said living through one is a different experience.

Related: EXCLUSIVE: USW alleges ExxonMobil broke labor laws before lockout

Its a good way to make a living, but you cant let a big company just run with anything they want to do, he said. We have to make sure these jobs stay in our area.

Glimpses of the conflicts over a new six-year contract have centered around concerns from the USW about company-proposed changes certain cross-training policies and a plan to change the placement of key operator positions. The union said these changes would endanger worker safety and the local seniority system.

The company has said it is only trying to modernize policies at the Beaumont refinery and lubricant facility to match contracts already in place at facilities in Baytown and Baton Rouge.

The unions bargaining committee and the company havent met since May 12, but sources from both sides told the Enterprise that a meeting could be held on Thursday morning.

jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/jd_journalism
Kim Brent / The Enterprise

The Port Arthur Public Library is hosting a five-week summer reading challenge until July 27 for children up to 17 years old with a current library card.

After registering, participants are encouraged to check out books and read at least 20 minutes each day. The program also encourages young readers to complete a reading journal and book summary of their favorite book, according to a news release. To earn an incentive, participants are asked to turn in their journals and summaries to the library weekly.
The Senate measure was approved by a 40-17 margin with a lone Republican vote. Supporters say it would help keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldnt have them and make it easier for legal gun owners to keep their FOID cards and concealed carry licenses up to date, addressing the problems exposed by the Aurora shooting while also alleviating a backlog of applications to state police that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Six people were indicted in Jefferson County Wednesday in relation to the death of five individuals.

Court documents say a 25-year-old man, who indicted on three counts of intoxication manslaughter Wednesday, late last month had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he veered across a median and collided head-on with a car carrying a family, killing three.

Chance Glyn Craddock was driving a Dodge Ram just after 7:30 p.m. May 20 on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard when he suddenly swerved into oncoming traffic, colliding with a Cadillac Sedan, the documents say.

Among those killed was Eriana Washington, 14; Danny Nichols, 33; and LAmberia McDaniel, 35.

Craddock smelled of alcohol, according to police, and failed field sobriety tests. He was taken to the Medical Center of Southeast Texas where lab results indicated there was alcohol in his system, and it was approximately twice the .08 prima facia limit.

Indictments released by the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office also revealed five men are facing first-degree murder charges for the deaths of two others.

In the first case, 20-year-old Deshaun Manuel and 19-year-old Joseph Matthews were charged with murder in relation to the late fall 2020 shooting death of 25-year-old Jacoby Jackson in Beaumont.

According to a probable cause affidavit, on Nov. 22, 2020, Beaumont Police officers arrived at a call of shots fired on Glasshouse St. and found Jackson in the street with multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency medical personnel arrived declared him dead on the scene.

Officers say a witness told them that Manuel and Matthews had both shot at Jackson.

In the second case, three 23-year-old Port Arthur men were charged with murder for the drive-by shooting death of 24-year-old Deshandric Clayton. A fourth man, Kylan Bazile, already has been arrested and charged in the case.

According to police, Clayton was hanging out with three other people in the parking lot of the Avery Trace Apartments during the afternoon of Oct. 18, 2019 when they saw a maroon 2018 Kia Optima that they knew belonged to one of the suspects. The small group ran because Bazile and (Kamron) Fennell are known rival gang members and they knew that Fennell would shoot at them, the court documents say.

As Clayton approached the stairwell, Fennel shot a gun out the window, which hit Clayton once in the chest, the documents say. Police said Bazile was driving the vehicle, and Jacory Reynolds and Ardajour Jimmerson were riding in the back. Fennell, Reynolds and Jimmerson all were indicted on murder charges Wednesday.

isaac.windes@hearstnp.com

twitter.com/isaacdwindes
MILDENHALL, England (AP)  President Joe Biden opened the first overseas trip of his term Wednesday with a declaration that the United States is back as he seeks to reassert the nation on the world stage and steady European allies deeply shaken by his predecessor.

Biden has set the stakes for his eight-day trip in sweeping terms, believing the West must publicly demonstrate it can compete economically with China as the world emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. It is an open repudiation of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who scorned alliances and withdrew from a global climate change agreement that Biden has since rejoined.

The president's first stop was a visit with U.S. troops and their families at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, where he laid out his mission for the trip.

Were going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and issues that matter the most to our future," he said. "That were committed to leading with strength, defending our values, and delivering for our people.

The challenges awaiting Biden overseas were clear as the president and the audience wore masks  a reminder of the pandemic that is still raging around much of the world even as its threat recedes within the United States.

We have to end COVID-19 not just at home -- which were doing -- but everywhere," Biden said.

Shortly before the president spoke, people briefed on the matter said the Biden administration had brokered an agreement with Pfizer to purchase 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to be donated to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union over the next year.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden was committed to sharing vaccines because it was in the public health and strategic interests of the U.S. He added that Biden is aiming to show that democracies are the countries that can best deliver solutions for people everywhere.

As he said in his joint session (address), we were the arsenal of democracy in World War II, Sullivan said. Were going to be the arsenal of vaccines over this next period to help end the pandemic.

After addressing the troops, Biden and first lady Jill Biden flew to Cornwall Airport Newquay, then traveled by car to Tregenna Castle in St. Ives, where they are staying until Sunday.

Building toward his trip-ending summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden will aim to reassure European capitals that the United States can once again be counted on as a dependable partner to thwart Moscows aggression both on their eastern front and their internet battlefields.

The trip will be far more about messaging than specific actions or deals. And the paramount priority for Biden is to convince the world that his Democratic administration is not just a fleeting deviation in the trajectory of an American foreign policy that many allies fear irrevocably drifted toward a more transactional outlook under Trump.

The trip, at its core, will advance the fundamental thrust of Joe Bidens foreign policy, Sullivan said, to rally the worlds democracies to tackle the great challenges of our time.

Bidens to-do list is ambitious.

In their face-to-face sit-down in Geneva, Biden wants to privately pressure Putin to end myriad provocations, including cybersecurity attacks on American businesses by Russian-based hackers, the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and repeated overt and covert efforts by the Kremlin to interfere in U.S. elections.

Biden is also looking to rally allies on their COVID-19 response and to urge them to coalesce around a strategy to check emerging economic and national security competitor China even as the U.S. expresses concern about Europe's economic links to Moscow. Biden also wants to nudge outlying allies, including Australia, to make more aggressive commitments to the worldwide effort to curb global warming.

The week-plus journey is a big moment for Biden, who traveled the world for decades as vice president and as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has now stepped off Air Force One onto international soil as commander in chief. He will face world leaders still grappling with the virus and rattled by four years of Trumps inward-looking foreign policy and moves that strained longtime alliances as the Republican former president made overtures to strongmen.

The president first attends a summit of the Group of Seven leaders in the U.K., and then visits Brussels for a NATO summit and a meeting with the heads of the European Union. The trip comes at a moment when Europeans have diminished expectations for what they can expect of U.S. leadership on the foreign stage.

Central and Eastern Europeans are desperately hoping to bind the U.S. more tightly to their security. Germany is looking to see the U.S. troop presence maintained there so it doesnt need to build up its own. France, meanwhile, has taken the tack that the U.S. cant be trusted as it once was and that the European Union must pursue greater strategic autonomy going forward.

I think the concern is real that the Trumpian tendencies in the U.S. could return full bore in the midterms or in the next presidential election, said Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. diplomat and once deputy secretary general of NATO.

The sequencing of the trip is deliberate: Biden consulting with Western European allies for much of a week as a show of unity before his summit with Putin.

Biden holds a sitdown Thursday with British Prime Minster Boris Johnson a day ahead of the G-7 summit to be held above the craggy cliffs of Cornwall overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The most tactile of politicians, Biden has grown frustrated by the diplomacy-via-Zoom dynamics of the pandemic and has relished the ability to again have face-to-face meetings that allow him to size up and connect with world leaders. While Biden himself is a veteran statesman, many of the world leaders he will see in England, including Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron, took office after Biden left the vice presidency. Another, Germanys Angela Merkel, will leave office later this year.

There are several potential areas of tension. On climate change, the U.S. is aiming to regain its credibility after Trump pulled the country back from the fight against global warming. Biden could also feel pressure on trade, an issue to which he's yet to give much attention. And with the United States well supplied with COVID-19 vaccines yet struggling to persuade some of its own citizens to use it, leaders whose inoculation campaigns have been slower have been pressuring Biden to share more surplus around the globe.

Another central focus will be China. Biden and the other G-7 leaders will announce an infrastructure financing program for developing countries that is meant to compete directly with Beijings Belt-and-Road Initiative. But not every European power has viewed China in as harsh a light as Biden, who has painted the rivalry with the techno-security state as the defining competition for the 21st century.

The European Union has avoided taking as strong a stance on Beijings crackdown on Hong Kongs democracy movement or treatment of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang province as the Biden administration may like. But there are signs that Europe is willing to put greater scrutiny on Beijing.

Biden is also scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while in Brussels, a face-to-face meeting between two leaders who have had many fraught moments in their relationship over the years.

The trip finale will be Biden's meeting with Putin.

Biden has taken a very different approach to Russia than Trump's friendly outreach. Their sole summit, held in July 2018 in Helsinki, was marked by Trumps refusal to side with U.S. intelligence agencies over Putins denials of Russian interference in the election two years earlier.
Texans who were affected by the February freeze dont have to file their federal income tax returns until Tuesday, though you might want to get that envelope in the mail today  or tomorrow at the latest. If you have a refund coming, congratulations. If you owe Uncle Sam, the check had better be in the mail too.

Either way, preparing that tax return is one of the least-favorite tasks for most of us. It would be better, or at least less bad, if you knew that rich folks were paying their fair share too on their much larger incomes. But as most of us have learned, rich folks often pay less taxes than we think they should  or shockingly, none at all.

Its not just a myth either. A recent survey by ProPublica, a non-profit news organization, revealed that the 25 richest Americans paid a true tax rate of just 3.4% between 2014 and 2018  even though their collective net worth increased by $400 billion in that period. Since the official tax rate for people with incomes over $518,400 is 37%, that means they were coughing up roughly 10% of what they should pay.

Granted, no one pays the base rate in each tax bracket. The standard deduction for single people is $12,400 and $24,800 for married couples. So right off the top, that amount is subtracted from your total income.

The real taxation starts at that point, for any income over that level. The deduction amounts are so high  raised by the Trump tax bill of 2017  that most average people dont have enough charitable deductions or other factors to reduce their tax bill by itemizing on their tax return. There are other deductions that come into play, however, and they can save you some real money on that tax return.

But it is highly unlikely that you got your tax rate down to 3.4%  the average amount paid by the 25 richest Americans in the ProPublica survey. The median American household paid 14% in federal taxes, ProPublica reported. So what gives?

Cleary, very wealthy people can pay very smart lawyers and accountants to get their tax bill as low as possible. And most of their income isnt salary from a job but other types of compensation, which are taxed at different rates.

As ProPublica put it, Americas billionaires avail themselves of tax-avoidance strategies beyond the reach of ordinary people. Their wealth derives from the skyrocketing value of their assets, like stock and property. Those gains are not defined by US laws as taxable income unless and until the billionaires sell.

The only way to get around something like this would be to require wealthy people and big corporations to pay a minimum tax. The theory is that no matter how much magic their tax preparers could work, they would still have to fork over a reasonable amount of money in taxes each year.

More Information Tax brackets for income earned in 2020 37% for incomes over $518,400 ($622,050 for married couples filing jointly) 35%, for incomes over $207,350 ($414,700 for married couples filing jointly) 32% for incomes over $163,300 ($326,600 for married couples filing jointly) 24% for incomes over $85,525 ($171,050 for married couples filing jointly) 22% for incomes over $40,125 ($80,250 for married couples filing jointly) 12% for incomes over $9,875 ($19,750 for married couples filing jointly) 10% for incomes up to $9,875 ($19,750 for married couples filing jointly) Source: Internal Revenue Service See More Collapse

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have promoted a wealth tax that would levy a 3% tax on the net worth of the ultra rich. But proposals like that have been put forth before, and they never go anywhere. Republicans in Congress invariably oppose any kind of tax increase, even something like this. Democrats would need a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a majority in the House to make that happen  with a Democratic president, of course.

On a similar note, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen just secured a historic deal from G-7 finance ministers for a minimum international corporate tax rate of 15%.

But getting that agreement endorsed by Congress and the rest of the world will be extremely difficult. Former Trump administration economic adviser Kevin Hassett even said flatly, it isnt going to happen.

So without a major political shift, minimum tax rates for the very rich or huge corporations wont be on the horizon soon.

It can be argued that the earnings of the mega-rich benefit the economy in other ways, such as creating jobs from all the stuff they buy and produce. And thats true to an extent; if you have a mansion worth tens of millions of dollars, you will have a hard time dodging the hefty property taxes on it. The other kinds of business deductions your accountants work with just dont apply to something like that.

But even tax bills like that dont equal up to all the other millions shielded from state or federal taxes. Tax codes are complicated, and savvy accountants can manipulate them creatively, getting a deduction for Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk in ways that werent intended.

If they can keep dodging a minimum tax, that wont change. For the near term at least, they will keep paying less instead of more.

TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com
The energy bill already had generated some controversy. While it would pave the way for Pritzkers goal of setting the state on a path to 100% carbon-free power by 2050, eyebrows were raised about Exelon, parent company of scandal-plagued ComEd, requesting ratepayer funded subsidies for its nuclear plants; the utility behemoth has said it would shut down its Byron and Dresden nuclear plants this year if the state doesnt provide more financial support. More on that here. Gov. Pritzker took the lead on negotiations, but its still not clear how much ratepayers and taxpayers will fork over for the subsidies.
A man uses his mobile phone at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. 11, April 2020.

Bangladeshs cabinet approved the purchase of a U.S. $8 million device to listen in on mobile-phone conversations and read text messages, officials said this week, touting it as needed for national security although activists warn it could violate peoples privacy.

The South Asian nations government is buying the so-called mobile interceptor from a Swiss company called Toru Group Limited, said Md. Harun-Or-Rashif Biswas, a home ministry official.

The purpose of procuring this vehicle-mounted mobile interceptor is to enhance the capacity of the NTMC, Biswas, an additional secretary in-charge of police and the National Telecommunication Monitoring Center, told BenarNews.

This device would enable law enforcers to deter crimes.

The NTMC is a government agency whose mission is spelled out in English on its website  To provide lawful communication interception facilities to the empowered agencies and to assist [the] appropriate authorit[ies] with communication intelligence as ordered by the Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh bought a similar interceptor in 2017, a year after pro-Islamic State militants massacred hostages during an overnight siege at the Holey Artisan Bakery, a Dhaka cafe, in the nations deadliest terrorist attack to date.

At the time, the government said it would use the device to identify and track militants.

Biswas, the home ministry official, declined to elaborate on how exactly the NTMC would use the new device.

This is rubbish, he said when asked about activists worries that citizens rights could be breached.

The main purpose of purchasing this device is to ensure national security. This is not for any malicious purposes.

Article 96(1) of the Bangladesh's Telecommunications Act states: The Government may in [the] public interest take over possession of a radio apparatus or the place where it is used, any telecommunication system, and all arrangements that are necessary for operating them, continue such possession for any period and keep the operator and his employees engaged on full-time or for a particular time for the purpose of operating such apparatus or system.

BenarNews tried to confirm details about the technology purchase with the company said to be supplying it, the Toru Group, but found only one company by that name online.

The website described the Toru Group as a world leading provider of Cyber Security solutions, but contained no links, contact information or other information about the firm, such as where it is based.

BenarNews asked Biswas about this, and to provide contact information for Toru Group, but he declined to do so.

The content of the website of the company is not our concern, Biswas told BenarNews.

Lawyer: There is no legal basis

Rights activists, meanwhile, worry that the mobile interceptors use could violate citizens constitutional right to privacy, and that the technology could be used to spy on the opposition and ordinary citizens.

BenarNews asked a lawyer about whether the government could eavesdrop on citizens phone conversations if national security was at stake.

He said no.

There is no legal basis for law enforcers or other agencies to record the telephonic conversions of individuals, Jyotirmoy Barua, a human rights lawyer, told BenarNews.

For investigation of a crime, the Telecommunication Act 2001 allows investigators to seek information on selected clients from [telecom] service providers. But it in no way allows them to record conversations of citizens.

However, there is no stated policy about the extent to which NTMC is allowed to monitor mobile phones and similar devices, the lawyer said.

We have yet to frame a law on private data protection, Barua said.

However, he believes the mobile interceptor would indeed compromise citizens right to privacy.

An information and communication technology expert explained how a vehicle mounted mobile interceptor normally works.

Tanvir Hassan Zoha said the device could be transported to different places.

The interceptor takes control of all the mobile phone towers of the area where it is placed, Zoha told BenarNews.

By controlling the towers, this device can access all conversations, messages, photos and videos [on mobile phones]. This device can even track conversations, messages, photos and videos exchanged via WhatsApp, Viber and other social networking apps.

As it is, international rights groups have criticized the Bangladesh government for being intolerant toward criticism and using a draconian law, the Digital Security Act, to clamp down on dissent.

A civil society leader said the mobile interceptor would facilitate such behavior.

It would be used to suppress political and other opponents. The government is violating peoples privacy by procuring tracking devices with public money, Badiul Alam Majumdar told BenarNews.

This is really regrettable  this is not acceptable.
In this photo released by the Xinhua News Agency, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Dialogue Relations attended by foreign ministers from ASEAN countries, in Chongqing, China, June 7, 2021.

Myanmars shadow government rejected Chinese support for ASEAN on resolving political turmoil in the wake of the Feb. 1 coup, saying the neighbors plan would cement military control of the country.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi voiced support for the stance on Myanmar of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations during a special meeting with the regional blocs foreign ministers in Chongqing on Monday.

We support joint efforts to explore effective means to ease the situation and resolve issues within the ASEAN framework, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin told a press conference after Mondays meeting.

China will maintain close communication with ASEAN and support its mediation efforts, while reaching out to all parties in Myanmar in its own way, so as to secure an early soft landing for the situation in Myanmar.

ASEAN member-states, which include Myanmar, reached a five-point consensus at a special summit in Jakarta in late April. Coup leader Maj. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing attended the meeting and endorsed the consensus, which included the appointment of a special envoy from the regional bloc to Myanmar, and a call for an immediate end to the violence.

But Myanmars National Unity Government (NUG), made of lawmakers ousted by the military in February, told the Myanmar Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Wednesday that merely restores the pre-coup status quo.

There is a big difference between what ASEAN and China say about political context and what we want to bring about, said NUG Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung.

What ASEAN and China want is to go back under the 2008 constitution, and they seem to be calling for a return to the situation before Feb. 1. But the 2008 Constitution is gone, she told RFA, with which BenarNews is affiliated.

If we go back to 2008, the military will have supremacy and that would not bring about real democracy. There can be no real federal democracy under those terms, added the minister.

The 2008 constitution reserves one fourth of the seats in both houses of Myanmars national assembly for the military, which has the right to take control in times of national emergency if declared by the president. The military used the latter clause to carry out the coup, citing unsupported election fraud claims.

Wang, at the special meeting spoke of cooperating with all concerned parties, but Chinas ambassador to Myanmar last week visited Naypyidaw and met only with the junta leaders and referred to Min Aung Hlaing as the leader of Myanmar.

The NUG took the ambassadors words as an endorsement of the coup and a slight.

China often says they are doing things in the interest of our people, but that is not the case, Zin Mar Aung said.

Though the entire world can hear the voices of our people, neighboring countries pretend not to hear them. Referring to Min Aung Hlaing as the leader of Myanmar showed a total ignorance of the peoples desires, she said.

The actions of the Chinese ambassador, as well as two ASEAN emissaries who met only the military government during recent visits to Myanmar prompted the shadow foreign minister to send an open letter to Wang, expressing concern that China and ASEAN were ignoring the NUG.

Hla Kyaw Zaw, a China-based Myanmar military expert, said the onus was on the people of Myanmar to deal with the military dictatorship because every country will act in its own interest.

Whether its China or ASEAN, they will do things in their own diplomatic way. We dont need to think about how important their efforts are for the sake of Burma, he said.

It is encouraging that the people do not believe everything the military council said, but they need to put pressure on the military in some way. It is up to our people to help themselves, Hla Kyaw Zaw said.

Naing Swe Oo, a former military officer and executive director of the Yangon-based Thayninga Institute of Strategic Studies, said Beijing would continue to cooperate with the new government.

The pro-junta analyst told RFA that China has supported Myanmar in several instances in the past. We can see that they wish for stability.

Sino-Myanmar relations expert Min The told RFA, however, that he did not believe that China actually supports a return to democracy in Myanmar

There is no goodwill nor love in politics  only self-interest. Just look at the history of China. What kind of cooperation that promotes or supports democracy have you seen in Chinese cooperation with so-called third world countries? Min The said.

I dont think China has that kind of history of showing support for democracy. Since it is a communist country, in its past it only supported communism. It is unbelievable that a country like China would support democracy, he said.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service.
Erlinda Roses (left) and her husband Rodolfo Roses, both 72, receive a dose of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine inside their home in Manila, June 9, 2021.

Activists in Southeast Asia criticized rich nations Thursday for pre-ordering and stockpiling COVID-19 vaccines in excess of their populations needs, saying this caused a shortfall in supply for the developing world.

Shortages of jabs and a surge in coronavirus cases have led to rising deaths and prompted fresh lockdowns and movement restrictions, which are pushing people deeper into poverty, the Peoples Vaccine Alliance Asia said.

Developed countries used their economic and political might to pre-order and hoard vaccine stocks, irrationally without regard for the rest of the humanity, the alliances representatives told an online media forum organized by Oxfam in Asia, Oxfam Pilipinas and Thai NGO Apcaso on Thursday.

In the face of critical supply shortages, developing countries across the world are being left dangerously farther behind while the virus continues to mutate and makes catching up even harder.

Citing data, the alliance pointed to how the European Union had secured 4.6 billion doses  10 times the regional blocs population of 450 million.

And while the United States ordered 3.2 billion doses  also 10 times Americas population of 330 million  at least the superpower decided to share 80 million of its doses globally by the end of June, the alliances Asia wing said.

In addition, President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that Washington would purchase and donate 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses to 92 low- and lower middle-income countries, as well as member states of the African Union.

According to Bidens plan, the 500 million doses are expected to be delivered by June of next year, with 200 million of the total slated for delivery by the end of 2021.

President Biden has been clear that borders cannot keep this pandemic at bay and has vowed that our nation will be the arsenal of vaccines, the White House said in a statement.

President Biden will also call on the worlds democracies to do their parts in contributing to the global supply of safe and effective vaccines.

Full vaccination in 57 years

The American announcement came as the president arrived in Britain to attend the G-7 summit, where he was expected to urge his fellow leaders to follow Washington in vaccine sharing.

The powerful grouping of nations has been criticized, because many of its member governments refuse to waive intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines and have lagged in doing their share to help vaccinate poorer countries.

According to the Peoples Vaccine Alliance, G7 nations will have vaccinated everyone in their countries within months. By contrast, on current trends, the poorest countries will only reach full vaccination in 57 years, the alliance said.

For instance, the African continent accounts for under 1 percent of the more than 2.1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses administered globally, the World Health Organization said in a statement Thursday.

In Southeast Asia, the Peoples Vaccine Alliance Asia said only 5.4 percent of the Philippines total population had received jabs so far compared with only 6 percent in Thailand; 10.7 in Malaysia; and 10.5 percent in Indonesia.

We are  for a fair and equitable global distribution of vaccines, Mae Buenaventura, of the group Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, said at the forum.

One that is based on the need of the country and its population and respective in the countrys economic status bound by human rights, international solidarity, and cooperation. Everyone on the planet should get safe, effective free vaccines.

The unequal distribution of vaccines is a major roadblock in global vaccination efforts, Buenaventura said.

We underscore the urgency that there is no time to lose. Every day that passes [that] only a few people are vaccinated and targets [are] not reached  is a danger multiplied, she said.

We appeal to vaccine-producing countries to shift from their policy, she said, referring to nations that have vaccines in excess of their needs and refuse to waive intellectual property rights on COVID-19 jabs.

By the numbers

In Southeast Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines are the nations hardest hit by the pandemic.

In Indonesia, daily infections have spiked to an average of 6,500 a day in the past week, from an average of 3,500 a day in mid-May. Daily cases have doubled in nine cities, mostly in heavily populated Central Java and West Java.

Wiku Adisasmito, spokesman of Indonesias COVID-19 Task Force, said hospitals there were nearly at capacity.

We should not allow the situation to become critical and out of control. We urge all district chiefs and mayors to immediately improve the handling of COVID-19 in their respective jurisdictions, Wiku said.

As of Thursday, the number of confirmed cases in Indonesia rose by nearly 9,000 to 1.88 million. The death toll rose to 52,373 after 211 fatalities were recorded overnight.

Across the Philippine archipelago of 105 million people, virus-related deaths so far have reached 22,312. And with more than 7,485 new infections recorded Thursday, the cumulative caseload rose to 1.2 million.

While were seeing an increase in the number of infections in Visayas and Mindanao Islands, thats also [because] the vaccines are not widely made available, or the distribution is not wide enough, said Nemuel Fajutagana, a doctor with the Medical Action Group in the Philippines.

Elsewhere in the region, Malaysia is in the throes of a fourth wave after having curbed new infections for most of last year.

The country reported 5,671 new infections on Thursday, taking the total number of cases to more than 600,000. With 73 virus-related deaths in 24 hours, pandemic fatalities rose to 3,684.

Even in Thailand, the country that had been the most successful in limiting new COVID-19 infections  both in Asia and the world  new COVID-19 infections have risen more than six-fold, and related deaths have increased 12.5 times, since a third coronavirus wave began on April 1.

Thailand logged 2,310 new cases on Thursday, lifting the cumulative caseload to 187,538, while the virus-related death toll rose to 1,375, after 43 overnight deaths.
The project needs a little bit more time, Rocha said during a news conference at Provident to unveil a recently opened dialysis center. We will try to minimize any delays possible and try to see where we can move forward, but as COVID has been with us for over a year now, we want to make sure that we are being responsive to the timeline.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Nelson could have been sentenced to at least five years in prison if he had gone to trial and been found guilty on all changes, prosecutors said.
The Massachusetts Municipal Association joined Secretary of State William Galvin in opposition to legislation on the House's agenda (H 3863) that would allow the Legislature to redraw state and federal districts before local governments update their voting precincts.
FILE - In this May 27, 2021 file photo, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks to the gathered media after his tour of a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Pine Hall Brick plant in Madison, N.C. North Carolina's Senate approved a measure on Thursday, June 10, to prohibit doctors from performing abortions if a woman is seeking it because of race, sex or a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome.
Associate features editor

Margaret Button is the associate editor of Berkshires Week and writes a weekly food. She has been with The Eagle since 2014. Maggy can be reached at mbutton@berkshireeagle.com and on Twitter at @ButtonMaggy.
The author says that 60 percent of jobs in the U.S. are considered mediocre or of poor quality, according to a recent Gallup survey. If you combine those findings with the fact that many workers in the service economy are poorly compensated, the problem begins to come into clearer focus.
GREAT BARRINGTON  With vaccination rates topping more than 90 percent in some age groups, the Board of Health has issued an advisory to use good discretion and kindness during the transition to a full reopening after the state lifted most COVID-19 restrictions on May 29.

Without elaborating on specifics, the advisory urges residents, businesses and visitors to use good discretion with the excellent public health practices weve become accustomed to in the last year, especially while indoors.

Meanwhile, the town has not seen a virus case in more than two weeks, Health Agent Rebecca Jurczyk said Friday. And well over half of residents age 12 to 29 in a cohort that includes Great Barrington, Alford, Egremont, Mount Washington and New Marlborough have at least one dose of vaccine; 93 percent of those 30 to 49 have had at least one shot; for those 65 and up the rate is more than 95 percent. The Eagle consolidated this state Department of Public Health data from the five towns to reduce statistical error.

The advisory also says the board and Health Department are available to consult with businesses and employers to help them abide by current local, state and and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations. Kindness also is recommended.

Please keep kindness at the forefront of your mind when shopping, working, eating, or visiting our community, said the advisory, which Jurczyk emailed Wednesday. The last year has had unique mental and physical impacts on all of us and what would boost the well-being of our community most is mutual respect for one another.

The panel drafted the advisory at its June 3 meeting the week after Gov. Charlie Baker lifted most restrictions, including mask wearing mandates.
PITTSFIELD  Members of the legal community on Wednesday decried as dangerous and stunning District Attorney Andrea Harringtons failed attempt to have a district court judge removed from the bench over a series of rulings unfavorable to prosecutors.

Randy Gioia, deputy chief counsel for the Public Defender Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which provides legal services to those who cannot afford an attorney, said the move telegraphs to other judges that they must conform or face consequences.

Calling for a sitting judge to be removed from their post based on a decision a prosecutor disagrees with is both concerning and dangerous, Gioia said in a statement. It sends a message to other judges that they need to fall in line or else face an attack on their livelihood, and it ignores the other avenues available when a party disagrees with a judges decision.

He and other attorneys spoke out about what they perceived as an extraordinary move by a prosecutor that raises questions about her stewardship of the District Attorneys Office.

Harringtons assertion in a May letter that Judge Jennifer Tyne posed a significant threat to public safety was swatted down this week by the chief justice of the district court system, Paul C. Dawley, who found there was no factual basis to support the top prosecutors claims of judicial indiscretion.

Harrington has said that she stands by the content of her letter, and in a statement Wednesday, said she is content knowing top district court officials have been looped into what she said are flaws in the system.

I respect and appreciate Justice Dawleys review of my multiple concerns, she said. I am satisfied knowing that the leadership of the district court is aware that the atmosphere in the court is demoralizing for the prosecutors and victims who are seeking protection and justice.

After reviewing audio from the cases the district attorney cited in her letter, Dawley had said he did not hear anything that resembled hostile or discriminatory conduct by Judge Tyne. Harrington earlier this week refused to say whether she personally had reviewed the audio.

There are limited options to address concerns with judges, Harrington said in a statement Wednesday, but it is my responsibility to advocate for the compassionate treatment of parties and attorneys in the justice system.

But the dust has yet to settle over the legal community in Berkshire County and beyond, and Harringtons request has already prompted one local attorney and possible DA candidate, Robert Sullivan, to call on Harrington to resign.

Harrington lodged her written complaint with three of Tynes superiors, including Dawley, who investigated Harringtons claims. Attorneys said it was an abnormal avenue that Harrington took, since complaints against judges are typically investigated by the Commission on Judicial Conduct. But Harrington has said it was appropriate for her to raise her concerns with the decision makers within the district court system.

The communication also raises questions about whether Harrington infringed on the separation of powers with the coequal judiciary, said Jedd Hall, a Berkshire defense lawyer and former prosecutor. Hall said he now feels less confident in Harringtons ethical choices.

Shes the executive branch; she has nothing to do with the judicial branch, he said of Harrington. The fact that the top prosecutor tried to have her [Tyne] basically removed because she wasnt in line with the decisions the DAs office is making is stunning.

Harrington seemed to acknowledge the issue in her May 14 letter to Dawley and two other judges.

She wrote that she has profound respect for the separation of powers between the judiciary and the Commonwealth and asked that Tyne be precluded from presiding over criminal cases in Berkshire County only as a last resort necessitated after efforts to seek relief from the appellate courts have proved unsuccessful in remedying a pattern of dangerous rulings and hostile treatment of victims and prosecutors by Tyne.

Gioia said his statewide agency supports Judge Tyne not just as a former public defender but as a jurist and peer who is respected because of her fair and even-handed approach. He commended Dawley for making a prudent decision that was firmly grounded in facts  that is what judges are supposed to do.

Tyne was appointed to the bench in 2017 after serving as a prosecutor, defense lawyer and appeals attorney for indigent clients in criminal cases. In her first term, Harrington campaigned in favor of criminal justice reform and steered away from the traditional cash bail system in favor of expanding the use of dangerousness hearings.

In her letter, Harrington argued Tynes refusal to revoke bail for a suspect triggered events leading the the slaying of Lemond Grady recently in Pittsfield. Tyne said prosecutors request was based on an unsigned statement accusing Grady of violating an order to stay away from Edward Jennings, who now is charged with killing Grady.

Tyne asked prosecutors to produce Jennings to testify, but Jennings did not respond to a summons.

Attorney Shannon Plumb, who represented Grady, acknowledged that without Jennings testimony, there wasnt much evidence to support prosecutors request to revoke her clients bail.

Judge Tyne is a judge for a reason, she said. She knows the rules and she follows the rules.

Harrington wrote that Tyne regularly exhibits hostility towards the prosecutors who appear in her court, behavior Plumb said she has never seen from Tyne. Rather, Plumb said Tyne expects attorneys to come prepared and becomes rightfully annoyed when they are not.

On a broader scale, Plumb said the promises Harrington made during her campaign as a progressive prosecutor have not materialized.

Its disappointing, its really disappointing, because there was a lot of hope for this administration that there was going to be a progressive platform going forward, and nothing that was promised has manifested and if anything, things are worse and the credibility of the office has suffered, she said. Their focus is seemingly less on justice and more on headlines, and thats certainly not helpful to Berkshire County.

Another attorney handling one of the multiple criminal cases that Harrington cited in her letter, Timothy Shugrue, said the legal community was blindsided by the district attorneys request to have Tyne removed from the bench.

She went after a judge that everyone considers fair and impartial, Shugrue said, describing Tyne in positive terms that were echoed by attorneys Elizabeth Quigley and Nathaniel Green.

Shugrue said Harrington brought up his case with three judges without notifying him, running afoul of the rules and prompting him to question whether the District Attorneys Office will prosecute the case fairly.

Were supposed to have mutual respect and trust in one another, he said. That trust has been questioned.
The North Adams schools superintendent has been authorized to apply to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a renovation project at Brayton Elementary School.
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When I first got elected, we set the goal of revamping Sawmill Plaza, Morton Grove Mayor Dan DiMaria said in an interview. We did that and we set the bar high... Sawmill Station in general is a culmination of that vision and dream. Amazon Fresh is just another feather in the cap to the whole development because it brings modernization and brings us up to the current times. Im delighted they are coming to town and I have been waiting to let everyone know that now is the time for Amazon, and here it is.
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China will build 20 national-level intangible cultural heritage museums during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), according to a plan recently released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The plan will improve facilities for carrying forward intangible cultural heritage, said the ministry.

The ministry is also encouraging the building of local-level intangible cultural heritage museums with unique ethnic, regional or industrial features.

The plan adds that private investment is welcome to launch facilities that help tourists learn about intangible cultural heritage.
CARBIS BAY, England (AP)  The Latest on the Group of Seven nations meeting being held in England and the talks Thursday between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden:

FALMOUTH, England  President Joe Biden has given British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a new bicycle.

The United Kingdom was Bidens initial stop on his first foreign trip, and he met Johnson for the first time on Thursday.

The White House says Biden gave Johnson an American-made bicycle and bike helmet custom-made by Bilenky Cycle Works, a small family business located in Philadelphia. Biden was born in Pennsylvania.

The White House says the gift was a gesture of friendship and in recognition of their shared interest in cycling.

Johnsons office says the prime minister gave Biden a framed photo of a mural in Edinburgh of Frederick Douglass. Jill Biden got a first edition Daphne Du Maurier novel. Much of her work is set in Cornwall.

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FALMOUTH, England  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Group of Seven leaders will pledge to share 1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines with poorer countries during a meeting of the wealthy nations club in southwest England.

Speeding the global recovery from the pandemic is a dominant issue at the summit. While countries like the U.S. and Britain have already given vaccine shots to most adults, many nations, especially in Africa, have few doses or none.

Johnson said Thursday that the G-7 leaders pledges at the summit mean we can vaccinate the world by the end of next year and build back better from coronavirus.

The U.K. didnt disclose details of the commitments, but President Joe Biden says the U.S. will give 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine over the next year, and Johnson says Britain will give 100 million doses. Chancellor Angela Merkel said last month that Germany is prepared to donate 30 million doses by years end.

Its also unclear how they will be manufactured and distributed. The British government says that the vaccines will be provided through dose sharing and financing and that expanding vaccine manufacturing will be part of hitting the target.

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PARIS  French President Emmanuel Macron is welcoming as great news the decision of the United States to donate 500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the poorest countries.

In a news conference Thursday, Macron said, I think the European Union needs to have at least the same level of ambition as the United States, and be able to make a similar announcement.

Macron added that the schedule of deliveries needs to be specified.

The U.S. commitment is to buy and donate 500 million Pfizer doses for distribution by mid-2022 through the global COVAX alliance to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union.

France has been insisting on the importance of helping Africa, in particular, with vaccines since last year.

France was the first rich country to donate via COVAX, sending 100,000 doses to Mauritania in April, and Macron said that the country would donate half a million doses by mid-June and 30 million doses by the end of the year.

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FALMOUTH, England  A hotel hosting media and security staff for the Group of Seven summit in England has temporarily shut down because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Pedn Olva in St. Ives shut down for a deep clean, according to its owners, the St Austell Brewery. The shutdown came after an undisclosed number of staff contracted COVID-19.

The owners said Thursday that the hotel will reopen after the deep clean and after they have enough staff to run it.

G-7 leaders begin three days of meetings Friday in Carbis Bay, a small seaside village.

While locals in the community are accustomed to crowds and traffic in the summer, disruptions caused by the summit are rather more extreme.

Some 5,000 extra police officers have been deployed to the area, and authorities have even hired a cruise ship with a capacity of 3,000 to accommodate some of the extra officers.

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ST. IVES, England  President Joe Biden says the United States is buying and donating hundreds of millions of doses of Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine to help save lives, not to get favors or potential concessions from the nearly 100 low-income countries that will be receiving the shots.

Hes also calling on other countries to follow the American lead, saying it is in all of our interests to see the global economy recover.

Biden is outlining U.S. global vaccine-sharing plans in St. Ives, England, after a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Biden, Johnson and other leaders of the worlds largest economies are meeting for a summit that begins Friday in Cornwall, England.

Biden says the U.S. will buy 500 million doses, with 200 million to be delivered this year and the remainder in the first half of 2022.

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ST IVES, England  President Joe Biden says his meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in England was productive, and he's affirming the nations' special relationship as allies on climate change, global security and fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden says the leaders updated the 80-year-old Atlantic Charter, which led to the United Nations and NATO.

The American president says the alliance is addressing challenges that include cybersecurity, new technologies, global health and the climate crisis. Biden says he and the prime minister discussed a U.S.-hosted climate summit in April and an upcoming climate meeting scheduled for later this year in Scotland.

Biden says the talks also covered Afghanistan and the coming withdrawal of troops, as well as how to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

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CARBIS BAY, England  The leaders of Britain and the United States are vowing to defend their countries enduring values against challenges old and new, in a far-reaching document set out ahead of a Group of Seven summit in England.

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who met for more than an hour on Thursday, signed a document building on the commitments and aspirations set out 80 years go by predecessors Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in the Atlantic Charter.

That document led to the United Nations and NATO. The new one looks to the challenge posed by countries like China and Russia with its promises to promote free trade, human rights and a rules-based international order, and to counter those who seek to undermine our alliances and institutions.

The new charter also took aim at interference through disinformation in elections and murky economic practices, charges that the West has levelled at Moscow and Beijing.

The two leaders also promised to build stronger global defenses against health threats, ahead of a summit dominated by the coronavirus pandemic.

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CARBIS BAY, England - U.S. first lady Jill Biden showed up to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife wearing a dark jacket with LOVE embroidered on her upper back.

She said she and President Joe Biden were bringing love from America.

Biden is using his first overseas trip in office to send the message to European allies that America is back following the America first, go-it-alone approach of his predecessor, Donald Trump.

But Jill Bidens fashion choice immediately reminded White House watchers of another first lady who once sported an entirely different message on her back.

Former first lady Melania Trump wore a green jacket that said, I Really Dont Care, Do U? on a 2018 trip to a Texas border town to visit migrant children housed in shelters. She wore a different jacket while visiting the children.

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CARBIS BAY, England  President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson looked back on illustrious wartime predecessors as they met ahead of a Group of Seven summit in England.

At their first meeting in the seaside resort of Carbis Bay, the two leaders inspected documents Thursday related to the Atlantic Charter, a declaration signed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in August 1941 setting out common goals for the world after World War II. Those goals included freer trade, disarmament and the right to self-determination of all people.

Johnson noted that the charter laid the foundation for the United Nations and NATO. Yeah, I know, Biden said.

At their meeting, the two leaders plan to sign what theyre calling a new Atlantic Charter, pledging to defend the principles, values, and institutions of democracy and open societies.

The original charter is often cited as a cornerstone of the trans-Atlantic special relationship.

Johnsons predecessor, Theresa May, gave a copy of the charter to Donald Trump in 2019 as part of efforts to charm the volatile then-president. It had little success; Trump publicly disparaged May and derided international bodies such as the U.N.

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TOKYO  Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, before heading to a British seaside town in Cornwall to attend the Group of Seven summit, told reporters that he hopes to frankly discuss the pandemic, climate and other key issues with other leaders who share universal values.

It will be Sugas first face-to-face multilateral talks since he took office in September last year.

At this G-7 Summit, I hope to have a frank discussion with other G-7 leaders who share universal values on important issues such as coronavirus measures, climate change, economy and regional affairs. I plan to explain Japans position on those issues and contribute to the summit talks, Suga said.

He also said he plans to gain support for his determination to host the Summer Olympics starting on July 23 despite the pandemic.

I would like to explain our determination to thoroughly implement the anti-infection measures to achieve safe and secure Games and gain understanding from the leaders, Suga sad.

His departure was delayed for about 90 minutes due to a mechanical trouble on the government plane he was to fly.

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PLYMOUTH, England  President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet for the first time Thursday against a backdrop of differences both political and personal.

Biden hopes to use his first overseas trip as president to reassure European allies that the United States had shed the transactional tendencies of Donald Trumps term and is a reliable partner again. But tensions may simmer beneath the surface of Bidens meeting with Johnson.

The president staunchly opposed the Brexit movement, the British exodus from the European Union that Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern with the future of Northern Ireland. And Biden once called the British leader a physical and emotional clone of Trump.

The British government has worked hard to overcome that impression, stressing Johnsons common ground with Biden on issues such as climate change and his support for international institutions. But Johnson, the host for the Group of Seven summit that will follow his sit-down with Biden, has been frustrated by the lack of a new trade deal with the United States.

The two leaders were expected to announce the creation of a U.S.-U.K. task force that will move toward resuming travel between the two nations, according to a White House official. Most travel has been banned between the two nations since March 2020.

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LONDON  President Joe Biden will be welcomed with a military Guard of Honor and afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle when he meets the monarch on Sunday.

The queen will host the president and First Lady Jill Biden in her royal residence on Sunday, after the couple leaves the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, southwestern England.

The monarch will greet the Bidens in the castles quadrangle, where assembled soldiers from the Queens Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards will give a royal salute and the U.S. national anthem will be played.

The president will then be invited to inspect the Honor Guard and watch the military march-past with the queen.

Biden will be the 13th American leader to meet the monarch, with Lyndon B. Johnson the only one the queen has not met. She has received four other U.S. presidents at Windsor Castle: President Donald Trump in 2018; Barack Obama in 2016; George W. Bush in 2008; and Ronald Reagan in 1982.

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BERLIN  Germany is sticking to its opposition to easing patent protection on COVID-19 vaccines as it goes into the Group of Seven summit.

While many developed countries with strong pharmaceutical industries hesitated or were outright opposed to the idea, the debate received a jolt last month when the Biden administration announced support for granting waivers for vaccines.

But a senior German official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity in line with department rules, said Thursday: We dont think a waiver is helpful or is actually the problem, and nothing has changed about that.

The official noted that talks are ongoing at the World Trade Organization in Geneva and said they may achieve improvements within the system.

Asked whether Germany plans to announce to give more vaccine to poorer countries after the U.S. unveils plans to donate 500 million doses around the globe, the official said Germany has done a great deal on three tracks: sharing doses, financing purchases via the COVAX program, and exports.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said last month that Germany is prepared to donate 30 million doses by the years end to poorer countries assuming, of course, that the vaccines we have ordered actually arrive. That would be part of a broader donation of 100 million doses by the European Union.

Germany hasnt said when the donations will start.

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BERLIN  Germany sees one big message from this years Group of Seven summit: multilateralism is back.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is attending her last G-7 summit after nearly 16 years in power, has been a leading advocate of taking a multilateral approach to world affairs  in contrast to the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Asked what message Merkel wants to send at the summit, a senior German official replied: The message of the summit overall  and that stands for what the chancellor has stood for over recent years  is that multilaterism, and the G-7, is back.

The official, who said that there has been much common ground in pre-summit negotiations, stressed that issues such as climate change, the pandemic and many others can only be solved together.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department rules.

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LONDON  U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being criticized for flying to the Group of Seven summit meeting in Cornwall, rather than taking the train, as he presses world leaders to do more to fight global warming.

Environmental activists bombarded Johnsons Twitter feed with suggestions that the prime minister should practice what he preaches after he posted a photo of himself climbing off the plane accompanied by a call to make the world better, fairer and greener.

This is how serious Boris Johnson is about combating the climate emergency: He flew to Cornwall, Zarah Sultana, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party, tweeted in response.

According to figures posted on the U.K. government website, domestic flights generate about six times more greenhouse gases than rail travel. A train journey to Cornwall takes about five hours, compared with less than 90 minutes for a flight.

Johnson is hosting leaders from the worlds seven richest democracies during this weekends summit at the Carbis Bay resort in Cornwall. The agenda includes talks on climate change, the global response to COVID-19 and the taxation of multinational corporations.

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LONDON  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the nations of the world must set aside the beggar my neighbor attitude that led to squabbling over medicines and treatments for COVID-19.

Johnson said Thursday that Group of Seven leaders meeting this weekend in Carbis Bay, southwest England, will commit to vaccinating the world by the end of 2022.

The British leader wrote in The Times of London that it was time for wealthy countries should shoulder their responsibilities and to vaccinate the world.

But he faces criticism because the U.K. has yet to send any doses abroad and has cut its international aid budget, citing the economic blow of the pandemic.

Johnson said Thursday that Britain would donate millions of doses from surplus stocks -- though he didnt say when.

Johnson also noted that the British government helped fund the development at Oxford University of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which accounts for 1 in 3 vaccine doses around the world.

President Joe Biden is announcing Thursday that the U.S. will buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine to share with poorer countries over the next year.

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BRUSSELS  Top European Union officials are joining calls to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, ramping up the pressure on China to be more open about the virus, ahead of the Group of Seven summit.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday that we have to know where it did come from in order to draw the right lessons and to develop the right tools to make sure that this will never happen again.

Von der Leyen says the investigators need complete access to whatever is necessary to really find the source of this pandemic. She said Europe had responded reasonably well to the heavy economic impact of virus restrictions because it had drawn the right lessons from the 2008 financial crisis.

European Council President Charles Michel says the world has the right to know exactly what happened.

Last month, President Joe Biden ordered U.S. intelligence officials to redouble their efforts to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, including any possibility the trail might lead to a Chinese laboratory.
Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, will the Catholic Church stand up to Bill O'Reilly?

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The study will explore the immune response to COVID-19-specific vaccines in Brazilian healthcare workers

An Australian-led study will investigate whether its possible to predict who remains susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 variants after having COVID-19 or receiving a COVID-19-specific vaccine.

The study will explore the immune response to COVID-19-specific vaccines in Brazilian healthcare workers to find biomarkers that indicate whether someone will be protected from - or remains at risk of - contracting COVID-19 if exposed to a variant.

The research has received philanthropic funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is a sub-study of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institutes (MCRI) study assessing if the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine can help protect against COVID-19.

The BRACE trial is now the worlds largest study on the off-target effects of the BCG vaccine. Since the trial launched in March 2020, more than 6800 healthcare workers have enrolled across 36 sites in Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK.

Professor Nigel Curtis, Head of the Infectious Diseases Research Group at MCRI, Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Melbourne and BRACE Chief Principal Investigator, said the big story of 2021 was the potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

With the emergence of new variants - for which vaccine-induced and natural immune responses may not be as effective - there is concern that herd immunity may be undermined. If this happens, SARS-CoV-2 will continue to spread and cause disease, he said.

We have been lucky enough to receive this additional funding for the BRACE COVID-19-Specific vaccine sub-study (BCOS) to investigate biomarkers of protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and reinfection induced by natural infection and COVID-specific vaccination.

With COVID-19-specific vaccines now available to healthcare workers, BCOS will also look at whether BCG vaccine improves the immune response to Pfizer, AstraZeneca and CoronaVac vaccines.
Koronaguard is claimed to be a prospective preventive and supportive formulation proposed to fight against COVID-19 pandemic

Dr KM Cherian Heart Foundations Frontier Lifeline Hospital recently conducted a discussion on Koronaguard - a prospective preventive and supportive formulation proposed to fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was attended by Dr KR Jawaharlal and Dr R Govindaraj from Deputy Director of Health Department Tiruvallur District and Ramesh, DSP of Gummudipoondi Taluk.

The discussion was initiated by Dr Cherian, Chairman & CEO, Frontier Lifeline Hospital, and the session was conducted by Dr Kavitha Govarthanan, Biotechnologist from IIT Madras. It was attended by Asst Drugs Controller of India  Dr P Manavalan, Dr K Ramu and Dr Krishnan  the innovators of this particular entity.

Dr Ramu explained the emulsification process and the formulation of this particular emulsifier which is a non-ionic surfactant called Polyoxyl Hydrogenated castor oil introduced by BSA. Its function is to reduce the interfacial surface tension between the fat and water and help to make an emulsion.

Koronaguard contains virgin coconut oil which contains monolaurin, an excellent antiviral product. Apart from this, it also contains essential oils such as clove oil, cinnamon oil and peppermint oil which all have potent anti-fibrinolytic and anti-inflammatory properties. Koronaguard is available in three forms  nasal drops, liquid gargle and flavoured lozenges. The product travels through the same area that corona travels inside our body and is expected to help and attack the lipid layer of the corona and disintegrate the whole structure.

A recent study led by the Philippines Department of Science and Technology (DOST) revealed that suspected COVID-19 patients administered with virgin coconut oil (VCO) had reduced symptoms and a faster recovery phase compared to the control group.

Dr Cherian said, We need to take care of the people in villages as they are less privileged. These simple and cheap options such as liquid gargle and nasal spray can go a long way in preventing the disease. The strawberry and orange flavoured lozenges will be favourite for children. This will be like oral polio vaccine administration. We should concentrate on covid infection and spread among children. Countries like China have already started vaccinating kids above the age of three in their country. China authorised the emergency use of Sinovac Biotech's coronavirus vaccine for children, becoming the first major country to do so for those as young as three.

At the end of the discussion, a proposal was put across to the relevant government authorities who were present for permission to conduct a clinical study at the covid centre of Tiruvallur district. Talks are underway to get approvals to start the trials.
Last night, 8 June, The Hospitality Counsel hosted their 3rd annual Luxe Restaurant Awards, celebrating the finest contributions to the South African restaurant industry, at AURUM restaurant within The Leonardo, Africa's tallest skyscraper.

All the 2021 Luxe Restaurant Awards winners:

Restaurant of the Year: Restaurant Klein Jan

Chef of the Year: Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen

New Restaurant of the Year: Embarc Restaurant

Style Award: TANG

Culinary Icon Award: Chef Nti

Culinary Media Personality of the Year: The Lazy Makoti Culinary Rising Star: Tumi Mogoai

Culinary Pioneer Award: Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen Sustainability Award: Wolfgat

Service Excellence Award: Marble

African Restaurant of The Year: Qunu

Bistro of the Year: Nova Bistro

Burger Bar of the Year: The Test Kitchen Burgers

Coffee Shop of the Year: Truth Coffee

Ethnic Restaurant of the Year: Peachy

Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year: Basalt Restaurant Food Truck of the Year: Eighty8's Food Co.

Franchise of the Year: Soul Souvlaki

Hotel Restaurant of the Year: AURUM

Lifestyle Restaurant of the Year: Solo Restaurant

Pizzeria of the Year: Ciao Pizza

Pop-Up Experience of the Year: Candice Philip at Basalt Wine Service Award: Joseph Dhafana

More than 100 nominees were shortlisted for the awards ceremony, with categories ranging from the best fine dining restaurants to the best lifestyle restaurants in South Africa.Shashi Naidoo announced the winners to an intimate audience of leading industry figures. Michelin Stared Chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen won both Chef and Restaurant of the Year. While Lazy Makotio was voted South Africa's Culinary Media Personality for the Year of 2021.Chad Fourie, Managing Director of The Hospitality Counsel, said "Our judges have been greatly impressed by the exceptional quality of nominees, and those who are on the shortlist know they have reached a very high standard."
In October 2020, South Africa and India called on World Trade Organisation (WTO) members to support a proposal to suspend the WTO's agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips), for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic.

Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels

Trips waiver: US support is a major step but no guarantee of Covid-19 vaccine equity In a momentous shift, the US recently agreed to support a waiver of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) agreement ...

Regulation of the sector

Covid-19 specifics

Information on the quality of a Covid-19 vaccine product



Information on bioavailability



Toxicological data



International studies on pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy across an international patient population

Trips waiver: US support is a major step but no guarantee of Covid-19 vaccine equity In a momentous shift, the US recently agreed to support a waiver of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) agreement ...

What we think

The thinking behind the proposal is that, if patent rights are waived, vaccine production facilities can be established throughout the world, resulting in increased vaccine supply and expedited roll-out.On US President Bidens 100th day in office, the US agreed that it, too, would support a temporary and targeted waiver of Covid-19 vaccine intellectual property (IP) protection, with Canada, New Zealand and the European Patent Office swiftly following suit. [1]On the other hand, countries still withholding support for the waiver include the UK, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, and Brazil, at the time of writing.In its Position Statement of 7 May 2021, the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition presented a number of reasons why, although well-intentioned, such a waiver would not be a necessary and suitable measure towards the pursued objectives.One of the reasons put forward is that such a waiver of IP rights will not waive the regulatory requirements for vaccine authorisation, which are incredibly onerous and require significant resources to comply with.In this article, we explore what South Africas regulatory requirements are when it comes to vaccine authorisation and whether, in view of these requirements, a waiver of IP protection would actually speed up vaccine delivery and the time to global immunity for Covid-19.South Africas pharmaceutical sector is primarily regulated by the Medicines and Related Substances Act 101 of 1965, and its regulations. This legislation is administered by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAPHRA).The legislation says that any entity selling a medicine, medical device or IVD (in vitro diagnostic) for human or animal use must obtain authorisation from the SAHPRA. A medicine includes any substance or mixture of substances used, or manufactured or advertised for use in diagnosis, treatment, mitigation, modification or prevention of disease, abnormal physical or mental state, or related symptoms.Currently, the available vaccines for Covid-19 are all biological medicinal products.Generally, for biological products, any entity wishing to register a biosimilar medicine, i.e. a generic version of a biological medicine, must follow the guidelines issued by the SAHRPA. This includes providing evidence of biosimilarity, and thus the registration requirements are simplified.But, according to the SAHPRA Guideline on biosimilar medicines registration requirements, vaccines, even if manufactured by recombinant DNA technology, are excluded. As a result, vaccines are presumably required to be assessed via the more stringent general product registration process.In November 2020, the SAHPRA issued a communication aimed at prospective registrants for candidate Covid-19 vaccines. Its guidance must be followed by all applicants for registration of Covid-19 vaccines.While the SAHPRA has committed to adopting a priority/expedited review approach to applications relating to Covid-19 management, it is also committed to maintaining a high quality and standard of review. This means that applicants for registration will still be required to submit the requisite non-clinical and clinical data to obtain vaccine registration.The SAHPRA has recently decided to harmonise some of the SAHPRA medicine policies and procedures with those of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), to reflect global best practice in terms of the safety, quality and efficacy of health product regulation. The threshold for the information and data required for registration of a vaccine product is therefore high.In terms of SAHPRA guidelines, the following information should be submitted in line with the format and organisation prescribed by EMA guidelines:In addition, to apply for the registration of a Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa, the applicant must have an establishment licence to manufacture, package/label, test, import, distribute or wholesale a health product (or must apply for such a licence), and must manufacture the vaccine in line with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).Applicants for registration of a Covid-19 vaccine must also submit a risk management plan to address uncertainties in the data submitted and must consider South African-specific issues, like HIV and tuberculosis.In practice, the information and data required for registration of a vaccine is only available to the vaccine developers, who have invested significant resources in establishing and collecting such data. Of course, they may provide a local partner with the requisite information, but they are unlikely to be willing to cooperate with local applicants for registration of a vaccine, in the absence of the back-stops provided by patent protection.Our position is that, even in the absence of any IP rights, the well-intentioned goal of vaccine equity may not be so easy to achieve in practice. The regulatory requirements inherent in getting vaccines to market remain, and they are necessary for human safety.So, while it may be argued that IP rights in the context of vaccines serve to protect the interests of the pharmaceutical industry, the same cannot be said for the regulatory requirements for registering a vaccine, which serve, critically, to protect the right of the public to safe medicines.
Starting out as a copywriter over a decade ago, Ashleigh Burton has a passion for using digital platforms to tell stories.

Can you tell us about Weber Shandwick Africa and what your role entails?

How did you get into the PR industry?

It happened at the perfect time in my life, and Ive since fallen in love with the industry.

What sparked your interest in getting into PR?

Could you share a bit about your educational background?

What sparked your interest in getting into social media?

What is the one project you have worked on that you are incredibly proud of?

#AddSumImpact : a local donation drive to raise money for calculators for underprivileged Matrics. 2000 calculators were manufactured and delivered in Durban & Gauteng in the past few months to equip learners with the tools they need to succeed.





: a local donation drive to raise money for calculators for underprivileged Matrics. 2000 calculators were manufactured and delivered in Durban & Gauteng in the past few months to equip learners with the tools they need to succeed. #WorldHomelessDay : There are over 3,000 people who enter our city each month to find a place to live and work. Despite the efforts of several shelters and non-profits that serve the homeless, its difficult to meet the needs of the population. NS Impact, a foundation dedicated to bringing dignity to those who need it most worked to provide dignity #onebagatatime! They created a unique backpack and raised funds to fill up these bags with crucial items. They were able to fill up and donate 200 bags for World Homeless Day and raised enough money to create and fill up 300 more.





: There are over 3,000 people who enter our city each month to find a place to live and work. Despite the efforts of several shelters and non-profits that serve the homeless, its difficult to meet the needs of the population. NS Impact, a foundation dedicated to bringing dignity to those who need it most worked to provide dignity #onebagatatime! They created a unique backpack and raised funds to fill up these bags with crucial items. They were able to fill up and donate 200 bags for World Homeless Day and raised enough money to create and fill up 300 more. #GoodFriday: We went on a mission to Durban to feed over 1000 people in partnership with Tastic and our top influencers.

What are the victories that youve had since starting out?

What advice would you give to anyone entering the world of PR and more specifically social media?

Always be on the lookout for trends and how these inform the direction the world is taking.

If you could travel back in time, what advice would you give yourself?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

For me, its not about the timeline, but what can be done now to affect the future. The most important thing to me is having a positive impact on the world.

As we celebrate Youth Month, do you have any words of encouragement for the youth?

Weber Shandwick is one of the world's leading global public relations firms with offices in major media, business, and government capitals around the world. My role as head of social media is to provide strategic counsel and best practice for social media across our clients in Africa, adapting our digital ecosystem for different countries, cultures, and languages enabling our clients to engage across earned, owned and paid channels.Good networking! I started as a copywriter over a decade ago and have always worked in a more ATL/Digital Agency space, so PR was quite new to me. However, my connection to FCB Africa, part of the Nahana Group, resulted in Weber Shandwick reaching out to me when they were ready to build a digital department.Two things I love - working in Africa and using digital platforms to tell stories. Africa is the worlds fastest-growing mobile region and this explosion of mobile technology across the continent, means that digital has quickly become an integral part of every communications campaign.Its a bit of a mixed bag  I went from studying English and Drama to Strategic Marketing and Communications.I believe that storytelling is storytelling - I just do it in 280 characters.I am exceptionally proud of the work I get to do with the NS Impact Foundation Theyve created a platform where people can donate their time, energy, and resources to solve some of the most pertinent challenges facing vulnerable people in our country.Social Media is a key platform for non-profits to maintain a connection with their target audience, raise awareness, funding & ultimately make an impact. Ive been able to work with NS Impact to launch a number of big campaigns that were driven by social media:I think my most recent achievement of serving as a judge for the D&AD Awards in the PR Category. It gave me access to brilliant creative minds across the world, and it was such a brilliant learning experience unpacking key learnings and insights on top creative work in our industry.Be ready to learn and apply yourself. The digital landscape is constantly evolving and in a field that deals with change among other things, it is crucial to be in the know of current developments.Aim to serve as a catalyst for change, everything else will fall into place. And if you fail, do it quickly and adapt.Dont take anything personally!I live by the quote: Write your purpose in pen and your path in pencil.I am constantly learning and unlearning things, processes, practices; becoming better with time.There are so many causes that are close to my heart, so I know my time will ultimately be committed to that, along with building brands and people.The time is now. There are so many opportunities for the youth despite the pandemic. Everything has gone digital, and the most important thing to realise is that the handheld devices we all have are some of the most powerful tools to unlock any dream. Be fearless and relentless!
Leading fashion and lifestyle retailer TFG shared its strategy to revolutionise the omnichannel experience and transform into Africa's leading high-tech omnichannel retailer. "We are laying the foundations to become the largest, most reliable and most profitable e-commerce destination on the continent; via a simplified, customer-centric approach, aimed at maximising group scale, minimising duplication and cost, and leveraging our incredible assets," shared newly appointed co-chief omni officer Claude Hanan. The announcement came as part of the retailer's 2021 financial year-end presentation.
TV series casting actor Huang Xiaoming as Zhou Enlai started to air on Dragon TV and Beijing Satellite TV from late May. [Photo courtesy of Tencent Video]

"Glory and Dream," a 40-episode revolutionary TV series under the helm of award-winning director Liu Jiang, has recently made a splash online, topping the popularity list on several mainstream streaming sites such as Tencent Video and iQiyi.

Spanning around 35 years, the drama chronicles the milestone chapters in the history of Communist Party of China, ranging from the Party's founding to Red Army's Long March (1934-36) and Chinese People's Volunteers entering Democratic People's Republic of Korea to fight in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53).

The drama started to air on Dragon TV and Beijing Satellite TV since May 25, with the most popular episodes attracting nearly 4.3 percent of all television audience in China, much higher than the threshold at 1 percent.

Featuring more than 400 characters mostly based on historical figures such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the drama interweaves a lot of incidents, conflicts and meetings that were pivotal to propel CPC's revolutionary victory.

Besides, there are also some touching scenes to unravel the lesser-featured personal moments of influential historical figures. For instance, in the opening scene of the first episode, Chairman Mao Zedong was missing his late wife Yang Kaihui, shedding tears alone in his study when he saw a wooden comb once used by Yang.

A-list actor Huang Xiaoming plays Zhou Enlai when he was young in the TV series, with the most epic scene being Zhou as one of the top commanders in Xiangjiang River Battle, the fiercest and most dangerous campaign for the Red Army since the Long March started in 1934.
China will promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade, and consolidate the stability of the supply and industrial chains to ensure jobs for nearly 200 million people during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), a government report said on Wednesday.



Released by the Ministry of Commerce, the Foreign Trade Situation Report of China (Spring 2021) reviews the foreign trade situation in the country from last year to April this year, and also analyzes the global environment and prospects for the rest of this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic is yet to be controlled effectively globally, while the production, distribution and rollout of vaccines has been uneven, it said. Global economic recovery is still not stable or balanced, while there have been several constraints for international industrial and supply chains, all of which has led to a complex external environment for China's foreign trade growth, the report said.

With the government adopting stable foreign trade policies and measures, relatively new business forms and new models, such as e-commerce, are booming across China, and the development resilience of foreign trade enterprises is being reinforced. Such factors will provide strong support for the steady growth of both imports and exports.

To ease the pressure caused by COVID-19, the report said that more than 10,000 Chinese export-oriented companies went online for the first time in 2020, while a large number of Chinese companies adopted digital solutions, including big data, business-to-business platforms and online exhibition activities to attract global customers and increase sales.

"Many Chinese manufacturers have continued to add investment to improve the technical content and added value of export products, in a bid to move up the value chain," said Bai Ming, deputy director of international market research department at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

He said that a growing number of Chinese companies have also begun to cultivate their "soft power" for exports, focusing on improving the comprehensive capabilities of supply chain management, brand building, quality control and after-sales services to further compete with their global rivals.

China's efforts to leverage high-level openness to promote the dual-circulation development pattern, will not only stimulate domestic consumption, but also attract foreign resources, said Zhang Yongjun, a researcher at the Beijing-based China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

The new development pattern has the domestic market as the mainstay of the economy, while domestic and international markets support each other.

"While expanding domestic demand and ensuring the smooth flow of the internal circulation, the domestic cycle of production, distribution and consumption, China will continue to boost both exports and imports, as well as attract foreign direct investment," he said.

China's foreign trade rose by 28.2 percent on a yearly basis to 14.76 trillion yuan ($2.31 trillion) during the first five months of the year, reflecting that exports and imports are picking up growth momentum. It is also being driven by robust domestic demand and growing overseas orders, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

Shandong-province based CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co, a subsidiary of China Railway Rolling Stock Corp, the country's largest rolling stock manufacturer by production volume, and its partner Astra Vagoane Arad, signed a supply contract for 100 trams with Bucharest Town Hall of Romania last month. Vehicles covered by the project are 100 percent low-floor modern trams with a standard track gauge, four-module formation and advanced power supply system.

"This is the first complete vehicle project won by Chinese rail transit equipment manufacturer in Romania," said Ma Lijun, CRRC Qingdao Sifang's president, adding the company is willing to supply more trains to Central and Eastern European countries in the coming years.

At present, China's foreign trade reach has expanded to more than 230 countries and regions, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has become its largest trading partner, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Economic cooperation with countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative has continued to deepen trade and its proportion in China's total foreign trade has grown from 25.1 percent in 2015 to 29.1 percent in 2020.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority in Taiwan is entirely to blame for the current dire cross-Strait relations, a mainland spokesperson said Wednesday.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in response to the claim that "the deterioration of the cross-Strait relations is not caused by Taiwan" made by the so-called "American Institute in Taiwan" in an interview with Taiwan media.

It is generally known that the root cause of the tension and turmoil in the relations across the Taiwan Strait is the DPP authority obstinately seeking "Taiwan independence," stirring up anti-China sentiments on the island out of political interests and provoking confrontation and conflicts between the two sides of the Strait, Ma noted.

The mainland has tried its best to offer help to Taiwan compatriots in the fight against COVID-19. "We will never, however, allow the DPP authority to take our goodwill as an opportunity to seek 'independence,' nor allow anyone to split Taiwan from China in any way," said Ma.

"We urge the U.S. government and relevant individuals to act on the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, tell right from wrong on the Taiwan question, and not to release wrong signals to the separatists seeking 'Taiwan independence,' so as to play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, rather than the opposite," said the spokesperson.
You are here: China

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) held a meeting of its Council of Chairpersons Wednesday to hear reports on the deliberations of draft laws, law revisions, and decisions.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the meeting.

The meeting heard reports of deliberations on draft laws on data security, the Hainan free trade port, the protection of status, rights and interests of military personnel, stamp tax, and opposing foreign sanctions, a draft revision to the Law on Military Facilities Protection, and a draft decision to amend the Law on Workplace Safety, among others.

The meeting decided to submit the revised drafts to the ongoing session of the NPC Standing Committee for review.
Will tying school surveillance cameras to RTCCs be the proverbial straw that broke the camels back?

It is becoming more apparent to even casual observers, that our public schools resemble our prison system. Our schools are increasingly tied to the school-to-prison pipeline with CCTV cameras watching a students every movement; to weapons detectors at entrances, to vape detectors in bathrooms , and to police officers waiting for students to commit an infraction.

The school committee took a half hour to decide that the best way to make students and faculty feel safe is to allow Big Brother to monitor them in real-time.

As MassLive reports , the decision to let the Springfield Police Department monitor students in real-time "feels tone deaf."

Now that public schools are reopening (just in time for summer vacation) what are officials worried about? Is it face-to-face learning? Is it in-person interactions with students? Nope, it is mass surveillance and how to let Real-Time Crime Centers (RTCC) monitor students under the guise of public safety,

The Springfield Police Departments Real-Time Analysis Center (R-TAC) uses BriefCams surveillance technology to monitor the public and students. As the video explains, the police use BriefCams license plate readers to ID and track innocent motorists without a warrant. BriefCam is also well-known for its facial recognition capabilities

"Users can rapidly pinpoint people of interest, create scalable watchlist management and powerful rule configuration for real-time alerts in critical, time-sensitive situations using external image sources, digital images extracted from video, and pre-defined watchlists. The ability to detect, track, extract, classify, catalog and alert on persons-of-interest appearing in video surveillance footage in real-time."

Is it a coincidence that police department RTCCs are closely linked to Fusion Centers?

"Technologies such as networked cameras, automated license plate readers, and gunshot detection are deployed around the clock, as are the tools to process this data, such as predictive policing software and AI-enhanced video analytics."

"The technologies, working in concert, are being consolidated and fed into physical locations called Real Time Crime Centers. These high-tech hubs, filled with walls of TV monitors and computer workstations for sworn officers and civilian analysts, not only exploit huge amounts of data, but also are used to justify an increase in surveillance technology through new data-driven or intelligence-led policing strategies."

As EFFs "Atlas of Surveillance" points out, RTCCs are part of Homeland Securitys 79 Fusion Center national network.

The "Atlas of Surveillance" said R-TAC or the Springfield RTCC opened in 2018 and a Masslive article revealed that the police have been warrantlessly monitoring people at the MGM Springfield, Union Station, and even some Pride stores for three years.

"Under the proposal, police personnel at the R-TAC would be able to log onto the school system and view footage immediately. Walsh said the proposal includes strict guidelines  limiting such use of the system to emergency situations, and limiting access to analysis center staff and a group of detectives and supervisors. Police will be required to log each time they access the system, documenting who signed in and why."

"Theres a lot more it can do. Its a phenomenal tool, said William Schwarz, director of the Springfield Police Crime Analysis Unit, which oversees the R-TAC."

As MassLive pointed out "the Springfield Police Department, was the subject of a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) review. In a report released last summer, the DOJ alleged a pattern of excessive force and civil rights violations by Springfield narcotics officers."The last thing families need to worry about is a police department with a history of abuse monitoring their children in real-time.The new proposal allows Springfields RTCC to log into the schools surveillance system without a warrant.The Springfield police cannot wait to use BriefCam to monitor students As school committee member LaTonia Monroe Naylor warned, "the policy has too many gray areas that need clarification."

What constitutes an emergency situation? It doesnt have to be a 911 call, Naylor said. Is it an emergency if someone is in a school with a gun? Is a fight in a hallway an emergency? What about someone on school grounds selling drugs? What we call surveillance, they call an emergency situation, she said.

It is stories like these that makes one roll their eyes in disbelief as tone-deaf officials ignore calls to stop over-policing and mass surveillance.
 Flash

U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Britain Wednesday evening, kicking off his first official overseas trip since his election victory.



The U.S. president touched down at the U.S. airbase at Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Suffolk in eastern England. He is expected to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Britain's southwestern resort of Carbis Bay in Cornwall.

Leaders from Britain, the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and Italy, plus the European Union, will gather Friday for the first in-person G7 summit in almost two years.

Britain, which holds the rotating G7 presidency, also invited Australia, India, the Republic of Korea and South Africa as guest countries to the three-day meeting. Economic recovery, global COVID-19 vaccine rollout and climate change are expected to be discussed during the meeting.

After the summit, Biden and his wife Jill Biden are set to meet British Queen Elizabeth II before heading to Brussels for NATO and EU-U.S. summits. He will then fly to Geneva to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
With 12,000 nurses of all designations registered with the Manitoba Nurses Union, 11,954 members or 98 per cent of the membership, voted in favor of a strike, the Manitoba Nurses Union said in a release today.

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With 12,000 nurses of all designations registered with the Manitoba Nurses Union, 11,954 members or 98 per cent of the membership, voted in favor of a strike, the Manitoba Nurses Union said in a release today.

The turnout was conducted virtually and was higher than any turnout in the history of the MNU.

"We are so proud of our members, they really have sent a strong message with this strike mandate," said MNU President Darlene Jackson. "We were painted into a corner by this government, and we were left wit no choice but to act."

Nurses have gone more than four years without a contract. Since then, the cost of living in Manitoba has risen 7.9 per cent. Nurses in the province also received the lowest evening and weekend premiums from Quebec west.

The Brandon Sun
WINNIPEG - Premier Brian Pallister is dangling the possibility of summer freedoms in front of Manitobans in a reopening plan based on COVID-19 vaccination rates and holiday dates.

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Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister speaks at a news conference after the 2021 budget was delivered at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski

WINNIPEG - Premier Brian Pallister is dangling the possibility of summer freedoms in front of Manitobans in a reopening plan based on COVID-19 vaccination rates and holiday dates.

"The more of us who get vaccinated, the faster we can regain our freedoms and enjoy what weve lost this past year and a half, Pallister said Thursday.

He said his Progressive Conservative government's plan focuses on four activities that Manitobans value, three summer holiday dates and two public health responsibilities that will still have to be followed.

If certain vaccination rates are met by those dates, limits will be loosened on gatherings, travel, shopping and dining.

"Summer is coming and the vaccines are here. It's time for Manitobans to ... enjoy a summer that they all want and all deserve," Pallister said.

More than 70 per cent of Manitobans 12 and older will have had to receive a first dose  and more than 25 per cent a second one  by Canada Day to hit the first target.

If that happens, the province said, businesses and other facilities will be able to open at 25 per cent capacity.

Nearly 68 per cent of Manitobans have received a first dose.

Businesses will be allowed to open at half capacity if 75 per cent of people have had one shot and 50 per cent have had a second by the August long weekend.

The final target calls for 80 per cent of the population to have had one shot and 75 per cent to be fully vaccinated by Labour Day in September. In that case, most businesses, services and facilities would be able to open with limited restrictions.

More details are to be released closer to the dates. Pallister said that doesn't mean the plans are unclear, but rather avoid providing Manitobans with "false hope."

Opposition NDP Leader Wab Kinew said the reopening road map lacks details. He said it doesn't answer questions Manitobans have about schools, sports and which businesses will be allowed to open.

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said a proper plan should have clear benchmarks based on science.

"This is not a plan," he said. "Its something thats completely vague."

Manitoba is slightly loosening health orders Saturday to allow small outdoor gatherings, but restrictions on businesses will remain in place.

The province has been under tight public health orders since a delayed third wave caused a significant surge in COVID-19 infections last month.

There were 247 new cases of COVID-19 and six more deaths Thursday. The five-day test positivity rate was 11.1 per cent provincially.

Infections have put immense pressure on Manitoba's hospitals, which has resulted in some patients being transferred to other provinces for care.

There were 316 people in Manitoba hospitals and 30 patients in other provinces. Two of them were taken Wednesday to Ontario facilities in London and Thunder Bay.

Unlike some other reopening plans across the country, Manitoba's is not tied to other COVID-19 severity indicators like test positivity rates or hospitalizations.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the province's chief provincial public health officer, said it was important to focus on what Manitobans themselves could do.

"By making an appointment to get vaccinated, you can make a difference," Roussin said.

"Let's save our summer."

The province announced Wednesday a lottery with cash prizes of $100,000 to try to encourage people to get vaccinated.

As the province's plan was rolling out, the Manitoba Nurses' Union announced that members had voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike. Nurses in the province have gone more than four years without a contract.

The union, which represents more than 12,000 nurses, said in a news release the COVID-19 pandemic has made worse what was already bad.

Union President Darlene Jackson said that she remains committed to continuing with collective bargaining to avoid a strike.

Pallister said he would not comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.
A day after announcing incentives surrounding vaccination cards for people who have received both their COVID-19 vaccine doses, Manitoba unveiled another program aimed at convincing people to get the jab on Wednesday.

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A day after announcing incentives surrounding vaccination cards for people who have received both their COVID-19 vaccine doses, Manitoba unveiled another program aimed at convincing people to get the jab on Wednesday.

During a Wednesday morning media briefing, Premier Brian Pallister and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries CEO Manny Atwal announced Manitoba would be following in the footsteps of several other North American jurisdictions by creating a vaccine lottery.

There will be two lottery draws coming up this summer, one for all Manitobans aged 12 and up who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose by Aug. 12 and another one for those who have received two doses by Sept. 3.

Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries will be running the lottery, with a third-party auditor overseeing the process.

The lottery is one of several vaccination incentives announced for Manitoba this week. On Tuesday, Pallister announced that Manitobans who have reached the two-week mark after their second vaccine dose can apply for a vaccination card that allows them to skip the two-week quarantine process after returning from travel within Canada and visit friends and family at health-care facilities and personal care homes.

Each draw will feature three lump-sum prizes of $100,000 each for people in the Winnipeg health region and one $100,000 prize for each of the rest of the provinces health regions for people aged 18 and up.

Those aged 12 to 17 will instead be eligible to win one of 10 scholarships worth $25,000 each for each draw.

People who have been immunized will automatically be entered, including those vaccinated on or before the Wednesday announcement. MLAs, people managing the lottery and their immediate family members are not eligible to win prizes from the lottery.

Residents who received their vaccination doses in other jurisdictions can send proof of vaccination to covidimmunizationrecordsrequest@gov.mb.ca or a local public health office to be entered into the draw.

Anyone not interested in entering the draw will be able to opt out.

According to Atwal, several final legal details still need to be worked out ahead of the draw and would be released on ProtectMB.ca when finalized. That includes the criteria for which post-secondary institutions the scholarships can be used at and what will happen if a recipient doesnt intend on pursuing further study after high school.

Premier Brian Pallister said Wednesday that while the government respects Manitobans choice to do what they want with their body, it also believes that getting vaccinated is the right decision. (Winnipeg Free Press)

Speaking about the decision to create the lottery, Pallister said while the government respects Manitobans choice to do what they want with their body, it also believes that getting vaccinated is the right decision.

See We have  Page A2

"Research in Manitoba and in other jurisdictions show that financial incentives need to be large, they should be universal  in other words, they should be available to everyone who participates in order to be effective and supportive," Pallister said. The higher the value of the incentive, the more itll influence vaccine behaviour."

Asked about what vaccine implementation task force medical co-lead Dr. Joss Reimer said recently about how offering rewards for getting vaccinated could entrench the idea in a small amount of people that the vaccine is illegitimate, the premier said that freedoms will remain curtailed while COVID is present and that Manitoba cant take 50 years to deal with COVID like it took to use the Salk vaccine to largely eradicate polio.

"The alternative to trying to encourage people is to not try, and I dont think thats in me and I dont think thats the way to go," Pallister said. "Were reaching out as best we can and this is one way in support of many others to encourage people to get the information so theyre comfortable and confident in the decisions that they take. Thats going to continue to be the focus going forward. It has to be if we want to get COVID out of here."

Though the province announced on Wednesday that the 70 per cent mark had been reached for first doses among adults, the premier warned that it likely wouldnt be enough.

"Its not enough to say two-thirds have been vaccinated," he said. "We used to think that perhaps a few months ago, but the reality of COVID is that its sneaky and its variants are dangerous  very, very dangerous, and they move fast. We have to move faster. We have to move faster to get vaccinated in large numbers than we ever thought we would have to before this pandemic struck. Still a ways to go, theres time for people to get on Team Manitoba and a little bit of motivation to do that."

Earlier this week, the Brandon Wheat Kings announced their own vaccination incentive program where people who can provide proof of receiving one or more vaccine doses can enter a draw to win prizes like a grill, season tickets and luxury box passes. The premier would like to see more programs like that.

"Id like to see incentivization exercises of various kinds and Im really proud to see what the Wheat Kings have decided to do there," he said. "Also wanted to compliment Mayor Martin Harder over the weekend on his incentivization initiatives. We can work at various levels to incentivize here."

Pallister also had praise for the Neepawa Titans, who announced they would be shedding the moniker "Natives" and rebranding earlier this week.

Last week, the province announced a grant program where various organizations can get up to $20,000 each to help reach out to vaccine-hesitant people. The premier said as of Wednesday, there have been more than 400 applications.

The premier said information on Manitobas reopening plan would be announced in a press conference on Thursday.

 cslark@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ColinSlark
New Brunswick MP Jenica Atwin announced Thursday she has left the Green party to join the Liberal caucus mainly due to internal strife among the Greens over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Green Party MP Jenica Atwin rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. Two sources say New Brunswick MP Jenica Atwin is set to join the Liberal caucus, leaving the Greens with just two MPs in the House of Commons. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

New Brunswick MP Jenica Atwin announced Thursday she has left the Green party to join the Liberal caucus mainly due to internal strife among the Greens over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"It has been really difficult to focus on the work that needs to be done on behalf of my constituents," she told a news conference in her Fredericton riding. "It certainly has played a role."

The defection leaves the Green party with just two lawmakers in the House of Commons, reeling from ongoing fallout over policy disputes, power struggles and bruised egos.

Atwin made history in the October 2019 general election when she became the first Green MP to be elected east of British Columbia. But last month she openly challenged Green Leader Annamie Pauls position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On May 11, Atwin posted a message on Twitter saying a statement from Paul calling for de-escalation of the conflict was "totally inadequate."

"I stand with Palestine and condemn the unthinkable airstrikes in Gaza. End Apartheid!" Atwin wrote.

Three days later, Paul's then-senior adviser, Noah Zatzman, expressed solidarity with "Zionists" in a Facebook post that accused some unnamed Green MPs of antisemitism and discrimination. Paul had attempted to remain above the fray, saying party debate is healthy.

On Thursday, federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, also a New Brunswick MP, introduced Atwin as the newest member of the Liberal caucus. In her opening statement, Atwin said she had "been at a crossroads" for the past month.

"It's been, in a word, distracting," she said. "So I'm going where I can do my best work."

The new Liberal said she had not been promised any particular role with the Liberals in exchange for crossing the floor. "We haven't discussed anything like that," said Atwin, a mother of two and a teacher who helped run an Indigenous education centre before entering politics.

The Greens' stance on environmental and social policy often aligns more closely with New Democrat positions, but the NDP electoral prospects in Atwin's riding of Fredericton appear bleak. The party won less than six per cent of the vote there in 2019.

Atwin's aisle-crossing marks a small win for a Liberal party looking to tout its environmental credentials and shore up the ranks of its minority government. But the change deals a much bigger blow to a Green caucus that was struggling to stay afloat even before the loss of its Atlantic beachhead.

Paul said Atwin had first reached out to Liberal brass before the fracas over Israel in mid-May, suggesting Atwin was already growing dissatisfied with her party.

The Green leader, who first heard the news Thursday, told reporters she felt "disappointment" in Atwin's decision and regrets her departure. But Paul sought to downplay the legislator's frustrations over the Mideast rift by framing the lawmaker's choice as a "personal" one.

"I still havent heard it directly from her," Paul said at a news conference.

I will always try to improve relationships between members, but sometimes I will be successful and sometimes I wont, and I have to have the humility to accept that I wont necessarily always be successful."

Asked about the party's standoff on the Israel-Palestinian crisis that helped spur Atwin's departure, Paul said she continues to advocate for a "peaceful, lasting and inclusive resolution" but respects a diversity of views.

In a joint statement, Green MPs Paul Manly and Elizabeth May  former party leader  said they are "heartbroken at the loss of our dear colleague Jenica Atwin from the caucus."

They were blunter than their fellow parliamentarian about the impetus: "Unfortunately, the attack against Ms. Atwin by the Green Party leader's chief spokesperson on May 14 created the conditions that led to this crisis."

Zatzman said Thursday he has "left the fold" as a result of online harassment, following a vote by Green executives not to renew his contract with the party.

David Coon, leader of the New Brunswick Greens, said he knew Atwin felt abandoned by Paul.

"I am profoundly disappointed that she decided her only option was to cross the floor, after the voters of Fredericton and Oromocto had elected her as a Green, to be the kind of strong and independent voice in Ottawa that the Green party encourages," he said in a statement. "She will discover that her principles will not find a home with the Liberals."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a brief statement Thursday noting Atwin's "tireless and effective advocacy on priorities like climate action, mental health, reconciliation, and making life more affordable for families."

When asked about her previous criticism of the Liberals over electoral reform and climate change, Atwin said: "If you looked at my voting record, my comments in the House of Commons, everything that I've said and done still stands  To the voters, I would say, 'I'm still me.' "

Less than a month earlier, Atwin accused the Liberal government of "missing the point entirely" on emissions reduction in a budget that lacked the courage required" and represented "symbolism over substance." Under the current prime minister, reconciliation has lost its meaning amid court injunctions enforced on unceded Indigenous lands, she told the House on May 11.

Atwin said Thursday she hopes "to push the file from the inside" on issues such as the Trans Mountain oil pipeline and fracking, both of which she opposes despite the Liberal government's purchase of one and support for the other.

LeBlanc said the Liberal party welcomes divergent opinions, even when it comes to Israel.

"In the Liberal caucus, there is enormous room  for differences of opinion," he said. "Our caucus discussions will be that much richer."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.

 With files from Michael MacDonald in Halifax
OTTAWA - The RCMP broke the law by using cutting-edge facial-recognition software to collect personal information, the federal privacy watchdog said Thursday in advocating national standards for police concerning the controversial technology.

Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. The federal privacy watchdog says the RCMP broke the law by using cutting-edge facial-recognition software to collect personal information. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - The RCMP broke the law by using cutting-edge facial-recognition software to collect personal information, the federal privacy watchdog said Thursday in advocating national standards for police concerning the controversial technology.

In a report to Parliament, privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said there were serious and systemic failings by the RCMP to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act before it gathered information from U.S. firm Clearview AI.

Clearview AIs technology allows for the collection of huge numbers of images from various sources that can help police forces, financial institutions and other clients identify people.

In a related probe, Therrien and three provincial counterparts said in February that Clearview AI's database amounted to mass surveillance of Canadians and violated federal and provincial laws governing personal information.

They said the New York-based companys scraping of billions of images of people from across the internet was a clear violation of Canadians privacy rights.

Therrien announced last year that Clearview AI would stop offering its facial-recognition services in Canada in response to the privacy investigation. The move included suspension of the company's contract with the RCMP.

The complainant who sparked the latest probe, New Democrat MP Charlie Angus, had expressed serious concerns about the RCMP's use of Clearview.

The commissioner found that In the course of using paid and trial accounts, the RCMP uploaded images of individuals to Clearview, which then displayed a number of matching images. Along with each matched image, Clearview provided an associated hyperlink to the web page from which the image had been collected.

The commissioner said the RCMP accessed images of Canadians from Clearview AI in the course of its investigative work.

"We were also concerned that the RCMP at first erroneously told our office it was not using Clearview AI," the report said.

When the Mounties later acknowledged its use, they said publicly it had only used the companys technology in a limited way, primarily for identifying, locating and rescuing children who were victims of online sexual abuse.

"However, our investigation found the RCMP did not satisfactorily account for the vast majority of the searches it made," the commissioner's report said.

Used responsibly and in the right circumstances, facial-recognition technology has the potential to offer great benefits to society, it said.

"For instance, it can support national security objectives, assist police in solving crime or help authorities find missing persons."

At the same time, facial recognition can be a highly invasive surveillance technology fraught with many risks, the report added.

"Studies have shown that it can provide racially biased results and, given the chilling effect it can have on certain activities, it has the potential to erode privacy and undermine freedoms and human rights such as free expression and peaceful assembly."

Canadians must be free to participate in the increasingly digital day-to-day activities of modern society without the risk of these activities being tracked and monitored, Therrien told a news conference.

While certain intrusions on this right can sometimes be justified, "individuals do not forgo their right to privacy merely by living and moving in the world in ways that may reveal their face to others, or that may enable their image to be captured on camera."

The commissioner's office said Thursday it remains concerned that the RCMP did not agree with the conclusion that it contravened the Privacy Act.

While the commissioner maintains the RCMP was required to ensure the Clearview AI database was compiled legally, the police force argued doing so would create an unreasonable obligation.

Therrien said this is the latest example of how public-private partnerships and contracting relationships involving digital technologies are creating new complexities and risks for privacy.

He encouraged Parliament to amend the Privacy Act to clarify that federal institutions have an obligation to ensure the organizations from which they collect personal information have acted lawfully.

In the end, the RCMP agreed to implement the privacy commissioner's recommendations to improve its policies, systems and training, the watchdog said.

The measures include full privacy assessments of the data-collection practices of outside parties to ensure any personal information is gathered in keeping with Canadian privacy law.

The RCMP is also creating an oversight function to ensure new technologies are introduced in a manner that respects privacy, the commissioner said.

Implementing the changes will require broad and concerted efforts across the national police force, the report said.

In a statement, the RCMP acknowledged "there is always room for improvement and we continually seek opportunities to strengthen our policies, procedures and training."

Therrien's report also includes draft privacy guidance on facial recognition for police agencies. A joint initiative with his provincial and territorial counterparts, the guidance seeks to clarify police agencies privacy obligations relating to use of the technology.

The RCMP said there is a need for further engagement concerning not just facial recognition, but all biometric analysis that could be used to support criminal investigations.

"Technologies will continue to evolve rapidly, and with the prevalence of digital media, automated searching and comparison tools are likely to become increasingly useful and available to law enforcement agencies."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.
Quebec's anti-corruption unit has apologized to Guy Ouellette, an Independent member of the legislature, for arresting him in October 2017 for allegedly leaking sensitive documents about an investigation to the media.

Quebec government MNA Guy Ouellette, centre, responds to reporters' questions before question period at the legislature in Quebec City, Nov. 21, 2017. Quebec's anti-corruption unit is apologizing to politician Guy Ouellette for his arrest in October 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Quebec's anti-corruption unit has apologized to Guy Ouellette, an Independent member of the legislature, for arresting him in October 2017 for allegedly leaking sensitive documents about an investigation to the media.

The former Liberal member was never charged and the warrants used to search his home were struck down.

Frederick Gaudreau, head of the anti-corruption police force known as UPAC, issued the apology to Ouellette on Thursday in person at a brief news conference. Neither men took questions from journalists.

Ouellette, a former police officer, was accused of leaking documents related to UPAC's probe of alleged illegal financing of the Quebec Liberal party under ex-premier Jean Charest, who has also filed legal action against the Quebec government over the case.

Gaudreau said Ouellette's arrest was unjustified and resulted from a "faulty" investigation. He apologized on behalf of UPAC for the "devastating consequences" the arrest and the investigation have had on the professional and personal life of the politician.

"We are conscious that the events violated the integrity of (Ouellette) and caused him irreparable harm and we sincerely apologize," Gaudreau said.

The apology is part of a confidential agreement that puts to an end a lawsuit launched by Ouellette, who had sued the Quebec government for $550,000 in 2018.

Ouellette, 69, was dumped from the Liberal caucus just days after the October 2018 provincial election.

He told reporters Thursday the apology is an important step but declined to comment further.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.
MONTREAL - Quebec's new French-language bill represents a significant overhaul of the province's legal order and could significantly impact minority rights, an organization representing Quebec's English community warned on Thursday.

Former Liberal Party of Canada MP Marlene Jennings speaks during an event called 'Our Long Walk Home', in Montreal, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020. An organization that represents English community groups has conducted a deeper dive into the province's proposed French-language reform and says there are serious concerns about its potential impact. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL - Quebec's new French-language bill represents a significant overhaul of the province's legal order and could significantly impact minority rights, an organization representing Quebec's English community warned on Thursday.

Marlene Jennings, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, told reporters her organization analyzed the 100-page bill and found that it seeks to modify 24 provincial statutes as well as the Constitution Act of 1867.

Bill 96, she said, is the "most sweeping use of human rights overrides in the history of Quebec and Canada."

Jennings said the government's pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause to shield the bill from certain constitutional challenges creates a "charter-free zone" involving a wide array of interactions between citizens and the province. The bill goes beyond language, touching on commerce, employment, education, access to public services and even the justice system.

"Whereas rights that would otherwise be protected are infringed, the courts will not be able to review and remedy the conduct  " Jennings said. The provincial legislature would instead become the arbiter in such cases, she added.

"Here's the question we need to ask over and over and over: Why does protecting the French language require the blanket suspension of human rights? The way we see it, it really doesn't," Jennings said.

The legislation, tabled in May, is a major reform to the province's signature language law, known as Bill 101. The government has said the goal of Bill 96 is to affirm that French is the province's only official language and the common language of the Quebec nation.

But unilaterally changing the Canadian Constitution to affirm that Quebec is a nation and that French is its official language is a red flag, Jennings said, noting Bill 96 doesn't identify who belongs to that nation.

Jennings said her group has urged federal Justice Minister David Lametti to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to study the constitutionality of Bill 96.

Among the measures included in Bill 96 are tougher sign laws and stronger language requirements for businesses, including those in federally regulated industries. Other provisions would cap enrolment at English junior colleges and grant new powers to the French-language watchdog.

Jennings said the 12 to 18 months before the legislation was tabled included trial balloons and leaks that had the English community fearing the worst, so when Bill 96 was tabled, it didn't create a splash.

"If I'm alarmist because I'm worried that Bill 96 creates a charter-free zone where my individual rights and freedoms are suspended with no justification, no explanation, then call me an alarmist," Jennings said.

On Thursday, Premier Francois Legault said the government will hear from the population on Bill 96 in the coming months about possible adjustments, but he thinks there's a consensus around the legislation. "We think it's a balanced bill, but we will be open to consult the population," Legault said.

"We use the notwithstanding clause to make sure there is one common language in Quebec, but the rights of the anglophone community for education and health-care services will still be respected."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The full shutdown of the dormant Terra Nova offshore oilfield could leave Newfoundland and Labrador on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty paybacks, Energy Minister Andrew Parsons said Thursday.

The Terra Nova FPSO is shown anchored in Conception Bay, N.L., Friday, Oct. 23, 2020. Newfoundland and Labrador's Energy Minister says the full shutdown of the dormant Terra Nova oilfield could leave the province on the hook for hundreds of millions in royalty paybacks. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The full shutdown of the dormant Terra Nova offshore oilfield could leave Newfoundland and Labrador on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty paybacks, Energy Minister Andrew Parsons said Thursday.

Parsons told reporters the province has offered the field's operators about $500 million in cash and royalty-adjustment incentives to get the project back on track, to no avail. He also said the province has ruled out the idea of purchasing an equity stake in the project.

"The risk has proven to be too great for a project so late in its life," he said, adding that an equity share will come with additional costs at the time of abandonment. "I'm calling on project owners to continue to work to find an equity solution."

The Terra Nova oilfield sits about 350 kilometres off the southeast coast of St. John's, and it first began producing oil in January 2002. Much of the oil has already been sucked from under the seabed but there's still oil out there  about 80 million barrels, according to estimates from the Newfoundland and Labrador Oil and Gas Industries Association.

In order to get the last of it, the field's infrastructure needs a significant investment in maintenance and upgrades. The seven oil companies that operate the field aren't united on footing the bill, according to Mark Little, president of Suncor Energy, the company that owns the largest share in the project. He said last month that a decision about whether to abandon the field is expected June 15.

Suncor spokesperson Sneh Seetal said Thursday in an email that to date, "there has not been alignment among all the owners to support a long-term production plan for the asset and unfortunately abandonment remains a real possibility at this time. Were hoping other owners wanting to exit the project will reconsider."

Seetal said the company is "surprised and disappointed" with the government's decision not to buy an equity stake in the project.

According to provincial legislation, companies operating offshore oil projects can claim decommissioning cost overruns against previous royalty payments to the government. It's hard to specify exactly what those so-called "royalty carryback costs" might be, Parsons said, but he expects them to be "significant."

"It would put us in a bad spot to put a number there that we simply don't know and can't control," he said. "But again, it is significant, it is in the hundreds (of millions)."

Parsons told The Canadian Press last November he couldn't estimate the decommissioning costs of the offshore oilfield because doing so would have been "premature, given the current status of our offshore projects."

The government offered the Terra Nova partners $205 million in cash from a pot of federal money given to the province last year to help its floundering offshore oil sector. Parsons said the operators were also offered a restructuring of the project's royalty agreement, which would have yielded another $300 million.

"These terms have not been accepted by project owners, and currently we are at an impasse," he said.

Revenues from the province's four offshore installations accounted for nearly 21 per cent of the provinces GDP in 2019, according to the province's 2021-22 budget documents.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.
The owner of one of Victorias large coal-fired power stations has implored the federal government to step in as the lender of last resort to the industry, as banks withdraw from fossil fuels and make it harder for coal plants to secure debt.

Alinta Energy, which runs the Loy Yang B coal-fired generator in the Latrobe Valley, has recently gone through what managing director Jeff Dimery described as an exceedingly difficult process in seeking refinancing for the facility.

Alinta owns Victorias Loy Yang B coal-fired power station. Credit:

The number of parties that started out saying they were willing to participate in that underwriting diminished greatly from the start to the finish line, Mr Dimery told the Credit Suisse Australian Energy Conference on Thursday.

As a growing number of banks and insurers continue withdrawing from coal lending due to its contribution to global warming, Mr Dimery called on Canberra to consider stepping in to help prevent the sudden shutdowns of cash-strapped coal-fired power stations and the disorderly exit of coal from the energy grid.
While there is considerable common ground, the Trump years, the possibility he/they might return and the different relationship key EU member countries, particularly Germany, have with China means they wont simply fall into line with the policies the US is now pushing. The administrations support for a minimum global tax and, critically, the American about-face on climate change have, however, removed two of the more fractious issues and increased the base of common ground. The Europeans are well aware that Biden is seeking to enlist them in its competition with China, and to a lesser degree its relationship with Russia. Credit:AP As Jana Puglierin, Berlin director of the European Council on Foreign Relations so colourfully depicted the new relationship between Europe and the US in comments to The New York Times: This is not unconditional love, but friends with benefits. Bidens trip starts with a meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson ahead of a G7 meeting (to which non-members Australia, India and South Korea , but not China, have been invited) in Cornwall ahead of meeting with NATO allies, the EU and, finally, Russia next week.

Biden will be trying to build support for Americas increasingly aggressive efforts to contain China and sanction it for human rights abuses and its treatment of Hong Kong while repairing and updating the NATO alliance that Trump despised and trying to deal with the festering issues within the trade relationship with the EU. The trade conflict is perhaps the most straightforward, albeit that there are domestic political implications involved for both sides. One of the earliest of the Trump trade actions was to slap tariffs, on risible national security grounds, on European exports of steel and aluminium to the US. Theres also a longer-running dispute  and tariffs from both parties  over state subsidies for Airbus and Boeing. As Jana Puglierin, Berlin director of the European Council on Foreign Relations so colourfully depicted the new relationship between Europe and the US in comments to The New York Times: This is not unconditional love, but friends with benefits. Biden and Brussels had agreed temporary truces to avoid escalation of those disputes. The tariffs need to be removed as the first step in improving relationships and restoring the trans-Atlantic alliance but that will probably only occur as part of a much broader agreement on trade and investment.

There has been discussion, for instance, of a trade and technology council to avoid new impediments to trade while also providing a framework for co-operation on digital issues and, in particular, the determination of both the US and Europe to boost domestic production of semiconductors. Also on trade, the US  now a recommitted supporter of multi-lateral institutions  wants to help reform, rather than neuter, the World Trade Organisation. The EU is on board with the ambition of updating WTO rules to provide more effective sanctions against unfair competition  industrial subsidies, uncommercial behaviour of state-owned entities and other trade-distorting behaviours  and economic coercion. The proposed changes to the WTO and its rules are clearly targeted at China, with its centrally planned economies, large-scale subsidies for strategic sectors and, as Australia can testify, its willingness to use trade sanctions to punish and intimidate critics of its behaviour. There are other issues  Europes proposed carbon border tax, its digital services tax, regulation of artificial intelligence, whether COVID vaccine patents should (the US stance) or should not (the EUs) be waived, data protection and flow among them  but the trade issues, particularly the China-centric issues  are Bidens immediate priorities.

Both Biden and the Europeans have happily sung the America is Back refrain that characterises the dramatic shift from Trumpism to a more conventional alliance-driven suite of US foreign policies and a restoration, albeit partial and still-fragile and developing, of the traditional trans-Atlantic alliance. Europe remains worried about the possible return of Donald Trump when the 2024 election rolls around. Credit:AP Theyd all be conscious, however, that Bidens America  heavily focused on the domestic economy and riddled by political and social conflicts  is not the one that pre-dated Trump and Europe, post-Trump, is also different and less willing to concede to any material dependency on the US. That also makes it less likely to be as in tune with US policies towards China as some other US allies. Its now-frozen trade and investment pact with China, signed hastily last December despite the pleas of the incoming Biden administration, was a declaration of independence. (The agreement is in limbo, but not yet abandoned, after China responded to EU sanctions over its treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang province with sanctions of its own).
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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversation on Wednesday with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Chung Eui-yong.



Guided by the consensus of the two countries' heads of state, China-ROK relations have generally developed smoothly, Wang said, adding that as the international and regional situation has changed rapidly recently, it is necessary for China and the ROK, as strategic cooperative partners, to strengthen communication in a timely manner.

Noting that next year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the ROK, Wang said that the two sides should jointly cherish the hard-won achievements of cooperation and create a sound atmosphere and necessary conditions for the continued and steady development of bilateral relations.

The Indo-Pacific strategy promoted by the United States is full of Cold War mentality and provokes group confrontation, which is not conducive to regional peace and stability, Wang said, stressing that China firmly opposes it.

As friendly neighbors and strategic partners, Wang said that China and the ROK should grasp the rights and wrongs, stick to the correct position, abide by political consensus and never be carried off track.

The two sides should continue to make good use of the joint prevention and control mechanism and the "fast track" to prevent the cross-border spread of COVID-19 and ensure necessary personnel exchanges, Wang said.

The two sides should speed up the second-phase negotiation process of the China-ROK free trade agreement, strengthen cooperation in high-tech and emerging industries, and continuously promote and deepen the high-quality integrated development of the two countries.

Noting that the ROK and China are close neighbors, Chung said that the ROK attaches great importance to developing the ROK-China strategic cooperative partnership, adheres to the one-China principle and fully recognizes the sensitivity of cross-Strait relations.

The ROK stands ready to deepen political mutual trust with China, strengthen bilateral cooperation in various areas and inject more connotation and impetus into the ROK-China relationship, so as to send more positive signals for the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, Chung said.

Chung also expressed strong desire of the ROK to improve the south-north relations and advance the peace process of the Korean Peninsula, and the hope that China will continue playing a key constructive role in this aspect.

Wang said that China supports the improvement of the south-north relations and has made efforts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

He called on the United Nations Security Council to invoke the reversible provisions in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)-related resolutions and ease sanctions against people's livelihood in the DPRK.

Wang also urged the United States to take practical actions to specifically carry out the joint statement reached by the U.S. and DPRK leaders at the Singapore meeting.
Small COVID-19 leaks from quarantine can have dire population-wide effects. Just look at Victorias two-week lockdown following a single case escaping from quarantine in South Australia.

People look at the federal facility in Howard Springs and assume its physical features  accommodation blocks spread across 67 hectares, separate cabins, fresh air  are the reason it hasnt had a community outbreak. But they are missing a vital component of its administration: the daily rapid antigen tests used by AUSMAT  the federal Health swat team that has until recently supervised the facility.

The quarantine facility at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory.

This may be the key to why the Howard Springs facility has yet to face an outbreak

Rapid antigen tests use a test strip, like a pregnancy test, that reacts to the presence of viral proteins in a sample swabbed from the throat and nose. Results are available in minutes, not hours, as occurs with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests used by other facilities, including the hotel quarantine that forms the backbone of the Australian quarantine system.
The barrister acting for media companies being sued for defamation by Ben Roberts-Smith has described as inherently implausible the former soldiers claim that 21 current or former comrades who will give evidence against him are motivated by jealousy or have memories tainted by trauma.

Barrister Nicholas Owens, SC, who is representing The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in the landmark case, alleged Mr Roberts-Smith had committed or been involved in six murders as a Special Air Service soldier in Afghanistan.

Ben Roberts-Smith is suing The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. Credit:Dylan Coker

The killings were unlawful under the Geneva Conventions, Mr Owens told the Federal Court in Sydney, and could not be explained as being in the heat of battle or fog of war.

But Mr Roberts-Smith, who began what is expected to be several days of evidence on Thursday, said the allegations were devastating and based on rumour and innuendo. One made him really angry.
The Melbourne couple who travelled from Victoria to Queensland before testing positive for coronavirus did not have a health exemption to enter the Sunshine State.

The travellers have sparked a multi-state investigation into their route after they left Melton, in Melbournes west, on June 1 and travelled via NSW before testing positive for the virus in Queensland this week.

A COVID test site at Albert Park Lake. Credit:Getty Images

On Thursday, the Queensland government said while the pair may have been relocating for work, they had not applied to Queensland Health for an exemption permit to travel into the state from Melbourne.

The states Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said both had since been moved into quarantine.
Lawyers for The Sunday Telegraph will seek to prove that Daniel Taylor, the son of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim, was peripherally involved in a plot to illegally import cigarettes as part of their defence to a defamation case, a court has heard.

Mr Taylor is suing the Sunday Telegraph, owned by News Corp, and one of its journalists over a 24-page newspaper spread in June 2019 titled Inside the House of Ibrahim: Unauthorised.

Daniel Taylor leaves the Federal Court this week. Credit:Dylan Coker

Mr Taylor alleges the stories about himself and his family wrongly suggest he is a mobster, a member of the mafia, and a criminal involved in organised crime.

In a defence filed in the Federal Court, the newspaper denies any of the defamatory meanings about Mr Taylor were conveyed. It argues in a fall-back defence that it is substantially true to say Mr Taylor is involved in organised crime.
Sydney nurses and midwives have walked off the job in their hundreds in what they say is a desperate bid to increase hospital staffing levels.

NSW Nurses and Midwives Association staff in Liverpool and Campbelltown hospitals voted to stop work for four hours and two hours respectively, from 3.30pm on Thursday, in an escalation of their dispute with the state government over their pay and working conditions.

The union says staff are frustrated by the governments refusal to implement mandated nurse-to-patient ratios, like those that are in place in Queensland and Victoria, forcing them to work under extreme pressure.

A skeleton staff remained on the job to treat the most urgent patients and preserve life.
For Noni and the Loreto Sisters of Australia, the rediscovery of their origins led to reclaiming their spirituality in a fresh way. Their founder, Mary Ward, was a 17th-century Yorkshire woman who inspired the women who joined her to gain strength from their free and open access to God. Mary Wards vision for a new form of religious life for women modelled on that of the Jesuits was totally unacceptable to the Church of her day. Nonetheless, her Institute survived although in modified form and divided into several branches from which the Irish branch, to which Australia belongs, emerged.

Sister Noni was province leader for nine years and guided the sisters into the fullness of renewal. I think we came to freedom, she said. And, a lot more humanity. Sisters were encouraged to take responsibility for their lives internally and externally. Diversity of dress was common, and many sisters sought higher qualifications while others left Loreto schools to work with those in need, above all the poor and oppressed, in the spirit of Mary Wards original vision. The greatest compliment one can pay a Loreto sister is to call her a Mary Ward woman.

During her time as province leader, Noni began the painful process of handing on the Loreto schools in Australia to lay people. Government funding ensured the survival of the schools but there were not enough sisters to run them without lay staff. Noni wrote in her report to the general congregation in Rome in 1992: In the instances of handing on (not handing over) to lay colleagues, we are surely making real the ministry of laity in the Church: a sign of true collaboration of a mature, formed Christian lay leadership. In this we may rejoice, as we assist in the handing on of our traditions, values and spirituality, of our way of following Christ, of discipleship.

In July 1986, Noni was elected to the highest office in the institute  that of general superior of the Irish branch of the institute based at the Mother House in Rome. Sister Libby Rogerson, who joined her from Australia as a member of the general council, captures the flavour of this time. Noni brought to the leadership openness, humour and a loving understanding of the human condition. She urged all of us to broaden our horizons and see the institute as an international company of women deeply connected to Church and the world.

Sister Cecilia ODwyer, a member of the Spanish province of the institute, also recalls her time as a member of the general council during Nonis second term of office. The general superior challenged the sisters globally to awareness and action where they saw a need. During these years, the seeds for our commitment to justice, peace and integrity of creation were sown, she says. She and her council offered opportunities in many different ways, which were challenging then, but are an integral part of our lives today.
The Queensland government is considering a land swap with Brisbane City Council to address objections around a loss of green space under the latest site proposed for an inner-west primary school.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced last year about $65 million had been allocated for the new school, one of four for the states south-east, with an initial round of consultation revealing community opposition to the preferred site within the grounds of Indooroopilly State High School.

Toowongs Perrin Park precinct, seen in the right foreground, is one of two proposed sites for a new primary school for inner-west Brisbane.

After further investigation, the department settled on a second option in Toowongs Perrin Park precinct, which includes parkland, a community garden, dog park and the old Toowong Bowls Club, along with SES and council depots.

A second round of community consultation for both opened last week.
Manufacturers would have to provide consumers and repairers with access to spare parts under a Productivity Commission plan to cut waste and make it cheaper to fix products including cars, whitegoods and smartphones.

A draft report released by the Productivity Commission on Friday lists a range of measures state and federal governments should consider to address concerns that it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive for consumers to repair items.

Some manufacturers limit independent repairers from accessing information, parts and diagnostic tools required to fix broken products. Credit:Joe Armao

These measures include an overhaul of copyright laws to give independent repairers and consumers access to data hidden behind digital locks and product manuals, and a potential ban on warranties being voided if consumers do not use a manufacturers authorised repair service and parts.

Some manufacturers limit independent repairers from accessing information, parts and diagnostic tools required to fix broken products.
Western Australias leading maternity hospital could not accept birthing mothers for 24 hours this week because of a midwife shortage due to a flu-like illness which came on top of wider workforce shortfalls.

King Edward Maternity Hospital boss Tony Dolan revealed on ABC Radio that 27 beds which were closed in Ward 4 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic had never reopened.

King Edward Memorial Hospital went on bypass this week. Credit:Shutterstock

Were looking for additional midwives to open up the ward that weve got closed, he said.

On top of that, the hospital is 28 midwives short for the number of beds currently open.
Priya Murugappans treacherous journey to Australia aboard an overcrowded boat with no food and water has been laid bare by a fellow Tamil woman who also fled on the vessel and was detained on Christmas Island.

Priya and Nadesalingam Muruguppan and their Australian-born daughters, Kopika and Tharnicaa have been in detention on Christmas Island since August 2019 and have their hopes of staying in Australia pinned on a court battle preventing their deportation.

Vani Santhirasegaram and her daughter Akshaya during the vigil in support of the Murugappan family at Perth Childrens Hospital. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

The case has put a renewed focus on long-argued debates about Australias approach to asylum seekers since Tharnicaa who turns four on Saturday  was evacuated to Perth Childrens Hospital on Monday where she was diagnosed with pneumonia after being ill for two weeks.

Priya and Nadesalingam fled separately from Sri Lanka to Australia by boat in 2013 and 2012 fearing persecution by authorities following a bloody civil war due to their links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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China on Wednesday urged the United States to stop promoting a bill that exaggerates "China threat" rhetoric and advocates strategic competition against China.



Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a press briefing, saying China has firmly opposed U.S. Senate approving "The United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021."

The bill slandered China's domestic and foreign policies and seriously interfered in China's internal affairs on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet, Wang said.

The bill is full of zero-sum cold war mentality and runs counter to the common desire of all sectors of China and the United States to strengthen exchanges and cooperation, the spokesperson added.

Urging the United States not to treat China as an "imaginary enemy," Wang said China is committed to developing a relationship of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation with the United States but will continue to firmly safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests at the same time.

"The goal of China's development is to continuously make improvements and enable the Chinese people to live better and happier lives," Wang said, urging the U.S. side to take a rational view of China's development and China-U.S. relations.
A global law enforcement operation involving officers from the FBI, the Australian Federal Police and state law enforcement agencies has led to more than 220 people being arrested on 526 charges across Australia, while 3.7 tonnes of drugs, 104 weapons and $45 million in cash have allegedly been seized.

The operation came as a result of intelligence from a compromised encrypted communications app relied on by senior underworld figures.

The FBI had been in covert control of an app called An0m, used by criminals to send messages about illegal activity since 2018. Australian police introduced technology to decrypt the communications, allowing police to monitor their communications for years. There were 1100 users in Australia.

The operation has been a huge blow to criminal gangs around the world and implicates Australias most wanted man, Hakan Ayik, who police have urged to hand himself in after it was revealed he was allegedly responsible for distributing the compromised app as an underworld influencer.
Within hours she tweeted again saying she was pleased that the post had been deleted, and conceded while everyone can make mistakes, it took courage and integrity to correct them. The recent violence in Israel, Gaza and Jerusalem has again put the growing divide within Australian Labor about its Middle East policies under the spotlight. Israeli forces bombarded Gaza with air strikes, flattening buildings and killing dozens, while Hamas fired more than 4000 rockets towards Israel until a tentative ceasefire was organised. For the Labor leadership, which is intent on holding the Morrison government to account on the vaccine rollout and handling of the pandemic, it could not have happened at a worse time. The weekends events at the Queensland Labor conference have again laid bare the extreme positions within the party. Late in the day the division passed a resolution by a majority of delegates that condemned Israel for several disputed accusations, including the ongoing Israeli annexation by stealth of Palestinian land and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians through the expansion of illegal settlements. It also recognised the routine oppression and dehumanisation of Palestinian people, denying their dignity and rights to self-determination [and] condemning them to live under perpetual Israeli occupation. The driver of the motion was Wendy Turner, a long time pro-Palestine activist and unionist. Several members present have since told this masthead while speaking to the motion she made comments saying it was understandable that Hamas  prescribed as a terrorist organisation by the Australian government  was firing rockets at Israel. Ms Turner was contacted for comment.

The motion led to a strongly-worded slapdown from Labors foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, who said the motion was counterproductive and that viewing the conflict from one perspective would not advance the cause of peace. Loading It will take leaders recognising their respective roles in the cycle of escalation and conflict  and returning to meaningful dialogue and negotiation  for a just and enduring peace to be achieved, she said. Wongs intervention to distance federal Labor from the motion has been met with high praise from senior Jewish community leaders this week, many of whom privately concede they have had their concerns about the shifting rhetoric within the ALP of late. Historically the ALP, mainly through its former leader Dr H.V. Doc Evatt, has been a staunch supporter of Israel. Evatt served as president of the United Nations General Assembly at the time of Israels admission and guided the 1947 Palestine partition plan through the UN.

That support more or less continued through to the prime ministership of Bob Hawke and Julia Gillard, while former Labor leader Bill Shorten was regarded as a staunch supporter of Israel. But during the past two decades Israel has become an increasingly problematic issue for the leadership of the party to balance. The contest over its stance has become increasingly fraught because it has been viewed through a broader factional prism. While the partys Left has long been pro-Palestine, what has concerned many within the party is the rise of anti-Israel rhetoric among the factions grassroots membership. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video While the partys Right faction in Victoria has held firm for Israel, the NSW Right - mainly through the influence of former NSW premier and one-time foreign minister Bob Carr - has split.

And after a damaging anti-Semitism scandal that plagued British Labour under controversial leader Jeremy Corbyn during the past five years, Labors Israel supporters saw it as a major step forward when leader Anthony Albanese wrote to Jeremy Leibler, the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, to support the definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. I strongly believe that the fight against racism, including resurgent anti-Semitism, requires ongoing action and, for all politicians, leadership by example, Albanese wrote. Labor has also made it clear that we completely oppose the BDS campaign against Israel. Mr Albanese, who has become increasingly disciplined in his quest to win the next election, did not need the latest blow-up in internal tensions, which some of his colleagues believe is severely damaging to the perception Labor could govern responsibly. The latest round of discontent followed the controversy at Labors national conference, in March this year, when it was proposed the partys platform be amended to call on the next Labor government to treat the issue of Palestine as an important priority, bringing it in line with a resolution passed at the 2018 federal conference.

Senator Wong argued its inclusion in the document meant no lesser or greater weight to the matter. Some pro-Israel MPs were not overly concerned about its addition to the platform although in a year where the document was to be cut from 115 pages, down from 310 pages, others were puzzled as to why it was necessary. Many in the Jewish community did not agree with the decision but did not think, ultimately, it undermined bipartisanship between the Coalition and Labor in support of Israel. But in a conference that was deliberately designed to be low-key and minimise any internal debate, the issue exploded. The most outspoken critic was former Labor MP Michael Danby, who was denied the opportunity to speak to the wording. Mr Danby, a passionate defender of Israel during his 21 years in federal parliament, said the decision to give priority to unconditional recognition of a Palestinian state was stupid and he was furious that he was denied a chance to speak to it.

Days later the front page of The Australian Jewish News splashed with the story about Mr Danbys objection with the headline Today Will Live In Infamy. And it had become a major headache for Labor. Loading Party member Adam Slonim, the co-convener of the Australia-Israel Labor Dialogue, said the weekends Queensland resolution demonised Israel and created a double standard that no one else is held to. He hit back at comments from Carr in The Australian on Thursday, which accused those raising concerns about a growing strain of anti-Semitism within Labor as trying to shut down criticism of Israel. Carr, an outspoken critic of Israel for decades, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Queensland motion. Slonim told this masthead he and other members of the dialogue were Labor to their bootstraps, would never shy away from open debate but were no longer prepared to not call out anti-Zionist statements from within the party.

We are very disappointed that the Labor Party in Queensland blamed Israel entirely for the recent conflict. When you see a motion like this that demonises, delegitimises, doesnt discuss at all the 4300 rockets fired by Hamas on Israeli citizens  when you have these three Ds you are moving from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism. Israelis gather to watch the Iron Dome missile defence system launch to intercept rockets fire from the Gaza Strip. Credit:Amir Levy/Getty Images But the motion was viewed by the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network as a major step forward by federal Labor. Bishop George Browning said the Queensland ALP was right to focus on the party that had overwhelmingly more power and therefore responsibility.

The uncomfortable truth is Israels occupation is the primary instigator of violence. We cannot say we are a true friend of Israelis and Palestinians and pretend it is otherwise. Fellow APAN executive member Dr Peter Slezak said as a child of Holocaust survivors he welcomed the resolution. Loading Holding Israel to account is not antisemitic and remaining silent is not neutral or balanced, he said. Israel must be held to the same standards as all nations and abide by international law. Reacting to the Queensland motion, Victorian MP Josh Burns, who is Jewish, and Kitching have taken out a full- page advertisement in this weeks edition of The Australian Jewish News declaring Labor stands with Israel and will always defend its right to live in peace and security.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said on Tuesday the government was considering two overseas resettlement options for the Biloela Tamil family, whose three-year-old daughter, Tharunicaa Murugappan, is in a Perth hospital after being medevaced from Christmas Island. These were sending the family to New Zealand or the United States.

Its now said Payne was confused about where things stood. Nor had earlier comments that day by Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews been precise. On Thursday, however, Andrews was precise. She ruled out sending the family to the US or New Zealand, after all. That option, she said, was only open to refugees, and the courts have ruled that the Murugappans are not refugees.

And yet the government does have another option.

Sister Kopika comforts Tharunicaa with in hospital on Christmas Island this week before she was evacuated to a Perth hospital.

The Murugappan family, whom the government wants to deport back to Sri Lanka, has been held on Christmas Island since 2019 while a legal battle over the handling of the visa application of Tharunicaa drags on. The parents have been found not to be refugees, but their two children were born in Australia.
International students studying medicine and health-related degrees and those close to finishing their studies will be given priority to return to NSW universities under a long-awaited rescue plan.

Universities will foot the bill for international students to return within weeks, with 250 students to arrive each fortnight on charter flights before quarantining in special accommodation.

International students could start returning to NSW within weeks. Credit:Steven Siewert

Each university will be allocated a number of seats on private flights based on the proportion of international students they had in 2019, the last full year of academic study before the pandemic.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced the long-awaited pilot plan for the states $14 billion international education sector on Thursday. Final Commonwealth approval is expected in days.
Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The council-run clinic is also another marker of the pace of the federal vaccine rollout. By Wednesday night there had been almost 5.5 million vaccine doses given to Australians. About 2 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. A spokeswoman for the federal Health Department responded after The Age asked Health Minister Greg Hunt why it had fallen to councils to set up GP hubs, and if there were enough vaccination sites planned for Melbournes outer west. The spokeswoman said the GPs in the Wyndham initiative were all part of the COVID-19 vaccination program supported by the Commonwealth. GPs had administered 3 million doses around Australia, including 785,000 in Victoria, she said. And there were 40 primary care vaccination sites in the Wyndham region and more than 100 such sites in Melbournes outer west. Cr Hegedich said it was important residents in the west were able to see their GP for vaccination as easily as possible. We know our residents trust their local GPs, so it makes sense to give them greater access, she said. Vaccinations are our best way out of lockdowns and out of this pandemic.

Other councils around Melbourne have been instrumental in encouraging local GPs and community health organisations to offer immunisation programs, but Wyndham is the first municipality to set up its own centre that can vaccinate so many each day. Wyndham Council argues that most GPs can only vaccinate 10 people a day due to their size. By using the councils larger centre, GPs will be able to vaccinate up to 100 people in two hours. Joe Garra is a GP at MyClinic in Werribee who helped set up the new clinic with the council. He said it was difficult to get enough patients through individual GP clinics. Issues included where to put socially distancing people who had had a jab and then had to wait 15 minutes afterwards. Dr Garra said there was still a lot of hesitancy in the west, and this needed to change urgently in older people. People are still waiting for Pfizer, but if youre over 50, AstraZeneca is fine  its a one-in-a-million death rate.

Associate Professor Holly Seale from the University of NSW is an infectious diseases social scientist whose research has looked at immunisation, particularly in migrant communities. She said there needed to be caution in any assumptions on who would be willing or unwilling to get vaccinated, regardless of whether they were Australian born or migrants. A range of ages and genders and socioeconomic backgrounds share reservations about vaccines, whether they are from migrant or non-migrant backgrounds. She said before COVID-19 hit, there were already disparities in vaccine uptake for things like flu between people born and not born in Australia, for children, adolescents and adults. There were various reasons for this, she said. We should not assume that it is because of negative attitudes towards immunisation. The challenge is that we know there is misinformation circulating about coronavirus and the COVID vaccine in some culturally and linguistically diverse communities, she said.

While we have been tracking the information on social media, we also have heard about rumours and conspiracy theories circulating on closed systems like WhatsApp, Professor Seale said. Working out how to address this sort of misinformation and help local community groups fight these sorts of rumours should be a priority, she said. Loading Her groups research also showed community members continued to get some information about COVID-19 and vaccines via news channels streamed from their country of origin. We found from research that we can put all the information we want in whatever languages we want, but if peoples preferences are to stream news from their country of origin, it may not matter what we do. So we need to be persistent. She said local, state and federal government campaigns needed to constantly remind all people of why Australia had chosen the vaccination program that it had, so people feel comfortable with whats available.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has confirmed police did not attend the Sorrento home where Premier Daniel Andrews fell and narrowly avoided permanent spinal injury.

Mr Pattons comments come days after Ambulance Victoria responded to the oppositions pointed press release issued on Monday, in which shadow treasurer Louise Staley demanded the Premier answer 12 questions about the March 9 injury, including who called the ambulance and whether police interviewed Mr Andrews.

Premier Daniel Andrews, pictured in intensive care in March. Credit: Supplied

Senior government ministers this week accused the Coalition of peddling QAnon craziness about the circumstances of the Premiers fall, and warned the Liberal Party was at risk of plunging into a Trump conspiracy theory wormhole.

Mr Patton told ABC Radio on Thursday morning police had not been involved.
Singapore: There are 800 kilometres between Shanghai and Nagasaki, little more than the distance between Sydney and Melbourne. Between the Chinese metropolis and the Japanese port city are centuries of culture, trade and war driven by two of east Asias great powers and most populous nations.

It is why, as China has embarked on its decades-long rise from developing economy to superpower, Japan has adopted a cautious approach. It has maintained its post-World War II alliance with the United States as its greatest asset while pushing for closer economic ties with China. It recognises Beijings growing clout while attempting to integrate it into global diplomatic norms.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton, on screen, attend a video conference with Japans Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi on Wednesday. Credit:AP

As Ryo Sahashi from the University of Tokyos International Relations Institute notes: Japans values are rooted in inclusiveness and progressiveness.

But its patience appears to be wearing thin.
London: As Scott Morrison, Joe Biden and Boris Johnson mingle on a beach at Cornwalls picturesque Carbis Bay this Saturday evening, waiters will hand out canapes of sparkling scallops, crab claws and mackerel before a main meal of barbecued sirloin and lobster with scorched leeks.

Afterwards, G7 leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and United States along with guest countries Australia, South Korea and South Africa will share baked brie, hot buttered rum and toasted marshmallows around raging firepits.

The beach in front of the Carbis Bay hotel where world leaders will toast marshmallows at a G7 barbecue. Credit:Bloomberg

The menu has been created to showcase the best of British produce but more political factors were behind the choice of accompanying wine: Australian shiraz. Its inclusion is a not-so-subtle act of solidarity against Chinas decision to slap huge tariffs on Australian wine imports last year as part of its campaign of economic coercion.

The rise of China is one of half a dozen core topics to be thrashed out at this weekends G7 summit in south-west England  the first major in-person gathering of world leaders since the pandemic began. The big issues include:
Carbis Bay: The Queen will make a rare public appearance at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, before meeting privately with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Windsor Castle early next week.

The 95-year-old monarch, who on Thursday marked what would have been the 100th birthday of her late husband Prince Philip, will travel to the seaside town of Carbis Bay on Friday to headline a diplomatic offensive with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and European Union.

US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk by the beach in Cornwall with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson, ahead of the G7 Summit. Credit:Getty Images

US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson kick-started the summit - the first major in-person meeting of leaders since the coronavirus pandemic - on Thursday afternoon UK time - by signing an updated version of the Atlantic Charter, the pact forged by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 outlining their vision for a post-war world.

Marking an end to the turbulent tenure of former president Donald Trump, Johnson described Biden as a breath of fresh air and stressed they were both particularly committed to action on climate change.
Los Angeles: A nun who ran a Catholic elementary school in Torrance, California, has agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than $US835,000 ($1 million) in school funds to pay for her personal expenses, including a gambling habit.

Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was charged on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, according to the US attorneys office for the Central District of California. A plea agreement was filed with the charging document.

Sister Mary Margret Kreupers plea agreement indicates shell plead guilty for embezzling $1m from St James School in Torrance, California. Credit:Screenshot/KTLA5

A statement from Kreupers lawyer, Mark Byrne, said that she was very remorseful for what happened, describing how she became a nun at 18 and has dedicated her life to helping others.

Unfortunately, later in her life she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment and caused her to do something that she otherwise would not have done, the statement said.
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British Brexit Minister David Frost said on Wednesday that talks with the European Union (EU) on the Northern Ireland Protocol produced no breakthroughs as tension rises between both sides on post-Brexit trade.

"No breakthroughs, but no breakdown either. But the issues are now becoming urgent and we now need to find solutions," Frost tweeted after officials from both sides met in London ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) meetings late this week.

"The UK made clear its continued commitment to constructive engagement in order to find pragmatic solutions that ensure the protocol operates in a way that safeguards the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all its dimensions, minimises its impact on the day-to-day lives of communities in Northern Ireland, and maintains the integrity of the EU's Single Market," Frost said.

He said Britain will continue to work actively to find solutions. "If solutions cannot be found, the government will of course continue to consider all options available for safeguarding peace, prosperity and stability in Northern Ireland."

But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face pressure from U.S. President Joe Biden at their bilateral meeting ahead of the G7 summit to respect the Good Friday Agreement of which America is a guarantor, according to the Times newspaper.

Under the protocol, a part of the post-Brexit trade deal reached between London and Brussels in 2019, food products from Britain to the EU will have to enter through new border control posts at Northern Ireland's ports.

Northern Ireland will continue to apply EU customs rules at its ports, to allow goods to flow into the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU. This is known as the Irish sea border, which is a new trade border between Northern Ireland and other parts of Britain.
Automobile registration across categories collapsed in May as localised lockdowns by various states brought the retail of vehicles to a halt.

Sales fell sequentially as well as year-on-year (YoY) compared to May 2019, shows the monthly registration (retail) data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA). The month is not comparable to last years May due to the nationwide lockdown that came into force on March 22 and lasted till May 18.

The localised lockdown contained the damage for dealerships to some extent. But the second wave has scarred lives. There is a worrisome trend of cancellation emerging at car dealerships, said Vinkesh Gulati, president, FADA. We sell happiness and car buying is a celebratory occasion, he said. People are still mourning the demise of their loved ones. Many households wont celebrate any festival for a year, he said.

The total vehicle retails for May fell 54.79 per cent month-on-month and 70.69 per cent when compared to May 2019. On an MoM basis, sales across all categories, including two- and three-wheelers passenger vehicles, tractors, and commercial vehicles fell by up to 66 per cent, said FADA. If one leaves aside April and May of 2020, the registration is the worst ever, said Gulati.

With the number of Covid-19 cases declining and states opening up in a graded way, auto retailers are seeing a gradual recovery. The first nine days of June saw a better start than expected due to pent-up demand. At this pace, June may result in almost equivalent sales when compared to the year-ago month, FADA said in the statement. It expects overall demand recovery to be slow as rural markets continue to struggle with post-Covid effects. Therefore, an expectation of a V-shaped recovery is likely to remain elusive, it said.

The apex body representing the dealers have appealed for relief from all vehicle makers, who are yet to announce a financial package like last year. Only a handful of OEMs (  CV, Renault, Bharat Benz, and HMSI) have announced financial help to their channel partners, others are yet to do so. FADA humbly requests all those OEMs that have still not announced any financial assistance to kindly do it urgently.



According to Mitul Shah, the head of research at Reliance Securities, the lower retail or registration numbers indicate inventory built up as wholesale volume was higher in the month. The second wave-led disruptions and local lockdowns impacted retail sales during the first half of the month. There are clear signs of a momentary slowdown in the rural economy at present. Moreover, PV segment volumes are impacted by supply constraints of key components, said Shah.

Higher Covid cases and the fear of the third wave continue to impact consumer sentiment and automobile sales. However, the economic situation started to improve at the beginning of June. He expects a strong bounce back from the second quarter on the back of favourable monsoon and healthy agriculture output.

FADA has appealed to the Reserve Bank to grant a moratorium for dealers and release guidelines for relaxation of loan repayment equivalent to the number of days of lockdown each state has been declaring.

The dealer body has cautioned of defaults in the absence of extension of loan moratorium. Since the current lockdown has already lasted well over 30-45 days and is continuing in South India, revenue for most of the dealers is negligible as there were minimal sales. Due to this, dealers will not be able to repay their loan tranche payment. This will ultimately lead towards default, FADA said in the statement. Since there are no guidelines, the extension of the tranche is considered as restructuring of the loan. This will ultimately hurt the dealers credit score as their rating will get impacted, it said.
A rally in the stocks of controlled by Indian billionaire has added almost $43 billion to his wealth this year, catapulting him to the spot of the second-richest person in Asia. Some analysts say the gains are fraught with risk.

Adanis net worth of $76.7 billion got a boost from a 330% jump in Adani Total Gas Ltd., a 235% rise in his conglomerates flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. and a 263% increase in Adani Transmission Ltd. this year. stocks, especially these three, look extended, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Gaurav Patankar and Nitin Chanduka wrote in a June 10 note after analysing technical indicators.

Among the biggest foreign investors are a few Mauritius-based funds holding over 95% of assets in these companies, the analysts wrote. Such concentrated positions, along with negligible onshore ownership, create asymmetric risk-reward as large investors conspicuously avoid Adani.

The analysis underscores the vulnerability of the rapid wealth surge Adani has seen in 2021, beating the gains for Warren Buffett and his compatriot Mukesh Ambani. A representative for declined to comment immediately.

The overseas funds hold a large chunk of shares, effectively reducing the public float and leaving the stocks prone to volatility, the analysts wrote. Elara India Opportunities Fund, Apms Investment Fund, Cresta Fund, Albula Investment Fund, Lts Investment and Asia Investment Corp. have put more than 95% of their assets in firms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

The ports-to-power conglomerate also got a boost after MSCI Inc. included three more Adani firms to its India benchmark index last month, taking the groups total footprint to five. This leads to mandated buying by investors that track this index.

Adani stocks trade 150%-200% above 200-day moving averages, and statistically look extended, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts wrote. Tesla was 126% above the 200-day when it peaked this year.




Walmart-owned has announced a new policy for employees that includes extended medical coverage and support for families of deceased employees as part of its COVID-19 relief efforts.

continues to prioritise employee well-being with a slew of measures extending care and wellness initiatives to all employees, including supply chain staff, across the country, the company said in a blogpost on Wednesday.

Providing details of the policy, the company said its Family Support Policy for India extends additional support for the families and dependents of employees who have lost their lives to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The family of the employee who succumbed to COVID-19 will be provided with a life insurance cover to the value of 5X of the employee's CTC along with a notice period settlement as per their contract, and professional financial assistance programmes.

Flipkart said it will provide education support of up to Rs 1.2 lakh per annum for up to two children of the deceased employee until the children reach 22 years of age, as well as sponsor and extend the current medical insurance cover for the family for a period of 60 months.

"Flipkart will also enable an accelerated ESOP vesting and future liquidation opportunity, as needed. The company will also cover the one-time cost of an independent financial planner," the blog said.

Flipkart further said it continues to work with hospital partners and local authorities to arrange for vaccinations for all employees across the country over the next two months. Over 15,000 employees and their families have been vaccinated to date.

The e-commerce company is covering the vaccination cost for employees and five dependents each.

As India reeled under the impact of the deadly second wave of infections, several organisations across the spectrum came forward to support the relief efforts. Efforts to ramp up vaccination are also underway.

India has so far administered over 24.2 crore jabs to eligible beneficiaries.

NxtGen Infinite Datacenter said it has concluded a vaccination drive for its employees along with their dependents, based in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.

Bike taxi platform Rapido announced the second phase of its #RideToVaccinate initiative and will provide free rides to the nearest COVID-19 vaccination centre out of the designated 18 hospitals to Delhi NCR citizens.

The initiative, it said, is aimed at providing a safe, affordable and accessible commute to citizens eligible for vaccination across Delhi NCR.

Interestingly, dating app OkCupid has released an 'I'm Vaccinated' profile badge.

"...there is a marked increase in conversations around getting vaccinated. This has also been observed on OkCupid profile bios in India which have seen a huge 763 per cent increase in conversations between March and June 2021 around COVID-19 vaccines and its relevance to daters while selecting a match for themselves," it said in a statement.

The 'I'm Vaccinated' badge lets individuals announce their vaccination status on their profile and also join the vaccinated stack which helps them match with like-minded love interests who have taken the jab.

MyGate, a community management solutions provider, said it had conducted a survey among 11,000 residents in various housing societies across all major cities to understand perceptions around, and interest in, in-society vaccination drives.

The survey found that on average, a home needed 2.8 vaccines, and that 98 per cent of respondents were keen on taking the vaccine within the gates of their housing society as it would mean lesser chance of getting exposed to possible infection.

"The consensus among our users and partners is strong that vaccination drives be conducted within the society gates, and we're fortunate to be in a position to facilitate this request.

"We believe our technology and operational expertise can be put to good use in this situation and are eager to organise as many vaccination drives for our societies as possible," MyGate COO and co-founder Abhishek Kumar 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.)
SaaS unicorn Eightfold AI has raised $220 million in a Series E round, led by Vision Fund 2. With this round, the US-headquartered company founded by IITians Ashutosh Garg and Varun Kacholia, has more than doubled its valuation since November last year to $2.1 billion.

This round also saw participation from previous investors including General Catalyst, Capital One Ventures, Foundation Capital, IVP and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Total raised to date by Eightfold AI is more than $410 million, with $325 million coming in the last seven months.

The company, headquartered in the US, would be utilising the platform to fuel growth, invest in the technology and the product. Most importantly, we will keep enhancing our functionalities, so that we can keep solving for employment. We are also extending our platform where our partners can build on top of our platform because we don't believe we can build everything ourselves, Garg told Business Standard, a former Google techie who founded Eightfold AI in 2016.

The company has a unique Talent Intelligence Platform, which helps organisations to retain top performers, upskill and reskill the workforce, recruit top talent efficiently, and reach diversity goals. It has clients such as Tata Communications in India.

India is an extremely important market for us. If you think about the global workforce, pretty much every company has an office in India, said Garg.

Of the 250 employees at Eightfold AI, 100 sit out of India. Over the years, I expect 50 per cent of our team or more to be in India. So you can anticipate that mapping to north of $100 million plus, revealed Garg on the investment plans in India.

EIghtfold AI is a part of the growing list of SaaS success stories such as Zenoti, Freshworks and Druva being written by Indian-origin founders who have set base in the US.

Powered by AI and machine learning, Eightfolds platform provides global enterprises with a single solution for managing the entire talent lifecycle, including hiring, retaining, and growing a diverse global workforce, said Deep Nishar, Senior Managing Partner at Investment Advisers.
Enterprises plans to invest over Rs 100 crore in the housing finance business and the broking unit out of Rs 570 crore of equity capital it will raise from investors, including the Burman family.

The broking venture, with a focus on the retail segment, will grow organically and also look at inorganic opportunities, REL Chairperson Rashmi Saluja said.

The board of directors on June 8, 2021, approved raising of funds to the tune of Rs 570 crore by preferential allotment of 54.15 million equity shares at a price of Rs 105.25 per share.

Axis Capital is acting as a sole advisor to the above transaction. The transaction is subject to requisite permissions, sanctions and approvals as may be necessary.

Besides, the Burman family, existing investors like Ares SSG Capital and selected new marquee investors would infuse money.

REL has four key businesses Finvest Limited (RFL) for SME finance, Care Health Insurance Limited (CHIL)  health insurance, Broking Limited (RBL) and Religare Housing Development Finance.

The housing business, which is a subsidiary of RFL, also needs capital to scale up business, especially lending for affordable homes, Saluja said.

The company will invest over Rs 400 crore towards the growth of RFL which is undergoing debt restructuring. The country's largest lender State Bank of India is leading the consortium of lenders involved in the debt recast.

Saluja said the company is expecting the debt recast to be complete by August and will be able to do full-fledged business from the second half of the current financial year. It would also approach the for approvals, Saluja said.
India on Thursday reported a net reduction of 63,463 in active cases to take its count to 1,167,952. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 9.42 per cent (one in 10). The country is second among the most affected countries by active cases. On Wednesday, it added 94,052 cases to take its total caseload to 29,183,121. And, with 6,148 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 359,676, or 1.22 per cent of total confirmed infections.

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External Affairs Minister (EAM) on Thursday arrived in Kuwait as part of his bilateral visit to the Gulf country.

"Hon'ble External Affairs Minister of India His Excellency Dr arrives in Kuwait on a bilateral visit and was received by the Ambassador," Indian High Commission in Kuwait tweeted.

Jaishankar's visit a few months after the two countries decided to establish a joint ministerial commission to formulate a framework to strengthen various aspects of

An MEA release earlier had said that EAM Jaishankar during his visit will hold high-level meetings and also address the Indian community in Kuwait. He will also carry a personal letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Amir of Kuwait.

The year 2021-22 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Kuwait.

"Traditionally warm and close bilateral relationship between India and Kuwait is characterized by strong people-to-people connect. There are around one million Indians residing in Kuwait. India is amongst the largest trading partners of Kuwait and Kuwait is a major supplier of oil for India," the MEA said.

In recent weeks, to help fight the second wave of COVID-19 in India, the Government of Kuwait has been at the forefront to ensure a sustained and reliable supply of Liquid Medical Oxygen to India by establishing an Air/Sea Bridge.

Earlier, Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, State of Kuwait, visited India on March 17-18.

Both countries had agreed to establish a Joint Commission at Foreign Ministers' level during the visit.

(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.)
 Flash

China on Thursday expressed strong dissatisfaction with remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, in which he called Taiwan "a country", and has lodged solemn representations with Japan, according to a Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily news briefing that the Japanese leader has openly referred to Taiwan as "a country", which seriously violated the principles of the four political documents including the China-Japan Joint Declaration, and breached the solemn promise of "not regarding Taiwan as a country" made by the Japanese side many times so far.

China wants Japan to immediately issue clarifications to eliminate the damage and to ensure that such a thing will not reoccur, the spokesperson said.

There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inseparable part of China's territory, said Wang, adding that the Taiwan question concerns the political foundation of China-Japan ties, the basic credibility between the two countries, and the international rule of law and justice.

"China seriously urges the Japanese side to earnestly keep its promises on the Taiwan question, to exercise caution in words and deeds, to not damage China's sovereignty in any way, and to refrain from sending wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" forces," Wang said.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment on Thursday announced that the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) would extend benefits of its cover to all casual and contractual workers at municipal bodies.

Various municipal bodies in different States and Union Territories employ a large number of casual and contractual workers. Since they are not regular employees of municipal corporations and municipal councils, these workers remain out of the net.

To address the issue, the ministry has decided to extend coverage under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 (ESI Act) to all casual and contractual workers working at the municipal bodies in the country, it said in a statement.

has been directed to take up the matter with the States and UTs, being the appropriate government(s) under the ESI Act, for issue of notification for coverage of casual and contractual workers in the municipal corporations and councils in their respective jurisdictions,



The coverage shall be extended to those casual and contractual employees/ agencies/ establishments which are within the implemented areas already notified under the ESI Act, 1948 by the central government, the statement said.

For the National Capital Region of Delhi, the central government being the appropriate government under the ESI Act, the ministry has already issued an intention notification, dated June 7, for the ESI coverage of casual and contractual employees working at the municipal corporations and councils.

Once notifications for coverage are issued by the respective States and UTs, the casual and contractual workers working with municipal bodies will be able to avail the full gamut of benefits available under the ESI Act such as sickness benefit, maternity benefit, disablement benefit, dependent's benefit and funeral expenses.

In addition, these workers will be eligible to avail medical services through a vast network of ESI facilities -- 160 hospitals and over 1,500 dispensaries all over the country.

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said that ESI coverage of casual and contractual employees working with municipal bodies shall go a long way in providing cover to a very vulnerable segment of the workforce.

"This shall contribute to social upliftment of this segment of workforce and their families," 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.)
US top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has warned of the risks of a new Covid-19 variant, first identified in India, which is now spreading widely in the UK.

The Delta variant, known by the scientific name B.1.617.2, has spread from where it was first discovered in India to over 60 countries, according to the World Health Organization, Xinhua reported.

More than 6 percent of the sequenced Covid-19 infections in the US trace to the highly transmissible Delta variant, Fauci said on Tuesday.

The variant has become the dominant strain in the UK, accounting for an estimated 60 per cent of new cases, replacing the B.1.1.7 strain, according to Fauci.

He called on more Americans to get vaccinated to keep the new variant from proliferating across the country.

--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.)
Over 94,000 fresh cases reported; over 6,000 deaths

India reported 94,052 fresh infections on Thursday, taking the cumulative caseload to about 29.2 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 6,148 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 359,676. The record jump in daily deaths was because Bihar revised its data to add backlog fatalities. The active caseload is at about 1.2 million, while the total recoveries have surged to 27.7 million. As many as 242.7 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 3.3 million were given on Wednesday. Read more

AstraZeneca shots carry slightly higher risk of bleeding problem: Study

A new study has found that people receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, marketed as Covishield in India, had a slightly higher risk of a bleeding disorder and possibly other rare blood problems, a report in The New York Times said. The findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine, from a study that examined 2.53 million adults in Scotland who received their first doses of either the AstraZeneca vaccine or the one made by Pfizer-BioNTech. About 1.7 million of the shots were the AstraZeneca vaccine. The study found no increased risk of the blood disorders with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the report said. Read more

Bihar sends Ganga samples for Covid testing after bodies were found floating

Bihar's pollution control officials have sent samples collected from the river Ganga for Covid-19 testing, days after bodies were found floating in the river, a report in the Hindustan Times said. The tests are being carried out to examine if the river has been contaminated with the since there were reports of bodies of Covid victims being dumped in Ganga. Read more

Finance ministry proposes 24/7 vaccination drive to revive growth

The finance ministry has suggested that the vaccination programme be carried out round the clock in order to achieve herd immunity quickly against the virus and regain economic growth momentum, a report in the Scroll said. Rapid vaccination is key to reviving investment and consumption cycles in the coming fiscal quarters, the ministry said in a monthly report published by the Department of Economic Affairs. The report said that India needs to vaccinate 700 million residents as herd immunity can be achieved when 80% of the population is immune or less susceptible to the infection, according to the report. Read more

Flu vaccine may help keep kids safe in a potential third wave

Some doctors believe vaccinating your child against flu could be effective in fighting the third Covid wave, a report in The Indian Express said. Dr Jesal Sheth, senior consultant-pediatrician, Fortis Hospital, Mulund, the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) recommends giving annual flu shots to all children below five. Recent studies conducted during the pandemic in Michigan and Missouri, among children infected with Covid-19, showed those who had been vaccinated with inactivated influenza vaccine during the flu season in 2019-20 in the US, had slightly reduced risk of catching Covid-19 infection, as well as reduced risk of suffering from severe infection, she said. Read more
Indias Covid-19 death tally surged by a record 6,148 fatalities on Thursday as the eastern state reported numbers roughly 72 per cent higher than its previous recorded toll, confirming speculation that the devastation in the Asian nation has been far worse than official data show.

Bihars Health Department on Wednesday said Covid-19 had killed 9,429 people in the Indian state, nearly double its previous count. Authorities didnt specify when the deaths occurred.

Patna district, which houses the capital city, reported the highest number of deaths at 862, according to a statement posted on the governments Twitter account.

The Patna High Court last month expressed concern about inconsistency in the death toll presented by government officials in separate affidavits, the Hindu newspaper reported.
India will be receiving a share of the 80 million (8 crores) unused COVID-19 vaccines through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme that President has announced, according to a senior State Department official.

On June 2, President Biden announced that the US will allocate 75 per cent - nearly 1.9 crores of the first tranche of 2.5 crore doses - of unused COVID-19 vaccines from its stockpile through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa.

The move is part of his administration's framework for sharing 80 million (8 crores) vaccines globally by the end of June.

According to a White House fact sheet, nearly 19 million vaccines will be shared through COVAX.

I don't have the specific details on when the shipment of vaccines will be arriving in India. Of course, India will be in receipt of a share of those 80 million vaccines and through COVAX, I believe there were some six million vaccines destined for the region, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.

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.

We know that India has suffered tremendously with this pandemic and as we have done in the case of these vaccines, but also as we did even prior to this vaccine sharing announcement. We have demonstrated our commitment to work closely with our partners in India to help see the way out of this epidemic, he said.

In recent weeks, the US has so far supplied seven planeloads of life-saving supplies worth approximately USD 100 million.

This is also in addition to the tremendous generosity that we have seen from the private sector and the diaspora here in this country that has donated some 400 million additional dollars. So, that's half a billion dollars that the government and the people here in the have committed to help our friends and to help our partners in India recover from this pandemic, Price said.

Responding to a question, he said the Biden administration is absolutely continuing with its commitment to help the government and the people of India emerge from this pandemic.

We remain engaged with the private sector as we have spoken of our commitment of vaccines to India, of our commitment of planeloads of life-saving supplies, doing all we can not only on our part but also to galvanize action on the part of other non-governmental actors here in the to help our friends in India, Price said.

India is currently witnessing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the country has recorded over 2,90,89,069 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 3,53,528 deaths.

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.

(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 Thursday asked the Centre to respond within three weeks to a writ petition filed by Carnatic vocalist TM Krishna, who moved the High Court against the recently notified Information Technology (Guidelines For Intermediaries And Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The Ramon Magsasay awardee said the IT Rules, 2021, as the new regulations are commonly called, impose "arbitrary, vague, disproportionate and unreasonable" restrictions on digital media and social media intermediaries, LiveLaw reported.

In the writ petition filed on behalf of the artist by Internet Freedom Foundation and advocate Vrinda Bhandari, he says: "Without privacy it's impossible to create and perform. And the privacy that ought to be afforded to us all is intrinsically linked with our right to freedom of expression. Our Constitution contains a commitment to the liberty of imagination. Censorship sans reason offends this commitment. It is in furtherance of my rights to freedom of expression and privacy that I am filing the present writ petition. I submit that the Impugned Rules offend my right as an artist and cultural commentator by both imposing a chilling effect on free speech, and by impinging on my right to privacy."

Krishna's main contention is that the IT Rules violate his fundamental rights, and go against the provisions of the parent act, the IT Act, the IFF said in a post.

In his affidavit, Krishna has said that the Code of Ethics to be followed by publishers of news and content and online curated content establish "vague responsibilities on producers of online curated content that will only inevitably lead to a chilling of the creative process".

The Indian Newspaper Society also wrote to the Prime Minister and Information and Broadcasting Minister last week, asking them to exclude traditional newspapers from the IT Rules.

The rules for digital publishers, INS said, were regulatory overreach and is unnecessary to ask the news organisations to follow another set of guidelines, which are meant primarily and exclusively for categories of organisations and intermediaries who are NOT covered by the PRB (Press and Registration of Books) Act".

The government in February announced a three stage regulatory regime for controlling content which includes a two stage self-regulatory mechanism-one at the company and the other at an industry level, followed by a government controlled oversight system under the I&B ministry.

This will also include an inter departmental committee (consisting of various ministries) which would be the highest call for redressal of all grievances if a complaint has been dissatisfied with the decisions taken by the self-regulatory bodies.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the I&B Ministry have been provided three weeks to file their counter affidavit, and the matter will be heard after four weeks, IFF said.
Union Environment Minister on Thursday sought a report from officials concerned on the issue of alleged mass felling and smuggling of centuries-old rosewood from the forest land in Kerala's Wayanad district.

This was disclosed by Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, who met Javadekar in New Delhi today seeking his intervention into the matter.

Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Muraleedharan, who is from Kerala, said the Union Environment Minister has sought a report from his officials on the basis of his complaint seeking action against the culprits, who had axed timber worth crores from the forests.

He alleged that the were looted from the forests under the shield of an order issued by the state government last year.

Demanding a comprehensive probe into the incident, Muraleedharan said the order was issued with the complete knowledge of the political leadership of state's ruling LDF.

"The role of the two ministers in the previous LDF government should also be investigated", he added.

The opposition Congress-led UDF had raised the issue in the Assembly on Tuesday, accusing the Left government of shielding the culprits.

The state government on Wednesday informed the High Court that a mafia was involved in felling of and what was revealed in the investigation was just the tip of the iceberg.

The state government said this when a plea seeking to quash FIRs registered by the Forest Department in connection with various cases of illegal harvest of trees in Muttil village came up in the court.

The High Court has refused to stay the investigation into the case.

(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.)
As many as 764 cases of black fungus have been reported so far and 49 people have succumbed to the disease in Indore, informed Apoorva Tiwari, District Data Manager, Health Department,

"Till now 764 cumulative cases of Mucormycosis or black fungus have been reported in 149 patients have been discharged and 49 people have succumbed to the disease," Tiwari told reporters here.

"Currently 566 patients are undergoing treatment for the disease in the district. 37 deaths have been recorded in Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) College and Hospital and 12 deaths in private hospitals. The recovery rate is quite good with more than 10 people getting discharged since the last two to three days," she said.

Mucormycosis or black fungus is a complication caused by fungal infection. People catch mucormycosis by coming in contact with the fungal spores in the environment. It can also develop on the skin after the fungus enters the skin through a cut, scrape, burn, or other type of skin trauma, as per the Union Health Ministry.

The disease is being detected among patients who are recovering or have recovered from COVID-19. Moreover, anyone who is diabetic and whose immune system is not functioning well needs to be on the guard against this, it had said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Over a dozen entities, including large digital companies like and MakeMyTrip, are looking at approval for offering vaccine bookings, according to CoWIN head RS Sharma.

The government had, last month, released new guidelines for the integration of CoWIN with third-party applications, easing the way for such apps to offer vaccine bookings.

Nearly 15 entities are eyeing approval to provide online appointment booking for vaccination, including Paytm, Infosys and MakeMyTrip, Sharma said.

When contacted, Group CEO Rajesh Magow said that with millions already using app, we want to leverage the API integration to help people easily book their vaccination slots and do our bit to make the entire process more convenient.

Integration has also been opened up for download of vaccination certificate that will be useful as travel opens up further and all documentary requirements can be accessed in one place, he added.

declined to comment, while Infosys did not respond to queries.

India has been ramping up vaccination to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. India has so far administered over 24.2 crore jabs to eligible beneficiaries.

Over the past months, giants like Facebook and Google to startups such as HealthifyMe have introduced a slew of tools to help people find slots for vaccination appointments.

Platforms like Under45 and GetJab became popular overnight as they alerted users when vaccine slots opened up and then directed them to the CoWIN platform to secure an appointment.

The government has been undertaking vaccinations in a phased manner, starting with those over 60 years, then for those over 45 years and most recently, for those aged between 18-44 years.

Initial hiccups like glitches on Co-WIN platform and vaccine shortage are also being gradually ironed out.

On Wednesday, the government announced a new update that enables an applicant to correct any inadvertent errors in name, year of birth and gender printed on the CoWIN vaccination certificate.

Users can make the correction through the CoWIN website.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Prime Minister will virtually participate in the outreach sessions of the on 12 and 13 June, an official statement said on Thursday.

The United Kingdom currently holds the presidency of the G7 and is hosting a summit at Cornwall, where seven of the worlds most powerful countries--UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan--will come together to thrash out the global response pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic, trade issues, protecting the climate, among other challenges. Apart from India, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited the leaders of Australia, South Africa and South Korea to join the summit this year.

The meeting will be held in hybrid mode.

This is the second time Modi will be participating in a G7 meeting. The Prime Minister was invited by the G7 French Presidency in 2019.

This is the first meeting of the member countries since the outbreak of the pandemic.

It will take place at a time when several countries across the world continue to battle the deadly virus. The theme for the summit is Build Back Better

These are leading the global recovery from coronavirus while strengthening resilience against future pandemics; promoting future prosperity by championing free and fair trade; tackling climate change and preserving the planets biodiversity; and championing shared values and open societies. The Leaders are expected to exchange views on the way forward on global recovery from the pandemic with a focus on health and climate change, an official statement said.
Terming the low Covid vaccination coverage among the healthcare and frontline workers, especially for the second dose, a cause of "serious concern", the Centre advised the states and Union territories on Thursday to sharpen their focus and prepare effective plans for expediting the second dose coverage among these priority groups.

At a high-level meeting chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan with the states to review the progress of vaccination, it was highlighted that while the national average for the first dose administration among the healthcare workers (HCWs) is 82 per cent, for the second dose, it is only 56 per cent, a statement issued by the health ministry said.

Further, the coverage in 18 states and Union territories, including Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Assam, is below the national average in this aspect.

For the frontline workers (FLWs), the national average of first-dose coverage is 85 per cent but for the second dose, it is only 47 per cent, the statement said.

Nineteen states and Union territories, including Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab, have reported a second-dose coverage of FLWs below the national average, it added.

The Union health secretary reiterated that universal coverage and full protection amongst this group is crucial to protect the healthcare response to the pandemic and a timely completion of the vaccination schedule is important for conferring full protection to the beneficiaries. The states were asked to sharpen their focus and prepare effective plans for expediting the second dose administration for the HCWs and FLWs, the statement said.

The states were also asked to dedicate special time slots or sessions for the exercise, it added.

Bhushan highlighted the less than adequate private sector participation in the Covid vaccination drive.

According to the revised guidelines, 25 per cent of the vaccine stock can be procured by the private hospitals, which can set up Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) for supplementing the government's efforts in further universalisation of the vaccination drive.

The limited presence of private hospitals and their unequal spread were highlighted for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam etc., the statement said.

The states were alerted to the new features on the Co-WIN portal, which were incorporated in light of the new vaccination guidelines.

They were informed that rectifications can be done in the personal information (name, year of birth, gender and photo ID number of the card used) by the citizens, requesting changes only in any of the two fields of the four mentioned. These changes are allowed only once.

Once updated, the old certificate will be deleted and it will not be possible to reverse the changes.

Change in vaccine type, date of vaccination, vaccination events not recorded on Co-WIN can be made with the help of the district immunisation officers (DIOs).

These changes cannot be done by the users themselves, but they will have to request the DIOs, the statement said.

A feature to tag the existing CVCs as urban and rural is also being provided.

The states were informed of the vaccine utilisation feature. The DIOs are allowed to edit or update the vaccine utilisation reports (VURs) submitted by the vaccinators and make corrections, if needed.

The states were asked to thoroughly train the vaccinators and DIOs to prevent data-entry errors.

They were informed that the CoWIN platform is now available in 12 languages. The platform is equipped to register the UDID unique disability ID card as well. It was also pointed out that accounts now can be blocked for 24 hours if more than 1,000 searches are done in 50 log-in sessions of 15 minutes each.

The states can offer walk-in registrations for the 45-plus age group if the on-site capacity is greater than zero, the statement said.

Walk-in sessions for the 18-44 age group can also be organised if the "onsite-dose 2" capacity is greater than zero. The states were advised to widely publicise about this at the CVCs, the statement 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.)
Prime Minister will participate virtually in the outreach sessions of the on June 12 and 13, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

Last month, the MEA said Modi will not travel to the UK to attend the summit of the G7 grouping in view of the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country.

The G7 comprises the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.

As chair of G7, the UK has invited India, Australia, South Korea and South Africa to the summit.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US consumer prices climb at the fastest pace since 2008

US stocks rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 hitting a record high, as investors doubted whether a spike in May consumer prices would spur early policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index increased 0.6% last month after surging 0.8% in April. In the 12 months through May, CPI accelerated 5.0% in its biggest year-on-year increase since August 2008. READ MORE.

Delta variant 'poised to take hold' in Europe, warns WHO

The World Health Organisation's Europe director warned that the highly transmissible COVID-19 variant first identified in India is poised to take hold in the region, as many countries prepare to ease restrictions and allow more social gatherings and travel across borders.

During a press briefing on Thursday, WHO's Dr Hans Kluge said the variant also known as the delta variant, has shown signs of being able to evade some vaccines and warned that many vulnerable populations, particularly those over age 60, remain unprotected. READ MORE.

UP CM Adityanath calls on Amit Shah; likely to meet PM Modi, Nadda tomorrow

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Thursday met senior BJP leader and Union minister Amit Shah here, and is also likely to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief JP Nadda during his two-day visit, sources said.

While Adityanath will meet PM Modi on Friday, his meeting with Nadda may take place Thursday itself or on Friday, the sources added. READ MORE.

PM Modi to virtually participate in G7 outreach sessions on June 12, 13

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually participate in the outreach sessions of the G7 summit on 12 and 13 June, an official statement said on Thursday.

The United Kingdom currently holds the presidency of the G7 and is hosting a summit at Cornwall, where seven of the worlds most powerful countries--UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan--will come together to thrash out the global response pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic, trade issues, protecting the climate, among other challenges.READ MORE.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has decided to commence interviews for examination 2020, which were deferred due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, from August 2, according to an official statement.

The examination is conducted annually by the in three stages -- preliminary, main and personality test (interview) -- to select officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

It had in April this year deferred interviews for the prestigious examination due to increase in cases.

"After reviewing the situation, the Commission has decided to commence the personality test of the examination, 2020 from 02.08.2021," according to the statement issued by the

The e-summon letters of personality tests (Interviews) of the candidates will be made available shortly, which may be downloaded from the Commission's website www. gov.in and www.upsconline.in, it said.

"No request for change in the date and time of the personality test (interview) intimated to the candidates will ordinarily be entertained," the Commission said.

On the basis of the results of the civil services (main) examination, 2020 declared by the UPSC on March 23 this year, the Commission decided to commence the personality tests (interviews) of the civil services (main) examination, 2020 from April 26.

"However, due to unprecedented growth in the number of people infected with novel (COVID-19) countrywide, as a precautionary measure, the Union Public Service Commission deferred the personality test of the civil services examination 2020, which were scheduled to commence with effect from 26.04.2020," the statement 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.)
President Joe Biden plans to announce on Thursday that the US will purchase and donate half a billion (50 crore) doses of vaccines to 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries and the African Union in a historic action that will help supercharge the global fight against the pandemic, according to the White House.

This is the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a single country and a commitment by the American people to help protect people around the world from COVID-19, the White House said ahead of the announcement by Biden at the G-7 Summit in the UK.

Biden has arrived in the UK on his maiden official overseas trip to Europe.

Biden will also call on the world's democracies to do their parts in contributing to the global supply of safe and effective vaccines. The goal of today's donation is to save lives and end the pandemic and will provide the foundation for additional actions to be announced in the coming days, the White House said.

The vaccines will start shipping in August 2021.

A total of 200 million doses will be delivered by the end of this year and the remaining 300 million will be delivered in the first half of 2022.

The US will allocate these doses to low- and lower-middle-income nations around the world, working through COVAX to deliver them, the White House said.

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 Organization.

The historic announcement by Biden comes on the heels of his donation of at least 80 million vaccines from the United States' supply by the end of June.

Additionally, the United States has contributed USD two billion to COVAX, more than any other nationand is supporting local production capacity abroad for safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, including through the Quad initiative, said the White House.

Biden has been clear that borders cannot keep this pandemic at bay and has vowed that our nation will be the arsenal of vaccines. The historic step the President will announce today, therefore, protects the health of the American people and the people throughout the world who will benefit from these life-saving vaccines, it said.

The White House said the announcement will provide mRNA vaccines that have proven to be highly effective against COVID-19, including against all known variants.

Tens of millions of Americans have benefited from these safe and effective vaccines and this historic donation will bring the life-saving benefits these vaccines provide to some of the most vulnerable populations around the world.

Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal welcomed the announcement.

I applaud President Biden's momentous decision to provide 500 million doses of the vaccine to dozens of nations in need including India, Brazil, and other places where COVID-19 is surging, she said in a statement.

By doing so, we are not only taking a critical step in unleashing the resources necessary to defeat this deadly virus abroad, but we are protecting people at home while restoring our place as a global leader and international partner.

"At the heart of today's announcement is a powerful recognition that whether you live in America or around the world, your future is intertwined with mine that we are all better off when we are all better off, the Democratic lawmaker 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.)
After a gap of several years, the Centre is looking to fill the vacancies of two non-official members who are representatives of the farming community in the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP). The commission is the main minimum support price (MSP)-fixing panel of the government.

Sources said, of the two representatives, one is expected to be from Western Zone while the other may represent the interests of Northern Zone farmers. Set up in 1965, CACP is mandated to fix the MSP of more than 23 crops spread across both the kharif and rabi sowing seasons. It consists of ...
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will likely consider on Saturday a GST rate cut for Covid-19 relief essentials and drugs for treating the black fungus disease and might leave the vaccines untouched.

The meeting is being held following a report submitted by a Group of Ministers (GoM) to the on Monday.

The GoM, set up by the Council on May 28, was mandated to look at tax exemption and concessions on various Covid items including vaccines, drugs, and equipment.

According to the GoM report, it has not recommended any change in the rates on Covid vaccines. Currently, 5 per cent is levied on domestically manufactured vaccines, while it is 12 per cent for Covid drugs and oxygen concentrators.

Besides, the GoM has proposed to retain the current rates on items including PPE kits (5 per cent), N95, and surgical masks (5 per cent), and ambulances (28 per cent).

However, it suggested temporarily reducing the rate to nil and 5 per cent on a majority of items including imports and domestic supplies of Covid-19 medicines and material, including medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, pulse oximeters and testing kits. On thermometers and electricity for crematoriums, it suggested 12 per cent each from 18 per cent now.

On unchanged vaccine rates, the GoM said: The GST rate on vaccines has been the one of the most contentious issues. It examined the issue with utmost care, minutely exploring all options. Apart from the proposals for zero rating or lower rate like 0.1 per cent, the GoM also discussed in detail the proposal for fully exempting GST on vaccines or providing a differential rate structure for vaccine procurements by the Centre, states, and private parties, it said in the report, which Business Standard has reviewed.

After exhaustive deliberations on the issue, the GoM strongly felt that having a multiple tax rate structure for vaccines for different levels of procurement is not feasible, the report said.

Also taking into account that the vaccine is procured mostly (around 90 per cent) by the Central and state governments, which supply it to the people by and large free, any reduction will not have a direct benefit for the people (who are getting it gratis anyway), or the government (as GST paid by the government comes back to it as tax revenue and the states getting 70 per cent share) or the manufacturer.

It was also noted that in accordance with the decision of the GST Council, imports of Covid-19 vaccines for free distribution, even if imported on the basis of payment, has been exempted from basic customs duty and integrated GST till August 31, which can be extended.





Although the GoM has kept the rate unchanged on vaccines, some states demand to lower it may be practically met after the change in vaccination policy. The reason is that the Centre will now procure 75 per cent of all the vaccines produced in the country and provide them to states for free. However, the private procurement of 25 per cent of vaccines would require a payment of 5 per cent GST.

With regard to medicines, the GoM was of the view that unlike vaccines, the cost of medicines being used in Covid-19 treatment, in a majority of cases, is borne by the patients. Further, the GoM also took note of the fact that certain medicines used in Covid-19 treatment were expensive and hence reduction in GST rates merit due consideration.

The matter of tax rate cut on Covid-19 related goods and equipment was taken up in the council meeting held on May 28. But, the council decision on taxing these items remained unchanged, as the central government opined that the move may not benefit the common man.

However, on Delhi High Courts directive, the Council had allowed full integrated GST (IGST) waiver on import of specified Covid-19 goods such as medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, etc till August 31, even if done on payment basis for donation purpose. In view of the rising black fungus cases, IGST was also exempted on Amphotericin B, drug to treat fungus.

Since the Council does not arrive on consensus, it had formed GoM with members include-- Gujarat Deputy CM Nitinbhai Patel, Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, Goa Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho, Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal, Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari, Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao and UP Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna.

The GoM felt that the creation of domestic capacity in the short and intermediate run is the key to tackle the pandemic crisis. It also analysed the impact of any change in tax rates on the demand and supply sides, eventual impact on the consumers, revenue streams of the Governments and possible long-term implications of such recommendations made on the GST architecture and taxation structure across all sectors of the economy. Further, it was the endeavour of the GoM to arrive at its recommendations through consensus, the report said.
India's export of agricultural and allied products in 2020-21 grew by 17.34 per cent to USD 41.25 billion, and this growth momentum is expected to be sustained in the current fiscal as well, a top government official said on Thursday.

Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said huge growth has been seen in the export of cereals, non-basmati rice, wheat, millets, maize and other coarse grains.

The largest markets for India's agricultural products are the US, China, Bangladesh, UAE, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Nepal, Iran and Malaysia.

He also informed that exports have taken place from several clusters for the first time, for instance, the export of fresh vegetables and mangoes from Varanasi, and black Rice from Chandauli.

Exports of only agricultural products (excluding marine and plantation products) increased by 28.36 per cent to USD 29.81 billion in 2020-21 as compared to USD 23.23 billion in 2019-20.

" Exports have performed well during 2020-21. After remaining stagnant for the past three years (USD 38.43 billion in 2017-18, USD 38.74 billion in 2018-19 and USD 35.16 billion 2019-20), the exports of and allied products (including marine and plantation products) during 2020-21 jumped to USD 41.25 billion, an increase of 17.34 per cent," Wadhwan said.

Further, as many as 18 states -- including Maharashtra, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab, and Karnataka -- have finalised their specific action plan to implement the Agri export policy.

As part of the policy, 46 unique product-district clusters have been identified for export promotion and 29 cluster level committees have been formed.

The Department of Commerce has been making efforts, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, for gaining market access for Indian products.

India has recently gained market access for pomegranate in Australia; mango and Basmati rice in Argentina; carrot seeds in Iran; wheat flour, basmati rice, mango, banana and soybean oilcake in Uzbekistan; tomato, okra and onion in Bhutan; and oranges in Serbia.

The commerce ministry in a statement said that pesticide residue problems have affected Basmati rice exports to the European Union due to stringent norms imposed by the EU for chemicals like Tricyclazole and Buprofezin, which are extensively used in rice cultivation in India.

Export Inspection Council (EIC) testing has been made mandatory for Basmati exports to the EU, which led to a decrease in the number of alerts.

"As a result, Punjab imposed a ban on the sale of 9 chemicals, including tricyclazole and buprofezin, during the Kharif season 2020," it added.

Efforts are also being made to ensure that the process for fixing Import Tolerance Limits (ITLs) for Tricyclazole and Buprofezin by the EU is not delayed.

When asked about SEIS (Services Exports from India Scheme), Wadhwan said when the department would make a new foreign trade policy, "what we need to do for services will be taken into account based on stakeholder feedback and other inputs".

Appropriate schemes and measures will be there for the sector, 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.)
India and South Africas proposal for a temporary waiver on some sections of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement has achieved tremendous mileage and progression at the World Trade Organization (WTO), with member countries agreeing on starting text-based negotiations, commerce secretary Anup Wadhawan said on Thursday.

That is a positive development...Now the parties at the WTO have agreed to do text based negotiations. That's a way forward, which means that countries broadly in principle have accepted the objective behind the waiver proposal. To give effect to the objective, they will have text-based negotiations, Wadhawan told reporters.

On June 9, a WTO panel agreed to begin text-based negotiations on India and South Africas proposal on patent waiver for Covid-19 vaccines and drugs, a measure aimed at more countries getting equitable access to vaccines.

India and had submitted a joint proposal for waiving some sections of the TRIPS agreement, including copyrights, patents, to help more countries, especially middle and low income nations to access vaccines, amid the Covid-19 crisis. Some developed nations such as European Union, Australia, the UK among others have opposed the proposal.

The deadline to conclude negotiations will be at the end of July.

How the objective will be given effect and to what extent and for how much duration, all that would happen through text-based negotiations, Wadhawan added.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday allowed an increase in the interchange fee structure for transactions after almost 9 years, considering the increasing cost of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) deployment and expenses towards maintenance incurred by the and white label operators.

Accordingly, the has hiked the interchange fee per transaction from Rs 15 to Rs 17 for financial transactions and from Rs 5 to Rs 6 for non-financial transactions in all centres, effective August 1, 2021.

The card issuing bank pays an interchange fee to the operator of the ATM when a customer makes a transaction at an ATM that does not belong to the card-issuing bank. Currently, the card-issuing bank pays an interchange fee of Rs 15 for each cash transaction and Rs 5 for each non-cash transaction.

The ATM operators had been pushing for a hike in interchange for some time now but were not on the same page on the issue as, ultimately, the extra cost would have to be borne by the customers.

The had, back in June 2019, constituted a committee to review the entire gamut of ATM charges and fees with a particular focus on interchange structure for ATM transactions.

The recommendations of the committee have been comprehensively examined. It is also observed that the last change in interchange fee structure for ATM transactions was in August 2012, while the charges payable by customers were last revised in August 2014. A substantial time has thus elapsed since these fees were last changed," the said revising the interchange fees for ATM transactions.

RBI also said that customers will be eligible for five free transactions, which includes financial and non-financial transactions, every month from their own bank ATMs. And, they will be eligible for three free transactions (both financial and non-financial) from other banks ATMs in metro cities. In non-metro centres, customers will be able to do five transactions (financial and non-financial) from other bank ATMs.

Beyond the prescribed number of free transactions that a customer is eligible to do from other bank ATMs, currently, they are charged Rs 20 per transaction. But, RBI has now hiked this interchange fee from Rs 20 to Rs 21 per transaction, effective January 1, 2022.
As nations race to roll out vaccines in the global effort to contain Covid-19 and allow for a return to normal, the rise of dangerous virus variants threatens to prolong the pandemic. In the U.K., the spread of the so-called delta variant, first identified in India, has led officials to send military personnel to hotspots and prompted the government to reconsider easing Covid restrictions on June 21 as planned. Here, Sam Fazeli, a Bloomberg Opinion contributor who covers the pharmaceutical industry for Bloomberg Intelligence, answers questions about the risks stemming from this variant and more. The conversation has been edited and condensed.

What sets the delta variant apart from other variants and what makes it so concerning?

The Sars-Cov-2 delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, is a so-called variant of concern like others we have seen before including alpha(first found in the U.K.), beta (first identified in South Africa) and gamma (discovered in Brazil). Two factors set delta apart and make it potentially the most dangerous to date: First, it has about a 40% higher transmission rate compared with alpha, which already had a 50% higher transmissibility than the original strain of the virus. This is clearly visible in the data coming out of the U.K., which shows that the delta variant went from accounting for 1% of all cases in early April to 70% by mid-May. It will likely almost completely replace the alpha variant by the end of June.





ALSO READ: Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine may cost less than $10 a dose in India

The higher transmissibility is also clear from the increase in the number of cases across the U.K. Second, it is also believed to cause more severe disease than alpha, translating to a further rise in the percentage of positive cases that require hospitalization, despite the fact that the infections are in younger people. This second problem of increased severity had not been confirmed with any other variant to date.

Does the delta variant respond to vaccines? Is there any data about which vaccines may work better against it?

What is rather surprising about delta is that it has lost the key mutation that had people worried about the beta and gamma variants (to get technical, its the one in position 484 of the amino acid chain of the spike protein of the virus). This is one of the mutations that contributed to the loss of response to some antibodies, including those produced by the vaccines. We do know that delta is less sensitive than alpha to antibodies generated by the vaccines, and at about the same level as beta. Also, data from Public Health England shows that the first dose of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE and AstraZeneca Plc vaccines provide only about a 30% protection against delta, though this rises to at least 88% after the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 60% after the second dose of the Astra vaccine (this is likely to rise with more time for second doses to take effect in Britain). These levels of protection are lower than what has been seen against the older variants such as alpha, but they still show that two doses of vaccines work pretty well against the delta variant.

The real risk is when you consider the broader population, where many people are either unvaccinated or only have one dose of the vaccine, combined with deltas higher transmissibility and disease severity.

Where is it in the world?

This is not an easy question to answer because the level of genomic surveillance is low in so many countries. Based on data from GISAID, a global effort for sharing and tracking information on viruses, the U.K. has the highest proportion of the delta variant outside of India, at 70% of its cases. The U.S. is showing about 5% (and growing) and Germany is at about 2%. Italy and Spain are each at about 3% to 5%. The issue is that many of these countries are going down the road of opening their economies while their full vaccination levels have yet to hit the critical 50% to 70% required for controlling virus spread.

Should the U.S. or countries in the European Union worry about it as much as the U.K.?

The spread of delta is already out of control in the U.K. But other countries appear to only be at the early stages. I think the best any country can do, where the virus variant is already present, is to vaccinate as fast as possible, while increasing testing and genomic surveillance. Otherwise, the first indication of a problem will be an increased rate of positive cases. The U.K.'s situation compared with Israel throws a spotlight on why the delta variant is such a problem. Israel managed to get its cases under control when it reached about a 50% vaccination rate among its entire population. Despite the fact that the U.K. achieved a 42.3% a vaccination rate, its case counts have started to rise rapidly in the past two weeks because of a combination of early reopening and the spread of delta. And incidentally, the U.S. vaccination rate is similar to the U.K.s, so there are risks there, too.

Why is the U.K. sending the military to the hardest hit regions? To scare people into social distancing?

I have to assume its all about getting as many people tested as possible, which requires shoes or boots on the ground. With enough testing and increased vaccinations in hot spots, the spread can be better controlled, allowing the government to remove all restrictions. However, I not only think that the June 21 relaxation of all restrictions will have to be delayed, but its also possible some earlier loosening steps, such as allowing indoor dining, may need to be reversed to stop the spread of delta.

A lot of the focus has been on the U.K. , but the biggest danger from more transmissible variants is to the many parts of the world where vaccination rates are very low, right?





ALSO READ: Fauci warns of new coronavirus variant spreading rapidly in Britain

Absolutely. If you sum up everything that I mentioned above, especially the effectiveness of the vaccines against delta, the best solution, aside from a severe lockdown, is to test, isolate positive cases and vaccinate.

Can the virus mutate again to become even worse?

Oh sure, and it almost certainly has already. Many mutations do nothing or actually hinder the virus. In the case of delta, though, high levels of transmission combined with a partially vaccinated population increases the risk of more people catching the virus and raises the risk of further meaningful mutations that could drive delta to further evade vaccine-induced immunity. As of now, the depth of the vaccine-induced immune response to the virus is strong enough such that those fully vaccinated will be much less likely to develop severe disease. But that still leaves a whole swath of the population at risk. This is why I cringe when I hear that 30% of U.S. adults dont want to be vaccinated.

What does it mean for parents of children and young adults not eligible for vaccination yet?

Children have so far been much less at risk of developing severe Covid-19 disease, though that doesnt mean they are completely risk-free. As for adolescents, the vaccine is already available. But for those who cant take it or dont have access, there has to be continued use of non-pharmaceutical preventative methods, such as masking and distancing, until community cases are so low that the risk of contracting the virus is minimal. Also, we may have to rethink our risk assessments for children if the delta variant or some derivative of it or others proves to be worse for kids. We already know that more younger people are being hospitalized in the U.K. with the delta variant than with previous variants. The Sars-Cov-2 virus has so far been one step ahead of us. We need to regain the initiative, which is only possible with high levels of vaccination and continuous testing.
A relieved China on Thursday welcomed the US move to drop the Trump-era executive orders to ban its popular apps and WeChat, saying it is a "positive step in the right direction".

The US should treat Chinese companies fairly and justly and refrain from politicising trade issues, state-run CGTN quoted Commerce ministry spokesperson Gao Feng as saying.

However, he said, the Biden administration's move to revoke orders against banning Chinese apps was a "positive step in the right direction".

The White House on Wednesday revoked the previous government's ban on short video sharing platform and messaging app and said the Biden administration will conduct its own review aimed at identifying national security risks with software applications tied to China.

The US order to lift the ban on the Chinese apps came as a relief here as much to the chagrin of Beijing, the Biden administration has been following the Trump-era hardline policies against China, deepening the discord between the top two major economies of the world.

Asked for his reaction to the US move to lift the ban orders, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here on Thursday that the US should stop abusing state power to suppress Chinese firms.

The US side should earnestly respect principles of market economy, economic and trade rules, stop overstretching the concept of national security, stop abusing state power to Chinese high tech companies and treat Chinese enterprises in a fair, just and non-discriminatory manner.

The Chinese government continue to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of our companies," he said.

The US ban on the Chinese apps followed after India banned along with 267 other Chinese apps due to security concerns. TikTok is owned by Chinese tech unicorn ByteDance.

Former US President Donald Trump during his tenure constantly attacked ByteDance and TikTok as being a threat to US national security. His administration contended that and TikTok posed national security concerns because sensitive personal data of US nationals could be collected by Chinese government.

American politicians and officials had also expressed concerns about users' personal data being passed on to the Chinese government. Both TikTok, which has over 100 million users in the US, and have denied the allegations.

Following the ban orders issued by the Trump administration, TikTok had moved the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the decision.

Significantly, the Biden administration's move to lift the ban from TikTok and WeChat came as Washington and Beijing held the third round of trade consultations on Thursday.

China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao spoke with his American counterpart Gina Raimondo on Thursday, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said.

The talks followed similar discussions between Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and also between Liu and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier.

China's Commerce Ministry said in a statement that both sides had a candid and pragmatic exchange of views on relevant issues and mutual concerns in the China-US business field.

The two sides stated that dialogue and exchanges in the field of business between China and the US are very important, and they agreed to promote the healthy development of pragmatic trade and investment cooperation and properly handle differences. Both parties agreed to continue to maintain communication, it said.

Liu and Tai held talks on May 27. It was the first dialogue held between the top trade negotiators from China and the US since Joe Biden took over as the president of the US.

On June 2, Liu held talks with Yellen.

The latest talks followed the White House announcement on Tuesday that the Biden administration will establish a trade strike force, led by Tai, to halt the hollowing out of American industry and the erosion of critical supply chains for products such as semiconductors and medicines, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

The measures were contained in a 255-page review released on the same day the US Senate passed a sweeping USD 250 billion bill to boost US competitiveness in the face of mounting geopolitical tension with China.

Trump kicked off a trade war with China in 2018, demanding that Beijing should reduce the mounting trade deficit between the two countries. The whole lot of tariffs clamped by him on large Chinese imports is continued so far in the Biden. administration as well.

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UK Prime Minister and US President will meet in-person for the first time on Thursday in Cornwall, ahead of the UK-hosted G7 Leaders' Summit starting on Friday.

The leaders are expected to agree to a new Atlantic Charter, modelled on the historic joint statement made by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1941 setting out their goals for the post-war world, Downing Street said.

The original Atlantic Charter included landmark agreements, leading directly to the creation of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

'



The 2021 Atlantic Charter is designed to echo those values and cover new partnerships, including a new Travel Taskforce for renewed US-UK exchanges.

While Churchill and Roosevelt faced the question of how to help the world recover following a devastating war, today we have to reckon with a very different but no less intimidating challenge how to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic, said

And as we do so, cooperation between the UK and US, the closest of partners and the greatest of allies, will be crucial for the future of the world's stability and prosperity. The agreements President Biden and I will make today [Thursday], rooted as they are in our shared values and outlook, will form the foundation of a sustainable global recovery," he said.

"Eighty years ago the US President and British Prime Minister stood together promising a better future. Today we do the same, he added.

The new Atlantic Charter will outline eight areas to work together, around values of defending democracy, reaffirming the importance of collective security, and building a fair and sustainable global trading system, Downing Street said.

The principled commitments made in the new Atlantic Charter will be underpinned by a series of new policy priorities expected to be agreed by the two leaders ahead of the formal G7 deliberations.

These include working to open up travel between the UK and US as soon as possible.

"Many people in the UK and US have been prevented from seeing family and friends for over 400 days as a result of coronavirus travel restrictions. Before the outbreak of coronavirus more than 5 million Brits visited the US and over 4.5 million Americans visited the UK every year more than any other country," Downing Street said.

Biden and Johnson expected to agree to work to relaunch UK-US travel as soon as possible through a new Travel Taskforce, which will make recommendations on safely reopening travel.

The taskforce will work to explore options and to ensure that the UK and US closely share thinking and expertise on travel policy going forward.

It's also expected that the leaders will agree to pursue a landmark bilateral technology agreement, to be signed next year.

"The agreement will start a new era of strategic cooperation by reducing the barriers British tech firms face when trying to work with their US counterparts. By combining our shared expertise in areas like AI and quantum technology, the UK and US have the potential to transform the way we live," Downing Street said.

It added that the two leaders will agree to work together to harness their power to address modern challenges like climate change, fighting cancer and antimicrobial resistance, as well as strengthening our strategic advantage on the stage as like-minded democracies.

To strengthen UK and US efforts to beat the coronavirus pandemic and prevent any future outbreaks, the two leaders are expected to agree to "scale up" joint work on genomic sequencing and variant assessments.

This includes the UK Health Security Agency's new Centre for Pandemic Preparedness linking up with its US counterpart, the proposed National Center for Epidemic Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, as part of an integrated global surveillance system.

Discussions between the Prime Minister and President Biden are also expected to cover other areas of bilateral cooperation.

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The number of children in has risen to 16 crore worldwide -- first increase in two decades -- with millions more at risk due to COVID-19, according to a new report by the Labour Organization (ILO) and the

The report -- 'Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward' -- released ahead of the World Day Against on June 12, says the progress to end has stalled for the first time in 20 years, reversing the downward trend that saw it fall by 94 million (9.4 crore) between 2000 and 2016.

The report points to a significant rise in the number of children aged 5 to 11 years in child labour, who now account for over half of the total global figure.

The number of children aged 5 to 17 years in hazardous work --defined as work that is likely to harm their health, safety or morals -- has risen by 6.5 million to 79 million since 2016, the report said.

"The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million (16 crore) worldwide -- an increase of 8.4 million (84 lakh) children in the last four years -- with millions more at risk due to the impacts of COVID-19," the report said.

India Representative Dr Yasmin Ali Haque said the pandemic has clearly emerged as a child rights crisis, aggravating the risk of child labour as many more families are likely to have fallen into extreme poverty.

"Children in poor and disadvantaged households in India are now at a greater risk of negative coping mechanisms such as dropping out of school and being forced into labour, marriage, and even falling victim to trafficking," she said.

Children have lost parents and caregivers to the virus, leaving them destitute, without parental care, she said. These children are extremely vulnerable to neglect, abuse and exploitation.

"We must act fast to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from becoming a lasting crisis for children in India, especially those who are most vulnerable," she said.

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Group Inc. set a deadline of noon Thursday for employees to report their vaccination status.

The requirement, detailed in a memo sent to employees and seen by Bloomberg News, is the latest in a series of steps Wall Street is taking to return operations to normal after most of the industrys employees spent more than a year working from home because of the pandemic.

Banks reaped record profits even as top executives fretted over the shift. Goldman Chief Executive Officer David Solomon has for months signaled his eagerness to end the arrangement.





ALSO READ: Goldman Sachs Group sells over $10-billion stocks in block trades

This is not ideal for us and its not a new normal, Solomon said at a conference in February. Its an aberration that we are going to correct as quickly as possible.

Private equity firms Carlyle Group Inc. and Warburg Pincus have already told employees theyll require Covid-19 vaccinations to return to the office in September. Employers may demand vaccines under federal law, according to guidance provided last month by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Workers can ask for exceptions for religious or medical reasons.

Goldmans deadline was reported earlier Thursday by the New York Times.
By Dan Levine and Marisa Taylor

(Reuters) - A week before disclosed to regulators that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating its New Jersey factory, the drugmaker told employees that its own inquiry, led by an outside law firm, found no evidence of wrongdoing there, according to a company memo reviewed by Reuters.

On April 8, a group of employees filed an anonymous complaint internally alleging that an executive at its Branchburg, New Jersey, factory had altered documents required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

As Reuters reported last month, Lilly tapped the Washington D.C. law firm Covington & Burling LLP to investigate the alleged alterations, which the employees said were meant to downplay serious quality control problems at the plant producing the drugmaker's COVID-19 antibody treatment.

In a memo to Branchburg employees on May 20, Nellie Clark, head of the plant, summed up the outside lawyers' findings: "In the end and very importantly, allegations that Lilly made false statements to the were not substantiated."

A week after the memo was released to employees, Reuters reported that the Justice Department had launched a criminal investigation focused on the Branchburg plant. That same day, May 27, Lilly reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had received a subpoena from the department seeking documents related to the factory.

The company reported that it was cooperating with the Justice Department probe and that an outside law firm was also "investigating these allegations thoroughly."

It was not clear which inquiry - the company's or the government's - was launched first and to what extent the subjects coincide. However, as Reuters reported last month, based on three sources familiar with the matter, the Justice Department's investigation into Lilly includes a review of alleged manufacturing irregularities and records-tampering.

Lilly spokesperson Kathryn Beiser and a Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. Clark did not respond to a request for comment. A Covington spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment nor to a request for a copy of the firm's report.

The Covington inquiry is significant because Lilly's handling of any employee allegations is likely to be considered by U.S. prosecutors as they weigh whether there are grounds to pursue criminal charges, seek civil action, or decline to bring a case at all, several legal experts said.

Government prosecutors often consider whether a corporation made a genuine effort to investigate and address potentially illegal activities once learning of them.

If the Justice Department concludes that an internal investigation was thorough, it can result in a non-prosecution agreement with few, if any, penalties, the experts said. However, a company-led investigation that appears to have been poorly handled could lead to harsher outcomes.

"Whenever a company hires outside counsel to conduct an inquiry, it's taken extremely seriously by the Justice Department," said Paul Pelletier, a former long-time federal prosecutor who used to oversee criminal investigations of corporations.

Covington has handled dozens of cases for Lilly over the past 20 years, according to the Westlaw database of legal cases and press releases, including intellectual property matters, personal injury lawsuits and class actions.

The firm also has several lawyers whose reputations would carry weight with the Justice Department and the FDA, including former Attorney General Eric Holder, legal experts said. Gerald Masoudi, the Covington partner who handled the recent inquiry for Lilly, once served as the FDA's chief counsel. Masoudi did not respond to requests for comment.

ANSWERING DIFFERENT QUESTIONS

The company-backed investigation was based on interviews with more than 100 people, the May 20 memo to Lilly employees said. However, the memo did not respond to all concerns employees raised in their April complaint, which Reuters reviewed.

The memo denies the company made false statements to the In their complaint, employees said they were broadly concerned that quality control documents the requires to maintain had been rewritten or fabricated. The employees did not specify whether these materials had been shown to the FDA.

The company memo said Lilly couldn't substantiate allegations that employees faced retaliation for refusing to make false statements. It did not address employees' specific complaints that they faced retaliation for other reasons, other than to say it encouraged employees to "speak up."

The Branchburg factory first came under FDA scrutiny in late 2019, when agency inspectors began to document numerous quality control problems. By March, 2020, the FDA had deemed the manufacturing issues as "Official Action Indicated," its most serious category of violation.

Lilly has pledged to address the problems, and said none of them affected drugs in the market. The FDA, which has taken no public action, did not respond to requests for comment.

In March 2021, Reuters reported that a former Lilly human resources officer, Amrit Mula, had identified internally some of the same violations later documented by the FDA. Mula was forced out of the company in early 2019 after Lilly executives sought to downplay her findings, according to a letter demanding compensation for damages that her attorneys sent to the company.

Lilly has denied retaliating against any employees, and no lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Mula.

In October 2020, the Trump administration ordered $375 million worth of Lilly's COVID-19 antibody therapy bamlanivimab, which is manufactured at the Branchburg plant.

A U.S. Senator, New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez, called allegations of manufacturing irregularities and records tampering at the Branchburg plant "troubling." Menendez has sponsored a bill calling for a non-partisan, independent COVID-19 Commission to examine the U.S. pandemic response, including government contracts with

"These reports have raised serious questions that require answers," Menendez said of Reuters coverage. "I expect that this Administration will coordinate across agencies to get to the bottom of this and that will fully cooperate with any ongoing investigation."

(Dan Levine reported from San Francisco and Marisa Taylor from Washington D.C. Editing by Michele Gershberg and Julie Marquis)

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An treaty between South Africa and the UAE have been ratified paving the way for Indian-origin businessmen Gupta brothers to be returned to the African nation from Dubai to stand trial for allegedly looting billions of Rands from state-owned institutions.

Former South African Justice Minister Michael Masutha had signed the treaty in 2018.

The UAE, however, signed the treaty on Tuesday, its embassy in Pretoria said in a statement.

"The treaties will enable the two countries to assist each other in the investigation and prosecution of crimes through mutual legal assistance and the of fugitives," the statement said without referring to the Gupta brothers.

Negotiations on the treaty started in 2010 but were reportedly hampered by issues raised by the UAE in the past three years that forced South Africa to turn to the UN and Interpol for assistance in bringing the Gupta brothers to book.

Atul, Rajesh and their elder brother Ajay Gupta are accused of siphoning billions of Rands from state and parastatal agencies through their close association with former president Jacob Zuma, who is himself facing criminal charges.

The ratification of the treaty came ahead of a protest planned by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation outside the UAE Embassy in Pretoria on Friday.

Nishan Balton, the executive director of the foundation, said, "We welcome the ratification of the treaty and now call on the UAE authorities to act swiftly in sending these criminals back to South Africa so that all citizens here can see them get their just desserts for the hard-earned taxpayers' money that they looted."



Last week, the National Prosecuting Authority here had asked Interpol to issue a Red Notice against Atul and Rajesh Gupta, their wives and business associates to bring them to South Africa so that they stand trial for their alleged role in an R25 million fraud and money laundering case linked to the failed Estina Dairy Farm project in Free State province.

The US and the UK have already imposed sanctions and seized assets of the Gupta brothers and a close associate, Salim Essa, who is also believed to have fled to Dubai.

Another associate, Iqbal Meer Sharma, once a top government official and later a businessman, was arrested last week and has been refused bail until his trial for fraud and resumes on July 5. His assets have also been seized by the NPA.

"The writing is on the wall for the Guptas and their cronies. All these legal steps have brought a palpable sense of relief to South Africans just as they were getting a sense of despair about whether the criminals would ever be brought to book," Balton said.

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Members of the diaspora, belonging to China's Xinjiang region, who speak publicly about the arbitrary detention of their family members or criticize human rights violations, face vague charges of terrorism by Chinese authorities, according to the Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Speaking out against the Chinese government, as per the right group, has become increasingly risky as many Uyghurs in the diaspora have been cut off from their family members since 2017, after Chinese authorities stepped up their latest "Strike Hard" campaign and imposed collective punishments on relatives still in Xinjiang.

According to HRW, Chinese authorities frequently use vague charges of terrorism to silence critics of the government. The Chinese government has not made public information to substantiate the charges brought against any of these people.

"Governments (around the world) that have expressed concern about the horrific rights situation in Xinjiang should call on Beijing to end its collective punishment of family members, and allow those who want to leave to do so. It should not be left to these courageous activists alone to fight for their safety," the rights group said.

On Wednesday, the government of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region hosted a press conference claiming to feature the family and friends of exiles abroad.

Those present spoke against Uyghurs and other survivors who had recently provided testimony to the Uyghur Tribunal, an independent investigation into alleged genocide and crimes against humanity in the Uyghur region.

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on (IPAC), the Chinese government has a known history of broadcasting forced confessions and holding family members of activists abroad in duress.

The alliance of parliamentarians from democratic countries condemned the "cruel and senseless attempt" to intimidate Uyghurs and others who speak out against the abuses perpetrated by the Chinese state.

A four-day hearing held earlier this week, at a London-based tribunal on the treatment of Uyghurs, chilling testimony regarding torture of the Muslim minority has been revealed by witnesses depicting blatant humans rights violation taking place in northwest China's Xinjiang province.

The hearing was held from June 4-7 under nine UK-based jurors of the "Uyghur Tribunal" which heard allegations regarding perpetrating serious crimes against the Uyghurs.

The Uyghur Tribunal was launched in September last year. It is not affiliated with any government and the London tribunal's judgment is not binding.

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The Group of Seven (G-7) leaders is set to vow to deliver at least 1 billion extra doses of vaccines over the next year to help cover 80 per cent of the worlds adult population, according to a draft communique seen by Bloomberg News. Ahead of the G-7 summit in the UK, officials are putting together a document that outlines a plan to end the pandemic by December 2022. The document has yet to be finalised but will form the basis of final-stage talks at the summit of leaders in Cornwall, southwestern England, starting Friday. As Biden and other G-7 leaders gathered for the start of their summit in the UK, their staffs were putting together a document that outlines a plan to end the Covid-19 pandemic by December 2022. At the summit in Cornwall, the presidents and prime ministers will pledge to deliver at least 1 billion extra doses of vaccines over the next year to help cover 80 per cent of the worlds adult population, according to a draft communique seen by Bloomberg News. The US government will buy about 200 million doses this year to distribute through Covax, the World Health Organization-backed initiative aimed at securing an equitable global distribution of the vaccine, and about 300 million doses in the first half of next year, said a person familiar with the matter. The vaccines will go to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union, the person said. Biden will announce that plan on Thursday in remarks before the summit gets underway. The G-7 countries also plan to make a commitment to hasten the shift from fossil-fuel-powered vehicles and to promote green transitions in developing countries, according to the draft communique. Other topics covered in the document include demanding that Russia hold accountable the cyber criminals who carry out ransomware attacks from within its borders; and a pledge to confront forced labor in supply chains, particularly involving the garment and solar industries. China is not mentioned by name in that part of the communique, but the Beijing government has come under intense criticism over its treatment of the Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic group in the Xinjiang region.

The draft communique delves further into coronavirus policy and backs a common standard for travel that would include recognition of a persons vaccination status. Nations still struggling Biden has come under rising pressure internationally to share his governments vaccine stockpile with nations still hard-hit by the pandemic as the pace of the US domestic vaccination campaign has slowed by about two-thirds since April. Biden said before departing for Europe on Wednesday that he would announce a global vaccination strategy during his travels. He didnt elaborate. EU foregoes 100 mn J&J jabs The European Union (EU) decided not to take up an option to buy 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson's vaccine and is considering donating another 100 million optional shots, if ordered, European officials said. The discussions show a drop in confidence in the one-dose shot, which was initially touted as crucial for a successful vaccination drive in Europe, but has been largely relegated to a back-up choice after safety and supply problems. US to use $2 bn of Covax pledge to pay for donated doses President Joe Bidens administration will use half of the money the US pledged to Covax  $2 billion  to help pay for the 500 million doses it has promised to lower-income countries, officials familiar with the plan said. The funds make up more than half of the roughly $3.5 billion the US will pay for the doses, which are being bought at-cost and are expected to begin shipping in August, according to the officials.
certainly looked slimmer last weekend when he emerged from his latest lengthy absence. But it may be the North Korean leaders Swiss timepiece that provides the clearest evidence hes been watching his weight.



Kims ever-present IWC Schaffhausen Portofino appeared to have been fastened tighter around his wrist in the latest photos released by state media, according to an analysis published Tuesday by NK News. The Seoul-based news site compared close-ups of the $12,000 watch from past months to support observations that Kim, 37, had slimmed down.

The North Korean leaders weight has long been tracked by spy agencies for clues about about the stability of his autocratic and secretive regime, especially since his family has a history of heart disease. South Koreas spy agency told lawmakers in November that Kim weighed an estimated 140 kilograms (309 pounds) and had gained some 50 kilograms since coming to power in 2011.

Read More: N Korean leader Kim Jong Un calls for meeting to review battered economy

Foreign intelligence agencies want to know is healthy enough to remain the leader for a long amount of time, said Colin Zwirko, a senior analytic correspondent for NK News. Whats going on behind the scenes, if hes unhealthy? And how does that affect security in the region given has nuclear weapons.

Kims health became the subject of global intrigue during a 20-day absence last year in which he missed birthday celebrations for his late grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung. The Seoul-based news site Daily NK reported that Kim had undergone a cardiovascular surgical procedure, and, when he finally emerged, NK News cited a mark on his wrist as possible evidence to support that theory.

Kim hadnt been featured in North Korean state media for about a month before reports Saturday that he had attended a ruling party meeting on economic issues. The countrys economy has shown little sign of growth this year after its worst contraction in decades as it continues to struggle with the pandemic, U.S. sanctions and a lack of trade with China.

Kim appears to be focused on taking care of internal matters for the time being rather than ratcheting up regional tensions through provocative military moves, South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook told parliament Wednesday.

(With assistance from Jeong-Ho Lee and Jon Herskovitz.)
The world's largest meat processing company says it paid the equivalent of $11 million to hackers who broke into its computer system late last month.

Brazil-based JBS SA said on May 31 that it was the victim of a ransomware attack, but Wednesday was the first time the company's U.S. division confirmed that it had paid the ransom.

This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally, said Andre Nogueira, the CEO of JBS USA.

However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers. JBS said the vast majority of its facilities were operational at the time it made the payment, but it decided to pay in order to avoid any unforeseen issues and ensure no data was exfiltrated.

The FBI has attributed the attack to REvil, a Russian-speaking gang that has made some of the largest ransomware demands on record in recent months.

Al Jazeera faces cyberattacks



Pan-Arab satellite network Al Jazeera said it was subjected to continual hacking attempts over recent days but the cyberattack on Qatar's flagship broadcaster had been fended off.
Multiple rockets have targeted two Iraqi military bases hosting US-led coalition troops and foreign contractors, Iraqi security officials and the military said.

Three rockets hit Balad airbase, north of Baghdad, on Wednesday without causing any casualties or damage, an Iraqi military statement said. The base housed foreign contractors.

Hours later, at least one missile hit close to a military base next to Baghdad airport, two Iraqi security officials said. It was unclear whether the explosion was caused by a rocket or a drone strike.

One Iraqi security official said they had heard two rockets. The second said preliminary findings indicated it had been a drone attack and a trailer belonging to the coalition was set on fire by the attack. There were no casualties, they said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strikes, but U.S. officials have previously blamed Iran-backed Iraqi militia factions for such assaults.

The attacks are the latest in a string that continue to target the U.S. presence in Over a dozen have targeted Iraqi military bases and Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone since US President Joe Biden assumed office this year. More than 10 people have been killed, including two foreign contractors.

Lockheed Martin announced last month that it was withdrawing contractors maintaining Iraq's F-16 fighter jets from Balad base over security reasons.

Recent attacks have featured more sophisticated weaponry, such as drones, which has alarmed U.S. and Iraqi military officials. The attacks occur as Baghdad and Washington work on drawing up a timetable for the withdrawal of combat forces from

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New research from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a body enabling businesses to set ambitious emissions reduction targets, on Thursday revealed that none of the G7's leading stock indexes are currently aligned with a 1.5 degrees Celsius or two degrees pathway and calls on the largest listed companies to urgently increase climate action.

In the lead up to the Summit, the analysis shows that the countries' leading indexes are on an average temperature pathway of 2.95oC, according to their constituents' current corporate climate ambitions.

Stock indexes, composed of stocks of the most significant companies listed on a country's largest exchange, are vital benchmarks to understand market trends.

The report, prepared by CDP and the UN Global Compact on behalf of the SBTi, finds that four of the seven indexes are on dangerous temperature pathways of 3 degrees or above.

Notably, fossil fuels are a key contributor to the emissions of all seven indexes, making up 70 per cent of Canada's SPTSX 60 3.1 degrees temperature rating and almost 50 per cent of Italy's FTSE MIB 2.7 degrees rating.

Lila Karbassi, Chief of Programmes, UN Global Compact and SBTi Board Chair, said: "G7 companies have the potential to cause a 'domino effect' of positive change across the wider global economy. This report highlights the urgent need for markets and investors to deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement.

"As the G7 meets this week, governments must go further to incentivize ambitious science-based target setting."

The report calls for aligning investment with 1.5 degrees Celsius.

G7 ministers responsible for climate and environment recently urged businesses and investors to align their portfolios with the Paris Agreement goals and set science-based net zero targets by 2050 at the latest.

Passive investing currently makes up around 40 per cent of the US and 20 per cent of European funds, but passive investors are warned that just 19 per cent of listed companies in these seven leading indexes have climate targets aligned with the Paris Agreement.

The UK government plans to reduce emissions by 78 per cent by 2035, in line with a 1.5 degrees pathway.

Encouragingly, the SBTi finds that 35 of the FTSE 100 companies have already committed to align with 1.5 degrees. However, despite significant progress in the adoption of science-based climate targets among FTSE companies, some of the largest emitters still do not have ambitious climate targets, resulting in an overall index temperature rating of 3.1 degrees.

Despite the findings, momentum for climate action in G7 countries is growing. Of all corporate greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets disclosed to CDP in 2020, 64 per cent of targets were set by companies headquartered in G7 countries.

Overall, 2020 was a milestone year for climate commitments, with the annual rate of adoption of science-based targets doubling in 2020 versus 2015-2019.

Alberto Carrillo Pineda, Director of science-based targets at CDP and a Steering Committee Member at the SBTi, said: "Ignoring climate science is like continuing smoking despite knowing the risks. Climate and environmental breakdown is the biggest health, economic and societal challenge of our time -- it requires immediate action from the world's largest companies.

"Today's findings highlight vital progress, but show there's more to be done to incentivize firms to set science-based climate targets and accelerate the pathway to net-zero."

Urgent climate action needed, said the report.

It also identifies four urgent climate actions for financial institutions, corporate actors, investors and governments.

Firstly, businesses and governments must collaborate to harness the "ambition loop", a positive feedback cycle in which private sector action and government policies reinforce one another, such as the recent Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk by the US government that introduced a requirement for major federal suppliers to set science-based targets.

Secondly, corporations must work to decarbonise supply chains by engaging with suppliers. Thirdly, investors should embed science-based targets into sustainability-linked bonds and climate financial standards.

Finally, financial institutions should aim to create a domino effect in all sectors of the economy through setting portfolio-level science-based targets and engagement with underlying assets.

One such example is the CDP Science-Based Targets campaign, which coordinates global financial institutions to engage the world's highest impact companies to set 1.5 degrees Celsius-aligned science-based targets.

In the midst of a growing number of net zero commitments that aren't always backed up by short-term action, science-based targets are answering the need for nearer term, 2030 plans, through interim targets towards a net-zero future.

Firms are encouraged to join the 570 companies already signed up to the SBTi's Business Ambition for 1.5 degrees campaign to make their critical contribution to limiting the worst impacts of ahead of the COP26 conference in Glasgow.

The Science Based Targets initiative mobilizes companies to set science-based targets and boost their competitive advantage in the transition to a zero-carbon economy.

It is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and one of the We Mean Business Coalition commitments.

--IANS

vg/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.)
By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK (Reuters) - edged up to their highest in over two years in volatile trade on Thursday, on optimism for strong economic demand after new U.S. unemployment claims fell to their lowest since the country's first wave of COVID-19 last year.

The market shook off a brief plunge after media reports suggested the United States lifted sanctions on Iranian oil officials.

The U.S. Treasury later said it had removed sanctions on three former Iranian officials and on two companies previously involved in trading Iranian petrochemical products. A U.S. official told Reuters that the activity was "routine" and not related to talks with Iran over reviving the 2015 deal to restrict its nuclear weapons development.

Brent futures rose 30 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $72.52 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 33 cents, or 0.5%, to end at $70.29.

Those were the highest closes for Brent since May 2019 and WTI since October 2018.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly 15 months, while consumer prices increased solidly in May as the pandemic's grip on the economy continues to ease.

"The recent unemployment and labor data published in the (United States) are a definite positive sign that the recovery in the country is speeding up," Louise Dickson, analyst at Rystad Energy, said.

"More business activity means more energy consumption, and a better economy is a needed prerequisite for road and air traffic to increase."

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said oil demand would rise by 6.6%, or 5.95 million barrels per day (bpd), this year. The monthly forecast was unchanged for a second consecutive month.

" are still grinding higher. The demand outlook continues to strengthen and supplies are not necessarily keeping up," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

Kilduff noted, however, that the market was "priced to perfection in relative tightness," and said Thursday's brief midday price drop shows what can happen if Iran or OPEC+ add more barrels to global supplies.

OPEC+ is an alliance between OPEC and other producers including Russia.

Analysts have said Iran could provide about 1 million to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in additional oil supply if a deal is struck and sanctions lifted.

(Additional reporting by Julia Payne in London and Jessica Jaganathan in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Russian court on Wednesday outlawed the organisations founded by opposition leader Alexey Navalny by labelling them extremist.

The court made the decision to abolish FBK, an anti-corruption foundation, and the Citizens' Rights Protection Foundation.

It also banned the activities of Navalny's campaign offices after recognizing them as extremist, Sputnik reported.

"The ruling concerning the termination of activities of these organizations comes into force immediately," the court said.

The move appeared to be part of a campaign to muzzle President Vladimir Putin's most prominent opposition months before parliamentary elections.

Lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov, one of Navalny's lawyers, said during the hearing that stretched into the evening hours that the prosecutors' motion was intended to bar Navalny's associates from running for public office.

"This case has been linked to the law that bans all those who are connected with the Foundation for Fighting Corruption from getting elected," Smirnov said.

Navalny, Putin's most prominent rival, was arrested in January upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin - an accusation that Russian officials reject.

Currently, he is serving a prison sentence for violating the terms of his suspended sentence in the 2014 Yves Rocher fraud case. The initial sentence of 3.5 years in prison was lowered to 2.5 years by Moscow city court earlier, although the verdict was upheld.

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Klarna Bank AB is raising fresh funds led by Group Corp. that value the Swedish fintech at $45.6 billion, just months after two separate investment rounds have sent the companys valuation soaring.

The Stockholm-based company, which is already Europes most valuable startup, raised $639 million in new equity funding, it said in a statement on Thursday.

Im very proud of the investors who are supporting Klarnas ambition to challenge these outdated models of revolving credit, said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the companys founder and chief executive.

Klarna in March raised $1 billion at a valuation of $31 billion, tripling its price from a previous round in September. Siemiatkowski at the time said there was high demand from investors and they could have raised as much as $3 billion.





ALSO READ: Klarna funding round makes it Europe's most valuable startup at $31 bn

is already an investor in Klarna, according to a representative for the fintech company. Other investors in the latest funding round include Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group as well as Sequoia Capital, SilverLake, Dragoneer and Permira.

Klarna said in March the hot investor demand was driven by the companys success in the U.S., which is on track to overtake Germany as its biggest market by the end of 2021. The company earlier said it had signed up 20 of the top 100 brands in the U.S. and attracted a million new customers a month there in the last quarter of 2020.

The fintech firm, which rivals PayPal Holdings Inc. and Square Inc. as well as traditional credit cards, lets customers buy now and pay later in four interest-free installments when they shop online or in store with brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M, Adidas and Lululemon.

Klarna continues to face speculation around a possible public listing in the near future. In May, Klarna said it was considering a listing in London in the next year or two but that it was still deciding where to list.

We are excited to continue supporting the team in bringing the next generation of financial services to new markets worldwide, said Yanni Pipilis, a managing partner for Investment Advisers.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli troops shot and killed two security officers during clashes in the town of Jenin early Thursday.

Online videos appeared to show Palestinian officers taking cover behind a vehicle as gunshots ranged in the background, with one shouting that they were exchanging fire with Israeli "undercover" forces.

The ministry said a third Palestinian was severely wounded in the shootout. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

A poster circulated on local media identified the two dead as members of the Palestinian Authority's Military Intelligence force.

Israeli raids in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority are common and they are usually meant to arrest wanted Palestinians. However, clashes with the Palestinian forces are rare as such operations are believed to be coordinated between the two sides.

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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into flag carrier, (BA) and the Irish airline over whether they have broken consumer law by failing to offer refunds for customers who couldn't legally take flights due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

During the lockdowns, the two airlines refused to give refunds to passengers that were lawfully unable to fly, with offering vouchers or rebooking and providing the option to rebook, Xinhua news agency quoted the CMA, an independent non-ministerial department, as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

Both firms may have breached consumer law and left people unfairly out of pocket by failing to offer their money back,it added.

"While we understand that airlines have had a tough time during the pandemic, people should not be left unfairly out of pocket for following the law," said Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA.

"Customers booked these flights in good faith and were legally unable to take them due to circumstances entirely outside of their control. We believe these people should have been offered their money back," said Coscelli.

The watchdog said it "is now seeking to resolve these concerns with the companies, which may include seeking refunds, or other redress, for affected customers".

Responding to the probe, a BA spokesperson was quoted by Sky News as saying that it has "acted lawfully at all times".

The spokesperson said the airline has issued over 3 million refunds and helped millions of customers change travel dates or destinations during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Sky News also quoted as saying the firm "has approached such refund requests on a case by case basis and has paid refunds in justified cases".

"Since June 2020, all our customers have also had the ability to rebook their flights without paying a change fee and millions of our UK customers have availed of this option," the airline added.

--IANS

ksk/

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After a cyberattack crippled the worlds largest producer last week, JBS SA plants have begun to reopen across the globe. But the industry shouldn't be returning to business as usual  and for the security of our food supply, the Biden administration needs to make sure that it doesnt.



The JBS subversion, which has been attributed to a Russia-linked cybercriminal group, was the latest in a series of Black Swan events that have crippled large-scale meat producers in recent years. The March 2019 fire in Holcomb, Kansas, destroyed a Tyson Foods plant that processed about 5% of U.S. beef. In April 2020, major hog and chicken processing plants nationwide became Covid-19 hotspots, causing cascading shutdowns that included a Smithfield Foods plant processing more than 15% of all pork in the U.S. Last weeks JBS attack sabotaged more than a fifth of all U.S. beef processing in a matter of minutes.

It reminded us of a glaring truth we already knew: Consolidation has made the U.S. meat industry  and the global protein supply  profoundly and unacceptably vulnerable. It will become more susceptible in the years ahead as public health threats and potential continue to loom large, and as climate change increases the risk of natural disasters. Drought, heat, flooding, wildfires, insects, superstorms and weather volatility are raising pressure on our farms and ranches. In short, the cost-saving benefits of agricultural consolidation are increasingly outweighed by the risks of disruption.

Food-industry experts have long been clamoring for systemic resilience. Last April, as the pandemic bore down on meat producers and before he began his second tour as U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack told me that were better off having multiple plants in multiple locations  smaller facilities to produce enough product. And that may mean a little less profit, but it means that if you have an incident like this that threatens your workforce, you'll always have sufficient operation capacity. Vilsack reiterated this sentiment Tuesday in a call with reporters: Efficiency comes at a price, and that price is a lack of resilience when you have a major disruption."

Activists have made the case in stronger terms: The time has come for deindustrializing and decentralizing the American food system [and] breaking up the meat oligopoly, wrote environmental author Michael Pollan last May. Philanthropist Chef Jose Andres told me: The food system centralized in big factories is putting us in danger. Decentralization makes you nimble.

Yet little has been done to decentralize U.S. meat production. The Biden administration, along with state and federal lawmakers, have an urgent obligation not just to incentivize and support smaller and more diversified meat processors and producers, but also to begin dismantling and diversifying American meat monopolies, which have gone unchallenged and unchecked for too long.

Sweeping reforms will take years, but the USDA can begin to mobilize a plan immediately with the $4 billion allocated for food supply chain resiliency under the American Rescue Plan Act. Tuesday, Vilsack outlined how he intends to spend these funds, and while I applaud his plan to subsidize farmers practicing regenerative agriculture  inherently more resilient than industrial production  he should clarify his goals and timeline, and at least triple the $60 million in grant money that has been earmarked to help expand smaller-scale meat and poultry processors across the country.

The USDA is conducting a large-scale study on resilient meat and poultry processing that is expected to be published this summer. Vilsack should listen carefully to the small and mid-sized processors and producers to find out what they need to expand their operations while meeting federal food safety standards.

Beyond grant money, smaller producers and processors need other forms of USDA support. Vilsack should continue reforming and refocusing the Food Safety and Inspection Service to better assist small and mid-sized players. He should create dedicated roles at the department to help local processors build regional markets while meeting the standards necessary to sell their products across state lines and become competitive with large meatpackers. Vilsack should also re-empower the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, hollowed out under President Donald Trump, to investigate large meat processors and hold them accountable. Vilsacks USDA should also be coordinating with the Department of Justice for more active enforcement of antitrust laws  and DOJ must assiduously review proposed mergers in the food and agricultural sector.

Industrial Goliaths have accumulated a powerful grip on global agriculture: In the U.S. alone, four processing companies slaughter more than 80% of the beef; four meatpacking companies process roughly two thirds of the nation's hogs; and five companies control about 60% of the broiler chicken market. The vertical integration of livestock and poultry supply chains, with the same companies producing animals and slaughtering, has stifled competition and led to widespread price-fixing and corruption.

The Biden administration and Congress must clarify and strengthen antitrust laws so that they more clearly apply to largescale food production. And the president should continue to appoint people within the USDA and the DOJ who are willing to challenge the interests of industrial operators  a stance that's long been politically unfavorable for politicians in both parties.

Not since Upton Sinclairs eye-opening novel "The Jungle" has the American meat industry faced a more significant paradigm shift, and Biden and Congress must get out in front of it. If they dont, the U.S.  and the world  won't be able to maintain a reliable protein supply in an era defined by disruption.
Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos has the resources to launch himself into space. Elon Musk does, too.

In many ways, though, the worlds richest people left the rest of us behind long ago.

The worlds wealthiest 500 individuals are now worth $8.4 trillion, up more than 40% in the year and a half since the global pandemic began its devastation. Meanwhile, the economys biggest winners, the tech corporations that created many of these vast fortunes, pay lower tax rates than grocery clerks, and their mega-wealthy founders can exploit legal loopholes to pass huge windfalls onto heirs largely tax-free.





Now, a group powerful enough to challenge the supremacy of the tech titans is on the verge of taking action. The leaders of the Group of Seven, including U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meet in southwestern England this weekend, where theyre expected to endorse a plan to plug holes in the worlds leaky tax system.

While the changes still need approval from a larger group of nations, including China, before becoming reality, the agreement by the G-7 marks a historic turning point after decades of falling levies on multinational corporations.

It is very easy for multinationals and the richest people to escape tax. What we are seeing with the G-7 is that the time has come for politicians to take back power, said Philippe Martin, a former adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron who now heads the Conseil dAnalyse Economique. There is a window of opportunity, a turning point at which they are realizing they need tax power and they need to spend more.

The deal would bolster Bidens own plans to boost taxes on corporations and the wealthy by raising rates, making heirs pay more, and equalizing rates between investors and workers.

The proposals are part of a global revival of initiatives to target the rich, from Buenos Aires to Stockholm to Washington, including new taxes on capital gains, inheritances, and wealth that have gained momentum since Covid-19 blew massive fiscal holes in government budgets around the world.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen framed the G-7 deal as a way for governments to protect their national sovereignty to set tax policy.

For too long there has been a global race-to-the-bottom in corporate tax rates, Yellen said following the G-7 finance ministers meeting in London last week, ahead of this weekends gathering.

Amazon and some other tech companies, meanwhile, have endorsed the agreement, believing the global regime will be more manageable than costly alternatives being pursued by individual countries. Bezos has also voiced support for higher U.S. corporate taxes to pay for infrastructure.

Advocates for higher taxes say the steps are necessary to stave off a rise in populism and even for the sustainability of capitalism.

The most visible and prominent winners of globalization are these big multinationals whose effective tax rates have collapsed, said University of California at Berkeley economics professor Gabriel Zucman, who tracks wealth and inequality. That can only lead to a growing rejection of that form of globalization by the people.

The World Economic Forum, the organizer of the annual conference for the rich and powerful in Davos, Switzerland, issued a white paper this month arguing taxation systems must be redesigned efficiently to tax capital and multinationals.

Governments need the revenue and progressive taxation will be an essential mechanism to compensate for the uneven recovery already under way, according to the report.

There remain plenty of defenders of low taxes.



Conservative economists such as Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, argue taxing the wealthy and corporations more heavily will damage the economy.

Higher taxes on capital generally raises the possibility of a slowdown of productivity growth, said Holtz-Eakin, who was an adviser to President George W. Bush.

That view is losing ground though as resentment grows over the ways that highly profitable corporations reduce their taxes.

Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Microsoft collectively skirted approximately $100 billion in U.S. taxes from 2010 to 2019, according to an analysis of regulatory filings from Fair Tax Mark, a progressive think tank. Many of those untaxed profits were shifted into tax havens like Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Amazon paid an effective corporate tax rate of 11.8% in 2020, according to a Bloomberg Economics analysis, and its hardly an outlier among highly successful tech companies. Facebook, founded by the worlds fifth-richest person, Mark Zuckerberg, paid 12.2% last year.





Asked to comment for this article, an Amazon spokesperson pointed to some of the companys prior statements related to its tax bill, including, in part: Amazons taxes, which are publicly reported, reflect our continued investments, employee compensation, and current U.S. tax laws.

As a mix between a technology company and a retailer with massive physical infrastructure, Amazon is able to use a slew of long-standing, low-profile tax preferences for stock compensation, buildings, research and development. Bezos has pushed to re-invest profits into the company, a strategy that keeps taxable income low and tax breaks high.

Amazon completely avoided federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018 thanks to its savvy use of the tax code. Since then, the company has had to pay some income tax to the Internal Revenue Service, but its been far below the 21% headline rate installed under President Donald Trump.

Billionaire tech founders often pay even less personally than their corporations do.

Bezos, for example, got $77 billion richer in 2020, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But in the U.S., gains on stock are only taxed when theyre sold, at a far lower rate than well-off workers pay, meaning that Bezos owed at most a few billion dollars in taxes to the U.S. Treasury last year.

This countrys wealthiest, who profited immensely during the pandemic, have not been paying their fair share, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden said after ProPublica reported on Tuesday that several of the worlds billionaires, including Bezos, didnt pay any federal income taxes in some years.

The media organization said it obtained confidential tax documents on thousands of the wealthiest Americans, including for Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. Bloomberg and others told ProPublica they had paid the taxes they owed.

To remove advantages in the U.S. tax code that benefit the ultra-wealthy, Biden has proposed taxing inherited assets that currently escape levies, and boosting the top rate on investment income so that well-paid workers and investors pay the same.

On an international scale, the administration is seeking a global minimum tax of at least 15% for the worlds most profitable companies -- the deal expected to be pushed forward at the G-7 meeting this weekend.

The G-7 deal would change other rules for taxing multinationals, in order to undercut efforts to shift profits to low-tax countries. Biden is also advocating to increase the U.S. corporate rate to 28%, partly reversing Trumps tax overhaul.

Tech companies could see their effective tax rates jump if a global tax deal is reached, according to research from Morgan Stanley. Facebook and Alphabets Google could both pay 28% on their profits worldwide, up from 18% and 17% respectively under current rules, the report found.

For all the talk of taxing the rich, Bidens proposals, and the international tax deal, face serious hurdles before theyre adopted.

While some of his fellow Democrats, who narrowly control Congress, are pushing for more radical changes to the taxes of estates and wealth, others are hesitant.

The next step for the global tax negotiations, which were launched years ago by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and have involved roughly 140 nations, is to win agreement among the Group of 20 countries. Finance ministers for the G-20, which collectively oversee about 90% of the worlds economy, will meet in July in Venice.

Stumbling blocks to reaching a deal by year-end include China, which may seek exemptions from the minimum tax.

Still, there are hopes the global effort puts an end to the craziness, said Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the center for tax policy at the OECD. You had loopholes everywhere and nobody was taking care of that. Its undermining the very goal of capitalism and a free-market economy.




Auto component maker Sansera Engineering Ltd has filed preliminary papers with capital regulator to raise funds through an initial share-sale.

The initial public offer (IPO) is entirely an offer for sale (OFS) of 17,244,328 equity shares by promoters and existing shareholders, draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed with showed.

Those offering shares in the OFS are existing investors-- Client Ebene, CVCIGP II Employees Ebene and promoters -- S Sekhar Vasan, Unni Rajagopal K, F R Singhvi and D Devaraj.

The company said it expects that listing of the equity shares will enhance its visibility and brand image and provide liquidity to shareholders. Also, the listing will provide a public market for the equity shares in the country.

This is the company's second attempt to go public. Earlier, Sansera Engineering had filed IPO papers with in August 2018 and had also received its clearance to float the public issue. However, it did not go ahead with the launch.

The Bengaluru-based firm is an engineering-led integrated manufacturer of complex and critical precision engineered components across automotive and non-automotive sectors.

Within the automotive sector, the company manufacture and supply a wide range of precision forged and machined components and assemblies that are critical for engine, transmission, braking, and other systems for the two-wheeler, passenger vehicle, and commercial vehicle verticals.

In the non-automotive sector, Sansera Engineering manufactures and supplies precision components for the aerospace, off-road, agriculture and other segments, including engineering and capital goods.

ICICI Securities, IIFL Securities and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Private Limited have been appointed as merchant bankers to advise the company on the IPO.

(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.)
rallied following a proposal from global regulators that would introduce capital requirements for banks dealing in crypto.

The largest digital token gained 5.1% to $38,250 as of 11:07 a.m. in London.

The announcement from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is another sign that the world of traditional finance is responding to the rise of crypto assets. While the proposal would introduce tough capital controls, it also shows that regulators are taking the fast-growing market seriously and preparing the banking industry for how to deal with its widespread adoption.

Still, the panel didnt hold back in voicing its concerns over the risks to financial stability posed by cryptos extreme volatility and potential for money laundering.

Its a sentiment thats been echoed countless times by policymakers. In an interview on Wednesday, Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said called the market for the Wild West, and said digital currency is not a good way to buy and sell things and not a good investment and an environmental disaster.

has been stuck in the mid-$30,000s for the past month after a sharp selloff in May, when prices were flirting with $60,000. Public criticism of the digital currencys energy needs by billionaire Elon Musk and a Chinese regulatory crackdown have sapped enthusiasm for the market.

The market got a brief lift on Wednesday, rallying 8% on the day, after El Salvador became the first country to formally adopt as legal tender.
Bitcoins recent bounce has yet to dispel doubts about its vulnerability.

The has jumped 10% over two days and was trading at $36,993 as of 9 a.m. in London on Thursday. While the momentum may cheer bulls, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. team said backwardation in the futures market -- where the spot price is above futures prices -- is a reason for caution.

We believe that the return to backwardation in recent weeks has been a negative signal pointing to a bear market, JPMorgan strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a note. They added that Bitcoins relatively depressed share of total crypto market value is another concerning trend.

Traders are waiting for the next catalyst to break from a $30,000 to $40,000 range thats been in place since a collapse from a record of almost $65,000 in April. Public criticism of the digital currencys energy needs by tycoon Elon Musk and a Chinese regulatory crackdown are among obstacles. Bulls got a bit of a lift Wednesday after El Salvador made legal tender.





ALSO READ: El Salvador becomes first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender

The virtual currency needs to push into $39,460 and the top of the recent range to really attract, but we will need to see a break here for the bulls to feel were out of this period of vulnerability, Chris Weston, head of research with Pepperstone Financial Pty, wrote in a note Thursday.



The June 9 analysis from JPMorgan looked at the 21-day rolling average of the 2nd futures spread over spot prices. The backwardation this showed is an unusual development and a reflection of how weak Bitcoin demand is at the moment from institutional investors who use contracts listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

The Bitcoin futures curve was in backwardation for most of 2018, a year when the fell 74% after a spectacular boom, JPMorgan said.





ALSO READ: Bitcoin believers have nothing to worry about; their crypto is here to stay

Meanwhile, Bitcoins share of the overall crypto market value is 42% currently, down from roughly 70% at the start of the year, according to data from tracker CoinGecko. For some analysts, thats in part a sign of retail-driven investor froth lifting other coins.

Bitcoins share may need to top 50% to make it easier to argue the current bear market is over, the JPMorgan strategists said.
By Abhirup Roy and Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India told investors on Wednesday that the market regulator's ban on its launching new debt funds would have no impact on existing funds that manage $8 billion in assets.

The (SEBI) on Monday barred Franklin from launching any new debt schemes for two years after a probe into its sudden closure of six credit funds last year found "serious lapses and violations."

Franklin has said it strongly disagreed with SEBI's order and planned to appeal it. In an e-mail to investors on Wednesday seen by Reuters, the fund house sought to reassure investors about any broader impact its other funds.

"I would like to clarify upfront, that the SEBI order has no impact on other schemes managed by Franklin," India President Sanjay Sapre said in the email.

Franklin continues to manage more than 610 billion rupees ($8.36 billion) for more than 2 million investors in India, he added.

Franklin has faced regulatory probes and court battles since April 2020 when it unexpectedly wound up six credit funds in India with assets of close to $4 billion, citing a lack of liquidity amid the coronavirus pandemic. Those funds had large exposure to higher-yielding, lower-rated credit securities.

In the Monday order, SEBI also ordered the fund house to refund investment and advisory fees, along with interest, of more than 5 billion rupees ($68.51 million), and fined the global giant another 50 million rupees.

One senior Indian fund manager, who declined to be named, told Reuters that money managers grew more cautious about investment decisions after the SEBI order.

"SEBI now is not leaving any room for any deviation and it's becoming very strict ... there is a heightened level of alertness and attention that has come," the manager said.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy and Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan and Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Birla Cellulose's Grasim Cellulosic division in Vilayat, Gujarat commissioned a carbon-disulphide adsorption plant, achieving stringent level of sulphur-to-air emission norms stipulated in the EU BAT references for the viscose manufacturing process.

The company said that this initiative is in line with Birla Cellulose's aim to apply the best available technologies (EU BAT) at all of its fibre locations and investments of $170 million are in progress in order to achieve this by the end of 2022.

Birla Cellulose is a part of the Aditya Birla Group, engaged in man-made cellulosic fibers (MMCF) and operates in 12 sites that apply environmentally efficient closed loop technologies to recycle materials and conserve natural resources. Its five global advanced research centres are equipped with facilities and pilot plants.

Grasim Vilayat has installed closed-loop technologies to recover and recycle CS2, which is the key raw material for viscose manufacturing process. With these technologies, the site is able to significantly reduce its emissions and achieve 90-95% recovery in terms of sulphur and recycle it back to the process. In addition to this, the site also meets all other EU BAT parameters. This was confirmed by an audit conducted by Sustainable Textile Solutions, UK (STS) recently. The site also meets the ZDHC MMCF responsible viscose production standards.

Vilayat is one of Birla Cellulose's flagship sites and post the ongoing expansion, it will be the world's largest MMCF manufacturing site. The on-going expansion project at Vilayat site is also designed to comply with EU BAT requirements and designed to achieve low energy consumption. The Vilayat will supply eco-enhanced fibres, Livaeco by Birla Cellulose (Viscose & Modal variants) to sustainability conscious brands globally.

On a consolidated basis, Grasim Industries' net profit jumped 13.3% to Rs 2,616.64 crore on 26.1% increase in net sales to Rs 24,398.92 crore in Q4 March 2021 over Q4 March 2020.

Grasim Industries is a leading global producer of Viscose Staple Fibre, the largest Chlor-Alkali, Linen and Insulators player in India. Through its subsidiaries, UltraTech Cement and Aditya Birla Capital, it is also India's largest cement producer and a leading diversified financial services player.

Shares of Grasim Industries gained 0.42% to Rs 1,497.75 on BSE. The stock hit an intraday low of Rs 1,492.20 and an intraday high of Rs 1,516.50 so far.

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Wipro to guarantee notes not exceeding $865 mn

Wipro IT Services LLC, a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of Wipro (Company), incorporated under the laws of Delaware, United States of America (Issuer) has approved the proposal for issuance of U.S. dollar denominated notes (the Notesand such issuance, the Issue) in an aggregate principal amount of up to US$ 750 million. The Notes will be guaranteed by the Company vide a corporate guarantee. The net proceeds of the Notes are intended to be utilised for refinancing existing debt, general corporate purposes and/or for any other purpose permitted by law. The Notes are proposed to be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

The Board of Directors of the Company, has at their meeting held on 09 June 2021, granted its approval to unconditionally and irrevocably guarantee the due and prompt payment of the principal and interest and any additional amount payable in respect of the Notes, as and when the same shall become and payable (Guarantee). The Guarantee is subject to the aggregate liability of the Company not exceeding US$ 865 million (115% of the principal amount of the Notes).

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued a strongly worded 100-page final order on Monday, holding Franklin Templeton India guilty of wrong-doing and mismanagement of six of its debt schemes. Though the market considers the penalties on the fund house harsh, this order could reset the norms of the debt fund market, says the second edit. Read it here

In other views today

Shankar Acharya assesses the global winners and losers from the pandemic disaster in terms of GDP and economic growth. Read it here

My column looks at how the on Covid-19 could be made to work to create India's long-term health infrastructure.

Read it here

Ranjan Mathai explains why a rapidly changing environment for the international oil companies holds warning signs for India. Read it here

The top edit argues that the expert group on minimum wages needs to strike a balance between sustainability and sustenance. Read it here
Chief Minister Thursday met senior BJP leader and Union minister here, and is also likely to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief JP Nadda during his two-day visit, sources said.

While Adityanath will meet PM Modi on Friday, his meeting with Nadda may take place Thursday itself or on Friday, the sources added.

Adityanath is visiting Delhi a day after Congress leaders Jitin Prasada, who comes from a well-known Brahmin family in Uttar Pradesh, switched over to the BJP.

Adityanath's meeting with the central BJP leadership assumes significance as the politically crucial state of is scheduled for assembly polls early next year.

BJP's general secretary BL Santhosh had earlier this month visited the state to review the party's preparations for assembly elections.

(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.)
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is on a visit to the national capital where he is likely to meet top BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda, sources said on Thursday.

During his visit, Adityanath is also expected to meet Prime Minister on Friday, they said.

The chief minister is likely to meet Shah on Thursday, the sources said.

Adityanath is coming to Delhi a day after Jitin Prasada, a former Congress leader who comes from a well-known Brahmin family of Uttar Pradesh, left the party and joined the BJP.

His visit to the national capital assumes significance as the politically crucial state of is going to polls early next year.

Earlier this month, BJP's general secretary BL Santhosh had visited the state to review the party's preparations for assembly elections due next 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.)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Thursday met senior BJP leader and Union minister here, and is also likely to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief JP Nadda during his two-day visit, sources said.

While Adityanath will meet PM Modi on Friday, his meeting with Nadda may take place Thursday itself or on Friday, the sources added.

While Adityanath was still with Shah during the Thursday meeting, Anupriya Patel, a BJP ally and Apna Dal (S) leader, also entered the home minister's residence.

Adityanath is visiting Delhi a day after Congress leader Jitin Prasada, who comes from a well-known Brahmin family in Uttar Pradesh, switched over to the BJP.

Adityanath's meeting with the central BJP leadership assumes significance as the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh is scheduled for assembly polls early next year.

BJP's general secretary BL Santhosh had earlier this month visited the state to review the party's preparations for assembly elections.

(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 Nigerian government has joined India-based microblogging platform Koo, about a week after the African country banned

The Nigerian government had banned on June 5 after the firm deleted a tweet made by its President Muhammadu Buhari. said the tweet was deleted for violation of its terms of service.

Buhari had, in his tweet, referred to the 1967-70 Nigerian Civil War and to treating "those misbehaving today" in "the language they will understand".

Koo, a microblogging platform developed in India, has been gaining popularity among some politicians and celebrities had said at the time that it would look to expand to

A very warm welcome to the official handle of the Government of on @kooindia! Spreading wings beyond India now, tweeted co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna on Thursday morning, along with a picture of the official Nigerian government account.





Radhakrishna said earlier that he wants to take the app to countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines after cracking the India market

Twitter had said on June 5:  We are deeply concerned by the blocking of Twitter in Access to the free and #OpenInternet is an essential human right in modern society. We will work to restore access for all those in Nigeria who rely on Twitter to communicate and connect with the world

Twitter has been under fire from the Indian government over non-compliance of the newly notified Information Technology Rules, 2021.

hit headlines in February when ministers and political leaders said they were going to move to the country's homegrown platform following an ongoing issue with Twitter over the way it handled tweets and hashtags related to the Farmers protests in India.
is set to launch today, June 10, the Nord CE (Core Edition) smartphone and the U1S LED TV at its Summer Launch event. The CE model is touted to bring the core features, along with some other upgrades, of the original OnePlus Nord (review) at a price point accessible to even more consumers. The OnePlus U1S LED TV, on the other hand, is expected to boast solid audio quality, courtesy Dynaudio-tuned speakers system. Both the OnePlus Nord and OnePlus TV U1S will be available on Amazon India.

OnePlus Summer Launch event: How to watch livestream

The OnePlus Nord CE and OnePlus TV U1S will launch at the OnePlus Summer Launch event, a virtual event that will livestream on OnePlus website and social media handles at 7pm in India. Besides, the event will livestream on OnePlus official channel on Googles YouTube. Alternatively, you can watch the event livestream through the video embedded below.

OnePlus Nord CE 5G: Expected specifications

The OnePlus Nord CE is expected to be like the original Nord in more ways than one. It is expected to sport a 6.43-inch sAMOLED screen of fullHD+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate. It would be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G system-on-chip, paired with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB on-board storage.

Imaging would be covered by a triple-camera set-up on the back, featuring a 64-megapixel primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor. Front camera is expected to be a 16MP sensor.

While the above information is based on rumours and news reports, OnePlus confirmed the Nord CE will be powered by a 4,500 mAh battery supported by OnePlus Warp Charge 30T Plus fast charge technology. The smartphone will come with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

OnePlus TV U1S: Expected specifications

The OnePlus TV U1S is expected to be a series of three of different screen sizes  43-inch, 50-inch, and 55-inch. All the TVs in the series are expected to feature bezel-less design. The TVs are expected to boasts up to 4K UHD resolution screen with support for wide spectrum of high dynamic range formats, including HDR10+, HDR, and HLG. The TVs are rumoured to come with Dynaudio-tuned audio system, which is expected to be one of the key features of the upcoming series. The TVs would be based on Android 10 TV operating system with Google Assistant and ChromeCast built-in. Another interesting bit doing the round on the web is the possibility of external webcam support for video conferencing purpose, powered by Google Duo platform.
Despite Covid-19 pandemic and its adverse impact on the economy, registered nearly 13 per cent growth in information technology exports to cross Rs 1.45 lakh crore during 2020-21.

Telangana's IT/ITES exports during the year stood at Rs 1,45,522 crore, an increase of 12.98 per cent over the previous financial year.

State's IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday told reporters that the state continued its phenomenal performance in the middle of the pandemic.

Even by conservative estimates, Telangana's IT/ITES exports growth rate is poised to be over two times that of the national average.

The state also added over 46,489 jobs in IT/ITES sector, to take the total number of direct employment to 6,28,615.

The job growth in has been 7.99 per cent compared to 2019-20. "This is significantly higher national average of 2 per cent," he said.

In 2019-20, had recorded IT exports of Rs 1,28,807 crore, a growth rate of 17.93 per cent, which was more than double the national average of 8.09 per cent.

The job growth was 7.20 per cent compared to national average of 4.93 per cent.

"Even as the pandemic moved the world in a tangential direction, Telangana has maintained its leadership in creating a business-friendly environment. across the world have appreciated the promptness, strategic outlook, and adaptability of Telangana," he said.

The minister said representatives of top have mentioned that the adoption of work from home was best executed in Telangana due to the timely support and interventions by the government. "Even with new work environment dynamics, the majority of the overseas companies based out of Hyderabad have shared that there was no impact on the quality of delivery," he added.

The minister said the IT sector in Telangana grew by leaps and bounds in last seven years. The IT exports in India's youngest state grew to Rs 1.45 lakh crore from Rs 57,000 crore in 2013-14. The number of IT/ITES jobs doubled to 6.28 lakhs in 2020-21 from 3.23 lakhs in 2013-14.

Telangana's IT/ITES exports have been growing at CAGR of 14.25 per cent since its inception in 2013-14.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, said Telangana continued to attract new investments in the sector. Amazon Data Services India Pvt Ltd is setting up three data centres with an investment of Rs 20,761 crore ($2.77 billion).

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced a smart data centre in Hyderabad with an investment of Rs 500 crore.

Salesforce plans to expand Hyderabad footprint by three times by investing Rs 1,119 core and create 2,500 more jobs in the next 5 years

The minister pointed Goldman Sachs has selected Hyderabad as its location for the global shared services footprint in India with an employment of 500.

World leader in automobile Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is setting up the largest and only facility outside its headquarters in North America with an investment of Rs 1,100 crore and 1,000 jobs in the first year.

US-based BFSI major MassMutual is setting up its global capability center outside the US in Hyderabad with initial investment of Rs 1,000 crore and employment potential of more than 300.

--IANS

ms/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.)
Jobs postings with '5G' in the title have doubled between Q4, 2020, and Q1, 2021, a report by data and analytics company GlobalData has revealed. It said more companies are showing interest in 5G technologies, with the government allowing trials and testing. Companies want to integrate 5G technologies into existing network elements and step up research and development to provide customer management solutions.

"Job postings have doubled between Q4, 2020, and Q1, 2021, indicating an increase in the demand for expertise in the 5G domain. Popular roles include engineers specialising in networks, IP networking, software, firmware, and automation," added Ajay Thalluri, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData.

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson) has posted 20 per cent of jobs since 1 January 2020 in India, as the company looks at cellular and radio network prospects. It is also exploring the security aspects of 5G networks by evaluating business strategies and requirements.

ALSO READ: Rs 70 crore in UK vs Rs 492 crore in India: Why 5G spectrum prices need revision

Cisco Systems is investing $5bn to fund 5G projects globally, including India. The company posted over 30 per cent of 5G jobs in India since 1 January 2020. Cisco's 5G related hiring is dominated by engineers for cloud core and packet core teams to enable virtualised cloud services. Job postings are also for 5G mobile core projects to translate customer business needs into product technical requirements and use cases.

Companies such as Dell Technologies (Dell) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (HP) that offer 5G-enabled devices are also hiring experts in 5G domain. Dell is building a 5G R&D team from the ground up at its Bangaluru office to design and develop products and solutions for service providers and enterprise customers. HP is also providing cloud-native 5G offerings.

Bharti Airtel is expected to benefit by collaborating with the likes of Qualcomm Technologies in 5G/5G NR domain and access chipsets. India has permitted telecom operators such as Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) to conduct trials for 5G with help from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and technology providers for end-use and applications.

Key jobs include director, software engineering - 5G R&D; customer success specialist (CSS) - mobility - 4G/5G; embedded 5G/4G cellular RF software/firmware engineer; CMS R&D - 5G Micro-services Java Developer Bangalore, Karnataka, 5G systems engineer, among others. India's Department of Telecom in May approved applications of telecom companies Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and MTNL to conduct 5G trials. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has also developed a 5G solution for India.

ALSO READ: India's own 5G standard could delay its 5G launch

ALSO READ: Govt approves over Rs 12,000-crore PLI scheme for telecom sector
Social media giant Facebook has stated that it would give its employees the option of continuing to work remotely for a long period of time. The firm has even offered to help its employees shift to other countries so they can work from there.

From June 15 onwards, Facebook will allow any employee whose job can be done remotely to continue doing so permanently, the firm told international news agency AFP.

"As of June 15, Facebook will also expand remote work across international borders, supporting moves from the United States to Canada as well as shifts to Britain from other parts of Europe," the company said.

"We believe how we work is more important than where we work," Facebook noted.

"We want to be the place where people can do the best work of their careers while ensuring a consistent experience for employees no matter where they're located." the social media firm added.

Facebook like other Silicon Valley firms had shifted to the remote work model when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the world in early 2020. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated that he expects the shift to remote work to be lasting one at Facebook which is planning to hire employees who are able to perform their tasks from wherever on the planet they live.

Recently, Facebook has started to reopen its offices after a year of closure due to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, Facebook is not yet offering perks such as free food and commuters shuttles to employees. Facebook has cited the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and improving health condition as the reasons why it's now reopening its offices and welcoming back employees.

Facebook has stated that the work schedule for returned employees would be flexible but it expects people to be on campus at least half the time. The social media giant expects its US offices to be running at 50 capacity by early September. Facebook is following all COVID-19 safety protocols, such as wearing masks and maintaining distance, at its offices.

Also Read: Facebook to launch its first smartwatch next year; to be priced at Rs 29,000
Two independent directors have resigned from Asian Hotels (West), the Hyatt Regency Mumbai and JW Marriott Delhi Aerocity owner, amid the fund crunch crisis at the hotel, which ceased operations this week. These directors Raj Kumar Bhargava and Lalit Bhasin have cited refusal by chairperson to convene a board meeting in wake of the financial crisis in the company as the reason for their resignation.

"I have resigned as the hotel run by Asian Hotel has stopped functioning due to lack of finances with no funds coming from the promoters, I do not see any future. Also, despite repeated requests, the chairperson did not respond to a discussion on the financial problems of the company. As such, my usefulness to the company is no longer seen," Bhargava said in his resignation mail.

Bhargava and Bhasin said, "no funds" from promoters and an "atmosphere of hostility" at the company have forced them to resign. Bhasin said the company is in "default of not only repayment of bank loans but also of statutory dues". He stated that no remedial steps have been taken to meet the financial disaster it is facing despite repeated requests and directions of the audit committee and the independent directors. He added that there's an atmosphere of hostility among the promoters and he did not wish to remain part of such an environment any longer.

The company has informed the stock exchanges about their resignation. Asian Hotels (West) on Wednesday said in a regulatory filing that the company defaulted Yes Bank's due instalment on April 28 due to the massive COVID-19 effect.

"Since then, Yes bank has held all funds, including daily hotel collections in the escrow account and the company/hotel are not allowed to make any payment, including government taxes (like GST, VAT, TDS, PF, ESIC, etc), vendors payments, on roll employees' salaries (more than 300 hotel and corporate employees) and other critical hotel services from the said account," the company said.

Yes Bank, however, has made some payments from the company's escrow account towards the hotel's electricity, water and gas charges.

Hyatt Regency Mumbai "temporarily" suspended its operations after receiving no funds from Asian Hotels (West). The hotel will remain closed until further notice, and future reservations through Hyatt booking channels will remain temporarily unavailable, a statement said.

Also read: Hyatt Regency Mumbai temporarily suspends operations amid fund crunch
Paytm, Infosys and MakeMyTrip are among companies seeking approval in India to provide online COVID-19 vaccine bookings, the head of the government's tech platform said, as the country tries to make it easier for its huge population to book shots.

The government relaxed rules last month to potentially allow third-party apps to offer vaccine bookings and has taken back control of procurement from states following delays and shortages. It also faced initial problems with its own vaccine booking platform.

Around 15 state agencies and private companies, which also include Indian healthcare giants Apollo (APLH.NS) and Max, and online pharmacy 1mg, have asked to be allowed to offer vaccine bookings, R.S. Sharma, head of the government's panel managing the CoWIN vaccination registration platform, told Reuters.

Softbank-backed digital payments app Paytm has more than 100 million monthly active users and MakeMyTrip (MMYT.O) has 12 million. Their popularity is seen providing more options to Indians looking to book their COVID-19 shots, particularly if they are struggling with an unfamiliar government platform.

"It will work in favour of the country, the union of all the entities is better than just one individual platform," Sharma said.

MakeMyTrip CEO Rajesh Magow said the company wanted to help people book their vaccination slots. 1mg said it was waiting for government approvals. Apollo declined to comment, while Paytm, Infosys (INFY.NS) and Max did not respond to Reuters queries.

Only 3.5% of India's 1.3 billion population has been fully immunised against COVID-19 and health officials say the pace will have to ramp up to avoid further deadly surges of the virus, like the one that swept the country in the spring.

While much will depend on a pick up in scarce vaccine supplies, experts say more booking options should help. Several software developers have already been using publicly available coding for the CoWIN platform to create tools that send Telegram alerts to help people book slots. read more

"Right now, even if you find a slot using alerts, you have to still go to the government website and follow many steps. Companies will be able to give a better user experience compared to CoWIN," said Berty Thomas, a software developer who had designed Telegram alerts for notifying people about slots.

Paytm too has enabled a notification feature on its app.

Sharma said vaccine supplies should improve going forward and praised the CoWIN platform, saying at least three African nations - Zambia, Nigeria and Malawi - had enquired about using it for their own vaccination drives.

"We will give them the portal free of cost and they can customize. This is highly scalable," said Sharma.

Also Read: COVID-19: Centre close to granting indemnity to Pfizer, other foreign vaccine makers
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has managed to maintain its top position for the seventh year in a row in terms of receiving the maximum amount of corporate and individual donations. The saffron party received Rs 750 crore in donations from companies and individuals in 2019-20, BJP said in its contribution report submitted to the Election Commission (EC).

This is nearly five times more than the Congress party that received Rs 139.01 crore in the same period, The Indian Express reported. In addition to this, BJP's contributions recorded a 6 per cent rise since 2018-19, while Congress's donations fell from Rs 146.78 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 139 crore in 2019-20.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) got Rs 59 crore, Trinamool Congress (TMC) received Rs 8 crore, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) Rs 19.6 crore, and the Communist Party of India (CPI) Rs 1.9 crore in the same period.

The saffron party's total amount of donation received is expected to be more than Rs 750 crore, since the report only mentions contributions made by individuals, companies, electoral trusts and associations that were more than Rs 20,000.

BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Jupiter Capital, ITC Group, real estate companies Macrotech Developers and BG Shirke Construction Technology, Prudent Electoral Trust, and Jankalyan Electoral Trust were among the BJP's biggest donors.

Major educational institutions that were amongst the saffron party's donors included Mewar University, Delhi (Rs 2 crore); Allen Career, Kota (Rs 25 lakh); Krishna Institute of Engineering (Rs 10 lakh); Pathania Public School, Rohtak (Rs 2.5 lakh); GD Goenka International School, Surat (Rs 2.5 lakh) and Little Hearts Convent School, Bhiwani (Rs 21,000).

Several BJP members were also among the party's prominent donors like Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar (Rs 5 lakh); MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Rs 2 crore); Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu (Rs 1.1 crore) and Kirron Kher (Rs 6.8 lakh). Chairman of the Manipal Global Education Mohandas Pai donated Rs 15 lakh.

Gulmarg Realtors, the real estate company associated with builder Sudhakar Shetty, donated Rs 20 crore to the BJP in October 2019. In January 2020, the Enforcement Directorate had raided Shetty's office and residence.

Under the electoral bonds scheme - notified by the Centre on January 2, 2018, to purportedly regulate unaccounted money flowing into the political system and to improve financial transparency - citizens and corporations can buy anonymous bonds or monetary instruments from SBI and donate them to a political party.

While the BJP's income from electoral bonds is not currently known as the party is yet to submit its annual audit report, it has been the biggest beneficiary of the scheme. The BJP, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, had raised Rs 2,410 crore from electoral bonds.

Also Read: Yes Bank board approves plan to raise Rs 10,000 cr via debt

Also Read: '5G' jobs doubled in one year in India; Cisco, Ericsson top recruiters

Also Read: Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine may be priced at Rs 730 per dose in India
As authorities in Hong Kong take various measures to vaccinate people against coronavirus, local businesses have also joined the efforts by offering various incentives for getting COVID-19 vaccines.

Henderson Land Development Company has announced those getting vaccinated stand a chance to win gold bars, while another developer, Sun Hang Kai Properties Ltd, is offering iPhones.

Australia's industrial property company Goodman Group has gone a step ahead, and announced lottery with over HK$1 million in prizes, including Tesla Model 3, for residents of Hong Kong who have been vaccinated by August 31, as per news agency Bloomberg.

Also read: Free beer, marijuana joint! US authorities make special offers for Covid-19 vaccination

Various other industrial groups have also announced different prizes for vaccinated people, including shopping vouchers, subsidies for lower income people, among others.

"The value of various lotteries or reward programs, we have learned from news reports, has exceeded HK$120 million," Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam was quoted as saying in a weekly briefing.

The announcement of various prizes by businesses seems to be working, as total vaccination bookings saw an increase in late May. About 15.1 per cent people of Hong Kong's 7.5 million population have been fully inoculated against coronavirus, as per the news agency.

The local administration has announced various measures, including additional restrictions for people who are not vaccinated, with an aim to boost the pace of the vaccination programme.

Also read: Bitcoin selloff: Will the cryptocurrency drop to $20,000?
Gurjit Bhandal, one of the persons reportedly named in the "abduction" of Mehul Choksi from Antigua and Barbuda on May 23, has denied any link to the case and claimed that he had left the Caribbean island on May 23 morning on a yacht, according to local media reports.

In his complaint to the Antigua police, Choksi has claimed that he was abducted on May 23 evening when he had gone to a place where his "friend" Barbara Jabarica, also a suspect in the case, was staying. He has named Gurmit Singh, Narendar Singh, Jabarica and other unidentified persons for his alleged abduction.

Bhandal, who is into property business in Midlands, United Kingdom, has claimed that he had gone sailing in the Caribbeans with his friend Gurmit Singh in April-May, website Writeups24.com reported. Denying any association with the alleged abduction of Choksi, Bhandal, an Indian-origin person, said he would "co-operate and help the police" in the investigation, but the Antigua police has not approached him so far.

Bhandal told the website in a telephonic interview that on May 23, he and Singh were at English Harbour in Antigua and after clearing immigration late morning, they left for Dominica. He claimed that he reached Dominica at night but cleared the customs the next day.

"We reached Dominica on May 23, Sunday night. On the same day, we started from Antigua and cleared the customs the next day on May 24," he told the website. Choksi, in his complaint, has alleged that he was picked up from Antigua on May 23 evening and taken on a yacht, which took him to the waters of Dominica the next day around 10 am, where he was handed over to the Coast Guard of Dominica on boat.

Their plan was to go to St Lucia from Dominica but Bhandal, who claimed to be a regular sailing aficionado, said he got "sea sick" en route and dropped any further sailing plan after reaching Dominica. Bhandal said he and Singh "often go sailing together" in the Mediterranean Sea, but this time, they decided to do it in the Caribbeans.

"We took a charter from there (Dominica) to Barbados," the website quoted him as saying. Asked about Jabarica, Choksi's friend who is allegedly involved in the abduction plot, Bhandal said he does not know her but keeps meeting hundreds of people while taking flights in the Caribbeans.

"There were 21 flights to the Caribbeans, but during Covid, there are only two flights in a week now, so this increases the possibility that we bump into the same people again and again," he said. In the telephonic interview to the website, Bhandal claimed that he has been sailing with Singh in the region since April, when he had stayed for four days in Antigua, a day in Dominica and four days in St Lucia.

In May, they were on a second yachting trip in the region, but could not book the boat that they used on their first trip, so they booked the Calliope of Arne yacht online. Choksi, wanted in a Rs 13,500-crore bank fraud case in India, had mysteriously gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been staying as a citizen since 2018.

He was detained in the neighbouring island country of Dominica for illegal entry, after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girlfriend. Choksi's lawyers alleged that he was abducted from Jolly Harbour in Antigua by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian, and brought to Dominica on a boat.

Also read: Dominica High Court adjourns Mehul Choksi's bail hearing till June 11
The Dominican government has declared fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi a prohibited immigrant. The development is expected to strengthen India's case. The order was issued by the Ministry of National Security and Home Affairs.

"In accordance to section 5(1)(f) of the Immigration and Passport Act Chapter 18:01 of the 2017 Revised laws of the Commonwealth of Dominica, you, Mr Mehul Chinubhai Choksi, are hereby declared a prohibited immigrant," the order, as seen by India Today, stated.

Also Read: Mehul Choksi's 'friend' Barbara Jabarica says he 'flirted' with her, gave fake diamond ring

"You are, therefore, not permitted to enter the Commonwealth of Dominica and the Chief of Police has been instructed to take all the necessary actions to have you repatriated," added the order, dated May 25, 2021, signed by Dominican minister Rayburn Blackmoore.

Sources further stated that the document was part of a submission made by the Dominican authorities before the court considering which the public prosecutor appealed to the HC to turn down Mehul Choksi's appeal and deport him to India.

Wanted in Rs 13,5000 crore PNB Bank fraud case, Mehul Choksi had mysteriously gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been living as a citizen since 2018.

Also Read: Man named in Mehul Choksi's alleged abduction denies any link to case

The fugitive businessman was arrested in the neighbouring island country of Dominica on the charge of illegal entry.

Choksi's lawyers claimed that he was kidnapped from Jolly Harbour in Antigua by the cops looking like Antiguan and Indian, and brought to Dominica on a boat.
Bill and Melinda Gates' divorce seems to have opened Pandora's box regarding the former couples' personal life.

The latest news doing rounds is that the Microsoft co-founder was dating many women secretly and devised a system to cover his tracks.

Bill Gates would drive to work at Microsoft in his Mercedes only to leave an hour later in a golden-brown Porsche that an assistant brought for him, according to a report published in Vanity Fair magazine.

Also Read: Bill Gates' divorce with Melinda Gates: What is the Jeffrey Epstein link?

This is how the billionaire used to conceal his activities, his staff revealed. The magazine's report published on Monday detailed ins and outs of Bill Gates' long-held rumours and his serial infidelity.

"We all assumed that it was when he was with women," a Microsoft employee told the magazine. "I knew there were many offsite meetings that were not on his calendar," the employee added.

The magazine further reported that Bill Gates' adventures were an open secret to people around him. Bill and Melinda Gates had announced their divorce on May 4, after 27 years of marriage.

Also Read: Microsoft investigated Bill Gates' 'intimate relationship' with employee before he quit: Report

Meanwhile, another employee ruled out the claims that Bill Gates used Porsche to meet women secretly, stating that he was very meticulous while planning his day.

The employee told the magazine that it was unlike him to vanish from office, describing him as "one of the most intensely scheduled people on the planet."

Vanity Fair's news report on Bill Gates' affairs is one of many that have surfaced since the divorce announcement.

Also Read: Bill Gates, Melinda Gates explore changes in structure of charitable foundation

The New York Times had on May 16 reported that the billionaire had chased women at Microsoft while he was married, adding that he once sent an email to a female employee, asking her out to dinner.

Another woman, who was once working for Gates Foundation, claimed that Bill Gates wanted to take her out to dinner, while they were on a business trip to New York.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un appears thinner in his latest pictures that surfaced on social media recently, triggering speculations about his health.

The images showing a slimmer Kim Jong Un sparked rumours that his weight loss might be a sign of worsening health.

In the photographs published by KCNA last weekend, the North Korean supreme leader was seen addressing a ruling party politburo meeting, his first public appearance after a gap of over a month.

Also Read: Kim Jong Un blames officials for North Korea's economic decay

Seoul-based NK news conducted a detailed analysis of Kim Jong-un's latest pictures. It compared the images of the North Korean dictator from November-December 2020 to April 2021, and June 2021.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting with senior officials from the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee and Provincial Party Committees in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released on June 8, by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). (Reuters)

In one of the photos, he was seen wearing an IWC Schaffhausen Portofino watch, reportedly worth $12,000.

The images also appeared to show that Kim Jong-un's left wrist is markedly thinner in similar photos taken in November 2020 and March this year.

Also Read: Kim Jong Un's sister asks US to cease war games if it wants to 'sleep in peace'

This isn't the first time his health has been speculated about. Last year, the North Korean leader remained out of the spotlight for 20 days, during which, he missed the birthday celebrations of his late grandfather and the country's founder Kim Il Sung.

Experts previously assessed that Kim Jong-un was at a high risk of cardiovascular disease as his family also has a history of heart issues.
Sky watchers will see Solar Eclipse today (June 10) between 01:42pm and 06:41pm. This will be an annular solar eclipse which takes place when the Moon is far enough from the Earth to appear smaller than the Sun in the sky.

This event is also known as the 'ring of fire' as the moon casts a shadow on the Earth and blocks sunlight as it moves between the Earth and the Sun. The edges of the sun give out a glowing halo as the Moon covers the centre of the Sun.

Where to watch Solar Eclipse or Surya Grahan

In India, the Surya Grahan today will be visible in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh.

Those living in parts of Canada, Greenland and northern Russia can see the annular eclipse. Sky gazers in parts of United States, northern Alaska and parts of the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and northern Africa will be able to witness partial solar eclipse.

Astronomy enthusiasts living in locations where the eclipse is not visible need not worry. American space agency NASA and timeanddate will stream the celestial event live on their YouTube channels.





How to watch Solar Eclipse or Surya Grahan

It is not advised to view a solar eclipse through the naked eye or via regular sunglasses. Sky watchers are advised to use solar viewing or eclipse glasses for the purpose. In case these glasses are not available, you can also use pinhole projection.

Facts about Solar Eclipse or Surya Grahan

The word 'eclipse' is derived from the Greek word 'ekleipsis', which means 'being abandoned'

Eclipses-solar and lunar were regarded as signs that could indicate the future of the Emperor in ancient China. Two Chinese astrologers-Hsi and Ho were executed as they failed to predict a solar eclipse

In ancient Greece, eclipses were not considered as good news but as a sign of the wrath of gods.

Annular solar eclipses take place because the Sun is near one of the nodes of the lunar orbit and the Moon is at the apogee at this node at the same time.

One cannot notice a total solar eclipse is not noticeable till the Moon does not cover around 90 per cent of the Sun's surface.

Total solar eclipses take place once every 1.5 years somewhere on the Earth.

At least two solar eclipses take place every year. Maximum number of eclipses to take place per year is 5.

Only partial eclipses can be observed both from the North and South Poles

Also read: Solar Eclipse 2021 Date: Will Surya Grahan be visible in India? Check timings, duration, other details
Since April 2020, Cisco's collaboration platform, WebEx, has on an average clocked 25 billion meeting minutes a month. Outside the United States, India has been the second-highest user, recording 40 per cent year-on-year increase in March 2021. Does this mean in-person meetings will become history? Probably not. However, most changes at the workplace triggered by the pandemic are here to stay.

This is not surprising. Adoption of digital technology has seen a decades growth in the past 12-15 months as companies shifted to the distributed remote work model. This meant increased demand for Cloud service providers. Companies also adopted digital tools to make operations more efficient. These included Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which involves automating repetitive tasks. As digital became big, cyber attacks also rose and security became a concern.

As these trends unfold over time, information technology (IT) companies are adopting new ways to help their clients manage these technological changes.

On Cloud Nine

The massive surge in adoption of Cloud services after the pandemic struck is making IT companies adopt an integrated Cloud-first strategy to meet demands of their consumers. A survey by global market intelligence firm IDC for Q4 of 2020 shows that 60 per cent Indian organisations exceeded their 2020 Cloud budgets by 5-15 per cent. The number one reason they cited was Covid-19.

From transforming business models to hiring experts in AI, ML and analytics, IT companies are doing everything possible to tap into the demand for Cloud services. They have, for example, helped healthcare companies run simulations on Cloud for formulations and drug discovery.

RPA, too, has become an important tool for raising employee productivity, streamlining processes and improving process quality and designs in order to improve customer experience. For instance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's virtual assistant, LiGo, uses IBM Watson AI to interact with policyholders, address queries, provide personalised account-specific information by applying NLP (natural language processing) and recognise the meaning behind the queries through deep learning techniques.

As governments, enterprises and startups shift to the Cloud, India's spending on public Cloud is expected to be $4 billion-plus in 2021, up 25 per cent year on year. The recent 'Cloud Radar 2021' survey conducted by the Infosys Knowledge Institute among enterprises from six regions showed that effective Cloud adoption can help companies earn nearly $414 billion in net profits. According to the report, the performance of top businesses (annual profit growth) was linked to how they used the Cloud for faster product development, finding solutions, expanding processing capacity, collaboration and unlocking value from data via AI. That is why IT service providers are asking clients to treat Cloud not as an end in itself but a launch pad for innovation. Microsoft's growth in quarter ended March 2021 was driven by its Azure Cloud platform's 50 per cent revenue growth (server products and Cloud services grew 26 per cent).

"We are accelerating innovation to meet customers where they are," says Rajiv Sodhi, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft India. The Azure Stack HCI (Hyper Converged Infrastructure) provides security, performance and feature updates. It helps companies deploy Windows and Linux virtual machines using their existing tools, processes and skill sets.

Apollo Hospital's new omni-channel healthcare platform, Apollo 24|7, too, uses Azure to connect patients with over 7,000 doctors through an easy-to-use interface on web and mobile. Even Cisco, whose teams worked with several large ITeS, financial services/insurance and public sector companies in India to enable their workforce to work from home due to the pandemic, was backed by its Cloud-enabled security and technology tools such as Cisco AnyConnect VPN. Anand Patil, Director, Systems Engineering, Cisco, India and SAARC, says while the pandemic has impacted industries in different ways, customers are looking for easy-to-use, easy-to-pay technology solutions. The demand for simplified, secure, enterprise-grade, Cloud-delivered technologies is rising, he says.

For IT service providers, mature markets like the US, Europe and Australia are leading spends in digital transformation and Cloud adoption. According to Naveen Mishra, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner, solutions around analytics, business intelligence, AI, ML and IoT are some of the biggest sources of revenue for IT companies (for most, these account for nearly half their revenues). For instance, Damen Shipyards Group has got TCS to develop an IoT platform for its vessels. It plans to use 10,000-15,000 sensors in vessels to enable predictive maintenance, remote servicing and savings in fuel consumption. Bengaluru-based Wipro has also seen a rise in demand for Cloud, AI/ML, IoT services from several industries, including retail, healthcare, ecommerce, manufacturing and telecom. It is offering catalogue-based services such as strategy, planning, design and Cloud implementation.

Process Automation

A recent survey by UiPath, a global software company, among Indian workers showed they waste 4.5 hours a week on tasks they feel can be automated. These include sending emails, scheduling calls/meetings, keying in data and creating datasets. A total of 40 per cent global respondents said their employers have increased investment in automation in 2021. "Much of the migration to Cloud in the past 12-18 months has been spurred by adoption of AI and intelligent automation," says Subram Natarajan, CTO and Director, Technical Sales, IBM Technology Sales, India/South Asia. Though RPA has been around for a while, its integration with AI has gained momentum of late, he adds.

Wipro is combining RPA with AI and smart analytics. Customers, say experts, expect value-added services such as alerts, promotions, intelligence and reviews for faster decision making. Automation provides Wipro instant feedback, helping clients understand customers better and improve services.

"RPA is important to increase employee productivity, streamline processes, improve process quality and designs and, thereby, provide enhanced customer experience," says Rishu Sharma, Principal Analyst, Cloud & Artificial Intelligence, IDC India.

Companies want to use data as a strategic asset, automate processes and innovate with new operating models. Mahesh Zurale, Senior Managing Director, Lead - Accenture's Advanced Technology Centers in India, sees need for more intelligent automation solutions. "According to a recent Accenture survey of 4,300 executives, 60 per cent of leaders have accelerated investments in RPA and AI," he says. Investing in automation is no longer just a cost issue. Gone are the days when companies adopted an intelligent automation platform and waited 18 months for results, says Subram. "Today companies take a process-centric approach, create an immediate business impact and move on the next area of automation rather than establishing a platform and then talking about automation," he says.

As automation and intelligent RPA have had a direct impact on the kind of talent needed, IT service providers are making huge investments to reskill their workforce. TCS has over 3.7 lakh people trained in new technologies and 4.5 lakh in Agile, a TCS proprietary methodology that enables enterprise-wide agile transformations without the constraint of location. Also, over 2.4 lakh Infosys employees use Lex, a learning solution to help organisations accelerate their talent transformation journey. It is a Cloud-first and mobile-first solution. However, till now, service providers have had a reactive approach to re-skilling their workforce, say experts. "They anticipate an uptick of automation technologies and work out the impact and do their reskilling," says Arup Roy, VP Analyst, Gartner. But predicting technology trends way ahead of their implementation is not an easy task.

Data and Security

With digital becoming all pervasive, cyber attacks, too, are getting deadlier and more frequent. Recently, in the United States, Colonial Pipeline had to pay a ransom of $4.4 million to regain control of its systems from hackers. The pandemic has made data and security a top concern for enterprises across the globe. IBM's Security report released earlier this year pointed out that India is the second-most attacked country in the Asia-Pacific, accounting for 7 per cent of all cyber attacks in Asia. Ransomware accounted for nearly 40 per cent of these attacks. Manufacturing and energy were the most attacked industries in 2020, second only to finance and insurance.

That is why large enterprises are now creating board-level cybersecurity committees for risk management. "In 2020, Gartner's Board of Directors Survey detailed cybersecurity-related risk to be the second-highest source of risk for enterprises," says Rajpreet Kaur, Sr Principal Analyst, Gartner. The primary reason is the cost and loss of trust among customers. Research firms and experts have cautioned that the attacks will increase in 2021 in all sectors. According to the annual Cybercrime report by Cybersecurities Venture, cybercrimes are estimated to cost the global economy $6 trillion in 2021, double the 2015 number.

All this makes data security all the more important. "Newer models of data storage on private Cloud are emerging, which can act as a good measure to deal with cyber threats," says Atul Gupta, Partner, IT Advisory and Cyber Security Leader, KPMG in India. The key factors deciding companies approach towards data storage include availability of data at all times, ease of access across channels, adequate controls, protection from cyber threats and regulatory requirements. Anand of Cisco says they are enhancing Cloud-based application security products - Cisco Tetration, Stealthwatch Cloud, Duo Beyond, AppDynamics - to enable visibility, performance agility, monitoring, real-time response and actionable insights.

As the spread of digital technology has increased sharply globally over the last 16 months, the world is witnessing an entirely new set of rules and behaviour. And that will surely impact lives across the board.

@rukminirao
Share of Petronet LNG rose 2 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 233.40 on BSE a day after the company reported numbers for the quarter ended March 2021.

For the quarter ended March 2021, the company reported an 11.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in revenue from operations at Rs 7,575 crore and the standalone profit was up 73.6 per cent YoY at Rs 623.4 crore.

The stock ended 1.62 per cent higher at Rs 232.25 against the previous close of Rs 228.55. Market cap of the firm rose to Rs 34,837.50 crore.

ICICI Securities believes that the numbers for Q4FY21 were largely in line with estimates on the operating front. However, profitability was lower due to a dip in other income.

Citi has downgraded the stock to 'neutral' and reduced its target price to Rs 260 from Rs 325 per share.

The brokerage firm has lowered FY22-23 earnings estimates by 7-9 percent. It also noted that the FY21 dividend payout is lower at 58 per cent as compared to 70 per cent over FY19-20.

However, CLSA is bullish on the stock and has maintained a 'Buy' call with a target price of Rs 270 per share. The brokerage house believes that the stock is among the most attractive value stocks in India.

Credit Suisse believes that improvement in utilisation at Dahej and Kochi are catalysts. The brokerage has an 'outperform' call on the stock with a target price of Rs 270 per share.

Promoters held 50 per cent stake in the company as of March 31, 2021, while FIIs held 30.5 per cent, DIIs 6.3 per cent and public and other 13.2 per cent.

The board of the company announced a final dividend of Rs 3.5 per share, in addition to an interim dividend of Rs 8 - totaling Rs 11.5 per share.

Petronet LNG Limited is a Public Limited Company in the Indian energy sector. It has set up the country's first LNG receiving and regasification terminal at Dahej, Gujarat with a present nominal capacity of 17.5 MMTPA, and another terminal at Kochi, Kerala having a nominal capacity of 5 MMTPA.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR against billionaire Gautam Thapar, promoter of the Avantha Group, and others for alleged diversion of over Rs 466 crore in Yes Bank during 2017-19.

The industrialist and others have been accused of cheating the bank by availing of a loan that turned into an NPA (non-performing asset).

CBI carried out searches at 14 locations in Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Secunderabad on Wednesday, after registering the case, which led to the recovery of incriminatory documents and digital evidence.

Also Read: CBI raids 100 locations in bank frauds over Rs 3,700 crore

Thapar is already being investigated in another case pertaining to the diversion of public money in Yes Bank allegedly involving Yes Bank's former chief Rana Kapoor.

CBI had filed a case against two private companies based at Delhi and Gurugram and their promoters and directors besides some bank officials, who have not been identified yet, for defrauding Yes Bank.

"It was alleged that the private company based at Gurugram/Delhi had availed term loan facility of Rs 515 crore from Yes Bank Limited in December, 2017. The loan amount was declared as NPA on October 30, 2019. Further, the borrower was allegedly declared 'Red Flagged Account' on March 6, 2020, on the basis of Early Warning Signals (EWS)," an agency spokesperson told the Times of India.

Besides Thapar, CBI has also named Rajendra Kumar Mangal, Tapsi Mahajan, Raghubir Kumar Sharma, and their companies Avantha Reality Pvt Ltd, Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd, unknown officials of Jhabua Power Ltd.

Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd (OBPL) is part of Avantha group with over 97 per cent stake held by Avantha Realty and the remaining by Thapar and Vani agencies, the CBI alleged.

The case has been registered on a complaint, dated May 27, 2021, from Chief Vigilance Officer of Yes Bank Ashish Vinod Joshi.

Also Read: YES Bank founder Rana Kapoor arrested by ED in another money laundering case

The CBI has alleged that the accused have indulged in a criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, and forgery for diversion of public money to the tune of Rs 466.15 crore.

The complaint by Yes Bank, now a part of the FIR, has alleged that Jhabua Power Limited (JPL), a group concern of OBPL, entered in a operations and maintenance contract for its 600 MW power plant with its holding company Jhabua Power Investment Ltd for 10 years.

OBPL was required to pay an interest-free refundable security deposit of Rs 515 crore to JPIL for which Yes Bank had sanctioned a long-term loan of Rs 515 crore for 10 years.

The company defaulted on payments with the account turning into a non-performing asset on October 30, 2019.

The total outstanding principal dues stand at Rs 466.15 crore, it alleged.

Also Read: Sameer Gehlaut, Gautam Thapar, Subhash Chandra summoned in Yes Bank case

During its forensic audit, the bank found that only Rs 14.16 crore of the total Rs 514.27 crore disbursed by the bank were transferred to JPIL in its IndusInd bank account and "ultimate end use of Rs 500.11 crore loan fund could not be ascertained", the complaint alleged.

The inspection of JPIL accounts showed that it had granted an advance of Rs 345.15 crore to group company Avantha Power and Infrastructure Ltd from the security money received from OBPL, but in the absence of account statements of JPIL, the money trail could not be established by the auditor, it alleged.

During an internal review of bank documents, Yes Bank found that the money given to OBPL for the security deposit to JPIL was used by it to clear loans of the Avantha group of Gautam Thapar.
Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine may be priced under $10 (around Rs 730) per dose in India. This could be the lowest price for the mRNA-based jab globally, and almost half the rate in developed markets such as the UK, US and EU.

US pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have co-developed the two-shot COVID-19 vaccine called BNT162b2.

"It is a single-digit price per dose," a source told the Business Standard, adding that "this is a not-for-profit price for the government's immunisation programme."

Also Read: US to buy 500 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to share via COVAX alliance

The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine costs $19.5 (Rs 1,423) per dose in the US, and around $21 (Rs 1,532) a dose in the UK.

In the EU, the jab was priced at about $18.9 per dose earlier but price negotiations are in progress for a higher rate of $23.2 (Rs 1,693) a dose, the report added. The India price, thus, maybe the lowest.

Russia's Sputnik V is priced in the country at Rs 995 per dose (inclusive of taxes) in the private market, while Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield, produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech's made-in-India Covaxin cost Rs 600 and Rs 1200 a dose currently.

Also Read: Pfizer, Moderna, Serum & the indemnity issue; what is it and what it means for India?

Meanwhile, Pfizer is holding talks with the Centre for supplying its COVID-19 vaccine to the country.

"Pfizer has offered to make the required doses of our COVID-19 vaccine available at a not-for-profit price for India, as for all low and lower-middle income countries, once we have the necessary regulatory clearance. Currently, as our discussions with the government of India are ongoing and confidential, we cannot provide further details," a Pfizer spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the talks on indemnity are underway between the US pharma giant and the Centre. Manufacturers like Pfizer and Moderna have been provided legal protection by the US govt, except in the cases of "willful misconduct" by the firms.
Highlights Reliance Jio customers can now talk to customer executive on WhatsApp.

Customers can make mobile recharges, Jio Fiber recharges, and more on this number.

WhatsApp customer executive will also take complaints from customers.

If you are a Jio user, getting a new SIM card or recharging your mobile or broadband connection is going to be a lot easier. Jio has launched a WhatsApp number that you can chat with to make recharges, request for port-in MNP, customer support for Jio Fiber and international roaming among other mobile or broadband connection related queries. Not just mobility and broadband, Jio is also extending support for JioMart services through its WhatsApp number.

Jio users can send "Hi" to 7000770007 on WhatsApp to start using chat-based services. Jio said that a customer executive will reply to users, instead of a bot, which means users can make a variety of queries and not just the predefined ones. In addition to queries and support, the online executive will also receive complaints, so if something is not right with your Jio mobile connection, broadband connection, or a JioMart order, you can lodge a complaint without needing to speak with the executive on the phone.

Recharging your mobile number or Jio Fiber broadband number is going to be quite easy. You just have to share the number you want to recharge and the tariff plan. If you are unsure about what tariff plan is right for you, you can even ask the executive on WhatsApp to send details according to your connection type, i.e., prepaid, postpaid, or broadband. For payment, the poster that Reliance Jio has shared shows a horde of options, such as JioPay, Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, Amazon Pay, among others. Users can talk to the Jio executive in English and Hindi for now, but support for more regional languages may arrive later.

The arrival of Jio services on WhatsApp is a result of the investment Facebook made in Reliance Jio. Last year, Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, bought a 9.99 per cent stake in Reliance Jio for around Rs 43,574 crore. The social media giant is now the biggest minority stakeholder in Jio Platforms -- a subsidiary of Reliance Industries that is also a holding company for Reliance Jio mobile network -- and the strategic partnership is the reason Jio services will get more visibility on Facebook's platforms and vice versa.

In other news, Reliance Industries will hold its 44th annual general meeting (AGM) on June 24 at 2 pm. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is likely to announce the Jio 5G network along with its roadmap for deployment in India. A Jio 5G phone, a Jio Android phone, and a Jio laptop are also among the products that Reliance Industries may announce at the event.
Highlights US President Joe Biden will not ban TikTok in the United States, at least not immediately.

Biden has revoked the ban imposed on TikTok and WeChat by the Donald Trump administration.

US President Donald Trump had signed a series of executive orders to block apps that are owned by Chinese companies

US President Joe Biden will not ban TikTok in the United States, at least not immediately. Biden has revoked the ban imposed on TikTok and WeChat by the Donald Trump administration. He has now signed a fresh executive order to shield US information and communications technology from threats that also involves the ones from China.

"Today, President Biden signed an Executive Order (E.O.) to further address the ongoing national emergency declared in E.O. 13873 of May 15, 2019, with respect to the threat posed to the United States' information and communications technology and services (ICTS) supply chain. President Biden revoked and replaced three E.O.s that aimed to prohibit transactions with TikTok, WeChat, and eight other communications and financial technology software applications; two of these E.O.s are subject to litigation," the executive order read.

Former US President Donald Trump had signed a series of executive orders to block apps that are owned by Chinese companies including TikTok, Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay, and WPS Office. He had ordered Bytedance to sell its US arm to an American company.

"The pace and pervasiveness of the spread in the United States of certain connected mobile and desktop applications and other software developed or controlled by persons in the People's Republic of China... continue to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States." Trump's executive order read.

Several companies including Oracle, Microsoft were rumoured to take over the US share of TikTok, but no deal was finalised. Trump had said that if Bytedance fails to sell the business will be blocked in America along with other apps. However, in December a Judge had stopped the TikTok ban in the US by granting a preliminary injunction in December 2020.

Biden's had directed the commerce department of the country to closely monitor apps like TikTok and in what way can they affect the US national security, the concerns raised by Trump's administration. As per the Reuters report, Michael Bien a lawyer for WeChat Users Alliance had praised Biden for revoking Trump's decision to ban TikTok, WeChat.

As of now, TikTok has over 100 million users in the United States and WeChat has 19 million users.
ByteDance launched on Thursday its new Volcano Engine brand to offer the proprietary algorithm used to power TikTok's personalised recommendations to more corporate clients, as the company seeks to expand beyond mainstay consumer products.

The algorithm is considered the "secret sauce" behind short-video app TikTok's global success and was one of the focal points when China's ByteDance was forced into talks to sell part of TikTok's U.S operations last year following former President Donald Trump's executive order.

China at the time had revised its export restrictions so that it would have a say over the potential transfer of TikTok's algorithm to foreign buyers.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday revoked the Trump order and ordered a new review of security concerns posed by the Chinese apps.

ByteDance said in a statement on Thursday that Volcano Engine offers enterprise clients technologies such as recommendation algorithm, data analysis and artificial intelligence.

It said Volcano Engine has been already operating for a year and has such corporate clients as e-commerce giant JD.com, smartphone maker Vivo and automaker Geely.

It also plans to add public cloud computing services, a sector already immensely competitive and dominated by Big Techs in China such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei, a source close to the matter said.

ByteDance declined to comment on the cloud service plan.

ByteDance's bulk of revenue comes from consumer-facing products such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and news gathering app Jinri Toutiao. As growth prospects for those businesses are set to weaken, ByteDance has been seeking to make inroads into new areas such as enterprise services.

The company also operates a work-collaboration tool Lark and its Chinese version Feishu.

Also Read: This is how Anand Mahindra will react when COVID-19 pandemic is finally over

Also Read: ByteDance Co-Founder Zhang Yiming to step down as CEO; Rubo Liang to succeed
Koo on Thursday said the Government of Nigeria has set up an official account on the Indian microblogging platform, which is looking at making deeper inroads into the African nation.

The development comes in the backdrop of a standoff between the Nigerian government and Koo rival, Twitter. Last week, the Nigerian government had announced an indefinite suspension of the US social media platform in that country.

Koo co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna in a post on Koo said, The official handle of the government of Nigeria is now on Koo!

Interestingly, he also shared the information on Twitter saying : A very warm welcome to the official handle of the Government of Nigeria on @kooindia ! Spreading wings beyond India now .

Last week, the Nigerian government had said it was suspending Twitter indefinitely after the company removed a contentious tweet that President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement.

Following this, Koo had said the platform is available in Nigeria and that it is keen on adding new local languages for users in that country.

Now that there is an opportunity for microblogging platforms in Nigeria...Koo is looking at introducing local Nigerian languages in the app, Radhakrishna had told PTI in an interview.

He had noted that the platform is keen on making inroads in the Nigerian market, and that Koo will abide by the local laws of each country that it operates in.

Koo has previously stated that it has already complied with India's IT rules enforced last month, and that it has shared necessary details as sought by the government on the issue.

Founded by Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, Koo was launched last year to allow users to express themselves and engage on the platform in Indian languages. It supports multiple languages including Hindi, Telugu and Bengali, among others.

Th indigenous platform has over 60 lakh users, and had recently raised USD 30 million (about Rs 218 crore) in a funding round led by Tiger Global.

Koo's popularity in India peaked amid the Indian government's spat with Twitter and growing calls for expanding the ecosystem of homegrown digital platforms. The platform has seen a massive growth in its user base over the past few months, after union ministers and government departments in India endorsed the homegrown microblogging platform.

Also read: Facebook to launch its first smartwatch next year; to be priced at Rs 29,000
RSA Security LLC ("RSA" or the "Company") today announced the transition of its Fraud & Risk Intelligence business into a new standalone company serving a worldwide customer and partner community.

The new organization, Outseer, is led by CEO Reed Taussig who joined the RSA Fraud & Risk Intelligence business in late 2020 and is a veteran of the fraud prevention and digital identity industry.

With this strategic transition defined by self-directed company management and a modern corporate identity, Outseer will continue to deliver all heritage products in a newly constituted portfolio:

Outseer Fraud Manager: (formerly RSA Adaptive Authentication) protects customers across all digital channels with risk-based account monitoring decisions

Outseer 3-D Secure: (formerly RSA Adaptive Authentication for eCommerce) the gold standard in card-not-present and digital payments authentication mapping to the latest EMV 3-D Secure standard

Outseer FraudAction: (formerly RSA FraudAction) delivers rapid detection, takedown, and data insights related to phishing sites, rogue apps, and fraudulent social media pages

Together, these award-winning offerings serve as the benchmark for payments authentication, detecting account compromise fraud, and fraud investigations while upholding friction-free customer experiences for the worlds leading merchants, issuing banks, and payment providers.

Underlying the Outseer product portfolio are two deep investments in data and science:

Outseer Global Data Network: The industrys first global consortium of verified fraud and transaction data

Outseer Risk Engine: Identity-centric risk graph delivering 95% fraud detection rates with an intervention rate of 5% or less

Outseer is the culmination of decades of science-driven innovation in anti-fraud and payments authentication solutions, Taussig said. As the digital economy continues to deepen, the Outseer mission to liberate the world from transactional fraud is essential. Our role as a revenue enabler for the global economy will only strengthen as every digital business continues to scale.

This move follows the COVID-19 pandemic which fueled unprecedented growth in digital commerce, compressing a decade of transformation into 12 months. Payment card schemes, issuing banks, and commerce providers have witnessed unprecedented fraudulent transactions and even orchestrated attacks in their payment networks.

To meet these new challenges, Outseer will continue to innovate their payments authentication offerings, mapping closely to the EMV 3-D Secure 2.x payment standard and incorporating new technology integrations across the payments and commerce ecosystem.

Outseers reason for being isnt just focused on eliminating payments and account fraud, Taussig said. These fraudulent transactions are often the pretext for more sinister drug and human trafficking, terrorism, and other nefarious behavior. Outseer has the ability to help make the world a safer place.

Founded in 1982, RSA has built a reputation over four decades of being a critical solution provider for security-sensitive customers and a leader of innovation that enables enterprises to address rapidly evolving risks and security threats. Today, RSA services 2 billion individual users and has 26 million identities under management, and more than 12,500 customers rely on RSA's software solutions to enable their digital transformation, address increasingly advanced cyber threats and adapt to more complex digital regulations.

RSA announced in 2020 that it had begun operating as an independent company via acquisition by Symphony Technology Group, valuing the company at $2.1 billion.

Related resources:

Watch the Outseer introduction video

Visit Outseer.com

Request a demo of Outseer products

About Outseer

Outseer, an RSA company, empowers the digital economy to grow by authenticating billions of transactions annually. Our payment and account monitoring solutions increase revenue and reduce customer friction for card issuing banks, payment processors, and merchants worldwide. Leveraging 20 billion annual transactions from 6,000 global institutions contributing to the Outseer Data Network, our identity-based science delivers the highest fraud detection rates and lowest customer intervention in the industry. See what others cant at outseer.com.

About RSA

RSA, a leader in cybersecurity and risk management solutions, provides organizations with technology to address challenges across security, risk management and fraud prevention in the digital era. RSA solutions are designed to effectively detect and respond to advanced attacks; manage user access control; and reduce operational risk, fraud and cybercrime. RSA protects millions of users around the world and helps more than 90 percent of the Fortune 100 companies thrive and continuously adapt to transformational change.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210609005320/en/
(Straits Times)  South Korea is hoping to expedite travel bubble talks with the likes of Singapore and Taiwan to allow quarantine-free travel for fully vaccinated people from as early as July, as part of a national campaign to encourage mass vaccination.

The Transport Ministry said on June 9 that it is pushing to allow people who have taken two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to go on group tours to countries that have strong virus control measures in place and have been relatively successful in containing the pandemic.

Only 4.5% of the population, or 2.32 million people, have been fully vaccinated since jabs were rolled out on Feb. 26.

The ministry said talks are already under way with Singapore and Taiwan to sign a travel bubble agreement, and it will also reach out to other territories such as Guam, Saipan and Thailand to discuss reopening air travel.

Read More

In Depth: Asias Ruined Run of Pandemic Success

The Straits Times has reached out to Singapores Ministry of Transport for comment.

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Wednesday that border restrictions have dealt a severe blow to the aviation and travel industry for too long, and many people are yearning to go overseas again.

Resuming international travel will mark the beginning of life going back to normal, he said during a meeting.

The transport ministry said it is planning to allow only selected package tours in the first phase of the travel bubble program, and those who sign up must stick to the itinerary instead of roam freely.

Travelers must also test for Covid-19 and submit negative test results three days before departure and test again upon arrival at their destination.

An official was cited as saying that the prospect of signing a travel bubble deal with Singapore, Guam or Saipan is higher as they have shown a lot of enthusiasm for such an agreement.

Singapore had planned to launch its first bilateral air travel bubble with Hong Kong last November but it was postponed twice due to spikes in Covid-19 cases.

Guam and Saipan, both United States territories, already allow visitors who received U.S.-approved vaccines, such as Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen, to be exempted from a mandatory two-week quarantine.

Jeju Air, South Koreas largest budget airline, has resumed flights to Saipan in anticipation of a surge in travel demand.

The country reported 602 more cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the total to 145,692.

Some 9.2 million people, comprising 17.9% of the population, have received their first shots of the Covid-19 vaccine as at Wednesday.

South Korea has been trying to accelerate its vaccination program by dangling incentives such as allowing those who received at least one dose of the vaccine to roam outdoors without wearing a mask and have bigger family gatherings from July onwards.

Those who are fully vaccinated will be exempted from the current gathering ban of more than four people from July.

More incentives announced on Wednesday include cultural heritage promotions for people who received at least one dose of the vaccine, such as free tours at royal palaces and discounts on tickets to traditional performances.

An official said they prepared these deals to encourage vaccinations and help those who have been vaccinated return to normal life.

South Korea hopes that more than 14 million people can get their first jabs by the end of the month and 36 million by September.

In order for the country to achieve herd immunity as planned, some 36 million people  70% of the population  must be fully vaccinated by November.

This story was first published in The Straits Times

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A second grader in Illinois had her Bible taken away because she was reading it and discussing it with her classmates during recess. The school eventually reversed their decision following a letter that "educated" them.

A report by Francis J. Manion of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), provides proof of the problem.

"We recently heard from the parents of Gabrielle, a second grader in Illinois," the report states. "It seems Gabrielle likes to bring her Bible to school and read it during recess. Sometimes she reads it aloud, and sometimes other kids listen in and talk with her about what she's reading."

"Constitutional crisis? It shouldn't be; but little Gabrielle had her Bible taken away by a teacher and was told, 'You just can't be doing that,'" the report continued.

The school called Gabrielle's parents and informed them that their daughter would not be allowed to read the Bible during recess. When the parents protested, the school reportedly eased down a little, allowing her to read it at recess outdoors but not inside. The school also stated that Gabrielle's reading has not been complained about by any student or parent of a student.

Gabrielle's parents contacted ACLJ, who promptly issued a letter to the school with the goal of educating the teachers.

"No threats. No demands. Just an amicable attempt to educate the educators," said Manion of the letter. "We let them know about the now half-century-old Supreme Court case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).

Manion explained that at that time, students in Tinker who donned black armbands on their sleeves to protest the Vietnam War were sent home and suspended from school. Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students, holding that children do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."

The ruling for Tinker and the like determined that a student cannot be barred from expressing his/her political or religious ideas unless the school has grounds to think that the "speech or expression will materially and substantially disrupt the school's work and discipline."

Through that letter, ACLJ was able to argue that in Gabrielle's case, there was no justification to punish a second grader for reading her Bible in the playground or in the classroom during recess since there was no evidence of disruption of the school's work, not even a complaint.

"We're happy to report that after reviewing our letter, the school thanked us for educating them and removed all restrictions on Gabrielle's reading," said Manion.

He went on to say that the ACLJ would continue to fight for students' right to religious freedom in the classroom. He also advised people to contact them if a student is being discriminated against because of his/her beliefs at school.

Lydia Booth's case

Lydia Booth, like Gabrielle, does not hold back when it comes to sharing her beliefs. She donned her favorite "Jesus Loves Me" mask to school because she wanted to share the love of Jesus with everyone.

"It makes me feel like I'm protected by Jesus. And it makes me think people will think it's a great mask, and that Jesus is a great God, and a great Savior," she said of her favorite mask.

Booth's "Jesus Loves Me" face mask was banned by her school citing a policy banning masks with political or religious messages.

Consequently, the Booth family sought help from Alliance Defending Freedom which filed a lawsuit against the school system on the young student's behalf.
Sometimes you dont realize how much everything looks the same until you see something that looks truly different.

Thats the feeling I get from watching the trailer for Snotty Boy, a new co-production from Austria and Germany that will premiere in competition next week at Annecy:

The designs verge on the grotesque, but so do real people. Were so accustomed to generic cartoon symbols of humans in cg animation that it can be jarring to see animated figures who look like caricatures of actual people. The filmmakers didnt have to develop the style from scratch: the designs are based on the work of Austrian cartoonist Manfred Deix (1949-2016), whose life story also inspired the films plot:
Photo: University of Alberta

Last week, in the House of Commons, the NDP used their Opposition Day to table a motion that, in the words of South Okanagan-West Kootenay NDP MP Richard Cannings:

called on the government to take the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions calls to action seriously. It asked the government to finally fund the investigations that are needed to let us all know the truth. And it asked the government to stop fighting indigenous children in court.



As MP Cannings went on to point out:



that motion was passed unanimously in the House of Commons, though, shamefully, a few cabinet ministers abstained and the rest of the Cabinet, including the Prime Minister, didnt even show up to vote.

I voted in support of this motion and participated in the emergency debate on this topic.



During the debate, one of the concerns that I shared is that we must be careful in Ottawa to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

Many of the local Indigenous communities I have heard from are still in shock and others are holding community meetings. I am told there are many discussions underway.



I should also add that none of the Indigenous communities within my riding expressed support or opposition to this NDP motion, nor has other guidance been offered at this point.



This, in my view, raises a concern, when elected officials in Ottawa debate and vote on a motion with very little input or consultation with Indigenous leaders.



Some could rightfully call this an Ottawa knows best approach.



I believe we must recognize that this approach has historically not served our country well.



On balance, I supported this NDP motion as I believe the intentions were sincere.



However, I also believe we must take great caution when moving on a motion without proper direction from those Indigenous communities who will be most impacted by decisions made in Ottawa.



Meaning well and being well intentioned does not mean actual outcomes will unfold as hoped or intended.



As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently stated:



If it (true reconciliation) were only done by ministers, if it were only done by Ottawa, to solve these challenges, it might have been done long ago, but it would have been done wrong,



My question this week:

While this NDP motion was well intended, do you believe Parliament should take greater caution in the future to receive direction and input from communities that will be impacted?

I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.
Photo: BC Courts

The Law Society of B.C.s one-month suspension and $4,000 fine of a Vancouver lawyer who mishandled residential school clients abuse compensation claims is drawing heavy criticism from B.C.s Tsilhqot'in Nation.

A society decision said between 2009 and 2015, Stephen John Bronstein acted for 624 school survivors who made claims as part of B.C.s Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

His practice consisted almost exclusively of Indian residential school claims, the society said in a May 20 decision, noting that under the agreement, Canada paid Bronsteins firm $10.5 million in legal fees in relation to those claims.

The decision, said the firm, in some cases, kept a larger percentage of settlement amounts than allowed.

Bronstein admitted professional misconduct in 17 clients cases.

The society said the behaviour had persisted after a court had stepped in to address deficiencies in Bronsteins law practice.

One society discipline panel member, Karen Snowshoe, called the penalty grossly inadequate.

Ts?ilhqotin National Government Chief Joe Alphonse said the case is another instance of First Nations people being let down.

The failure to appropriately condemn this misconduct is yet another injustice and stain on the handling of the victims and survivors of residential schools, Alphonse said. Bronstein failed to protect his clients and created a situation of further victimization and trauma for survivors.

This outcome makes a mockery of justice.

In 2017, Bronstein was cited for six allegations of professional misconduct connected with that work.

First, the society found it failed to exercise due diligence regarding Ivon Johnny, a Ts?ilhqotin residential school survivor and paroled murderer the lawyer hired to help clients fill out application forms.

Johnny was convicted of first-degree murder in 1985 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The society found Bronstein failed to adequately address, respond to or investigate complaints made about Johnny, including complaints that Johnny allegedly demanded money from the clients without justification. The society found those demands ranged from $5,000 to $20,000.

It is unknown whether any of the complaints made against Mr. Johnny were true, and thus whether the Respondents lack of due diligence caused any clients actual harm, the society said.

Second, the society said, Bronstein directed staff to remove the declarations that some or all of 17 clients had signed on their original application forms, and to attach these declarations to revised forms that his clients had approved over the phone but had never seen.

Third, the society said, Bronstein provided inadequate service to some clients, failed to advance their claims in a timely manner and improperly delegated to non-lawyers such as Johnny the task of explaining his contingency fee agreement to prospective clients.

Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat chief adjudicator Daniel Ish and adjudicator Catherine Knox became involved, meeting with Bronstein to discuss allegations that Johnny was allegedly encouraging claimants to fabricate or embellish their IAP claims. They also advised the Respondent that allegations had been made that Mr. Johnny had demanded that claimants provide him with a portion of their settlement funds, sometimes accompanied by threats or extortion.

Johnny was arrested in 2012 and his parole was suspended, apparently because of concerns regarding his treatment of Bronsteins clients.

The society said Bronsteins misconduct takes on added significance given the historical, social and legal context surrounding the representation of residential school survivors.

The law had failed these claimants once before, in a very serious way. The intention of the [settlement] process was to start a journey towards healing and remediation, the society said. In these circumstances, the respondents misconduct can only be seen as extremely serious. The need for general deterrence looms large. So too does the need to ensure that the public has confidence in the legal profession and the administration of justice more generally.

Snowshoe, however, called the society a colonial institution and said the penalty does little to maintain confidence in the legal profession.

The courts and other law societies have recognized that this particular class of people are inherently vulnerable and require court protection, as well as the utmost sensitivity and care by lawyers, Snowshoe said. Instead of providing the utmost care and offering protection, the respondent did the opposite by exposing his clients to further harm and re-victimization.

Alphonse said the case required more investigation into Johnnys actions.

Our people have been through enough without having to contend with further ignorance and failure of the Canadian legal system, he said. It took a lot of courage for witnesses to come forward, and this is what they have to show for it  nothing. Bronstein basically got off with no repercussion. Once again the system has let us down.
New claims have been leveled against the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention in a letter addressed by Russell Moore to the SBC's current president, J.D. Greear, on May 31.

According to Christian Post (CP), Russell Moore, the former head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, claims that officials of the Southern Baptist Convention mismanaged a "crisis of sexual abuse" using methods such as silencing whistleblowers and absolving churches that have seriously neglected victims of sexual abuse.

This second leaked letter follows an earlier letter in which Russell Moore disclosed his psychological battle as well as the covert assaults made against him in order to silence his opposition to the SBC's severe concerns.

"You know well the obstacles that both you and I faced from figures within the Executive Committee in merely raising questions about sexual abuse, questions compellingly raised by the Houston Chronicle, among others," Moore's letter reads.

"You and I both heard, in closed door meetings, sexual abuse survivors spoken of in terms of 'Potiphar's wife' and other spurious biblical analogies. The conversations in these closed door meetings were far worse than anything Southern Baptists knew - or the outside world could report," he wrote.

CP noted that the Houston Chronicle released a three-part article in 2019 in which it discovered more than 700 victims of alleged sexual abuse by 380 Southern Baptist officials and volunteers since 1998. A total of 220 people were found guilty, with 100 of them still serving time behind bars.

The great majority of the victims were minors at the time of the abuse. They accused Southern Baptist officials of covering up the abuse, including previous presidents. After leaving their congregations, several of those accused of sexual assault were apparently able to find jobs in other Southern Baptist churches.

This spurred Greear to propose and execute a number of changes aimed at making churches safer, although Moore noted that some of the measures were problematic with SBC Executive Committee officials.

"Behind all of this was the undiluted rage that you and I faced from Executive Committee officers-including the then-chairman," Moore went on. "This included but was hardly limited to the tense meeting that you, Todd Unzicker, and Phillip Bethancourt from my team had with Mike Stone and Ronnie Floyd in Atlanta in May of 2019. There Stone vigorously insisted on delaying the formation of a credentials committee to assess churches reported to be mishandling sexual abuse."

According to the Washington Post, Moore, who has served as one of the highest-profile leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, chose to divulge the identities of important individual leaders participating in what he characterized as "intimidation tactics" on his final day as a Southern Baptist official.

Moore's letter was directed to several members of the SBC's Executive Committee, which is situated in Nashville and manages the convention's operations and finances. He spoke of the Executive Committee's "spiritual and psychological abuse of sexual abuse survivors" as well as "a pattern of attempted intimidation of those who speak on such matters."

"You and I were critical of such moves, believing that they jeopardized not only the gospel witness of the SBC, but also the lives of vulnerable children and others in Southern Baptist churches," Moore went on.

According to Baptist News, Greear admitted receiving Moore's letter but classified it as a "private correspondence."

"I was aware of some things contained in the letter, but not everything," he said. "Although my own struggles with the Executive Committee related to some of these initiatives are well documented, I know churches in our convention both want and deserve the truth on these matters, and I expect these things to come up at our annual meeting next week."
Photo: The Canadian Press

A parliamentary committee issued a scathing report Thursday on the Trudeau governments now-cancelled deal with WE Charity that includes calls for stronger measures to protect against inappropriate lobbying and conflicts of interest.

The report from the House of Commons ethics committees followed months of contentious hearings and the release of thousands of pages of documents since last spring, when the government first inked the agreement with WE.

Committee members from all three main opposition parties signed off on the majority report, which focused on WEs connections to various members of the Liberal government as well as the organizations lobbying and business practices.

The report also called attention to the various challenges that committee members faced in conducting their study. It started last summer, was interrupted after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in August, and then resumed in the fall.

Among the challenges was the governments refusal to send some ministerial staff to testify on what they knew about the agreement with WE. The government argued that ministers are ultimately responsible for their staff.

Some witnesses only appear before this committee after the summons were issued or the threat of summons in this case, Conservative MP and ethics committee chair Chris Warkentin told the House of Commons after the report was tabled.

In addition, the committee is of the view that some of the witnesses response to requests for documents or written answers to questions are incomplete. Despite all the documents and written responses received, the committee believes there are still many questions to be answered.

The WE affair has bedevilled Trudeau's minority Liberal government since last summer when it decided to pay the charity up to $43.5 million to administer a volunteer student grant program.

The contract specified WE was not to make a profit from the deal.

The decision prompted immediate controversy due to the charity's ties to Trudeau and his wife, as well as to his mother and brother, both of whom had been paid to appear at some WE events over the years.

Then-finance minister Bill Morneau, whose daughter worked for WE and who had made generous donations to it, also came under fire. Trudeau and Morneau apologized for not recusing themselves from the decision. WE Charity quickly withdrew from the program, which was cancelled.

Last month, ethics commissioner Mario Dion ruled that Trudeau did not breach the Conflict of Interest Act. But in a separate report, he also ruled Morneau did break the rules and gave preferential treatment to WE Charity because of his personal friendship with Craig and Marc Kielburger.

While the committee took aim in its report at Trudeau, Morneau and Youth Minister Bardish Chagger, it also criticized some of the charitys business practices.

The committee notes that over the 10 months of its study, it was unable to get a clear picture of the financial structure of the WE group, the report reads.

We were unable to ascertain a clear division between how monies flowed through the charitable wing and their for-profit operations. We were also denied information on the ownership structure of their multitude of side companies.

The committee called on the government not to work with WE again until an audit by the Canada Revenue Agency or an independent group was undertaken to determine how the company operates.

The committee also flagged what it saw as gaps and weaknesses in the federal lobbying regime, and called for new measures such as granting the lobbying commissioner investigative powers.

It also asked that the lobbying and ethics commissioners be given more powers to fine violators, and for the government to put up better screens to prevent potential conflicts of interest in the future.

Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett in a statement said the report shines a light on a troubling pattern of Liberal corruption. It is time to clean up the mess and end the abuse by insiders.

Liberal committee members in their own dissenting report agreed with the need to review both the Lobbying Act and the Conflict of Interest Act, but accused the opposition of a veritable witch hunt that led to WE and others being targeted online and elsewhere.

It was the public harassment and violent threats against witnesses called to testify for this study that were especially troubling.  WE Charity co-founder Craig Kielburger reported multiple intimidation and death threats against him and his family, including his elderly parents.
Photo: The Canadian Press Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Liberals table bill to make criminal pardons quicker, cheaper

The Liberal government is tabling legislation to make it easier and less expensive to obtain a criminal pardon. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

The federal government is tabling legislation to make it easier and less expensive to obtain a criminal pardon.

Introduced in the House of Commons this morning, the bill to amend the Criminal Records Act would undo measures introduced by Stephen Harpers Conservatives that made people wait longer and pay more for a pardon.

Under the Conservative changes, lesser offenders  those with a summary conviction  must wait five years instead of three before they can apply.

Offenders who have served a sentence for a more serious crime  an indictable offence  must wait 10 years instead of five. Both those rules would be reversed under the new legislation.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says the cost of applying for a pardon shot up to $658 from $150 over the last 10 years, pushing down the number of applicants by more than half.

Blair says a smoother path to pardons will remove barriers to employment, travel and housing applications and clear the way to reintegration.

The Conservatives have previously said taxpayers should not subsidize the cost of pardons.
Photo: The Canadian Press Ralph Goodale attends a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday, Aug 6, 2019. Goodale, the prime minister's special adviser on the downing of flight PS752 in Iran last year says as long as Iran refuses to tell the whole truth about the crash, the country's airspace remains unsafe. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

The prime minister's special adviser on the downing of flight PS752 last year says as long as Iran refuses to tell the whole truth about the crash, the country's airspace remains unsafe.

Ralph Goodale, a former Liberal cabinet minister who is now the Canadian high commissioner in the United Kingdom, told the House of Commons transport committee this afternoon that Iran's behaviour before and after the crash was "incompetent," "reckless" and showed a complete lack of regard for human life.

He says in the months since the crash Iran has not been truthful or shown any remorse or taken responsibility for what happened and until they do, "no one can or should feel at all safe or secure in the still dangerous skies over Iran."

The Ukrainian Airlines flight was shot down by Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Jan. 8, 2020, killing all 176 passengers and crew including 85 Canadians and permanent residents.

Iran issued a report in March which blamed "human error" for the crash, which occurred hours after Iran had fired missiles at U.S. airbases in Iraq.

Goodale says that report was late, "shambolic" and lacking a "shred of evidence."
Photo: RCMP Master Cpl. Patrik Mathews, shown in this undated RCMP handout photo.

A neo-Nazi group member whose talk of planning an attack at a Virginia gun rights rally was secretly recorded by the FBI pleaded guilty on Thursday to gun charges and obstruction of justice.

Patrik Jordan Mathews, a 28-year-old former Canadian Armed Forces reservist, and two other members of The Base were arrested on federal charges in Maryland ahead of the January 2020 rally at Virginia's Capitol in Richmond.

Mathews pleaded guilty to illegally possessing and transporting a firearm, and obstruction of justice  he destroyed a cellphone when FBI agents raided his apartment.

After a prosecutor read aloud a summary of the case against Mathews, the judge asked him, Did you do the things the government said you did?

Yes, your honor, Mathews replied.

The four counts carry a combined maximum sentence of 50 years in prison. But federal sentencing guidelines will likely recommend a lower sentence.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang is scheduled to sentence Mathews on Oct. 28.

Co-defendant Brian Mark Lemley Jr., a 35-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Elkton, Maryland, is scheduled to appear before the same judge on Friday for a rearraignment, which typically signals a plea deal. The third defendant, William Garfield Bilbrough IV, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty in December to helping Mathews illegally enter the U.S. from Canada in 2019.

Matthews and Lemley discussed the planning of violence at the Richmond rally, where thousands of gun-rights activists later gathered peacefully to protest gun-control legislation, Justice Department prosecutors said in a court filing.

Investigators installed a closed-circuit television camera and microphone inside a Newark, Delaware, apartment that Mathews and Lemley shared for several months after Mathews left Canada. The surveillance equipment captured Lemley and Mathews discussing the next Civil War erupting in Virginia and talking about committing targeted acts of violence, prosecutors said in a Jan. 21 court filing.

I need to claim my first victim, Lemley said, according to prosecutors.

The talk of violence prompted Mathews to say, "Im worried were going to become psychopaths, prosecutors wrote.

Bilbrough participated in early discussions about traveling to Richmond but had tried to distance himself from the group shortly before his arrest, a prosecutor has said.

Among other white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, the Base has been a leading proponent of "accelerationism," a fringe philosophy that advocates using mass violence to hasten societys collapse. Members often communicated in encrypted chat rooms and attended military-style training camps.

The Guardian identified The Base's founder as American-born Rinaldo Nazzaro, who formed the group in 2018 using the pseudonym Norman Spear and was believed to be living in Russia. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Nazzaro worked for the agency from 2004 to 2006, Vice News reported in February.

The case against the three men charged in Maryland was part of a broader investigation of The Base. In January 2020, authorities in Georgia and Wisconsin arrested four other men linked to the group.

The Base has crumbled amid members' prosecutions and revelations about Nazzaro's background, said Joanna Mendelson, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism. Nazzaro has tried but largely failed to resuscitate the group, she added.

Many within the movement have attempted to distance themselves from him and his activities, as the group is seen as either a honeypot or destined to attract immediate law enforcement attention, Mendelson said.

The unraveling of The Base doesn't eliminate the potential threat posed by extremists who joined the group, she stressed.

Were talking about adherents who are deeply steeped in an ideology, Mendelson said. They oftentimes direct their deeply embedded beliefs into other neo-Nazi organizations.

Mathews told investigators that he was living in Beausejour, Man., and working as a carpenter for a construction company before he entered the U.S. Mathews also said he was a combat engineer in the Canadian Army before serving eight years as an Army reservist.

Mathews left Canada after a Winnipeg Free Press reporter exposed him as a member of The Base in an August 2019 article. Bilbrough and Lemley drove to Michigan to pick up Mathews and take him to Maryland.

Mathews and Lemley have remained jailed since FBI agents arrested them in Delaware in January 2020.

Mathews and Lemley were charged in Maryland with illegally possessing and transporting a firearm and ammunition. A grand jury in Delaware indicted them on separate but related charges.

In February, the judge refused to bar prosecutors from using evidence that FBI agents obtained through search warrants. The FBI also had an undercover employee infiltrate the group, visiting the Delaware home and driving with Mathews and Lemley to a gun range in Maryland in January.
Photo: The Canadian Press Jennifer Charlesworth, B.C.'s representative for children and youth is seen in Victoria on December 10, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dirk Meissner

The overdose death of a 17-year-old on her birthday has prompted a call for a systemic review of British Columbia's supports for Indigenous children and youth in care.

Jennifer Charlesworth, B.C.'s representative for children and youth, wants the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development to review the cultural and family resources it provides to promote belonging and identity to Indigenous children in care.

She says in a report released today the life and death of the Indigenous teen named Skye illustrates the critical need for children in government care to feel connected to family, culture and community.

Charlesworth says the teen's legacy is one where a bright, energetic child spent 12 years in government care and was moved 15 times without being able to experience a sense of belonging to her family or community.

Skye was removed from her mother's care when she was five years old and Charlesworth says the girl never saw her family or home community again, despite her desire to reconnect.

Mitzi Dean, B.C.'s children's minister, says in a statement the government is steadfast in its goal of keeping Indigenous children safely with their families and connected to their culture and communities.
Laboratory testing and biosafety go hand in hand

Even before the illness had a name, Thuy Thi Thu Do and Chi Bui, both members of the CDC Vietnam team, have been working closely with their counterparts at the health ministry, public health institutes throughout Vietnam, and other partners in an effort to limit the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Do leads CDC Vietnams team that helps laboratories improve operations for patient care and disease detection, and Bui helps labs maintain the best biosafety and biosecurity standards.

Do and Bui are part of a team of 68 CDC public health warriors dedicated to helping Vietnam expand ways to contain the COVID-19 pandemic while still addressing ongoing HIV, TB, and flu cases. The team helps Vietnam strengthen its ability to build laboratory and surveillance systems to better respond to disease outbreaks  old and new.

In the beginning, we helped the MOH develop interim guidelines for SARS-CoV-2 testing, says Do. We also worked with the MOH to develop technical guidelines for biosecurity.

Thats because laboratory testing and biosafety go hand in hand, Bui explains.

With so much unknown about the coronavirus, Do and Bui worked closely with colleagues at CDC headquarters in Atlanta to gather the latest information they could share with their partners in Vietnam. They also collected new information and guidelines generated by the WHO.

By keeping up with the latest data and understanding how and why guidelines changed, Do and Bui became valuable resources for their local counterparts at the MOH.

Do was added to an online chat group with 60 people ranging from the MOH to the provincial and laboratory levels. When Vietnamese media showed healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) like masks and gloves improperly or collecting samples incorrectly, Do would send messages and share current guidance.

I think Do was on her phone 24 hours a day, says Bui, because people would send her questions any time there was a problem with a lab, a government official needed specific information, or there was anything COVID-19-related that needed to be resolved.

To help inform public health workers about the quickly changing COVID-19 information, both Do and Bui conducted face-to-face training sessions early in the pandemic. These trainings were for healthcare workers within the preventive care services and clinical treatment systems, which are not always combined but rather set up as a parallel structure in Vietnam.
Wayne Aarum, pastor and director of Circle C Ranch Christian camp in Delevan who has been accused of inappropriately touching adolescent girls, filed a defamation lawsuit against Buffalo-area megachurch The Chapel on Wednesday.

According to the Christian Post, at least 21 girls have reportedly come forward to accuse him, through lawyers hired by The Chapel, of inappropriately touching them. In response, the 55-year-old pastor of the First Baptist Church of Arcade and a member of the board of Living Waters Ministries Inc., which oversees the Christian camp, filed a lawsuit against The Chapel for causing "harm to reputation, mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, and emotional injury." The suit demands $3.125 million as part of settlement.

Amherst lawyers Steven K. Long and Olivia T. Paulo-Lee filed Aarum's case on June 2, the same day the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle published a lengthy article mentioning several women who claimed improper conduct, reports Buffalo News.

In the lawsuit, Aarum accuses Pastor John A. Camardo and his staff of fabricating the claims in order to discredit him because he refuses to endorse the sale of portion of the 315 acres related to his camp to developers looking to construct a $500 million windmill project.

After the death of church founder James Andrews in 1999 and the beginning of a "more expansionist and financially oriented" administration of the church under new Lead Pastor Jerry Gillis, Aarum claimed in his lawsuit that the relationship between the church and the camp deteriorated.

According to court documents, a Chicago developer has eyed the 315-acre Circle C Ranch camp site for a $500 million windmill project, but the camp's board has refused to sell or lease the site.

The lawsuit states that The Chapel's leadership has become aware of the rising value of the camp property, and that Camardo has been attempting since 2019 to smear Aarum's reputation in order to create "a more favorable board of directors to control the Circle C Ranch camp and the use and disposition of its land."

Likewise, a statement on the camp website explaining why the case had been filed noted that they had done their best to address the problem by suggesting that both parties follow the Bible's directives for solving conflicts, as described in Matthew 18 by Jesus, but were told "Matthew 18 does not apply."

"We have requested to meet with them several times and each time they have refused. We have repeatedly requested to know who the anonymous accusations are coming from and again, with the exception of one instance, they have refused," the statement reads.

"Therefore," they argue, "we have chosen to follow the instructions given by the Apostle Paul in Romans 13 to use the God-appointed government institutions and have officially lodged a legal complaint against The Chapel."

"While this is not the path we had ever hoped for, we simply refuse to allow this unjust activity to continue any longer for the sake of the camp, our families, and the lives of so many we pray are yet to be impacted for good by the ministry God birthed over 53 years ago in the heart of Mr. Wes," declared the camp.

Aarum has denied any misconduct in relation to the accusations leveled against him. He is still the pastor of Arcade's First Baptist Church and the director of Circle C Ranch.
Discussion

After the 2005 WHO Regional Committee resolution that called for regional elimination of rubella and CRS, EUR has made substantial progress with high reported regional RCV coverage, low rubella incidence, and verification that nearly all countries have achieved elimination of endemic transmission of rubella viruses. EUR countries have shown their commitment to the elimination of measles and rubella and CRS with the Regional Committee resolution in 2005 and reaffirmed that commitment with resolutions in 2010 and 2014 (13). All EUR countries have longstanding 2-dose routine RCV immunization schedules that have provided a substantial foundation for establishing population immunity against rubella viruses. Regional rubella coverage with the first and second doses of RCVs has exceeded 93% and 80%, respectively, for the past 10 years. Immunization gaps account for sporadic rubella cases reported in 2019 and have not resulted in confirmed ongoing transmission of rubella viruses.

One of the considerable challenges with verifying rubella elimination has been classifying the large number of clinically compatible rubella cases. In part because rubella is typically a mild disease, a laboratory test is not always performed to confirm a diagnosis, and testing varies considerably across the region according to public health systems, clinical practice, and laboratory capacities. Without a confirmatory laboratory test result, suspected cases are classified as clinically compatible. Increased testing and efficiencies of subnational laboratory networks have contributed to improvements in the surveillance indicators and case classification, but additional efforts are needed.

Rubella population immunity estimates across the region based on longstanding national immunization coverage rates are well above the rubella herd immunity threshold of 83%86%, which should disrupt chains of transmission and stop or slow the spread of disease (10). However, subnational immunization gaps pose a risk for importation and circulation of rubella viruses. Efforts to eliminate endemic transmission of rubella have benefited substantially from the national and subnational outbreak response immunization campaigns for measles cases with combined measles- and rubella-containing vaccines, particularly for large measles outbreaks during 20172020.

Retrospective rubella reviews for the verification process provided an opportunity to focus on the specific documentation needed to support the elimination of endemic rubella virus transmission and consisted of an in-depth analysis of information provided in the annual status update reports and supplementary information from national immunization programs, surveillance networks, and the measles-rubella laboratory networks. The retrospective reviews were shared with the EU-RVC members on an ad hoc basis and provided an opportunity to ask for clarification or additional information before drawing conclusions about a countrys rubella elimination status. Data to complete the rubella retrospective reviews for the last four countries with endemic rubella transmission (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Poland, and Ukraine) are being collected, analyzed, and formatted for submission to the RVC for their determination.

The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, sensitivity of integrated measles and rubella surveillance might be lower for rubella than it is for measles because it is a milder illness, resulting in possible detection of fewer cases. Second, direct comparisons between countries might not be valid because of variations in their historic approach to diagnosis, case investigation, and laboratory testing. Finally, the region comprises countries with widely different population sizes and compositions, making regional successes and challenges difficult to measure.

Substantial progress toward rubella elimination has been made in EUR. Verification of elimination is nearly complete, which would make EUR the second WHO region to achieve rubella elimination, the first being the Region of the Americas. Sustaining regional rubella elimination will require maintaining high coverage with RCVs through routine immunization programs at the national and subnational levels, offering supplementary rubella vaccination to susceptible adults, maintaining high-quality laboratory-supported rubella and CRS surveillance for outbreak detection and response, and a fully functioning Regional Verification Commission. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, additional efforts might be needed to strengthen surveillance systems and fill in the immunity gaps.
Chiles cement market expands 32% in April

ICR Newsroom By 10 June 2021

Cement dispatches in Chile saw a 31.5 per cent hike to 352,817t in April 2021 when compared with 268,319t in April 2020, according to the Chilean Chamber of Construction, CChC. When compared with March 2021 they declined by 8.4 per cent.



In the January-April 2021 period total dispatches increased 12.6 per cent to 1,436,291t from the 4M20, when deliveries were at 1,276,105t.

Published under
Chino, CA (91710)

Today

Mainly clear. Low 64F. WNW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 64F. WNW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
Politics was a tradition of the Heflin name in Alabama. Howell Heflin was a nephew of James Thomas Heflin, a well-known white supremacist in the state and also served as a United States Senator. He was also great nephew of Robert Stell Heflin, who served in the House of Representatives in Congress. Howell Heflin was born in Poulan Worth County, Georgia on June 19, 1921. He attended the Alabama public schools and graduated from Birmingham Southern College in 1942.

In World War II he served in the United States Marine Corps from 1942-1946 as an officer and distinguished himself as a soldier at the invasions of Bougainville and Guam winning the Silver Star medal and two Purple Hearts for being wounded. Upon returning from military service he went to law school at the University of Alabama graduating in 1948. He established a law practice in Tuscumbia, Alabama and also served as a law professor at Tuscaloosa for 20 years.

Unlike many politicians, Heflin was an active and accomplished trial lawyer. In that capacity he was held in high esteem by his fellow attorneys and selected for membership in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, American College of Trial Lawyers, and the International Society of Barristers, based on legal talent and ethics. He was selected as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 1971 and served until 1977. During that term of service he is credited with reforming Alabama's antiquated court system by improving efficiency and getting the Judicial Article of 1973 enacted by the Alabama legislature. This was a major revision of the state's outmoded 1901 constitution.

When he retired from the court in 1977 the state's court system was considered to be a national model. In 1978 he was elected to the United States Senate. He became a powerful committee chairman as well as a strong advocate for Southern agriculture, judicial reform and economic development for the state of Alabama.

He had succeeded John Sparkman who had been Adlai E. Stevensons running mate in the 1952 presidential race. He was the last popularly elected Democrat from Alabama although his colleague Richard Shelby had been elected as a Democrat but later switched to the Republican Party.

While in the Senate Heflin in March 1981 was greatly affected by the shooting of President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley and the fact that his case was not brought to trial until 14 months had passed from the date of the incident. He advocated for the need for an overhaul of the criminal system to deal with what he described as a rising epidemic of violent crime in the nation. He further spoke in favor of putting aside petty partisan politics and to unite both parties in an effort to wage a successful war on crime.

Heflin was a conservative Democrat who strongly opposed gun control and abortion, supported prayer in schools, and opposed laws banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. As a military veteran of WWII he supported the Gulf War of 1991 and opposed cuts in military spending and on occasion voted with the Senate Republicans on tax reform.

He and his colleague Senator Fritz Hollins of South Carolina were the only Democrats to vote against the Family and Medical Leave Act. In 1984 and 1990 he successfully won second and third terms in the Senate but chose not to seek a fourth term in 1996.

Although his family's political background was clothed in segregation, he in 1993 made a memorable speech in support of an effort to deny renewal of a Confederate Flag design for the United Daughters of the Confederacy in spite of his love and pride of his Confederate ancestors.

Doubtlessly his most embarrassing moment came in 1994 when he was dining with a group of reporters in the Senate cafeteria. He reached into his pocket for a handkerchief and pulled out a pair of women's panties. There followed this short press release: "I mistakenly picked up a pair of my wife's white panties and put them in my pocket while I was rushing out the door to go to work. Rather than take a chance on being embarrassed again, I'm going to start buying colored handkerchiefs."

Heflin died of a heart attack on March 29, 2005 in his hometown of Tuscumbia but not before he anonymously made a gift of $1 million to the University of Alabama Law School for scholarships for deserving young people. Numerous honors and public recognitions were made in his name and the New York Times described Heflin as the conscience of the Senate.

Senator Heflin is often remembered today as a model of public service to Alabama, as a man who obtained great power and applied that power for the common good.

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Jerry Summers



(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)
Manny Sethi, the son of immigrants from India, had no experience whatsoever in 2020 when he, a 42-year-old, challenged Bill Hagerty to replace a retiring Lamar Alexander as a Senator from Tennessee. He had little chance as the states Republican Party pick. A close knit and entangled group of ancients, the statewide conservatives had Donald Trumps decree that after years of cronyism, the red states carefully cultivated machine must deliver Hagerty to help the president drain the Washington swamp. Hagerty won, Trump did not.

Hagerty, Nashville born and Vanderbilt-educated, is about as plastic as a lifetime political gladhander youll care to meet. Sure enough, the states GOP delivered in the primary for Hagerty, giving him 50.8 percent of the Republican vote compared to 32.6 for Sethi. Hagerty, 60, is in his first term but Tennessees other senator, the sometimes-volatile Marsha Blackburn, has been in Washington since 2003. She was in the House of Representatives for eight terms and is the fourth year of her first six-year Senate term. In other words, how long is enough for Blackburn, now age 69.

In an op-ed that was published Wednesday in the Nashville Tennessean, the 42-year-old trauma surgeon, who prayerfully is staying in state politics, asked openly 

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WILL TENNESSEE BECOME THE FIFTH STATE TO ASK FOR TERM LIMITS!

By Manny Sethi

My belief: t can and should be.

Travelling all 95 counties for almost two years running for U.S. Senate, I can tell you that Tennesseans are frustrated with the politics of Washington D.C.

Considering the manifest dysfunction of the U.S. Congress, the people are clamoring for congressional term limits and the Congress is predictably ignoring them.

In the past three years, the legislatures of four states  Florida, Alabama, Missouri, and West Virginia  have approved resolutions applying for a national convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution limited to the subject of Congressional term limits.

Obviously, the states to make an end-run around Congress and propose amendments themselves.

According to Article V, if two-thirds of the states apply for such a convention, it must be called, and all states can send delegates. While an Article V convention has no power to alter the Constitution itself, a proposal it approves is sent back for ratification by three-quarters of all the states.

Voters are demanding action. According to a 2020 RMG Research Poll, 78% of likely voters in Tennessee support term limits on Congress, including strong support among Republicans (77%), Democrats (90%), and independents (71%) alike. There is no other issue with such widespread multi-partisan support.

The voters are right, and it is time for career politicians to go.

Term limits discourage cozy relationships and corruption

Term limits create regular, competitive elections in every congressional district. There would be no more establishment incumbents coasting back into office over decades without facing serious electoral competition.

The voters would be back in charge and able to send new faces and ideas to Congress without being blocked by the overwhelming power of money and incumbency that chases away meaningful challengers.

Term limits sever the cozy long-term, and well-funded, relationships between special interests and statistically unbeatable incumbents. The threat of losing influence is why lobbyists are one of the only identifiable subsets of voters who oppose this popular reform.

Yes sirs. lets go with term limits two.

Term limits discourage corruption. Corruption is highly correlated with tenure as long tenure, particularly without serious electoral competition, encourages hubris and provides greater power and opportunity to manipulate the system for ones own benefit.

It is sometimes argued that term limits would rob Congress of valuable experience and lead to poor results. This makes some intuitive sense but does not square with the facts on the ground. The U.S. Congress has boatloads of experience, with most of its leaders in their late 70s and 80s and having served for multiple decades. But the results are abysmal!

The truth is there are many kinds of experience voters would like to see in their Congress members. Political experience is just one kind. What about the experience of successful people who have worked as teachers, doctors, business owners or in other professions who live, work, and often struggle under the laws that Congress passes?

Term limits help strike a better balance between political and real-world experience.

Federal elected officials won't act, which is why states must do so

Professional politicians in Washington D.C. will never pass a congressional term limits amendment themselves. However, Tennessee congressmen Mark Green, Tim Burchett, Scott DesJarlais, and Diana Harshbarger should be commended for their support of congressional term limits.

Other individuals embarked on the path of public service to do what the Lord calls us to do and help others, but somewhere along the way in a desire to cling to power many of them become bought and paid for  losing their way and mission to help the very folks that got them elected.

It is up to states like Tennessee to officially apply for the term limits convention and ultimately to help hammer out a consensus proposal at the convention that can pass the high bar of ratification by 38 states.

The next step is for the Tennessee Senate to take up the issue and approve the term limits convention resolution bill when the session resumes. If Senators hear from their constituents between now and then, I believe they will.

Tennesseans can take justified pride in our early and important effort to unify Americans of all political stripes and improve our system of governance.

royexum@aol.com
A retired nun has pleaded guilty to federal charges of embezzling more than $835,000 from a southern California Catholic school to pay for "personal expenses," including gambling.

The press release from the Department of Justice on Tuesday states:

"Federal prosecutors today filed charges against a now-retired nun who was the principal of a Catholic elementary school in Torrance and who has agreed to plead guilty to fraud and money laundering charges for stealing more than $835,000 in school funds to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips.

Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, of Los Angeles, was charged today with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. In conjunction with the criminal information, prosecutors filed a plea agreement in which Kreuper agreed to plead guilty to the two charges that carry a maximum statutory penalty of 40 years in federal prison."

The investigation was reportedly carried out by the Torrance Police Department, the FBI, and IRS Criminal Investigation.

According to their probe, Kreuper embezzled money from St. James Catholic School for ten years, ending in September 2018. Kreuper was in charge of the money the school received to pay for tuition and fees, as well as charity gifts, throughout her 28-year tenure as principal. She had accounts at a credit union, including a savings account for the school and one set up to cover the nuns' living expenditure.

Kreuper, who had made the vow of poverty, transferred school funds into the St. James Convent Account and the St. James Savings Account, then, as she confessed, used the money "to pay for expenses that the order would not have approved, much less paid for, including large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges."

Kreuper also admitted in her plea agreement that she had falsified the school administration's monthly and yearly reports, and "lulled St. James School and the Administration into believing that the school's finances were being properly accounted for and its financial assets properly safeguarded, which, in turn, allowed defendant Kreuper to maintain her access and control of the school's finances and accounts and, thus, continue operating the fraudulent scheme."

The criminal statement further claims that Kreuper has ordered St. James School personnel during a school audit to modify and destroy financial data.

During the course of her scheme, the accused nun would have cost St. James Catholic School $835,339 in losses.

She will appear for arraignment on 1 July in the United States District Court.

Back in 2018, Kreuper and her closest friend Lana Chang, who retired earlier that year, were accused of "misappropriation of money," reports Newstalk.

The nuns' order -the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet- said in a statement: "Our community is concerned and saddened by this situation and regret any injury to our long relationship with the families of the school. The Sisters of St Joseph both desire and intend to make complete restitution to St James School."

According to AFP, school administrators said in a letter to parents that they do not intend to seek criminal charges against the two nuns.

St. James parents and alumni, however, told KTTV-TV that they hoped the school would pursue criminal charges against Kreuper and Chang. The issue, according to one parent is "crazy" and "very disturbing."
The Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition, in partnership with the Hamilton County Health Department, Olivet Baptist Church and Arts Build, will be giving free Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer second doses of COVID vaccinations to the Chattanooga homeless population, thanks to a grant by Blue Cross Blue Shield.

The vaccinations will be given across the street from Olivet Baptist Church, 751 East M.L.K.

Blvd. in Chattanooga this Saturday from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. There will be music, free pizza and goodie bags at the event.



Nurses with Homeless Healthcare will be on hand at Saturdays event to administer the Johnson &

Johnson and Pfizer vaccine. Homeless Healthcare also offers the vaccine free of charge throughout the week at 730 E. 11th St. in Chattanooga.



Wendy Winters, executive director of the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition, says the

generosity and partnerships of local foundations make protecting this vulnerable population possible, but more needs to be done to incentivize the hesitant to get vaccinated. We are so grateful for our funder, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the Hamilton County Health Department for providing us this opportunity to make sure the vaccines are offered equitably to all, and for our many community partners that are helping us to incentivize getting the vaccine, Ms. Winters says. Were looking to do more and more of that, so those that are left to vaccinate have some encouragement. We are open to hearing from new partners that may want to help with this effort too. We think they will find the experience rewarding, and we know they would be helping us to save lives.



Ms. Winters says they are actively seeking organizations interested in offering their services to help

incentivize the homeless to get vaccinated, because the group is particularly vulnerable. If anyone is

interested in partnering with the Homeless Coalition in this way, contact them through their

website.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds joined with U. S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in calling for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing "regarding the crisis at the southern border and the ensuing flow of unaccompanied minors to states."

We are writing to support your continued calls for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold an oversight hearing regarding the current border crisis, the governors wrote in their letter to Senator Grassley. We believe this hearing should also address the Biden Administrations failure to provide notice and transparency in their movement of unaccompanied migrant children into states.

Officials said, "Both Iowa and Tennessee have faced a series of disturbing incidents involving the transport of unaccompanied children into respective states, under the cover of darkness, with no advance notification, consent or plan from federal partners."

These experiences sow seeds of mistrust in our communities, and work to intentionally subvert the will of the people for a secure border and a clear, lawful immigration process, the governors wrote in their letter to Senator Grassley. Additionally, the lack of transparency places an undue burden on our law enforcement partners to determine whether these types of flights constitute a criminal act of human trafficking or the federally-sponsored transport of vulnerable children.

Both Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn and Senator Bill Hagerty support calls for a hearing, it was stated.

The Biden Administration is secretly transporting migrants to communities throughout the United States, including in Tennessee, without the knowledge of or permission of the communities involved, said Senator Blackburn. President Bidens failed immigration policies have turned every town into a border town. The Senate Judiciary Committee should immediately hold an oversight hearing on the crisis at our southern border. I applaud Governor Lee for his efforts to protect our state and the people who are being trafficked by the Mexican cartels.

Tennessee and states all across the country are seeing the real, tangible results of President Bidens total failure to solve the crisis at the border - a crisis of his own making - with the systematic resettling of migrants in our communities, said Senator Hagerty. Mayors, sheriffs and governors are on the front lines of combatting increased human trafficking and drug smuggling, as well as addressing strains on public resources. I applaud Governors Lee and Reynolds for continuing to draw attention to these matters, asking questions and urging Congress to perform its proper oversight function.

The full letter may be viewed here.
A Murray County jury deliberated for just 17 minutes on Thursday before finding Thomas Rick Barker, 53, of 70 Hawks Way, Chatsworth, guilty of child molestation.

The jury of nine men and three women was selected on Monday and heard from 10 witnesses including three victims starting on Tuesday morning. The states case was presented by Assistant District Attorney Ben Kenemer with assistance from Special Agent Eric White of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

Two of the victims were interviewed at The GreenHouse, a child advocacy center serving Murray and Whitfield Counties. Barker was charged in a single count of child molestation related to one of the victims. The other two victims testified pursuant to evidence rules which allow the state to present evidence of other similar or related acts by an offender under certain circumstances and if approved by the Court prior to trial.

Barker was represented by Elise Williard and Jack Donlon of the Public Defenders Office who called two witnesses on his behalf.

Barker did not testify.

Superior Court Judge Cindy Morris presided over the trail and scheduled a sentencing hearing for Aug. 25. Barker had been in custody since his arrest on Oct. 19, 2019, and will remain in custody pending his sentencing hearing. He faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced.
Quincy Jenkins, inaugural chief diversity officer and executive director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Chattanooga State Community College, has been selected to participate in the 2021-22 Class of the Maxine Smith Fellows program. Mr. Jenkins is is one of 13 faculty and staff members from the College System of Tennessee among the 21 from colleges and universities statewide.



The Maxine Smith Fellows program provides professional development, training and advancement opportunities for participants from traditionally underrepresented groups at the College System of Tennessee, governed by the by the Tennessee Board of Regents, and the states locally governed public universities.

"The program helps to build increased collaboration among institutions, provides a statewide network for program participants, and expands in the diversity of ideas, thoughts and experiences within senior leadership ranks at Tennessee public higher education institutions," officials said.



Being selected as Maxine Smith fellow is a profound honor, stated Mr. Jenkins. Chattanooga State is committed to inclusive practices, and I am honored to represent the College as I learn about the leadership of this great trailblazer.



Mr. Jenkins is a native of Carrollton, Ga. In addition, he is a current doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt Universitys Peabody College, has 13 years experience in higher education, and is proficient in English, Spanish, Italian and Chamorro/Guamanian languages.



In the short time that Mr. Jenkins has been at Chattanooga State, he has made a positive impact on our collective understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion, said Dr. Rebecca Ashford, Chattanooga State president. His participation in the Maxine Smith Fellows program will help him further grow as a professional which will help our college grow as well. I am so proud that Quincy is part of our Chattanooga State family.



The Maxine Smith Fellows program is named in honor of the late Maxine Smith, who headed the Memphis Branch of the NAACP for 33 years and was a member of the Tennessee Board of Regents from 1994 to 2006. The Class of 21-22 is the programs 15th cohort.
CHI Memorial's RN Residency Program is accredited with distinction as a Practice Transition Program by the American Nurses Credentialing Centers Commission (ANCC) on Accreditation in Practice Transition Programs. This is the highest recognition awarded by the ANCC.

All three CHI Memorial Hospitals are included in this accreditation with distinction designation. This is the first time CHI Memorial Hospital Georgias emergency department has received accreditation. The workplace settings included in this accreditation with distinction designation are: medical-surgical, oncology, step down, critical care, operating room, and emergency room. Available settings vary by hospital location.

We are proud that our RN Residency program is recognized by ANCC as one of the highest-quality transition programs for nurses, said Rhonda Hatfield, chief nursing officer, CHI Memorial. ANCC accreditation gives the nurses in our residency program confidence that CHI Memorial offers an elevated transition program with a clear course of instruction and reliable evaluation methods. Having a standardized orientation before pursuing a clinical specialty sets a solid foundation for long-term success.

ANCC Practice Transition Accreditation validates hospital residency or fellowship programs that transition registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) into new practice settings that meet rigorous, evidence-based standards for quality and excellence. Nurses in accredited transition programs, like CHI Memorials RN Residency program, experience curricula that promote the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors necessary to deliver safe, high-quality care.

This accreditation affirms that our program is not just meeting the standards, but going above and beyond to meet and improve quality outcomes. We are continuously striving for best practices, shared Justina Holmes, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, RN Residency Program Director.

CHI Memorials RN Residency program in its current design began in July of 2015. It is an orientation program for RNs with less than 6 months experience in the acute care setting. The goal is to provide a streamlined orientation experience for all new graduate RNs that provides them with the support they need to begin a successful nursing career here at CHI Memorial. The program includes participation from the chief nursing office (CNO), human resources department, nurse managers, preceptors, education team, administrators, as well as physicians and other providers. The program begins with an intense orientation period of on-boarding education mixed with bedside experiences in multiple nursing units.

As a practice transition program, our residents are able to take what they learned in school and apply it to what they will be practicing at the bedside, explained Kristin Powell, MSN, RN-BC, Director of Professional Practice, CHI Memorial. This has been very helpful during the pandemic, because many students had to do their clinicals virtually instead of receiving hands-on experience.

After onboarding, RN residents are matched to a home unit to continue and complete their orientation with a preceptor. The RN residency program continues to support the new nurse through monthly continuing education classes, one-on-one mentoring, as well as guidance with beginning his/her own professional development portfolio. In total, CHI Memorials RN Residency program is designed to walk with a new graduate nurse throughout the first year of their career at CHI Memorial.

CHI Memorials RN Residency program was first accredited in 2017 and was the first RN Residency program in Tennessee to receive accreditation. To date, 643 RNs from across the country have completed CHI Memorials residency program.

The next RN Residency cohort begins in July 2021. For more information about CHI Memorials RN Residency program, call 423 495-4173, or visit memorial.org/RNresidency.

The CHI Memorial RN Residency Program at CHI Memorial is also recognized by the ANCC Practice Transition Accreditation Program (PTAP) as an Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Program (IRAP).
The annual Flag Raising Ceremony at Historic Brainerd Mission Cemetery was held Wednesday.

Those participating included the John Sevier Chapter Tennessee Society Sons of the American Revolution with the Daughters of the American Revolution Regents Council of Chattanooga (representing Chickamauga, Chief John Ross, Judge David Campbell, Moccasin Bend and Nancy Ward Chapters).



The John Sevier Chapter color guard, commanded by Sergeant at Arms Brian Frye and consisted of members Bryan Beck (president), Cliff Kent (1st vice president), Joel Davenport (2nd vice president) augmented by Dr. David Chaffin (TNSSAR recording secretary) retired the old colors and posted new color in honor of Flag Day during the annual ceremony.

Early Hamilton County resident and Patriot Robert Patterson aided the mission in its early organization by providing lumber from his saw mill. The current cemetery is all that remains of the Christian mission established in 1817. A detailed history can be found on the information board just inside the cemeterys front entrance or online.

Members of the SAR and DAR chapters gather on the second Wednesday in June to conduct the Flag Raising Ceremony, honoring Flag Day and celebrating with those of Cherokee heritage the history of the sacred acre".

The guest speaker for the ceremony was Richard Sneed, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band Flags also fly over Brainerd Mission Cemetery in honor of the Cherokee who were taught and buried at the mission.

Individuals or organizations interested in participating with the SAR in this patriotic program can contact the John Sevier Chapter at https://johnsevierchapter.org/home for more information.






Early in the morning two men broke into United Wrecker on Rossville Boulevard, clearly there to retake possession of a once stolen silver 4Runner with North Carolina registration. The two suspects could be seen entering the alleyway, cutting the locks and entering the property just off camera. They quickly entered the once stolen 4Runner and started it. This led officers to believe that based on the speed they were able to start the vehicle they had keys. Officers attempted to make contact with the owner of the vehicle to make another auto theft report but the phone number provided went to voicemail after a few rings. At this time it is unclear who that suspects are other than what the camera shows - two men, one wearing tan pants, sneakers and a dark shirt while the other is unclear from camera footage. United Wrecker does not want to press charges at this time for the vandalism but rather wanted the incident documented for future reference.

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Police were called to Box Storage on Hamilton Place Boulevard for a disorder prevention between a man and the staff. The man removed all of his belongings from his storage unit without incident.

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A man on Market Street called police to say he saw a possible intoxicated driver in a white Nissan with TN tag and that it was swerving all over the road. The complainant said he followed the car until it pulled into a gated apartment complex on Passenger Street before he lost sight of it. Police were able to locate the vehicle but it was unoccupied and police had no evidence to prove who the driver was.

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A woman on Cummings Highway said her son ran some people away from her Ford Escape who were rummaging through the car. No description of the suspects was given. The woman said she has no idea if anything was taken. Her son refused to give any information.

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Police were told that a car was parked between the church and the complainant's building on East 10th Street and he thought he heard screaming. Police found the gold car and the rear passenger side door opened. The officer spoke with the woman who said everything was okay and that she had permission from the church to park here. The officer explained the reason for checking it out and asked her to move her car to the church parking lot, which she did.

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A supervisor with Chattanooga Public Works said one of the employees was weedeating on Rossville Boulevard and hit a rock, which then hit the side window on the H&R Block building. As a result, he said the window was scratched and cracked. He said he had spoken with the manager there already and they were aware of the incident. He said he has no idea how much it will cost to repair the window.

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An anonymous caller said a young man on Mossy Oaks Drive was acting suspicious, looking into her vehicle and walking around her apartment. Police found the man who said he was there visiting his cousin. This was confirmed and he went inside with his cousin.

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An officer observed two people sitting in a car behind the church at 3209 Calhoun Ave. The officer knew both were associates of another man who is residing in a camper nearby. The officer told them their car was parked on the church's property and that they needed to leave. They said they were waiting on the other man to return to leave.

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A woman on Alton Park Boulevard said she believed her car was stolen from the area of Alton Park Boulevard and West 38th Street. She said her brother was driving the car and it died in that area. She saw her brother riding his skateboard on Broad Street and picked him up so he did not have to skateboard all the way home. She said her brother told her the car died and he left it in the area of West 38th Street with the key in the ashtray and the window would not roll up. She told him they would go back in the morning to try and get the car started and moved. When she went to get the car she couldn't find it. She called M&R Motors to see if the vehicle was towed by them as she was behind on payments, but they had not towed it. The officer checked with the police information channel to see if there were any tows or repossessions in the area with vehicles matching the description. The information channel said there were neither that took place. The woman did not have any identifying information for the car.

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A woman on McCallie Avenue said she was visiting her boyfriend and parked in the lot behind his apartment. When they came back out to the lot they noticed her car had been keyed or scratched with some object all around the car. Neither knew who did this and neither said they had issues with anyone. She valued the damage at over $500.

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Police spoke with a man in the Motel 6 parking lot on Cowart Street. After running him through NCIC it was showing possible warrants but none verified.

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Police helped a man on East 23rd Street who had run out of gas. They took him to Speedway on 3rd Street to get gas, and then back to his car. He was able to start his car and get it to a gas station.

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Police saw a a red SUV and a black Nissan speeding on Chandler Avenue. The Nissan seem to be tailing the red SUV. The two cars continued to follow each other down 42nd and Grand Avenue. As police approached the stop sign at Grand Avenue and 42nd the Nissan stopped a little longer than normal, as if the car was blocking police from the red SUV. Police attempted to make a traffic stop on the red SUV but the driver sped off.

* * *



Police were told a Komatsu front end loader had backed into a parked car on Lupton Drive. There was a man in the car when the incident happened. Neither the driver of the front end loader or car needed emergency services. Both vehicles were able to drive away with no problem.

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County School Board member Steve Highlander was voted in as the next County Commissioner for District 9. He replaces the exiting Chester Bankston, who left the district for Florida a few weeks ago.

The commissioners voted last week. However, neither Dean Moorhouse or Shannon Stephenson was able to get the needed five votes. This week, Commissioner Katherlyn Geter had to miss the meeting due to medical matters.

Commissioner Greg Martin nominated Jeff Eversole, and Commissioner Warren Mackey nominated Steve Highlander. Commissioners Randy Fairbanks, David Sharpe, Sabrena Smedley, and Tim Boyd voted for Highlander, with Boyd originally passing but later confirming his vote for the school board member. Chairman Chip Baker and Commissioner Martin both voted for Ebersole.



Im very thankful to serve the citizens of district nine and Hamilton county, and I thank you for your confidence in me, Dr. Highlander told the Commission, and he said he will bring his experience in education and knowledge of finance to District 9.



Commissioner Sabrena Smedley wondered about Dr. Highlanders now-dual status as commissioner and school board member. County Attorney Rheubin Taylor said he did not know off-hand what the rules are concerning someone serving on both the School Board and County Commission.



My intention is not to serve long term on both, and I need to focus on just the commission job, the new commissioner said before being sworn in as District 9s newest commissioner.


The Tennessee Department of Education on Wednesday announced over $2 million in Perkins Reserve Grant awards to 38 school districts for the 2021-22 school year to support career and technical education across the state. Area school districts receiving the grants include Bledsoe, Bradley, Cleveland and McMinn counties.

The Perkins Reserve Grant is a competitive grant opportunity made possible through the federal Perkins V legislation passed in 2018. In 2020, the PRG grant opportunity was redesigned under the four-year Strengthening Career and Technical Education in Tennessee state plan to foster local innovation and support implementation of CTE programs and career pathways, especially in more rural areas, aligned with regionally identified high skill, high wage, and/or in-demand occupations or industries.

At the K-12 level for the 2021-22 school year, 38 Tennessee school districts, 13 of which are in economically at-risk or distressed counties, will receive a total of $2.3 million in Perkins Reserve Grant awards.

"Tennessee is continuing to focus on career and technical education to boost student readiness and postsecondary success, and the Perkins Reserve Grant awards help support this work especially in our rural districts, said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. These grant awards will ensure districts, schools and partners can continue coming together to help expand CTE opportunities for all students.

The 38 school districts receiving a 2021-22 Perkins Reserve Grant award are as follows:

School District Secondary Award Regional Career Pathways Awards Program(s) Funded Alcoa City Schools $50,000.00 - Taking EPSO's to the Next Level at Alcoa High School Bledsoe County Schools $12,000.00 - Strengthening Career and Technical Education in Bledsoe County Bradley County Schools - $195,461.75 LINKS (Linking Individuals to Nursing Knowledge Successfully) @ PIE (Partners in Industry and Education) Innovation Center Bristol Tennessee City Schools $ 50,000.00 - Expanding and Strengthening CTE Programming to Meet Student and Labor Force Needs Cannon County Schools $50,000.00 $200,000.00 College and Career Awareness of High Skill, High Wage, and In-Demand Occupations at the Middle Grades Level

Expansion of STEM Pathway Clay County Schools $7,310.00 $53,293.94 Industry Credentials: Investing in Our Students Future

TurningClay County Students into Clay County Teachers Cleveland City Schools $43,121.90 - Raider Evolve Cocke County Schools $45,101.00 - Work-Based Learning: Providing Opportunities for CTE students to Bridge the Gap Between High School and High Skill, High Wage and High Demand Careers Coffee County Schools $41,079.38 - Career and Job Skills for All Dyersburg City Schools $44,900.00 - Employ Dyersburg: Turning Career Dreams into Reality Fayetteville City Schools - $192,397.08 Breaking the Cycle of Poverty Through Industrial Maintenance Giles County Schools - $75,000.00 With Equity for All Grainger County Schools $45,440.00 - Knowledge is Power Greeneville City Schools $21,111.11 - IMPACT project Hawkins County Schools $34,890.00 - Expanding Snap-On PMI Industry Certifications to Students Hickman County Schools $42,000.00 - College and Career Centers Jackson County Schools $44,800.50 - Industry Credential Exam Fees

Precision Measurement Instrument (PMI) Equipment Jefferson County Schools $48,066.97 - CTE Summer Camp for Middle School Exploration

Accessibility to High Demand Industry Credentials and Instructional Materials Lenoir City Schools - $200,000.00 Co-location for TCAT in Building Construction Technology and Tiny Home Construction Project for Regional Career Pathways Grant Lewis County Schools $50,000.00 - High-Quality Learning Experience: Funding for Industry Certifications/ Credentials

Aligned Career Pathways: Funding to Purchase and Expand Appropriate Equipment & Technology Macon County Schools $41,498.21 - Industry Credentials Fees and Reporting System

Careers in IT, Its Never Too Early to Build the Next Generation of IT Professionals Madison County Schools $50,000.00 - Transporting Students from Learning in the Classroom to Learning on the Worksite Equipment Grant McMinn County Schools $45,461.00 - Mechatronics Program Enhancement Montgomery County Schools $49,997.60 - Training to Retain - Developing a Local EPP

Engage, Explore, and Aspire Morgan County Schools $34,000.00 - The CTE Roadshow Perry County Schools $26,945.00 - Expand EPSO offerings to Agriculture-Horticulture Program of Study with Equipment

Support Existing EPSOs, Credentialing, and Work-Based Learning Roane County Schools - $199,036.91 High Level Machining Robertson County Schools - $61,460.45 TCAT Dual Enrollment Rutherford County Schools $50,000.00 - Student Industry Certification Initiative

New Audio/Visual Production CTE Program of Study Tipton County Schools $49,994.30 - VET Laboratory - Vertically Aligned Training for Animal Systems Pathway Trousdale County Schools $3,710.00 - Tennessee Promoted Industry Credentials Van Buren County Schools $5,000.00 - Industry Certifications - Student Testing Fees Warren County Schools $50,000.00 - CTE Industry Certification Exam/EPSO Dual Credit Initiative

Virtual Job Shadow

BOXLIGHT Technology West Carroll Special School District $50,000.00 - STEM: Reflecting Real Life Careers White County Schools $49,330.00 - Certs for All

Pick A Path

Warrior Innovation Fab Lab Wilson County Schools $50,000.00 - Closing the Gap with CNA





This years Perkins Reserve Grant recipients submitted applications for programs, initiatives, and strategies that help to ensure their students succeed in exploring, choosing, and following a career pathway to success, whether by providing equitable access, aligned career pathways, high-quality learning experiences, or a combination thereof.

Thanks to the Perkins Reserve Grants, Rutherford County Schools students will benefit from additional opportunities and support around career and technical education through industry certifications and CTE equipment, which is so essential to helping prepare them for future postsecondary and career success, said Tyra Pilgrim, CTE director, Rutherford County Schools. We appreciate the commitment of the Tennessee Department of Education to this critical work and keeping our state focused on education, skill, and workforce development.

Applications were reviewed by a team of TDOE staff from the Division of College, Career and Technical Education and partners from the Tennessee Board of Regents. All applications needed to address at least one of the priority areas of the state plan - ensuring equitable access, aligning career pathways, and/or ensuring high-quality learning experiences, and the Regional Career Pathways application must also include a regionally focused secondary and postsecondary or workforce partnership.

More information on the Perkins Reserve Grant may be found here.
Virginia Ruth Meyer Sinor died on Wednesday, May 12, 2021.

Virginia was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was the eldest of six children born to the late William Christian Meyer and Linda Hildegaarde (Aring) Meyer. Her parents raised her in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod where she also went to elementary school under the

teaching of Pastor Jahn.



She learned to love a wide variety of vegetables from her father, a farmer, who won prizes for growing the best vegetables in the area. Her baking and cooking prowess came from her mother and her paternal aunt Nora.



Her father farmed land throughout the area from Chattanooga to Dayton, Tn. Nearly a century ago, he farmed land on Shallowford Rd. Virginia and her brothers would swim in the creek that ran through the land. The central Chattanooga USPS Post office is now located on the

same land.



Virginia graduated from Central High School, where she was the salutatorian. She was told by the school administration, that a mistake had been made - that Virginia actually had the highest grades in her class, but that it was too late to change it since they had already told another that she was valdictorian. Virginia was a humble person, and accepted their decision.



She graduated with a B.A. in English Literature from Ohio Weslyan University (her mother was originally from Ohio). She began working in social work, but left in order to complete her first year of graduate school at Columbia University in New York City for a Master's Degree in Social Work. The following summer she returned home to Chattanooga to assist her father caring for her mother who had suffered a lengthy illness, and to resume working at the Department of Human Services. She met Thomas Eugene Sinor of Cleveland, Tennessee, decided not to return to graduate school, and eventually married him in 1952, with their wedding ceremony held at the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in Chattanooga. They had four children: Madeleine Sinor, Julie Sinor Aring, Justin Sinor, and Hallie Sinor. She became a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church where she was choir mother for many years. She raised her children together with her husband, Gene. She returned to work for the Department of Human Services in 1979.



She became supervisor for the Hamilton County Child Sexual Abuse unit of the Department of Human Services, and also brought awareness to the problem through founding and volunteering as the President of the Victory Unit. She was a pioneer in bringing awareness to the issue of child sexual abuse in our area. She retired from her career in social work in 1997.



Virginia Sinor swam at the YMCA downtown for decades. She placed many times in both state and national swim events, on both Master's and Senior Olympic levels. She also loved hiking, and was a longtime member of the Cumberland Hiking Club. She hiked Mount LaConte many times, and

also travelled across the USA to many states to hike there. She was a member of two book clubs.



At her home, Virginia was a preeminent hostess of gatherings for friends and family where she would prepare wholesome, but exquisite, multi-course meals. Everyone wanted to have one of her meals.



She attended First Presbyterian Church. Although a traditional Christian by circumstance and upbringing, she eagerly read chapters in the Bible at home to her son, who was also her sole caregiver of ten years. She continued discussing the Scripture at length with her son across the decades. She privately professed to him a transformation that took place in her during her last year. Her certainty of the shed blood of Christ for her sins, and her conviction of the physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the coming resurrection of the dead, replaced her former lifelong doubts according to her personal testimony. Her son witnessed a peace that surpasses all understanding settle over her during her last year.



She was a loving, gracious, and kind person.



In addition to her four children, Virginia Sinor is survived by her two grandchildren, Vivien Jeanne Marguerite Sinor Douglas and Tabitha Sea Sinor Goldman. She is also survived by her nephews and niece: Craig Meyer, Brent Meyer, William Meyer, Linda Meyer Slaten, Mark Meyer, and Eric Meyer. Virginia was preceded in death by Thomas Eugene Sinor and her five brothers, William Henry Meyer, Ervin Meyer, Jack Meyer, James Meyer, and George Meyer.



Visitation will be held at First Presbyterian Church on McCallie Ave. in Chattanooga, on June 25 from 12 noon to 1pm. A Memorial Service celebrating Virginia's life will be held immediately following at 1 p.m.



Following the service, inurnment with service by Reverend Ehlers will be at Chattanooga Memorial Park 501 Memorial Drive Chattanooga, TN 37415 at 2 p.m.



In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given in Virginia's honor to First Presbyterian Church 554 McCallie Ave , Chattanooga, TN 37402|423-267-1206. Also donations may be given in her memory to the Cumberland Hiking Club or to the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, which provides transportation services for elderly individuals.

End of life services are being provided by Hamilton Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 4506 Hixson Pike, Hixson, Tennessee, (423) 531-3975.






The Wuhan lab leak theory that seeks to determine the true origins of the coronavirus that caused the global COVID pandemic quickly gained steam in the last couple of months due to newly surfaced reports that supported the theory. One name that often comes up when talking about this theory is the World Health Organization's viral expert, Peter Daszak, who is also the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit that does research on emerging diseases, conservation, and public health.

But why is WHO's Peter Daszak a name that frequently comes up when talking about the Wuhan lab leak theory? The British zoologist's name is often linked to the COVID Wuhan lab leak theory because his organization funnelled about $600,000 in U.S. taxpayer money from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which may have been the true origin of COVID, the New York Post reported. In fact, when the Wuhan lab leak theory came about, he was one of the first to condemn such an idea.

Daszak even went as far as writing and publishing a statement in the esteemed British medical journal The Lancet, which was signed by 27 other scientists expressing their "solidarity with all scientists and health professionals in China" and declaring the Wuhan lab leak theory as merely a conspiracy theory that suggested COVID did not have a zoonotic origin, Vanity Fair reported. Daszak even reportedly tipped two scientists who he worked with at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology, advising him to refrain from signing the statement to distance themselves from their involvement with WIV.

But more evidence has surfaced that Daszak is truly knee deep in the development of deadly viruses in collaboration with Chinese scientists. The National Pulse has published a voice recording to Daszak admitting he worked with Chinese scientists to manufacture "killer" viruses." The voice recording was from a video taken during a February 2016 speech recorded by C-SPAN.

"Some of the viruses will be killers, and some of them won't. How do we work that out from a viral sequence? It is not straightforward. First of all, we're only looking at viral families that include those that have gone into people from animals. So we narrow it down straight away. Then when you get a sequence of a virus and it looks like a relative of a known nasty pathogen," Daszak explained in the voice recording.

"So we sequence the spike protein, the protein that attaches to cells then we-well I didn't do this work but my colleagues in China did the work," Daszak said. "You create pseudo-particles, insert proteins from the viruses that can bind to human cells."

Daszak, who led the team that "investigated" COVID origins in China was also found to have thanked infectious diseases expert and White House adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci for dismissing the lab leak theory, WND reported. An email to Dr. Fauci showed that Daszak thanked him for downplaying the Wuhan lab leak theory and suggesting that COVID had zoonotic origins.

Listen to Daszak below:
The Homegrown Country Music Festival happening on June 19, at the newly-built Ketners Mill Arena in Whitwell, on Wednesday announced a partnership with Tri Star Beverage to benefit local military organizations.



The festival, headlined by Country artists Confederate Railroad and supported by 90s Country cover band, Neon Moon, and local artists Camden Smith and Chase Baker, will donate a portion of every Anheuser-Busch beverage sold to Folds of Honor and other local military organizations.



When asked about their participation, Tom Buck, general sales manager for Tri Star Beverage, said, We at Tri Star Beverage, in partnership with Anheuser-Busch, support the Folds of Honor Foundation which helps to provide the families of fallen and disabled service members with educational scholarships. It is our honor and privilege to support the Chattanooga area and this event that we can aid the local military families in need.



Through an Anheuser-Busch initiative, one dollar from every case of beer sold nationwide is donated to the Folds of Honor organization. Additionally, at the Homegrown Country Music Festival, thirty-five cents from every can of beer sold will be donated to a local military organization. Event attendees will witness active-duty Marines serving patrons onsite.



First Sergeant Christopher L. Myers had this to say of the partnership, Relationships with great organizations like Friends of the Festival, Tri Star Beverage, and events like the Homegrown Country Music Festival are critical towards our annual fundraising efforts to support events for our local military and their families.



Mickey McCamish, retired U.S. Navy Captain and Executive Director of Friends of the Festival, said, We have always considered it our duty and an honor to support our local military organizations. From the annual Riverbend Festival and Riverfront Nights Series to other fantastic community events like the Homegrown Country Music Festival in Whitwell, we have sought and established ways to give back to both our veterans and active military. When Clint Carroll, the owner of Ketners Mill Arena and a Marine himself, inquired about the potential to give back to his brothers and sisters in our armed forces, we jumped at the opportunity.



Tickets for the first annual Homegrown Country Music Festival are on sale now at www.ketnersmillarena.com and in person at the Race Way Convenience Store at 12150 TN-28 Whitwell, TN 37397.


In the A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17 recap, Eddie Saville (David Giuntoli) goes to drastic measures to fight for his son, Theo (Tristan Byon), and daughter, Charlie Dixon (Everly and Brynlee Fisher). Meanwhile, Maggie Bloom (Allison Miller) helps Sophie Dixon (Lizzy Greene) tell her story to the police. Delilah Dixon (Stephanie Szostak) finally returns from Paris, France, and accompanies Sophie to the police station. Plus, Rome Howard (Romany Malco) and Regina Howard (Christina Moses) plan their future.

A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17 Justice: Party 1 with Stephanie Szostak as Delilah Dixon, Lizzy Greene as Sophie Dixon, James Roday Rodriguez as Gary Mendez, and Chance Hurstfield as Danny Dixon | Jack Rowand/ABC/ Getty Images

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17, Justice: Part 1.]

A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17 Recap: The Dixon Family

Delilah finally returned home on A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17. She was away for almost all of season 3 in France because her father broke his hip. Delilah shared heartfelt hugs with Gary Mendez (James Roday Rodriguez) and Maggie. Then the group headed out together to the police station for Sophie to share her story about her music teacher, Peter (Andrew Leeds).

Delilah left little Charlie with Eddie while she went to the police station so that he and Danny could babyproof the house. Next, Danny asked if Delilah and Eddie were getting back together. Then Eddie apologized for what he put Danny and his family through when he and Delilah had an affair. Later, Eddie helped Danny shave for the first time and discussed a friend, Milo, who was coming over later. Meanwhile, Charlie said her first word, Danny.

Delilah told Eddie that she wanted to take Sophie, Danny, and Charlie back to France to relocate.

Welcome home, baby. pic.twitter.com/X6RnLusAQZ  A Million Little Things (@AMillionABC) June 9, 2021

RELATED: A Million Little Things: What Happened to Delilahs Boyfriend, Miles?

Who is Layla on A Million Little Things?

Sophie went to see Laylas family again to let them know that Sophie was heading to the police station. Layla was one of Peters previous students who he also suggested she get into a bathing suit for her music lesson. Sophie believed that Layla died by suicide because Peter did the same thing to Layla that he did to Sophie.

Laylas mother, Georgia Gregory (Kari Matchett), got upset and shut the door in Sophies face. Meanwhile, Laylas father, Christopher Gregory (Michael Weston), ran after Sophie to give her Laylas diary. Sophie wanted to bring Laylas diary along to the station to corroborate her story about Peter. In the journal, Layla wrote, I dont want him to see me in my bathing suit.

What happened to Sophie?

Sophie shared her story with the police officer and then told them about the selfie she sent Peter. The officers unexpectedly got called out of the room. When he returned, the officer went over the timeline and then implied that Sophie didnt have a case. Privately, the detective told Delilah, Maggie, and Gary that theres not enough evidence. Peter was smart enough to cover his tracks. A defense attorney would get the case thrown out and victim-blame Sophie. However, the officer admitted that now that there is a case open on Peter, they would have more chance of a conviction if it happened again to someone else.

A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17 Recap: Gary and Darcy

RELATED: Darcy on A Million Little Things: Is Floriana Lima Leaving the Series?

Darcys ex-husband took the job two hours away, so she is requesting a transfer at work. Gary insisted they would make the long-distance thing work. However, Maggie asked Gary why he couldnt move with Darcy. She had a difficult conversation with Gary about why he tried to fix everyones problems. Finally, Gary admitted that he doesnt like when people arent happy because they leave. Maggie told him to consider what is going to make him happy. Later in the episode, Gary told Darcy he wanted to move with her and have a family.

A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17 Recap: The Saville Family

In A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17, Eddie headed to Delilahs house to help babyproof the house for Charlies arrival home. However, Eddie and Katherine get into a fight while hes picking up his tools. Katherines upset that he always makes her be the one to say no to Theo. Eddie doesnt help matters.

The #AMillionLittleThings 2 hour season finale is tomorrow at a special time, 9|8c on ABC. pic.twitter.com/JdRimGpbLX  A Million Little Things (@AMillionABC) June 8, 2021

RELATED: A Million Little Things Season 4: Release Date and Cast Returning

Katherine took off work to make it up to Theo that shes not always the fun parent. While they were making popcorn on the stove, Alan Kay (Terry Chen)called Katherine, and she walked away from the stove. While she was gone, Theo took the hot butter to the sink by himself. Theo burned his arm and ended up in urgent care. However, Eddies lawyer told him to take pictures of the arm to use it against Katherine in court.

A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17 Recap: The Howard Family

In A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17, Rome helped Tyrell (Adam Swain) load his moms things in his car. He realized that the landlord, Mr. Mills, wasnt the one who called ICE on his mom. He stored their things and was very nice. Rome was offended that Tyrell didnt call him his foster dad when speaking to the landlord.

However, more importantly, Tyrells moms boyfriend, Kyle, was the one who got her deported. He took the job she was studying for: Supervisor of Emergency services at Boston General.

Regina had a panic attack when she was heading into the police station because an officer bumped her. It sent her back to the day she was shoved to the ground by a cop during a protest. So, she did not accompany the gang inside to support Sophie. However, Sophie showed up at her door later, crying.

After A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18, Deadline reported that the series returns for season 4 in the fall of 2021.
In the A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18 recap, Eddie Saville (David Giuntoli) goes to drastic measures to fight for his son, Theo (Tristan Byon). Delilah Dixon (Stephanie Szostak) and Gary Mendez (James Roday Rodriguez) get into an epic fight. Meanwhile, Regina Howard (Christina Moses) sells her restaurant, while Rome Howard (Romany Malco) helps Tyrell (Adam Swain) figure out why his mother was deported. Plus, viewers contemplate what Gary did to Peter Benoit (Andrew Leeds) at the end of the A Million Little Things Season 3 finale.

A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18: James Roday Rodriguez as Gary Mendez and Stephanie Szostak as Delilah Dixon | Jack Rowand/ABC/ Getty Images

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18, Justice: Part 2.]

A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18 Recap: The Saville Family

Eddie stopped by to drop off bandages for Theos burn. Eddie insisted that Delilah let him watch her kids, so Katherine (Grace Park) should do the same. However, Katherine pointed out that Delilah did not go through what Katherine did with Eddie. So, he told Katherine he would use the photos of Theos burns against her in court.

However, by the end of A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18, the couple compromised. Eddie offered to take weekly drug tests if he could have joint custody of Theo and unsupervised visits.

Finding a way to make things work. #AMillionLittleThings pic.twitter.com/R4mOQYEBfS  A Million Little Things (@AMillionABC) June 10, 2021

RELATED: Alan on A Million Little Things: Is Terry Chen Leaving the Series?

A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18 Recap: The Howard Family

In A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18, Regina and Rome committed to selling the restaurant. Katherine helped her sell the building before she lost everything. After Katherine left, a former restaurant patron, Dustin, stopped in for some food. He told Regina about how his wife recently died from COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Rome and Tyrell

Meanwhile, Tyrell (Adam Swain) confronted Kyle, his moms former EMT partner. Kyle claimed that he didnt report his mom. Instead, she borrowed Kyles car to deliver Tyrells summer program application to FedEx. On the way there, the police picked her up, and thats how she got deported. Tyrell realized that hes the reason his mother was deported. Rome and Tyrell had a serious conversation about how everything happens for a reason. Tyrell didnt believe it at first, but later, he told Regina that he wouldnt have met the Howards without the restaurant.

A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18 Recap: The Dixon Family

The episode opened with Delilah telling Eddie that she wanted to move her family to France. However, Danny overheard and stormed out of the house with his friend, Milo.

When Sophie returned to the Gregory family, Georgia (Kari Matchett) apologized. However, Sophie told them that they couldnt press charges against Peter. Christopher (Michael Weston) got very upset, but Georgie thanked Sophie for helping them figure out why Layla died by suicide. Sophie told Georgie that her father, Jon Dixon (Ron Livingston), died by suicide, too, and the women hugged it out.

RELATED: A Million Little Things: What Happened to Delilahs Boyfriend, Miles?

Gary tried to make Sophie feel better by telling her he should have protected her more. Danny stormed in to confront his mother about the possible move. He said to her that he finally is out at school, has a boy he likes, and doesnt want to leave. Sophie also protested her mothers idea about moving to France.

Delilah admitted that she hadnt had a chance to grieve Jons death in A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18. Gary screamed back at Delilah that he had to deal with Danny struggling about whether to come out and Sophie getting sexually assaulted.

Darcy and Gary

Meanwhile, Darcy (Floriana Lima) and Garcy talked about moving in together. However, when Gary brought up having a baby together, Darcy admitted that she doesnt want any more children. Viewers could tell that Gary wasnt happy about her decision. Later, Darcy couldnt find Gary, so she left him a heartfelt voicemail.

RELATED: Darcy on A Million Little Things: Is Floriana Lima Leaving the Series?

Gary visited his dad for an alibi

Later, Gary went to see his dad to thank him for never leaving him. Gary apologized for changing his name near the end of A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18. Gary cried and told his father that he didnt want him to think that he was rejecting his dad by changing his name.

In this country, its easier to be a Gary than a Javier, his father responded.

Then Gary told his dad that he needed him to be his alibi if anyone asked. The two men corroborated their stories, and then Javier told his son that he was proud of him.

What does Gary do on A Million Little Things?

At the conclusion of A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 18, while Delilah cried on the couch, Danny comforted her. Meanwhile, Sophie told her story on Maggies podcast.

I know you tried to take something away from me, but you didnt, Sophie told listeners. I think everyone should know your name. Its Peter Benoit.

At the same time, Gary went to Peters house and threw a burlap bag over his head. While the drama suggested that Gary was about to kill Peter, many viewers think that hes only going to try to scare the man. Hopefully, he doesnt do anything rash that lands him in prison.

Deadline reported that the series returns for season 4 in the fall of 2021.

RELATED: A Million Little Things Season 3 Episode 17 Recap, Justice: Part 1
Two women who were once close to convicted murderer Drew Peterson are speaking out in a new episode of Lifetimes true-crime docuseries Cellmate Secrets.

Petersons former fiance Christina Raines and his ex-girlfriend Nicole Speakman both recall disturbing comments and behavior from the one-time cop who was convicted in 2012 of killing his ex-wife Kathleen Savio. Savio was found dead in her bathtub in 2004. Her death was initially ruled an accidental drowning, but authorities reopened the case after Petersons fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished in 2007. Stacy Peterson remains missing.

Drew Petersons ex-girlfriend shares details about their relationship in Cellmate Secrets

Drew Peterson's ex-girlfriend speaks out in the premiere of #CellmateSecrets: Drew Peterson Friday at 10/9c. pic.twitter.com/Ee3eTLQM64  Lifetime (@lifetimetv) June 8, 2021

RELATED: 9 Lifetime Movies Based on Shocking True Stories

Speakman began dating Peterson after he was already behind bars, but before his conviction. Initially, she found him charming.

Drew was very flirtatious, he was very kind, she says of Peterson, who retired from his job as a police officer in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook shortly after Stacy went missing. He always said the right things, she added.

But after the guilty verdict in Petersons trial, things began to change. At one point, Speakman says she missed two prison visits in a row. When she next saw her boyfriend, his behavior was frightening. He was jerking his head and clenching his fists, she recalls.

I could just tell, if we werent in a jail  I dont know what he would have done, she says. Speakman added that she knew if he wanted to hurt someone, he could.

Petersons ex-fiance also appears in Lifetime doc, says he had trust issues

Petersons former fiance Raines also witnessed his dark side. She initially stood by Peterson during the investigation into the death of his third wife and disappearance of his fourth wife. She even moved into the home Peterson shared with his missing spouse. But eventually, she ended the relationship. Thats when Peterson became possessive, spying on her and an ex-boyfriend with whom she was staying.

He had trust issues, Raines says in Cellmate Secrets (via E!). She also recalled some troubling statements he made about his previous wives, which she now sees as red flags. At one point during the investigation into Savios death, he joked that he should have had his third wife cremated.

Where is Drew Peterson today?

Drew Peterson during a 2008 appearance on Today | Virginia Sherwood/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

A jury convicted Peterson of killing Savio and sentenced him to 38 years in prison. But that wasnt the end of his story. In 2016, another 40 years were added to his sentence after he was convicted of attempting to hire someone to murder James Glasgow, the prosecutor who helped put him behind bars, CBS Chicago reported.

Peterson is still serving his time for murder and murder-for-hire. He initially began his sentence at a state prison in Illinois before being transferred to a federal prison in Indiana in 2017. In December 2019, CBS Chicago reported that Peterson had been transferred to a state prison outside of Illinois.

Cellmate Secrets: Drew Peterson airs Friday, June 11 at 10 p.m. ET on Lifetime. It will be preceded by a rebroadcast of the Lifetime movie Drew Peterson: Untouchable, starring Rob Lowe as Peterson, at 8 p.m. ET.

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After watching Cruel Summer Episode 9 and the episode 10 trailer, this Annabelle theory could be true. Although viewers first heard about the mysterious Annabelle from Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt) in episode 4, Martin Harris (Blake Lee) finally uttered her name in the new preview. So, could Annabelle be a fake identity?

Cruel Summer: Olivia Holt as Kate Wallis | Bill Matlock/Freeform /Getty Images

Cruel Summer: All the times Annabelle is mentioned

In Cruel Summer Episode 4, viewers first heard about Annabelle. Kate told a story around the campfire to her parents and a few other adults. She talked about a girl named Annabelle who was all alone until she wasnt.

A man joined her, Kate continued. A man the grownups trusted. Now, of course, Annabelle trusted him too, because, I mean, why wouldnt she, right? She was just a child. And that trust led to something unspeakable. Then I think that puts blood all over the grownups hands, dont you think too? That they were all responsible for what happened to her? Now, theyd better have all their stories straight because Annabelle sure has hers. Secrets are scary because everybody has them.

Kate also spoke to her therapist, Sylvia Parks (Lee Eddy), about Annabelle. Kate explained that Martin began acting strange, and that was the day she met Annabelle. It was also the date Martin was shot, and the police rescued Kate. In Cruel Summer Episode 5, Kate doodled the name Annabelle several times on a sketchpad while listening to her therapy tapes.

Cruel Summer: Annabelle theory

What if Annabelle is a new identity Martin created for Kate so they could run away together? one fan suggested on Reddit.

Other fans also suggested this Cruel Summer Annabelle theory in other threads after watching Kate dreaming of running away to Bora Bora or Morocco with Martin.

Plus, Martin wanting them to leave town could explain why Kate said he was acting differently that day, another viewer added on Reddit.

So this Cruel Summer Annabelle theory suggests that Martin created a new passport for Kate using the name Annabelle.

RELATED: Cruel Summer: The Tape and Snow Globe; 1 Star Shared This Clue

This fits with the way she was doodling the name Annabelle,' another Redditor wrote. Like a teen girl writing her name with the last name of her crush/love. (i.e., Kate Harris).

Viewers also noticed that Kate wore the pearls Martin gave her when she went on the Marsha Bailey Show. This minor detail made fans believe that she still loved Martin even though he abused her.

Cruel Summer Episode 10 trailer

In the upcoming season finale, the Cruel Summer Episode 10 trailer gives fans the ultimate Annabelle clue. At first, the preview shows both Kate and Jeanette Turner (Chiara Aurelia) heading to the court trial. Reporters surrounded both vehicles, and then the clip flashes to Kate and Jeanette in court. Jeanettes lawyer insisted that she will expose the truth. Meanwhile, Kate and Jeanette face off in a difficult conversation.

RELATED: Cruel Summer Episode 8 Recap and a New Annabelle Theory

Things escalated to a really dark place, Kate told the courtroom.

Then viewers hear a voiceover from Martin.

You asked me once how this ends, Martin says. This is Annabelle.

This Cruel Summer Annabelle theory makes sense because Martin didnt like guns. Many theories suggested that Annabelle could be a gun. However, the travel guides solidified the idea that Martin created a separate identity for Kate to run away together. During her therapy sessions, Kate admitted she still felt bad for Martin. That explained why Kate continued to write the name Annabelle in her sketchbook. She fantasized about becoming that person. In the story around the campfire, Kate talked about herself in the third person, referring to Annabelle.

Viewers find out if this fake identity Annabelle theory is correct when Cruel Summer Episode 10 returns on June 15, 2021, at 10 p.m. EST on Freeform.
The first movie Dolly Parton was ever in was 9 to 5, directed by Colin Higgins. Parton played the character of Doralee Rhodes, starring alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. While Parton typically doesnt like to get political, she said in an interview in 2019 that the movie didnt do enough good for women experiencing sexism in the workplace.

Dolly Parton in 9 to 5 | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Dolly Parton had no acting experience when she was cast in 9 to 5

When Parton was interviewed by Playboy Magazine in 1978, she spoke about a deal she was making with 20th Century Fox. Back then, she admitted shed never wanted to be in the movies.

I have never done any acting at all, never thought Id be particularly good at it, she told the magazine, according to the book Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton. But the people at 20th Century-Fox really feel like I can be, or that I am, a natural actress.

When the studio approached Parton about acting, she was unsure, initially, because she lacked experience.

All I said was, I dont know if I can or cant, but if you think I can and you want to take that chance, Ill take it with you, she said. Its as simple as that. Can you imagine me bein an actress? But a lot of people are interested. Sandy Gallin, my manager, is making a hellacious deal, but no one knows if I can do it at all.

Dolly Parton in 9 to 5

9 to 5 was Partons film debut in 1980. In her 2020 book, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, she wrote about working with Fonda and Tomlin.

Lily and Jane were very helpful, wrote Parton. Jane is the one who got me in the movie. She was thinking, Dolly will get us the South. I told her later as a joke, Well, I might get you some North and East and West, too, because I had a lot of fans.

RELATED: Dolly Parton on the Rumor That She Had an Affair With Her Friend Judy Ogle

The cast and crew all kindly showed Parton the ropes.

Jane said, Dont worry about acting, wrote Parton. Just be yourself. The director will tell you what to do, and youll learn. Dabney Coleman [who played Mr. Hart] taught me a lot, too. Hes a Texas guy, and we had a great connection. They all knew it was my first time in the movies, so they were all helpful. People are generous.

I write about it

The holidays are over, y'all. Its back to that 9 to 5 #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/uKCtj6Hgjr  Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) January 4, 2021

RELATED: Dolly Parton Hopes to Fall Dead Doing This  Thats the Way I Go

When Parton was interviewed by Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts for the ABC News special, Dolly Parton: Here She Comes Again! in 2019, she reflected on the impact 9 to 5 had as a film. Parton has always been passionate about workplace equality  both in the office and in show business  but acknowledges that we still have a long way to go.

[That movie] did a lot of good, but evidently didnt do enough good because were going to always have the same problems in the workplace with women and men, she said. I still believe that women should get paid equal and should be treated with respect. Im all about that. And like I say, I dont get out and have to preach it or march in the streets. I write about it.
Modern Family helped put Sofia Vergara on the map as a successful actor. Vergara played Gloria Pritchett, the sassy, upbeat Colombian married to Jay Pritchett. Though the shows cast grew incredibly close during filming and often discussed having loved their jobs and roles, there was one part of filming that Vergara absolutely hated.

Sofia Vergara in an episode of Modern Family | Peter Hopper Stone/Walt Disney Television/Getty

The Modern Family cast grew into somewhat of a real-life family

Modern Family premiered back in 2009, and it instantly became one of the most popular sitcoms of the 2010s. Over the course of its 11 seasons, fans watched the cast members grow up, from seeing Alex Dunphy realize her full potential to even watching Haley Dunphy find her purpose.

The families were all connected through Jay Pritchett, who was the father of Claire and Mitchell Pritchett. And though nobody was related off-screen, the cast members grew into a family over a dozen years of filming. When the show closed in 2020, the cast was filled with tears and kind words for each other.

Through it all, though, Sofia Vergara had one hiccup when it came to filming, which she could not get over.

Sofia Vergara and Ed ONeill of Modern Family | Christopher Polk/WireImage

RELATED: Modern Family: What Gloria Thought Doggy Dog World Meant

Sofia Vergara revealed she hated filming with the Pritchetts French bulldog, Stella

Sofia Vergara adored playing Gloria Pritchett on the show, but that doesnt mean she loved every decision the directors made. And when it came time for Gloria and Jay to adopt a family pet, Vergara was not on board.

In an interview at Paleyfest, Vergara reveals that she was not fond of Gloria and Jays dog, Stella. Modern Family creator Christopher Lloyd revealed that at first, Vergaras character was supposed to love the dog, but Vergaras real-life reaction couldnt be hidden.

I hate the dog, Vergara admitted.

Sofias a wonderful actor, but shes not that good of an actor that shes gonna be able to cover this [makes a gross face], Lloyd added.

Vergara continued, saying, Im not used to [having] a little dog on top of me and licking. I grew up in Colombia, where you have big dogs. Vergara said that in Colombia, the dogs stay outside. Its not that I have anything personal with her, she added of French bulldog Stella. The audience loved Vergaras genuine attitude.

The Modern Family cast at the Emmy Awards in 2012 | Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Sofia Vergara and Ed ONeill once revealed how they made their relationship work on camera

Vergara and co-star Ed ONeill (Jay Pritchett) also discussed how they made their relationship appear so true on the show. The two agreed that it was effortless to portray a couple in love.

Sofia makes it so easy because she treats me a certain way, and it helps, ONeill said. Because I need some help.

I think we have similarities sometimes in personality, Vergara added. So its easy  We havent had one problem on the set.

Modern Family came to a close in 2020, but the cast has remained close since filming their last episode.
News broke on June 6, that Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex had welcomed their daughter. The couple shared that their baby girl was born on June 4, 2021, at 11:40 a.m. in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital not far from their home in California. She weighed 7 lbs,11 oz. and Meghan and Harry named her Lilibet Diana.

Her middle name is of course after Harrys mother, Princess Diana, and her first name is after her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. Their daughters first name is also a nod to Harrys late grandfather, Prince Philip, as well.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh raises his hat in his role as Captain General, Royal Marines | Yui Mok  WPA Pool/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghans daughter was born days before what would have been Prince Philips 100th birthday

On April 9, 2021, the royal family announced that Prince Philips had died.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who was the longest-serving consort in British history, died at Windsor Castle which is the royal residence where the monarch and Philip had been living since the queen moved there from Buckingham Palace during the first U.K. lockdown in March 2020.

Lilbet, who Meghan and Harry will call Lili, was actually born six days before what would have been Prince Philips 100th birthday.

It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.



His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. pic.twitter.com/XOIDQqlFPn  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 9, 2021

Who calls the queen Lilibet?

For months royal watchers were taking bets on what the Sussexes would name their baby, but Lilibet didnt seem to be on anyones radar. Several bookies including Coral, Betfair, and OddsMonkey had Alice, Abigail, and Allegra as some of the favored girls names believing that Harry and Meghan wanted their second childs name to start with an A just like Archies. Other experts though thought that the pair would choose Spencer after Dianas maiden name.

But when their baby arrived she was given the queens nickname. According to Hello! Magazine, when then-Princess Elizabeth was just a toddler and couldnt pronounce her own name properly she called herself Tillabet. As she got older members of her family, including her grandfather King George V, began to call her Lilibet imitating her attempts to say her name. That stuck and relatives and close friends began to call her that. The queen even signed her name as Lilibet on the funeral wreath for Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

Because Prince Philip was also among those who called his wife Lilibet, its thought that the duke and duchess are honoring him as well by giving their daughter that name. Contrary to some reports, a spokesperson for the Sussexes said that Harry spoke to his grandmother before Lilis birth about the name choice.

Black-and-white photo of then-Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip enjoying a walk together during their honeymoon | Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Lili has one of Prince Philips names too

The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs little girl does carry one of Prince Philips names.

Just like her big brother, Archie Harrison, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor has her great-grandfathers adopted surname from his mothers family included in her full name.

RELATED: What Royal Family Members Will Inherit From Prince Philip Following His Death
For almost 40 years, Scarface has been a classic for many movie lovers. Al Pacino starred as the one and only Tony Montana. A remake is in the works, and the actor fully supports it. Some fans may have a hard time seeing anyone else play Tony.

Other people made suggestions, like Oscar Isaac and Bobby Cannavale. One minor role that fans might not think about is a certain woman in a blue bikini. The actors name was Tammy Lynn Leppert, and she disappeared soon after filming.

Al Pacino in Scarface | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Tammy Lynn Leppert appeared briefly in Scarface

According to Unsolved Mysteries, Leppert was born on February 5, 1965. People knew her for her beauty ever since she was a young child. By the time Leppert was 16 years old, she had participated in over 300 beauty pageants. She worked as a model throughout her teenage years as well.

Leppert also worked as an actor, but her roles were minor ones. She landed a part in the film Spring Break in 1982. The young star did not appear in many movies, and Scarface would be her last movie. Scarface was directed by Brian De Palma, and it is the story of a penniless immigrants rise and downfall.

While the movie received poor reviews upon release, it became a cult classic. Viewers can spot Leppert when one of the characters tries to flirt with her. According to IMDb, she was the blonde girl in a blue bikini. She appears in a beach scene and briefly in the chainsaw sequence.

No one has seen Tammy Lynn Leppert ever since she vanished

In 1983, Leppert got checked into a mental health center for a physical and psychiatric evaluation. She stayed there for 72 hours before doctors released her. They found no evidence that she had been using any substances. On July 6, 1983, Leppert would vanish five months before Scarface got released.

According to the local police department, Leppert and her friend argued on the way to the beach. Her friend dropped her off five miles away from Lepperts home. Florida Today reports her last appearance was at State Road A1A by the Glass Bank building.

It has been over 35 years since Lepperts disappearance, but the internet is full of theories about what could have happened. Possible drug cartels and money laundering are common rumors. Several people suggested that famous Hollywood actors killed her. Some speculated that Leppert got pregnant and ran away. It is hard to say if people will ever know what happened.

Tammy Lynn Leppert struggled with mental health issues

men learned everything from SCARFACE except how to dress pic.twitter.com/xzcUgdD6Xr  NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) June 1, 2021

Scarface contains plenty of behind-the-scenes trivia. For example, Michelle Pfeiffer accidentally cut Al Pacino in the face during her screen test. A darker fact of the film involves a young actor playing a minor part. On the fourth day of filming, Leppert had a mental breakdown on set.

After watching a violent scene, Leppert expressed fears about alleged money laundering and people trying to kill her. Family friend Walter Liebowitz explained, And they said when Tami was watching the scene, she started crying hysterically and it got so bad that they had to take her to a trailer. She was in a tremendous state of fear, anxiety 

Lepperts mental health had deteriorated, and she quit the production. However, the issues began well before filming. Before Scarface, the actor went to a weekend party alone. Afterward, Leppert started to feel paranoid. She told her mother that she believed someone was trying to kill her.

Over time, Leppert became isolated, and the paranoia worsened. On July 1, 1983, she snapped and started breaking the windows in her house. Her mother was able to handle the incident but was worried about Lepperts mental health. Less than a week later, Leppert had gone missing, never to be seen again.

RELATED: How One Tiger King Star May Have Led to the Creation of Scarface Tony Montana
Season 5 of The Last Kingdom is finally in production in Hungary. The news came out just as fans were learning that the upcoming season will be the last. Now that production is happening, fans have been treated to a number of images of our favorite actors together again in memorable posts. Emily Cox, who plays Brida, recently shared a unique image with Mark Rowley, who plays Finan.

Emily Cox as Brida in The Last Kingdom | Adrienn Szabo/Netflix

Season 5 of The Last Kingdom will be the final season, but its back in production

The Last Kingdom follows the story of Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon), son of Uhtred. However, his story is being cut short with season 5, which will be the final season. Deadline revealed the news of the conclusion of the series with season 5, verifying it with Netflix and Carnival Films.

The reckoning is approaching

It's official! We're all back shooting #Season5 of #TheLastKingdom.

Thank you all so much for your continued support and we'll have more exciting content to share with you soon! pic.twitter.com/llAvG0wptK  The Last Kingdom (@TheLastKingdom) April 30, 2021

That same day the sad news dropped, a new video was shared on the official social media channels in which Dreymon, who plays Uhtred, makes the announcement that the show is back in production. Other fan favorites can be seen in the video, including Mark Rowley and Emily Cox.

Emily Cox (Brida) just shared a unique image with Mark Rowley (Finan)

RELATED: The Last Kingdom: Fans Weigh in on Renaming the Show, and the Responses Are on Point: The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Uhtred Ragnarsson

On June 9, 2021, Emily Cox shared a unique image of herself and Mark Rowley. In the black and white photo, she tagged Rowleys account and the official Instagram account for the series. Both Emily and Mark have on sunglasses and headphones in the image. Emily wears a zip-up jacket with her hair done as Brida. She makes a popular symbol with one of her hands, sometimes referred to the rocker symbol. Mark does the same with one of his hands as well, and hes wearing what looks like armor with a hat on his head. Behind them is a trailer.

Emily captioned the post on Instagram: Finan and Brida in the house Who can guess what music were listening to? She tagged Mark again and added a few hashtags: #thelastkingdom #brida #finan.

Brida and Finan in The Last Kingdom

Mark Rowley and Alexander Dreymon in The Last Kingdom | Joe Alblas/Netflix

Brida was a Saxon child when she was taken in by the Danes. She becomes lovers with Uhtred at one point, and they grew up together. But their relationship is more than complicated, and in season 4, Brida holds a grudge against him for not killing her when she is cornered by the Welsh in battle. Shes taken as a slave, although she is eventually freed by Sigtryggr (Eysteinn Sigurarson).

Finan is a warrior originally from Ireland. Hes a good friend to Uhtred, and hes constantly by his side serving him. They were slaves when they first crossed paths, but they are eventually freed. Theyve been through a lot over the years, and their friendship has only grown stronger.

It will be great to see these characters again in the final season of The Last Kingdom. Well have to see what other images the actors of the show post before season 5 finally comes out.
The Mongolian People's Party candidate won with 68% of the vote. He will replace Khaltmaa Battulga, from the Democratic Party, an alignment that had used the slogan "Mongolia without dictatorship" in the election campaign. Fears for a one-party state.

Ulaan Baatar (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Ukhnaa Khurelsukh yesterday won the elections for the country's presidency. His success consolidates the power of the Mongolian People's Party (MPP).

Khurelsukh, who had been forced to resign as prime minister earlier this year after a wave of protests, won over the other candidates with 68% of the vote; he will replace Khaltmaa Battulga, of the Democratic Party, who has been denied the opportunity to seek re-election following controversial changes to the Constitution, which impose a single presidential term.

Sodnomzundui Erdene, Democratic Party candidate, and Dangaasuren Enkhbat, from the National Labor Party, obtained 20.1% and 6% of the votes respectively.

Despite the landslide victory of the former prime minister, there were no big celebrations in the capital. Claiming victory, the newly elected president said the presidency is a "huge responsibility".

Although the president is forced to renounce affiliation with his party once he takes office, Khurelsukh's victory will in all likelihood strengthen the power of the PPM, an alignment that already controls the government and parliament.

During the election campaign, the Democratic Party, according to which the country was sliding towards a one-party system, used the slogan "Mongolia without dictatorship".

Mongolia's political system gives parliament the right to appoint the government and dictate the policy, but the president has the power to veto the legislation.
After Governor Greg Abbott passed Senate Bill 8, or the Texas Heartbeat Act into law, pro-choice advocates seemed to have lost all hope for abortion, but a young voice became a beacon for them when Paxton Smith, a student at Lake Highlands High School delivered a commencement speech decrying abortion laws in Texas. The 2021 valedictorian's speech went viral, gaining reactions from both sides of the abortion argument. Most recently, a pro-life activist who regretted her abortion took to social media to air her thoughts on the viral pro-abortion speech promoting the death of the unborn.

"Please do not look up to girls like Paxton Smith. She may have the ability to string together emotionally driven words, but if they are not founded in truth it will lead to destruction. I know this so well," Toni McFadden, a mother of two, took to Facebook to write a letter to her daughters, Faithwire reported. She went on to recall how in senior high school, she had an unplanned pregnancy and decided to make the "huge mistake" of aborting her child.

"I believed the very lies that Ms. Smith relayed in her valedictorian speech," McFadden wrote. "When I found out I was pregnant I felt that my dreams, my goals, and my aspirations were being stripped from me. Knowing what I know now, they were simply feelings. Feelings change but truth does not."

McFadden said that when she was an "immature girl," she believed in the "lie" that if she would get an abortion, she would be able to "restore" her "dreams, goals, and aspirations." She soon learned that it was not true and had to live with the guilt and regret, which she "quickly pushed down to survive."

"There is nothing natural about taking the life of your own child. I do not care how empowering someone like Ms. Paxton may make it sound," McFadden argued.

"The reality is I had no right to take the life of my innocent child for my own selfish gain."

In May, pro-life advocates earned a victory when Gov. Abbott passed a measure that prohibits abortion as early as six weeks, which Smith argues is oftentimes too early. Women are often unaware that they are pregnant at six weeks. The strict abortion law does not include any exemptions for rape and incest cases, which many argue are unjust.

"I am terrified that if my contraceptives fail, I am terrified that if I am raped, then my hopes and aspirations and dreams and efforts for my future will no longer matter," Smith said in her now viral speech, as per NPR.

The pro-abortion activist also condemned lawmakers for overriding the autonomy of a woman on her own body. She admitted that she was surprised at the positive feedback she had been receiving since her speech went viral and admitted that she had also gained detractors.

One of those is McFadden, who disagrees with her but hopes that she would use her "gift of intelligence to protect life, not promote death."
The Biesterfeld Group continued its successful track record of business development in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The family-owned company based in Hamburg saw a decline in sales, but it still generated total revenues in the amount of 1.03 billion. Thanks to its effective cost management system, the distributor achieved an operating result of 42.8 million, which surpassed targets.

With this development, Biesterfeld exceeded earnings forecasts and reinforced its position as market leader in selected segments of the international chemicals and plastics market. All four operating business divisions made a positive contribution to this result. The group again succeeded in expanding its market shares and adding new partners and products to its portfolio to enable ongoing strategic developments over the long term. This long-term development is based on the technically sophisticated solutions that Biesterfeld has to offer, as well as on expanding the relevant product and service portfolio, and on long-standing and trusting partnerships with customers and suppliers.

2020 was a challenging year for everyone. But thanks to our 900 employees around the world, we managed to master it beautifully. Everyone actively adapted to the situation with utmost flexibility and they gave their best to Biesterfeld, as well as to our customers and suppliers, says Thomas Arnold, CEO of Biesterfeld AG. To show our thanks to everyone, in May we paid out a COVID-19 bonus to all Biesterfeld employees around the world.

The first quarter of 2021 was also successful for all four operating business divisions of the Biesterfeld Group. The general high demand for raw materials and materials on a global level and the shortage of resources in a number of markets  such as in the plastic and rubber sectors  were the main factors contributing to the revenue and earnings. Despite the continuing COVID-19 pandemic as well as geopolitical and industry-specific challenges, Biesterfeld is optimistic that it will achieve the positive business development planned for 2021.
The first German start-up worth ten billion dollars was launched at TUM: after crossing this threshold, Celonis is now the second most valuable start-up in Europe. The provider of software that helps companies analyze and improve their business processes was established by three students with the support of TUM.

Celonis has announced a remarkable success: In its fourth round of funding, the company raised one billion dollars from investors, resulting in a valuation of around $11 billion. This makes it the first German decacorn. This is the term applied to start-ups that achieve a valuation of over $10 billion without an IPO. According to the German business daily Handelsblatt, Celonis is the second most valuable start-up in Europe, behind the Swedish payment provider Klarna.

Just seven years after its launch, Celonis reached unicorn status  defined as a $1 billion valuation  in 2018. Such unicorns are still rare in Germany today. According to Handelsblatt, only 14 other current start-ups have crossed this threshold  including two others from TUM: Lilium is developing an electric flying taxi, and Personio provides software that enables small and mid-sized companies to digitalize their HR processes.

Efficient processes thanks to artificial intelligence

The software provided by Celonis analyzes companies processes and detects weak points with low efficiency. The tool achieves this regardless of the industry or the type of business process. Celonis is regarded as a global market leader in this technology called process mining, which is based on complex mathematical methods. Half a year ago it launched an execution management system that uses artificial intelligence to offer proposed solutions to the problems identified through process mining.

The founders, Bastian Nominacher, Martin Klenk and Alexander Rinke, studied finance and information management, informatics and mathematics. In addition to the advice from the TUM start-up consulting unit, they received help in developing their business model and a corporate identity from the Chairs for Information Systems, Industrial Design and Entrepreneurship. The company, which has its second headquarter in New York and currently employs 1300 people with total sales of more than 100 million euros, still maintains close ties to the university.

Support programs  from the business model to an IPO

Every year TUM spawns around 80 technology-focused start-ups. TUM and UnternehmerTUM, the Center for Innovation and Business Creation, provide programs tailored to the various phases of building a business  from creating the business model to management training, and from market entry to a possible IPO. The TUM Venture Labs offer an entire research ecosystem for start-up teams working in important scientific fields. Up to 30 teams can use offices in the TUM Incubator to prepare for the launch of their companies. Through its own venture capital fund, UnternehmerTUM invests in tech companies displaying strong potential. Meanwhile, with MakerSpace and the Bio.Kitchen, it provides a 1500 square meter high-tech prototype workshop and biotechnology lab. According to the Grundungsradar survey, no major German university provides better support for founding teams.
Shown is the Cherokee Nations courtroom at the Tribal Complex in Tahlequah. The CN has seen an expanded case load since the Supreme Courts McGirt decision and subsequent Hogner ruling found that the CNreservation had never been disestablished.
Andrea Dugan, the superintendent of Mountainview Christian School in Indonesia, was on vacation last year when she found out from a local newspaper that one of her students was hospitalized with a suspected case of COVID-19, among the first in the area.

She returned home to Indonesia to extend the schools quarter break before eventually making the call for her 210 students to go virtual for the remainder of the semester, just days before the Indonesian government closed all schools. Virtual learning continued through the 20202021 school year, with just four in-person weeks in the spring before rising cases sent them back to the screens.

From March to May, she remembers feeling flooded with adrenaline as she kept up with local government orders and ran the school while also ensuring her own children learned online.

Were the international school, she said. Were going to be seen. Whatever we do, people are going to know. For Dugan, leading a Christian international school meant that following government orders and strict COVID-19 protocols with integrity mattered not just for safety but as a witness to the local community.

Multiple school families returned to the United States in March after the local US embassy strongly encouraged all citizens to leave the country. Theyre still unable to return to Indonesia. Limited visas are also blocking new staff from coming for the next school year.

Even though I have teachers intending to join my staff come August, Im holding my breath to know whether or not I can actually legally get them in the country because [of] the visa process, Dugan said. How do I staff my school next year if I cant physically get people in the country?

At the conclusion of the first full school year since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many teachers are planning to return to some semblance of normal after the summer. But at international Christian schools like Dugans, the disruptions to staffing, enrollment, and financial resourcesnot to mention the continued spread of the virus in some placeslinger.

International Christian schools typically cater to a mix of missionaries, diplomats, large corporations, and locals who want a Christianand typically Westerneducation.

Since COVID-19, schools dependent on tuition have struggled financially as families have moved back to their home countries or are no longer able to pay the full cost. According to a report published by the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), 63 percent of the 73 schools surveyed reported a decreased enrollment for fall of 2020 and 49 percent said their budgets decreased.

Joe Neff, the coordinating director of global educational services for Teach Beyond, works with schools in 60-plus countries. Many Christian schools abroad have shifted away from a sole missionary focus to more inclusive models as globalized business makes expatriate life more common, he said.

Schools with wider diversity are typically better funded and enjoy more financial security, but those same families able to pay higher fees were more likely to be evacuated by large companies and governments when the pandemic hit than their missionary counterparts.

COVID-19 safety as Christian witness

Dugan and her family have been planning a trip back to the United States, a six-month furlough to their home state of Minnesota, but now shes worried the limited visas could affect their reentry and is anxious to step away from the school during such an uncertain season.

Shes been in Indonesia for the past nine years and knows that if she wants to continue to serve long-term, a break is necessary after a year when leadership has felt like walking through mud.

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As a regional director for ACSI, Tim Shuman is in constant communication with schools around the world and provides support for leaders like Dugan. If youre the chief motivator and you dont feel like doing your job, how do you deal with that? he asked. The pressure on leaders in these schools right now is tremendous and its very tiring and they have to lead somehow.

At international Christian schools, staff feel a particular obligation to meet the pivots and pressures of the pandemic and care well for their communities. They see their work in Christian education as part of their testimony, particularly in places where the church is in the minority or underground.

Its so hard to ask more from your people than you would ever want to have to ask.  But I think as believers, we want to be promise keepers, said the head of an international school in Russia that works with families from several large corporations. As a Christian school, if youve contracted services, were going to provide them.

At her school, online learning has presented a unique opportunity for parents who might not be Christians to watch chapel services and hear Bible classes taught in their native language with their children. An American living in Russia since January 2020, she asked not to be named because of the countrys regulations around missionary activity by foreigners.

Neff said that teachers across the globe have similarly reported how virtual school allowed parents in non-Christian homes to hear the Christian content their children are taught. Still, its been a challenge to keep teachers in virtual classrooms amid moves and changes to immigration policies.

Certain places are more in demand than others. Schools in countries like Egypt and Russia struggle to attract potential teachers as Americans have preconceived political notions of the risks associated with living there, according to Shuman at ACSI. Those schools are always looking for that unique person called by God who is brave, he said.

Schools in Western Europe get more applications since they have high tourism appeal and low security risk. But after the pandemic sent so many people home, schools everywhere are trying to convince potential staff its worth moving overseas during a tumultuous season and hoping borders will stay open long enough for them to get in.

Its always a challenge in the best of times, Shuman said. With COVID, it just ramps up.

Gods creative inspiration

At El Camino Academy in Bogota, Colombia, director Beth Afanador has filled several gaps but is still looking for teachers for kindergarten through fifth grade; middle school; and high school math, science, and Bible, plus a middle school principal and extracurricular teachers.

Every year, recruiting enough staff is a miracle, she said. Currently, the schools staff is 63 percent American and 37 percent Colombian serving a student population of about 80 percent locals. After a strict lockdown and a virtual spring last year, the school had to pause in-person learning this spring at times due to the protests sweeping the city.

I dont know how many times Ive said, God, thank heavens youre a creative God, because we need creativity and were made in your image, Afanador said. This has been a year that you cant just do things the way youve done them, so its taken a lot more mental energy because youre inventing all the time and its changing all the time. When you think youre set, two weeks later theres a new decree, a new law, a new outbreak, a new something. So its constant, constant change.

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Looking forward to the next year, she said the local government is pushing hard for schools to be open in person with safety protocols in the fall, fearing the irreparable social and emotional damage to students if they remain online another year. At her own school, Afanador said shes never seen more students meeting with psychologists and psychiatrists to cope with the stress of virtual school this past year.

In some countries, local governments are requiring teachers and staff to be fully vaccinated to return in person for the fall, sparking hesitation for both locals and expats. In Indonesia, Dugan said some expats are wary of taking the China-produced vaccine and hopes teachers who are hesitant will get vaccinated in the US over the summer. In Central Asia, locals are similarly nervous about the Russian-produced vaccine.

In Hungary, the International Christian School of Budapest (ICSB) transitioned to online learning early in March 2020. Kristi Hiltibran, the director of the school, said her crisis management team quickly formulated a plan for virtual learning and prepared contingency budgets in case any of the schools 230 students left.

But enrollment numbers remained steady and the school reopened with safety precautions in the fall. In November, the countrys COVID-19 cases steadily ticked upward, closing the school again. Students were able to slowly return in January and February. Hiltibran said she felt like she became a lawyer trying to decipher the changing protocols and safety measures recommended by the local government.

ISCB focused on six main strategies: masking, distancing, limited entry access, disinfecting surfaces, ventilation, and personal hygiene. They worked very well, Hiltibran said. We had very few cases for most of the year, until they didnt work.

In March of this year, cases and deaths suddenly spiked in Hungary as aggressive variants from the UK traveled across the continent. A week after a mandated government school shutdown, cases exploded within ICSBs community.

Thirty-three adultsabout one third of the schools staffand 13 students tested positive, with four staff members hospitalized. The schools lower school principal, Stephanie Bishop, experienced the most severe case and, after several weeks in the hospital, died on Good Friday at the age of 50. Her husband is the schools chaplain, and one of their two children is still a student at ICSB.

Its hard to believe, Hiltibran said. On the other hand, hundreds of people are dying here, so you can believe it. In a way youre not surprised that someone you know has died of COVID because so many people have died.

A virtual memorial with notes to her family underscores the gaping hole left by Bishops death. Hiltibran described her as a key leader in the school who brought steady wisdom and an unflappable personality, traits the school leaned upon throughout the past year as they navigated the pandemic.

I feel like Gods really carried me through the whole thing, she said, crediting the resilience and hope of her fellow coworkers to their faith. Despite his own pain, Bishops husband was concerned about shepherding the school communitys emotions in his role as chaplain, Hiltibran said.

But as a leader, Hiltibran said, you cant crumple up into a ball in your grief. She still had to lead the school through the rest of the year, helping teachers and staff process the loss with students, while facing their own grief. Over the summer, shell prepare for hopefully a return to in-person school and the difficult task of finding Bishops replacement.

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Leaving home and friends

The situation can seem even more dire in places where Christian educators status was precarious to begin with.

One international teacher who spent 14 years in South Korea and then 7 in China evacuated to the US at the start of the pandemic and ended up teaching virtuallyher students scattered across the globe and her materials back at her home in China.

Last year she and her husband, who also taught at an international school, ended their lease and gave away most of their items to local friends when border closures prevented them from returning to China. The couple asked not to be named because of government restrictions on Christianity where they work. They ended up moving to an international Christian school in Central Asia in November.

That school experienced a similar exodus during the pandemic, with some families getting trapped in the United States early in the pandemic. In one case at another international school in the city, parents employers gave families just five hours to pack up and fly home. They never came back.

Theres the potential [my kids are] not going to see these friends againever, said another teacher there. That was really, really hard just not having that closure with friends. She expects only in the coming year will many students realize the full loss of this past year, especially students who missed the emotional and relational growth that comes with transitioning to middle school and high school.

The former teacher in China is also trying to find a sense of closure, having finally received a shipment of items left behind but not knowing when shell be able to go back and visit. She finished the semester teaching history, writing, and orchestra both online and in person at their new school. Its better than teaching across multiple time zones, but the limitations of education in a pandemic still weigh on her.

I cried because I was so frustrated about not being able to tell how the relationships are going because of all the masks, she said.

Despite spending the past two decades overseas, she said she is not a global nomad at heart, preferring to stay in one location rather than country hop every few years. Barring another sudden departure, she hopes this will be home.

Courtney Runn is a writer based in Austin, Texas.
In his 2019 book The Color of Compromise, author and speaker Jemar Tisby offered a comprehensive account of the relationship between American Christianity and racism. But understanding that history leads to the inevitable question: What now? Events like the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis have placed questions of racial justice front and center, spurring many Christians to ask what it means to reckon with racism in their own lives and in the lives of their churches. Tisby takes up these topics in his follow-up book How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice. Myles Werntz, director of Baptist studies and associate professor of theology at Abilene Christian University, spoke with Tisby about the next steps on this journey.

You note in the foreword of How to Fight Racism that this book is an extended meditation on the last chapter of The Color of Compromise, where you help readers process what theyve read and invite them to do something with the historical knowledge theyve received. How does this new book build on what went before?

This book comes from two places. First, it comes from the urgency that I felt about the need to take antiracist action. Its funny: I thought that How to Fight Racism would be the first book I wrote, because I was eager to get to the Lets do something about racism part. Im very grateful that I wrote The Color of Compromise first, however, because I think it sets up what the issues of racism are so that we can come up with better solutions.

But the second impetus was that whenever I speak or teach about racism, the most frequent question I get is What do we do? I love this question because it shows that people are seeing that racism isnt just a past question but a present one, and it also shows that they want to be part of the solution. And so, in response, I would typically give a scattershot answer about specific actions people could take, with no rhyme or reason. But I got the sense that this wasnt leading to any actual action.

So, several years ago, I began to develop the framework of the bookthe ARC of racial justice, which stands for Awareness, Relationship, and Commitmentto provide a more cohesive approach to racial justice in general.

With so much attention being paid right now to structural dimensions of racism, why was it so important for you to emphasize the relational aspects of pursuing racial justice?

From a theological perspective, Christians understand that all reconciliation is relational, and this is the reason for the incarnation: God becoming human to reconcile humankind to God. But even from a sociological perspective, all reconciliation runs through relationships.

In their book Divided by Faith, Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith show that white evangelicalswho tend to be highly individualisticcome to understand the structural and systemic aspects of racism through relationships. This helps them to put flesh and blood on data and statistics that they might otherwise dismiss.

Many evangelicals approach questions of race through Scripture alone. How do you begin a conversation about other dynamics of racism that arent captured in this kind of approach?

We would first need to understand that all theological interpretation is contextual, that we all bring specific priorities to the text based on our own histories and social location. In this sense, theres no such that as pure biblical interpretation. All our interpretation is shaped by our histories. This isnt to say there are no timeless truths or universal principles, but it is to say that even the questions we ask are going to vary across people groups and across time periods.

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If this is true, we shouldnt be surprised to find that different groupswhite people and Black peopleapproach the text with different priorities. And if youve only ever been exposed to one groups priorities with respect to Scripture, then it becomes easy to see how another groups priorities could be perceived as wrong or inferior or politicized. So, we need to study theology and to read Scripture in community, so that we are approaching the text in a broad manner that helps us see truths not available to us before.

In white churches and theologies, theres a heavier emphasis on the New Testament, the Gospels, and Pauls lettersand this is all good and true. But in Black Christian traditions, theres an emphasis on Exodus, on the liberation of the people of God from slavery, and on appeals for justice from the prophets. Neither emphasis is wrong, of course, but were more apt to remember both when we read Gods Word in community.

You write that these relationshipswhether inside or outside of churchneed to be characterized by humility, not utility. In other words, they arent tools for white people to become less racist, but rather the context where real change can occur. Can you give a real-life example of what this looks like?

In my life, the white men who I would consider real and true friends have all initiated the relationship. Theyve all taken the risk of stepping outside their social comfort zone to proactively initiate a friendship with me. The example that I write about in the book is a guy I met in Greek class in seminary, who literally walked up and asked if I wanted to grab a drink. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Theres a sense in which we make this way too complicated. We cant just go around collecting friends based on demographics. So one question to ask is Would I be friends with this person if we never talked about race? This forces us to ask whether or not this is a purely transactional relationship.

One practice you encourage for white Christiansadults and entire families alikeis exploring your own racial identity. What kind of resources would you recommend, particularly for parents wanting to help their kids to understand race?

First, I think its important to become familiar with the concept of racial identity development, which I get into in the book, because then you can name the stage at which you or your children are in. We begin from a very early age to notice difference: height, skin color, age. But whenever children notice skin color, we tend to get very nervous, anxious that our children shouldnt be talking about race at all. And this nervousness leads to a very unhelpful notion of colorblindness. We want to help our children see diversity as an asset. A good rule of thumb here is early and often.

When you talk to white audiences about exploring their racial identity, what is the general response?

Its typically been one of either surprise or denial, because white people have been largely socialized to not think of themselves in terms of ethnicity: Its other people who have a race. Part of the way racism functions is that it says that white is standard, central, and normal; because this standard of whiteness becomes the norm, it can seem like only other people have a race. And so, it can be shocking or even angering to people to hear that they have a race as well. When youre white in a white-supremacist society, you dont interact with that feature of yourself in the same way that members of minority groups do.

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In The Color of Compromise, you encourage readers to go beyond the doors of the church, and into society where so much of racism exists. In what ways, though, are the practices you describe in How to Fight Racism relevant to churches themselves?

The church is part of society, and so if the society changes, it affects the church. What weve seen historically is that society typically leads the way for the church with respect to racial inclusion and not the other way around.

What we think of as church most of the time is an event and a placesomething which occurs on Sunday morning at a location. But thats a fraction of your life, and so much of what happens around race and needs to change about race is happening during the week. And so, by taking these practices into public first, it will change the church, but perhaps not as the first movement.

One of the practices you emphasize is the recovering of racial histories, not just of the places where we live but of our churches as well. How do these histories help advance the work of racial justice today?

You can fit it within the ARC framework as part of the awareness that is needed before much other work can be done. Many churches are either unaware or unwilling to acknowledge publicly the role which race has played in their founding or in the ongoing practices or policies of the church. These things simply need to be excavated in most cases. Only then can you go about the relational work, asking what reconciliation means in light of a particular churchs past.

One mistake churches constantly make here is that when they realize this lamentable history, their first reaction is What do we do going forward? I think the first reaction should be looking back at the hurt and harm and asking what we can do to make it right. That could be apologizing to members who left because of racism; it could be reaching out and reestablishing contact with people who had once been turned away.

But then we have to move to commitment: Its not enough to study this or to say were sorry we have to ask what repair looks like on a larger level. It could be supporting Black churches and pastors; it could be instituting policies in church life, such that racism is a matter of church discipline, complete with a process for hearing grievances and addressing issues.

These are difficult practices for many ministers, particularly when there isnt much precedent for talking about race in church. How would you advise ministers who are trying to introduce regular habits of lament and confession, both for sins of the past and injustices in the present?

I cant tell you how many people, after reading some of the arguments in The Color of Compromise, wrote me and said, I just didnt know. So the history is particularly potent here. But you cant begin by throwing data and statistics at people; these can be argued or dismissed or denied. But its not so easy to do this with personal stories and testimony.

I encourage pastors to share their racial justice testimonies. If there was a point at which you knew racial justice had to be a priority in your own life, how did that happen? Theres no guarantee youll get a hearing, but its harder to dismiss a personal story.

From there, move to the Bible. Its a mistake to assume that people know what the Bible says about ethnicity and difference. And dont just do this as a sermon series! Incorporate it into Bible studies and Sunday school, in sermon illustrations and themes, in the new members class, on the website. The Bibles answer to racism needs to be as ubiquitous as racism is in our society.

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And then we move to history, in the most local ways possibletalking about this city, this place. Only then can we move to the bigger picture which social science or data presents us. But you have to start locally and with personal testimony.

In the book, you argue that the work of fighting racism cant be limited to our personal lives and our churches; it has to affect all the settings in which we find ourselves. For those of us involved in education, our first instinct is to read more or learn more, but what else can be done to help this work take root?

We have to understand that organizations operate on the basis of policies which promote racial equity or inequity. And so, we have to do more than the thing which educated folks do, which is to have a book study. Yes, do the book study, but offer a few weeks on the other side to process what youve read and to talk about concrete next steps.

We also need more attention given to accountability, to making sure our institutions are offering more than wishes and words. If its a school, for example, get the data on graduation rates, disciplinary standards, participation in co-curricular activities. If we dont measure racial data, we wont prioritize racial justice. In terms of measurement, this has to be more than simply diversity goals. It has to include satisfaction rates for ethnic minorities, alumni participation, financial contributions of minority students. All this indicates what kind of buy-in there is for minoritized students, and it gives institutions a much fuller picture of where they are.

In the hiring process, this needs to be part of the expectations: In the same way that we ask about strengths and weaknesses, we need to be asking about how particular candidates would handle instances of racism in the workplace. We need to make it as normal as possible that people working at educational institutions are thinking about racial justice. Even in healthy organizations, there will be instances of racism, so there needs to be an explicitly-laid-out grievance process. Be as proactive as possible.

In the end, this is a book about conversion. Its about calling Christiansand particularly white Christiansto live converted lives with respect to racism. What would you say to those who are committed to this vision, but who are discouraged with what they see in their churches and in their institutions?

We labor for a legacy. We work for a day we may not see, knowing the progress we desire may not be realized in our lifetime, which keeps things in sobering perspective. But I think theres a biblical principle, where Jesus calls us blessed when we hunger for righteousness (Matt. 5:6). God sees and hears our groaning for justice.

We cannot engage in this work alone: We must do so in community, so that when I am tired and bitter and discouraged, there are others to remind me of the hope that I have. I would also highly commend strong boundaries with respect to this work for justice. Injustice is bound to persist until Jesus returns, and so we have to be wise with respect to how long we can go before we need to stop and recharge. We need to love ourselves well enough to go for the long haul.

This is a journey, and this book is especially for those at the beginning of their journey. The worst move to make is not to move at all, so get going, and youll get better as you go.
As Christians, we're called to help bring hope, healing, and beauty to a broken world. But our vision for what's possible is often overwhelmed by the suffering, division, and injustices in our society. Join recording artist Sho Baraka, poet and artist Morgan Harper Nichols, and other Christian creatives as they lead us in a thoughtful reconsideration of the redemptive power of the Christian imagination.

Join us for this free webinar on Thursday, June 24 at 1:00 pm CDT.

Register Now!
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In a court filing Tuesday, June 8th, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said it intends to vigorously defend the religious exemption for religious schools allowing them to practice according to their belief.

This was a surprise to many, but it may be an encouraging one.

The court filing came as a response to religious schools and organizations feeling that their interests will not be adequately protected by the present administration. The DOJ hopes to assuage some of those concerns by affirming that their ultimate objective is to defend the statutory exemption and its current application.

Taking this in the best light, we can commend the current administration for making this nod in the direction of religious liberty. At a time in our society where many demean political compromise as betrayal and heresy, the commitment to listen to one another and find common ground is our only pathway out from our culture war nightmare.

As such, Ive reached out and shared my thanks to the White House and hope others will as well. This could be a step in the right direction, considering the Obama Adminstration simply refused to enforce to Defence of Marriage Act. I sincerely hope that this is an indication that President Joe Biden will advocate for the concerns of religious schools.

Yet, there is more to the story to be considered.

The Backstory

As I always do, I try to support good things from whatever administration is serving. Yet, we also need to realize this is a complex situation with many nuances. This has been a trending topic on Twitter, with many strong opinions noted, particularly during Pride Month. (The Biden administration has been strongly criticized by LGBTQ+ advocates.)

Yet, some (such as Slate Magazine) report that this is not what it seems at first glance. Slate reports that the DOJ is "also trying to prevent a Christian organization from taking over the defense and mounting extreme arguments that could lead to a devastating subversion of civil rights law. If it is true that the DOJ is taking the case to then weaken the religious liberty position, this would be a deeply unjust circumvention of our judicial system and similar to the very loophole partisanship Democrats railed against for the past four years. But assuming this defense was offered in good faith, this article will address the concerns many Christians and other people of faith see in the current form of and rhetoric around the Equality Act.

So, regardless of whether this is a sign of things to come or a strategic move of another sort, we should remember that The Equality Act is still coming. The Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, the credit system, and jury duty.

The Equality Act will eventually pass in some form, and the DOJ could just as easily say (when it does) that they will defend the Equality Actvigorously. However, we can support this news, and press toward a full resolution that recognizes the dignity and civil rights of LGBTQ+ persons and protects the religious liberty rights of schoolsbut also all people with sincerely held religious beliefs that conflict with what is now the overwhelming view of Americans.

The Implications of the Equality Act

Two things matter here.

First, many Christians affirm the biblical teaching that marriage is designed and created for one man and one woman, and any sexual activity outside of that covenant marriage is wrong. Second, we should also believe that members of the LGBTQ+ community are people made in the image of God, deserving dignity and respect that the church has historically failed to protect. Their civil rights should be a matter of importance for Christians.

Despite prevailing cultural narratives, these two truths can coexist.

The latest attempt to paint these truths as irreconcilable has been pushed forward through The Equality Act, new legislation that, contrary to its name, does not promote equality. It will create new discrimination toward those of religious conviction that goes against the current cultural stream. It targets anyone who believes that human sexuality is guided and shaped by the teaching of our faith. But it not only targets historic Christianity but also other religious institutions that hold to a traditional view of human sexuality.

A statement from the ACLU said this on the issue:

"The Equality Act clarifies that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) cannot be used in civil rights contexts, prohibiting religious liberty from being used as a license to discriminate."

What is particularly dangerous about rhetoric that taints religious liberty as a license to discriminate is its complete dismissal of historic Christian doctrine on sexuality, gender, and marriage to merely a matter of cultural prejudice. The Equality Act would, in essence, say that our beliefs are unacceptable in society, they must change, and we will face consequences for our unwillingness to do so.

In contrast, historic Christian teaching on marriage offers a robust vision of sexuality and gender rooted in human flourishing and kingdom mission. Far from motivated by discrimination, Christian communities, such as where I serve at Wheaton College, institute covenants that address sexuality precisely because we believe it has direct relevance to our spiritual life.

What we are seeing is rather than engage Christian teaching regarding sexuality, it is far easier to diminish individuals as bigoted.

The Equality Act Fails to Understand Lived Faith

This strikes at the heart of what the Equality Act fails to grasp about religious belief: it is a lived reality.

Several advocates for The Equality Act claim that the proposal allows both sexual freedom and religious freedom to coexist. People who make these arguments have a shallow understanding of faith. Under this law, religious faith is limited to a narrow, personal, and privatized understanding of faith. This kind of faith is not lived, this kind of faith is only felt. This is antithetical to most faiths, actually, but especially Christians who are called to be doers of the word and not hearers only. (James 1:22)

The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, the Christian organization mentioned in the Slate artice explains some of the problems with the Equality Act:

"The Equality Act fails to provide essential religious liberty protections that would allow a diverse group of social service and civic institutions to continue to thrive. In particular, as it relates to the sector of faith-based higher education that has religious convictions around marriage, human sexuality and gender, including CCCU institutions, these laws would conflict in ways that would put at risk their ability to hire and operate in accordance with their religious missions and would restrict student choice in an unprecedented way by preventing middle and low income students from being able to take their federal student aid to these institutions. Faith-based higher education has always been an essential element of the diversity of the higher education system in the United Statesmany of the first colleges and universities in the United States were religiousand it is essential that any protections for LGBT persons be paired with the essential religious freedoms that maximize freedom for all."

What Needs to Happen?

First, we should without any ambiguity or hesitancy affirm that all people made in the image of Godincluding those in the LBGTQ+ communityshould be treated with respect and dignity. This is not a political or optical maneuver. That is part of living out the Christian faith. Without affirming their sin, we must affirm their worth as image-bearers.

Second, as an advocate for religious liberty, I think that this sentiment from the current administration ought to be affirmed. Yet, now we need to encourage the administration (and many others in the Democratic Party) to turn this concern for religious liberties into genuine action.

We can be concerned about civil rights and about religious liberty, and this DOJ decision could be a postive step, but we will need more information (and subsequent) action to be sure.
Woman testifies about brutality of Islamic extremism in Nigeria, says babies were ripped from wombs

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A Muslim woman who formerly lived in Nigeria and witnessed persecution firsthand criticized the Nigerian government's response to the rampant violence impacting millions and told a top United States religious freedom oversight body that the country is a "time bomb" in dire need of reform.

The bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, tasked with advising the federal government and Congress on global religious freedom issues, hosted a panel on Wednesday to discuss "extremism and government inaction" in Nigeria.

Hafsat Maina Muhammed, the founder of Choice for Peace, Gender and Development, shared that as an outspoken Muslim woman living in the northeastern region of Nigeria, she faced persecution from both Boko Haram terrorists and the government.

She said she faced persecution because she is a Muslim and a woman, saying "there is a way a Muslim woman should behave act or be in the society."

"Religious leaders back in the northern part of Nigeria say I am too educated and I am too outspoken, which I shouldn't be," she explained. "Every day, I ask, why was I persecuted because I am a Muslim woman? Why should I act the way they want me to act or believe the way they want me to believe?"

She continued that Boko Haram, the Islamic extremist group that has displaced millions and killed thousands in northeast Nigeria in the past several years, "unleashed mayhem" in her local government, state, and on her personally.

Ive been a victim of rape from these people, she continued. Ive been a victim of brutal beating. Ive been a victim of their incarcerations. And Ive escaped.  But this is to say that many women and many people in Nigeria, especially the northeastern part of Nigeria, regardless of their faith  and this is what I believe based on my research and what I have seen  regardless of them being Muslims or Christians, have faced persecution and are still facing persecutions.

She added that a lot of women "are still there because they have nowhere to go."

They have nothing to turn to," Muhammad added. "So in the end, they are stuck where they are. So I am privileged to be out of a situation that I once thought I would never come out alive from.

The NGO head shared how she has even seen pregnant women cut open and their babies removed from them. She said she has run into the forest to retrieve these babies.

She warned the government in Nigeria lacks both transparency and accountability.

The government in Nigeria, weve known for far too long, is not working, she explained. The laws are not working Yes, there is religious intolerance, but its not about Islam, its not about Christianity, its not about Hinduism or Buddhism. Its about a people that cant come together to live in peace and understand each other respectfully. There is lack of tolerance. There is lack of mediation.

People in Nigerian government and terrorists and jihadists [want] to inflict pain by forcing people to believe what they believe or act the way they want them to act, she continued  The U.S. government needs to focus on the Nigerian government, and I dont know, educating them perhaps, or bringing them to  [communicate] with their people.

She argued that the government needs a constitutional review and should separate church and state.

Muhammad believes politicians and state actors allow the situation to remain and even drive conflict in Nigeria because they want the chaos to continue. She called this situation a time bomb.

Frank Wolf, former U.S. congressman, religious freedom advocate and author of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, shared how the U.S. cannot refuse to intervene in the genocide happening in Nigeria.

When the world and the U.S. ignored  genocide in Rwanda, hundreds of thousands of people died, Wolf said. History is repeating itself. Because of the atrocities in Rwanda that we had ignored, President Bill Clinton flew to Rwanda and apologized to the Rwandan people near the end of his term.

If what is happening in Nigeria were happening to nearly any country in Europe, the world would be enraged and engaged. But in Nigeria, there is no action, Wolf continued.

The 82-year-old Wolf said, we do now know what is taking place in Nigeria, so we cant pretend that we do not.

Mike Jobbins, vice president of Global Affairs and Partnerships at Search for Common Ground, said this is a critical moment for the U.S. to act.

We need a whole-of-government response. , he said. There is an enormous opportunity for the administration to think creatively about how we rally the whole of the U.S. government to support this economic frustration, deep security and injustice, things that arent necessarily within the human rights toolbox. 

Part of this response, he said, includes restoring cultural heritage and rebuilding destroyed holy sites.

Around half of Nigeria's population identifies as Christian. There are over 95 million believers, and the divide between Christians and Muslims is roughly even, according to the global persecution watchdog organization Open Doors. More Christians are killed in Nigeria than in any other country in the world each year, the organization reports.

In addition to Boko Haram and Islamic State extremists terrorizing northeast Nigeria, thousands of Christians have reportedly been killed in farming communities across Nigeria's Middle Belt in recent years in attacks blamed on radicalized Fulani herders. Activists have claimed that the violence occurring in the Middle Belt has reached the standard for "genocide," and many have accused the Buhari administration of not protecting its citizens.

The government has claimed that the violence in the Middle Belt has less to do with religion and is due to longstanding ethnic clashes between farmers and herders.

The Global Terrorism Index ranked Nigeria as the third-most affected country by terrorism in 2020. It is reported 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 annual 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.
Democrats in Congress on Tuesday reintroduced the Women's Health Protection Act, a legislation that will codify Roe v. Wade and will enable health care professionals to provide abortions and their patients to receive such care without violating national laws. The measure is also removing all limitations and requirements on abortion, preventing any state and federal lawmakers from establishing limits on abortion care. The bill was first introduced in 2013 and since then has been reintroduced in congressional sessions ever since, but never received a vote in the chambers.

"The enthusiastic rush of Congressional Democrats to sponsor this bill shows once again that the top legislative priority for Democrats is more and more abortions paid for with tax dollars," National Right to Life (NRLC) President Carol Tobias told LifeNews.

"The so-called Women's Health Protection Act would essentially remove all legal protections for unborn children on the federal and state level. The Women's Health Protection Act is, in effect, a no-limits-on-abortion-until-birth bill," Tobias added.

The upcoming measure from the Congressional Democrats will also threaten the federal conscience protection laws and most limits on government funded abortions. It will nullify several protective laws, including those that involve waiting periods, laws that empower medical professionals to opt out of providing abortions, those that ban elective abortions after 20 weeks when an unborn child can feel pain, and bans on the use of abortion as a away to choose the gender of a child.

The bill, if enacted, will also remove requirements providing pregnant women with specific information regarding their unborn child as well as information regarding other alternatives to abortion.

"This egregious, deceptively named bill is the latest example of Washington Democrats' extreme abortion agenda," Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser told Christian Headlines. "This radical bill would destroy existing pro-life protections at the state level and prevent future pro-life limits from being enacted. This is a direct attack on the will of the people, as demonstrated by the groundswell of pro-life legislation we've seen this year."

The Women's Health Protection Act is spearheaded by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin alongside Reps. Judy Chu of California, Lois Frankel of Florida, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Veronica Escobar of Texas.

According to NBC News, Sen. Blumenthal argued that now is the time to fight for women's reproductive rights because the Supreme Court is about to "consider a direct attack" on Roe v Wade. He said, "These demagogic and draconian laws hurt women and families as they make personal and difficult medical decisions."

Over 1,300 abortion restrictions have successfully been passed into law since Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court in 1973. But 10 states are already armed with "trigger laws" that will be enacted if and when Roe v. Wade is overturned.

If the Women's Health Protection Act gets passed, however, states will no longer be allowed to adopt new protective measures in the future, a concern highlighted by National Right to Life's Director for Federal Legislation, Jennifer Popik, J.D. She argued that the bill removing all limitations and requirements on abortion reintroduced by Congressional Democrats will ban states from creating and passing laws that are "upheld as constitutionally permissible by the U.S. Supreme Court."
Charles Stanley says websites claiming hes now selling CBD oil are scams

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Iconic Southern Baptist Pastor Charles F. Stanley, who led the 13,000-member First Baptist Church Atlanta in Georgia for more than 40 years before retiring last September, wants the world to know that he has not started a CBD oil business, and any claims that he has can be dismissed as a scam.

In Touch Ministries has received reports that scammers have been posting Dr. Charles Stanleys image, falsely reporting that Dr. Stanley is beginning a new business venture in CBD oil. Some of the articles even utilize fake Fox News headers to appear more convincing. However, none of it is true. IT IS A SCAM. Dr. Stanley has not begun any new venture, the ministry founded by Stanley announced in a statement over the weekend.

CBD is short for cannabidiol, the "second most prevalent of the active ingredients of cannabis," also known as marijuana. While it's an "essential component of medical marijuana, it's derived directly from the hemp plant, which is a cousin of the marijuana plant," according to Harvard Health. Even though CBD is one of hundreds of components found in marijuana, taken alone, it does not cause a high.

Stanleys team urged followers to avoid sharing any personal information with websites connected with the deceptive posts that have been exploiting his likeness.

PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THESE DECEPTIVE POSTS, EMAILS, TEXTS, OR WEBSITES. Scammers are attempting to trick you into giving your personal information or infect your electronic devices by using Dr. Stanleys image, the ministry warned.

On Dec. 10, 2017, Stanley announced a succession plan for his ministry, naming Anthony George as the churchs future pastor. Approximately three years later, as COVID-19 marched across the nation killing hundreds, Stanley announced in September 2020 that he would retire and become pastor emeritus.

I have no doubt there are many great days ahead for the First Baptist Church of Atlanta. My hope is that the greatest days are still ahead, he said.

Stanley became senior pastor of First Baptist Church Atlanta in 1971 after a hard fought battle for the position, according to CNN.

His son, Andy Stanley, was once his father's heir apparent, but later founded his own church and is senior pastor of the multi-campus North Point Community Church in Georgia, one of the largest churches in the country.

The elder Stanley met another hurdle when the veteran preacher's wife, Anna, officially divorced him after 40 years of marriage in 2000, saying she experienced "many years of discouraging disappointments and marital conflict. ... Charles, in effect, abandoned our marriage. He chose his priorities, and I have not been one of them."

While many in the Southern Baptist Convention called on him to step down over his divorce, Stanley refused to give up his role as senior pastor.

"God said you keep doing what I called you to until I tell you to do something else," he told CNN. "I got that straight from the Lord. ... I was simply obeying God."
Christian alternative to Boy Scouts sees growth amid pandemic, 70% more new members in 2021

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A youth scouting group formed in response to the controversial changes within the Boy Scouts of America has reported an increase in the number of chapters during the pandemic.

Trail Life USA, launched in 2014 and headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, is reporting dozens of new chapters and more than 30,000 members.

Trail Life USA CEO Mark Hancock told The Christian Post that 65 new troops have been created thus far in 2021, with over 100 in the process of being chartered.

So far this year, we have seen a 70% increase in new members over this time last year and a 30% increase over the same period the prior year, explained Hancock.

Just this year, we have seen over 65 new troops started as men across the nation have stepped up to lead and make a difference in the lives of boys in their churches, their families, and their communities.

The launching of Trail Life USA came partly in response to the Boy Scouts voting in 2013 to allow openly gay males to become scouts while maintaining the organization's ban on openly gay scout leaders.

This change prompted many churches  a significant source of support for the Boy Scouts  to sever their ties with the prominent scouting organization.

Later, the Boy Scouts announced further changes, such as allowing openly gay scout leaders in 2015. BSA also expanded membership to include girls, prompting a lawsuit from the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

Hancock told CP that Trail Life membership initially came largely from individuals who had participated in the Boy Scouts" and churches have come to see Trail Life as a distinct program.

Trail Life USA is not just a program that meets at the Church. We are a ministry of the Church, said Hancock. We are not an outdoor program that incorporates a Christian experience. We are, at our core, a Christ-centered program that utilizes the outdoors to draw boys and their families into a closer relationship with their Creator.

It is a significant distinction, and we are seeing unprecedented growth. Churches are attracted to our model as a means to engage men, connect fathers and sons, impact families and grow the Church.

Reports of Trail Life's growth amid the coronavirus pandemic come as the Christian scouting group recently held its National Backyard Concert and Campout event.

An estimated 20,000 people took part in the event, according to Hancock. An additional 15,000 people watched the broadcasted event during Memorial Day Weekend.

The past year was a difficult time for kids and families across the country. As Trail Life USA, we realized that boys would need a safe outlet for their rough-and-tumble, adventurous nature, explained Hancock.

Many people appreciated our approach, and we saw growth last year. As things have begun to open up this year, families are flocking to the program.
Jury imposes $500K verdict on pastor accused of rape after he refused to apologize to victim

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Pastor Lewis Clemons of Kingdom Awareness Ministries International in Columbus, Georgia, could have settled a civil case against him for zero dollars if he agreed to acknowledge and record a public apology for allegedly sexually abusing and raping his former congregant, Lequita Jackson. He refused and went to trial.

On Wednesday, a jury in the Superior Court of Muscogee County ruled in favor of Jackson and imposed a $500,000 verdict against him.

Lequita Jackson is a wonderful client and it was an honor to provide her with her day in court, Jacksons attorney, Jeb Butler of Butler Law Firm, said in a statement to The Christian Post on Thursday. Lewis Clemons is a liar and a fraud, and I hope neither my client nor I have to see him again for as long as he lives.

Fellow attorney Morgan Lyndall praised Jackson for her strength in standing up to Clemons and noted that she hopes the verdict sent a message that sexual assault and rape are never OK.

In 2017, Jackson and another of Clemons former congregants, Lakisha Smith, accused the pastor in a civil lawsuit of using his position as a spiritual leader to sexually abuse them.

"He was a child molester," said Jackson at the time, alleging that Clemons began abusing her at 15.

Now 33, Jackson, who is married with two children of her own, said she was so traumatized by her experience, it took her five years before she was able to open up to her husband about what she endured.

"He was a sexual predator who needed to be stopped. I just kind of accepted it at that age," she said.

In their statement to CP on Thursday, Jacksons lawyers explained how she wasnt really interested in money. She simply wanted Clemons to own and properly apologize for the trauma he caused her.

In a letter to Clemons, Jackson's lawyers said:

" ... To seriously discuss settling this case, you would have to be willing to make a video statement that: 1. acknowledged all of your sexual misconduct ; and 2. genuinely apologized for that sexual misconduct; and 3. acknowledged that you have seriously harmed many, many women who trusted you as their spiritual leader.

Ms. Jackson would then watch the video. She would then decide, in her sole discretion, whether the video sufficiently met the requirements above. She would have sole control over the distribution of the video. She would be authorized to share the video publicly and with anyone that she chose.

Our client, Mrs. Jackson, offered in writing to settle the case against Clemons for zero dollars if he would record a video in which he acknowledged his sexual abuse and apologized for it. He refused. So we took the case to trial. Our client and several other victims told the truth about Lewis Clemons sexual abuse and rape of themselves and others. Their testimony was detailed, impactful, true, and emotional, the attorneys said in their statement to CP.

Butler and Lyndall argued at the trial that Clemons would find a girl from a troubled background, gave them positions in his church so he could spend more one-on-one time with them, made increasingly sexual requests of them, justified his actions with scripture, asked them to stimulate his nipples, gave them a body anointing in which he had them strip down so that he could rub oil all over their bodies.

He allegedly raped and sexually abused some of his victims who were younger than 16 at the time.

Clemons, who revealed she was an abuse survivor before finding solace in the church, said in recorded testimony that Clemons took advantage of her after she received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

He told her she would need to do a body anointing where he paid special attention to her breasts and her buttocks before lying on top of her unclothed body to keep the power of the Holy Spirit properly sealed in. Jackson said Clemons told her that his activities were biblical, but he denied he told her so during a deposition in 2019.

In our initial meeting about the body anointing  he read a few Scriptures to me to try to justify the situation.  I do remember he had me read the book of Acts and the other Scripture. I cannot recall off the top of my head, but it had to do with the laying on of hands, Jackson said.

Clemons claimed he learned about body anointing from an older pastor when he was younger and said he tried it with a woman who was suffering from cancer once and she was healed after he anointed her breast.

Jackson explained in a previous report that Clemons activities with her over time resulted in two pregnancies which Clemons paid for her to abort while posing as her guardian.
Whistleblower challenges SBC leaders response to Russell Moore letters Executive Committee searching for firm to conduct independent review

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Days after Southern Baptist Convention leaders Mike Stone and Ronnie Floyd challenged claims by the former leader of the denominations Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, that they mishandled a crisis of sexual abuse in the convention, a Texas pastor has come forward with evidence that he claims supports Moores claims.

Phillip Bethancourt, the lead pastor of Central Church in College Station, Texas, who at the time was an ERLC staffer, said he felt compelled to become a Southern Baptist whistleblower in a letter to Stone and Floyd published publicly on Thursday.

Floyd, who is president of the SBC's Executive Committee, said he did not have the same recollection" of accounts presented by Moore of the SBC's mishandling of sexual abuse allegations lodged against SBC churches.

Stone, a former chairman of the Executive Committee who is now an SBC presidential nominee, was accused of trying to delay the formation of a credentials committee to assess churches reported to be mishandling sexual abuse." But he dismissed the claims as scandalous, unscriptural, ungodly and outrageous. He also noted that he is a survivor of sexual abuse himself.

In his Thursday letter, however, Bethancourt suggested the SBC leaders were not being truthful.

I am writing to you in regard to your public responses to the recently publicized letters from Russell Moore. Ronnie, you said you do not have the same recollection of the events. Mike, your video called Moores claims absolutely slanderous, ungodly, and an outrageous lie, the Texas pastor began. I cannot remain quiet in light of your responses, so I am compelled to do something no one would want to do--become a Southern Baptist whistleblower.

He continued: Wouldnt the best way to get to the truth be to hear the two of you in your own words? Your own words actually corroborate the claims in Russell Moores letters--the same claims you now suggest are false. I believe that when Southern Baptists hear you in your own words, they will be wise enough to recognize the truth.

He shared three audio clips from the Nashville Caring Well Conference debrief meeting from October 8, 2019. At the conference, attorney and abuse advocate Rachael Denhollander was allowed to speak freely about sexual abuse in the denomination. In a conversation with Moore, she voiced strong words about how the SBC Executive Committee staff handled a sexual abuse survivor.

In the first clip shared by Bethancourt, Floyd appears to question why conference speakers weren't restricted on what they were allowed to say because it came off as an attack on SBC leadership.

How are we supposed to respond, in your minds, to people who would say, Why in the world, would we have a conference and let people degrade the Southern Baptist Convention, attack its leadership, our churches?'  How are we supposed to do that, and we let them say what they want to say? Floyd asked while mentioning that the Executive Committee financially supported the SBC Sexual Abuse Advisory Group.

Moore noted that the speakers were not restricted because were not in a criminal conspiracy to cover up what happened.

If we had [put parameters on what speakers could say], what you would end up with right now is three days of Washington Post stories and New York Times stories about the parameters that we put on people," Moore replied. "So that the charge would be only the people that were willing to come in and participate in the cover-up were allowed to be there."

In a second clip, Floyd asked how he should handle Executive Committee trustee complaints about how Denhollander has come after them in her Caring Well Conference interview.

Moore noted that the ERLC didnt script anybody and added that the commission wanted to "hear from everybody's heart without a muzzle put on them." He suggested that the Executive Committee not do stupid stuff again when dealing with a survivors public disclosure of abuse.

In a third clip, Floyd also explained that his primary focus was not survivors of sexual abuse but to preserve the base.

Moore replied, "What I would say to you is that we don't have one base."

Floyd had already stated that he is hearing threats that some churches may stop their Cooperative Program giving because of the Caring Well Conference," Bethancourt wrote in the letter. "So, it certainly seemed to us in the room that what it meant to preserve the base was to protect the money."

Bethancourt also shared audio clips from a May 2019 meeting in Atlanta on sexual abuse that included Stone and Floyd, in which he claims that "their resistance to the immediate formation of a standing credentials committee became a primary point of disagreement." The credentials committee was to assess churches reported to be mishandling sexual abuse allegations.

"Stones own words corroborate Russell Moores recounting of our contentious discussion on this subject," Bethancourt wrote.

Bethancourts revelations come as a growing chorus of SBC messengers call for an independent investigation of how the denominations leaders have dealt with what Moore called a crisis of sexual abuse in the denomination via two leaked letters.

Moore alleged leaders mishandled the crisis through methods such as intimidating whistleblowers into silence and exonerating churches with credible allegations of negligence of sexual abuse victims.

In a statement Thursday, Floyd said he called the May 2019 meeting in Atlanta to discuss how to handle charges of sex abuse in the denomination. He said the discussion was confidential and argued that Bethancourt's release of the audio from the meeting was an attempt to mischaracterize them as an effort to avoid addressing the realities of sex abuse."

"The fact of the matter is that immediately following the meeting and even before leaving the airport, I instructed our staff and legal team to begin the creation of an SBC Credentials Committee," Floyd explained. "That work continued throughout the weekend, and by early the next week, the framework for what we now know as the Credentials Committee was born."

"Any suggestion that the purpose of the meeting was to oppose efforts to address sex abuse is not credible when given the full context of the meeting and our immediate action to create the Credentials Committee."

Floyd said the discussions from the meeting "reflect leaders engaging in a scriptural process of coming together with others who have differing opinions on complicated issues and of discussing those differences honestly with a goal of how to best move forward.

Floyd added that following the October Caring Well Conference, he requested a meeting with Moore and Bethancourt to "better understand how to respond to churches that had questions coming out of the conference."

"That was the extent of the conversation," he stated. "However, I apologize for any offense that may have resulted from my remarks."

The executive committee president further added that since last weekend, "the Executive Committee staff leadership has been in the process of talking with and potentially securing a highly credible outside firm with the intent of conducting an independent third-party review of the accusations recently levied at the SBC Executive Committee."

Stone has denied allegations that he tried to delay the formation of the committee investigating how the SBC handled claims of sex abuse against churches. Last Saturday, he released a video stating that Moore's second leaked letter lacked credibility.

"If you take his letter at face value, then [Moore] has known about cover-up, intimidation, bullying, stonewalling, barriers, pressure, all of these sorts of things against victims of sex abuse," Stone said. "He has known about lies and back-room deals and corruption. He has known about it, not for days or weeks, or literally months. He has known about it, supposedly for years while he has not breathed a word. Russell hasn't stood behind these accusations. He doesn't even have the professional decency to issue this as a press release through credible news sources."

Stone added that his "very first act as chairman" of the SBC executive committee in the summer of 2018 was to "put together a motion to accept a request from the ERLC that we give them what ultimately was $250,000." He said he requested permission to do that because of his personal story, "not known to anybody else in the world at the time except me and the man who abused me."

"I wanted the privilege of initiating this action on the part of the executive committee. ... After that was unanimously passed by the subcommittee and I knew that it was going to be approved by the full plenary body, I left that committee room to a nearby bathroom where I vomited, not because I am weak or I was upset, but just the emotion  decades of emotion  came bubbling forth as I was so grateful to be a part of addressing this horrific and heinous injustice committed against the most vulnerable members of our Southern Baptist churches," he said.

"To think that somebody with that passion and that personal past is later going to get together in a back room with the subcommittee and conspire to cover up for pedophiles and the molestations they commit against our most vulnerable children, it's outlandish."

Ronnie Parrott of Christ Community Church in Huntersville, North Carolina, and Grant Gaines, pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, are two of the most prominent SBC voices calling for an independent investigation.

In light of the recent allegations made against the executive committee by Russell Moore, former president of the ERLC, in letters dated February 24, 2020 and May 31, 2021  we move that the messengers ask the newly elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention to appoint a task force to hire a third party to investigate the allegations made against the executive committee of the SBC in said letters, including but not limited to allegations of mishandling sexual abuse cases, mistreatment of sexual abuse victims, a pattern of intimidation, and resistance to sexual abuse reform initiatives, the pastors wrote in a statement Saturday.

We further move that the task force report back to this convention at our next annual meeting with the findings of the investigation as well as suggestions for actions to be taken by our convention.

The 2021 SBC Annual Meeting, set to take place June 15-16 in Nashville, Tennessee, is expected to draw a historic crowd. The convention is expected to address a range of disagreements on critical race theory, sexual abuse and gender issues.
Texas hospital will remove pastor's banner, defends chaplain program after atheist group complains

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An atheist legal organization has sent a complaint letter to a public hospital in Texas for displaying a large banner at its parking garage asking God for protection and making multiple chaplain videos with Christian content.

The hospital says it plans to remove the banner as part of its original plan, saying it was only supposed to be displayed temporarily during the pandemic.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent the letter late last month to the University Medical Center of Lubbock, demanding that it remove the banner.

The banner includes a message attributed to Rev. Wendell Davis of Lyons Chapel Baptist Church that reads: Gracious Lord, for all of UMC I pray Your divine protection over them, guidance within them & provision for them daily. ... Firm, not fearful.

Written by FFRF Staff Attorney Christopher Line and addressed to UMC President and CEO Mark Funderburk, the letter called the banner display an unconstitutional endorsement of religion over nonreligion.

FFRF, which pressures government entities nationwide to end any perceived endorsement of religion, cites the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prevents governments from establishing an official religion.

We urge UMC to recognize its obligation to provide all citizens with an environment free from religious endorsement by removing this exclusionary display, wrote Line.

Also at issue, according to the letter and statement posted to the FFRF website on Wednesday, were a series of chaplain videos that specifically endorsed Christianity.

In addition, a concerned University Medical Center community member has reported that the Medical Center creates videos featuring chaplains that promote and endorse Christianity, stated FFRF in the statement.

By publishing overtly Christian messages, the University Medical Center violates the Establishment Clause  When a public hospital regularly promulgates religious concepts to employees and the public, it sends a message that the government supports those ideas.

UMC provided a statement from Funderburk to The Christian Post explaining that the banner will be taken down in the "near future," keeping with earlier plans for it only to be temporarily displayed.

UMC Health System recognizes diversity in our workplace and in our patient population. UMC Health System also understands the delicate balance between the free exercise of religion and government neutrality, read statement.

As per our original plan to replace the banner once our COVID-19 census diminished, it will be removed in the very near future and replaced with a new message of support, as we emerge from the pandemic.

Regarding the chaplain program and its practices, Funderburk stated that before and since the first COVID-19 patient was admitted to UMC, no patient, employee or visitor has been compelled to participate in any expression or practice of faith.

Like many hospitals, University Medical Center has a chaplain program designed to improve patients health and well-being, he continued.

These professionals skillfully and compassionately attend the spiritual and emotional needs, and support the health and welfare of UMCs patients, staff, and visitors.
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Increasingly threatened with a future of economic and cultural instability, the Chinese government is working hard to guarantee public safety and deliver the kind of domestic tranquility that only comes by limiting freedoms. For example, several sources are reporting that, yet again, Beijing has increased pressure on religious groups. Beginning this year, all approved religions must conform to its new Administrative Measures for Religious Institutions.

As Cameron Hilditch put it in National Review:

"The Chinese Communists arent trying to extirpate every last trace of theism  Instead, theyre attempting to enervate religious opposition to the regime by taming and co-opting domestic religious belief, turning it into another thoroughfare for the regimes agenda of social control."

Despite Beijings formal claims that [c]itizens of China may freely choose and express their religious beliefs, this isnt freedom. It isnt toleration. It cannot even be called benign neglect. This is the empty permission to obey. Going forward, religious groups and individuals will be free to practice their faith only if that faith actively conforms to and works under state authority.

Under these orders, not conspiring against the state or even passively complying with Beijings orders will not be enough to avoid trouble. Proactive support of tyranny is required. In no way will the precepts of heaven be allowed to challenge the mandates of the state.

Of course, Xi Jinpings regime, like most totalitarian powers, likes to style itself as the frontline of innovation. In reality, hes just the latest in a long line of tyrants who, down through the ages, tried and failed to unseat God by compromising the loyalties of His people. Think of Daniels friends refusing to bow before Nebuchadnezzar, to Daniel himself refusing to kowtow to a Persian emperors vanity, to Christians facing down Roman Caesars.

Like Xi, these tyrants didnt care to whom or to what Gods people prayed, as long as that worship didnt spoil their worship of the tyrant. In Rome, Christians only had to accommodate the state with a little incense offered to the empire alongside their loyalty to Christ. This was a line they would not cross. They would not subject the claim Christ had on their lives and on all of reality to the demands of Rome and the gods of their age.

To be clear, its not just in the ancient world or in Communist lands where Christians are called to conform. Recently, the French Minister of the Interior demanded the Churchs submission, saying of evangelicals, We cannot discuss with people who refuse to write on paper that the law of the Republic is superior to the law of God. In American history, pastors who refused to follow the pro-slavery or segregationist script often found themselves cancelled, if not worse. Today, Christians who do not conform to the new progressive sexual orthodoxy are threatened with dismissal from polite society, and maybe even their jobs.

Christians have faced cultural hostilities throughout history whenever there is a system or power that claims to be the absolute and final authority. Its not that certain kings and dictators throughout history were bad men, and therefore acted badly towards the Church and other dissidents. Any ruler and any ideology that presumes the omniscience and omnipotence that only belongs to God will inevitably see Christianitys claims to transcendent truth as an existential and intolerable threat.

As Francis Schaeffer put it, when describing the Roman-era persecution endured by the Early Church, No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions. This applied to the ancient world, it applies to Beijing, and it applies to Western ideologies that demand our absolute and total allegiance.

The good news is that God always strengthens, preserves, and sustains His people. He did it for Daniel and his friends. He did it for the Early Church, including the persecuted and the martyrs. Hes doing it for our brothers and sisters in China. And, we can be sure, He will do it for us. We must never bow our knee to false gods.

Originally published in BreakPoint.
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If you are actively involved in the culture wars, trying to stem the tide of moral decline, you can often feel like the boy who tried to plug the holes in the dike with his own fingers. Soon enough, you run out of fingers. Or toes. Or people who can help with their fingers and toes. There are just too many holes to plug. A total collapse seems inevitable.

A case in point would be the recent Gallup poll indicated that 70 percent of Americans now support same-sex marriage, including 55 percent of Republicans. So much for pushing back against the redefining of marriage.

As Gallup noted, U.S. support for legal same-sex marriage continues to trend upward, now at 70% a new high in Gallup's trend since 1996. This latest figure marks an increase of 10 percentage points since 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all states must recognize same-sex marriages.

As for Republicans, the shift in support has been especially dramatic, from 16 percent in 1996 to 55 percent today. And this is the so-called conservative political party?

Do you remember the day when it made sense to boycott a company that supported gay activism as an expression of your moral convictions? To do so today  really, for many years now  would basically mean not using a major credit card, not using a cell phone, not using a computer, not flying, not driving a car, not watching sports, etc.

Then theres the extreme sex-ed curriculum in our childrens schools along with radical LGBTQ+ activism on their college campuses, not to mention Big Techs censoring of opposing ideas. The list is almost endless.

And this is just one aspect of the culture wars. I havent said anything about a host of other, important issues that are impacting our nation in negative and destructive ways. Who has enough fingers to plug all these holes? Who has the emotional fortitude?

Thats why I tweeted, If you feel like it's your role as a believer to stop the spiritual & moral decline of society, you'll quickly become discouraged & worn out. But if you concentrate on advancing God's kingdom purposes by positively impacting one life at a time, you'll be encouraged & renewed.

I have had to remind myself of this many times over the years, as if I and my colleagues were somehow responsible for stopping the advance of what we felt was a destructive societal agenda, be it in our community, our state, or our nation. But this is like standing in front of a tornado trying to push back the wind. It is as futile as it is dangerous.

Thats because we live in a fallen world, and no generation in history has been without major flaws and challenges (perhaps I should use the whack-a-mole imagery to illustrate the point? You whack one, and another two pop up).

When there is strong religious morality there is often rigidity, legalism, and hypocrisy (would you like to live in Saudi Arabia?). When societal foundations are questioned there is often anarchy, rebellion, and the casting-off of all restraint (does the name Altamont ring a bell?).

Going back to the first generation of humans, the father and mother sinned grievously against God, resulting in the fall of our race. Then, their firstborn son became envious of his younger sibling, murdering him in cold blood.

In the days of the apostles, Nero, a bona fide madman, was the most powerful man on the planet, scapegoating Christians for the burning of Rome and turning them (literally) into human torches. What barbarous insanity.

As for our day, the twentieth century saw men like Mao, Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot slaughter multiplied tens of millions of innocents. And headlines earlier this year reported, Abortion Is The Leading Cause Of Death Worldwide in 2020  Higher Than Cancer, Malaria, And Others Combined. (were talking about well over 40 million babies per year terminated in their mothers wombs).

To be perfectly clear, I am not equating two men or two women wanting to marry each other with Hitler slaughtering the Jews or Mao wiping out 60 million Chinese. I am simply saying that: 1. Every generation has had to deal with murder and hatred and destruction; and 2. If we are trying to change the world for the better (which includes honoring marriage as God intended it), others will be pushing hard in the opposite direction.

How, then, should we live? And how can we avoid discouragement and the temptation to throw in the towel?

First, remember that whatever happens in this life, Jesus is still Lord and God still sits enthroned. Worshiping at His feet is a wonderful antidote to hopelessness and despair. Be renewed in Him, by the Word and the Spirit, on a daily basis, and your whole perspective will change.

Second, recognize that we will always be swimming against the tide in this world, since to hold to godly, biblically-based convictions in the current age is to go against the grain. That means we should expect opposition and challenges. Its a sign were going in the right direction.

Third, focus on being faithful to your own particular assignment, concentrating on one life or one battle at a time. You are expected to be obedient to God and to stand tall as His witness. You cannot guarantee success.

Fourth, realize that our role is to shine like lights and to function as the salt of the earth. This means that we should concentrate on being as bright and salty as possible. Thats our job. How people respond is up to them.

Fifth, rejoice in every victory that is won, be it someone new coming to faith, or someone else getting set free from a lifelong addiction, or a positive ruling in the Supreme Court, or a righteous reversal in your local school board. Enjoy the positive when it happens.

Sixth, put your energy into that which lasts forever, investing in prayer, preaching the Gospel, serving the hurting, cultivating renewal and revival. You will be rewarded both in this world and the world to come.

Seventh, keep before you the vision of a glorious new world coming, one that Jesus will establish when He returns, one that will be devoid of sin and sickness and pain and death. And that world will last forever. Ultimately, Gods purposes will triumph, and those who reject Him will be cut down. Thats why I always pity those who oppose the will of God, especially those who do aggressively and proudly. I can already see their final end, and I know that they will miss out  forever.

Personally, I do believe that in many ways, a righteous pushback is rising in our country. But my ultimate hope is not in temporary societal victories but in the unchanging God and His eternal purposes. Knowing that the will of God will be carried out perfectly tomorrow is what gives me great courage and faith for today.
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Conservatives are always railing against using products and services from left-wing activists, so why are some who clearly have the option of choosing otherwise not doing so? One of the most glaring areas where this is taking place is in red state governments. They hire left-wing PR and advertising agencies, giving them millions of taxpayer dollars that enables the agencies to continue attacking conservatives, helping leftist causes, and possibly even sabotaging the conservative governors they are supposed to represent.

A classic example of one of these agencies is New York-based MMGY NJF, one of the largest PR companies for tourism offices in the country. It was founded by Democrat Nancy Friedman. Her Twitter feed is full of progressive posts, including retweeting Rachel Maddow and David Hogg. She gave money to Kamala Harris and the DNC in 2020.

MMGY NJF Vice President Danny Guerreros Twitter account is no different. He retweeted Joy Behar urging Beto ORourke to run against Ted Cruz, and another person gloating that the Military Band played Hit the Road Jack outside the White House on President Trumps last day. He also retweeted Robert Reich wanting to impeach Trump 10 days before the inauguration. MMGY gave Guerrero a big award this month.

So who uses MMGY besides the typical woke areas of the country like West Hollywood? Surprisingly, Texas and South Dakota, both states with conservative Republican governors. South Dakota and Travel Texas are proudly listed as two of their clients. Their contract with South Dakota is valued at over $20.7 million. Visit Rapid City also uses the agency.

MMGY recently bragged that Travel Texas and Visit Florida, Floridas tourism office, are funding its woke study examining the intersectionality of LatinX tourism. Its entitled Latinx U.S. Travelers: Observations and Insights on Themes of Diaspora and Intersectionality. Intersectionality is a Marxist term that means looking at political issues in terms of identity, viewing everyone as a white male, a queer transgender, etc., and how privilege and discrimination apply. LatinX is a made-up term referring to Hispanics, which MMGY defines as a gender-neutral term. One Hispanic was so offended he wrote an article for USA Today denouncing the made-up word.

Profits from the studys sale will be donated to Travel Unity. Travel Unity puts on events featuring woke speakers such as Brandan Robertson, a trusted voice on progressive faith and politics. Speaker Adrienne Lee worked for a global social justice organization and has a love for intersectional environmentalism. Sara Emmert managed communications and public relations for the New York State Legislature Democratic caucus members and for Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. And speaker Alanah Keddell-Tuckey is a public outreach specialist for New Yorks DECs Office of Environmental Justice. The list is devoid of conservative speakers, but is full of leftwing pundits. After the announcement, Visit Florida was scrubbed off of MMGYs website as a sponsor. Maybe they wised up? Before MMGY, Texas used Edelman, the firm of Steve Schmidt of Lincoln Project infamy.

Democrats are great about hiring each other and canceling Republicans. So why are these conservative governors hiring MMGY? There are plenty of conservative PR agencies who would love the work and may desperately need it due to the ravages of cancel culture.

Why are tax dollars in red states going to such an openly progressive agency?

However, some levels of government are doing the right thing and pushing back. North Carolina's Surry County Commissioners recently announced that the county is banning Coke machines after Coke issued a statement denouncing Georgias new voting integrity laws.

Also, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may have finally put the lid on MMGY. Now its time for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to do the same. If they dont, MMGY will be like a ball and chain following them around if they run for higher office. It may seem like a small move to dump the agency, but every little bit counts pushing back against the woke progressives indoctrination. And since they control so many areas of society, fighting piecemeal may be our only option.
$95M raised to rebuild NYC church destroyed on 9/11; will serve as 'Shrine of Remembrance'

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A yearslong effort to rebuild the only church destroyed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City has raised over $95 million.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, originally founded in 1916, suffered heavy damage during the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,606 people at the World Trade Center and wounded over 6,000 others.

The Friends of Saint Nicholas, a group founded in 2019 to help the church, announced last week that the project has raised $95 million, with over $55 million being raised since January 2020. Over $8.5 million has been raised in the last two months.

Dennis Mehiel and Michael Psaros, chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of The Friends of Saint Nicholas, told The Christian Post via email that the shrine's exterior is slated for completion by Sept. 11, marking the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

There have been a series of significant donations that have occurred since Archbishop Elpidophoros assumed the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church of America, they explained. The concerted efforts of The Friends of St. Nicholas, the nonprofit charged with raising the funding, managing the construction to completion, and to endow the Shrine, have led to these remarkable donations.

Additionally, explained Mehiel and Psaros, the church's interior, including iconography, will require work well into next year. The plan is for the interior to be completed by Easter 2022.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is expected to visit St. Nicholas in November. He will participate in the traditional opening-of-the-doors service for an Orthodox church building.

The official visit from the prominent Orthodox Church leader will correspond with the 30th anniversary of his enthronement as patriarch and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

We want every fellow citizen to know that the commitment of the Greek Orthodox Community of the United States is fully engaged, the group leaders told CP.

 we will ensure the rebuilding of the only house of worship destroyed on 9/11, the Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which will now serve as a National Shrine of Remembrance and Consolation.

The effort to rebuild the Orthodox church has been an endeavor laden with complications over the past several years, including disputes over where the new church building would be located.

Financial issues were a significant hurdle for the endeavor, with the projected cost being millions of dollars more than initially estimated.

A series of managerial and financial crises within the archdiocese led to the church construction project being temporarily halted from 2017 until August 2019.

At a ceremony held to mark the return to construction, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo remarked that the church's rebuilding was a powerful message to all New Yorkers and all Americans.

We are going to build back the way we built back from 9/11, and it will be better and stronger with more solidarity and more faith and more spirit of community than ever before, Cuomo said at the time.

We have gone through difficult times together, but we rise from the ashes and we rise stronger than ever before. That's what this St. Nicholas will stand for.

In 2011, the Greek Orthodox Church sued the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, with the church claiming, among other things, that the Port Authority broke a 2008 promise to rebuild the building down the road from its old site.

Later that year, the two parties reached an agreement to rebuild the structure at 130 Liberty Street, including a nondenominational bereavement center.
Saddleback Pastor Rick Warren announces search for his successor: 'Timing is everything'

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Influential Pastor Rick Warren has announced that after more than 40 years as the lead pastor of Saddleback Church in California, he will be soon stepping back from his current role with the church and has begun the process of searching for his successor.

This next week, we are going to begin the official search for my successor, Warren, who oversees the 25,000-member, 19-campus Saddleback Church based in Lake Forest, announced in a June 6 sermon.

That's a big deal, the official search for my successor," the 67-year-old pastor said. "This isn't the end. It's not even the beginning of the end. It's the beginning of the beginning, but we're going to start looking for the next-generation pastor who will replace me and lead our family into the future.

Since they launched the church in 1980, Warren said that he and his wife, Kay, knew this day would eventually arrive. But he promised to dedicate 40 years of their lives to the church.

We've been waiting on God's perfect timing, began the process, finding our next lead pastor, and letting me make the smooth transition into a less visible role as founding pastor," he said. "Now, this is such a significant decision because I'm the only lead pastor our church family has ever had.

As the church neared the 40-year mark in January 2020, Warren said that he and his wife attended a prayer retreat to uncover Gods calling on their lives.

We went out, we prayed and we both felt that God wanted us to stay on in leadership past the 40-year commitment, he said. Neither of us had any comfort in leaving, we had no idea what the future would hold, but we decided we're gonna stay on until God gives us His timing."

And then we didn't understand it then, but three weeks later, after our 40th anniversary, the COVID pandemic would shut everything down for a year and a half, he continued. As we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel of the COVID pandemic, we started feeling that God was saying, Now is the time to at least start the process, start looking for your successor for your replacement.

Warren, whose church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, stressed that the Saddleback staff doesnt know all the details of what searching for his replacement will entail. But he explained, you don't have to see the ultimate step to take the first step. You just take the first step in faith.

The Purpose Driven Life author added he has no intention of leaving the church and that hes looking forward to the transition into a less visible role with the church.

He said that while he and Saddleback elders dont have a particular successor in mind, they will be looking at the biblical qualifications for a pastor, including someone who will love you as much as somebody who's willing to sacrifice their life for your benefit and is already doing purpose-driven ministry.

Earlier in his message, Warren said that one verse that has guided his ministry is Acts 13:36, which reads, Now when David had served Gods purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.

You might think that's a funny life verse  but to me, that statement is the definition of a successful life serving God's purpose in your generation. That would be a wonderful verse to have on your tombstone, he contended.

There is a right time for every activity. That includes every activity in your life, he added. We're not supposed to just do the right things, the things that God wants us to do. We are to do it at the right time. Timing is everything in life.

Warrens announcement comes just weeks after Saddleback ordained three women pastors, drawing criticism from Southern Baptist leaders, including Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler, who said the church acted in "violation" of SBC doctrine. SBC President J.D. Greear also criticized the move.
A Big Tech group affiliated with Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Twitter reportedly wants a judge to block the new free speech bill in Florida to silence conservatives online.

According to NewsBusters, the Big Tech Group NetChoice has filed a case with the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) against Florida's top officials to block the new law that combats censorship of online companies and social media platforms.

NetChoice and CCIA alleged that the new law will discriminate against the First Amendment rights of Big Tech companies irregardless of what the said companies did the past months to conservatives such as former President Donald Trump, any one who spoke against the leftist ideology, and even Christians.

Trump blasted Big Tech for stifling free speech right and used a different platform prior to making his own online presence after the said companies banned him permanently from their platforms. While My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell had to create his own social media platform, Frank Speech (initially announced as Vocl), as an advocacy against Big Tech censorship after being himself a victim of one.

Democrats only started pushing for Big Tech censorship in March when they themselves had negative experiences with them. The White House actually followed in this effort only last month after the Facebook Oversight Board released a verdict on Trump's side for their prior censorship on him.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, after vowing in January to end censorship against conservatives, have signed Senate Bill 7072 last May 24. The bill protects Floridians against unfair treatment from Big Tech platforms and empowers them to sue the said companies running them should they violate the law. In addition, the bill also prohibits Floridian political candidates from being deplatformed by Big Tech.

"If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable," DeSantis announced regarding the bill during its signing.

NewsBusters said NetChoice and CCIA framed their lawsuit to make Big Tech look like the victim of the law DeSantis signed.

NetChoice, who says in their website that they make sure the internet is "safe for free enterprise and free expression," is a renowned Washington D.C lobbyist for Big Tech on various issues including internet governance, privacy, and content moderation.

"This is government-compelled speech. Look at some of the boycotts you saw in the past when there was abhorrent content running alongside advertisers' products," NetChoice Vice President Carl Zsabo told News4Jax in an interview.

Zsabo, who is also the General Counsel of NetChoice, was pertaining to the possibility of Big Tech companies losing income through advertisers if they can't censor their platforms, which is different from what the new law only was referring to since it goes against inconsistent censorship and unfair trade practices.

"Government can't come in and tell your network what type of news to cover, what types of stories to promote. And likewise it can't come in and tell private businesses like Facebook, YouTube, Etsy or Reddit the type of content that they have to host," Zsabo persisted.
Jerry Falwell Jr. unhappy with Liberty Universitys public shaming, wants lawsuit dismissed

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Disgraced former president and chancellor of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Jr., wants leaders of the evangelical institution founded by his father to stop trying to ruin his reputation and publicly shaming him after resigning in the wake of an explosive sex scandal last summer.

In a response filed last week in Lynchburg Circuit Court to a $40 million breach of contract lawsuit filed against him by the university, Falwell said much of the details included in the lawsuit were part of an attempt to shame him publicly.

The rehashing of these events and protected defamation of Falwell through litigation serves one mission  ruining Falwells reputation through mischaracterization of events and public shaming through out-of-context pictures filed in a public complaint, Falwell's filing states, according to The Lynchburg News & Advance.

Falwell argued that the lawsuit focuses on his wifes personal life while not addressing his actions as the leader of Liberty.

Liberty University, one of the largest evangelical Christian universities in the world, announced in August 2020 that it had accepted Falwells resignation effective immediately after he and his wife, Becki, were implicated in a sex scandal.

Falwell initially admitted that his wife had an affair with former pool boy Giancarlo Granda, 29, that lasted several years. Granda allegedly attempted to blackmail the couple. Falwell said he was shocked to learn about his wifes affair. But Granda contradicted that claim by alleging that he engaged in the affair with Falwells knowledge and provided audio he said is evidence to support his claim.

Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room, Granda told Reuters.

Granda claimed his liaisons with Becki Falwell were frequent  happening multiple times per year  noting that they would meet at hotels in Miami, New York and the Falwells home in Virginia.

In a statement on Twitter, Granda further slammed Falwell and his wife as liars. He argued that Falwell abused his position of authority at the Christian university and even sent him a photo of a female Liberty University student exposing herself.

The Falwells would have you believe that I seduced Becki into an affair without Jerrys knowledge, and then spent the intervening 7 years trying to extort them. Of course, the truth is, they approached me. She invited me to their hotel room," Granda wrote. "They offered me an equity partnership in a property venture. They brought me on multiple trips and vacations including to their family farm in Virginia. And as recently as last year, participated in video calls where Mrs. Falwell was naked and Jerry was watching."

While the scandal rocked Liberty University and the broader evangelical community, Falwell said in his court filing that he had no duty to tell the university about private matters and that Liberty failed to prove legal elements of the business conspiracy alleged against him.

In the lawsuit against Falwell, Liberty University accused him of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and statutory conspiracy.

Despite his clear duties as an executive and officer at Liberty, Falwell Jr. chose personal protection, the universitys lawsuit, cited by The Associated Press, said. [Falwell had a] fiduciary duty to disclose Grandas extortive actions, and to disclose the potential for serious harm to Liberty. [Falwell] furthered the conspiracy of silence and negotiated a 2019 Employment Agreement that contained a higher salary from Liberty.

Falwell said he will walk away with a severance package from Liberty University totaling $10.5 million after his resignation last August.

He told The Washington Post that he would get $2.5 million over 24 months after his resignation in addition to $8 million in retirement benefits per a contract he signed with the university in July 2019.

Falwell also filed a court motion to require Liberty to produce his entire severance package as part of their case, the News & Advance reports.
Nikki Haley slams Kamala Harris for not going to the border: You cant fix what you cant see

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Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called Vice President Kamala Harris border response embarrassing" because Harris has yet to visit the U.S.-Mexico border since being appointed border czar on March 24.

This is embarrassing, Haley, the former South Carolina governor, said on Fox News America Reports during a Tuesday interview, discussing Harris' travel to Guatemala and Mexico.

I dont know what the problem is, the Republican continued. Clearly, shes fearful, but Kamala Harris was given one job, one job, and that was to deal with the border. And any leader knows you cant fix what you cant see. She hasnt been on the ground. She hasnt talked to border patrol. She doesnt know what is happening there.

Vice President Harris was tasked with fixing the border crisis. Yet, she's been in office for five months and she still cant explain why she hasnt been there.



Its embarrassing.https://t.co/2R4gzwTWKo  Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) June 9, 2021

Since the vice president has received criticism for not visiting the border, NBCs Lester Holt interviewed Harris on Tuesday about whether she has plans to visit the southern border.

Do you have any plans to visit the border? Holt asked her.

At some point, Harris said as she threw her hands into the air.

We are going to the border. Weve been to the border, so this whole thing about the border, weve been to the border. Weve been [to] the border, she added, referring to other Biden administration officials.

You havent been to the border, Holt responded.

And I havent been to Europe, Harris said as she appeared frustrated by the question. I dont understand the point that youre making. Im not discounting the importance of the border  I care about whats happening at the border.

Haley criticized Harris for dodging the question about visiting the border by bringing up Europe.

So she says she wants to go to the root cause, and then she brings up Europe, Haley said. No one has given her the job of Europe. She got the job of the border.

Haley said she appreciates that Harris traveled to Guatemala and Mexico recently because both countries leaders have blamed the Biden administration as "the reason they are having all these problems at the border."

Haley noted how Harris tone on immigration has changed since she originally implored immigrants to come to the U.S. but now says, do not come.

This is the same woman that literally tweeted out, come one, come all, were open for everyone.  Now she says, do not come. Do you know what says do not come? When you show up at the border and you really have actions speak louder than words, Haley explained.

I dont know what her fear is of the border, but clearly she has one, she continued. And I dont know what Bidens fear of the border is, but he has one. What I will call it is flat-out denial. They think that if they dont go, it wont be real. Its very real.

At a press conference in Guatemala City, Harris said, I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making the dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border  do not come, do not come," Harris said.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended Harris during a press briefing Tuesday and said she might visit the border at some point.

I dont have any trips to preview for you or predict a timeline for that, Psaki said. But what I would reiterate is that her assignment was to work with country or leaders in the Northern Triangle to address root causes, address corruption, ensure were working together to address humanitarian concerns.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted on Tuesday that Biden and Harris could could fix the border crisis tomorrow by ending catch and release and by reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy."

"But neither Kamala or Joe are willing to do that," he said.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris could fix the border crisis tomorrow by ending "catch and release" and by reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy.



But neither Kamala or Joe are willing to do that. pic.twitter.com/eYIyL1HQxF  Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) June 8, 2021

Cruz noted how Harris laughs it off when asked about the border.

We dont have a border crisis in Europe, Cruz said during a Fox News interview, referring to Harris recent comment.

We have a border crisis on the southern border, Cruz said. Come to Texas. Come to the Rio Grande Valley. Come to McAllen. Come see the cages that the Biden Harris administration has built and then, even more importantly, stand up and be willing to enforce our laws to fix it because thats not what theyre doing right now.

Preliminary Customs and Border Protection data shows that the surge of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico southern border in the fiscal year 2021 has surpassed the totals of every year since 2006 with four months left, Axios reported.

The U.S. formally ended the Trump-era remain in Mexico policy last week. This policy required Central American asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico and wait for their asylum cases to be adjudicated in the U.S., Reuters reported.

The Biden administration has reversed many of former President Donald Trumps immigration policies and halted border wall construction.

The Biden administration said it might file a lawsuit against Texas since Gov. Greg Abbott mandated that state licenses be pulled for shelters used to house unaccompanied minors who cross the border.

A Monday letter from the Department of Health & Human Services, the federal agency responsible for caring for the unaccompanied minors, said that Texas would be violating immigration law by banning the shelters.

Abbott said HHS's letter is pressure from the White House to support its immigration policies.

The Biden administration is yet again pressuring Texas to aid its illegal immigration program and force our state to do its job, Abbott said in a statement. The federal government caused this problem and should be solely responsible for the care of these children. No child will be uncared for. Texas will remain focused on doing our jobprotecting Texans.
Pulse nightclub shooting survivors: Move of Holy Spirit 'being birthed' among former LGBT persons

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WASHINGTON  Two survivors of the 2016 Pulse nightclub mass shooting who no longer identify as gay are inviting Christians to repent for how the church has treated LGBT-identified persons in the past.

Before approximately 200 persons at the Sylvan Theater near the Washington Monument for the Freedom March, Angel Colon and Luis Javier Ruiz shared part of their own journeys out of homosexual lives and into the Kingdom of God. They made a point to offer repentance and ask for forgiveness on behalf of the church to LGBT-identified persons, expressing their heart to reach out and believing that a move of the Holy Spirit is at hand.

Taking the stage together in the 80-degree heat, Colon stressed that God has given believers authority to shake the foundation of the nation's capital and to proclaim to the nation that "change is possible in Christ."

Even as the shooter was gunning down dozens of people that night in the nightclub in Orlando, Colon tapped into that authority. As bullets flew and bodies started falling all around him, he drew upon the faith he was raised in and began to declare that he was not going to leave the nightclub dead. Colon was shot several times that night and was unable to move.

"As I laid on the ground ... I prayed to the Lord. And I started prophetically speaking [over] my life and said 'Lord, I am not leaving this building dead tonight. You promised me that I had a purpose in life. You promised me that there was a ministry in my future," Colon said.

"You promised my mom that [the] baby inside of her womb was special and had a purpose in his life. So tonight I am not leaving here dead, Lord. I am leaving here alive. And when I leave here alive I am going to worship you for the rest of my life."

He elaborated that true deliverance and freedom in Christ means that when temptation to sin comes, as it does, to face it and say: "I don't want you, I want Jesus."

Colon met Ruiz the night of the Pulse shooting and had no idea that nearly three years later they would be in ministry together, a ministry called Fearless Identity.

"We have learned what true peace is. We have learned what true happiness is. We have learned what true love is in Jesus Christ, that our identity is not in our sexuality but it is in Jesus," he said.

A move of God is at hand among those who have been set free from sexual sin, those at the Freedom March stressed.

Ruiz, who was also born into a Christian home and raised in the faith, credited his parents for their faithfulness.

"The reason that I'm here is because I had a mother and a father that never compromised the Gospel, that prayed and prayed and believed not in my situation but in my destiny," Ruiz said, receiving cheers from the crowd.

"It wasn't a gay to straight thing. It was a lost to saved thing," he said.

"One thing that the LGBTQ has, and it's really good, is that they didn't get to choose. It's not like the Enemy came to my bed and said 'Hey, fill out these lists of sins and we're going to work with them for the rest of your life.' No, I didn't get to choose. But the Word of God now shows me that now I get to respond to it. "

Ruiz added: "Even though I might be tempted every day, I choose Jesus. Because he is the only man in my life. He's the only man that didn't sleep with my best friend. He's the only man that has been loyal to me. His name is Jesus, and that's who I choose."

The Pulse shooting survivors both knelt down and led those gathered in a prayer of identificational repentance, asking the LGBT community to forgive the church for previous generations of rejection and mistreatment of them in years past.

"We want to ask forgiveness for how they have treated you. This is a new day, baby. And we're coming in love, we're coming in relationship. We're coming with Jesus," he declared.

"Father, I thank you for what you are about to do in America ... I believe that something is being birthed out of here today. Lord, we want you back in the forefront of America as we stand in the front lines of society and culture."

Colon told The Christian Post in an interview following his words Saturday that "God has given us authority and power to rise up against anything else that is not in His will. And that change is possible."

Joshua-Perez Rijos, who is from Orlando but was not present at Pulse that night yet is part of Fearless Identity and traveled to Washington to be a part of the Freedom March, commented that this movement is about equipping the church on how to love again.

"It's going to teach the church how to love profoundly, with a genuine love, a book of Acts type love. The church has lost that because of culture, religion and doctrine, but the Lord is rising on people who know how to love people back to life," he told CP.

The first Freedom March, founded by Jeffrey McCall, a former trans-identified male prostitute, occurred last year in Washington, D.C., at the same location. A subsequent march was held in Los Angeles in the fall. Next month, the Freedom March will take place in St. Paul, Minnesota.

On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in a mass shooting inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Police shot and killed Mateen following an approximately three-hour standoff.
Should Christian jurors find people innocent, even when proven guilty? John Piper answers

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Theologian and author John Piper addressed the question of whether Christians have a duty to find people innocent of a crime  even if they've been proven guilty  when serving on a jury.

In an episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast on Desiring God Friday, a listener asked a question about a professor he'd heard claim that even if a Christian juror knew without a doubt  based on evidence  that a defendant was guilty of a crime, the Christians duty is to pass along a verdict of not guilty.

For evidence, the unnamed professor cited John 8:1-11, in which Jesus saved the life of a woman who had been found guilty of adultery and was going to be stoned.

Since Jesus didnt convict the guilty woman, neither should we convict guilty criminals today. Thats a basic summation of the professors argument, inquired the listener. How would you respond? I would appreciate your thoughts on what God expects from Christian jurors.

Piper responded that he believed the event was the way in which Jesus was showing how the Church would be distinct from ethnic, political, geographic Israel and would not be governed as a national, political, geographic body politic with civil laws regulating, for example, capital punishment, the way Israel was.

Rather, the church, the new people of God, will not be a political or ethnic or geographic reality, but it will be governed by the law of Christ, which introduces significant changes from the law of Moses, said Piper.

Piper then stressed that he didn't believe the passage called for Christians selected to be on juries to acquit the guilty, noting that the New Testament was full of commands for governing officials to mete out justice on evildoers and the Church was commanded to enact discipline on members who sin.

I, we, desperately need the Holy Spirit to guide us: When should our witness to Christ involve turning the other cheek? he asked. And when should it involve spanking a child or not, letting an employee go or not, giving the student a C instead of an A or not, excommunicating an adulterous Christian or finding some other way to move them forward for now, and finding a murderer guilty while serving as a Christian juror?

Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that a court erred in dismissing a juror who had said that the Holy Spirit led him to conclude that the defendant was not guilty.

Chief Judge William Pryor wrote the majority opinion of the circuit decision, writing that the district judge abused his discretion by dismissing the juror.

Jurors may pray for and believe they have received divine guidance as they determine another persons innocence or guilt, a profound civic duty but a daunting task to say the least, wrote Pryor.

Juror No. 13s vivid and direct religious language  read in the light of his other statements  suggests he was doing nothing more than praying for and receiving divine guidance as he evaluated the evidence or, in secular terms, provided an explanation of his internal mental processes  all consistent with proper jury service.
Texas creates 1836 Project to teach patriotic education, Christian heritage

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Texas has passed a law creating an 1836 Project aimed at promoting values considered fundamental to state identity, as well as the launching of an advisory committee aimed at promoting patriotic education.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 2497 earlier this week, saying in a statement posted to Twitter that we must never forget why Texas became so exceptional in the first place.

The 1836 Project promotes patriotic education about Texas and ensures that the generations to come understand Texas values, said Abbott. Every newcomer to Texas who gets a drivers license will also get a pamphlet that outlines Texas rich history.

The law also establishes the Gubernatorial 1836 Award to recognize students knowledge of the founding documents about Texas history.

Lucy Meckler, campaign manager for the Next Generation Texas initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told The Christian Post that she supported the new law, calling it "a unique and robust way to educate Texans on our states founding principles, rich history, and diverse culture."

"[The 1836 Project ensures] that all voices have the ability to participate in the creation and dispersing of Texas history and civics education to the public," Meckler said.

"At a time when our state is struggling with a civic literacy crisis and growing rapidly in population, it is more important than ever to ensure that every Texan has the opportunity to learn about what makes this state so great."

According to the law, the advisory committee will have nine members who are reflective of the diversity of the state, with the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the House each picking three people to serve a two-year term.

Topics that the project is expected to promote under Texas history will include: the indigenous peoples of this state, the Spanish and Mexican heritage of this state, Tejanos, the African American heritage of this state, the Texas War for Independence, Juneteenth, annexation of Texas by the United States, the Christian heritage of this state, and this states heritage of keeping and bearing firearms in defense of life and liberty and for use in hunting.

Critics of the Texas law include Valerie Street, president of the Texas Progressive Action Network, who told CP that she considered it an unnecessary piece of legislation.

Texas state history is already part of public school curriculum, she said. We agree wholeheartedly with the need for Texas students to be given opportunities to deepen their knowledge of history.

Our hope, however, is that the history we provide in our schools be full, accurate and whole and we share concerns that our state is still struggling to overcome a tendency toward the whitewashing of that history and a failure to bring in the lesser-heard, lesser-known perspectives that are just as integral a part of our story.

Regarding the criticism of the 1836 Project, Meckler told CP that the law "does not gloss over Texas unique history but instead embraces it."

"In addition, the bill specifically mentions that 'The 1836 Project is composed of nine members reflective of the diversity of the state,' ensuring that all voices have the ability to participate in the creation and dispersing of Texas history and civics education to the public," Meckler said.

The name alludes to The 1619 Project, a New York Times Magazine series of essays arguing that slavery continues to influence the United States in various ways.

While many pundits and scholars have critiqued the 1619 Project for its historic inaccuracies, it nevertheless has been featured in the curricula of some public school districts throughout the country.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, the reporter who headed the project, said in a series of Twitter posts last year that it was not a history but rather a challenge to the national narrative.

The crazy thing is, the 1619 Project is using history and reporting to make an argument. It never pretended to be a history, she tweeted at the time. We explicitly state our aims and produced a series of essays. Critique was always expected, but the need to discredit it speaks to something else.

On Wednesday, The Washinton Times reported that the U.S. Department of Education has been "inundated" with over 35,000 complaints in response to the Biden administration's plan to urge K-12 schools to teach the 1619 Project and critical race theory.
Trump's Bible photo-op not the reason why police cleared protesters out of DC park: govt report

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President Donald Trumps controversial photo shoot of him holding a Bible outside of a church near the White House in Washington, D.C. was not tied to the police clearing of Lafayette Park outside the White House earlier in the day, according to a new federal government report.

The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of the Interior released a report Wednesday titled Review of U.S. Park Police Actions at Lafayette Park."

On June 1, 2020, the U.S. Park Police and National Guard dispersed protesters who had gathered in Lafayette Park following the death of George Floyd, an incident in which police in riot gear used chemical irritants.

Minutes after the clearing operation, then-President Trump walked over to St. Johns Episcopal Church for a photo shoot at the church that had been damaged by protesters the day before.

The report concluded that the police had the authority and discretion to clear Lafayette Park and the surrounding areas on June 1 and that, contrary to previous claims, there was no link between the dispersal of demonstrators and the Trump photo.

The evidence we obtained did not support a finding that the USPP cleared the park to allow the President to survey the damage and walk to St. Johns Church, stated the report.

Instead, the evidence we reviewed showed that the USPP cleared the park to allow the contractor to safely install the antiscale fencing in response to destruction of property and injury to officers occurring on May 30 and 31.

The report stated that the police had already planned to disperse before they learned of Trumps plan to walk over to the church.

Further, the evidence showed that the USPP did not know about the Presidents potential movement until mid-to late afternoon on June 1hours after it had begun developing its operational plan and the fencing contractor had arrived in the park, continued the report.

The report said that the USPP incident commander stated that a Secret Service deputy chief

told him that the "President's visit would likely occur later that day or in the evening, after

protesters had been removed from the area."

"The USPP incident commander told us that he could not recall the specific time he learned about the President's potential visit to Lafayette Park," the report explained. "When we interviewed the USPP acting chief of police, he told us the USPP incident commander

told him sometime between 3 and 5 p.m. about the President's potential visit to assess the

damage to the park; although he could not identify precisely when during that 2-hour period he obtained this information, he confirmed that he learned of the potential visit before the DCNG arrived in Lafayette Park at approximately 5 p.m."

Some had raised concern about how then-Attorney General William Barr visited the park before 6 p.m. The report stressed that the attorney general asked the commander if the people would still be in the park when Trump came out. The report claims that the commander had not known until then that Trump would be coming through the park.

"The USPP operations commander denied that the Attorney General ordered him

to clear Lafayette Park and H Street," the report reads.

The Inspector General's Office noted that the report did not review individual uses of force by USPP officers, since they are the subject of separate inquiries or ongoing lawsuits.

On June 1 of last year, Lafayette Square Park in D.C. was one of many places across the country where activists were protesting the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin.

The park lies between the White House and St. Johns Church, a historic Episcopal congregation where presidents going back to James Madison have attended services.

Park Police and National Guard troops forcefully cleared the pathway from the White House to the church, reportedly using tear gas and pushing peaceful protesters in the process.

Some in the media and public figures had claimed that the authorities cleared the park so that Trump would be able to walk peacefully to the church and give some remarks to the press.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington denounced Trumps alleged clearing of the square for the sake of the photo shoot and brief comments to the media.

The President just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for, stated Bishop Budde in a Facebook post at the time.

To do so, he sanctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear to clear the church yard. I am outraged  In no way do we support the Presidents incendiary response to a wounded, grieving nation.

Others, including the Rev. Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, commended Trump for the walk to the church and photos holding the Bible.

Trump made a statement by walking through Lafayette Park to St. Johns Episcopal Church that had been vandalized and partially burned Sunday night, stated Graham in a Facebook post.

He surprised those following him by holding up a Bible in front of the church. Thank you President Trump. God and His Word are the only hope for our nation.
Kamala Harris tells migrants do not come'; Guatemala pres. criticizes Biden admin.'s approach

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Vice President Kamala Harris received pushback from within her own party after she encouraged migrants not to come to the United States illegally during her travel to Guatemala and Mexico this week to address the southern border crisis after being appointed border czar in March.

At a joint press conference in Guatemala City, Harris emphasized that the "goal of our work is to help Guatemalans find hope at home."

"At the same time, I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making the dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border  do not come, do not come," Harris said.

The vice president assured that the U.S. will enforce laws and secure the border.

"There are legal methods by which migration can and should occur, but we, as one of our priorities, will discourage illegal migration. And I believe if you come to our border, you will be turned back, Harris continued.

"So let's discourage our friends, our neighbors, our family members from embarking on what is otherwise an extremely dangerous journey where, in large part, the only people who benefit are coyotes."

Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei told "Face The Nation" Sunday that the increased border crossings have been caused partly by the changing of administrations. He admitted that he and Harris are not on the same side of the coin.

"The message changed to, 'We are going to reunite families, and we are going to reunite children," Giammattei said. "The very next day, the coyotes were here organizing groups of children to take them to the United States. We asked the United States government to send more of a clear message to prevent people from leaving."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., one of the most liberal members of Congress, tweeted that Harris speech was disappointing."

"First, seeking asylum at any US border is a 100% legal method of arrival," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "Second, the US spent decades contributing to regime change and destabilization in Latin America. We cant help set someones house on fire and then blame them for fleeing."

The trip marked Harris first diplomatic trip to address the border, and she is yet to visit the U.S. southern border as vice president. On Tuesday, Harris met with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the populist president of Mexico who has been critical of the Biden administrations immigration policies, USA Today reported.

Harris said the root causes of the border situation are poverty, economic instability, and Central Americas extreme weather.

The vice president's office said the U.S. will have a multi-pronged approach to immigration at the southern border, addressing climate change, food insecurity, violence and corruption, Fox News reported.

Harris was welcomed to Guatemala on Sunday with signs that read, Kamala Go Home, Kamala Mind Your own Business, and Trump Won, according to Fox News.

"We're not against Kamala Harris's diplomatic visit, but rather her interference and blackmail in return for aid," a group of 20 activists calling themselves Society In Action said in a protest with the Veterans' Association outside the Air Force of Guatemala, El Faro English reported.

Republican National Committee Hispanic Communications Director Jaime Florez criticized Harris' failure to visit the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Instead of addressing firsthand the human costs of the disastrous Biden administration border policies, Kamala is yet again ignoring the millions of Americans affected," Florez said in a statement.

"Kamala's meetings in Mexico and Guatemala are about shifting blame away from the Biden administration, not solving the crisis she and Biden created. Republicans will continue to visit and meet with the residents, law enforcement officers, and elected officials along the southern border, putting the American people and our communities first."

NBCs Lester Holt asked Harris about whether she plans to visit the border in an interview.

Do you have any plans to visit the border? Holt asked her.

At some point, Harris said as she threw her hands into the air.

We are going to the border. Weve been to the border, so this whole thing about the border, weve been to the border. Weve been [to] the border, she said, referring to other Biden administration officials.

You havent been to the border, Holt responded.

And I havent been to Europe, Harris said as she laughed and appeared frustrated. I dont understand the point that youre making. Im not discounting the importance of the border  I care about whats happening at the border.

Cringe video. Over awkward laughs, Kamala Harris:



Weve been to the border.



Holt challenges that lie.



Kamala and I havent been to Europe.



Do we have an illegal migrant crisis on our border with Europe? pic.twitter.com/qsBxNbMs8a  Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) June 8, 2021

The surge of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico southern border in the fiscal year 2021 has surpassed the totals of every year since 2006 with four months left, according to preliminary Customs and Border Protection data seen by Axios.

The U.S. formally ended the Trump-era remain in Mexico policy last week, which required Central American asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico and wait for their asylum cases to be adjudicated in the U.S., Reuters reported.

The Biden administration reversed many of former President Donald Trumps immigration policies, including halting border wall construction, on day one.

U.S. Border Control apprehensions at the southwestern border reached the highest monthly level in the last two decades between March and April of this year.
Hobby Lobby sues Oxford professor for $7M over stolen Bible fragments

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Hobby Lobby Stores has filed a $7 million lawsuit in the United States against a former professor from the U.K.s Oxford University who was arrested last year after being accused of stealing ancient Bible fragments from the university and selling them to the U.S. arts and crafts retail chain.

In the lawsuit filed in New York, Hobby Lobby says Dirk Obbink, a 64-year-old professor of papyrology at Oxford, sold fragments of papyrus and ancient objects worth $7,095,100 in seven private sales between 2010 and 2013, The Sunday Times reported.

The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., which was founded in 2017 by the Green family, evangelical Christians who own Hobby Lobby, temporarily displayed the fragments, which belonged to the Oxyrhynchus collection in the Sackler Library.

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri is a group of manuscripts that were discovered during the late 19th and early 20th centuries at a spot where ancient inhabitants of the city of Oxyrhynchus dumped their garbage of over 1,000 years. The collection includes more than 500,000 fragments of literary and documentary texts  written in Greek, ancient Egyptian, Coptic, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew and other languages  dating from the third century BC to the seventh century.

Some of the fragments were stolen by Obbink from the Egyptian Exploration Society, the custodian of the largest collection of ancient papyri in the world, Hobby Lobby claims in the lawsuit.

The EES, a British nonprofit excavation organization that works in Egypt and Sudan which owns the collection, issued a statement in October 2019 accusing Obbink of selling fragments of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, after which the university suspended the professor.

The EES said 11 of the 13 missing fragments were sold without authorization to Hobby Lobby and they ended up in a collection belonging to the Museum of the Bible. The stolen fragments included extracts from Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Romans and I Corinthians, according to The Times.

Obbink was arrested last March and was later released under investigation.

Obbink had denied the accusations.

The allegations made against me that I have stolen, removed or sold items owned by the Egypt Exploration Society collection at the University of Oxford are entirely false, he told The Guardian earlier. I would never betray the trust of my colleagues and the values which I have sought to protect and uphold throughout my academic career in the way that has been alleged. I am aware that there are documents being used against me which I believe have been fabricated in a malicious attempt to harm my reputation and career.

Obbink is listed in court papers as owning a property beside Christ Church, the Times reported, adding that the colleges accounts for last year show that he owes $614,573 (434,000) under a joint-equity ownership agreement.

The MOTB returned the 13 fragments to the EES.

The Board of Trustees of the MOTB has accepted the EES claim to ownership of the thirteen pieces identified to date, and is arranging to return them to the EES. The EES is grateful to the MOTB for its co-operation, and has agreed that the research on these texts by scholars under the auspices of the MOTB will receive appropriate recognition when the texts are published in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri series, the EES said in its statement at the time.
Teacher placed on leave for opposing transgender pronouns sues Virginia school district

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A teacher in Virginia has filed a lawsuit against his school district after its leadership put him on leave for rejecting policies that would implement transgender ideology in local schools.

Byron Tanner Cross, a physical education teacher at Leesburg Elementary School, filed suit last week against the Loudon County School Board for disciplining him for expressing concern over a proposed policy.

Filed in Loudon County Circuit Court, the suit accused the board, Interim Superintendent Scott A. Ziegler and another official of viewpoint-based retaliation.

 this case is not about how schools should treat students who struggle with gender dysphoria, stated the legal filing.

It is about whether public schools can punish a teacher for objecting, as a private citizen, to a proposed policy, in a forum designated for the purpose of considering whether to implement such policies, where the policy would force him to express ideas about human nature, unrelated to the schools curriculum, that he believes are false.

Cross is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal nonprofit based in Scottsdale, Arizona, that has successfully argued several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer said in a statement that he believes public schools cannot suspend someone simply for respectfully providing their opinion at a public meeting.

The school district favors a certain set of beliefs on a hotly contested issue, and it wants to force Tanner to cry uncle and endorse them as well, stated Langhofer. Thats neither legal nor constitutional, and neither was the schools move to place Tanner on leave.

Last month, Cross told the Loudoun County School Board at a meeting that he could not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa.

My name is Tanner Cross, and I am speaking out of love for those who suffer with gender dysphoria, said Cross at the May 25 meeting.

I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences. Im a teacher, but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because its against my religion.

Two days after the meeting, the school informed Cross that he was placed on administrative leave with pay "pending an investigation of allegations that [he] engaged in conduct that had a disruptive impact on the operations of Leesburg Elementary School.

The proposed policy, known as Policy 8040, would require both staff and students of Loudon schools to use the chosen pronouns of students who identify as transgender or gender-expansive.

LCPS staff shall allow gender-expansive or transgender students to use their chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without any substantiating evidence, regardless of the name and gender recorded in the students permanent educational record, a draft of the policy explains.

Inadvertent slips in the use of names or pronouns may occur; however, staff or students who intentionally and persistently refuse to respect a students gender identity by using the wrong name and gender pronoun are in violation of this policy.

His attorneys filed a motion for temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction that would halt the school district's actions against Cross while the lawsuit is adjudicated.

Cross is not the only Virginia public school teacher recently caught in the controversy over transgender ideology and gender identity in the classroom.

In 2019, a high school French teacher named Peter Vlaming sued the West Point School Board over his firing for using a trans-identified student's chosen name instead of their preferred pronouns.

West Point Superintendent Laura Abel said in a statement released in December 2018 that they considered Vlamings actions discriminatory, noting that the student felt disrespected.

That discrimination then leads to creating a hostile learning environment. And the student had expressed that. The parent had expressed that, Abel stated at the time.
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The apostle Paul ranks as the greatest church-planting apostle and missionary the world has ever known. He determined to build the church wherever Christ was not named. At great risk to himself, he entered city after city to proclaim the gospel and organize converts into churches.

Yet, the great apostle did not achieve these things alone. Paul always worked in teams. To the delight of some and the consternation of others, Pauls church-planting teams included women. When he wrote the Christians in Philippi, he instructed them to help Euodia and Syntyche. Paul describes Euodia and Syntyche as women who contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life (Phil. 4:3).

While Paul does not specify their exact role, these women labored side by side as equals with Paul, and their work was not ancillary or support work but gospel work. Paul regarded them with the same title he often uses of male partners in ministryco-workers (Rom. 16:3; 1 Cor. 3:9; Phm. 1:24).

As Michelle Lee-Barnewall observes in Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian, The focus on authority, leadership, equality, and rights tends to lead to yes or no answers that do not prompt deeper questioning.

As Christians continue to debate the role of women in ministry, we need to ask why todays church doesnt have more teams comprised of men and women as Pauls were. We need to ask why typical debates about women and their roles end up with women being restricted from areas of service that the Bible nowhere prohibits. We need to ask deeper questions about how we regard women who do serve on ministry teams.

I fear contemporary debates obscure a vital truth: Women are essential to fulfilling the Great Commission. Their lives and ministries are not nice to have, but necessary, as Bible teacher Jen Wilkin has often observed. Or as Aimee Byrd argues in No Little Women, our sisters are necessary allies in the work God has given the church. Indeed, the Lords last words in Matthew 28:1920 are embraced as a charge for the entire churchwomen as well as men.

Perhaps many of our churches are ineffective in advancing the Great Commission precisely because we have sidelined one-half of the body of Christ. In 2011, I began arguing for substantial womens involvement in ministry work. At the time, I think I saw the problems more clearly than I saw any solutions. But following years of child- and sex-abuse scandals and increasingly misogynistic, patriarchal, and mean-spirited evangelical responses to women, that earlier diagnosis now seems quaint. The need to increase womens leadership opportunities appears more urgent to me than ever.

So when we planted Anacostia River Church in 2015, our first ministry as elders was to meet monthly with the older women in our congregation, not only to disciple them in the spirit of Titus 2:13 but also to give them direct input into our lives and ministries.

The presence, faith, courage, and perseverance of our sisters in difficult contexts provides the surest foothold we have for reaching overlooked people.

Their biblical wisdom and intuition have proven invaluable. It was the older women who suggested the elders attend womens fellowship meetings so women could have greater access to the pastors. We attend not as the teachers but as learners and brothers, benefitting from the fellowship and gifts of our sisters. Women comprise the majority of our deacons and give invaluable guidance to the church. We have committed, Lord willing, to making our next couple of staff hires women earning equitable salaries, the first of which should happen this summer.

We have not figured everything out, but the pastors and the congregation have been attempting to make the flourishing of our sisters a theological and practical priority. That has required jettisoning fear-based hesitations that have more to do with restricting women than promoting them. It has also required taking seriously how culturally bound so much of complementarian teaching is and gleaning from womens perspectives in Black and brown church communities.

Truth be told, our sisters are most often on the frontlines of gospel advance wherever the work is most difficult. Thats true on the mission field, as groups from Africa Inland Mission to YWAM report that women make up 80 percent of single people willing to enter missionary service. Its also true in neglected Black and brown neighborhoods, where membership in local churches is predominantly female, and many church starts are headed by women.

At The Crete Collective, a church-planting network that launched last year to reach neglected Black and brown neighborhoods, weve also made the decision to prioritize the leadership of godly women. We believe this priority to be a necessary correction to years of extrabiblical restriction in conservative Christian spaces, restrictions that sometimes go beyond home and church to most every area of Christian endeavor.

Our first executive-level hire is Dennae Pierre, who not only brings experience in church planting and network leadership but also her perspective as a Latina Christian and immigrant. Prioritizing womens leadership also means including more women on the board as we grow. And it means focusing our training on teams that invite and welcome women rather than solely targeting male pastors and lead planters.

Many church planting efforts assume a middle-class, white cultural norm, but the deeper we take the gospel into poor, neglected, Black and brown communities, the less that model transfers or serves the needs of those communities. In fact, if class and cultural assumptions go unexamined, even well-intentioned planters and churches can hurt communities and be stymied in their efforts to evangelize and serve their communities.

In an era of sharply divisive social and political issues, we desperately need more leadership from the diverse parts of Christs bodyespecially Black and brown women, immigrant communities, and the poor among us.

Female leaders such as Christina Edmondson and Michelle Reyes have helped to make church planting more aware of and sensitive to mental health, cultural competence, anti-racism, justice, and mercyboth within their local churches and in the church at large. And a countless number of women without national followings have done the work of evangelism, led in public worship, provided biblical counseling, offered various forms of training, used their administrative gifts, and simply made themselves available wherever needs exist.

The presence, faith, courage, and perseverance of our sisters in difficult contexts provides the surest foothold we have for reaching overlooked people. Our sisters may better reach homes headed by single women, which exist in high numbers in America. They may provide more empathetic leadership and care in communities filled with complex and acute trauma. And in a church world riddled with high-profile scandal among pastors, our sisters may be a much-needed source of insight, accountability, and health in our leadership culture.

Current disparities in funding for African American and Hispanic church plants might also point to the need for more women in leadership. It may be that the sometimes unrecognized and unpaid leadership and skills of Black and brown women provide a hidden subsidy to church plants in ethnic and sometimes neglected contexts.

We can benefit from womens leadership in all these ways and more, whether or not we believe women can or should hold the office of pastor. The flourishing of women is good for the flourishing of the church and the community.

Our sisters have much to teach us if we would listen and give them genuine leadership opportunities. Apollos learned from Priscilla and Aquila, Pauls ministry companions and co-workers. The Roman church learned from Phoebe, who is commended by Paul as a deacon and benefactor (Rom. 16:12). Which women are we learning from today?
The United States Department of Justice was reported to have sided with Christian schools over a lawsuit filed by an LGBTQ+ group on religious exemption.

According to Christian Headlines, President Joe Biden's Department of Justice has decided last Tuesday that the exemption provided in Title IX for Christian schools and universities is constitutional as against the claims of the LGBTQ+ group Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP).

The Hill, on the other hand, said that the Department of Justice announced that it can "vigorously" defend exemptions to anti-discrimination laws for LGBT such as the one filed against the religious schools by REAP last March.

"The Federal Defendants' ultimate objective is to defend the statutory exemption and its current application by ED, which is the objective sought by the Proposed Intervenors here," the United States District Court for Oregon's Eugene Division said in the filing.

The defendants to the case is the Department of Education who was sued by the Religious Exemption Accountability Project for the religious exemption given to Christian schools as provided by Title IX. The group alleges that the exemption discriminates against the LGBTQ+ since Title IX allows religious schools protection from discrimination on sex in their education programs.

Currently, LGBTQ content is prohibited in student handbooks in the said Christian schools since it is against scriptural teaching. The plaintiffs said this "cause harm" to the 100,000 LGBTQ+ students enrolled in schools across the United States.

The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), who got involved with the case last month since they could not trust the Biden Administration to defend them, welcomed the court's decision through a statement released on Wednesday by its president, Shirley Hoogstra. Another reason CCCU got involved was due to most of their members being named in the lawsuit by the plaintiffs.

"We welcome the Biden administration's commitment to the Title IX religious exemption, but we do believe that the Christian colleges and universities whose rights are at stake should have a representative at the table, and in the courtroom, for these important conversations," Hoogstra told The Hill in an interview.

The Corban University, William Jessup University and Phoenix Seminary intervened in the case through Alliance Defending Freedom last April as defendants in the lawsuit. But the Oregon court denied their motion to intervene in last Tuesday's filing.

The Hill said the DOJ opposed the move of the intervenors with the reasoning that it will "uphold the Religious Exemption as it is currently applied" being the one in charge to uphold federal law.

"The Proposed Intervenors have failed to show how their interests diverge from the Federal Defendants' interests or how the Federal Defendants and their counsel, the United States Department of Justice, which is responsible for defending federal statutes in court, would inadequately defend the religious exemption," the Oregon court said.

"For these reasons, the Proposed Intervenors have failed to show why they should be permitted to intervene and their Motions to Intervene should be denied," it concluded.
Another Catholic church shelled in Myanmar; seminary volunteer murdered in military raid Multiple churches attacked in recent weeks as post-coup violence continues

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The Burma military shelled another Catholic church as violence continues in the Kayah State of Myanmar. The shelling occurred less than a week after a young man volunteering at a Catholic seminary was reportedly killed during a military raid.

The Church of Mary Queen of Peace in Daw Ngan Kha in Kayah State, which was acting as a place of refuge for many displaced individuals, was bombarded on Sunday. No casualties were reported, according to Vatican News.

Sources say that parishioners sheltering inside the church fled as they sensed an attack was near. Although no one was hurt in the incident, the church's walls sustained damage, and windows were broken. Some damage was also done to nearby homes.

Amid ongoing fighting in the region, the Catholic news outlet reports that the shelling of the church appears to have been deliberate because the church compound is large and visible on a busy street.

The Church of May Queen of Peace is the latest in a string of church shellings said to have been carried out by Burmese military forces.

Last month, it was reported that four people were killed, and around eight were injured during an attack on another Catholic church in the Kayah state after a month of fatal attacks.

Two days before that, military forces raided a Baptist church in Yangon, where they beat and detained three people, including the pastor, and destroyed property.

The shelling of Church of May Queen of Peace follows the reported killing on May 29 of a young man volunteering at a Catholic seminary in the Kayah state.

Locals claim the young man was killed during a military raid on the building, where the soldiers did a room-by-room search, Asia News reported. The report did not publish the deceased man's name. Locals say the murder had no motive, and priests tried to prevent it from happening.

Clashes between the Burmese military and pro-democracy groups have heightened since the military coup on Feb. 1, which has left many to seek shelter in churches, seminaries or convents. Those institutions have been targeted for military attacks, religious persecution watchdog International Chrisitan Concern reports.

The military is known for targeting young people to stifle pro-democracy resistance.

In the three months between Feb. 15 and May 15, Asia News reported that 73 people under the age of 18-years-old had been killed.

Some attacks target pro-democracy demonstrators, while others appear to be random.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, is ranked No. 18 on Open Doors 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution.

The persecution level in Myanmar is very high due to the religious nationalism that places increasing emphasis on Buddhism.

Myanmar is predominately Buddhist, while Christians make up around 6.2% of its 54 million population.

Catholics only make up around 1.5% of the country, according to Vatican News.

Myanmar/Burma is also home to the worlds longest civil war that began in 1948.

Despite an election last November, the military refuses to accept the result and has raised allegations of voter fraud. The military, also known as the Tatmadaw, declared a yearlong state of emergency and put civilian leaders under house arrest.

The coup has led to another round of violence and protests.

The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom raised concern about violence toward religious minorities after the Burmese military coup in February.

Given the history of brutal atrocities by the Burmese military, our fear is that violence could quickly escalate, especially towards religious and ethnic communities, such as the Rohingya and other Muslims, USCIRF Chair Anurima Bhargava said in a statement at the time. We urge the Burmese military to honor the faith and will of the Burmese people and restore democratic civilian rule as soon as possible."

USCIRF recommends the U.S. State Department designate Burma as a country of particular concern for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.

USCIRF called on the Biden administration to hold the Burmese military accountable for its genocidal atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslim refugees.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on at least 21 leaders of the government-ousting military. The United States has also sanctioned Burma.

American journalist Danny Fenster was recently detained in Myanmar, a country hostile to foreign journalists, before boarding his plane home to Michigan on May 24 for allegedly performing acts of journalism, Chicago Tribune reported.

The country was known as Burma for generations until military leaders changed the name to Myanmar. In the Burmese language, Myanmar is the more formal name for Burma, and the name was changed only in English, according to PBS.

The United States typically refers to the country as Burma, while most other countries call it Myanmar.
Archeologists uncover arrowhead from biblical battle in Gath, Goliath's hometown

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An arrowhead made from bone has been unearthed near the ancient Israeli city of Gath, the biblical home of Goliath  a discovery archeologists say could confirm biblical accounts surrounding the fall of the Philistine city.

Researchers discovered an arrow point made of animal bone inside the rubble of a home in the lower city, which they believe might have been used as part of Gaths last stand against the army of the Aramean King Hazael 3,000 years ago, according to the study.

The findings, published in Near Eastern Archaeology, note the arrowhead was initially discovered in 2019 and was likely created in a workshop about 1,000 feet from where the arrowhead was discovered.

These bones were specifically selected for the job given their large size from which multiple points could be made, and their thick layer of hard compact bone that was cut following the length of the bone, that is, its longitudinal axis," researchers wrote in the study. This would make the artifacts extremely robust and capable of withstanding impact.

Researchers believe the arrowhead was likely used in battle, as the point is broken and there is a clear impact fracture" on the tip of the arrowhead.

All parts of the Tell es-Safi/Gath point are present, they said. However, micro-wear analysis of the object duplicates the damage pattern found by Knecht with a clear impact fracture (i.e., a scar) on the tip of the Tell es-Safi/Gath arrowhead.

There are also micro-striations within the scar that were created as a result of the force when it made contact with its target. Moreover, the point had been broken close to the mid-shaft, perhaps as a result of this impact. These results demonstrate that the arrowhead had been used and had hit a target.

Gath, commonly associated with the giant Goliath, who David defeated before he became King David, is the most-mentioned Philistine city in the Bible. In 1 Chronicles 18, David captures the city. In 2 Chronicles 11, his grandson Rehoboam fortifies it. The city was later captured by King Hazael of Damascus around 830 B.C. before he went on to attack Jerusalem.

The Old Testament account found in 2 Kings 12:17-18 reads: "About this time King Hazael of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem.

"But Joash, King of Judah, took all the sacres objects dedicated by his predecessors  Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah  and the gifts he himself has dedicated and all the gold found in the treasuries of the temple of the LORD and of the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram, who then withdrew from Jerusalem."

Archaeological excavations at Gath in modern-day Israel have revealed the city was destroyed in the ninth century BC, around the same time Hazael likely invaded.

Aren Maeir, a professor of archaeology at Bar-Ilan University who leads the expedition at Tell es-Safi, told Haaretz that such weaponry was uncommon in the Iron Age, as bone is far less effective than metal.

In many cultures, you have bone projectile points, but as you move into a metal-oriented society, they disappear, he said.

The common arrowhead in the Iron Age was made of bronze and iron. Here and there, you still find bone points, but they are not very common  It shows the dramatic moments of the end of the city and the desperate measures they were taking to make weapons that could help in its defense, he added.

In 2015, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a large gate and wall that shed new light on the city of Gath, its practices and its defenses.
LEGO has built several replicas of cars, but in creating the Lamborghini Sian FKP 37, the company tried a lot of new things. According to a report from Geeky Gadgets, this was the first time that hexagonal panels were used for construction. And, to make sure the color matched the car exactly, Lamborghini painted the parts at its own plant. Several tests were done to make sure it was the correct Pantone shade.

This model is the first of the Italian brand to have a hybrid engine. The replica does not have an engine, but it does have other real elements such as seats, steering wheels and lights. Sian means lightning in Bolognese; that's why the headlights have that shape and lighting. It measures 4.98 meters long, 2.10 meters wide, 1.13 meters high and weighs 2,200 kg.
A recent study by Kantar, a brand consulting and data analysis company, revealed that the new labeling of products considered 'harmful' has not changed the consumption habits of Mexicans .

Almost half a year ago, the modification to the Official Mexican Standard (NOM) 051 came into force, which obliges companies to place information stamps on packaging. These black labels warn about excess calories, sugar, carbohydrates, sodium and other ingredients, with the aim of fighting obesity and promoting healthy eating among the population of Mexico.

It may interest you: Goodbye austerity, hello 'goodies'! Generation Z and Millennials are spending more than before the pandemic

Fabian Ghirardelly , Kantar's manager in Mexico , considers that the measure has had a very low impact on the country, because despite being implemented on a massive scale, there are no alternatives to replace these products.

We do not see an impact from the labeling in Mexico. We have already been six months and we are not seeing a significant impact, of course, that we can associate with the stamps in the change of purchasing habits or household consumption, " said Ghirardelly at a press conference. It was a massive initiative. Perhaps so massive that it ended up having little impact, because there is no possibility of replacement, "he added.

If you have already taken the big step of starting a food business, it is time to have an ally to grow. https://t.co/uph2PcjT0I - Entrepreneur Mexico (@SoyEntrepreneur) June 8, 2021

In addition to the new labeling, the authorities prohibited the use of cartoons, athletes, celebrities, pets and other characters that encourage the consumption of certain products. For this reason, iconic and endearing figures such as Osito Bimbo , Chester Cheetos , Tigre Tono and Pancho Pantera , among others, disappeared from the packaging.

Kantar's Brand Footprint 2021 report revealed that last year, despite the black labels, Coca Cola was the brand most acquired by Mexicans, with a presence in 97.7% of the country's homes. In second place was Bimbo with a penetration of 99.3%, followed by Lala ( 94.7%), Nutri Leche ( 76.8%) and Alpura (66.8%).

They also found that in 2020 Mexicans increased their consumption of brands such as Red Cola , Galletas Marias, and Petalo items. This confirms the trend of the population to migrate to cheaper brands, given the decrease in income derived from the Covid-19 pandemic.

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LAKE COUNTY -- A recent broadband survey conducted in Lake County revealed that 54% of residents have no access to the internet.

"That is a number we are trying to improve on," Connect Michigan Program representative Tom Stephenson told the Lake County board of commissioners during a recent meeting.

"Two years ago, only 3% of the population had access to internet service," he said. "Now we are up to 43%, so we have made some inroads. We still have a long way to go."

Of those that do have internet, the survey -- conducted by Broadband Solutions, Inc. -- showed, 19% have fixed wireless connections, which includes cable internet, fiber optics or fixed wireless, and 20% have dial up or satellite service.

"The biggest problem is that service is not available, and what is available is at a high cost," Stephenson said. "When it is available, it is too expensive for a lot of folks. Right now, in Lake County, we are paying a big dollar for it compared to other counties."

Stephenson said the survey showed that even though customers may pay a higher cost in Lake County, that is not the No. 1 complaint.

"The biggest complaint is that the speeds are too slow, and the connections are unreliable," he said. "They are more concerned about the quality of the service than anything else. The survey showed 94% of users want to see something more reliable."

Steps have been taken to improve the internet access and reliability in the county, Stephenson said.

AT&T received a contract to bring broadband service to the are several years ago, he said. The first round was the northeast section and the second round was the west side, along with Osceola County.

"Point Broadband, formerly Casair, has received a lot of funding to do a fiber optic buildout on the east side," he continued. "Great Lakes Energy is working on a fiber optic buildout. So, the build out has already started to some extent."

He added that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Point Broadband did a build out for the schools to accommodate the virtual learning. At the same time, they agreed to drop a line for fiber optic cable through the middle of Idelwild, giving them access to internet service.

"The people are signing up, and they (internet providers) are starting to tie in a lot of businesses to the fiber optic network along M-37," he said.

The Connect Michigan committee is doing some new mapping which will be ready around the end of September, he said, that will show them how the networks have expanded and what still needs to be done. From there the committee will work out a plan to address those needs.

"We are making progress, but it is going to take several years to build out," Stephenson said. "In the next couple of years there will be more options available."

Stephenson said there is more funding becoming available to help with addressing the internet issue across the state. In addition, the Emergency Broadband Benefit, a Federal Communications Commission program is available to help families and households struggling to afford internet service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EBB will provide a discount of up to $50 per month towards broadband service for eligible households.

For more information on how to sign up for the program, visit fcc.gov/broadbandbenefit.

County administrator Tobi Lake said the American Rescue Plan funds can also be used to spread broadband to unserved and underserved areas, however with the guidelines from the treasury of 100 mps download and 20 mps upload speeds, the funds won't go far.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  An Alaska lawmaker said he plans to use his legislative office account to pay for a trip to Arizona to visit a partisan audit of the 2020 election.

Rep. David Eastman, a Wasilla Republican, told the Anchorage Daily News the trip was on behalf of his constituents and said he wasn't aware of any other Alaska legislators attending. Some legislators from other states, including Pennsylvania, have recently attended.

The Alaska Legislature is in a special session, though floor and committee action has been limited as negotiators try to reach a budget deal.

Arizona Republican Senate President Karen Fann used legislative subpoena powers to take control of 2.1 million ballots, counting machines and hard drives of data from Maricopa County after former President Donald Trump complained without evidence that his loss in Arizona was marred by fraud. The GOP-controlled county Board of Supervisors has called the audit a sham and said Fanns auditors are incompetent.

Experts in election administration have been critical of the auditors, saying they are not using reliable or consistent procedures.

Eastman, via text message, said regardless of the audit's outcome, Arizonans will have confidence in their process. Alaskans deserve to have that same level of confidence.

Alaska Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, who oversees elections in Alaska, said he was disappointed by Eastman's trip. Meyer, a former state legislator, said legislators should be in Juneau.

After the 2020 election in Alaska, Meyer said he would seek an audit of a hotly contested ballot measure to help put to rest questions some had raised about the validity of election results tied to the vote tabulation equipment the state uses.

The audit affirmed the measure's passage, and the director of the Alaska Division of Elections said the audit showed what the division knew it would, that our equipment worked properly, and the 2020 general election was administered accurately and fairly in the state of Alaska."

Trump carried Alaska.

Alaska House members receive up to $12,000 a year for an office account. Alaska lawmakers have not been eligible for a separate, daily allowance since the special session started May 20 because a budget has not yet passed.
PHOENIX (AP)  The Arizona Legislature made a brief appearance Thursday and conducted virtually no business weeks into a budget stalemate that shows no sign of abating soon.

The Senate returned after a two-week hiatus but held only a pro-forma session before adjourning until Monday. The House did the same after a morning session on Monday ended with one Republican joining all Democrats in rejecting two key bills that are part of the budget package.

Senate Majority Leader Rick Gray said it should not be surprising that a closely divided Legislature swimming in a budget surplus can't reach consensus.

This is a historic year  I dont when the last year was where we had a bare minimum in both chambers for a majority party, and then what were looking at for a tax cut is obviously historic, Gray said Wednesday afternoon. So it shouldnt be surprising that we have a certain amount of grappling on this years budget.

Republicans who hold just one-vote majorities in each chamber can't agree on a $1.9 billion income tax cut their leaders negotiated with GOP Gov. Doug Ducey as part of the $12.8 billion spending plan. Holdout Republicans in each chamber say they can't support that large a permanent tax cut and want to pay down more state debt and better fund universities, community colleges and other priorities.

Democrats are solidly opposed to the tax cut proposal at it stands.

Ducey told KTAR radio on Tuesday that he's willing to talk with Democrats about a path forward. On Thursday, House and Senate Democratic leaders said that has not yet happened.

No voice messages, House Minority Leader Reginald Bolding said in a text message. No missed call pertaining to the budget. Weve reached out to no engagement up until this point.

Senate Assistant Minority Leader Lupe Contreras said that so far Democrats had not been asked to negotiate.

Standing in the way of the Republican-negotiated budget are GOP Sen. Paul Boyer and Republican Rep. David Cook, who both oppose the size and permanence of the tax cuts. Cook voted with all House Democrats Monday to block the tax cuts.

House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Senate President Karen Fann now must choose how to revise the budget proposal to win support from those Republicans or make even more changes to win support from some Democrats. Any changes to the tax cut plan will likely lose some Republican support, so the negotiations are a tightrope walk.

Time is short, since a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 must be enacted by then.

The massive tax cut package, which proponents called the largest in state history, would cut more than 25% of state income tax revenue after being fully phased in over the next two years.

The biggest winners would be the wealthy, who would be mainly shielded from a 3.5% tax surcharge on high-earning Arizonans that was approved by voters in November. They would also get the biggest benefits from a flat-tax proposal that lowers rates to 2.5%. The current top tax rate is 4.5% for high-earning Arizonans, plus the new surcharge. Couples earning over $500,000 a year would pay a maximum of 4.5% under the proposal instead of 8% foreseen under Proposition 208.
CARBIS BAY, England (AP)  Striking a warm tone, President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson used their first meeting Thursday to highlight a commitment to strengthening their nations' historic ties while setting aside, at least publicly, their political and personal differences.

Beginning a week of diplomacy across the Atlantic, Biden hopes to use his first overseas trip as president to reassure European allies that the United States had shed the transactional tendencies of Donald Trumps term and is a reliable partner again. Long a believer in alliances, Biden stressed the deep bonds with the United Kingdom as a lynchpin of his call for Western democracies to compete against rising authoritarian states.

We affirmed the special relationship -- its not said lightly -- the special relationship between our people, Biden said after the meeting. We renewed our pledge to defend the enduring democratic values that both of our nations share that are the strong foundation of our partnership.

Though thorny issues like Brexit and the future of Northern Ireland shadowed the meeting, Biden and Johnson began their sit-down by immediately striking a tone of conviviality as the news media watched.

I told the prime minister we have something in common. We both married way above our station, Biden joked after a highly choreographed walk with their spouses.

Johnson laughed and said he was not going to dissent from that one. But then he seemed to hint that he would be looking to only improve relations with his American counterpart.

Im not going to disagree with you on that, said Johnson, "or indeed on anything else.

But there are areas of friction. The president staunchly opposed Brexit, Britain's exit from the European Union that Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern over the future of Northern Ireland. Biden once called Johnson a physical and emotional clone of Trump.

The British government has worked hard to overcome that impression, stressing Johnsons common ground with Biden on climate change, support for international institutions and other issues. But Johnson, host for the Group of Seven summit opening Friday, has been frustrated by the lack of a new trade deal with the United States.

Johnson on Thursday, however, described the new U.S. administration as a breath of fresh air.

Speaking after his first face-to-face meeting with Biden, Johnson said "it was a long, long huge session. We covered a good range of topics. He added that protecting the Northern Ireland peace agreement was absolutely common ground among Britain, the U.S. and the EU.

Before their formal discussions, the two men looked back on illustrious wartime predecessors, inspecting documents related to the Atlantic Charter. The declaration signed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt in August 1941 set out common goals for the post-World War II world, including freer trade, disarmament and the right to self-determination of all people.

Reaffirming their nations' longstanding ties, the two men authorized an updated version of the charter, one that looks to the challenge posed by countries like China and Russia with its promises to promote free trade, human rights and a rules-based international order, and to counter those who seek to undermine our alliances and institutions.

The new charter also took aim at interference through disinformation in elections and murky economic practices, charges that the West has levelled at Beijing and Moscow. The leaders also promised to build stronger global defenses against health threats on the eve of a summit where discussion of the coronavirus pandemic is expected to take center stage.

The leaders had planned to visit the spectacular island of St. Michael's Mount but the trip was scrapped because of bad weather. Instead, they met above the beach at the G-7 site in Carbis Bay, staring out at the ocean while trading pleasantries.

Both couples  Johnson is newly married  held hands as they walked. First lady Jill Biden's black jacket had LOVE embroidered on the upper back  a fashion move that recalled her predecessor Melania Trump's decision to wear a jacket with I Really Don't Care, Do U? written on the back during a 2018 trip to a Texas border town.

The leaders also announced a new U.S.-U.K. task force to work on resuming travel between their countries. Most such travel has been banned since March 2020.

Both sides have stressed publicly that the meeting would be about strengthening ties between longtime allies in a week in which Biden will look to rally the West to rebuff Russian meddling and publicly demonstrate it can compete economically with China.

Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish roots, has warned that nothing should undermine Northern Irelands 1998 Good Friday peace accord. Some on the British side have viewed Biden warily because of his heritage. White House officials have said the United States does not plan to be involved in the negotiations.

After Brexit, a new arrangement was needed for the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, because the European Union requires certain goods to be inspected and others not to be admitted at all. Ahead of a June 30 deadline, ongoing negotiations over goods  including sausages  have been contentious and have attracted the attention of the White House.

One-on-one talks between Biden and Johnson lasted about 10 minutes before advisers joined for a larger meeting that lasted about an hour, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. The leaders also discussed climate change, the pandemic, creating an infrastructure financing program for developing countries and Afghanistan, and launch a bilateral commission to research and defeat cancer.

But Trumps presence was still felt on Thursday. Johnson and Trump, for a time, appeared to be kindred spirits, both riding a wave of populism that in 2016 delivered Brexit and upended the American political landscape.

Biden, for his part, has expressed a mistrust of Johnson, who once unspooled a Trump-like insult of President Barack Obama, saying that Bidens former boss was half-Kenyan and had an ancestral dislike of Britain.

Since World War II, the trans-Atlantic special relationship has been sustained by a common language, shared interests, military cooperation and cultural affection.

Brexit has tested those bonds. But Biden has made clear that he intends to rebuild bridges with the EU, a frequent target of Trumps ire. That suggests Berlin, Brussels and Paris, rather than London, will be uppermost in his thoughts.

Britain hoped to secure a quick trade agreement with the U.S. after its official departure from the EU in January. The change in administration in Washington leaves prospects of a deal uncertain.

And there may be one more, though admittedly small, obstacle to nurturing the special relationship  the very phrase itself.

Johnson has said he did not appreciate special relationship, used by the U.S. president, because to the prime minister it seemed needy and weak. Johnson's spokesperson said this week: The prime minister is on the record previously saying he prefers not to use the phrase, but that in no way detracts from the importance with which we regard our relationship with the U.S., our closest ally.

___

Lawless reported from London. Madhani reported from Mildenhall, England. Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Baltimore and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
DETROIT (AP)  The city of Detroit is taking COVID-19 vaccinations to the homes of residents who are unable to travel to vaccination sites.

People considered homebound or sick and shut in will be contacted to set up appointments that could start as early as Monday, the city said Wednesday.
A former California police chief and five other men have been indicted on conspiracy charges in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents made public Thursday.

The men  four of whom prosecutors say identify as members of the Three Percenters antigovernment extremist movement  are accused of plotting with one another to block the certification of President Joe Bidens victory.

Among those charged is a former La Habra police chief and founder of a far-right group called the American Phoenix Project, which was formed to protest pandemic-related restrictions and has helped pushed the lie that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

In court documents, authorities describe how the group's founder, Alan Hostetter, in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 called for violence against those who supported the results of the election. During a Stop the Steal rally held in Huntington Beach on Dec. 12, Hostetter warned that Trump must be inaugurated on Jan. 20th."

And he must be allowed to finish this historic job of cleaning out the corruption in the cesspool known as Washington D.C. The enemies and traitors of America both foreign and domestics must be held accountable. And they will. There must be long prison terms, while execution is the just punishment for the ringleaders of this coup," Hostetter said, according to the indictment.

Bilal Essayli, Hostetters lawyer, said his client surrendered to authorities.

A judge on Thursday allowed Hostetter to keep any guns he had inside his home after his attorney argued that the family had received death threats, and the judge set his bail at $20,000, the Orange County Register reported.

From what I can tell in the indictment, my client is not accused of committing any violence, Essayli said. He did not enter the actual Capitol building, so were very troubled with the nature and the extent of the charges that are brought.

Authorities say communications show how the men coordinated their travel to Washington and efforts to block the peaceful transition of power. In late December, one of the men, Russell Taylor, posted in a Telegram chat in response to a question about when to be at the Capitol on Jan. 6: I personally want to be on the front steps and be one of the first ones to breach the doors!

The six men joined a Telegram chat called The California Patriots-DC Brigade along with more than 30 other people ahead of the riot, authorities said. Taylor wrote that the chat was being used to organize a group of fighters to have each other's backs" and asked them to identify if they had any pervious law enforcement or military experience or special skills relevant to our endeavors.

Days before the Capitol breach, Hostetter warned in a post on the American Phoenix Projects Instagram account that things are going to come a head in the U.S. in the next several days.

Four of the men  Erik Scott Warner, Felipe Antonio Tony Martinez, Derek Kinnison and Ronald Mele drove across the country together from California to D.C.

Warner, Mele and Kinnison appeared via video for a federal court hearing in Riverside where each was ordered released on $25,000 bond, while Martinez was freed on bond at a Texas hearing, authorities said.

This is nothing more than Big Brother trying to make criminals out of law-abiding citizens who were exercising their constitutional liberties, Kinnisons attorney, Nic Cocis, said in a statement, the Register reported.

Taylor was taken into custody Thursday evening and was to be held overnight pending a scheduled court hearing Friday, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.

The night before the Capitol breach, Taylor sent a photo in a chat that showed gear, including two hatchets, a walkie-talkie-radio, a stun baton and a knife, authorities said. In the caption, Taylor wrote, Now getting ready for tomorrow.

As the mob swarmed the Capitol on Jan. 6, Taylor  who authorities say was carrying a knife in a pocket  and Hostetter were part of the group trying to push through a line of officers on the lower West Terrace, authorities say. When they got to the upper West Terrace, Hostetter declared that the people have taken back their house while Taylor yelled to the rioters, Inside!

That night, Taylor boasted in messages about storming the Capitol but said he didn't go inside because he had weapons, authorities said. Someone asked Taylor what happens next and he responded, Insurrection!

Messages were left for the attorneys listed on the courts website for Warner and Mele.

The U.S. Department of Justice has brought similar conspiracy cases against members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys far-right extremist groups in its sweeping prosecution of the insurrection. More than 450 people across the U.S. are facing federal charges stemming from the riot. Two defendants have pleaded guilty so far.

____

Associated Press reporter Amy Taxin contributed to this report from Orange County, California.
A Canadian premier and some officials were found to have broken pandemic guidelines that authorities used to jail pastors and lock churches in the country.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was denounced after he was captured dining with several guests in a penthouse on June 1, failing to observe his own COVID-19 regulations. Kenney's office stated that the "working dinner" was attended by Government House Leader and Minister of Environment and Parks Jason Nixon, as well as Health Minister Tyler Shandro and other political staffers.

The premier was also criticized by two members of his own cabinet, including Minister of Culture and Multiculturism Leela Aheer and Minister for Social Services Rajan Sawhney.

Aheer reportedly posted on her personal Facebook account Saturday night, calling for Kenney to apologize.

"I am confused and, like you, extremely hurt, and I'm so sorry for any pain, anger, or frustration this may have caused you. All of us make mistakes, but this one is a big one," she said.

She also urged the other ministers present in the gathering to apologize.

"Our leadership should sincerely apologize. I want you to know that I have diligently followed the rules right alongside all of you as we fight COVID," Aheer added.

On Friday, Sawhney expressed her sentiments in a radio interview on Calgary's RED-FM, saying that she has been trying to observe the pandemic guidelines and even distanced herself from her mother.

"I would never have done (what they did) in the picture," she added, translated from Punjabi.

"I was in my chamber and as a representative of the (Calgary-North East constituency) I don't feel good. I know what to do," the minister further stated.

"I would say if they committed a mistake they must accept it openly. (The) photo clearly speaks," Sawhney also pointed out.

On Monday, Kenney moved to apologize for his mistake.

"I was of the clear view that we were compliant with the 'Open For Summer' rules, but it is clear some of us were not distanced the whole night," he explained.

"We should have taken extra precautions to be distanced. I sincerely apologize. I take full responsibility," the premier further stated.

However, Faithwire noted that the government has already arrested several pastors for breaking the same guidelines that Kenney violated.

Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church was jailed for 35 days for violating public health measures in Edmonton. The minister continues to fight the local government with its pandemic rules, restricting people's freedom to worship.

Last month, Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski and his brother Dawid were arrested and charged for holding indoor worship services, as well as promoting and attending these gatherings.

On May 16, Tim Stephens, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church, was also arrested for organizing church services, breaking Alberta's COVID-19 guidance.

Faithwire added that according to the Western Standard, Kenney has already violated 24 rules only during the course of the said dinner.

Last Friday, Angela Pitt, member and deputy speaker of Alberta's United Conservative Party (UCP), also criticized the incident, calling it a "hypocrisy."

"Much of the public concern about this incident has been about the hypocrisy of senior officials breaking their own rules. I can certainly understand these concerns," Pitt stated.

Pitt's statement was supported by UCP backbench member Dave Hanson, pointing out Kenney's previous warning that members who broke pandemic rules should be evicted from the caucus.

"I'm with you Angela. Albertans are angry again and rightly so," Hanson wrote.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  The Keystone XL is dead after a 12-year attempt to build the oil pipeline, yet the fight over Canadian crude rages on as emboldened environmentalists target other projects and pressure President Joe Biden to intervene  all while oil imports from the north keep rising.

Biden dealt the fatal blow to the partially built $9 billion Keystone XL in January when he revoked its border-crossing permit issued by former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, sponsors TC Energy and the province of Alberta gave up and declared the line terminated."

Activists and many scientists had warned that the pipeline would open a new spigot on Canada's oil sands crude  and that burning the heavily polluting fuel would lock in climate change. As the fight escalated into a national debate over fossil fuels, Canadian crude exports to the U.S. steadily increased, driven largely by production from Alberta's oil sands region.

Even before the cancellation, environmentalists had turned their attention to other projects, including Enbridge Energy's proposal to expand and rebuild its Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota, the target of protests this week that led to the arrest of some 250 activists.

Dont expect these fights to go away anytime soon, said Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future, an energy and environmental think tank in Washington. This is going to encourage environmental advocates to do more of the same.

Bill McKibben, an author who was arrested outside the White House while protesting the Keystone XL in 2011, said its defeat provides a template to kill other pipelines, including Line 3 and the Dakota Access Pipeline from North Dakota's Bakken oil field.

Describing Keystone XL as a carbon bomb, McKibben said Line 3 is the same size and "carries the same stuff. How on earth could anyone with a straight face say Line 3 passes the climate test?

Enbridge said the cancellation of Keystone XL will not affect its projects, describing them as designed to meet current energy demand safely and in ways that better protect the environment.

A second TC Energy pipeline network, known simply as Keystone, has been delivering crude from Canadas oil sands region since 2010. The company says the line that runs from Alberta to Illinois, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast has moved more than 3 billion barrels of oil.

Canada is by far the biggest foreign crude supplier to the U.S., which imported about 3.5 million barrels a day from its neighbor in 2020  61% of all U.S. oil imports.

The flow dropped slightly during the coronavirus pandemic but has largely rebounded. Import volumes have almost doubled since the Keystone XL was first proposed in 2008, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Thursday that it expects no immediate effect on production from Keystone XL's cancellation, but the group predicted more oil would be moved to the U.S. by rail.

A series of fiery accidents occurred in the U.S. and Canada after rail shipments of crude increased during an oil boom on the Northern Plains, including a 2013 incident in which 47 people were killed after a runaway train derailed in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic.

The dispute over Keystone XL and other lines raised diplomatic tensions between the two countries, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau adopted a conciliatory tone with Biden, who canceled the pipeline on his first day in the White House.

Canada uses much less oil than it produces, making it a huge exporter, and 98% of those exports go to the U.S., according to the Natural Resources Canada.

Trudeau raised Keystone XL as a top priority with Biden while acknowledging that the president had promised in his campaign to cancel the line.

Both leaders have taken heat at home over Keystone, with Republicans slamming Biden for shutting it down while construction was underway, costing hundreds of jobs. The project was meant to expand oil exports for Canada, which has the third-largest oil reserves in the world, and provincial officials in Alberta wanted Trudeau to do more to save it.

The White House declined to comment on the cancellation. Spokesman Vedant Patel declined to say if Biden plans to address increased crude exports from Canada or intervene in other pipeline disputes.

His action on Keystone signals at least some appetite to get involved," but pipelines that have operated for years would be tougher targets, Raimi said.

Winona LaDuke, executive director of the Indigenous-based environmental group Honor the Earth, called on Biden to withdraw an Army Corps of Engineers permit for Line 3 and to order a new study.

He could stop the project, she said. Dont ask us to be nice to Enbridge. Theyre all over our land. Theyre hurting us.

The Biden administration has been disturbingly quiet on Line 3 and the Dakota Access line, said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. He urged the administration to declare both unacceptable.

Fiercely opposed by Native Americans, the Dakota Access pipeline was the impetus for protests that were quashed by law enforcement. The Biden administration has not sought to stop the line, and it's still in court after a judge revoked its permit but allowed oil to keep flowing.

Alberta sank more than $1 billion into Keystone XL last year to kick-start construction. Officials in the province are considering a trade action against the U.S. to seek compensation.

Keystone XLs price tag ballooned as the project languished, increasing from $5.4 billion to $9 billion.

Another question: What to do with pipe already in place at the U.S.-Canada border and other infrastructure along its route.

Jane Kleeb, a pipeline opponent in Nebraska, said state regulators should revoke the permit they approved for a route through the state. Otherwise, she said, TC Energy might try to sell the easements to another company.

Until the state acts, farmers and ranchers will continue to face TC Energy attorneys in court, "protecting their property from an eminent domain land grab by a foreign corporation, she said.

___

Daly reported from Washington and Flesher from Traverse City, Michigan. Rob Gillies contributed from Toronto and Grant Schulte from Omaha, Nebraska.

___

Follow Brown on Twitter: @MatthewBrownAP
TORONTO (AP)  Canadas health minister said Wednesday that fully vaccinated Canadian citizens who test negative for COVID-19 will soon be exempt from two weeks quarantine when returning to the country.

Health Minister Patty Hajdu said she expects that to happen in early July.

And Dr. Theresa Tam, Canadas chief public health officer, said she would like to see 75% of eligible Canada residents fully vaccinated before advising that border restrictions be loosened for tourists and business travelers who arent citizens or permanent residents.

The Canadian government expects to have enough vaccine delivered for 80% of eligible Canadians to be fully vaccinated by the end of July.

The border between Canada and the U.S. remains closed to all non essential travel. The restrictions were announced in March, 2020 in the early months of the pandemic and have been extended every month since.

There are growing calls in the U.S. to open the Canada-U.S. border for non essential travel like tourism, but just 10% of eligible Canadians are fully vaccinated now.

The U.S. only allowed for the export of Pfizer vaccines in early May. Canada will get its first shipment of Moderna vaccines from the U.S. next week and 7 million Moderna doses this month. Canada has largely been getting vaccines from Europe until Pfizer exports from the U.S. began arriving in May.

About 70% of eligible Canadians have had at least one dose of vaccine and second doses are ramping up this month and next.

The government also expects in early July to eliminate the need for fully vaccinated Canadians air travelers to spend three days quarantining in an authorized hotel upon arriving in the country. Travelers will also have to be fully vaccinated 14 days or more prior to the arrival.

Currently, air travelers are required to spend three days in quarantine at a hotel at their expense on arrival and then complete their two weeks of self-isolation.

Air travelers will still be required to take a COVID-19 test before arriving as well as on arrival, and remain in isolation until the second test comes back negative.

As the prime minister has said we will take a phased approach towards adjusting current border measures with the health and safety of Canadians being our first priority, Hajdu said.
MORRISONVILLE, Ill. (AP)  A woman and her husband in their 90s were killed when their vehicle was struck by a semi-truck, police said.

Carl Adden, 95, was driving north in Christian County when he failed to stop at a stop sign Tuesday, Illinois State Police said.
KABUL,Afghanistan (AP)  The Islamic state affiliate has claimed a horrific attack this week that killed 10 workers of the HALO Trust de-mining organization and wounded 16 others in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan province.

The statement issued late on Wednesday said IS operatives killed and wounded 60 workers firing on them with their machine guns.

According to reports from survivors the gunmen were looking for ethnic Hazaras, who in most parts of Afghanistan are Shiite Muslims in mostly Sunni Afghanistan. However in northern Afghanistan many of the Hazaras are Sunni Muslim. It was not clear whether the IS gunmen were aware that the Hazaras among the deminers were Sunni Muslims.

Wounded in the leg, Sheikh Mohammad recounted the horrors of the attack from his hospital bed.

The gunmen herded the de-miners into two rooms, said Mohammad. Then the questions began. They were asked: Who is Hazara among you?' and Who among you is working with the atheist Taliban?

Mohammad Zarif, another survivor, said some of the de-miners managed to escape, helped by local villagers, who opened fire on the IS militants.

The Islamic State affiliate has declared war on the country's Shiites, who are mostly ethnic Hazaras in the rest of Afghanistan, with some pockets of Sunni Muslim Hazaras in the north. The IS has also declared war on Taliban, whom they are fighting in bitter battles in eastern Afghanistan.

Three Hazaras were among the dead. It's not clear whether Taliban were also among the dead.

According to The HALO Trust Global Media Manager, Louise Vaughan, there were 110 de-mining local personnel of the organization in the camp that was attacked. They had finished their work on a minefield nearby when the unknown armed group opened fire at them. The attack took place late in the night n Tuesday at the HALO camp in camp in the Baghlan Markazi district of northern Baghlan province.

The Taliban immediately denied any connection to the attack, while the government blamed the insurgent group.

The attack was condemned by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who called it heinous. in a statement, it said that aid workers and humanitarian organizations are protected under international humanitarian law,

The HALO Trust is one of several de-mining organizations in Afghanistan that clear unexploded mines.

_____

Associated Press Writer Kathy Gannon in Islamabad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  A task force will examine Michigan's treatment of juveniles in the state's criminal justice system as well as factors that lead to youth getting caught up in that system, according to an executive order signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The creation of the Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform was announced Wednesday in Lansing.

Youth advocates, government officials and members of the criminal justice system will examine areas where Michigan needs to better serve youth and reduce recidivism in young people, Whitmer said.

We have a lot of work to do to address, juvenile justice in Michigan and starting to take an honest look and an honest assessment of where we are, Whitmer said. The state of Michigan still detains youth at one of the highest rates in the nation and still detains youth for non-criminal behavior. This has to change.

Michigan has seen a year of great bipartisan criminal justice reform in the form of several bill being signed into law to limit pre-trial incarceration, license suspensions and a series of  Clean Slate  criminal record bills, but it still has a long way to go in properly serving youths, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II said.

Gilchrist referenced one incident that garnered national attention last summer. A 15-year-old suburban Detroit girl was sent to a juvenile facility for failing to complete her schoolwork. ProPublica reported that the girl had ADHD and struggled to transition to online learning and fell behind.

One mistake must not define a childs life," Gilchrist said. We must have systems in place that educate and support our children, especially when they make mistakes when theyre facing traumatic circumstances or come into contact with our legal system.

The task force is going to examine the practices of other states who have successfully implemented support systems for youth to avoid and start over after they've made a mistake, Gilchrist said.

The task force is expected to have a data-driven report with policy recommendations finished by late July in 2022.

___

Anna Liz Nichols 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.
Lauren Victoria Burke/AP

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP)  Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who represents a very conservative and mostly rural area of central and western Missouri in Congress, officially entered the crowded race Thursday for the Senate seat fellow conservative Roy Blunt is giving up once his term ends.

Hartzler, 60, announced her bid in the Kansas City suburb of Lees Summit. Blunt said in March he would not seek a third term next year.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  The end of profane license plates could be coming down the road soon in Maine.

The Maine Senate approved a bill on Tuesday designed to bar vanity plates that carry swear words and vulgarity. The proposal, if approved, would remove about 400 plates from the road, the Bangor Daily News reported.
FARGO, N.D. (AP)  Nearly 250 people were arrested when protesters attempting to stop the final leg of the reconstruction of an oil pipeline across northwestern Minnesota took over a pump station, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Hubbard County Sheriff Cory Aukes said that 43 workers at the Enbridge Energy Line 3 pump station were trapped inside the site for some time Monday morning when demonstrators locked them in behind the front gate. Protesters also put up barricades and dug trenches across roads, presumably in preparation" for a standoff with law enforcement, Aukes said.

The workers were eventually able to leave the site. No injuries were reported.

"This is unacceptable, and we will seek the full prosecution of all involved," Enbridge Energy spokeswoman Juli Kellner said.

Aukes said 179 people were arrested and charged with gross misdemeanor trespassing. An additional 68 people were cited for public nuisance and unlawful assembly. It was the largest show of resistance since protesters set their sights on the project.

The sheriff said demonstrators caused a large amount of damage to equipment and other assets." Kellner said damage included vandalism of contractor equipment, as well as slashed tires, cut hoses, rocks and dirt in engines, forced entry into offices and destroyed electrical wiring in equipment. She did not give a damage estimate.

Demonstrators hauled in a large boat to block the main entrance to the pumping station and about 20 people barricaded themselves to it, Aukes said. The final four protesters were removed from the boat by midday Tuesday, when Kellner said some employees returned to work at the site near Park Rapids, about 85 miles (137 kilometers) east of Fargo.

Monday was billed as the Treaty People Gathering. As protesters made their move on the pump station, a separate group held a prayer service near the headwaters of the Mississippi River, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) away, before an estimated 1,000 people marched to the site where the pipeline crosses under the river. That peaceful meeting including music, prayers and speeches, including one by environmentalist and author Bill McKibben.

The thing about climate change, its a timed test, McKibben told The Associated Press before the march. If we dont get it right soon we will never get it right.

Another protest against the pipeline is scheduled Thursday in Minneapolis outside the office of Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar. The group TakeAction Minnesota says Klobuchar should pressure President Joe Biden to halt construction of Line 3.

Environmental and tribal groups say Enbridge Energys plan to replace Line 3 would worsen climate change and risk spills in sensitive areas where Native Americans harvest wild rice, hunt, fish, gather medicinal plants, and claim treaty rights. The line would cross the Mississippi River while carrying Canadian tar sands oil and regular crude from Alberta and across North Dakota and Minnesota to Wisconsin.

Enbridge says the original pipeline  built in the 1960s  is deteriorating and can run at only about half its original capacity. It says the new line, made from stronger steel, will better protect the environment while restoring its capacity and ensuring reliable deliveries to U.S. refineries.
SCHENECTADY  As tensions flare in city politics in an unprecedented primary season for Democrats, a candidate forum Wednesday was a muted affair as hopefuls found common ground across a wide range of issues, from the need to crack down on chronic quality-of-life problems, bolstering the citys crumbling infrastructure and ensuring investment continues in the citys neighborhoods.

Seven Democratic candidates will contend for five slots on Schenectady City Council on June 22.

There are two parallel races: Four candidatesCity Council President John Mootooveren, council members Marion Porterfield and Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas and newcomer Damonni Farleyare seeking regular four-year terms, while threeDoreen Ditoro, Haileab Samuel and Carl Williamsare running in a special election to fill two vacancies.

All appeared together at the event at Proctors.

The special election is needed after the seven-member panel was whittled down to five following the resignation of two lawmakers in January.

Yet despite the rancorous nature of the contest  which has been marred by accusations of backroom dealing, racial suppression, mysteriously modified campaign signs, squabbling over campaign mailers, accusations of quid pro after a lawmaker was stripped of committee assignments and an intraparty Democratic schism that has spilled out into the open with party leadership backing non-endorsed candidates  the forum was sedate and contained no back-and-forth exchanges.

With police reform continuing to dominate the national conversation, candidates agreed on a need to bolster community policing, a recommendation that came out of the state-mandated police reform plan approved in March by the City Council.

Each agreed that the city must take a more aggressive stance in tackling quality-of-life issues like litter and potholes, and pledged to ensure the economic revitalization that has reshaped downtown is carried into the citys neighborhoods, many of which have suffered from decades of disinvestment.

All seven said they would support reducing the citys speed limit to 25 mph in order to crack down on another long-simmering issue.

Several incumbents pointed at their work to chip away at these issues.

Porterfield touted her ongoing attempts to curtail speeding, including securing $20,000 in funding for yet-to-be-deployed speed humps during last years budget process, while Zalewski-Wildzunas pointed at her legislation recently adopted by the City Council that increased penalties on dirt bike and ATV usage in the city.

Zalewski-Wildzunas also touted her work on one of the citys signature efforts, flipping city-owned homes and getting them back on the tax rolls.

Mootooveren recently rolled out an initiative to better track problematic bodegas.

The forum came days before early voting begins on Saturday. Early voting ends June 20 and in-person voting will be on June 22.

Several candidates, including Porterfield, Farley and Williams, have been cross-endorsed by the Working Families Party, which means they will still appear on the ballot in November should they fall short on June 22 with registered Democrats.

An eighth candidate, Thearse McCalmon, did not garner enough signatures to pass the Democratic threshold, but has also been endorsed by the Working Families Party.

Three Republicans have also announced campaigns.

Questions were drafted by forum organizers Schenectady United Neighborhoods and Schenectady NAACP, and the panel was moderated by Miles Reed, editor of the Daily Gazette.

All candidates supported increased community policing and the need for an increased role in mental health professionals in responding to calls, and acknowledged the final plan is subject to modification.

Culture is what will decide how police engage in the community, said Farley, a community activist.

Ditoro, president of the Little Italy Business Association, wants city police to embed a mental health department in each shift, and called for a stronger emphasis on early education programming to build trust between police and students.

Porterfield steered the process from the City Council side, which included review of policies and procedures and reforms to the Civilian Police Review Board, and noted she objected to the police departments decision to quietly modify an announced ban on knee-to-head holds following a controversial arrest last summer.

Williams pointed at his service on three boards reshaping policing in the city, including the Civilian Police Review Board, the steering committee that guided the state-mandated police reform process and his service on the newly minted civilian panel designed to vet police recruits for bias and community compatibility.

Political reform is not a light switch, Williams said. Its a cultural mindset.

Following a recently dispersed $10 million state grant award designed to drive downtown investment, each candidate agreed that the citys neighborhoods should also benefit from improvements such as filling potholes, repairing sidewalks, fixing facades or driving other investments.

Its not happening at the pace neighborhoods would like to see, Mootooveren said.

Samuel, a corporate executive who put in stints at GE and Xerox and now runs a company called [s]Cube, called for a grant program for homeowners to make home improvements.

Zalewski-Wildzunas said each neighborhood should create business improvement districts similar to the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation and Upper Union Street BID, a suggestion backed by Ditoro, who wants to see a focus on gateways to the city in Bellevue and the north side.

The city was awarded $58 million in federal stimulus funds in early March.

The city of Albany has formed a panel to help guide its $85 million allocation. However, three months later, Schenectady has engaged in no such effort, nor has the City Council publicly discussed its usage.

Each of the candidates broadly said the funds should be used to bolster the citys sagging infrastructure, but differed on the extent of community input.

Farley called for a real, equitable task force in the community and not just the usual suspects at the table.

Williams, who is 31, said the city should prioritize attracting young people to Schenectady, while Porterfield called for infrastructure improvements and the need to balance the budget.

This is probably a onetime event, so we need to be extremely careful with how we spend this money," Porterfield said.

Samuel suggested funds be allocated for jobs training.

Mootooveren agreed the city should use the money to balance the budget, pay off debts and fill vacancies in the citys police, fire and Office of General Services.

Ditoro, too, called for investments in manpower, measures she said would reduce reliance on overtime, which has historically driven up labor costs.

All seven candidates agreed the city should lower its speed limit to 25 mph. However, that would require a waiver from the state.

Candidates for District 1 of the County Legislature, Brendan Savage and Omar McGill, also squared off in a brief discussion.

Both agreed the county should work more closely with the city to address quality-of-life issues like potholes, litter and crumbling infrastructure.

The pair agreed District 1, which covers the citys Stockade, Goose Hill, Bellevue and GE Realty Plot neighborhoods, as well as portions of Mont Pleasant and downtown, needs a full-service grocery store.

Savage touted the need for a more robust police presence in the communities, while McGill, who is Black, said diversity is sorely needed on the majority white body, and would bring a fresh perspective to county issues, and bring more people of color into the political process.

Mootooveren, Zalewski-Wildzunas, Porterfield and Farley are seeking four-year terms, and will appear in one contest.

DiToro, Samuel and Williams are competing against each other, and are seeking to fill the unexpired two-year vacancies left by the departures of ex-lawmakers Ed Kosiur and Leesa Perazzo in January.

Winners in that contest would have to run again in 2023 alongside the members of City Council who are not up for re-election this November, including Majority Leader John Polimeni and Carmel Patrick.

Mayor Gary McCarthy, who was elected to a third term in 2019, will be up for reelection in 2023.
A church in Nevada would be reimbursed of its legal fees after winning the case against the state over its COVID restrictions on houses of worship.

The Office of the Attorney General has asked the state of Nevada to pay Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley (CCDV) with $175,000 as a tort claim. The request was reportedly approved by the Nevada Board of Examiners, The Christian Post wrote.

Susan Brown, the Board's chief, said that the payment, which will be taken from the tort claim fund, is in compliance with the lawsuit's "consent decree" requiring the state of Nevada to pay the attorney fees.

In May 2020, the church sued Gov. Steve Sisolak, Attorney General Aaron Ford and Lyon County Sheriff Frank Hunewill over the state's COVID-19 guidance, prohibiting churches to hold in-person worship services.

Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), lawyers contended that the ban violates the First Amendment's freedom of speech and religion.

"Instead of prioritizing religious freedom, the Governor has moved 'non-essential' secular businesses and activities to the front of the line and pushed churches towards the back," the lawsuit stated.

During the filing, CCDV planned to reopen its indoor worship services and requested for temporary restraining order to avoid incurring civil and criminal penalties. With the intended reopening, the church proposed that it would hold its services at 50% capacity, observe social distancing and ensure proper sanitation and cleaning of the area.

ADF lawyer Jeremiah Galus argued that churches should be treated the same like other secular establishments.

"It becomes very clear that churches are being treated as second-class. I think the most obvious example of this is with the Governor's reopening plan where restaurants are allowed to resume dine-in services at 50% capacity," Galus noted.

But in June 2020, District Judge Richard Boulware II denied CCDV's request, saying that the church failed to prove its discrimination arguments since the cap was not enforced by the state.

"It is difficult to establish a pattern of selective enforcement directed towards places of worship when new, more restrictive measures have been imposed against secular activities and no similar restrictions were imposed on religious activities," the judge said in the ruling.

"Plaintiff's requested relief would require the court to engage in potentially daily or weekly decisions about public health measures that have traditionally been left to state officials and state agencies with expertise in this area," Boulware further wrote.

However, in December 2020, judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel granted CCDV with preliminary injunction against the state for its capacity limitation on houses of worship. During that time, the panel also predicted that the church would win the lawsuit against Gov. Sisolak over COVID-19 restrictions.

Russell Moore, then president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said that the Court of Appeals "got [the] case right."

"Government cannot single out and treat churches differently from other gatherings simply because they are houses of worship. That is out of step with the First Amendment and our long American history of free exercise," Moore stated at that time.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A Connecticut woman charged with stabbing and severely injuring a police officer during an eviction dispute has been acquitted by reason of mental disease or defect of charges including attempted murder.

Chevoughn Augustin, 42, will be committed to the custody of the Connecticut Psychiatric Security Review Board after a hearing which will be scheduled this summer, Judge David Gold ruled Wednesday.
Juneteenth has a special meaning here in Texas, and even moreso in Galveston, the birthplace of the holiday.

On June 2, Galveston City Council officially recognized Juneteenth as a city holiday after a unanimous vote.

JUNETEENTH CELEBRATIONS: Top Chef Dawn Burrell to host 'Jubilee' dinner in Houston for Juneteenth

In 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston to announce the freedom of all slaves with the reading of General Order No. 3. According to Juneteenth's official website, General Order No. 3 began with, "The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer."

The news of their freedom was announced more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. But in reality, the Emancipation Proclamation didnt instantly free any enslaved people. There was significant pushback from slave owners in Texas, and there wasn't much acknowledgment that slaves were free, as Texas was the last state to find out that slavery had been abolished and the Civil War was over.

HONORING THEIR LIVES: The Sugar Land 95 will be honored with a special celebration on Juneteenth

"Juneteenth is such an important day in our city's history. Today in our community, it teaches the lessons of freedom and absolute equality. I am proud to be a part of the City of Galveston in recognizing Juneteenth as an official holiday," Councilman William Schuster said.

With the holiday being observed in an official capacity this year, Juneteenth will be observed on Friday, June 18, because June 19 is on a Saturday. City facilities in Galveston will be closed and will resume normal operations on Monday.
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

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Colorado baker and cake shop owner, Jack Phillips, revealed to have encountered some disturbing experiences, including receiving death threats, simply for declining to create a cake because it was against his personal beliefs.

In an interview on "Edifi with Billy Hallowell," Phillips spoke about the book he recently released, "The Cost of my Faith." He also recounted the harassment he had gone through following his refusal to create a wedding cake for a same-gender couple in July 2012.

Phillips never thought that his conversation with the gay couple would bring him nine years of fighting for his belief. He said that when he and his wife started the shop, they already decided to never create certain cakes such as for Halloween, expressing racism or anti-American sentiment, and those that denigrate other people including members of the LGBT.

The baker said that if he could go back to that day, he would still say the same statement but wished that he had more time to explain to the couple that they are welcome to the shop to buy other goodies.

He said that 20 minutes after the couple left, the phone of his shop started ringing. Callers were asking him about his rejection to bake a cake for the gay couple. Hateful emails also started pouring in.

The following week, he communicated with the Alliance Defending Freedom and the organization responded that they could help. By October of that year, he received a notice that he was being sued by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (CCRC).

The commission wanted him to change his policies, requiring Phillips to design cakes for same-gender weddings. He was also forbidden to exercise his religious freedom in his own shop.

Further, the CCRC demanded the cake shop owner to report his progress quarterly for two years.

Because of this, he decided to not make wedding cakes at all which is about 300 units annually, losing a big part of his business. The move affected him financially and the shop had to lay off seven of its 10 employees.

Phillips also disclosed that after the incident, his store encountered other disturbing experiences. The phone calls that they received in his shop became horrifying, wherein callers would throw words of profanity. His shop was also vandalized and he even received death threats.

He said that there was a guy who called him up one day, telling Phillips that he was on his way to the shop with a gun and would "blow [his] head off." Fearing for the lives of his family members, the baker had to call the police.

In addition, the incident has also caused him so much stress. The night after his encounter with the gay couple, after a day of receiving disturbing phone calls, he stopped at a grocery store on his way home and he felt paranoid and uncomfortable, thinking that the people hate him. But he was reminded by the Bible's statement in 2 Timothy 1:7.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind," the verse says.

The passage strengthened him, confident that God is in control and that his paranoia was just a lie, no one in the store knows about what happened in his shop.

Phillips said that his position on creating cakes in accordance with his belief "is a line that [he] couldn't cross" because he wants to honor Christ in everything that he does.

Moreover, he clarified the media's misconceptions about him, portraying him as a "hater" and that he does not serve gays. Phillips said that those descriptions are not true.

As an advice to business owners who are also holding the same belief and position like him but are not sure of what to do when faced with the same predicament as he had, Phillips said that they have to stand by the lines they have "drawn." But he added that those positions should be worth standing by, which in his opinion, should be places where Christ is standing behind them.

He also mentioned about his current legal fight with a gay lawyer who sued him for declining to make a cake for her gender transition.

For the Colorado cake shop owner, designing a cake is a medium of communicating an important message. As its designer, he gets to be a part of it. Being a man who wanted to honor God in his life, he wanted his creations to reflect his Christian belief.

Phillips's book, "The Cost of My Faith: How a Decision in My Cake Shop Took Me to the Supreme Court," is currently available on Amazon.
Say the name Rolls-Royce and most people think of automobiles, but the British multinational aerospace and defense company has been out of the car business since Rolls-Royce Motors was sold off in the 1970s. Today, Rolls-Royce Holdings is the second-largest maker of aircraft engines in the world, with a foot in marine propulsion and energy as well. Its engines are used in fighter jets, business jets, and more than 50% of long-haul planes.

Now the company is deploying digital twin technology, analytics, and machine learning to dramatically reduce the amount of carbon its aircraft engines produce while also optimizing maintenance to help its customers keep their planes in the air longer.

Rolls-Royce has been monitoring engines and charging per hour for at least 20 years, says Stuart Hughes, chief information and digital officer at Rolls-Royce. That part of the business isnt new. But as weve evolved, weve begun to treat the engine as a singular engine. Its much more about the personalization of that engine.

Using its Intelligent Engine platform, the company monitors how each engine flies, the conditions in which its flying, and how the pilot uses it.

Were tailoring our maintenance regimes to make sure that were optimizing for the life an engine has, not the life the manual says it should have, Hughes says. Its truly variable service looking at each engine as an individual engine.
Now that New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer has been twice accused of sexual harassment, his path to victory in the Democratic primary for mayor is effectively foreclosed.

It can be argued this isnt fair  both allegations stem from incidents that took place decades ago, and neither have a great amount of evidence to undergird thembut the reality is that Stringer, less than two weeks from primary day, will not overcome the top-tier moderates in the race, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Andrew Yang, and former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. A recent NY1/Ipsos poll showed that his support is not growing and he is now mired in fourth place.

For the sake of progressives in New York, Stringer should do something radical, bold and unlikely: drop out of the race and endorse Maya Wiley for mayor.

Wiley, Mayor Bill de Blasios former counsel, has been endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and many of the young progressives who initially flocked to Stringer, including

Rep. Jamaal Bowman and state Sen. Julia Salazar. After Jean Kim, a former campaign volunteer, alleged in April that he sexually harassed her in 2001, which Stringer denies, Bowman, Salazar and several other prominent progressive Stringer backers rescinded their endorsements of him. The Working Families Party, which initially rated Wiley their third choice, has now made her the sole pick in the mayoral race after Stringers scandal and the sudden implosion of the Dianne Morales campaign.

Wiley has not polled ahead of Adams, a former police captain, or Yang and appears to be losing ground to Garcia, who was endorsed by The New York Times and the Daily News. Running on one of the most progressive platforms in the race  Wiley has proposed a large new housing voucher program and new community care centers  she is probably the last hope for the left to block a pro-charter school, tough-on-crime Democrat from entering City Hall next year.

Stringers defenders will argue that with ranked-choice voting no single candidate needs to leave the race to consolidate votes. Democrats can choose up to five candidates for their ballot, meaning that Stringer staying in the race doesnt take any votes away from Wiley.

But municipal politics, in many ways, remains zero-sum. Candidates compete for money, attention and news cycles that can buoy them in the final days. Wiley has far less cash on hand than Adams and Yang and hasnt spent nearly as much as Stringer himself.

To replicate the last-minute surge that de Blasio, her old boss, enjoyed in 2013, she will need all the help she can get. Stringer leaving the race doesnt mean he disappears from the ballot, but such an unexpected decision would create an explosion of much-needed news coverage for Wiley, who is not widely known and lead to a fresh surge in donations. Stringer remains a well-respected politician in many neighborhoods in the city, particularly in predominantly white, liberal bastions where every vote will be needed to overcome Adams and Yang. (Stringer represented the Upper West Side in the state Assembly and served as Manhattan borough president.) A Stringer-Wiley endorsement event would dominate nightly newscasts just as voters are tuning in.

For Stringer, this is not the ending he imagined. A couple of months ago, the reverse could have been argued: Wiley, who has struggled to articulate a strong rationale for her candidacy, was not inspiring voters and progressive support appeared to be coalescing around Stringer. Stringer was the WFPs first choice, had won the backing of the United Federation of Teachers and amassed far more cash to spend on television advertisements.

Now Stringer faces a choice: forge onward, with a vanishing chance of winning, or secure his legacy by attempting to uplift a candidate with similar values in desperate need of his backing. For progressive voters and organizations, Stringer would be a hero, proving he cared more about the broader movement than his own candidacy.

For now, despite its logic, this outcome is unlikely. Politicians have egos and rarely relinquish the spotlight. Stringer has famously dreamed of a successful mayoral bid for the last 30 years. He has already invested millions of dollars into this campaign and allocated millions more. The UFT has been spending heavily on his behalf. Wiley herself called for Stringer to drop out following Kims allegation, presumably leading to bad blood between the two.

But Stringers departure would help consolidate UFT and the healthcare workers union 1199 SEIU, which is now readying a $1 million expenditure on behalf of Wiley, behind the only viable progressive in the race. Morales cant win either and arguably should also drop out and back Wiley, but the dismal truth of her current campaign is that it wouldnt impact the race tremendously if she left. More charismatic than Wiley, Morales nevertheless cant survive the departure of staff and the decline in enthusiasm following allegations of workplace mistreatment.

If Stringer leaves the race tomorrow, he can do more than any single Democrat to make Wiley mayor.

Correction: Stringer was accused of sexual harassment.
When Peter Krokondelas appeared in City & States 2020 50 Over 50 power list, he spoke of what mattered to him most over the course of his three-decade career. More than any individual accomplishment, I value the many friendships I have made over the past 30 years, he told City & State.

Many of those friends have now gathered to remember Krokondelas, who suddenly passed away from an apparent heart attack on May 29. He was 52 and is survived by his wife Stephanie and his sons Jack and JoJo.

Krokondelas was a vice president for the lobbying firm Kasirer, where his specialty was developing grassroots community outreach programs. During his tenure and earlier work in consulting and politics, he came to be well known throughout New York Citys political circles. Suri Kasirer, the founder of the firm, described him as a well-liked key player who interacted with many internally, and said his passing was a shock for the company.

He was a very, very loyal member of the staff. He looked out for everybody, Kasirer told City & State. You know? He was sort of like the dad in the office. He always promised me hed be here forever.

The Queens native, a graduate of Archbishop Molloy High School, attended Fordham University, where he earned a masters degree in finance. He later got a masters degree in political management from the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. Krokondelas then started his political career when he went to work for then-Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer in 1989.

Peter almost led the Fordham invasion of my office. We had a lot of Fordham people. He just networked in as interns, Ferrer told City & State.

This was the friendliest, loveliest guy youd ever want to meet. Eager, do anything, smart thats the kind of guy you want Ferrer added. He started out as an intern and I hired him. He was just that good. I liked him a lot.

Krokondelas also got involved in election campaigns, working Carolyn Maloneys 1992 congressional campaign and later for Elliot Spitzers gubernatorial run in 2006.

Maloney said she had grown to consider Krokondelas a dear friend, over the years. He loved this city, and everyone who worked with him came to love him due to his charisma, brilliance and warmth. Peter will be deeply missed, and my heart goes out to his family.

Krokondelas passed on the 17th anniversary of the day he married his wife Stephanie. Queens Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Grech, a longtime friend of Krokondelas, set up a GoFundMe page in support of the family. It so far has raised more than $130,000.

When word went out that he had passed, everybody was obviously shocked, Grech told City & State. People knew that I was friends with him, and when they saw the GoFundMe page with my name on it, my phone rang off the hook. I will tell you, this guy might be one of the most understated underrated professionals out there. People called from all walks of life, from elected and appointed officials to just a plethora of people that jumped out there and said, How can I help?
Rick Warren has started the search for a new pastor to take the helm of his California megachurch.

The "Purpose Driven Life" author has led Saddleback, in Lake Forest, for over 40 years. He said in a sermon over the weekend that he was looking for a "next-generation" pastor to replace him, and that his plan was to transition into a background role.

Warren, 67, grew the church from a modest Bible study in his home attended by just a few families in 1980, to the 19-campus megachurch of today.

According to Lifeway Research, weekly attendance at the church stood at over 23,000 last year.

Over the weekend, Warren informed the congregation of his plans to step back and find the next person to take over leadership of the church.

"This next week, we are going to begin the official search for my successor. That's a big deal, the official search for my successor," he said.

But he promised, "This isn't the end. It's not even the beginning of the end. It's the beginning of the beginning, but we're going to start looking for the next-generation pastor who will replace me and lead our family into the future."

He said he and his wife Kay "knew this day would eventually arrive" and that they had been "waiting on God's perfect timing" to begin the process of finding Saddleback's next lead pastor.

Explaining how he came to the decision to start the search, Warren said he and Kay had made the commitment many years ago to lead the church for 40 years. When the church celebrated that milestone in January 2020, they both prayed and felt that God was urging them to stay on a little longer.

With the US starting to emerge from the pandemic, he said they both felt God saying that "now is the time" to let someone else take over.

His goal is to make the "smooth transition into a less visible role as founding pastor."

"Now, this is such a significant decision because I'm the only lead pastor our church family has ever had," he said.

He added that the search was an act of faith.

"You don't have to see the ultimate step to take the first step. You just take the first step in faith," he said.
With ranked-choice voting on the precipice of its first major test in the New York City primaries and early voting beginning on June 12, voter education is kicking into high gear.

Since voters approved the new system in 2019, education and outreach has been one of the leading concerns among opponents and proponents of ranked-choice voting alike. Even if its as simple as advocates say, the chance to rank up to five candidates by preference instead of just picking one is still a big change. Although questions were raised last year whether the Campaign Finance Board  which is charter-mandated to educate voters on elections  would have enough time to prepare voters, it and other organizations doing outreach maintained there would be more than enough time.

Our plan all along was to really get in front of voters at this moment, when they're starting to really pay attention to the race, CFB Assistant Executive Director for Public Affairs Eric Friedman recently told City & State. He noted that the New York City Voters Guide, which explains ranked-choice voting, recently got sent to every registered voter in the city. The CFB launched a new interactive website, voting.nyc, last month in addition to their broader advertising campaign on television, radio and posters.

The CFB has also done direct training with about 8,000  a drop in the bucket when considering the millions of registered voters. Freidman said the training is meant to give attendees the tools and knowledge to share the information with members of their own community.

Rank the Vote NYC is a ranked-choice voting advocacy organization that has been actively engaging with voters to get them educated about ranked-choice voting. Sean Dugar, the education campaign program director, said the group has hosted over 400 workshops which directly reached over 250,000 people. Most of those events were virtual due to the pandemic, but Dugar said recently they have shifted to in-person events.

Those numbers still pale in comparison to the number of registered voters, Dugar said he was confident that people are getting the information they need, especially through the work of nonprofits, community partners and the city. There are billboards, there are bus shelters, there are posters in bodegas, Dugar said. And then candidates as they're reaching out to people are also talking about ranked choice voting  not just candidates, but endorsing organizations, Dugar added.

Although the city originally allocated just $2 million for education to the CFB, far less than what lawmakers and advocates were asking for, Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced another $15 million for outreach. Were definitely seeing, in terms of the way that outreach is being done and the way that it's being coordinated, now is much easier and more wide reaching because of that money, Dugar said.

Friedman said about $10 million of these funds, which is being administered by Democracy NYC, a city initiative aimed at promoting civic engagement, is going to media, especially community and ethnic media, for a robust advertising campaign out of City Hall. He said that about $3 million is going directly to civic and neighbor groups, with another $2 million going towards translation services to get informational materials in more languages. All of that is certainly helpful and useful in getting our resources in far more voters, Friedman said.

The election will be the ultimate test of how successful education has been, but recent polling seems to indicate that the message is getting out there. A May 26 poll from Fontas Advisors and Core Analytics found that 72% percent of polled voters had heard at least a little about ranked-choice voting, up from 57% in March. Exit polling after two Queens special elections in February found that voters overwhelmingly felt ranked-choice voting was very or somewhat simple. Dugar added hes found that explaining the new system to voters has gotten easier as the election approaches and people begin to pay attention.

But there are still those concerned that none of this is enough. City Council Member I. Daneek Miller, and leads the Councils Black, Latino and Asian Caucus who opposed ranked-choice voting in 2019 and who was part of a lawsuit to postpone it last year, remains skeptical. Clearly, the city has stepped up its game, Miller, who hails from Southeast Queens, told City & State regarding efforts to raise awareness. But people actually understanding what that process is and, more specifically, understanding it as a political strategy is a concern. Miller said that based on his own anecdotal evidence from knocking on doors in his Queens district, he believes that awareness is closer to 50 percent, despite what recent polling says.

One selling point of ranked-choice voting is that the voter no longer needs to think much in terms of political strategy. Under the old system, voters who back a candidate who aligns with them the most ideologically but have no chance of winning give up the chance to choose among the top competitors. Ranked-choice voting eliminates that risk because a voter can cast their favorite candidate as their first vote and a more viable candidate as one of their lower-ranked choices. If their first choice gets eliminated, their vote can still get redistributed to their second choice and so on. But many voters might mistakenly still think they need to rank their most viable preferred candidate first, for example.

Miller said that he has also been reaching out to voters in his district to make sure they're prepared, but said he still doesnt believe theres enough time to create true understanding among the majority of voters, especially older and low-income people. He recently introduced legislation to put the voting system back on the ballot in November. It was overwhelmingly approved by voters as a ballot referendum in 2019, but in a very low-turnout election. With the gravity of this democracy and the change in the system, it requires more public discourse, requires more engagement, Miller said. His bill wouldnt impact the June election, but is meant to offer recourse to voters if it turns out catastrophically.

Miller also criticized the long wait expected for results. Due to state laws regarding counting and receipt of absentee ballots, and laws permitting voters to fix mistakes on their mail-in ballots, results could take three weeks to learn. The only exception is if a candidate gets well over 50% on election night, which means its a safe bet that theyll emerge victorious short of a massive upset through absentees. Incumbents may fall into this category, and perhaps some Council candidates. For competitive races for open seats, New Yorkers should settle in for a long wait.
Ray McGuires case to become New York Citys mayor rests significantly on his time as a top Wall Street executive. He leans on his record at Citigroup to prove he can manage the citys finances, saying at the bank he handled a budget larger than those of many states.

But the former investment banker has taken a very careful approach to talking about his time on Wall Street, where he served as one of the few top Black executives, often contrasting it with his childhood being raised by a single mother in Dayton, Ohio. People know me as a guy whos made it, he said in his campaign launch ad. But Im also the son of a single mother who worked unbelievably hard to give me every opportunity she could.

That often creates tension where McGuire is simultaneously touting his financial chops while also trying to avoid being pigeonholed as the Wall Street candidate. When described as a finance guy during a radio appearance in April  after himself promoting his record in the corporate world  McGuire eschewed the description: Its not a finance guy, but its a guy who grew up in the neighborhood.

McGuire told The New York Times editorial board, If you look at me as a Wall Street person, I actually embrace that. But not long after, he seemed to walk back on that statement. Those people who have cast me with that brush, I dont accept. My brush is coming from the bottom to get to this point.

This highlights one of McGuires lingering challenges on the campaign trail. Hes attracted plenty of support from wealthy New Yorkers whove crossed paths with him in finance or philanthropy. Among his notable donors are Leonard Lauder, chairman emeritus of the Estee Lauder Companies, Republican megadonor and Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone and members of the Tisch family, who own significant chunks of Loews Corp. and the New York Giants. Numerous former Citigroup colleagues have also made contributions to his campaign, including Mark Shafir, global co-head of mergers and acquisitions at Citi, and Frank Yeary, who used to hold a similar title at Citi. McGuire has also received the greatest proportion of donors contributing $1,000 or more to his campaign, compared to any other mayoral candidate.

But the major fundraising gains hes made have yet to translate to broader public support as the primary nears. Despite raising $9.7 million and loaning his campaign another $2 million, McGuire consistently has ranked in the single digits in polling thats been released thus far.

McGuires campaign declined multiple interview requests seeking to discuss his time at Citigroup and the specific deals he worked on. City & States requests for interviews sent to multiple former executives at Citigroup also went unanswered.

During his career, Ray McGuire recruited and retained the worlds most talented professionals to advise him, and empowered them to do their jobs, said campaign spokesperson Lupe Todd-Medina in a statement. He is the only candidate in the field who has had to perform and deliver measurable results under the highest level of scrutiny for decades.

McGuires first job on Wall Street was in First Bostons mergers and acquisitions group in 1984. He went on to follow two mentors, Joseph Perella and Bruce Wasserstein, to a firm they founded, before going on to work at Merrill (previously known as Merrill Lynch) and Morgan Stanley. But McGuire is most known for the work he did while at Citigroup, which he joined in 2005 as global co-head of investment banking.

When he first joined Citigroup, The New York Times wrote about the time that McGuire aimed to elevate the banks status to become a trusted adviser on the mergers-and-acquisitions side. While there, he worked on high-profile multibillion-dollar deals. For example, McGuire advised Time Warner during negotiations that led to AT&Ts major $85 billion acquisition of the media company in 2016.

There are several instances in which McGuires work with certain clients at Citi landed him unfavorable media coverage during his mayoral run. Some critics questioned his liberal credentials because he represented Koch Industries  a chemical giant owned at the time by conservative mega-donors Charles Koch and the late David Koch  during its $21 billion purchase of Georgia-Pacific in 2005. A recent City Limits article outlined how mergers he helped negotiate led to layoffs.

The McGuire campaign responded to City Limits saying that McGuire helped companies stay afloat, and argued that his business experience will help him lead New York City through the challenges of a post-pandemic shift toward telecommuting.

While details about specific mergers he negotiated are unlikely to dwell on the average voters mind, coming from a high finance background may be off-putting to some Democratic primary voters. The vast majority of New Yorkers dont love Wall Street types, said Doug Muzzio, a political science professor at Baruch College. Ronnie Oliva, founder and CEO of Sykes Global Communications, said McGuire is struggling to connect with voters despite his careful messaging. Its really hard to talk out of both sides of the mouth.  Im humble, I had this poor background, but my claim to fame was working on Wall Street. Its hard to get around that.

What also might be making McGuires case to voters more difficult is the crowded field of candidates who may be attracting potential supporters. Front-runners Andrew Yang and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams are also running in the pro-business lane.

Given the fact that you have less than four weeks, its difficult to see how (McGuire) could break through, Muzzio said.
WETHERSFIELD, Conn. (AP)  A former Connecticut police officer, who shot and killed an 18-year-old motorist during a traffic stop, received a $100,000 payout from Wethersfields municipal insurer when he resigned from the department, according to documents obtained by the Hartford Courant through a Freedom of Information Act request.

It is unclear if the money paid is a part of earned vacation or sick time or other benefits.

Layau Eulizier shot and killed Anthony Vega-Cruz in April 2019 after an officer discovered the license plates on Vega-Cruzs vehicle belong to a different vehicle.

Eulizier was ordering food at a nearby restaurant and joined the pursuit of Vega-Cruz, who authorities say was attempting to elude officers.

When Vega-Cruzs vehicle came to a stop, Eulizier exited his cruiser and ran out onto Silas Deane Highway repeatedly yelling show me your hands.

Police said Eulizier stepped in front of Vega-Cruzs car as he was attempting to drive away and fired into the windshield, hitting Vega-Cruz once in the head. He died two days later.

Officer Eulizier discharged his firearm in fear that the operator was about to run him over and that he would lose his own life, then-Hartford States Attorney Gail P. Hardy wrote in her report clearing Eulizier of wrongdoing in March 2020.

Eulizier, who had been with Wethersfield police for eight months, had previously been involved in another deadly shooting as an officer in Manchester. It was determined that his bullets never hit the suspect and the New London States Attorney determined that the use of force was justified.

Town Manager Gary Evans declined to comment on the settlement, citing ongoing litigation.

Vega-Cruzs father, Jose Vega-Cruz, has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the town.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
TORONTO  Canada has reached a proposed settlement with a group of indigenous survivors of the now-defunct residential schools for the abuse they suffered, a federal minister said on Wednesday, ending a 14-year fight for justice.

The settlement comes as the government is scrambling to deal with a national outcry after the remains of 215 indigenous children were discovered at a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. The government has been under pressure to stop legally opposing indigenous peoples requests for compensation and acknowledgement in court following the discovery.

Under the latest agreement, the government will provide C$10,000 ($8,259.00) to each survivor involved in the class action lawsuit and create a C$50 million indigenous-led nonprofit to support wellbeing and cultural learning.

The settlement does not include an explicit admission of wrongdoing by the government. Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said the plaintiffs had hoped for an official apology and while this is not part of a settlement agreement, we will be listening to their concerns, as we work together on this request.

The estimated 12,000 to 20,000 survivors in the lawsuit attended residential schools during the day and went home at night. Because of this, they were not included in a previous settlement for residential school survivors.

Between 1831 and 1996, Canadas residential school system forcibly separated about 150,000 indigenous children from their parents, bringing them to institutions with the stated purpose of assimilation. They were malnourished, beaten and sexually abused in what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called cultural genocide in its landmark 2015 report.

The proposal is open for comments from plaintiffs until August 2021, and will be presented along with the comments to the court in September for approval.

Bennett told reporters at a Wednesday news conference that the government will continue to work with survivors and their families and others to resolve remaining childhood claims.

Together we will move forward on the path to reconciliation, she said.

Canada Is A Repeat Offender

Several plaintiffs spoke at the conference, describing the pain the residential schools and the years-long lawsuit brought them.

This has been a really long process, 14 years, returning to court, regurgitating trauma, Charlotte Gilbert, a representative for the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, said.

A separate class action, still ongoing, deals with residential schools cultural damage and involves 105 indigenous bands.

No amount of compensation can change the legacy of residential schools, Diena Jules, a survivor of the schools, said. Nothing can restore us to being whole.

The government remains embroiled in several ongoing lawsuits involving indigenous people in Canada. A Canadian Human Rights Tribunal case involving discrimination through the systemic under-funding of child and family services against indigenous children  resulting in a disproportionate number of indigenous children in foster care  has a hearing next week.

The Canadian government has admitted its child and family services funding system was broken and needed immediate and substantial reform. But in its most recent filings it argued the tribunal was the wrong venue for this dispute and that individual compensation was not appropriate in this instance.

Its a really dangerous argument, said Cindy Blackstock, a member of the Gitxsan nation and executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, which brought the legal action.

Canada is a repeat offender when it comes to abrogating the rights of indigenous children, she said. It needs a heavy hand for deterrence.
SAN DIEGO (AP)  When the FBI dismantled an encrypted messaging service based in Canada in 2018, agents noticed users moving to other networks. Instead of following their tracks to rivals, investigators decided on a new tactic: creating their own service.

ANOM, a secure-messaging service built by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, launched in October 2019 and solidified its following after authorities took down another rival. Popularity spread by word of mouth.

When ANOM was taken down Monday, authorities had collected more than 27 million messages from about 12,000 devices in 45 languages  a vast body of evidence that fueled a global sting operation. Authorities on Tuesday revealed the operation known as Trojan Shield and announced that it had dealt an unprecedented blow to organized crime around the world.

Each and every device in this case was used to further criminal activity, said Suzanne Turner, the agent in charge of the FBI in San Diego, where the investigation began in 2016. Users were upper-echelon, command-and-control figures in more than 300 criminal organizations.

Unbeknown to criminals, authorities were copied on every message sent on the FBI devices, much like blind recipients of an email.

The very devices that criminals use to hide their crimes were actually a beacon for law enforcement, Randy Grossman, the acting U.S. attorney in San Diego, said at a news conference.

More than 800 suspects were arrested and more than 32 tons of drugs seized, including cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and methamphetamines. Police also seized 250 guns, 55 luxury cars and more than $148 million in cash and cryptocurrencies. An indictment unsealed Tuesday in San Diego named 17 foreign distributors charged with racketeering conspiracy.

The seeds of the sting were sown when law enforcement agencies took down a company called Phantom Secure that provided customized end-to-end encrypted devices to criminals, according to court papers.

Unlike typical cellphones, the devices do not make phone calls or browse the internet  but allow for secure messaging. As an outgrowth of the operation, the FBI recruited a collaborator who was developing a next-generation secure-messaging platform for the criminal underworld called ANOM. The collaborator engineered the system to give the agency access to any messages being sent.

ANOM didnt take off immediately. But then other secure platforms used by criminals to organize drug-trafficking hits and money laundering were taken down by police, chiefly EncroChat and Sky ECC. That put gangs in the market for a new app, and the FBIs platform was ready. Over the past 18 months, the agency provided phones via unsuspecting middlemen to gangs in more than 100 countries.

The flow of intelligence enabled us to prevent murders. It led to the seizure of drugs that led to the seizure of weapons. And it helped prevent a number of crimes, Calvin Shivers, assistant director of the FBIs criminal investigative division, told a news conference in The Hague, Netherlands.

The operation was led by the FBI with the involvement of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the European Union police agency Europol and law enforcement agencies in several countries, said Dutch National Police Chief Constable Jannine van den Berg.

Australian Federal Police Commander Jennifer Hearst called it a watershed moment in global law enforcement history.

The ANOM app became popular in criminal circles as users told one another it was a safe platform. All the time, police were looking over their shoulders as they discussed hits, drug shipments and other crimes.

Since October 2019, the FBI cataloged more than 20 million messages from a total of 11,800 devices  with about 9,000 currently active, according to documents, which cited Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia and Serbia as the most active countries.

They say the number of active ANOM users was only 3,000 until Sky, one of the platforms previously used by criminal gangs, was dismantled in March.

While primarily focused on drug trafficking and money-laundering, the investigation also resulted in high-level public corruption cases, an FBI agent quoted in the documents said. A goal of Trojan Shield was to shake the confidence in this entire industry because the FBI is willing and able to enter this space and monitor messages, the agent said.

Swedish police prevented a dozen planned killings and believe that they arrested several leading actors in criminal networks, according to a statement from Linda Staaf, the head of Swedens national criminal intelligence unit.

Finnish police said Tuesday that nearly 100 people have been detained and more than 500 kilograms (half a ton) of drugs confiscated, along with dozens of guns and cash worth hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars). In Germany, the general prosecutors office in Frankfurt said that more than 70 people were arrested Monday and drugs, cash and weapons were also seized.

In Australia, authorities said they arrested 224 people and seized more than four tons of drugs and $35 million. New Zealand police said they had arrested 35 people and seized drugs and assets worth millions of dollars.

As part of a global operation, the Australian government struck a heavy blow against organized crime, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters. Not just in this country, but one that will echo around organized crime around the world.

European police last year delivered a major blow to organized crime after cracking an encrypted communications network known as EncroChat, which was used by criminal gangs across the continent.

In March, Belgian police arrested dozens of people after cracking another encrypted chat system and seizing more than 17 tons of cocaine.

The latest effort went even further before authorities decided to take down the service.

The operation will likely lead criminals to wonder whether services they use are run by a government, Turner said, and it has shown that authorities have abundant technical knowledge and international cooperation.

Nick Merrill, a cybersecurity researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, said the investigation offers a pretty good recipe for law enforcement agencies to compromise an existing service or build one and wait for the right time to strike.

Either way, these centralized services provide a central point of weakness, Merrill said.

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands, and Perry reported from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Frank Bajak in Boston and Terry Chea in San Francisco contributed to this report.

About the photo: Law enforcement officials walk past an Operation Trojan Shield logo at a news conference, Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in San Diego. The global sting operation involved an encrypted communications platform developed by the FBI and has sparked a series of raids and arrests around the world in which more than 800 suspects were arrested and more than 32 tons of drugs a cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and methamphetamines were seized. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Despite experts who say Texas power grid remains vulnerable, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott declared Tuesday that new reforms fix all of the flaws that caused Februarys deadly winter blackout that left more than 4 million people without power in subfreezing weather.

He was joined by Republicans who defended it as a good deal for consumers, even though they gave no direct financial relief to families who were stuck with high energy bills or lost income as the lights and heat stayed off for days.

Signing into law two sweeping overhauls in response to one of the largest power outages in U.S. history, Abbott asserted that he and the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature had delivered following one of the worst crises in his six years as governor. But even members of his own party say there is work still to be done.

More than 4 million people lost power when temperatures plunged into single digits over Valentine Days weekend, icing power generators and buckling the states electric grid. State officials say they have confirmed at least 151 deaths blamed on the freeze and resulting outages, but the real toll is believed to be higher.

The legislature passed comprehensive reforms to fix all of the flaws that led to the power failure, Abbott said. He went on to add, Bottom line is that everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas.

Energy experts disagree, saying that although lawmakers made significant changes that include mandates to weatherize power plants for extreme temperatures and new processes to avert communication failures, the reforms do not go far enough to assure a similar catastrophe wont happen again in one of Americas most booming states.

Among the criticisms are Texas leaving enforcement and key decisions over which parts of the states oil and gas industry must now weatherize _ and which dont _ to regulators who have long been accused of being too lax with operators. And last week, five former Texas regulators issued a report that said safeguarding the grid requires going beyond the bills signed by Abbott, including acknowledging the realities of climate change  a topic GOP lawmakers didnt dwell on.

The reforms also provide no direct financial relief to consumers. One proposal that called for giving residents a one-time credit of $350 did not make it into the final bill.

Some residents saw huge electric bills as wholesale prices soared during the blackout  $9,000 per megawatt hour  and others lost income because they couldnt get to their job or their work was shut down due to no power. Asked why there was no direct financial assistance in the reforms, Republican state Rep. Kelly Hancock said there was in the form of sparing residents from high charges to their electric bills to pay off debts by utilities, spreading it over decades instead.

Hancock also said 98% of Texas customers were on fixed-rate plans that didnt see prices go up during the storm and that they could shop for cheaper plans once their contracts are up. But Doug Lewin, an energy consultant in Austin, said there is no guarantee electric rates offered to consumers will be cheaper going forward.

If I tell you, Heres a car for $20,000 but you can spread the payments over six years, thats not the same as the car dealer saying Ill take $3,000 off the cost, Lewin said.

Other changes include an overhaul of the governing board of Texas power grid and a new emergency alert system.

Republican state Rep. Chris Paddie, a chief architect of the reforms, said he was confident gas suppliers would comply with new weatherization mandates. He also pushed back on criticism that lawmakers went easy on Texas powerful oil and gas industry, which he said pushed back on the requirements.

I wish you would go tell them that, Paddie said.

About the photo: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs one of two energy related bills, Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in Austin, Texas. Abbot signed legislation into law to reform the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and weatherize and improve the reliability of the states power grid. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
SAN DIEGO (AP)  A woman who died when she drove the wrong way on a California freeway and hit another car, killing two San Diego police detectives, was a diabetic who may have become disoriented because of low blood sugar, her husband said Tuesday.

Sandra Daniels, 58, died Friday in the high-speed, head-on crash on Interstate 5 near the U.S.-Mexico border south of downtown San Diego. Her car burst into flames.

Were devastated, Darrell Daniels, her husband of 33 years, told KFMB-TV in a phone interview.

The retired Navy officer said his wife had diabetes and had gone to Balboa Naval Medical Center that morning to get insulin.

She went the wrong way, she got down there at the border, and somehow when she turned around she ended up on the wrong side (of the road), he said. And I believe that was because of low sugar.

Theres no way that she knew what she was doing, he said.

The California Highway Patrol was still investigating the cause of the crash.

The crash also killed a married couple, Detective Ryan Park, 32, and Detective Jamie Huntley-Park, 33.

Park was a homicide detective, and Huntley-Park was assigned to the Southern Division. They had the day off, but Ryan was on call.

On Tuesday, a procession of police officers escorted the bodies of the couple from the coroners office to a mortuary.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Californias workplace regulators are set to again reconsider controversial masking rules designed to protect employees against the coronavirus.

A special meeting of the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board was hastily scheduled for Wednesday after State Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon sent a letter to the panel reiterating that the state plans to do away with virtually all masking and social distancing requirements for vaccinated people starting Tuesday.

That policy conflicts with the boards vote last week to allow workers to go maskless only if every employee in a room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The board will consider Aragons letter and take action if appropriate, board spokeswoman Erika Monterroza said.

The Cal/OSHA regulations apply in almost every workplace in the state, including workers in offices, factories and retail. Its pandemic rules apply to all employees except those working from home or where there is a single employee who does not have contact with other people.

The board at Wednesdays meeting could withdraw the new rules that it adopted less than a week ago, because those have not yet become effective, she said. But that would at least temporarily leave in place existing emergency rules that are even more stringent, requiring all workers to keep distanced and masked even if vaccinated.

It cant adopt new changes without posting the proposed revisions and giving the public at least five calendar days of notice, she said. That potentially sets up further public comment and action at the boards regularly scheduled June 17 meeting.

Even then, the board previously said it could take weeks if not months to make significant new revisions that would then need to be drafted into legal language and come up for a vote after more public discussion.

The boards decision to adopt rules that are stricter than the pending state guidelines has put Gov. Gavin Newsom in an awkward position as the state nears what he promised would be a full reopening.

Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego city councilman who backs recalling the governor in an election likely this fall, in an email to supporters on Tuesday referred to what he termed an absurd new mask mandate that is not only an inconvenience to workers, but this anti-science policy imposes significant costs on small businesses and opens them up to costly frivolous lawsuits.

Business groups opposed to workplace mask requirement say Newsom could use his executive powers to override the decision of his appointed board, though he seemed disinclined to overtly step in when asked about that option on Friday.

Board members made it clear a day earlier that the regulations are temporary, and they appointed a subcommittee to continue working on revisions.

Aragon said in his letter to the board that the state will conform with federal guidelines by dropping the mask requirement for those vaccinated while requiring face coverings for all unvaccinated individuals in indoor public settings and businesses.

The board said it will hear briefings from the state Department of Public Health and Californias Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, before considering the impact of the presented information on its new rules.

Newsoms office repeated its statement from last week, that the administration is hopeful the board will further revise its guidance to reflect the latest science while continuing to protect workers and balancing realistic and enforceable requirements for employers.

Separately, the state health department recommended that workers who arent vaccinated be tested once or twice a week, depending on the type of test, if they come in close or frequent contact with the public.

That for instance includes those working in restaurants, public transit, theaters, amusement parks and other areas. It should also apply to those areas with higher virus transmission rates, the department said, and to high-density workplaces where physical distancing is difficult, such as factories or food processing plants.

About the photo: In this May 20, 2021, file photo, a worker wears a mask while setting up a fruit display amid the COVID-19 pandemic at The Farmers Market in Los Angeles. Business and agricultural groups are renewing their criticism of new rules adopted by California Gov. Gavin Newsoms workplace regulators. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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It can be quite depressing to hear all that is happening around the world against Christians, even though we know that God is good and is all-powerful. I think its important to know that there are groups whose whole raison detre is to do all they can to support these people and to bring to the worlds attention what is happening to them. Here are some brief snapshots of some of these groups.

Open Doors was started by Brother Andrew of Bible-smuggling fame. The non-denominational ministry is based in Ermelo, The Netherlands, and continues to provide Bibles and other Christian literature to Eastern Europe, Russia, China and other countries.

Its aims are to raise awareness of persecution around the world and mobilize support for the persecuted church. Worldwide, the ministry has trained more than 3.8 million persecuted Christians through leadership and discipleship courses, trauma care training and persecution survival seminars, as well as providing emergency relief, community development, education and medical care.

Open Doors hold an International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church as well as continual prayer for the needs in the world. Our prayers can go where we cannot says Brother Andrew.

Advocacy on behalf of the persecuted is another aspect of this ministry, having access from the White House to the UK Parliament, from the EU to the UN.

Open Doors also compiles a World Watch List of the countries where it is most dangerous to follow Jesus. Each country on the list has a link that describes specifically what the issues are in that country and the severity of the persecution. It is sobering reading for those of us in our comfortable affluence.

Their introductory statement: Not Alone. Not Forgotten. Not Ever. More than 340 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. Thats 1 in 8 worldwide, 1 in 6 in Africa, 2 out of 5 in Asia, and 1 in 12 in Latin America. We stand with them.

The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) is a nonprofit, interdenominational missions organization that serves persecuted Christians around the world. Founded in 1967 by Romanian pastors Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, VOM serves persecuted Christians with practical and spiritual assistance and leads Christians in the free world into fellowship with persecuted believers.

The concept for the ministry arose out ofRichards own experience ofimprisonment for 14 years in Communist Romania for his faith in Christ. It is dedicated to inspiring believers to deepen their commitment to Christ and to fulfil His Great Commission. Each mission in different countries is autonomous with its own focus and management, although there is cooperation through the International Christian Association.

VOM International works in 68 Countries. In 2020 VOM Australia provided Bibles and Life Packs in Pakistan, Iran, China, Philippines, India, Myanmar, Egypt, North Korea, Brunei and Malaysia. There is also a weekly radio program with news, interviews and updates on our Christian brothers and sisters in restricted nations.

This ministry is inspired by Hebrews Chapter 13, verse 3, Remember the prisoners as if chained with them  those who are mistreated  since you yourselves are in the body also.

Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF) is an advocacy group whose mission statement is Alerting governments to the suffering of persecuted Christians, defending the freedom to practise and proclaim the Christian faith. The mission statement encompasses raising awareness of persecution in different government and human rights forums, accurate and courageous commentary on world events and calling for prayer.

Through advocacy, aid and prayer the ministry aims to alleviate the suffering of those who are persecuted by oppressive governments and individuals because of their faith in Christ. They have assisted Christians as culturally diverse as the Christians of the Maluku Islands in Indonesia, the Coptic Christians of Egypt, the Karen tribes of Burma, the Christians of Pakistan, India and Africa, the Underground Churches of China and the Middle East.

CFF publishes up to date information about persecution around the world, specifically in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin is compiled by Elizabeth Kendall, who has served as CFF Director of Advocacy since January 2013.

Morning Star News  First Light Before the Dawn

Morning Star News is an independent news service focusing exclusively on the persecution of Christians around the world.

Founded by former Compass Direct News editor Jeff M. Sellers on Sept. 30, 2012, the news services mission is to provide complete, reliable, even-handed news in order to empower those in the free world to help persecuted Christians, and to encourage persecuted Christians by informing them that they are not alone in their suffering.

Bitter Winter

Bitter Winter was launched in May 2018 as an online magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China published by CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions, headquartered in Torino, Italy. Massimo Introvigne is the editor-in-chief. Scholars, journalists, and human rights activists from different countries started working together to give voice for the voiceless by publishing news, documents, and testimonies about persecutions against all religions in China.

Bitter Winter is independent of any religious or political organization and is mostly the fruit of volunteer work. It has a network of correspondents in all Chinese provinces, who supply information at the risk of their own lives.

From December 1, 2020, Bitter Winter added an international section covering religious liberty worldwide. We continuously expand our coverage to new countries and new issues.

Praise and prayer

Praise God that there are people who seek to see justice done in the world and who are willing to stand with and support persecuted Christians.

We need to pray for these groups, that they may remain faithful to their calling and continue to bring us information to fuel our prayers.
I have been reflecting over the past week of the theme of reconciliation.

Social Media is a particularly funny place to be reading about it.

Social media is generally the centre of cancel culture which is the opposite of reconciliation and if anyone has been promoting reconciliation but also out there campaigning against Folau, making sure he has no possible chance of earning an income, then I am afraid there is absolute zero credibility in what you have to say and you know nothing about reconciliation.

We have seen hashtags #reconciliationmorethenjustwords. The funny irony in your using words on social media to make that statement while seeing no action to forgive someone for a past offence.

However, I do applaud the initiative, I do agree reconciliation is more than just words but what I want to ask is, how are you living it in your life?

I am not being political here I just want to ask, where are you with reconciliation in your life?

Cultural change starts in your heart

The fact is, change is down to us, not as a collective but as individuals.

You have not got a hope in changing culture or changing society without first changing its people and that starts with one person at a time.

To want reconciliation you have to be a person who is quick to forgive.

Because reconciliation is a two-way street

Reconciliation begins with one side repenting of past atrocities and the other side forgiving their side of the atrocities.

Reconciliation does not even have to begin with the side at fault you can have reconciliation by reaching out over the fence and saying I forgive you.

What a powerful liberating statement that is.

That was what God the father did when he sent his Son to die for sins of the world.

God made the first move to reconcile humanity.

I love this passage Romans chapter 5 verse 8.

God demonstrated his own love for us in this, while were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NIV).

So we were still sinners when Christ reconciled us with our heavenly father. He made a way before any of us even apologised for defiling his beautiful creation with our sin.

This is the way of God forgives, forgiveness means the slate is wiped clean and reconciliation and relationship building starts.

So when I see the #reconilliationismorethenjustwords, I think well are you living it in your life?

Is there someone in your world you need to forgive?

People have this idea forgiveness is ok - I forgive you and then never talk to them again.

This is not forgiveness, forgiveness means you restore them, it means you bless them, they hold nothing over you.

It is the only way to free yourself from the prison, sure they can compensate and can spend the rest of their life trying to make it up to you. But they have not forgiven you, you are still drinking the poison and expecting the other person to die.

Repentance is more than just words.

To bring reconciliation you also have to do your bit by repenting.

Repenting is more than just words; repentance means to have sincere regret and remorse, it means by the power of God you are never going to do it again.

We have to learn from the past, show sincere regret, allow God to change us from the inside out (You can try doing it yourself and see how you go) so we do not sin against our brother and sister.

We allow the power of God to work in us so we can forgive our brother and sister for any sin committed against us.

When we allow the freeing power of forgiveness to work inside of us, then we are totally free and have truly achieved reconciliation.
Join Our CMM Global Missions Family Urgently Feeding Lockdown Members and Providing Wells in Many Nations -- Two Urgent Needs NEWS PROVIDED BY

CMM World

June 10, 2021



CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 10, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christ's Mandate for Missions, (www.cmm.world) formerly Correll Missionary Ministries, and CMM College of Theology (www.cmmtheology.org) are expanding globally as more people are hearing about our unique style of 'team ministry' empowering many to discover their God given identities we each have in Christ as we go higher and deeper in intimacy.



During Covid season we have sent thousands of dollars each month to literally save lives with urgent needs of food, water, medicines, oxygen tanks, medical care and more.



Here are two important, urgent requests for prayers and funds to help our trusted, embedded friends in our CMM Family in Africa, Asia and in the USA.



CMM is an interdenominational, Christ focused 501c3 founded in 1978 with global missionaries, students living and serving in 70 nations.



CMM is a network of friends working together while allowing autonomy, fostering authentic relationships, respect for cultural identity, with many streams, as a unique Christian, interdenominational family bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. CMM Partners love how during COVID times the Lord has shown them that CMM knows 'those who labor among us' in many nations, having visited them face to face to establish the 'good soil' principle of wise stewardship and the importance of accountability, knowing their funds reach national, embedded pastors who are helping feed the poor, win souls to Jesus and disciple the saints according to Eph. 4:11-13. We have a budget of $150,000 for the next three months. Please pray.



Pray and visit to learn more at: http://cmm.world/product/rapid-response/

CMM's Water For The Thirsty project has provided hundreds of wells in many nations in Africa and Asia over the last 20 years and we currently have a long list of over 100 friends waiting for safe water wells. Some of the nations on the waitlist are: DR Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, India, Nepal and Pakistan. To meet this need we have a budget of $125,000. Will you help us? No gift is too small or too large. Many individuals, home groups, churches and businesses pool their funds to make a real impact in this urgent effort to save lives. You can learn more about the global water crisis and support by going to http://cmm.world/get-involved/water-for-the-thirsty/ and pooling believers' resources to make a huge impact in transforming communities throughout the developing world from places of death and disease to places of life and hope. Our ministry integrates holistically the 'GO' mandate given by Jesus in both our missions and school efforts in helping to fulfill the Great Commission and as the Apostle Paul wrote 'to see everyone complete in Christ.' Most of our missionaries overseas are indigenous, who understand the local culture best for expanding the Kingdom culture into their native culture.



We are an 'umbrella organization' representing many ministers, ministries and organizations, both in ministry and in the marketplace, working to fulfill the Great Commission, offering spiritual covering and oversight along with ordaining pastors and leaders, handling donor relations, connecting like minded lovers of Jesus globally. We also work in the areas of disaster relief, chaplains training and ordination, orphan/widow care, Biblical justice and education.



CMM College of Theology offers affordable, Christian accredited degrees online globally in English and Spanish (based in Ecuador) and our growing Thailand school as well as in Canada. We are taking applications for the new school year starting soon. (visit www.cmmtheology.org) Many of our students return year after year to further their studies as we enter our 15th year.



CMM Theology's goal is for transformation through God encounters in study of His Word and multi-cultural immersion. We find this can be achieved through a flipped-hybrid-relational learning experience. Research shows that the best hybrid instruction allows the students to interact with content and engage in learning activities before, during, and after the face-to-face class.



Our program works great for working families in ministry or business, as well as experienced pastors who have attended traditional Bible Schools, who may have plateaued or seek a 'fresh, second wind' to finish strong. See the recent press release: http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/4173185298.html



CMM is an oasis in a dry land of 'churchianity and lukewarmness' stifling the heart and the move of the Holy Spirit. CMM is thriving, allowing the Holy Spirit to connect and strengthen 'organic and authentic' relationships, free of control and manipulation found in building a 'man's kingdom' instead of The Kingdom. Many are looking for authentic relationships seeking fresh, creative ways to serve the Lord as well as loving our neighbors as ourselves. We give freedom to our diverse members to be themselves and escape 'performance Christianity.'



CMM is known for innovation and collaborating in creative ways to bring positive, faith infused ideas that bear lasting fruit in helping end systemic poverty, transformative education, humanitarian aid, disaster relief, providing safe, clean water, community development, orphan/widow care, Biblical justice and more, with an emphasis and training on the prophetic (hearing from the Holy Spirit in every aspect of life.) (www.cmm.world)



Our CMM Oasis is a place for our CMM Ordained pastors and leaders, both in ministry and secular assignments, to gather online and regionally regularly to encourage each other, leadership skills, share challenges, coordinate and help each other when possible, in a safe, trusted atmosphere needed by so many in leadership.



Respectfully,

Dr. Jorge Parrott, CMM President

Email us at office@cmm.world or call 704-225-3927.

www.cmm.world www.cmmtheology.org



SOURCE CMM World



CONTACT: Jorge E Parrott, 704-225-3927, office@cmm.world



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Lately Ive been signing a lot of permission forms. With school comes excursions, school photos, subject changes, extra-curricular activities, campsall of which need the authority of a parents permission.

Im glad that, though my youngest children are in high school, theyre still young enough that I get to sign things for them, yet this time is quickly coming to an end. I hope that, as the time comes for them to have to sign things for themselves, they will have learned what they need in order to be responsible, kind and considerate adults who make wise decisions.

At that point, they will have their own authority to do things, authority that comes with having lived their first eighteen years learning right from wrong, learning whats wise and whats not, and to know it in their hearts.

Tried and tested

I once heard a great example in a sermon and I wish I could remember who said it, but I cant so if you happen to be reading this, forgive me for not crediting you. But the example was of the rigorous testing that a mobile phone manufacturer puts their product through before putting their branding on it. Once the phone has been tested to withstand the test of time, elements, and other trials, if it has endured and still works, then the manufacturer will seal it with their brand name. It is ready to represent the company.

Haggai chapter two tells of the trials the Jewish people had gone through to rebuild after their return from exile. When they turned their hearts to rebuild the house of God, He encouraged them to be strong and warned that He was going to shake the heavens and the earth. The Jews had been through so much testing, some had seen the house of God in its former glory before they had been sent into exile and now it looked like nothing.

There was, however, a greater glory coming, and God had marked His promise by anointing Zerubbabel as Gods signet ringHis earthly representation.

On that day, declares the LORD Almighty, I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD Almighty.

Through Zerubbabels line would come Jesus, the Saviour of the world, and the peace and freedom he would bring would be unlike anything that had ever existed before himfreedom from sin, healing, daily help, joy, peace, and eternal life to all who believe.

Gods representatives

When we align our hearts with Gods heart and allow God to work His purpose through our lives and become people who represent Him well, then we become like His signet ring. In Matthew chapter 16 verse 19, Jesus says to Peter:

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

To bind something, means to restrain it and secure it as with a rope. To loose something means to release or set something free which has been bound. With the keys of the kingdom of heaven, through Jesus power we can tie up that which steals and destroys, and release that which restores and gives lifelife in all its fulness.

It is not enough to float through life and just take things as they come when we have been given the keys to the kingdom to be vessels for Gods will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We need to wake from our slumber and make a difference to the lives of those around us through prayer, faith, and action.

To know God and to do His will on earth as it is in heaven, we need to study His Word, listen for His voice, know His ways, and obey His calling. The effects will begin like a little stream and grow into a flowing river as we trust Him and allow His power to work in and through our lives. When we work with God, we can sign on his behalf through the power of the Holy Spirit and be world changers for the benefit of us all.

And if you ever forget the power that is at work within us, remember this:

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John chapter 4 verse 4)
Sometimes we might wonder if our story is worth telling. We may have lived an uneventful life that doesnt seem to have impacted anyone. We may have grown up in a Christian home, attended church every Sunday and came to faith without any fanfare. Yet everyones story is unique and worth telling.

Eulogies are an important part of a funeral because friends and younger members of the family will hear a summary of a persons life. Where they lived, grew up, the influences in their lives, the people they loved and the activities they enjoyed. When we put these things together they make a unique story.

We may mistakenly think that our stories are about us and therefore don't matter. But our stories are not about us. Our stories are part of something bigger that God is doing in our world. He takes our individual lives and weaves them into neighbourhoods. He weaves neighbourhoods into communities, communities into societies and societies into nations.

Our stories are about what God is doing in our world. He begins with lots of apparently ordinary lives and tells a much bigger story. When any of us tell our story, we tell the story of who God is. The story of God is always worth telling.

Here are some more reasons why your lifes story is important.

Social history

Our lives are part of the social history of a particular time and place in the world. No one has lived in exactly our circumstances, even members of our own family had a different birth order to us and this has influenced their lives. We have all spent time with a different group of friends and these friendships have influenced us in healthy or unhealthy ways.

How we lived our lives, make choices and how circumstances impact us, can be instructive for future generations. Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it, declared Winston Churchill to the House of Commons in 1948 (rephrasing the words of others).

Cautionary tales

Our lives serve as examples and role models to others, whether we want them to or not. Our lives reveal both the benefits and pitfalls of the decisions we have made. Its important to learn from the mistakes of others, as well as our own since we havent time to make every mistake.

Peoples stories can serve as cautionary tales when they alert us to how insidious people can move into our lives and gain our trust. This was painfully obvious when the Royal Commission into Institutional Sexual Abuse uncovered years of abuse perpetrated by people who had gained the trust of organisational leaders.

Generally, we consider ourselves to be a good judge of character, yet we arent as discerning as we think and often miss the clues that suggest a person is hiding something. Its not uncommon to hear news reports of people committing atrocities and their neighbours being surprised by their behaviour as they didnt think they were capable of such actions. Their stories teach us to be more discerning.

Resilience

All of us have been through difficulties in our lives, whether major or minor and survived. Our stories help others when they go through similar difficulties. Even minor inconveniences can become major problems if we dont handle them well.

Some problems are almost universal, such as parenting and ageing. Listening and learning from others helps us to manage different life stages well. They encourage us and build our resilience.

Tolerance

Other peoples stories teach us empathy and tolerance. When we understand someones life circumstances, we often realise why they act the way they do. It doesnt mean we agree with their actions but rather their experiences increase our knowledge and tolerance.

Conclusion

Some believe God created the human species and let it run its course. However, the Bible teaches us that God created individuals with specific destinies.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you (Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5) and For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb (Psalm chapter 139 verse 13).

We are unique human beings, placed on earth at a particular time and place. No one is a mistake or an accident. Our stories matter because we are his unrepeatable creation and special to him.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10)  A lawmaker on Thursday filed a bill that would require the government to shoulder COVID-19 testing for all jobseekers.

Senator Sonny Angara said the current costs of the RT-PCR test, which ranges from 3,500 to 5,000, is "a big start-up cost" for individuals struggling to find a job when the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter the economy.

The price, he noted, already translates to a half-month pay of a minimum wage earner.

"For jobless breadwinners, it is choosing between two sacks of rice or a RT-PCR swab," he was quoted as saying in a statement.

Senate Bill No. 2291 states that while the government earlier clarified that an RT-PCR or antibody-based test is "not recommended nor required" for asymptomatic employees returning to work, the memorandum "does not explicitly prohibit companies in requiring jobseekers to submit a COVID-19 test result as part of the pre-employment process."

Once passed, the bill will require the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation to cover the cost of the testing.

"The amount necessary for the initial implementation of this Act shall be charged against the funds of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation," the bill read.

The state-run insurance agency is already providing free COVID-19 testing for its members, but it is limited to at-risk individuals or patients with severe and mild symptoms, especially those with travel history or contact, medical workers, senior citizens, and returning overseas Filipino workers.

"Considering the imperative for the national government to ensure the labor markets recovery, there is a need for a human-centered policy that actually encourages people to go back to work while cognizant of many changes brought about by the pandemic," Angara said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philipines, June 10)  The Coordinating Council for Private Educational Associations is asking President Rodrigo Duterte to intervene in the implementation of the new policy of the Bureau of Internal Revenue that will impose higher taxes on private schools.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source on Thursday, COCOPEA spokesperson and managing director Joseph Noel Estrada expressed hope that Duterte can correct what was written in the BIR Revenue Regulation No. 5-2021, which could potentially bankrupt private schools amid the pandemic.

"We are confident that being the chief executive, being the head of all government agencies and offices, he will intervene and hopefully correct that issuance of BIR," Estrada said.

Under the new rule, the income tax rate of private schools will increase by 150%, a move which COCOPEA and private schools claim to be a violation of the Tax Code and the Constitution.

"Barely two weeks after the CREATE law was signed into law, the BIR issued Revenue Regulation No. 5-2021 removing that preferential tax rate, telling us not 1%, not 10%, but you should be taxed just like any other corporation and enterprise which should be at 25%. In effect, providing an increase of 150% in our taxes," Estrada said.

Estrada stressed that proprietary schools have only been paying a 10% preferential tax rate since 1968 since they help the government in providing educational services to the people.

The BIR, on the other hand, noted that they will cooperate and comply with any law that may be passed by Congress, which has already stepped in to resolve legal issues.

"As far as BIR is concerned, it is just implementing the law and Supreme Court decision defining 'proprietary educational institutions.' The schools can of course question our position in the courts," BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay told CNN Philippines in a text message.

Senators previously stressed that the new tax rule was contrary to the aim of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, which seeks to cushion the impact of the coronavirus, and even "bail out distressed private schools."

Senate Bill No. 2272 has recently been filed to amend a section in the National Internal Revenue Code to clarify the BIR regulation for private educational institutions.

READ: Senators to BIR: Withdraw income tax hike on 'distressed' private schools
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10)  The Department of Science and Technology on Thursday expressed willingness to test COVID-19 vaccines on Filipino children after Health Secretary Duque III said the government will not yet administer coronavirus shots to kids, citing the need for more studies.

This, despite the recent decision of the Food and Drug Administration to allow the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine to minors aged 12 to 15 years old. Earlier, the FDA only authorized to give Pfizer shots to those 16 years old and above.

"Kami po ay open na kung kinakailangan ay pag-aralan din po ito para makita natin kung ang response ng ibang bansa ay katulad din po ng mga Pilipino kapag binakunahan ang ating mga kabataan," Dr. Jaime Montoya, DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development executive director said at a media briefing.

[Translation: We are open to conducting a study to know if Filipino kids would elicit the same response as other children who were inoculated against coronavirus in other countries.]

Duque earlier said the Duterte administration will wait for other countries to include minors in their COVID-19 vaccination programs to learn from their experience. He added the Philippine Pediatric Society will conduct its own study on the effects of these coronavirus shots on children.

The Department of Health also said, for now, there is not enough supply to inoculate minors.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10)  President Rodrigo Duterte is open to a former Supreme Court justice's suggestion to amend the Baselines Law to lay out more clearly what the country owns in the West Philippine Sea, Malacanang said on Thursday.

"Ang sagot ni Presidente, 'Pakisabi kay Justice, ganito: kapag mayroong suggestions sa akin, ibibigay ko muna 'yan sa office ng legal ng Executive Secretary, then it will be forwarded to the Executive Secretary for a recommendation for my decision'," Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said during his regular virtual briefing.

[Translation: The President said, "Please tell the Justice: should there be any suggestions to me, I will send them first to the legal office of the Executive Secretary, then it will be forwarded to the Executive Secretary for a recommendation for my decision.]

The President was referring to former Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza, who was also present in Thursday's presser.

"It's just an openness to study the matter," Roque further explained, adding that the proposal was already subjected to complete staff work.

Jardeleza and international law experts Romel Bagares and Melissa Loja are pushing for the amendment of Republic Act 9522, or the present Baselines Law, to identify and name at least 100 maritime features in the West Philippine Sea to better enforce the country's landmark 2016 arbitral award.

The ruling, which affirms Manila's sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), has consistently been rejected by Beijing. The Philippines has filed several diplomatic protests against China for its incursions in the West Philippine Sea.

Jardeleza was among those who led the country's case against the East Asian giant.

"Ang argumento namin mas mabuting may batas tayo na klaro ang sukat ng ating mga possession sa West Philippine Sea," he said.

[Translation: Our argument is that it's better to have a law that clearly defines our possessions in the West Philippine Sea.]

"We are not surrendering anything; we are simply saying we are clarifying these claims so that we can begin to enforce their word as far as our sovereign rights are concerned under international law," Loja said of their proposal.

Jardeleza defends Duterte's "just a piece of paper" remark

Meanwhile, the retired justice defended the President's earlier remark that the Philippines' arbitral win against China is just a piece of paper he can throw in a waste basket.

"Ang konteksto noon sabi niya sa usapang bugoy. 'Di ba ang ibig sabihin ng usapang bugoy ay usapang bugoy?" Jardeleza said.

[Translation: The context of what he said was street talk. Does street talk not mean street talk?]

"Ang magiging importante, ano ang sinabi ng Pangulo sa United Nations; ano ang sinabi ng Pangulo sa State of the Nation Address," he added.

[Translation: What's important is what the President said before the Untied Nations; what he said during the State of the Nation Address.]

Duterte affirmed the country's arbitral victory against China before the UN General Assembly in September last year. However, he has been criticized for failing to take further steps to assert the Philippines' sovereign rights after his UN statement, apart from keeping a friendly attitude towards China.

RELATED: Stay 'friendly' with China, Enrile advises Duterte amid sea row

CNN Philippines correspondent Tristan Nodalo contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10)  President Rodrigo Duterte will be physically present during the 123rd Independence Day rites this year, his spokesman Harry Roque said Thursday.

Dadalo in person ang Presidente sa komemorasyon ng ating [The President will be attending in person our commemoration of] Independence Day, said Roque during his regular virtual briefing.

Roque said the ceremonies will be held outside the capital region, but did not say exactly where for security reasons.

This would mark Dutertes second time to participate in Independence Day rites as president. The first one was in Kawit, Cavite in 2018, where he was met with heavy rains and heckles from protesters.

Duterte blamed exhaustion for skipping what were supposed to be his first official Independence Day rites as chief executive in 2017. Vice President Leni Robredo led the flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremonies in Luneta that year.

Robredo also led the National Freedom Day ceremonies in 2019, while Duterte decided to spend the day with the countrys troops.

The President also did not attend the commemoration rites last year, designating Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to lead the event instead.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10)  The Sandiganbayan acquitted a former Makati mayor and three others of graft and malversation charges stemming from the alleged anomalous purchase of hospital supplies.

"Accused "Elenita S. Binay, accused Ernesto A. Aspillaga, accused Dulce P. Cruz and accused Luz R. Yamane-Garcia are hereby acquitted ... for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt," read the decision released on Thursday.

The charges stemmed from the questionable purchase of 45 million worth of hospital beds and sterilizers for the city-run Ospital ng Makati in 2000 and 2001.

Binay, wife of former Vice President Jejomar Binay, served as mayor of Makati City from June 30, 1998, to June 30, 2001.

She has not yet issued a statement on the Sandiganbayan's decision.

Acquitted with Binay were Aspillaga, head of the city's General Services Department; Dulce P. Cruz, a city accountant; and Yamane-Garcia, city treasurer.

City Supply Officer II Conrado B. Pamintuan and Administrative Officer I Jaime P. Delos Reyes were also cleared of malversation charges, but they were convicted in two graft charges.

The two were sentenced to six to eight years behind bars with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10)  An opera on Lapu-Lapu, known as the Philippines' first freedom fighter, will be free for streaming on June 12 as the country marks Independence Day.

The remastered version of "Lapu-Lapu: The Neo-Classic-Ethno-Rock Opera" will be available on YouTube "to give everyone a refresher course on history," said Audie Gemora, one of the actors in the play.

"It's great and it's so timely. You realize a few months ago, there was a lot of controversy around politicians not even knowing where Lapu-Lapu came from and people confusing Magellan with Lapu Lapu, so I think we need a refresher course on our history," Gemora told CNN Philippines' New Day on Thursday.

The opera was originally produced in 1997 at the main theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and remastered this year as an online presentation.

Pop rock musician and Earth Day Jam Foundation head Lou Bonnevie produced the multilingual opera composed by her husband Jose "Toto" Gentica, with libretto by Victor Henry Tejero. It was directed by theatre pioneer Behn Cervantes, while the sets were designed by National Artist Salvador Bernal.

"The first ever opera work on the 1521 encounter, scenes include all the important events in our history, with Ferdinand Magellan bringing Christianity in the country and ultimately confronting his death in a fatal battle with Lapu-Lapu in Mat-an," Bonnevie said on her YouTube channel.

Gemora, who plays Enrique, one of Magellan's Malayan slaves, said that the play can be seen through the eyes of someone who was a witness to the iconic battle which eventually led to the defeat of the Spanish forces in Cebu after the Portuguese explorer was killed.

"Sometimes books and googling can be a challenge to young people but watching a musical with all the emotions and when you really put people behind history, the youth and even the older people who need a refresher course can learn a lot about our history," Gemora added.

"Lapu-Lapu: The Neo-Classic-Ethno-Rock Opera" will be available for 24 hours from June 12, 7:30 p.m. to June 13 7:30 p.m. on Lou Bonnevie YouTube Channel.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10)  Former Health Secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin urged the government to conduct weekend inoculations against COVID-19 to accommodate Filipino employees working on weekdays.

Making coronavirus shots available on weekends would allow Filipinos to not miss work and continue earning for their families, she said in a statement Thursday.

Garin claimed that "there are many workers who are willing to get vaccinated but cannot get one as their weekday jobs are getting in the way."

READ: Duterte, Galvez appeal to the public to complete COVID-19 vaccination

Setting up weekend inoculations would also provide workers a chance to rest after receiving the vaccines.

"If they get vaccinated using mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines, they can rest on Sunday while those taking the inactivated vaccine can receive their jabs on Sunday," Garin added.

Garin suggested that the Department of Health tap volunteers for weekend vaccinations.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 10)  Quezon City will start vaccinating essential workers under the A4 priority group on Friday, four days after local government units in NCR+8 were ordered to start the inoculation drive for the sector.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte told CNN Philippines' The Source on Thursday that over 43,800 doses of China's Sinovac vaccines will be rolled out for the A4 while 10,000 doses will be allocated for the second dose of residents under the A1 to A3 (health workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities) category.

"We will be having about 43,800 which will be rolled out starting tomorrow. We will be opening our online booking sites today so people can book online today. In addition to that we can coordinate with their barangays for barangay-assisted bookings as well," Belmonte said.

However, Belmonte said the vaccination drive will be at a limited capacity since a stable supply is not yet guaranteed. Once the LGU is sure that more doses are coming in, they will use up all the 43,800 doses for first dose so everyone can get their shots as soon as possible.

"We will limit the number of sites to be operated consistent to what we can supply in terms of vaccines," she said. "Actually, kung full force kami (if we will do this full force), we can activate about 50 sites already but given limited supply, we are only thinking of activating eight of our vaccination sites."

Belmonte said the country's largest city can vaccinate 24,000 individuals daily. This means almost half of the recently delivered vaccines in the city can be finished in just a day.

She added that once they are ready to hold mass vaccinations, "midnight shifts" could even be implemented in select sites for workers under the no-work-no-pay scheme. "Vaccine buses" will also be set up in areas near market vendors and tricycle drivers so they can easily get their shots.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. apologized to LGUs on Wednesday for the delayed delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, which led to the postponement of the vaccination of workers in NCR+8. He said supply will normalize by June 14, Monday, as more vaccine doses arrive in the country.

READ: Galvez apologizes to LGUs for delayed vaccine supply

The Philippines is expecting to receive its biggest single-day COVID-19 vaccine delivery on Thursday, with 2.2 million more Pfizer shots arriving via the global initiative COVAX later in the day. A million government-purchased Sinovac doses already arrived in the morning.

READ: Over 3.2M COVID-19 vaccine shots arriving in PH
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  Senator Nancy Binay is pushing the Department of Health to hasten the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines as demand increases with the start of the inoculation of economic frontliners.

In a statement, Binay said that closure of some vaccination centers in Metro Manila is unacceptable due to the DOHs failure to efficiently distribute the coronavirus shots.

As of this week, marami pang bakunang nakaimbak sa storage facilities ng DOH kaya parang ang hirap tanggapin na walang maibigay sa mga vaccination centers sa Maynila, Marikina at Antipolo, she stated.

[Translation: There are still many vaccines in storage facilities of the DOH that is why it is hard to accept that no supply can be given to vaccination centers in Manila, Marikina, and Antipolo.]

She also noted that there are other local chief executives who claim they have yet to receive vaccine allocation from the national government, especially in densely populated cities and far-flung municipalities.

To date, the country has received over 9 million vaccine doses, of which some 8 million have been deployed and 6 million administered. On top of around 1 million doses still in government facilities, the country also received 3.2 million Pfizer and Sinovac vaccines on Thursday.

Binay emphasized the need for these doses to be immediately released to serve their purpose of protecting the Filipinos from the virus and helping the country recover from the pandemic-induced economic slump.

Lahat naman tayo gustong maging maayos na at manumbalik na ang ekonomiya (We all want our economy to improve and rebound)," the senator said.

"If these vaccines remain stored in warehouses and do not reach the LGUs on time, not only will we be seeing a lot of empty tents and chairs--we are exposing a big percentage of our workforce to more contagious variants, she added.

Earlier, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. apologized to local governments after delivery of vaccine doses got delayed due to supply issues.

He also assured that more allocations will be given to them as more shots come in and supply stabilizes by June 14.

The country started its immunization program in March by inoculating healthcare workers. They were followed by senior citizens and people with comorbidity, while vaccination of economic frontliners only started this month.

The government hopes to inoculate 50% to 60% of the entire population, giving more focus on Metro Manila, to reach immediate protection.

Latest data, however, shows only 1.6 million individuals have been fully vaccinated against the deadly virus.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 11)  The Eastern Visayas Inter-Agency Task Force has asked the national government to raise the region's lockdown status to general community quarantine (GCQ).

In its Resolution No. 28 dated June 9 but released on Thursday, the regional IATF said it recommends the raising of the quarantine classification imposed in Eastern Visayas, which is currently under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

"In order to contain the surge and facilitate the implementation of necessary measures by local government units and regional line agencies, it is imperative to impose a higher community quarantine classification," the document read.

On June 9, the Department of Health in Eastern Visayas reported a record 361 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the region's tally to 22,766.

Nationwide, the number of infections reached 1,293,687 on Thursday after 7,485 more people tested positive for COVID-19.
The politics and governance from the previous 116 days was much the same: Issues around the economy, health care, guns and taxes rose and fell with an unpredictability seemingly driven by gravity, only at a more forceful clip this year.
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!
Arriving on campus for the first time as a freshman can be stressful for a multitude of reasons, so keeping yourself busy is key to settling into a healthy routine. In order to get into this new college lifestyle, Virginia Tech provides its students with plenty of opportunities outside the c
I've been a reporter and editor at Missouri community newspapers for 35 years and joined the Columbia Missourian in 2003. My emphasis at the Missourian is on local government and elections. You can reach me at swaffords@missouri.edu or at 573-884-5366.

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The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Microsoft has revolutionized work for decades now. Its thanks to them in part that so many organizations have continued to function despite the chaos of a global pandemic. Modern knowledge workers rely on Windows devices to communicate, collaborate, and simply work from anywhere; they are the backbone for the modern digital workplace. Indeed, research tells us that an overwhelming 90% of IT roadmaps are defined by Microsoft updates, policies, and technology.

Yet as a Microsoft user and expert, I cant help but reflect on the gaps in Windows devices that have a negative impact on their users digital experiences. Not only that, they have also caused some of the worst security breaches and cost companies millions to maintain. And so, herein are my personal five asks of Microsoft to make a good experience, great.

Please fix the patching problem

Just the thought of ransomware is enough to cause IT teams endless sleepless nights. I suspect that insomnia may be due to the excessive toll it takes on them to simply get patches out; unbelievably, it can take companies up to four months to patch vulnerabilities. Its common knowledge that Microsoft cant be trusted to patch software. Can we change that please for the peace of mind of every SecOps professional?

Please, can you start working faster?

I talk about real-time IT a lot and Im often amused by the response of Microsoft loyalists who say, but Microsoft does work in real-time! Last I checked that was far from reality. Lets take Intune as an example. A refresh cycle for Windows 10 PC is eight hours. Imagine what an end user could have done on their device in that time. Actually, dont  its terrifying. So, Microsoft, please can you build systems that are truly real-time?

Please, can you make it easier to rebuild or replace devices?

This one really gets me because of the sheer amount of work it takes for any IT professional to issue a new device or rebuild one. I say this of course because Im also an Apple user whos gotten used to being able to swap out my old iPhone with a new one without moaning and groaning about some of my apps, photos, or settings being missing. Its like nothing ever happened (except it has  I have some really cool new features and a much better camera). Isnt it time Microsoft automated that build process, too?

Please, can your systems talk to others?

Integration is so important in the digital workplace. With so many application and services in existence, cohesion and collaboration are exceptionally important. One of the big challenges I see with Microsoft is its lack of integration with pivotal IT services, such as IT Service Management tools. For example, Ive heard countless stories during the pandemic about that dreaded VPN issue that requires every affected employee to call the service desk for access and IT support to use remote control technology to fix it. Surely not?

Please, can we get some more analytics?

I personally find Microsofts MyAnalytics feature useful to visualize how Im spending my own time and my colleagues time. It helps me be more productive and resourceful. But thats only one piece of the puzzle. Our productivity levels are affected by everything from OS crashes and app upgrades to slow-running devices. Thats one reason for the boom in Digital Experience Monitoring solutions in the market.

Its incredibly difficult for IT organizations to know when employees have a bad experience and do something about it quickly and at scale. The way to solve that is for Microsoft to offer automated experience and sentiment gathering for all devices. After all, every IT professional wants to know when theyre doing a good job.

I acknowledge that these arent small asks for Microsoft, but they are important. If these gaps are closed, Microsoft will be able to take even more credit for helping enterprises globally respond better in the post-pandemic economy. Thats something to really be proud of.
Oh, great.

Microsoft is going to upend Windows again. Just great.

Come June 24, according to Microsoft, the company will unveil or display or reveal all or something or not much at all about the "next generation" of Windows, whatever it'll be called  say, Windows 10 21H2, Windows 10 something-something, Windows 11, Windows 12 or ... wait, we just got a massive headache. We need to lie down for a bit.

Scuttlebutt  one of the most underrated words in the English language  has been bubbling for months about Microsoft's next stab at Windows, at least concerning its user interface (UI) changes, the project dubbed "Sun Valley." Whether there will be substantial under-the-hood alterations or modifications, or a slew of new features and functionality, hasn't been made clear, even by those predisposed to speculate.

What is known? How about this: Microsoft put down a marker six years ago when it called Windows 10 "the last Windows ever." Renege on that and there will be some very angry commercial customers.

Why? Because Microsoft make an unspoken pact with those customers. In return for abiding a dramatic break with tradition and adopting (and adapting to) the very disruptive every-six-months update tempo of Windows 10, customers believed they would never again face the enormous task of mass migrations to a drastically different OS gestalt and the then-necessary retraining of workers on a brand new OS  something they had been forced to do since at least the 1990s every three or four or five or even six years.

(The interval varied depending on how long businesses stuck with a single SKU; long stretches for the better-built operating systems, such as Windows 95, Windows XP and Windows 7; shorter spans, if any at all, for the losers like Windows 98, Windows Vista and Windows 8.)

So when Microsoft starts throwing out phrases like "most significant updates ... of the past decade"  a historical span that encompassed not only Windows 10's introduction in 2015 but also the even-more-radical Windows 8, failure though it was, that debuted in 2012  one can't help but wonder what they're thinking in Redmond.

What, exactly, might Microsoft do? We've assembled some possibilities, and what they may mean for enterprises relying on Windows.

Take it and just shut up

Scenario: Microsoft decides that everyone, including those running Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education, receive the new-whatever-it-is Windows immediately.

Such a situation would be in keeping with Microsoft's long tradition of forcing customers to kowtow, and Windows 10's more specific don't-ask-questions philosophy where updates have been offered with, at some point, no option to decline.

Here, businesses that manage their Windows environments will be able to decide when to deploy the new OS (if that's what it really is) as usual by deferring (or not) via Windows Update for Business (WUfB), Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Endpoint Manager's Configuration Manager, and the like.

Assuming the "new" Windows takes the spot that would have gone to Windows 10 21H2, customers will be able to defer a refresh only as long as their current version remains in support.

IDG/Gregg Keizer

To continue to run pre-2021 Windows 10 as long as possible, admins should migrate to 20H2, last year's second-half refresh (if they haven't already). Once on 20H2, administrators can string out its lifespan as long as they dare, then deploy to a newer version  albeit also a "new" Windows  using their standard toolset.

If they've been upgrading annually, they could do that in this case (shown as the red arrow in in the image above) by shifting to the 21H2 version (or whatever it's called). Alternately, admins could jump to the next 18-month version, 22H1 (blue arrow) or toss the dice and opt for 22H2. The latter would be preferable because it would be supported for 30 months but the transition between 20H2 and 22H2 might be tough for some firms, as there would be only a few months  six, maximum  of overlap between the end of 20H2 and the beginning of 22H2.

If Microsoft pulls this, Microsoft's prime customers will have until May 9, 2023, Windows 10 20H2's support-all-gone date, before they have to face the new bling. After that date, it's either go unsupported or deal with the changed Windows, whatever it is.

Okay, we'll let you have Windows 10 one last time

Scenario: Microsoft takes pity on enterprise and splits the second-half Windows release into two options, one that lets commercial customers keep running the "normal" Windows 10 for an additional year.

According to a report by Windows Latest, a since-altered support document hinted at two releases this fall. One, claimed the outlet, would be a traditional minor update/upgrade to Windows 10 delivered as 21H2 to enterprises. A second would be the new Windows, which would be handed out only to consumers, say those running Windows 10 Home, and perhaps also unmanaged Windows Pro devices.

By providing a Windows 10 21H2 minor update this fall, Microsoft would let Enterprise users postpone the new Windows reaching Windows 10 Enterprise users. 21H2 won't get its retirement papers until sometime in the first half of 2024, like April or May. Take a look at this image; we've marked 21H2 with a red rectangle.

IDG/Gregg Keizer

From 21H2, customers would bite the bullet and accept the new Windows, whether that's earlier (upgrading to 22H2, shown by the red arrow in Figure 2) or later (migrating to 23H2, the violet arrow).

The difference between this scenario and the first we laid out is 12 months, the difference between 20H2's and 21H2's end-of-support deadline. If Microsoft offers something similar, enterprises will have almost three years from today to prep employees for the new, if not so final, version of Windows.

Knock yourself out ... turn off the new if you want

Scenario: Microsoft provides group policies that allow corporate admins to switch off individual changes to Windows New or disable the complete UI/UX makeover.

At times, Microsoft is remarkably lenient when it comes to enterprise customers, letting them block aspects of even the current Windows 10 using group policies deployed to an organization's PCs (or just some of those PCs). Other times, notably when it upgraded Internet Explorer back in the day, it even offered "block kits" that temporarily kept the newest version from being offered PCs.

While it would be presumptuous to assume that Microsoft will allow customers to create a split Windows, one version for all except those versed in group policies, in perpetuity  why would Microsoft cede ultimate control of what Windows represents to customers?  it's possible that the firm would do so for a short stretch.

It's hard to see how Microsoft would let such policies live for long, though; if it wanted to give enterprises a long-term solution, it would provide Windows 10 21H2 to Enterprise/Education customers, thus giving them until early 2024 to deal with the new UI/UX. A year, perhaps, might be more aligned with Microsoft's general philosophy toward enterprise customers: Give them time to get things sorted out, but refuse to back off what it believes is best.

You want Windows 10? Fine, but you get nothing new. Ever

Scenario: Maybe it's no coincidence that Microsoft plans to launch the next Long-term Support Channel (LTSC) edition of Windows 10 in the second half of the year.

In many ways, Windows LTSC  originally it went by LTSB, for Long-term Support Branch, but don't ask  is what many enterprise admins may want most if Microsoft radically changes how Windows looks and works. Unfortunately, Microsoft has hobbled LTSC by denying support to Office 365's locally-installed applications and more recently, halving LTSC's support from 10 to five years.

Desperate admins may reach for LTSC to put off UI/UX changes to Windows, assuming that this year's release  which hasn't been assigned a name, so it could be marked as either 2021 or 2022  draws content from the current Windows 10, say 21H1 or even 20H2.

Microsoft would have to relax restrictions it's put into place on LTSC, notably the exclusion of support for Office 365's applications, to make it a credible alternative to Nadella's "most significant updates" due this fall. What are the chances of that happening?

Don't bet on it.

If Redmond went this route, though, it could give enterprises a way to run Windows-as-they-understand-it until, say, late 2026.
L'Oreal Canada has celebrated the expansion of its distribution center, located in Saint-Laurent, Canada.

Related: LOreal Opening California HQ

This expansion project, called Project Progress, which allows L'Oreal Canada to add 20,000 pallets of storage capacity on a 95,000 square foot area, which represents a storage density 57% higher than what the L'Oreal Canadian subsidiary had until now.

In attendance of the inauguration includes the project's partners, namely Investissement Quebec, the Ministere de l'Economie et de l'Innovation du Quebec and Montreal International.

Frank Kollmar, president and CEO of L'Oreal Canada, said during the inauguration: "This expansion allows us to modernize our processes and equipment in order to continue to support L'Oreal Canada's growth, prepare for the addition of new brands and continue the operational excellence of our digital component, which is the major growth lever."

Hubert Bolduc, president of Investissement Quebec International, said, "With this major investment, L'Oreal Canada confirms that Quebec and its metropolis remain a destination of choice for major international players who wish to open up to new markets and take advantage of a constantly evolving ecosystem. Our team will continue to work to promote the advantages of investing here over the long term, while working alongside subsidiaries of foreign companies to help them prosper and continue to invest in Quebec."

Stephane Paquet, CEO of Montreal International, said, "Groupe L'Oreal, with its Canadian head office in Montreal, is a great example of a French multinational company with solid roots in the city and a drive to innovate. Montreal is an anchor point for L'Oreal to serve its clients across North America and accelerate its digital transformation, thanks to the support of a pool of qualified talent and a diverse business ecosystem."

Alan DeSousa, mayor of the borough of Saint-Laurent said, "Saint-Laurent is proud to welcome L'Oreal Canada's Progress project to its territory! The expansion and modernization of the storage capacities of the only distribution center in Canada for the world leader in cosmetics will make it possible to respond to the growth of online commerce, which has been further increased by the pandemic. After having shown extraordinary resilience, Laurentian businesses continue to innovate for a strong and sustainable recovery!"
4 Myth: Finland, The Land Of Secularism

Due to its location, Finland is lumped together with the other "godless" territories of the UK, former Soviet republics, and Scandinavia. Finland is undeniably a bastion of atheism, but just mind the giant asterisk when you step off the plane.

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For a spot with supposedly little interest in gods, it's one of the more pressing social issues. Minorities live in a constant state of paranoia due to perceived hostilities from rival religions. This year's most noteworthy political scandal (it's Finland, so pretty much the only real scandal) concerned a Finnish MP who invoked the Bible to denigrate homosexuality. Yup, Finland has bible thumpers, a "Bible Belt," and their own version of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

xat-ch/Pixabay And, of course, it has Lapland, where Santa lives.

This is the part where your head will hurt. The membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is somehow nearly 80% of the population in a country where almost no one believes in God. Yet, the nation of mostly non-believers doesn't have any conception of separation of church and state. Rather they enshrined religion into government, albeit with their own unique, illogical spin.

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In Finland, religion is almost treated like a gym membership; you keep forgetting to cancel each month out of laziness. Private religious schools are rare; however, religion is compulsory coursework in public schools. Make sense? No? Well, it's not supposed to. Classes are based on your religious affiliation; that is if they can find trained personnel. While the traditional Lutheran sect dwindles, asylum seekers swell the ranks of Muslims, Anglicans, Jehovah's Witnesses, and neo-Pagans. Finnish teachers are scrambling to educate themselves on Yezidism, Sufism, and Babism, in addition to shamanic yodeling and a religion that worships a cosmic bear. Whatever your faith, Finland's got you covered. It's the law.
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The Biden administration is laying the groundwork for a renewed push to encourage more Arab countries to sign accords with Israel and working to strengthen existing deals after last month's devastating war in the Gaza Strip interrupted those diplomatic efforts.

The embrace of the so-called Abraham Accords is a rare carryover of a signature Trump administration policy by President Joe Biden and other Democrats.

The Trump administration put U.S. clout and incentives into landing the country-by-country pacts by four Arab states last year, easing enmity and isolation for the Jewish state in the Middle East that had dated back to Israel's 1948 founding. The Biden administration saw significant prospects of several other Arab governments signing accords soothing and normalizing relations with Israel. U.S. officials have declined to publicly identify the countries they regard as promising prospects.

Sudan, which signed a general declaration of peaceful intent but has not yet signed on to diplomatic relations with Israel, had been a prospect. Oman, which has a policy of non-interference that allows it to be a broker across the Middle Easts fault lines, long has been seen by Westerners as a likely contender.

But the 11-day war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas militant rulers last month has complicated U.S.-backed diplomacy for new Abraham accords.

The fighting has strengthened the conviction of opponents of normalization with Israel, activist Doura Gambo said in Sudan. Sudanese were already divided over their governments agreement last year to become one of the four Arab states signing accords. In Sudans case, the Trump administration offered financial relief from U.S. sanctions.

Last month's bloodshed, which killed 254 Palestinians  including 66 children and at least 22 members of one family  resonated deeply with the Arab public, including in the other countries that had signed accords with Israel: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Thirteen people died in Israel, including two children and one soldier.

The Biden administration is considering appointing a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, to a Mideast role that would marshal and potentially expand the country-by-country accords between Israel and Mideast governments.

Two people familiar with the matter confirmed Shapiro was being considered for the job, as first reported by The Washington Post. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

U.S. officials also are working to encourage more business, education and other ties among the four Arab states and Israel. They hope visible success there will also promote the bilateral accords in the region, at the same time the U.S. works to advance resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Last year, the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country in over two decades to establish ties with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan in 1979 and 1994, respectively. It was a move that bypassed the Palestinians, who saw it as betrayal.

The Abraham Accords include a general declaration of support for peaceful relations in the Middle East among Jews, Muslims and Christians, all followers of religions linked to the patriarch Abraham. The Trump administration saw the accords partly as paving a path toward full ties with Israel, including in security and intelligence cooperation to counter common rivals, such as Iran.

The deals former President Donald Trump struck were an important achievement, one that not only we support, but one wed like to build on, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week.

In addition, were looking at countries that may want to join in and, and take part and begin to normalize their own relations with Israel. That, too, has been very much part of conversations Ive had with, with several of my counterparts, Blinken added.

Opponents of these deals, however, argue that they undermine Arab consensus around only recognizing Israel when it resumes serious peace talks with the Palestinians that lead to tangible concessions.

These agreements were never about the peace process, said Marwan Muasher, a former foreign minister of Jordan, who charges that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saw the accords as an alternative to peace-making with the Palestinians.

Were they helpful to the peace process? No, they were not, Muasher said. They gave Israel the false impression that it can forge peace agreements with Arab states as a substitute for coming to terms with the Palestinians.

Supporters of the country-by-country accords say isolating Israel failed to overcome decades of stalemate on Palestinians demand for their own state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

As many ways as the Biden administration will depart from Trump policy in the region, there will be places where it sees an interest in continuity, said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who spoke to officials in Oman on a trip immediately before last months Gaza war erupted.

Before any new efforts on the accords move forward, big political and pragmatic developments need to fall into place in the region. Eyes are on Israel at the moment to see how a possible new coalition government led by a new prime minister may affect Israeli-Palestinian relations, especially in the aftermath of the Gaza war.

The Knesset is set to vote on Sunday on whether to confirm the new government and end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus 12-year rule. If it does, Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett will become prime minister. Bennett opposes Palestinian statehood.

The accords signed by the four Arab nations so far seem solidly in place despite the strain of last month's war. So too do the big incentives that the Trump administration threw in to help close the deals, such as U.S. recognition of the disputed territory of Western Sahara for Morocco.

In the UAE, a Gulf financial hub that has been the most enthusiastic about establishing ties with Israel, Emirati political analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdulla said the government is gauging public sentiment, but can also control the street and sometimes defy whatever public opposition there is.

The UAE have taken this decision. They knew exactly where they are and knew the risk, and they are not going back on it, he said.

-

Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City, Kellman from Jerusalem and Batrawy from Dubai. AP diplomatic writer Matthew Lee contributed from Washington. AP writer Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem, and AP writer Samy Magdy contributed from Cairo.
ST. IVES, England (AP)  The Group of Seven nations are set to commit to sharing at least 1 billion coronavirus shots with the world, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday, with half coming from the U.S. and 100 million from the U.K. as President Joe Biden urged allies to join in speeding the pandemics end and bolstering the strategic position of the world's wealthiest democracies.

Johnson's announcement on the eve of the G-7 leaders' summit in England came hours after Biden committed to donating 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and previewed a coordinated effort by the advanced economies to make vaccination widely and speedily available everywhere.

Were going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners, Biden said, adding that on Friday the G-7 nations would join the U.S. in outlining their vaccine donation commitments. The G-7 also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

The prime minister's office said the first 5 million U.K. doses would be shared in the coming weeks, with the remainder coming over the next year. Biden's own commitment was on top of the 80 million doses he has already pledged to donate by the end of June.

At the G7 Summit I hope my fellow leaders will make similar pledges so that, together, we can vaccinate the world by the end of next year and build back better from coronavirus," Johnson said in a statement referencing the U.S. president's campaign slogan.

Earlier Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the U.S. commitment and said Europe should do the same. He said France would share at least 30 million doses globally by year's end.

I think the European Union needs to have at least the same level of ambition as the United States, he said at a news conference. He added that time was of the essence, saying, Its almost more important to say how many (doses) we deliver the next month than making promises to be fulfilled in 18 months from now."

The G-7 leaders have faced mounting pressure to outline their global vaccine sharing plans, especially as inequities in supply around the world have become more pronounced. In the U.S., there is a large vaccine stockpile and the demand for shots has dropped precipitously in recent weeks.

Biden predicted the U.S. doses and the overall G-7 commitment would supercharge the global vaccination campaign, adding that the U.S. doses come with no strings attached.

Our vaccine donations don't include pressure for favors or potential concessions, Biden said. "Were doing this to save lives, to end this pandemic, thats it."

He added: "Our values call on us to do everything that we can to vaccinate the world against COVID-19.

The U.S. commitment is to buy and donate 500 million Pfizer doses for distribution through the global COVAX alliance to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union, bringing the first steady supply of mRNA vaccine to the countries that need it most.

The Pfizer agreement came together with some urgency in the last four weeks at Bidens direction, said a senior White House official, both to meet critical needs overseas and to be ready for announcement at the G-7. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans, added that the Biden administration was to apply the same wartime posture applied to the vaccine rollout in the U.S. to its effort to share vaccines globally.

Biden said the 500 million U.S.-manufactured vaccines will be shipped starting in August, with the goal of distributing 200 million by the end of the year. The remaining 300 million doses would be shipped in the first half of 2022. A price tag for the doses was not released, but the U.S. is now set to be COVAX's largest vaccine donor in addition to its single largest funder with a $4 billion commitment.

The well-funded global alliance has faced a slow start to its vaccination campaign, as richer nations have locked up billions of doses through contracts directly with drug manufacturers. Bidens move, officials said, was meant to ensure a substantial amount of manufacturing capacity remains open to the wealthy nations. Just last month, the European Commission signed an agreement to purchase as many as 1.8 billion Pfizer doses in the next two years, a significant share of the companys upcoming production  though the bloc reserved the right to donate some of its doses to COVAX.

COVAX has distributed just 81 million doses globally and parts of the world, particularly in Africa, remain vaccine deserts.

White House officials said the ramped-up distribution program fits a theme Biden plans to hit frequently during his week in Europe: that Western democracies, and not authoritarian states, can deliver the most good for the world.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Wednesday that G-7 leaders are converging around the idea that vaccine supply can be increased in several ways, including by countries sharing more of their own doses, helping to increase global manufacturing capacity and doing more across the chain of custody from when the vaccine is produced to when it is injected into someone in the developing world.

Biden, in his remarks, harked back to the Detroit-area workers who 80 years ago built tanks and planes that helped defeat the threat of global fascism in World War II.

They built what became known as the arsenal of democracy, Biden said. Now a new generation of American men and women, working with todays latest technology, is going to build a new arsenal to defeat the current enemy of world peace, health and stability: COVID-19.

He noted that Pfizer's main COVID-19 vaccine plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is not far from Detroit.

Last week, the White House unveiled plans to donate an initial allotment of 25 million doses of surplus vaccine overseas, mostly through the World Health Organization-backed COVAX program, promising infusions for South and Central America, Asia, Africa and others.

Officials say a quarter of that excess will be kept in reserve for emergencies and for the U.S. to share directly with allies and partners, including South Korea, Taiwan and Ukraine. Johnson said the U.K. would follow a similar model with its doses, holding 20% in reserve for bilateral agreements but sending the vast majority to COVAX.

China and Russia have shared their domestically produced vaccines with some needy countries, often with hidden strings attached. Sullivan said Biden does want to show  rallying the rest of the worlds democracies  that democracies are the countries that can best deliver solutions for people everywhere.

The U.S.-produced mRNA vaccines have also proven to be more effective against both the original strain and more dangerous variants of COVID-19 than the more conventional vaccines produced by China and Russia. Some countries that have had success in deploying those conventional vaccines have nonetheless seen cases spike.

___

Miller reported from Washington. Lawless reported from Falmouth, England. AP writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Jonathan Lemire in Plymouth, England, contributed to this report.
BRIDGEPORT  A restaurant owner shamed on social media last fall by the governor for breaking coronavirus rules has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a recent downtown party where two people were killed.

Police said they took Mitch Noel, owner of Ten20 Lounge on the East End, into custody Wednesday afternoon after securing an arrest warrant to charge him with second-degree reckless endangerment.

Bond was set at $2,500. Noel is scheduled to appear June 23 at the Fairfield County Courthouse on Gold Hill Street.

Noel, 37, is the third individual charged by local law enforcement over an early morning May 16 party at 1023 Main St.  leased by the Temple of the Way House of Worship  where Charles Barnes, 38, and Norman Peters, 40, were shot and killed around 2 a.m.

Last week, police arrested Josiah Israel, Temple of the Ways pastor, and Christopher Mojica, on charges of illegal sale of alcohol, conspiracy to commit illegal sale of alcohol and second-degree reckless endangerment. Following the deadly shootings, Israel told Hearst Connecticut Media his storefront church subleased the party space, and Mojica said he organized the May 16 event.

The two men had also linked Noel and Ten20 to the party, saying the restaurant had partnered with Mojica to provide food and drinks.

They had their own party (at Ten20). We came to an agreement that Id use my spot for the after party, Mojica previously said.

City and state health officials shuttered Ten20, 1450 Barnum Ave., last fall for holding what appeared to be a packed, maskless Oct. 24 bash that violated capacity and mask-wearing guidelines businesses had to follow for much of the past 15 months to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The incident received statewide attention Oct. 27 after Gov. Ned Lamont through Twitter circulated online video footage of the festivities as one example of why coronavirus cases were increasing in Connecticut at that time.

This is what were talking about when we mention establishments not obeying the rules, Lamont tweeted. This was in Bridgeport over the weekend. ... This isnt fair to all of the restaurants across CT looking out for their customers.

Noel, in an interview afterward, said it was a private birthday party and the online footage Lamont tweeted was of the finale, when guests who had been outdoors got cold and went inside as the event was wrapping up.

Yes, the person who had the event had a lot of people come. ... We had people outside and inside. It got cold outside so they came inside as we were closing. ... It did get out of hand, but we did separate people. (And) the videos circulating are people coming in as we were shutting down, Noel said then.

He appealed the forced closure with the state and, following an inspection by health officials, was allowed to reopen in December under a three-month probationary period. Noels attorney in that matter, Reine Boyer, said at the time of the agreement that her client was not trying to be difficult.

This business is their livelihood and they want to be able to provide quality services to the city and run their business, Boyer said. But they are also mindful and very much concerned about the residents of the city and anyone who comes to patronize their establishment as far as safety.

Neither Boyer nor Noel could be immediately reached for comment.

It is not yet known whether the city and state will fine Israel, Mojia and Noel for violating COVID regulations May 16. While on May 19 most of those rules were lifted, the three could face a $10,000 penalty, according to the state health department, because on the night of the gathering at Temple of the Way a midnight curfew was still in place.

The two homicides remain under investigation. Police Capt. Kevin Gilleran said investigators continue to chase down several leads. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Martin Heanue at 203-581-5242 or the police tips line at 203-576-TIPS.

In a related story, on Tuesday Bridgeports Civil Service Commission voted to terminate a rookie police officer who, days after graduating the academy, attended the party inside Temple of the Way while off-duty and lost her badge and other personal belongings.

That officer  Kaitlyn Edwards  had initially been placed on paid administrative status and Acting Police Chief Rebeca Garcia subsequently recommended she be terminated.
SOUTH WINDSOR  Funeral services for Jessica Edwards will began Friday in Windsor as police continue to review evidence in her case.

Friends and family are encouraged to wear cheerful colors to represent Edwards cheerful spirit during the services, according to a post on the GoFundMe page organized by Tenisha Duncan for Edwards family and 7-month-old son. All attendees must wear masks.

Services begin Friday with the wake at The Lodge, 130 Deerfield Road in Windsor. Services begin at 6 p.m. and are expected to continue through 9 p.m.

The funeral ceremony will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Rehoboth Church of God, 1170 Blue Hills Ave. in Bloomfield, on Saturday. The burial will follow at Mount Saint Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield.

South Windsor Police Sgt. Mark Cleverdon said there were no significant updates in the case to report as of Thursday.

We are in constant contact with the States Attorneys Office in Hartford and are still reviewing evidence and sharing information with them, he said.

Cleverdon said investigators are also still waiting on the full autopsy report. The states chief medical examiner ruled Edwards cause of death to be asphyxia by compression of torso and neck, with the manner of death ruled a homicide.

Edwards, 30, was reported missing to police on May 10. Her body was recovered on May 21. Her husband, Tahj Hutchinson, was taken into custody the same day Edwards body was found and he was charged with manslaughter in connection with her death.

Cleverdon has previously said investigators hope to elevate that to a murder charge once additional evidence is processed, and once they have the final autopsy report. Its unclear how long that could take, but investigators are hoping to have more information before Hutchinsons next court appearance on July 15, Cleverdon said on Thursday.

In his arrest affidavit, police allege that Hutchinson confessed to killing Edwards after a weekend of arguing when their fight turned physical on the morning of May 10. He later dumped her body in the woods in East Hartford, where police later recovered her body.
Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

HARTFORD  City police will be handing over Stop & Shop gift cards in various amounts in exchange for guns during a buyback event on Saturday.

The event will be held at the Johnson Stewart Community Center at 127 Martin St. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
BRIDGEPORT  While most of the states coronavirus-related business restrictions were lifted last month, on Wednesday a local property manager was still fighting a $10,000 penalty for allegedly breaking those COVID-19 health and safety rules last winter  only one of two such fines levied during the pandemic.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health on Dec. 31 fined Robert Pierce, manager of a limited liability corporation that owns 456 Connecticut Ave., for hosting an allegedly illegal party there Dec. 20 that resulted in two still-unsolved homicides.

The $10,000 penalty was established in Gov. Ned Lamonts November executive order to crack down on businesses that flouted capacity limitations, a curfew and other restrictions put in place last year to help stop the illness spread.

Beside the Bridgeport case, the health department said a New Britain establishment was also fined $10,000 under Lamonts executive order.

This is a pretty straightforward case we have here, Kerry Colson, an assistant attorney general representing the health department, said during an online appeal hearing Wednesday morning. The governor issued an executive order ... and that allows for a $10,000 civil penalty to the owner of the non-residential premises who violates the sector rules.

In Pierces case, Colson said, Bridgeport police found evidence that on Dec. 20 last year, 456 Connecticut Ave. was the scene of a commercial gathering that exceeded 25 or more people.

The teleconference was hosted by the health departments hearing office with Olinda Morales, a staff attorney, presiding. Morales explained the parties could present evidence and, based on that, she will at a later time issue a written decision.

If either the state or Pierce is unhappy with her conclusion, they can request the hearing office hold an oral argument, she said.

Pierce represented himself Wednesday. His defense was the same as he had stated in the appeal he filed in early January  that his tenants should be liable for paying the $10,000 and not he.

Is every property owner and land owner responsible for what happens with their tenants? Pierce said.

According to a one-year lease from last September that Pierce had filed with his appeal in January, Pierce rented the property to Latisha Nelson and Travis Jackson for social gathering, bar, church.

Neither Nelson nor Jackson appeared to be participating in Wednesdays teleconference and could not be reached for comment.

Initially Lamonts administration incorrectly referred to Pierce last December as the owner of Mangoz when announcing the $10,000 fine. Mangoz actual owner, Marlon Pinnock, told Hearst Connecticut Media he had closed months earlier, but Pierce had never removed the signage.

While at the time of the homicide the Mangoz sign was still attached to the building, Nelson and Jackson had registered an establishment named Bar FourFiftySix at the address of Pierces building with the Secretary of the States office on Oct. 1.

Pierce also expressed frustration Wednesday that, because he was not an attorney, he could not cross-examine a pair of Bridgeport police officers  Captain Brian Fitzgerald and Patrolman Eduardo Vedarrde  who testified under oath during the video appeal hearing for the health department that, based on witness accounts and video footage, an over-capacity party had taken place at 456 Connecticut Ave.

Vedarrde, who testified he arrived on the scene around two minutes after shots were fired, found a very chaotic situation with a lot of people running away from the club through the front door and through the back door.

My estimate was going on 40-plus, he testified.

Fitzgerald, who said he arrived on scene about 25 minutes later, testified he observed 30 to 40 people outside who clearly came from inside 456 Connecticut Avenue along with numerous parked cars. He said Stratford and state police were contacted to help with crowd control.

And, Fitzgerald said, inside it was warm as if it had been recently heated with wet floors, overturned furniture, discarded clothing and costume jewelry, alcoholic beverages, mixers and cupcakes laid out on a bar.

Wednesdays appeal hearing entered executive session for about 13 minutes for the state to share video footage of the crime scene. That was done privately because the homicides remain an open investigation.

Arriving officers found three gunshot wound victims who were rushed to Bridgeport Hospital. Two  19-year-old Jaheim Warren of Derby and 24-year-old Andrew Stephenson of Bridgeport  were pronounced dead at the hospital.

Pierce said he was not present that night.

Still, he said Fitzgeralds and Vedarrdes testimony had a lot of holes while offering little to no evidence or specifics and took issue with Vedarrdes claim he saw people leaving from the front and back upon arrival.

As far as the front and back door, you cannot see the front and back door at the same time, Pierce testified. Its impossible.
BRIDGEPORT  A man was shot in the stomach late Wednesday night, a city official said.

Around 10:30 p.m., the citys 911 dispatch center received multiple calls about a person shot inside a location in the 500 block of Pequonnock Street, said Scott Appleby, the citys director of emergency communications and emergency management.

The victim, who was shot in the stomach, was rushed to the hospital by paramedics, Appleby said. He said there was no further information on the extent of the victims injuries immediately available.

Detectives continue to investigate.

Anyone with information is asked to call the tips line at 203-576-TIPS.
STRATFORD  School administrators and cops topped the list of the towns highest paid employees in 2020.

Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson, who will leave the job at the end of the month, was the towns highest paid employee, with compensation totaling $233,509.27, according to data provided in response to a Freedom of Information request from the Connecticut Post.

On the town side of the books, Stratford Police Lt. Antonio Santos was the highest paid employee for the second straight year, bringing home a total of $214,469.49.

Less than half of that total represents Santos salary  $102,032.89. He made $65,057.90 in overtime pay. And he brought in $47,305.50 in private duty pay for which the town is compensated.

The next seven highest paid employees were also police officers.

The ninth and 10th were Assistant Fire Chiefs Timothy Brennan and Douglas Reitmeyer, who took home $163,091.94 and $162,010.94, respectively.

The two highest salaries among town employees are those of Police Chief Joseph McNeil  $127.228.67  and Fire Chief Brian Lampart  $123,481.60.

Mayor Laura Hoydick is 25th on the salary list at $106,812.57, which ranks 143rd in terms of total compensation among town employees.

For the Board of Education, Assistant Superintendent Linda Gejda was second to Robinson in pay for 2020, at $174,172.34, followed by Director of Pupil Services Heather Borges, at $171,263.34.

Next came principals of the towns two high schools  Bunnells Nancy Dowling and Stratford High Schools John Jack Dellapiano  and Director of Technology Edward Molloy, who each earned exactly $166,972.08.

The towns salary schedule is available online as are its collective bargaining agreements. The school district has a web page for its contracts as well.

The school districts contracts with its outgoing and incoming superintendents arent on its website, but the Board of Education disclosed them recently in response to a Freedom of Information request from this reporter.
The Federal Reserve last week issued a proposed rule to govern funds transfers over its FedNow Service that would establish a new, comprehensive set of rules and set out legal rights and obligations of the Reserve Banks and FedNow Service participants. In a new Regulatory Alert sent to members Tuesday, NAFCU seeks credit union feedback on the proposal.

The Regulatory Alert details how the issue impacts credit unions, noting the initial launch is set to include core clearing and settlement functionality, with other features such as a request-for-payment capability and tools to support participants in their handling of payment inquiries, reconcilements, and certain exceptions. The Fed will continue to review the service and augment and enhance features in subsequent releases as needed.

After announcing participants in the FedNow Services pilot program, the Federal Reserve in February released its updated launch timing, indicating the Feds real-time payments system will be ready in 2023. NAFCU has previously shared with the Fed ways in which credit unions and their members would benefit from affordable faster payments capabilities and has encouraged an accelerated launch.
People on bikes need protected lanes, not more regulations. Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images

On a recent morning, State Senator Simcha Felder was traveling down Coney Island Avenue, the miniature highway that slices through the center of his district, when he realized it was too easy for drivers like himself to kill people. I was driving to work, and I almost killed a cyclist who came out of nowhere and cut me off, he told the New York Post. I was so shaken by the experience that I said, Enough is enough. Felder had long been prepping a series of transportation bills, according to a spokesperson, but the incident spurred him to go public. And even though the lawmaker accurately diagnosed the underlying issue  it is not okay to almost kill someone while driving to work!  his proposed laws address nearly the opposite of the real problem. Instead of a solution that might, say, take street space away from the vehicles that kill, Felder dropped a four-bill package in the New York legislature on Monday attempting to stifle the growing number of completely unregulated bicycles, e-bikes, electric scooters, and dirt bikes/ATVs that he claims has turned New York City streets into the wild, wild West.

Felders plan is dubbed Vision 2.0, a play on Vision Zero, the citys initiative to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025 (and not, as it may sound like, a scaled-back goal of two deaths per year). The idea is to take the licensing, registration, and safety requirements for the operators of the large and powerful vehicles that are responsible for virtually all traffic deaths and extend those requirements to the operators of the smaller and less powerful vehicles  24 of whom, it should be noted, were killed by the operators of large and powerful vehicles last year. New York has a process in place to earn the privilege and responsibility of operating a motor vehicle on our streets. It includes education, licensure, registration, and enforceable safety regulations, says Felders statement. These bills expand the system currently in place to provide education, responsibility, and accountability for everyone using New York City streets. Three of Felders bills (some of which he has proposed before) would require all of New York Citys bike and scooter riders to wear a helmet and carry a license and a registration, including a plate thats prominently displayed on their vehicle. (The fourth bill is, in fact, an okay idea. It would require the DMV to add bike and scooter awareness to the drivers-ed exam, but its unclear why it was introduced now when an identical bill has already passed in the State Senate.)

At first glance, these bills seem like a decent idea: If everyone has to follow the same rules, surely streets would be safer, right? But simply regulating motorists doesnt necessarily prevent deaths. The Department of Transportations analysis of crash data from 2020  when we had the highest number of road deaths in 13 years  shows that the two top contributors to the staggeringly high figures were impaired driving and speeding. Surely all the regulations for operating a car or a truck were the same in 2020 as they were in 2019. So why the stark increase in deaths? Because it was the streets themselves  the overly wide, lockdown-emptied roads  that encouraged such deadly driving.

Walked out of the grocery store to see a driver who made an illegal U turn hit a delivery cyclist. Ambulance and FDNY arrived in less than 2 minutes after 911 call. pic.twitter.com/2Q3Q1SZqXz  Doug Gordon (@BrooklynSpoke) June 7, 2021

Adding regulations for cyclists and scooter riders is an idea that continues to surface perennially at the local, state, and even the federal level. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, who only recently learned how to use his citys own bike-share system, has previously proposed helmet laws (and licensing laws and registration laws) as part of his own unfounded claims that more bikes make streets unsafe. Despite the obvious concerns about how such laws might be enforced  which will almost certainly mean even more harassment of lower-income New Yorkers who rely on bikes for work  study after study has proven that adding more requirements deters biking and scooting and, in fact, ends up making streets less safe by nudging people into cars instead. Bike-share, in particular, with its extremely low barriers to entry (no vehicle to purchase, no gear required) has proven itself to be one of the greatest transportation success stories in U.S. history precisely because it encourages inexperienced riders to give it a go. Its also one of the safer modes of getting around. The average cyclist death rate is 21 deaths per 100 million trips; as Citi Bike surpassed 100 million trips last summer, there have only been two deaths on the system, something that many researchers have attributed to new bike lanes that accompanied the systems expansion.

In fact, thats the only proven way to prevent drivers from killing people on bikes (or e-bikes, or scooters, or dirt bikes, or ATVs): traffic-calming infrastructure that creates protected paths for everyone not in a car, while forcing everyone in a car to slow down. Such infrastructure would, for example, dramatically decrease the likelihood that anyone would be killed using the almost-three-mile stretch of Coney Island Avenue within Felders district, which, during a one-year period from 2018 to 2019, saw a total of 578 crashes  a stunning 1.6 crashes per day. This part of Coney Island Avenue is also where one of the most horrific cyclist deaths in recent city memory occurred, when an 18-year-old driver who was eventually charged with manslaughter sped at 61 miles per hour through a red light, T-boning an SUV that careered across an intersection, killing Jose Alzorriz as he waited on his bike for the light to change. Alzorriz  who was wearing a helmet, not in motion, and the only person in the crash who didnt have a license or registration to operate his vehicle  was the only person to die.

The legislative session ends on June 10, which makes it very unlikely that any of Felders bills will pass, and despite de Blasios approval of such laws locally, most New York City mayoral candidates have shrugged off similar suggestions as well. Meanwhile, eight bills known as the Crash Victim Rights & Safety Act, with policies that have been widely proven to reduce traffic deaths  some of which Felder has not shown support for in the past  are currently making their way through the state legislature. If Felder truly wanted to eliminate the possibility that politicians like himself might kill a cyclist on their way to the office, he would back the Crash Victim Rights & Safety Act, mandate protected bike lanes on all arterial streets in his district, and propose a law that all New York City elected officials commuting to work are required to ride the subway.
Four Vietnamese universities among the worlds elite

Four Vietnamese universities have made it into the list of top universities worldwide in the QS World University Rankings 2022, as released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a well-known UK-based educational organization, on June 9.









Ton Duc Thang University is named in the list for the first time, in the 1001-1200 Group

The rankings feature 1,300 of the worlds most prestigious universities in 93 countries and territories, based on a methodology that assesses each institution on six metrics, including academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio and international student ratio.



The Vietnam National University - Hanoi and the Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City featured in a group with numbers 801-1,000 of the best universities globally for the fourth consecutive time. The Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City is placed at 398th for academic reputation. Its ranking has improved significantly over the past three years.



Meanwhile, Ton Duc Thang University and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology are named in the list for the first time, in the 1001-1200 Group and 1201 Plus Group, respectively.



In Southeast Asia, Singapore has three educational institutions on the list with two in the top 15. Malaysia has 22, Indonesia 16, Thailand 10, and the Philippines four.



The USs Massachusetts Institute of Technology continued as the best university in the world for the 10th year in a row.



It was followed by Oxford, while Stanford and Cambridge are tied in third.
No one expects institutions  particularly universities, their lecturers and students  to be rigidly conformist.

Indeed, university offers the time and space for students to explore different intellectual arguments and try on political positions for size.

My old college Magdalen, which now finds itself at the centre of a furious row over a portrait of the Queen, has been extremely radical in its long history and often fomented national debate.

In 1687, the Fellows of the College took on the king himself, James II. The college president had died and James II twice tried to force the Fellows to accept his choice of a replacement. When they refused, James II demanded they be expelled. The king's behaviour sparked outrage across the country and the Fellows became heroes.

My old college Magdalen, which now finds itself at the centre of a furious row over a portrait of the Queen (pictured with Prince Philip in Tuvalu), has been extremely radical in its long history and often fomented national debate

Ignorant

Those heroic Fellows were taking a principled stance against a deeply unpopular king. They weren't a group of easily offended, privately educated students who want to remove a picture of perhaps the most popular monarch this country has ever seen  and a respected figure globally  on utterly nonsensical grounds.

The latest example of kneejerk wokery that has exploded at Magdalen, where graduate students of the Middle Common Room (MCR) have voted to remove the portrait of the Queen, has got me thinking how stupid very clever people can sometimes be.

Magdalen is one of the top colleges at what has just been judged to be the second best university in the world, and yet the students' sanctimonious reasoning reveals a level of woolly thinking that would have appalled my brilliant history and classics dons in the 1990s.

The latest example of kneejerk wokery that has exploded at Magdalen, where graduate students of the Middle Common Room (MCR) have voted to remove the portrait of the Queen, has got me thinking how stupid very clever people can sometimes be

Those students decided the 1952 print of the Queen was 'unwelcoming' because for some of them 'depictions of the monarch and the British monarchy represent recent colonial history'. 'Patriotism and colonialism are not really separable,' one particularly bone-headed student is reported to have said after their meeting on Monday  attended by just 17 of 250 MCR members  when the decision was taken. Of course, the students should be free to get rid of the portrait if that is their wish. This is a free country and the vote followed a debate by an MCR committee which aired both sides of the argument, after which just ten voted in favour of removing it.

I believe the President of Magdalen, Dinah Rose QC, is right not to try to overturn their decision, despite the opprobrium of Oxford's Chancellor, Lord Patten, who called it 'offensive and obnoxiously ignorant'. But Lord Patten is right about the level of ignorance displayed.

Our Queen has, in effect, been a great decoloniser, presiding over the widespread withdrawal of the United Kingdom from its colonies in the 69 years she's been on the throne.

The remaining Overseas Territories are desperately keen to remain British, while the 54 member states of the Commonwealth look on the Queen with great affection and want to stay in it.

That affection is mutual: the Commonwealth is extremely close to the Queen's heart as the Mail's Robert Hardman demonstrated in his revealing book, Queen Of The World.

Leading the charge against the Queen's portrait at Magdalen is Matthew Katzman (pictured), president of the MCR and the 25-year-old privately educated son of an American multi-millionaire lawyer from Maryland

It is only a small minority of people who find our 95-year-old head of state objectionable.

Many of them come from the increasingly influential, highly-educated, well-off 'woke brigade' who will brook no argument other than their own.

Leading the charge against the Queen's portrait at Magdalen is Matthew Katzman, president of the MCR and the 25-year-old privately educated son of an American multi-millionaire lawyer from Maryland. It was Katzman who pompously declared the MCR 'room should be a welcoming, neutral place for all members, regardless of background, demographic or views'.

Well, Katzman must find walking around his college a deeply traumatising experience then if he can't tolerate a royal portrait or two.

Since Magdalen was founded in 1458, the place has become rather full of them, and no doubt one or two will have presided over deeds and policies that are now questionable.

The college owns pictures of Elizabeth I and Prince Rupert (James I's grandson). In pride of place in the college hall where Katzman eats his meals, there is some rare 16th-century panelling, with a sculpture of Henry VIII.

Since Magdalen (pictured) was founded in 1458, the place has become rather full of them, and no doubt one or two will have presided over deeds and policies that are now questionable

'Cancelled'

Just down the High Street from Magdalen, Katzman will come right up against Queen's College, founded in 1341 in honour of Queen Philippa of Hainault, Edward III's wife.

Oxford  one of the world's greatest historical cities  is crammed with royal sculpture and art. So if any student is offended by royal references and finds them unwelcoming, they must spend every day feeling permanently outraged.

What has happened at Magdalen is typical of what's happening in institutions all over the country.

That is particularly the case with the National Trust, whose chairman, Tim Parker, has just resigned after an attempt by a new protest group of Trust members, Restore Trust, to fight against the march of wokery within.

Elsewhere, great figures of history are at risk of being 'cancelled' because of tenuous links with slavery.

Winston Churchill's home, Chartwell, was bizarrely included in the National Trust's 115-page report last year, blacklisting 93 of its estates for their supposed slavery links. That report has since been exposed as littered with errors and sloppy thinking.

Subservient

Last month, the University of Liverpool renamed Gladstone Hall (originally called after former prime minister William Gladstone) because his family benefited from slavery; while earlier this year Howden Junior School in Yorkshire replaced house names  called after Nelson, Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake  because of the supposed 'despicable deeds' of these nautical heroes.

During my time at Magdalen, when the Poll Tax was introduced in 1990, students gathered in the medieval cloisters and burnt their tax demands.

Tories were thin on the ground then  in a reflection of Churchill's supposed line: 'If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain.'

I only knew of two other undergraduates who, like me, voted Conservative in the 1992 election: one was the son of a Tory MP; the other the son of a conservative writer.

That year, a friend sent me a Valentine's Day card, saying, 'True blue, baby, I love you'  a line from the Madonna song True Blue, and a reference to my unusual politics.

But there was no malice in the card; no attempt to cancel me in that gentler pre-social media age that was so much more accepting of other people's differences.

There were some more extreme aspects on the fringe of student politics, such as the motion in our JCR (the Junior Common Room for undergraduates) to stop buying the college newspapers from the local newsagent because, like practically all newsagents then, they also sold porn mags.

So yes, it is fine for students to be rebellious  even extreme on occasion. But not to be stupid or so cravenly subservient to the forces of woke.
Although its almost 30 years since, trembling with nerves, I went for my first Oxford tutorial, I remember it as if it was yesterday.

The setting was Oriel College, which in recent years has been besieged by protests about its statue of the imperialist-turned-philanthropist Cecil Rhodes.

My tutor was the late Byzantine historian Mark Whittow, and in my minds eye I can still see him now, poring over one of his gigantic maps of the medieval Near East.

So began one of the great intellectual adventures of my lifetime, which I shall cherish forever.

Its a rare privilege to learn at the feet of great thinkers at the cutting edge of their subjects, which is why so many youngsters work so hard to get into Oxford in the first place.

How monstrous it is, then, for some 150 Oxford dons to put their own petty prejudices above the wellbeing of Oriels students.

And how despicably self-indulgent to deny these young people the intellectual opportunities they once enjoyed themselves  and all because of a statue that barely anybody notices anyway!

In an unprecedented move, dons led by Professor Kate Tunstall called on staff to stop holding tutorials for Oriel students until the monument of the colonialist Rhodes (pictured) is removed

The background is probably well known by now. To cut a very tiresome story short, Oriel recently decided against taking down Rhodess statue, arguing  quite rightly, in my view  that it was better to put money towards African scholarships and other educational projects.

But that wasnt enough for these posturing narcissists. Led by the provost of a rival college, Worcester, they have produced what is effectively a blackmail threat, warning Oriel that they have been left no choice but to withdraw all discretionary work and goodwill collaborations.

All 150 dons, therefore, will refuse requests from Oriel to give tutorials to Oriel undergraduates.

They will also refuse to interview prospective Oriel students, and will not even speak at Oriel talks and conferences until the college agrees to demolish Rhodess statue, pictured right.

You might be forgiven for wondering why this matters. Well, heres the answer.

Oriel is one of Oxfords oldest colleges. Its alumni include two Nobel Prize winners, the chemist Alexander Todd and the economist James Meade, as well as a host of judges, writers, doctors and public servants.

Demonstrators hold placards during a protest arranged by the 'Rhodes Must Fall' campaign, calling for the removal of a statue of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes in June last year

But its students are a far cry from the Brideshead Revisited stereotype. Proportionately Oriel has one of Oxfords largest state school intakes and runs regular programmes to attract black and Asian applicants, as well as those from deprived backgrounds.

Many of its students, in other words, have worked tremendously hard and made great sacrifices to win their places.

They did so to have the chance of working with specialists in their fields  which is where the 150 dons come in.

As retribution for Oriels refusal to toe the ultra-woke line, these self-righteous blackmailers propose to punish the colleges students.

So if, say, a teenage girl from Sunderland has always dreamed of studying with a world expert on Vichy France, thats tough. She must suffer, so that Rhodes might fall.

I choose the French example deliberately, because that happens to be the specialism of Robert Gildea, who went on BBC Radio 4s Today programme yesterday to defend the boycott.

An independent inquiry said Oriel College could fund two fellowships in subjects related to Rhodes' legacy, create scholarships for students from Africa and hold an annual lecture on him

I remember Professor Gildea well from my Oxford days. He struck me back then as quite spectacularly pompous, even by academic standards, and I wasnt surprised to hear that he hasnt changed a bit.

As the interviewer pointed out, the only losers from this will be the students. To this Professor Gildea seemed entirely oblivious, merely droning on yet again about the statue. To him, it seems, the interests of Oriels young people are irrelevant.

For the last two years, these youngsters precious time at Oxford has been blighted by Covid.

While continuing to incur tuition fees, they have missed out on months of face-to-face teaching, as well as all the other joys and benefits of a normal university education.

Yet for Professor Gildea and his collaborators, none of this matters. Despite all their pious, self-congratulatory cant about their roles as educators, they clearly care nothing for Oriels interests, and they certainly dont give a damn about the students.

The only thing they care about is their own freakish, virtue-signalling obsession with the statue of Rhodes  whose scholarships, by the way, have brought so many benefits to so many people.

This is the second scandal to strike Oxford in a few days. It follows the outrage at Magdalen students decision to take down a portrait of the Queen from their common room, supposedly because she is the incarnation of colonialism.

But while the Magdalen business is really a question of modish, Left-wing student silliness, the dons boycott is in an entirely different league.

To turn young people into collateral damage in their demented anti-statue campaign is simply unforgivable.

After two Covid-blighted years, the students deserve so much better. But Oxfords dons are clearly so blinkered, so cocooned by their own self-righteous prejudice, that they just dont care.
She was the glamorous last empress of Iran who was known as Jackie Kennedy of the Middle East and befriended the likes of Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol.

But many are divided over the legacy of Farah Pahlavi, 82, and consider her a modern-day Marie Antoinette who represented the worst excesses of the shah's regime before the 1979 revolution.

The most lavish lavish parts of her legacy include an extravagant three-day party thrown in the Persepolis in October 1971 by her husband, with the couple flying in in eighteen tons of food to celebrate Iran's 2,500th anniversary.

Meanwhile Farah was also patron of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, in which she amassed an art collection, gathering modern pieces which would now be valued at $3billion.

Now her legacy has been thrown under the spotlight again with the release of a controversial new book by American curator Donna Stein, 78, The Empress and I: How an Ancient Empire Collected, Rejected, and Rediscovered Modern Art.

Detailing her time working for Her Imperial Majesty's Private Secretariat between 1975 to 1977, she claims that male colleagues stole credit for her work and that she was largely responsible for some of the most important acquisitions.

The legacy of Iran's last Empress Farah Pahlavi (pictured) has been laid bare in a controversial new memoir The Empress and I: How an Ancient Empire Collected, Rejected, and Rediscovered Modern Art, by curator Donna Stein, 78 causing waves within the art world

After marrying Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Farah (pictured on her wedding day) became patron of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, and set off with with a nearly unlimited budget to amass an art collection, gathering items which would now be valued at $3 billion

Farah was born in October 1938 in Tehran to an upper-class family, with her paternal side being natives of Iranian Azerbaijan while her mother's relates were of Gilak origin, from Lahijan on the Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea.

In the late 19th century Farah's grandfather had been an accomplished diplomat, serving as the Persian Ambassador to the Romanov Court in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Her own father was an officer in the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces and a graduate of the prestigious French Military Academy at St. Cyr.

She had a close bond with her father, who died suddenly when she was just 10-years-old, leaving the family struggling financially.

The family eventually had to feel their hometown to Egypt before embarking on a 18-month search for permanent asylum through Morocco and the Bahamas. They were eventually granted asylum in Mexico (pictured)

She was forced to move from their villa in northern Tehran into a shared apartment with one of her uncles.

Before his death, Farah's father instilled in his daughter a love of the French language and culture.

The last Shah of Iran who fled the country in 1979 with his wife before dying months later Throughout his reign, which lasted until the 1979 Revolution, the Shah remained loyal to America and its allies, meeting with every President from Harry S Truman to Richard Nixon. But a CIA operation to destabilise and replace the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq in the 1950s bred anti-American sentiment among the people of Iran, while the Shah's burgeoning oil wealth through the 60s and 70s fostered resentment against him. In 1979 the Shah, who had already fled the country, was deposed and replaced with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who referred to America as the 'Great Satan'. America's subsequent decision to admit the Shah for cancer treatment incensed Iran, which wanted him extradited and executed, and led to protesting students storming the American embassy in Tehran. This sparked the hostage crisis which saw 52 American diplomats held for 444 days. Despite their eventual release, the incident placed relations into a deep-freeze from which they have never recovered. Advertisement

Soon she began studying at Tehran's Italian School before moving to the French Jeanne d'Arc School until the age of sixteen and later to the Lycee Razi.

Upon finishing her studies at the Lycee Razi, she pursued an interest in architecture at the Ecole Speciale d'Architecture in Paris.

According to AllThatIsInteresting, her classmates described her as a 'hard worker who studied well into the night.'

As a student studying abroad, she was invited to meet with the Shah at the Iranian Embassy in Paris in 1959 when she was just 21-years-old.

Not long afterwards, the couple began dating, before announcing their engagement on 23 November 1959.

The shah would later say: 'I knew as soon as we metthat she was the woman I had been waiting for so long, as well as the queen my country needed.'

As a young Queen of Iran, Farah's December 1959 wedding was the object of much curiosity and received worldwide press attention.

Her gown was designed by Yves Saint Laurent, then a designer at the house of Dior, and she wore the newly commissioned Noor-ol-Ain Diamond tiara.

The couple went on to have four children: Crown Prince Reza, Princess Farahnaz, Prince Ali, and Princess Leila.

Part of Farah's appeal to the shah had been her Western education and understanding of culture.

Together, the pair claimed they would usher in a 'golden age of Iran.'

During her time as a royal, Farah took an active interest in promoting culture and the arts in Iran.

Through her patronage, numerous organisations were created and fostered to further her ambition of bringing historical and contemporary Iranian Art to prominence both inside Iran and in the Western world.

Under her guidance, the museum of modern art acquired nearly 150 works by such artists as Pablo Picasso, Monet and Andy Warhol.

It was during this time that Stein claims she personally lobbied the chief of staff o acquire Mark Rothko's No. 2 Yellow Center (1954); Francis Bacon's Reclining Man With Sculpture (1961); and Roy Lichtenstein's Roto Broil (1961).

Following her husband's death in 1980, Farah settled in the US and now splits her time between the States and Paris

Meanwhile she has also enraged former colleagues for taking credit for the museum's historic acquisition of Paul Gauguin's Still Life With Japanese Woodcut (1889).

In the foreword, she writes that her male Iranian superiors 'boldly grabbed the credit for my aesthetic choices so I have finally written to correct the record'.

According to Tatler, she wrote: 'I was thrilled that we obtained the Gauguin, which I considered among his greatest still-life paintings.'

Eventually, Stein became suspicious that others were taking credit for her work and, after the Empress' cousin Kamran Diba was named the TMoCA's director, Stein felt her reputation deteriorated rapidly.

Upon finishing her studies at the Lycee Razi, she pursued an interest in architecture at the Ecole Speciale d'Architecture in Paris

As a student studying abroad, Farah was invited to meet with the Shah at the Iranian Embassy in Paris at the age of 21

However critics have cast doubt on her claims, with some questioning why her name has not been recorded in museum documents.

Diba has countered Farah's narrative and told Artnet News that she was primarily involved in 'building the photography collection'.

She was later ousted due to accusations of bribery which she maintains are false.

Meanwhile Farah's style, charm, and support of the arts, led her to be dubbed the 'Jackie Kennedy of the Middle East.'

At the same time, the Shah was pushing the country to adopt Western-oriented secular modernisation, allowing some degree of cultural freedom.

He believed the headscarf suppressed women and banned the hijab, and granted women the right to vote and an increasing number joined the workforce.

Under the Shah, Iranians enjoyed the luxury of new colleges, universities and libraries. Secondary schools were free for all and financial support was extended to university students.

However the Shah's determination to showcase an increasingly liberal and modern front to the world and ban on religious garments frustrated traditionalists in Iran.

During her time as a royal, Farah took an active interest in promoting culture and the arts in Iran

Under Pahlavi, there was a widespread censorship of the press. He repressed political dissent - and the crackdown on communists and Islamists led to many being imprisoned and tortured.

People lived in fear of the Shah's secret police called SAVAK, which paralysed people from speaking out against the regime; such was the notoriety of their brutality.

These factors, along with the Shah being perceived as a puppet of the USA and economic uncertainty, culminated in the monarchy being overthrown.

The 1979 Iranian revolution saw the ousting of the Shah and the installment of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - a shift that would have long-lasting and far-reaching implications.

Farah stayed in the country for two years before flying back to the US, where she settled in Maryland. She now splits her time between Maryland and Paris

The family fled to Egypt before embarking on a 18-month search for permanent asylum through Morocco and the Bahamas.

Finally they were granted asylum in Mexico but travelled to the US to seek medical assistance for the Shah's developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Their visit to the States worsened relations between the US and Iran and the couple were forced to flee to Egypt.

Shah's health deteriorated and he died four months later in 27 July 1980.

Farah stayed in the country for two years before flying back to the US, where she settled in Maryland. She now splits her time between Maryland and Paris.
A thrifty woman has revealed how she was able to transform a drab spare room into a glamorous dressing room to get ready for nights out.

Kim Heslip, 42, from Leeds, who is a nurse, dog walker and blogger, explained she wanted to overhaul her functional space with faded blue walls into a space that would lift her mood.

She told LatestDeals.co.uk how she could see the space's potential, saying: 'I wanted to create a dressing room that felt like a changing room in a glamorous clothing boutique.

'I wanted it to be fun and positive and put me in a good mood when I get ready in the morning or before a night out.

Kim Heslip, 42, from Leeds, has impressed members of money saving community Latest Deals, after transforming her drab spare room into a glamorous dressing room (pictured)

The dressing room, pictured before the renovationg, already had fitted wardrobes which were good quality, but a 'little drab' for Kim's liking

Kim said she decided to decorate the room because she wanted a project to focus on during lockdown, and neede to do most of the work herself on a budget

'I decided to decorate this room on a whim when the lockdown was announced after Christmas.

'I wanted a project to keep me going through lockdown and somewhere to escape to for a bit of headspace in between homeschooling and work. There wasn't much of a budget and I largely reused and upcycled items we already had.

'The dressing room already had fitted wardrobes and a dressing table which were good quality, just a little drab for my liking.

How much did Kim spend on her budget dressing room makeover? Paint Wallpaper Worktop Sticky plastic Hello signs Wall prints Shelves Faux plants Plant basket Zebra rug Zebra hooks 80 65 20 12 5 5 - 25 2.99 each 20 14 79 60 Advertisement

'I could see the potential to give them a revamp and bring some fun and style into the room, so the design was really based around working with what we had and injecting my personality into the space.

`We already had plenty of storage in the room, but there was also an awkward wasted space over the steps between the dressing table and the wardrobe. I decided to build some extra storage there to make use of it.

'I also wanted a seating area so I could have a friend join me for a chat and outfit advice whilst I'm getting ready. Plus I wanted somewhere to plan outfits, so I added the hooks on the wall to hang things up and see what works together.'

Kim began the project by purchasing low cost supplies when items were on sale as well as shopping second-hand from eBay.

'All of my paint came from my local decorating store. I got Johnstone's Matt Emulsion for the walls and Bradite One Can for the wardrobes. Both shades were colour-matched to the shade Middleton Pink by Farrow and Ball, and the total cost was 80,' Kim said.

'The wallpaper on the wall is called Bond Girls in black and white, and I got it from Wallpaper King for 45. The wallpaper used to upcycle the dressing table drawers is called Trio in pink and came from Made.com for 20 in the sale.'

Kim said she was able to extend the dressing table by adapting a second hand kitchen worktop bought from eBay for just 20 and covering it in marble-effect d-c-fix for 12 on Amazon.

Kim already had a dressing table and an oval mirror on the wall, bought from a charity shop, and decided to upcycle the furniture rather than buying new pieces

Kim purchased decorations for the walls for under 5 from Rosewire Designs and Home Bargains to add a personal feel, and revamped the dressing table by covering an old worktop in marble-effect sticky back plastic, and papering the drawers with wallpaper from Made.com

She continued: 'We have had the full length mirror for about 10 years - it originally came from John Lewis. There is a plant hanger and jewellery hanger from Sass and Belle, and the oval mirror above the dressing table was a charity shop find.

'The prints on the wall came from a number of small businesses: Dyl and the Gang, Modern Print Studio, Blossom and Bloom, Punkhaus, Staying in Studio, Iamfy, Signhive, and Worldly and Wild. They cost between 5 and 25 each, and several were won in giveaways.

'The wire 'hello' on the wall came from Rosewire Designs for 5, and some of the wall shelves are from Home Bargains priced at 2.99 each.

'There is no natural light in the room so the plants are all faux and came from Home Bargains and B&M stores for 20 in total.

'The dressing table chair was originally from Ikea - we've owned it for about 15 years - and the black and white plant basket was an Aldi special buy for 14.

'The zebra rug came from iRugs and cost 79 in the sale, while the bench was given to me by a friend so I upcycled it.

Kim said she was able to extend the dressing table by adapting the second hand kitchen worktop bought from eBay for just 20

'The new shelves and drawer fronts were decorated with the wallpaper from Made.com

'The zebra wall hooks were 60 and made for me by my friend Zoe from Morton Shaw Interiors. They used to be in my hallway and are made from an upcycled floorboard.'

After getting all of the supplies, Kim began the ambitious project by giving the space a new lease of life with paint.

Kim said: 'I started off by painting the walls, wardrobes, dressing table and woodwork. Then the handles on the wardrobes and drawers were removed and re-sprayed gold.

'The original dressing table top was removed and used, along with some leftover MDF from a previous project, to create some new shelves over the steps between the dressing table and wardrobes.

'The new shelves and drawer fronts were decorated with the wallpaper from Made and the wall at the end of the room was decorated with the Bond Girls wallpaper.

'The second hand kitchen worktop was cut to size and fitted, extending the dressing table all the way to the side of the wardrobes and over the new shelves. It was then wrapped with the marble effect d-c fix.

'I added a bit of yellow paint to an old Ikea dining chair and recovered the seat pad with some black and white 'cow print' upholstery fabric, which was left over from another project, to create the dressing table chair.

'An old cream bench that my friend had given to me was cleaned up and painted yellow. This was the first time I had tried painting upholstery, but with a bit of internet research and advice from my friend Zoe I found it was easy to do.

'I gave the bench a good clean, then I sprayed each section with water before adding the paint in thin layers. It was then left to thoroughly dry and given a good sanding between coats.

'I added wallpaper to the wall shelves from Home Bargains to give them a bit of wow factor before hanging them on the walls. I use them to display my vast collection of perfumes and vintage perfume bottles.

Kim said the makeover was 'pretty straightforward', as she explained how wall shelves (pictured) from Home Bargains were added for a wow factor

'The wall hooks were moved here from our hallway and hung on the wall.

'Then it was a case of faffing around with prints, faux plants, wall hangings and cushions to dress the space up. The prints are all fun, using positive typography to provide a feel-good atmosphere when I'm getting ready.

'It was a pretty straight-forward makeover, although I had originally planned to paint the wardrobes and skirting boards an off-black shade. There was a mix up with the paint and I ended up being given full black paint. It was someone else's order who had a similar name to mine!

The DIY enthusiast added a Zebra-print rug for a funky touch and also moved matching wall hooks from the hall into her new dressing room so that she could hang up pieces to see how outfits go together

'The decorating centre realised their mistake and offered to replace my paint. At this point, having painted some of the wardrobes and skirting boards black and realising that it just didn't work, I decided to opt for the same pink shade as the walls instead. As you can imagine, it took a fair few coats to get them pale pink after being painted black!

'I am fairly confident when it comes to DIY and there was nothing too taxing involved in this project. My rule of thumb with home renovations is if I can do it, then I do it. That way I save money to spend on the jobs I cannot do such as electrics, plastering and building work.'

Tom Church who is the Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: 'Kim's transformation is stunning - she clearly has a knack for interior design. She has proven that anyone can create a celebrity-worthy dressing room with some savvy sales shopping and creativity!'
An Australian couple who met on Tinder when neither were looking for a relationship have just celebrated their seventh anniversary as they prepare to say 'I do'.

Swimwear designer Karina Irby, 31, matched with her partner Ryan Jones, 34, on May 25, 2014, 10 minutes after downloading the app for the first time ever.

In the seven years since, the couple have become business partners, managing Karina's brand Moana Bikini together, got engaged and brought two adorable dogs into their luxurious Gold Coast home.

She could have never guessed it then, but Karina was at home alone at 10pm on a Sunday night watching Sex and the City when she decided to take the plunge and see what online dating was all about.

Minutes later, she 'matched' with Ryan who quickly broke the ice with a simple: 'Hi, how you going?'

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Swimwear designer Karina Irby (right) matched with her partner Ryan Jones (left) on May 25, 2014, 10 minutes after downloading Tinder for the first time ever

Then and now: Neither Karina or Ryan (left, in 2014 and right, in 2020) were looking for love when they swiped right on each other on Tinder

'We started messaging and we were talking so much, we didn't have time to chat to anyone else. I really ruined her Tinder experience!' Ryan told Daily Mail Australia.

After 'swiping right' on Karina, Ryan said they started to have 'these massive conversations, pages and pages of texts' that showed an instant spark.

'We just had really good banter,' he added.

Karina, who at the time had been single for 10 months, remembers trying to play it cool.

'After we were chatting for a while, Ryan asked for my mobile number and when he text, I replied 'sorry who is this?' Had to keep him on his toes,' she said.

It was this playful personality that caught Ryan's eye, even more so than Karina's physical beauty.

'I think there's plenty of people who obviously look great on the apps, but to find that kind of connection with someone is really special,' he said.

The Gold Coast swimwear designer (pictured) had been single for 10 months before taking the plunge to see what online dating was all about

It was Karina's playful personality that caught Ryan's eye, even more so than her physical beauty

Ryan finally got down on one knee in 2019 with a spectacular emerald engagement ring (pictured), inlaid in a diamond setting

They met for coffee one week later and ended up spending the day at Karina's apartment, cooking dinner and chatting into the night.

'It just felt really natural,' she said.

Five years later Ryan got down on one knee with a spectacular emerald engagement ring, inlaid in a diamond setting.

He said he carried the box in his pocket for a week and had two failed attempts at popping the question before finally asking Karina to be his wife.

'We went out on a boat and it got stuck in the river bank, then we were having a picnic on the beach outside our house when a Moana fan came up and kind of ruined the moment,' he recalled.

Karina got her wish for a more lowkey proposal while sipping a cup of tea on the balcony of their house.

And while dating apps have something or a sordid reputation, Karina and Ryan are living proof that they can bring soulmates together.

While dating apps have something or a sordid reputation, Karina and Ryan (pictured) are living proof that they can bring soulmates together

The couple (pictured on holiday) say they 'own' the fact they met online

The couple say they 'own' the fact they met on Tinder and are more than happy to tell others about their online romance.

'I feel like the more people talk about [meeting on apps], and the more weddings you go to of couples who met that way, the more of a social norm it becomes,' said Ryan.



Karina marked their seventh anniversary with a sweet Instagram post paying tribute to her partner.

'THANK YOU TINDER - I'm so obsessed and in love with my man!' she began.

'We were meant to be. Tinder or no Tinder we would have found each other.'

The couple (pictured) plan to tie the knot overlooking the ocean at Kirra Hill in Coolangatta, Queensland, in an informal ceremony in front of family and friends

Karina said that while people often wonder how they can live, work and holiday together without arguing, she and Ryan 'live perfectly in each other's pockets'.

'Any challenges that come along are external from our relationship and things we gladly tackle together,' she wrote.

'I've been in past relationships (many moons ago) where my partner at the time was extremely unsupportive and negative towards my business and even me wearing my bikinis. Ummm... ew.'

Karina finished her post by urging women to know their worth and 'never settle' to be with someone who doesn't appreciate that.

'Find yourself a good man, ladies. NEVER settle for a partner who doesn't love, support and worship every inch of you,' she said.

Karina (pictured) is the founder of Moana Bikini, where Ryan now works as operations manager

The couple were due to be married earlier this year but postponed the event until April 2022 to avoid the risk of Covid limits on guests.

They plan to tie the knot overlooking the ocean at Kirra Hill in Coolangatta, Queensland, in an informal ceremony in front of family and friends.

'It's going to be super-relaxed, very few formalities. Basically just a big party!' Karina said.

In the meantime, the pair will be busy with the release of Moana Bikini's latest swim line, as well as the launch of its sister activewear brand, Moana Smile Club.
A sales assistant who was brutally bullied for the sound of her voice has opened up about her difficult teenage years in a series of videos.

In the 22 clips uploaded to TikTok, Charlotte MacGregor, 22, from Melbourne, recalled how the sudden deepening of her voice when she was 12 years old saw her mercilessly mocked throughout school.

Charlotte said she received comments such as 'your voice is deeper than my dad's', 'your voice is disgusting, who would want to go near that?' and 'there's no way you were born female, no wonder you're picked on'.

'I'd say 14, 15 and 16 was the worst time of my life,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'I would go to school and feel empty. I hated myself, I hated life, I felt sick every time I walked into those school grounds. I was depressed.'

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Melbourne sales assistant Charlotte MacGregor (pictured) was brutally bullied for the sound of her voice throughout school

When Charlotte's voice began to attract unwanted attention from bullies, she saw a series of doctors who were all stumped by her condition.

Some told her the deepening was likely to have been caused by a benign - non-cancerous - nodule that grew on her vocal cords, but she has never been given a definitive diagnosis.

Years of schoolyard exclusion sent Charlotte into depression and self-isolation, with the then-teen shutting herself inside her bedroom for days at a time.

'School was brutal,' she said. 'I was picked on everywhere I went, I couldn't escape it.'

Because of her voice, Charlotte said she often struggled to maintain friendships and relationships. It even made it difficult for her to hold down jobs.

'I've been turned down at an interview for my voice before, which was quite hurtful,' she said.

But Charlotte's life took a turn for the better in 2018 when she met her fiance who helped her to realise her worth.

The couple started messaging on Facebook and quickly bonded over a shared experience of feeling like outcasts at school.

'He helped me to see there's nothing wrong with me. He was a huge support to me when I was going through depression, he really pulled me out of my shell,' she said.

At her lowest point, Charlotte started watching YouTube tutorials on training her voice to a higher pitch in a bid to 'feel different'.

She hoped it would make her appear more feminine and 'fit in' with other girls at school, but these days she prefers to own her individuality.

Charlotte (pictured in 2021) became depressed and reclusive until she met her fiance who helped her to realise her own worth

'Now I feel like I have this voice for a reason, to share my story and help people who feel they are different in any way to have more confidence,' she said.

Since sharing her story on TikTok, Charlotte said women from around the world have reached out to her, saying they are going through the same thing.

'I also spoke to an American man who had the opposite problem, his voice turned high pitched so he sounds more like a woman,' she said.

Charlotte's candid revelations, which have been viewed more than 5.8million times since the first video was uploaded online on June 2, have sparked overwhelmingly positive responses.

'You're so unique and beautiful,' one woman replied.

Charlotte (pictured) said she received comments such as 'your voice is deeper than my dad's' and 'there's no way you were born female, no wonder you're picked on'

'I love people that stand out from everyone else,' said another.

A third added: 'You're so brave for sharing this, your voice is beautiful.'

Others encouraged Charlotte to use her unique sound to her advantage by pursuing a career in radio or voiceover work.

And while she still receives negative comments about her gender and authenticity, Charlotte said she isn't too phased by them anymore.

'I thought to myself, those comments are a reflection of the other person, not me. I'm using my voice to show people that it's okay to sound different,' she said.
Jerry Hayes says it's 'selfish and dishonest' to socialise while ill after a judge ruled that going to the pub while off sick from work is not a sackable offence.

Former Tory MP Jerry Hayes appeared on Good Morning Britain today alongside Apprentice star Thomas Skinner to debate whether going out to socialise after calling in sick to work should be a stackable offence.

Barrister Jerry, 68, from Uttlesford, said that employees will be letting companies down at a time businesses are struggling after the pandemic, while Essex-based business owner Thomas, 30, argues that bosses need to trust their staff, and that not every illness is the same.

It comes after the case of a 66-year-old driver who was fired after being caught at the social club while off sick from work. A judge rules that unless he had been specifically forbidden from socialising while ill by his employer, he was free to do what he liked.

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Jerry Hayes says it's 'selfish and dishonest' to socialise while ill after a judge ruled that going to the pub while off sick from work is not a sackable offence on Good Morning Britain today

Essex-based business owner and Apprentice star Thomas Skinner, 30, says bosses need to trust their staff, and that not every illness is the same

Speaking of a potential influx in workers calling in sick because of the start of the Euros tomorrow, he said: 'I think this is going to happen and there will be a lot of leeway and sympathy from employers, but you book the time off.

'That's what you do, you book the time off and if the employer says yes there's no problem at all.

'If you're a primary school teacher the class will have to be sent home. If you're a small business owner and you've been done over by the pandemic, it's just selfish and it's dishonest and it's the dishonesty that is really, really so [unacceptable].'

Several viewers agreed with Jerry, arguing it's 'disloyal' to your employers and colleagues to have a 'jolly' at the pub if you're supposedly not well enough to go into work.

Several viewers agreed with Jerry, arguing it's 'disloyal' to your employers and colleagues to have a 'jolly' at the pub if you're not well enough to go into work

One wrote: 'If you are well enough to go to a pub then you are well enough to go to work. Selfish people not thinking about their colleagues having to pick up their work.'

Another said: 'It's disloyal to the people who pay your wages and disrespectful to the colleagues covering your job whilst you have a jolly day in the pub.'

'The rule for my children was always not well enough for school not well enough to play out. I feel the same about work,' penned another viewer.

A fourth agreed: 'If Im sick and off work that means I stay home BECAUSE IM SICK, otherwise if Im well enough to go out then Im well enough to go to work.'

Barrister Jerry, 68, Uttlesford, said that employees will be letting companies down at a time businesses are struggling after the pandemic

Thomas believes that employers should trust and value their workers, but insisting that 'you can be sick for so many different reasons'

Meanwhile, Thomas believes that employers should trust and value their workers, and said that 'you can be sick for so many different reasons'.

'It depends what you're sick for,' he said. 'You can wake up in the morning and feel terrible and then in the evening you feel fine.'

'It is so important, my staff are like superheroes,' he said. 'I value them so much and without my staff I haven't got a business and it's so hard to get good staff, so you have to look after them.'

He added that he knows where to draw the line, saying: 'If someone lied to me, if someone stole from me they would be sacked straight away.'

Several viewers agreed with Tom, saying it depends why the individual employee has called in sick to work - with many praising him as a boss and insisting workers are more likely to be loyal to their employers when treated 'fairly' in the workplace

Several viewers agreed with Tom, saying it depends why the individual employee has called in sick to work - with many praising him as a boss and insisting workers are more likely to be loyal to their employers when treated 'fairly' in the workplace.

One said: 'Good old fashioned common sense as always from Thomas Skinner who sees the value of a good work force and even joins his staff member in the pub for a drink! What a totally refreshing attitude and respect for those helping to build his business.'

'I wish Tom he was my boss when I worked very fair and believe in looking after his staff,' wrote another viewer.

A third said: 'Thomas sounds like the perfect boss ! He sounds like he has a heart & understands people. But yeah take the micky and your out! Love this man!'.
A couple are to walk down the aisle for the second time together - but this time as bride and bride after the groom revealed she was transgender.

Rayna, 33, and Jae Harvey, 30, who live near Bridgwater, Somerset, tied the knot in 2018 while Rayna was called Jake.

However during their honeymoon in Center Parcs, in Longleat, Wiltshire, graphic designer Rayna came out as transgender.

Rayna said she's 'suppressed' her feelings about being female since she was around 11-years-old, and so found the experience of telling Jae 'liberating' and a 'relief'.

A couple are to walk down the aisle for the second time together - but this time as bride and bride after the groom revealed she was transgender

Rayna has since spent 45,000 on an orchiectomy, where the testicles are removed, as well as a breast augmentation and facial surgery, and said it was 'worth every penny'.

Jae said she's 'really proud' of her partner and they're now planning their 're-wedding' in the Quantocks next September so that Rayna can have the big day she's always dreamed of where she can be the 'real her'.

Looking back at their first wedding, Jae said that she feels a 'disconnect' because Rayna wasn't there, and she wants to feel like it's Rayna she's married to.

Jae said: 'We're planning a "re-wedding" because her family wasn't able to make it out to Texas and now that she's transitioned it's another huge reason for us to do it again.

Rayna, 33, (right) and Jae Harvey, 30, who live near Bridgwater, Somerset, tied the knot in 2018 while Rayna was called Jake

During their honeymoon, graphic designer Rayna came out as transgender, and said she had 'suppressed' her feelings about being female since she was around 11-years-old

'There's a bit of a disconnect when we think back to our first wedding as I feel "well Ray wasn't there?" and I want her in my wedding.

'What I want more than anything is for her family to see her walk down the aisle and for her to have her day. I got to have mine with all my bells and whistles, so now it's her turn.

'We're both going to be wearing beautiful black dresses for an all black and white theme with white, pink and red roses symbolising, at least for me, the death of old Ray and the re-birth of new Ray.'

Rayna added: 'It's for me to be the real me - our first wedding was a great day and one of the happiest of my life.'

After meeting online on MySpace back in 2007, they reconnected on MSN in 2010 and a few months later Rayna flew to Dallas, Texas, for a fortnight so they could meet for the first time.

The pair lost touch for several years but in October 2017 their love was rekindled when Jae flew out to the UK for the first time.

Rayna said it was 'liberating' to be able to open up to her wife and said she'd been 'storing it away for so long' (pictured at Jake)

Rayna got down on one knee in Bristol airport before she boarded her flight home.

They eventually tied the knot in March 2018 in Dallas, Texas, with an intimate wedding of 30 guests.

Two months later while on their honeymoon, Rayna expressed her true identity to her wife.

It was also the first time she donned a dress and said that it was a real 'light-bulb moment' when make-up artist Jae glammed her up.

Rayna said: 'It was liberating. Something I'd been storing away for so long and when it actually happened it was more of a relief - the overpowering feeling was "thank God for that".

Rayna said it was a real 'light-bulb moment' when make-up artist Jae glammed her up and she donned a dress for the first time

Rayna has since spent 45,000 on an orchiectomy, where the testicles are removed, as well as a breast augmentation and facial surgery, and said it was 'worth every penny'

'It must have been a bit of a shock for her in the first instance but she's turned everything on its head to make me feel comfortable. I'm like the same person but in a different body really.'

Jae added: 'We had a long talk and went over what she was feeling and there were tears and laughs - our communication has gotten so much stronger because of that.

'She had shoulder-length hair as a man and would straighten it and do her eyebrows and didn't really think much of it at the time.

'But once we started talking about her gender identity I was like "oh". It was one of those lightbulb moments. So it all made sense looking back but at the time I had no idea.'

Jae added when the pair started talking about it, Rayna realised she was 'safe' and her partner just wanted to help.

She added: 'When she originally came to me even she wasn't sure what it was what she was thinking and feeling.

'We went through the process of trying androgyny and cross-dressing but none of it was enough or full-time female and that's what she wanted.

'The very first time we went out with her presenting as a female and someone addressed us as "ladies" in a restaurant her face lit up - I knew at that exact moment that she was trans.'

After coming out on Facebook, Rayna says she has received 'absolutely incredible support' from everyone.

This includes 93-year-old grandmother who now buys her celebration cards for a granddaughter.

The couple are determined to tie the knot again but this time with Rayna able to 'be the real her' becuase she wasn't at the couple's first wedding in Dallas (pictured)

Rayna said that life is now 'easy' because she's confidently living as the woman she truly is - and Jae, who's a hairdresser and make-up artist, has equipped her with all the necessary tools.

Rayna said: 'It's absolutely been worth every penny and I don't regret any of the money I've spent for a single second - I don't think you can put a price on happiness and wellbeing.

'A lot more opportunities have been afforded to me because of my self-confidence and esteem - I'm a lot happier facing people and talking to strangers because I know they're seeing what I want them to see now.

'I absolutely would not have gotten to where I am today without Jae - she's been instrumental in my transition.

'Aside from accepting me and giving me a safe space to explore my feelings - she's taught me so much about looking the way I want to look.
Disgruntled former employees of craft beer brand BrewDog have shared a scathing open letter slamming the company for its 'toxic attitudes' and accusing it of fostering a 'culture of fear' among staff.

Penned by a group called 'Punks With Purpose', the letter features a list of 63 names of people who used to work for the firm, and takes aim at the Scotland-based brewery's founders James Watt and Martin Dickie.

It claims the company is 'built on a cult of personality' and alleges that it left some staff feeling 'burnt out, afraid and miserable', adding that 'a significant number of people have admitted they have suffered mental illness' as a result of working there.

It goes so far as to claim being treated like a human being 'was sadly not always a given' for those employed by BrewDog - trashing the image of the hipster company which offers 'pawternity leave' if a staff member gets a dog and pays employees 500 to quit if they don't feel they're a good fit.

The open letter was shared on Twitter yesterday, where it's attracted more than 8,100 likes and 2,333 retweets.

Disgruntled former employees of hipster craft beer brand BrewDog have shared a scathing open letter slamming the company for its 'toxic attitudes' and accusing it of fostering a 'culture of fear' among staff (pictured: its founders Martin Dickie and James Watt in April last year)

Writing collectively as a group called 'Punks With Purpose', the letter features a list of names of people who used to work for the firm, and takes aim at the Scotland-based brewery's founders

A letter in response reportedly drafted by the company's 'people team' which brands the claims made by Punks With Purpose 'demeaning' - and urges current staff members to sign it by 10:30am - is now circulating on social media, with a number of users criticising its 'hostile' tone.

Mr Watt subsequently issued an 'update' on the Punks With Purpose open letter, describing it as 'so upsetting, but so important'. He said: 'Our focus now is not on contradicting or contesting the details of that letter, but to listen, learn and act.'

He also tweeted that the suggestion it was he who sent round the counter letter which 'dismissed the deeply-held fears of current and former staff' was 'untrue', stressing: 'The email came from our people team, not myself. The letter is drafted by our teams who feel it is important to make their voice heard too.'

MailOnline contacted BrewDog for comment and received a copy of Mr Watt's public statement.

The open letter was shared on Twitter yesterday, where it's attracted more than 8,100 likes and 2,263 retweets. The letter was signed by 61 former employees, plus '45 and counting who did not feel safe to include their names or initials'

The Punks With Purpose letter opens by addressing recent claims of sexism, discrimination and sexual harassment and abuse made by women working in the craft beer industry.

It states its purpose is to make known the feelings of former staff regarding 'the atmosphere fostered at BrewDog, since its inception, in the hope that it might explain why so many allegations have come to light'.

'BrewDog was, and is, built on a cult of personality,' it reads. 'Since day one, you have sought to exploit publicity, both good and bad (and usually with the faces of James and Martin front and centre) to further your own business goals.

'Your mission might genuinely be to make other people as passionate about craft beer as you are (and in a sense you have succeeded - your fanbase certainly has some true zealots in its ranks), but the ambitions you impressed on your team have always seemed business-led.

A letter in response reportedly drafted by the company's 'people team' which brands the claims made by Punks With Purpose 'demeaning' - and urges current staff members to sign it by 10:30am - is now circulating on social media, with a number of users criticising its 'hostile' tone

The 'crew member' email response urges current staff members to sign it by 10:30am - it's now circulating on social media, with a number of users criticising its 'hostile' tone

Mr Watt tweeted that the suggestion it was he who sent round this counter letter which 'dismissed the deeply-held fears of current and former staff' was 'untrue', stressing: 'The email came from our people team, not myself. The letter is drafted by our teams who feel it is important to make their voice heard too.'

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS WHO NOW OWN A 620MILLION STAKE IN BREWDOG Mr Watt, pictured right with business partner Martin Dickie, issued an official statement this morning saying BrewDog is 'sorry' and is going to 'take action' rather than 'make excuses' The Aberdeen-born founders of BrewDog, James Watt, 38, and Martin Dickie, started up their own brewery at the age of 24 on an industrial estate in 2007. They decided on the name because Mr Watt's father Jim had recently got a puppy. According to Forbes, Mr Watts 24 per cent stake in the company is worth around 338million, while Mr Dickie's 20 per cent stake is worth around 282m. Mr Watt, who is married with two daughters, is now CEO and has very much been the face of the company since its inception. He comes from a family of fishermen and used to help his father on his fishing boat in the North Sea. On his LinkedIn profile he claims to be a 'fully qualified deep sea captain'. He graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in law and economics. After landing a job as a trainee solicitor he quit after two weeks - branding 'conforming' as 'painful at best - and, three years later, started BrewDog with Mr Dickie. The business struggled at first but took off when, after around six months, Tesco placed an order to sell its beer across the country. In 2014, Mr Watt won Great British Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2016 both he and Mr Dickie were awarded an MBE. Mr Dickie, also married and a father-of-three, has kept a quieter public profile than his business partner - though he did ride an Abbott 433 tank through Camden in north London to mark the opening of their first bar in England. The pair grew up as best friends and became flatmates when they both lived in Edinburgh. He studied distilling at Heriot-Watt and spent several years after graduating working in a variety of distilleries and breweries across the UK, including Thornbridge Brewery in Derbyshire. In December Mr Dickie launched his own CBD brand - HBHM - which stands for Happy Body Happy Mind. The pair grew up as best friends and became flatmates when they both lived in Edinburgh Advertisement

'Growth, at all costs, has always been perceived as the number one focus for the company, and the fuel you have used to achieve it is controversy.'

The letter alleges that several of BrewDog's famous PR campaigns - including the founders both changing their names to Elvis, sending 'protest beer to Russia' and offering its employees 'pawternity leave' when they get a pet - were built on 'lies, hypocrisy and deceit'.

It goes on: 'You spent years claiming you wanted to be the best employer in the world, presumably to help you to recruit top talent, but ask former staff what they think of those claims, and youll most likely be laughed at. Being treated like a human being was sadly not always a given for those working at BrewDog.'

The letter claims that employees from all departments within the business, from production and bartending to marketing and HR have signed the letter, because they felt that in their day to day working lives there were 'at best hurdles, and at worst genuine safety concerns'.

An email from Mr Watt to the BrewDog team in response to the Punks With Purpose tweet was also shared on social media

'We felt that no matter how these were raised, the likelihood was we would be met with some variation on "thats just the way things are",' it argues. 'Sometimes it was linked to James directly, sometimes it was because someone in a position of power felt enabled to act in such a manner. We believe these toxic attitudes towards junior staff trickled down throughout the business from day one, until they were simply an intrinsic part of the company.'

It adds that many of them started their jobs there having eagerly bought into the BrewDog ethos, but discovered that 'fast paced' meant 'unmanageable' and 'challenging' meant 'demanding'.

It alleges that some senior staff members 'belittled' others beneath them and 'pressured them into working beyond their capacity' to the point where they eventually felt 'forced out of the business'.

It claims the single biggest shared experience of former staff is 'a residual feeling of fear', both of the atmosphere and the repercussions if they were to speak out. It claimed 'many' felt unable to sign the letter because doing so would 'leave them feeling extremely vulnerable'.

The Punks With Purpose open letter states that many of the ex-employees started their jobs having eagerly bought into the BrewDog ethos, but discovered that 'fast paced' meant 'unmanageable' and 'challenging' meant 'demanding' (pictured: the BrewDog bar in Shoreditch, London)

The letter then personally accuses Mr Watt for being responsible for the company's 'rotten culture', claiming in the wake of his success are people 'left burnt out, afraid and miserable'. It ends by demanding a 'genuine apology' for the people who felt they were 'harassed, assaulted, belittled, insulted or gaslighted'.

Mr Watt issued an official statement this morning saying BrewDog is 'sorry' and is going to 'take action' rather than 'make excuses'.

Dragons' Den investors turned down best deal in show's history when they refused to put 100K into Brewdog that would 'now be worth 360m' In March, CEO and co-founder of BrewDog Mr Watt, 38, claimed his plea for investment turned down by Dragons' Den 13 years ago would now be worth 360m - the best deal in the programme's history. He said they 'pitched our hearts out' to the BBC show in 2008 but only got as far as the screen test before he was rejected by producers. The craft beer company was just two years old at the time, and along with business partner Martin Dickie, he asked for 100,000 for 20 per cent of the business. But he has now revealed a recent valuation of the brew company means the Dragons' missed investment would now be worth a staggering 360 million. Writing on LinkedIn, he said: 'In 2008 we applied to Dragons' Den & got as far as a screen test and we pitched our hearts out before the producers rejected us. 'They deemed Martin and myself not investment worthy - we were totally crushed. Based on our latest BrewDog valuation, that investment would be now worth almost 360m. That means the Dragons missed out on by far the best deal in Den history.' James said their pitch was rejected because it 'was not unique enough, special enough or with enough growth potential to make the grade'. Advertisement

'At BrewDog our people are our main priority, which is why the open letter we saw on Twitter was so upsetting, but so important,' it said.

'Our focus now is not on contradicting or contesting the details of that letter, but to listen, learn and act.

'At BrewDog we are focussed on building the best business we can. We have always tried to do the best by our team  we do have many thousands of employees with positive stories to tell as a result. But the tweet we saw last night proves that on many occasions we havent got it right. We are committed to doing better, not just as a reaction to this, but always; and we are going to reach out to our entire team past and present to learn more.

'But most of all, right now, we are sorry. Its hard to hear those comments, but it must have been harder to say them. We appreciate that and we will endeavour to honour that effort and courage with the real change it deserves.

'We arent going to make excuses, were going to take action. From our commitment to sustainability to our passion for beer, BrewDog has always been defined by taking responsibility and continually improving. This is no exception.'

But an internal letter reportedly sent to employees today carried a significantly different tone, branding the open letter's contents 'demeaning' to current staff members and calling it a 'threat to all of our livelihoods'.

It then urges staff to reply to the email with a 'yes' by 10:30am if they 'agree with the content' and are happy to add their name to a 'crew reply' in response, which opens with 'wow'.

It goes on: 'We hear you, loud and clear. And honestly, we're a little surprised, and sad, that working at BrewDog left such a negative impression on you. But we're a little bit proud too, because reading your letter reminded us how ballsy, articulate and determined each of you are - that's what we liked about you when you worked at BrewDog.

'So when we think about those days when you were part of the BrewDog crew, we remember them for the impact each of you had in making us the business we are now, and we're grateful for it.

'We know that some of you parted on bad terms, and sometimes that was because of something BrewDog did, and somteimes it was the other way around. It's a universal truth that there are two sides to every story, and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, and never more is that true that in the relationship between BrewDog and some of its former crew.'

It states that the current crew 'doesn't accept' that BrewDog is a 'bad business or place to work', and claims doing so 'isn't just wrong, it's actually a bit demeaning, and a bit hurtful,'.

It adds: 'Your direct appeal to us is touching, but you know what? We don't need to be saved. Your letter doesn't speak for us,' before concluding: 'We're actually really touched that you care enough to speak up and reach out to us like this - we value your opinions. But we always did.

'In the words of Elvis (Presley, not Watt or Dickie - that story WAS real by the way), maybe we didn't love you quite as often as we could have. But you were always on our minds.'

Many Twitter users came out in support of the BrewDog employees who issued the open letter, and criticised the crew reply for 'pressurising' employees into signing it.

Many Twitter users came out in support of the BrewDog employees who issued the open letter, and criticised the crew reply for 'pressurising' employees into signing it

One tweeted: 'This has real "I'm happy and absolutely not a hostage" vibes,' while another commented: 'Subtext, "sign this letter of you may lose your job" Lovely.'

And one wrote: 'F***. That whole thing reads like a trap. Reply yes by 10:30 or get added to a list of sympathisers. I mean, maybe its well intentioned and they genuinely want to listen to staff & improve the working environment but there are a lot of red flags to my mind.'

'So no pressure, reply YES otherwise we'll have a clear list of people who don't agree with us and your career prospects will be dead,' tweeted another.

According to BrewDog's 'crewprint' from August 2019, which lists the perks for working at the company, staff who feel the company isn't right for them after their induction are offered 500 to quit.

'We want crew members who passionately want to work for us and who believe in our culture and our values,' it states.

It's not the first time the beer company has sparked controversy; in 2016 it served 55 per cent proof beer in bottles made from stuffed stoats and squirrels, one of its numerous provocative marketing tactics. The stunt was slammed by Advocates for Animals as a 'perverse idea' and 'stupid marketing gimmick'.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, BrewDog shifted its distillery production towards making free hand sanitiser for local hospitals and charities, but it was later turned down by Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as it didn't meet medical standards.
Thomas Markle has said he would 'love' to speak to his estranged daughter Meghan as he begged her forgiveness in a new broadcast interview.

The retired Hollywood lighting director, 76, who lives 70 miles away from the Sussexes LA mansion, has not spoken to the Duchess of Sussex, 39, since she married Prince Harry three years ago.

In a world exclusive interview with 60 Minutes which is set to air on Sunday, Thomas, who has met neither Harry nor grandson Archie, says he remains 'confused' over why their 'great relationship' broke down.

With the birth of Harry and Meghan's daughter Lilibet this week, Thomas said he hopes the family can be mended, explains: 'I'll be very disappointed that I don't get to hold my granddaughter.'

Thomas Markle, 76, has said he would 'love' to speak to his estranged daughter Meghan, 39, as he begged her forgiveness in a new broadcast interview with 60 Minutes

In the interview, he tells reporter Tom Steinfort: 'I've made mistakes. I apologised a hundred times for it.'

Meanwhile he also says he remained baffled as to why he is no longer in contact with his daughter, saying: 'If I had done something terribly wrong, that would be fine, but I haven't.'

Thomas Markle has had a strained relationship with his daughter ever since the royal wedding, with Meghan telling Oprah recently that her father had 'betrayed' her and she 'found it hard to reconcile' with him.

She said: 'I look at Archie, I think about this child, and I genuinely can't imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child'.

The retired Hollywood lighting director who lives 70 miles away from the Sussexes LA mansion, has not spoken to the Duchess of Sussex since she married Prince Harry three years ago

Fighting back in March, Thomas denied her claims before branding his son-in-law Harry 'snotty' and accusing him of failing to properly support her when she was suicidal.

'It really did upset me, like I said, it would have been easy for her to reach out to me, any of the rest of her family, who she claims she doesn't know,' he told Good Morning Britain.

'But the other thing is that I would think that she could turn to her husband.'

When noted she did speak to Harry, Thomas said Meghan's husband had 'obviously not supported her that well'.

In an interview set to air on Sunday, Meghan's estranged father Thomas, who has met neither Harry nor grandson Archie, said he remains 'confused' over why their 'great relationship' broke down

Thomas said he's apologised '100 times' for doing a deal with a paparazzi photographer before the Royal Wedding in 2018 and urged the couple to see him with Archie now they only live '70 miles away' from his Mexico home. He said: 'We all make mistakes - but I've never played naked pool or dressed like Hitler like Harry did'.

He has repeatedly slammed his daughter's decision to refuse to see or speak to him, declaring in a recent interview with ITV in the UK: 'The biggest problem here is she's pretty much ghosted all of her family'.

He said that while he did let her down, she had 'let me down too' by cutting him off after heart surgery almost three years ago.

He said: 'The bottom line is she didn't lose me, she made a statement saying she lost me, she didn't lose me, I would've always been there for her, I'm there for her now if she wants me'.

Estranged: The Duchess of Sussex's complicated relationship with estranged father Thomas (pictured center with his daughter and ex-wife Doria Ragland) has been widely reported

He added: 'I'd like to say again. I'm sorry for what I've done. This was two years ago. But I've tried to make it up to her. I'm now only 70 miles away. I've never stopped loving her. I don't agree with all the things that my children they do. But I will always love them. And I certainly love Meghan'.

The latest comments come days after an anonymous relative of Meghan's claimed that she 'won't ever talk to her family again' because she acts like she is 'in a different social class' and therefore 'above them and where she came from'.

The unnamed Markle insider spoke out about the Duchess during an interview with Fox News, hitting out at the mother-of-two for her treatment of her family, while also insisting that her relatives do not wish to pursue a reconciliation.

'We're clearly in different social classes and we won't ever talk again,' the person - who did not reveal their relation to the mother-of-two - said of Meghan's relationship with her family.

'You shouldn't have to be someone you're not, or a certain class to be accepted and loved,' the person added.

It comes days after an unnamed relative of Meghan has claimed that she 'won't ever talk to her family again' because she acts like 'she is above them and where she came from'

While the Duchess's relative offered congratulations to the couple on the arrival of their daughter, they admitted that they don't believe a playdate between the little girl and her Markle cousins is ever going to happen despite their physical proximity, joking that a meeting with Oprah Winfrey would be just as likely to take place.

According to the Markle relative, the rift between Meghan and her family is entirely 'her choice', adding that the family has no plans to try and mend it because they don't want to 'chase after someone that doesn't want to talk to' them.

Although Meghan is known to be incredibly close to her mother, Doria Ragland - who is understood to be living with the Sussexes at their $14 million Montecito mansion where she is helping them to care for Archie and his newborn sister - the Duchess does not appear to have a tight bond with anyone else in her immediate family.

The Sussexes' relationship with Prince Harry's family is also understood to have become very strained in recent months, particularly in the wake of the very damaging allegations the couple made about the royals during the Oprah interview - which was followed up by further comments made by the Duke during a podcast interview with actor Dax Shepard and accusations he made during his mental health series on Apple TV+.

Tight-knit: The only relative that Meghan is known to have a close connection with is her mother Doria, who is believed to be living with the Sussexes at their $14m Montecito home

Further tension arose just yesterday after Prince Harry threatened legal action against UK broadcasting corporation the BBC, which reported that he and Meghan did not ask the Queen for permission to name their daughter Lilibet.

Senior Buckingham Palace sources are said to have told BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond on Wednesday that the Queen was 'never asked' her opinion on the couple's decision to name their new baby after her childhood nickname.

However, Harry hit back within 90 minutes of the BBC's report being published through a statement from his and Meghan's close friend Omid Scobie that insisted the Queen was the first person the Duke called after the birth of his daughter.

Scobie, who wrote the bombshell Finding Freedom biography of the couple, also claimed the Sussexes would not have used the name Lilibet unless the Queen had supported the move.

Criticism: The unknown relative is not the first of Meghan's family members to publicly criticize her. Thomas has openly slammed his daughter on a number of occasions

Harry, who together with wife Meghan announced they were expecting a girl during their interview with Oprah in March, took things a step further mere hours after his rebuttal of the report, threatening the BBC with legal action through law firm Schillings.

Notice of the legal action was followed by a carefully-worded statement that raised more questions than answers over whether the Queen did give permission or if the couple simply informed her of their intentions in a fait accompli.

The statement insisted that the BBC report was wholly wrong and read: 'The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement, in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called.

'During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honor. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.'

Tension: Meanwhile Harry's relationship with the royal family has become increasingly strained since the Sussexes stepped down as working members of the royal family

The episode is the latest display of the chasm between the Sussexes and Buckingham Palace, after officials appeared to be caught off guard by the timing of the baby news with a spokesman for the Palace congratulating the couple 90 minutes after the announcement broke on the Archewell website at 1pm on Sunday.

Harry and his brother Prince William are due to unveil a statue of their mother Princess Diana at Kensington Palace on her birthday, but the arrangements have yet to be confirmed, amid a long-reported rift between the brothers.

Harry and Meghan plunged the Windsors into crisis with their Oprah interview in March when they accused an unnamed royal of making a racist remark about their son Archie's skin tone before he was born.

They also said the institution failed to help Meghan when she was suicidal. But during the televised interview with Winfrey, the Sussexes lauded the Queen.

Harry spoke of his respect for his grandmother, while Meghan said: 'The Queen... has always been wonderful to me.'
Jackets designed for Sir Mick Jagger by his late partner L'Wren Scott are among the items from the fashion designer's archive that have gone on display before they are offered at auction.

The Rolling Stones frontman and the designer and stylist were together for 13 years before she was found dead in her New York apartment in March 2014.

Some 55 lots from her archive will go under the hammer at Christie's, including an oak leaf 'glamouflage' jacket designed for Sir Mick in 2013, which is expected to fetch between 20,000 and 30,000.

Also included is a butterfly jacket designed for the musician, which is also expected to fetch between 20,000 and 30,000.

The oak leaf 'glamoflage' jacket for Mick Jagger by L'Wren Scott, 2013, is expected to fetch between 20,000-30,000 at auction

Sir Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones performs on the Pyramid Stage during day 3 of the 2013 Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm on June 29, 2013

Penelope Cruz attends the afterparty for the Royal World Premiere of 'Skyfall' at Tate Modern on October 23, 2012 in London

The black and gold sparkly gown which Nicole Kidman donned is expected to fetch between 1,500 - 2,500

Pictured, Nicole on the red carpet for the 85th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood California on 24 February 2013

The feather-trimmed sheath worn by Naomi Campbell from the 'Tuxedo Terrace' Collection, Autumn-Winter 2010-11 is worth an estimated 1500-2000

Pictured, attending the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS 2010 at the Hotel du Cap during the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2010 in Antibes, France

Other lots include dresses worn by Nicole Kidman, Isla Fisher, Naomi Campbell, Penelope Cruz, Daphne Guinness and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Proceeds from the sale will be donated to fund the L'Wren Scott Scholarship at Central St Martins, which was set up by Sir Mick in 2015.

Scott, who was said to be 6ft 4in and towered at least half a foot over Sir Mick, became well-known in Britain after she got together with him.

She designed stage outfits for notable headline performances by the band at Glastonbury Festival and Hyde Park.

Actress Isla Fisher wears the tassel motif dress by actress Isla Fisher at the premiere of 'Now You See Me' in New York 2013 (pictured, left and right)

A 30s-style sequinned floral gown worn by Shailene Woodley from the 'Beau Monde' collection, Spring Summer 2012. It is estimated to fetch between 800 - 1,200

Actress Shailene Woodley arrives at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, California

A purple sequinned gown worn by Amy Adams is expected to fetch between 700-1000. Pictured right, Amy Adams arriving at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards held at the Kodak Theatre on February 27, 2011 in Hollywood

A New York coroner ruled that the former model had killed herself.

The Rolling Stones subsequently cancelled a seven-date tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Writing on Facebook at the time, Sir Mick called Scott his 'lover and best friend' and said he was struggling to understand why she might have taken her own life.

'We spent many wonderful years together and had made a great life for ourselves. She had great presence and her talent was much admired, not least by me.'

Following news of her death, it emerged her eponymous fashion label had been experiencing financial problems.

The online auction is open now and closes on July 1 at 2pm.

A couture embroidered kimono tailcoat ensemble is estimated to make between 2,000 - 3,000 at auction (pictured, left). Pictured, right: L'Wren Scott attends the British Fashion Awards 2013 at London Coliseum on December 2, 2013 in London

Figure-hugging with mermaid hem, the curves of the body outlined in burgundy crystals which increase in density towards the hem. Pictured, the gown, estimated to be worth 1,500-2,000 worn by L'Wren Scott at The Serpentine Gallery on June 26, 2013

The 'nude sequinned sheath' dress worn by Nicole Kidman is expected to fetch an estimated 700 - 1,000

Nicole Kidman wears the 'nude sequinned sheath' dress from the 'Under my skin collection' from Spring Summer 2007. Pictured, attending the 'Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus' film premiere at the Rome Film Festival in Italy on 13 October 2006

A scarlet sequinned lace cocktail gown worn by Nicole Kidman from L'Wren Scott's 'Yorkshire Pudding' collection from Spring-Summer 2013 is also among the 55 lot and is expected to fetch between 400 - 600. Pictured right, during the 50th annual New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center on October 3, 2012

The black silk crepe and lace evening gown worn by Nicole Kidman is expected to fetch between 600-900 when it goes under the hammer

Pictured, the actress attending the 24th Annual Producers Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles on 26 January 2013

Amongst the 55 lot is an ivory stretch jersey 'headmistress' dinner dress (pictured, left) worn by Mariella Frostrup. Pictured right, attending the Harper's Bazaar Women of the Year Awards on November 5, 2013 in London

Sarah Jessica Parker donned L'Wren Scott's striped jacquard silk cocktail dress (pictured, left) to the 29th annual Fashion Group International Night of Stars at Cipriani Wall Street on October 25, 2012 in New York City (pictured, right)

The degrade sequinned cocktail dress Jennifer Lawrence wore during the 16th Annual Critics Choice Movie Awards on January 14, 2011 in Hollywood is also among the 55 lot and is expected to fetch between 700-1000

A green silk sheath worn by Nicole Kidman by L'Wren Scott from the 'Bois De Boulonge' collection, Autumn-Winter 2009-2010 (left). Pictured right, the actress poses backstage during the 44th annual Academy Of Country Music Awards' Artist of the Decade held at the MGM Grand on April 6, 2009 in Las Vegas

The pink lace evening gown worn by Penelope Cruz by L'Wren Scott, 2010 is expected to make up to 900 when it goes under the hammer

Pictured, Penelope Cruz of Spain arriving at the premiere of 'Nine' at the Cinema Gaumont Marignan on February 18, 2010 in Paris, France

A gold beaded ivory silk crepe evening gown worn by Gretchen Mol by L'Wren Scott, 2012 (pictured, left). Pictured right, the actress at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at The Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2012 in Los Angeles

A silver sequinned cocktail dress worn by Ashlee Green is expected to fetch between 500-800 (pictured, left). Pictured, right: Ashley Greene attending the Gala Premiere of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse at Odeon Leicester Square on July 1, 2010 in London

Among the 55 lot is a pink crepe gown worn by Kyra Sedgwick by L'Wren Scott, 2009, which is expected to fetch between 600-900 (left). Pictured right, the actress arrives at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre on September 20, 2009 in Los Angeles, California

The 'My Fair Lady' eco-dress worn by Nicole Kidman is expected to make between 300-500 when it goes up for auction in June
A mother-of-two and her husband of more than four years who spiced up their struggling marriage by inviting a friend to form a polyamorous throuple with them say that the move has made their relationship stronger than ever - and left their kids delighted thanks to the presence of a second dad.

Homemaker Meghan Davis, 34, and vending delivery driver Brent Davis, 34, from Portland, Oregon, started dating in 2011 and married in 2016, and they have two together - Braeden, 11, and Cedar, seven.

By early 2020 however, the couple's relationship was on rocky ground; despite being happy together, they couldn't help but feel that something was missing from their relationship - as if the 'twinkle was missing'.

They took some time apart, before deciding to work through their issues - and it was then that they discussed how a third person might help to bring that missing element to their marriage.

Meghan had always been interested in polyamory, a concept that she first discussed with her husband in 2019. The mom says she had always been an advocate of the philosophy that it 'takes a village to raise a child' and her interest in inviting another person into her marriage was inspired by that notion.

Three's not a crowd! Mother-of-two Meghan Davis has revealed how she saved her struggling marriage to husband Brent (left) by forming a throuple with his friend Beau Woodbyrne (right)

Family: Meghan and Brent, both 34, have been married since 2016 and have two kids together, but in 2020 their marriage ran intro trouble, so they invited Beau, 32, to join the relationship

But before the couple committed to exploring polyamory, they wanted to take the time to fix the issues in their own relationship.

After running into trouble in early 2020, they determined that they both needed space from one another, and the pandemic actually served as the perfect opportunity for them to live separately.

Because Brent worked with members of the public, they felt that the best way to keep their children safe from the coronavirus would be to have him move out of the family home and into an Airbnb, where he lived for two months.

Then, in May, Meghan and Brent sat down together, aired their grievances and renewed their love for one another.

Now that their marriage was back on track, the couple finally decided to pursue their interest in polyamory.

With Meghan realizing that she had romantic feelings for the couple's friend, software validation engineer Beau Woodbyrne, 32, she proceeded to ask him if he wanted to date her.

Initially, Beau laughed the idea off but after discussing it further, the trio decided to give polyamory a try. The couple formed a 'V' relationship in which Brent and Beau are not romantically involved with each other but are connected through their love for Meghan.

Brent is also allowed to date other women, but currently Meghan is the only one in a second relationship. Meghan and Brent say that the introduction of Beau into their marriage has 'brightened up' their relationship and has brought them closer than ever before.

Coming together: Before exploring polyamory, Meghan (center) and Brent (right) focused on sorting out their own issues, taking two months apart in order to figure out what they wanted

Moving forward: After reuniting and workout through their issues, the couple decided to give polyamory a go when Meghan realized she had feelings for Beau, who she asked to date her

Fortunately, Meghan and Brent's children are happy to have Beau around, as it means there is one more person to hang out and play with. The trio's families, whilst supportive too, have been skeptical about their relationship - not wanting anyone to get hurt as a result of things going wrong.

Online, most people react positively to the trio calling them 'beautiful', however, some say that they 'wouldn't be able to handle it.'

'When the idea of polyamory first floated to my mind, I thought it was totally nuts,' said Meghan. 'Yet at the same time, it brought this feeling of relief.

'It made me realize that I had so much love to give and Brent is only one person. 'I could tell I was overwhelming him a bit with my constant need to pour love into him and my feeling like I was expecting too much in return.

'When I thought of polyamory, I realized it is no different than having several friends that I love.

'Nobody tells me to pick just one to love in other relationships. Why would my romantic love be treated any different?

'We discussed polyamory at the end of 2019, and it felt like a logical concept to further explore.

'However, it was clear that we both needed to work a bit on figuring out ourselves before we tried anything new in the relationship.

Shock: The mother-of-two says Beau initially laughed off the idea of joining her marriage, but he soon came around to the idea when he realized that the couple was serious

Balance: The trio are in a 'V' throuple, meaning that Meghan has a sexual relationship with both men, however Brent and Beau are not romantically involved

Together: 'When Beau came into our lives, he immediately felt like family,' Meghan said

'Just days before COVID-19 made its way across the globe and all the uncertain events that ensued, we decided we needed to take a break from our relationship.

'I had come to a place where I felt ready to do whatever I needed, including risking losing a husband, in order to heal and move forward in a happy life.

'Brent moved out and stayed in an Airbnb and I stayed at the house with the kids.

'In May, we sat across from one another, masked and socially distanced, and read letters to each other.

'We outlined all of our pain, epiphanies, and realizations that we had come to during our time apart.

'We both realized that day that we hadn't loved each other all those years because we "had" to. We loved each other because we wanted to.

'Somewhere in the constructs of life, we get so hung up on our roles in our relationships that we forget that we are here because we want to be. When Beau came into our lives, he immediately felt like family.

'Beau had been there for me during a particularly difficult time in my life, right around the time when the idea of polyamory had come to me.

The more the merrier: Brent and Meghan's two children, Braeden, 11, and Cedar, seven, both loving having two father figures

Blessing: Fortunately, Meghan and Brent's children are happy to have Beau around, as it means there is one more person to hang out and play with

'Of course, this was not an easy leap to make. All three of us had always been monogamous and as much as polyamory made sense to us, discussing it as a concept and living it out in real life were two different things.

'I confessed to Beau that I had feelings for him and wanted to know if he would be interested in trying polyamory out.

'Initially, he laughed at the idea as it just seemed far too difficult to try to pull off but after lots of communicating, we decided to give it a try.

'Almost a year later, we are happily exploring this new love adventure together.

'It has brightened our relationship in ways we can't even explain.

'The level of trust and true, unconditional love that comes from this lifestyle is so deep.

'It hasn't always been easy, but it has been centered around a truly beautiful love.

'The family members who do know have been supportive and loving but it has, of course, come with a lot of communicating.

'We have gotten lots of questions from our loved ones, who mean well and want to support us, but are nervous about us getting hurt.

Advice: For those thinking about trying out a polyamorous relationship, Meghan, Brent, and Beau stress that having love for yourself first is key

Strong: Meghan and Brent's marriage is better than it has ever been

'When in public at first, people seem a little uncomfortable, like they don't know how to react but once they see how much it works and makes sense and how much this is just about love, it just feels like any other relationship.'

For those thinking about trying out a polyamorous relationship, Meghan, Brent, and Beau stress that having love for yourself first is key.

'If we could give anyone advice on trying a nonconventional way of loving, it would be to first find love and healing within yourself,' said Meghan. 'Polyamory forces you to be introspective. I can't always go to Beau or to Brent to get my cup filled. I first have to check in with me.

'It's too easy to burn out when you have two partners and a family, so each of us being in touch with ourselves has provided so much more space for love and less room for arguments.

'It is truly so liberating, the beauty and security we have found as individuals, has brought a brand new twinkle into our relationship.

'When we feel heard and validated, we are able to create space for vulnerability and when we are willing to be vulnerable, we can step into our bravery more easily, knowing truly who we are.

'This isn't the dress rehearsal for life, this is the real deal, so just let yourself love and be loved.'
A seven-month-old baby has been mistaken for a toddler due to his impressive head of hair.

Sammie Pepperell's son Beau, from Hornchurch, London, was born with head of jet black hair - resulting in hairdressers thinking he was two years old at his first haircut.

His head of locks came as no surprise to Sammie, 28, becayse she suffered from 'terrible' heartburn throughout the pregnancy, which she's taken as proof that the old wives' tale is true.

A seven-month-old baby has been mistaken for a toddle because of his impressive head of dark hair

Beau, from Hornchurch, London, was born with head of jet black hair - resulting in hairdressers thinking he was two years old

The customer assistant and Beau recently visited the hairdressers to give his hair a snip, and people in the salon were surprised to see a child so young in the chair.

Sammie said: 'The hairdressers thought he was 12-18 months old. They had never had a baby so young in the salon chair before.

'People are always complimenting Beau's hair - they can never believe his age.'

Owing his hair to his father Darren Lucas, 34, she said she suspects this is where he got it from.

Mother Sammie Pepperell, 28, and Beau recently visited the hairdressers to give his hair a snip, and people in the salon were surprised to see a child so young in the chair

Sammie said that hairdressers 'thought he was 12-18 months old' and had 'never had a baby so young in the salon chair before'

His mother suspects he got his hair from his father Darren Lucas, 34, and his Mauritian roots, and joked when he was born the 'delivery room was in total shock'

She said: 'Beau comes from a Mauritian background - he probably inherited his hair from his dad Darren.'

Sammie recalls drinking four pints of milk per day throughout her pregnancy to ease her heartburn, but she never believed her baby would be so hairy.

She said: 'I was told about the old wives' tale, but I didn't expect him to arrive with a full head of hair.

'It was the first thing I noticed. Everyone in the delivery room was in total shock. I assumed it would fall out, but it keeps on growing.

'I love it! I didn't want to get it cut beacuse it's his trademark but it gets in his eyes, so he had to have a little trim.'
A Florida mother is warning parents just how easy it is for children to accidentally overdose on marijuana after her own six-year-old daughter found a family friend's THC gummy and  seeing the child-friendly packaging  ate it.

Morgan McCoy, 39, shared the story of 'one of the scariest moments of my life' on Facebook last week, explaining how her child managed to find the legally-purchased marijuana gummy tucked away in a drawer of clothes.

Morgan soon found her little girl non-responsive and seizing and, after a frantic ambulance trip, spent the night by her hospital bed.

Now the concerned mother is demanding regulation for legal marijuana packaging, insisting that 'my daughter wouldn't have looked twice at it' if the bag hadn't been purposefully designed to look like a Hawaiian Punch-flavored treat.

Dangerous: A Florida six-year-old daughter found a family friend's THC gummy and  seeing the child-friendly packaging  ate it, sending her to the hospital

Morgan McCoy, 39, shared the story of 'one of the scariest moments of my life' on Facebook last week

Morgan's story details how marijuana gummies can be legally purchased and carefully hidden and still end up in the stomachs of children.

She, her husband, and their children when to visit her in-laws in Jacksonville during Memorial Day weekend, and were joined by several other friends and their families.

'We are a group of legal, medical marijuana patients. Not one iota of this product was illegally purchased to my knowledge. I have never seen it before,' she stressed.

At her in-laws' house, a family friend was staying in the room where Morgan and her kids usually sleep when they visit.

That friend, who has two children of their own, had taken an unexpected, fully-clothed dip in the pool, during which time they had a bag with a gummy in their pocket.

When they went to change out of their wet clothes, they put them  and the gummy  in a bag in the dresser drawer in their room.

Unfortunately, that's where Morgan's six-year-old found it.

'My candy-wh*re of a daughter went in looking for HER clothes, because this is the room she normally stays in,' Morgan wrote. 'She came across the bag and, like any 6 year old would... She ate the candy.'

Scary: Her daughter was found unresponsive and seizing and had to be rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where she spent the night

Appealing: Morgan says her daughter wouldn't have eaten it if it hadn't looked so kid-friendly

Several hours passed, and nothing seemed amiss  until another parent raised the alarm.

'All of a sudden the parent came outside and told me that my daughter may have taken a THC gummy,' Morgan said.

'I ran inside and calmly picked her up and moved her from the ground to the couch. She couldn't open her eyes, she was completely non-responsive and when I laid her down she kind of braced herself like she felt like she was falling.

'I turned around and yelled for my MIL to call 911... she asked if she was okay, and as I turned back around, she was on her knees seizing. I grabbed her and ran outside and just paced back and forth waiting for the ambulance to arrive (crying uncontrollably and crying out to God of course).'

Morgan spent the night with her daughter at the hospital, where doctors could only monitor her and give her fluids.

'I was up all night with my husband watching those machines. Her breaths per minute would drop to single digits at times, her heart rate would shoot up to alarming levels at others,' she said.

'It was one of the scariest moments of my life and I never want another parent to go through that. The next one may not be so lucky.'

While fatal overdoses of marijuana are 'unlikely,' according to the CDC, overdoses are entirely possible, and can include symptoms of anxiety, paranoia, panic, fast heart rate, delusions or hallucinations, increased blood pressure, and severe nausea or vomiting.

Warning: She pointed to similar products from Faded Fruits, like this cotton candy-flavored gummy, which has colorful, child-like packaging

Morgan went on to say that she wanted to be 'abundantly clear' that she didn't think the parent who had the gummy did anything wrong  and that it could happen to anyone.

Her issue is with the packaging for the gummies, which doesn't make it clear enough that it contains drugs and is much too appealing to children.

'No one was arrested, DCF cleared the case in 3 minutes and was shocked at the picture of the candy,' she said. 'Had the packaging been what it should be and not this bulls***, my daughter wouldn't have looked twice at it.'

She continued: 'There needs to be regulation in place to keep companies from putting stuff like this on the market. We don't have federal regulation over marijuana because our government won't legalize it. '

Morgan called government representatives, including Florida Senator Rick Scott, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, as well as the Bureau of Consumer Protection, the California Atty General, The US Attorney General, The US Department of Agriculture, and the Florida Health Department.

'Every single agency I managed to get a hold of today pointed me somewhere else. There is NO ONE in charge of this?!?!?!' she wrote.

Like this! She called for all packaging to be more clearly marked as drugs and not appealing to kids, like this

'There needs to be regulation in place to keep companies from putting stuff like this on the market,' she said

She also noted that the company that makes the Hawaiian Punch-flavored gummies, Faded Fruits, makes similar flavors with fun packaging like cotton candy and Sour Patch Kids.

'In my eyes, this company is guilty of not only negligence but child endangerment on a national scale. And so is our country if we continue to stand idly by,' she said. 'THC is a MEDICATION and needs to be packaged as such. Period.'

Speaking to the Today show, Morgan added: 'If we have marijuana packaged like candy, children are far more likely to eat it than if it were packaged like medication, which is what it is.

'Its a drug and all of our drugs are packaged in childproof stuff, even vitamins and childrens Tylenol.

'Every adult I showed it to was like, "I would have eaten that." I truly think its something to do with this packaging. If I see candy, Im going to eat it if I am six years old.'

In fact, since her story went viral, Morgan tells DailyMail.com that three parents have reached out to share similar experiences, including one whose 18-month-old toddler mistook weed candy for regular candy and spent three days in the ICU.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Faded Fruits for comment.
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First Lady Jill Biden has seemingly taken a swipe at her predecessor Melania Trump and her infamous jacket which featured the words 'I really don't care, do you?' splashed across it.

Jill and her husband US President Joe met British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his new wife Carrie on Thursday, ahead of the G7 summit tomorrow in Cornwall.

The university professor, 70, was on message for the meet-and-greet, wearing a recycled Zadig & Voltaire blazer with the word 'love' on the back, teamed with a polka dot dress.

Former First Lady Melania sparked fierce criticism when wearing a $39 jacket emblazoned with 'I really don't care, do you?' during a trip to a migrant child detention center in McAllen, Texas, in 2018.

In a sit-down interview with ABC's 20/20, Melanie told Tom Llamas that the message was 'for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me.'

However, her outfit selection was lambasted as as being tone deaf, given the tense situation at the time; many of the children had been separated from their parents as part of the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy towards illegal immigration.

Commenting on her own fashion choice, Jill said: 'Were bringing love from America This is a global conference, were trying to bring unity across the globe.'

First Lady Jill Biden (pictured left wearing a 'Love' blazer) has seemingly taken a swipe at her predecessor Melania Trump and her infamous jacket which featured the words 'I really don't care, do you?' splashed across it (pictured right)

Jill and her husband US President Joe met British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Carrie Johnson on Thursday, ahead of the G7 summit tomorrow in Cornwall (pictured)

She added: 'I think its needed right now, that people feel a sense of unity from all the countries and feel a sense hope after this year of the pandemic.'

The First Lady, who paired her glamorous Brandon Maxwell Resort '22 collection frock with a pair of matching black high heels, first wore her blazer, by French fashion house Zadig & Voltaire, in 2019.

Meanwhile, Melania's now infamous jacket was first photographed as she boarded her plane at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on June 21, 2018, headed to Texas.

Speaking about her controversial look five months after first wearing it, Melania said: 'I want to show the [left-wing media] that I don't care. You could criticize whatever you want to say, but it will not stop me to do what I feel is right.'

'It was kind of a message, yes,' Melania added, contradicting the official White House word on the matter, from back in June, 2018. 'I would prefer that they would focus on what I do and on my initiatives [rather] than what I wear.'

The university professor, 70, was on message for the meet-and-greet, wearing a recycled Zadig & Voltaire blazer with the word 'love' on the back (pictured), teamed with a polka dot dress

The First Lady (pictured), who paired her glamorous Brandon Maxwell Resort '22 collection frock with a pair of matching black high heels, first wore her blazer, by French fashion house Zadig & Voltaire, in 2019

During her meeting in Cornwall, Jill (pictured) said: 'Were bringing love from America This is a global conference, were trying to bring unity across the globe.'

The Bidens and the Johnsons met on a scenic deck overlooking St Ives Bay, today. Carrie, 33, dressed in a scarlet 325 LK Bennett frock and matching 49.99 Zara shoes, was a vision in red as she walked hand-in-hand with the Prime Minister.

Jill briefly spoke with media after she finished having tea with Carrie, saying: 'It's really nice to be here in Cornwall. It's my first time. Obviously it's beautiful for those of you have been here before.' She added: 'Joe and I are really looking forward to meeting everyone at the G7.'

The First Lady also revealed she was looking forward to when Her Majesty would host the Bidens on Sunday, saying: 'Well, we're hoping to focus, I think, on education. Joe and I are both looking forward to meeting the Queen.

'That's an exciting part of the visit for us. We've looked forward to this for weeks and now it's finally here. It's a beautiful beginning.'

Melania's now infamous jacket was first photographed as she boarded her plane at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on June 21, 2018, headed to Texas (pictured)

Ahead of the President and Prime Minister's meeting today, officials tried to down play tensions amid a transatlantic row over Northern Ireland, emphasising the special relationship between the two nations.

At the sit down, Biden recycled one of his favourite lines, saying the two men had something in common - both married above their station. Boris and Carrie Johnson wed on May 29.

The face-to-face greeting came after the White House backed down following a report Biden rebuked Johnson for 'inflaming tensions' in Northern Ireland.

The Times reported that Biden ordered US officials to give Johnson an extraordinary diplomatic rebuke for putting the Northern Ireland peace process at risk over Brexit negotiations with the European Union. Biden officials quickly denied the report ahead of the talks between the two leaders.

The Bidens and the Johnsons (pictured walking together) met on a scenic deck overlooking St Ives Bay, England, with a view of the Atlantic Ocean in front of them

Jill (pictured right) briefly spoke with media after she finished having tea with Carrie (pictured left), saying: 'It's really nice to be here in Cornwall. It's my first time. Obviously it's beautiful for those of you have been here before'
Products featured in this Mail Best article are independently selected by our shopping writers. If you make a purchase using links on this page, we may earn an affiliate commission.

If you like outdoor adventures, hiking and family travel, you may be on the lookout for ways to make the experience more comfortable for everyone involved.

Thousands of parents are upgrading their family trips with a MiniMeis foldable child carrier, which is the world's first shoulder carrier for children.

Little ones love it since a child can see more sitting on a parent's shoulders than they would be able to in a front facing carrier on your chest or a backpack style seat.

The MiniMeis foldable child carrier is the world's first shoulder carrier for children, and it helps prevent child-carry injuries with its clever design

And parents report being able to move more freely with the weight spread across their shoulders and the force of the baby evenly distributed around the body.

It's an ideal gift for dads that love to be out and about and making memories as not only does the carrier enable the whole family to have fun together, it helps dad to protect his body from child-carrying injuries.

In the MiniMeis carrier, the child sits on a specially designed seat, hovering just above your shoulders, relieving your neck and shoulders from direct stress.

A supportive backrest is designed to help the child sit up straight while harnessed in the carrier.

With adjustable straps, a carrier caters for children aged from six months to five years, until they are old enough to walk alongside you.

When not in use, the MiniMeis foldable child carrier folds up like a laptop and fits into most bags. Weighing just over 3lb, it's the lightest framed child carrier on the market

Founders Tarjei and Julius took five years to develop the product and in two years, they've had more than 150,000 happy customers

So while the $200 price tag is an investment, it works out as just $40 a year and it's sturdy enough to use with any siblings that may arrive.

When not in use, the MiniMeis foldable child carrier folds up like a laptop and fits into most bags. Weighing just over 3lb, it's the lightest framed child carrier on the market.

It took five years for founders Tarjei and Julius to develop the product and in two years, they've had more than 150,000 happy customers and the carrier has been been named Invention of the Year by TIME Magazine.

And if you get inspired by testimonials, the website is full of photos of families using it on adventures from city breaks in New York and theme park fun at Disneyland to exploring fjords in Norway and beach trips to Miami.
Social media users are mourning the death of a monkey that brought joy to millions on TikTok and Instagram.

George the monkey had been living with a family in Houston, Texas for ten years, and in that time found viral fame thanks to countless cute videos of him playing, eating, and opening packages.

But on Wednesday, Jeff, who runs his social media accounts, announced the 'devastating news' that George has passed away due to complications following a procedure on his teeth.

Social media users are mourning the death of a monkey that brought joy to millions on TikTok and Instagram

George the monkey had been living with a family in Houston, Texas for ten years

In that time found viral fame thanks to countless cute videos

Jeff, who runs his social media accounts, announced the 'devastating news' that George has passed away

'On June 7th at 4pm Central, Georgie Boy passed away,' the message read

George, who has 17.7 million TikTok followers, was adopted by Jeff's mother-in-law as an emotional support animal to help her with CRPS, a painful nerve disorder.

The 12-year-old capuchin monkey has not only brought comfort to her, but to a huge social media audience.

And on Wednesday, those fans were crushed to learn that George had died unexpectedly.

'We have some devastating news,' Jeff wrote in a video.

'George went to the vet for a regular check up on his teeth. During, there were complications with the anesthesia, starting a long fight for his life.

'Through the fight, George was sent thousands of thoughts and prayers with the hope that he would make it.

George, who has 17.7 million TikTok followers, was adopted by Jeff's mother-in-law as an emotional support animal to help her with CRPS, a painful nerve disorder

'George went to the vet for a regular check up on his teeth. During, there were complications with the anesthesia, starting a long fight for his life,' read the announcement

'Through the fight, George was sent thousands of thoughts and prayers with the hope that he would make it,' it continued

Commenters were heartbroken to hear the news, calling it 'awful' and 'the worst news Ive heard all year.'

'This breaks my heart. Im a grown man almost in tears and I never met this wonderful guy. Rest easy George,' another fan wrote

'On June 7th at 4pm Central, Georgie Boy passed away,' the message continued.

'Though the fun-loving life of George has left, his spirit of hope and love lives on. We love you, George.

Jeff also took to Twitter to shared his thoughts on the beloved pet's passing.

'I look back on Georges life and I have so many emotions, but one thing I do feel is gratitude,' he wrote.

'George was such a special monkey with a huge purpose. I am thankful for the life he brought to his mom who suffers with CRPS, and grateful that he was given to us. We love you, George!'

'Though the fun-loving life of George has left, his spirit of hope and love lives on. We love you, George,' read the message from Jeff

'George was such a special monkey with a huge purpose. I am thankful for the life he brought to his mom who suffers with CRPS, and grateful that he was given to us. We love you, George!'

George had risen to fame in particular for videos of him opening packages. He always eagerly ripped open boxes and bag

Commenters were heartbroken to hear the news, calling it 'awful' and 'the worst news Ive heard all year.'

'This doesnt seem real. Im so sorry for your loss,' wrote one fan.

'George, you had the power to make everyone happy and laugh when they were down. Such a loving little soul. My thoughts especially to his immediate family. Such sad news. Cant believe it,' said another.

'This breaks my heart. Im a grown man almost in tears and I never met this wonderful guy. Rest easy George,' added yet another.

George had risen to fame in particular for videos of him opening packages. He always eagerly ripped open boxes and bags, seeming to smile as he pulled out what was inside and examined it.

He often seemed to smile as he pulled out what was inside and examined it

The popularity of the videos even earned him sponsorship deals, and fans would ship him presents from Amazon

In clips that racked up hundreds of thousands and even millions of views, he'd happily play with his new toys or dig in to snacks that came through the mail

The accounts also shared videos of him eating, smiling, and playing

The popularity of the videos even earned him sponsorship deals, and fans would ship him presents from Amazon.

In clips that racked up hundreds of thousands and even millions of views, he'd happily play with his new toys or dig in to snacks that came through the mail.

In one that has been viewed 5.8 million times, he opened a pack of balloons that Jeff gamely blew up for him.

He then gleefully bounced around the room playing with the balloons, and kicked back in a pile of them.

George's family even launched a merchandise line in his name.
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A nearly million-dollar beach home for sale in Massachusetts has perplexed social media users with its seemingly precarious location  directly on the beach, mere feet away from the water.

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the east coast town of Scituate has been listed for $929,999, and while it certainly offers immediate beach access, Instagram users insist that it seems a bit too immediate.

Commenters have called home 'scary' and 'risky,' quipping that's perfectly 'nice until it slides away' into the ocean.

Literal beach house: A nearly million-dollar beach home for sale in Massachusetts has perplexed social media users with its seemingly precarious location  directly on the beach, mere feet away from the water

Watch out for high tide! The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the east coast town of Scituate has been listed for $929,999, and while it certainly offers immediate beach access, Instagram users insist that it seems a bit too immediate

Dive in! Commenters have called home 'scary' and 'risky,' quipping that's perfectly 'nice until it slides away' into the ocean

For the daring: Called the 'Summer Wind beach house,' it measures 1,674 square feet and sits on nearly an acre of private oceanfront property located between Egypt Beach and Mann Hill Beach

The home was listed on Zillow last month by FC Realty Group, and has earned widespread attention since photos were shared by the popular Instagram account Zillow Gone Wild.

Called the 'Summer Wind beach house,' it measures 1,674 square feet and sits on nearly an acre of private oceanfront property located between Egypt Beach and Mann Hill Beach.

'From Sunrise to Sunset come enjoy this breathtakingly beautiful view of the Ocean,' reads the listing. 'Walk thru the front door to panoramic views of the water or step on to your deck and feel that ocean breeze.'

The house is purportedly located at 14 Stanton Lane, though photos of the exterior show no actual lane to speak of.

Rather, the house has been built on stilts stuck directly in the sand of the beach, with an entire flight of stairs leading to the first floor of the two-story home.

The house is purportedly located at 14 Stanton Lane, though photos of the exterior show no actual lane to speak of. It's been built on stilts directly in the sand of the beach, with an entire flight of stairs leading to the first floor of the two-story home

'From Sunrise to Sunset come enjoy this breathtakingly beautiful view of the Ocean,' reads the listing. 'Walk thru the front door to panoramic views of the water or step on to your deck and feel that ocean breeze'

But what a view! Images of different angles of the house show it just feet away from the tip of the shore, though it is unclear whether the photos were snapped at high tide or low tide

Swimmin' in it! On Instagram, commenters have expressed unease, horror, and concern over the sturdiness of the house, as well as its safety in inclement weather conditions

Images of different angles of the house show it just feet away from the tip of the shore, though it is unclear whether the photos were snapped at high tide or low tide.

An elevated porch looks directly out into the water, and is almost  though not quite  close enough to allow someone to jump in.

On Instagram, commenters have expressed unease, horror, and concern over the sturdiness of the house, as well as its safety in inclement weather conditions.

Yet the house, which was built in 1979, hasn't washed away to sea yet. In fact, there appear to be at least two other houses built nearby on the beach.

'Scary and/or amazing are pretty subjective. I would describe this house as temporary,"' wrote one clever commenter.

'Im sure the insurance premium is the scariest!!' said another.

'I'm no God fearing woman, but I think the bible mentioned something about building a house on sand,' commented a third.

Still standing! Yet the house, which was built in 1979, hasn't washed away to sea yet. In fact, there appear to be at least two other houses built nearby on the beach

'Scary and/or amazing are pretty subjective. I would describe this house as temporary,"' wrote one clever commenter

Pricey! One more joked that it's '2 million with flood insurance,' while another chimed in: 'All it takes is one big wave'

Yes, there are neighbors! Photos show two more houses built on the beach, one on either side

'Tell me you your a climate change denier without telling me,' quipped yet another.

One more joked that it's '2 million with flood insurance,' while another chimed in: 'All it takes is one big wave.'

'Hopefully it also works as a boat,' offered one account.

'I wouldnt even leave my towel that close to the water,' added another.

Tim Warren, CEO of the real estate data company The Warren Group, told Boston.com that there have been some troubling stories of homes washing away, but hopefully the builders of this house were prepared for that possibility.

'It looks like a house on stilts so maybe its designed to go with the flow,' he said. '[The property] looks kind of dramatic.  You hear of properties up on the North Shore, the Cape, and Chatham washing away, but I assume somebody knows what theyre doing, right?

'The town must have given them a building permit  it must have been inspected, it doesnt look that old.'
The Duke of Edinburghs closest aides were honoured by the Queen yesterday on what would have been his 100th birthday.

Military officers who carried Prince Philips coffin and those who formed part of the Land Rover hearse crew were also recognised.

They each received a rare Demise honour in acknowledgement of their years of service.

The Duke of Edinburghs closest aides were honoured by the Queen yesterday on what would have been his 100th birthday

The Queen last awarded such honours in 2002, in a combined list following the deaths of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.

Yesterday, the dukes private secretary of 11 years, Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell, was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO).

William Henderson, who was Philips page, has become a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO). And the dukes valet David Berwick, who worked for the Queens consort for 46 years, has been made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO).

All three were invited to walk with senior royals behind Philips coffin as it was ferried through the grounds of Windsor Castle on a Land Rover hearse during the funeral in April.

Military officers who carried Prince Philips coffin and those who formed part of the Land Rover hearse crew were also recognised

The custom-built Defender was driven by Corporal Louis Murray, with Corporal Craig French beside him.

Both men, who serve in the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, have been awarded the Royal Victorian Medal (Silver) for their roles.

Those tasked with organising the ceremonial military aspects of the dukes funeral have also been honoured. Brigade Major Lieutenant Colonel Guy Stone of the Welsh Guards, who was in overall charge of the military arrangements, has been made an LVO. The 48-year-old, from Notting Hill, west London, said last night he was overwhelmed by the honour.

Those tasked with organising the ceremonial military aspects of the dukes funeral have also been honoured

Garrison Sergeant Major Andrew Vern Stokes of the Coldstream Guards has been made an MVO for overseeing the practical side of the militarys involvement. The officer, from Telford, Shropshire, said he was hugely delighted yet humbled.

Twelve members of the Royal Marines and the same number of Grenadier Guards who formed the two coffin bearer parties were also recognised with either the Royal Victorian Medal (Silver) or MVO.

Others honoured included the dukes correspondence secretary Suzy Lethbridge, his assistant private secretary Rachel Loryman and his archivist and librarian Alexandra McCreery, who were all made LVOs.
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Dazzling, decked in sequins and worn by a glamorous array of women, L'Wren Scott's gowns were as intoxicatingly beautiful as the designer herself.

Fans included everyone from Madonna to Michelle Obama. She also transferred her sparkle to long-term lover Sir Mick Jagger, who wore several of her designs on stage.

However, her success masked a hidden torment and, in 2014, L'Wren took her own life, aged 49.

Now, to fund a fashion scholarship in her memory, designs worn by celebrities including Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence and Penelope Cruz are going on sale at London auction house Christie's.

Mick Jagger wore this black satin, sequinned oak leaf jacket for the Rolling Stones performance at Glastonbury, 2013. 'We started to think about the show and I said to her that I wanted something very English  an oak leaf,' recalled Jagger. 'Most people just think it's a bright green jacket, but if you look you can see.' The jacket is up to 30,000

Spanish star Penelope Cruz (left) may not have picked up an Oscar in 2011, but she was a winner when she attended the ceremony in this glittering creation. Penelope said: 'L'Wren created many unique pieces that I wore for premieres. She was a true visionary and a beautiful soul.' The dress has an estimated price of up to 1,200. Great Gatsby actress Isla Fisher (right) shimmered in this gown from L'Wren's 'Yorkshire Pudding' collection at a New York film premiere in 2013. The range had been inspired by David Hockney's black and white drawings of Yorkshire. The dress is up to 1,500

Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker (left) was pictured in this striped jacquard silk cocktail dress in 2012; the fabric was copied from a rainbow striped rayon gown of the 1930s. the dress is to 500. Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence (right) wore this figure-hugging number to the 2011 Critics' Choice awards. Sparkling in pink and gold tones, it featured in L'Wren's Serengeti Sunset collection. The dress is up to 1,000

If anyone could carry off a dazzling waterfall of gold sequins it was L'Wren. She wore this unique piece with its figure-hugging curves and mermaid hem to host the Serpentine Gallery summer party with long-time love Mick Jagger in 2013. The dress is up to 2,000

Highlights of the L'Wren Scott archive, which Jagger inherited with the rest of her estate, will go on display from today, with online bids open until July 1.

The proceeds, which could top 100,000, will go to the L'Wren Scott Fashion scholarship at Central Saint Martins in London.

Two of the most tantalising lots are the stage jackets L'Wren custom-designed for Jagger.

The first, a vibrant 'glamouflage' number in an oak leaf design, was worn for his headline performance at 2013's Glastonbury festival, and the second, adorned with butterflies, for a concert in Hyde Park the same year.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell stunned in feather-trimmed perfection for a charity gala in 2010. She first met L'Wren, aged 16, at a fashion show in Paris. 'I was in awe of this very tall girl, yet divinely feminine,' Naomi said. 'She had the biggest heart, and when you were embraced by her she would do all she could to protect and encourage you. Through all that, first and foremost, she was my friend.' The dress is up to 2,000.

L'Wren knew what worked for her friend Nicole Kidman (left) unsurprising given their strikingly similar frames. The actress stunned in this sequinned blue floral sheath at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Nicole said: 'L'Wren was exceptionally chic and refined, but she was also very sexy, and I think her clothes depict that combination. 'We had very similar body shapes, so she was able to design to my frame  anything she'd wear I would wear.' The dress is up to 1,500. Pop star Madonna (right) chose this 1940s-style, silk crepe embroidered dress by L'Wren to wear to the 2011 premiere of her directorial debut of W.E, a film based on the love affair of Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII. The dress is up to 800

L'Wren's great eye for detail saw her put in extra seams to stop them ripping during Jagger's energetic dance moves, and her dresses  even the simplest of which would sell for more than 1,000  were always lined with pure silk.

Other gowns on sale include those worn by supermodel Naomi Campbell, Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery and socialite Daphne Guinness.

Always her own best model, there are also several garments worn by L'Wren herself.

Speaking before the sale, Jagger said: 'L'Wren was a talented and passionate designer with a keen eye for detail. She created beautiful pieces that were the epitome of elegance and sophistication, yet with a contemporary feel.'

Here, BETH HALE takes a stroll along the Christie's catwalk . . .
A very small percentage of children develop the inflammatory condition linked to COVID-19, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that just 0.3 percent of youngsters under age 21 were diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a disorder in which different body parts become inflamed.

The complication was most common in kids under age five, and black and Hispanic children were up to three times more likely to have the condition than white youngsters.

It's not clear why minorities are at greater risk of MIS-C, but theories include a greater prevalence of underlying conditions among communities of color and less access to healthcare compared to Caucasian neighborhoods.

The team, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says understanding which children are at the highest risk can help doctors keep a close eye on certain patients so they can be treated before they develop MIS-C.

A new study looked at 248 cases of MIS-C, a condition in which different body parts become inflamed, in pediatric patients with coronavirus out of more than nine million. Pictured: A five- year-old child in a hospital bed at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, May 2020

Black children were two times more likely than white children and Hispanic almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with MIS-C, a new study finds

MIS-C was originally thought to be linked with Kawasaki disease, a condition that causes inflammation in the walls of the blood vessels and affects mostly children under five years old.

Cases were first reported in Britain, Italy and Spain in April 2020 and began cropping up in the U.S. in May.

A total of 4,018 cases have been confirmed across the country and at least 36 children have died, according to the CDC.

The majority of children and adolescents develop MIS-C between two and four weeks after being infected with the coronavirus.

Not every child who has developed the condition has tested positive for coronavirus, but 98 percent have - enough for doctors to believe the conditions are linked.

For the study, published in JAMA Network Open, the team looked at data from seven states reporting cases of MIS-C to the CDC.

Between April and June 2020, there were 248 reported cases that occurred in Americans under age 21 out of more than nine million children.

Researchers determined the incidence rate was 316 persons per 1,000,000 coronavirus infections, or a rate of 0.3 percent.

MIS-C rates were highest among those under age five, and higher among six-10-year-olds, than in older children

When broken down by race, about 30.2 percent, or 75 kids, were black and 38.7 percent, 96 kids, were Hispanic.

Comparatively, just 13.7 percent - 34 kids - were white.

That means black children were two times more likely and Hispanic almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with MIS-C.

Additionally, younger children were much more likely to have the condition than older children.

Those under five years old were the most likely at 33 percent, closely followed by those ages six to 10.

'These estimates indicated that MIS-C was a rare complication associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in this cohort overall,' the authors wrote.

'Our findings of higher incidence among younger children and among Hispanic or Latino, black, and Asian or Pacific Islander persons emphasize a need for further study of risk factors for MIS-C.'
More than 5million people in England are now waiting for NHS hospital treatment  the highest number ever recorded.

Official data released today showed the number now stands at 5.12million, and has risen consistently since the Covid pandemic began.

Statistics released for the first time also revealed the true extent of the NHS backlog, with almost 65,000 patients waiting at least 18 months for routine operations, such as hip and knee replacements.

Around 2,700 patients haven't been treated within two years.

Critics today slammed the 'grim milestone', calling on ministers to make tackling the 'gigantic' backlog their top priority. The Royal College of Surgeons called the data on patients waiting at least one year 'particularly troubling'.

Hospitals turned their attention to treating coronavirus patients during the first and second waves, cancelling thousands of non-urgent procedures.

Health chiefs fear non-Covid care could be threatened again if the Indian variant's rapid spread  which has left hopes of 'Freedom Day' going ahead on a knife-edge  causes hospital admissions to spike.

Vaccines have broken the link between cases and serious illness, but SAGE advisers still fear the mutant strain could trigger a 'substantial' third wave.

Millions of over-50s have yet to be fully vaccinated and data shows a single dose is slightly less effective against the Delta variant, which has bolstered calls for No10 to delay June 21 to give the NHS more time to dish out top-up jabs.

The number of people on the NHS waiting lists hit its highest-ever number of 5.12million

Meanwhile, NHS England data showed the number of patients waiting over a year for care reached 385,940 in April.

This was a drop of 50,000 from March  but is still 240 times higher than the 1,613 who were forced to wait that long before the first wave hit.



Figures show that 223,780 people were admitted for routine treatment in hospitals in April, compared to 41,121 patients in the same month last year  when Covid began to batter the NHS.

Separate NHS England figures released today showed over 2million people attended A&E in May, the highest number since January 2020.

The number A&E visits dropped to 916,575 in April 2020, marking the lowest number since records began in 2010, as people stayed at home in the first lockdown out of fear of catching Covid.

Number of Brits falling ill with Covid every day more than DOUBLES in a week to nearly 12,000 The number of Britons falling ill with Covid has more than doubled in a week amid the rapid spread of the Indian variant across the UK, a symptom-tracking study warned today. An estimated 11,908 people across the UK were catching the virus every day in the week ending June 5, according to the ZOE Covid study, up 109 per cent from 5,677 last week. The troubling figures add to mounting fears about England's planned final lockdown easing on June 21 'Freedom Day', with the scientist behind the surveillance study admitting the situation 'has rapidly changed' in the face of the mutant 'Delta' strain. Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King's College London, said the spiralling case numbers were caused by 'increased social interaction and a newly dominant variant that is much more transmissible'. But he added: 'It's clear that this is an epidemic among the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated populations in the UK and, due to the way vaccines have been rolled out, is largely affecting younger generations. 'Vaccines are working and we want to encourage people to exercise caution, especially if they feel at all unwell, until they've been fully vaccinated. The race is on to fully vaccinate the whole population to save lives and return to normal life.' Meanwhile, Test and Trace figures released today showed the number of positive cares in England rose by almost 45 per cent last week. More than 25,000 people who were swabbed in the seven-day spell ending June 2 had Covid, up from 17,000 the week before. This was despite around 850,000 fewer tests being carried out. Data also showed the number of people taking rapid Covid tests has fallen to its lowest level for three months  despite all members of the public being eligible to take two rapid tests a week. No10's top scientists fear the mutant Indian strain could be up to 60 per cent more transmissible than the once dominant Kent version and SAGE modellers fear it will trigger a 'substantial' third wave  despite three-quarters of adults having been vaccinated. Advertisement

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the highest number of people attending the emergency department each month did not rise above 1.8million.

The NHS data also shows that GPs made 209,452 urgent cancer referrals in April, more than double the previous year's number of 80,031.

Urgent referrals where breast cancer symptoms were present  though not initially suspected  were up from 3,866 in April 2020 to 14,259 in April 2021.

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said it is 'encouraging' that the data shows routine operations, cancer and mental health care have 'rebounded sharply' following the 'extensive disruption' caused by the pandemic.

He said the NHS is 'committed to restoring services to pre-pandemic levels' .

But critics slammed the figures.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England has urged the government to make fixing waiting times their 'top priority'.

Its vice president Tim Mitchell said: 'Today we have sadly reached the grim milestone in England of more than 5million people on the NHS hospital waiting list.

'Really long waits of more than a year, and in some cases more than two years, are particularly troubling. These are people waiting for operations like hip and knee replacements, or ear, nose and throat surgery.

'This is life-changing surgery were talking about. Operations that can help people get back to work, that relieve pain and mean people can enjoy a decent quality of life again.

'Surgery in many hospitals is almost at pre-pandemic levels, thanks to staff working Saturdays and evenings to catch up even though many of them are exhausted from the experience of the last year.'

He added: 'Tackling this gigantic backlog requires new investment both in staff and infrastructure.'

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour's shadow health secretary, said the waiting times reinforce the party's call for an NHS rescue plan.

'The reality is years of Tory underfunding and cuts across health care left our NHS weakened and exposed entering the pandemic with patients now left waiting even longer in pain and anxiety for treatment,' he said.

Chris Hopson, chief of NHS Providers, warned yesterday that if there is a surge in the number of people infected with Covid once the latest lockdown restrictions are lifted, other care services could suffer.

He told Times Radio that 'trade-offs' will need to be made, as further lifting restrictions will lead to higher levels of hospitalisation and morality.

Danny Mortimer, deputy chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said health service staff have achieved a 'phenomenal amount' working throughout the pandemic and simultaneously rolling out the vaccine programmer.

But pressure on the NHS is 'once again growing', as over 1,000 people are now in hospital, he said.

The prime minister 'now faces a very big decision', because no matter the size of a third wave, it will impact the services the NHS can provide, Mr Mortimer said.

NHS Providers chief Chris Hopso warned that another surge in Covid infections could lead other care services to suffer

'If the data gives rise to any doubt, health leaders would urge him to take decisive action and delay the final lifting of lockdown restrictions,' he added.

Dr Nick Scriven, former president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said 'warning signs about where the NHS was heading were glaringly visible a number of years ago and what we are seeing in recent monthly data is the result of a lack of preparedness for the inevitable'.

The country is in 'a dire state' for treatment waiting times and the four-hour target for seeing A&E patients 'has not been met for years now with little to no change in approach', he said.

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said the 'monumental delays' have likely contributed to the thousands of extra heart disease and stroke deaths in England during the pandemic.

Tracey Loftis, head of policy and public affairs at Versus Arthritis, said people with arthritis are 'bearing the brunt' of the crisis as they wait for joint replacement surgery.

'It is critical that people with arthritis are not left struggling in pain with their lives put on hold.

'As longer waits lead to more severe joint damage and reduce the chance of future operations being successful, this issue becomes even more unacceptable,' she said.

Meanwhile, a review of NHS data by consultancy firm Lane Clark & Peacock found that there are 25 times more people in certain parts of the country that have waited over a year for NHS treatment, compared to other areas.

Castle Point and Rochford in Essex had the highest proportion of people waiting over 52 weeks for care, with 573 people per 100,000.

But in south-west London, there was just 24 per 100,000.

Behind Castle Point and Rochford, Southend, Blackpool, Waltham Forest and Norfolk had the next highest proportion of people waiting longer than a year, ranging from 461 to 419 per 100,000.

The firm found that people facing the longest waits were waiting for orthopedic treatment, such as hip and knee replacements.

Many of these types of operations were postponed during the pandemic, as hospitals were overwhelmed with Covid patients, causing waiting lists to spiral.
Sofia Gomes, from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, thinks she had 'a severe allergic reaction' that prevented her from talking a few hours after getting the jab on May 19

A 43-year-old woman claims she was left unable to speak after receiving the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Sofia Gomes, from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, thinks she had 'a severe allergic reaction' that prevented her from talking a few hours after getting the jab on May 19.

Doctors at King's Lynn Hospital in Norfolk, where she went after developing the strange reaction, were 'baffled' after performing scans on her throat and not finding anything wrong, she said.

She stayed at the hospital for a week and was seen by several specialist who could not explain her condition, but said it may have been caused by the vaccine, according to Ms Gomes.

But a Edinburgh university professor said her loss of voice was likely a coincidence.

The UK drug regulator the MHRA said there was 'no evidence' Ms Gomes losing her voice was linked to the vaccine.

She was told her voice will return and is waiting for speech therapy through the NHS.

Common side effects from the jab include a sore arm where the vaccine was injected, headaches, muscle pain and tiredness. The jab has also been linked with low platelet levels and an extremely small risk of blood clots.

The UK drug regulator the MHRA said there was 'no evidence' Ms Gomes losing her voice was linked to the vaccine. She was told her voice will return and is waiting for speech therapy through the NHS

43-year-old Sofia Gomes believes she had an allergic reaction to the Oxford jab that stopped her from speaking

The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) states that anyone having difficulty with speech from around four days after AstraZeneca should seek urgent medical advice.

On this case a spokesperson said loss of voice is not a known side effect of the Oxford jab and there is 'no evidence to suggest such reports are linked to vaccination'.

Reports of a suspected reaction to a vaccine does not necessarily mean that it was caused by the vaccine, as underlying or previously undiagnosed illnesses could be a factor, they said.

Known side effects of the Covid vaccines The most common side effects of the Covid vaccines are a sore arm from the jab, tiredness, headaches, aches, a fever and being sick. These symptoms tend to appear one to two days after having the vaccine. The NHS advises managing these reactions with paracetamol if needed. Serious allergic reactions are rare and usually occur within minutes of having the jab. The vaccines can help stop people from getting ill or dying from Covid-19, so the benefits of the jab outweigh any risks. The MHRA and researchers are continuing to examine links between the Oxford-AstraZeneca and very rare blood clots. Source: NHS Advertisement

Ms Gomes, an artist from Portugal, does not have any underlying health problem and wrote that she felt 'really frustrated, upset, and frightened for the future'.

The reaction has stopped her being able to speak to her fiance and six children, who are aged between on and 19.

'I am trying to stay positive for my family, but I am really worried, and this has affected me a huge amount.

'I feel bad that I can't help my baby develop her speech, and one of my sons is autistic so it has been difficult not being able to communicate with him properly, too.

'I miss reading stories to my children and singing to them at night, and I miss being able to speak to my family in Portugal over the phone.

'I find it really hard to express my feelings when all I can do is just write things down in a notepad.'

Her fiance Victor Plowman said Ms Gomes has been frustrated and left in tears because she cannot speak.

'She's been writing stuff down on a piece of paper, and sometimes she'll point or gesture at something to indicate what she wants.

'But it's been really hard for her, as she can't properly communicate with the kids.'

Ms Gomes reacted to her first jab on March 1, experiencing a high fever and pain in her legs. On the evening of her second jab, she did not feel well and could only whisper to her partner.

He said she 'started clutching at her tonsils and her throat'.

'We thought she was having an allergic reaction - so I called her an ambulance and she went up to hospital.'

Ms Gomes said people 'should still go ahead and have a vaccine' but said they should be aware of possible side effects or risks beforehand.

Professor Neil Mabbott, chair of immunopathology at the University of Edinburgh, told MailOnline that, to his knowledge, 'there are no credible reports' of voice loss after receiving any vaccination.

There have been 'very rare instances' of anaphylaxis  a severe allergic reaction that can cause people to feel faint, have breathing difficulties and a fast heartbeat  following one of the RNA-based covid-19 vaccines, such as Pzifer/BioNTech.

'These typically occur within minutes to an hour following vaccination, and could be accompanied by sore throat, breathing difficulties, hoarseness and a swollen tongue,' he said.

But, these clear quickly with treatment, he said.

'It seems likely that the loss of voice in this instance was chance coincidence,' he said.

Covid-19 can cause laryngitis that can cause temporary changes to your voice and this can take several weeks to resolve, Professor Mabbott noted.

Latest UK figures show that 4,330 people tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, as new infections continue to arise amid concerns about the Indian Delta varient, while 6 people died.

Over 40.5million people have now had their first dose of the vaccine, while 28.2million have had a second dose.
Two members of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee have resigned in the wake of the agency's approval of aducanumab, the first new Alzheimer's treatment since 2003.

Neurologists David Knopman, who works for the Mayo Clinic, and Joel Perlmutter, of Washington University St Louis, both stepped down from the board this week in protest.

Knopman and Perlmutter largely objected to the approval of the drug citing its rocky trial results with little evidence the drug was even effective.

The drug, which will be marketed under the name Aduhelm is being sent out to patients in the next two weeks and will cost $56,000 per year of use.

Dr David Knopman (pictured) resigned from an FDA advisory committee after the agency gave a controversial approval to aducanumab after clinical trials showed limited effectiveness of the drug

The FDA's approval of aducanumab adds a new drug to the arsenal of fighting Alzheimer's for the first time since 2003. Many in the Alzheimer's community support the drugs approval

'The whole saga of the approval of aducanumabmade a mockery of the [advisory] committee's consultative process,' Knopman told the committee in an email obtained by the Washington Post.

'While I realize that the committee is advisory, the approval of aducanumab appears [to] have been foreordained.'

Meanwhile, Perlmutter told STAT News that he quit 'due to this ruling by the FDA without further discussion with our advisory committee.'

Biogen, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that developed the drug, underwent two clinical trials in 2016.

Both were stopped early as they showed the drug would fail to reach its goal.

They later took the results of one of the two trials, and found updated data that the drug had slowed the cognitive decline of Alzheimer's patients by up to 22 percent.

Many in the scientific community criticized Biogen's claims, saying it was a post-hoc cherry-picking of data to force a conclusion.

Knopman authored a study last year, analyzing the results of Biogen's second clinical trial, disagreeing with the claims that they showed the drug was effective.

'We identified alternative accounts for the apparent drug benefits in post hoc subgroups that are unrelated to dose effects,' he wrote.

'Biomarker data were consistent with target engagement, but no evidence was presented to correlate biomarker changes to cognitive benefits.

'Aducanumab's efficacy as a treatment for the cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease cannot be proven by clinical trials with divergent outcomes.

'Based on our review of data presented publicly in December 2019, we do not agree with Biogen's claim for efficacy of [aducanumab].'

Dr Knopman has been one of aducanumab, saying that Biogen's trials of the drug do not show that the drug is effective in combatting Alzheimer's

Knopman served as a site investigator for the drug, and had to recuse himself from the November advisory meeting.

While the FDA is not required the follow advice from the advisory boards, since they are made up of third parties, it is rare that members of an advisory board are more conservative on a drug than the regulatory agency.

'I recognize that the role is advisory and yet I felt that the advisory committee in this situation was not well-treated,' Knopman told The Post.

'And I think that I just don't choose to put myself into that position in the future for the FDA.'

The drug's approval was based on its ability to reduce amyloid beta, a plaque many believes contributes to the cognitive decline in Alzheimer's, in the brain.

Dr Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said the agency was aware of the controversy in approving the drug in a statement Monday.

'We are well-aware of the attention surrounding this approval,' she wrote.

'We understand that Aduhelm has garnered the attention of the press, the Alzheimer's patient community, our elected officials, and other interested stakeholders.'

'With a treatment for a serious, life-threatening disease in the balance, it makes sense that so many people were following the outcome of this review.'

While some scientists and researchers oppose the drug, many in the Alzheimer's community support its approval, as the first new treatment for the disease in 20 years could create a foothold for future research.

Aduhelm will start shipping out in two weeks to over 900 infusion centers across the country that are currently equipped to implement it.
Researchers in Chicago have launched a pilot study looking at whether a wearable sensor can safely monitor COVID-19 patients at home.

The University of Illinois Health system has teamed up with PhysIQ, a digital medicine start-up to create artificial intelligence (AI) that people ill with COVID-19 could wear, which would track vital signs including oxygen levels and heart rates.

Doctors will be watching the signs remotely and can contact the patients if the system show that something is wrong, and tell them to get to a hospital.

The team says the sensor will not only help prevent hospitals but from becoming overcrowded, will also prevent patients from not seeking care until it's too late.

The University of Illinois Health system has teamed up with PhysIQ, a digital medicine start-up, to create wearable technology for COVID-19 patients (Courtesy of NBC5)

A sensor worn on the chest will track patients' vital signs including oxygen levels and heart rates that is connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth (Courtesy of NBC5)

According to MIT Technology Review, each patient is given a kit to take home with them that includes a pulse oximeter, a sensor patch that has Bluetooth, and a paired smartphone.

The patch, which is worn on the chest, uses an AI algorithm to determine a patient's normal vital signs.

If a patient has oxygen levels or heart rate that differ from normal, the patch will send data to the smartphone, which will alert doctors.

'It's an enormous benefit,' Dr Terry Vanden Hoek, head of emergency medicine at University of Illinois Health told MIT Technology Review.

'You may be breathing faster, your activity level is falling, or your heart rate is different than the baseline.

Doctors like Dr Terry Vanden Hoek (pictured) will be monitoring the data remotely and will contact patients if the alerts are abnormal and tell them to go to a hospital

A trained doctor can look at the alerts and contact the patient and tell them to get a physician's office or a hospital, he explained.

This is what happened with Angela Mitchell, 59, who tested positive for COVID-19 in July 2020 while working as a pharmacy technician at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago.

Mitchell told MIT Technology Review that she cold either quarantine at a hotel or she could isolate at home and be given the patch to be monitored 24/7, and she chose the latter.

Two nights into isolation, she woke up unable to breathe.

She went into the bathroom to try to take a shower but was sweating, dizzy and trying to catch her breath.

'I was sitting in the bathroom literally holding on to the sink when my phone rang,' Mitchell told MIT Technology Review.

The call was from clinicians at the hospital who had been remotely monitoring her vital signs via the patch she was wearing.

They told her she needed to get to an emergency room immediately.

She delayed but then received another a call in the morning, telling her that if she didn't get to a hospital, an ambulance would be called for her.

Her husband drove to Northwestern Memorial in Chicago and, after she was admitted, doctors told her her oxygen levels had fallen to dangerously low levels.

She remained in the hospital for a week.

'I owe my life to this monitoring system,' Mitchell told MIT Technology Review.

'This device is being utilized in communities that are deprived of these opportunities. This can help everyone.'

The study is now recruiting about 1,700 participants from across Chicago, many of whom are at higher risk because they have underlying conditions - such as obesity or diabetes - or are people of color including African-American and Latino.

'When you work in the emergency department it's sad to see patients who waited too long to come in for help,' Vanden Hoek told MIT Technology Review.

'They would require intensive care on a ventilator. You couldn't help but ask, 'If we could have warned them four days before, could we have prevented all this?
The U.S. government has stopped all new shipments of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 shot so vaccination sites can clear a logjam of unused doses before they expire.

State and federal health officials told The Wall Street Journal that the one-dose vaccine won't be made available for several weeks but the cessation is believed to be temporary.

'It just hasn't been included in our weekly allocations, from the feds, which means it is not available to order,' Oklahoma State Department of Health Deputy Commissioner Keith Reed told the newspaper

It comes after the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seperately extended the expiration date on millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by an extra six weeks.

The agency originally authorized J&J's vaccine in February 2021 for use up to three months after manufacture when stored at normal refrigeration levels.

But J&J said the FDA extended the period to to four-and-a-half months based on data from ongoing studies assessing the vaccine's stability.

Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday that the FDA has extended the expiration date on millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by six weeks. Pictured: Vials of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy in Denver, June 10

Officials in several states aside from Oklahoma including Arkansas, Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan say they have not been able to order new J&J vaccine supplies for several days, even weeks.

Maryland Department of Health Assistant Secretary Bryan Mroz told The Journal that the state last ordered a shipment of doses several weeks ago.

When he and his team tried to order more, the government told them the vaccine was not available, and did not give a day for when it would be,

'We've been using up our inventory in the state,' Mroz said.

'We definitely have more supply than demand.'

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Health told the Journal that the state was told by the government that no doses were available for ordering because of manufacturing issues.

J&J has delivered 21.4 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S., but only half have been administered, according to the CDC

Meanwhile, states have been asking the federal government what to do with expired doses.

On Wednesday, Oklahoma officials said 80,000 doses of the J&J vaccine were set to expire at the end of the month.

Mroz, in Maryland, told The Journal that the state has some doses that will expire at the end of June and others in July, and officials are working to redistribute them.

During a Wall Street Journal Tech Health event on Wednesday, J&J CEO Alex Gorsky said the company was working on giving the vaccines a longer shelf life.

'We're working very hard, both at the federal level and at the local level, to do everything we can to make sure that these vaccines can be used and deployed in the very best possible way,' he said.

The FDA has been reviewing expiration dates on the three authorized vaccines - J&J, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna - as companies have continued to test samples of batches in the months since the shots first rolled out.

The extension will help maintain vaccine supplies even as the rate of new injections continues to slip.

The country averaged about 800,000 new shots in arm per day last week, down from a high of 3.4 million per day in April.

Government officials have turned to a growing number of incentives to encourages shots - from paid time off to $1 million lottery prizes.

As vaccinations have slowed it's become clear the U.S. is unlikely to meet President Joe Biden's goal target to have 70 percent of American adults partially vaccinated by July 4.

Roughly 64 percent of Americans older than 18 have had at least one dose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

J&J's vaccine was highly anticipated because of its one-and-done formulation and easy-to-ship refrigeration requirements.

The shot was expected to play a key role in vaccination campaigns in rural areas and low-income countries with limited health care infrastructure.

But rival drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna have already supplied more than enough doses to meet U.S. demand, with more than 129 million Americans fully vaccinated with the companies' two-dose shots.

By comparison just 11 million Americans have been vaccinated with the J&J shot.

The U.S. is set to announce plans to donate 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses for global use over the next year, on top of 80 million doses already pledged by the end of the month.

Uptake of J&J's vaccine in the U.S. has also been hurt by contamination problems at a Baltimore factory that helps manufacture the shots.

The facility was shuttered after an FDA inspection uncovered multiple problems in April and none of the vaccines made there have been distributed.
Cancer patients do develop COVID-19 antibodies after being fully vaccinated, a new study suggests.

Researchers from Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York found that 94 percent of patients with tumors developed antibodies after being vaccinated.

Even patients receiving stem cell transplants and other treatments that suppress the immune system had antibody positivity rates over 70 percent.

This finding is great news for many patients and their physicians who worried that the vaccines would not be effective for cancer patients.

The teams says the findings provide evidence for why patients should definitely get vaccinated against coronavirus if a shot is available to them.

Out of 200 patients in a Bronx, New York study, 94% developed COVID antibodies after being vaccinated. Pictured: Acancer patient receives her vaccine while others talk and laugh in an oncology unit at James Graham Brown Cancer Center in Louisville, Kentucky, April 2021

Cancer patients taking stem cell treatments and other therapies had lower antibody responses, but still saw definite immune system buildup after being vaccinated

Cancer patients are among those most vulnerable to severe COVID-19.

Many of the treatments used to treat different forms of cancer can cause the immune system to lose its ability to fight off disease.

Elderly cancer patients and those who also suffer from other conditions - like lung disease or diabetes - are especially vulnerable because they have weak immune systems, or are immunocompromised.

In one May 2021 study, researchers estimated that about 90,000 American adults under age 65 are immunocompromised. - representing about three percent of the population.

Due to their weaker immune systems, many medical experts have worried that vaccines would not be effective for cancer patients.

So far, studies in this area have been limited because COVID-19 vaccine trials excluded patients with cancer diagnoses.

Patients have not been able to get clear information on whether they should get vaccinated - or how the vaccines may impact their cancer treatment.

The new study, published in the journal Cell, included 200 patients from the Bronx, New York, who got tested for COVID antibodies after they were fully vaccinated.

The majority had an active cancer diagnosis, and 56 percent were on active chemotherapy, including 19 percent who had received chemotherapy within 48 hours of at least one vaccine dose.

All common cancer types were represented in the study.

Cancer patients built up immune responses to the coronavirus after being vaccinated

Out of those 200 patients, a whopping 94 percent tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies after vaccination - meaning they had successfully built up an immune response to the coronavirus.

Most of the patients had received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, while a few received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Those who had Pfizer and Moderna shots were slightly more likely to test positive for antibodies.

The researchers also found that antibody levels were higher when patients were tested with more time after their final vaccine dose - reflecting how antibody levels build up over time.

Patients had common mild side effects, such as sore arms and muscle aches.

'The side effects from vaccination seen in these populations were not substantially worse than in other groups,' said Dr Balazs Halmos, director of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program at Montefiore and a senior author on the study, in a statement.

'Not a single patient had to go to the emergency room or be admitted to the hospital because of side effects from the vaccines.'

Some of the cancer patients did have slightly lower antibody positivity rates such as those with blood cancers had a positivity rate of 85 percent, compared to 98 percent positivity for patients with solid tumors.

Patients receiving specific therapies that kill B cells and those who recently had bone marrow or stem cell transplants were also less likely to test positive for COVID antibodies.

Still, these patients had positivity rates over 70 percent - higher than the researchers had expected.

The researchers also noted that there was no significant difference in vaccine effectiveness for patients of different racial/ethnic groups.

This study has been the largest so far looking at vaccine effectiveness in cancer patients - previous studies have examined smaller numbers of patients.

The findings suggest that cancer patients can - and should - get vaccinated without worrying about side effects, and they may be confident that their immune systems will respond to the shots.

'We really need efforts to protect these vulnerable patients from infection,' said Dr Amit Verma, director of the Division of Hemato-Oncology at Montefiore and another coauthor on the study.

'This study should help people feel reassured that these vaccines work very well, even in those receiving chemotherapy or immunotherapy.'

More research is needed to confirm this study's findings and to examine the potential use of higher vaccine doses or booster shots for cancer patients.

Still, the study's message is clear: 'It's important to stress how well these patient populations did with the vaccines,' Verma said.
While the coronavirus may be able to survive on beds, floors, and other surfaces near COVID patients, it's unlikely to be passed to another person, a new study finds.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine swabbed surfaces in COVID patients' rooms before, during, and after they were occupied, finding SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that caused COVID-19 - in about 13 percent of samples.

None of the healthcare workers caring for patients in the study tested positive, despite frequently touching those surfaces, suggesting surface transmission is rare and that personal protective equipment (PPE) works.

Result also showed a new link between the coronavirus and a type of microbe that might be linked with cardiovascular disease and severe COVID-19.

The coronavirus can survive on surfaces near hospital patients - but it is unlikely to infect anyone through those surfaces, a new study shows UC San Diego. Pictured: A researcher swabs the floor, looking for COVID samples

The study adds to past research showing that the coronavirus usually spreads through the air, not through touch. Pictured: A researcher holds up a card indicating swab locations for the study

At the beginning of the pandemic, public health experts warned Americans to be wary of surface transmission, which is when the virus is spread through particles that linger on doorknobs, desks, and other common items.

'Wash your hands' became a common mantra. Hand sanitizers sold out. The New York City subway closed for overnight cleanings.

Now, however, experts have learned know that surface transmission is a rare phenomenon for the coronavirus.

Instead, the virus usually spreads through the air - either through larger particles released when an infected person sneezes or coughs, or through smaller particles that can travel longer distances.

The new study adds to the evidence that surface transmission is rare and provides novel insight into how the coronavirus shares space with bacteria.

For the study, published Tuesday in the journal Microbiome, researchers examined what the coronavirus does on surfaces by swabbing patients' hospital rooms.

The team collected almost one thousand samples from 16 patients with confirmed COVID cases, 10 healthcare workers caring for those patients, and hundreds of locations inside and outside the patients' hospital rooms.

Those 16 patients stayed in the hospital for up to three weeks and researchers collected samples before, during, and after their hospital stays.

Out of those surfaces they sampled, the researchers found that 13 percent of the sites had enough coronavirus present to be picked up by a PCR test, considered the gold standard of tests.

Samples taken from the floor next to patients' beds and directly outside their rooms were most likely to contain coronavirus - with prevalence rates of 39 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

For surfaces inside the patients' rooms (excluding floors), the prevalence rate was 16 percent. These surfaces included ventilator buttons, keyboards, and door handles.

The surface samples had much lower concentrations of coronavirus than those samples actually taken from patients - using a classic nose swab and stool screenings.

These lower concentrations indicate that the coronavirus present on the hospital room surfaces was less likely to infect anyone compared to coronavirus particles that were sneezed out of a patient.

Floor locations near patients' beds were more likely to be COVID-positive

Indeed, the study did not find any coronavirus infections that occurred through surface transmission.

No healthcare workers tested positive throughout the study, despite caring for COVID patients and collecting their samples. This suggests that personal protective equipment and safety training does reduce transmission risk for healthcare workers.

'This is huge on so many levels,' said Dr Daniel Sweeney, critical care and infectious disease physician at UC San Diego Health and senior author on the paper, in a statement.

'We need to know if our personal protective equipment, PPE, is adequate, and fortunately we know now that things like masks, gloves, gowns and face shields really do work. This pandemic has been a global disaster, but it could've been even worse if our health care workers were getting infected, especially if we didn't know why.'

In addition to the coronavirus itself, the researchers looked at microbes that were interacting with the virus.

The microbe Rothia was often found with the coronavirus, indicating that the bacteria and virus may have formed some kind of partnership

Microbes live inside the human body - many of them in our digestive systems - as well as outside the body. They can have a huge impact on the body's ability to fight diseases.

The researchers looked at the genetic composition of all microbes found in their coronavirus samples.

'Although it feels like we've been living with this virus for a long time, the study of the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and other microbes is still new, and we still have a lot of questions,' said Dr Sarah Allard, UC San Diego scientist and another lead author on the study.

'The more we know about how a virus interacts with its environment, the better we can understand how it's transmitted and how we might best disrupt transmission to prevent and treat the disease.'

Notably, Allard and her team often found the virus alongside a specific type of bacteria called Rothia. This bacteria was found more in COVID-positive samples than other, non-COVID samples.

The Rothia species is commonly found in the human mouth, though it can invade the digestive system, too.

The UC San Diego researchers found that this bacteria was associated with cardiovascular disease. Patients who had cardiovascular disease before getting COVID were also more likely to have Rothia in their samples.

'Why that relationship?' asked Allard.

'Does the bacteria help the virus survive, or vice versa? Or is it just that these bacteria are associated with the underlying medical conditions that put patients at higher risk for severe COVID-19 in the first place? That's an area for future research.'

While this study's findings on surface transmission aren't new, the microbes that have gotten friendly with coronavirus deserve more study. Through examining these virus-microbe partnerships, researchers can develop more successful COVID treatments for future patients.
BOOK OF THE WEEK

FIELD WORK: WHAT LAND DOES TO PEOPLE AND WHAT PEOPLE DO TO LAND

by Bella Bathurst (Profile 16.99, 224pp)

Some years ago, Bella Bathurst went to live in a cottage on 180-acre Rise Farm in Wales, on the southern slopes of the Black Mountains.

And out of her experience she has drawn this priceless portrait of one of the least understood and frequently most vilified of people: farmers. It should really be read by all in this country who buys food  i.e. everyone. If anyone wants to understand farming better, I would press this book into their hands, along with James Rebankss Pastoral.

The writing is at once tough and lyrical, unsentimental, piercingly truthful and observant. She meets not only farmers but also a rural match-making agency, a butcher and a knackerman with his bolt gun. Once he even had to finish off a giraffe at a local zoo. We couldnt get it in the back of the tipper . . . Took a lot of folding, I can tell you.

Bella Bathurst,who lives in a cottage on 180-acre Rise Farm in Wales, has penned a book about farmers (file image)

Death is everywhere, all the time, on a farm. Farmers have no illusions about the capriciousness of nature and how life hangs by a thread, especially for those most accident-prone of animals, sheep. If a sheep could, itd die twice, says one. Bathurst tells us, One nearby farm lost 80 lambs and all of that years profit in a two-hour snowstorm which didnt touch the neighbouring village.

Like many smaller, less profitable farms, Rise Farm gives an impression of love and cheap repairs, the old farmhouse hard to tell from the surrounding byres at first glance. At 800 metres above sea level the land is officially marginal and good only for livestock. Its farmed by Bert, well into his 70s, and his wife Alison, and retirement is an unknown concept.

Bert has 300 sheep and a not very good sheepdog called Come Here, lazy, unfocused and addicted to sex.

He knows every field, every tree, every corner of his land, what it will do and what it wont. Like many farmers he is simultaneously a mechanic, electrician, hydraulic engineer, accountant and tractor driver, and has been pulling lambs out of ewes for over 60 years.

The author says she has never met a group of people who worked harder than farmers. Bert once went on holiday for three days, to Pembrokeshire, but couldnt remember much about it afterwards, except that he noticed they were behind with their silage round Carmarthen.

A farm isnt just a farmers workplace, its his heart and soul. An office worker moving offices need only worry about the nearest decent coffee shop and whether its a longer commute. But the toughest of farmers may break down and cry the day they are finally driven by debt and poor health to sell up and leave.

Bella Bathurst goes to one local farmers funeral. On the front of the order of service is a cross and a picture  not of the farmer but of his farmhouse.

Bella attended the funeral of farmer Ron, who was offered as labour at a farm when he was age just 14 (file image)

They love their work, for all the grumbles. In an age of entitled snowflakes, its salutary to read here of an older friend of Berts, Ron, born one of 12 children in a small nearby cottage. Three of his brothers died in World War I. When Ron was 14, he was taken out of school one day by his Dad. They walked a few miles to a neighbouring farm, and he was offered as labour. The farmer took one look at him, and a priceless exchange ensued.

Baint very big, is it?

Big enough, said Rons Dad.

Can it work?

Raised to it.

Seven shillings.

Eight.

Ron went to work six-and-a-half days a week. He slept in the hay barn and ate pork fat, and on Sunday he walked back to his parents and handed them his wages. Todays farmers cant even find people to pick strawberries.

Bella said Ministry officials arrived on many farms in biohazard suits and shot everything on four legs, during the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001 (file image)

Field Work is heart-wrenching as well as dryly funny. The foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001 was so traumatic for many farmers, she thinks they view with some puzzlement todays hysteria about Covid. They see death and disease all the time: scrapie, BSE, bovine TB.

During that dreadful summer of 2001, Ministry officials arrived on many farms in biohazard suits and shot everything on four legs. In many cases the corpses  and their unborn or newborn calves or lambs  were left for up to a week before collection.

It left many farmers with something like PTSD, and years after there was still a spike in rural suicides on the anniversary. Urbanites were often callous or indifferent  why were the farmers so upset, when they were going to have their animals killed anyway sooner or later?  never understanding that the farmers had seen their entire lifes work wiped out in ten minutes of shooting.

FIELD WORK: WHAT LAND DOES TO PEOPLE AND WHAT PEOPLE DO TO LAND by Bella Bathurst (Profile 16.99, 224pp)

Our remaining 180,000 farmers still provide over half the food we eat, and yet because we demand it so cheap, farming has to be intensive.

In 1921, a pint of milk cost 3.50 in todays money. If shoppers at Tesco demand milk for 40p a pint nowadays, then yes, cows will be confined inside vast automated barns, milked three times a day and never see grass or sun. Our choice.

Bathurst visits a huge intensive chicken farm in Somerset, a horrific-sounding behemoth of 470,000 chickens, raised from chicks to slaughterhouse in just 49 days. The farm is worth 8 million, and the farmer  or agribusinessman  spends three-and-a-half days a week on the computer. But as he says, consumers demand a whole chicken nowadays for 4.

So this is the kind of industrialised farming, and countryside, that we get. Again, our choice. Dont blame the farmer.

As for smaller farms and old-style farmers like Bert, who possess such an irreplaceable store of knowledge of their own land, their crops, their animals  they are doomed to imminent extinction, and with them a whole precious way of life.

Field Work is a superb testament to that way of life, and richly demonstrates what a terrible loss that would be  for all of us.
MOTHER: A TRIBUTE TO MOTHER EARTH

by Marsel van Oosten (teNeues 25)

MOTHER: A TRIBUTE TO MOTHER EARTH by Marsel van Oosten (teNeues 25)

It took award-winning photographer Marsel van Oosten 15 years to compile this collection of his wildlife photography  and it shows: every image is a gem.

The Dutchman has travelled the globe capturing our most remarkable creatures, such as these magnificent tigers (pictured) in South Africa. It can be a dangerous job  van Oosten has been chased by elephants, rhinos and lions  but, as he says: Nothing beats being outside in nature. This fabulous book is his mighty roar to encourage us all to protect our beautiful planet.
BIOGRAPHY

VALENTINE ACKLAND: A TRANSGRESSIVE LIFE

by Frances Bingham (Handheld 15.99, 270pp)

It has to be one of the rashest proposal acceptances in history. Yes, I will, said Molly Ackland (closet lesbian) to Richard Turpin (Catholic and closet gay) when he asked her to marry him in 1925. Then she said, Have you got a card? I dont even know your right name. I dont know where you live.

Its hard for us to imagine Mollys mindset at that moment, but her whole Edwardian upbringing had been geared towards one thing: a suitable marriage. As she knew she was gay, what did it matter whom she married? It would be a sham anyway. So she just said yes.

It was, predictably, a disaster. Molly went straight from the London wedding ceremony to a hairdresser to have her hair cut into an Eton crop, before going on to the reception.

In a fascinating biography, Frances Bingham gives a detailed account of Valentine Ackland's (pictured) life - including her miserable childhood and catastrophic marriage

That was not an encouraging wedding-day gesture. She then needed a large brandy to get herself to the bedroom. What happened there became a nightly ordeal.

Richard, though not remotely attracted, wanted his Catholic son and heir. He tried to assert his marital rights by violence. The blame for the non-consummation was placed firmly on her. The doctor advised her to have her hymen removed, and she consented to the operation.

She did then get pregnant, not by Richard but by another man during a brief experimental phase in 1926 when the marriage was disintegrating. Richard agreed to bring the baby up as his own, but Molly had a miscarriage and the marriage was annulled.

She escaped to remotest Dorset. It was now that she changed her name to the androgynous Valentine. The time had come for her to be unashamedly transgressive.

Frances Binghams evocative chronicle of Valentine Acklands life takes us from the misery of her childhood and that catastrophic marriage to the turbulent magic of her 38-year love affair with the poet Sylvia Townsend Warner.

What a pair they were: Valentine the cross-dresser who looked exactly like a man, drove fast cars, drank too much and shot rabbits; Sylvia the acclaimed poet, 12 years older, with short hair, long earrings and specs.

When they became lovers one windy night, to the creaking of the inn-sign across the road, they could hardly believe such happiness possible.

They exchanged rings in a secret wedding in 1931 and lived together in a succession of freezing, damp houses, chain-smoking, drinking, writing poetry, wood-chopping and being obsessed with a succession of causes.

Bingham, through a bit of a gender-studies lens, pieces together the story behind the tear-stains and wine-splashes on Valentines notebooks and diaries.

Speeding in a fast MG seems an apt image for Valentine. She had so much to escape from, not least the wasps nest of bullies that was her own ghastly family.

Valentine felt like a failure after publishing a joint book of poems, for which Sylvia won all the praise. Pictured: Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland

As a child, her tomboyish tastes were, at first, encouraged by her father, a dental surgeon. The butler taught her to box on the lawn.

All fine  until she started showing lesbian tendencies, falling in love with a girl called Lana at her finishing school in Paris.

Her jealous, competitive older sister Joan  a lifelong bully, who comes across as super-evil, on a par with Goneril, Regan and the Ugly Sisters when it comes to sibling psychological abuse  showed their father the love letters, and he stormed off to Eltham to confront Lanas father.

The girls were forbidden from seeing one another, and Molly was packed off to a harsh domestic training college in Eastbourne, where she was forced to go out on a date with the principals son.

Sylvia, too, was in need of escape, having been locked into a sexual relationship for 16 years with her music master (her fathers friend) which had started when she was 19 and he was 40.

2014 Year same-sex marriage became legal in England, Scotland and Wales Advertisement

At last, these two lost souls had found happiness together in a peaceful Dorset village. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, first, they made the mistake of publishing a joint book of poems for which Sylvia won all the praise. From then on, for the rest of her life, Valentine would feel like the failed poet, even though her poems continued to be published in prestigious journals.

Her heavy drinking started; those wine stains appeared on the notebooks and diaries, as well as burns from the Gauloises and paw prints from their succession of mousers.

Needing a new religion to distract her from her disappointment, Valentine became a fervent Communist, exhausting herself distributing Communist propaganda for the Party.

Off she and Sylvia drove to Spain, to work for British Medical Aid on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, jeered at by Stephen Spender who thought it hilarious that they addressed each other as Comrade, darling.

Perpetually needy from her childhood of lovelessness, Valentine started having affairs. Sylvia was partly to blame for the emotional wreckage caused by Valentines long affair with a rich American girl called Betty Wade, whom Sylvia had adopted as an impressionable young literary protegee.

Both women groomed this girl, who fell deeply in love with Valentine.

When Valentine decided enough was enough, Betty would not go quietly, but the war years kept her safely at the far side of the Atlantic.

Valentine did lowly clerical war work during the War  Bingham discovers from the National archive that MI5 kept a file on her, highly suspicious of this Communist cross-dresser, and this hampered her career advancement.

VALENTINE ACKLAND: A TRANSGRESSIVE LIFE by Frances Bingham (Handheld 15.99, 270pp)

In those bad old homophobic days, the more mannish half of a lesbian couple had a harder time than the seemingly more feminine one.

In 1948, Betty came back to England to resume the affair. Valentine, who had vowed that it was all over, was carried away by the force of her exultation. Sylvia nobly decamped to a hotel in Yeovil.

The passionate resumption of the affair seems odd, considering that Valentine was now suffering from arthritis, drinking heavily and had lost all her teeth  perhaps posthumous revenge on her dentist father. But resume it did.

The protegee had turned into a hideous self-inflicted plague; she threatened suicide when Valentine finally ended the affair.

A nice lesbian mess, in short  and Valentine, by 1951 even more exhausted from nursing her ailing mother and still being bullied by her sister, was beginning to suffer from the breast-pain that eventually proved to be cancer. (It would kill her at the age of 63.)

Ever-resourceful though, she opened a successful antique shop in her house, and converted to Catholicism, much to Sylvias disdain. Valentine took it all extremely seriously, eating Friday fish and becoming an oblate of St Benedict  surprising when you consider her miserable sham of a Catholic marriage. She was not happy when Vatican II ruined the liturgy. She went over to Quakerism, and so did Sylvia.

The lifelong devotion of those two, which survived all the disagreements and infidelities, is touchingly portrayed.

Sylvia wrote Valentine a declaration of love after 38 years together: My hearts thanks for all you have given me, all your understanding . . . And your beauty, outside and in, and your delightfulness. Never has any woman been so well and truly loved as I.
Payments firm Klarna is now worth 32billion after raising a fresh chunk of money to help fund its expansion.

The shopping credit business, popular with millennials in their 20s and 30s, pulled in 451.7million of new money from Softbank and US venture capital firms Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and Westcap Group.

It means Klarnas value has now ballooned from 22billion in March and 7.8billion last September, making it the second-highest valued unlisted financial tech firm in the world.

Whip round: Payments firm Klarna pulled in 451.7m of new money from Softbank and US venture capital firms Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and Westcap Group

The company allows consumers who shop online to pay for their items in instalments, or to pay after their shopping arrives in the post so they have time to try it first.

But Klarna, which was founded in Sweden, has drawn criticism in the UK for luring young people into unsustainable debt.

MPs and regulators are worried shoppers use Klarna without thinking of the risks, and only realise months later that they are paying off debts they cannot afford.

Chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski argues that his company is a force for good, and that using Klarna, which does not charge interest or late payment fees, is far better than using a credit card.

Siemiatkowski, a father of three, said: Im very proud of the investors who are supporting Klarnas ambition to challenge these outdated models to empower consumers with fair, transparent, and convenient products to help them bank, shop and pay each day.

Klarna said that 1 per cent of the money it has raised from investors will be directed to initiatives supporting planet health.

The firm gets most of its money through partnering with retailers, whom it charges a fee  it works with more than 13,500 in the UK including Asos and H&M.

It has 90m users worldwide, with 14m in the UK, and last year its operating profit rose 44 per cent to 777million.
Hammering down costs: Patrick Drahi (centre) celebrates his firm Altices New York flotation. He has now bought a 12.1 per cent stake in BT

The billionaire owner of the Sothebys auction house has bought a 2.2billion stake in BT, making him the telecoms giants biggest investor.

Shares soared after Patrick Drahi announced the 12.1 per cent stake and backed BTs 15billion plan to roll out rapid fibre broadband in Britain.

But the investment, via his company Altice, raised fears the King of cost-cutting, may push BTs top brass to slash costs.

Insiders said he was keen to work closely with BTs management, including chief executive Philip Jansen to take the company forward  although he has told the Takeover Panel he does not intend to buy the company, a notification which remains in place for six months.

Drahi said: BT has a significant opportunity to upgrade and extend its full-fibre broadband network to bring substantial benefits to millions of households across the UK. We fully support the managements strategy.

Shares jumped 6.6 per cent, or 12p, to 195.15p on the news. BT said it welcomed all investors who recognise the long-term value of our business.

The former state monopoly was privatised in the 1980s, but in the last five years its share price has been in decline.

BT Sport has not performed as well as its rival Sky and the company is in talks to sell the arm.

It has also faced repeated criticism over its service for broadband and telephone customers.

But investors have spotted an opportunity in BTs Openreach, which charges fees for companies including Sky, Shell and Talk Talk to piggyback on the network to provide consumer broadband.

BT shares hit an 11-year low last year, but have bounced back after regulator Ofcom unshackled it from price controls.

Its mission to roll out broadband has been sweetened by Rishi Sunaks two-year super-deductor tax break for investment projects.

BT's mission to roll broadband out across the UK has also been sweetened by Rishi Sunak's two-year 'super-deductor' tax break for investment projects

BT has said it was looking for investors to improve UK broadband, and would consider a funding partner.

It is also on the hunt for a new chairman, following Jan du Plessiss resignation following a boardroom fallout.

Drahi, who holds French, Israeli and Portuguese citizenship, is well-known in the telecoms world.

He has snapped up companies in Europe and the US since the early 2000s, when he founded Altice. Over the last two decades he has grown it into a giant, and gained a reputation as a harsh cost cutter.

Unions at French company SFR even claimed their members faced shortages of loo roll and printer paper after Altice took over. In March SFR said it could cut up to 1,700 jobs this year  11 per cent of its staff.

Altice claims cutting costs now means you can increase profits and free money to invest.

In 2019 Drahi bought a 94 per cent stake in Sothebys for 2.6billion. The art dealer was criticised for borrowing to fund a 211million dividend to its owners, following a similar 116million debt-fuelled handout in November.

He has been praised for his acumen, but suffered a setback in 2017 when Altices share price collapsed following concerns it could not pay its massive debts.

Altice, which insiders say is run like a family business, ousted its chief executive and brought Drahi back as president.
First it was airline stocks, now it's pubs and restaurants.

The rise of the Delta variant and increasing uncertainty about whether the Government will lift the final Covid restrictions on June 21 has dealt another blow to the struggling leisure sector.

The Prime Minister warned on Wednesday that it was still too early to tell if the country would be able to keep to the scheduled 'Freedom Day'.

Uncertainty: Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Wednesday that it was still too early to tell if the country would be able to keep to the scheduled 'Freedom Day'

Boris Johnson said: 'I think what everybody can see very clearly is that as cases are going up, and in some cases hospitalisations are going up.'

That was seen by some as a way of laying the groundwork before pushing the date back but he will not make a decision until Monday.

Traders digested his bearish tone by selling out of several big pub and restaurant groups that were banking on social distancing being scrapped to drive up sales.

Wetherspoon slid 3.8 per cent, or 51p, to 1279p, while Frankie & Benny's and Wagamama-owner The Restaurant Group fell 4.6 per cent, or 6.4p, to 133.2p.

Stock Watch - Hurricane Energy Things went from bad to worse at Hurricane Energy as it told shareholders there had been a fault at its North Sea oil and gas field. A pump caused a blip in production on Tuesday before restarting at a reduced rate. The problem is being investigated. The news came a day after the minnow confirmed a one-off meeting had been scheduled for July 5, when an activist investor wants to unseat five board members and install two of its own in their place. Shares in the AIM-listed group, which traded at more than 50p two years ago, fell 6.6 per cent, or 0.08p, to 1.12p.

Marston's (down 2.3 per cent, or 2.15p, to 91p) and All Bar One-owner Mitchells (down 2.6 per cent, or 8p, to 303.2p) closed in the red.

The doubts also hit catering giant Compass, which fell 3.1 per cent, or 51.5p, to 1594.5p, as big events might need to be delayed or cancelled.

And Cineworld flopped again too, dropping 2.7 per cent, or 2.46p, to 88.34p.

Shares in Comptoir, which owns the Middle Eastern restaurant chain Comptoir Libanais, made gains after the group warned more restaurants would have to shut in London and Leeds within the next year.

It has already shuttered sites at Gatwick, Heathrow and central London.

Annual losses at the AIM-listed firm, whose stock rose 2.9 per cent, or 0.25p, to 8.75p, spiralled to 8million from around 520,000 the year before.Elsewhere, investors cheered bright forecasts from Auto Trader and Mitie.

Profits at secondhand car seller Auto Trader slumped by more than a third last year, which it blamed on offering free listings to retailer customers during lockdowns. This cost the company as much as 7million a month.

But it is ploughing money into upgrading its online services and believes that online car shopping will far outlast the pandemic.

Shares rose 6.5 per cent, or 37.8p, to 615.6p as boss Nathan Coe said 'bonkers' demand was showing no signs of wearing off despite the rapid vaccine rollout.

This helped nudge the wider FTSE 100 0.1 per cent higher, up 7.17 points, to 7088.18. Mitie was the top riser on the mid-cap index after boss Phil Bentley said the company was starting to see some 'green shoots of recovery' in areas of the business that had been hit hard by the pandemic.

The group, which has worked on Covid testing sites, said annual revenue was up from 2.2billion to 2.5billion in the year to March.

But a 5.9 per cent, or 4.2p, rise to 75.9p was not enough to keep the FTSE 250 in the black  it slid 0.7 per cent, or 150.21 points, to 22,608.76.

Hobby company Hornby has made its first profit in nine years after adults returned to their childhood toys during lockdown. Shares, however, dipped by 0.9 per cent, or 0.5p, to 58.5p.

Ted Baker was also due to publish annual results yesterday but delayed them for a third time, blaming Covid for disrupting the auditing process.

The fashion retailer is now due to release the figures, expected to show a loss of 65million, on June 14. Shares dropped 3.2 per cent, or 5.6p, to 167.5p.

Sub-prime lender Amigo  down 0.6 per cent, or 0.05p, to 8.2p  indicated again that it could go bust, following the High Court's decision last month to block a rescue plan that would have set limits on the amount of compensation it would pay to customers complaining they had been mis-sold loans.

Amigo said that 'under all reasonable scenarios' in the absence of a deal it was insolvent.
Morrisons was yesterday hit by one of the biggest shareholder revolts in UK corporate history.

More than 70 per cent of shareholders rejected the decision to hand chief executive Dave Potts, 63, a big bonus after profit halved in the pandemic.

The investor revolt follows a year of job losses, dividend cuts and unprecedented taxpayer support at Morrisons.

Revolt: More than 70 per cent of shareholders rejected the decision to hand chief executive Dave Potts (pictured) a1.7m bonus following a year of job losses, dividend cuts at Morrisons

Potts received the maximum 1.7million bonus, despite profits falling to 165million from 435million the year before.

He was also given stock worth 1.4million, which the company has argued he deserved after leading the grocer through the crisis.

The board upgraded his payout by stripping out the 290million cost of the pandemic when calculating his rewards, which pushed his bonus up to 200 per cent of salary, and handed him a total pay packet of 4.2million.

The grocer said: 'Morrisons performed exceptionally well for the nation during the first year of Covid with the executives widely recognised for their leadership, clarity, decisiveness, compassion and speed of both decision-making and execution.

'It is a matter of sincere regret to the committee that it clearly has not been able to convince a majority of shareholders - or the proxy voting agencies - that this was the right course of action.'

Shareholder advisory group Glass Lewis had said the adjustments were 'not supportable' while ISS said it had 'serious concerns'.

Morrisons had been lauded for handing back 230million in business rates relief. The shareholder vote is advisory, meaning it is under no obligation to cut the pay.

The revolt is one of the largest at a UK public company, outstripping the 65 per cent of shareholders who rejected Persimmon boss Jeff Fairburn's 75million in 2018, and on a par with the backlash against Royal Mail's Rico Back the same year.
Businesses near Byron Bay have been telling people immunised against Covid-19 to stay away because they will 'spread the disease'.

Mullumbimby, a town 30 minutes north-west of Byron Bay, has some of the lowest rates of vaccination in the country.

Health experts say people cannot shed or spread Covid after getting jabbed, because the vaccine does not contain a live virus.

Signage on the main street of Mullumbimby on February 16, 2021 referred to Covid conspiracy theories

A sign declaring 'No Forced Injections' hung on the outside of a building on the main street of Mullumbimby on February 16

Signs have reportedly been seen reading: 'If you have had the Covid-19 vaccine we ask you not to enter for two weeks or longer until any symptoms subside,' according to The Guardian.

The NSW Department of Health said people cannot shed or spread a virus after receiving a vaccine, because they do not contain a live virus that can be passed between people.

The region is known for anti-vaccination sentiment, with only 63.6 per cent of two-year-olds being immunised against anything at all in 2020.

Eve Sinton said their hairdresser would not let her into her shop because she had an AstraZeneca shot.

'I have had first AstraZeneca shot. My hairdresser [in Mullumbimby] has put a sign on the shop door saying she won't admit people who have been vaxxed,' they wrote on Twitter.

'We need to stop this ridiculous anti vaxx propaganda. She's a lovely person. Probably means well. I need a new hairdresser.'

Mullumbimby is a half hour drive from Byron Bay, and has some of the lowest child vaccination rates in the country

Former paramedic and the founder of a World Health Organisation-endorsed vaccination website Heidi Robertson said she saw similar signs on a main strip of Mullumbimby.

'When I saw the signs I took photos of them but did not go in and confront anyone,' she said.

'But if the owners were to come out and talk to me, I would have just asked them why they are more afraid of a vaccinated person than a person that hasn't been protected against this disease.

'These businesses are clearly buying into the myth that you can shed fragments of the virus after vaccination and spread it that way, which is impossible since none of the vaccines contain any live virus.'

In May this year, Gold Coast hairdresser Yazmina Jade Adler turned away clients who had the vaccine.

She made headlines in 2019 after claiming she relieved her severe period pain by rubbing menstrual blood on her face during a ritual meditation.

She posted on social media: 'We are not your hairdresser if you have had the Covid vax.

'The unknown health effects of the mRNA vaccine are not covered by our public liability insurance.'
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Health Secretary Matt Hancock appeared in front of MPs today to defend himself against Cummings' allegations

Matt Hancock today laid out his version of how events unfolded in the UK's first wave of Covid in an hours-long grilling from MPs in which he said everybody had been 'operating on highly sketchy information'.

The Health Secretary appeared before the Health and Science Select Committee in Parliament to defend himself against explosive allegations made by former No10 adviser Dominic Cummings who accused him of being incompetent and said he 'should have been sacked 15 to 20 times' in 2020.

He said he wrote a blank cheque for a Covid vaccine in January last year, was convinced the virus was spreading from people without symptoms even before SAGE or the World Health Organization would acknowledge it, and that shocking early models warned 820,000 people could die but advisers told him not to lock down too early.

The embattled MP hit back against vicious remarks made by Mr Cummings in his own meeting with the committee in May, saying he has 'no idea' why the rogue strategist has a vendetta against him and that 'the operation of Government has improved very significantly' since he quit Downing Street in November last year.

Here is Matt Hancock's version of events and how it stacks up against reality:

JANUARY: Dire warning of 820,000 dead in Spanish Flu-style outbreak

Hancock's claim: The Health Secretary said the first disease model he commissioned, on January 27, warned that 820,000 people could die in the UK if the coronavirus caused a pandemic similar to the Spanish Flu during the First World War.

He did not say who produced the model but told MPs: 'I asked for a reasonable worst case scenario planning assumption, and I was given the planning assumption based on Spanish Flu and it was signed off at Cobra on January 31, and that was a planning assumption for 820,000 deaths, and I was determined that that would not happen on my watch.'

The reality: January 31, the day Matt Hancock said he was given the worst-case scenario plan, the UK announced its first two coronavirus cases and hundreds of thousands were believed to be infected in China.

In a SAGE meeting on January 28 members had decided: '[Department of Health] to use existing planning assumptions for an influenza pandemic to develop a reasonable worst case for WN-CoV [Wuhan novel coronavirus] in the UK.'

The modelling was done internally whereas later work was mostly done by independent researchers on SAGE sub-group SPI-M, such as Professor Neil Ferguson. But the group wasn't brought into action until January 28.

SAGE meeting records show the committee, led by Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty, discussed the model in a meeting on February 11 and it was published publicly online on May 5.

It does not show a calculation of deaths for Covid, which the scientists said they didn't know enough about, but suggested that a flu pandemic could cause 820,000  this was the numbers ministers were told by SAGE to use, records show, and in a column specifically for coronavirus the 'excess deaths' section simply said 'unknown'.

A report prepared for SAGE by in February showed that scientists knew almost nothing about the coronavirus and used numbers estimated for flu instead, which suggested 820,000 people could die. The report is dated February 10, 2020, and SAGE met on February 11. It was published online on May 5

JANUARY: Blank cheque for a Covid vaccine and Hancock demands one within a year

Hancock's claim: He told MPs that in a meeting on January 25 he would told it usually takes five years to make a new vaccine but that, at full pace and with a lot of luck it could feasibly be done within 12 to 18 months.

'I said I want one within a year and will throw the full resources of the state in making that happen,' he said.

Mr Hancock effectively signed a blank cheque for researchers to develop a vaccine. He told MPs that his plan from the start was to try to contain the virus until a vaccine became available.

Dominic Cummings' claim: Cummings heaped the praise for the success of the development of a vaccine at the feet of Sir Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser to Boris Johnson, and Kate Bingham, the head of the vaccine taskforce.

Mr Cummings and Mr Hancock agree on one thing  that the prospect of a jab in 2020 was slim.

The adviser said: 'We were told it was essentially a certainty that there would be no vaccines available in 2020, something else which turned out to be completely wrong because, as I think we'll come onto, it actually turns out we could've done vaccines much faster than happened... At the time the whole plan was based on the assumption that it was a certainty that there would be no vaccines in 2020.'

He added: 'I think fundamentally on vaccines, there was clear responsibility, there was someone who was actually in charge of it  Kate Bingham  she was working with Patrick Vallance, she built a team who actually understood what they were doing and she had the kind of strength of character not to be pushed around...

'Patrick said take it out of the Department for Health, will you support me on that with the PM? I said absolutely damn sure I will. I spoke to the cabinet secretary and the cabinet secretary agreed. It's inconceivable we can leave it with DH and the Prime Minister decided in about 90 seconds fine do it and that was it.'

HANCOCK ECHOES CUMMINGS: FIRST LOCKDOWN DELAYED BY FEARS PUBLIC WOULD GIVE UP Matt Hancock today admitted the first lockdown was delayed despite initial warnings over 820,000 deaths amid fears Britons would not tolerate the restrictions for long. In a dramatic evidence session with MPs, the Health Secretary said that as early as January he was presented with a 'reasonable worst case scenario' of the huge potential toll, based on Spanish Flu. But imposing the draconian first national restrictions did not happen until March 23, with Mr Hancock pointing to expert advice that the public would only 'put up with it' for a limited time and concerns about the 'immediate costs'. He said of the anxiety over people obeying the tough rules: 'That proved to be wrong.' Repeatedly pinning the blame on scientists, he said it was 'hard' to go against their advice, arguing that the PM was having to make one of the most difficult decisions in peacetime on the basis of 'incomplete information and at great pace'. Addressing the barrage of claims about his conduct from Dominic Cummings, Mr Hancock denied claims that he 'lied' to fellow ministers and the public about the coronavirus response. He replied bluntly 'No' when he was asked by science committee chair Greg Clark whether he had misled Boris Johnson about people being tested before returning from hospitals to care homes. He said he had 'no idea' over why Mr Cummings was targeting him specifically over the problems. But he admitted that he knew the PM's top aide had wanted him sacked because there was 'briefing to the newspapers'. Mr Clark kicked off the session by confirming that Mr Cummings has yet to provide promised evidence backing up the barrage of allegations he made about Mr Hancock last month. The former No10 chief also branded Mr Hancock 'disastrously incompetent' and said he should have been sacked on multiple occasions. But Mr Clark said that Mr Cummings had missed deadlines to back up his claims, and they must be viewed as 'unproven'. Mr Hancock said the lack of evidence was 'telling'. Advertisement

The reality: Chinese scientists released the genetic code of the coronavirus in mid-January and Professor Sarah Gilbert, of Oxford University's Jenner Institute vaccine lab, started working on a jab right away with the help of a 2.2million grant from the Government in March, The Lancet reported at the time.

Her team had been working on a way to develop a vaccine of this type for years and managed to simply slip Covid into the blueprint and start testing it within weeks. Jabs went into volunteers' arms for the first time in April.

The Jenner Institute developed the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab  now the most widely used jab in the world after being developed and trialled in just 11 months  and the total amount of money the Government paid to the two organisations has never been revealed.

SAGE cautioned in February 2020, in its very first meetings that, on vaccines: 'None likely to be available in a UK epidemic'. If his claim about forming strategy around a future vaccine is true it suggests the Health Secretary was significantly more optimistic than his advisers.

JANUARY: 'Tries to convince scientists' the virus transmits without symptoms

Hancock's claim: The Health Secretary said he was convinced that the virus was spreading between people who weren't getting symptoms but that he faced an uphill battle to work this into Government policy-making because scientists wouldn't back him up.

'I raised the prospect of asymptomatic transmission on the 27th of January with the CMO [Chris Whitty] and others, and he took it away and they discussed it at SAGE on the 28th and I called the WHO on the 29th,' Mr Hancock said.

'I've got the quote here  I was told that it is highly likely that the message may have been confused by translation issues [in a Chinese document] but this is unclear...

'The World Health Organization advice and the clinical advice of the most likely situation that I received remained that asymptomatic transmission was unlikely... I regret that I should have stuck with my guns and said there is even if it's uncertain and if it's relatively small  we should base policy on that.'

Mr Hancock maintained that scientific advisers told him not to base Government policy on concerns asymptomatic transmission because it was unproven and that the World Health Organization (WHO) didn't acknowledge it until April.

The reality: SAGE discussed this on January 28 and the meeting record reads: 'There is limited evidence of asymptomatic transmission, but early indications imply some is occurring. PHE developing a paper on this.'

The PHE paper was completed on the same day and said: 'The currently available data is not adequate to provide evidence for major asymptomatic/subclinical transmission of 2019nCoV.'

A study published on January 31 in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine claimed to prove the first instance of asymptomatic infection in a Chinese woman who gave it to a German woman while on a business trip to Germany before she developed symptoms.

Medical chiefs in China had said it was happening in January but it was not until April 6 that the World Health Organization's Dr Maria Van Kerkhove announced in a press conference: 'We also know its possible that people can transmit in the few days before they become symptomatic.'

SAGE discussed the possibility of the virus transmitting in people without symptoms on January 28 and the meeting record reads: 'There is limited evidence of asymptomatic transmission, but early indications imply some is occurring. PHE developing a paper on this'

JANUARY: Hancock 'pushed for Public Health England to boost testing capacity'

Hancock's claim: The Health Secretary said that he started pushing Public Health England to increase coronavirus testing capacity from January when he realised the virus was going to take off in the UK.

He said he had been 'driving the system to drive up testing capacity' in January 2020 but, while Public Health Englands advice was good regarding the science, 'there was simply not the experience to drive up the capacity'.

Defending his publicly announced target of reaching capacity to be able to do 100,000 tests per day by the end of April  which was derided by Dominic Cummings  he told MPs: 'The purpose of the target was to galvanise the system. It worked.

'The Prime Minister was absolutely four-square behind me and gave me his full, whole-hearted support in hitting this target because he, like me, knew we needed a radical increase in testing.'

Dominic Cummings' claim: Mr Cummings claimed the Health Secretary himself was the barrier to scaling up testing faster and described publicly announcing his ambition of reaching 100,000 tests per day as 'incredibly stupid'.

He said: 'Essentially, we never really got to grips with it until the Prime Minister was back in the office and the cabinet secretary and I could say to him we've got to do the track and trace thing in a completely different way.

'I warned the Prime Minister, if we don't fire the Secretary of State [Hancock] and we don't get the testing in someone else's hands, we are going to kill people and it will be a catastrophe...

'I started getting calls and No 10 were getting calls saying Hancock is interfering with the building of the test and trace system because he's telling everybody what to do to maximise his chances of hitting his stupid target by the end of the month. We had half the Government with me in No10 calling around frantically saying do not do what Hancock says, build the thing properly for the medium term... He should've been fired for that.'

The reality: SAGE's report from its January 28 meeting shows that there was not a test available until the end of January and that the number that labs could do were paltry: 'Specific test should be ready by the end of week, with capacity to run 400 to 500 tests per day. Guidance being rolled out to laboratories in the UK.'

PHE and Government officials have widely admitted the testing capacity was inadequate throughout the first wave so nobody could get a swab test unless they were admitted to hospital with suspected Covid.

Government figures show the maximum testing capacity even by March 20, 2020  three days before lockdown when hundreds of thousands of people were infected  was just 6,127 tests per day.

The Department of Health is now capable of doing more than 570,000 lab PCR tests for coronavirus every day and there are an almost limitless supply of rapid 'lateral flow' kits available after officials spent billions on them.

FEBRUARY: First care home guidance released by Government; 'staff don't need masks'

Hancock's claim: The Health Secretary defended his controversial 'protective ring' care home policy that had been torn to shreds by Dominic Cummings in the previous meeting when he called it 'complete nonsense'.

Mr Hancock said: 'The most important words are that we tried to. It was very hard. Each and every death in a care home weighs heavily on me and always will. We knew from the start, from very early in January that the impact of this disease was most significant on the oldest and, therefore, care home residents were going to be a particular risk

'We put in funding, we made sure PPE was as available as possible and we set out guidance for care homes  the first guidance was on the 25th of February and then later when we had testing capacity in July we brought in weekly testing of staff which, I think, was the single biggest improvement in protecting residents.'

Dominic Cummings said in his own appearance last month: 'Quite the opposite of putting a shield around them, we sent people with Covid back to the care homes... It was obviously not being taken seriously'

Dominic Cummings' claim: The former No10 adviser said in his own interview: 'Quite the opposite of putting a shield around them, we sent people with Covid back to the care homes... It was obviously not being taken seriously.'

He said Mr Hancock had promised to test everyone being discharged from a hospital into a care home as early as March but it didn't become official policy until mid-April. Investigators later found out up to 25,000 people were discharged into homes without a test during the first wave.

The reality: Care home staff and bosses were, in early 2020, furious that they couldn't get good enough supplies of protective equipment such as masks and gloves, which had been directed to hospitals amid fears of the NHS getting overwhelmed. Some resorted to reusing PPE, making their own or going without, they said.

Routine testing for care staff or residents wasn't available and reports confirmed that staff had gone into work while unknowingly infected, triggering outbreaks, and that agency workers would move between homes quickly risking spreading the virus around numerous homes in a local area or region.

The first official advice for care homes wasn't published until February 25 by Public Health England  by that time 13 people in the UK had officially tested positive but the outbreak is now known to have been significantly larger. Within three weeks 80 people had died and more than 1,900 more cases were confirmed.

The February 25 advice said staff did not need to wear face masks because they 'do not provide protection from respiratory viruses' during day-to-day activities. It recommended that people should stay home from work if they felt ill, should wash their hands regularly and not touch their face, and use a tissue if they have a cough. People should not be suspected to have Covid if they had not been to China or other countries with big outbreaks.

MARCH: Fears data 'starting to follow the worst case' and edging into lockdown

Hancock's claim: He said that in early March he worried coronavirus cases were starting to rise in line with the horrifying projections that led to a possible 820,000 people dying and that he knew it was time to take action.

Mr Hancock's recollection of the lead-up to lockdown mirrored that of Dominic Cummings', in that ministers and Boris Johnson felt held back by timing the drastic measures right. Advisers had, both men claim, suggested that people wouldn't follow the rules indefinitely and that there were negative consequences that started on day one.

He said: 'The week beginning the ninth of March, what happened is that the data started to follow the reasonable worst case scenario, and by the end of that week, the updated modelling, showed essentially that we were on the track of something close to that reasonable worst case scenario.'

On why lockdown didn't start sooner he said: 'The clear scientific advice at the time was that there was a need to have these tools like lockdown at your disposal but also that the consequences and the costs of lockdown start immediately and, critically, the clear advice at the time was that there's only a limited period that people would put up with it, would put up with lockdown. Now that proved actually to be wrong.'

Dominic Cummings' claim: The strategist drew up his infamous whiteboard scrawl on the night of March 13, which he said was when he realised the country needed to go into lockdown and he showed it to the Prime Minister the next day.

He said he suggested to Mr Johnson that, at a minimum, social contact would have to be limited and pubs closed, for example. There are scraps of what lockdown could mean on the whiteboard from the 13th, with suggestions of 'everyone stays home, pubs etc close'; 'except certain infrastructure people'; 'who looks after the people who can't survive alone?'. It adds choice between for 'less contact', 'no contact' and 'contact illegal'.

That evening, Mr Cummings said, the second most senior civil servant at the Cabinet Office, Helen MacNamara, walked into Mr Johnson's office and allegedly said: 'I think we are absolutely f*****', and warned that 'thousands' of people could die.

Mr Cummings tweeted a picture of the whiteboard before his explosive grilling from MPs over how Downing St handled the pandemic. He captioned the image: 'First sketch of Plan B, PM study, Fri 13/3 eve - shown PM Sat 14/4: NB. Plan A "our plan" breaks NHS,>4k p/day dead min.Plan B: lockdown, suppress, crash programs (tests/treatments/vaccines etc), escape 1st AND 2nd wave (squiggly line instead of 1 or 2 peaks)... details later'

Dominic Cummings and Matt Hancock are pictured looking worried at a meeting in 10 Downing Street in February 2020, before the UK went into its first coronavirus lockdown

The reality: 321 people had tested positive by March 9 and the first proper social distancing rules were announced on March 16 when cases had risen to 1,543 before spiking to almost 2,000 on the 17th.

Boris Johnson held a press conference  they were now daily  and made his first substantial step towards locking down the country, urging people to stop 'non-essential contact' with others and to 'stop all unnecessary travel'. He also added a 14-day self-isolation period for people living with someone with the virus.

He added: 'We need people to start working from home where they possibly can. And you should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues.'
A retired Army officer whose mic was cut at a Memorial Day ceremony when he talked about the holiday's roots in Black history will get another chance to deliver his speech.

Lieutenant Colonel Barnard Kemter, who served in the US Army as a combat medic from 1965 to 1995, will address next week's Buckeye Boys State, an annual gathering organized by the American Legion Department of Ohio to teach young men about government.

The 77-year-old was speaking at a Memorial Day event hosted by a local American Legion post in northeastern Ohio when his microphone was turned off as he talked about the role Black people played in how Memorial Day began.

This incident made headlines nationwide and prompted the Ohio American Legion to launch an investigation.

Since then, two of the event's organizers - Cindy Suchan, president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary, and James Garrison, adjutant of American Legion Lee-Bishop Post 464 - have resigned under pressure after Ohio American Legion officials said the decision censoring the speech was premeditated and planned.

Garrison has also personally apologized to Kemter. It is not clear whether Suchan has offered an apology.

The organizers of the ceremony in Kemter's hometown of Hudson, Ohio, initially defended their decision, saying the section of the speech that was silenced was not relevant to the program's theme of honoring the city's veterans.

The Ohio American Legion has temporarily suspended the Hudson American Legion Lee-Bishop Post 464. A meeting is planned later this month to discuss its future.

Retired Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Barnard Kemter, whose mic was cut at a Memorial Day ceremony when he talked about the holiday's roots in Black history, will get another chance to deliver his speech

'The American Legion Department of Ohio does not hold space for members, veterans, or families of veterans who believe that censoring black history is acceptable behavior,' a press release from the Ohio American Legion read.

The release went on to say that cutting Kemter's microphone 'constitutes a violation of the ideals and purposes of the American Legion . . . therefore, good and sufficient cause exists to revoke, cancel or suspend the charter of Lee-Bishop Post #464, Inc.'

The microphone was cut for about two minutes in the middle of his 11-minute speech, just as he was starting to talk about how the holiday was born out of a ceremony in which freed slaves honored deceased soldiers at the end of the Civil War.

He explained: 'Memorial day was first commemorated by an organized group of freed Black slaves less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered.'

But moments later the sound was cut, leaving Kemter looking confused and tapping the microphone, before continuing with his speech without amplification.

Kemter said he wanted to use his speech to detail the history of the origins of Memorial Day, which, he recounted in his speech, began when emancipated slaves gave fallen Union prisoners a proper burial.

Many of them died in the Battle of Fort Wagner on Morris Island, a battle many Black soldiers fought in.

The freed slaves reportedly exhumed the mass grave and reinterred 200 Union soldier bodies in a new cemetery with a tall whitewashed fence inscribed with the words: 'Martyrs of the Race Course,' referring to the Washington Race Course and Jockey Club in Charleston, South Carolina, where they were buried.

Then on May 1, 1865, reports show, a crowd of 10,000 people, mostly freed slaves and some white missionaries, decided to parade around the race track, with Black school children carrying flowers and singing a Union marching song.

At the end of his speech, Kemter said, he received 'numerous compliments from attendees who told him 'it was nice to hear the history.'

The clubhouse at the Charleston racetrack where the 1865 Memorial Day events took place

Officials with the American Legion said they asked Kemter to modify his speech before the Memorial Day ceremony but he had chosen not to do so.

Suchan, who chairs the Memorial Day parade committee and is president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary, said the two minutes where Kemter's microphone was turned off were part of what she asked him to exclude.

Kemter confirmed he was emailed by an event organizer, whom he did not name, asking him to remove part of his speech detailing how Black Americans helped found Memorial Day, and proceeded to ask the organizers to specify which portions they wanted to have excluded.

The organizer emailed him back, he said, telling him that all the parts that are highlighted should be removed, but he said he did not see anything highlighted, and with less than 24 hours to the ceremony, 'I didn't have time to sit down and write another speech.'

He said he showed the text to a Hudson public official, who told him to keep the speech intact.

Then on the day of the ceremony, Suchan said she asked the audio engineer, AJ Stokes, to turn off Kemter's microphone.

Stokes said he refused to do it himself, but pointed to the knob that controlled the microphone, saying it was Garrison, who turned off the microphone and turned it back on.

When asked about the claims, Garrison declined to say whether he turned off the microphone and said he had 'nothing to add' about the situation.

Stokes said Suchan and Garrison were both 'very adamant' about turning off the microphone, but he was 'very upset' about what happened and feared he would be blamed, even though Suchan said Stokes was 'totally blameless.'

Kemter, meanwhile, thought there was a problem with the audio equipment, he said, but Stokes told him the truth about the incident afterwards.

In a video of the ceremony, the crowd tries to tell Kemter they can't hear him when the audio goes off, at which point, Kemter looks off-screen and says, 'AJ, mic,' apparently talking to Stokes.

Kemter then smiled at the crowd and joked that this is why he told the crowd to move closer at the beginning of his keynote address.

He continues to speak, and after about two minutes, the microphone comes back on, and stays on for the rest of his speech.
A photo of crime lord Hakan Ayik enjoying a luxury dinner alongside a former top Comancheros bikie has re-surfaced, showing the Australian crime king pin in happier times, unaware his high life as the 'Facebook Gangster' was about to come to an abrupt end.

The photo with ex-Comanchero Baris Tukel sharing a dinner with a bevy of attractive friends in Istanbul would now seem a world away for Ayik, who now not just a wanted man not just by authorities, but now also by fellow gangsters, who blame him for the Operation Ironside raids across the globe, which smashed their violent drug syndicates.

The Australian Federal Police have urged Ayik, who is believed to still be in Turkey, to turn himself in for his own protection, as he unwittingly played a central role in the global sting that took down a web of organised crime across the globe.

Australian, U.S., and European authorities carried out raids across the world on Tuesday, with 4,000 cops in Australia arresting 224 accused organised crime figures and seizing tonnes of drugs, millions in cash and other contraband and luxury goods.

A resurfaced picture from 2015 has shown Ayik dining with Australian former bikie Baris Tukel, who was hit with racketeering charges by the FBI

The criminals were caught out through their use of the AN0M app and special encryption phones, not knowing they were designed and secretly distributed by police in the US and Australia, who were reading every word.

The AN0M app gained currency in the underworld after being promoted by senior criminal figures including Ayik, a flamboyant 'Facebook Gangster' and alleged drug lord andComanchero associate.

A resurfaced pictures show Ayik dining with ex-Comanchero Baris Tukel in Turkey in 2015, enjoying a lifestyle and freedom that was now at an end, swapped for a life on the run both from police and furious crime figures who blame him for their downfall.

Australia's most wanted Hakan Ayik (centre) was influential in spreading the AN0M app through his criminal networks, it has been claimed

Cocaine, MDMA, steroids, large sums of cash, ammunition, three mobile phones, a money counter, scales and a gel blaster handgun were allegedly uncovered as part of the raid

On Wednesday night Ayik's Dutch wife Fleur Messelink uploaded the photo to Instagram showing the group of friends at a high end restaurant in the Turkish capital Istanbul, before later deleting it.

The FBI charged both Tukel, a former Comanchero Sergeant-at-Arms, and Ayik with racketeering following Operation Ironside after following their activities on the encrypted app.

Australian police have warned Ayik, who is believed to have had facial surgery to alter his appearance and dodge apprehension, that he is a marked man after unwittingly peddling the 'trojan horse' app to his underworld associates.

With the alleged 'Aussie cartel' now crippled thanks to the cunning international scheme, police said Ayik should turn himself in for the sake of his family's safety.

'Given the threat he faces, he's best off handing himself into us as soon as he can,' AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said.

'He was one of the coordinators of this particular device, so he's essentially set up his own colleagues.'

Ayik was all too aware of the threat posed by rival criminals, as his close associate John Macris was gunned down execution style in Athens in 2018.

The AN0M sting culminated in Tuesday's raids, but the 'trojan horse' communication platform has been used to arrest more than 220 Australian organised crime figures since 2018.

The surveillance of the AN0M communication platform has resulted in the arrest of more than 220 Australian organised crime figures since 2018. Pictured: Money seized by the AFP during raids

The AFP also said on Tuesday it had seized 3.7 tonnes of drugs, more than 100 weapons and almost $45 million in cash as part of the operation since 2018

Offenders are linked to the Australian-based Italian mafia, outlaw motorcycle gangs, Asian crime syndicates and Albanian organised crime figures. Pictured: evidence seized by the AFP following raids

More than 100 of these individuals have now been charged.

Offenders are linked to the Australian-based Italian mafia, outlaw motorcycle gangs, Asian crime syndicates and Albanian organised crime figures.

The communications found on the platform revealed 21 murder plots, gun distribution activity and mass drug trafficking, Australian Federal Police say.

The AFP also said on Tuesday it had seized 3.7 tonnes of drugs, more than 100 weapons and almost $45 million in cash as part of the operation since 2018.

The global operation has prompted mass arrests across 18 countries and the AFP intends to extradite and charge numerous residents overseas.

Commissioner Kershaw told reporters organised crime figures openly and unashamedly discussed their activities on the ANoM platform, unaware police were monitoring their discussions.
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The Keystone XL Pipeline project has officially been axed, five months after Joe Biden revoked Donald Trump's permit on his first day in office and just days after the former president claimed the move could cost 48,000 American jobs.

TC Energy, the Canadian developer behind the project, announced Wednesday it was pulling the plug on the controversial $8 billion pipeline that would have carried 800,000 barrels of oil a day from the tar sands of Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

The company said it had come to the decision following a comprehensive review of its options and after consulting with the government of Alberta, Canada. It alluded to Biden's decision to ax the permit as part of the reason for the project's cancellation.

The move brings to an end a decade of political wrangling over the pipeline and sees Biden's America wave goodbye to another program launched under Trump.

Environmentalists and indigenous groups had long opposed the pipeline, and Biden vowed during the White House race to withdraw US support for the project.

The Valero refinery in Port Arthur Texas which would have been the end of the line for oil that would travel through the Keystone XL Pipeline. The Keystone XL Pipeline project has officially been axed

Joe Biden addresses US Air Force personnel at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk Wednesday, ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall. Biden revoked Donald Trump's permit for the pipeline on his first day in office

TC Energy said Wednesday it had notified the government of Alberta of its decision and will coordinate with regulators, indigenous groups and other stakeholders 'to meet its environmental and regulatory commitments and ensure a safe termination of and exit from the Project.'

The company will now focus its business around the areas of shipping and storing natural gas, liquid fuels and power.

Francois Poirier, the company's president and CEO, said in a statement: 'We value the strong relationships we've built through the development of this Project and the experience we've gained.'

Alberta officials also said in a statement that they had reached an agreement with TC Energy to exit their partnership.

The company and province plan to try to recoup the government's investment, although neither offered any immediate details on how that would happen.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said he was 'disappointed and frustrated' with the project's demise and pointed the finger at Biden.

'We remain disappointed and frustrated with the circumstances surrounding the Keystone XL project, including the cancellation of the presidential permit for the pipeline's border crossing,' Kenney said in a statement.

The 1,210-mile (1,947-kilometer) pipeline, starting in 2023, was to transport up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from the Alberta oil sands to Nebraska and then through an existing system to refineries in coastal Texas.

Trump pictured in 2017 signing an executive order to advance construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The former president has claimed the axing of the project cost 48,000 US jobs

Alberta had hoped the pipeline would spur increased development in the oil sands and bring tens of billions of dollars in royalties to the area over the coming decades.

The province invested more than $1 billion in the project in 2020 alone.

Construction began last year after Trump granted the project a permit to cross the border into America when he took office in 2017.

But Biden signed an executive order within hours of entering the White House in January formally rescinding the permit.

Biden had vowed during the presidential campaign to end the project over concerns that burning oil sands crude would make climate change worse.

The Democrat had put the climate crisis high on his political agenda, also moving to re-enter the US in the Paris Climate Agreement - after his predecessor pulled the nation from it.

A pipe yard for the Keystone XL pipeline in Oyen, Alberta, in January. TC Energy, the Canadian developer behind the project, announced Wednesday it was pulling the plug on the controversial $8 billion pipeline

Crews working on the pipeline in Canada in January. The move to ax the pipeline brings to an end a decade of political wrangling over it

In January Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hit out at the nixing of the permit and urged Biden to rethink his decision.

However officials in Alberta have since claimed Trudeau didn't push Biden hard enough to reinstate the permit and the president was not swayed.

Republicans were also unhappy about Biden's move. A total of 21 Republican states sued the president over his executive order, saying the line would have created thousands of construction jobs.

The Democrat has even sparked some division on the matter within his own party, with moderate Senate Democrats including Montana's Jon Tester and West Virginia's Joe Manchin urging him to reconsider.

Tester said in a statement Wednesday that he was disappointed with the project's demise, but made no mention of Biden.

Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate energy committee, was more direct: 'President Biden killed the Keystone XL Pipeline and with it, thousands of good-paying American jobs.'

Environmental activists at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington DC in April. Environmentalists and indigenous groups had long opposed the pipeline

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on TC Energy's announcement.

Trump had raged about the halting of the pipeline at the North Carolina GOP convention dinner in Greenville on Saturday night, claiming his successor had cost America 48,000 jobs.

'The Biden administration seems to be putting America last. You look at these negotiations where so many bad things have happened,' he said.

'48,000 jobs were lost by President Biden's day one rejection of the keystone pipeline. For what reason - why did they do that?

'And if you like the environment, the pipeline is much better than railroad tracks and trucking. It's great and they ended it on day one.'

The pipeline has been a source of controversy for more than a decade.

Indigenous groups rally at DC in 2014 against the building of the pipeline that would have ran through land they own

It was first proposed back in 2008 but has fallen in and out of favor with the US as the nation's leadership yo-yoed from Democrat to Republican and back to Democrat.

The project stalled under the Obama administration before its approval under Trump - followed by its total demise under Biden.

The pipeline faced strong opposition from environmentalists who viewed the expansion of oil sands development as an environmental disaster that could speed up global warming as the fuel is burned.

They celebrated the news Wednesday saying the line's cancellation marks a 'landmark moment' in the effort to curb the use of fossil fuels.

'Good riddance to Keystone XL,' said Jared Margolis with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of many environmental groups that sued to stop it.

Native American tribes along its route had also long opposed its building as it would have ran through land that they own.
Benjamin Nelson, 28, has been jailed for four years after being charged with more than 20 traffic offences including dangerous driving and evading police

A school dropout-turned-Bitcoin millionaire has lost his $638,000 Lamborghini over a series of hooning offences after buying his model girlfriend a luxury Audi.

Benjamin Nelson, 28, boasts of having made $800,000 by trading Bitcoin despite earning less than $40,000 a year as an IT worker.

In February, the Sunshine Coast man was jailed for four years after being charged with 20 traffic offences including dangerous driving, being behind the wheel under the influence of drugs and evading police.

Police allege his 'bitcoin wealth' came from selling drugs, The Courier-Mail reported.

Nelson dropped out of high school in Year 10 and claimed to police he also worked as a personal trainer in addition to his IT work.

In October 2019, police caught him driving at more than 200km/h in a 110km/h zone north of Brisbane - only for him to speed off when the officers tried to pursue him.

Nelson bought his girlfriend - Instagram influencer Tori Preiss (pictured) - an Audi A5 worth $75,000 while she was on her learner licence

The Lamborghini was seized under Queensland's strict anti-hoon laws and all funds from its sale will go to the state

Driving in a marked police sedan, the officers briefly caught sight of the Lamborghini when it was forced to slow down but gave up when the coupe reached 200km/h again.

His girlfriend Kaori Nakase, 24, who bought the Lamborghini Huracan in October 2019 using Nelson's Bitcoin, reported the car as stolen to police six days later.

Police then found Nelson in a drowsy and disorientated state in November 2019 after he crashed his car at Woombye on the Sunshine Coast and fled the scene.

Nakase pleaded guilty to receiving the luxury car suspected of being the proceeds of crime, as well as perverting the course of justice.

Nelson had previously been sentenced to 18 months behind bars for importing MDMA and GBL - known colloquially as the 'party drug'.

Road violations on his driving record date from 2010 to 2020 and include six speeding tickets and a licence suspension in January of last year alone.

In January last year, the 28-year-old gave another girlfriend - 25-year-old Instagram influencer Tori Preiss - an Audi A5 worth $75,000 while she was on her learner licence.

The luxury Lamborghini will go up for auction from June 17. The car will be sold to the highest bidder by Manheim Auctions

The Lamborghini was seized under Queensland's strict anti-hoon laws, with police then obtaining a forfeiture order entitling all funds raised from the sale of the car to go to the government.

The car will go up for auction from June 17 through auctioneers Manheim Auctions.

'This case should send a very strong message to would-be hoons,' Police Minister Mark Ryan said.

'If you are considering being reckless behind the wheel, you could have your vehicle confiscated and face severe consequences.'

Nelson will be eligible for parole in September.
The ending of Victoria's lockdown is unlikely to reduce the pressures on businesses after many say there's no point in them opening with the government's 'ludicrous' 50-person capacity rule.

The lockdown will end at midnight on Thursday which will see the 10-kilometre radius pushed to 25, schools re-opened and household gatherings increased to 10 people.

But from Friday gyms will remain closed, masks will have to be worn indoors and cafes, bars and restaurants must cap their customers at 50.

Struggling businesses say there's no point in opening their doors because of the harsh measures and despite Victoria just recording one new case on Thursday.

'It's disheartening for our workers and for our city. It's very clear that this government puts its own political needs over those of everyday working people,' restaurant owner Chris Lucas said to the Herald Sun.

'It seems committed to propagating a constant campaign of fear and negative messaging along with damaging lockdowns all the way to the next election.'

Victoria has recorded just one new Covid case as Melbourne prepares for the end of lockdown on Friday with a new set of eased restrictions

However Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien wants gyms to reopen as well, although that is unlikely given they currently remain closed in regional Victoria

RESTRICTIONS EXPECTED IN MELBOURNE FROM FRIDAY No travel beyond 25km from home

Masks required indoors

Household visits banned

Outdoor gatherings restricted to ten people

Schools will reopen for in-class learning

Cafes and restaurants will be limited to 50 customers

Gyms will remain closed Advertisement

There was just one new case recorded on Wednesday, linked to the ongoing outbreak, but Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says the continuation of harsh restrictions and further crippling of businesses is due to the government's concern of the virus still lurking.

'It's [the risk of] potentially undetected cases out there,' Professor Sutton said.

'We've had a number of cases where acquisition isn't absolutely clear, so we just need to run that down as much as possible.'

However Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien wants gyms to reopen as well, although that is unlikely given they currently remain closed in regional Victoria.

'On what planet is it safe to go and get a tatt but you can't go and do a workout,' he told reporters on Wednesday.

'We are opening three venues at a loss. We need to get staff back,' Melbourne venue owner Mark O'Reilly told the Herald Sun.

'A week for a small business can be the difference between surviving, or not,' gym owner Ian Jensen-Muir added.

Officials were pleased to find no more cases of Covid-19 in aged care settings on Tuesday (pictured, staff are swabbed for the virus at the Royal Freemasons Coppin Centre facility)

A coronavirus-infected woman who fled locked-down Melbourne with her husband and went on a 1,900km road trip may have crossed the NSW-Queensland

A coronavirus-infected woman who fled locked-down Melbourne with her husband and went on a 1,900km road trip may have crossed the NSW-Queensland border at a remote town to avoid detection.

Health authorities in Victoria, NSW and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus during their interstate trip.

The woman, 44, tested positive on Wednesday but may have been infectious from the day she left Melbourne on June 1, which was already in lockdown.

Police believe the couple crossed the NSW-Queensland border at the remote rural town of Goondiwindi on June 5 in a bid to evade authorities.

The couple likely drove the scenic route so they could avoid passing through the Gold Coast - where police perform 100 random intercepts a day with strict border control measures in place.

There are also reports the woman lied on her declaration form when entering Queensland, sparking a chorus of public outrage led by Karl Stefanovic.

'I think there is understandable anger across regional Victoria, into regional NSW and then into some of those regional parts of Queensland as well particularly, because they have done such a great job protecting themselves against COVID,' the Today show co-host fumed on Thursday morning.

'A lot of people are furious. They have to throw the book at these people. They have to. I'm not averse to naming and shaming. We have to get this message through.'
The logo for Australia's national broadcaster may have been used for target practice on a police shooting range.

South Australian police published a video in which the ABC logo is visible in front of an officer firing a seized machine gun as part of material released relating to Operation Ironside.

During the operation Australian and foreign agencies cooperated to arrest 224 alleged criminals on 526 charges and seize 3.7 tonnes of drugs, 104 number of weapons, $44million in cash, and assets expected to run into the millions of dollars.

The gun used in the video is believed to have been seized during SA police's work for Operation Ironside.

The ABC logo can be clearly seen in this still from the South Australian police video, which was released in relation to the successful Operation Ironside announcement

The SA police announcement for Operation Ironside included news that the agency had prevented an alleged murder plot linked to a local bikie gang.

The officer did not directly fire at the logo, although the logo appears to be on the general target area.

The fact the ABC logo was on the SA police shooting range raised a few eyebrows.

An ABC spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the ABC is currently 'reviewing the images'.

'It is not a reflection on the ABC or any other business logos displayed in the video,' SA police told Daily Mail Australia.

'This is a supervised firing range on private property and only accessed and used by police or other limited and authorised personnel.'

'The barrier is made out of scrap metal and used as a backing for printed paper targets.'

Police also said anything displayed on the range was intended to recreate a 'realistic training environment'.

The SA police videos shows an officer firing the seized machine gun at targets that include the logos of the Bird in Hand Winery (above at left) and the ABC (which is to the left, out of picture)

The officer in the video was shown firing at a conventional target

The logo of South Australian winery, Bird in Hand, was also visible on the shooting range in the SA police video.

A Bird in Hand staff member told Daily Mail Australia 'this is the first we've heard of it'.
The acting head of the White House budget office has refused to rule out sending more US money to the Wuhan lab COVID-19 is feared to have leaked from.

Acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young said she would 'never make that commitment' to cut all future funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

Young faced questions from lawmakers about Joe Biden's budget proposal during a Budget Committee hearing Wednesday, including pointed questions over the sending of federal funds to the Chinese lab.

There is a growing theory that COVID-19 originated in the Wuhan lab during research into bat coronaviruses. Some experts who support the lab leak theory believe the virus, which has so far killed 3.75 million people, is a natural one, while others claim it may have been genetically modified.

US government officials previously donated $826,000 to the lab over a five year period to help it research viruses like COVID, which is believed to have originally come from bats.

Acting head of the White House budget office Shalanda Young (above) refused Wednesday to rule out sending more US money to the Wuhan lab in which COVID-19 is suspected of being engineered and accidentally leaked

Young said she would 'never make that commitment' to cut all future funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China (pictured being guarded by security)

House Budget Committee ranking member Jason Smith asked Young what she was doing to 'get to the bottom' of the ties between US funding and the lab in Wuhan.

Smith, a Republican, said it had become 'increasingly evident that COVID-19 originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.'

'What are you doing to get to the bottom of the clear link between federal funding and the Wuhan lab?' he asked Young.

The budget boss urged him to await the outcome of the 90-day investigation launched by Biden last month into whether the virus was released by the lab.

But Smith continued to push for an answer around the use of US money for such research.

'So let me ask you this, can you commit that American dollars will never be used to fund such research going forward from this budget?' he asked.

Young skirted around the question again and refused to confirm either way.

'Congressman, I started my career at NIH,' she replied.

'I would never, you know, make that commitment, as someone who believes we need to be led by science, and we certainly need to wait [for] this review before we jump to conclusions.'

House Republicans took to Twitter to slam Young's lack of commitment on the issue.

'The Acting OMB Director refused to say that President Biden's budget would NOT fund the Wuhan Institute of Virology,' the caucus tweeted.

'YOUR tax dollars should not be used to fund the Chinese lab where COVID-19 possibly originated from.'

Young faced questions from lawmakers about Joe Biden's budget proposal during a Budget Committee hearing Wednesday, including pointed questions over the sending of federal funds to the Chinese lab from Jason Smith (above)

Republicans slammed the lack of commitment not to send future funds to the lab

US funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology has come under close scrutiny in recent weeks as a growing faction of experts, a newly-seen intelligence report and leaked emails among top doctors all suggest the lab could have engineered the virus.

America's top doctor and the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci told a House Appropriations subcommittee in late May that the US gave the lab around $600,000 over a period of five years in grants for research in bat coronaviruses.

Emails obtained by conservative watchdog Judicial Watch indicate funding topped $820,000 over six years ending in 2019.

The money was funneled to the lab via non-profit EcoHealth Alliance before funding was abruptly cut in April.

Fauci insisted the money did not go toward 'gain of function' research.

Such research involves taking a virus that could infect humans and making it more transmissible and/or pathogenic for humans.

'That categorically was not done,' he insisted.

Fauci on Wednesday defended his handling of the virus and denied trying to play down claims it may have come from a lab.

The lab leak theory has gained traction after it emerged that three workers at the Wuhan lab fell seriously-ill with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, months before China first reported the virus.

There is a growing theory that COVID-19 originated in the Wuhan lab (workers inside the lab in 2017) during research into bat coronaviruses, before being accidentally leaked and spreading worldwide - so far killing more than 3.75 million people

'That's honestly an accusation that I have to tell you, mildly, is preposterous,' Fauci said at The Wall Street Journal's Tech Health event on Wednesday.

'Right from the very beginning, when there was an issue of some people who looked at the virus and said maybe it might actually have been manipulated.

'And what we did is that they mentioned it to me, I called together a group of people and said "Let's take a look at this, make sure, get some virologic evolutionary biologizes together to take a look at it."'

He insisted most experts believed at the time it was 'very likely a natural evolution' but said 'we never ruled out the possibility' it may have been man-made.

'It wasn't like we were trying to hide anything,' he said.

Fauci also pushed back at claims he downplayed the theory for political reasons and called the criticism of him 'attacks on science' on MSNBC's Meet the Press Daily.

'It's very dangerous, because a lot of what you're seeing as attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science because all of the things that I have spoken about consistently from the very beginning have been fundamentally based on science,' Fauci told host Chuck Todd.

Dr. Anthony Fauci (seen on Wednesday) said last month the US gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to the lab for research

'Sometimes those things were inconvenient truths for people, and there was pushback against me. So if you are trying to get at me as a public health official, you're really attacking not only Dr. Anthony Fauci, you are attacking science.'

'And anybody that looks at what is going on clearly sees that,' Fauci concluded. 'You have to be asleep not to see that.

'Science and the truth are being attacked.'

Republicans are calling for Fauci to be fired over the funding and what they claim has been a flip-flopping from the top doctor over the origins of the virus.

The storm erupted in recent weeks when leaked emails surfaced between him and other virologists in the early days of the pandemic, discussing the possibility the virus was genetically modified.

Last year, at the height of the pandemic, Fauci publicly supported the theory that COVID-19 jumped naturally from animals to humans in a Chinese 'wet market' close to the lab.

While China has tried to insist the virus originated elsewhere, academics, politicians and the media have begun to contemplate the possibility it escaped from the WIV - raising suspicions that Chinese officials simply hid evidence of the early spread

'If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what's 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 May.

Fauci changed tact in May this year saying he was 'not convinced' any longer that the virus evolved naturally.

This week, a classified report from influential government laboratory the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory revealed that experts recommended as far back as May last year that more investigation was needed into the lab leak theory.

The report found the hypothesis of a lab leak to be plausible and its conclusions were used by the State Department as it probed the pandemic's origins in the last months of the Trump administration, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Biden last month ordered US intelligence agencies to find answers about the virus's origins.

US officials have accused China of not being transparent about the pandemic and the origins of the virus.
A couple claim their baby boy was sent home from hospital after doctors found his cancerous tumour was simply a 'bump'.

Jade and Jeremy, from Western Australia, noticed their nine-month-old son Reid had a bump on his head in December last year before taking him to Rockingham Hospital to undergo an ultrasound.

However once they arrived in triage, the couple was told their concerns were nothing to worry about and they were sent on their way.

'(They said it was) a calcium build-up on his skull, it might go away, it might not, but it's nothing to worry about,' Jade told 7News.

Reid was rushed to Perth Children's Hospital where Jade and Jeremy were told he had just a five per cent chance of surviving

They then took Reid to Peel Health Campus instead, where he eventually got a scan that revealed he had a tumour half the size of his brain

Jade and Jeremy took their nine-month-old son Reid to Rockingham Hospital to undergo an ultrasound, but the couple claims they were turned away

The Rockingham couple wanted an ultrasound to be undertaken, but claim hospital staff denied their request.

In March, Jeremy and Jade's concern grew when they noticed the lump started to change.

They then took Reid to Peel Health Campus instead, where he eventually got a scan that revealed he had a tumour half the size of his brain.

Reid was rushed to Perth Children's Hospital where Jade and Jeremy were told he had just a five per cent chance of surviving.

'Every scenario we were given, it was worst case every time. I don't think you realise how much you can love something until they might not be there,' Jade said.

Jade said Reid's deterioration happened quickly after first noticing he was 'a bit extra unsettled'.

'He had fluid on his brain which we thought was worse case scenario,' she said.

'We will never have a "normal" child or life ever again. We are heartbroken, lost, numb, a pain I never thought I'd have to experience.'

The couple have praised the 'beyond amazing' staff at Peel Health Campus and the Perth Children's Hospital for taking their concerns seriously and ultimately saving Reid's life.

Jade and Jeremy, from Western Australia, are calling for change in procedures in Western Australia's triage systems

They are calling for change in procedures in Western Australia's triage systems.

'I think there needs to be a protocol system they hit every time, or things slip through the cracks,' the couple said.

The couple have set up a Go Fund Me for donations to live off after Jeremy quit his job to take care of Reid.

'Jeremey will not be returning to work until Reid is stable. We have a mortgage, car loans, all these things that we will now have to pay with no income,' the couple wrote on the donations page.

'Please help us be able to spend every second with our boy.'
The President of an Oxford college whose graduates voted to remove a portrait of the Queen from their common room has defended the students' right to 'free speech and political debate'.

Boris Johnson yesterday joined the backlash against members of Magdalen College Middle Common Room (MCR), who voted overwhelmingly to remove the photographic print of the monarch.

The decision was made after she was described as a 'symbol of recent colonial history' who could make some people feel unwelcome - a verdict described as 'absurd' by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, which was then echoed by the Prime Minister.

Magdalen head, Dinah Rose QC, emphasised that the students were not representative of the college, but offered them her support.

In a series of tweets, she said: 'Here are some facts about Magdalen College and HM the Queen.

'The Middle Common Room is an organisation of graduate students. They don't represent the College.

'A few years ago, in about 2013, they bought a print of a photo of the Queen to decorate their common room.

'They recently voted to take it down. Both of these decisions are their own to take, not the College's.

'Magdalen strongly supports free speech and political debate, and the MCR'S right to autonomy.

'Maybe they'll vote to put it up again, maybe they won't. Meanwhile, the photo will be safely stored.'

Magdalen head, Dinah Rose QC, emphasised that the students were not representative of the college, but offered them her support

Members of the Middle Common Room at Magdalen College - which is made up of graduates - overwhelmingly backed the removal of a portrait of the Queen

Boris Johnson's (seen yesterday) spokesman said that he supported Education Secretary Gavin Williamson's criticism of the Oxford students

She finished: 'Being a student is about more than studying. It's about exploring and debating ideas. It's sometimes about provoking the older generation. Looks like that isn't so hard to do these days.'

It comes after Mr Williamson, the Education Secretary criticised the move on Tuesday night, and yesterday a Number 10 spokesman responded: 'You have had the Education Secretary's words, which the PM supports.'

Meanwhile, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick called the row 'student union politics', but said he is 'proud' to have a portrait of the Queen in his office.

He told BBC Breakfast today: 'I'm a huge fan and supporter of Her Majesty the Queen, I think we are incredibly lucky to live in a country with a head of state of her stature.

'I wouldn't want anyone to disrespect her out of ignorance in this way, but I don't think that we should waste too much time on student union politics.'

Yesterday evening, Mr Williamson tweeted: 'Oxford University students removing a picture of the Queen is simply absurd.

'She is the Head of State and a symbol of what is best about the UK. During her long reign she has worked tirelessly to promote British values of tolerance, inclusivity and respect around the world.'

Political website Guido Fawkes reported that the motion to remove the portrait was launched to make members 'feel welcome', with one student said to have commented 'patriotism and colonialism are not really separable'.

The MCR president is Matthew Katzman, a lecturer in computer science and the son of a top lawyer at international firm Steptoe & Johnson. His family live in a 4million mansion in Washington DC, where he attended $48,000-a-year Sidwell Friends School, a historic Quaker private college.

Today barrister Dinah Rose, president of Magdalen, said staff had received 'threatening messages' over the controversy, as she defended students' right to 'free speech and political debate'.

She tweeted: 'So if you are one of the people currently sending obscene and threatening messages to the college staff, you might consider pausing, and asking yourself whether that is really the best way to show your respect for the Queen.

'Or whether she'd be more likely to support the traditions of free debate and democratic decision-making that we are keeping alive at Magdalen.'

Yesterday evening, Mr Williamson tweeted: 'Oxford University students removing a picture of the Queen is simply absurd'

Meanwhile, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick called the row 'student union politics', but said he is 'proud' to have a portrait of the Queen in his office

In a series of tweets, she emphasised that the students are not representative of the college, but added: 'Magdalen strongly supports free speech and political debate, and the MCR'S right to autonomy.

'Maybe they'll vote to put it up again, maybe they won't. Meanwhile, the photo will be safely stored.'

She concluded that being a student is about 'exploring and debating ideas' and often about 'provoking the older generation', adding: 'Looks like that isn't so hard to do these days.'

On its website, Magdalen College Middle Common Room describes itself as 'one of the biggest graduate communities of the traditional Oxford colleges'.

It says: 'Our graduates come from many different countries throughout the world, and have diverse interests, academic and otherwise.

'The MCR forms an integral part of the Magdalen graduate experience - not only do we organise social and cultural events for students so that we can make the utmost out of our time in Oxford, but we also provide a network of support for graduate life in representing the concerns of students to the college.'

Mr Williamson has since faced criticism from the University and College Union (UCU), which said the comments were a 'distraction from the disastrous, systemic failings this Government has presided over in higher education'.

Matthew Katzman (pictured), tables all motions as part of his position as President of the Middle Common Room (MCR) at Magdalen College, Oxford

General secretary Jo Grady said: 'Williamson styles himself as a champion of free speech and academic freedom, but never misses an opportunity to attack staff and students who are merely exercising these rights.

'As university staff have already pointed out, this Government doesn't care about freedom of speech on campus, and its attempts to change the law should be seen as nothing other than a Trojan horse for policing what students and staff can and cannot do.'

Mr Katzman told MailOnline last night: 'The Magdalen College MCR yesterday [Monday] voted to remove an inexpensive print of the queen that was hung in the common room a few years ago (a motion I brought forward in my role as MCR President as I do all motions raised in a sub-committee).

'It is being stored securely and will remain in the MCR's art collection.

'The action was taken after a discussion of the purpose of such a space, and it was decided that the room should be a welcoming, neutral place for all members regardless of background, demographic, or views.

'The Royal Family is on display in many areas of the college, and it was ultimately agreed that it was an unnecessary addition to the common room.

'The views of the MCR do not reflect the views of Magdalen College, and the aesthetic decisions made by the voting members of its committee do not equate to a statement on the Queen.

'Indeed, no stance was taken on the Queen or the Royal Family  the conclusion was simply that there were better places for this print to be hung.'
Canada has said it is prepared to take in some Central American migrants to help the United States, which is grappling with an influx of migrants at its southern border with Mexico.

'I certainly think that we have the capacity within our existing levels plan to accommodate more refugees,' Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

Canada aims to resettle 36,000 refugees for 2021.

Mendicino's comments follow a with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas last week - the first since President Joe Biden's administration was sworn in.

The two discussed issues including Central American migration - an area where the Biden administration is struggling to gain control.

While Mendicino would not rule out accepting migrants in U.S. custody, his spokesperson said this was unlikely as Canada resettles refugees referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Mendicino would not say how many migrants Canada might take.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Mendicino said he and Mayorkas discussed 'the road map to a renewed Canada-U.S. relationship,' managing their shared border and achieving migration goals.

Pictured: Central American migrants sit on the ground while waiting to be transported by US Border Patrol agents after crossing the border

Pictured: Chanel, 7, and her sister Adriana, 10, both unaccompanied minors traveling alone from Honduras, sits among other asylum-seeking children as they await to be transported to a U.S. border patrol processing facility

Canada has said it is preparing to take in some Central American migrants to help the United States, which is grappling with an influx of migrants at its southern border with Mexico. Pictured: A group of Brazilian migrants make their way around a gap in the US-Mexico border Tuesday

Canada has styled itself as a leader in refugee resettlement, even as it turns back asylum-seekers at its own border.

Last year it took in about 40 per cent of the total number of resettled refugees globally, or about 9,000.

'By having a plan as ambitious as we do around this, what we're signaling not only to the Americas but the world, is, Canada will continue to play a leadership role when it comes to resettling refugees,' Mendicino added.

In its 2021 budget, Canada allocated C$80.3 million ($66.6 million) over two years to the Venezuelan migrant and refugee crisis.

Canada also wants to expand the Safe Third Country Agreement (SCTA), under which asylum-seekers trying to cross at ports of entry are turned back, so that it applies to the entire Canada-U.S. border.

This would affect people who cross irregularly, such as at Quebec's Roxham Road, a common destination for asylum-seekers avoiding the STCA.

'There was certainly a very strong sense between our two countries that this is a very valuable instrument, it is a very valuable agreement, because it does create the opportunity for additional cooperation,' Mendicino said.

Canada's offer to help comes as the number of migrants taken into custody at the U.S.-Mexico border has soared in recent months to the highest levels in two decades.

Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino told Reuters: 'I certainly think that we have the capacity within our existing levels plan to accommodate more refugees' [File photo]

Canada has styled itself as a leader in refugee resettlement, even as it turns back asylum-seekers at its own border. A group of people at Quebec's Roxham Road, a common destination for asylum-seekers avoiding the Safe Third Country Agreement [File photo]

Vice President Kamala Harris, tasked with addressing Central American migration, was in Mexico and Guatemala this week to pursue solutions to the situation.

She was dogged throughout her trip with questions about when she would go to the border with Mexico to see for herself the scale of the problem. And at times, she let her frustrations show.

At a news conference in Mexico City Harris shrugged off the idea.

'I think it's short-sighted, for any of us who are in the business of problem solving to suggest we're only going to respond to the reaction as opposed to addressing the cause,' she said.

Conservatives have sought to saddle Harris with problems at the border ever since Biden asked her to take the lead in diplomatic efforts to stem the flow of migrants.

They have dubbed her the 'border czar,' criticizing her for not holding a press conference on the issue and demanding that she visit the Mexico-U.S. frontier.

For weeks, Harris has sought to portray her job as one that was focused on addressing the root causes of migration - from violence to corruption and poverty.

She stuck to the themes during her two-day trip as she spelled out her approach.

Vice President Kamala Harris, tasked with addressing Central American migration, was in Mexico and Guatemala this week to pursue solutions to the situation. She was dogged throughout her trip with questions about when she would go to the border with Mexico to see for herself the scale of the problem

Harris' first international trip was met with protesters demanding she 'mind your own business'

'I also believe that if you want to fix a problem. You have to go to where the problem exists,' she said in Mexico City, some 500 miles from the border.

'If you want to address the needs of a people, you must meet those people. You must spend time with those people.'

And she said, as a politician from California, she was well aware of the issues at the border.

Earlier, she snapped at reporters for allowing the border crisis to overshadow her first international trip.

'Why not go to the border, as well, so you do see the full complexity?' a reporter asked Harris as she took some questions following a bilateral meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

'Listen, I've been to the border before and I'll go again,' she said with an awkward laugh.

'But when I'm in Guatemala, dealing with root causes, I think we should have a conversation about what's going on in Guatemala,' she said  even though she is in Mexico.

The vice president said the 'bottom line' was that the administration had to apply 'equal weight' to what's going on at the border and 'root causes' in Northern Triangle nations.

Republicans argue, however, that there is not equal attention since Harris nor Biden have gone to the southern border to see the humanitarian crisis first hand.

Customs and Border Patrol number show record numbers of encounters with illegal crossers with a record-high of 178,622 in April alone, continuing on from massive spike in February and March

This graph shows the number of migrants caught by the Office of Field Operation (OFO) and US Border Patrol agents in April and May

On Wednesday, Guatemala's president said Biden's decision to try and reunite illegal migrants with their families in the US helped trigger the ongoing border crisis.

Speaking to Fox News, Alejandro Giammattei also said he'd offered a solution to Vice President Kamala Harris by urging the US to work with him to prosecute people smugglers.

Giammattei told Sean Hannity reporter Sara Carter: 'You can see that humanitarian messages were used here by the coyotes in a distorted manner.

'They said that they were going to support family reunification.

'So the coyotes came and took the children and teenagers to the United States.

'And the border filled up. Not only with people from Guatemala, but lots of people.

'That's why we have suggested that the messaging be clear.'

Giammattei spoke as it was revealed border crossings had exploded 674 per cent in May 2021 compared to the same month a year previously, with 180,034 migrants recorded crossing into the US last month.

His swipe came after President Biden signed an executive order in February establishing the Family Reunification Task Force to reunite unaccompanied minors separated from their families and detained under the Trump administration.

Giammattei blamed that policy for causing the ongoing migrant surge. But he also hailed Harris's speech in his country on Monday warning migrants not to come to the US, or they'd be sent back.

'The vice president yesterday sent a very clear message because she said: Do not come because we won't let you in.

'That's a clear message,' he said.

'But if you have a lukewarm message, it opens up the possibility that there's a bad interpretation of it.

'You can say it in good faith. But there are people who will misinterpret it.'

Giammattei, a former director of Guatemala's prison service, said that Harris and Biden had initially been too welcoming to migrants.
A first-time mum has finally enjoyed the precious moment of holding her tiny premature baby boy for the first time after being forced apart for nine days due to quarantine.

Melbourne woman Sarah Haidar, 27, gave birth to Ilyas 10 weeks early via an emergency C-section on June 1 after she was rushed to hospital due to pregnancy complications while in hotel quarantine.

She and her husband Moe, 30, landed in Brisbane on a flight from Qatar on May 26 when their flight to Melbourne, their home city, was cancelled due to Victoria's Covid-19 outbreak.

Due to strict quarantine rules, Ms Haidar was unable to hold her little boy as Ilyas was immediately whisked away to the neonatal ward.

She spent the next nine harrowing days separated from her newborn until her 14 day hotel quarantine period ended on Wednesday night.

Ms Haidar immediately rushed to the hospital neonatal intensive care unit where she finally got to hold her baby for the first time.

This is the heartwarming moment Sarah Haidar finally got to hold her nine-day-old son Ilyas for the first time on Wednesday night

'It was nerve-wracking. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life,' Ms Haidar told the Today show on Thursday.

'I immediately cried. He's just very, very small and tiny. It breaks my heart.'

Being separated from her son for the first nine days of his life has taken a harrowing toll on the first-time mum, who was restricted to seeing him on video calls.

'I was trying to keep up expressing milk was helping me. I just imagined that my son was with me and that was actually getting me through it,' Ms Haidar said.

'It is very tough. This is something I've always wanted, you know. I've always dreamt of having him right on me when I delivered him.

'But that got taken away from me and I have to live with that for the rest of my life.'

Her husband Moe was barred from being by his wife's side at the birth due to quarantine rules and didn't get the chance to meet his son until Wednesday night.

Sarah Haidar (left) was forced to give birth without husband Moe (right) by her side

Both parents had received two Pfizer shots in Qatar, where they worked for four years, and tested negative for Covid four times since returning to Australia.

Mr Haidar described the moment of meeting his son for the first time as nerve-wracking.

'I still feel nervous now,' he told the Today show the next morning.

'I think not happening naturally kind of left a bit of a sour taste with the whole experience. But that's our son.

'We love him unconditionally. And we're there to fight for him as parents and that's what we've been doing the past week.'

Ms Haidar described the last nine days as torture.

'It's been a nightmare, it shouldn't happen to anyone,' her husband added.

The family still have a long road ahead of them.

The Haidars are desperate to return home to Melbourne with their baby boy as soon as soon as he's deemed strong enough by the doctors in the NICU.

Sarah Haidar could only see her newborn son through video calls during the first nine days

But the couple have been told flying Ilyas to Melbourne will cost $30,000.

'We reached out to Queensland Health to help us to airlift Ilyas but they just directed us to the hospital who were informed it will cost $30,000,' Mr Haidar said.

'I don't know how it is going to happen. We just hope sponsors, crowd fund or something happens to get the ball rolling at least while we continue to seek help in that regard.'

Mr Haidar posted on Facebook: 'In Melbourne we have a roof over our head and Sarah can continue her support of our son at our local hospital. This would also assure we also have support with our families right by our side. My wife and my son are my priority!'

He told Daily Mail Australia last week he missed the birth because when he applied to Queensland Health for an exemption to be with his family in hospital, it was never processed.

Health authorities told him the exemption was coming, but he never got a direct reason as to why it was not approved in the first instance.

Pictured: Sarah Haidar while pregnant with her first child Ilyas. She delivered him via emergency C-section on June 1 without her husband by her side

'We do video calls with the nurses in the ward. He's in NICU but he's on his own,' Mr Haidar said.

'He isn't with all the other babies. In a separate room but we don't understand the risk to see him.'

Mr Haidar later assured protocols and procedures would be followed so other babies in the NICU ward are kept safe.

'We would not risk the precious lives of any other infants,' he posted on Facebook.

'Our son Ilyas is being kept separate within the ward as we continue to the push to see him. This process involves covid testing, screening, sanitizing, wearing the same medical suits, gloves, face masks and shields which the nurses also wear.'
Japan has thrown its support behind Australia to slam Chinese 'economic coercion' and 'destabilising' actions in the Indo-Pacific amid fears the region is on the brink of war.

Foreign and defence ministers from the two allied countries held online talks to strengthen their security ties on Wednesday in the face of an increasingly assertive Beijing.

Australia's relationship with China - by far its largest trading partner - has rapidly deteriorated since the Morrison government called for an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus last year, with Beijing blocking several key Aussie exports including coal, barley, beef, seafood and wine.

Japan has thrown its support behind Australia to slam Chinese 'economic coercion' and 'destabilising' actions in the Indo-Pacific. Pictured: Chinese sailors during a visit to Sydney in June 2019

Meanwhile, Japan is locked in an ongoing dispute with Beijing over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls Diaoyu.

Japan says Chinese vessels routinely violate its territorial waters around the islands, sometimes threatening fishing boats.

In a joint statement, the ministers pledged their commitment to a 'free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific where disputes are resolved peacefully, without the threat or use of force.'

They also committed to 'opposing coercion and destabilising behaviour by economic means, which undermines the rules-based international system'.

The politicians expressed 'serious concerns' about reported human rights abuses against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang in China's west and the undermining of democracy in Hong Kong.

The statement called on China 'to grant urgent, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent international observers including the UN high commissioner for human rights.'

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, second right, and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, right, attend a video conference with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, left on screen, and Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton, right on screen

China has been accused of locking up thousands of innocent Muslims in a 'genocide' against the minority group - but Beijing claims they are being taken to 're-education' camps to stamp out the threat of terrorism.

Unverified drone footage in 2019 showed blindfolded Muslim detainees being led from trains with their heads shaven, eyes covered and hands bound. Beijing said it was a 'normal' transfer of prisoners.

After the talks, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters the allies viewed China's activity in the East and South China Seas as a challenge to the international community.

China claims about 90 per cent of the South China Sea, ignoring a ruling by an international arbitration tribunal in 2016 which invalidated its claim.

Beijing passed legislation in January allowing its coastguard to use 'all necessary means' to stop or prevent threats from foreign vessels, including demolishing other countries' structures built on Chinese-claimed reefs.

The law permits coastguard to board and inspect foreign vessels in waters China considers its own.

Three Chinese Navy ships made a four-day visit to Sydney in June 2019 with Scott Morrison saying it was reciprocal after Australian naval vessels visited China. Since then relations have soured

'We express our objections to China's maritime claims and activities that are inconsistent with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),' the Australian-Japanese joint statement said.

The officials expressed 'serious concerns about the recent negative developments and serious incidents in the South China Sea, including continuing militarization of disputed features, dangerous use of coast guard vessels and ''maritime militia'', and efforts to disrupt other countries' resources exploitation activities.

'In this context, we reiterate our concerns over China's Coast Guard Law in the context of the South China Sea,' the statement said.

The meeting also reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, where China has recently stepped up a campaign of pressure by flying fighter jets near the self-ruled island.

China responded that it is determined to defend its sovereignty, security and development interests.

'China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their nearby waters, and over the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets,' Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily briefing in Beijing.

'Issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong are Chinas internal affairs that no foreign country should intervene. China firmly rejects Japan and Australias efforts to smear China and interfere in Chinas internal affairs,' Wang said.

Japan and Australia are in the final stages of a defense cooperation deal that will allow the Japanese Self-Defense Force to protect Australian military assets in Japan's second defence treaty outside of its alliance with the United States.

Beijing has slapped huge tariffs on Australian barley (pictured) in a move that Canberra believes is 'economic coercion'

It comes after Scott Morrison said the risk of war with China in the Indo-Pacific region is growing and the world is facing uncertainty not seen since the 1930s as he rallied Australia's allies to take action against the threat posed by Beijing.

In a major foreign policy speech in Perth ahead of his trip to the G7 summit in the UK on Friday, Mr Morrison outlined how Australia can work with international partners to counter communist China and make the world safe for liberal democracies to flourish in.

Mr Morrison warned that China's growing might and strategic competition with the US, combined with the economic damage and instability caused by the pandemic, means the Indo-Pacific region is facing the real prospect of war.

'The risks of miscalculation and conflict are growing,' he said in his speech.

'The simple reality is that Australia's strategic environment has changed significantly over recent years.

'Accelerating trends are working against our interests. And the technological edge enjoyed historically by Australia and our allies is under challenge.'

Since president Xi Jinping came to power, and particularly in recent months, China has pushed an increasingly assertive foreign policy under which it has reinforced territorial claims in the South China Sea, killed Indian troops in the Himalayas and frequently flown fighter jets over Taiwan.

In one of his first speeches after moving into the White House, President Biden - who is one of Australia's most important allies - described China as 'our most serious competitor' and vowed to 'confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive, coercive action and push back on China's attack on human rights'.
A leading Labour figure has become the first MP to record personalised video messages for a fee.

Dawn Butler has signed up to an increasingly popular app called Cameo that allows celebrities to charge fans hundreds of pounds for a bespoke clip.

The former shadow minister, pictured, advertises herself on the site as a serious MP with a serious sense of humour.

Pictured: Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent Central, has signed up to an increasingly popular app called Cameo that allows celebrities to charge fans a fee for a bespoke video message

She states: Hi, this is Dawn Butler MP so look, leave me a message, let me know who you want me to send a message to, to your friend, to your family, to your foe but dont make it too rude and I will do so and hopefully if I make any money I am going to use it to put a smile on other peoples faces.

Miss Butler, MP for Brent Central in London, is currently said to be unavailable on Cameo, but prices of 30 were previously listed for a personalised message that was promised to be produced within 24 hours.

Fans can pay 2.99 to send Miss Butler, MP for Brent Central in London, a message themselves.

Former Commons Speaker John Bercow and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage are also on Cameo with Bercow charging from 82 while Farage charges start at 75 for a message

Former Commons Speaker John Bercow is also on Chicago-based Cameo.

His messages, which usually feature the phrase order order, start at 82, while Nigel Farage costs from 75.

The former Ukip leader says a greeting from him would be the perfect surprise for a Meghan Markle-supporting woke warrior remoaner.
Queensland will not go into lockdown despite the husband of a Covid-infected Melbourne woman who fled the city to go on an interstate road trip also testing positive.

The 44-year-old woman left Melbourne on June 1 during Victoria's statewide stage three lockdown restrictions - travelling by car through regional NSW and Queensland.

She tested positive to Covid-19 on June 8 at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast, with her husband now also returning a positive result.

The woman is understood to have been tested only because her husband needed negative results for work purposes.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young has held off on tightening Covid-19 restrictions though as it is believed the pair were unlikely to have been highly-infectious while on the Sunshine Coast.

Health authorities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus during a Melbourne couple's interstate trip

A queue to receive a coronavirus vaccination at the Rocklea Showgrounds in Brisbane is pictured on June 5. Queensland will not go into lockdown despite two new cases being reported on Thursday

'The good news is it appears both the two individuals are at the end of their infectious period, which means the risk is lower than we were expecting yesterday,' Queensland health minister Yvette DAth said on Thursday.

Dr Young said it was unnecessary to increase social distancing restrictions even in high-risk locations such as aged care facilities, hospitals and prisons.

'I believe this risk is actually a little bit lower. The risk is such that we need to do that for this particular outbreak at this stage,' she said.

Police believe the couple crossed the NSW-Queensland border at the remote rural town of Goondiwindi on June 5 in a bid to evade authorities.

There are also reports the woman lied on her declaration form when entering Queensland, sparking a chorus of public outrage led by Karl Stefanovic.

The furious Today host called for the border hopping couple to be named and shamed and have 'the book thrown at them.

Church St Cafe in Dubbo (pictured) is one of the venues where the infected woman visited on her road trip. Pictured is a staff member at the cafe - not the Covid-positive traveller

Three states are scrambling to contain a potential Covid outbreak after an infected woman left locked-down Melbourne and drove through NSW to the Sunshine Coast (Mooloolaba pictured)

The woman visited Goondiwindi McDonalds on June 5 between 7.35am - 7.50am

The positive woman was at Bunnings in Caloundra, QLD between 12.10pm - 12.45pm on June 7

'I think there is understandable anger across regional Victoria, into regional NSW and then into some of those regional parts of Queensland as well particularly, because they have done such a great job protecting themselves against COVID,' the show's co-host fumed on Thursday morning.

'A lot of people are furious. They have to throw the book at these people. They have to. I'm not averse to naming and shaming. We have to get this message through.'

Poll SHOULD COVID RULE-BREAKERS BE NAMED AND SHAMED? Yes No Depends on circumstances SHOULD COVID RULE-BREAKERS BE NAMED AND SHAMED? Yes 1840 votes

No 202 votes

Depends on circumstances 196 votes Now share your opinion





Co-host Allison Langdon agreed the couple should be punished, but stopped short of demanding they be named and shamed.

'My initial reaction is I want to know who they are, they've done the wrong thing but if you do that, you don't have people coming forward and don't have people getting tested,' she said.

Stefanovic continued his furious rant.

'They are going to get named if they're charged,' he replied.

'How do you not get it? How do you not get that message through and maybe embarrassment is a way of doing it.'

Stefanovic felt for residents in the regional towns the couple had driven through.

'You'd be filthy if you lived in the country and these people had driven your town, wouldn't you,' he said shortly afterwards.

'How does the message not get through? It puts enormous stress on people who are now waiting for tests and enormous stress on businesses.

'Let's just hope [the couple has] got a good excuse.'

Stefanovic had weighed into the debate following an interview with Queensland-based Royal Australian College of General Practitioners vice president Dr Bruce Willett.

The couple crossed the NSW/Queensland border at the remote town of Goondiwindi, four hours inland of the Gold Coast where police are much more strict with their patrols

'I think there's a lot of anger and disappointment really that people would do this. People's lives are at stake and also people's livelihoods with shutdowns,' Dr Willett told the program.

'I think it's a wait and see game. I think we have to keep our fingers crossed that there are no more cases in the near future and we avoid the lockdown.

'I think the important lesson from this is this can happen anywhere, anytime.'

Dr Willett added Queenslanders would like to the couple to be charged.

The woman had been experiencing symptoms - including the loss of her sense of smell - from June 3 but only sought a test on June 8.
Pressure is mounting on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to set the record straight about his serious back injury.

There have been various unfounded rumours circulating online since Mr Andrews broke several ribs and suffered an acute compression fracture of the T7 vertebra in his back on March 9.

He's been recovering at home ever since.

His extended absence during Victoria's latest coronavirus crisis prompted shadow state treasurer Louise Staley to issue a media release this week listing 11 questions she wants the premier to answer before he finally returns to work later this month.

Ms Staley has since reiterated calls for all of her questions to be answered after the Victorian government responded to five.

Two more questions have since been answered by Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton.

Victorian Shadow Treasurer Louise Staley (pictured on Thursday) demanded that all her questions be answered regarding Daniel Andrews

'I asked 12 simple questions, the government has selectively chosen to answer five of them. My view is they should get on and answer the other seven,' Ms Staley told reporters outside state parliament on Thursday morning.

'I'll just continue to put out there that they should be answered.

Her comments prompted two more questions to be answered.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has confirmed police were not called in relation to Mr Andrews' accident.

Nor was the Premier interviewed formally or informally.

'What you've got is a tragic accident that's left a person severely injured, who happens to be the premier of the state. That's not a matter the police would be involved in,' Commissioner Patton later told ABC Melbourne.

Questions asked on Monday include what time an ambulance was called on March 9 and whether Mr Andrews was 'interviewed either formally or informally by the police in relation to anything that occurred over that long weekend'.

'If there is no cover-up, then there is no reason not to provide answers to these simple questions,' Ms Staley said at the time.

The Victorian government has since demanded an apology from her.

It also prompted an angry rebuke from the Secretary of the Victorian Ambulance Union Danny Hill, who said it was 'stupid and offensive to suggest that ambulance crews are involved in an elaborate conspiracy'.

Daniel Andrews (pictured with wife Catherine) is expected back at work later in June

Mr Andrews gave Ambulance Victoria permission to release a statement about the day of his accident.

It confirmed paramedics were dispatched at 6.47am and arrived at the Sorrento home on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula where Mr Andrews was staying at 7.01am on March 9.

Deputy Premier James Merlino, who has been acting premier in Mr Andrews' absence, said the opposition should be 'ashamed of themselves'.

'For the Liberal Party to act as they have, reflects on them, reflects on how they treat people - no decency, no respect,' he said.

Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien defended his colleague, describing her questions as 'legitimate'.

'I'm not suggesting for a second that anything the premier's office has said about the premier's accident or his condition is untrue. No one is suggesting that,' he said.

'It is simply a case of we don't necessarily know the whole truth.'

Victorian premier Dan Andrews (pictured right with his daughter) has been earning $1,209 a day on sick leave for the past three months while ordinary Victorians have been stopped from working due to his government's brutal two-week lockdown

During his time on leave, Mr Andrews has earned about $110,000 - almost double the average annual salary of Victorians which is $63,500.

Members of parliament are not employed but get paid for the office they hold, meaning they have no leave limits.

Australians employed in the private sector only get a minimum of 10 days personal leave per year.

Ms Staley said Mr Andrews should only take an MP's base salary of $182,413 while off sick.

Victoria recorded four new locally-acquired cases on Thursday, hours before Melbourne is set to exit two week of lockdown.

The four new cases are reported to be from the same household.

A string of restrictions will remain in place when lockdown is lifted, including a 25 kilometre travel limit.

The most recent sighting: Dan Andrews was pictured in his wife's Instagram story on Saturday evening receiving a DIY lockdown haircut - but it didn't show his face
A car has exploded after two holidaymakers struck a huge kangaroo on a major Western Australian highway.

The terrifying incident unfolded at about 10am on Tuesday when the couple's Subaru Forester slammed into the animal on the Albany Highway near Karrikup.

The tourists pulled off the road after impact, with smoke billowing out of the bonnet near the intersection of Hannan Way and Jackson Road.

A car catches fire after striking a huge kangaroo on the Albany Highway near Karrikup

The couple removed their belongings from the car moments before it went up in flames.

The fire spread to nearby bushland with emergency crews from Mount Barker, Albany and Narrikup rushing to the scene.

Sergeant David Johnson told The West the couple had done nothing wrong.

'It was a big solid roo and you don't normally see them out like that on the highway at that time of the day,' he said.

'It struck the left front of the car. They didn't swerve and they did all the right things.'

The couple walked away unharmed when their vehicle exploded on the side of the Albany Highway

Emergency crews were on scene to put out the fire that spread to nearby bushland

The kangaroo was killed on impact and found around 20 metres down the road.

The couple were not seriously injured but were taken to hospital as a precaution.

'The car is destroyed. It was a 10-day-old Subaru Forester. Luckily the occupants got all their belongings out before the car caught fire,' Sgt Johnson said.
Drug dealers have gone online and launched home delivery services during the pandemic, experts warn.

The EUs drug monitoring agency said the supply of illegal narcotics had not been seriously affected by the global crisis.

Drugs such as cocaine are being sold at higher potencies which risks more overdoses and growing levels of addiction, the report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said.

It added: Although street-based retail drug markets were disrupted during the initial lockdowns, and some localised shortages were experienced, drug sellers and buyers appear to have adapted by increasing their use of encrypted messaging services, social media applications, online sources and mail and home delivery services.

Drug dealers have gone online and launched home delivery services during the pandemic, experts warn, as a report said drugs such as cocaine are being sold at higher potencies which risks more overdoses and growing levels of addiction (stock image)

'It also said that social distancing measures... [may have accelerated] the trend we have seen in recent years, where the market is becoming increasingly digitally enabled.

The report also found that more forms of cannabis were being sold and that sellers were more likely to adulterate natural products with synthetic cannabinoids.

Dame Carol Black, former president of the Royal College of Physicians, told a conference last year that it wouldnt be too far to go to say its almost  for some drugs  as easy as getting your pizza.

In the middle of the first lockdown in May last year, the international policing agency Interpol warned that drug dealers in countries across Europe were posing as takeaway and supermarket delivery staff to distribute drugs door-to-door.

It is the first time the report by the EUs drug monitoring agency did not discuss the UK in depth  due to Brexit.
Mentally ill patients and those with learning disabilities were given Do Not Resuscitate orders by doctors during the pandemic, it emerged last night.

The orders were issued if their heart stopped and at least one appears to have led to the death of a patient, it was reported.

Charities said they were aware of many occasions when orders were inappropriately given, with one saying it saw 20 in a single month.

An investigation showed that Do Not Resuscitate orders were given to patients with learning disabilities by doctors during pandemic despite instructions from NHS England not to do so

NHS England wrote to doctors last year as the pandemic struck reminding them of guidance that learning disability should never be a reason for issuing a DNR order.

But an investigation by the Daily Telegraph showed that it was later listed as a reason.

Last night the Department of Health said it was unacceptable for DNRs to be applied in any kind of blanket fashion.

Jeremy Hunt, chairman of the Commons health committee, said: This kind of hidden prejudice must be stamped out.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock will appear before committee members today and is expected to be asked about the use of DNRs.

Earlier this year, a damning Care Quality Commission report revealed 508 care home residents had DNRs imposed on them without their consent during the pandemic.

Commons health committee chairman Jeremy Hunt said 'this prejudice must be stamped out'

Meanwhile, it was reported last night that care bosses repeatedly warned the Department of Health against not testing patients for Covid as they were discharged from hospitals into care homes in March last year.

The Care Provider Alliance insisted it emailed Mr Hancock directly about the dangers.

Care England told The Guardian it raised the problem with the Department of Health at the end of that month.

But Mr Hancock did not make testing compulsory until mid-April.
A woman filmed fawning over Kamala Harris at a press conference after being mistaken for a reporter used 'misrepresentation' to gain access to the VP, a White House spokesman said.

Maria Fernanda Reyes was mocked on social media when she fawningly told Harris: 'I voted for you,' before asking a question.

She was introduced by Harris' press secretary Symone Sanders as 'Maria Fernanda from Univision', was one of only five people called on for questions at the Mexico City event on Tuesday.

On Wednesday a White House official told The Daily Caller: 'This person misrepresented herself to both Univision and to the Vice President's staff.

'She misrepresented herself to the Vice President's staff as part of Univision's crew, which was properly credentialed for the event.

'This person underwent the same level of security screening and was never a security threat to the VP.'

Reyes, the White House said, told Harris' team that she was part of Univision's crew.

Reyes is in fact a San Francisco Bay-area entrepreneur and charity founder.

She told Fox News that she was in Mexico City on Tuesday working with farmers when she was asked by fellow entrepreneurs to attend Harris' event.

It is unclear how those accredited to the press conference were able to invite other people to attend, amid concerns the US Secret Service blundered by letting Reyes in.

The imposter, introduced by Harris' press secretary Symone Sanders as 'Maria Fernanda from Univision', was one of only five people called on for questions at the Mexico City event

Kamala Harris was in Mexico City on Tuesday, where she was questioned by a woman who was incorrectly introduced as a Univision reporter

Reyes said everyone in attendance was asked if they would be interested in asking a Harris a question, rather than just journalists. She said that she did not correct the moderator, Sanders, because she was so surprised to be called on.

Reyes expressed surprise at the reaction to her question, which made headlines in English and Spanish-language media.

'Everyone's trying to twist it for their own agenda,' she told Fox News.

'I don't care. I asked a question... If people don't like it, fine.'

A press secretary for Harris told DailyMail.com the incident at the press conference, which allowed a random person to be in close proximity to the nation's second highest-ranking official, was under review.

Univision has a correspondent named Maria Fernanda, but her surname is Lopez. She is based out of Miami and did not attend the Mexico City event, where Univision was actually represented by reporter Jesica Zermeno. Both Marias look strikingly similar, although it is unclear whether this resemblance led to Tuesdays' mix-up.

'Thank you, Madam Vice President,' Reyes responded as she stood up.

'For me, it's an honor because I actually got to vote for the first time as a naturalized citizen. I voted for you.'

'My question is, what would you say to these women, those mothers and also women of color on both sides of the border, farmers, many of them who I see every day as a message of hope but also as  What will you do for them in the next coming years?'

Doppelgangers: Maria Fernanda Reyes, an entrepreneur from California (left), was called on to ask a question during VP Kamala Harris' Mexico City event on Tuesday, after she was mistaken for lookalike Univision reporter Maria Fernanda Lopez (right)

Harris nodded and said: 'That's a great question.'

Reyes' obsequious question, prefaced by her admission that she had cast a vote for Harris, immediately raised the hackles of right-wing critics, who pointed to it as purported proof of the media's biased coverage of the Biden Administration.

'Before asking Kamala Harris a question, the reporter from Univision just stated how honored she was to be able to ask a question to @VP & told her that she voted for her,' tweeted Amy Tarkanian, former Nevada GOD chairwoman.

'Ah, how nice it is to have an impartial and unbiased media.'

Reyes later said that she was not especially interested in politics, but wants to see conditions improve in Mexico and Central America.

She is the founder of the AdoptaHero campaign, which aims to supply frontline workers in Mexico with medical equipment and PPE.

She was interviewed by Univision Noticias in July 2020 regarding the campaign.

Reyes (left and right) is the founder of the AdoptaHero campaign, which aims to supply frontline workers in Mexico with medical equipment. She lives in the Bay Area

Univision's Maria Fernanda Lopez (left and right) has worked for the Spanish-language network for 17 years. She is a native of Cali, Colombia

The mission of Reyes' charity is to provide PPE to frontline workers and hospitals in Mexico

After Reyes' question, Univision clarified that she was not one of its reporters.

'In Mexico an individual which has no association with @Univision claimed to be a reporter for @UniNoticias in order to ask the @VP a question and to compliment,' said Daniel Coronell, Univision's president of news in a post on Twitter.

'Let it be clear to everyone that Ms. Maria Fernanda Reyes is not part of this media organization.'

Jesica Zermeno, the real correspondent for Univision in Mexico City, was in the room at the time that Reyes was called on to ask a question

Univision's Maria Fernanda Lopez, also addressed the 'misunderstanding'.

'I have never traveled to Mexico, I was in Miami during the incident where Maria Fernanda REYES claimed to be a reporter of @UniNoticias asked @KamalaHarris saying an unethical comment'.

According to her LinkedIn page, Lopez is an Emmy-winning journalist who has worked for Univision Noticias 23, the Spanish-language network's Miami station, for more than 17 years.

Jose Zamora, Senior Vice President for Univision News, told DailyMail.com that Univision's correspondent in Mexico City, Jesica Zermeno, was in the room at the time.

Photographs of her at the same press conference have been shared online.

'The person has no relationship with Univision,' Zamora told DailyMail.com.

'No idea who she is. And correct, our Mexico correspondent Jesica Zermeno was there.'

Harris's press secretary Sanders told DailyMail.com on Tuesday night that they were looking into the incident, amid questions over how Reyes was able to get so close to the world's most powerful woman.

In response to Cornell's clarification, Sanders tweeted: 'Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are looking into this.'

On Reyes' LinkedIn page, she says: 'I am a fourth generation farmer and care about agriculture, food waste and supporting rural farmers, especially women rural farmers across the world.

'I'm on a journey to empower farmers to reduce food loss and food waste through technologies and education.'

Security at press conferences involving the president and vice president is usually high, with multiple layers of accreditation required.

Serious questions will be asked as to how Reyes managed to attend.

Some said the incident drew parallels with a December 2008 press conference in Baghdad, when an Iraqi journalist, Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush.

Al-Zaidi shouted at the outgoing president: 'This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog.'

He served nine months in prison, and now works for a Lebanese television station.

Harris was in Mexico City on Tuesday to meet with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's president.

She hit back at questions about when she would visit the southern border on Tuesday, saying it was 'short-sighted' to focus on the symptoms and not the root causes of the migrant crisis as she wrapped up her visit to Guatemala and Mexico.

She was dogged throughout her trip with questions about when she would go to the border with Mexico to see for herself the scale of the problem. And she let her frustrations show.

At a news conference in Mexico City she shrugged off the idea.

'I think it's short-sighted, for any of us who are in the business of problem solving to suggest we're only going to respond to the reaction as opposed to addressing the cause,' she said.

Conservatives have sought to saddle Harris with problems at the border ever since President Joe Biden asked her to take the lead in diplomatic efforts to stem the flow of migrants.

They have dubbed her the 'border czar,' criticized her for not holding a press conference on the issue and demanding that she visit the Mexico-U.S. frontier.

For weeks she has sought to portray her job as one that was focused on addressing the root causes of migration - from violence to corruption and poverty.

She stuck to the themes during her two-day trip as she spelled out her approach.

'I also believe that if you want to fix a problem. You have to go to where the problem exists,' she said in Mexico City, some 500 miles from the border.

'If you want to address the needs of a people, you must meet those people. You must spend time with those people.'

And she said, as a politician from California, she was well aware of the issues at the border.

Vice President wrapped up her two-day trip to Guatemala and Mexico with a news conference at a Mexico City hotel. Questions about when she would visit the southern border dogged her during the trip but she responded by saying it was 'short-sighted' to focus on the 'reaction' and not the 'cause' of a problem

Speaking to reporters in Mexico City, Harris said: 'I also believe that if you want to fix a problem. You have to go to where the problem exists. She was due to return to Washington D.C. on Tuesday evening

Harris' first international trip included stops in Guatemala and Mexico, 1,308 and 582 miles away respectively from the Rio Grande, where families risk their lives every day trying to cross into the U.S.

Earlier she snapped at reporters for allowing the border crisis to overshadow her first international trip.

'Why not go to the border, as well, so you do see the full complexity?' a reporter asked Harris as she took some questions following a bilateral meeting with Lopez Obrador.

'Listen, I've been to the border before and I'll go again,' she said with an awkward laugh.

'But when I'm in Guatemala, dealing with root causes, I think we should have a conversation about what's going on in Guatemala,' she said  even though she is in Mexico.

Harris held bilateral talks with Lopez Obrador during her trip to Mexico on Tuesday. The duo discussed stopping mass immigration from Central America by way of migrating through Mexico.

The vice president said the 'bottom line' was that the administration had to apply 'equal weight' to what's going on at the border and 'root causes' in Northern Triangle nations.

Republicans argue, however, that there is not equal attention since she nor President Joe Biden have gone to the southern border to see the humanitarian crisis first hand.

Harris, however, visited Guatemala and Mexico to see for herself what sort of 'root causes' the U.S. can help address there.

Ahead of her bilateral meeting with Lopez Obrador, Harris said the U.S. and Mexico are 'embarking on a new era'.

When asked if Lopez Obrador would commit to increasing border security in Mexico, he said: 'We are very pleased to have her here and we will touch on that subject but always addressing the fundamental root causes.'

Vice President Kamala Harris lashed out when reporters again brought up the southern border during her trip to Mexico on Tuesday. 'Listen, I've been to the border before and I'll go again. But when I'm in Guatemala, dealing with root causes, I think we should have a conversation about what's going on in Guatemala,' she said with a laugh even though she is in Mexico

Kamala Harris and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had a bilateral meeting in Mexico City on Tuesday as the vice president still refuses to visit the southern border but says the U.S. is 'embarking on a new era' of relations
A fishmonger was left stunned after he took delivery of a giant-sized 6ft halibut that tipped the scales at 12-stone.

Campbell Mickel, 50, from Edinburgh, got the mammoth fish on Saturday and said it took four men to haul the halibut on the window display at his fish market.

The giant fish was caught in the North Sea and taken to Peterhead Fish Market where Mr Mickel bought it last week.

It arrived at his fishmongers, Eddie's Seafood Market in Edinburgh, at the weekend and dwarfed the regular-sized halibut which typically weighs between 10-14kg.

The monster catch has now been filleted and sold to restaurants around Edinburgh and Mr Mickel said he is delighted to see that fish that size can still exist.

Campbell Mickel, 50, who got the 6ft halibut weighing 12-stone on Saturday, shared a picture of the mammoth fish alongside fellow fishmonger William Ronald Elliot (pictured)

Mr Mickel, who also owns the Merienda Restaurant in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, later shared a picture of the mammoth halibut alongside fellow fishmonger William Ronald Elliot to give an idea of the sheer scale of the fish.

He said: 'It's a beast and it wasn't cheap that's for sure.

'It was wrapped up after I bought it and shipped to me on two pallets.

'In my younger years as a chef we would get halibut in twice the size of this one.

'When I worked in Rafaelli in the '80s, we used to get halibut this size every couple of weeks, they were ten a penny.

'But I am new to being a fishmonger, I only took it up less than a year ago, so it's the biggest fish I have had in the market.

'The hardest part was getting it into the shop window on display.

'It took four men to get it up there, it's not the easiest job in the world lifting the dead weight of a 77kg slimy fish. It dwarfed the other halibut next to it.

'We have filleted it now and started delivering it to our restaurant customers around Edinburgh, so it's fair to say halibut will be on the menu this week.

The giant fish was caught in the North Sea and taken to Peterhead Fish Market where Mr Mickel bought it last week

'Everyone is used to small halibut, a regular one weighs between 10-14kg, so this is really special.

'It's fantastic new for our seas and oceans to see this size come out.

'Seaspircy had a lot of valid points about the fishing industry, but it's amazing that there is still that size of halibut in the sea that has been given the chance to grow to that size.

'I'm delighted to see that fish this size can still exist.

'It's good news for the oceans and I'm looking forward to seeing more that have had the time to thrive and grow - as this one has.'
Nathaniel Ago, 35, was stabbed in the attack and has since died in hospital

A man who has brutally stabbed during a knife fight in broad daylight has died a week on from the attack - as four men were arrested on suspicious of his murder.

Met Police launched a murder investigation following the death of Nathaniel Ago, 35, in hospital on Tuesday.

He had suffered serious stab injuries during a shocking armed street fight in Greenwich, south east London last Wednesday.

Footage taken from high-rise flats above showed four people facing off with knives, bottles and a hammer as horrified onlookers screamed.

Police officers rushed to the scene after the violence erupted near to the River Thames at around 4.30pm.

Met Police have arrested four men on suspicion of murder after a 35-year-old man who was stabbed last week in an armed street fight died in hospital

Horrifying footage of the incident in Greenwich, southeast London, showed four brawlers fighting with giant blades, knives and a hammer in broad daylight yesterday afternoon

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

Mr Ago was found injured and was taken to hospital fighting for his fighting for his life but has since died.

Police have now arrested four men, aged 17, 22, 25 and 43 on suspicion of murder. They are being held at police stations in south London.

Detective Chief Inspector Kate Kieran, who is leading the investigation, said: 'The victim in this case suffered the injuries that would ultimately claim his life in broad daylight, outside a residential address.

'These arrests mark significant progress in the investigation and I hope it reassures the community that officers are working hard to bring justice to the victim and his family.

'This is now a homicide investigation. I am still keen to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident or who may have dash cam footage of the stabbing itself or the events surrounding it.

Mr Ago was found injured and was taken to hospital fighting for his fighting for his life but has since died. Police have now arrested four men, aged 17, 22, 25 and 43 on suspicion of murder. They are being held at police stations in south London

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

'If you can help please dont hesitate, call us direct or remain anonymous, but either way please do make the call.'

The shocking scenes last Wednesday came on a night of devastating bloodshed across London as soaring temperatures drove a spike in violence.

At least four people were rushed to hospital with stab wounds in the capital within 24 hours, with one man fighting for his life after being hacked in a brutal machete fight between four thugs.

Hours after the incident in Greenwich, dozens of riot police descended on Brixton 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.

BRIXTON: Later the same 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

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.

The horrific day was the peak in 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.

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.

Temperatures had peaked at 82.9F (28.3C) in Northolt, 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.

SHEPHERD'S BUSH: A police officer standing by a cordon in Shepherd's Bush, west London, after a stabbing that night

NORWOOD: A man was discovered with stab wounds and was rushed to hospital just before 11pm (the aftermath, pictured)

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 added.

'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.
Courageous two-time car crash survivor Sophie Delezio has revealed she first fell in love with her childhood sweetheart not long after her horrific second accident.

Sophie, whose bravery inspired Australia after she suffered third degree burns, bleeding on the brain and the loss of an ear in two separate accidents as a young girl, revealed this week she's in love with her best friend, chef Joseph Salerno.

Sophie, now 20, and Joseph, 21, confirmed they have been in a relationship for a year, after first meeting as children 15 years ago.

Miracle double car crash survivor Sophie Delezio, 20, has revealed she's been in love with Joseph Salerno, 21, since they met during swimming lessons as six year olds. The couple are pictured together above

Sophie Delezio says of her new boyfriend Joseph Salerno: 'Everyone's dream is to fall in love with their best friend'

She told The Morning Show on Wednesday: 'I'm so happy to have this out there' and 'be able to tell the truth'.

The pair first met during swimming lessons when they were six - around a year after she was mowed down on a pedestrian crossing on Sydney's Northern Beaches.

They became best friends as teenagers, after doing drama class together at Oxford Falls Grammar.

Sophie Delezio is working two jobs and says her health is as good as it has been since her horrific second car accidents when she was 5. She hopes 2021 will be the first time in 18 years she won't need a surgery

The then-two-year-old was left fighting for her life at the age of two after she was trapped beneath a burning car, which crashed into her daycare centre in 2003 (pictured leaving hospital after recovering from the horrific crash in 2004)

Sophie said she knew how she felt about Joseph the first day they met.

'I had a crush on him from when we first met, and then it became best friends,' she said.

Asked to open up about what she loves about Joseph, Sophie said he has 'the kindest soul'.

'Everything he says and does is done through kindness and love and admiration for his friends and family and has the most beautiful soul.'

Sophie Delezio (pictured right), 20, who famously survived two horror car crashes as a child, has opened up on finding love. She is dating childhood friend Joseph Salerno, 21, and the couple said they happy to live a quiet life these days

Sophie Delezio, who was lucky to make it past 5 years of age after two horrific car accidents, has called her life at 20 a 'beautiful restart', as she revealed she is in love

Sophie said Joseph is '100 per cent' better at monitoring her health than she is.

'She tells me she is going to the gym and she puts on her legs and is in pain, and I say, you are not going anywhere,' Joseph said. 'I can't stand to see her in pain, I'm very honest with her.'

He admitted he still finds it 'traumatic' seeing images of her around the time of her accidents.

Sophie said her health is as good as it has been for years - and she hopes that 2021 will be the first time in an incredible 18 years that she hasn't needed a surgery.

She also revealed that she's working two jobs - one as a part-time companion carer under the National Insurance Disability Scheme and the other writing a monthly column.

She also plans to begin doing public speaking.

Sophie and Joseph want to move in together, after a trip to meet his grandparents in New Zealand, and admit they enjoy a 'quiet life' together, playing cards, cooking, watching movies and going away for long weekends.

Sophie has lived in the spotlight since she was a child, after surviving two devastating car accidents.

Sophie Delezio and Joseph Salerno tell their story in the current issue of Woman's Day

Earlier this week, Sophie told Woman's Day this latest chapter in her life 'a beautiful restart'.

'I knew I had felt something for him and I've always wanted him in my life.'

Falling for your best friend is something only seen 'in the movies', she said.

Joseph said he is inspired by Sophie's 'love for life' and he really fell for her one night in 2020 while cooking pasta for them both after she returned from studying in London.

Sophie has been the poster girl for the Day of Difference Foundation since 2004, which raised over $14million for child accident victims.

Sophie Delezio (pictured right in both photos) has been close friends with her now-boyfriend Joseph Salerno (left in both) for many years

Last year her remarkable survival story, which shocked the nation back in the early 2000s, featured again on national TV, drawing over 600,000 viewers on Ahn's Brush With Fame.

Sophie feels lucky all the media attention hasn't been a barrier for Joseph.

'I know a lot of people would be scared of that. So that's why I wanted to leave it up to him to announce it, because while I've accepted that my life has been in the media, it's new to him, and I didn't want to make him uncomfortable.'

She has been the focal point for road safety media coverage and campaigns for many years - but Joseph is used to it since the couple were close friends since high school.

He said people are drawn to Sophie because she is 'a joyful' person.

Sophie Delezio (pictured at front, far right) with teenage friends. Her boyfriend Joseph Salerno is pictured back row, top left

At the age of two, Sophie was was left fighting for her life when she was two after she was trapped beneath a burning car, which crashed into her daycare centre in 2003.

The toddler suffered third degree burns to 85 per cent of her body.

She lost an ear, the fingers on her right hand and both feet as she was placed in a coma for three months.

But after a remarkable recovery, disaster struck again in 2006 when Sophie was thrown 18 metres from her wheelchair as she crossed a road.

Sophie Delezio (pictured at 19) appeared on the ABC program Anh's brush with fame to discuss her life

She suffered a bleeding on the brain, a heart attack and severe injuries, including a broken jaw, fractured shoulder, and a tear to her lung. She also lost a sense of smell.

She went on to get her driver's license before moving to London to study sociology and international relations at SOAS University.

In February she celebrated Valentines Day sharing a photo of herself holding a rose from an admirer in Instagram.
This FMI report examines the wearable medical device market for the period 20162026. The primary objective of the report is to offer insights into current strategies and development scenario in the market that is significantly helping growth trajectory of global businesses and companies operating in this market. The wearable medical device market report begins by defining the product segment, application, and distribution channel. It is followed by an overview of the market dynamics of the global market, which includes FMIs analysis of the key trends, drivers, restraints, opportunities, regulations and government initiatives that have an impact on the global wearable medical devices market.

The primary factors fuelling demand for wearable medical devices include progressive demographic geriatric population, increasing prevalence of conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease and associated morbidity and mortality rates, escalating healthcare costs, rising consumer demand for home healthcare devices for improved health and safety etc. Moreover, adoption of wearable medical devices is also gaining traction in the home healthcare sector. However, lack of awareness among general population about wearable medical devices in certain countries, reluctance to shift from conventional devices to wearable devices, substitute and alternative products for wearable medical devices, availability of viable treatment options for certain diseases etc. are the factors hampering the growth of global wearable medical devices market.

Request a Sample of this Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-826

Based on product segment, the market has been segmented into wearable therapeutic medical device, (further sub-segmented into hearing aid, insulin pump and respiratory therapy devices (respiratory therapy devices is further sub segmented into sleep apnea devices and non-invasive ventilation)), wearable monitoring and diagnostic devices, (further sub-segmented into fetal and obstetric devices (fetal and obstetric devices is further sub-segmented into wearable fetal monitors and infant motion sensing monitors), continuous glucose monitoring devices and cardiac monitoring devices (cardiac monitoring devices is further sub-segmented into wearable heart rate monitors, wearable pulse oximeters, wearable blood pressure monitors) and health and fitness devices. A detailed analysis of each segment has been provided in terms of market size, Y-o-Y growth rate, absolute $ opportunity and BPS analysis.

Based on application type, the market has been segmented into patient monitoring, home healthcare and health and fitness.

The report has been segmented based on distribution channels into hospital pharmacies, clinics, online channel and hypermarkets. In countries such as U.S., Canada, U.K, Japan etc. physician recommend wearable devices to patients through clinics, hospitals pharmacies as these devices are used for monitoring purpose. Apart from this few wearable medical devices such blood glucose monitors etc. are available in hypermarkets, few manufacturers use go-to-market strategy by supplying their products through online channel distribution mode by reaching out to the customers.

The next section of the report highlights wearable medical devices market size and trends by region, and provides market forecast for 20162026. Key regions considered in this report include North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). The study discusses key regional trends contributing to growth of the wearable medical devices market across the globe, as well as analyses the extent to which drivers are influencing this market in each region.

The above sections by product segment, application type and distribution channels  evaluate the present scenario and growth projections in the global wearable medical devices market for 20162026, considering 2015 as the base year, 2016 as the estimated year and provided data for the forecast period, i.e., 20172026.

To reach the global market size for wearable medical devices market we employed the bottom up approach and have also considered revenue generated by device manufacturers. In order to provide an accurate forecast, we started by sizing up the current market, which forms the basis of how the global wearable medical devices market is expected to grow in the future.

In addition, it is imperative to note that in an ever-fluctuating global economy, we not only conduct forecasts in terms of CAGR, but also analyse based on key parameters, such as year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth rates, to understand the predictability of the wearable medical devices market and to identify opportunities in the market.

The wearable medical devices market segments, by product segment, application type, distribution channels and region, are analysed in terms of Basis Point Share (BPS) to understand the individual segments relative contributions to market growth. This detailed level of information is important for identifying various key trends in wearable medical devices market.

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Another key feature of this report is the analysis of key segments in terms of absolute dollar opportunity. This is traditionally overlooked while forecasting the market. However, absolute dollar opportunity is critical for assessing the level of opportunity that a provider can look to achieve, as well as to identify potential resources from a sales and delivery perspective of the market.

To understand key growth segments in terms of growth and adoption of wearable medical devices globally, Future Market Insights developed the Market Attractiveness Index. The resulting index should help providers identify the real market opportunities.

Key Segments Covered

By Product Segment

Wearable Monitoring and Diagnostic Devices

Fetal and Obstetric Devices Wearable Fetal Monitors Infant Motion Sensing Monitors

Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices

Cardiac Monitoring Devices Wearable Heart rate monitors Wearable Pulse Oximeters Wearable Blood Pressure Monitors

Wearable Therapeutic Medical Device

Hearing Aid

Insulin Pump

Respiratory Therapy Devices Sleep Apnea Devices Non Invasive Ventilation

Health and Fitness Devices

By Application Type

Patient Monitoring

Home Healthcare

Health and Fitness

By Distribution Channels

Hospital Pharmacies

Clinics

Online Channel

Hypermarkets

By Region

Global Market

North America

Latin America

Western Europe

Eastern Europe

APEJ

Japan

MEA

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Key categories of providers covered in the report are wearable medical devices manufacturers. This section is primarily designed to provide clients with an objective and detailed comparative assessment of key providers and the potential players with respect to the same. Report audiences can gain segment-specific vendor insights to identify and evaluate key competitors based on the in-depth assessment of their capabilities and success in the wearable medical devices marketplace.

Detailed profiles of the providers are also included in the scope of the report to evaluate their long-term and short-term strategies, key offerings, SWOT analysis and recent developments in the wearable medical devices market. Key market competitors covered in the report include Medtronic plc, Siemens AG, Fitbit Inc., Bayer AG, Panasonic Corporation, Animas Corporation- Johnson and Johnson, Smiths Medical - A Smiths Group Company, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Owlet Baby Care, OMRON Corporation, Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Rest Devices Inc.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has insists she is not investigating resettlement options for a Tamil family being detained on Christmas Island.

Three-year-old Tharnicaa is receiving treatment for a blood infection at Perth Children's Hospital after being evacuated from the island with her mother Priya Murugappan earlier this week.

Ms Andrews on Tuesday raised a 'range of resettlement options' when asked about the family, who were taken from their home in Biloela and detained almost three years ago.

Priya, her husband Nades and their Australian-born daughters Tharnicaa and Kopika, 6, have been in detention since 2018, and on Christmas Island since August 2019.

Tharnicaa (right) was medically evacuated to Perth after being hospitalised on Christmas Island with a suspected blood infection.

Tharunicaa (pictured) has been rushed to hospital in Perth with sepsis and has spent the vast majority of her life in detention

But the minister now insists she was making a general comment about refugees evacuated to Australia for medical reasons.

'I actually haven't said that I'm investigating resettlement options for that family,' she told Seven News on Thursday.

'What I did say is that I was looking at investigating resettlement options in a range of circumstances.

'Let me be clear about what I said, it was a very general comment in relation to cohorts we have here in Australia that I'm on the record as saying that we will be working with.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday was quick to point out Ms Andrews was speaking generally after she raised resettlement in other countries.

There are growing calls for the Biloela family detained on Christmas Island to be resettled in Australia in light of Tharnicaa's illness.

A series of court orders has prevented them from being deported to Sri Lanka over the past several years.

Figures released last year showed the government has spent more than $6million detaining the family. Pictured: Priya and Nades

Three-year-old daughter Tharnicaa from the Biloela family has contracted suspected sepsis

But the government has not wavered after the family's protection status was denied despite fears they may become targets for violence.

Ms Andrews said allowing them to stay would undermine the government's pledge to never permanently resettle illegal boat arrivals.

'It's not a case of being mean, we are very strong as a government, and our policy, in relation to our border protection. These are long-standing policies,' Ms Andrews said.

'Quite frankly, I'm not going to have people die trying to come to Australia by sea on my watch.'

She said Australia Border Force, which manages the Christmas Island detention facility, had given assurances the family was 'well accommodated'.

Supporters claimed staff refused to take Tharnicaa to hospital until Sunday despite her vomiting and having a high temperature since May 25.

Her mother issued emotional plea from her daughter's hospital bedside as her little girl fights a blood infection.

Priya Murugappan (in hospital with daughter Tharnicaa) released a gut-wrenching video

'I want to thank everybody for their love and good wishes,' Priya said in a video message as she cradled her daughter.

'I hope that Tharnicaa can get the help she needs now. Please, help us to get her out of detention and home to Biloela.'

Priya says her daughter was sick for almost two weeks and that medical contractors at the immigration detention centre repeatedly refused to take her to hospital.

Tharnicaa's potentially-deadly blood infection has been linked by supporters to untreated pneumonia.

Candelight vigils were held outside Perth Children's Hospital on Wednesday evening and will be repeated at the Sydney Town Hall on Thursday.

Family supporter Angela Fredericks said medical arrangements for detainees on Christmas Island, far off the coast of WA, were inadequate and dangerous.

'From my understanding, this would usually show up as a chest infection, which would then get treated,' she said.

Kopika (left) gets taken to school by guards while Priya stays inside to look after three-year-old Tharunicaa (right) - who has now gone to Perth for treatment for sepsis

'And that would stop it going to pneumonia. If it went to pneumonia, that would then be treated to stop it going into the blood supply.

'We've had two delays in treatment here, which has led to this crisis point.'

The Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force said Tharnicaa had been receiving medical treatment and daily monitoring on Christmas Island consistent with medical advice.

'As soon as the ABF was advised by the treating medical practitioners that the minor required medical treatment in Western Australia, the minor was transferred to a hospital in Western Australia,' an official said.

'The Australian Border Force strongly denies any allegations of inaction or mistreatment of individuals in its care.'

Healthcare for detainees was 'broadly comparable' with that on the mainland, the official said.
Guatemala's president says Joe Biden's decision to try and reunite illegal migrants with their families in the US has helped trigger the ongoing border crisis.

Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Alejandro Giammattei also said he'd offered a solution to Vice President Kamala Harris by urging the US to work with him to prosecutor people smugglers.

Giammattei told Sean Hannity reporter Sara Carter: 'You can see that humanitarian messages were used here by the coyotes in a distorted manner.

'They said that they were going to support family reunification.

'So the coyotes came and took the children and teenagers to the United States.

'And the border filled up. Not only with people from Guatemala, but lots of people.

'That's why we have suggested that the messaging be clear.'

Giammattei spoke as it was revealed border crossings had exploded 674 per cent in May 2021 compared to the same month a year previously, with 180,034 migrants recorded crossing into the US last month.

His swipe came after President Biden signed an executive order in February establishing the Family Reunification Task Force to reunite unaccompanied minors separated from their families and detained under the Trump administration.

And just last month, Biden's Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas spoke of the United States' exhaustive efforts to reunite migrant children separated from their families by the Trump administration.

Alejandro Giammattei, Guatemala's president, spoke to Fox News on Monday - shortly after Kamala Harris left the country. His interview aired on Wednesday. Giammattei said once again that he believed Harris and Biden's initial approach to migration was wrong, because their messaging about child reunification sent the idea that migrants would be welcomed

Mayorkas said: ' The Family Reunification Task Force has been working day and night, across the federal government and with counsel for the families and our foreign partners, to address the prior administrations cruel separation of children from their parents.'

Giammattei blamed that policy for causing the ongoing migrant surge. But he also hailed Harris's speech in his country on Monday warning migrants not to come to the US, or they'd be sent back.

He said: 'The vice president yesterday sent a very clear message because she said: Do not come because we won't let you in.

'That's a clear message,' he said.

'But if you have a lukewarm message, it opens up the possibility that there's a bad interpretation of it.

'You can say it in good faith. But there are people who will misinterpret it.'

He spoke shortly after Harris departed his country, after a day of meetings with Guatemalan leaders on her first foreign trip as vice president. Her trip was dogged with questions as to why, as Biden's point-person on the border crisis, she was yet to visit the border itself - questions she angrily batted away, visibly irritated.

She insisted her visit was to deal with the 'root causes' of migration, such as poverty, corruption, violence and impunity, and climate change.

Giammattei, a former director of Guatemala's prison service, said that Harris and Biden had initially been too welcoming to migrants.

Harris and Giammattei are pictured on Monday arriving for a press conference at the National Palace in Guatemala City. During the press conference, Harris said her message to migrants was: 'Do not come.' Giammattei said that finally a strong, simple message was delivered

He said the ending of Donald Trump's hardline policies such as child separation and sending unaccompanied minors back across into Mexico had backfired.

Biden has promised to reunite families separated during the Trump administration and to expedite processing unaccompanied minors who arrived at the border in the last few months.

However, a new report from Biden's task force on reuniting families indicates that 2,127 children have 'not yet been reunified' with their parents.

The task force progress report submitted to the president last week shows only seven children have successfully been reunited since Biden took office.

More than 16,200 children are still in custody of Health and Human Services, which is 50 per cent higher than the levels in March, the agency reported on Tuesday.

Harris and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giamattei (right) held a bilateral meeting in Guatemala on Monday as part of talks to deal with 'root causes' of mass migration from Latin America to the U.S.

Customs and Border Patrol number show record numbers of encounters with illegal crossers with a record-high of 178,622 in April alone, continuing on from massive spike in February and March

The Guatemalan president spoke as new figures showed illegal border crossings into the U.S. have exploded by 674 per cent in a year, with 180,034 recorded in May - the fourth consecutive monthly rise.

Newly-released figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show the number of migrants rocketed by more than six-fold from the 23,237 who crossed from Mexico into the United States in May 2020.

Last year's number was far lower than usual because of the COVID-19 outbreak, but this year's figures still spell worrying news for Biden, with 2021 on-track to record the highest number of illegal border crossings since 2006.

Illegal border crossings have increased for the fourth month in a row growing to 180,034 in May, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

That represented a slight increase over the approximately 178,000 migrants encountered in April and the 172,000 encountered in March at the southwest border.

In February, roughly 100,000 migrants illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States.

The 65-year-old also told Fox that he had suggested to Harris, in private, that the U.S. and Guatemala work together to prosecute the people traffickers, making huge amounts of money from some of the poorest people in the world to smuggle them across the border.

It was unclear whether she agreed to work with him on the initiative.

Harris doubled-down that she will not be visiting the border during her trip  or any time soon. 'I will continue to be focused on [addressing root causes of migration and corruption] as opposed to grand gestures'

Giammattei has long criticized the Biden-Harris administration for spreading confusion.

On April 13, he told MSNBC: 'I believe that in the first few weeks of the Biden administration, messages were confusing.

'They were compassionate messages that were understood by people in our country, especially the coyotes, to tell families, 'We'll take the children.

'And children can go, and once children are there, they will call their parents.'

Giammattei said he has seen coyotes carry out 'horrible acts', and criticized the U.S. for not properly responding to the surge of migrants.

Harris landed in Guatemala City on Sunday evening for her first out-of-country trip as vice president.

The border is closed: During the press conference, Harris warned those thinking of crossing illegally: 'Do not come!' She said, 'I believe if you come to our border, you will be turned back'

She later flew to Mexico City, Mexico for the second part of her two-day Latin America trip.

Harris said during a press conference alongside Giammattei on Monday that she does not plan to visit the southern border because it would just be a 'grand gesture' as opposed to a genuine trip.

She vowed to take on corruption and insisted climate change was one of the driving forces behind people fleeing their homes and heading North.

'On the issues of Republicans' political attacks or criticism or even concerns, the reason I am here in Guatemala as my first trip as vice president of the United States is because this is one of our highest priorities,' Harris said during a question and answer portion of her press conference.

'I came here to be here on the ground, to speak with the leader of this nation around what we can do in a way that is significant, is tangible and has real results,' she continued.

'And I will continue to be focused on that kind of work as opposed to grand gestures.'

Republicans also have been open about their criticism of Harris refusing to visit the border even after being named 'border czar' by Biden in March.

They claim her avoiding the region is proof she is not committed to solving the problem.

Harris said she 'believes' any migrants who attempt to enter the U.S. through non-legal channels will be turned away if they arrive at the border.

'I want to emphasize that the goal of our work is to help Guatemalans find hope at home,' Harris said after her bilateral meeting with Giammattei.

'At the same time, I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come,' she said, and repeated for emphasis: 'Do not come.'

She continued: 'The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border.

'There are legal methods by which migration can and should occur, but we, as one of our priorities, will discourage illegal migrations. And I believe if you come to our border, you will be turned back.'

Harris' chief spokesperson Symone Sanders clarified to reporters that the administration still wants immigrants to come to the U.S. by seeking the legal ways to do so from their home countries.

'The President and Vice President have been clear in dissuading people from making the dangerous and treacherous journey to the U.S./Mexico border,' Sanders said.

'We encourage those who do want to come to the U.S. to do so legally and seek legal immigration options in their home countries,' she continued.

'The Vice President is committed to addressing the root causes of migration, which also addresses why migrants are coming to our border.'

Harris' first international trip was met with protesters demanding she 'mind your own business'

'Kamala go home' one sign read outside the Guatemalan Air Force facility

Harris affirmed during her bilateral press conference Monday that she told Giammattei the U.S. will be donating 500,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine to Guatemala.

Harris was greeted with protesters when she arrived for her first international trip as vice president in Guatemala City, which is 1,308 miles from where families are streaming across the U.S.-Mexico border.

'Kamala go home,' one white flag with black painted letters read, while another demanded she 'mind her own business'.

As the vice president rode in her motorcade from her hotel to Palacio Nacional de la Cultura, reporters spotted a group of pro-Trump demonstrators with signs reading: 'Kamala, Trump won.'

During the press conference, Giammattei vowed Guatemala would set up 'returnee centers' where they would accept their citizens who the U.S. sent back after crossing the border illegally.

Harris began her meeting with Giammattei with quick remarks where she said: 'I very much have been looking forward to this trip, we have had many conversations, but it is good to see you in person.'

The two have spoken on the phone previously.

'I am very proud that this is my first foreign trip as vice president,' Harris continued.

'It is a reflection of the priority that President Biden placed on this region.'

As Harris commenced her two-day trip south of the border, migrant families continue to stream over into the U.S. either by foot or on inflatable rafts.

Ahead of the meeting, Giammattei made a statement in English.

'Thank you very much for your visit,' he said to Harris.

'For us, it's very important to have you here because it means that Guatemala and the United States can work as partners with common goals.'

He detailed some of the main goals as addressing narcotics trafficking, immigration, corruption in the region and building up prosperity walls within departments near the border with Mexico.

In a press conference following the meeting, Giammattei said  in Spanish this time  that the two nations would work toward more 'orderly migration' that would 'allow people to migrate regularly to the United States.'

'We also spoke about the need to support the United States with a returnee center that will be located in the western part of the country,' he continued, adding they are wording on a 'strong family reunification program.'

These efforts, he ensured, would 'help to ensure that the flow of persons in the southern border of the United States be controlled.'

'This is disappointing': AOC slams Kamala for telling migrants not to come and blames the US for influx after 'setting Latin America on fire' Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has described Kamala Harris' remarks on immigration as 'disappointing', after the vice president used a speech in Guatemala to declare to migrants: 'Do not come'. Ocasio-Cortez accused the United States of having 'set the house on fire' when it comes to Latin America - but being unwilling to allow people to escape. She didn't explain why she made her explosive claim. She then argued that the U.S. needed to emphasize the root causes of migration, rather than punishing those who seek to enter the country. She reacted to a clip of Harris' press conference by stating: 'This is disappointing to see. 'First, seeking asylum at any US border is a 100% legal method of arrival. Second, the US spent decades contributing to regime change and destabilization in Latin America. We can't help set someone's house on fire and then blame them for fleeing.' Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, pictured on June 5, criticized Vice President Kamala Harris' remarks in Guatemala. On Monday Harris told would-be migrants from the country that her message was: 'Do not come' The New York congresswoman added: 'It would be helpful if the US would finally acknowledge its contributions to destabilization and regime change in the region. 'Doing so can help us change US foreign policy, trade policy, climate policy, & carceral border policy to address causes of mass displacement & migration.' She was responding to Harris' remarks at her press conference on Monday besides Alejandro Giammattei, Guatemala's president. Advertisement

Illegal border crossings explode by 674% in a year: Biden's migrant crisis worsens with 180,000 crossing in May and this year on track to be highest since 2006

Illegal border crossings have exploded by 674 per cent in a year, with 180,034 recorded in May - the fourth consecutive monthly rise.

Newly-released figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show the number of migrants rocketed by more than six-fold from the 23,237 who crossed from Mexico into the United States in May 2020.

Last year's number was far lower than usual because of the COVID-19 outbreak, but this year's figures still spell worrying news for Joe Biden, with 2021 on-track to record the highest number of illegal border crossings since 2006.

Illegal border crossings have increased for the fourth month in a row growing to 180,034 in May, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

That represented a slight increase over the approximately 178,000 migrants encountered in April and the 172,000 encountered in March at the southwest border.

In February, roughly 100,000 migrants illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States.

Central American migrants sit on the ground while waiting to be transported by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States

Chanel, 7, and her sister Adriana, 10, both unaccompanied minors traveling alone from Honduras, sits among other asylum-seeking children as they await to be transported to a U.S. border patrol processing facility

Single adults still represented the majority of border-crossers, data from the U.S. Border Patrol showed.

In May there was a decrease in the number of unaccompanied minors, from roughly 16,910 to 13,906, Border Patrol found.

CBP also said that a majority of those who crossed the border were already expelled due to Title 42, which allows the U.S. government to quickly remove people using the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the 180,034 crossers, 112,302 had already been expelled.

CBP also pointed out, according to Fox News, that Title 42 is leading people to try to cross the border more than once, which could also factor into the high numbers.

Axios reported Tuesday that preliminary CBP data from the fiscal year 2021 showed that illegal crossings have been the most since 2006 - with four months still to go.

Additionally on Tuesday the Department of Health and Human Services reported that 16,200 children were still in custody, which is 50 per cent higher than the levels in March.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra appeared before the Ways and Means Committee to face questions on the border crisis.

President Joe Biden has promised to reunite families separated during the Trump administration and to expedite processing unaccompanied minors who arrived at the border in the last few months.

However, a new report from Biden's task force on reuniting families indicates that 2,127 children have 'not yet been reunified' with their parents.

The poor showing in progress at the border comes on the heels of Vice President Kamala Harris trip to Guatemala and Mexico  where she faced backlash for laughing her way through serious topics and handing out cookies on the Air Force Two flight with her face-less likeness printed on them.

The task force progress report submitted to the president last week shows only seven children have successfully been reunited since Biden took office.

In a 22-page task force progress report, which was released Tuesday during Harris' trip, was submitted to Biden last week and shows that 2,127 children are still awaiting their reunions.

It also states, however, that 29 more families 'will be reunited in the coming weeks.'

The provision will allow the families to enter the U.S. under humanitarian parole, which lasts 36 months and can be renewed.

The dismal showings in reunification is being blamed on the Trump administration's failure to keep accurate and organized data on families and children when they were separated at the border.

This graph shows the number of migrants caught by the Office of Field Operation (OFO) and US Border Patrol agents in April and May

As thousands of illegal crossers continue to be apprehended by Border Patrol, new Health and Human Services numbers show more than 16,200 minors remain in the agencies custody, double that of March

A task force aimed at reuniting families sent a progress report to Biden last week, which was released publicly Tuesday, that shows 2,127 children separated by families under Trump have still not been united. Biden left Wednesday for his first international trip in office to Europe

'No comprehensive interagency system was in place to separate parents and their migrant children,' a senior Department of Homeland Security official said in a call with reporters.

Becerra was summoned to testify about Biden's budget proposal, which includes a request to Congress to boost spending on care for unaccompanied migrant children to $3.3 billion.

Harris' trip south of the border Monday and Tuesday was focused on addressing 'root causes' of migration and the vice president still refused to visit the border, dismissing questions surrounding the crisis.

Even the Biden administration appears to be baffled, however, by Harris' trip to address the border crisis and her icy treatment of reporters who questioned why she hasn't been to the U.S.-Mexico border.

White House insiders were 'perplexed' by her answers to her questions over whether she would visit the Rio Grande and 'hoped her first foreign trip would be a success', CNN reported.

White House also fear that any progress she made during her meetings with the Guatemalan and Mexican presidents may be undone by her mixed messages and terse encounters with reporters.

She made a series of seemingly conflicting statements about her decision not to visit the border and enraged progressives by telling migrants: 'Do not come'.

By the end of her trip, at a press conference in Mexico City with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Harris insisted the trip was a success.

'Listen, I've been to the border before and I'll go again,' she said.

She also hinted that a border trip would be 'short-sighted', but did promise to visit without giving a date.

The new numbers come on the heels of Vice President Kamala Harris' trip to Guatemala and Mexico. Administration officials are 'perplexed' at some of the conflicting statements made on her first foreign trip in office

CNN reported that officials were concerned within the administration that whatever progress Harris had made on the leader-to-leader level might have been undermined by her conflicting answers and PR missteps.

'It's left some of the administration officials perplexed, and the vice president's team frustrated,' the network Wednesday.

'There was hope the trip would be a success, and in the end, they feel it may have been overshadowed by some of her answers to these questions,' the network reported.

She also snapped at reporters a few times when questioned about a border visit. Among those asking about it was a CNN correspondent. Fox News correspondents have been hounding the White House on the topic for weeks, so it was unlikely to have surprised her team.

At the same news conference where she said she would go to the border, Harris also shrugged off the idea.

Harris visited Mexico and Guatemala in her first trip outside the country as VP

She said at a Mexico City press conference she would visit the border, after earlier commenting about 'grand gestures'

'I think it's short-sighted, for any of us who are in the business of problem solving to suggest we're only going to respond to the reaction as opposed to addressing the cause,' she said.

It echoed her earlier comments in Guatemala, where she characterized such a visit as being for show.

'I came here to be here on the ground, to speak with the leader of this nation around what we can do in a way that is significant, is tangible and has real results,' she said.

'And I will continue to be focused on that kind of work as opposed to grand gestures.'

There is an element of showmanship in any foreign trip  and Harris was not shy about calling her own first foreign foray a victory.

'Do I declare this trip a success? Yes I do,' she said.

She also took heat on the trip when she shot back at NBC anchor Lester Holt when he asked her about visiting the border.

'At some point, you know, we are going to the border,' she said. 'We've been to the border. So this whole thing about the border. We've been to the border. We've been to the border,' she repeated.

'You haven't been to the border,' Holt pushed back.

'And I haven't been to Europe,' Harris snapped, then quickly turned it into her signature laugh.

'And I mean, I don't understand the point that you're making,' she said to Holt.

'I'm not discounting the importance of the border.'

She also kicked off her trip with a blunt message to migrants: 'Do not come,' an admonition that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called 'disappointing.'

In another odd moment, a case of mistaken identity at Harris' press conference in Mexico City on Tuesday allowed a woman wrongly identified as a Univision reporter with a similar name to ask the vice president a fawning question.

The woman, introduced by Harris' press secretary Symone Sanders as 'Maria Fernanda from Univision', was one of only five people called on for questions at the Mexico City event.

She asked a soft question, which Harris called 'great.' Late on Tuesday, Fox News revealed that the woman was in fact a San Francisco Bay-area entrepreneur named Maria Fernanda Reyes. Univision put out a statement saying the woman was not their reporter.
America's largest beef supplier JBS paid an $11 million ransom in Bitcoin to the hackers who shut down its plants in the United States, it has been revealed.

Andre Nogueira, the CEO for the Brazilian company's United States division, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the payment was made after most JBS plants were already up and running again as 'insurance to protect our customers.'

He added: 'It was very painful to pay the criminals, but we did the right thing for our customers.'

Nogueira said JBS learned of the attack early on May 30 after discovering 'irregularities' on its servers, and a ransom note.

The firm immediately started working to shut down its computer servers - suspending meat production systems at its U.S. plants - before the plants were operational again four days later.

JBS also released a press release detailing the payment, noting that it 'made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated.'

'This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally. However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers,' Nogueira said in the press release.

America's largest beef supplier JBS paid an $11 million ransom in bitcoin to the hackers who shut down its plants in the United States

Andre Nogueira, the CEO for the Brazilian company's United States division, said JBS learned of the attack early on May 30

The bitcoin payment was made after most JBS plants were already up and running again

JBS also released a press release detailing the payment, noting that it 'made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated'

According to the Wall Street Journal, JBS is the largest meat company in the world by sales and is the biggest beef processor and a top supplier of chicken and pork in the United States.

Pilgrim's Pride, a subsidiary of JBS that processes poultry, was also hit in the ransomware attack, according to the outlet.

FBI officials said last week that it believed REvil, a cyber criminal group based in Russia, was behind the attack.

Last month, the major gasoline transporter Colonial Pipeline also suffered a ransomware attack and paid about $4.4 million in bitcoin to the hacking group DarkSide, which started as an affiliate of REvil, The New York Times reported.

The Justice Department on Monday recovered some $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline, Reuters reported.

Regarding its own hack, JBS wrote: 'The FBI stated this is one of the most specialized and sophisticated cybercriminal groups in the world.'

The meat supplier claimed that it was able 'to quickly resolve the issues' because of the company's cybersecurity protocols, redundant systems and encrypted backup servers. JBS spends more than $200 million annually on information technology and employs more than 850 IT professionals globally, according to the release.

'JBS USA has maintained constant communications with government officials throughout the incident. Third-party forensic investigations are still ongoing, and no final determinations have been made,' the press release reads.

The company noted that preliminary investigation results confirm that no company, customer or employee data was compromised.

Nogueira told the Wall Street Journal that the company found the note demanding a ransom soon after discovering that its systems had it been hacked on May 30.

He was notified of the hack at 5 a.m. by a call from his chief financial officer while he was traveling, Nogueira said, and the company quickly alerted the FBI.

The company made 'good progress' in restoring operations but cybersecurity consultants and JBS' internal IT department noted there was no guarantee that the hackers wouldnt strike again while negotiations with REvil continued.

Nogueira noted the company ultimately decided to pay the ransom, saying: 'We didnt think we could take this type of risk that something could go wrong in our recovery process.'

Cyber security experts have warned the recent attacks targeting JBS and the Colonial Pipeline are a taste of things to come, amid fears hackers could target key infrastructure and further escalate tensions between the US and Russia.
A blast of cold air from Antarctica has transformed parts of south-eastern Australia into winter wonderlands just before the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

Plummeting temperatures has resulted in a widespread dumping of snow blanketing New South Wales, including regions just one hour's drive west of from Sydney.

The Blue Mountains saw its first dusting of snow for winter on Thursday as Sydney shivered through its coldest day so far this year.

Parks and roads in towns such as Orange and Oberon further west have also also blanketed in white powder.

Tourists flocked to scenic spots across the Blue Mountains and the state's central-west as winter selfies flooded social media.

Sydneysiders flocked to the Blue Mountains on Thursday for a taste of falling snow. Pictured is Katoomba near The Three Sisters

The state's northern tablelands have also experienced snow for the first time in a few years in towns such as Armidale and Glenn Innes.

Further falls are expected over the central tablelands and Barrington Tops in NSW on Thursday while at least half a metre of snow is expected to blanket the state's alpine regions.

The Brindabella Range an hour's drive south of Canberra has also seen a white dusting, which is expected to hang around until Saturday.

As NSW alpine resorts Perisher and Thredbo in the state's south get ready for a bumper long weekend with the launch of the ski season, the snow won't stick around for long elsewhere.

The snow currently blanketing the Blue Mountains, the state's central-west and northern tablelands is expected to clear up before the weekend.

The NSW Department of Corrective Services sheriff's officers enjoyed the first dump of snow for the year in Orange four hours west of Sydney

The NSW northern tablelands have also seen snow for the first time in six years but the snow won't hang around for long. Pictured is a snowman in Glenn Innes on Thursday

'We'll see the last of the snow on Friday outside the alpine areas,' Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Helen Reid told Daily Mail Australia.

Thredbo Resort has reported 60cms snow at the top of the mountain and 25cms in the village in the last 24 hours

Nearby Perisher has also seen 60cm of fresh powder, where photos have emerged of vehicles fully covered in snow.

More snow is forecast in the alpine regions on Friday and Saturday.

Tourists are also expected to flock to Victoria's alpine ski resorts in the coming days.

However Melburnians will miss out on the fun, restricted to a 25 kilometre radius from their homes when a fortnight-long lockdown is finally lifted on Friday.

'We're sad that our friends from Melbourne can't be here this weekend, and we've got our fingers and toes crossed that you can visit soon,' Falls Creek Resort posted.

Perisher will be inundated with hordes of skiers and snowboarders this long weekend

Victorian alpine resorts such as Falls Creek (pictured) is also ready for a busy June long weekend
A coronavirus-infected woman who fled locked-down Melbourne and went on a 1,900km road trip may have crossed the New South Wales-Queensland border at a remote town because she was moving interstate.

Health authorities in Victoria, NSW and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus during their interstate trip.

The woman, 44, tested positive on Wednesday but may have been infectious from the day she left Melbourne on June 1, which was already in lockdown.

The woman is understood to have been tested only because her husband - who was confirmed to have the virus on Thursday - needed negative results for work purposes.

Police believe the couple crossed the NSW-Queensland border at the remote rural town of Goondiwindi on June 5 in a bid to evade authorities.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said the woman may have had a valid reason for the road trip and was following lockdown rules.

Health authorities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to Covid-19 during a couple's interstate trip. Police said the woman may have been relocating and in that case would not be breaking lockdown rules

A queue to receive a coronavirus vaccination is pictured at the Rocklea Showgrounds in Brisbane on June 5

The couple crossed the NSW/Queensland border at the remote town of Goondiwindi, four hours inland of the Gold Coast where police are much more strict with their patrols

He told ABC Melbourne she 'may have been moving interstate and had a legitimate reason to travel'.

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino said the couple wouldn't have been breaking lockdown restrictions if they were permanently relocating to the Sunshine State.

There were earlier reports the woman lied on her declaration form when entering Queensland, sparking a chorus of public outrage led by Karl Stefanovic.

Today host Karl Stefanovic on Thursday morning called for the border-hopping couple to be named and shamed and have 'the book thrown at them'.

'I think there is understandable anger across regional Victoria, into regional NSW and then into some of those regional parts of Queensland as well particularly, because they have done such a great job protecting themselves against COVID,' the Today show co-host fumed on Thursday morning.

'A lot of people are furious. They have to throw the book at these people. They have to. I'm not averse to naming and shaming. We have to get this message through.'

Poll SHOULD COVID RULE-BREAKERS BE NAMED AND SHAMED? Yes No Depends on circumstances SHOULD COVID RULE-BREAKERS BE NAMED AND SHAMED? Yes 1840 votes

No 202 votes

Depends on circumstances 196 votes Now share your opinion





Co-host Allison Langdon agreed the couple should be punished, but stopped short of demanding they be named and shamed.

'My initial reaction is I want to know who they are, they've done the wrong thing but if you do that, you don't have people coming forward and don't have people getting tested,' she argued.

Stefanovic continued his furious rant.

'They are going to get named if they're charged,' he replied.

'How do you not get it? How do you not get that message through and maybe embarrassment is a way of doing it.'

Stefanovic felt for residents in the regional towns the couple had driven through.

'You'd be filthy if you lived in the country and these people had driven your town, wouldn't you,' he said shortly afterwards.

'How does the message not get through? It puts enormous stress on people who are now waiting for tests and enormous stress on businesses.

'Let's just hope [the couple has] got a good excuse.'

Stefanovic had weighed into the debate following an interview with Queensland-based Royal Australian College of General Practitioners vice president Dr Bruce Willett.

Karl Stefanovic (right) called for the couple to be named and shamed but co-host Allison Langdon (left) disagreed

'I think there's a lot of anger and disappointment really that people would do this. People's lives are at stake and also people's livelihoods with shutdowns,' Dr Willett told the program.

'I think it's a wait and see game. I think we have to keep our fingers crossed that there are no more cases in the near future and we avoid the lockdown.

'I think the important lesson from this is this can happen anywhere, anytime.'

Dr Willett added Queenslanders would like to the couple to be charged.

It's understood the woman broke lockdown to visit her family in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

She had been experiencing symptoms - including loss of her sense of smell - from June 3 but only sought a test on June 8.

In an extraordinary twist, the pair were only detected when they came forward for testing because the husband needed negative results for work purposes.

The Today co-hosts weighed into the debate following an interview with Queensland-based Royal Australian College of General Practitioners vice president Dr Bruce Willett (right)

Three states are scrambling to contain a potential Covid outbreak after an infected woman left locked-down Melbourne and drove through NSW to the Sunshine Coast (Mooloolaba pictured)

Six close contacts of the woman have been identified so far, including her husband who has to date tested negative.

The remaining five close contacts are quarantining at a house together on the Sunshine Coast until their results come back.

Queensland's Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young fears the woman's partner could become infected, given how much time the pair spent in the car together.

Both are now at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

Dr Young has said it is possible the woman was infectious from the day she left Melbourne.

'She could well have been infectious while travelling through New South Wales and I have been working with my colleague to determine that,' she said on Wednesday.

Authorities are working to track down close contacts and investigate whether she and her partner broke three states' COVID rules.

The positive woman was at Bunnings in Caloundra, QLD between 12.10pm - 12.45pm on June 7

The woman visited Goondiwindi McDonalds on June 5 between 7.35am - 7.50am

VENUES ON ALERT ACROSS NSW AND QUEENSLAND AS INFECTED WOMAN'S TIMELINE IS REVEALED June 1: Left Melbourne and drove across the border to regional New South Wales 10.30-11am: Gillenbah, Caltex Narrandera 6pm-10pm: Forbes, Vandenberg Hotel June 2: 7-10am: Forbes, Brew Coffee Bar 10.30-11.30am: Dubbo, Shell Petrol Station 11.30am-2.30pm: Dubbo , Church Street Cafe 6-10pm: Dubbo, Reading Cinemas June 3: Midnight-10am: Dubbo, Homestead Motel 1.30-4.30pm: Moree, Cafe Omega From 1.45pm onwards: Moree, Gwydir Carpark/Motel & Thermal Pools 3.30-4.30pm: Moree, Woolworths June 4: All day until 7.30am June 5 : Moree, Gwydir Carpark/Motel & Thermal Pools 7-9.30am: Moree, Cafe Omega 11.50-2pm: Moree, Cafe Omega 4.30-11pm: Moree, Amaroo Tavern June 5: Arrived at Goondiwindi border and crossed into Queensland 7.35-7.50am: Goondiwindi, McDonalds 11-11.15am: Toowoomba, Caltex June 6: Travelled to Sunshine Coast 2.45-3pm: Moffat Beach, Sunny's 3.30 - 4.30pm: Coffee Cat in Kings Beach June 7: 10.45-11.30am: Stockland Caloundra Shopping Centre - Coffee Club and Kmart stores 12.10 - 12.45pm: Caloundra, Bunnings 1-2pm: Buddina, Kawana Shoppingworld June 8: 3.50-4pm: Caloundra, Baringa IGA Advertisement

Victorians were forbidden from travelling more than five kilometres from home at the time the woman began her trip on June 1.

NSW did not shut its border with Victoria, but any travellers from the state were supposed to abide by the lockdown rules even in NSW.

Queensland required all Victorian arrivals to spend two weeks in hotel quarantine.

Instead, the woman visited numerous venues in Queensland and NSW.

She stopped at a service station in Gillenbah and Dubbo on her way through NSW, but also visited several cafes in Forbes and Moree and caught a movie at the Reading Cinemas at Dubbo.

The couple had visited the Kawana Shoppingworld in Queensland between 1pm-2pm on June 7

Eleven venues in the four towns have been identified by NSW Health as potential exposure sites.

Anyone who attended venues must immediately get tested and isolate.

NSW Health is urging anyone who has been in any of the affected towns to monitor for symptoms and get tested.

Pop-up testing clinics will be set up and opening hours extended to support the increase in testing.

The pair were only detected when the couple came forward for testing because the man needed negative results for work purposes - with health authorities admitting it was down to luck that the case was caught (pictured Melbourne this week)

Queensland's list of exposure sites include a McDonald's restaurant in Goondiwindi, where they crossed the border from NSW, and sites on the Sunshine Coast, including at Moffat Beach, Kings Beach, Buddina, Baringa and Caloundra.

The couple also travelled through Toowoomba, west of Brisbane. The list of exposure sites is on the Queensland Health website and will inevitably grow.

Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said Queensland Police will be investigating why the couple entered into the sunshine state.

'We've got a couple that have come from Victoria, when Victoria's in lockdown, into Queensland,' he said.

'We'll examine all those issues around passes - whether they were appropriate and what has happened - it is too early to say.

'It's really important for us to remind the whole community that we cannot possibly check every single person moving around the country.'
The next LandCruiser has been unveiled by Toyota, with some fans of the popular model already dubious about the latest version because it won't come with a V8 option.

The eagerly-awaited 300 Series is going on sale at the end of 2021, with Toyota on Thursday releasing images and some very important details that have divided fans.

Despite a new model coming, sales of the outgoing 200 Series wagon have doubled in a year, as some buyers want to get a V8.

Despite being six cylinders instead of eight, the 3.3 litre twin-turbo V6 in the new 300 Series will have 227 kilowatts of power, a 13.5 per cent increase on the outgoing 4.5 litre V8's 200 kilowatts.

Scroll down for video

The next Toyota LandCruiser won't have a V8 option but the smaller engine will have much more power and towing capacity

The new, smaller V6 will also have better towing muscle with 700 newton-metres of torque, a 7.7 per cent improvement on the old V8's 650 newton-metres, and still manage to pull 3.5 tonnes.

Toyota also promised the new V6 would have much lower fuel consumption than the V8's thirsty 9.5 litres for every 100km.

Toyota appeared to be so worried about losing the legions of V8 fans that it described the twin-turbo V6 as having 'V8-beating performance'.

Potential buyers appeared to be fonder of the outgoing 200 Series, which has a V8 for the GX, GXL, VX and Sahara models.

'Time to buy a 200 series mate,' one man said on Toyota Australia's Facebook page.

The buying public agrees with sales of the outgoing LandCruiser doubling in May, compared with a year earlier, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data showed.

The eagerly-awaited 300 Series is going on sale at the end of 2021, with Toyota on Thursday releasing images and some very important details that have divided fans

Last month, 2,975 LandCruiser wagons left the showroom, a 121.8 per cent increase on May 2020 when 1,260 were sold during the early months of the pandemic.

The LandCruiser has a 92.3 per cent share of the upper-large four-wheel drive market, with its sales almost 12 times that of the Nissan Patrol's 234 units.

The LandCruiser was Australia's fourth most popular car in May, with 3,399 sales of the outgoing 200 Series wagon and the 70 Series ute and troop carrier, a shape which dates back to 1984.

The LandCruiser 200 Series is also popular on the used car market with average values for secondhand Sahara models this year surging by 54 per cent to $185,000 from $120,000.

The 3.3 litre twin-turbo V6 in the new 300 Series will have 227 kilowatts of power, a 13.5 per cent increase on the outgoing 4.5 litre V8's 200 kilowatts

Toyota appeared so worried about losing the legions of V8 fans that it described the twin-turbo V6 as having 'V8-beating performance'

The ban on Australians travelling overseas for a holiday, beyond New Zealand, has also seen motorists increasingly turn to large 4WDs on the used market as they take off-road holidays at home.

Resale values have surged for older Toyota LandCruisers with average prices for a four-year-old model climbing by 18 per cent since the start of the pandemic in February 2020, Datium Insights data showed.

This saw typical prices for a 2017 model climb to $56,700 in March 2021 from $47,900.

Plenty of LandCruisers from that era are being listed on Carsales with six-figure prices, with the top-of-the range Sahara model commanding top dollar.

The new, smaller V6 will also have better towing capacity with 700 newton-metres of torque, a 7.7 per cent improvement on the old V8's 650 newton-metres. Toyota also promised the new V6 would have much lower fuel consumption than the V8's thirsty 9.5 litres for every 100km

The LandCruiser 200 Series is also popular on the used car market with average values for secondhand Sahara models this year surging by 54 per cent to $185,000 from $120,000

Datium Insights head of product Tanim Ahmed said buyers, frustrated with strong demand for three-year-old LandCruisers, were turning to a four-year old version.

'There's more sales happening for older Landcruisers now compared to younger ones which is likely due to these supply shortages we're having,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'Basically they're depreciating much less over time than they used to.'

Average used car prices in Australia have soared by 37 per cent since the start of Covid, Datium Insights said.

The first Toyota LandCruiser was launched on August 1, 1951 as the Toyota BJ.

It was understandably renamed the LandCruiser in 1954, making it Toyota's longest-serving nameplate.

More than 10.4million LandCruisers have been sold in 170 countries with demand now running at more than 300,000 vehicles a year.

In 2021 so far, 10,459 LandCruiser 200 Series wagons have been sold in Australia.
Sen. John Kennedy has slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci for claiming COVID-19 jumped from an animal to humans and charged that the top doctor needs to address evidence supporting the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The Louisiana senator, 69, spoke in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Wednesday hours after Fauci appeared on MSNBC to insist that he had always been open to the lab leak theory.

Kennedy said: 'Every time I am asked about Dr. Fauci, I say the same thing. I know Dr. Fauci. I like Dr. Fauci. I respect Dr. Fauci. But Dr. Fauci needs to cut the crap. This is not about Dr. Fauci,' Kennedy said.

'It's not about his feelings. I am sorry if his feelings were hurt. Maybe he ought to buy an emotional support pony. We are not debating dance moves on TikTok here.'

Sen. John Kennedy has slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci for claiming COVID-19 originated in an animal

'Dr. Fauci gave a lot of U.S. taxpayer money to the Wuhan lab for Chinese scientists to research bat coronaviruses,' Kennedy claimed to Fox News.

'Neither Dr. Fauci nor any of his people can guarantee us that the Chinese scientists didn't use that money to do gain of function research and turn a normal virus into a super-charged virus.'

He added: 'They were not monitored. Dr. Fauci's people did not monitor the lab. It's not like it hasn't happened before.'

Kennedy then cited an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal in which Dr. Steven Quay and Richard Muller claim that 'science suggests a Wuhan lab leak.'

In that article, Quay and Muller wrote: 'Since 1992 there have been at least 11 separate experiments adding a special sequence to the same location. The end result has always been supercharged viruses.'

It was not immediately clear from where that information provided by Quay and Muller came.

Kennedy said: 'Since 1992, there have been 11 different experiments widely reported in in which scientists throughout the world have taken a normal virus and turned it into a super-charged virus.'

The senator then noted that a number of lab accidents have already led to human infections, including the 1977 H1N1 flu pandemic that killed more than 700,000 people.

Kennedy also charged that Fauci needs to address evidence supporting the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology

'China has a history of lab leaks. 1977, 2004 and 2019. Since Day 1, Dr. Fauci and his expert friends have told us, look, the virus occurred naturally. It jumped from a bat to a host and then to human beings,' Kennedy said.

'Well, it's been a year. Where is the proof? Where is the smoking bat? Do you really think if China could prove this virus occurred naturally in nature it would withhold that evidence? No it would scream it from the rooftop to get the world off its back.'

He added: 'Dr. Fauci needs to address it,' referring to evidence that points to the lab leak theory, such as COVID-19's genetic sequence.

'He needs to hit these things head on. Otherwise, it's going to undermine public health. People's confidence in public health and the American people are going to end up trusting Dr. Pepper more than Dr. Fauci,' Kennedy said.

Claims the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab had been laughed off by many as conspiracy theories until recently when researchers at top universities like Harvard and Cambridge suggested in a letter that the 'hypotheses' cannot be ruled out until there is more evidence.

Last month, it was also reported that three workers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell seriously-ill with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, months before China revealed the existence of the virus.

The senator's comments come as more scientists and lawmakers have started to push that the lab leak theory remains credible among growing skepticism of the theory that COVID-19 originated in bats before spreading to humans through an intermediary species.

Claims the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab had been laughed off as conspiracy theories until recently

Fauci, speaking with MSNBC's Chuck Todd on Wednesday, had said: 'It's very dangerous because a lot of what you're seeing as attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science. Because all of the things that I have spoken about, consistently from the very beginning, have bene fundamentally based on science.'

'Sometimes those things were inconvenient truths for people and there was pushback against me. So if you are trying to get at me as a public health official and a scientist, you are attacking not only me, Dr. Anthony Fauci, you are attacking science,' Fauci said.

Kennedy then went through his reasoning for why he believes COVID-19 may have spread from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, referencing the controversial grant the National Institute of Health had approved which provided some money to the lab.

In 2014, the NIH awarded a $3.7 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance, which is based in the United States, to study the risk of coronaviruses emerging from bats. EcoHealth Alliance in turn distributed nearly $600,000 of that funding to its collaborator, the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Critics have claimed that recent troves of emails between Fauci and other top officials prove Fauci was concerned after the emergence of COVID-19 that the Wuhan lab was conducting gain of function research.

In gain-of-function research, scientists alter organisms and diseases to study how they could become deadlier or more transmissible. The field of virology widely relies on such studies.

Fauci, who serves as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the umbrella of the NIH, has denied that the NIH directly funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology is about 20 miles from the Huanan Seafood Market where the first coronavirus cases are reported to have occurred

The respected and peer-reviewed multidisciplinary science journal Nature published an explainer on the two theories, providing a neutral support and criticism for both.

The authors detailed why virus investigations often take years to complete, offering a possible answer to Kennedy's concerns that China has not yet found the bat that experts believe caused the pandemic.

'Outbreak-origin investigations often take years, and some culprits remain unknown. It took 14 years to nail down the origin of the SARS epidemic, which began with a virus in bats that spread to humans, most likely through civets,' Amy Maxmen and Smriti Mallapaty wrote for Nature.

During the 2003 SARS outbreak, a total of 8,098 people worldwide became sick and 774 people died. In the United States, only eight people had laboratory evidence of SARS-CoV-1 infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chinese scientists were not able to trace the virus' origin until late 2017, when it was determined that the virus had spread to humans through the intermediary of Asian palm civets from cave-dwelling horseshoe bats in Yunnan, China.

'To date, a complete Ebola virus has never been isolated from an animal in the region where the world's largest outbreak occurred between 2013 and 2016,' Maxmen and Mallapaty wrote.

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday declared that an attack on him is an attack on science 'because all of the things that I have spoken about consistently from the very beginning have been fundamentally based on science'

Maxmen and Mallapaty noted that 'origin investigations are complicated because outbreaks among animals that aren't the main hosts of a particular virus, such as civets in the case of SARS, are often sporadic.'

'Researchers must find the right animal before it dies or clears the infection. And, even if the animal tests positive, viruses found in saliva, feces or blood are often degraded, making it difficult to sequence the pathogen's whole genome,' they wrote.

Maxmen and Mallapaty noted that researchers in China have tested more than 80,000 wild and domesticated animals but none have been positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 illness.

Kennedy also called back to the Quay and Muller op-ed which noted that the COVID-19 genome contains a double CGG sequence that 'has never been found naturally' and 'is suppressed naturally' though 'the opposite is true in laboratory work.'

'Yes, it could have happened randomly, through mutations. But do you believe that?' Quay and Muller wrote in their op-ed.

On Wednesday, Dr. Fauci also denied he tried to play down claims that the virus was genetically engineered in a Chinese laboratory while speaking at The Wall Street Journal's Tech Health event.

Jonathan Rockoff, WSJ Health and Medicine Editor, asked him: 'Did you downplay the possibility that the virus came from a lab in China, for political reasons?'

Fauci answered: 'Well absolutely not, and lets go back and talk about that. That's honestly an accusation that I have to tell you, mildly, is preposterous.'

'Right from the very beginning, when there was an issue of some people who looked at the virus and said maybe it might actually have been manipulated.'

He added: 'And what we did is that they mentioned it to me, I called together a group of people and said 'Let's take a look at this, make sure, get some virologic evolutionary biologizes together to take a look at it.'

Fauci said that top scientists had a discussion and some said that the SARS-CoV-2 looked like a virus that was manipulated and could have leaked.

'Most of the people thought - all of us were thinking at the time - that it was very likely a natural evolution. But we never ruled out the possibility, and we were really open about it. It wasn't like we were trying to hide anything,' Fauci said.

Fauci, who has at numerous times defended his support for the theory SARS-CoV-2 spread from animals to humans, further expanded on his reasoning on Wednesday.

'The reason we felt besides the molecular makeup of the virus, that it was a jumping species from an animal to a human, is the historically we have such experience over decades and decades of that's how viruses get into the human population, by the animal-human interface,' Fauci said.

Last February, during the emergence of the pandemic, The Lancet published a letter from a group of 27 prominent public health scientists that pushed back on suggestions that the virus had come from the Wuhan lab.

'The rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumours and misinformation around its origins. We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,' that letter reads.

That letter has been considered responsible for scientists largely rejecting the theory that COVID-19 may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

However, Vanity Fair reported in its recent bombshell story detailing the history of the lab leak theory that the letter was organized by a zoologist named Peter Daszak, who has come under fire for a supposed conflict of interest.

Daszak is the president of the New York City-based EcoHealth Alliance, which repackaged the NIH grant which was then distributed to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Vanity Fair noted that at least six others who had signed The Lancet letter had either worked for or been funded by EcoHealth Alliance.

Scientists largely stood behind the zoonotic theory until last month, Stanford University microbiologist David Relman and the University of Washington virologist Jesse Bloom organized the letter published in the journal Science and signed by 18 prominent biologists from universities like Harvard and Cambridge.

The letter reads that 'yet more investigation is still needed to determine the origin of the pandemic.'

'Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable. Knowing how COVID-19 emerged is critical for informing global strategies to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks,' the letter reads.

The letter blasted the World Health Organization and China for their joint study investigating the origins of COVID-19, saying that the theory it came from the lab was 'not given balanced consideration' to the theory it came from natural spillover.
A malaria drug which Donald Trump was condemned for hailing as a possible COVID-19 treatment can increase survival rates by up to 200 per cent, scientists say.

Scientists found that, when ventilated patients with a severe version of COVID were given high doses of hydroxychloroquine with zinc, their survival rates could increase dramatically.

Trump said in March 2020 he was taking it to prevent him catching the virus, rather than treat it. He did not become infected until October, and was not treated with the drug.

The former president had previously touted hydroxy as a potential miracle treatment, with scientists lining up to insist he was wrong to do so.

Yet Trump's allies on Wednesday were highlighting the study, conducted by Saint Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey on 255 patients.

It was published on May 31 on the medical site medRxiv.

A new study, published on the medical site medRxiv on May 31, suggests that severely-ill patients on a ventilator could be helped in their COVID-19 battle by a high dose of hydroxychloroquine (above) and zinc - as promoted by Donald Trump

Trump's spokesman, Jason Miller, tweeted: 'Oh.'

He quoted: 'Study shows hydroxychloroquine and zinc treatments increased coronavirus survival rate by almost three times'

His son, Donald Trump Jr, said: 'In the last week alone, we've learned that the media, so-called fact checkers and their Big Tech enforcers lied to us about the lab-leak theory, Hydroxychloroquine and the clearing of Lafayette Square.

'All to hurt Donald Trump.

'What else are they lying about?'

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the stridently pro-Trump congresswoman for Georgia, tweeted: 'How many people died bc Dr. Fauci said trust the science and Hydroxychloroquine isn't effective?

'New study shows: Hydroxychloroquine + Azithromycin therapy at a higher dose improved survival by nearly 200% in ventilated COVID patients.

'Trump was right.' The former president has been banned from all major social media platforms, and has yet to issue his own statement about the new findings.

In April 2020, Trump declared: 'We bought a tremendous amount of hydroxychloroquine, which I think is, you know, it's a great malaria drug.

'It's worked unbelievably, it's a powerful drug on malaria. And there are signs that it works on [coronavirus], some very strong signs.

'And in the meantime, it's been around a long time, and also works very powerfully on lupus. So there are some very strong, powerful signs, and we'll have to see.

'Because again, it's being tested now, this is a new thing that just happened to us, the invisible enemy, we call it.'

He continued: 'It's a very strong, powerful medicine, but it doesn't kill people. We have some very good results and some very good tests. You've seen the same test that I have.

'In France, they had a very good test. But we don't have time to go and say, gee, let's take a couple of years and test it out. And let's go and test with the test tubes and the laboratories.

'We don't have time. I'd love to do that.'

A month later, on May 28, 2020, he shocked attendees during a roundtable event at the White House by saying: 'I happen to be taking it.

'A lot of good things have come out. You'd be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers. Before you catch it. The front-line workers, many, many are taking it.'

He added: 'I'm taking it, hydroxychloroquine. Right now, yeah. Couple of weeks ago, I started taking it. Cause I think it's good, I've heard a lot of good stories.'

White House physician Dr. Sean Conley released a memo that evening, which said that after discussing evidence for and against hydroxychloroquine with Trump, they concluded 'the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks.'

Trump's support of the unproven drug was described by critics as reckless and dangerous at the time. He caught COVID in October, and was admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center after struggling to breathe, but later recovered after receiving a then-experimental antibody therapy.

Donald Trump, pictured on May 18, 2020. He had declared that he was taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID infection

On August 22, Trump continued to tout the benefits of hydroxychloroquine. He would catch the virus two months later and be taken to hospital with severe symptoms

Last summer, Twitter restricted the account of Trump Jr after he posted a video of doctors touting the effectiveness of the drug. The social media platform accused him of 'spreading misleading and potentially harmful misinformation' related to the coronavirus.

In March of this year, the World Health Organization warned against using the drug to prevent the coronavirus, citing data suggesting it was ineffective.

Yet the authors of the new report state: 'We found that when the cumulative doses of two drugs, HCQ and AZM, were above a certain level, patients had a survival rate 2.9 times the other patients.

'By using causal analysis and considering of weight-adjusted cumulative dose, we prove the combined therapy, >3 g HCQ and > 1g AZM greatly increases survival in Covid patients on IMV and that HCQ cumulative dose > 80 mg/kg works substantially better.'

Hydroxychloroquine is still an unproven drug for COVID treatment.

Trump is seen on February 28. His supporters have seized on reports showing encouraging signs about hydroxychloroquine

Early in the pandemic, Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top public health expert, expressed interest in the drug, but he maintained that more data was needed to prove its efficacy.

Fauci's emailed comments on hydroxychloroquine line up with what he said in public and the scientific consensus about the drug.

Republican critics, however, accuse him of secretly supporting the drug - although there is no evidence to prove it.

Several other studies in recent months, after Fauci's email, have found that hydroxychloroquine can be effective in certain situations.

A December study from the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents showed 84 per cent fewer hospitalizations among patients treated with the drug, and a January study, conducted by Hackensack Meridian Health, found encouraging results in patients with mild symptoms who were treated with the drug.
Australia will always stand up for freedom and democracy amid rising tensions with China, Scott Morrison has said.

The Prime Minister, who will discuss China with key allies at the G7 summit in the UK over the weekend, said Australia would never compromise its values into order to appease Beijing.

Australia-China relations have crumbled since the Morrison government called for an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus last year, with Beijing blocking several key Aussie exports including coal, barley, beef, seafood and wine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (right during a factory visit on June 7) has refused to speak to Scott Morrison

Last year the Chinese embassy in Canberra leaked a list of grievances the government has with Australia, including banning Chinese company Huawei from its 5G network, passing new foreign interference laws and speaking out on human rights violations.

Beijing also demanded Australian MPs and media outlets stop criticising the communist government.

Chinese ministers have refused to talk to their Australian counterparts but Mr Morrison has said he will not concede ground on any of the 14 issues.

Mr Morrison has warned that the risk of conflict in the Pacific is growing. Pictured: Chinese troops in Mongolia

'They go to our values, they go to our sovereignty. And, of course, Australia will maintain our very clear positions on those,' he told Perth radio 6PR on Thursday.

'You never trade away your values and who you are in your own sovereignty, integrity, ever.

'Australia will always act in our national interest. We will always stand up for what we believe in, we will always be consistently clear about where we stand on these issues'.

Since president Xi Jinping came to power, and particularly in recent months, China has pushed an increasingly assertive foreign policy under which it has reinforced territorial claims in the South China Sea, killed Indian troops in the Himalayas and frequently flown fighter jets over Taiwan.

Three Chinese Navy ships made a four-day visit to Sydney in June 2019 with Scott Morrison saying it was reciprocal after Australian naval vessels visited China. Since then relations have soured

'There's a very changed situation,' Mr Morrison said.

'And I think Australians would very much expect our government, my government, to be true to who we are. It's a very straightforward proposition, very straightforward and very clear.'

The Prime Minister said he would be happy to speak to President Xi as soon as he agrees to answer his calls.

'At the same time, we're very willing to work, and trade and engage with China in our own region and more broadly around the world.

'So there's no obstacle at Australia's end, to engage in that dialogue,' he said.

China's grievances with Australia 1. 'Incessant wanton interference in China's Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan affairs' 2. 'Siding with the US' anti-China campaign and spreading misinformation' 3. 'Thinly veiled allegations against China on cyber attacks without any evidence' 4. 'An unfriendly or antagonistic report on China by media' 5. Providing funding to 'anti-China think tank for spreading untrue reports' 6. 'Foreign interference legislation' 7. 'Foreign investment decisions' 8. 'Banning Huawei technologies and ZTE from the 5G network' 9. 'Politicisation and stigmatisation of the normal exchanges and coorperation between China and Australia' 10. Making statements 'on the South China Sea to the United Nations' 11. 'Outrageous condemnation of the governing party of China by MPs and racist attacks against Chinese or Asian people' 12. 'The early dawn search and reckless seizure of Chinese journalists' homes and properties' 13. Calls for an independent inquiry into Covid-19 14. 'Legislation to scrutinise agreements with a foreign government' Advertisement

In a speech on Thursday, Mr Morrison said the risk of war with China in the Indo-Pacific region is growing and the world is facing uncertainty not seen since the 1930s as he rallied Australia's allies to take action against the threat posed by Beijing.

In a major foreign policy speech in Perth ahead of his trip to the UK on Friday, Mr Morrison outlined how Australia can work with international partners to counter communist China and make the world safe for liberal democracies to flourish in.

Mr Morrison warned that China's growing might and strategic competition with the US, combined with the economic damage and instability caused by the pandemic, means the Indo-Pacific region is facing the real prospect of war.

'The risks of miscalculation and conflict are growing,' he said in his speech.

'The simple reality is that Australia's strategic environment has changed significantly over recent years.

'Accelerating trends are working against our interests. And the technological edge enjoyed historically by Australia and our allies is under challenge.'

The risks of miscalculation and conflict are growing Australian PM Scott Morrison

Mr Morrison warned the battle for dominance between the US and China - which is expected to become the world's largest economy in 2032 - 'threatens global and regional stability, upon which our security, prosperity and way of life depends.'

The biggest threats Australia faces include 'rapid military modernisation, tension over territorial claims, heighted economic coercion, enhanced disinformation, foreign interference and cyber threats, enabled by new and emerging technologies', he said.

Last year the Prime Minister warned that a foreign state actor had launched a series of cyber attacks on Australian institutions such as banks, hospitals and government agencies. He did not name China but sources said Beijing was behind the ongoing threat.

In the face of a growing threat, Mr Morrison will remind allies that his government is spending $270billion to beef-up its defence forces over the next ten years with new 370km-range missiles, state-of-the-art drones, artillery systems and an 800 extra troops.
A former model has dumped her New York restaurateur spouse for her identical twin's Zadig & Voltaire founder husband - and her heartbroken sister is said to have taken up with her estranged hubby to get revenge, according to a report.

A source told Page Six the rumored husband swap began during the pandemic when ex-model Charlotte Bonstrom, 50, cheated on husband of 20 years Vittorio Assaf.

Charlotte is said to have begun an affair with Thierry Gillier - the 62-year-old founder of luxury fashion house Zadig & Voltaire, who is also the husband of her own sister and former model Cecilia Bonstrom.

Assaf, the 62-year-old founder of the famed New York restaurant chain Serafina, and Charlotte have two children together.

Meanwhile, Cecilia and Gillier have a son Emil together and three children from their previous relationships.

They continue to work together at Zadig & Voltaire, where Cecilia has been artistic director since 2006.

On the company website, Cecilia is described as 'the other half of Zadig & Voltaire' whose style 'plays in perfect balance to founder Thierry Gillier'.

Now, rumors are also swirling that Cecilia and Assaf have become an item.

Charlotte and Cecilia Bonstrom with Thierry Gillier in2017. Former model Charlotte has dumped her New York restaurateur spouse Vittorio Assaf for identical twin Cecilia's Zadig & Voltaire founder husband Gillier, according to a report

Charlotte Bonstrom and Vittorio Assaf in 2010 (left). Thierry Gillier and Cecilia Bonstrom in 2016 (right). The sister's are rumored to have swapped spouses

Assaf confirmed to Page Six Wednesday that he is divorcing his wife because she wants to get married to her sister's husband, Gillier.

'Charlotte and I are in the process of getting divorced  she wants to get remarried,' he said Wednesday.

'[She] is getting married to Thierry Gillier, the ex-husband of her sister.'

Assaf denied any romance between himself and Cecilia.

'It is very difficult but I have nothing to do with the sister of Charlotte,' he insisted.

It is not clear when exactly Gillier and Charlotte allegedly started cheating on their respective partners though it is said to have been sometime during the pandemic.

The source told Page Six Charlotte had started 'secretly dating other people' because she was 'hurt' that Assaf 'spent time with models during their marriage.'

Cecilia is then thought to have learned about the double betrayal by her sister and her husband last March with the source saying 'it broke Celia's heart'.

Vittorio Assaf, Charlotte and Cecilia Bonstrom at a Zadig & Voltaire show in 2009 in NYC. Assaf told Page Six he is divorcing his wife Charlotte because she 'is getting married to Thierry Gillier, the ex-husband of her sister' Cecilia

Sante D'Orazio, Donna D'Cruz, Charlotte Bonstrom Assaf and Thierry Gillier (l-r) at a 2009 Zadig & Voltaire show. Gillier is married to Charlotte's sister Cecilia but is said to have started an affair with Charlotte during the pandemic

She posted cryptic posts on Instagram at that time, taking swipes at Gillier and Charlotte for lacking 'integrity.'

In one, posted March 13, she shared a meme reading: 'You're looking for three things generally, in a person: Intelligence, energy and integrity. And if they don't have the last one, don't even bother with the first two.'

She tagged her husband and sister in the post along with the hashtags '#thanks' and '#warrenbuffet'.

Two days later on March 15 she posted a close-up photo of her own red eyes with the hashtags '#momentoftruth #iknowwhoiam #nolies'.

She shared another post the following day that read: 'Maturity is learning to walk away from people & situations that threaten your peace of mind, self-respect, values, morals or self-worth.'

Cecilia is thought to have learned of the affair in March 2020. She posted cryptic posts on Instagram at that time, taking swipes at Gillier and Charlotte for lacking 'integrity'

Neither her sister or husband appear to feature in any of her Instagram posts after this date.

Cecilia regularly posts from fashion shoots with Zadig & Voltaire with another source telling Page Six the separated spouses still both work for the label.

'I don't know how that is going to work out,' they said.

'One would think there would be other men around than your twin sister's husband.'

The source said they don't think the identical twins will ever reconcile their relationship.

Last February, just one month before the alleged affair is thought to have come to light, Cecilia and Gillier gave fashion bible Vogue a tour around their Paris home.

Cecilia Bonstrom and Charlotte Bonstrom attend the private dinner for the Zadig And Voltaire art exhibition at Guggenheim Museum in 2013

The designer couple, who wed in 2016, posed for photos on the stairway of the new five-bedroom, 500-square-metre home describing how they had transformed the place - a stone's throw from the fashion house HQ - with 'their shared aesthetic.'

Meanwhile, last March, Charlotte set up a GoFundMe to raise money on behalf of Assaf after Serafina restaurants closed indefinitely due to the pandemic.

Assaf cofounded Serafina with Fabio Granato with its first pizza restaurant opening in New York City. It has now expanded across three continents.

Attempts by DailyMail.com to reach Assaf, Charlotte and Cecilia by phone Wednesday night for comment were unsuccessful.

Charlotte declined to comment to Page Six, saying: 'This is my private life. You can write whatever you want. I have two children in the middle, and I care about them more than the New York Post.'

Cecilia and Gillier continue to work together at Zadig & Voltaire. He founded the company and she has been artistic director since 2006
Market Research Future published a Half Cooked Research Report on Global Superabsorbent Polymers Market Research Report - Forecast to 2022 Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2022.

Superabsorbent Polymers Market - Overview

The global Superabsorbent polymers market is increasing with the impulsive pace; owing to the growing personal hygiene application. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, The global market of Superabsorbent polymers is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period. The market is forecasted to demonstrate a stunning growth by 2023, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a striking CAGR during the estimated period (2017  2022).

Globally, the market for superabsorbent polymers is driven by the region Asia pacific, owing to the rise in the population resulting in to increasing demand for personal care products and agriculture industries among others. Superabsorbent polymers are materials that have the ability to absorb and retain large volumes of water and aqueous solutions. This makes them ideal for use in water absorbing applications such as baby nappies and adults incontinence pads to absorbent medical dressings, paint solidification and water absorption techniques to effectively use water in agriculture. Paramount environment concerns prompt the use of recycled paper where again Superabsorbent polymers are used in pulp processing.

Rising population defines the growth of personal care industry. Moreover growing industries such as medical textile, food packaging, and paints & coatings provide momentum to the superabsorbent polymers market growth.

Key Players:

BASF SE (Germany), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD. (Japan), Kao Corporation (Japan), Formosa Plastics Corporation (Taiwan), LG Chem Ltd. (South Korea), SDP Global Co., Ltd. (Japan), 3M Company (U.S.), Sumitomo Seika Chemicals Co., Ltd. (Japan), and Songwon Industrial Co., Ltd. (South Korea) are some of the prominent players profiled in MRFR Analysis and are at the forefront of competition in the Global Superabsorbent polymers Market.

Access Complete Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/superabsorbent-polymers-market-1956

Superabsorbent polymers products are manufactured by utilizing polyacrylic acid as raw material which are costlier but they are capable to deliver high performance. These high value added products widely used as moisture absorbers in various industries.

Superabsorbent polymers are most widely used in manufacturing personal care products followed by its major use to effectively absorb water and supply it to the roots of the plants in agriculture sector. India appears to be the fastest growing consumer of superabsorbent polymers based products over the forecast period.

Superabsorbent Polymers Market - Competitive Analysis

Superabsorbent polymers market appears to be less competitive with the presence of only few major global chemicals and materials manufacturers operating in the superabsorbent polymers market. Presence of few key players will lead to monopoly situation and also competitive edge in innovation and technology is expected to be indelicate. As these materials are pricing at higher costs in the current markets and increasing demand for superabsorbent materials materials in personal care and paints & coatings industries will influence the end user products from these industries. Superabsorbent polymers market demonstrates a high growth potential as the demand for these materials is increasing other key players are likely to invest in opening new production capacities to meet the global demand with better solutions.

Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:

June 2015  BASF SE (Germany), one of the key manufacturers of superabsorbent polymers also having presence in Brazil, has announced opening of its new production line for acrylic acid, butyl acrylate and superabsorbent polymers in Camacari, Bahia, Brazil. These are the first plants for acrylic acid and superabsorbent polymers in South America. The complex has a capacity of 160,000 tons of acrylic acid per year. The investment of more than 500 million ($567 million) is the largest in BASFs more than century-long history in South America. This complex will secure national and regional supply of products that are currently imported. Moreover it reduces the demand for raw material to produce superabsorbent polymers in various applications.

September 2015  Evonik Industries AG (Germany) a global manufacturer of superabsorbent polymers, has announced that company plans to increase its production capacities for superabsorbent polymers with selected debottlenecking measures. With the project engineering phase complete, the company says implementation will now be conducted in several phases. Evoniks global superabsorbent production capacities will increase by approximately 40,000 metric tons per year. The group sees the biggest potential in its Krefeld and Rheinmunster plants. The company says the resulting flexibility for planning and utilizing production capacities will be used to secure and expand Evonik's leading market position in the area of superabsorbent polymers.

June 2017  NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD. (Japan), Japanese superabsorbent polymer producer Nippon Shokubai announced a substantial price increase for superabsorbent polymers effective from July 1, 2017, or as contracts and agreements allow. The announcement said prices will go up by $200 a tonne. This is anticipated to have a negative impact in the North East Asia region.
Teenagers have filmed themselves brazenly risking their lives while illegally climbing a high-rise construction site.

The group of at least six boys uploaded a video to TikTok showing them scaling the scaffolding of a 30-storey building in Rhodes, in Sydney's inner-west at sunset.

In part of the footage, one member of the group could be seen making his way on foot across a beam that jutted out of the main frame.

The boy maneuvered his arms and legs over the different parts of the beam while hanging more than 100m above the city below.

Another boy could be seen standing on the edge of the scaffolding looking out at northern Sydney with his arms outstretched.

Others were pictured straddling a metal beam with their legs hanging down on either side.

Those viewing the video on TikTok were stunned at the group's daring stunt.

'You won't be able to see how many likes you have from your coffin,' one person wrote.

'Im sorry, is that real? What are those idiots doing up there?' Another said.

Hair-raising: A group of at least six boys uploaded a video to TikTok showing them scaling the scaffolding of a 30-storey building in Rhodes, in Sydney's inner-west

The user who uploaded the video attempted to defend the group's actions - claiming the video was intended to create 'shock' in 'videography'.

'The risk of death is extremely low,' he said. 'Even then, its worth it. I wake up every morning with no regrets.'

New South Wales Police said they had received no complaint about the hair-raising incident.

'Officers strongly discourage this type of risky behaviour,' a spokesman said.
Gold Coast Suns star Brandon Ellis has given character testimony in court on behalf of a friend who pleaded guilty to major drug offences.

Ellis, a two-time premiership winner with Richmond before joining the Suns, gave testimony on behalf of Cassius Canfield via mobile phone to the County Court in Victoria on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Canfield had pleaded guilty to cultivating and trafficking cannabis following a raid on his rented house in the eastern Melbourne suburb of East Keilor on Feb. 27 which turned up eight plants growing under a hydroponic arrangement in the garage.

Cassius Canfield (pictures) has pleaded guilty to cultivating and trafficking cannabis

He had a further six plants in an East Keilor factory.

Police also found almost 3kg of harvested and loose cannabis, over 60 grams of speed as well as heroin, cocaine, $12,650 in cash, mobile phones and other drug paraphernalia.

It was not stated in court how Ellis and Canfield knew each other but Cahill referred to the Suns wingman as 'another friend'.

Canfield was released on bail, pending sentencing on July 2.

AFL Star Brandon Ellis (left) appeared via video link to give his friend, Canfield, a character reference

Brandon Ellis, Gold Coast Suns Defender, appeared via a mobile phone in Melbourne Magistrates' court

It was never mentioned how Ellis knew Canfield, being described only as a friend

It was not the first time Ellis had given character testimony in a trial.

In 2018 while still at Richmond, Ellis spoke up for a friend who allegedly 'brutally bashed a disability pensioner in a violent armed robbery'.

Omar Benhaddou was charged with armed robbery and false imprisonment and released from custody after a glowing statement from his childhood friend.

Omar Benhaddou (left) and Brandon Ellis (right) grew up together in Carlton north

Benhaddou posted this picture to his facebook just days after his attack

The Supreme Court judge took into account the character reference given by Ellis which praised his 'honesty, loyalty, discipline and respect'.

Benhaddou's victim, Mr Mckay was shocked to hear the AFL star had backed his attacker, and was traumatized and afraid to leave the house.
As many as 8,400 New South Wales residents have been put on high alert after fragments of coronavirus were found in sewer readings.

New South Wales Health confirmed on Thursday afternoon that fragments of the virus had been found in the Castle Hill Network.

The sewer system covers people living in Castle Hill, Dural, Glenhaven, Kellyville and Kenthurst.

'NSW Health was notified yesterday (Wednesday 9 June) that fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 were detected in the Castle Hill Sewage Network,' they said.

'This is the second recent detection in this catchment, following the first on Sunday 6 June.'

As many as 8,400 New South Wales residents have been put on high alert after fragments of coronavirus were found in sewer readings

'People who have recently recovered from COVID-19 can continue to shed virus fragments into the sewerage system for several weeks even after they are no longer infectious.

'NSW Health is asking everyone in these areas to be especially vigilant in monitoring for symptoms, and if they appear get tested and isolate immediately until a negative result is received.'

The news comes after a 44-year-old woman infected with the virus fled Victoria's lockdown, driving through regional New South Wales and into Queensland last week.

NSW Health is urging anyone with any symptoms, particularly from the area in Sydney's west, to immediately get tested and isolate.

The woman tested positive on Wednesday but may have been infectious from the day she left Melbourne on June 1, which was already in lockdown.

On Thursday morning, Queensland Health confirmed her husband had also contracted the virus.

The couple are both in Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

Police are investigating whether the couple crossed the NSW-Queensland border at the remote rural town of Goondiwindi on June 5 in a bid to evade authorities.

The couple likely drove the scenic route so they could avoid passing through the Gold Coast - where police perform 100 random intercepts a day with strict border control measures in place.

Health authorities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus during their interstate trip

There are also reports the woman lied on her declaration form when entering Queensland, sparking a chorus of public outrage.

Sunny's Cafe at Moffat Beach on the Sunshine Coast was also identified as an exposure venue after the couple dined there between 2.45-3pm on June 6, one day after arriving in Queensland.

The manager on duty said four staff at the small cafe have been tested and are in isolation.

If any return a positive test, the entire cafe will be forced to close for at least 14 days.
A pair of tiny kittens dumped on a dark, cold night were saved from suffocating and dying from hypothermia when a worker spotted them 'by chance'.

The three-month-old two black kittens were discarded inside a green shopping bag left outside the closed RSPCA shelter at Lonsdale in South Australia and found when a rescue officer was leaving work for the night.

'An RSPCA rescue officer found the kittens by chance as she was leaving the site via the employees' access gate at 7.15pm last night,' the organisation said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia.

These two three month old kittens were found abandoned in a Woolworths shopping bag (pictured above) outside the RSPCA shelter at Lonsdale, Adelaide on a cold Wednesday evening. Had they not been found the RSPCA believes they may not have survived the night

An RSPCA South Australia rescue officer found the kittens in the Woolworths shopping bag on Wednesday evening (pictured above)

The temperature at the time was eight degrees and dropping.

The shelter closed at 4pm.

The Woolworths bag the kittens were dumped in was tied so tightly with a woven band that it was 'difficult to cut off, putting the young animals at risk not only of hyperthermia but also suffocation,' the RSPCA said.

The animal welfare group called the dumping 'inhumane, illegal and unnecessary'.

'If left out overnight, there is little chance these babies would have survived given the freezing conditions and the lack of air inside that bag,' Chief Inspector Andrea Lewis told Daily Mail Australia.

The dumped kittens - nicknamed Griffin and Phoenix by RSPCA staff - are resting at a South Australian RSCPA shelter now on their way to a foster carer before they go up for adoption

'Why this individual couldn't have brought them in to the shelter during opening hours, when they could immediately have received the care they need, is impossible to understand.'

Smitten RSPCA staff nicknamed the cats Griffin and Phoenix.

The RSPCA pointed out abandoning an animal is a crime under South Australias Animal Welfare Act, punishable by up to two years imprisonment or a $20,000 fine.

The abandoned kittens will be adopted out after they have lived with a volunteer foster carer for two weeks, then been vaccinated, microchipped and desexed.
A woman buried her mom in their yard after finding her dead in her bed over fears a medical examiner would cut her loved one's body during an autopsy, it is claimed.

The Richmond County Sheriff's Office had responded to a home on Tobacco Road in South Augusta around 4:25 p.m. on June 3 for a medical call, WFXG reported.

Deputies who responded found Melissa Lockhart, 43, inside the home with a broken right knee and she was taken to Augusta University Medical Center for treatment.

While at the home, deputies also spotted a shallow grave in the backyard that had been recently dug and found the remains of Lockhart's 67-year-old mother Miriam Lynn Lockhart.

Melissa Lockhart, left, has been charge with concealing death after she allegedly burying her mom's corpse in their backyard. She is pictured right when she was a young girl

The Richmond County Sheriff's Office had responded to a home on Tobacco Road in South Augusta around 4:25 p.m. on June 3 for a medical call

Deputies who responded found Melissa Lockhart, 43, inside the home with a broken right knee and she was taken to Augusta University Medical Center for treatment

While at the home, deputies also spotted a shallow grave in the backyard that had been recently dug

In the makeshift grave, cops found the remains of Lockhart's 67-year-old mother Miriam Lynn Lockhart

The shallow grave where Miriam Lynn Lockhart was buried by her daughter is pictured

The shallow grave where Miriam Lynn Lockhart was buried by her daughter is pictured

Lockhart has been charged with attempting to conceal a corpse, and claims she did not want a medical examiner to cut her mom's remains during an autopsy

The backyard of Melissa Lockhart's home is pictured

Melissa Lockhart allegedly told cops she found her mom dead in bed on either May 31 or June 1 and did not want anyone to take her mom from her or 'to cut' on her by performing an autopsy, so she buried her in the backyard, WFXG reported.

She has been charge with concealing death and a probation violation and her bond has been set at $6,520.50, court records show.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has completed an autopsy for Miriam Lynn Lockhart, though the results of that autopsy are not known.

A GBI spokesperson declined to disclose the autopsy results or comment on the case to Oxygen on Tuesday.

The outlet obtained records that show officials had previously been sent to the home Melissa Lockhart lived in with her mother.

Deputies had responded to the home in February and found Miriam Lockhart having trouble breathing, it was reported.

In a separate police report obtained by Oxygen, Miriam Lockhart allegedly told deputies she was 'scared' her daughter may 'hit or kill her' and said she was immobile and hadn't left her house in years.

Law enforcement officials never found evidence or visible injuries but referred the case to the state's Adult Protective Services, the outlet reported. Melissa Lockhart reportedly denied abusing her mom.

Melissa Lockhart is pictured with her daughter

An Elmo doll is pictured among other items in front of Melissa Lockhart's home

A bed where Miriam Lynn Lockhart slept before her death was allegedly placed in the backyard by the police department during Miriam's death investigation

Miriam Lockhart, who had worked as a real estate agent, was remembered as having a 'good personality' by friends and colleagues.

Jeff Keller, a former employer of Lockhart, told WRDW that she was a 'good agent.'

'If you don't have that personality, the ability to like people and you've got change your personality to match theirs they're not going to like you and they're not going to trust you. Which means you've got to have those two traits to be successful in real estate,' he said.

He added: 'She worked for me for about two or three years, and she was a good agent. A good personality.'
A 34-year-old father of two was shot dead last month after a soft-touch judge set a suspected teen gang member free again after his third gun arrest in four months, it has been revealed.

Alberto Ramirez, 16, is accused of fatally shooting Eric Velasquez in Fordham, the Bronx, back on May 16, after he allegedly opened fire indiscriminately into a crowd.

It has now emerged that a series of failings by a New York City judge allowed Ramirez to be out on the streets the day he allegedly murdered the 34-year-old.

Supreme Court Justice Denis Boyle helped set the teen free on two recent occasions involving gun charges - once freeing him without bail and once slashing the bail from $75,000 to $10,000 cash or $25,000 bond.

He also ignored prosecutors' pleas to charge Ramirez as an adult on two occasions, instead referring the cases to family court, according to the New York Post.

Ramirez's most recent gun-related arrest was on February 23 over an incident on February 8.

Alberto Ramirez, 16, (seen in mug) is accused of shooting Eric Velasquez after he was repeatedly bailed by Bronx Judge Denis Boyle

Sources told the Post the 16-year-old had accidentally shot himself in the foot while walking near rival gang turf.

Ramirez allegedly lied to police about the incident, claiming he was shot by three men who had confronted him in the street.

When surveillance footage showed he had shot himself in the foot, he was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon and falsely reporting an incident, the sources said.

He was originally held on $75,000 bail - a sum that meant he would likely have still been behind bars on May 16.

But Boyle reduced the amount to $10,000 cash or $25,000 bond on March 2 and his family posted the bond a few weeks later, the Bronx District Attorney's Office told the Post.

Around a month after he walked free, he allegedly shot and killed Velasquez.

Velasquez was just feet from his apartment when a bullet struck him in the stomach.

He died in hospital hours later, after police said he refused to hand over any information about his killer.

Ramirez was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

Velasquez (pictured with his son) was just feet from his apartment when a bullet struck him in the stomach. He died in hospital hours later

Ramirez was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. Velasquez with his son

Law enforcement sources slammed Boyle for his handling of the teen's various gun arrests, with one accusing the judge of giving Ramirez 'enough rope to hang himself.'

'Here is a kid who got a gun, got another gun, got another gun,' another source said.

'How many bites of the apple does someone get before someone gets killed? In this case, it was three.'

Ramirez's February arrest was the third since December which saw the teen walk free.

Ramirez was first arrested and charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon over an October shooting, the Post reported.

The teen allegedly dropped a loaded handgun inside a Bronx apartment and the weapon discharged, firing into a neighboring apartment.

Police found three firearms in the property.

In this case, prosecutors are said to have agreed that the case be transferred to family court.

In December, Ramirez was arrested again and charged him with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon after cops found him in possession of a .25-caliber pistol, reported the Post.

Boyle let Ramirez walk free without any bail.

It has now emerged that a series of failings by a New York City judge allowed Ramirez to be out on the streets the day he allegedly murdered the 34-year-old. Bronx Civil Supreme Court

His decision came a day after bail was originally set at $2,000 - a fraction of the $25,000 cash or $70,000 bond requested by prosecutors.

Boyle has come under fire for other controversial decisions in the past.

The judge was slammed last year after he released murder suspect Jordon Benjamin last March due to COVID-19.

Benjamin had been behind bars for the Christmas Eve 2019 attack on 60-year-old Juan Fresnada, who died from his injuries days later.

Nine months after he was released by Boyle, he allegedly slashed a young woman in the stomach with a knife.

This incident came two decades after Boyle signed a plea deal to release homeless man Ishmael Holmes following a sex attack on a woman in the Bronx.

340 East 184th Street in Fordham Heights where Velasquez was allegedly shot by Ramirez

The judge allowed him to return to a shelter and receive therapy.

Holmes allegedly went on to attack eight women on Manhattan's Upper East Side in the months that followed before he was arrested again in 2020.

A call to the Bronx Supreme Court by DailyMail.com was not answered late Wednesday.

Velasquez's death comes amid a crime wave in New York City, with both shootings and shooting victims up 68 percent so far in 2021 compared to the same time last year.

A total of 13 people were shot over Memorial Day weekend including a 15-year-old boy who was killed in the Bronx.

Fears are growing that the city is harking back to the dark days of the 70s and 80s when murders and shootings were rife and it earned the nickname 'Fear City.'

Governor Andrew Cuomo has admitted New York City is now in the throes of a 'major crime problem' which - if not tackled soon - could cause irreparable damage to the Big Apple.
The front runner to be elected mayor of New York City on Wednesday staged a bizarre press conference to stave off rumors that he actually lived in New Jersey.

Eric Adams, the 60-year-old current president of Brooklyn, took reporters on a tour of his home in the borough - allowing them to peer inside his fridge and pore over his wardrobe.

Reporters noted the Democrat's scruffily-made bed, and creaky floorboards inside the Bed-Stuy townhouse, where he says he lives in the basement and rents out the floors above to pay for his son's college fees.

Adams' rivals and critics have accused him of actually living in New Jersey, where he owns a co-op in Fort Lee with his partner, Tracey Collins, an educator.

He dismissed the story as nonsense on Wednesday.

'How foolish would someone have to be to run to be the mayor of the City of New York and live in another municipality?' Adams asked.

Eric Adams, hoping to replace Bill de Blasio as the mayor of New York City, on Wednesday invited reporters to tour his basement home in Brooklyn, in a bid to prove that he actually lived in the city - rather than in New Jersey

Adams' home is seen on Lafayette Street in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. He lives in the basement and rents out the other two floors, he said, to fund his son's college education

The president of the borough of Brooklyn staged a press conference, beside his son, Jordan, 25, to insist that he did live in the property

Joined by his 25-year-old son, Jordan, outside the red-brick building, Adams, a former NYPD captain, tried to explain that he liked to keep his home private.

He said the feeling began when his son was a baby, and the back windows of Adams' car were shot at.

'Throughout my entire police career, none of my colleagues knew I had a son,' Adams said.

'I wanted to shield him from the reality of what I was doing. I became very private.'

His spokesman, Evan Thies, said Adams has lived on Lafayette Avenue in Bed-Stuy for nearly a decade, and gave several utility bills.

Adams' spokesman said that he has lived there for over a decade. Yet Adams was registered to vote until this year at yet another address, in Prospect Heights. His team say that was an administrative error, and the Bed-Stuy address is his main home

Adams is pictured speaking outside the home in Brooklyn. His spokesman insists he has lived there for a decade

Adams is registered to vote on the first floor, yet a tenant who has lived there for years is listed under the same unit in multiple documents obtained by Politico.

And last month, the publication City Limits reported that most of Adams' neighbors did not know he lived on their block, or that he is running for mayor.

Yet Politico, which monitored Adams as he came and went, found that he was frequently arriving in the Brooklyn Borough Hall offices after midnight, and leaving first thing in the morning.

He insisted it was to work.

The site reported that he also purchased a co-op in Prospect Heights with someone in 1992, and continues to list that property on official records, even though he says he hasn't lived there in almost 10 years.

He included that address on registration forms for his current mayoral and 2017 borough president campaigns, though his staff also added his Bed-Stuy property to the 2021 campaign form.

His spokesman said he has sold share of the Prospect Heights place.

They also noted that his Zoom calls have been from multiple different places, including his car and a nondescript cubicle.

Adams' Democrat rivals have seized on the questions.

Adams owns a condo in this Fort Lee building with his partner, Tracey Collins, an educator

Ray McGuire, another mayoral candidate and a former executive at Citigroup, said on Wednesday morning that Adams had serious questions to answer.

'You cannot simply have a cloud over the leadership of this city having to do with whether the rules of engagement have been followed,' McGuire told The New York Daily News.

'Nobody gets a pass in this city. Nobody should get a pass.'

Another rival, Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, said in a statement that it appeared Adams was 'misusing his political office at the taxpayers' expense.'

Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor de Blasio, called the story 'straight-up bizarre.'

And Andrew Yang, the former White House hopeful, said in a news conference in Queens that Adams 'probably lives in New Jersey.'

He called on Adams to release E-Z Pass records from his vehicle, proving how frequently he traveled to New Jersey.

Adams said he saw his girlfriend, Collins, on Saturday, but that it was the first time he spent time with her in over two months.

She lives in Fort Lee and maintains a low profile.

The primary will be held on June 22, and will in effect decide the election in the strongly-Democratic city. The election will be held on November 2.
A savvy schoolboy has tried to raise money for his senior formal suit by selling a 'rare Woolworths plastic bag' on Facebook Marketplace.

High school student Casey, from Moreton Bay in Brisbane's north, decided to keep the bag as a keepsake when the supermarket giant banned single-use plastic carriers in its stores in 2018.

The Deception Bay High School senior student has now decided to sell the bag online in a bid to raise the $300 he needs to buy his end-of-year formal outfit.

Scroll down for audio

A Brisbane high school student has tried to raise money for his senior formal suit by selling a 'rare Woolworths plastic bag' online

'I needed some extra money and I thought it would just be fun and a good laugh,' he told 4BC.

He said he had looked at suits online ahead of his formal at Brisbane's Stamford Plaza hotel and all of them had been around the $300 mark.

The student though said he may consider waiting a while longer to sell the bag so it gains even more in value.

'Maybe in a couple years time it might actually be worth something!' He said.

Deception Bay High School student Casey, from Moreton Bay in Brisbane's north, decided to keep the bag as a keepsake

Casey said an art gallery had already offered to help him raise the money he needed.

'Thrillhouse at Camp Hill [in Brisbane's inner-east] has offered me $100 to showcase the artefact in their gallery,' he said.

'They were wanting to raise money for my suit.'
A 20-year-old man from Falmouth has been arrested after a bomb scare at a G7 hotel in the early hours of this morning.

Guests were evacuated from Falmouth Hotel after a member of staff found a suspicious package in the building's grounds.

It comes as 11,000 police officers and military personnel form a ring of steel around the summit at Carbis Bay in Cornwall.

Devon and Cornwall Police revealed a man has now been taken into custody over the hoax device.

The force tweeted: 'A 20-year-old man from Falmouth has been arrested on suspicion of a bomb hoax and has been taken into police custody.'

Those staying at the Falmouth Hotel received an abrupt wake-up call at 4.55am when police officers started banging on doors.

Photographs show people wearing dressing gowns while others threw on clothes they had easily to hand for the emergency evacuation

Guests were evacuated from Falmouth Hotel after a member of staff found a suspicious package in the building's grounds. Pictured, a police cordon

The package was later found to be harmless with Devon and Cornwall Police saying it had been a hoax.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officers declared the device 'not viable', the cordon was removed and guests have now been allowed back into their rooms.

Detectives have now launched a criminal investigation.

Guests were told to immediately leave the building and congregate in a car park at the Victorian hotel that looks over Falmouth Bay - around 30 minutes away from the Carbis Bay hotel, where world leaders will meet this weekend.

As dawn broke police swooped on the hotel and searched bushes and flowerbeds while wearing headtorches as they looked for anything suspicious.

Some 100 guests stood in the car park before a sergeant arrived and ordered the group to another car park about 200 yards away from the 'perceived threat'.

A bomb disposal squad arrived to investigate the suspicious package at just after 5am this morning. It was found to be a hoax

All entrances to the Falmouth Hotel were closed off as 100 guests were forced to wait outside

A bomb disposal squad was drafted in after a member of staff reported finding a suspicious package outside

Police and the bomb squad is pictured outside the hotel after guests were evacuated

Police officers are pictured examining the cause of the threat outside the Falmouth Hotel

Photographs show people wearing dressing gowns while others threw on clothes they had easily to hand for the emergency evacuation.

Devon and Cornwall Police said officers rushed to the hotel at 3.15am to reports of a 'suspicious package' in the grounds surrounding the building.

The force said in a statement: 'In order to maintain public safety, the area is currently being safely evacuated as a precautionary measure.

'This will impact on those staying within the Falmouth Hotel, Madeira Hotel and campervans in the area, as well as neighbouring properties.'

A police spokesman later added: 'Following EOD assessment, the device has been declared not viable and therefore safe.

'In total around 100 were displaced; these people are now being allowed back into their rooms and the 100 meter cordon is being removed.

'A smaller scene guard will remain in place until the item is collected and removed by scenes of crime.

Police are pictured starting their shift at Carbis Bay ahead of the G7 which starts Friday

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officers declared the device 'not viable', the cordon was removed and guests (pictured) have now been allowed back into the Falmouth Hotel

A table was upturned by officers as a suspicious package was investigated by a bomb squad

Police officers are pictured at the scene as investigations into the hoax continued

Police are pictured with guests during the investigation into the hoax package

Police gathered outside the Falmouth Hotel as the investigation continued into the bomb hoax

'We currently believe that this was a hoax incident and a criminal investigation has been launched. We thank the public and those who were evacuated for their assistance.'

EOD officers arrived shortly before 5.30am and local businesses opened their doors to offer refuge as drizzle began.

An officer said: 'This could all be over in five minutes but equally it could be a lot longer than that.'

Falmouth is home to the media centre for those covering the summit that begins in nearby Carbis Bay on Friday. More than 1,000 police who are part of the 70m security operation are also based in a cruise liner berthed in the harbour.

A ring of steel surrounding the G7 summit has seen 11,000 police officers and 150 sniffer dogs gather to combat potential threats.

EOD officers arrived shortly before 5.30am and local businesses opened their doors to offer refuge as drizzle began

Falmouth is home to the media centre for those covering the summit that begins in nearby Carbis Bay on Friday. More than 1,000 police who are part of the 70m security operation are also based in a cruise liner berthed in the harbour

The bomb scare will add to tensions in the area as world leaders arrive today for the start of the conference.

President Joe Biden and his wife flew into Newquay Airport shortly before midnight and were driven to their accommodation at the Treganna Hotel in a convoy of cars flanked by police outriders.

Protestors have been gathering in the area with Falmouth one of the designated areas where they can meet.

Groups planning to demonstrate include Extinction Rebellion and Resist G7.

The 5,000 police on duty at the conference have been tasked with keeping any protest away from the Carbis Hotel where the G7 meetings take place.

British police officers patrol outside the security fence erected around the perimeter of Carbis Bay today

British police officers are pictured around the perimeter of Carbis Bay today

Police officers are seen in front of Carbis Bay Hotel on June 5, ahead of the G7 summit

It comes after US president Biden issued a stern rebuke to Boris Johnson for 'inflaming tensions' in Northern Ireland and threatening the peace process - over Britain's stance with the EU over the 'sausage war'.

The US President used his diplomats to express 'great concern' over the conflict and 'strongly urged' Britain to 'stay cool' and reach an agreement, even if that meant making 'unpopular compromises'.

He even seemed to threaten the possibility of a future trade deal with the United States, claiming that Britain accepting demands to stick to EU agricultural rules would mean the issue would not 'negatively affect the chances' of coming to a free trade deal with Britain.

Mr Biden has begun his first foreign trip as president, consisting of eight days in Europe where he will meet Mr Johnson and his new wife Carrie, the rest of the G7 leaders, The Queen, NATO officials and Russian Premier Vladimir Putin on June 16 in Geneva.

The President and his wife Jill left Washington on Wednesday morning and landed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to address US Air Force personnel stationed in Britain. At the start of his speech he told the standing troops to sit by saying 'at ease', then said: 'I keep forgetting I am president'.
Amazon Australia has rejected claims it underpays delivery drivers, spies on workers and blocks unions from attending warehouses.

Senators grilled Amazon's public policy director Michael Cooley at a Senate inquiry investigating job security on Thursday.

Mr Cooley said Amazon Flex drivers, who use their own sedans to pick up parcels, received a minimum of $108 for four hours, putting them slightly above the rate set in owner-driver laws.

He said the average was $120 for four hours because of surge pricing.

'No one who works for Amazon gets paid below the minimum wage, we say that categorically,' he told the hearing.

Senators grilled Amazon's public policy director Michael Cooley at a Senate inquiry investigating job security on Thursday (pictured Amazon warehouse workers)

Labor senator Tony Sheldon detailed incidents in which union officials gave advance warning and showed up with right-of-entry passes only to be met by police.

Mr Cooley said he wasn't aware that had occurred but insisted the company had an open-door policy for staff to raise complaints.

'We respect our employees' rights to join or not join unions without fear or retaliation, intimidation or harassment,' he said.

'Unions are welcome to enter our sites in accordance with their legal entitlements in Australia which they exercise on a regular basis.'

Transport Workers Union secretary Michael Kaine said delivery drivers refused to appear at the inquiry out of fear of retribution.

'Amazon is trying to cover up a system that is exploiting drivers,' he said.

'These characters in Amazon will only comply with laws when they're caught red-handed.'

Mr Kaine said the minimum pay of $108 an hour for four hours left drivers with less than $3 an hour to meet fuel, car, insurance, annual leave and superannuation costs.

'Clearly that is against the law in Australia. That is an unfair contract,' he said.

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association NSW secretary Bernie Smith said people were sacked for speaking up about workplace issues.

He said a woman was racially and religiously vilified by a colleague who admitted he was doing it.

She was then sacked for breaching confidentiality after telling another worker she didn't feel supported by the company.

Online retail giant Amazon has denied claims they underpaid delivery drivers, spied on workers and blocked unions from attending warehouses

Amazon's public policy director Michael Cooley denied the claims, before revealing staff surveys revealed 83 per cent of workers would tell friends and family the company was a great place to work

Mr Smith said the incident had now been resolved but he spoke about a culture of fear among employees associated with unions.

Mr Cooley said Amazon used surveillance to maintain security and keep employees, building and inventory safe.

'Any attempt to sensationalise these activities or suggest that we're doing something unusual or wrong is incorrect,' he said.

Mr Cooley pointed to staff surveys which found 83 per cent of workers would tell friends and family the company was a great place to work.

He said Amazon was 'proud' flex drivers were allowed to earn money from other sources but denied they should be given rights and entitlements of employees.

'They're not workers, they're independent contractors.'
Global Barite Market Research Report - Forecast to 2022 - Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast up to 2022.

Barite Market  Market Overview

Global barite market witnessed strong growth from oil and gas exploration industry owing to its usage to suppress the high formation of liquid and prevent blowouts. Rising pressure on energy sector to meet global demand of growing transportation and petrochemical industry has result in rising oil and gas production which in turn will have positive impact on barite market. In addition, barite is used for application as weighing agent and to increase density of fluid to control pressure in shale reserves. Thus, blooming oil shale production will subsequently drive the demand of barite in U.S. market.

Get a Free Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2035

Barite is widely used in application such as textile, paints and coatings and paper making among others. This mineral is used in sodium hydroxide production which is extensively used in refining sugar and in paints as white pigments. Moreover, increasing automotive production coupled with rise in residential and commercial projects also positively influence the barite market growth. Barite is also used in production of barium carbonate which in turn used in manufacturing LED glass. Growing LED glass consumption in television and laptops is expected to augment the barite market growth over the forecast period. Barite is non-magnetic in nature which makes it ideal choice for drilling hole. Hence, alternative to barite such as celestite, iron ore and synthetic hematite does not hold any major impact in drilling mud industry.

Barite is broadly segmented according to grade as grade 3.9, grade 4.0, grade 4.1, grade 4.2 and grade above 4.3. Grade with high specific gravity represents superior quality compared to lower specific gravity. Higher grade obtained from deeper earth crust holds higher prices, which in turn impede the market growth over the forecast period. However, lower grade barite from 3.9 to 4.2 is gaining traction in oil and gas industry owing to optimum production of shale gas coupled with shift in trend towards unconventional energy source thereby, will have positive impact on barite market in coming years.

Barite are largely consumed in Asia Pacific region owing to robust end use industry growth, favourable government policies and low labor cost. China is leading country owing to large availability of shale reserve to meet growing demand of barite in automotive and construction industry. Furthermore, rapid industrialization has led to strong growth in paints and coating industry which is likely to propel barite market growth. North America is second largest market due to rise in shale gas production in U.S. and development in infrastructure activities leading to growth in paints and coatings industry. U.S. is major market and exhibits growth potential in coming years. Europe to register significant growth. Germany and UK are leading countries in European regions on account of large automotive hub. Automotive refinishes and restoration is driving huge demand of paints and coatings which in turn drives the demand for barite market. Moreover, Brazil is anticipated to witnessed high demand of barite on account of increase in expenditure on interior of residential projects which is anticipated to further drive the paints and coatings industry.

Key Players:

Desku Group Inc. (United States), Halliburton Company (Unites States), Excalibar Minerals LLC (United States), P & S Barite Mining Co. Ltd. (Thailand), Ashapura Minechem Ltd. (India), Anglo Pacific Minerals (United Kingdom), CIMBAR Performance Minerals (United States), New Riverside Ochre Company, Inc (United States), Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation Limited (India) and Mil-Spec Industries Corporation (United States) among others are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Barite Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.

Barite Market  Competitive Analysis

Barite market is fragmented market with tier 1 and tier 2 companies dominating the overall market. The major players are adopting key strategy like partnerships and agreements in order to reduce gap between supplier and manufacturer of barite. Apart from that, various key strategies adopted by key players are expansion and acquisition. Advancement in technology and increasing presence of significant players has positively impact the growth of barite market. Moreover, companies are expanding their production facility to meet global demand and obtain competitive advantage in the market.

Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:

April 2017 Nigeria barite sector are entering new era of development by targeting strategic minerals and metals of development including barite, limestone, iron and bitumen along with offering tax break to mining companies. This project got initiative after World Bank approved credit line of USD 150 Million to increase the mining sector in Nigerian economy. This would open new lucrative opportunity to market players.

June 2017 Honey Badger Exploration Inc. signed an agreement to acquire assets located in Quebec. The deal includes acquisition of three properties including the Upton Property, the Saint-Fabien Property, and the Kamouraska Property. Total of 642 hectors are acquired for zinc and barite mining. This would strengthen companies position by opening new opportunity to investors as well as raise capital for advanced new projects.

February 2016 Schlumberger got approval of barite mining at Duntanlich near Aberfeldy in Perthshire. The Duntanlich site is economically known as barite deposit in UK. The company plans to mine around 120,000 tons of mineral each year to make self sufficient for over next 50 years. This would strengthen companies position as barite is key ingredient of drilling mud industry.

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews refuses to reveal when he will return to work as Melburnians endure a prolonged exit out of his government-imposed lockdown.

The face of the Premier has not been seen since he hit social media in April when he declared he was back on his feet walking for up to an hour a day.

Last week Mr Andrews posted an image of himself with his face partially covered, sparking further speculation as to the extent of his injury, when he would return to work and why he had not been seen.

Acting Premier James Merlino has confirmed Premier Daniel Andrews has been involved in the 'big issues' while off injured

Melburnians will need to continue wearing masks while outdoors thanks to the discovery of new community transmission of the virus

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been missing in action for months

On Thursday, Acting Premier James Merlino said his boss still could not tell him when he would return to work or in what capacity.

'He put out a statement a little while ago. He's meeting with his doctors this week and based on that advice from his doctors he'll be able to indicate at what point he'll be able to return back to work as Premier,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'I'm not his doctor. I'm in regular contact with Dan, but it'll be his doctor's advice - meeting with them this week - and we'll have a better sense of when in June he'll be back.'

The Premier suffered five broken ribs and a fractured T7 vertebrae after falling on 'wet and slippery' stairs at a holiday home on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, on March 9.

Victoria had only just come out of its third lockdown in February, which all but ruined the Australian Open and reignited calls for the Premier to step down.

Mr Merlino told Daily Mail Australia Mr Andrews had continued to play a role in the government's decision making process on the 'big issues'.

'On the day-to-day business of government, whether it's budget, whether it's responding to the Covid crisis, whether it's the day-to-day business of government - we want him focused on his recovery,' Mr Merlino said.

'But on the big issues, of course I talk with Dan on a regular basis. Based on his doctor's advice, we'll have a better sense soon in terms of when Dan will be back.'

The four new locally-acquired cases are from the same household and investigations into acquisition source are underway

Masks will need to be worn in Melbourne amid concerns the virus will spread

Government insiders have told Daily Mail Australia Mr Andrews has continued to 'pull the strings' while hidden from the spotlight.

'The peculiar thing is he loves the limelight and being in control as we all know so the silence is deafening,' a source said.

'Something doesnt quite stack up. And frankly, he has been speaking with Mr Merlino regularly - no doubt giving direction ... so surely Victorians have a right to know.'

On Thursday, Victorian health officials backtracked on easing compulsory mask use after a family-of-four tested positive for Covid without having visited any known exposure sites.

Victorians had been told they would be able to ditch their masks while outside from Friday.

'It is inconvenient but an easy thing to do. We are used to it, we know it works,' Mr Merlino said.

Health workers conduct COVID-19 testing at the Montague Street centre in South Melbourne last month

Victorian testing commander Jeroen Weimar said he was not aware of anyone catching the virus while outdoors in the latest outbreak. With health officials 'suspecting' it may have happened previously

Premier Daniel Andrews made several appearances on social media in April before vanishing from the public eye

The imposition to an already frustrated community comes despite health officials confirming no-one in Victoria had actually contracted the virus while outdoors during the latest outbreak.

Victorias COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said while people had contracted the virus in larger indoor venues, none had caught it while outdoors.

'We have no evidence we've seen yet in this particular outbreak, or of the most recent ones we've dealt with, of outdoor transmission,' he said.

Mr Weimar said the decision to maintain the outdoor mask laws was made due to uncertainty in how the latest lot of Melburnians contracted the virus.

'We're in this environment where we still have undetected community transmission active in our community,' he said.

The Department of Health said the four cases reported on Thursday were all from the same household and 'investigations into acquisition source are underway'.

On Wednesday, the state government announced Melbourne's extended 'circuit breaker' lockdown will end at 11.59pm on Thursday, meaning people will be free to leave home for any reason

The Department of Health said the cases were from the same household and 'investigations into acquisition source are underway'

There are now 78 active cases across Victoria, down five from Wednesday

The family, from Reservoir in Melbourne's north, is made up of a man and woman in their 80s, a man in his 50s and a man in his 20s.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said health officials suspected outdoor transmission of the virus during Victoria's second deadly wave of the virus.

'It is quite hard to track transmissions that do occur outdoors, so we're probably not finding them perhaps as well,' he said.

'Transmissions certainly have occurred outdoors. They're not very common, but they do occur and at this stage, where there are active cases in the community, I think it's a small thing to ask for the community to continue to wear masks at all times when they're out of the home.'

Several measures in the state's fourth 'circuit breaker' lockdown will end at 11.59pm on Thursday, including the need for people to have a justification for leaving their homes.

But Melburnians will need to remain within 25km of their homes, unless working or studying, care giving or getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
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Prince Edward today admitted there is a 'very sad' rift between Harry, Meghan and the royals after months of transatlantic truth bombs but said 'that's families for you', adding: 'I stay way out of it. It's much the safest place to be'.

The Earl of Wessex said the situation is 'very difficult for everyone' and dodged what he thought of the Sussexes naming their daughter Lilibet after the Queen in an interview on what would have been his father Prince Philip's 100th birthday.

When asked about the baby's 'meaningful name' Edward moved straight on to the birth and said: 'Well, we just wish them all happiness. That's fantastic news and absolutely, I hope they are very happy'.

The Queen's youngest son was asked about how the Royal Family has coped with a 'difficult few months', especially Harry and Meghan's flurry of US interviews where they have repeatedly taken potshots at his British family, including accusing them of racism.

In an interview with CNN he said: 'It's difficult for everyone but that's families for you', and on the couple's decision to quit as frontline royals and emigrate he said: 'We wish them the very best of luck. It's a really hard decision'. He added intrusion is part of royal life, but 'we all had to deal with it in different ways'.

Edward also said his mother the Queen is doing 'remarkably well' despite the death of her husband after 73 years of marriage in April, saying she is enjoying getting back to royal duties after a 'difficult' lockdown.

On what would have been Prince Philip's centenary, Prince Edward spoke out as:

Princess Eugenie said she is 'thinking of her Grandpa' as she led the Royal Family in paying tributes to Philip on what would have been his 100th birthday today. The Queen planted a newly-bred 'Duke of Edinburgh' rose at Windsor Castle;

Her Majesty will host US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for tea at Windsor Castle this Sunday following the G7 summit, royal officials confirmed today;

As the row over the Sussexes' regular truth bombs about the royals from LA, Noel Gallagher has branded Prince Harry a 'f*****g woke snowflake' for publicly criticising his relatives;

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched an unprecedented legal attack on the BBC yesterday after the corporation claimed the couple did not ask the Queen if they could name their daughter Lilibet;

An anonymous relative of Meghan Markle has claimed that she 'won't ever talk to her family again' because she acts like she is 'in a different social class' and therefore 'above them and where she came from';

But her father Thomas Markle has said he would 'love' to speak to his estranged daughter as he again begged her forgiveness in a new broadcast interview due for broadcast in the US on Sunday;

Prince Harry has announced the 2023 Invictus Games will be held in Germany in a video message thought to be recorded prior to the birth of his daughter Lilibet;

Prince Edward ha given interviews on what would have been the 100th borthday of his father Prince Philip, who died this year, and admitted the row with Harry and Meghan is 'very sad'

The Duke of Wessex says it is 'best' to stay out of the row with the Sussexes, who accused the Royal Family of racism and ignoring their plea for help when Meghan said she was suicidal while pregnant

Lilibet naming row: How briefing war unfolded about whether the Queen was consulted on Harry and Meghan's daughter's name The naming of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's baby daughter has triggered an almighty row. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their daughter on Friday morning but only announced the birth on Sunday. They raised even more eyebrows after they revealed that the new baby would be named Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, after the Queen and Harry's mother Diana. Royal fans immediately questioned whether the couple had asked the Queen for permission to name their baby after her childhood nickname. Sources close to the couple suggested they did ask for consent, before a bombshell BBC report quoting a senior Buckingham Palace aide on Wednesday morning claimed the Queen was 'never asked'. Here, we look at the extraordinary briefing war that has unfolded since the birth of Lilibet: Friday 11.40am (US time): Meghan gives birth in California. It is her and Prince Harry's second child and first daughter. Sunday 5pm: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's press secretary announces Meghan's birth and reveals she is named Lilibet 'Lili' Diana Mountbatten-Windsor 10pm: The Times front page reports that the Queen was informed by Harry that Lilibet would be named after her. Other organisations, including the BBC, carry quotes from a Harry and Meghan source suggesting the couple asked the Queen's permission on the name Lilibet. Elsewhere, the BBC said a source close to the Sussexes told the corporation that Harry had spoken to the Queen before the birth and 'would have mentioned the name'. Monday 10am: People Magazine reports that Harry and Meghan told the Queen about the birth of Lilibet two days before their public announcement. 10am: Page Six reports that Prince Harry rang the Queen and asked for permission to name the new baby Lilibet before she was born. Another source said however: 'It will have likely been a call saying that she's arrived and we'd plan to name her after you - it's not really something one can say no to. I doubt they asked - more likely informed.' 4pm: Vanity Fair quotes a friend of Prince Harry's saying that they sought the Queen's blessing before naming his daughter after her. 8pm: Royal expert Russell Myers said Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did not seek formal permission from the Queen, but did ask for her blessing. Tuesday 1pm: People Magazine reports that Harry and Meghan introduced the Queen to Lilibet on a video call. Report said the couple 'were very excited and couldn't wait to share that their daughter arrived'. Yesterday 6.30am: BBC Radio 4's Today programme quotes a Buckingham Palace source saying that Harry and Meghan didn't ask permission from the Queen to use the name 'Lilibet'. BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond claimed to be told by a Palace source that Harry and Meghan 'never asked' the Queen for consent. 8am: Harry and Meghan's biographer Omid Scobie hit back at the BBC report. He quoted a Sussex source saying the Queen was 'the first family Harry called after Lilibet's birth and during that conversation, he shared the couple's hope of naming their daughter in her honour' Mr Scobie said: 'A Sussex source says that the Queen was the first family Harry called after Lilibet's birth and during that conversation, he shared the couple's hope of naming their daughter in her honor. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name. 'Those close to Prince Harry confirm that he spoke to close family before the announcement so perhaps this report highlights just how far removed aides within the institution (who learned of the baby news alongside the rest of the world) now are from the Sussexes' private matters.' 9am: A palace source tells ITV News that they are not denying the BBC's report this morning 11am: Prince Harry threatens the BBC with legal action over the story. A spokesman for Harry and Meghan, now based in California, insisted that the BBC report was wholly wrong: He said: 'The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement, in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called. 'During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.' 11.30am - The BBC amends its report though the article still says that the Queen was not asked about the name of the baby. Mr Dymond's tweets citing a Buckingham Palace source also still remain up. Advertisement

Edward was also asked how he viewed that 'very public' row in a sit-down with the BBC and replied: 'It's very sad' before adding: 'I stay way out of it. It's much the safest place to be'.

He added: 'We've all had that same spotlight shone on our lives. We've all been subjected to massive intrusion and all the rest of it. We all had to deal with it in different ways'.

When asked if he was sad he said: 'Of course, you know. I mean it'sThere are all sorts of issues and circumstances there but we've all been there' - but dodged what he thought about the choice of name Lilibet.

In a wide-ranging interview Edward spoke about how 'difficult' his parents had found shielding at Windsor Castle during lockdown, and then his father's funeral on April 17.

He said: 'It was an experience that so many other families have had to go through during this past year or 18 months and so in that sense, it was particularly poignant.

'There are an awful lot of people who haven't been able to express the respect that they would like to have done. I think many people would have liked to have been there to support the Queen.'

Edward and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, are among the senior royals taking a more active role in supporting the Queen, who at 95 has also returned to her duties and is 'actually doing remarkably well' despite her loss.

He told CNN: 'I think that it was a fantastic partnership, but over the last couple of weeks, life has got considerably busier. Things are beginning to open up more, there are more activities so weirdly that sort of fills any particular void'.

Her Majesty will meet US President Joe Biden on Sunday after the G7 summit in Cornwall.

Edward said the contents of the discussions will be kept private, before adding: 'People really do respect the fact that this is a genuinely private, off-the-record conversation so they really can talk about things and get to the heart of things and in a very genuine fashion, because they know it's not going to come out.'

He added: 'We've all, as a family, had very close links with America. We spent or we used to, not so much now, but we used to spend a lot of time going backwards and forwards, maintaining those links, the connections, the heritage ... (we've) been through a lot together. And that's what really good friendship is about.'

In a separate interview with the BBC, Edward said that, while the family would have 'loved' the duke to have been able to experience his centenary, Philip would have been less than excited for the event.

Edward told the broadcaster: 'He didn't really want all the fuss and bother. I think he wasn't really looking forward to the centenary, even if we were.

'So I think we go ahead and celebrate what might have been and his life, and I think we try to turn it into something that's very positive.'

Reflecting on his father's funeral amid the pandemic, the earl said it was an 'extraordinary' but 'strange' day.

He told the BBC: 'What should have been an occasion for so many people, and so many people that he had touched in his life not being there...

'Everybody will have their own memories. He was that sort of larger-than-life person. Once met, never forgotten.'

On Wednesday, the Queen marked the occasion with the planting of a newly-bred rose named after her beloved late husband.

Edward's spoke out as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched an unprecedented legal attack on the BBC yesterday after the corporation claimed the couple did not ask the Queen if they could name their daughter Lilibet.

In an extraordinary escalation of their war on the UK media, Harry and Meghan instructed lawyers to contest comments from the BBC's 'palace source'.

The couple said it was 'false and defamatory' to suggest the monarch had 'never been asked' if they could use her nickname and said the claim should not be repeated.

The BBC, although not commenting publicly, appeared last night to be standing by its story, which was still up on its website and the segment ran in most of its main news bulletins.

It is not clear whether the couple intend to take the matter to court, as they have done twice previously in cases against the media.

Buckingham Palace has refused to comment, but is notably not denying the BBC's story that Her Majesty 'was never asked' about the couple appropriating her pet name.

One well-placed insider told the Daily Mail that the couple's decision to use Lilibet was 'a classic example of their conviction that everything they do is right but deliberately misconstrued by the forces out to get them  and yet totally tone-deaf to the realities of the situation'.

The row was triggered yesterday morning on Radio 4's Today programme, when royal correspondent Jonny Dymond said he had been told by a 'palace source' that the Queen had not been asked by the couple about naming their daughter Lilibet.

In a report, which was backed up by a longer story on the BBC's website, he said the source strongly disputed reports that Harry and Meghan had spoken to the Queen before the birth.

Mr Dymond said his 'good palace source' was 'absolutely adamant' the Queen had 'never' been consulted. But his report also highlighted the fact that a 'source close to the Sussexes' had told the BBC directly that Harry had spoken to the Queen 'before the birth' and 'would have mentioned the name'.

The Queen (pictured receiving the rose) has marked what would have been her beloved husband Prince Philip's 100th birthday on Thursday with a touching memorial at Windsor Castle. Edward says his mother is doing 'remarkably well'

The new baby will be entitled to be a princess and Archie (pictured with Meghan and Harry) a prince - both with HRH styles - after the death of the Queen and when Charles becomes king. This is because they will have moved up the line of succession

Relative of Meghan Markle says she 'won't ever talk to her family again' because she acts like she is 'in a different social class' and like she 'is above them' An anonymous relative of Meghan Markle has claimed that she 'won't ever talk to her family again' because she acts like she is 'in a different social class' and therefore 'above them and where she came from'. The unnamed Markle insider spoke out about the Duchess of Sussex, 39, during an interview with Fox News, hitting out at the mother-of-two for her treatment of her family, while also insisting that her relatives do not wish to pursue a reconciliation. 'We're clearly in different social classes and we won't ever talk again,' the person - who did not reveal their relation to the mother-of-two - said of Meghan's relationship with her family. 'You shouldn't have to be someone you're not, or a certain class to be accepted and loved,' the person added. Advertisement

The aide behind the Palace leak to the BBC is unknown, though it is thought to be a senior official. It's also unclear if the Queen was aware of the comment, though it is considered almost unprecedented for the monarch not to sign off on quotes from senior officials, even if they are anonymous briefings.

Despite it being 1am on the West Coast of the US, Harry and Meghan's California-based PR team briefed chosen media.

The couple's biographer Omid Scobie tweeted: 'Those close to Prince Harry confirm that he spoke to close family before the announcement so perhaps this report highlights just how far removed aides within the institution (who learned of the baby news alongside the rest of the world) now are from the Sussexes' private matters.'

Shortly afterwards, the couple issued an on-the-record denial, saying: 'The duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement [of Lilibet's name on Sunday], in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called. During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour.

'Had she not been supportive, they would not have used it.'

Critics seized on the words 'shared their hope', saying it did not confirm that the Queen had a choice in the matter, either being formally consulted or asked for her blessing. And the Sussex PR team did not clarify when they informed the Queen  before or after the birth.

The denial was followed up by a legal warning to the media from the couple's London-based firm of solicitors, Schillings, which accused the BBC of libel.

It described the story on the BBC's website as 'false and defamatory', adding that 'the allegations within it should not be repeated'.

The extraordinary row exploded after days of claim and counter-claim over whether the Queen had been consulted or just informed of her new great-granddaughter's name and when.

Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born on Friday in Santa Barbara, California.

Queen will welcome Joe Biden with pomp and ceremony at Windsor: Grenadier Guards will give Royal Salute to US president and First Lady Jill Biden while Star-Spangled Banner is played this Sunday The Queen will host US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for tea at Windsor Castle this Sunday following the G7 summit, royal officials confirmed today. The 95-year-old monarch will welcome Mr Biden, who will be the 13th serving US president she has formally received, and his wife at the dais in the quadrangle. A Guard of Honour will be formed of the Queen's Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards, who will give a Royal Salute, and the US National Anthem will be played. Mr Biden will then accompany the Officer Commanding the Guard of Honour, Major James Taylor, and Major General Christopher Ghika, to inspect the Guard of Honour. The President will then return to the dais to watch the military march past alongside The Queen and his wife. The Bidens will then join the Queen for tea in the castle. US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive on Air Force One at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk yesterday ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall The Queen, pictured in the gardens of Windsor Castle on June 2, where she will host the Bidens The Queen has received four other presidents and their wives at Windsor Castle in recent times - Donald and Melania Trump in 2018; Barack and Michelle Obama in 2016; George W and Laura Bush in 2008; and Ronald and Nancy Reagan in 1982. The monarch has met 12 out of 14 serving US presidents so far during her reign, with President Lyndon B Johnson being the only exception. Mr Biden will be the 13th. The Grenadier Guards, who will form the Guard of Honour at the castle this weekend, are one of the British Army's longest-serving units. As well as operational duties, the Grenadier Guards also have a ceremonial role guarding the Royal Residences, including Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. The carefully-choreographed arrangements echo the welcome given to Mr Trump in July 2018, when the then- president travelled to Windsor to meet the monarch. Mr Trump and the Queen had afternoon tea together in the castle's Oak Room, with the meeting lasting longer than expected. It was due to last around half-an-hour, but overran by almost 20 minutes. In 2008, when then-president Mr Bush had tea with the monarch at Windsor, he enjoyed a traditional English afternoon spread of tea, small sandwiches and cakes in the White Drawing Room. The Queen will greet Mr and Dr Biden at the dais in the castle's quadrangle. The Queen with Donald Trump and his wife Melania at Windsor Castle in July 2018, as they walk from the Quadrangle after inspecting the Guard of Honour during the president's visit In 2018, the Queen accompanied Mr Trump to inspect the Guard of Honour at Windsor. Escorting a visiting head of state to inspect the troops is a role which usually fell to the late Duke of Edinburgh, before he retired in 2017. Today, Mr Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson are expected to pledge to restore transatlantic travel in the wake of the Covid pandemic. The President will meet the Prime Minister in Cornwall this afternoon before the start of the G7 summit for their first ever face-to-face talks. Advertisement

Royals remember Prince Philip: Princess Eugenie reveals she's 'thinking of Grandpa' while Prince Charles shares touching childhood photo on what would have been the Duke's 100th birthday

Princess Eugenie said she is 'thinking of her Grandpa' as she led the Royal Family in paying tributes to Prince Philip on what would have been his 100th birthday today.

The Queen's granddaughter, 31, took to Instagram and shared a heartwarming snap of the monarch and Duke of Edinburgh leaving following her wedding to Jack Brooksbank in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on 12 October 2018.

Alongside the photograph she wrote a poignant caption which simply read: 'Thinking of Grandpa on what would have been his 100th birthday.'

Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales, 72, also paid his respects to his father by posting an adorable black and white throwback photograph which showed a young Prince Charles welcoming the Duke home from a trip to Malta in 1951.

In a second snap, Prince Philip can be seen transferring his role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Rifles to The Duchess of Cornwall, during a joint ceremony at Windsor Castle and Highgrove in July 2020.

Alongside the two photographs shared to the Clarence House Instagram page, Prince Charles penned: 'Remembering The Duke of Edinburgh, on what would have been his 100th birthday.'

Prince Philip died of old age, his death certificate revealed. The Duke of Edinburgh died peacefully aged 99 on April 9, Buckingham Palace announced at the time.

The Prince of Wales, 72, paid a touching tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh on what would have been his 100th birthday by posting an adorable black and white throwback photograph which showed his younger self welcoming his father home from a trip to Malta in 1951

Alongside the two photographs shared to the Clarence House Instagram page, Prince Charles penned: 'Remembering The Duke of Edinburgh, on what would have been his 100th birthday' (pictured)

Princess Eugenie, 31, also remembered her grandfather Prince Philip by sharing a heartwarming snap of the monarch and Duke of Edinburgh leaving after her wedding to Jack Brooksbank in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on 12 October 2018 (pictured)

Prince Charles penned: 'Remembering The Duke of Edinburgh, on what would have been his 100th birthday' (pictured)

Elsewhere, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took to the Kensington Royal Twitter and shared two snaps of the Queen planting a beautiful 'Duke of Edinburgh' rose in the East Terrace Garden in Prince Philip's honour on Wednesday.

Alongside the series of photographs, the caption read: 'Today we remember His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, on what would have been his 100th birthday.'

'Last week, The Queen was gifted a Duke of Edinburgh rose by @The_RHS, of which Her Majesty is Patron. Named in The Duke's memory, the rose is planted in the East Terrace Garden, Windsor Castle.'

The deep pink commemorative perennial plant was officially named in memory of the Duke - and was planted so Her Majesty will be able to look out onto it from her private rooms.

The monarch received the shrub last week from the aptly-named Keith Weed, President of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also took to the Kensington Royal Twitter page (pictured) and shared a photograph of the Queen being gifted a Duke of Edinburgh Rose by @The_RHS of which Her Majesty is a Patron

The Queen (pictured) wore sunglasses in the blazing sunshine and smiled broadly when she saw the gift, which has a photograph of her late husband on the label

The rose (pictured being gifted to the Queen) was planted in a mixed rose border at Windsor Castle on Wednesday

Prince Charles also shared a second snap which showed the Duke transferring his role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Rifles to The Duchess of Cornwall, during a joint ceremony at Windsor Castle and Highgrove in July 2020

Mr Weed told the Queen: 'Its a rose named the Duke of Edinburgh Rose to mark his centenary and its a commemorative rose for all the marvellous things that he did over his lifetime and for everyone to remember so much that he did.

Sweet family nickname for Queen that inspired Harry and Meghan's name for their baby daughter Lilibet - the Queen's family nickname - was first used when Princess Elizabeth was just a toddler and unable to pronounce her own name properly. Her grandfather King George V would affectionately call her 'Lilibet' imitating her own attempts to say Elizabeth. The sweet nickname stuck and she became Lilibet to her family from then on. The Duke of Edinburgh also referred to his wife as Lilibet, writing to his mother in law after their wedding: 'Lilibet is the only 'thing' in the world which is absolutely real to me.' Harry and Meghan's new baby daughter - the Queen's 11th great-grandchild - will be known as Lili. A variation on Lily, the flower is often seen to symbolise purity, commitment, rebirth and fertility. Lili's middle name Diana honours Harry's later mother Diana, Princess of Wales. It is no surprise the couple chose to pay tribute to Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997 when Harry was just 12. Lili has been born almost a month before the princess would have celebrated her 60th birthday on July 1. Her cousin Princess Charlotte also has Diana as one of her middle names, as well as Elizabeth. She is Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. Harry and the Duke of Cambridge are due to unveil a statue of their mother at Kensington Palace on her birthday, but the arrangements have yet to be confirmed, amid a long-reported rift between the brothers. The Sussexes' tribute to the Queen is likely to be seen as an olive branch to the monarch and the rest of the family. Harry and Meghan plunged the Windsors into crisis with their Oprah Winfrey interview in March when they accused an unnamed royal of making a racist remark about their son Archie's skin tone before he was born. They also said the institution failed to help Meghan when she was suicidal. But during the televised interview with Winfrey, the Sussexes lauded the Queen. Harry spoke of his respect for his grandmother, while Meghan said: 'The Queen... has always been wonderful to me.' Advertisement

The Queen replied: 'It looks lovely' before added that the tribute was 'very kind'.

With the flower not in bloom as her presented it to The Queen, Mr Weed joked: 'Right now with a cold Spring and nature being a bit behind it doesn't look so lovely but thats what it will look like', pointing to a picture of the rose.

The 95-year-old monarch watched as Windsor's head gardener Philip Carter planted it at the front of the mixed rose border.

She remarked that after the cold May 'nothing has flowered here much'.

Royalties from the flowers' sale will go towards the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Living Legacy Fund, which helps young people take part in the scheme.

It comes just a day after Prince Harry threatened the BBC with legal action after it reported that he and Meghan Markle did not ask the Queen for permission to name their daughter Lilibet - as an extraordinary three-way briefing war broke out between the Sussexes, the Palace and the corporation.

Senior Buckingham Palace sources told BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond this morning that the Queen was 'never asked' her opinion on the couple's decision to name their new baby after her childhood nickname.

However, Harry hit back within 90 minutes of the BBC's report being published through a statement from his and Meghan's close friend Omid Scobie that insisted the Queen was the first person the Duke called after the birth of his daughter.

Mr Scobie, who wrote the bombshell Finding Freedom biography of the couple, also claimed the Sussexes would not have used the name Lilibet unless the Queen had supported the move.

Harry, who together with wife Meghan announced they were expecting a girl during their interview with Oprah in March, took things a step further mere hours after his rebuttal of the report, threatening the BBC with legal action through law firm Schillings.

Notice of the legal action was followed by a carefully-worded statement that raised more questions than answers over whether the Queen did give permission or if the couple simply informed her of their intentions in a fait accompli.

The statement insisted that the BBC report was wholly wrong and read: 'The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement, in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called.

'During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.'

The BBC then amended its report though the article still says that the Queen was not asked about the name of the baby. Mr Dymond's tweets citing a Buckingham Palace source also still remain up.

The BBC report on the Palace's position and Harry's fiery reaction implies both parties believe they are telling the truth on the issue. It suggests that Harry and Meghan could have informed the Queen of Lilibet's name before taking Her Majesty's non-denial as consent.

On the other hand, the Palace briefings appear to hint that the Queen felt she was presented with the couple's decision and asked to rubber stamp it, rather than give permission.

'Typical f*****g woke snowflake': Noel Gallagher SLAMS Prince Harry for 'dissing his family' and declares Duke of Sussex is like his own brother Liam and needs to 'shut up' Noel Gallagher has branded Prince Harry a 'f*****g woke snowflake' for publicly criticising the Royal Family. The Oasis frontman, 54, who has a notoriously sour relationship with his own brother Liam, 48, said he sympathises with Prince William for having a brother who is 'shooting his f*****g mouth off'. Noel didn't hold back in his criticism of the Duke of Sussex, telling The Sun: 'Prince William. I feel that f*****g lad's pain. 'He's got a f*****g younger brother shooting his f*****g mouth off with s*** that is just so unnecessary. I'd like to think I was always the William.' Opinion: Noel Gallagher has branded Prince Harry a 'f*****g woke snowflake' for publicly criticising the Royal Family (pictured in May 2021) The rocker also criticised Harry for 'dissing your family' - referring to Harry and Meghan's recent Oprah special and Harry's mental health documentary series in which he has lambasted the Royal Family - and told him to 'shut up'. Noel has recently been doing promo for his solo project High Flying Birds and has found many interviewers want to know his thoughts on the Duke. While admitting he doesn't know Harry, Noel added: 'Prince Harry is coming across like a typical f*****g woke snowflake, f*****g a***hole. Just don't be f*****g dissing your family because there's no need for it.' Noel also made a dig at Harry's wife Meghan Markle, saying this is what happens when you 'get involved' with Americans. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for comment. Honest: The Oasis frontman, 54, who has a notoriously sour relationship with his brother Liam, 48, said he sympathises with Prince William for having a brother who is 'shooting his f*****g mouth off' (Prince Harry pictured on The Me You Can't See) War of words: Noel said: 'Prince Harry is coming across like a typical f*****g woke snowflake, f*****g a***hole. Just don't be f*****g dissing your family because there's no need for it' (William and Harry pictured together in 2017) Harry has been speaking candidly about his fractured relationship with his family in various US television appearances since the drama of 'Megxit' last year. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who welcomed daughter Lilibet last week, stepped down as senior members of the Royal Family last year and relocated to Los Angeles with their son Archie, two. During his documentary, the Duke lambasted the parenting skills of the Prince of Wales, criticising his father for expecting his sons to endure the pressures of royal life, just as Charles has done, instead of protecting them. Harry also accused his family of 'total neglect' when Meghan was feeling suicidal amid harassment on social media. And he laid bare his battles with panic attacks and severe anxiety, saying 'so 28 to probably 32 was a nightmare time in my life'. Advertisement

RICHARD KAY: Only Harry and Meghan could call in lawyers over a baby's name

Is there nothing Harry and Meghan do that doesn't involve a row? How desperately sad that even something so uplifting as the birth of their new baby is accompanied by thundering controversy.

The brusque public statements and angry threats of legal action that followed claims by the BBC that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not ask the Queen about naming their daughter Lilibet  her childhood nickname  now seems depressingly familiar.

But even allowing for the couple's inflated sense of grievance that their every action is wilfully misconstrued, there was something intensely unedifying about this latest incendiary development  not least the fact of the timing.

For it has come on the eve of what would have been Prince Philip's 100th birthday, a moment of deep personal reflection for the Queen who, just nine weeks after his death, is still grieving the husband who was her 'strength and stay'.

Instead she finds herself in the crossfire of a bitter war of words between the BBC, Buckingham Palace and the America-based Sussexes.

From the moment Harry and Meghan unexpectedly alighted on Lilibet for the baby born in faraway California last Friday, their choice of name has been the focus of intense speculation  and unanswered questions.

Just when did the duke consult his grandmother or seek her permission? How much notice was she given? And was the request made in person  perhaps when Harry returned to Britain for his grandfather's funeral  or during a long-distance telephone call?

Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex watch a flypast to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on July 10, 2018

Yesterday the BBC  quoting an unnamed Palace source and attempting to get to the bottom of competing claims about what, if any, advance knowledge the Queen had  reported bluntly that the monarch was 'not asked' by the couple about the choice of name.

The story was headline news on Radio 4's agenda-setting Today programme. Allowing for the time difference between London and the west coast of the US, the response from Harry and Meghan was swift.

Within 90 minutes of the report being aired, the couple's journalist friend Omid Scobie was briefing that the Queen was the first person Harry called after the birth of his daughter.

Scobie, co-author of Finding Freedom, a biography of the couple, also claimed that the Sussexes would not have used the name Lilibet unless the Queen had supported the move.

Not long afterwards came the intervention from Schillings, Harry's attack-dog solicitors, threatening the BBC with legal action and accusing its report of being 'false and defamatory'.

This, surely, was an unprecedented move in which one member of the Queen's family raises the possibility of legal proceedings to contradict guidance given on behalf of the monarchy to Britain's national broadcaster.

Meanwhile, notice of the legal threat was followed by a carefully worded statement, issued on behalf of the couple, which appeared to raise more questions than answers and fuel conjecture about how and when the Queen knew of their plans or indeed whether they informed her as a fait accompli.

The row will do nothing to improve transatlantic relations between the duke and duchess and the rest of the Royal Family. And the naming of baby Lilibet, whose arrival was initially heralded as an olive branch after months of upheaval, was being seen as yet another stumbling block.

It is certainly ironic that something that observers thought would draw the couple closer towards the royals might actually end up pushing them further away.

There is no doubt that the issue has caused disquiet at the Palace. And the row also comes at a sensitive time for the BBC in the wake of the devastating inquiry into how Martin Bashir secured his Panorama interview with Princess Diana.

As a BBC insider told me yesterday: 'Any story involving the royals is being handled with extreme sensitivity and triple checked.'

It may be significant, therefore, that the BBC's report of its story about the naming remained on its website and the reporter's tweet citing a Buckingham Palace source also remained 'live', despite the angry denunciations.

The Palace itself was refusing to be drawn on the matter and would not offer a comment on whether the BBC version of events was true.

In the statement issued by Camp Sussex, an aide said that the duke 'spoke with his family in advance of the announcement' and that 'in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called'.

The aide added: 'During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.'

Is there nothing Harry and Meghan do that doesn't involve a row?

However, there was no explanation when this call was made and how far in advance of the announcement, which came on Sunday evening London time. The statement has done little to dispel the views of some within the Palace that if the first the Queen knew of Harry's intentions to name his daughter Lilibet was after her birth, it left her with little room for manoeuvre.

The language is also puzzling. It says that it is Harry's 'hope' to name his daughter Lilibet. This is not the same as seeking his grandmother's permission  and make no mistake, the Queen is very particular about the names given to her great-grandchildren. The closer they are to the throne, the closer she takes an interest.

When Prince George was born in 2013, Prince William had to secure the express permission of his grandmother. And this was not done in some last-minute telephone call but was, rather, the subject of a face-to-face conversation. She was happy to approve, of course, because George was the name of her beloved father.

Harry's children are that much further down the line of succession  Archie and Lilibet are seventh and eighth respectively  and, barring a catastrophe, are unlikely to come close to the Crown.

Another aspect baffling courtiers was why, having chosen the name Lilibet in honour of the Queen, the couple intend to call their daughter Lili  something Harry's grandmother was never known by.

'It might even suggest that they don't actually much like the name Lilibet anyway,' says one long-standing Palace figure.

Lilibet has a special resonance for the Queen: it was invented by her grandfather King George V, adopted by her mother and father, and used affectionately by her sister Margaret and later by her husband.

And while it is also used by cousins such as Princess Alexandra and the Duke of Kent, only two younger members of the family are permitted to call her Lilibet.

They are her niece Lady Sarah Chatto and nephew David, the Earl of Snowdon. And both preface it with the word 'Aunt'.

Meanwhile, there is the issue of how the Queen received the news from Harry in California. If it was over the phone, might this have been problematic?

Most people of 95 no longer have perfect-pitch hearing and on a long-distance line there is ample room for a misunderstanding or two. After all, 'Elizabeth' and 'Lilibet'  unless carefully annunciated  do not sound so dissimilar, especially when said at speed.

Only two people, or more likely three, know the complete truth of the situation: the Queen, her grandson and his wife.

Does all this matter? I fear it does, if only because it adds to the endless pycho-drama that seems to have enveloped Harry and Meghan and has added to the chasm that separates them from the rest of his family.

As one observer put it: 'Briefings and counter-briefings about the name of a royal baby is not a good look for the House of Windsor.'

Friends of Harry say the Palace intervention with the BBC goes to the heart of his long-standing claims that the officials  those who work for the monarchy  cannot be trusted.

In their interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, the couple complained about the attitude of the royal 'firm' which had abandoned them, particularly over Meghan's mental health problems.

Once again his total discomfort with an institution that exists to serve the monarchy is revealed.

The debate over the naming is likely to continue, just as the mystery continues over the birth of the couple's son in 2019. Then it was the refusal to identify the hospital or the time of the birth and later came the decision not to name the godparents.

Perhaps it is churlish to dwell on the negative aspects of what is a happy event  but it is Harry's reaction that has triggered the storm.
Australian business leaders claim they have been silenced on China and want to help repair the relationship.

Scott Morrison is seeking help from international allies to help stop China's economic coercion.

He has highlighted the destabilising behaviour ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall and called for an overhaul of the World Trade Organisation to make the international umpire more effective.

But the prime minister has been unable to contact his Chinese counterpart in more than a year and the diplomatic freeze shows no signs of thawing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (right during a factory visit on June 7) has refused to speak to Scott Morrison

Mr Morrison said Australia was ready and willing to restart talks but re-engaging was a matter for China.

He said China had raised a range of political grievances Australia was not prepared to back down on, but argued that should not present an obstacle to resolving trade disputes.

'We're very happy to engage with them but that is really a matter for China. Australia is providing no barrier to any dialogue with China,' the prime minister said on Thursday.

Michael Clifton from the Australia China Business Council said restoring ties with Beijing would be a diabolically difficult task.

But the former Chinese trade commissioner said Australian companies could make a valuable contribution.

Mr Clifton welcomed a declaration of support from Japan against China's coercive behaviour towards Australia, along with other international efforts to rein Beijing in.

Beijing has slapped huge tariffs on Australian barley (pictured) in a move that Canberra believes is 'economic coercion'

However, he said direct engagement between Australia and China would be just as, if not more important.

'Multilateral action is great but so too is bilateral action and our challenge is to find a way to get China back to the table,' Mr Clifton told ABC radio.

He acknowledged Australian ministers had persistently tried to contact China and been shunned at every turn.

'I just don't think we can afford to give up, we have to keep trying,' he said.

'It is diabolically difficult and I certainly won't pretend to have the answer, but business wants to be part of the process of finding that answer.

'At the moment, it's fair to say business is being asked to line up as part of a 'Team Australia' approach, on a unity ticket with the government in support of the government's position.'

Mr Clifton said business leaders had been scared into silence, fuelled by the perception a divide between the Australian Government and industry leaders would be seen as a win for China.

Three Chinese Navy ships made a four-day visit to Sydney in June 2019 with Scott Morrison saying it was reciprocal after Australian naval vessels visited China. Since then relations have soured

Anyone who dared to speak out would also have their loyalty and motives questioned.

He said business leaders were keen to make a quiet contribution, arguing a diversity of opinions and voices might help craft a better outcome.

'But there is a willingness to do it behind closed doors, to talk quietly about these very, very delicate issues.'

Mr Clifton said convincing China to reconsider coercive trade measures was 'unequivocally a good thing'.

But he warned attempting to do so through the World Trade Organisation was a slow process and companies did not have the luxury of time.

China has imposed trade tariffs and bans on more than $20 billion worth of Australian exports.

Mr Clifton said the economic harm was partly masked by record iron ore prices but many small and medium-sized Australian businesses were feeling genuine pain.
Friends and family swindled by Sydney conwoman Melissa Caddick could launch a class action to recover some of their stolen income

Friends and family swindled by Sydney conwoman Melissa Caddick could launch a class action to recover some of their stolen income.

The 49-year-old, accused of misappropriating about $25 million of investors' funds, went missing hours after corporate watchdog ASIC executed a November 2020 search warrant at her house.

More than three months later, the self-styled financial adviser's decomposed foot washed up on a remote southern NSW beach.

Jones Partners Insolvency and Restructuring were in December appointed provisional liquidators of Maliver Pty Ltd, a company set up by Ms Caddick, and say she 'meticulously and systematically' deceived those who entrusted millions of investment dollars to her over seven years.

She then used the money to fund her lavish lifestyle.

The 49-year-old, accused of misappropriating about $25 million of investors' funds, went missing hours after corporate watchdog ASIC executed a search warrant at her house

More than three months later, the self-styled financial adviser's decomposed foot washed up on a remote southern NSW beach

The case is back before the Federal Court this month, with the firm seeking to be appointed final liquidators so they can begin redistributing funds to investors.

The firm has identified a number of assets they'll reclaim including two properties in Dover Heights and Edgecliff, shares, jewellery purchased using the stolen money and two luxury cars.

The company is also investigating whether it can claim tax refunds from the Australian Taxation Office as a significant majority of the taxable income of Maliver was fictitious.

It is also considering whether investors who had self-managed super funds with Ms Caddick could sue auditors who oversaw her records.

'Such possible claims would need to be further evaluated but are likely to be against the auditor and potentially other professionals involved in the audit process and may possibly take the form of a class action,' Jones Partners principal Bruce Gleeson said in a statement on Thursday.

Investors will be updated on the progress of the matter on June 23.
West Australians aged under 50 are flocking to get vaccinated against coronavirus but their middle-aged counterparts are proving less enthusiastic.

The state's rollout moved to its next phase on Thursday with people aged 30 to 49 receiving their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine at state-run clinics.

WA has gone one step further than other states in extending eligibility to people in their 30s.

Since Tuesday's announcement, 91,000 people have registered interest and 65,000 of those have made appointments.

'There's been massive interest,' Premier Mark McGowan told reporters at Claremont Showground, where 1300 people were set to receive the vaccine on Thursday.

'What we're trying to do here is get as many West Australians vaccinated as quickly as possible so we can safely get through the pandemic, because we know there's always the prospect of an outbreak.'

West Australians aged under 50 are flocking to get vaccinated against coronavirus but their middle-aged counterparts are proving less enthusiastic

People aged 50 and over will continue to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been linked to isolated cases of a rare blood clot disorder.

This is consistent with national guidelines which balance the potential effects of the virus against the low risk of developing the blood clots.

Data from Australia's medicine regulator suggests the risk of people getting the disorder after taking the jab is about one in 100,000.

But just 25 per cent of people aged 50-59 in WA have so far come forward to get their first AstraZeneca dose.

Mr McGowan and Health Minister Roger Cook, who are both aged in their 50s, received their first AstraZeneca jabs last month.

'I've had my AstraZeneca jab and I'm waiting for my second one,' Mr Cook said.

'The AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and it is effective. I just urge everyone to do the right thing.'

Since Tuesday's announcement, 91,000 people have registered interest and 65,000 of those have made appointments

About 60 per cent of people aged over 70 in WA have had their first AstraZeneca dose, as have 37 per cent of those in their 60s.

Mr Cook warned those in their 50s not to hold out for potentially becoming eligible for Pfizer in the future, saying the guidelines were in place for a reason.

'We want to maximise the availability of the supplies that we have,' he said.

'We've got vaccines sitting on the shelves and we want to get it in people's arms.'

Mr McGowan met with Scott Morrison on Wednesday during the prime minister's brief trip to Perth, where the pair discussed options for a purpose-built quarantine facility.

WA has identified four sites - Christmas Island, Learmonth air base, Busselton Airport and Pearce air base - as potential locations.

But the premier said Mr Morrison had indicated the Commonwealth didn't look favourably upon any of them.

'Each one of those has issues surrounding it but we'll continue to work on those sites and we'll look if there's any others,' he said.

'But really, this is a matter that the Commonwealth need to step up on.'
Most Germans believe the EU's political system is broken following the coronavirus vaccine debacle, a new survey has shown.

Fifty-five per cent of Germans, a rise of 11 per cent since November, felt the bureaucracy had failed, the sharpest rise of any major European power.

Forty-nine per cent said they had less or much less confidence in Brussels specifically as a result of its vaccines policy, according to the survey by the European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR).

Germany, which prides itself on industry, has managed to vaccinate just 46 per cent of its people - this compares to more than 60 per cent in Britain.

Germany, which prides itself on industry, has managed to vaccinate just 46 per cent of its people - this compares to more than 60 per cent in Britain

German disillusionment was laid bare in February with a front page splash in Bild, the country's most popular newspaper, with the headline: 'Dear Brits, we envy you!'

Its people lay the blame at Ursula von der Leyen's door, with a third saying that the coronavirus crisis showed 'EU integration has gone too far' - a spike of 10 per cent compared to last year.

The EU failed to grant swift approval to the vaccines and then furiously blamed AstraZeneca - and Britain - for the lack of supply, in an ugly row that drew condemnation from even its most ardent supporters like Jean Claude Juncker.

German disillusionment was laid bare in February with a front page splash in Bild, the country's most popular newspaper, with the headline: 'Dear Brits, we envy you!'

Britain, though it has suffered nearly double the number of deaths per capita than Germany, was free of the EU's shackles and able to broker its own vaccine deals, spending big and spending early.

'The EU's poor performance in the vaccine roll-out risks transforming Brexit from a cautionary tale about Euroscepticism into a story of liberation from the sluggish bureaucracy of Brussels institutions,' the ECFR said in a policy brief.

However, the survey doesn't prove that Germany is heading for its own version of Brexit - dubbed Dexit - any time soon.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), the most prominent Eurosceptic party, was given a bloody nose in regional elections in one of its heartlands just four days ago.

Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) defied pollsters to claim victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, with 37 per cent of the vote - seven points more than the last election in 2016 and 16 points ahead of second-placed AfD.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's reliance on Brussels for vaccines has frustrated many in Germany

Germany's results in the ECFR survey were not unique among European powerhouses, but they were by far the most dramatic.

In France, where disapproval for the EU is already widespread, the number of people who thought Brussels is broken rose from 60 per cent in November to 62 per cent in April.

In Spain the results were 50 to 52 per cent, in Portugal 31 to 33 per cent and in Denmark 25 to 28 per cent.

The belief that the EU is broken among those surveyed remained flat in the Netherlands and actually declined in Italy and Poland.
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Struggling business owners in Melbourne's vibrant Chapel Street have condemned Dan Andrews for the devastation his government has wrought on the city through the repeated use of lockdowns.

Chapel Street, which runs through South Yarra, Windsor and Prahran, has been a 'destination' for decades and the strip represents Melbourne's unique cafe, dining and retail culture.

But as Melbourne emerges from a fourth, two-week lockdown on Friday, there are abandoned shop premises dotting one of Australia's most famous shopping and dining precincts because business after business has folded because of the state's harsh Covid restrictions.

Those left fighting for survival are now furious and frustrated at the state government's handling of the crisis, which has left them on the brink of disaster.

They question why the government has taken them to the edge without reason, for pushing a narrative about a 'beast' virus, for not getting the contact tracing and QR system right, and for continuing the latest lockdown for the full two weeks despite it being clear the outbreak had been traced and contained at least a week earlier.

Struggling business owners in Melbourne's once-vibrant Chapel Street have condemned Premier Dan Andrews. Pictured left to right: Dom Mezzatesta from Rise Nation gym, Nicola Cuiper from Xtend Barre, Natalie Guest From Green Cup cafe and Drew Westfield from Gript gym

Natalie Guest, of Chapel Street health food cafe, Green Cup, has resorted to takeaway operations during the city's repeated lockdowns with revenue falling by 20 per cent

Sarah Lowe, owner of South Yarra XTEND Barre studio, called Dan Andrews and his government 'completely incompetent and inept'

Drew Westfield poses at Gript Gym in South Yarra after the Victorian Government announced that gym's will not be opening as Melbourne comes out of its fourth lockdown

'He's killing the state and he's killing Chapel Street,' said Drew Westfield, owner of South Yarra boutique training studio, GRIPT.

His business has had to cancel all subscriptions for his 250 members for the duration of every lockdown, costing him more than $20,000 a week in income.

Don't get me started on Dan Andrews and his government. They're completely incompetent and inept. They've clearly failed the state. Sarah Lowe, owner of South Yarra XTEND Barre studio

'Dan Andrews has got a problem with honesty and accountability,' said Mr Westfield. 'What he's really good at is deflecting and putting the blame and criticism on others.

'They've got no confidence in their competence to get us through this and they're scared. They're afraid, so they make the worst possible decisions to protect themselves.

'They don't take into consideration what damage these harsh decisions they're making are having on the people they're meant to be looking after.'

The delay in a mandatory state-wide QR code check-in system - which was only introduced on the first day after lockdown - was an example of the error-strewn approach to the pandemic, he said.

'Gyms are a safe place to be,' he said. 'There's bookings and tracing systems in place that are more effective and efficient than the government's own.

'Yet even once the new restrictions are lifted, you can go to a brothel, but you still can't get a one-on-one with a personal trainer in a gym.

'Does that make sense? They're ignoring the science.'

Abandoned shop premises dot the former bustling prime site shopping and dining street in the heart of Melbourne

Drew Westfield (far left), owner of South Yarra boutique training studio, GRIPT, says he's losing more than $20,000 a week as a result of the lockdown

Dom Mezzatesta poses at Rise Nation Gym after the Victorian Government announced that Gym's will not be opening as Melbourne comes out of its fourth lockdown

Natalie Guest, of Chapel Street health food cafe, Green Cup, has transitioned to a take-away operation during the repeated lockdowns, costing them 20 per cent in lost revenue - but has seen others pay a far higher price.

'It's really quite scary when you see so many empty shops on the strip,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'There's 10-15 empty shops every 200m on Chapel Street now.

'It's had a massive impact. In those areas where there should be office workers, it's all closed, and retail business has taken a huge hit.

'It's certainly not the appealing place it used to be.'

'There's got to be a better way of doing it than locking down the whole state, and putting everyone's mental health and their livelihoods at stake,' Ms Guest (above) said

Watching the way other states handle Covid breakouts has merely added to the anger and frustration, said Ms Guest.

'There's got to be a better way of doing it than locking down the whole state, and putting everyone's mental health and their livelihoods at stake,' she added.

'They've got to look at what the other states are doing to have things better under control.'

Mr Westfield added: 'I think one of the frustrating things for Melburnians in particular is seeing how the New South Wales government has been able to contain outbreaks in Sydney, without going into full lockdown.

'We're talking about the same amount of cases, and only areas were shut down with minor restrictions.

'We've currently got one or two cases a day here, and the entire state is under restrictions.

'Something's not right there. And that's what people are getting frustrated with. It's just a gross overreaction and over-reach every time.'

Mother-of-three Sarah Lowe opened her South Yarra XTEND Barre studio in December 2019 - and has been shut by lockdowns for 45 per cent of the time ever since.

She abandoned Victoria in January to run the studio by remote control from New South Wales after the stress of the constant lockdowns became too much.

'It's just devastating,' she said. 'There are no words for the predicament I'm in, to be honest. I'm in a franchise so I can't just close the doors and walk away.

'I have obligations - rental obligations, franchise agreement obligations - and 18 months after I first opened, it's nowhere near where it should be.

'All the working capital I had set aside when we opened - which all new businesses have to get them through that start up phase - was eaten up through franchise fees during lockdown periods... with no income.'

Ms Lowe added: 'Don't get me started on Dan Andrews and his government. They're completely incompetent and inept. They've clearly failed the state.

'Other states like New South Wales have managed outbreaks of similar sizes without closing an entire state. It makes no sense.

'It worked there, why can't it work in Victoria? What's different? The virus is no different from state to state.

'I don't know if it's a power trip or if it's political - I just don't understand.'

'I don't know if it's a power trip or if it's political': Barre studio owner Ms Low (right) on Victoria's fourth lockdown in two years

Ghost town: Business owners spoke to Daily Mail Australia about the devastating impact of repeated lockdowns

Despite the repeated lockdowns, the Andrews government still enjoys popular support in the state, even though he's not been seen in three months since falling and injuring his ribs and back.

Ms Lowe added: 'I don't think the local media have been harsh enough. They've been very much taking the stance that we're doing what needs to be done.

'They're pushing the lockdown narrative and the vaccine is going to save us narrative. It's a very unbalanced view.

'I don't think they're showing the devastation that people are going through - and people aren't even allowed to protest.'

Tegan Milner has switched her Chapel Street Snow White Bakery to being an online-only cake store for the latest lockdown as there's no-one around to sell to locally.

'There's no foot traffic,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'There's no-one around.

'[The government] has killed Chapel Street. The area was just starting to pick up again, there was people moving around and people were coming back to work.

'And it's just devastated everyone again. We're exhausted - devastated, frustrated and angry.'

Ms Milner added: 'Last year, I stayed open, but this time there was no point.

'It's heartbreaking. You put all your blood sweat and tears into building your business - and then you get told you've got to shut down.

'It's a ghost town now. One hundred per cent it's a ghost town.'

Despite the suffering, none of the local business owners had seen Premier Andrews or anyone in government in the area to witness the devastation for themselves. Pictured: Drew Westfield poses at Gript Gym in South Yarra

'It'd be good to actually see his (Premier Daniel Andrews) face at the moment,' said Green Cup's Natalie Guest

Despite the suffering, none of the local business owners had seen Premier Andrews or anyone in government in the area to witness the devastation for themselves.

'I have no faith he'd do that,' said Ms Milner. 'I don't think he cares enough.

'It'd be good to actually see his face at the moment,' said Green Cup's Natalie Guest.

'I don't think he's been challenged by too many people in his own party in terms of how he's doing things.'

'Dan Andrews has killed Chapel Street. The area was just starting to pick up again, there was people moving around and people were coming back to work. And it's just devastated everyone again. We're exhausted - devastated, frustrated and angry.' Tegan Milner, Chapel Street Snow White Bakery

Rise Nation gym in South Yarra is facing its fourth lockdown since launching in Australia just three years ago.

'I don't know who's making the decisions there,' owner Silvia Kramska told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's very stressful.

'People are worried and they don't want to commit to a gym membership as a result. They don't know if we're going to close again.'

At midnight on Thursday, local businesses celebrated the lifting of the latest restrictions with free burgers from Hello Sam on Chapel Street for everyone wearing a black tie.

But the spectre of a fifth lockdown looms large over every Victorian business owner.

GRIPT's Mr Westfield admitted he was falling further and further behind with payments with every lockdown.

'We're running on very thin margins because we're trying to catch up from last year, as well as keeping our people employed, keep people in jobs,' he said.

'And each lockdown that happens only pushes us even further behind and applies even more pressure, because unfortunately when these lockdowns and restrictions are put in place, those commitments don't stop.'

And XTEND Barre studio's Ms Lowe admitted: 'I'm barely keeping our head above water in the studio as it is.

'I don't know if it would recover. How are you supposed to recover?'
International students will be able to return to NSW under a state government pilot plan involving a quarantine period in purpose-built accommodation.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said on Thursday that 250 international students would be able to come to Sydney each fortnight from mid-year. They will spend their quarantine period in purpose-built student accommodation.

The arrival of these students will be in addition to the returning Australians arriving at Sydney Airport each week amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

International students will be able to return to NSW under a state government pilot plan involving a quarantine period in purpose-built accommodation

The plan, which has been endorsed by NSW Health and NSW Police, has been submitted to the federal government for review.

Mr Perrottet said the NSW education sector was worth $14.6 billion in 2019 and directly supported more than 95,000 local jobs.

More than 250,000 international students typically study in NSW each year.

'If we don't act fast, students will turn to other overseas destinations and it could take the sector decades to recover,' Mr Perrottet said in a statement.

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

Mr Perrottet said the students would be subject to exactly the same quarantine standards as returning Australians held in hotels.

Under the plan, NSW Health will triage arriving students and direct them to quarantine at approved student accommodation sites.

One such site has already been chosen, with more to come.

Mr Perrottet said the overall impact of closed international borders for NSW is as high as $1.5 billion per month, slowing economic growth.
A paedophile whose computer screensaver was a slideshow of child porn has been sentenced to just 12 weeks jail.

George Joseph Kennedy, from Mount Morgan in central Queensland, was found in possession of 2,489 child porn images and 617 videos on his computer.

The 51-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to access illegal material and one count of possession of child exploitation material.

The pervert was sentenced to 18 months in prison, to be released after serving just three months, when he appeared in Rockhampton District Court on June 9

The court heard police raided Kennedy's rental home on July 9, 2020, discovering the man's computer had been connected to his television.

One of the files Kennedy purchased from an illegal child porn site was footage filmed on a hidden camera in a public female change room, where a young girl changed clothes

When officers switched the TV on, a slideshow of child porn appeared as the screensaver with the first image a five-year-old girl involved in a sexual act.

Kennedy admitted to purchasing, watching and collecting child pornography for over 15 years.

He told officers he used the files for his own personal gratification and preferred material that depicted girls aged 10-15.

Kennedy said he searched for new content weekly for the last few years, paying up to $90 per file on one of his favoured sites.

One of the files he purchased was hidden camera footage of young girl changing in a public toilet.

Kennedy admitted he knew what he was doing was wrong, and had expected police to one day come knocking.

Defence Barrister Maree Willey said her client had been diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome and had never been married, had children or been in a relationship.

Kennedy had lived with his parents until they died five or six years ago.

George Joseph Kennedy, from Mount Morgan in central Queensland, was found in possession of 2489 child porn images and 617 videos on his computer

Ms Willey said Kennedy had completed a few six-month labour roles with the local council, but otherwise had a limited employment history.

She said he was living on Centrelink payments and had a low chance of reoffending, as people with Aspergers could change their behaviours if punished.

Ms Willey said Kennedy was attending sessions with a counsellor monthly, and had been receiving treatment for his mental health since August 2020.

However, the court heard Kennedy still owned a computer, and therefore had access to the internet.

Judge Jeff Clarke said Kennedy presented himself during the court proceedings as if he was 'petrified'.

He sentenced the Mount Morgan man to 18 months in prison, to be released after serving three months.

Kennedy has been placed on a two year good behaviour bond with $1000 recognisance with a two year probation period.
A young mother-of-three has been seriously injured after stopping to call Triple 0 at the scene of a fatal crash.

Rachel Fleming, 28, from Lagoon Pocket, pulled over to help the victims of a horror two-car head-on collision in Glastonbury, in Queensland's Gympie region, on the evening of June 3.

The good Samaritan, who was the first on the scene, jumped out of her vehicle to assist the 54-year-old male driver of a four-wheel drive.

The ute driver, a 51-year-old Widgee man, had already died at the scene.

Mrs Fleming's best friend Hanna Logan said the mother left her two children, aged 11 and two, in her car as she went to check on the driver, who was standing outside of his car.

Mother-of-three Rachel Fleming, 28, (pictured) was hit by a car while stopping to render assistance at a fatal crash near Gympie earlier this month

As she used his phone to call emergency services, another vehicle travelling down the road struck the pair, leaving the both with serious injuries.

'As she dialed 000, the oncoming car smashed into them both, knocking her unconscious,' Ms Logan told the Courier Mail.

'She has no recollection from the moment she was hit until she was woken 20 minutes later.'

Both Mrs Fleming, an Imbil teacher, and the 54-year-old man were rushed to Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

She has since been discharged but will undergo facial reconstruction surgery in Brisbane on Monday.

Friend Talia Eaton has set up a GoFundMe page to support Flemings family, which has more than $6900 in 24 hours.

Ms Eaton said the accident had left the family-of-five in financial hardship.

A ute collided with an oncoming four-wheel drive (pictured), killing a 51-year-old man

'Our beautiful Rachel, a mother of three and devoted wife, was just inches from death after being hit by a car travelling at 90km/h when she selflessly stopped to assist a car crash,' Ms Eaton said.

'While these will take time to heal, the memories from that night will always be with her.

'Rach never asks for anything. She is the kindest, most selfless human who stopped to do the right thing when the unimaginable happened.

'A little can go a long way, so please, if you can spare anything at all, it will go towards keeping a much loved and deserving family above water while they take the time to recover.'

The driver of car that struck the pair was transported to Gympie Hospital as a precaution.

Police investigations into the crash continue.

Anyone with dash camera footage of the incident are urged to contact police.
Interview: CPC brings about China's development, plays greater role in int'l arenas, says Cambodian party official

17:21, June 09, 2021 By Mao Pengfei, Nguon Sovan ( Xinhua

PHNOM PENH, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) has brought about China's enormous development and played a greater role in international arenas, said Khuon Sodary, second vice-president of the Cambodian National Assembly and a member of the standing committee of the Cambodian People's Party.

In a recent interview ahead of the CPC's centenary on July 1, Sodary said under the CPC's leadership, China has achieved great successes in such areas as economy, diplomacy, social security, science, technology and innovation.

She said the CPC has led China to become the world's second largest economy and during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, China's economy still achieved positive growth.

"Under the CPC's leadership, China has greatly contributed to socio-economic progress for all mankind," she said. "China will continue to play an important role in building global peace, promoting global development and maintaining international order."

Sodary noted that the CPC has gained strong support from the Chinese people thanks to its visionary leadership, a people-centered policy, governance, and successful fight against corruption and poverty.

Under the CPC's leadership, more than 700 million people have been lifted out of poverty, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global total poor population, which is one of the greatest achievements in the world's history, Sodary said.

China has achieved the goal of eliminating extreme poverty in February this year. Its success in poverty reduction is a "miracle" and its experience should serve as a model for other developing countries, said Sodary.

"This success has clearly reflected the CPC's goal that has prioritized the Chinese people's wellbeing and livelihoods," she said.

"This achievement has not only brought prosperity to the Chinese people but also benefited the people in the region and the world," she added.

Sodary also expressed appreciation of China's contribution to the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Chinese government has provided medical equipment and vaccines in a timely way to many countries around the world, including Cambodia, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic," she said, praising China for offering its COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good.

As regards the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Sodary cited a World Bank's report, saying that the BRI would contribute to global economy recovery during and after the pandemic, and help lift tens of millions of people in the world out of poverty.

Moreover, China has actively participated in the United Nations peacekeeping operations, sending its peacekeepers to join operations in many war-torn countries, she said.

"These activities clearly underline the noble and historic role of China and its people in assisting countries around the world to achieve a long-term peace, stability and development," she said.

"In sum, China has played an active role in enhancing world order, promoting multilateralism, and tackling key global challenges," Sodary noted.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Market Research Future Published a Half Cooked Research Global Sulfuric Acid Market Research Report - Forecast to 2022 - Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast up to 2022.

Sulfuric Acid Market  Market Overview

Sulfuric acid is a mineral acid and is one of the largest volume industrial chemical produced across the globe. Fertilizer production, especially phosphate fertilizer from wet-process sulphuric acid, is the major end use market fort sulfuric acid. The major application area of sulphuric acid covers fertilizers, chemical manufacturing, refinery, textile, pulp & paper manufacturing, metal processing and others.

Agricultural economies holds the greater importance in this market, as fertilizer production considered as a key focused area for the consumption of sulpfuric acid. Increasing demand for fertilizer to attain the higher agriculture yield had a significant impact on this market over the past few years and set its uplifted usage in the coming years. China, alone acquired almost half of the global market in terms of sulphuric acid production resulting into domination of Asia Pacific over the global market. In addition to this, fertilizer consumption of India represents massive number on account of presence of large agriculture base and is driving the demand for sulphuric acid. Apart from the, automotive industry expected to provide higher gains to key industry players in this market during the forecast period. This is due to use of sulfuric acid in the automotive batteries which has triggered automotive application of sulfuric acid. However, volatility in the raw material prices and growing consumption of phosphate based fertilizer limited the growth scope of this market.

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Sulfuric Acid Market- Competitive Landscape

Global Sulfuric Acid market is highly concentrated as well fairly competitive in nature. The key industry participants operating in this market are Agrium, Akzo Nobel, Bayer, BP, Chevron, Cytec Industries, Dupont, Evonik Industries, Honeywell and Solvay. The major companies in this market are seen adopting collective market strategies to such as mergers, acquisition and joint-ventures in order to consolidate their product portfolio and to strengthen their market presence. Several production capacity expansion has also witnessed across the various developed markets to strengthen market penetration into emerging markets and exploit untapped markets. The overall effect of market competition observed in global sulphuric acid market is observed as high and is expected to get even higher due consistent increase in the production activities.

Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:

May 18, 2017- Yidu Xingfa Chemical and DuPont tied in an agreement for an engineering and technology license for a 3,600 Mtpd MECS MAX3 sulfuric acid plant. The collective effort has taken to build one of the largest sulfuric acid plant in China in order to cater the ongoing demand. Xingfa is expanding its existing site, located in the Hubei province near Yichang city, with the aim of roughly doubling the phosphate fertilizer capacity. The new MECS MAX3 sulfuric acid plant will process 1.2 MMtpy of sulfuric acid, as well as support the production of an additional 400,000 tonnes/yr of phosphoric acid, 400,000 tonnes/yr DAP and 35,000 tonnes/yr of potassium phosphate monobasic. The overall expansion activity expected gain market effectiveness while bridging the demand supply gap of sulfuric acid.

October 10, 2017- Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd and Jordanian Phosphate Mines Company has formed joint venture to build largest sulfuric acid plant in India. The agreement has undertaken by investing overall amount of USD 860 million. The plant will come as a huge relief to Indias agricultural sector requirements in view of meagre availability of phosphates in India. Phosphoric acid produced at the plant will be exported to the Kandla port in Gujarat from Jordans Aqaba port, which is close to the location of the plant.

November, 2017- Leading chemical industry player BASF has launched new sulfuric acid catalyst. BASF has introduced the new sulphuric acid catalyst O4115 Quattro into the market. The new, cesium-based catalyst is unique due to its geometrical shape  a combination of four strands  leading to a 30 percent greater catalytic surface area compared to conventional sulphuric acid catalysts. The newly launched catalyst has 30 % greater catalytic surface area and helps to improve performance during the sulfuric acid production.

August 31, 2016- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc, Acquires BAYQIK Sulfuric Acid Converter Technology from Bayer AG. The company has acquired patented technology from Bayer AG, under the term of agreement the overall technology shift includes transfer of relevant Bayer technical, commercial and market information to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. BAYQIK technology enables more efficient conversion of process gas with high sulphur dioxide concentrations. Therefore, it altogether expected to provide growth offerings in the Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. growth offering.

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An Australian grandfather who saved a 200-year-old British pub from closure but then faced removal from the UK for taking a pay cut has been thrown a last-ditch lifeline to stay.

Russell Young, 62, and his wife Tracie, 56, bought the Sun Inn in Failsworth, Greater Manchester in 2018 for 250,000 using his life savings and paid themselves wages of just 100 per week to ensure the enterprise survived.

Russell, who moved to the UK in 2016 and sold his home in Melbourne to help finance the purchase, increased the pub's turnover from 99,000 to 218,000 before lockdowns ravaged the hospitality industry.

But his future in the UK was thrown into doubt when the Home Office rejected his application for a five-year visa because he did not meet the Government's financial criteria of earning 18,600 per year.

Today - on the deadline before his removal - a legal team partnered with him thanks to Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester Sacha Lord have applied for a new spouse visa.

If it is approved, he will be able to remain in Britain for two-and-a-half years and can currently stay with his wife, Tracie, and family until the Home Office makes its decision.

Tracie told MailOnline: 'The legal team said the best route was to put in a fresh application. So we had to tell our life story all over again and re-submit what we submitted years ago.

'We have been advised to apply for a spouse visa rather than an appeal, but there's only a 50/50 chance that it will be successful. Russell can remain here until the decision.'

Russell Young, 62, and his wife Tracie, 56, bought the Sun Inn in Failsworth, Greater Manchester in 2018 for 250,000 and paid wages of just 100 per week to ensure the enterprise survived

But the Home Office has rejected the Australian grandfather's application for a five-year visa because he did not meet the Government's financial criteria of earning 18,600 per year to remain in the UK

Last month tribunal judges rejected the pub landlord's appeal, leaving him with just 14 days to try to overturn the result or leave the country.

It meant Russell faced having to leave Tracie and his family in the UK behind and being left homeless in Australia.

After being highlighted by MailOnline 20,000 locals and pub regulars signed an online petition calling on the Government to see sense on the issue.

Russell moved to Manchester in March 2016 on a six-month visa after meeting Tracie online 12 years earlier.

They were married in August 2016  granting Russell a two-year stay  before they decided to buy the Sun Inn, in Failsworth, for 250,000 in June 2018.

Russell used cash from the sale of his house in Melbourne, Australia, to help fund the purchase, and the couple increased the pub's turnover from 99,000 to 218,000 in their first year before Covid-19 ravaged the industry.

He then applied for five-year visa application but this was rejected because he did not meet the Government's financial criteria of earning 18,600pa.

He appealed the decision, which was rejected last month  leaving him with just 14 days to try to overturn the result or leave the UK.

Last month tribunal judges rejected the pub landlord's appeal, leaving him with just 14 days to try to overturn the result or leave the country

The move means Russell now faces having to leave Tracie and his family in the UK behind and being left homeless in Australia

He moved to Manchester in March 2016 on a six-month visa before the pair wed in August and he was granted a two-year stay

UK rules on family visa applications, extensions or switches Foreign nationals applying or extending family visas must prove they and their partner have a combined income of at least 18,600 per year. The Government's website on the rules states that 'income' classes as: Income from employment before tax and National Insurance;

Income earned from self-employment or as a director of a limited company in the UK;

Cash savings above 16,000'

Money from a pension;

Non-work income, for example from property rentals or dividends. Those who are using income from self-employment or employment will need to prove they or their partner received that income for six months or more. Foreign nationals need to show they and their partner meet the minimum income requirement if they want to settle in five years as a partner. The partner must also either be British or Irish, have settled in the UK, be from the EU and have pre-settled, or have refugee status in the UK. Foreign nationals also need to prove they are in a civil partnership or marriage that is recognised in the UK, and have been living together in a relationship for at least two years by the time of the application. Advertisement

Russell has been offered a job with a property maintenance firm  earning 19,000-a-year  if his new visa application is accepted.

Tracie, who first worked at the pub as a barmaid in 1986, said: 'It is really frustrating and all this is having a massive impact on our mental health. I'm ready for cracking up.

'You get a little bit of hope and within an hour it's smashed and you're at a low again.

'We had three options; put a new application in, appeal the original decision or Russell goes back to Australia and re-applies from there, which we can't do because I can't go with him.'

She added: 'I am absolutely stuck because I've got my mum to care for and run the business that Russell has put all his money into. I can't just shut the door and walk away.

'I can't get my mum out of the pub because she's ill, never mind on a plane.

'He could be back in Australia for 12 months and I need him here.

'I need help to run the business and care for my mum as well.

'We just want to be able to plan and get on with our lives together.'

The couple paid around 7,000 to have the application fast-tracked.

Tracie said: 'All we can do now is wait.

If we are successful, we can makes sure we meet all the criteria for the five-year one.'

An online petition to keep Russell in the country now has more than 19,000 signatures.

MP Angela Rayner is backing the couple.

She told the Oldham Times: 'Russell is understandably extremely worried about what the future holds for him.

'Russell and his wife Tracie bought the Sun Inn pub before lockdown restrictions were imposed and have been hit hard by the pandemic, as have many others in the hospitality industry.

Pub regulars have now set up a petition and a GoFundMe page to help with the legal fees

'Despite the many difficulties of running a pub during the pandemic, Russell and Tracie invested their own money into renovating the pub during their enforced closure.

'They should be praised for their dedication to running a successful local business but instead, they are faced with having their family forcibly split up.

'If it were not for Covid and the pub hadn't had to close, Russell probably would've met the income requirements to remain in the UK. To assess his application based on his finances in 2020 is totally inappropriate and unfair.

'The Home Office should show some flexibility and consider all that Russell has given to this country by running a successful business and investing so much of his own time and money in to it.

'The Sun Inn is a popular local pub and Russell has become a key member of the Failsworth community since he moved to the UK in 2016.

'He has caring responsibilities for his elderly mother in law.

'His own mother died earlier this year but he didn't go back to Australia as it would have affected his visa requirements.

'He's extremely dedicated to cultivating a successful life for himself and his family in the UK.'

A Home Office spokesperson told MailOnline: 'All applications are carefully considered at the time on their individual merits, on the basis of the evidence provided and in accordance with the immigration rules.

'It is up to applicants to demonstrate they meet the requirements of the route they apply under.

'While we have taken a compassionate and pragmatic approach to cases during the pandemic, it is right that there are minimum income thresholds for family migration to prevent burdens being placed on the taxpayer.'
You might be able to lead a horse to water but as this Aussie found out there's no chance of leading a water dragon out of it.

The man from Coffs Harbour, in northern New South Wales, filmed the moment he pulled a large water dragon from his pool - only for the lizard to leap straight back into the water.

Footage shows him bravely picking up the dragon by its tail after it became stuck inside the filter box of his swimming pool.

The water dragon had other ideas and managed to wiggle free off his grasp before diving back into the pool and swimming away.

A man has shared the moment he pulled out a large water dragon from his pool filter on TikTok

'Don't you dare!' the man is heard saying to the lizard as it cheekily escaped his grip.

The video received more than 290,000 views on TikTok with many commenting they too had water dragons stop by their homes unexpectedly.

'Let me guess another day in Australia?' one commented.

'I have two of these as pets and they're definitely not the smartest lizards,' another said.

The eastern water dragon is found around Australia's east coast and are the country's largest dragon lizard.

Adult water dragons pack a painful bite and have extremely sharp claws but are known to be friendly towards humans.

They often dive into water to escape a threat and can stay submerged for up to an hour.
Israel has become the first country in the world to ban the sale of fur to the fashion industry

Israel has become the first country in the world to ban the sale of fur to the fashion industry.

The amendment was signed on Wednesday and will come into effect in six months, Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said.

'The fur industry causes the deaths of hundreds of millions of animals worldwide, and inflicts indescribable cruelty and suffering,' she added. 'Using the skin and fur of wildlife for the fashion industry is immoral and is certainly unnecessary.

'Animal fur coats cannot cover the brutal murder industry that makes them. Signing these regulations will make the Israeli fashion market more environmentally friendly and far kinder to animals.'

The amendment includes several exemptions for use of fur in science, education, and religious traditions - such as the purchase of Shtreimals, fur hats worn by Orthodox Jewish men on Shabbat and other holidays.

The hats, made from the tails of sables and foxes, are the most common use of fur in Israel.

The amendment was signed on Wednesday and will come into effect in six months, Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said

Plans to ban fur were first announced by Gamliel in October, who explained then the Nature and Parks Authority would be able to issue exemption permits for certain reasons.

The move has been welcomed by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) said the amendment was a 'historic victory' which would 'protect countless foxes, minks, rabbits, and other animals from being violently killed for their skin.'

The charity has continually argued for fur to be banned, noting the risk of outbreaks of disease in intensive farms and pointing to recent cases of Covid-19 on mink farms in Denmark.

The amendment includes several exemptions for use of fur in science, education, and religious traditions - such as the purchase of Shtreimals, fur hats worn by Orthodox Jewish men on Shabbat and other holidays (pictured)

While the Humane Society International UK's executive director Claire Bass said: 'Israels fur ban will save the lives of millions of animals suffering on fur farms or languishing in cruel traps around the world, and it sends a clear message that fur is unethical, unnecessary and outdated.'

According to the NGO, a European division of the US Humane Society, nearly one hundred million animals are killed for their fur annually to meet global demand, while millions more are trapped and killed in the wild for the same purpose.

California barred the sale of fur for fashion in 2019, following bans in several of the US state's cities, and legislators in Hawaii and Rhode Island have introduced similar proposals.

Fashion brands including Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Burberry, Versace, and Armani, have also adopted fur-free policies.

The UK was the first country in the world to ban the production of fur in 2003, but still allows the import and sale of the animal product.
Crown is yet to examine why 19 of its staff were arrested in China for gambling promotion crimes, a royal commission has been told.

Ann Siegers, the chief risk officer for the James Packer-backed group, said on Thursday while the 2016 arrests were 'absolutely traumatic' for Crown, they had not been analysed.

Ms Siegers, who joined Crown in December 2017, said any review of the incident would have had to have been undertaken immediately to be effective.

'There are always lessons to be learned from the past,' she told the inquiry into whether Crown can retain a licence for its Melbourne operations.

Ann Siegers, the chief risk officer for the James Packer (pictured) group, said on Thursday while the 2016 arrests were 'absolutely traumatic' for Crown, they had not been analysed.

'A review could be undertaken now, but we're four or five years after the fact.

'By the time I joined Crown many of the people and individuals were no longer in place and therefore it was too late.'

Ms Siegers also revealed she had only 'scanned' a report on the arrests made by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.

Peter Rozen QC, acting for the VCGLR, asked Ms Siegers if the 2016 arrests represented a 'significant failure' in Crown's risk management processes.

'It was a complex event... there were large communication failings,' she responded.

Mr Rozen also put to her that Crown had been warned about the risks of this operation and could have avoided the arrests.

'I don't know that we could have averted it,' Ms Siegers said.

Crown is yet to examine why 19 of its staff were arrested in China for gambling promotion crimes, a royal commission has been told.

'A large part of it was outside our control. It was about the Chinese actions and objectives... which I don't know that we could control.

'(But) there were failings in escalating some of the warnings to the risk management committee.'

Mr Rozen said Crown's risk management structure failed to prevent the arrests back in 2016 as it was 'bypassed'.

He then asked how the royal commission, overseen by former Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein, could be satisfied any of Crown's updated structures could be relied upon now.

'At the time there were pieces of paper... dealing with risk,' Mr Rozen said.

'There are now more pieces of paper, more processes, more committees.

'But if they're not engaged in a future crisis, then that crisis won't be averted, or at least the consequences won't be ameliorated.'

'Yes,' Ms Siegers responded.

'If process is not embedded, then it's not going to assist.'

The royal commission was set up by Daniel Andrews' Labor government after a NSW inquiry found Crown unsuitable to operate its newly built casino in Sydney's Barangaroo

She said that Crown had, in her time at the company, improved its risk management and compliance.

The inquiry was told on Wednesday that Ms Siegers asked a consultancy firm to rephrase a report it was paid to complete in 2019, following scrutiny from the VCGLR.

Ms Siegers emailed partners at Deloitte, expressing concerns their report did not reflect well on recent 'enhancements' Crown had made to its risk management.

Deloitte ignored Ms Sieger's request.

The royal commission was set up by Daniel Andrews' Labor government after a NSW inquiry found Crown unsuitable to operate its newly built casino in Sydney's Barangaroo.

It continues next week.
Democrats have slammed Ilhan Omar for comparing the US and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban by claiming they have all committed 'unthinkable atrocities'.

An unofficial caucus of 25 Jewish Democrats met on Wednesday to discuss anti-Semitism after the provocative tweet was posted on Monday.

Omar had said: 'We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.

'We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.'

New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin said Omar should be removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

'She should have never been appointed to this Committee in the first place', he tweeted Wednesday night.

Brad Sherman, a senior Democrat from California who has served since 1997, denounced the comments in a furious press release.

Democrats have slammed Ilhan Omar for comparins the US and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban by claiming they have all committed 'unthinkable atrocities'

Representative Ilhan Omar likened U.S. and Israeli actions to the 'unthinkable atrocities committed' by terrorist groups like Hamas and the Taliban

He said: 'It's not news that Ilhan Omar would make outrageous and clearly false statements about America and Israel. What's newsworthy is that she admits Hamas is guilty of "unthinkable atrocities".

'It's time for all of Israel's detractors to condemn Hamas. And it's time for all those of good will to reject any moral equivalency between the US and Israel on one hand, and Hamas and the Taliban on the other.'

'Ilhan Omar must be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She should have never been appointed to this Committee in the first place.

A number of lawmakers at the meeting of Jewish Democrats wanted to name and shame Omar in a joint statement saying she 'discredited' the party, according to The Times of Israel.

Other than Sherman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Brad Schneider were among those pushing to condemn Omar, although no one on the call said they believed the tweet to be anti-Semitic.

Others present were Jamie Raskin, who was hesitant to denounce Omar, Jerry Nadler, Ted Deutch, Jan Schakowsky, Elissa Slotkin and Elaine Luria.

In her tweet, the Minnesota congresswoman included a clip of her line of questioning with Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a hearing Monday. The questioning did not include lumping in the U.S. with terrorist organizations

Schakowsky previously joined Omar on a campaign against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

Omar's office did not respond to a previous DailyMail.com request on what specific 'atrocities' she was referencing in her tweet that the US is responsible for.

Jeremy Slevin, a spokesman for Omar, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: 'As usual, the far right is ginning up hate against Rep. Omar for a technical question about an ongoing investigation.

'It is the congresswoman's role as a member of Congress conducting federal oversight to follow the facts, ask questions of the administration and work to make sure the public understands our government shouldn't deny any person from seeking justice.'

David Harris, the American Jewish Committee CEO, said: 'Beyond shocking. Beyond reprehensible.

Brad Sherman, a senior Democrat who has served since 1997, denounced the comments in a furious press release

'Will members of her own party speak up?'

A number of Republican lawmakers have chided in to slam Omar for the 'hateful assault'.

'This shouldn't be at all controversial: America is not a terrorist organization,' newly elected South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace tweeted on Tuesday. 'Full stop.'

'It is absolutely befuddling that Rep. [Ilhan Omar] continues her vicious, hateful assault on America, likening our country to terrorists,' she added.

Florida Representative Brian Mast tweeted: 'This is absolutely disgusting from a Member of Congress. I lost two legs and a finger defending the USA and fighting the radical Islamic terrorists that [Ilhan] Omar is now defending. She is completely unfit to serve our country.'

The 'Squad' member included a clip in her tweet where she questioned Secretary of State Antony Blinken as part of a Monday House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the State Department's budget request and foreign policy strategy.

Her line of questioning, unlike her tweet, did not include her grouping America with terrorist organizations.

Instead, she asked Blinken how the US plans to help people in areas where war crimes are being committed by Hamas and the Taliban, including places like in Israel, Palestinian territories and Afghanistan.

'I asked [Secretary Antony Blinken] where people are supposed to go for justice,' Omar tweeted of her line of questioning.

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace said it 'shouldn't be at all controversial' to say that America is 'not a terrorist organization'. She called on Omar to resign

The American-Somali congresswoman's comments come shortly after a ceasefire was called between Israel and Hamas, operating in Gaza, following an 11-day deadly conflict.

More than 250 people were killed in the conflict and thousands others were injured.

Omar saw some backlash for her tweet, including questions of why she serves in Congress if she 'hates America.'

'If Ilhan Omar hates America so much to say that US committed atrocities equal to #Hamas and #Taliban why is she a member of US Congress?' TV reporter Trish Regan tweeted. 'She should resign!!'

Former CIA Operations Officer Bryan Dean Wright, tweeted: 'Ilhan Omar claims -- without evidence -- that America is a war criminal, sharing the honor with Hamas, the Taliban, and her favorite of all villains -- the Jewish State.'

Democrats criticized President Joe Biden's administration for not being tougher on Israel and sending more humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

After working behind the scenes on a ceasefire between the two entities, Biden assured he is focused on the two-state solution so Israel and Palestinians both have their own land.

Republicans, however, were critical of the president not doubling-down on America's commitment to defending Israel.

Omar and other 'squad' members, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, have been vocal about their support for Palestinians and critical of Israel.

Tlaib is the first woman of Palestinian descent to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Conservative television journalist Trish Regan slammed Omar for 'hating America,' and said 'she should resign'

A former CIA operations officer said Omar's 'favorite villain' is 'the Jewish State'

Omar's comments come after an 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas operating in Gaza, which saw more than 250 people be killed, thousands others injured and millions in damages

Last month, Omar accused Israel of committing 'war crimes' in the conflict between the Jewish state and Hamas, which ws operating in Palestinian territory of Gaza.

'We should all be grateful that a ceasefire will prevent more civilians and children from being killed,' Omar tweeted in May. 'But now what? We need accountability for every war crime committed.'

'And we need to stop underwriting crimes against humanity while doing nothing to end the occupation,' she added.

During the 11-day conflict last month, thousands of missiles were fired at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv  along with other areas in Israel  from Gaza.

Israel's Iron Dome defense system went into action and the country retaliated with missiles of their own aimed at areas where they believed Hamas was operating  like a media building.
Ten babies said to have been born to one mother are currently fighting for their lives at a hospital in South Africa, the infants' aunt has claimed.

The aunt, who has not been publicly identified, said mother Gosiame Sithole is also recovering in the same Pretoria hospital after giving birth to five of the children naturally and another five by Caesarean section on Monday.

'[The babies] are still in incubators fighting for their lives. They came at 29 weeks; the mother is still weak... This is a sensitive issue,' the woman told TimesLIVE.

Meanwhile unemployed father Tebogo Tsotetsi flew to Cape Town on Wednesday to accept a 50,000 donation for the children's care while insisting the world will get to see them 'at the right time' - as doubt remains over the authenticity of the birth.

Tsotetsi claims his wife gave birth to decuplets - seven boys and three girls - overnight Monday after a 'natural' pregnancy, even though such births are almost always the result of fertility treatments.

Since then a number of relatives have come forward to insist that the birth is genuine, even as local officials say they have no record of the delivery taking place at any hospital in Guateng state, where Pretoria is located.

No doctor has yet come forward to verify the delivery and no pictures of the infants have been published - ostensibly for cultural and religious reasons.

If the birth is confirmed as genuine, it would be a world record - coming just a month after a Malian woman, Halima Cisse, gave birth to nine children in Morocco.

Gosiame Sithole, 37, claims to have given birth to ten children in South Africa on Monday (pictured at home ahead of the 'delivery')

Father Tebogo Tsotetsi (right), who broke the news to journalists, said the world will get to see them 'at the right time' as doubt remains over whether it is genuine

Tsotetsi told Pretoria News today: 'They are premature, they are still incubated. Very small as you can think  10 children in one womb that normally carries one baby.

'They are very small, so the sensitivity that goes into that, even the doctors, they dont want to risk that.'

He added that five babies were born naturally and another five were delivered by c-section, saying a team of six doctors, two gynecologists and two nurses helped.

Tsotetsi said his wife was exhausted after the birth, but that she had managed to get out of bed and take a short walk on Wednesday.

'She is doing very well.' he added.

Tsotetsi was the first to break the news of the apparent birth to reporters on Monday, telling the Pretoria News that his wife had given birth to seven boys and three girls.

'I am happy. I am emotional. I can't talk much,' he said at the time.

The news quickly spread around the world, followed by a scramble for official information on the pregnancy and birth that has so-far proved elusive.

South African media have been at loggerheads over the story, with some outlets rushing to confirm the news while others quickly derided it.

To date, no definitive account of the pregnancy or birth has been published.

Government officials have gone so far as to confirm they are aware of the case and have been in contact with the family before, after Sithole gave birth to twins in 2016.

But Feziwe Ndwayana, a spokesman for the Department of Social Development, said yesterday that she cannot confirm the birth of 10 children because nobody has been in contact with Sithole recently.

Ms Ndwayana added that a social worker will be sent to the family home today to try and confirm the authenticity of the delivery.

If Sithole's delivery is confirmed, it would make it the world's largest - coming just a month after a Malian woman gave birth to nine children in Morocco

Pretoria News claims to have been in touch with the family for months over the pregnancy, but held on to the story until after the birth.

The newspaper claims it is not publishing all the details it has about the delivery because of 'cultural and religious reasons'.

Alongside news of the birth, which first appeared in Tuesday's paper, the outlet also ran an interview with Sithole and Totetsi that they said was conducted several months ago.

At the time, Sithole believed she was pregnant with eight children - having initially been told she was carrying six before two more were discovered on a later scan.

It was only during the birth itself that the remaining two children were discovered, according to the newspaper.

Sithole said she suffered through the complicated pregnancy, experiencing morning sickness early on followed later by pain in her leg.

Meanwhile Tsotetsi revealed that he initially could not believe his wife with pregnant with six children, thinking it was medically impossible.

'But after I found out that these things do happen, and saw my wife's medical records, I got excited. I can't wait to have them in my arms,' he said at the time.

The condition of the children following the birth was not made clear by Pretoria News, which was the first to report the case.

Children of such extreme multiple pregnancies are almost always born under-weight and can often be malnourished as the mother's body struggles to provide nutrients for so many infants.

Halima Cisse (right) and husband Kader Arby (left) welcomed five girls and four boys on May 4 after a pregnancy that is thought to have been the result of fertility treatments

Cisse's children are still being cared for at a specialist hospital in Morocco more than a month after their birth (pictured) after they were born premature and malnourished

Cases of infant mortality are also not uncommon following large multiple births.

Sithole's case comes just a month after the world's first live nonuplets were born in Morocco to Malian woman Halima Cisse.

Cisse, 25, from Timbuktu, was taken to hospital in the Malian capital of Bamako in March to be kept under observation before being flown to Morocco to be cared for at a specialist hospital after the country's president intervened.

The children - five girls and four boys - were then delivered by a team of 10 doctors and 25 nurses via Caesarean on May 4, in a complicated operation that almost caused Cisse to die of blood loss.

Doctors later revealed the babies were born significantly underweight and had 'deficiencies in everything', but are now in a stable condition.

As of last week, the children were still being cared for around the clock in Morocco with doctors saying their weight has increased significantly.

But medics said they will still need to be kept under observation for at least another six weeks before they can consider sending them home.

Cisse is thought to be staying nearby after coming out of intensive care, where she was recovering from a ruptured artery during the birth.

Ms Cisse's pregnancy was just the third reported instance of nonuplets in history.

The first recorded case of nonuplets came in Sydney in the 1970s, although sadly none of the babies survived, according to The Independent.

In March 1999, a set of nonuplets was born in Malaysia to a woman named Zurina Mat Saad, though none of them survived for more than six hours.

In January 2009, Nadya Suleman - dubbed Octomum - gave birth to octuplets including six boys and two girls at a hospital in California.

All survived the birth, and recently celebrated their 12th birthdays.

Ms Suleman is still the official world record holder for the largest live birth.

The babies were a result of IVF treatment, and were nine weeks premature when they were delivered via c-section.
A lawyer today accused Oxfam of suggesting reporting rape is 'contemptible' after a training document said 'privileged white women' were supporting the 'root causes of sexual violence' for wanting offenders jailed because it disproportionately affects minorities.

The charity, which has been hit by a slew of sex scandals including claims that employees used teenage prostitutes in Haiti, compiled the PowerPoint presentation through its LGBT network after the group complained to bosses that the debate about women's rights was part of a 'patriarchal and white supremacist narrative'.

Accompanied by a cartoon of a crying white woman, the PowerPoint claims that mainstream feminism supports 'the root causes of sexual violence' by painting white women as 'victims' and that this in turn justifies excessive punishment for 'black and other marginalised people'.

Naomi Cunningham, a discrimination and employment law barrister, said the training - which uses extracts from a book written by Sussex University gender studies professor Alison Phipps - had shocking implications.

'The message seems to be that a woman who reports a rape or sexual assault to the police and presses charges is a contemptible ''white feminist'',' she told The Telegraph.

She added: 'I think any woman could make an arguable case that this has created or contributed to ''an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment'', which is how the Equality Act defines harassment.'

Accompanied by a cartoon of a crying white woman, the training slides claim that mainstream feminism supports 'the root causes of sexual violence' by painting white women as 'victims' and that this in turn justifies excessive punishment for 'black and other marginalised people'

The charity, which has been hit by a slew of sex scandals, compiled the through its LGBT network

Alison Phipps: Gender studies professor whose controversial research inspired Oxfam The Oxfam training manual recommends read Me Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism, a book by Alison Phipps, a professor of gender studies at Sussex University. The academic, who previously lectured at Cambridge and Brighton, describes herself as a political sociologist 'focusing on mainstream Western feminism, especially movements around sexual violence'. She has been at Sussex since 2005, and was previously Chair of the Feminist and Women's Studies Association UK and Ireland from 2009-2012. She has since become highly critical of mainstream feminism, claiming it 'perpetrates white supremacy'. This is due to her belief that 'women's safety' is used as an excuse to harshly punish perpetrators who are people of colour or adopt harsher border restrictions. Today Professor Phipps strenuously denied that any of her work discouraged sexual assault victims from coming forward. She told MailOnline: 'I can't comment on the Oxfam training materials as I haven't seen them, but my book is grounded in a long tradition of feminist thought and politics that sees criminal punishment as part of the problem and not the solution. 'I would never tell a survivor of sexual violence what to do, but I would like us to have better choices than criminal punishment, media exposure, or silence.' Advertisement

The four-week 'learning journey' states: 'Mainstream feminism centres privileged white women and demands that ''bad men'' be fired or imprisoned.'

Next to the cartoon of a sobbing white woman is a caption saying that this attitude 'legitimises criminal punishment, harming black and other marginalised people'.

The PowerPoint recommends staff read Me Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism, a book by Alison Phipps, a professor of gender studies at Sussex University.

It then links to the academic's Twitter account, including a thread which summarises the main themes of the book, including: 'White feminist tears deploy white woundedness, and the sympathy it generates, to hide the harms we perpetuate through white supremacy.'

Summarising the theme of her book, Professor Phipps states: 'Mainstream feminism is supporting, not undoing, the root causes of sexual violence.'

Oxfam has insisted the training was voluntary, and included links to 'suggested reading to help in understanding the issues' that did not reflect Oxfam's views or policy.

Meanwhile, Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology at Kent University, suggested that the book carried the message that the 'colour of your skin symbolises original sin'.

The training, called Learning About Trans Rights and Inclusion, was drawn up in 2020.

It was compiled after the charity's LGBT+ network wrote to management demanding that they publicly support trans people and claimed that debate about rights was part of a 'patriarchal and white supremacist narrative' used by the far right.

Alison Phipps told MailOnline today: 'I can't comment on the Oxfam training materials as I haven't seen them, but my book is grounded in a long tradition of feminist thought and politics that sees criminal punishment as part of the problem and not the solution.

'I would never tell a survivor of sexual violence what to do, but I would like us to have better choices than criminal punishment, media exposure, or silence.'

The PowerPoint slide recommends staff read Me Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism, a book by Alison Phipps, a professor of gender studies at Sussex University (pictured)

Oxfam said: 'Oxfam works to tackle discrimination and inequality whether that is on the basis of race, sex, gender identity or sexuality. Our commitment to gender equality includes trans people.

'We believe everyone has the right to freedom of gender identity and expression and will do everything we can to ensure those rights are respected and upheld within our organisation and through our work.

'Oxfam treats all allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse extremely seriously and actively encourage people to report wherever they have a concern. How to report is covered thoroughly in our staff training provision.'

Summarising the theme of her book, Professor Phipps states: 'Mainstream feminism is supporting, not undoing, the root causes of sexual violence'

In April it emerged that Oxfam was under investigation over new allegations of sexual exploitation just weeks after it was cleared to apply for government aid funds again following the Haiti scandal.

The charity suspended two aid workers last week and has commissioned an independent investigation into accusations against senior managers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), The Times reported.

The inquiry, which began in November last year, reportedly concerned allegations of intimidation, death threats, fraud, and nepotism.

But whistleblowers said they had raised concerns about the alleged misconduct as far back as 2015.

Oxfam has been operating in the DRC since 1961. The charity employs 273 staff whose work concentrates mainly water and sanitation projects among vulnerable communities.

The latest allegations were written in a ten-page letter sent to the charity's leaders in Oxford in February.

The letter made various allegations about 11 individuals and was signed by 20 former and current Oxfam staff.

It said: 'We hope that the DRC does not become another example of Oxfam's failure to prevent power abuses following the Haiti media expose in 2018 and Oxfam's explicit commitment to do better.'

In February Oxfam was released from strict supervision by the charity watchdog following 'significant' reforms after the Haiti aid workers sex abuse scandal.

In 2018 it emerged that some Oxfam workers had engaged in 'sex parties' with prostitutes after the 2010 Haiti earthquake disaster.

Four employees were fired for 'gross misconduct' and three others, including the charity director in Haiti Roland Van Hauwermeiren, left the charity.

Oxfam later offered its 'humblest apologies' to Haiti.
Private Covid testing firms on the Government-approved list are causing 'serious problems' for people travelling to the UK over pricing and availability, a new report has found.

Consumer group Which? has discovered some firms have failed to deliver tests on time or returned results to customers.

Others never received kits or even received results for swabs they had not even taken.

More recently companies have been giving attractive prices, but customers are not realising this is just for one test when two are needed, while some don't have any to deliver.

Rory Boland, travel editor at Which? said: 'Weeks on from some international travel being allowed to resume, it's very concerning to still be uncovering such serious problems with the government's testing system for travellers - problems that could have easily been ironed out well ahead of travel restarting, had proper regulatory oversight been ensured early on.

'As it stands, travellers risk being left at the mercy of rogue operators who, at best, attempt to profiteer off of those looking for testing services to allow them to travel, and at worst, risk leaving them out of pocket for services that don't even exist.'

A self-testing kit for coronavirus similar to those being sent out by many private firms

People coming into the UK from amber countries have to take tests as part of regulations

Travellers to the UK have to pre-book tests for day two and day eight after their return.

Those countries on the government's 'amber' list force travellers to pre-book a two-test package before they are allowed into the UK.

The consumer group said prices offered by Biograd Diagnostics, Screen 4 and Book A Travel Test were between 60 and 98.

But when it investigated further it found the quoted prices were for a single test, not the compulsory pair.

Around four million people in the North West of England are now in the area with extra restrictions because of concerns about outbreaks of the Indian variant. Bolton, Burnley, Blackburn and Kirklees were already affected but now all of Lancashire and Greater Manchester have been added

The Indian variant is now dominant in more than two thirds of England's local authorities, and has spread to 85 per cent of the country, according to the latest surveillance data from Britain's leading centre for tracking the virus the Sanger Institute

All over-50s in England could be fully protected against Covid by July 1  nearly two weeks after 'freedom day on June 21  but it will take until September for all adults to have had two jabs, MailOnline analysis can reveal

The firms involved told the BBC problem lay with how the DHSC recorded price information.

'A number of companies including ourselves were initially confused by the government listing forms,' said a Book A Travel Test spokesperson.

'We have gone to great lengths to support travellers, however, we are not immune to costs and have had to navigate fluctuating charges from labs. We remain committed to doing all we can to deliver an excellent service to travellers during this difficult time.''

A Screen 4 spokesperson said the problem lay in 'differences in terminology'.

'We do not and have never tried to manipulate the listings and we have tried to provide a competitive and reliable service with clearly stated capacity of tests available,' Screen 4 said.
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Main points from Hancock's evidence As early as January ministers were presented with a 'reasonable worst case scenario' of 820,000 deaths from coronavirus, based on the example of Spanish Flu.

Matt Hancock said the first lockdown was delayed amid 'wrong' expert advice that the public would only 'put up with it' for a limited time and concerns about the 'immediate costs'.

He said it was 'hard' to go against scientific advice, especially when the PM was having to make one of the most difficult decisions in peacetime on the basis of 'incomplete information and at great pace'.

Mr Hancock said the WHO told him at the end of January that claims coming out of China about asymptomatic transmission were 'likely a mistranslation'. He said he wished he had 'stuck to my guns' on the issue.

He said SAGE had been wrong to argue that the Test & Trace system was having no significant impact on transmission.

Mr Hancock said he had tried to protect care homes in the early stages of the pandemic, but said he did not have sufficient 'powers' and conceded the government did not even have a list of homes.

He said that 'from the evidence I have seen' there were no deaths as a result of PPE shortages.

Mr Hancock boasted that he had 'driven' the successful vaccine development project.

Addressing the barrage of claims about his conduct from Dominic Cummings, Mr Hancock denied claims that he 'lied' to fellow ministers and the public about the coronavirus response.

He said he had 'no idea' why Mr Cummings was targeting him specifically over the problems. But he admitted that he knew the PM's top aide had wanted him sacked because there was 'briefing to the newspapers'. Advertisement

Matt Hancock today admitted the first lockdown was delayed despite initial warnings over 820,000 deaths amid fears Britons would not tolerate the restrictions for long.

In a dramatic evidence session with MPs, the Health Secretary said that as early as January he was presented with a 'reasonable worst case scenario' of the huge potential toll, based on Spanish Flu.

But imposing the draconian first national restrictions did not happen until March 23, with Mr Hancock pointing to expert advice that the public would only 'put up with it' for a limited time and concerns about the 'immediate costs'. He said of the anxiety over people obeying the tough rules: 'That proved to be wrong.'

Repeatedly pinning the blame on scientists, he said it was 'hard' to go against their advice, arguing that the PM was having to make one of the most difficult decisions in peacetime on the basis of 'incomplete information and at great pace'.

Mr Hancock also gave a damning assessment of the expert views on asymptomatic transmission, saying the WHO told him at the end of January that claims coming out of China were 'likely a mistranslation'. He said he wished he had 'stuck to my guns' on the issue, and suggested that he had been ahead of the experts on forecasting the scale of the impact.

The Cabinet minister also boasted that he had 'driven' the successful vaccine development.

Addressing the barrage of claims about his conduct from Dominic Cummings, Mr Hancock denied claims that he 'lied' to fellow ministers and the public about the coronavirus response.

He replied bluntly 'No' when he was asked by science committee chair Greg Clark whether he had misled Boris Johnson about people being tested before returning from hospitals to care homes.

He said he had 'no idea' over why Mr Cummings was targeting him specifically over the problems. But he admitted that he knew the PM's top aide had wanted him sacked because there was 'briefing to the newspapers'.

Mr Clark kicked off the session by confirming that Mr Cummings has yet to provide promised evidence backing up the barrage of allegations he made about Mr Hancock last month.

The former No10 chief also branded Mr Hancock 'disastrously incompetent' and said he should have been sacked on multiple occasions.

But Mr Clark said that Mr Cummings had missed deadlines to back up his claims, and they must be viewed as 'unproven'. Mr Hancock said the lack of evidence was 'telling'.

In an intense and at times emotional appearance before MPs:

Mr Hancock insisted he wished he had 'stuck to my guns' when the WHO and scientists dismissed suggestions Covid could transmit asymptomatically;

He swiped that government has 'operated better in the past six months' since Mr Cummings was ousted from Downing Street;

He claimed he had been pushing for a stronger response to the pandemic before dire updated forecasts from scientists in March forced a shift in the government's approach.

The Health Secretary defended his handling of the care home situation saying news reports from Spain of stricken residents was 'burned across my soul';

He said SAGE had been wrong to argue that the Test & Trace system was having no significant impact on transmission.

Matt Hancock replied bluntly 'No' when he was asked by science committee chair Greg Clark whether he had misled colleagues about people being tested before returning to care homes.

In a dramatic evidence session with MPs, the Health Secretary said that as early as January he was presented with a 'reasonable worst case scenario' of the huge potential toll, based on Spanish Flu

Matt Hancock will field hours of questions from a cross-party committee as he confronts the barrage of allegations from maverick former No10 chief Dominic Cummings (pictured)

Matt Hancock's 'lies' according to Cummings Dominic Cummings claimed in his bombshell committee evidence that there were 'numerous' examples of Matt Hancock lying during the pandemic. He gave four main examples - all of which Mr Hancock has made clear he rejects. 'Lie' 1: Hospital patients were being tested for Covid before they went back to care homes On care homes, Mr Cummings told MPs 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. '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.' 'Lie' 2: Patients were getting treatment they needed in first peak Mr Cummings alleged Mr Hancock lied about everybody getting the treatment they deserved in the first peak when 'many people were left to die in horrific circumstances'. Asked to provide evidence of the Health Secretary's lying, the former chief aide to the Prime Minister told the Commons committee: 'There are numerous examples. I mean in the summer he said that everybody who needed treatment got the treatment that they required. 'He knew that that was a lie because he had been briefed by the chief scientific adviser and the chief medical officer himself about the first peak, and we were told explicitly people did not get the treatment they deserved, many people were left to die in horrific circumstances.' 'Lie' 3: Pandemic plans were up to scratch Mr Cummings said that assurances given to him by Mr Hancock in January last year that pandemic preparations were brilliant 'were basically completely hollow'. The former chief aide to the Prime Minister told the Commons committee he received a response from Health Secretary Matt Hancock assuring: 'We've got full plans up to and including pandemic levels regularly prepared and refreshed, CMOs and epidemiologists, we're stress testing now, it's our top tier risk register, we have an SR bid before this.' Mr Cummings told the committee: 'I would like to stress and apologise for the fact that it is true that I did this but I did not follow up on this and push it the way I should've done. 'We were told in No 10 at the time that this is literally top of the risk register, this has been planned and there's been exercises on this over and over again, everyone knows what to do. 'And it's sort of tragic in a way, that someone who wrote so often about running red teams and not trusting things and not digging into things, whilst I was running red teams about lots of other things in government at this time, I didn't do it on this. 'If I had said at the end of January, we're going to take a Saturday and I want all of these documents put on the table and I want it all gone through and I want outside experts to look at it all, then we'd have figured out much, much earlier that all the claims about brilliant preparations and how everything was in order were basically completely hollow, but we didn't figure this out until the back end of February.' 'Lie' 4: PPE supplies were hampered by NHS and Treasury Mr Cummings made an allegation that Mr Hancock squirmed over shortages of PPE during the pandemic. He claimed that in mid-April, just before he and the PM were diagnosed with having Covid, Mr Hancock gave assurances that 'everything is fine with PPE, we've got it all covered, etc, etc'. However, when Mr Cummings returned to work he discovered there was a 'disaster over PPE and how we were actually completely short, hospitals all over the country were running out'. 'The Secretary of State said in that meeting this is the fault of Simon Stevens, this is the fault of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it's not my fault, they've blocked approvals on all sorts of things. I said to the cabinet secretary, please investigate this and find out if it's true,' Mr Cummings claimed. 'The Cabinet Secretary came back to me and said it's completely untrue, I've lost confidence in the Secretary of State's honesty in these meetings. The Cabinet Secretary said that to me and the Cabinet Secretary said that to the Prime Minister.' ... And the alleged hampering of test & trace to hit 'incredibly stupid' daily testing target Mr Cummings took aim at Mr Hancock over his introduction of a target of carrying out 100,000 tests a day last summer. 'This was an incredibly stupid thing to do because we already had that goal internally,' Mr Cummings said. 'What then happened when I came back around the 13th was I started getting calls and No 10 were getting calls saying Hancock is interfering with the building of the test and trace system because he's telling everybody what to do to maximise his chances of hitting his stupid target by the end of the month. 'We had half the Government with me in No 10 calling around frantically saying do not do what Hancock says, build the thing properly for the medium term. 'And we had Hancock calling them all saying down tools on this, do this, hold tests back so I can hit my target.' Mr Cummings claimed that Mr Hancock should have been 'fired for that thing alone'. 'The whole of April was hugely disrupted by different parts of Whitehall fundamentally trying to operate in different ways completely because Hancock wanted to be able to go on TV and say 'look at me and my 100k target',' the former aide said. 'It was criminal, disgraceful behaviour that caused serious harm. Advertisement

LOCKDOWN DELAY DOWN TO BAD ADVICE AND FEARS OVER COSTS

Mr Clark put it to Mr Hancock that the maths of the potential scale of deaths from coronavirus were 'stark' early on.

'Did you not see that for all of the complex models, that actually the mathematics of this pandemic, were pretty stark?' he said.

'That you have 60million people in the adult population, if two thirds of them contracted Covid, and 1 per cent of those who contracted it died, we'd have 400,000 deaths, and that is unacceptable and liable to overwhelm the NHS.'

Asked how this was missed for so long, Mr Hancock responded: 'I would absolutely say that we knew about this problem from the start.

'And the challenge in those early weeks of March was making a massive judgment, probably the most significant judgment that any prime minister has made in certainly peacetime, based on incomplete information, and at great pace.'

The Health Secretary said he asked for a planning assessment for the pandemic that was signed off by SAGE at the end of January, and suggested that based on the example of Spanish Flu 820,000 people could die.

'I asked for a reasonable worst case scenario planning assumption, and I was given the planning assumption based on Spanish flu,' he said.

'And it was signed off at Cobra on January 31, and that was a planning assumption for 820,000 deaths, and I was determined that that would not happen on my watch.'

Mr Hancock added: 'And in the middle of February the scientific advice confirmed that the reasonable worst case scenario should be taken as read that this was equivalent to Spanish flu.

'I mean if you think about it, at the time at the end of January when that was first presented at Cobra, I, like everybody else, thought of Spanish flu as something you've read about in the history books, but as Health Secretary, you're always worried about new pathogens.

'But knowing that that was the reasonable worst case scenario, we planned for it.'

He said: 'The week beginning the ninth of March, what happened is that the data started to follow the reasonable worst case scenario, and by the end of that week, the updated modelling, showed essentially that we were on the track of something close to that reasonable worst case scenario.'

But Mr Hancock admitted that the stance within government on lockdown did not start to shift until March 9 when the SPI-M subgroup of SAGE presented new estimates that looked in line with the reasonable worst case scenario.

He said that he then spoke to an 'ashen faced' senior No10 official who suggested action would have to be stepped up.

Mr Hancock said he told them: 'I am glad the projections are now showing what I think is happening.'

Mr Hancock said there were concerns about the 'immediate costs' of lockdown - but also that the public would quickly start to flout the rules.

'The clear scientific advice at the time was that there was a need to have these tools like lockdown at your disposal but also that the consequences and the costs of lockdown start immediately and, critically, the clear advice at the time was that there's only a limited period that people would put up with it, would put up with lockdown. Now that proved actually to be wrong,' he said.

Mr Hancock insisted he scrutinised the advice.

'We absolutely debated and challenged that advice but when you're faced with a decision of this enormity, and ultimately of course as Health Secretary my primary goal is protecting lives, finding a way out of this, and protecting the NHS, I made that argument,' he said.

'But ultimately we didn't know how long people would put up with it and now it seems obvious that people will put up with lockdowns  it was not at all obvious.

'These are huge decisions, to take those decisions against the scientific advice is an even bigger decision to take. Now when the scientific advice moved that became easier.'

EXPERTS WRONG ON ASYMPTOMATIC TRANSMISSION AND TESTING WAS ALWAYS BEING RAMPED UP

Mr Hancock also pointed to clinical advice as he defended the lack of community testing early in the crisis.

He said the screening was abandoned because there was not enough capacity - but also due to experts advising that it was ineffective when people did not have symptoms.

It has since emerged that a significant proportion of Covid cases are asymptomatic.

'Testing was at no point scaled down, on the contrary, we were driving up testing capacity all the way through,' he said.

But he accepted community testing ceased early in the pandemic and said he was not advised in the run-up to the first lockdown whether expanding community testing was an option.

'Unlike other countries we did not go into this with a testing capacity. So one of the reasons we had to reduce the use of community testing is because we didn't have a big enough capacity and we had to target the testing at where it's clinically most needed,' Mr Hancock said.

'The second point, which is really important here, is that the clinical advice I received is that testing people asymptomatically would lead to false negatives.'

CHINA HAMPERED COVID RESPONSE

Mr Hancock said the early response to the pandemic was hampered by the lack of information coming out of China.

'One of the things that hindered our early response was a lack of transparency from China. That must be put right in terms of future preparedness for future pandemics,' he said.

'It is absolutely vital for the world that China is more transparent about its health information as soon it understands there are problems.'

He said that some south-east Asian countries which were better prepared when the pandemic broke have suffered from previous outbreaks of Sars and Mers.

'Here that shock in around 2009 was not heeded as much as it should have been,' he said.

He added: 'It is harder in a democracy to take some of the steps that some of the authoritarian countries took.'

FEUD WITH DOMINIC CUMMINGS

Mr Cummings lobbed a series of grenades at Mr Hancock during his own hearing before the committee last month.

Asked whether he knew why Mr Cummings disliked him, Mr Hancock said: 'I have no idea.'

He said he worked 'directly with the PM from the start of this'.

Pressed as to whether he had been aware the ex-aide wanted him fired, Mr Hancock said: 'Yes, because he briefed the newspapers at the time. Or somebody briefed the newspapers, I now have a better idea who that was.'

He added: 'I think the best thing to say about this, and this will be corroborated by lots of people in Government, the best thing to say, is that Government has operated better in the past six months.'

Mr Hancock also insisted he never said PPE shortages were the fault of the Chancellor Rishi Sunak or NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens, and did not accuse them of blocking approvals - as Mr Cummings claimed.

'That is not a fair recollection of the situation,' he said.

'Getting hold of PPE was always a huge challenge, and as the National Audit Office have shown in their reports into this when they went through all of the details, there was never a point to which NHS providers couldn't get access to PPE, but there were huge challenges.'

He explained that in March China introduced new export restrictions and a 'piece of bureaucracy' that put a limit on the price that could be paid for PPE that needed to be removed.

Mr Hancock said: 'And we took a policy decision that we should pay at the top of the market  that did require the Treasury to make that change, the Chancellor was incredibly helpful in driving that through, and we managed to get to this position where despite local challenges  and I don't deny at all there were challenges in individual areas  there was never a national shortage of PPE because of the action that we took.'

He added that his whole approach to the pandemic has been that 'this is a team effort' and you 'can't respond to a pandemic, just by pointing fingers'.

Mr Hancock batted away jibes that his target of carrying out 100,000 tests a day was a PR exercise and distracted government resources.

He said he was 'surprised' by those accusations from Mr Cummings. 'The PM was absolutely four square behind me,' he said.

Opening the hearing, Mr Clark said a deadline of last Friday had been set for Mr Cummings to supply evidence for his allegations about Mr Hancock.

But he said: 'We have not received that evidence nor any explanation as to why that has not been available.

'It's important that if serious allegations are made against an individual, they should be corroborated with evidence and it must be counted as unproven without it.'

THE 'RING OF STEEL' AROUND CARE HOMES

Mr Hancock was repeatedly grilled about the disastrous death toll in care homes - including Mr Cummings' claim that he lied about whether residents would be tested before being returned from hospitals.

The Health Secretary stressed that he followed the clinical advice. 'We set out a policy that people would be tested when tests were available. Then I set about building the testing capacity for us to be able to deliver on that,' he said.

'The challenge was not just that we didn't have the testing capacity but also that the clinical advice was that a test on somebody who didn't have any symptoms could easily return a false negative and therefore give false assurance that that person did not have the disease.

'At the same time, the clinicians were worried that, because it took four days to turn a test around, that if they leave somebody in hospital for those four days they might catch Covid and therefore go back to a care home with a negative result but having caught it.'

Mr Hancock said the Government had tried to throw a 'protective ring' around care homes but that it had proved difficult.

'I think the most important words in the sentence are 'we tried to'. It was very hard,' he said.

'Each and every death in a care home weighs heavily and always will. We knew from the start from very early in January that the impact of this disease was most significant on the oldest and therefore care homes were going to be a particular risk.

'We put in funding. We made sure PPE was as available as possible. We set guidance for care homes. Then later when we had the testing capacity  in July  we brought in weekly testing for staff.'

Mr Hancock said that at the beginning of the pandemic his powers over social care were 'extremely limited' and that the Department of Health and Social Care did not even have a list of care homes in England.

But he said he could 'look in the mirror' over his decision. 'I know that I did that with the right motive being straight with people throughout,' he said.

Mr Hancock pointed to a recent Public Health England report suggesting only 1.6 per cent of cases going into care homes came from people discharged from hospital.

He said one reason why the proportion might be so low is that there were isolation rules for patients who were discharged into care homes because the testing capacity was not there.

The second reason is that a 'much much higher' proportion of staff enter a care home each day than residents.

He said: 'If you think about a care home and who physically goes in the door, the number of times that that person going through the front door is a resident is really quite a small proportion of the total.

'So I do understand why people feel very strongly about this point of residents going into care homes, but in terms of the volume of human movement and interaction with a care home, you can understand once you think of it that way, because this virus transmits between humans of whatever type, whether you're a staff member or a resident It's therefore the staff testing regime that was the big change that we brought in over the summer, and then we learned all of these lessons and did a review with the care home providers, and CQC and others, and came up with the care home winter plan.

'And so in the second peak throughout the winter the proportion of deaths that we had in care homes is far, far lower and that is part of, that's one of the many lessons that we're learning as we go through this.'

Mr Hancock said he had no recollection of Mr Johnson expressing surprise about the care home situation when he returned from hospital in April.

'Not that I can remember,' he said.

According to the Guardian, Care England raised concerns over 'lack of testing in hospitals and in the care sector' with the Department of Health and Social Care 'several times'.

The Care Providers Alliance are also said to have told the Government to 'prioritise testing for care residents' in March 2020 and emailed Mr Hancock directly to warn anyone discharged from hospital to social care settings 'MUST be tested before discharge'.

'NO LIVES LOST' DUE TO PPE SHORTAGES

Mr Hancock said he had received no evidence to suggest any medics died due to a failure to provide them with personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic.

He told MPs: 'We've looked into this and there is no evidence that I have seen that a shortage of PPE provision led to anyone dying of Covid. That's from the evidence I have seen.

'What I do know though is PPE provision was tight, and it was difficult, and it was difficult throughout the world, but we did manage  it was pretty close sometimes  but we did manage to ensure that there was at a national level we had the PPE and then distribution was a challenge to all areas.'

Pressed about nurses having to use bin bags instead of PPE, he said: 'I have acknowledged throughout there were individual challenges at getting hold of PPE but at a national level there was never a point where we ran out.'

WHAT DID DOMINIC CUMMINGS SAY?

Launching a dramatic bid to bring down the PM and the Health Secretary last month, Mr Cummings blamed a toxic mix of complacency and indecision for the needless deaths.

He told MPs that senior ministers and advisers, including himself, had fallen 'disastrously short', adding: 'When the public needed us most, the Government failed. Tens of thousands of people died, who didn't need to die.'

In an epic seven-hour performance, Mr Cummings launched attacks on Mr Johnson, his fiancee Carrie Symonds and Mr Hancock over their personal conduct during the crisis.

Mr Cummings claimed the Prime Minister was 'unfit for the job' and could not lead Britain out of the pandemic.

He said the Health Secretary 'should have been fired for at least 15 to 20 things, including lying'.

He alleged Mr Hancock had lied to the PM over the disastrous policy of not testing older people for Covid before they were discharged from hospital into care homes.

The former No10 aide outlined a series of failings by him and the 'smoking ruin' Department for Health, including lying in January last year that pandemic preparations were brilliant when they were 'completely hollow'.

Mr Cummings alleged Mr Hancock lied about testing hospital patients for coronavirus before they were sent back into care homes, in a suggestion that thousands died because of his dishonesty.

He also claimed that the Health Secretary lied about people getting the treatment they needed during the first peak last March and April - adding that 'many people were left to die in horrific circumstances'.

Mr Cummings then accused Mr Hancock of 'appalling' behaviour towards chief medical officer Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, saying: 'He used the whole 'we're following the science' as a way so that he could always say, 'well if things go wrong, we'll blame the scientists and it's not my fault'.'

Downing Street did not deny that Mr Johnson considered sacking the Health Secretary in April last year but insisted the Prime Minister has confidence in him now, as Mr Hancock disputed the allegations.

He suggested that Mr Johnson chose not to fire the Health Secretary at that point because he was allegedly told 'you should keep him there because he's the person you fire when the inquiry comes along'.

Mr Cummings told a joint committee: '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.'

On the claim that Mr Hancock lied, Mr Cummings said: 'There are numerous examples. In the summer he said that everybody who needed treatment got the treatment they required.

'He knew that that was a lie because he had been briefed by the chief scientific adviser and the chief medical officer himself about the first peak. We were told explicitly people did not get the treatment they deserved, many people were left to die in horrific circumstances.'

Mr Hancock had also blamed NHS chief Sir Simon Stevens and Chancellor Rishi Sunak for PPE problems.

Mr Cummings said he asked the cabinet secretary to investigate, who came back and said 'it is completely untrue, I have lost confidence in the Secretary of State's honesty in these meetings'.

The former aide said Mr Hancock's public promise to deliver 100,000 tests a day by the end of April was 'incredibly stupid' because it was already an internal goal.

'In my opinion he should've been fired for that thing alone, and that itself meant the whole of April was hugely disrupted by different parts of Whitehall fundamentally trying to operate in different ways completely because Hancock wanted to be able to go on TV and say 'look at me and my 100k target'.

'It was criminal, disgraceful behaviour that caused serious harm.'

There have been reports that Mr Cummings has documents showing the PM's office summoned Mr Hancock to No10 on May 3 last year, for a meeting the following day, to explain misleading him, the PM and then Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill on the testing of patients before discharge into care homes, as well as about further testing of residents and staff.

The DoH said it 'did not recognise' the claim and Mr Hancock 'had many meetings with the PM across a range of issues'.

Mr Hancock has previously said on care home testing: '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.'

Mr Johnson has said the government faced an 'incredibly difficult series of decisions, none of which we have taken lightly' and 'at every stage we have been governed by a determination to protect life'.

Mr Hancock ignored questions from journalists as he left his London home this morning. He has already denied the allegations, saying he only committed to building capacity for testing at the start of the crisis in March last year
The government today warned that Oxford students could win compensation if they are affected by a planned teaching boycott by 150 rebel academics protesting over the Cecil Rhodes statue, as Jacob Rees-Mogg said, 'We must not allow this wokeness to happen'.

Left-wing dons say they will still give lectures to Oriel College's 300 undergraduates, but deny them the chance for in-depth discussion in small groups or one-to-one sessions until the monument to the colonialist is toppled.

Proponents of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign claim the small statue high up on Oriel's main building 'glorifies colonialism', but the college last month decided it would stay following a backlash from donors.

Today a No 10 spokesman said universities had a duty to provide good-quality teaching and that the Government would expect 'appropriate action' to be taken if that was disrupted.

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg also weighed into the row, describing the academics concerned as a 'useless bunch', adding: 'We must not allow this wokeness to happen.'

Proponents of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign claim the small statue high up on Oriel's main building 'glorifies colonialism', but the college last month decided it would stay following a backlash from donors

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg weighed into the row, describing the academics concerned as a 'useless bunch', adding: 'We must not allow this wokeness to happen'

The rebel academics, led by Professor Kate Tunstall - the head of another college - have threatened not to assist Oriel College with its outreach work and admissions interviews, and they will refuse to attend or speak at talks, seminars and conferences sponsored by the college.

Asked about the row today, a Downing Street spokesman said: 'Students rightly expect to get a good deal for their investment in higher education and we would expect universities to take appropriate action should any student be seriously affected by these actions which could include compensation.

'We fully believe in protecting academic freedom but universities have a duty to maintain access to good-quality tuition as a priority especially given the disruption the pandemic has caused students already.'

Mr Rees-Mogg discussed the issue in the Commons after Tory MP Tom Hunt complained about the 'wokification' of Oxford following the Rhodes row and a vote by Magdalen students to take down a portrait of the Queen in their Common room.

Mr Rees-Mogg responded: 'As for Magdalen College, it's not exactly 1687/88, it's a few pimply adolescents getting excited and taking down a picture of Her Majesty. It makes Magdalen look pretty wet, but it's not the end of the world.'

Mr Rees-Mogg added: 'As regards the academics refusing to teach, I'm half tempted to say you should be lucky not to be taught by such a useless bunch, but if they are that feeble, what are you missing and what are they doing there? Why don't they have any pride in their country, our marvellous history and our success?

'Rhodes is not a black and white figure, perhaps they're not learned enough to have bothered to look up the history of Rhodes in any detail, which has been written about quite extensively now and as I say, he is a figure of importance and of interest and of enormous generosity to Oxford. Do they want to give the money back to the descendants of Cecil Rhodes, or are they intending to keep it to themselves?

'So we must not allow this wokeness to happen, the idea of changing Churchill College, well perhaps we should introduce a Bill to rename Cambridge, Churchill and call it Churchill University and that would be one in the eye for the Lefties.'

The rebel academics, led by Professor Kate Tunstall - the head of another college - have threatened not to assist Oriel College with its outreach work and admissions interviews

Trade minister Greg Hands gave his view on the issue this morning, telling LBC's Nick Ferrari: 'Well look, I was just hope that universities get on with their actual job which is teaching students and making sure students get the best possible degrees.

'I'm not following all the ins and outs of everything that's going on at every university, but I do wish that our focus was on learning.

'A lot of students are paying a lot of money on tuition fees and on living so I'd hope universities would focus on their core mission.'

One of those supporting the anti-Rhodes campaign is Robert Gildea, Professor of Modern History at Worcester College, who today suggested Oriel College should place a sign saying 'Sorry' around Rhodes' neck.

Professor Gildea was one of the signatories of the petition, and said the boycott is a way of 'putting pressure' on the college after many alternatives had failed.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'One of the options offered by the commission was to retain and contextualise, so if the college put up a notice explaining who Cecil Rhodes was that would be fine.

'If the college put a placard around his neck at lunchtime today saying 'Sorry' that would also be fine.'

Prof Gildea added that sculptor Antony Gormley's suggestion that the statue be turned round to face the wall is also a 'very interesting idea'.

A statement from the boycott organisers said: 'Faced with Oriel's stubborn attachment to a statue that glorifies colonialism and the wealth it produced for the college, we feel we have no choice but to withdraw all discretionary work and goodwill collaborations.'

It added: 'The collegiate university can only effectively and credibly work to eradicate racism and address the ongoing effects of colonialism today if all the colleges do so.

'Oriel College's decision not to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes undermines us all.'

Last night a senior don slammed the boycott threat, telling the Daily Mail: 'This is despicable and mean-minded. It is unprecedented for the head of one college to attack and detract from the teaching of students at another college.

'This is politics based on ignorance and bias, and should have nothing to do with Oxford or any other university, where the principal aim should be to educate students and not damage their learning through left-biased agitation.'

The storm is the second to hit Oxford in as many days, after students at Magdalen College voted to remove a portrait of the Queen from their common room because she 'represents recent colonial history'.

Last month saw Oriel reject calls to tear down the statue of Rhodes, after an independent commission produced a 144-page report on the isssue following a long-running Rhodes Must Fall campaign.

An Oxford student in the 1870s, Rhodes left money to Oriel on his death in 1902 and his statue stands on the college's building on Oxford High Street. An imperialist, businessman and politician, he played a dominant role in southern Africa in the late 19th century, driving the annexation of vast swathes of land.

More than 1,400 people wrote to the independent commission with their views, including alumni who said removing Rhodes's statue would amount to 'censoring the past' and 'erasing history'.

The commission ultimately recommended that the statue be removed  but also highlighted how challenging it would be to conduct such work on a Grade II listed building. In addition to the cost, such changes would also require permission from Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary.

Previous vows from ministers to protect statues from 'baying mobs' suggest any moves to remove Rhodes would be blocked by the Government.

Demonstrators hold placards during a protest arranged by the 'Rhodes Must Fall' campaign in June 2020

Following Oriel's decision to keep the statue, college provost Lord Mendoza insisted any money needed to pay for its removal  and associated legal challenges  would be better spent on students.

But Professor Tunstall, interim provost of Worcester College, is among Oxford academics who invited colleagues to sign a 'statement of a boycott of Oriel College'.

Their joint declaration states: 'Faced with Oriel's stubborn attachment to a statue that glorifies colonialism and the wealth it produced for the College, we feel we have no choice but to withdraw all discretionary work and goodwill collaborations.'

The incendiary petition The Collegiate University can only effectively and credibly work to eradicate racism and address the ongoing effects of colonialism today if all the Colleges do so. Oriel College's decision not to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes undermines us all. Faced with Oriel's stubborn attachment to a statue that glorifies colonialism and the wealth it produced for the College, we feel we have no choice but to withdraw all discretionary work and goodwill collaborations. With regret, then, we, the undersigned, agree that until Oriel makes a credible public commitment to remove the statue, we shall: Refuse requests from Oriel to give tutorials to Oriel undergraduates; Refuse to assist Oriel in its outreach and access work, including undergraduate admissions interviewing;

Refuse to participate in recruitment and assessment processes for Fellowships at Oriel and other Oriel College appointments;

Refuse to attend or speak at talks, seminars, and conferences sponsored by Oriel. Advertisement

Signatories agree to 'refuse requests from Oriel to give tutorials to Oriel undergraduates'. They will also refuse to interview prospective students, nor will they speak at Oriel talks and conferences.

The petition has been spearheaded by Professor Tunstall, who has previously attempted to scrap the saying of grace before meals. Other apparent authors of the boycott statement include Sneha Krishnan, an associate professor in human geography at Brasenose, and two academics from St Antony's College: Miles Larmer, professor of African history, and Simukai Chigudu, associate professor of African politics.

The college is establishing a 'task force' to look at how to 'retain and explain' the statue, by making the public aware of the context and history behind it.

A likely option is to add a plaque, but dons are also considering creating a 'digital museum' about the statue, which could be accessed around the world.

But the Rhodes Must Fall campaign called it a 'slap in the face' and vowed to carry on fighting.

Responding to the campaign, a senior Oxford don said: 'This is despicable and mean-minded. It is unprecedented for the head of one college to attack and detract from the teaching of students at another college.

'This is politics based on ignorance and bias, and should have nothing to do with Oxford or any other university, where the principle aim should be to educate students and not damage their learning through left-biased agitation.'

Lord Wharton, the chairman of the Office for Students, told the Telegraph the boycott was 'utterly unacceptable' if it led to students being 'disadvantaged in any way'.

Tory MP Tim Loughton added: 'This is academic blackmail by a group of academics who think their own political views should trump everyone else's, and if they don't get their own way then any innocent students who happen to fall within their boycott will become the victims.'

Today Oriel expressed 'sadness' at the boycott threat.

A statement said: 'Oriel College undertook an extensive, academic and rigorous process advised by a ten-month long, independent commission of inquiry, established to consider the issues raised by the memorials and legacy of Cecil Rhodes.

'The commission did not make a recommendation on the removal of memorials.

'We note with sadness that some fellow academics from other colleges at Oxford University have chosen not to respect the decisions of our governing body, not least because of the commensurate impact on our students and the wider academic community at Oriel, to whom we all have a duty of care. '
Market Research Future Published a Cooked Research Global Color Masterbatch Market Research Report - Forecast to 2027 - Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast up to 2027.

Color Masterbatch Market  Market Overview

Color masterbatches is made up of rubber, plastic, and elastomer in which pigments are dispersed optimally, this solids are cut into small pieces, which is further processed and used to make value added products in various industries which includes packaging, building & construction, consumer goods, automotive, textile and agriculture among others.

Packaging as an end-use industry accounts for the largest market for color masterbatch. Increasing consumption of plastics across the globe in an array of industries is expected to boost the market for color masterbatch. Especially, the packaging sector which is the largest consumer of plastics. Evolution of different packaging techniques in the sector is propelling the market for color masterbatches.

Rapid urbanization and changing lifestyle of consumers in the emerging markets can be further attributed to the growth of color masterbatch market. Consumers are more inclined towards packaged food items. Also, an emerging textile industry in the Southeast Asian counties, especially, Vietnams textile sectored which is growing at a rate of nearly 9% will offer ample opportunities for color masterbatch.

Plastics are gaining traction in the building & construction sector replacing traditional materials. The economic downturn in 2008-09 in the U.S which had an adverse effect on the housing industry in the country witnessed sharp decline in the ceramic tile industry. However, the recent stats showing a positive outlook for housing market in the U.S for 2017-18 with low mortgage rates in the country beefing up new construction activities. A similar trend has been noted in the European market. Whereas, the ongoing and upcoming construction activities in the region is stimulating the demand for color masterbatch. For instance, amidst the decline in oil prices in the GCC the construction activities in the region still remains as a strong indicator for economic growth in the region. The construction activities is expected to stimulate in the coming years with an overall capital spending in GCC estimated at USD 480 billion of which 65% will be towards infrastructure development. Accounting for the latter mentioned factors it is healthy to assume a pool of market opportunities for color masterbatch in the Middle East region.

Furthermore, regional demographics and macroeconomic indicators such as rise in disposable income, decline in unemployment rates, and an increasing middle class population in the emerging economies is expected to increase the spending power of the population the region. Thus, the above mentioned factors are some compelling factors for the market growth.

Increasing scrutiny towards the vehicular emission across the globe has resulted in extreme pressure on OEMs to alter their vehicle design without jeopardizing the performance of the vehicle. Hence, more and more lightweight materials are being adopted in automotive sector. For instance, 10% of the average weight of a medium size passenger vehicle is of the plastic materials. Also, new regional norms like Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) and EU to cut down the emission from vehicles are propelling the market for plastics in automotive. Hence, driving the market for color masterbatch.

Access Complete Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/color-masterbatch-market-882

Key Players:

A Schulman Europe, Tosaf Compounds, Polyplast Muller, Polyone Corporation, Hubron, Clariant Masterbatches, Ampacet, and Cabot Plastics International among others. are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Color Masterbatch Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.

Color Masterbatch Market  Competitive Analysis

Color masterbatch market is a fragmented market with Tier `1 manufacturers and domestic players. The major trends noted among the manufacturers are expansion, joint-ventures, and acquisitions to capture the market share and increase their market presence in line with the increasing demand for masterbatch. For instance, Ampacet has announced its new production plant for masterbatches in Australia for catering the ever-growing demand for masterbatches from the food, shipping, industrial and retail industries.

In similar lines, A Schulman Inc, opened a new color master batch facility in Hangzhou High Tech Industrial Park CEDZ, Jiangsu, China in 2016. This expansion in China and other growing markets throughout the Asia Pacific will produce A. Schulman's premium color additives for packaging, automotive, agricultural, sports, and leisure & home customers.

Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:

November, 2017- Ampacet, a global leader in the masterbatch market has launched its new production line for production of white masterbatch in Dudelange, Luxemborg. The main aim of the company with this newly opened production line is to maximise the overall customer experience by optimizing the lead time enhancing the delivery flexibility.

July, 2017- In 2017, Ampacet has announced its new production plant for masterbatches in Australia for catering the ever-growing demand for masterbatches from the food, shipping, industrial and retail industries. The newly opened plant will enable the company to further strengthen its presence in the Oceania region.

March, 2017- In 2017, Ampacet invested in new production lines across its various manufacturing facilities in Europe in line with increasing the production capacity of color additives, black and white masterbatches at its Messacny facility in Belgium. Second capacity increase was at its Dudelange facility in Luxemborg.

July, 2016- In 2016, A Schulman Inc, enters a partnership with Snetor Chimie headquarters in Courbevoie (France )- this partnership will allow the expansion of its master batch footprint on the African continent

April, 2016- In 2016, A Schulman Inc, opens a new color master batch facility hangshu High Tech Industrial Park CEDZ, Jiangsu, China. This expansion in China and other growing markets throughout the Asia Pacific will produce A. Schulman's premium color additives for packaging, automotive, agricultural, sports, and leisure & home customers
A former Tennessee governor's administration helped fund the contract murder of an ally of Jimmy Hoffa after he turned federal witness over a prisons pardon scandal, prosecutors have claimed 42 years after the killing.

Investigators in Hamilton County, which is home to Chattanooga, have been investigating the 1979 cold case of the murder of Samuel Pettyjohn since they renewed their enquiries in 2015.

Pettyjohn, a Chattanooga businessman and close friend of union boss Hoffa, was shot 42 years ago in downtown Chattanooga after testifying before a federal grand jury during the early phases of Tennessee's notorious 'cash-for-clemency' scandal.

At the time of the murder, Democratic Governor Ray Blanton was under investigation for allegedly giving out early parole to prisoners in exchange for money.

He was never indicted - although three members from his administration were - but the scandal did ultimately lead to the ousting Blanton, who later died in 1996.

Speaking on Wednesday, investigators said the Tennessee administration hired a man named Ed Alley to carry out the hit on Pettyjohn because he 'knew too much', and that the killer - who was white - wore a wig and blackface as a disguise.

Samuel Pettyjohn, a Chattanooga businessman and close friend of union boss Hoffa, was shot 42-years ago in downtown Chattanooga after testifying before a federal grand jury during the early phases of Tennessee's notorious 'cash-for-clemency' scandal

'Essentially, Mr. Pettyjohn cooperated with authorities and knew too much about what was going on locally, as well as the state level, and individuals didn't like that and so individuals hired someone to murder him,' Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston said on Wednesday. 'Here we are some 42 years later.'

Questions lingered about the extent to which the governor's administration actively worked to thwart the investigation. Officials say at least five witnesses in the case were either murdered or killed themselves.

Pinkston told reporters that Pettyjohn would meet with inmates to indicate that money would help secure an early release from prison starting in 1976.

Pettyjohn was joined by William Thompson, who had been involved in Blanton's election campaign and would later be convicted in the cash-for-clemency scandal.

Shortly after, Pettyjohn was killed in what authorities describe as an 'execution style hit.' Witnesses told authorities that they saw a black man in a trench coat exiting Pettyjohn's store.

Meanwhile, Pettyjohn was found with his pistol nearby, which had not been fired, and more than $100,000 on him.

At the time of Pettyjohn's murder, Tennessee's Democratic Governor Ray Blanton (pictured left on stage with Johnny Cash in 1977, file photo) was under investigation for allegedly giving out early parole to prisoners in exchange for money

According to Pinkston, Alley - a known bank robber who died in 2005 in federal prison - was hired by several sources to kill Pettyjohn.

Pinkston said those sources included an undisclosed third party who paid some of the contract money on behalf of the Blanton administration. The estimated total murder price was between $25,000 and $50,000.

'I'm very sure. I'm proof positive,' Pinkston said when asked how certain he was that the Blanton administration helped pay for Pettyjohn's murder.

Officials say Alley, who was white, wore a wig, glasses and covered his skin in heavy brown makeup to deceive any witnesses.

'Cooperating individuals indicated Alley admitted Pettyjohn was murdered for various reasons including he was a source of cooperation for the FBI in investigations of Gov. Ray Blanton,' according to findings from a Hamilton County grand jury.

Pictured: Saadiq Pettyjohn, center, son of Samuel Pettyjohn, speaks at a news conference, Wednesday, June 9, 2021, in Chattanooga. Investigators in Hamilton County, which is home to Chattanooga, have been investigating the 1979 cold case of the murder of Samuel Pettyjohn since they renewed their enquiries in 2015. They announced their findings on Wednesday

The grand jury concluded that if Alley were alive today, he would be charged with first-degree premeditated murder of Pettyjohn.

Mike Mathis, supervisor of Hamilton County's cold case unit, acknowledged that it was highly unusual for a prosecutor's office to pursue a grand jury when most of the involved parties were dead but said the county chose to do so for the first time it because 'it gives you a legal closing.'

Saadiq Pettyjohn, one of Samuel Pettyjohn's sons, said his mother often described his father as someone with a 'heart of gold' and 'very generous, giving person,' while acknowledging his father was associated with criminal activity.

Authorities say Pettyjohn was part of an organized effort to blow up a building to collect insurance payouts, but he was never brought to trial due to his untimely death.

'It's a curse and a blessing to grow up in a family that's connected to crime,' he added. 'When that person dies, you can go that route or you can go a different route; all of us chose to try to do better in our lives.'

Pettyjohn was a close friend on union boss Jimmy Hoffa (pictured left), who vanished 1975 and was presumed dead, with some saying he too was assassinated. Speaking on Wednesday, investigators said the Tennessee administration hired a man named Ed Alley (pictured right) to carry out the hit on Pettyjohn because he 'knew too much'

Blanton, who died in 1996, had sparked outrage after he pardoned and commuted prison terms for more than 50 state inmates in the waning days of his gubernatorial term.

Blanton's fellow Democrats worked with Republicans in the Legislature to move up the inauguration of his Republican successor, Lamar Alexander, by three days.

Blanton was never charged in the scandal, but in 1981, he was convicted of unrelated charges of extortion and conspiracy for selling a liquor license for $23,000 to a friend while in office.
Australians have been warned reaching a population-wide vaccination target will not trigger a federal government decision to open international borders.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday was adamant a certain portion of Australians being immunised against coronavirus would not automatically lead to travel restarting.

He argued the United Kingdom was recording more than 4000 new cases a day despite 77 per cent of adults having received one dose.

Australians have been warned reaching a population-wide vaccination target will not trigger a federal government decision to restart international travel

'I'm not about to swing the doors open and open up Australia to 4000 cases a day', Scott Morrison (pictured) told 6PR radio on Thursday

'The vaccination program is incredibly important and that will give us more and more and more options going forward,' Mr Morrison told 6PR radio on Thursday.

'But I'm not about to swing the doors open and open up Australia to 4000 cases a day.'

Mr Morrison said allowing similar case numbers would ruin the nation's economy through lockdowns and border closures.

The prime minister said international borders would remain shut for as long as was needed to protect health and the economy.

'There's no medical advice that I've received at any point in time, which gives a magical number of vaccinations that enable you to provide that level of assuredness to Australians about when that can occur.'

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said at current rates it would take a long time to vaccinate the world.

'It will take a huge commitment from developed, rich countries that have vaccine manufacturing capabilities to share that with the whole world,' he told reporters in Canberra.

'That's how we get out of this together.'

The Prime Minister said international borders would remain shut for as long as was needed to protect health and the economy

The federal budget assumed a gradual return to international travel from mid-next year, with voters due to be sent to the polls between August and May

The federal budget assumed a gradual return to international travel from mid-next year, with voters due to be sent to the polls between August and May.

State and territory governments have ridden a wave of popularity stemming from border closures and other tough coronavirus prevention measures.

Elections held during the pandemic in Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, the NT and ACT have returned incumbent governments.

In the UK, 77 per cent of people have received their first dose and 54 per cent both jabs.

The Australian government doesn't release daily data about how many people have been fully vaccinated but the figure was about three per cent earlier in the week.

Almost 5.5 million doses have been administered nationwide as the sluggish rollout slowly gathers momentum.

'We were told we'd be at the front of the queue and we're not in the top 100 of countries,' Labor leader Anthony Albanese said.

A 52-year-old woman has been confirmed as the second death in Australia linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine which has been injected 3.6 million times nationwide.

'This remains an extremely rare event to get these clots but when they happen, as we've seen in this case, it can have tragic circumstances,' Professor Kelly said.

Almost 5.5 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered nationwide as the sluggish rollout slowly gathers momentum

A 52-year-old woman has been confirmed as the second death in Australia linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine which has been injected 3.6 million times nationwide

There have been just 15 serious cases of the side effect.

Victoria recorded four new cases on Thursday ahead of Melbourne's lockdown easing at midnight.

The city will no longer be declared a Commonwealth hotspot.

A couple who travelled from Victoria to Queensland through NSW five days after the shutdown started have tested positive.

Authorities are hopeful the risk of transmission is lower with the pair having contracted the disease about two weeks ago.
An Austrian soldier has been jailed for 19 months after getting a swastika tattooed on his testicle.

The 29-year-old drank two bottles of whiskey before his brother tattooed the banned symbol on his scrotum, the court in the city of Klagenfurt heard.

He posted a picture of the tattoo online and showed it off to army colleagues on another occasion while drunk on the final evening of a military exercise.

The soldier, who has not been identified because of Austrian privacy laws, was further accused of posting Nazi photos at a Cold War bunker museum, drinking Hitler-branded wine and posting Nazi propaganda online.

The 29-year-old drank two bottles of whiskey before his brother tattooed the banned symbol on his scrotum, the court in the city of Klagenfurt heard (stock picture)

He was sentenced to 19 months in prison for the glorification of Nazism and illegal firearm possession.

The defendant expressed remorse during the trial, claiming he was both 'sorry' and 'embarrassed' for his past actions.

He told the court: 'I just got in with bad company. For us, anything that wasn't allowed was something we gravitated towards, but we all underestimated enormously how much a mistake this was.'

It was only when the investigation of his tattooed testicle started that he realised what 'nonsense' the Nazi glorification was.

He added: 'Other than that, I can't give any reasonable explanation for why I did it.'

He also claimed he had stopped associating with the far-right eight years ago and stopped drinking heavily because of a previous stint behind bars for assault.

He also said the tattoo was no longer visible.

His lawyer, Franz Zimmermann, has said he will appeal the sentence.

Austria's National Socialism Prohibition Act of 1947 mandates prison sentences for those who try to revive or glorify organisations resembling the Nazi party.
Police have charged 18-year-old Darriynn Ronnell Brown with capital murder over the death of four-year-old boy Cash Gernon after new lab evidence came to light.

The charge comes four weeks after Gernon was snatched from his bed before being found stabbed to death on a Dallas street on May 15.

Brown was already facing kidnapping and theft charges relating to Cash's disappearance that were filed last month, and he reportedly tried to snatch a two-year-old girl in February but was thwarted then.

Darriyn Brown (left) is accused of kidnapped and killed four-year-old Cash Gernon in Dallas, Texas on May 15. He has now been charged with capital murder over the death of Cash. If found guilty, he faces a minimum punishment of life in prison, and could face the death penalty

While police did not say what the new evidence was, the Dallas Police Department said it links Brown to the toddler at the time of his death, leading to the capital murder charge being brought against him.

If found guilty, capital punishment in Texas carries an automatic life sentence and even the death penalty. The desired punishment will be determined by prosecutors before the trial starts.

'Evidence submitted to the lab has been returned linking Darriynn Brown to Cash Gernon at the time of his death,' the Dallas Police Department said on Wednesday in a short statement on its website giving an update on the case.

'Therefore he is also being charged with Capital Murder,' the statement ended.

Brown has said that he is not the teenager caught on a security camera taking Cash Gernon from his crib - where he was sleeping next to his twin brother - in May.

The toddler was later found dead by a jogger on the morning of May 15, dumped in the middle of a street around a mile away from his home covered in blood.

This harrowing video exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com earlier this month shows the moment a man - allegedly Brown - snatched Cash from his cot

Heath Harris, Brown's attorney, said on Wednesday night that he was frustrated at the slow pace at which authorities were moving, but said he hoped the latest charge would mean he would now be able to gain access to evidence.

'It's almost a month after this tragedy and I'm still waiting to prepare this kid's defense,' he said. 'We can't do that till we have all the evidence.'

Speaking to the Dallas Morning News, Harris said he was concerned about the case being prejudiced.

'This is not an open and shut case. Even if you believe thats [Brown] on the video, it doesnt mean he killed the kid,' he told the outlet. 'The world is basically prejudicing this whole community by saying, "Thats him."'

Brown's attorney also said he was waiting to have a doctor evaluate his client's mental health to determine whether he's competent to assist in his own defence.

In the meantime, Harris claimed that speculation about the case and the release of the surveillance footage from inside the child's room has made it more difficult for Brown to get a fair trial.

Police had been saying for weeks that they expected to file a capital murder charge against Brown as soon as the forensic evidence was returned from the lab.

'There is no doubt who took him, and as soon as I get the lab report back there will be no doubt who killed him,' Lt. Carrie Wise in late May at a community meeting.

A neighbor of slain 4-year-old Cash Gernon says he captured the man police believe to be Darriynn Brown on surveillance footage trying to break into cars in his driveway a month before the boy was killed

The neighbor and others who say they saw a man matching Brown's description to police 'several times' but there was no follow-up. In the image above, Brown is said to be seen casing the Gernon home weeks before his death

Surveillance footage from inside Cash's bedroom showed a man standing over the boy and his twin brother's crib at about 5 a.m. on May 15, before grabbing Cash and walking out of the room.

The man is then shown to return about two and a half hours later, lifting the blanket covering Cash's twin, before leaving again.

Cash was staying with his father's ex-girlfriend, Monica Sherrod, who reported him missing about five hours after he was taken from the home.

She identified the man in the surveillance footage as Brown - who lives in a nearby neighborhood - according to an arrest warrant affidavit seen by the Dallas Morning News. He was arrested later that day.

Cash's twin has since been reunited with his mother, who had been searching for the boys after their father - who is wanted on felony charges in Harris County - left them with Sherrod after missing a court date in March.

Police said that Brown knew Sherrod and her teenage son, but they are yet to give information on a possibly motive in the case.

Cash (pictured) was found dead by a jogger on the morning of May 15, dumped in the middle of a street around a mile away from his family's home covered in blood

They also said that Brown is the only person they believe is responsible for the boy's death, and that no one else has been arrested in connection with Cash's death or kidnapping.

Antwainese Square, 39, told The Dallas Morning News in May she called police after seeing Cash's body on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Road just before 7am while she was out for a run.

She said at the time the boy's face and upper half of his body were covered in blood and that he didn't have shoes or a shirt.

'It breaks my heart,' Square told the newspaper. 'And now I'm afraid. Now I'm paranoid. Because I don't know what happened, I don't know what's going on.

'I mean just knowing that someone out there is capable of killing a child, that alone is just unsettling.'

Brown also allegedly tried to snatch another toddler, a two-year-old girl, in February but her grandfather intervened and stopped him.

The harrowing new detail emerged in an arrest affidavit released by police on Friday. The grandfather and the girl are not named. Police describe how Brown walked into the home and started roaming the rooms.

The grandfather says he found Brown and told him to leave or he would stab him with a kitchen knife, so he fled. Brown then returned and attacked the grandfather, then snatched the girl from her room and started walking out of the house, it is alleged.

Cops are seen on the 7500 block of Saddleridge Road where Cash's body was found on May 15

The grandfather says he got back on his feet, caught up with them and grabbed her back. Brown fled, he said.

It's unclear if they knew each other or how Brown allegedly got into the home or even targeted it but the grandfather, initially, chose not to press charges or even notify the cops.

Neighbors say they did call the cops on Brown for trying to break into cars in the area, but nothing was done.

Days after the incident, he said he ran into Brown in Walmart and claims Brown said: 'Sorry for trying to take your grandchild'

On May 18 - three days after Cash was taken - the grandfather changed his mind and met with detectives to tell them he wanted to press charges.
An upmarket seaside hotel near the G7 summit venue has been forced to shut down after 'a number of their team' tested positive for Covid-19.

The Pedn Olva Hotel in St Ives, Cornwall, which sits around a mile away from where world leaders from seven countries are meeting this week at the Carbis Bay Hotel, has closed after it was struck with a Covid outbreak.

The venue, which is owned by St Austell Brewery, is inside the G7 restricted zone, which covers Carbis Bay, St Ives and Lelant.

It is understood that 13 staff have tested positive for Covid out of around 17 employees at the hotel, Sky News reports.

Today, a spokesperson for St Austell Brewery said it took the decision to close the hotel after 'a number of staff' members tested positive for the deadly virus.

The Pedn Olva Hotel in St Ives (pictured), which sits just a mile away from where world leaders are meeting this week at the Carbis Bay Hotel, has closed its doors after a coronavirus outbreak

Police officers patrol outside the security fence erected around the perimeter of Carbis Bay following coronavirus being detected in the area as the Prime Minister meets other world leaders nearby

They added the hotel would reopen once a full Covid-19 deep clean had taken place.

Among the hotel's guests were members of security for the German G7 delegation and a number of media crews - including the American broadcaster CBS.

A spokesperson for St Austell Brewery told MailOnline: 'We can confirm that a number of our team at the Pedn Olva, St Ives, have tested positive for Covid-19.

'We immediately notified Public Health England of these cases and have been working closely with them to ensure we follow all appropriate safety guidelines.

'Following extensive discussions over the last few days with PHE and Cornwall Council, we have taken the decision to fully close the hotel.

'We fully appreciate the inconvenience given the limited accommodation options available in the area at the moment but the safety and security of our team and guests is our upmost priority.

'The hotel will reopen once a full Covid-19 deep clean has taken place and we have the available staff to run it.'

Today, one member of staff who was leaving the St Ives venue to self-isolate told Sky News the hotel was 'closing and boarding up'.

Earlier today, an employee for the company said that 13 employees had tested positive.

The Pedn Olva Hotel sits in the St Ives region of the G7 restricted zone, where people may be asked to pass through security access points and show two forms of identification to enter

The Pedn Olva Hotel is within the G7 restricted zone in Cornwall. Pictured: HMS Tamar patrols off St Ives ahead of the summit

World leaders including President Joe Biden are convening in Cornwall for the G7 this week

The employee said they'd also heard Pedn Olva would remain open and draft in additional staff from other sites owned by St Austell Brewery - but the hotel later said it would close, after talks with Public Health England.

'I just think it's wrong,' the employee said, 'It's not just their staff at risk, but the other staff and now the customers as well.

'I just don't think it's right. The size of the outbreak. With G7 and everyone - it's ridiculous.

'It's probably more cases than the whole of Cornwall. They're clearly taking precautions, but it just feels wrong.'

Thousands of additional people including police officers, security staff, world leaders and their entourages are descending on hotels in the area this weekend while the summit takes place.
Pupils' harrowing accounts of 'rape jokes' on the bus, being 'touched up' in corridors and dealing with up to 11 messages asking for nudes each night have been revealed in a damning Ofsted report.

The schools inspectorate spoke to more than 800 children and young people aged 13 and above about sexual harassment and violence.

Shocking experiences of catcalling on the school bus, women avoiding certain areas of school for fear of abuse and inappropriate compliments from male teachers emerged in the report calling for better sex education.

Its conclusions said heads should 'assume that sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are happening... even when there are no specific reports'.

Some 92 per cent of students surveyed said they had experienced catcalling, while 81 per cent suffered from rumours about their sexual activity being spread around school.

The schools inspectorate spoke to more than 800 children and young people aged 13 and above about sexual harassment and violence (file image)

Pupils in one unnamed schools said sharing of nudes - sexual images - was widespread and body shaming and slut shaming were common.

In another school, girls said they were touched up regularly in crowded corridors.

Girls revealed they felt uncomfortable when boys walked behind them up stairs and in stairwells where people can see up their skirts from below.

'Some named the areas of the college or school where they felt wary of being  either because they were out of sight of staff or because they felt uncomfortable with the people who "hang around" there,' the report reads.

In another school boys shared the nudes they had received from their peers, and treated it like a 'collection game'.

Some girls said they had up to 11 boys messaging them to ask for nudes each night.

A shocking nine in ten girls experience sexist name-calling and are sent unwanted explicit pictures. Stock picture

If girls told boys they would not send them a naked picture they would 'just create multiple accounts to harass you', pupils told Ofsted inspectors.

'Girls talked about boys being very persistent when asking for images  "they just wont take no for an answer", the report read.

In one school children as young as 10 were sending nude images, the report revealed.

Often the harassment happened on the bus as students travelled to and from schools and colleges.

One women told how her younger sister's leg was 'deliberately' brushed by a man, only for another girl to tell her 'to get used to it as "this is what happens"'.

'We heard cases of boys toilets with no locks, a swimming pool changing room where a single door meant that girls believed people could see them naked as they walked by, and a male teacher who gave girls compliments about their appearance,' the report added.

A Year 12 boy told inspectors many of his peers came from wealthy backgrounds and have never been told no before.

The boy said 'they don't know how to handle' suddenly meeting girls at parties after being educated in single-sex schools.

The report added: 'In another school, girls similarly told inspectors that some of the boys had a sense of entitlement and had never "been told no".

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted's chief inspector of schools, said she was 'shocked' at the prevalence of sexual misconduct which should 'have no place' in schools and colleges.

The watchdog visited 32 state and private schools and colleges and spoke to more than 900 young people after thousands of horrific stories of harassment were shared by pupils on the website Everyone's Invited.

Instead of waiting for complaints, it said heads should 'assume that sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are happening... even when there are no specific reports'. Stock picture

Mrs Spielman said: 'It's alarming that many children and young people, particularly girls, feel they have to accept sexual harassment as part of growing up. Whether it's happening at school or in their social life, they simply don't feel it's worth reporting.'

She added: 'It's about attitudes and behaviours becoming normalised, and schools and colleges can't solve that by themselves.'

Most children also felt sex education did not give them the information they needed. Girls were frustrated at a lack of clarity over what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and many had turned to social media or their peers to educate each other.

One female pupil told inspectors: 'It shouldn't be our responsibility to educate boys.'

Another said the sharing of 'nudes' was so widespread that trying to stop it was like 'playing whack-a-mole'.

Teachers also admitted they lacked knowledge on how to address topics such as consent, relationships and sharing of sexual images.

Ofsted is calling on school leaders to develop a culture where all kinds of sexual harassment are recognised and punished where appropriate.

The review also calls on ministers to consider the watchdog's findings as the Government develops the Online Safety Bill to strengthen internet safeguards for children.

Mrs Spielman added: 'Schools and colleges have a key role to play. They can maintain the right culture in their corridors and they can provide RSHE [relationships, sex and health education] that reflects reality and equips young people with the information they need.'

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: 'Ofsted's review has made it clear that sharing unsolicited explicit pictures, online pornography and everyday sexism can be, sadly, 'normal' aspects of daily life for young people. This is completely unacceptable.'

It comes as a Femail poll of 2,000 young people revealed the shocking toll of porn culture in schools.

Forty per cent of girls who have had sex say they had a sex act performed on them when asleep or unconscious, and 55 per cent of girls and boys have seen explicit clips online, with more than half of them having done so by 16.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock faced a grilling from MPs today about No10's failures throughout the virus crisis and accusations of being a serial liar

British health chiefs did war-game a coronavirus pandemic before the nation was eventually hit by Covid but tried to keep it secret, it was revealed today.

Matt Hancock  who faced a grilling from MPs today about No10's failures throughout the virus crisis  has only ever confessed to carrying out a mock-up of a flu crisis called Exercise Cygnus.

And giving evidence today, the Health Secretary reiterated that 'famously all the preparations and the plans that were in place were for a flu pandemic'.

But Public Health England has now admitted it carried out ten other epidemic-fighting scenarios between 2015 and 2018.

One of the preparation tests  called Exercise Alice  focused on MERS, one of only seven coronaviruses known to infect humans. It kills around 35 per cent of people it strikes.

But PHE refused to reveal any details about how the secret operation went, claiming revealing any information about the exercise would damage national security.

The only details known are that it was carried out in February 2016 and involved PHE and Department of Health officials.

Dr David Matthews, a Bristol University virologist, told The Guardian the findings of the report may have been 'completely relevant' to No10's Covid response.

Dr Moosa Qureshi, an NHS consultant who uncovered the previously unpublished exercises, accused Mr Hancock of never confessing that the UK had already carried out a coronavirus-fighting exercise.

But the Department of Health insists that it has always been clear that it undertakes exercises regularly.

Mr Hancock today admitted the first lockdown was delayed despite initial warnings over 820,000 deaths because ministers feared Brits would not tolerate draconian restrictions for long.

In a dramatic evidence session with MPs, the Health Secretary said that as early as January he was presented with a 'reasonable worst case scenario' of the huge potential toll, based on Spanish Flu.

But imposing the draconian first national restrictions did not happen until March 23, with Mr Hancock pointing to expert advice that the public would only 'put up with it' for a limited time and concerns about the 'immediate costs'.

Public Health England has now admitted it carried out ten other epidemic-fighting mock-ups between 2015 and 2018

Dr Qureshi said: 'The Health Secretary told Parliament that Exercise Cygnus looked at UK preparedness for a flu pandemic  not other pandemics.

'But the truth is that he's covering up multiple secret reports on preparedness for other pandemics, including a coronavirus pandemic.

'Politicians need to stop playing 'Yes Minister' and understand that pandemic preparedness is improved by transparency and public scrutiny.

'Dominic Cummings himself has said that secrecy contributed greatly to the Covid catastrophe.

What were the other secret pandemic-modelling scenarios? Operation Disease modelled Exercise Alice Exercise Cygnet Exercise Cygnus Exercise Typhon Exercise Broad St Exercise Cerberus Exercise Pica MERS Pandemic flu Pandemic flu Lassa Lassa and H7N9 Avian flu Pandemic flu Exercise Northern Light Ebola Surge capacity Exercise Ebola Preparedness & Review Workshop Ebola PHE and APHA Workshop Avian and pandemic flu Advertisement

'We're facing a third pandemic wave and there will be future pandemics. Let's stop playing politics and get scientific with this.'

Ten of the pandemic exercises were carried out before Mr Hancock became Health Secretary in July 2018, with his predecessor Jeremy Hunt.

Only Exercise Pica  which simulated an influenza crisis in September 2018  was performed while Mr Hancock was in office.

Three operations looked at Ebola, an incurable haemorrhagic fever that kills around a third of everyone it infects.

Five were based around flu and two delved into the potential effects of an outbreak of Lassa fever, another haemorrhagic illness that has a case-fatality rate of around 1 per cent.

But Mr Hancock today reiterated the Government's response to Covid was based on Exercise Cygnus.

He said: 'Famously all the preparations and the plans that were in place were for a flu pandemic.

'Novel coronavirus, as we'll come to when we talk about asymptomatic transmission, its different from even the previous coronaviruses  including SARS and MERS.

'So it's true that the countries that experienced SARS and MERS were better prepared than we were, partly because of that experience.

'But it is also true that Covid-19 is very different from SARS and MERS and the number one difference is that it has asymptomatic transmission.'

The operation modelling MERS came to light after Dr Qureshi's Freedom of Information (FOI) request was rejected, which was made in the wake of the revelation about Exercise Cygnus.

Dr Qureshi has complained to the Information Commissioner about PHE not releasing the information because of 'national security' concerns.

Law firm Leigh Day is assisting Dr Qureshi with his legal battle to secure more information on the exercises.

Tessa Gregory, the lawyer represents Dr Qureshi, said: 'Initially PHE refused to provide any information about the other exercises  not even giving their name.

'It was only on internal review that they provided these bare details. Why are the Government not being open and transparent about the pandemic exercises that were conducted?'

It took more than seven months from the start of the pandemic for the Government to publish its report on Exercise Cygnus, which is regarded as the main focus of the pandemic plan recommendations.

Speaking in the Commons on October 20 last year, Mr Hancock first publicly acknowledged the existence of Exercise Cygnus.

He said: 'Exercise Cygnus was not designed to consider other potential pandemics, or to identify what action could be taken to prevent widespread transmission.'

And former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is also on record saying the UK was prepared for the wrong pandemic by believing the next biggest threat would come from flu.

What was Exercise Cygnus? Britain carried out a drill to check its pandemic preparedness in 2016, codenamed Exercise Cygnus. The operation modelled a fictitious flu virus - similar to Covid as it triggers respiratory infections - which emerged in Thailand in June. It saw more than 1,000 NHS and Government officials asked how they would respond by week seven of the outbreak. The virus was modelled as one that affected 50 per cent of the population and triggered 400,000 deaths. It saw mock Cobra meetings held with ministers, news articles published on a fictitious site called WNN, and ministers sharing warnings on 'Twister'. The report made 22 findings. These included that by week seven the NHS was 'about to fall over', overwhelmed social care sector, insufficient supplies of PPE and glaring issues with virus testing capacity. But it added the first wave would not have peaked by this point - with further pressures expected in the modelling. It came at a time when the then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was cutting beds in NHS hospitals. Advertisement

In an interview with the BMJ, Mr Hunt said: 'We've really been on the back foot from the start on test and trace, and in some ways it dates back to the period when I was health secretary.

'We did exhaustive pandemic preparations; we were lauded by Johns Hopkins University as being the second best prepared country in the world.

'But we were sadly also part of a groupthink that said that the primary way that you respond to a pandemic is the flu pandemic playbook  with a focus on areas like vaccination and boosting hospital capacity  rather than the methods that you would use for Sars and Mers  surveillance and containment, community testing, contact tracing and isolation, and stockpiling personal protective equipment, and ventilators.'

Exercise Cygnus's aim was to 'test systems to the extreme, to identify strengths and weaknesses in the UK's response plans, which would then inform improvements in our resilience'.

It modelled a fictitious influenza virus which emerged in Thailand in June 2016 and involved 1,000 NHS and Government officials.

The virus was modelled as one that affected 50 per cent of the population and triggered 400,000 deaths.

It saw mock Cobra meetings held with ministers, news articles published on a fictitious site called WNN, and ministers sharing warnings on 'Twister'.

The report made 22 findings. These included that by week seven the NHS was 'about to fall over', overwhelmed social care sector, insufficient supplies of PPE and glaring issues with virus testing capacity.

But it added the first wave would not have peaked by this point  with further pressures expected in the modelling.

It came at a time when the then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was cutting beds in NHS hospitals.

The Department of Health said: 'This is an unprecedented pandemic and we have taken the right steps at the right time to combat it, guided at all times by the best scientific advice, to protect the NHS and save lives.

'We have always been clear that we undertake exercises regularly, both at a national and local level, as they are an essential part of assessing both our pandemic preparedness and planning for a wide range of scenarios.

'The lessons learned from these exercises have contributed to our ability to rapidly respond to this unprecedented global crisis and continue to be considered by the government and a range of stakeholders, including expert advisory groups and local emergency planners in reviewing pandemic response plans.'
Anthony Weiner is back on the encrypted messaging app Confide where he conducted a sexting relationship with a 15-year-old girl, according to reports.

The disgraced politician, 56, rejoined the app which deletes messages as soon as they are read leaving no digital trace.

An anonymous Confide user, who had Weiner's email saved in their contacts, received a message last week saying: 'New friend. Anthony Weiner joined Confide. Send Anthony a message now.'

Anthony Weiner is back on the encrypted messaging app Confide where he conducted a sexting relationship with a 15-year-old girl, according to reports

The convicted sex offender used the app to send sexually explicit messages to the schoolgirl, which was exclusively revealed by DailyMail.com in 2016, leading to his arrest.

When asked by Page Six if he had returned to Confide, Weiner showed a reminder from the app to open his unread messages and said: 'Yeah I got this.'

It comes after it was revealed this week that the former Democrat lawmaker, who served 15 months in a federal prison, is in a 12-step program for sex addiction.

The former New York Congressman and mayoral candidate is also considering selling the infamous photo of him in his underwear, which ultimately led to his downfall.

Anthony Weiner's political career fell apart after tweeting a picture of him in his underpants in 2011, which prompted journalists to search for other illicit messages and photos he took, including this one

He told the New York Times on June 3, he is thinking about getting into the business of digital collectibles, known as non-fungible tokens.

An NFT is a unique digital token encrypted with an artist's signature and which verifies its ownership and authenticity and is permanently attached to the piece.

It allows 'original' versions of popular online content - like viral memes and tweets - to be sold as if they were physical pieces of art.

Weiner said he has some of his own he could sell, including the photo that was tweeted in 2011 showing the congressman in his underwear.

He said he would also consider selling a picture of then-FBI Director James Comey's search warrant for his laptop  which Comey later claimed included emails prompting him to reopen the investigation into presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's emails.

Also up for sale could be an email from his former roommate and good friend Jon Stewart apologizing for the jokes he made on air about Weiner's sex scandals, and a check former President Donald Trump wrote to one of his earlier campaigns.

'Cashing in would be nice,' Weiner said, but he said he would also like to make a career out of it by selling 'my own stuff, but also to create a new category that lets people buy and sell political collectibles as a form of political fundraising and contributing.'

the disgraced former New York Congressman and mayoral candidate is considering selling the infamous photo of him in his underwear that he tweeted out in 2011 and which ultimately led to his downfall

What are NFTs? What is a NFT? A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a unique digital token encrypted with an artist's signature and which verifies its ownership and authenticity and is permanently attached to the piece. What do they look like? Most NFTs include some kind digital artwork, such as photos, videos, GIFs, and music. Theoretically, anything digital could be turned into a NFT. Where do you buy them? At the moment, NFTs are most commonly sold in so-called 'drops', timed online sales by blockchain-backed marketplaces like Nifty Gateway, Opensea and Rarible. Why would I want to own one? There's an array of reasons why someone may want to buy a NFT. For some, the reason may be emotional value, because NFTs are seen as collectors items. For others, they are seen as an investment opportunity similar to cryptocurrencies, because the value could increase. When were NFTs created? Writer and podcaster Andrew Steinwold traced the origins of NFTs back to 2012, with the creation of the Colored Coins cryptocurrency. But NFTs didn't move into the mainstream until five years later, when the blockchain game CryptoKitties began selling virtual cats in 2017. Advertisement

'If you do believe in this butterfly effect,' Weiner said, 'I've got the butterfly's wings and antenna.'

Weiner was somewhat of a political celebrity in the early 2000s, representing a New York City congressional district for about 10 years.

In July 2010, he was the first congressman to go viral for a speech on the House floor screaming at Republicans for not backing a bill to give health care to those caught in the September 11 attacks, according to Buzzfeed.

But by May 2011, a lewd photo of him in his boxers was posted to his Twitter account.

In a series of tweets after the picture went viral, Weiner claimed his account was hacked, writing 'Touche Prof Moriarity. More Weiner Jokes for all my guests! #Hacked!' and 'Tivo shot. FB hacked. Is my blender gonna attack me next? #TheToasterIsVeryLoyal.'

Journalists then began to search for other illicit photos and messages Weiner sent, and by June 6, he held a press conference, confessing that he had sent sexual photos and messages to women online over the course of a few years.

He said at the time he 'deeply' regretted his actions, but would not resign from Congress.

Just 10 days later, though, he did.

In 2013, he tried using a New York City mayoral race to mark his comeback and was leading in the polls for a while, but in July, a young woman from Indiana named Sydney Leathers shared explicit photos and messages he sent her using the alias 'Carlos Danger.'

Weiner soon admitted he had never stopped sexting, Buzzfeed reported, and around the same time, a former campaign intern decided to write a tell-all about her experience on the campaign.

His campaign soon unraveled as a documentary crew filmed every moment of his downfall, which ultimately led to the rise of Mayor Bill de Blasio.

He said that even at the time, he knew his campaign was doomed.

'I was famous for being famous, and I was a candidate because I had been a candidate and I had all the money from past campaigns,' he told the New York Times earlier this month.

In 2013, Weiner held a press conference with his wife Huma Abedin, an aide to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, announcing he never stopped sexting

But, he said, the social media storm he was in felt new at the time. 'We didn't know what we were working with at the time, and I was lying to everyone around me.'

He seemed to have dropped from the media scrutiny after that for a few years, but in 2016 DailyMail.com exclusively reported that he was exchanging explicit messages with a 15-year-old who claimed he asked her to dress up in 'school-girl' outfits for him and pressed her to engage in rape fantasies.

Weiner seemed to have known that the girl was underage at the time, but sent her bare-chested photos of himself, repeatedly called the girl 'baby,' complimented her body and told her that he woke up 'hard' after thinking about her.

In one particularly lewd message, he told the teenager: 'I would bust that p***y so hard and so often that you would leak and limp for a week.'

He did not deny sending the messages when DailyMail.com approached him about them and said in a statement: 'I have repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgment about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent. I am filled with regret and heartbroken for those I have hurt.'

After the texts were published, former FBI Director James Comey got a warrant for his laptop, later writing a letter to Congress saying new emails discovered on the laptop led him to reopen the investigation into then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's emails.

Text messages from the time show he once told her he woke up 'hard' thinking about her

Weiner was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison in Massachusetts and three more in a Bronx halfway house. He is seen here leaving the halfway house in May 2019

Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin, an aide to Clinton, announced they were getting divorced that August, and in 2017, Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison for sending obscene material to a minor.

He served 15 months in federal prison in Massachusetts and three more in a Bronx halfway house.

He has spent most of the past year running a Brooklyn-based environmentally sustainable countertop company, the Times reports, which offers job interviews to former felons.

He is now in the process of stepping down as chief executive of the company, called IceStone, to try to turn the company into a 'worker-run' cooperative.

There is no indication of how much Weiner's underwear snap could sell for as an NFT, but the creators of popular memes have been raking in thousands by selling the 'original' versions online.
The EU has thrown its weight behind a new probe into the origins of Covid after a WHO investigation earlier this year was slammed as a China-centric whitewash.

Council President Charles Michel said today that 'the world has the right to know exactly what happened' at the start of the pandemic, ahead of the G7 summit in Britain where the issue is expected to be on the agenda.

Ursula von der Leyen added that investigators should be given 'complete access' to whatever sites they need to examine to draw a conclusion - alluding to a Wuhan lab that has come under fresh suspicion as a potential 'ground zero' for the virus.

Last month, Joe Biden ordered US intelligence agencies to conduct a fresh probe of Covid's origins - admitting they are 'split' on whether the virus leaked from the lab.

The so-called lab leak theory has long been the subject of informed speculation among intelligence services and scientists, but was dismissed as little more than a conspiracy theory after it was touted by then-President Trump last year.

Ursula von der Leyen (left) and Charles Michel (right) have thrown the EU's backing behind a new probe into the origins of Covid

It comes amid increasing suspicion that the virus may have leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan after the idea was backed by some US intelligence agencies

Did Covid originate in Chinese laboratory? The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been collecting numerous coronaviruses from bats ever since the SARS outbreak in 2002. They have also published papers describing how these bat viruses have interacted with human cells. US Embassy staff visited the lab in 2018 and 'had grave safety concerns' over the protocols which were being observed at the facility. The lab is just eight miles from the Huanan wet market which is where the first cluster of infections erupted in Wuhan. The market is just a few hundred yards from another lab called the Wuhan Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (WHCDC). The WHCDC kept disease-ridden animals in its labs, including some 605 bats. Those who support the theory argue that Covid-19 could have leaked from either or both of these facilities and spread to the wet market. Most argue that this would have been a virus they were studying rather than one which was engineered. Last year a bombshell paper from the Beijing-sponsored South China University of Technology recounted how bats once attacked a researcher at the WHCDC and 'blood of bat was on his skin.' One of the researchers at the WHCDC described quarantining himself for two weeks after a bat's blood got on his skin, according to the report. That same man also quarantined himself after a bat urinated on him. And he also mentions discovering a live tick from a bat - parasites known for their ability to pass infections through a host animal's blood. 'The WHCDC was also adjacent to the Union Hospital (Figure 1, bottom) where the first group of doctors were infected during this epidemic.' The report says. 'It is plausible that the virus leaked around and some of them contaminated the initial patients in this epidemic, though solid proofs are needed in future study.' Advertisement

A WHO report into Covid's origins published earlier this year also dismissed the theory, saying it was 'extremely unlikely' and should not be investigated further.

Instead, researchers said the virus likely originated in a bat before transferring to an intermediary host and then into humans - while also giving credence to other theories emanating from Beijing, such as it being imported on frozen meat.

Their report was widely dismissed as a whitewash, including by the US - with diplomats telling the UN last month that the study was 'insufficient and inconclusive'.

Even WHO director Tedros Ghebreyesus - who has been accused of cosying up to China - objected, saying the lab leak theory remained on the table and that all possible origins of Covid should continue to be investigated.

Mr Michel and Ms Von der Leyen were also speaking ahead of a joint EU-US summit next week, when a joint statement is expected to be issued calling for a Covid probe.

A daft text of that statement says: 'We call for progress on a transparent, evidence-based and expert-led WHO-convened phase 2 study on the origins of COVID-19, that is free from interference.'

The Covid pandemic has so-far infected at least 175million people in virtually every country in the world and killed 3.7million, though both numbers are thought to be large under-estimates.

The first cases of the virus were identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, in what was then reported as 'pneumonia of unknown origin'.

In January the infections were attributed to a novel virus which was eventually named by the WHO as SARS-CoV-2.

Many of the original cases were linked to a wet market in the city which sold a mixture of farmed and wild animals, leading to the theory that the disease originated in an animal host before crossing into humans.

But few now believe the wet market was the original source of the virus, and think the virus may have found its way there from another source before spreading.

The true source of the virus remains a mystery, with 'patient zero' - the first person to have caught the disease - yet to be identified.

That has led to competing theories about where, when and how the virus first crossed into humans - though researchers all agree that answering these questions are vital to understanding Covid, and preventing future pandemics.

Many researchers and a portion of the US intelligence community still back the 'zoonotic spillover' hypothesis which suggests the virus originated in animals before crossing into humans during contact between the two species.

Proponents of this theory say the virus likely originated in bats, because other similar viruses have been found in the animals before.

The virus is then said to have jumped directly from bats into humans - or, because contact between bats and humans is rare, it may have infected a secondary host that is more commonly found around people before making the jump.

The so-called lab leak theory was dismissed as a conspiracy when touted by Donald Trump last year, but Joe Biden has now admitted US intelligence is 'split' on the issue

Peter Embarek, leader of the WHO probe, dismissed the lab leak theory as 'extremely unlikely' though his investigation has since been branded 'inadequate'

China's official timeline vs new evidence Official timeline Dec 8, 2019 - Earliest date that China has acknowledged an infection Dec 31 - China first reported 'pneumonia of unknown cause' to the World Health Organisation Jan 1, 2020 - Wuhan seafood market closed for disinfection Jan 11 - China reported its first death Jan 23 - Wuhan locked down Jan 31 - WHO declared 'outbreak of international concern' as China admitted having thousands of cases Feb 23 - Italy reports cluster of cases in first major outbreak in the West New evidence Sep 2019- Blood samples are taken in a lung cancer screening trial in Italy which later test positive for coronavirus Oct-Dec - Rise in 'flu and pneumonia' cases in northern Italy which could be linked to coronavirus Nov - Sewage samples taken in Florianopolis, Brazil, suggest virus was present Nov 10 - Milanese woman has a skin biopsy, producing a sample which later shows signs of the virus Nov 17 - Leaked documents suggest case detected in China on this date Dec 1 - Chinese researchers report an infection on this date in a peer-reviewed study, but it has not been acknowledged by Beijing Dec 18 - Sewage samples taken in Milan and Turin suggest virus was circulating in the cities Jan 2020 - Sewage samples from Barcelona suggest virus was in the city Advertisement

Covid is known to infect a number of other animals including domestic pets such as dogs and cats, though it is not known to jump from there into humans.

Some farmed animals, such as mink, have been known to harbour the disease and then pass it back to people.

But others suggest the true source of the virus was the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Chinese lab located near Wuhan that also happens to be the world's largest centre of research on coronaviruses.

They believe the virus was either uncovered at the lab - which collects coronaviruses from wild animals - or else engineered through 'gain of function' research.

Such research involves adding properties such as increased transmissibility to already-existing viruses to study the effects and develop treatments before such diseases crop up in the wild.

But the research is hugely controversial, with many scientists arguing the risks of creating such viruses far outweigh the potential benefits.

According to proponents of this theory, the virus then leaked from the lab -possibly by infecting staff who then unwittingly passed it to the general population.

One intelligence report passed to agencies in Washington claims three members of staff at the laboratory sought hospital treatment in November 2019 - a month before the first official cases of Covid were detected, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Their symptoms were 'consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness', the report says, calling for further investigation.

That tallies with a body of evidence suggesting Covid may have been circulating for months before China first reported it to the world - either as a result of the often-mild disease going undetected, or the result of a cover-up.

Scientists in Italy claim to have detected evidence of Covid in blood samples taken as far back as September 2019, while researchers in Spain say the disease could have been present there in January 2020 - months before the first official case.

Even the authors of the much-derided WHO report admitted they could not rule out the possibility that Covid was circulating before December 2019.

China has vehemently denied any suggestion that Covid leaked from the lab and has accused the US of 'playing politics' by reigniting suspicion in the theory.

Instead, Beijing has made a number of incendiary and unsubstantiated allegations that Covid actually originated outside of the country and was imported.

So-far, researchers and diplomats have pointed the finger of blame at nine countries including the US, Australia and India - all rivals of Beijing.

Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO director (left, shaking hands with China's Xi Jingping), has said that all options including the lab leak hypothesis should remain on the table
The leaders of the G7 will push the World Health Organization to conduct a fresh probe into the origins of the COVID-19, according to a draft communique.

The call will be part of a document the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US are putting together that outlines a plan to end the pandemic by December 2022, Bloomberg reported.

The World Health Organization released a joint report with Chinese scientists in March after a team spent four weeks in Wuhan, saying it was 'extremely unlikely' the virus leaked from a Wuhan, China, laboratory.

But its findings were criticized amid concerns that investigators were delayed and lacked access to original samples.

The decision to call for a fresh probe comes amid accusations a Wuhan lab is engaged in a 'cover up' of situation. The Wall Street Journal reported that three workers at the Wuhan lab were hospitalized in November 2019 with symptoms similar to COVID but before the first cases were reported.

And the move by G7 leaders follows one by the European Union, which decided to join forces with the United States in demanding a new study.

Both announcements are a significant boost for President Joe Biden, who announced last month he had asked the intelligence community to redouble its efforts to get to the truth.

The leaders of the G7 will push the World Health Organization to conduct a fresh probe into the origins of the COVID-19; above President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive at Cornwall Airport Newquay and are greeted by Lord Lieutenant Colonel Edward Bolitho ahead of the G7 summit

Biden said last month he would continue to press China to participate in a full, transparent investigation to find out whether its Wuhan lab (pictured) was the source of the COVID-19 pandemic

The G7 communique is still being finalized and will include other items, such as a call for Russia to hold to account groups within its borders who conduct ransomware attacks and a commitment to accelerating the shift to zero-emission vehicles to combat climate change.

Biden landed in the United Kingdom on Wednesday evening for an eight-day trip to Europe, his first foreign trip as president.

Joe Biden's G7 schedule includes a meeting with the Queen after summit President Joe Biden's first foreign trip as the US leader will feature a meeting with the Queen following the G7 summit. Here's the full schedule: Wednesday, June 9 Biden and his wife, Jill, leave Washington on Wednesday morning. Their first stop in the UK will be at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to greet U.S. Air Force personnel stationed there. Mildenhall is home to the 100th Air Refueling Wing, the only permanent U.S. Air Force air refueling wing in the European theater. Thursday, June 10 Biden will meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Cornwall, site of the G7 summit, to reaffirm the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. Friday, June 11 Biden will attend the G7 summit for three days starting on Friday, to work on U.S. policy priorities such as the economy and allied unity. Saturday, June 12 Biden will attend more G7 summit meetings in Cornwall and have bilateral meetings with fellow G7 leaders. Sunday, June 13 Biden will finish his meetings at the G7 summit. Afterward, the Bidens will meet Britain's Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. Then Biden will travel to Brussels for the night. Monday, June 14 Biden will meet NATO leaders and have a private meeting with the president of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan. Tuesday, June 15 Biden will hold more NATO meetings and then fly to Geneva for the night. Wednesday, June 16 Biden will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden became president. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday it was unclear whether the two leaders would hold a joint news conference after their talks. Advertisement

Officials have said the schedule - meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ahead of a G7 Summit, before travelling to Brussels for a NATO summit and E.U. meetings - was carefully co-ordinated as a show of unity before Biden sits down with President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.

President Biden has signaled that climate change and combatting Russian aggression are a few of his top agenda items for his meetings with leaders in the G7, NATO, and the EU - along with addressing the COVID pandemic that has caused 3.76 million deaths worldwide.

EU leaders also are working on their own draft communique to back the American president.

'We call for progress on a transparent, evidence-based and expert-led WHO-convened phase 2 study on the origins of COVID-19, that is free from interference,' the draft said, according to Reuters.

The question of the origins of COVID is exercising scientists and politicians in the U.S.

The two competing theories are that the virus jumped naturally from an animal host into humans, triggering the pandemic, or that it escaped from a virus laboratory in Wuhan, China.

This week Trump-era officials called for the Biden administration to halt certain types of research funding for China and investigate sanctions in order to force Beijing to co-operate with investigations.

And last month, President Biden finally asked his intelligence agencies to step up their efforts to get to the truth about the origins amid growing concern that it emerged from a Chinese laboratory.

A string of senior scientists have recently admitted they may have leapt to conclusions in assuming the virus jumped from an animal host in the wild to humans and are now looking into the theory it leaked from a Wuhan lab that have been dismissed for the last 12 months.

And fresh details emerged last month about how staff at the Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital treatment for COVID-like symptoms in November 2019.

The result is that a theory once consigned to fringe websites, championed by the Trump administration and decried by the media has moved into the mainstream and Biden aides have ditched their skepticism to call for more investigations.

Biden defended his administration's approach and 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,' he said in May.

'As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China.'

He also directed national laboratories to assist with the investigation.
San Francisco, 10 June 2021: The Report U.S. School Furniture Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Seating Furniture, Storage Units, Lab Equipment), By Application (Classroom, Library & Labs), And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028

The U.S. school furniture market size is expected to reach USD 2.76 billion by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2021 to 2028. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of public elementary schools increased from 98.2 thousand in 2017 to 98.5 thousand in 2018. Similarly, the number of public secondary schools increased from 66.8 thousand in 2017 to 67.4 thousand in 2018. Thus, an increasing number of schools is resulting in higher demand for school furniture.

The growing demand for flexible seating in classrooms is also expected to drive the product demand. This school furniture is designed on evolving space configurations and can help check the rising posture problems in children. These allow children to be more posture-correct and provide comfortable ergonomic options. Multiple seating options including chairs, yoga balls, couches, and springy stools have been gaining traction.

In November 2020, MiEN Company, which serves the education industry with innovative furniture products that promote and support active and interactive learning environments, introduced new product offerings to help institutions take active learning spaces to a new level. One such product is a DIY backless chair. The product is designed for active learning environments that encourage students to strengthen their core in a ready-to-learn position. Its backless design allows the chair to be easily stored away under tables when students prefer to stand. These chairs are light, easy to move, and optimize space because they are easy to stack.

School furniture plays an important role in the overall learning environment. Students spend as long as 9 hours at their desks every day and hence, classroom ergonomics play an important role in schools. Institutions have been increasingly focusing on school furniture and ensuring that its suitable for the pupils, allows movement, and invariably encourages a good posture. It is recommended that classroom seating should support a healthy posture, especially since young bodies develop rapidly. It should also decrease fidgeting.

The environmentally-conscious schools have been significantly investing in green desks and tables, green chairs, green pre-school furniture, green library furniture, and green dry erase boards, among others. Green school furniture products are made via the employment of various manufacturing processes as well as materials that meet numerous approval standards for emissions. Moreover, these are designed to protect indoor air quality. The rising demand for green furniture in various schools and colleges is expected to open new growth opportunities for manufacturers over the forecast period.

Access Research Report of U.S. School Furniture Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/us-school-furniture-market

U.S. School Furniture Market Report Highlights

By product, the seating furniture segment is projected to register the fastest CAGR from 2021 to 2028

Based on application, the library and labs segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.9% from 2021 to 2028. This is attributed to the increasing requirements for large storage spaces and flexible seating in libraries and labs

The classroom application segment held the largest share of over 75.0% in 2020 and is foreseen to remain at the forefront over the forecast period

List of Key Players of U.S. School Furniture Market

Smith System Mfg. Co.

Knoll, Inc.

The HON Company

Virco

Fleetwood Group

VS America, Inc.

Hertz Furniture

Paragon Furniture Inc.

Haskell Education

Marco Group

Access Press Release of U.S. School Furniture Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/us-school-furniture-market-analysis
Cloudy conditions and the odd shower forecast for today with best sunshine in east, according to Met Office

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Skywatchers complained today's partial solar eclipse was obscured by clouds in some parts of Britain - while viewers elsewhere in the world were treated to a glorious spectacle in the sky.

Cloudy conditions and rain left many upset this morning, with those looking up in the East of England treated to the best views of the phenomenon.

During the solar event, about 30 per cent of the sun was blocked out in Scotland and 20 per cent in southern England, while and as much as 70 per cent was blotted out in Eastern states of the US.

In the UK the partial eclipse began at 10:08 BST, reaching maximum coverage  or about a third  at 11:13 BST, ending at 12:22 BST today.

Social media users took to Twitter to bemoan the weather, posting bleak snaps of dark grey skies with joking comments about the sun being 'filtered by cloud'. Today's overcast conditons follow days of gloriously clear skies across the UK, with many hoping the conditions would hold out for the eclipse.

However, the gloom in parts of Britain was not matched elsewhere, with skygazers in US, Canada and Holland enjoying spectacular scenes.

A partial eclipse of the sun seen over Canary Wharf in London this morning. Weather permitting, observers in the UK and Ireland are seeing a crescent sun instead of the 'ring of fire' formed by a total eclipse

A partial solar eclipse is seen over Big Ben today in London. In other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, this annular eclipse will be seen as a visible thing outer ring of the sun's disk that is not completely covered by the smaller dark disk of the moon

The crescent sun over a cloudy London during a partial solar eclipse today. Weather permitting, observers in the UK and Ireland are seeing a crescent sun instead of the 'ring of fire' formed by a total eclipse

A partial solar eclipse is seen behind the Crimea and Indian Mutiny memorial outside Westminster Abbey today in London

A woman takes a photo with her phone as she watches a partial solar eclipse from Primrose Hill in central London on Thursday

Members of the public watch a partial solar eclipse from Primrose Hill in central London today. It also isn't safe to look at the sun through binoculars, telescopes or a camera lens without specialist filters  so best to avoid taking direct images

Three people watch a partial solar eclipse from Primrose Hill in central London. Using a simple pinhole projector, solar eclipse viewing glasses, which can be purchased online, or special solar filters are viable alternatives to look at the sun

People use a sextant on Primrose Hill in central London this morning. Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder warned that looking directly at the Sun, even one partially eclipsed, can cause serious and permanent damage to the eyes

A partial solar eclipse rises behind the Brooklyn Bridge and other east river crossings in Manhattan, New York, from Bayonne, New Jersey, on Thursday

A partial solar eclipse is seen as the sun rises behind the Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse on June 10 in Lewes, Delaware, in a handout image provided by NASA

A partial solar eclipse is observed on a cloudy day in St Petersburg, Russia, on June 10. 'You can make a projector by poking a small hole into a piece of card,' said Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder

Pupils of the primary school IBS Ababil look at the solar eclipse with special glasses in Schiedam, the Netherlands, on June 10. For the first time since 2015, a partial solar eclipse can be seen again

Pupils look at the solar eclipse with special glasses in the Netherlands. The sun appeared partly obscured by the moon

An annular solar eclipse rises over the red and orange skyline of Toronto in Canada early on Thursday, June 10

A partial solar eclipse pictured in Gaiberg near Heidelberg, southwestern Germany, on June 10, as a partial solar eclipse was visible over the Earth's northern hemisphere

A partial solar eclipse can be seen behind the dark clouds in the sky over the statue of Jubilee Park in Brussels, Belgium

A partially eclipsed sun peeks out from behind a cloud as it rises over lower Manhattan in New York on Thursday

US: A handout picture made available by NASA shows a partial solar eclipse as the sun rises behind the United States Capitol Building, as seen from Arlington, Virginia

US: An eclipsed sun rises next to a flag on June 10 in Scituate, Massachusetts. Northeast states in the US saw a rare eclipsed sunrise

One social media user in the Isle of Wight posted: 'Hope everyone who can see the partial eclipse is enjoying it because I'm not...'

Another sarcastically tweeted alongside a snap of a dark grey sky: 'Great view of the eclipse from Bruntsfield'.

And a third added: 'Today's partial eclipse - through a cloud darkly.'

But others were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon, with one saying it looked like a 'giant celestial being has taken a bite out of the sun'.

One Briton posted: 'Didn't even know this was happening just now but managed to snap the partial eclipse in Brighton!'

And another tweeted: 'Partial solar eclipse just peeking through the clouds from my office window in Edinburgh just now.'

Social media users have taken to Twitter to bemoan the obscured partial solar eclipse, posting bleak pictures of dark grey skies and saying the spectacle has been 'filtered by cloud'

Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: 'From the UK, the annular solar eclipse will be a partial eclipse, meaning that we'll only see the Moon pass in front of a small part of the Sun.'

She warned that looking directly at the Sun, even one partially eclipsed, can cause serious and permanent damage to the eyes.

Dr Drabek-Maunder added: 'Never look at the sun directly or use standard sunglasses, it can cause serious harm to your eyes.'

It also isn't safe to look at the sun through binoculars, telescopes or a camera lens without specialist filters  so best to avoid taking direct images.

Using a simple pinhole projector, solar eclipse viewing glasses, which can be purchased online, or special solar filters are viable alternatives.

Other social media users were fortunate enough to witness the spectacle, with one saying it looks like a 'giant celestial being has taken a bite out of the sun'

Cloudy conditions and the odd shower are forecast for early today with the best sunshine in the east, according to the Met Office. The drizzle is set to continue into tonight with some heavy showers in northwest Scotland

A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, moon and Earth are in alignment such that the Moon appears - from certain locations - to completely block out the Sun in the sky

Temperatures above 70F (21C) for 13th day in a row Maximum temperatures in Britain soared above 70F (21C) for the 13th day in a row on Tuesday. Here are the UK highs for the previous 12 days, including the hottest day of the year so far which was recorded last week: June 7 : 76.3F (24.6C) - Coningsby, Lincolnshire

: 76.3F (24.6C) - Coningsby, Lincolnshire June 6 : 74.1F (23.4C) - St James's Park, London

: 74.1F (23.4C) - St James's Park, London June 5 : 75.2F (24C) - St James's Park, London

: 75.2F (24C) - St James's Park, London June 4 : 70.2F (21.2C) - Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire

: 70.2F (21.2C) - Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire June 3 : 76.5F (24.7C) - Santon Downham, Suffolk

: 76.5F (24.7C) - Santon Downham, Suffolk June 2 : 82.9F (28.3C) - Northolt, London - 2021 HIGH

: 82.9F (28.3C) - Northolt, London - 2021 HIGH June 1 : 79F (26.1C) - Cardiff

: 79F (26.1C) - Cardiff May 31 : 77.2F (25.1C) - Kinlochewe, Highlands

: 77.2F (25.1C) - Kinlochewe, Highlands May 30 : 75.2F (24C) - Achnagart, Highlands

: 75.2F (24C) - Achnagart, Highlands May 29 : 73.2F (22.9C) - Chivenor, Devon

: 73.2F (22.9C) - Chivenor, Devon May 28 : 71.8F (22.1C) - Achnagart, Highlands

: 71.8F (22.1C) - Achnagart, Highlands May 27 : 71.6F (22C) - Wisley, Surrey The last day the maximum was below 70F (21C) was May 26 when Killowen in County Down got to 65.5F (18.6C). Advertisement

'You can make a projector by poking a small hole into a piece of card,' said Dr Drabek-Maunder, adding you hold the card to the sun so it shines through the hole on to a piece of paper placed behind the card.

'You will be able to see the shape of the sun projected on to the piece of paper and watch its shape change as the Moon passes in front of the sun.'

It comes as a spell of high pressure means most areas will meet the weather service's definition of a heatwave  defined as three days above a particular temperature threshold - in the UK this weekend.

Temperatures on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are predicted to see highs around 77F (25C), with Sunday lined up to be the warmest day of the weekend for England, Scotland and Wales, according to the Met Office.

In Northern Ireland, Thursday is predicted to be the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures rising to 71.6F (22C) or 73.4F (23C).

The Met Office's Oli Claydon said: 'There's a definition of what a heatwave is  it is at least three consecutive days of maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding a temperature threshold.

'It is above 82.4F (28C) for London and a large chunk of the south east, it is 80.6F (27C) for the Midlands and going towards the south west its 78.8F (26C).

'In Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Devon and Cornwall and the north east its 77F (25C)  so it is a sliding scale depending on where you are, but we haven't yet met that maximum threshold.'

Grass and weed pollen levels are also increasing at the moment, the Met Office tweeted, with the highest levels expected in southern England during the coming days.

A man walks on a beach in front of a mist covered St Michael's Mount in Penzance as Cornwall prepares for the G7 summit

People head over the causeway leaving a mist covered St Michael's Mount in Cornwall this morning, as overcast conditions are forecast for the rest of today

A view of the bay in St Ives, Cornwall, this morning, ahead of the G7 summit, where leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US meet this weekend for the first time in nearly two years for talks in Carbis Bay

The offshore naval vessel HMS Tamar patrols off St Ives, Cornwall, today. The Met Office tweeted this morning: 'Thursday morning will be a much cloudier one for most, though it will be mild'

Police patrol by the harbour in St Ives, Cornwall, this morning ahead of the G7 summit. Views of the partial solar eclipse on Thursday will be 'somewhat fleeting' across certain parts of the UK due to cloudy skies, forecasters have said

A police marine unit patrols a harbour in St Ives as security preparations are underway for the G7 leaders summit in Cornwall

A police marine unit patrols a harbour in St Ives. Temperatures on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are predicted to see highs around 77F (25C), with Sunday lined up to be the warmest day of the weekend for England, Scotland and Wales

Bookmaker Coral has made it odds-on at 1-2 for this month to finish as the hottest June on record in the UK, despite thunderstorms and a drop in temperatures towards the start of this month.

Coral's John Hill said: 'With a glorious summer to look forward to, not only does the betting point to record high temperatures, we could even have a hosepipe ban this year.'

But despite bookies offering odds on this being the hottest June ever, it is too early in the month to say whether we will see record-breaking average temperatures.

Mr Claydon explained that the average maximum daytime temperature for June is 63.1F (17.3C), but that the first eight days of June 2021 have sat a couple of degrees higher than that at 67.5F (19.7C).

The record average maximum June temperature was set in 1940 at 68.9F (20.5C).

'Currently we are not even in the top five hottest Junes on record,' Mr Claydon said.
Tameda Khamara vanished from Camberwell, south London, yesterday

Police have launched an urgent search for a missing 12-year-old girl who was last seen in her school uniform.

Tameda Khamara vanished from Camberwell, south London, yesterday.

The youngster was last seen wearing a grey skirt, white shirt and grey blazer.

Authorities said earlier today that they are 'really concerned' for her welfare.

Southwark Police took to Twitter with an appeal for the public to get in touch with any information on Tameda's whereabouts.

The post read: '#Missing Please help us find 12yr old Tameda Khamara missing from the #Camberwell area.

'Last seen on 09/06/21.

'She was last seen wearing school uniform - grey skirt, white shirt, grey blazer.

'We're really concerned for her welfare - please call 999 if seen quoting 21MIS016556.'
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The number of Britons falling ill with Covid has more than doubled in a week amid the rapid spread of the Indian variant across the UK, a symptom-tracking study warned today.

An estimated 11,908 people across the UK were catching the virus every day in the week ending June 5, according to the ZOE Covid study, up 109 per cent from 5,677 last week.

The troubling figures add to mounting fears about England's planned final lockdown easing on June 21 'Freedom Day', with the scientist behind the surveillance study admitting the situation 'has rapidly changed' in the face of the mutant 'Delta' strain.

No10's top scientists fear the mutant Indian strain could be up to 60 per cent more transmissible than the once dominant Kent version and SAGE modellers fear it will trigger a 'substantial' third wave  despite three-quarters of adults having been vaccinated.

Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King's College London and lead author of the ZOE research, said the spiralling case numbers were caused by 'increased social interaction and a newly dominant variant that is much more transmissible'.

But he added: 'It's clear that this is an epidemic among the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated populations in the UK and, due to the way vaccines have been rolled out, is largely affecting younger generations.

'Vaccines are working and we want to encourage people to exercise caution, especially if they feel at all unwell, until they've been fully vaccinated. The race is on to fully vaccinate the whole population to save lives and return to normal life.'

Meanwhile, Test and Trace figures released today showed the number of positive cares in England rose by almost 45 per cent last week. More than 25,000 people who were swabbed in the seven-day spell ending June 2 had Covid, up from 17,000 the week before.

This was despite around 850,000 fewer tests being carried out. Data also showed the number of people taking rapid Covid tests has fallen to its lowest level for three months  despite all members of the public being eligible to take two rapid tests a week.

It emerged today that Boris Johnson could implement a 'mix and match' unlocking on Freedom Day, with face masks, work from home guidance and the rule of six indoors likely to still be mandatory after June 21 but the 30-guest cap on weddings dropped.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that 'everybody can see cases and hospitalisations are going up' and gave the strongest hint yet the much-anticipated milestone will be pushed back because of the rapid spread of the Indian Covid variant.

Britain yesterday recorded another 7,540 positive coronavirus tests in the biggest week-on-week increase since February, with the mutant variant blamed for spiralling cases.

The number of people falling ill with Covid has more than doubled in a week, a symptom-tracking study warned today amid the rapid spread of the Indian variant across the UK

Illness is rising significantly more rapidly in 20- to 29-year-olds than in vaccinated older age groups, There were more than 400 symptomatic cases per 100,000 people in the cohort compared to less than 50 in over-60s

There are currently 1,917 vaccinated people falling ill with the virus, compared to 9,991 unvaccinated people. But cases are increasing in both groups, with 89 per cent more symptomatic cases in people week-on-week even after being jabbed

Meanwhile, Test and Trace figures released today showed the number of positive cares in England rose by almost 45 per cent last week. More than 25,000 people who were swabbed in the seven-day spell ending June 2 had Covid, up from 17,000 the week before

The rise in Test and Trace figures came despite around 850,000 fewer tests being carried out compared to the week before

Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King's College London said the Covid situation in the UK 'has rapidly changed'

Despite fears infections will continue to spike given that restrictions have already been eased, other experts have called for calm. Anti-lockdown Tory MPs have demanded the PM sticks to his June 21 pledge.

NHS bosses say hospitals should be able to cope with surging cases because vaccines have meant fewer infected patients need medical care. Dr Richard Cree, an intensive care consultant in Middlesbrough, today claimed he was confident the third wave won't mirror the crises seen last spring and in January.

Meanwhile, one virus-tracking scientist even claimed the outbreak could plateau soon because of the combined effect of jabs and warmer summer weather.

In other developments today, Matt Hancock admitted the first lockdown was delayed despite initial warnings over 820,000 deaths because ministers feared Britons would not tolerate the restrictions for long.

In a dramatic evidence session with MPs, the Health Secretary said that as early as January he was presented with a 'reasonable worst case scenario' of the huge potential toll, based on Spanish Flu. But imposing the draconian first national restrictions did not happen until March 23, with Mr Hancock pointing to expert advice that the public would only 'put up with it' for a limited time and concerns about the 'immediate costs'.

In other developments today:

Matt Hancock gave a damning assessment of the expert views on asymptomatic transmission, saying the WHO told him at the end of January that claims coming out of China were 'likely a mistranslation';

NHS data revealed more than 5million people in England are now waiting for hospital treatment  the highest number since records began in 2007;

Airline officials urged Rishi Sunak was urged to launch a new bailout package for the beleaguered aviation industry amid growing fears of a second 'lost summer';

The Care Provider Alliance claimed Matt Hancock was repeatedly warned over the risk of not testing people discharged from hospitals into care homes at the start of the pandemic.

The ZOE Covid Study data suggests cases are higher and increasing faster in the unvaccinated population in the UK.

There are currently 1,917 vaccinated people falling ill with the virus every day, compared to just shy of 10,000 unvaccinated people.

Cases are increasing in both groups, jumping by 89 per cent among vaccinated people. But the rate of growth was quicker among those not yet jabbed (114 per cent).

Scotland and the North West were the worst affected regions in the UK.

An estimated 3,465 people are now coming down with Covid every day in the North West  in which swathes of the region have been given guidance to combat the Indian variant in hotspots  and 2,446 in Scotland.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson with his wife Carrie on the beach at the Carbis Bay, Cornwall today, ahead of Friday's G7 summit.

But illness is rising significantly more rapidly in 20- to 29-year-olds than in vaccinated older age groups.

There were more than 400 symptomatic cases per 100,000 people in the cohort, compared to fewer than 50 in over-60s.

Professor Spector said: 'The Covid situation in the UK has rapidly changed from one of the best performing nations to a nation again struggling with rising cases.

'Official confirmed cases are now around 7,500, which is the highest daily figure since late February. However, when you dig into the data, it's clear that this is an epidemic among the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated populations in the UK and, due to the way vaccines have been rolled out, is largely affecting younger generations.

'The rapid rise is likely down to two compounding factors; increased social interaction and a newly dominant variant that is much more transmissible.

What are the top 25 Covid 'hotspots' according to the ZOE Symptom Study? 1. Stirling 2. Bury 3. Manchester 4. Rochdale 5. Trafford 6. Bolton 7. Kirklees 8. Perth and Kinross 9. Sunderland 10. Luton 11. South Ayrshire 12. East Lancashire 13. Edinburgh 14. Southwark 15. St Helens 16. Wigan 17. Oldham 18. Renfrewshire 19. West Lothian 20. East Dunbartonshire 21. Aberdeenshire 22. Wrexham 22. Leeds 24. Derby 25. Cheshire 838 cases per 100,000 672 672 605 589 553 539 501 499 473 453 395 390 379 379 349 345 336 309 297 295 290 290 288 273 Advertisement

'It's no surprise that people are becoming fatigued with social distancing after a long 15 months of restrictions, which will only encourage the spread.

'The good news is that fully vaccinated people have much greater protection. Vaccines are working and we want to encourage people to exercise caution, especially if they feel at all unwell, until they've been fully vaccinated.

'The race is on to fully vaccinate the whole population to save lives and return to normal life.'

Separate Test and Trace figures today showed 25,091 people tested positive for Covid in England at least once in the week to June 2.

It is the highest number of people testing positive since the week to March 31.

Data also showed the number of people taking rapid Covid tests has fallen to its lowest level for three months  despite all members of the public being eligible to take two rapid tests a week.

Just under 3.5million lateral flow device (LFD) tests were conducted in England in the week to June 2, according to the latest Test and Trace figures.

This is down from 4.8million in the previous week, and is the lowest total since the week to March 3, when just under 2.8million tests were carried out.

The drop in the latest week coincided with the summer half-term holiday in schools, the Department of Health said.

LFD tests are swab tests that give results in 30 minutes or less without the need for processing in a laboratory.

Since April 9, everyone in England has been eligible for rapid Covid-19 tests twice a week.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Cornwall yesterday, Boris Johnson gave the clearest hint yet that lockdown easing on June 21 would not go ahead because of the rapid spread of the Indian variant.

Me Johnson said: 'What everybody can see very clearly is that cases are going up and in some places hospitalisations are going up. What we need to assess is the extent to which the vaccine rollout, which has been phenomenal, has built up enough protection in the population in order for us to go ahead to the next stage.

'So that is what we will be looking at and there are arguments being made one way or another. But we will be driven by the data, we will be looking at that and setting it out on Monday.'

Just hours before the Prime Minister spoke, top SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson suggested it would take at least another three weeks for scientists to know how much more transmissible the Indian variant is, suggesting hopes of ending lockdown in a fortnight are unlikely.

Professor Ferguson, who has guided the Government through the pandemic, said scientists still don't know how much faster the variant spreads, how much more deadly it is nor how big the third wave will be.

The chance that scientific advisers, ministers and Boris Johnson  who committed to 'data not dates'  will sign off on June 21 without this information is slim to none. An extra three weeks to collect the figures plus the PM's one-week notice for a change in restrictions suggests in the best case scenario it will be early July before Step Four of the roadmap is taken.

Professor Ferguson said: 'It's well within the possibility that we could see another, third, wave at least comparable in terms of hospitalisations, as the second wave. At least deaths, I think, would certainly be lower. It's hard to judge.'

The Imperial College London epidemiologist said researchers need to see how many people are admitted to hospital and die as a result of the current surge in infections.

They believe it is around 60 per cent more transmissible than the Kent variant, more likely to put people in hospital and that vaccines work less well against it.

There have now been more than 19,000 new cases in just three days and Professor Ferguson suggested the outbreak's doubling time could be less than a week, warning of 'quite fast doubling, comparable with what we saw before Christmas.'

The prolific SAGE member's warning is the closest thing to confirmation that Boris Johnson will delay the ending of social distancing laws planned for June 21. His ministers today took a 'wait and see' approach to questions about the roadmap and told people to hold off making summer plans.
Former BBC director-generals Lord Hall and Lord Birt will be questioned by MPs about the events leading up to Martin Bashir's Panorama interview with Princess Diana.

They will also face questions on the broadcaster's handling of investigations into how journalist Bashir, 58, obtained the world exclusive in 1995.

A damning report by Lord Dyson recently condemned the methods used by Bashir to secure his interview, including using fake bank statements to encourage Diana's brother Earl Spencer to make introductions.

The report suggested the BBC had failed to uphold 'governance, accountability and scrutiny' with its internal investigation, carried out by Tony Hall in 1996 when he was the managing director of news and current affairs and John Birt was director-general.

Former BBC director-generals Lord Hall (left) and Lord Birt (right) will be questioned by MPs about the events leading up to Martin Bashir's Panorama interview with Princess Diana

A damning report by Lord Dyson recently condemned the methods used by Martin Bashir to secure his interview with the Princess of Wales (above) in 1995

Lord Hall was director-general of the BBC from April 2013 to August 2020.

He was among corporation bosses who were attacked by Prince William for 'looking the other way rather than asking tough questions' in the aftermath of the interview.

Last month, the peer quit his Government-backed job as chairman of the National Gallery after he was criticised in Lord Dyson's bombshell report.

Ministers had viewed the Lord Hall's job at the National Gallery as untenable given the museum's close connection to Prince Charles, its royal patron.

Lord Birt, who was director-general of the BBC from 1992 to 2000, was also criticised following the Panorama interview with Diana, recorded without the knowledge of Buckingham Palace.

It emerged in May that an ex-BBC chairman, Prince Charles 'loyalist' Marmaduke Hussey, had immediately attempted to force his resignation.

Current BBC director-general Tim Davie and chairman Richard Sharp will also appear before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on June 15 to give evidence on the implications of Lord Dyson's conclusions.

Lord Hall was director-general of the BBC from April 2013 to August 2020. He was the managing director of news and current affairs at the time of the interview

Lord Birt, director-general of the BBC at the time of the interview, said: 'We now know that the BBC harboured a rogue reporter on Panorama who fabricated an elaborate, detailed but wholly false account of his dealings with Earl Spencer and Princess Diana'

Former judge Lord Dyson's report found the BBC covered up Bashir's 'deceitful behaviour' in obtaining the interview with Diana, and labelled Lord Hall's 1996 internal investigation 'woefully ineffective'.

Bogus bank statements commissioned by Bashir 'deceived and induced' Earl Spencer to help the journalist 'to arrange a meeting with Princess Diana', it said.

His lies landed the Panorama reporter the interview of the century and multiple awards - but hastened the end of Diana's marriage to Prince Charles and saw her stripped of her HRH status just two years before her death.

Ex-BBC chairman Marmaduke Hussey wanted John Birt to quit as director-general over Martin Bashir Panorama debacle A former BBC chairman tried to force the resignation of the director-general over Princess Diana's interview, it has emerged. Marmaduke Hussey was horrified by the broadcaster's secret Panorama interview with the Princess of Wales, recorded without the knowledge of Buckingham Palace. He asked BBC governors to condemn the interview and the conduct of then director-general John Birt and attempted to force his resignation. Executives did not tell Lord Hussey about the interview until the last minute because they feared he might stop the broadcast. The Tory peer resigned two months later and wrote in his memoir that the episode had 'darkened my last months at the BBC'. He was known to be a Prince Charles 'loyalist' and had close links to the Royal Family as his wife Lady Susan is a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. The decision not to tell Lord Hussey, who died in 2006, was discussed in a BBC documentary filmed to mark the tenth anniversary of Diana's interview with journalist Martin Bashir. Lord Birt told the 2005 BBC2 Arena documentary: '[Hussey] tried to get the governors to condemn the programme, which they refused to do. 'Having failed at that he tried to get the governors to condemn the way in which I had handled the programme and particularly the fact that I hadn't alerted him as chairman. He failed to get what he wanted: a stinging rebuke which, he calculated, would force my resignation.' The documentary, The Princess and Panorama, was shown to former High Court judge Lord Dyson as part of his investigation into the 1995 interview. Advertisement

The BBC made a 'full and unconditional apology' for Bashir's conduct and the subsequent cover-up in May.

Current director-general Mr Davie has contacted the royal family and is also returning all awards the explosive interview accrued, including a Bafta TV gong won in 1996.

Friends of Diana's have claimed she may still be alive today 'if she hadn't spoken to Bashir', who they nicknamed 'The Poison Dwarf' after his betrayal emerged, while Patrick Jephson, the Princess of Wales' private secretary at the time, said a 'line' leads from her interview with Bashir to the night she died in 1997 in a Paris car crash.

In his report, Lord Dyson, who carried out a six-month investigation, said: 'Mr Bashir deceived and induced him [Earl Spencer] to arrange a meeting with Princess Diana.

'By gaining access to Princess Diana in this way, Mr Bashir was able to persuade her to agree to give the interview.

'This behaviour was in serious breach of the 1993 edition of the BBC's Producer Guidelines on straight dealing.'

Lord Hall's subsequent 1996 investigation into claims Diana was hoodwinked by Bashir was 'woefully ineffective', the judge said, especially because their inquiry 'did not scrutinise' Bashir despite knowing he had lied three times about showing the fake bank statements to Earl Spencer.

'Lord Hall could not reasonably have concluded, as he did, that Mr Bashir was an honest and honourable man', the report said.

The BBC had 'without justification' 'covered up' Mr Bashir's tricks and 'thereby fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark', said Lord Dyson.

Lord Birt, director-general of the BBC at the time of the interview, said: 'We now know that the BBC harboured a rogue reporter on Panorama who fabricated an elaborate, detailed but wholly false account of his dealings with Earl Spencer and Princess Diana.

'This is a shocking blot on the BBC's enduring commitment to honest journalism, and it is a matter of the greatest regret that it has taken 25 years for the full truth to emerge.

'As the director-general at the time, I offer my deep apologies to Earl Spencer and to all others affected.'

Lord Hall insisted his 'integrity' remained intact despite the criticism and pointed the finger at the shamed journalist, saying he was 'wrong to give Martin Bashir the benefit of the doubt'.

He had previously excused Bashir's 'lapse' in having the fake statements produced and declared him an 'honest and honourable man'.

However, Lord Hall has since admitted his 1996 investigation 'fell well short of what was required'.

But a defiant Mr Bashir said in a statement last month: 'This is the second time that I have willingly fully co-operated with an investigation into events more than 25 years ago.

'I apologised then, and I do so again now, over the fact that I asked for bank statements to be mocked up.

'It was a stupid thing to do and was an action I deeply regret. But I absolutely stand by the evidence I gave a quarter of a century ago, and again more recently.'
Boris Johnson has raised eyebrows after arriving for the G7 Summit in a U.S. Presidential-style bomber jacket with the words Prime Minister embroidered on the lapel, along with the Virgin logo.

Social media users were quick to question why Mr Johnson appeared to be 'sponsored by Virgin' as he made a trip to the company's rocket, LauncherOne, at the Spaceport at Newquay Airport, Cornwall, yesterday.

The choice of jacket was made even more conspicuous by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps' matching garb, as he accompanied the PM on the visit ahead of Friday's G7 summit.

Dr Russ Jackson tweeted: 'The Prime Minister 'sponsored by Virgin'? WTAF'.

Boris Johnson has raised eyebrows after arriving for the G7 Summit in a U.S. Presidential-style bomber jacket with the words Prime Minister embroidered on the front, along with Virgin logo

A close up of the bomber jacket's embroidery, which social media users have said makes the PM look like he is 'sponsored by Virgin'

Home Secretary's own 'branded merchandise' Priti Patel during a National Crime Agency operation in east London, May 2021 Boris Johnson's latest name badge has been compared to Home Secretary Priti Patel's. Patel was the first minister to be seen sporting her own 'branded merchandise' earlier this year, with social media users criticising her choice to wear a coat with her role 'home secretary' embroidered onto the lapel as she attended a raid on people-smuggling suspects at an address in east London in May. Nazir Afzal tweeted: 'I remember how my mum used to write my name on my jacket in primary school.' Ruth Oliver tweeted: 'What is this branding exercise going on in Government or is it just so they know who they are when they get lost? It is quite bizarre...' Patel joined a police raid as officers arrested people-smuggling suspects accused of minicab and lorry drivers to move migrants between France and the UK. Advertisement

David Taylor tweeted: 'Boris and Co. are building up a good collection of branded merch.'

While Nick Stevens wrote: 'Of all the things I might have seen today, a photo of Boris Bloody Johnson, with 'Virgin' on his scruffy lapel was never on my bingo card.'

Priti Patel was the first minister to be seen sporting her own 'branded merchandise' earlier this year, with social media users criticising her choice to wear a coat with her role 'home secretary' embroidered onto the lapel as she attended a raid on people-smuggling suspect sat an address in east London in May.

Mr Johnson's bomber jacket also echoes a coat worn by US president Donald Trump and his predecessors, who are each presented with a personalised US Navy flight jacket with their name and 'Commander-in-Chief' written on it when joining the role.

Similar jackets were worn by Barack Obama and his predecessor George W Bush, who wore one during a summit with then prime minister Tony Blair.

It is not known if Johnson will wear the jacket to greet Mr Biden today, who he is scheduled to have face-to-face talks with - the first time the two men will have met in person - before the G7 Summit formally gets underway on Friday.

Mr Johnson was previously given a Royal Navy 'foulie' jacket emblazoned with 'Prime Minister' as a gift by the Ministry of Defence as he visited Faslane Naval Base in Scotland in July 2019.

Following Mr Johnson's visit to the spaceport Virgin Orbit tweeted: 'We were honored to join our friends from @SpaceCornwall & @spacegovuk to host Prime Minister @BorisJohnson , Sec't of Transport @grantshapps , & MP @stevedouble today in Spaceport Cornwall, site of the #G7Summit. Together, we're closer than ever to bringing launch to Britain.'

The Virgin Orbit LauncherOne is poised to bring the first satellite launch to Britain within the next year or two, with the UK Space Agency investing 7.8m into the development of Spaceport Cornwall.

And the UK's space industry could be set for take-off, as Spaceport Cornwall has been named a 'favourable potential return location' for future missions.

An agreement has been signed between Cornwall's horizontal launch site and Sierra Nevada Corporation's Sierra Space, located in the US - with Virgin founder Richard Branson previously claiming this will 'stimulate the space economy, strengthen the US-UK partnership, and inspire a whole new generation of space lovers.'

Social media users were quick to question why Mr Johnson appeared to be 'sponsored by Virgin'

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson accompanied bt the the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps as they view the LauncherOne at the Spaceport at Newquay Airport

The Virgin Orbit LauncherOne is poised to bring the first satellite launch to Britain within the next year or two

Mr Johnson pictured in a similar jacket at Faslane Naval Base in July 2019, with 'Prime Minister' written on the right side of the chest

This memorandum of understanding (MoU) covers exploration of future collaboration opportunities and explains that the two companies have a 'shared vision to democratise space' - i.e. participating by lowering the cost of access to space.

But the move could also be beneficial for the environment.

Both companies are focused on communicating the vital role satellites can play in combating global climate challenges that world leaders are set to discuss at the G7 summit in Cornwall this week.

The signing of the MoU follows discussions between the two companies over the past two years, as well as the completion of the concept of operations (CONOPS) undertaken by Sierra Space regarding the suitability of Spaceport Cornwall to be a return location for its runway landing, Dream Chaser.

In an exciting advancement for the UK space industry, the study found Spaceport Cornwall to be a top candidate - and this is likely to lead to a more detailed landing site study ahead of Cornwall being named a planned return location for future missions.

Mr Trump wearing a similar monogrammed jacket during a visit to US personnel at Yokota Air Base at Fussa in Tokyo on November 5, 2017

Barack Obama in a similar style jacket in leather while speaking in Wisconsin in 2012 during his presidency

George W Bush in his bomber jacket during a meeting with Tony Blair near Camp David in Maryland in 2001

Melissa Thorpe, head of Spaceport Cornwall said today: 'We are delighted to welcome representatives from Sierra Space to Cornwall during the G7 Summit, and to announce the signing of the MoU.

'Spaceport Cornwall is a multi-user spaceport and it's a great achievement to add an additional launch/re-entry partner to our consortium a year ahead of first launch from the site in 2022.

'Satellite technology offers so much hope in combating many of the environmental challenges being discussed here this week, and we're proud to be able to showcase the part Cornwall, and the UK is playing.'
A medieval role play 'geek' who slapped Emmanuel Macron was today handed an 18-month jail sentence after telling a court the president represents 'France's decay.'

Damien Tarel, 28, will serve four months in jail, with the rest of the sentence suspended, after magistrates in the southern town of Valence heard he 'humiliated and belittled' Macron with the assault on Tuesday.

The assailant, who described himself as a right-wing or extreme right 'patriot', earlier gave evidence to the court and described his frustration with Macron's presidency and how he was 'disgusted' by the sight of him.

prompted by anger at France's "decline."

'I think that Macron represents very neatly the decay of our country,' he testified. 'If I had challenged Macron to a duel at sunrise, I doubt he would have responded.'

He admitted it was an 'impulsive reaction' prompted by anger at France's 'decline,' as he described the moment when Macron approached.

He said: 'When I saw his sympathetic and lying gaze which wanted to make a voter of me, I was filled with disgust.'

The grievous security breach has overshadowed the start of a Macron's 'Tour de France,' intended to gauge public opinion after a year of lockdowns, and drew condemnation from across the political spectrum.

Macron shrugged off the assault, calling it an 'isolated event', and he has vowed to continue meting voters despite concerns for his personal security.

Scroll down for video.

Damien Tarel, 28, will serve four months in jail, with the rest of the sentence suspended, after magistrates in the southern town of Valence heard he 'humiliated and belittled' Macron with the assault on Tuesday

Tarel, wearing a green t-shirt and white mask, is seen slapping Macron across the face as bodyguards leap in to intervene

French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped across the face by a man during a trip to southeast France on Tuesday, an aide said.

The president is hauled away to safety after being struck as his guards bundle the attacker to the ground

Macron looks at his attacker as bodyguards move in to tackle the assailant

When Tarel delievered the blow he cried out: 'Montjoie Saint Denis,' an old royalist war cry, 'A Bas La Macronie' ('Down with Macronia').

Asked about it today, Tarel, who is unemployed and lives with his mother, told the court: 'It refers to the rallying cry of the knights, it is a patriotic slogan.'

Alongside his four-month jail term, he was banned from ever holding public office in France and from owning weapons for five years.

Tarel said his political views lean to the right-wing and he is a patriot, but denied claims he was a Nazi.

The court heard Tarel had given Mein Kampf to a friend of his and was also pictured dressed up as Adolf Hitler. The accused claimed that the book was for educational purposes and that he dressed as Hitler as a joke.

'I gave that book to my friend who is passionate about WWII,' he told the court.

He added: 'You can find a photo of me disguised as a communist too ... Are you suggesting that I am a Nazi?'

The magistrate replied: 'No, I'm asking you questions.'

'It's just funny the picture of Hitler,' Tarel replied. 'It made my friends laugh, even my very left-wing friends.'

On Tuesday, Tarel travelled with friends from their home town of Saint-Vallier to the village of Tain-l'Hermitage, about 10 miles south along the Rhone, which Macron was visiting as part of his 'Tour de France.'

Tarel told the court that they had been planning a protest gesture before the president arrived.

'In the car, when we were waiting, we had planned to do something striking, to challenge him on political matters, to take a Yellow Vest or a French flag, but we changed our minds,' he told magistrates today.

'A few days before, we had considered launching an egg or a custard pie,' he added.

Tarel said he was motivated to slap the president by a feeling of injustice. 'I think a lot of people feel this injustice. I felt invested,' he told the court.

The prosecutor called it a 'completely unacceptable' act in his summing up to the magistrates at the close of the one-day trial.

'This gesture is not only a desire to strike, but it is humiliation. He treats his victim like a child to whom one would like to slap him. He belittles him,' the prosecutor said.

Tarel is unemployed and told the court he lives on around 500 euros state benefits per month with his disabled girlfriend, occupying his time with the local martial arts club he manages.

His Instagram account shows him donning armour and wielding swords, posing on hay bales in robes and a velvet beret, and wearing a helmet used in the Japanese martial art of Kendo.

A source told Le Parisien he lives 'in a kind of parallel world made of role-playing games, simulations of medieval fights.'

Tarel in a suit of plate armour carries a shield at a re-enactment

Tarel hugging a tree in a post from Instagram. A source told Le Parisien he lives 'in a kind of parallel world made of role-playing games, simulations of medieval fights.'

Detectives are now working on the basis he subscribes to a sort of 'ideological mush,' Le Parisien newspaper reported

At around 1.15pm on Tuesday, Tarel was seen standing at barriers outside the Tain-l'Hermitage culinary school which Macron had been visiting.

Macron came over to greet him and he appeared to be stopping the president for a chat, taking hold of his arm before lashing out with a slap and shouting his royalist war cry.

Bodyguards quickly seized upon the assailant and bundled him to the ground before dragging him away, as Macron was pulled to safety by a member of the security detail.

A few seconds later, Macron returned to the barriers to get a word in, although it was unclear what he was saying.

Macron said he had not feared for his safety, and continued shaking hands with members of the public after he was struck.

In an interview with the Dauphine Libere newspaper afterwards, Macron said: 'You cannot have violence, or hate, either in speech or actions. Otherwise, it's democracy itself that is threatened.'

Asked about the slap again during an interview on Thursday with BFM, he called it a 'stupid, violent act' and suggested it was a consequence of the poisonous atmosphere found on social media.

'You get used to the hatred on social media that becomes normalised,' he said.

'And then when you're face-to-face with someone, you think it's the same thing. That's unacceptable.'

Two people were arrested following the incident in the village of Tain-l'Hermitage in the Drome region where Macron had been meeting restaurateurs and students to talk about how life is returning to normal after the Covid restrictions were eased

Sources claimed Tarel and his friends were 'marginal' members of their local community, 'without jobs.'

Tarel follows both right-wing and and left-wing YouTube channels, among others which are focused on Japanese Manga comic books and historical combat.

One of the channels he follows is called Media for All and is hosted by Vincent Lapierre, who rose to prominence with his coverage of the Yellow Vest protests in 2018 - which he openly supported.

Another YouTuber followed by Tarel is Papicito, a 35-year-old fan of comics who has trenchant positions against immigration and released a controversial video earlier this year of him shooting a 'liberal' before repeatedly stabbing him. It has since been removed by YouTube.
Boris Johnson and Joe Biden today agreed a new grandiose 'Atlantic Charter' setting out their joint vision for the world's recovery from the coronavirus crisis and future prosperity.

The original charter was hammered out by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 and acted as a guiding blueprint for life after the Second World War.

Mr Johnson said that Churchill and Roosevelt had faced the question of how to rebuild after a 'devastating' global conflict.

He said he and Mr Biden in 2021 now face the 'very different but no less intimidating challenge' of bouncing back from the pandemic as the pair look to copy from two political figures who dominated large parts of the 20th Century.

The Prime Minister said the new charter will 'form the foundation of a sustainable global recovery' as he and the US President promised the world a 'better future'.

The new accord contains many of the same themes as the original which was devised on board the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and US heavy cruiser USS Augusta off the coast of Newfoundland as Churchill and Roosevelt met face-to-face for the first time since the outbreak of the war.

The two nations have once again committed to improving security, boosting trade and defending democracy.

But the use of the phrase 'Atlantic Charter' has raised eyebrows among some historians who said the new agreement will 'pale by comparison' to the original and it is 'likely to remain a mere historical footnote'.

Below is a breakdown of how the two agreements compare.



Boris Johnson and Joe Biden today agreed a new grandiose 'Atlantic Charter' setting out their joint vision for the world's recovery from the coronavirus crisis and future prosperity

The Prime Minister said the new charter will 'form the foundation of a sustainable global recovery' as he and the US President promised the world a 'better future'

The original 'Atlantic Charter' was hammered out by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 and acted as a blueprint for life after the Second World War

What was the original 'Atlantic Charter' and why was it important? The Atlantic Charter took the form of a statement issued on August 14, 1941. It was the result of face-to-face talks between US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and set out their post-Second World War goals. The statement was devised on board the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and US heavy cruiser USS Augusta off the coast of Newfoundland as Churchill and Roosevelt met in person for the first time since they both took office and since the start of the conflict. The 'charter' set out eight points and joint principles on a range of issues like security, trade and peace. The two leaders said they 'deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future of the world'. The original charter is viewed as historically significant because it solidified the US-UK relationship as allies. It also laid the groundwork for the creation of the United Nations and the NATO military alliance. Advertisement

Rebuild and recover

Winning the Second World War and putting the planet on a path to peace were the main goals of Churchill and Roosevelt when they agreed their charter in 1941.

The original charter stated the US and the UK would seek no territorial gains from the conflict and they wanted to see 'no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned'.

Their focus was on getting the world back on its feet after it was ravaged by war.

The major focus of Mr Johnson and Mr Biden's new charter is defeating the coronavirus crisis and preventing further global health crises.

To achieve these goals, the two men agreed to 'scale up joint work on genomic sequencing and variant assessments' and to work together on a new global surveillance system.

This will see the UK Health Security Agencys new Centre for Pandemic Preparedness establishing a working relationship with its US counterpart, the proposed National Center for Epidemic Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics.

The new charter states: 'We recognise the catastrophic impact of health crises, and the global good in strengthening our collective defences against health threats.

'We commit to continuing to collaborate to strengthen health systems and advance our health protections, and to assist others to do the same.

Mr Johnson said: 'While Churchill and Roosevelt faced the question of how to help the world recover following a devastating war, today we have to reckon with a very different but no less intimidating challenge - how to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic.'

Global travel

In the original 'Atlantic Charter' Churchill and Roosevelt said they hoped to 'establish a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries' and to allow people to live their lives 'in freedom from fear and want'.

Crucially the charter also said that 'such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance'.

The new charter revisits a similar theme, with the UK and the US agreeing to work to resume travel between the two countries 'as soon as possible'.

Travel links between the UK and the US have faced massive disruption during the coronavirus crisis and the two leaders want to agree a fix to allow more flights to resume in the near future.

A new travel taskforce will be established to make recommendations on how to safely reopen routes while the two countries will 'closely share thinking and expertise' on how best to resume international travel.

The new charter states that the UK and the US will 'defend key principles such as freedom of navigation and overflight and other internationally lawful uses of the seas'.

Resuming travel links between the UK and the US is one of the main goals set out in the new charter. An arrivals board is shown at Heathrow Airport on July 29

Trade

The original charter committed the US and the UK to ensure all countries could enjoy access to trade and the world's raw materials 'on equal terms' in order to boost economic prosperity.

Churchill and Roosevelt wanted to 'bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field' with the goal of improving labour standards, economic advancement and better social security.

Trade is a significant theme in the new charter, with the US and the UK looking to boost job links.

The UK Government pointed out that last month US companies including Kraft Heinz announced new investments in Britain worth more than 10billion.

Mr Johnson and Mr Biden are seeking 'ways of further enhancing our economic relationship' which will include a new bilateral technology agreement to be signed next year.

The aim of the deal will be to improve 'strategic cooperation by reducing barriers' to make it easier for US and UK firms to work together in areas like artificial intelligence and quantum technology.

The new charter commits the two sides to promoting 'economic advancement and the dignity of work' and to 'enable open and fair trade between nations'.

On the issue of technology, the charter states the two sides will 'resolve to harness and protect our innovative edge' in order to 'support our shared security and deliver jobs at home' and to 'open new markets'.

The statement also includes a commitment to building 'an inclusive, fair, climate-friendly, sustainable, rules-based global economy for the 21st century'.

Shared values and defending democracy

The original charter saw Churchill and Roosevelt agree there were 'certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future of the world'.

Those principles included respecting the right of all people to 'choose the form of government under which they will live' as well as the pursuit of peace.

The new charter recognises that while the world is now very different to how it was in 1941, the 'values the UK and US share remain the same'.

The new charter states that 'we resolve to defend the principles, values, and institutions of democracy and open societies, which drive our own national strength and our alliances'.

It continues: 'We must ensure that democracies  starting with our own  can deliver on solving the critical challenges of our time.

'We will champion transparency, uphold the rule of law, and support civil society and independent media. We will also confront injustice and inequality and defend the inherent dignity and human rights of all individuals.'

Mr Johnson said that 'cooperation between the UK and US, the closest of partners and the greatest of allies, will be crucial for the future of the world's stability and prosperity'.

He added: 'Eighty years ago the US President and British Prime Minister stood together promising a better future. Today we do the same.'

The new charter will reaffirm the importance of collective security and defence links between the US and the UK. The aircraft carrier Prince of Wales is pictured leaving Portsmouth on June 6

Security

Putting the world on a stable footing when it came to security was one of the main objectives of the original charter.

The post-war goals set out in the statement led directly to the creation of the United Nations and NATO.

The new charter reaffirms the importance of collective security and also highlights the need to combat emerging threats like cyber attacks.

Mr Johnson and Mr Biden want to further deepen UK-US security and defence links.

The two nations said they already have the 'closest, deepest and most important bilateral security relationship in the world and in future we will more together in new domains like space and cyberspace'.

The new charter states that the US and UK 'intend to strengthen the institutions, laws, and norms that sustain international co-operation to adapt them to meet the new challenges of the 21st century, and guard against those that would undermine them'.

It insists the two countries will 'work through the rules-based international order to tackle global challenges together' and 'embrace the promise and manage the peril of emerging technologies'.

The two nations 'remain united behind the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the peaceful resolution of disputes'.

The charter commits both nations to keeping their nuclear weapons and states that 'as long as there are nuclear weapons, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance'.

The theme of global security also includes tackling climate change, with Mr Johnson and Mr Biden agreeing that 'the world has reached a critical point where it must act urgently and ambitiously to tackle the climate crisis'.

The charter states that this issue will be prioritised along with the need to protect biodiversity and 'sustain nature'.
A grandmother has been fatally shot in the chest at close-range after answering the front door of her suburban home.

Stacey Klimovitch, 61, was shot through the screen door of her flat in the Newcastle suburb of Stockton, two hours north of Sydney, at about 8pm on Wednesday night.

The retired swimming teacher's 31-year-old daughter and her eight-week-old granddaughter were also at the home at the time of the shocking attack.

It's understood neither saw the shooting but heard the sound of the gunshot.

Stacey Klimovitch, 61, (pictured) was fatally shot once in the chest at her home in Queen Street in the Newcastle suburb of Stockton at about 8pm on Wednesday night

Emergency services were called to the suburban street just after 8pm, however the 61-year-old woman tragically died at the scene.

Police sectioned off Queen Street, where the pensioner lived, and the surrounding area as the killer fled the scene.

Her devastated best friend and neighbour said she had spoken to the 'brand new' grandmother just moments before the horrifying attack.

'I've never heard a gunshot but there was no mistake what it was', she told 9 News.

'That's when I heard the noise and the screaming. I tried to call her and couldn't get her on the phone.

'She was a brand new grandmother, and so happy to be a brand new grandmother.'

The woman said her best friend's daughter had been 'distraught' having to care for the household dog while attending to her injured mother.

'I'm going to miss her. Things like this shouldn't be allowed to happen', she said.

Emergency services were called to the suburban street just after 8pm, however the 61-year-old grandmother (pictured) sadly died at the scene

The 61-year-old is survived by three daughters and an autistic son, who requires full-time care.

Other local residents said more than a dozen police officers attended the scene with sniffer dogs, while a helicopter flew overhead.

The hunt for the grandmother's killer is underway, with specialist forensic police scouring the woman's property and the wider Hunter region for clues.

Detectives believe they know the identity of the person they are looking for, with the alleged shooter said to be a younger man known to the family.

Detective Superintendent Wayne Humphrey described the attack as 'horrendous'.

'An innocent person has answered the front door of a home and she's been shot in the chest and killed in the presence of a relative and a child', he said.

'It doesn't get any worse.'

Mr Humphrey said he was convinced the attack was targeted, but said the alleged shooter's motives were still unknown.

'We have a number of lines of enquiry', he said.

The hunt for the grandmother's killer is underway, with specialist forensic police scouring the woman's property and the wider Hunter region for clues

Ms Klimovitch was a well-known figure in the tight-knit community and was involved in the swimming scene.

'Stacey had such a soft heart and she just cared about everyone,' one friend told the Newcastle Herald.

'She probably taught every second kid in Stockton to swim. She was really proud of that. It's an absolute tragedy, she would not have hurt a fly.'

NSW Police have urged anyone who was in the surrounding area and may have CCTV or dashcam footage to contact police.
The EU has condemned a growing crackdown on democracy in Russia after groups founded by Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny were outlawed by Moscow on Wednesday night.

A statement by all 27 EU governments said the move, which will see Navalny's organisations labelled 'extremist', has no legal basis in Russia's constitution.

'Yesterday's ruling by a Moscow Court to label Mr Alexei Navalny's organisations as "extremist groups" marks the most serious effort to date by the Russian Government to suppress the independent political opposition', the statement said.

'It is an unfounded decision that confirms a negative pattern of a systematic crackdown on human rights and freedoms which are enshrined in the Russian constitution.'

A Russian court's decision to outlaw groups linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny (pictured at a court hearing in February) has no legal basis in Russia's constitution, the European Union said on Thursday

The statement added the decision would have 'far-reaching consequences for the Russian civil society, opposition, and critical voices.'

Like the United States, the EU has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to free Navalny and imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials.

The statement said the EU 'repeats its call for Mr Navalny's immediate and unconditional release as we consider his sentencing politically motivated and running counter to Russia's international human rights obligations.'

It went on to note 'Russian authorities are responsible for Mr Navalny's safety and health in the penal colony', warning the EU would 'hold them to account' for the Kremlin critic's welfare.

Navalny, jailed in March for parole violations related to an embezzlement case he says was trumped up, mounted a bold challenge to Putin via street protests and graft investigations which he had hoped would bring about a change of leadership.

Like the United States, the EU has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to free Navalny and imposed sanctions on senior Russian officials (pictured, EU commission President Ursula von der Leyen)

Wednesday's ruling, the latest chapter in a long-running crackdown on Putin's fiercest domestic opponent, delivers a blow to a vast political network that Navalny built to challenge the Russian leader's grip on power.

The Moscow City Court's ruling, effective immediately, prevents people associated with Navalny's Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his sprawling regional network from seeking public office.

Many of Navalny's allies had hoped to run for parliamentary seats in the September 19 election.

The ruling sends a tough message one week before President Vladimir Putin holds a summit meeting with US President Joe Biden in Geneva.

The extremism label also carries lengthy prison terms for activists who have worked with the organisations, anyone who donated to them, and even those who simply shared the groups' materials.
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Joe Biden called the Royal Air Force the 'RFA' while addressing US military personnel at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk during his first-ever speech as US President on British soil last night.

The gaffe came after the 78-year-old President declared that the Anglo-American alliance forged during World War Two was the 'strongest military and political alliance in the history of the world'.

Mr Biden told US troops: 'These partnerships have been hardened in the fire of war. Generations of Americans and service members fought them. Like the original Bloody Hundredth, and those RFA pilots.'

He had already been admonished by his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, who told him to 'pay attention' as the President stared at troops positioned behind the stage at the military base.

The US commander-in-chief, the oldest ever occupant of the White House, has been the subject of repeated questions about his mental faculties and fitness to be in charge of the world's largest nuclear arsenal.

He is known to make mistakes, have mix-ups or even digress during speeches or while answering questions.

And British pro-Brexit politicians today called him 'senile' in a feud over White House accusations that Boris Johnson has 'inflamed' tensions in Northern Ireland in a dispute with the EU over trade arrangements.

In March, the President was seen falling up the stairs three times while boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews before finally reaching the top of the plane and saluting. White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later claimed that he had been blown over by the wind.

Mr Biden has also referred to his vice-president Kamala Harris as 'President Harris', forgotten the name of his Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and confused his granddaughter with his late son, Beau.

Joe Biden called the Royal Air Force the 'RFA' while addressing US military personnel based in Britain at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk during his first-ever speech as US President on UK soil last night

The gaffe came after the 78-year-old President declared that the Anglo-American alliance forged during the Second World War was the 'strongest military and political alliance in the history of the world'

He had already been admonished by his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, who told him to 'pay attention' as the President stared at troops positioned behind the stage at the military base

The President and First Lady travelled to the Tregenna Castle Hotel, where they stayed last night, in an armoured SUV with a union flag and stars and stripes flying from the hood. The traditional 'beast' armoured' limousine was not used

Mr Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are staying at the Tregenna Castle Hotel in St Ives during the G7 Summit in Cornwall

Cornwall is the site of the G7 Summit, where the leaders of Britain, the US, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada will discuss the pandemic, climate change and the threats posed to world order by China and Russia

Joe Biden's G7 schedule includes a meeting with the Queen after summit President Joe Biden's first foreign trip as the US leader will feature a meeting with the Queen following the G7 summit. Here's his full schedule to June 16: Wednesday, June 9 Biden and his wife, Jill, leave Washington on Wednesday morning. Their first stop in the UK will be at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to greet US Air Force personnel stationed there. Mildenhall is home to the 100th Air Refueling Wing, the only permanent US Air Force air refueling wing in the European theater. Thursday, June 10 Biden will meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson at St Michael's Mount, a 17th-century castle on an island just off the coast of Cornwall. Jill Biden will have tea separately with the Prime Minister's wife Carrie Johnson. The Bidens are staying at Tregenna Castle Hotel n St Ives with the rest of the G7 leaders. Friday, June 11 Biden will attend the G7 summit for three days starting on Friday, to work on US policy priorities such as the economy and allied unity. Saturday, June 12 Biden will attend more G7 summit meetings in Cornwall and have bilateral meetings with fellow G7 leaders. Jill Biden will meet members of Bude Surf Veterans, which helps UK military veterans through surfing. Sunday, June 13 Biden will finish his meetings at the G7 summit. Afterward, the Bidens will meet Britain's Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. Then Biden will travel to Brussels for the night. Monday, June 14 Biden will meet NATO leaders and have a private meeting with the president of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan. Tuesday, June 15 Biden will hold more NATO meetings and then fly to Geneva for the night. Wednesday, June 16 Biden will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden became president. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday it was unclear whether the two leaders would hold a joint news conference after their talks. Advertisement

But the latest blunder could raise concerns about the mental agility of Mr Biden, who is using the G7 Summit in Cornwall to tackle issues including the pandemic, climate change and the threats to international stability posed by China and Russia.

Senior Tories have even branded the Democrat 'senile' after he chose to rebuke Britain for 'inflaming tensions' over the Northern Ireland Brexit Protocol in London's 'sausage war' bust-up with the EU.

During his speech at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, Mr Biden had tough talk for Vladimir Putin when he said: 'I'm meeting with Mr Putin to let him know what I want him to know,' drawing cheers from the Air Force personnel.

He also told the crowd of American troops that 'global warming' is the biggest threat to the US, teared up as he paid tribute to his late veteran son Beau and boasted that 'America is back'.

At the start of his speech he told the standing troops to sit by saying 'at ease', then said: 'I keep forgetting I am president'.

The president has trashed talked Putin before, calling him a 'killer with no soul,' and has made it clear he intends to take Putin to task for Moscow's interference in US elections, its treatment of dissidents and the series of ransomware attacks carried out by Russian hackers.

At their arrival on Wednesday night, the Bidens received a warm welcome at the base, garnering several rounds of applause. They spoke outdoors as the sun set behind them. Both Bidens wore face masks but took them off to speak.

President Biden also mentioned his late son Beau, a major in the Delaware Army National Guard. He teared up as he thanked military personnel the Royal Air Force Mildenhall for their service.

'I wish my major was here to thank you as well,' he said referencing his late son, who died of brain cancer in 2015. 'You're the best of our country,' he added.

He also outlined the goals of his trip and the message he wanted to give to world: 'The United States is back and the democracies of the world are standing together to face the toughest challenges.'

It marked the start of his first foreign trip as president; eight days in Europe where he will meet Boris Johnson and his new wife Carrie, the rest of the G7 leaders, The Queen, NATO officials and, finally, Mr Putin on June 16 in Geneva.

When he meets Mr Johnson later today, he is set to set up a new 'Atlantic Charter' modelled on the post-Second World War pact made by FDR and Winston Churchill and will work to open up travel between the US and UK 'as soon as possible'.

However, there are signs that Mr Biden and Mr Johnson may not get along so easily, after Washington rebuked London for 'inflaming tensions' over the Northern Ireland Brexit Protocol - an astonishing broadside at an ally.

A memo seen by the Times states that the President had used his diplomats to 'strongly urge' Britain to 'stay cool' and reach an agreement with the EU, even if that meant making 'unpopular [political] compromises'.

Mr Biden even threatened to torpedo British chances of striking a new free trade deal with the US if Mr Johnson did not calm tensions - sparking fury among senior Brexiteers who branded the 78-year-old 'senile'.

The White House has since tried to put out the flames of a major transatlantic bust-up with Britain, with a senior administration official telling the BBC: 'This is wrong.

'First this discussion wasn't directed by the President. It was not heightened. As with any ally we have diplomatic conversations about areas where we have concern at many levels.

'Jake (Sullivan - US national security adviser) addressed the issue of Northern Ireland during his BBC interview and the message sent privately was exactly the same.'

Joe Biden and Boris Johnson's visit to St Michael's Mount cancelled due to fog Joe Biden and Boris Johnson's planned visit to St Michael's Mount today has been cancelled due to bad weather, MailOnline understands. The President and PM were due to have a bilateral at the 17th-century castle on an island off the coast of Cornwall when they meet for the first time today. However, the location has been changed due to bad weather including fog. It is thought the two leaders will instead meet at the four-star Carbis Bay Hotel. Mr Biden and Mr Johnson are tipped to affirm the so-called Special Relationship between the two countries and set up a new Atlantic Charter modelled on the Second World War pact made by Roosevelt and Churchill. They are also expected to work on opening up Anglo-US travel 'as soon as possible'. Advertisement

The official later added that the president would not get 'controversial or adversarial' when he speaks to the PM about Northern Ireland.

'He didn't come here to give a lecture,' they said.

'He believes that the Good Friday agreement is the foundation for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland ... the current discussions between the UK and EU should continue the vitality of Good Friday agreement.'

However, if it is confirmed that a demarche was sent, it will show the strength of feeling in the Biden administration over Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Protocol, agreed in October 2019, seeks to prevent a hard land border between the UK province and the Republic of Ireland. Under the terms of the deal, Northern Ireland is effectively in the Single Market and is also bound by the rules of the EU customs union. However, tensions between Britain and Brussels have flared over the flow of UK-produced chilled meats to Northern Ireland, dubbed the 'sausage war'.

The president staunchly opposed the Brexit movement, the British exodus from the European Union that Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern with the future of Northern Ireland. And Biden once called the British leader a 'physical and emotional clone' of Trump.

His rebuke to Mr Johnson is a marked departure from the US's hostility to the EU under his predecessor. Mr Trump spent his four-year term embroiled in rows with European nations over transatlantic trade and the level of contributions made by NATO member states to defence spending levels.

But Mr Biden's criticism of Mr Johnson and the UK should be seen through the context of the president's own personal and familial interest in Ireland.

Mr Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish roots, has warned that nothing should undermine Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday peace accord. Some on the British side have viewed Biden warily because of his heritage.

Mr Biden has previously spoken with pride about his Irish Catholic roots in his Pennsylvania birthplace, and he travelled to County Mayo in 2016 to visit distant relatives. He is seen as far more open to Irish re-unification than his predecessor. And he is unlikely to see eye-to-eye with loyalists like the DUP.

In 2015 he sparked fury, when, as a senator, he quipped to an Irish delegation that no one 'wearing orange' was welcome in his house on St Patrick's Day, a comment seen as a slur against Protestants in Ulster.

Queen will welcome Joe Biden with pomp and ceremony at Windsor: Grenadier Guards will give Royal Salute to US president and First Lady Jill Biden while Star-Spangled Banner is played this Sunday The Queen will host US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for tea at Windsor Castle this Sunday following the G7 summit, royal officials confirmed today. The 95-year-old monarch will welcome Mr Biden, who will be the 13th serving US president she has formally received, and his wife at the dais in the quadrangle. A Guard of Honour will be formed of the Queen's Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards, who will give a Royal Salute, and the US National Anthem will be played. Mr Biden will then accompany the Officer Commanding the Guard of Honour, Major James Taylor, and Major General Christopher Ghika, to inspect the Guard of Honour. The President will then return to the dais to watch the military march past alongside The Queen and his wife. The Bidens will then join the Queen for tea in the castle. Advertisement

Mr Biden was also photographed alongside former Sinn Fein president Mr Adams and with his arm around the party's then US representative, Rita O'Hare, in 2017. In 1972 she was arrested in Northern Ireland for the attempted murder of a British Army officer in Belfast the previous year.

Yesterday the First Lady thanked the troops their service in her brief remarks, and touted her Joining Forces initiative - a group she formed with then-first lady Michelle Obama to support families of American troops.

'I hope that you know how special you are. And we are so grateful for your and your family's service,' she said.

She and the US President left the White House on Wednesday and touched down at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk in Air Force One just after 7.30pm, kicking off the president's eight-day trip to Europe.

The UK stop will include this week's G7 summit as well as face-to-face meetings with the Queen and Mr Johnson.

Mr Biden's packed scheduled also includes meetings with NATO leaders and EU leaders in Brussels. His trip will be capped off with a sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva next week.

For his first event, Mr Biden will meet US military personnel stationed at the base before heading to Carbis Bay near St Ives, where the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada will gather for three days.

Mr Biden is scheduled to meet with Mr Johnson for face-to-face talks today - the first time the two men will have met in person - before the G7 Summit formally gets underway on Friday. However, their planned visit to St Michael's Mount off the coast of Cornwall has been cancelled due to bad weather.

When the summit ends on Sunday, the President and First Lady will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle.

Mr Biden will then depart for Brussels where he will attend a NATO summit and a joint US-EU summit before then heading to Switzerland for a bilateral showdown with Mr Putin.

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Mr Biden said that the trip is about 'realising America's renewed commitment to our allies and partners' as he attempts to build bridges with Britain and the EU after some leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel clashed with his predecessor.

Mr Trump engaged in a bitter trade row with the EU and slammed NATO members for failing to spend more on defense - sparking fears that he would pull the US out of the military alliance and embolden Russian activity in Ukraine and eastern Europe.

Mr Trump also formally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Agreement - both negotiated by Barack Obama. One of Mr Biden's first acts as President was to rejoin the climate accord and reopen nuclear talks with the Iranian government, as he sought to reverse the actions of the previous administration.

The White House has said that Mr Biden will meet with Mr Johnson to 'affirm the special relationship between our nations' - a term which the prime minister reportedly dislikes because it is 'too needy'.

Whitehall is understood to have viewed the President's decision to make the UK his first overseas destination as a major diplomatic victory for Mr Johnson.

Biden's Cornish West Wing: US president and G7 leaders hole up in 200-a-night castle hotel that has been turned into a fortress in staycation hotspot St Ives

World leaders attending the G7 summit in Cornwall this weekend will spend their downtime at a 200-a-night 18th century castle that has been turned into a fortress.

The Grade II-listed Tregenna Castle Resort was built in 1774 and will be home for the likes of US president Joe Biden between discussions at the summit.

And Mr Biden will feel right at home with the hotel's best rooms dubbed the West Wing Sea View rooms with stunning views over St Ives.

Set in 72 acres with commanding views of the St Ives coastline, the Treganna Castle was seen as the perfect place for world leaders to stay and relax after attending meetings of the G7 summit.

With its secluded grounds, manicured lawns and an 18-hole golf course  an ideal landing spot for US President Joe Biden's Marine One helicopter  it is by far the largest and grandest hotel in Cornwall.

With 98 rooms and 55 apartments it was large enough to cope with the President's entourage of advisors and Secret Service agents as well as other world leaders from France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie will also be in residence during the summit taking place a short distance away at the Carbis Bay Hotel.

And to ensure the privacy of the world leaders, a giant fence has been erected around Tregenna, with police on patrol with sniffer dogs and extra lighting installed.

Tregenna Castle Resort was built in 1774 and will be home for the likes of US president Joe Biden between discussions at the summit

The Tregenna Castle Resort in St. Ives, Cornwall. World leaders attending the G7 summit will be staying at the hotel resort

Pictured: Self-contained apartments at the hotel resort. Set in 72 acres with commanding views of the St Ives coastline, the Treganna Castle was seen as the perfect place for world leaders to stay and relax

The US President and his wife Jill are thought to be staying in one of the self-contained apartments (pictured) with spectacular views over St Ives Bay or one of the West Wing suites

With 98 rooms and 55 apartments the hotel is large enough to cope with the President's entourage of advisors and Secret Service agents as well as other world leaders from France, Germany, Italy and Japan

The hotel is less than a ten minute drive from the Carbis Bay Hotel in Cornwall where Mr Biden and Mr Johnson will be attempting to thrash out agreements on issues like climate change, international travel and Northern Ireland, alongside other world leaders.

Perched on top of a hill overlooking Carbis Bay on the Cornish coastline, politicians will be able to explore Tregenna's secluded grounds and natural woodlands - and perhaps even enjoy a friendly game on its 18-hole golf course.

They will also be able to take a dip in the hotel's indoor or outdoor swimming pools, a round of tennis on its two all-weather courts or even a workout in its well-stocked fitness suite.

The US President and his wife Jill are thought to be staying in one of the self-contained apartments with spectacular views over St Ives Bay or one of the West Wing suites.

Tregenna was built in 1774 as a 12-bedroom private home for a wealthy Cornishman with a love for the sea.

Samuel Stephens commissioned the build of the house from local granite. The house remained in the family until it was sold by their final heir, John Stephens, to a family of local bankers, the Bolithos, in 1871.

The hotel is named after the hill in St Ives which it was built upon with the renowned architect John Wood the Younger, best known for Bath's Royal Crescent, designing the home.

The Bolithos acquired the house at the same time that Isambard Kingdom Brunel was building the Great Western Railway from London to Penzance to serve the West of England.

Tregenna was built in 1774 as a 12-bedroom private home for a wealthy Cornishman with a love for the sea

Guests will be able to take a dip in the hotel's indoor or outdoor swimming pools, a round of tennis on its two all-weather courts or even a workout in its well-stocked fitness suite

The hotel is named after the hill in St Ives which it was built upon with the renowned architect John Wood the Younger, best known for Bath's Royal Crescent, designing the hom

Mr Biden will feel right at home with the hotel's best rooms dubbed the West Wing Sea View rooms with stunning views over St Ives

Great Western Railway bought the hotel in 1895 and it was so popular they later named two steam locomotives after the castle resort

At the time it was then fashionable for all the great railway companies to establish destination hotels by the sea.

Great Western Railway bought the hotel in 1895 and it was so popular they later named two steam locomotives after the castle resort.

Sir Daniel Gooch, the chairman of the GWR, stayed at the hotel a few weeks after it opened to the public and recorded in his diary: 'The situation of this house is very fine; it is a castle within its own grounds of about 70 acres (28 ha), a great part of which are gardens and woods with pretty shaded walks.'

The hotel underwent major development throughout the early 1900s.

The West Wing was completed in 1932 with one of the guests Hitler's Ambassador, Herr Von Ribbentrop.

It's said that he later sent a message back which stated that on no account was St Ives to be bombed as he wished to live in Tregenna when 'they' had won the war.

Under the current owners, the Treganna Hotel Estate, the luxury destination has hosted many famous guests, from the late Duke of Edinburgh, former Prime Minister John Major, actress Dame Judy Dench and singer David Bowie.

The West Wing was completed in 1932 with one of the guests Hitler's Ambassador, Herr Von Ribbentrop. It's said that he later sent a message back which stated that on no account was St Ives to be bombed as he wished to live in Tregenna when 'they' had won the war

Under the current owners, the Treganna Hotel Estate, the luxury destination has hosted many famous guests, from the late Duke of Edinburgh, former Prime Minister John Major, actress Dame Judy Dench and singer David Bowie

The cast of the hit TV series Poldark, including its star Aiden Turner, also stayed at the hotel while filming the BBC series

Away from the G7 summit the hotel is popular for weddings with two indoor and four outdoor venues

Extinction Rebellion protesters pictured on a bridge in Reruth near the site of the G7 summit in Cornwall this morning

A ring of steel surrounding the G7 summit has seen 11,000 police officers and 150 sniffer dogs gather to combat potential threats

To ensure the privacy of the world leaders, a giant fence has been erected around Tregenna, with police on patrol with sniffer dogs and extra lighting installed

The cast of the hit TV series Poldark, including its star Aiden Turner, also stayed at the hotel while filming the BBC series.

As well as the 18-hole President's golf course there are two swimming pools for leisure activities.

Away from the G7 summit the hotel is popular for weddings with two indoor and four outdoor venues.

A ring of steel surrounding the G7 summit has seen 11,000 police officers and 150 sniffer dogs gather to combat potential threats.

President Biden and his wife Jill flew into Newquay Airport shortly before midnight and were driven to their accommodation at Treganna in a convoy of cars flanked by police outriders.
The global bone grafts and substitutes market size is expected to reach USD 4.15 billion by 2026 according to a new study by Polaris Market Research. The report Bone Grafts and Substitutes Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report, By Material Type (Natural, Synthetic); By Application Type (Spinal Fusion, Craniomaxillofacial, Long Bone); By Region, Segment Forecasts, 2020  2026 gives a detailed insight into current market dynamics and provides analysis on future industry growth.

For decades, bone grafts have been utilized in regenerate the bone, restore the structure and relieve pain. Autographs were traditionally utilized for bone grafting, using the bone of patience itself as a graft. Added to this, autologous bone grafts have been regarded as bone transplant gold standard. However, the use of autologous bone grafts in both tissue harvesting and transplant locations includes the danger of transferring infection during surgical procedures. This can lead to delayed healing of wound and extended stays in hospital. In order to overcome the drawbacks associated with autologous grafts, allografts were introduced in the market.

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Increasing instances of orthopedic surgery and musculoskeletal illnesses (MSD) requiring the use of bone grafts and replacements will drive market growth. Approximately 3 million musculoskeletal interventions operate annually in the United States, for instance, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Moreover, bone grafts are also reported to be used worldwide in approximately 2.2 million orthopedic procedures. Increasing use of bone grafts combined with growing instances of illnesses requiring the use of these products will therefore increase the development of the market for bone grafts and replacements. Allografts have both osteo-inductive and osteo-conductive characteristics and therefore serve as autograph replacements. During the forecast period, ready availability of allografts in different shapes and sizes that can be processed in different forms like chips and others as required is likely to increase the allografts segment of the bone grafts and replacements market.

Bone grafts and substitutes have been used to treat flaws considerably. Osteogenesis, osteoinduction, osteoconduction, and structural support are the basic characteristics of bone graft. The fast advances seen in technology and product innovations fuel the development of the worldwide industry for bone grafts and replacements. In addition, the growing amount of musculoskeletal circumstances such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis is another key factor likely to further boost the worldwide bone grafts and replacements market over the timeframe forecast.

Increasing the amount of bone grafting processes, growing aging population with demand for high-quality musculoskeletal function in ancient age, and increasing penetration of specialty orthopedic clinics and health insurance are the main drivers of industry growth. The danger and complications of bone grafting processes and elevated bone graft therapy costs, however, restrict industry growth. Growing consumer awareness of appearance, increasing preference for natural / organic goods, increasing disposable income in emerging economies, the accessibility of technologically sophisticated are driving this industrys development. On the other side, it is probable that deceptive marketing methods will restrict market growth. It is anticipated that the increasing number of middle-aged people, a fast-paced life and a burgeoning urban population will further drive demand.

In the years ahead, North America is expected to lead the worldwide bone grafts industry. North America retained approximately 38 percent of worldwide bone grafts and replacement market share in 2019. In specific, the US is leading the worldwide industry by generating enormous demand for products due to a large incidence of trauma-related accidents and orthopedic illnesses. Rising osteoarthritis events have resulted to increased demand for bone grafts and replacements used for therapy and transplantation. This also drives the North American bone grafts & substitutes market. In the years ahead, Europe is expected to demonstrate fast development in bone grafts and replace the globally. Due to the increasing demand for innovative and technologically advanced therapies for chronic disease therapy and the existence of major players, Europe was the worlds second major industry in 2019.

Some of the main players on the industry are Orthofix Holdings, Inc.; DePuy Synthes; Medtronic PLC; Stryker Corp, Nuvasive, Inc.; and AlloSource, Inc. among other players.

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/bone-grafts-substitutes-market

Polaris Market research has segmented the bone grafts and substitutes industry report on the basis of material, application type, and region

Bone Grafts and Substitutes Material Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015  2026)

 Natural

 Synthetic

Bone Grafts and Substitutes Application Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015  2026)

 Spinal Fusion

 Craniomaxillofacial

 Long Bone

Bone Grafts and Substitutes Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015  2026)

 North America

 U.S.

 Canada

 Europe

 UK

 Germany

 France

 Italy

 Russia

 Asia Pacific

 India

 Japan

 China

 South Korea

 Latin America

 Brazil

 Mexico

 Colombia

 Middle East & Africa

 Saudi Arabia

 South Africa

 Israel

 UAE

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On the same day the Victorian government backflipped on its decision to ease face mask restrictions, state ministers were embarrassingly caught out breaking their own laws at Parliament house.

Face coverings will remain mandatory across the state in both indoor and outdoor settings - despite any evidence of outdoor Covid transmission during the current outbreak which has now climbed to 78 active cases.

Acting Premier James Merlino was set to scrap the rule with lockdown restrictions to be wound back at midnight, but after four mystery cases were recorded in Melbourne's north on Wednesday, he announced face masks must still be worn at all times.

Just hours later several Labor Party ministers were found unmasked in their parliamentary offices, causing outrage among long-suffering Victorians who labelled their leaders a 'do as I say not as I do government'.

Disability, Ageing and Carers Minister Luke Donnellan was forced to apologise after being spotted on video without a mask chatting to staff in an office.

Disability, Ageing and Carers Minister Luke Donnellan (pictured left and right) was forced to apologise after being spotted on video without a mask chatting to staff in an office

Face coverings will remain mandatory across the state in both indoor and outdoor settings

'The rules are there for a reason and I unreservedly apologise,' he said.

A parliamentary staffer told the Herald Sun they saw Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas at the table without a mask, and another senior politician unmasked in a Parliament House hallway.

Ms Thomas's office said she was not wearing a mask because food was being consumed at the time - in line with the state's rules.

'These are the very ministers that are telling Melburnians that they must wear masks inside and out,' the staffer said.

'They are a 'do as I say, not as I do' kind of government. It makes my blood boil to think these very people are the ones making these rules and they chose to flout them.

'It's a joke and if Victorians could see how these ministers acted behind closed doors, they'd be bloody furious.'

A parliamentary staffer said they saw Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas (pictured) at a table without a mask. She said she was eating food at the time and therefore not breaking rules

Since the Covid pandemic hit Australian shores, Victoria has suffered some of the world's harshest restrictions with four Stage Three lockdowns including the brutal 112-day stay-at-home order last year.

Mr Merlino at his Covid briefing today said on the issue of face masks: 'It's a little inconvenient but it's an easy thing to do.'

Liberal Party opposition Health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said there is one rule for the government and another for the rest of Victoria.

'The government is making the rules that we all have to live by, and berate us if we don't,' she said on Twitter.

'Yet the same decision makers arrogantly flout them. Such hypocrisy.'

But there has also been accusations about flouting mask restrictions on the other side of the political aisle as well with claims Liberal MP Matthew Guy had also breached the rules.

A spokesman for Mr Guy has rejected the claims calling them nonsense.

The four new locally-acquired cases are from the same household and investigations into acquisition source are underway

The Department of Health said the cases were from the same household and 'investigations into acquisition source are underway'
Joe Biden's first trip to the United Kingdom was off to a rainy, hazy start as bad British weather forced him to cancel a trip to historic St. Michael's Mount with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and ditch his Marine One helicopter for a motorcade.

Drizzles and fog surrounded the Cornwall region on Wednesday causing the White House and Downing Street to scrap plans for a scenic face-to-face meeting between the two leaders on St. Michael's Mount, a 17th-century castle on a tidal island just off the coast of Cornwall.

The meeting, instead, will take place on the mainland at Carbis Bay, where the G7 summit is taking place. Additionally, Jill Biden's previously scheduled tour of the historic castle with Carrie Johnson was cancelled.

At their sitdown, Biden and Johnson will pledge to open a US-UK travel corridor 'as soon as possible' and open up Transatlantic travel restrictions.

They will also establish a new 'Atlantic Charter,' modelled on the one put together by Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in World War II.

The 1941 Atlantic Charter was devised at sea on board the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the American ship USS Augusta. Downing Street had planned to send the modern namesake of HMS Prince of Wales along the coast of Cornwall to provided the backdrop for the two leaders' sit down.

Bad weather also forced Biden to take his motorcade through the small narrow streets of the British countryside on Tuesday night to get from the airport to Tregenna Castle Hotel in St Ives, where the Bidens are staying during the summit.

Videos shared on social media show the enormous 17-vehicle US motorcade hurtling through the coastal region in southern England.

After landing at New Quay airport, the Bidens scrapped plans for a quick helicopter flight to Tregenna Castle and, instead, had to drive more than an hour to the historic hotel, arriving at 1 am.

His enormous motorcade caused a stir as it drove through the British countryside.

Biden's huge detail includes dozens of Security Service agents, who can be seen riding several large vehicles, and USSS Electronic Countermeasures Suburban, the jamming truck which is used to counter hostile attacks such as IEDs, anti-tank guided missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.

The Bidens landed in RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk Wednesday evening, and addressed US Air Force personnel stationed in Britain before flying to Newquay Airport in Cornwall at the start of his first foreign trip as president.

Fog and bad weather forced President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to scrap plans to meet on the historic St. Michaels Mount, which was covered with mist on Thursday

President Joe Biden and First Lad Jill Biden arrive at Cornwall Airport Newquay on Air Force One and are greeted by Lord Lieutenant Colonel Edward Bolitho ahead of the G7 summit

Military personnel stand on the tarmac as the Bidens arrive on Air Force One at Cornwall Airport Newquay in the fog on Wednesday night

Biden meets British Prime Minister Boris Johnson face-to-face for first time on Thursday

The President and First Lady travelled to the four-star Carbis Bay Hotel, where they stayed last night, in this vehicle

This vehicle is USSS Electronic Countermeasures Suburban, which is used in a presidential motorcade to counter guided attacks, such as IEDs, rocket-propelled grenades, and anti-tank guided missiles

Several large vehicles contain dozens of Security Service agents who are there to protect the President and First Lady

There are concerns that the President and the Prime Minister will not get along easily, with Biden allies questioning whether Johnson is an 'ally' after he sought close ties with Donald Trump. Biden himself had accused the premier of being a 'physical and emotional clone' of his controversial predecessor.

Biden has also sparked fury among senior Brexiteers after he threatened to torpedo British chances of a sweeping new free trade deal with the US if Johnson did not refrain from 'inflaming tensions' over the Northern Ireland Protocol, an agreement made with the EU over the province's economic status.

Under the terms of the protocol, Northern Ireland has effectively remained in the EU Single Market and is bound by the rules of the customs union. However, tensions between Britain and Brussels have flared over the flow of UK-produced chilled meats to Northern Ireland, dubbed the 'sausage war'.

Swinging heavily on one side, the president used his diplomats to 'strongly urge' Britain to 'stay cool' and reach an agreement with the EU, even if that meant making 'unpopular compromises' - thought to be political ones.

He even seemed to threaten the possibility of a future trade deal, claiming that Britain accepting demands to stick to EU agricultural rules would mean the issue would not 'negatively affect the chances' of making a pact.

At his meeting with Johnson, the two men will view the original Atlantic Charter before they sign a 21st century version.

The new Atlantic Charter will focus on threats to modern democracies, an agenda item the White House as emphasized ahead of the trip as American worries grow about the growing world influence of Russia and China.

The areas the two leaders will pledge to work together include defending democracy, reaffirming the importance of collective security, and building a fair and sustainable global trading system.

It will also recognize the threats of cyber attacks and climate change.

Biden called climate change a great threat to the world.

'When I went over to the tank in the Pentagon when I was first was elected vice president with President Obama, the military sat us down and let us know what the greatest threats facing America were, the greatest physical threats,' he told Air Force personnel stationed at Royal Air Force Maidenhall on Wednesday night.

'This is not a joke. You know what the Joint Chiefs told us the greatest physical threat facing America was? Global warming,' he said.

Joe Biden's 17-vehicle motorcade charged through a sleepy Cornish town in the middle of the night, complete with a bulletproof limo, anti-IED jamming truck, an ambulance and dozens of heavily armed Security Service agents

Biden's huge security detail includes dozens of Security Service agents, who can be seen in several large vehicles

Police patrol by the harbour in St Ives, Cornwall on June 10, 2021, ahead of the G7 summit

Joe Biden's G7 schedule includes a meeting with the Queen after summit President Joe Biden's first foreign trip as the US leader will feature a meeting with the Queen following the G7 summit. Here's his full schedule to June 16: Wednesday, June 9 Biden and his wife, Jill, leave Washington on Wednesday morning. Their first stop in the UK will be at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to greet US Air Force personnel stationed there. Mildenhall is home to the 100th Air Refueling Wing, the only permanent US Air Force air refueling wing in the European theater. Thursday, June 10 Biden will meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson at St Michael's Mount, a 17th-century castle on an island just off the coast of Cornwall. Jill Biden will have tea separately with the Prime Minister's wife Carrie Johnson. The Bidens are staying at Tregenna Castle Hotel n St Ives with the rest of the G7 leaders. Friday, June 11 Biden will attend the G7 summit for three days starting on Friday, to work on US policy priorities such as the economy and allied unity. Saturday, June 12 Biden will attend more G7 summit meetings in Cornwall and have bilateral meetings with fellow G7 leaders. Jill Biden will meet members of Bude Surf Veterans, which helps UK military veterans through surfing. Sunday, June 13 Biden will finish his meetings at the G7 summit. Afterward, the Bidens will meet Britain's Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. Then Biden will travel to Brussels for the night. Monday, June 14 Biden will meet NATO leaders and have a private meeting with the president of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan. Tuesday, June 15 Biden will hold more NATO meetings and then fly to Geneva for the night. Wednesday, June 16 Biden will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden became president. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday it was unclear whether the two leaders would hold a joint news conference after their talks. Advertisement

The President and his wife Jill left Washington on Wednesday morning and landed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to address US Air Force personnel stationed in Britain. At the start of his speech he told the standing troops to sit by saying 'at ease', then said: 'I keep forgetting I am president'.

During his address, he said he would be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to 'let him know what I want him to know'; told the crowd that 'global warming' is the biggest threat to the US; teared up as he paid tribute to his late veteran son Beau; and boasted that 'America is back'.

At their arrival on Wednesday night, Joe and Jill Biden received a warm welcome at the base, garnering several rounds of applause. They spoke outdoors as the sun set behind them. Both Bidens wore face masks but took them off to speak.

President Biden also mentioned his late son Beau, a major in the Delaware Army National Guard. He teared up as he thanked military personnel the Royal Air Force Mildenhall for their service.

'I wish my major was here to thank you as well,' he said referencing his late son, who died of brain cancer in 2015. 'You're the best of our country,' he added.

He also outlined the goals of his trip and the message he wanted to give to world: 'The United States is back and the democracies of the world are standing together to face the toughest challenges.'

Biden said during his meetings with fellow leaders, he would focus on COVID, climate change, and on protecting themselves from 'the growing threat of ransomware attacks...[and] the autocrats who are letting it happen.'

After his G7 meeting, Biden will meet in Brussels with NATO and EU leaders, where the Russian and Chinese threats will top the agenda.

After his remarks, Biden left the stage to shake hands with service members. Before the president spoke, Jill Biden admonished him to focus when she addressed the troops.

'Joe pay attention,' the first lady told the president. She had just told the service members to sit down. President Biden, standing behind her, turned around to see the troops positioned behind the stage.

That was when the first lady asked chided him to watch her as she addressed Air Force personnel at Royal Air Force Mildenhall.

In her brief remarks, the first lady thanked the troops for their service and touted her Joining Forces initiative - a group she formed with then-first lady Michelle Obama to support families of American troops.

'I hope that you know how special you are. And we are so grateful for your and your family's service,' she said.

Afterward the meeting with Johnson, Biden will attend the G7 summit, where he will hold bilateral meetings with fellow G7 leaders. The G7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

On Sunday, he and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Windsor Castle to meet with The Queen.

Then Biden will travel to Brussels, Belgium, to participate in in a NATO meeting and an EU Summit.

There, the president will discuss transatlantic security and the collective defense of Europe.

He will also meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Biden also will participate in the U.S.EU Summit while in Brussels. That meeting with focus on global health and the world economy. Leaders will discuss climate change, trade, and democracy.

President Biden will also meet with His Majesty King Philippe of Belgium and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.

Then Biden travels to Geneva for his sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 16. He will also meet with Swiss President Guy Parmelin and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.
The British backpacker who was rescued from the jaws of a crocodile by her twin sister in Mexico is out of her coma and breathing independently.

Melissa Laurie, 28, has been in a medically induced coma for four days and has subsequently developed sepsis from her wounds.

Her sister Georgia rescued the zookeeper by punching the crocodile in the head as it tried to drag her underwater.

The pair, from Berkshire, were taking part in a wildlife tour on the Pacific west coast when they were attacked by the 10ft predator.

Georgia has now spoken for the first time since the attack and told her family that Melissa has come out of her coma and her condition is improving.

She said: 'Melissa recognised me and she smiled at me. She's doing really much better. She's doing really good.'

Melissa Laurie (left) has come out of her medically induced coma after she was rescued from the jaws of a crocodile by sister Georgia (right)

This is the rogue tour guide who led British twin sisters Melissa and Georgia Laurie into the jaws of a ten-foot crocodile, leaving one fighting for her life in hospital

Georgia added, in a WhatsApp voice message to her family: 'She's been breathing on her own very well.

'She can't talk because of the soreness of the tube but she can hear.'

Their mother Sue said: 'Melissa is off the intubation. She has been brought out the medically induced coma and is breathing for herself. She recognised Georgia. That is really, really good news.

'We were worried that because we did not know how long she had been under water without oxygen. '

It comes as it was revealed a rogue guide led the British sisters into the crocodile infested waters on an unlicensed tour.

The German backpacker, known locally as 'Richie', arranged the swimming tour to the Manialtepec Lagoon, 10 miles from Puerto Escondido, where the predator pulled Melissa under water.

Georgia (right) has now spoken for the first time since the attack and told her family that Melissa has come out of her coma and her condition is improving

The twins, from Berkshire, were swimming during the day in a lagoon in Mexico - around 10 miles from Puerto Escondido

The sisters were among a group of 25 foreign tourists taken by the unlicensed and inexperienced guide to a part of the lagoon where crocodiles breed and raise their young on Sunday evening.

Richie, who is a backpacker organising unlicensed tours to fund his travelling, agreed to take the twins after meeting them at a hostel in Puerto Escondido, a popular surfing resort.

However due to his ignorance of the lagoon, he took the women into a crocodile nesting area where the reptiles are fiercely protective of their eggs.

He took the sisters on a bioluminescent tour where tourists marvel at the glowing blue plankton-rich waters at twilight are held on the other side of the ten-mile long lagoon.

The German backpacker, known locally as 'Richie', organised the swimming tour to the Manialtepec Lagoon

Melissa (left) was attacked by a crocodile which dragged her beneath the water before Georgia (right) repeatedly punched the beast in a bid to save her sister

Melissa was half-drowned and suffered horrific injuries to her arms, legs, face, some of which have become septic. Doctors put her in a medically induced coma to help her recover.

Georgia also suffered extensive bite wounds to her arms and hands. One crocodile bite went through the palm of her hand.

Rogue guide Richie visited the sisters in hospital on Sunday and fled after he saw the extent of their injuries.

The German declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline today [Thursday].

Local wildlife experts believe the sisters may have been attacked by a female crocodile protecting her eggs.

Civil Protection officer Guillermo Silva told Mexico's ecosdelpacifico.com environmental news website: 'We were alerted to a report of a crocodile attack on some people.

'We went to the place where it took place to verify the facts.

'We found the area where people entered the lagoon and swam upstream for about 200 metres.

'We could see footprints in the grass where the attack took place.'

'This is not a tourist area, it is an area that where female crocodiles nest this time of year.

'It is the rainy season and it makes it easier for crocodiles to nest.

'It is possible that the attack took place because a nesting crocodile was defending her eggs.'

Licensed tour operator Arturo Venegas confirmed that the area where the sisters went swimming was a well-known crocodile habitat (file image)

His colleague, Jose Antonio Ramirez, added: 'We know that there a lot crocodiles in this particular area of the lagoon.'

Licensed tour operator Arturo Venegas confirmed that the area where the sisters went swimming was a well-known crocodile habitat.

He said: 'We know that this part of the lagoon is frequented by many of these animals.

'We hear that the sisters went into the water through the weeds and it was there that one of the girls was attacked by the crocodile.'
A tax expert who lost her job after claiming people cannot change their biological sex has won her appeal against an employment tribunal.

Maya Forstater's contract was not renewed in March 2019 after she posted tweets opposing government proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow people to identify as the opposite sex.

The Central London Employment Tribunal had originally upheld the dismissal following the posts.

But this morning a High Court judge said the original tribunal had 'erred in law', but added: 'This judgment does not mean that those with gender-critical beliefs can 'misgender' trans persons with impunity.'

Finding in favour of Ms Forstater, Mr Justice Choudhury said her views 'may well be profoundly offensive and even distressing', but said they 'must be tolerated in a pluralist society'.

Ms Forstater, 47, who worked as a tax expert at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), an international think tank that campaigns against poverty and inequality, took her case to an employment tribunal on the grounds that her dismissal constituted discrimination against her beliefs.

Reacting to the landmark judgement this evening, Ms Forstater said she was 'incredibly proud' and insisted the ruling will protect women's rights in the workplace.

Amanda Glassman, Chief Executive Officer of CGDE and Executive Vice President of CGD, said: 'The decision is disappointing and surprising because we believe Judge Tayler got it right when he found this type of offensive speech causes harm to trans people, and therefore could not be protected under the Equality Act.

'Today's decision is a step backwards for inclusivity and equality for all. We're currently considering the various paths forward with our lawyers.'

The employment tribunal had upheld the dismissal after judge James Tayler described her beliefs as 'not worthy of respect in a democratic society'.

Her case gained national attention after Harry Potter author JK Rowling voiced her support, and said she disagreed with the tribunal's decision to throw out her discrimination claim.

Maya Forstater who lost her job after claiming people cannot change their biological sex

Ms Forstater, 47, who worked as a tax expert at the Centre for Global Development

Ms Forstater, who worked at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), posted a series of tweets in 2018 opposing UK Government proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow people to identify as the opposite sex.

She wrote: 'What I am so surprised at is that smart people who I admire ... are tying themselves in knots to avoid saying the truth that men cannot change into women'.

Ms Forstater said that 'when men wear make-up, heels, dresses they don't become women' and took swipes at the idea of allowing transgender people into single sex spaces such as changing rooms and prisons.

After her contract was not renewed she took her case to an employment tribunal on the grounds that her dismissal constituted discrimination against her beliefs - which should claimed she be protected under the 2010 Equality Act.

But employment judge James Tayler previously dismissed her claim saying her views are 'absolutist in her view of sex'.

Today, a High Court judge said the original ruling had 'erred in law' and ordered a fresh tribunal.

Reacting to her victory on Unherd, Ms Forstater explained: 'The thing that we pleaded was that my belief is that sex is real, biological, immutable, and that sex matters.

'Its not just that its a scientific fact, but also, that its a social and political and economic, salient, important thing So its not that everyone can have their own rules, but everyone can have their own beliefs.

'It [the judgement] is particularly important for womens rights because its women who are harmed the most when organisations pretend that sex doesnt exist.'

The former tax expert had particularly strong words for the LGBQT charity Stonewall.

'They [Stonewall] do the thought policing within the organisation. Thats now very strongly embedded.

'I hear from lots of people inside organisations that have these policies, they talked about the Stonewall stasi in their organisation.'

Maya Forstater lost her job after making the comments on Twitter back in September 2018

Harry Potter author JK Rowling voiced her support and disagreed with the tribunal's decision

Mother-of-two law student, 29, is cleared of misconduct by university after saying 'women have vaginas' during seminar on transgender issues A mother-of-two law student who was investigated by university chiefs after saying 'women have vaginas' has today been cleared of misconduct. Mature student Lisa Keogh, 29, was hauled before a disciplinary panel at the University of Abertay in Dundee after her comments made during a seminar on transgender issues were reported to tutors by her classmates. But after a two month probe, which took place while she underwent her final year exams, the university's disciplinary board has decided not to uphold the misconduct charge against her. Today Ms Keogh hit out at the university for subjecting her to what she described as a 'cruel modern day witch hunt' due to her 'gender critical views'. The university deny Ms Keogh was put through the disciplinary procedure because of her 'personal opinions'. In a comment, sent to MailOnline, a 'victorious' Ms Keogh said: 'As overjoyed as I am about this decision, I am saddened that I went through this at such a critical time in my university career. 'The very end of my period at Abertay is now tarnished with these bad memories. 'I know the university has a duty to investigate all complaints, but to draw this process out for two months while I was taking my final exams was needlessly cruel. 'I always knew the complaints made against me were groundless and now the Student Disciplinary Board has confirmed that. 'I was targeted because of my gender critical views  it was a modern day witch hunt.' The row erupted after Ms Keogh made comments during a discussion on transgender issues in an online seminar. She said during the seminar that women were born with female genitals and the difference in physical strength between men and women 'was a fact'. Ms Keogh was reported to academic chiefs by classmates who launched a formal probe for alleged 'offensive' and 'discriminatory' comments. Advertisement

Ben Cooper QC, representing Ms Forstater at the virtual employment appeal tribunal today, said her views are 'based on... fundamental scientific facts'.

Mr Cooper said she claims: 'Ignoring them or pretending they are not true is detrimental to an honest, just and fair society, particularly upholding the rights of women.

'These beliefs do not involve any moral judgment and... do not deny the rights or status of trans people or their protection from discrimination.

'I'm concerned that children and young people are being encouraged to make these decisions at an early age and are being led to believe it is possible to change sex or simply to be a member of the opposite sex.'

Mr Cooper added: 'This is not a competition about who is treated worse or who is more offended by the other's beliefs.

'We say, applying the correct test, there can be no doubt that the claimant's beliefs do meet the relevant threshold to be worthy of respect in a democratic society.

'She accepts that [trans people] should be protected from discrimination.'

Mr Cooper said Ms Forstater 'will use a person's preferred pronouns' in most social situations but 'where it is relevant, she believes it is important to be able to refer to someone's biological sex'.

The lawyer continued: 'The claimant's belief is that being transgender is a different category of thing from sex.

'It is inherent in that belief that statements such as 'woman means adult human female' or 'trans women are male' are, for her, statements of neutral fact.'

In written submissions, Miss Forstater's team said: 'The label 'Orwellian' is sometimes applied too glibly, but here it is warranted.

'Where the result is that important and widely-held beliefs about a matter of on-going cultural and political debate are deemed to be unsayable, something has plainly gone very wrong.'

Judge Tayler ruled against Ms Forstater in a 26-page judgment in 2019, in which he said her views did 'not have the protected characteristic of philosophical belief'.

He concluded Ms Forstater was not entitled to ignore the legal rights of a transgender person and the 'enormous pain that can be caused by misgendering a person'.

Following the ruling back in 2019, JK Rowling faced a huge backlash after tweeting her support for Miss Forstater.

The best-selling author wrote: 'Live your best life in peace and security.. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real #IStandWithMaya.'

The dispute was seen as a test case on whether a 'gender critical' view, a belief that there are only two biological sexes, is a protected 'philosophical belief' under the 2010 Equality Act.

Ms Forstater had argued 'framing the question of transgender inclusion as an argument that male people should be allowed into women's spaces discounts women's rights to privacy and is fundamentally illiberal (it is like forcing Jewish people to eat pork)'.

In a statement released ahead of the appeal tribunal's judgment, Amanda Glassman, the chief executive officer of CGD Europe and executive vice president of CGD, had said: 'Our view is that Judge Tayler was correct when he ruled that the claimant's beliefs denied trans persons their legal rights while also causing them personal pain.

'We are hopeful that the Employment Appeal Tribunal will uphold the original ruling and look forward to moving on to the next case.'
An antivaccine Ohio nurse tried to prove that Covid vaccinations make people magnetic by sticking a key to her body - only for it to embarrassingly fall off - before the Ohio House health committee.

After the key didn't work, she then picked up a bobby pin to try the same stunt, which also failed to demonstrate her magnetism.

Joanna Overholt testified before the committee on Wednesday about the perceived dangers of the inoculations.

Dr Sherri Tenpenny, an osteopathic physician, had earlier given testimony about 'magnetic vaccine crystals' and Ms Overholt tried to prove her theory using a key and a bobby pin.

She sticks a key to her chest and proudly says: 'Explain to me why the key sticks to me.'

Ms Overholt then tries to stick it on her neck but it keeps falling down as soon as she removes her hand.

After struggling to stick the key to her neck, she says: 'Yeah, so if someone could explain this that would be great. Any questions?'

An antivaccine Ohio nurse tried to prove that Covid vaccinations make people magnetic by sticking a key to her body, only for it to fall off.

Joanna Overholt testified before the Ohio House health committee on Wednesday about the perceived dangers of the inoculations

It is not clear why the antivaxx Ms Overholt tested her wild claims on her own body, particularly using a key likely made of brass, which is not magnetic.

Dr Tenpenny had earlier made the bizarre magnetic claims after watching viral internet videos purporting to show vaccinated people sticking keys, forks and spoons to their body.

'They put a key on their forehead and it sticks, they could put spoons and forks all over them and they could stick because now we think that there's a metal piece to that,' the doctor said on the House floor.

It is not clear why the antivaxx Ms Overholt tested her wild claims on her own body, particularly using a key likely made of brass, which is not magnetic

During testimony at a Ohio State Health Committee meeting Tuesday, Sherri Tenpenny claimed that the Covid-19 vaccine magnetizes people

She continued by tying her claims into another theory about the vaccines containing microchips that use 5G technology.

'There's been people who have long suspected that there was some sort of an interface, yet to be defined, an interface between what's being injected in these shots and all of the 5G towers,' she said.

Tenpenny was speaking in favor of Ohio State House Bill 248, dubbed the Vaccine Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act, which would ban mandatory vaccinations in Ohio and prohibit schools and businesses from requiring that attendees are vaccinated.

Sherri Tenpenny based her theory on viral internet videos purporting to show vaccinated people sticking keys, forks and spoons to their body. In this clip, a woman, claiming to be vaccinated is seen sticking a quarter to her arm. She claims, rather than simple glue, it is because she is 'magnetized'

One of the videos that Tenpenny mentioned was flagged as 'false' on Facebook

Twitter users were quick to poke fun at her statements as StarDustArt1 wrote, 'WOW! No words... Odd though, I can't get my keys or a fork to stick to me anywhere and I've been fully vaccinated. Wonder when this will start?'

Another Twitter user, DeeDee SMITH, wrote 'That could be convenient. Never lose your keys again, just stick them to your forehead. Thanks, Bill Gates!!'

And Twitter user Tommy wrote, 'So what's she saying is ppl are turning into Magneto,' referencing the magnetized X-Men comic book character.

The anti-vaxx claims about the COVID-19 have been thoroughly debunked since they first emerged last year.

Professor Michael Coey from the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin called the claims 'complete nonsense' and said that someone would need a gram of iron metal to attract and support a permanent magnet at the injection site, 'something you would 'easily feel' if it was there.'

Sherri Tenpenny, a an osteopathic physician from Cleveland, Ohio, has long been an outspoken anti-vaxxer

Tenpenny has long touted a number of other assertions about vaccinations, including claims that they cause autism, in her own talk show The Tenpenny Files Podcast. She has also been a guests on a number of outlets, most notably the Dr. Oz Show and the Today Show Australia.

The site's home page describes Tenpenny as being 'Widely regarded as the most knowledgeable and outspoken physician on the adverse impact that vaccines can have on health.'

Tenpenny works at the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, which she founded in 1996 and treats patients with a combination of conventional and holistic therapies.

She also offers a $595, eight-week course in anti-vaccine talking points despite a federal judge having found her 'unqualified' to weigh in as an expert witness on a vaccine-related lawsuit.
A woman was struck and killed by a police car responding to a 999 call as she walked back from a late-night trip to a newsagents, witnesses say.

The female pedestrian, 25, was struck by the marked police vehicle as she walked along Stockwell Road, Stockwell, south London on Wednesday night.

Witnesses say the woman was 'sent flying 20 yards along the road' during the incident, which took place around 11.20pm.

Paramedics and an air ambulance crew rushed to the incident, but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene, police say.

The incident has since been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which has launched an investigation.

Today, witnesses described how seeing blue flashing lights before hearing an 'enormous bang' and later seeing police performing CPR on the woman.

One witness said they had heard that the woman was walking to a local newsagent to buy some food when she was struck by the police vehicle.

Edward Atkin, a 26-year-old physicist, who was nearby when the incident took place said: 'I was just walking back from Stockwell station and saw blue flashing lights and a car going down here very quickly.

The female pedestrian, 25, was struck by the marked police vehicle as she walked along Stockwell Road, Stockwell, south London late last night. Pictured: Police at the scene today

Paramedics and an air ambulance crew rushed to the incident, but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene, police say. Pictured: The scene of the incident where a woman was hit by a police car last night

'When I got back here the police car was literally there and I saw its window was completely smashed - it was completely broken from the collision. I saw them do CPR.

He added: 'I spoke to a guy and he said he came down because he heard an enormous bang.

'By the time I was here the car that had hit her, they were trying to resuscitate her, and a couple of other police cars showed up.

'By the end there were five to 10 police cars, one was undercover.'

He added: 'It's just pretty shell-shocking. You see police cars in London all the time but it takes quite a lot of time to process something like this.'

One woman who passed by the scene today paid tribute to the woman who had died.

She said: 'I didn't know the woman, but I heard what happened from my neighbour.

'It's just an utter tragedy. For a young woman to lose her life in such a senseless and pointless way is tragic.

'I said a prayer for her and her family and loved ones. I also prayed for us all to cherish what we have as it can be taken so

Two bouquets of flowers have been tied to a pole near to the incident. The message on the flowers reads: 'Angels 23:23. RIP young Lady xxx

Another said: 'I know you were so loved - Fred xxx.'

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: 'Officers were called at approximately 11.20pm on Wednesday to Stockwell Road, SW9 to a collision involving a marked police vehicle on an emergency call and a female pedestrian.

'A 25-year-old woman was treated by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service, and London's Air Ambulance.

'Despite the efforts of emergency services, the woman sadly died at the scene. Next of kin have been informed

'Cordons remain at the location and traffic is being diverted.

'Road closures are in place in a number of surrounding streets, including Brixton Road, Stockwell Road and Landor Road.

Police say that cordons remain at the location (pictured: A Google Street View of the road) and traffic is being diverted away from the scene

'The incident, as is usual in such situations, has been notified to the Directorate of Professional Standards.

'It has also been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is now carrying out an independent investigation.'

Speaking about the incident, one woman, who lives close to the scene of the incident, said: 'That poor girl's family. That poor poor girl.'

The death of the woman comes after, in an unrelated incident, an 19-year-old woman died in hospital in April days after a Vauxhall Astra being pursued by police overturned in Streatham.

Two of the other four women in the car were left with serious injuries. That incident is also the subject of an IOPC probe.
A British girl died in a freak accident when her father fell off a piece of playground equipment and landed on her in New Zealand.

Amberlie Pennington-Foley, three, died of brain and spinal chord injuries following the accident at a park in Upper Hutt, a city near Wellington, on August 27 last year.

The girl had been playing with dad Robert - who moved from the UK to New Zealand with wife Emma in 2011 - in a park around 10am when tragedy struck.

A coroner's report issued this week said the pair had been playing on a piece of equipment known as the Supernova Ring - a rotating plastic ring suspended off the ground - when the accident happened.

Amberlie Pennington-Foley, three, died in August last year after father Robert fell on her while the pair played at a park in New Zealand

The pair had been playing on a piece of equipment known as a Supernova Ring which is suspended off the ground and rotates as people run on it or push it (file image)

Robert had been standing on one side of the ring close to the ground while Amberlie was sitting on the other side of the ring which was raised up higher.

The report said Robert began stepping from one side to another, causing the disc to spin gently which moved Amberlie towards him and away from him again.

'After repeating this sequence of sideways steps one way and then the other a few times, Mr Foley started to lose his balance,' the report said.

He tried to jump off of the ring, but this caused it to rotate suddenly - moving Amberlie towards him as he toppled over.

When he fell, he landed with his full weight on his daughter's head and neck, the coroner reported.

Amberlie initially survived the impact but was noticeably 'wobbly' on her feet afterwards, the report says.

Robert noticed that she had blood around her nose and on her top and decided to take her to a medical clinic a three minute drive away, believing it would be quicker than calling an ambulance.

By the time he arrived, Amberlie was pale and unresponsive. Staff at the clinic immediately called an ambulance, but medics were unable to revive the girl.

Coroner Peter Ryan concluded that the girl's death was not due to a fault with the equipment or negligence on the part of her father.

'[Her] death was a tragic accident in the true sense of the word,' he wrote.

'I would not be surprised to learn that many other parents had previously operated the Supernova in a similar manner without serious incident.'

Mother Emma Penninton-Foley is pictured with Amberlie as an infant

Amberlie died of head and neck injuries, a coroner wrote this week, as he ruled the death a 'freak accident' and sent condolences to the family

Ryan concluded by saying he had no recommendations to make following the death, and simply wished to send condolences to the family.

At the time of the death, Amberlie's mother Emma said the entire town had been left devastated by what she called the 'sudden death'.

The family had been appealing for donations to help bring relatives out to New Zealand from the UK for the funeral.

'Words alone will never be enough to convey our heartfelt thanks to everybody who has donated or delivered food and flowers to us,' she told Stuff at the time.

'The love and support of everybody around us  and indeed the world  has literally got us through the last few days. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.'

Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy said his thoughts and prayers are with the family.

'We are shocked and saddened to hear the news of a child who died following a tragic accident at Harcourt Park today,' he said.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. We will do everything we can to assist the appropriate authorities with their inquiries.'
A fed-up headteacher has banned skirts from his school because he said he is sick of girls wearing them too short.

Lee Jarvis sent a message to all parents at St Martin's School in Caerphilly, South Wales, over concerns that skirts were 'far too revealing'.

He has now outlawed all skirts because of their 'inappropriate' length - and introduced new rules to say youngsters must wear tailored trousers or shorts.

Furious parents have blasted the new skirt ban as 'unfair' after buying uniforms for pupils - and say the entire 980-strong student body should not be penalised.

But St Martin's is not the first school to ban skirts with a series of others across the UK having also introduced the rule in recent years.

Headteacher Lee Jarvis has outlawed all skirts because of their 'inappropriate' length - and introduced new rules to say youngsters must wear tailored trousers or shorts

Mr Jarvis's email said: 'Over the last couple of years our school community has had concerns over the length of some learners' skirts.

'Staff and learners are included in this and members of the public have frequently contacted the school to complain about what they regard as highly inappropriate and far too revealing attire for the workplace.

'Despite us attempting to educate learners as to appropriate school wear and issuing school badged skirts of an appropriate length we have not been effective in ensuring that learners adhere to appropriate workplace attire.

'We have therefore concluded that this item of clothing needs to be removed from our uniform policy from September and replaced by tailored shorts for hot weather or alternatively trousers.

'I felt it was prudent to write to let you know this in plenty of time before we all begin to consider purchasing new uniform for September. '

He sent the message to all parents at St Martin's School (pictured) in Caerphilly, South Wales, over concerns that skirts were 'far too revealing'

But angry parents hit out at the new rules and said they now must fork out more money on uniforms.

One mother said: 'My daughter is not happy and doesn't want to wear tailored school trousers.

'I think it's unfair. Don't they have other things to worry about after we've all come through Covid?'

Another added: 'I disagree with this. It should be addressed per child and not penalise the whole school.'

Mr Jarvis did not want to comment further.

Furious parents have blasted the new skirt ban as 'unfair' after buying uniforms for pupils - and say the entire 980-strong student body should not be penalised (stock image)

St Martin's is not the first school to ban pupils wearing skirts.

Priory School in Lewes, East Sussex, scrapped its female uniform and made all new pupils wear trousers, shirts, jumpers and ties in 2017.

Teachers said the new attire is being imposed to stop girls dressing provocatively and to help the 'small but increasing number' of transgender pupils.

Similarly, eleven-year-old pupils - both boys and girls - at Stowmarket High School, Suffolk, were told in 2019 they would have to wear trousers, a blazer and clip-on tie.

The school initially said the new policy has been partially put in place because of the new building design.
Social distancing and wearing face masks should stay forever, a Communist-supporting SAGE scientist has claimed.

Professor Susan Michie, of University College London, said she thinks the draconian restrictions should become part of people's every day routine.

In a bizarre comparison, she said Britons never used to wear seat belts in cars or 'pick up dog poo in the park' but learned to over time.

It comes as the country waits with bated breath to see if Boris Johnson will stick to his roadmap and launch 'Freedom Day' on June 21.

The PM could implement a 'mix and match' unlocking, with face masks, work from home guidance and the rule of six indoors likely to still be mandatory.

But in a boost for young couples there were reports the 30-guest cap on weddings may be shelved.

Professor Susan Michie, of University College London, said she thinks the draconian restrictions should become part of people's every day routine

Professor Michie told Channel 5 News: 'Vaccines are a really important part of the pandemic control but it's only one part.

'Test, trace and isolate system, border controls are really essential. And there third thing is people's behaviour.

'That is the behaviour of social distancing, of when you're indoors making sure there's good ventilation and hand and surface hygiene.

'We'll need to keep these going in the long term and that will probably be good not only for Covid but to reduce other diseases at a time when the NHS is...'

She was cut off by presenter Claudia-Liza Armah who asked her: 'When you say the long term, what do you mean by that - how long?'

Professor Michie replied: 'I think forever, to some extent.' Both the host and the professor laugh at the bizarre suggestion.

Later in the programme she was asked if she realistically thought people could continue to live with masks and social distancing.

She said: 'I think there's lots of different behaviours we've changed in our lives. We now routinely wear seat belts, we didn't use to.

'We now routinely pick up dog poo in the park, we didn't use to. When people see that there is a threat and there is something they can do to reduce that... themselves, their loved ones and their communities, what we see now over this last year is people do that.

'And I think we can just begin to adopt routines. When we go out of the house we check we've got our phone, we've got our keys, we've got tissues, we've got a face mask in case we need to use it.

'It's not going to be a huge big deal the kind of changes we're talking about and I think we also need to think about the way we plan our cities, our transport our lifestyles.

'Instead of going back to huge long commutes, have more local working hubs where people don't have to travel so much - good not only for the health, but there environment.'

Professor Michie, whose first husband was Andrew Murray, once a key adviser to Jeremy Corbyn, has been a common sight on TV during the crisis

She is a member of the Communist Party of Britain and is said to be dedicated to establishing a new socialist order in the country

Professor Michie, whose first husband was Andrew Murray, once a key adviser to Jeremy Corbyn, has been a common sight on TV during the crisis.

She is a member of the Communist Party of Britain and is said to be dedicated to establishing a new socialist order in the country.



Dubbed Stalin's nanny when she was a student at Oxford, she is usually coy about her revolutionary politics.

But just before the first lockdown last year she responded to someone praising China's extreme measures of in dealing with coronavirus.

She tweeted: 'China has a socialist, collective system (whatever criticisms people may have) not an individualistic, consumer-oriented, profit-driven society badly damaged by 20 years of failed neoliberal economic policies. #LearntLessons.'

The PM said yesterday 'everybody can see cases and hospitalisations are going up' and gave the strongest hint yet the much-anticipated milestone will be pushed back.

No10's top scientists fear the mutant strain may be 60 per cent more transmissible than the Kent version.

And SAGE modellers fear it will trigger a 'substantial' third wave  despite three-quarters of adults having been vaccinated.

Boris Johnson (left) is expected to announce his decision about June 21 by Monday at the latest. Professor Neil Ferguson (right) warned it will be 'two to three weeks' until SAGE can work out how dangerous the Indian variant is, dealing a killer blows to hopes of lockdown ending

Despite fears over plans for the final unlocking and intensifying calls to delay it by up to four weeks, ministers are hopeful they can relax some curbs from later this month.

A senior Government source told the FT: 'A mix-and-match approach is probably on the cards, given the limited number of levers left.'

Officials are working to find a solution that 'pleases the PM's instincts', according to one minister. But the hybrid approach would be 'very difficult' to put in place.

It could include lifting the current 30-person limit on weddings and receptions and allowing greater crowds to attend ceremonies.

Bar mitzvahs and christenings are also set to be boosted under the proposals and while socially distanced tables would not be required, guests may be urged to be 'cautious' about contact with other households, reports the Times.

Current guidelines suggest those attending bashes only participate in the first dance and wear masks at all times unless eating or drinking.

But under the new rules, people will be advised to assess the risk of hugging others themselves.

A government source said: 'It's been tough on the sector. If you've got stadiums full of people, why can't weddings go ahead with more than 30 people?'

Mr Johnson softened his lockdown-ending stance yesterday in Cornwall ahead of the G7 summit.

He admitted there were now 'arguments' on both sides of the restrictions-easing debate. The PM repeated his pledge that No10 'will be driven by the data'.

But just hours before his comments, top SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson dealt another blow to hopes of Freedom Day going ahead.

The Imperial College London epidemiologist warned it would take up to another three weeks for scientists to get enough data to accurately work out how dangerous the Indian variant is and how bad the third wave will be.

He added there was a risk of a 'substantial third wave but we cannot be definitive about the scale of that'.

The chance scientific advisers, ministers and Mr Johnson  who committed to following the science and 'not dates'  will sign off on June 21 without the most accurate modelling is slim.

Britain recorded another 7,540 positive tests yesterday in the biggest week-on-week spike since February, with the mutant variant blamed for spiralling cases.
The global Halal Pharmaceuticals Market is anticipated to reach USD 34.82 billion by 2026 according to a new study published by Polaris Market Research.

The significant growth in the Halal Pharmaceuticals Market is primarily due to the rapid increase in the Muslim population, along with their improving disposable income. Increasing purchasing power and deepening belief in Shariah law together is responsible for creating a surge in demand for halal pharmaceuticals. Shariah law is derived from the Quran and is basically a collection of practices, words, habits, and silent approvals. As per the law, products containing the discharge of human beings or animals, and in direct or indirect contact with non-halal items. Moreover, it must not contain traces of things that are unfit for human consumption such as poison, and toxic elements.

Halal pharmaceuticals are expected to be prepared under a controlled environment to avoid any cross-contamination with non-halal utilities, materials, and ingredient. Extra care is taken in the manufacturing of these pharmaceuticals as no contamination will be tolerated. Rapid growth in demand has encouraged the Halal Pharmaceuticals Market players to actively indulge in activities that are aimed at or new product development.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/halal-pharmaceuticals-market/request-for-sample

Growing Muslim population is showcasing a high interest in halal pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. This can be attributed to the increasing consumer awareness about the deepening beliefs and growing knowledge that pharmaceuticals contain alcohol, porcine-by products, and their derivatives, among other non-halal contents or ingredients that are against Islamic beliefs.

The Halal Pharmaceuticals Market experience tough challenge in defining proper regulation and standards. Recently, American pharmaceuticals companies expressed their concerns over the guidelines by Malaysias Ministry of Health (MOH). These guidelines were focused towards defining the permissible items in pharmaceuticals in accordance with Islam. The concern was highlighted in the annual submission to the United States Trade Representative by the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

The Halal Pharmaceuticals Market has been segregated based on drug class, type, end-use, and region. By drug class, the market has been divided into allergies, endocrine drugs, pain medications, respiratory drugs, and others. By type, the market has been bifurcated into capsule, syrup, and tablet. The industry experience high demand for end-use applications such as drugs, cosmetics, healthcare, and others.

The Middle East and the Asia Pacific regions Halal Pharmaceuticals Market are expected to witness significant growth in the next eight years due to the presence of a large population of Muslims. Majority of the Muslim population of the world lives in these regions, and they also comprise of emerging nations such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Pakistan that have a high population that follows Islamic beliefs.

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/halal-pharmaceuticals-market

The list of key companies that are operating in the Halal Pharmaceuticals Market includes Chemical Company of Malaysia Berhad, Rosemont Pharmaceuticals, Bosch Pharmaceuticals, Noor Vitamins, EMBIL Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Nutramedica Incorporated, PharmaniagaBhd, and SimporPharmaSdnBhd, among others.

Halal Pharmaceuticals Market Size and Forecast by Product type Capsule Syrup Tablets

Halal Pharmaceuticals Market Size and Forecast by Regions North America US. Canada Europe Germany UK France Asia Pacific China India Pakistan Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East & Africa



Avail discount on this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/halal-pharmaceuticals-market/request-for-discount-pricing

About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities.

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Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com
This is the moment prosecutors claim a teenager bought a knife from Asda before allegedly using it to kill two sisters as part of a pact with a 'demon' to win the lottery.

Jurors in the trial of Danyal Hussein were today shown footage and pictures, allegedly of the 19-year-old picking up the blade from the supermarket on June 5 last year.

The weapon was then used, prosecutors say, to stab Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, to death in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, north-west London.

Hussein denies two counts of murder, possession of a knife and contests that it is him in the footage.

The Old Bailey was told today the defendant had entered into a written pact with a 'demon' to sacrifice six women every six months in return for the Mega Millions Super Jackpot - and signed his name on the contract in his own blood.

Jurors heard CCTV shows Hussein leaving and entering the park and his blood and DNA were found at the scene, but he denies being there.

Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow, QC, told them: 'Can I make it clear that Mr Hussein does not accept he appears in the majority of that footage.'

During the trial today, jurors watched a video of a man dressed in a blue jacket and light jeans leaving Hussein's father's address on June 3 before heading to Asda in Edgware Road.

'In this clip is Danyal Hussein buying various items including a set of knives,' said DC Jo Hinchliffe, giving evidence at the trial.

This is the moment prosecutors claim a teenager bought a knife from Asda before allegedly using it to kill two sisters as part of a pact with a 'demon' to win the lottery

Jurors in the trial of Danyal Hussein were today shown footage and pictures, allegedly of the 19-year-old picking up the blade from the supermarket on June 5 last year

The weapon was then used, prosecutors say, to stab Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, to death in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, north-west London

CCTV footage shows Bibaa and Nicole entering the park via Slough Lane shortly before the tragedy

The knife allegedly bought by Hussein and then used to kill the two sisters at a park in London

During the trial today, jurors watched a video of a man dressed in a blue jacket and light jeans leaving Hussein's father's address on June 3 before heading to Asda in Edgware Road

Bibaa and Nicole set up phone to take images of them together using a clicker

CCTV footage shows Bibaa and Nicole heading into the Kingsbury Co-op store

An image of Bibaa and Nicole and their friends taken on Bibaa's phone before the tragedy

The man is asked for ID in order to buy the knives and is shown to take off his face mask and hand the cashier a passport in order to confirm his identity.

'He takes out his wallet in order to pay for the items. You can see a pink bank card which he uses in order to pay for the items,' said DC Hinchliffe.

'He tries to put the knife block into his bag but can't fit it in. You can see him going back with his wallet.

'He is purchasing one of those ASDA bags for life. He leans over the counter. He puts the block of knives onto that bag.'

Earlier the court was told that Hussein had reported the Monzo card used to buy the knives as stolen on June 16 and denied he had it at the time of the sale.

CCTV cameras showed that same man, carrying the ASDA bag and a blue rucksack make its way back into Hussein's father's address.

Later that evening, he is again captured on camera leaving Hussein's father's address before heading back to the ASDA to buy a roll of gaffer tape.

'You can see in the footage he is still has a white mask and is still wearing that Nike rucksack,' the officer said.

'You can see he has on what looks like a pair of surgical gloves. He purchases the Unibond power tape.'

The court heard that the power tape was advertised as 'extremely strong' and 'tear resistant' which means that scissors are necessary to cut through it.

Danyal Hussein (sketched in the dock by a court artist) appearing in the dock at the Old Bailey, London, where he is on trial accused of killing sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry

The bodies of Nicole Smallman (right), 27, and Bibaa Henry (left), 46, were found intertwined and concealed in a hedgerow, the court was told

Flowers at an entrance to Fryent Country Park, in Wembley, North London, on June 8 last year

The court heard how friends of Ms Smallman and Ms Henry had visited the park on the night of June 6. Pictured: Flowers at the scene

Clips from the day of the murder showed the two sisters buying supplies for the party from a Co-op in Kingsbury, smiling and chatting to cashiers.

'You can see Bibaa selecting tonic water which was found in the park,' said DC Hinchliffe.

The court heard that, after the party in the park, and after the last of their guests had left, the sisters posed for selfies together smiling and dancing while holding fairy light.

But the final picture taken from their phone at 1.30pm shows them both distracted by something just out of the frame.

'As we see from the description, the two sisters look to their left,' said the prosecutor.

'After that no photographs are taken. This is about 40 minutes after the last of their friends had driven away.'

Jurors were shown video of a man walking away from the pitch-dark park at 03.08 in the morning and head towards Hussein's address.

But the man who walked into Hussein's fathers driveway had swapped his jeans for shorts and appeared to have changed his trainers.

'He appears to have on his top a dark coloured T-shirt with a white motif,' said DC Hinchliffe.

'His lower legs are bare. He no longer appears to have to be wearing a jacket on his shoulders.

'His right hand is tucked into the waistband of his jacket, which is tied around his waist.'

Hussein claims that traces of his blood found at the murder scene matched is not in fact his.

Jurors were shown that man knocking on the door at 04.07AM on before being let into the house a few minutes later.

'It is not possible to see who opens the front door. Danyal Hussein approaches the front door and stands on the doorstep.

'He walks in and the door shuts behind him,' said DC Hinchliffe

Yesterday the prosecution, in its opening of the trial, told the jury how Hussein had killed the sisters in a brutal knife attack after seeking a deal with the devil to 'sacrifice' women in order to win the lottery.

After the two women's bodies were discovered, police allegedly uncovered a handwritten note in Hussein's home purporting to make a bargain with a demon to 'sacrifice' women for gain.

The defendant also bought lottery tickets, three of which were folded inside the note, jurors were told.

Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow QC yesterday told the court how the women had chosen to go to the park due to restrictions during the first lockdown.

He said the sisters had enjoyed themselves so much that they decided to stay on after their guests had left and lit fairy lights, listened to music and danced.

When they failed to come home, their loved ones became concerned and some of their closest friends went back to the park to search.

Police were alerted after the women's glasses were discovered by the searchers. A few moments later a knife was found lying in the grass.

Ms Henry was stabbed eight times and Ms Smallman was stabbed 28 times, jurors heard.

Mr Glasgow suggested Ms Henry was taken by surprise and overpowered first, then Ms Smallman attempted to fight off her attacker.

The day after the killings, Hussein went to Northwick Park Hospital seeking treatment for the cut on his hand, claiming he had sustained the injury during a robbery by a group of boys.

Forensic analysis of the knife found DNA matching that of Ms Smallman and Hussein, jurors heard.

The court heard that a combination of forensic evidence and CCTV footage led police to Hussein.

A jury at the Old Bailey (pictured) heard that a combination of forensic evidence and CCTV footage led police to Hussein

His DNA was at the scene, on the bodies of the victims and on a bloodstained knife found nearby, it was alleged.

Investigators also uncovered handwritten notes at the defendant's home setting out his intention to kill women 'as part of a sacrifice to secure personal advantage for himself', Mr Glasgow said.

Hussein, of Blackheath, South East London, has denied double murder and possessing a knife.

The trial before Mrs Justice Whipple is due to go on for up to four weeks.
CCTV image of Jamie Perkins

A dogwalker discovered a decomposed body in a stream and realised it was his lifelong friend who had been missing for three weeks, an inquest has heard.

Kieron Jones told the inquest into Jamie Perkins' death how his son was on his shoulders when his dog ran into a hedge in Gilfach Goch, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Mr Perkins' body was then found partially submerged in a stream in Bog Lane and covered with leaves, bracken and a speaker cover on November 1, 2017.

The last confirmed sighting of the 41-year-old had been on October 8.

South Wales Police launched a murder investigation following Mr Perkins' death. Arrests were made but the murder remains unsolved.

Mr Jones told the inquest that he thought the body was a dead sheep, and that once he realised it was human called his grandfather.

At the hearing in Pontypridd, he said: 'The dog never done that before so I went to take a look. I looked over, I saw white fingers.

'I thought it was a dead sheep. At first I could see white. I turned to my partner and said: 'I think I've just found Jamie.' I felt sick.

'I didn't want to get loads of police involved if it was an animal. My grandfather came down. He had a look and phoned the police.'

Earlier Mr Jones told the inquest he had known Mr Perkins all his life and that he had last seen him alive in a Premier Store weeks before his death.

He told the hearing that found out Mr Perkins had been reported missing by his father John after a conversation with his grandmother.

The court heard Mr Jones decided look for Mr Perkins on October 22, taking a lamp on to the mountain above Tonyrefail for four hours overnight.

Kieron Jones told the inquest into Jamie Perkins' death how his son was on his shoulders when his dog ran into a hedge in Gilfach Goch. Mr Perkins' body was then found submerged in a stream in Bog Lane and covered with leaves, bracken and a speaker cover on November 1, 2017

He said went out on another occasion with three other people - Luke Button, Rebecca Cook and Amanda Williams - to search for Mr Perkins.

Mr Jones said he found a bag covered in stones and two jackets on a fence. One was made by Helly Hansen, the other by Stone Island, the BBC reported.

PC Ricky Burnett, who began investigating Mr Perkins' disappearance on October 12, 2017, also gave evidence at the inquest.

Wales Live reported that the officer was called to the scene after Mr Jones discovered the body and described what he saw when he arrived.

'I saw a body lying on its back, feet pointing downstream towards the Griffin pub, and head pointing upstream,' he told the hearing.

'He was wearing dark bottoms, Calvin Klein underwear, and clothing on top.

'The body was covered in debris, more accurately foliage. My honest assessment was that the body had been covered.'

Toxicology tests showed Mr Perkins had amphetamines and the epilepsy drug pregabalin in his system. The week-long inquest continues.
More than 1,000 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats this month as temperatures soar - making June a potential recording breaking period if ideal sea conditions continue.

Border Force officials intercepted 179 people including children and a baby making the dangerous 21-mile journey in six boats yesterday, and 10 more arrived at the Dover Marina today.

This takes the total to cross the Dover Strait during the first nine days of the month to 1,008 people on board 41 boats.

Just 407 made the treacherous trip in the same timeframe last month - with May ending up smashing the monthly record as 1,619 migrants arrived in 80 boats.

More migrants arriving in Dover today, after the Home Office said 179 people made the dangerous crossing to the UK yesterday

People aboard small boats were pictured being taken to UK shores by Border Force officials this morning

People crossing to Dover being taken to a holding facility by Border Force officials today

A man who made the Channel crossing today huddled in a blanket, as temperatures soared to 66F in Dover meaning more people are likely to arrive throughout the day

Several people being brought ashore today at the Port of Dover, following the arrival of 179 migrants including a child and baby yesterday

French authorities also prevented a further 95 people from arriving yesterday in five boats, according to the Home Office.

Border Force are believed to be preparing for an influx of migrants over the next few days due to near perfect weather conditions at sea, as Dover temperatures hit 66F today.

So far this year, 4,725 migrants have crossed the Channel, and 8,410 made the journey in 2020.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'Criminal gangs are putting profits before people's lives through these dangerous and unnecessary crossings.

'More than 4,000 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.'

A border force vessel carries newly arrived migrants after being picked up in a dinghy in the English Channel yesterday

A Border Force official holds a young girl that arrived with other migrants after they were picked up in a dinghy yesterday

An official guided newly arrived migrants to a holding facility after they were picked up in a dinghy

The UK has been enjoying a mini-heatwave, which sent temperatures soaring to 82.4F yesterday.

It comes after a Border Force union official warned cross-channel migrants are bringing high levels of Covid with them when they arrive in the UK.

One official was seen holding a young girl who arrived in the UK, while another held a newborn baby which arrived with the other migrants.

Lucy Moreton, of the Immigration Services Union, said that staff were reporting between five and 10 arrivals every day were testing positive upon arrival.

But because the migrants are often crammed onto tiny boats to make the dash a cross from the Continent they were risking spreading the virus to many others.

It comes after a Border Force union official warned cross-channel migrants are bringing high levels of Covid with them when they arrive in the UK

More than 500 migrants arrived in the final week of May, according to the UK Home Office, adding that 3,600 people had been stopped from crossing the channel by French authorities

One official was seen holding a young girl who arrived in Dover yesterday

Another held a newborn baby wrapped in a blue blanket which arrived with the other migrants yesterday

It came as Home Secretary Priti Patel came under pressure to sort out the crisis at the UK's borders as the high season for Channel crossings gets underway.

This year the number of arrivals expected to reach the south coast from France will far outstrip last year's 8,400 if current rates continue.

Ms Moreton told the Times: 'We have positive arrivals all the time, putting staff and migrants at risk of infection.

Lucy Moreton, of the Immigration Services Union, said that staff were reporting between five and 10 arrivals every day were testing positive upon arrival (pictured: Border Force officials guide newly arrived migrants)

This year the number of arrivals expected to reach the south coast from France will far outstrip last year's 8,400 if current rates continue (pictured: A Border Force official holds a young girl that arrived with other migrants after they were picked up in a dinghy)

Dinghies were pictured stacked up while Border Force officials guide newly arrived migrants to a holding facility

'We have a handful, between five and 10 a day, testing positive, but anyone who has been in close contact with them - and that could be a lot, because of overcrowding - risks catching the virus.'

It's believed that the infection rate among arrivals could be around three per cent, compared to the UK population rate of 0.16 per cent, the Times reported.

However the Home Office denied that recent arrivals had brought Covid with them, with a spokeswoman today saying: 'These numbers are completely wrong.

Because the migrants are often crammed onto tiny boats to make the dash a cross from the Continent they risk spreading the virus to many others

Border Force officials guide a pregnant lady ahead of other newly arrived migrants to a holding facility after being picked up in a dinghy in the English Channel

Lucy Moreton, of the Immigration Services Union, said that staff were reporting between five and 10 arrivals every day were testing positive upon arrival.

'In May and so far in June no migrants arriving via small boat have received a positive Covid test.

'Testing is in place to reduce the risk of infection for staff, contractors and small boat arrivals who might come into contact with other arrivals the same day who are Covid positive.'

Some 250 minors have made the dangerous journey across the Channel this year so far, including 50 over the recent Bank Holiday weekend. They include large numbers of unaccompanied girls, leaving local authorities fearful that they will be targeted by criminal gangs.

Priti Patel has ordered social media giants including Facebook and Twitter to remove posts that 'glamorise' illegal Channel crossings

At least 4,300 migrants have landed in the country this year so far. The annual total is expected to exceed the 8,400 who made the journey in 2020

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel at the weekend

A view of boats used by people thought to be migrants, being stored at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent

The numbers of migrants risking the dangerous journey are rising despite Ms Patel's pledge in March to overhaul the immigration system and to make illegal Channel crossings 'unviable'.

The Home Secretary blamed the spiralling crisis on social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter who allow people-smugglers to use their platforms to advertise their criminal services.

One video showing migrants travelling from Calais to Dover has been seen more than 800,000 on Chinese-owned TikTok.

In the strongly worded letter which has been seen by this newspaper, Ms Patel asks the internet giants to 'put an end to the exploitation of your platforms by criminals involved in organised immigration crime' as more people than ever are making 'incredibly dangerous journeys across the Channel'.

At the weekend, Ms Patel ordered an urgent investigation after a Border Force boat brought dinghy migrants from French waters to Dover.

The UK's 140ft cutter Valiant headed to the French side of the Channel and launched a fast inflatable boat to collect migrants and take them to Dover after discussions with local authorities.

The incident at the end of May was orchestrated between senior crew members of HMC Valiant and French patrol ship Athos.

During a revealing maritime radio conversation, a recording of which was obtained by the Mail this week, the officers discuss the 'legality' of the operation.
A motorist jailed for driving at more than 150mph on a motorway has been mocked mercilessly online by locals poking fun at his staring eyes.

Nathan Batha, 19, hit speeds of 157mph when he drove his black Audi on a motorway in Cheshire on December 13.

Police were forced to halt a pursuit for safety reasons when he accelerated far beyond the speed limit, but he was later stopped in a residential area of Warrington.

He was jailed for 12 months after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop for the police and driving without insurance.

After his mug shot was released by Cheshire Police, social media users were merciless in their mockery of his 'surprised' expression.

Nathan Batha (above), 19, hit speeds of 157mph when he drove his black Audi on a motorway in Cheshire on December 13

One user joked: 'He looks surprised by this decision' while another said 'the gap between his ears is too big and is obviously missing a brain'.

Police pulled back from chasing Batha, from Staffordshire, on the M6 when he started undertaking vehicles at dangerous speeds last December.

The Audi was later followed by an unmarked car and Batha was seen travelling along the A57 Manchester Road in Warrington at more than 100mph.

Police said he went through a red traffic light at over 100mph on a road with a 40mph speed limit.

A stinger device was used, puncturing one of his tyres, but he failed to stop and he was eventually halted and arrested after going around a roundabout the wrong way.

After he was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court, PC Chris Jones, who led the investigation said: 'Thankfully no-one was injured as a result of Nathan Batha's dangerous driving on both the M6 and in a residential area of Warrington.

Police were forced to halt a pursuit for safety reasons when he accelerated far beyond the speed limit, but he was later stopped in a residential area of Warrington. Pictured: The chase

'By speeding on the M6, and then driving at over 150mph on the motorway and over 105pm on a road with a 40mph limit in a bid to escape punishment for the manner of his driving, Batha put his life and the lives of other road users at risk.

'The consequences of this incident could have been far worse.'

Superintendent Jon Betts, head of Cheshire Constabulary's Roads and Crime Unit, added: 'We take dangerous driving offences very seriously at the force and anyone found travelling dangerously at excess speed will be dealt with robustly.

'Driving a motor vehicle is a privilege, not a right, and it comes with great responsibility to act within the rules laid down when you pass your test.

'When you deliberately ignore those rules, you put yourself and other people at considerable risk.

'Speeding reduces your time to react and deal with things like changes in driving conditions and actions taken by other road users.

Batha was jailed for 12 months after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop for the police and driving without insurance. Pictured: Batha's Audi ahead of the incident

'It also magnifies other driver errors, such as travelling too close to other vehicles or driving or riding when tired or distracted, multiplying the chances of causing an accident.'

After Batha's mugshot was released online, several social media users took the opportunity to mercilessly mock the size of his ears.

One suggested he had 'stuck his head out the window judging by his eyes' while another compared his head to the Champions League trophy.

Commenting on Facebook, another wrote: 'Hope the windows were closed, he would have took off with them ears.'

Another comment read: 'He looks like he's still travelling at 150mph on this photo.'

Adam Birchall asked: 'Has he drove with the windows open? Because his face seems to have blown to the side.'

One wag quipped of his large ears: 'If he would have stuck his head out the sunroof he would have gone from 105mph to zero in around 1.25 seconds with those windbreakers!'

Some users compared him unflatteringly to comedian Jack Whitehall, with one writing: 'Jack Whitehall has let himself go' and another suggesting 'He looks like a shocked Jack Whitehall'.

Batha will spend his sentence in a Young Offenders Institution.
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The UK is set for an 86F (30C) mini-heatwave over the weekend as millions head to the coast and beauty spots with 71F (22C) highs to last all week.

This weekend is on course to be the warmest weekend of this year yet and the warmest since the end of last summer, according to Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon.

Forecasters predicted the mercury could exceed a scorching 86F (30C) this weekend, with Sunday lined up to be the warmest day for England, Scotland and Wales, and highs of 77F (25C) on Saturday.

A spell of high pressure means most areas will meet the weather service's definition of a heatwave  defined as three days above a particular temperature threshold.

The sun is set to stick around for the rest of the month, with only north-western parts due a little wind and rain towards the end of next week.

And the sweltering weekend is forecast despite gloomy conditions today, with overcast weather in south-west England and south Wales resulting in the partial solar eclipse being blocked out in some parts of Britain.

Weather conditions in Cornwall also scuppered a trip by US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson to St Michael's Mount, a castle on a tidal island off the county's coast, with a No 10 source confirming the visit was 'sadly off due to the weather'.

A view of the bay in St Ives, Cornwall, today ahead of the G7 summit. Weather conditions scuppered a trip by US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson to St Michael's Mount, a castle on a tidal island off the county's coast

The sweltering weekend (right) is forecast despite gloomy conditions today (left), with overcast weather in southwest England and south Wales resulting in the partial solar eclipse being blocked out in some parts of Britain

Earlier this week, the Weather Outlook's Brian Gaze said computer models were suggesting 'temperatures could exceed 30C (86F) this weekend', with the BBC's Helen Willetts saying the UK 'could approach the 30C (86F) mark by the end of this weekend'.

Meanwhile, for tomorrow's forecast, the Met Office's Mr Dixon said: 'Friday will be largely fine and dry for much of the country.

'There is a band of cloud and light patchy rain in the far north-west of Scotland, and there'll be some showers affecting parts of the west as well.

'There's also clouds in the south (of England), however temperatures will remain above average for this time of year and there will be long, warm sunny spells for central and south-east areas in particular.

'You're looking at temperatures of mid-20Cs across the country but in London it could be 80.6F (27C) on Friday.'

He added: 'There will be long sunny periods for most, but there's a chance some rain could reach the extreme north-west in the day.

Visitors go for a walk on the beach at St Ives in Cornwall today, ahead of the three-day G7 summit being held from June 11 to 13

Police officers patrol on the water as visitors take their daily exercise on the beach in St Ives, Cornwall, today, where G7 leaders will meet this weekend for the first time in nearly two years

A police marine unit patrols a harbour in St Ives. Temperatures on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are predicted to see highs around 77F (25C), with Sunday lined up to be the warmest day of the weekend for England, Scotland and Wales

Police patrol by the harbour in St Ives, Cornwall, this morning ahead of the G7 summit. Views of the partial solar eclipse on Thursday will be 'somewhat fleeting' across certain parts of the UK due to cloudy skies, forecasters have said

A police marine unit patrols a harbour in St Ives as security preparations are underway for the G7 leaders summit in Cornwall

'Temperatures will remain above average for this time of year with highs across England generally in mid-20Cs and 80.6F (27C) in London.'

Grass and weed pollen levels are also increasing at the moment, the Met Office tweeted, with the highest levels expected in southern England during the coming days.

Ladbrokes cut odds to 1/4 that this week will play host to temperatures of 86F (30C) or higher in the UK, and also slashed odds to 1/3 on this month going down as the hottest June ever.

Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: 'Things are only going to get hotter over the coming weeks if the latest odds are anything to go by.'

Coral bookmakers also slashed the odds to 1-6 (from 4-5) on 30C or higher being recorded in the UK before the end of the weekend.

The Met Office's weather forecast for Britain this weekend, pictured above. The mercury soared above 70F (21C) for the 13th day in a row yesterday, continuing a remarkable turnaround

The offshore naval vessel HMS Tamar patrols off St Ives, Cornwall, today. The Met Office tweeted this morning: 'Thursday morning will be a much cloudier one for most, though it will be mild'

People head over the causeway leaving a mist covered St Michael's Mount in Cornwall this morning, as overcast conditions are forecast for the rest of today

A man walks on a beach in front of a mist covered St Michael's Mount in Penzance as Cornwall prepares for the G7 summit

'Our betting suggests temperatures will rise into the early 30s before the weekend is up' said Coral's John Hill.

And Betway makes it 5/2 that June will be the hottest month of the year, with Chad Yeomans saying: 'Summer has finally arrived with a heatwave heading for Brits this weekend.

'The country is in for a treat with temperatures to push upwards of 30 degrees priced at 2/1. While the weather looks here to stay, with June to be the hottest month of the year priced at 5/2.'

But despite bookies offering odds on this being the hottest June ever, it is too early in the month to say whether we will see record-breaking average temperatures.

The Met Office's Oli Claydon explained that the average maximum daytime temperature for June is 63.1F (17.3C), but that the first eight days of June 2021 have sat a couple of degrees higher than that at 67.5F (19.7C).

The record average maximum June temperature was set in 1940 at 68.9F (20.5C).

'Currently we are not even in the top five hottest Junes on record,' Mr Claydon said.
The jilted husband of an NYC model has confirmed that she is leaving him for her twin sister's husband, but insists he is not taking up with the 'betrayed' sister in revenge and says the entire situation is 'very difficult'.

Vittorio Assaf is the 62-year-old founder of the NYC restaurant chain Serafina.

On Wednesday night, he told Page Six that his wife, 50-year-old former model, Charlotte Bonstrom, was leaving him, and that she wants to marry her twin sister's French husband - Zadig and Voltaire founder Thierry Gillier.

Sources say Charlotte was 'very hurt' that her husband had, throughout their marriage, 'spent time with models', so she began 'secretly dating other people' - and has fallen in love with her sister's husband.

Gillier is married to Charlotte's twin sister Cecilia. He and Cecilia work at the fashion house together, and they live in France with their four kids (three from previous relationships).

Vittorio and Charlotte live mostly between Manhattan's Upper East Side and Southampton, where they also have a home. Charlotte announced on social media in March that she was selling the lakeside property.

Their kids, Valentina and Vittorio, are in their late teens/early twenties.

Vittorio Assaf, Charlotte and Cecilia Bonstrom at a Zadig & Voltaire show in 2009 in NYC. Assaf told Page Six he is divorcing his wife Charlotte because she 'is getting married to Thierry Gillier, the ex-husband of her sister' Cecilia

Charlotte and Cecilia Bonstrom with Thierry Gillier in2017. Former model Charlotte has dumped her New York restaurateur spouse Vittorio Assaf for identical twin Cecilia's Zadig & Voltaire founder husband Gillier, according to a report

The scandal is one of Manhattan legend, wrapping up the well-heeled worlds of the fashion and hospitality scenes in New York City, Paris, the Hamptons and St Barths, where both couples routinely holiday.

'Charlotte and I are in the process of getting divorced  she wants to get remarried. '[She] is getting married to Thierry Gillier, the ex-husband of her sister.

'It is very difficult but I have nothing to do with the sister of Charlotte,' Assaf told Page Six.

Charlotte refused to comment, telling Page Six: 'This is my private life. You can write whatever you want.

'I have two children in the middle, and I care about them more than the New York Post.'

It is not clear when exactly Gillier and Charlotte allegedly started cheating on their respective partners though it is said to have been sometime during the pandemic.

The source told Page Six Charlotte had started 'secretly dating other people' because she was 'hurt' that Assaf 'spent time with models during their marriage.'

Cecilia is then thought to have learned about the double betrayal by her sister and her husband last March with the source saying 'it broke Celia's heart'.

She posted cryptic posts on Instagram at that time, taking swipes at Gillier and Charlotte for lacking 'integrity.'

Twin models Cecilia and Charlotte haven't appeared on one another's social media pages since the affair came to light in March

The glamorous twin models used to spend much of their time together with their children in the Hamptons, Europe and New York City

'One would think there would be other men around than your twin sister's husband,' said one source of the scanda. The sisters are shown at Serafina, the restaurant owned by Charlotte's husband Vittorio

In one, posted March 13, she shared a meme reading: 'You're looking for three things generally, in a person: Intelligence, energy and integrity. And if they don't have the last one, don't even bother with the first two.'

She tagged her husband and sister in the post along with the hashtags '#thanks' and '#warrenbuffet'.

Two days later on March 15 she posted a close-up photo of her own red eyes with the hashtags '#momentoftruth #iknowwhoiam #nolies'.

She shared another post the following day that read: 'Maturity is learning to walk away from people & situations that threaten your peace of mind, self-respect, values, morals or self-worth.'

Charlotte Bonstrom and Vittorio Assaf in 2010 (left). Thierry Gillier and Cecilia Bonstrom in 2016 (right). The sister's are rumored to have swapped spouses

Cecilia is thought to have learned of the affair in March 2020. She posted cryptic posts on Instagram at that time, taking swipes at Gillier and Charlotte for lacking 'integrity'

Neither her sister or husband appear to feature in any of her Instagram posts after this date.

Cecilia regularly posts from fashion shoots with Zadig & Voltaire with another source telling Page Six the separated spouses still both work for the label.

'I don't know how that is going to work out. One would think there would be other men around than your twin sister's husband.'

The source said they don't think the identical twins will ever reconcile their relationship.

Last February, just one month before the alleged affair is thought to have come to light, Cecilia and Gillier gave fashion bible Vogue a tour around their Paris home.

The designer couple, who wed in 2016, posed for photos on the stairway of the new five-bedroom, 500-square-metre home describing how they had transformed the place - a stone's throw from the fashion house HQ - with 'their shared aesthetic.'

Meanwhile, last March, Charlotte set up a GoFundMe to raise money on behalf of Assaf after Serafina restaurants closed indefinitely due to the pandemic.

Assaf cofounded Serafina with Fabio Granato with its first pizza restaurant opening in New York City. It has now expanded across three continents.

Attempts by DailyMail.com to reach Assaf, Charlotte and Cecilia by phone Wednesday night for comment were unsuccessful.

Cecilia and Gillier continue to work together at Zadig & Voltaire. He founded the company and she has been artistic director since 2006
A British Airways pilot who spent a record 243 days in an American hospital with coronavirus before returning to the UK has died after mounting an extraordinary and brave battle with illness, MailOnline can reveal today.

Father-of-two Nicholas Synnott, who turned 60 in February, punched the air and hugged medical staff after being discharged from intensive care in the US and heading home to Betchworth, Surrey, shortly before Christmas.

But tragically Mr Synnott passed away last week - 15 months after he first contracted Covid-19 on a flight to Houston from Heathrow and was admitted to hospital in Texas in March last year.

The cause of death has not been revealed but it is likely to be due to complications caused by covid, which doctors said had ravaged every organ in his body.

Dr Bindu Akkanti, who cared for him in Houston, said his achievement in getting out of hospital last year was all the more remarkable because a comatose Mr Synnott suffered multi-organ failures that left doctors questioning if was 'even in there' before he rallied.

He is survived by his wife Nicola, 54, who spent every day by his bedside, and their two children Rebecca, a charity worker, and George, who is understood to be training to be a pilot like his father. They are fundraising for The Children's Trust in Mr Synnott's memory.

British Airways Director of Flight Operations, Captain Al Bridger, said: 'We are devastated by this incredibly sad news. Nick was a valued member of our pilot family and a friend to many at the airline. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this extremely difficult time'.

Mr Synnott, a top British pilot and family man, spoke of his joy at leaving hospital in December and sent his best wishes to Derek Draper, the husband of Kate Garraway, saying he hoped that Mr Draper would also get to go home too after months in intensive care.

Derek was discharged in April - after 13 months in hospital - but still required round-the-clock care.

British Airways pilot Nicholas Synnott (pictured left at work and right on a canal boat) has died aged 60 after a 15 month battle with covid including nine months in hospital

Mr Synnott was admitted to a Texas hospital in March, but left to return home to the UK in December. His wife Nicola, 54, (pictured together) a school administrator who spent every day at her husband's bedside, was praised for helping him recover last year and cared for him until he died

Father-of-two Mr Synnott, 60, punched the air after being discharged and heading home to Betchworth, Surrey, shortly before Christmas

Mr Synnott was a much loved husband to Nicola and his children Rebecca and George (pictured)

Nick's family have asked well-wishers to donate to the charity The Children's Trust, which supports young people with brain injuries and where his daughter works.

Mr Synnott died in early Jun. His family urged well-wishers to donate to The Children's Trust, where his daughter works

On a fundraising page in his memory it says: 'Nick was a much loved husband, father, brother, uncle and friend. He will be dearly missed by all that knew him.

'In lieu of flowers, please make a donation on Nick's behalf to The Children's Trust, where Rebecca (Nick's daughter) works for.

'Nick was very proud of the work Rebecca did for them, and would kindly ask you give them your support'.

The much-loved pilot had suffered respiratory failure, was treated with a ventilator and then a heart and lung machine after falling ill last year, his doctors said.

Mr Synnott, father of Rebecca, 24, and George, 21, from Surrey, became ill after a flight to Houston. His body was ravaged by the virus, and medics said his recovery was in part due to the devotion of his family.

He made an extraordinary fight back with his wife Nicola, 54, a school administrator spending every day at her husband's bedside until he left hospital nine months later.

After leaving UT Health and Memorial Hermann Hospital, Mr Synnott, punched the air and told ABC 30 News: 'My temperature was spiking over 100 degrees... then I went through sort of a dark phase where psychologically there were issues I had to come to terms with.'

He added: 'It was a tough journey but, we've got where we are.'

Doctors praised the dedication of his wife Nicky, who never left her husband's side

My Synott (centre), pictured with his siblings at a family wedding in happier times

Mr Synnott spoke out to wish luck to Derek Draper, the husband of Kate Garraway, saying he wished that he would also get out of hospital

He said that he would have liked to see Houston again, especially the city's zoo, because he looked at every day from his hospital window.

Cardiologist Dr Biswajit Kar, who treated Mr Synnott, said: 'Every organ of his body was affected by Covid-19. But yet, because his health was so good as a pilot prior to the illness, he could sustain all this and survive something as serious as this.'

Critical care specialist Dr Bindu Akkanti said the devotion of his wife was crucial to his recovery. I think all of us on our team agreed that it was his wife,' she said.
Australia and Singapore have agreed to start work on a plan for a travel bubble which would initially allow students to return.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a brief visit to Singapore on Thursday for talks with his counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.

It was the first stop for the prime minister on his way to Cornwall for the G7 leaders' summit, as well as trade and security talks in London and Paris.

Australia and Singapore have agreed to start work on a plan for a mutual travel bubble which would initially allow students to return

The two leaders also signed a memorandum of understanding on health care and health technology during the ministerial meeting

Mr Morrison said Singapore had done a 'tremendous' job in tackling Covid-19 and it was time to put systems in place to enable the two countries to open up in a similar way to the Australia-New Zealand bubble 'when we are both in a position to do so'.

'There is still some time before we reach that milestone but there is nothing impeding us - as we discussed today - from getting on with the job of putting systems in place that will enable such a bubble to emerge between Singapore and Australia,' he said.

'We discussed giving a priority to students from Singapore to be able to return to Australia to complete their studies ... and for that to occur sooner rather than later.'

Mr Lee said at the joint media conference the world was now moving into the 'next phase of the fight', in relation to the pandemic.

The 'safe and calibrated' air travel bubble would start with mutual recognition of vaccine certificates, he said.

'When ready then we can start small with an air travel bubble to build confidence on both sides,' he said.

Scott Morrison said Singapore had done a 'tremendous job' in tackling Covid-19 and said the countries would start work on a travel bubble 'when we are both in a position to do so'

It was the prime minister's first stop on his way to Cornwall for the G7 leaders' summit, as well as trade and security talks in London and Paris

The two leaders signed a memorandum of understanding on health care and health technology and agreed to start talks on a 'fintech bridge' which would make it easier to cooperate on financial technology.

As well, a 'green economy' agreement will be negotiated, alongside greater collaboration on hydrogen and other low-emissions fuels.

Mr Morrison said Australia would continue to work with Singapore to ensure regional stability.

'Australia and Singapore share many things - we share history, we share trust, we share ambition.'

At the G7, Mr Morrison will attend three sessions - on health, the economy and climate - and meet with US President Joe Biden, Japanese leader Yoshihide Suga and Korea's Moon Jae-in.

After the summit he'll meet with British PM Boris Johnson in London and hold talks in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The two leaders signed a memorandum of understanding on health care and health technology during the meeting

Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said the 'safe and calibrated' air travel bubble would start with mutual recognition of vaccine certificates

'There has never been a more important time for Australia to be at the table with the world's largest liberal democracies and advanced economies,' Mr Morrison said in a statement.

'The global pandemic and the recession it has caused means like-minded countries and businesses need to work together to lead the global recovery to restore lives and livelihoods.

'There is a lot at stake for Australia, the region and the world.'

While Mr Morrison is not expected to make any new commitments on climate, Australia is facing calls to support a so-called 'carbon border adjustment mechanism' - a levy on the carbon content of emissions-intensive imports.

Mr Morrison said while tackling climate change would be a key issue, other focus areas would be preparedness for future pandemics, business-led growth, free and fair trade and the international rules-based order.
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President Joe Biden and Jill Biden met British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Carrie Johnson on Thursday, amid a transatlantic row between the two nations over Northern Ireland.

The two leaders downplayed tensions between their nations and joked about their personal lives.

Sitting next to the prime minister, Biden recycled one of his favorite lines, saying the two men had something in common - both married above their station. Boris, 56, and Carrie Johnson, 33, married on May 29.

'I'm thrilled to meet your wife. I told the prime minister we have something in common: we both married above our station,' Biden, 78, said.

'I'm not going to disagree with the president there,' Johnson responded.

'Or indeed on anything else. I think it highly likely,' he added, in what was interpreted as a sly reference to the Northern Ireland issue.

The two couples met on a scenic deck overlooking St Ives Bay, England, a view of the Atlantic Ocean in front of them.

'It gorgeous. I don't want to go home,' Biden said.

Ahead of the meeting, officials tried to down play reports of a strain between Biden and Johnson after a report the president ordered the rebuke of the prime minister. The White House called the report 'wrong' and emphasized the special relationship between the two nations.

First lady Jill Biden, 70, was on message for the meet-and-greet, wearing a blazer with the word 'love' on the back.

'I think that were bringing love from America. This is a global conference and we are trying to bring unity across the globe and I think its needed right bow, that people feel a sense of unity from all the countries and feel a sense hope after this year of the pandemic,' she said.

After the picturesque greeting, Biden and Johnson split off to view the 1941 Atlantic Charter - they will sign a new version at their sit down - and then began their bilat, their first face-to-face meeting.

Jill Biden told reporters the president had been 'studying for weeks' ahead of his first foreign trip. 'I think hes so well prepared. Hes been studying for weeks, working up to today. Of course he knows most of the leaders thatll be here. Joe loves foreign policy. This is his forte,' she said.

While the president and prime minister met, Jill Biden, wearing a custom Brandon Maxwell dress, and Carrie Johnson, in a red LK Bennett gown, took baby Wilfred to the beach for a stroll and dip in the water.

The flurry of friendly photo-ops and joking repartee gave the message loud and clear: the special relationship is strong and there is no dissension here.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and President Joe Biden with first lady Jill Biden walk outside Carbis Bay Hotel, Carbis Bay, Cornwall

The two couples met amid tensions over Northern Ireland

Carbis Bay, United Kingdom. Carrie Johnson, wife of the Prime Minister and First Lady of the United States Dr Jill Biden reacts as Wilfred Johnson sits on the beach during the G7 leaders Summit in Carbis Bay Cornwall

First lady Jill Biden was on message, wearing a jacket with the word 'Love' on the back

President Joe Biden gives a half hug to Carrie Johnson

Carbis Bay, United Kingdom. Carrie Johnson, wife of the Prime Minister speaks with First Lady of the United States Dr Jill Biden as she walks on the beach with Wilfred Johnson sits on the beach during the G7 leaders Summit in Carbis Bay Cornwall

President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held their first face-to-face meeting

Jill Biden told reporters the Bidens were 'bringing the love' from America

The face-to-face meeting came after White House backed down following a report Biden rebuked Johnson for 'inflaming tensions' in Northern Ireland.

Officials tried to put out the diplomatic fire amid personal professional differences between the two leaders.

The flames were fanned when The Times UK reported that Biden ordered US officials to give Johnson an extraordinary diplomatic rebuke for putting the Northern Ireland peace process at risk over Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

Biden officials quickly denied the report ahead of the bilateral talks between the two leaders.

President Biden will not get 'controversial or adversarial' when he speaks to Johnson about Northern Ireland.

'It will not be controversial or adversarial,' a senior administration official told reporters on a briefing call ahead of the leaders' sit down. 'He didn't come here to give a lecture.'

Biden will say to Johnson 'what he has said publicly for a long time now,' the official noted.

The two leaders gave off a friendly vibe amid reports of personal and professional differences

President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson look at copies of the 1941 Atlantic Charter; they will sign an updated version at their meeting on Thursday

The world leaders were very animated as they discussed their new Atlantic Charter in front of the sands

Both couples hold hands as they walk along the oceanfront in St. Ives

Carrie Johnson and Jill Biden pose for pictures at the G7 sign

Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson bump elbows in front of the G7 sign during their meeting

Carrie and Jill, with her LOVE jacket in full view, look out at the beach

Biden laughs as he cracks jokes with Boris ahead of their first bilateral meeting

Biden has used the line that he has 'married above his station'

The British PM points as he walks with wife Carrie, Jill and Joe Biden on the beach

Carrie Johnson looks back as she chats with President Biden while looking out at the sea

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson with his wife Carrie on the beach at the Carbis Bay, Cornwall today, ahead of Friday's G7 summit.

Joe Biden's G7 schedule includes a meeting with the Queen after summit President Joe Biden's first foreign trip as the US leader will feature a meeting with the Queen following the G7 summit. Here's his full schedule to June 16: Thursday, June 10 Biden will meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Jill Biden will have tea separately with the Prime Minister's wife Carrie Johnson. Friday, June 11 Biden will attend the G7 summit for three days starting on Friday, to work on US policy priorities such as the economy and allied unity. Saturday, June 12 Biden will attend more G7 summit meetings in Cornwall and have bilateral meetings with fellow G7 leaders. Jill Biden will meet members of Bude Surf Veterans, which helps UK military veterans through surfing. Sunday, June 13 Biden will finish his meetings at the G7 summit. Afterward, the Bidens will meet Britain's Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. Then Biden will travel to Brussels for the night. Monday, June 14 Biden will meet NATO leaders and have a private meeting with the president of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan. Tuesday, June 15 Biden will hold more NATO meetings and then fly to Geneva for the night. Wednesday, June 16 Biden will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva Advertisement

'He believes that the Good Friday agreement is the foundation for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland,' the official said, adding that 'the current discussions between the UK and EU should continue the vitality of Good Friday agreement.'

And officials were quick to blast The Times report, calling it incorrect.

'This is wrong,' a senior administration official said.

'First this discussion wasn't directed by the president. It was not heightened. As with any ally we have diplomatic conversations about areas where we have concern at many levels,' the official added.

According to the report, the US issued a 'demarche' to Britain, an official diplomatic censure not normally used against allies, especially those as close as the two nations.

The United States was said to have 'strongly urged' Britain to 'stay cool' and reach an agreement, even if that meant making 'unpopular compromises'.

The report prompted a massive backlash in the UK as Biden arrived in Cornwall for his meeting with Johnson ahead of the G7 summit. The president is proud of his Irish roots and refers to them often in speeches.

After Brexit, a new agreement was needed for the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, which is part of the European Union, because the EU requires certain goods to be inspected and others not to be admitted at all.

There is a June 30 deadline breathing down the neck of both sides as negotiations over goods - including things like sausages - get contentious.

A spokesman for Number 10 Downing Street refused to be drawn on the White House criticism.

'I don't think you would expect me to get into discussions with other countries but I think we have been clear that we need to urgently find solutions that support the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and minimise disruption to communities in Northern Ireland, particularly to avoid disruption to critical supplies such as medicines,' he said.

'That is why we have been and continue to work closely with the EU to try to find pragmatic solutions that achieve those objectives.'

The White House interference is not likely to be welcomed by the British and the row seems certain to overshadow the talks between Biden and Johnson.

It also highlights the fundamental political differences between the two leaders.

Biden, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who takes pride in his expertise in global affairs, was a staunch opponent of Brexit, the movement Johnson championed.

And Biden once called a Johnson a 'physical and emotional clone' of Donald Trump.

Plans for their first meeting got off to a rocky start when Biden's team was forced to ground Marine One because of the rain and fog. The pair were supposed to hold talks of the St. Michael's Mount island near St. Ives, but had to move the trip onto the mainland because of the weather.

Biden will now be travelling in a smaller presidential motorcade because his normal mode of transport on roads, The Beast, is too big to fit down country lanes in Cornwall.

The White House backed down on Thursday after President Joe Biden was accused of rebuking British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for 'inflaming tensions' in Northern Ireland. Biden and his wife Jill left Washington on Wednesday morning and landed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to address US Air Force personnel stationed in Britain

US President Joe Bid embarking Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base to travel to England for the G7 and meeting with Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson was seen as a more kindred spirit of Donald Trump; the two men are seen together at the August 2019 G7 meeting in France. Biden once called Boris Trump's 'clone'

How sausages sparked a cold meat war between the UK and EU The 'sausage war' row is the latest front in the ongoing stand-off between Britain and the European Union over Northern Ireland. When Boris Johnson agreed a Brexit deal with Brussels to make Brexit happen it included the Northern Ireland Protocol. This is a complex trade agreement that tries to deal with the fact that Ulster is the only part of the UK with an EU land border, with Ireland. The new arrangements have caused some disruption to trade since the start of the year as firms have struggled with new processes and administration. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which ended decades of sectarian violence in Ulster, the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland must remain 'soft', ie no 'hard' border posts with checks on traffic. The NIP, which was signed off by both sides, effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the European single market for goods in order to avoid a hard border with Ireland. Despite Mr Johnson's claims to the contrary, it has meant erecting a trade barrier in the Irish Sea for goods crossing from Great Britain, which have to face customs checks before entering Northern Ireland - even if they are not being taken into the Republic. A six-month 'grace period' for these checks was agreed to allow the infrastructure to be put in place, which runs out at the end of June. But the checks have infuriated the loyalist community in Northern Ireland, who are outraged at the internal UK free market is being interrupted. Earlier this year, armed loyalist groups said they were temporarily withdrawing support for the 1998 peace agreement due to concerns over the Brexit deal. The groups said they believed Britain, Ireland and the EU had breached their commitments to the peace deal. The UK Government has not ruled out unilaterally extending the check-free period after June 30, but that has angered the EU, which says that the UK must honour the deal it signed up to less than six months ago. Brussels has threatened to launch a trade war against Britain if it fails to implement checks on goods entering Northern Ireland under the terms of the Brexit 'divorce' settlement which Mr Johnson signed. European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic last said patience with the UK was wearing 'very, very thin' after talks in London ended in deadlock. Advertisement

Johnson was seen as more of a kindred spirit to Trump, both of whom fashioned careers as political outsiders trying to shake up the establishment.

American officials tried to put a warm spin on the meeting.

'We think it makes all the sense in the world for the president's first overseas trip to be to the United Kingdom,' a senior administration official said, pointing out the special relationship between the two nations.

The Biden administration is also seeking to reclaim the United States' presence and leadership on the global stage after four years of Trump's isolationist strategy.

'America is back' is the phrase Biden and his team have used over and over again.

In their sit-down, Biden and Johnson will discuss climate change, the coronavirus pandemic, creating an infrastructure financing program for developing countries, Afghanistan and a refresher of the 80-year-old Atlantic Charter between the two nations.

Weather has changed some of the plans.

Drizzles and fog surrounded the Cornwall region on Thursday, causing the White House and Downing Street to scrap plans for a scenic face-to-face meeting between the two leaders on St. Michael's Mount, a 17th-century castle on a tidal island just off the coast of Cornwall.

The meeting, instead, will take place on the mainland at Carbis Bay, where the G7 summit is taking place. Additionally, Jill Biden's previously scheduled tour of the historic castle with Carrie Johnson was cancelled.

At their sitdown, Biden and Johnson will pledge to open a US-UK travel corridor 'as soon as possible' and open up Transatlantic travel restrictions.

They will also establish a new 'Atlantic Charter,' modelled on the one put together by Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in World War II.

The 1941 Atlantic Charter was devised at sea on board the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the American ship USS Augusta. Downing Street had planned to send the modern namesake of HMS Prince of Wales along the coast of Cornwall to provided the backdrop for the two leaders' sit down.

At his meeting with Johnson, the two men will view the original Atlantic Charter before they sign a 21st century version.

The new Atlantic Charter will focus on threats to modern democracies, an agenda item the White House as emphasized ahead of the trip as American worries grow about the growing world influence of Russia and China.

The areas the two leaders will pledge to work together include defending democracy, reaffirming the importance of collective security, and building a fair and sustainable global trading system.

It will also recognize the threats of cyber attacks and climate change.

Biden called climate change a great threat to the world.

'When I went over to the tank in the Pentagon when I was first was elected vice president with President Obama, the military sat us down and let us know what the greatest threats facing America were, the greatest physical threats,' he told Air Force personnel stationed at Royal Air Force Maidenhall on Wednesday night.

'This is not a joke. You know what the Joint Chiefs told us the greatest physical threat facing America was? Global warming,' he said.

On the Northern Ireland issue, The Times reported that Yael Lempert, charge d'affaires at the US Embassy in London, told Brexit Minister Lord Frost the UK's stance was imperiling the peace process. She had been ordered to issue the diplomatic rebuke, known as a demarche, a step rarely taken between allies, The Times said.

They are often issued alongside a summons for the country's ambassador to attend the Foreign Office.

Government minutes from June 3 reveal Lord Frost was told of President Biden's 'great concern' in a tense encounter in which Lempert is said to have 'slowly and gravely read her instructions aloud'.

She is said to have implied the UK had been 'inflaming the rhetoric' and asked if the Government would 'keep it cool'. She also warned the dispute between Britain and the EU was 'commanding the attention' of Biden ahead of his meeting with Johnson.

The row now seems certain to overshadow talks between Mr Johnson and Mr Biden today ahead of the G7 meeting of world leaders in Cornwall. Mr Biden arrived in the UK with huge fanfare last night.

How 'Irish Joe' Biden has refused to support UK over Northern Ireland Their nations may have a famed 'special relationship,' but President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet for the first time today against a backdrop of differences both political and personal. Mr Biden hopes to use his first overseas trip as president to reassure European allies that the United States had shed the transactional tendencies of Donald Trump's term and is a reliable partner again. But tensions may simmer beneath the surface of Biden's meeting with Johnson. The president staunchly opposed the Brexit movement, the British exodus from the European Union that Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern with the future of Northern Ireland. And Biden once called the British leader a 'physical and emotional clone' of Trump. Mr Biden has refused to take sides in Northern Ireland since he entered the White House in January, despite the UK being seen as the US's main ally in Western Europe. His rebuke to Boris Johnson is a marked departure from the US's hostility to the EU under his predecessor. Mr Trump spent his four-year term embroiled in rows with European nations over transatlantic trade and the level of contributions made by Nato member states to defence spending levels. But Mr Biden is seeking to rebuild relations with the EU, and his criticism of Mr Johnson and the UK should be seen through that prism. In March, regarding the current impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol, a spokesman said: 'We view that as a trade issue to be resolved between the UK and the EU. We hope that both sides are able to return to the table and discuss the implementation of the agreement.' They should also been seen through the context of the president's own personal and familial interest in Ireland. Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish roots, has warned that nothing should undermine Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday peace accord. Some on the British side have viewed Biden warily because of his heritage. Mr Biden has previously spoken with pride about his Irish Catholic roots in his Pennsylvania birthplace, and he travelled to County Mayo in 2016 to visit distant relatives. He is seen as far more open to Irish re-unification than his predecessor. And he is unlikely to see eye-to-eye with loyalists like the DUP. In 2015 he sparked fury, when, as a senator, he quipped to an Irish delegation that no one 'wearing orange' was welcome in his house on St Patrick's Day, a comment seen as a slur against Protestants in Ulster. Mr Biden was also photographed alongside former Sinn Fein president Mr Adams and with his arm around the party's then US representative, Rita O'Hare, in 2017. In 1972 she was arrested in Northern Ireland for the attempted murder of a British Army officer in Belfast the previous year. Advertisement

The memo said the US 'strongly urged' Britain to come to a 'negotiated settlement' even if it meant 'unpopular compromises'.

But Lempert, who is America's most senior diplomat in Britain, said that if the UK could accept demands to follow EU rules on agricultural standards, Mr Biden would ensure the matter 'wouldn't negatively affect the chances of reaching a US/UK free trade deal.'

A ban affecting goods including burgers and chicken nuggets is due to come into force at the end of this month when a grace period expires.

Tory MP Peter Bone told MailOnline that if Biden does comment publicly he will be interfering in the 'internal affairs' of the UK.

'It isn't anything to do with President Biden. It would be very strange if we were to comment on a domestic issue relating to a part of the US. It is an internal matter.

'I would be very surprised if he says anything in public. And obviously what people say anonymously must be taken with not just a pinch of salt, a pot of salt.'

And long-standing Eurosceptic Tory John Redwood today said: 'If President Biden wishes to back a good outcome on the island of Ireland he needs to press the EU to respect the UK internal market and the views of the majority in Northern Ireland. It is the EU disrupting trade.'

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: 'We've just seen an unprecedented rebuke from President Biden in relation to the negotiations in relation to Northern Ireland.

'And that comes on the back of months of chaos, of lack of preparedness and, frankly, the Government misleading the public.

'I've worked in Northern Ireland. I know what it means for those communities and the way the Government is going about this is undermining the peace process. But it's now also undermining our relationship with America. So we need to make progress on this.'

At their arrival in the UK on Wednesday night, Joe and Jill Biden received a warm welcome at the base, garnering several rounds of applause. They spoke outdoors as the sun set behind them. Both Bidens wore face masks but took them off to speak.

President Biden mentioned his late son Beau, a major in the Delaware Army National Guard. He teared up as he thanked military personnel the Royal Air Force Mildenhall for their service.

'I wish my major was here to thank you as well,' he said referencing his late son, who died of brain cancer in 2015. 'You're the best of our country,' he added.

He also outlined the goals of his trip and the message he wanted to give to world: 'The United States is back and the democracies of the world are standing together to face the toughest challenges.'

Biden said during his meetings with fellow leaders, he would focus on COVID, climate change, and on protecting themselves from 'the growing threat of ransomware attacks...[and] the autocrats who are letting it happen.'

After his G7 meeting, Biden heads over to the main continent, where he will meet in Brussels with NATO and EU leaders, where the Russian and Chinese threats will top the agenda.

Biden is also facing mounting criticism of his domestic policy during his first foreign trip.

On Thursday, newly released statistics showed inflation rose by 5 percent in April compared to 2020, the biggest jump since the Great Recession in 2008.

The administration is also trying to resurrect infrastructure talks that collapsed with Republican Senator Shelley Capito last week.

There is also intense criticism over Vice President Kamala Harris' trip to the Northern Triangle and her meetings with the presidents of Guatemala and Mexico.

The White House on Thursday morning insisted her trip was a 'success' - despite reports stating insiders were 'perplexed' by her snippy answers when asked why she refuses to visit the border.

She also enraged progressive Democrats by telling migrants to not make the 'dangerous trek' to the US-Mexico border.

'Do not come', insisted during a press conference with the President of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei.

Giammattei sat down for an interview for Fox News on Wednesday night where he said Biden was to blame for the border crisis.

Giammattei also said he'd offered a solution to Vice President Kamala Harris by urging the US to work with him to prosecutor people smugglers.

Giammattei told Sean Hannity reporter Sara Carter: 'You can see that humanitarian messages were used here by the coyotes in a distorted manner.

'They said that they were going to support family reunification.

'So the coyotes came and took the children and teenagers to the United States.

'And the border filled up. Not only with people from Guatemala, but lots of people.

'That's why we have suggested that the messaging be clear.'

PM and president to discuss opening the UK-US travel corridor 'as soon as possible' and a new 'Atlantic Charter' modelled on FDR and Churchill President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will pledge to open a US-UK travel corridor 'as soon as possible' and open up Transatlantic travel restrictions when the two leaders met face-to-face for the first time on Thursday. They will also establish a new 'Atlantic Charter,' modelled on the one put together by Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in World War II. International travel will be a top issue at this week's G7 summit, where the coronavirus pandemic has essentially halted traffic as the summer holiday season approaches. Johnson planned to press Biden about a 'green channel' between their respective nations so those who are vaccinated could travel without observing a quarantine. Before the outbreak of coronavirus more than 5 million British subjects visited the US and over 4.5 million Americans visited the UK every year  more than any other country. To restart transatlantic travel, the two leaders will launch a new travel taskforce that will make recommendations on safely reopening it. Additionally, Biden and Johnson will also agree to a new 'Atlantic Charter', modelled on the historic joint statement made by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 that set out the leaders goals for the world post-WWII. The 'special relationship' between the US and the UK was formed during the dark days of that war. Since then, leaders of the two nations have used it to describe the close alignment of American and British interests. Biden touted the importance of the 'special relationship' between the US and the United Kingdom in his remarks to Air Force personnel upon his arrival in the UK. 'These bonds of history, the shared sacrifice, run deep and are strong, based on values. They endure - the connection and camaraderie between our troops, this community and American citizens, stationed in UK,' he said. 'You are not only warriors. You are bridge builders. You are an essential part of this special relationship.' The 1941 Atlantic Charter was devised at sea on board the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the American ship USS Augusta. The modern namesake of HMS Prince of Wales will sail along the coast of Cornwall providing the backdrop for the two leaders' sit down, which will take place at St Michael's Mount, a 17th-century castle on an island just off the coast of Cornwall. The new Atlantic Charter will focus on threats to modern democracies, an agenda item the White House as emphasized ahead of the trip as American worries grow about the growing world influence of Russia and China. The areas the two leaders will pledge to work together include defending democracy, reaffirming the importance of collective security, and building a fair and sustainable global trading system. It will also recognize the threats of cyber attacks and climate change. Advertisement

The HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier patrols the waters off St Ives, Cornwall ahead of the three-day G7 summit

Boris Johnson discusses environmental issues at the St Issey Primary school on June 10, 2021 near Wadebridge in Cornwall
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Democrats time is running out because a death in the party could cause them to lose the Senate majority.

'During the Obama admin, folks thought wed have a 60 Dem majority for a while. It lasted 4 months,' the New York Democrat tweeted Wednesday afternoon. 'Dems are burning precious time & impact negotiating w/GOP who wont even vote for a Jan 6 commission.'

She added, 'McConnells plan is to run out the clock. Its a hustle. We need to move now.'

Ocasio-Cortez was referring to the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who died in August 2009, seven months into Obama's tenure.

Kennedy's seat was won that January, in a special election, by Republican Sen. Scott Brown, killing the Democrats' 60-vote filibuster-proof majority.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned the Democrats they could lose their slim Senate majority if one of their members died

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Wednesday afternoon that Dems were 'burning precious time' by trying to negotiate with Senate Republicans

In the Senate currently, the Democrats have just 50 votes and get an assist from Vice President Kamala Harris in case of a tie.

Among the oldest members of the Senate are Democrats including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who turns 88 this month, 81-year-old Sen. Patrick Leahy and 79-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders.

AOC has called on Senate Democrats to abandon the 60-vote legislative filibuster in order to get some of their top priorities through while they have a majority.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell used the filibuster for the first time this Congress to ensure a bill that formed a 9/11 style commission on the January 6 Capitol attack didn't pass.

Other House-passed legislation stuck in the Senate includes voting rights bills, the pro-LGBTQ 'Equality Act' bill, gun control legislation and the George Floyd police reform bill.

President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan - which hasn't been taken up in the House - is also being held up by bipartisan negotiations.

Earlier Wednesday, AOC insisted Biden and the Senate Democrats would be 'setting the planet on fire' if they kept 'playing patty-cake' with the GOP by removing climate proposals from the $1 trillion infrastructure plan.

The New York Democrat shared a tweet from Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, that warned, 'An infrastructure package that goes light on climate and clean energy should not count on every Democratic vote.'

'Yep,' AOC said, adding, 'Mitch McConnell and the Koch brothers are not worth setting the planet on fire for.'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dashed off two tweets agreeing with Sen. Martin Heinrich that an infrastructure package that 'goes light on climate and green energy' proposals may not attract every Democratic vote

AOC also tweeted Wednesday that President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats should assess whether it's worth 'playing patty-cake' with GOP senators, as they've threatened to block voting rights legislation and want a narrower infrastructure bill

'I know some Dems may disagree with me, but that's my unpopular opinion of the day,' Ocasio-Cortez continued.

She also blasted the Biden administration's continued push for bipartisanship.

'Pres. Biden & Senate Dems should take a step back and ask themselves if playing patty-cake w GOP Senators is really worth the dismantling of people's voting rights, setting the planet on fire, allowing massive corporations and the wealthy to not pay their fair share of taxes, etc,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

AOC was joining a chorus of progressives in Congress who were warning Biden that every Democratic vote may not be guaranteed.

Heinrich had linked to Politico's interview with Biden's National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy that was headlined, 'Infrastructure plan could omit some climate proposals.'

AOC encouraged President Joe Biden to act unilaterally and cancel student loan debt for Americans

Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, shared the same interview on Twitter.

'Just a gentle, friendly reminder that the executive branch doesn't write the bills,' Schatz said.

The more moderate Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet also suggested he could hold out his vote if climate change proposals are omitted.

'Colorado and New Mexico share a watershed. I agree wholeheartedly with my friend [Sen. Martin Heinrich],' Bennet tweeted.

AOC has made climate change one of her key issues, rolling out a 'Green New Deal' proposal during her first weeks in office in 2019.

On Wednesday she also encouraged Biden to unilaterally act on canceling student loan debt.

'Additionally, the Senate blockages make Biden's unwillingness to act on student loan debt - something he can do *without* Congress but hasn't yet - all the more glaring,' AOC tweeted. '#CancelStudentDebt is 1 of the few, rare opportunities Biden has to go big w/o the Senate. He needs to take it.'
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Megyn Kelly has rallied to the defense of a teacher who resigned from a $52,000-a-year New Jersey private school for requiring critical race theory in its curriculum and for creating a 'hostile culture of conformity and fear'.

Kelly, who last year removed her three young children from elite New York City prep schools for taking a hard left turn, also praised a black Columbia University professor for urging parents to pull their kids from the Dwight-Englewood School in Bergen County.

Dana Stangel-Plowe blasted the school in her resignation letter on Tuesday, saying it had 'changed in ways that undermine its mission and prevent me from holding true to my conscience as an educator'.

Stangel-Plowe said Head of School Rodney De Jarnett told the entire faculty that he would fire everyone if he could to replace them with people of color. She also accused the school of segregating teachers by their skin color - and said students were also made to segregate themselves 'within the oppressor or oppressed group.'

Former Fox News and NBC star Kelly hit out at the school online, tweeting: 'Another loving teacher steps away from the job & kids she adores rather than force racist, divisive ideology on her students.

'Good for her & shame on this school Dwight-Englewood.'

Megyn Kelly, the 50-year-old broadcast journalist and podcaster, rallied to the defense of a teacher who resigned from a $52,000-a-year New Jersey private school for requiring critical race theory in its curriculum and for creating a  hostile culture of conformity and fear.

'Another loving teacher steps away from the job & kids she adores rather than force racist, divisive ideology on her students,' the former Fox News and NBC star tweeted on Tuesday, referencing Dana Stangel-Plowe. 'Good for her & shame on this school Dwight-Englewood.'

Kelly, who now hosts a popular podcast, also backed John McWhorter, an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University who offered his support for Stangel-Plowe. She posted a tweet with a link to a DailyMail.com story quoting McWhorter as saying: Truly antiracist parents, in the name of love of their kids, should pull them from Dwight-Englewood next fall'

Kelly, who now hosts a popular podcast, also backed John McWhorter, an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University who offered his support for Stangel-Plowe.

She posted a tweet with a link to a DailyMail.com story quoting McWhorter as saying: Truly antiracist parents, in the name of love of their kids, should pull them from Dwight-Englewood next fall.

'Only this will arrest these misguided Elect parishioners from their quest to forge a new reality for us all.'

In March, Kelly appeared on HBOs Real Time with Bill Maher. She revealed on the show why she and her husband, novelist Doug Brunt, stopped sending their children to prestigious Manhattan private schools.

Kelly's sons - Edward, 11, and Thatcher, 7 - attended the $55,900-a-year Collegiate School on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Her daughter, nine-year-old Yardley, is believed to have attended the $57,385-a-year Spence School on the Upper East Side.

'We loved our schools,' she said, explaining that the boys went to all-boys schools, and her daughter an all-girls school.

'Loved our teachers, loved the students and faculty and parents.

In March, Kelly told HBO's Bill Maher that she and her husband removed their three young children from elite Manhattan prep schools because of 'hard-left' indoctrination

New York City Collegiate School on Manhattan's Upper West Side, which her sons attended

Kelly and Brunt trick or treating near their Manhattan home with their sons Edward, 11, and Thatcher Bray, 7; and nine-year-old daughter, Yardley Evans at Halloween in 2019

'They were definitely leftist - we are more center right - but that was fine; my whole family are Democrats.

'But then they went hard left, and then they started to take a really hard turn toward social justice stuff.'

She said her sons' school in particular troubled her.

When he was in third grade, she said, they 'unleashed a three-week experimental trans-education program.'

Kelly said it was difficult for her son to understand, and not helpful.

Her son was in a class where the children were eight and nine at the time.

'It wasn't about support  we felt that it was more like they were trying to convince them,' she said. 'Like, come on over.'

She also said her kindergartner, Thatcher, 'was told to write a letter to the Cleveland Indians objecting to their mascot.'

Kelly said: 'He's six. Can he learn how to spell Cleveland before we activate him?'

She added: 'If he's going to be activated, Doug and I should do it.'

Kelly said it was a question of 'reason and unreason'.

Collegiate School is ranked as one of the best private schools in the country and also claims to be the oldest.

It counts JFK Jr., his nephew Jack Schlossberg, and Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff among its alumni.

John McWhorter, an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, has called for parents to pull their kids out of a $52,000-a-year private school

He tweeted his support for Dana Stangel-Plowe - who resigned from the Dwight-Englewood School on Tuesday over the school's teaching of critical race theory

Dana Stangel-Plowe, who taught at the Dwight-Englewood School in Bergen County, accused the school of creating a 'hostile culture of conformity and fear'

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and CNBC broadcaster Andrew Ross Sorkin are among those who sent their children there.

The Englewood, New Jersey-based school is the latest flashpoint in a raging debate over school curriculums that now include controversial 'anti-racist' and critical race theory.

McWhorter, a frequent critic of anti-racism ideology, tweeted his support for Dana Stangel-Plowe - who resigned from the Dwight-Englewood School on Tuesday.

'All hail Dana Stangel-Plowe, who has resigned from the Dwight-Englewood School, which teaches students "antiracism" that sees life as nothing but abuse of power, and teaches that cringing, hostile group identity against oppression is the essence of a self,' McWhorter tweeted.

The academic is also a distinguished journalist, who serves as a contributing editor at The Atlantic magazine.

'Truly antiracist parents, in the name of love of their kids, should pull them from the Dwight-Englewood school as of next fall. Only this will arrest these misguided Elect parishioners from their quest to forge a new reality for us all,' he added.

Stangel-Plowe herself retweeted McWhorter's praise.

Stangel-Plowe said Head of School Rodney De Jarnett told the entire faculty that he would fire everyone if he could to replace them with people of color

She also accused the school, pictured, of segregating teachers by their skin color pondered if the school would start to racially segregate its students

She did so a day after accusing the school of creating a 'hostile culture of conformity and fear' in her resignation letter.

Her resignation letter was published by the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, (FAIR) an organization created to combat critical race theory teachings in school.

'I'm not doing any interviews,' Stangel-Plowe said when reached by DailyMail.com over the phone on Wednesday evening.

The move comes after it was recently announced that Dr. Mirangela Buggs, who has served as Director of Equity and Diversity Engagement for the Dwight-Englewood School since 2017, would be leaving her post for a job at another private school in London.

The American School in London, whose fees run to $40,000-a-year, announced in a press release in March that Buggs would take on a new role as Director of Institutional Equity. Her appointment was confirmed months before Stangel-Plowe's dramatic resignation. DailyMail.com has contacted Buggs for further comment.

FAIR said Stangel-Plowe is an 'award-winning teacher' and a graduate of Cornell University, as well as a published poet, in highlighting her credentials.

'I became a teacher at Dwight-Englewood because, as a parent, I loved how the school both nurtured and challenged my own children. Today, I am resigning from a job I love because D-E has changed in ways that undermine its mission and prevent me from holding true to my conscience as an educator,' she wrote.

'I believe that D-E is failing our students. Over the past few years, the school has embraced an ideology that is damaging to our students' intellectual and emotional growth and destroying any chance at creating a true community among our diverse population.'

She added: 'I reject the hostile culture of conformity and fear that has taken hold of our school.'

The move comes after it was recently announced that Dr. Mirangela Buggs, center, who has served as Director of Equity and Diversity Engagement for the Dwight-Englewood School since 2017, would be leaving her post for a job in London

Dana Stangel-Plowe resigned from her job teaching at a private school after condemning its decision to teach students' critical race theory, and did so via a video statement and email

Stangel-Plowe claimed that the school's ideology requires students to see themselves 'not as individuals, but as representatives of a group, forcing them to adopt the status of privilege or victimhood.'

'They must locate themselves within the oppressor or oppressed group, or some intersectional middle where they must reckon with being part-oppressor and part-victim. This theory of power hierarchies is only one way of seeing the world, and yet it pervades D-E as the singular way of seeing the world,' she wrote.

Stangel-Plowe wrote that her students would arrive in her classroom accepting critical race theory as fact.

'People born with less melanin in their skin are oppressors, and people born with more melanin in their skin are oppressed. Men are oppressors, women are oppressed, and so on. This is the dominant and divisive ideology that is guiding our adolescent students,' she wrote.

Stangel-Plowe claimed that critical race theory would hinder her the ability of her students to 'read, write and think.'

'I teach students who recoil from a poem because it was written by a man. I teach students who approach texts in search of the oppressor. I teach students who see inequities in texts that have nothing to do with power,' she wrote.

'Students have internalized the message that this is the way we read and think about the world, and as a result, they fixate on power and group identity. This fixation has stunted their ability to observe and engage with the full fabric of human experience in our literature.'

Stangel-Plowe added that it was her opinion that the school was failing to teach 'intellectual curiosity, humility, honesty, reason, and the capacity to question ideas and consider multiple perspectives.'

'In our school, the opportunity to hear competing ideas is practically non-existent,' she wrote.

She added: 'Sadly, the school is leading many to become true believers and outspoken purveyors of a regressive and illiberal orthodoxy.'

'Understandably, these students have found comfort in their moral certainty, and so they have become rigid and closed-minded, unable or unwilling to consider alternative perspectives,' she wrote.

'These young students have no idea that the school has placed ideological blinders on them.'

She said that not all students are 'true believers' and claimed that many pretend to agree 'because of pressure to conform.'

'I've heard from students who want to ask a question but stop for fear of offending someone. I have heard from students who don't participate in discussions for fear of being ostracized,' Stangel-Plowe wrote.

Critical race theory teaches that racism is a social construct used to oppress people of color, and that it is present in almost all aspects of everyday life.

Its supporters say the theory helps illuminate the obstacles faced by BIPOC (black, indigenous and people of color) individuals in their everyday lives, that their white counterparts do not have to worry about.

The teaching of critical race theory has become a cultural lightning rod in recent months, particularly when taught in schools. Critics claim it is unnecessarily divisive, and teaches children that they are either victims or oppressors from an early age.

It was not immediately clear when the Dwight-Englewood School began teaching critical race theory, but the school has previously faced race-related scandals.

In 2019, the school removed and investigated a student for a racist and anti-Semitic 'hate' messages scribbled in the stalls of a boys' bathroom, De Jarnett said in a statement obtained by NorthJersey.com.

After the school started teaching critical race theory, Stangel-Plowe claimed that one student even did not want to finish a personal essay about an experience she had in a foreign country over fears the essay would be racist.

Stangel-Plowe also claimed some students were 'self-censoring' their opinions for fear of being frozen out by peers if they said the wrong thing

'In her fear, she actually stopped herself from thinking. This is the very definition of self-censorship,' Stangel-Plowe wrote.

Stangel-Plowe claimed that in 2019 she tried to 'introduce positive and constructive alternative views' but they fell on 'deaf ears.'

'You expressed dismay, but I did not hear any follow up from you or other administrators. Since then, the stifling conformity has only intensified,' she wrote.

'Last fall, two administrators informed faculty that certain viewpoints simply would not be tolerated during our new 'race explicit' conversations with our new 'anti-racist' work. They said that no one would be allowed to question the orthodoxy regarding 'systemic racism.' The message was clear, and the faculty went silent in response.'

Stangel-Plowe added that the faculty members are pervaded by fear and at that the Head of School Rodney De Jarnett told the entire faculty that he would fire everyone if he could to replace them with people of color.

'During a recent faculty meeting, teachers were segregated by skin color. Teachers who had light skin were placed into a 'white caucus' group and asked to 'remember' that we are 'White' and 'to take responsibility for [our] power and privilege',' she wrote.

'D-E's racial segregation of educators, aimed at leading us to rethink of ourselves as oppressors, was regressive and demeaning to us as individuals with our own moral compass and human agency.'

Stangel-Plowe then pondered if the school would start to racially segregate its students.

'I reject D-E's essentialist, racialist thinking about myself, my colleagues, and my students,' she wrote.

'Neither the color of my skin nor the 'group identity' assigned to me by D-E dictates my humanist beliefs or my work as an educator.'

She added: 'Being told that it does is offensive and wrong, and it violates my dignity as a human being. My conscience does not have a color.'

Documents provided by FAIR show the posh school's teachings on whiteness

Joe Algrant, the principal of Dwight-Englewood's Upper School, told the New York Post that he could not comment on personnel matters.

'In this case all I can say is that Ms. Stangel-Plowe notified us several months ago that she would not be returning next school year,' he said.

Multiple other expensive private schools have also hit the headlines in recent months over CRT. Elite Manhattan school Dalton saw some parents hit out at its alleged obsession with critical race theory.

And Grace Church School - another private facility located in NoHo - fired math teacher Paul Rossi after he spoke out against CRT.

Another high-profile critic, banker Andrew Gutmann, announced plans to pull his daughter out of elite Manhattan school Brearley over his concerns with CRT.
Conservative pundits laid into Dr Anthony Fauci on Wednesday night, sarcastically branding him King Tony Fauci, after the immunologist suggested that attacks on him were 'attacks on science.'

'The man does think he's some kind of deity,' said Laura Ingraham on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle. 'His argument is essentially... 'I am the science! I am the truth!' she scoffed.

While fellow Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson called him 'King Tony Fauci' for the doctor's self-aggrandizing comments.

'Normal people don't talk that way,' he said. 'It's not Fauci who just believes he is immune. You are not allowed to say anything negative about him or the culture revolution.'

Sean Hannity, likewise seized on Fauci's remarks, saying that he 'got really p*ssed off, very defensive, even indignant, trying to claim any criticism of him is a criticism of science.'

Fauci's remarks seemingly equating himself with science also unleashed a wave of scorn on Twitter, with critics on the right calling the veteran doctor a 'petty tyrant' with a God complex.

Fauci's comments and the ensuing firestorm came after Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton called on Fauci to resign, or face termination, arguing that he misled the American people on the origins of COVID-19 and the use of face masks at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Laura Ingraham, the host of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle, derided Fauci's remarks, saying that he was making himself out to be a 'deity'

Sean Hannity said Fauci 'got really pissed off, very defensive, even indignant, trying to claim any criticism of him is a criticism of science'

Fox News' Tucker Carlson took a swipe at Fauci, calling him 'King Tony Fauci'

'A lot of what you're seeing as attacks on me are, quite frankly, are attacks on science because all of the things I have spoken about from the very beginning consistently have been fundamentally based on science,' Fauci said during Wednesday's interview.

He continued: 'If you are trying to get at me as a public health official and scientist, youre really attacking not only Dr. Anthony Fauci, you are attacking science. And anybody that looks at what is going on clearly sees that. You have to be asleep not to see that.'

Fauci, of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was responding to a question from Todd about the dangers of discrediting public health officials, saying that it could make people lose confidence in the vaccine program, the way it happened in Russia.

Right-wing critics of President Joe Biden's top medical adviser quickly took to Twitter to pour scorn on him over his comments.

Newsmax reporter John Cardillo did not mince words, writing: 'Only a sociopathic narcissist speaks of themselves in the third person and considers themselves the final say on "science." Fauci should die in prison then be buried under the place.'

Curtis Houck, managing editor of NewsBusters, opined in a tweet: 'Fauci comes off horribly in this. He comes off like an angry, petty tyrant who's upset that he's no longer a dictator ruling the country under the guise of everything he said being "fundamentally based on science."'

Fighting words: Dr Anthony Fauci came under fire on Wednesday after telling MSNBC's Chuck Todd that attacks on him were 'attacks on science'

Meanwhile, conservative talk radio host Buck Sexton mockingly paraphrased French King Louis XVI's famous saying 'I am the state,' tweeting: '"Le Science, Cest moi" - Dr Fauci.'

Fauci came on Todd's Meet The Press show a day after Senator Blackburn, from Tennessee, posted a video accusing the scientist of working with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and 'cherry-picking' facts so the public only knew what Zuckerberg and Fauci wanted them to know.

Fauci said that he did not want to criticize a US senator, but said he had 'no idea what she was talking about.'

Conservative politicians and pundits, who have long criticized Fauci for his handling of the pandemic, stepped up their attacks on him last week, after a trove of his emails were released to The Washington Post and Buzzfeed News through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Right-wing critics claim that the emails paint Fauci as a liar who flip flopped on the effectiveness of using masks and dismissing the possibility that the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, and did not came from an animal.

Marsha Blackburn is one of three GOP senators who are calling on Fauci to resign

In one email that was written on February 5, 2020, before COVID-19 had become a pandemic, Fauci wrote: '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. 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,' reads the email, which Fauci sent to Sylvia Burwell.

Burwell, who is president of American University and a former Secretary of Health and Human Services, had asked Fauci whether she should take a mask to the airport.

Weeks after Fauci sent his response to Burwell, at the end of February 2020, there were still fewer than 100 reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance on April 3, 2020, to recommend that people wear masks, Fauci also promoted that message.

Senators Blackburn, Cotton and Rubio joined forced this week to demand that Fauci step down, or be fired by the Biden Administration.

'Dr. Fauci has lost the confidence of the American people with his repeated evasions, misdirection, and politicized statements,' Cotton said, as Fox News reported. 'If he wont resign, Joe Biden should fire him.'

Rubio claimed that Fauci has withheld information from the public for 16 months, dismissed 'plausible explanations of COVIDs origin' and lie to Congress.

'He is supposed to be a fact-based public health official, not a pundit distorting the truth to conform with his personal judgment,' said the senator from Florida.

Following the release of Faucis emails, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called Fauci an 'undeniable asset in our countrys pandemic response.'

Asked during a press briefing if she can imagine any circumstance where Biden would ever fire Fauci, Psaki curtly replied, 'No.'
Ashli Babbitt's family have accused police in Washington, DC, of violating federal law by refusing to release records about the officer who shot and killed her during the January 6 Capitol riots.

A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of Babbitt's husband Aaron Babbitt on June 1 alleges the Metropolitan Police Department failed to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by missing a May 12 deadline to either provide him with the records or notify him that he would not be given access to them.

The lawsuit states that the FOIA request was submitted on April 21, days after the Department of Justice concluded that the unnamed police officer did not use excessive force against Babbitt in her death.

It comes after sources have said the officer went into hiding for fear of his safety after he was placed on administrative leave in January shortly after the shooting.

Ashli Babbitt's husband Aaron Babbitt (pictured with her) is suing the Metropolitan Police Department claiming it violated federal law by failing to provide him with records related to the officer who shot his wife during the January 6 Capitol riots

Video footage from the riots showed Babbitt (top right) trying to enter the Speaker's Lobby through the broken door before she was shot by an officer whose name has not been disclosed

Babbitt family attorney Terrell Roberts told CNBC the purpose of the lawsuit is to uncover records about the shooting - including the name of the officer responsible - and the investigation that followed.

It is separate from a $10million wrongful death lawsuit Roberts said he planned to file on behalf of Babbitt's family last month.

Ashli Babbitt's family have said they will file a $10million wrongful death suit against the Metropolitan Police Department

The Metropolitan Police Department's Internal Affairs Division, along with two other civil rights offices within the US Attorney's Office conducted the investigation, the Department of Justice announced in mid-April, by sifting through video footage posted to social media, Babbitt's autopsy results and statements from the officer who fired the gun as well as others who were on the scene.

'Based on that investigation, officials determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution,' the Department of Justice reported.

'Specifically, the investigation revealed no evidence to establish that, at the time the officer fired a single shot at Ms. Babbitt, the officer did not reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so in self-defense.'

Roberts, however, disagreed with that assessment.

'The actual evidence is this: the officer shot an unarmed woman who was not an immediate threat to him or any member of Congress,' Roberts previously told CNBC. 'That is inconsistent with any claim of self-defense or the defense of others, period.'

He said he and the family 'strongly disagree with the U.S. Attorney's decision, but we are not dissuaded from our goal of ultimately vindicating Ashli Babbitt's constitutional rights in the civil arena.'

Babbitt, 35, was the victim of the only gunshot fired during the riot. She was shot while trying to breach the House floor

The suit, filed on June 1 claims police did not let him know whether they would fulfilling his FOIA request

The officer is reportedly in hiding for fear of his safety, sources told RealClearInvestigations in April, as the mystery surrounding the shooting fueled rumors as to the true identity of Babbitt's killer.

He has been on administrative leave since January 7, the Capitol Police announced.

Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran, was one of hundreds of former-President Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6 in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Babbitt, and Air Force veteran, was among hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6

They started at a rally nearby, and broke-into the Capitol, breaching perimeters set by the Capitol Police Department, shortly after Trump told his followers they should pressure Republicans not to accept the results of the election.

According to the Department of Justice, Babbitt was part of a group of protestors that managed to force their way into a hallway outside the Speaker's Lobby, which leads directly to the House Chamber.

She tried to climb head-first through the broken glass window of a door separating the hallway from the lobby, which was barricaded from the inside with furniture, the department claimed in mid-April, following its investigation into Babbitt's death.

Other members of the group tried to break through the doors 'by striking them and breaking the glass with their hands, flagpoles, helmets and other objects,' the Department of Justice said, and the US Capitol Police had to evacuate members of Congress stuck inside.

One of the officers inside the lobby then fired one round from his service pistol, the department said, striking her once in her left shoulder, and causing her to fall backward onto the floor.

An emergency response team was deployed to tend to her wounds, the department concluded, before she was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Babbitt has since become a martyr for Trump supporters, with some raising over $90,000 for a memorial to her, and a pro-Babbitt group clashing with Breonna Taylor supporters in California over the weekend.

An initial scheduling conference for the lawsuit is scheduled for September 3.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump broke through the barriers of the Capitol on January 6 in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election
Parents who were forced to wait nine days before holding their newborn son after he arrived early during hotel quarantine now face a $30,000 medical bill to bring their baby home.

Melbourne woman Sarah Haidar, 27, and her husband Moe, 30, - both vaccinated against Covid-19 - landed in Brisbane on a plane from Qatar on May 26 when their original flight was cancelled due to Victoria's coronavirus outbreak.

Ms Haidar was in mandatory hotel quarantine when she was rushed to hospital due to complications with her pregnancy.

She gave birth to baby Ilyas 10 weeks early via an emergency C-section on June 1.

Mr Haidar was unable to hold her little boy as Ilyas was immediately whisked away to the neonatal ward while her husband remained isolated in his hotel room.

Melbourne couple Sarah and Moe Haidar had to wait nine days before holding their newborn baby due to Queensland's strict quarantine rules

Ms Haidar was able to hold her baby on Wednesday night after her quarantine was finally complete

The couple was finally able to hold their baby on Wednesday night when their mandatory quarantine stint was complete.

Now they want to return home to Melbourne with their son but in another cruel twist of fate they've been told the cost of a medical flight and hospital transfer is $30,000.

The new mum described the nine days of being away from her son as torture and said she burst into tears when she finally had him in her arms.

'It was nerve-wracking. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life,' she told the Today show on Thursday.

'I immediately cried. He's just very, very small and tiny. It breaks my heart.'

Sarah Haidar could only see her newborn son through video calls during the first nine days

Ms Haidar was only allowed to see her son through the screen of her phone while she completed her quarantine.

'It is very tough. This is something I've always wanted, you know. I've always dreamt of having him right on me when I delivered him,' she said.

'But that got taken away from me and I have to live with that for the rest of my life.'

Mr Haidar was barred from being by his wife's side at the birth due to quarantine rules and didn't get the chance to meet his son until Wednesday night.

A GoFundMe page has since been set up to help raise the funds needed to bring Illyas home.

Sarah Haidar while pregnant with her first child Ilyas. She delivered him via emergency C-section on June 1 without her husband by her side

The couple had received two Pfizer shots in Qatar, where they worked for four years, and tested negative for Covid-19 four times since returning to Australia.

'It's been a nightmare, it shouldn't happen to anyone,' Mr Haidar said.

'We reached out to Queensland Health to help us to airlift Ilyas but they just directed us to the hospital who were informed it will cost $30,000,' Mr Haidar said.

'I don't know how it is going to happen. We just hope sponsors, crowd fund or something happens to get the ball rolling at least while we continue to seek help in that regard.'

Mr Haidar told Daily Mail Australia last week he missed the birth because when he applied to Queensland Health for an exemption to be with his family in hospital, it was never processed.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young defended the move to keep the couple in quarantine.

'We know that just because you're vaccinated, doesn't mean you won't get infected,' she said.

'We still need to work out what the ongoing risk - if someone gets infected, who's fully vaccinated - what is the risk for them to pass that virus on.'
A Virginia county's fierce debate over teaching children controversial critical race theory escalated this week at a school board meeting where a mother who survived the purge in Maoist China condemned what she called an effort to turn classrooms into 'indoctrination camps'.

Xi Van Fleet, who fled China at the age of 26 before settling in the United States, told members of the Loudoun County School Board that she is 'very alarmed' by the teaching of CRT, which she says 'trains children to be social justice warriors and to loathe their country and their history.'

'This is indeed the American version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution,' Van Fleet declared, referring to the Mao Zedong-led purge that left between 500,000 and 20 million people dead from 1966 to 1976. She was six years old when the revolution started.

'Critical Race Theory has its roots in cultural Marxism. It should have no place in our school.'

'The Communist regime used the same critical theory to divide people. The only difference is they used class instead of race,' she stated, adding that CRT was 'neo-racist'.

'We were taught to denounce our heritage, and Red Guards destroyed anything that is not communiststatues, books and anything else. We were also encouraged to report on each other, just like the Student Equity Ambassador program and the bias reporting system,' Van Fleet added, referring to new initiatives set up in Loudoun County public schools.

'I felt like it's such a free country, meaning I have free access to all sorts of information  books on both sides of the issues,' she stated.

However, now, Van Fleet says she feels that some of that freedom is being taken away, saying:' I can't really just say what I mean, even though the other side can say whatever,. To me, and to a lot of Chinese, it is heartbreaking that we escaped communism and now we experience communism here.'

Virginia mom Xi Van Fleet, who grew up in Maoist China, slammed Critical Race Theory (CRT) during a contentious school board meeting on Wednesday.

While Loudoun County Public Schools say they are not officially using CRT in their classrooms, they have pledged to push for 'equity' and have begun using many CRT 'buzzwords and concepts'

Over the past year, numerous public and private schools across the US have opted to incorporate CRT into their teachings - sparking a nationwide debate in which Loudoun County has emerged as a flashpoint.

The theory asserts that 'institutions are inherently racist and that race itself... is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color', according to Texas A&M University professor Tommy Curry.

While Loudoun County Public School officials say they are not officially using CRT in their classrooms, they have pledged to push for 'equity' and have begun using many CRT 'buzzwords and concepts'.

That decision has angered many locals in Loudoun County - which is located just outside of Washington, DC, and is the wealthiest county in the entire country.

Lilit Vanetsyan, who teaches in neighboring Fairfax County, Virginia, also spoke at the Loudoun County School Board meeting on Wednesday night

Van Fleet's criticism was echoed by teacher Lilit Vanetsyan, who in her own fiery address Wednesday night accused school board members of enabling teachers with radically liberal lesson plans at the expense of students' education and mental health.

Vanetsyan, who teaches in neighboring Fairfax County, Virginia, also spoke at Wednesday night's meeting in Loudoun County - addressing not just school board members but also parents and students.

'Parents, the longer that you wait and don't have your child's schools accountable, gives these guys more time to dictate what's best for your child's physical, mental, and emotional health,' Vanetsyan declared.

She then also directly addressed students, saying: 'You are on the front lines of these indoctrination camps. Challenge the staff when you are presented with a ludicrous statement, and do not allow anybody to tell you that you cannot accomplish anything because of your skin color, or to hate yourself because of your skin color.

'Students, it is up to you to be the next generation of victims, or victors.'

China's Cultural Revolution: A shutdown of debate, dissent and free speech that left 20M dead from 1966 to 1976 The Cultural Revolution was a violent political purge that occurred in China from 1966 - 1976. During that time, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, tried to purge remnants of capitalism by shutting down debate, dissent and free speech. For ten years, Chairman Mao's followers burned books, tore down statues and murdered millions loyal to the 'Four Olds'  old ideas, culture, customs and habits He envisioned a 'Communist Utopia' with a massive redistribution of wealth - but what occurred was a 10-year campaign that brought widespread suffering and a destruction of much of China's ancient cultural norms. Mao pushed for the formation of 'Red Guards' - groups of militant university and high school students who were put into paramilitary units. The young recruits were fed propaganda and were relatively easy to influence because of their young age. Their goal was destroy symbols of China's pre-communist past - known as 'The Four Olds': Old Ideas, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Customs. The New York Times reports that 'Red Guards formed large groups that targeted political enemies for abuse and public humiliation and that 'they carried out widespread destruction of historical sites and cultural relics.' Roger Lewis wrote in The Daily Mail in 2016 that 'Mao could see the young were impressionable, easy to manipulate and eager to fight. The so-called Red Guards were a 'screaming, self-righteous band' numbering many millions, who went on the rampage. The Red Guards frequently broke into homes and destroyed paintings and books. They were also required to report dissidents, and were even permitted to inflict bodily harm on them. Universities were their chiefs targets, with the Red Guards turning into baying mobs who would publicly try to destroy those with differing points of view. Pictured: Red Guards reading Mao's Little Red Book in Beijing, 1966 Writing for The Mail on Sunday last year, professor John Gray stated: 'It is not far-fetched to compare the methods of this 'woke movement' to those of Chairman Mao's Red Guards, who terrorized the Chinese people half a century ago.' 'Hounding of people is strikingly reminiscent of Mao's Cultural Revolution, which wrecked much of what remained of the country's ancient civilization,' he wrote. 'The only way someone accused of thought-crime could escape punishment was through public confession, 're-education' and abject apology in so-called 'struggle sessions', in which they were humiliated and tormented by their accusers,' Gray continued. 'Tragically, the woke movement has reinvented this vile ritual, with teachers, journalists, professors and others seeking to hang on to their jobs by desperately begging forgiveness,' he concluded. The Cultural Revolution left between 500,000 and 20 million people dead in the space of a single decade. A Red Guard member chops off the hair of a governor during Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution in China in 1966 Advertisement

A push to incorporate CRT 'buzzwords and concepts' has angered many locals in Loudoun County - which is located just outside of Washington, D.C. and is the wealthiest county in the entire country

There is a slide available on Loudoun County Public School's Equity Partner's websites, 'Racial Equity Tools', which details characteristics of 'White Supremacy Culture'

Vanetsyan's speech comes after educator Monica Gill - who teaches AP Government in Loudoun County, Virginia - told Fox News that the school district's push for 'inclusion' has ironically fueled further division in her upper-crust community.

'We're told that we're living in a county that's suffering from systemic racism and I think that that whole notion has done nothing but damage our community and our school since they began pushing equity,' she said back in April.

'I can tell you, one thing that's for sure, it has been disruptive because there are parents who disagree with this ideology, there are teachers who disagree with it, there are students who disagree with it  and it is harmful,' she stated.

Loudoun parent Scott Mineo has started the Parents Against Critical Race Theory website, which tracks the use of CRT in classrooms.

Monica Gill - who teaches AP Government in Loudoun County, Virginia - told Fox News that the school district's push for 'inclusion' has ironically fueled further division in her upper-crust community

According to one post on the website, there is a slide available on Loudoun County Public School's Equity Partner's websites, 'Racial Equity Tools', which details characteristics of 'White Supremacy Culture'.

Characteristics include 'worship of the written word', 'paternalism', and 'either/or thinking'.

Meanwhile, some parents have even claimed that opponents of CRT are 'racist'.

Last week, TV cameras caught the moment that a parent was flipped off by a neighbor as she explained how friends and family had turned on her because she spoke out against the teaching of CRT.

Mom-of-two Jessica Mendez told Fox News that she has been branded a racist after attempting to block the controversial lessons.

'I had my own family criticize me openly, and asked me you know, what's wrong with me? You know, why didn't I understand? , told the interviewer for Fox News.

But during the interview, a neighbor could be seen walking past in the background where she raised two middle fingers at Mendez and the camera.

'I thought that I had a good friend,' Mendez added.

'I'm really hurt right now because I thought that we had a rapport, that I could be conservative, and she could be liberal, and we could still be friends. I guess I was wrong.'
Sotherby auction house's billionaire owner has bought a major chunk of BT to become the biggest investor in the telecoms giant.

Patrick Drahi's company Altice today revealed it has taken a 12.1 per cent stake in the former state-run phone provider.

Mr Drahi has said BT is well-placed to deliver Government targets on rolling out broadband to British homes.

He added: 'BT has a significant opportunity to upgrade and extend its full-fibre broadband network to bring substantial benefits to millions of households across the UK.'

Mr Drahi has been buying into European and US telecoms companies since the early 2000s when he founded Altice.

Patrick Drahi's (pictured) company Altice today revealed it has taken a 12.1 per cent stake in the former state-run phone provider

Over the last two decades he has grown the company into a telecoms giant, but also gained a reputation as the king of cost-cutting.

So much so that unions at French company SFR claimed their members started facing shortages of both printer and toilet paper after Altice took over.

Altice itself defends its position as a prudent one. It said by cutting costs now you can increase profits and free up money to invest further down the line.

In 2019 Mr Drahi ventured into the art world with a 2.6billion ($3.7billion) deal for Sotheby's.

A 12.1 per cent share in BT will not give Mr Drahi the control he needs to single-handedly push through changes at the UK company.

Mr Drahi has said BT is well-placed to deliver Government targets on rolling out broadband to British homes (file image)

He assured investors today that he has no plans to take over the entire firm and was keen to stress that he believes the company's managers are on the right track.

BT said: 'BT Group notes the announcement from Altice of their investment in BT and their statement of support for our management and strategy.

'We welcome all investors who recognise the long-term value of our business and the important role it plays in the UK. We are making good progress in delivering our strategy and plan.'
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for the sixth straight week as the U.S. economy reopens rapidly after being held back for months by the coronavirus pandemic.

Jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 376,000 from 385,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The number of people signing up for benefits exceeded 900,000 in early January and has fallen more or less steadily ever since.

Still, claims are high by historic standards. Before the pandemic brought economic activity to a near-standstill in March 2020, weekly applications were regularly coming in below 220,000.

In total, more than 15.3 million Americans are still on some form of unemployment benefit, which is down from 20.8 million in February - but seven times higher than before the pandemic started. Of those on benefits, nearly 3.5 million were receiving traditional state unemployment benefits the week of May 29, down by 258,000 from 3.8 million the week before.

Businesses are reopening rapidly as the rollout of vaccines allows Americans to feel more comfortable returning to restaurants, bars and shops.

Jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 376,000 from 385,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The number of people signing up for benefits exceeded 900,000 in early January and has fallen more or less steadily ever since.

A customer walks behind a sign at a Nordstrom store seeking employees in Coral Gables, Florida. Nearly 3.5 million were receiving traditional state unemployment benefits the week of May 29, down by 258,000 from 3.8 million the week before

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that job openings hit a record 9.3 million in April. Layoffs dropped to 1.4 million, lowest in records dating back to 2000; 4 million quit their jobs in April, another record and a sign that they are confident enough in their prospects to try something new.

In May, the U.S. economy generated 559,000 million new jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8% from 6.1% in April. Many economists expected to see even faster job growth. The United States is still short 7.6 million jobs from where it stood in February 2020.

But employers are posting vacancies faster than would-be applicants can fill them. Many Americans are contending with health and childcare issues related to COVID-19 and with career uncertainty after the coronavirus recession wiped out many jobs for good. Some are taking their time looking for work because expanded federal jobless benefits pay more than their old jobs.

Inflation jumps to 5% through April in the quickest rise in consumer prices since the Great Recession

Inflation rose at a faster rate in May than any time since the Great Recession, as consumer face higher prices for everyday goods and services.

In its report Thursday, the government said that overall consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in May, bringing the inflation rate to 5 percent over the past year, the highest level since August 2008.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food costs, rose 0.7 percent in May after an even bigger jump in April, and is up 3.8 over the past 12 months, the quickest rate since 1992.

The sharp rise in consumer prices reflected a range of goods and services now in growing demand as people increasingly shop, travel, dine out and attend entertainment events in a rapidly reopening economy.

Though the new inflation measure exceeded economists' forecasts, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly insisted that higher inflation will be transitory, and it was unclear whether the new data would prompt a reassessment of monetary policy.

The U.S. central bank slashed its benchmark overnight interest rate to near zero last year and continues to flood the economy with money through monthly bond purchases.

The 12-month price change of all items in selected categories is seen in the chart above. Inflation rose at a faster rate in May than any time since the Great Recession

Shoppers are seen at a Vermont Costco last month. The sharp rise in consumer prices reflected a range of goods and services now in growing demand

Republicans blame the sharp rise in inflation on lax monetary policy and freewheeling stimulus spending by President Joe Biden's administration.

'President Bidens inflation crisis is here and its devastating for our poorest families,' Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, said in response to the new data.

'Its time to end the madness. Its clear we cannot rely on Joe Biden and the Democrats to stand up and protect American families,' said Scott, who is pushing a bill to slash government spending.

Others say the increased consumer demand post-pandemic is bumping up against a shortage of components, from lumber and steel to chemicals and semiconductors, that supply such key products as autos and computer equipment, all of which has forced up prices.

And as consumers increasingly venture away from home, demand has spread from manufactured goods to services - airline fares, for example, along with restaurant meals and hotel prices - raising inflation in those areas, too.

A labor shortage has also contributed to rising prices, as companies continue to offer high wages and incentives to lure reluctant workers back into the job market.

From the cereal maker General Mills to Chipotle Mexican Grill to the paint maker Sherwin-Williams, a range of companies have been raising prices or plan to do so, in some cases to make up for higher wages that they're now paying to keep or attract workers.

The inflation pressures, which have been building for months, are not only squeezing consumers but also posing a risk to the economy's recovery from the pandemic recession.

One risk is that the Federal Reserve will eventually respond to intensifying inflation by raising interest rates too aggressively and derail the economic recovery.

The Fed, led by Chair Jerome Powell, has repeatedly insisted that inflation will prove temporary as supply bottlenecks are unclogged and parts and goods flow normally again.

Average prices for eggs (dark blue), milk (red) and ground beef (light blue) are seen over the past 20 years in the chart above

The core inflation measure for urban consumers is seen above rising sharply in May

But some economists have expressed concern that as the economic recovery accelerates, fueled by rising demand from consumers spending freely again, so will inflation.

'The price spikes could be bigger and more prolonged because the pandemic has been so disruptive to supply chains,' Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said in advance of Thursdays inflation report.

But 'by the fall or end of the year,' Zandi suggested, 'prices will be coming back to earth.'

That would be none too soon for consumers like Carmela Romanello Schaden, a real estate agent in Rockville Centre, New York. Schaden said shes having to pay more for a range of items at her hair salon. But she is feeling the most financial pain in the food aisle. Her monthly food bill, she said, is now $200 to $250 for herself and her 25-year-old son - up from $175 earlier in the year.

A package of strip steak that Schaden had normally bought for $28 to $32 jumped to $45. She noticed the increase right before Memorial Day but bought it anyway because it was for a family picnic. But she wont buy it again at that price, she said, and is trading down to pork and chicken.

'Ive always been selective,' Schaden said. 'When something goes up, I will switch into something else.'

So far, Fed officials havent deviated from their view that higher inflation is a temporary consequence of the economys rapid reopening, with its accelerating consumer demand, and the lack of enough supplies and workers to keep pace with it. Eventually, they say, supply will rise to match demand.

Officials also note that year-over-year gauges of inflation now look especially large because they are being measured against the early months of the pandemic, when inflation tumbled as the economy all but shut down. In coming months, the year-over-year inflation figures will likely look smaller.

Shoppers crowd the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa, California last month. Surging consumer demand is bumping up against labor and commodity shortages to drive up prices

Still, last month, after the government reported that consumer prices had jumped 4.2% in the 12 months ending in April, Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida acknowledged; 'I was surprised. This number was well above what I and outside forecasters expected.'

And the month-to-month readings of inflation, which arent subject to distortions from the pandemic have also been rising since the year began.

Some economists say they fear that if prices accelerate too much and stay high too long, expectations of further price increases will take hold. That, in turn, could intensify demands for higher pay, potentially triggering the kind of wage-price spiral that bedeviled the economy in the 1970s.

'The market is starting to worry that the Fed may be going soft on inflation, and that could let the inflation genie out of the bottle,' said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of economics and finance at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

In April, the price of used cars and trucks jumped a record 10 percent. Hotel and motel prices also set a monthly record. Tickets for sporting events and home furniture surged, too, along with TVs, audio products and smart home devices. So did the cost of toys, games and playground equipment. Fares for Uber and Lyft are up, too.

Rising commodity costs are forcing Americans to pay more for items from meat to gasoline. Prices for corn, grain and soybeans are at their highest levels since 2012. The price of lumber to build homes is at an all-time high.

More expensive commodities such as polyethylene and wood pulp have translated into higher consumer prices for toilet paper, diapers and most products sold in plastic containers.

Half of the 50 states are refusing a federal boost to unemployment benefits in an effort to push jobless workers back into the job market. A labor shortage is contributing to inflation

General Mills has said its considering raises prices on its products because grain, sugar and other ingredients have become costlier. Hormel Foods has already increased prices for Skippy peanut butter. Coca-Cola has said it expects to raise prices to offset higher costs.

Kimberly-Clark, which makes Kleenex and Scott toilet paper, said it will be raising prices on about 60% of its products. Proctor & Gamble has said it will raise prices for its baby, feminine and adult care products.

This week, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced it was boosting menu prices by roughly 4% to cover the cost of raising its workers wages. In May, Chipotle had said that it would raise hourly wages for its restaurant workers to reach an average of $15 an hour by the end of June.

'There is stronger demand for hotel rooms, air travel, restaurant dining,' said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial. 'Many businesses are also facing upward pressure on their costs such as higher wages.'

Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, noted that in some cases, a jump in the price of goods such as autos is raising the price of car rental services.

'It is going to be a muggy summer on the inflation front,' Daco said. 'There will be a pass-through from higher goods prices to higher prices for services.'
A Muslim NHS receptionist who sued the health service after she refused to sign a birthday card for a colleague because 'birthdays were against her religion' has had her case dismissed.

Samira Duhulow, in her 20s, claimed she was discriminated against by her boss at London's Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, who criticised her for not signing a birthday card.

The practising Sunni Muslim said she had been ridiculed for refusing to sign the card because birthdays were against her beliefs.

Now an employment tribunal has dismissed all of her claims, concluding that her colleagues did not know that her refusal to celebrate birthdays had anything to do with her religion.

Instead, a judge ruled she had tried to 'shoehorn' her grievances at work into allegations of discrimination.

The tribunal heard Ms Duhulow started working in the reception team for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which manages five London hospitals, in November 2016.

Ms Duhulow started working in the reception team for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which manages five London hospitals, in November 2016

The hearing was told that nine months into the role she signed a 50th birthday card for boss Natalie Williams.

While she raised no objection at the time to her colleagues, she told the tribunal that she felt 'pressurised' to sign because she was a 'new' employee.

Ms Williams told the tribunal that she started to 'experience difficulties' with Ms Duhulow in 2018 such as not saying hello in the morning and Ms Duhulow refusing to open an office door, leaving her trapped when the digital lock was not working.

One particular incident involved Ms Duhulow refusing to sign the birthday card for her colleague Wendy Murray.

Do Muslims celebrate birthdays? Celebrating a birthday is supported in the Islamic faith if the commemoration involves praising Allah and giving thanks for his offerings. The faith recognises a birthday as simply a date of birth which is not encouraged to be made into an eid, which is a festival or important occasion. Some followers of Islam believe celebrating birthdays can lead to excess spending, dancing, music, drinking or mixing of the sexes which is considered Haram (evils). Celebrating birthdays is not mentioned in the Quran. Source: musliminspire.com Advertisement

This led to a breakdown in their relationship, which led to a disciplinary meeting in which Ms Williams and Ms Duhulow aired their grievances.

Ms Williams said that Ms Duhulow was not pulling her weight, there was a perception of walking on eggshells around her, a bad vibe and described her as being 'very rude and blank' for not signing Ms Murray's birthday card.

During that meeting, Ms Duhulow said: 'It's not about collections and cards it is the fact that there are certain people whose birthdays are being celebrated and others who aren't... my reason for not participating in Wendy's birthday is primarily because I don't celebrate birthdays.'

Ms Williams responded by saying: 'Oh you are being petty, oh come on grow up, you're being petty.'

The tribunal heard that Ms Duhulow later claimed to senior colleagues that it was her 'personal preference' to not celebrate birthdays, adding: 'I have the right to choose what celebrations I partake in and expecting me to celebrate birthdays infringes on this right.'

Following a series of unproductive discussions to try and resolve the conflict, Ms Duhlow - who still works at the trust - decided to go ahead and launch a claim of racial discrimination against her employers.

However, she was unsuccessful in her claims of direct discrimination, harassment and victimisation, with the tribunal finding that her colleagues had 'no awareness that not celebrating birthdays constituted part of an observant Muslim's faith'.

Employment Judge Richard Nicolle said there was 'no evidence that she protested that it was contrary to her religious faith' to sign the card.

Judge Nicolle added: 'It was reasonable for them to take the view that as [Ms Duhulow] had previously signed a birthday card, without protesting, in circumstances where it would have been easy for her to apologise that she would not be signing the birthday card for religious reasons.

'We do not accept that [Ms Duhulow] was reprimanded, or ridiculed, for not celebrating birthdays.

'We consider that [Ms Duhulow] undoubtedly had/has many unresolved grievances relating to her work. [She] has in our view attempted to shoehorn these individual grievances into allegations of discrimination.'
Andrew James Rodriguez, 33, of El Paso, was arrested after hitting and killing a moped driver in Las Vegas on June 5

A 33-year old cryptocurrency investor who calls himself a 'multi six-figure earner' was driving a Lamborghini at 141mph in a 45mph zone when he hit and killed a moped driver in Las Vegas.

Andrew James Rodriguez bragged in a video posted to Facebook the night before the fatal accident of the big night out he and his friends were going to have celebrating his birthday.

The next night, he'd killed someone when slamming a Lamborghini - which he didn't own, according to reports - into a 58-year-old on a moped.

'We are kings of the desert, ay!' he said on a balcony overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, which he was visiting from El Paso, Texas, where he lives, according to police. 'My birthday bash, guys, is gonna be lit-ty!'

He has since been released on $750,000 bail.

On the video, Rodriguez boasts about the riches he says he'd gained through cryptocurrency trading as he walks through a multi-level, lavish apartment that he'd apparently rented for the weekend.

'Oh my god, dude, this is insane in the membrane,' he said on the video tour of the apartment, remarking on the bathroom. 'What's up bud? You know the vibes, bro,' he said as he was preening in the mirror in tight black shorts, a tight black T-shirt and a black hat. 'I was looking at myself, man. I'm so sorry.'

Roughly 24 hours later, on June 5, Rodriguez exited the wreckage of a $300,000 2017 Lamborghini Huracan he was driving and said to a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer: 'I just killed someone.'

The officer recalled the quote to Fox 5 in Las Vegas, after Rodriguez hit local resident Walter Anderson, 58, on Russell Road at Rogers Street at 11:50 p.m.

Anderson was on a moped.

DailyMail.com contacted Anderson's family for comment; they didn't immediately respond.

Scroll down for video

Rodriguez was going 141mph in a 45mph zone and allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol

Rodriguez had allegedly been drinking, the officer said, because his eyes were watery and bloodshot and he smelled of alcohol. It's not clear if he took a breath or blood test.

Although he slowed his car from 141 to 127 mph before the impact, he slammed the moped so hard that it became stuck under the front of the Lamborghini, according to reports from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Rodriguez says he is an investor in 'crypto automatio'n through the platform iGenius, according to his Facebook page, where his bio reads, 'Crypto automation. Multiple 6 figure earner. iGenius.'

'If you wanna do this stuff that we do, you just gotta do crypto automation,' he said in the video posted to Facebook the night before the accident, speaking of the high-dollar lifestyle he was flaunting.

Just a few hours before the crash, he posted a photo to Facebook with several Louis Vuitton shopping bags and the caption, 'Become the person your haters wished you wouldn't be.'

Local Las Vegas resident Walter 'Jaye' Anderson, 58, was on his way home from work when he was struck by Rodriguez's Lamborghini

Rodriguez hit and killed Anderson on Russell Road at Rogers Street at 11:50 p.m.

Rodriguez was driving a 2017 Lamborghini Huracan similar to the one pictured above. Used car sites have them selling for $300,000

That was at 10:13 p.m. An hour before that, he posted a photo behind the wheel of a car with a woman's legs on his lap and the caption, 'When motivational pics become a reality.'

And the day before, he posted the exuberant video showing his Facebook followers where he and his friends were staying. 'I'm gonna get at least $40 million off of dream token bro,' his friend says in the video, to which he responds, 'And we shall flip that into a billion.'

Rodriguez, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center, was released on $750,000 bail under the conditions that he never drive again and submits to alcohol monitoring, according to court records.

Among reckless driving and a DUI charge, Rodriguez was also charged with driving without a valid driver's license.

He is not the registered owner of the Minnesota vehicle and it isn't clear who owns the car, according to Fox 5.

At the time of the crash, he was driving with a passenger who told officers that they were on a joyride with friends in another Lamborghini and all going to a party.

Two friends of Rodriguez witnessed the crash and were in another Lamborghini, driving alongside Rodriquez, according to the Review-Journal, which states that Rodriguez sped away from them before the crash. They haven't been named.

Rodriguez posted the above photo to Facebook just hours before the crash

Rodriguez is an investor in crypto automation through the platform iGenius, according to his Facebook page. He posted this picture behind the wheel of a Lamborghini

In a video posted to Facebook the day before the deadly crash, Rodriguez boasted about the penthouse where he and his friends were staying for his birthday weekend in Las Vegas.

Rodriguez showed his Facebook followers around the multi-level penthouse apartment where he and his friends were staying in Las Vegas.

Rodriguez's passenger said he was going 'pretty fast,' according to a police report, but she claimed that she didn't known he had been drinking.

Neither Rodriguez nor his passenger were injured. She wasn't named by police.

Rodriguez had not had a criminal complaint filed against him in the case as of Wednesday, according to the Review-Journal.

DailyMail.com contacted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for an update on the case, but the department did not comment.

A message to Rodriguez's Facebook account from DailyMail.com also wasn't immediately returned.
A Harvard-bound Massachusetts high school graduate is giving away a $40,000 scholarship she earned from her Massachusetts high school to 'someone who's struggling'.

Verda Tetteh, 17, was chosen by her peers to address her fellow Fitchburgh High School seniors at graduation last Friday, where she was gifted the 'General Excellence' award.

In an unprompted and heartwarming gesture, Tetteh announced that she would not be accepting the $40,000 scholarship that comes with the award - considered the school's highest honor - after already having received several other scholarships to cover her tuition at Harvard.

'I am so very grateful for this, but I also know that I am not the one who needs this the most,' Tetteh said, dressed in a maroon cap and gown with the award in her hand.

'I would be so very grateful if the administration would consider giving the "General Excellence" scholarship to someone who's going to community college because I know I'm not the most in need of it.'

Scroll down for video.

Harvard-bound Verda Tetteh (pictured) announced she is giving away a $40,000 scholarship from Fitchburgh High School to 'someone who's struggling' during a speech at graduation

Tetteh hugs her mom Rosemary after the graduation. She said her mom is the inspiration for the charitable decision

'I would be so very grateful if the administration would consider giving the "General Excellence" scholarship to someone who's going to community college because I know I'm not the most in need of it,' Tetteh said

The high-achieving senior is headed to Harvard on a pre-med track - which costs just shy of $200,000 for a four-year undergraduate degree - on a full ride, but the $40,000 Fitchburgh scholarship can be used for anything school-related; not just tuition.

Tetteh said the inspiration came from her mom, Rosemary, a Ghanaian immigrant who graduated from community college at the age of 47. Tetteh came to America with her mom as a child and started a student ambassador program.

The selfless act brought her classmates - many of whom are deemed 'economically disadvantaged' - to their feet for a standing ovation.

Leslie Barnor, Tetteh's stepfather, said the family didn't realize what was happening because the ovation was so loud, so people standing next to Tetteh's family filled them in, the Washington Post reported.

Tetteh explained later that it was a split-second decision that her parents understood.

'We are a Christian family,' Barnor told the Washington Post. 'We believe we dont need to have so much before you give to others.'

Tetteh surrounded by her friends after graduation

Tetteh receives her diploma from Fitchburg High School in Massachusetts

Tetteh (right) and her mom being interviewed after Tetteh's heartwarming moment

Tetteh's mother Rosemary received her degree from a community college at the age of 47, inspiring her daughter to succeed

Principal Jeremy Roche told the Washington Post, 'I've never seen anything like that.'

'She represented the class and the school amazingly well, and I would even dare say, her generation.'

Roche said the school will honor Tettehs wishes for the money and plans to talk with her soon, but she's has been busy with work, so who gets the scholarship hasn't been worked out yet.
UK fashion merchandising business set to eradicate production rejection and increase design productivity by 20  30% with Centric SMB

CAMPBELL, Calif., June 10, 2021  Fast-growing fashion merchandising company 99K Limited has selected Centric Softwares Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution for emerging brands, Centric SMB. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source and sell products such as apparel, footwear, sporting goods, furniture, home decor, cosmetics, food & beverage and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Founded in 2018 under parent company Momokrom  an independent online denim brand and wholesaler  Manchester-based 99K Limited is a fashion merchandising company supporting various large clothing retailers worldwide with product design, development and production. Thanks to its ethos of tireless commitment and passion, the company has grown exponentially in the relatively short time it has been operating.

Product Manager Mo Lin explains that one of the companys biggest business challenges is keeping up with the fast-paced, ever-changing fashion industry, in particular the complications associated with the global pandemic. Like all industries, manufacturing, freight and sales have been greatly affected by COVID-19, she says. Planning is almost impossible, and we are now forced to learn to adapt and react quickly to a constantly changing macro environment.

As 99K Limited outgrew its existing systems, it became clear that a PLM tool was necessary to ensure smooth, efficient product development and to enable all team members to be clear on their duties and responsibilities. Without PLM, we constantly came across miscommunication issues that led to poor products and service, says Lin.

Many of 99K Limiteds customers seek solutions to leave a smaller carbon footprint, and the company responds to this by lessening its environmental impact with sourcing organic and recycled cotton; moving a large ratio of its production to sustainable cotton mills; and sourcing recycled polyester and nylon. With the introduction of Centric SMB, the business will gain greater visibility across product ranges that will help it to track projects such as its Organic Cotton Range, and PLM will also aid the business to track material surplus and aim for zero waste.

As well as expecting to see its production rejection rate to drop to 0 and its design rate increase by 20-30%, the company predicts that it will save hours of staff time per week by replacing outdated communication and data storage methods.

We hope to smooth out a lot of obstacles along the way with Centric SMB. The managerial aspect of PLM will be of great help and we look forward to saving time on communication with suppliers and reducing errors in the production, explains Lin.

As a forward-thinking business, 99K Limited is constantly striving to find the newest systems and the best platforms to ensure the most efficient communication. The company was drawn to the sophistication of Centric SMB as a PLM platform covering every aspect it would need, as well as the impressive customer base of Centric Software.

We are delighted to be working with 99K Limited to support its exciting company growth, comments Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. We are thrilled to have teamed up with such a fast-growing and entrepreneurial business and look forward to partnering with them on their transformation journey.

Request a Demo

99K Limited

Based in Manchester, 99K Limited, also known as Momokrom - an Independent Online Denim Brand & Denim Wholesalers - is a business-to-business company that designs, sources, buys and manufactures products for retailers in the UK and US. As well as its main outsourced suppliers, it also has its own factory in China. Its main product lines are womenswear denim, but it also produces a range of woven dresses.

Momokrom is a popular online shopping store in the UK that offers a stylish and trendy collection of tops, denim and jeans.

Centric Software (www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides a Product Concept to Consumer Digital Transformation Platform for fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods including cosmetics, beauty and food and beverage. Centrics flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric PLMTM, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and product portfolio optimization innovations specifically for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB focuses on core tools and industry best practices for emerging brands. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (CVIP) offers highly visual digital board experiences for collaboration and decision-making. Centric Software pioneered mobility, introducing the first mobile apps for PLM, and is widely known for connectivity to dozens of other enterprise systems including ERP, DAM, PIM, e-com, planning and more as well as creative tools such as Adobe Illustrator and a host of 3D CAD connectors. Centrics innovations are 100% market-driven with the highest user adoption rate and fastest time to value in the industry. All Centric innovations shorten time to market, boost product innovation and reduce costs.

Centric Software is majority-owned by Dassault Systemes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the world leader in 3D design software, 3D digital mock-up and PLM solutions.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, including being named by Red Herring to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Centric also received various excellence awards from Frost & Sullivan in 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2021.

Centric Software is a registered trademark of Centric Software Inc. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Centric Software



Americas: Jennifer Forsythe, jforsythe@centricsoftware.com

EMEA: Kristen Salaun-Batby, ksalaun-batby@centricsoftware.com

APAC: Lily Dong, lily.dong@centricsoftware.com
The liberal media in the US are coming under fire for completely ignoring Hunter Biden's n-word scandal after it was revealed by DailyMail.com that the president's son had used the racial slur multiple times in text messages.

The texts, which were exchanged in late 2018 and early 2019, were recovered from Biden's laptop and published by DailyMail.com on Monday.

The messages showed Biden repeatedly used the n-word in conversations with his white Chicago lawyer George Messires.

In the days since the texts surfaced, the majority of US media outlets have chosen not to cover Biden's use of the racial slur.

Left-leaning networks, including CNN and ABC and MSNBC, haven't dedicated notable air time to the story. The frontpages of the New York Times and Washington Post have also not featured it.

The liberal media in the US are coming under fire for completely ignoring Hunter Biden's n-word scandal. The frontpages of the New York Times this week have not mentioned Biden's texts

Text messages recovered from Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop show the president's son (pictured last month) used the n-word multiple times in casual conversation with his lawyer George Messires, who is white

And online searches for articles on major left-leaning news websites do not come back with any mention of Biden and the n-word.

The lack of coverage has prompted outrage among conservatives with many accusing the liberal media of double standards.

The hashtag #RacistHunter started trending on social media as Twitter users slammed how the story is still largely being ignored.

President Trump's two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, argued they would have been crucified by the liberal outlets if it had been them that had used the racial slur.

Many also pointed to how others have been 'canceled' of late for using the n-word.

The New York Times earlier this year forced veteran reporter Donald McNeil to resign after a student complained that he had used the n-word during a company-sponsored school trip to Peru in 2019.

Country music star Morgan Wallen was dropped by his label and radio stations started banning his music after he was caught on video using the racial slur while out with friends in February.

The frontpages of the New York Times and Washington Post have not featured the Biden n-word story

Left-leaning networks, including CNN and ABC and MSNBC, haven't dedicated notable air time to the story. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow is pictured on left, while CNN's Don Lemon is shown on right

NASCAR driver Kyle Larson was fired by his racing team and dropped by sponsors after saying the n-word during a livestreamed virtual race in April last year.

All three of those stories were covered at the time by major US media outlets.

'Can't wait for the ladies on The View to discuss Hunter Biden's repeated use of the N word. If it were the Trump kids it would be a topic for weeks. Let's hope (they) don't ignore RACIST HUNTER,' Cable News Watch tweeted.

'Of course Brian Stelter has IGNORED it. I bet Don Lemon didn't mention it last night. Typical of CNN to put their head in the sand on issues like this.'

OutKick's Clay Travis tweeted: 'Hunter Biden alleged to have used the n word according to his laptop. Your usual conglomerate of left wing media have elected not to cover it. What would the media covered look like if one of Donald Trump's children had been using the 'n word' in text message?'

One Twitter user pointed out the lack of Google searches found on CNN for the term Hunter Biden n-word.

'CNN made a headline story out of Eric Trump LIKING a tweet with a 'racial slur' (dubiously characterized, certainly not the n-word). But when it's Hunter Biden...'

The texts the liberal media are ignoring: Hunter Biden addressed his white lawyer as 'n***a' multiple times, used phrases like 'true dat n***a' and bantered 'I only love you because you're black'

By Josh Boswell for DailyMail.com

Hunter Biden used the n-word multiple times in conversation with his white, $845-per-hour lawyer, his texts messages reveal.

The shocking texts may prove embarrassing for his father President Joe Biden, who just last week gave a speech decrying racism on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre, and has sought to portray racial justice as a top priority for his administration.

The president's son joked in a January 2019 text to corporate attorney George Mesires about a 'big penis', and said to the lawyer: 'I only love you because you're black' and 'true dat n***a'.

In another text a month earlier he wrote to the Chicago lawyer saying: 'how much money do I owe you. Becaause (sic) n***a you better not be charging me Hennessy rates.'

Mesires replied: 'That made me snarf my coffee.'

Hunter added: 'That's what im saying ni', cutting off the racial slur mid-word, then texted a picture to Mesires.

The picture was not downloaded on Hunter's laptop, from which the text exchange was recovered by DailyMail.com.

But Mesires replied: 'Why are you so tan?'

'I'm sorry for sexting you accidentally that was meant for another friend named Georgia,' Hunter replied.

In the January text exchange, the two men were talking about philosophy and bantering with each other.

Mesires: 'There are ideals of unconditional love that serve as proxies. I don't have many. You. God,'

Hunter: 'OMG n***a did you just a fictional character from the imagination of the collective frightened and my dead brothers unconditional love is what I should rely on and my kids aren't children George.'

Mesires: 'My parents love was conditioned.'

Hunter: 'My penis as of late has been un conditional.'

Mesires: 'That's why we are searching.'

Hunter: 'For my penis.'

Mesires: 'And we will always be searching.'

A December 2018 text message exchange obtained by DailyMail.com show Hunter asked Mesires: 'How much money do I owe you. Becaause (sic) n***a you better not be charging me Hennessy rates'

In another exchange the following month, Hunter flippantly addressed Messires as 'n***a' again and cracked jokes saying 'I only love you because you're black' during a seemingly somber conversation

Hunter: 'Its big penis George. They always find it. And I only love you because you're black.'

Mesires: 'It's so annoying when you interject with frivolity.'

Hunter: 'True dat n***a. But I'm done my rant.'

In October 2018 Mesires sent a bill to Hunter's business partner Mervyn Yan, involved in his infamous deal with Chinese oil giant CEFC, showing the attorney's hourly rate of $845.

The bill, which included 'teleconferences with H. Biden regarding Hudson West', Hunter's joint venture with the Chinese, totaled $88,465, for 107 hours work from August 2017 to April 2018.

Among the photos stored on Hunter's laptop was a meme which also included the n-word.

The meme, dated June 5, 2017, included a photo of Joe Biden hugging Barack Obama with a caption describing a joke conversation between the former president and vice president.

Hunter said the racial slur multiple times while speaking to Chicago corporate attorney George Mesires - who is reported to have an hourly rate of $845

'Obama: Gonna miss you, man

'Joe: Can I say it? Just this once?

'Obama: *sigh* go ahead

'Joe: You my n***a, Barack'

It is unclear why Hunter saved the meme on his computer.

Neither he nor Mesires responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

The president's son and the White House have repeatedly failed to respond to any requests from DailyMail.com about any of the material on his laptop.

The 51-year-old's computer had a week of his internet browsing history from March 2019 saved on it before he abandoned it at a Delaware shop, which showed pornographic photos and videos downloaded on his laptop included an orgy between a woman and several black men.

Hunter's father has attempted to make race a central issue in both his presidential campaign  which came amid nationwide protests over racism and police brutality in 2020  and in his administration.

In a speech last week on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre in which a white mob killed an estimated 300 black people in Oklahoma, Joe Biden said he had come to 'fill the silence'.

'Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they cannot be buried, no matter how hard people try,' he said. 'Only with truth can come healing.'

Biden pledged to help fight racism in policing following George Floyd's death, and has even backed studies exploring reparations for slavery and other injustices against African Americans.

The president picked the US's first black vice president, and was himself VP to the first black president.

The texts may prove embarrassing to the president, who has sought to portray racial justice as a top priority for his administration

In an interview on NBC's Today show in April, the president said he did not believe that the country was racist.

'I don't think America is racist,' he said. 'but I think the overhang from all of the Jim Crowand before that, slaveryhave had a cost.

'After 400 years African Americans have been left in a position where they're so far behind the eight ball in terms of education, healthin terms of opportunity.

'We have to deal with it.'

Biden was previously the subject of a smear attempt that claimed he had used the n-word as a racial epithet.

The smear used a video of a 1985 Senate hearing in which Biden says 'We already have a n****r mayor, we don't need any more n****r big shots!'

The then-senator did utter the words, but was in fact quoting a Louisiana lawmaker, asking then-deputy attorney general nominee William Bradford Reynolds why he had ignored the racist comments by the lawmaker and allowed gerrymandering that underrepresented black residents.

However, some attitudes towards uttering the n-word even in quotes have turned since the 1985 hearing.

In October 2020, a first-year student at Rutgers Law School in Newark used the word while quoting from a 1993 legal opinion in class, warning her fellow students beforehand that the quote contained the slur.

The student said: 'He said, um - and I'll use a racial word, but it's a quote. He says, 'I'm going to go to Trenton and come back with my n*****s''.'

A race row erupted last month when her fellow students circulated a petition demanding she and professor apologize.

The New York Times reported that University staff discussed barring the word's use in class in a meeting following the row.
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India's Covid variant now makes up 91 per cent of all cases in the UK, Matt Hancock warned today as official data revealed outbreaks are growing in nine out of ten areas in England  leaving hopes of 'Freedom Day' going ahead on June 21 hanging in the balance.

Speaking at a select committee today where he was grilled by MPs on mistakes Number 10 made in handling the pandemic, the Health Secretary revealed he was told about how quickly the mutant 'Delta' strain was taking over in a behind-closed-doors briefing last night.

No10's top scientists fear the Indian strain could be up to 60 per cent more transmissible than the once dominant Kent version and SAGE modellers fear it will trigger a 'substantial' third wave.

Public Health England data released today showed cases are now spiralling in 90 per cent of authorities. Halton in Cheshire saw its outbreak quadruple in size, from 8.5 positive tests per 100,000 people in the week ending May 30 to 43.27 for the seven-day spell ending June 8.

Meanwhile, Britain today recorded another 7,393 cases as the curve continues to swing upwards  the toll was up by 40 per cent on the figure posted last Thursday.

Separate data from a symptom-tracking study today showed the number of Britons falling ill with Covid has more than doubled in a week. An estimated 11,908 people across the UK were catching the virus every day in the week ending June 5, according to the ZOE Covid study, up 109 per cent from 5,677 last week.

The same researchers  who insisted it was 'clear' the epidemic was only growing in the unvaccinated and adults given one jab  also named Stirling in Scotland as the UK's current hotspot. Other badly-hit areas were centered around Greater Manchester, where the Indian variant is known to be rife.

Department of Health figures released today also showed hospital admissions have risen by around 40 per cent in the last seven days, with 153 infected patients needing care on June 6, the most recent day statistics are available for, compared to 110 the week before. Deaths were down on the week before, with just seven victims compared to 18 last Thursday.

The troubling infection figures add to mounting fears about England's planned final lockdown easing on June 21. Dr Jennie Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said the UK is not going in the 'right direction' and that Freedom Day was on a 'knife-edge'.

Despite mounting fears about plans to go ahead with the final unlocking and intensifying calls to delay it by up to four weeks to allow the NHS time to fully vaccinate millions more vulnerable over-50s, ministers are hopeful they can relax some curbs from later this month.

It emerged today that Boris Johnson could implement a 'mix and match' unlocking policy, with work from home guidance and the rule of six indoors likely to still be mandatory after June 21 but the 30-guest cap on weddings dropped.

Meanwhile, Professor Susan Michie, a psychologist at University College London and Government adviser, said social distancing and wearing face masks should be a part of British life forever.

 Slide me  Public Health England data released today showed cases are spiralling out of control across the vast majority of the country

Graph shows: The cases per 100,000 in different age groups in the UK over time. The highest rates are now in 20- to 29-year-olds

The number of people falling ill with Covid has more than doubled in a week, a symptom-tracking study warned today amid the rapid spread of the Indian variant across the UK

Graph shows: The number of people testing positive for Covid and the positivity rate  the proportion of tests taken that are positive

Graph shows the number of people testing positive and positivity rates for lab-checked PCR tests and rapid LFD tests

Graph shows: The cases per 100,000 in different regions across England. The North West  home to the Indian variant hotspots of Bolton, Blackburn and Manchester  has the highest case rate in the UK

Graph shows: The rising prevalence of the Indian 'Delta' Covid variant (VOC-21APR-02) over time. It is now estimated to make up 91 per cent of cases, according to Matt Hancock

'Mix and match' unlocking for June 21? Boris could keep face masks but drop 30-guest wedding limit Boris Johnson could implement a 'mix and match' unlocking on Freedom Day, with face masks, work from home guidance and the rule of six indoors likely to still be mandatory after June 21 but the 30-guest cap on weddings dropped. The Prime Minister said yesterday that 'everybody can see cases and hospitalisations are going up' and gave the strongest hint yet the much-anticipated milestone will be pushed back because of the rapid spread of the Indian Covid variant. No10's top scientists fear the mutant strain may be 60 per cent more transmissible than the once dominant Kent version and SAGE modellers fear it will trigger a 'substantial' third wave  despite three-quarters of adults having been vaccinated. Despite mounting fears about plans to go ahead with the final unlocking and intensifying calls to delay it by up to four weeks to allow the NHS time to fully vaccinate millions more vulnerable over-50s, ministers are hopeful they can relax some curbs from later this month. A senior Government source told the FT: 'A mix-and-match approach is probably on the cards, given the limited number of levers left.' Officials are working to find a solution that 'pleases the PM's instincts', according to one minister, but the hybrid approach would be 'very difficult' to put in place. It could include lifting the current 30-person limit on weddings and receptions and allowing far greater crowds to attend ceremonies, bringing it in line with the Government's policy on funerals. Bar mitzvahs and christenings are also set to be boosted under the proposals and while socially distanced tables would not be required, guests may be urged to be 'cautious' about contact with other households, reports the Times. Current guidelines suggest those attending bashes only participate in the first dance and wear masks at all times unless eating or drinking but under the new rules, people will be advised to assess the risk of hugging others themselves. A government source said: 'It's been tough on the sector. If you've got stadiums full of people, why can't weddings go ahead with more than 30 people?' Mr Johnson softened his lockdown-ending stance yesterday in Cornwall ahead of the G7 summit, admitting there was now 'arguments' on both sides of the restrictions-easing debate. The PM repeated his pledge that No10 'will be driven by the data'. But just hours before his comments, top SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson dealt another blow to hopes of Freedom Day going ahead. The Imperial College London epidemiologist warned it would take up to another three weeks for scientists to get enough data to accurately work out how dangerous the Indian variant is and how bad the third wave will be. He added there was a risk of a 'substantial third wave but we cannot be definitive about the scale of that'. The chance that scientific advisers, ministers and Mr Johnson  who committed to following the science and 'not dates'  will sign off on June 21 without the most accurate modelling is slim to none. Advertisement

Mr Hancock said: 'The assessment that I saw from last night is that the Delta variant now comprises 91 per cent of new cases in the UK.'

A Public Health England study has shown Pfizer and AstraZeneca's vaccines are both as effective against the Indian variant as they are the Kent variant after two doses but significantly less so after just one dose.

In other developments today, Mr Hancock admitted the first lockdown was delayed despite initial warnings over 820,000 deaths because ministers feared Britons would not tolerate the restrictions for long.

In a dramatic evidence session with MPs, the Health Secretary said that as early as January he was presented with a 'reasonable worst case scenario' of the huge potential toll, based on Spanish Flu. But imposing the draconian first national restrictions did not happen until March 23, with Mr Hancock pointing to expert advice that the public would only 'put up with it' for a limited time and concerns about the 'immediate costs'.

Matt Hancock gave a damning assessment of the expert views on asymptomatic transmission, saying the WHO told him at the end of January that claims coming out of China were 'likely a mistranslation';

NHS data revealed more than 5million people in England are now waiting for hospital treatment  the highest number since records began in 2007;

Airline officials urged Rishi Sunak was urged to launch a new bailout package for the beleaguered aviation industry amid growing fears of a second 'lost summer';

The Care Provider Alliance claimed Matt Hancock was repeatedly warned over the risk of not testing people discharged from hospitals into care homes at the start of the pandemic.

The ZOE Covid Study data suggests cases are higher and increasing faster in the unvaccinated population in the UK.

There are currently 1,917 vaccinated people falling ill with the virus every day, compared to just shy of 10,000 unvaccinated people.

Cases are increasing in both groups, jumping by 89 per cent among vaccinated people. But the rate of growth was quicker among those not yet jabbed (114 per cent).

Scotland and the North West were the worst affected regions in the UK.

An estimated 3,465 people are now coming down with Covid every day in the North West  in which swathes of the region have been given guidance to combat the Indian variant in hotspots  and 2,446 in Scotland.

But illness is rising significantly more rapidly in 20- to 29-year-olds than in vaccinated older age groups.

There were more than 400 symptomatic cases per 100,000 people in the cohort, compared to fewer than 50 in over-60s.

Professor Spector said: 'The Covid situation in the UK has rapidly changed from one of the best performing nations to a nation again struggling with rising cases.

'Official confirmed cases are now around 7,500, which is the highest daily figure since late February. However, when you dig into the data, it's clear that this is an epidemic among the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated populations in the UK and, due to the way vaccines have been rolled out, is largely affecting younger generations.

'The rapid rise is likely down to two compounding factors; increased social interaction and a newly dominant variant that is much more transmissible.

'It's no surprise that people are becoming fatigued with social distancing after a long 15 months of restrictions, which will only encourage the spread.

'The good news is that fully vaccinated people have much greater protection. Vaccines are working and we want to encourage people to exercise caution, especially if they feel at all unwell, until they've been fully vaccinated.

'The race is on to fully vaccinate the whole population to save lives and return to normal life.'

He added: 'It's clear that this is an epidemic among the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated populations in the UK and, due to the way vaccines have been rolled out, is largely affecting younger generations.

'Vaccines are working and we want to encourage people to exercise caution, especially if they feel at all unwell, until they've been fully vaccinated. The race is on to fully vaccinate the whole population to save lives and return to normal life.'

Meanwhile, Test and Trace figures released today showed the number of positive cares in England rose by almost 45 per cent last week. More than 25,000 people who were swabbed in the seven-day spell ending June 2 had Covid, up from 17,000 the week before.

This was despite around 850,000 fewer tests being carried out. Data also showed the number of people taking rapid Covid tests has fallen to its lowest level for three months  despite all members of the public being eligible to take two rapid tests a week.

Dr Harries said that modelling data suggests there will be a further rise in Covid cases in the coming weeks.

However, she stressed it was still too early to make a decision on ending lockdown on June 21 and it will take another week before a clearer picture emerges.

It comes as the latest data from Public Health England (PHE) shows case rates in England have risen among almost all age groups, with the highest rate among 20 to 29-year-olds.

Speaking on a Royal Society of Medicine webinar Dr Harries said: 'We are progressing, probably as a country, not quite in the right direction that we would all want to.'

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson with his wife Carrie on the beach at the Carbis Bay, Cornwall today, ahead of Friday's G7 summit.

Pictured: Crowds at the Test Match between England and New Zealand at Edgbaston in Birmingham today cheer on a Gareth Southgate lookalike

Illness is rising significantly more rapidly in 20- to 29-year-olds than in vaccinated older age groups, There were more than 400 symptomatic cases per 100,000 people in the cohort compared to less than 50 in over-60s

There are currently 1,917 vaccinated people falling ill with the virus, compared to 9,991 unvaccinated people. But cases are increasing in both groups, with 89 per cent more symptomatic cases in people week-on-week even after being jabbed

Meanwhile, Test and Trace figures released today showed the number of positive cares in England rose by almost 45 per cent last week. More than 25,000 people who were swabbed in the seven-day spell ending June 2 had Covid, up from 17,000 the week before

The rise in Test and Trace figures came despite around 850,000 fewer tests being carried out compared to the week before

Social distancing and face masks should stay FOREVER says Communist SAGE committee member Professor Susan Michie Social distancing and wearing face masks should stay forever, a Communist-supporting SAGE scientist has claimed. Professor Susan Michie, of University College London, said she thinks the draconian restrictions should become part of people's every day routine. In a bizarre comparison, she said Britons never used to wear seat belts in cars or 'pick up dog poo in the park' but learned to over time. It comes as the country waits with bated breath to see if Boris Johnson will stick to his roadmap and launch 'Freedom Day' on June 21. The PM could implement a 'mix and match' unlocking, with face masks, work from home guidance and the rule of six indoors likely to still be mandatory. But in a boost for young couples there were reports the 30-guest cap on weddings may be shelved. Professor Michie told Channel 5 News: 'Vaccines are a really important part of the pandemic control but it's only one part. 'Test, trace and isolate system, border controls are really essential. And there third thing is people's behaviour. 'That is the behaviour of social distancing, of when you're indoors making sure there's good ventilation and hand and surface hygiene. 'We'll need to keep these going in the long term and that will probably be good not only for Covid but to reduce other diseases at a time when the NHS is...' She was cut off by presenter Claudia-Liza Armah who asked her: 'When you say the long term, what do you mean by that - how long?' Professor Michie replied: 'I think forever, to some extent.' Both the host and the professor laugh at the bizarre suggestion. Advertisement

Dr Harries said: 'The important thing here is, this really is a knife edge decision point, because the cases are rising and thats becoming clearer.

'Modelling does suggest that we will start to see a further rise, not necessarily immediately but in the coming weeks.'

She said that data suggests that those in the older age groups, aged 60 and above, are not getting ill with Covid because they are 'doubly vaccinated', meaning they have had both doses of the Covid jab.

She added that those appearing in hospital are either unvaccinated or those who have had a single dose of a Covid jab.

Dr Harries said: 'Because of the rise in hospitalisations, and the risk that there may be a wider spread of the Delta (Indian) variant, it is really primarily important for saving lives that the older individuals who are more at risk, who have not had first and second vaccinations, maximally get vaccinated.'

She said that despite the UKs 'brilliant' vaccination programme, Covid is 'not going to go away', because of a possible drop in vaccine effectiveness with the emergence of new coronavirus variants as well as a 'large reservoir' of individuals, such as children and young people, who can become infected and transmit the disease.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that 'everybody can see cases and hospitalisations are going up' and gave the strongest hint yet the much-anticipated milestone will be pushed back because of the rapid spread of the Indian Covid variant.

Despite fears infections will continue to spike given that restrictions have already been eased, other experts have called for calm. Anti-lockdown Tory MPs have demanded the PM sticks to his June 21 pledge.

NHS bosses say hospitals should be able to cope with surging cases because vaccines have meant fewer infected patients need medical care. Dr Richard Cree, an intensive care consultant in Middlesbrough, today claimed he was confident the third wave won't mirror the crises seen last spring and in January.

Separate Test and Trace figures today showed 25,091 people tested positive for Covid in England at least once in the week to June 2.

It is the highest number of people testing positive since the week to March 31.

Data also showed the number of people taking rapid Covid tests has fallen to its lowest level for three months  despite all members of the public being eligible to take two rapid tests a week.

Just under 3.5million lateral flow device (LFD) tests were conducted in England in the week to June 2, according to the latest Test and Trace figures.

This is down from 4.8million in the previous week, and is the lowest total since the week to March 3, when just under 2.8million tests were carried out.

The drop in the latest week coincided with the summer half-term holiday in schools, the Department of Health said.

LFD tests are swab tests that give results in 30 minutes or less without the need for processing in a laboratory.

What are the top 25 Covid 'hotspots' according to the ZOE Symptom Study? 1. Stirling 2. Bury 3. Manchester 4. Rochdale 5. Trafford 6. Bolton 7. Kirklees 8. Perth and Kinross 9. Sunderland 10. Luton 11. South Ayrshire 12. East Lancashire 13. Edinburgh 14. Southwark 15. St Helens 16. Wigan 17. Oldham 18. Renfrewshire 19. West Lothian 20. East Dunbartonshire 21. Aberdeenshire 22. Wrexham 22. Leeds 24. Derby 25. Cheshire 838 cases per 100,000 672 672 605 589 553 539 501 499 473 453 395 390 379 379 349 345 336 309 297 295 290 290 288 273 Advertisement

Since April 9, everyone in England has been eligible for rapid Covid-19 tests twice a week.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Cornwall yesterday, Boris Johnson gave the clearest hint yet that lockdown easing on June 21 would not go ahead because of the rapid spread of the Indian variant.

Me Johnson said: 'What everybody can see very clearly is that cases are going up and in some places hospitalisations are going up. What we need to assess is the extent to which the vaccine rollout, which has been phenomenal, has built up enough protection in the population in order for us to go ahead to the next stage.

'So that is what we will be looking at and there are arguments being made one way or another. But we will be driven by the data, we will be looking at that and setting it out on Monday.'

Just hours before the Prime Minister spoke, top SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson suggested it would take at least another three weeks for scientists to know how much more transmissible the Indian variant is, suggesting hopes of ending lockdown in a fortnight are unlikely.

Professor Ferguson, who has guided the Government through the pandemic, said scientists still don't know how much faster the variant spreads, how much more deadly it is nor how big the third wave will be.

The chance that scientific advisers, ministers and Boris Johnson  who committed to 'data not dates'  will sign off on June 21 without this information is slim to none. An extra three weeks to collect the figures plus the PM's one-week notice for a change in restrictions suggests in the best case scenario it will be early July before Step Four of the roadmap is taken.

Professor Ferguson said: 'It's well within the possibility that we could see another, third, wave at least comparable in terms of hospitalisations, as the second wave. At least deaths, I think, would certainly be lower. It's hard to judge.'

The Imperial College London epidemiologist said researchers need to see how many people are admitted to hospital and die as a result of the current surge in infections.

They believe it is around 60 per cent more transmissible than the Kent variant, more likely to put people in hospital and that vaccines work less well against it.

There have now been more than 19,000 new cases in just three days and Professor Ferguson suggested the outbreak's doubling time could be less than a week, warning of 'quite fast doubling, comparable with what we saw before Christmas.'

The prolific SAGE member's warning is the closest thing to confirmation that Boris Johnson will delay the ending of social distancing laws planned for June 21. His ministers today took a 'wait and see' approach to questions about the roadmap and told people to hold off making summer plans.
The majority of online recruitment in active sex trafficking cases last year occurred on Facebook, according to a new report from the Human Trafficking Institute.

According to the 2020 Federal Human Trafficking Report, 59 percent of all online sex trafficking recruitment in active cases occurred on Facebook. That number rose to 65 percent in active cases involving children.

The internet was the most common recruitment ground for human traffickers last year, making up 41 percent of active cases in 2020 - a rising trend since 2000.

'The internet has become the dominant tool that traffickers use to recruit victims, and they often recruit them on a number of very common social networking websites,' Human Trafficking Institute CEO Victor Boutros told CBSN on Wednesday.

'Facebook overwhelmingly is used by traffickers to recruit victims in active sex trafficking cases.'

The majority of online recruitment in active sex trafficking cases last year occurred on Facebook, according to a new report from the Human Trafficking Institute. Pictured: A man looks at a computer screen with a Facebook logo [stock photo]

'Surprisingly, despite Facebooks reputation as a less popular platform among teenagers, it was a more common platform for recruiting child victims than adult victims in 2020 active sex trafficking cases,' the report says.

'In fact, 65 percent (68) of child victims recruited on social media were recruited through Facebook - compared to just 36 percent (10) of adults.'

Data presented in the report showed that 30 percent of all victims in the United States identified in federal sex trafficking cases in the past two decades - since 2000 - were recruited online.

In 2020, 59 percent of all online recruitment of identified victims in active cases took place on Facebook alone, according to the report, and 65 percent of identified child sex trafficking victims recruited on social media were recruited through Facebook.

Active cases included in the report cover those in which defendants were charged in 2020, those in which defendants were charged in previous years with charges still pending last year, or in which the cases were on appeal.

In a statement to CBS News, Facebook said: 'Sex trafficking and child exploitation are abhorrent and we don't allow them on Facebook.

'We have policies and technology to prevent these types of abuses and take down any content that violates our rules.'

'We also work with safety groups, anti-trafficking organizations and other technology companies to address this and we report all apparent instances of child sexual exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,' it added.

In 2020 in the United States, 59 percent of all online recruitment of identified victims in active cases took place on Facebook alone, according to the report, and 65 percent of identified child sex trafficking victims recruited on social media were recruited through Facebook. Pictured: Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg speaks in 2018

The annual report from the institute uses data from every active federal criminal and civil human trafficking case over the last year, but the 2020 report featured an expanded scope, coming 20 years after the government enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000 [stock photo]

After Facebook, Instagram (owned by Facebook Inc.) and Snapchat were the most frequently cited platforms for recruiting child victims in 2020, the report states.

When it comes to adult victims, WeChat and Instagram followed Facebook.

The annual report from the institute uses data from every active federal criminal and civil human trafficking case over the last year, but the 2020 report featured an expanded scope, coming 20 years after the government enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000.

'This report actually looks at the last 20 years of trends in the federal government,' Boutros told CBS.

'We learned about victims, they are overwhelmingly women and children. So 50 percent of the victims are children, and a large majority are women. So 44 percent are women, and 50 percent girls.'

While the internet has been the most common recruitment ground for human traffickers since 2013 - including in 41 percent of active cases in 2020 - the report also notes that stores and cults as key targets of the criminals.

'The internet has become the dominant tool that traffickers use to recruit victims, and they often recruit them on a number of very common social networking websites,' Human Trafficking Institute CEO Victor Boutros (pictured) told CBSN on Wednesday

In the report, researchers also say that the trends seen in the report reflect the DOJ's methods of tracking down cases of human trafficking.

'These data do not reflect the prevalence of online solicitation in sex trafficking schemes beyond those federally prosecuted,' the report states.

'To be sure, the internet is implicated in many sex trafficking situations, but the high numbers of federal prosecutions involving internet solicitation are equally if not more reflective of the strategies law enforcement use to investigate these crimes.'
The mother of a tragic 20-year-old who suffered a fatal heart attack when he was playing in freezing water a year ago warned of the dangers of cold water shock.

Keivan Ulhaq, 20, had been socialising with friends at Lochore Meadows, Fife, known as 'The Meedies', when he entered the water on the evening of June 20.

Despite being a confident swimmer who loved showing off and doing back flips, six-foot-tall Keivan suffered cold water shock and had a cardiac arrest.

Keivan Ulhaq, 20, pictured, had been enjoying the sunshine in Fife with friends when he jumped into a freezing river and suffered a heart attack

Mr Ulhaq, who was a confident swimmer, entered the water in Lochore Meadows, Fife, known as 'The Meedies', on June 20, 2020. He suffered cold water shock and had a heart attack

Sheena Ulhaq, pictured at the scene where her son died, is raising funds for a defibrillator to help other heart attack victims

Emergency services rushed to the scene but Keivan, from Cowdenbeath, Fife. could not be saved.

Grieving mum Sheena Ulhaq is raising funds for more equipment, including a defibrillator.

Ms Ulhaq, who is a mother of nine, said: 'On the day Keivan died I remember the weather was really nice and I was at home decorating.

'He had gone to The Meedies with some friends, but the water was still freezing cold despite the weather.

'Keivan was really active and was always doing back flips, especially if we were at the beach then he'd do back flips into the water.

'But that day he struggled despite being a six foot big strapping lad. He suffered cold water shock and had a cardiac arrest.

What is cold water shock? Anything below 15c is considered cold water and can impair your breathing and movement. The ocean around Britain and Ireland is on average 12c while rivers such as the Thames are even colder. When immersed in cold water, the shock causes blood vessels around the skin to close. This increases someone's heart rate and causes the blood pressure to go up. As a result, this can cause someone, even a young and healthy person to have a heart attack. Also, diving into cold water can cause someone to involuntarily gasp and inhale water into their lungs. According to the RNLI: 'This can all happen very quickly: it only takes half a pint of sea water to enter the lungs for a fully grown man to start drowning. You could die if you don't get medical care immediately. 'Our seas and rivers are cold enough to leave you helpless in seconds. Treat water with respect, not everyone can be saved.' Source: RNLI Advertisement

'It's really important that people are aware of the dangers of open water because I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else.

'I'm so grateful for all the support I've had, since Keivan died, from everyone who knows the family and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.'

She added: 'Keivan was happy go lucky and he loved life.

'He doted on his younger brothers and sisters.

'We all miss him so much.'

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service sent two appliances and a water rescue unit to the scene to assist other 999 crews.

Deputy Assistant Chief Officer Alasdair Perry said: 'We are grateful to Sheena for speaking about her story, and the tragic circumstances in which Keivan lost his life, to improve the safety of others.

'We want people to stay safe around water this summer. However, our crews regularly respond to emergency calls from people in difficulty who need to be rescued.

'We all like heading outdoors at this time of year, but unsupervised water can be extremely dangerous.

'Open water can become very cold just a few feet under the surface and can cause cramps or Cold Water Shock meaning your strength and ability to swim deteriorates rapidly.'

Since Keivan's death, SFRS has worked with partners to install new water safety signs and lifesaving throwline equipment at Lochore Meadows to protect the public.

Ms Ulhaq is also raising funds for more equipment, including a defibrillator.

Station Commander Michael Gemmell, based in Fife, said: 'What happened to Keivan was a tragedy and it's devastating for everyone who knew him.

'Unless you are fully trained, competent and equipped to enter water courses, keep a safe distance from water.

'This isn't about spoiling anyone's fun, it's about preventing anyone else from needlessly losing their life.'
A joint operation between the U.S. Border Patrol and local police led to the arrest of 216 migrants who were hidden in five stash houses in southern Texas.

Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents and the Laredo Police Department made the apprehensions during a series of raids Monday and Tuesday in the border town of Laredo, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The raids came as the number of migrants arrested at stash houses has skyrocketed in the last year.

Data provided by the Laredo Sector Border Patrol to DailyMail.com showed that 3,998 migrants were arrested at 189 stash houses from October 1, 2020 until June 9.

In comparison, the sector took just 464 migrants into custody after raiding 46 homes in the whole year between October 1, 2019 and September 31, 2020.

The raids this week started when border agents received an anonymous tip off Monday, leading them to find 20 undocumented immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras inside a home on Mims Avenue.

Temperature inside the residence peaked at nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Authorities were later led to a residence on Canelo Drive which doubled as a stash house for migrant smugglers and discovered 20 Mexican nationals, all of whom were unlawfully in the United States.

U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Laredo Sector detained 55 migrants at a stash house on Invierno Drive in Laredo, Texas, on Tuesday. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that a total of 216 migrants were found in five homes that were being used by smugglers to hide the individuals after they have unlawfully crossed the United States-Mexico border

Pictured above are the migrants who were taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Laredo Sector and the Laredo Police Department during the one of the five raids that took place at homes used by smugglers to hide individuals who were illegally ferried across the United States-Mexico border

Agents assigned to the Laredo Sector Border Patrol's Laredo South Station and a team of cops discovered a residence located on Canelo Drive in the Texas border town of Laredo that doubled as a stash house for migrant smugglers. A total of 20 Mexican nationals, all of whom were unlawfully in the United States, were taken into custody

Following a request from the LPD, agents then went to San Francisco Avenue and searched a home where 82 migrants where being housed. The individuals were identified as natives of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico.

Border Patrol agents, the LPD and a team of federal law enforcement officers discovered a fourth stash house located on Invierno Drive on Tuesday, and took into custody 55 migrants from Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

A fifth and final residence used by smugglers to hide migrants was raided on San Agustin Avenue. A total of 30 individuals from Mexico and Guatemala were detained.

CBP did not say if there were any minors within the 216 individuals who were arrested or if any of the migrants had criminal records or were deported in the past.

A fifth and final residence used by smugglers to hide migrants was raided on San Agustin Avenue. Pictured are four of the 30 individuals from Mexico and Guatemala who were detained

'Illegal stash houses remain in high use throughout our community, which continues to be highlighted by our (Laredo) partners,' Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Carl E. Landrum said.

'These houses often have no electricity, no running water or any type of air conditioning, and the people being held inside are not free to leave. Summer heat makes these situations extremely dangerous.'

The Laredo Sector's is responsible for covering 96 counties and 84,041 square miles along southwest and northeast Texas.

This chart shows how 2021 border crossings - pictured in blue - rocketed on crossings made in 2020, represented by the brown line (2018 is pictured in gray, with 2019 in orange)

A new monthly report released by CBP on Wednesday showed that Border Patrol agents stopped 180,034 migrants in May, a slight increase from 178,854 the prior month, with the increase driven largely by single adults.

For its part, the Laredo Sector saw encounters with migrant individuals rise from 10,926 in April to 76,670 in May.

Total encounters are near 20-year-highs, though they aren't directly comparable because expulsions under pandemic-related powers that deny an opportunity to seek asylum carry no legal consequences, encouraging people to make repeated attempts.

U.S. Border Patrol encounters with migrants have increased during former President Donald Trump's last nine months in office and continued to rise under his predecessor.

President Joe Biden has kept in place Title 42, a Trump-era rule that allows for border crossers to be expelled, generally within two hours, on public health grounds of trying to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

Encounters with people in families totaled 44,794 in May, down from 50,228 in April. Only one of every five who came in families last month was expelled under pandemic-related authority.

Nearly nine of every 10 single adults was expelled under the public health emergency. Unaccompanied children are exempt from expulsion and allowed to remain in the United States to seek asylum.

CBP's report showed that there were 14,158 unaccompanied children encountered last month, down from 17,148 in April and an all-time high of 18,951 in March. May's number was the third-highest on record.
Human remains have been found in Kalbarri in Western Australia's Mid West, where police are searching for a missing kite surfer.

John Laverack, 72, was overpowered by treacherous conditions while kite surfing near the mouth of the Murchison River in Kalbarri on Wednesday afternoon.

WA Police on Thursday said the remains were being forensically examined to determine whether they were linked to the missing man.

John Laverack, 72, (pictured) was overpowered by treacherous conditions while kite surfing near the mouth of the Murchison River in Kalbarri on Wednesday

Volunteers involved in the two-day major search operation persevered despite rough conditions, with one rescue vessel almost overturning on two occasions

An aerial and marine search was launched for Mr Laverack on Wednesday after he got into difficulty, despite having decades of experience on the water.

Locals on the shore anxiously watched on as the elderly kite surfer clung to his board waiting for help to arrive.

Police said a volunteer rescue boat arrived at the river-mouth about 12pm on Wednesday, 15 minutes after a beach-goer made the distress call.

A search was initiated, with Marine Rescue, SES volunteers and Polair all working to find the missing man.

Western Australian Police Inspector Dave Hooper said as one volunteer boat ventured toward Mr Laverack, the elderly kite surfer was overpowered by a series of large waves and disappeared.

He said attending officers described the water conditions in the channel as like 'a washing machine', 9NEWS reported.

Police divers have now arrived at the Murchison River, with hopes they can join ongoing search efforts on Friday morning

Just before 4pm on Thursday, authorities were alerted to what they believe to be human remains in the storm-churned waters

Volunteers involved in the two-day major search operation persevered despite the rough conditions, with one rescue vessel almost overturning on two occasions.

'Search activity in the area is continuing, pending the results of the forensic examination,' WA Police said in a statement.

A storm warning for the area had passed by the following day, however the area continued to be battered by strong winds and currents.

Just before 4pm on Thursday, authorities were alerted to what they believe to be human remains in the storm-churned waters.

The human remains have been made a top priority for police, who have arranged for a helicopter to transport the evidence to a forensics team in Perth for analysis.

John Laverack's family have been advised of the update, with hopes they can receive some definitive answers on the state of their loved one in the next 48 hours.

Police will continue to search the Kalbarri waters until results come back.
A Covid-infected couple who drove from locked-down Melbourne to Queensland through regional NSW could be prosecuted in all three states for the 'selfish' trip, but could escape with a slap on the wrist like previous offenders.

The pair escaped Victoria's 'circuit breaker' Covid lockdown on June 1 and went on a 1,900km road trip through regional communities in NSW before arriving in Queensland on June 5.

Health authorities believe the pair were likely infected at least two weeks ago, as tests they had on June 9 showed their viral loads were waning.

A Covid-infected couple who fled Melbourne's lockdown (pictured) to road trip across three states could face huge fines and even jail time

Health authorities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus during their interstate trip

The couple had no exemption to leave Victoria and travel to Queensland, and police are now investigating whether they lied on border exemption passes.

They could face fines of more than $13,000 and six months in jail if they're found to have failed to comply with border directions in Queensland.

The couple could also face punishment in Victoria and NSW, like the three young women who sparked fears of a Covid outbreak after lying on their border declaration forms last year.

The women lied so they could escape hotel quarantine after flying from Queensland to Melbourne to go to a party in an Airbnb apartment in July last year.

Diana Lasu, 21, Olivia Winnie Muranga, 20, and Haja Umu Timbo, 21, were originally charged with one count of making false or misleading documents and one of fraud.

But they pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of failing to comply with a public health direction.

Muranga and Lasu tested positive to COVID-19 after the group returned to Queensland from attending the party in Melbourne while the city was in lockdown.

Olivia Winnie Muranga, 20, (pictured, centre) was accused of lying on her border declarations to avoid quarantine in Queensland last July. She later tested positive for Covid

Haja Umu Timbo (left) and Diana Lasu (right) were sentenced to community service after pleading guilty to failing to comply with a public health direction

Muranga was sentenced to 40 hours of community service in Queensland while Lasu and Timbo were both given 80 hours of community service to complete.

They also received fines in Victoria for failing to comply with gathering restrictions.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said police will investigate how the couple at the centre of Australia's latest Covid scare were able to enter the Sunshine State.

Victoria had been declared a hotspot at the time the couple entered Queensland, meaning Victorians were unable to legally enter without an exemption.

Those granted entry would then have had to undergo 14 days in hotel quarantine.

Health authorities have identified 17 close contacts of the couple with three so far testing negative.

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino said the couple wouldn't have been breaking lockdown restrictions if they were permanently relocating to the Sunshine State.

'Victoria was not able to speak to the couple yesterday for a case interview but we will do so today, and it is important to note that if they were relocating it is not a breach of directions here in Victoria but we just don't know,' Mr Merlino said.

Three states are scrambling to contain a potential Covid outbreak after an infected woman left locked-down Melbourne and drove through NSW to the Sunshine Coast (Mooloolaba pictured)

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Cafe Omega closed on Thursday for a deep clean after a Covid-infected couple attended twice

The pair were only detected when they came forward for testing because the man needed a negative result for his job.

Police are investigating whether the couple crossed the NSW-Queensland border at the remote rural town of Goondiwindi on June 5 in a bid to evade authorities.

The couple likely used that route so they could avoid passing through the Gold Coast - where police perform 100 random intercepts a day with strict border control measures in place.

Goondiwindi Mayor Lawrence Springborg slammed the couple.

'This act of apparent selfishness has not only inconvenienced our community but put us all at risk and reinforces the need for constant vigilance and compliance with health advice,' he said.

The infected woman had been experiencing symptoms - including loss of her sense of smell - from June 3 but only sought a test on June 8.
The first Orthodox Jewish woman to run for a New York City Council seat from her Brooklyn district has been forced to run campaign ads without her image in local newspapers that wont print images of women.

Amber Adler, 37, is a candidate in the June 22 primary for a city council seat representing District 48, an area that encompasses heavily Orthodox enclaves of Borough Park and Midwood in southern Brooklyn.

But unlike men in her position who run for office, Adler's face will not appear in local Orthodox Jewish newspapers in the area because pictures of women have been banned on religious grounds.

Editors fear that readers may turn away from publications that picture women because of Othodox rules requiring men to guard their eyes against potentially arousing images.

In order to reach prospective voters, Adler has used social media as well as door-to-door canvassing.

Her campaign ads in the local papers instead feature photographs of her two young sons in campaign, which are acceptable to the readers, according to POLITICO.

Amber Adler, 37, is the first Orthodox Jewish woman to run for a New York City Council seat from her Brooklyn district

Unlike men in her position who run for office, Adler is unable to show her face to potential voters who read local Orthodox Jewish newspapers in the area since readers may turn away from publications that picture women. Her campaign ran this ad in the local Orthodox press which features her two young sons

On social media, Adler is able to run campaign ads that feature her likeness

Its forced me to get really creative, Adler tells POLITICO when asked about the de facto ban on womens likenesses in the Orthodox press.

In one ad that ran in the Flatbush Jewish Journal, Adlers two young boys - ages 7 and 9 - are seen on a sidewalk. One of them is holding a sign that reads Vote 4 Mommy.

'They have been endlessly supportive of my campaign,' Adler tells POLITICO.

'Part of my platform and pitch to voters is my lived experience as a single working mom.'

Adler adds: 'If I can't use my own photo to get that message across, my boys can.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to both Adler and the Flatbush Jewish Journal seeking comment.

In contrast to her print ads, Adler's social media images show her alongside her children, walking down the street and holding their hands.

The Flatbush Jewish Journal is among several Orthodox publications in the New York City tri-state area whose pages feature men only. The front page of its latest issue shows senior Israeli politicians

In recent years, several newspapers that serve an Orthodox Jewish readership have airbrushed high-profile female leaders from their pages.

Orthodox Jewish law bans men from masturbating or emitting semen that is not intended to procreate.

In recent years, a sect of Orthodox Judaism based in Israel that abides by strict adherence to religious law began the practice of removing women from billboards and publications.

A decade ago, an Orthodox Jewish newspaper, Di Tzeitung, sparked anger in the United States by removing the image of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the famous photograph of the White House Situation Room during the raid which killed Osama bin Laden.

In 2015, an Israeli newspaper, Hamodia, airbrushed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and then-Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt out of a photograph of world leaders who marched in the French capital after the massacre at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

The practice which became commonplace in Israel has also been increasingly adopted in recent years in local Orthodox press that serves communities in Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, and parts of New Jersey.

A decade ago, an Orthodox Jewish newspaper, Di Tzeitung, sparked anger in the United States by removing the image of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the famous photograph of the White House Situation Room during the raid which killed Osama bin Laden

The photo that removed Clinton is seen above in the Orthodox publication Di Tzitung

Orthodox Jewish publications in recent years have airbrushed senior women out of photos including the picture above showing German Chancellor Angela Merkel (third from right) marching with other world leaders in Paris after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in 2015

An Israeli newspaper, Hamodia, airbrushed Merkel, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and then-Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt out of the photograph of world leaders who marched in the French capital after the massacre at the offices of the satirical newspaper

It is rare for an Orthodox Jewish woman to seek a position of leadership in a community where men have long been considered the public faces who must advance its interests.

Adler is running on a platform that includes making it easier for Orthodox Jewish women to obtain a divorce, also known as a get in religious law.

In Orthodox Judaism, a woman may receive a get only if its approved by the husband.

If the husband refuses, the wife can sue for divorce in a rabbinical court. Until the court settles the matter, the woman is considered an agunah - which means chained in Hebrew.

Adler, who herself spent two years as an agunah, wants the state legislature to make it a felony to prohibit a woman from getting divorced.

She told POLITICO that she's centering her campaign on the issues that she seeks to advance and is not making herself into a martyr over not having her photograph published in the local Orthodox press.

'I've had to accept that, OK, I cant be in the papers. I guess Ill just need to knock on more doors,' said Adler.

'At the end of the day, Im running for city council to represent the issues and policies that affect the everyday lives of girls, women and mothers.

'I'm willing to put the issue of using my photograph aside for the sake of a seat at the table.'

In 2019, another Orthodox Jewish woman, Adina Miles-Sash, ran for a seat on the city council. She is from a neighboring district in Brooklyn.

Miles-Sash was the first ever Orthodox Jewish woman to seek public office in Brooklyn.

Now a social-media influencer, Miles-Sash has hit out at the Jewish press for erasing images of women.

Miles-Sash has hit out at the Jewish press for erasing images of women

She told Politico: 'You cant convey an identity without a face. Its enough to try and muzzle the mouth of a woman  to do that to the face is painfully damaging.'

Although the Orthodox papers would not picture her photograph during her campaign, she did manage to persuade them to run an advert featuring her 80-year-old grandmother.

After two papers initially rejected the advert, she protested that they were erasing the images of a Holocaust survivor, and they agreed to publish.

She said: 'I figured, if they're going to take anyone, they'll take a photo of an old lady, since she doesnt meet the arbitrary standards of what men consider attractive.'
Armed police lawfully killed Fishmongers' Hall terrorist Usman Khan by shooting him 20 times over the space of 10 minutes after he stabbed two Cambridge graduates to death, an inquest jury found today.

The jury ruled that police believed Khan was 'pulling for the trigger' on his fake suicide vest when they unleashed a second volley of shots at him after he sat up and opened his jacket on London Bridge.

One officer shot Usman Khan twice at close range but did not kill him and another five officers then discharged 18 more rounds when he sat up, eight minutes later. Only 12 of the rounds hit him and two caused fatal injuries.

Usman Khan, 28, was sprayed with bullets by armed officers on London Bridge minutes after he murdered Cambridge graduates in Fishmongers' Hall on the banks of the River Thames

As well as the gunshot wounds, Khan had several blunt force trauma injuries consistent with being jabbed with a narwhal tusk (pictured), punched and hit with other solid objects

A new image released today showing armed police aiming their weapons at Khan on the ground as a bystander (with the pink colouring around their neck) runs away

The jury gave a narrative conclusion in which they said that Usman Khan refused commands to stay still and police were forced to 'neutralise the risk.'

The jury concluded that Khan had 'carried out a planned attack on multiple people in Fishmongers' Hall armed with two knives and a very realistic looking IED around his waist.'

When the first armed police vehicle arrived on scene carrying three armed officers, they 'tried to gain control of the situation' and told the public to move away, the jury said.

Khan 'did not comply and kept on moving.' Police officer YX99 heard him say he had a bomb and 'felt and saw what he perceived as a viable IED on Khan.'

'He fired two shots into Khan to incapacitate him and reduce the risk to the public still in the area,' the jury said.

Police moved slightly further away to try to gain cover, while keeping 'line of sight' on Khan.

London Bridge terrorist's graphic final moments The final moments of Usman Khan's life were as graphic in content as they were extraordinary in nature. Bloodied from two point-blank gunshot wounds to his body that left him writhing in agony on the west-side pavement of London Bridge eight minutes earlier, the 28-year-old terrorist summoned a final adrenaline-fuelled thrust of energy to sit bolt upright, legs outstretched in front of him, and stare purposefully at an effective firing squad of police. Nine shots were fired at him during that 13-second period, including at least one to the face which caused Khan, as a final act, to touch his forehead with his hand as if to assess the damage before falling onto his back to die. A couple of limb twitches caused police to fire at him again, having been granted clearance to perform a 'critical shot' - a near-instantly fatal wound - due to the presence of a suspected suicide belt around his waist. He was officially pronounced dead an hour later after police experts had declared the scene safe. Khan had travelled to London by train from his home in Stafford that morning wearing a hoax suicide device secreted under his coat, and attended a prisoner education event where he stabbed Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, before being chased from the venue. The scene was played out to an audience of horrified members of the public, and was captured by a variety of cameras recording events unfolding. Live footage from a police helicopter also filled a gigantic screen in the Met's control room nearby south of the River Thames. Recalling Khan's death throes, shortly after 2pm on November 29 2019, a tactical firearms commander known only as WA30 told the jury during the two-week inquest into Khan's death: 'I thought he was going to detonate that device. 'I was just in a cold sweat, I could hear my own heartbeat, I was sweating profusely, my mouth went so dry.' He added: 'It was like watching a slow motion car crash. 'I was squinting at the monitor thinking he would detonate that at any moment, thinking he would kill my officers, the public as well.' At the scene, armed response officers from the Met and City of London Police standing well within the 100m blast zone said they feared they would be killed as Khan sat up, having spent several minutes breathing deeply lying prone on his back following the first two gun shots, and appearing to reach for something nearby. An officer known as AZ99 said: 'At that point there, I thought: We're dead.' It was at this moment that officers opened on Khan again, firing nine of the 20 shots aimed at Khan that afternoon. All the while, handfuls of pedestrians could be seen milling around on the walkway directly underneath Khan, oblivious to the dramatic events on London Bridge above them. 'I was flabbergasted that the man (Khan) had been shot numerous times and it took a while for him to cease moving,' WA30 said. 'Eventually - very slowly, nothing like you see in the movies - he ceased moving.' The footage, recorded against the low hanging sun of a November afternoon, is so graphic it was not released to the media and is unlikely ever to be shown in public again. Advertisement

Between 2.03pm and 2:10pm, Khan 'continued to move while police continued to clear the surrounding area and shouted at Khan to stay still,' the conclusions read.

'The police believed Khan was trying to find a trigger. At 2.10.27pm Khan sat up which was interpreted by the police as a move to detonate the device.

'As a result of this, officers decided to take multiple critical shots to neutralise this risk. These critical shots were supported by senior officers in the command centre.'

The coroner told the hearing that Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones had demonstrated a 'profound commitment to the good of society' and had their lives 'tragically cut short.'

He spoke of the 'remarkable courage and compassion' of Steve Gallant, John Crilly, Darryn Frost and Lukasz Koczocik who fought off Khan and subdued him until the police arrived.

'Lives were saved as well as lost in this terrible attack,' he added.

The coroner said that he would produce a 'prevention of future deaths' report sometime before the second anniversary of the attack on November 29 this year.

Usman Khan had emerged from the toilets at the livery hall, to stab Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, workers on the Learning Together project, on 29 November 2019.

He had been released on licence from Whitemoor Category A prison 11 months earlier, after serving half of a 16-year sentence for terrorist offences, and was wearing a fake suicide vest.

A firearms officer shot Usman Khan twice, while another discharged a Taser, after a colleague dragged off a member of the public.

After he was shot, Khan was shouted at to lay still and apparently yelled: 'No, allahu akbar!' [god is great] before rolling over and sitting up.

He was sitting up for 13 seconds, during which at least nine shots were fired at him, followed by another nine, as he made further movements.

Khan had put on a pair of gloves and taped two knives around his wrists, which both had the Arabic script for Allah etched into the blade.

He had also apparently said a prayer from a book called the Fortress of the Muslims which was later found on the floor, before putting on a face mask to launch the attack.

He was chased out onto London Bridge by three guests from the Learning Together conference, a prison service worker, a former prisoner and a prisoner on day release.

As he got a few hundred yards down the road and onto the bridge, still pursued by the men, Khan stopped running, turned and confronted them.

Darryn Frost thrust a Nawal tusk, taken from the hall, at Khan while John Crilly set off a fire extinguisher and Steve Gallant, who was unarmed, brought Khan to the floor.

The Nawal tusk nearly killed him narrowly missing the carotid artery in his neck, a pathologist told the inquest.

All three men then jumped on top of the terrorist and tried to get the knives out of his hands, as armed police were flagged down on the opposite carriageway.

The first armed response car arrived with three firearms officers from City of London Police at 2.02pm, six minutes after the attack had begun inside the hall.

While one officer, code named WS5, pulled Frost off Khan, another, YX15, discharged his taser and a third, YX99, shot him twice.

YX99 described coming face to face with Khan and said he thought he was going to die after grabbing the killer and hearing him say: 'I've got a bomb'.

The City of London Police officer could be heard screeching at the top of his voice 'He's got a bomb, he's got a bomb, he's got a bomb' as he tried to clear people out of the way before shooting Khan twice at close range.

He told the inquest into the shooting: 'I thought he was going to detonate it. I thought we were going to die.'

Khan stabbed Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25, (left) and Saskia Jones, 23, at a prisoner education event in Central London in November 2019

Khan pictured at Bank station on his way to attend a prisoner rehabilitation event, in a photo which was shown in court during an earlier inquest into the terror attack at the Fishmongers Hall in London in November 2019

Afterwards he admitted he was 'in a bit of a panicked sate' and wondering if the device was real.

The officer, codenamed YX99, said he was 'fully expecting' Khan to be dead so when he moved afterwards, he was stunned.

The officers withdrew 40 yards down the road and took cover behind a wall outside the Fishmongers Hall.

Eight minutes later, Khan tried to sit up and colleagues shot at him another 18 times.

Ian Waring was a solicitor with Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner on the third floor of Adelaide House on London Bridge, texted his wife at 2.09pm, saying: 'All kicking off here, we've just witnessed someone get shot by the police. He has knives and was tackled to the ground by passers by.'

A minute later, he added: 'He's moving around but police will kill him if he moves much more.'

WS5, recalled seeing Khan wipe away blood 'in disbelief' after trying to take a 'critical shot' to his head from 40 yards away.

The City of London firearms officer said he elected to take a 'head shot' because he feared Khan was about to set off his device, and 'we would all be dead.'

He saw a mother with a pram walk under the bridge 'without a care in the world' and feared that Khan could still set off what he thought was a suicide belt.

The officer, a former member of the military, shifted aim to Khan's 'central body mass', firing 10 of the 20 rounds shot at Khan.

Four more armed response vehicles arrived in the four minutes between 2.04pm and 2.08pm, one more from the City of London and three from the Metropolitan Police.

A man carrying a tusk as he exits Fishmongers' Hall in pursuit of Khan. Before armed officers arrived, other attendees at the event tried to incapacitate him

Khan on board a train to London, which was shown in court at the earlier inquest into the terror attack at the Fishmongers' Hall

Khan seen to 'make a number of movements' after he was shot, untaping the glove from one hand and removing his jacket so the suicide belt was visible.

When Khan started to sit up at 2.10pm, nine further shots were fired and he fell back onto the ground.

A wound could be seen on his face and he was bending his right leg and lifting his knee off the ground when there was a further shot.

At 2.11 pm there were four more shots after one of the officers was heard to say he was still moving.

It was only then that the control room authorised a 'critical shot' and a further shot was taken, followed by one more when his left arm moved.

From 2.12pm there was no further movement and at 2.18pm explosives sniffer dogs were sent in and found there was no explosives.

Explosives officers followed at 2.41pm and at 5.07pm, Khan was declared 'life extinct.'

The jury was told that the 'suicide belt' was actually made from black material from a FormFit weightlifting belt, probably bought from TK Maxx.

The 'explosives' were actually bandages wrapped in clingfilm and covered in gaffer tape and there was wiring from an Energizer battery charger and the circuit board from Khan's Xbox games console.

Wiring detectives believe was part of the terrorist's fake suicide vest

The belt appeared to have been made at Khan's rented flat in Stafford where other items, including tape and wiring were in the bins when we went in and searched it.

The belt had probably been fitted on the journey down because Khan had spent seven minutes in the toilets on the train and used a roll if tape which was not found at his home.

The cause of death was given as '1a shock and haemorrhage due to 1b multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.'

Chief Inspector Phil Taylor, Scotland Yard's most senior firearms instructor, explained the justification for taking a 'critical shot.'

'What we are seeking is the immediate incapacity to the neurological function delivered by that shot so we know for sure they can't carry out what they were intending to do,' he told the inquest.

Jonathan Hough QC, for the coroner asked: 'So all messages from the brain stop and no purposeful action possible?'

Mr Taylor said the officer was taking a 'head shot', aiming for the medulla oblongata, at the base of the brain so the 'threat will then dissipate.'

The 'critical shot' could be taken without specific authorisation from above to do so, the inquest heard.
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The Royal Navy's newest aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has sailed into Carbis Bay ahead of Boris Johnson's first meeting with Joe Biden.

The 3.3 billion state-of-the-art aircraft carrier will provide the backdrop the Prime Minister's first meeting with Biden at the G7 summit in Cornwall since his election in November 2020.

It's a symbol for Johnson's hopes for a post-Brexit Britain, with the vessel's sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth on patrol across the globe.

The HMS Prince of Wales is nearing operation readiness after an F-35B Lightning aircraft landed onboard the aircraft carrier for the first time yesterday.

The 900ft long carrier, which has a crew of 1,600, is based at Portsmouth and was formally commissioned in December 2019.

The Royal Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, sailing into Carbis Bay, Cornwall opposite the G7 meeting venue

The HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier patrols the waters off St Ives, Cornwall ahead of the G7 summit

It comes after an F-35B Lightning aircraft landed onboard the aircraft carrier for the first time yesterday

Yesterday, the F-35B landed on the HMS Prince of Wales as part of Sea Acceptance Trials conducted off the south coast of England.

It marked the first time a fixed wing aircraft has touched down on the 65,000-tonne vessel. The trials came as the Royal Navy continues to try and prepare the HMS Prince of Wales for operations.

The test are designed to test the ship's capability to receive and launch aircraft, while also maintaining continuous air operations.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said yesterday: 'The vital partnership between HMS Prince of Wales and our F-35B aircraft signifies a momentous milestone in the capability of the fifth-generation carrier, marking another step towards it becoming fully operational.

'The first jet landing is a huge achievement for all involved and showcases the collaboration across the UK Armed Forces and our impressive Carrier Strike capabilities.'

Reacting to yesterday's F-35B landing, Commanding Officer of HMS Prince of Wales, Captain Darren Houston said: 'This prodigious achievement on the deck of HMS Prince of Wales is a significant milestone in the Royal Navys re-birth of Carrier Strike Group operations. It is a tangible reflection of the enormous collective effort from the aircraft carrier enterprise to deliver the Royal Navys second aircraft carrier.

HMS Prince of Wales: The numbers behind the Royal Navy's newest aircraft carrier Cost: 3.3 billion. Originally 3billion, various faults and repairs drove up the cost. Weight: 65,000 Crew: 1,600 when fully functional. Dimensions: More than 900ft (280m) long and 230ft (70m) wide, with four-acre flight decks big enough for almost three full-size football pitches. Speed: Top speed of 28 mph. Capable of travelling 500 miles a day. Fighter jets: Capacity for 36 F35-B Lightning II fighter jets. The jets can be lifted from the below-deck hangar to the deck in just 60 seconds. Weapons: Weapon system capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute. Radars: Long-range radars can track up to 1,000 aerial targets from up to 250 nautical miles away. Type 997 Artisan 3D medium range radars can track a target the size of a snooker ball from a distance of 12 miles. Advertisement

'I am particularly proud of the contribution made by my Ships Company in developing this world leading, sovereign capability and we look forward in earnest to rapidly growing our experience operating the F-35B through further trials and training later this year.'

207 Squadron F-35B pilot and the first to land onboard HMS Prince of Wales, Squadron Leader Will said: 'It was a real honour to be the first pilot to land the F-35B onboard HMS Prince of Wales.

'With all the training that we have previously undertaken with HMS Queen Elizabeth, we are now looking forward to using that experience and knowledge working with HMS Prince of Wales as she moves towards her full operational capability.'

The Queen Elizabeth-class carrier is the eighth HMS Prince of Wales. It's sister ship is the Queen Elizabeth is currently taking part in a military exercise in the Black Sea.

The arrival of the carrier brings the number of Navy vessels on security watch for G7 to four. The frigate HMS Northumberland has been based off the Cornish coast for three days along with HMS Tyne and Tamar.

HMS Prince of Wales and its sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth make up part of the UK's Carrier Strike Group designated CSG21.

The vessels can be pressed into action for various work such as high intensity war fighting or providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

The development of the aircraft carriers comes amid Boris Johnson's effort to make the armed forces ready to face future threats.

Last November, the MoD received an increase in funding of over 24 billion across the next four years as part of the effort.

The ship has been beset with technical problems and was stranded in Portsmouth in December 2020 after thousands of gallons of sea water poured into the vessel's engine room for more than 24 hours and damaged the electrics.

It was banned from setting sale until repairs were made, with defence minister Jeremy Quin revealing the fix would cost 3.3million.

It marked the second leak for the 65,000-tonne ship in less than a year. The engine room had already been flooded to the depth of 3ft during a leak in May 2020.

It was later revealed that the carrier had spent just 87 days at sea during its first two years in service.

HMS Queen Elizabeth also suffered leaks in 2017 and 2019, with the former costing several million pounds to repair.

In May 2020, the Royal Navy launched an investigation after a pipe leaked on HMS Prince of Wales and caused an ankle-high flood. The leak was said to have taken place on the carrier while it was at Portsmouth Naval Base.

A video later posted on Facebook showed water gushing through the ceiling and flooding an entire room of the warship.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO EXPAND. The Queen Elizabeth class features HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales

A graphic shows how the Queen Elizabeth class of carriers - which includes two vessels; the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales - can produce 500 tonnes of fresh water from sea water daily

The HMS Prince of Wales has more than 28,000 rashers of bacon on board the aircraft carrier, as well as 12,000 tins of beans

It is understood that the pipe was isolated quickly and the water was soon mopped up by the crew on board.

The Royal Navy later said it was testing its safety systems including the deployment of life rafts and emergency chutes following the flood.

A Royal Navy spokesman said at the time: 'Following a minor issue with an internal system on HMS Prince of Wales, the ship's company were required to remove a small volume of water from the ship.

'An investigation into the cause is now under way but this will not affect the ship's programme.'

Then, in December that year another leak occurred, with a Royal Navy spokesman saying: 'HMS Prince of Wales is alongside at HMNB Portsmouth conducting repairs following a flood in an engine room.

'The ship's company are getting ready to sail for further training and trials in 2021.'

More than 100 sailors were forced to leave the ship and spend the night on HMS Queen Elizabeth after the aircraft carrier suffered a power cut in Portsmouth harbour in 2019.

HMS Queen Elizabeth also suffered a leak in July 2019 causing a large quantity of water to pour from a pipe and to flood through several decks.

And in 2017, HMS Queen Elizabeth faced multi-million pound repairs after it was discovered that a faulty seal on a propeller shaft was letting in 200 litres of sea water an hour.

Yesterday, an F-35B landed on the HMS Prince of Wales (pictured in Portsmouth in August) as part of Sea Acceptance Trials conducted off the south coast of England

The Queen Elizabeth-class carrier (pictured in Portsmouth in August) is the eighth HMS Prince of Wales. It's sister ship is the Queen Elizabeth is currently taking part in a military exercise in the Black Sea

There was no damage or breach to the hull as the water was contained in an internal compartment and then pumped out, but the vessel had to return to Portsmouth and cut its five-week sea trials short as a precautionary measure.

At the time, the ship's then commanding officer Captain Steve Moorhouse said it was safe and that in his experience leaks were a 'weekly' problem for warships.

The older of the two carriers - HMS Queen Elizabeth - also delayed its departure from Portsmouth last year as its 700-strong crew were tested for coronavirus.

Both HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth have been built by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) - a partnership of BAE Systems, Babcock, Thales and the Ministry of Defence.
Juvenile macular degeneration is a genetic eye disorder that causes progressive vision loss. This disorder affects the retina, the specialized light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye. Specifically, juvenile macular degeneration affects a small area near the center of the retina called the macula. The macula is responsible for sharp central vision, which is needed for detailed tasks such as reading, driving, and recognizing faces. The market is mainly driven by factors such as the increasing prevalence of eye disorders, development of new drugs and therapies, and emerging government policies. However, the high cost of treatment and lack of reimbursement is expected to restrain the growth of this market.

uvenile Macular Degeneration Market China and India contribute to the growth of the market. On the other hand, the Middle East & Africa hold the least share of the market due to the low prevalence of macular degeneration in the region and limited availability of funds and availability of medical facilities. The Middle East has a huge share for the Juvenile Macular Degeneration Market due to the presence of well-developed countries like Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. However, due to the presence of a huge opportunity for the development of the market, Africa region is expecting a healthy growth in near future. Global Juvenile Macular Degeneration (Stargardt Disease) market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period 2017-2023.

Sample Report: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4935

Key Players in Global Juvenile Macular Degeneration Market Acucela Inc. (U.S.), Alkeus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (U.S.), Astellas Pharma Inc. (Japan), ProQR Therapeutics NV (Netherland), Sanofi (France), Bayer HealthCare (Germany), F. Hoffmann-La Roche (Switzerland), Copernicus Therapeutics Inc. (U.S.), Grupo Ferrer Internacional SA (U.S.), Iris Pharma (U.S.), Nemus Bioscience Inc (U.S.), Ophthotech Corp (U.S.), Iconic Therapeutics (U.S.), Adverum Biotechnologies (U.S.), PanOptica (U.S.), RXi Pharmaceuticals (U.S.), Neurotech Pharmaceuticals (U.S.)

The European juvenile macular degeneration market accounted for 32.7% market share in 2016. In Europe, Germany, the U.K, and France are the largest contributors to the market owing to the availability of funds for research, and extensive research and development activities in ophthalmology. The development of novel therapies and other treatment options for juvenile macular degeneration also fuel the growth of the market. The Middle East & Africa exhibit steady but positive growth owing to low technology penetration in developing regions of Africa, and increasing demand for diagnostics services in developing regions. In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates accounts for the largest market share for macular degeneration.

READ MORE @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/juvenile-macular-degeneration-market-4935

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A hunter has been jailed for 15 months after beheading a 700-pound black bear while trespassing on Native American land.

Brett Stimac, from Brainerd, Minnesota, posed with pictures of the carcass on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in 2019.

Stimac, 41, was sentenced to 15 months in prison by a federal judge on Wednesday, along with a year of supervised release. He was also handed a $9,500 fine.

Brett Stimac, from Brainerd, Minnesota, posed with pictures of the carcass on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in 2019 and posted the photograph to his Facebook (pictured)

In September 2020, Stimac pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of animal trafficking and trespassing on Indian land.

However, his lawyer alleges that only half of the federal government's case is accurate. He said Stimac originally lied about killing the bear after he posted pictures with it on Facebook, and that it was already dead when Stimac found it.

Prosecutors said that Stimac killed the bear with a compound bow near the reservation's garbage dump, and came back later to remove the bear's head as a trophy, along with other parts of its body.

Those who are not members of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians are not permitted by them to hunt bear on the reservation's land.

Bears are a clan animal and possess a great spiritual significance to the Band, and Stimac is not an enrolled member of the tribe.

Authorities accused Stimac of killing the bear on September 1, 2019, and returned to the reservation with his girlfriend.

There, they say he posed for photos with the bear's carcass and posted the pictures to Facebook, along with a message claiming the bears weighed over 700 pounds.

Because of its size, he was unable to move the bear. He went back to the reservation on September 3 and attempted to remove the bear's hide.

Those who are not members of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa tribe are not permitted by them to hunt bear on the reservation's land (pictured)

When he failed to do that, he used a saw to remove the bear's head and paws, and took around 71 pounds of meat, the court documents - seen by CBS Minnesota - allege, with the charges saying he left the carcass and at least one paw behind.

According to the Duluth News Tribune, Stimac has a long criminal history in the state of Minnesota - including the illegal transportation of big game in 2008.

The Tribune found he also had convictions for criminal damage to property in 2014, a possession of a firearm felony in 2011, received stolen property in 2009 and 2000, second-degree felony assault with a dangerous weapon in 2008, and disorderly conduct in 1999.
The White House has reversed course and said Kamala Harris' trip to Central America was a 'success', following reports insiders were 'perplexed' by her mixed messages on migration and snippy response to border questions.

'The trip was a success. Was there one moment in one interview that is taken out of context and being used? Yes, but she did what she came to do,' a White House official told Politico.

That review was in keeping with the vice president's self-assessment, which she delivered in the midst of her press conference in Mexico City Tuesday.

'Do I declare this trip a success? Yes I do,' she said.

A former Harris aide told the publication her tense exchange with NBC's Lester Holt where she said 'I haven't been to Europe either' when asked about visiting the border was in line with history.

'It sometimes takes her a while to land on the right message, and sometimes she can be a little undisciplined in her message. But she eventually gets there,' said the former aide.

The upbeat assessment comes as elements within the Biden administration appeared to be baffled by some of Harris' attempts to address the border crisis on her trip to Guatemala and Mexico.

The latest White House defense also followed the release of the latest figures that show illegal border crossings have exploded by 674 per cent in a year, with 180,034 recorded in May - the fourth consecutive monthly rise.

Administration officials are 'perplexed' at some of the conflicting statements made by Vice President Kamala Harris on her first foreign trip in office

The latest White House defense also followed the release of the latest figures that show illegal border crossings have exploded by 674 per cent in a year, with 180,034 recorded in May - the fourth consecutive monthly rise

White House insiders were 'perplexed' by her answers to her questions over whether she would visit the Rio Grande and 'hoped her first foreign trip would be a success', CNN reported.

Under the latest Customs and Border Patrol figures, illegal border crossings at the southern border have reached the highest level since 2006, with 900,000 people stopped trying to cross illegally from October through the end of May, Axios reported this week as the trip was concluding.

Officials also fear that any progress she made during her meetings with the Guatemalan and Mexican presidents may be undone by her mixed messages and terse encounters with reporters.

Harris' trip was meant to focus on the 'root causes' of migration that have led to families and unaccompanied children heading north to the border.

But she made a series of seemingly conflicting statements about her decision not to visit the border and enraged progressives by telling migrants: 'Do not come'.

Harris visited Mexico and Guatemala in her first trip outside the country as VP

Chanel, 7, and her sister Adriana, 10, both unaccompanied minors traveling alone from Honduras, sits among other asylum-seeking children as they await to be transported to a U.S. border patrol processing facility

By the end of her trip, at a press conference in Mexico City with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Harris insisted the trip was a success.

'Listen, I've been to the border before and I'll go again,' she said.

She also hinted that a border trip would be 'short-sighted', but did promise to visit without giving a date.

CNN reported that officials were concerned within the administration that whatever progress Harris had made on the leader-to-leader level might have been undermined by her conflicting answers and PR missteps.

'Its left some of the administration officials perplexed, and the vice presidents team frustrated,' the network Wednesday.

'There was hope the trip would be a success, and in the end, they feel it may have been overshadowed by some of her answers to these questions,' the network reported.

She also snapped at reporters a few times when questioned about a border visit. Among those asking about it was a CNN correspondent. Fox News correspondents have been hounding the White House on the topic for weeks, so it was unlikely to have surprised her team.

At the same news conference where she said she would go to the border, Harris also shrugged off the idea.

She said at a Mexico City press conference she would visit the border, after earlier commenting about 'grand gestures'

Vice President Kamala Harris (R) participates in a roundtable with Guatemalan community and civil society leaders to continue conversations about how best to address the root causes of migration at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala in Guatemala City on June 7, 2021

Vice President Kamala Harris is greeted by Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard as she steps off the plane upon arrival at Benito Juarez International airport in Mexico City, for her first international trip as Vice President to Guatemala and Mexico, in Mexico June 7, 2021

'I think it's short-sighted, for any of us who are in the business of problem solving to suggest we're only going to respond to the reaction as opposed to addressing the cause,' she said.

It echoed her earlier comments in Guatemala, where she characterized such a visit as being for show.

'I came here to be here on the ground, to speak with the leader of this nation around what we can do in a way that is significant, is tangible and has real results,' she said.

'And I will continue to be focused on that kind of work as opposed to grand gestures.'

There is an element of showmanship in any foreign trip  and Harris was not shy about calling her own first foreign foray a victory.

'Do I declare this trip a success? Yes I do,' she said.

She also took heat on the trip when she shot back at NBC anchor Lester Holt when he asked her about visiting the border.

'At some point, you know, we are going to the border,' she said. 'We've been to the border. So this whole thing about the border. We've been to the border. We've been to the border,' she repeated.

'You haven't been to the border,' Holt pushed back.

'And I haven't been to Europe,' Harris snapped, then quickly turned it into her signature laugh.

'And I mean, I don't understand the point that you're making,' she said to Holt 'I'm not discounting the importance of the border.'

She also kicked off her trip with a blunt message to migrants: 'Do not come,' an admonition that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called 'disappointing.'

In another odd moment, a case of mistaken identity at Harris' press conference in Mexico City on Tuesday allowed a woman wrongly identified as a Univision reporter with a similar name to ask the vice president a fawning question.

The woman, introduced by Harris' press secretary Symone Sanders as 'Maria Fernanda from Univision', was one of only five people called on for questions at the Mexico City event.

She asked a soft question, which Harris called 'great.' Late on Tuesday, Fox News revealed that the woman was in fact a San Francisco Bay-area entrepreneur named Maria Fernanda Reyes. Univision put out a statement saying the woman was not their reporter.

'I never imagined this level of narcissism': Kamala Harris is slammed for passing out cut out cookies of herself on Airforce 2 during border crisis tour

Kamala Harris has come under fire for handing out cookies with her likeness during her first foreign tour of Central American countries ravaged by the border crisis.

The vice president gifted the treats - which featured a bust of her drawn in frosting without the details of her face - to reporters aboard Air Force 2 on Sunday as she set off for Guatemala.

USA Today reporter Courtney Subramanian shared a photo of one of the cookies on Twitter - sparking an onslaught of criticism from conservatives.

'I never even imagined this level of narcissism,' Republican congressional candidate Buzz Patterson tweeted.

Commentator Matt Walsh chimed in: '"Here you go, everyone. I thought you might like to eat my face." What a weirdo. Extremely disturbing behavior.'

Kamala Harris came under fire for handing out cookies with her likeness during her first foreign tour of Central American countries ravaged by the border crisis

The vice president gifted the treats - which featured a bust of her drawn in frosting without the details of her face- to reporters aboard Air Force Two on Sunday as she set off for Guatemala

Another set of cookies is reported to have featured Air Force 2, according to a tweet posted Sunday night by Subramanian.

Many critics wondered why the vice president would give out cookies of her own likeness while she faces backlash for avoiding the US-Mexico border, a visit she said would be akin to nothing but a 'grand gesture.'

The former presidential hopeful visited Guatemala on Monday to try to address the 'root causes' of illegal immigration.

'Handing out cookies with her face on them as the border crisis rages The modern-day equivalent of "let them eat cake,"' said GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

'I thought someone gave Kamala cookies that look like her. That would've been a cute gift,' wrote Canadian Youtuber Lauren Chen. 'Instead, she gave cookies that look like her to other people. That's a narcissistic AF and a totally weird gift.'

Harris passed out treats to reporters during an on-the-record visit to the back of Air Force 2

The vice president's baked busts drew comparisons to French monarch Marie Antoinette
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Ilhan Omar of fomenting 'prejudice' by drawing false equivalence between democracies such as U.S. and Israel and terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Taliban.

Her condemnation is the latest sign of tensions within the Democratic Party, as progressive members of the so-called 'squad' insist that Israel be held accountable for its actions against Palestinians.

Omar accused her critics within the Democratic Party of whipping up 'Islamic hate against her' after they complained she was comparing atrocities committed by American and Israeli troops with those of terrorist groups.

Pelosi stepped in on Thursday afternoon in an effort to end the feuding.

She said legitimate criticism of the U.S. and Israel was protected by the values of democratic debate.

'But drawing false equivalencies between democracies like the U.S. and Israel and groups that engage in terrorism like Hamas and the Taliban foments prejudice and undermines progress toward a future of peace and security for all,' she said.

'We welcome the clarification by Congresswoman Omar that there is no moral equivalency between the U.S. and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban.'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stepped into an escalating row with Representative Ilhan Omar over Omar's latest condemnation of Israel

Rep. Ilhan Omar hit back at her critics within her own party, accusing them of Islamophobia. 'The Islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive,' she said on Twitter. The constant harassment and silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable'

Democrats have slammed Ilhan Omar for comparing the US and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban by claiming they have all committed 'unthinkable atrocities'

Omar has frequently been at odds with members of her own party on the Middle East.

The latest row stems from her pressing Secretary of State Anthony Blinken for an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into abuses committed by both Hamas and Israeli security forces.

On Twitter, she went further, describing 'unthinkable atrocities' committed by the US, Israel, Hamas and the Taliban, triggering an angry backlash and accusations of 'false equivalencies' between 'imperfect' democracies and terrorist outfits.

Her office claimed the result was an increase in death threats against her.

And Omar blasted back on Twitter: 'Its shameful for colleagues who call me when they need my support to now put out a statement asking for clarification and not just call.

'The Islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive. The constant harassment and silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable.'

Her senior communications director Jeremy Slevin said: 'As usual, the far right is ginning up hate against Rep. Omar for a technical question about an ongoing investigation.

This has already led to an increase in death threats against her and her staff.

'And now some of her own Democratic colleagues are ginning up the same Islamophobic hate against her, accusing her of giving "cover to terrorist groups" simply for exercising oversight over a criminal investigation.'

Omar insisted her words had been taken out of context.

'To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel,' she said.

'I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems.'

Even so, she was quickly back on the attack, hinting her own caucus was faster to call out anti-Israel comments with the party than Islamaphobia among Republicans.

She highlighted comments by Rep. Mo Brooks in 2019 saying: 'Muslims, more so than most people, have great animosity towards Israel and the Jewish faith.'

She asked: 'When will our caucus forcefully stand up against hate towards their Muslim colleagues and constituents?'

Omar was back on the attack by Thursday afternoon, after clarifying her earlier comments, saying she 'was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems'

Fellow members of the squad raced to Omar's defense on Twitter with messages of solidarity. Tlaib condemned colleagues and 'their obsession with policing her' as sick

Fellow members of the so-called 'squad' of progressive Democrats, Reps Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, took to Twitter to show solidarity with Omar.

'I am tired of colleagues (both D+R) demonizing,' wrote Tlaib.

'Their obsession with policing her is sick.

'She has the courage to call out human rights abuses no matter who is responsible. That's better than colleagues who look away if it serves their politics.'

An unofficial caucus of 25 Jewish Democrats met on Wednesday to discuss anti-Semitism after the provocative tweet was posted on Monday.

Omar had said: 'We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.

'We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.'

New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin said Omar should be removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

'She should have never been appointed to this Committee in the first place', he tweeted Wednesday night.

Brad Sherman, a senior Democrat from California who has served since 1997, denounced the comments in a furious press release.

Representative Ilhan Omar likened U.S. and Israeli actions to the 'unthinkable atrocities committed' by terrorist groups like Hamas and the Taliban

He said: 'It's not news that Ilhan Omar would make outrageous and clearly false statements about America and Israel. What's newsworthy is that she admits Hamas is guilty of "unthinkable atrocities".

'It's time for all of Israel's detractors to condemn Hamas. And it's time for all those of good will to reject any moral equivalency between the US and Israel on one hand, and Hamas and the Taliban on the other.'

'Ilhan Omar must be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She should have never been appointed to this Committee in the first place.

A number of lawmakers at the meeting of Jewish Democrats wanted to name and shame Omar in a joint statement saying she 'discredited' the party, according to The Times of Israel.

Other than Sherman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Brad Schneider were among those pushing to condemn Omar, although no one on the call said they believed the tweet to be anti-Semitic.

Others present were Jamie Raskin, who was hesitant to denounce Omar, Jerry Nadler, Ted Deutch, Jan Schakowsky, Elissa Slotkin and Elaine Luria.

In her tweet, the Minnesota congresswoman included a clip of her line of questioning with Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a hearing Monday. The questioning did not include lumping in the U.S. with terrorist organizations

Schakowsky previously joined Omar on a campaign against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

Omar's office did not respond to a previous DailyMail.com request on what specific 'atrocities' she was referencing in her tweet that the US is responsible for.

Jeremy Slevin, a spokesman for Omar, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: 'As usual, the far right is ginning up hate against Rep. Omar for a technical question about an ongoing investigation.

'It is the congresswoman's role as a member of Congress conducting federal oversight to follow the facts, ask questions of the administration and work to make sure the public understands our government shouldn't deny any person from seeking justice.'

David Harris, the American Jewish Committee CEO, said: 'Beyond shocking. Beyond reprehensible.

Brad Sherman, a senior Democrat who has served since 1997, denounced the comments in a furious press release

'Will members of her own party speak up?'

A number of Republican lawmakers have chided in to slam Omar for the 'hateful assault'.

'This shouldn't be at all controversial: America is not a terrorist organization,' newly elected South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace tweeted on Tuesday. 'Full stop.'

'It is absolutely befuddling that Rep. [Ilhan Omar] continues her vicious, hateful assault on America, likening our country to terrorists,' she added.

Florida Representative Brian Mast tweeted: 'This is absolutely disgusting from a Member of Congress. I lost two legs and a finger defending the USA and fighting the radical Islamic terrorists that [Ilhan] Omar is now defending. She is completely unfit to serve our country.'

The 'Squad' member included a clip in her tweet where she questioned Secretary of State Antony Blinken as part of a Monday House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the State Department's budget request and foreign policy strategy.

Her line of questioning, unlike her tweet, did not include her grouping America with terrorist organizations.

Instead, she asked Blinken how the US plans to help people in areas where war crimes are being committed by Hamas and the Taliban, including places like in Israel, Palestinian territories and Afghanistan.

'I asked [Secretary Antony Blinken] where people are supposed to go for justice,' Omar tweeted of her line of questioning.

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace said it 'shouldn't be at all controversial' to say that America is 'not a terrorist organization'. She called on Omar to resign

The American-Somali congresswoman's comments come shortly after a ceasefire was called between Israel and Hamas, operating in Gaza, following an 11-day deadly conflict.

More than 250 people were killed in the conflict and thousands others were injured.

Omar saw some backlash for her tweet, including questions of why she serves in Congress if she 'hates America.'

'If Ilhan Omar hates America so much to say that US committed atrocities equal to #Hamas and #Taliban why is she a member of US Congress?' TV reporter Trish Regan tweeted. 'She should resign!!'

Former CIA Operations Officer Bryan Dean Wright, tweeted: 'Ilhan Omar claims -- without evidence -- that America is a war criminal, sharing the honor with Hamas, the Taliban, and her favorite of all villains -- the Jewish State.'

Democrats criticized President Joe Biden's administration for not being tougher on Israel and sending more humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

After working behind the scenes on a ceasefire between the two entities, Biden assured he is focused on the two-state solution so Israel and Palestinians both have their own land.

Republicans, however, were critical of the president not doubling-down on America's commitment to defending Israel.

Omar and other 'squad' members, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, have been vocal about their support for Palestinians and critical of Israel.

Tlaib is the first woman of Palestinian descent to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Conservative television journalist Trish Regan slammed Omar for 'hating America,' and said 'she should resign'

A former CIA operations officer said Omar's 'favorite villain' is 'the Jewish State'

Omar's comments come after an 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas operating in Gaza, which saw more than 250 people be killed, thousands others injured and millions in damages

Last month, Omar accused Israel of committing 'war crimes' in the conflict between the Jewish state and Hamas, which ws operating in Palestinian territory of Gaza.

'We should all be grateful that a ceasefire will prevent more civilians and children from being killed,' Omar tweeted in May. 'But now what? We need accountability for every war crime committed.'

'And we need to stop underwriting crimes against humanity while doing nothing to end the occupation,' she added.

During the 11-day conflict last month, thousands of missiles were fired at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv  along with other areas in Israel  from Gaza.

Israel's Iron Dome defense system went into action and the country retaliated with missiles of their own aimed at areas where they believed Hamas was operating  like a media building.
A 25-year-old man was shot dead in downtown Manhattan in the early hours of Thursday morning, outside the nightlife hotspot Dream hotel while Busta Rhymes was partying in the area.

The shooting is the latest in a recent spike in gun crime across the city that has residents increasingly frightened and politicians increasingly worried.

According to the NYPD, the victim was shot after an argument outside the hotel - which is at West 16th and 9th Avenue - at 12.20am.

The shooter fled the scene in a Jeep with one other man, and is yet to be apprehended.

While the violent scene played out on the street, rapper Busta Rhymes was partying nearby. He was pictured near the scene of the shooting at 4am.

Police have not yet given out any information about the suspect, other than that he is a man from Brooklyn.

Gun crime in New York City is rising at an astronomical rate; shootings are up 77 percent from this time last year and the NYPD says the problem will keep getting worse unless more officers are put on the street.

A 25-year-old man was shot dead outside the Dream Downtown hotel in Manhattan's Meatpacking District on Wednesday night just after midnight

NYPD detectives interviewing a man outside the scene of the crime on Wednesday night

An NYPD van outside the hotel on Wednesday night. It's unclear if the men had been inside

Party goers were stunned by what had happened when they started going home at 4am

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday announced a partnership between the NYPD and the ATF to try to tackle gun crime.

Busta Rhymes was inside the hotel partying when the incident happened

He has been widely blamed for the city's crime problem, with cops saying it's down to a lack of manpower caused by budget cuts.

Some 1,800 cops were cut as a result of the defund the police movement which prompted de Blasio to cut the NYPD's budget by $1billion.

900 new recruits were added in November, but it's still nearly 2,000 cops off the total of the 36,900 uniform members of service from 2019.

Cops say the spike in crime is down to de Blasio disbanding the anti-crime unit - which had around 600 officers in it.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said at the time that the decision, along with others like cutting $1billion from the NYPD budget and banning chokeholds, showed de Blasio and others were 'bowing to mob rule'.

'Lets mark the date on the calendar and how long its going to be before were having a conversation about New York is crying out for more police.

'And I think that day has come,' he said last August in an interview.

Shea was notably absent from Tuesday's press conference where de Blasio announced his partnership with the ATF.

Instead, his deputy was there to represent the police force. When asked about it by a journalist, de Blasio became defensive.

According to the NYPD, the victim was shot after an argument outside the hotel - which is at West 16th and 9th Avenue - at 12.20am

The hotel is on West 16th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan's trendy Meatpacking District

This is how shootings are escalating all over the city. They are up nearly 80% since last year

'It all is one team fighting in common cause. This is a crucial moment talking about this partnership.

'I want to give [Deputy Commissioner] John Miller credit.

'I wanted the people of New York City to hear from him on it,' he said.

Almost every other kind of major crime is in New York City, along with gun crime, even as nearly 70 percent of the city is vaccinated.

Police unions say the ongoing cuts will continue to decimate the city and deter its economic recovery.

Writing for DailyMail.com last month, Ed Mullins, the president of the 13,000 member New York City Sergeants Benevolent Association, said: 'The 2020 'reform' package has done nothing but kneecap the police and increase violent crime to levels not seen since the early 1990s.'
Seattle has become the first major US city to vaccinate 70 percent of its residents over age 12 - an ambitious goal set by President Joe Biden - while New York state is a fraction away from hitting the same critical benchmark and reopening fully.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced the milestone in a tweet on Wednesday and said the city administered 249,000 vaccinations to more than 131,000 people, and the vaccination rate is higher for residents over the age of 12 (78 percent).

Seattle was one of the first cities to be struck by the COVID-19 crisis in January 2020, so it's fitting that it is leading others in vaccination rates.

Now that 70 percent of eligible residents have received at least one shot, Durkan said the city and its partners will begin to launch new efforts to reopen throughout the summer.

'These efforts will include supporting local small retailers and restaurants, arts and culture programming, and bolstering transit use,' she said. 'The city will have more information on these reopening and recovery efforts in the coming weeks.'

A Seattle Mariners fan gets a vaccine in the most vaccinated major city in the country

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced the vaccination milestone in a tweet on Wednesday

Durkan said the city of Seattle and its partners will begin to launch new efforts to reopen throughout the summer. Pictured: Crowds pack the Seattle waterfront on May 29

The chart above ranks US cities based on their vaccination rates as of Thursday

Nationwide only 12 states have vaccinated more than 70 percent of their residents

While the city of Seattle leads the city race, Washington state is currently the 13th highest vaccinated state, with 61 percent of residents 18 years or older fully vaccinated and 71 percent receiving at least one dose.

Vermont is currently the only state to have over 70 percent of its adult residents fully vaccinated.

In 12 states, at least 70 percent of adults over 18 received one at least one shot, according to the New York Times tracker.

New York state just missed the cutoff - currently at 69.1 percent of residents getting the first shot, Gov Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.

When the state hits 70 percent, Cuomo said virtually all remaining COVID restrictions will be lifted.

In New York, 69.1 percent of residents have received a shot, Gov Cuomo said Wednesday

Cuomo has said he will lift virtually all COVID-19 restrictions when the state's vaccination rate reaches 70 percent. Pictured: People pack the streets of Manhattan this week

'When we are at 70 percent, I feel comfortable to lift restrictions,' Cuomo said during a Monday press conference.

That can be anywhere from a week to three weeks, the governor and state health officials predicted.

At that point, New York's capacity restrictions, social distancing, cleaning and disinfection, health screening and contact information for tracing will be optional for retail, food services, offices, gyms, amusement centers and personal care services.

Large-scale event venues, pre-K to 12 schools, public transit, homeless shelters, correctional and healthcare facilities and nursing homes will be exempt from the looming restriction lift and must continue to follow state COVID guidance.

On the flip side six states and one US territory are at or below 50 percent partial vaccination for adults:

West Virginia and Tennessee at 50 percent

Wyoming at 48 percent

Louisiana and the Virgin Islands at 47 percent

Alabama at 46 percent

Mississippi at 45 percent

Nationwide, 64 percent of adults have at least been partially vaccinated; while 53 percent are fully vaccinated.

President Biden's goal was to have at least 70 percent of all Americans be partially vaccinated by July 4.
Former economic council director Larry Kudlow has called for an investigation into the leak of a trove of Internal Revenue Service documents which showed some of America's richest residents paid zero federal income tax some years.

Kudlow, who served as director of the National Economic Council under President Donald Trump, made the demand on Wednesday after ProPublica, which published a bombshell report on the documents, revealed it was in the dark about the source of the information.

The news non-profit's CEOs Stephen Engelberg and Richard Tofel said in an accompanying article: 'We do not know the identity of our source. We have considered the possibility that information we have received could have come from a state actor hostile to American interests.'

Kudlow suggested the leaker could have corrupt motives and called it 'a little more than coincidental' that ProPublica released its report so close to announcements by Democrats and President Joe Biden about efforts to bolster IRS funding and raise taxes on the rich.

'Tax records are supposed to be confidential, but the muckraking group ProPublica, it's kind of left-of-center, they just happened to get their hands on tax records of a number of very rich Americans,' Kudlow told Fox Business.

Ex-National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow called for an investigation into the leak of tax information on the wealthiest Americans Wednesday saying it was 'a little more than coincidental' that a report based on the information would come out as Democrats push for increased taxation on the rich

'Then they just happened to put this out publicly on the eve of a left-wing "tax the rich" campaign. Now that kind of strikes me as a little more than coincidental, but truly we don't know for sure.'

Kudlow suggested that techniques such as lowering the marginal tax rate on the rich and broadening the base of deductions and credits would be more effective at getting the richest Americans to pay more in taxes than increasing funding at the IRS to better enforce tax collection as Democrats have called for.

In particular, he called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who oversees the IRS to investigate the leak.

'There has just got to be an urgent, immediate investigation of these IRS leaks, or whatever happened and that investigation should be announced immediately, and it should be launched immediately. Not a day longer should be wasted in restoring the trust of the American taxpayer.'

ProPublica's report released Tuesday showed that many of the country's top earners, such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, have paid little to nothing in federal income taxes in recent years.

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said authorities are investigating the leak of the tax data during a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, just hours after the release of the report.

'We have turned it over to the appropriate investigators, both external and internal,' Rettig said.

The Treasury Department said multiple agencies were investigating, including the FBI, DC's US Attorney's Office and the Treasury's Office of the Inspector General.

A report based on the leaked data revealed that the country's top earners such as Jeff Bezos (left) and Elon Musk (right) paid little to no income tax in recent years

'The unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information is illegal,' a Treasury spokeswoman said.

'Any unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information by a person with access is illegal, and we take this very seriously,' Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki also said on Tuesday.

ProPublica says that its releasing of findings from the leak comes at a time when the issue of taxing the richest Americans has taken on serious consideration.

'Our publication of this tax data comes at a possibly pivotal moment in Americas long, often contentious debate about the fairness of our tax system. The Biden administration has proposed raising a number of taxes to pay for additional trillions of dollars in government spending,' ProPublica chief executive officers Stephen Engelberg and Richard Tofel wrote in an op-ed accompanying the report's release.

'So far, the conversation in Washington has been dominated by an issue long seen as central on Capitol Hill: whether to increase the top tax rate from its current level of 37 percent by a few percentage points. Such a change, as our story shows, would touch the richest hardly at all.'

The two admitted that they do not know the motivations of those who released the information to them, but were not concerned.

'We understand that nearly everyone who provides material to a reporter is doing so in ways that reflect their worldview, agenda or biases. We have long held that those motives are irrelevant if the information is reliable,' they wrote.

What the data reveals

The trove of records showed that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos paid no income tax in 2007 and 2011, while Tesla boss Elon Musk's income tax bill came to zero in 2018.

Investor George Soros went three straight years - between 2016 and 2018 - without paying federal income tax, according to the records.

Fellow investor Carl Icahn did not pay federal tax in 2016 and 2017.

In reviewing the tax data, the site calculated what it called a 'true tax rate' for the billionaires by comparing how much tax they paid annually from 2014 to 2018 to how much Forbes estimated their wealth had grown in that same period.

The report found that, overall, the richest 25 Americans pay less in tax than the average worker does.

The median American household, in recent years, earned an average salary of about $70,000 and paid 14 percent in federal taxes per year.

Based on data from the 25 richest Americans, they collectively paid a true tax rate of 3.4 percent between 2014 to 2018 on wealth growth of $401 billion.

Warren Buffett, the CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has avoided the most tax in recent years, according to the records.

Warren Buffett, the CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has avoided the most tax, according to the records. Between 2014 and 2018, Buffet's wealth grew by about $24.3 billion but he reported paying $23.7 million in taxes. It showed a so-called true tax rate of 0.1 percent

Investor Carl Icahn, who is ranked the 40th wealthiest American with an estimated fortune of $14.9 billion, didn't pay federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. He is pictured with wife Gail Golden

TAX DATA FOR RICHEST AMERICANS: 2014 to 2018 Warren Buffett Year Total taxes paid Total income reported 2014 $7.93 million $46.8 million 2015 $1.85 million $11.6 million 2016 $3.82 million $19.6 million 2017 $4.75 million $22 million 2018 $5.36 million $24.8 million Jeff Bezos Year Total taxes paid Total income reported 2014 $85.4 million $367 million 2015 $126 million $542 million 2016 $320 million $1.35 billion 2017 $398 million $1.68 billion 2018 $43.5 million $284 million Elon Musk Year Total taxes paid Total income reported 2014 $30.4 million $165 million 2015 $78.5K $3.15 million 2016 $42 million $1.34 billion 2017 $73.7K $6.22 million 2018 $8.41K $3.85 million Source: IRS DATA OBTAINED BY PROPUBLICA

Between 2014 and 2018, Buffet's wealth grew by about $24.3 billion but he reported paying $23.7 million in taxes.

It showed a so-called true tax rate of 0.1 percent, which equates to less than 10 cents for every $100 Buffet added to his wealth in that period.

For Bezos, his wealth grew an estimated $99 billion and his total reported income was $4.22 billion between 2014 and 2018.

In that period, Bezos paid $973 million in tax, which equates to a 0.98 percent true tax rate.

In 2007 when Bezos paid no income tax, the Amazon founder - in a joint tax return with then-wife MacKenzie Bezos - reported $46 million in income, which was mostly from interest and dividend payments from investments.

He was able to offset his earnings with losses from other investments and deductions.

In 2011, his tax return showed he had lost money and he claimed a tax credit worth $4,000 for his children.

George Soros, the founder of Soros Fund Management, has an estimated wealth of $8.6 billion. He paid no federal income tax between 2016 and 2018, according to the records. He is pictured with wife Tamiko Bolton

ProPublica reported that Mike Bloomberg, who is the 13th richest American with an estimated wealth of $48 billion, hasn't paid federal taxes in recent years but did not specify when. His spokesman noted that when he was running as a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate he had advocated for tax hikes

Elon Musk's wealth grew an estimated $13.9 billion between 2014 and 2018. He reported $1.52 billion in total income and paid $455 million in taxes. It equates to a 3.27 percent true tax rate.

In 2018, Musk paid no federal income tax. The records show he paid $68,000 in 2015 and $65,000 in 2017.

Investor Carl Icahn, who is ranked the 40th wealthiest American with an estimated fortune of $14.9 billion, didn't pay federal income tax in 2016 and 2017.

Records show he reported, at the time, an adjusted gross income of $544 million. According to the IRS records, he had an outstanding Bank of America loan of $1.2 billion.

HOW CAN THE SUPER-RICH PAY LOWER TAXES? Many billionaires are able to reduce their federal tax bills using legal tax strategies. Among the ways they can reduce tax bills are: Making sizable donations to charity The rich can reduce tax bills through the use of charitable donations. They can deduct up to 60 percent of adjusted gross income with donations. Investing in stocks to avoid wage income The rich can reduce taxes by avoiding wage income, which can be taxed at up to 37 percent. They can instead benefit from investment income, which is often taxed at 20 percent. Paying themselves lower salaries If the mega-rich pay themselves a lower salary, they can then take a higher portion of the income as dividends. The lower salary is then taxed a normal rate. Dividends are often taxed the same as the capital gains rate, which is between 15 to 20 percent. Another option is to opt for part of their compensation in their company stock options. Stock is usually only taxed when the options are exercised. Advertisement

Icahn told ProPublica that his adjusted gross income is misleading because his interest on his loans is higher.

'I didn't make money because, unfortunately for me, my interest was higher than my whole adjusted income,' he said.

Icahn hit back at questions over whether he thought it was inappropriate he hadn't paid federal income tax some years.

'There's a reason it's called income tax,' he said. 'The reason is if, if you're a poor person, a rich person, if you are Apple - if you have no income, you don't pay taxes.

'Do you think a rich person should pay taxes no matter what? I don't think it's germane. How can you ask me that question?'

Michael Bloomberg's wealth grew $22.5 billion between 2014 and 2018 - a period where he reported a total income of $10 billion.

Bloomberg paid $292 million in taxes during that time, which is a 1.30 percent true tax rate.

ProPublica reported that Bloomberg, who is the 13th richest American with an estimated wealth of $48 billion, hasn't paid federal taxes in recent years but did not specify when.

His spokesman said in a statement that when Bloomberg was running as a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate he had advocated for tax hikes.

'Mike Bloomberg pays the maximum tax rate on all federal, state, local and international taxable income as prescribed by law,' a statement read.

'Taken together, what Mike gives to charity and pays in taxes amounts to approximately 75 percent of his annual income.

'The release of a private citizen's tax returns should raise real privacy concerns regardless of political affiliation or views on tax policy. In the United States no private citizen should fear the illegal release of their taxes. We intend to use all legal means at our disposal to determine which individual or government entity leaked these and ensure that they are held responsible.'

George Soros, the founder of Soros Fund Management, has an estimated wealth of $8.6 billion.

He paid no federal income tax between 2016 and 2018, according to the records.

'Between 2016 and 2018 George Soros lost money on his investments, therefore he did not owe federal income taxes in those years. Mr Soros has long supported higher taxes for wealthy Americans,' his spokesman said.

After examining the IRS records, ProPublica found that Americans earning between $2 million and $5 million per year paid an average of 27.5 percent in tax.

Meanwhile, the top .001 percent of taxpayers - the 1,400 people whose reported income came in at more than $69 million - paid 23 percent in tax.

Many billionaires are able to drastically reduce their federal tax bills using legal tax strategies.

Among the ways they can reduce tax bills is via charitable donations or by avoiding wage income, which can be taxed at up to 37 percent. Instead, they can benefit from investment income, which is taxed roughly at 20 percent.
A man who objected to his sick 11-year-old daughter being given further conventional cancer treatments has lost a High Court fight.

The man disagreed with a treatment plan put forward by specialists.

He said he was worried about side-effects and wanted to explore homeopathic and natural therapies.

His estranged wife favoured a conventional approach.

The High Court has ruled against a man who wanted to treat his 11-year-old daughter's leukaemia with homeopathy rather than conventional therapies

A judge has ordered Great Ormond Street hospital to begin treating the girl as soon as possible. Medics claimed without chemotherapy and an anti-body based treatment that her

Now a judge has ruled against him.

Mr Justice Hayden said there is 'no basis' for the man's homeopathic option and specialists can lawfully carry out conventional treatments.

The judge, who is based in London, considered the case at a private virtual hearing in the Family Division of the High Court.

He said journalists can report the case but the girl, who has leukaemia, cannot be identified in media reports.

Bosses at the Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children NHS Foundation Trust have responsibility for the girl's care and had asked the judge to decide what moves were in her best interests.

Specialists say she should continue to be given chemotherapy, and to receive an antibody-based treatment.

But her father said he believed chemotherapy has weakened her immune system, and is concerned that the conventional treatment proposed has side-effects.

He wanted to try homeopathic and natural therapies, including ozone therapy - which involves the administration of ozone gas.

'I am not waiting for her to deteriorate and get worse,' he told the judge.

'Chemotherapy is not the only way.'

He added: 'There are so many other different therapies I am hoping to try - anything as long as it doesn't really affect her.'

A specialist treating the girl told the judge that the treatments proposed are the best option.

Doctors said they know of no homeopathic options which would help.

Mr Justice Hayden approved Great Ormond Street's plan and said doctors should start the treatments as soon as possible.

'If she receives no treatment then her life expectancy is weeks,' he said.

'There is no basis for the father's homeopathic option.'
Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in the U.S. and admitted that she helped her husband run his multibillion-dollar criminal empire

The wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in the U.S. and admitted that she helped her husband run his multibillion-dollar criminal empire.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, wearing a green jail uniform, appeared in federal court in Washington and pleaded guilty to three federal offenses as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

The charges include knowingly and willfully conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine for several years. She also pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy charge and to engaging in transactions with a foreign narcotics trafficker.

The 31-year-old, who is the mother of their twin daughters, was arrested in February at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and has been jailed since then.

Prosecutors have alleged Coronel Aispuro 'worked closely with the command-and-control structure' of the Sinaloa cartel and conspired to distribute large quantities of drugs, knowing they would be smuggled into the U.S.

As Mexico's most powerful drug lord, Guzman ran a cartel responsible for smuggling cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors say. They also said his 'army of sicarios,' or 'hit men,' was under orders to kidnap, torture and kill anyone who got in his way.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, wearing a green jail uniform, appeared in federal court in Washington and pleaded guilty to three federal offenses as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors

Coronel Aispuro listened quietly as prosecutors described how they could prove her illegal activity if she chose to go to trial. 'Yes,' she said through a translator, when asked by the judge if she had actually committed the crimes the government described

In this July 17, 2019 file photo, Emma Coronel Aispuro, center, wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, arrives for his sentencing at Brooklyn federal court, in New York

Coronel is seen, left, at her husband's trial and right, on February 23, appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather in Washington DC

The prosecutor, Anthony Nardozzi, said his wife had 'aided and abetted' the Sinaloa cartel's objectives to smuggle drugs into the U.S. and helped to import more than 450,000 kilograms of cocaine, 90,000 kilograms of heroin, 45,000kg of methamphetamine and about 90,000kg of marijuana.

Guzman, whose nickname 'El Chapo' means 'Shorty', is seen on January 19, 2017, when he was extradited from Mexico to the United States. He was handed over on the last day of Barack Obama's presidency

Her arrest earlier this year was a surprise in part because authorities had made no move to arrest her over the past two years, even after she was implicated in her husband's crimes. During Guzman's trial in 2019, prosecutors said she helped orchestrate Guzman's two prison breaks in Mexico.

Nardozzi said Coronel Aispuro 'served as a go-between' to deliver messages to cartel members after her husband was arrested and also conspired with Guzmans sons to 'plan and coordinate' his prison escapes.

Coronel Aispuro listened quietly as prosecutors described how they could prove her illegal activity if she chose to go to trial.

'Yes,' she said through a translator, when asked by the judge if she had actually committed the crimes the government described.

She now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of $10 million.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, will plead guilty this week to helping her husband Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman run his drug empire, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. He was convicted by a New York court in February 2019 and is serving a life sentence in Colorado

Coronel cultivated a substantial social media following thanks to the high-profile trial

Her plea agreement with prosecutors in Washington does not require her to cooperate with the U.S. authorities, the person familiar with the case told The New York Times.

One person with extensive knowledge of the family and the case told DailyMail.com they doubted she was not cooperating, adding: 'She knows enough'.

Guzman himself is unlikely to be affected, as the 63-year-old was convicted in February 2019 in a high-profile Brooklyn trial of masterminding a multibillion dollar drug enterprise for his drug operation.

He was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years, and locked up in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

Her husband, Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, is seen in February 2014 after he was presented before the Mexican press, as proof of his arrest. He would later escape with his wife's help

His sons, however, may well be concerned, a source told DailyMail.com.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 36, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 30, have both been indicted by the U.S. authorities.

Ivan, 40, and Jesus, 38, are also believed to be heavily involved in the running of the cartel, now that their father is behind bars.

So too might Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, the 73-year-old right-hand man of Guzman. El Mayo, unlike Guzman, has never been caught and is almost a mythical figure among law enforcement trying to track him down.

His son, Ismael Zambada Imperial, 35, admitted in a plea agreement in San Diego at the end of April to being a major coordinator in the trafficking operation, including importing and distributing tons of cocaine, heroin and marijuana from Mexico into the U.S.

Coronel is expected to appear in court in Washington DC on Thursday and enter her plea, the paper reported.
A married police sergeant who used his iPhone to spy on a woman in the shower has been found guilty of voyeurism and is facing the end of his career.

The victim said she felt 'confused and shocked' after catching Benjamin McNish, 30, trying to take pictures of her naked through a glass panel on the morning of February 18 2019.

The 30-year-old Metropolitan Police detective sergeant, who is currently suspended, claimed he had been using the device as an 'extension of my eyes' to find his razor after forgetting to shave ahead of a work drinks function.

But he was found guilty of voyeurism, by observing a person doing a private act for his sexual gratification, by a jury at Southwark Crown Court today.

McNish, a married father-of-two, from Benfleet in Essex, has a degree in Chinese and Spanish, speaks seven languages and was promoted to sergeant just three years after joining the Met.

Benjamin McNish, a Met Police Detective Sergeant who has been convicted of spying on a woman having a shower

But he is now almost certainly facing the end of his police career and could be sent to prison when he is sentenced by Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC on July 15.

McNish was staying with the woman and one of his senior colleagues, Chief Inspector Garry Smith, at a small flat in north London, at the time of the offence.

The night before, McNish brought up showering arrangements for the next day and offered to use the bathroom before the woman.

The following morning the woman heard the shower in use and waited for her turn.

When she entered the shower and took off her pyjamas she looked up and spotted a phone poking above the glass panel, the court heard.

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) senior specialist prosecutor Andrew Levin said: 'Benjamin McNish was a serving policeman who observed a woman showering without her consent for his own sexual gratification.

'This was a private act that McNish had no right to observe. He violated the victim's privacy by spying on her in a bathroom. His actions were clearly illegal and wholly unacceptable.

Benjamin McNish at Southwark Crown Court today. McNish was staying with the woman and one of his senior colleagues at a small flat in north London, at the time of the offence

'During the trial, McNish claimed that he had just been using his phone to look for his razor by the sink, but the prosecution was able to prove to the jury that this was an absurd lie.

'The CPS will always aim to prosecute those who commit criminal acts, regardless of who they are, where there is the evidence to do so.'

McNish had been involved in reorganising the Met's child abuse unit and was due to start a new role in the force's rape and sex offences investigations squad at the time of the incident.

Prosecutor William Eaglestone told the jury that his actions could be considered as more sinister than being a 'peeping Tom, Carry On film-type behaviour'.

'One might consider that police officers, not least police sergeants, should be expected to behave with more propriety than the general public.'

The court heard that the woman did a 'double take' when she spotted McNish's phone as she was washing, then grabbed her towel after seeing it for a second time.

'Once I had seen the telephone for the second time, I was quite confused and shocked. My assumption was that someone was filming me,' she said.

'I did not turn off the shower. I just grabbed the towel to my chest, wrenched open the door and, immediately after I opened the door, I saw Mr McNish standing outside.'

She said he looked 'a bit shocked, like a rabbit in the headlights' and that she started shouting at him.

McNish waved his arms up and down and told the woman to 'calm down' to not wake up his senior colleague, the court heard.

Jurors heard that she confronted McNish about whether he was taking images of her and he replied: 'Yes, I was but I deleted them.'

Giving evidence, McNish said his 'sole intention' had been to find his razor and he had first tried, but failed, to look through the glass panel of the bathroom door.

'I decided that I might be able to use my phone as an extension of my eyes to see if I could see my razor,' he said.

The court heard that McNish was diagnosed with dyspraxia weeks after his arrest in March 2019 and he told the jury: 'I think it made me have tunnel vision.'

He said he had only seen a 'tiny bit of ceiling' but 'inadvertently took a photo of the outside of the bathroom door' as he heard the woman burst out of the shower.

'I expected the bathroom door to open. I stepped back towards the living room and that's when the penny dropped.

'I knew exactly how this would look - being stood outside the bathroom with a phone in my hand while (the complainant) had been using the bathroom.'

McNish added: 'I knew that (she) was in the shower but I wasn't looking at a naked woman when I stuck my phone up to the glass pane.'

McNish showed no emotion as he was unanimously convicted of voyeurism by the jury of seven men and five women at Southwark Crown Court.

He now faces up to two years in prison for the offence.

Judge Jeffrey Pegden, QC, said: I do take the view that this passes the custody threshold. I can only imagine that he will lose his job from this.

He was granted bail until sentencing.

A count of possessing an extreme pornographic image, which did not form part of the trial, was left to lie on file.

DS McNish was allegedly found with a vile video of a woman receiving oral sex from a dog, he denied the charge.
A man has been arrested in London after a 55-year-old was found dead more than 400 miles away in Perth.

The body of Ian Menzies was discovered in a property in Scott Street at about 8.50pm on Monday.

Emergency services had been called after a report of concern for a person. It is understood he suffered serious head injuries.

Ian Menzies, 55, was found dead in a block of flats in Perth, Scotland on Monday evening

Police, pictured outside the home where Ian's body was found, have since arrested a suspect

Door-to-door inquiries were carried out among neighbours of the city centre property and a forensic team executed a search of Mr Menzies flat.

Officers have now arrested a 36-year-old man in the London area in connection with the death.

Detective Inspector Gary Winter, of Police Scotland's Major Investigation Team, said: 'There will be a continued police presence in Perth in the coming days and I would like to thank local residents for your patience meantime.'

Mr Menzies's family paid tribute to him on Wednesday.

Pictured: Flowers and a photograph left by the doorway to a block of flats in Scott Street, Perth where the body of Ian Menzies was found on Monday after a concern for welfare was reported

A statement they issued through police said: 'Ian was the best dad, grandad and brother in the world. He was caring, respected and loved dearly by friends and family.

'Words cannot express how sorely he will be missed.

'As you can understand, this is a traumatic time for us as a family. Although we appreciate your messages of support we would like to respectfully request our privacy at this highly sensitive time.'

The 36-year-old man remains in police custody for questioning.
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market Drivers and Key Restraints

The active pharmaceutical ingredients market gets a major boost from the growing prevalence of cardiovascular conditions, infectious diseases, and various other chronic disorders. Other than these, the rise in various genetic disorders has driven the use of biologicals and biosimilars, the world over. In many instances, biosimilars are the most preferred owing to them being low-cost. Biosimilars have the potential of creating a highly sustainable healthcare system which makes way for innovation, allowing more patients to receive the optimum care.

The growth of active pharmaceutical ingredients market is marked by the huge demand for drugs like analgesics, anti-infectives and diabetes, and pain management drugs. But with the rising trend of increasing research and development (R&D) activities, the demand is experiencing a shift towards the advancement of complex APIs that find use in novel formulations, thereby targeting niche therapeutic areas.

At present, a huge number of drugs are in the pipeline for the development of treatments for autoimmune disorders, metabolic diseases, and cancer. On account of the hike in the number of cancer cases, numerous manufacturers are now proceeding towards developing highly potent APIs as well as specialty APIs, in a bid to meet with the accelerated demand for such products. These factors are expected to have a remarkable effect on the market growth in the subsequent years.

READ MORE @ https://www.medgadget.com/2019/08/active-pharmaceutical-ingredients-market-2019-global-industry-analysis-by-size-share-trends-growth-business-opportunities-api-formulation-molecule-and-application.html

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market Studied By Top Companies

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Pfizer Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Merck & Co. Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK), Bayer AG, Novartis AG, Eli Lilly and Company, Sanofi, are some of the prominent companies in the global active pharmaceutical ingredients market.

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market Trends

The emergence of Highly Complex Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients

The latest generation of APIs being created is highly complex, which include high potency API, peptides, sterile API and oligonucleotides. This has led to more complicated R&D as well as certification processes.

Increasing Competition in the API Market

The rising number of small producers that have expertise in the manufacturing of niche APIs, has resulted in a highly stiff competition within the global market. Thus, the latest trend in the form of intensifying competitive nature of the market is projected to elevate the market position in the coming years.

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market Segmentation

The worldwide API market has been segmented on the basis of manufacturing process, type of synthesis, API formulation, application, molecule.

In terms of manufacturing, the market can be fragmented into captive manufacturing and contract manufacturing. Out of these, the contract manufacturing segment can expect a profitable run during the review period at the highest growth rate, backed by the increasing trend of outsourcing of API manufacturing by the pharmaceutical companies, which lets them focus more on core competencies.

Depending on the synthesis, the market is considered for synthetic and biotech, wherein the synthetic API market is set to be unbeatable with the maximum share of the global market. Meanwhile, the biotech segment has displayed a considerable growth pattern in recent years, which is expected to surge further at a relatively higher CAGR owing to the reduced side effects of biotech synthesis. Furthermore, the biotech segment is split into monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, vaccines, and others. At present, the monoclonal antibodies segment holds the top position, whereas the recombinant proteins segment is slated to expand at the fastest rate during the appraisal period as recombinant proteins find an increasing number of applications within the pharmaceutical industry.

With respect to the API formulation, the market is categorized as generic API and innovative API. Growing patent expirations have been responsible for the leading position of the generic API segment, at a projected CAGR of 4.62% during the conjectured time frame.

The market, application-wise, can be broken down into cardiovascular disease, oncology, neurological disorders, orthopedic disorders, respiratory, gastrointestinal, urology, and others. Here, the oncology segment is the current holder of the biggest market share, since the occurrences of cancer has surged at a substantial pace around the world. The segment is deemed to rise at a growth rate of 5.48% in the coming years.

The API market, on the basis of molecule, caters to small molecule and large molecule. Although the report identified the small molecule segment as the largest market in 2017, the large molecule segment is reckoned to cross the formers valuation at a higher CAGR in the near future. The main reasons being the increasing focus on research and development of advanced APIs, including biologics that strive to meet with the unmet needs of patients.

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market Regional Outlook

The key markets for active pharmaceutical ingredients include South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and the Middle East & Africa.

North America is spearheading the API market growth in the Americas, which in turn is leading the global market with the largest share. The crucial factors backing the said growth include the presence of a large number of prominent companies within the region. In addition, countries like the United States (U.S.) and Canada note high occurrences of chronic as well as neurological diseases, which is believed to be a prominent driver of the regional market growth.

Europe has bagged the second spot in the global API market, backed by the increasing number of initiatives within the region that support the development of generic drugs. Moreover, improving pricing, as well as reimbursement policies coupled with a huge number of manufacturing activities, is presenting multiple growth opportunities to the regional market.

As the active pharmaceutical ingredients market has reached the maturity phase in the developed countries around the globe, the market focus is shifting towards the Asia Pacific. This factor has substantiated the region as the fastest-growing market globally. The presence of a humungous patient population within countries like India and China paired with the rising incidences of chronic diseases in the region is poised to benefit the market in the subsequent years. On top of that, availability of cheap labor and need for low investments in infrastructure are encouraging several renowned pharmaceutical vendors to outsource manufacturing to Asia Pacific, opening the door for further market success.

Industry News

April 2019

OlonS.p.A., a global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has acquired a manufacturing facility in India. The facilitys primary product will be Rifampicin, which is used for treating a variety

Browse complete summary of this research report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/active-pharmaceutical-ingredients-market-1385

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Priti Patel has faced fresh calls to resign over comments she made regarding Napier Barracks, after a judge ruled conditions in the camp were 'unlawful'.

The Home Secretary, 49, faced the wrath of a cross-section of MPs, with some accusing her of 'ignoring public health advice' and others questioning if she would tender her resignation.

Representatives from the SNP and Labour chastised Ms Patel after an urgent question was put forward for debate in the House of Commons earlier today.

Several MPs pointed to former Home Secretary Amber Rudd resigning from her position in 2018 after 'inadvertently misleading' the Home Affairs Committee over targets for removing illegal immigrants.

It comes as six asylum seekers housed at Napier Barracks, Kent brought forward legal proceedings against the government over the centre's 'appalling' conditions - after more than 200 people at the site tested positive for Covid during an outbreak in January.

Public Health England had previously advised the Government not to house those seeking asylum in dormitories, but this went ahead regardless.

Home Secretary Priti Patel, 49, has faced fresh calls for her resignation after MPs accused her of 'ignoring public health advice' at Napier Barracks, Kent

Last week, High Court judge Mr Justice Linden ruled that Napier Barracks, where 200 residents caught coronavirus and seven attempted suicide, provided inadequate accommodation.

Home Secretary Priti Patel vowed the barracks will stay open amid increasing calls from campaigners to get the site shut down, which was described by inspectors as 'filthy'.

Speaking today, Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee Yvette Cooper accused the Home Office of 'ignoring public health advice in the middle of a pandemic and putting public health at risk' at Napier Barracks.

Asking an urgent question on the judicial review judgment on asylum accommodation at the barracks, Ms Cooper said: 'In January there was a major Covid outbreak at the Home Office centre at Napier Barracks. 200 people got Covid, both residents and staff impacting on the local community too.

'Last week's damning court judgment said the bottom line is that the arrangements at the barracks were contrary to the advice from Public Health England, the precautions that were taken were completely inadequate to prevent the spread of Covid and the outbreak which occurred in mid-January was inevitable.'

She went on: 'The independent inspectorate and local health officials found poor ventilation in dormitories, inadequate shared washing facilities, a deficient cleaning regime, no proper arrangements for self-isolation - those testing positive and negative all kept in the same large dormitories.

'The Home Office was clearly not following public health advice in every way or at every stage. The minister has an obligation to correct the record so will he now admit that the Home Office did not follow public health advice and apologise for the inaccurate information given?

'The Home Office has a responsibility to keep people safe. Why has it been ignoring public health advice in the middle of a pandemic and putting public health at risk?'

Lawyers described the asylum centre at Kent as overcrowded and said it 'felt like a prison'. 200 people caught Covid at the Barracks in January

The SNP's Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) added: 'Other MPs have asked the minister whether the current Home Secretary misled the committee in oral evidence on February 24 this year.

'In response to those questions the minister keeps referring to a Public Health England letter from June of this year, which talks about full co-operation from the Home Office since spring of this year.

'Of course when the Home Secretary gave evidence on February 24, she was talking about what had happened before then, not what happened this spring, and evidence presented to the High Court suggests that what she said - that the department had previously followed public health guidance regarding Napier Barracks in every single way - was simply not factually correct and the High Court has said the fact that the public health evidence was ignored meant the Covid outbreak was inevitable.

'So why isn't the Home Secretary tendering her resignation as Amber Rudd had the grace and decency to do?'

Home Office minister Chris Philp, asked by Conservative Damian Collins about whether the Home Office intends to renew its lease on Napier Barracks, told the Commons: 'The current arrangements on the site are due to run until September and no decision has been made beyond that.'

Mr Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) earlier said the use of Napier Barracks had been 'disruptive' to his community and his constituents are 'united in their opposition' to the use of the site in its current way.

Home Office minister Chris Philp told the Commons that Covid measures at Napier Barracks have been 'enhanced'.

Responding to the question from Ms Cooper he said: 'The reality is that in the middle of a pandemic outbreaks in some places do occur.

'We've had outbreaks in the hotels that have been used as well, in other parts of Government in prisons and other places there have been outbreaks. We've had Covid going around Parliament as well, I caught Covid myself as well, in fact five million people have tested positive for Covid.

'This virus knows no boundaries.'

He listed measures that were taken to combat the virus on the site including 'rigorous cleaning built into the contract, hand sanitisers, social distancing' and added: 'Those have now been enhanced further.'

Six asylum seekers housed at Napier Barracks, Kent brought forward legal proceedings against the government over the centre's 'appalling' conditions

Mr Philp said: 'More cleaning, staggered access to communal areas and three times a week lateral flow testing and we've also reduced the numbers currently on the site.'

Royal Navy boats should be used to remove people who 'illegally' seek to enter the UK from France, MPs have heard.

Conservative Peter Bone (Wellingborough) told the Commons: 'The problem isn't Napier Barracks, it's the problem of people crossing the Channel illegally from France.

'Isn't a simple solution that when these people arrive in England, we put them on a Royal Navy boat, take them back to France because France is a safe country and that is where asylum should be claimed - and if we did it, it'd stop the problem.'

Home Office minister Chris Philp said Channel crossings are 'running at extremely unacceptably high levels', adding France is a 'safe country'.

Conservative Marco Longhi (Dudley North) said professors had given evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee about how buildings 'could be something akin to aggressive or threatening', adding in apparent jokey comments: 'So I think the illegal immigrants at Napier may have acted perhaps in self-defence when trashing and torching the barracks.

'We should all be aware of their vulnerabilities and sensibilities.

'So will the minister agree to perhaps send a delegation from the equalities committee to assess this building aggression - particularly (Conservative MP Lee Anderson), whose sensibilities make him ideally suited to the job.'
A worker at a Los Angeles County mass vaccination site has been charged with stealing more than 500 blank Covid-19 vaccine cards worth $10,000.

Muhammad Rauf Ahmed, 45, is facing a grand theft charge for allegedly stealing a total of 528 cards.

He is scheduled to appear at the Pomona Courthouse on August 25 and faces up to three years in jail if convicted.

On April 27, police received a call about a possible theft at the Pomona Fairplex vaccination site in La Verne, where Ahmed, from Nevada, worked as a nonclinical contract employee.

It came after a security guard at the site noticed Ahmed leaving with a stack of cards in his hands, the La Verne Police Department said.

Blank cards were found in his car and later around 400 more were uncovered in his hotel room.

A security guard at the site noticed Ahmed leaving with a stack of cards in his hands, the La Verne Police Department said. Blank cards were found in his car and later around 400 more were uncovered in his hotel room

Muhammad Rauf Ahmed, 45, is facing a grand theft charge for allegedly stealing a total of 528 cards

'Selling fraudulent and stolen vaccine cards is illegal, immoral and puts the public at risk of exposure to a deadly virus,' Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon said, when announcing the charge against Ahmed.

Deputy Sergeant Cory Leeper said Ahmed initially claimed he had taken the cards to 'pre-fill' them in order to get ahead of his workload.

'That was not something that is allowed, and it was not something that anyone was aware of,' Leeper said.

'He did not get permission for that. This was an intentional thing that he was doing in taking these cards back to his hotel room.'

Leeper added that the stacks of cards found in Ahmed's hotel room were still sealed in plastic.

He said that investigators looked to another case related to vaccine passports to determine the value of the cards Ahmed was suspected to have taken.

In May, a bar owner was arrested on suspicion of selling fake vaccine cards for $20 each. He was charged with felony identity theft and felony forgery of a government seal.

'Assessing the fair market value is tough, because one could argue it was just a blank piece of paper,' Leeper said, referring to Ahmed's case.

At a valuation of $20 each, the cards found in Ahmed's possession would be worth about $10,000.

The case remains under investigation by the La Verne Police Department.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the site where Ahmed worked is due to close on Sunday as the county moves to using more mobile clinics in an attempt to reach more people as uptake slows.

The FBI has warned that selling fake cards bearing a government logo is a crime.

Many venues reopening under limited capacity have loosened restrictions for those who can prove they have been vaccinated, spurring the growth of an underground market for fake vaccine cards.
Video of Joe Biden dismissing a BBC reporter by playing up his Irish heritage is receiving renewed attention amid his reported row with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the Northern Ireland peace deal.

Footage of the incident was captured during the Democratic Primary in 2019, and shows Biden acting frostily towards an employee of the British broadcaster.

'Mr. Biden, a quick word for the BBC,' the UK correspondent can be heard asking in the clip.

'The BBC? I'm Irish!' Biden declares, before walking out.

Biden is reported to only be about five-eighths Irish, but he is known for playing up his Irish heritage. It seems likely that the President would strongly back the country in their long-running dispute with Northern Ireland specifically and the United Kingdom as a whole.

Video of Joe Biden dismissing a BBC reporter by playing up his Irish heritage is receiving renewed attention amid his reported row with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the Northern Ireland peace deal

Back in 1998, the US helped broker a peace deal known as the Good Friday Agreement that ended three decades of bloodshed between Catholics in Ireland and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

Earlier this week, The Times UK reported that Biden - who is a devout Catholic - ordered US officials to give Boris Johnson an extraordinary diplomatic rebuke for putting that peace process at risk over Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

'President Biden has been crystal clear about his rock-solid belief in the Good Friday Agreement as the foundation for peaceful co-existence in Northern Ireland,' White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden travelled to the UK on Wednesday.

'Any steps that imperil it or undermine it would not be welcomed by the United States,' Sullivan added.

On Thursday, Biden met Johnson for the first time since he won the White House last November. The pair appeared friendly for the cameras, but they are at odds in their political perspectives

Due to Brexit, a new agreement is needed for the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, which is part of the European Union, because the EU requires certain goods to be inspected and others not to be admitted at all. Police patrol a checkpoint close to the Irish border in Ravensdale earlier this month

Due to Brexit, a new agreement is needed for the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, which is part of the European Union, because the EU requires certain goods to be inspected and others not to be admitted at all.

There is a June 30 deadline breathing down the neck of both sides as negotiations get contentious.

A spokesman for Number 10 Downing Street refused to be drawn on the White House criticism.

'I don't think you would expect me to get into discussions with other countries but I think we have been clear that we need to urgently find solutions that support the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and minimise disruption to communities in Northern Ireland, particularly to avoid disruption to critical supplies such as medicines,' he said.

'That is why we have been and continue to work closely with the EU to try to find pragmatic solutions that achieve those objectives.'

And on Thursday night, UK time, a spokesperson for Johnson insisted that Biden did not 'rebuke him'.

Downing Street said the leaders 'reaffirmed their commitment' to the Good Friday during their discussions and 'agreed that both the EU and the UK had a responsibility to work together and to find pragmatic solutions to allow unincumbered trade between Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland'.

The pair also put on a diplomatic display earlier on Thursday as they strolled along the seaside with their wives.

The pair also put on a diplomatic display earlier on Thursday as they strolled along the seaside with their wives

However, their alleged tension of the Northern Ireland deal also highlights the fundamental political differences between the two leaders.

Biden, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who takes pride in his expertise in global affairs, was a staunch opponent of Brexit, the movement Johnson championed.

Biden also once called a Johnson a 'physical and emotional clone' of Donald Trump.
A student who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing the Glasgow bin lorry tragedy in 2014 has lost her bid for 215,000 compensation.

Danielle Weddle had been on her Christmas break when she saw parts of the tragic incident, in which a refuse lorry veered out of control in Glasgow city centre and killed six people on December 22, 2014.

The economics student, who was in her final year at Stirling University, was referred to counselling in January 2015 after continuing to suffer from flashbacks and anxiety.

The All Scotland Personal Injury Court had earlier ruled that because she was not injured in the crash Ms Weddle she was not a primary victim and did not qualify for damages.

The tragic accidents saw a refuse lorry veer out of control in Glasgow City centre and crash into six people on December 22, 2014

Bin lorry driver Harry Clarke was not prosecuted over the bin lorry crash, with the Scottish Crown Office insisting there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal proceedings

A sheriff ruled Glasgow City Council could not have reasonably foreseen that lorry driver Harry Clarke would have caused the risk of physical injury to Ms Weddle.

Ms Weddle appealed the decision at the Sheriff Appeal Court in Edinburgh but has now seen her bid rejected by three sheriffs.

Her legal team had argued an earlier ruling rejecting her claim was wrong and said she was at risk of physical injury and her fear of being injured was reasonable.

But lawyers for the council said Ms Weddle had never been in the 'zone of danger' and was never at risk of being struck by the bin lorry or the taxi it crashed into.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen, sitting alongside Sheriff Principal Mhairi Stephen QC and Sheriff Sean Murphy QC, upheld the original ruling.

In a written judgment, Sheriff McFadyen said: 'It was for the appellant to demonstrate that any fear was reasonable and the sheriff has carefully and at some length explained, under reference to authority, why he concluded that she did not have such a reasonable belief.

'Among other factors justifying his decision he has correctly noted that neither vehicle was ever heading straight towards her, the vehicles did not come particularly close to her, the initial collision took place over 30m at least away from her and the vehicles thereafter were moving relatively slowly and came to rest at least 12m away from her.

Police officers at the scene of the crash in George Square, Glasgow, on December 22, 2014

Emergency teams rush to the scene after the bin lorry mounted onto the pavement and killing six people

The scene in Glasgow's George Square after Clarke's bin lorry crashed into a group of pedestrians

'These factors, in our opinion, clearly demonstrated that the appellant had failed to establish that any belief that she did have was a reasonable one.

'We have no doubt that the appellant has suffered significant psychological and psychiatric injury in consequence of the terrible things she saw that day, but we cannot conclude that the sheriff was in error in finding that such injury was not in any way referable to a fear of personal injury to her reasonably held by her at the time of the accident.'

In 2019, Sheriff Kenneth McGowan said he would have awarded the student 214,572.40 for compensation, loss of earnings and university fees had he found in her favour.

In 2017, the driver of a Glasgow bin lorry Harry Clark avoided jail for driving without a licence just nine months after the tragedy.

Clarke admitted driving a car despite his licence having been revoked for medical reasons - telling the judge he'd had a 'very stressful' time.

He got back behind the wheel just months after his refuse lorry ran out of control in the city centre.

Clarke appeared for sentencing at Glasgow Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to driving in 2015.

He avoided a jail term and was instead given a three-year driving ban, a 12-month supervision order and 150 hours' unpaid work.

Clarke was not prosecuted over the bin lorry crash, with the Scottish Crown Office insisting there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal proceedings.

Jack and Lorraine Sweeney, 68 and 69, and their granddaughter Erin McQuade, 18, Stephenie Tait, 29, Jacqueline Morton, 51, and Gillian Ewing, 52, died in the 2014 incident.
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The water level of Lake Mead at the Hoover Dam is set to meet its lowest level on record as California's megadrought leave millions under emergency rations.

On Thursday, Lake Mead's water level is projected to hit elevation 1,071.61 feet, sinking to it's lowest elevation on record since the 1930's, said a Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman.

Thursday's level is about four feet below the level that would trigger a federal declaration of a water shortage which would cut water supplies to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.

Arizona could have its supply cut by 320,000 acre-feet, Aaron said. That is a year's supply for nearly 1 million households, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

Lake Mead, formed in the 1930s from the damming of the Colorado River at the Nevada-Arizona border about 30 miles east of Las Vegas, is the largest reservoir in the United States.

 Slide me  BEFORE in 2016 (left) and AFTER in 2021 (right): Images show the lowering water level of Lake Mead at the Hoover Dam, which is set to meet its lowest level on record as California goes through a megadrought

 Slide me  BEFORE in 2016 (left) and AFTER in 2021 (right): Images from the National Snow and Ice center shows that snow cover in California now is the lowest in the 21-year satellite record

The water level of Lake Mead at the Hoover Dam is set to meet its lowest level on record as California 's megadrought leave millions under emergency rations. Pictured June 9

The sun sets over the ridge at Hoover Dam on May 13, 2021. The concrete arch-gravity dam constructed in the 1930's in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River provides drinking water to Arizona, Nevada, and part of Mexico

Low water levels due to drought are seen in the Hoover Dam reservoir of Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. June 9, 2021. Picture taken June 9, 2021. REUTERS/Bridget Bennett

Images from June 9, 2021 show how the most recent drought in western U.S. and has affected the water levels in the Hoover Dam reservoir of Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nevada

The dam spillway on the border between Arizona and Nevada is seen dry at Hoover Dam on May 13, 2021. The Hoover Dam, completed in 1936, impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume

Image shows historically low water levels on June 9, 2021 due to drought are seen in the Hoover Dam reservoir of Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nevada

Signs notify a boat launch is closed on June 9, 2021 because of low water levels due to drought in the Hoover Dam reservoir of Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nevada

It is crucial to the water supply of 25 million people including in the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas, Reuters reported.

The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam constructed in the 1930's in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, which provides drinking water to Arizona, Nevada, and part of Mexico.

The Dam generates electricity for parts of Arizona, California and Nevada and as the water in Lake Mead drops, so does the dam's electrical output.

On average, the dam usually produces about 2,074 megawatts, which is enough electricity for about 8 million people, according to the Western Area Power Administration.

Tuesday's capacity was just 1,567 megawatts, a drop of about 25 percent, CNN reported.

'Every foot of lake level decline means about 6 (megawatt) of lost capacity,' Aaron told CNN.

Aaron added that while the lake's water level is expected to reach a new lows this week, its excepted to continue dropping.

'We anticipate the elevation of Lake Mead to continue to decline until November 2021,' Aaron said.

The drought that has brought Lake Mead low has gripped California, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Basin spanning Nevada, Oregon and Utah, plus the southwestern states of Arizona and New Mexico and even part of the Northern Plains.

The Hoover dam, 1935, on the Colorado river, Nevada, United States is seen with a high water level in 2016

Hoover Dam Site also known as Boulder Dam on the Arizona-Nevada Border pictured in 1992

Water Intake Towers at Hoover Dam-located on the border of Nevada and Arizona, stands 726 feet tall and was constructed from 1931-1936. It is pictured with a high water level on February 14, 2002

Intake towers and water storage lake, Hoover dam on the Colorado River, Nevada and Arizona border, USA in 2006

The Hoover Dam (pictured on July 5, 1983) is a concrete arch-gravity dam constructed in the 1930's in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River

A riverboat glides through Lake Mead on the Colorado River on October 14, 2015 at Hoover Dam near Boulder City

Farmers are abandoning crops, Nevada is banning the watering of about one-third of the lawn in the Las Vegas area, and the governor of Utah is literally asking people to pray for rain.

The latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday showed that more than half of the western U.S. is either in an 'extreme' or 'exceptional drought.'

Droughts are a recurring natural hazard but made worse recently by an accumulation of extremely dry years for most of this century. Scientists say human-influenced climate change has exacerbated the situation.

The rains that deluged the West at the end of 2015 - before the previous low-water mark was set at Lake Mead - were a mere respite from what is now a 22-year drought, the driest period in 115 years of record-keeping by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages water resources in the Western states.

Dramatic images show the impact the drought has had on Folsom Lake, a reservoir in Sacramento which has reached its lowest water levels since 1977, the Sacramento Bee reported.

For the last six decades the lake maintained 85 percent capacity, roughly 830,000 acre-feet-of-water, by the end of May.

At the end of May this year, Folsom Lake contained only 361,000 acre-feet of water, the equivalent to 37 percent capacity, the Bee reported.

Last month California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a drought emergency proclamation for 41 of the state's 58 counties, empowering the state to take greater control over water resources, Reuters reported.

A recent drought that has taken over half of the west coast has led to low water levels in the Hoover Dam reservoir of Lake Mead near Las Vegas, Nevada. Pictured on June 9

On Thursday, Lake Mead's water level is projected to hit elevation 1,071.61 feet, sinking to it's lowest elevation on record since the 1930's. Pictured on June 9

On Wednesday nearly two million people in the San Francisco Bay Area were placed under a water shortage emergency as mandatory water restrictions have been issued for Santa Clara County, CNN reported.

'We can't afford to wait to act as our water supplies are being threatened locally and across California,' Tony Estremera, director of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, said in a statement. 'To better deal with these threats and the emergency they are causing, today my fellow Board Members and I unanimously declared a water shortage emergency condition in Santa Clara County.'

The deepening drought coincides with the state's summer fire season, leading to concerns from California fire officials.

The extra dry conditions means most of the state faces an increased chance of large and possibly destructive fires for several more months, the Washington Post reported.

Images of Folsom Lake on May 27, 2021. The reservoir in Sacramento has reached its lowest water levels since 1977 as California experiences an extreme drought

Empty boat slips sit on a dry lake bed at Folsom Lake Marina on May 27, 20121 as the lake experiences lower water levels during the California drought
Boris Johnson and Joe Biden channeled their predecessors in Cornwall today as they examined copies of the 1941 Atlantic charter in their first meeting.

The original charter was hammered out by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 and acted as a guiding blueprint for life after the Second World War.

The document cemented the bond between Britain and the US and was a pre-cursor to a 1946 speech from Churchill where he coined the term 'special relationship'.

The original accord was devised on board the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and US heavy cruiser USS Augusta off the coast of Newfoundland as Churchill and Roosevelt met face-to-face for the first time since the outbreak of the war.

Today, in their first meeting since Mr Biden was elected and since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, the current US president and Mr Johnson poured over the 1941 charter.

The two leaders are expected to hash out a new Atlantic Charter which Mr Johnson previously said will 'form the foundation of a sustainable global Covid recovery'.

Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden look at copies of the 1941 Atlantic Charter during their bilateral meeting in Carbis Bay, Cornwall

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill confer after church services aboard the battleship Prince of Wales during the Atlantic Conference where they hashed out the charter

The original Atlantic Charter took the form of a statement issued on August 14, 1941.

In it, the leaders agreed that there were 'certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future of the world'.

Those principles included respecting the right of all people to 'choose the form of government under which they will live' as well as the pursuit of peace.

The charter was the result of face-to-face talks between Roosevelt and Churchill and set out their post-Second World War goals.

It set out eight points and joint principles on a range of issues like security, trade and peace.

The two leaders said they 'deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future of the world'.

The original charter is viewed as historically significant because it solidified the US-UK relationship as allies.

It also laid the groundwork for the creation of the United Nations and the NATO military alliance.

Its eight points including self-determination, the reduction of trade restrictions, and the disarmament of aggressor nations.

A month later, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia, the USSR and representatives from the government-in-exile of France also signed up to the principles of the document.

Boris Johnson and Joe Biden are expected to hash out a new Atlantic Charter which Mr Johnson previously said will 'form the foundation of a sustainable global Covid recovery'

The two leaders appeared solemn as they examined copies of the original Atlantic Charter that led to the special relationship between the two countries

In January 1942, these countries among many others signed the Declaration by United Nations, which became the basis of the modern United Nations.

Churchill and Roosevelt said in the charter that they hoped to 'establish a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries' and to allow people to live their lives 'in freedom from fear and want'.

Crucially the charter also said that 'such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance'.

It also committed the US and the UK to ensure all countries could enjoy access to trade and the world's raw materials 'on equal terms' in order to boost economic prosperity.

Churchill and Roosevelt wanted to 'bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field' with the goal of improving labour standards, economic advancement and better social security.

Boris Johnson and Joe Biden will hope to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and hash out a new Atlantic Charter.

Mr Johnson said that 'cooperation between the UK and US, the closest of partners and the greatest of allies, will be crucial for the future of the world's stability and prosperity'.

He added: 'Eighty years ago the US President and British Prime Minister stood together promising a better future. Today we do the same.'
An unarmed black shot dead by sheriff's deputies in North Carolina died from a 'penetrating gunshot wound of the head,' according to autopsy results released on Thursday.

Andrew Brown Jr. also was shot in the right arm and suffered lacerations and other wounds to his right thigh, right arm and upper back.

He had a low level of methamphetamine in his bloodstream.

But it 'likely did not play a role in Mr Brown's cause or manner of death,' which was homicide, the report said.

The state autopsy released on Thursday said emergency medical providers were dispatched to the scene of the shooting at about 8:25am and found Brown lying on the sidewalk 'pulseless with cardiopulmonary resuscitation in progress.'

'Crew members noted a significant amount of blood near Mr. Brown,' the report stated.

Andrew Brown Jr, 42, pictured with his daughter, was shot and killed by sheriffs deputies in North Carolina on April 21. On Thursday the official autopsy was released, showing that he died of a single gunshot wound to the head

Body camera footage from the April 21 shooting shows the deputies opening fire as Brown drove his car

Brown's BMW can be seen in the body camera footage, surrounded by the deputies. Three deputies fired at him on April 21, and he died at the scene

The bullet-ridden BMW is seen being removed from the scene in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The deputies fired 14 shots that day, nine from a pair of Glock 17 pistols and five from an AR-15 rifle

'Upon assessment, he was noted to have what were believed to be gunshot wounds of the head. Injuries were felt to be non-survivable and he was pronounced dead at the scene' at 8:32 a.m.

The examination offers few new details about the shooting in Elizabeth City that continues to reverberate through the small eastern North Carolina community.

Brown family attorneys said in their statement that 'we are confident that the truth will be revealed and justice will prevail' and 'we won't stop fighting for transparency and accountability from law enforcement and the district attorney.'

Brown was sought on an arrest warrant for allegedly selling cocaine and fentanyl-laced heroin to an undercover detective on March 17 and 29

Attorneys for his family have repeatedly said Brown was trying to get away, while authorities have said he was using his car as a weapon.

On May 18 District Attorney Andrew Womble said Brown's death, 'while tragic,' was 'justified due to his actions.'

Since the shooting, residents have marched in protest of Brown's death and have been calling for police reforms.

One of the deputies who fired his gun at Brown handed in his resignation last week. And an FBI probe into the shooting is ongoing.

Attorneys for the Brown family said in a statement that autopsy results 'prove what we've always known to be true: Pasquotank County deputies executed Andrew Brown Jr. with a kill shot to the back of the head.'

Armed deputies were serving drug-related warrants at Brown's home when they surrounded him in his BMW.

His car backed up and moved forward before several shots were fired at and into his vehicle.

One of Andrew Brown's daughters, Dranae Dunbar, held in the arms of a relative, and sons, Khalil Ferebee (second right) the son of Andrew Brown, Jr pose for a photo where Mr. Brown's image is painted on the side of the house

Reverend Al Sharpton speaks on May 3 during the funeral for Andrew Brown Jr., at Fountain of Life Church in Elizabeth City, N.C. Brown was fatally shot in April by sheriff's deputies in North Carolina, and died from a 'penetrating gunshot wound of the head,' according to the official autopsy results released on Thursday

Khalil Ferebee tends to his baby son Karter while standing with his brother Jha'rod Ferebee on a stage behind the coffin of their father on May 3

An independent autopsy commissioned by Brown's family shortly after the April 21 shooting had already found that he was shot in the back of the head.

Prosecutor Andrew Womble confirmed that finding at a news conference last month, during which he said the deputies were justified in shooting Brown.

Womble said last month that deputies, in the moments they confronted Brown, had reason to believe his car could be used as a deadly weapon.

'The deputies faced both actual and apparent danger as perceived by them on the scene,' Womble told a press conference.

'This apparent threat was reinforced by Brown's dangerous and felonious use of a deadly weapon. As tragic as this incident is with the loss of life, the deputies on scene were nonetheless justified in defending themselves from death or great bodily injury.'

Brown's death sparked nights of protest in the North Carolina city. Pictured are protesters on April 26, five nights after his killing

A motorist joins other protesters marching in the evening of April 26, after family members were shown body camera footage

Deputies were seeking to arrest Brown for allegedly selling cocaine and fentanyl-laced heroin to an undercover detective on March 17 and 29, according to Womble.

A plastic bag with an 'off-white, rock-like substance' was found in Brown's mouth at his autopsy, Womble said.

'The substance was consistent with crystal meth and was the size of a 50-cent piece and too large to swallow,' the prosecutor added.

Brown's family said in statement that Womble did nothing but 'whitewash' the facts of the case.

'Andrew Brown Jr., his grieving family, and this community deserve answers,' according to the family statement.

Sheriff Tommy Wooten has identified three of his deputies who opened fire at Brown that day: Investigator Daniel Meads, Deputy Robert Morgan and Cpl. Aaron Lewellyn.

Lewellyn has handed in his resignation, and will leave the force on June 30.

The deputies fired 14 shots that day, nine from a pair of Glock 17 pistols and five from an AR-15 rifle, Womble said.

Wooten said the three deputies who opened fire on Brown would keep their jobs.

But they and others in his department would face internal discipline for actions taken on April 21, according to the sheriff.

Two deputies at the scene failed to turn on their body cameras during the confrontation, and the arrest team failed to have emergency medical services nearby - although Brown would have still died from the gunshots he suffered, according to Wooten.
Eighty years after he died in the attack on Pearl Harbor and just months after his remains were finally identified, a California Marine has been laid to rest with full military honors.

About 50 people attended the ceremony Tuesday for Pfc. John Franklin Middleswart at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in his hometown of San Diego, the Union-Tribune reported.

Marines in dress blues fired a three-volley rifle salute. Another Marine sounded 'Taps' on a bugle.

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A military honor guard drapes a U.S. flag over the casket of Marine Corps, Pfc. John Franklin Middleswart for a full military honors at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Tuesday, June 8

Eighty years after he died in the attack on Pearl Harbor and just months after his remains were finally identified, the California Marine has been laid to rest with full military honors

Lt. Col. Christopher Benson, right, presents the flag that covered U.S. Marine Corps, Pfc. John Franklin Middleswart casket, to his nephew Edward Brown during the full military honors ceremony at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in San Diego

Pfc. John Franklin Middleswart (left in his high school year book, and right, in a newspaper clipping of him in uniform, was laid to rest at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in his hometown of San Diego

'What an amazing miracle it is to have John with us today,' Navy Chaplain Robert LeCompte said.

Middleswart was 19 when he was killed along with more than 400 other Marines and Navy sailors aboard the battleship Oklahoma in a surprise attack by the Japanese that led the U.S. into World War II.

He was identified through mitochondrial DNA, extracted from Middleswart's bones and compared to DNA from his sister and two of his nephews, the newspaper reported. The family was notified of the match in February.

Middleswart was 19 when he was killed along with more than 400 other Marines and Navy sailors aboard the battleship Oklahoma in a surprise attack by the Japanese that led the U.S. into World War II. A Marine team places U.S. Marine Corps, Pfc. John Franklin Middleswart casket onto the horse-drawn funeral carriage

About 50 people attended the ceremony Tuesday for Pfc. John Franklin Middleswart at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in his hometown of San Diego

A military honor guard escorts the casket of Marine Corps, Pfc. John Franklin Middleswart for a full military honors at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

'It's the end of a journey,' said James Brown, 80, one of the nephews. 'We couldn't be happier.'

After the Pearl Harbor attack, Middleswart was officially listed as missing and presumed dead, his remains 'non-recoverable.' His parents were sent an American flag and a Purple Heart to honor him. But not having a grave with his name on it, not having a place to mourn him, weighed on them the rest of their lives, according to family members.

His sister, Lauretta Brown, named one of her sons after him. Two of her other children, James Brown and Edward Brown, joined the Marines because of their uncle.

'We were always hoping one day they would identify him and bring him home,' James Brown said.

Middleswart was among more than 400 crewman killed on the USS Oklahoma after it was torpedoed several times in an attack at Pearl Harbor by Japan

May 24, 1943, the capsized battleship USS Oklahoma was lifted out of the water at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii

For nearly eight decades the remains of soldiers have been kept in unmarked graves (seen above), but a breakthrough in DNA technology means families bereaved by the tragedy finally get closure.

Only 35 of the 429 sailors and Marines aboard the Oklahoma who died were identified after the attack.

The rest of the bodies remained on the ship until it was salvaged at the end of the war. They were then buried in mass graves in Hawaii in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

But in 2015, the Defense Department ordered the bodies to be exhumed and new DNA technology used to try and identify them and reunite them with their families.

Middleswart's name is etched on a wall at the Honolulu cemetery where many of those killed on the Oklahoma are buried. Soon his name will have a rosette added to it, signaling that he is no longer missing, the newspaper reported.
Boris Johnson presented Joe Biden with a picture of a US anti-slavery campaigner to mark the pair's first meeting today ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall.

US and UK leaders traditionally exchange gifts when they meet in person and Mr Johnson gave Mr Biden a framed photograph of a mural of Frederick Douglass.

Biden gave Johnson a new U.S.-made bicycle and a helmet to mark their first gathering. The Bidens gave Carrie Johnson a leather tote bag made by the wives of American troops, as well as a presidential silk scarf.

Douglass was a former slave who became a leading figure in the 19th century abolitionist movement in the United States.

Douglass travelled to Ireland and Great Britain in the 1840s on a speaking tour.

The image, painted by Ross Blair, is part of a mural trail around Edinburgh and the photograph was taken by Melissa Highton  a UK-US dual national.

Boris Johnson presented Joe Biden with a picture of a US anti-slavery campaigner to mark the pair's first meeting at the G7 summit in Cornwall today

Frederick Douglass (pictured) was a former slave who became a leading figure in the 19th century abolitionist movement in the United States

The image, painted by Ross Blair, is part of a mural trail around Edinburgh and the photograph was taken by Melissa Highton  a UK-US dual national

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson gave Jill Biden, the First Lady, a first edition copy of Daphne du Mauriers The Apple Tree.

Downing Street said the choice was to reflect Du Mauriers Cornish links  the author lived in the county and drew inspiration for many of her works from the surroundings.

The exchange of gifts usually takes place at the start of formal visits between US and UK leaders.

The previous giving of gifts took place in June 2019 when Theresa May gave Donald Trump a framed typescript copy of a draft of the 1941 'Atlantic Charter' during his visit to the UK.

The charter was agreed by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill and it set out their joint vision for the post-war world.

The copy was Churchill's personal draft of the statement, with his amendments made in red pencil.

First Lady Melania Trump was given a bespoke tea set from the designer Emma Bridgewater.

When Theresa May visited Washington in January 2017 she gave Mr Trump a quaich - a traditional Scottish cup of friendship

When Mrs May visited Washington in January 2017 she gave Mr Trump a quaich - a traditional Scottish cup of friendship - and Mrs Trump was given a hamper of produce from the PMs Chequers country residence.

Mrs May received a framed picture of Abraham Lincoln while her husband, Philip, was given a pair of silver cufflinks by New York designer David Yurman.

David Cameron give Barack Obama a painting by the graffiti artist Ben Eine in 2010 during his first trip to Washington as PM.

Mr Obama gave his counterpart a signed lithograph by the pop artist Ed Ruscha.
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A 'vain' multi-millionaire drugs lord who came to the UK as an Iranian refugee before leading an international narcotics conspiracy that funded a nose job, multiple hair transplants and teeth veneers has been jailed for 37 years.

Aram Sheibani, 40, of Trafford, Greater Manchester, partied with girls on yachts, stayed in luxury hotels around the world, drove a Bentley and a Porsche and built up a 5million property empire, 1million in cash and a collection of art by Banksy and Andy Warhol.

But he funded his lavish jet-setting lifestyle and obsession with cosmetic surgery through fraud, money laundering and drugs offences with links to Colombia and was described in court as 'vanity personified' as he was jailed for nearly four decades yesterday.

Before his arrest he built a 5 million property empire in the UK and Spain by masquerading as a legitimate businessman while falsifying his earnings to facilitate further borrowing.

When police swooped he said the piles of ketamine, cocaine, ecstasy and MDMA were all for him and insisted he only went to Colombia, famed for its drugs trade, to 'meet girls and party'. He told detectives: 'I am a heavy drug user but definitely not a drug dealer', adding: 'I sometimes take drugs and I sometimes have sex. I don't necessarily have to have them at the same time.'

But following a 10-week trial Sheibani, who came from his native Iran to the UK as a refugee with his family in 1986, was convicted of numerous offences including conspiracy to supply cocaine, fraud, money laundering, forgery and perverting the course of justice.

Prosecutor Nick Clarke QC said: 'Under the surface, under the veneer of flash cars and clothes, under the photos, the cash, the watches, the boats and holidays, the cool clubs and parties, there is a very clear reality. A man who makes money from criminality for his own vain ends.'

Jailing him for 37 years Judge Anthony Cross QC told him: 'Your greed knows no boundaries. I am satisfied that you are at the very head of a large-scale international drugs conspiracy.'

Aram Sheibani was jailed for 37 years after being convicted of offences including conspiracy to supply cocaine, fraud, money laundering, forgery and perverting the course of justice

Sheibani (left) funded a lavish lifestyle through fraud, money laundering and drugs offences

Mr Sheibani paid for a number of cosmetic surgeries including a nose job (pictured right)

Just some of the money found belonging to Aram Sheibani by Greater Manchester Police

Between 1999 and 2010, he only declared his income on five occasions when he attempted to explain his amassed wealth with forged documents, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Police raided his luxury apartment in Bowdon, Altrincham, in April 2019 and found a safe containing 167,000 in used notes at the address with a Porsche Panamera, worth 24,000, parked outside.

Sheibani attempted to destroy evidence before they entered the address as he smashed up an encrypted Encro phone, used by high-end criminals, and threw it down the toilet.

A total of 1.2 million in cash was seized from searches at various properties belonging to the defendant, along with the recovery of cryptocurrency valued at 1.3 million.

Officers also recovered original artwork from Banksy and Andy Warhol gained through illegitimate means.

Cash-counting machines, various quantities of foreign currencies, a number of encrypted electronic devices and substantial mounts of cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy were also seized, said police.

Evidence showed at least 11 cash-counting machines were acquired by Sheibani but only three were traced while two industrial presses linked to him, commonly used in drugs production, have also not been found.

Sheibani, who was the head of the international drug network, used fortune to travel the world

As well as high-end cars such as this Bentley (pictured) and a Porsche Panamera, police also recovered original artwork by Banksy and Andy Warhol during raids on Sheibani's properties

Sheibani refused to disclose the passwords to the recovered encrypted devices but police were able to expose his criminality through examination of other electronic devices, bank records and online shopping accounts.

During his fraudulent activity, Sheibani was a frequent worldwide traveller with trips to Dubai, Amsterdam and Ibiza where he enjoyed lavish yacht parties and also had a host of luxury vehicles including two Bentleys, a Porsche and a gull wing Mercedes.

On a trip to Beverly Hills in Los Angeles in 2013, he splashed out 45,000 US dollars on a hair transplant.

A further sizeable sum was spent years later in Istanbul in a similar vain attempt to cure his premature baldness.

In December 2013 he visited Colombia where he mixed business with pleasure as he soaked up the lifestyle of an international drugs supplier, the court heard.

Sentencing, Judge Anthony Cross QC told him: 'Your greed knows no boundaries.

Pictured: A large quantity of cocaine discovered during searches at addresses linked to Sheibani

'I am certain that you began your criminal life by taking advantage of the property boom in which the money you generated in your early 20s funded your foray into the international drug trade in which you engaged in at the time of your arrest.

'I am satisfied that you are at the very head of a large-scale drugs conspiracy.

'I am satisfied that the evidence indicates you are close to the source of production in Colombia and the international drugs trade which includes the supply of drugs in Europe, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.

'Your network here runs across the UK. You were not just a supplier but a processor of drugs.

'You ran a network of unknown others under your control.'

Following a 10-week trial Sheibani, who came from his native Iran to the UK with his family in 1986, was convicted of numerous offences including conspiracy to supply cocaine, fraud, money laundering, forgery and perverting the course of justice.

Outside court, Det Sgt Lucy Pearson, of Greater Manchester Police's economic crime unit, said: 'Sheibani is a calculated, deceitful and scheming criminal who believes he is above the law.

'May today's sentencing serve as a warning to anyone thinking they can get away with such fraudulent and criminal activity.

'We will find you and ensure that you face the full consequences of your actions.'
Litchfield (06759)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 57F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 57F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Robert Durst, 78, is in a jail hospital after an 'incident' involving his health behind bars, the judge presiding over his ongoing murder trial said on Thursday when he dismissed the jury for a long weekend.

'Mr Durst is not here,' Judge Mark E. Windham said. 'We understand he is in the jail hospital because of some incident this morning involving his health.'

Durst is on trial for allegedly killing Susan Berman, 55, in an execution-style shooting in 2000. Prosecutors believe Berman had information on his wife Kathie Durst's disappearance, which may have motivated Durst to allegedly murder her.

During Thursday's hearing Deputy District Attorney John Lewin suggested that Durst's supposed health crisis could be a stall tactic, according to LawandCrime.com.

'Prosecutor Lewin says Durst has been recorded in previous jail calls saying he was going to fake dementia,' tweeted reporter Cathy Russon, who was in the courtroom.

'Lewin says he's not sure if today is fake or real. Judge says Durst "was down, he was not in his chair."'

Robert Durst was hospitalized during Thursday's court appearance

Defense attorneys Dick DeGuerin (R) and David Z. Chesnoff (L) adjust Robert Durst's wheelchair as he faces jurors as attorneys begin opening statements in his murder trial at Inglewood Courthouse on May 18, 2021

Durst is in Los Angeles prison on charges of murdering Susan Berman, his longtime friend (together left), to whom he allegedly admitted to killing his wife. Pictured right: Seymour Durst, Robert Durst's father

Defense attorneys wanted to postpone the trial indefinitely, citing Dursts bladder cancer diagnosis, LawandCrime.com reported.

He has appeared throughout trial in a wheelchair.

Lewin declined comment when DailyMail.com called him, but lawandcrime.com reported that Lewin told the judge in court, 'I have no idea whether this is legitimate or not, but.'

Windham is taking the matter seriously, saying, 'He wouldnt be taken to the hospital without a legitimate question as to health,' lawandcrime.com reported.

'The circumstances this morning were that he was - he was down. He was he was not in his chair,' the judge said.

Durst's lawyer Dick DeGuerin said in an email to DailyMail.com the Durst was hospitalized this morning but didn't say why. As of 2.20pm, DeGuerin said there's no update on in Durst's condition.

In a May interview with DailyMail.com, DeGuerin expressed concerns about Durst's health saying: 'His health has deteriorated alarmingly over the past fourteen months since the trial was shut down at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

'I'm concerned about whether he can withstand the rigors of trial.

'We are continuing our request for mistrial through a Writ to the appellate courts, which means we have appealed the trial court's denial of our latest motion for mistrial.'

Prosecutors have said Durst (pictured with Kathleen Durst) shot Berman because of what she knew about the fate of his spouse, whom authorities have said they presume was slain by Durst

The case of the missing wife of real estate heir Robert Durst is being reopened by investigators

The trial is set scheduled to resume on Monday, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Durst is the son of billionaire New York real estate mogul Seymour Durst, is charged with the December 2000 slaying of his best friend, Susan Berman, in her Los Angeles home.

The real estate heir was the subject of The Jinx, an HBO documentary that ends with Durst seemingly confessing to murder.

Durst has been in jail since 2015 on charges related to Berman's death, with his trial in her murder resuming in mid May.

He had admitted to fatally shooting and dismembering his 71-year-old neighbor Morris Black in 2001, but he was acquitted of his murder in 2003 after claiming self defense.

But Lewis said the killing of Berman and Durst's admission that he had killed Black are both tied to the mystery of Kathie Durst.

Her body has never been found and Robert has not been charged with her death, though authorities believe he is likely responsible, according to the New York Post.

'Everything starts with Kathie Durst's disappearance and death at the hands of Mr. Durst,' Lewin said.
A white woman has been caught on camera vandalizing an Oregon monument to the only black member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition while screaming about 'unity' and how she has been the victim of racial discrimination.

The unidentified woman was filmed using purple spray paint on Tuesday to deface the bust of York at Mount Tabor Park in Portland, Willamette Week reports.

York was a slave who became the first black man to cross America as part of the Corps of Discovery with explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in the early 1800s. He was enslaved by Clark at the time.

The monument was placed there by an unidentified person back in February after the previous statue of white pioneer Harvey Scott was toppled by protestors last year.

The unidentified woman was filmed using purple spray paint on Tuesday to deface the bust of York at Mount Tabor Park in Portland, Oregon

When the woman was confronted by a passerby as she was spray painting the monument, she started shouting that she had been prejudiced against by black and Hispanic people.

'It's love and unity... not to replace a white man with a f***ing black man. That's not f***ing unity,' the woman screamed.

The woman, dressed in workout clothes and sunglasses, repeatedly shouted 'f**k all of you'.

She then added: 'I will pay for damages if you want me to'.

The witness who spotted the woman and started filming her described her as 'upset' and 'shaking'.

'I got the sense that she was really upset about a black statue being there, more than anything. Which is really scary,' the witness said.

'I was really upset. What do I do? Do I grab the can away from her?'

The York monument mysteriously appeared in February with a plaque that reads: 'The first African American to cross North America and reach the Pacific Coast'

The statue of Harvey Scott that the woman referred to was among a number of monuments torn down in Portland amid Black Lives Matter protests last year

The statue of Harvey Scott that the woman referred to was among a number of monuments torn down in Portland amid Black Lives Matter protests last year.

The York monument mysteriously appeared in February with a plaque that reads: 'The first African American to cross North America and reach the Pacific Coast'.

It is not clear who placed the York monument in the park but the city's parks department decided to keep it in place because it had been deemed safe for public viewing.

'This past summer, there's been concern about some of the public art that many states have displayed, and so folks really see this installation as a bit of a reckoning,' Portland Parks and Recreation Director Adena Long told the Associated Press.

'The story of York is really compelling and very sad.'

There are several York memorials across Portland, including at Lewis & Clark College. A statue of York alongside Williams Clark was removed from the University of Portland last year due to vandalism.

York was Clark's slave at the time they traveled across North America in the early 1800s.

According to historians, York was an essential member of the expedition and repeatedly asked for his freedom following the conclusion of the journey.

Lewis denied his request.
A grandmother and her one-year-old grandson were shot dead by a man inside a Florida supermarket before turning the gun on himself, according to authorities.

Deputies were called to the Publix store on Royal Palm Beach Boulevard at 11.40am Thursday morning to reports of at least three shots being fired.

They found three people - a man, woman and child - dead from gunshot wounds and a handgun. The sheriff's office said the gunman was among the deceased.

The toddler's father was called to the scene to identify his son's body, reported WPLG.

A man shot and killed a woman and a toddler inside a Florida supermarket on Thursday morning before turning the gun on himself, according to authorities.

The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office sent deputies at 11.40am to the Publix store on Royal Palm Beach Boulevard

Bystander photo shows an armed officer outside the site of the deadly shooting in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, in the immediate aftermath

The grandmother was said to be shopping with her grandson inside the Publix store at the time of the shooting.

Officials confirmed the dead child was a toddler who would have turned two later this month.

Authorities are now trying to determine if there was a relationship between the male shooter and his two victims.

The sheriff's office said it is 'possible' the gunman and the victims 'knew each other' but provided no further details about the potential relationship.

The sheriff's office had confirmed on Twitter Thursday morning that it 'was NOT an active shooter situation.'

Neither the victims nor the gunman have been publicly named.

Detectives are on the scene investigating what prompted the shooting.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, officials said they were reviewing surveillance footage and speaking to witnesses as part of the investigation.

A row of patrol vehicles are seen outside a Dollar Tree store near the supermarket on Royal Palm Beach Boulevard after the shooting on Thursday

Palm Beach County Sheriff's officers stand outside of a Publix supermarket where a woman, child and a man were found shot to death

Three people - a man, woman and child - were found dead from gunshot wounds inside

The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office said in a tweet the incident is 'NOT an active shooter situation'

Witnesses described hearing three gunshots sending staff and customers running to safety from the supermarket.

Customer Lynn Waterman told Sun-Sentinel she was at a cash register paying for her purchases when she heard what she initially mistook for the sound of popping balloons.

Suddenly, Waterman said the cashier announced there was a shooter and took off running.

A witness who was at a bank nearby told WPBT he saw a stampede of around 50 people fleeing from the Publix store.

Dr. Ron Glassman said he heard yells of 'active shooter' and 'get out, get out' as customers and staff ran for cover.

Officers stand outside the store. Officials are now trying to determine if there was a relationship between the male shooter and his two victims

The woman and child are relatives and were with each other at the time of the shooting. Officials did not confirm if the woman is the mother of the child

The sheriff's office said it is 'possible' the gunman and the victims 'knew each other' but provided no further details about the potential relationship

'I saw about 50 customers and staff leave in, I would say, about 10 or 15 seconds,' Glassman said.

Publix is Florida's largest grocery store chain with 817 locations.

Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said in a statement that the company was working with law enforcement.

'Our thoughts are with those who are impacted by this tragedy. We are cooperating with the local law enforcement,' she said.

'Since this is an active police investigation, we cannot confirm any additional details.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office for more information.

Royal Palm Beach is a middle-class suburb home to around 40,000 people.

An aerial image of law enforcement responding to the scene of the shooting Thursday morning

Biden Executive Actions on Guns Crackdown on 'ghost guns,' which are built from kits

Tighten requirements on pistol braces that allow for more accurate shooting

Department of Justice will publish 'red flag' legislation for the states

Investment in evidence-based community violence interventions

DoJ will issue an annual report on gun trafficking Advertisement

The shooting comes in the wake of a string of mass shootings across America in recent months.

Figures from the National Violence Archive found that there have been 232 mass shootings - where four or more people are killed or wounded - from the start of the year through May 26.

Back on March 16, Robert Aaron Long, 21, is accused of killing eight people - six of them Asian women - in a series of attacks at three Atlanta spas.

The following week, gunman Ahmad Alissa then allegedly shot dead ten people including a police officer, in a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

In May, 8 people were shot and killed at the FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis earlier this month.

In light of this year's spate in gun violence, Joe Biden has unveiled a series of executive actions designed to curb gun violence following the string of shootings.

The six actions include: a crackdown on the proliferation of 'ghost guns,' which are built from kits; tighten requirements on pistol braces that allow for more accurate shooting; the Department of Justice will publish 'red flag' legislation for the states; invest in evidence-based community violence interventions; and DoJ will issue an annual report on gun trafficking.

Biden said mass shootings are a 'public health crisis' and argued he was not trying to impinge on the Second Amendment - a claim gun rights groups and Republicans have made against the introduction gun control laws.
Former Trump aide Stephen Miller said on Wednesday that Jane Fonda committed treason by traveling to Vietnam in the 1970s to protest against the US government and the then ongoing war.

Fonda, now 83, is a lifelong activist who most recently protested the Keystone pipeline that Joe Biden has now blocked by revoking the permit on it.

In the 1972, she flew to Vietnam, spoke to their troops and appeared on Vietnamese radio to condemn America's military.

She even posed next to an anti-aircraft gun that was used to shoot down American planes.

Jane Fonda is shown in 1972 posing with a Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun that was used to shoot down US planes. She flew to Hanoi to try to convince US pilots to stop bombing Vietnamese fields because she didn't think it was fair

Former Trump aide Stephen Miller appeared on Fox to talk about Fonda's activism against pipelines when he brought up her visit to Hanoi and called it 'treason, by any definition'

Her extreme antics earned her the nickname 'Hanoi Jane' among US veterans and troops.

Miller was on Fox News talking about Fonda's recent calls to stop the plans for pipelines that Trump put in place.

Fonda, 83, is a relentless activist who has long used her Hollywood platform to talk about political causes

He brought up her activism against the Vietnam War and it constituted treason.

'What she did in the Vietnam War... people may have forgotten this. She volunteered herself as a tool of North Vietnamese Communist propaganda. She did North Vietnamese propaganda broadcasts on their radio station.

'She sat on their anti-aircraft battery that's used to shoot down American planes and American airmen.

'This is by any definition, and I am going to use the word, what she did is treason. And she was held up as a hero?'

Fonda flew to North Vietnam in 1972 as part of her protest against the Vietnam War.

She went on local radio to condemn the American military effort, and she posed on a Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun which shot down American planes.

She also put on one of the Vietnamese soldiers' helmets.

Fonda in Hanoi in 1972. She later said she regretted posing on the anti-aircraft gun because it sent a 'horrible' message to US troops

Fonda was arrested in 1970 for the alleged assault of a Cleveland cop. The charges were later dropped

Fonda was condemned at the time for making the trip to Hanoi, where she appeared on local radio to tell American pilots to stop bombing Vietnamese farming fields which she didn't think were fair targets.

She has since said she regrets the photograph, but not the activism against the war.

Fonda has routinely protested against other political causes she disagrees with.

She recently condemned Joe Biden for not doing more to stop pipelines in areas she thinks they shouldn't be in.

One of them is Keystone, which Biden blocked this week by revoking the permit on it.
Joe Biden's helicopter has been spotted flying through London as the US President prepares for the G7 summit across the country in Cornwall.

The aircraft was seen over the capital while Mr Biden and his wife Jill met with Boris and Carrie Johnson in Carbis Bay.

A map showing the route taken by the RAF Puma Warlock, which is part of the same flight as the US Marine Corps chopper, reveals they circled from around Heathrow Airport through Slough, Berkshire.

Social media users posted they had spotted 'Marine One' flying overhead in south east England today - though that name is traditionally reserved for when the President is aboard.

President Biden will be flying to Windsor on Sunday on Marine One, which likely explains the aircraft's presence today.

It could be repositioning to RAF Mildenhall or practising the route it will take collecting Mr Biden from Heathrow and taking him to Windsor Castle, or Brussels - where he is set to visit after meeting the Queen.

The President had left Washington on June 9 and arrived at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, where he met with U.S. Air Force personnel stationed there.

United States Marine Corps aircraft flies over at St James Palace on June 10 in London

The aircraft was seen over the capital while Mr Biden and his wife Jill met with Boris and Carrie Johnson in Carbis Bay, Cornwall

A map showing the route taken by the RAF Puma Warlock, which is part of the same flight as the US Marine Corps chopper, reveals they circled from around Heathrow Airport through Slough, Berkshire

Today he met Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Cornwall, site of the G7 summit, and will work throughout the week on advancing the United States' policy priorities.

In official photos issues by Number 10, the Prime Minister's wife Carrie Johnson was seen holding baby Wilfred today - as the newlywed made her debut onto the world stage.

But the cheery appearances came in spite of a row over Brexit today, as the White House tried to put out the flames of a major transatlantic bust-up.

Brexiteer Tories had branded the 78-year-old Democrat 'senile' after he failed to side with the UK in its 'sausage war' bust-up with the EU, and the US President used his diplomats to express 'great concern' over the conflict.

The aircraft was seen over the capital while Mr Biden and his wife Jill met with Boris and Carrie Johnson in Carbis Bay (pictured)

Social media users posted they had spotted 'Marine One' flying overhead in south east England today - though that name is traditionally reserved for when the President is aboard

President Biden left Washington on June 9 and arrived at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, where he met with U.S. Air Force personnel stationed there (pictured: The aircraft flying through south east England)

But amid the tensions Mrs Johnson, a mother of one, seemed a natural counterpart to the US First Lady, as the pair were pictured smiling together in good spirits ahead of tomorrow's crucial G7 summit.

The event marks the first major engagement for Boris and Carrie since they married in a secret wedding ceremony last month.

This year's summit comes as the US is said to have issued a 'demarche' to Britain, an official diplomatic censure not normally used against allies, especially those as close as the two nations.

Crunch talks between Britain and Brussels over sausage imports have failed to make a breakthrough and European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic threatened to retaliate if Britain takes unilateral action to continue the flow of British-produced chilled meats to Northern Ireland.
Body language experts claim Boris Johnson looked less confident and tried to 'appear strong' in his first face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden today.

The pair elbow-bumped and strolled on the promenade in Cornwall earlier, and as the leaders sat down for talks, Mr Biden told journalists he had joked to Mr Johnson that they both 'married way above our stations'.

As well as taking the lead in cracking gags, Mr Biden also appeared the far more confident of the two premiers, with his commanding posture and a series of authoritative gestures.

This included a 'power pat' at one stage, where the President placed the flat of his hand on the back of the Prime Minister.

Darren Stanton, TV's Human Lie Detector and leading body language expert told MailOnline: 'The significance of placing a hand on the back of someone else and guiding them along is a pure submissive gesture, and is meant to convey the message 'I am more powerful than you'.

'President Biden seems very comfortable in his own skin and typically presidential in his posture and the way in which he moves. He is quite a tall thin man and takes large strides.

'It was interesting to see Boris, who is shorter, and takes less [large] strides keeping up with him.'

President Biden shows off his 'power pat', after placing the flat of his hand on the back of the Prime Minister

As well as taking the lead in cracking gags, Mr Biden also appeared the far more confident of the two premiers, with his commanding posture and a series of authoritative gestures

The cheery appearances came in spite of a row over Brexit today, as the White House tried to put out the flames of a major transatlantic bust-up.

Brexiteer Tories had branded the 78-year-old Democrat 'senile' after he failed to side with the UK in its 'sausage war' bust-up with the EU, and the US President used his diplomats to express 'great concern' over the conflict.

Earlier in the day, the two leaders, along with their wives, Jill and Carrie, strolled along Carbis Bay.

Mr Stanton said their respective behaviours in this environment told a story of who was really holding the power in the much-trumpeted 'Special Relationship'.

'The initial footage where the four walked towards the view of the ocean is probably the most telling of all interactions that we have been able to see so far,' he said.

'Upon walking to the sea, Boris continues to make this rather odd hand gesture as if he is guiding President Biden.

'However it's clear he is not aware of [what the plan is] by asking an aide shortly after.

'When we are in a position of authority and feel confident there is a classic gesture of placing our hands behind our backs.

'We often see police officers do it, military personnel CEOs of companies and other authoritative figures.

'This is an unconscious gesture of exposing the stomach and torso, we feel confident enough to psychologically expose some of our most vulnerable organs.'

The expert pointed out that Mr Johnson putting his hands in his pockets was perhaps another suggestion of submission.

'When the two men are looking at an exhibition, Boris again adopts a similar sequence of postures where he does not know what to do with his hands,' he said.

'The whole thing ends up looking like he is fidgeting.

'Overall I think Biden found the experience within his stride and was consistent with being presidential and confident, whilst Boris was less so.'

Newlywed Carrie Johnson cut an elegant figure in a scarlet 325 LK Bennett gown as she made her debut onto the world stage alongside her husband Boris today

US President Joe Biden puts his hand on Carrie Johnson's back at Carbis Bay ahead of tomorrow's crucial G7 summit

He added: 'There is a fantastic picture of Biden and Boris standing in front of the American flag, where Boris has his head bowed, his hands behind his back, and Biden has his hand on his shoulder.

'This is a fantastic shot and signifies Biden believes himself to be the powerful man the head bow is significant of a submission gesture.

'When people bow their head it is to say 'I am subservient to you', such as in church, in court and when faced with others we perceive to be more powerful.'

However, he said there was a clear rapport between the two, and when sat down, Mr Johnson managed to portray a powerful position by placing his hands on his knees with his legs apart, similar to stances seen by the likes of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Looking at the body language of the wives as well, Mr Stanton added: 'When Carrie is shrugging her shoulders in the red dress and President Biden as his hand on the back, this is the classic power gesture.

'Although we know from other walkabouts President Biden is a very tactile man, this is kind of gesturing her in a direction, but could also be considered to be a power gesture.

'During the elbow bump between the two wives, Mrs Biden seems to be taking it all in her stride as she is very used to this sort of media attention.

'Carrie seems to be like a giggly school girl as clearly this is one of the first official engagements she has been involved in.

This year's summit comes as the US is said to have issued a 'demarche' to Britain, an official diplomatic censure not normally used against allies, especially those as close as the two nations.

Crunch talks between Britain and Brussels over sausage imports have failed to make a breakthrough and European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic threatened to retaliate if Britain takes unilateral action to continue the flow of British-produced chilled meats to Northern Ireland.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the protocol was the 'one and only solution' to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and that she still saw 'fundamental gaps' in Britain's implementation of it.

The United States was said to have waded in and 'strongly urged' Britain to 'stay cool' and reach an agreement, even if that meant making 'unpopular compromises'.

The report prompted a massive backlash from Tory backbenchers and the DUP leader Edwin Poots after the PM was accused of 'inflaming tensions' in Northern Ireland and threatening the peace process.

But a senior Biden administration official said: 'This is wrong. First this discussion wasn't directed by the president. It was not heightened. As with any ally we have diplomatic conversations about areas where we have concern at many levels.

'Jake (Sullivan - US national security adviser) addressed the issue of Northern Ireland during his BBC interview and the message sent privately was exactly the same.'

The official later added that the president would not get 'controversial or adversarial' when he speaks to the PM about Northern Ireland.

'He didn't come here to give a lecture,' they said.

'He believes that the Good Friday agreement is the foundation for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland ... the current discussions between the UK and EU should continue the vitality of Good Friday agreement.'
A 86-year-old grandfather is walking 1,000 miles to raise cash for the hospice that is looking after his sisters.

Peter Murray, who has 12 grandchildren, walks for 20 miles every day around Barnet, Enfield and Haringey from 9am to 6pm to raise money for North London Hospice.

Mr Murray, who has so far raised 967, told MailOnline: 'I want to give back to people and this country. I will walk until I die.

'I hope I am showing my children and grandchildren you have to be nice to people even if they are not nice to you.'

He began his 1,000-mile challenge in April for the hospice which looks after his older sisters Mary and Pat who are in their 90s and has been supporting the hospice's shops for 30 years.

Peter Murray, who has 12 grandchildren, walks for 20 miles every day around Barnet, Enfield and Haringey from 9am to 6pm to raise money for North London Hospice

Mr Murray, who has so far raised 967, told MailOnline: 'I want to give back to people and this country. I will walk until I die. I hope I am showing my children and grandchildren you have to be nice to people even if they are not nice to you'

Declan Carroll, chief executive of North London Hospice, said: 'Peter is absolutely inspirational- he is North London's answer to Captain Tom! I am in awe of his get-up-and-go spirit and cannot thank him enough for everything that he has done.

'His amazing fundraising is enabling our vital work so that we can deliver the best of life at the end of life for everyone.'

Mr Murray, who lives in Enfield with Helen, his wife of 60 years, said: 'I am quite slim now and I am quite healthy. People say to me you do not look as if you have got a thing wrong with you. Twenty miles a day is extraordinary.'

His usual route is from his home to the nearest town centre where he says hello to people. If he is doing laps of the park he will do three to four laps per hour. He enjoys the walks as people will stop to talk to him or do some of the route with him.

And this isn't the first time Mr Murray has walked for charity.

Last year he walked another 1,000 miles to raise money for Whipps Cross Hospital to say thank you for nursing another of his sisters, Madge, through coronavirus.

When she was discharged he looked after her until she died in July last year.

He began his latest 1,000-mile challenge in April for the hospice which looks after his older sisters Mary and Pat who are in their 90s

Mr Murray was a middle child of 15 with ten sisters and four brothers and walked from a young age to collect water from the well near his home in Ireland. He also survived tuberculosis when he was a child.

His Father died when he was 12 and his mother got him jobs to support the family.

When he worked at a grocer's his job was sorting through the tins of biscuits to remove the broken ones.

Mr Murray said: 'I deliberately broke the biscuits so I could have some to take home because it was a treat. We never had luxuries. We were so poor it was unbelievable. We had nothing. Everything was second-hand.'

In 1950 he came to London to earn more money to support his mother and five younger siblings in Ireland. At first he washed dishes at a hotel for 1 a week.

Mr Murray then worked at another hotel for 3 a week. When he had saved enough money he starting selling A-Z street maps around London which eventually became his first business.

After that, Mr Murray had his own successful shops which had stands for comics, paperbacks and magazines.

He also bought and sold multiple properties. Now, he uses the money he made throughout his life to support charities and continues to fundraise for them.
An ice cream man in Pakistan has been dubbed Donald Trump's 'doppelganger' thanks to his incredible likeness to the former US president.

The man, who is in his mid-40s and has albinism, was spotted selling ice cream on the streets of Sahiwal in Punjab.

People have drawn comparisons with Trump and shared a video of him singing a song in Urdu as he serves ice creams.

The popular man sings his ingredients as a quirky way to make sales, tempting locals over to his stand.

An ice cream man in Pakistan has been dubbed Donald Trump's 'doppelganger' thanks to his incredible likeness to the former US president

In a video taken in Sahiwal, the man can be seen belting out the song as he stands by his ice cream cart.

Impressed viewers weren't just stunned by his likeness to Trump - and say his singing voice is deserving of more attention.

Imran Malik said: 'His voice is soulful - he's an artist. He seems to fascinate everyone on the streets not because of selling ice cream but because of his incredible singing.

People have drawn comparisons with Trump (pictured) and shared a video of him singing a song in Urdu as he serves ice creams

'This man should have been rocking the stage rather than selling ice cream.'

Azam Khan agreed, adding: 'He has set an example for all of us - this is how you do good to others by working dedicatedly.'

Rabiya lauded his sales techniques while out in the sun, saying: 'How he is selling ice cream in this heat while suffering from albinism - it tends to affect such patient quickly.'
Hackers have stolen 26 million user logins for tech giants including Amazon, Apple, Facebook as well as vital payment information in the latest online security breach.

The malware hack, exposed by cybersecurity provider NordLocker, also saw payment details nabbed from 3.25 million computers that run Windows software. It was uncovered after researchers discovered a 1.2 terabyte database filled with stolen personal information.

The other firms whose accounts were targeted include eBay, Instagram, Netflix, Paypal, Roblox, Steam, Twitch and Twitter. It saw victims computers' infected by opening emails, or downloading bootleg software, and enabled the malware to take screenshots of their browsing activity - including private login details.

According to a report released by NordLocker on Wednesday, an unidentified, Trojan-type malware stole the files, including 26 million login credentials, between 2018 and 2020. It saw victims' webcams taken over by the malware, which then took screenshots as people used their computers to reveal personal information.

It remains unclear if any of that data was then used to scam or defraud its rightful owners. People who fear they may have been targeted can visit the website haveibeenpwned and insert their details to find out.

The news comes amid a spike in cybersecurity and ransomware attacks affecting major American companies - one that crippled a key pipeline along the East Coast, affecting gasoline supplies and leading to shortages at filling stations. Another shut down beef plants of the world's largest meat producer.

As for NordLocker and the huge cache of stolen data it found, the company said: We want to make it clear: we did not purchase this database nor would we condone other parties doing it. A hacker group revealed the database location accidentally.

An unidentified, Trojan-type malware stole 1.2 terabytes of personal information from 3.25 million Windows-based computers, between 2018 and 2020

The mystery malware that stole information from from over three million PCs has not been identified and its reasons for existing are unknown.

NordLocker found that the malware was transmitted through email and illegal software, including bootlegged versions of Adobe Photoshop 2018 and a number of computer games.

The stolen data includes 26 million sets of login credentials for common online services, including Amazon, Apple,

The database also contains 2 billion session cookies, or online footprints that hackers use to view their targets behaviors and habits on their computer.

Lastly, it contains 6.6 million desktop files, including 1 million images and 650,000 Word and .pdf files.

Nordlocker explained that, after infecting its host computers, the malware took screenshots using their webcams and assigned unique IDs to each set of stolen data to sort it according to where it came from.

Security experts said people could check the 'have i been pwned?', which is play on words of 'owned' to see whether their data might have been compromised. The site compiles data breach information.

On Wednesday, the same day Nordlocker released its study, it was revealed that beef supplier JBS paid an $11 million ransom in Bitcoin to hackers who compromised its systems, forcing them to shut down multiple meat processing plants.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials said this week the Department of Justice would now investigate cyberattacks on the same level as terrorism.

JBS, which supplies 20 per cent of all beef and pork in the US, received a demand from 'a criminal organization likely based in Russia' following the attack that has affected its operations in Australia and North America, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Andre Nogueira, the CEO for the Brazilian company's United States division, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the payment was made after most JBS plants were already up and running again as 'insurance to protect our customers.'

Regarding the hack, JBS wrote: 'The FBI stated this is one of the most specialized and sophisticated cybercriminal groups in the world.'

The meat supplier claimed that it was able 'to quickly resolve the issues' because of the company's cybersecurity protocols, redundant systems and encrypted backup servers. JBS spends more than $200 million annually on information technology and employs more than 850 IT professionals globally, according to the release.

America's largest beef supplier JBS recently paid an $11 million ransom in Bitcoin to the hackers who shut down its plants in the United States

Last month, the major gasoline transporter Colonial Pipeline also suffered a ransomware attack and paid about $4.4 million in bitcoin to the hacking group DarkSide. The Justice Department on Monday recovered some $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline, Reuters reported.

Colonial Pipeline was the target of a huge cyber attack early last month, which halted 2.5 million barrels per day of fuel shipments along the line running from Texas to New Jersey.

Officials labeled it the most disruptive cyberattack on US energy infrastructure in history.

DarkSide hackers were able to breach Colonial Pipeline's computer system last month using a single compromised password, according to testimony from the company's top executive and revelations from a cybersecurity expert.

Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount appeared before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday to discuss the May 7 ransomware attack that caused widespread fuel shortages and panic buying.

He admitted the attack occurred using a legacy Virtual Private Network (VPN) system that did not have multifactor authentication in place, meaning it hinged on a single password.

Most major companies require two-factor across all internal applications. The use of a single factor login system, security experts say, is generally viewed as a sign of poor cybersecurity 'hygiene.'

Colonial Pipeline was the target of a huge cyber attack early last month because its Virtual Private Network (VPN) system hinged on a single password used by all of its staff.

But Colonial Pipeline wasnt the only target. The DarkSide hackers that closed the Colonial Pipeline have bagged more than $90 million in Bitcoin ransom payments from 47 victims and have infected at least 99 companies in the last year.

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said DarkSide's Bitcoin wallet received millions of dollars worth of ransom payments in the nine months between October last year and last week when the wallet shut down.

Roughly half of all organizations targeted by the cybercriminal gang paid ransom money with the average payment being around $1.9 million, Elliptic said.

Dark web intelligence firm DarkTracer has identified 99 organizations that were infected with Darkside including fashion label Guess and car firm Toshiba. It is not clear which companies paid the hackers ransom money.

Malware are harmful computer programs that could be either attached to an email or installed through illegal software. Malware is an umbrella term that includes commonly-known computer viruses, ransomware used to extort its victims and backdoor malware that allows hackers access to a host computer at any time.
A week before Eli Lilly told regulators that the Justice Department was investigating its New Jersey factory that produces a COVID treatment over suspected quality control violations, the drugmaker told employees that its own inquiry found no evidence of wrongdoing there, according to a company memo.

On April 8, a group of employees filed an anonymous complaint internally alleging that an executive at its Branchburg, New Jersey, factory had altered documents required by the US Food and Drug Administration.

As Reuters reported last month, Lilly tapped the Washington DC law firm Covington & Burling LLP to investigate the alleged alterations, which the employees said were meant to downplay serious quality control problems at the plant producing the drugmaker's COVID-19 antibody treatment.

In a memo to Branchburg employees on May 20, Nellie Clark, head of the plant, summed up the outside lawyers findings: 'In the end and very importantly, allegations that Lilly made false statements to the FDA were not substantiated.'

A week after the memo was released to employees, Reuters reported that the Justice Department had launched a criminal investigation focused on the Branchburg plant.

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has told its staff in a memo that an internal inquiry has found no evidence of wrongdoing at its New Jersey plant, which is now the subject of a Justice Department investigation

That same day, May 27, Lilly reported to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it had received a subpoena from the department seeking documents related to the factory.

The company reported that it was cooperating with the Justice Department probe and that an outside law firm was also 'investigating these allegations thoroughly.'

It was not clear which inquiry - the company's or the government's - was launched first and to what extent the subjects coincide. However, as Reuters reported last month, based on three sources familiar with the matter, the Justice Department's investigation into Lilly includes a review of alleged manufacturing irregularities and records-tampering.

Lilly spokesperson Kathryn Beiser and a Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. Clark did not respond to a request for comment. A Covington spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment nor to a request for a copy of the firms report.

The Covington inquiry is significant because Lilly's handling of any employee allegations is likely to be considered by prosecutors as they weigh whether there are grounds to pursue criminal charges, seek civil action, or decline to bring a case at all, several legal experts said.

Government prosecutors often consider whether a corporation made a genuine effort to investigate and address potentially illegal activities once learning of them.

If the Justice Department concludes that an internal investigation was thorough, it can result in a non-prosecution agreement with few, if any, penalties, the experts said. However, a company-led investigation that appears to have been poorly handled could lead to harsher outcomes.

'Whenever a company hires outside counsel to conduct an inquiry, it's taken extremely seriously by the Justice Department,' said Paul Pelletier, a former long-time federal prosecutor who used to oversee criminal investigations of corporations.

Covington has handled dozens of cases for Lilly over the past 20 years, according to the Westlaw database of legal cases and press releases, including intellectual property matters, personal injury lawsuits and class actions.

The plant at the center of the DoJ probe manufactures Eli Lilly's COVID-19 antibody therapy bamlanivimab. Employees at the plant alleged an executive had falsified documents given to the FDA to downplay quality control issues

The firm also has several lawyers whose reputations would carry weight with the Justice Department and the FDA, including former Attorney General Eric Holder, legal experts said.

The company-backed investigation was based on interviews with more than 100 people, the May 20 memo to Lilly employees said. However, the memo did not respond to all concerns employees raised in their April complaint, which Reuters reviewed.

The memo denies the company made false statements to the FDA. In their complaint, employees said they were broadly concerned that quality control documents the FDA requires companies to maintain had been rewritten or fabricated. The employees did not specify whether these materials had been shown to the FDA.

The company memo said Lilly couldn't substantiate allegations that employees faced retaliation for refusing to make false statements. It did not address employees' specific complaints that they faced retaliation for other reasons, other than to say it encouraged employees to 'speak up.'

The Branchburg factory first came under FDA scrutiny in late 2019, when agency inspectors began to document numerous quality control problems. By March, 2020, the FDA had deemed the manufacturing issues as 'Official Action Indicated,' its most serious category of violation.

Lilly has pledged to address the problems, and said none of them affected drugs in the market. The FDA, which has taken no public action, did not respond to requests for comment.

In March 2021, Reuters reported that a former Lilly human resources officer, Amrit Mula, had identified internally some of the same violations later documented by the FDA. Mula was forced out of the company in early 2019 after Lilly executives sought to downplay her findings, according to a letter demanding compensation for damages that her attorneys sent to the company.

Lilly has denied retaliating against any employees, and no lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Mula.

Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, called allegations of manufacturing irregularities and records tampering at the Branchburg plant 'troubling'

In October 2020, the Trump administration ordered $375million worth of Lilly's COVID-19 antibody therapy bamlanivimab, which is manufactured at the Branchburg plant.

Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, called allegations of manufacturing irregularities and records tampering at the Branchburg plant 'troubling.'

Menendez has sponsored a bill calling for a non-partisan, independent COVID-19 Commission to examine the U.S. pandemic response, including government contracts with companies.

'These reports have raised serious questions that require answers,' Menendez said of Reuters coverage. 'I expect that this Administration will coordinate across agencies to get to the bottom of this and that Eli Lilly will fully cooperate with any ongoing investigation.'
China urges U.S. to stop promoting bill exaggerating "China threat" rhetoric

Xinhua) 17:24, June 09, 2021

BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday urged the United States to stop promoting a bill that exaggerates "China threat" rhetoric and advocates strategic competition against China.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a press briefing, saying China has firmly opposed U.S. Senate approving "The United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021."

The bill slandered China's domestic and foreign policies and seriously interfered in China's internal affairs on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet, Wang said.

The bill is full of zero-sum cold war mentality and runs counter to the common desire of all sectors of China and the United States to strengthen exchanges and cooperation, the spokesperson added.

Urging the United States not to treat China as an "imaginary enemy," Wang said China is committed to developing a relationship of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation with the United States but will continue to firmly safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests at the same time.

"The goal of China's development is to continuously make improvements and enable the Chinese people to live better and happier lives," Wang said, urging the U.S. side to take a rational view of China's development and China-U.S. relations.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
President Joe Biden touted what he called a 'historic announcement' Thursday to have the U.S. serve as an 'arsenal for vaccines' as part of an effort to stamp out the coronavirus.

Speaking from St. Ives as he begins his week-long trip of Great Britain before heading to the continent for meetings with a skein of world leaders, Biden championed a new U.S. effort to enter into contracts for $500 million worth of Pfizer vaccines.

The plan is to distribute them to the international COVAX program, as well as directly to some countries.

President Joe Biden said in the UK that the U.S. will be the 'arsenal of vaccines' as he spoke of an effort to send 500 million Pfizer doses abroad

Biden trumpeted U.S. economic gains and forecast growth. 'Just as the American economy is recovery, it is an all of our interest to have the global economy began to cover recovery as well,' he said.

'That's why, as I said in my address to the joint session of Congress in April, American, will be the arsenal of vaccines, and our fight against global COVID-19 Just as America was the arsenal of democracy during World War II.

He called it a 'historic announcement,' and said America 'knows firsthand the tragedies of this pandemic' as the leader in recorded deaths.

'We had more we've had more people die in the United States than anywhere in the world, nearly 600,000 are fellow Americans, moms, dads, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandparents. 'More deaths COVID-19 In United States than from World War One World War Two. The Vietnam War and 911 combined combined,' he said.

Biden spoke at the beginning of a G7 summit in Cornwall

'We know the tragedy. We also know the path to recovery,' he said, with the UK and Europe still imposing strict lockdown measures that US states have begun to lift.

U.S. vaccination rates have reached 64 per cent, but it will take a lift to reach Biden's goal of getting 70 percent of adults vaccinated. Just getting the vaccines out the door  which is already expected to run into next year, won't solve the problem, as many of the nations getting them will have difficulties getting shots into arms just like in the U.S.

'It took a Herculean effort on the part of our government to manage one of the biggest, and I would say most complicated logistical challenges in our history, the ingenuity of scientists, building on decades of research to develop a vaccine,' Biden said. 'it took the full capacity of American companies manufacturing and delivering the vaccines around the clock.

'And as a result. You're the lowest number of daily deaths since the first day of this pandemic. Our economy is rebounding, our vaccination program has already saved tens of 1000s of lives that count growing each day, and has allowed millions, millions Americans get back to living their lives.

The US is making contracts with Pfizer on what it says is a not-for-profit basis to distribute vaccines to nations around the world

'This is about our responsibility, our humanitarian obligation to save as many lives as we can. and our responsibility to our values. We value the inherent dignity of all people in times of trouble. Americans reach out, offer help and offer a helping hand,' Biden said.

And when we see people hurting and suffering anywhere around the world, we seek to help as best we can.

He also pointed to bipartisan efforts to help global earth, including a major George W. Bush administration dealing with HIV / AIDS.

He called the effort 'in America's self interest' as dangerous new virus variants spread.

His administration is describing the effort as part of a way to demonstrate to the world that democracies are the best way forward.

On a press call Thursday, a senior administration official said most of the vaccines would be distributed by the international COVAX program administered by the World Health Organization.

'To repeat, the U.S. is taking this historic step of purchasing half a billion doses of Pfizer vaccine and donating them to countries that need them the most, including the 92 Advance Market Commitment countries -- these are the lowest-income countries and economies in the world -- and members of the African Union member states,' said the official.

The U.S. will not be 'seeking favors' from countries getting the vaccine.

'And in this regard, the United States is not seeking favors in exchange for these doses. We're not making demands in order for countries to get these doses. We are not imposing conditions -- political or economic, or otherwise -- on countries receiving these doses. We are going to be guided by the science and the public health experts in allocating them to the places where they can make the most difference, and in allocating them in a broad-based way so that countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Africa, in Asia, and in parts of Oceania can benefit from these Pfizer doses,' said the official.
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At least three Pennsylvania homes were engulfed in flames after a man allegedly threatened a code enforcement officer with a gun and barricaded himself inside following a brief interaction with police.

'Multiple explosions' erupted at a townhome complex in Lower Providence Township on Thursday afternoon after police responded to the scene and confronted the suspect, Police Mike Jackson said during a press conference.

Officers are still looking for the suspect, who has not been identified and 'may or may or may not be inside the residence,' Jackson said.

Stunning video from local news helicopters showed the raging inferno swallowing at least three abutting townhouses, causing at least one of them to collapse.

After the homeowner, who allegedly threatened a code enforcement officer with a gun, went inside the home, there was a loud explosion and then fire, police said

The flames raged for about three hours

The fire started in one home and spread to the neighboring homes

The code enforcement officer was following up on an inspection in an Eagleville home - about 25 miles outside of Philadelphia - shortly before 1pm when the homeowner took out a gun, police said.

The code enforcement officer ran and called police. Responding officers talked to the man outside, Jackson said, before he went back inside and the home exploded.

Firefighters wrestled with the inferno for nearly three hours until they got it under control.

Police were patrolling the area around the fire

The fire swallowed up the homes and caused the buildings to collapse

#Breaking- Three homes in Eagleville are on fire and police say there is man nearby firing a gun, possibly at helicopters over the scene. Firefighters are fighting an exterior attack from a distance. @6abc pic.twitter.com/aC7Bw6Ovjp  Dan Patrick (@6abcDan) June 10, 2021

The flames jumped from one home to the next and caused parts of one of the homes to collapse.

The public was instructed to stay away from the scene, which was swarmed by SWAT teams and fire departments.

One person suffered minor injuries and is being treated at a hospital, Jackson said.

It's still unknown at this point what caused the explosions.

Jackson said there is no threat to the public, but a large police presence will remain in the area for the foreseeable future.
A group of Jewish students at Hunter College CUNY in New York City were left fearful and distraught after they say pro-Palestinian activists, including professors, hijacked a remote lecture, and used the public forum to air anti-Semitic views and condemn Israel.

As Fox News first reported, the incident took place at the Silberman School of Social Work during a May 20 end-of-semester Zoom lecture as part of a course called 'Practice Lab,' which explored different forms of oppression throughout history.

Students speaking to the outlet on condition of anonymity said that during the virtual lecture, many of its 192 participants suddenly switched their backgrounds to the Palestinian flag and their user names to 'Free Palestine: Decolonize.'

Those who took part in the stunt then reportedly took turns reading a prepared manifesto denouncing Israel for perpetrating an 'ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians from their lands.'

Multiple Jewish students at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College CUNY said a May 20 Zoom lecture was hijacked by pro-Palestine activists, who switched their names to 'Free Palestine: Decolonize' and their backgrounds to the Palestinian flag

One Jewish student said she was left 'horrified' and fearful to return to campus (pictured) for in-person classes next fall

The statement included words of praise for US Rep Rashida Talib, a Democrat from Michigan, who recently accused Israel of subjecting Palestinians to an 'apartheid system.'

The authors of the manifesto also commended the organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement for 'condemning the deadly, racist attacks from the Israeli state.'

Speaking of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which escalated last months with deadly consequences, protesters at Hunter College were said to have declared: 'this is not "two sides" - its occupier and occupied. Like "All Lives Matter," talk about two sides distracts from power imbalance and structural injustice."'

One Jewish student who attended the lecture said the stunt left her 'horrified' and afraid to return to campus for in-person classes next fall.

'I was sick to my stomach,' said the student, adding that it was the most anti-Semitic display she has ever witnessed in person.

While the protesters were reading out their pro-Palestine manifesto, professors who were present in the Zoom room reportedly did nothing to interrupt them, and some even switched their name to 'Free Palestine: Decolonize.'

Adjunct professor Simone Gamble (pictured) reportedly joined in on the stunt and switched her name on Zoom to 'Free Palestine'

'Theyre supposed to be the mediators in the discussion, not the ones who are fueling the fire,' the student told Fox.

According to the student, adjunct professor Simone Gamble changed her user name to show her support for Palestine.

The chat section of the Zoom soon filled with anti-Semitic comments, according to students who took part in the lecture, with one participant reportedly writing: 'the Holocaust has been used as a tool. The fear of anti-Semitism as the fear of this could happen again is being used preemptively to oppress and kill others.'

Jewish students who spoke to Fox said there was no room for them to speak out and offer counterpoints to the pro-Palestine, anti-Israel arguments being voiced.

The incident at Hunter College comes amid a wave of anti-Semitic attacks targeting Jewish-Americans in New York City and elsewhere in the US.

Multiple hate crimes were reported last month involving Jewish people being verbally and physically attacked on the streets of New York and California, and synagogues being targeted in acts of vandalism.

Hunter College President Jennifer Raab stated less than a week after the lecture that the university 'unequivocally' condemns anti-Semitic attacks

The Anti-Defamation League has reported a 70 per cent spike in anti-Semitic incidents since the beginning of the violence in Israel.

In a statement posted to the university's website on May 26, Hunter College President Jennifer Raab stated that the university 'unequivocally' condemns anti-Semitic attacks and reiterated Hunter's 'strong commitment to fairness, equity, and mutual respect.'

When asked to address the hijacked lecture, a spokesperson for the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College confirmed to Fox News that the classroom discussion 'went in an unplanned direction as students expressed strong and, at times, heated opposing viewpoints and sentiments about the recent conflict in the Middle East.'

According to the spokesperson, the lead instructor ultimately asked for 'mutual respect and empathy to all points of view.'

'While we respect the principle of an open and free exchange of ideas, we will not tolerate hate speech in any form,' stated the school.

DailyMail.com on Thursday reached out to professor Gamble, but she was not immediately available for comment on her conduct during the lecture.

According to her LinkedIn page, Gamble has served as a part-time adjunct professor at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter for the past 10 months.

She is also the founder of an organization called OAAARS, which offers consultants to provide social justice training in workplaces.
Police responded in force to an Atlanta-area mall on Thursday afternoon where one person was shot and seven taken into police custody, according to a report from WSB-TV.

About 20 rounds were fired between two groups of people, police said. No deaths were reported.

Multiple ambulances and police vehicles rushed to the Southlake Mall in Morrow, Georgia on Thursday at about 3pm.

Unverified witness reports suggested that a group of young males were involved in a dispute inside the mall that spilled into the parking lot, and that one or more of them pulled out a gun and began firing.

At least one suspect was seen being taken into police custody, and at least one victim was seen being medically transported.

Police and ambulances are seen arriving at the Southlake Mall in Morrow, Georgia on Friday at about 3pm following reports of a shooting

Individuals are seen gathering outside of the mall after it was placed on lockdown

Witnesses told WSB-TV that they believed there had been a shooting in the mall.

One witness told WAGA-TV reporter Eric Perry that a large group of teens were fighting before gunfire erupted.

A large section of the mall's parking lot was sealed off with police tape, and it was unclear if the apparent shooting occurred inside or outside the facility.

One witness inside the mall said an incident took place inside of Macy's and perhaps spilled over into the parking area, according to WGCL-TV.

Stores inside the mall were all placed on lockdown.

A Twitter user whose office is near the mall's parking lot said she had seen three to four ambulances leaving the scene, even as more arrived.

'Cops are everywhere,' she added.

Witnesses said a fight may have begun

A Twitter user whose office is near the mall's parking lot said she had seen three to four ambulances leaving the scene, even as more arrived

Facebook user Colby Price went live with video showing a large emergency response and police perimeter formed around the mall.

He shared word from the scene that 'a bunch of young dudes' had been 'pulling out guns in the mall.' At least one male was seen being taken into custody in the video.

Heavily armed SWAT team members were also spotted entering the mall.

The Clayton County Police Department confirmed to DailyMail.com that it had responded to the incident as an assisting agency.

CCPD said that the Morrow Police Department was leading the response and referred all further inquiries to that department.

Morrow's police department does not appear to have a public information officer, and Interim Police Chief Bobby Mosteller did not immediately respond to a message seeking further information.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell chided Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in an interview with Fox News Channel Thursday, after AOC had suggested McConnell was waiting for a Senate Democrat to die to take back control of the chamber.

The Kentucky Republican said AOC's 'big complaint is with her own party.'

'The agenda of the particular member of Congress you're referring to is not in the middle,' he said. 'I don't think she could sell her agenda to their own party, much less find it any kind of appeal for that on my side.'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, captured on the Senate subway on Thursday, chided Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she said he was 'run[ning] out the clock' for a Senate Democrat to die to take back the chamber

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested to Senate Democrats on Wednesday that they drop the bipartisan negotiations and start passing bills while they're in the majority

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Wednesday afternoon that Dems were 'burning precious time' by trying to negotiate with Senate Republicans

Ocasio-Cortez suggested to Senate Democrats on Wednesday that they drop the bipartisan negotiations and start passing bills - either using reconciliation or by revising the filibuster rules - while they remain in the majority.

'During the Obama admin, folks thought wed have a 60 Dem majority for a while. It lasted 4 months,' the New York Democrat tweeted. 'Dems are burning precious time & impact negotiating w/GOP who won't even vote for a Jan 6 commission.'

'McConnells plan is to run out the clock. Its a hustle. We need to move now,' she said.

Ocasio-Cortez was referring to the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who died in August 2009, seven months into Obama's tenure.

Kennedy's seat was won that January, in a special election, by Republican Sen. Scott Brown, killing the Democrats' 60-vote filibuster-proof majority.

Among the oldest members of the Senate are Democrats including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who turns 88 this month, 81-year-old Sen. Patrick Leahy and 79-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The Democrats currently have 50 votes in the Senate and a tie-breaker at their disposal with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Breaking a filibuster, however, takes 60 votes.

McConnell said the only way legislation AOC backed would get passed would be if the Democrats had a super-majority of leftists.

'Well, to satisfy that particular member of Congress, I think the Democrats would have to have 60 votes in the Senate and all of them would have to be as far left as she is,' he said.

Fox News' Bill Hemmer didn't directly ask McConnell about the death dig, but instead asked him if he believed the filibuster was secure.

'Well, I think a significant number of Democrats have indicated we're not going to change the rules of the Senate in order to advance a radical left-wing agenda that the American people didn't vote for,' McConnell answered.

'So when you have a 50/50 Senate, I think you need to look for things you can agree on,' the Republican leader continued. 'And as I indicated earlier, we had six major bills so far this year passed on a bipartisan basis where we worked together and we met in the middle.'

McConnell used the filibuster for the first time this Congress to ensure a bill that formed a 9/11 style commission on the January 6 Capitol attack didn't pass.

Other House-passed legislation stuck in the Senate includes voting rights bills, the pro-LGBTQ 'Equality Act' bill, gun control legislation and the George Floyd police reform bill.

President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan - which hasn't been taken up in the House - is also being held up by bipartisan negotiations.

Earlier Wednesday, AOC insisted Biden and the Senate Democrats would be 'setting the planet on fire' if they kept 'playing patty-cake' with the GOP by removing climate proposals from the $1 trillion infrastructure plan.

The New York Democrat shared a tweet from Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, that warned, 'An infrastructure package that goes light on climate and clean energy should not count on every Democratic vote.'

'Yep,' AOC said, adding, 'Mitch McConnell and the Koch brothers are not worth setting the planet on fire for.'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dashed off two tweets agreeing with Sen. Martin Heinrich that an infrastructure package that 'goes light on climate and green energy' proposals may not attract every Democratic vote

AOC also tweeted Wednesday that President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats should assess whether it's worth 'playing patty-cake' with GOP senators, as they've threatened to block voting rights legislation and want a narrower infrastructure bill

'I know some Dems may disagree with me, but that's my unpopular opinion of the day,' Ocasio-Cortez continued.

She also blasted the Biden administration's continued push for bipartisanship.

'Pres. Biden & Senate Dems should take a step back and ask themselves if playing patty-cake w GOP Senators is really worth the dismantling of people's voting rights, setting the planet on fire, allowing massive corporations and the wealthy to not pay their fair share of taxes, etc,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

AOC was joining a chorus of progressives in Congress who were warning Biden that every Democratic vote may not be guaranteed.

Heinrich had linked to Politico's interview with Biden's National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy that was headlined, 'Infrastructure plan could omit some climate proposals.'

AOC encouraged President Joe Biden to act unilaterally and cancel student loan debt for Americans

Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, shared the same interview on Twitter.

'Just a gentle, friendly reminder that the executive branch doesn't write the bills,' Schatz said.

The more moderate Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet also suggested he could hold out his vote if climate change proposals are omitted.

'Colorado and New Mexico share a watershed. I agree wholeheartedly with my friend [Sen. Martin Heinrich],' Bennet tweeted.

AOC has made climate change one of her key issues, rolling out a 'Green New Deal' proposal during her first weeks in office in 2019.

On Wednesday she also encouraged Biden to unilaterally act on canceling student loan debt.

'Additionally, the Senate blockages make Biden's unwillingness to act on student loan debt - something he can do *without* Congress but hasn't yet - all the more glaring,' AOC tweeted. '#CancelStudentDebt is 1 of the few, rare opportunities Biden has to go big w/o the Senate. He needs to take it.'
Boris Johnson raised the case of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn in his first face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden.

The Prime Minister reiterated that the UK wants justice done for the 19-year-old, who was killed when a car crashed into his motorbike outside a US military base in Northamptonshire on August 27, 2019.

Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official based at RAF Croughton, has since been charged with causing the teenager's death by dangerous driving.

Boris Johnson raised the case of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn in his first face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden

The 19-year-old was killed when a car crashed into his motorbike outside a US military base in Northamptonshire on August 27, 2019

Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official based at RAF Croughton, has since been charged with causing the teenager's death by dangerous driving

How was Anne Sacoolas able to flee back to the US as British police investigated? Anne Sacoolas used a loophole to claim diplomatic immunity after allegedly killing Harry Dunn in a crash involving her Volvo SUV. It was believed that diplomatic immunity only applied to US officials - and their families - if they worked at the US Embassy in London. But it appears that because of the work done at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire  a US intelligence hub in Britain - the same applies there. Sky News claims an immunity deal between the UK and US there started in 1994. As a result Northamptonshire Police were planning to get Anne Sacoolas to sign a 'waiver of diplomatic immunity' - but she, her husband and their children fled on a private jet. Harry's family claim that Mrs Sacoolas had promised to work with police and admitted culpability. Advertisement

The suspect had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf following the crash and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy.

At his first face-to-face meeting with President Biden in Cornwall on Thursday, Mr Johnson reasserted the UK Government's position on the case.

Confirming it had been raised, a No 10 spokesman said: 'The PM raised the tragic Harry Dunn case with President Biden and reiterated that the UK wants to see justice done for the family.'

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has also raised the case with his US counterpart Tony Blinken in past discussions.

The Dunn family said they are 'very pleased' to see the case raised at the 'first available opportunity'.

Speaking after the PM raised the case with President Biden, the Dunn family spokesman Radd Seiger said: 'Harry's parents are very pleased to see that the PM has taken the opportunity to raise the case with President Biden at the first available opportunity.

'This rightly shows just how important this issue is and we are very grateful to the Prime Minister and his team for doing so.

'As all parties know there is no greater force on earth than the love between a mother and child.

'The family will continue to pursue justice until it is done.'

The Dunn family have challenged the diplomatic immunity asserted on Sacoolas's behalf, which will be heard in the Court of Appeal next year.

Mr Dunn's parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, have also brought a civil claim against the suspect and her husband in the US state of Virginia.
A white lab coat once reportedly owned by disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is up for sale for a whopping $17,000.

The garment, which is embroidered with the logo of the now-defunct blood-testing company, is being sold by user '@sweetsirensongs' on the Poshmark website.

The coat is billed as 'a piece of biotech history' and is generating much attention online as interest in Holmes continues to grow as she awaits trial on fraud charges.

'It doesn't surprise me, Elizabeth Holmes was a very inspiring person,' PR guru Mark Macias told CNBC of the pricey lab coat.

'She was the youngest female billionaire, self-made entrepreneur and even though we found out it was allegedly fraud - she sold something that was revolutionary.'

Holmes founded Theranos back in the mid-2000s after dropping out of Stanford University. She was billed as a wunderkind after she claimed her company could revolutionize modern medicine by performing rapid blood tests with a portable automated device.

The blonde businesswoman raised more than $700million from investors, before the company crumbled in 2018 when it was revealed that no such technology existed.

A white lab coat once reportedly owned by disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is up for sale for a whopping $17,000

The garment, which is embroidered with the logo of the now-defunct blood-testing company, is being sold by user '@sweetsirensongs' on the Poshmark website

Holmes is now facing 20 years behind bars after being charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud.

Her 13-week trial has been delayed, pending the birth of her first child next month.

The scandal has made Holmes a pop-culture sensation, with her story recounted in an HBO documentary and a best-selling book titled Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley start-up.

Holmes' deep voice and distinctive blonde hair - as well as her signature uniform consisting of a black turtleneck and white lab coat - only added to her intrigue.

While some may be genuinely interested in purchasing the lab coat as a piece of pop culture history, there is plethora of ironic merchandise that has cropped up mocking Holmes and her failed venture.

In recent months, Etsy has started stocking mugs, shirts and face masks featuring Holmes' name as she assumes a kind-of cult status.

A fake 'Theranos- Early Investor' mug is selling for $17, while a -shirt emblazoned with her face and the phrase 'fake it' til you make it ' is fetching $12.55

Another $15 coffee cup features the ironic phrase: 'Elizabeth Holmes is my #Girlboss'. A face mask in the same design is selling for $13.25.

Holmes founded Theranos back in the mid-2000s after dropping out of Stanford University. She was billed as a wunderkind after she claimed her company could revolutionize modern medicine by performing rapid blood tests with a portable automated device

While some may be genuinely interested in purchasing the lab coat as a piece of pop culture history, there is plethora of ironic merchandise that has cropped up mocking Holmes and her failed venture

In recent months, Etsy has started stocking mugs, shirts and face masks featuring Holmes' name as she assumes a kind-of cult status

A face mask in the same design is selling for $13.25

Some youngsters have even started posing with the ironic merchandise on their TikTok accounts amid a backlash against 'girlboss feminism'

Some youngsters have even started posing with the ironic merchandise on their TikTok accounts amid a backlash against 'girlboss feminism'.

Girlboss feminism was a term coined in the mid-2000s to describe many prominent female businesswoman, including Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and The Wing founder Audrey Gelman.

In recent months, both of those women's reputations have come under fire after their companies were criticized for their moral dubiousness.

Earlier this week, Vox published an article titled 'The Death of The Girlboss', which stated: 'The girlboss is one of the cruelest tricks capitalism ever perpetrated....

In the context of girlbosses, putting these women in powerful positions was never going to buck the capitalist and patriarchal system because there was never an intent to change it  just wield it.'

However, interest in and mockery of Holmes predates the recent collapse of girlboss feminism.

Just before Halloween 2019, San Francisco stores reported selling out of black turtlenecks after thousands of women dressing up as Holmes led to a rush on the items.
Bidding for a seat on Blue Origin's New Shephard rocket alongside Jeff Bezos and his brother topped $4.5 million on Thursday as the second phase of the online auction comes to a close.

According to the company's website, the highest bid to ride on the July 20 flight is currently $4.5 million, over a million dollars more than Monday's high bid of $3.2 million.

The identity of the top bidder is not yet known and will not be known until bidding has stopped on June 12, concluding with a live auction.

Bidders need to raise their bid limit by June 10 5PM EST to be a part of the June 12 auction.

The highest bid to ride on the July 20 flight is currently $4.5 million, over a million dollars more than Monday's high bid of $3.2 million

'Ever since I was five years old, I've dreamed of traveling to space,' Bezos (pictured) said in an Instagram post where he announced he would fly to space

A Blue Origin spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Monday it had no further updates to share regarding the number of bidders or where they were from.

DailyMail.com had previously reported there were more than 5,200 bidders from 136 countries.

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos announced on Monday that he and his brother, Mark a former advertising executive and volunteer firefighter, will be on the New Shepard spacecraft when it flies next month, coinciding with the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

'Ever since I was five years old, I've dreamed of traveling to space,' Bezos said on a video announcement posted to his Instagram account.

'On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.'

The other three passengers on the New Shephard flight are Sian Proctor, a community college educator in Arizona, Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missileman from Washington, and Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee.

The six passengers will spend at least 10 minutes floating in zero gravity inside the capsule during the suborbital sightseeing trip.

Washington state-based Blue Origin is largely self funded by Bezos, who has been selling over $1 billion worth of stock in Amazon per year to fund the company

On Monday Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos announced that he and his brother Mark will be on the New Shepard spacecraft when it flies next month

Blue Origin named the New Shepard program after astronaut Alan Shepard, who was the first American to fly into space exactly 60 years ago.

Washington state-based Blue Origin is largely self funded by Bezos, who has been selling over $1 billion worth of stock in Amazon per year to fund the company.

In sending tourists to space, Bezos has beaten Richard Branson and Elon Musk and their firms, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX to the punch.

While Musk is yet to comment on the news, Branson has congratulated Bezos, describing how their two firms are 'opening up access to space.'

He tweeted: ' Many congratulations to @jeffbezos & his brother Mark on announcing spaceflight plans. Jeff started building Blue Origin in 2000, we started building Virgin Galactic in 2004 & now both are opening up access to Space - how extraordinary! Watch this space'

Blue Origin, founded in 2000, touts itself as means to provide cheaper access to space through the use of reusable rockets, specifically the New Shepard that has flown 15 times.

The rockets sole mission is to take tourists to space, who would travel inside a sleek, white capsule atop the vehicle.

The capsule is designed with the iconic Blue Origin feather across the exterior and inside are six reclining seats that mirror those inside a helicopter.

Blue Origins plans are to send tourists 62 miles above Earths surface and spend at least 10 minutes in orbit.

The company also recently conducted its first astronaut rehearsal in preparation for sending the first manned New Shepard into space.

The mock crew traveled the designated path of future spacefaring tourists, which included traveling to the launch pad and climbing up the tower to the passenger capsule.

While celebrities and the uber-rich appear to be a core market for space tourist jaunts, at least initially, industry sources expect Blue Origin to include some philanthropic component to its ticket strategy.

The idea of sending paying customers to the edge of space was once only a plot in science fiction films, but many companies other than Blue Origin are turning the epic journey into a reality.

A college science professor and an aerospace data analyst are among a four-member crew for a launch into orbit planned later this year by Elon Musk's SpaceX, part of a charity drive billed as the first all-civilian spaceflight in history.

Virgin Galactic also aims to fly private customers in early 2022, after a first flight with Branson on board later this year.

Its zero-gravity experience is anchored by its SpaceShipTwo plane, and the company has ambitious plans to offer point-to-point travel between far-flung cities at near-space altitudes.

Virgin says it will charge more than $250,000 for new reservations but has not announced final pricing. Sales will reopen following Branson's flight.
Aiia Maasarwe, 21, (pictured) was on her way home in Melbourne in January 2019 when she was raped and murdered by Codey Herrmann after getting off a tram in Bundoora

The man who raped and murdered international student Aiia Maasarwe in Melbourne will learn if his nearly four-decade long prison sentence will be extended.

Prosecutors appealed the 36-year jail term handed to Codey Herrmann for Ms Maasarwe's horrific rape and murder, arguing it was too lenient for his crimes.

Herrmann knocked the 21-year-old unconscious with a metal pole, sexually assaulted her and set fire to her.

He was ordered to serve at least 30 years of that sentence before he is eligible for parole.

But Victoria's top prosecutor Kerri Judd QC said Herrmann should have received a maximum life sentence.

'This was a vicious, callous and intentional killing of an unsuspecting young woman who was the unfortunate and random victim of primitive male rage,' Ms Judd told a bench of five Victorian Supreme Court Justices.

Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth's sentence put too much weight on Herrmann's traumatic and disadvantaged background and not enough on protection of the community, she argued.

The appeal judges are due to hand down their decision in the case on Friday afternoon.

Ms Maasarwe had come to Australia in August 2018 on a one-year exchange program with La Trobe University in Bundoora.

She was on her way home from a night out, on a call to one of her siblings in Israel, when Herrmann attacked her.

Herrmann was homeless at the time. He had a history of substance abuse and a severe personality disorder

'I didn't expect you to pick up,' was all Ms Maasarwe managed to say before the phone fell to the ground.

Her last words to her attacker were: 'you piece of s***' in Arabic.

Herrmann was homeless at the time. He had a history of substance abuse and a severe personality disorder.

A forensic psychiatrist said the trauma, abuse, neglect and deprivation the young Indigenous man had experienced was so extreme the damage was done by the time he was just two.

His lawyer Tim Marsh said the sentence was stern and his prospects for rehabilitation weren't extinguished, meaning it's impossible to say if he'll always be a danger to the community.
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The end of lockdown curbs may be delayed by as much as four weeks even though ministers are set to win their race to double-jab millions in time for 'Freedom Day'.

Figures released yesterday showed the Government is on course to hit its target to have offered a second coronavirus vaccine dose to all over-50s by June 21.

Just hours later, however, it emerged that supplies of the Pfizer vaccine will reduce throughout June.

Furthermore, the Mail understands that ministers are still considering keeping some curbs in place for a further two to four weeks amid mounting concern about the spread of the Indian variant.

While an exception is likely to be made for weddings, ministers have become increasingly pessimistic over the course of the week and are now moving closer to a delayed freedom day that could coincide with the start of the school summer holidays.

The Pfizer setback comes as a particular blow, as it makes the prospect of speeding up the vaccine roll-out to meet demand much more difficult.

Figures released yesterday showed the Government is on course to hit its target to have offered a second coronavirus vaccine dose to all over-50s by June 21 - but a setback followed just hours later

MSP Humza Yousaf told Matt Hancock in a letter that supplies of the jab are to be 'particularly tight over the next few weeks', not just in Scotland but across the UK, according to the i newspaper.

Mr Yousaf's fears are the result of the updated advice published the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation last month, which said that under-40s should be given Pfizer or Moderna jabs rather than the AstraZeneca equivalent due to concerns over a small risk of blood clots in younger patients.

And with thousands of under-30s now receiving jabs after the vaccine roll-out picked up pace, demand for doses of Pfizer has now soared beyond supply levels.

Yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed that the Indian variant now comprises 91 per cent of new infections.

Figures showed Covid-19 case rates have increased across every region in England in the past week. But hospital admissions have only increased fractionally  while deaths are up by just 1.9 per cent on the previous week.

NHS bosses have said vaccines appear to have broken the link between rising cases and hospitalisations. Those that are admitted are often younger and less sick than during previous waves.

According to NHS data published yesterday, more than 85 per cent over-50s in England  considered the age group most at risk  have now had two vaccine doses.

If the NHS in England continues to give doses to 1.3million over-50s a week, everyone in that age bracket should be fully vaccinated by the time all remaining covid curbs are due to ease.

Among younger age groups, 35.5 per cent of those aged 40 to 49 are now estimated to have had both doses, along with 22.6 per cent of those aged 30 to 39.

The number of people falling ill with Covid has more than doubled in a week, a symptom-tracking study warned today amid the rapid spread of the Indian variant across the UK

Yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed that the Indian variant now comprises 91 per cent of new infections

Boris Johnson is expected to decide whether England can go ahead with the full re-opening on June 21 at a meeting in Downing Street on Sunday evening, following the conclusion of the G7 summit in Cornwall.

Then, after flying to Brussels on Monday morning to attend a Nato summit, he will return to London in the evening to address the nation.

The Government is planning to lift the 30-person limit on weddings, Whitehall sources confirmed last night.

But they insisted the Prime Minister is still undecided about the wider lifting of measures including social distancing rules and work-from-home advice.

Yesterday, the UK recorded 7,393 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths within 28 days of a positive test. Infections have risen 63 per cent in the past seven days compared to the week before.

But the number of hospital admissions has remained steady and the average number of deaths each day has stayed below ten.

Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the newly-created UK Health Security Agency, said the country was going 'not quite in the right direction' and data suggested there would be a further rise in infections in the coming weeks.

But the health chief said the figures suggested that those aged 60 and above are not getting ill because they are 'doubly vaccinated'.

She added that those appearing in hospital are either unvaccinated or have had a single dose.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: 'The point of the five-week gap between the steps [in the roadmap] is for us to analyse the data. That's exactly what we've been doing, and we will continue to do so ahead of saying something early next week.'
Prince Harry has described an attack on a de-mining camp in Afghanistan which left 10 people dead as an 'act of barbarism'.

The attack in the nation's northern Baghlan province on the workers for the Halo Trust, a British charity supported by Harry, wounded 16 other people.

It was carried out by masked gunmen from an unknown armed group who went 'bed-to-bed' killing at around 10pm local time on Tuesday.

An affiliate of Islamic State has claimed it was behind the incident.

The Halo Trust was supported by Diana, Princess of Wales, and has had a close affiliation with the Duke of Sussex.

The Duke of Sussex has urged the charity's supporters to 'rally to their cause and help in any way' in a statement issued on Thursday evening.

He said: 'In all, 26 members of The Halo Trust's Afghanistan team were killed or injured on Tuesday night in what was nothing less than an act of barbarism.

The Duke of Sussex (L) walking through a minefield to see the work of landmine clearance charity the Halo Trust, in Dirico, Angola, 27 September 2019, and his mother, Princess Diana (R), visiting the minefields in the high plateaux near Huambo, Angola, 15 January 1997

The workers for the Halo Trust were killed in an attack on their camp in the north of the country, with the insurgents going from 'bed-to-bed' killing ten and wounding another 16. Pictured: Wounded people receive treatments at a hospital following the attack

'I honour those who have been lost and encourage support for the survivors and the families of those affected. Those who work for Halo in Afghanistan face risks every day to remove the lasting- and still deadly -scars of war and conflict.

'The men who were attacked come from the very communities in which they work. They joined Halo to protect and restore their country and their homes.

'As I understand it, the deminers who lost their lives were also protecting their friends. These workers put their lives on the line every day to make the world a safer place.

'This brutal act reminds us that we must stand in solidarity with humanitarian aid workers and the communities they serve.'

During a visit to Africa in 2019, Harry retraced the steps of his mother, who walked through a partially-cleared Angolan minefield in 1997 to highlight the trust's efforts and the threat of the military munitions.

The duke observed Halo's work while donning body armour and a face mask in Dirico, southern Angola.

Violence has sharply increased across Afghanistan since the United States announced plans in April to pull out all of its troops by Sept. 11.

Taliban insurgents are fighting government troops in 26 out of 34 provinces, government officials say, with the government and the Taliban in a deadlock over peace talks between the two opposing forces.

Masked insurgents have shot dead 10 Afghans working for a mine-clearing charity the Halo Trust - championed by Prince Harry and his mother Princess Diana. Pictured: The coffins of the victims in Tuesday's attack are placed on the ground at a hospital in northern Baghlan province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Pictured: An Afghan worker of Halo Trust, working on a land mine clearance project, is shifted to an ambulance to be transferred to capital Kabul for medical treatment after militants stormed their camp, in Baghlan, Afghanistan, June 9 2021

The attack came at around 10pm local time on Tuesday in Baghlan province (pictured on map), where fighting has been heavy in recent weeks

The UK-American charity has been working in Afghanistan since 1988 to clear mines and munitions that have been left behind in more than 42 years of conflicts.

The trust, which has offices in Dumfries, Wilton and Washington DC, confirmed that 10 Afghan staff were shot dead with a further 16 being wounded.

Former British Army major general James Cowan, who runs the charity, said the trust would continue its work despite the attack - the worst in its history.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme he said the militants had gone 'bed-to-bed, murdering in cold blood my staff'.

'Ten of my people were killed and 16 were badly wounded. My thoughts are obviously very much with the families and the loved ones of the bereaved and wounded,' he added when speaking to The Daily Telegraph.

'This is a horrific incident, the worst in the Halo Trust's history. It's very sad, but we are here for Afghanistan. We were in Afghanistan many years before 9/11 and we will be here many years after the international withdrawal.'

Provincial police spokesman Jawed Basharat also confirmed workers were with the Halo Trust, which is the largest demining organisation in Afghanistan.

'The Taliban brought them into one room and opened fire on them,' Basharat said.

The workers had reportedly spent the day in the fields clearing mines.

The Afghan government was quick to blame the Taliban for the attack in a region that has seen near-daily battles between the group and government forces.

A Taliban spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment from Reuters news agency, but the group later denied involvement on Twitter.

'We condemn attacks on the defenceless and view it as brutality,' Zabiullah Mujahid said on Twitter. 'We have normal relations with NGOs, our Mujahideen will never carry out such brutal acts.'

Mr Cowan said that he was not going to speculate on who was responsible, but noted the Taliban's denial, saying that a local band of the group came to the aid of the trust's workers.

'I think it's important to know that the Taliban have denied responsibility for this, and indeed the local Taliban group came to our aid and scared the assailants off,' he said.

'We don't know who the assailants were - we could speculate about, that but I won't - but I think we have the capacity as the Halo Trust to operate on both sides of the line in this awful conflict,' he added on the Today programme.

The brutal shootings also came to the attention of the United Nations who condemned the 'heinous attack'.

Ramiz Alakbarov, the secretary general's special representative, said: 'It is repugnant that an organisation that works to clear landmines and other explosives and better the lives of vulnerable people could be targeted.'

Violence has sharply increased across Afghanistan since the United States announced plans in April to pull out all of its troops by September 11. Pictured: Afghan special force commando unit officers and soldiers attend a graduation ceremony at the military academy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 31, 2021

Taliban insurgents are fighting government troops in 26 out of 34 provinces, government officials say. Pictured: Afghan security officials present arrested members of the Taliban, on the outskirt area of Ghazni, Afghanistan, 29 May 2021

A clip shared by local police with the BBC was reported to show a survivor of the attack saying that the gunman were asking workers if any of them were from the Hazara minority community before opening fire.

'Five to six armed men came, they took us to a room,' he said. 'First they took all our money and mobile phones, and then they asked who our leader was. They asked, 'Is any Hazara here among you?' We told them, 'We don't have any Hazara here.''

He said that he was shot in the head but survived, and was able to escape through a window.

Hazaras are Afghanistan's third largest ethic group and have long-faced discrimination and persecution, primarily because of the Shia faith.

Both Islamic State and the Taliban had kidnapped and killed Hazaras in recent years.

After decades of conflict, Afghanistan is strewn with mines and unexploded ordnance and agencies have been working to clear them in the years since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

De-mining organisations have made great strides in removing mines over the past forty years, but there are still parts of the country where the work is dangerous.

Pictured: Prince Harry walks through a minefield in Dirico, Angola, during a visit to see the work of landmine clearance charity the Halo Trust in 2019

In addition to the threat posed by mines, workers are also regularly kidnapped or threatened in local disputes by insurgents or local criminals.

The Halo Trust was greatly supported by Princess Diana, with it gaining attention when the Princess of Wales visited a minefield in Angola shortly before her death.

A photo of the princess visiting the minefield remains to this day one of the most famous and recognizable images of her.

Her son - Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex - took up the mantle and continued to work with the charity, himself visiting a site in Angola in 2019. He also undertook two tours of Afghanistan during his ten years in the army.

Meanwhile, a minivan carrying civilian passengers in north-west Afghanistan was been hit by a roadside bomb, leaving at least 11 passengers dead, including three children, an Afghan official said.

The minivan fell into a valley due to the explosion, said Badghis provincial governor Hesamuddin Shams.

He added that rescuers were still searching for bodies in the valley.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion but the provincial government accused the Taliban of placing the bomb to target security forces.
Eric Adams, one of the frontrunners in the race to become NYC's next mayor, has whipped out his EZ pass to prove he is not living in New Jersey secretly, a claim his critics launched this week as he gained more attention in the race.

Adams, a 22-year NYPD veteran and the current Brooklyn Borough President, was accused of secretly living in New Jersey but campaigning to become the next Mayor of New York City earlier this week.

He denied it and took reporters on a tour of his home in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, to prove that it is where he lives. He even let them look in the fridge.

He lives in the basement and rents out the floors above to pay for his son's college fees.

He does still own a home in New Jersey, in the town of Fort Lee. But he says it is not his primary residence.

'How foolish would someone have to be to run to be the mayor of the City of New York and live in another municipality?' Adams asked.

On Thursday, he gave his EZ pass records to The New York Post to back up his claim.

It showed he only traveled between New York City and NJ 11 times in his government car between May 2020 and May 2021.

There were five trips across the George Washington Bridge, four on the New Jersey Turnpike, and two through the Lincoln Tunnel.

Eric Adams, hoping to replace Bill de Blasio as the mayor of New York City, on Wednesday invited reporters to tour his basement home in Brooklyn, in a bid to prove that he actually lived in the city - rather than in New Jersey

Adams' home is seen on Lafayette Street in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. He lives in the basement and rents out the other two floors, he said, to fund his son's college education

The president of the borough of Brooklyn staged a press conference, beside his son, Jordan, 25, to insist that he did live in the property

Joined by his 25-year-old son, Jordan, outside the red-brick building, Adams, a former NYPD captain, tried to explain that he liked to keep his home private.

He said the feeling began when his son was a baby, and the back windows of Adams' car were shot at.

'Throughout my entire police career, none of my colleagues knew I had a son,' Adams said.

'I wanted to shield him from the reality of what I was doing. I became very private.'

His spokesman, Evan Thies, said Adams has lived on Lafayette Avenue in Bed-Stuy for nearly a decade, and gave several utility bills.

Adams is registered to vote on the first floor, yet a tenant who has lived there for years is listed under the same unit in multiple documents obtained by Politico.

And last month, the publication City Limits reported that most of Adams' neighbors did not know he lived on their block, or that he is running for mayor.

Yet Politico, which monitored Adams as he came and went, found that he was frequently arriving in the Brooklyn Borough Hall offices after midnight, and leaving first thing in the morning.

He insisted it was to work.

Adams' spokesman said that he has lived there for over a decade. Yet Adams was registered to vote until this year at yet another address, in Prospect Heights. His team say that was an administrative error, and the Bed-Stuy address is his main home

Adams is pictured speaking outside the home in Brooklyn. His spokesman insists he has lived there for a decade

The site reported that he also purchased a co-op in Prospect Heights with someone in 1992, and continues to list that property on official records, even though he says he hasn't lived there in almost 10 years.

He included that address on registration forms for his current mayoral and 2017 borough president campaigns, though his staff also added his Bed-Stuy property to the 2021 campaign form.

His spokesman said he has sold share of the Prospect Heights place.

They also noted that his Zoom calls have been from multiple different places, including his car and a nondescript cubicle.

Adams' Democrat rivals have seized on the questions.

Adams owns a condo in this Fort Lee building with his partner, Tracey Collins, an educator

Ray McGuire, another mayoral candidate and a former executive at Citigroup, said on Wednesday morning that Adams had serious questions to answer.

'You cannot simply have a cloud over the leadership of this city having to do with whether the rules of engagement have been followed,' McGuire told The New York Daily News.

'Nobody gets a pass in this city. Nobody should get a pass.'

Another rival, Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, said in a statement that it appeared Adams was 'misusing his political office at the taxpayers' expense.'

Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor de Blasio, called the story 'straight-up bizarre.'

And Andrew Yang, the former White House hopeful, said in a news conference in Queens that Adams 'probably lives in New Jersey.'

He called on Adams to release E-Z Pass records from his vehicle, proving how frequently he traveled to New Jersey.

Adams said he saw his girlfriend, Collins, on Saturday, but that it was the first time he spent time with her in over two months.

She lives in Fort Lee and maintains a low profile.

The primary will be held on June 22, and will in effect decide the election in the strongly-Democratic city. The election will be held on November 2.
Matt Hancock hit back at Dominic Cummings yesterday as he insisted he had not lied to the Prime Minister and was not to blame for the deaths of thousands of care home residents.

Appearing before MPs for more than four hours, the Health Secretary blamed scientists for many of the mistakes that were made during the coronavirus pandemic.

He defended the timing of the first lockdown, saying that taking action earlier than March 23 last year would have gone against the scientific advice at the time.

And he claimed no one had died as a result of shortages in personal protective equipment.

Mr Hancock also revealed that at the start of the crisis, he was told that as many as 820,000 people could die from the disease.

And he demanded a thorough investigation into whether the virus had actually escaped from a Chinese laboratory.

Mr Hancock appeared before a joint meeting of the Commons science and health committees, two weeks after Mr Cummings told the same hearing that the Health Secretary could have been sacked on 15-20 occasions.

Mr Hancock appeared before a joint meeting of the Commons science and health committees, two weeks after Mr Cummings told the same hearing that the Health Secretary could have been sacked on 15-20 occasions

The Prime Ministers former special adviser accused the Health Secretary of repeatedly lying about PPE shortages and care home testing.

Mr Hancock denied lying to Mr Johnson, telling MPs he has always been driven by an approach of honesty and integrity.

Asked by committee chairman Greg Clark if he ever said anything to the Prime Minister he knew was untrue, Mr Hancock replied: No.

He said he has always answered questions both in public and in private to the best of my ability.

Asked why a lockdown was not implemented earlier, Mr Hancock said: The clear advice at the time was there was only a limited period that people would put up with lockdown.

He said he told the Department of Health and the NHS to plan based on a reasonable worst-case scenario in January 2020, signed off at Cobra on January 31, for 820,000 deaths based on Spanish flu estimates.

He said he was determined that that would not happen on my watch and so throughout February, we were planning for how to stop that, and how to deal with the consequences if it came true.

Appearing before MPs for more than four hours, the Health Secretary blamed scientists for many of the mistakes that were made during the coronavirus pandemic

Mr Hancock hit back at Mr Cummingss claims that he told the Prime Minister categorically in March that people will be tested before they went back to care homes.

He told MPs: We set out a policy that people would be tested when tests were available, then I set about building the testing capacity for us to be able to deliver on that.

After his appearance, Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK said Mr Hancock blames everyone but himself and the Government for the handling of the pandemic.

And Labours care spokesman Liz Kendall accused Mr Hancock of selectively quoting clinical advice instead of admitting his abject failure to protect care homes.

He has now used multiple excuses for failing to test those discharged to care, she said.

Psychologist Stephen Reicher also hit out at the Health Secretary for blaming scientists. If this were a proper inquiry, Hancock would be guilty of perjury, he said.

Swipe at Cummings

The Government is operating better since Dominic Cummingss departure from No 10 last December, Mr Hancock said.

He also said he had no idea why the Prime Ministers former aide had taken against him.

Asked if he knew if the ex-aide wanted him to be fired, Mr Hancock told MPs: Yes, because he briefed the newspapers at the time.

'Or somebody briefed the newspapers, I now have a better idea who that was.

Mr Hancock said it was telling that Mr Cummings had not produced any evidence to back up his claims against the Health Secretary last month.

Lab escape theory

There needs to be a full inquiry into how the outbreak started in China, the Health Secretary said.

Mr Hancock said he did not know whether theories that it originated from a Wuhan laboratory leak were correct. He told MPs: We do need to get to the bottom of this.

No need to close borders

Mr Hancock said that as the virus began to spread in China, he had pushed for a ban on flights from the whole country  but the scientific advice at the time was that only a ban on flights from Wuhan were needed.

But the Health Secretary claimed that putting up unilateral border controls at the start of the crisis would have made very little difference because such moves only work if all countries agree to close their borders.

The US and Italy imposed restrictions on their borders but it held up the rise in cases by only about a week, he said.

Mr Hancock said China should have done more last year to stop people leaving the country after the virus was first spotted there.

Care homes debacle

While the Health Secretary had always claimed the Government had thrown a protective ring around care homes, he said yesterday he had only tried to do that.

He told MPs that so many patients had been discharged from hospitals into care homes in March because the Government was eager to avoid the type of hospital chaos that was being seen in northern Italy at the time.

Asked why a lockdown was not implemented earlier, Mr Hancock said: The clear advice at the time was there was only a limited period that people would put up with lockdown'

There was also inadequate testing capacity, he admitted, which meant that weekly testing of care home staff did not start until July.

He said the best estimate from Public Health England is that 1.6 per cent of the transmission into care homes came from hospital discharges.

But Greg Clark, chairman of the science committee, rejected that as a stretch of the imagination.

Blaming the experts

Scientists and advisers were scapegoated by Mr Hancock as he defended some of his key decisions on care homes and lockdowns.

The Health Secretary said that he had been given clinical advice that routinely testing hospital patients before they were discharged into care homes would provide false negatives.

He appeared to blame scientists on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies over the delay in lockdown in March last year.

He said: Critically, the clear advice at the time was that theres only a limited period that people would put up with it, would put up with lockdown... Now that proved actually to be wrong.

No shortage of PPE

More than 850 healthcare workers are thought to have died from the virus but Mr Hancock claimed there was no evidence that any died from a shortage of PPE.

He said there was never a national shortage of PPE, although sourcing it was a huge challenge.

PPE provision was tight, and it was difficult, and it was difficult throughout the world, but we did manage  it was pretty close sometimes  but we did manage to ensure that there was... at a national level, we had the PPE and then distribution was a challenge to all areas.

Asked why nurses were having to wear bin bags, he replied: I have acknowledged throughout there were individual challenges at getting hold of PPE, but at a national level there was never a point where we ran out.

His testing goal

The 100,000-a-day testing target was staunchly defended by Mr Hancock after Dominic Cummings had described it as criminal.

He said: The purpose was to galvanise the system. It worked.

The Prime Minister was absolutely four-square behind me and gave me his full, whole-hearted support. Mr Cummings told MPs last month that the testing target was criminal, disgraceful behaviour that caused serious harm because it dominated the Governments response. He also alleged that to reach the 100,000 figure, Mr Hancock told people to hold tests back so I can hit my target.

Taking credit for jabs

The Health Secretary told MPs how in January 2020 he had ordered a push to develop a vaccine as rapidly as possible.

He also told the committee that it was his decision to increase the UKs purchase of the AstraZeneca jab.

The advice was to buy 30million doses, he said. I said that we needed to make sure that we had enough to protect the whole adult population even if other vaccines came off. So I decided we needed 100million then got agreement on that.

I was determined that we would have UK manufacture with a UK provider and, critically, that we made sure we had an exclusive contract to those critical early doses.
The wife of a jogger who was shot in the wealthy Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead has claimed residents are fleeing the area 'because they feel unsafe' amid growing calls for the community to secede from the city and get its own police force.

Andrew Worrell was walking in the wealthy neighborhood around 8:35 a.m. on Saturday when he was shot twice, though he survived and has since been released from the hospital.

His wife Anne Worrell appeared on Fox News on Thursday where she claimed that Buckhead residents are fleeing the area because of a surge in crime amid calls in Atlanta to defund the police.

'Over the last 12 to 18 months it has just gotten worse and worse, and as you talk to other people that we know in the area, we just felt it creeping closer and closer into our neighborhood. So it has been felt by everybody here,' Anne Worrell said.

The wife of a jogger who was shot in the wealthy Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead has claimed residents are fleeing the area 'because they feel unsafe'

Anne Worrell appeared on Fox News on Thursday where she claimed that Buckhead residents are fleeing the area because of a surge in crime amid calls in Atlanta to defund the police

Andrew Wornell is pictured with a walker after having returned home from the hospital

Anne Worrell, the wife of a jogger who was shot in Buckhead, posted a selfie of herself with her husband in the hospital after he was shot

'So it has been felt by everybody here.

'One of the things we saw over the last summer and we have continued to see is when our youth don't have anything to do, when they are not in school full-time, when they don't have the resources available to them to do something else, they find something else to do...The system is broken.'

Worrell hailed the cops called to the scene, saying they were quick to arrive and sympathetic. She also repeated previous claims that the man accused of shooting her husband - 22 year-old Gaelen Newsom - was suffering from severe mental health issues at the time.

Asked for suggestions on how she'd fix the issue, Worrell said: 'I don't have the answers, but there are people in place who are supposed to be making changes and action needs to be taken.

'If it's not working, let's fix it. Let's get together focus groups or restructure the system. But what is happening now is not working and people are moving because they are not safe.'

Some residents are even too scared to pump their gas out of fear of becoming a victim of a crime, Fox News reported.

Bill White, the CEO and chairman of a separatist group called the Buckhead City Committee, told the outlet that the group will start demanding emergency hearings in a bid to separate from Atlanta.

'Given everything that's been going on here, it's getting worse and worse and worse,' White told Fox News.

'So what we're doing because of the murders going through the roof and the attempted murders, and the lack of leadership and nothing changing  the insanity continues  is we're demanding emergency hearings on our cityhood bills.'

Andrew Worrell, a father-of-three, was out jogging on Saturday morning in Buckhead when a 'mentally ill' man shot him. Police said the suspect had also opened fire on two other people and mowed down a neighbor with his car.

Cops arrested and charged Gaelen Newsom, 22, with attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime in connection with the weekend crime spree.

The first shooting was in the 1200 block of West Wesley Road in Buckhead, Atlanta's richest section, which has been making a push to form its own police force and secede from the rest of the city amid skyrocketing crime rates.

Data analysis shows that Buckhead's population accounts for 20 per cent of Atlanta's population, but more than 40 per cent of the city's assessed property value.

Gaelen Newsome, 22 (left) is accused of shooting jogger Andrew Worrell, 41, twice in the leg and hip during a Saturday crime spree in Atlanta

Worrell was a mile into his regular 3-mile run on West Wesley Road in Buckhead, Atlanta, on Saturday when a silver sedan drove up to him, and a man pointed a gun at him and fired

Buckhead is Atlanta's wealthiest neighborhood, where residents have been making a push to secede from the rest of the city amid skyrocketing crime rates

Anne Worrell said her husband was out for his regular 3-mile morning run when she got a call at 8.40am from a stranger saying her spouse had been shot.

In a Facebook post from Saturday afternoon, Anne revealed that her husband was about a mile into his run when a car approached him.

'He thought they may be asking for directions so he stopped,' recounted the wife. 'The very tinted window rolled down and the guy pointed a gun at him and shot him, hit him in the upper thigh.

'Andrew turned to run and the guy shot him again, this one entering his left hip, hitting his ball and socket before traveling horizontally through this lower abdomen and lodging itself in his right hip area.

Andrew, pictured above with his wife and three children, suffered gunshot wounds to his leg and hip. Good Samaritans stopped the bleeding and alerted his wife

Anne wrote in an update that Andrew underwent surgery and was expected to be released from the hospital on Monday

'The guy shot again but missed him as Andrew dove behind a tree. The guy fled. Andrew called 911 and flagged down a couple wonderful people who called me and took off their shirt and tried to stop the bleeding. They stayed with him until police, fire and paramedics arrived.'

BUCKHEAD, GEORGIA: ONE OF THE NATION'S WEALTHIEST ZIP CODES Buckhead is known as Atlanta's commercial and residential district, famed for its high-rise buildings and shopping centers, hotels and mansions. The neighborhood is a historically wealthy district and was once ranked the ninth richest zip code in the country with a median price of homes of $1,460,595, according to Forbes. American suburban luxury home in Buckhead, Atlanta Bloomberg named Buckhead the 20th richest zipcode in the nation in 2011, when the average household net worth there was $1,353,189. The average household income was $280,631. Because of this, Buckhead is often called the 'Beverly Hills of the East/South', in reference to the upscale city in California. Buckhead is also known to have a few notable residents, including Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler. Loeffler was among the wealthiest members of Congress until she lost her seat in January. In 2009, she and her husband spent more than $10million on a European-style mansion named Descante in the Buckhead neighborhood. Advertisement

First responders found Andrew suffering from gunshot wounds to his leg and hip. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he underwent surgery and remained hospitalized as of Sunday night.

His wife wrote in a Facebook update on Sunday that her husband was on IV antibiotics to avoid getting an infection from the bullets. She said he could be discharged as early as Monday.

Meanwhile, as Andrew Worrell was being taken to the hospital on Saturday morning, police received calls that two more joggers in the area had been targeted by gunfire, though neither was hit, Deputy Atlanta Police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. told news outlets. Witnesses said the shots came from a passing silver sedan.

Police found a Kia Forte that matched that description about three hours later, at 11.30am, when the car's driver ran into a man taking out the trash at the Collier Ridge Apartments complex at 1714 Noble Creek Drive.

Atlanta police said the victim, described as a man in his 20s, was seriously injured, having been pinned between the sedan and an unoccupied pickup truck. He was rushed the same hospital as Worrell for surgery.

Police arrested the driver of the car, identified as Gaelen Newsom. Inside the vehicle, they also found shell casings from fired bullets. Hampton said investigators believed the casings will match bullets fired at the joggers.

'We have information that he may have been suffering from some type of mental health crisis,' Hampton said of Newsom.

Buckhead has seen several high-profile instances of violence in recent months, including the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl in December.

The sharp increase in crime rates has prompted Buckhead's residents to form the Buckhead Exploratory Committee to create its own police force and look into the possibility of breaking away from Atlanta, after around 200 officers left the city's police force in the wake of the shooting death of black man Rayshard Brooks by a white cop in June 2020.

'Our residents are genuinely concerned for their safety and the safety of their family members,' members of the committee told the Wall Street Journal in March.

City officials have opposed the idea to separate the wealthy, largely white neighborhood from the rest of Atlanta, which is predominantly black, arguing it would siphon away much of the city's tax base and, in turn, its budget.

According to data analysis done by Atlanta Journal Constitution in April, if Buckhead were to secede, it would remove 41 per cent, or $14billion, of the assessed value of Atlanta's property, and eviscerate its budget.

Buckhead's population is 73.5 per cent white and 23.9 per cent black. This compares to the wider Atlanta population which is 50.7 per cent black and 38 per cent white, according to Data US.

Homicides were up 63 percent across Atlanta in the period running January 1 to May 23 compared to the same period last year, crime data show.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms admitted in December she doesn't know how to stop the alarming wave of violence and is 'open to suggestions.'

Homicides were up 63 percent across Atlanta in the period running January 1 to May 23 compared to the same period last year, rape rates skyrocketed 108 per cent, shooting incidents rose 45 per cent, robberies inched up 2 per cent and aggravated assaults jumped 29 per cent

Back in December, seven-year-old Kennedy Maxie (pictured) was fatally shot in the back of the head while riding in a car with her aunt and mother in Buckhead

Rayshard Brooks (pictured) was shot dead in the drive-thru lane of an Atlanta Wendy's by a white cop back on June 12

Rape rates skyrocketed 108 per cent, shooting incidents rose 45 per cent, robberies inched up 2 per cent and aggravated assaults jumped 29 per cent.

In terms of raw data, Atlanta had 57 murders, 302 shootings, 75 rapes, 298 robberies and 986 aggravated assaults.

Adjusting for population, a person living in Atlanta is more likely to be a victim of a serious crime, including murder and aggravated assault, than in Chicago, where crime rates are higher, reported 11Alive.
Britain will donate 100million vaccine doses to countries in need within the next year, Boris Johnson said last night.

In a grand international gesture, the Prime Minister will use the summit to drive forward plans to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022.

Under his plans, the UK will start donating vaccines within weeks, providing five million doses to countries in need by the end of September.

Around 25million more jabs will be distributed by the end of the year and the remainder will follow in 2022.

Eighty per cent of the 100million doses will go to the Covax initiative, which is distributing vaccines to poorer nations. The remainder will be shared bilaterally with countries in need.

The donation  thought to be worth roughly 1billion  will come as extra spending on top of the 10billion committed to the new foreign aid target of 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product.

Britain will donate 100million vaccine doses to countries in need within the next year, Boris Johnson said last night

Last night, the Prime Minister said: Since the start of this pandemic the UK has led the way in efforts to protect humanity against this deadly disease.

Over a year ago we funded the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on the basis it would be distributed at cost to the world. This unprecedented model, which puts people squarely above profit, means over half a billion doses have been administered in 160 countries so far.

He added: As a result of the success of the UKs vaccine programme we are now in a position to share some of our surplus doses with those who need them.

In doing so we will take a massive step towards beating this pandemic for good.

Mr Johnson said he hoped that other G7 leaders would make similar pledges so that together, we can vaccinate the world by the end of next year and build back better from coronavirus.

By sharing vaccines in the coming weeks, the UK will meet an immediate demand from countries worst affected by the pandemic, No 10 said. However, this is not expected to delay completion of the domestic rollout  with all adults in the UK likely to be offered a first vaccine dose by the end of July.

Officials hope that vaccinating people around the world will save lives, reduce the spread of the virus and restrict the emergence of new variants which could potentially be more dangerous than existing coronavirus strains.

Under his plans, the UK will start donating vaccines within weeks, providing five million doses to countries in need by the end of September, with 25m doses donated by the end of the year (pictured: a student is given a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a vaccination centre in London)

And it comes after the UK went back on a commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid.

The new target, which has been cut to 0.5 per cent, was brought about as the Government struggles to fill the black hole in the nations finances. But the donation of vaccines will count as extra aid spending on top of the 10billion already promised under the reduced target.

Baroness Liz Sugg, who quit as a Foreign Office minister in protest at the cuts, said the vaccine pledge was a very welcome first step.

But she added: Low-income countries will need many more vaccines this year in order to help end the pandemic and prevent variants developing that may threaten progress against the pandemic here in the UK.

She continued: Its crucial that the Government cover the actual cost of these vaccines and dont just transfer their surplus orders to low-income countries.

In total, global leaders are expected to pledge at least one billion vaccine doses to the world and expand manufacturing to reach the goal. Joe Biden has already promised to donate half a billion Pfizer vaccines.

Mr Johnson is also expected to ask world leaders to encourage pharmaceutical giants to adopt the Oxford/AstraZeneca model of providing jabs at cost price.

Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have already pledged to share 1.3billion doses with low and middle-income countries on a non-profit basis.
As famous for its laid-back, bohemian vibe as its golden beaches and turquoise waters, it is easy to understand why twins Georgia and Melissa Laurie gravitated towards Puerto Escondido, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, during their backpacking adventure.

The biggest draw of the idyllic fishing town, however, is its proximity to the Manialtepec lagoon, ten miles to the north, where millions of tiny plankton emit ultraviolet light, lending the lagoon an ethereal glow at night.

It was here that 28-year-old Georgia and Melissa travelled on Sunday, and their once-in-a-lifetime trip turned into a nightmare, when Melissa was attacked by a crocodile, which her twin literally fought off with her bare hands.

And it was near here, at a $19 (13) hostel, that the Daily Mail tracked down heroic Georgia this week.

Standing by the pool, surrounded by young  mostly European  people, only the bandage on her hand marked her out as the brave young woman who'd fought for her twin sister's life.

Having reportedly booked a tour of the lagoon at their hostel  with a guide it has now emerged was not licensed  the twins ventured into the water, before coming across a crocodile. Within seconds, Melissa (left) was clasped in the jaws of the reptile, which dragged her under water and tried to drown her with a 'death roll'  rolling her over in its jaws

As the crocodile pulled a terrified Melissa underwater, certified guide Gerardo Escamilla Perez heard their desperate cries for help as he was showing another group the lagoon

Back home in Sandhurst, Berkshire, the twins' parents, Sue and Sean, a business consultant, both 63, are still piecing together what happened to their girls.

'Georgia phoned us at four in the morning and she said she had had to assault a crocodile because it had attacked her sister,' Sue said.

Although Melissa had a broken wrist, bites to her stomach and badly injured legs, 'her worst injuries are in her lungs', Sue has said. 'She was half-drowned.'

Melissa then developed sepsis, a potentially fatal condition, at Puerto Escondido's Angel del Mar Hospital.

Yesterday, Georgia, a sales rep for a diving school, revealed Melissa has been taken off life support  and although still unable to speak  is breathing independently.

'She recognised me and knew who I was,' says Georgia. 'She seemed happy to see me.'

What we know of the events of that night is this: having reportedly booked a tour of the lagoon at their hostel  with a guide it has now emerged was not licensed  the twins ventured into the water, before coming across a crocodile.

Within seconds, Melissa was clasped in the jaws of the reptile, which dragged her under water and tried to drown her with a 'death roll'  rolling her over in its jaws.

Determined to come to her sister's aid, Georgia punched the crocodile repeatedly in the head before dragging Melissa away by her hair

Perez left his own tourists in a safe place and waded with his paddle towards the twins to help

Determined to come to her sister's aid, Georgia punched the crocodile repeatedly in the head before dragging Melissa away by her hair. Her hand bitten to the bone, she nonetheless then managed to carry her to safety before both were rushed to hospital.

As for the tour guide who played Russian roulette with their lives? He has been named locally as a Turkish man called Richie who spent a long time living in Germany and is still believed to be in Puerto Escondido.

So how on earth did the twins end up in the jaws of a reptile on what was supposed to be a joyous, but safe, adventure? With the help of eyewitnesses, the Mail can reveal a full account of the fateful tour.

There were 23 tourists in their group, who paid 90p each to travel by van to El Guayacan restaurant on the edge of the lagoon, where the tour started at 4pm on Sunday.

The group split into two boats  Melissa and Georgia were among 13 on a 14-seat vessel called Espatula Rosada  to travel to Puerto Suelos beach to watch the sunset. The plan was to watch before admiring the plankton's glow after dark.

But at 6pm, Moises Salinas, a 16-year-old hired to help out on one of the boats, noticed that the twins had walked away from the rest of the tour group with an Englishman and one of a pair of identical male twins they had befriended.

'They were about 150 metres away and my boss said to me, 'Hey, go and tell them to come back,' ' Salinas says.

'I spoke to one of the twins but she thought they were OK. Everyone had been told about the crocodiles and one of the things I said to her was: 'Don't swim in the river. '

The twins' father insists his daughters were not warned, however. 'The girls asked specifically if it was safe to go swimming and the guide had said it was,' Sean said this week.

Melissa and Georgia were among 13 on a 14-seat vessel called Espatula Rosada  to travel to Puerto Suelos beach to watch the sunset. The plan was to watch before admiring the plankton's glow after dark

Perez recalls seeing 'bite marks, the marks of teeth. Her head was covered in blood. They thought the crocodile was nearby and would attack again'

Elliott Scott, one of the tourists in the group, also told the Independent newspaper that they had been told they'd be safe, that 'we can't swim in the sea, but you could swim in the mangroves'.

But although swimming in some areas of the lagoon is considered safe  is encouraged, indeed, by the area's tour guides  venturing into the river that runs perpendicular to the lagoon, where the group had been taken by the tour guide, is not.

'The sisters and a group of English people were not in an area that tourists normally visit, it's further away from the Manialtepec lagoon and it's an area where we know there is a concentration of crocodiles,' said Guillermo Silva, a civil protection coordinator who is investigating the attack.

'This isn't a tourist area, it's a crocodile nesting area.'

The sisters had swum around 250 metres upriver, further away from the beach where the other tourists were, according to Silva.

As the crocodile pulled a terrified Melissa underwater, certified guide Gerardo Escamilla Perez heard their desperate cries for help as he was showing another group the lagoon.

'We started to hear shouts and noise,' he recalls. 'And we saw that there were people screaming inside the mangroves.'

Perez left his own tourists in a safe place and waded with his paddle towards the twins.

'It's a dangerous area, even more so at this time of year because animals are nesting,' he says. 'I heard them shouting, 'Crocodile, crocodile'.'

Salinas remembers one of the men rushing back 'shouting about a crocodile'. He adds: 'I jumped into the boat and got to where the ladies were. I could hear one of the girls shouting, 'My sister! My sister!' '

Salinas found Melissa being 'cradled' by her sister: 'She was conscious, breathing heavily like she couldn't get enough air.'

Although swimming in some areas of the lagoon is considered safe  is encouraged, indeed, by the area's tour guides  venturing into the river that runs perpendicular to the lagoon, where the group had been taken by the tour guide, is not

Yesterday, Georgia, a sales rep for a diving school, revealed Melissa has been taken off life support  and although still unable to speak  is breathing independently

Perez recalls seeing 'bite marks, the marks of teeth. Her head was covered in blood. They thought the crocodile was nearby and would attack again.'

Georgia insisted on helping Salinas carry Melissa to the tour boat and he called 911.

'People were scared,' says Salinas. 'One man had jumped up into a tree.' Among the group on the boat was a nurse, who helped put Melissa on a chair.

Her head was slumped back and the blood was dripping down to the floor of the boat. No one spoke.

It took 25 minutes for the boat to arrive back at El Guayacan restaurant and an awaiting ambulance.

Luis Stein, coordinator of the Puerto Escondido Red Cross, which took the girls to hospital, says: 'One of the sisters had injuries on her chest, abdomen and hands. She was unconscious when we got to her.

'We put her in the ambulance and my colleagues travelled with them to the hospital.'

Both were placed on intravenous antibiotics and a shocked Georgia given morphine.

As Melissa, who had been coughing up blood and is thought may have suffered a punctured lung, was put into a medical coma, her family faced a desperate struggle to ascertain what was going on.

'The details of this awful ordeal are still not fully known to us,' the twins's older sister, Hana, a wedding photographer from Alton, Surrey, wrote online.

'What is clear, is that Mel's condition is 'delicate' having suffered an open wrist fracture, organ lacerations/internal bleeding and water on her lungs.'

She was described by Hana as 'bruised, has two black eyes and deep cuts to her face, torso and leg'.

The family soon learned that the girls' tour guide had been unlicensed. 'He has been called out locally before, apparently, but that wasn't for my sisters to know,' said Hana. 'They found out the information through their hospital.'

When contacted by the Mail, Jose Antonio Ramirez Garcia, head of the local Protezione Civile, said that a full investigation into the incident was under way.

Local man Javier Santos owns the boat the girls travelled on but wasn't there when the incident happened. 'I am not responsible for this and I hope the twins recover quickly, ' he said.

The guide is by no means the only unlicensed guide in the area, however. 'Normally (unlicensed tour guides) get to know the tourists in the bars and nightclubs, and as they speak perfect English, the tourists prefer to do it with them,' says Perez, who adds that these guides undercut the official guides with cheaper fees.

'If they had stayed in the lagoon, this wouldn't have happened. I don't know why they were there or how they got there. What I know is that the girls were swimming in a place where no one should be swimming. It's dangerous.'

Especially at this time of year, when nesting crocodiles are more 'aggressive', says Silva.

'They were probably attacked by a female crocodile, because this is the rainy season when crocodiles are hatching their eggs. At the place we found remains of a crocodile nest, that's why the civil protection officers believe the crocodile attacked to defend her eggs.'

And this isn't the first time an accident has happened in the area recently. Research by Mexico's Del Mar University found that between 2004 and 2016 there were 24 crocodile attacks along the Oaxaca Pacific Coast. Five resulted in deaths; during the other attacks limbs were ripped off.

In January 2018, four-year-old Jose David Garcia Morales was snatched by a crocodile while walking with his holidaying family along the nearby La Blanca lagoon, and dragged into the water.

Numbers of crocodiles in tourist areas are said to have increased in part because of hurricanes forcing the reptiles out of their natural habitat, and also because building development has forced them out of their protected swamps.

In November 2019, a crocodile attacked local fisherman Amadeo Barrera Munoz, 60, biting his head and arm before he fought free. Last September, a 30-year-old tourist was reportedly bitten on the leg on a hotel beach in Puerto Vallarta. The following month a 130lb crocodile was captured in Bajos de Chila near Puerto Escondido after attacking farm animals.

The pandemic, meanwhile, has led to the closure of Mexican beaches, emboldening crocodiles to venture onto the sand for the first time in decades.

All of which will send chills into the hearts of the parents of backpackers such as Georgia and Melissa, who were by no means inexperienced travellers.

'They have done India and Australia and they are used to travelling,' says Sue. 'They're not used to dealing with crocodiles.'

On their 21st birthday Georgia described Melissa as 'gorgeous, lovely' and 'funny' on Facebook, adding: 'I'm so lucky to have been able to share everything with you.' Now, unfortunately, they have another shared memory.

'They won't forget this,' says Sue, whose husband is thought to be about to fly to Mexico, 'but I would rather it hadn't happened so they wouldn't have anything to forget.'

Additional reporting: Analuna Peralta and Stephanie Condron.
Sen. Tom Cotton claimed he had received hundreds of whistleblower complaints as he grilled Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about the Pentagon's diversity training, which he described as 'anti-American indoctrination.'

He repeatedly cut off America's first Black defense secretary as Austin tried to offer context about anti-racism training in the armed forces during a Senate hearing.

Cotton has been a dogged opponent of the effort, introducing a bill to ban so-called critical race theory from the military.

And he set up a website for whistleblower complaints earlier this month.

During the hearing, he listed some of the examples reported. He said a Marine officer claimed military history teaching had been replaced with lessons on police brutality.

And another said his unity was tasked with reading White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo, which was criticized for putting white Americans on the defensive.

'Mr. Secretary, we're hearing reports of plummeting morale, growing mistrust between the races and sexes, where none existed just six months ago, and unexpected retirements and separations based on these trainings alone,' Cotton said.

Sen. Tom Cotton claimed to have received hundreds of complaints from armed forces personnel complaining about diversity training. 'We're hearing reports of plummeting morale, growing mistrust between the races and sexes, where none existed just six months ago, and unexpected retirements and separations based on these trainings alone,' he said

Cotton repeatedly cut off Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as he tried to answer questions about diversity training, which the senator dismissed as 'anti-American indoctrination'

With Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Cotton launched a whistleblower form for military members to report anything they considered to be far-left training materials last month

CRITICAL RACE THEORY: The divisive concept that portrays racism as the foundation of American institutions The fight over critical race theory in schools has escalated in the United States over the last year. The theory has sparked a fierce nationwide debate in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests around the country over the last year and the introduction of the 1619 Project. The 1619 Project, which was published by the New York Times in 2019 to mark 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived on American shores, reframes American history by 'placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the center of the US narrative'. The debate surrounding critical race theory regards concerns that some children are being indoctrinated into thinking that white people are inherently racist or sexist. Those against critical race theory have argued it reduces people to the categories of 'privileged' or 'oppressed' based on their skin color. Supporters, however, say the theory is vital to eliminating racism because it examines the ways in which race influence American politics, culture and the law. Advertisement

'And again, these are not my words. These are the words of your own troops.'

He then asked for a yes or no on whether the secretary believed the armed forces were a 'racist organization.

'I won't give you a yes-or-no answer on that, senator, because it deserves more than a yes or no, said Austin.

'The military, like any organization, will have its challenges, but I do not believe it is a fundamentally racist organization.'

He was cut off by Cotton who then repeated his demand for a yes-or-no response about where service personnel should be treated differently based on sex or skin color.

'Again, this question deserves more than a yes-or-no answer,' Austin replied.

Pushed, he said: 'I do not believe that, and that is why we have diversity, equity, and inclusion focus in the military.'

Cotton took exception.

'This is not about diversity, this is about a very specific kind of anti-American indoctrination that is seeping into some parts of our military based on the whistleblower complaints we have received,' he said.

Cotton moved on to claim Pentagon reading lists included publications on 'critical race theories' - a way of understanding American history as a history of racism.

He asked whether Austin agreed with a quote from How to be an Antiracist by Ibrahm X. Kendi that the the 'only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.

'I've not read that and I certainly don't agree with what you just said, but I... he said before Cotton tried to interrupt.

'It's always important to have the full context of anything that you're being asked to evaluate,' he continued.

Austin has emphasized the importance of tackling extremism in the armed forces after veterans were among those arrested after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

But he finds himself under attack and on the frontlines of the country's culture wars, targeted by conservatives who see efforts to build a more diverse fighting force as an exercise in 'wokeness'.

Sen. Ted Cruz triggered a viral row when he shared an animated recruitment video telling the story of how Emma Malonelord grew up with two mothers, marched with LQBTQ campaigners before joining the U.S. army.

The advertising campaign shows an animated Corporal Emma Malonelord (pictured) attending a gay rights parade in a video that sparked a row about the future of the American military. Sen. Ted Cruz said it showed how Democrats and the 'woke media' were turning soldiers into 'pansies' in comments that triggered accusations that he was trolling America's troops

He accused 'woke, lefty bureaucrats' of turning the military into 'pansies.'

'Holy crap, Cruz said, sharing a mashup of the video with another clip showing a shaven-headed Russian male soldier. Perhaps a woke, emasculated military is not the best idea '

Last month Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Cotton launched a whistleblower form for military members to report anything they considered to be far-left training materials.

Crenshaw wrote on Twitter: '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'.

He shared a link to the whistleblower form, and added: '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.'
Vigilantes have stopped teenage gang members allegedly stealing hire cars by cornering and confronting the men outside a fast food restaurant.

The gang of six allegedly smashed into a Thrifty car rental business in Cairns' CBD at 7pm on Wednesday night before breaking away in three Toyota Corollas.

Vigilantes managed to track down two of the alleged thieves, believed to be 14-years-old, in a white sedan outside a Hungry Jack's, surrounding the vehicle so they couldn't flee.

'As police we don't encourage any form of vigilantism,' Senior Constable Matt Cornish said.

'So if you do see a vehicle that you deem to be suspicious or suspect that has been stolen we encourage people to contact police on triple zero immediately.

'Don't attempt to interfere or intercept the vehicle in any way.'

The three allegedly stolen Thrifty cars were located in different locations around the city - one on the Bruce Highway at Woree, while the other two in the CBD.

Vigilantes have stopped gang members allegedly stealing hire cars by cornering and confronting the men outside a Cairns Hungry Jacks

Police allege the gang had found keys inside the company's Sheridan Street building, before smashing the window of the car lot.

'Obviously these are only suspects at this stage and we anticipate once arrests have been made charges will be laid,' Snr Const Cornish said.

He discouraged anyone acting as vigilants, saying citizens could potentially face charges themselves if the situation got violent.

'People might feel like this is the right thing to do. (But) if you do commit a violent offence against someone, you could be charged yourself,' he said.
Authorities are anxiously awaiting coronavirus tests that will show if a Victorian couple who went on an interstate road trip infected anyone in Queensland.

Queensland Health has identified 17 close contacts of the couple, but so far only has results for three of them.

They've been negative, including the infected woman's parents, with whom the couple stayed at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

In total about 400 people have been forced into isolation and are getting tested as a result of the couple's arrival on Saturday after a road trip from Melton in Melbourne, through NSW and into Queensland.

They are known to have visited sites in Goondiwindi, Toowoomba and the southern Sunshine Coast.

A temporary, walk-in vaccination hub at the Caloundra Indoor Stadium will open its doors this weekend in response to the threat. It'll be open seven days a week until June 23.

Health authorities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus during their interstate trip

'We are expecting to vaccinate about 1000 people each day via this new facility. Because of the new COVID cases this facility will be accepting walk-ins,' Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young has expressed some optimism that community transmission might be avoided after serology tests showed the couple were in the late stages of their infections.

'That means the risk of transmission to anyone else is less,' she said on Thursday.

Authorities say anyone with symptoms, no matter how minor, must get tested as contact tracers continue their work.

Victorian authorities have revealed the couple left the state on June 1, when greater Melbourne was in a snap lockdown to control community transmission.

They were relocating permanently to Queensland so the husband could take up a new job.

Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino has said the couple did not breach any state restrictions by leaving, and moving interstate is allowed during lockdowns.

Three states are scrambling to contain a potential Covid outbreak after an infected woman left locked-down Melbourne and drove through NSW to the Sunshine Coast (Mooloolaba pictured)

Dr Young has said the couple didn't apply for a travel exemption to enter Queensland and it's up to police to investigate whether they came through under any other process.

The couple's trip has also sparked health alerts in NSW, where they visited at least 10 sites in the NSW towns of Narrandera, Forbes, Dubbo and Moree.

At the time they travelled through NSW, stay-at-home orders were in place for travellers who'd been in Melbourne.

Victorian authorities are still trying to work out how the couple became infected, but one of them visited Melbourne's Craigieburn Central shopping centre on May 23.

The current outbreak in Victoria includes nine cases who visited that shopping centre.
Medical experts say blood clots linked to COVID-19 vaccines remain extremely rare and Australians should continue to roll up their sleeves for the jab.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration reported a 52-year-old NSW woman died from a blood clot in the brain - the second person to do so out of 3.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine delivered.

Of the 48 confirmed and probable cases of people who have developed clots after receiving the vaccine, 31 have been discharged from hospital and are recovering.

Fifteen remain in hospital.

Extending his condolences, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said Australia was getting very good at diagnosing and treating the condition

It was unclear whether the woman had any underlying medical conditions.

Extending his condolences, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said Australia was getting very good at diagnosing and treating the condition.

'We will continue to learn from these unfortunate circumstances and will tie it into advice to all practitioners.'

Professor Kelly said it was important people continued to come forward for vaccination as Australia sought to tackle COVID-19 and prevent serious illness.

'The AstraZeneca vaccine, with our large numbers of doses that are available here in Australia ... is absolutely key in relation to us becoming safe from COVID as a population here in Australia, and that remains the case,' he said.

In a statement AstraZeneca said the company was sad to hear of the woman's death after receiving the vaccine.

'Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

'Patient safety remains AstraZeneca's highest priority, and we continue to work closely with the TGA and other regulators around the world as they investigate these very rare cases.'

With companies examining ways to reward people to get vaccinated, a new survey from global consulting firm Accenture found three-quarters of Australians support the use of mandatory vaccine passports to access places or services.

Of those in support, almost nine in 10 believe a COVID passport should be shown for travelling internationally, while 69 per cent are in favour of it being used domestically.

Professor Kelly said it was important people continued to come forward for vaccination as Australia sought to tackle COVID-19 and prevent serious illness

About three in five people backed the measure for attending large events including sport, concerts and festivals.

Almost 5.5 million doses have been administered nationwide.

Melbourne's lockdown eased at midnight as Victoria recorded four new cases.

As well the city is no longer a declared Commonwealth hotspot.

A couple who travelled from Victoria to Queensland through NSW five days after the shutdown started have tested positive.

Authorities are hopeful the risk of transmission is lower with the pair having contracted the disease about two weeks ago.
Boris Johnson hailed Joe Biden as a breath of fresh air last night as the two men met in Cornwall.

The Prime Minister, the new US President and their families bonded with a display of extraordinary warmth on their first ever meeting.

Despite fears of a diplomatic row over Northern Ireland, any political anxieties appeared to melt away in the Cornish sea breeze as the two men hit it off in remarkable style at the beach resort where the G7 summit will be held today.

Baby Wilfred even played his part, helping Mr Johnsons new wife Carrie, 33, to form an apparently instant bond with US First Lady Jill Biden, 70.

The Prime Minister, the new US President and their families bonded with a display of extraordinary warmth on their first ever meeting

The two couples met amid tensions over Northern Ireland

The two women had their plans for a tour of the historic St Michaels Mount disrupted by a sea mizzle. But instead they gathered up the Prime Ministers one-year-old son and went for a paddle on the beach at Carbis Bay where the gathering of the worlds most powerful democracies is being held.

Mrs Johnson, who wore a striking 260 red dress from LK Bennett, later commented on Instagram: Wonderful to spend some time with First Lady at Carbis Bay. We even dipped our toes into the water. Beautiful but freezing. Mrs Biden underlined the feelgood atmosphere of the meeting by wearing a jacket emblazoned with the word Love.

The First Lady told reporters: Were bringing love from America. I think that this is a global conference and were trying to bring unity across the globe and I think thats important right now that you have a sense of unity.

And after the two families met for the first time, President Biden, 78, immediately punctured any tension by joking to Mr Johnson: We both married way above our stations. The Prime Minister, 56  who tied the knot with Carrie less than a fortnight ago  replied: Im not going to dissent on that one. Im not going to disagree with you there or indeed on anything else.

Despite fears of a diplomatic row over Northern Ireland, any political anxieties appeared to melt away in the Cornish sea breeze as the two men hit it off in remarkable style at the beach resort where the G7 summit will be held today

As well as the first face-to-face talks between the Prime Minister and the US President, the G7 summit will bring together the leaders of the worlds most powerful democracies for the next three days to discuss Covid, climate change and the need to protect democracy in an increasingly dangerous world.

Germanys Angela Merkel, Frances Emmanuel Macron and Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga are among the world leaders who will fly in to Newquay Airport for todays summit, which is being held amid tight security and extensive Covid precautions.

In a sign of the events importance, the Queen will host a reception for leaders and their spouses at Cornwalls Eden Project tonight. Charles, Camilla and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will also attend.

The build-up to the two leaders first meeting could scarcely have been less auspicious. During his presidential bid, Mr Biden described Mr Johnson as a physical and emotional clone of Donald Trump.

First lady Jill Biden was on message, wearing a jacket with the word 'Love' on the back

Baby Wilfred even played his part, helping Mr Johnsons new wife Carrie, 33, to form an apparently instant bond with US First Lady Jill Biden, 70

President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held their first face-to-face meeting

For his part, Mr Johnson angered senior Democrats by suggesting Barack Obama may have removed a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office because of his part-Kenyan ancestry.

Tensions were ratcheted up on the eve of the meeting after reports emerged that Mr Biden had ordered officials to reprimand the UK for inflaming relations with the EU over the implementation of the Brexit deal in Northern Ireland.

Yesterday both men moved to bury the hatchet, with Mr Johnson apparently keen to de-Trump himself. Speaking after talks which overran their one-hour slot by 20 minutes, the PM played up Mr Bidens enthusiasm for Nato and efforts to tackle climate change  two agendas not shared by Mr Trump. Its wonderful to listen to the Biden administration and Joe Biden because theres so much that they want to do together with us  on security, on Nato, to climate change, he said. Its fantastic, its a breath of fresh air.

From left to right: Jill Biden, the president, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie walk along Carbis Bay

US officials said the President had not come to the UK to deliver a lecture on Northern Ireland. Mr Johnson said there had been absolutely common ground over the need to resolve the situation in the Province  and No 10 even claimed the two leaders had been in complete harmony on the issue during their private talks.

The two men signed an updated version of the Atlantic Charter originally agreed by Churchill and Roosevelt in 1941. The new agreement commits the UK and US to helping the West build a united front to take on the challenges posed by China, Russia, climate change and terrorism.

Mr Biden described his meeting with the Prime Minister as very productive, saying the two men had discussed a broad range of issues on which the UK and US are working in a close relationship.

He added: We affirmed the special relationship  its not said lightly  the special relationship between our people.

We renewed our pledge to defend the enduring democratic values that both of our nations share that are the strong foundation of our partnership.
Boris Johnson and Joe Biden's new Atlantic Charter vows to revive travel between Britain and the US 'as soon as possible'.

Links between the two countries have suffered significant disruption during the coronavirus crisis, and the two leaders want to agree a fix to allow more flights to resume in the near future.

A new travel taskforce to make recommendations on how to safely reopen routes will be set up as the UK and US 'closely share thinking and expertise' on the best method for bringing back international travel.

In a highly symbolic act, the Prime Minister and President revived the original charter signed by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in 1941, which is credited with laying the foundations for the post-war settlement.

Mr Biden said the world was at 'an inflection point in history', adding: 'A moment where it falls to us to prove that democracies will not just endure  they will excel as we rise to seize the enormous opportunities of this new age.'

He said the charter would address the 'key challenges of this century  cybersecurity, emerging technologies, global health and climate change'.

The new charter states that the UK and the US will 'defend key principles such as freedom of navigation and overflight and other internationally lawful uses of the seas'.

Britain and the US have now agreed in the new document to work to resume travel between the two countries 'as soon as possible'.

Boris Johnson and Joe Biden today agreed a new grandiose 'Atlantic Charter' setting out their joint vision for the world's recovery from the coronavirus crisis and future prosperity

The Prime Minister said the new charter will 'form the foundation of a sustainable global recovery' as he and the US President promised the world a 'better future'

The original 'Atlantic Charter' was hammered out by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 and acted as a blueprint for life after the Second World War

The original charter was hammered out by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 and acted as a guiding blueprint for life after the Second World War.

Mr Johnson said that Churchill and Roosevelt had faced the question of how to rebuild after a 'devastating' global conflict.

He said he and Mr Biden in 2021 now face the 'very different but no less intimidating challenge' of bouncing back from the pandemic as the pair look to copy from two political figures who dominated large parts of the 20th Century.

The Prime Minister said the new charter will 'form the foundation of a sustainable global recovery' as he and the US President promised the world a 'better future'.

The new accord contains many of the same themes as the original which was devised on board the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and US heavy cruiser USS Augusta off the coast of Newfoundland as Churchill and Roosevelt met face-to-face for the first time since the outbreak of the war.

The two nations have once again committed to improving security, boosting trade and defending democracy.

But the use of the phrase 'Atlantic Charter' has raised eyebrows among some historians who said the new agreement will 'pale by comparison' to the original and it is 'likely to remain a mere historical footnote'.

Below is a breakdown of how the two agreements compare.



Resuming travel links between the UK and the US is one of the main goals set out in the new charter. An arrivals board is shown at Heathrow Airport on July 29

Rebuild and recover

Winning the Second World War and putting the planet on a path to peace were the main goals of Churchill and Roosevelt when they agreed their charter in 1941.

The original charter stated the US and the UK would seek no territorial gains from the conflict and they wanted to see 'no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned'.

Their focus was on getting the world back on its feet after it was ravaged by war.

What was the original 'Atlantic Charter' and why was it important? The Atlantic Charter took the form of a statement issued on August 14, 1941. It was the result of face-to-face talks between US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and set out their post-Second World War goals. The statement was devised on board the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and US heavy cruiser USS Augusta off the coast of Newfoundland as Churchill and Roosevelt met in person for the first time since they both took office and since the start of the conflict. The 'charter' set out eight points and joint principles on a range of issues like security, trade and peace. The two leaders said they 'deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future of the world'. The original charter is viewed as historically significant because it solidified the US-UK relationship as allies. It also laid the groundwork for the creation of the United Nations and the NATO military alliance. Advertisement

The major focus of Mr Johnson and Mr Biden's new charter is defeating the coronavirus crisis and preventing further global health crises.

To achieve these goals, the two men agreed to 'scale up joint work on genomic sequencing and variant assessments' and to work together on a new global surveillance system.

This will see the UK Health Security Agency's new Centre for Pandemic Preparedness establishing a working relationship with its US counterpart, the proposed National Center for Epidemic Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics.

The new charter states: 'We recognise the catastrophic impact of health crises, and the global good in strengthening our collective defences against health threats.

'We commit to continuing to collaborate to strengthen health systems and advance our health protections, and to assist others to do the same.

Mr Johnson said: 'While Churchill and Roosevelt faced the question of how to help the world recover following a devastating war, today we have to reckon with a very different but no less intimidating challenge - how to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic.'

Global travel

In the original 'Atlantic Charter' Churchill and Roosevelt said they hoped to 'establish a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries' and to allow people to live their lives 'in freedom from fear and want'.

Crucially the charter also said that 'such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance'.

The new charter revisits a similar theme, with the UK and the US agreeing to work to resume travel between the two countries 'as soon as possible'.

Travel links between the UK and the US have faced massive disruption during the coronavirus crisis and the two leaders want to agree a fix to allow more flights to resume in the near future.

A new travel taskforce will be established to make recommendations on how to safely reopen routes while the two countries will 'closely share thinking and expertise' on how best to resume international travel.

The new charter states that the UK and the US will 'defend key principles such as freedom of navigation and overflight and other internationally lawful uses of the seas'.

Travel links between the UK and the US have faced massive disruption during the coronavirus crisis and the two leaders want to agree a fix to allow more flights to resume in the near future (stock image)

Trade

The original charter committed the US and the UK to ensure all countries could enjoy access to trade and the world's raw materials 'on equal terms' in order to boost economic prosperity.

Churchill and Roosevelt wanted to 'bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field' with the goal of improving labour standards, economic advancement and better social security.

Trade is a significant theme in the new charter, with the US and the UK looking to boost job links.

The UK Government pointed out that last month US companies including Kraft Heinz announced new investments in Britain worth more than 10billion.

Mr Johnson and Mr Biden are seeking 'ways of further enhancing our economic relationship' which will include a new bilateral technology agreement to be signed next year.

The aim of the deal will be to improve 'strategic cooperation by reducing barriers' to make it easier for US and UK firms to work together in areas like artificial intelligence and quantum technology.

The new charter commits the two sides to promoting 'economic advancement and the dignity of work' and to 'enable open and fair trade between nations'.

On the issue of technology, the charter states the two sides will 'resolve to harness and protect our innovative edge' in order to 'support our shared security and deliver jobs at home' and to 'open new markets'.

The statement also includes a commitment to building 'an inclusive, fair, climate-friendly, sustainable, rules-based global economy for the 21st century'.

Shared values and defending democracy

The original charter saw Churchill and Roosevelt agree there were 'certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future of the world'.

Those principles included respecting the right of all people to 'choose the form of government under which they will live' as well as the pursuit of peace.

The new charter recognises that while the world is now very different to how it was in 1941, the 'values the UK and US share remain the same'.

The new charter states that 'we resolve to defend the principles, values, and institutions of democracy and open societies, which drive our own national strength and our alliances'.

It continues: 'We must ensure that democracies  starting with our own  can deliver on solving the critical challenges of our time.

'We will champion transparency, uphold the rule of law, and support civil society and independent media. We will also confront injustice and inequality and defend the inherent dignity and human rights of all individuals.'

Mr Johnson said that 'cooperation between the UK and US, the closest of partners and the greatest of allies, will be crucial for the future of the world's stability and prosperity'.

He added: 'Eighty years ago the US President and British Prime Minister stood together promising a better future. Today we do the same.'

The new charter will reaffirm the importance of collective security and defence links between the US and the UK. The aircraft carrier Prince of Wales is pictured leaving Portsmouth on June 6

Security

Putting the world on a stable footing when it came to security was one of the main objectives of the original charter.

The post-war goals set out in the statement led directly to the creation of the United Nations and NATO.

The new charter reaffirms the importance of collective security and also highlights the need to combat emerging threats like cyber attacks.

Mr Johnson and Mr Biden want to further deepen UK-US security and defence links.

The two nations said they already have the 'closest, deepest and most important bilateral security relationship in the world and in future we will more together in new domains like space and cyberspace'.

The new charter states that the US and UK 'intend to strengthen the institutions, laws, and norms that sustain international co-operation to adapt them to meet the new challenges of the 21st century, and guard against those that would undermine them'.

It insists the two countries will 'work through the rules-based international order to tackle global challenges together' and 'embrace the promise and manage the peril of emerging technologies'.

The two nations 'remain united behind the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the peaceful resolution of disputes'.

The charter commits both nations to keeping their nuclear weapons and states that 'as long as there are nuclear weapons, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance'.

The theme of global security also includes tackling climate change, with Mr Johnson and Mr Biden agreeing that 'the world has reached a critical point where it must act urgently and ambitiously to tackle the climate crisis'.

The charter states that this issue will be prioritised along with the need to protect biodiversity and 'sustain nature'.
Former President Trump wished President Biden luck when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin next week, claiming his own Helsinki summit had delivered a win for America.

'Good luck to Biden in dealing with President Putindon't fall asleep during the meeting, and please give him my warmest regards,' Trump said in an emailed statement.

During the election campaign, Trump dubbed his rival 'Sleepy Joe.'

Biden spent his first full day on a European tour meeting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday.

He is due to spend the next week meeting world leaders before sitting down with Putin on Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland.

In a cheeky message, former President Donald Trump offered President Biden the benefit of his wisdom after meeting President Putin in 2018. 'Don't fall asleep during the meeting, and please give him my warmest regards,' he said.

Trump was roundly condemned for accepting Putin's denials of election interference. US intelligence agencies believed the Kremlin worked to tilt the election in Trump's favor as the least threatening candidate to their interests

Biden is on an eight-day swing through Europe and is due to meet Putin in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday after meeting G7, NATO and European Union leaders

White House officials have not yet said whether the two leaders will hold a joint press conference.

In 2018, Trump told reporters he accepted Putin's denial his country interfered in the 2016 election, sending officials into damage limitation mode.

'As president, I had a great and very productive meeting in Helsinki, Finland, with President Putin of Russia,' said Trump in his message.

'Despite the belated Fake News portrayal of the meeting, the United States won much, including the respect of President Putin and Russia.'

Critics accused Trump of being soft on Putin. Intelligence agencies concluded that the Kremlin sought to tilt the election in Trump's favor as part of an effort to undermine American democracy and install a weaker leader than Hillary Clinton.

But Trump said it was the meddling of his own country's investigators that threatened to impede his administration.

'Because of the phony Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, made-up and paid for by the Democrats and Crooked Hillary Clinton, the United States was put at a disadvantagea disadvantage that was nevertheless overcome by me,' he said.

Biden and his officials have said they see his trip to Europe as a chance to reassert American leadership.

The Bidens spent Thursday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie in Cornwall, before other G7 leaders were due to arrive

"I'm headed to the G7, then to the NATO ministerial and then to meet with Mr. Putin to let him know what I want him to know," he said after arriving at RAF Mildenhall in England on Wednesday evening.

That meant not pulling his punches with Putin.

'We're not seeking conflict with Russia. We want a stable predictable relationship,' he said.

'I've been clear: the United States will respond in a robust and meaningful way if the Russian government engages in harmful activities.

'We've already demonstrated that. I'm going to communicate that there are consequences for violating the sovereignty of democracies in the United States and Europe and elsewhere.'

When he sits down with Putin, Biden will privately pressure Putin on everything from attacks by Russian-based hackers on American businesses, to the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and covert efforts by the Kremlin to interfere in elections.
Victoria has recorded zero new local cases of coronavirus for the first time in three weeks - as a raft of restrictions are lifted in Melbourne following a two-week lockdown.

But residents in 25 Melbourne suburbs have been put on notice after three positive sewage samples in Pascoe Vale in the north and Scoresby and Vermont in the east.

Health officials do not know if the samples were caused by an undetected case or a previous patient who is still shedding the virus but no longer infectious.

'These new detections are of interest as there are currently no confirmed Covid-19 cases in those areas,' the Victorian health department said.

Residents exercising at Albert Park Lake on June 11 as the state records zero new cases

A cyclist is seen in Port Melbourne on June 11, as Melbourne emerges from two-week lockdown

Which suburbs are on notice over sewage? Glenroy, Hadfield, Oak Park, Pascoe Vale; Burwood East, Forest Hill, Glen Waverley, Scoresby, Vermont South, Wantirna South, Wheelers Hill; Balwyn, Balwyn North, Blackburn, Blackburn, North, Box Hill, Box Hill North, Bulleen, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Donvale, Mitcham, Mont Albert, Mont Albert North, Nunawading. People who were in those suburbs from 3-7 June must watch for symptoms and get tested if they develop. Advertisement

'While the unexpected detections may be due to someone who has had Covid-19 that is no longer infectious continuing to shed the virus or it may be due to an active but undiagnosed infectious case.'

The news came on 'freedom Friday' for Melburnians as many lockdown measures were lifted.

Residents no longer needed a justification for leaving their homes, but there remained in place limits on numbers at private and public gatherings, a 25-kilometre limit on non-essential travel, and masks must be worn indoors and out.

It comes as a Covid-infected couple who drove from locked-down Melbourne to Queensland through regional NSW could be prosecuted in all three states for the 'selfish' trip, but could escape with a slap on the wrist like previous offenders.

The pair escaped Victoria's 'circuit breaker' Covid lockdown on June 1 and went on a 1,900km road trip through regional communities in NSW before arriving in Queensland on June 5.

Health authorities believe the couple were likely infected at least two weeks ago, as tests they had on June 9 showed their viral loads were waning.

The pair had no exemption to leave Victoria and travel to Queensland, and police are now investigating whether they lied on border exemption passes.

They could face fines of more than $13,000 and six months in jail if they're found to have failed to comply with border directions in Queensland.

The couple could also face punishment in Victoria and NSW, like the three young women who sparked fears of a Covid outbreak after lying on their border declaration forms last year.

The women lied so they could escape hotel quarantine after flying from Queensland to Melbourne to go to a party in an Airbnb apartment in July last year.

Diana Lasu, 21, Olivia Winnie Muranga, 20, and Haja Umu Timbo, 21, were originally charged with one count of making false or misleading documents and one of fraud.

But they pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of failing to comply with a public health direction.

Muranga and Lasu tested positive to COVID-19 after the group returned to Queensland from attending the party in Melbourne while the city was in lockdown.

Health authorities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are scrambling to track down hundreds of people who may have been exposed to the virus during their interstate trip

Olivia Winnie Muranga, 20, (pictured, centre) was accused of lying on her border declarations to avoid quarantine in Queensland last July. She later tested positive for Covid

Haja Umu Timbo (left) and Diana Lasu (right) were sentenced to community service after pleading guilty to failing to comply with a public health direction

Muranga was sentenced to 40 hours of community service in Queensland while Lasu and Timbo were both given 80 hours of community service to complete.

They also received fines in Victoria for failing to comply with gathering restrictions.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said police will investigate how the couple at the centre of Australia's latest Covid scare were able to enter the Sunshine State.

Victoria had been declared a hotspot at the time the couple entered Queensland, meaning Victorians were unable to legally enter without an exemption.

Those granted entry would then have had to undergo 14 days in hotel quarantine.

Health authorities have identified 17 close contacts of the couple with three so far testing negative.

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino said the couple wouldn't have been breaking lockdown restrictions if they were permanently relocating to the Sunshine State.

'Victoria was not able to speak to the couple yesterday for a case interview but we will do so today, and it is important to note that if they were relocating it is not a breach of directions here in Victoria but we just don't know,' Mr Merlino said.

Three states are scrambling to contain a potential Covid outbreak after an infected woman left locked-down Melbourne and drove through NSW to the Sunshine Coast (Mooloolaba pictured)

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Cafe Omega closed on Thursday for a deep clean after a Covid-infected couple attended twice

The pair were only detected when they came forward for testing because the man needed a negative result for his job.

Police are investigating whether the couple crossed the NSW-Queensland border at the remote rural town of Goondiwindi on June 5 in a bid to evade authorities.

The couple likely used that route so they could avoid passing through the Gold Coast - where police perform 100 random intercepts a day with strict border control measures in place.

Goondiwindi Mayor Lawrence Springborg slammed the couple.

'This act of apparent selfishness has not only inconvenienced our community but put us all at risk and reinforces the need for constant vigilance and compliance with health advice,' he said.

The infected woman had been experiencing symptoms - including loss of her sense of smell - from June 3 but only sought a test on June 8.
China rolled out its Long March-2F Y12 rocket to its launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Wednesday in preparation of sending astronauts to the nations' new orbiting modular space station.

The three-person crew is set to board the Shebzhou-12 spacecraft next week and blast off to the main section of the Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, station that launched into orbit on April 29.

Astronauts are scheduled for a three-month stay, in which they will perform spacewalks, construction and maintenance work and carry out science experiments.

Cargo spacecraft sent up last month carried fuel, food and equipment to the station in preparation for the crewed mission.

The space agency plans a total of 11 launches through the end of next year to deliver two laboratory modules to expand the 70-ton station, along with supplies and crew members.

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China rolled out its Long March-2F Y12 rocket to its launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Wednesday in preparation of sending astronauts to the nations' new orbiting space station modular

Next week's launch will be the third of those, and the first of the four crewed missions planned.

Another cargo mission is planned for September, shortly after which a replacement crew will be sent up, according to reports.

The station's other two parts, known as modules, are expected to be launched next year.

China said in March the astronauts training for the upcoming crewed missions were a mix of space travel veterans and newcomers and included some women.

The three-person crew is set to board the Shebzhou-12 spacecraft next week and blast off to the main section of the Tianhe

The space agency plans a total of 11 launches through the end of next year to deliver two laboratory modules to expand the 70-ton station, along with supplies and crew members

The Tiangong Space Station is expected to have a mass between 180,000 and 220,000 pounds. The three-person crew will stay on the Tianhe modular for three months

China has sent 11 astronauts into space to date, all of them pilots from the ruling Communist Partys military wing, the Peoples Liberation Army.

The first Tianhe crew will be all male, though women will be part of future crews on the station, according to Yang Liwei, who orbited Earth in Chinas first crewed mission in 2003 and is now an official at the space agency.

The Tianhe builds on experience China gained from operating two experimental space stations earlier in its increasingly ambitious space program.

China officials rolled the massive rocket out to the launch pad Wednesday

Pictured is the Shebzhou-12 spacecraft atop the rocket

Chinese astronauts spent 33 days living on the second of the previous stations, carried out a spacewalk and taught science classes that were beamed down to students across the country.

The nation has made a huge jump into the space race over the past year, with its most recent accomplish in May when it landed a probe, the Tianwen-1, on Mars that carried a rover, the Zhurong.

The rover has a life expectancy of at least three months and during this time, it will record the Martian landscape with high-resolution three-dimensional images and analyze the material composition of the planet's surface.

Tianhe was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on the southern island of Hainan, China on the Long March 5B, China's largest carrier rocket on April 29 (pictured)

China has made a huge jump into the space race over the past year, with its most recent accomplish in May when it landed a probe, the Tianwen-1, on Mars that carried a rover, the Zhurong

China has also has brought back lunar samples, the first by any countrys space program since the 1970s, and landed a probe and rover on the moons less explored far side.

The nation landed the return capsule in December, which held samples from a part of the moon known as the Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, near a site called the Mons Rumker that was believed to have been volcanic in ancient times.

The age of the rocks and soil should help scientists fill a gap in knowledge about the history of the moon between roughly one billion and three billion years ago.

China does not participate in NASA's International Space Station (ISS), largely due to US concerns over the Chinese program's secrecy and its military connections, which has led the country to construct its own space station.

China has also has brought back lunar samples (pictured), the first by any countrys space program since the 1970s, and landed a probe and rover on the moons less explored far side.

The nation landed the return capsule (pictured) in December, which held samples from a part of the moon known as the Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, near a site called the Mons Rumker

Once completed, the Tianhe will allow for stays of up to six months, similar to the much larger ISS.

The Chinese station reportedly is intended to be used for 15 years and may outlast ISS, which is nearing the end of its functional lifespan.

The modular currently in orbit is one of three main components of the complete space station.

The Tiangong Space Station is expected to have a mass between 180,000 and 220,000 pounds  roughly one-fifth the mass of the ISS, which is 925,335 pounds.
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A stunning partial solar eclipse appeared for skygazers in the UK and US this morning, making the sun appear as a crescent in the morning sky.

During the event, about 30 per cent of the sun was blocked out in Scotland, 20 per cent in southern England and as much as 70 per cent over Eastern US states.

British and Irish observers saw a crescent sun instead of a ring, and in the US, viewers witnessed a partial eclipse at sunrise, another rare phenomenon.

In the UK the partial eclipse began at 10:08 BST, reaching maximum coverage  or about a third  at 11:13 BST, ending at 12:22 BST today.

Twitter users have been posting their images of the partial solar eclipse, with some taken in the UK showing the event partly obscured by wispy cloud.

Meanwhile, a rare type of solar eclipse that created a 'ring of fire' cast a dramatic shadow over Russia and Canada.

The 'ring of fire' solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is at its furthest from Earth and is therefore too far away to completely cover the sun, leaving a ring of light.

The ring of fire was best viewed from Qaanaaq, a town in Northwest Greenland, but was also visible across much of Canada and Russia.

Partial eclipse of the sun seen from South East London this morning taken at 10:30 on Thursday morning, June 10, 2021. According to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the eclipse will end at 12.22pm

Pictured: the partial solar eclipse rises into an orange-tinged sky behind the Brooklyn Bridge and the east river in Manhattan, as seen from Bayonne, New Jersey on June 10, 2021

Pictured: the top of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, seen in silhouette in front of a cloudy sky featuring a partial solar eclipse on June 10, 2021. From the UK, the moon was seen to obscure up to 30 per cent of the Sun

Pictured: the eclipsed sun as it was seen rising over Tobermory in Ontario, Canada, on the morning of June 10, 2021

WHEN IS THE NEXT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE? The next US solar eclipse will take place on April 8, 2024, passing from Texas to Maine. The next total solar eclipse after that is on August 12, 2026, and will be seen from the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, Spain and Northeastern Portugal. On September 2, 2035, China, northern Japan and Korea will witness a total solar eclipse. Between 2023 and 2038, the greatest number of total solar eclipses will take place in Australia. There will be five solar eclipses visible from the continent between April 20th, 2023 and December 26th, 2038. The next total solar eclipse visible in the UK isn't until 2093. Advertisement

'From the UK, the annular solar eclipse will be a partial eclipse, meaning that we'll only see the Moon pass in front of a small part of the sun,' said Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

She warned that looking directly at the sun, even one partially eclipsed, can cause serious and permanent damage to the eyes.

'Never look at the sun directly or use standard sunglasses, it can cause serious harm to your eyes,' added Dr Drabek-Maunder.

It also isn't safe to look at the sun through binoculars, telescopes or a camera lens without specialist filters  so best to avoid taking direct images.

Using a simple pinhole projector, solar eclipse viewing glasses, which can be purchased online, or special solar filters are viable alternatives.

'You can make a projector by poking a small hole into a piece of card,' said Dr Drabek-Maunder, adding you hold the card to the sun so it shines through the hole on to a piece of paper placed behind the card.

'You will be able to see the shape of the sun projected on to the piece of paper and watch its shape change as the Moon passes in front of the sun.'

The Royal Observatory Greenwich live-streamed the eclipse on its website and YouTube channel.

Prior to the event, forecasters warned that views of the partial solar eclipse on Thursday would be 'somewhat fleeting' across certain parts of the UK due to cloudy skies.

A partial solar eclipse seen over the Houses of Parliament on Thursday morning in London

In other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, this annular eclipse was seen as a visible thin outer ring of the sun's disk that was not completely covered by the smaller dark disk of the moon  a so-called 'ring of fire'

Pictured: Londoner Hamza Qureshi views the eclipse from the aptly named Eclipse Road during the partial eclipse

An eclipsed sun rises next to a flag on June 10, 2021 in Scituate, Massachusetts. Northeast US states saw an eclipsed sunrise

The eclipsed sun rises over Scituate Harbor on June 10, 2021 in Scituate, Massachusetts, US

Pictured: the eclipsed sun rises behind the Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse in Lewes, Delaware, on June 10, 2021

The Met Office, however, had predicted that those in central and south-east England would have clear spells to witness the spectacle.

Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon told PA: 'Thursday morning will see more cloud than recent days over east, south-east and much of southern England though some good breaks are likely with sunny spells.

'Similar conditions are likely over east and north-east Scotland with all these areas having the best visibility of the solar eclipse.

'There will be clear spells over much of central and south-east England.

'Much of the far south-west of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, western and central Scotland will have more in the way of cloud cover, and whilst this may thin by day, the likelihood is that visibility of the eclipse will be somewhat fleeting.

'It will be dry for many, particularly eastern areas, whilst western areas and high ground here are more likely to see some light rain and drizzle.'

Pictured: a band of cloud passes in front of the partial solar eclipse, as seen from Long Island, New York, on June 10, 2021

Skygazers in the UK and US saw a partial solar eclipse, with about 30 per cent of the Sun blocked out in Scotland, 20 per cent in southern England and as much as 70 per cent over Eastern US states

Meanwhile, a rare type of solar eclipse that creates a 'ring of fire' around a blacked out Sun cast a dramatic shadow over Russia and Canada. This image is from May 2012

The unusual and rare sunrise eclipse was visible up the Atlantic coast, according to astronomers.

From South Carolina and moving north, skygazers needed to look north just after sunrise to spot the Moon taking a bite out of our star as it slowly rose over the horizon.

Philadelphia, New York and Boston saw 70 per cent of our star eclipsed by the Moon during sunrise.

A small stretch of coast in the US, in New Jersey and New York, saw 'red devil horns,' also known as the crescent sun.

A stunning partial solar eclipse appeared for skygazers in the UK and US this morning, making the sun appear as a crescent in the morning sky. Here, a partial solar eclipse is seen in Davao city, southern Philippines on Thursday December 26, 2019

A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, moon and Earth are in alignment such that the Moon appears - from certain locations - to completely block out the Sun in the sky

UK stargazers will see the sun with a 'bite taken out of it' as the highest level of eclipse will be 32 per cent in northern Scotland, going as low as 20 per cent in southern England.

The next partial eclipse after this, visible from the UK, will be on March 29, 2025 when 60 per cent of the sun will appear to be covered by the Moon.

This will be followed by another on August 12, 2026 where the UK will see up to 90 per cent of the sun obscured.

The UK won't see a totality  where the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon  until July 23, 2093.
A quantum-powered microscope that can zoom in on tiny structures with 35 per cent more clarity could be a major leap for medical research, a study has reported.

Researchers from the University of Queensland created the device, which is capable of revealing biological structures that would otherwise be impossible to see.

Specifically, it can image biological cells and other object on a micrometre (m) scale  that is, 70 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair.

It operates by making use of quantum entanglement  the effect which theoretical physicist Albert Einstein once referred to as 'spooky interactions at a distance'.

The new microscope design is the first entanglement-based sensor capable of outperforming existing, classical physics-based technology.

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A quantum-powered microscope that can zoom in on tiny structures with 35 per cent more clarity could be a major leap for medical research, a study has reported. Pictured: an artist's impression of the new microscope in action. The twin pulses in the light beam represent the entangled photos which the team use to decrease the resulting image's signal-to-noise ratio

Experts from the University of Queensland created the device, which is capable of revealing biological structures that would otherwise be impossible to see. Specifically, it can image biological cells and other object on a micrometre (m) scale  that is, 70 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair. Pictured: polystyrene beads, left, and a live yeast cell as imaged by the quantum microscope (main) and under a traditional, bright-field microscope (inset)

This phenomenon sees particles that have been 'entangled' behave as if linked, even when separated, meaning that the actions of one alters the behaviour of the other.

Traditionally, the performance of light-based microscopes has been limited by how light exists as discrete energy packets called photons.

As photons are emitted from a source (like a laser, for example) at random times, the light is subject to so-called 'shot noise', which restricts sensitivity and resolution.

The normal way to overcome this limit is to increase the intensity of the light  resulting in more photons and an averaging out of the statistically fluctuations.

However, with biological samples, upping the intensity of light can actually damage the object being viewed down the microscope, defeating the objective.

Using entangled photons, however, allows more information to be recovered per single photon, meaning that noise can be lessened without raising light intensity.

'The best light microscopes use bright lasers that are billions of times brighter than the sun,' explained paper author and quantum physicist Warwick Bowen of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

'Fragile biological systems like a human cell can only survive a short time in them and this is a major roadblock.

'The quantum entanglement in our microscope provides 35 per cent improved clarity without destroying the cell, allowing us to see minute biological structures that would otherwise be invisible.

'The benefits are obvious  from a better understanding of living systems, to improved diagnostic technologies.'

The microscope, pictured, operates by means of quantum entanglement  the effect which theoretical physicist Albert Einstein once referred to as 'spooky interactions at a distance'

Using entangled photons allows more information to be recovered per single photon  meaning that noise can be lessened without raising light intensity and damaging the biological samples being studied. Pictured: a diagram of the microscope's workings

'Entanglement is thought to lie at the heart of a quantum revolution,' Professor Bowen said.

'We've finally demonstrated that sensors that use it can supersede existing, non-quantum technology.

'This is exciting  it's the first proof of the paradigm-changing potential of entanglement for sensing.'

'This is exciting. It's the first proof of the paradigm-changing potential of entanglement for sensing,' said Professor Bowen (pictured here centre right aligning the quantum microscope with Waleed Muhammad, right, Caxtere Casacio, centre left, and Lars Madsen, right)

According to Professor Bowen, quantum entanglement-based technology 'is set to revolutionise computing, communication and sensing.'

'Absolutely secure communication was demonstrated some decades ago as the first demonstration of absolute quantum advantage over conventional technologies.

'Computing faster than any possible conventional computer was demonstrated by Google two years ago, as the first demonstration of absolute advantage in computing.

'The last piece in the puzzle was sensing, and we've now closed that gap. This opens the door for some wide-ranging technological revolutions.

'This breakthrough will spark all sorts of new technologies  from better navigation systems to better MRI machines, you name it,' he concluded.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Nature.
While face masks were once rare sightings, amid the Covid-19 pandemic they've become compulsory in a number of settings, including in supermarkets and on public transport.

Now, a new simulation has revealed just how effective face masks are at stopping the spread of the virus.

Researchers used computer simulations to demonstrate how far saliva droplets can travel through normal breathing both with and without face masks.

Their findings suggest that droplets can travel up to 7.2 feet (2.2 metres) through the air without a face mask  but just 2.4 feet (0.72 metres) when a mask is worn.

The team hopes the findings will encourage people to maintain social distancing as restrictions begin to ease around the world.

Their findings suggest that droplets can travel up to 7.2 feet (2.2 metres) through the air without a face mask  but just 2.4 feet (0.72 metres) when a mask is worn

Plastic face shields do NOT protect against Covid-19 Face shields offer no protection against coronavirus if an infected person nearby sneezes without a mask on, a study shows. Researchers used computer models to visualise the spread of droplets around a face shield ejected by a human sneeze from 3ft (1m) away. It reveals 'vortex rings' produced by the sneeze carry infectious particles to the face shield in less than a second and stick to the edges of the plastic. Researchers say if the timing of this wave of coronavirus particles coincides with the face shield wearer breathing in, the person can become infected. Previous research has found the shields are also useless at trapping aerosols, indicating an infected person wearing one can still spread the virus. Advertisement

While previous research has focused on the spread of airborne droplets when coughing or sneezing, researchers from Stony Brook University, Harvard, ETH Zurich and Hanyang University were interested to see how droplets spread during normal breathing.

The international team used computer simulations of normal breaths, which produce periodic jet flows of saliva droplets, at speeds of around a tenth of a cough or a sneeze.

The simulations revealed that normal breathing could carry saliva droplets 7.2 feet (2.2 metres) through the air in just 90 seconds.

However, when a face mask is worn, the simulations showed that these droplets travelled just 2.4 feet (0.7 metres) in this time.

Ali Khosronejad, an author of the study, said: 'Our results show that normal breathing without a facial mask generates periodic trailing jets and leading circular vortex rings that propagate forward and interact with the vortical flow structures produced in prior breathing cycles.'

During unmasked breathing, a complex vorticity field can transport droplets over long distances, the team explained.

However, a face mask dissipates the kinetic energy of the jet produced by the exhaled breath, disrupting the vortices and limiting the movement of saliva droplets.

The team also looked at the effect of evaporation of the saliva droplets.

When no mask was worn, they found the saliva droplets at the front of the plume of breath had partially evaporated, reaching a size of just one-tenth of a micron.

Worryingly, in stagnant indoor air, droplets this size would remain in the air of days, according to the team.

In contrast, face masks were found to partially redirect the exhaled breath downwards, reducing the risk of suspended droplets remaining airborne.

A face mask dissipates the kinetic energy of the jet produced by the exhaled breath, disrupting the vortices and limiting the movement of saliva droplets (stock image)

'To simplify the breathing process, we did not consider the flow of air-saliva mixture through the nose and solely accounted for the flow through the mouth,' Ms Khosronejad added.

'In future studies, we will explore the effect of normal breathing via both the nose and mouth.'

In England, face coverings are currently compulsory in a number of settings, unless you are medically exempt.

This includes on public transport, in shopping centres, in places of worship and restaurants and pubs (when you are not seated at your table).

The UK government explained: 'You are expected to wear a face covering before entering any of these settings and must keep it on until you leave unless there is a reasonable excuse for removing it.

'You should also wear a face covering in indoor places not listed here where social distancing may be difficult and where you will come into contact with people you do not normally meet.'
It is our nearest star system and offers perhaps the best chance of finding alien life  but reaching Alpha Centauri with current technology would take thousands of years.

The good news is scientists may just have found a way to get there in the space of a human lifetime.

It involves a laser-powered sail they claim could one day allow us to travel 24 trillion miles and reach our closest stellar neighbour within 20 years.

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Concept: Scientists are developing a laser-powered sail (shown in an artist's impression) which they claim could allow us to travel 24 trillion miles to Alpha Centauri within 20 years

This graphic shows how the laser-powered sail would launch from Earth for Alpha Centauri

WHAT IS ALPHA CENTAURI AND HOW CAN WE GET THERE? The Alpha Centauri star system is 24 trillion miles (4.37 light years) away. With today's fastest spacecraft, it would take thousands of years to get there. Breakthrough Starshot aims to establish whether a gram-scale nanocraft, on a sail pushed by a light beam, can fly over a thousand times faster. Astronomers estimate that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet existing in the 'habitable zones' of Alpha Centauri's three-star system. Advertisement

The new type of spacecraft propulsion system has been designed by scientists from the Australian National University (ANU) as part of an international initiative aiming to explore the worlds surrounding Alpha Centauri.

The Breakthrough Starshot project calls for the design of an ultra-lightweight spacecraft, which acts as a light-sail, to travel with unprecedented speed to the triple star system 4.37 light-years away.

While that is a large distance in terrestrial terms, it is three times closer than the next nearest Sun-like star.

The concept would see probes launched into space by the laser propulsion system.

Light to power the sail would come from the Earth's surface  with millions of lasers joining forces to illuminate the sail and push it onto its interstellar journey.

'To cover the vast distances between Alpha Centauri and our own solar system, we must think outside the box and forge a new way for interstellar space travel,' said Dr Chathura Bandutunga, the study's lead author.

'Once on its way, the sail will fly through the vacuum of space for 20 years before reaching its destination. During its flyby of Alpha Centauri, it will record images and scientific measurements which it will broadcast back to Earth.'

Alpha Centauri 4.37 light-years away and is home to three stars: Centauri A, Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri. An artist's impression of the closest star system to us is pictured

Pictured, a not-to-scale representation of how far away Proxima B is from Earth compared to Voyager 1, the farthest man-made object which was launched in 1977

However, a potential stumbling block is the sheer scale of lasers needed to send the probes on their way, as well as getting them to act as one.

'The Breakthrough Starshot program estimates the total required optical power to be about 100 GW  about 100 times the capacity of the world's largest battery today,' said Dr Robert Ward, from the ANU Research School of Physics.

'To achieve this, we estimate the number of lasers required to be approximately 100 million.'

Proxima b: The nearest exoplanet to the Earth Proxima b is the nearest exoplanet to Earth and the closest planet to the star Proxima Centauri. It orbits within the habitable zone of the star - but as Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf and much smaller than the Sun this zone is very close to the star. Proxima b orbits its star every 11.2 Earth days and has a mass of about 1.2 times that of Earth. The rocky world is subject to solar winds 2,000 times those experienced on Earth from the Sun. While it is within a zone where liquid water could form - these stellar winds make it unlikely life could evolve. The planet was discovered in August 2016 and is likely tidally locked. For these reasons, despite being in the habitable zone, its actual habitability has not been established. Studies have suggested the planet could have surface oceans and a thin atmosphere, but that hasn't been confirmed. Astronomers won't know if it has water or an atmosphere until it can be seen transiting in front of its star - which has yet to happen. If water and an atmosphere are present, even with the extensive radiation, it could be possible life has developed on the planet. Scientists hope the James Webb Space Telescope - due to come online in November this year - could detect the atmosphere of Proxima Centauri b. There is also a theoretical mission to send a probe to the planet in 2069 to search for biosignatures. Advertisement

To orchestrate the show, the ANU design calls for a Beacon satellite  a guide laser placed in Earth orbit which acts as the conductor to bring all the lasers together.

Dr Bandutunga said just like the eventual light-sail, the research is at the beginning of a long journey.

'While we are confident with our design, the proof is in the pudding,' he said.

'The next step is to start testing some of the basic building blocks in a controlled laboratory setting. This includes the concepts for combining small arrays to make larger arrays and the atmospheric correction algorithms.

'The work done at ANU was to see if this idea would conceivably work. The goal was to find out-of-the-box solutions, to simulate them and determine if they were physically possible.'

In 2017, NASA revealed it had started planning for a mission to Alpha Centauri, with the hope of blasting off on the 100th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, in 2069.

Currently only two human-made spacecraft have left our solar system Voyager 1, which launched 40 years ago and is currently traveling at about 38,000 miles per hour, and its twin craft Voyager 2.

Voyager 2 was launched 16 days before Voyager 1 in 1977, but the latter was the first to reach interstellar space in 2012 because of its faster trajectory. Its twin left our solar system six years later.

Alpha Centauri is home to three stars: Centauri A, Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri.

In December last year, astronomers revealed they were 'carefully investigating' a mysterious radio signal from Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star in the Alpha Centauri system.

Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light years from Earth and has two confirmed planets, a Jupiter-like gas giant and a rocky world called Proxima b in the habitable zone.

The signal was spotted by the Parkes radio telescope in Australia in April or May 2020 and, unlike previous radio bursts, has not been attributed to any Earth-based or near-Earth human-created source.

It is likely that this signal has a natural explanation, but that has not stopped alien-hunting astronomers from listening more closely than they normally would.

Researchers from the Breakthrough Listen Project  a 70m initiative to find alien life through radio telescopes  said it was one of the most exciting radio signals since the 'WOW!' signal in 1977 that led many to speculate it originated from a distant alien civilisation.

The ANU study was published in the Journal of the Optical Society of America B.
A new vegan sustainable film could replace single-use plastics in many consumer products, scientists say.

The film, created at the University of Cambridge, is inspired by spider silk, one of the strongest materials known to nature.

It has the strength of human-made synthetic polymers in plastic bags and film wraps, but fully decomposes naturally, without harming the environment.

The new product will be commercialised by Xampla, a University of Cambridge spin-out company developing replacements for single-use plastic and microplastics.

Xampla will introduce a range of single-use sachets and capsules later this year, which can replace the plastic used in everyday products like dishwasher tablets and laundry detergent capsules  many of which still come in individual plastic wrappers.

The firm is also testing the plant-based film in food packaging like sandwich containers and salad boxes.

The film, developed by Cambridge spin-out company Xampla, is pictured here in food packaging, dishwasher tablets and laundry detergent capsules

WHY ARE SPIDER WEBS SO STRONG? The strength of a biological material like spider silk lies in the configuration of structural proteins, which have small clusters of weak hydrogen bonds that work cooperatively to resist force and dissipate energy. This structure makes the lightweight natural material as strong as steel, even though the 'glue' of hydrogen bonds that hold spider silk together at the molecular level is 100 to 1,000 times weaker than the powerful glue of steels metallic bonds. Source: MIT Advertisement

It's also working on developing edible films, which can be used for applications such as oral delivery of drugs.

Non-fading 'structural' colour can also be added to the polymer, and it can also be used to make water-resistant coatings.

The production method can be bumped up to industrial scale, the experts claim.

'Other researchers have been working directly with silk materials as a plastic replacement, but they're still an animal product,' said study author Rodriguez Garcia at the University of Cambridge.

'In a way we've come up with "vegan spider silk"  we've created the same material without the spider.'

The material is able to be composted at home, whereas other types of bioplastics require industrial composting facilities to degrade.

It also requires no chemical modifications to its natural building blocks, so that it can safely degrade in most natural environments.

The material was created using a new approach for assembling plant proteins into materials that mimic silk on a molecular level.

Spiders are master builders, expertly weaving strands of silk into intricate webs that serve as the spider's home and hunting ground.

Xampla will introduce a range of single-use sachets this year for holding food ingredients (pictured) and cleaning products

Spider webs are as strong as steel, even though the 'glue' of hydrogen bonds that hold spider silk together at the molecular level is 100 to 1,000 times weaker than the powerful glue of steels metallic bonds.

The researchers became interested in why materials like spider silk are so strong when they have such weak molecular bonds.

'We found that one of the key features that gives spider silk its strength is the hydrogen bonds are arranged regularly in space and at a very high density,' said study author Professor Tuomas Knowles at Cambridge.

The team began looking at how to replicate this regular self-assembly in other proteins.

Researchers created the film by mimicking the properties of spider silk, one of the strongest materials in nature

POLYMERS AND MONOMERS Most plastics are made of polymers, chains of hydrogen and carbon, obtained from petroleum products like crude oil. Polymers are composed of shorter strands called monomers. Many plastics can't be reused due to additives mixed in with them, making them difficult to dispose of because the monomers can't separate from them. Any replacement for plastic requires another polymer. Advertisement

The team replicated the structures found on spider silk by using soy protein isolate (SPI), which is readily available as a by-product of soybean oil production.

Proteins have a propensity for molecular self-organisation and self-assembly.

'Because all proteins are made of polypeptide chains, under the right conditions we can cause plant proteins to self-assemble just like spider silk,' said Knowles.

'In a spider, the silk protein is dissolved in an aqueous solution, which then assembles into an immensely strong fibre through a spinning process which requires very little energy.'

However, plant proteins such as SPI are poorly soluble in water, making it hard to control their self-assembly into ordered structures.

So the new technique uses an environmentally friendly mixture of acetic acid and water, combined with ultrasonication and high temperatures, to improve the solubility of the SPI.

This method produces protein structures with enhanced 'inter-molecular interactions' guided by its unique and ultra-strong hydrogen bond formation.

In a second step the solvent is removed, which results in a water-insoluble film.

The researchers used soy protein isolate (SPI) as their test plant protein, since it is readily available as a by-product of soybean oil product

The material has a performance equivalent to high performance engineering plastics such as low-density polyethylene  one of the most widely produced plastics in the world.

Polyethylene, also known as #1 plastic, is used in a huge variety of products from plastics bags, plastic milk jugs and shampoo bottles to corrosion-resistant piping, wood-plastic composite lumber and plastic furniture.

The polymer is found in about a third of all plastics produced, and has a global value of about $200 billion (142 billion) annually.

For many years, Professor Knowles had actually been researching the behaviour of proteins for many years  but in relation to degenerative disease.

Much of his research has been focused on what happens when proteins misfold or 'misbehave', and how this relates primarily to dementia.

'We normally investigate how functional protein interactions allow us to stay healthy and how irregular interactions are implicated in Alzheimer's disease,' said Knowles.

'It was a surprise to find our research could also address a big problem in sustainability  that of plastic pollution.'

The results are reported in the journal Nature Communications.
As a city, our heart breaks for her and her family ... there are no words to describe our communitys anger and frustration and grief at a loss of life like this, Mayor Luke Bronin said Thursday afternoon. Once again, our police have acted with tremendous speed and skill and they have already secured the assault rifle that they believe was used in that homicide. That is extraordinarily quick work and, once again, it matters because taking a weapon like that, an assault rifle, off our streets saves lives.
England is on track to have completely eliminated the transmission of HIV by 2030, a promising new study has revealed.

The annual number of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) in England fell from 2,770 in 2013 to 854 in 2018, according to the new research.

Experts from the University of Cambridge credit the scaling up of testing and earlier treatment strategies from 2011 for this huge reduction.

Their models predict that if the reduction of transmission continues at this rate, an elimination of the transmission of the virus is well within reach by 2030.

Valerie Delpech, Head of National HIV Surveillance at Public Health England, said: 'We have made good progress towards ending HIV transmission by 2030 in England.

'Frequent HIV testing and the use of PrEP amongst people most at risk of HIV, together with prompt treatment among those diagnosed, are key to ending HIV transmission by 2030.'

The annual number of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) in England fell from 2,770 in 2013 to 854 in 2018, according to the new research

The annual number of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) in England fell from 2,770 in 2013 to 854 in 2018, according to the new research

WHAT IS PrEP? THE HIV PREVENTION DRUG THAT STOPS 90 PERCENT OF TRANSMISSION This drug in particular is fixed-dose combination of two anti-retroviral drugs, tenofovir and FTC, in one pill. They work together to interfere with an enzyme which HIV uses to infect new cells, slowing down the virus's attack or preventing it altogether. The drug is designed for people that have not yet been exposed to the virus to protect themselves against it. Alternatively, people who have been exposed can take PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis), a month-long course of drugs started within 72 hours of exposure. Advertisement

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease.

The virus has been passed on between humans for many decades, but was only identified in the early 80s.

While HIV cannot currently be cured, effective treatment can stop the virus from reproducing in your body, and reduce the amount of virus in the blood to undetectable levels, meaning that you cannot pass on HIV.

In the study, researchers from the University of Cambridge used a novel statistical model, using data on HIV and AIDS diagnoses routinely collected via national reporting systems in England, as well as knowledge on the progression of HIV.

The team used this data to extrapolate estimated trends in new infections to understand the likelihood of reaching the UN target  estimated at less than one newly acquired infection per 10,000 MSM by 2030.

Their analysis suggests that the peak in the number of new HIV infections in MSM in England likely occurred between 2012 and 2013.

This was followed by a steep decrease from 2,770 new infection in 2013 to 1,740 in 2015, before a further decrease from 2016, down to 854.

While the decline was seen across all age groups, it was particularly marked in MSM aged 25-34 years, and slowest in those aged 45+.

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease (artist's impression)

Importantly, this decrease began before the widespread roll-out of PrEP in 2016.

Professor Daniela De Angelis, senior author of the study, explained: 'With the rollout of PrEP, England looks on course to meet the goal of zero transmissions by 2030.

'Our study also shows the value of regular estimation of HIV incidence to recognise and respond appropriately to changes in the current downward trend.

'The challenge now is to achieve these reductions in all groups at risk for HIV acquisition.'

The findings come shortly after research revealed that in the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, (March - May 2020), there was a reduction in both HIV and STI testing in the UK.

Ms Delpech added: 'HIV and STI tests are still available through sexual health clinics during the COVID pandemic.

'Many clinics offer online testing throughout the year  people can order tests on clinic websites, take them in the privacy of their own home, return by post and receive results via text, phone call or post.'

This research is funded by the UK Medical Research Council, UK National Institute of Health Research Health Protection Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation, and Public Health England.
Much of the world was forced into lockdown in 2020 to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and although its main objective was to combat the virus, such efforts led to a 'rapid' reduction in air pollution emissions.

A newly published study from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) shows harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) decreased globally by 15 percent by June 2020.

Some cities in China saw a 50 percent decline 'within a few weeks' of their February 2020 lockdown, while some US states saw a 25 percent later in the spring.

'Global ozone levels had dropped to a level that policymakers thought would take at least 15 years to reach by conventional means, such as regulations,' NASA shared in a statement.

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A study conducted by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) shows harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) decreased globally by 15 percent, while local reductions were as high as 50 percent. Blue areas show a negative in emission levels

JPL scientist Kazuyuki Miyazaki, who led the research, said in a statement: 'I was very happy that our analysis system was able to capture the detailed changes in emissions across the world.

'The challenging and unprecedented nature of this work is a testament to improvements in satellite monitoring in service of societal needs.'

The team used satellite data from five NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) orbiting devices, models of atmospheric chemical reactions and weather and past climate models to determine if lockdown efforts had any impact on the ozone by comparing data to 2019.

Combining these tools, scientists reported global emissions dropped by 12 percent in February, 14 percent in March and 15 percent in April, with June recording a 13 percent reduction.

Scientists reported global emissions dropped by 12 percent in February, 14 percent in March and 15 percent in April, with June recording a 13 percent reduction

This was largely due to emission reductions in Asia and the Americas, which are among the largest producers of the harmful gases in the world. Pictured is Time Square in New York City when much of the US was under lockdown

'In February, the reduction in emissions from China made the largest contribution (36%) to the global NOx anomaly, whereas the contributions from other regions are larger from March to June, when China relaxed its restrictions,' scientists wrote in the study published in Science Advances.

'Regional total anthropogenic emissions dropped by 18 to 25% in April and May across Europe, North America, and the Middle East and West Asia. Africa and South America also show clear but moderate reductions in emissions (5 to 10%) in April and May, with substantial spatial variations within the regions,' they added.

Chinese NOx emissions rapidly declined from late January through late February, which is associated with the nation's first lockdown.

This was followed by a rapid recovery to normal levels in March and April, but in May, levels started to decrease due to a second lockdown that reduced levels by another eight percent.

The team used satellite data from five NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) orbiting devices, models of atmospheric chemical reactions and weather and past climate models to determine if lockdown efforts had any impact on the ozone by complaining data to 2019

Some cities in China saw a 50 percent decline 'within a few weeks' of their February 2020 lockdown, while some US (pictured) states saw a 25 percent later in the spring

'We estimate the maximum Chinese emission reduction to be 36% in total from early January to mid-February and about 20% due to the COVID restriction when excluding the influence of the Chinese New Year holiday,' reads the study.

In Italy, the early implementation of lockdown led to large emission reductions, from late February to early May, of up to 25 percent.

Other European countries, such as France and Spain, also experienced large emission reductions starting in March through May.

Most of the US announced stay-at-home orders in late March, but NASA saw a small emission decline in late February and early March.

Levels quickly dropped to about 25 percent in April and May, 'followed by a moderate recovery in June,' according to the study.
Spaceport Cornwall could be used to send probes to Mars, Venus and the moon within the next three or four years, Virgin Orbit's chief executive has said.

Sir Richard Branson's rocket company is aiming to open the Newquay-based spaceport by spring 2022, when the first satellites will be launched from British soil.

It had been hoped the horizontal launch site would be operational by October this year, but delays brought about by the coronavirus pandemic caused the date to slip.

Despite the setback, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart told MailOnline he was optimistic the company's LauncherOne rockets would be delivering payloads into orbit next year, with interplanetary probes likely to follow before the end of the decade.

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Future: Spaceport Cornwall could be used to send probes to Mars, Venus and the moon within three years, said Virgin Orbit's chief executive Dan Hart (pictured centre with Boris Johnson)

Sir Richard Branson's rocket company is aiming to open the Newquay-based spaceport (shown in an artist's impression) by spring 2022, when the first satellites will be launched from UK soil

Mr Hart was speaking a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps visited the Cornish spaceport to see Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket (pictured)

VIRGIN ORBIT LAUNCHERONE SPECS Destination: Earth's lower orbit Speed: 20 times the speed of sound Payload: Small satellites (660lb/300kg) Launch method: Modified Virgin Atlantic aircraft Flights begin: 2021 Weight: 57,000lb (25,800kg) Advertisement

'Lunar missions and smaller craft bound for Venus and Mars could be launched [from Spaceport Cornwall] within the next three or four years,' he said.

'We're not going to launch a Perseverance rover (currently being used by NASA to search for signs of ancient life on Mars), for example, but smaller interplanetary probes that explore or carry out landing missions are a possibility.'

However, despite there being talk the Cornish site could one day launch fee-paying space tourists on suborbital pleasure flights, the Virgin Orbit chief said human spaceflight was 'not currently part of the company's plans' for the facility.

Nevertheless, Mr Hart said he envisioned the spaceport having a Cape Canaveral-like effect on the Cornwall community, with people knowing when a launch is coming and being inspired that their friends and neighbours have worked on it.

He was speaking a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps visited the Cornwall spaceport to see Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket, ahead of a G7 summit of world leaders beginning on Friday.

'It was terrific to talk about the transformations going on in space and the opportunities for growth in the UK,' Mr Hart said.

'The PM was very eager to see our technology  he studied all the data and graphs we showed him and was keen to hear about the partnership between the US and UK, as well as how satellites can enhance national security.'

When asked whether Mr Johnson had mentioned going into space himself, Mr Hart said: 'He did not, but I'm pretty sure Grant Shapps would be very interested being the aviator that he is.'

When asked whether Mr Johnson had mentioned going into space himself, Mr Hart said: 'He did not, but I'm pretty sure Grant Shapps would be very interested being the aviator that he is'

Ready for launch: LauncherOne is a two-stage, air-to-orbit rocket that can carry small satellite payloads weighing up to about 660 pounds (300 kilograms) into low-Earth orbit

The rockets are carried up into the atmosphere on a carrier aircraft, dubbed 'Cosmic Girl', a Boeing 747-400 (pictured) converted from its former role as a Virgin passenger airliner

Mr Shapps is a keen pilot who often flies around the country on ministerial business.

Virgin Orbit will use Spaceport Cornwall to launch small satellites into space on LauncherOne, a two-stage, air-to-orbit rocket that can carry payloads weighing up to about 660 pounds (300 kilograms) into low-Earth orbit.

The rockets are carried up into the atmosphere on a carrier aircraft, dubbed 'Cosmic Girl', a Boeing 747-400 converted from its former role as a passenger airliner in the Virgin Atlantic fleet.

Spaceport Cornwall's development is expected to create around 150 jobs and allow the UK to compete in the global market for deploying small satellites into Earth orbit  an industry expected to be worth 3.9 billion by 2030 which Branson is hoping to tap into.

In January, Virgin Orbit succeeded in putting its first satellites into space, after launching ten payloads from under the wing of a 747 which launched from California's Mojave desert.

Success: Virgin Orbit put its first satellites into space in January after launching in California

The company announced on Tuesday that the next launch is planned for the end of June and will be live streamed for the first time.

Mr Hart would not be drawn on recent speculation that Branson might try to beat Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos into space by launching on his VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo rocket plane next month.

Unity is operated by Virgin Galactic  a separate company to Orbit  but despite saying he was in the dark about the billionaire mogul's plans, Mr Hart did acknowledge that Branson was 'anxious to go there'.

A report on Wednesday claimed the Virgin founder planned to make a suborbital flight two weeks before Bezos, who announced on Monday that he and his brother would fly to the edge of space on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft on July 20.
Two Viking warriors from the same clan separated for more than 1,000 years have finally been reunited at Denmark's National Museum, officials said on Wednesday.

DNA analysis showed that the Vikings, one of which died in England in the 11th century around 20 years of age and the other in his 50s in Denmark, were from the same family.

Bringing both men together marks the end of a 1,000-year-long journey in which they were separated.

'This is a big discovery because now you can trace movements across space and time through a family,' museum archeologist Jeanette Varberg told AFP.

Although the Viking who died in England was buried in a mass grave containing at least 35 men and boys in Oxford, both of them took part in battles.

The Viking in his 20s died from injuries to his head, while the Viking in his 50s has battle wounds on his skeleton, suggesting he was an active warrior.

The first skeleton was excavated near Otterup, Denmark in 2005, while the second was found under the quadrangle at St. John's College in Oxford, England in 2008, the Guardian reported.

It's believed that both men were killed at the St Brice's Day Massacre in 1002 AD when Danish Vikings invaded Scotland and England during the late 8th century.

The young man 'may have been cut down in a Viking raid, but there is also a theory that they (the skeletons in the mass grave) were victims of a royal decree by English King Ethelred the Second, who commanded in 1002 that all Danes in England should be killed,' Varberg added.

Two Viking warriors from the same clan separated for more than 1,000 years have finally been reunited at Denmark's National Museum

The first skeleton of the man in his 50s was excavated near Otterup, Denmark in 2005

The second skeleton of the man in his 20s was found under the quadrangle at St. John's College in Oxford, England in 2008

It's unclear how the men were related, with some experts speculating they could have been half-brothers, a grandfather and grandson or uncle and nephew.

'It's very difficult to tell if they lived in the same age or they differ maybe by a generation, because you have no material in the grave that can give a precise dating. So you have a margin of 50 years plus or minus,' Varberg explained.

In October, Oxfordshire County Council's Museum Resource Centre said it was sending the skeleton, known as SK1756 back to Denmark for a reunification.

Although the Viking who died in England was buried in a mass grave containing at least 35 men and boys in Oxford, both of them took part in battles

The skull of a Viking skeleton from AD 1002 which features nine sword mark. The Viking in his 20s died from injuries to his head

Archaeology curator Angie Bolton inspects a Viking skeleton from AD 1002 at the Museum Resource Centre in Oxfordshire today

SK1756 is also set to be featured in a TV documentary about the Vikings led by Dr. Rane Willerslev, director of the National Museum of Denmark.

Some of the work in establishing the link between the two skeletons was carried out by his twin brother Eske, an expert in DNA.

The full Viking skeleton is seen at the Museum Resource Centre in Oxfordshire

The vertebrae of a Viking skeleton from AD 1002 which features markings from a spear or projectile at the Museum Resource Centre in Oxfordshire

'It was strange to see this skeleton - one of your ancestors - which had been hit eight to 10 times in the head and stabbed several times in the spine, just lying there in front of you,' Dr. Willerslev said in October.

Willerslev went to Standlake, Oxon., to interview archaeology curator Angie Bolton, who said at the time that the DNA link to the Danish skeleton was 'amazing.'

The mass grave was discovered in 2008 when excavations took place ahead of a development in the grounds of the University's of Oxford's St John's College.

Subsequent research then showed that they had all been massacred at the same time, probably in AD 1002.

While 33 of them were tall, robust adult males, two were adolescents who had met a violent death - but did not necessarily lead a violent life.

Analysis suggests that some of the victims originated from within the UK, Denmark and Germany.

The rib bones of a Viking skeleton from AD 1002 at the Museum Resource Centre in Oxfordshire

The massacre was prompted by King Aethelred's frustration at his inability to stop Viking invaders from raiding England, experts say.

There are plans to carry out further tests on SK1756 in an effort to unearth more secrets from beyond the grave.

The documentary and the exhibition will open at the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen in 2021 and run in various forms until 2024.
Google has developed an artificial intelligence that it says is capable of creating computer chips in 'under six hours,' according to a new study.

The research, published in Nature, notes that humans can take 'months' to design specialized chips for its tensor processing units - a type of chip used in AI - but the reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm is better and faster than humans at creating more complex AI.

'The RL agent becomes better and faster at floorplanning optimization as it places a greater number of chip netlists,' the researchers wrote in the study.

'We show that our method can generate chip floorplans that are comparable or superior to human experts in under six hours, whereas humans take months to produce acceptable floorplans for modern accelerators.'

Google developed an artificial intelligence that it says is capable of creating computer chips in 'under six hours'

The new process was used in Google's latest TPU chip, Anna Goldie, one of the study's co-authors said

The researchers gave the software 10,000 chip floorplans to analyze and it then worked out how to come up with floorplans that did not use more space, wire and electric power than those designed by humans

The chip floorplan is where parts such as CPUs, GPUs and memory have been placed on the silicon.

It could have broader implications for the semiconductor industry, which is struggling with the end of Moore's Law

Google's research should be shared for the greater good, according to an editorial alongside the study

Putting its money where its mouth is, the Google researchers said it is already being used commercially in the latest version of its tensor processing unit chips.

Google's researchers gave the software 10,000 chip floorplans to analyze and it then worked out how to come up with floorplans that did not use more space, wire and electric power than those designed by humans.

The chip floorplan is where parts such as CPUs, GPUs and memory have been placed on the silicon.

Since the 1960s, there have been three different approaches to how these parts could be laid out on the silicon: partitioning-based methods, stochastic/hill-climbing approaches and analytic solvers.

None have achieved human level performance, but the RL system is able to do it fairly easily.

'Our method, on the other hand, can scale to netlists with millions of nodes, and optimizes directly for any mixture of differentiable or non-differentiable cost functions,' the researchers added.

'Furthermore, our method improves in both speed and quality of result because it is exposed to more instances of the chip placement problem.

'In addition to the immediate impact on chip floorplanning, the ability of our method to generalize and quickly generate high-quality solutions has major implications, unlocking opportunities for co-optimization with earlier stages of the chip design process. Large-scale architectural explorations were previously impossible, because it took months of human effort to accurately evaluate a given architectural candidate.'

It's widely considered a remarkable achievement, one that has been hailed by some of the leading AI researchers in the world, including Facebooks Yann LeCun.

This is considered a remarkable achievement, one that has been hailed by some of the leading AI researchers in the world, including Facebooks Yann LeCun

It could have broader implications for the semiconductor industry, which is struggling with the end of Moore's Law, which states the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years.

There is the concern, however, that the findings should be shared for the greater good.

'This is an important achievement and will be a huge help in speeding up the supply chain, but the technical expertise must be shared widely to make sure the ecosystem of companies becomes genuinely global,' an editorial published in Nature reads.

'And the industry must make sure that the time-saving techniques do not drive away people with the necessary core skills.'
While Uber Elevate plans to launch an air taxi service for up to four passengers in 2023, a New York-startup is thinking bigger by developing a drone bus that fits 40 people.

Kelekona recently unveiled plans for a giant electric vertical takeoff and landing craft (eVTOL) to transport people between cities, with the first route set for Manhattan and the Hamptons.

This flight would take just 30 minutes and cost flyers $85  the same price as a train ticket.

The firm is eyeing 2024 for its first passenger flights and plans to expand into different regions soon after that includes London to Paris and Los Angeles to San Francisco. .

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Kelekona recently unveiled plans for a giant electric vertical takeoff and landing craft (eVTOL) to transport people between cities, with the first route set for Manhattan and the Hamptons

Founder Braeden Kelekona told Digital Trends the company's main competitor is public transportation, as many travelers hit the road, squish into trains or waiting on line for the bus when starting a vacation or weekend getaway.

And it seems fitting that the first route would be in New York.

'We have a really small airspace in New York,' Kelekona told the news outlet.

'It never made sense to us to create a small aircraft that was only able to carry up to six people.

The firm is eyeing 2024 for its first passenger flights and plans to expand into different regions soon after that includes London to Paris and Los Angeles to San Francisco

To achieve one-way, one-hour flights, Kelekona is developing a swappable battery method similar to what Tesla uses in its Model S and Model 3 cars

'You have to have the kind of mass transit we rely on here in the city. It makes sense to try to move as many people as possible in one aircraft, so that we're not hogging airspace.'

After Kelekona gets the New York route up and running, the firm plans to add other pathways including Boston to New York; New York to Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles to San Francisco.

The drone bus, which resembles a mash-up of a flying saucer and blimp, is designed with eight thrust vectoring fans with movable propellers to perform all stages of flight: vertical takeoff, forward flight and landing.

And to achieve one-way, one-hour flights, Kelekona is developing a swappable battery method similar to what Tesla uses in its Model S and Model 3 cars.

The drone bus resembles a mash-up of a flying saucer and blimp

The drone bus is designed with eight thrust vectoring fans with movable propellers to perform all stages of flight: vertical takeoff, forward flight and landing

By utilizing swappable batteries, the drone bus can cut turnaround time when flying between hubs, thus eliminating the need to recharge.

The battery pack, according to the New York startup, will also be equipped with 3.6 megawatt hours of capacity, which is enough to power thousands of homes.

Along with taking passengers for joy rides, Kelekona also sees its drone bus transporting cargo for military personal in war zones or assisting as an aerial medical evacuation in the event of an emergency.

Along with taking passengers for joy rides, Kelekona also sees its drone bus transporting cargo for military personal in war zones or assisting as an aerial medical evacuation in the event of an emergency

Although Kelekona has a route picked and date set for passenger flights, it has only designed its drone bus in computer simulations.

But Kelekona told Digital Trends that the world should 'expect to see our aircraft in the air next year.'

Uber Technologies sold its air taxi arm in December to Joby Aviation, but the deal has not pulled the plug on Uber's initial plans to ferry passengers through the skies by 2023.

While terms of the transaction were not released, Uber has agreed to invest $75 million in Joby Aviation.
Gordon Ramsay's daughter Holly put on a sizzling display as she posed up a storm in new lingerie pics.

The 21-year-old model, who is the second eldest daughter of the celebrity chef, 54, looked amazing as she showed off her figure in a baby blue bralette and matching mini shorts by Boux Avenue.

Her stunning snaps come amid rumours that she's set to star in the upcoming series of Love Island, which kicks off later this month.

Looking good: Gordon Ramsay's daughter Holly put on a sizzling display as she posed up a storm in new lingerie pics

Holly is the latest face of the lingerie brand and proved to be her own best effort as she modelled the skimpy two-piece while standing in front of a lush green backdrop.

The fashion and design student left her brunette tresses loose for the snap, while she highlighted her natural beauty with a minimal make-up palette.

Holly, who is signed to EST Models, is also no stranger to posing for the camera, often sharing snaps from her shoots on social media.

Her Boux Avenue collaboration comes as she's tipped to enter the famous Mallorca villa this year as the new series of the ITV2 show begins once again.

Wow: The 21-year-old model, who is the second eldest daughter of the celebrity chef, 54, looked amazing as she showed off her figure in a baby blue bralette and matching mini shorts by Boux Avenue

Speaking of bosses desire to get her on the show, a source told The Sun: 'Hollys been brought up to work hard, show respect and not to rely on her dads celebrity.

'Shes finding her own way and will be successful in her own right.'

The beauty has reportedly been approached by show bosses 'many times', however Gordon's representatives have denied she's joining the show.

That's my girl: The 21-year-old model is the second eldest daughter of celebrity chef Gordon, 54,

They informed The Mirror: 'This is not true. Holly has no interest in joining the show although she has been approached many times.'

MailOnline have contacted Gordon's representatives for comment.

It comes after on Sunday, Love Island 2021 released its latest trailer, as sexy singletons flood the streets of London ahead of another summer of romance.

The advert saw host Laura Whitmore slip into a plunging red jumpsuit while narrator Iain Stirling declared 'this is not a drill!' as a slew of bikini-clad beauties celebrated the show's return.

Model behaviour: Holly, who is signed to EST Models, is also no stranger to posing for the camera, often sharing snaps from her shoots on social media

As the trailer came to a close, it confirmed reports that the series, which is set to be filmed at the famous villa in Mallorca despite Covid restrictions, will return to ITV later this month.

Series seven of the popular ITV2 show kicks off this June, with builders recently seen working at the Majorcan villa usually used for the show.

The new tag line for the show, 'This is not a drill', comes after last year's season was postponed due to the pandemic.

She's back! It comes after on Sunday, Love Island 2021 released its latest trailer, as sexy singletons flood the streets of London ahead of another summer of romance

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.

About time! The new tag line for the show, 'This is not a drill', comes after last year's season was postponed due to the pandemic (pictured is host Laura)

Love Island has had 'more applications than ever' with over 1,000 singletons already interviewed amid the show's current selection process for the 2021 series.

ITV commissioner, Amanda Stavri, teased the upcoming series in a new interview and revealed that the team are all 'very pleased' with the potential line-up.

Speaking to RadioTimes, the Love Island boss said: 'There's been more applications than ever. They've whittled it down and we're all very pleased.

'We've got a big sort of pool at the moment and we need to sort of work out who to put in the opening line-up and who sort of to hold back, you know as a bombshell  we need the bombshells.'
It's shaping up to look like a proper Sex And The City reunion with reports that several of the show's most popular male actors will be back for the upcoming sequel series And Just Like That.

Mario Cantone, David Eigenberg, Willie Garson and Evan Handler have all joined the cast of the series which will follow Sarah Jessica Parker's character Carrie Bradshaw and her friends Charlotte and Miranda, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

DailyMail.com previously revealed in May that Eigenberg had signed on for the reprise, along with stars Chris Noth and John Corbett, who played Carrie's competing love interests Mr. Big and Aidan, respectively.

Back for more: Mario Cantone, David Eigenberg, Willie Garson and Evan Handler have all joined the cast of the Sex And The City sequel series And Just Like That, according to The Hollywood Reporter

'Everyone at And Just Like That is thrilled to be able to continue the storylines of these beloved Sex And The City characters with the actors who made them so lovable,' said executive producer Michael Patrick King, who served as the showrunner on the original series.

Cantone, a comedian who has more recently made guest appearances on FX's Better Things, will be back as Anthony Marentino, a gay wedding planner who worked with Charlotte (Kristin Davis) before becoming her good friend.

Eigenberg reprises his role as the sometimes-geeky Steve, who became the most serious love interest for Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and later married her.

Garson played Stanford Blatch, Carrie's greatest confidant and one of the only male characters to occasionally carry a storyline on his own.

More star power: Willie Garson, who played Carrie's best male friend Stanford Blatch, will be back after marrying Cantone's character in the second movie. Evan Handler will reprise his role as Harry Goldenblatt, who married Charlotte

His character married Cantone's wedding planner in the second Sex And The City movie, so fans may get a chance to see what married life is like for them.

Handler rounds out the newest batch of SATC love interests as Harry Goldenblatt, a divorce lawyer who represents Charlotte when she splits from her husband Trey MacDougal (played by Twin Peaks' Kyle MacLachlan).

Despite initially being turned off by his appearance and gruff demeanor, she falls for him and they marry later in the series.

In May, DailyMail.com reported that Eigenberg and Carrie's most popular suitors would all be back.

Former Law & Order star Chris Noth played Carrie's longtime onoff love interest Big, with the two feature films exploring their married life together.

The Big time: In May, DailyMail.com reported that Eigenberg and Carrie's most popular suitors would all be back, including Chris Noth's Mr. Big, who eventually married Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker)

Mr. Big's greatest competitor was the warmer, more outgoing Aidan, played by John Corbett.

When he was last seen in Sex And The City 2, he was married and had two young sons.

Carrie had a brief flirtation with him and a quick kiss, though she cut it off and opted to remain faithful to Big.

DailyMail.com also revealed last month that one behind-the-scenes star of Sex And The City will be missing from And Just Like That: the acclaimed costume designer Patricia Field, who is responsible for the cast's iconic outfits.

'Patricia Field is not coming back  she is focusing on Emily in Paris,' a senior production source said at the time. 'This is a first for the show as the clothes for the sixth season and two movies were all styled by Patricia.'

Another major absence will be felt as Kim Cattrall's Samantha won't be featured in the sequel series.

The actress has feuded on and off with Parker in recent years and opted not to return.

However, Grey's Anatomy alum Sara Ramirez will be joining the fold as a non-binary comedian and podcast host who regular chats with Carrie on their show.
It's one of the most popular homegrown hit drama shows to hit our television screens, but after five seasons Doctor Doctor is now coming to an end.

Channel Nine confirmed on Thursday morning that the romance drama starring Rodger Corser as heart surgeon Hugh Knight, has been cancelled and will finish at the end of it's current season.

The program currently airs on Nine on Wednesday nights, with only two episodes remaining.

Cancelled! Channel Nine confirms that popular Aussie drama Doctor Doctor starring Rodger Corser will come to an end after the fifth season

'Goodbye Whyhope...what a bloody great journey its been' wrote show lead Rodger on Twitter . 'Thank you to all my cast mates and creatives.'

'But the biggest thanks is to all our fans! We got to go out as we wanted with closure and a bloody great final act...grab the tissues' he added.

Rodger also thanked the New South Wales towns of Mudgee and Camden - where the show films at.

'What a bloody great journey its been': Show lead Rodger Corser thanked his Doctor Doctor costars, the crew, the towns of Mudgee and Camden, and, most importantly, the fans of the hit drama showin a heartfelt Twitter post

'All journeys have a destination, and after five seasons its finally crunch time in Hughs roller-coaster search for redemption and love' wrote Nine's head of drama, Andy Ryan and show creator, Ian Collie.

They continued, 'we are thrilled to bring the story to a fitting climax in a way that honours the characters. At a time when Aussie drama seems under threat - lets celebrate the success of Doctor Doctor.'

Besides being show creator, Ian was also the producer for all 48 episodes and writer for 37 episodes. He has previously produced other hit Aussie dramas such as Jack Irish and Rake.

Coming to an end: Channel Nine's head of drama, Andy Ryan, and show creator, Ian Collie, wrote somberly of the show's climax - 'at a time when Aussie drama seems under threat - lets celebrate the success of Doctor Doctor'

The romantic drama series had Rodger Corser playing Dr Hugh Knight, a charming heart surgeon who is forced to work in his former home town of Whyhope as a country GP as punishment for his hedonistic and party lifestyle.

The show carried high ratings and strong audience numbers- averaging between 700-800,000 TV viewers in the first season. The May 26th episode of the current season accumulated 784,000 viewers (when encore and BVOD numbers are included).

In addition to Rodger, the series also included Tina Bursill, Nicole da Silva, Ryan Johnson Chloe Bayliss, Belinda Bromilow and Hayley McElhinney.
Noel Gallagher has branded Prince Harry a 'f*****g woke snowflake' for publicly criticising the Royal Family.

The Oasis frontman, 54, who has a notoriously sour relationship with his own brother Liam, 48, said he sympathises with Prince William for having a brother who is 'shooting his f*****g mouth off'.

Noel didn't hold back in his criticism of the Duke of Sussex, telling The Sun: 'Prince William. I feel that f*****g lad's pain.

'He's got a f*****g younger brother shooting his f*****g mouth off with s*** that is just so unnecessary. I'd like to think I was always the William.'

Opinion: Noel Gallagher has branded Prince Harry a 'f*****g woke snowflake' for publicly criticising the Royal Family (pictured in May 2021)

The rocker also criticised Harry for 'dissing your family' - referring to Harry and Meghan's recent Oprah special and Harry's mental health documentary series in which he has lambasted the Royal Family - and told him to 'shut up'.

Noel has recently been doing promo for his solo project High Flying Birds and has found many interviewers want to know his thoughts on the Duke.

While admitting he doesn't know Harry, Noel added: 'Prince Harry is coming across like a typical f*****g woke snowflake, f*****g a***hole. Just don't be f*****g dissing your family because there's no need for it.'

Noel also made a dig at Harry's wife Meghan Markle, saying this is what happens when you 'get involved' with Americans.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for comment.

Honest: The Oasis frontman, 54, who has a notoriously sour relationship with his brother Liam, 48, said he sympathises with Prince William for having a brother who is 'shooting his f*****g mouth off' (Prince Harry pictured on The Me You Can't See)

War of words: Noel said: 'Prince Harry is coming across like a typical f*****g woke snowflake, f*****g a***hole. Just don't be f*****g dissing your family because there's no need for it' (William and Harry pictured together in 2017)

Harry has been speaking candidly about his fractured relationship with his family in various US television appearances since the drama of 'Megxit' last year.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who welcomed daughter Lilibet last week, stepped down as senior members of the Royal Family last year and relocated to Los Angeles with their son Archie, two.

During his documentary, the Duke lambasted the parenting skills of the Prince of Wales, criticising his father for expecting his sons to endure the pressures of royal life, just as Charles has done, instead of protecting them.

Harry also accused his family of 'total neglect' when Meghan was feeling suicidal amid harassment on social media.

And he laid bare his battles with panic attacks and severe anxiety, saying 'so 28 to probably 32 was a nightmare time in my life'.

Scrapped: Noel's words come 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 (pictured in 2009)

Interview: Harry spoke about his fractured relationship with his family in his and Meghan's incendiary CBS special with Oprah Winfrey which aired in March

Asked by Oprah if he had any regrets, Harry also said he wished that he had taken a stronger stance on 'the racism' aimed at Meghan early in their relationship.

Harry claimed that it was only him and their unborn child that kept Meghan going, after she told him about her suicidal thoughts and the practicalities of how she was going to end her life.

He said: 'The thing that stopped her from seeing it through was how unfair it would be on me after everything that had happened to my mum and to now be put in a position of losing another woman in my life, with a baby inside of her, our baby.'

He said he was 'somewhat ashamed' of the way he dealt with it, suggesting that rather than prioritising their official duties they should have pulled out. But at the time, Harry said, that was not an option, because of 'the system'.

Harry said that after marrying Meghan his attempts to get help from his family, following online trolling which was pushing her to the brink, were ignored.

Before Megxit: During his AppleTV+ documentary, the Duke once again lambasted the parenting skills of the Prince of Wales, criticising his father for expecting his sons to endure the pressures of royal life, just as Charles has done, instead of protecting them (pictured 2018)

He said: 'Every single ask, request, warning, whatever it is, to stop just got met with total silence or total neglect.'

Harry added: 'We spent four years trying to make it work. We did everything that we possibly could to stay there and carry on doing the role and doing the job.'

He said he did not go to his family when Meghan felt suicidal because he was ashamed the situation had got 'that bad' and also suspected the royals would not have been able to help.

The duke said: 'That was one of the biggest reasons to leave, feeling trapped and feeling controlled through fear, both by the media and by the system itself which never encouraged the talking about this kind of trauma. Certainly now I will never be bullied into silence.'

Harry was also shown taking part in an eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy session with a trained professional.

Family: Harry criticised his family, accusing them of 'total neglect' when his wife Meghan was feeling suicidal amid harassment on social media (pictured with Meghan in 2018)

He said: 'Therapy has equipped me to be able to take on anything - that's why I'm here now, that's why my wife is here now.'

In the CBS special, the Sussexes first accused the royal family of not supporting them, claimed royal aides declined to help Meghan when she was troubled with suicidal thoughts and said a relative had made a racist comment about their son's skin colour.

Harry also appeared to suggest his father and grandparents, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, had all failed as parents during a podcast interview broadcast earlier in May.

Last month, the Royal sparked outrage in the US after describing the First Amendment - one of the country's most cherished founding principles - as 'bonkers'.

Harry - who has made a fortune through American companies like Netflix and Spotify while living in California - made the comments on Dax Shepard's podcast.

'I've got so much I want to say about the First Amendment as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers.

'I don't want to start going down the First Amendment route because that's a huge subject and one which I don't understand because I've only been here a short time, but you can find a loophole in anything.

'You can capitalize or exploit what's not said rather than uphold what is said.'

Many Americans who'd embraced him and reacted sympathetically to his comments on Oprah were angered by the remarks, as were Brits.

Republican Texas congressman, veteran Dan Crenshaw tweeted: 'Well I just doubled the size of my Independence Day party.'

New arrival: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their daughter on Friday morning - before announcing her birth on Sunday - and made headlines after they named her Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. Pictured: Harry and Meghan in February

Meghan McCain tweeted: 'We fought a war in 1776 so we dont have to care what you say or think.

'That being said, you have chosen to seek refuge from your homeland here and thrive because all of what our country has to offer and one of the biggest things is the 1st amendment - show some utter respect.'

It comes after Prince Harry has threatened the BBC with legal action after it reported that he and Meghan did not ask the Queen for permission to name their daughter Lilibet - as an extraordinary three-way briefing war broke out between the Sussexes, the Palace and the corporation.

Senior Buckingham Palace sources told BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond that the Queen was 'never asked' her opinion on the couple's decision to name their new baby, who was born on June 4, after her childhood nickname.

Regrets: Asked by Oprah if he had any regrets, Harry also said he wished that he had taken a stronger stance on 'the racism' aimed at Meghan early in their relationship (pictured 2018)

However, Harry hit back within 90 minutes of the BBC's report being published through a statement from his and Meghan's close friend Omid Scobie that insisted the Queen was the first person the Duke called after the birth of his daughter.

Mr Scobie, who wrote the bombshell Finding Freedom biography of the couple, also claimed the Sussexes would not have used the name Lilibet unless the Queen had supported the move.

Harry, who together with Meghan announced they were expecting a girl during their interview with Oprah in March, took things a step further mere hours after his rebuttal of the report, threatening the BBC with legal action through law firm Schillings.

Notice of the legal action was followed by a carefully-worded statement that raised more questions than answers over whether the Queen did give permission or if the couple simply informed her of their intentions in a fait accompli.

The statement insisted that the BBC report was wholly wrong and read: 'The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement, in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called.

'During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.'

The BBC then amended its report though the article still says that the Queen was not asked about the name of the baby. Mr Dymond's tweets citing a Buckingham Palace source also still remain up.

The BBC report on the Palace's position and Harry's fiery reaction implies both parties believe they are telling the truth on the issue. It suggests that Harry and Meghan could have informed the Queen of Lilibet's name before taking Her Majesty's non-denial as consent.

On the other hand, the Palace briefings appear to hint that the Queen felt she was presented with the couple's decision and asked to rubber stamp it, rather than give permission.

The explosive row is the latest chapter of Harry's ongoing feud with the broadcaster after he attacked the BBC following the inquiry into Martin Bashir's interview with his mother Princess Diana. Harry blasted the 1995 BBC Panorama interview and said his mother 'lost her life because of this'.

Despite Harry's strong condemnation of the BBC report about Lilibet, Buckingham Palace refused to comment on whether the story was true when approached by MailOnline.
Police said they got a 911 call about 11:15 p.m. from a man who said he was on his way to the hospital because he had been shot. A female friend was driving him, Lt. Ryan Shea said.
She received a big pay rise when she was promoted to Sunrise co-anchor in March, after Sam Armytage quit the Seven breakfast show.

And now Natalie Barr has received another unexpected windfall - although perhaps not as big as she would like.

The 53-year-old revealed on Wednesday she'd been given a 'one cent refund' from her bank - before asking fans for ideas as to how she should spend it.

Hey, big spender? Sunrise host Natalie Barr has received another unexpected windfall - although perhaps not as big as she would like

Sharing a photo of her letter from Westpac, the mother of two asked her followers on Instagram: 'Any idea how I can spend my one cent refund?'

The tongue-in-cheek post comes after Natalie's predecessor on Sunrise, Sam Armytage, addressed why she doesn't follow her former co-stars on social media.

On Wednesday, Sam, 44, offered a vague response when grilled about the subject by radio host Kyle Sandilands on her Something to Talk About podcast.

The KIIS FM star asked her: 'I read that you were unfollowing [David Koch] and Nat! Did you unfollow these people?'

Don't spend it all at once: The 53-year-old revealed on Wednesday she'd been given a 'one cent refund' from her bank - before asking fans how she should use it

Awkward: The tongue-in-cheek post comes after Natalie's predecessor on Sunrise, Sam Armytage (left), addressed why she doesn't follow her former co-stars on social media. Right: David 'Kochie' Koch

Through awkward laughter, Sam responded: 'I don't think I unfo...' before trailing off and adding: 'I don't think anyone's following anyone in there.'

Indeed, despite being colleagues for years, neither Kochie nor Natalie are among the 1,200 people that Sam follows on Instagram.

The pair, who currently host Sunrise together since Sam's departure in March, still happily follow her themselves.

No holds barred: Kyle Sandilands questioned Sam: 'I read that you were unfollowing Kochie and Nat! Did you unfollow these people?'

Eek! Through awkward laughter, Sam responded: 'I don't think I unfo...' before trailing off and adding: 'I don't think anyone's following anyone in there'

Gone: Sam's still follows many of her former Seven co-workers, including Kylie Gillies and Sam Mac. However, a search for David Koch on her 'following' list yields no results

Not on the list: She is also not following Natalie, as shown here

Sam still follows many of her former Channel Seven colleagues, including Kylie Gillies, Sam Mac and Edwina Bartholomew.

It comes after Kochie 65, and Natalie revealed they weren't invited to Sam's farewell party, which took place after her last day on Sunrise on March 11.

The pair were grilled about Sam's departure on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, and they admitted weren't even told about the shindig at Catalina in Rose Bay.

'We didn't know about it and we had a postponed Christmas party the next day,' said Koch.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on March 8 that Sam and Kochie's professional relationship had hit an 'all-time low' in the months before her resignation.

Barr'ed! Both David and Natalie (pictured) follow Sam on the social media platform, even though she doesn't follow them back

The plot thickens! It comes after Kochie 65, and Natalie, 53, revealed they weren't invited to Sam's farewell party, which took place after her last day on Sunrise on March 11

Network sources claimed they barely spoke off camera, and the dynamic between them had become 'untenable' by early 2021.

Sam has previously said in her column for Stellar magazine she is quite selective with the people she follows on social media.

It's possible she isn't following the current Sunrise hosts because she wants to move on from that chapter in her life.

In March, Sam stepped down from hosting Channel Seven's breakfast show after eight years in order to spend more time with her family.

Her departure followed her intimate wedding to millionaire businessman Richard Lavender on New Year's Eve.
She recently revealed that she makes more 'money than most people's annual wage in a month' as a social media influencer.

And Martha Kalifatidis shook her money maker on Thursday, spruiking activewear from WAG Nadia Bartel's fashion line Henne.

The 33-year-old showed off her famous curves in brown crop top and a pair of matching leggings.

Dangerous curves! Martha Kalifatidis showed off her curves as she spruiked VERY tight activewear by WAG Nadia Bartel on Wednesday evening

Before showing off the set, the brunette beauty covered up in a cosy blue sweater, which she took off to flaunt her cleavage in the low-cut crop top.

The Celebrity Apprentice star twisted and turned in the mirror to show off her every angle, including her famous Kim Kardashian lookalike bottom.

Martha wore her long dark locks out in a ponytail and was made up in full makeup for the clips.

When it comes to reality TV influencers, the former Married At First Sight bride is arguably at the top of the ladder.

Booty! Martha flaunted her famous behind as she worked her angles for the camera

Glammed up: Martha wore her long dark locks out in a ponytail and was made up in full makeup for the clips

The pint-sized star has amassed over 600,000 Instagram followers since finding fame two years ago and has racked up endorsement deals with some of Australia's biggest brands in the process.

From beauty and wellness products to activewear, liquor, shopping apps and even ice cream, Martha is making serious money on social media.

On a recent episode of The Celebrity Apprentice, Martha bragged that she's so successful that she can early a yearly wage in just a month.

Money maker! Former Married At First Sight star Martha has become one of Australia's most successful Instagram influencers over the last two years

'I'm a beauty influencer who probably makes your yearly wage in a month. So, you should probably take some notes because this is not a fluke,' she said.

And while the comment ruffled some feathers, it's easy to see how Martha became so successful by looking at her brand deals over the last two years.

The brunette got her first major endorsement shortly after MAFS when she became one of the new ambassadors for skincare brand Nip + Fab.

Early days: The brunette got her first major endorsement shortly after MAFS when she became one of the new ambassadors for skincare brand Nip + Fab

It was quite a coup for the star, who was branded a 'Kmart Kardashian' by trolls, as Kylie Jenner was previously the face of Nip + Fab in the U.S.

Shortly after, Martha collaborated with Australian beauty brand Aceology to launch their gel sheet masks.

After she featured one of the masks on her Instagram page, they immediately sold out online, proving just how influential she is.

Bottoms up! Dan Murphy's is another major Australian brand that Martha works with

The Aussie beauty brand confirmed the news to Daily Mail Australia, stating that they received 'an influx of email requests and Instagram messages' about the mask after Martha wore it.

The reality star's influence has only grown from there, leading to deals with major brands like Magnum ice creams, Dan Murphy's, Olay skincare, Armans Fine Jewellery and Chemist Warehouse.

She's also starred in a television commercial for ShopBack and become one of the new ambassadors for Myer to promote Levi's denim.

Small screen: The brunette has even appeared in a TV commercial for the Shopback app

Martha is currently the second most followed Married At First Sight star on social media, second only to Jules Robinson.

The former TV bride is now starring on the new season of The Celebrity Apprentice Australia, where she's already ruffling feathers for some remarks she made about her finances.

'Nobody listens to me because they think I'm just a beauty influencer. They don't understand,' Martha said of her team.

Influential: Olay skincare and Armans Fine Jewellery are just two of the other brands Martha has worked with

'I'm a beauty influencer who probably makes your yearly wage in a month. So, you should probably take some notes because this is not a fluke.'

Some viewers found the remark distasteful, with one posting on Twitter: 'Talk about having a chip on your shoulder.'

Another said: 'Martha, do you really genuinely think that your one-off face mask and teeth whitening sponsored Instagram posts earn you more than The Veronicas? Please come back to earth.'

Icon: Martha has even made it to the big leagues by working with Myer on a denim campaign for Levi's

One simply commented 'wow', while another described her as 'so vain'.

However, it wasn't all negative feedback, with one Twitter user commending Martha for her ability to 'fight for herself' while another praised her as a 'business guru'.

Martha previously told Daily Mail Australia that 'never in her wildest dreams' did she believe creating sponsored posts at home would become her full-time job, and expressed her surprise at how financially viable it is.

Confident: 'I'm a beauty influencer who probably makes your yearly wage in a month. So, you should probably take some notes because this is not a fluke,' she recently said

'It is surprising. I worked as a makeup artist for so long and I knew that big brands turn over so much. And the number one thing that they all invest in is marketing,' she said.

Although Martha did not reveal the exact figure she charges for branded content, it's estimated she makes up to $3,000 for a single sponsored selfie.

Some brands likely pay even more for multi-post deals, or to exclusively sign Martha up as the face of their campaigns across different platforms.
Former Bachelorette Angie Kent broke up with her winning suitor Carlin Sterritt almost a year ago.

And it seems time has finally healed all wounds.

'I think I would like to start dating again,' the 31-year-old told Who Magazine.

'I think I would like to start dating again': A year after splitting with Carlin Sterritt, former Bachelorette Angie Kent is keen to find love once more

'I know it has been about a year since I split with old mate [Carlin] but so much has happened, the pandemic and I moved back to Queensland, so the time feels like it has flown, but it I do feel like I'm ready,' she added.

The podcast host appears to have recently changed her tune as she told the same magazine last month she was 'too scared' to return to the dating scene.

'I don't think I'm ready, I'm still working on myself  I know that sounds cliche, but I am,' she said at the time.

Ready for romance: 'I know it has been about a year since I split with old mate [Carlin] but so much has happened, the pandemic and I moved back to Queensland, so the time feels like it has flown, but it I do feel like I'm ready,' Angie, 31, told Who magazine

Following her split from Carlin, the ex-Gogglebox star focused her energy on launching an acting career, and landed a role in the horror movie The Possessed.

'I haven't really had time to think of dating. Some people jump on whereas I like to work on myself and then keep working to kind of get over that,' she said.

In November last year, Angie told The Kyle and Jackie O Show she would be taking a break from dating.

'I'm not cuddling with anyone, I'm so boring. I would tell you I promise,' she told hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson at the time.

'After dating 20 dudes [on The Bachelorette], like I know that was a year ago now, but, like, Carlin and I only broke up a few months ago, so it's kinda like you don't want to jump straight back in,' she explained.

'Plus, I don't know if I trust yet,' she added.

When Kyle asked if there was any chance she and Carlin would get back together, Angie adamantly said: 'No, nah.'

He then pressed her on what caused the split, and she said that while they were very smitten on the show, things between them were 'so different' on the outside.

'You don't want to jump straight back in': In November last year, Angie told The Kyle and Jackie O Show she would be taking a step back from the dating scene

'I think both of us a little bit [different]. I'm always myself, but he got to see [me] full throttle and I was stressed after the show too,' she said.

'He was very religious, so he had these ideas that I could, should be a certain way, when I wasn't.

'I don't want to be with somebody that wants me to change, I want somebody who will love me for me.'

Not meant to be: Angie (right) had moved to Sydney in February last year to live with Carlin (left), but they had split by June. The couple had initially met on The Bachelorette in 2019

Angie had moved to Sydney in February last year to live with Carlin, but they had split by June.

The couple had initially met on The Bachelorette in 2019.

Carlin has since moved on with girlfriend Emily Bradwell.
Star Wars actors Pedro Pascal and Ewan McGregor have more in common than starring in the same beloved franchise, with both revealing their love for Baby Yoda, a.k.a. Grogu.

Pascal stars as the title character in the beloved Star Wars series The Mandalorian, with McGregor playing the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels and an upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, which started production in April.

Both stars spoke to each other in a virtual interview for Variety's Actors on Actors series, where they both bonded over the beloved character Grogu.

Bond: Star Wars actors Pedro Pascal and Ewan McGregor have more in common than starring in the same beloved franchise, with both revealing their love for Baby Yoda, a.k.a. Grogu

Grogu: Both stars spoke to each other in a virtual interview for Variety's Actors on Actors series, where they both bonded over the beloved character Grogu

McGregor revealed that The Mandalorian, which followed Pascal's title character, a mysterious bounty hunter, 'pulled me back into the Star Wars world, in a way I didnt expect. It blew me away how much I loved it.'

Pascal added that he's not the best at keeping secrets, which was challenging on such a secretive show, but he managed to keep Baby Yoda under wraps.

'That may literally be the very first secret that Ive ever kept. Dont share anything personal with me!' Pascal joked.

Blown away: McGregor revealed that The Mandalorian, which followed Pascal's title character, a mysterious bounty hunter, 'pulled me back into the Star Wars world, in a way I didnt expect. It blew me away how much I loved it.

Secrets: Pascal added that he's not the best at keeping secrets, which was challenging on such a secretive show, but he managed to keep Baby Yoda under wraps

He added the show has, so much seriousness around leaked information, and I find it all just a bit too much.'

Pascal added that he normally tells his family everything, though this time he didn't in regards to Grogu.

'I didnt even know what his name was going to be until the second season, but I could just tell that it was going to have such an impact,' Pascal added.

Secrets: He added the show has, so much seriousness around leaked information, and I find it all just a bit too much'

Impact: 'I didnt even know what his name was going to be until the second season, but I could just tell that it was going to have such an impact,' Pascal added

The show follows his title character as he discovers Grogu, which is set five years after The Return of the Jedi.

While he knows nothing about this young creature, he forms a bond with him and goes on a quest to protect him and learn more about him.

'When I saw the image of this thing, and started reading the scripts and everything, I didnt want to compromise that in any way. It was easy to not talk about it because it was like, "Nah, I want this to work,"' Pascal added.

Mando: The show follows his title character as he discovers Grogu, which is set five years after The Return of the Jedi

He also said that Grogu is portrayed through, 'these incredible puppets,' while McGregor, who starred alongside the original Yoda in the prequel trilogy, revealed he acted alongside a much bigger puppet.

'It was extraordinary, because I acted with him. I couldnt believe I was acting with Yoda,' McGregor said.

'Then they replaced him for our second film and our third film with the digital version of him, and its not nearly as endearing,' McGregor said.

'Also, we know Yoda as a puppet. We know him from the original movies as a puppet. So when it was suddenly computer-generated, it didnt feel like Yoda to me anymore. It was interesting that it went back to an actual puppet with your series,' he added.

Production started on both The Mandalorian Season 3 and Obi-Wan Kenobi back in April, though it's unclear when both shows may debut.

Couldn't believe: 'It was extraordinary, because I acted with him. I couldnt believe I was acting with Yoda,' McGregor said
The film adaption for Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit musical - In The Heights - made its New York premiere at the opening night of the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday.

And Sharon Stone was among the high-profile people who got a first-look at the musical drama film that stars Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV and Jimmy Smits.

Before the showing at The Battery, The 63-year-old actress lit up the red carpet decked out in an animal print ensemble, consisting of a pants and jacket combination.

Big opening: Sharon Stone, 63, hit the red carpet ahead of the premiere of In The Heights during the opening night of the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on Wednesday

The pants, which fell to the bottom of her calves, had black frilly fabric hanging from the cuffs.

That fabric also hung from the bottom of the blazer, which had a similar look to smoking jacket, along with a built-in belt that tied around her toned waist.

Stone rounded out the entire ensemble with a pair of black open-toe heels and her dyed blonde tresses cut short and somewhat spiky on the top.

Though she does not appear in the film nor was she a producer, that did not stop the A-lister from showing up in support of the ambitious project.

Her big beaming smile also shined brightly as she made she way down the red carpet, which set the line of photographers abuzz.

Animalistic: The Casino star went with an animal print ensemble and a pair of black heels

Spreading the love: The actress flashed a peace sign along with her beaming smile

At one point she flashed a peace sign as the photogs snapped away in a frenzy.

Being a veteran of the film arts for more than 40-years, Stone also took time out to talk to reporters that were gathered along the red carpet.

Actress Har Nef, who had her breakout role in the Amazon original series Transparent, joined Stone for a round of photos together.

The actress and model, 28, stood out in a bright yellow sleeve-less dress with long silver gloves that came up past her elbows.

The Casino (1995) star would strike a number of more poses solo before heading to the showing of the film.

Talking it up: Being a veteran of the film arts for more than 40-years, Stone also took time out to talk to reporters that were gathered along the red carpet

Cool cat: The blazer had a similar look to a smoking jacket, complete with a built-in belt that tied around her toned waist

Written by Quiara Alegria Hudes and helmed by Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu, In The Heights centers on a bodega owner named Usnavi (Ramos), who dreams of saving enough money to return home to the Dominican Republic. The story takes place in the predominantly Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights, in New York City, over the course of three very hot summer days.

'In the Heights is an extremely personal film to me because it's inspired by the neighborhood I grew up in and still live in,' Miranda, who co-produced the film, has said.

The musical was a huge hit on Broadway, garnering four Tony Awards in 2008 for Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Choreography; along with a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album.

The film had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival on June 4

In The Heights is slated to be released in theaters in the U.S. on June 11, and will also be available on the HBO Max streaming service, simultaneously, for a month.

Sharing the spotlight: Stone was joined on the red carpet by actress and model Hari Nef, 28
Anna Heinrich and her baby daughter Elle have a very special bond.

And the Bachelor alum, 35, offered fans a glimpse of their relationship on Wednesday by sharing a sweet video of her little girl helping her with the washing.

In the footage, the seven-month-old tot smiled as she sat in a washing basket.

Cutest chore mate! The Bachelor's Anna Heinrich shared a cute video of her baby daughter Elle helping her with the washing on Wednesday

'Are you doing the washing, Elle? That's good because I hate doing the washing... I'm glad someone's doing it,' Anna said.

The happy baby then looked up and cooed.

Later in the evening, the proud mum posted a picture with her daughter while visiting a Perth hotel.

Cheeky cheeks! Later in the evening, the proud mum posted a picture with her daughter while visiting a Perth hotel

'Cheeky cheeks,' she captioned the photo.

Last month, the lawyer and her husband, Tim Robards, celebrated their baby girl reaching six months.

Anna shared an adorable photo of Elle to Instagram and gushed over her daughter.

Parents: Last month, the lawyer and her husband, Tim Robards (left), celebrated their baby girl reaching six months

In the photo, Elle giggled while sitting in her pram.

'YOU can only celebrate SIX months once, so here it is. HAPPY SIX MONTHS ELLE. Your hair has come a long way,' she wrote.

Tim also posted a tribute to his daughter on Instagram, writing: 'Six months with my little angel today! Being your Dadda is da bestest eva! (In my best baby voice).'

Proud dad: Tim also posted a tribute to his daughter on Instagram, writing: 'Six months with my little angel today! Being your Dadda is da bestest eva! (In my best baby voice)'

Anna and Tim, 38, announced their daughter's birth on Instagram on November 14.

'Introducing the newest addition to our family, Elle Robards,' Anna wrote alongside a photo of herself cradling the newborn.

Meanwhile, Tim said he'd 'fallen in love twice all over again'.

The couple met on The Bachelor Australia in 2013 and married in Italy in 2018.

Growing family: Anna and Tim announced their daughter's birth on Instagram on November 14
Married At First Sight's Jake Edwards has broken his silence after seeking help for his mental health following an 'extremely difficult' two months.

On Wednesday, the 33-year-old shared an emotional video update with fans from a wellness retreat, after stepping away from the limelight for weeks following his very public split from Sophie Guidolin in May.

In the footage, Jake explained that asking for help 'probably saved his life', before cryptically discussing some of the 'choices he's made' which he says have 'impacted me and the people I love'.

Speaking out: Married At First Sight's Jake Edwards has broken his silence after seeking help for his mental health following an 'extremely difficult' two months

'Some of have you might have noticed that recently I've been spending some time away,' he began.

'Through no fault but my own, the last two months have been extremely difficult. I've made some choices in my life that has impacted me personally, but also impacted people that I love and care about.

'My mental health got to a point that I needed to step away, and that's what I did.'

Jake's management confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that the reality star wasn't in rehab, but instead took time away in a wellness retreat.

By definition, a wellness retreat promotes health and wellbeing through physical, psychological and spiritual activities to reflect on life in private surroundings.

Jake described the experience as both 'confronting and challenging'.

Breaking his silence: 'Through no fault but my own, the last two months have been extremely difficult. I've made some choices in my life that has impacted me personally, but also impacted people that I love and care about,' Jake said

'One of the toughest things in life is to put your hand up and admit that you need help, and I was fortunate enough to be able to come away to a place like this with the full support of my family and friends,' he continued.

'As hard and as challenging as it's been, and confronting with many tears on the way, it's changed my life and probably saved my life as well.'

He concluded by saying he's now found 'some answers which has been really important', and looks forward to sharing the positive changes with fans in future.

'For anyone who has sent messages, it really, really means a lot. To my family and friends I love you all so, so much and I'll be seeing you all again very soon,' he said.

Over: It was announced on May 14 that Jake and his girlfriend Sophie Guidolin had ended their short-lived romance. Pictured in happier times

He made no direct mention of his public split from Sophie, 32, which the pair announced on May 14.

While Jake kept a low profile since their break-up was confirmed, Sophie recently shed light on their broken relationship by wishing Jake 'all the best' in getting 'the help he needs' in a now-deleted Instagram post.

'Are you and Jake still together? Your media hype of the both of you together has died so I was curious,' the follower asked Sophie directly on Instagram.

'No, his values and character certainly do not align with my own and I wish him all the best to get the help he needs,' Sophie responded.

A source close to the couple confirmed their split on Friday. Daily Mail Australia understands no third parties were involved and no cheating was suspected.

Not to be: 'His values and character certainly do not align with my own and I wish him all the best to get the help he needs,' Sophie responded directly to the fan in the now-deleted post

Discreet: The pair first met on March 10 and started dating weeks later. Jake had to keep their relationship under wraps to begin with because his 'marriage' to Beck Zemek (right) was still playing out on MAFS

Sophie had been the target of trolling since going public with Jake, and this may have put a strain on their romance.

'It's sad because they seemed really in love, but they just couldn't make it work,' the source said.

The pair first met on March 10 and started dating weeks later.

Jake had to keep their relationship under wraps to begin with because his 'marriage' to Beck Zemek was still playing out on MAFS.

In a now-deleted episode of her podcast, Flourish & Fulfilled, Sophie told listeners Jake had surprised her recently by getting her name tattooed on his body.

The former AFL player later revealed he'd had 'Sophie' inked quite prominently across the right side of his stomach.

Shortly after their split, Beck confirmed she's now in a relationship herself - but couldn't resist posting a snarky dig at Jake.

Besides a picture with her new love, she wrote: 'No tattoos, just love.'
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Stars turned out in force for the Tribeca Festival premiere of the new movie musical In The Heights this Wednesday.

The festival opened with a red carpet event for the film at the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights - the neighborhood where the film is set.

Leslie Grace, who plays one of the main characters, could be seen swishing her voluminous dress around for the camera.

Fab: Stars like (from left) Leslie Grace, Dascha Polanco and Melissa Barrera turned out in force for the Tribeca Festival opening of the new movie musical In The Heights this Wednesday

She opted for a sleeveless frock that was cinched in around the middle to emphasize her enviably svelte figure as she posed up for the cameras.

Wearing her luxurious hair down she accentuated her screen siren features with makeup and accessorized with earrings.

While at the premiere she could be seen sharing a warm hug with Lin-Manuel Miranda who scored and starred in the Broadway show on which the film is based.

Lin-Manuel, who became a national sensation with his Broadway musical Hamilton in 2015, teamed a powder blue shirt with midnight blue slacks.

Terrific: Leslie Grace, who plays one of the main characters, could be seen swishing her voluminous dress around for the camera

Aglow: She opted for a sleeveless frock that was cinched in around the middle to emphasize her enviably svelte figure as she posed up for the cameras

The man himself: While at the premiere she could be seen sharing a warm hug with Lin-Manuel Miranda who wrote and starred in the Broadway show on which the film is based

Showbiz titan: Lin-Manuel, who became a national sensation with his Broadway musical Hamilton in 2015, teamed a powder blue shirt with midnight blue slacks

Leslie and Lin-Manuel were spotted at the event standing for a picture with Olga Merediz who plays 'Abuela' Claudia in the film.

Olga, who also played the role in the original Broadway cast and was nominated for a Tony for the gig, modeled a glimmering pink dress with mesh sleeves.

Lin-Manuel, who is himself directing an adaptation of the Jonathan Larson musical Tick, Tick...Boom!, got in a bit of solo posing as well.

Meanwhile Leslie sidled up to her In The Heights co-star Anthony Ramos who leads the cast in the role of Usnavi that Lin-Manuel introduced on Broadway.

Trio: Leslie and Lin-Manuel were spotted at the event standing for a picture with Olga Merediz who plays 'Abuela' Claudia in the film

Original: Olga, who also played the role in the original Broadway cast and was nominated for a Tony for the gig, modeled a glimmering pink dress with mesh sleeves

Radiant: Lin-Manuel, who is himself directing an adaptation of the Jonathan Larson musical Tick, Tick...Boom!, got in a bit of solo posing as well

Meanwhile: Leslie sidled up to her In The Heights co-star Anthony Ramos who leads the cast in the role of Usnavi that Lin-Manuel introduced on Broadway

Anthony made a splash in a dazzling sliver ensemble that featured a black leopard print and gleamed under the lights.

He threw a matching coat fashionably over his shoulders and left a couple of his top buttons beguilingly undone for the big premiere.

The Hollywood heartthrob rounded off his ensemble with a pair of simple black shoes that perfectly complemented the clothes.

Anthony and Leslie could be spotted at the premiere standing for the cameras with Jon M. Chu who directed their movie.

Looking fab: Anthony made a splash in a dazzling sliver ensemble that featured a black leopard print and gleamed under the lights

Hello, gorgeous: He threw a matching coat fashionably over his shoulders and left a couple of his top buttons beguilingly undone for the big premiere

The man at the helm: Anthony and Leslie could be spotted at the premiere standing for the cameras with Jon M. Chu who directed their movie

Meanwhile Dascha Polanco brought back memories of Old Hollywood in a glittering dark green floor-length full-sleeved gown.

Dascha, who shot to fame on the Netflix show Orange Is The New Black, shot a smoldering supermodel stare over one shoulder for the shutterbugs.

Her sequined outfit was perfectly fitted to her curves and featured a plunging neckline that hinted at her cleavage.

Melissa Barrera, who plays Anthony's love interest in the movie, flashed the flesh in a stunning peekaboo bright green gown.

There she is: Meanwhile Dascha Polanco brought back memories of Old Hollywood in a glittering dark green floor-length full-sleeved gown

Strike a pose: Dascha, who shot to fame on the Netflix show Orange Is The New Black, shot a smoldering supermodel stare over one shoulder for the shutterbugs

Wonderful: Melissa Barrera, who plays Anthony's love interest in the movie, flashed the flesh in a stunning peekaboo bright green gown

The cold shoulder ensemble featured a slit down the front to flaunt her cleavage and taut midriff with a matching slit at the back.

Her frock was also split up one side so that she could put her knockout legs on display as she balanced on a pair of platform heels.

She swept her hair into a long ponytail and turned this way and that in front of the cameras while posing at the premiere.

In one charming snap taken at the event both Lin-Manuel and Jon were seen with their respective fathers Luis A. Miranda Jr. and Lawrence Chu.

Swanking about: The cold shoulder ensemble featured a slit down the front to flaunt her cleavage and taut midriff with a matching slit at the back

Family time: In one charming snap taken at the event both Lin-Manuel and Jon were seen with their respective fathers Luis A. Miranda Jr. and Lawrence Chu

Jon, Lin-Manuel and Luis also stood for a photograph alongside Quiara Alegria Hudes who wrote the book of the original In The Heights musical.

Elsewhere at the premiere Anthony could be spotted taking a picture with Ann Sarnoff who is the CEO of WarnerMedia Studios.

Jane Rosenthal, who is the co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, arrived in a gleaming gold trouser suit with a snakeskin print.

Daphne Rubin-Vega, who is playing Daniela in the film, showed off her cleavage in a plunging hot pink wrap dress.

Scribe: Jon, Lin-Manuel and Luis also stood for a photograph alongside Quiara Alegria Hudes who wrote the book of the original In The Heights musical

Top brass: Elsewhere at the premiere Anthony could be spotted taking a picture with Ann Sarnoff who is the CEO of WarnerMedia Studios

Golden girl: Jane Rosenthal, who is the co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, arrived in a gleaming gold trouser suit with a snakeskin print

When you got it: Daphne Rubin-Vega, who is playing Daniela in the film, showed off her cleavage in a plunging hot pink wrap dress

The 51-year-old actress, who was the leading lady Mimi in the original Broadway cast of Rent, popped up one of her stilettos while hugging Leslie for a picture.

Marc Anthony, who is appearing in the film, wore a tightly fitted midnight blue blazer with gleaming navy stripes down each sleeve.

The ex-husband of Jennifer Lopez left several buttons of his white dress shirt open, showing off his necklaces including a cross.

Marc, who wore a gleaming pair of sunglasses to the premiere, could be seen posing side by side with Anthony for a picture.

Hand in hand: The 51-year-old actress, who was the leading lady Mimi in the original Broadway cast of Rent, popped up one of her stilettos while hugging Leslie for a picture

Superstar: Marc Anthony, who is appearing in the film, wore a tightly fitted midnight blue blazer with gleaming navy stripes down each sleeve

Sizzling: Marc, who wore a gleaming pair of sunglasses to the premiere, could be seen posing side by side with Anthony for a picture

Gayle King could be spotted in a flowing floral dress done in yellow and several shades of blue, giving off a summery vibe.

Jon, who shot to fame as the director of Crazy Rich Asians, wore an immaculate salmon suit with a white shirt and in a summery touch went without a tie.

During the big Tribeca screening of his latest movie he could be glimpsed with Gregory Diaz IV and Jimmy Smits who both act in In The Heights.

Alex Lacamoire, who helped produce the movie's soundtrack album, fashionably complemented a purple dress shirt with a pink tie underneath his suit.

Aglow: Gayle King could be spotted in a flowing floral dress done in yellow and several shades of blue, giving off a summery vibe

Sleek and chic: Jon, who shot to fame as the director of Crazy Rich Asians, wore an immaculate salmon suit with a white shirt and in a summery touch went without a tie

What a night: During the big Tribeca screening of his latest movie he could be glimpsed with Gregory Diaz IV and Jimmy Smits who both act in In The Heights

Dapper Dan: Alex Lacamoire, who helped produce the movie's soundtrack album, fashionably complemented a purple dress shirt with a pink tie underneath his suit

A few iconic names who are not in the film were at the premiere as well including Sharon Stone who made her presence felt in a leopard print ensemble.

Sharon beamed as she posed next to Transparent actress Hari Nef who teamed a shimmering yellow floor-length gown with a pair of opera gloves.

Helen Hunt could also be seen at the premiere in a print blazer over a basic black ensemble that included flared-hem slacks.

Peace: A few iconic names who are not in the film were at the premiere as well including Sharon Stone who made her presence felt in a leopard print ensemble

Old-fashioned glamour: Sharon beamed as she posed next to Transparent actress Hari Nef who teamed a shimmering yellow floor-length gown with a pair of opera gloves

Radiant: Helen Hunt could also be seen at the premiere in a print blazer over a basic black ensemble that included flared-hem slacks

While strolling across the blue carpet Helen posed for a picture with Rafael Casal with whom she is acting on the new show Blindspotting.

Although Rafael has a recurring role on the Blindspotting show he starred in and helped produce the 2018 film on which it is based.

Delroy Lindo, whose recent work includes last year's Spike Lee film Da 5 Bloods, wore a navy blazer with a white pocket square.

Collaborator: While strolling across the blue carpet Helen posed for a picture with Rafael Casal with whom she is acting on the new show Blindspotting

History: Although Rafael has a recurring role on the Blindspotting show he starred in and helped produce the 2018 film on which it is based

Snappy: Delroy Lindo, whose recent work includes last year's Spike Lee film Da 5 Bloods, wore a navy blazer with a white pocket square

Group shot: The movie opened the festival with a red carpet event at the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights - the neighborhood where the film is set

The original stage version of In The Heights first opened on Broadway in 2008 and the movie is slated to open in theaters and on HBO Max this Friday.

The premiere was a date night for some of the attendees including Lin-Manuel who arrived on the arm of his wife Vanessa Nadal whom he married in 2010.

Vanessa modeled an elaborate tiered dress with an ornate pattern including several crosses, accessorizing with a purse advertising Cafe Bustelo.

Longtime couple: The premiere was a date night for some of the attendees including Lin-Manuel who arrived on the arm of his wife Vanessa Nadal whom he married in 2010

A couple that works together: Anthony was also with his fiancee Jasmine Cephas Jones, whom he met when they were both in the original Broadway cast of Lin-Manuel's Hamilton

Supermodel: Joan Smalls also made her presence felt in a sleek checked peekaboo gown that hugged her sensational figure as she strode around the premiere

Anthony was also with his fiancee Jasmine Cephas Jones, whom he met when they were both in the original Broadway cast of Lin-Manuel's Hamilton.

Supermodel Joan Smalls also made her presence felt in a sleek checked peekaboo gown that hugged her sensational figure as she strode around the premiere.

After the red carpet affair, the cast and crew on In The Heights headed to an after party in the city.

After party: After the red carpet affair, the cast and crew on In The Heights headed to an after party in the city; Leslie Grace pictured

Bust a move: Taking to the dance floor, Lin-Manuel was photographed busting a few moves with his wife

Having a blast: The duo, still rocking their red carpet ensembles, threw out a variety of dance moves as they moved across the floor together

Taking to the dance floor, Lin-Manuel was photographed busting a few moves with his wife.

The duo, still rocking their red carpet ensembles, threw out a variety of dance moves as they moved across the floor together.

At one point, Vanessa could be seen beaming as she enjoyed a more intimate dance with her husband.

Intimate: At one point, Vanessa could be seen beaming as she enjoyed a more intimate dance with her husband

Having a blast: The duo, still rocking their red carpet ensembles, threw out a variety of dance moves as they moved across the floor together

Leslie Grace, looking as glamorous as ever, ditched her gown and slipped into a pair of leather wide-legged trousers and a mesh top for the film's hopping after party.

Melissa Barrera was also seen inside the star-studded party, even stopping to take a picture with Miranda.

Barrera kept her stunning green gown on as she posed for a snap with the ever stylish Gregory Diaz IV.

Stunning: Melissa Barrera kept her stunning green gown on as she posed for a snap with the ever stylish Gregory Diaz IV

Say Cheese! Melissa Barrera was also seen inside the star-studded party, even stopping to take a picture with Miranda

Daphne Rubin put her sensational curves on display in a plunging pink gown, while Anthony Ramos turned heads in a leopard print button up and matching pants

Daphne Rubin put her sensational curves on display in a plunging pink gown as she posed for a photo in front of party goers.

Rubin cozied up to Jimmy Smits and Leslie Grace for a group shot as the swanky gathering.

Luz Towns-Miranda, Lawrence Chu, Ruth Chu and Luis A. Miranda were also spotted flashing their best smiles as they leaned in for pictures.

Cozy: Rubin cozied up to Jimmy Smits and Leslie Grace for a group shot as the swanky gathering
She was left brokenhearted in 2019 after The Bachelor's Matt Agnew dumped her on national television.

But Abbie Chatfield, 25, has proven that time really does heal all wounds by extending an olive branch to Matt, 34, on Instagram.

On Thursday, astrophysicist Matt uploaded a photo of himself patting a horse as he fed the creature at a paddock.

Time heals all wounds? Abbie Chatfield, 25, (right) 'liked' Matt Agnew's, 34,(left) Instagram post on Tuesday - two years after their brutal break-up on The Bachelor

The post, which Matt captioned, 'Horsing around', amassed plenty of 'likes' from his fans, but it was a double-tap from Abbie that really sent tongues wagging.

Just last month, Abbie revealed she 'still cries' about Matt, who famously chose her love rival Chelsie McLeod during The Bachelor's tear-jerking finale.

Speaking on her tell-all podcast It's A Lot, the blonde confessed: 'I told a man that I loved him after like, two months on The Bachelor. That's quite unwell. That's not right in the head.

'I still cry about him sometimes. That's going to be a Daily Mail headline - that's fine. Give me free advertising for the podcast, thank you!'

'Horsing around': Astrophysicist Matt uploaded a photo of himself patting a horse as he fed the creature at a paddock

Olive branch? The post, which Matt captioned, 'Horsing around', amassed plenty of 'likes' from his fans, but it was a double-tap from Abbie that really sent tongues wagging

Heartbreak: Just last month, Abbie revealed she 'still cries' about Matt, who famously chose her love rival Chelsie McLeod during The Bachelor's tear-jerking finale

Remember this? Abbie and Matt famously enjoyed a romp at the beach during one of the show's raunchiest ever solo dates

Despite being thoroughly confident he would chose her, Matt said his 'heart belongs to someone else' during the final in South Africa - chose fellow chemical engineer Chelsie instead.

However, the two weren't meant to be, and broke up just three months after the final episode aired.

Last May, a year after her on-screen heartache, Abbie penned an emotional Instagram post thanking the Matt for the journey they shared together.

Devastated: Despite being confident he would chose her, Matt said his 'heart belongs to someone else' during the final in South Africa - chose fellow chemical engineer Chelsie instead

She wrote: 'Finale was filmed a year ago, how?! It's been the toughest but most rewarding year of my life and I'll forever be grateful to the experience and also to Matt.

'It changed my life, and the adversity faced during and after the show is the reason I get to do what I love, and also the reason I got to look the hottest I will ever look.'

She went on to admit that she 'loved' Matt and was panicked before she faced him in the finale.

Over: Matt and Chelsie McLeod (pictured) weren't meant to be, and broke up just three months after the final episode aired

'I was so scared of what eventually did happen, but I wish I could go back in time and tell little 23-year-old Abbie, 'Everything will be f***ing great, and your value does not lie in the validation of a man, even if you love him.'

'Clearly I was shocked at the final result, I didn't see a need to doubt myself because I didn't want to ruin any remaining time with Matt second guessing myself, I don't regret this.

'When I applied for The Bachelor it was honestly, for a laugh. I didn't have any way of comprehending what I was about to go through.

'Even at finale, after I was dumped on le rock, I thought it was the worst thing to happen to me, but now, because of my resilience, I'M FINE!!!!' she concluded.
Hey Hey It's Saturday star Daryl Somers has sued for defamation after his former business manager publicly criticised him.

Alex Mathey claimed the three-time Gold Logie winner, 69, treated him 'appallingly' and 'cruelly' throughout their working relationship, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Somers has since filed a lawsuit claiming damages over the 'defamatory matter'.

Going to court: Hey Hey It's Saturday star Daryl Somers (pictured in 2006) has sued for defamation after his former business manager publicly criticised him

In addition to the defamation lawsuit, Somers is seeking a permanent injunction against Mathey preventing him from 'further publishing or republishing' material in relation to their former partnership.

The case has now reached the doors of the Supreme Court as Mathey went public with his claims regarding his alleged treatment by Somers.

It comes almost a year after The Herald Sun first reported a conflict had emerged between Somers and Mathey, who was 'chief executive and group legal counsel' for the entertainer and his wife, Julie da Costa, as well as their production company, Somers Group Australia.

Escalating dispute: Alex Mathey claimed the three-time Gold Logie winner, 69, treated him 'appallingly' and 'cruelly' throughout their working relationship. Somers (pictured on Dancing with the Stars) strongly denies this and is seeking damages

In June last year, court files revealed the extent of the bitterness between Mathey and Somers, describing how the relationship devolved into a 'rather nasty dispute'.

Mathey claimed Somers' behaviour was 'in contravention of particular laws as well as in violation of generally accepted standards and norms of acceptable and appropriate behaviour and conduct'.

'Despite my best efforts and intentions, the Somers [Daryl and his wife] have been unwilling and unable to even listen to and acknowledge my concerns,' he alleged.

Friends to enemies: In June last year, court files revealed the extent of the bitterness between Mathey and Somers, describing how the relationship devolved into a 'rather nasty dispute'

At the time, Somers denied all claims of poor treatment, saying they were 'false and without foundation'.

He also said he and da Costa would be claiming damages.

Somers is best known for hosting the comedy variety show Hey Hey it's Saturday from 1971 to 1999. He recently fronted Seven's revival of Dancing with the Stars.
In the Heights tells the story of Usnavi, a bodega owner in northern Manhattan. The film version emphasizes Usnavis quest to make enough money to return to his native Dominican Republic, but the heart of the show is its depiction of the Latino community in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York  running small businesses, falling in love, chasing their dreams, throwing street parties and coming together in times of crisis. Through these trials, Usnavi comes to cherish the neighborhood and his role in it.
Hilaria Baldwin put on a leggy display in white city shorts as she joined her husband Alec for a Tribeca Film Festival lunch in New York City.

The author, 37, slipped into the thigh-skimming bottoms and a matching jumper as she joined the actor, 63, for the event, which was headlined by Robert De Niro and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The couple arrived at Manhattan's Pier 76 in a luxury black SUV where they appeared to be greeted by actor Steve Buscemi.

Gorgeous: Hilaria Baldwin put on a leggy display in white city shorts as she joined her husband Alec for a Tribeca Film Festival lunch in New York City

Alec was dressed in a dark shirt and pants with brown shoes and he carried a jacket as he joined his wife for the event.

Hilaria, 37, went with the white crew-neck sweater and white shorts which she paired with seemingly impossibly high nude heels.

She accessorised her chic look in oversized sunglasses and large hoop earrings.

Couple: The author slipped into the thigh-skimming bottoms and a matching jumper as she joined the actor (pictured) for the event

High profile event: The couple were greeted by actor Steve Buscemi as they arrived at Manhattan's Pier 76 in a luxury black SUV

Contrasting styles: Alec, 63, was dressed in a dark shirt and pants with brown shoes and he carried a jacket. Hilaria, 37, went with a white crew-neck sweater and white shorts

Leggy: Hilaria paired her outfit with seemingly impossibly high nude heels. She sported oversized sunglasses and large hoop earrings and carried a white purse on a shoulder chain

Alec and Hilaria married in 2012 and have six children - Carmen, seven, Rafael, five, Leonardo, four, Romeo, three, and infants Eduardo and Lucia.

Earlier this year, Hilaria apologized for faking her Spanish heritage after it was revealed her real name was Hillary Hayward-Thomas and she was from Boston, not Majorca.

She atoned on Instagram for misleading her followers and noted that she 'should have been more clear' about her past.

Hilaria insisted she was brought up 'with two cultures, American and Spanish' and feels 'a true sense of belonging to both.'
Tom Girardi, the estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, is dealing with confusion as his brother Robert looks to place him in a conservatorship amid his Alzheimer's battle, and a litany of legal problems.

The information surfaces as Robert Girardi is looking to oversee the conservatorship over Tom Girardi in L.A. County Superior Court, The Blast reported Wednesday.

The 82-year-old Colorado native 'could not fully comprehend the nature of the proceedings,' his court-appointed lawyer said in legal docs, the outlet reported.

The latest: Tom Girardi, the estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, is dealing with confusion as his brother Robert looks to place him in a conservatorship amid his Alzheimer's battle, and a litany of legal problems

Girardi didn't have any problems with Robert 'taking care of him and managing his finances,' said the lawyer, noting that he replied to the questions with short affirmative answers, the outlet reported.

'I was of the professional opinion that he could not fully understand, comprehend nor appreciate the nature of the [court-appointed attorney] disclosures albeit he had no objection to Robert becoming his conservator,' the attorney said, according to the outlet.

Court docs contained medical records that stated that Tom 'lacks the capacity to give informed medical consent and suffers from Dementia.'

The latest development comes amid ongoing legal moves against Tom Girardi, including bankruptcy, multiple civil lawsuits from his former clients, and his divorce from Jayne.

Details: Jayne and her estranged spouse were seen on the Bravo show

Details: The 82-year-old Colorado native 'could not fully comprehend the nature of the proceedings,' his court-appointed lawyer said in legal docs

Jayne, 49, issued a statement following her divorce filing after 21 years of marriage last November.

'After much consideration, I have decided to end my marriage to Tom Girardi,' Jayne said. 'This is not a step taken lightly or easily. I have great love and respect for Tom and for our years and the lives we built together.

'It is my absolute wish to proceed through this process with respect and with the privacy that both Tom and I deserve. I request others give us that privacy as well.'

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8/7c.

The former couple was snapped in 2016 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles

Meanwhile on the episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills which aired on Wednesday night Erika Girardi shocked her castmates with a group text announcing her divorce.

The 49-year-old reality star made the revelation on Election Day in November 2020 just four days after the cast returned from a group trip to Lake Tahoe, California.

'Ladies, I truly consider you my close friends and this is why I'm reaching out to tell you that I filed for divorce this morning. Thank you for supporting me. This will be tough,' Erika wrote in the message sent at 9:15 am to Lisa rinna, 52, Kyle Richards, 52, and Dorit Kemsley, 44.

Surprise divorce: Erika Girardi shocked her castmates with a group text announcing her divorce on Wednesday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills

Kyle was at home sitting in front of a makeup mirror when she got the text and immediately looked sad and confused, while Dorit and Lisa also appeared perplexed as they received the message.

'What?,' Dorit asked aloud before she read the message from Erika in a voice-over.

The three of them were soon on a video call and Dorit asked, 'What is going on? Did you have any idea?'

'No idea. And we were just in Tahoe and not one peep about anything,' Kyle said.

Group text: The 49-year-old reality star made the revelation on Election Day in November 2020 just four days after the cast returned from a group trip to Lake Tahoe, California

Close friends: 'Ladies, I truly consider you my close friends and this is why I'm reaching out to tell you that I filed for divorce this morning. Thank you for supporting me. This will be tough,' Erika wrote in the message sent at 9:15 am to Lisa rinna, 52, Kyle Richards, 52, and Dorit Kemsley, 44

'Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nothing,' Lisa said.

'What the hell?,' Kyle added.

'It's Erika, so she had to do it like this. She couldn't tell anybody,' Lisa suggested.

Shocked reactions: The three of them were soon on a video call and Dorit asked, 'What is going on? Did you have any idea?'

Out loud: Dorit read the message from Erika out loud in a voice-over

'It's a long time to spend with somebody to all of a sudden be done,' Kyle remarked of their 20-year marriage.

'It's sad,' Lisa said.

'It is,' Dorit agreed.

No knowledge: 'Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nothing,' Lisa said as they all agreed they had no idea about the divorce

Sad situation: Dorit agreed that it was a sad situation for Erika

Erika and her lawyer-husband Tom Girardi, 82, got married in January 2000 and a month after their divorce announcement they were sued for allegedly embezzling funds meant for families of victims of a fatal 2018 Lion Air plane crash.

Tom's license to practice law in California was revoked in March and he also was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease the same month.

No further mention of the pending divorce was mentioned during the season 11 episode titled Overexposed.
Much like her mother, she is an attention getter.

And Madonna's daughter Lourdes Leon was at it again as she showcased her assets in a very skimpy lime green bikini.

The model, 24, left very little to the imagination in a racy string bathing suit that put her cleavage front and center.

Bikini babe! Madonna's daughter Lourdes Leon was at it again as she showcased her assets in a very skimpy lime green bathing suit on Wednesday

The itty bitty bikini also showed off her fabulous torso, adorned with a dazzling belly ring.

She shielded herself from the sunshine with a stylish green Gucci bucket hat and accessorized the look with a number of gold necklaces.

And, with mask restrictions relaxing, the star showed off a fresh face with a hint of blush.

Needless to say, Lourdes is comfortable showing off her body.

Transformation: Lourdes had her naked body painted with a sexy miniscule top and mini hotpant design as she writhed around on the bed for a new fashion film for designer Barragan

That was certainly the case in a new fashion film for designer Barragan, which saw Lourdes writhing around on a bed with her naked body painted with a sexy miniscule top and mini hotpants design.

The celebrity offspring acted incredibly confident in the nearly two-minute piece, as her character Lola exacts revenge on a motel voyeur, who has made her - and only her - the objection of his obsessive affection.

Far from the clip being just about the dramatic storyline, Lourdes also modelled a variety of scantily-clad ensembles, including a plunging fringe dress with an exposed back - yet her most sizzling was undoubtedly her naked look with just paint covering her modesty.

Body art: Her most sizzling was undoubtedly her naked look with just paint covering her modesty

The video left very little to the imagination with her racy appearance as the body paint just about concealed her assets, including a star adornment on her chest and 'denim shorts' on her bottom.

Lourdes' assets were the focus of screen time while she was rocking the body paint as the grey 'top' and red star emblazoned on her chest drew the eyes to her bust while her perky bottom was painted with a red logo.

The incredibly racy short kicks off with her character Lola arriving to a run down motel in a lived-in looking denim jacket and matching pants, before her state of dress decreases progressively.

Looking just like her famous mom, Lourdes rocked a bright blonde wig that flowed down to her waist and had Barragan's iconic 'B' sprayed on - in a look the Queen Of Pop has replicated on many occasions.

Sizzling: Looking just like her famous mom, Lourdes rocked a bright blonde wig that flowed down to her waist and had Barragan's iconic 'B' sprayed onto it

Oh my! Lourdes' assets were the focus of screen time while she was rocking the body paint as the grey 'top' and red star emblazoned on her chest drew the eyes to her bust while her perky bottom was painted with a red logo

Twins: Looking just like her famous mom, Lourdes rocked a bright blonde wig that flowed down to her waist and had Barragan's iconic 'B' sprayed onto it

She can be seen making a phone call, where she is telling someone that they are 'three hours late' before commencing the dark and sultry scenes in epic fashion.

Lourdes, eventually, enters the motel room and makes herself at home with a glass of wine and a new outfit.

Well aware she is being filmed and recorded by her seemingly illusive stalker, Lourdes' character Lola attempts to take some of her power back by 'putting on a show' of her own.

Revenge: In the nearly two-minute piece, Lourdes' character Lola exacts revenge on a motel voyeur, who has made her - and only her - the objection of his obsessive affection

Look book: Lola, which was published to Barragan's YouTube and Instagram pages, is a look book for Mexican designer Victor Barragan's SS21 collection

Thriller: 'The film is about a guy who spies on a woman and becomes increasingly more obsessed with her,' explained the film's director and photographer Mayan Toledano

Various clips of Lourdes parading around the motel room, smooching a stuffed bear, and puckering up for the camera play out on a display of television screens, with the voyeur looking on in amazement.

The briefest clip of the bunch showed Leon donning a pair of bright yellow 'Sexy Girl' panties styled with a green, white, and red crop top and an auburn wig.

Back in the motel room, Lourdes donned a stunning wavy brunette wig and an eye-catching finger party dress.

Lola commences with Leon arriving to a run down motel in a lived-in looking denim jacket and matching pants

Late! She is seen making a phone call, where she is telling someone that they are 'three hours late'

Taking control: Various clips of Lourdes parading around the motel room, smooching a stuffed bear, and puckering up for the camera play out on a display of television screens, with the voyeur looking on in amazement

She stares into the camera, fixing her lipstick and adjusting her purse over her shoulder, before shaking her backside.

The next shot shows Lourdes' blue-eyed voyeur tying his shoes and seemingly preparing to arrive to the motel to meet his muse.

In a single fade, the audience sees the voyeur on the ground dead, with a gaping wound on his head from a spiked weapon.

Voyeur: As Lourdes puts on her 'show,' the film cuts to the voyeur looking on in amazement

The briefest clip of the bunch showed Leon donning a pair of bright yellow 'Sexy Girl' panties styled with a green, white, and red crop top and an auburn wig.

Stunning: Lourdes modeled a variety of scantily-clad ensembles, including a plunging fringe dress with an exposed back

Standing beside his lifeless body, weapon in hand, is Lourdes in an all red early 2000s inspired outfit, complete with a stringy halter bra top and a slotted skirt.

She also had on a pair of black thigh high combat boots and her brunette hair was styled into a high ponytail with flaming red streaks.

As she retreats from the staged murder scene, Leon drags her weapon through the snow

Check her out: Back in the motel room, Lourdes donned a stunning wavy brunette wig

Twerk: She stares into the camera, fixing her lipstick and adjusting her purse over her shoulder, before shaking her backside

Lola, which was published to Barragan's YouTube and Instagram pages, is a look book for Mexican designer Victor Barragan's SS21 collection.

'The film is about a guy who spies on a woman and becomes increasingly more obsessed with her,' explained the film's director and photographer Mayan Toledano.

'With Lola, I wanted to switch the roles a bit, so she learns that she's being spied on and plays the part for it, to her own pleasure.'

According to the outlet, Mayan and her crew spent two days shooting the erotic-thriller at a motel on Long Island.

Madonna shares Lourdes, whom she welcomed in October of 1996, with her former partner Carlos Leon, 54. The 62-year-old pop sensation is also mother to five other children, four of whom were adopted.

Murder: In a single fade, the audience sees the voyeur on the ground dead, with a gaping wound on his head from a spiked weapon
Struggling Sydney radio station 2Day FM has been rocked by two major departures this week.

Host and producer Ellie Angel-Mobbs, described as a 'stalwart' of the company, is departing after a decade, reports Radio Today.

She is moving to Brisbane to become an assistant content director at B105, which is also part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network.

Reshuffle: Struggling Sydney radio station 2Day FM has been rocked by two departures this week. Pictured: 2Day FM breakfast hosts (L to R) Ed Kavalee, Dave Hughes and Erin Molan

Despite having a predominantly behind-the-scenes role, Angel-Mobbs will continue to do the occasional on-air weekend shift.

Meanwhile, Jamie Angel is also moving to Brisbane to take on the role of creative director at Triple M Brisbane, according to Radio Today.

Angel, who is married to Angel-Mobbs, held various senior creative positions during his 11 years at 2DayFM, and even anchored the breakfast show from 2019 to 2020.

Interstate: Host and producer Ellie Angel-Mobbs, described as a 'stalwart' of the company, is departing after a decade, reports Radio Today. She is moving to Brisbane to become an assistant content director at B105, which is also part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network

Meanwhile, the current iteration of 2Day FM breakfast, The Morning Crew with Hughesy, Ed and Erin, has struggled in the ratings recently.

The program is hosted by sportscaster Erin Molan and former Hit Network drive presenters Dave 'Hughesy' Hughes and Ed Kavalee.

After another disappointing radio survey, Erin, 38, said last week there will probably be more bad ratings to come before things improve.

Double exit: Former 2Day FM breakfast anchor Jamie Angel (pictured) is also moving to Brisbane to take on the role of creative director at Triple M Brisbane, according to Radio Today

'We are not worried on any level at all,' she told The Daily Telegraph.

'We will get smashed for the next few surveys, we have no doubts whatsoever about that but this is the long haul,' she added.

'This is going to take a long time. While the numbers arent there at the moment, absolutely, we are really confident they will be.'

Erin also revealed she'd been warned by management not to look at the ratings for the first 18 months.
She's the ever-glamorous Today show host who rarely steps a foot out of line when it comes to fashion.

But viewers were left surprised with Brooke Boney's look on Thursday, as the 33-year-old donned a stunning floaty gown, yet wore no shoes on her feet.

Instagram account @humansofbankstown were quick to pick up on the barefoot blunder, zooming in on her naked tootsies and calling her out on their page.

Barefoot blunder: On Wednesday, Brooke Boney was called out for wearing no shoes during her live TV segment on the Today show

'Whats going on??' the page captioned the shot, with others commenting 'busted!', 'very Namaste!' and 'Today show cant even afford slippers for their readers... rank'.

Brooke was quick to bite back with the comment: 'You guys try wearing high heels from 5.30am!'

It's not the first time Brooke's on-screen antics have caused her to hit headlines.

Shook: Instagram account @humansofbankstown were quick to pick up on Brooke's barefoot blunder, zooming in on her naked tootsies and calling her out on their page

Only recently, she revealed she had the hots for Hollywood hunk Zac Efron while discussing his split from Vanessa Valladares live on-air.

'Sorry to Zac and Vanessa, it's not nice to go through a breakup, but you've gotta look on the bright side,' she said, barely unable to contain her glee.

'Zac, you simply must continue on, you have,' she continued with a wry smile.

Funny: Biting back at the critics, Brooke hilariously responded to the post with: 'You guys try wearing high heels from 5.30am!'

Brooke's obvious affection towards Zac sent her Today show colleagues into fits of laughter.

'When you said sorry you did not look sorry at all!' laughed Leila McKinnon.

Grinning like a Cheshire Cat, Brooke responded: 'Breakups are awful, but come on Zac.'

After some more chatter about the split, Leila and Karl Stefanovic joked that Brooke could start stalking coffee shops in Byron Bay to bump into Zac.

'I'm not a creeper, whatever happens, happens!' Brooke responded with a laugh.
She shares her three children with her ex-husband Ben Affleck.

But Jennifer was taking charge of the kids on Wednesday when she shuttled her youngest, nine-year-old Samuel, to a playdate in Santa Monica, California.

The 49-year-old actress looked relaxed and cozy in a fuzzy baby blue sweater as she picked her son up from school before heading to the beach to meet his friends.

Chauffeuring the kids: Jennifer Garner, 49, was spotted shuffling her youngest child, nine-year-old Samule, to a play date in Santa Monica on Wednesday

Jennifer's sweater appeared to have been hand-knitted, as it had gaps in the sleeves just below her shoulders.

She wore a white T-shirt underneath the top and paired it with complementary grayblue and white striped pants with a white drawstring.

The 5ft8in beauty kept things breezy with a set of wavy brown sandals, and she wore her brunette locks tied back in a low-slung ponytail.

She blocked out the brightness with black sunglasses and carried along a mask, though she opted not to wear it while she was outside.

Blue mood: Jennifer wore a comfy baby blue sweater when she arrived to pick Samuel up from school

By the sea: Afterward, they drove to the beach on the coast, where he was able to play with some friends

On point: She wore a white T-shirt underneath the top and paired it with complementary grayblue and white striped pants with a white drawstring

Samuel wore a gray shirt and matching sweatpants as he left the school, though he changed into a long-sleeve navy shirt and blue tie-dye shorts once they arrived at the beach.

His mother appeared to be whispering something in his ear while holding him close, though he rushed away to play as soon as she was finished.

While Samuel was off on his own, Jennifer socialized with some of the other parents at the beach and enjoyed some sweet treats.

A stand nearby advertised 'All Natural Popsicles,' so the Alias star picked up a fruity red variety to cool down with.

Missing from the beach outing were Jennifer's two other children, her mini-me eldest Violet, 15, and her middle daughter Seraphina, 12.

Low key: The 5ft8in beauty kept things breezy with a set of wavy brown sandals, and she wore her brunette locks tied back in a low-slung ponytail. She blocked out the brightness with black sunglasses and carried along a mask, though she opted not to wear it while she was outside

Catching up: While Samuel was off on his own, Jennifer socialized with some of the other parents at the beach and enjoyed some sweet treats

Yum! A stand nearby advertised 'All Natural Popsicles,' so the Alias star picked up a fruity red variety to cool down with

The Love, Simon actress' outing comes amid her ex-husband Ben Affleck's renewed romance with his former fiancee Jennifer Lopez.

Last month, the on-again couple were spotted on week-long trips to snowy Montana  where Ben owns a chalet  and to the Out Of Sight actress' home turf of Miami, where she spends most of her time with her 13-year-old twins Emme and Max.

Prior to that, the lovebirds were more secretive with their rendezvous, as Ben would drive himself to a hotel where he was picked up by Jennifer's SUV and ferried to her home in Los Angeles.

A source recently told People that the pair are 'slowly starting to talk about the future,' while continuing to 'travel back and forth between Los Angeles and Miami' to renew their relationship.

'They are very happy together,' the insider continued, adding that the connection between the two 'is not a casual relationship.'

'They are taking it seriously and want it to be long-lasting.'

Rekindled romance: Jennifer's ex-husband Ben Affleck has recently reunited with his former fiancee Jennifer Lopez, whom he got engaged to in the early 2000s

The actors first met in 2001 on the set of their box-office bomb Gigli, and they made their relationship official the following year, shortly after Jennifer divorced her second husband.

They got engaged later in 2002 and scheduled their wedding for September 2003 but called it off with only a few days notice.

Ben and Jennifer then split in early 2004, but reportedly remained friends afterward, which may have helped them get close again.

Later, Ben and Jennifer Garner married in 2005, before separating a decade later amid his ongoing struggles with addiction.
Kate Walsh returned to her home in Perth on Wednesday to find a delivery of flowers.

The Grey's Anatomy star recently announced she was leaving Australia after 15 months, and the flowers were likely a farewell gift from a friend.

She will be flying back to the United States for a filming commitment, but has made it clear she will be returning Down Under at the earliest opportunity.

Surprise! Kate Walsh returned to her home in Perth on Wednesday to find a delivery of flowers

The actress, 53, looked solemn as she got out of her car, but brightened up when she saw two bouquets of flowers being delivered to her gate.

Kate cut a stylish figure in a pair of red pants, a cream wool jumper and chic overcoat.

She completed her outfit with semi-transparent sunglasses, white socks and sneakers, and carried her belongings in a designer bag.

Goodbye gift: The Grey's Anatomy star recently announced she was leaving Australia after 15 months, and the flowers were likely a farewell gift from a friend

She carried her iPhone and a water bottle as she stepped out of her vehicle.

Kate announced during an interview with a Perth radio station on Tuesday that she would be leaving Western Australia in the coming days.

'I'm about to go home for a bit, literally in six days,' she said on The West Live.

Chic: Kate looked chic in a pair of red pants, a cream wool jumper and stylish overcoat

However, she promised to return, adding: 'I go back for work and [to] see my family. So I'll be gone for a couple of months, but then I'll be back!'

She revealed her pets will be staying in Australia with her assistant until she returns.

After completing her project in the U.S., she will head to Europe for another shoot before returning Down Under.

On the go: She carried her iPhone and a water bottle as she stepped out of her vehicle

'I can tell you this: I'll be in Paris,' Kate said of her European project, but didn't provide any further details.

However, her clue strongly hinted at her involvement in the second season of Netflix hit Emily in Paris.

Kate played Emily's boss Madeline in the first season.

Farewell: Kate announced during an interview with a Perth radio station on Tuesday that she would be leaving Western Australia in the coming days

During her 15 months in Australia, the Private Practice star put down roots in Perth, on the country's west coast.

She found herself 'stuck' in the Southern Hemisphere in March last year, right as the Covid pandemic began to shut down international travel.

Kate quickly fell for the country and decided not to return to New York.

Fancy that! The actress, 53, looked solemn as she got out of her car, but brightened up when she saw two bouquets of flowers being delivered to her gate

She told The Daily Telegraph of her love affair with Australia: 'I didn't want to go back to New York in the middle of a pandemic when it was pretty gnarly to say the least.

'I couldn't go home initially, and now that I can, I don't really fancy going back.

'When I have my own mother saying don't come home, my 86-year-old mum we are in a very challenging time!'
Doctor Doctor will officially end at the conclusion of this season - and star Rodger Corser has now addressed the news with a somber reflection of the series.

The 48-year-old, who played lead character and heart surgeon Hugh Knight for five seasons, made an emotional post to Instagram with a teaser for the final two episodes.

'Goodbye Whyhope,' he said. 'The cat is truly outa the bag...After 5 amazing years its with much joy and sadness we say goodbye to the town of Whyhope.'

'Goodbye Whyhope': Doctor Doctor lead star Rodger Corser has responded to the hit drama's cancellation in a very emotional and somber Instagram post

'Joy from all the great memories and sadness that all good things must come to an end,' he added. 'Though we feel so lucky to go out as we wished...with a truly satisfying final act and ending to our story.'

Rodger then thanks the fans and loyal viewers, 'we couldnt have got here without you. Lots of love from your friends in Whyhope.'

He also thanked his co-stars, crew and the New South Wales towns of Mudgee and Camden (where the show was shot) on Twitter.

Reflecting: Rodger thanked his co-stars, the crew, and especially the show's fans and loyal viewers saying, 'we couldnt have got here without you. Lots of love from your friends in Whyhope'

Doctor Doctor became one of the most popular homegrown hit drama shows to hit Aussie television screens, running five successful seasons.

Channel Nine confirmed on Thursday morning that a decision had been made to cancel the series after the, currently airing, fifth season.

The last two episodes of the show will air on Nine on Wednesday nights.

Cancelled! Channel Nine confirmed on Thursday morning that popular Aussie drama Doctor Doctor would come to an end after the fifth season

The romantic drama series had Rodger playing Dr Hugh Knight, a charming heart surgeon who is forced to work in his former home town of Whyhope as a country GP as punishment for his hedonistic lifestyle.

The series carried high ratings and strong audience numbers- averaging between 700-800,000 TV viewers in the first season. The May 26th episode of the current season accumulated 784,000 viewers (when encore and BVOD numbers are included).

In addition to Rodger, the series also included Tina Bursill, Nicole da Silva, Ryan Johnson Chloe Bayliss, Belinda Bromilow and Hayley McElhinney.
Nine years after going offline, the iconic stalker is back in the new trailer for HBO Max's Gossip Girl reboot.

The show brings the story back to the Constance Billard School for Girls and St. Jude's School for Boys, with the stalker stepping into the social media age.

Instead of a website that tracks both schools' elite students, it's now an anonymous Instagram account, with Kristen Bell returning to lend her voice to the title character.

Trailer: Nine years after going offline, the iconic stalker is back in the new trailer for HBO Max's Gossip Girl reboot

Instagram: Instead of a website that tracks both schools' elite students, it's now an anonymous Instagram account, with Kristen Bell returning to lend her voice to the title character

The trailer opens with shots of all these privileged young students, with Julien Calloway (Jordan Alexander) stating that their group of friends, 'have known each other since we were babies.'

They're all seen hanging out along with a few glimpses inside some of their homes, with one shot showcasing a number of Grammy statues and gold records, indicating one of the kids' parents are in music.

'We have trust and history,' she adds, before we see Jordan telling someone, 'We own this school.'

Julien: The trailer opens with shots of all these privileged young students, with Julien Calloway (Jordan Alexander) stating that their group of friends, 'have known each other since we were babies'

Hanging out: They're all seen hanging out along with a few glimpses inside some of their homes, with one shot showcasing a number of Grammy statues and gold records, indicating one of the kids' parents are in music

The crew of friends are seen hanging out on the steps of the Met museum, when they notice a new girl who was actually waiting for the light before crossing the street.

'She's not from here,' Jordan says, before calling the new girl, Zoya Lott (Whitney Peak) over to them, asking if she'd, 'like to come hang with us tonight.

The rest of the trailer is set to Super Rich Kids by Frank Ocean as the kids are all seen hanging out at a fashion show.

Met: The crew of friends are seen hanging out on the steps of the Met museum, when they notice a new girl who was actually waiting for the light before crossing the street

New girl: 'She's not from here,' Jordan says, before calling the new girl, Zoya Lott (Whitney Peak) over to them, asking if she'd, 'like to come hang with us tonight

Audrey Hope (Emily Alyn Lind) tells Jordan that Zoya, 'is a new girl who has found herself in your friend group. With your boyfriend.'

Zoya is seen telling Otto "Obie" Bergmann IV (Eli Brown) that she, 'promised I would stay away from any drama,' though she's seen getting undressed with Otto.

The next day, their phones all ding as photos of Zoya and Otto surface on a new Gossip Girl Instagram account.

Audrey: Audrey Hope (Emily Alyn Lind) tells Jordan that Zoya, 'is a new girl who has found herself in your friend group. With your boyfriend'

'Did you miss me? I know I've missed you,' Gossip Girl says. 'This just in. There's a big secret among the ruling class at Constance Billard.'

Zoya asks Julien why 'Gossip Girl is out to get us,' while Julien shares, 'I'm not just know. I'm influential, and I can't have that taken away from me.'

The trailer winds down with a number of quick-cut shots, with the final shot of Max Wolfe (Thomas Doherty) telling Audrey, 'Something's different.'

Ruling class: 'Did you miss me? I know I've missed you,' Gossip Girl says. 'This just in. There's a big secret among the ruling class at Constance Billard'

Influential: Zoya asks Julien why 'Gossip Girl is out to get us,' while Julien shares, 'I'm not just know. I'm influential, and I can't have that taken away from me'

She asks, 'In a good way?' and he smiles and says, 'In the best way,' as the trailer comes to a close.

Original Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage executive produce the reboot, created by Joshua Safran, a writer and executive producer on the original series.

The show also stars Zion Moreno, Tavi Gevinson, Savannah Lee Smith, Evan Mock and Elizabeth Lail, debuting on HBO Max July 8.
Howie Mandel says his daughter Jackie Shultz has anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, conditions he has battled for decades.

The America's Got Talent judge, 65, and his daughter, 36, spoke to People Wednesday about the family's mental health awareness, as Shultz, like her father, has a fear of germs that has been intensified amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Shultz, who has two children, Abbey, six, and Axel, five, with her husband Alex, said that the pandemic 'was really, really hard' to deal with, as her anxiety sometimes leads to depression.

The latest: Howie Mandel, 65, says his daughter Jackie Shultz, 36, has anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, conditions he has battled for decades

'I went through the extreme and I just locked myself in,' she said. 'I've been isolated and scared for a year and a half and now that things are starting to open back up, I'm really not at the same place that most people are.

Shultz said she's 'working with a therapist to get back out into the world' as things reopen in the wake of vaccinations.

She added that talking with her father about her mental health can be 'helpful,' as her 'dad is very open about going to therapy and erasing the stigma.'

Mandel said he's 'not proud of that gift [he's] given her ... but our coping skills are to find the light.'

On the red carpet: The veteran entertainer was snapped arriving at AGT in LA in 2020

Stalwart: Shultz said her famous father has been a stable presence in her life, adding, 'Whenever I was upset or sad or having a bad day, I knew I could reach out'

Family: Shultz has two children, Abbey, six, and Axel, five, with her husband Alex

Shultz said her famous father has been a stable presence in her life, adding, 'Whenever I was upset or sad or having a bad day, I knew I could reach out.'

Mandel said he and his daughter 'couldn't be closer' these days, though faced tougher times when she was a teenager, as he said their issues 'kind of ripped [them] apart.'

Shultz said that Mandel's overprotectiveness and constant probing created a rift between them in those times.

'There were a lot of control issues about me being safe, like, where was I, what did I get into, what did I touch?' she said. 'He was strict. And there was a lot of hovering. We had trouble getting along in those times.'

The pair now appear on a podcast called Howie Mandel Does Stuff, which they launched this past February.

'It came out of a necessity of trying to connect with my child,' he said. 'We spend hours a day trying to make each other laugh.'
Under the bill, criminal records would be erased, starting in 2023. Convictions for misdemeanors would be erased if the person was not convicted of another crime in the previous seven years, while some lower-level felonies would be erased 10 years after the most recent conviction. The person will not have to apply for a pardon or appear before the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Before embarking on her famous royal tour of Australia in 1983, Princess Diana visited the country alone in February 1981.

According to a report by 9Honey on Thursday, the late royal travelled to Australia to clear her head before announcing her engagement to Prince Charles.

Her low-key trip Down Under appeared to have gone unnoticed, with Diana travelling to Yass, a town in New South Wales, to visit her mother, Frances Spencer.

Secret visit: Before embarking on her famous royal tour of Australia in 1983, Princess Diana visited the country alone in February 1981. Pictured in London in November 1980

She decided to visit after Prince Charles, 72, proposed, but urged her to think carefully about what her life as a royal would entail.

'She came for a three-week holiday to stay with her mum in Yass and it was just a week after Prince Charles had proposed to her,' royal author Juliet Rieden told Talking Honey.

'She had said yes but it hadn't been announced to the world. [Diana] had this really big secret that she was keeping, and was hiding away in Australia and pretty much came in under the radar.'

The great escape: According to a report by 9Honey on Thursday, the late royal travelled to Australia to clear her head before announcing her engagement to Prince Charles. Pictured together in Balmoral

Diana later returned to Australia for a royal tour after marrying Charles and welcoming son Prince William, now 38.

It was one of three visits to Australia Diana made with her husband, before their divorce in 1996.

She tragically died a year later on August 31, 1997 at the age of 36, after being involved in a fatal car accident in Paris.

Welcome return: Diana later returned to Australia for a royal tour after marrying Charles and welcoming son Prince William (left). Pictured after arriving in Australia in March 1983

The royal couple first visited Australia together in March 1983, and according to a report by Vogue in November, the monarchy was worried about how Diana would handle the high-pressure tour.

'The Queen is "terribly worried" before the tour because of Diana's youth and apparent shyness,' the Press Association's royal correspondent Grania Forbes wrote at the time.

But they didn't have to worry, with Diana winning fans and charming the country during the visit.
She's never shied away from flaunting her incredible figure.

And Helena Christensen was proudly flaunting her ageless physique on Thursday as she emerged from a swimming pool in a trio of sizzling Instagram snaps.

The model, 52, recreated an iconic image from a 1990 Chanel shoot as she posed in a plunging black swimsuit.

Wow! Helena Christensen, 52, flaunted her incredible figure in a plunging black swimsuit as she emerged from a swimming pool in a collection of Instagram snaps on Thursday

Helena sizzled in the plunging black one-piece which showcased every inch of her tanned figure as she slowly emerged from the swimming pool.

The Danish beauty added a touch of glamour with a statement red lip and kept her long brunette tresses in a slicked-back style.

Helena was attempting to recrate a famous image from a 1990 shoot with Chanel, which saw her pose in a revealing black swimsuit with glamours pearls and earrings.

Poking fun at how much she'd changed, three decades since the image was taken, Helena penned the caption: 'My boobs grew @staerkandchristensen Swimwear/Sunglasses.'

Jaw-dropping: The model recreated an iconic 1990 Chanel shoot (right) which saw her emerged from a pool in a black one-piece as she joked her 'boobs had grown'

Flawless: The Danish beauty added a touch of glamour with a statement red lip and kept her long brunette tresses in a slicked-back style

It comes after Helena put on another sultry display in a series of sexy swimwear for a collection of Instagram snaps she posted on Sunday.

She showcased her taut midriff and cleavage in a black plunging top, paired with high-waisted bottoms which drew the eye to her lithe legs.

A second racy shot saw the former Victoria's Secret Angel go topless as she pressed herself against the tree, wearing a pair of yellow bikini bottoms which emphasised her pert posterior.

'Heavenly spots': It comes after Helena put on another sultry display in a series of sexy swimwear for a collection of Instagram snaps she posted on Sunday

Stunning: In one photo, Helena stood against a tree wearing nothing but a skimpy pair of yellow bikini bottoms

A third image saw her with her back against the tree, but this time her ensemble consisted of a saucy sheer black lace dress paired with a white belt- with lace protecting her modesty.

Helena changed location for another of her pictures, as she stood in a speedboat wearing a black bikini covered in a sheer lace gown.

Still in the boat, but this time lounging in a seat, Helena was also seen having put on a pink shirt over her black bikini, but with an open front, she revealed her ample assets.

The final image in Helena's uploaded collection was a close-up of a reflection of her face in a mirror as she stared nonchalantly into the distance.
Lizzie Cundy has claimed that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry named their daughter Lilibet as a tribute to her, and not the Queen.

The royals announced the birth of their daughter Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor on Sunday, naming their second child after Her Majesty's childhood nickname and Harry's late mother.

Yet socialite Lizzie, 53, has insisted this isn't the case at all, and that name is in fact a tribute to her as a way of mending bridges after she was 'ghosted' by the Duchess.

Extraordinary claim: Lizzie Cundy has claimed that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry named their daughter Lilibet as a tribute to her, and not the Queen (pictured in 2013)

Speaking to OK! magazine, Lizzie said: 'I was called Lilibet. It's short for Elizabeth. It was my nickname at school!

'Thank you Meghan. You ghosted me  and now you're calling your child after me. I appreciate it.

'My name was Lilbet at school. When I heard it on the radio, I kind of turned and said, 'That's my name! I haven't been called it for years.'

'I was quite shocked by it because it's an unusual name. Maybe that's her way of reaching out. But I wish them well and I think it's wonderful.'

Fitting tribute: Socialite Lizzie, 53, has insisted the name is in fact a tribute to her as a way of mending bridges after she was 'ghosted' by the Duchess

Lizzie has previously said she became friends with The Duchess of Sussex after the pair hit it off at a charity dinner together in 2013.

Describing one of their nights out, Lizzie, who described Meghan as 'a giggle' and 'a real girl's girl,' told MailOnline: 'It was a very high society party. She was climbing the ladder, as it were.

'We were talking girly chat about my life, her life. She said she'd love to have a celebrity boyfriend. She loved Britain and felt very at home there. She loved London life and wanted to stay and work there and have a boyfriend.'

She added: 'The last time I spoke to her was just before Prince Harry. I wrote huge congrats and then realised the number changed and I didn't get a reply.

'Me and Piers Morgan got ghosted as they say. But it is what it is, I understand. The royals are very different to celebrities. We got on very well.'

Throwback: Lizzie has previously said she became friends with The Duchess of Sussex after the pair hit it off at a charity dinner together in 2013 (pictured with pal Claire Cauldwell)

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their daughter on Friday morning - before announcing her birth on Sunday - and made headlines after they named her Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

'Lilibet' was coined by the Queen, 95, when she was too young to pronounce her own name. It was first used by her grandfather George V and also by her husband Prince Philip until he died earlier this year.

The Queen's 11th great-grandchild - will be known as Lili. A variation on Lily, the flower is often seen to symbolise purity, commitment, rebirth and fertility.

Cute couple: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured) welcomed their daughter on Friday morning and decided to name the child Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor

Lili's middle name Diana honours Harry's later mother Diana, Princess of Wales. It is no surprise the couple chose to pay tribute to Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997 when Harry was just 12.

There has been controversy over the name, as senior Buckingham Palace sources told BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond on Wednesday that the Queen was 'never asked' her opinion on the couple's decision to name their new baby after her childhood nickname.

However, Harry hit back within 90 minutes of the BBC's report being published through a statement from his and Meghan's close friend Omid Scobie that insisted the Queen was the first person the Duke called after the birth of his daughter.

Omid, who wrote the bombshell Finding Freedom biography of the couple, also claimed the Sussexes would not have used the name Lilibet unless the Queen had supported the move.

Roots: The name 'Lilibet' was coined by the Queen when she was too young to pronounce her own name, first used by her grandfather George V (pictured with Harry in 2019)

Despite Harry's strong condemnation of the BBC report about Lilibet, Buckingham Palace refused to comment on whether the story was true when approached by MailOnline.

The aide behind the Palace leak to the BBC is unknown, though it is thought to be a senior official.

It's also unclear if the Queen was aware of the comment, though it is considered almost unprecedented for the monarch not to sign off on quotes from senior officials, even if they are anonymous briefings.

New parents: Harry and Meghan welcomed their daughter on Friday morning - before announcing her birth on Sunday (Pictured: the couple's pregnancy announcement in February)

On Monday, the delighted Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced: 'On June 4, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili.

'She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we've felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family.'

Lili  who is eighth in line to the throne  was born in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California, a private facility where births cost up to 20,000.

Lili is the couple's second child after Archie, who is two years and one month older than her. The new baby is the Queen's 11th great-grandchild, and the first to be born outside the UK.
He's famed for his luscious long locks.

Yet Jared Leto showed off a bold new look on Wednesday as he arrived to film Apple TV+ series WeCrashed in New York City.

The Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman, 49, debuted much shorter tresses as he was spotted on location near the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

New look: He's famed for his luscious long locks. Yet Jared Leto showed off a bold new look on Wednesday as he arrived to film Apple TV+ series WeCrashed in New York City

Keeping his look casual, the performer wore a plain white T-shirt and a pair of dark blue denim jeans.

The musician had on a pair of dark sunglasses to protect his eyes from the bright summer light in the eastern United States.

His wavy locks were combed back off his face and rested just above his shoulders.

The rocker had his long hair cut this week, sharing a picture of his new 'do alongside a scissors emoji on Tuesday.

Mixing things up: The Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman, 49, debuted much shorter tresses as he was spotted on location near the World Trade Center (pictured right last month)

Given the chop: Jared gave his hair a trim this week, sharing a picture of his shorter do with fans on Instagram on Tuesday

WeCrashed is based on the podcast WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork by Wondery.

Jared plays Israeli-born narcissist Adam Neumann in the show which is expected to finish filming in September.

Showrunners Lee Eisenberg and Drew Crevello are heading up the series, which 'tells the greed-filled rise and inevitable fall of $50B commercial real estate startup' WeWork, according to Variety.

Linking up: Jared is working alongside Anne Hathaway, 38, on WeCrashed portraying disgraced WeWork CEO Adam Neumann and his wife Rebekah

The real thing: Following revelations about erratic management and business practices, the Neumanns (pictured in 2018) resigned in 2019 from WeWork

Following revelations about erratic management and business practices, the Neumanns resigned in 2019 from WeWork, which reported a $2.1B loss in May despite having 490K members.

Jared is working alongside Anne Hathaway, 38, on the project, who plays wife of Adam, Rebekah Neumann.

The show marks the first time Anne and and the Hail to the Victor rocker have worked together.

Meanwhile, Jared has also been working on his band's upcoming August music festival Mars Island.

Fans of Thirty Seconds to Mars can pay between 1,170-5,074 to attend their all-inclusive three-day festival Mars Island, which happens August 20-23 on an island in Croatia.

The My So-Called Life heartthrob has penned 'over 100 songs' for the band's sixth studio album with his drummer half-brother Shannon as their lead guitarist after Tomo Milicevic quit the band in 2018.
She loves to share snaps of her pets to keep her fans up to date with how they are doing.

And actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, 44, posted a snap of herself with her Daschund Franz on Instagram on Wednesday, as she noted how similar they look.

The Buffy The Vampire Slayer star captioned the post 'They say that dogs and their humans begin to look alike.'

'They say that dogs and their humans begin to look alike' Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar compared her looks to her Daschund Franz in a hilarious Instagram snap posted on Wednesday

She's not wrong: She shared this hilarious caption alongside her post

The photo showed the pair in an identical pose, to which her fans hurried to agree with her with one saying, 'Oh my God!!!! Yeeeesss it's true!!'

Another fan wrote below the post, 'The cutest twins i ever did see' with heart eye emojis.

Another wrote: 'Please dont take this the wrong way, but you two have the same nose! (In a totally cute way).'

Proving they're inseparable: Gellar also shared this snap with dog Franz on a farm in New Mexico. Franz lovingly gives his owner a lick on the cheek

A different follower joked: 'Tell me you have a favourite child without telling me you have a favourite child'

The Cruel Intentions actress has two children, Charlotte Grace, 11, and Rocky James, 8, with her husband, fellow actor and co-star Freddie Prinze Jr., 45.

The couple both starred in the live action Scooby Doo franchise in the early 00s.

Gellar introduced her new four legged friend to her followers saying 'Because clearly two kids and two puppies are not enough... we just adopted this sweet dog that needed a home.

Puppy dog eyes! Gellar shared this snap to her followers calling sausage dog Franz her 'emotional support animal' but joked that he will need his own emotional support animal to deal with her

'Meet Franz... hes a year old dachshund and the cuddliest little guy. Im in [heart] happy Mothers Day to me (a little early).'

Her other two dogs are Akitas called Kumi and Sato.

The actress joked to her followers, 'Ok I think I finally understand emotional support animals. Although poor Franz- after dealing with me, he may need his own emotional support animal.'

The star loves to share updates on her Instagram stories to her followers about her pets. Franz enjoys himself standing on a tractor and with the wind in his ears on a road trip

This comes after she was snapped grabbing groceries in Los Angeles with a fresh face and her hair down with a Vaxxed trucker cap from The House Of Woo. She wore the exact same blue and yellow cap when made up in a filtered at-home selfie.

In the at-home selfie, she was flawless with not a wrinkle on her face. In her caption she joked: 'Does this vaccine make me look younger?!? (Cause dont the young people wear their hat like that?).

She sure loves this hat: Last week Sarah had on the same blue Vaxxed hat on Instagram

She might be looking so good because she has just returned from 'me time' during a vacation by the beach at the Esperanza, Auberge Resorts Collection in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to ring in her 44th birthday.

'Well I finally did it.... on a plane, no kids heading off for some me time. And not the 2020 kind where I lock myself in my closet to do zooms in a modicum of peace,' she wrote to her followers.

She was seen in a black swimsuit by a swimming pool at the resort with several girlfriend including The Hills veteran Lauren Conrad.
Jools Holland failed to show up to his scheduled Good Morning Britain interview on Thursday.

Jools, 63, was set to appear on the morning programme alongside Vic Reeves, who is currently going by his real name, Jim Moir, to promote their podcast, Jools And Jim's Joyride - a travel-themed podcast that sees the TV icons interview fellow stars - however only Vic, 62, appeared via videolink, much to the surprise of presenters Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid.

Addressing Jools' no-show, Ben, 46, quipped to Vic, who he referred to as Jim: 'It's lovely to see you this morning Jim, thanks for actually bothering to get up to talk to us.'

No show: Jools Holland, 63, failed to show up to his scheduled Good Morning Britain interview alongside Vic Reeves, who is going by his real name, Jim Moir, 62, on Thursday

Susanna, 50, joked: 'Do you wanna give him a quick text? Cause we've got a Zoom invite for him if he wants to accept it.'

Ben added: 'Get your phone out and text him and say "Jools we're on air".'

Noting that his phone was nowhere in sight, Vic awkwardly told the hosts: 'I could do, but my phone's nowhere near me.'

Susanna then said: 'Or we could just tell him on national television.'

Podcast: Jools (pictured in 2020) was due to discuss their podcast Jools and Jim's Joyride, which is a travel-themed audio series that sees the TV icons interview fellow stars on the road

Dig: Addressing Jools' no-show, Ben Shephard, 46, quipped: 'It's lovely to see you this morning, thanks for actually bothering to get up to talk to us'

It was then that Ben told the comedian: 'Well let's start with you then. It's lovely to see you this morning Jim, thanks for actually bothering to get up to talk to us.'

He hilariously responded: 'You nearly didn't get me.'

As Susanna wrapped up the interview, she told viewers: 'We hope that Jools is alright this morning.'

Positive that his friend and co-host was just sleeping, Jim reassured Susanna: 'I think he's firmly in slumber.'

Concern: As Susanna wrapped up the interview, she told viewers: 'We hope that Jools is alright this morning'

Slumber: Positive that his friend and co-host was just sleeping, Vic reassured Susanna: 'I think he's firmly in slumber'

Available to listen to online, Jools and Jim's Joyride is a travel-themed podcast that sees the TV icons interview fellow stars while taking to the road.

A description for the audio series reads: 'This is Jools and Jim's Joyride.

'Join Jools Holland and Jim Moir as each week they invite a special guest to put on their seatbelt and take to the road, as they chatter with friends about transport, travel, trips and tittle tattle.'
He has landed in Prague to shoot his new movie Spaceman.

And Adam Sandler made the most of his downtime as he stepped out for a walk around the city and met with fans on Wednesday.

The actor, 54, kept things casual in an over-sized blue T-shirt and grey shorts as he signed one fans arm outside his hotel.

Casual: Adam Sandler made the most of his downtime as he stepped out for a walk around the city and met with fans on Wednesday ahead of filming his new movie, Spaceman

Fans: The star kept things casual in an over-sized blue T-shirt and grey shorts as he signed one lucky fan's arm outside his hotel

Adam completed his relaxed look with a pair of red and black trainers and he wore sunglasses on his head.

The actor honoured Czech Republic's Covid-19 government face mask regulations and wore a black mask when fans approached him.

The star is currently in Prague to film Spaceman, a new Netflix adaptation of the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Czech writer Jaroslav Kalfar.

Adam has landed the lead role and Carey Mulligan will star opposite him as his characters wife.

Relaxed: Adam completed his relaxed look with a pair of red and black trainers and he wore sunglasses on his head

Safety: The actor honoured Czech Republic's Covid-19 government face mask regulations and wore a black mask when fans approached him

The new film was supposed to begin production in February, but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic delayed those plans.

Spaceman tells the story of a Czech astronaut sent on a lengthy mission into outer space while his life on Earth slowly fades away.

Emmy Award winning Chernobyl director Johan Renck will be behind the camera for the movie and filming is due to start in a few weeks.

New film: The star is currently in Prague to film Spaceman, a new Netflix adaptation of the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Czech writer Jaroslav Kalfar

Sandler went viral on TikTok recently after an IHOP employee revealed her embarrassment at not recognising the actor when he asked for a table at a very busy Long Island location.

A TikTok video showed the Just Go With It actor leaving the restaurant after the hostess told him it would be a 30-minute wait for a table for the star and his daughter.

In response to the post, Sandler jokingly wrote on Twitter that it wasn't the wait that made him leave the restaurant, but the lack of all-you-can-eat choices.

He said: 'For the record, I only left the IHOP because the nice woman told me the all-you-can-eat deal didn't apply to the milkshakes.'

TikTok: The whole IHOP debacle came to light when hostess Dayanna Rodas posted a video on TikTok last month, calling herself a clown after she failed to recognise Sandler and told him it would be a 30minute wait for a table

Nice lady: In response Sandler jokingly wrote on Twitter that it wasn't the wait that made him leave the restaurant, but the lack of all-you-can-eat choices

It didn't take the breakfast chain long to seize on the opportunity to please the movie star as they tweeted back the next day: 'You know what, @AdamSandler, you may be onto something here. In your honor, wed like to declare May 10th, 2021 #MilkshakeMonday at IHOP. More sweet details to follow.'

Later on IHOP clarified that the Milkshake Monday would only take place at its 19 Long Island locations from 12pm to 8pm on Monday, May 10.

Nationwide, the company marked the day by donating $1 to the nonprofit Comedy Gives Back for every milkshake sold, up to $50,000.

The whole IHOP debacle came to light when hostess Dayanna Rodas posted a video on TikTok, calling herself a clown after she failed to recognise Sandler and told him it would be a 30minute wait for a table.

Dayanna uploaded a security camera shot of Sandler and his daughter interacting with uniform-clad hostess briefly before politely leaving.

She wrote on top: 'Not realising it's Adam Sandler and telling him it's a 30 minute wait and him ofc leaving because he's not going to wait 30 minutes for IHOP.'

The video was captioned: 'Pleaseee come back #comedy #fyp #foryou #viral #adamsandler' set to the song Be A Clown by Osuna.

Approved: Adam Sandler gave a thumbs up to IHOP after it created Milkshake Monday in his honour
She's the former foreign minister who has become known for impeccable red carpet looks.

And on Thursday, Julie Bishop and her partner David Panton looked very much in love as they stepped out for the Gold Dinner, at Sydney Airport.

The 64-year-old wowed in a sparkling black floor-length gown that hugged her trim and toned figure.

Perfect pair: Julie Bishop showed off her incredibly toned arms as she and her partner David Panton stepped out for the Gold Dinner charity event, at Sydney Airport on Thursday. The 64-year-old wowed in a sparkling black floor-length gown that hugged her trim and toned figure

Her elegant frock featured short sleeves that drew attention to her incredibly toned arms.

She accessorised her sophisticated ensemble with a small purse, and silver jewellery from Van Cleef & Arpels, including a AUD$ 224,000 long necklace and a pair of AUD $41,000 earrings, and a shimmering bangle.

The blonde beauty was joined on the red carpet by her beau in a sleek tuxedo.

At one point, Julie needed to make a small adjustment to David's bow tie, which he happily let her fix.

Making adjustments: The blonde beauty was joined on the red carpet by her beau in a sleek tuxedo. At one point, Julie needed to make a small adjustment to David's bow tie, which he happily let her fix

The return of the Gold Dinner comes after it was cancelled last year due to Covid.

The charity event raises millions of dollars for the Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation.

Julie and David publicly stepped out together in 2014 and have attended a number of events together over the years, including the 2018 wedding of Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough.

Loved up: Julie and David publicly stepped out together in 2014. In 2019, she spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald about how she fell for the property developer and their bond over their love of health and fitness

In 2019, she spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald about how she fell for the property developer and their bond over their love of health and fitness.

'I think that's self-evident  have you seen him?' she laughed.

'He's a very independent-minded and successful businessman, and he has a delightful sense of humour. He makes me laugh.'
Australian stars turned out in force to attend the Gold Dinner 2021 charity event in Sydney on Thursday.

The notoriously exclusive event raises funds to support mental health research and care at the Sydney Children's Hospital.

Guests arrived at the departures terminal at the international airport before being transported to the venue on the airfield.

Some of the country's most influential people attended the gala, which was first held in 1997 and has raised more than $30 million in the years since.

Beauty in black! Former foreign minister Julie Bishop looked glamorous in a long black gown as she lead the celebrity arrivals at the Gold Dinner 2021 event in Sydney on Thursday. Julie Bishop is wearing Van Cleef & Arpels

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop certainly lived up to her reputation as one of the country's most stylish politicians as she arrived with boyfriend David Panton.

The 64-year-old oozed sophistication in a sparkly long black gown that clung to her trim figure.

The politician accessorised her glamorous dress with a gold necklace, earrings and a sparkly bracelet.

Julie tied her long blonde locks in a low bun and wore a neutral palette of makeup for the event.

Meanwhile, David looked dapper in a black tuxedo, white buttoned shirt and a black bow tie as he posed alongside Julie.

Glamorous: The 64-year-old oozed sophistication in a sparkly long black gown that clung to her trim figure as she attended the event with her boyfriend David Panton

Karl Stefanovic went for a similar approach, arriving to the event in a black suit and matching pants.

The Today show host, 46, completed his ensemble with a white buttoned shirt and also wore shiny black shorts.

Karl was all smiles as he posed on the red carpet after arriving to the event.

Looking sharp! Karl Stefanovic (pictured) went for a similar approach, arriving to the event in a black suit and matching pants

Meanwhile, Rose Byrne made a style statement in floral flare pants and a matching blazer jacket.

The 41-year-old actress completed her ensemble with a pink blouse and wore gold statement earrings.

She tied her brunette locks back and opted for a full face of makeup consisting of a smokey eye and blush.

Red hot! Rose Byrne (pictured) made a style statement in floral flare pants and a matching blazer jacket

Stunning! She tied her brunette locks back and opted for a full face of makeup consisting of a smokey eye and blush

Comedian Hamish Blake and his wife Zoe Foster Blake also made an appearance at the star-studded event.

The 39-year-old dressed to impress in a suede suit jacket and black pants.

Hamish's wife Zoe, 40, stunned in a long black printed dress which featured a sheer neckline and blue print.

Power couple! Comedian Hamish Blake and his wife Zoe Foster Blake (pictured) also made an appearance at the star-studded event

Look of love! Hamish's wife Zoe stunned in a long black printed dress which featured a sheer neckline and blue print

Ian Thorpe was all smiles as he posed on the red carpet.

The Olympic swimming legend, 38, made a statement in a black suit, white buttoned shirt and bow tie.

He teamed his ensemble with a pair of black shoes and wore a silver watch.

Looking dapper! Ian Thorpe (pictured) made a statement in a black suit, white buttoned shirt and bow tie

The founder of Aussie Home Loans John Symond and his wife Amber Symond also attended the event.

Amber showed off her style in a long yellow silk ensemble which also featured a belt around her waist.

John couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he wrapped his arm around his wife and posed on the red carpet.

All smiles: The founder of Aussie Home Loans John Symond and his wife Amber Symond (pictured) also attended the event

Meanwhile, Australian television presenter James Mathison looked dapper in a black suit as he arrived with his partner Carlie Fowler.

Carlie dressed to impress in a long black gown which featured sleeves and a high neck.

She teamed the ensemble with a pair of black shoes and left her brunette locks out.

Loved-up: Australian television presenter James Mathison looked dapper in a black suit as he arrived with his partner Carlie Fowler (pictured)

Richard Wilkins and girlfriend Nicola Dale looked as loved up as ever as they posed at the event.

Nicola stunned in a long gold layered dress, complete with a plunging neckline and sleeves.

The blonde beauty curled her long locks and wore a pair of strappy heels.

Razzle dazzle! Richard Wilkins and girlfriend Nicola Dale (pictured) looked as loved up as ever as they posed at the event

Terry Biviano looked like a vision in white as she arrived to the Gold Dinner with her husband, retired Sydney Roosters captain Anthony Minichiello.

The 46-year-old teamed her stylish frock, which also had a high slit, with a pair of strappy heels.

She kept her long brunette locks straight and wore a neutral palette of makeup to the event.

White on the mark! Terry Biviano looked like a vision in white as she arrived to the Gold Dinner with her husband, retired Sydney Roosters captain Anthony Minichiello

Fashion designer Sarah Jane Clarke made a statement in a long orange frock which featured a plunging neckline.

The founder Sass & Bide teamed the dress with a pair of strappy heels and opted for minimal jewellery.

She curled her blonde locks and wore a neutral palette of makeup.

Making a statement! Fashion designer Sarah Jane Clarke (pictured) made a statement in a long orange frock which featured a plunging neckline

Night out! Fashion designer Camilla Freeman-Topper and husband David Topper (pictured) also dressed to impress

Fashion designer Camilla Freeman-Topper and husband David Topper also dressed to impress.

Camilla looked glamorous in a long black grown which featured side cutouts and a low neckline.

She wore a full face of makeup including a red lip, blush and eyeliner.

Star-studded event: Camilla's brother Marc Freeman also attended the charity event with his wife Nicole Landerer

Strike a pose: Model Jarrod Scott (pictured) looked sharp in a black tuxedo, white buttoned shirt and Hublot timepiece
Dani Dyer enjoyed a family day with Sammy Kimmence and their baby son Santiago in Essex on Wednesday ahead of her boyfriend's hearing on Friday 11 June.

In April, Kimmence, 25, made a last-minute change to plead guilty to scamming two men out of 34K when he appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court.

At the time, Kimmence was granted conditional bail until the hearing of his case on June 11 where he is at 'risk of a custodial sentence'.

Stepping out: Dani Dyer enjoyed a family day with Sammy Kimmence and their baby son Santiago in Essex on Wednesday ahead of her boyfriend's hearing on Friday 11 June

Dani was spotted with her boyfriend on Wednesday as they enjoyed a family stroll with their baby son Santiago, five months, who they welcomed in January.

The daughter of EastEnders star Danny Dyer cut a casual figure in frayed denim shorts and a purple T-shirt.

The former Love Island star, 24, styled her blonde locks into a sweptback ponytail, she added a slick of make-up.

Dani finished her low-key look with black sunglasses and a diamond heart-shaped necklace with matching jewellery.

Hearing: In April, Kimmence, 25, made a last-minute change to plead guilty to scamming two men out of 34K when he appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court

'Custodial sentence': At the time, Kimmence was granted conditional bail until the hearing of his case on June 11 where he is at 'risk of a custodial sentence'

Kimmence also looked casual as he wore grey tracksuit shorts with a white T-shirt and red trainers.

The outing comes after Dani reportedly vowed to stand by her boyfriend Kimmence as he faces jail after pleading guilty to fraud.

In a statement shared earlier this year, the star's representative confirmed they are 'still together' after he appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court in April and admitted duping two men out of 34,000.

Dani, who welcomed son Santiago with Kimmence in January, has reportedly vowed to stick by her beau after he made a last-minute change to plead guilty, and has now been told he could face prison time.

Family day: Dani was spotted with her boyfriend on Wednesday as they enjoyed a family stroll with their baby son Santiago, five months, who they welcomed in January

Casual: The daughter of EastEnders star Danny Dyer cut a casual figure in frayed denim shorts and a purple T-shirt

Low-key: The former Love Island star, 24, styled her blonde locks into a sweptback ponytail, she added a slick of make-up

When asked whether they were still in a relationship, Dani's representative told The Sun they are 'still together.'

A source close to the star added: 'She's vowed to stand by him, he's the father of her baby.'

MailOnline contacted representatives for Dani Dyer for further comment at the time.

It comes after Kimmence was warned in April that he faces jail after he admitted scamming two elderly men out of 34,000 by posing as a financial investor.

Finishing touches: Dani finished her low-key look with black sunglasses and a diamond heart-shaped necklace with matching jewellery

Casual: Kimmence also looked casual as he wore grey tracksuit shorts with a white T-shirt and red trainers

Reports: The outing comes after Dani reportedly vowed to stand by her boyfriend Kimmence as he faces jail after pleading guilty to fraud

The entrepreneur duped Peter Martin, 90, and Peter Haynes, 80, between 2016 and 2018 by persuading the vulnerable pensioners to allow him to invest their money.

The 25-year-old's victims were said to have been clients at a legitimate investment company, S&S Trading Ltd, where Kimmence previously worked.

A previous hearing was told Kimmence took the clients on when the business stopped operating, falsely claiming he was authorised to provide financial services.

Now Kimmence, who had denied all the charges and pleaded not guilty only last week, faces a possible prison sentence after a last-minute change of plea.

'Still together': In a statement shared earlier this year, the star's representative confirmed they are 'still together' after he appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court in April and admitted duping two men out of 34,000

Vow: Dani, who welcomed son Santiago with Kimmence in January, has reportedly vowed to stick by her beau after he made a last-minute change to plead guilty, and has now been told he could face prison time

Representative: When asked whether they were still in a relationship, Dani's representative told The Sun they are 'still together'

Kimmence, appearing at Portsmouth Crown Court, Hampshire, as his trial was expected to start, pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud, totalling 33,919.

The judge warned him his offences were so serious they crossed the custody threshold and he could be sent to jail.

Standing in the dock, Kimmence, dressed in a black suit with a blue tie, spoke only to confirm his name and plead guilty to each charge.

The court heard Kimmence, who announced the birth of his and Dani's son Santiago in January, used one of his victims' bank cards to withdraw more than 1,200 for himself and also racked up credit card charges of more than 1,300.

He also admitted to getting Peter Martin to transfer him 22,912 on one occasion, and 400 on another. He conned Peter Haynes in a similar way to the tune of 7,927.

Martin sadly died in November last year aged 91 while Haynes suffers from Alzheimer's.

Defending, Craig Harris asked for a pre-sentence report to be made and said: 'He is a relatively young man of previous good character, the offences go back into his late teenage years.

'This is a case that crosses the custodial threshold but might be within a range which I argue could be suspended.'

He added: 'Quite a lot has gone into this young man's life in the last few years. He is seeking to reimburse the losses he has caused so some time is also needed to allow him to do that.'

The court previously heard how Mr Haynes was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year and has moved from Okehampton, Devon, to live closer to his daughter in Leeds.

Father of her baby: A source close to the star added: 'She's vowed to stand by him, he's the father of her baby.'

Adjourning the hearing for sentencing, Recorder Nicholas Haggan, QC, said: 'The offences to which you have pleaded guilty are serious offences, it's accepted they cross the custodial threshold and you are at risk of receiving a custodial sentence.

'Given you are young man of no previous convictions, I am going to order a sentencing report. I am going to grant you conditional bail.'

He ordered a pre-sentence report and added: 'I am going to grant conditional bail until the hearing of your case which is on 11 June.

'The fact I am granting bail affords no indication of what the sentence will be. You are at risk of a custodial sentence.'

Dani, who is the daughter of EastEnders star Danny Dyer, shot to fame on Love Island in 2018. She had previously been in a relationship with Kimmence but struck up a new partnership with Jack Fincham in the villa before going on to win the show.

But the 24-year-old rekindled her romance with Kimmence shortly afterwards and there have been rumours that the pair may be getting married in the near future.
Ive carefully vetted it and determined its constitutional and lawful, Wilmot said. Each of you is sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Virginia, so it goes without saying  although this (resolution) says it  that you would not advocate for the enforcement of any unconstitutional law.
Lisa Wilkinson poked fun at the royals during a segment on Thursday's episode of The Project.

The 61-year-old panelist was discussing a recent BBC report, which claimed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle never asked the Queen permission to name their newborn daughter Lilibet, which was followed by lawyers for the couple denying this.

Lilibet is the Queen's nickname, and was given to her when she was a young child struggling to pronounce her own name, Elizabeth.

Making light of the situation: Lisa Wilkinson poked fun at the royals during a segment on Thursday's episode of The Project

'Who knows what the truth is in this story? All I do know is how much Prince Andrew would be loving the oxygen this ridiculous story is taking up right now,' Lisa joked.

Prince Andrew has been embroiled in controversy in recent years for his connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The 61-year-old royal counted the late Epstein as a friend, and admitted to having stayed at his notorious mansion for three days in 2010.

Rumour has it: The 61-year-old panelist was discussing a recent BBC report, which claimed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured together in Johannesburg in October 2019) never asked the Queen permission to name their newborn daughter Lilibet

The scandal prompted Prince Andrew to step down from his royal duties, with the FBI still looking to interview him.

It's not the first time Lisa has been vocal about the royal family.

On Monday, she pointed out that certain royals phrased their congratulatory messages to Harry and Meghan, 39, differently following the birth of their daughter.

'Who knows what the truth is in this story? All I do know is how much Prince Andrew would be loving the oxygen this ridiculous story is taking up right now,' Lisa joked. Pictured, Prince Andrew at Windsor Castle in May

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their daughter, Lilibet 'Lili' Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, on Friday in California, and announced the news on Sunday.

Lisa observed that the Cambridges didn't use Harry, 36, and Meghan's royal titles when acknowledging Lilibet's birth.

Neither did Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, but Harry's grandmother The Queen did refer to their titles.

Mixed messages: On Monday, Lisa pointed out that certain royals phrased their congratulatory messages to Harry and Meghan, 39, differently following the birth of their daughter. Pictured in London in April 2011 for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton

This omission comes amid a wider discussion about whether or not the Sussexes should relinquish their titles in light of their relentless criticism of the royal family.

'Can't help noticing that neither the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, nor Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, used Harry and Meghan's royal titles in the messages of congrats on the birth of baby Lilibet,' tweeted Lisa.

She added: 'The Queen - after whom the baby is named - was the only one that did.'
She was recently left 'hurt' after mummy-shamers criticised her for sharing a stunning bikini picture eight weeks after giving birth.

And Helen Flanagan put the drama behind her on Wednesday as she took to Instagram to share a new snap three months after welcoming her son Charlie.

The former Coronation Street star, 30, looked incredible as she displayed her toned abs in a matching grey underwear set.

Wow: Helen Flanagan put the drama behind her on Wednesday as she took to Instagram to share a new snap three months after welcoming her son Charlie

Helen styled her blonde locks into a tousled hairdo, she added a slick of radiant make-up and delicate gold jewellery.

Promoting a natural deodorant, the soap star admitted that she was making more 'eco friendly choices' while breastfeeding her son Charlie, three months.

Helen penned: 'I love using @wildrefill as a deodorant. @wildrefill is a natural eco friendly deodorant. I was drawn to the brand because I like to make eco friendly choices when I can.

'Also an effective deodorant is important to me as with hormones I do feel like I perspire more with breast feeding my baby and I find this really works for me.

'Hurt': She was recently left 'hurt' after mummy-shamers criticised her for sharing a stunning bikini picture eight weeks after giving birth (pictured in May)

Radiant: Promoting a natural deodorant, the soap star, 30, admitted that she was making more 'eco friendly choices' while breastfeeding her son Charlie, three months

'I like the fact that @wildrefill uses natural ingredients with my baby being near my armpit with nursing.'

Earlier this month, it was claimed that Helen was left 'hurt' after mummy-shamers criticised her for sharing a stunning bikini picture eight weeks after giving birth.

The former Coronation Street actress, who welcomed her son Charlie earlier this year, recently shared a smiling snap with her two daughters while on a staycation.

However trolls hit out at the actress for 'making other mums feel bad' about their postpartum figures, and Helen was reportedly horrified.

An insider told new! magazine: 'Criticism is hard for Helen as she's openly admitted to being insecure and is very self-aware.

'The photo was a happy moment with her girls and she did feel content in her body.

'She got a lot of really lovely comments but the negative comments from mummy-shamers still crept in and they do hurt.'

The source added that Helen wasn't 'bragging' about her postpartum figure and just wanted to embrace the body that had birthed three children.

Sad: Earlier this month, it was claimed that Helen was left 'hurt' after mummy-shamers criticised her for sharing a stunning bikini picture eight weeks after giving birth during a getaway with her family in Falmouth, Cornwall, in May (pictured)

Helen had been enjoying a UK staycation with her fiance Scott Sinclair and their three children, Matilda, five, Delilah, two, and their three-month-old son Charlie in Falmouth, Cornwall, in May.

Earlier this week, Helen fuelled speculation that she has tied the knot with her fiance Scott after she referred to him as 'hubby' several times on social media.

The actress cosied up to beau Scott, 32, during a shopping trip on Monday and shared a series of snaps on her Instagram Stories which referred to him as her 'hubby'.

Loved up: Earlier this week, Helen fuelled speculation that she has tied the knot with her fiance Scott after she referred to him as 'hubby' several times on social media

The loved-up pair, who have three children together, got engaged in May 2018 but were forced to postpone their wedding due to the pandemic.

MailOnline contacted Helen's representative for comment at the time.

Speaking in February last year, the soap actress said she and Scott planned to reschedule their nuptials to 2021 as her younger sister Jessica hoped to tie the knot in the summer of 2020.

Hubby? The actress cosied up to beau Scott, 32, during a shopping trip on Monday and shared a series of snaps on her Instagram Stories which referred to him as her 'hubby'

'Me and Scott have been together for 10 years, since forever. I know this sounds weird but, because weve got children and have been together for so long, we already feel like were married', she explained.

Speaking to The Express, the I'm A Celeb star elaborated at the time: 'We were going to get married this year but my little sister is getting married next summer, so maybe next year.

'I think its just because weve been together for so long, were just a bit lazy about. But, it would be nice to have the same name.'

The long-term couple got engaged in May 2018 during a holiday in Disneyland Paris and while Helen has admitted that she didn't see the point in getting married in the past, she's now excited to be tying the knot.
They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

And Karl Stefanovic certainly proved that proverb on Thursday night when he saw renowned chef Guillaume Brahimi at the Gold Dinner 2021 in Sydney.

The 46-year-old broadcast journalist was so happy to see Guillaume, 53, that he greeted his pal with a passionate kiss on the head.

Very friendly! Karl Stefanovic gave famed chef Guillaume Brahimi a spirited kiss on the head as they attended the Gold Dinner 2021 in Sydney on Thursday

The Today host looked sharp with his hair sleeked back and dressed in his black tuxedo with bow tie.

Meanwhile, the French-born chef was dressed in his whites, ready to jump into the kitchen to prepare meals for the guests.

The friends beamed as they posed together on the red carpet of the charity event.

Pals: The friends beamed as they posed together on the red carpet of the charity event. The renowned French-born chef was dressed in his whites, ready to jump into the kitchen to prepare meals for the guests

Suave: The Today host looked sharp in his black tuxedo with bow tie

The return of the Gold Dinner comes after it was cancelled last year due to Covid.

The charity event raises millions of dollars for the Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation.

Karl's night out at the charity event comes after he spent Wednesday night bonding with his eldest son Jackson over the State of Origin match.

On the same team: Karl's night out at the charity event comes after he spent Wednesday night bonding with his eldest son Jackson over the State of Origin match

In the photo, which was uploaded to Instagram, both Karl and Jackson sat side-by-side while enthralled in the 21-year-old's phone.

'Queenslanders do their homework. At the pub. That's the difference. Jacko and I reckon by a slim 40 points tonight,' Karl captioned the post.

Both Karl and Jackson wore Queensland jerseys.

Karl and Jackson have had a strained relationship in recent years, which started after the renowned TV host divorced his first wife, Cassandra Thorburn, in 2017.

Tense: Karl and Jackson (pictured together in June 2016) have had a strained relationship in recent years, which started after the renowned TV host divorced his first wife, Cassandra Thorburn, in 2017

Cassandra, 50, and Karl were married for 22 years, with Jackson siding with his mother after his parents' bitter split.

In addition to Jackson, Karl also shares daughter Ava, 16, and son River, 14, with Cassandra.

He's also dad to a one-year-old daughter, Harper, who he shares with his wife of over two years, shoe designer Jasmine Yarbrough.

Karl and Jasmine, 37, were married in December 2018 in a star-studded ceremony in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico.
Andrew Garfield was glued to his phone when he was pictured stepping out in LA on Wednesday.

The actor, 37, looked casual in a grey T-Shirt and black cargo pants as he ran errands while wearing a mask amid the Covid pandemic.

The outing came the same day as the trailer for his new film, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, was released, in which he plays Christian televangelists Jim Bakker.

Out and about: Andrew Garfield was glued to his phone when he stepped out in LA on Wednesday ahead of his new role as Christian televangelist Jim Bakker in film The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Casual: The Spider-Man star caught running errands in a laid-back look of a grey T-Shirt, black cargo pants and trainers

The Spider-Man actor has let his hair grow longer and he had it pushed back off his face and he was sporting a beard underneath his face mask.

This look is very different to what he looks like as Jim Bakker in the new movie in which he looks unrecognisable.

He stars in the role alongside It star Jessica Chastain, 44, who plays Bakker's wife, Tammy Faye.

Running errands: Garfield appears to have grown a beard through quarantine as he was snapped in his car whilst running errands in Los Angeles

Changing it up: Garfield looks unrecognisable in new role as famous televangelist Jim Bakker (left) and pictured (right) Jim Bakker

The film is about the infamous Christian televangelists Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye who rose to fame in the US in the 1970s.

The pair had a popular programme called 'The Tammy and Jim Show' (or PTL Club) which ran from 1974-1989.

Bakker and Faye became multi-millionaires, however, it was found that funding for the programming came from viewers and their donations disguised as 'monthly pledges' in the name of religion.

Unrecognisable: Co-Stars Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield in the trailer of the new film 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye

In 1987 the program came to a screeching halt and ultimate cancellation after Jim was accused of both sexual and financial misconduct.

That same year Tammy was treated for a prescription drug addiction.

The Charlotte Observer released an expose alleging that Bakker had sexually assaulted a young church secretary by the name of Jessica Hahn.

He was later alleged to have a few same-sex relationships and amid the scandal another televangelist Jerry Falwell was tapped to run the ministry.

Bakker was accused of sexually assaulting a young church secretary, Jessica Hahn, in an expose released in the Charlotte Observer, and she was apparently bribed to keep quiet.

Amid the scandal, he was also alleged to have same sex relationships.

The show was abruptly cancelled after Jim was accused of both sexual and financial misconduct, and was later indicted in 1988 on eight counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.

The film is set to be in cinemas on 17th September.

Unrecognizable: Jessica Chastain, 44, (left) looked unrecognizable as she portrays the leading lady of Televangelism who ultimately lost her decade-long battle with colon cancer in 2007
Her estranged husband Kanye West spent time with Irina Shayk in Provence, France to ring in his 44th birthday.

And on Thursday morning, Kim Kardashian appeared to brush off the news with a view of her favorite room in her house - her minimalist living room.

The reality star, 40, is currently living at her and Kanye's $60 million Hidden Hills mansion with their four children.

Relaxing: Her estranged husband Kanye West spent time with Irina Shayk in Provence, France to ring in his 44th birthday. And on Thursday morning, Kim Kardashian appeared to brush off the news with a view of her favorite room in her house - her minimalist living room

The snap featured her living room, which had white carpets, modern shaped couches, a wooden and metal table near a white fireplace featuring an abstract art piece.

The KKW Beauty star captioned it: 'My fave room in my house.'

She has previously showed snippets of her favorite room on her social media.

Kim and Kanye purchased their home, which was once owned by Lisa Marie Presley, in 2014 for $20 million.

Home life: The reality star, 40, is currently living at her and Kanye's $60 million Hidden Hills mansion with their four children

From KUWTK: She has previously showed snippets of her favorite room on her social media; Kim seen lounging on the left side of her favorite room while on the phone

Fancy: During Christmas 2019, Kim shared snap of the living area; the view shows how expansive the living room really is, with a large piano in the corner as well

They spent the next three years and another $20 million renovating it, making it now worth a reported $60 million.

The enormous Calabasas home they own sits on three acres with two vineyards, according to TMZ.

Kim and Kanye finally moved into their renovated home in December 2017, according to US Weekly; it was done in August of that year, but they delayed their move in by three months while smaller things were being finished up.

Former: Kim and Kanye purchased their home, which was once owned by Lisa Marie Presley, in 2014 for $20 million; seen December 14, 2019

'The home is done in terms of the renovation but it's finishing up the smaller things - they don't want to move in with any construction still happening,' Us Weekly's insider dished.

The renovations included a larger master bedroom, bigger closet space, a spa, as well as a recording studio for Kanye plus a complete revamp of the landscaping and outdoor area.

Kim and Kanye, who wed May 24, 2014, are parents to: daughters North, seven, and Chicago, three, and sons Saint, five, and Psalm, one.

Kim and Kanye gave fans an inside look at their massive futuristic Los Angeles home in February 2020's Architectural Digest.

Kids: Kim and Kanye, who wed May 24, 2014, are parents to: daughters North, seven, and Chicago, three, and sons Saint, five, and Psalm, one

During their interview with the outlet, Kanye revealed that their eldest daughter had a big role in the design for the house: 'North was the inspiration for the design of our house.'

They revealed to AD that Kim discovered the home during a walk: 'We passed by this incredibly extravagant house while strolling through the neighborhood. I'd just had North, as we were doing a lot of walking so I could work off some of the baby fat.'

It was summer 2013 when she first saw it, and the star revealed that she thought the house was 'perfection' but didn't know about Kanye's style and if he liked it.

She revealed that his reaction was 'less enthusiastic' and had said to her it was 'workable.'

Incredible: They spent the next three years and another $20 million renovating it, making it now worth a reported $60 million

Stunning: The enormous Calabasas home they own sits on three acres with two vineyards, according to TMZ

Kanye had described the home's transformation from suburban McMansion to futuristic Belgian monastery; for about 'ninety percent' of the house, they worked on the design with Belgian designer Axel Vervoordt.

Overall their home is a minimal, neutral toned palette.

He had revealed that he purchased an original Jean Royere Polar Bear sofa in an interesting manner; the sofa is reportedly worth $600,000.

Kanye told AD: 'I sold my Maybach to get the Royere. People told me I was crazy for what I paid for it, but I had to have it.'

Minimalist: Kanye had described the home's transformation from suburban McMansion to futuristic Belgian monastery; they worked with Belgian designer Axel Vervoordt to get their home styled to their taste - which is a minimal, neutral toned palette

Wow: Kim is pictured reclining on one of their sofas, after Kanye admitted to selling Maybach to buy a Jean Royere Polar Bear couch, which retails for around $600,000

Dancing through life: Kim shared another snap running around her sofa in an Instagram image; the table was designed by Axel

Contained clutter: Kim and Kanye are all minimalist - they just have play rooms to tidy things away; here Kim is seen with Scott Disick in a scene from her family's reality show

The home features a very long corridor with high, arched ceilings that is often seen on Kim's Instagram; during the holidays in 2019, they lined it with massive cotton-like decor.

The kitchen features a large light hued wooden breakfast table with the same wood featured as the cabinetry throughout the space; the counter tops are a neutral creamy taupe hue with off-white glassware.

In January 2020, Kim shared a detailed look at her well-stocked refrigerator after fans mocked her for having 'empty' shelves.

She later cleared up the false assumptions as she gave a tour of her very full multiple refrigerators.

Kim has often been seen in her home on her hit series Keeping Up With The Kardashians; she showed off her large theater room as well as her minimalist living room.

So cool: Kim has often been seen in her home on her hit series Keeping Up With The Kardashians; she showed off her large theater room as well as her minimalist living room

More living space: Another room with similar furniture to her living room is seen in a clip she posted of daughter Chicago

More peeks: Kim has shared snaps from inside her mansion, including one during breakfast, showcasing the wooden breakfast table and neutral themed kitchen

Day in the life of: The kitchen features a large light hued wooden breakfast table with the same wood featured as the cabinetry throughout the space; the counter tops are a neutral creamy taupe hue with off-white glassware

Kim later took to her social media to show her baffled fans how the futuristic sinks worked; As she zoomed in on the sink, Kim explained how the sloping design allows the water emanating from the faucets to pool slightly and then drain.

For the outdoor area, the couple turned to Peter Wertz; Kanye had explained their backyard needs: 'In the backyard there were all these stairs and we needed the kids to be able to ride their skateboards around, so as many places as I could take the stairs out I did.'

Kim has previously shown off another one of her favorite rooms, her sprawling walk in closet, but admitted that the way Kanye organizes his own wardrobe 'gives her anxiety'.

Staff: In a video tour she walked up to the kitchen, 'where it all happens,' as she waved to one of her staff members, Marina, before opening the massive walk-in fridge

Looks amazing: After fans tweeted and commented about the lacking refrigerator, Kim shared a video as she toured her main walk in fridge as well as another fridge in her kitchen

She explained: 'Because he completely took away the bars in the closet and you have like a whole new system for how you like to fold your clothes and how you like to organize your clothes.

'It gives me full anxiety, 'cause then you have to steam it instead of just being hung.'

According to their tour for AD magazine, one of the alterations they made was to dig up the already stunning two pools on there property and putting in one large new pool.

Throwback: Kim showed off the sprawling space in an Instagram snap shared back in December 2019 with temporary holiday decor lining the walls

Stunning: The bathrooms in their massive home features very little furniture with a modern bathtub and floor to ceiling windows that reveal the foliage outside

Clever: Her sinks were a source of questions for fans when she first showed them - with them appearing to have no sink since it was just a flat counter surface, versus the normal rounded sink placed into a counter top

Proof: As she zoomed in on the sink, Kim explained how the sloping design allows the water emanating from the faucets to pool slightly and then drain

During the question and answer portion of the interview, Kim revealed that she has yet to swim in the new pool.

Kanye had looked visibly shocked when she said that, to which she said: 'Yeah, can you believe that? But I love our pool. You know we don't have a jacuzzi?'

Kanye had made the decision to not have one as he thought it would look 'weird.'

Kim revealed that as a compromise, they heated up the whole pool, joking to Kanye: 'It bothered you so much, but the kids love to swim in a Jacuzzi.

So lucky: Kim has previously shown off another one of her favorite rooms, her sprawling walk in closet, but admitted that the way Kanye organizes his own wardrobe 'gives her anxiety'

Even more space: Her huge closet also features a large area where she has her multiple fittings; it has a large couch and floor-to-ceiling mirrors with clothes hanging along the walls like in a store

'So you said, 'No the whole pool will be a Jacuzzi, just make it really warm', like the whole pool all the time.'

Despite not getting her Jacuzzi she wanted, Kim confessed she did admire the way Kanye's pool looked, with it's 'really long front stair' where the children can play: 'It's not the deepest pool so the kids just love it.'

In addition to their Calabasas property, Kim and Kanye purchased a nearby property for $2.9 million in November 2019; it is a 3,900 square foot four-bedroom home on 1.5 acres with equestrian facilities.

In September 2019, the duo bought a $14 million ranch spanning 1400 acres outside of Cody, Wyoming; the property, called Monster Lake Ranch, houses almost $300,000 worth of livestock, per TMZ.

In November 2019, it was reported that Kanye bought a second property, the $14.495 million Bighorn Mountain Ranch.

The property sits on 6,713 acres and is located under 100 miles away from the first ranch in Cody, Wyoming, according to TMZ.

However, Kim and Kanye's marriage came to an end in February 2021, after she filed for divorce.

According to People, the Stronger rapper filed his response for divorce in early April, where he asked for joint legal and physical custody of their children.

Kim and Kanye were friends for years, with Kim even marrying Kris Humphries in 2011 and divorcing him 72 days later during their friendship.

Kim and Kanye became romantic in spring 2012 and got married on May 24, 2014 in Florence, Italy after enjoying celebrations in Paris, France.

They landed the cover of Vogue in April 2014 ahead of their nuptials.

End of an era: Kanye's nearly seven year marriage to Kim Kardashian came to an end in February, with the reality TV sensation filing for divorce; pictured June 21, 2018 at Paris Fashion Week

Kanye has been dating Irina for months, as early as March 2021, per TMZ.

The duo also spent time together in New York City in late April.

During that time Irina was seen wearing a DMX memorial shirt before it was available to the public.

The custom shirts for DMX were commissioned by Kanye's Yeezy brand and designed by Balenciaga.

The project Kanye helmed raised over $1 million for DMX's family with profits.

Irina and Kanye flew back to the the states via private jet Wednesday after spending time in Provence, France for his 44th birthday.

Dating: Kanye has been dating Irina for months, as early as March 2021, per TMZ

Kanye and Irina confirmed romance rumors on Wednesday after they were spotted taking a stroll together in the French city.

The duo stayed at the luxury Villa La Costa boutique hotel together.

The images come just one day after Kanye celebrated his 44th birthday, with estranged wife even wishing him a happy birthday via her Instagram.

In the pictures, Kanye and Irina are seen very comfortable with each other as they stop to take a few pictures together.

The duo are snapped grinning ear to ear during their stroll together at Chateau La Coste Art Center.

The images come after Kanye was first romantically linked to Russian supermodel Irina Shayk, according to DeuxMoi.

'Kanye West is now secretly dating Irina Shayk aka Bradley Cooper's baby mama,' a tipster wrote in last month.

The anonymous figure behind DeuxMoi replied to the tip with: 'After further looking into this, I don't know if "dating" is the right word, but there is perhaps some interest there.'

Seeming to double down on earlier 'dating claims,' another tipster insisted to DeuxMoi that Irina and Kanye ''Def dating.'

Though the pairing may appear random to some, Irina and Kanye have been connected for more than a decade.

Back in 2010, the runway maven was a featured player in West's Heaven-inspired Power music video, where she portrayed an angel.

Power: Back in 2010, the runway maven was a featured player in West's Heaven-inspired Power music video, where she portrayed an angel

Specifically, Shayk sported a revealing gold getup and a pair of CGI angel wings.

Just two years later, the Russian-born beauty put her modeling skills to the test as she graced the runway for West's Fall/Winter fashion collection at Paris Fashion Week.

Last month, Irina having sported a DMX shirt designed by West in collaboration with Balenciaga.

Angelic: Specifically, Shayk sported a revealing gold getup and a pair of CGI angel wings

Fashion: Irina has found herself intertwined with Kanye's fashion endeavors over the years, first appearing a fashion show for the rapper in 2012 before rocking his Balenciaga collaboration in April 2021

In his 2010 song Christian Dior Denim Flow he rapped: 'I wanna see Irina Shayk next to Doutzen.'

Kanye's nearly seven year marriage to Kim Kardashian came to an end in February, with the reality TV sensation filing for divorce.

According to People, the Stronger rapper filed his response for divorce in early April, where he asked for joint legal and physical custody of their children.

In last week's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim finally admitted that her marriage to Kanye was over in the penultimate episode.

While she keeps her relationship fairly removed from KUWTK, Kim played out some of the split in the latest episode as she confirmed the end.

Kim upon arrival hated on a platter of cookies and stated: 'I just want to go to my room and never come out.'

The end: In last week's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim finally admitted that her marriage to Kanye was over in the penultimate episode

In her confessional, Khloe explained: 'Kim has been struggling privately behind camera about her relationship...

'And it's tough because Kim is clearly redirecting so much of her frustration and sadness and anger, and you know, sometimes you just take things out on something that has nothing to do with what you're going through. It's not the cookies fault'.

Khloe in a spacious living room then asked Kim how she was doing with Kanye. Kim said: 'There's no fighting. Like, now, it's all calm. I just roll with it.'
In that case, two men said they were outside at an apartment complex off J. Clyde Morris Boulevard when an SUV suddenly pulled up next to them  with two men getting out, following them up some stairs, and demanding their wallets at gunpoint.
Pretty Little Liars alum Troian Bellisario and Suits alum Patrick J. Adams just detailed the 'wild' birth of their second child - daughter Elliot Rowena Adams - on May 15.

The married couple of four years drove into the parking lot of the hospital when the 35-year-old LA native went 'nuclear' and he pulled up to the ER entrance.

'I get up to the [hospital security guard] and I say, "It's all happening, in the car. You need to get the wheelchair down here. You need to get the people, all the people, all the professionals! It's happening!"' the Canadian 39-year-old recalled on Thursday's episode of Shondaland podcast Katie's Crib.

Dramatic entrance! Pretty Little Liars alum Troian Bellisario and Suits alum Patrick J. Adams just detailed the 'wild' birth of their second child - daughter Elliot Rowena Adams - on May 15

Labor: The married couple of four years (pictured December 24) drove into the parking lot of the hospital when the 35-year-old LA native went 'nuclear' and he pulled up to the ER entrance

'As soon as I open [the car door,] Troian is doing one of her incredible howls. She is on all fours, butt facing the windshield. Her butt's at my head level, so I just go and pull down her pants and [the baby's] head is right there.'

At that moment, Patrick realized he would have to deliver their baby himself: 'There was no room for panic. You just need to deal with this situation.'

After one more push from Troian, Adams turned their daughter upside down to make sure fluids weren't blocking her windpipe and she let out her first cry.

The Canadian 39-year-old recalled on Thursday's episode of podcast Katie's Crib: 'I get up to the [hospital security guard] and I say, "It's all happening, in the car. You need to get the wheelchair down here. You need to get the people, all the people, all the professionals! It's happening!"'

Patrick continued: 'As soon as I open [the car door,] Troian is doing one of her incredible howls. She is on all fours, butt facing the windshield. Her butt's at my head level, so I just go and pull down her pants and [the baby's] head is right there'

At that moment, Patrick realized he would have to deliver their baby himself: 'There was no room for panic. You just need to deal with this situation'

'I just look over my shoulder, because I'm still on all fours,' Bellisario said.

'And I see Patrick holding her upside down, and she's wailing, so I was like, "She's alive. She's okay. She's breathing.'

By contrast, the birth of the USC grads' two-year-old daughter Aurora 'lasted over 26 hours.'

'She's alive. She's okay. She's breathing': After one more push from Troian, Adams turned their daughter (pictured Wednesday) upside down to make sure fluids weren't blocking her windpipe and she let out her first cry

She wasn't in panic mode: By contrast, the birth of the USC grads' two-year-old daughter Aurora (L) 'lasted over 26 hours'

Still going strong! Adams and Troian - who are close with Meghan Markle - originally met while co-starring in the 2009 play Equivocation at LA's Geffen Playhouse (pictured in 2019)

Troian and Patrick - who are close friends with Meghan Markle - originally met while co-starring in the 2009 play Equivocation at LA's Geffen Playhouse.

On May 14, CBS passed on the political drama pilot Ways & Means, in which Bellisario starred as idealistic Democratic Congresswoman Claire opposite Patrick Dempsey - according to Deadline.

The Life on Mars director's most recent gig was helming the March 3 episode of Freeform's Good Trouble - titled 'Whoosh, Pow, Bang' - which she shot last October.

Oh well! On May 14, CBS passed on the political drama pilot Ways & Means, in which Bellisario starred as idealistic Democratic Congresswoman Claire opposite Patrick Dempsey (pictured January 29)
Nicole Kidman is slated to play the iconic Lucille Ball in an upcoming biopic.

The actress, 53, candidly discussed the challenges of taking on the role of the legendary comedienne during the latest installment of Variety's Actors on Actors with Chris Rock.

Rock, 56, also revealed the female comics who took him 'under their wing' when he was a young up-and-comer in the industry.

Shop talk: Nicole Kidman and Chris Rock candidly discussed the challenges of Kidman taking on the role of Lucille Ball in an upcoming biopic during the latest installment of Variety's Actors on Actors with Chris Rock

'The strange thing about Lucille Ball is that everyone thinks we're remaking the I Love Lucy show, and it's so not that,' Kidman explained. 'It's about Lucy and Desi and their relationship and their marriage. It's very deep, actually.'

'She was a trailblazer. She formed her production company. Desi was Cuban, and she had to fight to get him on the show,' the Emmy winner added.

'They had just so many things in their marriage that are so relevant today, and what she was also dealing with in terms of everything that artists deal with, where you're up against big corporations.'

Kidman will play the 1950s television legend in the biopic, Being The Ricardos, depicting the couple's marriage in the midst of a crisis during filming for the famous sitcom.

'The strange thing about Lucille Ball is that everyone thinks we're remaking the I Love Lucy show, and it's so not that,' Kidman explained. 'It's about Lucy and Desi and their relationship and their marriage. It's very deep, actually.'

'Let's not downplay the fact how hard it must've been to be a woman at that time going through, you know, just like, 'I'm the boss. Not him. I'm the boss.'' Rock added.

She will be starring opposite Javier as Desi Arnaz in the Amazon project written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.

'Let's not downplay the fact how hard it must've been to be a woman at that time going through, you know, just like, 'I'm the boss. Not him. I'm the boss.'' Rock added.

The cast for the flick includes Alia Shawkat as writer Madelyn Pugh, who along with her writing partner Bob Carroll Jr., worked on several TV projects for Lucille including I Love Lucy.

Meanwhile Alia's old Arrested Development co-star Tony Hale also has a role in Being The Ricardos as I Love Lucy showrunner Jess Oppenheimer.

I Love Lucy: Kidman will play the 1950s television legend in the biopic, Being The Ricardos, depicting the couple's marriage in the midst of a crisis during filming for the famous sitcom

Lucy once referred to Jess as 'the brains' of the operation but he left the program in 1956 to become an NBC programming executive.

JK Simmons and Nina Arianda are respectively playing William Frawley and Vivian Vance - known to I Love Lucy fans as the characters Fred and Ethel Mertz.

'I've had to put in an enormous amount of time on Lucille Ball right now, because she has a very particular way of speaking,' Nicole told Chris Rock.

Adding: 'I am way out of my comfort zone right now, Chris. I'm free-falling.'

'I've had to put in an enormous amount of time on Lucille Ball right now, because she has a very particular way of speaking,' Nicole told Chris Rock. 'I am way out of my comfort zone right now, Chris. I'm free-falling.'

Meanwhile, Chris opened up to Nicole about the amazing women in comedy - like Joy Behar and Susie Essman - who took him 'under their wing' and helped him when he was starting out in the industry.

'I just always was around these powerful women. I mean, even in comedy, the clubs were run by women,' the actor said, adding: 'Everybody talks about how stand-up is a boys' club, but stand-up's been run by a lot of women for a lot of years.'

Kidman's role as Lucille Ball will be decidedly different from her last meaty role opposite Hugh Grant in HBO's The Undoing.

'She was a trailblazer. She formed her production company. Desi was Cuban, and she had to fight to get him on the show,' the Emmy winner added.

'I just always was around these powerful women. I mean, even in comedy, the clubs were run by women,' the actor said, adding: 'Everybody talks about how stand-up is a boys' club, but stand-up's been run by a lot of women for a lot of years.'

When Chris Rock noted that she and husband Keith Urban 'look so happy', the star was quick to gush over her real life husband.

'You guys look so happy,' Rock said. 'I mean, we all look happy, but you guys look really happy. So the untrusting wife thing?'

'I have a really good partner, yes, in my real life,' she said of her country music crooner husband. 'In 'The Undoing,' not so good.'

Following her split from Tom Cruise in 2001, Kidman married Keith Urban in 2006.
Strictly Come Dancing pro dancer Janette Manrara has been announced as Zoe Ball's replacement on spin-off show It Takes Two.

The dancer revealed the exciting news on Thursday's The One Show, where she also announced that she has quit as a professional dancer on Strictly after eight years.

Speaking to hosts Alex Jones and Ronan Keating, the Cuban-American, 37, beauty told how she's 'excited to be given the opportunity' and admitted that leaving Strictly has been the 'hardest part' of her new role.

Exciting: Strictly Come Dancing pro dancer Janette Manrara has quit the dance show after being announced as Zoe Ball's replacement on spin-off show It Takes Two

Janette, who is married to fellow professional dancer Aljaz Skorjanec, will join co-host Rylan Clark-Neal on the BBC2 show on weeknights, during Strictly's upcoming series.

Speaking of her new role, she told The One Show: 'Its a dream come true to become part of the It Takes Two team!

'Although its impossible to fill in the shoes of a legend like Zoe Ball, I hope to make her and all of the Strictly fans proud.'

She went on: 'I will miss dancing on that iconic dance floor weekly, but forever grateful to continue being a part of the Strictly Come Dancing family!'

Departing: Last month Zoe, 50, announced she had quit Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show It Takes Two after ten years

Opening up on how the new role will mean leaving Strictly's main show behind, she said: 'I will not be dancing. I don't want to well up because I have been welling up a lot today, but that has been the hardest part of accepting this amazing honour to join It Takes Two.

'It's the realisation that I will not be on that legendary Strictly dancefloor any more. But I feel that this is most beautiful and natural progression.

'I am still a part of the Strictly family, I am still going to be seeing my fellow pros all the time and I will keep dancing, as they say. I will find a way to keep dancing.'

Thrilled: Speaking to hosts Alex Jones and Ronan Keating, the Cuban-American, 37, beauty told how she's 'excited to be given the opportunity' and admitted that leaving Strictly has been the 'hardest part' of her new role

Discussing how she'll be as a host, Janette insisted that she wouldn't 'grill' her fellow pros and will instead 'champion them as much as possible' as they are the 'heroes' of the show.

After her on-air announcement, Janette took to Twitter to share a video as she discussed her new role and how she feels about stepping into Zoe's shoes.

Speaking into the camera, she said: 'Hello everyone, yes it's true. I am the new co-host with Rylan on Strictly's It Takes Two. I cannot wait.

'To fill in the shoes of Zoe Ball is impossible but I hope to make her proud and I hope to make you so so proud.

Sad exit: 'I will not be dancing. I don't want to well up because I have been welling up a lot today, but that has been the hardest part of accepting this amazing honour to join It Takes Two'

Keeeep dancing: 'I am still a part of the Strictly family, I am still going to be seeing my fellow pros all the time and I will keep dancing, as they say. I will find a way to keep dancing'

'I'm gonna miss dancing on Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor, but I cannot wait to talk about dancing, hear all about the couples and still always be a part of the Strictly Come Dancing family. See you soon!'

The former Burn the Floor star also took to her Instagram where she shared a glam shot of her in the stunning one-shouldered yellow dress from Front Row, which she wore on The One Show.

Janette reiterated her earlier sentiments about replacing Zoe and leaving Strictly, while she also thanked her Strictly team for their support throughout the years.

New job: After her on-air announcement, Janette took to Twitter to share a video as she discussed her new role and how she feels about stepping into Zoe's shoes

She also said in her caption: 'The hardest part will be saying goodbye to my fellow professional dancers and the famous Strictly dance floor!

'The professionals are the superheroes of the show and I will always champion them! I love you all so so much! May you continue inspiring and bringing so much joy to the nation as always!

'I am over the moon and cannot WAIT to get on that very special couch! And do not worry guys, I will always keeeeeeeeeeeep dancing! It Takes Two...... baby!!'

Golden girl! The former Burn the Floor star also took to her Instagram where she shared a glam shot of her in the stunning one-shouldered yellow dress from Front Row, which she wore on The One Show

Thank you and goodbye: Janette reiterated her earlier sentiments about replacing Zoe and leaving Strictly, while she also thanked her Strictly team for their support throughout the years

Janette first joined Strictly in 2013 where she was paired up with fashion designer Julien McDonald, with the duo eliminated third.

Her stint on the dance floor has also seen her team up with the likes of EastEnders star Jake Wood, singer Peter Andre and presenter Melvin Odoom.

Her final series in 2020 saw her finish the competition as a runner-up alongside social media star HRVY.

Newbie: Janette first joined Strictly in 2013 where she was paired up with fashion designer Julien McDonald, with the duo eliminated third

Look at them go! Her stint on the dance floor has also seen her team up with the likes of EastEnders star Jake Wood, singer Peter Andre and presenter Melvin Odoom (pictured with Jake Wood in 2014)

Last month Zoe, 50, announced she had quit Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show It Takes Two after ten years.

The TV favourite had hosted the after show for the last decade but decided to move on to pastures new after joining the show in 2011 when Claudia Winkleman left to host the main show with Tess Daly.

It came as Zoe's co-star Ian Waite announced shortly afterwards that he had also quit the spin-off show after presenting the Waite's Warm Up segment.

The greatest dancer: Janette become a firm favourite with fans during her eight-year stint on Strictly (pictured with Peter Ander in 2015)

Last outing: Her final series in 2020 saw her finish the competition as a runner-up alongside social media star HRVY (pictured together)

What a duo: is married to fellow professional dancer Aljaz Skorjanec (pictured in 2019)

Taking to Instagram in May, Zoe shared a series of behind the scenes snaps from her time on the BBC series as she paid tribute to the cast and crew.

She wrote: 'Dance lovers, after 10 joyous years I am waltzing away from It Takes Two. As a massive @bbcstrictly fan I have loved spending my Autumn teatimes with the celebrity dancers, the gorgeous & awesome pro dancers, the judges, my girl Vicky Gill, Rylan, Gethin & of course my main man Ian Waite.

'Time now for some new cha cha challenges. I will continue to support the Strictly family on the Breakfast Show & can't wait to watch the Class Of 2021 from my sofa.

End of an era: The TV favourite had hosted the after show for the last decade but decided to move on to pastures new after joining the show in 2011 when Claudia Winkleman left to host the main show with Tess Daly

'Huge love & grateful thanks to Tess & Claude & the whole Strictly clan, the ITT fans, my Glam Squad, Eve Winstanley, Alex McLeod, the BBC2 gang, & of course the best telly crew ever. I will miss you all immensely. As Iveta would say 'Friends for the life' xx'.

Zoe, who was a contestant on the third series of Strictly, most recently co-hosted It Takes Two alongside Rylan Clark-Neal who joined the show last year.

While Ian, 50, also took to Instagram to announce he had quit the spin-off series to focus on his fitness brand as he shared a slew of snaps with Zoe.

Leaving! It comes as Zoe's co-star Ian Waite announced that he had also quit the spin-off show after presenting the Waite's Warm Up segment (pictured with Zoe)

Departure: Zoe hosted the after show for the last decade but decided to move on to pastures new (pictured with co-host Rylan Clark-Neal)

The former Strictly pro penned: 'Wow! What a incredible journey.

'It is with great sadness but also a lot of pride that after ten years presenting Waites Warm Up on #ItTakesTwo the sister show to @bbcstrictly I will be putting away my wand to focus on my dance fitness brand Fitsteps and also my up and coming tour with Vincent Simone The Ballroom Boys.

'I want to thank all the amazing crew, make up artists, directors, producers, who made it so enjoyable to come in to work.

Memories: Zoe shared a series of behind the scenes snaps from her time on the BBC series as she paid tribute to the cast and crew (pictured with hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly)

She wrote: 'Dance lovers, after 10 joyous years I am waltzing away from It Takes Two'

'I feel so grateful to have been given the opportunity to work with Strictly since the first year in 2004 and I will continue to support all my supremely talented fellow pro dancers, judges, celebs and look forward to their performances in 2021.

'This journey would not have been possible without the one and only Zoe Ball who has been the most loyal, loving, caring friend one could wish to have.

'I will miss you the most but know that we will still see each other a lot in the future. Lastly thank you to all our wonderful ITT fans you are the best!'

Zoe replied to the post with: 'Love you leggy one. See you in a wiggle x.'

Zoe wrote: 'As a massive @bbcstrictly fan I have loved spending my Autumn teatimes with the celebrity dancers, the gorgeous & awesome pro dancers, the judges, my girl Vicky Gill, Rylan, Gethin & of course my main man Ian Waite'

Show: Zoe, who was a contestant on the third series of Strictly, most recently co-hosted It Takes Two alongside Rylan Clark-Neal who joined the show last year

Throwback: Zoe also shared a snap of herself being presented with cupcakes by Michael Buble

The presenter was inundated with well wishes from past celebrity contestants and professional dancers.

Main show host Tess Daly wrote on Zoe's post: 'Oh nooo..We will miss you SO so much! Loved every minute watching you on the show; laughing along with you and watching you get teary-eyed every now and then because your gorgeous big heart was bursting for them. You are just BRILLIANT XXXX'.

Former pro Kevin Clifton wrote: 'It Takes Two was always my favourite bit. I loved chatting and bein silly with u on the sofa. Thank you for being so kind , generous and supportive with all of us. You're the best.'

Kevin's girlfriend and series 16 winner Stacey Dooley added: MY GOD. A LEGEND IS LEAVIN THE BUILDING. The kindest woman in tele. We love you Zoeeeeeeee'.

Zoe wrote: 'Huge love & grateful thanks to Tess & Claude & the whole Strictly clan, the ITT fans, my Glam Squad, Eve Winstanley, Alex McLeod, the BBC2 gang, & of course the best telly crew ever'

Sad: While Ian, 50, also took to Instagram to announce he had quit the spin-off series to focus on his fitness brand as he shared a slew of snaps with Zoe

Sweet: Zoe replied to the post with: 'Love you leggy one. See you in a wiggle x.'

Way back when: Ian shared a slew of throwback snaps with Zoe to mark their time on the Strictly spin-off series

He penned: 'This journey would not have been possible without the one and only Zoe Ball who has been the most loyal, loving, caring friend one could wish to have.'

Two-time pro winner Oti Mabuse wrote: 'We are going to miss you so much! You've always been a deep part of the family  looking forward to hearing you on the radio.'

Fellow dancer Janette Manrara said: 'Oh @zoetheball!! I looked forward to our chats on that couch more then any other part of the week!

'You really are a diamond of a human being and deserve all of the wonderful things that are coming your way! Although you'll be missed, it's not 'goodbye', it's more of a 'see ya around'! Love you!'

Reaction: The presenter was inundated with well wishes from past celebrity contestants and professional dancers

Series 18 contestant Clara Amfo added: 'Zoe, The most warm and welcoming splits doing don! You do this job with such genuine joy and ease! Thank You for always making ITT the sweetest addition to the experience!!'

Series 10 contestant Kimberley Walsh wrote: 'Ah this is sad news you will be missed so much!!!!!!!! Sending huge love to you '

Zoe was partnered with dancer Ian Waite during the third series and made it to the final night, finishing in third place behind Colin Jackson and winner Darren Gough.

A BBC spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We'd like to thank Zoe for an amazing decade on It Takes Two, and she'll always be part of the Strictly family.

'We will miss her sense of fun, passion for all things dance, and those amazing sequinned jumpers. We'll announce plans for the show in due course.'

Strictly Come Dancing and It Takes Two will return to BBC One and BBC Two in September.
They have been in a relationship for seven years after meeting on a blind date.

And Denise Van Outen and her fiance Eddie Boxshall looked in good spirits as they arrived at The Dorchester Hotel in London for a romantic dinner date on Thursday.

The TV personality, 47, cut a stylish figure for the evening as she donned a green midi dress with a fuchsia floral print and a daring thigh-split.

Couple: Denise Van Outen and her fiance Eddie Boxshall looked in good spirits as they arrived at The Dorchester Hotel in London for a romantic dinner date on Thursday

The garment featured a v-neckline and a leg split while Denise added height to her frame with a pair of pink ankle boots.

The media personality let her platinum blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders for the evening and added to her outfit with a pink clutch bag.

Eddie, 47, opted for a laid back look for the couple's date as he sported a black polo shirt with white jeans and a pair of shades.

The pair held hands and were all smiles as they arrived at the swanky hotel.

Outfit: The TV personality, 47, cut a stylish figure for the evening as she donned a green midi dress with a fuchsia floral print

It comes after Denise revealed Eddie had no idea he would be spending the evening with her during their first blind date.

The former Big Breakfast presenter discussed their humorous first meeting on Stephs Packed Lunch on Channel 4, and admitted her fiance thought it was a joke when the restaurant host let slip he would be sitting down with Denise.

She said to presenter Steph McGovern: 'When I first met Eddie, I went on a blind date. He didnt know it was me which was quite funny.

'I was sitting in a bar and he turned up and said, "Im here to meet a Denise," he knew my name.

Style: The garment featured a v-neckline and a leg split while Denise added height to her frame with a pair of pink ankle boots

Looking good: The media personality let her platinum blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders for the evening and added to her outfit with a pink clutch bag

'The guy said, "Denise Van Outen" and he went, "No, its not her" like thinking it was a joke. Then of course he also went, "It is you!"'

She also revealed the secret ingredient to their successful first date was margaritas, and lots of them.

Denise added: 'Ive got the receipt from our first date, Ive kept it. It was the 22nd of May and it was literally margarita, margarita, margarita, margarita, theres about 20 margaritas on it.

'At some point, you know when youre drunk and weve gone, "we really should eat something", weve ordered the most random thing - just a bowl of chipolatas! Then it goes back to margarita, margarita, margarita'

Date night: The pair held hands and were all smiles as they arrived at the swanky hotel

Denise and Eddie decided to ride out the coronavirus storm and delay their eagerly-awaited nuptials so they can have a grand celebration with their nearest and dearest.

The TV personality said she's happy to jump to the back of the wedding queue to allow other couples to exchange vows first, as she predicts a 'massive backlog' due to the pandemic.

Speaking to The Sun last month, she said: 'We're not engaged but we are preparing to get married. It will definitely happen but we're not in a rush.

'We don't want a small wedding. We want a big group of people and a big party with no restrictions.

Delay: Denise and Eddie decided to ride out the coronavirus storm and delay their eagerly-awaited nuptials so they can have a grand celebration with their nearest and dearest

'Plus, with all the weddings that have been cancelled because of the pandemic, there's going to be a massive backlog and I wouldn't want to get in the way of all of them. Let them all go first!'

Denise and her commodities trader partner have been an item for seven years and currently live in Essex with her daughter Besty, nine, whom she shares with West End star Lee Mead.

Eddie also has two children from a previous relationship.
Lisa Wilkinson - the wife of Australia's most prominent republican, Peter FitzSimons - mocked the Royal Family on Thursday's episode of The Project.

The 61-year-old was discussing a recent BBC report that claimed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle never asked the Queen permission to name their newborn daughter Lilibet, which was followed by lawyers for the couple denying this.

Lilibet is the Queen's nickname, and was given to her when she was a young child struggling to pronounce her own name, Elizabeth.

Poking fun: Lisa Wilkinson - the wife of Australia's most prominent republican, Peter FitzSimons - mocked the Royal Family on Thursday's episode of The Project

'Who knows what the truth is in this story? All I do know is how much Prince Andrew would be loving the oxygen this ridiculous story is taking up right now,' Lisa said.

Prince Andrew has been embroiled in controversy in recent years for his connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The 61-year-old royal counted the late Epstein as a friend, and admitted to having stayed at his notorious mansion for three days in 2010.

Rumour has it: The 61-year-old was discussing a recent BBC report that claimed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (pictured together in Johannesburg in October 2019) never asked the Queen permission to name their newborn daughter Lilibet

The scandal prompted Prince Andrew to step down from his royal duties, with the FBI still looking to interview him.

It's not the first time Lisa has been vocal about the royal family.

On Monday, she pointed out that certain royals phrased their congratulatory messages to Harry and Meghan, 39, differently following the birth of their daughter.

'Who knows what the truth is in this story? All I do know is how much Prince Andrew would be loving the oxygen this ridiculous story is taking up right now,' Lisa said. Pictured: Prince Andrew at Windsor Castle in May

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed their daughter, Lilibet 'Lili' Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, on Friday in California, and announced the news on Sunday.

Lisa observed that the Cambridges didn't use Harry, 36, and Meghan's royal titles when acknowledging Lilibet's birth.

Neither did Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, but Harry's grandmother The Queen did refer to their titles.

Mixed messages: On Monday, Lisa pointed out that certain royals phrased their congratulatory messages to Harry and Meghan, 39, differently following the birth of their daughter. Pictured in London in April 2011 for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton

This omission comes amid a wider discussion about whether or not the Sussexes should relinquish their titles in light of their relentless criticism of the royal family.

'Can't help noticing that neither the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, nor Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, used Harry and Meghan's royal titles in the messages of congrats on the birth of baby Lilibet,' tweeted Lisa.

She added: 'The Queen - after whom the baby is named - was the only one that did.'
Rugby league golden couple Cooper Cronk and Tara Rushton are selling their family home in Sydney's Mosman.

The pair have listed their charming four-bedroom pad for auction next month, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Other four-bedroom homes on the Lower North Shore typically sell for about $4.5million, so they are likely hoping for a similar figure.

Selling up: Rugby league golden couple Cooper Cronk and Tara Rushton are selling their family home in Sydney's Mosman with $4.5million hopes. Pictured on May 13, 2019, in Sydney

The couple have lived in the home for four years and were previously considering the idea of adding another level for about $860,000.

The property features a cottage-style exterior, four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a small infinity swimming pool.

Cooper, 37, and Tara, 36, decided to sell after welcoming their second child, a son named Harley, in February.

Going under the hammer: The pair have listed their charming four-bedroom pad for auction next month, reports The Daily Telegraph. Pictured: one of the bedrooms

Picture-perfect property: The couple have lived in the home for four years and were previously considering the idea of adding another level for about $860,000

The pair, who married in 2017, also share an older son named Lennox, who turns three in July.

'We always spoke about wanting two kids. We never really planned it in terms of timing, but we're really happy,' Cooper previously told Stellar magazine when the couple announced their second pregnancy.

At the time, Tara was five months along and said they were able to keep the news a secret simply because 'nobody asked'.

Luxury living: The property features a cottage-style exterior, four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a small infinity swimming pool

Looking for a bigger home? Cooper, 37, and Tara, 36, decided to sell after welcoming their second child, a son named Harley, in February

Price guide: Other four-bedroom homes on the Lower North Shore typically sell for about $4.5million, so they are likely hoping for a similar figure

Like her first pregnancy, she suffered from nausea, but the experience was different the second time round because she had a toddler to chase after.

'It definitely adds a different level of intensity when you're chasing a fast-footed two-year-old around while pregnant,' she said at the time.

The lovebirds tied the knot on Sydney's Northern Beaches in December 2017 and welcomed Lennox the following July.

Cooper famously defected from Melbourne Storm to the Sydney Rosters in order to be closer to his broadcaster wife in 2019.
Their sun-soaked family trip to Portugal was cut short after the country was added to the Amber list after Covid travel restrictions were updated.

And Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright certainly made the most of their brief getaway as they smiled for a sunny Instagram snap shared on Thursday after they jetted back to the UK.

The Coronation Street actress, 34, looked sensational as she showed off her washboard abs in a tiny bronze crop top while posing alongside her former TOWIE star husband, 34.

Stunning: Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright certainly made the most of their brief getaway to Portugal as they smiled for a sunny Instagram snap shared on Thursday after they jetted back to the UK

The beauty showed off her incredibly toned physique in the skimpy top, which she paired with a cream skirt featuring a racy, thigh-high split.

Michelle completed her outfit with barely-there cream heels, a smattering of delicate gold jewellery and rounded shades.

The Our Girl star was seen laughing in the snap as she held the hand of her husband who had wrapped his arm around her waist.

Short but sweet: Captioning the snap, Mark alluded to the couple having to jet back home early due to travel restrictions, writing: 'Amber cut it short but it was very sweet. PT until next time'

Meanwhile Mark looked casual in an open white shirt and stone coloured shorts, with the hunk showcasing his golden tan in the outfit.

Captioning the snap, Mark alluded to the couple having to jet back home early due to travel restrictions, writing: 'Amber cut it short but it was very sweet. PT until next time.'

It comes as Mark's sister Jess Wright took to Instagram on Monday to share several updates from the family trip which included dinner at Maria's in Almancil, Algarve.

Michelle and Mark were able to jet back to the UK in time before it joined the 'amber' travel list at 4am on Tuesday.

Lovely: Michelle and Mark , centre, have enjoyed a sun-drenched family getaway to Portugal complete with boozy meals, dancing and singing

Taking to her Instagram Story, Jess, 35, shared several updates from the trip which included sizzling selfies with Michelle, dancing and laughter.

In the posts, the trio were also joined by Wright family members - parents Mark Snr and Carol, sister Natalya and brother Josh.

Jess' fiance William Lee-Kemp, Josh's wife Hollie and Natalya's boyfriend Tommy also joined the fun trip.

The family were seen enjoying a lavish meal at Maria's in the Algarve where they enjoyed tasty beverages and started singing to Oasis' Don't Look Back In Anger.

Updates: Mark's sister Jess Wright took to Instagram on Monday to share several updates from the trip which included dinner at Maria's in Almancil, Algarve

Fun times: Taking to her Instagram Story, Jess, 35, shared several updates from the trip on Monday which included sizzling selfies with Michelle, dancing and laughter

Family: In the posts, the trio were also joined by Wright family members - parents Mark Snr and Carol, sister Natalya and brother Josh - Jess' fiance William Lee-Kemp, Josh's wife Hollie and Natalya's boyfriend Tommy also joined the fun trip

Michelle was seen dancing to a band performing at the venue while Mark laughed along during the fun meal.

Jess also shared a sweet video of her parents Mark Snr and Carol enjoying a dance together later in the evening, writing on a different update the reality star said: 'Have waited so long to sit at a beach restaurant & drink this.'

Almancil is in the affluent golden triangle region outside of Faro, the capital of the Algarve.

Lovely: The family were seen enjoying a lavish meal at Maria's in the Algarve where they enjoyed tasty beverages and started singing to Oasis' Don't Look Back In Anger

So sweet: Jess also shared a sweet video of her parents Mark Snr and Carol enjoying a dance together later in the evening

Memories: She later wrote on a different update the reality star said: 'Have waited so long to sit at a beach restaurant & drink this.'

It is famous for its luxury resorts and Michelin star restaurants, and lies between the town of Vilamoura, Almancil and the gated communities of Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo.

It is not known whether the rest of the family have since jetted back to the UK or if they are still in Portugal after it moved onto the UK's 'amber' travel list at 4am on Tuesday.

Mark's brother Josh, who also went on the holiday, posted updates from Chigwell, Essex, on Tuesday night.

Home? Mark's brother Josh, who also went on the holiday, posted updates from Chigwell, Essex, on Tuesday night - suggesting he has since returned

Updates: However, Jess continued to share updates from Portugal on Tuesday evening - although she did not specify if she was still in the country or posting throwback snaps (pictured with Natalya)

However, Jess continued to share updates from Portugal that evening - although she did not specify if she was still in the country or posting throwback snaps.

Amber rules mean travellers arriving home from Portugal will now have to self-isolate for 10 days and pay for two PCR tests to take on day 2 and day 8.

Breaking quarantine could lead to a 10,000 fine with those who do not take tests on day 2 and day 8 of their self-isolation facing 2,000 penalties.

'Bikini kinda mood': It comes after Jess Wright shared a sizzling snap of herself with her 1.4million followers on Instagram on Tuesday

Those who provide incorrect information on their passenger locator forms could be fined 10,000 or be jailed for 10 years - or both.

It comes after Jess Wright shared a sizzling snap of herself with her 1.4million followers on Instagram on Tuesday.

Taking to her social media account, the 35-year-old uploaded a photo of herself candidly walking along in a bikini.

Sizzling: Taking to her social media account, the 35-year-old uploaded a photo of herself candidly walking along in a bikini

The high-waisted mint green two-piece left little to the imagination as she showcased her tanned and toned frame.

With intense sunlight beaming down on her in the photo, Jess also had on a large pair of sunglasses and her raven locks tumbled down over her left shoulder as she walked along.

Jess was also seen carrying a wicker handbag with similar coloured handles to her bikini, which a towel had been draped over the top.

Fun in the sun: It comes after her sister Natalya, 20, shared more snaps from her holiday in the Algarve, Portugal with her boyfriend Tommy

Ready to roll: The internet star, who has more than 297,000 followers on Instagram and is the sister of former The Only Way Is Essex stars Mark and Jess Wright, dressed perfectly for the summer in a post

Penning a short message alongside the two latest photos, Jess wrote: 'Bikini kinda mood.'

It comes after her sister Natalya, 20, shared more snaps from her holiday in the Algarve, Portugal with her boyfriend Tommy.

The internet star, who has more than 297,000 followers on Instagram and is the sister of former The Only Way Is Essex stars Mark and Jess Wright, dressed perfectly for the summer in a post.

Flashing a glimpse of her skimpy bikini, Natalya donned an eggshell linen top which she tied at the waist with a bow.

Natalya had on a pair of matching low-rise shorts which were perfect for the hot Southern European weather.

The web wonder had on a pair of white flip flops and a Fendi designer bag ready to spend the day in the sunshine.

Natalya captioned the image: 'Ready for the pool. I wish I could tell you where to buy this outfit but I cant just yet.. coming soon.'

Forever: Natalya has flown on holiday with her boyfriend Tommy and they posed for a picture in the beautiful sunlight of golden hour by the beach

The model has been enjoying her time in the sun and on Monday she shared a picture of herself and boyfriend Tommy at Maria's Beach & Restaurant in Almancil.

Natalya has certainly been making the most of the post lockdown freedom by dining out while away.

She captioned the image of her and Tommy: 'Forever,' while she kissed him on the cheek.

Natalya did not specify if she was still in the country or posting throwback snaps, after Portugal moved onto the government's amber list as of 4am on Tuesday.
The Crown bosses are reportedly struggling to find a boy to play a young Prince Harry because there is a shortage of ginger-haired actors.

Prince Harry is due to appear in the fifth series of the hit Netflix show and will be shown from ages 6 to 13, covering the years 1990 to 1997.

According to The Sun, bosses are considering dyeing a child actor's hair red so he bears an adequate resemblance to the Duke of Sussex.

Search: The Crown bosses are reportedly struggling to find a boy to play a young Prince Harry because there is a shortage of ginger-haired actors (Prince Harry pictured in May 2021)

A source told the publication: 'Bosses have incredibly high standards when it comes to the actors they hire.

'So any wannabe cast member already has to tick a long line of boxes. But with the role of young Harry they wanted another crucial box ticking.

'That's proved incredibly difficult but they're determined to cast the right actor and are considering taking any steps necessary to make him look the part.'

Harry was previously played by Arran Tinker in the fourth series but only briefly.

Timeline: Prince Harry is due to appear in the fifth series of the hit Netflix show and will be shown from ages 6 to 13, covering the years 1990 to 1997 (Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles and Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in The Crown)

MailOnline has contacted Netflix for comment.

Harry's parents Princess Diana and Prince Charles were portrayed by Emma Corrin and Josh O'Connor in series four, respectively.

The Crown is set to start filming its hotly-anticipated fifth series in July.

According to Variety, crew are already starting to return to Elstree Studios ahead of the all new cast arriving to shoot scenes for the hit Netflix drama.

Backup plan: Bosses are considering dyeing a child actor's hair red so he bears an adequate resemblance to the Duke of Sussex (Harry pictured in 2002)

A source said: 'They're determined to cast the right actor and are considering taking any steps necessary to make him look the part' (Harry and Princess Diana pictured in 1988)

Elizabeth Debicki will be taking on the role of the Princess of Wales in the fifth series while Charles will reportedly be played by Dominic West.

Lesley Manville, 64, is set to star as Princess Margaret, who was played by Helena Bonham Carter previously. Jonathan Pryce, 73, will take over the role of Prince Philip.

Filming on series 5 will involve following strict Covid rules, however the UK is hoping to ease restrictions throughout the summer with some measures already changing.

The final two series of The Crown will cover the Royal Family's history throughout the 1990s and into 2003, however it is not yet know which moments will be seen.

Cameo: Harry was previously played by Arran Tinker in the fourth series but only briefly

Role: Elizabeth Debicki will be taking on the role of the Princess of Wales in the fifth series (pictured in 2019)

There are several poignant moments which could be used, including the Queen making a speech on her 40th anniversary of her accession in 1992, in which she called the year an 'annus horriblis'.

She was referring to the breakdown of three of her children's marriages; Prince Andrew, Princess Anne's and Prince Charles' divorce from Princess Diana.

Other noteable events during the time period included a fire at Windsor Castle, her golden wedding anniversary in 1997, and the deaths of Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother and the Princess of Wales.
Ryan Seacrest has been spotted arriving in the Hamptons with a mystery brunette on his arm, a year after DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that he'd split with his on-off girlfriend Shayna Taylor.

The pair were seen over Memorial Day Weekend late last month, touching down via helicopter on New York's west side highway Heliport, amid a flurry of other A-Listers flying into the popular destination.

Seacrest, 46, was greeted by his chauffeur Range Rover as he was whisked away with his much-younger looking companion, and both appeared to be ready for a relaxing vacation.

Moving on: Ryan Seacrest has been pictured with a mystery brunette arriving in the Hamptons together on Memorial Day Weekend... a year after he split with on-off girlfriend Shayna Taylor

Ryan's glam companion was a total knockout in a pair of denim Daisy Dukes and designer luggage.

The sighting comes a year after the TV host called it quits with Shayna, 29, after he was spotted with a mystery blonde in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

'Ryan and Shayna decided to end their romantic relationship amicably some time ago,' a spokesperson for Seacrest told DailyMail.com.

Companion: The pair were seen over Memorial Day Weekend late last month, touching down via helicopter on New York's west side highway Heliport

Skipping traffic: Celebrities are known for arriving at The Hamptons via helicopter

Who's that girl: Ryan has been seen spending time with this mystery girl

Stunning: Ryan's knockout companion wowed in denim hot pants

'They remain good friends, each other's biggest supporters and will always cherish their time together as a couple.'

The American Idol host was pictured enjoying some downtime in Mexico with his blonde companion, though they were not spotted together again.

Now it seems as though Ryan has moved on, as he appeared close to his new brunette lady while landing in style from the helicopter.

Luxe traveler: The American Idol host was pictured carrying his luggage before departing

Ready to go: Seacrest made his way to his chauffeur along with his female companion

Last March, the radio personality had revealed he and ex Shayna had got back together for the third time in their dating history, after posting a throwback snap of the two of them to his Instagram as he wished Shayna a happy birthday.

Ryan and Shayna first met at a restaurant in LA in 2013 and have been dating on and off ever since.

In fact, the relationship seemed to be getting serious before they surprised fans by breaking up in February 2019.

New romance? The couple certainly appeared to be at ease with one another

They got back together, however, after just a few months apart and decided to give their romance another shot.

During an episode of ABC's Live With Kelly and Ryan last month, Ryan wished Shayna a 'happy third anniversary', explaining: 'It is our third time together... so we've gotten together, broken up, gotten together, broken up.'

Kelly teased Ryan saying that it wasn't really an anniversary, to which Ryan responded: 'No, it's an eight-year run, but it's our third run together. So we celebrate each trial.'

Then Kelly joked further, adding: 'You know, third time's a charm!'

Ryan joked that the relationship was like a roller-coaster, explaining: 'You know, when we drive by an amusement park, I always look at the roller coaster and go, 'Look, there we are. It's all definitely upside down loops. It's no Thunder Mountain, it's definitely the Mind Bender.''
As have many teachers, Payne needed to be flexible to find news ways to keep her students engaged and interested during the pandemic. She said she couldnt imagine going through the year without the help of her coworkers. They used each other as a sounding board to create lesson plans and better help their students during a not-so-normal academic year, Payne said.
She has become a social media sensation thanks to her fashionable outfit snaps and sultry selfies.

And Ed Westwick's model girlfriend Tamara Francesconi was at it again on Thursday as she slipped into lingerie for a sizzling snap.

The beauty, 25, exuded confidence in a powder blue lacy lingerie set which showcased her ample cleavage and taut midriff as she posed in Italy.

Wow: Ed Westwick's model girlfriend Tamara Francesconi was at it again on Thursday as she slipped into lingerie for a sizzling snap

The star wore a scanty thong which drew the eye to her bronzed legs, teamed with a sheer suspender belt.

Her brunette tresses were styled in soft waves while a rich palette of make-up enhanced her pretty features.

Earlier in the day, the star showed off her impressive modelling skills as she posed wearing a colourful swimsuit and matching beach skirt from PrettyLittleThing.

Gorgeous: Earlier in the day, the star showed off her impressive modelling skills as she posed wearing a colourful swimsuit and matching beach skirt from PrettyLittleThing

Tamara looked picture perfect in the beautiful snap, putting on a busty display in the tight asymmetric swimsuit which highlighted her tiny waist.

The brunette model had her long tresses styled in a light wave and let the locks drape over one shoulder and down her back.

She wore large star-shaped earrings which tied in nicely with the golden accents of the swimwear. For her make-up, she opted for a glamorous look, wearing a winged eyeliner and a two-tone pink lipstick.

In her hand she held on to a cream coloured clutch bag with a pearl strap and her nails were perfectly manicured in a hot pink shade.

Beautiful couple: The brunette beauty is the girlfriend of actor Ed Westwick, 33 (pictured)

It comes after Tamara revealed she was 'obsessed' with her boyfriend's show Gossip Girl before she began dating him, revealing she 'manifested him in her life'.

In a new backstage interview from her recent PrettyLittleThing photoshoot, the beauty opened up on her relationship with the actor, who starred as Chuck Bass in the American teen drama series.

Speaking about the beginnings of their romance in 2019, Tamara explained how she had to apologise to her fellow fangirl friend for going out with the hunk, as her pal initially had 'dibs' on him.

Big fan: In an interview from her recent PrettyLittleThing shoot, the beauty opened up on her relationship with the actor, who starred as Chuck Bass in the teen drama series

Spilling the beans about being obsessed with her beau before they had even met, she said: 'Okay heres the tea I was the biggest Gossip Girl fan known to man, I watched it religiously twice a year and I swear to god I manifested him actually in my life.

'It was actually so funny though because when I first started dating him, my whole group of friends were super into Gossip Girl and more particularly my friend Annie and when I first started dating him I had to sit her down and apologise to her, because she was so insulted.. like how dare I she had dibs on him!'

Adding how she was 'obsessed' with the show, Tamara went on to say that she had she now gets reminders of Facebook statuses she used to make about Gossip Girl, adding her obsession was 'kinda weird'.

Sorry! Speaking about the beginnings of their romance in 2019, Tamara explained how she had to apologise to her fellow fangirl friend for going out with the hunk, as her pal initially had 'dibs' on him

The beauty went on to say that when she first began stepping out with the TV star, people used to compare them with Ed's character Chuck and onscreen love interest Blair Waldorf, with Tamara even agreeing that 'Chair' were the perfect pair.

She said: 'Chuck and Blair were my favourite characters from the show, I was the biggest fan. When we first started dating everyone would comment on my pictures Chair is better, Chair is better and I would be like me too because I agree!'

Elsewhere, she also discussed her new PLT collection, saying: 'The vibe for this collection is queen summer, simple queen summer.

Devoted: 'Okay heres the tea I was the biggest Gossip Girl fan known to man, I watched it religiously twice a year and I swear to god I manifested him actually in my life' (pictured Ed as Chuck Bass)

'Basically when we really went into it I wanted to collection to feel like a holiday where if you cant go on holiday when youre wearing it, it feels like youre on holiday and also when you can it inspires you to go.

'Im biased but honestly Its so beautiful and so gorgeous, I love all of the colours and textures and patterns like if youre in this outfit youre gonna be a queen in summer.'

The happy couple, who have been dating since October 2019, first got together after Ed slid into Tamara's DMs on Instagram.

Talking about their relationship on social media, she said: 'Going to answer this first because it's my most asked question, and probably the reason a lot of you follow me.

'He direct message me out of the blue saying "Hi," and I nearly fell off my chair, we then chatted for a while and he asked me on a date, which I assumed would be a dinner.

'Instead he took me to a butterfly sanctuary in Mayfair, we thereafter spent the whole day exploring London together, and the rest is history.

'I feel like we have all become codependent with our partners this year (I know I have) I think it's really important to do things alone and for yourself, read a book, go for a walk, chat to a friend.' (sic)
Jonah Hill has another film in the works.

The 37-year-old actor is set to star in Kenya Barris' feature directorial debut, a currently unnamed comedy for Netflix, according to Variety.

Hill and Barris also joined forces to pen the film's script, which is said to be a 'modern look at the themes tackled in' the 1967 film Guess Whos Coming to Dinner?

Next project: Jonah Hill is set to star in Kenya Barris' feature directorial debut, a currently unnamed comedy, according to Variety; Hill, left, and Barris, right

Kenya, an acclaimed screenwriter, is the brain behind ABC's hit sitcom Black-ish, which is in its eighth and final season on the network.

Continuing their collaborative effort, Hill and Barris will also be producing the forthcoming comedy flick.

Kenya will produce via his creative collective Khalabo Ink Society, while Jonah will go through his production company Strong Baby. Kevin Misher of Misher Films will also be producing the project.

Executive producers include Matt Dines and Ali Goodwin of Hill's Strong Baby, E. Brian Dobbins, and Andy Berman.

Streaming: The film, which is for the streaming platform Netflix, will begin shooting in Los Angeles in the fall

Shooting is expected to commence in the fall in Los Angeles.

Although the film's name and plot have remained mostly under-wraps, Variety claims it will draw inspiration from 1967's Guess Whos Coming to Dinner?

The premise for Guess Whos Coming to Dinner?, which starred the likes of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, revolves around a white woman surprising her parents with a Black fiance.

Jonah recently wrapped another straight to Netflix film, titled Dont Look Up, which sees him act alongside his Wolf Of Wall Street costar Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence.

Modern look: Hill and Barris also joined forces to pen the film's script, which is said to be a 'modern look at the themes tackled in' the 1967 film Guess Whos Coming to Dinner?

Dont Look Up, directed by Adam McKay, is expected to premiere on the streaming platform later this year.

Just last month, Jonah confirmed on his Instagram that he'll produce and star as Chicago fixer Sidney Korshak in a limited series based on Dennis McDougal's 1998 book The Last Mogul.

The Beverly Hills-born attorney - who died, age 88, in 1996 - partnered with Chicago mobsters, which led the FBI to dub him 'the most powerful lawyer in the world.'

Confirmed: Just last month, Jonah confirmed on his Instagram that he'll produce and star as Chicago fixer Sidney Korshak in a limited series based on Dennis McDougal's 1998 book The Last Mogul; Jonah pictured in 2019

Formidable: The Beverly Hills-born attorney - who died, age 88, in 1996 - partnered with Chicago mobsters, which led the FBI to dub him 'the most powerful lawyer in the world' (pictured in 1957)

The show will center on Sidney's real-life friendship and partnership with pioneering Hollywood agent Lew Wasserman, who once chaired the MCA.

The Korshak-Wasserman project will be created by William Monahan, who won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay in 2007 for penning Martin Scorsese's The Departed.

Jonah - who boasts 11.5M social media followers - confirmed the news by sharing Deadline's article with the emoji caption: 'Strong Baby productions.'
They are the top restaurateurs whose fashionable dining rooms such as The Wolseley, Colbert and The Delaunay attract the rich and famous.

But Chris Corbin and Jeremy King have been hit just as badly by the pandemic as less starry venues.

And now, I can reveal, the pair are heading for a 1 million High Court showdown with one of their landlords, STJ Investments.

Its a Jersey-based company believed to be controlled by Vladimir Zemtsov, a secretive Russian-born oligarch who has Belgian citizenship but big property investments in London.

Corbin & King Restaurant Group, which was forced to close their venues for much of the pandemic, owes more than 300,000 in rent for the Wolseleys first-floor premises in Piccadilly, London, while the Wolseley Restaurant Property owes almost 1 million in unpaid rent, it is claimed.

Chris Corbin and Jeremy King have been hit just as badly by the pandemic as less starry venues

The pair are heading for a 1 million High Court showdown with one of their landlords, STJ Investments

Its a bitter blow for Corbin and King, who met in the 1970s when they worked at Langans Brasserie and Joe Allens respectively.

They bought Le Caprice and turned it into a star-studded hangout where Princess Diana was a regular.

They then opened showbusiness haunt The Ivy, before working their magic on fish restaurant J Sheekey.

Their restaurants became known for the three Cs: cuisine, celebrity and chic.

They opened Londons first successful grand cafe  The Wolseley  in a grade II-listed vintage car showroom-turned-bank in 2003.

Late artist Lucian Freud was a regular and he persuaded King to sit for a portrait.

Its very sad its got to this point, one of the pairs friends tells me.

Their six other landlords across London were all happy to agree concessions to help the business stay afloat, and keep staff paid, during the crisis.

King tells me: It is so disappointing that this particular landlord has unnecessarily chosen to go down this route, but I am confident the matter will be resolved quickly and fairly with the support of our insurers.

A spokesman for STJ Investments declined to comment

Mogg joins battle to save Churchill from wokery

Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg has come up with a radical way to defeat those hoping to change the name of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Yesterday, I disclosed that serious plans were being considered to ditch Churchill, who was condemned by some woke radicals as a white supremacist.

Rees-Mogg booms: We must not allow this wokeness to happen. The idea of changing Churchill College!

Perhaps we should introduce a Bill to rename Cambridge as Churchill and call it Churchill University. That would be one in the eye for the Lefties.

Sienna and her sister are the Next big thing

Hollywood star Sienna Miller had designs on being a fashion figure, but her efforts fell flat when the Twenty8Twelve label she launched with her sister, Savannah, collapsed nine years ago.

Happily, 39-year-old Sienna  Jude Laws former fiancee  is still first in line to applaud her sisters sartorial success.

Hollywood star Sienna Miller had designs on being a fashion figure, but her efforts fell flat when the Twenty8Twelve label she launched with her sister, Savannah, collapsed nine years ago

She joined Savannah, 42, in London yesterday for the launch of her first fashion line for High Street giant Next.

There is no rivalry between us at all, Savannah insists.

We are incredibly close. We are partners in crime.

Both women wore tops from the new line, with Savannah pointedly wearing one with a pocket that had the word sisterhood written across it.

Isn't it delightful when actors are honest about their roles?

Jurassic Park star Sam Neill admits to being completely baffled on the set of superhero blockbuster Thor.

Ive never understood any of the Thor films, he says.

In fact, the whole Marvel universe is a complete mystery to me.

Northern Ireland-born Neill, 73, adds: I was standing beside [co-star] Jenny Morris and I said: Do you know what planet were on? I was completely baffled.

Bunter basks in his new title as a grandpa

Having settled into 17th-century Badminton House after inheriting the Duke of Beaufort title, rocker Harry Bunter Worcester is adjusting to another big role: being a grandpa.

His son and heir, Bobby, Marquess of Worcester, 32, and wife Lucy Yorke-Long, 34, are celebrating the birth of their first child.

Bobby, Marquess of Worcester, 32, and wife Lucy Yorke-Long, 34, are celebrating the birth of their first child

Baby Henry will eventually inherit the 52,000-acre Gloucestershire estate and the familys estimated 315 million fortune

Hes a boy, named Henry, so will eventually inherit the 52,000-acre Gloucestershire estate and the familys estimated 315 million fortune.

I am absolutely delighted, Bunter, 69, tells me.

It is with great pride that I have become a grandfather for the first time.

Not a lot of people know that... but Sir Michael Caine is struggling to sell his sprawling Surrey mansion.

I hear the Hollywood star, 88, has slashed the price of the seven-bedroom house by 250,000.

The property, which the double Oscar winner bought for 1 million 22 years ago, has an indoor swimming pool, hot tub, leisure complex and gym, as well as a cinema.

His failure to sell is surprising as theres been a boom in demand for country homes during the pandemic.

The asking price is 3.5 million.

Sam Cams brother: Ive quit making rich people richer

David Camerons desperate attempts to make a fortune since resigning as PM have landed him in hot water, but his colourful brother-in-law has revealed that he quit his own job because he detested making rich people richer.

Samantha Camerons half-brother, Robert Sheffield, who was a director at Christies auction house, declares: I felt we were not really supporting our generation or the cultural voice of our time.

Robert Sheffield and his model girlfriend, Ellen Gibbons, now run the glorious Sutton Park estate in Yorkshire of his baronet father, Sir Reginald Sheffield

'I felt I was just making rich people richer. I felt pretty bankrupt emotionally and spiritually.

Happily, he had a comfy inheritance to fall back on: he and his model girlfriend, Ellen Gibbons, now run the glorious Sutton Park estate in Yorkshire of his baronet father, Sir Reginald Sheffield.

National treasure Dame Judi Dench is worried that her friends think shes snubbing them.

But the reason she keeps walking past people is because of her failing eyesight.

I cut people dead all the time because I cant see them, admits the Oscar winner, 86, who suffers from macular degeneration.

I dont know who it is  and that, for me, is terribly distressing because I can walk past someone I know very well.
Xi stresses ecological conservation, high-quality development on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Xinhua) 08:21, June 10, 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspects the achievements made in comprehensively harnessing environmental problems and protecting biodiversity at the Qinghai Lake, in Gangcha County of Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai Province, June 8, 2021.(Xinhua/Shen Hong)

XINING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the need to always put the people first and advance reform and opening-up in efforts to promote ecological conservation and high-quality development on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during his inspection tour of northwest China's Qinghai Province from Monday to Wednesday.

The trip took Xi to the provincial capital Xining and the Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. On Monday afternoon, Xi visited a carpet production company in Xining, where he learned about efforts in preserving and carrying forward local craft of hand-knitting carpets.

Xi stressed encouraging industries that have the most distinctive local features and the most vigorous enterprises in promoting high-quality development.

He also called for fostering a policy environment that encourages, supports and guides the development of private enterprises, as well as coordinating the development of industries and enterprises with efforts in boosting employment and promoting rural vitalization and ethnic unity.

Xi then went to a residential community in Xining. He stressed the roles of primary-level Party organizations and Party members in community governance, urging efforts to build residential communities into important platforms for promoting ethnic unity and progress.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits the home of a herdsman in a village in Shaliuhe Township, Gangcha County in Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai Province, June 8, 2021. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Inspecting the county of Gangcha in Haibei on Tuesday, Xi said the achievements in conserving the ecological environment of Qinghai Lake are hard-won, and must be cherished, consolidated and expanded.

He called for accelerated efforts in building a nature reserves system "centering on national parks, based on natural reserves and supplemented by various kinds of natural parks" to better protect the eco-environment and biodiversity.

Xi then went to a village in Shaliuhe Township where herdsmen have resettled. Visiting the home of a Tibetan herdsman, Xi said the Party has won the people's wholehearted support because it has always served the people with heart and soul and strived for the wellbeing of all ethnic groups.

Speaking with villagers, Xi said he felt delighted to learn that they are leading happy lives. "We shall continue to work hard, and by the time New China celebrates its centenary, the Chinese nation will, without a doubt, stand firmer and stronger among the world's nations," he said.

Not a single ethnic group should be left behind in the efforts to fully build a modern socialist China, Xi said, adding that the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation can be only achieved when all ethnic groups remain closely united like the seeds of a pomegranate that stick together.

On Wednesday morning, Xi listened to the work reports of the provincial Party committee and government of Qinghai, and acknowledged the achievements the province has made in various fields.

Xi stressed Qinghai's significant role in the country's security in ecological, homeland, and resources and energy spheres, and urged the province to foster new industries, accelerate the development of a world-class salt lake industrial base, as well as make itself a clean energy industry leader, an international eco-tourism destination and a supplier of green farm and animal products.

Qinghai should stimulate technological innovation and actively align itself with major regional development strategies such as the Yangtze River Economic Belt to boost the internal drive of economic growth, he said.

On Qinghai's environmental protection, Xi said that the conservation of the source of three major rivers should be the utmost priority.

The province should improve the management of national parks, restore the ecology of its various landscapes, protect biological diversity on the plateau, and promote ecological conservation and high-quality development along the Yellow River, he added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about the lives of local Tibetan residents while visiting a village of Shaliuhe Township in Gangcha County of Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai Province, June 8, 2021. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

Highlighting people's wellbeing and the goal of prosperity for all, Xi urged the province to coordinate ecological conservation with people's livelihood.

He also emphasized the need to consolidate the progress in poverty alleviation and further revitalize the countryside.

Xi expressed sympathy and concern to those affected by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake, which jolted Maduo County of Qinghai on May 22, and called for solid reconstruction efforts.

Noting the strategic role of Qinghai in safeguarding stability in Xinjiang and Tibet, Xi urged full implementation of the Party's general plan for governing Tibet in the new era and stressed efforts to shoulder due responsibilities. He also called for more efforts to build the province into a paragon in ethnic unity and progress.

Efforts should go toward fully implementing the Party's basic policy on religious work and providing guidance to religions so that they can adapt to a socialist society, Xi said.

Xi also highlighted the value of the Party's revolutionary spirit, which has motivated the Party to forge ahead.

By studying the Party history, all Party members and cadres must remind themselves of the oath of loyalty to the Party, deliver benefits to the people, and exercise strict self-discipline, said Xi.

Xi also stressed further improving Party conduct, promoting integrity, and training a contingent of competent and professional officials loyal to the Party, with moral integrity and a keen sense of responsibility.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Its called the external vision system. Pilots will look at a computer monitor instead of a window. Two cameras  one on the front of the plane, one on a pop-out below  then serve as a replacement for the human eye. Officials use an algorithm to automatically line up the images from both camera feeds.
Dancehall artist Rytikal knows he is caught up in a spiritual battle. That might be why his latest single, Chosen, produced by Dynasty Records on the My Letter to You riddim resonates so well with Dancehall fans who may have their own personal struggles.

The songs music video is currently trending No. 1 on YouTube in Jamaica and Rytikal sets the tone in the Magical Studio visuals by reciting Psalm 142. The artist spoke with DancehallMag about the motivation behind the level of introspection evident in Chosen.

You know I was going through a phase, with the whole jail thing, and that happened just inna the time when mi career ah forward. Is a ting mi a wonder , mi a meds say why certain things have to happen? Rytikal explained. Thats why mi ask so many questions inna the song, even if yu pree the scripture, that scripture came about because is somebody tell me fi read some Psalms. When mi see this one, it speak to mi different.

The scripture is like mi ah cry out for the help, no one can help me so is must the most High, is a supplication to a higher power. People ah go through whole heap a tings so I know this can help them to overcome as well.

Psalm 142 is a prayer, the substance of which David offered up to God when he was forced by Saul to take shelter in a cave, and which he afterward penned in this form.

In the meantime, the video has racked up 1 million views since its release a few days ago, and the artists hard bars and futuristic flow has won over legions of fans impressed by his hard-hitting introspective lines that ask tough questions about life, death, and destiny.

One of the lines that resonate is: does a hero have to die before anyone notices?

Look at Sam Sharpe, Paul Bogle, dem never know say dem a hero till dem dead. The other day, look at the artist called Fadagad, the man go trending, and if he hadnt died, that probably would not have happened. I dont want that destiny, I want to be a living hero, Rytikal mused.

Rytikal plans to release a mixtape soon.

Mi know it ah go forward, mi have whole heap of songs, but mi no sure ah which particular song, everything mixed, ah just me fi go through them and decide which ones will make the mixtape, he told DancehallMag.

The 25-year-old deejay, whose real name is Rohan McFarlane, returns to court on July 30 to answer to charges of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Police reported that they were on patrol in Eight Miles, Bull Bay, St Andrew on January 28 when McFarlane was reportedly seen acting in a suspicious manner. Police said they questioned the artist and following a search of his car, a Taurus .380 pistol with 12 rounds of ammunition were found.

Rytikal reportedly told the cops that the weapon was a prop for a music video, however, he was taken into custody and later charged.

He was granted $1 million bail on March 24 and as part of the conditions of his release, the entertainer was ordered to report to the Bull Bay Police Station on Wednesdays and Saturdays and abide by a 6pm to 6am curfew order. He surrendered his travel documents and the court also imposed a stop order at all ports.
Dancehall producer Skatta Burrell, says he is unimpressed with the Jamaican Governments $10,000 incentive aimed at citizens aged 60 and over who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the Ministry of Health and has demanded that the money be spent upgrading medical facilities.

Skatta made his discontent made after a Star report which quoted Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Nigel Clarke as announcing that the money will be made available as of July 15 and is an incentive for those who saw it fit to be part of the active fight against the novel coronavirus in what has been now titled the Conditional Cash Transfer for the Vaccinated (CCTV) programme.

Take all that money and improve the Hospitals in our country. If 20,000 persons was to receive that 10,000 it would be a total of 200,000,000, why cant that money be spent at the KPH or community clinics where it will be of benefit to the People of this country? Skatta wrote on the Stars Instagram page where an excerpt of the article had been posted.

The Downsound executives sentiments also come amidst widening consternation by many Jamaicans that the funds are being used, among other things, to lure needy senior citizens to take the vaccine, a concern which was not lost on the Coolie Dance producer.

Giving incentives for people to take a vaccine further adds to the skepticism we already have about some secret agenda and conspiracy theories, Skatta stated further.

The Finance Ministers announcement was also met with ridicule and sarcasm by Rebelution artiste Tanya Stephens, one of Jamaican politicians harshest critics.

The St. Mary native shared a Jamaica Observer IG post regarding the Ministers announcement and captioned it: How much yu granny worth? , much to the amusement of her followers.

Party Animal producer Kurt Riley, was among those who responded noting: Fassy dat, to which Stephens replied: @djkurtriley beg to second that.

On Tuesday the Finance Minister had announced that there is a public interest, in vaccinating the over 60 population as data from the Ministry of Health show that 75 percent of those who died from COVID-19 up to June 5 were aged 60 and over.

The GOJ will therefore provide an incentive of $10,000 to every Jamaican 60 and over who is fully vaccinated, Dr. Clarke had written on his IG page.

Dr. Clarke, who is a Mathematician, also provided data to further advance his arguments.

Data from MOH, up to June 5, show that 0.6% of those under 60 who contracted COVID-19 died while 8% of those aged 60 and over who contracted COVID-19 died. So the COVID-19 fatality rate for those aged 60 and over has been 13 times higher than persons younger than 60. Though persons over 60 make up only 14% of the population, they make up 50% of those hospitalized for COVID-19, he noted.

The COVID-19 restrictions exist to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed. Given the data above, the pandemic does not end in Jamaica until most of the over 60 population are fully vaccinated. According to MOH data, as at June 5, just over 7,000 persons aged 60 and over have been fully vaccinated (ie received their second vaccine shot), he added.

Initially, the Minister, earlier this year, had announced that the CCTV Grant would only be available to senior citizens with an income of $1.5 million or less per annum.

According to Ministry of Heath data, as of June 5 a total of 159,615 Jamaicans have received the first shot of the vaccine, with only 7,052 of that number being fully vaccinated senior citizens.
Krystal Tomlinson, the former girlfriend of Dancehall heavyweight Beenie Man, celebrated her 31st birthday on June 8 with a little pizazz, as she shared snaps from a beachside photoshoot with her 268k Instagram followers.

Posing on a remote black-sand seascape, the Peoples National Party Youth Organization (PNPYO) president gave off sophisticated glam in the modelesque-looking photos, by @domzmedia_, as she reflected on her tempestuous journey over the last year.

The last year: tested my balance but I was anchored, threw me off course but did not corrupt my divine compass, dented my hull but the ship did not sink, she wrote in one Instagram post.

Tomlinson was thrown into the spotlight a few months back having gone through a very public breakup with the Girls Dem Sugar deejay. From dodging rumors of their unofficial split as far back as October 2020 to Beenies insensitive breakup announcement in January, Tomlinson became the topic of unsolicited chatter online and the pity of others who thought Beenie downright made a spectacle of her.

As for her career, the politician also lost her bid to become a member of parliament for West Rural St Andrew when she went up against incumbent, Juliet Cuthbert. Cuthbert received 8,534 votes to Tomlinsons 5,452, according to the Jamaica Gleaner.

Millions witnessed me endure painful losses and failures. Some were happy at the thought that Id drown. But so many more honoured and loved me through it, she noted.

Through these trials, however, she said those rough experiences have made her nothing but stronger.

I consider this my hardest and best year yet. After 31 revolutions around the sun Im sure of my capacity to grow through any hardship. To find my dock in the roughest storm. To get to shore even when it feels like Ill drown.

Tomlinson continued, The biggest lesson as I mark my 31st year: I can use any wind to get home. I only need to adjust my sails. Then in reassuring everyone that she is as anchored as ever and ready to face whatever another year throws at her, she added, I made it to landwhole, healing, hopeful and with all the courage and faith to set sail once again!

Krystal also included hers and Beenies daughter, Xiah in her birthday photoshoot and wrote the little one a profound promise to always love and protect her.

You will witness first hand the fierceness of my love for you and how much of myself I will sacrifice to keep you safe  And in the end you will owe me nothing, Tomlinson wrote as part of her lengthy pledge.

Last year, Krystal shared another of her years journeys with a professionally done photo post and message on Instagram to welcome the big 3-0.

I am acutely aware of my strength, my worthiness, the sacredness of my life energy. I will not waste it. I honour this #JourneyToThirty. I honour the struggle, the failures, the victories, the lessons. Heres to the future and all it has in store , she wrote at the time, unknowing of what would be her future challenges.

Correction: June 11, 2021 6:15PM. This article incorrectly referred to Tomlinson as Beenies fiance. It has been corrected.
Running a business for six years, she has made time to curate all her fragrances from scratch.  By arrangement

Ayesha Ziya, CEO and Founder of Ayesha Ziya Fragrances sets to launch their store in Dubai, introducing fragrances with fusions of British and French botanicals, derived from the Middle East. Onboarding OUNASS and Golden Scent as their stockists, Ayesha takes charge to encapsulate the Saudi Market and deliver them a range of luxury scents.

Catering to her growing retailer list, OUNASS and Golden Scent holding Ayesha Ziya Fragrances range is made to be available for delivery to customers in the areas of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. This expansion has opened many doors for Ayesha Ziya Fragrances to introduce its meticulously created products to new, and interested customers.

Specifically targeting the UAE Market, Ayesha Ziya Fragrances are opting for online store launches, so direct sales are an option for those looking to try out the luxury scents.

Running a business for six years, she has made time to curate all her fragrances from scratch. Calculating the best launch strategies, Ayesha went global with her second headquarters in the opulent city of Dubai before introducing Ayesha Ziya Fragrances to the world.

To take her fragrance brand all over the world, Ayesha is taking it one step at a time. She says, Curating my own label of perfumes, I fortify to have a vivid stock at all times. Every bottle of our collection contains a rare concoction of exclusive oils, ouds, and floral notes often using unique combinations of ingredients. The original aromas and delicacy of the scents have created a storm among prospective global buyers and I envision continuing the processes in the same way.

Presently Preston and Dubai are the two cities where Ayesha has set grounds for her business of elixirs. She is setting up now to take her brand all across the Middle East and European markets. With big companies showing their interest in collaborating with the brand, Ayesha Ziya Fragrances are contributing enormously to the global economy. The upcoming online stores will let the brand enter the global market full-fledged.

By starting the operations digitally, Ayesha Ziya Fragrances will now be reaching multiple households simultaneously. The fragrances will certainly contribute to the boosting economical growth of both the brand and the commercial industry of Dubai.
Relatives and family wait to cremate on the banks of River Ganga, in Unnao, Thursday. (Photo: PTI)

Patna: Days after bodies were found floating in Ganga in the state, samples collected from the river have been sent for testing to check for COVID-19 contamination in the water, informed Bihar State Pollution Control Board Scientist, Navin Kumar.

"The sampling of Ganga river is a routine thing which we carry out on a regular basis. The pollution board keeps on investigating the quality of water of the Ganga river. But as you know that there were reports of bodies of COVID-19 victims disposed of in the river, so, we are conducting tests to check whether the river has been contaminated with coronavirus or not," Kumar told ANI.

He mentioned that the initiative of conducting such an investigation of the river water was taken through the National Mission for Ganga under the Jal Shakti Ministry, in collaboration with the Indian Institute for Toxicological Research (IITR), Lucknow, which is a laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), state pollution control board, and the district administration.

Kumar said that the team collected samples from river Ganga on June 1 in Buxar and on June 5 in Patna, Bhojpur and Saran, adding that the samples have been sent to Lucknow for testing the reports of which are awaited.

"A Central team of scientists arrived here from Lucknow to inspect and collect samples. The team collected samples from river Ganga on June 1 in Buxar and on June 5 in Patna, Bhojpur and Saran to check whether bodies reportedly seen in and around the river contaminated river water. Samples have bee sent to Lucknow and the report is awaited," added Kumar.

On May 17, the Centre has asked Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to prevent the dumping of dead bodies in the Ganga and its tributaries, calling media reports of bodies of COVID-19 victims being dumped in the rivers "undesirable and alarming".

The Jal Shakti Ministry had said that the state governments should focus on their safe disposal and dignified cremation.

On May 13, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued notices to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, after receiving complaints about dead bodies floating in the Ganga.

Namami Gange had directed states to prevent dumping of dead bodies in the Ganga "and focus on their safe disposal and providing support for ensuring dignified cremation," the Jal Shakti Ministry had said at a review meeting conducted on May 15-16.

The state pollution control boards were also directed to monitor the water quality more frequently in consultations with the health departments.
In light of the travel suspension and the current pandemic situation in India, most other routine non-immigrant visa and VAC appointments at U.S. Embassy New Delhi and the consulates in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai remain extremely limited. (DC file photo)

HYDERABAD: The United States Mission to India will open the July and August student visa appointments at posts across India on June 14, the U.S Embassy in India announced on Thursday via Twitter. They added that they were making every attempt to facilitate travel in time for the fall semester, and that student visas remain a top priority.

To view the availability and schedule an appointment, students will have to visit the website, https://ustraveldocs.com/in.

"Prior to your visa interview, please review your I-20 program start date. Students beginning a new program with a program start date on or after August 1 may travel to the United States up to 30 days prior to the program start date and do not need to submit a request for a national interest exception, it said.

Continuing students may also resume their programs on or after August 1, and travel 30 days before their program resumption date. We are unable to approve expedite requests for Fall 2021 students with scheduled appointments in July or August. If your appointment date may result in a potentially late start, please reach out to your school to discuss options, the Embassy added.

However, in light of the travel suspension and the current pandemic situation in India, most other routine non-immigrant visa and VAC appointments at U.S. Embassy New Delhi and the consulates in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai remain extremely limited. Anyone with a scheduled upcoming appointment will have to check their US Travel Docs account to determine whether the appointment is still valid.
Rajendars decision to conduct a tour of various mandals in the constituency that he currently represents, to garner support from various sections of the people, is gaining good response. (Photo: Twitter @EATALAOffice)

KARIMNAGAR: Several leaders are openly extending their support to former health minister Etala Rajendar and submitting mass resignations from the ruling TRS party in Huzurabad constituency in this district.

Rajendars decision to conduct a tour of various mandals in the constituency that he currently represents, to garner support from various sections of the people, is gaining good response.

After returning from the Delhi, Rajendar first went to his native Kamalapur and sought the blessings of the people. He sharply criticised chief minister Chandrasekhar Rao and said, It is going to be a Kurukshetra war in Huzurabad and the fight will be between justice and injustice.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi Vidyarthi (TRSV) leaders of five mandals in the constituency sent their resignation letters to the TRS and announced their support to Etala Rajendar.

The police intervened as the TRSV leaders tried to reach Gandhi Chowk of Jammikunta town to announce their resignation and tried to stop them. However, they forcefully proceeded to the Jammikunta square and announced their mass resignations from the TRS party.

They alleged that the police acted in a rough manner with them even as they followed the Covid guidelines and marched in a peaceful manner to the Gandhi Chowk. This is nothing but a suppressing of the voice of democracy in the state, they alleged.

TRSV leaders said they were unable to digest the humiliation meted out to the former health minister by the TRS leadership. He worked hard for the Separate Telangana cause and sacrificed everything. When such a leader is removed from the ministry by insulting him, what would be the situation of others who participated in the Telangana movement, they asked.

In Veenavanka mandal, along with the TRS party mandal president and Vice-MPP, the sarpanches of seven villages as also the presidents of MPTC forum and of eight village bodies submitted their resignations to the TRS party and took out a massive rally in support of Etala.

They alleged that only some of the leaders who came into the TRS party for earning money are happy now and they are getting attracted to the sops that are offered by party leadership. The real leaders who served the people are with the Etala Rajendar, they claimed.

If the TRS tries to create problems to Rajendar, then the people will give it a fitting reply and defeat the party in the upcoming by-election in Huzurabad, they warned.

The TRS party leadership along with ministers and MLAs had a sigh of relief in recent weeks that Etala Rajendar was lying low and not on the offensive. However, the mass resignations on Thursday have come as shock to them.
Ashoka slammed former CM Siddaramaiah saying that their party must first resolve their own issues. (Photo: PTI)

Bengaluru: After some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders speculated about the resignation of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, state Revenue Minster R Ashoka on Thursday said that the chair of the Chief Minister is "perfectly occupied."

"Chief Minister's chair is perfectly occupied already with our leader," he said.

The minister further stated, "The ones who considered themselves in the race of becoming Chief Minister are in a bus which has no fuel. Some are trying to reserve the Chief Minster's seat. They must understand that it's not vacant. They are trying to achieve something which is not possible."

R Ashoka further clarified that he is not in the race.

"I am not in the race of the Chief Minister's post and I do not know about the future. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's bus is going well," he told media persons.

The minister further slammed the Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah saying that their party must first resolve their own issues.

"Instead of instigating about the position of the Chief Minister, it would be better for Siddaramaiah to think about his own party. There is an internal tussle between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar. They are fighting for the post of Chief Minister in future. Let them clear this tussle first," said Ashoka.

To calm down the speculation about the leadership change in the state, the revenue minister earlier also spoke in favour of the Yediyurappa. He said that there was no question of leadership change in Karnataka and BS Yediyurappa would continue as the Chief Minister.

Earlier, Yediyurappa on Sunday stated that he will resign from the post the day the party high command asks him to quit.

While speaking to the media persons he said, "I will resign the day party high command asks me to quit. I do not speak about the rumours and the speculation created by some of the ministers and legislator."

"High command has given me the opportunity - I am trying to utilise it and I am trying to serve the people. I do not want to comment on the rumours of whoever speaks against me. If my high command wants me to resign, I will resign. I myself am involved in working for the development of the state," he added.
Congress leader Jitin Prasada joins BJP in the presence of Union Minister Piyush Goel at BJP Headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: DC Image/D. Kamraj)

New Delhi: Jitin Prasada, a former Union minister and prominent member of the Congress young brigade that is headed by Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday joined the BJP ahead of the crucial Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Calling the shift a naya adhyay (new chapter) in his political journey, Mr Prasada said he decided to join the BJP after much consideration as he was unable to serve the interests of his people and the society and that the BJP is the only "institutionally national party."

Mr Prasada, one of the signatories to the letter written by the "G-23" to the Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, demanding major course correction within the organisation, is considered an important Brahmin face, though not a pan-UP Brahmin leader, in Uttar Pradesh where the Brahmin vote-bank is crucial for the BJP that keeps trying to create a balance while wooing the Brahmin and Thakur votebank.

Brahmins make up about 13 per cent of UP's voters and are an influential chunk who have steadily gravitated from the Congress towards the BJP over the years. Mr Prasadas entry into the BJP is seen as a balancing act at a time when feedback from the ground reaching the BJP leadership is suggesting that Brahmins are feeling neglected. His entry is meant to help the BJP reset the optics as the Yogi Adityanath government is perceived by a section of UP's Brahmins as being pro-Thakur (the chief minister's caste).

Mr Prasada is the son of late Congress leader Jitendra Prasada who was considered close to late Rajiv Gandhi and had unsuccessfully contested against Mrs Gandhi for the party presidents post.

If there is any political party that works in an institutional way if there is truly any national party, it is the BJP PM Narendra Modi is leading the country strongly and is the most capable person to confront the challenges facing the nation I want to do my bit for Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwas and Ek Bharat Sreshtha Bharat (Modi governments slogans), said Mr Prasada after joining the BJP in the presence of Union minister Piyush Goyal and BJP media incharge Anil Baluni.

Before reaching BJP headquarters, Mr Prasada had met Union home minister Amit Shah. He met BJP president J.P. Nadda after formally joining the saffron party.

Mr Prasada is the second leader after Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was also considered close to Rahul Gandhi, to join the saffron fold. The Congress is abuzz with renewed speculation that Sachin Pilot could also switch camp amid ongoing rumours that Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot could face fresh challenge from the Pilot camp after last years political crisis.

In political circles speculation had been rife since early 2019 that Mr Prasada could switch camp as he was feeling sidelined.

Since 2014, Mr Prasada has lost all the elections he contested. He lost last two Lok Sabha polls  2014 and 2019  from Dhaurahra Lok Sabha seat in Lakhimpur Kheri and the 2017 Assembly polls and was said to be miffed after the Congress leadership decided to appoint Ajay Kumar Lallu as the UPCC chief, a post Mr Prasada was said to be eyeing.

A former Union minister, Mr Prasada was member of the Congress Working Committee and the Congress election in-charge for the recently concluded Assembly polls in West Bengal where the party failed to win even a single seat.

In an obvious reference to the development, Congress leader Milind Deora tweeted, "I believe in @INCIndia as a party that can and must reclaim its position as India's big tent party. We still have a strong bench that if empowered and optimally utilised, can deliver." While Mr Pilot said, It's very, very sad that Jitin Prasada has quit the Congress. There has also been talk of Mr Deora leaving the party.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Mr Prasada was on the verge of switching sides but was persuaded by the then Congress incharge, Jyotiraditya Scindhia, who is currently in the BJP.

Once considered an integral part of team Rahul Gandhi, Mr Prasada has left the Congress when Mr Gandhi is expected to return to the helm following the partys organisational elections.
HYDERABAD: Chief secretary Somesh Kumar sanctioned and allotted a sum of Rs 60 crore from the state exchequer to enable state bureaucrats fight contempt cases in Telangana High Court.

This fund is meant to exclusively fight contempt cases filed predominantly against the chief commissioner of land administration (CCLA), a post which Mr Somesh Kumar has been holding for several years, and continues to manage even after taking over the state officialdom as the chief secretary.

Somesh Kumar, in his capacity as chief secretary, issued orders directing the CCLA to draw Rs 58.95 crore towards pending contempt cases in the High Court. The fund was made available for this cause in relaxation of treasury control and quarterly regulation orders.

Inquiries by this newspaper revealed that Kumar leads the list of bureaucrats facing contempt cases. Within five months of this year, as many as 38 contempt cases were filed against him.

Earlier, contempt cases were filed against him in matters relating to his tenure at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) also. Nearly 250 contempt cases were pending against the chief secretary, sources said.

The Telangana High Court has started taking a very serious view for "wilful disobedience" of bureaucrats and started clamping fines against a few collectors. In some cases, the court even pronounced a sentence of imprisonment, which was subsequently halted by the division bench. The court also asked the contemnors to render social service as punishment.

While it not commonplace for any government to provide special funding to officials to fight legal battles for decisions and actions taken during the course of their work, but once the court described seriously pursuing contempt was to make bureaucrats pay for "wilful disobedience, recklessness and casualness", it was left with no option.
Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday launched a DBT mobile application that will help transfer funds directly to beneficiaries of various government welfare schemes.

According to a statement from the Chief Minister's office, 120 schemes in the state have been included in this platform.

"For the past two years more than 12,000 crore has been directly transferred to the Aadhaar linked bank accounts of beneficiaries," the statement quoted Yediyurappa as saying.

The CM expressed happiness that the system has eliminated misappropriation of funds, middlemen and loopholes.

All packages announced by the state government during Covid-19 first and second waves have been paid through this platform, it added.

Schemes announced in the budget, which provide financial assistance in the state, will be brought under the DBT platform, the CMO said.

This platform will identify the beneficiary through his or her Aadhaar number and consider the details provided in the card as financial address and will directly transfer the amount to the Aadhaar linked bank account.

"The intention of the government to bring in transparency will be achieved only when citizens use this application.

Hence, the citizens must make the best use of this software application and keep themselves informed about the transfer of benefits," the CMO added.

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The division bench took on record the contentions put forth by Dr. G. Srinivas Rao, director public health and family welfare, Telangana, that the 14 RT PCR labs established in different districts of the state will commence their operations by June 10 as the ICMR had to issue log in credentials for commencing the testing.  DC Image

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday gave one last chance to the state government to issue an order (G O) for capping maximum prices for diagnostic and treatment services, and medical equipment provided to treat Covid-19 patients in private hospitals and nursing homes.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy made the directions while dealing with the Covid-19 related public interest litigations (PILs). On May 17, the court directed the state to issue a GO within two days regarding the same. As it was not complied, on June 1, it gave one more chance on the request of the director of public health. The court specifically mentioned that if the GO was not issued, the secretary of medical, health and family welfare should appear before the court to explain the delay.

On Wednesday, Mr. Rizvi, secretary of medical, health and family welfare appeared before the court and sought another four weeks to issue the GO on the ground that the government was holding meetings with various nursing homes and private hospitals associations to arrive at a final capping price.

Justice Kohli expressed dissatisfaction and observed, When are you proposing to give the capping? For the last one month, this court has been allowing the government, assuming that a GO will be issued and during this interregnum, poor patients are being ripped apart by some rogue nursing homes and private hospitals every day. Their pockets are becoming lighter. But you are seeking further time."

The court directed the government to issue a GO by the next date of hearing on June 23.

The court said its intention was not to find fault with the government, but it was pointing out loopholes and lacunae at the field level and moreover, on concern about people's suffering.

The court came down heavily on the deputy director of NPPA (Union health ministry), for not making efforts in bringing down prices of life saving drugs, particularly the drugs in non-scheduled category. The court asked the Union government to wake up to this situation, to bring down the prices, as several life-saving medicines for Covid-19 are not affordable to the marginalised people.

The division bench took on record the contentions put forth by Dr. G. Srinivas Rao, director public health and family welfare, Telangana, that the 14 RT PCR labs established in different districts of the state will commence their operations by June 10 as the ICMR had to issue log in credentials for commencing the testing.

He also submitted to the court that 223 complaints had been received against 135 hospitals for excess billings and with the involvement of the government, hospitals had refunded Rs 60 lakh to 65 lakh of excess bill amounts to patients.

Senior counsel L. Ravichandra informed the court that there were around 35,000 posts vacant in the state medical department and filling of these posts should be ramped up.

The court inquired the director of public health about the preparedness to face the third wave of pandemic and the constitution of the advisory committee under Disaster Management Act.

On a query by the court about vaccination, Srinivasa Rao informed the court that the government would complete vaccinating its entire population in another three months. He submitted that daily 25,000 doses of vaccination would be administered to street beggars, children, destitute, orphans and prison inmates in GHMC limits.
Released: June 10, 2021

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced the end of both the Civil War and slavery. General Grangers announcement put into effect the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln, which had legally freed slaves on January 1, 1863, almost 2 years earlier. Many slaves, particularly in Texas and other southwestern states were not informed of the Emancipation Proclamation until General Grangers announcement.

The holiday received its name by combining June and 19. The day is also sometimes called Juneteenth Independence Day, Freedom Day or Emancipation Day.

In 1980, Texas became the first state to designate Juneteenth as a holiday. Since then, most other states, including Pennsylvania have declared Juneteenth a state holiday. In 2019, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law Act 9, formerly House Bill 619, which designates June 19 as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Pennsylvania.

On Saturday, June 19th there will be a Juneteenth celebration at the Veterans Memorial in Newtown Square from 9am-1pm.

Council is proud to officially recognize June 19 as Juneteenth in Delaware County, which serves as a day for residents to celebrate the ending of slavery in the United States and an opportunity for our entire community to learn more about African American history, which will contribute to a deeper understanding of the experiences that have shaped African Americans and our Country.
Released: June 10, 2021

As families and communities recover from the pandemic, poll shows that federal, state, and local government should put a priority on helping children and families get back on track.

Today, the Voices for Children Coalition, together with lawmakers and local leaders held a press conference to discuss the results of a new poll in Delaware County. The poll of 606 registered Delaware County voters in March 2021 found that county voters support increasing local government funding for a variety of social services and believe that programs for children should be increased.

Voters put the highest priority on services for children who are abused or neglected (76% support) but also prioritize mental health and drug/alcohol services, education, health care access, and protection from domestic violence.

With society finally emerging from this long, difficult time, we at VFCC wanted to take a snapshot of how the people of Delaware County viewed the status of our children and their well-being, their priorities for what our children need, and how the pandemic may have affected our children, said Leigh Anne McKelvey, Executive Director of CASA Youth Advocates of Delaware and Chester Counties. What we found is that there is widespread concern about the effect the pandemic had on childrens well-being and that people want our children to be a priority going forward.

Like millions of families across the United States, residents of Delaware County are concerned about the lasting impact of COVID-19 on their childrens health and well-being, said Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05). The past year has, without a doubt, deeply affected our young people. Their education and mental health were impacted. Their families are having difficulty meeting basic needs like food, medicine, and child care.

As we work to make a full recovery from the pandemic, it is critical that we invest in our children and families. President Bidens American Families Plan will make historic investments in the middle class, ensuring that children can get the care and good education they need to thrive and that parents can get back into the workforce to power Americas economy, Congresswoman Scanlon added. It would make transformational investments in education, provide direct support to families in the form of nutrition assistance and other programs, and extend key tax cuts  including the expanded Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, and health insurance tax credits. I am committed to improving the lives of families in my district, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to deliver much-needed resources to our communities.

When voters are asked about issues specifically facing children in Delaware County, a few issues stand out as highest priorities, but voters identify a very broad range as worthy of attention:

K-12 education, mental illness, and drug/alcohol abuse are top-of-mind with voters for local elected officials to address: 33% of voters put K-12 education in their top three issues for children and 31% put mental illness and drug/alcohol abuse among young people in their top three.

Other important issues facing children in the areaaround one in five voters puts child abuse and neglect, poverty, nutrition, racial inequality, special education, child care, and health care in their top three issues.

Delaware County Council is committed to ensuring that families have the resources they need to live healthy lives, said Delaware County Council Vice Chair Dr. Monica Taylor. Good health includes safety, physical health, mental health, and social wellbeing. We know this takes an investment into the services we offer the residents of our community. We know it takes dedicated and trained staff who work in these fields and strong partnerships with organizations that offer services and support to children. We believe this is a very worthy and vital investment.

The poll results are critical in understanding county voters priorities for the region at a time when Delaware County is set to receive $110 million in federal American Recovery Plan (ARP) dollars, which are intended for County use to help communities hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, Pennsylvania state officials must decide how to spend $7.3 billion in federal recovery dollars, as well as state revenues that are currently $2.9 billion ahead of original estimates. This polling shows that additional federal investment going beyond the ARP children is widely supported.

This survey shows the near consensus of people who want to prioritize children and invest in their safety, their mental wellness, in their nutrition, and in their schools, Donna Cooper, Executive Director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY), a Voices for Children partner. One of the best things about this survey is its timing. The county, municipalities, school districts, and the Commonwealth have extraordinary resources this year from the American Rescue Plan. We urge local, county and state elected officials to heed the call of their own citizens to make investments immediately to improve conditions for our children.

Should additional funding be available to local government, children at risk of abuse and neglect are seen as the most important: 81% say that its very important that additional local government funding should help this group. Children in foster care (70% very important), children with special needs (74%), and children in low-income families (70%) are also seen as the most important uses.

Senator Kearney is grateful to Voices for Children for conducting this poll so we can better understand Delco residents concerns, said Alex Christy, District Director for Senator Tim Kearney. We know that meeting basic needs and getting access to mental health services were already hard for Delco families before the pandemic, that it worsened during the pandemic, and that it wont simply disappear with the virus. These should be the top priority for leaders on the federal, state, and local levels.

The poll results show that Delaware County voters believe government leaders should spend these dollars where they will have the most impact  on social services for children and families in their own backyard.

More details about Delaware County voters priorities for children are contained in this presentation and this memo.
Shia Muslims hold a special place for this particular elephant in their hearts as it carried the Alam and the Nizams Trust should have taken up the responsibility of maintaining this elephant, as the Alam procession is considered the sole responsibility of the trust, said a Shia Muslim.  Twitter

HYDERABAD: The demise of elephant Rani left many Shia Muslims distressed, with many taking to social media platforms such as WhatsApp to express their dismay and grief at the passing of the elephant, which was closely associated for many years with carrying the Alam, a symbol of Imam Hussain, in procession in the city on the tenth day of Muharram.

The processions used to begin from Bibi ka Alawa at Matha ke Khidki, and ended at Chaderghat in a mosque, passing through Yakutpura, Charminar and Gulzar Houz.

One of those mourning the passing of the elephant, Samreen Fatima, said, It is very sad that Rani is no more. The news has broken our hearts, all members in my family are saddened by this news.

According to Hyder Hussain, who said he saw the elephant carrying the Alam for ages, described Ranis passing as a sad news for all members of Shia Muslim community.

He said the zoo authorities should have taken extra care of her, knowing how special she was for the Shia community. Shia Muslims hold a special place for this particular elephant in their hearts as it carried the Alam and the Nizams Trust should have taken up the responsibility of maintaining this elephant, as the Alam procession is considered the sole responsibility of the trust.

Social media groups, according to Saba Fathima, who too was aghast at the news of Ranis death, were buzzing with messages of grief. There was a flood of messages in the social media networks of our community, about Ranis demise, she said.
Western Trust Chief Executive Dr Anne Kilgallen has been honoured for the hard work and good judgement she displayed during her four-year tenure.

Speaking at Thursdays Trust Board meeting, Chairman Mr Sam Pollock OBE, paid tribute to the work of a genuine and sincere leader.

The pandemic has posed a significant challenge and Dr Kilgallen has also been tasked with overseeing a financial recovery plan.

Mr Pollock said that although the Trust had to tackle 40m worth of debt over recent years, Dr Kilgallen implemented a professional strategy which did not prioritise cost-saving over standards of care.

I want to acknowledge that this is the last meeting of our Chief Executive, this month will finish her with the Trust, he said.

I consider it an immense privilege to have worked with Anne over the last few years and I dont think anyone puts so much into a days work.

When I arrive shes already done half a days work and when I leave shes going on to do more.

She does a huge amount of work and we will miss Anne very much, thank you for everything that you have done.

Over the last 18 months there has been huge responsibility on the Executive team and on Anne, we just couldnt really measure the level of responsibility that under Anne the team has carried, and theyve done it with amazing ability and good judgement.

He added that Dr Kilgallen is retiring after a long and successful career.

Mr Pollock praised the outgoing Chief Executives integrity, good judgement, genuine and sincere commitment to staff, people in her care and the local community.

Dr Kilgallen personally thanked board members for the leadership theyve shown, particularly throughout the pandemic, and said she strongly believes the organisation will strive to serve the population to the best of its ability.

Neil Guckian, who is the current Director of Finance and Contracting with the Western Trust, is due to take up the Chief Executive role on July 1, 2021.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Guckian also took the opportunity recognise Dr Kilgallens leadership.

He said: Weve been faced over the past couple of years with a tsunami of issues; industrial action and the pandemic.

How lucky were we as an organisation to have an expert in public health to be the Chief Executive through the worlds greatest pandemic.

DR. KILGALLEN'S BACKGROUND

Anne is a doctor who trained as a Consultant in Public Health Medicine.

Before taking up post as Chief Executive she worked as Deputy Chief Medical Officer with responsibility for population health policy in the Department of Health, Belfast.

In 2013/14 Anne was funded by the Health Foundation and supported by the Western Trust to undertake a Quality Improvement Fellowship based at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston, USA.

She had the opportunity to study international healthcare systems that have successfully brought clinical leadership, improvement science and system thinking together to transform care.

Prior to her fellowship, Dr Kilgallen served for six years as Medical Director at the Western Health and Social Care Trust.

She has a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University.

And is a fellow of both the Faculty of Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health Medicine in Ireland, where she has served on the board.
A new art project in honour of St Colmcille, Derry's patron saint, was unveiled in the city this week.

The Re-Imaging the Wells project has been created as part of a celebration of events to mark the 1500th anniversary of the birth of the saint.

In 2013, as part of Derry's City of Culture years, the Eden Place Arts Centre took part in the Colmcille Wood Sculpture Project.

The original project produced 10 wooden sculptures to commemorate the life of St Colmcille and were displayed at Pilots Row Community Centre.

Eight years later these refurbished sculptures are now displayed at St Columbs Wells in the Bogside.

With funding from the Housing Executive and the Department for Communities, and the support of local groups and residents, including Eden Place Arts Centre, Aras Cholmcille, Triax Neighbourhood Management Team (TNMT) & North West Regional College (NWRC), the sculptures have helped to transform the physical appearance of The Wells.

The artworks, individually, mark a significant element of St Colmcilles life and each was produced by a separate wood carver.

Whilst each carving is a work of art in its own right, together they provide an overview, with accompanying text, of the life of Colmcille.

Displayed over three walls on bungalows, artists Desi McKinney, Aileen MacManus, John Stevenson, Jimmy Smyth, Connell McGinley, Liam Kennedy, Helen Shiels, Masoud Baghi and Johanna Kelly, all agreed that their works be displayed in the area.

Aileen Mac Manus, one of the artists, said: When we carvers undertook this project in 2013, we never expected that it would become part of Derrys tourist trail in 2021. It is a great honour for us all.

Judi Logue, Eden Place Arts Centre Co-Ordinator, said: I am absolutely delighted for The Colmcille Project to be relocated in 'The Wells' in this special 1500th anniversary year, where it will be widely admired by both locals and tourists alike.

Ivor Doherty of Aras Cholmcille congratulated everyone involved in the initiative.

This project will highlight the St. Columb's Wells location and attract people to visit.

Aras Cholmcille wishes the project well, and maybe if you visit the Wells you might travel the extra 100 yards to visit Aras Cholmcille and the beautiful church of St. Columba at Long Tower.

Eddie Doherty, Housing Executive Area Manager for Derry City and Strabane, attended the launch.

He said: We were happy to fund this project and help generate some interest in our rich local history.

The amazing sculptures add interest and bring a positive focus to the area, the local community here can be very proud of the work theyve achieved.

Colm Barton of the Triax Neighbourhood Management Team said: I would like to thank the Housing Executive and the Department of Communities for making this project possible, the NWRC for their kind assistance and Judi, Liam, Aileen and Ivor Doherty for making it happen.

Most of all I would like to thank the residents of the Wells and the artists involved for permitting us to make this proposal a reality.
Translink has announced that the NI Railways timetable will return to its pre-Covid schedule from next Monday, June 14.

Translink say this will provide increased capacity and timetable options for passengers, with a range of safety measures in place to keep our staff and customers safe.

Translinks Director of Service Operations, Ian Campbell, said: Our railway timetables will return to the full Monday to Friday schedule from Monday, 14th June, increasing both service frequency and capacity in the morning and evening peaks.

We are ready to welcome our passengers back, in the knowledge that we have robust arrangements in place to ensure our customers are safe.

"These include enhanced cleaning regimes on board trains and in stations including the use of anti-viral fogging technology and wiping down touch points; clear signage and customer flows; good ventilation on board services; hand sanitiser units at main stations; a no-change policy and contactless payments, and mandatory wearing of face coverings (unless exempt).

We are also providing additional information through digital technology, our website, journey planner and social media channels, advising passengers of the quieter times to travel and which services are busier."

Mr Campbell concluded: Passengers are advised to allow extra time for their journeys particularly when services are busier and wait for the next service should on-board capacity be reached."
In a letter to the minister, TEA President Raja M Shanmugham said MSMEs which were not interested to go for restructuring have also to be supported. (Photo: Tirupur Exporters Association)

Coimbatore: The Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) on Thursday requested Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to announce Additional Credit Assistance up to 10 per cent to all the MSMEs in need of it, irrespective of any precondition for restructuring.

In a letter to the minister, TEA President Raja M Shanmugham said MSMEs which were not interested to go for restructuring have also to be supported with Additional Credit Assistance of up to 10 per cent of the outstanding as on February 29 to MSMEs borrowers covered under ECLGS 1.0 (Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme).

Also, he said the tenor can be fixed as five years, comprising repayment of interest only during the first year and interest and principal in five years thereafter.

Shanmugham also requested the minister to announce measures like implementation of the exact Remission of Duties and Taxes on export products rates to knitwear garment exports sector as proposed by the G K Pillai Committee.

He also said that the ready made garment (RMG) sector was operating under a wafer-thin margin due to severe competition in the global market and struggles of export units to sustain in the business.

Thanking the Finance Minister for announcing various financial measures for the exporters, he said the knitwear sector has got affected due to various adverse factors like increase in inputs and accessories costs and losing their competitiveness against the competing countries in the global market.
Bhumi Pednekar joins Akshay Kumar in Aanand L Rai's Raksha Bandhan, shoot to resume from 15th June

Bollywood actor Bhumi Pednekar, who worked with Akshay Kumar in 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha', has joined the megastar's upcoming movie 'Raksha Bandhan'.Akshay took to social media to welcome Bhumi to the film's team. The 'Kesari' actor shared a delightful picture featuring the duo with the director of the movie, Aanand L Rai. Sharing the happy picture, Akshay wrote, "When you are happy, it shows. And indeed we are...to have @bhumipednekar onboard #RakshaBandhan." Bhumi also shared the same picture on her Instagram account and called Akshay and Aanand "creative powerhouses".

"A very special film and a very special reunion. Am supremely excited to be collaborating again with two of my favourite creative powerhouses and humans. Am full of gratitude to be a part of this special, heart-touching story #RakshaBandhan @akshaykumar @aanandlrai," she wrote. See the post here:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bhumi  (@bhumipednekar)

Accordding to a report in ETimes, Aanand L. Rai confirmed that the shoot of the film will resume from 15th June, He said, "We are hoping to start by June 15. By then cases may come down and the situation should become more conducive for us to work with the unit. The crew will remain at one place but, the actors will go back home. Besides, we normally isolate ourselves from the family while shooting and that is the same way we shot for Atrangi Re and all of us are responsible enough to follow Covid appropriate behaviour."

Apart from the 2017 film 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha', the duo has also worked together on Bhumi's 'Durgamati', on which Akshay served as co-producer.

'Raksha Bandhan' is written by Aanand's longtime collaborator and National Award-winning screenwriter Himanshu Sharma, known for movies like 'Zero', 'Raanjhanaa' and the 'Tanu Weds Manu' franchise. The story of 'Raksha Bandhan', which was announced last year on the festival of the same name, will revolve around the bond between a brother and sister. 'Raksha Bandhan' is presented by Aanand and Akshay's sister, Alka Bhatia. The film is backed by Colour Yellow Production in association with Cape of Good Films.

Apart from 'Raksha Bandhan', Akshay and Aanand are also collaborating on 'Atrangi Re', which also stars Dhanush and Sara Ali Khan. Akshay's upcoming movies include 'Sooryavanshi', 'Atrangi Re', 'Prithviraj', 'Bell Bottom', 'Ram Setu' and 'Bachchan Pandey'. Bhumi's forthcoming films include 'Badhaai Do' and 'Mr Lele'.
Delhi High Court quashes Sushant Singh Rajput's father's plea to restrain films based on the actor's life

Sushant Singh Rajputs family has been expressing their disdain for the many projects announced based on the actors life without their authorization. The late actors father KK Singh had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court to get a restraining order against such projects like films Nyay: The Justice, Shashank, Suicide or Murder: A Star Was Lost, based on the Sushants life or capturing his likeness.

The petition has now been quashed by the High Court according to ANI. Delhi High Court dismisses late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's father's petition against the proposed movies being made about the actor's life. Sushant's father had filed the plea restraining anyone from using his son's name or likeness in movies, tweeted the news agency.

A single bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula heard the petition and passed the order that is bound to displease Sushants family.

Mr. KK Singh in his petition sought to restrain filmmakers making these films for violating the actors right to privacy. Sushants father wanted to prevent the filmmakers from using references to Sushants name/caricature/lifestyle or likeness, according to Live Law.

Earlier in the month Sushants sister Meetu Singh had expressed her displeasure at seeing people trying to take advantage of the actors death and in a tweet clarified, We would also like to bring this to everyones notice that the family has not authorised anyone to raise donations or funds in the name of SSR and no one has the consent to make anything about or related to SSR, be it a movie, a book or a merchandise.
Award-winning filmmaker Samit Kakkad excited about his first digital show Indori Ishq, to premiere today on MX Player

After bringing four striking, gritty, and edgy stories to life, writer-director-producer Samit Kakkad has crafted his first nine-episode finite series for the OTT space, titled Indori Ishq, a hatke love story, painted in the hues of red. The show, in Samits trademark style, explores the concept of unrequited love and delves into the modern-day dynamics of commitment and fidelity in a boy-girl relationship. The nine-episode show, which launched on June 10, narrates Kunals story of love, heartbreak at the hands of his lover Tara, and its dire consequences. The shows teaser and trailer dropped online a fortnight ago, and have been hugely appreciated by the young viewer base.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samit Kakkad (@samitkakkad)

Samit has previously directed films like Ashcharya Chak It, Aayna Ka Bayna and Half Ticket, which have all been lapped up by the audience for their technical brilliance and extremely realistic narratives. The filmmaker chose Indori Ishq to leap into the space of finite shows in the OTT domain, lacing it with gut-wrenching pain and extreme emotions, depicted in a raw form, deploying indie music to drive home the point.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samit Kakkad (@samitkakkad)

Talking about it, the writer-director-producer, who has a two-film-deal with filmmaker Sanjay Gupta's company, says, Theres no storyteller in the country who is not charmed by digital platforms. One of my earlier films, Ashcharya Chak It, was a direct-to-digital release on Netflix when people were still warming up to the idea of watching content on platforms in India. As a filmmaker, Ive honed the art of crafting stories in an edgy and realistic style - the emotions, the pain, the pleasures are all as real as it gets. With Indori Ishq, I could delve into a young couples psyche, which was fun for me. I had a great time shooting this show in Mumbai and Indore, exploring untapped locations with an extremely dedicated team. We had extensive schedules, and weve tapped both the cities in shades that have never been seen before.

Samits previous films, Aayna Ka Bayna and Half Ticket, have extensively travelled across prestigious film festivals and have won plenty of accolades including the Ecumenical Jury Award at the 57th Zlin International Film Festival, 2017. The filmmaker, poised to start his first Hindi film in the next few months, has also been adding final touches to his impending Marathi project, 36 Gunn, an experiential film, based on true events, shot with a passionate crew of nine individuals across Central London, York, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Mumbai.

When asked what drives him to pick such diametrically different projects each time, resulting in a repertoire that can only be defined by the word, unique, Samit says, Ive never been the sort of person who chases money. If Im dipping my fingers into so many different pies, its because I love the content I have on hand. I enjoy the process of being able to bring stories to life without compromising on quality, tonality, and technique. Whether its Indori Ishq, my previous films, or my next films - two in Hindi and one in Marathi - what has worked in my favour is that I dont use any crutches whatsoever. I think and act independently, and do what is right for the project. I've grown up to believe that there's no better film school than a set, and the post-production set-up where you truly learn how a story comes to life. Years ago, my father paved the way for me when he started making experimental content in his workspace. I'm striving to ensure that the same quality drives my company, Samit Kakkad Films.
Khwabon Ke Parindey Trailer: Asha Negi, Mrinal Dutt, Manasi Moghe and Tushar Sharma embark on a journey of a lifetime; Watch

Things are never quite as scary when youve got a best friend. Truer words have never been said. The journey of life can sometimes be tough, but with the help of friends, getting through it becomes a lot easier. In times like these, when everything around the world is uncertain, sharing your deepest fears and secrets over a video call with your friends at the end of the day, makes it all better. Directed by Tapasvi Mehta, the latest offering by Voot - Khwabon Ke Parindey, starring Asha Negi, Mrinal Dutt, Manasi Moghe and Tushar Sharma in the lead characters, celebrates friendships and hope. This highly awaited drama series will stream on the platform from 14th June, 2021.

Set against the scenic landscape of the land down under  Australia, Khwabon Ke Parindey revolves around the lives of the three main protagonists  Bindiya, Dixit and Megha. After graduating from the University of Melbourne, wild child Bindiya, convinces two of her most trusted friends, Dixit and Megha to accompany her on an ambitious and potentially crazy road trip from Melbourne to Perth. On their journey, they meet the quirky, witty and rugged hitchhiker Aakash. This trip means so much to each one of them as this journey gives them an opportunity to rediscover themselves and become each others truth serum.

Talking about the show, Asha Negi shares, The kind of roles that I have played in my stint with television have been completely different from the role of Bindiya, hence when I read the script, I knew it would be a challenge for me. But thanks to me director, Tapasvi, the journey has been extremely smooth, and he helped me transition into the character of Bindiya quite seamlessly.

She adds, Khwabon Ke Parindey is all about life which makes it so relatable to all of us. It talks about how friends help you get through even the most difficult phases of your life easily and why is it important to cherish those friends all your life. While my friends have helped me grow and be the best version of myself, I have also found new friends in my co stars Mrinal, Manasi and Tushar who I will treasure for life.

Mrinal Dutt expressed, Shooting for this show was just the most beautiful experience the actor and the traveler in me could have asked for! It was constant shooting on the go, driving through the spectacular terrains of Australia with a very enthusiastic young crew, which very soon became an actually unit of friends, shooting and collectively experiencing the actual journey and the journey of the characters in the film. It's a beautiful coming-of-age drama and I am pretty sure the youth will connect with it. Playing Dixit was quite challenging for me initially as his personality is completely different from mine and Tapasvi wanted Dixit in a very specific way so we had to dig. The experience of prepping for my role was great and I have a lot to thank my director, Tapasvi for. We spent a lot of time together and worked on finding Dixit. From there on it was some amazing synchronicity. This show should be watched with your friends and I am sure the audience will find that a lot of the instances shown in this series has definitely happened with them at some point.

Khwabon Ke Parindey is a beautiful and simple story that is relevant to todays youth and will resonate with the audience. It will teach you how your friends can be your biggest strengths; celebrating good times and supporting through the bad times. Working on the show was a wonderful experience for me and I hope that the viewers also enjoy it. Tapasvi and team have effortlessly captured the picturesque landscape of Australia while perfectly syncing the visuals and mood of the story" said Manasi Moghe.

Tushar Sharma said, My character, Aakash, is versatile, quirky and carefree. His unpredictable nature is what sets him apart. I am really happy that I got to essay a role wherein I could portray a range of emotions. Working in Khwabon Ke Parindey was an extremely enriching experience as it brought together two very important aspects of my life- acting and travelling. I hope that the audience enjoys our show and they look forward to creating some terrific memories with their own friends "

Khwabon Ke Parindey is a six-part series starring Asha Negi, Mrinal Dutt, Manasi Moghe and Tushar Sharma in the lead characters. Watch how a simple road trip from Melbourne to Perth, changes the lives of Bindiya, Dixit, Megha and Tushar as they unravel their emotions, heal wounds, fall in love and combat their worst fears.

Khwabon Ke Parindey  streaming from 14th June, 2021 exclusively on Voot
Its our 20th birthday this month, and to celebrate we thought wed invite industry experts, researchers and scientists to write in and paint a vision of the future, 20 years from now. This article is the teaser that whets your appetite for all of the soothsaying that lies ahead. But first, lets remember where we came from...

Digit was launched 20 years ago, and since then, a myriad of things have happened that were pathbreaking and innovative. We were there when the first iPod launched, and also when the first few Apple stores opened. BitTorrent was first showcased at DefCon 2001, Wikipedia was created, Windows XP was released and Anna Kournikova was a virus that had IT admins everywhere shaking their head in dismay at employees. Google image search was born because of that green dress of J-Lo, and the hottest phone on the market was the Nokia 3310!

We were reviewing the latest PC hardware at a time when owning a PC was still a luxury for most Indians, and lakhs of readers lived vicariously through our test centres articles. Digit was the first magazine on the planet to give away a VCD of a Hollywood blockbuster to its readers. When we wanted our readers to upgrade from CD drives to DVD drives, the demand from our readers was so overwhelming that the country ran out of DVD writers, and brands had to scramble to import more to meet demand. You can read more about our 20 year history in a special Rewind 20 book that were publishing in our 20th Anniversary issue, available to read in both print as well as digital formats soon.

Over the past 20 years weve seen wireless technology go from good old GPRS to 5G, and broadband speeds have gone from the good old 56.6 kbps dial-up internet in institutions, to gigabit connections at peoples homes! Smartwatches that you can buy today have more computing power than cheap PCs did 20 years ago, and in general, technology has gone from being a luxury to now being a necessity in everyones lives.

So where will science and technology lead us in 20 years time? Will we all become cyborgs, and have technology embedded inside us? Will we invent the AI that eventually kills us  an ultimate weapon of mass destruction? Will technology and gadgets themselves just disappear into the background, and become invisible? How do brands see various fields of innovation such as AI, IoT, Big Data, 5G and more changing how they function and innovate themselves? Lets find out:

Click on an author name below to read their column, come back here or head to the 20th Anniversary microsite to find the next gem to read

Akshay Mehrotra, EarlySalary

Akshay Singhal & Kartik Hajela, Log 9 Materials

Amit Gupta, Yulu

Amit Marwah, Nokia

Anku Jain, Mediatek

Arnold Su, ASUS Laptops

Avneet Singh Marwa, SuperPlantronics

Deepak Gupta, ZOTAC

Frederic Guichard, DXOMark

Glen Robson, Dell Technologies

Jacky Baltes

Kapal Pansari, Rashi Peripherals

Karthik Balasubramanian, Persistent Systems

Kaushal Thakkar, Infidigit

Kumaar Bagrodia, Neuroleap

Lynn Wang, TP-Link

Manu Jain, Xiaomi

Navnit Nakra, OnePlus

Nipun Marya, Vivo

Nitin Bhatnagar, PCISSC

Prith Banerjee, Ansys

Purshottam Bhatia, Kaspersky

Rajen Vagadia, Qualcomm

Rajesh Chandiramani, Tech Mahindra

Roshni Das, Intel

Sandeep Parasrampuria, Fingers

Sanket Naik, CoolerMaster

Shailendra Katyal, Lenovo

Uday Chaudhari, Synechron

Vikram Sakhuja, Madison Media

Vinay Shetty, ASUS

Supria Dhanda, Western Digital
We're celebrating our 20th birthday this month, and we've invited industry experts, researchers and scientists to write in and paint a vision of the future, 20 years from now. Here's what Avneet Singh Marwah, Director and CEO, Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd had to share about his vision of the future.

From early times, television has played an important role in Indian families. After a day of hard work, we would gather around the television for family time, watching a common favourite episode. In the new millennium, technology, family structures, and consumer preferences have all changed. Smartphones have made content viewing a more personal experience, and traditional LED TVs have become outdated. With urbanisation, the OTT boom and the high-speed Internet availability with 4G, Smart TVs penetrated the urban cities.

Today, according to market research, the global smart TV market is valued at USD 202.1 billion and expected to register a CAGR of 16.52 per cent between 2021 to 2026.

Customers are evolving, and so are their needs

Customers, residential and commercial, are evolving, and so are their needs and expectations from their TV. Gen Z, Gen Y and baby boomers are more technologically savvy and gadget-friendly than the previous generations. They want the best technology and experience while watching leisure content, office/ education-related information and even gaming. They are smart customers demanding an efficient and productive lifestyle through technology, encouraging innovation in smart living as a concept. Hence, Smart TVs have become an important lifestyle product for the generation. Smart TVs fit the demand for the best content viewing experience through larger screens, the latest technology, better sound and image resolution. They bring a complete cinematic viewing experience at home. Smart TVs also become a complete work-from-home solution for video conferencing, routine work and accessing documents on a larger screen. They also connect with other devices, such as smartphones, tablets, etc., so that content is accessible and shareable.

Beyond just content, Smart TVs are also developing into a single platform to integrate all smart devices. In future, our smart fridge will send data to the smart TV on food items that need to be bought. That data would integrate on the smartphone through the common account to create the next grocery list for us. In effect, a keyboard with a Smart TV will be the proxy for computers.

Technology will be the reliable partner

Technology will be the single biggest driver for the Smart TV boom. With high-speed Internet, the urban cities and towns are driving demand for Smart TVs right now. However, in the next 20 years, high Internet connectivity will reach deeper regions, and as 5G technology develops, the content consumption on Smart TVs is set to rise.

Technology is upgrading features regularly. Technologies, such as bezel-less and quantum dot, are improving the cinematic experience. A more recent advancement, 4K technology, is delivering high-quality visual content. OLED is making Smart TVs energy efficient as they consume less power and are more durable than LCD panels. Such technologies not only make Smart TVs environmentally more sustainable but also promote their demand in the commercial sector.

Constant innovation is the key

Smart TV technology must upgrade frequently and challenge its own limits to keep pace with customer preferences.

A key focus area of innovation in the coming two decades would be image quality and colours. High Dynamic Range (HDR) will continue to progress and develop as a base for the best video experience. It supports streaming content with a wider range of colours as compared to traditional models. HDR10 profile is the current minimum industry standard for OTT providers, which is driving the demand for HDR-enabled Smart TVs. With a special backlight system capable of delivering a brightness greater than or equal to 1,000 nits, it is far more enhanced than the standard definition range (SDR) televisions. As video technology will progress with HDR10+ and new standards, so would the need for Smart TVs that can deliver that experience.

The second important area of innovation would be display and screen experience. Not just TVs, but even cinema and smartphone screens are constantly innovating to maximise resolution they can support. Lifelike and vivid images are created with unique pixels that can be displayed horizontally and vertically. Currently, widely available ranges are 720p HD and 1080p HD with ultra-high definition (UHDTV) or 4k resolution gaining popularity. But in the next twenty years, I foresee 8K technology being developed and rolled out. Experts agree that 8K resolution is the closest to what the human eye perceives, and hence video recording to distributing platforms will adopt the technology for the best customer experience. The 8K television sets will cost more initially, and as the technology develops further, prices will reduce. Coupled with this, full-array LED backlights will become an industry standard. We have already moved from edge lighting to direct-lit screens as a common practice today, but innovation doesnt cease here. Full-array backlighting is essentially individual control of the brightness of each LED across the back of the screen. It creates a better picture quality for customer delight. Currently, this technology is premium and the TVs look bulkier. But as the technology develops further, the full-array backlight will be an industry standard.

At this pace, Smart TVs will outpace laptops, computers and even cinema screens through innovation in both software and hardware. The aim would be to constantly improve resolutions and streaming qualities that challenge the limitations of current viewing experiences.

The entire ecosystem in India is ready to encourage and promote Smart TVs but to harness this potential, India needs to transform the TV manufacturing industry, driven by technology and policy support.

Make in India

With the rising Make in India sentiment, Indian TV manufacturers have received the required push, but challenges are aplenty.

India is dependent on China and other south Asian countries for either import of TV sets or components. According to the commerce ministry, in 2019-20, India imported USD780.84 million TVs, of which Vietnam contributed around USD428 million while China catered to roughly USD 292 million. Despite home-grown brands, these countries cater to 36 per cent of the USD 2 billion Indian TV industry.

The challenges are compounded as India does not have the required infrastructure to manufacture a complete TV set or any electronic product locally. The most expensive component in a television set is the open cell, but it is not manufactured in India by any company. Globally, there are only 6-7 companies, mostly in China and Vietnam manufacturing open cells for decades. Hence, firstly, to be completely self-reliant, India needs to have a policy that encourages investment in such manufacturing capabilities. Even public-private partnerships or Government campaigns, such as Invest in India, should focus on developing these manufacturing capabilities.

The dependency on China is not just specific to India but is a global challenge. Some countries have concentrated their capabilities as manufacturing hubs, while some, like India, developed their services and IT. But now is the time for India to widen its focus on manufacturing, especially for SMBs. Importing technology and components is also not sustainable for Indian companies due to externalities that increase production cost significantly. For example, in 2020, during the pandemic, international trade was restricted, and raw material prices increased by 350 per cent.

Last year in July, commerce minister Piyush Goyal announced that the government would build self-reliance in televisions, but the journey ahead is long. India needs manufacturing and technological transformation to be truly self-reliant.

Some steps in this regard have been taken. The government exempted duties on select TV components such as open cells, chips on films and printed circuit boards assembly (PCBA) but at the same time imposed a 5 per cent customs duty on the import of open-cell for televisions. Coupled with the increasing prices of raw materials, the manufacturing cost of TVs in India is increasing rapidly.

The government should strengthen the incentives like the 4-6 per cent incentive that the PLI scheme offers to the domestic TV manufacturers to help balance the high input cost. Similarly, the government can boost local production and manufacturing by introducing incentives for investments by local manufacturers and SMBs. The government can also drive demand by reducing GST on TVs from 28 per cent to 18 per cent to make TVs more accessible and affordable.

At the same time, Make in India should become the required platform to encourage more investments in TV manufacturing and technological development in the country.

In 2020 and 2021, many governments have mandated stay-at-home orders with lockdowns and curfews, giving the TV companies, in a way, a captive market. The future of Smart TVs over the next 20 years is promising. An understanding of customers, their needs and bringing them the best technology at affordable prices is crucial.

-By Avneet Singh Marwah, Director and CEO, Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd

To read what other industry leaders and experts have to say about the future in their respective fields, visit our 20th Anniversary Microsite
NEWS RELEASE Release Number: 2021-60 June 9, 2021

California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board Receives Update on California Department of Public Health Guidance

Directs Board Staff to Withdraw the Revisions Submitted to the Office of Administrative Law and Not Yet in Effect

Sacramento  The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Standards Board) this evening voted to withdraw the revisions to Cal/OSHA's COVID-19 prevention emergency temporary standards that they had voted to approve on June 3, and that were sent to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for review.

The vote was held during a special meeting on June 9 to consider the latest guidance regarding masking from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The meeting, attended by members of the public including workers, industry leaders, employers and other stakeholders shared their views on the matter in more than two and a half hours of public comment.

Last November, the Board adopted emergency temporary health and safety standards to protect workers from COVID-19 that went into effect that month. On June 3, the Standards Board voted to adopt revisions due to the changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those revised emergency standards were expected to go into effect no later than June 15 pending approval by the OAL within 10 calendar days after the Standards Board rulemaking package submission. At today's meeting, the Standards Board voted unanimously to withdraw the revisions approved on June 3 that are currently at OAL for review but have not yet become effective. Cal/OSHA will review the new mask guidance and bring any recommended revisions to the board. The Board could consider new revisions at a future meeting, perhaps as early as the regular meeting on June 17. In the meantime, the protections adopted in November of 2020 will remain in effect.

The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, a seven-member body appointed by the Governor, is the standards-setting agency within the Cal/OSHA program. The Standards Board's objective is to adopt reasonable and enforceable standards at least as effective as federal standards. The Standards Board also has the responsibility to grant or deny applications for permanent variances from adopted standards and respond to petitions for new or revised standards.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, is the division within the Department of Industrial Relations that helps protect California's workers from health and safety hazards on the job in almost every workplace. Cal/OSHA's Consultation Services Branch provides free and voluntary assistance to employers to improve their health and safety programs. Employers should call (800) 963-9424 for assistance from Cal/OSHA Consultation Services.

Media Contact: Communications@dir.ca.gov, (510) 286-1161

Employers with Questions on Requirements May Contact: InfoCons@dir.ca.gov, or call your local Cal/OSHA Consultation Office

Stakeholders Who Wish to Comment on the Rulemaking Process May Contact: oshsb@dir.ca.gov
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SEATTLE  A small Ballard apartment building at 6000 24th Ave. N.W. sold for a little over $4.3 million, according to King County records.

The seller was 6000 Ballard LLC, which acquired the property in 2009 for about $2.7 million.





. . .
VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy began his hectic Delhi tour on Thursday by first meeting the union minister for forests, Prakash Javadekar. Later, he called on the union minister for Jal Shakti (water resources), Gajendra Singh Shekawat.

The CM explained the progress of Polavaram project in detail to Shekawat and took up the issue of pending funds and grants for the project. He impressed upon the minister for timely release of funds to complete the project on time.

The CM pressed for GOI approval for investment clearance for Polavaram project as recommended by the PPA and the Central Water Commission and accepted by Technical Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Jal Shakti for Rs 55,656.87 crore at 2017-18 price list at the earliest, so that project works including land acquisition and R&R (relief and rehabilitation) can be completed as per schedule by June 2022.

The CM requested the Jal Shakti Minister to consider the water supply component as an integral part of the irrigation component and this would be in consonance with the guidelines followed by the Ministry of Jal Shakti towards national projects. He urged the minister to reimburse the expenditure without restricting it to component-wise eligibility. He also sought reimbursements for land acquisition and R&R compensation for project affected families of the project as per the Right to Fair Compensation & Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013.

The Chief Minister also sought shifting of the headquarters of PPA from Hyderabad to Rajamahendravaram at an early date as it is difficult for the officials to come all the way from Hyderabad for project monitoring and inspection.

Earlier, the Chief Minister requested Prakash Javadekar to solve some problems in environmental clearances regarding the stocking works of Polavaram project.

Later, the CM met Niti Aayog vice-chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar. He explained the programmes undertaken under the Housing for All scheme in AP. He informed that 30.76 lakh house site pattas were already given to the beneficiaries by distributing 68,381 acres of land which was procured by the government. He said that 17,005 new colonies would come up with all amenities across the state.

CM Jagan said that "We are constructing over 15 lakh new houses this year and a total of 28.30 lakh houses are being constructed in the next three years."

The Chief Minister explained that the government appointed a Joint Collector for each district to ensure the smooth performance of the housing programme. He explained that it is estimated to cost Rs 34,109 crore to provide basic amenities in the proposed housing colonies and it was difficult for the state government to bear such a huge amount.

CM Jagan said that if the minimum infrastructure is not provided then there would be a lot of difficulties to the housing beneficiaries. He sought to include the cost of infrastructure of these colonies as part of the PMAY scheme. The Chief Minister further spoke to Dr. Rajiv Kumar on issues related to the Polavaram project and sought approval of estimates for the timely completion of the project construction.
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Ramana said that he wants to take a decision only based on feedback from his constituency leaders and followers on Saturday.  DC Image

HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam Party Telangana president L Ramana is making up his mind to sail with TRS but wishes to take the call after holding consultations with his followers and well-wishers.

Towards this, Ramana met his followers and close aides to take their opinion and feedback in Jagityal, his home constituency.

Meanwhile, BJP is also sending feelers to Ramana urging him to join the party. The party MLA M Raghunandan Rao met Ramana and discussed his political future. Rao reportedly informed Ramana that BJP is the only party that can fight the ruling party. Ramana has reportedly made it clear that he was yet to take a decision on leaving Telugu Desam and if he decides on such a move, he would get in touch with the BJP leadership.

Meanwhile, Raghunandan told this correspondent, We invited Ramana into the party for a good future. Moreover, he is a senior leader and has been both MP and MLA. So naturally we called him into the party but he clarified that he has not decided to leave TDP.

But the close associates of Ramanas said that he was keen on moving over to TRS. They said that TRS has been inviting him for the last five years.

Meanwhile, TD chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu has urged Ramana to continue in TDP. Sources said that Naidu also tried to talk to other leaders, who had decided to move with Ramana.

Ramana told DC that both TRS and BJP had approached him to join them. He said that he wants to take a decision only based on feedback from his constituency leaders and followers on Saturday.
There were 250 breaches of employment law in Louth over the last two years, according to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

Sinn Fein TD for Louth, Imelda Munster, said that data provided to Sinn Fein showed that there was a need for additional WRC staff alongside stronger workers rights legislation.

In 2019, there were a total of 53 breaches reported by the WRC, while in 2020 the detected breaches increased significantly to 197 reported breaches.

In a statement, the WRC said that every breach is rigorously followed up on by the WRC and appropriate action taken to ensure workers rights are protected.

Deputy Munster said that the increase in the number of breaches between 2019 and 2020 was a cause for concern, adding that the WRC is understaffed and underfunded.

Despite being underfunded and under-resourced, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) does fantastic work on behalf of workers across this state, said Deputy Munster.

It has only 53 inspectors carrying out this work, despite being authorised to recruit 90 inspectors back in 2006. It is essential that additional inspectors are recruited immediately, she continued.

In total, there were over 7,687 inspections of businesses nationwide in 2020, with the WRC recovering 1.7 million euro in unpaid wages.

Deputy Munster said that data revealed to Sinn Fein showed that the WRC had recovered almost 18 million euro of unpaid wages for workers.

Sectors such as food and drink, retail and wholesale, hair and beauty, and construction, to name but a few, have seen consistent breaches of employment law in recent years. The breadth, scale and nature of these breaches reveal a dark underbelly of Irish economy, which must be stamped out, said Deputy Munster.

The Sinn Fein TD said that the government should not turn a blind eye to the situation and that better protections for workers need to be implemented.

This data also reinforces the need for workers being given the legal right to collective bargaining through their recognised Trade Union so they can stand up for workers and protect them against such abuses, said Deputy Munster.

The government cannot continue to turn a blind eye, there has to be protections for workers on one hand, and consequences for employers who ride roughshod over employment law and workers rights on the other, she finished.
A Sinn Fein councillor has called for additional pedestrianisation of Carlingford, to help facilitate more outdoor space for pubs and restaurants.

Cllr Antoin Watters called on Louth County Council to pedestrianise more areas of the town during the evening, saying that many businesses in the area would not be impacted due to closing earlier in the day.

It comes as restrictions on restaurants and pubs came to an end yesterday, with many now able to open for outdoor service for the first time since Christmas.

According to Cllr Watters, the process would be straightforward and could be done quickly through the use of additional bollards and signage throughout the area.

He continued that the measures would help more people stay local to support pubs and restaurants and that he himself was looking forward to the reopening.

I personally cant wait to go for a meal and a few drinks, said Cllr Watters.

However, LCC Senior Executive Engineer Mark Johnson said that while it was a nice idea, it would be difficult to pull off in practice.

Johnson said that while closing off streets in the evenings would provide more space for outdoor dining, there would be logistical issues around the movement of vehicles.

He highlighted the movement of ambulances and the fire brigade through the area, saying that it would be much more difficult for those services to access the area in the evening if there was additional pedestrianisation.

Catherine Duff, Director of Services at LCC, also responded to Cllr Watters' motion in writing, saying that the pedestrianisation of Carlingford would be covered under consultation for the rural regeneration funding but not for outdoor dining.

According to Duff, the council is focusing on accommodating pubs and restaurants with parklets, as well as allowing them to use public footpaths and currently pedestrianised streets.

Concerns were also raised about the 118,000 funding application to create outdoor dining space on the green in Carlingford.

According to Johnson, the outdoor dining space will be 20 metres long and 10 metres wide, and will be available for the publics use, if the funding application is granted by Failte Ireland.

Cllr Watters also called for more pedestrianisation of Omeath, with Duff saying that there will be improvements to public areas and footpaths, but pedestrianisation was ruled out.

"Pedestrianisation was considered as part of the process however was ruled out due to constraints of residential properties, said Duff.

Duff also said that there has been no applications for Section 252s, which allow for outdoor dining on the street, or parklets in Omeath.

She encouraged businesses to apply, and that the council would examine whether or not it was feasible to provide either Section 252s or parklets.
Dundalk Chamber of Commerce have welcomed the Governments 3.5 Billion stimulus package, saying that it will provide stability and confidence for local businesses.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan announced the package recently where they detailed extensions to supports like the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and a tapering of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).

Paddy Malone, Public Relations Officer with Dundalk Chamber said that the package was broadly welcome, saying that it would help with the reopening of businesses across Dundalk.

In broad measures, we welcome the whole thing.

It puts stability and confidence into the economy, said Mr Malone, adding that these were essential for businesses planning to reopen.

One criticism Malone levelled was around the tapering off of the PUP, which will be closed to new entrants from July and will begin tapering off in September, going from 350 a week to 300. The payment is expected to be abolished in February 2022.

Mr Malone said that hospitality workers may feel this change the worst, as some businesses may struggle even when they do reopen.

On supports for the hospitality industry, including the extension of the rates waiver and lower VAT rate, Malone said that it will help but was unsure for how long.

Its enough for the time being, but I dont know if its enough full stop, said Mr Malone.

The Covid-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) will also see three weeks of double payments for businesses that are reopening in the weeks ahead, up to a maximum of 30,000. Tanaiste Leo Varadkar called it a bullet payment for the hospitality and tourism sectors.

Mr Malone said that the double payments with the CRSS will be impactful for publicans and restaurateurs in particular, who may need to get new stock as they reopen.

He referenced how breweries had taken back kegs when pubs initially were closed, but stocks of bottled beer and cider were left to sit and now have to be replaced.

Its to kickstart those businesses and get them going again, said Mr Malone.

However, Mr Malone referenced tourism businesses as a particular sector that will struggle to get off the ground again once the pandemic is over.

He predicted that it would be 2022 before they begin to see a recovery.

Fine Gael Senator John McGahon has also welcomed the measures introduced by the government, saying that we can and we will rebuild the Louth economy.

We will get our people back to work and safely emerge from the pandemic, and we will align our economy for the digitised and green future, by creating more productive, sustainable and importantly more secure and valued jobs, said Senator McGahon.

Overall, Malone said that the current position for many local businesses was a good one, with many local business owners and employees having taken time to upskill or enhance their business over the past year.

Were in a good place, especially compared to last year, said Malone, referencing how many businesses have now built online shop fronts or have pivoted to respond to the impact of the pandemic.
A 26 year old who admitted causing damage to a cell at Dundalk Garda Station was given a four month suspended sentence at the local district court last week.

Kristaps Zukulis with an address at Dublin Road, Haggardstown was charged with criminal damage arising out of the incident on March 9th last year.

He was also placed under the supervision of the Probation Service for 12 months for a separate offence 19 days later, for trespassing at Sextons licensed premises.

Last month, when he was before the court for driving a BMW without insurance or a driving licence at Dublin Road, Haggardstown on December 11th 2019, the court was told he had 17 previous convictions.

Last Wednesday, Judge Eirinn McKiernan banned him from driving for six years for that offence and marked 17 other matters taken into consideration.
CM directed the officials to withdraw the case immediately. He reportedly told officials that it's for the Centre now to fulfill its assurance to both the states. (Photo: Twitter @TelanganaCMO)

Hyderabad: In a significant step to facilitate a central push for resolving the long-pending Krishna water sharing dispute between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the TS government has withdrawn its case from the Supreme Court in this respect.

Official sources said the government has filed a plea in the Supreme Court on Thursday, seeking withdrawal of the case.

TS had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2015 after the Centre did not respond to its demand for constituting a new tribunal for Krishna water sharing under the Interstate River Waters Disputes Act of 1956.

At the apex council meeting held by the Centre in December last with

the two states, the Centre agreed to look into the water reallocation plea on condition that the TS withdrew its case from the SC. In the meeting, chief minister Chandrashekar Rao had agreed to do this but did not issue the order so far.

This week, the CM directed the officials to withdraw the case immediately. He reportedly told officials that it's for the Centre now to fulfill its assurance to both the states.

The state government will write to the Centre informing it of the withdrawal of its case from the Supreme Court.

The sharing of Krishna waters between the Telugu states is to be done by the Krishna water disputes tribunal, which also is responsible for allotment of water to Maharashtra and Karnataka through which the river flows.

Soon after the formation of Telangana State in 2014, the CM sought the

formation of a new tribunal. TS later filed the petition in the SC in 2015 as the Centre did not take any steps.

Union water resources minister Gajendrasingh Shekhawat had stated that once Telangana withdrew its case, the Centre will seek legal opinion and decide whether or not to constitute a new tribunal; or give new terms of reference to the existing tribunal, the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II.
VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the latter's residence on Thursday night and held discussions for over one-and-a-half hours.

The Chief Minister impressed upon Shah that Andhra Pradesh was committed to the concept of balanced regional development and decentralisation of governance and hence was planning to decentralise capital functions at three locations with Executive Capital at Visakhapatnam, Legislative Capital at Amaravati and Judicial Capital at Kurnool. In this regard, the government enacted the Andhra Pradesh Decentralization and Inclusive Development of All Region Act, 2020 in August 2020.

Jagan Mohan Reddy urged the Union Home Minister to direct the authorities concerned to initiate the process of re-notification of locating the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Kurnool and also took it to his notice that the proposal was also part of the BJP's official manifesto for 2019 state elections. He Andhra Pradesh was faced with many challenges due to the poor financial situation and In order to make the state systemically stronger and Atmanirbhar (self-reliant), it was imperative that the state was accorded Special Category Status. He added that the approval of Special Status would entitle Andhra Pradesh to more Central grants, resulting in proportional reduction of financial burden on the bifurcated state, creation of jobs on the back of new industries, and attainment of fiscal self-reliance due to the enhanced tax base.

The Chief Minister asked for sanction of 13 medical colleges and financial assistance to them. He said an amount of Rs 3,299 crore related to the subsidy for PDS rice was to be released by the ministry of food & civil supplies. He sought release of pending dues worth Rs 4,652.70 crore and enhancement of annual person-days for work per family from 100 to 150 days by the ministry of rural development. He urged the central government to release pending dues of Rs 529.95 crore towards Rural Local Body Grants related to 14th Finance Commission and to release pending dues of Rs 497 crore for financial year 2020-21 related to 15th Finance Commission.

The CM also stressed the need to extend support to rejuvenate and make AP power sector more robust in ways such as surrendering of costly thermal power allocation of Kudgi & Valluru (NTECL) plants, supporting Telangana Discoms under Atmanirbhar programme by extending conditional loans, and restructuring an outstanding high-cost debt of about Rs 50,000 crore in the books of AP Power utilities. In view of the severe financial distress of AP power utilities, it is requested that this debt may be restructured appropriately. Financial assistance was also sought for the reverse pumped storage project in Upper Sileru,

Jagan Mohan Reddy also requested the central government to give assent to the Andhra Pradesh DISHA Bills, Criminal Law (Andhra Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2019, Andhra Pradesh Disha (Special Courts for Specified Offences against Women and Children) Bill, 2020, and Andhra Pradesh Land Titling Authority Bill, 2020. He also sought establishment of a central tribal university in the tribal sub-plan area.
RTHK: Myanmar junta hits Suu Kyi with graft charges

The Myanmar junta has hit deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi with corruption charges over claims she accepted illegal payments of gold and more than half a million dollars in cash, state media reported on Thursday.

The country has been in turmoil since the generals ousted Suu Kyi on February 1, with nearly 850 civilians killed in a brutal crackdown by security forces on near-daily protests against the coup.

The 75-year-old Nobel laureate, who has been in custody since the coup, is facing a raft of wide-ranging criminal charges, including sedition and breaching a colonial-era secrecy law.

The latest charges relate to allegations by the former Yangon region chief minister that Suu Kyi illegally accepted US$600,000 in cash from him along with around 11 kilogrammes of gold.

The Anti-Corruption Commission found evidence that Suu Kyi had committed "corruption using her rank", according to the Global New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper.

She is also accused of abusing her authority when renting two areas of land for her charitable foundation.

After weeks of legal wrangling, two of Suu Kyi's trials are due to start in earnest next week, hearing evidence from witnesses.

In Naypyidaw, the remote capital purpose built by the previous military regime, her trial will start on Monday on charges of violating restrictions during last year's election campaign and possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies.

A separate case is scheduled to start on June 15, where she is charged with sedition alongside ousted president Win Myint and another senior member of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Her lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, dismissed the corruption charges as "absurd".

"There is an undeniable political background to keep her out of the scene of the country and to smear her prestige," he said, adding she could face long prison terms on the secrecy and corruption charges.

"That's one of the reasons to charge her  to keep her out of the scene."

Suu Kyi spent more than 15 years under house arrest during the previous military rule before her 2010 release.

Her international stature diminished following a wave of military violence targeting Buddhist-majority Myanmar's marginalised Muslim Rohingya community that displaced more than a million people, but the coup has returned Suu Kyi to the role of cloistered democracy icon. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Manned space mission preps for takeoff

Chinadaily.com.cn) 08:48, June 10, 2021

The Long March 2F carrier rocket carrying the Shenzhou XII spacecraft is moved to its launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert. [Photo by Wang Jiangbo/chinadaily.com.cn]

China's upcoming manned mission  Shenzhou XII  is expected to set off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert to the Tianhe core module of the nation's space station.

A Long March 2F carrier rocket with the Shenzhou XII spacecraft on top of it was moved to its launch pad at the space complex on Wednesday evening, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The agency said in a brief statement the rocket and the spaceship will receive prelaunch examinations and tests, adding the launch center is ready for the coming mission.

The Shenzhou XII spacecraft will dock with Tianhe and the three crew members on board will enter the core module to work inside it for three months.

The Long March 2F carrier rocket carrying the Shenzhou XII spacecraft is moved to its launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert. [Photo by Wang Jiangbo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Tianhe, or Harmony of Heaven, was lifted by a Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on April 29. The largest and heaviest spacecraft China has ever built, the module is the first part of the Chinese space station, named Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace.

On May 29, the first visiting spacecraft to Tianhe, the Tianzhou 2 robotic cargo ship, was launched at the Wenchang center and soon docked with the module. The combination is now traveling in a low-Earth orbit several hundred kilometers above the Earth.

China's most ambitious space endeavor, the Tiangong station will consist of three main components  a core module attached to two space labs  with a combined weight of nearly 70 metric tons. The entire station is set to work for about 15 years, mission planners have said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
What we need is meticulous and unfailing enforcement of what the court had laid down as the law of sedition, and not a fresh definition. Perhaps thats what Justice Chandrachud meant, but its not what he said. (Photo:PTI)

It is time to define the limits of sedition, said Justice D.Y. Chandrachud of the Supreme Court on June 1, and his comment was received with considerable applause. Im afraid it left me puzzled. The Supreme Court did that nearly 60 years ago in the 1962 Kedar Nath Singh case. What we need is meticulous and unfailing enforcement of what the court had laid down as the law of sedition, and not a fresh definition. Perhaps thats what Justice Chandrachud meant, but its not what he said.

Let me explain. In the Kedar Nath Singh judgment, the Supreme Court read down Section 124A of the Indian Panel Code, which is the law of sedition. It first said the section would be limited to such activities as would be intended, or have a tendency, to create disorder or disturbance to public peace by resort to violence. It then pointedly added: We have no hesitation to limit the application (of this section) to acts involving intention or tendency to create disorder, or disturbance of law and order or incitement to violence. Frankly, it couldnt have been clearer than that.

However, at least on four separate occasions thereafter, the Supreme Court reconfirmed this reading down of Section 124A. That first happened in 1995, in the Balwant Singh case, when the court ruled that the Khalistan Zindabad slogan is not seditious. Remember, this ruling referred to slogans raised in an open marketplace on the day Indira Gandhi was killed. Despite that the courts position was clear and forthright: Raising some slogan only a couple of times  which neither evoked any response nor any reaction from anyone in the public cannot attract the provision of Section 124A. And then the court significantly added: The police officers exhibited lack of maturity and, more, of sensitivity in arresting the appellants for raising the slogans (the slogans) did not constitute any threat to the government as by law established nor could the same give rise to feelings of enmity or hatred among different communities or religions or other groups.

Thereafter, in the Bilal Ahmed Kaloo case and the Common Cause case, the Supreme Court restated the 1962 ruling. That happened again in 2016 when the court explicitly said: We are of the considered opinion that the authorities while dealing with offences under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code shall be guided by the principles laid down by the Constitution Bench in Kedar Nath Singh versus State of Bihar. Doesnt this mean there is no doubt or confusion about the Supreme Courts position?

Yet for those who still have doubts, the Supreme Court delivered a fifth reaffirmation, this time, ironically, three days after Justice Chandrachuds perplexing comment. A bench presided over by Justice U.U. Lalit in the Vinod Dua case said Section 124A is limited only to such activities  involving incitement to violence or intention or tendency to create public disorder or cause disturbance of public peace. This means, both before and after Justice Chandrachuds comment, the Supreme Courts position has been made crystal clear, and theres no need for further definitions of the limits of sedition.

What is needed is enforcement of the law laid down by the court as far back as 1962. This is necessary because the courts ruling is continuously and deliberately flouted. We need the court to recognise this as contempt and act.

Let me give you a few facts. The website Article 14 claims 65 per cent of the sedition charges against 10,938 individuals since 2010 were brought after 2014. In that category, 96 per cent of sedition cases for criticising politicians and governments over the last decade were registered after 2014.

According to Article 14, this amounts to a 28 per cent increase in the number of sedition cases filed each year between 2014 and 2020  compared to the yearly average between 2010 and 2014. Finally, the National Crimes Records Bureau seems to confirm these figures with its own, which show a 165 per cent increase in cases of sedition between 2016 and 2019.

This means not only is the law of sedition repeatedly abused but the amount of abuse is steadily increasing. It also means that for 60 years the Supreme Courts ruling has been deliberately disregarded by all governments (both Central and state) and their police forces. This is nothing short of contempt. There is no other term for it.

Yet the court has watched in silence. Its swallowed this disrespect of its rulings. Its tolerated this defiance of the law. Not once has it objected. Or even commented.

Its not that the Supreme Court has been equally tolerant and forgiving of other instances of contempt. It took suo moto cognisance of the Prashant Bhushan case even though the attorney general advised against it. So, when elected governments and the police are in contempt -- which has to be worse -- why has it been unwilling to act or even speak out? That may sound like a rhetorical question but, actually, its a finger pointing at the court.

So I say today to Justice Chandrachud, its not definitions of sedition we need but the enforcement of a law that your predecessors had laid down several generations ago. And, if Im honest, we need something else as well -- an explanation from the court why it did not speak out and act earlier.

Remember, by failing to do so, it allowed abuse of the law to continue and proliferate. It also accepted disrespect and disregard of its rulings. Simply put, thats defiance of the law.

But does the Supreme Court also owe us an apology? Since Im being bold, let me also be precise -- an apology for not defending the law laid down by its own judgments and also an apology for not standing up for its own authority.

The Supreme Court let the country down in 1975 with its ADM Jabalpur ruling. Justice Chandrachud had the moral strength to accept this even though his father was a Supreme Court judge at the time. Isnt the failure to enforce its definition of sedition for almost 60 years almost as bad? Think of the innocent people -- cartoonists, students, journalists, historians, authors, actors, directors and, by some accounts, little children -- who suffered because the Supreme Court kept silent while the law was blatantly defied. Yes, I think an apology is due.
Car went 'over the edge' on Marine Drive

A driver suffered minor injuries after a crash at Marine Drive last night.

Emergency services were called to the scene at just after 11pm.

The vehicle went over the edge at the location.

The Ambulance Service says a male driver was taken to Nobles Hospital with minor injuries.

The fence is taped over and the vehicle will be recovered later today.
Last call approaches to register for Covid-19 vaccination

Island residents who wish to have a vaccination to reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 are urged to register now, before the current phase of the rollout draws to a close.



The vaccination programme is well advanced and currently focusing on second doses for all those who had their first vaccine when their age priority group was invited to come forward. Those who missed registering when it was their turn - but still wish to be vaccinated - have consistently been encouraged to register, to ensure vaccine and appointment slots are allocated to them.



The call to come forward is now urgent, as supplies of all types of vaccine for this phase of the programme will soon be exhausted, ahead of preparations for the vaccination booster programme later this year.



Further clinics have been arranged next week (14 & 15 June) for adults of all ages who havent previously been vaccinated, with the potential for more sessions to meet additional registrations. First doses of Moderna, the third safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine to be used in the programme, will be offered to people aged under 40, with the AstraZeneca vaccine given to those over the age of 40, except where an individual cannot receive it for clinical reasons. Second doses for this catch-up cohort have been scheduled for later in the summer.



Anyone who wishes to be included should register with 111 now and no later than 21 June.



Minister for Health and Social Care David Ashford said: We have made every effort to invite, register and vaccinate the adult population by priority group  but we appreciate there are a number of people who couldnt come forward at the time, for a variety of reasons.



We will soon be moving on to the revaccination programme  another large and complex logistical exercise, and before long our resources will be focused on that. Revaccination will play a vital part in the continued efforts in the UK and Isle of Man to reduce the spread of the virus, prevent serious illness and death, and protect our health services.



The Minister added: The end of the current rollout of vaccinations is on the horizon  as we will cease receiving supplies. So I urge anyone who still wants vaccine protection from COVID-19 to make themselves known by calling 111, as we do not want them to miss out. There wont be another mop up process for several months, so dont hesitate any longer - please act now!



Since the start of the Vaccination Programme, almost 90,000 vaccinations have been administered, including well over 61,000 first doses. Almost 85% of the adult population has had at least one dose, gaining protection from coronavirus and its variants.



The Isle of Man Government has adopted a mitigation strategy, with members of the public encouraged to make their own decisions about protecting themselves and their families from coronavirus. No longer seeking to eliminate the virus, Governments focus now is on supporting the community to learn to live with it.



Thousands of appointments have been booked and vaccine allocated for the coming weeks, so it is very important people attend on the date and at the time they have been given. Second doses of vaccine are required for the fullest protection, both for individuals and the wider community. People should therefore not seek to rearrange their appointment  but to fit other plans around it.


Extortionists thrive on posting online slander that costs a fortune to take down, and Google wants to put a stop to it. The company told the New York Times that it's changing its search algorithm to prevent slander sites from surfacing when you look for a person's name. The company also recently implemented a "known victims" system that will suppress these sites if you report attacks.

While some measures are already in place, others are slated to take effect in the months ahead. Google VP David Graff was quick to warn this wouldn't be a "perfect solution," but hoped that it would have a "significant and positive" effect.

The move comes partly in response to a Times piece from April highlighting slander site practices. As Graff added, though, these sites are also guilty of "gaming [the] system"  this is as much about ensuring fair page rankings as it is protecting people against extortion schemes. In theory, the changes Google is making could help everyone.

With that said, the anti-slander effort also highlights the sheer clout Google has through its search engine. If it's possible to destroy someone's reputation simply because a trashy post ranks high on Google's search results, that suggests the company has an outsized influence on the internet as a whole.
The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) has filed a $200 million lawsuit against Roblox for allowing the illegal use of songs in streams, the organization said in a press release. It has also launched a "major ramp-up" of its takedown campaign against Twitch for the Amazon platform's failure to license music.

In a keynote speech, NMPA President David Israelite said that Roblox, with 42 million daily active users, has "taken virtually no action" to prevent copyright infringement. The group added that songs by "Ariana Grande, Imagine Dragons, deadmau5, Ed Sheeran, and the Rolling Stones are all being utilized without compensating their writers and copyright holders." The lawsuit was filed on behalf of publishers including Big Machine Records, Hipgnosis and Joel Zimmerman (deadmau5).

Israelite also said that Amazon's Twitch livestreaming service is still failing to license music. As such, it has stepped up its takedown campaign and will keep removing music that Amazon is allegedly not paying for. An intensive enforcement program to ID and remove unlicensed songs from [Twitch] is ongoing and will be increased, Israelite said.

Roblox, which went public this year and currently sits at a $52 billion valuation, has yet to respond to the lawsuit. Twitch has previously said that it "responds to each valid DMCA notification that it receives by removing the allegedly infringing content expeditiously in compliance with DMCA requirements."

On top of the lawsuits, the NMPA announced that 2020 music publishing revenue rose 9.6 percent over 2019 to $4.08 billion, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other than Colonial Pipeline, the biggest recent ransomware attack targeted JBS, a meat supplier that's responsible for up to one quarter of all meat processing in the US. Late last week the company said its operations were back online, and now it has confirmed paying "the equivalent of $11 million in ransom in response to the criminal hack against its operations."

CEO Andre Nogueira said in a statement that "we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers." The most specific information about why JBS paid the attackers is also in the statement, as the company said it was trying "to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated." Talking to the Wall Street Journal, the CEO said that despite successful data recovery efforts, experts couldn't promise that the attackers would not strike again.

While we now know that a significant portion of the Colonial Pipeline Bitcoin payment was tracked and seized by the feds, there's no word on any similar efforts, or their outcome, in this case.
Bitcoin has had a rollercoaster ride over the last months. Once Teslas darling, with its value climbing, when the EV maker dropped BTC pricing, the cryptocurrency plummeted in value, (its down 37 percent over the last month, at the time of writing). But hey, dont tell El Salvador.

President Nayib Bukele has followed through on his campaign promise to make the turbulent Bitcoin legal tender, alongside the US dollar. It means that, in about 90 days, the cryptocurrency can be used as payment for goods or services unless a business doesnt have the facilities to accept it.

Jose Cabezas / reuters

In the US, a few folks have tried to live their lives paying with Bitcoin, and its as hard as you might expect. El Salvador has tried to embrace cryptocurrency economies before taking this notable leap, at least: Two small beach towns, El Zonte and Punta Mango, formed Bitcoin economies last year, accepting it for groceries and utility payments.

The country has partnered with digital wallet company Strike to make sure it has all the infrastructure needed for its Bitcoin push.

 Mat Smith

All digital, and all at home.

ESA

After a one-year hiatus, E3 is back. The first event is later today, with the Summer Game Fest at 2PM ET. Expect some surprises, some of which include an appearance by Weezer and Jeff Goldblum. Separately. I think.

But thats just the start. There will be major streams from all the big games makers  and Netflix  but youll have to wait till Tuesday for Nintendos showcase. Switch Pro, please.

If youre looking for commentary alongside all the gaming news, well be hosting live streams for four shows: the Summer Game Fest kickoff, Ubisoft, Xbox and Nintendo. Read on for the full schedule.

It's not 'Battlefield V.'

DICE

The next Battlefield title is a massive, near-future, sandboxy title called Battlefield 2042. And clearly, developers are hoping this one will help players forget all about Battlefield V.

Ready for the grim world setting? Battlefield 2042 is set in a near-future world ravaged by climate-driven disasters, leading to the most severe refugee crisis in human history. The displaced are recruited to fight in a global war waged by  surprise, surprise  the US and Russia. We now know that Battlefield 2042 has three main modes: All-Out Warfare, Hazard Zone (the battle royale flavor) and a third mystery experience still in development at DICE LA.

Its predecessor, Battlefield V, was buggy, lean and emphasized single-player content at a time when battle royale was peaking. It missed the boat. How will 2042 stack up? Continue reading.

A similar trick to FaceID Unlock when wearing a mask.

You'll be able to issue voice commands for Siri without having to unlock your phone when iOS 15 comes around  so long as you have an Apple Watch. Its included in the beta release for developers.

Apple has updated the Unlock with Apple Watch explanation to say you'll be able to use the connection between your phone and your Watch to issue Siri commands. You wont have to unlock your phone with a Face ID or a password first, but your Watch must be nearby, and it has to be unlocked. Continue reading.

One team received $300k and a chance to advance its research aboard the ISS.

A pair of research teams from Wake Forest University's Institute for Regenerative Medicine have topped NASA's long-running Vascular Tissue Challenge by 3D printing a biologically viable chunk of human liver . The teams, dubbed Winston and WFIRM, each managed to produce a centimeter-square hunk-o-meat capable of surviving and nominally operating for a span of 30 days.

The medical procedures and products this research potentially promises could well be revolutionary. Rather than rely on a network of volunteers, tomorrow's organ transplant candidates may just have their replacement organs printed ahead of their transplant surgeries, virtually eliminating their chances of rejection and essentially guaranteeing a full genetic organ match every single time. Continue reading.

We are in harmony.

Blizzard

Five years late to the party, Overwatch is finally offering crossplay. Yes, you can be trounced by your PC-playing buddies as you play along on your Switch. I (half) joke, but it will ensure any Overwatch gamers will be able to ally themselves with their friends, regardless of platform.

There is a caveat: To use the feature, youll need to create a Battle.net account if you don't already have one and link it to your Xbox, PSN or Nintendo account. Thats something Blizzard will now require Overwatch players to do whether they plan to take advantage of crossplay support or not. Sadly, any collection content (costumes, emotes, etc.) you earn on one system wont carry over to another platform.

And regarding my point about being thrashed by mouse wielders: Blizzard says that, by default, console players will only get matched up against other console players. If you want to play with/against people on PC, youll need to intentionally group up with other players on PC. Continue reading.

Youre gonna die.

Facebook is asking for the AI communitys help in bringing down NetHack  one of the most notoriously difficult titles in gaming history  and maybe help computers learn to simulate instances faster using fewer resources. NetHack is a brutal dungeon crawler, originally made in the 1980s. Every time the player perishes, the entire dungeon resets, ensuring a ripe challenge for AI.

As part of the NeurIPS 2021 NetHack Challenge, Facebook is inviting researchers to design, train and release AI systems able to develop agents that can reliably either beat the game or (in the more likely scenario) achieve as high a score as possible. Continue reading.

But wait, theres more...

Facebook's Movie Mate chatbot is a second-screen experience for the 'Fast' movies

Ford snags 100,000 F-150 Lightning pre-orders in three weeks

Apple will reportedly open paid Podcasts subscriptions on June 15th

Civilized Cycles' Model 1 is a posh, surprisingly practical e-bike

NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti review: A solid replacement for the 2070 Super

Keystone Light made the must-not-have wearable of the summer

Uber's updated app makes it easier for drivers to pick you up

Jaguar's 2022 I-Pace gives US drivers faster charging and a new infotainment system

Apple shares more details on how Spatial Audio will work with AirPods on Apple TV
Kanye West and Irina Shayk are reportedly "confirmed" dating. The news of the pair proving rumors true comes a day after Kanye's estranged wife posted a birthday greeting for him, telling him she will love him "for life."

Kanye West just allowed his and Kim Kardashian's fans to believe they can still withdraw from their impending divorce proceedings and reconcile for one day. A day after his birthday, wherein Kim Kardashian and some members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan greeted him and told him he's technically part of their lives "forever," Mail Online UK confirmed that he's already moved on.

According to the news outlet, rumors that he is seeing the Russian supermodel started to swirl started last month. However, no one can provide concrete evidence until now.

Kanye West New GF is Irina Shayk?

Mail Online UK was able to obtain certain photos of Kanye West and Irina Shayk in an actual date - taking a romantic stroll in Provence, France on June 8, Kanye's birthday. Apart from the fact that the idea of being alone with someone on one's birthday is already quite telling, their true relationship is also suspect because they are reportedly staying together at a luxury boutique hotel called Villa La Coste.

ALSO READ: Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck Wedding Finally Happening? This Can be a Major Clue

Fans would know that at this point, they probably have to stop wishing Kanye and Kim are getting back together soon. Even if Kim Kardashian bravely ruined expectations that she would just ignore Kanye's birthday, given the fact that they filed for a divorce back in February. After all, neither of them made any fanfare when their 7th wedding anniversary, came and went.

Kanye West did not even make an effort to greet Kim Kardashian a "Happy Mother's Day" last month. Now fans think he was just too busy with Shayk, who shares a child with actor Bradley Cooper.

Kanye West, Irina Shayk Dating Photos

Photos of the fact that Kanye West and Irina Shayk reportedly dating captured them strolling while keeping each other close.

The couple could also be seen taking snaps together near the Giant Crouching Spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois at the Chateau La Coste Art Centre.

The fact that France holds many memories for him with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian seems not to matter for the Yeezy star. It can be remembered that he whisked her off to Paris when they have just started dating back in 2012.

In 2014, ahead of their massively expensive nuptials in Florence, Italy, Kim and Kanye also staged a smashing pre-wedding party at the Palace of Versailles in Paris.

On June 7, or the night before Kanye's birthday, sighting with Irina, Kim's Instagram story of herself hinted her thoughts are in France.

She could be seen opening a bottle of French wine from Bordeaux in this story. Her caption was quite mysterious, but in hindsight, it now may be taken as something related to her alleged relationship with Kanye West. The caption reads, "67, '01 or nothing! If you know, you know!"

ALSO READ: 'Bridgerton Actor Rege-Jean Page Corrects Fans on a 'Burning' Mistake About 'Wedding Night Scene'

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will need to wait for the "right time" until their children, Archie and Lili, earn their respective royal titles.

Since Lili's birth on June 4, royal watchers have been asking whether the daughter will be called a princess. Her parents Meghan and Prince Harry famously renounced Archie's birthright title when he was born.

Now that the Sussexes already have two inheritors, it has been clarified that both Archie and Lili will be called Prince and Princess once Prince Charles becomes King.

The current royal guidelines prevent the Sussexes children from having royal titles since the great-grandchildren of the monarch are not considered princes or princesses. There is one exception though. The royal titles can be used by the children of the eldest son of Prince Charles.

This is the reason why the children of Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, go by the royal titles - Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.

Archie, Lili To Become Prince and Princess Soon?

The Cambridges' cousins will experience the same royal benefit soon after Prince Charles becomes King.

The royal family established the rule under King George V. In 1917, he released the Letters Patent which classifies who are eligible for the royal titles.

"The grandchildren of the sons of any such sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of dukes of these our realms," it says.

Meanwhile, the managing editor of Majesty magazine Joe Little previously shared the same sentiment to People. Per the editor, all the grandchildren of the ruler will have the right to use His or Her Royal Highness.

READ ALSO: Prince Harry Demoted? The TRUTH Why Duke of Sussex Loses HRH Title During Princess Diana's Exhibit Revealed

Still, he noted that he doubts Prince Harry and Meghan want that for their kids.

When Queen Elizabeth II gave the royal couple the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Archie scored the courtesy title of Earl of Dumbarton upon his birth.

However, Prince Harry and Meghan chose Archie Mountbatten-Windsor instead.

The Duchess of Sussex also alleged during their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey that someone said the monarchy did not want her first-born child to be called a prince or princess. She reportedly heard it during the last few months of her first pregnancy.

Even if she accepted it, Archie would not reportedly receive security.

READ MORE: Royal Heartbreak: Queen Elizabeth II To Mark Important Event Without Prince Philip For The First Time

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
Former model Charlotte Bonstrom reportedly left her partner Vittorio Assaf for her twin sister's husband.

Bonstrom is a Swedish ex-model who has been married to Assaf, a restauranteur who co-founded Serafina Restaurants, for 20 years. They had two children together named Vittorio and Valentina.

According to Page Six, a source stated that Charlotte has been having an affair during the pandemic with twin sister Cecilia's husband Thierry Gillier, founder of the renowned french fashion line Zadig & Voltaire.

The source said that the affair broke Cecilia's heart because she was betrayed by her own twin sister and husband.

The news outlet also reported that it's been the talk of town in New York City that Cecilia, who is also the creative director of the fashion line mentioned above, is now in a relationship with Assaf in order to get revenge.

Assaf quickly denied the allegations but he confirmed that his estranged wife is planning to get married to her twin sister's husband.

READ NOW: #SaveZoeysPlaylist Petition Trends: NBC Cancelling 'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' After 2 Seasons Got Fans Furious

He told the outlet that they are in the process of divorce as Charlotte is getting married to Gillier.

"It is very difficult, but I have nothing to do with the sister of Charlotte." he said.

Now, another source claims that the Charlotte's marriage went downhill because Assaf has been spending time with other models while they're married.

The source alleges that the former model was "hurt" by the situation which made her secretly date other people. They also added that the relationship of the twins is unlikely to be repaired.

Cecilia apparently found out about the family affair early last year when she took to Instagram to post a seemingly cryptic quote that reads "you're looking for three things, generally, in a person: intelligence, energy and integrity, and if they don't have the last one, don't even bother with the first two." She then tagged her twin and husband in the caption.

Following this, Cecilia had also posted another quote about maturity and leaving people for her mental well-being. (check out the full quote below)

The news outlet reached out to Charlotte but she never confirmed nor deny the allegations, she simply stated "This is my private life. You can write whatever you want."

Cecilia, on the other hand, did not respond to the outlet.

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Manufacturers tailor consumer products in order to satisfy the customer wishes while making their products environmentally friendly. At the ESRFs BM28/XMaS, scientists from the University of Bristol (UK) and Procter and Gamble have studied an unusual sample: a noise.

In the case of dishwashing liquid, manufacturers want to minimize the water and energy usage and, at the same time, make a squeaky noise appear, as some consumers link the concept of cleanliness with a squeaky noise while washing the dishes. This perception is prevalent in Japan, where there is even a term to define this noise: kyu-kyu. This sound appears when there is physical contact of the human fingertip across a wet lubricated surface (or dish).

Charlotte Kenton, from the University of Bristol and sponsored by Procter and Gamble, is studying how this sound can appear earlier in the process of washing the dishes, reducing the amount of water used in the process.

This kyu-kyu sound has its origin in a physical phenomenon known as stick-slip friction. We want to find out how this friction occurs and how we can control it. So we came to the ESRF to use X-ray reflectivity (XRR) on BM28 to study the self-assembled structures formed at interfaces by two surfactants under various temperature, pH and water conditions, explains Kenton. The surfactants used are analogues of the surfactants used commonly in P&G domestic cleaning formulations and are widely reported to exhibit significant synergy, forming mixed micelles of compositionally dependent structures in bulk and displaying improved adsorption to silica substrates.

The experience of doing a remote experiment was painless for Kenton: It is a fairly simple set-up, so we just had to prepare the sample, where we put together silica, to simulate the dish, the surfactant and the skin. Then the team on BM28 scanned the samples on the beamline. BM28 has undergone a huge renovation in the last two years. As Laurence Bouchenoire, scientist on the beamline, explains: The beamline was completely redesigned to make full use of the EBS. For example, we are now on a 0.86 T dipole magnet, producing more flux at higher energies.

Kenton is now analyzing the data from the experiment. It will hopefully provide her with some clues as to how to monitor the sound to make it appear with a lower concentration of dishwashing liquid and at an earlier stage of the process of washing dishes.

Text by Montserrat Capellas Espuny.

Video by Montserrat Capellas Espuny and Mark McGee.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, is in Ukraine for an official visit. The Minister's agenda includes meetings with the President of the Republic Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba and Minister of Interior and co-chairman of the Bilateral Mixed Commission, Arsen Avakov.

Together with Foreign Minister Kuleba, Minister Di Maio will also open an economic partnership event between Italy and Ukraine and lay a wreath in memory of those who died in the conflict in Donbas at the Church of St. Michael.
2021-06-09

Maeci

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, had a video conference with the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Tileuberdi, with whom he subsequently inaugurated the work of the bilateral Business Forum. It was a significant opportunity to relaunch high-level relations with Kazakhstan.



Italy has significant energy interests in Kazakhstan and has long been in undisputed leadership in trade relations, being the second largest global market for Kazakh exports and the first in Europe. The Business Forum, supported by the digital platform of Confindustria "GO!, and organised by MAECI, the Embassy of Italy in Kazakhstan, Kazakh Invest and the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken", " was also attended by Deputy Minister Manlio Di Stefano and Kazakh Vice Foreign Minister Almas Aidarov, and held in the presence of the heads of ICE (Italian Trade Agency), Confindustria, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, SACE and SIMEST. It was focused on renewable energy, agro-industry, mechanics and industry, identified as some of the most promising sectors within the development programme called "Kazakhstan 2050". Italian and Kazakh companies from the three sectors took part in many B2B meetings.



During the bilateral talks with his Kazakh counterpart, Minister DI Maio reiterated Italy's interest in strengthening the bilateral partnership with Kazakhstan in the political, economic and cultural sectors. The Minister recalled the action to increase our role in the Central Asian region, adopting a regional approach that will see the holding by the end of the second Italy-Central Asia ministerial meeting, after the first event held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December 2019. A significant opportunity to relaunch the Italian presence in the region will also be ensured by the inauguration in 2022 of an Italian Cultural Institute in Almaty, the first in the entire Central Asian area.



Finally, the two ministers pointed out that Kazakhstan is the first country in Central Asia to have signed a Partnership and Enhanced Cooperation Agreement with the European Union (EPCA), which opens up significant opportunities for cooperation in clean energy, sustainable modernisation and connectivity
2021-06-09

Maeci

Deputy Minister Benedetto Della Vedova met today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Vice Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, Ales Chmelar. The meeting focused on bilateral relations and various European issues, including the post-Covak recovery and the Next Generation EU plan, the Conference on the Future of Europe, enlargement to the Western Balkans and cooperation in managing migration flows.



At the opening of the talks, Della Vedova expressed the hope for a relaunch of bilateral cooperation after the pandemic. According to the Deputy Minister, this cooperation should be developed both on a bilateral and European level. The Conference on the future of Europe, which opened on 9 May, offered the first opportunity. Della Vedova said: "This must be a chance for an ambitious rethink of the integration project, focusing on the citizens' priorities and open to institutional changes".



The Deputy Minister also called for a constructive attitude from the Czech side on the New European Pact on Migration and Asylum. He pointed out that the negotiations "will have to take due account also of the need to alleviate the pressure on the countries of first entry, through adequate relocation mechanisms for migrants rescued at sea".



As for the enlargement to the Western Balkans, Italy and the Czech Republic share their strategic nature and agree on the need for the European Union to give the countries in the region clear and tangible signs of commitment: the enlargement process must be serious and credible.



Finally, the Deputy Minister reiterated Italy's solidarity with the Czech Republic over the recent diplomatic tensions with Russia. He stressed the need for European countries to remain united in defending the values of democracy and respect for the rule of law, the founding principles of the European Union.
Washington, D.C. - June 9, 2021 - The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is protective against several SARS-CoV-2 variants that have emerged, according to new research presented in the journal mBio, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. While this is good news, the study also found that the only approved monoclonal antibody therapy for SARS-CoV-2 might be less effective against SARS-CoV-2 variants in laboratory experiments.

"The vaccines provide very strong protection against the earlier forms of the virus as well as the newer variants. This is an important point because I have heard people say that they don't think there is a reason to get vaccinated, because the vaccine isn't going to work against the variants, but that is not true--the vaccine will work against the variants," said Nathaniel "Ned" Landau, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Microbiology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in New York City.

To conduct their research, Dr. Landau and colleagues in the NYU Department of Microbiology and NYU Langone Vaccine Center created a panel of pseudotype viruses that combined the HIV virus and SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Pseudotype viruses are replication-defective viral particles formed with a structural and enzymatic core from one virus and the envelope glycoprotein of another, that have been proven to be useful as research tools with little associated risk. "The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is important, because it is the only structure on the virus that is exposed to the outside. The spike protein is what sticks out from the virus; it is what the immune system recognizes and what allows the virus to stick onto target cells," said Dr. Landau.

There are 2 reasons the researchers chose HIV to create their chimeric viruses. First, HIV is not particular about incorporating the HIV spike protein; it will take most any virus spike protein. Second, the HIV virus has been engineered to carry 2 reporter genes that allow researchers to study virus entry, antibody binding, and antibody neutralization. When the virus infects a cell, the cell turns green and produces luciferase, the enzyme that makes fireflies light up at night. This provides a quick and easy way to count how many cells have been infected. "The spike protein-pseudotyped lentiviruses are extremely useful experimental tools. They were developed in the course of HIV research. They are less biohazardous and easier to work with in the lab," said Dr. Landau.

The researchers created a panel of pseudotype viruses using the spike proteins from 6 different variants of SARS-CoV-2: the B.1.1.7 lineage variant identified in the United Kingdom, the B.1.351 lineage variant identified in South Africa, the B.1.1.248 lineage variant identified in Brazil, the COH.20G/677H lineage variant identified in Columbus Ohio, the 20A.EUs variant identified in Spain and later found elsewhere in Europe, and the Mink cluster 5 spike proteins located in minks in Denmark. They then mixed these pseudotype viruses with serum from either people who had received the Pfizer SARS CoV-2 vaccine or people who had already had COVID-19.

The researchers found that convalescent sera neutralize pseudotyped viruses with the 6 variants with only a small loss in titer. They also found that the Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccination worked just as well against the majority of variants as the earlier virus, but the vaccine neutralized the South African variant and the Brazil variant with a 3-fold decrease in titer, an effect attributable to the mutation E484K. Dr. Landau said that people should not be concerned about these results, however.

"Our interpretation of the results is that the vaccine antibodies are very powerful, and even if you lose 3-fold of the titer, there is still plenty of antibody there to neutralize the virus. We believe the findings demonstrate that the vaccines will remain protective against the variants that we tested," said Dr. Landau. "While it's not reported in this paper, we have done the same experiments with the Moderna vaccine and got similar results."

In another experiment, the researchers tested Regeneron Pharmaceuticals REGN-COV2, a 2 recombinant monoclonal antibody cocktail consisting of casirivamab and imdevimab, that has been effective at decreasing symptoms of individuals with COVID-19 and keeping them out of the intensive care unit. The researchers found that casirivamab had lost some of its neutralizing activity against the South African and Brazilian variants and the cocktail was 9- to 15-fold decreased in titer.

"One of the Regeneron antibodies is affected by the E484K mutation, and as a result the cocktail loses some of its neutralizing activity," said Dr. Landau. "The question with this work is 'how do the laboratory findings translate into clinical effects, that is what will happen when you treat a patient infected with one of the variants?' We cannot say for sure. We will only know when the clinical data comes in."

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The American Society for Microbiology is one of the largest professional societies dedicated to the life sciences and is composed of 30,000 scientists and health practitioners. ASM's mission is to promote and advance the microbial sciences.

ASM advances the microbial sciences through conferences, publications, certifications, educational opportunities and advocacy efforts. It enhances laboratory capacity around the globe through training and resources. It provides a network for scientists in academia, industry and clinical settings. Additionally, ASM promotes a deeper understanding of the microbial sciences to diverse audiences.
Because of a phenomenon called gravitational locking, the Moon always faces the Earth from the same side. This proved useful in the early lunar landing missions in the 20th century, as there was always a direct line of sight for uninterrupted radiocommunications between Earth ground stations and equipment on the Moon. However, gravitational locking makes exploring the hidden face of the moon--the far side--much more challenging, because signals cannot be sent directly across the Moon towards Earth.

Still, in January 2019, China's lunar probe Chang'e-4 marked the first time a spacecraft landed on the far side of the Moon. Both the lander and the lunar rover it carried have been gathering and sending back images and data from previously unexplored areas. But how does Chang'e-4 probe communicate with the Earth? The answer is Queqiao, a relay communications satellite, explains Dr. Lihua Zhang from DFH Satellite Co., Ltd., China.

As explained by Dr. Zhang in a review paper recently published in Space: Science & Technology, Queqiao is an unprecedented satellite designed specifically for one purpose: to act as a bridge between Chang'e-4 probe and the Earth. Queqiao was launched in 2018 and put into orbit around a point 'behind' the Moon. This point is known as the Earth-Moon Libration point 2, where a special case of gravitational balance allows Queqiao to maintain an orbit such that it has almost constant direct line of sight with both the far side of the Moon and the Earth. Getting the satellite into this peculiar orbit required careful planning and maintenance management, and the success of this operation set a precedent for future attempts at putting satellites in orbit around other Earth-Moon libration points.

From its stable place in space, Queqiao helped guide the soft-landing and surface operations of Chang'e-4 probe and has been our intermediary with it ever since. The satellite is equipped with two different kinds of antennas: a parabolic antenna and several spiral antennas. The former, which has a large diameter of 4.2 m, was designed to send and receive signals on the X band (7-8GHz) to and from the rover and lander on the surface of the Moon. Its large size is related the expected noise levels and the low intensity of the transmissions that are sent by surface equipment.

On the other hand, the spiral antennas operate on the S band (2-4 GHz) and communicate with Earth ground stations, forwarding commands to the lunar surface equipment and exchanging telemetry and tracking data. Most notably, all these different links can transmit and receive simultaneously, making Queqiao highly versatile. The review paper addresses other important design considerations for Queqiao and future relay satellites, such as the use of regenerative forwarding, the various link data rates involved, and data storage systems for when no Earth ground station is accessible.

Over two years of exploration, a great amount of data has been received from the rover and lander through Queqiao. "Scientists in both China and other countries have conducted analysis and research based on the retrieved data, and they have produced valuable scientific results. The longer the operational life of Queqiao, the more scientific outcomes will be achieved," remarks Dr. Zhang. Based on current predictions, Queqiao should be operable on mission orbit for at least five years.

Dr. Zhang also addressed the prospects for future lunar missions and how relay communication systems should evolve to support them. Many unexplored areas on the Moon, such as the largest crater at the South Pole, call for multiple relay satellites to maintain constant communication links, which poses an expensive and time-consuming challenge. But what if relay satellites were suitable for more than a single mission? "A sustainable communication and navigation infrastructure should be established to benefit all lunar missions rather than dealing with each mission independently," comments Dr. Zhang, "This infrastructure should adopt an open and extensible architecture and provide flexible, interoperable, cross-supportable, and compatible communications services, which are critical to the success of future lunar explorations." It's likely that future endeavors on the far side of the Moon will be a test on how well we can cooperate to unveil the secrets of our natural satellite.

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Reference

Author: Lihua Zhang

Title of original paper: Development and Prospect of Chinese Lunar Relay Communication Satellite

Article link: https:/ / spj. sciencemag. org/ journals/ space/ 2021/ 3471608/

Journal: Space: Science & Technology

DOI: https:/ / www. doi. org/ 10. 34133/ 2021/ 3471608

Affiliations: DFH Satellite Co., Ltd.

About Dr. Lihua Zhang

Dr. Lihua Zhang is a spacecraft system engineer who serves as a Project Manager at DFH Satellite Company Ltd, China. He is the chief designer and project manager of Queqiao lunar relay communication satellite.
CINCINNATI - Scientists at Cincinnati Children's have been awarded a five-year grant totaling $2.8 million from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to develop an automated risk assessment (ARIA) system, which is designed to detect and prevent school violence.

The principal investigator of the project is Yizhao Ni, PhD, of the Division of Biomedical Informatics at Cincinnati Children's, and the co-principal investigator is Drew Barzman, MD, director of the Child and Adolescent Forensic Research Program at Cincinnati Children's.

They say there is a critical need to develop a rapid and accurate approach to interview students, assess risk characteristics, and provide supportive evidence for prevention.

"Our goal is to prevent those strains of aggressive behaviors before they grow to some major problems like a school shooting," Ni says. "We try to prevent that at the earliest stage so that it can prevent some sort of violence."

The study is highly innovative. It will be among the first efforts that leverage natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to analyze interviews, identify risk characteristics from student language, and predict violent outcomes.

"There hasn't really been a short-term type of risk assessment for schools," Barzman says. "When you add in artificial intelligence and NLP, and it's really quite innovative, because I don't know of any other type of violence risk assessment that uses artificial intelligence within forensic psychiatry."

As stress and dependence on digital media by adolescents continues to increase during the pandemic and its aftermath, this timely research will help improve safety as students return to full in-person study at schools.

The grant will enable the scientists to build off of a previous study and refine the artificial intelligence technology to predict potential future violent outcomes.

Acts of school violence have increased over the past decade, and more than 20% of students report being bullied at school, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Violence has a far-reaching impact on the entire school population, including staff, students and families.

"Typically with school violence, there are red flags," Barzman says. "There might be a threat or bullying. The victim may be at risk for becoming a school shooter or the bully (might become a shooter). There might be some other psychiatric concerns as well, so we're looking ... to help out before it escalates to the point that it becomes school violence or a school shooting."

The goal is to help establish a nationwide solution for school violence risk assessment, which will benefit healthcare institutions, schools, and students.

In their research, Barzman and Ni are including all spectrums of violence: verbal threats, physical aggression and bullying. They plan to recruit 1,000 participants, from 10- to 17-years-old.

Barzman and Ni say using AI is like using a clinical-decision support tool. They ask participants a series of 28 questions. While the participants answer those questions, an automated, computerized system will analyze the responses, predict risk potentials, and improve prevention by helping inform recommendations.

"When we use the AI technology, the idea is to help our clinicians make more efficient and more effective decisions," Ni says. "It's not to replace our psychiatry. It's to show that this is objective evidence we found from a student interview that might help you develop more effective strategies to mitigate their risk of violent behaviors."

They use two scales in rating participants' responses. Barzman and his team from Cincinnati Children's created the Brief Rating of Aggression by CHildren and Adolescents (BRACHA). The School Safety Scale is a modified version from a gold standard risk assessment, the HCR-20 that was used in adult forensics. Cincinnati Children's is serving as a national model in creating the BRACHA scale. Many hospitals have requested to use BRACHA.

"We've done a good job with keeping some high-risk students in school safely," Barzman says. "We've also done a good job with identifying psychiatric needs and making sure high-risk students receive the needed treatment to lower their risk."

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Philadelphia, June 10, 2021 - A new study from researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 18- to 24-year-olds who use cell phones while driving are more likely to engage in other risky driving behaviors associated with "acting-without-thinking," a form of impulsivity. These findings suggest the importance of developing new strategies to prevent risky driving in young adults, especially those with impulsive personalities. The study was recently published in the International Journal of Environmental Research Public Health.

Cell phone use while driving has been linked to increased crash and near-crash risk. Despite bans on handheld cell phone use while driving in many states, crash reduction results are inconsistent. One explanation may be that those who use cell phones while driving are more likely to engage in other intentionally risky behaviors. Instead of solely addressing the use of cell phones while driving, the authors suggest training young drivers to avoid all risky behaviors associated with impulsivity and sensation seeking.

"This study found that frequent cell phone use while driving was only one indicator of a more general pattern of risky driving practices associated with prior crashes in young drivers," said lead study author Elizabeth Walshe, PhD, a research scientist at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at CHOP and co-leader of CHOP's Neuroscience of Driving research program. "Assessment of personality traits, such as impulsivity and sensation seeking, may be helpful to identify drivers most at risk in order to provide more targeted interventions promoting safe driving."

This retrospective study recruited 384 young drivers from across the U.S. to complete an online survey measuring risky driving practices - including cell phone use - as well as history of crashes and impulse-related personality traits. The study found that 44.5% of drivers reported being in at least one crash, and 73% of them reported cell phone use while driving. Those who used cell phones while driving were also more likely to participate in other risky driving behaviors, including ignoring speed limits, aggressively passing vehicles going in the same direction, and running red lights. The use of cell phones was not uniquely associated with prior crashes but was one of several risky activities related to crashes.

"It may be useful to treat cell phone use while driving as part of a group of risky driving behaviors, such as driving while impaired by alcohol," said study co-author Dan Romer, PhD, research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow at CIRP. "For example, messages to enhance driver safety might focus on a larger range of hazardous practices that place the driver and others at risk rather than citing only one, like cell phone use."

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This work was supported by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Walshe et al, "Rethinking Cell Phone Use While Driving: Isolated Risk Behavior or a Pattern of Risk-Taking Associated with Impulsivity in Young Drivers?" Int J Environ Res Public Health, online May 25, 2021. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18115640.
A new article examines Chile's defined contribution pension system, suggesting that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic threatens its viability, undermines its financial foundation, and exposes its vulnerability to political risk. As Chile drafts a new constitution, debates about the efficiency and equity of the pension system continue. And actions taken as a result of the pandemic demonstrate that the pension system failed to live up to its original promise of ending political risk and preventing the diversion of pension funds, the authors argue.

The article, by Silvia Borzutzky, an academic at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and Stephen J. Kay, the director of the Atlanta Fed's Americas Center, will appear in International Social Security Review, a journal of the International Social Security Association, later this year.

In October 2019, a major social movement shook the foundations of Chile's political and economic system, with pension reform as one of protesters' main demands. The government responded initially with force, but later agreed to draft a new constitution that could end the economic and political model put forth in 1980 by the military dictatorship.

A few months later, due to the economic crisis provoked by the outbreak of the COVID-19, workers demanded access to their pension fund savings. After much legislative debate and conflict with the executive branch, workers were permitted two emergency withdrawals from their pension fund savings accounts to meet immediate needs, and a third withdrawal was approved by the legislature in April 2021.

Using pension funds during an economic crisis is not new--several countries in Central and Eastern Europe diverted defined contribution pension funds to cope with fiscal stresses during the Great Recession. But while the withdrawals provided immediate financial relief, they depleted the capital of Chile's defined contribution pension system, to which workers make mandatory contributions to individual savings accounts.

"The demands for pension fund withdrawals pose a threat to the financial viability of the defined contribution pension system in Chile and represent a devastating political failure," explains Borzutzky, teaching professor of political science and international relations at CMU's Heinz College.

The authors provide a brief history of Chile's pension system before the pandemic, including its inception in 1924, privatization in 1981, and reforms in 2008 and from 2014 to 2020. Then they discuss the October 2019 political protests, the advent of COVID-19, and the emergency withdrawals in 2020. By mid-August of 2020, 80 percent of pension fund account holders had applied to withdraw funds, with the average request amounting to about 40 percent of each individual's account. Nearly 10.5 million workers withdrew about $20.2 billion in the first round.

Early withdrawals, while very popular, undermine the principle of defined contribution pensions, the authors argue. The subsequent two withdrawals saw even more funds removed and set a dangerous precedent of allowing workers to use pension funds for basic needs, a trend that may continue.

"Pension funds were intended to be used only for retirement, but now the precedent has been set that workers can access retirement funds for other reasons," notes coauthor Kay. "Permitting workers to access their pension funds was a fundamental shock to both policy and politics, and has led to a high degree of uncertainty about the future of Chile's private pension system as the country drafts a new constitution."

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Scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) have described a potential disease-causing mechanism in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the most frequent hereditary disease of the heart. The study, published in the journal ACS Nano, provides the first description of an association between this disease and mechanical alterations to a component of the contractile machinery of the heart.

The heart muscle is under constant mechanical stress throughout life as it contracts to pump blood to the body. The laboratory led by Dr. Jorge Alegre-Cebollada investigates how the mechanical properties of the cardiac proteins determine the physiological behavior of this muscle and how alterations to these properties lead to the appearance of diseases like HCM. In this disease, the most frequent hereditary disease affecting the heart, the left ventricle becomes enlarged, and severe manifestations include heart failure and sudden death.

Scientists have known for more than 20 years that HCM is caused by mutations in proteins with a mechanical function in the heart. One of the challenges of cardiovascular genetics is to identify which among the genetic variants found in patients and their families cause disease. Knowing if a mutation is disease-causing or not is important because this information will determine the clinical follow-up of family members and, potentially, their treatment.

The new study, coordinated by Dr. Jorge Alegre-Cebollada, analyzed cardiac myosin-binding protein C (cMyBP-C).

First author Carmen Suay-Corredera explained that cMyBP-C, which regulates heart contraction, is the most frequently mutated protein in HCM patients. "A high proportion of mutations in the cMyBP-C gene cause amino-acid changes in the protein; however, the mechanisms by which these mutations cause HCM are not precisely known."

Dr. Alegre-Cebollada's group, in close partnership with clinical and molecular researchers in Europe and the US, set up a database of cMyBP-C variants with a clear link to HCM in order to define the molecular defects underlying the disease.

Using bioinformatics and experimental approaches, the research team discovered that around half of these mutations affect the integrity of cMyBP-C messenger RNA (mRNA) or protein. These results have already been accepted for publication in the Journal of Biological Chemistry and have been the subject of a commentary article in the leading medical genetics journal Genetics in Medicine.

While alterations to mRNA or protein integrity could explain the pathogenicity of half the mutations analyzed in the earlier study, Suay-Carredera pointed out that the other half do not cause disease via this route.

"It is precisely these variants, which cause HCM through unknown mechanisms, that we analyzed in the new study," explained Dr. Alegre-Cebollada, who leads the Molecular Mechanics of the Cardiovascular System group at the CNIC.

Using advanced biophysical techniques based on atomic force microscopy, the team showed that some of the disease-causing mutations in cMyBP-C produce defects in the mechanical properties of the protein that can alter the contractile function of cardiomyocytes in HCM patients.

"We are now investigating the disease-causing mechanisms of those variants that have not been linked to any relevant alteration in previous studies," said Dr. Alegre-Cebollada. For this project, the scientists are working with a range of experimental systems, from molecular systems to animal models of HCM.

Identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying HCM is essential for determining which cMyBP-C mutations cause the disease. This knowledge is therefore also crucial for the clinical follow-up and possible treatment of patients and their families, say the authors.

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The study was funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, the European Research Area Network on Cardiovascular Diseases (MINOTAUR consortium, through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III), the Comunidad de Madrid, the US National Institutes of Health, the government of the Basque region, the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, and postdoctoral fellowships from the School of Medicine and the Maternal and Child Health Institute at Stanford University.

The research team also included scientists from the Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Network (CIBERCV).
Researching intricate geometric and arithmetic objects is the goal of the new Collaborative Research Centre Transregio 326 (TRR 326), coordinated by Goethe University. On 25th May, the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced that the TRR 326 would be funded with 9.2 million euros for the next four years. The CRC 1039 "Signalling by fatty acid derivatives and sphingolipids in health and disease", for which Goethe University is spokesperson, will be continued and receive 9.6 million euros for the third funding period. Two other TRRs in which Goethe University is involved will also be funded by the DFG: In the TRR 211 "Strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions", the spokesperson will switch from Goethe University to the Technical University of Darmstadt (9.2 million euros). Finally, scientists from Goethe University are also significantly involved in TRR 301 "The tropopause region in a changing atmosphere" (spokesperson: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 12.3 million).

FRANKFURT. Professor Enrico Schleiff, President of Goethe University Frankfurt, congratulates the scientists on their success: "Goethe University's commitment, particularly in the Transregio Collaborative Research Centres, demonstrates our excellent scientific networking in the region, especially in the natural sciences and medicine. The association of the Rhine-Main universities of Frankfurt, Mainz and Darmstadt, have given this regional cooperation a framework: There are now more than 30 research associations and networks in this strategic alliance, and last year we established the RMU degree programme so that talented students can also benefit from RMU."

The mathematical exploration of complicated geometric and arithmetic spaces with the help of uniformization is the research topic of TRR 326 "Geometry and arithmetic of uniformized structures - GAUS". Together with coordinator Goethe University Frankfurt, the Technical University of Darmstadt and Heidelberg University successfully applied for TRR 326; associated institutions are the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the Technical University of Munich. The concept of uniformization goes back to ideas of Felix Klein and Henri Poincare from the 19th century and seeks a uniform description of certain geometric objects. A very simple example uniformization can be illustrated with the slinky, a metal spiral toy which is able to "run" down a staircase doing "somersaults". When pressed together, it has - seen from above - the geometry of a circle. This circle can be uniformized by pulling the metal spiral apart. It becomes particularly simple when the spiral is completely unwound and, geometrically, is only a simple wire. In order to preserve the information of the slinky, each spiral turn on the wire is marked with a colour dot, which gives the wire a shifting symmetry (you change levels in the spiral). A globally complicated geometric space (in our example, the circle of the slinky) is replaced by a much simpler space (here a straight line) without changing the local structure. The original complexity is described by internal symmetries (illustrated in the example by periodic markings) of the simpler space.

In TRR 326 GAUS, mathematicians deal with uniformization of very complicated geometric spaces - this includes modern geometric concepts, in particular tropical and p-adic geometries - and with analogous applications of the uniformization technique to arithmetic (number-theoretic) questions. Here, the researchers try to identify fundamental connections, for example to moduli spaces, automorphic forms, Galois representations, and cohomological structures. Professor Jakob Stix, mathematician at Goethe University and GAUS spokesman, says: "With the SFB Transregio GAUS, we are building on the extremely successful collaboration between TU Darmstadt and Goethe University in the LOEWE priority 'Uniformed Structures in Arithmetic and Geometry' and the DFG research group 'Symmetry, Geometry and Arithmetic' at TU Darmstadt and Heidelberg University. I am very much looking forward to doing joint research with so many outstanding colleagues."

The Collaborative Research Centre 1039 "Signalling by fatty acid derivatives and sphingolipids in health and disease," which Goethe University is now continuing together with the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim, is entering its third funding period. The scientists are studying a group of poorly water-soluble biomolecules, the lipids. As lipid bilayers, they prominently form the membranes that surround our cells and also divide the interior of the cells. As fats, they serve as energy storage for our bodies.

However, CRC 1039 is investigating a function that is still comparatively under-researched: Lipids are part of many signalling pathways through which cells regulate growth and metabolism and communicate with their environment. Dysregulated lipids are apparently decisively involved in the development and progression of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases. After fundamental work in the first two funding periods, the third funding period focuses on understanding the whole organism. Professor Josef Pfeilschifter, pharmacologist at Goethe University and spokesman of SFB 1039, explains: "We want to understand the lipid signalling network as a whole and thus develop innovative ways to diagnose and treat a wide variety of diseases related to dysregulated lipids. In doing so, we can rely on a long-standing and broad expertise in 'lipid signalling', which is also founded on the establishment of sophisticated analytical methods based on mass spectrometry."

Scientists from Goethe University are significantly involved in two other CRC Transregios:

How matter behaves under conditions of extreme pressure and temperature, in which atoms overlap and fuse with each other is being investigated by TRR 211 "Strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions", which is entering its second funding period. For extremely short periods of time, such states of matter can be created in particle accelerators, revealing something about the strong interaction that holds atomic nuclei together. In the cosmos, such extreme states of matter occur when, for example, neutron stars collide with each other. BesidesGoethe University, the Technical University of Darmstadt, which is the new host university, and Bielefeld University are also involved in this collaborative research centre.

In the new TRR 301 "The tropopause region in a changing atmosphere", atmospheric scientists will study the tropopause region: the zone in the atmosphere that separates the lower "weather layer" (troposphere) from the stratosphere above. The research focus is on the physical and chemical processes of this region and their influence on planetary circulation and climate. The main locations are the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (spokesperson) and Goethe University Frankfurt. Also involved are the Technical University of Darmstadt, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, the Julich Research Centre and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen.

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Plastic bottles drifting in the sea; bags in the stomachs of turtles; Covid-19 masks dancing in the surf: few images are as unpleasant to look at as those that show the contamination of our oceans. And few environmental issues are as urgent and as present in the public awareness. "Most people have an emotional connection to the sea. They think of ocean pollution as an attack on a place they long for," said Nikoleta Bellou, marine scientist at Hereon's Institute of Coastal System - Analysis and Modeling. Between 1990 and 2015 alone, an estimated 100 million metric tons of mostly plastic waste entered the oceans. For that instance the study fits to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which started this year to emphasize a sustainable use of the seas.

The new overview study is the first to document the bulk of existing solutions--technologies as well as methods--regarding the prevention, monitoring, and cleanup with an innovative approach. With a view to the future, Nikoleta Bellou and together with an international team, namely Camilo A. Arrieta-Giron, Joao Canning-Clode, Chiara Gambardella, Konstantinos Karantzalos, Stephanie Kemna, Carsten Lemmen and Joao Monteiro, categorized and analyzed solutions from around the world. Led by Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, co-authors participants included the National Research Council of Italy, the Marine Environmental Sciences Centre, the National Technical University of Athens, the Smithsonian Institution, and Maritime Robotics.

Exploring all categories

The team looked at all categories and examined everything from crowdfunding projects to research databases. The scientists studied close to 200 solutions that plan to utilize drones, robots, conveyor belts, nets, pumps, or filters, depending on whether they will clean in coastal areas, at sea, or on the ocean floor.

To date, many developers have been using similar technological approaches, but there are indications that the next generation will increasingly rely on a wide variety of solutions. More and more, they will integrate machine learning, robotics, automation, big data analyses, and modeling. While the scientific community seems to focus mainly on monitoring and NGOs mostly emphasize prevention, most cleanup solutions result from the cooperation of different players, the study claims.

Rarely implemented

Still, most projects never move beyond the development stage. Very few solutions have become a technological reality or have been launched commercially. The study's authors point to the need to overcome the planning stage and think many issues through to the end. "The integration of solutions into policy guidelines should be pushed politically in order to establish a future industry," Bellou said. Based on research and data collection, the analysis reveals how thinly distributed and difficult to access such information can be. Most solutions--about 60 percent--were primarily geared toward monitoring and developed in the last three years.

Policy recommendations

The study addresses the limits of existing solutions as well as the challenges of developing new ones. It also makes political action recommendations. In addition to international cooperations between researchers and national environmental departments and agencies, the scientists recommend defining standards for each solution, such as assessments based on respective size, effectiveness, and an environmentally compatible footprint. This enables the creation of new funding programs that further develop both existing and new solutions, aided by a global database. "This is a way to encourage researchers as well as political decision makers to create a sustainable approach to bring maritime litter under control. We want to leave clean oceans to future generations," Nikoleta Bellou said.

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Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among Canadian men and the third leading cause of cancer death. Abdominal obesity appears to be associated with a greater risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer. This link was demonstrated in a study led by Professor Marie-Elise Parent of Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control.

Over the years, several studies have shown that obesity is a major risk factor for prostate cancer. To further explore the link between disease incidence and body mass, the research team studied data from a survey conducted in Montreal between 2005 and 2012. Researchers observed that abdominal obesity was associated with an increased risk of aggressive cancer.

"Pinpointing the risk factors for aggressive cancer is a big step forward in health research because it's the hardest to treat," said Prof. Parent. "This data creates an opportunity to work preventively, by monitoring men with this risk factor more closely," she added.

Abdominal and general obesity

The actual distribution of body fat appears to be a significant factor in the development of the disease: the impact on a person's health can vary depending on whether the fat is concentrated around the abdomen or distributed throughout the body. According to Eric Vallieres, a Universite de Montreal student conducting his doctoral research at INRS and the study's main author, "Abdominal obesity causes hormonal and metabolic variations that can promote the growth of hormone-dependent cancer cells. Abdominal obesity is believed to be associated with a decrease in testosterone, as well as a state of chronic inflammation linked to the development of aggressive tumours."

General obesity did not show the same correlation as abdominal fat. This may result from a detection bias and possible biological effects. "In obese people, the protein used to detect prostate cancer at an early stage, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), is diluted in the blood," Mr. Vallieres says. "This hemodilution makes cancer more difficult to detect."

The research team believes that studies on the timing of obesity exposure over a lifetime should be prioritized, and that a more in-depth analysis of body fat distribution could provide greater insight into the risks of developing prostate cancer.

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About the study

The article "General and abdominal obesity trajectories across adulthood, and risk of prostate cancer: results from the PROtEuS study, Montreal, Canada," by Eric Vallieres, Miceline Mesidor, Marie-Helene Roy-Gagnon, Hugues Richard and Marie-Elise Parent, was published in Cancer Causes & Control in April. The study received funding from the Canadian Cancer Society, the Cancer Research Society, Fonds de recherche du Quebec-Sante (FRQS), Ministere de l'Economie et de l'Innovation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

About INRS

INRS is a university dedicated exclusively to graduate level research and training. Since its creation in 1969, INRS has played an active role in Quebec's economic, social, and cultural development and is ranked first for research intensity in Quebec and in Canada. INRS is made up of four interdisciplinary research and training centres in Quebec City, Montreal, Laval, and Varennes, with expertise in strategic sectors: Eau Terre Environnement, Energie Materiaux Telecommunications, Urbanisation Culture Societe, and Armand-Frappier Sante Biotechnologie. The INRS community includes more than 1,500 students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty members, and staff.

Source :

Audrey-Maude Vezina

Service des communications de l'INRS

418 254-2156

audrey-maude.vezina@inrs.ca
An inter-university research group has succeeded in constructing the gene expression network behind the vascular development process in plants. They achieved this by performing bioinformatics analysis using the 'VISUAL' (*1) tissue culture platform, which generates vascular stem cells (*2) from leaf cells. In this network, they also discovered a new BES/BZR transcription factor (*3), BEH3, which regulates vascular stem cells. In addition, they illuminated a novel vascular cell maintenance system whereby BEH3 competes with other transcription factors from the same BES/BZR family in order to stabilize vascular stem cell multiplication and differentiation.

The joint research group consisted of scientific researcher FURUYA Tomoyuki and Associate Professor KONDO Yuki et al. (of Kobe University's Graduate School of Science), Kyushu University's Professor SATAKE Akiko, Specially Appointed Professor TANOKURA Masaru and Specially Appointed Associate Professor MIYAKAWA Takuya (of the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences), and Associate Professor YAMORI Wataru (of the University of Tokyo's Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services).

The researchers hope to identify more regulatory factors for stem cells, which will contribute towards our understanding of the molecular basis behind continuous stem cell activity in plants.

These research results were published in the American plant sciences journal The Plant Cell on June 1, 2021.

Main Points

The researchers extracted a total of 394 genes specific to vascular stem cells from extensive gene expression datasets. Among these, they discovered BEH3, a novel stem cell regulatory factor belonging to the BES/BZR family of transcription factors.

They discovered that unlike the other BES/BZR transcription factors, BEH3 has almost no functional domains and competitively inhibits the activity of these other factors.

The research group showed that this competitive relationship between BES/BZR transcription factors stabilizes the multiplication and differentiation of vascular stem cells, illuminating the regulatory system that maintains vascular stem cells' continuous activity.

Research Background

Plants take form by self-replicating their stem cells and differentiating these stem cells so that they have specialized functions for constructing parts of the plant, such as its organs and tissues. Unlike animals, plants continue to regenerate and grow by producing stem cells throughout their life. For example, trees such as cryptomeria can have long lifespans (the Jomon Cedar Tree on Japan's Yakushima Island is at least 2000 years old), and each year they promote secondary growth which results in another tree ring around their trunks. This secondary growth is occurs inside a region of meristem tissue called the cambium layer where vascular stem cells multiply and differentiate into xylem cells (*4) and phloem cells (*5), enabling the trunk to grow wider. In other words, plant must continuously produce vascular stem cells throughout their lives in order to keep growing, and it is vital for them to maintain the balance between stem cell multiplication and differentiation.

In recent years, studies using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana have been conducted into how the multiplication and differentiation of stem cells are regulated from the perspectives of genetics, life sciences and informatics research. However, the mechanism by which plants regulate and maintain the appropriate balance of stem cells has yet to be understood.

Research Methodology and Findings

In order to analyze the process by which vascular stem cells differentiate into xylem cells and phloem cells (Figure 1), Associate Professor Kondo et al.'s research group developed the tissue culture system 'VISUAL' to artificially generate stem cells from leaf cells. VISUAL has many benefits that make it suitable for research on vascular stem cells, for example, it is easy to genetically analyze plants that have a particular gene function removed (i.e. mutants) and it is also possible to observe the temporal progression of vascular stem cell differentiation. In this study, the researchers collected data on multiple mutants and carried out large-scale analyses of gene expression at various time points. They conducted gene co-expression network analysis (*6) on similarities in the expression patterns to evaluate the relationship between different genes. From this analysis, they succeeded in identifying the distinctive groups of genes in xylem cells, phloem cells and vascular stem cells (Figure 1). Using VISUAL, this research group previously revealed that the BES/BZR transcription factors BES1 and BZR1 play an important role in vascular stem cell differentiation. This time, they identified another BES/BZR transcription factor, BEH3, in the vascular stem cell gene group through network analysis, and also examined its vascular stem cell suppressing function.

Next, the researchers investigated vascular formation using mutants with BEH3's function removed. They found that the mutants had large variations in vascular size compared to the wild type (non-mutant plant) and concluded that BEH3 stabilizes vascular stem cells. The research group had previously found that strengthening the function of BES1 (which promotes vascular cell differentiation) caused the number of vascular cells to decrease, however they found that when they strengthened the function of BEH3 opposite occurred and the number of vascular stem cells increased. Upon researching this further, the research group discovered that even though BEH3 could bind to the same DNA motif (*7, BRRE motif) as the other BES/BZR transcription factors, BEH3's ability to regulate the expression of downstream genes was significantly weaker. These results showed that BEH3 hinders the activity of other BES/BZR transcription factors (Figure 2), and the researchers inferred from this relationship that BEH3's function in vascular stem cells is opposed to that of the factors in the same family, including BES1. A mathematical model was used to verify and simulate this competitive relationship between BEH3 and the other BES/BZR transcription factors, and the results indicated that the presence of BEH3 in vascular stem cells contributes towards stabilizing vascular size (Figure 3).

Further Developments

There are thought to be many important gene candidates in this research group's vascular stem cell gene expression network that will contribute towards understanding of vascular development and functions. It is hoped that the valuable information obtained through this study will accelerate vascular research. In addition, further illuminating the relationships between BEH3 and other BES/BZR transcription factors and their respective differences will deepen our understanding of the mechanism by which plants maintain the balance between stem cell multiplication and differentiation.

In the future, this knowledge could contribute towards biomass production techniques, and other areas that require large-scale stable plant growth.

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Glossary

1. VISUAL:

VISUAL stands for 'Vascular cell Induction culture System Using Arabidopsis Leaves'. It is an in vitro culture system, which allows vascular cells to be easily induced.

2. Vascular stem cells:

In plant tubers and roots, these stem cells become cells in the xylem and phloem tissues that form the fibrovascular bundles. They make up the cambium, a layer of meristematic tissue between the xylem and phloem.

3. BES/BZR transcription factors:

A family of proteins called transcription factors that regulate gene expression. This specific transcription factor family is only found in plants and a total of six members are found in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. These factors also play important roles outside of vascular development as they also respond to the plant hormone brassinosteriod.

4. Xylem cells:

Cells that make up the xylem tissue. The xylem is made up of vessels (that send the water and minerals that are absorbed by the roots to the plant's shoots and leaves above ground) and xylem fibers (that support the plant's stem) among other elements.

5. Phloem cells:

The main cell in the phloem tissue. The phloem consists of phloem cells that transport organic nutrients such as photosynthesis products and companion cells that aid this process.

6. Gene co-expression network analysis:

Large scale expression data on multiple types of thousands of genes (including mutant and temporal) is used to identify the extent to which the expression patterns of each gene resemble each other. This method enables relationships between genes to be visualized based on the similarity of their expression patterns.

7. DNA motif:

This refers to a specific DNA sequence pattern consisting of numerous bases in a region for gene expression regulation. Transcription factors bind to the DNA depending on the specific sequence, thus regulating gene transcription.

Acknowledgements

This research was mainly carried out at Kobe University with support from the University of Tokyo and Kyushu University. It received the following funding:

JSPS KAKENHI grants (grant numbers JP 17H05008 and JP 20K15815 to Kondo Yuki, and grant numbers JP 19K21189 and JP 20K15813 to Furuya Tomoyuki).

JSPS/MEXT Scientific Research on Innovative Areas 'Plant pluripotent stem cells' (Co-investigator Kondo Yuki, JP 17H06476)

JSPS/MEXT Scientific Research on Innovative Areas 'Cycles and modulations' (Principal Investigator Kondo Yuki, JP 20H05407)

Journal Information

Title: "Gene co-expression network analysis identifies BEH3 as a stabilizer of secondary vascular development in Arabidopsis" DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koab151

Authors: Tomoyuki Furuya, Masato Saito, Haruka Uchimura, Akiko Satake, Shohei Nosaki, Takuya Miyakawa, Shunji Shimadzu, Wataru Yamori, Masaru Tanokura, Hiroo Fukuda, Yuki Kondo* (*Corresponding author)

Tomoyuki Furuya (Scientific researcher, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University) (Specially appointed researcher, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo*)

Masato Saito (Specially appointed researcher, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo *)

Haruka Uchimura (Masters student, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo*)

Akiko Satake (Professor, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University)

Shohei Nosaki (Specially appointed researcher, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo*)

Takuya Miyakawa (Project Associate Professor, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

Shunji Shimadzu (PhD student, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo) (Supervised research, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University)

Wataru Yamori (Associate Professor, Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo) (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo *)

Masaru Tanokura (Specially appointed researcher, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

Hiroo Fukuda (Professor, Faculty of Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyoto University of Advanced Science) (Professor, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo*)

Yuki Kondo (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University) (Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo*)

*At the time of research/previous position.

Journal: The Plant Cell
Digitalisation is moving forward fast in every field, including medicine. But how can digital tools be integrated into healthcare processes, and how should data be visualised to personalize patient care? These are only two of many questions that Professor Dr Jochen Klucken will analyse over the upcoming five years. Supported by a 3.3 MEUR FNR PEARL Chair, Prof. Dr Klucken will develop digital health concepts for Luxembourg through a joint research programme involving the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) and the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL).

Data-driven medicine and innovative digital tools are on the verge of complementing existing healthcare procedures and change the way patients, healthcare providers, and researchers will work together in the near future. New digital patient-centred healthcare services will address the patients' needs, continuously monitor and accompany individual patient journeys, and support healthcare providers in making clinical decisions. Real-life healthcare data will become available, and thus, add value. Its application in medicine has an enormous potential to reduce disease burden, improve healthcare and generate new solutions and services. Yet, aspects pertaining to the integration into healthcare pathways and the evidence proving the benefit of these new services for patients, healthcare providers and society are not sufficiently clear - this will therefore be the focus of the FNR Digital Medicine Research Project.

Composed of experts in medicine, data science, health economy, IT engineering and social science, the Digital Medicine Group (dMed), led by Professor Dr Klucken, will address the medical benefits, structural and procedural changes, and social acceptance of the resulting digital healthcare services. "We want to understand how patient-centred, personalised healthcare technologies can be tailored to patient needs and integrated into the existing healthcare structures and procedures," says Prof Dr Klucken, "We believe that shaping the rising age of digitalisation in medicine requires the development of new evaluation methods."

dMed will use Parkinson's disease as an example to develop and unlock the potential of digitalisation. Building on the experiences of Prof. Dr Klucken with sensor-based gait analysis in Parkinson's disease, the first task will be to understand how patients, doctors and therapists could make use of the data that are continuously recorded in the patient @home environment. From these first experiences, the use of other patient-centred digital tools, including wearable sensors and smartphone apps, will be evaluated and integrated into the management of the everyday healthcare process. Thus, not only patients and caregivers, but also doctors, therapists and professional care-providers are warmly welcomed to participate in shaping and evaluating new digitally-supported integrated healthcare management processes.

"The Digital Medicine Group will align with digital health strategies in Luxembourg to combine innovative digital healthcare technology solutions and health informatics with the needs of patients and healthcare services providers" explains Prof. Dr Klucken, "We will contribute to the innovation in digital healthcare solutions and improve healthcare by enabling fast, efficient and transparent information for patients and their healthcare teams."

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Luxembourg provides a unique environment to shape this digitalisation process in medicine. It boasts a comprehensive healthcare ecosystem with close interaction of policymakers, healthcare providers, academic institutions and society/patients. This also aligns with the present changes in medical education, specializations in medicine and the interdisciplinary research activities in biomedicine and medical engineering underpinning the multidisciplinary nature of digitalization in medicine. The FNR PEARL Chair in Digital Medicine will support this process with a strong understanding of patient-centered applications and integration into existing and future healthcare services.

The Digital Medicine Group was set up in March 2021 and works in very close collaboration with the NCER-PD project. It is supported by the FNR-PEARL Program at the LCSB (Luxembourg Center for Systems Biomedicine) of the University of Luxembourg, the LIH (Luxembourg Institute of Health) and the dMed Research Clinic at the CHL (Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg).
WOODS HOLE, Mass. -- Many animals have evolved camouflage tactics for self-defense, but some butterflies and moths have taken it even further: They've developed transparent wings, making them almost invisible to predators.

A team led by Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) scientists studied the development of one such species, the glasswing butterfly, Greta oto, to see through the secrets of this natural stealth technology. Their work was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Although transparent structures in animals are well established, they appear far more often in aquatic organisms. "It's an interesting biological question because there just aren't that many transparent organisms on land," notes lead author Aaron Pomerantz, a PhD candidate in Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. "So we asked the question, what is the actual developmental basis of how they create their transparent wings?"

Butterfly wings are known for their colorful patterns, created by tiny, overlapping, chitinous scales that reflect or absorb various wavelengths of light to produce colors. Pomerantz says that although scale coloration has been intensively studied, investigating the developmental origins of transparency in land-based butterflies hadn't been done before. "Transparency is sort of the opposite of color," he says.

Pomerantz and his co-authors, including his PhD advisor and MBL Director Nipam Patel, were inspired by the work of students in MBL's Embryology course, in which Patel teaches. "I decided to bring some of the transparent butterfly and moth species I had in my collection, which I never really looked at in detail, to the course and present it as a challenge for the students to look at how these wings were transparent," Patel says. "A group of students took that on by imaging the wings with various microscopes. And they realized that pretty much any way you could think to make the wing transparent, some butterfly or moth had figured out how to do it. That's what got us looking in more detail at the development of transparency."

Building on that work, the researchers used confocal and scanning electron microscopy to construct a developmental time scale of how transparency emerges in Greta oto, from the pupal stage to adulthood. They found that the glasswing butterfly's wings develop differently than opaque species, with a lower density of precursor scale cells in the areas that will later develop as transparent. At a very early stage, scale growth and morphologies differed, with thin, bristle-like scales developing in transparent regions and flat, round scale morphologies within opaque regions.

"What Greta oto does is to make fewer scales and to make them in these very different, bristle-like shapes," Patel explains. "But getting the scales out of the way is only part of the problem of creating transparency. Aaron also made a series of observations about nanostructures on the wing that prevent glare in bright sunlight. When light hits these little arrays of nanostructures, it doesn't reflect off -- it goes straight through. So that gives much better transparency," he says.

"As humans, we think we're so brilliant because we figured out how to put anti-glare coating on glass, but butterflies basically figured that out tens of millions of years ago," Patel says.

Unusual wing scales and nanostructures are only part of the story. A second layer of waxy hydrocarbon nanopillars lies atop the wing surface, providing further anti-reflective properties. The researchers examined the reflectivity of the wings before and after removing the waxy layer with hexane.

"We measured the amount of light that reflected off the wing," says Pomerantz. "Those experiments demonstrated that that upper layer was very important for helping to reduce that glare." Biochemical analysis showed that the waxy layer is mostly composed of long chain n-alkanes, similar to those found in other insect species. "They're primarily thought of as something that helps prevent an insect from drying out or desiccating. But in this case, it seems like they're used for these anti-glare properties as well."

Future research directions may include delving more deeply into the how these transparent structures evolved. Pomerantz points out that "if we can learn more about how nature creates new types of nanostructures, that can be very informative for human applications." The work is making the secrets of natural transparency considerably less opaque.

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-- By Mark Wolverton

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery - exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.
Polymetallic nodules and crusts cover many thousands of square kilometres of the world's deep-sea floor. They contain valuable metals and rare earth elements and are therefore of great economic interest. To date, there is no market-ready technology for deep-seabed mining. But it is already clear that interventions in the seabed have a massive and lasting impact on the areas affected. This is also confirmed by a study now published by Tanja Stratmann from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, and researchers from the Senckenberg am Meer Institute in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, and the Dutch research institute NIOZ.

In their study, Stratmann and her colleagues used data from a variety of existing surveys as well as deep seafloor imagery from two regions of the Pacific Ocean that are rich in manganese nodules. Using these data, they created a model of interactions in these regions.

"We discovered that stalked sponges are often attached to the polymetallic nodules," Stratmann explained. The sponges use the hard nodules amid the muddy deep-sea environment as the only available hard substrate. With their stalks, they anchor themselves to the nodule while their main body protrudes into the water to filter tiny particles from it. Moreover, the sponges themselves provide a habitat for other animals, such as small worms, crabs and clams. "Our models predict the following: If the nodules are removed, the sponges will also disappear, and with them the associated fauna," Stratmann added. "This reduces the number of animal species and links in the food web. Without the nodules, the food web in the deep sea becomes simpler and less divers."

Stratmann and her colleagues examined two nodule-rich regions in the Pacific Ocean, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and the Peru Basin. In both regions, a modelled removal of the nodules massively disturbed the ecosystem. This primarily resulted from so-called non-trophic interactions between different animals - those that do not revolve around "eat or be eaten". These include interactions between the sponges and the animals that live on them, as well as between the sponge inhabitants themselves. In the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in particular, more than half of the deep-sea inhabitants depend on the nodules in one way or another. Removal of the nodules and thus the sponges, as would be the case through deep-sea mining, would trigger a cascade of negative effects on the ecosystem. Rapid recovery is unlikely because the nodules take millions of years to grow to substantial size, and the deep-sea ecosystem regenerates very slowly.

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A Michigan State University sustainability scholar noted for his pioneering, holistic work connecting people and nature will receive The Gunnerus Sustainability Prize - the first major international prize for outstanding scientific work that promotes sustainable development globally.

University Distinguished Professor Jianguo "Jack" Liu, Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability, is the fourth person to receive the honor, which is jointly awarded every other year by the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The research prize comes with an award of 1 million Norwegian kroner (about $121,000).

"Professor Liu scores high on all the criteria that are absolutely central to the Gunnerus Award. He is outstanding in the areas of research, social impact and environmental footprint," says May Thorseth, board chair and president of the society.

Liu has made extraordinary scientific advances in sustainability, stated the scientific committee's recommendation, which was unanimous.

Liu coined the groundbreaking concept of "telecoupling" socioeconomic-environmental interactions over distances and is the leader in developing and applying the telecoupling framework to untangle the complexity of increasing globalization. His team's research shows that human activity in one place on the planet can affect nature and sustainability in completely different places, including those far away.

"I am deeply honored and most grateful to receive this prestigious award," Liu said. "This great honor also belongs to my students, postdoctoral associates, colleagues at Michigan State University, collaborators, funding agencies, and numerous others including my friends and family who have helped me in the past several decades."

Liu takes a holistic approach to complex challenges where people interact with the environment.

Liu's overarching message is that no scientific basis exists for distinguishing between humans and nature. The two are inseparable, for better or for worse. Liu's research helps us deal with the various wounds and scars we expose our planet to.

Liu is a world leader in the work of integrating ecology with other disciplines, such as the social sciences, policies and various technologies that can help us understand and promote global sustainability.

"Dr. Liu's exceptional scholarship superbly represents Michigan State University's commitment to fostering engaged research that makes a sustainable impact to improve quality of life," said MSU Provost Teresa K. Woodruff. "We commend Dr. Liu on this global recognition of his excellent contributions in support of sustainable development - especially for the ways in which his work has catalyzed actual policy change and broadened our collective understanding of the interconnectedness between humans and nature."

His work has led to increased research collaboration, communication, education and knowledge sharing with the general public. He is the founding director of MSU's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability.

Liu founded the International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS-Net.org), which promotes collaboration and communication among researchers from multiple disciplines worldwide.

He has been involved with some 380 publications, 26 of which have appeared in Science and Nature. He is one of the most cited researchers in his field.

Liu's scientific findings have contributed to positive environmental changes, especially in China. Examples are the conservation of pandas, better management of protected areas and practically a revolution in environmental protection in the country that has enormous implications for global sustainability and climate change mitigation.

"His critical work with ecological contexts and biological diversity is of great importance. In particular, he's shown how different disciplines need to work together for sustainable development," said Anne Borg, rector at the Norwegian university.

Liu was a coordinating lead author of the global assessment of biological diversity and ecosystems conducted by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

Liu's appointment is in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Before coming to Michigan State, Liu was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard. He was also a visiting scholar at Harvard, as well as at Stanford and Princeton universities.

Liu has received a number of international awards and was elected to the American Philosophical Society (America's oldest learned society) in 2015.

The Gunnerus Award in Sustainability Science is scheduled to be awarded on Oct. 1 during an event in Trondheim, Norway, barring a pandemic-related need to change the plan.

Previous winners of the Gunnerus Award in Sustainability Science are biologist Kamal Bawa, environmental researcher Carl Folke and ecology professor Sandra M. Di?az.

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Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, blaze for a few milliseconds before vanishing without a trace. Their origins are unknown, and their appearance is unpredictable. In the decade following their discovery in 2007, only 140 FRBs had been seen. Now, thanks to the launch of a large stationary telescope in the interior of British Columbia in 2018, the number of new FRBs detected has almost quadrupled - for a total of 535. Moreover, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME/FRB), a McGill-led inter-university collaboration, has put together the first CHIME/FRB catalogue, which will be presented this week at the American Astronomical Society Meeting.

CHIME is unique in that it observes the entire Northern sky once every day. Signals from over a thousand antennas are digitally processed in real time to enable high sensitivity measurements over a wide range of frequencies. It is already yielding clues about the properties of FRBs. For instance, there may be distinct types of FRB events, based on the shape of the burst and the range of radio frequencies it comprises.

Different astrophysical qualities underlying different classes of FRBs?

Among the 535 FRBs in the new CHIME/FRB catalogue, scientists have identified 18 FRB sources that burst repeatedly, while the rest appear to be one-offs. The repeaters also look different, with each burst lasting slightly longer and emitting more focused radio frequencies than bursts from single, non-repeating FRBs.

"In some cases, it takes thousands of hours of observations to detect a single burst from some FRBs, while others have repeated within the span of tens of hours," says Pragya Chawla, a PhD candidate in the McGill Physics Department. "Our current sample indicates that there are significant differences in the properties of repeaters and non-repeaters and future studies will allow us to determine whether the two kinds of events are generated by different astrophysical phenomena."

FRBs may be distributed across the Sky

From the FRBs that CHIME has detected, the scientists have calculated that bright fast radio bursts occur at a rate of about 800 per day -- the most precise estimate of FRBs overall rate to date. When they started mapping the locations of the FRBs seen between 2018-2019, the researchers found that the bursts were distributed uniformly across the sky, suggesting that the FRB population is spread throughout the Universe and not located simply in our Milky Way galaxy. For each of the 535 FRBs that CHIME detected, the researchers measured its dispersion, and found that most bursts likely originated from far-off sources within distant galaxies.

The fact that the bursts were bright enough to be detected by CHIME suggests that they must have been produced by extremely energetic sources. With more observations, astronomers hope to pin down the extreme origins of these curiously bright signals soon.

"FRBs also carry information about the medium that they travel through," adds Saurabh Singh, a postdoctoral researcher in McGill's Physics Department. "With the significant increase in their detections over a range of distances from us, they potentially offer an independent measurement of matter distribution in the Universe."

As radio waves travel across space, any interstellar gas, or plasma, along the way can distort or disperse the wave's properties and trajectory. The degree to which a radio wave is dispersed can give clues to how much gas it passed through, and possibly to how much distance it has traveled from its source. The researchers also plan to use the bursts, and their dispersion estimates, to map the distribution of gas throughout the universe.

An FRB detection machine - looking both far and near

Scientists are only beginning to explore the rich world of FRBs thanks to observations from CHIME. "Having a large sample of FRBs unlocks countless possibilities. As one example, we are now in the era of using FRBs as cosmological probes," says Alex Josephy, a PhD student in Physics at McGill. "We can begin examining large-scale structures -- clusters of thousands of galaxies. We can help map the distribution of cosmic dark matter and study the evolution of matter throughout our Universe's history."

"Nearby FRBs, such as some of those described in this CHIME/FRB catalog are inarguably the best sources to test models of the origins and properties of FRBs," adds Mohit Bhardwaj, a PhD student in the McGill Physics Department. "If we want to learn the most about FRBs, like if they shine in optical or X-ray light, nearby FRBs are our best options!"

As the telescope detects more FRBs, scientists hope to pin down more clearly exactly what kind of exotic phenomena could generate these ultrabright, ultrafast signals.

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About CHIME

CHIME comprises four massive cylindrical radio antennas, roughly the size and shape of snowboarding half-pipes, located at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, operated by the National Research Council of Canada in British Columbia, Canada. CHIME is a stationary array, with no moving parts. The telescope receives radio signals each day from half of the sky as the Earth rotates. While most radio astronomy is done by swivelling a large dish to focus light from different parts of the sky, CHIME stares, motionless, at the sky, and focuses (on?) incoming signals using a correlator -- a powerful digital signaling processor that can work through huge amounts of data, at a rate of about seven terabits per second, equivalent to a few percent of the world's internet traffic.

About McGill University

Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, McGill University is Canada's top ranked medical doctoral university. McGill is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It is a world-renowned institution of higher learning with research activities spanning two campuses, 11 faculties, 13 professional schools, 300 programs of study and over 40,000 students, including more than 10,200 graduate students. McGill attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,800 international students making up 31% of the student body. Over half of McGill students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 19% of our students who say French is their mother tongue.

The research was funded by various institutions including the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Provinces of Quebec and British Columbia, the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, McGill University and the McGill Space Institute via the Trottier Family Foundation, and the University of British Columbia.

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The eleventh edition of the Art of Neuroscience competition is won by Yas Crawford, an associate of the Royal Photographic Society and independent artist. With her artwork 'Cognition IX', Crawford looks at neurological interoception in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E) patients. The winner was chosen by a jury out of 293 entries from over 20 countries.

The 'Cognition IX' artwork belongs to a series of images entitled 'The 8th Sense' and was created by using digital and analogue photography, video and camera-less experiments. Crawford: "interoception is considered to be the 8th Sense, a link between bodily sensation and emotional reactions. In recent decades the idea of how the body processes information and bodily sensations has created the idea of the experienced phenomenologically lived body as the basis of consciousness".

The jury praised the perfectly composed image, full of movement, dynamic and with a lot of flow. One jury member said it clearly "represents the explosion that takes place inside our heads".

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Sarshar Dorosti, a student at the Tehran University of Art in Iran, receives an honorable mention for the video 'Fractal Brain', in which the incident of non-symmetric natural phenomena and a mathematical set can appearance the chaos in behavior. The jury liked the attempt to visualize AI's role on a western-centered perception of emotions by means of animation.

Adrienne Lee, an independent artist from the US, was praised for her submission 'Change of Heart'. She used the malleability of steel to speak to the recurrence of movement in her personal history via Purkinje cells of the cerebellum. The artist also incorporated Hangul, the Korean alphabet, as a tangible gesture linked to her ethnicity. The jury was enthusiastic about the originality and praises its playfulness.

'Brainwave Project, helping patients with disorders of consciousness' by Qi Chen a teacher at Wuhan Textile University, impressed the jury by its personal story. The Brainwave Project is a functional artwork in which Chen applies a scientific, visual and personalized auditory stimulation solution to help a specific fraction of people in a micro-conscious state that can be awakened to carry out effective daily rehabilitation training. The jury considered the submission: "a well-intentioned documentary about a collaborative art process involving imaging technology and neuroscience to produce visuals by patients who are not considered to be conscious according to medical standards".

Guihan Lu was awarded for the submission 'Self evolution', which is a projection mapping installation including a mind wave "mobile" and "processor". In this project, the artist regards "Self" as a species, which can evolve spontaneously with machine learning fed with brainwave signals of the audience. The idea was inspired by a cartographer, Abraham Ortelius, who published the first modern uniform Atlas in 1570, naming "The Theater of the World".

COMPETITION

Art of Neuroscience started in 2011 at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience as a competition for inspiring and provocative imagery from neuroscience labs. The goal has been to make the research from neuroscience labs more tangible, but also aims for scientists to evaluate their own work from a different perspective. In previous editions it has welcomed artists to also submit work inspired by the brain to stimulate the cross-over between neuroscience and art.

More submissions can be found on the website of the Art of Neuroscience.

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New York, NY - June 10, 2021 - The Red Sea Reef Foundation (RSRF) has awarded research grants to five scientists from Israel and Jordan who are studying corals in one of the world's largest marine refuges from climate change. Each selected project involves an innovative approach, such as using deep neural networks to derive data on coral reef fish populations, characterizing corals' changing microbiome, and developing coral bioindicators of heavy metal pollution in seawater and of coral resilience to stress from rising ocean temperatures.

Four of the selected projects could be applied to monitor the health of reefs in new ways, while a fifth aims to refine techniques for farming corals both in the Red Sea and beyond. This type of work is key to the conservation of coral reef ecosystems. With 90% of the world's coral reefs expected to be severely degraded by mid-century due to warming ocean temperatures, the study and conservation of the thermally resilient reefs in the northern Red Sea are a global imperative. These reefs may be among the last to survive our century, as they can thrive even if their environment warms by several degrees centigrade.

Karine Kleinhaus, President and Founder of the Red Sea Reef Foundation commented "Each awardee is a graduate or post-graduate student doing innovative science. Graduate students with new ideas need support to move their research, and the field, forward. It is exciting to support local scientific capacity in the Red Sea region, as this is critical to advancing successful conservation of the Red Sea's 4000km of unique reefs."

The awardees are Husam Al-Qudah, Yarmouk University, Jordan; Victor China, Ben Gurion University, Israel; Hala Ghazi, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Jordan; Naama-Rose Kochman, Bar-Ilan University, Israel; Natalie Levy, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

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About the Red Sea Reef Foundation

The Red Sea Reef Foundation supports groundbreaking research on the Red Sea's uniquely resilient corals and promotes regional and global scientific collaboration to conserve one of the planet's largest marine refuges from climate change. The Foundation was established in 2020 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and is led by an interdisciplinary board. The RSRF is currently focused on several regional projects including open access coral monitoring in the Gulf of Aqaba and enhancement of scientific capacity in the region. To learn more, visit http://www. redseareef. org

Visit Red Sea Reef Foundation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

For more information, contact: Dr. Karine Kleinhaus at kkleinhaus@redseareef.org
HOUSTON - (June 10, 2021) - Leaders who encourage their employees to learn on the job and speak up with ideas and suggestions for change have teams that are more effective and resilient in the face of unexpected situations, according to new research from Rice University and the University of Windsor.

"A Resource Model of Team Resilience Capacity and Learning" will appear in a special issue of Group & Organization Management. Authors Kyle Brykman, an assistant professor at the Odette School of Business at the University of Windsor, and Danielle King, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice, studied what makes employees more resilient and fosters learning in the workplace. The researchers specifically examined the interactions of 48 teams from five Canadian technology startups.

"Understanding what organizations can do to help employees become more resilient is the focus our work in my WorKing Resilience Research Laboratory," King said. "This research project offered an opportunity to uncover the important role of leadership and employee voice in the resilience process."

Brykman and King found that teams that were more effective and resilient if their bosses encourage employees to take risks, make suggestions and learn from the process. Creating a work environment centered around learning and open communication is helpful as teams grow and take on new tasks, King said. Leaders must reinforce this workplace culture with positive language that signals openness and a focus on their development, she said.

"Knowing that you have a leader who is focused on learning and not just on performance outcomes is critical," King said. "It's also important for them to be intentional about communicating this regularly to employees, as it can make all the difference in building more resilient teams. Leaders need to verbally reward a learning mindset. For example, when a boss responds to an employee who makes an on-the-job error by saying, 'Great, now you can learn from this experience,' rather than berating them for making a mistake, it makes a big difference."

To request a copy of the study, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.

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

Follow Rice News and Media Relations on Twitter @RiceUNews.

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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 Revie

Jeff Falk

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Amy McCaig

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amym@rice.edu
If trend of declining coral growth continues at the current rate, the world's coral reefs may cease calcifying around 2054

If the trend of declining coral growth continues at the current rate, the world's coral reefs may cease calcifying around 2054, a new Southern Cross University study has found.

Drawing on research from the late 1960s until now, the paper published in Communications & Environment reveals the global spatiotemporal trends and drivers of coral reef ecosystem growth (known as calcification).

One hundred and sixteen studies from 53 published papers were analysed.

"It is known that coral reefs have been degrading over time. Our study relies on historical data to quantify the current rate of decline and indicates what could be happening in the future," said project leader Dr Kay Davis.

"Our work complements quite a few other studies that indicate net coral reef dissolution by mid-century, between 2030 and 2080."

Case studies were of sites from all over the globe. The most studied country was Australia (Great Barrier Reef, Lord Howe Island and Western Australia reefs). Other case studies included reef sites in Japan, Hawaii, the Red Sea, French Polynesia and Bermuda, among others.

"Repeat observations at the same sites can provide insight into how coral reefs are responding to changing environmental conditions on a global scale," Dr Davis said.

"But these repeat surveys of calcification and productivity have only been carried out at seven sites."

Declining coral cover and declining health of the remaining coral may be contributing to reduce global calcification rates.

"We found that rates of coral ecosystem calcification are significantly declining at an average rate of 4.3%  1.9% yr-1 with a concurrent reduction in mean coral cover of 1.8% yr-1. This suggests that loss of coral cover may not be the sole contributor of declining calcification," said Dr Davis.

"Stress events, like coral bleaching, can impact calcification, even without coral death. Corals improve their chances of survival during stressful times by temporarily reducing calcification."

To sustain coral reefs, individual corals need to grow to provide food and habitat for the ecosystem. Coral growth is called 'calcification'. As corals take up calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the water column to produce their skeletons, calcification rates can be determined through water chemistry changes.

Coral dissolution is the opposite, where the skeletons release CaCO3 back into the water, typically in periods of no productivity or when stressed. The higher the rate of net growth (calcification- dissolution), the more reef-building corals and calcifying algae are producing for the ecosystem.

The University's National Marine Science Centre in Coffs Harbour has unique analytical infrastructure to detect subtle changes in seawater chemistry required to quantify coral reef ecosystem calcification.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the importance of understanding precisely how diseases spread throughout networks of transportation. However, rigorously determining the connection between disease risk and changing networks--which either humans or the environment may alter--is challenging due to the complexity of these systems. In a paper publishing on Thursday in the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, Stephen Kirkland (University of Manitoba), Zhisheng Shuai (University of Central Florida), P. van den Driessche (University of Victoria), and Xueying Wang (Washington State University) study the way in which changes in a network of multiple interconnected communities impact the ensuing spread of disease. The four researchers were hosted as a Structured Quartet Research Ensemble by the American Institute of Mathematics.

A common mathematical model uses several interconnected patches to represent separate geographical regions that are connected by transportation networks. Diseases are often transmitted along these kinds of networks via insects like mosquitoes and ticks, which may hitch rides on people or goods. Pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria and protozoa, can also spread diseases through river networks. "This disease transmission could increase due to flooding, which could possibly create a new shortcut," Shuai said. "How would disease dynamics then change in response to this change in the network?"

0

0

0

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0

To answer this question, the researchers sought to measure the basic reproduction numberof the network as a whole.determines a disease's-- if it is greater than 1, the number of infections will most likely grow; if it is less than 1, the disease will eventually die out. "When the dispersal between patches is faster than the dynamics of the disease or population, it turns out that the network reproduction numbercan be approximated as a weighted average of the individual patch reproduction numbers," Wang said. For example, if pathogens in a river are infecting people with cholera and the water is moving faster than the pathogens decay, one can approximatefor the entire river network as a combination of the basic reproduction numbers for each separate community along the river. This is important because the value ofcan guide disease control strategies -- though the information it provides is limited, and it cannot predict the actual size of an outbreak.

The authors developed new techniques based on several areas of applied mathematics to determine how R 0 changes when the structure of a network is altered. Their mathematical approach enabled analysis on two different types of model networks: a star network, which contains several branches that stem from a central hub, and a path network, which consists of several communities that are located sequentially along a track. "A star network can represent human transport between one hub--like a large city--and several leaves, which would represent small cities or suburbs," Wang said. "A path network can represent communities along a river or stream." These frameworks are also flexible -- for example, the star network is useful for modeling multiple possible scenarios. "In the star network, we can think of a central water source--the center of the star--with several communities supplied by that source," van den Driessche said.

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It is possible to add an arc to the path network that bypasses several locations along the river, which could represent a major flood. If a new arc appears that connects a downstream patch to an upstream patch, for instance, the team's model indicated that the disease transmission risk decreased at downstream locations and increased at upstream locations. The model also incorporated a certain "hot spot" along the river at which the disease transmission rate is higher; the bypass could potentially avoid this location. In an example scenario of a path network with five patches numbered 1 (most upstream) through 5 (most downstream) in which there is a bypass from patch 2 to 4, hot spots at different locations produce different effects. When patch 3 is the hot spot, there is no change infor the whole river network; a hot spot at patch 1 or 2 leads to a decrease in, while a hot spot at patch 4 or 5 leads to an increase in

The authors utilized their results to explore possible strategies for controlling disease outbreaks by introducing new connections on a network or changing the strength of existing connections. "Our findings from both the star and the path networks highlight that the placement of the hot spot and the connections among patches are crucial in determining the optimal strategy for reducing the risk of an infection," Wang said. The researchers' techniques quantified the effectiveness of different approaches in controlling invasibility and found the mathematical conditions under which it is best to change the amount of movement between certain locations.

The insights from this study could be helpful in forming future disease intervention strategies. "In some practical settings, we may not have much control over the level of invasibility in the individual patches, but we may have better control over the structure of the network connecting those patches -- for example, in a network of airports," Kirkland said. "The insights gained from our research may inform network-based strategies to control the invasibility of disease."

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Source article: Kirkland, S., Shuai, Z., van den Driessche, P., & Wang, X. (2021). Impact of varying community networks on disease invasion. SIAM J. Appl. Math. To be published.
Simon Fraser University's International CyberCrime Research Centre (ICCRC) is engaged in a new project to develop artificial intelligence tools to fight COVID-19-related misinformation campaigns on social media.

Throughout the pandemic, anti-science theories on social media that portray COVID-19 as a hoax or downplay the risk of infection have contributed to unnecessary transmission and death. Some research suggests that one-in-three people have encountered false or misleading information about COVID-19 on social media. And while COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out, misinformation on social media still fuels vaccine hesitancy in Canada and resistance to public health measures such as mask wearing.

To combat this, the ICCRC - in SFU's School of Criminology - has received federal funding from the Digital Citizenship Contribution Program for a six-month research project to develop an artificial intelligence tool to help social media platforms, online service providers and government agencies identify COVID-19 misinformation campaigns on social media and take appropriate action.

The research team has created a database of textual content from known social media sources of COVID-19 misinformation and is training machine-learning algorithms to be able to rapidly distinguish between accurate and false information using key words and phrases. When fully operational, the artificial intelligence tool should then be able to monitor new social media posts and almost instantly identify sources of misinformation.

Through this research, the team hopes to develop new insights into the motivations and behaviours of groups and state actors who abuse social media, predict the type of COVID-19 misinformation faced daily by Canadians and provide insights into how people are able to access more trustworthy information online.

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AVAILABLE SFU EXPERTS

RICHARD FRANK, principal investigator, director, International CyberCrime Research Centre | richard_frank@sfu.ca

BARRY CARTWRIGHT, associate director, International CyberCrime Research Centre | barry_cartwright@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 ABOUT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

As Canada's engaged university, SFU works with communities, organizations and partners to create, share and embrace knowledge that improves life and generates real change. We deliver a world-class education with lifelong value that shapes change-makers, visionaries and problem-solvers. We connect research and innovation to entrepreneurship and industry to deliver sustainable, relevant solutions to today's problems. With campuses in British Columbia's three largest cities--Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey--SFU has eight faculties that deliver 193 undergraduate degree programs and 127 graduate degree programs to more than 37,000 students. The university now boasts more than 165,000 alumni residing in 143 countries.
LA JOLLA--(June 10, 2021) In order for cancer to grow and spread, it has to evade detection by our immune cells, particularly specialized "killer" T cells. Salk researchers led by Professor Susan Kaech have found that the environment inside tumors (the tumor microenvironment) contains an abundance of oxidized fat molecules, which, when ingested by the killer T cells, suppresses their ability to kill cancer cells. In a vicious cycle, those T cells, in need of energy, increase the level of a cellular fat transporter, CD36, that unfortunately saturates them with even more oxidized fat and further curtails their anti-tumor functions.

The discovery, published online in Immunity on June 7, 2021, suggests new pathways for safeguarding the immune system's ability to fight cancer by reducing the oxidative lipid damage in killer T cells. Identifying factors like these that cause immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment can lead to the development of novel immunotherapies for cancer.

"We know that tumors are a metabolically hostile environment for healthy cells, but elucidating which metabolic processes are altered and how this suppresses immune cell function is an important area of cancer research that is gaining a lot of attention," says Kaech, senior author and director of Salk's NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis. "Our findings uncovered a novel mode of immunosuppression in tumors involving the import of oxidized fats (AKA lipids) in T cells via the cellular fat transporter CD36, which impairs their anti-tumor functions locally."

The burgeoning field of cancer immunometabolism studies how immune cell metabolism is reprogrammed within tumors and driven by alterations in nutrient availability. While scientists know that tumors accumulate fats--and that such accumulation is associated with immune dysfunction--the details of the relationship haven't been clear.

Working with Joseph Witztum's lab at UC San Diego and Antonio Pinto in the Salk Mass Spectrometry Core facility, the team established that tumors contain elevated amounts of several classes of lipid, and oxidized lipids in particular, which are generally found in oxidized low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), commonly considered "bad" fat. They then observed how killer T cells respond to the oxidized LDLs in tumors and found that killer T cells adapted to the tumor microenvironment by increasing CD36 on their surface and ingesting an abundance of oxidized lipids. Working with Brinda Emu's lab at Yale University, they found this process served as a catalyst to drive even greater amounts of lipid oxidation internally in the killer T cells and ultimately repressed their defenses.

Next, the team employed various methods to investigate how CD36 impaired killer T cell function. They created mouse models lacking CD36 on T cells and used antibodies to block CD36. They confirmed that CD36 promoted T cell dysfunction in tumors by increasing oxidized lipid import, which caused greater lipid oxidation and damage within the T cells and triggered the activation of a stress response protein, p38.

"We found that when the T cells get 'stressed out' by oxidized lipids, they shut down their anti-tumor functions," says Shihao Xu, a Salk postdoctoral fellow and the first author on the paper.

The team also found new therapeutic opportunities to reduce lipid oxidation and restore killer T cells' function in tumors through immunotherapy by blocking CD36 with an antibody therapy or by overexpressing glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4, a key molecule that removes oxidized lipids in cells).

Importantly, lipid oxidation doesn't just happen in T cells; it also happens in tumor cells, and too much of it can cause cell death. In fact, there is a lot of excitement in cancer research to increase lipid oxidation in tumor cells to a lethal level, but Kaech and her team urge some caution.

"Now that we've uncovered this vulnerability of T cells to lipid oxidation stress, we may need to find more selective approaches to inducing lipid oxidation in the tumor cells but not in the T cells," says Kaech, who holds the NOMIS Chair at Salk. "Otherwise, we may destroy the anti-tumor T cells in the process, and our work shows a few interesting possibilities for how to do this."

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Other authors on the study were Patricia Rodriguez-Morales, Dan Chen, Ziyan Xu, Antonio F. M. Pinto, April Williams, Yagmur Farsakoglu, Siva Karthik Varanasi, Bryan McDonald, Victoria Tripple, Michael Downes, Ronald M. Evans and Maxim N. Shokhirev of Salk; Omkar Chaudhary, Jun Siong Low and Brinda Emu of Yale University; Xiaoli Sun, Wenxi Tang and Joseph L. Witztum of UC San Diego; Roberta Zappasodi, Isabell Schulze, Taha Merghoub and Jedd D. Wolchok of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Haiping Wang and Ping-Chih Ho of the University of Lausanne; Nada A. Abumrad of the Washington University School of Medicine; and Guoliang Cui of the German Cancer Research Center and Heidelberg University.

The work was funded by the National Cancer Institute, the James B. Pendleton Charitable Trust, the National Institutes of Health, the Chapman Foundation, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the Helmsley Center for Genomic Medicine, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Bridge Scholar award, the Salk Cancer Center, a NOMIS Foundation Distinguished Scientist and Scholar Award, the Lustgarten Foundation, the Don and Lorraine Freeberg Foundation, a Helmholtz Young Investigator Award, the German Research Foundation, the Melanoma Research Alliance, a Genentech Foundation Fellowship, and a Salk Innovation Grant.

About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:

Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin. Learn more at: salk.edu.
It eventually became a Nobel prize-winning revolution when researchers first engineered CRISPR as a gene editing technology for bacterial, plant, animal and human cells. The potential of the technology is great and span from curing genetically disposed diseases to applications in agricultural and industrial biotechnology, but there are challenges.

One such challenge consists of selecting a so-called gRNA molecule which should be designed to guide the Cas9 protein to the right location in the DNA where it will make a cut in relation to the gene editing.

"Typically, there are multiple possible gRNAs and they are not all equally efficient. Therefore, the challenge is to select the few that work with high efficiency and that is precisely what our new method does," says Yonglun Luo, Associate Professor Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University.

The new method is developed from the researchers' new data and implementation of an algorithm, which gives a prediction on what gRNAs that work most efficiently.

"By combining our own data with publicly available data and including knowledge on the molecular interactions between gRNA, DNA and the CRISPR-Cas9 protein, we have succeeded in developing a better method," says Jan Gorodkin, professor at the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.

Data, deep learning molecular interactions

Jan Gorodkin's research group with Giulia Corsi and Christian Anthon have collaborated with Yonglun Luo's research group in order to achieve the new results. The experimental part of the study was conducted by Luo's group while Gorodkin's group spearheaded the computer modelling.

"In our study, we have quantified the efficiency of gRNA molecules for more than 10.000 different sites. The work was achieved using a massive, high throughput library-based method, which would not be possible with traditional methods," says Yonglun Luo.

The researchers took their starting point concerning data generation in the concept of having a virus express gRNA and a synthetic target site in one cell at a time. The synthetic target sites have exactly the same DNA sequences as the corresponding target sites in the genome. Thus, these synthetic target sites are used as so-call surrogate target sites to capture the CRISPR-Cas9 editing efficiency. Together with colleagues from Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative Medicine in BGI-Research and Harvard Medical School, they generated high quality CRISPR-Cas9 activity for over 10,000 gRNAs.

With this dataset of gRNAs with known efficiencies from low to high, the researchers were able to construct a model that could predict efficiencies of gRNAs which has not been seen before.

"In order to train an algorithm to become precise, one has to have a large dataset. With our library of viruses, we have obtained data that constitutes the perfect starting point for training our deep learning algorithm to predict the efficiency of gRNAs for gene editing. Our new method is more precise than other methods currently available," says Jan Gorodkin.

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A major upgrade to the world's largest outdoor earthquake simulator reached a milestone mid-April when the facility's floor--all 300,000 lbs of it--was put back into place. When completed this fall, the simulator will have the ability to reproduce multi-dimensional earthquake motions with unprecedented accuracy to make structures and their residents safer during strong shakes.

The simulator, or shake table, will be able to test the world's heaviest and tallest structures to gauge how well they would withstand various types of earthquakes. The shake table will be equipped with the ability to reproduce all the six possible movements of the ground, known as six degrees of freedom. The first test following the upgrade will feature a full-scale, 10-story, cross-laminated timber building.

"This facility will save a large number of human lives by making the places we live and work in safer during earthquakes," said Joel Conte, the shake table's principal investigator and a professor of structural engineering at the University of California San Diego. Conte and colleagues lay out the details of the upgrade in a paper published in January 2021 in Frontiers in Built Environment.

In the paper, researchers also detail the impact that the shake table has had on building and design codes since it opened in 2004.

In San Francisco, approximately 6,000 "soft-story" wood-frame buildings are being retrofitted to make them safer in strong earthquakes. Full-scale testing of retrofit systems for these soft-story wood-frame buildings was performed on the UC San Diego shake table in 2013. Professor John van de Lindt from Colorado State University, who led this project, played a key role in writing the guidelines for the retrofit of these buildings.

In 2008, a test led by Professors Robert Fleischman of the University of Arizona and Jose Restrepo of UC San Diego led to new recommendations on how precast concrete floors, known as diaphragms, should be built into parking garage structures to improve their seismic behavior.

In 2011 and 2012, during a series of landmark tests, a team tested elevators and stairs inside a full-size, six-story building. The findings led to new, better guidelines for the way these components should be connected to buildings' structural frames so they don't detach during a quake.

How it works

The principle behind the table is relatively simple: various structures are built on top of the facility's floor, or platen, which is connected to a series of horizontal and vertical actuators, or pistons, that move back and forth, simulating earthquake motions. The movements follow precise earthquake records that researchers have gathered from around the world.

The facility is transitioning from one degree of freedom--the ability to move structures backwards and forwards--to six degrees of freedom, adding the ability to move up and down, left to right, as well as pitch, roll and yaw motions. To understand these last three, think of an airplane in flight: pitch is when the nose of the airplane goes up and its tail goes down; roll is when one wing dips and the other lifts; and yaw is when the plane's whole body slides from left to right.

Two additional horizontal actuators were added to two existing ones in a new configuration in order to move the table horizontally forwards and backwards; left to right; and to make a yaw motion. The six existing actuators that move the table up and down were hooked up to a new, stronger hydraulic power source.

Why do six degrees of freedom matter?

Reproducing earthquake motions in six degrees of freedom is key because during a temblor, the ground might move in more than one direction. For example, during the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the Los Angeles area, bridge columns punched through bridge decks, hinting at a strong vertical ground motion component. Similarly, during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, the buildings twisted and swayed, hinting that the ground was probably rotating.

Principal investigator Conte says he believes results of prior tests would have revealed additional ways to make buildings safer if they had been done in six degrees of freedom rather than one.

More power, better sensors

The upgrade will also add a new, state-of-the-art sensing and data collection system with a total of 768 channels to carry information coming from a wide range of sensors, including high-definition cameras, strain gauges, accelerometers and more. The software controlling the shake table also will be upgraded.

In addition, the mechanism that powers the shake table also been expanded and connected to a hydraulic power system whose capacity has quadrupled.

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As COVID-19 restrictions ease nationwide and more people host indoor gatherings, investing in a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) purifier might not be a bad idea, says a University of Cincinnati College of Medicine researcher.

Several published studies evaluating aerosols and submicron particles similar in size to the SARS-CoV-2 virion have shown that portable HEPA purifiers are able to significantly reduce airborne COVID-19 particles, says Ahmad Sedaghat, MD, PhD, director of the UC Division of Rhinology, Allergy and Anterior Skull Base Surgery.

Sedaghat identified the medical literature showing published studies on the effectiveness of HEPA purifiers. His review is available online in the scholarly journal of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.

Air purifiers could benefit hospitals and physician offices where aerosol-generating procedures occur, but they are also useful for reducing COVID transmission anywhere that large groups of individuals congregate.

"One of the issues with COVID-19, is when physicians perform an aersol-generating medical procedure any asymptomatic COVID-19 positive patient may release SARS-CoV-2 laden aersols into the air," explains Sedaghat. "Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control indicates that we can rely on our HVAC systems to slowly decontaminate the air during an hour timeframe. Studies in the medical literature are showing us that we can use portable air purifiers to do a better and faster job of decominating these airborne particles to keep our patients and staff safe."

"Air purifiers with HEPA filters can be used as very effective means to decontaminate the air above and beyond what many HVAC systems may offer," says Sedaghat who also published studies documenting COVID-19 infection leading to reduced taste and smell in patients and possibly attacking the central nervous system.

"If people are walking around coughing or sneezing because it is allergy season and by chance they happen to be one of these asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19, there is a danger of transmission in individuals not vaccinated," says Sedaghat. "People are catching the disease from asymptomatic carriers."

"The results of this study can be applied to our daily lives outside of a physician's office," says Sedaghat. "If you want to host larger gatherings you should consider putting the air purifiers into your living room to help decontaminate anything that is released into the air. HEPA based air purifiers work the best. HEPA based air purifiers decontaminate these airborne particles much faster and more effectively than non HEPA filters."

"They aren't terribly expensive and you can buy these at any home improvement or department store to help decontaminate air borne coronavirus," says Sedaghat. "This may be more important for controlling the spread of COVID-19 for people who are still not vaccinated."

Air purifiers offer added protection but UC researchers also found that better-fitting facemasks greatly improve protection against COVID-19 as well.

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Researchers have made progress towards a G7 commitment to establish safe standards for the release of antimicrobials into the environment, by developing a new framework that establishes safe thresholds

Researchers have made progress towards a G7 commitment to establish safe standards for the release of antimicrobials into the environment, by developing a new framework that establishes safe thresholds.

The threat of bacteria developing resistance to antimicrobial drugs (often called antibiotics) used to treat infection is one of the greatest global health challenges, potentially resulting in 10 million deaths per year by 2050.

A major issue is the spread of antimicrobials and resistant bacteria through water systems. When we take antibiotics, 70 per cent passes through our bodies into wastewater. Farm animals are treated with antibiotics which can also end up in aquatic systems through run-off and flooding. University of Exeter research has previously shown that even when antimicrobials are present in these waters at low levels, they can contribute to the evolution of resistant bacteria. These bacteria can make their way into our guts, potentially causing health problems.

Last month, the G7 Climate and Environment Ministers' Meeting Communique recognised that the release of antimicrobials into the environment can select for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and have an impact on human, animal and environmental health. The communique reads: "We note with concern that there are currently no international standards on safe concentrations of antimicrobials released into the environment from, inter alia, pharmaceutical manufacturing, healthcare facility effluent, agriculture and aquaculture. We also acknowledge the work of the AMR Industry Alliance in this regard. We commit to accumulate knowledge on AMR in the environment. We will work with our ministerial colleagues with responsibility for health, food, farming and medicines regulators where independent of government, as appropriate to develop and agree such standards."

Now, in a paper published in Water Research, the Exeter team worked with global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to make a significant step towards meeting this need. After reviewing the available evidence in the field, they have developed a framework which effectively provides guidance on how to perform a risk assessment to ensure the levels of antimicrobials released into the environment are safe. Currently there are no thresholds for safe levels of antimicrobials in wastewater and aquatic systems, although the EU and UK government are monitoring the emerging evidence.

Dr Aimee Murray, of the University of Exeter, lead author on the paper, said: "Over the past few years, our research has helped understand the urgent threat posed by the evolution of AMR in our waters and in the environment. We're delighted to see the G7 Climate and Environment Ministers' Meeting commit to taking action. Our new paper is a significant step towards informing policy that can ensure the levels of antimicrobials we release into the environment are safe."

The Exeter team's review summarises and critically appraises the current approaches that study the concentrations of antimicrobials that increase AMR. They have consolidated terminology and recommended how data (including data generated at Exeter) on selection for AMR can best be analysed to establish safe thresholds for release into the environment. By collating and assessing available data, they have recommended what these safe thresholds could be, to enable governments to act to reduce them.

Professor Will Gaze, of the University of Exeter, said: "if we don't take action now, AMR could be a greater threat to humanity than COVID-19 over the coming decades. Our work over the last decade represents a significant contribution to understanding the role of the environment in the evolution and transmission of AMR. There is still uncertainty regarding the complex processes that lead to antimicrobial resistance genes being mobilised from environmental bacteria to human pathogens and how the presence of antimicrobials in natural environments drives this phenomenon."

Professor Jason Snape, Global Head of Environment at AstraZeneca, said: "This framework is the latest output from our partnership with the University of Exeter, which has helped us over the past eight years to establish science-driven, risk-based targets for discharge concentrations for antibiotics, both to meet our commitments as a company and for our industry, addressing critical knowledge gaps in support of science-based policy to address environmental risks associated with AMR."

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The paper is entitled 'Dawning of a new ERA: Environmental Risk Assessment of antibiotics and their potential to select for antimicrobial resistance', and is published in Water Research. Aimee Murray was funded by a NERC Industrial Innovation Fellowship NE/R01372X/1.
Today the Hamburg-based Cluster of Excellence "Climate, Climatic Change, and Society" (CLICCS) publishes a new, essential study on climate futures. The study represents the first systematic attempt to investigate whether a climate future with net-zero carbon emissions is not only possible but also plausible. The authors examine plausibility from a technical-economic perspective, but also with regard to the societal changes necessary for such a future. They conclude that deep decarbonization by 2050 is currently not plausible - the current efforts to bring about societal transformation need to be far more ambitious.

The European Union is now increasing the ambition of its climate goals, and the German Federal Constitutional Court has recently committed Germany to implementing more ambitious climate action. So, are we already on the path to a climate-neutral future? "Which climate futures are plausible is not only a physical question, it is at present especially a social one," says CLICCS Speaker Prof. Detlef Stammer from Universitat Hamburg. "In the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook we investigate the transformative power of social processes and have developed a completely new method for doing so. We'll then combine the outcomes with findings from the natu-ral sciences, allowing us to narrow down, step by step, what's plausible."

The key factors being explored, also referred to as social drivers, include: United Nations' climate policy, national climate legislation, protests and social movements, divesting from fossil fuel industries, and media coverage. Crucially, none of the ten social drivers assessed in the Outlook appear to have enough momentum to reach deep decarbonization by 2050. Yet reaching deep decarbonization by mid-century is vital if the climate targets laid out in the Paris Agreement are to be achieved.

However, six of the drivers could foster a gradual decarbonization: "The majority of the factors we evaluated certainly support the net-zero goal. For example, the factor 'climate policy' has been strengthened by the USA's reentry into the Paris Agreement," explains Prof. Anita Engels, a social scientist at Universitat Hamburg and CLICCS Co-Chair. "At the same time, the extent to which climate protests can continue to put pressure on governments after COVID-19 will be an important aspect." Another crucial driver is the divestment from fossil fuels. However, companies often operate under long investment cycles, which means the effects will only become ap-parent down the road.

The authors concluded that, at the moment, neither high-emissions nor low-emissions scenarios are plausible: "Studies show that very high CO2 emissions can produce tremendous economic costs. What's more: global coal reserves are finite, and clean energy is becoming more afforda-ble. As such, governments and companies alike will be forced to change course," says CLICCS Co-Chair Prof. Jochem Marotzke from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. However, we're still lacking the technologies needed for the rapid and large-scale removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - an essential prerequisite for cutting emissions to net zero.

The authors further translated these findings about plausible emissions into an assessment of long-term warming, by incorporating the latest research on how CO2 emissions affect the climate: "Our results imply that global surface warming of less than 1.7 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 is not plausible, but nor is a rise of more than 4.9 degrees."

The Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook fills an important gap. Other studies-like the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C and the United Nations Emissions Gap Report-also assess which pathways might achieve the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement, but they focus more on the technical and practical requirements. "The Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook analyzes which social drivers can enable and motivate the change. We're using this new analytical framework to systematically assess the available data with regard to the necessary decarboniza-tion," said Prof. Engels.

The study's analytical approach is unique: "In the Hamburg Climate Fu-tures Outlook, we're not looking into what would be necessary, feasible or desirable. We're ana-lyzing which climate futures are plausible - and which ones aren't," says Prof. Marotzke, who was also one of the key contributors to the upcoming IPCC report. "The social challenge is far greater than many people can imagine," concludes Prof. Stammer. "As such, our findings repre-sent a wake-up call for the political community and society at large."

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By June 10 the official website will be online: http://www. cliccs. uni-hamburg. de/ results/ hamburg-climate-futures-outlook. html

About the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook:

More than 40 researchers from the Cluster of Excellence CLICCS are contributing authors of the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook. They hail from such diverse disciplines as the natural sciences, social sciences, economics and law. In addition, there are ca. 20 national and international review-ers. With the development of the Social Plausibility Assessment Framework, the Cluster has intro-duced a new scientific method for both assessing the status quo of social drivers and projecting their future trajectory.

From 2021 onwards, the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook will be released annually. It analyzes both physical and social dynamics alike, and evaluates which climate futures are not only possible but also plausible.

The Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS) at Universitat Hamburg is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Based at the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) at Universitat Hamburg, it works in close cooperation with eleven partner institutes, including the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, the Helmholtz Centre Hereon and the German Climate Computing Center.

DOI: 10.25592/uhhfdm.9104

Contact

Prof. Dr. Detlef Stammer

Universitat Hamburg

Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN)

Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS)

Tel: +49 (0) 40 42838 5052

Email: detlef.stammer@uni-hamburg.de

Prof. Dr. Anita Engels

Universitat Hamburg

Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN)

Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS)

Tel: +49 (0) 40 42838

Email: anita.engels@uni-hamburg.de

Prof. Dr. Jochem Marotzke

Max Planck Institute for Meteorology

Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS)

Tel: +49 (0) 40 41173 440

Email: jochem.marotzke@mpimet.mpg.de

Ute Kreis

Outreach / Public Relations (CEN/CLICCS)

Universitat Hamburg

Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN)

Tel: +49 (0) 40 42838 4523

Email: ute.kreis@uni-hamburg.de
An estimated 8 million tons of plastic trash enters the ocean each year, and most of it is battered by sun and waves into microplastics--tiny flecks that can ride currents hundreds or thousands of miles from their point of entry.

The debris can harm sea life and marine ecosystems, and it's extremely difficult to track and clean up.

Now, University of Michigan researchers have developed a new way to spot ocean microplastics across the globe and track them over time, providing a day-by-day timeline of where they enter the water, how they move and where they tend to collect.

The approach relies on the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, and can give a global view or zoom in on small areas for a high-resolution picture of microplastic releases from a single location.

The technique is a major improvement over current tracking methods, which rely mainly on spotty reports from plankton trawlers that net microplastics along with their catch.

"We're still early in the research process, but I hope this can be part of a fundamental change in how we track and manage microplastic pollution," said Chris Ruf, the Frederick Bartman Collegiate Professor of Climate and Space Science at U-M, principal investigator of CYGNSS and senior author on a newly published paper on the work.

Their initial observations are revealing.

Season changes in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The team found that global microplastic concentrations tend to vary by season, peaking in the North Atlantic and Pacific during the Northern Hemisphere's summer months. June and July, for example, are the peak months for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a convergence zone in the North Pacific where microplastic collects in massive quantities.

Concentrations in the Southern Hemisphere peak during its summer months of January and February. Concentrations tend to be lower during the winter, likely due to a combination of stronger currents that break up microplastic plumes and increased vertical mixing that drives them further beneath the water's surface, researchers say.

The data also showed several brief spikes in microplastic concentration at the mouth of the Yangtze River--long suspected to be a chief source.

"It's one thing to suspect a source of microplastic pollution, but quite another to see it happening," Ruf said. "The microplastics data that has been available in the past has been so sparse, just brief snapshots that aren't repeatable."

The researchers produced visualizations that show microplastic concentrations around the globe. Often the areas of accumulation are due to prevailing local water currents and convergence zones, with the Pacific patch being the most extreme example.

"What makes the plumes from major river mouths noteworthy is that they are a source into the ocean, as opposed to places where the microplastics tend to accumulate," Ruf said.

Ruf says the information could help organizations that clean up microplastics deploy ships and other resources more efficiently. The researchers are already in talks with a Dutch cleanup organization, The Ocean Cleanup, on working together to validate the team's initial findings. Single-point release data may also be useful to the United Nations agency UNESCO, which has sponsored a task force to find new ways to track the release of microplastics into the world's waters.

Hurricane-tracking satellites set their sights on plastic pollution

Developed by Ruf and U-M undergraduate Madeline Evans, the tracking method uses existing data from CYGNSS, a system of eight microsatellites launched in 2016 to monitor weather near the heart of large storm systems and bolster predictions on their severity. Ruf leads the CYGNSS mission.

The key to the process is ocean surface roughness, which CYGNSS already measures using radar. The measurements have mainly been used to calculate wind speed near the eyes of hurricanes, but Ruf wondered whether they might have other uses as well.

"We'd been taking these radar measurements of surface roughness and using them to measure wind speed, and we knew that the presence of stuff in the water alters its responsiveness to the environment," Ruf said. "So I got the idea of doing the whole thing backward, using changes in responsiveness to predict the presence of stuff in the water."

Using independent wind speed measurements from NOAA, the team looked for places where the ocean seemed less rough than it should be given the wind speed. They then matched those areas up with actual observations from plankton trawlers and ocean current models that predict the migration of microplastic. They found a high correlation between the smoother areas and those with more microplastic.

Ruf's team believes the changes in ocean roughness may not be caused directly by the microplastics, but instead by surfactants--a family of oily or soapy compounds that lower the surface tension on a liquid's surface. Surfactants tend to accompany microplastics in the ocean, both because they're often released along with microplastics and because they travel and collect in similar ways once they're in the water.

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A paper on the work, "Towards the Detection and Imaging of Ocean Microplastics with a Spaceborne Radar," is newly published in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

Written by Gabe Cherry
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 10, 2021) ... The U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board announced that Aleksandar Stevanovic of the University of Pittsburgh received a Fulbright Specialist Program award. Dr. Stevanovic will complete a project at the University of Kragujevac in Serbia that aims to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities both in the U.S. and overseas through a variety of educational and training activities within Civil Engineering and Urban Planning.

Dr. Stevanovic, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, is one of more than 400 U.S. citizens who share expertise with host institutions abroad through the Fulbright Specialist Program each year. Recipients of Fulbright Specialist awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field, and their potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

"This Fulbright project will help us to assess what can be done to help cities and countries with low level of penetration of Intelligent Transportation Systems to reduce fossil fuel consumption, carbon footprint, and harmful emissions caused by traffic in congested urban networks," Dr. Stevanovic said. "While many solutions can be found in multimodal policies and operations, with this project we intend to optimize traffic signal control with outdated technology through a comprehensive and careful analysis of urban traffic flows, to achieve benefits without significant infrastructural investments."

Dr. Stevanovic is also principal investigator of the Swanson School's Pittsburgh Intelligent Transportation Systems (PITTS) Lab, which investigates transportation problems and develops solutions to preserve a city's livability.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide.

Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has given more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Fulbrighters address critical global issues in all disciplines, while building relationships, knowledge, and leadership in support of the long-term interests of the United States. Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 60 who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, 88 who have received Pulitzer Prizes, and 39 who have served as a head of state or government.

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FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 25, 2020 file photo, Cardinal Angelo Becciu meets the media during press conference in Rome. Italian police searched the offices of a Sardinian charity and diocese on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 on behalf of Vatican prosecutors who are investigating a once-powerful Holy See cardinal on alleged embezzlement charges. Lawyers for Cardinal Angelo Becciu said in a statement that any and all documentation seized would only serve to confirm the absolute correctness of the behavior of Becciu, the charity and the diocese of Ozieri.
New study of Canadians with a history of alcohol dependence found 71% were no longer dependent, 52% were free of any addictions or mental illness, and 38% were in optimal mental health with high levels of happiness and well-being

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO & CARLETON UNIVERSITY

New research published online in the journal Substance Use & Misuse is good news for those struggling with alcohol dependence: the possibility of ending this dependency gets easier with age. Moreover, more than half of individuals who have been dependent on alcohol are free of any addictions or mental illness, and nearly 40% are in excellent mental health.

Using data drawn from Statistics Canada's Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health, researchers examined a nationally representative sample of 820 adult Canadians with a history of alcohol dependence to 19,945 who had never been addicted to alcohol. They found that in the past year, 71% of those with a history of alcohol dependence were no longer dependent; 52% were free of any addictions or mental illness, and 38% were in optimal mental health with high levels of happiness and social and psychological well-being.

"Past research has largely focused on remission from alcohol dependence -- we sought to understand the whole continuum of recovery. We wanted to know what factors were associated with flourishing, not merely remission," says first author, Melissa L. Redmond, assistant professor of Social Work at Carleton University. "The high levels of resilience that we found are encouraging for those who are alcohol dependent, their family and loved ones and for professionals in the field."

Alcohol dependence is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the United States. Approximately 88,000 Americans die from alcohol-related causes every year, with nearly a third of all driving fatalities linked to alcohol-impaired driving. In the U.S, excessive alcohol use has been linked to close to 250 billion dollars in economic losses annually. Considering the personal, communal and economic consequences of alcohol dependence, there needs to be a greater understanding of factors associated with both remission and recovery -- and corresponding improvements in mental health, relationships and quality of life.

Redmond and her colleagues found social support to be strongly associated with remission from alcohol dependence and achieving optimal mental health.

"We need to provide opportunities for healthy social integration and social support for clients who are working to overcome alcohol dependence," says co-author Anna S. Buhrmann, a research assistant at the University of Toronto. "A supportive circle of friends and family appears to be extremely important for the whole recovery trajectory."

Additionally, among those with a history of alcohol dependence, each decade of age was associated with more than 30% higher odds of remission from alcohol dependency and optimal mental health.

"With greater age, individuals often experience lower impulsivity, more family and work responsibilities, and a concomitant increased understanding of the negative impact that alcohol dependence has on quality of life, employment, family life and social relationships," says co-author Esme Fuller-Thomson, professor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and director of the Institute for Life Course and Aging. "Older individuals may have moved away from the social circles and alcohol dependent social situations of their youth, which would make decreasing alcohol use easier."

Positive outcomes were more common among married respondents and those who had never had major depressive disorders or generalised anxiety disorders. The strong link between a history of mental illness and worse recovery outcomes underline the importance of providing evidence-based interventions to address mental health as well as substance dependence issues.

While the Statistics Canada survey used for the study did not gather information on what interventions, if any, those with alcohol dependence received, other research indicates that brief interventions, motivational enhancement therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, are quite successful in reducing alcohol use as well as dependence related symptoms.

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Media Contact:

Melissa L Redmond melissa.redmond@carleton.ca 613-809-4085

Esme Fuller-Thomson

esme.fuller.thomson@utoronto.ca 416-209-3231

A copy of the paper is available to credentialed journalist upon request.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant: #435-2016-0660(PI:ESMEFULLER-THOMSON).
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Sreedhar Upendram, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, has received the 2021 Bonnie Teater Community Development Early Career Achievement Award from the Southern Rural Development Center. Notably, Upendram developed an ability-to-pay index that enabled unprecedented sharing of data and resources across federal and state agencies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the index as a novel model for identifying and assessing disadvantaged communities, a priority under the Biden Administration.

Joining the UT Institute of Agriculture in 2017, Upendram's community development program quickly gained momentum. His use of applied research combined with UT Extension outreach allowed him to identify and strategically assist the state's most distressed rural communities. Assessing the most urgent community needs, he turned his focus to rural water infrastructure, broadband access and digital literacy.

Addressing these needs requires substantial funding, and Upendram successfully attracted more than 20 grants for a total of $8.6 million to support these efforts. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and EPA Region 4 provided grant funding that Upendram used to develop a decision tool to help state and federal agencies, local governments and communities assess their capacity to improve water infrastructure. Applying this tool to Tennessee, he produced an ability-to-pay index covering all 95 counties and 347 cities, towns and municipalities in the state. This index is currently being used by TDEC to prioritize $115 million in clean water and $94 million in drinking water funding and by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) to allocate $24 million in Community Development Block Grants.

Since Upendram implemented his targeted educational program, the TDEC State Revolving Fund program has experienced a 60% increase in small and disadvantaged communities applying for loans. The increased demand led to the creation of new grants and new pilot project opportunities to help address water infrastructure needs across TDEC, ECD and USDA-Rural Development. The index tool has been the foundation of these efforts, and Upendram continues to serve as an integral partner.

"Dr. Upendram's dedication and selfless service to this project has fundamentally changed the way that the State of Tennessee identifies and addresses small and disadvantage communities who need critical help with water infrastructure," said Leslie Gillespie-Marthaler, former TDEC State Revolving Fund director. "These programs have incorporated the ability-to-pay index into their formal processes, and the tool is now driving allocation of resources to these communities in an unprecedented way. His contributions initiated a new way of doing business with the communities in Tennessee that need help the most."

To address the digital divide and improve broadband access for rural residents, Upendram conducted a highly successful pilot study of mobile hotspot lending that has been expanded to six rural counties and 11 elementary schools. Participating counties have leveraged the program to obtain additional resources, while nonparticipating counties have asked to be included in future efforts. He is also working on a downtown Wi-Fi program funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission to improve tourism, entrepreneurship and economic development in a rural Tennessee county. He also collaborated with Purdue University to develop digital divide profiles for all 95 counties in Tennessee. These profiles inform local and state decision-makers about the state of broadband infrastructure and how it varies with socioeconomic and other conditions across Tennessee communities.

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Through its land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. utia.tennessee.edu.
When nature vanishes, people of color and low-income Americans disproportionally lose critical environmental and health benefits--including air quality, crop productivity and natural disease control--a new study in Nature Communications finds.

The University of Vermont research is the first national study to explore the unequal impacts on American society--by race, income and other demographics--of projected declines in nature, and its many benefits, across the United States.

Focusing on three vital ecosystem services--air quality, crop pollination, and control of insect-borne disease (West Nile virus), researchers project that these benefits of nature will decrease for non-white people by an average of 224%, 118% and 111% between 2020 and 2100.

Researchers used advanced modeling to calculate changes in the distribution of these benefits by race, income levels, and population density (rural, urban, suburban).

"Given current and historical inequality in this country, our goal was to identify how future losses of nature might affect these racial and income disparities," says UVM researcher Jesse Gourevitch. "Unfortunately, we find that, in general, non-white, lower-income, and urban populations disproportionately bear the burden of declines in ecosystem benefits."

Opposing trends

Experts agree that in the future, urban populations are expected to grow, while rural populations shrink, and demographic groups become more segregated. Declines in nature will be largely driven by the conversion of forests and wetlands to cropland and urban development.

According to the study, land-use conversion trends are likely to be stronger in counties where marginalized populations are expected to grow. As a result, people of color are predicted to lose nature's benefits, while white communities are projected to see gains. Black and Hispanic people are expected to experience a substantial loss of benefits, in particular.

Among income groups, counties with the lowest per capita income are expected to experience the greatest losses in air quality and West Nile virus protection--while these benefits increase significantly in high income counties.

"By paying attention to race and income--which are often overlooked in environmental research--we can help leaders address inequities in their policy decisions, so that nature's benefits are distributed more equitably in the future," says UVM Prof. Taylor Ricketts, a global expert on measuring nature's benefits.

Troubling mismatches

Geographically, the study predicts significant "mismatches" between ecosystems benefits and human needs. For example, the team finds major declines in air quality and disease controls in urban counties where populations are expected to grow. Similarly, the researchers find steep declines in crop pollination--which is vital for farming--in rural areas, where agricultural productivity is most essential.

Beyond simply highlighting social and environmental problems, researchers say that targeted land use policies that factor in equity are needed to avoid exacerbating inequality in the U.S. These findings could also help to facilitate compensation for losses of nature's benefits among marginalized groups, they say.

"To be clear, these results don't imply that the U.S. is moving from an equitable baseline to an inequitable future," says UVM co-author Luz de Wit. "Today's inequities underpin the future disparities we estimate. For instance, Black and Hispanic people are currently disproportionately exposed to air pollution. That disparity, and others, are only expected to worsen in the future, without action."

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The study was led by an international UVM team of researchers--representing Mexico, Colombia and the U.S., including Puerto Rico. Co-authors include: Jesse D. Gourevitch, Aura M. Alonso-Rodriguez, Natalia Aristizabal, Luz A. de Wit, Eva Kinnebrew, Caitlin E. Littlefield, Maya Moore, Charles C. Nicholson, Aaron J. Schwartz, and Taylor H. Ricketts.
Some four months ago, a devastating flood ravaged the Chamoli district in the Indian Himalayas, killing over 200 people. The flood was caused by a massive landslide, which also involved a glacier. Researchers at the University of Zurich, the WSL and ETH Zurich have now analyzed the causes, scope and impact of the disaster as part of an international collaboration.

On 7 February 2021, a massive wall of rock and ice collapsed and formed a debris flow that barreled down the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga river valleys, leaving a trail of devastation. The flood took more than 200 lives and destroyed two hydropower plants as well as several roads and bridges. A large international team including researchers from the University of Zurich (UZH), the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and the ETH Zurich came together immediately after the disaster and began to investigate the cause and scope of the flood and landslide. Their study used satellite imagery, digital models of the terrain, seismic data and video footage to reconstruct the event with the help of computer models.

Avalanche of rock and ice

Twenty million cubic meters of rock had broken off from Ronti peak in Chamoli district in Uttarkhand at about 5,500 meters above sea level, including a steep hanging glacier with about 5.5 million cubic meters of ice. The massive avalanche, made up of rock (80%) and ice (20%), hurtled down the valley and the narrow gorge. Resulting energy from the friction melted almost all of the ice and led to a devastating mudflow.

The international cooperation analyzing the extreme event was coordinated by GAPHAZ, a scientific group of leading experts on glacier and permafrost hazards in mountains. Holger Frey from UZH's Department of Geography and GAPHAZ board member says: "The speed and breadth with which we analyzed the disaster is unprecedented. Only five years ago, having such extensive and high-resolution satellite imagery available so quickly was almost unthinkable."

Research work started immediately

The UZH researchers have been working in the Indian Himalayas for several years and were contacted by the Indian government's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) only hours after the event. In the days that followed, they were able to provide the Indian authorities with initial insights on how the disaster unfolded and the processes involved. "Among other things, our reports and assessments were used to plan the on-site investigation," says Frey.

Hazardous hydropower projects

The deaths of more than 200 people, most of whom were non-local workers, and the destruction of the two hydropower plants added fuel to the ongoing debate about power plant projects in fragile alpine ecosystems. Following the devastating floods in Uttarakhand back in 2013, the hydropower industry was accused by the Supreme Court of India of having exacerbated the consequences of such floods with its practices. "The Chamoli disaster sadly confirms that many hydropower companies operating in the Himalayas are not doing enough to survey and monitor the increasingly unstable alpine environment," says co-author Christian Huggel from the UZH Department of Geography.

Impacts of climate change

The effects of climate change can also be felt below the surface. Temperatures inside mountains are rising in permafrost regions, increasing the likelihood of rockslides in alpine zones. Given the growing energy requirements in the Himalayan states, this problem is expected to get worse. "The Chamoli disaster was a rare extreme event," says Holger Frey. "But it's only a matter of time before the next such massive event will happen somewhere in the Himalayas." With several additional hydropower plants in planning, fast and sustainable solutions are needed - as well as close collaboration with scientists. "We must take advantage of the most advanced technologies and knowledge to better protect human lives and assets in the future," Christian Huggel says. Such rare disastrous events cannot be ruled out for other mountain regions either, and they can have disastrous effects, especially in regions with relative dense infrastructure such as the Alps.

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An exploratory investigation into the behavior of materials with desirable electric properties resulted in the discovery of a structural phase of two-dimensional (2D) materials. The new family of materials are electrides, wherein electrons occupy a space usually reserved for atoms or ions instead of orbiting the nucleus of an atom or ion. The stable, low-energy, tunable materials could have potential applications in nanotechnologies.

The international research team, led by Hannes Raebiger, associate professor in the Department of Physics at Yokohama National University in Japan, published their results on June 10th as frontispiece in Advanced Functional Materials.

Initially, the team set out to better understand the fundamental properties of a 2D system known as Sc 2 CO 2 . Containing two atoms of metallic scandium, one atom of carbon and two atoms of oxygens, the system belongs to a family of chemical compounds collectively referred to as MXenes. They are typically composed of a carbon or nitrogen layer one atom thick sandwiched between metal layers, dotted with oxygen or fluorine atoms.

The researchers were particularly interested in MXene Sc 2 CO 2 due to the predictions that, when structured into a hexagonal phase, the system would have desired electrical properties.

"Despite these fascinating predictions of hexagonal phases of Sc 2 CO 2 , we are not aware of its successful fabrication as of yet," said Soungmin Bae, first author and researcher in the Department of Physics at Yokohama National University. "Analyzing its fundamental properties, we discovered a completely new structural phase."

The new structural phase results in new electride materials. The atomic-thin 2D structural phase is described as tiled shapes forming the central carbon plane. The previously predicted shape was a hexagon, with a carbon atom at every vertex and one in the middle. The new materials have a rhombus-like shape, with electrons at the vertices and a carbon trimer -- three carbon atoms in a row -- in the middle.

"Carbon is one of the most common materials on our planet, and quite important for living beings, but it is hardly ever found as trimers," Raebiger said. "The closest place where carbon trimers are typically found is interstellar space."

The overall shape is less symmetric than the previously described hexagonal structure, but it is more symmetric with regard to the central plane. This structure offers unique characteristics due to the appearance of the new family of electrides, according to Raebiger.

"Electrides contain electrons as a structural unit and often are extremely good electrical conductors," Raebiger said. "The present family of electrides are insulators, and while most insulators can be made conductive by adding or removing electrons, these materials simply become more insulating."

MXenes are particularly attractive as a material, because they can be reconfigured with other metallic elements to offer a cornucopia of properties, including tunable conductivity, various forms of magnetism, and/or accelerate chemical reactions as catalysts. On top of this, they are ultra-thin sheets only a few atoms thick, that is, 2D materials. The newly discovered electrides have electrons in lattice voids between atoms and ions, which can be readily emitted into surrounding space, such as the electron sources for large particle accelerators, as well as be borrowed to catalyze a specifically desired chemical reaction.

"We made this discovery because we wanted to understand how these materials work better," Bae said. "If you encounter something you don't understand, dig deeper."

Co-authors include William Espinosa-Garcia and Gustavo M. Dalpian, Centro de Ciencias Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC, Brazil; Yoon-Gu Kang and Myung Joon Han, Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology; Juho Lee and Yong-Hoon Kim, Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology; Noriyuki Egawa, Kazuaki Kuwahata and Kaoru Ohno, Department of Physics at Yokohama National University; and Mohammad Khazaei and Hideo Hosono, Materials Research Center for Element Strategy, Tokyo Institute of Technology. Espinosa-Garcia is also affiliated with Grupo de investigacion en Modelamienot y Simulacion Computacional, Facultad de Ingenierias, Universidad de San Buenaventura-Medellin.

The Iwaki Scholarship Foundation; Sao Paulo Research Foundation; Korea's National Research Foundation, Ministry of Science and ICT and Ministry of Education; KAIST (formerly the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology); and Samsung Research Funding & Incubation Center of Samsung Electronics funded this work.

###
Foreign exchange markets have tended to ignore the UK-EU trade dispute, although the rhetoric following the latest round of talks over Northern Ireland has triggered a reaction with the Pound Sterling losing ground amid fears over long-term damage to the UK economy.

The Pound to Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate again failed to challenge the 1.4200 level and retreated to below 1.4150.

The Pound to Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate also dipped back below 1.1600 with 1-week lows just below 1.1590 from 1.1640 highs earlier in the day.

No Breakthrough in UK-EU Brexit Talks

According to UK Brexit Minister Frost, talks between the UK and EU over the Northern Ireland protocol ended without a breakthrough.

There werent any breakthroughs. There arent any breakdowns either and were going to carry on talking.

He added that the UK cannot allow EU to apply across the UK.

A UK government spokesman stated added that further talks are needed urgently in order to make concrete progress, especially to prevent disruptions in essential supplies such as medicines.

He added that the UK is concerned that substantive progress has not yet been made in many areas.

The UK and EU will also hold wider talks on implementing the overall EU-UK trade deal with a lack of progress on Northern Ireland liable to sour the overall tone.

EU Emphasises Legal Action Threat

EU Commission Vice President Sefkovic adopted a significantly tougher stance with comment that the EU would act swiftly if the UK takes unilateral action.

He stated that the EU is at a crossroads with the UK relationship. According to Sefkovic, the Northern Ireland protocol is the only approach to the issues caused by Brexit and that complete compliance with the Withdrawal Agreement is a pre-requisite or trust.

Sefkovic added that the EU patience is wearing thin and adopted a tough stance on legal action with comments that the UKs reaction to EU legal proceedings is insufficient.

He noted that the EUs next move is a reasoned option with a lawsuit before the European Court of Justice possibly in the Autumn.

He added that cross-retaliation with the UK could mean quotas and tariffs.

US National Security Adviser Sullivan also commented that President Biden has "deep" concerns that a UK-EU trade row could endanger peace in Northern Ireland.

Sterling dipped on the headlines, although the market attention overall was still focussed elsewhere.

Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank noted; If the relationship between the EU and the UK over this does worsen, it could be a significant headwind for sterling... but I think the market would rather ignore it.
Thursday, June 10, 2021





Author: Jia Gottlieb MD

Publisher: Sanitas Press

ISBN:978-1-7343769-0-6



Bookpleasures.comwelcomes as our guest Dr. Jia Gottlieb author of aah...ThePleasure Book.



Jiais the son of an Austrian father and a Chinese mother. Aftercompleting a BA in physics from the University of Colorado, an MDfrom Northwestern University, and a Family Medicine residency at thetop-ranked Community Hospital of Sonoma County, he journeyed to Japanand China for intensive training in martial arts and acupuncture.

Returningto Boulder, Colorado in 1984, Dr. Jia established the Still MountainClinic, which he directed for over twenty-five years. He holds blackbelts in aikido and karate, plays the bamboo flute, is a lifelongstudent of yoga and Zen meditation, and is learning to tango. He isthe proud father of three daughters.

Good day Jia andthanks for taking part in our interview.

Norm: Whatdo you feel is the most overrated virtue and why?

Jia:I would say the most overrated virtue is discipline. Contrary topopular belief, discipline doesnt make us stronger; it makes usweaker. Discipline is based on inner conflict, that the goodself has to bully the lazy self to do the right thing. But as Idiscuss in my book, in a war with ones self, there can be nowinners.





Norm:What is the one thing other people always seem to get wrong aboutyou?

Jia:Thats easy: my name! People often mis-hear it as John ormispronounce it as Gee-ah. Its written J-i-a but pronouncedjah as in java. Or it might be easier to remember Jiarhymes with the title of my book aah . . .

Norm: Howmany times in your career have you experienced rejection? How didthey shape you?

Jia:As a holistic medical doctor specializing in unresolved medicalproblems, I worked with a lot of challenging patients. I alwaysaddressed the truth, as I saw it, and worked in their best interestwhether they liked it or not. Many patients were thrilled to finallyget an honest answer, but others were offended. So, I had to learn tonot take their reactions personally.

Norm:If you could go back ten years and give yourself one piece of advicewhat would that advice be?

Jia:Understand that the foundation of any healthy relationship iskindness and respectwithout exception.

Norm: Whathas been your greatest challenge (professionally) that youveovercome in getting to where youre at today?

Jia:My greatest professional challenge has been to accept that although Imight see a persons potential as clear as day, they may neverrealize their potential because of unconscious habits of thought andaction.

Norm: Whendid the idea for aah...The Pleasure Book firstemerge?

Jia:In 2001, I dropped all my third-party, health insurance contracts andwent to a cash practice. It was around then I decided it was time towrite a book.

Ratherthan write about disease like most doctors, I wanted to write abouthealth and well being. During my research, I realized that pleasureand joy are not only the result of a healthy life; they are the causeof it!

Norm: Whatis the most important thing that people don't know about the subjectof the book that they need to know?

Jia:Pleasure is about a lot more than just great sex. We arepleasure-seeking organisms and what pleases us will likely determinethe people we meet, the quality of our life, our health, and even howlong we live. Understanding pleasure is the key to a good life (whichhappens to include great sex).

Norm: Whatpurpose do you believe your book serves and what matters to you aboutthe book?

Jia:I believe how we think about pleasure can change the world. Just asthe pleasures we seek determines our personal health, the pleasureswe pursue collectively determines the health of our planet.

Putanother way, it is our out-of-control human appetite that isdestroying us.

Ourexcessive appetite for food is making us obese, our excessiveappetite for fossil fuels is heating our planet, and our excessiveappetite for political domination is leading us towards war and therisk of nuclear annihilation.

Ibelieve the only effective way to control our human appetite is tosatisfy it, and the only thing capable of satisfying it ishigh-quality pleasurewhat I call renewable pleasure. In a word,pleasure is planetary.

Norm: Whatdid you enjoy most about writing this book?



Jia:I discovered the deep meaning of pleasure, which has made me ahappier, healthier, and better human being.

Norm: Whatwas the most difficult part of writing your book?

Jia:There were so many things I had to figure out about pleasure. Forinstance, why are there so many different kinds of pleasures and whydo we choose one over another?

Whatmakes something pleasurable rather than painful? Are ecstasy andbliss the same thing or different and where does peace of mind fitin?

Whyare some pleasures good for us and others harmful? How does all thiswork at an historical, ethical, neurobiological, spiritual, andpractical level?

Norm: Arethere vocabulary words or concepts in your book that may be new toreaders?

Jia:Words are powerful because they are the units of thought by which wethink. For this reason, I had to use words from ancient Greek, Latin,Sanskrit, Chinese, and Japanese, as well as scientific terms frombiology and physics to communicate precisely. The book has a glossaryto assist the reader.

Norm: Forthose interested in exploring more of the subject or theme of yourbook, where should they start?

Jia:I recommend becoming curious about pleasure and observing theimportant role it plays in your life. Investigate and question whatpleases you.

Norm: Whatprojects are you working on at the present?



Jia:I am writing aah . . . The Pleasure Workbook, which is a morehands-on guide to the art and practice of living an authentic,pleasurable life. It includes sections on Stem breathing, the asiscountdown to a good nights sleep, a simple detox fast, and how toeasily establish a daily practice.

Norm:Where can our readers find out more about you and aah .. . The Pleasure Book?

Jia:My WEBSITE, has a wealth of information including a booktrailer introducing the Seven Immutable Laws of Pleasure, book andaudio excerpts, a quick Pleasure Quotient quiz, Q&A videorecordings, articles, a link to sign up for my monthly PleasureReport, and more.

Norm:As this interview comes to an end, if you could invite three authorsalive or dead) to your dinner table, who would they be and why?

Jia:I would invite the Greek philosopher, Epicurus, who is the patronsaint of this book. In many respects, I pick up the story where heleft off. Second, I would invite the Indian sage Patanjali, author ofThe Yoga Sutras to get his yogic insights. Third, I would invite Dr.Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, for his wide-angleview of our human condition.

Norm:Thanks once again and good luck with all of your endeavors

FollowHere To Read Norm's Review of aah...The Pleasure Book






Wednesday, June 9, 2021

The title of this post isnt really news. We have all beenreading about changes in the airline, hotel, rental car and ride serviceindustries. I want to talk a little bit about how it affects my specialty,getting to Las Vegas and still having a plus EV trip including all travelexpenses, while playing at low roller levels.

I have been talking and writing about low cost travel to LasVegas since 2016. In the last 9 months, the cost for me to travel from Detroitto Las Vegas has increased. On my most recent trip, 5/28  6/2/21, I paid $351for a rental car. This is the most I have paid for a rental car in Las Vegas inthe 35 years I have been doing this. And $351 was actually a very good rate.Vehicles were going for about $600 for the same period.

Airline travel cost has gone up significantly, which makesusing frequent flier points even more important. 10 or 15 years ago, you couldfind $150 round trip tickets to Las Vegas from Detroit. That same flight is$500 now. Add on baggage fees (unless you have an airline credit card or flySouthwest) and it is easy to spend over $1000 for airfare for 2.

Another added cost is resort fees. A major reason resort feescame to be is the hotels are taxed much less on fees than on room rates. If theroom is $150, the hotel pays more in taxes than if the room is $110 with a $40resort fee. Another benefit to the hotel is that they can advertise comped rooms,but those rooms still have a resort fee. I have seen this at Tropicana and theM in Las Vegas. Also, some of the MyVegas offers are structured that way. Afree room for 3 nights at the M sounds good but adding in $120 or so for resortfees and it isnt such a great deal anymore. We dont currently pay resort fees, but thatoption is getting more difficult to find.

Parking fees are coming back. We stayed at Ballys and mywife is Diamond so we could valet for free. If not, the rate was $36 a night.At Cromwell, it was $40 a night. I dont know if hotel guests get free valetparking. So, a free room could still cost you $80 a night for parking andresort fees. Ouch.

I havent seen much change in room offers in Las Vegas,which is a good sign.

Also, there are signs that the rental car prices may not besustainable. When we picked up our car at 5:30 PM on Friday of Memorial Dayweekend, there were very few people in the Rent A Car center and there were aton of cars in the lot at Hertz. Given that last minute prices were about $125per day, people must have made other arrangements, used a ride share or usedpublic transportation. I cant remember ever seeing that many cars in the lot.

Las Vegas has eliminated the ban on surge pricing for Uberand Lyft so hopefully that will encourage more people to return to those jobs.I saw that Turo (basically Air B and B for cars), is doing record business.

What does this all mean? Costs are way up and travel is more work. So far, casino offers areabout the same. Once my companion fare runs out at the end of the year, mytrips for 2022 will decline. For 2021, I will make 6 trips to Las Vegas. For2022, that number will probably be 2. And once I run out of frequent fliermiles, it will go to 1. For the pastdozen years, airfare has been free, hotels have been free, food has been mostlyfree and rental cars have been reasonable.

My last trip, we had about $2000 in free play to pick up atvarious places. My rental car was $350, cost of gambling was about $500 or $600so the trip had EV of about $1000. If I have to pay more for a rental car andhave to start paying for flights, the EV would be $0 at best. And at thatpoint, Ill be finding another activity.

I think rental car prices will get closer to normal in 2022.Hopefully, there will be enough frequent flier opportunities to still make sometrips to Las Vegas. If not, it has been a lot of fun for the last 35 years.
A British e-commerce and web-hosting company that opened an office in San Antonio is returning $350,000 in grants it received from the city and Bexar County after falling far short on bringing new jobs.

The Hut Group, or THG, came to San Antonio in 2018 saying it would locate its North American headquarters downtown. The city and county offered the firm an incentive package worth a combined $750,000.

Economic development officials were thrilled to welcome the global internet retailer, which earned more than $1.2 billion in revenue in 2018.

At the time, Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, president and CEO of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation (SAEDF), said: San Antonios secret is out: our cost competitiveness, growing tech workforce supported by military talent, and downtown development opportunity cannot be matched by other U.S. cities.

The SAEDF highlighted THG in its 2018 annual report as one of three international companies that landed in San Antonio that year.

THG pledged to create at least 165 jobs paying at least $70,000 to receive $500,000 from the city and $250,000 from the county.

But things havent gone as planned, and its no longer on track to meet the contracts terms  not by a long shot.

As of Tuesday, THGs office at 315 E. Commerce St. employed 11 people, according to company spokesperson Nick Dibden. The San Antonio site is the sales office for THG Hosting, a branch of the firm that provides data hosting services.

On ExpressNews.com: Are out-of-state takeovers changing the nature of San Antonio's nascent cyber industry?

THG, which operates more than 160 websites for companies selling health, beauty and lifestyle products, approached the city and county in December to back out of the agreements because it wouldnt meet its job targets.

In addition to the $250,000 in county money, THG received a $100,000 advance on the $500,000 promised by the city. Its in the process of returning the $350,000.

On June 1, Bexar county commissioners approved the companys request to return the money.

Our offer was accepted, and we have agreed that the grant will be repaid, in full, Dibden said. We are currently awaiting the necessary paperwork from Bexar County to make the repayment.

THGs initial plan couldve generated $113 million in in economic impact within five years, according to an estimate from local economist Steve Nivin in 2018.

On ExpressNews.com: The long, strange trip of FunnelAI, a San Antonio tech startup

They've struggled since the beginning  we've worked with them over time, but COVID kind of really put a stop on their ability to hire, said David Marquez, Bexar Countys executive director of economic and community development, in testimony to the commissioners court. They're still in business. They're still doing well, but complying with our continued requirements for that is going to be tougher on them, so they asked if we would take a friendly termination of their grant.

The Bexar County budget office monitors incentive contracts and enforces compliance, according to Marquez. He said when companies are not meeting the terms of the contracts, his office works with them to try to find a solution.

With COVID, we frankly have several (companies) that we're going to monitor and reach out to, he said.

Dibden said the company is continuing to create new jobs in San Antonio.

Additionally, it is our firm intention to continue our expansion plans more broadly in the U.S., which is a key market for us as a group, he said.

Sean Attwood, vice president of tech development at SAEDF, said THG remains committed to San Antonio.

The good news is that in a city like San Antonio, especially for the type of workforce that (THG is) building, those incentives become less important to the financial bottom line as they continue to find the talent that they need, he said.

He noted that the company recently extended their office lease for five years, and continues to post open job positions online.

The company has some pretty aggressive hiring plans, and they were impacted by several factors that were out of their control, he said. I would imagine that the pandemic was probably a compounding factor, and they're still committed to building their team downtown.

Brandon Lingle writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. brandon.lingle@express-news.net
Days after CPS Energys top attorney and two of her deputies resigned, the utility Thursday named an interim general counsel  and disclosed that it expects to spend about $10 million this year on outside attorneys.

The private sector lawyers are representing CPS in lawsuits against 17 natural gas companies and the Texas power grid operator for bills stemming from Februarys winter storm.

The legal battle, which CPS CEO on Thursday described as monumental, is an effort to sidestep about $1 billion in debt stemming from the historic freeze.

At least in the interim, the campaign will be led from the CPS side by Shanna Ramirez, formerly a vice president at the utility who was promoted to general counsel.

She was elevated after former general counsel Carolyn Shellman abruptly submitted her resignation letter last week after working at CPS since 2006. Her last day at the utility will be Wednesday, according to a CPS spokeswoman.

Former deputy general counsels Abigail Ottmers and Zandra Pulis also stepped down last week. Their last day was last Friday.

I have a great deal of respect for the attorneys that are leaving and for the attorneys that have stayed, Ramirez said Thursday. Were continuing what we started, and thats to protect the interests of our customers and our community.

On ExpressNews.com: Amid court battle over storm charges, top attorney at San Antonio's CPS Energy to depart utility

Its not clear why the attorneys resigned, and CPS officials have sought to downplay the trios exit.

Robin Jerstad, Freelance / San Antonio Express News

Its not the first time that people have exited an organization, CEO Paula Gold-Williams said. Every single role in the executive ranks, we plan for succession all the time. Sometimes the velocity of it is extreme, like in this case. Sometimes you have more time.

After a special board meeting Tuesday, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said outside law firms that CPS hired  not the utilitys in-house lawyers  are handling most of the litigation against natural gas suppliers and the grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

CPS has a very strong bench, and so the departures are not going to affect daily operations, nor will they affect the CPS storm-related litigation, said Nirenberg, who is one of the five board trustees of the city-owned utility.

If CPS loses in court, it would be forced to pass on the $1 billion in charges to San Antonio ratepayers, probably resulting in higher monthly bills for years or even decades. A loss also could mean CPS would be stuck with the legal fees for those the utility has sued.

Ramirez joined CPS in 2015 after working as general counsel for Fiesta Restaurant Group, the parent company of Taco Cabana. She also worked at the corporate law firm Haynes and Boone after receiving a law degree from the University of Maryland.

While outside law firms are working on the litigation, Ramirez said, shell have a tremendous amount of involvement.

The in-house counsel really does function as a liaison between the enterprise itself and our outside counsel that are really helping us push all of our interests forward, she said.

Gold-Williams estimated CPS will spend about $10 million this year on the three outside law firms it has retained. The utility hired the international firm Dentons, as well as Austin-based Scott Douglass & McConnico and the San Antonio firm Chasnoff, Mungia, Valkenaar, Pepping and Stribling.

Courtesy: CPS Energy /

It is one of the most monumental legal strategies that weve ever deployed, Gold-Williams said.

She called the legal fees an investment.

If you make a $10 investment and you save yourself $1,000, thats what were doing here, she said.

The expected cost of CPS legal fight is 10 times what the city of San Antonio has budgeted to spend on outside lawyers each year for the past five. In a category titled professional fees and services  which includes outside counsel, professional studies and other expenses  the city each year since 2017 has budgeted just more than $1 million.

CPS also said Thursday that executive Fred Bonewell will be promoted to chief operating officer. That role was last held by Cris Eugster, who left this year to become CEO at a private energy company.

Bonewell will focus on power generation and carrying out CPS FlexPower Bundle, the utilitys plan to replace aging gas-fired power plants with new generation  possibly more renewable energy sources or another natural gas plant.

Bonewell formerly worked for Florida Power & Light, Louisville Gas & Electric and the Enel Group in Rome. He joined CPS in 2015.

These are two incumbents, Gold-Williams said of Ramirez and Bonewell. We didnt pick anybody off the street. We got people who were talented energy professionals who know what theyre doing.

Gary Gold, CPS chief financial officer, announced last month that hes retiring at the end of June. Cory Kuchinsky, formerly a vice president at CPS, took over Golds job as CFO.

On ExpressNews.com: With utility eyeing rate increase, new CPS Energy Rate Advisory Committee begins biweekly meetings

The steady turnover among CPS management in recent months has fueled speculation about Gold-Williams job security.

After Shellmans resignation, CPS Trustee Janie Gonzalez alluded to disagreements over organizational change between Gold-Williams and employees that spurred the departures. The nature of any disagreements is not clear, however, and Gonzalez last week voiced support for Gold-Williams.

But when Nirenberg was asked this week whether he has confidence in Gold-Williams  who has been CEO since 2015  he demurred.

We are again working towards ensuring that our award-winning utility fights for consumers, and that Paula is continuing to fight on their behalf, he said.

diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net
FILE - In this March 21, 2019 file photo, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega speaks next to first lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo during the inauguration ceremony of a highway overpass in Managua, Nicaragua. Nicaraguas National Police have arrested on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, two more potential challengers to President Ortega, the third and fourth opposition pre-candidates for the Nov. 7 elections detained in the past week.
San Antonio is getting more health care jobs with a boost from a state grant.

QTC Management, which conducts medical and disability exams, received $849,000 from the state through the Texas Enterprise Fund to establish an operational service center in San Antonio, according to Gov. Greg Abbott.

The grant also includes financial incentives for the company to hire military veterans, according to Abbott. QTC will be eligible for an additional $1,000 per job filled by a veteran during the first year of job creation.

The project is expected to generate 252 jobs and more than $3 million in capital investment.

QTC, a subsidiary of Leidos Holdings, provides disability and occupational health examination services in all 50 states for veterans, federal employees and the commercial industry. Two weeks ago, QTC was awarded a $110 million contract to provide fitness for duty medical exams for FBI employees and career applicants.

CEO Larry Schaefer said the company is excited to expand its operational services in San Antonio. More than 1,700 experienced clinical, corporate and operational associates are employed at 90 clinics nationwide to provide employment-focused medical exams and diagnostic testing services. Additionally, Schaefer emphasized, the company works with 12,000 physicians and health care professionals.

William Luther /Staff photographer

The new operational service center will be at 4406 Piedras Drive West, near QTCs San Antonio clinic.

Our foundation as Military City USA, paired with a strong healthcare and tech workforce, made San Antonio extremely competitive for QTCs expansion, said Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, San Antonio Economic Development Foundation President and CEO. QTC will grow its Texas office in San Antonio to approximately 700 professionals directly serving our nations military reservists and National Guard personnel.

laura.garcia@express-news.net
Making strong bricks on Earth is hard. Making strong bricks on the moon is harder.

But some researchers in a University of Texas at San Antonio laboratory are working to make it possible. Theyre studying how to melt moon rocks, and the knowledge they glean could someday help humans build lunar outposts.

A moon base requires a place to land, and one concept for building such sites envisions robots melting moon dust, or regolith, to create special bricks. Think robots with built-in furnaces and specialized nozzles doing large-scale 3D printing with molten moon dust.

In April, San Antonio-based Astroport Space Technologies, a division of space startup Exploration Architecture, or XArc, received a $136,000 NASA Small Business Technology Transfer deal to develop a prototype furnace and nozzle by next June.

Astroports main partner in the endeavor is UTSA, and thats where Alan Whittington, a professor of petrology and planetary geology, and his team of graduate students come in. Theyre learning about moon rock melting points, viscosity and other chemical and physical properties.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio firm is working on moon launch pads for NASA

Our collaboration with UTSA with the applied research Alan and his team are doing for us is instrumental to Astroports objectives of solidification of lunar regolith material, said Sam Ximenes, founder and CEO of XArc and Astroport. That material can be transformed into durable bricks for our surface construction applications.

The data that researchers are collecting will help Astroport understand how much energy it will need to run the furnaces and which types of moon dust work best.

Courtesy image

What were working on is the ideal recipe to make the lowest-cost, lowest-energy, strongest brick, said Whittington, 48. Were trying to optimize the recipe.

Thats easier said than done.

The first problem is the scientists dont have any moon rocks.

Obviously, we cant use actual lunar soil, Whittington said. Samples exist on the Earth, but theyre priceless and locked away.

So researchers are using the next best thing: Earth rocks that mimic lunar chemical and physical properties. Some of the samples come from the Knippa Quarry off Texas 90 between Sabinal and Uvalde.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio company working with military, SpaceX to move cargo anywhere in world in an hour or less

Most of these things that were working with are good physical simulants in that theyre the right size with mostly crystals and a bit of glass, but each one of them has a different chemical composition, he said. The regolith on the moon has different compositions in different places, so were studying the different simulants that are available and trying to figure out which ones are going to be the best match.

The next problem is melting the samples.

Besides lab coats, Whittington and Anis Parsapoor, 42, a post-doctoral researcher, must don welder helmet-like face masks and thick, arm-length gloves before opening the mini fridge-sized furnace sitting on a lab worktable.

One of them slowly opens the furnace door while the other uses special tongs to either place or remove a crucible holding a small sample of lunar soil simulant. The crucible, a $5,000 tumbler-sized cup made of platinum and rhodium, can survive temperatures up to 4,000 degrees.

They leave the sample in the furnace for about 20 minutes.

When Parsapoor opens the door to remove the sample, the furnaces bright orange light fills the room. Even from 15 feet away, the heat can be felt.

On ExpressNews.com: This is not SpaceX property - this is my property: SpaceX looks to recast South Texas town as Starbase

Whittington pours the lavalike substance onto a metal plate. It glows orange and fades to a sort of glossy black glass as it cools.

While the molten stone is cooling, researchers must be cautious. Whittington said the thermal stresses can cause the stone to explode. Soon after pouring, the cooling stone made a sound like glass breaking and a piece slid across the tray.

Thats not exploding, thats more like enthusiastic cracking, he said. It didnt shoot like 10 feet across the room  thats exploding.

Whittington said the moons geology is interesting because not much has happened there for the past 3 billion years besides meteorites slamming into the lunar surface.

On ExpressNews.com: 7 times the speed of sound: UTSA goes hypersonic to study the next generation of flight

Theres no atmosphere. Theres no weathering. Theres no transport by wind or anything like that, he said. It just sits there and gets bombarded with different-sized things. Every now and again, weve got a large impact and that can actually melt the surface.

Those impact melts create a different substance thats glassier than the moons original rock, which is crystalline.

Whittington said the moons surface is composed of two main components. The plains mare is basalt, and the highlands are composed primarily of feldspar. Humans will have to understand both materials because there are different compositions of the two in different places on the moon.

I would be surprised if SpaceX and Blue Origin hasnt thought about this, Whittington said of the work. What I think Astroport is hoping to do, as far as I can tell, is to become a service company for the infrastructure on the moon.

Brandon Lingle writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. brandon.lingle@express-news.net
Red-Cooked Beef Short Rib at the new Chinese-American restaurant Best Quality Daughter at the Pearl caught the attention of The New York Times last month, with an article that detailed its elaborate braise and traced co-chef and co-owner Jennifer Hwa Dobbertins family restaurant history from Taiwan to San Antonio.

Here, shes writing new chapters of that history with co-chef and co-owner Quealy Watson, her partner in the Pearl food hall kiosk Tenko Ramen and now Best Quality Daughter, which opened in November in the cottage-style former home of The Granary Cue and Brew.

That beef rib, a massive single bone as big as one of those dino ribs at a barbecue joint, is worth the national press. It showed up to the table like a rock star, draped in a mahogany gown of glaze thats sweet, smoky and as aromatic as a spice bazaar and followed by an entourage of herbs, Bibb lettuce, a rainbow of pickles and sauce bowls. Tender enough to pull apart with chopsticks, the ribs a DIY kit for ssam-style lettuce wraps, enough for four people and more than enough to justify its $60 pricetag.

Mike Sutter /Staff

Beyond the showboat rib, the menu brought both surprises and solid standouts. Nobody in town makes anything like Thai curry baba ganoush, a massive platter of air-crisp rice chips still popping hot from the kitchen, served with bubbling eggplant curry that was nothing at all like baba ganoush, but who cares? It was lush and creamy and turned those rice chips into an Asian-style twist on chips and salsa I can get behind.

The fragrant richness of curry also swirled through a hybrid version of dan dan noodles, a dish of pasta with spicy ground pork thats usually a study in the power and potency of chile oil. But the lush curry gave it layers of sweet earthiness that both grounded it and let it fly. In a more familiar vein, salt-and-pepper shrimp brought the simple pleasures of flash-fried shrimp, meant to be eaten tail and all, executed here with precision and a spicy, colorful dress of chiles and scallions, cilantro and lime.

On ExpressNews.com: Cheap thrills, not much else, at Cerveceria Chapultepec, a one-price Mexican eatery near the Pearl

The restaurant draws its name from a line in the film The Joy Luck Club, referring to the relationships between Chinese-American women and their Chinese mothers. Its a solid premise for a restaurant with its roots in tradition and branches that go wherever they please. And its a beautiful spot, a total transformation of the former barbecue shops log cabin aesthetic, crafted by some of the citys best designers and architects.

Theres a Southern-style sun porch, an upholstered gossip den and a main dining room bathed in a rosy glow thats both kitschy and comforting. You can play spot-the-landmark on the cool custom San Antonio wallpaper by the bar, itself a neon-lit blend of modernist boutique and meth lab.

Mike Sutter /Staff

From that bar comes cocktails employing plum wine, five-spice bitters and chrysanthemum syrup among other singular ingredients. The best of those cocktails was called Drinking Alone with the Moon, deploying Japanese whisky liqueur and brandy to turbocharge the florals of plum and star anise. In this charmed setting, a rum-spiked Thai iced tea with tapioca boba pearls made an ideal after-dinner drink for a clientele that would rather hang at a bubble tea bar than a stuffy sitting room.

Best Quality Daughter lets you accessorize its conspicuously branded chopsticks, coasters and plates with solid, colorful dishes like deep purple Sichuan sticky eggplant, flashy green gai lan Chinese broccoli all squeaky-fresh in tangy brown oyster sauce, even vegan potstickers made with Impossible Burger meat that tastes and feels like youre not missing a thing.

On ExpressNews.com: Review: Brasserie Mon Chou Chou at the Pearl rates a near-perfect French restaurant experience

But one accessory clashed with all the others. Shallots fried knobby and hard like salted shrapnel were sprinkled across an array of dishes, from gai lan to crab fried rice and miso ginger noodles to wontons, smashed cucumbers and snap peas  a careless garnish that compromised everything it touched. Some it wrecked.

Some never stood a chance, anyway. Smashed cucumbers werent smashed at all, just sliced and overdressed with tahini and too much chile oil. Soggy shrimp wontons disintegrated on touch, and wok-charred snap peas were buried under so much Parmesan cheese and overdressed arugula that they failed in their mission to add a contrasting touch of green to the fat and fire around them.

Mike Sutter /Staff

The short, smart menu carried its Chinese-American mission with grace, for the most part. Crispy egg rolls got a creative spin with crab boudin. Fried shiitake mushrooms wore a golden coat of breaded armor with a refreshing basil yogurt dip. Mochi cheddar hush puppies had the heft and bounce of Southern spoon bread. And cashew chicken could walk the wok with the best Chinese kitchens.

Best Quality Daughter *** 602 Ave. A at the Pearl, 210-819-4236, bestqualitydaughter.com Quick bite: Stylish Chinese-American restaurant at the Pearl from Tenko Ramen chefs Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin and Quealy Watson Hit: Red-Cooked Beef Short Rib, Panang Curry Dan Dan Noodles, Drinking Alone with the Moon cocktail Miss: Shrimp wontons, crab fried rice, smashed cucumbers Hours: Lunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Dinner 5-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 5-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Dine-in and curbside available. Price range: Snacks, egg rolls and potstickers $6-$14; vegetable dishes, $10-14; noodle and rice dishes, $15-$25; large entrees, $18-$60; desserts, $4-$7 Alcohol: Cocktails, wine and beer ***** Excellent, an almost perfect experience **** Good, among the best in the city *** Average, with a few standouts ** Poor, with a redeeming factor or two * Bad, nothing to recommend Express-News dining critics pay for all meals. See More Collapse

For its style and strong chef lineage, Best Quality Daughter could do better on the way to best.

msutter@express-news.net | Twitter: @fedmanwalking | Instagram: @fedmanwalking
WASHINGTON (AP)  The cicadas were flying. The reporters hoping to join the president in Europe were not.

Reporters traveling to the United Kingdom for President Joe Biden's first overseas trip were delayed seven hours after their chartered plane was overrun by cicadas.

The Washington, D.C., area is among the many parts of the country that have been swarmed by Brood X cicadas, a large emergence of the loud 17-year insects that take to dive-bombing onto moving vehicles and unsuspecting passersby. There are trillions of them in the Washington, Maryland and Virginia region, said University of Maryland entomologist Paula Shrewsbury.

Even Biden wasnt spared. The president brushed a cicada from the back of his neck as he chatted with his Air Force greeter after arriving at Joint Base Andrews for Wednesdays flight.

Watch out for the cicadas, Biden then told reporters. I just got one. It just got me.

The bugs also tried to stow away on Air Force Two on Sunday when Vice President Kamala Harris flew to Guatemala. The cicadas were caught hiding in folds of the shirts of a Secret Service agent and a photographer, and escorted off the plane before takeoff.

The cicadas  which sing to attract mates with science-fiction-sounding hums  seem to be attracted to other noises, entomologists said. That could be what happened with the plane.

The loud machine-made noise fools cicadas who interpret the noise as a cicada chorus that they want to join and they fly towards it, Shrewsbury said. I have noted when airplanes fly over my house, the cicadas increase their chorusing sound level, potentially competing with the aircraft noise.

It was unclear how cicadas disrupted the mechanics of the press plane. Weather and crew rest issues also contributed to the flight delay late Tuesday. Ultimately, the plane was swapped for another one, and the flight took off shortly after 4 a.m. on Wednesday.

Now Playing: Video: Associated Press

We'll, why wouldn't the cicadas want to to go to the U.K. with the president of the United States? asked University of Maryland entomologist Mike Raupp. Periodic cicadas are mostly in the United States with two tiny exceptions in Asia. They are not in Europe. At least not yet.

This is not the first time the cicadas have caused havoc for a presidential event or been political fodder.

In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt, known for a booming voice, was nearly drowned out in an address at Arlington National Cemetery.

Eighty-five years later  five cicada cycles  President Ronald Reagan in a radio address talked about how Washington was overrun and compared the harmless flying insects to big spenders.

I think most everyone would agree, things will be much more pleasant when the cicadas go back underground, Reagan said.

In a 2004 attack ad, Republicans attacked Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, now Biden's special climate adviser, by comparing him to noisy cicadas that disappear.

The three previous White House residents  George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump  had run-ins with pesky house flies, said University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum. And then there's the fly that perched on Vice President Mike Pence's head during a live vice presidential debate last year, she said.

The press plane is arranged with the assistance of the White House and carries journalists at their expense. There was not expected to be any impact on news coverage of Biden's visit.
KIN MAN HUI/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

A San Antonio police officer was fired for using profane and derogatory comments while speaking with a woman over the phone last October, according to suspension records.

Former officer Lee Biegert was on the phone with the assistant funeral director for the Funeral Caring funeral home when he was overheard cursing at the woman before using a racial slur, the Firefighters and Police Civil Service Commission said.
Three San Antonio police officers were suspended for their roles in an incident that led to the shooting death of an armed man, according to suspension records.

The man, later identified as 44-year-old Victor Sanchez, was shot and killed by police during a barricade situation at a West Side apartment on Sept. 22, 2020.

The suspension records said the three SAPD officers  officer Richard Cuellar, Sgt. Anastacio Hernandez and Capt. Jorge Suarez  failed to use sound judgment in the situation and acted incompetently.

On ExpressNews.com: 'I loved him a lot': Family speaks out after West Side man shot, killed by San Antonio police

Records also said Cuellar led a team of eight officers into the apartment against the advice of other officers at the scene and took on the role of negotiator despite not having formal training.

The officers initially responded to a call about a burglary at the Westway Apartments, located at 5627 Culebra Road, and arrived to find the apartment empty and began to walk back to their vehicles when they heard a gunshot and a woman scream, the Express-News previously reported.

When the officers returned to the apartment, Sanchez barricaded himself after a woman and her five children escaped the apartment safely, police said.

The officers attempted to get Sanchez to drop his weapon and exit the apartment, but he refused, police said. When the man retreated into the bathroom, the eight officers entered the apartment, according to police. Six of the officers then shot Sanchez multiple times when he pointed his gun at them, police said.

"His actions compromised the tactics and safety of all other officers in the vicinity, including himself. The long, imprudent negotiation of the barricaded suspect led by Officer Cuellar resulted in the armed suspect eventually being shot and killed," the records stated.

Records said Hernandez and Suarez failed to remain attentive and evaluate the deployment of the officers into the apartment and allowed Cuellar to take the role of negotiator. They also allowed another officer to enter a hostile situation armed with a less-than-lethal bean bag shotgun, records said.

Cuellar received a 22-day suspension that was served in March and April; Hernandez was given a 30-day suspension that was served in April and May; and Suarez was given a 45-day suspension that was served in April and May.

taylor.pettaway@express-news.net
DALLAS (AP)  The Texas bar association is investigating whether state Attorney General Ken Paxton's failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election based on bogus claims of fraud amounted to professional misconduct.

The State Bar of Texas initially declined to take up a Democratic Party activist's complaint that Paxton's petitioning of the U.S. Supreme Court to block Joe Bidens victory was frivolous and unethical. But a tribunal that oversees grievances against lawyers overturned that decision late last month and ordered the bar to look into the accusations against the Republican official.

The investigation is yet another liability for the embattled attorney general, who is facing a years-old criminal case, a separate, newer FBI investigation, and a Republican primary opponent who is seeking to make electoral hay of the various controversies. It also makes Paxton one of the highest profile lawyers to face professional blowback over their roles in Donald Trump's effort to delegitimize his defeat.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office did not respond to requests for comment. Paxton's defense lawyer, Philip Hilder, declined to comment.

Kevin Moran, the 71-year-old president of the Galveston Island Democrats, shared his complaint with The Associated Press along with letters from the State Bar of Texas and the Board of Disciplinary Appeals that confirm the investigation. He said Paxton's efforts to dismiss other states' election results was a wasteful embarrassment for which the attorney general should lose his law license.

He wanted to disenfranchise the voters in four other states, said Moran. It's just crazy.

Texas' top appeals lawyer, who would usually argue the state's cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, notably did not join Paxton in bringing the election suit. The high court threw it out.

Paxton has less than a month to reply to Moran's claim that the lawsuit to overturn the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was misleading and brought in bad faith, according to a June 3 letter from the bar. All four of the battleground states voted for Biden in November.

From there, bar staff will take up the case in a proceeding that resembles the grand jury stage of a criminal investigation. Bar investigators are empowered to question witnesses, hold hearings and issue subpoenas to determine whether a lawyer likely committed misconduct. That finding then launches a disciplinary process that could ultimately result in disbarment, suspension or a lesser punishments. A lawyer also could be found to have done nothing wrong.

The bar dismisses thousands of grievances each year and the Board of Disciplinary Appeals, 12 independent lawyers appointed by the Texas Supreme Court, overwhelmingly uphold those decisions. Reversals like that of Moran's complaint happened less than 7% of the time last year, according to the bar's annual report.

Claire Reynolds, a spokeswoman and lawyer for the bar, said state law prohibits the agency from commenting on complaints unless they result is public sanctions or a court action.

The bar's investigation is confidential and likely to take months. But it draws renewed attention to Paxton's divisive defense of Trump as he and Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush vie for the former presidents endorsement in the Republican primary to run for attorney general in 2022.

On the Democratic side, Joe Jaworski, the former mayor of Galveston, has said he'll run. Moran said Jaworski is a friend but that he played no role in the complaint against Paxton.

Paxton's election challenge was filled with claims that failed to withstand basic scrutiny. A succession of other judges and state elections officials have refuted claims of widespread voter fraud, and Trump's own Justice Department found no evidence of fraud that could have changed the election's outcome.

Nonetheless, Paxton's lawsuit won him political and financial support from Trump loyalists at a time when fresh allegations of criminal wrongdoing led many in the state GOP to keep their distance from the attorney general.

Last fall, eight of Paxton's top deputies mounted an extraordinary revolt in which they accused him of abusing his office in the service of a wealthy donor. The FBI is investigating their claims.

Paxton has denied wrongdoing and separately pleaded not guilty in a state securities fraud case that's languished since 2015. He has also used his office in ways that have benefited allies and other donors.

The new criminal allegations prompted an exodus of the top lawyers from Paxton's office. But Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins was still serving as Texas' top appellate lawyer at the time of the election lawsuit.

Although the solicitor general usually handles cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, it was a private Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who brought the election challenge with Paxton. Hawkins has since moved to private practice. A spokesman for his firm said we cant help you" with questions about why he didn't handle the suit.
Patti Radle, for decades a leading figure in the citys educational, political and nonprofit worlds, is stepping down as board president of the San Antonio Independent School District.

Radle, 73, a former SAISD elementary school teacher, has represented District 5 on the school board since 2011. She was voted president in 2015, the year Superintendent Pedro Martinez was hired.

Radle isnt leaving the board; her term as a trustee runs until 2023. But she said she will not seek reelection as president when the trustees select officers on June 21.

Radle made the announcement at Mondays board meeting and recommended District 6 Trustee Christina Martinez as her replacement.

As board president, Radle helped lead the district through a period of dramatic change marked by improved state accountability scores, higher graduation rates, a record-setting bond issue and the struggle to educate students safely and effectively during the coronavirus pandemic.

She said now feels like the right time to step down and facilitate a smooth transition to new leadership.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio ISD superintendent strikes note of optimism after difficult year

I have other things that Ive had to not totally put aside, but they're not getting the attention I wish they would, Radle said. Ive been doing it for six years, and I am really happy to have been able to work with (Martinez) for six years, to be a good supporter and really work with him. But I think it is time to pass it on.

Martinez said Radles leadership has been instrumental in bringing about positive change at the district. He described her as a dedicated and revered advocate for children and families.

If you dont know her  and theres not a lot of people that dont know her  she brings a level of respect and credibility, he said. She has been a champion for our district; she has been a champion for all the causes that we have taken up.

On ExpressNews.com: 2 of 3 incumbents win re-election to SAISD board; Ozuna and Sorensen to join them

Christina Martinez was appointed to the board in 2017 to fill an unexpired term and was elected in 2019. She is the mother of two SAISD students and is vice president of external relations at Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas.

Radle said she has known Martinez for decades  Martinez was once a classmate of Radles daughter.

Shes a strong person. She listens well to others. Shell listen to all sides and make her decision in terms of whats the best thing, focused on our students and our families and not from the direction of where she gets the most pressure, Radle said. I feel like shes going to get the support.

Pedro Martinez said he has a lot of respect for Trustee Martinez and said she is committed to ensuring that district families are heard and their opinions valued.

She has been one of the strongest advocates for our parents, he said. If she is voted in as president, I think thats what shes going to bring to the table, and I think its something that we all need to work on to get stronger.

Radle taught at Brackenridge Elementary School in SAISD for 12 years and was a teacher for more than 20 years in all. She represented District 5 on the San Antonio City Council from 2003 to 2007.

Radle said that stepping down as school board president will also allow her to spend more time at Inner City Development, the West Side nonprofit that she and her husband Rod Radle have led as volunteer directors since 1971.

The organization provides food, clothing, emergency services and educational and recreational activities to families in one of San Antonios poorest neighborhoods.

Radle said she wants to continue that work but will start transitioning away from that role as well.

For my husband and I, our lifes work has been around the nonprofit we direct, Radle said. But we are also looking to turn over leadership and kind of get out of the business office, get out of the administration part of it. Its time to pass that on.

Radle said she has not decided whether to run for reelection as an SAISD trustee in 2023.

Honestly, if I have a lot of fun in the next two years, I sure will, Radle said. That door is open.

andy.picon@hearst.com | Twitter: @andpicon
Since The New York Times 1619 Project was published two years ago, Republicans across the nation have rallied against it  rejecting the projects central ideas that slavery was far more integral to the countrys founding than commonly acknowledged, and that its remnants have a lasting impact on society.

Now, Texas lawmakers have countered with a new effort to promote patriotic education  the 1836 Project, named for the year Texas declared independence from Mexico. As Gov. Greg Abbott signed the project into law this week, he declared that we must never forget why Texas became so exceptional in the first place.

The measure, House Bill 2497, earned bipartisan support this session, passing the House by a vote of 124 to 19, and 22 to 9 in the Senate. It establishes a panel of nine political appointees tasked with educating about Texas history, whose work will mostly be found in informational pamphlets given to Texans receiving drivers licenses.

The committee will promote awareness of Texas past as it relates to the history of prosperity and democratic freedom in this state, according to the bill.

But critics fear that goal  encouraging patriotism and highlighting the states successes  will leave out key parts of Texas history, including much of its history of racism.

RELATED: Texas Republicans target critical race theory with bill to muzzle teachers on racism, sexism

Those concerns are heightened by another education bill on Abbotts desk that would significantly minimize lessons about systemic racism in Texas public schools.

Patriotic education isnt education; its propaganda, tweeted Kevin M. Kruse, a history professor at Princeton University. And its honestly not that patriotic to raise the next generation on whitewashed, simpleminded half-truths just because it makes you feel good.

Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound and the author of the bill, said the project aims to teach about all parts of Texas past, good and bad, and accused liberals of trying to divide the country by only focusing on negative aspects of American history.

This is about bringing us together as Texans, Parker said on a conservative radio show Wednesday morning. This is about all of the things that bind us together and celebrating those. Yes, we have terrible things in our history. Weve had wonderful things in our history. But we cant pick and choose  we cant go and cancel some part of our history or revise this or that. All of our history needs to be taught.

Teachers warn of chilling effect in classroom

But ignoring unsavory parts of history is exactly what Democrats and other critics have said Republicans are trying to do. The new education law, House Bill 3979, targets critical race theory  an academic movement-turned-buzzword among Republicans  and bars teachers from discussing some of its core tenets, including the existence of white privilege and systemic racism.

As Gov. Abbott proudly signed the 1836 Project into law, and states across the U.S. are banning teaching that centers slavery and truthfully recounts our nations racist past, history is again instructive: Thiss part of a legacy of the government banning the discussion of slavery, Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project, wrote on Twitter.

HB 2497 specifies themes in Texas history that the panel should cover, including: Native American and Black history; Spanish and Mexican heritage in Texas; the states War for Independence; the Juneteenth celebration when slaves learned they were free by law; and the U.S. annexation of Texas. But the depth and framing of those subjects will depend largely on the committee members, who will be appointed by the states three GOP leaders: Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan.

TEXAS TAKE: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday

The committee will also create a gubernatorial award to celebrate student knowledge of the states history and advise state agencies on how they relay historical facts in museums, landmarks, state parks and other areas.

Brian Franklin, the associate director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, said that while the 1836 Project is pure culture-wars inflaming rhetoric, the law could also provide an opportunity for educators to highlight Texas founding documents in the classroom. The documents, which clearly include racist language and principles, speak for themselves, he said.

The Texas Constitution, adopted in 1836, included multiple provisions to preserve slavery, oppose emancipation and deny permanent residency to any free person of African descent, either in whole or in part.

In 1861, Texas seceded from the union with the stated intent of holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery  the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits  a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time.

But HB 3979 is a much stronger bill that could have a chilling effect in classrooms, Franklin said. The bill, which also targets the 1619 Project, instructs teachers to only describe slavery and racism as deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to, the authentic founding principles of the United States.

That presents a challenge for educators, Franklin said, and offered an example: How could teachers say that slavery wasnt integral to the founding of the United States, but still describe the life of Sally Hemings, a Black woman enslaved and raped by former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson?

The legislation requires that educators delve into both of those figures, alongside other founding persons of the United States. House Democrats had amended the bill during the debate process to also highlight writings primarily by people of color and women, including Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony.

If you just study the lives and the writings of the people that theyve mentioned in the bill itself, what becomes clear is that they were central to American values  both freedom and slavery, both equality and racism, he said. And so the only way to deal honestly with history is to take both and do both. You cant have one or the other.

cayla.harris@express-news.net
The San Antonio City Council ardently makes the claim that it is a data-driven council. We rely on experts from local universities, economists and independent agencies to provide us with research and data to influence community actions and regional policies.

The studies range from cost-benefit analysis of local initiatives to budget survey analysis and myriad studies in between. On May 5, City Council met to review a scientific survey conducted by ETC Institute with the objective of gathering input from the community on San Antonio police services.

The purpose of the survey was to better understand residents expectations of encounters with the Police Department and the appropriate role the Police Department could have in meeting the publics safety needs. To the surprise of a few council members, the majority of survey respondents thought the visibility of police in neighborhoods should be increased.

This is a position I have stated several times, based on conversations with neighbors in my district and across the community. From the survey results, it seems to be the sentiment from most people in our city. Our focus should now be on increasing our police presence.

Lisa Krantz / Staff photographer

Other questions in the survey included perceptions of safety during the day and night, satisfaction among residents, and community expectations. I encourage all to read the survey results to get a clear understanding of the relationship between the San Antonio Police Department and the public it serves.

This survey serves as a great starting point in the conversation of what SAPD does and its interaction with residents. While I am pleased the findings show that the residents in San Antonio are satisfied with their Police Department, I am concerned about the reaction of some City Council members.

Again, we pride ourselves on being a data-driven council; tune in on any given Thursday and you will likely hear that phrase. We have taken the recommendations of previous studies at face value, because the authors of those studies have been experts on the subject matter. They have the expertise and conducted studies dozens of times, if not more.

However, this was the first time that I have seen council members debate the findings of a study conducted by a legitimate firm. It was not a matter of opinion, which everyone is entitled to, and I respect every opinion put forth on this topic, but some city leaders attempted to disparage the results of a scientific study because it failed to fit their narrative.

At our May 5 council session, I heard some members say neighbors wanted more police presence because they feel unsafe as a result of inadequate street lighting and other lack of infrastructure. This ignores that their constituents voiced their opinion for more police presence in their neighborhoods.

I am a major proponent of infrastructure, and I have supported all efforts to increase funding toward infrastructure issues in San Antonio; however, this was not the intent of the survey nor the question at hand. The survey was a simple, straightforward attempt to determine the opinions of the people of San Antonio regarding their Police Department.

We all have a duty to ask questions and better understand the validity of research studies that are presented; however, I do not agree with undermining a study to fit a narrative. It is unfair to our residents to make them feel they do not know what is best for them. We are civil servants elected to listen and serve; we are not here to tell our residents their opinions are wrong. When research study results are repudiated, we open the door for the validity of these studies in the future to be undervalued.

City Councilman Clayton Perry represents District 10.
FILE - In this April 22, 2021 file photo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson listens to U.S. President Joe Biden, on screen, during the opening session of the virtual global Leaders Summit on Climate, as he sits in the Downing Street Briefing Room in central London. Their nations may have a famed special relationship but President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet for the first time Thursday, June 10, against a backdrop of differences both political and personal.
San Antonio officials could create higher standards for high-profile companies weighing whether to relocate here to obtain lucrative tax subsidies from the city.

Under a new set of proposed guidelines, prospective employers would have to pay workers at least $15 an hour, promote gender equality in the workplace and invest more in their own businesses to get tax breaks and cash grants.

Companies relocating to San Antonio could get even more in city dollars if they set up shop in poorer parts of the city and commit to hiring more locals.

The nationwide practice of using tax dollars to lure private companies to states and cities has in recent years become more controversial as critics scrutinize whether companies truly need the money and communities get a proper return-on-investment in the form of higher-paying jobs.

The proposal will help San Antonio stay competitive while not giving away the farm, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said during a City Council briefing on the matter Wednesday.

I think that sends a signal that were no longer going to be relying on tax abatements to bring in businesses here, Nirenberg said.

On ExpressNews.com: Petco got $900K to bring 400 jobs to San Antonio. They failed, but the city won't ask for a refund

The proposed guidelines would give companies greater hurdles to clear in order to get tax subsidies.

Under the current policy, employers have to create 50 jobs or invest at least $10 million into their business to qualify for a property tax break.

If City Council approves the proposed guidelines, companies would have to meet that minimum jobs target and invest $200 million.

At least 15 percent of the companys workforce would have to be made up of graduates from Nirenbergs Ready to Work program  the $154 million sales tax initiative aimed at helping out-of-work residents get higher-paying jobs.

Employers would have to prove they have gender pay parity practices, meaning they must show they promote women into leadership positions and provide decent maternity care benefits, among other criteria, Assistant City Manager Alex Lopez said.

Thats what were going to be looking for, Lopez said.

Companies would have to pay a living wage of $15 an hour  a bump from $12.74 under current city policy.

The city could award more subsidies if companies meet other criteria. For example, if a company decides to locate in a poorer part of town, they could receive tax breaks and grants over a longer period of time.

District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda, who represents the citys far West Side and parts of the South Side, chafed at that. Locating in a poorer part of the city should be a requirement, not something an employer does for more money, she said.

It doesnt mean youre going to get a deal, Havrda said.

But other council members hinted that shouldnt matter. District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia, who represents the Southwest Side, recalled a meeting she and her staff had with a developer looking to build on the South Side.

This developer said, When investors hear the South Side, they shut down, they dont want to hear it, Rocha Garcia said.

Nirenberg didnt let that faze him.

Those are late birds that dont get the worm, Nirenberg said. Let them do that.

District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez pointed out that ponying up more subsidies for companies that located in poor areas will undoubtedly drive gentrification in those parts of town.

What youre going to see is poor people in blue-collar jobs getting pushed out of this economy, Pelaez said. We have to be honest with folks that this is part of this conversation.

On ExpressNews.com: How skeptical Texas lawmakers put an end to a controversial tax incentive program

Prospective employers could also get more in subsidies if 50 percent of their new hires already live in San Antonio.

To District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry, that seems too restrictive and would take leverage away from companies to bring in their own existing employees  who then buy homes and contribute to the citys property tax base. All of these potential new requirements could scare new businesses off, he argued.

I think were shorting ourselves by taking that flexibility away from companies, Perry said.

City Manager Erik Walsh isnt worried.

At the end of the day, if someones going to move to San Antonio because of all the great things and potential opportunity, this isnt going to make or break them, Walsh said.

City staff also proposed adding some of the same criteria for local small businesses to receive city tax subsidies  which the city hasnt offered before. Smaller firms would only have to create five new jobs to qualify.

But they could get more subsidies if they meet other criteria, including if they are owned by a person of color or woman.

Perry complained that a small business thats owned by a white man wouldnt get as lucrative of a package  though they could still earn points on other matters.

I dont think that the color of skin should preclude you from getting up to a certain percentage for operating a business or trying to start a business or grow a business, Perry said.

District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran shot back  pointing out that communities of color in San Antonio still suffer the lingering effects of racist policies in the 20th century, like redlining.

If there were a way I could add more points for owned by people of color and women, I would, Viagran said.

City Council will vote on the proposed guidelines in August.
Deborah Longoria-Narro envisioned the one-story brick and stone house on a corner lot in the Cibolo Canyons neighborhood on San Antonios far North Side as her dream home.

Im 69 and I wanted one nice, final house to live out my final years, she said. Its a beautiful little lot. Most lots dont have trees. This one happened to have about 10 oaks on it. So I was just completely obsessed with the house.

Longoria-Narro will never get to call the house on Colina Crest home. Builder Empire Communities abruptly terminated her purchase contract at the end of March.

She and Empire have different takes on what triggered the cancellation.

In a letter to Longoria-Narro, Jarves Warren, Empires sale vice president, cited her dissatisfaction with the construction process and harassing calls to other homebuyers in the community as reasons why it terminated the contract.

Courtesy

Longoria-Narro called Empires reasons a pretext for placing the house back on the market for a much higher price. She agreed to pay $343,600 for the house; Empire relisted it for $425,000, she alleged.

When Empire realized the property was more valuable, it kept Ms. Narros money and ousted her from her rights in the property, according to a lawsuit filed against the builder last month.

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With home prices soaring due to the rising cost of building materials and the scarcity of labor and supplies, stories like Longoria-Narros are surfacing.

Prospective home buyers are learning the purchase contracts they signed give home builders significant say when it comes to canceling the agreements or forcing buyers to pay more than the agreed price.

Its impossible to know how often builders invoke that authority. No one tracks that information, though National Association of Home Builders economist Paul Emrath said his organization is hearing anecdotal accounts that suggest its happening more often.

Weve had people mention to us that they are doing it more, he said of home builders terminating contracts. Practically everything theyre doing now is to cope with rising costs.

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer

Still, Emrath downplayed the phenomenon. Its more common for builders to add price-escalation clauses into contracts or use cost-plus pricing, which essentially adds a markup percentage to a builders costs, he said.

A recent NAHB survey of home builders found that their building material costs have shot up 26 percent in the last year. Almost all of the costs are at record highs, said Emrath, vice president of surveys and housing policy research.

Meanwhile, shortages of many of those materials are more widespread now than at any time since the 1990s when the NAHB started tracking them. Lumber, wood panels, appliances, and windows and doors are just some of the materials facing shortages, builders report.

Rising costs for materials are contributing to higher prices for new homes. The median price for a new home in San Antonio was $247,000 in April, an 18 percent increase from a year ago, the San Antonio Board of Realtors reports.

In the San Antonio-New Braunfels area, the median climbed about 9 percent to $280,000 over that 12-month span.

Unprecedented volatility

San Antonio home builder Rialto Homes has been experiencing unprecedented volatility in the cost of construction materials and labor since the fall.

Rialto told some of its buyers last month that it was raising the price on homes they already had agreed to purchase in response to the higher costs.

Rialto informed buyers Rosalinda and Rigoberto Montero in a May 20 letter that the costs to build their four-bedroom, 4-bathroom home in the Preserve at Mission Valley in New Braunfels had risen $75,799. They had agreed to a $653,000 purchase price.

The builder gave the couple the option of sharing the additional cost or canceling the contract. Rialto had agreed to absorb a third of the increased cost, leaving the Monteros on the hook for roughly an additional $50,000 if they chose to proceed.

We were already kind of pushing up against our budget, Rosalinda Montero, 49, said. She and her husband ultimately decided to walk away from the deal. The increase totally blew our budget out of the water.

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Rialto, in explaining why it could increase the price, referred to an addendum in the Monteros sales agreement that compensates it for additional costs incurred if the the couple failed to meet timelines for making structural and deco selections for their home.

The Monteros entered into the sales agreement at the end of last year. The addendum specified the structural selections had to be done within 21 days of the sales agreements signing. Rosalinda Montero said it wasnt until March 11 that they were scheduled for their first appointment  set for April 14.

What really doesnt make sense to me is that I never had control over scheduling those appointments with the design center, she said. They were exclusively made through their salesperson. So I kind of feel a little duped because I think they were dragging out the process to make sure that I wasnt in compliance with those deadlines that were in the contract.

Montero admitted she didnt notice the deadlines imposed by Rialto. In bold letters in the addendum, it states, Unnecessary delays in completing the selection process will extend the completion date; Purchaser may be held responsible for any increased costs occasioned by the delay.

Monteros nieces contract with Rialto also was canceled after it notified her the cost of her home had increased by $40,288. Again, Rialto offered to cover a third of that increase.

Losing less

In our complete history as a homebuilder, Rialto has absorbed cost increases and honored the prices contemplated by the agreements with customers, the builder told the Monteros. Doing so today goes beyond assuming normal business risk and would be materially detrimental to the business and ultimately to you, as the final recipient of the goods being sold.

Rialto co-owner Eyal Avnon denied this was simply a maneuver by the builder to capitalize on the white-hot housing market.

Our motivation is not making more money, he said. Were talking about cutting losses, not making more money. Its about losing less, not about making more.

He didnt know how many of its buyers received a letter similar to the Monteros.

Rialto had not actually started construction on the house for the Monteros. The acre lot the couple chose originally was listed for $97,000. It now lists for $136,000, she said.

When the Monteros declined to pay the increased cost, that triggered a default under the sales agreement. Rialto said the terms of the agreement specified it could keep their $10,000 deposit in the event of a default. Rialto, however, refunded the entire amount in return for the couple agreeing not to take any legal action against it.

We are not mad at Rialto, just disappointed, Montero said. We just wanted them to build our forever-home. We honestly thought that we were diligently meeting their expectations. We just wish they would have met ours.

The Monteros have resumed house hunting and are noticing the higher prices from when they first started their search. They expect to list their current home this summer. They may move into an apartment until they can move into a new home.

One-sided contracts

The contracts builders present to buyers are similar to those used by car dealers and landlords. Known as contracts of adhesion, the terms are set by one party and give the other party little to no room to negotiate.

These contracts are written in such a one-sided way, said San Antonio attorney Kenneth Grubbs, whose practice includes disputes involving home builders. The average consumer cant fight them on the contract.

If a buyer objects to wording in a contract, Grubbs said, the builder will simply say, Go find another builder. Were not accepting any changes.

A Fort Worth-area builder recently cited a clause in one of its contracts  known as a termination of convenience  to cancel a deal. The clause did not allow the buyers to walk, however.

Aledo-based Kenmark Home terminated the contract with Dan and Danielle Ostrowski after it said he became too difficult and even combative in demanding changes and fixes while the house was being built, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported this month.

The Ostrowskis had agreed to pay $416,625 for the white-brick, four-bedroom house in far north Fort Worth. After their contract was canceled, Kenmark immediately put the house back on the market  this time for $526,900, or 26.5 percent more than what the Ostrowskis were going to pay.

Kenmark denied it canceled the contract to boost the price and take advantage of the fervent housing market. Skyrocketing costs for materials and the Ostrowskis refund contributed to the higher listing price, a Kenmark official told the Star-Telegram.

Bonafide dispute

Empire Communities had similar terminology in its contract with Danielle Longoria-Narro, who was nearing a closing on a house in Cibolo Canyon.

Empire said her dissatisfaction with the construction of the house prompted it to exercise its right to terminate the contract. The contract stated that in the event that a bonafide dispute should arise, and it has not been resolved within 10 days, the Seller shall have the right to terminate the contract. The contract didnt give Longoria-Narro the right to cancel, however.

Longoria-Narrro said her complaints included a crack in the concrete that stretched from one side of the house to the other. The builder presented her an engineers letter saying it was OK. She also said a vent hood in the kitchen was installed in the wrong place.

Longoria-Narro acknowledged she complained to a neighbor who was in the process of moving in, using an expletive to describe the storm going on over at her house. Thirty minutes later, she said, Empire representatives told her they were canceling her contract.

I cried and cried and begged them not to cancel, she said. I even sent a note, a text message, to the guy who made the decision. He said, No, were not going to change our minds. Were canceling the contract. Youre not happy. You just make too many complaints about the house.

No one from Empire would comment.

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Termination for a bonafide dispute is an entirely new term to me, said Genevieve Hebert Fajardo, a St. Marys University law professor. And I dont mean that like, Wow, thats interesting. Meaning, that doesnt sound like a legitimate contractual reason to end a contract.

She added shed want to see the contract to know exactly how it allows one side to break the contract.

The reasons Empire gave Longoria-Narro are just excuses to breach the contract so it can sell the house for a higher price, said her San Antonio attorney, William Germany.

After Empire canceled, Germany said, an internet listing had the house priced at $425,000, or almost 24 percent more than the $343,600 that Longoria-Narro was going to pay.

Its a great futures market for a builder, he said. The way Im seeing it, they are hedging their bets on these houses. If the market had bottomed out, they sure as hell would haveheld her feet to the fire and made her pay $343,000.

That doesnt pass the smell test, Germany added.

Longoria-Narro and Empire attempted to mediate their dispute, but it contained a confidentially provision.

Clearly, though, they didnt resolve their differences because she sued the builder for statutory fraud and breach of contract on May 24 in state District Court in San Antonio. She also wants to get back $12,500 she said she paid the builder.

Empire should be made an example of to prevent it from defrauding consumers in the future and to discourage other national builders from doing the same, the suit says.

The contract requires the parties to submit to binding arbitration to settle disputes. Longoria-Narro has asked the court to appoint an arbitrator.

Longoria-Narro has found another builder to construct a home for her near U.S. 281 and Borgfeld Drive, though shes going to have to wait another year before work is completed.

Its about $50,000 more. But its 400 square feet smaller than the home Empire was building for her, she said.

pdanner@express-news.net


Air Montenegro launched commercial operations today, just over six months since the grounding of the countrys former national carrier Montenegro Airlines. Air Montenegro performed its first revenue service from Podgorica to Belgrade this morning, which will be followed by a flight to Tivat from the Serbian capital. The companys CEO, Predrag Todorovic, and Montenegros Minister for Economic Development, Jakov Milatovic, were among the passengers on the inaugural service. "We were founded on February 8 of this year and have been able to commence operations within a few months. We are delighted that Belgrade is our first destination, as it will be one of the main points in our network in the coming period", Mr Todorovic said. Air Montenegro launched commercial operations today, just over six months since the grounding of the countrys former national carrier Montenegro Airlines. Air Montenegro performed its first revenue service from Podgorica to Belgrade this morning, which will be followed by a flight to Tivat from the Serbian capital. The companys CEO, Predrag Todorovic, and Montenegros Minister for Economic Development, Jakov Milatovic, were among the passengers on the inaugural service. "We were founded on February 8 of this year and have been able to commence operations within a few months. We are delighted that Belgrade is our first destination, as it will be one of the main points in our network in the coming period", Mr Todorovic said.





Air Montenegro plans to soon add a second aircraft to its fleet, an Embraer E190 jet leased from German Airways. The aircraft will be on a short-term lease until the second E195 the carrier acquired from the now defunct Montenegro Airlines is fit to fly. The delay in preparing the aircraft for service comes as Montenegro Airlines maintenance division is unable to perform any work on the jet as the company is in bankruptcy. As a result, the new national carrier will be unable to use its services. Instead, its aircraft will now be maintained by Consolidated Aerospace Industries and Austrian Airlines Technik Bratislava until it finalises setting up its own maintenance division.





Lufthansa Systems, which has signed an agreement for operational start-up consulting services with Air Montenegro, says it will lead the new carrier success. In the current times, our industry is continuously facing unfamiliar landscapes. We are therefore particularly proud to support the Government of Montenegro in setting up the countrys new flag carrier in this volatile market environment, Lufthansa Systems CEO, Olivier Krueger, noted. He added, With strategic guidance complemented by our broad airline service portfolio, we are able to serve airlines of all business models, and we are ready to lead Air Montenegro to success as the world evolves to new realities. After an in-depth review of the main challenges and an analysis of the planned strategy, business model and commercial plan, Lufthansa Systems experts will advise the airline on how to achieve operational stability. The consulting services include designing a lean organisational structure with suitable processes, roles and responsibilities, as well as providing a recommendation for a spin-off decision for their maintenance. Furthermore, Lufthansa Systems will provide an adequate set-up for a future operations control centre and a tailored plan for the necessary change management initiatives.





Air Montenegro listed on Belgrade Airport departure board

Commenting on potential cooperation with Air Serbia, Mr Todorovic said the two have mutual respect. "For now, we are completely focused on establishing our operations. We have contact with Air Serbia. Whether we will formalise cooperation at some future point remains to be seen", the CEO noted. He added, "This market is large enough to sustain two carriers". Air Serbia and Montenegro Airlines boasted a wide-ranging codeshare partnership. Commenting on potential cooperation with Lufthansa, Mr Todorovic said it was currently not a priority as part of its consulting agreement with Lufthansa Systems, which operates as a separate company. Air Montenegro has been granted an ICAO Callsign - Mount Eagle. The airline is in the process receiving an IATA designator code by the end of the summer season. It is temporarily using the IATA code W2 until it gets its own. Commenting on potential cooperation with Air Serbia, Mr Todorovic said the two have mutual respect. "For now, we are completely focused on establishing our operations. We have contact with Air Serbia. Whether we will formalise cooperation at some future point remains to be seen", the CEO noted. He added, "This market is large enough to sustain two carriers". Air Serbia and Montenegro Airlines boasted a wide-ranging codeshare partnership. Commenting on potential cooperation with Lufthansa, Mr Todorovic said it was currently not a priority as part of its consulting agreement with Lufthansa Systems, which operates as a separate company. Air Montenegro has been granted an ICAO Callsign - Mount Eagle. The airline is in the process receiving an IATA designator code by the end of the summer season. It is temporarily using the IATA code W2 until it gets its own.





Air Montenegro sales counter at Belgrade Airport








BOSTON (AP)  Archaeologists are giving a grassy hilltop overlooking iconic Plymouth Rock one last look before a historical park is built to commemorate the Pilgrims and the Indigenous people who once called it home.

Braving sweltering heat, a team of about 20 graduate students enrolled in a masters program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston began excavating an undeveloped lot on Cole's Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, this week.

The National Historic Landmark site  which contains the first cemetery used by the Pilgrims after they arrived from England in 1620 and was a Wampanoag village for thousands of years before that  has been poked and prodded numerous times over the past century.

But now, as historical organizations reboot pandemic-stalled plans to construct a permanent memorial they're calling Remembrance Park, this could be the last chance to mine the soil for Native and colonial artifacts.

Coles Hill is among the most sacred land weve got," said Donna Curtin, executive director of the Pilgrim Society & Pilgrim Hall Museum, which owns the tract. We want to make it more than just a grassy, empty lot. We want to engage people. And the archaeology is deeply wedded to the site."

David Landon of UMass-Bostons Fiske Center for Archaeological Research, who's leading the effort, said he's confident his team will recover items of interest from the site.

You dont always get the opportunity to do work at sites that are so significant, he said. We know were going to find stuff  theres no question about that. Anytime you start digging in Plymouth, you find interesting stuff."

Less than 48 hours into the excavation, which is scheduled to run through July 1, the team recovered what Landon calls the debris of daily life": a few Wampanoag artifacts, broken pieces of 1800s pottery, and the bones of cows and pigs  leftovers of a colonist's dinner.

There are hopes for more. A few small homes once stood on the area where they're digging, including an early 1700s mariner's house.

To be built atop the hill overlooking Plymouth's waterfront, Remembrance Park originally was conceived to mark 2020's 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim's 1620 arrival, the founding of Plymouth Colony and the settlers' historic interactions with the Wampanoag people. But then the coronavirus pandemic hit, idling many commemoration events as well as construction.

The newly reimagined park will highlight three periods of epic historical challenge: The Great Dying of 1616-19, when deadly disease brought by other Europeans severely afflicted the Wampanoag people; the first winter of 1620-21, when half of the Mayflower colonists perished of contagious sickness; and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Linda Coombs, a Wampanoag tribal leader and activist, said she's glad attention is being paid to what's largely a forgotten chapter of history.

People are unaware that the Great Dying happened, she said. At school, youre pounded with the story of 50 Pilgrims dying during their first winter. But during the Great Dying, about 50,000 Wampanoags died, as well as who knows how many other tribal people to the north in whats now Maine. Its kind of nice to see those numbers lined up side by side.

Construction is expected to begin late next year or early in 2023 on the park project, said Curtin, whose Pilgrim Hall Museum is partnering with Plymouth 400 Inc., a nonprofit group.

We want to create an interpretive space here where people can engage," she said. The park is intended to acknowledge and preserve what weve all lived through in 2020. Its an opportunity to bring the past and present together in ways we never could have foreseen.

If the archaeologists make any transcendent finds, Landon said he's confident they'll be given more time to complete their work, if only because the townspeople share a sense of stewardship over Plymouth's rich history.

Well learn what we need to learn from the site before any construction takes place," he said.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  The woman who was in a vehicle when members of a federal U.S. Marshals Service task force fatally shot the driver last week said she never saw a gun on the man or in the vehicle, her attorneys said Thursday.

The statement from the woman's attorneys contradicts investigators' claims that Winston Boogie Smith Jr., who was Black, displayed a handgun before officers on the task force opened fire on June 3 in a parking ramp in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood. Authorities have also said evidence indicated Smith fired his gun, saying a handgun and spent cartridge cases were found inside the vehicle.

The woman's attorneys, Christopher Nguyen and Racey Rodne, said their client never saw a gun on Winston Smith leading up to the shooting and she never saw a gun inside the vehicle  at any time.

The attorneys did not release the name of the woman, who was on a lunch date with Smith. They asked the public to respect her privacy and her desire to heal as she is recovering from this profound trauma. They did not elaborate on the nature of any physical injuries she received; authorities said the woman had suffered injuries from broken glass as a result of the shooting.

The woman did not appear at a news conference with her lawyers. They did not elaborate on her experience or answer questions.

Smith, 32, of St. Paul, was killed as authorities were trying to arrest him on a weapons violation. The U.S. Marshals Service said he was wanted for allegedly being a felon in possession of a firearm and that Smith, who was in a parked vehicle, didnt comply and produced a handgun resulting in task force members firing upon the subject.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has said evidence indicates Smith fired his gun  a handgun and spent cartridge cases were found inside the car. When asked to respond to the woman's contradicting account that she didn't see a gun, Department of Public Safety spokesman Bruce Gordon said the BCA stands by it's earlier statement.

The shooting of Smith happened in a city that has been on edge since the death of George Floyd just over a year ago, and the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright by an officer in nearby Brooklyn Center in April.

Smith's shootings sparked days of protests in the Uptown neighborhood as his family members and community members have demanded transparency. Authorities have said there is no body camera or squad camera footage of the shooting. In addition, the two task force members who fired at Smith  one sheriff's deputy from Ramsey County and one from Hennepin County  were working undercover so authorities say state law bars them from releasing their names.

Nguyen and Rodne said they hope that commitments made by law enforcement to work toward more transparency and accountability since Floyd's death "will will be borne out through their actions as we work to shine a light on why Winston Smith lost his life last Thursday while on a lunch date.

Jeff Storms, an attorney for Smith's family, said the government has now heard the people's evidence and the people deserve to hear the government's evidence in the case.

There is a lack of transparency by the lack of body cameras. We now ask for the government to come forward and show us what they have to support this narrative that they created... now contradicted here today."

The BCA said Thursday it will release all public data when the investigation is closed. Until then, the agency said, state law bars it from releasing evidence or discussing an open and active investigation. After the BCA finishes its work, it will turn over its findings to a prosecutor for review.

The lack of body camera footage of the shooting has raised questions in Minnesota, as Smiths family members and activists continue to demand transparency. On Thursday, activists also called for the removal of Minnesota officers from federal task forces, and they said the BCA should not be investigating, alleging there is a conflict of interest when police investigate police.

Angela Rose Myers, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, was among those demanding transparency and accountability.

Just because a video didnt go viral of Winston Smiths murder, doesnt mean his life didnt matter, she said.

Local officials say the deputies on the task force were assigned body cameras, but were told by the U.S. Marshals Service that they could not use them, despite an October change in Justice Department policy that would have allowed them to be used. The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office have said they will not participate in the task force until the cameras are allowed.

This week, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco ordered Justice Department law enforcement officers to wear body cameras when making planned arrests or serving search warrants. The directive orders the heads of the Marshals Service, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to develop body-worn camera policies within 30 days.
TAKOMA PARK, Md. (AP)  A plump robin wearing a tiny metal backpack with an antenna hops around a suburban yard in Takoma Park, then plucks a cicada from the ground for a snack.

Ecologist Emily Williams watches through binoculars from behind a bush. On this clear spring day, shes snooping on his dating life. Now Im watching to see whether hes found a mate, she said, scrutinizing his interactions with another robin in a nearby tree.

Once the bird moves on at season's end, shell rely on the backpack to beam frequent location data to the Argos satellite, then back to Williams' laptop, to track it.

The goal is to unravel why some American robins migrate long distances, but others do not. With more precise information about nesting success and conditions in breeding and wintering grounds, we should be able to tell the relative roles of genetics versus the environment in shaping why birds migrate, said Williams, who is based at Georgetown University.

Putting beacons on birds is not novel. But a new antenna on the International Space Station and receptors on the Argos satellite, plus the shrinking size of tracking chips and batteries, are allowing scientists to remotely monitor songbird movements in much greater detail than ever before.

Were in a sort of golden age for bird research, said Adriaan Dokter, an ecologist at Cornell University who is not directly involved with Williams study. Its pretty amazing that we can satellite-track a robin with smaller and smaller chips. Ten years ago, that was unthinkable.

The device this robin is wearing can give precise locations, within about 30 feet (about 10 meters), instead of around 125 miles (200 kilometers) for previous generations of tags.

That means Williams can tell not only whether the bird is still in the city, but on which street or backyard. Or whether its flown from the Washington, D.C., suburbs to land on the White House lawn.

A second new tag, for only the heaviest robins, includes an accelerometer to provide information about the birds movements; future versions may also measure humidity and barometric pressure. These Icarus tags work with a new antenna on the International Space Station.

That antenna was first turned on about two years ago, but there were some glitches with the power-supply and the computer, so we had to bring it down again with a Russian rocket, then transport it from Moscow to Germany to fix it, said Martin Wikelski, director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, whose scientific team is honing the technology. After the usual troubleshooting for space science," the antenna was turned back on this spring.

As researchers deploy precision tags, Wikelski envisions the development of an Internet of animals  a collection of sensors around the world giving us a better picture of the movement of life on the planet.

The American robin is an iconic songbird in North America, its bright chirp a harbinger of spring. Yet its migratory habits remain a bit mysterious to scientists.

Its astounding how little we know about some of the most common songbirds, said Ken Rosenberg, a conservation scientist at Cornell University. We have a general idea of migration, a range map, but thats really just a broad impression.

An earlier study Williams worked on showed some robins are long-distance migrants  flying more than 2,780 miles (4,480 km) between their breeding area in Alaska and winter grounds in Texas  while others hop around a single backyard most of the year.

What factors drive some robins to migrate, while others dont? Does it have to do with available food, temperature fluctuations or success in mating and rearing chicks?

Williams hopes more detailed data from satellite tags, combined with records of nesting success, will provide insights, and she's working with partners who are tagging robins in Alaska, Indiana and Florida for a three-year study.

Scientists have previously put GPS-tracking devices on larger raptors, but the technology has only recently become small and light enough for some songbirds. Tracking devices must be less than 5% of the animals weight to avoid encumbering them.

In a Silver Spring, Maryland, yard, Williams has unfurled nylon nets between tall aluminum poles. When a robin flies into the net, she delicately untangles the bird. Then she holds it in a bander's grip"  with her forefinger and middle finger loosely on either side of the birds neck, and another two fingers around its body.

On a tarp, she measures the robins beak length, takes a toenail clipping and plucks a tail feather to gauge overall health.

Then she weighs the bird in a small cup on a scale. This one is about 80 grams, just over the threshold for wearing the penny-sized Argos satellite tag.

Williams fashions a makeshift saddle with clear jewelry cord looped around each of the birds legs. She then tightens the cord so the tag sits firmly on the birds back.

When she opens her hand, the robin hops to the ground, then takes a few steps under a pink azalea shrub before flying off.

In addition to providing very precise locations, the satellite tags transmit data that can be downloaded from afar onto Williams laptop. The data on older tags couldnt be retrieved unless the same bird was recaptured the following year  a difficult and uncertain task.

Wikelski hopes the new technology will help scientists better understand threats birds and other creatures face from habitat loss, pollution and climate change.

It is detective work to try to figure out why a population is declining, said Ben Freeman, a biologist at the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia. Better information about migration corridors will help us look in the right places.

A 2019 study co-written by Cornells Rosenberg showed that North Americas population of wild birds declined by nearly 30%, or 3 billion, since 1970.

He said tracking birds will help explain why: Where in their annual cycles do migratory birds face the greatest threats? Is it exposure to pesticides in Mexico, the clearing of rainforests in Brazil, or is it what people are doing in their backyards here in the U.S.?

___

Follow Christina Larson on Twitter:@larsonchristina

___

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.
A wildfire in Arizona that had neighboring New Mexico breathing in smoke was one of several blazes scorching the drought-stricken Southwest, signaling what could be a devastating summer.

Residents in New Mexicos largest city woke up Wednesday shrouded again in smoke from the Arizona fires. The yellow haze stretched up the Rio Grande Valley and obscured views of the mountain ranges surrounding Albuquerque.

Firefighters in Superior, Arizona, a former mining town about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Phoenix, however, made significant progress overnight on the so-called Telegraph Fire. They contained 21% of the fire's perimeter, up from zero the night before, officials said.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey plans to visit the area Thursday. He will take an aerial tour of the fire site and stop at a shelter. He previously issued an emergency declaration for that fire and another several miles east. The declaration will make up to $400,000 available for response efforts.

More than 750 firefighters conducted burnout operations through the night. Crews overseen by a top-tier management team focused on establishing a fire break along U.S. 60 and in the Pinal Mountains.

The blaze has burned more than 125 square miles (324 square kilometers) in Pinal and Gila counties. It was first reported Friday and is believed to be human-caused.

Thousands of residents have been stuck in various stages of the evacuation process. At least 2,500 homes in Gila County have been evacuated, with twice that number set to go with bags packed, according to county emergency officials. Hundreds more also were cleared from their homes in a community in Pinal County.

A second home near Globe-Miami that belonged to Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers was among those destroyed.

The fire also forced closures on most roads leading out of town. But U.S. 70 reopened Wednesday.

Besides enduring smoke from Arizona fires, New Mexico is dealing with its own blazes, including one that was sparked by lightning three weeks ago in the Gila National Forest in the western part of the state. It has charred more than 71 square miles (184 square kilometers) and has forced the closure of the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and much of the surrounding wilderness.

Utah, mired in extreme drought, has multiple wildfires burning. The largest started Tuesday near the town of Price, according to fire officials.

The drought, coupled with rising temperatures, has led to widespread fire restrictions in Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, including fireworks ahead of the July 4 holiday. Some northern Arizona agencies are tightening the restrictions this week to prohibit open fires and campfires. ___

Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
(The Center Square)  The state known as Big Sky Country ranks right in the middle of the pack for jobs, according to a new study released Wednesday by WalletHub.

The personal finance website compared all 50 states based on two key dimensions, job market and economic environment.

Those two areas were evaluated using 35 weighted metrics that were graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for job seekers. Each states weighted average across all metrics then determined the final rankings.

Montana ranked 26th with a cumulative score of 53.03, right behind North Carolina.

South Dakota, Nebraska, Washington, New Hampshire, Utah, North Dakota, Kansas, Vermont, Delaware and Colorado were the top 10.

The bottom 10 were Nevada, Michigan, New Mexico, Illinois, Mississippi, Hawaii, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky.

Montana ranked third in the job market index and 31 for economic environment.

A states unemployment rate, along with employment growth, the number of part-time workers per 100 full-time employees, automation risk and job security were among the metrics used to measure job market.

Categories for a states economic environment included median annual income, average commute time and state income tax burden.

Montana came in fourth for shortest commute time behind South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming,

Adam McCann, author of the study, said one reason for it was the number of people who lost jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic and are now trying to reenter the job market.

Victoria Shivy, a psychology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, told WalletHub that community colleges could play a big role in retraining displaced workers.

Perhaps a decade ago, or more, community college-based programs, especially those highlighting work in the trades, were seen as the best possible providers of worker retraining, she said. Perhaps ironically, funding released last year due to COVID-19 in the form of Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grants may help community colleges meet these needs.

Shivy pointed to Virginia, where community colleges have already partnered with local workforce development boards to retrain hospitality workers for new careers in health care.
A Northumberland grower says he wants farming to 'stand on its own two feet' as the industry could be 'much better off' without subsidies.

Pip Robson, who runs a mixed farm of 800 hectares, said farmers should view the reduction in direct payments as a 'real opportunity'.

The grower made the comments after he joined AHDB's Monitor Farm Network in the North East, where he will share the way he runs his business with other farmers.

He explained that it was important for the industry to be self-sufficient and not rely on support payments.

The government's new post-Brexit farming system, the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS), will be rolled out by 2024.

Defra has confirmed that Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) direct payments will be phased out over the period 2021-2027.

I think farmers could be much better off without subsidies," Mr Robson said, "Self-sufficiency is something Ive been working towards for 35 years.

He added that his business goal was to 'combine business flexibility with efficiency'.

Based on a coastal plain in the far north of England, he runs a mixed farm of just over 800 hectares, including 480 hectares of arable cropping.

Along with wheat and barley, his rotation includes spelt, an ancient grain used in the manufacture of gluten-free bread. He is now in his third year of growing the crop.

Mr Robson is a big believer in using integrated farm management, where different aspects of the business complement each other.

The farm features a suckler herd, half of which are pedigree Aberdeen Angus. He includes the herd in his crop rotation, alongside break crops such as oilseed rape.

He is also able to use the manure from the livestock as organic fertiliser.

As well as arable cropping and livestock, the farm has other enterprises including contracting work and an on-farm straw pelleting plant.

The multiple revenue streams means the business is diverse and able to cope with the uncertainty that is part of farming life.

AHDBs Knowledge Exchange Manager for cereal, Rose Riby welcomed Mr Robson as a new Monitor Host.

"Hes a champion of integrated farm systems and using more traditional approaches, which is a direction many in farming are increasingly considering.I

"I'm looking forward to some really interesting discussions during our meetings.
Sellers Call the Shots in Floridas Overvalued Housing Market

Homes across Florida are selling for more than 17 percent above their long-term pricing trend, with the degree of overpricing a particular concern in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, according to professors at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University.

Single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops in the Sunshine State are overvalued by 17.17 percent, while Tampa Bay properties are fetching a 26.14 percent premium. The analysis is based on more than 25 years of housing data from Zillow, the online real estate portal.

The results indicate that most Florida sellers will have no trouble finding favorable deals, while buyers will be at a distinct disadvantage in negotiations, said Ken. H. Johnson, Ph.D., a real estate economist in FAUs College of Business.

Buyers in Tampa Bay and elsewhere need to be careful about getting into bidding wars, he said. If the price is difficult to justify and the terms dont feel right, walk away. There will always be another property.

Johnson and Eli Beracha, real estate professor with FIUs Hollo School of Real Estate, said Florida consumers should expect a near-term housing correction, but it almost certainly wont be anywhere near the magnitude of the last housing crash, in which many homes lost half or more of their values.

Simply put, we are just not that overheated as compared to the last cycle, when some parts of the state were overvalued by more than 60 percent, Beracha said.

The analysis also revealed the current degree of overpricing in other metropolitan markets throughout Florida:

Orlando, 18.45 percent

Jacksonville, 18.22 percent

Miami, 13.18 percent

Tallahassee, 10.48 percent

Current long-term mortgage rates are directly tied to activity by the Federal Reserve. Indication of a tapering of the latest round of quantitative easing by the Fed almost certainly will lead to an increase in mortgage rates, Johnson said.

Eventually, higher mortgage rates will prompt more people to hold off buying, and that reduced demand will trigger the next housing event in Florida and the U.S. as a whole, he said.

But rates still have a long way to climb before would-be buyers get skittish, he added. Whats more, the extreme shortage of homes for sale will help keep prices from falling too far, according to the professors, who said first-time buyers will continue to struggle with housing affordability even if home prices level off.

The data spans January 1996 through April 2021. Johnson and Beracha used a previously developed methodology that creates a home price estimate based on past pricing and compares it to existing levels to approximate the current premium.

-FAU-
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Tahir Raj Bhasin made his debut with the 2014 film, Mardaani and while he may have many films in his kitty right now, he says that his "audition days" weren't easy. "I had actually come with a big dream, that I'd come to Bombay and bag a Yash Raj or Dharma film in a week. But the reality of Bombay you only find out when you get here. It takes you three months to find a house here, roles are another thing altogether," he said in an interview with a popular RJ.

"It took me around four years before that audition for Mardaani came along. Every audition in which I was rejected contributed in some way to the audition that I gave for Mardaani... I have been anywhere between rejected 250-300 times, in total, including ads, films, everything," he added. Since Mardaani, Tahir has acted in films like Force 2, Manto, Chhichhore and web-series like Love Shots and Pyaar Actually (Real Is Rare). He was also seen in Kismat Love Paisa Dilli, Kai Po Che! and One By Two. Now, Tahir will be seen next in '83 and Looop Lapeta.
Highlights

At Red Chris, drilling continues to expand the higher grade mineralisation intersected at East Ridge and in the Main Zone: At East Ridge, the new discovery adjacent to the East Zone, drilling continues to expand the footprint of the higher grade mineralisation with RC688 returning 344m @ 0.70g/t Au & 0.75% Cu from 776m, incl. 170m @ 1.1g/t Au & 1.1% Cu from 892m. This hole is 100m east of the discovery hole RC678 (previously reported). East Ridge is located 300m east of East Zone and outside of Newcrest's Red Chris Mineral Resource Estimate. Drilling to define the extent of the higher grade mineralisation is ongoing. In the Main Zone, drilling has intersected high grade mineralisation with RC683 returning 300m @ 0.41g/t Au & 0.51% Cu from 260m, incl. 114m @ 0.67g/t Au & 0.85% Cu from 390m, incl. 22m @ 1.1g/t Au & 1.4% Cu from 464m. This hole is 100m east of RC679 (previously reported). Main Zone has the potential for further higher grade mineralisation beneath and to the south west of the open pit.

At Havieron, growth drilling continues to return significant high grade extensions to the South East Crescent zone below the current Inferred Mineral Resource: HAD133 returned 85m @ 11g/t Au & 0.29% Cu from 1345m, including 13m @ 32g/t Au & 0.46% Cu from 1363m, and including 14.5m @ 32g/t Au & 0.33% Cu from 1396.5m. The high grade Crescent zone remains open at depth.



Melbourne, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 9, 2021) - Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) (TSX: NCM) Newcrest Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sandeep Biswas, said, "Our extensive growth drilling program has delivered several new exciting high grade intercepts at Havieron, including 85m @ 11g/t Au and 0.29% Cu. These results highlight the potential for significant high grade depth extension of the South East Crescent zone. We are also excited by our continued exploration success at Red Chris, with drill results from East Ridge and Main Zone expanding the footprint of the higher grade mineralisation. East Ridge is our new discovery that is located outside of our initial Red Chris Mineral Resource estimate with drill results to date supporting the potential for resource growth at Red Chris over time. Drill results in the Main Zone have confirmed the potential for higher grade mineralisation which could support additional mining fronts beneath and to the south west of the open pit."

Red Chris - Significant results since the March 2021 Quarterly Exploration Report([1]):

RC683 : 300m @ 0.41g/t Au & 0.51% Cu from 260m including 114m @ 0.67g/t Au & 0.85% Cu from 390m including 22m @ 1.1g/t Au & 1.4% Cu from 464m

: RC684 : 252m^ @ 0.46g/t Au & 0.53% Cu from 814m including 98m^ @ 0.85g/t Au & 0.86% Cu from 962m including 16m^^ @ 1.2g/t Au & 1.2% Cu from 970m

: RC688 : 344m @ 0.70g/t Au & 0.75% Cu from 776m including 170m @ 1.1g/t Au & 1.1% Cu from 892m including 78m @ 1.1g/t Au & 1.3% Cu from 894m

:

Havieron - Significant growth drilling results since the March 2021 Quarterly Exploration Report([2]):

HAD086W1 99.7m @ 2.5g/t Au & 0.85% Cu from 1,308m including 50.4m @ 4.3g/t Au & 1.6% Cu from 1,313.6m

HAD133 85m @ 11g/t Au & 0.29% Cu from 1,345m including 13m @ 32g/t Au & 0.46% Cu from 1,363m including 14.5m @ 32g/t Au & 0.33% Cu from 1,396.5m



Red Chris, British Columbia, Canada(2)

Red Chris is a joint venture between Newcrest (70%) and Imperial Metals Corporation (30%). Newcrest acquired its interest in, and operatorship of, Red Chris on 15 August 2019.

The Brownfields Exploration program is focused on the discovery of additional zones of higher grade mineralisation within the Red Chris porphyry corridor including targets outside of Newcrest's Mineral Resource estimate. During the period, there were up to eight diamond drill rigs in operation. A further 15,342m of drilling has been completed from 11 drill holes, with all drill holes intersecting mineralisation (except two which were dedicated geotechnical holes). This contributed to a total of 136,631m of drilling from 111 drill holes since Newcrest acquired its interest in the joint venture.

At East Ridge, located adjacent to the East Zone, Newcrest has discovered a new zone of higher grade mineralisation, with previously reported hole RC678^^ returning 198m @ 0.89g/t Au & 0.83% Cu from 800m, including 76m @ 1.8g/t Au and 1.5% Cu from 908m. The style of mineralisation and grade tenor is similar to that seen in the high grade pods from the East Zone.

Final results from follow-up drill hole RC684 drilled 100m down dip of RC678 returned 252m^ @ 0.46g/t Au & 0.53% Cu from 814m, including 98m^ @ 0.85g/t Au & 0.86% Cu from 962m. This hole demonstrates the continuity of the East Ridge zone over 100m vertically.

Results from follow-up drill hole RC688 drilled 100m east of RC678 returned 344m @ 0.70g/t Au & 0.75% Cu from 776m including 170m @ 1.1g/t Au & 1.1% Cu from 892m. This hole demonstrates the continuity of the East Ridge zone over 100m horizontally.

East Ridge is located 300m east of East Zone and outside of Newcrest's Red Chris Mineral Resource estimate, and it supports the potential for resource growth over time. Mineralisation is open and extends the eastern side of the porphyry corridor as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Follow-up drilling to further define the extent and continuity of this high grade mineralisation continues.

In the Main Zone, drilling has confirmed the potential for further higher grade mineralisation which could support additional mining fronts, beneath and to the south west of the open pit. Results from RC679^^ (previously reported), which followed up historic results south west of the Main Zone pit, returned 456m^^ @ 0.37g/t Au & 0.42% Cu from 418m, including 98m^^ @ 0.71g/t Au & 1.0% Cu from 440m. Results from follow-up drill hole RC683 drilled 100m east of RC679 returned 300m @ 0.41g/t Au & 0.51% Cu from 260m, including 114m @ 0.67g/t Au & 0.85% Cu from 390m. This hole demonstrates the continuity of the higher grade mineralisation over 100m horizontally. The mineralisation is located within Newcrest's Mineral Resource estimate. Drilling to define the extent and continuity of this high grade mineralisation is planned.

Approximately 50,000m of growth-related drilling is planned this calendar year with the increase to eight drill rigs in April 2021. Further drilling of the East Ridge is underway to define the extent of the mineralisation. Further targets along the porphyry corridor and neighbouring GJ property have been identified with the potential to conduct drilling to test these targets in the future.

Refer to Appendix 1 for additional information, and Drillhole data table for all results reported during the period.

Figure 1. Schematic plan view map of the Red Chris porphyry corridor spanning East Ridge, East Zone, Main Zone and Gully Zone showing drill hole locations (Newcrest & Imperial) and significant Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases). 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from a Leapfrog model. Gold equivalent (AuEq) grade calculated using a copper conversion factor of 1.67 ([gold grade (g/t)] + [copper grade (%) x 1.67]), using US$1,400/oz Au, US$3.40/lb Cu and 100% recovery.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7614/87139_fa1e024f04a2f90f_003full.jpg





Figure 2. Long section view map of the Red Chris porphyry corridor showing drill hole locations and gold distribution.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7614/87139_fa1e024f04a2f90f_004full.jpg

Havieron Project, Western Australia3

The Havieron Project is operated by Newcrest under a Joint Venture Agreement with Greatland Gold. As announced on 30 November 2020, Newcrest has now met the Stage 3 expenditure requirement (US$45 million) and is entitled to earn an additional 20% joint venture interest, resulting in an overall joint venture interest of 60% (Greatland Gold 40%). Newcrest can earn up to a 70% joint venture interest through total expenditure of US$65 million and the completion of a series of exploration and development milestones (including the delivery of a Pre-Feasibility Study) in a four-stage farm-in over a six year period that commenced in May 2019. Newcrest may acquire an additional 5% interest at the end of the farm-in period at fair market value. The Joint Venture Agreement includes tolling principles reflecting the intention of the parties that, subject to a successful exploration program, Feasibility Study and a positive decision to mine, the resulting joint venture mineralised material will be processed at Telfer.

The Havieron Project is centred on a deep magnetic anomaly located 45km east of Telfer in the Paterson Province. The deposit is overlain by more than 420m of post mineral Permian cover. Newcrest commenced drilling in May 2019. Drilling activities from seven drill holes resulted in 5,757m of drilling completed since 31 March 2021, with all drill holes intersecting mineralisation. A total of 164,420m of drilling from 190 drill holes has been completed since Newcrest commenced exploration activity.

At the South East Crescent, growth drilling to expand the resource has commenced with two drill holes HAD086W1 and HAD133 extending the high grade mineralisation ~80m below the base of the Inferred Mineral Resource. These intercepts are also below previously reported hole HAD065W2^^ (120.7m @ 9.3 g/t Au & 0.18 % Cu from 1,349.3m, including 26.6m @ 34 g/t Au & 0.23 % Cu from 1,384.4m) and highlights significant high grade depth extension of the South East Crescent zone. Drilling continues to define the extent of the high grade South East Crescent zone.

Results from HAD086W1 and HAD133 include:

HAD086W1 99.7m @ 2.5g/t Au & 0.85% Cu from 1,308m including 50.4m @ 4.3g/t Au & 1.6% Cu from 1,313.6m

HAD133 85m @ 11g/t Au & 0.29% Cu from 1,345m including 13m @ 32g/t Au & 0.46% Cu from 1,363m including 14.5m @ 32g/t Au & 0.33% Cu from 1,396.5m



HAD097W3 and HAD136 returned Crescent intercepts within the current Inferred Mineral Resource footprint. These holes were designed to target depth extensions in the breccia mineralisation. They also show good alignment with modelled grade and thickness within the South East Crescent zone which further supports the continuity of high grade.

Results include:

HAD097W3 47.8m @ 2.3g/t Au & 0.28% Cu from 620.2m including 28.3m @ 3.8g/t Au & 0.45% Cu from 639.7m



HAD136 55.2m @ 2.5g/t Au & 0.65% Cu from 501m including 24.5m @ 5.4g/t Au & 0.95% Cu from 506.8m



At the Northern Breccia results from an additional three growth holes identified mineralisation outside of the Inferred Mineral Resource footprint. These results support extensions to breccia mineralisation in the north west of the system and further highlights the potential for resource extensions outside of the South East Crescent zone.

Results include:

HAD089W1 81.3m @ 1.2g/t Au & 0.04% Cu from 1,009.7m.



Currently, all drill rigs are operational on the growth drilling program with a focus on the South East Crescent depth extensions below 4,200mRL, the north west extensions of the Northern Breccia Zone and higher grade crescent-like mineralised zones. The intent of this drilling is to support the potential expansion of the existing Inferred Mineral Resource estimate. Drill testing and interpretation of the geological and mineralisation controls of the Eastern Breccia Zone is ongoing.

Further targets outside of Havieron, but within the joint venture area with Greatland Gold, have been identified with the potential to conduct drilling to test these targets in the future.

Refer to Appendix 2 for additional information, and Drillhole data table for all results reported during the period.

Figure 3. 3D Plan view schematic showing the spatial association of the South East Crescent + Breccia, North West Crescent, Northern Breccia and Eastern Breccia targets.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7614/87139_fa1e024f04a2f90f_005full.jpg

Figure 4. Plan view schematic of a horizontal slice at 4700mRL through the Crescent Sulphide Zone and Breccia-hosted Zones, showing the extents of the 0.5 and 1.0 g/t Au LeapfrogTM grade shells with highlighted newly reported intercepts for this period. Also shown is the Eastern Breccia, Northern Breccia and north-west extensions of known mineralisation outlines projected to the 4700mRL section - drilling is ongoing to confirm the extent of these zones.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7614/87139_fa1e024f04a2f90f_006full.jpg

Wilki Project, Western Australia

The Wilki Project covers a strategic landholding of ~2,200km2 surrounding the Telfer operation and is also in close proximity to the Havieron Project. Newcrest entered into this exploration farm-in and joint venture agreement with Antipa Minerals Limited on 11 March 2020.

During the period, Newcrest participated in Antipa's share placements to maintain its 9.9% shareholding.

Exploration activity during the period included the re-interpretation and validation of anomalies generated from the previously reported Airborne Electromagnetic Survey (AEM) completed in CY20. Prioritisation of targets for the CY21 drill program has been completed utilising the AEM anomalies and other datasets including magnetics and geochemistry.

It is anticipated that the field program for the CY21 field season including drill testing will commence in June 2021.

Juri Joint Venture, Western Australia

On 30 November 2020, Newcrest announced its entry into the Juri Joint Venture which is a farm-in and joint venture agreement with Greatland Gold, with respect to its Black Hills and Paterson Range East projects, located within the Paterson Province approximately 50km from the Telfer operation. The joint venture covers an area of approximately 248km2.

Under the terms of the agreement, Newcrest has been granted an initial 25% joint venture interest with the potential to earn up to a 75% joint venture interest through total expenditure of A$20 million over a two stage earn-in, across a five year period. Greatland Gold will manage the Juri Joint Venture until the end of calendar year 2021, after which Newcrest has the right to be appointed as Manager.

Exploration activities have commenced with an initial program designed to drill test the Goliath, Outamind and Los Diablos targets in the Paterson Range East area. An initial scout drill program has been completed at the Goliath target with assay results pending. Subsequent work programs, including drilling, will also focus on the Parlay target within the Black Hills Project.

Tennant East, Northern Territory

Newcrest is the holder of six granted titles as well as seven application areas in the recently recognised Tennant East domain. Drill testing on the initial two target areas of Lantern and Sabretooth commenced in late April 2021.

Nevada, USA

Newcrest recently entered into an option and earn-in agreement with Discovery Harbour Resources Corp. on their Fortuity 89 property located in the Great Basin, Nevada. Fortuity 89 is characterised by limited outcrop in a large gravel covered plain. The limited outcrop is strongly altered, and other indications are consistent with the area having potential for epithermal gold mineralisation. On ground exploration work has commenced with target generation activities including mapping, sampling and geophysical surveys underway.

GJ Project, British Columbia, Canada

At the GJ Project, which is part of the Red Chris joint venture between Newcrest (70%) and Imperial Metals Corporation (30%), Newcrest is using its strong exploration expertise, to test the depth potential of the Donnelly Zone, part of a 10km porphyry corridor (Groat Stock). An initial program of two holes for 2,500m is planned to commence in the December 2021 half.

Appendix 1

Red Chris (70% Newcrest): JORC Table 1

Section 1: Sampling Techniques and Data

Criteria Commentary Sampling techniques Core samples are obtained from core drilling. HQ and NQ diameter diamond core was drilled on a 3, 4.5m or 6m run. Core was cut using an automatic core-cutter and half core sampled at 2m intervals. Cover sequences were not sampled. Drilling techniques Core drilling was advanced with HQ3, HQ, NQ3 and NQ diameter coring configuration.



Core from inclined drill holes are oriented on 3, 4.5m or 6m runs using an electronic core orientation tool (Reflex ACTIII). At the end of each run, the bottom of hole position is marked by the driller, which is later transferred to the whole drill core run length with a bottom of hole reference line. Drill sample recovery Core recovery is systematically recorded from the commencement of coring to end of hole, by reconciling against driller's depth blocks in each core tray with data recorded in the database. Drillers depth blocks provided the depth, interval of core recovered, and interval of core drilled.



Core recoveries were typically 100%, with isolated zones of lower recovery. Logging Geological logging recorded qualitative descriptions of lithology, alteration, mineralisation, veining, and structure (for all core drilled -15,342m in 11 holes- all holes intersected mineralisation except for 2 dedicated geotechnical holes, including orientation of key geological features.



Geotechnical measurements were recorded including Rock Quality Designation (RQD) fracture frequency, solid core recovery and qualitative rock strength measurements.



Magnetic susceptibility measurements were recorded every metre.



All geological and geotechnical logging was conducted at the Red Chris Mine.



Digital data logging was captured, validated and stored in an acQuire database.



All drill cores were photographed, prior to cutting and/or sampling the core. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation Sampling, sample preparation and quality control protocols are considered appropriate for the material being sampled.



Core was cut and sampled at the Red Chris Mine core processing facility. Half core samples were collected in plastic bags together with pre-numbered sample tags and grouped in plastic bags for dispatch to the laboratory. Sample weights typically varied from 5 to 10kg. Sample sizes are considered appropriate for the style of mineralisation. Drill core samples were freighted by road to the laboratory.



Sample preparation was conducted at the independent ISO 9001 certified and ISO 17025 accredited Bureau Veritas Commodities Canada Ltd Laboratory, Vancouver (Bureau Veritas). Samples were dried at 650C, and crushed to 95% passing 4.75 mm, and the split to obtain up to 1kg sub-sample, which was pulverised (using LM2) to produce a pulped product with the minimum standard of 95% passing 106m.



Duplicate samples were collected from crush and pulp samples at a rate of 1:20. Duplicate results show an acceptable level of variability for the material sampled and style of mineralisation.



Periodic size checks (1:20) for crush and pulp samples and sample weights are provided by the laboratory and recorded in the acQuire database. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests Assaying of drill core samples was conducted at Bureau Veritas. All samples were assayed for 59 elements using a 4-acid digestion followed by ICP-AES/ICP-MS determination (method MA250). Gold analyses were determined by 50g fire assay with ICP-ES finish (method FA350). Carbon and Sulphur were determined by Leco (method TC000) and mercury using aqua regia digestion followed by ICP-ES/MS determination (method AQ200).



Sampling and assaying quality control procedures consisted of inclusion of certified reference material (CRMs), coarse residue and pulp duplicates with each batch (at least 1:20).



Assays of quality control samples were compared with reference samples in the acQuire database and verified as acceptable prior to use of data from analysed batches.



Laboratory quality control data, including laboratory standards, blanks, duplicates, repeats and grind size results are captured in acQuire database and assessed for accuracy and precision for recent data.



Due to the limited extent of the drilling program to date, extended quality control programs are yet to be undertaken, whereby pulped samples will be submitted to an umpire laboratory and combined with more extensive re-submission programs.



Analysis of the available quality control sample assay results indicates that an acceptable level of accuracy and precision has been achieved and the database contains no analytical data that has been numerically manipulated.



The assaying techniques and quality control protocols used are considered appropriate for the data to be used for reporting exploration drilling results. Verification of sampling and assaying Sampling intervals defined by the geologist are electronically assigned sample identification numbers prior to core cutting. Corresponding sample numbers matching pre-labelled sample tags are assigned to each interval.



All sampling and assay information were stored in a secure acQuire database with restricted access.



Electronically generated sample submission forms providing the sample identification number accompany each submission to the laboratory. Assay results from the laboratory with corresponding sample identification are loaded directly into the acQuire database.



Assessment of reported significant assay intervals was verified by re-logging of drill core intervals and assessment of high resolution core photography. The verification of significant intersections has been completed by company personnel and the Competent Person/Qualified Person.



No adjustments are made to assay data, and no twinned holes have been completed. Drilling intersects mineralisation at various angles.



There are no currently known drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data. Location of data points Drill collar locations were surveyed using a RTK GPS with GNSS with a stated accuracy of +/- 0.025m.



Drill rig alignment was attained using an electronic azimuth aligner (Reflex TN14 GYROCOMPASS). Downhole survey was collected at 9 to 30m intervals of the drill hole using single shot survey (Reflex EZ-SHOT). At the end of hole, all holes have been surveyed using a continuous gyro survey to surface (Reflex EZ-GYRO).



Topographic control is established from PhotoSat topographic data and derived digital elevation model. The topography is generally low relief to flat, with an average elevation of 1500 m, with several deep creek gullies.



All collar coordinates are provided in the North American Datum (NAD83 Zone 9). Data spacing and distribution The drill hole spacing ranges from 100 - 200m in lateral extent within an area of 1.5km2 at the East Ridge, 1.5km2 at the East Zone, 1.5km2 at the Main Zone and 1.5km2 at the Gully Zone.



No sample compositing is applied to samples. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Drilling of reported drill holes RC676, RC683, RC684, RC686, RC687 and RC688 are oriented perpendicular to the intrusive complex. The intrusive complex has an east-northeast orientation, with drilling established on a north-northwest orientation.



Drill holes exploring the extents of the East Ridge, East Zone, Main Zone and Gully Zone mineral system intersected moderately dipping volcanic and sedimentary units cut by sub-vertical intrusive lithologies. Steeply dipping mineralised zones with an east-northeast orientation have been interpreted from historic and Newcrest drill holes. Sample security The security of samples is controlled by tracking samples from drill rig to database.



Drill core was delivered from the drill rig to the Red Chris Mine core yard every shift. Geological and geotechnical logging, high resolution core photography and cutting of drill core was undertaken at the Red Chris core processing facility.



Samples were freighted in sealed bags with security tags by road to the laboratory, and in the custody of Newcrest representatives.



Sample numbers are generated from pre-labelled sample tags. All samples are collected in pre-numbered plastic bags. Sample tags are inserted into prenumbered plastic bags together with the sample.



Verification of sample numbers and identification is conducted by the laboratory on receipt of samples, and sample receipt advice issued to Newcrest.



Details of all sample movement are recorded in a database table. Dates, Hole ID sample ranges, and the analytical suite requested are recorded with the dispatch of samples to the laboratory analytical services. Any discrepancies logged at the receipt of samples into the laboratory analytical services are validated. Audits or reviews Due to the limited duration of the program, no external audits or reviews have been undertaken.



Internal verification and audit of Newcrest exploration procedures and databases are periodically undertaken.

Section 2: Reporting of Exploration Results

Criteria Commentary Mineral tenement and land tenure status Red Chris comprises 77 mineral tenures including five mining leases and is a joint venture between subsidiaries of Newcrest Mining Limited (70%) and Imperial Metals Corporation (30%). Newcrest Red Chris Mining Limited is the operator of Red Chris.



Newcrest Red Chris Mining Limited and the Tahltan Nation (as represented by the Tahltan Central Government, the Tahltan Band and Iskut First Nation) signed an updated Impact, Benefit and Co-Management Agreement (IBCA) covering Red Chris on 15 August 2019.



All obligations with respect to legislative requirements including minimum expenditure are maintained in good standing. Exploration done by other parties Conwest Exploration Limited, Great Plains Development Co. of Canada, Silver Standard Mines Ltd, Texasgulf Canada Ltd. (formerly Ecstall Mining Limited), American Bullion Minerals Ltd and bcMetals Corporation conducted exploration in the areas between 1956 and 2006.



Imperial Metals Corporation acquired the project in 2007 and completed deeper drilling at the East and Main Zones between 2007 and 2012. Geology The Red Chris Project is located in the Stikine terrane of north-western British Columbia, 80 km south of the town of Dease Lake.



Late Triassic sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Stuhini Group host a series of Late Triassic to Early Jurassic 204-198 Ma) diorite to quartz monzonite stocks and dykes.



Gold and copper mineralisation at Red Chris consists of vein, disseminated and breccia sulphide typical of porphyry-style mineralisation. Mineralisation is hosted by diorite to quartz monzonite stocks and dykes. The main mineral assemblage contains well developed pyrite-chalcopyrite-bornite sulphide mineral assemblages as vein and breccia infill, and disseminations. The main mineralisation event is associated with biotite and potassium feldspar-magnetite wall rock alteration. Drill hole information As provided. Data aggregation methods Significant assay intercepts are reported as (A) length-weighted averages exceeding 0.1g/t Au greater than or equal to 20m, with less than 10m of consecutive internal dilution; and (B) length-weighted averages exceeding 0.5g/t Au for greater than or equal to 10m, with less than 10m of consecutive internal dilution; and (C) length-weighted averages exceeding 1g/t Au for greater than or equal to 10m, with less than 10m of consecutive internal dilution; (D) length-weighted averages exceeding 5g/t Au greater than or equal to 10m, with less than 10m of consecutive internal dilution; and (E) length-weighted averages exceeding 10g/t Au for greater than or equal to 10m, with less than 10m of consecutive internal dilution. No top cuts are applied to intercept calculations. Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths Significant assay intervals reported represent apparent widths. Insufficient geological information is available to confirm the geological model and true width of significant assay intervals. Diagrams As provided. Balanced reporting This is the Twelfth release of Exploration Results for this project made by Newcrest. Previous release dates are 30 January 2020, 11 March 2020, 30 April 2020, 11 June 2020, 23 July 2020, 10 September 2020, 29 October 2020, 10 December 2020, 28 January 2021, 11 March 2021, and 29 April 2021.



Earlier reporting of exploration programs conducted by Newcrest and Imperial Metals Corporation have previously been reported. Exploration drilling programs are ongoing and further material results will be reported in subsequent Newcrest releases. Other substantive exploration data Nil. Further work Further drilling is planned to define the extents of the East Ridge, East Zone and Main Zone.

Drillhole data(1)

Red Chris Project, British Columbia, Canada

Reporting Criteria: Intercepts reported are downhole drill width (not true width) Au >0.1ppm (0.1g/t Au) and minimum 20m downhole width with maximum consecutive internal dilution of 10m. Also highlighted are high grade intervals of Au >0.5ppm (0.5g/t Au), Au >1ppm (1g/t Au), Au > 5ppm (5g/t Au), Au >10ppm (10g/t Au) and minimum 10m downhole width with maximum consecutive internal dilution of 10m. Gold grades are reported to two significant figures. Samples are from core drilling which is HQ or NQ in diameter. Core is photographed and logged by the geology team before being cut. Half core HQ and NQ samples are prepared for assay and the remaining material is retained in the core farm for future reference. Each assay batch is submitted with duplicates and standards to monitor laboratory quality. Total depth (end of hole) is rounded to one decimal place for reporting purposes.

Hole ID Hole Type Easting (m) Northing (m) RL (m) Total

Depth

(m) Azimuth



(GRID) Dip From

(m) To (m) Interval

(m) Au

(ppm) Cu

(pct) Cut off RC676 DD 452008 6396133 1554 1505.4 145 -59 156 258 102^^ 0.26 0.06 0.1 incl. 166 176 10^^ 1.0 0.13 0.5 288 322 34^^ 0.14 0.05 0.1 460 486 26^^ 0.11 0.04 0.1 506 894 388^^ 0.34 0.30 0.1 incl. 700 712 12^^ 0.52 0.40 0.5 incl. 856 894 38^^ 0.64 0.51 0.5 906 964 58^^ 0.31 0.17 0.1 incl. 950 962 12^^ 0.60 0.20 0.5 1032 1332 300^ 0.28 0.27 0.1 incl. 1060 1080 20^^ 0.55 0.50 0.5 incl. 1100 1138 38 0.52 0.46 0.5 1392 1412 20 0.10 0.15 0.1 RC683 DD 451963 6395068 1537 1088.7 328 -59 260 560 300 0.41 0.51 0.1 incl. 390 504 114 0.67 0.85 0.5 incl. 464 486 22 1.1 1.4 1 660 690 30 0.10 0.06 0.1 826 900 74 0.13 0.10 0.1 914 1088.45 174.45 0.41 0.18 0.1 RC684 DD 453252 6396600 1420 1475.7 147 -63 550 606 56^^ 0.12 0.01 0.1 748 786 38^^ 0.28 0.34 0.1 814 1066 252^ 0.46 0.53 0.1 incl. 962 1060 98^ 0.85 0.86 0.5 incl. 970 986 16^^ 1.2 1.2 1 incl. 1016 1030 14^^ 1.1 1.1 1 incl. 1044 1054 10 1.1 1.0 1 1360 1382 22 0.11 0.04 0.1 1394 1420 26 0.11 0.10 0.1 RC685 DD 452533 6396281 1508 1202.3 149.9 -55 Development Hole RC686 DD 451569 6395560 1526 1085.0 147.9 -59 386 454 68 0.12 0.11 0.1 522 548 26 0.10 0.03 0.1 572 600 28 0.12 0.04 0.1 618 682 64 0.13 0.07 0.1 822 1020 198 0.29 0.25 0.1 incl. 990 1002 12 0.59 0.18 0.5 RC687 DD 453126 6396509 1445 1480.8 149.8 -58 616 646 30 0.12 0.16 0.1 714 1030 316 0.26 0.34 0.1 incl. 786 802 16 0.59 0.66 0.5 1062 1090 28 0.12 0.21 0.1 1224 1256 32 0.17 0.02 0.1 1268 1314 46 0.15 0.02 0.1 1360 1450 90 0.12 0.02 0.1 RC688 DD 453385 6396598 1415 1535.5 146 -61 674 700 26 0.12 0.15 0.1 726 760 34 0.15 0.14 0.1 776 1120 344 0.70 0.75 0.1 incl. 892 1062 170 1.1 1.1 0.5 incl. 894 972 78 1.1 1.3 1 incl. 988 1062 74 1.2 0.90 1 incl. 1080 1104 24 0.74 0.87 0.5 1132 1214 82 0.18 0.35 0.1 1244 1272 28 0.13 0.29 0.1 1320 1352 32 0.10 0.02 0.1 RC689 DD 452677 6396314 1492 827.9 147.5 -57 Development Hole RC690 DD 452587 6396286 1507 1226.6 148 -60 Development Hole RC691 DD 452550 6396348 1495 1252.9 148 -60 Development Hole RC691W DD 452551 6396346 1498 842.2 148 -60 Development Hole RC692 DD 453147 6396820 1462 1749.0 148.1 -53 Assays pending RC693 DD 453334 6396606 1416 1212.8 238 -59 Geotechnical Hole - Not Sampled RC694 DD 452677 6396314 1492 770.0 147 -54 Development Hole RC695 DD 452742 6396324 1491 851.5 150 -64 Development Hole RC696# DD 453126 6396510 1445 1451.1 151 -63 Assays pending RC697 DD 452584 6396356 1492 824.2 147 -57 Development Hole RC698 DD 453332 6396598 1418 1019.7 200 -71 Geotechnical Hole - Not Sampled RC699 DD 452539 6395336 1491 101.4 360 -90 Environmental Monitoring Hole - Not Sampled RC700# DD 453422 6396505 1417 1265.0 145 -61 Assays pending RC701# DD 453530 6397490 1469 964.0 145 -45 Geotechnical Hole - Not Sampled RC702 DD 452742 6396326 1492 1157.5 150 -59 Development Hole RC703# DD 452584 6396357 1492 1027.8 146 -62 Development Hole RC704# DD 452550 6396348 1495 854.9 149 -46 Development Hole RC705# DD 453310 6396503 1425 656.2 147 -59 Assays pending RC706# DD 454519 6397469 1341 451.5 148 -45 Geotechnical Hole - Not Sampled

#drilling in progress. **partial intercept, assays pending. ^updated intercept ^^previously reported intercept

Figure 5. Schematic plan view map of the East Ridge showing drill hole locations (Newcrest & Imperial) and significant Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases). 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from a Leapfrog model and sliced at 800mRL. Gold equivalent (AuEq) grade calculated using a copper conversion factor of 1.67 ([gold grade (g/t)] + [copper grade (%) x 1.67]), using US$1,400/oz Au, US$3.40/lb Cu and 100% recovery.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 5, please visit:

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Figure 6. Schematic plan view map of the East Zone showing drill hole locations (Newcrest & Imperial) and significant Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases). 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from a Leapfrog model and sliced at 800mRL. Gold equivalent (AuEq) grade calculated using a copper conversion factor of 1.67 ([gold grade (g/t)] + [copper grade (%) x 1.67]), using US$1,400/oz Au, US$3.40/lb Cu and 100% recovery.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 6, please visit:

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Figure 7. Schematic plan view map of the Main Zone showing drill hole locations (Newcrest & Imperial) and significant Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases). 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from a Leapfrog model and sliced at 800mRL. Gold equivalent (AuEq) grade calculated using a copper conversion factor of 1.67 ([gold grade (g/t)] + [copper grade (%) x 1.67]), using US$1,400/oz Au, US$3.40/lb Cu and 100% recovery.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 7, please visit:

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Figure 8. Schematic cross section of RC688 (Section Line 35) showing Newcrest and Imperial drill holes and Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases) 0.5 g/t AuEq, 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from Leapfrog model. Due to window size (+/- 50m) and section orientation (150) hole may appear on multiple sections.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 8, please visit:

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Figure 9. Schematic cross section of RC684 (Section Line 34) showing Newcrest and Imperial drill holes and Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases) 0.5 g/t AuEq, 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from Leapfrog model. Due to window size (+/- 50m) and section orientation (150) hole may appear on multiple sections.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 9, please visit:

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Figure 10. Schematic cross section of RC687 (Section Line 32) showing Newcrest and Imperial drill holes and Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases) 0.5 g/t AuEq, 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from Leapfrog model. Due to window size (+/- 50m) and section orientation (150) hole may appear on multiple sections.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 10, please visit:

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Figure 11. Schematic cross section of RC676 (Section Line 21) showing Newcrest and Imperial drill holes and Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases) 0.5 g/t AuEq, 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from Leapfrog model. Due to window size (+/- 50m) and section orientation (150) hole may appear on multiple sections.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 11, please visit:

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Figure 12. Schematic cross section of RC683 (Section Line 15) showing Newcrest and Imperial drill holes and Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases) 0.5 g/t AuEq, 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from Leapfrog model. Due to window size (+/- 50m) and section orientation (150) hole may appear on multiple sections.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 12, please visit:

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Figure 13. Schematic cross section of RC673, RC675, RC679, RC680 and RC686 (Section Line 14) showing Newcrest and Imperial drill holes and Newcrest intercepts (drill intercepts have been reported in Appendix 1 of this report, and in prior Newcrest exploration releases) 0.5 g/t AuEq, 1 g/t AuEq and 2 g/t AuEq shell projections generated from Leapfrog model. Due to window size (+/- 50m) and section orientation (150) hole may appear on multiple sections.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 13, please visit:

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Appendix 2

Havieron Project (Greatland Gold Plc - Joint Venture Agreement): JORC Table 1

Section 1: Sampling Techniques and Data

Criteria Commentary Sampling techniques Core samples are obtained from core drilling in Proterozoic basement lithologies. PQ-HQ and NQ diameter core was drilled on a 6m run. Core was cut using an automated core-cutter and half core sampled at 1m intervals with breaks for major geological changes. Sampling intervals range from 0.2 - 1.0m. Cover sequences were not sampled. Drilling techniques Permian Paterson Formation cover sequence was drilled using mud rotary drilling. Depths of cover typically observed to approximately 420m vertically below surface. Steel casing was emplaced to secure the pre-collar.



Core drilling was advanced from the base of the cover sequence with PQ3, HQ3 and NQ2 diameter coring configuration.



Core from inclined drill holes are oriented on 3m and 6m runs using an electronic core orientation tool (Reflex ACTIII). At the end of each run, the bottom of hole position is marked by the driller, which is later transferred to the whole drill core run length with a bottom of hole reference line. Drill sample recovery Core recovery is systematically recorded from the commencement of coring to end of hole, by reconciling against driller's depth blocks in each core tray with data recorded in the database. Drillers depth blocks provided the depth, interval of core recovered, and interval of core drilled.



Core recoveries were typically 100%, with isolated zones of lower recovery.



Cover sequence drilling by the mud-rotary drilling did not yield recoverable samples. Logging Geological logging recorded qualitative descriptions of lithology, alteration, mineralisation, veining, and structure (for all core drilled - 4,798 m for 7 drill holes, all intersecting mineralisation), including orientation of key geological features.



Geotechnical measurements were recorded including Rock Quality Designation (RQD) fracture frequency, solid core recovery and qualitative rock strength measurements.



Magnetic susceptibility measurements were recorded every metre. The bulk density of selected drill core intervals was determined at site on whole core samples.



All geological and geotechnical logging was conducted at the Havieron site.



Digital data logging was captured on diamond drill core intervals only, and all data validated and stored in an acQuire database.



All drill cores were photographed, prior to cutting and/or sampling the core.



The logging is of sufficient quality to support Mineral Resource estimates. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation Sampling, sample preparation and quality control protocols are considered appropriate for the material being sampled.



Core was cut and sampled at the Telfer and Havieron core processing facility. Half core samples were collected in pre-numbered calico bags and grouped in plastic bags for dispatch to the laboratory. Sample weights typically varied from 0.5 to 4kg. Sample sizes are considered appropriate for the style of mineralisation. Drill core samples were freighted by air and road to the laboratory.



Sample preparation was conducted at the independent ISO17025 accredited Intertek Laboratory, Perth (Intertek). Samples were dried at 105oC, and crushed to 95% passing 4.75mm, and the split to obtain up to 3kg sub-sample, which was pulverised (using LM5) to produce a pulped product with the minimum standard of 95% passing 106m. Routine grind size analysis is conducted.



Duplicate samples were collected from crush and pulp samples at a rate of 1:20. Duplicate results show an acceptable level of variability for the material sampled and style of mineralisation.



Periodic size checks (1:20) for crush and pulp samples and sample weights are provided by the laboratory and recorded in the acQuire database. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests Assaying of drill core samples was conducted at Intertek. All samples were assayed for 48 elements using a 4-acid digestion followed by ICP-AES/ICP-MS determination (method 4A/MS907), which is considered to provide a total assay for copper. Gold analyses were determined by 50g fire assay with AAS finish (method FA50N/AA), which is considered to provide a total assay for gold.



Sampling and assaying quality control procedures consisted of inclusion of certified reference material (CRMs), coarse residue and pulp duplicates with each batch (at least 1:20).



Assays of quality control samples were compared with reference samples in acQuire database and verified as acceptable prior to use of data from analysed batches.



Laboratory quality control data, including laboratory standards, blanks, duplicates, repeats and grind size results are captured in the acQuire database and assessed for accuracy and precision for recent data.



Extended quality control programs including pulp samples submitted to an umpire laboratory and combined with more extensive re-submission programs have been completed.



Analysis of the available quality control sample assay results indicates that an acceptable level of accuracy and precision has been achieved and the database contains no analytical data that has been numerically manipulated.



The assaying techniques and quality control protocols used are considered appropriate for the data to be used for reporting exploration drilling results. Verification of sampling and assaying Sampling intervals defined by the geologist are electronically assigned sample identification numbers prior to core cutting. Corresponding sample numbers matching pre-labelled calico bags are assigned to each interval.



All sampling and assay information were stored in a secure acQuire database with restricted access.



Electronically generated sample submission forms providing the sample identification number accompany each submission to the laboratory. Assay results from the laboratory with corresponding sample identification are loaded directly into the acQuire database.



Assessment of reported significant assay intervals was verified by re-logging of diamond drill core intervals and assessment of high resolution core photography. The verification of significant intersections has been completed by company personnel and the Competent Person/Qualified Person.



No adjustments are made to assay data, and no twinned holes have been completed.



There are no currently known drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data. Location of data points Drill collar locations were surveyed using a differential GPS with GNSS with a stated accuracy of +/- 0.5m for all drill holes reported.



Drill rig alignment was attained using an electronic azimuth aligner. Downhole survey was collected at 6-12m intervals in the cover sequence, and every 6 to 30m in diamond drill core segments of the drill hole using single shot (Axis Mining Champ Gyro). The single shot surveys have been validated using continuous survey to surface (Axis Mining Champ) along with a selection of drill holes re-surveyed by an external survey contactor using a DeviGyro tool - confirming sufficient accuracy for downhole spatial recording.



A LIDAR survey was completed over the project area in Nov 2019 which was used to prepare a DEM / topographic model for the project with a spatial accuracy of +/- 0.1m vertical and +/- 0.3m horizontal. The topography is generally low relief to flat, elevation within the dune corridors in ranges between 250-265m Australian Height Datum (AHD) steepening to the southeast. All collar coordinates are provided in the Geocentric Datum of Australian (GDA20 Zone 51). All relative depth information is reported in AHD +5000m. Data spacing and distribution Within the South-East Crescent and Breccia zone drill hole spacing ranges from 50 to 100m, to 50 by 50m within the initial resource extents. Outside the initial resource boundary drill hole spacing ranges from 50 to 200m in lateral extent within the breccia zone over an area of ~2km2. The data spacing is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity.



Significant assay intercepts remain open. Further drilling is required to determine the extent of currently defined mineralisation. No sample compositing is applied to samples.



Drilling intersects mineralisation at various angles. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Drill holes exploring the extents of the Havieron mineral system intersect moderately dipping carbonate and siliclastic sedimentary facies, mineralised breccia and sub-vertical intrusive lithologies. Geological modelling has been interpreted from historic and Newcrest drill holes.



Variable brecciation, alteration and sulphide mineralisation is observed with a footprint with dimensions of 650m x 350m trending in a north west orientation and over 1000m in vertical extent below cover.



The subvertical southeast high grade arcuate crescent sulphide zone has an average thickness of 20m and has been defined over a strike length of up to 550m, and extended to over 700m in vertical extent below cover.



Drilling direction is oriented to intersect the steeply dipping high-grade sulphide mineralisation zones at an intersection angle of greater than 40 degrees. The drilled length of reported intersections is typically greater than true width of mineralisation. Sample security The security of samples is controlled by tracking samples from drill rig to database.



Drill core was delivered from the drill rig to the Havieron core yard every shift. On completion of geological and geotechnical logging, core processing was completed by Newcrest personnel at the Havieron facility.



High resolution core photography and cutting of drill core was undertaken at the Havieron core processing facilities.



Samples were freighted in sealed bags by air and road to the Laboratory, and in the custody of Newcrest representatives. Sample numbers are generated directly from the database. All samples are collected in pre-numbered calico bags.



Verification of sample numbers and identification is conducted by the laboratory on receipt of samples, and sample receipt advise issued to Newcrest.



Details of all sample movement are recorded in a database table. Dates, Hole ID sample ranges, and the analytical suite requested are recorded with the dispatch of samples to analytical services. Any discrepancies logged at the receipt of samples into the analytical services are validated. Audits or reviews Internal reviews of core handling, sample preparation and assays laboratories were conducted on a regular basis by both project personnel and owner representatives.



In the Competent Person's opinion, the sample preparation, security and analytical procedures are consistent with current industry standards and are entirely appropriate and acceptable for the styles of mineralisation identified and will be appropriate for use in the reporting of exploration results and Mineral Resource estimates. There are no identified drilling, sampling or recovery factors that materially impact the adequacy and reliability of the results of the drilling programme in place at the Havieron Project.

Section 2: Reporting of Exploration Results

Criteria Commentary Mineral tenement and land tenure status The Havieron Project is entirely contained within mining tenement M45/1287, which is jointly owned by Greatland Pty Ltd and Newcrest Operations Limited. Newcrest has entered into a Joint Venture Agreement (effective 30 November 2020) and Farm-In Agreement (effective 12 March 2019) with Greatland Pty Ltd and Greatland Gold plc. Newcrest is the manager of the Havieron Project. Newcrest has now met the Stage 3 expenditure requirement (US$45 million) and is entitled to earn an additional 20% joint venture interest, resulting in an overall joint venture interest of 60%. Newcrest has the right to earn up to a 70% interest and acquire a further 5% at fair market value.



Newcrest and the Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation are parties to an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) which relates to the use of native title land for Newcrest's current operations at Telfer and its activities within a 60-km radius around Telfer and includes its exploration activities at Havieron. The parties have agreed that the ILUA will apply to any future development activities by the Joint Venture Participants (Newcrest and Greatland Gold) at Havieron.



The mining tenement M45/1287 wholly replaces the 12 sub-blocks of exploration tenement E45/4701 (former exploration tenement on which the Havieron Project is based) and was granted on 10 September 2020. All obligations with respect to legislative requirements including minimum expenditure are maintained in good standing for prior exploration tenement E45/4701. Exploration done by other parties Newcrest completed six core holes in the vicinity of the Havieron Project from 1991 to 2003. Greatland Gold completed drill targeting and drilling of nine Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes with core tails for a total of approximately 6,800m in 2018. Results of drilling programs conducted by Greatland Gold have previously been reported on the Greatland Gold website.



Drilling has defined an intrusion-related mineral system with evidence of breccia and massive sulphide-hosted higher-grade gold-copper mineralisation. Geology The Havieron Project is located within the north-western exposure of the Palaeo-Proterozoic to Neoproterozoic Paterson Orogen (formerly Paterson Province), 45 km east of Telfer. The Yeneena Supergroup hosts the Havieron prospect and consists of a 9km thick sequence of marine sedimentary rocks and is entirely overlain by approximately 420m of Phanerozoic sediments of the Paterson Formation and Quaternary aeolian sediments.



Gold and copper mineralisation at Havieron consist of breccia, vein and massive sulphide replacement gold and copper mineralisation typical of intrusion-related and skarn styles of mineralisation. Mineralisation is hosted by metasedimentary rocks (meta-sandstones, meta-siltstones and meta-carbonate) and intrusive rocks of an undetermined age. The main mineral assemblage contains well developed pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite and pyrite sulphide mineral assemblages as breccia and vein infill, and massive sulphide lenses. The main mineralisation event is associated with amphibole-carbonate-biotite-sericite-chlorite wall rock alteration. Drilling has partially defined the extents of mineralisation which are observed over 650m by 350m within an arcuate shaped mineralised zone, and to depths of up to 1400m below surface. Drill hole Information As provided. Data aggregation methods Significant assay intercepts are reported as (A) length-weighted averages exceeding 1.0g/t Au greater than or equal to 10m, with a maximum of 5m consecutive internal dilution; and (B) length-weighted averages exceeding 0.2g/t Au for greater than or equal to 20m, with a maximum of 10m consecutive internal dilution, and (C) intervals of >30g/t which are greater or equal to 30 gram metres (Au_ppm x length). No top cuts are applied to intercept calculations. Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths Significant assay intervals reported represent apparent widths. Drilling is not always perpendicular to the dip of mineralisation and true widths are less than downhole widths. Estimates of true widths will only be possible when all results are received, and final geological interpretations have been completed. Diagrams As provided. Balanced reporting This is the sixteenth release of Exploration Results for this project made by Newcrest. Previous release dates are 25 July 2019, 10 September 2019, 24 October 2019, 2 December 2019, 30 January 2020, 11 March 2020, 30 April 2020, 11 June 2020, 23 July 2020, 10 September 2020, 29 October 2020, 10 December 2020, 28 January 2021, 11 March 2021 and 29 April 2021.



Earlier reporting of exploration programs conducted by Newcrest and Greatland Gold have previously been reported. Exploration drilling programs are ongoing and further material results will be reported in subsequent Newcrest releases. Other substantive exploration data Nil Further work Growth drilling is planned to extend the December 2020 Inferred Mineral Resource estimate and define the limits of the Havieron mineralised system.

Drillhole data(1)

Havieron Project, Paterson Province, Western Australia

Reporting Criteria: Intercepts reported are downhole drill width (not true width) Au >0.20ppm (0.2g/t Au) and minimum 20m downhole width with maximum consecutive internal dilution of 10m. Average grades are based on length-weighting of samples grades. Also highlighted are high grade intervals of Au >1.0ppm (1g/t Au) and minimum 10m downhole width with maximum consecutive internal dilution of 5m, and intervals of >30g/t which are greater or equal to 30 gram metres (Au_ppm x length) are tabled. Gold grades are reported to two significant figures, the downhole lengths are rounded to 0.1m which may cause some apparent discrepancies in interval widths. Samples are from core drilling which is PQ, HQ or NQ in diameter. Core is photographed and logged by the geology team before being cut. Half core PQ, HQ and NQ samples are prepared for assay and the remaining material is retained in the core farm for future reference. Each assay batch is submitted with duplicates and standards to monitor laboratory quality. Total depth (end of hole) is rounded to one decimal place for reporting purposes. Collars denoted with a * show partial results, with further significant assays to be reported in subsequent exploration updates.

Hole ID Hole

Type Easting

(m) Northing

(m) RL

(m) Total

Depth (m) Azi Dip From

(m) To (m) Interval

(m) Au

(ppm) Cu

(pct) Cut

off HAD086W1 MR-DD 464623 7598148 258 1460.6 225 -64 1240 1274 34 3.9 0.28 0.2 g/t Au













incl 1259 1271.2 12.2 10 0.36 1.0 g/t Au















1265 1266 1 47 0.05 30 g/t Au















1308 1407.7 99.7 2.5 0.85 0.2 g/t Au













incl 1313.6 1364 50.4 4.3 1.6 1.0 g/t Au













incl 1331 1331.9 0.9 46 3.8 30 g/t Au













incl 1339.4 1340.3 0.9 50 1.3 30 g/t Au













incl 1358 1359 1 50 0.01 30 g/t Au













incl 1393 1403 10 2.1 0.13 1.0 g/t Au















1426.3 1460 33.7 0.39 0.09 0.2 g/t Au HAD089W1 MR-DD 464299 7597746 258 1138 290 -61 602 713.2 111.2 0.32 0.02 0.2 g/t Au















752.9 791.5 38.6 0.43 0.08 0.2 g/t Au















878.1 930.9 52.8 0.54 0.13 0.2 g/t Au















943.6 968.8 25.2 0.31 0.04 0.2 g/t Au















1009.7 1091 81.3 1.2 0.04 0.2 g/t Au















1078 1079 1 37 0.01 30 g/t Au HAD096W1 MR-DD 463717 7597354 262 1350.4 31 -61 704 741.5 37.5 0.20 0.03 0.2 g/t Au















812 849 37 0.58 0.15 0.2 g/t Au















865.4 865.8 0.4 142 0.04 30 g/t Au















876.6 976 99.4 0.60 0.20 0.2 g/t Au















998 1023 25 0.27 0.27 0.2 g/t Au















1037 1115 78 0.45 0.07 0.2 g/t Au















1271.4 1321 49.6 0.65 0.08 0.2 g/t Au













incl 1281.2 1296 14.8 1.9 0.15 1.0 g/t Au HAD097W3 MR-DD 464436 7598085 257 830 222 -63 620.2 668 47.8 2.3 0.28 0.2 g/t Au













incl 639.7 668 28.3 3.8 0.45 1.0 g/t Au HAD106W2 MR-DD 463521 7597782 257 1026.4 69 -57 648.7 702.8 54.1 0.56 0.09 0.2 g/t Au













incl 674.9 688 13.1 1.6 0.11 1.0 g/t Au















726.9 754.8 27.9 0.22 0.06 0.2 g/t Au















793 850.3 57.3 0.31 0.06 0.2 g/t Au HAD133 MR-DD 464071 7598315 257 1430.2 171 -65 1221 1329.5 108.5 1.7 0.43 0.2 g/t Au













incl 1244.7 1268 23.3 2.7 0.59 1.0 g/t Au













incl 1276 1289 13 2.4 0.62 1.0 g/t Au













incl 1309.9 1329 19.1 2.3 0.38 1.0 g/t Au















1345 1430 85 11 0.29 0.2 g/t Au













incl 1363 1376 13 32 0.46 1.0 g/t Au













incl 1366.6 1372.6 6 62 0.24 30 g/t Au













incl 1385.7 1386.4 0.7 82 0.19 30 g/t Au













incl 1396.5 1411 14.5 32 0.33 1.0 g/t Au













incl 1403 1406.6 3.6 120 0.46 30 g/t Au HAD136 MR-DD 464451 7597544 257 1468.9 300 -62 501 556.2 55.2 2.5 0.65 0.2 g/t Au













incl 506.8 531.3 24.5 5.4 0.95 1.0 g/t Au













incl 512 513 1 31.4 1.2 30 g/t Au















788.8 883.6 94.8 0.34 0.12 0.2 g/t Au















919.7 940 20.3 0.35 0.16 0.2 g/t Au















979.3 1009 29.7 0.20 0.10 0.2 g/t Au















1022.6 1137.5 114.9 0.26 0.10 0.2 g/t Au















1148.9 1194.6 45.7 0.44 0.06 0.2 g/t Au















1329 1354 25 0.22 0.01 0.2 g/t Au

#drilling in progress. **partial intercept, assays pending. ^updated intercept ^^previously reported intercept





Figure 14. Schematic plan view map showing drill hole locations and significant intercepts reported in this release superimposed on the interpreted geology. Previously reported holes are not shown for the sake of clarity. Note some holes and results appear on multiple sections due to the sections orientation and sections overlap.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 14, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7614/87139_fa1e024f04a2f90f_016full.jpg

Figure 15. Schematic cross section of geology and significant new drillhole intercepts (looking northwest, Section Line S1, +/-50m section width, as shown in Figure 10). Due to section window size and orientation holes may appear on multiple sections.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 15, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7614/87139_fa1e024f04a2f90f_017full.jpg

Figure 16. Schematic cross section of geology and significant new drillhole intercepts (looking northwest, Section Line S2, +/-50m section width, as shown in Figure 10). Due to section window size and orientation holes may appear on multiple sections.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 16, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7614/87139_fa1e024f04a2f90f_018full.jpg

Forward Looking Statements

This document includes forward looking statements and forward looking information within the meaning of securities laws of applicable jurisdictions. Forward looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "objectives", "targets", "outlook" and "guidance", or other similar words and may include, without limitation, statements regarding estimated reserves and resources, certain plans, strategies, aspirations and objectives of management, anticipated production, study or construction dates, expected costs, cash flow or production outputs and anticipated productive lives of projects and mines. Newcrest continues to distinguish between outlook and guidance. Guidance statements relate to the current financial year. Outlook statements relate to years subsequent to the current financial year.

These forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Newcrest's actual results, performance and achievements or industry results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements, or industry results, expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Relevant factors may include, but are not limited to, changes in commodity prices, foreign exchange fluctuations and general economic conditions, increased costs and demand for production inputs, the speculative nature of exploration and project development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licences and permits and diminishing quantities or grades of reserves, political and social risks, changes to the regulatory framework within which Newcrest operates or may in the future operate, environmental conditions including extreme weather conditions, recruitment and retention of personnel, industrial relations issues and litigation. For further information as to the risks which may impact on Newcrest's results and performance, please see the risk factors included in the Annual Information Form dated 13 October 2020 lodged with ASX and SEDAR.

Forward looking statements are based on Newcrest's good faith assumptions as to the financial, market, regulatory and other relevant environments that will exist and affect Newcrest's business and operations in the future. Newcrest does not give any assurance that the assumptions will prove to be correct. There may be other factors that could cause actual results or events not to be as anticipated, and many events are beyond the reasonable control of Newcrest. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements, particularly in the current economic climate with the significant volatility, uncertainty and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Forward looking statements in this document speak only at the date of issue. Except as required by applicable laws or regulations, Newcrest does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward looking statements or to advise of any change in assumptions on which any such statement is based.

Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources Reporting Requirements

As an Australian Company with securities listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Newcrest is subject to Australian disclosure requirements and standards, including the requirements of the Corporations Act 2001 and the ASX. Investors should note that it is a requirement of the ASX listing rules that the reporting of ore reserves and mineral resources in Australia is in accordance with the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code) and that Newcrest's ore reserve and mineral resource estimates comply with the JORC Code.

Newcrest is also subject to certain Canadian disclosure requirements and standards, as a result of its secondary listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), including the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). Investors should note that it is a requirement of Canadian securities law that the reporting of Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources in Canada and the disclosure of scientific and technical information concerning a mineral project on a property material to Newcrest comply with NI 43-101. Newcrest's material properties are currently Cadia, Lihir and Wafi-Golpu.

Competent Person's Statement

The information in this document that relates to Exploration Targets, Exploration Results, and related scientific and technical information, is based on and fairly represents information compiled by Mr F. MacCorquodale. Mr MacCorquodale is the General Manager - Greenfields Exploration and a full-time employee of Newcrest Mining Limited. He is a shareholder in Newcrest Mining Limited and is entitled to participate in Newcrest's executive equity long term incentive plan, details of which are included in Newcrest's 2020 Remuneration Report. He is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr MacCorquodale has sufficient experience which is relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code and as a Qualified Person under

NI 43-101. Mr MacCorquodale approves the disclosure of scientific and technical information contained in this document and consents to the inclusion of material of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

Authorised by the Newcrest Disclosure Committee

For further information please contact



Investor Enquiries

Tom Dixon

+61 3 9522 5570

+61 450 541 389

Tom.Dixon@newcrest.com.au

Ben Lovick

+61 3 9522 5334

+61 407 269 478

Ben.Lovick@newcrest.com.au

North American Investor Enquiries

Ryan Skaleskog

+1 866 396 0242

+61 403 435 222

Ryan.Skaleskog@newcrest.com.au

Media Enquiries

Tom Dixon

+61 3 9522 5570

+61 450 541 389

Tom.Dixon@newcrest.com.au

Annie Lawson

+61 3 9522 5750

+61 409 869 986

Annie.Lawson@newcrest.com.au

This information is available on our website at www.newcrest.com

1 # drilling in progress ** partial intercept, assays pending ^ updated intercept or ^^ previously reported.

2 # drilling in progress ** partial intercept, assays pending ^ updated intercept or ^^ previously reported.

3 # drilling in progress ** partial intercept, assays pending ^ updated intercept or ^^ previously reported.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87139




DUBAI, June 10, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - The 7th edition of the world-renowned flagship Global Blockchain Congress by Agora Group is taking place on June 21st and 22nd, 2021 in Dubai & co-hosted by TDeFi. We are also happy to have Woonkly as a Title Sponsor for this event. This edition's theme is "Celebrating DeFi and NFTs" and will boast an amazing line up of speakers including Keynote Addresses by His Excellency Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman & CEO of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, Hubertus Thonhauser, Chairman of the Board of Tezos Foundation, Fiorenzo Manganiello, Partner at Lian Group and many others.The event is a closed door, exclusive congress that can be attended by invitation only. Agora will be hosting more than 100 investors and 30 Sponsors (Global Blockchain, DeFi and NFTs projects looking to raise funds).The rst six editions of the Global Blockchain congress were a tremendous success and we were able to host more than 450 investors and more than 90 blockchain startups and were able to raise Millions in funds for our participating projects.This is an exclusive, closed-door Congress to connect startups with investors and secure funds. Startup founders from all over the world need financial advocates on their side. Raising funds and receiving funding is vital to the growth and success of startups. NOW is the right time for international startups to tap into a pool of highly engaged investors from the MENA region who are actively looking to invest in exciting and promising companies."Pitches are good and all, but have you ever sat on a table for 8 hours with 30 minutes one-on-one meetings with 50 rotating investors' Agora is next level. I went to this conference last year, and it was like speed dating with investors. THIS IS EXACTLY HOW IT SHOULD BE. If you're in Dubai or can get there, and are looking to raise funds for your project, this is your jam," says Nikita Sachdev, Co-Founder, LunaPR.ioPrevious Notable Speakers:H.E. Naokazu Takemoto - Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, Japan.Dr. Obaid Al Zaabi - CEO, Securities & Commodities Authority, UAE.Baiba Broka - Member of the General Council, International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, Working Group Member on Cryptocurrency Regulation, Ministry of Finance, Latvia, and Former Minister of Justice, Latvia.Josef Holm - Founding Partner, Draper Goren HolmKristina Lucrezia Corner - Managing Editor, Cointelegraph.Ralf Glabischnig - Founder & Board Member, Crypto Valley Venture Capital.H.E. Zulfiquar Ghadiyali - Executive Director Of DIHC under chairmanship of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Sultan bin Hamdan Al NahyanZachary Cefaratti - CEO & Principal Founder, Dalma CapitalWai Lum Kwok - Senior Executive Director & Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)For participation: http://bit.ly/The7thGBCSource: Plato Data Intelligence.Source: AgoraCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
SHENZHEN, China, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Anycubic, a leading global 3D printer brand, will soon launch Vyper, the first fully automatic leveling FDM machine as a premium addition to its FDM 3D printer line-up. With truly one-touch leveling, it offers users more freedom by avoiding the inconvenience of traditional manual leveling.

"The launch of our latest Vyper FDM 3D printer showcases our continued commitment to providing premium 3D printers that innovate the 3D printing workflow. Compared to other FDM printers on the market, Vyper stands out with fully automatic leveling and extreme convenience at an affordable price," said James Ouyang, Vice President of Anycubic.

Vyper is equipped with a precise pressure strain gauge and 16-point leveling module, enabling its smart-leveling system to automatically adjust any unevenness on the printer bed thus eliminating the need for manual leveling. The printer features cutting-edge technology that combines spring steel and soft magnetic rubber which makes the printing model more resistant, harder to deform, easier to remove, and relieves users from having to use masking paper and glue. It also features a large-size 4.3-inch touch screen and new user interface, ensuring smoother and simpler operation. More importantly, Vyper's printing speed can reach up to 80-100mm/s, 30% faster than the previous Mega series.

The Vyper measures 245x245x260 millimeters, making it capable of meeting more needs of users. Its integrated structure and modular design allow users to assemble the machine in just three simple steps making it easy to maintain. Moreover, the machine delivers higher performance with the addition of a new 32-bit motherboard and TMC2209 ultra-silent driver.

The Z-axis high-precision double screw and double photoelectric limit combine to offer reduced zero position error, more stable operation and an even print. Its print head, designed with a double fan, two-way heat dissipation system, is perfect for rapidly cooling down models. The printer's auto-resume function and filament detection can also help to avoid wasting both time and resources.

Pricing and Availability

Anycubic will hold an online launch event for Vyper on 3: 00 PM CEST June 10th, 2021/6: 00 AM PT June 10th, 2021. The launch event will be live streamed on Anycubic's Facebook, Instagram and Youtube channel.

Please click the following links to watch our online launch event.

https://www.facebook.com/ANYCUBIC3dprinter

https://www.instagram.com/anycubicofficial/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZM7qiXlLyk

Vyper will start presales at 7:00 AM PSTJune 10th, 2021/4:00 PM CESTJune 10th, 2021 on the official Anycubic store, Ebay, and AliExpress platform. Anycubic will provide an early bird offer of US$299 for the first 3,000 machines. The price will revert to US$359 after one-week of presales.

Please visit the following link for more details:

https://www.anycubic.com/products/anycubic-vyper

About Anycubic

Anycubic is a leading company in the 3D printing industry which specializes in 3D printer R&D, manufacturing and sales, providing many affordable, high-performance and smart printers for different customers, consumers, hobbyists, schools and product designers. Since its establishment in 2015, we have been committed to propelling 3D printing technology so as to enable people from all walks of life to unleash their imagination and turn creativity into reality.

Contact: Carina, mediacontact@anycubic.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1516453/Anycubic_vyper.jpg
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 9, 2021) - Mode Investments Corp. (the "Acquiror") announces that on June 9, 2021 the Acquiror, together with El Be Investments Corp. (the "Joint Actor"), acquired 733,333 common shares ("Common Shares") in the capital of 1290447 B.C. Ltd. (the "Company") at $0.08 per Common Share for gross proceeds of $58,666.64 by way of a non-brokered private placement (the "Acquisition"). The Acquiror and the Joint Actor share the same beneficial owner.

Prior to the Acquisition, the Acquiror and the Joint Actor held no securities of the Company. As a result of the Acquisition, the Acquiror, together with the Joint Actor, holds an aggregate of 733,333 Common Shares, representing approximately 40% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares of the Company.

The Acquiror, together with the Joint Actor, acquired the Common Shares pursuant to the terms of subscription agreements on a private placement basis. The current intention of the Acquiror and the Joint Actor is to hold the Common Shares for investment purposes only and not with a view to materially effect control of the Company. Depending upon market conditions and other factors, and subject to compliance with applicable law, the Acquiror and the Joint Actor may, from time to time, acquire or dispose of additional shares of the Company, in the open market, by private agreement or otherwise, or acquire interests in or enter into related financial instruments involving a security of the Company.

For the purposes of National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take Over Bids and Insider Reporting Issues, the address of the Acquiror's head office is 1111 Melville St, Unit #350, Vancouver, BC V6E 3V6.

1290447 B.C. Ltd. has its head office located at 47 Lakeshore Road East, Unit 201, Mississauga, Ontario L5G 1C9. A copy of the early warning report with respect to the forgoing will appear on the Company's profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval at www.sedar.com and may also be obtained by calling Mr. Leighton Bocking at (604) 307-8225.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87157
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 9, 2021) - NEO Battery Materials Ltd. (TSXV: NBM) (OTC: NBMFF) ("NEO" or the "Company") is pleased to welcome James Suk and Dr. Andrew Fraser as advisors to support NEO in its initiative to access non-dilutive grants from the Canadian Federal and Provincial Government.

Dr. Andrew Fraser is an expert in the field of chemistry with over 10 years of experience in R&D and writing technical documents. He has received his Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis from Queen's University. During his 7-year career as a technical writer, he published over 50 scientific research and experimental development submissions in oil & gas, manufacturing, telecommunications, and biotechnology.

Mr. James Suk has a multitude of experience over the past 25 years in the areas of early-stage seed, angel funds, and planning SR&ED and non-dilutive government grants for start-ups and small-medium sized companies. He is currently Vice President of Technology Advisory at LFG Accounting and Advisory Ltd., leading engagements for SR&ED and Business Tax Incentives.

Mr. Suk and Dr. Fraser will assist NEO in its applications for non-dilutive and non-repayable grants under a variety of programs, including Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) Research Grant, Clean Growth Program Grant, and provincial government grants.

Concurrently, NEO plans to seek grants and funding from the South Korean government with Dr. Jong Hyeok Park, Chief Scientific Advisor and Director. Dr. Park and his lab has received substantial funding over the past 10 years from the Korean government and large battery technology companies including Samsung and LG. Most recently, Dr. Park was selected as a co-beneficiary with a Stanford University research team, with funding of CAD $1.8 million over 3 years from the South Korean Government.

Spencer Huh, CEO of the Company, said, "We strongly believe that we will be able to access non-dilutive government funding from both Canada and South Korea to speed up our scaling up and pilot plant process while protecting our shareholders' value going forward. By adding Dr. Fraser and Mr. Suk, we could facilitate and expedite our access to this valuable funding."

In addition, Dr. Jinhyuk Lee, NEO's Scientific Advisor, has received meaningful grants spanning multiple years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) such as the Discovery Accelerator Supplement and the Discovery Grant.

Dr. Lee commented, "I am glad to have two valuable advisors for NEO and will work closely with Dr. Park, Dr. Fraser, and Mr. Suk to achieve access to both Canadian and Korean government grants. NEO's strategic approach will not only benefit the Company and shareholders but also Canada and Korea, potentially strengthening battery technology development and supply chain of both countries."

About Dr. Jong Hyeok Park

Dr. Jong Hyeok Park is the Chief Scientific Advisor and Director of NEO Battery Materials Ltd. He has served as a Senior Researcher for LG Chem and is the co-developer of LG Chem's core innovative technology of the Safety-Reinforced Separator (SRS). Dr. Park owns a total of 92 patents and is currently a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Yonsei University in Seoul.

About Dr. Jinhyuk Lee

Dr. Jinhyuk Lee is a Scientific Advisor of NEO Battery Materials Ltd. He has received his Ph.D. from MIT and is an Assistant Professor of Materials Engineering at McGill University. Dr. Lee is widely known as the investor of disordered-rock salt lithium-ion battery cathodes, which is being highlighted as one of the highest energy-density and cheapest cobalt-free material for next-generation batteries.

About NEO Battery Materials Ltd.

NEO Battery Materials Ltd. is a Vancouver-based resource company focused on battery materials development. The Company is focusing on developing silicon anodes through nanocoating an ion-conductive elastomer layer, which provides improvements in capacity and efficiency over lithium-ion batteries using graphite in their anode materials. The Company intends to become a silicon anode materials supplier to the electric vehicle industry. The Company has staked new mining claims in Golden, BC, along a strike with a quartzite bed, targeting silica in the quartzites for a total of 467 hectares. For more information, please visit the Company's website at: https://www.neobatterymaterials.com/.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Spencer Huh

President and CEO

604-697-2408

shuh@neobatterymaterials.com

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements as well as management's objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. Forward looking statements are frequently identified by such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend" and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, fluctuating commodity prices, the effectiveness and feasibility of technologies which have not yet been tested or proven on a commercial scale, competitive risks and the availability of financing, as described in more detail in our recent securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and we caution against placing undue reliance thereon. We assume no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87155
Dufry, leading global travel retailer, has been awarded a new ten-year concession contract at the Martinique Aime Cesaire International Airport starting January 1st, 2023, for the new duty-free shop covering 750 m2 of retail space. It will be located in the new airport extension area currently under construction next to the existing terminal. Alongside the new contract, the current concession for the existing 340 m2 duty-free shop, which Dufry has been operating since 2011, has also been extended until December 2022.

The planned airport extension and the enlarged duty-free shop will serve the growing number of passengers visiting the island of Martinique, which is a French overseas department and region located in the Caribbean, which in 2019 welcomed over 2 million travelers.

The new walk-through store is expected to be opened in December 2022 and will feature two distinctive features. The central eye-catching installation will be a rum tasting bar created as a tribute to the island's rum tradition and it will present a unique selection of high quality rums from leading producers. A Hit-the-Beach corner will be a testimony to the heritage and strong beach culture of the island and will allow for the further promotion and showcasing of local products. The increased retail space will also enable the offering of a larger product mix from global brands covering all typical duty-free categories, such as perfume and cosmetics, confectionery, tobacco, spirits, jewelry and travel accessories. A refined selection of local food and souvenirs will complete the product assortment and provide a distinctive sense of place for this tropical island.

Commenting on the new contract Christophe Ricard, General Manager Dufry France, said, 'We are proud to continue our longstanding relationship with our partners of Societe Aeroport Martinique Aime Cesaire and to contribute to the further development of Martinique's International Airport. We will honor the trust put in Dufry by delivering a state-of-the-art shopping experience of the highest international standards, to best serve the growing tourist community visiting this iconic and beautiful island.'
Regulatory News:

Tier 1 aeronautical equipment manufacturer, Latecoere (Paris:LAT) confirms this year again its status as a major patent filer by being ranked 1st mid-cap company (ETI) in Occitanie according to the INPI's annual ranking.

As an innovative company, Latecoere is reinforcing its status as a leading industrial player in Occitanie. The Aerostructures branch ("Latecoere" in the ranking) has 15 published patent applications, making it the 5th largest applicant in the region, while the Interconnection Systems branch ("Latelec"), with 11 published patent applications, is in 11th place. With a total of 26 patent applications published by its two branches, the Latecoere Group would thus be the 4th French ETI in this field.

The Group has maintained its R&T efforts in 2020 at 5.9 million and will do the same in 2021 to continue to offer the market innovative technologies. The Group's dynamic R&T efforts will enable Latecoere to continue to develop its optical technology and strengthen its position as a leader in doors. The Group salutes the essential support of the public authorities (DGAC, DGE, DGA, the Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions), which have been present at its side over the years and in its innovative projects, and even more so in the framework of France Relance.

"We are very proud of Latecoere's leadership in this INPI ranking for 2020. It highlights the excellent work accomplished by our Research Technology teams and the innovation capacity of the Group's two branches, Aerostructures and Interconnection Systems. This result confirms the relevance of Latecoere's strategic choices in favor of innovation: despite a very deteriorated economic context due to the health crisis, we have maintained our support for our research and technology activities, which are based entirely in France. We will continue to support research and development to enable Latecoere to offer its customers ever more innovative technologies," said Serge Berenger, Latecoere's Director of Innovation and R&T.

To learn more about INPI's ranking, click here.

_____________________________________________________

About Latecoere

As an international group and "rank 1" partner of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers (Airbus, Embraer, Dassault, Boeing, Bombardier and Mitsubishi Aircraft), Latecoere is involved in all segments of the aeronautics industry (commercial, regional, business and military aircraft), in two areas of activity:

Aerostructures Industry (55% of sales): fuselage sections and doors,

Interconnection Systems (45% of sales): wiring, electrical furniture and onboard equipment.

As of December 31, 2020, the Group employed 4,172 people in 13 countries. Latecoere, a public limited company with capital of 189,637,036 divided into 94,818,518 shares with a par value of 2, is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment B, Codes ISIN: FR0000032278 Reuters: LAEP.PA Bloomberg: LAT.FP

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210609005928/en/

Contacts:

Taddeo

Pierre-Jean Le Mauff Media Relations

+33 (0)7 77 78 58 67 teamlatecoere@taddeo.fr
First available holistic medical drug to treat Covid-19 and flu viruses



ZUERICH, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / As a project company of Xlife Sciences AG (XLS DE), inflamed pharma GmbH has developed a revolutionary and holistic therapeutic approach to treat both SARS-CoV-2 and flu viruses. The patented active substance ProcCluster (R) reduces the viral load by 90% and acts against infection-related inflammatory processes without developing a resistance. It is already used on humans.

The active pharmaceutical ingredient ProcCluster(R) developed by inflamed pharma GmbH is membrane permeable and is based on the active ingredient procaine. It acts both locally as well as systemically and is characterized by a wide range of applications in inflammatory diseases. ProcCluster(R) is already used for various prescription drugs for humans. In various case studies, renowned medical doctors have now been able to successfully demonstrate the effectiveness in the treatment of Covid-19 and Long-Covid patients. In studies with various cell lines, especially lung cells, the active ingredient was able to reduce the viral load by 90% in an early phase and effectively inhibit inflammation in a later phase. These effects can be transferred to other RNA viruses.

Oliver R. Baumann, CEO of Xlife Sciences AG, comments: "ProcCluster(R) has enormous market potential because, in contrast to other active ingredients, both the inflammatory processes and the viral load in the body are significantly reduced. This means that it can be used at different points in time during the course of the Covid-19 disease". It is of inestimable value that this active ingredient is already produced by inflamed pharma GmbH in high quality at low cost. "Another key advantage compared to vaccines and antibodies is that ProcCluster(R) does not lead to resistance development and can also be used against virus mutants", continues Baumann. In addition, ProcCluster(R) has a stimulating effect on the microcirculation, which is particularly important for Long-Covid patients. So far, no negative side effects have been observed either.



According to the management of Xlife, they are already in various discussions with possible industrial partners in order to have ProcCluster(R) industrially manufactured. The aim is for the active ingredient to be licensed out as quickly as possible.

About Xlife Sciences AG

Xlife Sciences AG is a Swiss company with focus on investing in promising technologies in the life science industry. Xlife Sciences AG is building the bridge from research and development to healthcare markets by supporting researchers and entrepreneurs in positioning, structuring, developing and implementing their concepts. Together with industrial partners or universities, Xlife Sciences AG leads projects through the proof-of-concept phase after an invention disclosure or start-up. Subsequently, the firm focuses on out-licensing or selling the company, often with a combination of a strategic partnership. Xlife Sciences AG offers its investors direct access to the further development of innovative and future-oriented technologies at a very early stage. For more information, please visit: www.xlifesciences.ch



For media inquiries:

Dennis Lennartz, Head Investor Relations, Xlife Sciences AG, Tel. +41 44 385 84 60, dennis.lennartz@xlifesciences.ch

For scientific inquiries:

Dr. Frank Ploger, Chief Scientific Officer, Xlife Sciences AG, Tel. +41 44 385 84 62,

frank.ploeger@xlifesciences.ch

SOURCE: Xlife Sciences AG

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651220/Xlife-Sciences-AG-Breakthrough-in-Drug-Development
Druva helps Northeast England's largest social landlord and developer strengthen business continuity and cyber resiliency

Druva Inc., the leader in Cloud Data Protection and Management, today announced that Thirteen, Northeast England's largest social landlord and developer, has selected Druva to protect its business-critical Microsoft 365 data for more than 1,600 employees. Faced with growing security concerns and a desire to minimize downtime in the event of a platform disruption, Thirteen can now ensure its Microsoft 365 data is secure, accessible, and can easily be restored.

As a landlord and housing developer of 34,000 properties, Thirteen provides quality homes and support for more than 70,000 individuals in need of housing. The company began its cloud journey four years ago after adopting Microsoft 365 to strengthen collaboration and closely manage compliance of business-critical and government-mandated data. However, Microsoft's native data recovery features, which holds files for up to 90 days, failed to meet the company's data storage requirements and put it at risk of irrecoverable data loss. Facing an increasing number of sophisticated threats, the IT team turned to Druva to keep their business resilient and agile. The Druva Cloud Platform ensures the company's business-critical Microsoft 365 data is secure and recoverable, with stringent SLAs, and compliant with data regulations and governance requirements.

"There are a lot of systems we could do without," said Hassan Bahrani, Head of IT, Thirteen. "But not Microsoft 365. It's at the heart of our business, and Druva ensures that data is secure so our company can continue serving our customers. We will likely experience a ransomware attack, and how we recover is going to be testament to our character and the controls we now have in place."

Following an extensive search for a cloud-native data protection solution, Druva's innovative approach was apparent during the proof-of-concept. Druva Cloud Platform's air-gapped architecture on AWS, native integration with Microsoft products, including Teams and OneDrive, compliance capabilities, and robust ransomware protection offered the company a single solution that fit all of its needs. Using Druva, Thirteen is able to recognize ransomware attacks quickly and recover damaged or deleted files 95 percent faster.

"In light of increasing cyber threats and evolving privacy regulations, organizations are navigating an IT landscape that has never been more complex," said Nick Turner, Vice President of Sales EMEA, Druva. "Druva has built a solution that delivers immediate value and empowers businesses to thrive in the cloud era. Thirteen can now take control of their data and put more resources back into supporting their customers."

Additional information

Customer Testimonial : Read more about Thirteen's deployment with Druva

: Read more about Thirteen's deployment with Druva Blog: Read how Druva provides Thirteen with a flexible, secure way to backup and restore its Microsoft 365 data

About Druva Cloud Platform

Built for the public cloud with a microservices architecture, Druva Cloud Platform is secure by design, always up-to-date, and offers all-inclusive, consumption-based pricing. The industry's largest cloud-native SaaS platform operating at scale, Druva Cloud Platform enables organizations to centrally protect data, no matter where it lives: cloud environments, leading SaaS applications such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Salesforce, hybrid environments, or endpoint devices. Leveraging this innovative SaaS platform, organizations can reduce the cost and complexity of data protection, accelerate and protect cloud projects and increase cyber resilience and regulatory compliance.

About Druva

Druva delivers Data Protection and Management for the cloud era. Druva Cloud Platform is built on AWS and offered as-a-Service; customers drive down costs by up to 50 percent by freeing themselves from the burden of unnecessary hardware, capacity planning, and software management. Druva is trusted by thousands of companies worldwide, including over 50 of the Fortune 500. Druva is a privately held company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and is funded by Sequoia Capital, Viking Global Investors, CDPQ, Neuberger Berman, Tenaya Capital, Riverwood Capital and Nexus Partners. Visit druva.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005082/en/

Contacts:

Jesse Caputo

Director of Corporate Communications Analyst Relations

Druva Inc.

+1.516.815.2836

jesse.caputo@druva.com
Proprietary Resin Technology for Dental Prosthetics Delivering Superior Strength, Aesthetics and Function for Patients to Be Available to European Dental Professionals Beginning This Summer

Developed, tested, and selected from more than 200 formulations

Unique long-chain chemistry formulated and optimized for 3D printing

Pioneers a same-day digital denture solution with three times the toughness of select competitor denture material and lifelike tooth translucency

Desktop Health, recently launched by Desktop Metal, Inc. (NYSE: DM) and committed to developing 3D printing and biofabrication solutions for personalized medicine, today announced Conformite Europeenne (CE) Mark certification for its FlexceraTM resin, a proprietary technology for use in 3D fabrication of high-quality dental prosthetics. The CE Mark affirms that Flexcera resins meet the requirements of the European Medical Devices Directive, paving the way for Desktop Health to launch Flexcera resins to dental professionals within the European Union (EU) and other CE Mark geographies. Flexcera Base, which recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance, and Flexcera Smile are Desktop Health's first formulated and optimized digital dental solutions.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005323/en/

Desktop Health announces CE Mark certification and the international launch of Flexcera, a proprietary resin for use in 3D fabrication of high-quality dental prosthetics. The introduction of Flexcera Base and Flexcera Smile marks the inception of a new era in dentistry, combining advanced science with 3D printing technology to deliver superior strength, aesthetics, and function for patients. (Photo: Business Wire)

"We are very pleased to report CE Mark certification for Flexcera, launching our global expansion to meet the needs of dental professionals and their patients," said Michael Jafar, President CEO of Desktop Health. "The introduction of Flexcera marks the inception of a remarkable new era in dentistry, combining advanced Flexcera science with 3D printing technology to deliver superior strength, aesthetics, and function for patients."

The need for dental prosthetics is on the rise, with the global dentures market estimated to reach $3.8 billion USD by 2027.The European dentures market is a $878 million market1, driven by the advancement of technology which addresses limitation of current 3D printed dental prosthetics in both brittleness and aesthetics.

The Science of Printing Teeth

Flexcera resin was developed with the strength of ceramic coupled with long chain chemistry to ensure optimal denture properties. When used exclusively with EnvisionTEC 3D printers, dental providers can print up to eight customized Flexcera dentures in less than two hours, delivering on the promise of same-day, high quality dental prosthetics.

For the first time in dental prosthetics, Flexcera resin offers:

High fracture resistance, three times more resistant to fracture than select competitive resins;

Moisture resistance to prevent staining or discoloration, two times more resistant than a leading competitive formulation; and

An overall natural aesthetic that offers lifelike tooth translucency and a natural-looking smile.

"The ability to deliver beautiful, high-quality, printable dental prosthetics is a powerful new capability made possible by Flexcera and Desktop Health," said Prof. Patrik Zachrisson, Co-Founder and Vice President of the International Digital Dental Academy and a Partner Dentist at Digital Smile Studio in the United Kingdom. "Until now, the production of dentures has been limited to milling methods which are time-consuming, or 3D printing methods which have been brittle. For the first time, with Flexcera, we now have a complete digital denture solution that delivers on the four cornerstones of what should be expected from 3D printing: strength, high aesthetics, accuracy and speed."

Flexcera resin is expected to launch commercially in Europe in late summer 2021 and in the U.S. and Canada by the end of June. Healthcare providers who wish to stay updated on product availability, or place a pre-order, can sign up at www.flexcera.com.

About Flexcera Resins

Proprietary Flexcera resins enable the fabrication of beautiful, functional dentures with ceramic-like strength. Flexcera Smile is an FDA Class 1 and CE-marked medical device for the fabrication of lifelike denture teeth, and Flexcera Base is an FDA 510(k)- cleared Class 2 and CE-marked medical device for the fabrication of premium denture bases. Both are formulated exclusively for use with EnvisionTEC 3D printers. For more information, visit www.flexcera.com.

About Desktop Health

Based in Newport Beach, California, Desktop Health develops additive manufacturing solutions and advanced materials for personalized patient care. Founded in March 2021 as a healthcare business within Desktop Metal, Inc., the business is vertically integrated to develop, manufacture, and commercialize applications across a range of healthcare specialties. Desktop Health is rapidly focused on developing applications and uncovering opportunities to leverage its bioprinting capabilities within healthcare. For more information on Desktop Health, visit www.desktophealth.com.

About Desktop Metal, Inc.

Desktop Metal, Inc., based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is accelerating the transformation of manufacturing with an expansive portfolio of 3D printing solutions, from rapid prototyping to mass production. Founded in 2015 by leaders in advanced manufacturing, metallurgy, and robotics, the company is addressing the unmet challenges of speed, cost, and quality to make additive manufacturing an essential tool for engineers and manufacturers around the world. Desktop Metal was selected as one of the world's 30 most promising Technology Pioneers by the World Economic Forum and named to MIT Technology Review's list of 50 Smartest Companies. For more information, visit www.desktopmetal.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements generally relate to Desktop Health's potential and future performance, including its strategic focus, development of new healthcare applications, adoption or success of new technologies and applications, and anticipated results. 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 document, including, but not limited to: (i) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations and identify and realize additional opportunities; (ii) the regulatory requirements that will apply to Desktop Health's technology, products, materials and applications, including by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and comparable agencies in other countries; (iii) risks associated with products manufactured by Desktop Health, including product liability or warranty claims; and (iv) other risks and uncertainties set forth in the section entitled "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements"" in the Annual Report on Form 10-K/A filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on April 30, 2021, and the Company's other filings with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this press release speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Desktop Metal assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Desktop Metal does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

1 Fortune Business Insights, Dentures Market Size, Share Industry Analysis, July 2020

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005323/en/

Contacts:

Lynda McKinney

Lyndamckinney@desktopmetal.com

978-224-1282
NICOSIA, Cyprus, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CAPEX.com, leading global multi-licensed broker operated in Europe by Key Way Investments Ltd, adds 12 new cryptocurrencies to their ever-expanding crypto portfolio.

Traders can now choose AAVE, Cardano, Chainlink, Compound, EOS, Monero, NEO, Polkadot, Stellar, Tezos, TRON and yearn.finance through CAPEX.com.

The 12 latest cryptocurrencies come in addition to the broker's solid portfolio of crypto assets, which already included CFDs on Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Spot, Ethereum USD, Ethereum EUR, Litecoin USD, Litecoin EUR, and Ripple, bringing in the total to 21.

For those wanting to be up-to-the-minute with technology and the currency markets, CAPEX.com offers access to a comprehensive education academy and a wide range of technical and fundamental tools and features in collaboration with leading third-party providers.

Christina Koullapi, Executive Director at Key Way Investments Ltd, the company operating CAPEX.com under its CySEC regulation:

"With crypto transactions allowed on massive payment platforms such as PayPal and investment banks such as Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley offering access to crypto funds for its clients, it was a logical step for us to expand our crypto portfolio. We are happy to provide our clients with many new options to diversify their investment portfolio.

As we grow CAPEX.com's presence throughout Europe, we try to find new and exciting ways to make online trading more accessible, transparent, and secure."

About CAPEX.com

CAPEX.com is a leading global trading platform providing its users with expert insights, tools, and resources to make markets accessible to a worldwide audience and offering a tailor-made trading experience. Its professional trading platforms, robust technological infrastructure, and transparent trading conditions have propelled it as one of the most respectable brokers on the international stage.

Anchored by a global presence and regional expertise, CAPEX.com holds operating licenses from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority (ADGM - FSRA), the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Seychelles, and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSA) in South Africa.

Visit www.capex.com and follow CAPEX.com on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram for more details and insights.
China contributes to building cleaner, more beautiful world by pursuing green development

09:04, June 10, 2021 By Zhang Xiaodong ( People's Daily

A convertor station in Yanqing district of Beijing, which belongs to the Zhangbei flexible direct current power project, sends clean electricity to Beijing. (Peoples Daily/He Yong)

China is pursuing greener economic development, and making continuous efforts to help build a cleaner and more beautiful world.

In February 2020, Chinas Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced that the country had won its three-year battle against air pollution, and overfulfilled all the obligatory targets for improving air quality set in its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

In April 2021, the share of good air quality days stood at 92.5 percent on average in Chinas 339 cities at the prefecture level and above, up 3.8 percentage points year on year.

At the same time, the average density of PM2.5, among the main pollutants, dropped by 15.2 percent compared with the same period last year to 28 micrograms per cubic meter.

Many residents across China said that they can now see more blue sky days with clean air and fewer smoggy days, and felt a noticeable improvement in air quality.

China has continuously optimized its energy mix. In many fields of the industrial sector, fossil energy has gradually been replaced by clean energy such as wind power and bio-energy.

The first bio-power plant in the southern region of east Chinas Jiangsu province, where agricultural wastes including straw stalks are sent in a steady stream by cargo ships, can generate more than 200 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

The development of wind power has been extended to all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country, with two wind turbines being installed every hour in the country.

China has achieved all the nine binding targets for ecological environment protection set in its 13th Five-Year Plan. The countrys installed capacity and generation output of photovoltaic and wind power generation both rank first in the world.

The production, sales, and ownership of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China account for half of the worlds total. NEVs help reduce the countrys pollutant emissions by more than 3 million tons a year.

In 2020, Chinas carbon emission intensity fell by 48.4 percent compared with that in 2005. From 2000 to 2017, the country was credited with about a quarter of the increase in global green leaf areas.

Chinas goals to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, while representing a major strategic decision made by the country driven by its sense of responsibility regarding building a community with a shared future for mankind and the intrinsic requirement for achieving sustainable development, is also the countrys solemn promise to the world.

As a major manufacturer in the world, China must make innovations and breakthroughs in core technologies for its goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality.

Chinese appliance manufacturer Gree and Tsinghua University have jointly developed a technology that is able to help cut 85.7 percent of energy consumption in air conditioning. The technology was recently awarded a grand prize at Global Cooling Prize, an innovation competition aiming to develop a climate-friendly residential cooling solution. The event was participated by more than 2,100 competing teams from nearly 100 countries this year.

It is estimated that the cooling technology, once massively employed, could possibly reduce carbon emissions by 100 billion tons before 2050, which is equivalent to the amount of carbon absorbed by 116 billion trees in 100 years.

So far, the Gree-Tsinghua University technology has been adopted by over 6,000 projects in the world, marking another contribution of Chinese innovation to the world.

China has carried out exchanges and cooperation on environment protection with other countries at multiple levels, through various channels, and in diverse fields.

It has promoted the Paris Agreements entry into force and implementation, set up a South-South cooperation fund on climate change, initiated the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition, and listed green development as one of the eight major initiatives in China-Africa cooperation.

The Earth is the one and only home of human beings. Only by joining hands and realizing green and sustainable development can countries resolve environmental problems faced by all mankind.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
- Raif brings multimillion-pound sales and channel success from the likes of Cato Networks, Aruba Networks, Aryaka Networks and Bitglass

- A strategic focus on sales targets and the channel business will fuel high growth in the SASE market

LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cloud Gateway, a cloud-native networking and security solutions provider, has appointed tech industry veteran Raif Mehmet as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to fuel the company's growth in the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) market.

Raif has extensive experience in bringing disruptive technologies to market within networking and security. His experience in sales leadership and partner channels has achieved multimillion-pound growth in both privately held and publicly quoted companies, such as Cato Networks, Aruba Networks, Aryaka Networks and most recently, Bitglass.

With Cloud Gateway clients ranging across multiple industries including the Public Sector, Financial Services, Insurance and Healthcare, Raif will look at widening the company's industry reach as well as substantially increase focus to grow the company's channel business.

Justin Day, CEO of Cloud Gateway, said: "In a period of high growth focus for the company, Raif's direction will catapult the business forward, staying focused on achieving our growth targets and keeping us ahead of our competition in a noisy market."

Raif Mehmet commented: "Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions are the future. My focus is now on ensuring Cloud Gateway's leading position in the market and proving our solution's performance and return on investment to partners, customers and prospects who are inevitably looking for the best solution for their requirements."

As the UK's first SASE solution, Cloud Gateway's PRISM platform provides the security and performance needed today, for the cloud services of tomorrow, helping customers to improve performance, reduce cost and complexity and strengthen security as part of their digital transformation plans. The SASE solution secures all remote access, internet and network traffic, with government grade security, rapid deployment and flexibility to future-proof the IT network and the business. The platform is an award-winning solution that provides businesses with both the mechanism and resource support to adopt, develop and operate cloud, hybrid cloud and multi cloud environments.

About Cloud Gateway:

Cloud Gateway provides flexible, networking and security solutions to rapidly connect organisations to multiple cloud service providers, the HSCN, the PSN and the internet - delivered as a service at a pace suitable to the business.

Using Cloud Gateway's cloud-native Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution, organisations of any size can choose the tools needed to improve performance, reduce cost and complexity and strengthen security. Cloud Gateway secures all remote, internet and network traffic, with rapid deployment and government grade security. Built-in flexibility ensures continuous change is future-proofed. Organisations have a single, timely and accurate source of truth, ensuring regulatory compliance and protection from cyber threats.
All digital start-up enables the rise of a new market

Austin, Texas, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In May of 2016, ePac was founded in Madison, Wisconsin to utilize new digital printing technologies to primarily focus on the growth of small to medium brands, thereby helping to rebuild local communities. In these past 5 years ePac has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 80%, operates 20 facilities globally with a capacity of about $500,000,000 and serves over 5,000 customers.

The underlying strategy was to deconstruct and then reconstruct a simple replicable business model that could provide RotoGravure quality, short lead times, and no sku limitations at a competitive price. The last point basically dispels the notion that digital printing is only for short runs. During the last five years, the average order size across all ePacs has stayed constant at less than 10,000 linear feet, however, ePac today regularly handles runs exceeding 100,000 linear feet per SKU across its global virtual network.

In order to create an ePac that could grow at a rate to disrupt Flexible Packaging, the founders decided to go with an unique business model called Biomimicry. Biomimicry, or Biometrics, is an innovative concept for complex problem solving inspired by nature, which dates back to ancient cave drawings and architecture found in the Roman and Greek empires. Biomimicry consists of mechanical, structural and biological elements. The mechanical element is an easy to replicate plant in a box, which can be built in 120 days. For the structural element, ePac Holdings was created to reduce the complexity normally found in a traditional flexible packaging company, like IT, Treasury, Legal, R&D, Marketing and Procurement. On the biological side, each ePac plant is allowed to grow unfettered and focus on local sales, helping its customers grow, and perfecting the manufacturing process.

Finally, the company required an experienced team to create this new model. Carl Joachim, CMO, spent his career working with digital print technologies starting with Xerox. Parag Patel, CIO, who has built e-commerce companies and was recently with AutoZone attracted the right team to digitize the ePac business model and Jim Braun, CFO, has held CFO positions globally for printing companies both in the private and public sectors. Finally Jack Knott and Virag Patel have been in the flexible packaging industry for decades, with Coveris, Exopack, Pliant, Huntsman Packaging, CT Films and Rexene.

So what will the next five years bring? According to Jack Knott, CEO: "ePac will continue to replicate at a similar 80% CAGR globally, the digitization of ePac's business model will drive a world class customer experience, the power of serialized printing and blockchain technology will allow direct B2C communications on an individual basis, and with this growth ePac will continue the optimization of the competitive cost structure".

About ePac Flexible Packaging:

ePac's founders began with a mission to provide locally based consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies the ability to compete with large brands with great packaging. ePac's customers are predominantly locally based small and medium-sized CPGs, many of whom are focused on creating natural and innovative products for consumers. Since opening its first manufacturing facility in 2016, ePac's mission has been clear - to help small brands obtain big brand presence, give back to the communities it serves, and contribute to the creation of a more sustainable, circular economy.

Website: ePacFlexibles.com

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Bringing together science, technology, and comprehensive solutions to redefine what's possible in healthcare

BRACKNELL, England, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the world of healthcare and its dependence on auscultation continues to evolve, digital technology is being introduced to meet the advancing demands of the industry. To meet these changing needs, 3M Littmann Stethoscopes and Eko formed a collaboration that has married best-in-class 3M Littmann stethoscope technology with advanced Eko digital innovations. The 3M Littmann CORE Digital Stethoscope, which has quickly become a popular choice among physicians in the United States over the last six months1, has launched in the United Kingdom & Ireland.

The new 3M Littmann CORE Digital Stethoscope offers clinicians access to both analogue and digital auscultation options and can connect to Eko's software app via Bluetooth. The Littmann CORE Stethoscope offers access to additional benefits including:

User can switch from analogue listening to digital

Amplification 2 up to 40x at peak frequency, versus mechanical

up to 40x at peak frequency, versus mechanical Seven sound amplification levels

Provides active noise cancelation

Connects to Eko software on a smart device to visualise, record, store & share auscultation assessment

"3M Littmann Stethoscopes is a pioneer in auscultation innovation and quality, and today, we are introducing our most advanced stethoscope yet to Europe," said Kristi Barnett, senior director, 3M Medical Devices. "The new 3M Littmann CORE Digital Stethoscope combines the superior acoustics of the Littmann Cardiology IV Stethoscope with Eko's digital technology and software to aid and enhance a clinician's auscultation assessments."

The collaboration between 3M Littmann Stethoscopes and Eko brings together two innovative companies that are focused on delivering comprehensive health care solutions to drive better patient outcomes.

"For clinicians, listening is a gateway to making critical diagnoses. Being able to confidently assess heart and lung sounds helps ensure the best cardiac and pulmonary care possible," said Connor Landgraf, co-founder and CEO, Eko. "Partnering with 3M Littmann Stethoscopes allows us to incorporate the power of our digital and machine learning technology alongside the stethoscope trusted by millions of clinicians worldwide, which can help impact patient outcomes and quality of care in Europe. Combining the 3M Littmann CORE Digital Stethoscope with the Eko software platform helps clinicians elevate cardiopulmonary care to a whole new level."

The combination allows a healthcare professional located outside of secondary care, treating patients in their homes or in a community practice, to have access to cutting-edge clinical decision support. Also available is the ability to connect directly to their consultant in secondary care, mitigating the need for the patient to make unnecessary travel into traditional clinic environments.

In the midst of a global pandemic, and the highly challenging need to assess and monitor COVID patients, this can be leveraged as a means to protect healthcare professionals, whilst providing the highest standards of care.

The very same function that allows the streaming of the sounds from the Littmann CORE Stethoscope via the Eko app, and to a variety of wired and Bluetooth headphones, can also facilitate communication to several hearing aid models, providing a long-awaited solution for many hearing-impaired healthcare professionals.

For more information on the 3M Littmann CORE Stethoscope or where to buy, please visit: www.littmann.co.uk/CORE. For more on Eko software, please visit ekohealth.com/platform.



1Average product rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon in the United States as of March 10, 2021.

2Up to 40x amplification based on comparison of analogue versus electronically assisted amplified listening with maximum volume at the peak frequency (125 Hz).

About 3M

At 3M, we apply science in collaborative ways to improve lives daily as our employees connect with customers all around the world. Learn more about 3M's creative solutions to global challenges at www.3M.com or on Twitter @3M or @3MNews.

About Eko



Eko, a cardiopulmonary digital health company, is elevating the way clinicians detect and monitor cardiac and respiratory disease by bringing together advanced sensors, patient and provider software, and AI-powered analysis. Its FDA-cleared platform is used by tens of thousands of clinicians treating millions of patients around the world, in-person and through telehealth. The company is headquartered in Oakland, California, with investments from Highland Capital Partners, Questa Capital, Artis Ventures, NTTVC, DigiTx Partners, Mayo Clinic, Sutter Health, and others. For more information visit www.ekohealth.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1343410/3M_Logo.jpg
Dutch Seeds Shop aims to make its extensive line of products more available in countries that legalize the use of marijuana and cannabis. With the surge in the medicinal use of cannabis as well as the legalization of it in the United States and more countries, the online seed bank sets its eyes on the exploding billion-dollar sector.

PLOVDIV, BULGARIA / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Dutch Seeds Shop, the 10-year-old online marijuana seeds bank, announced that its inventory of over 250 different marijuana seeds for sale consists largely of Cannabis Cup winners. The industry veteran carries high-quality cannabis seeds on its website, with each product bearing the most accurate and complete product descriptions for the safety of its customers. With a wide range of seeds from the best breeders in the Netherlands that are made to undergo testing for germination rate before being put on sale, Dutch Seeds Shop caters to a growing demand for marijuana seeds amidst talks of legalized use in more countries.

Dutch Seeds Shop offers a variety of Sativa dominant, Indica dominant, as well as Hybrid marijuana strains. Sativa strains are famous for their cerebral effects as they have high tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, making them ideal for daytime activities that require more energy and attention. On the other hand, Indica dominant hybrids possess sedating and calming effects and are generally higher in Cannabidiol (CBD). These strains are ideal for fighting insomnia as they help the body and mind relax for a restful sleep.

'Having been in operation for so long, we know the industry's ins and outs. We are not doing a trial-and-error business and pride ourselves with hundreds of thousands of happy customers. Our high quality feminised and autoflower marijuana seeds promise a germination success of 97%, making it simpler and more accessible for marijuana to be put to good use in legalised countries,' said Nenad Nicolic, Founder of Dutch Seeds Shop.

For more information, visit https://dutchseedsshop.com/

According to Grand View Research, the global legal marijuana market size was valued at US$9.1 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 26.7% from 2021 to 2028. This comes alongside the prevalence of medicinal marijuana as more patients adopt cannabis due to the growth in medical conditions that require marijuana as a treatment.

The cannabis-focused group, Leafly, reported that Americans purchased US$18.3 billion in cannabis products over the past calendar year, which is US$7.6 billion more than the US$10.7 billion in sales the previous year. Elsewhere, the European Commission resumed novel food applications for edible CBD products in December 2020, and in Canada, many provinces are inviting applications from multiple suppliers as they look forward to privatizing cannabis retail stores.

Furthermore, the anticipated federal-level legalization of medical marijuana in the United States will help this market witness high growth opportunities in legal, medical consumption. This past week, Amazon just announced its support for legalizing the use of cannabis on a national level. On its blog, it said it would no longer include marijuana in its comprehensive drug screening programme and that its public policy team will actively support The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act), which is federal legislation that would legalize marijuana at the federal level in America. The tech giant also promised to expunge criminal records related to marijuana use and invest in impacted communities.

'We are looking forward to serving this huge surge in demand for marijuana and cannabis seeds in more countries. With every package sealed to guarantee secure transportation and delivery, we want to remind our customers the joy of growing their own plants for legal use,' continued Nicolic.

About the Company:

Dutch Seeds Shop is a Europe-based company, incorporated in Bulgaria in 2011, that sells high-quality marijuana seeds globally. Our cannabis seeds come from Amsterdam and the Netherlands. The company has various cannabis seeds for sale that enable growers of all levels and skills to discover first-class marijuana strains for personal and therapeutic purposes.

#

Contact Information

Name: Nenad Nicolic

Company: Dutch Seeds Shop

Address: Prezviter Kozma 3, Plovdiv 4000, Bulgaria

Email: nenad@dutchseedsshop.com

Website: https://dutchseedsshop.com/

SOURCE: Dutch Seeds Shop

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651226/Dutch-Seeds-Shop-Boasts-Cannabis-Cup-Winning-Marijuana-Seeds-Caters-to-US135-Billion-Sector
Fintech startup Hokodo, the B2B Buy Now Pay Later provider, raises $12.5m in Series A funding

Mosaic Ventures lead the Series A financing round with participation from Notion Capital and prominent Angel investors

Hokodo will use the funds to further develop its proprietary digital credit technology and extend its services across Europe, supporting the growth of the $12TN B2B commerce space

Hokodo, the fast-growth European fintech enabling B2B merchants to offer their customers payment terms in real time, today announced its $12.5 million Series A.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005361/en/

Hokodo founders Sami Ben Hatit, Richard Thornton and Louis Carbonnier (Photo: Business Wire)

The funding round is led by Mosaic Ventures, with participation from Notion Capital and several prominent angel investors including Taavet Hinrikus, founder of TransferWise (now Wise), Thijn Lamers, former EVP, Global Sales of Adyen, Max Bittner, CEO of Vestiaire Collective and founder of Lazada and Rich Laxer, ex-Chairman and CEO of GE Capital. Hokodo's earliest investor Anthemis also joins the round and reaffirms its conviction in the company's vision.

The new funds will be used to further invest in Hokodo's proprietary technology and scale the solution across Europe, making it available to the millions of businesses currently unable to extend, or access, credit terms when trading online.

Founded in 2018 by Richard Thornton, Louis Carbonnier and Sami Ben Hatit, Hokodo provides B2B merchants with real-time trade credit solutions. With Hokodo, merchants can offer instant payment terms to their customers through a frictionless B2C-like "Buy Now Pay Later" checkout experience. Designed specifically to remove the complexity and risks associated with offering credit terms online, Hokodo's solution integrates easily via APIs into existing e-commerce platforms and marketplaces. Behind the scenes, Hokodo automates the whole order-to-cash cycle, from credit checks to collections and working capital finance, while protecting merchants against non-payments.

"Credit terms are a crucial lever to grow sales, especially as the economy unlocks following COVID. But current processes for offering trade credit are not fit for purpose especially for online sales. With Hokodo, merchants can offer payment terms instantly at the check-out, even on a customer's first visit; and our merchants are guaranteed to get paid no matter what", says Richard Thornton, Co-Founder and Co-CEO.

"Hokodo's Buy Now Pay Later solution is helping the whole supply chain by removing the hassle associated with payment terms. Everyone wins: trade customers can buy now and pay later, while merchants win more business and streamline their order-to-cash cycle. Merchants using Hokodo see an average 40% increase in revenue and achieve unprecedented levels of customer satisfaction", says Louis Carbonnier, Hokodo's Co-Founder and Co-CEO.

The total value of the B2B market in Western Europe currently exceeds $12 TN, with $680 BN of these sales already taking place online, forming Hokodo's primary market. This creates a $15 BN revenue opportunity for Hokodo, which is set to double every 5 years.

"The B2B purchasing experience has long lagged behind its B2C counterpart, and trade customers are calling for more. Hokodo is building a next generation platform for digital commerce, offering real-time credit to make it easier for businesses to purchase goods and easier for merchants to convert sales and grow. We have seen the enormous impact of "buy now, pay later" technology in the consumer market and, by solving the complexity of real-time trade finance, Hokodo is now bringing it to B2B", says Toby Coppel, Co-founder and Partner at Mosaic Ventures.

Hokodo's founding team combines over 40 years of experience in fintech and trade credit, and brings together a team of over 30 people, located in London and Paris, driven by a belief in intellectual rigour, entrepreneurial values and a passion for disrupting the trade finance industry to create a better way of doing business. To support the company's significant growth, Hokodo will double its team by the end of 2021, and grow by another 100% in 2022, with key roles in product, tech, data science and commercial.

Patrick Norris, General Partner at Notion Capital explains: "I like the founders' combination of skills and experience across credit insurance and risk, plus their thoughtful approach to the extremely complex task of enabling real-time credit for B2B ecommerce. They are also a very close team with a fantastic culture".

--END--

About Hokodo

Hokodo is a fintech startup offering a range of "Trade Credit as a Service" solutions to bring B2B commerce into the 21st century. Hokodo's technology empowers B2B merchants to offer credit terms to their business customers instantly, even on their first purchase. In turn, customers benefit from additional payment terms through a frictionless purchasing experience. Hokodo's solutions are backed by Lloyd's of London via the Channel Syndicate, a unit of SCOR SE.

About Mosaic Ventures

Mosaic backs founders who are reimagining the world. They invest $1-10m in those building daring (ad)ventures in Europe. Having raised $300 million across two funds they partner with founding teams that are fundamentally reshaping big markets. The team has over 30 years experience investing on both sides of the Atlantic. In that time, they have invested across 12 countries, in over 70 companies that together have created over $400 billion of value. They also bring extensive operating experience at leading West Coast startups

About Notion Capital

Notion Capital is a venture capital firm with more than $500m assets under management, investing in European SaaS and enterprise technology, with more than 60 investments to date. The Notion team founded, built and exited two highly successful SaaS businesses Star and MessageLabs and invests exclusively in enterprise tech and SaaS with the ambition to build global category leaders. The Notion portfolio includes Brightpearl, Currencycloud, GoCardless, Mews, Paddle, Topia, Tradeshift, Unbabel, Tradeshift, Triptease and Workable. For more information visit: www.notion.vc

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005361/en/

Contacts:

Press contact

Victoria Jodl

Email: victoria.jodl@kekstcnc.com

Tel.: +49 152 52423959
7.4 trillion KRW from electrified chassis product and with new xEV businesses, 2 trillion KRW from ADAS & mobility solutions

Decision to split-off autonomous driving (ADAS) division; 'Mando (Existing Co.) and MMS (Split-off 'New Co.')' will each become specialized companies on its own

SEOUL, South Korea, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mando, a subsidiary of Halla Group, has newly announced its vision to achieve 9 trillion KRW in revenue by 2025 through advancing into two core businesses, 'EV Solutions (electrified chassis products and with new xEV related businesses)' and 'Autonomous Driving (ADAS & mobility solutions)'. The key strategies are 1) Existing Co. (Mando) will grow as a highly-focused EV solutions company through chassis (brake, steering, suspension) electrification, and 2) New Co. (MMS) will split-off from Mando and position as a 'specialized autonomous driving & mobility company'.

Mando announced on June 9th 2021, that its Board of Directors approved the company's plan to split-off its 'Autonomous Driving (ADAS)' business. The split-off plan is expected to be presented at the shareholders' meeting to be held in July 2021, and the split-off transaction is to be completed on September 1st 2021, following regulatory requirements. Existing Co., the parent company of the New Co., will maintain its managerial control over the New Co. to create synergy between the two entities and will strengthen its position as an 'integrated chassis system solutions leader'. Moreover, it plans to expedite the growth of the New Co.'s autonomous driving businesses through timely financing structure.

"MMS (Mando Mobility Solutions)-tentative", the New Co., will emerge as a specialized autonomous driving solutions provider within fields of autonomous vehicles parts, autonomous robots, and mobility services. To create business synergy for autonomous driving, MHE (MANDO-HELLA Electronics) will become a wholly owned subsidiary of MMS. Also, revenue and profits of MSS and MHE will be fully reflected in Existing Co.'s financials. MMS and MHE are aiming to achieve 2 trillion KRW in revenue by 2025', which is an increase of 800 billion KRW from that of the 2021 business plan.

Mando, the Existing Co., aims to become a highly-focused EV solutions company by leveraging its business experiences with global leading EV companies and through advancement of software solutions. The core business pillar of Existing Co. is electrified chassis products (brake, steering, suspension), and xEV specialized products such as e-Drive (engine) for EVs , e-Corner Module (integrated module of electrified chassis), and hydrogen car battery charging converter are under the development. Existing Co.'s target revenue by 2025 is 7.4 trillion KRW, which is an increase of 2.2 trillion KRW from that of 2021 business plan. Total revenue of Existing Co. and New Co. in 2025 is expected to reach 9 trillion KRW on a consolidated basis (removing intercompany transactions), which is an additional growth of 3 trillion KRW from 2021 business plan (6.1 trillion KRW).

Cho Seong-Hyeon, Mando's president & representative director, has stated that "specialization of core businesses is inevitably required for Mando to actively respond to the rapidly changing market," and that "we will make every effort to maximize shareholder value by fully recognizing values of Existing Co. and MMS as sharply-specialized companies".

With the rapid growth of the EV market, Mando focuses on becoming automotive industry's clean technology leader as a top-tier ESG company, ultimately maximizing enterprise value.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1529423/mando.jpg
LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the return to the workplace nears, certain questions have become increasingly urgent: Who is coming back to the office? What for? Is the former work environment still suitable? What does the office now have to offer? In response to these questions, Vitra, one of the world's leading furniture manufacturers is debuting the first 'Club Office' at its headquarters in Basel on 10 June 2021. Built?over the last 16 months at Vitra's head office in Basel,?Switzerland, Club Office was created by Vitra for its research and Development teams as a response to the need for a post-pandemic workspace.

'Those who choose to go to the office today and in the future do so consciously - to meet colleagues and experience a sense of belonging and appreciation. The common mission and organisational purpose should be perceptible. Consequently, it must be more than just a place of work. Today, an office needs to provide added value. If an office has no character and colleagues there hide from one another, it's better to spare the commute and stay at home,' states Nora Fehlbaum, CEO of Vitra.

Club Office: Three different zones

The Club Office is characterised by an open and inviting atmosphere.

The Club's 'members' - consisting of employees from all parts of Vitra and its close external partners - encounter a whole range of different spatial scenarios, divided into a public and a semi-public area.

The first public section provides members with a welcoming space for spontaneous meetings, a forum for discussion, informal collaboration, debate and mutual learning.

The second is a semi-public area is dedicated to more formal collaboration. Members come together on a planned basis in spaces that can be reserved for project work, for example - often over a period of days and weeks. Yet agility is still required, and thanks to Vitra's flexible furnishings, collaborative spaces can be quickly and easily adapted and rearranged.

A third is a private zone of the Club Office consists of workstations that are sheltered from intrusion. This zone also extends into the home office, which has proven particularly suitable for concentrated individual tasks. Remote working and a well-equipped home office are, therefore, an integral element of the Club Office.

Vitra's first Club Office was developed at its headquarters for its own Research & Design team. The public section is open to all employees and can also be visited by appointment.

Full press release is available here.

www.vitra.com

For further information, interview requests and hi-res images, please contact:

Karina Bezman, Tomorrow PR, +44 (0) 7495831372 / karina@tomorrowpr.co.uk

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1530128/Club_Office.jpg
This month, Cirium, the aviation data firm, re-launches its closely followed On-Time Performance Report, in a positive sign for the sector

Japan Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Red Wings and Avianca rank as May's most on-time airlines for Asia-Pacific , North America , Europe , and Latin America , respectively

, , , and , respectively Tokyo's Haneda Airport takes top spot as the most on-time global airport

Haneda Airport takes top spot as the most on-time global airport The top 20 global airports collectively handled over half a million flights in May

LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Airlines and airports are again being judged on the punctuality of their service as the volume of flights increases worldwide. Today, Cirium , the aviation analytics company, restarted its closely followed monthly On-Time Performance Reports.

In May 2021, Japan Airlines (JAL), Hawaiian Airlines, Red Wings and Avianca top the ranks for on-time arrivals in their respective regions. Meanwhile, Haneda Airport (HND) takes the top spot as the most on-time global airport.

For over a decade, Cirium has produced The On-Time Performance Report-the longest-standing analysis in the aviation industry-to provide insights on airline and airport punctuality and recognize those which have outperformed their peers, globally, regionally, and in their respective categories. The report was suspended in early 2020, as flights were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

JAL tops in APAC

In Asia-Pacific, the top five mainline airlines for on-time arrivals in May include JAL (95.19%), ANA (94.60%), Air New Zealand (89.59%), Garuda Indonesia (87.98%) and Korean Air (85.48%). Air New Zealand operated the most flights over the month (12,570) out of the top 10 on-time airlines.

JAL has risen in the ranks from 10th to 1st place when comparing to Cirium's last monthly report in February 2020. ANA has moved up from 5th and Air New Zealand has moved up from 9th. Some airlines that featured in the top 10 for punctuality in 2020 no longer feature, including Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, AirAsia, Cebu Pacific Air and Thai Airways International.

Hawaiian leads while Air Canada rises in North America

Hawaiian Airlines continues to beat other North American carriers, maintaining top spot as the US most on-time airline on a monthly basis (on-time arrival of 93.22%). Air Canada, which did not make the top 10 in February 2020, now ranks as 2nd-displacing Southwest Airlines, which was 2nd in 2020. Southwest has slipped down the ranking to 9th place; however, the Dallas-based carrier operated the most flights out of the top 10 carriers-a total of 89,297 flights. Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines take 3rd, 4th, and 5th spots.

Red Wings top in Europe

The top 10 ranking for Europe unsurprisingly has seen many shifts with Red Wings taking top place in May (96.18% on-time). Since February 2020, Vueling has risen from 7th place to 2nd (96.07%) and Iberia has moved up from 6th to 3rd (95.87%). Aeroflot slipped to 5th place, however, the Russian carrier operated the most flights in the top 10 with a total of 13,316 flights. Newcomers to the top 10 versus 2020 include KLM (4th), SunExpress (7th), and SAS (10th). Airlines no longer in the top 10 include LOT Polish Airlines, Air France, and Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Avianca soars in Latin America

Avianca has soared, moving from 9th place in 2020 to be the most on-time airline in Latin America (93.69%) for May. Azul (93.53%) and Gol (93.52%) have both moved up the top 10 ranking to 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.

Haneda tops global airport on-time performance ranking

In the top 20 global airport ranking, Haneda Airport (HND) achieves the top spot with an on-time departure of 96.86%. Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO), Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) all follow in the top five.

Over half a million passenger flights were handled by the top 20 global airports in May. This is only 4% down versus February 2020. The on-time performance of the airports has improved by 3 points.

"As flights have returned, it is a level playing field to analyze the on-time performance of the airlines and airports again-a positive sign for the industry. While the factors that cause delays-congested airspace, taxiways or connecting passengers-simply did not exist in 2020, they are likely to return slowly in 2021 and into 2022," said Jeremy Bowen, CEO at Cirium.

"Cirium applies the most precise data analysis to develop The On-Time Performance Reports and we are delighted to announce that JAL, Hawaiian Airlines, Red Wings and Avianca rank as May's most on-time airlines in their respective regions, Congratulations also to Haneda Airport for achieving the top spot in the global airports category."

The data analyzed in The Cirium On-Time Performance report derives from The Cirium Core-containing more than 300 terabytes of information from over 2,000 data sources.

To see the full reports for airlines and airports, click here.

In addition to the monthly reports for airline and airport punctuality, Cirium also produces the gold standard annual report and awards-The Cirium On-Time Performance Review.

For further information please visit www.cirium.com and follow Cirium updates via LinkedIn and Twitter .

For media enquiries please contact:

The Cirium media team at media@cirium.com

The report for airlines divides the rankings by region into 'mainline' and 'network'. The figures reported here are for mainline only.

A review of data across global carriers is not included in the latest report. Cirium's on-time performance is based on stringent criteria, and at the time of writing, international flight frequency was still significantly down. More time is needed before this category returns.
UK's first CE marked AI software that can detect up to thirteen different chest abnormalities, reading through X-rays

SWINDON, United Kingdom, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teleglobal Consulting LTD, UK, has received Class 2A CE marking for its AI-based chest abnormality detection software. Teleglobal now joins the league of very few companies in the UK to achieve CE Marking for AI solution in medical imaging. The company makes AI products under the brand "iDoc.ai".



iDoc-X can accurately detect thirteen different abnormalities, including COVID-19. Other disease classes are: pneumothorax, pneumonia, TB, scars, opacities, nodule, cavity, cardiomegaly, consolidation, fibrosis, blunted CP and pleural effusion. The software integrates seamlessly with radiology workflow, detects abnormalities from X-rays and provides "AI Suggestions" in the clinician's worklist. Radiologists can prioritise worklist based on suggested abnormalities.

The software is meant to improve the quality & speed of radiology diagnosis and reduce operational costs associated with radiology outsourcing and second opinion. In addition, the software allows radiology setups to use "one-solution" for most common chest abnormalities.

Since early 2018, iDoc.ai has been progressively working with healthcare partners in India and South East Asia for pilot deployments for iDoc-X. Recent ISO 13485 certification and CE marking allow the company to operate commercially across the EU under the European Union Medical Device Regulation (MDR), and many other countries worldwide.

"CE marking is a very encouraging milestone for us, endorsing our vision of responsible AI and reflecting our passion for quality and patient safety. Our emphasis on regulatory affairs will continue with USFDA and UKCA soon," said Rahul Tarar, MD, iDoc.ai.

The company's executive team believes that, "globally, research on AI-based chest X-ray analysers has progressed well during the last few years. However, as per the University of Toronto, the Vector Institute, and MIT, most AI solutions out in the international market currently are biased towards gender, age, race or socioeconomic status. Research shows that most algorithms are less certain to work well for racial groups from underrepresented countries. The outcomes are often biased towards the specific countries and socioeconomic backgrounds where data for training is gathered from."

Moving forward, the company aims to invest more in the elimination or mitigation of 'bias' completely, enhancing accuracy and creating the world-first bias-free AI solution for medical imaging.

"We very much understand the importance of solution's - reliability & accuracy, and of our marketing efforts for commercial success. Hence, we are actively seeking funding possibilities for further investment into R&D and to achieve quicker time-to-market," Rahul Tarar added.

About Teleglobal Consulting LTD

Teleglobal Consulting LTD is a UK based company focused on harnessing the power of cognitive computing in healthcare through its AI initiative - iDoc.ai (https://idoc.ai/). iDoc.ai's mission is to enable clinicians with the power of AI, enabling them to deliver - accurate, quick and affordable clinical outcomes for patients.

Contact:

Gaurav Kala

+44

press@idoc.ai


Post-Stabilisation Announcement

10.06.2021

Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau /ISIN DE000A3H3KE9



Stabilisation Notice

Further to the pre-stabilisation period announcement dated May, 12th 2021, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg (contact: Lea-Marie Reich, telephone: +49 711 127 27091) hereby gives notice that no stabilisation (within the meaning of Art. 3.2 (d) of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU/596/2014) or the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority) was undertaken by the Stabilising Manager(s) named below in relation to the offer of the following securities.

Issuer: Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (Aaa/AAA/AAA by Moody's, S&P & Scope) Guarantor (if any): Federal Republic of Germany Aggregate nominal amount:  3,000,000,000 Description: 20 May-2036 EUR BMK, RegS, Bearer, off the Issuer's EMTN Programme

Listing: Frankfurt Stock Exchange, regulated market Stabilising Manager(s) BofA Securities, Credit Agricole CIB, LBBW and Morgan Stanley Offer price: 99.855

This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction.

This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale into the United States. The securities referred to above have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. There has not been and will not be a public offer of the securities in the United States.
- Colombia will showcase projects and companies to international investors during a new edition of the Colombia Inside Out to be held online from June 22nd to June 24th 2021

LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Colombia Inside Out 2021 (CIO 2021) is a business platform and one of the largest and most recognised Colombian economic forum outside of Colombia. It is a significant milestone for celebrating investment and capital market relations between the South American country and the United Kingdom, as well as other European and global Investors. The event is a joint effort between the British Government, the Colombian Embassy, ProColombia in the United Kingdom and binational chambers of commerce.

For the CIO 2021 virtual edition, to be held from June 22nd to June 24th, a portfolio of opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure, technology, agribusiness, energy, hospitality and tourism, among others will be available for investors to meet with.

Besides the individual meetings, during the three days high level speakers such as President of Colombia, Ivan Duque, the Finance Minister, Jose Manuel Restrepo, and Flavia Santoro, President of ProColombia, will discuss the central role of FDI in Colombia's economic recovery; a fiscal overview of about Colombia and financial regulation updates; and the importance of sustainable investment, as well as Infrastructure and Energy in a post-COVID era.

In the infrastructure sector, several important developments in Colombian cities such as Medellin, Bogota and Cartagena will be presented to investors. Moreover, the infrastructure projects showcased during the CIO 2021 aim to develop key toll roads, airports, telecommunication infrastructure, schools and R&D centers around Colombia.

Technology and IT projects are instrumental to Colombia. Participating companies are looking for partnerships and international investors and most of them are related to fintech solutions, artificial Intelligence, software development and other creative ventures.

Colombia is committed to sustainable growth. 100% of the energy projects promoted in this event focus on renewable energy generation in different regions of the country.

Also, Colombia weather conditions are key for enabling all year-round crops, which makes the country attractive for projects in coffee, cocoa, fruits, as well as other products such as medical cannabis and sustainable wood production.

"The main objective for CIO 2021 is to strengthen the British and European perspective on Colombia, highlighting specific opportunities to promote interest and investment on upcoming years, and positioning Colombia as a main trade partner for these markets in Latam region," stated Flavia Santoro, President of ProColombia.

In the last edition, in 2019, the event took place in Mansion House, where more than 330 guests joined conferences, more than 24 projects, and 16 Colombian listed companies met with British and European investors.

As a region, Europe is the world's largest investor in Colombia while the United Kingdom ranks fourth, according to reports from Banco de la Republica (Central Bank).

Register now and join the Colombia Inside Out here: https://meetings.colombiainsideout.com/
2021 K-Security Webinar in Saudi Arabia on June 16

SEOUL, South Korea, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SecuLetter, a company that specializes in detecting and blocking malicious code and a member of Born2Global Centre, will soon host 2021 K-Security Webinar in Saudi Arabia with Best IT (Best Information Technology System), its partner in the Middle East to promote Korea's outstanding security technologies.

The webinar aims to share the latest cyber security threats and best practices for defending against the sophisticated threats. As the business move towards remote working and virtual engagements, cyber attack surface has widened and number of cyber-incident has increased dramatically. Those who are interested in participating may apply through the webinar registration site. (https://seculetterevent.com/2021/seculetter_webinar_219616_eDM.html)

At the webinar, SecuLetter and more Korean security solutions will be introduced to potential Middle Eastern clients, including companies in Saudi Arabia, and will work to expand its supply network. The webinar will feature SecuLetter, Best IT and three major Korean security firms with participants mostly comprising representatives of Saudi Arabia's government and public agency and educational organization. The Korean security company speakers will introduce their security technologies and solutions with the best practices.

Proactive Protection against Advanced Cyber Threats

Secure Your Business with Identity and Access Management

The Best Way to Prevent Data Leakage

Untact Networking under COVID19 with Easy 2 Simple, Secure, and Smart Management

SecuLetter, the organizer of this webinar is an advanced malware analysis expert which provides the proactive security against the cyber threats. With the SecuLetter automatized reveres-engineering analysis technology, malicious attacks such as evasive threats can be detected and blocked before reaching to corporate email and file systems. Since SecuLetter has attracted investment from Riyadh Valley Company, a Saudi Arabian venture capital firm in 2019, SecuLetter has remained active in the Middle Eastern security market.

Chasung Lim, CEO of SecuLetter said, "As we have attracted investment and secured references in Middle East, we are hoping to provide more Korean outstanding security solutions, various and valuable experience in cyber security to Middle Eastern market."

For more detailed information on SecuLetter, visit www.seculetter.com/content/en/.

To participate in Saudi K-Security Webinar, register on https://seculetterevent.com/2021/seculetter_webinar_219616_eDM.html.

Media contact

SecuLetter: benett.choi@seculetter.com

Born2Global Centre: jlee@born2global.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1529506/image_1.jpg


The GoGBA one-stop platform was launched at this morning's online ceremony in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The officiating guests in Hong Kong included (from L) Erick Tsang, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs of the HKSAR; Dr Peter K N Lam, Chairman of the HKTDC; Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the HKSAR; Edward Yau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the HKSAR; and Margaret Fong, HKTDC Executive Director.



GoGBA WeChat mini programme (QR Code)

HONG KONG, June 10, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has announced the launch of the GoGBA one-stop platform, a new business support programme that helps companies access the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). Consisting of digital information and business tools, advisory services and training as well as promotional and networking activities, the GoGBA one-stop platform offers multi-faceted business support online and offline.At today's launch event, which took place via a virtual link between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Qin Weizhong, Deputy Secretary of Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and Mayor of Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, officially launched the GoGBA WeChat mini programme - a digital information and business tool - and the HKTDC GBA Centre located at the HKTDC's Shenzhen office. Several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were also signed with the Leading Group Office of Guangdong on Construction of Guangdong-Hongkong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shenzhen Municipal Committee, the People's Government of Shenzhen Futian District and five cities and districts in the GBA (Qianhai in Shenzhen, Nansha in Guangzhou, Hengqin in Zhuhai, Dongguan and Zhongshan), to expand the network of support for Hong Kong companies. After the ceremony, two webinars were held where companies that are already operating successfully in the GBA shared their business insights on how to succeed in the region.Dr Peter K N Lam, Chairman of the HKTDC, said: "The GBA offers huge opportunities for businesses from Hong Kong and around the world. Our GoGBA WeChat mini programme is a useful digital tool to complement our physical support centres in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and other parts of the GBA through our partners. As more and more businesses look for prospects in the GBA, the HKTDC is here to help."One-stop platform covers three major service areasIn line with the HKSAR Chief Executive's 2020 policy address, the GoGBA one-stop platform aims to help Hong Kong small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) tap into the GBA with three major support components:1. Digital tool for cross-border businessThe GoGBA digital platform, which consists of the GoGBA WeChat mini programme digital messaging platform, comes into service effective today. The GoGBA digital platform is run in collaboration with the government offices of Guangdong province and municipal governments in the GBA, providing important information on the region including updates on policies and subsidies, listings of related business and trade organisations, regional guides, and information on GBA government services and applications. It also offers practical tools such as weather forecasts, cross-border transportation information, interactive maps, details of public services, and income tax reminders. Media friends can scan the WeChat QR code included in this press release to download the GoGBA digital platform.2. Advisory services and trainingThe HKTDC's Shenzhen office has set up the HKTDC GBA Centre to strengthen its support to SMEs interested in exploring the GBA market. Together with the HKTDC SME Centre in Hong Kong, the centres will organise a series of seminars and workshops, sharing sessions and advisory activities in group or individual formats, equipping companies with the practical knowledge and skillsets needed to succeed in the GBA.The MoUs signed today will see the introduction of GoGBA Business Support Centres in Shenzhen (Qianhai), Guangzhou (Nansha), Zhuhai (Hengqin), Dongguan and Zhongshan. The HKTDC targets to introduce the centres in all nine mainland cities in the GBA, establishing a comprehensive support network that can connect companies with partners and consultants from across the GBA.In addition, the HKTDC's Transformation Sandbox (T-box) programme will extend its services from Hong Kong to Shenzhen and other cities in the GBA. Together with the Digital Academy and E-Tailing Academy, the HKTDC will provide advisory workshops related to e-commerce and digital business as well as marketing solutions and other digital platforms.3. HKTDC online and offline activitiesThe HKTDC has utilised various digital technologies to organise exhibitions and conferences, and will continue to plan and organise business missions and networking events by adopting a new "digital and physical" format for its major events and activities. It will also continue to enhance the hktdc.com Sourcing platform. The "Guangdong-Hong Kong Co-operation Week" will be held with the People's Government of Guangdong Province in December to promote Hong Kong products and services through flagship promotional events - SmartHK in Guangzhou and ChicHK in Shenzhen.The HKTDC will continue its outreach efforts to help Hong Kong and overseas companies, and enterprises from other GBA cities, to establish connections, providing business matching sessions and advice on seeking business opportunities. The Council is currently planning to organise a wide range of activities in the mainland, including exhibitions and conferences, to help Hong Kong enterprises promote their products and services, explore business opportunities in GBA cities and gain practical experience at the same time.GoGBA WeChat mini programme (QR Code) https://tinyurl.com/5pnps82rHKTDC SME CentreTel: +852 1830 668Fax: +852 3693 4938E-mail: smecentre@hktdc.orgAddress: Ground Level, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong KongHKTDC GBA CentreTel: +86-0755-82280112Fax: +86-0755-82280114E-mail: shenzhen.office@hktdc.orgAddress: Unit 2405-06, Jindi Centre, Shennan Road 2007, Futian District, ShenzhenHong Kong and overseas companies share key to success in GBARepresentatives from Hong Kong and overseas companies gathered at this morning's launch event to share their success stories in capturing opportunities in mainland GBA cities through Hong Kong. Sharing their experiences in two separate sessions were Yan Lau, General Manager of Dongguan Dailywin Watch; Tommy Cheng, Founder and CEO of MY Super eCommerce Company; Jason Choi, Founder of DimYeah Studio & EGGY; Dawn Chui, General Manager - Pacific Rim of ORCA Asia; Joe Wan, CEO of Tricor Hong Kong; and Jefrey Hironaka Santo, Managing Director for Asia of Mundial.ORCA is a Canadian company specialising in technology solutions for the treatment of food waste. Dawn Chui, General Manager - Pacific Rim of ORCA, said the pandemic has accelerated awareness of the need for food waste treatment in Hong Kong, and that an increasing number of hotels, campuses and restaurants are interested in their solutions. She said the company is optimistic about the mainland market. "The National 14th Five-Year Plan mentioned the issue of food waste management so we see great potential in venturing into this market. Hong Kong is the perfect springboard to Mainland China, with its free flow of capital very beneficial to corporate finance and one of the factors that encouraged us to establish a Hong Kong branch."Yan Lau, General Manager of Dongguan Dailywin Watch, said the company set up its factory in Dongguan in the 1980s. Now, its Hong Kong headquarters is responsible for import, export, accounting and auditing functions, while the design, manufacturing and sales activities are carried out in Dongguan. Mr Lau said the company has put a big effort into building its own brand and last year launched the SAGA Moon Mars series to celebrate the achievements of the mainland's aerospace industry along with Dailywin's own achievements. During the pandemic, the company has shifted the focus to its online business and domestic sales, adopting new strategies such as e-commerce livestreaming with influencers and deploying new e-commerce and social e-commerce retail models. These new strategies have proved beneficial in helping the company's expansion in the mainland market.Photo download: https://bit.ly/3gbhI1GAbout HKTDCThe Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedIn.Media enquiries:HKTDC Communications & Public Affairs DepartmentSnowy Chan, Tel: +852 2584 4525, Email: snowy.sn.chan@hktdc.orgAngel Tang, Tel: +852 2584 4544, Email: angel.hc.tang@hktdc.orgSource: HKTDCCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Faire has reported 300% YoY growth after expanding to the largest markets across Europe

Faire, the online wholesale marketplace connecting more than 200,000 retailers across North America and Europe with 20,000 brands from over 80 countries, today announced the closing of $260 million in a Series F investment round led by Sequoia Capital. The funding, which includes all existing investors as well as new global investors Baillie Gifford and Wellington Management, values Faire at $7 billion, nearly tripling its previous valuation of $2.5 billion announced just over six months ago.

This funding and vote of confidence from world-class investors comes just weeks after Faire's expansion into Europe, which brings the platform's powerful cross-border network effects to the $1 trillion European market. Across North America and Europe, independent retailers are doing more than twice the revenue of Walmart and Amazon combined. Faire's entrance into Europe, one of the world's largest and most diverse economies, represents a significant opportunity to accelerate and strengthen the combined competitive power of the international independent retail community.

"We are in the midst of a multi-decade digital transformation," said Ravi Gupta, Partner at Sequoia. "The world-class team at Faire is leading the way in digitizing the multi trillion-dollar global wholesale market. We at Sequoia are more excited than ever about the opportunity ahead and we are thrilled to continue our partnership."

Faire's impact in Europe to-date signals that the digitalization of wholesale has had a meaningful effect on positioning independent retailers against big box chains and ecommerce giants, and is emblematic of Faire's future contribution to local economies across the globe.

Faire is now operating across the largest markets in Europe including the United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, with plans to expand across all of continental Europe in the coming months.

Within the first 30 days of launching the platform in each respective market, Faire's Europe growth outpaced US growth by 230%. Faire volume in Europe is now annualizing to roughly $50 million, a scale that took nearly two years to reach in the US.

Faire's launch in Europe has generated fast paced growth of international brand supply, ramping to nearly 5% of overall Faire volume shortly after launch.

In addition to accelerating European brand growth abroad, Faire's entrance into Europe has further enabled North American retailers' access to unique goods around the world. To date, 15,000 US based retailers have purchased from international brands on Faire.

Despite a challenging year that took aim at small businesses around the world, Faire remained uniquely positioned to support its customer base and provide the tools and resources they needed to adapt and compete during a critical period. The platform's continuously improving machine learning algorithm that empowers retailers to make better purchase decisions and ultimately iterate on trends at a faster pace, combined with seamless access to unique goods from around the world, provided a key competitive advantage against mainstream items found in chain stores. As a result, the majority of surveyed Faire retailers reported increased sales one year out from the start of the pandemic, while over 50% of surveyed Faire brands reported that the majority of their revenue within the past year has come from wholesale business. Their ability to successfully leverage the efficiency of the online experience enabled Faire to triple its business, selling over 75 million products within the last year. Looking ahead, the National Retail Federation has projected the fastest rise in retail sales in over two decades. This, combined with an Intuit survey revealing that 82% of consumers would spend more to support local businesses after the pandemic, depicts an increasingly positive outlook on independent retailers winning back more of the market.

"Faire's pace of growth signals that independent retailers across the globe are evolving and changing the face of the retail industry as we have known it," said Faire CEO, Max Rhodes. "We have always believed in this thriving community of entrepreneurs, and are honored to be a navigating partner for them through the pandemic and into these periods of recovery. Faire will continue to invest in independent brands and retailers at one of the most important times in history, as small businesses reopen around the world. We know that they will rebuild and reimagine the future of retail to better serve their local communities."

This new capital will help Faire continue to build leading tools and market events that equip its customers with the resources they need to thrive, including doubling down on its investment within apparel after seeing meaningful category growth. Additionally, this capital will help Faire continue to hire top talent to significantly increase headcount across all global offices, as well as introduce Faire into new markets to create a truly globalized marketplace where retailers and brands around the world can seamlessly connect and meaningfully compete against retail giants.

Company highlights:

Founded in 2017 by Square alumni Max Rhodes (CEO), Marcelo Cortes (CTO), Jeff Kolovson (COO), and Daniele Perito (CDO). Headquartered in San Francisco and Kitchener-Waterloo, and also located in Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Toronto, London, and Sao Paulo.

Faire has more than tripled its business, selling over 75 million products in the last year.

$698.9 million total funding raised to date by investors including Sequoia Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Y Combinator, DST Global, Dragoneer, D1 Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and with new global investors Baillie Gifford and Wellington Management.

Faire now serves 200,000 retailers across North America and Europe, as well as 20,000 brands from over 80 countries, reporting 300% YoY volume growth.

Faire has grown to roughly 500 employees, and expects to double headcount in the next year, including hiring dozens of employees in Europe and opening a London office.

About Faire:

Faire is a wholesale marketplace taking a data-driven approach to connect local, independent retailers with the best brands and artisans to stock their shelves with the best goods. Faire retailers rely on Faire for the convenience of ordering from thousands of their favorite brands all in one place, net 60 payment terms, free returns on opening orders, and freight caps. For brands, the platform provides powerful sales, marketing, and analytics tools, so sellers can simplify their wholesale business and focus on making great products.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005235/en/

Contacts:

Julia Waneka

Head of Communications

press@faire.com
ITM AG, a leading radiopharmaceutical company, announced today the close of a private equity financing round from existing and new investors, related and connected parties to Portland Holdings, along with FRIBA Investment, raising a total of EUR 25 million (USD 30 million). The funding will support the company's ongoing global expansion and the addition of novel programs into its leading precision oncology pipeline, as well as the further advancement of ITM's existing clinical candidates in a broad range of oncology indications. The EUR 25 million private financing is additional to the EUR 90 million convertible loan agreement announced in April, 2021. Further details on the financing were not disclosed.

"We greatly value the continued support we receive from our current and new investors to fund our progress in providing the most precise cancer radiotherapeutics and diagnostics to patients in need of novel treatment options. This raise reinforces the commitment of both existing and new investors and highlights their confidence that we will successfully deliver on the potential of Targeted Radionuclide Therapy for cancer patients," commented Steffen Schuster, Chief Executive Officer of ITM.

"ITM's data has proven compelling to date and the ongoing Phase III trial, COMPETE looks very promising, thereby further validating the company's approach to addressing important therapeutic needs in the oncology field and contributing to the future wellbeing of patients. We are excited to contribute to the company's financial strength and look forward to seeing ITM maintain this positive momentum in 2021," said Robert Collan, Managing Directorat FRIBA Investment.

"The current private equity financing round represents a significant capital raise by a Canadian investment firm in the area of life sciences, where we are rapidly expanding our domain experience and investment portfolio. This investment is a product of our reputation, our global footprint, and access to capital, and represents our commitment to democratizing wealth by offering everyone from the sophisticated institutional investors and family offices to eligible retail clients an opportunity to co-invest with us in what we believe are high-quality firms. We welcome to ITM's shareholder roster our friends and like-minded investors at FRIBA Investment. In keeping with our philosophy of doing well and doing good, we look forward to contributing toward the collective mission of improving medical outcomes for cancer patients worldwide," commented Michael Lee-Chin, Supervisory Board Member of ITM and founder and chairman of Portland Holdings.

ITM is a leader in the production and supply of high-quality medical radioisotopes for cancer treatment and diagnosis and has established its own global supply network. The company has forward-integrated to develop Targeted Radionuclide Diagnostics and Therapies designed to provide medical benefit for hard-to-treat cancer indications. ITM's goal is to advance a broad pipeline by combining its first-class radioisotopes with targeting molecules capable of addressing a range of tumors, including gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). ITM will validate this approach with its lead candidate, n.c.a. 177Lu-Edotreotide currently in a Phase III clinical trial for GEP-NETs.

End

About ITM Isotopen Technologien Munchen

ITM, a privately held radiopharmaceutical biotech company founded in 2004, is dedicated to providing the most precise cancer radiotherapeutics and diagnostics to meet the needs of patients, clinicians and our partners through excellence in development, production and global supply. With patient benefit as the driving principle for all we do, ITM is advancing a broad pipeline combining its superior radioisotopes with targeting molecules to create precision oncology treatments. ITM is leveraging its leadership and nearly two decades of radioisotope expertise combined with its worldwide network to enable nuclear medicine to reach its full potential for helping patients live longer and better. For more information, please visit www.itm.ag.

ITM Isotopen Technologien Munchen AG

Supervisory Board: Udo J Vetter (Chairman) Executive Board: Steffen Schuster (Chairman), Thomas Durre Registered Office: Garching/Munich

District Court of Munich Commercial Register 154 944 Phone: +49 (0)89 329 8986 600 Fax: +49 (0)89 329 8986 650 Email: info@itm.ag

Tax Number: 143/100/82466 VAT Number: DE813228901 Deutsche Bank Freiburg IBAN: DE52680700300022816300 BIC: DEUTDE6F

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005371/en/

Contacts:

ITM Corporate Contact

Nicola Scharrer

Head of Marketing Communications

Phone: +49 89 3298986-151

Email: Nicola.Scharrer@itm.ag

ITM Media Requests

Trophic Communications

Stephanie May or Valeria Fisher

Phone: +49 171 185 56 82

Email: itm@trophic.eu
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / iMetal Resources, Inc. (TSX.V:IMR) (OTC PINK:ADTFF) (FRANKFURT:A7V2) ('iMetal' or the 'Company') is pleased to release assay results from the late April 2021 field program at its flagship Gowganda West property in the Shining Tree District part of the Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt of Northern Ontario (see 2021-May-11 News Release). The program concentrated largely at Zone 1 and Zone 3, in preparation for trenching and drilling. Highlights include:

Zone 3 highlights include: grab sample values of 67.9, 29.6 and 11.3 g/t gold.

Zone 1 highlights include: gold g/t grab sample values of 27.2 and 16.35

A value of 3.72 g/t gold was returned from a location approximately 400 metres to the NW

iMetal cautions investors the grab samples are selective and may not necessarily be representative of the showing as a whole.

'The 2021 results confirm the earlier sampling and have defined the target areas for the upcoming trenching and drilling programs,' commented iMetal CEO, Saf Dhillon. 'The recent gold samples collected well to the west of the known mineralization at Zone 1 argues for additional structures at Gowganda, fitting in with our theory of a significant mineralized system at Gowganda,' he continued. 'We expect to commence the fully permitted trenching program forthwith, in preparation for a follow-up drilling program,' he concluded.

Zone 1 is associated with Timiskaming type metasedimentary rocks comprising siltstone, sandstone and predominately conglomerate. Gold mineralization is found where conglomerate transitions into finer grained rock types. The conglomerate contains clasts of jasper rich, banded iron formation and is highly magnetic. In additional, the conglomerate contains significant amounts of pyrite, resulting in the unit showing as strongly conductive in induced polarization surveys. The 2018 airborne mag and 2019 IP surveys have allowed mapping of the conglomerate and its boundaries.

Figure1. Zone 1 Sampling

Zone 1 mineralization seems to occur within northward trending structures at or near geological boundaries with conglomerate and finer grained sediments. Exposures in cleared areas from historical work shows potassic alteration and silica flooding over significant widths. Recent sampling in Zone 1 has confirmed previous sampling and shows a north-south trend to gold mineralization. Faulting in this area also trends north south and has served as corridors for late diabase dikes that have intruded into the existing weaker bedrock. Gold mineralization is associated with narrow, quartz-carbonate-pyrite veins hosted within wider zones of ankerite-albite-silica-sericite alteration and variable amounts of fine-grained, disseminated pyrite. Gold appears to be associated with pyrite, the higher the pyrite content generally the higher the gold content.

Figure1. Zone 3 Sampling

Zone 3 similarly is hosted in metasedimentary rocks, however, the mineralization is oriented northeast-southwest and dips westward. Fifteen samples were taken from this area in April eight of which returned gold values over 1 g/t gold with a highlight value of 67 g/t gold. The highest-grade samples were found in larger areas of silica flooding associated with narrow units of felsic intrusive rock. Past sampling in this area also returned high grade gold. The Zone 3 exposure is found in a recently logged area and does not appear to have seen any past exploration.

A total of 121 samples were taken during the April program with 26 returning values in excess of 0.1 g/t gold. Twelve of the 26 returned values in excess of 1 g/t gold, of which 5 were in excess of 10 g/t gold.

Table 1. Grab Samples from 2021 prospecting work in Excess of 0.1 g/t Gold

Sample ID g/t gold Location Sample ID g/t gold Location 167303 67.9 Zone 3 167397 27.2 Zone 1 167252 29.6 Zone 3 167398 16.35 Zone 1 167015 11.3 Zone 3 167003 2.11 Zone 1 167008 4.02 Zone 3 167009 2.27 Zone 3 167312 3.76 Zone 1 W 167010 1.91 Zone 3 167014 1.1 Zone 3 167354 1.06 Zone 3

QAQC

All grab samples were delivered by the geological contractor to ALS Minerals in Thunder Bay, an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited facility. All samples were analyzed with ALS's AuME-TL43 procedure, a 25 gram aqua regia digestion with an ICP-MS finish with a 1 gram upper limit for gold. All overlimit gold values were fire assayed with a 30 gram sample and a gravimetric finish, ALS's Au-GRA21 procedure.

About Gowganda West

The Gowganda West property covers approximately 147 sq km in the Shining Tree volcano-sedimentary succession of the southwestern Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt contiguous to the north and west of Aris Gold Corp.'s (TSX: ARIS) (formerly Caldas Gold Corp.) Juby Gold deposit, a series of four mineralized alteration zones along the Tyrrell Shear Zone. Gold mineralization at Juby is associated with narrow quartz-carbonate-pyrite veins hosted within 20 to 330 metre wide zones of ankerite-albite-silica-sericite alteration and variable amounts of fine-grained, disseminated pyrite and also with multiple lenses containing narrow (<5m), higher grade quartz-carbonate-pyrite veins hosted within 5 to 50 metre zones of ankerite-albite-silica-sericite alteration and variable amounts of fine-grained, disseminated pyrite. The Juby Deposits host indicated resources of 774,000 ounces at 1.13 g/t Au and inferred resources of 1,488,000 ounces at 0.98 g/t Au. iMetal cautions investors mineralization at Juby is not necessarily indicative of similar mineralization at Gowganda West.

Source: Technical Report on the Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Juby Gold Deposit for Caldas Gold Corp. (named currently changed to Aris Gold Corp.) Dated 2020-Oct-05 By: J. Campbell, A. Sexton, D. Studd, and A. Armitage.

iMetal acquired Gowganda West in 2016, discovering Zone 1 and Zone 3 through focused exploration proximal to the Aris property border, and subsequently completing programs of prospecting, channel sampling, airborne VTEM, ground IP and limited diamond drilling.

Zone 1 has excellent access and has been traced over 500m south from the Juby property boundary. Two distinct outcrop areas approximately 300m apart have been sampled, Zone 1 and Zone 1 South. Highlight grab samples include: 6.47 g/t Au from Zone 1 and 39.3 g/t Au, and 16.9 g/t Au from Zone 1 South. Five holes were subsequently drilled in 2019 and one in 2020 at Zone 1, focusing on a short 150 strike length of Zone 1S. Highlight drill intersections included: 2.95 g/t Au over 2.5 metres, 1.43 g/t Au over 4.6 metres and longer intervals of 0.37 g/t au over 29.4 metres and 0.32 g/t au over 30.25 metres.

Zone 3 consists of two distinct areas separated by 225 metres, 3A and 3B are located approximately 6 kilometres due south of Zone 1,. Highlights from Zone 3A grab sample results include 56.59 g/t Au and 34.81 g/t Au, while highlight Zone 3B grab sample results include 14.74 g/t Au and 12.7 g/t Au. Zone 3A and Zone 3B remain undrilled.

About iMetal Resources Inc.

A Canadian based junior exploration company focused on the exploration and development of its portfolio of resource properties in Ontario and Quebec. iMetal's is focused on advancing its Gowganda West Project that borders the Juby Project, an advanced exploration-stage gold project located within the Shining Tree area in the southern part of the Abitibi greenstone belt about 100 km south-southeast of the Timmins gold camp.

The Company is also focused on the Oakes Gold Project which forms part of a portfolio of projects it recently acquired from Riverside Resources Inc. (TSXV: RRI) who is now a strategic investor/partner. The Oakes Gold Project is located in the Oakes Township just north of Canadian National Highway 11 and about 2km north of the town of Long Lac, Ontario. The Oakes Township is part of the well-endowed Beardmore-Geraldton Greenstone Belt region, located northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario and the region has a long and rich mining history that has produced 4.1 million ounces of gold over the past 100 years including the combined MacLeod-Cockshutt Mine, which produced 1.5 million ounces of gold. More recently, the Hardrock Project held 50% by Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX: EQX) has elevated attention to the area by announcing their intention to mine their gold resource near Geraldton, Ontario.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by R. Tim Henneberry, PGeo (British Columbia), a Director of iMetal, and a 'qualified person' as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS,

Saf Dhillon

President & Chief Executive Officer

iMetal Resources Inc.

saf@imetalresources.ca

Tel. (604-484-3031)

Suite 510, 580 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 3B6.

https://imetalresources.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to: statements with respect to future exploration and drilling of the Company; statements with respect to the release of assays and exploration results; and statements with respect to the Company's geological understanding of its mineral properties. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include results of exploration, variations in results of mineralization, relationships with local communities, market prices, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws.

SOURCE: iMetal Resources, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651223/iMetal-Returns-Highlights-of-697-GT-Gold-from-Grab-Samples-at-Gowganda
MUNICH, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sungrow, the global leading inverter solution supplier for renewables, announced a new partner, wholesaler Krannich Solar, to distribute the Company's broad product portfolio in Europe, further facilitating the economic decarbonization in more markets.

Sungrow is poised to meet a wide range of applications in distributed generation markets with a comprehensive product portfolio covering product verticals within commercial and industrial, residential, hybrid inverters and batteries.

"We value Sungrow's robust track record in renewables and the broad portfolio which well meets the diversified demand from each market. The partnership between Krannich and Sungrow allows us to reach more dominance in our core markets, serving more communities and households," said Jan Brunner, Head of Sales at Krannich Solar.

"We are delighted to have Krannich Solar be an important part of our European-wide distributor network. With Krannich Solar we have one of the leading PV distribution companies on our side which is known for its personal, comprehensive, and competitive approach. Together we will deliver real added value and prominent quality in every aspect," commented Jeremy Powell, Director of Distribution Europe at Sungrow.

Key markets for the partnership include: Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Austria, Greece, and Turkey. Moreover, it's expected that further cooperation outside Europe will be forged between the two companies in the near future.

About Sungrow

Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd ("Sungrow") is the world's most bankable inverter brand with over 154 GW installed worldwide as of December 2020. Founded in 1997 by University Professor Cao Renxian, Sungrow is a leader in the research and development of solar inverters, with the largest dedicated R&D team in the industry and a broad product portfolio offering PV inverter solutions and energy storage systems for utility-scale, commercial, and residential applications, as well as internationally recognized floating PV plant solutions. With a strong 24-year track record in the PV space, Sungrow products power installations in over 150 countries. Learn more about Sungrow by visiting www.sungrowpower.com.

About Krannich Solar

Krannich Solar has been a strong partner for photovoltaic installers since 1995 and offers everything that drives photovoltaics forward: sound advice, effective logistics and one of the world's leading product and system offerings for solar power generation. With a growing market share worldwide, the owner-managed company is one of the leading photovoltaic wholesalers. The group of companies employs over 600 people worldwide. The 25 own branches supply customers in almost all countries of the world.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1530505/sungrow.jpg

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LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Shares of BT Group plc were gaining around 3 percent in the morning trade in London after Billionaire Patrick Drahi's Altice Group, a French telecom major, said Thursday that it has acquired 1.20 billion shares in the British telecom major, representing 12.1% of its share capital.



Meanwhile, Altice UK, which has been established for the purpose of holding the shares in BT, confirmed that it does not intend to make a takeover offer for BT.



Responding to Altice's investment, BT said it welcomes all investors who recognize the long-term value of the business and the important role it plays in the UK. The company further said it is making good progress in delivering its strategy and plan.



BT's current market capital is around 18.74 billion pounds. Germany's Deutsche Telekom reportedly owns 12.06% stake in BT.



According to Altice UK, the significant investment was made due to BT's compelling opportunity to deliver UK Government's one important policy of substantial expansion of access to a full-fibre, gigabit-capable broadband network throughout the country.



Altice, an independent owner and operator of telecom and broadband networks, said it believes that the UK provides a sound environment for substantial long-term investment, supported by the current regulatory framework.



Drahi said, 'BT has a significant opportunity to upgrade and extend its full-fibre broadband network to bring substantial benefits to millions of households across the UK. We fully support the management's strategy to deliver on this opportunity.'



Altice already operates significant networks in the US, France, Portugal and Israel, combining strong engineering capabilities with efficient operations, and serving over 40 million customers. It is the second largest telecoms company in France, behind Orange.



Altice UK said it is separate from the other Altice companies but benefits from the deep and broad expertise and experience across the group.



In London, BT shares were trading at 188.93 pence, up 3.16 percent.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

BT-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
Bilia has today concluded an agreement to acquire City Dack Oresund AB, a company that conducts sales of tyres and rims and tyre related services as for example tyre fitting, tyre hotels, tyre changes, rim repair and wheel alignment. The company has an agency for a tyre brand in Sweden. The business is conducted at two facilities; in Malmo and in Vellinge. The date of possession is today on 10 June 2021.

The acquired business reported for the past two years an average turnover of about SEK 55 M, with an average operating margin of about 12 per cent. The number of employees is about 20. The operation's capital employed and agreed surplus values amount to SEK 55 M, which will increase the Bilia Group's capital employed and net debt.

Per Avander, Bilia's MD and CEO, comments:

"I'm happy that Bilia through the acquisition of City Dack Oresund AB can expand the strategically important tyre business to for Bilia a new and broader customer segment. In the future, Bilia will be able to take care of the tyre business for all car brands. Bilia wants to expand the business and has a new establishment plan for the future. Furthermore, City Dack Oresund complements our current business and our previous acquisition of En Battre Dackaffar. City Dack Oresund will be part of a business area newly established for Bilia, that initially focuses on tyres, rims and wheels."

Hussen Hassoun, MD City Dack Oresund AB and seller, comments:

"I look forward to being a part of Bilia and together with Bilia continue to develop our tyre business both at our existing and future facilities."



Gothenburg, June 10, 2021

Bilia AB (publ)

For information please contact:

Per Avander, Managing Director and CEO, +46

Kristina Franzen, CFO, +46

Facts about the Bilia Group

Bilia is one of Europe's largest car dealers with a leading position within service and sales of cars and transport vehicles. Bilia has about 140 facilities in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium. Bilia sells cars of the brand Volvo, BMW, Toyota, Renault, Lexus, MINI, Dacia, Alpine and transport vehicles of the brand Renault, Toyota and Dacia.

Bilia offers new and used cars, e-commerce, spare parts and store sales, service and repair workshops, tyres and car glass and financing, insurance, car washes, fuel stations and car dismantling under the same roof, which gives a unique customer offer.

Bilia reported a turnover of about SEK 30 Bn in 2020 and had about 4,700 employees.

Attachment
AMSTERDAM, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Group-IB, a global threat hunting and adversary-centric cyber intelligence company that specializes in investigating and preventing hi-tech cybercrimes, has released a comprehensive analysis of fraud schemes on a global scale. In total, fraud accounts for 73% of all online attacks: 56% are scams (deceit resulting in the victim voluntary revealing sensitive data) and 17% arephishing attacks (bank card details theft). By using patented Digital Risk Protection (DRP) technologies, Group-IB experts detected over 70 scam groups employed only in one of the fraudulent schemes, Classiscam, 36 of which target Europe. It was established that in one year Classiscam threat actors alone swindled users out of 7,750,000.

On June 10, during the Digital Risk Summit 2021 online conference (Amsterdam), Group-IB presented its research into various fraudulent schemes, obtained thanks to neural networks and ML-based scorings of Group-IB Digital Risk Protection system. Group-IB also revealed Scam Intelligence, a fraudster tracking technology that has laid the foundations for DRP, the company's proprietary solution. In one year, the system helped save 363 million for companies in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the Middle East by preventing potential damages.

The number of scam- and phishing-related violations detected by Group-IB in Europe in 2020 grew by 39% year-on-year. Probes into threat actor scam activities worldwide by DRP helped categorize fraud schemes, with over 100 basic schemes and their modifications detected. For instance, a scheme with fake brand accounts on social media (typical for the financial sector) involved on average over 500 fake accounts per bank in 2020. Insurance companies worldwide, meanwhile, suffer from phishing. Over 100 phishing websites per insurer were created last year on average.

In 2020, a multi-stage fraud scheme called Rabbit Hole, which abused companies' brands, mostly targeted the retail sector and online services. Users received a link from friends, through social media, or in messengers with a suggestion to participate in a prize draw, promotional offer, or survey. On average, users made 40,000 visits to fraudulent websites daily. Rabbit Hole attacked the customers of at least 100 brands worldwide. The threat actors strive to steal personal and bank-card data.

Classiscam has been the most wide-spread scam globally during the pandemic. The scheme targets people who use marketplaces and services relating to property rental, hotel bookings, online bank transfers, online retail, ride-sharing, and delivery. The scheme aims to extort money as a payment for non-existent goods. At least 44 countries, including Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK, have been targeted by Classiscam. According to Group-IB, 93 brands overall have been abused as part of Classiscam. In early 2021, more than 12,500 threat actors made money through fake delivery service resources. The overall number of websites involved in the scheme reached 10,000. One Classiscam threat group makes up to  97,000 per month.

"Last year, the world was hit by scamdemic, which stands for the influx of online scams during the pandemic on a scale never seen before: if your company is successful and well-known, it's just a matter of time when scammers have their eye on it," says Dmitry Tiunkin, Group-IB DRB Head, Europe. "Digital risks for brands such as online scams, illegal sales of products and services, and intellectual property infringements are the most wide-spread crimes on the Internet. Group-IB DRP system grants analysts with a tool for uncovering scam actor's entire infrastructure and learning about various categories of scams that might target their organizations. Group-IB DRP helps our customers to establish the identity of the person behind the wrongdoing, gather as much information about them as possible and bring them to justice."
FILE - In this Wednesday, May 5, 2021, file photo, a displaced Tigrayan woman walks out of a classroom-turned-kitchen after receiving food at the Hadnet General Secondary School which has become a makeshift home to thousands displaced by the conflict, in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Friday, June 4, 2021, that famine is imminent in Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region and the country's north and there is a risk that hundreds of thousands of people or more will die.
MOSCOW, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund) announces the data of the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Bahrain on the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine confirming its safety and high efficacy during the vaccination campaign in the country.

An efficacy study was conducted in Bahrain in accordance with WHO guidelines involving more than 5,000 subjects. Overall efficacy beyond 14 days after administering the second dose was estimated at 94.3%. Analysis is based on the data collected between February and early May 2021.

The data of the Ministry of Health also demonstrates that 98.6% of all COVID-19 cases 14 days after receiving the second dose were mild among those vaccinated with Sputnik V.

Vaccination data indicates high safety of Sputnik V:

No serious adverse events associated with vaccination;

No deaths related to the vaccination;

No cerebral vein thrombosis (CVT) cases after vaccination.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said:

"Sputnik V has demonstrated efficacy of 94.3% and high safety confirming the data collected in a number of other countries where it is used to protect the population against coronavirus. The Russian vaccine is an important part of Bahrain's diversified national portfolio. Use of Sputnik V is making a significant contribution in mitigating the spread of coronavirus, resuming normal life and economic activity."

HE Faeqa Saeed Al-Saleh, Bahrain's Minister of Health, said:

"Our data has confirmed the high efficacy and safety of Sputnik V during its use in Bahrain. This vaccine is one of a number of approved vaccines made available free of charge to citizens and residents in the Kingdom. Sputnik V continues to play an important role in the Kingdom's ongoing and successful vaccination campaign, with 81% of the eligible population vaccinated so far."

Sputnik V has 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 ;

The Sputnik V vaccine is 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 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 is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable around the world.

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors. RDIF acts as a catalyst for direct investment in the Russian economy. RDIF's management company is based in Moscow. Currently, RDIF has experience of the successful joint implementation of more than 80 projects with foreign partners totaling RUB 2.1 tn and covering 95% of the regions of the Russian Federation. RDIF portfolio companies employ more than 800,000 people and generate revenues which equate to more than 6% of Russia's GDP. RDIF has established joint strategic partnerships with leading international co-investors from more than 18 countries that total more than $40 bn. Further information can be found at www.rdif.ru

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1140939/Russian_Direct_Investment_Fund_Logo.jpg
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Universal PropTech Inc. (TSXV: UPI) (OTCQB: UPIPF) (FSE: 8LH) ("UPI" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointments of Ms. Elizabeth McDonald and Mr. Dwayne Matthews to the Company's Advisory Board. Ms. McDonald is the former President of the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance and the Canadian Solar Industries Association. Mr. Matthews is considered a Chief Innovation Evangelist and Future of Education Strategist for school boards, educators and parents and understands and advises regarding new and evolving themes in the 21st century, the future of work and how to help prepare children to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital information driven world.

In addition, the Company announces it has granted an aggregate of 450,000 stock options ("Options") to certain consultants and employees pursuant to the Company's stock option plan. The Options vest immediately and are exercisable into common shares of the Company ("Shares") at an exercise price of $0.45 per Share for a period of three years from the date of grant. The grant of options is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The President and CEO of Universal PropTech Inc., Mr. Chris Hazelton, stated, "We are improving our "Trusted Advisor" relationship with customers, and we are thrilled to grow our team with industry leaders such as Elizabeth and Dwayne." Mr. Hazelton further commented that, "Recent successes of indoor air quality equipment and building controls sales and mechanical service agreements are enabling us to scale our sales efforts."

"I have known Universal PropTech group for some years and I am excited to work with them and be a part of their focus in delivering innovation in the education sector," stated Dwayne Matthews.

"I look forward to adding value to Universal PropTech's healthy building approach as they continue to grow and seek out best in class technology solutions. There is a need to educate institutional customers on best practices in procurement of energy efficiency and demand energy resources for the low carbon economy," stated Elizabeth McDonald.

Ms. McDonald will advise the Company on Building Performance and Energy Resources divisions, among other corporate initiatives, while Mr. Matthews will be advising on innovation and sustainability within the education sector across North America.

Universal PropTech's Advisory Board is currently comprised of: Adam Szweras, Robert Daniels, David Berry, Elizabeth McDonald and Dwayne Matthews.

About Elizabeth McDonald

Ms. McDonald has more than 25 years' experience as a senior executive, industry advocate, industry advisor and board member in government relations, advocacy, organizational management, and communications. In August of 2012, she accepted the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance, the national voice of energy efficiency and conservation in Canada, and was previously President of Canadian Solar Industries Association, the national trade association that represents the interests of all aspects of the solar industry in Canada. Ms. McDonald retired from that position in October of 2017. Ms. McDonald has previously held senior executive positions in film, television, production and digital media world.

Ms. McDonald has collaborated with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, who named her an Investment Canada Champion, and she sat on the Building Code Conservation Advisory Council for Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

In June of 2017, Ms. McDonald was appointed to the board of a new Government of Ontario Agency - the Green Ontario Fund (which was disbanded following the 2018 provincial election). Recently, Ms. McDonald was named to be a Regional Councilor for TVOntario. Elizabeth sits on several Boards.

About Dwayne Matthews

Mr. Matthews is an innovation evangelist and "future of education" strategist and converges and shares knowledge on the future of education, disruptive technology, and the evolution of work. Mr. Matthews advises governments, boards, educators and parents on the 4th industrial revolution, the future of education, future of work and its impact on national security and prosperity.

Mr. Matthews is also an advisory board member for XPRIZE Connect, Future of Learning Lab, a new learning initiative that focuses on the democratization of access to learning through technology that empowers the next generation of innovators, he also sits on the board of Hackergal and the Ontario Virtual School.

Mr. Matthews also served as the Senior Education Lead for the Faubert Applied Research Centre. The Faubert Applied Research brought together researchers and experts in cognitive human performance from industry, government, and academia to bridge the gap between research and unmet real life applications.

Mr. Matthews recently addressed the United Nations on issues and opportunities around the future of education, digital literacy, cognitive abilities and the 54 countries of Africa.

Before that Mr. Matthews was an international educator at one of the top five private schools in South America and the junior chairperson at a Toronto District School Board school in Toronto, Canada. He was also a member of the core strategic planning team at The FDR International School, in Lima, Peru.

Mr. Matthews is a recipient of the BAIE Trailblazer In Innovation Award, and he is also a regular guest and Future of Education expert on Canada's national breakfast show, YourMorning, as well as The Marilyn Denis Show.

About Universal PropTech Inc.

Universal PropTech Inc. (TSXV: UPI) (OTCQB: UPIPF) (FSE: 8LH) is a leading building innovation company, selecting, integrating, deploying, and maintaining PropTech in healthy buildings. As trusted advisors, we provide holistic evidence-driven solutions and services for building developers, owners, and operators in Canada. UPI operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, VCI Controls Inc. ("VCI"), a leading supplier and integrator of PropTech healthy building solutions and services. VCI is an industry leader in the acquisition and deployment of intelligent building technology, including the integration of all building systems utilizing the latest in communications technologies and standards. VCI's business focuses on digital controls and mechanical services, performance monitoring, and energy efficiency solutions.

With headquarters in Toronto, Universal PropTech Inc. has offices across Canada including, Halifax, Montreal, and Ottawa. For more information, visit www.universalproptech.com.

Contact Information

Universal PropTech Inc.

Chris Hazelton

President and Chief Executive Officer

chazelton@universalproptech.com

(647) 300-2957

Additional Universal PropTech Statement

The Company diligently posts updates through videos from the official company YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRYxig8nvpmMeDNaK_6OOSw

Please join the conversation on our Universal PropTech supporter's telegram group at:

https://t.me/UniversalPropTech

Forward Looking Statements

Certain information provided in this press release constitutes forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "forecast", expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project", or similar words suggesting future outcomes. The Company cautions readers and prospective investors in the Company's securities not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as, by its nature, it is based on current expectations regarding future events that involve a number of assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company.

The forward-looking information included herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information included herein is made as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange"), nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87116
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Graph Blockchain Inc. (CSE: GBLC) (OTC Pink: REGRF) (FSE: RT5A) ("Graph" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that further to its press release dated May 14, 2021, the Company has closed its acquisition of all of the shares of Beyond the Moon Inc. ("Beyond the Moon"), a private Ontario company.

"Graph's acquisition of Beyond the Moon gives our shareholders exposure to quality Initial DEX Offerings and early adoption of new crypto tokens," said Paul Haber, Chief Executive Officer of Graph Blockchain, Inc. "By adding Beyond the Moon to our group of companies, we gain access to even earlier rounds of any upcoming token presales to add value to Graph's portfolio of altcoins."

Pursuant to a Share Exchange Agreement between the Company, Beyond the Moon, and the shareholders of Beyond the Moon, the purchase price was $6,000,000 and was satisfied through the issuance of 46,153,846 units (the "Consideration Units") in the capital of the Company, at a deemed price of $0.13 per Consideration Unit with each Consideration Unit comprised of one common share and one half of one common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will allow the holder to acquire an additional common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.18 per share during the 24-month period following closing. As a result of the transaction, Beyond the Moon is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

Beyond the Moon simplifies the most exciting opportunities in crypto launchpads. Launchpads are crypto projects designed to help upcoming projects reach their full potential and mainstream adoption. Beyond the Moon Coordinators manage the process of entering crypto launchpads, helping facilitate the access to early-stage crypto tokens. Before listing a new token on a Decentralized Exchange ("DEX"). Launchpads provide the first public investment round, called an Initial DEX Offering ("IDO"). Early access to crypto projects is difficult to access, but the highest return on investment comes from early access to projects. Beyond the Moon manages all aspects of the launchpad opportunities. Graph will be internalizing this platform to provide our shareholders with exposure to these opportunities.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About Graph Blockchain Inc.

Graph Blockchain provides our shareholders with exposure to various areas of Decentralized Finance. Graph, through its wholly owned subsidiary Babbage Mining Corp., a Proof of Stake ("POS") miner that focuses on altcoins, can provide our investors with exposure to the vast emerging market of cryptocurrencies with the significant technological disruption and potential gains that altcoins represent.

Additional information on the Company is available at www.graphblockchain.com and www.babbagemining.com.

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Jamie Hyland

Phone: 604.442.2425

Email: jamie@graphblockchain.com

Media Relations

Anthony Feldman/Rich DiGregorio

Phone: 617.921.0984/856.889.7351

Email: gblc@kcsa.com

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Such statements may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

###

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87137
Victoria, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Plurilock Security Inc. (TSXV: PLUR) (OTCQB: PLCKF) and related subsidiaries ("Plurilock" or the "Company"), an identity-centric cybersecurity solutions provider for workforces, has received an order worth US$180,000 on an existing contract with a California State Agency, under the California Multiple Award Schedules (CMAS) agreement.

Under the CMAS contract order, Plurilock will deliver Proofpoint software and maintenance support to the U.S. state agency. This contract demonstrates the Company's ongoing efforts to provide local government organizations with quality cybersecurity solutions out of its California regional office.

About CMAS

The CMAS program offers California state agencies access to several offerings, including information technology (IT) products and services, from qualified and competitive providers. California state and local agencies can utilize CMAS to solicit services to streamline the procurement process. California is the largest U.S. state, employing over 230,000 full-time employees within their state agencies.1 Being a CMAS provider offers opportunities for Plurilock to continue expansion in the state and local government sector.

About Plurilock

Plurilock provides identity-centric cybersecurity for today's workforces. Plurilock offers world-class cybersecurity solutions paired with AI-driven, cloud-friendly security technologies that deliver persistent identity assurance with unmatched ease of use. The Plurilock family of companies enables organizations to operate safely and securely-while reducing cybersecurity friction.

For more information, visit https://www.plurilock.com or contact:

Ian L. Paterson

Chief Executive Officer

ian@plurilock.com

416.800.1566

Roland Sartorius

Chief Financial Officer

roland.sartorius@plurilock.com

Prit Singh

Investor Relations

prit.singh@plurilock.com

905.510.7636

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") related to future events or Plurilock's future business, operations, and financial performance and condition. Forward-looking statements normally contain words like "will", "intend", "anticipate", "could", "should", "may", "might", "expect", "estimate", "forecast", "plan", "potential", "project", "assume", "contemplate", "believe", "shall", "scheduled", and similar terms. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, actions, or developments and are based on expectations, assumptions, and other factors that management currently believes are relevant, reasonable, and appropriate in the circumstances. Although management believes that the forward-looking statements herein are reasonable, actual results could be substantially different due to the risks and uncertainties associated with and inherent to Plurilock's business. Additional material risks and uncertainties applicable to the forward-looking statements herein include, without limitation, the impact of general economic conditions, the success of the Company in obtaining new or extended contracts or orders; the Company's ability to maintain existing customers or develop new customers; the Company's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions of other businesses and/or companies or to realize on the anticipated benefits thereof; and unforeseen events, developments, or factors causing any of the aforesaid expectations, assumptions, and other factors ultimately being inaccurate or irrelevant. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect the Company's forward-looking statements. Many of these factors are beyond the control of Plurilock. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as at the date hereof, and Plurilock undertakes no obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in its most recent Annual Information Form. They are otherwise disclosed in its filings with securities regulatory authorities available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

https://sco.ca.gov/ppsd_empinfo_demo.html

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87138
BURLINGTON, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Memex Inc.("MEMEX" or the "Company") (TSXV:OEE), a leader in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) manufacturing productivity software has recently added financing as an option for those customers who prefer not to lay out the full cost of deploying MERLIN up front but still desire a perpetual license versus an ongoing subscription as their means of acquisition. This should allow managers and executive teams to make the financing decision more easily around deploying MEMEX's flagship software for machine monitoring and driving operating efficiencies across all aspects of their manufacturing operation(s).

"MEMEX has cultivated two equipment finance partnerships - one in the United States and the second in Canada - to provide a new finance alternative for customers wanting to adopt MERLIN Tempus," said David McPhail, MEMEX President and CEO. "Now, in addition to an up-front acquisition or ongoing subscription arrangement, our financing partners can put our customers in the same cash flow position as an OpEx commitment, all while maintaining their working capital balances and removing possible capital expenditure constraints, providing the security of a non-expiring right to use our product."

"Typically, the financed monthly cost of a MERLIN Tempus deployment is less expensive than a Software as a Service (SaaS) product offered by our competitors. With the MEMEX financing option, our customer owns any hardware provided as well as the lifetime right to use our product at the end of their finance term. Although MEMEX is capable of deployment of either a perpetual license or ongoing subscription (SaaS equivalent) model, so far, we have seen a greater preference for the perpetual license model."

"Since partnering two months ago with Intech Funding Corp ("Intech") (for US customers), they have helped one new customer to secure their USD$188 thousand project (approximately CAD $225 thousand). Although we have not completed an arrangement with our new Canadian partner Grenke, we are pursuing opportunities. Both Intech and Grenke offer very competitive rates relative to traditional financing alternatives, with the understanding of and willingness to fund our product offerings."

About MERLIN:

MERLIN Tempus is a web-based software platform that delivers real-time, tangible increases in manufacturing productivity by enabling users to accomplish their data-driven digital transformation and continuous improvement initiatives and lean / six-sigma focused strategies. By providing users with day-to-day operational visibility and production statistics including Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), as well as many other critical operational metrics, implementing MERLIN leads MEMEX customers to the achievement of sustainable operational excellence.

MERLIN Tempus typically delivers:

Increased Productivity: 10% - 50% (on average)

Increased Profitability: 20% + (based on a 10% OEE increase)

Quick Payback: typically less than four months (IRR greater than 300%)

Impactful Continuous Improvement: A paradigm shift in focus from data collection to value-added activities for all continuous improvement initiatives

About Memex Inc.:

Established in 1992, MEMEX has grown to be an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) leader with the development of its award-winning platform, MERLIN Tempus. MEMEX is on the leading edge of industry trends in computing power, machine connectivity, industry standards, advanced software technology, and manufacturing domain expertise. The relentless pursuit of innovative IIoT solutions led to a comprehensive understanding of the challenge's today's manufacturers face and defined MEMEX's the mission to successfully transform factories of today into factories of the future.

As a global leader in Machine to Machine (M2M) connectivity solutions, our hardware and software products create unparalleled visibility at all levels, from "Shop-Floor-to-Top-Floor.' And for those that need more, MERLIN's Performance Management Model (MPMM) assists users to make sense of all the data generated by MERLIN and delivers on MEMEX's core value proposition.

MEMEX is a reporting issuer in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol OEE. For more information, please visit: www.MemexOEE.com

About Intech Funding Corp (www.intechfunding.com):

Intech Funding Corp. is an industry leader providing financing and leasing to manufacturing companies nationwide. They have the resources, experience and commitment to provide low-cost financing solutions. They decided many years ago, if they can make everything simple and streamlined, you, the customer, will get the equipment you need to help your business grow. Applying takes less than five minutes. Paperwork is simple. Funding is fast. Your success is their success! Whether your business is a one-man shop or Fortune 500 firm, they will finance the machinery your business needs to grow and expand. They offer one of the best financing and leasing programs in the industry.

About Grenke (www.grenke.ca):

Entrepreneurship goes back a long way with GRENKE. Established in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1978, their first branch in Canada opened in 2013. GRENKE are entrepreneurs through and through and want to be bold and make things possible for their customers. Whether leasing high-performance IT equipment or entire office equipment, GRENKE Canada can do all that and more. Dedicated management of numerous small contracts is their speciality. They lend a personal touch to the process, along with the same entrepreneurial ardour that they know drives you as well.

Their motto - 'Fast. Forward. Finance.' - has made them one of the leading providers in their segment. Whether you're an entrepreneur looking to lease equipment and keep your liquidity on track or a dealer that values convenient processing and fast cash flow, it's easy to expand your financial horizons with GRENKE.

For investor inquiries please contact:

Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations

647-977-9264

sean@sophiccapital.com

Rashi Rathore, Marketing Manager

905-635-1540

investor.relations@memexOEE.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.

SOURCE: Memex Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650996/MEMEX-Adds-Financing-Option-to-Shorten-the-Sales-Cycle-and-Drive-Adoption-of-MERLIN
CHICAGO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Military Vehicle Electrification Market by technology (Hybrid and fully electric), by system (power generation, Cooling system, energy storage, traction drive system and power conversion) by platform, by operation and by region - Forecast to 2030", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market size is estimated to be valued at USD 4.8 billion in 2020. It is projected to reach USD 8.6 billion by 2025, recording a CAGR of 13.0% and USD 17.6 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 15.4% in terms of value. The increasing number of procurement of new vehicles are also boosting the market growth. Hybrid and fully electric vehicles offer alternatives to power solutions. These solutions enable as an external source for power generation in the vehicles. The Military Vehicle Electrification market is developing further as the concept of alternative sources such as batteries and fuel cells. This requires a strong partnership between governments and private players which is expected to be witnessed during the forecast period. 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 military vehicle 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 also provide complete solutions, which include the services and equipment for Military Vehicle Electrification.

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The Military Vehicle Electrification market is being driven by the rising demand for autonomous military vehicles and increasing oil prices and emission regulations. Various The military sector has traditionally been ahead in the development of Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technology and has been experimenting for decades. The key driver for AV technology from a military perspective has always been the safety of troops. By preventing troops from entering high-risk environments and having robots or autonomous vehicles carry out tasks such as resupply or reconnaissance help reduce the number of casualties. Governments are spending millions of dollars to equip their fleet with hybrid and electric Military Vehicles.

Based on platform, the unmanned armored vehicle segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The growth in the Military Vehicle Electrification market is expected to drive the growth of the three platforms proportionately. The requirement of military vehicle electrification in combat and support vehicles is expected to be in a similar range during the forecast period.

Based on operations, the autonomous/semi-autonomous military vehicle segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Based on operations, the autonomous/semi-autonomous military vehicle segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The requirement of autonomous vehicles that help in reducing human loss and increasing capabilities are helping the growth of the market for Autonomous/semiautonomous military vehicles.

Based on systems, the power generation segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Growing demand for power systems due to the integration of new technologies and increasing power requirements in the vehicles are projected to increase the growth of the military vehicle electrification market.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Military Vehicle Electrification Market"

166 - Tables

71 - Figures

245 - Pages

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The Asia Pacific region is the fastest-growing in the Military Vehicle Electrification market in the forecast period

The Asia Pacific Military Vehicle Electrification market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of the Asia Pacific Military Vehicle Electrification market is primarily driven by increasing focus on increasing expenditure on the procurement of military vehicles by major economies in this region. In addition, factors including increasing geopolitical tensions and increased defense-related expenditure are expected to drive the demand for Military Vehicle Electrification in the region.

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 General Motors (US), General Dynamics (US), Arquus (France), Oshkosh Corporation (US), BAE Systems (UK), and Textron Systems (US).

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DGAP-News: Cryptology Asset Group PLC / Key word(s): Statement/Statement

Cryptology's estimated NAV as of 09/06/2021 is 154.74



10.06.2021 / 13:31

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Corporate News

Cryptology Asset Group p.l.c. ("Cryptology")

Malta, 10.06.2021

Cryptology's estimated NAV as of 09/06/2021 is 154.74

Last week, Cryptology announced it would be committing USD 100 million to invest globally in crypto-related venture funds over the next 24 months

Malta, 10.06.2021. Cryptology Asset Group (ISIN: MT0001770107; Ticker: CAP:GR), a leading European investment firm for crypto assets and blockchain-related business models, announced its most recent estimated Net Asset Value ("NAV") per share of 154.74. The stock closed yesterday at 144.00, roughly 7.0% below NAV.

Last week, Cryptology announced it would be allocating $100 million to invest in crypto venture funds over the next two years. The move positions Cryptology's tradable shares not only as an easy access point to crypto's most successful ventures, such as Block.one and Northern Data, but its most successful investors in the near future as well.

Patrick Lowry, CEO of Cryptology, says "Cryptology is broadening its investment scope outside of just blockchain companies and into crypto assets and crypto venture funds as well. We view this not only as a diversification tool, but as a means to expand our dealflow capabilities by collaborating with the managers of the funds we invest in."

Cryptology shares currently trade on several German exchanges including Borse Dusseldorf, Gettex and Tradegate. In order to increase trading liquidity and open up to new shareholder groups, Cryptology is currently exploring an international listing. The ticker symbol for Cryptology was recently changed from 4UD to CAP.

About Cryptology Asset Group p.l.c.

Cryptology is a leading European crypto asset and blockchain-related business model investment company. Founded by Christian Angermayer's family office, Apeiron Investment Group and crypto-legend Mike Novogratz, Cryptology is the largest publicly traded holding company for blockchain- and crypto-based business models in Europe. Noteworthy portfolio companies include crypto-giant and EOSIO software publisher Block.one, leading HPC provider Northern Data, commission-free online neobroker nextmarkets, and crypto asset management group Iconic Holding.

Media Contact:

Cryptology Asset Group p.l.c.

Jefim Gewiet (COO)

66/67, Beatrice, Amery Street,

Sliema SLM 1707 Malta

E-mail: info@cryptology-ag.com
Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust plc

LEI: 549300K1D1P23R8U4U50

HEADLINE: Annual General Meeting Results

At the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 10 June 2021, shareholders approved the following resolutions:

Ordinary Business

Ordinary Resolutions

1. to receive and consider the Annual Financial Report for the year ended

31 January 2021;

2. to approve the Directors' Remuneration Policy;

3. to approve the Annual Statement and Report on Remuneration for the year ended 31 January 2021;

4. to approve the payment of a final dividend as recommended;

5. to re-elect Jane Lewis as a Director of the Company;

6. to re-elect Bridget Guerin as a Director of the Company;

7. to re-elect Graham Paterson as a Director of the Company;

8. to elect Mike Prentis as a Director of the Company;

9. to re-appoint the auditor, Ernst & Young LLP;

10. to authorise the Audit Committee to determine the auditor's remuneration;

Special Business

Special Resolution

11. to adopt revised Articles of Association;

Ordinary Resolution

12. to authorise the Directors to allot securities;

Special Resolutions

13. to authorise the Directors to allot securities for cash, disapplying statutory pre-emption rights;

14. to renew the Directors' authority to purchase shares of the Company in the market for cancellation or for holding in Treasury within the parameters specified; and

15. that the period of notice required for general meetings of the Company (other than AGMs) shall be not less than 14 days.

All resolutions were passed on a poll.

A breakdown of the proxy votes registered is shown below.

Resolution Votes For % Votes Against % Votes Withheld (including votes at the discretion of the Chairman) 1. 10,100,135 99.99 165 0.01 0 2. 10,048,454 99.67 33,032 0.33 18,814 3. 10,081,739 99.94 6,045 0.06 12,516 4. 10,100,300 100.00 0 0 0 5. 10,077,412 99.85 15,205 0.15 7,683 6.* 7,732,531 76.62 2,359,535 23.38 8,234 7. 10,071,243 99.79 21,204 0.21 7,853 8. 10,079,354 99.87 13,020 0.13 7,926 9.* 7,699,590 76.35 2,385,561 23.65 15,149 10. 10,054,592 99.60 40,508 0.4 5,200 11. 10,094,551 99.98 1,536 0.02 4,213 12. 10,094,047 99.94 6,253 0.06 0 13. 10,082,984 99.83 16,765 0.17 551 14. 10,091,794 99.92 8,505 0.08 1 15. 9,981,229 98.82 119,071 1.18 0

* In relation to Resolutions 6 and 9, a significant proportion of the vote against came from one shareholder which votes in line with the recommendations of a shareholder advisory consultancy (PIRC).

The Board, through the Company Secretary, has engaged with the shareholder advisory consultancy to allay their concerns and communication with the shareholder will be ongoing.

In relation to Resolution 6, PIRC does not consider Bridget Guerin to be independent as she was formerly a non-executive director of Charles Stanley Group PLC and Charles Stanley is a significant shareholder in the Company, which in PIRC's opinion raises concerns over potential conflict of interest. It has been explained to PIRC that Ms Guerin has never had influence over investment decisions now or when she held the position of non executive director. The Board is firmly of the view that Bridget Guerin is and remains independent in character and judgement and that her appointment to the Board is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders.

In relation to Resolution 9, PIRC does not recommend the re-appointment of Ernst & Young LLP (EY) as the Company auditor. PIRC's view is based on their assertion that EY (and other audit firms), in continuing to adhere to the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) guidelines are failing to address what PIRC views as an 'expectations gap' in relation to corporate fraud between professional standards for auditors as set out by the IAASB and what the public and Courts expect. In the absence of a statement from EY acknowledging an 'expectations gap', PIRC has recommended a vote against EY's re-appointment. The Company has discussed this with EY and continues to be of the view that they should remain as the Company's appointed auditor.

The Company has 33,826,929 ordinary shares of 20p each in issue, of which 19,382,155 shares are held in Treasury. On a poll these carry one vote per share and accordingly the total voting rights are 33,826,929. The above tables represent the number of votes registered.

The proxy votes lodged with the Registrar will be available via the Company's website at:

www.invesco.co.uk/ipukscit

Board Succession

The Company confirms that as already announced, Christopher Fletcher retired at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting.

Invesco Asset Management Limited

Corporate Company Secretary

10 June 2021
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - ALX Resources Corp. (TSXV: AL) (FSE: 6LLN) (OTC: ALXEF) ("ALX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received an exploration permit for its 100%-owned Gibbons Creek Uranium Project ("Gibbons Creek", or the "Project"). Gibbons Creek consists of seven mineral claims encompassing 13,864 hectares (34,259 acres), located along the northern margin of the Athabasca Basin immediately west of the community of Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan, in a region hosting multiple uranium occurrences.

2021 Exploration Plan

The Gibbons Creek exploration permit, good to October 2022, allows for a 5,000-metre drilling program in up to 20 holes along with ground-based geophysics, prospecting and geochemical sampling. Access to the Project is year-round, thereby creating a flexibility for either summer or winter exploration programs.

ALX reviewed its extensive archive of geophysical and geochemical data from historical work to identify new target areas at Gibbons Creek. Several geophysical conductors at the Project identified by airborne and ground geophysics have not yet been drill tested. ALX plans to carry out a Spatiotemporal Geochemical Hydrocarbons ("SGH") soil geochemistry survey over the untested conductors to determine the most prospective areas for drilling. SGH is an analytical method developed by Actlabs of Ancaster, Ontario that is designed to detect subtle geochemical anomalies emanating from a buried source. Work is anticipated to begin in the Third Quarter of 2021 following engagement with First Nations and other local communities.





Actlabs Case Study

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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3046/87136_36f4823604b7a978_001full.jpg

To view maps and photos of Gibbons Creek click here

Uranium Showings in the Northern Athabasca Basin

Nisto Mine: Located approximately 30 kilometres east from the centre of Gibbons Creek. Mining first occurred at the Nisto Mine in 1950-51. In 1959, Haymac Mines restarted mining and shipped 500 tons of high-graded ore to the Lorado Mill at Uranium City, SK. One shipment of 106 tons of ore graded 1.6% U 3 O 8 (Source: Saskatchewan Mineral Deposits Index, Mineral Property #1621).

Black Lake Uranium Project ("Black Lake"): Located adjacent to Gibbons Creek. Owned 40% by ALX, with UEX Corporation ("UEX") holding a 51.426% interest and Orano Canada Inc. holding an 8.574% interest. Following the discovery of uranium mineralization in 1998 by Uranerz Exploration and Mining, UEX intersected 0.69% U 3 O 8 over 4.4 metres in 2004 drill hole BL-18, which led to over a decade of follow-up exploration, including 142 additional drill holes. Multiple mineralized intersections were encountered at Black Lake along a graphitic fault system since the uranium discovery in hole BL-18 (see ALX news release dated July 31, 2017).

Fond du Lac Uranium Deposit: Located approximately 70 kilometres west of the Project near the south shore of Lake Athabasca. The Fond du Lac uranium deposit was discovered in 1970 by Camok Ltd., a predecessor company of Orano Canada Ltd. after tracing radioactive boulders to their source area and grid drilling. A shallow, historical resource was calculated in 1970 by Camok Ltd. of 990,000 pounds (450,000 kilograms) at an average grade of 0.25% of U 3 O 8 but was never advanced further (Source: Saskatchewan Mineral Deposits Index, Mineral Property #1572. This historical resource is not compliant with the standards of National Instrument 43-101, has not been verified by ALX's Qualified Person and is included for information purposes only.)

About Gibbons Creek

The Project is complemented by the infrastructure provided at Stony Rapids, SK, including all-weather Highway 905, a commercial airport, equipment rentals and supplies, as well as readily available accommodation, therefore providing high efficiencies for exploration. Exploration by ALX and its predecessor company Lakeland Resources Ltd. has discovered the following indicators of uranium mineralization:

Prospecting in 2013 confirmed the presence of high-grade uranium-bearing boulders ranging up to 4.28% U 3 O 8 ;

O ; Radon surveys in 2015 detected an anomaly approximately 1,200 metres by 500 metres in size with peak radon values ranging between 4.00 picocuries per square metre per second ("pCi/m 2 /sec") and 10.77 pCi/m 2 /sec at ten locations, which are among the highest recorded radon values in the Athabasca Basin;

/sec") and 10.77 pCi/m /sec at ten locations, which are among the highest recorded radon values in the Athabasca Basin; Historical drill hole GC15-03 intersected 0.13% U 3 O 8 over 0.23 metres, within a 1.1 metre interval of 333.8 parts per million uranium, immediately below the sub-Athabasca unconformity;

O over 0.23 metres, within a 1.1 metre interval of 333.8 parts per million uranium, immediately below the sub-Athabasca unconformity; Spectroscopic analysis of core samples from ALX's 2015 drilling detected clay alteration products such as illite and sudoite (a unique form of chlorite associated with uranium mineralization) in the sandstone at or near the unconformity, which suggests that hydrothermal alteration has occurred in the vicinity of the drill hole;

Geophysical conductors defined by a 2017 airborne ZTEM survey remain to be tested; and

In 2020, ALX carried out surface prospecting on the Star Gold and PGE showing in the northern part of the Project and collected grab samples from outcrop ranging up to 3.58 grams/tonne gold, 122 parts per billion ("ppb") platinum and 412 ppb palladium.

NationaI Instrument 43-101 Disclosure

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Sierd Eriks, P.Geo., President and Chief Geologist of ALX, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101. Geochemical results for surface samples collected by ALX in 2020 were analyzed at the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon, SK by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Gold, platinum and palladium were analyzed by fire assay techniques.

Historical geochemical results and geological descriptions quoted in this news release were taken directly from assessment work filings and summary reports published by the Government of Saskatchewan. Management cautions that historical results were collected and reported by past operators and have not been verified nor confirmed by its Qualified Person, but create a scientific basis for ongoing work in the Gibbons Creek area. Management further cautions that past results or discoveries on adjacent or nearby mineral properties are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on ALX's mineral properties.

About ALX

ALX is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and its common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "AL", on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "6LLN" and in the United States OTC market under the symbol "ALXEF". ALX's mandate is to provide shareholders with multiple opportunities for discovery by exploring a portfolio of prospective mineral properties, which include gold, nickel, copper, and uranium projects. The Company uses the latest exploration technologies and holds interests in over 200,000 hectares of prospective lands in Saskatchewan and Ontario, stable Canadian jurisdictions that collectively host the highest-grade uranium mines in the world, and offer a significant legacy of production from gold and base metals mines.

ALX owns 100% interests in the Firebird Nickel Project (now under option to Rio Tinto Exploration Canada, who can earn up to an 80% interest), the Flying Vee Nickel/Gold and Sceptre Gold projects, and can earn up to an 80% interest in the Alligator Lake Gold Project, all located in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. ALX owns, or can earn, up to 100% interests in the Vixen Gold Project, the Electra Nickel Project and the Cannon Copper Project located in historic mining districts of Ontario, Canada, and in the Draco VMS Project in Norway. ALX holds interests in a number of uranium exploration properties in northern Saskatchewan, including a 20% interest in the Hook-Carter Uranium Project, located within the prolific Patterson Lake Corridor, with Denison Mines Corp. (80% interest) operating exploration since 2016, a 40% interest in the Black Lake Uranium Project, a joint venture with UEX Corporation and Orano Canada Inc., and a 100% interest in the Gibbons Creek Uranium Project.

For more information about the Company, please visit the ALX corporate website at www.alxresources.com or contact Roger Leschuk, Manager, Corporate Communications at: PH: 604.629.0293 or Toll-Free: 866.629.8368, or by email: rleschuk@alxresources.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of ALX Resources Corp.

"Warren Stanyer"

Warren Stanyer, CEO and Chairman

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this news release include: the Gibbons Creek Project ("Gibbons Creek") is prospective for uranium, gold, and PGE mineralization; the Company's plans to undertake exploration activities at Gibbons Creek, and expend funds on Gibbons Creek. It is important to note that the Company's actual business outcomes and exploration results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include that ALX may not be able to fully finance exploration at Gibbons Creek, including drilling; our initial findings at Gibbons Creek may prove to be unworthy of further expenditure; commodity prices may not support exploration expenditures at Gibbons Creek; and economic, competitive, governmental, societal, public health, environmental and technological factors may affect the Company's operations, markets, products and share price. Even if we explore and develop Gibbons Creek, and even if uranium or other metals or minerals are discovered in quantity, the project may not be commercially viable. Additional risk factors are discussed in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2021, which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Except as required by law, we will not update these forward-looking statement risk factors.

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/87136
BEIJING, 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 1,000 global brands including Swatch of Switzerland, Swarovski of Austria, Shiseido of Japan and America's Tesla gathered at the first China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, capital of south China'sHainan Province in May.

With a large host of business, trade, invention and innovation expos and fairs, access to foreign products is now easy and convenient in China. But decades ago, it was a completely different story.

Before the 1970s, many people were struggling to fill their bellies, let alone pampering themselves with a shopping spree.

China's reform and opening-up policy altered the country's course of development.

Since the initiation of this policy, the country has gone through three major waves of opening-up.

The first began in 1978 and continued through the 1980s and 1990s. It saw an influx of foreign direct investment for infrastructure building and industrial projects across the country.

The second wave began in 2001 with China's accession to the WTO, which spurred another burst of foreign investment and greater integration with the global economy.

Now, as China embarks on a fresh chapter of development under its 14th Five-Year Plan, the nation is on the cusp of a new wave marked by proactive initiatives to deepen integration even further.

The vehicles include the development of new free trade zones (FTZ) and the Hainan free trade port, the integration of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and new international trade and investment agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Agreement (RCEP).

This policy approach has driven reforms and expanded the market, enabling a more specialized division of labor. In addition, intense competition stimulated by trade liberalization and import tariff cuts forced domestic businesses to be more efficient. It has also led to the optimization of the allocation of resources and industrial upgrading.

More than 40 years of reform and opening-up have seen China's total imports and exports soar from $20.6 billion to more than $4.5 trillion, making the country the world's top trading nation.

Having moved the nation from times of scarcity to today's shopping spree experience, reform and opening-up is not only a recipe for China's success, but has arguably become an indispensable driving force towards a more prosperous world.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-05-19/An-open-China-a-boon-to-global-economy-10mwRLc0YVy/index.html

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1530600/image.jpg
--Proceeds to advance company's pipeline of next-generation cytokine immunotherapies--

--Laura Shawver, Christine Siu join as independent directors--

BASEL, Switzerland and SAN DIEGO, Calif., June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bright Peak Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing next-generation cytokine immunotherapies to treat cancer and autoimmune disease, today announced that it raised $107 million in a Series B financing. The round was led by RA Capital, with participation by founding investor Versant Ventures and new investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, Invus, Qatar Investment Authority, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Alexandria Venture Investments and an undisclosed leading healthcare investment fund.



Bright Peak uses a novel technology to chemically synthesize therapeutic cytokines by ligating together customized peptide segments. This proprietary technology provides unique flexibility to both tune and enhance cytokine biology through affinity modification and orthogonal, site-specific conjugation. The company's platform also allows for the conjugation of its enhanced cytokines as payloads to certain antibodies, creating novel and proprietary "Bright Peak Immunocytokines." These Immunocytokines will allow tissue- and cell-specific targeting of the cytokine payload with the added potential for synergistic efficacy through potency-enhancing avidity effects.

"The investment from this accomplished crossover syndicate underscores the enthusiasm for our platform and re-affirms our commitment to transform the therapeutic utility of cytokines to treat people with cancer and autoimmune diseases," said Fredrik Wiklund, president and CEO of Bright Peak. "This capital will allow us to expand our Immunocytokine platform and advance our deep pipeline of programs across IL-2, IL-18 and IL-7."

Also today, Bright Peak announced key additions to its board of directors with the appointments of independent directors Laura Shawver, Ph.D., and Christine Siu. Dr. Shawver, currently CEO of Silverback Therapeutics, is an industry veteran with an extensive scientific, translational and clinical background as well as a broad range of strategic expertise. Most recently, she was president and CEO of Synthorx, a developer of engineered cytokines for cancer and autoimmune disorders that was acquired by Sanofi in 2020 for $2.5 billion. She received her Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Iowa.

Ms. Siu is the chief operating officer in-residence at BridgeBio Pharma Inc., and former CFO at Eidos Therapeutics Inc., a BridgeBio subsidiary, where she transformed Eidos from a preclinical biotech start-up company to a late-stage clinical public company. Prior to that, she was the CBO at The Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia, where she built a therapeutic pipeline and executed seven collaborations with the pharmaceutical industry. Earlier, she was senior director, corporate development at Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. (GBT), and before that, a venture principal at Third Rock Ventures. Previously, Ms. Siu invested in life science companies in venture capital and private equity and held roles of increasing responsibility at Warburg Pincus LLC and Thomas, McNerney & Partners, LLC and began her career in healthcare banking at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. Ms. Siu holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. with distinction in cellular molecular biology and economics from the University of Michigan.

On the Bright Peak board, Dr. Shawver and Ms. Siu join RA Capital's Josh Resnick, M.D., and Michael Rosenzweig DVM, Ph.D., who joined in connection with the Series B financing, as well as existing board members Alex Mayweg, Ph.D., and Tom Woiwode, Ph.D., of Versant Ventures.

"We are pleased to lead a financing that will enable Bright Peak to broadly invest in its platform technologies, development programs, people, and, ultimately, towards delivering a pioneering new category of cytokine immunotherapies to patients in need," said Dr. Resnick.

"We warmly welcome Laura, Christine, Josh, and Michael to our Board of Directors. Their deep domain expertise and business acumen will serve as a tremendous resource to the Company," said Dr. Mayweg.

About Bright Peak

Bright Peak is a privately held biotechnology company based in San Diego, CA and Basel, Switzerland developing innovative cytokine therapeutics that are uniquely engineered to precisely tune and control desired biological properties. Using its proprietary E nhanced D esign and C ombine (EDC) chemistry platform, Bright Peak is developing an emerging portfolio of novel designer immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Bright Peak is also pioneering a new category of "Bright Peak Immunocytokines" that simultaneously leverages the precision of antibody targeting with cytokine-mediated selective immune modulation in the desired microenvironment.

Contact:

info@brightpeaktx.com
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd. ("Blackwolf" or the "Company") (TSXV:BWCG) is pleased to announce that the Company has acquired through staking, a 100% interest in numerous historic, high-grade gold-silver prospects and mines, located in the State of Alaska, north of the mining towns of Hyder, AK and Stewart, BC. Blackwolf Texas Creek and Cantoo Properties are located immediately west of the Premier Gold Project and south of the past-producing Scottie Gold and Granduc Copper Mines.

Very limited modern exploration has been performed in the area, with virtually none in the past 25 years. The majority of past exploration work and historic production occurred in the 1920's to 1950's. Of the multiple known mineral showings on the Properties, Blackwolf's priority targets include: 1) Solo Mine on the Texas Creek Property, where miners tunneled under glacial ice to explore for the source of electrum stringers identified in glacial transported boulders. Significant glacial melt has occurred in the area. 2) Cantoo Mountain, which is underlain by a synvolcanic intrusive that is potentially the metallogenic feeder to the Premier and Big Missouri epithermal gold-silver deposits. Numerous high-grade gold and silver values were returned by US government geologists collected during the early and mid-1990s.

"The Hyder area Properties cover some of the last unexplored areas of the Golden Triangle, with minimal modern exploration since an access road and bridges to the Texas Creek area were wiped out by the cataclysmic draining of a glacially dammed lake (jokulhlaup) in 1961. Veins of native electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver that were identified at the margin of an icefield in the 1920's are of the same nature as the Brucejack and Premier mines and there has been obvious extensive glacial retreat since that time," said Robert McLeod, President and CEO of Blackwolf Copper and Gold. "Adding these Properties to our exploration pipeline is accretive to the value of our Company, particularly with our team's experience in the Golden Triangle and are complementary to our advanced-stage Niblack copper-gold-silver-zinc Project in southeast Alaska. Assays from recent underground drilling at Niblack are pending and are expected to be received shortly."

A total of 389 Federal Claims were staked, covering 3,689 hectares. Initial reconnaissance exploration work, including mapping, prospecting and rock and soil sampling is expected to commence in a few weeks.

Texas Creek Property

The Texas Creek Property hosts multiple historic prospects and small-scale past-producing gold and silver mines, hosted within a similar geological setting to large, high-grade gold and silver deposits in the Golden Triangle. Country rocks are primarily volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the earliest Jurassic Hazelton group and various phases of synvolcanic intrusive. Blackwolf's current assay data set is from prospect documentation work completed by US federal Government geologists in the 1990's.

Additionally, historic, proprietary documents possessed by Blackwolf's management describe details of miners using steam to 'construct thousands of feet of ice tunnels' at the margins of a glacier, exploring for the source of 'electrum float'. Some veining was discovered in 1937 and mined. There has been significant melting of alpine glaciers over the past century. During the 1990's, US Government geologists' sampling identified multiple veins and shears hosting gold and silver. Of 31 samples collected, gold and silver values range from trace to 37.5 g/t Au and trace to 1,168 g/t Ag. 16 samples returned over 1.0 g/t Au, with individual samples including: 8.1 g/t Au and 742.6 g/t Ag, 6.8 g/t Au and 1,045 g/t Ag, 37.5 g/t Au and 56.9 g/t Ag, 15.4 g/t Au and 339.1 g/t Ag, 32.4 g/t Au and 62.7 g/t Ag; 24.7 g/t Au and 118.6 g/t Ag. At the nearby Silver King showing, four samples were collected: two grab samples returned 12.5 g/t Au and 604.1 g/t Ag as well as 14.6 g/t Au and 867.8 g/t Ag. These assay results are historical in nature, were collected and reported by US Government Geologists prior to 2001 and NI 43-101, have not been verified by Blackwolf and should not be relied upon.

Numerous prospects, adits and small-scale mines span a seven-kilometer-long area north of Texas Creek. Limited US government sampling returned strong gold-silver values, including: a one-meter-long channel sample at the Blasher prospect of 5.0 g/t Au and 550 g/t Ag. 12 samples were collected at the Double Anchor showing; three samples assayed over 1.0 g/t Au, including a grab sample of 36.8 g/t Au and 207 g/t Ag. At the Homestake mine, which direct shipped vein mineralization, nine samples were collected with eight assaying over 1.0 g/t Au. Highlights include: 5.8 g/t Au and 877 g/t Ag and 14.5 g/t Au with trace silver in channel samples.

Figure 1. Blackwolf Claims, Regional Geology, Major Deposits and Mines, Southern Golden Triangle

Cantoo Mountain Property

The Cantoo claim group is located immediately west of the Canadian border, west of the Ascot Resources' Premier, Silver Coin and Big Missouri deposits. The Property is underlain by the Texas Creek stock, a dioritic synvolcanic intrusive that was the feeder to host rocks and mineralization at the nearby deposits. The geological target and exploration concept is similar to the large, intrusive-related and porphyry copper, molybdenum and gold deposits such as Snowfield, Treaty, Kerr and Mitchell that are located adjacent east of the high-grade Brucejack mine.

Cantoo mountain is mostly covered with vegetation, however local exposures of strongly altered intrusive rocks host high-grade gold-silver mineralization, often with significant copper, molybdenum, barium, lead and zinc. Quartz veins hosting gold and silver mineralization over 10 meters thick were reported by US Government Geologists. Limited direct shipping mineralization was recovered on surface without blasting, with 20 tons reportedly shipped in the 1920s. US government geologists collected 19 samples, six of which assayed over 1.0 g/t Au. Individual samples include: 18.5 g/t Au and 1,206 g/t Ag, 9.2 g/t Au and 1,173 g/t Ag and 27.7 g/t Au and 13.5 g/t Ag.

Figure 2. Prospects and Highlights: Texas Creek and Cantoo Properties

QA/QC and Qualified Persons

Assay results reported in this release are historical in nature, were collected and reported by US Government Geologists prior to 2001 and NI 43-101, have not been verified by Blackwolf and should not be relied upon.

The Qualified Person under NI 43-101 for the 2021 exploration programs at the West Texas and Cantoo Properties will be Marilyne Lacasse, P.Geo, Vice-President of Exploration for Blackwolf Copper and Gold. Ms. Lacasse reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this release.

About Blackwolf Copper and Gold

Blackwolf's founding vision is to be an industry leader in transparency, inclusion and innovation. Guided by our Vision and through collaboration with local and Indigenous communities and stakeholders, Blackwolf builds shareholder value through our technical expertise in mineral exploration, engineering and permitting. The Company holds a 100% interest in the high-grade Niblack copper-gold-zinc-silver VMS project, located adjacent to tidewater, as well as the Cantoo and Texas Creek Gold-Silver Properties in southeast Alaska. For more information on Blackwolf, please visit the Company's website at www.blackwolfcopperandgold.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Robert McLeod"

Robert McLeod, P.Geo

President, CEO and Director

For more information, contact:

Rob McLeod

604-617-0616 (Mobile)

604-343-2997 (Office)

rm@bwcg.ca

Thomas Kenney

587-777-4333 (Mobile)

604-343-2997 (Office)

tk@bwcg.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements relating to the Properties' potential and the Company's future objectives and plans. Forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market volatility; the state of the financial markets for the Company's securities; fluctuations in commodity prices and changes in the Company's business plans.In making the forward looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, including without limitation, that the Company will continue with its stated business objectives and its ability to raise additional capital to proceed. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. The Company seeks safe harbor.

For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651198/Blackwolf-Stakes-Multiple-High-Grade-Gold-and-Silver-Targets-Southern-Golden-Triangle-Belt-in-Southeast-Alaska
AUSTIN, TX / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / SmallCapVoice.com Inc. ('SCV') announces the availability of a new interview with Business Warrior Corp. (OTC PINK:BZWR) ('the Company') CEO Rhett Doolittle and President Jonathan Brooks to discuss the Company's business strategies and strong revenue performance.

Business Warrior is a Software-as-a-service (SaaS) company with a unique platform that combines proprietary software with customized advertising campaigns to help small- to medium-sized businesses grow their business and accelerate their return on investment (ROI). Speaking with SCV's Stuart Smith, Doolittle described how initiatives set forth in 2020 are fueling the Company's current sales growth.

"We've had some great momentum," Doolittle said, referring to the Company's better-than-expected March revenues. "Last year was building demand and now it's converting that demand into real users, partnerships and revenue. That heated up the first part of the year."

Business Warrior's March revenues grew more than 412% vs. February, beating its previous forecast for sequential growth of 350%. Doolittle said this trajectory will continue through April and May as well, thanks to a solid business strategy.

"We're not a one-time revenue kind of company," he explained. "Our whole model is built on monthly recurring revenue. Even though we're having these huge hits, we're all about converting this amount of volume and customers into monthly recurring revenue  we're focused on the fundamentals that turn this into real long-term value for the Company."

Brooks added that smart and timely decision-making, along with attracting highly qualified talent, underscores the Company's commitment to subscribers.

"We make sure and craft the best small business experience out there so that the software is sticky and that the end-user finds such value in it," he told Smith. "If you deliver value to the end-user, there's going to be value in the company, there's going to be value to our shareholders. It just cascades, and we pay it forward."

The Company's next step is to allocate revenues toward building infrastructure, product improvement and ultimately more revenue.

"We're really seeing a compounding effect right now, which will only get better in the next 90 days, 120 days and years coming forward," added Doolittle.

Business Warrior utilizes a metric-driven strategy to ensure that the Company's broader business model works in its favor.

"The minute that we prove our ROI, then we can throw gas on the fire and then all of the sudden it's explosive," concluded Brooks. "The way that we approach our problems is very data driven, and we make the right decisions based on what the data it telling us. I'm really optimistic about the months and years moving forward on this. At the end of the day, it's going to return to the end subscriber, their business is going to get better, and Business Warrior is going to get better."

The full interview can be heard at: https://www.smallcapvoice.com/june-interview-business-warrior-bzwr/

About Business Warrior Corp.

Business Warrior (OTC PINK:BZWR) is the source for small businesses in America to enhance their brand and boost marketing results. The Business Warrior software takes a holistic view of a business' online reputation, listings, website search results and social media. Predictive algorithms are utilized to recommend the most imperative actions needed to drive new customers, positively impact daily operations, and improve profitability. For more information, please visit www.BusinessWarrior.com.

About SmallCapVoice.com

SmallCapVoice.com, Inc. is a recognized corporate investor relations firm, with clients nationwide, known for its ability to help emerging growth companies, small cap and micro-cap stocks build a following among retail and institutional investors. SmallCapVoice.com utilizes its stock newsletter to feature its daily stock picks, podcasts, as well as its clients' financial news releases. SmallCapVoice.com also offers individual investors all the tools they need to make informed decisions about the stocks in which they are interested. Tools like stock charts, stock alerts, and Company Information Sheets can assist with investing in stocks that are traded on the OTCMarkets. To learn more about SmallCapVoice.com and its services, please visit https://www.smallcapvoice.com/small-cap-stock-otc-investor-relations-financial-public-relations/.

Socialize with SmallCapVoice and their clients at

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmallCapVoice/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallcapvoice

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallcapvoice/

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release and 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. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. They are based on the current beliefs of, assumptions made by, and information currently available to the company's management regarding the future of the company's business, future plans and strategies, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. When used in the offering materials, the words 'aim,' 'estimate,' 'project,' 'believe,' 'anticipate,' 'intend,' 'envision,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'future,' 'goal,' 'hope,' 'likely,' 'may,' 'plan,' 'potential,' 'seek,' 'should,' 'strategy,' 'will' and similar references to future periods 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 inherent risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict (many of which are outside of the company's control) and 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. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the company, the offering or other matters, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. 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.

Contact Information:

Business Warrior

Investor Relations

855-884-5805

Investors@BusinessWarrior.com

SmallCapVoice.com

Stuart T. Smith

512-267-2430

Info@SmallCapVoice.com

SOURCE: SmallCapVoice.com

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651205/Business-Warrior-CEO-Discusses-Revenue-Growth-and-Compound-Effect-in-Audio-Interview-with-SmallCapVoicecom
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Magna Terra Minerals Inc. (the "Company" or "Magna Terra") (TSXV:MTT) is pleased to announce the results of the Phase One diamond drill program (the "Drill Program") completed at the highly prospective Emilio Trend at the Cape Spencer Project ("Cape Spencer" or "Project"), located in southern New Brunswick (Exhibit A). The Drill Program consisted of 17 drill holes (AB-21-01 to -17) totalling 2,123.2 metres, that successfully tested a 1.2-kilometre section of the larger 5-kilometre long Emilio Trend (Exhibit B).

Highlights of the Drill Program include:

8.80 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold over 0.5 metres (43.8 to 44.3 metres) in drill hole AB-21-08;

1.49 g/t gold over 2.0 metres (24.6 to 26.6 metres) in drill hole AB-21-13;

2.31 g/t gold over 0.6 metres (21.0 to 21.6 metres) in drill hole AB-21-03;

Drilling intersected broad zones of illite and Fe-carbonate alteration, disseminated sulphides (pyrite, chalcopyrite), malachite and native copper and associated quartz veining;

Demonstration that NNE striking faults are favourable hosts to gold mineralization;

Successfully extended the Emilio Zone 25 metres down-dip (AB-21-08) from historic drilling and 250 metres westward (AB-21-13); and

Follow-up exploration to focus on expanding the Emilio Zone and the remaining 3.8 kilometre strike extent of the Emilio Trend.

Selected composited assays are presented in Table 1 below.

"We are pleased to have completed our Phase One program at Cape Spencer that tested a 1.2-kilometre section at the west end of the larger Emilio Trend via several shallow, and widely spaced drill holes. The Drill Program successfully intersected broad zones of hydrothermal alteration, associated sulphide and gold mineralization and quartz veining. The Drill Program also confirmed that NNE oriented fault zones that were defined from our 2020 field work are potential hosts to gold deposits and exert a significant geological control on alteration and mineralization. At the Emilio Zone, alteration and mineralization was extended 25 metres down-dip and 250 metres west, along strike, from historic drilling. The intersection of a broad alteration system combined with the results of historic drilling (e.g. 7.86 g/t gold over 7.4 metres in hole AB-04-06) demonstrate the potential for the Emilio Trend, and the Cape Spencer Project, to host gold deposits. The Company is currently planning follow up exploration on the Emilio Trend and the broader Cape Spencer Project for the remainder of 2021."

~ Lew Lawrick, President and CEO, Magna Terra Minerals

Drill Program Details

The Drill Program consisted of 17 shallow (<150 vertical metres), broadly spaced (50 to 400 metres) drill holes (AB-21-01 to -17) totalling 2,123.2 metres, that successfully tested priority targets within a 1.2-kilometre section of the larger 5-kilometre Emilio Trend. The Emilio Trend comprises numerous gold occurrences, some with visible gold, soil geochemical anomalies with recent and historic rock, float and grab samples that assay up to 53.50 g/t gold*; with 63 of 576 float and outcrop grab samples assaying over 0.5 g/t gold. The Emilio Trend had previously only been tested with cursory drilling (8 diamond drill holes) with the majority of drilling (4 holes; 199 metres) testing one section of the Emilio Zone where drill core assays up to 7.86 g/t gold over 7.4 metres were intersected in near-surface drilling in hole AB-04-06 (Exhibit B).

*Grab and float samples are selected samples and are not necessarily representative of mineralization that may be hosted on the property.

Exploration work to date has outlined the importance of two critical structural environments that host gold mineralization; 1) major faulted lithological contacts between the Millican Lake Granite and Cape Spencer formation sediments (hosts to the Northeast and Pit Zone Deposits) and; 2) a series of secondary NNE striking fault splays off of the Millican Lake Fault. These fault zones, in certain cases, show strong coincidence with gold-bearing float and grab samples and wallrock alteration expanding the potential host structures for gold mineralization. These NNE striking faults were tested in the Drill Program and shown to host quartz veins that correlate with visible gold bearing quartz vein float samples in 2020. Mineralization typically comprises specular hematite and pyrite and hematite bearing quartz veins that are hosted within pervasively illite, pyrite and iron-carbonate altered and strongly deformed Millican Lake granite and Cape Spencer formation sediments, the same geological environment hosting the nearby Pit and Northeast Zones. Gold mineralization is hosted both in pyrite-bearing wallrock as well as low-sulphide (pyrite), visible gold bearing, quartz veins as observed in rock float, outcrop and in hole AB-04-06 at the Emilio Trend.

Drilling intersected broad zones of alteration comprising pervasive illite, Fe-carbonate, specular hematite along with quartz veining ranging in widths from <5 centimetres to ~3.0 metres with associated disseminated and stringer sulphides (pyrite and chalcopyrite) along with accessory malachite and native copper. Drilling successfully extended the zone of mineralization 25 metres down-dip to the southeast and 250 metres to the west of historic drilling at the Emilio Zone in hole AB-21-08 and AB-21-13, respectively and the zone is open to the west and down-dip for further expansion and discovery (Exhibit B).

Table 1: Highlighted composited gold assays from diamond drill holes from the Emilio Trend.

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au g/t AB-21-01 37.8 39.0 1.2 0.29 AB-21-03 21.0 21.6 0.6 2.31 AB-21-05 153.0 153.4 0.4 0.90 AB-21-06 14.3 15.0 0.7 0.32 AB-21-08 43.8 44.3 0.5 8.80 and 49.8 50.1 0.3 0.26 and 56.1 58.7 2.6 0.36 including 56.1 56.5 0.4 1.72 AB-21-13 11.5 12.3 0.7 0.24 and 24.6 26.6 2.0 1.49 and 48.0 48.3 0.3 0.62 and 94.5 95.5 1.0 0.28 AB-21-15 83.0 84.0 1.0 0.21

Footnotes:

1 - Any drill hole IDs not shown in the table above have no significant assays.

2 - Interval expressed as core length only; true thickness is estimated to be 80-100% of interval length due to local drilling conditions that does not always allow for drilling orthogonally to the apparent dip of mineralization.

The Company has critically considered logistical matters given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure that this Exploration Program and all future programs are executed in a way that ensures the absolute health and safety of our personnel, contractors, and the communities where we operate.

The Company would like to thank the Government of New Brunswick for partial funding of the exploration program under the NBJMAP Program.

2021 Exploration Plans

The Company will initiate a systematic exploration program that covers the remaining strike extent of the Emilio Trend and further northeast towards the Marigold Prospect in order to assess the gold potential of the larger Cape Spencer Project area. Work will comprise prospecting, geological mapping, soil/till sampling, magnetic and induced polarization geophysical surveys; in particular follow-up prospecting on soil anomalies generated from work in late 2020/early 2021 at the Emilio Trend. In addition, the Company will be completing a full review of the Phase One drill program at Emilio to further vector towards higher grade, broader mineralization within the Emilio Zone, particularly around drill holes AB-21-08 and AB-21-13. Specific details of the 2021 exploration program at Cape Spencer will be disclosed in a future news release.

The information gathered to date indicates a high level of prospectivity at Cape Spencer and we have expanded the potential of the Project by identifying key geological controls on alteration and mineralization similar to other orogenic gold projects in New Brunswick, like Galway Metals' Clarence Stream project.

Cape Spencer Project Highlights

5,045 hectares along 15 kilometres of strike of a regional-scale gold bearing structure - the Millican Lake Fault and associated structures;

Project is host to large untested gold bearing alteration systems including: 5.0 kilometre alteration and gold bearing Emilio Trend with drill intercepts up to 7.86 g/t gold over 7.4 metres; Marigold Prospect with drill intercepts up to 8.71 g/t gold over 2.0 metres; Birches Zone with drill intercepts up to 5.23 g/t gold over 4.0 metres;

The Cape Spencer Deposit has an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate** of 1,720,000 tonnes at an average grade of 2.72 g/t gold for 151,000 contained ounces in two zones: Northeast Zone - Inferred Mineral Resource of 740,000 tonnes at an average grade of 4.07 g/t gold, for 96,000 contained ounces at a cut-off grade of 2.5 g/t gold in a conceptual underground development; and Pit Zone - Inferred Mineral Resource of 990,000 tonnes at an average grade of 1.71 g/t gold, for 54,000 contained ounces at a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t gold.



**Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. All Mineral Resource Estimates were prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards (2014). Please refer to the NI 43-101 Technical Report with effective date January 23, 2019 by Harrington and Cullen (2019) as detailed below for the Cape Spencer Project. See further details on Technical Reports below.

Note: Analytical results in this press release section are sourced in the Cape Spencer Project Technical Report (2019) - see "Technical Reports and Documentation Notes" below; "grab samples" are selected samples and are not necessarily representative of mineralization that may be hosted on the property.

Qualified Person

This news release has been reviewed and approved by David A. Copeland, P. Geo., Chief Geologist with Anaconda Mining Inc., a "Qualified Person", under National Instrument 43-101 - Standard for Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Widths from drill core intervals reported in this press release are presented as core lengths only. True thickness is estimated to be 80-100% of interval length due to local drilling conditions that does not always allow for drilling orthogonally to the apparent dip of mineralization All quoted historic drill core sample intervals, grades and production statistics have been compiled from historic assessment reports obtained from the Government of New Brunswick.

Diamond drill core samples and the resultant composites referred to in this release were collected using QA/QC protocols including the regular insertion of certified standards and blanks within each sample batch sent for analysis. Diamond drill core samples were All drill core samples referred to in this release were analyzed for gold at ALS Global in North Vancouver, BC ("ALS"), using standard fire assay (30 g) pre-concentration and Atomic Absorption finish methods (method AU-AA23). Overlimit samples were analysed at ALS via gravimetric finish using method AU-GRA21. Select samples were analyzed for Au at Eastern Analytical Ltd. in Springdale, NL ("Eastern"), using standard fire assay (30 g) pre-concentration and Atomic Absorption finish methods. ALS and Eastern are fully accredited firms within the meaning of NI 43-101 for provision of this service.

About Magna Terra

Magna Terra Minerals Inc. is a precious metals focused exploration company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Magna Terra owns three district-scale, advanced gold exploration projects in the world class mining jurisdictions of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Further, the Company maintains a significant exploration portfolio in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina which includes its precious metals discovery on its Luna Roja Project, as well as an extensive portfolio of district scale drill ready projects available for option or joint venture.

Forward Looking Statements

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, failure to establish estimated mineral resources, the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, changes in world gold markets or markets for other commodities, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Magna Terra Minerals Inc.

Lewis Lawrick

President and CEO, Director

647-478-5307

Email: info@magnaterraminerals.com

Website: www.magnaterraminerals.com

Exhibit A: Cape Spencer Project Property Geology and Gold Occurrences

Exhibit B: Emilio Trend Geology and Drill Hole Locations

SOURCE: Magna Terra Minerals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651202/Magna-Terra-Intersects-880-gt-Gold-Over-05-metres-at-the-Emilio-Trend-Cape-Spencer-Project
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Komo Plant Based Foods Inc. (CSE:YUM) ("Komo"), is expanding its direct to consumer sales through Pop-Up and Farmers Markets.

Komo launched its online direct to consumer eCommerce platform in March 2021, offering its delicious frozen plant based meals for direct delivery throughout Metro Vancouver, including 19 municipalities. SInce then it has expanded its reach by selling through Legends Haul, an online grocer that delivers to Vancouver Island, Sea to Sky and the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia.

Now, Komo is expanding its direct to consumer reach through participation in farmers markets throughout the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. To date, Komo has participated twice at the Coquitlam Farmers Market with strong consumer response, both times selling out of certain products. This weekend, Komo will be part of the Got Craft? Foodie Pop-Up Virtual Market from June 10 to June 13, 2021 where consumers can shop from a curated collection of delicious goods from local chefs.

"The response at the farmers markets has been amazing. It's been great to showcase Komo's products to new consumers who attend the markets looking for new brands," says Komo Comfort Foods CEO Jeffrey Ma. "Komo's hearty comfort foods are designed to appeal to people who love to eat well, allowing people to answer the everyday question of "What's for dinner?" with wholesome plant-based options.

"As a start-up, we are constantly trying to build brand awareness, learn about our customers, share our foods and get feedback about our messaging and products. The local markets allow us to do all this and more - it's a win-win-win scenario. Marketing online is important, but it can't replace the face-to-face we have with customers at these shows. We will also plan to use this avenue to test reception with new product concepts before scaling production commercially."

Komo is booked to attend Farmers markets every week throughout the summer to sell its delicious plant based products through its Komo booth, and allow consumers to meet the team. Komo will be at the following markets in British Columbia in June:

Thurs, June 10 - False Creek Farmers Market, 2 - 6pm

Wed, June 16 - Port Moody Farmers Market, 3 - 7pm

Wed, June 23 Downtown Farmers Market (Vancouver), 2 - 6pm

Sun, June 27 Coquitlam Farmers Market, 9am - 1pm

About Komo

Komo Plant Based Foods Inc. is an emerging plant-based food company that develops, manufactures, markets and sells a variety of plant-based frozen meals. At Komo, our mission is to share the love of plant-based foods through products that are always hearty, satisfying, and made with wholesome ingredients. Our experienced plant-based innovation and development team recreate vegan versions of traditionally cheesy and meaty classics, with 100% plants. Komo's products are sold direct-to-consumer through our eCommerce website and a distribution network of online and brick and mortar grocery, convenience and natural retailer channels. Komo Comfort Foods launched in 2021 with our flagship products: plant-based Lasagna, Shepherd's Pie and Chick'n Pot Pie.

Learn more at: www.komocomfortfoods.com and follow on Instagram: @komocomfortfoods

For more information on Komo Comfort Foods, go to ir.komocomfortfoods.com

William White, President & CEO

will@komoeats.com

1-866-969-0882

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

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or Komo's future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on Komo's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, Komo's drug development plans, its ability to retain key personnel, and its expectation as to the development of its intellectual property and other steps in its preclinical and clinical drug development constitute forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The statements made in this press release are made as of the date hereof. Komo disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be expressly required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: KOMO Plant Based Foods Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651215/Komo-Plant-Based-Foods-Expands-Direct-to-Consumer-Sales-through-Pop-Up-and-Farmers-Markets
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Sempra Energy (SRE) said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to advance future net-zero energy systems. Sempra Energy and NREL have been collaborating for about 10 years on projects exploring the development, access and integration of low-carbon fuels and microgrid technology. As per the MOU, Sempra Energy and NREL will continue to work on researching and developing new solutions for a lower-carbon future by technological advancements. 'To achieve global carbon-neutrality, energy systems will need to transform dramatically over the coming decades. Our partnership with NREL drives forward a vision to advance the energy systems of the future by focusing on innovation and resiliency,' said Lisa Alexander, senior vice president of corporate affairs and chief sustainability officer for Sempra Energy. 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.
Smartwatch for Kids Company Launches Extraterrestrial Initiative to Encourage More Physical Activity

Xplora, the company that makes Europe's leading smartwatch for kids, today announced it is launching a global (or "extraterrestrial") initiative to encourage children to walk to Mars. With the arrival of Perseverance in February and Tianwen-1 in May, interest in Mars is higher than it has been in years.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005028/en/

Join children around the world as Xplora challenges them to join the spacerace and walk to Mars (Photo: Business Wire)

Xplora was founded with the mission to give children a safe onboarding to the digital world and a better balance between screen time and physical activity. The renewed Mars interest drove Xplora to develop a new challenge.

"Studies show children's screen time has more than doubled during the pandemic. Children using our platform are more than twice as physically active compared to those that do not, so we wanted to do something to encourage more activity," said Sten Kirkbak, CEO of Xplora. "Children with Xplora smartwatches walk enough steps to go around the world every day. That meant the children would walk enough steps combined to walk to the moon in just three weeks, so we wanted a more aggressive goal we wanted to have the kids beat Elon Musk to Mars."

Walking to Mars

The Walk to Mars: Join the Space Race campaign will aggregate children's walking activity across the world to help them get to Mars quickly. At its closest approach, Mars is 33.9 million miles/56.4 million kilometers away, meaning it would take Xplora users in aggregate a few decades to walk to Mars. While Xplora believes in promoting healthy activity throughout life, that is a bit too much. Xplora is giving the kids a boost, with every 1000 steps equaling 10 kilometers, to equate to the positive energy they receive from regular exercise. With the boost and additional slingshot maneuvers they can find, the goal is for the children to reach Mars in two months at current activity levels.

Xplora users can check the Walk to Mars leaderboard to track their progress daily and see how they compare to other kids across the world. Children can also win prizes when they meet their step goals to provide additional incentives. These prizes include an iPad and LEGO City Space Rocket and a mini-drone.

As part of the campaign, Xplora is teaming up with influencers and organizations such as the YMCA of Greater Cleveland to encourage kids to be more active.

"The YMCA of Greater Cleveland is always seeking partners to help us promote the balanced development of spirit, mind and body. We appreciate Xplora's donation of 50 X5 Play Smartwatches, which will aid in our efforts to get kids more active and families better connected," said Ana Thomas, Vice president of Youth Development, YMCA of Greater Cleveland. "We look forward to helping our kids in this global walk to Mars."

About the X5 Play

The X5 Play is the only smartwatch with phone functionality designed for children ages 4-11 with gamification, a step tracker and Goplay access built in to help drive more physical activity. Xplora is more effective than traditional fitness and GPS trackers because it encourages kids to move through fun activities and gamification, in order to build a better balance between screen time and activity. With the X5 Play, children can make and receive calls from up to 50 approved contacts, while parents can have peace of mind knowing their child's location. Kids can take and store up to 1,000 pictures, track their steps to earn prize incentives through the Xplora Goplay platform which encourages children to be more physically active.

The Xplora Goplay platform includes popular gamification content launched in collaboration with Sony Interactive, Paramount's Dora and the Lost City Gold, and Spies in Disguise from Fox Disney. All collaborations are specifically designed to keep kids motivated, engaged, and moving and the content is proven to work. Recently, Xplora users walked more than 1.8 billion steps to play the Tom Jerry The Movie virtual pinball game, which equals 262,000 hours of physical activity. The company is also launching a new Spy Racers 4 game on May 3.

Pricing and availability

The X5 Play is available for $189.99 on shop.myxplora.com and will work with all major carriers with an appropriate Nano SIM.

About Xplora

Xplora is a platform and services company and an industry leader in the market for children's smartwatches. Xplora was founded to give children a safe onboarding to the digital life and a better balance between screen time and physical activity. Xplora's vision is to enable children around the world to experience how their everyday activities can create value and make a positive change to the world. The company is headquartered in Norway with operations in leading European markets. Xplora is listed on Euronext Growth under the ticker symbol XPLRA.

About the YMCA of Greater Cleveland

The YMCA of Greater Cleveland is a nonprofit organization that provides services and programs through traditional branches in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lorain and Portage counties, numerous non-facility locations, and program branches throughout Northeast Ohio. Its areas of focus are youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. The YMCA of Greater Cleveland also operates Y-Haven, a facility providing addiction recovery services and transitional housing in Cuyahoga County. More at www.clevelandymca.org.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005028/en/

Contacts:

Mark McClennan

C+C, for Xplora

508-397-3992

xplora@cplusc.com
A central data environment for efficient workflows and greater planning reliability

Kwizda Agro, a leading provider of crop protection products, is digitalizing its packaging process with Fabasoft Approve. Predefined workflows expedite the content review and print approval processes for legally mandated informational texts and improve planning reliability.

Fabasoft Approve provides a common data environment for all parties involved. The packaging process standardized there ensures transparent review and approval processes. Now, internal and external stakeholders can traceably exchange product labels at any point in time. As a result, the validation of regulatory content for packaging materials is carried out with total efficiency.

Download the case study "Kwizda Agro Standardized packaging processes bring efficiency and planning reliability"

"The flexible customization options and ease of scalability are what won me over. Thanks to the central data environment, the artworks are always up to date. All our partners are integrated into the new communication processes in a timely manner, saving us an immense amount of resources in label management. The performance is impressive, which is why we are currently rolling out the standardized packaging process in our New Technologies business unit for organic proprietary products as well," explains Chris Muri, Manager of Quality Management and Compliance, Kwizda Agro GmbH.

"We are delighted to have been able to support Kwizda Agro in transforming their work processes into future-proof workflows. The new digital packaging process has optimized the planning reliability for product packaging production. This is where Fabasoft Approve's specialization in use cases with stringent compliance requirements really came into its own," adds Andreas Dangl, Business Unit Executive for Cloud Services at Fabasoft.

About Fabasoft Approve

Fabasoft Approve is a cloud-based off-the-shelf product for managing technical data and documents in an industrial setting. The standard solution integrates all project partners on a secure, scalable, and highly customizable platform. Creating and editing documents, as well as review, release, and approval processes are achieved efficiently and traceably with significantly less manual effort.

About Kwizda Agro

Kwizda Agro is a leading producer and supplier of chemical and biological crop protection products and fertilizers in Austria. The company specializes in the development and production of complex crop protection formulations, exhibiting high agricultural competence and detailed knowledge of footprint markets. Kwizda Agro is part of the family-run Kwizda Group, with businesses in pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical trade, pharmaceutical services, cosmetics and sealing/roof sheeting.

About Fabasoft

Fabasoft is among the leading software product companies and cloud service providers in Europe for digital document management as well as electronic document, process, and records management. For more than three decades, numerous prominent private enterprises from the industrial sector as well as public sector organizations have placed their trust in Fabasoft's long-standing quality and experience.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005532/en/

Contacts:

Press contact

Fabasoft

Ulrike Kogler

Tel.: +43/732/606162-0

E-mail: ulrike.kogler@fabasoft.com
Drills 17 metres of 2.97 g/t AuEq and 7.4 metres of 5.84 g/t AuEq in Hole BK21-024 in the Trench zone, and 54 metres of 1.19 g/t AuEq and 31 metres of 1.46 g/t AuEq in Hole BK21-032 in the Horseshoe zone

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Sun Summit Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMN) (OTC Pink: SMREF) ("Sun Summit" or the "Company") is pleased to report additional results from its fully funded 2021 exploration program on its Buck Property, central B.C.

Highlights

Trench Zone

BK21-024: Numerous high-grade intervals cut throughout the entire hole:



19.71 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (AuEQ) over 1.4 metres and 14.01 g/t AuEQ over 1.4 metres within 6.35 g/t AuEQ over 7.6 metres, and within a broader interval of 2.97 g/t AuEQ over 17.0 metres near the top of the hole.



42.05 g/t AuEQ over 1.0 metre within a broader interval of 5.84 g/t AuEQ over 7.4 metres from 252.6 metres down hole.



16.87 g/t AuEQ over 1.0 metre within a broader interval of 2.01 g/t AuEQ over 9.0 metres near the bottom of the hole.

Numerous high-grade intervals cut throughout the entire hole:

BK21-026 : Broad zones of bulk tonnage-style gold mineralization with local high-grade gold intercepts:



33.67 g/t AuEQ over 1.0 metres within a broader interval of 1.18 g/t AuEQ over 44.1 metres .





: Broad zones of bulk tonnage-style gold mineralization with local high-grade gold intercepts: BK21-025 : Numerous broad zones of bulk tonnage-style gold mineralization:



9.28 g/t AuEQ over 1.0 metre within a broader interval of 0.64 g/t AuEQ over 39.0 metres from 123.0 metres down hole.



13.97 g/t AuEQ over 0.8 metres within a broader interval of 1.07 g/t AuEQ over 32.2 metres which is within a wider interval of 0.85 g/t AuEQ over 62.0 metres from deeper in the hole.

: Numerous broad zones of bulk tonnage-style gold mineralization:

Horseshoe zone

BK21-032: Multiple broad zones of >1.0 g/t gold mineralization:



2.99 g/t AuEQ over 12.3 metres within a broader interval of 1.19 g/t AuEQ over 54.0 metres from 89.0 metres down hole.



1.46 g/t AuEQ over 31.0 metres within a broader interval of 0.95 g/t AuEQ over 59.1 metres from 192.0 metres down hole.

Multiple broad zones of >1.0 g/t gold mineralization:

Note: Intervals are downhole core lengths. True widths are unknown. AuEQ based on a 65:1 silver to gold ratio.





Figure 1. Photograph of sulfide-cemented breccias cut in BK21-032 at 102 metres down hole. Abbreviations: sph = sphalerite, py = pyrite, gn = galena, carb = carbonate, = qtz = quartz

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6142/87124_c0622daa6498cb72_001full.jpg

Sun Summit has drilled 18 holes in 2021. Results from the first five holes were released on May 11th, 2021. Results from six additional holes are reported in this news release (Tables 1 and 2). Results from seven holes from the Horseshoe and Trench zones and peripheral areas remain pending (Figures 2 and 3).

Bob Willis, Sun Summit's CEO commented: "The 2021 drill program continues to deliver significant results in the Trench zone area that is quickly becoming a robust high-grade gold target. Like previously reported results, high-grade gold mineralization was intersected in multiple intervals in multiple holes in the Trench zone and confirms the potential of this target for vein-hosted high-grade gold. What is equally important is the new discovery that bulk tonnage-style disseminated gold mineralization is also present in the Trench zone."

"We are also very pleased with results from the only hole reported here from the Horseshoe zone. This hole cut multiple zones of >1.0 g/t gold mineralization."

"It is gratifying to report large cumulative gold intercepts in all holes, which were broadly spaced and drilled at multiple different azimuths. Trench to Horseshoe continues to be completely open for further expansion in all directions. Results from remaining drill holes will be released shortly."

Trench zone

The five Trench zone holes (BK21-021, 023, 024, 025 and 026; Table 1) were designed to investigate the extent of multiple zones of high-grade gold mineralization discovered in BK20-012 (see news release dated January 5th, 2021) and confirmed in BK20-020 (see news release dated May 11th, 2021). Results from the Trench zone are reported in Table 1.

Table 1. Assay results - Trench zone

From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) AuEQ (g/t) Trench zone BK21-021 45.0 51.0 6.0 0.86 5.76 0.95 and 88.0 106.0 18.0 0.56 4.56 0.63 and 144.0 159.0 15.0 0.28 7.55 0.40 and 167.9 186.0 18.1 0.39 2.18 0.42 and 197.0 201.0 4.0 0.62 3.56 0.67 and 222.8 230.0 7.3 0.23 3.16 0.27 and 265.0 271.0 6.0 0.39 5.47 0.48 and 293.0 299.0 6.0 0.19 1.50 0.21 and 383.0 385.0 2.0 1.06 2.46 1.09 BK21-022 Previously Reported BK21-023 41.5 65.0 23.5 0.23 2.99 0.28 and 112.1 134.1 22.0 0.69 2.77 0.73 inc 132.5 133.1 0.7 14.25 16.80 14.51 and 140.0 170.5 30.5 0.21 1.00 0.23 and 229.0 288.0 59.0 0.56 5.39 0.64 inc 259.0 278.2 19.2 0.91 7.01 1.01 inc 274.8 278.2 3.4 3.39 13.96 3.61 and 437.0 448.0 11.0 2.08 13.22 2.29 inc 444.0 445.0 1.0 14.55 54.20 15.38 BK21-024 45.0 62.0 17.0 2.79 11.86 2.97 inc 47.0 54.6 7.6 5.99 23.24 6.35 inc 47.0 48.4 1.4 19.35 23.30 19.71 inc 53.2 54.6 1.4 12.65 88.70 14.01 and 74.0 95.0 21.0 0.23 2.91 0.27 and 130.0 133.2 3.2 0.28 5.55 0.37 and 146.0 169.7 23.7 0.31 2.08 0.35 and 193.4 198.8 5.4 0.29 1.84 0.31 and 205.0 213.0 8.0 0.33 4.47 0.40 and 239.0 246.3 7.3 0.36 5.01 0.44 and 252.6 260.0 7.4 5.78 4.16 5.84 inc 259.0 260.0 1.0 41.90 9.53 42.05 and 266.0 275.4 9.4 0.23 3.96 0.29 and 295.4 300.4 5.0 0.82 1.97 0.85 and 308.0 315.0 7.0 0.49 3.10 0.54 and 352.8 361.8 9.0 1.99 1.14 2.01 inc 352.8 353.8 1.0 16.85 1.26 16.87 BK21-025 24.5 28.0 3.5 0.80 2.07 0.83 and 123.0 162.0 39.0 0.58 3.42 0.64 inc 133.0 143.0 10.0 0.87 4.07 0.94 inc 155.0 156.0 1.0 8.96 21.00 9.28 and 187.0 195.0 8.0 0.45 2.46 0.49 and 216.0 224.5 8.4 0.47 7.63 0.59 and 230.0 247.0 17.0 0.18 1.79 0.21 and 251.0 268.1 17.1 0.22 3.07 0.27 and 283.0 286.0 3.0 0.57 16.66 0.82 and 323.0 331.0 8.0 0.22 2.38 0.25 and 344.0 350.0 6.0 0.22 1.35 0.24 and 374.0 436.0 62.0 0.67 11.76 0.85 inc 402.0 434.2 32.2 0.84 15.18 1.07 inc 415.1 434.2 19.2 1.05 16.46 1.31 inc 429.3 430.0 0.8 10.75 209.00 13.97 and 451.0 452.1 1.1 3.94 21.10 4.26 and 458.0 460.5 2.5 1.90 8.40 2.03 BK21-026 3.0 12.0 9.0 0.29 8.17 0.42 and 33.0 36.0 3.0 0.33 5.07 0.40 and 105.0 110.0 5.0 0.30 3.80 0.36 and 115.6 148.4 32.8 0.56 8.27 0.69 inc 118.6 141.4 22.8 0.70 10.80 0.87 and 170.0 214.1 44.1 1.14 2.87 1.18 inc 174.0 178.0 4.0 8.54 6.51 8.64 inc 175.0 176.0 1.0 33.40 17.35 33.67 inc 213.5 214.1 0.6 9.76 9.33 9.90 and 233.0 239.0 6.0 0.26 2.04 0.29 and 278.4 289.1 10.7 0.32 3.61 0.37 and 296.0 314.0 18.0 0.18 1.65 0.20 BK21-027 Assays Pending BK21-028 Assays Pending BK21-029 Assays Pending BK21-030 Assays Pending

AuEQ (gold equivalent) based on a 65:1 silver to gold (Ag:Au) ratio. Calculations are uncut and length-weighted using a 0.15 g/t gold cutoff with less than five continuous metres of internal dilution. Intervals are downhole core lengths. True widths are unknown.

BK21-024 and BK21-023 were drilled steeply to the south to test the extent of high-grade gold mineralization discovered in BK20-012.

BK21-024 intersected multiple intervals of high-grade gold mineralization throughout the entire hole (intervals are not true widths) including 19.71 g/t AuEQ over 1.4 metres, 14.01 g/t AuEQ over 1.4 metres, 42.05 g/t AuEQ over 1.0 metre, and 16.87 g/t AuEQ over 1.0 metre (Figure 3). The deepest high-grade interval at 352.8 metres downhole is approximately 70 metres below the bottom of BK20-012 which hit 7.54 g/t AuEQ over 1.0 metre within 1.05 g/t AuEQ over 12.7 metres (see news release dated January 5th, 2021). These high-grade intercepts in BK21-024 are locally within wider intervals of bulk-tonnage style mineralization such as 2.97 g/t AuEQ over 17.0 metres near the top of the hole from 45.0 to 62.0 metres (Table 1).

Similarly, BK21-023 intersected numerous broad intervals of bulk tonnage-style mineralization (e.g., 0.64 g/t AuEQ over 59.0 metres including 1.01 g/t AuEQ over 19.2 metres) highlighted by 15.38 g/t AuEQ over 1.0 metre within a broader interval of 2.29 g/t AuEQ over 11.0 metres near the bottom of the hole (Figure 3). BK21-026 was drilled to the east and hit multiple intervals of gold mineralization throughout the entire hole highlighted by 1.18 g/t AuEQ over 44.1 metres including 33.67 g/t AuEQ over 1.0 metres from 170.0 to 214.1 metres down hole.

The presence of broad zones of bulk tonnage-style, disseminated gold mineralization with internal local high-grade vein-hosted mineralization was also intersected in BK21-025, collared 150 metres east of BK21-026 and drilled to the east. The hole cut mineralization throughout the entire hole starting with 0.64 g/t AuEQ over 39.0 metres from 123.0 to 162.0 metres and 0.85 g/t AuEQ over 62.0 metres from 374.0 to 436.0 metres down hole (Figure 3). Assays are pending from four remaining holes in the Trench zone.

Horseshoe zone

The Horseshoe zone hole (BK21-032; Table 2) was designed to test the lateral-extent of bulk-tonnage, sulfide-cemented breccia-hosted gold mineralization intersected in BK21-017 (see news release dated May 11th, 2021).

Table 2. Assay results - Horseshoe zone

From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) AuEQ (g/t) Horseshoe zone BK21-031 Assays Pending BK21-032 56.0 60.5 4.5 0.48 9.53 0.62 and 89.0 143.0 54.0 1.02 10.80 1.19 inc 94.7 107.0 12.3 2.53 29.38 2.99 inc 100.0 103.0 3.0 6.85 81.95 8.11 and 192.0 251.1 59.1 0.93 1.85 0.95 inc 192.0 223.0 31.0 1.43 2.58 1.46 inc 199.0 200.0 1.0 9.57 4.20 9.63 and 257.0 276.0 19.0 0.57 1.35 0.59 and 346.0 348.0 2.0 0.31 2.78 0.35

AuEQ (gold equivalent) based on a 65:1 silver to gold (Ag:Au) ratio. Calculations are uncut and length-weighted using a 0.15 g/t gold cutoff with less than five continuous metres of internal dilution. Intervals are downhole core lengths. True widths are unknown.

BK21-032 was collared 100 metres northwest of BK21-017 and drilled to the east at a similar dip. The hole returned two significant intervals: an upper interval of 1.19 g/t AuEQ over 54.0 metres from 89.0 to 143.0 metres hosted in sphalerite-rich sulfide-cemented breccias (Figure 1); and a lower interval of 0.95 g/t AuEQ over 59.1 metres including 31.0 metres of 1.46 g/t AuEQ hosted in polymictic breccias with clots of sphalerite + pyrite. The upper interval also contained 1.17% zinc over the 54.0 metres. Hole BK21-032 builds on results from 2020 (e.g., BK20-006, 007, 009 and top of 012) and the recently reported BK21-017 and BK21-018 and expands the zone of sphalerite-rich sulfide-cemented breccias laterally at depth (Figure 3). Assays are pending from one remaining hole in the Horseshoe zone.





Figure 2. Map showing drill hole locations.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6142/87124_c0622daa6498cb72_002full.jpg





Figure 3. A-A' Cross section from the Trench to Horseshoe zones showing selected highlights.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6142/87124_c0622daa6498cb72_003full.jpg

Table 3. Drill collar locations

Hole ID UTM E* UTM N* Elevation (m) EOH (m) Azimuth Dip BK21-021 654406 6019805 892 447 215 -75 BK21-023 654351 6019792 889 459 215 -75 BK21-024 654350 6019794 888 369 185 -75 BK21-025 654405 6019743 912 591 270 -60 BK21-026 654252 6019726 888 384 88 -48 BK21-032 654481 6019786 893 375 115 -46

Notes: * NAD 83 Zone 9N

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

All sample assay results have been monitored through the Company's quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program. Drill core was sawn in half at Sun Summit's core logging and processing facility in Houston, B.C. Half the core was sampled and shipped in sealed and secure bags to the ALS Global preparation facilities in Yellowknife, N.T. Samples were prepared using standard preparation procedures. Following sample preparation, the pulps were sent to the ALS Global analytical laboratory in North Vancouver, B.C., for analysis.

Core samples were analyzed for 48 elements by ICP-MS on a 0.25 gram sample using a four acid digestion (method ME-MS61L or ME-MS61). Gold was analyzed by fire assay on a 30 gram sample with an AAS finish (method Au-AA23). Over limit gold (>10 ppm) was re-analyzed by fire assay using a gravimetric finish on a 30 gram sample. Over limit silver (>100 ppm) was re-analyzed using a four acid digestion and ICP-AES finish. Over limit zinc (> 10,000 ppm) was re-analysed using a four acid digestion and ICP-AES finish. ALS Global is registered to ISO / IEC 17025:2017 accreditations for laboratory procedures.

In addition to ALS Global laboratory QA/QC protocols, Sun Summit implements an internal QA/QC program that includes the insertion of duplicates, standards and blanks into the sample stream.

National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure

This news release has been approved by Sun Summit's CEO, Robert D. Willis, P. Eng. a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators. He has also verified the data disclosed, including sampling, analytical and test data, underlying the technical information in this news release.

Community Engagement

Sun Summit is working to engage with First Nations on whose territory the Buck Property is located, to discuss their interests and identify contract and work opportunities, as well as opportunities to support community initiatives. The Company looks forward to continuing to work with local and regional First Nations as the project continues.

Health and Safety

The Company's exploration programs are being carried out in full compliance with federal, provincial, and municipal guidelines established in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Sun Summit has a rigorous infection prevention and control protocol in place to protect the health of employees and contractors, as well as surrounding communities in which the Company works.

Buck Property

The recently expanded 33,000-hectare property, approximately 12 kilometres south of Houston, British Columbia, has excellent nearby infrastructure and allows for year-round road-accessible exploration.

About Sun Summit

Sun Summit Minerals is an exploration company focused on expanding its epithermal gold discovery at its flagship Buck Project located in north-central British Columbia.

The Company is exploring multiple high priority gold and silver targets through methodical, well-funded exploration campaigns with year round drilling access. The Project has high-grade and bulk-tonnage gold and silver potential and is located in a mining-established region that includes many former operating mines and current exploration projects.

Sun Summit is committed to environmental and social responsibility with a focus on responsible development to generate positive outcomes for all stakeholders.

Further details are available at www.sunsummitminerals.com

Figures

Figure 1

https://sunsummitminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Buck_Fig1_BK21-032_Photo.jpg

Figure 2

https://sunsummitminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Buck_Fig1_Drilling_June10_NR-scaled.jpg

Figure 3

https://sunsummitminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Buck_Fig2_EW_Section_June10_NR-scaled.jpg

For further information, contact:

Sharyn Alexander, M.Sc.

VP Technical Services

Nancy Curry

Corporate Communications

info@sunsummitminerals.com

Tel. 778-588-9606

Forward-Looking Information

Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements, which involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences, without limiting the generality of the following, include: risks inherent in exploration activities; volatility and sensitivity to market prices; volatility and sensitivity to capital market fluctuations; the impact of exploration competition; the ability to raise funds through private or public equity financings; environmental and safety risks including increased regulatory burdens; unexpected geological or hydrological conditions; changes in government regulations and policies, including trade laws and policies; failure to obtain necessary permits and approvals from government authorities; weather and other natural phenomena; and other exploration, development, operating, financial market and regulatory risks. Except as required by applicable securities laws and regulation, Sun Summit Minerals Corp. disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87124
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - LaSalle Exploration Corp. (TSXV: LSX) ("LaSalle" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Mr. Ron Stewart has been appointed to LaSalle's management team as Vice-President, Corporate Development effective immediately.

Ian Campbell, President and CEO commented, "I am delighted to welcome Ron, who brings a wide spectrum of valuable skillsets and expertise to our management team. His diverse career spans all phases of exploration and development, many years in the equity capital markets as an award-winning research analyst and investment banker, financing and investor relations. On behalf of the Board, we are very much looking forward to working with Ron on our growth strategy and immediate goals to bring LaSalle to the next level for our shareholders."

During his career, Ron has served in all capacities of exploration and development including Senior Vice-President of Kinross Gold, where his responsibilities included the development of a global exploration strategy. This followed a 17-year career with Placer Dome Inc., where he held a variety of positions of increased responsibility in Canada and the Australasia ending as Vice-President Investor Relations where he was accountable for all corporate contacts with capital markets and the investment community and for the development of an integrated investor communication strategy. Ron also brings valuable experience with several junior mining companies including most recently as President and CEO of Beaufield Resources, which led to a successful takeover by Osisko Mining Inc., and an earlier role as President and CEO of Verena Minerals Ltd., renamed Belo Sun Mining Corp., focusing on the Volta Grande project in Brazil.

Ron gained diversified expertise working for 10 years in the capital markets and financial sector which included Head of Mining Research for Dundee Capital Markets, Managing Director of Investment Banking at Clarus Securities, and Managing Director Mining Research at Macquarie Capital Markets.

In conjunction with the appointment the Company has granted Ron a total of 500,000 incentive stock options, exercisable for a period of 5 years at $0.17 per share, subject to a vesting schedule with 1/3 of those options vesting every year for three years from the date of grant.

About LaSalle Exploration Corp.:

LaSalle is an exploration company focused on less explored districts of the Abitibi, recognized for mining investment based on mineral potential, policy and success, and the developing Eeyou Itschee-James Bay region in Quebec. LaSalle is actively exploring Radisson as well as the Blakelock and Egan high-grade gold properties located in northeastern Ontario. LaSalle trades on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") under the symbol "LSX". Additional information about LaSalle can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.lasallecorp.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

LASALLE EXPLORATION CORP.

"Ian Campbell"

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: (604) 647-3966

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward-looking statements. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

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/87135
TOCCOA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. (OTCQB:GAXY) ("Galaxy" or the "Company), a provider of interactive learning technology solutions, is pleased to provide the following Shareholder Update Letter.

Dear Shareholders:

Thank you for your continued support throughout our growth and these very exciting times. We are coming up on our 3-year anniversary together. Galaxy transitioned from a privately held company to an OTC company in June of 2018 and we have experienced major strides towards our long-term goals since then. Shortly after our transition we were able to quickly meet requirements to OTCQB from previously held 'Pink' status and have maintained those requirements throughout the ups and downs of the market during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our continued desire to 'up' our listing status even more and continue to make vast improvements every quarter towards that goal.

In the last 3 years we have increased our development team, both through organic hiring and via acquisitions. We have added a team that is not only highly skilled but extremely enthusiastic. Since 2018, we have launched a multitude of new products, including an entire line specifically targeting other brands through an OEM channel. We have been awarded 2 patents, one in our 'Interactive panel' line and the other in our 'audio distribution and connectivity' line and are excited about what this will bring towards future long-term success. In addition, we have applied for 3 other patents related to our Bell, Intercom, and Paging solutions that are current in publication, pending issuance.

Also, since 2018 we have expanded our physical footprint. While we are headquartered in Toccoa, Georgia, we now have offices in Florida, Colorado, and Arizona with additional remote employees in Texas and Utah.

To date, our solutions have been sold into multiple states and even into other countries outside the US. When Galaxy was first founded, we supported 8 employees. We have now grown to over 25 full time employees, technicians, and consultants. And, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, we have sustained our employment count and made sure that our company culture was supported through these difficult times. You all, as shareholders, deserve accolades for supporting us and our employees as well. Due to the increase in financial support to school districts and government facilities, we are still actively recruiting new hires and hope to fill those positions quickly, in order to support the increase in interest of G2 products.

For anyone that has personally been affected by the COVID-19 virus, my deepest sympathy is extended. I wish all of you will continue to stay safe and healthy. As for us, it's personal, and our children/students have been at the forefront of our rebut. The market for interactive solutions and educational technology is growing dramatically and our order volumes have increased in response. We have also seen a large increase in our sales pipeline as schools start to prepare for their budget allocations being supplemented by the government funding. Mainly due to the social and emotional needs of our students, we are looking forward to the full return of traditional learning in a safe classroom environment.

With a robust product offering, we are in a position to not only provide learning tools, but also in-building security and at-home support for those that may have 'lost time' due to not having the in-classroom experience. While we still are seeing our own logistical issues, we have made adjustments to our product fulfillment channels to ensure we are able to capitalize on the additional spending in Ed-tech, and look forward to pushing ahead in both support of the company and the support of our students.

As you all know, we have been fortunate to secure some traditional funding (by way of bank support and accounts receivable financing) as well as the backing of a strong and long-term equity investor. The combination of your support, along with market trends and increased needs for our product offering, has truly set us up for the success we know we were meant to achieve.

We will continue to expand our presence in marketing, in sales, and in shareholder value as we DO understand fully the value in each. Our fiscal year end is upcoming on June 30th and my main focus is to make sure we are able to financially report all of the improvements that we are and have experienced in our time together. We will continue to push forward in a 'hard press' manner and again greatly appreciate the support you have all shown.

Sincerely,

Magen McGahee CFO

and Management

About Galaxy Next Generation, Inc.

Galaxy Next Generation (OTCQB:GAXY) is a provider of interactive learning technology solutions that allows the presenter and participant to engage in a fully collaborative instructional environment. Galaxy's products include Galaxy's own private-label interactive touch screen panel as well as numerous other national and international branded peripheral and communication devices. Galaxy's distribution channel consists of 22+ resellers across the U.S. who primarily sell the Company's products within the commercial and educational market. Galaxy does not control where resellers focus their resell efforts, although generally, the K-12 education market is the largest customer base for Galaxy products - comprising nearly 90% of Galaxy's sales.

For additional information, please visit our website at: www.galaxynext.us

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investors Contact:

IR@GalaxyNext.us

p888-859-1274

SOURCE: Galaxy Next Generation, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651210/Galaxy-Next-Generation-Issues-Shareholder-Update-on-3-Year-Anniversary-of-OTCQB-Listing
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Perk Labs Inc. (CSE:PERK)(OTCQB:PKLBF)(FKT:PKLB) ("Perk" or the "Company"), the parent company of Perk Hero, the mobile commerce platform with perks on curated specialty products and digital gift cards, is pleased to announce the voting results from its Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders (the " Meeting "), held on June 9, 2021, at the offices of the Company, Suite 1755 - 555 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. At the Meeting, all matters put forward before the shareholders for consideration and approval as set out in the Company's Notice of Meeting and Management Information Circular, dated May 4, 2021, were approved by a majority of votes cast at the Meeting.

1. Election of Directors

The five (5) nominees were elected as directors of the Company, to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The voting results for each nominee are as follows:

Votes For % of Votes Cast - For - Votes Withheld % of Votes Cast - Withheld - Kirk Herrington 19,262,207 86.75 2,941,808 13.25 James Topham 19,281,307 86.84 2,922,708 13.16 Larry Timlick 19,238,831 86.65 2,965,184 13.35 Steve Cadigan 19,287,607 86.87 2,916,408 13.13 Jonathan Hoyles 20,000,205 90.07 2,203,810 9.93

2. Appointment of Auditors

Appointment of Saturna Group Chartered Professional Accountants LLP as Auditors of the Company for the ensuing year and authorizing the directors to fix the auditor's remuneration

Votes For % of Votes Cast - For - Votes Withheld % of Votes Cast - Withheld - 53,079,659 95.82 2,316,073 4.18

3. Approval of Amendments to RSU Plan

Approval of amendments to the Company's restricted share unit award plan as described in the Company's management information circular dated May 4, 2021.

Votes For % of Votes Cast - For - Votes Against % of Votes Cast - Against - 17,625,445 79.38 4,578,570 20.62

4. Approval of Amendments to Stock Option Plan

Approval of amendments to the Company's stock option plan as described in the Company's management information circular dated May 4, 2021.

Votes For % of Votes Cast - For - Votes Against % of Votes Cast - Against - 17,636,864 79.43 4,567,150 20.57

About Perk Labs Inc.

Perk Labs Inc. (CSE:PERK) (OTCQB:PKLBF) (FKT:PKLB) is the owner of Perk Hero, the mobile commerce platform on a mission to make shopping experiences more engaging, convenient, and rewarding. Perk has partnered with vetted specialized brands across North America to bring its customers products that are eco-friendly, natural, organic, and ethically sourced. Consumers can also buy digital gift cards from top merchants that include gaming and electronics, apparel, dining, and more. The Perk Hero platform, currently available in Canada and the U.S., was engineered for reliability and scale using enterprise-level technology fit for businesses of all sizes. The platform also features Shopify integration, contactless payments using Apple Pay, Google Pay, BitPay and Alipay, as well as its own digital currency called Perk Coin, a gamified loyalty program, e-commerce dropshipping capabilities, pre-order and pick up, and in-store payments with a QR code.

For more information about Perk Labs, please visit www.perklabs.io . Visit Perk Hero at www.perkhero.com .

For more information, contact:

Jonathan Hoyles

CEO

Perk Labs Inc.

(833) 338-0299

investors@perklabs.io

Iryna Zheliasko, Manager, Corporate Communications

CHF Capital Markets

416-868-1079 x 229

iryna@chfir.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively 'forward-looking information') within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "may", 'believe', "thinks", 'expect', "exploring", "expand", "could", 'anticipate', 'intend', 'estimate', "plan", "pursue", 'potentially', "projected", "should", "will" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. These forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, relate to, among other things, the discussion of the Company's business strategies and its expectations concerning future operations. Although the Company considers these forward-looking statements to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking information, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur.

SOURCE: Perk Labs Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651216/Perk-Labs-Announces-Voting-Results-Following-its-Annual-General-and-Special-Shareholder-Meeting
HaluGen Life Sciences' test evaluates an individual's overall sensitivity and risk profile associated with psychedelic-assisted therapy

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Entheon Biomedical Corp. (CSE: ENBI) (OTCQB: ENTBF) (FSE: 1XU1) ("Entheon" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company focused on developing psychedelic medicines to treat addiction, announced its Psychedelics Genetic Test Kit, developed by its wholly-owned subsidiary, HaluGen Life Sciences Inc. ("HaluGen"), is now available for sale in the United States.

The Psychedelics Genetic Test Kit, a first of its kind, was designed and commercialized by HaluGen, and launched in Canada on April 5, 2021. The test kit analyzes a series of relevant DNA biomarkers along with pre-screening mental health surveys in order to provide insights into an individual's risk and potential of adverse reactions with the use of hallucinogenic drugs.

The Psychedelics Genetic Test Kit provides users with personalized reports and actionable insights, delivered directly to one's smartphone or desktop through the HaluGen website customer platform, providing a convenient and safe means to better understand one's sensitivity to psychedelics and ketamine. The test also provides insights into the short and long-term potential of psychedelic-induced risks, such as psychosis.

For more information on pricing and ordering, please visit HaluGen's website at www.HaluGen.com.

"The launch of this kit into the US market is a significant milestone for the Company, and one that is sure to drive awareness of HaluGen's Test Kit and the overall potential of personalized tools for use in preparation of psychedelic treatment," said Timothy Ko, Chief Executive Officer of Entheon. "As individuals look to optimize their own experiences and outcomes as they explore the potential for psychedelic therapy, the US marketplace offers a strong opportunity to expand awareness and to develop key partnerships with those servicing the psychedelic medicine space."

HaluGen's psychedelics pre-screening platform provides genetic, personal and familial insights to better inform one's psychedelic assisted therapy experience. By obtaining DNA test results, and data from mental-health surveys, individuals are equipped with valuable insights to make more informed decisions around psychedelic assisted therapy, potential side effects and risk profile. The Company is currently pursuing various strategic partnerships with the goal of building distribution and brand awareness.

Genetics can play a key role in determining how an individual may respond to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. For example, the HTR2A gene mutation, carried by approximately 20% of the population, can impact how a person responds to serotonin, which is the primary mechanism of action for serotonergic psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD and DMT. Another gene, CYP2B6, can influence the metabolism of ketamine for the 10-20% of people that carry a specific CYP2B6 gene variant.

Psychedelics Genetic Test Kit customers receive a swab kit that is shipped directly to their home and the unique kit identifier is registered on HaluGen's secure online portal. After a non-invasive cheek swab sample is taken, the kit is returned for laboratory processing at HaluGen's testing facility. A personalized genetic profile with five sensitivity and risk reports for psychedelics is provided to the customer through HaluGen's mobile and desktop platform. In addition, customers are provided access to pre-screening mental health surveys and relevant peer-reviewed scientific studies.

About Entheon Biomedical Corp.

Entheon is a biotechnology research and development company committed to developing and commercializing a portfolio of safe and effective Dimethyltryptamine based psychedelic therapeutic products ("DMT Products") for the purposes of treating addiction and substance use disorders. Subject to obtaining all requisite regulatory approvals and permits, Entheon intends to generate revenue through the sale of its DMT Products to physicians, clinics and licensed psychiatrists in the United States, certain countries in the European Union and throughout Canada.

About HaluGen Life Sciences Inc.

HaluGen has developed a DNA testing and personalized psychedelic pre-screening platform that provides genetic, personal and familial insights to better inform the psychedelic experience, with the goal of improving patient care and reducing side effects and risk. HaluGen's genetic-based psychedelic pre-screening platform helps evaluate an individual's overall sensitivity and risk profile when using hallucinogenic drugs. This platform is the first of its kind with test results within days. https://www.halugen.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Timothy Ko"

Timothy Ko, CEO

For more information, please contact the Company at:

Entheon Biomedical Corp.

Joseph Cullen, Investor Relations

Telephone: +1 (778) 919-8615

Joe@entheonbiomedical.com

https://entheonbiomedical.com/

For media inquiries, please contact Crystal Quast at:

Bullseye Corporate

Crystal Quast

Telephone: +1 (647) 529-6364

Quast@BullseyeCorporate.com

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements with respect to HaluGen's genetic testing kit, potential market, generation of revenue by the Company if any, the efficacy of the products, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by words such as "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "will", "may", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the Company being able to follow through with anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, completion of the milestones in connection with the issuance of the Compensation Shares, the ability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing to fund its business activities and plans, delays in obtaining regulatory approvals (including of the Canadian Securities Exchange), changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting the Company's operations and the Company's limited operating history.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this presentation or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87144
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Great Thunder Gold Corp. (CSE: GTG) (OTC Pink: GTGFF) (FSE: M4KQ) ("Great Thunder" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has entered into an option agreement to acquire 147 claims totaling 3,675 hectares located 45 kilometres ("km") north of Gander, NL (Figure 1). The Rodgers Cove claim group (the "Property") lies within the Exploits Subzone along the highly prospective northeast trending Dog Bay-Appleton-Grub Line fault system. The Property is 40 km northeast of the Keats Zone which is currently undergoing a 200,000-metre drill program by New Found Gold where recent dill results of 146.2 g/t Au over 25.6m were reported (see press release dated May 21, 2021).





Figure 1. Regional location of the Rodgers Cove Property.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7129/87160_c4d6717dc4420acc_002full.jpg

Under the terms of the option agreement, Great Thunder can acquire a 100% interest in the Rodgers Cove claim group from the optionors by paying $35,000 immediately, issuing 849,915 shares in three tranches over two years, incurring $250,000 of exploration expenses within two years and granting a 2% net smelter returns royalty. The Company may repurchase three-quarters of the royalty at any time for $2,000,000. The Company will also pay a finder's fee of 85,000 shares in respect of the transaction. Access is deemed excellent through a network of logging roads.

Rodgers Cove Claim Group

The property is within the Exploits Subzone of the Dunnage Zone close to the boundary between the Gander and the Dunnage Zones and is hosted within the Charles Cove siltstone formation of the Indian Islands Group. Recently discovered mineralization on the property was reported in significant new Au-Ag assays associated with elevated levels of Bi, Sb and Cu. Grab samples have returned up to 11.933 g/t Au, 21 g/t Ag, 543 ppm Bi, 420 ppm Cu and 900 ppm Sb. The polymetallic mineralization is associated with quartz veins within an altered granodiorite with pervasive arsenopyrite envelope (Figure 2). Grab samples are selected samples and not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the property.

Figure 2.Local geology and Grab sample locations on the Rodgers Cove Property.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7129/87160_c4d6717dc4420acc_003full.jpg

Commentary from the CEO

Blair Naughty, CEO of Great Thunder states: "We are excited to acquire additional ground in the central Newfoundland gold belt. The recent discovery of high-grade gold mineralization within a prominent structural corridor on the property bodes well for continued success through our exploration programs. We are very excited to commence our initial field work on this well-situated project."

Qualified Person

Mr. Mike Kilbourne, P. Geo, an independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of the Company.

The QP has not completed sufficient work to verify the historic information on the Rodger Cove property particularly regarding historical exploration, neighbouring companies, and government geological work. The information provides an indication of the exploration potential of the Property but may not be representative of expected results.

About Great Thunder Gold

Great Thunder Gold is a Canadian junior mining exploration company focused on mineral projects located in Quebec & Newfoundland, Canada.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

GREAT THUNDER GOLD CORP.

"Blair Naughty"

President & CEO

Investor Relations

Email: info@greatthundergold.com

Direct Line: (236) 513-4653

www.greatthundergold.com

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statement

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/87160
Thunder Bay Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Metals Creek Resources Corp. (TSXV: MEK) (OTCQB: MCREF) (FSE: M1C1) (the "Company" or Metals Creek) is pleased to announce that effective immediately, John Anderson has agreed to join the Metals Creek Board of Directors.

John Anderson is the Chairman of Purplefish Capital Management Limited ("Purplefish"), an independent Corporate Finance Advisory Firm with offices in Vancouver, Geneva, and Beijing. They also have strategic relationships with groups focused on Chinese markets. Over the past 25 years John has been instrumental in founding, helping fund, and managing numerous companies - and successfully raising over $500 million in equity for a number of public and private companies in the United States, Canada and Europe, and has been directly responsible for numerous IPO's and cross-border public listings. His specialty is identifying undervalued opportunities and investing capital into these initiatives.

Alexander (Sandy) Stares states "On behalf of the board of directors I am delighted to welcome John to the Metals Creek Team. As a past independent director of Newfound Gold and current director of Red Moon Resources, John is intimately familiar with Newfoundland projects and their potential. John's current role as Executive Chairman of Triumph Gold and tenacity of financing will certainly be a benefit to Metals Creek. John is a recent shareholder of MEK and his very long-term commitment to projects and gold is one shared by the Metals Creek Team."

Resignation:

Metals Creek also announces the resignation of Mr. Lorne Woods as a Director of the Company effectively immediately. "I would also like to very much thank Lorne Woods for a significant contribution to the Company over the years", stated Alexander Stares, President and CEO of Metals Creek. "We wish him great success in his future endeavours." Lorne will remain as an advisor to the company.

The Company also announces the grant of 500,000 incentive stock options to various directors, officers, and consultants of the Company. The Stock Options will be exercisable at $0.18 and will vest in accordance with the companies stock option plan.

About Metals Creek Resources Corp.

Metals Creek Resources Corp. is a junior exploration Corporation incorporated under the laws of the Province of Ontario, is a reporting issuer in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, and has its common shares listed for trading on the Exchange under the symbol "MEK". Metals Creek has earned a 50% interest in the Ogden Gold Property from Newmont Corporation, including the former Naybob Gold mine, located 6 km south of Timmins, Ontario and has an 8 km strike length of the prolific Porcupine-Destor Fault (P-DF). In addition, Metals Creek has signed an agreement with Newmont Corporation, where Metals Creek can earn a 100% interest in the past producing Dona Lake Gold Project in the Pickle Lake Mining District of Ontario.

Metals Creek also has multiple quality projects available for option in Ontario and Newfoundland which can be viewed on the Corporation's website. Parties interested in seeking more information about properties available for option can contact the Corporation at the number below.

Additional information concerning the Corporation is contained in documents filed by the Corporation with securities regulators, available under its profile at www.sedar.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.

Alexander (Sandy) Stares, President and CEO

Metals Creek Resources Corp

telephone: (709)-256-6060

fax: (709) -256-6061

email: astares@metalscreek.com

www.MetalsCreek.com

Twitter.com/MetalsCreekRes

Facebook.com/MetalsCreek

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87171
Berwyn, Pennsylvania--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE American: ANVS), ("Annovis" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage drug platform company addressing Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative diseases, today announced its participation in 2021 BIO Digital, the premier biotech event, taking place online June 10-11 & 14-18, 2021.

A corporate presentation by Maria L. Maccecchini, Ph.D., CEO of Annovis Bio, will be available to registered attendees beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET on June 10.

Attendees at BIO Digital can request meetings with the Company via the BIO One-on-One Partnering system, with meetings beginning on June 14. To meet with us at BIO Digital, you can find registration information here.

About Annovis Bio Inc.

Headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Annovis Bio, Inc. (Annovis) is a clinical-stage, drug platform company addressing neurodegeneration, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's in Down Syndrome (AD-DS). We believe that we are the only company developing a drug for AD, PD and AD-DS that inhibits more than one neurotoxic protein and, thereby, improves the information highway of the nerve cell, known as axonal transport. When this information flow is impaired, the nerve cell gets sick and dies. We expect our treatment to improve memory loss and dementia associated with AD and AD-DS, as well as body and brain function in PD. We have two ongoing Phase 2a studies: one in AD patients and one in both AD and PD patients. For more information on Annovis, please visit the company's website: www.annovisbio.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release contain "forward-looking statements" that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "expect," "believe," "will," "may," "should," "estimate," "project," "outlook," "forecast" or other similar words, and include, without limitation, statements regarding the timing, effectiveness, and anticipated results of ANVS401 clinical trials. Forward-looking statements are based on Annovis Bio, Inc.'s current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the section titled "Risk Factors" in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and Annovis Bio, Inc. undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

Investor Relations:

Dave Gentry, CEO

RedChip Companies Inc.

407-491-4498

Dave@redchip.com





To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87172
Surge in demand for cannabis legalization in several countries for medical purposes drives the growth of the global cannabis testing market.

PORTLAND, Ore., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Cannabis Testing Market by Product (Instruments, Consumables, and Software), Test Type (Heavy Metal Testing, Microbial Analysis, Potency Testing, Residual Screening, and Others), and End User (Cannabis Cultivators/Growers, Cannabis Drug Manufacturers, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2027." According to the report, the global cannabis testing industry was pegged at $1.02 billion in 2019, and is expected to hit $2.44 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 11.9% from 2020 to 2027.

Download Sample Report at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/11264

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities-

Surge in demand for cannabis legalization in several countries for medical purposes, increase in adoption of LIMS in cannabis testing laboratories, and collaborations between major companies fuel the growth of the global cannabis testing market. On the other hand, high start-up costs for cannabis testing laboratories impede the growth to some extent. However, untapped potential in emerging economies is expected to pave the way for lucrative opportunities in the industry.

COVID-19 scenario-

Closures of testing laboratories, disrupted supply chains, general economic slowdown, and restricted movement impacted the global cannabis testing market negatively, especially during the first phase of the lockdown.

However, several government bodies have come up with relaxations on the existing rules & dictums, and the market is expected to revive soon.

The consumables segment to dominate by 2027-

By product, the consumables segment contributed to nearly three-fifths of the global cannabis testing market share in 2019, and is anticipated to rule the roost by 2027, due to frequent use of consumables for cannabis testing. The instruments segment, on the other hand, is projected to portray the fastest CAGR of 13.2% from 2020 to 2027. This is attributed to increasing investments by the major players in the development of technologically advanced instruments.

Enquiry for Short-term and Long-term Impacts of COVID-19 at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/11264

The cannabis drug manufacturers segment to maintain the dominant share-

By end user, the cannabis drug manufacturers segment accounted for nearly half of the global cannabis testing market revenue in 2019, and is projected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. The segment is also anticipated to cite the fastest CAGR of 12.4% from 2020 to 2027. This is due to growing acceptance of marijuana as a medicine and rise in the number of cannabis-based clinical trials by the big pharmaceuticals across the world.

North America garnered the major share in 2019-

By region, North America held the highest share in 2019, generating more than half of the global cannabis testing market. Legalization of cannabis (especially in the U.S.) and the ease of availability of instruments, software, and services for cannabis testing fuels the market growth across North America. However, LAMEA is expected to showcase the fastest CAGR of 14.1% during the forecast period, due to legalization of cannabis for medical use and growing number of cannabis cultivators and testing laboratories in the region.

Frontrunners in the industry-

Agilent Technologies Inc.

Waters Corporation

Danaher Corporation

PerkinElmer

Merck KGAA

SC Laboratories

Shimadzu Corporation

Restek Corporation

Steep Hill

Thermo Fisher Scientific

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / NV Gold Corporation (TSXV:NVX)(OTCQB:NVGLF)(FSE:8NV) ("NV Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Lease Agreement (the "Agreement") with Mountain Gold Claims, LLC (the "Vendor"), providing NV Gold the right to lease an undivided 100% right, title and interest in the Spanish Canyon Gold Project in Nye County, Nevada ("Spanish Canyon").

"Spanish Canyon is an exceptional property that is an advanced and drill ready gold project that the Company will look to explore in 2021. We continue to build strong relationships and partnerships with some of the most well-known explorers in Nevada to create the opportunity for a gold discovery," commented Peter A. Ball, President and CEO of NV Gold. "I'm excited to work with Tom Callicrate from Mountain Gold Claims, who brings over 35 years of Nevada mineral exploration experience. Our technical team is focused on drill testing several high-priority projects in 2021 to advance each target to a secondary decision point as quickly and cost-effectively as possible."

About the Spanish Canyon Gold Project

The Spanish Canyon Gold Project is located in the Ione Valley, Nye County, approximately 100 kilometers northwest of Tonopah, Nevada (refer to Figure 1).

The project is a "Carlin-type" strata-bound and structurally-controlled, disseminated gold-silver system hosted in the calcareous sediments of the Triassic Luning and Sunrise Formations.

The area is characterized by multiple stages of faulting, replacement silicification, hydrothermal and tectonic breccia-bodies and argillic-decalcification alteration of carbonates over a 4 square-kilometer area.

This never-drill-tested project is unique for its several mineralized jasperoid zones in an area up to a kilometer long and contains previous sampling that assayed up to 2 g/t Au and over 1,000 ppm As (refer to Figure 2 and 3).

The project represents an untested gold system, with bulk mineable potential, that is situated in favorable geologic and geographic environments.

Drill targets have been identified and include a large basin pediment area, range-front structural zone, with mineralization exposed in the outcrops along the low-lying hills of the range.

Figure 1: Spanish Canyon Gold Project General Location Map

Figure 2: Spanish Canyon Gold Project Geology, Alteration & Target Map

Figure 3: Spanish Canyon Gold Project Jasperoids in the Low Hills

"I am pleased that Mountain Gold Claims, LLC, controlled by Tom Callicrate, has chosen NV Gold as the best company to work with to advance his Spanish Canyon gold project. I have known Tom for many years, and I believe strongly in his prospecting capabilities, and instinct to find gold. Spanish Canyon is extremely interesting for its strategic location at the collision zone of the Walker Lane Structural Corridor with Carlin-type Settings. This enormous, never-drill-tested, alteration and gold-anomalous zone hosts great opportunities for discovery", stated Thomas Klein, Exploration Manager, NV Gold.

NV Gold notes that there is no guarantee that the historical results are representative and cannot guarantee that the Company will be able to duplicate the results with future exploration programs. NV Gold's management team does not view the Spanish Canyon project as material to the Company at this time.

About NV Gold Corporation

NV Gold (TSXV:NVX)(OTCQB:NVGLF)(FSE:8NV) is a well-financed exploration company with ~77 million shares issued, close to $4.5M in its treasury and no debt. The Company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Reno, Nevada and is focused on delivering value through mineral discoveries in Nevada, USA. Leveraging its expansive property portfolio, its highly experienced in-house technical team, and its extensive geological data library, 2021 will be NV Gold's busiest exploration year in its corporate history.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Peter A. Ball

President & CEO

For further information, visit the Company's website at www.nvgoldcorp.com or contact:

Peter A. Ball, President & CEO

Phone: 1-888-363-9883

Email: peter@nvgoldcorp.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's planned exploration activities, the potential for a discovery at its properties, and acquisition of new gold projects are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's plans or expectations include regulatory issues, market prices, availability of capital and financing, general economic, market or business conditions, timeliness of government or regulatory approvals, the extent to which mineralized structures extend on to the Company's Projects and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. 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 otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

SOURCE: NV Gold Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651212/NV-Gold-Announces-Lease-of-Drill-Ready-Spanish-Canyon-Gold-Project-in-Nevada
BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Envel, a Boston-based fintech, has raised $2M from nearly 2,000 crowdfunding investors who are all eager to support Envel in its quest to alleviate the financial challenges faced by many young people. Envel conducted this successful campaign on the Wefunder crowdfunding platform, enabling them to connect with investors from across the U.S. and around the world. Envel spent 6 weeks in the number one spot on Wefunder, the largest crowdfunding platform in the U.S., attracting investors with their purpose driven mission, unique patent pending technology, strong community engagement and uniquely experienced leadership team.

Envel is a mobile banking app with a Visa debit card that uses an automated envelope system powered by artificial intelligence to help a new generation automate their money management. Given that over 65% of working Americans live paycheck to paycheck, Envel believes it has the right solution for the right time and that their mission is now more crucial than ever. With minimal fees, no minimum balance and no credit checks, Envel seeks to help all age groups and demographics by prioritizing financial inclusion and its zealot like approach to solving customer pain points, over a pure profit motive. Envel's mission is simple, to help people manage their money better, so that they can live better lives.

(To view the full-sized image, please click here)

With strong Angel investor support, why did Envel choose a crowdfunding campaign as opposed to more traditional fundraising strategies? CEO and Founder Steve Le Roux says, "I didn't want to pass up on the incredible opportunity to engage with thousands of passionate investors and potential users, all eager to invest not only their money, but in many cases, their time, to help Envel succeed".

"We're absolutely thrilled to raise capital in this way, it's great validation that the public believe in our mission and we're heading in the right direction by providing a service to proactively employ autonomous financial guidance to our customers. It's a great community to tap into for constructive feedback, all wanting to use our service and vested in our success. Crowdfunding is such a great way for companies to get going and refine their product. We have grown significantly since going into the app stores in January, driven by the needs of consumers for good digital banking services. This illustrates that there is a clear need for not only digital banking services, but also financial guidance." says Steve Le Roux, Founder & CEO

Many Wefunder investors have not only given the Envel team valuable feedback about their app, but also joined super user groups to work directly with their design and product team to help build the Envel banking features they want. Just as the app aims to improve levels of financial inclusion, this crowdfunding campaign served as an inclusive fundraising strategy, allowing investors from all walks of life and financial statuses to own a piece of Envel, and have a say in the development of its app and future success.

Co-founder and SVP of User Experience, Matina Dimitriadou says "At Envel we put User Experience above everything else. From the very beginning, our UX strategy was to provide a beautiful customer journey while including the element of fun and personalized engagement which is generally missing in traditional banking. Our goal is to create an intuitive product that is fully customizable and can be adapted to multiple use cases, in order to help millions of people manage their money in the best way possible. We have been amazed by the different ways people use our product and how creative they can get with the tools we have given them. Our users and community forums have played a major role in the evolution of our app and the services it offers".

The Envel team, comprising almost 30 team members, is very encouraged by the success of this crowdfunding campaign. These funds will enable them to greatly accelerate the pace at which they make improvements to their features and user experience, whilst delivering on customer needs and adding new automated financial guidance features to the app.

Envel is currently live in the U.S. Apple and Google app stores and will be launching its new version during June 2021.

About Envel, Inc.

Founded at Harvard and with pre-seed funding from the MIT Sandbox, Envel is designed to reinvent the traditional banking model to fit younger consumers' long-term needs, implementing the best savings and spending model for its customers to ensure there is little unnecessary spending. Envel's ultimate mission is to improve the financial health of users in a way that is accessible and effortless, thereby decreasing the enormous burden of financial stress experienced by so many Americans. The team is led by CEO and founder Steve Le Roux, who conceptualized the idea for Envel as part of his studies at Harvard. For more on Envel see www.envel.ai. Envel has so far received $4.75M in seed investments. Envel is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by nbkc bank, Member FDIC.

MEDIA CONTACT

pr-contact@envel.ai

SOURCE: Envel, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/650719/Envel-Raises-2M-Crowdfunding-Bringing-Total-Seed-to-475M
MAHE, SEYCHELLES / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Leading enterprise blockchain advisory company Move Digital is launching an educational series to help companies navigate the world of distributed ledger technology (DLT). The Beyond Blockchain series will be a fortnightly newsletter release that will provide enterprises with the latest updates in the world of DLT.

As noted in the first release of Beyond Blockchain, the series aims to educate enterprises on the wide variety of tools at their disposal. The inaugural release noted how the blockchain tools available to enterprises have advanced considerably since 2016.

Move Digital, led by Kristof Schoffling as CEO, works with enterprises to help these companies identify key bottlenecks in their operations and implement the appropriate blockchain tools to improve efficiency and security. Kristof Schoffling is a veteran entrepreneur in the digital space, having previously built well known businesses with millions of users in the niches of online gaming and import-export.

The potential cost reduction for enterprises as a result of implementing DLT solutions is tremendous. Business Insider previously estimated that roughly $20 billion in costs would be cut by enterprises by 2022 due to the introduction of DLT solutions.

By intelligently implementing blockchain solutions, enterprises can radically improve both security and efficiency while also adhering to environmentally-friendly initiatives. Energy-intensive proof-of-work algorithms are no longer synonymous with blockchain as the options available to those looking to implement such solutions have widely increased.

Move Digital has positioned itself to be a leading company that assists enterprises in implementing such solutions. With a myriad of possible implementation strategies, having experts overseeing the planning and introduction of such solutions has become critical.

Move Digital is a company which specializes in such activities. With the launch of the Beyond Blockchain educational series, even enterprises that don't have an advisory overseeing their strategies will be able to deepen their knowledge of the tools at their disposal.

About Move Digital

Move Digital is a distributed ledger technology advisory company that works with enterprises of various sizes. Led by veterans of the blockchain industry, Move Digital helps enterprises identify key bottlenecks in their operations and implement the appropriate solutions to address such inefficiencies. Move Digital has helped enterprises improve their processes in areas including supply chain, digital payments, digital identity, and security.

Media Contact

Company: Move Digital Limited

Contact: Kristof Schoffling, Director

E-mail: hello@movedigital.io

Website: https://movedigital.io/

Medium: https://movedigitaltoday.medium.com/

Address: House of Francis, Room 303, Ile Du Port, Mahe, Seychelles

SOURCE: Move Digital Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651240/Enterprise-Blockchain-Advisory-Company-Move-Digital-Led-by-Kristof-Schffling-Educational-Initiative
On June 4th, 2021, Xenco Medical unveiled HoloMedX, the first glasses-free holographic surgical simulation platform during a presentation by Xenco Medical Founder and CEO Jason Haider at the VR/AR Global Summit, the largest immersive tech event in the world. The transformative platform allows users to simulate an entire spine surgery in holographic space, without the need for any headgear or glasses. Integrated with a breakthrough Looking Glass light field display, the simulation platform instantly translates DICOM data such as CT and MRI scans into a detailed, interactive holographic reconstruction. The HoloMedX platform by Xenco Medical instantly adjusts the holographic scene to allow for glasses-free holographic viewing and interactivity by multiple users, simultaneously.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005258/en/

Xenco Medical Founder and CEO Jason Haider demonstrating holographic spinal implant placement with HoloMedX. (Photo: Business Wire)

Featuring a library of holographic implants based on Xenco Medical's actual spinal implants, the platform enables users to manipulate holographic anatomy and the holographic implants with air controllers modeled after Xenco Medical's disposable surgical instruments, allowing for deeper engagement with the platform. A transformative step in patient engagement and surgical training, HoloMedX enables a rich dialogue between patients and their physicians. The glasses-free nature of HoloMedX allows groups of users to visualize and engage with the holographic anatomy simultaneously, allowing for collaboration without the barrier of headgear.

"As a patient-centric company, we've made an outsized commitment to developing technologies that address the entire spectrum of a patient's surgical experience. By developing HoloMedX, the first glasses-free holographic surgical simulation platform, we're excited to offer patients an immersive opportunity to explore their own anatomy in holographic space while enhancing their surgeon's ability to educate them by simulating surgery in front of them," said Xenco Medical Founder and CEO Jason Haider.

The holographic platform by Xenco Medical offers users the opportunity to visualize and interact with a patient's spinal anatomy as a volumetric object, rather than a 2-dimensional data set. As an unprecedented educational tool for non-diagnostic use, HoloMedX affords users with an enhanced spatial experience of unique anatomy as well as the ways in which various Xenco Medical implants interact with each spine in holographic space. The holographic implant library in HoloMedX is based on Xenco Medical's single-use spinal implant systems, the first polymer-based devices of their kind. Unlike the traditional metal systems that are reused in hundreds of patients until a mechanical failure, Xenco Medical's single-use systems are perfectly calibrated and sterile-packaged for patient-specific use. HoloMedX is for non-diagnostic use only.

About Xenco Medical

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Xenco Medical is an American medical technology company committed to disruptive innovation for the purposes of creating a safer surgical environment. Through its line of disposable instruments and sterile packaged spinal systems, Xenco Medical seeks to streamline the surgical process with products unsurpassed in safety, efficiency, and traceability. For more information on Xenco Medical, visit www.xencomedical.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005258/en/

Contacts:

Xenco Medical

Brian Fitz

858-202-1505

sales@xencomedical.com
SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tattoo-inspired vegan beauty brand, KVD Beauty introduces its new Global Director of Artistry, world-renowned, British makeup artist Nikki Wolff. Best known for creating glamorous, graphic looks and mastering the so-called natural glow, Wolff is loved by celebrities, press and influencers alike, notably having worked with Dua Lipa, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Yara Shahida, and Kendall Jenner, among many others. Her work has gained her a massive fan following of over 1.7 million on Instagram under her eponymous handle @Nikki_Makeup.

Serving as the Global Director of Artistry, Wolff joins the talented Global Veritas Artistry team which include @FannyMaurer from France, @ChristianSchild from Germany, @TheSandraSaenz from U.S.A., and @AnthonyHNguyenMakeup from U.S.A. As part of her role, Wolff will also consult on new product development and innovation as well as serving as a lead artist on KVD Beauty's branded campaigns and marketing efforts.

"KVD Beauty continues to amaze me with their innovation of high quality and high-performance makeup, truly representing next-level artistry," states Celebrity Makeup Artist Nikki Wolff. "As a member of the makeup artist community, I've always counted on the brand to deliver versatile products that have aided me in editorial shoots, red carpets and more. Being a great makeup artist is all about experimentation and practice and their products give me the creative freedom to do so. I'm so honored to be taking on the role as Global Director of Artistry at KVD Beauty and I am excited to work together on new product launches and overall, be a part of their legacy in the makeup industry."

"We're so thrilled to be collaborating with Nikki Wolff and welcome her to the KVD Beauty team," states Tara Loftis, Global Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for Kendo Brands. "We have been following her career since the very beginning and have been in constant awe at the influence she has had - she's become an Instagram celebrity in her own right! Her vision and commitment for the craft aligns seamlessly with the brand. We are excited for her involvement in the product development process as KVD Beauty continues to deliver tattoo-inspired makeup to consumers."

Based in London, Wolff embarked on her makeup career training at the prestigious London College of Fashion. During her time there, she landed her first job as an apprenticeship with a fashion photographer doing makeup for the models. The experience provided her with a better understanding of the power of makeup, and its ability to transform your look. Since then, Wolff has become the go-to for many celebrities and influencers. Wolff now boasts a repertoire of clients that include A-list celebrities and socialites while her work with top editorials such as VOGUE, ELLE, and Marie Claire has earned her a high-profile status of her own.

The partnership with Nikki Wolff comes right in time as the brand recently unveiled the KVD Beauty ModCon Liquid-Gel Blush, which started to receive buzz even before its release. It's the brand's next must-have product following the success of Good Apple Foundation.

For more information, visit kvdbeauty.com and connect with us at @KVDBeauty on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

ABOUT GLOBAL VERITAS TEAM:

Sandra Saenz (U.S.A.): Fusing her aspirations of becoming a plastic surgeon and painter, Sandra found her passion in makeup artistry. She is proud to be the first Mexican hijab-wearing makeup artist to secure agency representation in the U.S.A.

Anthony Nguyen (U.S.A.): Makeup has served as Anthony's creative outlet for storytelling. He is known for his versatility in creating highly innovative and conceptual looks for editorials, to simplistic beauty for the red carpet, working with many notable celebrities and on international campaigns.

Christian Schild (Germany): Chris started as a hairdresser and soon began working as a freelance hair and makeup artist in 2010, which spurred his passion for makeup. It didn't take long for him to book international clients in the beauty and fashion industry. He is known for his creative mind and his love for every little detail.

Fanny Maurer (France): Passionate about music, she started working with rock bands on tour in Europe and the United States, discovering her love of tattoos. A few years later, she collaborated with talented artists in the fashion industry, exposing herself to the world of makeup that led her to her career today.

ABOUT KVD BEAUTY:

KVD Beauty stands for Kara, Veritas, Decora-Value, Truth, Beauty-because your truth is valuable and beautiful. We create high-pigment, high-performance makeup inspired by tattoo artistry, like our #1 award-winning Tattoo Liner. With long-wear, ink-like pigment and needle-sharp precision, it's the uncontested holy grail of liquid eyeliner. But we stand for more than just performance: Our makeup is 100% vegan and cruelty-free, we care about the planet, and we champion artistry of all kinds-not just makeup. We celebrate the individual through artistic self-expression and limitless creativity. And above all, we give you the tools to live your beauty truth.

ABOUT KENDO

KENDO BRANDS solely owns and operates KVD BEAUTY. KENDO is an innovative beauty brand incubator that creates and acquires beauty brands and turns them into global powerhouses: FENTY Beauty by Rihanna, OLEHENRIKSEN Skincare, Marc Jacobs Beauty, Bite Beauty, Lip Lab Stores, and KVD Beauty. KENDO offices are in San Francisco, Paris, Dubai, London, Sao Paulo, Sydney and Singapore.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1529709/KVD_Beauty_Nikki_Wolff.jpg

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Kelowna, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Enduro Metals Corporation (TSXV: ENDR) (OTCQB: ENDMF) (FSE: SOG.FF) ("Enduro Metals" or the "Company") is pleased to report initial results from a Platinum Group Element ("PGE") analysis. The first batch of results has identified the presence of significant palladium in drill core selected from the Burgundy/72' system. This area is 1 of 4 major systems within the Company's 654 square kilometre Newmont Lake Project situated in the heart of BC's prolific Golden Triangle.

Additionally, the Company is pleased to advise it has engaged Dr. Alan Wilson, one of the world's foremost experts on alkalic copper-gold porphyry deposits through GeoAqua Consultants Ltd., to provide technical expertise to the Newmont Lake Project.

Highlights:

Diamond Drill Hole ST19-06 intersected 22.28m of 0.89% copper, 0.71 g/t gold, 0.26 g/t palladium, and 6.65 g/t silver starting at 228m downhole (see News Release dated October 9th, 2019). Individual samples are as high as 1.29 g/t palladium over 1.9m.

A limited number of samples were taken over a 22.28m interval and an expanded PGE analysis of drill core is now underway.

The blind drill target was uncovered using advanced hyperspectral technology and analysis.

Dr. Alan Wilson is widely considered to be among the world's foremost experts in alkalic porphyry deposits and will be at Newmont Lake for a portion of the 2021 exploration program.

Palladium is the most valuable of the four major precious metals worldwide (currently $2,835 USD per ounce). It is a distinct characteristic of mines/deposits in British Columbia including Galore Creek, Mt. Milligan, Mt. Polley, New Afton/Afton, and Ajax.

About Dr. Alan Wilson:

Dr. Alan Wilson is an economic geologist with three decades of experience in the exploration of base and precious metal deposits globally, as well as extensive commercial and strategic experience in deal structures for mineral projects globally. Dr. Wilson has worked for several of the world's largest mining companies over his career including International Exploration Manager of Grupo Antofagasta Minerals, Copper Commodity Leader for Anglo American, District Geologist for Newcrest Mining, Senior Geologist for Billiton, and Senior Geologist for Rio Tinto.

Dr. Wilson obtained his PhD in Economic Geology at the University of Tasmania, Australia in 2003, completing the first detailed geological and genetic study of the then-recently discovered Cadia alkalic gold-copper porphyry deposits in Australia. His widely published work at Cadia, and subsequent exploration and technical evaluations of alkalic porphyry systems worldwide has established Alan as a recognised technical and exploration expert in alkalic porphyry deposits. Alan is a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, through which he holds Chartered Geologist accreditation.





Figure 1: Merged Total Magnetic Intensity ("TMI") data across the Newmont Lake Property shows multiple areas of interest for alkalic porphyry mineralization confirmed by boots-on-ground exploration and drilling. Large magnetic anomalies are indicative of plutons potentially capable of forming large alkalic copper-gold porphyry deposits.

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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6406/87178_55059fde949299ce_002full.jpg

Cole Evans, CEO of Enduro Metals commented, "We are excited to have Dr. Wilson at Newmont Lake this season to work with our technical team on refining drill targets at a number of our prospects. His expertise in alkalic copper-gold porphyry deposits will be invaluable as we look to expand on our results to date in multiple areas of copper-gold interest.

Due to their size, grade, and rarity, alkalic porphyry deposits are arguably amongst the most sought after and difficult to find deposit types in the world. Traditionally, efforts to identify and delineate PGE's in alkalic systems is not widely implemented, but research by the geological community is advancing our understanding on how these deposits may also represent a substantial secondary inventory of PGE resources worldwide, and it is important we integrate this knowledge into our exploration efforts moving forward.

From our very limited PGE sampling to date, I am encouraged that Pd/Au and Pd/Pt ratios are comparable to other silica-undersaturated deposits in the Canadian Cordillera, including our neighbour Galore Creek. The geochronological work completed by UBC Okanagan earlier this year (see News Release dated January 18th, 2021) suggests the Burgundy/72' system to be coeval to Galore Creek and our boots-on-the-ground exploration work suggests the system is also comparable in geometry, rock composition, alteration, and mineralization.

It should be noted PGE concentrations are not always correlated with high concentrations of copper and gold, suggesting we could see areas of higher PGE concentrations with more exploration and analysis."

A combination of current market conditions, and scientific advancements by the geological community (latest Hanley et., al. 2020) aimed to further the understanding and development of PGE's in several alkalic porphyry deposits globally has made palladium a precious metal of secondary interest in alkalic copper-gold porphyry deposits.

In response, a small-scale analysis was undertaken to determine whether hypogene mineralization intersected at Burgundy/72' contained notable PGE content, as represented by the analytical results. Given the positive results of the small-scale test, further PGE analysis is underway on 2019 drill core from the Company's "first-pass" drill program at Burgundy/72' to determine the extent of palladium mineralization.

Hole ID: From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu

(%) Pd

(g/t) Pt (g/t) ST19-06 228 250.28 22.28 0.71 6.65 0.89 0.26 0.03 including 234 239.30 5.30 0.80 7.76 1.09 0.82 0.10



Table 1: Initial assay results from limited PGE analysis of drill core at the 72' zone at Burgundy.





Figure 2: World map showing Cu-Au porphyry deposits known to be PGE enriched or have distinct PGE mineral phases, and the Newmont Lake Project's location (modified from Hanley et al., 2020; Economou-Eliopoulos, 2005).

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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6406/87178_55059fde949299ce_003full.jpg

Figure 3: Precious metal ratios for selected PGE-enriched porphyry deposits categorized as Canadian or Global with preliminary Pd/Au - Pd/Pt ratios from limited sampling/drilling completed to date in the Burgundy/72' system (modified after Hanley et. al., 2020). Burgundy/72' is thought to be a silica-undersaturated alkalic system with similarities to Galore Creek and Mt. Polley. Note the generally high Pd/Pt ratio of deposits in British Columbia relative to other global deposits.



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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6406/87178_55059fde949299ce_004full.jpg





Figure 4: Stockwork and disseminated chalcopyrite-bornite associated with secondary K-feldspar, hematite, and "shreddy" biotite typical of a potassic alteration assemblage.

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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6406/87178_55059fde949299ce_005full.jpg

Cited Work

Economou-Eliopoulos, M. (2005). Platinum-group element potential of porphyry deposits. In J. Mungall (Ed.), Exploration for platinum-group elements deposits (pp. 203-246). Mineralogical Association of Canada Short Course Series 35. Quebec City, QC: Mineralogical Association of Canada.

Hanley, J., Kerr, M., LeFort, D., Warren, M., MacKenzie, M., & Sedge, C. (2020). Enrichment of platinum-group elements (PGE) in alkalic porphyry Cu-Au deposits in the Canadian Cordillera: New insights from mineralogical and fluid inclusion studies. Porphyry Deposits of the Northwestern Cordillera of North America: A 25-Year Update, Special Volume 57 p 88-109, Montreal, QC: Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, & Petroleum.

QAQC / Analytical Procedures

Core samples from the Newmont Lake Project were sent to MSALABS' preparation facility in Terrace, B.C., where samples were prepared using method PRP-910. Samples were dried, crushed to 2mm, split 250g and pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns. Prepped samples were sent to MSALABS' analytical facility in Langley, B.C, where 50g pulps were analyzed for gold using method FAS-221 (fire assay-AAS finish). Gold assays greater than 100 g/t Au were automatically analyzed using FAS-425 (fire assay with a gravimetric finish). Rock samples were analyzed for 48 elements using method IMS-230, multi-element ICP-MS 4-acid digestion, ultra-trace level. Silver assay results greater than 100 g/t Ag and copper, lead, and zinc greater than 10,000ppm were automatically analyzed by ore grade method ICF-6.

Enduro Metals conducts its own QA/QC program where five standard reference material pulps, five blank reference material samples, and two field duplicates are inserted for every 100 samples when analyzing core samples.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Maurizio Napoli, P. Geo., Director for Enduro Metals, a Qualified Person responsible for the scientific and technical information contained herein under National Instrument 43-101 standards.

About Enduro Metals

Enduro Metals is an exploration company focused on it's flagship Newmont Lake Project; a total 652km2 property located between Eskay Creek, Snip, and Galore Creek within the heart of northwestern British Columbia's Golden Triangle. Enduro entered into an option agreement to acquire 436km2 from Romios Gold Resources who has carefully amalgamated the area since 2005 from numerous smaller operators. Remaining terms on the option agreement are a $1,000,000 CAD cash payment, and issuance of 4 million Common Shares to Romios Gold Resources. Romios will retain a 2% Net Smelter Returns Royalty (an "NSR") on the Newmont Lake Project, or on any after-acquired claims within a 5 km radius of the original boundary of the project, which may be reduced at any time to a 1% NSR on the payment of $2 million per 0.5% NSR. The remaining 218km2 is owned 100% by Enduro and was acquired via staking or cash purchase. Building on prior results, the Company's geological team have outlined 4 deposit environments of interest across the Newmont Lake Project including high-grade epithermal/skarn gold along the McLymont Fault, copper-gold alkalic porphyry mineralization at Burgundy, high-grade epithermal/skarn silver/zinc at Cuba, and a large 9km x 4km geochemical anomaly hosting various gold, silver, copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, and lead mineralization along the newly discovered Chachi Corridor.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

ENDURO METALS CORPORATION

"Cole Evans"

President/CEO

For further information please contact:

Investor Relations

Sean Kingsley - Director of Communications

Tel: +1 (604) 440-8474

Email: info@endurometals.com

https://www.endurometals.com

As a continued effort to keep investors, interested parties and stakeholders updated, we have launched new communication initiatives. If you have any questions online (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram) feel free to send direct messages or a post and include the hashtag askENDR.

To book a one-on-one 30-minute Zoom video call directly click here: https://endurometals.youcanbook.me

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively herein referred to as "forward-looking information"). Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Enduro's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking statements in this document includes statements, but is not limited to results, analyses and interpretations of exploration and drilling programs; our grassroots exploration program, our mining (including mining methods), expansion, exploration, and development activities, geological and mineralization interpretations and the plans, results, costs, and timing thereof. Platinum Group Element finds are limited, and further analysis will be required to determine any economic significance. Although Enduro believes the forward-looking information contained in this news release is reasonable based on information available on the date hereof, by their nature forward-looking statements involve assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with general economic conditions the effect of a pandemic and particularly the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations and the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on our workforce, suppliers and other essential resources and what effect those impacts, if they occur, would have on our business, financial condition and results of operations; assumptions regarding expected capital costs, operating costs and expenditures, production schedules, economic returns and other projections;; adverse industry events; future legislative and regulatory developments in the mining sector; the Company's ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favorable terms; mining industry and markets in Canada and generally; the ability of Enduro to implement its business strategies; competition; and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties.

This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of our forward-looking information. Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, actions, events, conditions, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results, actions, events, conditions, performance, or achievements to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

For US Investors

Enduro Metals cautions that this release has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Information included in this media release have been prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Canadian standards, including NI 43-101, differ significantly from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and information contained herein may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87178
DGAP-News: CECONOMY AG / Key word(s): Sustainability

CECONOMY AG: Commitment for more sustainability: CECONOMY joins the 'Green Consumption Pledge Initiative' of the European Commission



10.06.2021 / 15:20

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Commitment for more sustainability: CECONOMY joins the "Green Consumption Pledge Initiative" of the European Commission

The parent company of MediaMarkt and Saturn is one of the first European retail companies to join the voluntary initiative launched as part of the European Climate Pact

CECONOMY makes a binding commitment to a better carbon footprint and to a wider range of sustainable products

Progress towards achieving goals will be communicated transparently - also to consumers

Dusseldorf, 10 June 2021 - CECONOMY AG ("CECONOMY"), the parent company of MediaMarkt and Saturn, has joined the "Green Consumption Pledge Initiative" of the European Commission. In doing so, the company commits itself to concrete sustainability targets and transparent communication about the progress made on each topic. CECONOMY is one of the first European retail companies to join the voluntary initiative launched as part of the European Climate Pact.

CECONOMY is committed to improving its carbon footprint and promoting sustainable business practices, and has set measurable goals in this regard:

CECONOMY aims to increase the annual sourcing of electricity from renewable energies to 100 % by the end of 2023. By comparison, this figure was around 80 % in 2020.

In addition, CECONOMY is aiming for climate neutrality for so-called "Scope 1 emissions" and "Scope 2 emissions" (this refers to direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions of a company) by the end of 2023 on the calculation basis of net zero carbon emissions.

CECONOMY aims to reduce the net CO 2 intensity [1] of its so-called "Scope 3 emissions" by 30 % by the end of 2033 compared to the base year 2019 [2] . Relevant Scope 3 categories are purchased goods and services (indirect spent, private label products) as well as transportation and distribution.

intensity of its so-called "Scope 3 emissions" by 30 % by the end of 2033 compared to the base year 2019 . Relevant Scope 3 categories are purchased goods and services (indirect spent, private label products) as well as transportation and distribution. The number of sustainably labelled products in the company's own assortment is also to be continuously increased. By the end of 2023, the company wants to double this number.

Consumers can follow the status of the respective objectives: CECONOMY will publish the progress made under this initiative annually on its own website, among other places.

"With our participation in the "Green Consumption Pledge Initiative" of the European Commission, we underline the claim of our sustainability strategy. We stand by our sustainability commitments and we will measure our progress on an ongoing basis," says Dr Bernhard Duttmann, CEO of CECONOMY. "At the same time, as Europe's largest retail company for consumer electronics, we want to be a role model for the entire industry with our participation, and shape and form responsible and sustainable business practices."

Launched in early 2021, the Green Consumption Pledge Initiative is part of the European Climate Pact, a far-reaching package of measures to transform the European continent into a climate-neutral continent by 2050. The purpose of the Green Consumption Pledge Initiative is to motivate companies to participate in climate protection measures. The pledge asks signatories to adhere to at least three of five core principles dealing with CO 2 emissions, transparency, industry best practices and the distribution of sustainable products. The initiative is currently in the pilot phase. CECONOMY is one of six companies that recently joined this initiative.

Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice: "I welcome the commitments made by those six companies for concrete actions towards greater sustainable production and consumption, beyond what is required by EU law. This determination to step up climate action shows the kind of effort European consumers want to see. By now eleven companies are already participating in the Green Pledge and I am looking forward to even more in the future!"



Further information

For information on CECONOMY's goals under the Green Consumption Pledge Initiative, click here: https://www.ceconomy.de/en/sustainability/eu-green-consumption-pledge/

General information on the "Green Consumption Pledge Initiative" of the European Commission can be found here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/consumers/consumer-protection/green-consumption-pledge-initiative_en



About CECONOMY

CECONOMY AG empowers life in the digital world. It is leading for concepts and brands in the field of consumer electronics. The companies in the current CECONOMY portfolio have billions of consumer contacts per year and provide products, services and solutions that make life in the digital world easy and enjoyable, creating value for consumers and shareholders alike.



Contact

CECONOMY AG

Kaistr. 3

40221 Dusseldorf

Investor Relations

Phone +49 (0) 211 5408-7222

Email IR@ceconomy.de



Communications, Public Policy & Sustainability

Phone +49 (0) 151 5822-4202

Email Presse@ceconomy.de

[1] Net CO2 emissions in relation to total turnover.

[2] Baseline for private label products is year 2021.
LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CleanEquity was founded in 2007 by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco & Mungo Park, Chair of Innovator Capital. The conference, aimed at accelerating development and implementation of sustainable technology innovation, returns on 22nd & 23rdJuly 2021.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Over 600 companies across 11 sectors and 70 sub-sectors are sourced annually by Innovator Capital's CleanEquity team. The 30 best-in-class technologies, chosen by the selection committee are invited to present at the conference. The invitation-only conference is attended by financial, strategic, sovereign, corporate and family investors, established industry representatives, government officials, end users and international trade media. The chosen companies must meet high standards of unique technological differentiation, global relevance & impact, management ability & integrity, intellectual property and self-sustaining revenue potential.

In the 14 years since its founding, more than 350 companies have presented their ideas and solutions to advance climate change mitigation and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. These companies have since gone on to raise over US$2 billion.

The conference provides an intimate and collegiate setting. This allows entrepreneurs to share their stories with established delegates and investors in key decision-making positions who share CleanEquity's ambition to address the climate crisis by supporting sustainable technologies with reaching their commercial and strategic goals. CleanEquity's proven team works efficiently to facilitate introductions and meetings before, during and after the conference.

In 2020 we joined forces with EarthX TV and opened our doors to a live, global audience. During the two day conference, over 28,000 people tuned in. We shall build on this success in 2021.

We are delighted to be partnering with Covington & Burling LLP for their 12th year. Andrew Jack, Partner and co-chair of Covington & Burling's Energy Industry Group, commented:

"In a time of global disruption and societal inflection, we all need reminders that the future remains full of promise if we seize the opportunities that are before us. As long time sponsors and supporters of CleanEquity, we at Covington deeply appreciate the differentiated value proposition that CleanEquity holds for that promise by convening leading entrepreneurs, investors and advisors from around the globe to drive progress in commercializing transformational sustainable technologies and expanding sustainability thought leadership.

Covington is proud to support and assist CleanEquity through our year-round commitment of a dedicated group of senior technology, policy and transactional lawyers to source and advise CleanEquity investors and presenting companies. And as the conference continues to leverage the unique in-person features of its special setting in Monaco while also expanding its reach through a virtual medium on EarthX, we look forward to greater opportunities to connect with a broader universe of conference participants.

In a world that is increasingly complex and resetting rules in recovery from the pandemic, Covington & Burling has built a powerful firm-wide capability to help our clients navigate the intersection of law and policy, a capability which is aligned perfectly with the dynamic development of the global sustainable technology sector and the focus of events such as CleanEquity Monaco. The firm's transactional and technology expertise coupled with our ability to advise on the toughest legal, policy and commercial challenges produces consistent results for our clients' businesses."

For further information about attending CleanEquity Monaco 2021, please use the contact details below or visit the conference website: www.cleanequitymonaco.com

Contact:

Conor Barrett

Innovator Capital

conor.barrett@innovator-capital.com

Twitter: @CleanEquity

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Sir Ronald Cohen, the father of British venture capital among inspiring list of 150 keynote speakers

BARCELONA, Spain, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 4YFN (Four Years From Now) 2021, the GSMA's key innovation platform, will be in the heart of MWC Barcelona for the first time this year. Combining these two influential events recognises the critical role startups play in fulfilling the potential of mobile technology. Taking place at Fira Gran Via from 28th June to 1st July 2021, this move creates value and fosters broader networking for all attendees of the world's largest connectivity event, connecting everyone and everything to a better future.

Mobile technology is central to futureproofing our economy, and innovation and startups are at the heart of this pursuit. Sir Ronald Cohen is among an impressive list of 150 speakers, including:

Iker Marcaide - Founder and CEO, Zubi Labs

Ana Maiques - Founder and CEO, Neuroelectrics

- Founder and CEO, Neuroelectrics Mattias Ljungman - Founder and CEO, Moonfire Ventures and co-founder, Atomico

- Founder and CEO, Moonfire Ventures and co-founder, Atomico Aron Schwarzkopf - Co-founder and CEO, Kushki

- Co-founder and CEO, Kushki Oscar Hugland - Co-founder and CEO, Epidemic Sound

- Co-founder and CEO, Epidemic Sound Yossi Vardi - 4YFN Chairman

Over 400 international startups will exhibit their latest products in the Innovation Market and 200 startups will pitch their ideas in the 4YFN Discovery Area, hoping to attract the attention of leading funds, VCs, and CVCs.

"The world is changing at unprecedented speeds. The mobile ecosystem must seize this moment to be a force for change - contributing to society and the planet so that we are proud of what we pass on to future generations," said Pere Duran, 4YFN Series Director. "There are many inspiring examples of startups working to tackle some of the world's most pressing issues and, this year, the event aims to encourage a more inclusive tech ecosystem, to accelerate and to celebrate those startups poised to make a real positive impact."

A new summit, the 4YFN Investor Programme, is dedicated to knowledge-sharing among the investor community. Also new for 2021, the 4YFN Impact Programme will include a dedicated summit and awards ceremony - the 4YFN Impact Awards Finale shining a spotlight on the best digital startups from around the globe making a positive contribution towards The Sustainable Development Goals.

Join us at one of the world's most influential startup events by registering here, https://www.4yfn.com/registration/.

About GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with almost 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading MWC events held annually in Barcelona, Africa, Los Angeles and Shanghai, as well as the Thrive Series of regional conferences. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.

About 4YFN

4YFN is the startup event of the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry, GSMA MWC. Our goal is to support startups, investors and companies to connect and launch new business ventures together.

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Media Contacts:

GSMA Press Office

pressoffice@gsma.com
NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Klarna, the leading global payments provider, retail bank, and shopping service, today confirms a new equity funding of USD 639 million. The round was led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 ,with additional participation from existing investors Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group, to support international expansion and further capture global retail growth. Klarna's other investors include Sequoia Capital, SilverLake, Dragoneer, Permira, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bestseller Group, Ant Group, Northzone, GIC - Singapore's sovereign wealth fund - as well as funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and HMI. The post-money valuation of Klarna is USD 45.6 billion and remains the highest-valued private fintech in Europe and the second-highest worldwide. As part of the GiveOne initiative established by Klarna earlier this year, 1% of this equity raised will be directed to initiatives supporting planet health.



Klarna enables consumers to shop, pay and bank in a smarter way, designed to fit the lives they lead, rather than the requirements of the traditional payments and banking industry. The ongoing structural shift of consumers turning away from revolving credit lines where they incur interest or fees to debit and simultaneously seeking superior retail experiences means Klarna's healthier, more transparent and convenient alternatives, which put consumers in control are closely aligned to evolving global consumer preferences and drive global growth.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna Founder and CEO said: "Consumers continue to reject interest-and fee-laden revolving credit and are moving toward debit while simultaneously seeking retail experiences that better meet their needs. Klarna's more transparent and convenient alternatives align with evolving global consumer preferences and drive worldwide growth. I'm very proud of the investors who are supporting Klarna's ambition to challenge these outdated models to empower consumers with fair, transparent, and convenient products to help them bank, shop and pay each day."

Yanni Pipilis, managing partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers said, "Klarna's growth is founded on a deep understanding of how the purchasing behaviors of consumers are changing, an evolution which we believe is accelerating. Klarna has already successfully expanded into the US and we are excited to continue supporting the team in bringing the next generation of financial services to new markets worldwide."

Eric Munson, founder and CIO of Adit Ventures said, "Adit Ventures is a proud Klarna investor. We are excited to watch this unique brand continue to challenge the boundaries of modern payments, banking, and shopping. Klarna's rapid growth has been a testament to their innovation, leadership, and execution-however, we believe the best is yet to come as Klarna multiplies their addressable market through global expansion."

David Fiszel, founder and CIO of Honeycomb Asset Management said: "Honeycomb is proud to add to our earlier investments in Klarna. We are excited to support its long-term global growth initiatives and mission to redefine the consumer purchasing experience at scale. Klarna truly is a unique founder-led company with a world-class management team focused on innovation in the rapidly-growing fintech sector."Charlie Young, partner at WestCap commented: "Klarna is leading a revolution in consumer preference, and has already reimagined the payments, eCommerce, and banking experience for tens of millions of people. Klarna's global scale and leading market position create even more opportunity for the business going forward. WestCap is pleased to partner with Klarna at this exciting moment in the company's history."

Klarna is available direct to consumers via the company's shopping app, used by 18m customers worldwide as well as at over 250,000 retailers globally. In the app, consumers can browse and shop at any brand online with Klarna payment options, allowing them to pay immediately or later, manage spending and available balances, add favorite items to collections, initiate refunds, access tailored discounts, receive price-drop notifications, track deliveries intelligently and join Klarna's loyalty program, Vibe.



Klarna's Q1 2021 results evidence how such services are resonating with consumers, recording over USD 18.9bn (Q1 2020: USD 9.9bn) for the period driven by growth in all markets and exceptional momentum in the US with over 18 million American consumers now using Klarna. In 2020, the Klarna app consistently ranked among the Top 10 app downloads in the US and this momentum continues as downloads in 2021 have increased 125% year on year, propelling record volumes in March 2021. Klarna is now live with 24 of the top 100 US retailers, more than any of its competitors, illustrating our position as the global shopping partner of choice. Equally, Klarna's global footprint across 17 markets continues to grow, with a number of new markets launching in 2021 including France just this week, soon to be the largest e-commerce market in Europe worth over USD 185bn by 20243. This funding round provides

GiveOne, the initiative to support planet health established by Klarna earlier this year, with its third significant donation since launch. Recent investor A$AP Rocky pledged to support the Miti Alliance in Kenya and its founder Michael Waiyaki, who is fighting to slow down the effects of climate change due to deforestation. Klarna has also launched a CO2 tracker on every purchase. In one of the largest-ever awareness-raising efforts on carbon footprints, 90 million Klarna consumers across all markets are now provided with the kgCO2 value on every purchase.

1 As of the date of this press release, SoftBank Group Corp. has made capital contributions to allow investments by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 ("SVF 2") in certain portfolio companies. The information included herein is made for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy limited partnership interests in any fund, including SVF 2. SVF 2 has yet to have an external close, and any potential third-party investors shall receive additional information related to any SVF 2 investments prior to closing.

2 https://www.cbinsights.com/research-unicorn-companies

3 https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/france-e-commerce-market-size-2021---latest-research-report-to-share-growth-strategy-industry-share-covid-19-impact-analysis-key-findings-and-forecast-by-cagr-till-2024-2021-05-28



ENDS



For further information, please contact Klarna at:

Aoife Houlihan, VP of Communications

Phone: +46 (0) 72855 8047

Email: aoife.houlihan@klarna.com / press@klarna.com

About Klarna

With over 90 million global active users and 2 million transactions a day, Klarna is meeting the changing demands of consumers who want to shop, pay and bank on one intuitive platform and with one trusted brand. Over 250,000 global retail partners, including H&M, Saks, Sephora, Macys, IKEA, Expedia Group, Samsung, ASOS, Peloton, Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike and Shein have enabled Klarna's innovative shopping experience online and in-store. Klarna is one of the most highly valued private fintechs globally with a valuation of $45.6 billion. Klarna was founded in 2005, has over 4,000 employees and is active in 17 markets. Klarna has been backed by Sequoia Capital since 2010 and more recently, SilverLake, Dragoneer, Bestseller Group, Permira, Ant Group, HMI Capital, TCV, NorthZone, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock amongst others.

About Adit Ventures:

Adit Ventures is a family-office owned investment firm with offices in California, Florida, New York, Texas and Utah. An "Adit" is an entrance to a mine and serves as an anagram for the firm's services, since it provides Access, Diligence, Insight and works with Trusted partners across the United States and around the world. Team Adit has relationships cultivated over their 150 years of principal investing experience.Adit seeks to capitalize on long-term secular trends in the global economy where they see dynamic areas of growth. It is in these sectors Adit sees the best opportunities for long term capital appreciation and to make a positive impact on the world by improving quality of life, while generating a healthy return on our invested capital in alignment with their investors & principles. Adit has invested in some of the world's leading companies with exits in Airbnb, DocSend, GoPro, Lemonade, Palantir, SharesPost, SoFi, Spotify, Snap and Lyft.

About WestCap

The WestCap Group is a growth equity firm founded by Laurence A. Tosi, who, together with the WestCap team, has founded, capitalized, and operated tech-enabled, asset-light marketplaces for over 20 years. With over $2 billion of assets under management, WestCap has made notable investments in technology businesses such as Airbnb, StubHub, iPreo, Skillz, Sonder, Addepar, Hopper, iCapital and Bolt. To learn more about WestCap, please visit WestCap.com.

About Honeycomb Asset Management

Honeycomb Asset Management was founded by David Fiszel in 2016 and specializes in public equities and private investments. The honeycomb is one of nature's best examples of a scalable and repeatable process driven by a common purpose - this serves as the inspiration to Honeycomb's business. The firm's mandate is to invest in the future and short the past through rigorous fundamental company analysis.

Honeycomb seeks to identify secular growth opportunities as the foundation of its public and private portfolios. The firm has invested in some of the most innovative private companies, including Palantir, SpaceX, Spotify, Peloton, Mirror and MasterClass.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Quartz Mountain Resources Ltd. ("Quartz Mountain" or the "Company") (TSXV:QZM)(OTC PINK:QZMRF) announces that it has entered into a mineral claims purchase agreement to purchase nine mineral claims located near Houston, British Columbia for CAD$105,000 in cash and 1,000,000 shares in the capital of the Company, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. The claims are subject to a 2.5% NSR which can be bought-down to 1% for $1.5 million. There are no required work commitments for these claims as the transaction is not an option, however material exploration of this acquisition will need to await a financing which the Company will seek going forward.

For further details, contact Investor Services at (604) 684-6365 or within North America at 1-800-667-2114.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Leonie Tomlinson

Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements include expectations about the likelihood of completing the private placement and share consolidation and the ability of the Company to secure regulatory acceptance for the private placement and share consolidation. Though the Company believes the expectations expressed in its forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are subject to future events and third party discretion such as regulatory personnel. For more information on the Company, and the risks and uncertainties connected with its business, investors should review the Company's home jurisdiction filings as www.sedar.com and its filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE: Quartz Mountain Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651217/Quartz-Mountain-Purchases-BC-Mineral-Claims
Rise in demand for renewable and sustainable energy sources, robust investments, and replacement of fossil fuel power drive the growth of the global hydraulic turbine market.

PORTLAND, Ore., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Hydraulic Turbines Market by Product (Reaction and Impulse), Rating (Small (Less Than 1MW), Medium (1MW to 10MW), and Large (10MW and Above)), and End-User (Industrial, Commercial, and Residential): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027". As per the report, the global hydraulic turbine industry generated $0.9 billion in 2019, and is estimated to reach $1.5 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 5.7% from 2020 to 2027.

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities

Rise in demand for renewable and sustainable energy sources, robust investments, and replacement of fossil fuel power drive the growth of the global hydraulic turbine market. However, high initial installation cost and location constraints hinder the market growth. On the contrary, government initiatives and subsidies are expected to open lucrative opportunities for the market players in the future.

Download Sample PDF (351 Pages PDF with Insights): https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/11465

Covid-19 scenario:

The cancellation of new projects due to COVID-19 pandemic and the followed lockdown has severely affected the market growth across the globe, especially in China and Brazil .

and . In addition, the industry players were forced to follow strict restrictions and social distancing norms, which affected the operations of hydraulic turbines.

The prolonged lockdown disrupted the supply chain. Moreover, the restrictions on international and domestic travel negatively impacted the ongoing projects.

The impulse segment held the largest share

By type, the impulse segment held the lion's share in 2019, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the global hydraulic turbine market. Moreover, the segment is estimated to register the highest CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period, due to rise in demand in small and medium-sized hydropower plants, and chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the Hydraulic Turbines Market: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/11465?reqfor=covid

The industrial segment is estimated to register the highest CAGR through 2027

By end-user, the industrial segment would manifest the highest CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period, due to strong demand from various industrial end-users for the generation of hydropower and new incentives and tax credit schemes from governments. However, the commercial segment held the largest share in 2019, contributing to more than two-fifths of the global hydraulic turbine market, owing to growing investment in commercial hydro energy market to achieve the goal for reduced emission.

Asia-Pacific, followed by North America, to portray the fastest growth from 2020 to 2027

By region, the global hydraulic turbine market across Asia-Pacific, followed by North America, is expected to register the highest CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period. Moreover, the region held the largest share in 2019, contributing to around half of the market. This is due to rise in concern from governments across emerging nations, such as China, India, and South Korea, regarding zero-emission norms.

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Major market players

General Electric Company

Andritz AG

Siemens AG

Kirloskar Brothers Ltd

Toshiba Hydroelectric Power

Litostroj Power Group

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits showed a modest decrease in the week ended June 5th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.



The report showed initial jobless claims edged down to 376,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 385,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 370,000.



With the slight drop, jobless claims once again fell to their lowest level since hitting 256,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020.



The less volatile four-week moving average also dropped to its lowest level in over a year, falling by 25,500 to 402,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 428,000.



Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also tumbled by 258,000 to 3.499 million in the week ended May 29th.



With the steep drop, continuing claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 3.094 million in the week ended March 21, 2020.



The four-week moving average of continuing claims also fell to a more than one-year low of 3,651,250, a decrease of 35,250 from the previous week's revised average of 3,686,500.



'The latest drop in continuing claims reminds us that a recovery in hiring is on track although it may occur at an uneven and gradual pace as constraints on labor supply are resolved,' said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead Economist at Oxford Economics.



Last Friday, the Labor Department released a separate report showing U.S. job growth reaccelerated in the month of May but still fell short of economist estimates.



The report said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 559,000 jobs in May after climbing by an upwardly revised 278,000 jobs in April.



Economists had expected employment to surge by 650,000 jobs compared to the addition of 266,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.



Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector showed another significant increase, spiking by 292,000 jobs during the month. Notable job growth was also seen in public and private education and health care and social assistance.



The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate fell to 5.8 percent in May from 6.1 percent in April, while economists had expected the unemployment rate to dip to 5.9 percent.



With the bigger than expected decrease, the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level since hitting 4.4 percent in March of 2020.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), together with HanesBrands, Inc. (HBI) and HBI Branded Apparel Enterprises, LLC has jointly filed 13 lawsuits against 17 defendants for selling silicone protective earbud case covers that illegally bear HanesBrands' registered Champion trademarks. The defendants attempted to offer the infringing products in Amazon's store, violating Amazon's policies, infringing on HanesBrands' registered Champion trademarks, and breaking the law. The lawsuits were filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. The lawsuits allege that the defendants used HanesBrands' registered Champion trademarks without authorization to deceive customers about the authenticity and origin of the products and to create a false affiliation with HanesBrands. Amazon closed the defendants' selling accounts. Amazon strictly prohibits infringing and counterfeit products in its store, and has invested more than $700 million and employed more than 10,000 people to proactively protect its store from bad actors and bad products. Amazon uses industry-leading tools to verify potential sellers' identities, and Amazon's proprietary systems analyze hundreds of unique data points to verify information provided by potential sellers. In June 2020, Amazon launched its Counterfeit Crimes Unit, a global team dedicated to pursuing bad actors and holding them accountable to the fullest extent of the law, including by working with law enforcement. It already has filed joint lawsuits with Italian luxury brands Valentino and Ferragamo, cosmetics brand KF Beauty, family travel accessory brand JL Childress, cooler manufacturer YETI, and family-owned-and-operated card game company Dutch Blitz. 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) - Drugstore chain Walgreens is extending its pharmacy hours of operation every Friday in June to provide those who may have limited time the additional flexibility needed to get a COVID-19 vaccine. This is intended to help boost COVID-19 vaccination access across the country as part of the Biden Administration's National Month of Action. The Administration had set July 4 as the deadline to have more than 70 percent of adults in the nation with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. On the next three Friday's in month of June, 4,000 Walgreens pharmacy locations will extend hours of operation for walk-in vaccinations. The three dates are June 11, 18 and 25. Additionally, Walgreens has more than 400 24-hour pharmacy locations across the country where individuals can receive a COVID-19 vaccine on a walk-in basis. Walgreens noted that individuals can continue scheduling appointments, including same-day appointments, based on availability in their area, through Walgreens.com/ScheduleVaccine or calling 1-800-Walgreens, with options in both English and Spanish. 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.
NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SPECTRM, the conversational marketing automation platform brands use to engage customers on the world's most popular messaging channels , announced today it now integrates with Google's Business Messages. Business Messages connects brands with customers to chat in moments of need where they are, enabling businesses to convert discovery on Google Search and Maps into personalized messaging experiences that drive loyalty, trust and sales.

Consumer demand for messaging businesses has accelerated with ecommerce growth due to the pandemic. 9 out of 10 consumers want to message brands , and 75% prefer to engage brands in private messaging channels vs traditional channels. Google's 92% share of search and 70% share of the navigation app market worldwide makes it by far the most popular discovery tool for consumers online.

"We're thrilled to add Google's Business Messages to our growing list of messaging channels," said Max Koziolek, CEO at Spectrm. "Nearly every digital experience starts with search. Now businesses can connect personally with customers at the start of the buyer journey and automate conversational experiences to drive deeper engagement. Brands can deliver one to one personalization in real-time, before people even visit a website."

92% of leading marketers believe using first-party data to continuously build an understanding of what people want is critical to growth. Spectrm's platform makes first-party data collected during conversational experiences in Business Messages actionable at scale. It enables businesses to offer AI-powered assistive experiences at every stage of the customer lifecycle:

Build trust and improve customer experiences by automating pre-purchase FAQs to answer in moments of need.

Accelerate sales by guiding shoppers and dynamically recommending products and content in carousels.

Re-engage customers with relevant offers on their preferred channel.

Andreas Nita, Partner Manager EMEA at Google, commented, "We're delighted the first brands to launch on Business Messages with Spectrm include Groupon, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Jawwy from stc and more. It shows global brands are embracing messaging as a way to engage customers more meaningfully to drive their growth."

For details visit Spectrm's Google's Business Messages Solutions .

For press enquiries contact ben@spectrm.io .

ABOUT SPECTRM.IO

Spectrm is the leading conversational marketing automation platform for brands to engage and convert customers on search, social and display. Spectrm's chatbot analytics, marketing automation solutions and conversational AI make it easy to personalize customer experiences at scale. No coding required.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Big weddings are finally back thanks to an ease in restrictions, with half (51%) of couples getting married this year inviting 100 or more guests, and one in five (22%) inviting 150 or more, research by INDOCHINO reveals. And as 41% of this year's weddings are rescheduled dates from 2020, guests are set to be invited to more celebrations than ever before.

NFL star Trevor Lawrence with his groomsmen in INDOCHINO at his wedding to Marissa Mowry Lawrence. (Credit: Katie Wilson Photography)

The survey of 1,549 people getting married who recently ordered custom suits for their wedding uncovered what guests should expect when they RSVP*. Despite recent CDC guidelines, guests should look for matching masks for their outfits, with four in ten (39%) couples requiring face coverings for at least a part of the celebrations. More than a third (36%) will require guests to be vaccinated and one in five (20%) will request a Covid test prior to the event.

Long distance friends and family may expect to receive wedding invites, with 45% allowing guests from out of state, if they are vaccinated. Another 45% are allowing out of state guests with no restrictions.

Weddings themselves are likely to take place in the fresh air, as 40% of couples say they are moving their event outdoors in light of the pandemic. 40% are modifying the seating arrangements and 28% are removing the buffet. Guests need not worry however, as many traditional wedding elements remain. 96% are planning a group photo, 89% are tossing the bouquet and 86% are keeping the dance floor.

"After an extraordinary year of staying home, keeping our bubbles small and missing out on life events, it's a huge relief to see that big celebrations such as weddings are making a comeback," said Drew Green, President and CEO of INDOCHINO. "And although events might look a little different this year as couples take important safety precautions, I personally can't wait to bust some dad moves on the dance floor!"

Of the 41% forced to postpone their wedding due to Covid, 87% found reorganizing their big day stressful. That may not be surprising given that 78% had to make compromises along the way. 71% reduced the guest list and almost half (47%) altered their budget to accommodate the disruption. Perhaps adding to-or a result of-the stress, a staggering 81% of those polled have changed weight since the start of the pandemic. 45% gained weight and 36% lost weight.

Despite all this, 60% of couples agree that despite the stress caused, reorganizing brought them closer together. Just 4% regret postponing their wedding, and 30% are now more excited than ever about their big day.

The wedding boom is already being felt in the formalwear industry, which saw steep declines when the pandemic struck in March 2020. As vaccines started to roll out from March 2021 onwards, INDOCHINO's wedding business has surged far beyond any previous levels, with wedding appointments in its showrooms increasing by 60% compared to 2019. And the custom apparel brand doesn't see any signs of business slowing, noticing a trend for fall weddings across North America as couples compete for venue availability.

"This year's weddings will be extra special as everyone has a sort of renewed appreciation for life," Green continued. "Whether you're the groom or a guest, it's a warm summer or cool fall wedding, or you either want a fashion forward or a classic look... thanks to our extensive fabric assortment and made-to-measure approach, we're here to help everyone look and feel extra special in great fitting, personalized clothing."

###

*INDOCHINO polled customers who ordered suits between January 2021 and May 2021. 96% of respondents are getting married in 2021.

Download wedding images here.

ABOUT INDOCHINO

As the global leader in made to measure apparel, INDOCHINO has developed the shopping experience of the future. Born out of the belief that you don't need to spend a fortune on a custom wardrobe, INDOCHINO was the first company to disrupt the retail sector by making perfect-fitting, personalized apparel on a mass scale.

Customers take on the role of designer, picking out every detail of their garments to make them truly one-of-a- kind. These are made to their precise measurements and shipped directly to their door, hassle free. The company's Omni-channel approach allows them to shop online or in person at any INDOCHINO showroom.

For more information, visit www.indochino.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

Sarah Mayer | pr@indochino.com

SOURCE: INDOCHINO

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651219/What-to-Expect-at-the-Countless-Weddings-Youre-Invited-to-This-Year-Dont-Worry-Theres-Still-Dancing
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Newswire has expanded its executive team with the addition of Wayne Walls as Chief Product Officer. The company plans to continue its remarkable growth both in press release distribution and subscriptions for its technology delivered as a service (the Earned Media Advantage Guided Tour), which automates the production of press release distribution, campaigns production, media outreach and marketing lead generation.

For four years in a row, Newswire has ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction and ease of use for press release distribution. Newswire leverages world-class technology and best practices to empower a press release to achieve the Earned Media Advantage: increased brand awareness, greater site traffic, improved SEO recognition and lower costs for new account acquisition.

Newswire recently launched the latest version of the Earned Media Advantage Guided Tour, designed specifically for customers interested in utilizing the power of press release distribution as a powerful marketing tool that builds market share and drives more sales opportunities. The company has more than 50 customers already signed up for the Earned Media Advantage GT to unlock the benefits of automated press release distribution.

"As a leading technology company in the media and marketing communications arena, we are thrilled to add Wayne to the team to continue to develop and enhance our award-winning technology (Earned Media Advantage GT) that automates press release distribution, campaign production, media outreach and marketing lead generation," said Joe Esposito, Newswire's President and CEO. "Newswire will capitalize on Wayne's experience in designing, building, and delivering on our vision to completely automate the media and marketing communications process as seen through the eyes of 10,000 worldwide customers."

In his role as Chief Product Officer, Walls will lead the team that drives Newswire technology for its customers, enabling them to compete more effectively in their respective industries.

"The technology platform that Newswire has developed over the years is best in industry," Walls said. "That isn't just an empty claim but is backed by hundreds of positive Newswire customer reviews and high ratings on G2 Crowd, which has led to a number-one ranking on the site and multiple awards over the years. By helping the team enhance the existing platform, build new solutions and further automate the guided tour offering, we have the opportunity to provide high-powered media and marketing products and value-add services to businesses who have not previously been able to afford them. I am enthusiastic about the impact that we will make at Newswire and on the industry as a whole."

Walls comes to Newswire from J2 Global, which in 2020 acquired Inspired eLearning. There, Walls served as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing Product Management, Engineering and Content Development. Prior to Inspired eLearning, Walls spent seven years with Rackspace as systems administrator, product architect and director of cloud strategy.

Walls will drive the product roadmap for Newswire's EMA GT, which fuels organic sales and a robust marketing funnel that is the basis of the company's strategy. Newswire's technology allows new and existing customers to generate greater value on each release through cost-effective value packs that drive lifetime value with customers through a cadence of high-impact releases and the Earned Media Advantage technology delivered as a service to drive press release campaigns, media outreach, and simultaneous marketing lead generation.

Since 2004, Newswire has helped its customers achieve the Earned Media Advantage by leveraging its press release distribution services and acting as an extension of their teams to identify media opportunities, craft compelling stories, launch targeted campaigns, and provide reports on overall performance.

All of these reasons and more have helped Newswire earn accolades year after year from G2.com , including:

Best Usability

Best Support

Best Relationship

Best Results

Users Most Likely to Recommend

And more

Visit Newswire.com today and learn more about how its integrated press release distribution solutions are helping organizations grow their audience, expand their reach, and implement an effective go-to-market strategy.

About Newswire

Newswire delivers press releases and multimedia distribution software and services (SaaS) that empower the Earned Media Advantage: greater brand awareness, increased traffic, greater return on media and marketing communications spend, and the competitive edge. With over a decade of experience, Newswire continues to provide its customers with the ability to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time through the right medium.

To learn more, visit http://www.newswire.com .

Contact Information

Charlie Terenzio

Newswire | CMO and SVP of Media and Marketing Communications

Office: 813-480-3766

Email: charlie@newswire.com

Related Images

SOURCE: Newswire

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651242/Newswire-Taps-Technology-Leader-Wayne-Walls-as-Chief-Product-Officer
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Infield Minerals Corp. (TSXV:INFD) ("Infield" or the "Company") is pleased to announce, subject to TSX Venture Exchange and all other regulatory approvals, that it has retained Integral Wealth Securities ltd. ("Integral") pursuant to an agreement dated June 10, 2021 (the "Agreement") to provide ongoing strategic advice and support services regarding Infield's ongoing capital market activities.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Integral will perform general capital market and advisor support services, with a focus on maintaining active and orderly trading in the markets for Infield's securities.

In conjunction with the services rendered by Integral, Infield will pay to Integral a monthly cash fee of $6,000 with a term of 12 months from the date of execution of the Agreement.

Established in 2004, Integral is a private and independent investment dealer headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Integral is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada ("IIROC") and can access all Canadian stock exchanges and alternative trading systems.

The Company and Integral act at arm's length, and Integral has no present interest, directly or indirectly, in the Company or its securities. The fee to be paid by the Company to Integral under the Agreement is for services only.

The Company also announces that it has granted a total of 400,000 incentive stock options to certain directors and consultants of the Company. The options have an exercise price of $0.40 per share and expire in 5 years.

For more information, please contact Evandra Nakano, the CEO, President and a director of the Company, at +1 (604) 220-4691 or email: info@infieldminerals.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Infield Minerals Corp.

Evandra Nakano

Director

About Infield

Infield Minerals is currently exploring for high-grade gold and silver in mining-friendly Nevada. Our mission is to grow the company through discovery, acquisitions and sustainable development of high quality, high potential assets. Founded in 2020, Infield is led by a team of mining entrepreneurs with extensive technical and resource evaluation experience.

www.infieldminerals.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning Infield's plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature, are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements may be, but are not always, identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions. Infield cautions readers that forward-looking statements, including without limitation those relating to Infield's future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties (including geopolitical risk, regulatory, COVID-19 and exchange rate risk) that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statement will prove to be accurate or that management's assumptions underlying such statements will materialize. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this new release and Infield does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking information included herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Infield Minerals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651254/Infield-Minerals-Engages-Integral-Wealth-Securities-To-Provide-Capital-Market-Advisory-Services


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - To help supercharge the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, the United States will purchase and donate half a billion Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to 92 low, and lower middle-income countries and the African Union.



President Joe Biden, who is in England as part of his high-profile European tour, will make the historic announcement Thursday, the White House said.



This is the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a country to help protect people around the world from the pandemic.



President Biden will also call on the world's democracies to do their parts in contributing to the global supply of safe and effective vaccines.



The goal of today's donation is to save lives and end the pandemic and will provide the foundation for additional actions to be announced in the coming days, the White House said.



It did not specify where will Biden make the announcement.



Biden, who landed at Cornwall Airport with his wife Jill Biden Wednesday night for a week-long European tour, is set to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday.



A three-day summit of the G-7 leaders will kick off on Friday.



National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One en route Suffolk, England, that the G-Seven summit will make a further joint declaration on 'a comprehensive plan to help end this pandemic as rapidly as possible'.



The vaccines will start shipping in August. 200 million doses will be delivered by the end of this year and the remaining 300 million will be delivered in the first half of 2022.



Pfizer plans to produce these half a billion doses at their facilities in Kalamazoo, Michigan; McPherson, Kansas; Chesterfield, Missouri; and Andover, Massachusetts.



The United States is using the manufacturing strength of the pharmaceutical company to help vaccinate the world after 64 percent of adult Americans have received at least one shot of COVID vaccine in just four and a half months, and the country's daily death rates have fallen sharply.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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The "Market Report: HNB Market Growth Set to Continue in Latvia" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Latvia's smoking rate of 32% is the fourth highest in the EU after Greece, Bulgaria and Croatia. The overall EU average is 25%.

According to the last Eurobarometer, 46% of the Latvian population has never smoked, against an EU average of 54%. Google trends for "Heat-not-burn product" (HnB) and "Iqos" are similar as Iqos is the only available heated tobacco brand in Latvia. The first Iqos store in the country opened in April 2018 and its online popularity has continued to grow.

Popularity increased from mid-2019 after the new partnership with a fuel station chain. In January 2020, heated tobacco reached its highest level of popularity, which was at the same time of the announcement of tax on e-cigarette and heated tobacco products for 2021.

During periods of state of emergency and stronger restrictions due to Covid-19, online interest for heated tobacco decreased.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Background

3 Hnb Market Size

4 Hnb Product Availability and Pricing

5 Offline Survey

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/jj6bcj

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005662/en/

Contacts:

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

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Dieppe, New Brunswick--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Colibri Resource Corporation (TSXV: CBI) ("Colibri" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that its earn-in partner Silver Spruce Resources (TSXV: SSE) has reported that commencement of a Phase 2 ground exploration program on the 1,130-hectare Jackie Gold & Silver Property will begin tomorrow (June 11th, 2021).

The Phase 2 exploration program will concentrate around an exploration target with promising gold and silver assay results recently reported from the Phase 1 prospecting and rock sampling program. The geological work will be carried out on a 100-hectare section of the property with grid-controlled detailed mapping and rock sampling focused on a 25-hectare central block covering the core of the gold and silver discovery area with additional mapping and sampling of the surrounding area. (See illustration 1 below)





Illustration 1: Phase 2 grid sampling area on Phase 1 geochemistry



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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4269/87206_261055a5047c5bf4_001full.jpg

The newly discovered area includes an exposure of intense oxidation and argillic alteration (see Illustration 2). Grab samples from this area returned a high value of 9.65 g/t Au and 515 g/t Ag and several samples with > 0.1 g/t Au and anomalous to highly anomalous base metal and path finder element values.





Illustration 2: Field and sample pictures of new discovery area



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

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4269/87206_261055a5047c5bf4_002full.jpg

Silver Spruce is currently in year 1 of a 2 year agreement to earn 50% of the Jackie Gold & Silver Project from Colibri. For full details of the agreement please see Colibri news release dated October 15th, 2020.

A six-person team (two senior geologists, two junior geologist and two field assistants) and all necessary logistical support will undertake the Phase 2 exploration program, including rock sampling and geological mapping of known areas exhibiting significant alteration or mineralization, collection of structural data and alteration zoning to assist with vectoring toward potential Phase 3 drilling targets. The team also will investigate several known hyperspectral alteration targets identified from satellite imagery. All aspects of the exploration program will be conducted with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols for personal safety.

For additional information regarding this exploration program please see Silver Spruce's reciprocal news release dated June 10th, 2021.

Project Background

The Jackie is a promising early stage precious metal project located 175 km east of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The large grassroots property is located in a very productive region only one to two kilometres south from Colibri's El Mezquite and Diamante properties and is approximately 6 kilometres to the west of Minera Alamos' (TSXV: MAI) Santana project, where the Nicho deposit currently under development and expected to reach commercial production in the near term.

The Jackie Project is located within the western portion of the Sierra Madre Occidental Volcanic Complex within the prominent northwest-trending "Sonora Gold Belt" of northern Mexico and parallel to the precious metals-rich Mojave-Sonora Megashear.

The Property is situated. Other nearby large operating mines include Alamos Gold's Los Mulatos gold mine and Agnico Eagle's La India gold mine located 50-60 km to the northeast, Agnico Eagle's Pinos Altos Mine, 95 km southeast and Argonaut's La Colorada Mine, 100 km to the west.

The 1,130-hectare Property is easily accessible from Hermosillo to the Tepoca area and heading south from Mexican Highway #16 or west from Highway #117, or from Ciudad Obregon travelling northeast on Highway #117 and west to the pueblo of La Quema with vehicles and then pack teams along dry river beds, dirt roads and trails. The southerly road from Highway #16 traverses through the centre of the known gold mineralization at El Mezquite only 2 km north of Jackie. High voltage power lines are positioned on Highway #16.

ABOUT COLIBRI RESOURCE CORPORATION:

Colibri is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company listed on the TSX-V (CBI) and is focused on acquiring and exploring prospective gold & silver properties in Mexico. The Company has six exploration projects of which five currently have exploration programs being executed or planned for 2021. The flagship Evelyn Gold Project is 100% owned and explored by Colibri. The Company has four additional projects, Pilar Gold & Silver Project (optioned to Tocvan Ventures- CSE: TOC), El Mezquite Gold & Silver Project , Jackie Gold & Silver Project, and the Diamante Gold & Silver Project (50% earn-in agreements with Silver Spruce Resources - TSXV: SSE) are also currently being actively advanced.

For more information about all Company projects please visit: www.colibriresource.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains "forward-looking statements". Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate.

For further information:

Ronald J. Goguen, President, Chairperson and Director,

Tel: (506) 383-4274,

rongoguen@colibriresource.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87206
Swift-Perez part of the trend of Big Law alum joining the firm

MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Tenzer Arrieta PLLC is pleased to announce that Christopher Swift-Perez has joined the firm as a partner to lead the Litigation Practice Group. Swift-Perez handles complex commercial litigation. He is known for successfully defending and prosecuting complex, high-stakes litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts.

"Chris's depth of litigation experience complements our existing litigation practice and his creative approach to difficult cases will serve as a significant asset to our clients," said Tenzer Arrieta co-founder Ari Tenzer.

Swift-Perez is particularly knowledgeable regarding Florida corporate law. In fact, Best Lawyers recently featured him on the "Ones to Watch" list for outstanding professional excellence in commercial litigation.

"We are actively, yet strategically, looking for growth opportunities for our firm," said firm co-founder Alejandro Arrieta. "In this new role as head of the litigation practice, Chris will help us expand our services in this important area."

Prior to joining the firm, Swift-Perez worked in the litigation department of White & Case LLP for nearly a decade. Both of the firm's founders were also formerly with White & Case. Swift-Perez joins a growing list of attorneys at Tenzer Arrieta who were previously in Big Law, including recent new hire Javier A. Alvarez who began his career at Holland & Knight. This experience enables the firm to provide clients with service and counsel that is on par with its larger competitors but in a more personalized setting.

"The firm offers an attractive value proposition in an increasingly expensive market for legal services: The same quality and service at more reasonable rates," notes Swift-Perez. "In addition, unlike other boutiques, Tenzer Arrieta is a full-service law firm-a one-stop-shop-which offers synergies other boutiques cannot."

Tenzer Arrieta quietly opened its doors in 2018 when Ari Tenzer and Alejandro Arrieta decided to combine their individual legal practices. What started as 5 lawyers has tripled in just three years to a full-service business law firm with 15 lawyers. Despite facing the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm continues to seize opportunities for strategic growth with the addition of talented attorneys who will further bolster the firm's capabilities. Today, Tenzer Arrieta services domestic and international clients in connection with a wide range of transactional and dispute-related matters.

Swift-Perez graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was the executive editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review. He earned his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami studying finance and accounting. He is admitted to the Florida Bar, the Southern District of Florida (including the Bankruptcy Court), the Middle District of Florida, and the Eleventh Circuit.

In addition to his work at the firm, Swift-Perez gives back to the community by providing pro bono legal services to low-income individuals, including in coordination with the Legal Services of Greater Miami.

###

ABOUT TENZER ARRIETA PLLC

Tenzer Arrieta PLLC is a full-service business law firm offering both domestic and international clients sophisticated legal representation in connection with a wide range of commercial matters, both transactional and dispute-related, including real estate, hospitality, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate matters, complex commercial litigation, and US and international arbitration.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Michelle Griffith, BoardroomPR, 954-370-8999, mgriffith@boardroompr.com

SOURCE: Tenzer Arrieta PLLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651270/Tenzer-Arrieta-Adds-Christopher-Swift-Perez-to-Lead-Litigation-Team


MAPLEWOOD (dpa-AFX) - 3M announced that it has been able to seize more than 41 million counterfeit N95 respirators since the pandemic began in early 2020 with the help of global law enforcement and customs agencies.



The latest seizure is of more than one million suspected counterfeit N95 respirators from a warehouse in the Eastern District of Kentucky with the help of the U.S. Marshals service.



The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky has also granted 3M a temporary restraining order stopping defendant Old World Timber, LLC from selling counterfeit products. The case was initiated after potential customers contacted 3M's fraud hotlines to check the authenticity. It was found that the sales documents and products were fake.



3M has established hotlines around the world to report suspected fraud. It has also created online resources to help spot price-gouging and identifying authentic 3M respirators.



These seizures are part of the company's continuing global effort to combat pandemic fraud, counterfeiting, and price gouging.



3M has already investigated more than 14,200 fraud reports to its hotlines globally, and has filed 36 lawsuits to stop those attempting to profiteer from the pandemic demand for critical supplies.



3M has also got removed more than 21,000 false or deceptive social media posts, over 20,200 fraudulent e-commerce offers and at least 315 deceptive domain names have been taken down.



The company has also terminated 3M distributors for engaging in price gouging or violating 3M policy and collaborated with law enforcement and technology companies to combat fraud.



3M said it is donating all of the monetary damages and settlement payments it receives in these cases to COVID-19 related charities.



3M recognized the challenge of COVID-19 and responded early and rapidly to provide critical supplies needed to fight the pandemic. 3M increased production of N95 and other respirators critical for doctors, nurses and first responders, quadrupling the U.S. and global production rate.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

3M-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
A Roadmap to NetZero, part of Black Veatch's Hydrogen 2021 program, presents a technology agnostic guide to strategic decarbonization road mapping

The impacts of climate change are fostering a sense of urgency in the drive to decarbonize. Many organizations, however, remain unclear about how to achieve their NetZero commitments. Hydrogen 2021: A Roadmap to NetZero, a new ebook from Black Veatch, helps organizations chart a pathway towards delivering their decarbonization goals.

"Converting leaders' urgency into a plan when there is incomplete information is a challenge. Black Veatch is developing strategic roadmaps with clients across industries, helping them select the right technologies and make the right investments this decade, so they can meet their commitments in decades to come," said Deepa Poduval, Vice President, Global Strategic Advisory. "Our latest ebook draws upon this experience and shares the elements essential to creating a decarbonization roadmap that is executable."

According to Black Veatch's 2021 Corporate Sustainability, Goal Setting and Measurement report more than 80 percent of companies surveyed with revenues greater than US$250 million have set decarbonization goals, yet 25 percent have set goals at such a level that they are unsure how they will meet them. Hydrogen 2021: A Roadmap to NetZero, is intended to help organizations in this position, as well as those wanting to benchmark and enhance existing plans.

"Increasingly, our clients must address significant, global challenges in their core business strategies and capital investments. Decarbonizing the industry is our generation's moonshot," said Jason Rowell, Black Veatch's Director of Global Decarbonization Solutions. "As a full-service infrastructure provider, Black Veatch brings technical and commercial expertise for that journey; and is sharing these insights in our new ebook."

For most organizations the growing recognition of hydrogen's potential makes it likely the element will touch most decarbonization plans either directly or indirectly; few initiatives, however, will be pure-play hydrogen. As a result the ebook looks at steps to establish which decarbonization technologies are best suited to delivering an organization's decarbonization goals; and how to address their interaction with interdependent factors such as developing an understanding of organizational change and the regulatory landscape.

"As more and more organizations consider their decarbonization goals, regardless of their revenue or size, the quality of their initial strategic decarbonization roadmap will have one of the most significant impacts upon the return on their low-carbon investments and ability to compete and thrive in a decarbonized future," Rowell added. "By setting out clearly the necessary business, regulatory and technical considerations, Hydrogen 2021: A Roadmap to NetZero can help get those vital early steps right." Click here to download Hydrogen 2021: A Roadmap to NetZero.

Black Veatch is a member of the Hydrogen Council and advisor to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee. Hydrogen 2021: A Roadmap to NetZero draws upon insights and experience from these activities as well as leading-edge decarbonization projects including:

Working with Long Ridge Energy Generation to retrofit a 485-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle power plant making it the nation's first large gas turbine plant to transition operations to hydrogen fuel and the Intermountain Power Renewal Project, an 840-MW combined-cycle gas facility in Utah.

Helping Rocky Mountain Power integrate renewable energy and electricity storage onto the grid; by executing a 650-kilowatt solar power generation and 1-MW, 5 MW-hour battery storage system engineering, procurement and construction(EPC) project.

Feasibility studies central to the development of the world's largest green hydrogen plant, Enegix Energy's Base One facility, in Ceara, Brazil which has the potential to produce more than 600 million kilogrammes of green hydrogen annually.

Delivering the Cardinal Point EPC Wind Project to create a new 150-MW onshore wind facility for Capital Power.

About Black Veatch

Black Veatch is an employee-owned global engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with a more than 100-year track record of innovation in sustainable infrastructure. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people around the world by addressing the resilience and reliability of our most important infrastructure assets. Our revenues in 2020 exceeded US$3.0 billion. Follow us on www.bv.com and on social media.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005009/en/

Contacts:

MALCOLM HALLSWORTH +44 1483 319287 p +44 7920 701764 m HallsworthM@BV.com

24-HOUR MEDIA HOTLINE +1 866 496 9149
The final 980 MW of transmission capacity in parts of the Friesland regional grid have been allocated to generation projects, and state-owned network business Tennet says bottlenecks could occur over the next seven years.Dutch state-owned electricity transmission system operator Tennet has notified the energy market regulator grid capacity has been reached in the southern and western sections of the Friesland regional network. Tennet announced today on its website it had formally notified regulator ?Autoriteit voor Consument en Markt (ACM) that with the region already hosting around 1.5 GW 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.
Regulatory News:

Genomic Vision(the "Company" FR0011799907 GV) (Paris:GV), a biotechnology company that develops tools and services dedicated to the analysis and control of changes in the genome, informs its shareholders that the Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) scheduled to be held in camera on June 11, 2021 will not be able to validly deliberate, as the required quorum was not reached within the allotted time.

The second ordinary general meeting of Genomic Vision will be held on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. at the company's registered office, 80-84 rue des Meuniers, Batiment E, 92220 Bagneux, also in camera, to deliberate on the same agenda.

The meeting will be broadcast live, the details of which will be specified at a later date on the Company's website, under the heading Investors General Meetings. Technical means will be put in place to allow shareholders to ask questions during the meeting, which will be answered during the meeting. Shareholders are therefore invited to consult the Company's website regularly. A replay of the meeting will also be available on the Company's website.

Genomic Vision shareholders are requested to cast their votes exclusively by mail before the General Meeting or by giving their proxy to the Chairman of the Meeting

The votes of shareholders who voted by mail at the first meeting remain valid and will be counted for the meeting on second call.

All preparatory documents are available on request from the company, or can be consulted on the company's website, under the heading Investors General Meetings.

ABOUT GENOMIC VISION

GENOMIC VISION is a biotechnology company developing products and services dedicated to the analysis (structural and functional) of genome modifications as well as to the quality and safety control of these modifications, in particular in genome editing technologies and biomanufacturing processes. Genomic Vision proprietary tools, based on DNA combing technology and artificial intelligence, provide robust quantitative measurements needed to high confidence characterization of DNA alteration in the genome. These tools are mainly used for monitoring DNA replication in cancerous cell, for early cancer detection and the diagnosis of genetic diseases. Genomic Vision, based near Paris in Bagneux, is a public listed company listed in compartment C of Euronext's regulated market in Paris (Euronext: GV ISIN: FR0011799907).

For further information, please visit www.genomicvision.com

Member of the CAC Mid Small and CAC All-Tradable indexes

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT

This press release contains implicitly or explicitly certain forward-looking statements concerning Genomic Vision and its business. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Genomic Vision considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will be verified, which statements are subject to numerous risks, including the risks set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of the universal registration document filed with the AMF on February 9, 2021 under reference number R.21-002, available on the web site of Genomic Vision (www.genomicvision.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Genomic Vision operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Genomic Vision or not currently considered material by Genomic Vision. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Genomic Vision to be materially different from such forward-looking statements.

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute and should not be construed as an offer or an invitation to sell or subscribe, or the solicitation of any order or invitation to purchase or subscribe for Genomic Vision shares in any country. The distribution of this press release in certain countries may be a breach of applicable laws. The persons in possession of this press release must inquire about any local restrictions and comply with these restrictions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005644/en/

Contacts:

Genomic Vision

Dominique Remy-Renou

CEO

Tel.: +33 1 49 08 07 51

investisseurs@genomicvision.com

Ulysse Communication

Press Relations

Bruno Arabian

Tel.: +33 1 42 68 29 70

barabian@ulysse-communication.com

NewCap

Investor Relations

& Strategic Communications

Tel.: +33 1 44 71 94 94

gv@newcap.eu
In accordance with article L233-8 of commercial law, Wavestone informs its shareholders that as of

May 31, 2021, its capital was composed of 20,196,492 shares representing 29,815,321 voting rights according to article 223-11 of the AMF.

About Wavestone

In a world where knowing how to drive transformation is the key to success, Wavestone's mission is to inform and guide large companies and organizations in their most critical transformations, with the ambition of a positive outcome for all stakeholders. That's what we call "The Positive Way."

Wavestone draws on some 3,000 employees across 8 countries. It is a leading independent player in the European consulting market.

Wavestone is listed on Euronext Paris.

Wavestone

Pascal IMBERT

Chief Executive Officer

Tel.: +33 (0)1 49 03 20 00

Benjamin CLEMENT

Financial communication

Tel.: +33 (0)1 49 03 20 00 Actus

Financial news

Mathieu OMNES

Analyst & investor relations

Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 92

Nicolas BOUCHEZ

Press relations

Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 74

------------------------

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CRUX Asset Management Ltd. ("CRUX"), the active equity investment manager, announces the appointment of Baillie Gifford's Asia investment manager, Ewan Markson-Brown, to lead the firm's expansion into Asia with two new equity strategies. Ewan will work with CRUX to establish a new office in Edinburgh.

The AAA-rated manager* regularly outperformed the MSCI Asia Index ex-Japan and was responsible for managing the Baillie Gifford Pacific Fund, which ranked in the top decile for one-, three- and five-year performance in its sector**. Since 2014, Ewan was also Lead Manager of the Pacific Horizon Investment Trust PLC ("the Trust"), which over five years achieved a 374% return for investors***.

Karen Zachary, CEO at CRUX, said: "Ewan brings great experience as well as an exemplary track record of value creation for investors in Asian equities. With the scalable platform CRUX has built over the last five years, his appointment will enable us to expand into Asia with complementary strategies that fit seamlessly into our core active equity management approach.

"Built on a commitment to fundamental research, an ethos of collaboration and a track record of outperformance across equity benchmarks, CRUX's teams have the investment tools and experience to further diversify into new regions and broaden our investor base. We look forward to continuing to deliver the scale of performance that can only be achieved by active management with aligned investment aims to our clients globally."

The appointment of Ewan will enable CRUX to launch two actively managed, long-term growth focused regional equity strategies in Q4 this year. Focused on Asia ex-Japan and China, the UCITS funds will seek to identify and exploit pricing inefficiencies in growth companies and capitalise on applying CRUX's regional active equity expertise to deliver strong investment returns from Asian equities. CRUX will be hiring an investment team to support Ewan on the new strategies including two analysts covering Greater China/South East Asia and India.

Ewan has spent over 20 years managing Emerging Markets and Asia portfolios. He also co-managed the Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets All Cap Fund.

In March 2021, CRUX announced the appointment of Ashley Dale as Director of International Sales. Ash previously managed distribution at Asia specialists, Mirae Asset, Harvest and CLSA.

With 1.7bn AUM, CRUX is focused exclusively on active equity investing. Its teams across Europe, UK and Asia deliver bottom-up, high-conviction stock selection using proven valuation methodologies and intimate knowledge of long-term capital growth opportunities in specific geographies. CRUX fund managers align investment aims with those of its global clients by investing meaningful amounts of their own assets in CRUX funds.

CRUX's proven investment performers include Richard Pease, fund manager for the TM CRUX European Special Situations Fund. Formerly Head of European Equities at Jupiter Asset Management, he then went on to become Director of European Equities at New Star Asset Management and subsequently Janus Henderson. Richard Pease is one of just 10 fund managers to be recognised in the FE Alpha Manager Hall of Fame for the last seven years. The investment team also includes Citywire AA-rated Richard Penny, fund manager for the TM CRUX UK Special Situations Fund and among the top decile of UK mid and small-cap equity managers.

*Source: Citywire Ewan Markson-Brown profile

**Source: Citywire Baillie Gifford Pacific Fund

*** Source: Citywire Pacific Horizon Investment Trust

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors:

A photo of Karen Zachary is available upon request.

CRUX Asset Management ("CRUX") is an active equity investment manager with 1.7bn AUM. Established in 2014, the firm's three core equity teams focus on Europe, the UK and Asia to deliver outstanding investment performance through bottom-up, high-conviction stock selection. Each team uses proven valuation methodologies and has intimate knowledge of long-term capital growth opportunities in the specific geographies where they invest. The fund managers align investment aims with those of their global clients by investing meaningful amounts of their own assets in CRUX funds and owning equity in the company. www.cruxam.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005773/en/

Contacts:

Peregrine Communications:

Marina Fraser Harris

marina.fraserharris@peregrinecommunications.com

+44 (0)20 3040 0890



Louis Hilton

louis.hilton@peregrinecommuications.com

+44 (0)20 3040 0894
CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (the "Company") (CSE:XOP) & (LSE:COPL), is providing this bi-weekly default status report in accordance with National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203").

On May 12, 2021, the Company disseminated a news release (the "MCTO Notice") disclosing that it had voluntarily applied to the Alberta Securities Commission (the "ASC") for a management cease trade order ("MCTO") as it was not able to complete and file its unaudited interim financial statements and the applicable CEO and CFO certifications in respect of such filings for the period ended March 31, 2021 (collectively the "Interim Filings") by the filing deadline of May 17, 2021. On May 27, 2021 the Company announced that the ASC granted the MCTO on May 18, 2021 provided that the Company issue a bi-weekly default status report every two weeks, in accordance with NP 12-203, during the period of the MCTO. The Company also provided its first bi-weekly status report in its May 27, 2021 news release (the "First Bi-Weekly Status Report").

The Company confirms that since the date of the First Bi-Weekly Status Report: (i) there has been no material change to the information set out in the MCTO Notice that has not been generally disclosed; (ii) there has been no failure by the Company in fulfilling its stated intentions with respect to satisfying the provisions of the alternative information guidelines set out in NP 12-203; (iii) there has not been any other specified default by the Company under NP 12-203; and (iv) there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed.

The Company confirms that its directors, officers and insiders cannot trade the Company's securities until the Interim Filings have been made. The Company is working diligently to complete the Interim Filings. The MCTO stipulated that the Interim Filings were to be filed by no later than June 30, 2021 and the Company will be in a position to file the Interim Filings on or before that date. Until filing of the Interim Filings, the Company intends to satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines as required by NP 12-203.

About the Company

COPL is an international oil and gas exploration, development and production company actively pursuing opportunities in the United States through the acquisition of Atomic Oil and Gas LLC with operations in Converse County Wyoming, and in sub-Saharan Africa through its ShoreCan joint venture company in Nigeria, and independently in other countries.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Arthur Millholland, President & CEO

Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited

Tel: + 1 (403) 262 5441

Cathy Hume

CHF Investor Relations

Tel: +1 (416) 868 1079 ext. 251

Email: cathy@chfir.com

Charles Goodwin

Yellow Jersey PR Limited

Tel: +44 (0) 77 4778 8221

Email: copl@yellowjerseypr.com

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that discusses predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, statements relating to the timing for completion of the Interim Filings and other statements that are not historical facts. In making the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, the Company has made certain assumptions. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise. The securities of the company have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This release is issued for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.

SOURCE: Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651284/Canadian-Overseas-Petroleum-Limited-Provides-Second-Bi-Weekly-Status-Report
Westbridge enters renewable energy sector with flagship Alberta solar project

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Westbridge Energy Corporation (TSXV-NEX:WEB.H) ("Westbridge" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update with respect to its previously announced proposed business combination (the "Transaction") with Georgetown Solar Inc. ("Georgetown").

As previously announced, it is intended that the Transaction will result in the reactivation of the Company pursuant to the regulations of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"), and the listing of the common shares of Westbridge on Tier 1 or 2 of the TSXV. In furtherance of the foregoing, the Company is pleased to announce that it has filed a TSXV filing statement dated June 9, 2021 in respect of the Transaction, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Transaction is scheduled to close on or about June 17, 2021.

As previously announced in the press release dated March 9th 2021, the Company, on closing, will be focused on Greenfield Renewable Energy Development and is currently advancing a 110-120MW Solar PV project in Vulcan County Alberta. The Company also previously announced the closing of its oversubscribed best efforts private placement of an aggregate of 32,060,000 subscription receipts to raise aggregate gross proceeds of $4,007,500.

"Westbridge is excited to close the Transaction with Georgetown and provide the market with a unique high return strategy in the renewable energy sector", said Scott Kelly, CEO. "Westbridge will develop a portfolio of greenfield solar power projects incorporating storage and enabling technologies to provide our investors with significant, scalable risk adjusted returns and liquidity".

Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions including, but not limited to, final TSXV approval. The Transaction cannot close until all required regulatory approvals are is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the filing statement that has been filed in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Scott Kelly

CEO

Westbridge Energy Corporation

604-687-7767

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements about the Company's expectations regarding the proposed Transaction of the Company which are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them as actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include general business, economic, competitive and social uncertainties; and the delay or failure to receive all applicable regulatory approvals, and the proposed timing of completion of the Transaction. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Westbridge Energy Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651283/Westbridge-Provides-Update-on-Business-Combination-with-Georgetown-Solar-and-Filing-of-Listing-Statement
DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / This year, schools across the nation battled against learning loss caused by the pandemic. School closures have been a common tool to minimize the spread of COVID-19, but emerging data shows that this safety measure has caused real and measurable learning loss among K-12 students. A Voice of the Educator study polled nearly 1,000 educators, including public school K-12 teachers, administrators and support staff in February and March 2021. Nearly all - more than 97% - of educators reported seeing some learning loss in their students over the past year when compared with children in previous years. Across the State of Texas, beginning-of-year assessments showed that only 29% of 3rd graders achieved "meets grade level" scores in reading, only 15% of 4th graders achieved "meets grade level" scores in math, and only 12% of 5th graders achieved "meets grade level" scores in science.

Uplift Education, the largest charter school network in North Texas, is tackling this head on through a proactive approach to summer learning. The network is implementing a summer school program that is designed to address COVID-19 learning loss and prepare students for the rigor of the 2021-2022 school year. Uplift's Summer Institute will focus on the whole student's needs, recognizing that the last 15 months have left students needing both academic and social-emotional learning to feel prepared for the coming school year.

Video here: https://youtu.be/mxd4IlNjcSo

Through Uplift's K-8th Grade Summer Institute, available both virtually and in-person, students in need of extra recovery help will receive Math and English/Language Arts instruction as well as social and emotional learning support through parent community groups and Social and Emotional Learning sessions. The Summer Institute will also offer programming for rising kindergarten and rising 1st grade English learners that will allow them to focus on language development and building routines in a small, in-person school setting.

To support the academic success of high school students, Uplift Education is running an aggressive High School credit recovery program that will allow students in grades 9-12 to recover up to 8 credits this summer, putting them back on track for on-time graduation.

All students in the network will be required to complete summer learning assignments in reading, Language Arts, Math, and other subjects to help reenforce the lessons learned throughout the previous school year. Uplift is also partnering with community organizations to offer its students virtual camps and activities focused on science, nature, reading, the arts, and more.

"At Uplift Education this summer, we will ensure that we act with compassion in understanding the needs of our families, students, and community, while also ensuring that we do not lower our bar of expectations," said Uplift CEO, Yasmin Bhatia. "We are working hard to understand our students' needs and respond so that we prepare our students for success in college and life beyond this pandemic. "

"We know that all students were not able to engage in learning at high levels, if at all this past school year. Not all of our virtual students have had the same opportunities to develop pro-social skills, nor have they regularly received both learning and social-emotional supports at the same rate as if we were in-school, said Bhatia. "We are ready to empower our students with that this summer and equip them to be ready for fall."

Uplift Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the lives of teachers, families, and, most importantly, students. With a network of 46 college preparatory, public charter schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Uplift offers students of any background the powerful chance to study within a multidisciplinary curriculum and prepare for the college career they deserve. Uplift is the largest International Baccalaureate district in Texas and the #2 IB district in the nation because of the number of holistic extracurricular and educational programs. The incredible educators in the Uplift network guide and teach over 21,000 students in Pre-K- 12th?grades, with the majority being low-income and minority students who will be the first in their family to attend college. For more information Uplift's mission and their blind lottery selection system, visit?uplifteducation.org?or?facebook.com/uplifteducation.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Deekay Fox

Senior Marketing and Communications Director

dfox@uplifteducation.org

661-378-2353

SOURCE: Uplift Education

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651282/Uplift-Education-Promoting-Summer-Institute-Due-to-COVID-Learning-Loss-this-Past-School-Year
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Idaho Champion Gold Mines Canada Inc . (CSE:ITKO)(OTCQB:GLDRF)(FSE:1QB1)("IdahoChampion" or the "Company") is pleased to announce details for the Company's upcoming Annual General Meeting ("AGM") which will be held virtually next week on Tuesday, June 15, 2021. The formal portions of the AGM will begin at 2:00 PM EDT.

Idaho Champion invites all investors to attend a presentation concluded by a question-and-answer period featuring the Company's President and CEO, Jonathan Buick.

President and CEO, Jonathan Buick commented: "Following the formal portion of this year's AGM, I will be summarizing our successful (and busy) exploration activities in 2020 and highlight where we are focused for the remainder of 2021. This will include details on our recently announced 8,000 metre drill program which will begin this summer at Champagne. As a Company, we encourage investors to participate to better understand the exciting potential for the company."

All information related to the AGM can be found on the AGM Connect website: https://agmconnect.com/idahochamp2021/

About Idaho Champion Gold Mines Inc.

Idaho Champion is a discovery-focused gold exploration company that is committed to advancing its 100%-owned highly prospective mineral properties located in Idaho, United States. The Company's shares trade on the CSE under the trading symbol "ITKO", on the OTCQB under the trading symbol "GLDRF", and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "1QB1". Idaho Champion is vested in Idaho with the Baner Project in Idaho County, the Champagne Project located in Butte County near Arco, and four cobalt properties in Lemhi County in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. Idaho Champion strives to be a responsible environmental steward, stakeholder, and contributing citizen to the local communities where it operates. Idaho Champion takes its social license seriously, employing local community members and service providers at its operations whenever possible.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Jonathan Buick"

Jonathan Buick, President, and CEO

For further information, please visit the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com or the Company's corporate website at www.idahochamp.com.

For further information please contact:

Nicholas Konkin, Marketing and Communications

Phone: (416) 567- 9087

Email: nkonkin@idahochamp.com

THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION OF SECURITIES IN ANY STATE IN THE UNITED STATES IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

Cautionary Statements

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business of the Company. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company, including suggested strike extension. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based on are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Idaho Champion Gold Mines Canada Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651291/Idaho-Champion-Gold-Invites-Shareholders-to-Attend-Virtual-AGM
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Grande Portage Resources Ltd. (TSXV: GPG) (OTCQB: GPTRF) (FSE: GPB) ("Grande Portage" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that its non-brokered private placement, originally announced on May 20th, 2021, has closed with the issuance of 7,813,073 units at a price of $0.48 per unit for gross proceeds of $3,750,275, with all securities issued having a four-month hold period which expires on October 11, 2021.

As previously announced, each unit in this offering consists of one common share in the capital of the company and one-half of a share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the unit holder to purchase one additional GPG common share at a price of $0.72 per share at any time within 24 months of the closing.

The Company paid $55,570 in cash and issued 115,770 warrants for finder's fees in conjunction with this non-brokered placement. The Broker warrants have the same terms as the subscriber warrants.

The net proceeds of the offering will be used to advance exploration activities at the Company's Herbert Gold project and for general working capital.

About Grande Portage:

Grande Portage Resources Ltd. is a publicly traded mineral exploration company focused on the Herbert Gold discovery situated approximately 25 km north of Juneau, Alaska. The Company holds a 100% interest in the Herbert property. The Herbert Gold property system is open to length and depth and is host to at least six main composite vein-fault structures that contain ribbon structure quartz-sulfide veins. The project lies prominently within the 160km long Juneau Gold Belt, which has produced nearly seven million ounces of gold. On May 12th, 2021 the Company announced an updated NI#43-101 Mineral Resource estimate reported at a base case mineral resources cut-off grade of 3.0 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) and consists of: an indicated resource of 1,196,800 ounces of gold at an average grade of 10.23 g/t Au (3,637,000 tonnes); and an inferred resource of 325,900 ounces of gold at an average grade of 8.91 g/t Au (1,138,000 tonnes), as well as an Indicated resource of 686,700 ounces of silver at an average grade of 5.87 g/t Ag (3,637,000 tonnes); and an inferred resource of 169,300 ounces of silver at an average grade of 4.63 g/t silver (1,138,000 tonnes). A full technical report will be filed with the relevant regulatory authorities within 45 days of that date.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Ian Klassen"

Ian M. Klassen

President & Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (604) 899-0106

Email: Ian@grandeportage.com

www.grandeportage.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties as described in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICE PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED UNDER THE POLICIES OF THE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87223
Mississauga, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Kids care about their environment and endangered species.

Matthew Richardson, an internationally-recognized conservationist, author and expert on endangered species is ready to teach young people to protect the animals at risk. Richardson's course for kids in grades 3 to 6 will run live on the Edusity platform for an hour every morning starting on Thursday, July 1, 2021.

The online course could not begin at a better time.

"I think that young people have always been keen to preserve the planet and its wildlife, both for now and the future," says Richardson. "Of course, the accomplishments of Greta Thunberg and other young activists in recent years has shown that young people everywhere can make a very powerful difference."

The course Endangered Animals of the World for Beginners is designed to provide kids with a whole picture of ecosystems and species diversity. Rather than focusing only on polar bears or rhinoceroses, the course takes students on a journey to every part of the world and shows them the other creatures, such as frogs and freshwater fish that are every bit as important and deserving of protection.

Students from anywhere in the world will meet in Edusity's virtual class room every morning from 9 AM to 10 AM ET for a total of 22 mornings.

"We are delighted to have Cambridge University Press author Matthew Richardson teaching young people on the Edusity platform," says Edusity co-founder Arvind Betala. "Endangered Animals of the World for Beginners is exactly the kind of topic that requires a real time, fully-interactive exchange of ideas. Our kids need exactly this kind of online learning experience."

Richardson is equally happy to be working with Edusity.

"I wanted a platform that would allow me to design the kind of course that seemed best for the subject. Edusity allows instructors the freedom to do this, while at the same time providing excellent support and promotion," he says.

Edusity is a Canadian start up just breaking into the EdTech market. It offers an LMS platform to the B2B market and courses to the B2C market via Edusity.com.

Matthew Richardson is a renowned conservationist and author of Threatened and Recently Extinct Vertebrates of the World published by Cambridge University Press.

Contact: Matthew Richardson

Email: redlistbook@gmail.com

-30-

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87222
GGII - Hempacco is launching a Flavored Hemp Paper Wraps or Hemp Blunts portfolio to roll hemp, smoking herbs, tobacco, and cannabis, starting with a purchase order of $230,000 from one of the largest wholesale distributors of tobacco products in the world.

San Diego, California--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Green Globe International Inc. - Hempacco (OTC Pink: GGII) ("GGII") announced they're launching a new portfolio of Flavored Hemp Paper Wraps, also called Hemp Blunts, for sale in convenience stores, supermarkets, and smoke shops to roll hemp, tobacco, smoking herbs and cannabis; launching the new portfolio with a $230,000 purchase order from one of the largest tobacco wholesale distributors in the world, furthering their mission of Disrupting Tobacco.

Paper wraps, also known as Blunts, are paper products used to roll tobacco, hemp, smokable herbs, cannabis, and other smokable products. GGII's Hemp Blunts are made from hemp paper, packaged by hand. Smokers prefer Hemp Blunts for rolling smokable herbs, hemp, and cannabis smokables. Hemp Blunts are an all-natural alternative and provide flavors and aromas not found in other rolling papers. Hempacco is equipped to research and produce hundreds of thousands of Hemp Blunts with their Joint Venture Partners.

"We're constantly adding new products to our portfolio, and Hemp Blunts are the perfect combination to our herb and hemp cigarettes," said Sandro Piancone, CEO and Chairman of GGII. "Receiving a $230,000 Purchase Order is insane. This is enough product to place in 20,000 convenience stores overnight. Scaling is not a problem with our operation; we're ready for orders that can cover 100,000 stores across the USA, we're even ready to produce and ship orders all over the world. Our ability to deliver and scale quickly, combined with our Research and Development to produce dozens of different flavors, is why we're partnering with some of the largest companies in cannabis and some of the largest distributors in the world," concluded Mr. Sandro Piancone.

Hemp Blunts, also known as Blunts, or rolling paper, have been sold in smoke shops and convenience stores around the USA for years. They are a staple product in retail shops that carry tobacco products and are most popularly sold in flavors. Smokers use them to get a sweeter smoke out of their tobacco, smokable herbs, hemp, and cannabis hand-rolled smokables. GGII Hemp Blunts will be sold in small packages, typically having two or four paper blunts rolled up or packaged flat in a resealable container to hold freshness. The customer takes one Hemp Blunt and spreads their hemp, smokable herbs, tobacco, or cannabis before rolling and smoking it.

"Creating a line of Hemp Blunts is the natural evolution of our Disrupting Tobacco mission," said Jorge Olson, Co-Founder and CMO of Hempacco. "Flavored Blunts are not new in the convenience store market, and they already enjoy tremendous adoption by consumers. You can already find flavored blunts, and even some Hemp Blunts in liquor stores, smoke shops, convenience store chains, and even supermarkets. Hempacco - GGII can produce Hemp Blunts with dozens of flavors to be sold in convenience store merchandisers and placed on the counter right next to the cash register. We'll also sell directly to consumers as soon as next week on The Real Stuff Hemp Smokable website. If you order any product from The Real Stuff Smokables website, you'll get free samples of our flavored Hemp Blunts," concluded Mr. Jorge Olson.

About Green Global International Inc. (GGII) - Hempacco, Co. Inc.:

Hempacco Co., Inc. (formerly known as "The Hempacco Co., Inc.") is Disrupting Tobacco's nearly $1 Trillion industry with herb and hemp-based alternatives to nicotine cigarettes by manufacturing and marketing consumer goods, including CBG and CBD Hemp cigarettes. The Company owns and licenses intellectual property, has conducted extensive research and development, and is engaged in manufacturing and sales of smokable Hemp brands, including The Real Stuff Hemp Smokables. Hempacco Co., Inc.'s operating segments include joint-venture private label agreements and sales, Intellectual Property licensing, and the development and sales of inhouse brands using patented counter displays as well as six hundred Kiosk vending machines called HempBoxes.

Add Name to Hempacco Investor Email List

To be added to GGII - Hempacco's investor email list to be kept apprised of all upcoming IR activities, please subscribe using this link: https://newsroom.newsfilecorp.com/lists/8020/490 , or for additional information, please call Investor Relations Partners at 323-380-4500.

You can purchase The Real Stuff Hemp Cigarettes by clicking here or copy-paste https://www.realstuffsmokables.com to your browser and get free samples of our Hemp Blunts. Wholesale distributors and retailers get wholesale pricing by calling (775) 473-1201.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

This news release may include forward-looking statements including opinions, assumptions, estimates, the Company's assessment of future plans and operations, including but not limited to information concerning a potential combination with Hempacco and the timing thereof. When used in this document, the words "will," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intent," "may," "project," "should," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded based on expectations and assumptions made by the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will be realized. Any number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to regulatory and third party approvals not being obtained in the manner or timing anticipated; the ability to implement corporate strategies; the state of domestic capital markets; the ability to obtain financing; changes in general market conditions; industry conditions and events; and other factors more fully described from time to time in the reports and filings made by the Company with OTC Markets Group, Inc. or the securities regulatory authorities. Except as required by applicable laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements publicly. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of relevant securities laws and considered 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.

# # #

Company Contact:

Founder Sandro Piancone

Co-Founder Jorge Olson

IR@hempaccopackaging.com

Investor Relations Contact:

Harry Tajyar

htajyar@irpartnersinc.com

Phone: 323-380-4500

Here are other Press Release headlines from GGII - Hempacco:

Herb & CBD Hemp Cigarette Industry Leader Hempacco Announces Completion of Reverse Merger with Shareholders of Green Globe International, Inc., Ticker GGII

GGII Green Globe - Hempacco Files Patent Application for Cigarette Filter Infusion Technology for Cannabis, Tobacco, Herb, and Hemp Cigarettes, Furthering Their Mission of Disrupting Tobacco

Green Globe - GGII Licenses Patent For Terpene Spraying Technology From Open Book Extracts, Furthering their Mission of Disrupting Tobacco

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87230
INDIANAPOLIS, IN / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Noble Roman's, Inc. (OTCQB:NROM), the Indianapolis based franchisor and operator of Noble Roman's Pizza and Noble Roman's Craft Pizza & Pub announced today that it has entered into a lease agreement for an eighth company-operated Craft Pizza & Pub restaurant, its flagship pizzeria concept. The newest location will be in the North-central area of Indianapolis on the highly populated and trafficked 86th Street corridor just west of Meridian Street. The location is projected to open during the third quarter of 2021.

Located in a heavily populated area with substantial light commercial activity, the eighth company-operated Craft Pizza & Pub restaurant will also be the company's first location inside the I-465 beltway and the first in the city of Indianapolis. According to Scott Mobley, president and CEO of Noble Roman's, "Our newest location will be situated in an ideal spot to serve multiple neighborhood-area markets as well as the substantial commercial activity along 86th Street, a major east/west traffic artery along the north side of Indianapolis. We are very excited about this newest Craft Pizza & Pub; this area is very well acquainted with Noble Roman's and will open with immediate brand awareness."

According to Mobley, the new location will be testing a slightly smaller footprint than previous locations, but will also feature an outside dining area as an added guest experience. This location will also maintain all the previous features of Craft Pizza & Pub, including built-in adaptability for a variety of service systems based on the current operating environment. Like other recent locations, it will also be designed to increase speed of production and to increase the efficiency of the company's novel "Pizza Valet" curbside carry-out service. The new location will occupy approximately 3,260 square feet and will include a beer and wine bar that seats ten as well as additional outdoor seating.

The first Noble Roman's Craft Pizza & Pub opened on January 31, 2017 in Westfield, Indiana. The other company operated restaurants are in Whitestown, Fishers, Carmel, Brownsburg, Greenwood and McCordsville, Indiana with two more restaurants after this one planned for later this year. The company also has three franchised Craft Pizza & Pub locations operating in Lafayette, Evansville and Kokomo, Indiana.

The statements contained above in this press release concerning the Company's future revenues, profitability, financial resources, market demand and product development are forward-looking statements (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) relating to the Company that are based on the beliefs of the management of the Company, as well as assumptions and estimates made by and information currently available to the Company's management. The Company's actual results in the future may differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties that exist in the Company's operations and business environment, including, but not limited to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, competitive factors and pricing pressures, non-renewal of franchise agreements, shifts in market demand, the success of new franchise programs, including the Noble Roman's Craft Pizza & Pub format, the Company's ability to successfully operate an increased number of Company-owned restaurants, general economic conditions, changes in demand for the Company's products or franchises, the Company's ability to service its loans, the impact of franchise regulation, the success or failure of individual franchisees and changes in prices or supplies of food ingredients and labor and dependent on continued involvement of current management. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions or estimates prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected or intended.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Media Information - Scott Mobley, President & CEO: smobley@nobleromans.com

Investor Relations - Paul Mobley, Executive Chairman: pmobley@nobleromans.com

SOURCE: Noble Romans, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651322/Noble-Romans-to-Open-New-Craft-Pizza-Pub-in-North-Central-Indianapolis
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures ended modestly higher on Thursday as prices recovered sharply from the day's lows, amid optimism energy demand will pick up gradually. Traders continued to weigh the latest inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) that showed a drop of over 5 million barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles in the week ended June 4. Gasoline inventories rose by 7.05 million barrels last week, while stockpiles of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 4.4 million barrels, the EIA said in its report. That indicated weaker-than-expected fuel demand at the start of the summer. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up by $0.33 or about 0.5% at $70.29 a barrel, rallying from a low of $68.68 a barrel. Brent crude futures were up $0.25 or 0.35% at $72.47 a barrel a little while ago. Oil prices saw volatile swings, reacting to reports that said the U.S. has lifted sanctions on some Iranian officials and a couple of firms said to have been involved in trading Iranian petrochemical products. Later in the day, a U.S. official is reported to have said that the activity was 'routine' and not related to talks with Iran on the nuclear deal issue. 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.
Investment from Microsoft's M12, American Airlines, Avolon, Honeywell and Rolls-Royce.

Conditional pre-orders for up to $4bn and 1000 eVTOL aircraft, from Avolon and American Airlines and a pre-order option from Virgin Atlantic.

NEW YORK and BRISTOL, England, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

Vertical Aerospace is a leading UK-headquartered engineering and aeronautical business founded in 2016 by energy tech entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick to develop electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft.





Microsoft's M12, American Airlines, Avolon, Honeywell, and Rolls-Royce all investing via the PIPE. Rocket Internet and 40 North key financial investors.





American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Avolon, Honeywell, Rolls-Royce, GKN and Solvay all providing individual expertise through partnerships with Vertical.





Up to 1000 aircraft pre-orders with launch customers American Airlines, and Avolon, with pre-order option for Virgin Atlantic, valued at up to $4bn .





American Airlines and Vertical expect to work on passenger operations and infrastructure development in the USA . Virgin Atlantic and Vertical to explore JV to develop launch of Virgin Atlantic branded short haul eVTOL network in the UK.





Outstanding in-house engineering team assembled with backgrounds from the senior levels of Rolls-Royce, Airbus, UK Ministry of Defence, Jaguar Land Rover and General Dynamics.





Targeted profitability and cash flow breakeven with annual sales of less than 100 aircraft.





Commercial operations planned for 2024 once certified under EASA; intends to be certified to same safety standards as large commercial aircraft.





Supported by the Broadstone team, with proven investment track record, delivering 48% IRR and 3.5x MOM returns (based on the weighted averages from investments during the period March 1993 to date).





Attractive entry point for investors structured to provide alignment with founder and sponsor. Stephen Fitzpatrick to remain largest shareholder.





Transaction is expected to close in second half of 2021 and values the combined company at a pro forma enterprise value of approximately $1.84 billion and pro forma equity value of $2.2 billion at the $10.00 per share PIPE price. Transaction expected to result in gross proceeds of $394 million .

Vertical Aerospace Group Ltd. ("Vertical"), a leading UK-headquartered engineering and aeronautical business developing electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, has entered into a definitive agreement for a business combination with Broadstone Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: BSN) ("Broadstone"), a special purpose acquisition company. The transaction will result in Vertical becoming a publicly-traded company, with a pro forma equity value of approximately $2.2 billion. Vertical will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange following the combination, which is expected to close in the second half of 2021, under the ticker EVTL.

Vertical is also announcing today investments from American Airlines, Avolon, Honeywell and Rolls-Royce, who have invested in the PIPE and are part of Vertical's strategic partner ecosystem; Microsoft's M12, 40 North and Rocket Internet SE have also invested in the business.

Commercial partnerships and individual conditional pre-orders have also been agreed with American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Avolon for up to 1,000 aircraft in total, providing a direct route to market and opportunity to work together on key go-to-market workstreams.

Vertical's mission is to make air travel personal, on-demand and carbon-free through designing, manufacturing, selling and servicing one of the world's best eVTOL aircraft, the VA-X4. It will travel at speeds over 200mph, be near silent when in flight, produce zero emissions and at low cost per passenger mile.

The VA-X4 is expected to be certified to the same standards as large commercial airliners and therefore is expected to be 100x safer than a helicopter. Vertical intends to certify the VA-X4 to European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards - the most stringent global standards - in order to unlock a large UAM TAM of $1 trillion by 2040, with an upside TAM of $4.4 trillion by 2040[1].

Vertical was founded in 2016 by Stephen Fitzpatrick, an established entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Ovo Group, a leading energy company determined to create a world without carbon and which includes Ovo Energy, the UK's second-biggest energy retailer with revenues of $6.5 billion. Stephen remains the majority shareholder in this business.

Over the past five years, Vertical has focused on building an experienced and senior team in the eVTOL industry who have over 1,200 combined years of experience, and have certified and supported over 30 different civil and military aircraft and propulsion systems. This includes:

Michael Cervenka , former Head of Future Technologies at Rolls-Royce,

, former Head of Future Technologies at Rolls-Royce, Eric Samson , former VP Engineering and Chief Engineer at General Dynamics,

, former VP Engineering and Chief Engineer at General Dynamics, Tim Williams , former Chief Engineer of Rolls-Royce,

, former Chief Engineer of Rolls-Royce, Madhu Bhabuta, former Chief Technology Officer of the UK's Ministry of Defence,

Dr. Limhi Somerville , former Technical Manager at Jaguar Land Rover responsible for the cell facility, battery functional safety and advanced cell development,

, former Technical Manager at Jaguar Land Rover responsible for the cell facility, battery functional safety and advanced cell development, Paul Harper , former UK Chief Airworthiness Engineer at Airbus, and

, former UK Chief Airworthiness Engineer at Airbus, and Eduardo Dominguez , former CEO of Airbus' Urban Mobility.

By combining this world-class team with a deliberately built ecosystem of top-tier partners, Vertical has assembled a broad mix of people and organisations with both commercial track records as well as experience testing, building and certifying some of the world's most advanced aircraft.

Vertical's ecosystem approach draws on R&D commitments and the commercial and manufacturing expertise of partners such as Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, GKN and Solvay alongside an in-house focus on high value-add design and proprietary technology, creating an asset-light business model with highly attractive unit economics. These strategic partnerships accelerate Vertical's path to certification, de-risk execution, allow for a lean cost structure, and will enable production at scale.

As a result of this, Vertical is able to achieve profitability and cash flow breakeven with annual sales of less than 100 aircraft (calculated as number of aircraft sales required to reach positive net income and cash flow in 2024).

American has agreed to pre-order, subject to certain conditions precedent and future agreed upon milestones, up to 250 aircraft, and an option to order an additional 100 aircraft. Avolon has agreed to pre-order up to 310 aircraft with an option for a further 190, and Virgin Atlantic has an option to purchase between 50 and 150 aircraft.

In addition, all parties will work together towards the prompt certification and deployment of aircraft in commercial operations. In the United States of America, American Airlines expects to work with Vertical on passenger operations and infrastructure development. In the United Kingdom, Virgin Atlantic and Vertical expect to work together to explore the joint venture launch of a Virgin Atlantic branded short haul eVTOL network, including operations and infrastructure development.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Vertical CEO and Founder, said: "This is the most exciting time in aviation for almost a century; electrification will transform flying in the 21st century in the same way the jet engine did 70 years ago. Today's announcement brings together some of the largest and most respected technology and aeronautical businesses in the world and together we can achieve our aim of making the VA-X4 the first zero carbon aircraft that most people will fly on. The United Kingdom is already a global leader in aerospace innovation and we believe Vertical Aerospace will be the British engineering champion to drive the aviation industry forward."

Derek Kerr, Chief Financial Officer, of American Airlines said: "Emerging technologies are critical in the race to reduce carbon emissions and we are excited to partner with Vertical to develop the next generation of electric aircraft. For years, American has led the industry in investing in newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft. Today's partnership is another example of that commitment, and an investment in the future of air mobility. We are excited about the prospect of what this could mean for our customers, and our company."

Domhnal Slattery, CEO of Avolon, the world's second largest aircraft lessor, said: "Avolon is proud to be a launch customer for the VA-X4 aircraft, demonstrating our commitment to a net zero carbon economy and to driving innovation in the global aviation sector. Our order with Vertical will also accelerate the inevitable commercial roll-out of zero emissions aircraft. Before the end of this decade, we expect zero emission urban air mobility, enabled by eVTOLs, to play an increasingly important role in the global commercial aviation market."

Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, said: "With innovation and sustainability leadership firmly in our DNA, we are excited to be partnering with Vertical Aerospace to pioneer sustainable and zero emissions air travel in the UK. We pride ourselves on building enduring strategic partnerships and are thrilled to be working alongside Vertical in its mission to bring eVTOL travel to the UK. Our partnership includes an option for Virgin Atlantic to acquire up to 150 eVTOL VA-X4 aircraft and exploration of a Joint Venture to bring short haul, electric vehicle connectivity to cities and our UK airport hubs, starting with London Heathrow as well as Manchester and London Gatwick. Combining the design, engineering and manufacturing expertise of Vertical with the award-winning customer experience and operational excellence of Virgin Atlantic."

Broadstone was founded by British entrepreneurs Hugh Osmond, Marc Jonas and Edward Hawkes, who have led and managed investments in excess of 10 billion over a 20-year period and delivered an IRR of 48% and equity multiple of 3.5x (based on the weighted averages from investments during the period March 1993 to date). The Broadstone team has a proven track record of identifying markets ready for innovation and disruption and backing exceptional management teams to create industry leading businesses, across sectors and generating outstanding returns for investors. The strength of the Vertical leadership team, coupled with a highly commercial approach and a clear route to market, are among the key attractions for the Broadstone investment team.

Hugh Osmond, Chairman of Broadstone, said: "Transportation is one of the next big sectors of the global economy to be disrupted at scale. Vertical has a clear commercial plan to challenge short-haul air travel, and to create new markets where neither cars nor public transport can cope with demand.Stephen has built an outstanding management and engineering team with extensive experience in navigating the aviation regulatory approval processes. The team also has an outstanding track record of delivering projects commercially. In our assessment, Vertical has a considerable lead over competitors in this field - and has a clear business model to achieve commercialisation and significant growth."

Mike Madsen, President and CEO of Honeywell Aerospace, said: "Vertical and Honeywell are great partners because our relationship combines the strengths of both companies. Honeywell brings state-of-the-art flight controls and avionics systems, and the Vertical team has a tremendous history of innovation and design excellence. We're doing more than just developing an aircraft, we're actually creating an industry together."

Warren East, CEO of Rolls-Royce, said: "We are delighted to build on our relationship with Vertical Aerospace as they take this strategic step to deliver eVTOL aircraft to a global market. Rolls-Royce is the leading supplier of all-electric and hybrid-electric power and propulsion systems for aviation and this exciting opportunity demonstrates our joint ambitions to lead the way in the new Urban Air Mobility market."

Clare Barclay, CEO of Microsoft UK, said, "M12's investment in Vertical Aerospace demonstrates the market opportunity in the growing demand for urban transportation, but historically, expanding mobility hasn't been environmentally sustainable. Automation and Industry 4.0 is a clear way forward to realize more operational efficiencies and mitigate transportation congestion and pollution."

Key Transaction Terms

The business combination values the combined company at a pro forma enterprise value of approximately $1.8 billion and pro forma equity value of $2.2 billion at the $10.00 per share PIPE price. The boards of directors of both Broadstone and Vertical have approved the proposed transaction, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2021, subject to, among other things, the approval by Broadstone's shareholders and satisfaction or waiver of the other conditions stated in the definitive documentation. The transaction is expected to result in gross proceeds of $394 million.

The ordinary share PIPE includes commitments from institutional investors, 40 North and Microsoft's M12 as well as the following strategic investors: American Airlines, Avolon, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell.

Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Broadstone with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov.

Advisors

Winston & Strawn LLP is serving as legal advisor and Citi is serving as advisor to Broadstone. Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal advisor and Barclays is serving as lead financial advisor and lead capital markets advisor to Vertical. Barclays and Citi acted as joint placement agents on the PIPE.

Investor Call

Vertical and Broadstone will host a joint investor conference call to discuss the proposed transaction today, 10 June 2021 at 18:00 ET.

To listen to the prepared remarks via telephone dial 1-877-407-9039 (U.S.) or 1-201-689-8470 (International) and an operator will assist you. A telephone replay will be available at 1-844-512-2921 (U.S.) or 1-412-317-6671 (International), passcode: 13720391 through 24th, June, 2021, 11:59 PM ET.

About Vertical Aerospace

Vertical Aerospace's mission is to make air travel personal, on demand and carbon free. The company has an unrivalled top-tier partner ecosystem and is backed by American Airlines, Avolon, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell among others. Vertical's partnerships de-risk execution and its pathway to certification, allow for a lean cost structure, and enable production at scale. With projected speeds over 200mph, near silent when in flight, zero emissions and low cost per passenger mile, the VA-X4 is expected to open up urban air mobility to a whole new range of passengers and transform how we travel.

About Broadstone Acquisition Corp.

Broadstone Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: BSN) was set up by serial entrepreneurs, operators and investors, Hugh Osmond, Edward Hawkes and Marc Jonas. It was established to combine with a UK/European business with a strong management team, significant growth prospects, and the opportunity to become a market leader in its sector.

Broadstone's executive team has an extensive track record in value creation. The combination of a strong internal team, a network of external resources and the experience of the management team enables us to support rapid, substantial, and lasting growth.

Contacts

For Vertical

Investors:

investors@vertical-aerospace.com

Media

Vertical UK - Nepean

Gavin Davis , +44 7910 104660

, +44 7910 104660 Samuel Emden , +44 7816 459904

, +44 7816 459904 nepeanverticalteam@nepean.co.uk

Vertical US - ICR

Phil Denning / Dan McDermott

/ VerticalMedia@icrinc.com

For Broadstone - Edelman

Iain Dey , +44 7976 295906

, +44 7976 295906 Raeesa Chowdhury-King , +44 7885 802774

, +44 7885 802774 Broadstone@Edelman.com

Media Package

Media package download link

Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed business combination, Broadstone intends to file a Registration Statement on Form F-4, including a preliminary proxy statement/prospectus and a definitive proxy statement/prospectus with the SEC. Broadstone's shareholders and other interested persons are advised to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus and the amendments thereto and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and documents incorporated by reference therein filed in connection with the proposed business combination, as these materials will contain important information about Vertical, Broadstone, and the proposed business combination. When available, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials for the proposed business combination will be mailed to shareholders of Broadstone as of a record date to be established for voting on the proposed business combination. Shareholders will also be able to obtain copies of the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus, and other documents filed with the SEC that will be incorporated by reference therein, without charge, once available, at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to: info@broadstoneacquisitioncorp.com.

Participants in Solicitation

Broadstone and its directors and executive officers may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from Broadstone's shareholders with respect to the business combination. A list of the names of those directors and executive officers and a description of their interests in Broadstone will be included in the proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed business combination and be available at www.sec.gov. Additional information regarding the interests of such participants will be contained in the proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed business combination when available.

Vertical and its directors and executive officers may also be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the shareholders of Broadstone in connection with the proposed business combination. A list of the names of such directors and executive officers and information regarding their interests in the proposed business combination will be included in the proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed business combination, which will be made available as noted in the above paragraph.

Cautionary Statement Regarding 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. Broadstone's and Vertical's actual results may differ from their 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, Broadstone's and Vertical's expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the proposed business combination, the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the proposed business combination, and the timing of the completion of the proposed business combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside Broadstone's and Vertical's control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the definitive merger agreement (the "Agreement"); (2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Broadstone and Vertical following the announcement of the Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein; (3) the inability to complete the proposed business combination, including due to failure to obtain approval of the shareholders of Broadstone and Vertical, certain regulatory approvals, or satisfy other conditions to closing in the Agreement; (4) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Agreement or could otherwise cause the transaction to fail to close; (5) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts and other expectations after the completion of the business combination, and identify and realize additional opportunities; (6) the potential inability of Vertical to produce or launch aircraft in the volumes and on timelines projected, (7) the potential inability of Vertical to obtain the necessary certifications on the timelines projected; (8) the potential that certain of Vertical's strategic partnerships may not materialize into long-term partnership arrangements, (9) the impact of COVID-19 on Vertical's business and/or the ability of the parties to complete the proposed business combination; (10) the inability to list Vertical's ordinary shares on the NYSE following the proposed business combination; (11) the risk that the proposed business combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the announcement and consummation of the proposed business combination; (12) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of Vertical to grow and manage growth profitably, and retain its key employees; (13) costs related to the proposed business combination; (14) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (15) the possibility that Vertical or Broadstone may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and (16) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in the final prospectus of Broadstone for its initial public offering and the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the proposed business combination, including those under "Risk Factors" therein, and in Broadstone's other filings with the SEC. Broadstone cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Broadstone cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Broadstone does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

No Offer or Solicitation

This press release shall not constitute a solicitation of a proxy, consent, or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the proposed business combination. This press release shall also not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any states or jurisdictions in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or an exemption therefrom.

[1] Morgan Stanley, eVTOL/Urban Air Mobility TAM Update, May 2021
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Pancontinental Resources Corporation (TSXV: PUC) ("Pancon" or the "Company") announced that it has agreed to settle an aggregate of $103,000 of indebtedness owed to certain non-arm's length creditors of the Company through the issuance of an aggregate of 515,000 common shares ("Common Shares") of the Company at a deemed price of $0.20 per Common Share (the "Debt Settlement"). The Debt Settlement remains subject to receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Debt Settlement will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

The Debt Settlement will constitute a "related party transaction" as defined in Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"), as insiders of the Company will be issued an aggregate of 515,000 Common Shares. The Company is relying on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as the Company is not listed on a specified market and the fair market value of the Common Shares being issued to insiders in connection with the Debt Settlement does not exceed 25% of the market capitalization of the Company, as determined in accordance with MI 61-101. A material change report will be filed not less than 21 days before the closing date of the Debt Settlement. This shorter period was reasonable and necessary in the circumstances, as it was necessary for the Company to complete the Debt Settlement to immediately improve the financial position of the Company.

In addition, the Company announces that is has granted an aggregate of 105,000 options to purchase Common Shares of the Company exercisable at a price of $0.25 per Common Share for a period of five (5) years to a director of the Company, and an aggregate of 150,000 options to purchase Common Shares of the Company exercisable at a price of $0.25 per Common Share for a period of one (1) year to a director of the Company. The Common Shares issuable upon exercise of the options are subject to a four month hold period from the original date of grant.

About Pancon

Pancon is a Canadian junior mining company focused on exploring the prolific and underexplored Carolina Slate Belt in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, USA. In January 2020, Pancon won the exclusive right to explore the former Brewer Gold Mine property. Between 1987-1995, Brewer produced 178,000 ounces of oxide gold from open pits that extended to 65-meter depths, where copper and gold-rich sulphides were exposed but could not be processed by the oxide heap leach processing facility (Zwaschka, M. and Scheetz J.W., 1995, Detailed Mine Geology of the Brewer Gold Mine, Jefferson, South Carolina, Society of Economic Geologists). Brewer hasn't been explored since 1997, and most of the tools used previously to explore the property have since been updated with more advanced technologies. Brewer is a high sulphidation system driven by a sub-volcanic intrusive and possibly connected to a large copper-gold porphyry system at depth, as indicated by: widely known prospective geology, including diatreme breccias; associated high sulphidation alteration; gold and copper mineralization; and geophysics (Schmidt, R.G., 1978, The Potential for Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum Deposits in the Eastern United States, U.S. Geological Survey). Pancon's 100%-owned, 1,500-acre Jefferson Gold Project nearly completely surrounds the 1,000-acre former Brewer Gold Mine property, and both Jefferson and Brewer are located 12 kilometers northeast along trend from the producing Haile Gold Mine, which produced 137,413 ounces of gold in 2020 (https://oceanagold.com/operation/haile/).

For further information, please contact:

Layton Croft, President & CEO or Jeanny So, Manager, External Relations

E: info@panconresources.com

T: +1.647.202.0994

For additional information please visit our new website at www.panconresources.com and our Twitter feed: @PanconResources.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in the Company's management's discussion and analysis as filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87234
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - MJ Innovation Capital Corp. (TSXV: MSMJ.P) ("MJ") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement dated June 10, 2021 (the "Definitive Agreement") with SPARQ Systems Inc. ("SPARQ") pursuant to which MJ has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares in the capital of SPARQ (the "SPARQ Shares") upon the terms and conditions set out in the Definitive Agreement (the "Proposed Transaction"). The Proposed Transaction is expected to constitute MJ's "qualifying transaction" pursuant to the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV" or the "Exchange").

THE QUALIFYING TRANSACTION

Pursuant to the Definitive Agreement, MJ has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding SPARQ Shares by way of a "three-cornered amalgamation" pursuant to the laws of the Province of Ontario whereby a newly-formed wholly-owned subsidiary of MJ shall amalgamate with SPARQ (the "Proposed Transaction"). The Proposed Transaction will constitute a reverse take-over of MJ by SPARQ.

As consideration for the acquisition of all of the outstanding SPARQ Shares, the holders of the issued and outstanding SPARQ Shares will receive common shares of MJ (the "MJ Common Shares") at an exchange ratio as set out in the Definitive Agreement (the "Exchange Ratio") which is based on (i) a deemed price of the MJ Common Shares of CDN$0.40, and (ii) the price ascribed to the SPARQ Shares pursuant to the SPARQ Private Placement (as defined below).

The current issued and outstanding share capital of MJ consists of 3,050,000 MJ Common Shares, options to purchase an additional 305,000 MJ Common Shares, and warrants issued to the agent in connection with MJ's initial public offering exercisable for 200,000 MJ Common Shares, for a fully-diluted share capital of 3,555,000 MJ Common Shares. There are currently 453,957,613 SPARQ Shares issued and outstanding, and an entitlement in the Articles of SPARQ for certain eligible employees and management to receive, for no additional consideration, up to 30% of the issued and outstanding SPARQ Shares immediately prior to the closing of the Proposed Transaction.

On or immediately prior to the closing of the Proposed Transaction, MJ or SPARQ may consolidate its outstanding share capital at a ratio as may be accepted by the relevant regulatory authorities and approved by MJ and SPARQ.

Upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, it is the intention of the parties that MJ will be renamed SPARQ Systems Corp. or such other name as may be determined by the parties and accepted by applicable regulatory authorities (the "Resulting Issuer").

MJ and SPARQ will provide further details in respect of the Proposed Transaction in due course by way of press release.

ABOUT SPARQ

SPARQ was incorporated on June 16, 2009 pursuant to the provisions of Business Corporations Act (Ontario). SPARQ's head office is located at 945 Princess Street, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 0E9. SPARQ originated from the advanced research conducted at ePOWER, the Centre for Energy and Power Electronics Research at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. SPARQ was founded at Queen's University in 2009 by Canada Research Chair in Power Electronics, Dr. Praveen Jain, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Royal Society of Canada.

SPARQ designs and manufactures next generation single-phase microinverters for residential and commercial solar electric applications. SPARQ has developed a proprietary photovoltaic ("PV") solution called the Quad; the Quad inverter optimizes four PV modules with a single microinverter, simplifying design and installation, and lowering cost for solar power installations when compared to existing market offerings.

SPARQ's operations are located in Ontario.

SPARQ PRIVATE PLACEMENT

In connection with the Proposed Transaction, SPARQ intends to complete a brokered private placement financing (the "SPARQ Private Placement") of Subscription receipts (the "Subscription Receipts") for gross proceeds of up to $10,000,000 (or $11,500,000 if the Agent exercises its option in full to increase the size of the SPARQ Private Placement by up to 15%). Each Subscription Receipt shall entitle the holder thereof to receive, upon the satisfaction or waiver (to the extent such waiver is permitted) of certain escrow release conditions prior to the escrow release deadline, including all conditions precedent to the Proposed Transaction being satisfied, and without payment of additional consideration therefor, one unit of SPARQ (each, a "SPARQ Unit"). Each SPARQ Unit shall consist of one common share in the capital of SPARQ (each a "SPARQ Share") and one common share purchase warrant (a "SPARQ Warrant") with each such SPARQ Warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire one additional SPARQ Share. Concurrent with the completion of the Proposed Transaction, each SPARQ Share and each SPARQ Warrant underlying the Subscription Receipts will be exchanged for common shares of the Resulting Issuer ("Resulting Issuer Shares") and warrants of the Resulting Issuer ("Resulting Issuer Warrants") at the Exchange Ratio in accordance with the terms of the Proposed Transaction.

SPARQ has engaged Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. (the "Agent") to offer the Subscription Receipts for sale on a "best efforts" agency basis. In connection with the SPARQ Private Placement, the Agent will receive a cash fee (the "Agent's Commission") equal to 7.0% of the gross proceeds of the Subscription Receipts sold in the SPARQ Private Placement (reduced to 3.5% in respect of sales to president's list subscribers which president's list shall not exceed a total of $3,000,000) and compensation warrants (the "Agent's Warrants") equal to 7.0% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold in the SPARQ Private Placement (reduced to 3.5% in respect of sales to the president's list). Each Agent's Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one SPARQ Unit at the issue price. In accordance with the terms of the Proposed Transaction, the Agent's Warrants will be exchanged for Resulting Issuer Warrants at the Exchange Ratio and on substantially the same commercial terms.

The gross proceeds from the SPARQ Private Placement (less an amount equal to 50.0% of the Agent's Commission and less all of the reasonable costs and expenses of the Agent in connection with the SPARQ Private Placement incurred up to the closing of the SPARQ Private Placement) (the "Escrowed Proceeds") will be held in escrow until the satisfaction of the applicable escrow release conditions, which include: (i) all conditions to the completion of the Proposed Transaction pursuant to the Definitive Agreement (other than the release of the Escrowed Proceeds) shall have been satisfied, and the Agent shall have received written confirmation from SPARQ and MJ to such effect; (ii) the Resulting Issuer Shares, including the Resulting Issuer Shares issuable upon exercise of the Resulting Issuer Warrants, being conditionally approved for listing on the TSXV and the completion, satisfaction or waiver of all conditions precedent to such listing (other than the release of the Escrowed Proceeds); (iii) the receipt of all regulatory shareholder and third-party approvals, if any, required by SPARQ or MJ in connection with the Proposed Transaction; (iv) the distribution of (A) SPARQ Shares and SPARQ Warrants, and (B) the Resulting Issuer Shares and Resulting Issuer Warrants to be issued in exchange for the SPARQ Shares and SPARQ Warrants, as applicable, pursuant to the Proposed Transaction being exempt from applicable prospectus and registration requirements of applicable securities laws; and (v) SPARQ and the Agent delivering a release notice to the escrow agent confirming the satisfaction of the conditions in (i) through (iv).

Upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, the proceeds of the SPARQ Private Placement are anticipated to be used principally for product development (40%), increasing manufacturing capacity (40%), and general working capital purposes (20%).

The terms of the SPARQ Private Placement including the gross proceeds and the issue price may change depending on market conditions.

DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS OF THE RESULTING ISSUER

On completion of the Proposed Transaction, the current directors and officers of MJ will resign and it is currently expected that the proposed directors and officers of the Resulting Issuer will include:

Dr. Praveen Jain - Director and Chief Executive Officer - Dr. Jain is the Founder and the CEO of SPARQ. He is also a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Power Electronics at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. He has considerable industrial experience in power electronics, working and consulting at Canadian Aeronautics, Nortel Network, Astec, Intel, Freescale and GE. He founded CHiL Semiconductor, a digital power control chips company, which was acquired by International Rectifier (later merged with Infineon). Dr. Jain is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is the recipient of the 2021 IEEE Medal in Power Engineering, the 2017 IEEE Canada Electric Power Medal, the 2011 IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award, and. 2004 Engineering Medal from the Ontario Professional Engineers. He holds over 100 patents. Dr. Jain obtained his PhD degree from the University of Toronto.

Nishith Goel - Director - Dr. Goel is the CEO of Cistel Technology, an Information Technology company he founded in 1995 which has operations in Canada and the USA. A veteran technology executive and entrepreneur, he is also co-founder of CHiL Semiconductor, iPine Networks, Sanstream Technologies and Sparq Systems. Dr. Goel has served on the Board of Directors of Enablence and Excelocity. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation of Ottawa, the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation, the Indo-Canada Ottawa Business Chamber, and as well as the Chair of the Queensway-Carleton Hospital Foundation. Dr. Goel obtained his PhD degree from the University of Waterloo.

Ravi Sood - Director - Mr. Sood is managing director of Signal 8 Limited based in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Sood has been a founder of and the principal investor in several businesses in emerging markets and currently serves as Chairman of Jade Power Trust (TSXV) and Galane Gold Ltd. (TSXV) and as a director of Eve & Co Incorporated (TSXV). He was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Navina Asset Management Inc., a global asset management firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Sood led the investment activities of Navina and its predecessor company, Lawrence Asset Management Inc., from its founding in 2001 until he sold the firm in 2010. Mr. Sood was educated at the University of Waterloo (B.Mathematics) where he was a Descartes Fellow and the recipient of numerous national awards.

BaoJun (Robbie) Luo - Director - Robbie Luo is the President of Ti-Lane Precision Electronic Company Limited and Ti-Lane Group, Shenzhen, China. Ti-Lane is the global leader in providing solution of connector and cable assembly products for communications, computer, medical, automotive and clean energy applications. He is a firm believer of renewable energy deployment and is a Deputy Director General of Shenzhen Solar Energy Society. He earned his MBA from Ursuline College at Tsinghua University, China.

Further information concerning the proposed directors, officers and Insiders (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) of the Resulting Issuer will be disclosed in a subsequent news release.

SIGNIFICANT CONDITIONS TO CLOSING

The completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions precedent, including but not limited to satisfactory due diligence reviews, negotiation and execution of transaction documentation, approval by both boards of directors, approval of SPARQ shareholders, obtaining necessary third party approvals, TSXV acceptance and the completion of the SPARQ Private Placement. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction or the SPARQ Private Placement will be completed as proposed or at all.

ARM'S LENGTH QUALIFYING TRANSACTION

The Proposed Transaction will not constitute a non-arm's length qualifying transaction or a related party transaction pursuant to the policies of the TSXV.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The following tables set forth selected historical financial information for MJ for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2020 and the nine months ended March 31, 2021, and selected balance sheet data for such fiscal years and period. The financial statements of MJ are denominated in Canadian dollars.

Balance Sheet Data As at June 30, 2019

(audited) As at June 30, 2020

(audited) As at March 31, 2021

(unaudited) Cash and cash equivalents $69,910 $314,416 $244,521 Total assets $84,910 $314,416 $245,170 Total liabilities $59,082 $37,190 $21,552 Shareholders' equity $25,828 $277,226 $223,618

Income Statement Data Year ended June 30, 2019

(audited) Year ended June 30, 2020

(audited) Nine month period ended March 31, 2021

(unaudited) Revenue Nil Nil Nil Expenses $69,470 $125,726 $53,608 Net loss ($69,470) ($125,726) ($53,608)

Financial information for SPARQ will be disclosed in a subsequent news release.

ABOUT MJ CAPITAL CORP.

MJ is a capital pool company created pursuant to the policies of the TSXV. It does not own any assets, other than cash or cash equivalents and its rights under the Definitive Agreement. The principal business of MJ is to identify and evaluate opportunities for the acquisition of an interest in assets or businesses and, once identified and evaluated, to negotiate an acquisition or participation subject to acceptance by the TSXV so as to complete a qualifying transaction in accordance with the policies of the TSXV.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause MJ's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking statements in this document include, among others, statements relating to expectations regarding the completion of the Proposed Transaction (including all required approvals), the SPARQ Private Placement, the business plans of the Resulting Issuer, the proposed consolidation of the outstanding share capital of MJ or SPARQ, the proposed name of the Resulting Issuer, the composition of the directors and officers of the Resulting Issuer and other statements that are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, among others: (a) that there is no assurance that the parties hereto will obtain the requisite director, shareholder and regulatory approvals for the Proposed Transaction; (b) there is no assurance that the SPARQ Private Placement will be completed or as to the actual offering price or gross proceeds to be raised in connection with the SPARQ Private Placement; (c) following completion of the Proposed Transaction, the Resulting Issuer may require additional financing from time to time in order to continue its operations which may not be available when needed or on acceptable terms and conditions acceptable; (d) domestic and foreign laws and regulations could adversely affect the Resulting Issuer's business and results of operations; (e) a drop in retail pricing of electricity from utilities providers or other renewable energy sources or improved distribution of electricity could negatively impact the Resulting Issuer's business; (f) the stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and these fluctuations may adversely affect the price of the Resulting Issuer's securities, regardless of its operating performance; and (g) the impact of COVID-19.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of MJ as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. MJ undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in the United States. MJ's securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

The MJ Common Shares will remain halted until such time as permission to resume trading has been obtained from the TSXV. MJ is a reporting issuer in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance and if applicable pursuant to Exchange requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Proposed Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Proposed Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Proposed Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the Proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

For more information, please contact:

MJ Innovation Capital Corp.

Bryan Van Engelen

Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Director

Telephone: 226.750.9914

SPARQ Systems Inc.

Dr. Praveen Jain

Chief Executive Officer

Email: pjain@sparqsys.com

Tel: 343.477.1158

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87237
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Further to the news release of May 27, 2021, Gabriel Resources Ltd. (TSXV:GBU)("Gabriel" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed closing of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") of 30,444,800 common shares of the Company ("Common Share") at a price of $0.245 per Common Share for gross proceeds of US$6.0 million (approximately $7.5 million), subject to stock exchange and other approvals as applicable.

The Company is progressing with its arbitration case against Romania before the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID Arbitration") and intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement to finance the costs of the ICSID Arbitration and for general working capital requirements.

The 30,444,800 Common Shares issued pursuant to the Private Placement represent approximately 4.9% of the Common Shares in issue and outstanding (on a non-diluted basis) prior to the Private Placement and are subject to a statutory 4-month hold period expiring on October 11, 2021.

The Private Placement was conditionally approved by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") on June 8, 2021. The Private Placement remains subject to final acceptance by the Exchange and the receipt of all other applicable approvals. The Company will not pay a cash finder's fee in connection with the Private Placement.

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 accordingly may not be offered or sold within the United States or to "U.S. persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act ("U.S. Persons"), except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Company's securities to, or for the account of benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. Persons.

Further detail regarding the Private Placement, including the participation of insiders, can be found in the news release issued by the Company on May 27, 2021, which is available on the Company's website at www.gabrielresources.com and filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and the material change report of the same date also filed on SEDAR. For information on this press release, please contact:

Dragos Tanase

President & CEO

Phone: +40 730 399 019

dt@gabrielresources.com

Richard Brown

Chief Financial Officer

Mobile: +44 7748 760276

richard.brown@gabrielresources.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.

Further Information

About Gabriel

Gabriel is a Canadian resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's principal focus has been the exploration and development of the Ro?ia Montana gold and silver project in Romania. The Rosia Montana Project, one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in Europe, is situated in the South Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania, Romania, an historic and prolific mining district that since pre-Roman times has been mined intermittently for over 2,000 years. The exploitation license for the Rosia Montana Project is held by Ro?ia Montana Gold Corporation S.A., a Romanian company in which Gabriel owns an 80.69% equity interest, with the 19.31% balance held by Minvest Ro?ia Montana S.A., a Romanian state-owned mining company.

Upon obtaining the License in June 1999, the Group focused substantially all of their management and financial resources on the exploration, feasibility and subsequent development of the Rosia Montana Project. Despite the Company's fulfilment of its legal obligations and its development of the Rosia Montana Project as a high-quality, sustainable and environmentally-responsible mining project, using best available techniques, Romania has blocked and prevented implementation of the Rosia Montana Project without due process and without compensation. Accordingly, the Company's current core focus is the ICSID Arbitration. For more information please visit the Company's website at www.gabrielresources.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" (also referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of the Company's operating environment. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements.

In this press release, forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies that may cause the Company's actual financial results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied herein. Some of the material factors or assumptions used to develop forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the uncertainties associated with: the ICSID Arbitration, actions by the Romanian Government, conditions or events impacting the Company's ability to fund its operations (including but not limited to the completion of further funding noted above) or service its debt, exploration, development and operation of mining properties and the overall impact of misjudgments made in good faith in the course of preparing forward-looking information.

Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors including those set out below, that may never materialize, prove incorrect or materialize other than as currently contemplated which could cause the Company's results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "is of the view", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals", "objectives", "potential", "possible" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events, conditions or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of fact and may be forward-looking statements.

Numerous factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation:

the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) may affect the Company's operations and/or the anticipated timeline for the ICSID Arbitration;

the duration, required disclosure, costs, process and outcome of the ICSID Arbitration;

the advancement of Romania's nomination of the "Rosia Montana Mining Landscape" as a UNESCO World Heritage site;

changes in the liquidity and capital resources of Gabriel, and/or the group of companies of which it is directly or indirectly parent;

access to funding to support the Group's continued ICSID Arbitration and/or operating activities in the future;

equity dilution resulting from the conversion or exercise of new or existing securities in part or in whole to Common Shares;

the ability of the Company to maintain a continued listing on the TSX Venture Exchange or any regulated public market for trading securities;

the impact on business strategy and its implementation in Romania of: any allegations of historic acts of corruption, uncertain fiscal investigations; uncertain legal enforcement both for and against the Group and political and social instability;

regulatory, political and economic risks associated with operating in a foreign jurisdiction including changes in laws, governments and legal regimes and interpretation of existing and future fiscal and other legislation;

volatility of currency exchange rates; and

the availability and continued participation in operational or other matters pertaining to the Group of certain key employees and consultants.

This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements.

Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and investors should not infer that there has been no change in the Company's affairs since the date of this press release that would warrant any modification of any forward-looking statement made in this document, other documents periodically filed with or furnished to the relevant securities regulators or documents presented on the Company's website. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of assumptions or factors, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, subject to the Company's disclosure obligations under applicable Canadian securities regulations. Investors are urged to read the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulatory agencies which can be viewed online at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: Gabriel Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651343/Gabriel-Resources-Ltd-Closing-of-US6-million-Private-Placement
THIS NEWS RELEASE IS INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION IN CANADA ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2021 / Pelangio Exploration Inc. (TSXV:PX)(OTC PINK:PGXPF) ("Pelangio" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed a first tranche of the non-brokered private placement previously announced on May 21, 2021 (the "Offering"). In this first tranche, the Company raised aggregate gross proceeds of $475,000 (the "First Tranche") by issuing 2,968,750 flow-through units of the Company (the "FT Units") at a price of $0.16 per FT Unit. Proceeds of the Offering will be used for exploration and drill programs at Pelangio's Dome West, Gowan and Hailstone projects.

Each FT Unit is comprised of one common share in the capital of the Company ("Common Share") issued on a "flow-through" basis for purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and one half of one Common Share purchase warrant (each whole Common Share purchase warrant a "Warrant") also issued on a flow-through basis. Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at a price of $0.20 for a period of eighteen (18) months following the closing date of the Offering, subject to adjustment in certain events and provided that, if after four months and one day after the closing date of the Offering, the VWAP of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") is at or above $0.40 for a period of 15 consecutive trading days, the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by disseminating a press release and in such case the Warrants will expire on the 20th day after the date on which such press release is disseminated. The gross proceeds from the sale of the FT Units will be used to incur qualifying Canadian Exploration Expenses. Qualifying expenses are to be incurred by no later than December 31, 2022 for renunciation to investors of FT Units in the Offering effective December 31, 2021.

In connection with the closing of the First Tranche, the Company paid finder's fees to Echelon Wealth Partners and Leede Jones Gable, each arm's length finders, consisting of an aggregate of $26,250 in cash and an aggregate of 164,062 non-transferrable warrants ("Finder Warrants"). Each Finder Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Common Share at a price of $0.16 for a period of eighteen months from the Initial Closing Date.

All securities issued in the First Tranche of the Offering, including the Finder Warrants, are subject to a statutory hold period expiring on October 11, 2021. A second and final closing of the Offering is expected to take place on or around June 15, 2021. The Offering remains subject to final acceptance by the TSX-V.

Neither 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.

About Pelangio

Pelangio acquires and explores prospective land packages located in world-class gold belts in Ghana, West Africa and Canada. In Ghana, the Company is exploring its two 100% owned camp-sized properties: the 100 km2 Manfo property, the site of seven near-surface gold discoveries, and the 284 km2 Obuasi property, located 4 km on strike and adjacent to AngloGold Ashanti's prolific high-grade Obuasi Mine, as well as the newly optioned Dankran property located adjacent to its Obuasi property. In Canada, the Company is currently focused in Ontario at its Dome West property, situated some 800 meters from the Dome Mine in Timmins; at its Gowan polymetallic project, located 16 km east of the Kidd Creek Mine, and is advancing its Hailstone property in Saskatchewan. See www.pelangio.com for further detail on all Pelangio's properties.

For additional information, please visit our website at www.pelangio.com, or contact:

Ingrid Hibbard, President and CEO

Tel: 905-336-3828 / Toll-free: 1-877-746-1632 / Email: info@pelangio.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements herein may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements or information appear in a number of places and can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information include statements regarding the Offering generally, including additional tranches, the proposed use of proceeds and the Company's exploration plans. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, we have made numerous assumptions, including assumptions about our ability to close additional tranches of the Offering in a timely manner, if at all, receipt of final acceptance by the TSX-V and the state of the equity markets. Such forward-looking statements and information are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Such risks include the changes in equity markets, share price volatility, volatility of global and local economic climate, gold price volatility, political developments in Ghana, and Canada, increases in costs, exchange rate fluctuations, speculative nature of gold exploration, including the risk that favourable exploration results may not be obtained, delays due to COVID-19 safety protocols, and other risks involved in the gold exploration industry. See the Company's annual and quarterly financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statement and information. There can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information referenced herein will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Also, many of the factors are beyond the control of the Company. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward- looking statements or information. We undertake no obligation to reissue or update any forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. All forward-looking statements and information herein are qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE: Pelangio Exploration Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/651281/Pelangio-Exploration-Closes-First-Tranche-of-Flow-Through-Private-Placement-for-Gross-Proceeds-of-475000
Mumbai, India and Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - QYOU Media Inc. (TSXV: QYOU) (OTCQB: QYOUF), announced today an extension to its previously announced investment from Brand Capital International (BCI), the strategic investment arm of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd ("BCCL" or "The Times Group"), India's largest media conglomerate. As previously announced, an affiliate of Brand Capital International has agreed to an initial investment of US$2 million in common shares of QYOU Media at a price of C$0.32 per share, subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India, with an option to invest an additional US$6 million in common shares of QYOU Media. The completion of the investment was subject to, among other things, the approval of the Reserve Bank of India ("RBI") by June 10, 2021. BCCL has been working with the RBI to secure the approval and is in the process of responding to certain routine information requests from RBI. As a result of the delay in obtaining RBI approval, the parties have agreed to extend the deadline for RBI approval from June 10, 2021 to July 12, 2021.

Additionally, as previously announced, as part of the initial investment, Brand Capital International will also be granted the additional right (the "Additional Purchase Right"), exercisable between January 1, 2022 and March 31, 2022, to purchase a further US$2 million of common shares. The price per share of the Additional Purchase Right will be equal to the greater of (i) the Applicable Discounted Price (as defined below) based on the volume weighted-average price of the common shares of QYOU Media on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") for a period of twenty consecutive trading days ending on the day prior to the date of the notice of exercise of such purchase right; and (ii) $0.42. The "Applicable Discounted Price" shall mean a discount of (i) 25% if the applicable closing price of common shares of QYOU Media is C$0.50 or less; (ii) 20% if the applicable closing price of common shares of QYOU Media is between C$0.51 and C$2.00; and (iii) 15% if the applicable closing price of common shares of QYOU Media is C$2.01 or above.

All other deal terms announced by QYOU Media on March 12, 2021, remain the same. The proposed investment remains subject to the approval of the Exchange.

The securities being offered to Brand Capital International have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any U.S. state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an available exemption from the registration requirement of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, such securities being offered pursuant to the offering in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About QYOU Media

QYOU Media operates in India and the United States producing and distributing content created by social media stars and digital content creators. In India, QYOU Media curates, produces and distributes premium content including television networks and VOD for cable and satellite television, OTT and mobile platforms. In the United States, QYOU Media manages influencer marketing campaigns for major film studios and brands. Founded and created by industry veterans from Lionsgate, MTV, Disney and Sony, QYOU Media's millennial and Gen Z-focused content reaches young consumers around the world. Experience QYOU Media's work at www.qyoumedia.com and www.theq.tv.

About Brand Capital International

Brand Capital International (BCI), headquartered in San Francisco, California is the strategic investment arm of The Times Group, the largest media conglomerate in India. Brand Capital International channels its deep domain expertise and insights in the Indian media landscape to steer early-stage and high-growth companies from across the globe into the Indian market - propelling its companies to thrive in one of the world's fastest growing markets. To learn more about Brand Capital International, its investment thesis and its portfolio companies, visit www.brandcapitalus.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Words such as "expects", "anticipates" and "intends" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein may include, but are not limited to, information concerning the completion of the investments, the approval of the Exchange of the investments, the approval of the Reserve Bank of India of the investments, the expected use of proceeds from the investments, and statements relating to the business and future activities of QYOU Media. These forward-looking statements are based on QYOU Media's current projections and expectations about future events and other factors management believes are appropriate. Although QYOU Media believes that the assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect, and readers cannot be assured that the offering and the closing thereof will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, including certain risk factors, many of which are beyond QYOU Media's control. Additional risks and uncertainties regarding QYOU Media are described in its publicly-available disclosure documents, filed by QYOU Media on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) except as updated herein. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent QYOU Media's expectations as of the date of this news release, or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made, and subsequent events may cause these expectations to change. QYOU Media undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contact:

shareholder@qyoutv.com

Join our shareholder chat group on Telegram: http://t.me/QYOUMedia

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87231
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Minaurum Gold Inc. (TSXV: MGG) (OTCQX: MMRGF) ("Minaurum" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Red Cloud Securities Inc. (the "Underwriter") to act as sole underwriter and bookrunner, pursuant to which the Underwriter has agreed to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 17,500,000 units of the Company (the "Units") at a price of C$0.40 per Unit (the "Unit Price") for aggregate gross proceeds of C$7,000,000 (the "Offering").

Each Unit will be comprised of one common share of the Company (each, a "Share") and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant shall be exercisable to acquire one Share at a price of C$0.60 at any time on or before the date, which is 24 months after the closing date of the Offering.

The Company has granted to the Underwriter an option, exercisable for a period of 30 days after and including the closing date of the Offering, to purchase up to 2,625,000 additional Units at the Unit Price to raise additional gross proceeds of up to C$1,050,000 to cover over-allotments, if any, and for market stabilization purposes.

The Units will be offered by way of a short form prospectus to be filed in the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. The Units may also be sold in certain offshore jurisdictions and in the United States and to, or for the account or benefit of, "U.S. persons" (as defined under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") to "qualified institutional buyers" (as defined in Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act and to "accredited investors" as defined in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D under the U.S. Securities Act, by way of a private placement basis pursuant to exemptions from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds raised from the sale of Units for the exploration of the Company's mineral projects in Mexico and general working capital purposes, as will be further disclosed in the Company's short form prospectus. The Offering is scheduled to close on or around July 9, 2021 and is subject to the completion of formal documentation and receipt of all regulatory approvals including, but not limited to, the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV").

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 U.S. Securities Act, as amended or any securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable securities laws of any state of the United States, or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements.

Minaurum Gold Inc. (TSXV: MGG) (OTCQX: MMRGF) (FSE: 78M) is a Mexico-focused explorer concentrating on the high-grade Alamos silver project in southern Sonora. With a property portfolio encompassing multiple additional district-scale projects, Minaurum is managed by strong technical and finance teams in Mexico. Minaurum's goal is to continue its founders' legacy of creating shareholder value by making district-scale mineral discoveries and executing accretive mining transactions.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Darrell A. Rader"

Darrell A. Rader

President and CEO

For more information, please contact:

Sunny Pannu - Investor Relations and Corporate Development Manager

(778) 330 0994 or via email at pannu@minaurum.com

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

2710 - 200 Granville Street

Vancouver, BC V6C 1S4

Telephone 778 330-0994

www.minaurum.com

info@minaurum.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information:

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the following: the likelihood of completion of the Offering, the use of proceeds from the Offering, the anticipated closing date of the Offering and the ability to obtain the necessary regulatory authority and approvals in connection with the Offering.

In making the forward-looking information in this release, Minaurum has applied certain factors and assumptions that are based on Minaurum's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Minaurum. Although Minaurum considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking information in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others: the inability to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals from the applicable securities regulators or obtain the approval of the TSXV in connection with the Offering, the occurrence of a material adverse change, disaster, change of law or other failure to satisfy the conditions to closing of the Offering; the inability of the Company to apply the use of proceeds from the Offering as anticipated; the ability of the Company to achieve its corporate objectives or otherwise advance the progress of Minaurum; risks related to the international operations; the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities of mineral properties; the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data; the Company's inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities; an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains; general market and industry conditions; and those risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Minaurum does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87242
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Blue Thunder Mining Inc. (TSXV: BLUE) (OTCQB: BLTMF) ("Blue Thunder" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jean-Patrick (JP) Lariviere to the Company's Board of Directors effective immediately.

"We are very happy to welcome Jean-Patrick Lariviere to Blue Thunder's Board of Directors," commented Chad Williams. "JP's extensive knowledge of global capital markets -- with a focus on Quebec -- provides a most valuable addition to our Board. He is strongly connected and is a dynamic entrepreneur that is well-respected, particularly in the financial community. His banking and strategic finance experience is an ideal complement to our team as we focus on building value and momentum with our strategic gold assets".

Jean-Patrick Lariviere brings more than 20 years in banking, investment banking and corporate finance experience. He has led a successful career as an investment banker and was Managing Partner of the Canadian operations of Oaklins Investment Bank, a global firm focused on mid-market corporate finance mergers and acquisitions. Prior to his work with Oaklins, he was a banker with UBS and Landsbankinn where he oversaw the Canadian operations for various structured products. He is currently President of Sekurcorp, a North American private equity fund focussed on acquiring and managing defensive security services and equipment companies.

The Company also announces that Ms. Elaine Ellingham has resigned from the Board.

"Elaine was involved in Blue Thunder from the very beginning. She has been an extremely valuable Board member especially regarding capital markets, corporate governance, and geology. We were extremely lucky to benefit from her expertise especially through our go-public process. She will continue to assist BLUE as an advisor," said Chad Williams, Executive Chairman and Director of Blue Thunder.

About Blue Thunder

Blue Thunder is a gold-focused growth 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/87246
BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - New Zealand will on Friday see May results for the Performance of Manufacturing Index from BusinessNZ, highlighting a light day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. In April, the index score was 58.4. China will release May numbers for vehicle sales; in April, sales were up 8.6 percent on year. Thailand will see May results for its consumer confidence index; in April, the index score was 46.0. 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) - Social networking giant Facebook Inc. (FB) has given its full-time employees an option to work from home if their jobs can be done remotely. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also revealed that he himself will lead from front and plans to work remotely for at least six months. In a memo, first reported by Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg wrote, 'I've found that working remotely has given me more space for long-term thinking and helped me spend more time with my family, which has made me happier and more productive at work.' 'We've learned over the past year that good work can get done anywhere, and I'm even more optimistic that remote work at scale is possible, particularly as remote video presence and virtual reality continue to improve,' Zuckerberg wrote. However, the company's latest decision to allow full-time employees to work remotely is a turnabout from the decision that it announced in May 2020, when the company said it would only allow certain employees, especially senior and experienced employees, to request permanent remote work. Meanwhile, certain employees, like those working on hardware and data center operations, would be required to come to office, as their work can't be done remotely. Zuckerberg also added that the company will allow employees to request remote work across international borders. This includes allowing U.S. employees to request remote work in Canada and those in Europe to request remote work in the U.K. Facebook reportedly plans to reopen most of its U.S. offices at 50% capacity by early September and will likely reopen in full in October. The company has a workforce of about 60,000. 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.
Auckland, New Zealand--(Newsfile Corp. - June 10, 2021) - Ducks Unlimited Canada is the latest global conservation organisation to partner with Metalbird, the outdoor bird sculpture company dedicated to supporting real birds in the wild.

They've designed a metal version of Canada's iconic Mallard duck and 20% of all the new Metalbird Mallards sold will go to Ducks Unlimited Canada to support their work.

The Mallard is the ancestor of most of the world's domestic duck breeds and like other wetland birds, continues to see its precious habitats being lost. Ducks Unlimited Canada has been working to conserve waterfowl habitats for over 80 years - restoring wetlands that have been lost, fighting invasive species and sharing research and knowledge with other organisations.

Given their ambitious mission, strong values and long history of success, Ducks Unlimited Canada was the perfect partner for Metalbird.

"We were blown away by the impact this organization has had. Since 1938 they've completed more than 11,299 projects and conserved and influenced more than 197 million acres of habitat across Canada," says Metalbird creator, Phil Walters.

"We're honored to be working, in one small way, to help them continue to have an impact."







Metalbird Mallard



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Metalbird Mallard



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Ducks Unlimited Canada



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ABOUT DUCKS UNLIMITED CANADA

Ducks Unlimited Canada is a passionate community of people who believe that nature is the foundation of strong communities, a prosperous economy and a sustainable future that supports the hopes and dreams of the next generation. Together, they conserve and restore some of the most valuable and threatened landscapes on the planet. It is their mission to conserve, restore and manage wetlands and associated habitats for the benefit of North America's waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people.

Visit ducks.ca for more information.

ABOUT METALBIRD

Metalbird grew from a personal street art project started in 2009 by industrial designer, Phil Walters. He created and installed metal bird silhouettes around his neighborhood just for fun. People loved them, wanted their own birds. 10 years later Metalbird is a worldwide phenomenon and a global art project. With the simple tap of a hammer, these beautifully-crafted, life-like bird silhouettes transform backyards into art spaces. Producing locally and ethically is important to Metalbird and the company is currently working with a Canadian factory to put local manufacturing in place. Until that happens, the birds are made in the US and shipped from Montreal.

Visit metalbird.ca for more information.

FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Details below for all media enquiries relating to Metalbird and the Metalbird partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada.

Steven Fernandez Media (Metalbird Press Office)

steven@stevenfernandezmedia

+ 1 323 616 4319

Ducks Unlimited Canada (Press Office)

media@ducks.ca

Source: Metalbird Outdoor Bird Sculptures

- Ends -

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/87247
TSX and OTCQX: MPVD

TORONTO and NEW YORK, June 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. ("Mountain Province", the "Company") (TSX: MPVD) (OTCQX: MPVD) today announces the results of its second quarter diamond sales and the Company's upside share of profits from the Diamond Sales Agreement with Dunebridge dated June 11, 2020. All figures are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted

The Company is pleased to report the completion of its sales for the quarter, with 718,549 carats sold for total proceeds of $64.5 million (US$52.6 million), resulting in an average value of $90 per carat (US$73 per carat). This Q2/21 sales result represents a 3% increase in US$ terms relative to the 603,000 carats sold for C$ 54.2 million (US$42.7 million) in Q1/21 at (US$71 per carat). The mix of diamonds sold varied across the quarters and on a direct comparison basis, second quarter market prices are approximately 18% higher than those achieved in the first quarter.

Demand in the rough diamond market is robust, supported by polished diamond price increases and buoyant jewelry retail sales in the US and China. At our most recent sale held over the past two weeks in Antwerp, Belgium, the Company saw high demand and increased customer interest across all rough diamond categories.

In addition to the Company's sales, in Q2/21 Dunebridge also completed the sale of all diamonds purchased from the Company in 2020 (see news release dated June 11, 2020 for details on the agreement). After fees and expenses the Company received C$10.4 million (C$7/carat) this week being its total share of the value uplift. The Company believes this further confirms the growing demand and pricing trends in the natural rough diamond market.

The improved cash in-flow from Dunebridge has resulted in the Company reducing the planned US$10M draw on the final tranche of the Dunebridge term facility (see news release dated May 12, 2021), down to US$8M. The lower draw on the second tranche will result in lower fees as well as a lower interest expense.

Mountain Province President and CEO Stuart Brown commented:

"This is an excellent result for the Company. Producers are reporting strong demand and higher diamond prices at their sales which we have also seen with our latest offering. This is additionally supported by the results from the Dunebridge sales. We remain optimistic that as the global economy continues to recover that the current positive pricing and demand momentum throughout the diamond industry will continue and translate into improved margins for the Company."

About the Company

Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canada'sNorthwest Territories. The Gahcho Kue Joint Venture property consists of several kimberlites that are actively being mined, developed, and explored for future development. The Company also controls 106,202 hectares of highly prospective mineral claims and leases that surround the Gahcho Kue Joint Venture property that include an indicated mineral resource for the Kelvin kimberlite and inferred mineral resources for the Faraday kimberlites.

For further information on Mountain Province Diamonds and to receive news releases by email, visit the Company's website at www.mountainprovince.com.

Qualified Person

The disclosure in this news release of scientific and technical information regarding Mountain Province's mineral properties has been reviewed and approved by Matthew MacPhail, P.Eng., MBA, and Tom E. McCandless, Ph.D., P.Geo., both employees of Mountain Province Diamonds and Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian and United States securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to operational hazards, including possible disruption due to pandemic such as COVID-19, its impact on travel, self-isolation protocols and business and operations, estimated production and mine life of the project of Mountain Province; the realization of mineral reserve estimates; the timing and amount of estimated future production; costs of production; the future price of diamonds; the estimation of mineral reserves and resources; the ability to manage debt; capital expenditures; the ability to obtain permits for operations; liquidity; tax rates; and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except for statements of historical fact relating to Mountain Province, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates," "may," "can," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "targets," "intends," "likely," "will," "should," "to be", "potential" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "should" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Mountain Province and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.

Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward-looking statements include the development of operation hazards which could arise in relation to COVID-19, including, but not limited to protocols which may be adopted to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and any impact of such protocols on Mountain Province's business and operations, variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in market conditions, changes in project parameters, mine sequencing; production rates; cash flow; risks relating to the availability and timeliness of permitting and governmental approvals; supply of, and demand for, diamonds; fluctuating commodity prices and currency exchange rates, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated.

These factors are discussed in greater detail in Mountain Province's most recent Annual Information Form and in the most recent MD&A filed on SEDAR, which also provide additional general assumptions in connection with these statements. Mountain Province cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on forward-looking statements should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. Mountain Province believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release.

Although Mountain Province 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 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. Mountain Province undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Statements concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered as the property is developed.

Further, Mountain Province may make changes to its business plans that could affect its results. The principal assets of Mountain Province are administered pursuant to a joint venture under which Mountain Province is not the operator. Mountain Province is exposed to actions taken or omissions made by the operator within its prerogative and/or determinations made by the joint venture under its terms. Such actions or omissions may impact the future performance of Mountain Province. Under its current note and revolving credit facilities Mountain Province is subject to certain limitations on its ability to pay dividends on common stock. The declaration of dividends is at the discretion of Mountain Province's Board of Directors, subject to the limitations under the Company's debt facilities, and will depend on Mountain Province's financial results, cash requirements, future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board

Stuart Brown, President and CEO, 161 Bay Street, Suite 1410, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2S1, Phone: (416) 361-3562, E-mail: info@mountainprovince.com; Matthew MacPhail, VP Corporate Development & Technical Services, 161 Bay Street, Suite 1410, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2S1, Phone: (416) 361-3562, E-mail: info@mountainprovince.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1531216/MPD_LOGO_K.jpg
TORONTO, ON & NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 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, announces that it has granted on June 09, 2021, subject to any necessary regulatory approvals, incentive stock options to purchase in aggregate 1,500,000 shares of its common stock to an Officer and Director of the Company. All options were granted under the company's stock option plan and all options are exercisable for a period of five years at a price of CA$0.50 per share. They are subject to the company's customary vesting policy.

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 secure cloud-based storage, disaster recovery, document management, encrypted e-mails, and secure communication tools. 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.


SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) Thursday said it will allow its corporate and tech employees an option to work two days remotely.



Amazon said it will now only require employees to work in office for three days a week, giving the employees the flexibility to work remotely up to two days a week. The specific days will be determined by leadership team.



Corporate employees who do not want to work in the office three days per week and are still able to commute into assigned office as needed, will be able to apply for an exception.



Further, some corporate employees will have the choice to work up to four weeks per year fully remote from a domestic location.



This new decision is a sharp turnabout from its earlier return-to-work guidelines. In March, Amazon had announced its plans to 'return to an office-centric culture'. The company had said it would require some employees to return to the office this summer, with most of its staff back at the office by the fall.



'We've adjusted our guidance on our plans for returning to the office and added more clarity. Going forward, we've decided to offer Amazonians a mix of working between the office and home,' Amazon said in a blog. 'Like all companies and organizations around the world, we're managing every stage of this pandemic for the first time, learning and evolving as we go.'



Earlier today, Social networking giant Facebook Inc. (FB) said it will allow its full-time employees to work from home, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealing that he plans to work remotely for at least six months.



Last week, Apple said employees will return to the office three days a week beginning in early September. In May, Google said it expects 20% of its employees to work from home after its offices reopen later this year.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

AMAZON-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
Brinter, a Turku, Finland-based bioprinting startup, closed a 1.2M seed funding round.

The round was led by early-stage VC Innovestor.

The company will use the capital to further expand its operations internationally in Europe and the US.

Founded in 2020 via partial demerger in Turku, Finland, and led by CEO Tomi Kalpio, Brinter is a modular multi-material bioprinting platform scalable from manual R&D to automated production. The company works with science and bioengineering organizations to integrate 3D bioprinting into their research, manufacturing, and treatment methods. Brinter is active in over 10 countries and serves organizations such as Nanoform, as well as research organizations like VTT, BEST group at the University of Glasgow, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, the University of Oulu, and the University of Helsinki.

FinSMEs

10/06/2021
Commentary: Anti-China bill detrimental to America's competitiveness

Xinhua) 09:11, June 10, 2021

BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed an expansive bill that is apparently seeking to use an obsolete Cold-War mentality to boost America's future tech and manufacturing.

The 2,400-plus-page bill shows Washington's growing anxiety over and ideological prejudice towards China's development, as well as its paranoia to maintain America's global technological superiority.

However, those U.S. lawmakers who sponsored the bill as well as other like-minded Washington politicians are steering their country onto a wrong and dangerous path, which will only harm the United States and the world at large.

Hyping up the so-called "China-threat" theory may be a convenient political stunt, and help some self-serving politicians score some cheap political points for the moment.

Yet demonizing China won't fix the chronic, deep-rooted political, social and economic problems that have been plaguing the United States for decades. These problems are the real obstacles that are undermining America's potential for long-term healthy development.

What's worse: This big bloated bill could drag the United States into years of wasteful investment on industrial subsidies, hurt American businesses, and even stoke racial conflicts that would rip the country further apart.

The world also stands to lose. The bill, if it becomes law and is implemented, could rock global supply chains, block international tech cooperation, encourage unhealthy market competition, and restrain innovation. This all would be terrible news for a trembling global economy struggling to get back on its feet in the post-pandemic era.

It is perfectly reasonable that Washington politicians are yearning for a stronger United States. Yet they have no right to do so by ridding the Chinese people of their legitimate right to pursue better lives.

China has made it clear repeatedly that its development is never intended to beat that of the United States, but to build a better China for its own citizens. It has also proven on various occasions that it aims to contribute to global development with its economic and technological advancements.

The research and development of COVID-19 vaccines serves as a perfect example. From the very beginning, China has pledged to make its vaccines a global public good. Indeed, it has honored its commitments by providing vaccine assistance to more than 80 countries and three international organizations, exporting vaccines to over 50 nations, and offering vaccines to United Nations peacekeeping missions and the International Olympic Committee.

In this era of globalization, China and the United States, the world's top two economies, share a responsibility to work with the rest of the international community to address multifaceted challenges facing humanity, like climate change.

Thus, Washington should ensure that its cooperation with Beijing is the mainstay of their overall relationship, while at the same time make sure that their competition, if inevitable, is a healthy one.

The United States and China both stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. As the bill now heads to the House of Representatives, decision-makers in Washington should seize the opportunity to think carefully about what is really beneficial for America's long-term competitiveness.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Swap meets, Face Book, Craigslist, which one?

I am strongly thinking of getting a space at the state's biggest automotive swap meet, I want to thin out some of my stash because I'll never use it all and it would be nice to have some cash and space. I have parts for Bonus Built trucks and for '37/38 Buicks along with some other stuff. I'm not posting this to advertise but to see what others do. All avenues have their pluses and minuses. Give some input.



Swap meets ,

Pluses: Possibly a fun get away to be among all kinds of parts and like minded people. Good exposure to the stuff you want to sell. You know there most likely will be people looking for what you have for sale.

Negatives: At least in this area spaces are pricey. A spot can run between $65 to $85 a spot and I would need two spots, one for my trailer and one for my truck so I have a place to stay for 2-3 nights. Youi have to sell at least $150+ to break even on the cost. You also need two people to be there so there is always someone watching your stuff. When nature calls you need to take a break. Most likely you will have to travel a fair distance and if it's a multiple day event you will need to take off work. You will have to pack everything up and haul it to the site and then pack up what doesn't sell, haul it home and then unpack and store it.



Craigslist:

Pluses: You get wide local area coverage and even national coverage if a person is looking for an auto and knows how to search nationwide. You stay home and keep the stuff you're selling with you, you don't need to pack or repack anything unless you have someone from a long distance away ask you to ship your item. I offer shipping but leave it up to the buyer to arrange all shipping. I don't have to field multiple inquiries on shipping costs to different parts of the country, in my ads I state my zip code, the weight of the item and the dimensions. They have to arrange pick up at my house via UPS, FedEx or whoever they choose. All they have to do is generate a shipping label and send it to me. I take PayPal and a few other online payment methods.

Negatives: It's Craigslist and you don't know who you're dealing with. They can be scammers or if they're local they could be just coming by to scope out your residence to see what else you have and come back later to get it without your permission. You can meet at the local shopping center or some other very open, public place. I've had good luck on CL but I've had a few scammers contact me and I pretty much know how to filter them out.



Face Book:

Pluses and Negatives: Same as with CL but you also have a little less anonymity. You have to set up an account with FB and offer up some proof of ID although it's not foolproof, there still scammers on FB I think it's a little safe especially if you're dealing within a group like FTE on FB. If there a bad apple on one of the FB pages it's usually exposed by members who have had a bad experience with the person.



eBay:

Pluses: Easy to post items for sale. Ship from home, I do shipping the same way I do with CL, I leave it up to bidders to arrange shipping. Good national exposure.

Negatives: eBay likes to ad fees for everything, even shipping which, so far, I seem to avoid by having the bidder arrange shipping. Also, if I list multiple items it can become confusing who you need to ship items to because eBayers seem to have names that are alike. ie: Blackcat1, BlackPanther,



Newspaper ads: 20 years ago newspapers were the way to go for finding cars and parts but my local big city newspaper's auto section is about two pages the last time I looked at about five years ago. Complete waste of time.



Word of mouth: The best way I've been able to find stuff I'm looking for is word of mouth, I ask people I know that are in the hobby and usually someone knows someone who knows someone who knows some one with parts or an old car or truck in their garage or back yard. This is not always successful but it happens and most times the price is right or less than you expect.
A statue of Martin Luther King Jr. is pictured across the street from the Illinois State Capitol. Secretary of State Jesse White testified before a statue review committee Wednesday that he would like to see a new statue of King placed in a more prominent position on Capitol grounds. (Capitol News Illinois file photo be Jerry Nowicki)
Galveston, TX (77553)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low near 80F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low near 80F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Geoff Keighleys breakaway E3-aligned event, Summer Game Fest, began its onslaught of game announcements in a new broadcast today.

Summer Game Fest continued Keighleys strategy of mixing world premieres and buddy-buddy celebrity cameos, but also came with an intriguing batch of new announcements. Heres a quick rundown of the most notable debuts.

Tiny Tinas Wonderlands

Developed by Gearbox, published by 2K

Release date: 2022

Gearbox and 2K debuted Tiny Tinas Wonderlands, a star-studded looter shooter featuring Ashly Burchs breakout character from Borderlands. In an eyebrow-raising move, this appears to be a spinoff of the Tabletop RPG DLC for Borderlands, but minus the Borderlands branding.

Metal Slug Tactics

Developed by DotEmu, published by SNK

Release date: Unknown

SNKs Metal Slug is being revived as a tactics game with roguelike elements.

Death Stranding Directors Cut

Developed by Kojima Productions

Release date: "Coming Soon"

Death Stranding is jumping to PlayStation 5 with a Directors Cut edition, though it was announced with a humor-lined teaser where protagonist Sam Porter Bridges fooled around with a Metal Gear Solid-styled cardboard box.

Jurassic World Evolution 2

Developed by Frontier

Release date: 2021

Frontier and Jurassic Park actor Jeff Goldblum debuted a sequel to Jurassic World Evolution, one that seems to follow the Jurassic World films move toward unleashing the series cloned dinosaurs on the entire world.

Call of Duty: Warzone Season 4

Developed by Activision

Release date: 2021

Call of Duty is skipping the bulk of E3s festivities, but its worth noting that Activisions announced a new series of game modes for its financial powerhouse Call of Duty: Warzone. Its another instance of a popular Battle Royale adding non-Battle Royale modes. (Apex Legends dropped its Arenas game mode a few weeks back).

Among Us

Developed by: InnerSloth Games

Release Date: Unknown

Not much here except just noting that Among Us is adding a hide & seek mode. We like announcing that a game is announcing hide & seek at a big official show.

Salt and Sacrifice

Developed by: Devoured Studios, Ska Studios.

Release date: 2022

The Salt and Sanctuary developers returned with a direct sequel to their 2D SoulsBourne game. This entry will be adding local and online co-op modes.

The Anacrusis

Developed by: Stray Bombay Company

Release Date: Fall 2021

Ex-Valve dev Chet Faliszek finally debuts what Stray Bombay has been working on, and it's a Left 4 Dead-like (is that a genre now?) looking to build on player feedback in an Early Access-adjacent format when it launches later this year.

Elden Ring

Developed by: FromSoftware

Release date: January 21, 2022

Elden Ring, the long-awaited next game from the makers of Dark Souls and Sekiro, finally made a proper, long-awaited debut, along with a surprise release date.
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Galt, CA (95632)

Today

A few passing clouds. Low 59F. WSW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 59F. WSW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph.
Governor Northam Announces Ship Repair Facility to Create 119 New Jobs in Norfolk

Lyon Shipyard will invest $24.4 million to expand operation, install new marine travel lift

RICHMONDGovernor Ralph Northam today announced that Lyon Shipyard, a full-service ship repair and industrial service provider, will invest $24.4 million to expand its operation in the City of Norfolk. The company will add a new marine travel lift and increase the footprint of its waterfront dry dock. Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project, which will create 119 new jobs.

Lyon Shipyard has been an integral part of the thriving maritime economy in Hampton Roads for nearly a century, said Governor Northam. The companys continued investment and job creation in Norfolk is a powerful testament to the strength of the local workforce and the region as an international shipping hub. We are proud to support this expansion, and look forward to Lyon Shipyards future growth in our Commonwealth.

Established in 1928, Lyon Shipyard has over 93 years of continuous service in ship repair and industrial service. Lyon Shipyard has two facilities in Norfolk located on over 30 acres of prime waterfront property along the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River. The company supplies commercial and government customers with services including marine electronics repair, barge repair, and pier side repairs, as well as hauling vessels out of the water for underwater repairs to equipment such as propellers, tail shafts, and rudders. The companys commercial customers include tug and barge operators, dredging and marine construction contractors, ferry and cruise ship operators, research vessels, and commercial fishing companies. Lyons government customers include the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, the Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, and the Maritime Administration.

We congratulate Lyon Shipyard on its success and thank them for expanding operations in Norfolk, said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball. The shipping industry is a major economic driver for Hampton Roads, and partners like Lyon ensure commercial and government marine vessels stay in operation. The Commonwealths recruitment and training incentives help secure these competitive projects, and we are pleased to see the addition of 119 new jobs for the regions hardworking residents.

When we started exploring the expansion of the shipyard, other states reached out to us about a possible relocation, said George Lyon, President of Lyon Shipyard. Due to the resources here in Virginia and the willingness of the city and the Commonwealth to help us with our plans, we came to the realization that Virginia was the place for Lyon Shipyard. We are excited to continue our story here in Norfolk.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the City of Norfolk to secure the project for Virginia and will support Lyon Shipyards job creation through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP), which provides consultative services and funding to companies creating new jobs in order to support employee recruitment and training activities. As a business incentive supporting economic development, VJIP reduces the human resource costs of new and expanding companies. VJIP is state-funded, demonstrating Virginias commitment to enhancing job opportunities for citizens. The company is also eligible to receive state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Lyon Shipyard will also receive a 2021 Small Shipyard Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportations Maritime Administration.

We are proud that Norfolk is home to one of the worlds most important maritime and defense ship repair communities, said Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander. We appreciate that Lyon Shipyard chose to continue investing and creating jobs in Norfolk. After more than 90 years in operation, Lyon Shipyards ongoing commitment to our city reinforces our critical role in Americas ship repair industry and national defense.

The U.S. shipbuilding industry is critical to our national infrastructure, as well as the economic health of our nation, said Matthew Paxton, President of Shipbuilders Council of America. The important investments made by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the U.S. Maritime Administration to Lyon Shipyard accelerates growth in one of Americas most innovative legacy industries and will infuse important capital into communities from coast to coast.

I am thrilled to see Lyon Shipyard making a $24.4 million dollar investment in Norfolk to expand its facility, said Senator Lionell Spruill, Sr. The opportunity for more quality jobs in the ship repair industry is critical for our citizens. Lyon Shipyard has been a wonderful partner in our region for over 90 years, and we look forward to the company continuing to grow and succeed in our region.

Im so thrilled to see Lyon Shipyard expanding its presence in our great city, said Delegate Jay Jones. With this investment, tens of millions of dollars will flow into Norfolk and countless workers will find new, good-paying jobs. I look forward to continuing our citys relationship with Lyon Shipyard to bring even more jobs and investment as we build a Norfolk for every working family.

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An Indiana Court of Appeals judge originally from Porter County was seriously injured Sunday during a recreational outing with her family.

Judge Nancy Vaidik is hospitalized in stable condition following the incident, according to Larry Morris, the Court of Appeals administrator.

Morris declined to provide any additional information about the nature of Vaidik's injuries, how she sustained them, or where they occurred "out of respect for Judge Vaidik, her family and their privacy."

He said Vaidik's work schedule and duties will be adjusted as needed while she recovers.

WATCH NOW: Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops  Patrolling Lowell with Cpl. Aaron Crawford

Vaidik, a Portage native, is a 1980 graduate of Valparaiso University Law School.

Her legal career began in the Porter County prosecutor's office. She served as Porter Superior Court judge from 1992 until 2000, when Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon appointed Vaidik to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Hoosier voters retained Vaidik in 2002 and 2012 for 10-year terms on the 15-judge appellate panel that's one level below the Indiana Supreme Court. She'll again be eligible for retention on the 2022 general election ballot.

Vaidik also was chosen by her colleagues for three-year terms as Court of Appeals chief judge in 2014 and 2017.

Gallery: Recent arrests booked into Porter County Jail
Charles Leclerc narrowly missed out on the podium last Sunday. The Monegasque failed to pass Pierre Gasly on the final lap in Azerbaijan, but Leclerc was still happy. He saw Sebastian Vettel return to the podium.

Leclerc and Vettel may have clashed on track during their time at Ferrari, but off track the two have always been respectful of each other. Leclerc has often said he has a lot of respect for the four times world champion, and now, after missing out on a podium himself, he is happy for Seb.

Cheering for Vettel

''I've always been impressed by his experience. In some situations he had great analytical skills. I learned a lot from Seb in that area. He has a great eye for detail, and that makes a lot of difference on the track. Besides that, Seb is just a good person,'' Leclerc said according to Speedweek.com.

''In Baku I was surprised by the performance of Aston Martin. I didn't expect them to be so fast. It will be interesting to see if they can continue that step. For Seb, I'm extremely happy that he finished second. I'm also happy for my mate Pierre Gasly. It was exciting in the last two laps, but he was just a bit faster," concluded the Ferrari driver.

Read more Verstappen shows class after the race in Baku: Personal congratulations to Vettel
Lewis Hamilton made another mistake last Sunday, and was unable to take advantage of Max Verstappen's bad luck with his burst tyre. According to Nick Heidfeld it is clear that Lewis is feeling the pressure from Verstappen.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton seem to be fighting for the world title this year. For Hamilton, this has already become the most normal thing in the world in recent years, but for the first time in years he will be facing opposition from another driver. Where Sebastian Vettel could not really shake him in 2017 and 2018, Verstappen seems to be able to.

Pressure on Hamilton

In Imola, we saw a big mistake from Hamilton for the first time in ages. The Brit was in pursuit of Verstappen and slid right into the wall on the wet asphalt. He was able to limit the damage by a red flag. In Azerbaijan, however, it went wrong again, and he missed the opportunity to deal a big blow to Verstappen.

Read more Verstappen shows class after the race in Baku: Personal congratulations to Vettel

''Hamilton is feeling the pressure from Verstappen now that he is really competing for the world title. That's why at the moment we're seeing the best Lewis has ever done,'' Heidfeld told F1-Insider.com. ''The pressure makes for mistakes, but it also brings out the best in Lewis. As a result, Bottas is sinking further and further. ''Just good drivers like Bottas then get into trouble," concluded the former F1 driver.
Silk Road Community Building Initiative facilitates people-to-people exchanges among BRI countries

09:13, June 10, 2021 By Gong Ming, Huo Wen, Zhao Yipu ( People's Daily

Chinese doctors treat a child in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, at a local hospital, June 25, 2019. (Peoples Daily/Huo Wen)

Friendship, which derives from close contact between the people, holds the key to sound state-to-state relations. Since it was put forward in 2019, the Silk Road Community Building Initiative has facilitated non-governmental exchanges among countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), consolidated the friendship among peoples, and driven BRI countries to reach a broader consensus on building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Proposed by China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE) at the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the Initiative has by far promoted the establishment of nearly 600 pairs of cooperation partnerships between NGOs along the Belt and Road and the implementation of more than 300 livelihood cooperation projects covering various fields including health, education, science and technology, culture and community development.

Enkhotgon, a resident in Ulan Bator, capital city of Mongolia, is thrilled that his son, who suffered from congenital heart disease, got cured by Chinese doctors thanks to the Silk Road Community Building Initiative.

In May 2019, Chinese doctors came to Ulan Bator to implement congenital heart disease screening for children, during which Enkhotgons son, who was eight years old, was found eligible for operation. The boy then received free surgery in Wuxi, east Chinas Jiangsu province, in December that year. The trip to China proved to be a huge surprise, said Enkhotgon.

My son can now take P.E. classes with other kids, and often helps me with household chores. My husband and I dont have to run around seeking medical advice on my sons disease from one doctor after another. We are truly grateful to Chinese doctors for bringing health to our son, said Otgongerel, Enkhotgons wife.

Since 2017, the Red Cross Society of China, together with Mongolian Red Cross Society (MRCS), Afghan Red Crescent Society and other institutions, has launched many missions under the humanitarian aid program for children suffering from major diseases in BRI countries, providing free medical treatment for several hundred children who are diagnosed with congenital heart disease in Mongolia and Afghanistan.

The program has benefited children in 21 Mongolian provinces, and brought a brand new life to many of them, according to Bolormaa Nordov, secretary general of the MRCS, who noted that China has also helped Mongolia with training sessions for medical personnel including ophthalmologists and first-aid trainers, improving the public health services in Mongolia.

In September 2019, the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation initiated a vocational training program for impoverished young people in Nepal, helping over 200 Nepalese residents learn electrician and plumber skills.

Dilip, one of the trainees in the program, participated in home wiring and electricity maintenance as a community electrician amid efforts to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of the three-month-long intensive vocational training, I have not only learned electrician skills, but become more confident at work, Dilip said, adding that the training program has equipped many young people in Nepal with vocational skills and helped them find jobs.

We will continuously improve our skills and strive for greater career prospects, the electrician noted.

After a devastating earthquake in 2015, many buildings and roads in Nepal required reconstruction, and skilled labor was badly needed, pointed out Rajan Kc, a member of the Constituent Assembly in Nepal.

Vocational training supported by China is helpful for improving the professional skills of local young people, which well meets the needs of Nepal, according to the Nepali politician, who added that relevant programs have helped many young people secure jobs near their home.

The Silk Road Community Building Initiative conforms to the needs of developing countries, said Dr. Tharakorn Wusatirakul, deputy director of The Belt and Road Cooperation Research Center in Thailand.

The fruitful cooperation projects on peoples livelihood under the Silk Road Community Building Initiative have been warmly welcomed by many countries, and made countries and regions along the BRI routes more determined to actively build the Belt and Road, he pointed out.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
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(The Center Square)  A USA TODAY article dives into Michigans vaccine focus on equity instead of protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19. A surge of COVID-19 cases late in the pandemic killed 2,500 people.

But in the race to put shots in arms, Michigan lost. Its vaccination rate lagged Minnesotas, exacerbating a late-pandemic spike in cases that killed 2,500 people, USA TODAY reported. The vaccination gap between Minnesota and Michigan was particularly high for older people.

Michigan focused on vaccine equity, the report said, giving doses to public health departments who held mass vaccine events.

Meanwhile, Minnesota rushed vaccines to hospitals, and places like the Mayo Clinic used phonebanks and other information to target those most vulnerable to COVID-19: seniors citizens.

We know their medical problems, Dr. Melanie Swift, an occupational medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic, told USA TODAY. We have enough information to contact them proactively. We know where they live, we have phone numbers and addresses. Public health doesnt have that.

Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services defended its actions in a statement to USA TODAY.

"We also recognize that these efforts to address equity sometimes do not yield the high numbers" other channels might, the statement said, "but we strongly believe this is an important strategy to address equity."

A USA TODAY analysis showed Michigans focus on equity drastically failed as health departments in Michigans 10 most diverse counties through March provided no more doses per resident than in the states 10 whitest counties.

By March 5, Minnesota had at least partially vaccinated around 10% of Black residents while Michigan had vaccinated 6%, the report said. Even worse, Michigan placed second-to-last in vaccinating Latinos.

Minnesota chose to vaccinate residents via hospitals, and by the end of February, injected more than 50% of seniors, compared to 39% of Michigans seniors. In both states, senior citizens comprised roughly 90% of the states COVID-19 deaths.

By late March, About 79% of Minnesota seniors had at least one dose versus 65% in Michigan, the report said.

"It does look like Michigans slower pace in vaccination in February was really crucial, Julie Swann, a professor at North Carolina State University who worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the H1N1 pandemic, told USA TODAY. At least some of those people would have been protected."

Gov. Gretchen Whitmers office hasnt responded to a request for comment.

Michigan Freedom Fund Executive Director Tori Sachs responded to the report.

For months, the Michigan Freedom Fund asked the Whitmer administration to focus vaccine efforts on nursing homes, on the most at-risk populations, and on getting shots efficiently and quickly into arms, she said in a statement. Instead, the Governor snuck to Florida and the members of her cabinet responsible for the states vaccine rollout and her health department went on secret vacations in Florida and Alabama."
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Florida International University have demonstrated the first real-time measurementusing lab-based methodsof free radical particles reacting under cosmic conditions, prompting elementary carbon and hydrogen atoms to coalesce into primal benzene rings.

The researchers say that their findings, recently published in an open-access paper in the journal Science Advances, are key to understanding how the universe evolved with the growth of carbon compounds. That insight could also help the car industry make cleaner combustion engines.





Molecular structures of the benzene molecule along with key structural isomers. Zhao et al.

The first in situ detection of benzene [C 6 H 6 ] along with three structural isomers [1,5-hexadiyne, fulvene, and 2-ethynyl-1,3-butadiene] and o-benzyne has far-reaching implications to the chemistry of aromatic systems in extreme environments spanning high-temperature combustion flames and carbon-rich circumstellar envelopes along with low-temperature, hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons such as Titan and molecular clouds.  high-temperature combustion processes and carbon-rich circumstellar environments portray a similar complexity as hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons. Zhao et al.

For nearly half a century, astrophysicists and organic chemists have been on the hunt for the origins of C 6 H 6 , the benzene ringan elegant, hexagonal molecule comprising 6 carbon and 6 hydrogen atoms. Astrophysicists say that the benzene ring could be the fundamental building block of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the most basic materials formed from the explosion of dying, carbon-rich stars. That swirling mass of matter would eventually give shape to the earliest forms of carbonprecursors to molecules some scientists say are connected to the synthesis of the earliest forms of life on Earth.

PAHs have a dark side, too. The industrial processes behind crude oil refineries and the inner-workings of gas-powered combustion engines can emit PAHs, which can form into toxic air pollutants such as soot.

Exactly how the first benzene ring formed from stars in the early universeand how combustion engines trigger the chemical reaction that alters the benzene ring into soot particle pollutantshave long mystified scientists.

A type of free radical called the propargyl radical (C 3 H 3 ) is extremely reactive due to its propensity for losing an electron, and has been implicated in soot formation for decades. Researchers believed that the recombination of two free propargyl radicals, C 3 H 3  + C 3 H 3 , gave rise to the first aromatic ring, benzene.

The current study is the first demonstration of the so-called radical propargyl self-reaction under astrochemical and combustion conditions. Using a high-temperature, coin-sized chemical reactor called the hot nozzle, the researchers simulated the high-pressure, high-temperature environment inside a combustion engine as well as the hydrocarbon-rich atmosphere of Saturns moon Titan, and observed the formation of isomersmolecules with the same chemical formula but different atomic structuresfrom two propargyl radicals leading up to the benzene ring.

The hot-nozzle technique, which co-senior author Musahid Ahmed, senior staff scientist in Berkeley Labs Chemical Sciences Division, adapted 10 years ago at Berkeley Labs Advanced Light Source (ALS) for synchrotron experiments, relies on vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectroscopy to detect individual isomers. The ALS is a type of particle accelerator known as a synchrotron that generates extremely bright beams of light ranging from infrared through X-rays.

The researchers steered the technique to arrest the propargyl radical self-reactionwhich unfolds within microsecondsjust before larger PAHs and subsequent soot form. The compelling result supports predictions from experiments led by co-senior author Ralf Kaiser, professor of chemistry at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and quantum chemistry simulations formulated by co-senior author Alexander Mebel, professor of chemistry at Florida International University.

They believe that the finding could one day lead to cleaner combustion engines. Having more efficient gasoline engines, some analysts say, is still important, because it may take another 25 years before we can replace the entire fleet of gasoline cars with electric vehicles (EVs). Furthermore, equipping airplanes and the gasoline-powered component of hybrid plug-in EVs with cleaner combustion engines could help reduce CO 2 emissions.

Ahmed said he plans to extend the methods employed to study PAH growth, and probe other systems of relevance to the DOE mission, such as water desalination and environmental science.

This work was supported by the DOE Office of Science.

Resources
Prior to the start of a monthly meeting with elected officials about the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweetwater County Health Officer was frank with her opinions regarding shifting attitudes.

Its kind of disconcerting that everyone thinks the pandemic is over -- it isnt, Dr. Jean Stachon said before the meeting started.

Sweetwater County continues to have some of the highest infection and percent positivity rates in the state, with the county having 9.9% positivity for COVID-19 tests while the state averages at 2.4%.

According to data collected by the Wyoming News Exchange, Sweetwater County has the second highest number of infections recorded by the Wyoming Department of Health with 64 new infections reported in the last week. Laramie County was the highest with 161.

Nurses and doctors at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County have also noticed an uptick in the number of emergency room visits by COVID-19 infected residents.

Kim White, Director of Emergency Services at the hospital said their percent positivity rate is nearly 20% of those tested, which is a decrease from Memorial Day weekends percentage of 33%. She said those infected with COVID-19 have been calling ahead of time to notify staff of having the disease, giving the hospital time to prepare for an arrival. She also said two recent deaths have also been shocking to the staff.

Its definitely not going away, White said.

However, if infection numbers increase, dont expect the county health department to cancel upcoming events like the Sweetwater County Fair; health officers no longer have that power.

Sr. Stachon said laws passed by the Wyoming Legislature going into effect July 1 place that responsibility with elected city and county officials, saying she can provide advise, but is no longer able to issue mandates that would call for facial masks or event cancellations.

Sweetwater County Public Health continues to vaccinate everyone they can, though the number of people seeking a COVID-19 vaccination has declined. According to the Wyoming Department of Health, 26.29% of the countys population have received a complete vaccination, receiving two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or a single dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

Dr. Stachon said receiving any vaccine can help a person if they later contract a variant of the COVID-19 virus, saying symptoms for people who have received a vaccine are less serious than for those who have not.

Deb Sutton, the hospitals marketing and public relations officer, said MHSC will begin scheduling shot parties for residents and their friends. They can call 352-8561 to set up a party.

While the states health orders have expired, Dr. Stachon reminds residents the pandemic hasnt ended and its still possible to contract COVID-19.

Its not over, please be responsible, Dr. Stachon said.
Dear Editor,

For several years, the Bureau of Land Management has been working towards publishing its Draft Resource Management Plan for its Rock Springs Field Office, which covers over 3 million acres of public lands within Sweetwater County and southwest Wyoming. Even though it may be months before this draft plan is published, it is important for everyone who uses and enjoys BLM land to watch for public notices of its publication and be prepared to comment on a wide array of multiple use resource issues covered by the draft plan. Commenting will make you part of the public participation process that will help ensure that our public lands are managed to protect our regions multiple use heritage.

Whether your public lands interests lie in protecting the tax base provided by mineral development, identifying suitable sites for alternative energy, protecting grazing rights or preserving wildlife habitat and special places like the Greater Little Mountain Area, Red Desert, or Natural Corrals, submitting your comments to the BLM helps guide them in making balanced resource management decisions. Some comment ideas could include requesting that solar and other renewable energy projects are not located within big game migration corridors, and encouraging regionalized upfront leasing plans that keep important fish and wildlife habitat healthy and connected while also providing certainty for industry.

BLM public land is a key element in what makes Sweetwater County and southwest Wyoming a great place to work and live. It is our heritage. To protect this heritage, the BLM should prioritize a timely publication of its Draft Resource Management Plan while the issues addressed in it are still relevant and residents are not left guessing when the draft will be published. Whether or not the publication of the draft plan is months away or not, it is critical that Southwest Wyoming residents watch for its notice of publication and then once it is published take time submit their comments to the BLM.

Mark Kot

Rock Springs
In keeping with the slogan Wyoming powers the nation, the state will be the site of a new nuclear power plant -- with the Jim Bridger Power Plant near Rock Springs being one of the four proposed locations.

As county and city leaders are preparing to make their pitch to decision makers, one thing that is abundantly clear to us is the fact that Sweetwater County is the best location for this kind of energy project.

The Jim Bridger Power Plant is located close enough to Rock Springs for workers to easily travel to, while far enough away to not impact residents should a problem develop at the plant. Along with easy access to Interstate-80 and railroad services, the location is also close to the uranium mine at Lost Creek, near Bairoil, giving it a close source of fuel that can easily be transported.

Beyond this, Sweetwater County offers an abundance of opportunities to keep workers occupied during their off hours, as well as a world-class community college that could help train the next generation of Wyomings energy workers. With a three-hour drive, they can even enjoy the metropolitan offerings found in Salt Lake City.

Sweetwater County is the only logical choice for this nuclear plant. We hope our leaders can sell that fact.
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!
After serving five years on the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County Board of Trustees, Richard Mathey did not reapply for a second term.

Mathey, the board vice president, has said his drive to serve as an MHSC trustee came from his understanding that healthcare is a vital part of this community. He wanted to help it thrive. When a board position opened up, he thought it was a good fit.

His fellow trustees say it was the perfect fit.

"Richard will most definitely be missed at MHSC," said Taylor Jones, president of the MHSC Board of Trustees. "Richard has been an extremely valuable member of the MHSC Board and contributed in countless ways. His guidance over the last several years helped put MHSC in the great position we are currently in and helped position us for the future. I wish Richard the best in his retirement and new home in Fremont County."

Trustees Barbara Sowada, Ed Tardoni and Marty Kelsey echoed those sentiments.

"It has been a privilege and an honor being able to work with Richard over the past five years," said CEO Irene Richardson. "His leadership and commitment to the hospital truly helped us improve in many ways. His new perspective and vision helped to set us up for success in the future. He will be deeply missed, but I wish Richard and Randy the best in this new chapter of their lives."

Mathey was appointed to the board in July 2016, serving as president for the first three years. He has since served as the board's vice president. His term ends June 30.

He brought to the table a deep and extensive knowledge of governmental, administrative and tax law. He also represented area government agencies including the Joint Powers Water Board, Sweetwater County Child Developmental Center and STAR Transit.

Mathey has lived in Wyoming for more than 60 years. He and his wife, Randy, moved from Laramie to Green River in 1977. That same year, he began practicing law in Sweetwater County, opening Mathey Law Office in Green River. He retired in 2019. They now plan to make their home in Fremont County.

Sweetwater County Commission Chairman Richard Wendling on Tuesday thanked Mathey for all of his years of service on the hospital board and the many boards he has served on, along with the work he has done for the county.

The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously appointed Kandi Pendleton to a five-year term on the board. Several area residents had applied to the county to fill the seat. In April, the county commissioners voted to recommend Pendleton to the board so she could be mentored by Mathey and get a head start on learning all she could about how the hospital operates.

"I've heard nothing but good things about Ms. Pendleton, the work she has done already and her attentiveness," County Commissioner Jeff Smith, MHSC liaison, said during Tuesday's commission meeting.

"I gladly welcome Kandi to the MHSC Board," Jones said during Wednesday's hospital board meeting. "Kandi brings great qualities, knowledge and leadership, and will be a true asset. MHSC will be a better place having Kandi involved."

Pendleton, the Marketing/Events Manager at Sweetwater Events Complex, begins a five-year term July 1. She will take the oath of office during the trustees' July 7 meeting. A new slate of officers will be elected at that time.
Three employees have been promoted to directorships at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County.

Marianne Sanders is now the Director of Physician Recruitment & Relations; Jeanne West, Director of Case Management; and Patty OLexey, Director of Education.

Marianne Sanders: Sanders was born and raised in Rock Springs, making her the perfect person to speak with potential new providers who are considering a job at Sweetwater Memorial or any of its Specialty Clinics.

Sanders attended Western Wyoming Community College and immediately joined the banking industry. After more than 16 years in banking, she took a job with Sweetwater Surgery Center.

In 2010, she joined MHSC in the Patient Financial Services department. For the past nine years, Sanders has worked as manager of Physician Recruitment and Relations. During those years, she has created a department effective in recruiting skilled providers in a variety of specialties and retaining those who already are employed with MHSC.

It is her job to find physician and provider candidates who are a good fit for the community. She works with the CEO on contracts, provides both the candidate and the MHSC leadership team all the information they need to make sure its the right fit, and makes sure the new hire has everything needed for a successful career at MHSC. Sanders also helps promote new and current providers throughout the community. She particularly enjoys meeting people from all over the world and learning more about the individual specialties they are involved in.

Sanders has a way of communicating with potential new doctors, said Chief Executive Officer Irene Richardson.

She is one of the first contacts many of our new providers have with Sweetwater Memorial, Richardson said. She has a wide range of knowledge that allows her to cultivate a relationship and continue to work with our physicians and providers in a retention capacity. She has an excellent rapport with our physicians and providers.

Jeanne West: As of July 2021, West will have 38 years of service with MHSC. Born and raised in Rock Springs, she is the daughter of the areas first internist, Dr. Howard P. Greaves, M.D. His influence led her to the medical field.

West began working for MHSC at the former hospital on C Street as a nursing assistant. She received a License Practical Nurse degree and an Associate of Science degree from Weber State College. She earned a Bachelor of Nursing degree in 2013 from the University of Wyoming. In 2007, she received Accredited Case Manager Certification.

She has a background including the Medical/Surgical Unit, Intensive Care Unit, Recovery Room and as a House Supervisor. She has worked in the role of Utilization Management/Case Management for 25 years.

Case management is a collaborative process that requires continued assessment, planning, coordination of services and implementation of those services in order to meet the individual patients healthcare needs, West said. A case manager follows the patient from admission through discharge. Case managers act on behalf of the patient, and advocate and communicate with healthcare personnel and community resources to ensure the patients needs are met appropriately and timely for the best possible outcome.

West is the perfect fit to lead that team, said Chief Nursing Officer Ann Clevenger.

Jeannes years with the hospital and her wealth of knowledge in case management benefits us and our patients, Clevenger said. There is no one more well-suited to the directors position than she. The leadership will benefit from her years of experience.

Patty OLexey: She, too, was born and raised in Rock Springs. A non-traditional student at 40 when she applied for nursing school, OLexey graduated from WWCC with an Associate Degree in Nursing and then earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Wyoming.

Her background includes the Medical-Surgical Unit, Intensive Care Unit, Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, and Care Transition.

As director of education, assists with the ongoing planning, development, implementation, and monitoring of educational activities for clinical and non-clinical staff throughout the organization. She works collaboratively with all disciplines, departments, and medical staff to develop educational activities and programs. She represents the education community within MHSC and serves as a liaison with academic institutions and community agencies.

OLexey is a certified American Heart Association Instructor for CPR, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, and Advanced Cardiac Life Support for more than 12 years, conducting classes for the hospital staff and other healthcare providers in the community and assuring the MHSC provides the most up-to-date information to staff and participants.

Education is never-ending, OLexey said. It is the process by which health professionals keep up to date with the latest knowledge and advances in healthcare.

We are always striving to provide the best and safest ways to care for the patient at MHSC, OLexey said. Education is part of the foundation for patient care.

MHSCs mission is To provide compassionate care for every life we touch. Its vision is To be our communitys trusted healthcare leader. OLexey said the Education Department provides tools and resources to hospital employees to help achieve these goals.

With 15 years of nursing experience, Patty OLexey is the perfect fit to lead and continue to develop the education department, Clevenger said. With Pattys vast experience in nursing at MHSC, she has the ability to view, understand, and meet the educational needs of patients, families, and staff, improving the overall health outcomes within our community.

They are part of MHSCs leadership team, which now includes 32 leaders and five chief executives.
CARBIS BAY, England (AP)  Jill Biden is sending a sartorial message of love as she accompanies her husband President Joe Biden overseas.

The first lady wore a black jacket with the word love outlined on the back in silver beading as she and the president met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Thursday. She wore the same jacket more than two years ago to kick off Bidens presidential campaign.

Were bringing love from America, she told reporters, explaining her fashion choice.

This is a global conference and we are trying to bring unity across the globe and I think its needed right now, that people feel a sense of unity from all the countries and feel a sense hope after this year of the pandemic."

Biden is known for her sartorial choices, often donning bright pastels or eye-catching patterns for her outings on behalf of the Biden administration. She is rarely seen without a kitten heel or stiletto boot, adding height to her petite frame.

And this isnt the first time shes sent a direct message with her clothes: During a campaign trip to Iowa late last year, Biden wore black skinny jeans bearing the word VOTE down each calf.

Bidens jacket and pants come in contrast to the last first lady to offer a message with her clothes: Melania Trump wore a jacket that read I Really Don't Care, Do U?" during a trip to a detention center for migrant children in 2018. She wore a different jacket at the shelter.

The first lady is accompanying her husband during the U.K. leg of his foreign trip, where she'll participate in spouses' activities at the Group of Seven summit, and a couple of events focused on military veterans and their families. She joined Johnson's wife, Carrie Johnson, for tea Thursday and tweeted a photo of the two and Johnson's son, Wilfred, on the shore.

On Friday, Jill Biden, a community college English professor, and Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, and mother of three young children, plan to appear together at a preschool in Cornwall and participate in a roundtable discussion on early childhood education, the White House said.

Joe Biden is on his first overseas visit as president. Along with his participation in the G-7 summit and a NATO summit in Brussels, he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Jill Biden said her husband had been studying for weeks for the trip and joked that he is overprepared.

Joe loves foreign policy. This is his forte," she said.

The Bidens are set to meet with Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday at Windsor Castle. The first lady told reporters that's an exciting part of the visit for us.

-

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  U.S. plans to donate 500 million more COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries were met Thursday with both celebration and hesitation amid questions over whether the effort will be enough to help poor regions desperate for doses.

Some health officials and experts expressed hope that the pledge would encourage more donations to ease the inequities in vaccine supplies that have become pronounced in recent months. Other observers stressed that the doses needed to roll out quickly.

Saving lives requires shots in arms now. Not at the end of 2021, not in 2022, but now, said Kate Elder, senior vaccines policy advisor to the Doctors Without Borders organization. The donated vaccines better come in sufficient volumes and urgently.

Hours after the U.S. President Joe Biden's administration committed to the donation, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the Group of Seven nations were set to share at least 1 billion coronavirus shots with the world, with half coming from the U.S. and 100 million from the U.K. The announcement on the eve of the G-7 summit in England previewed a coordinated effort by the world's advanced economies to make vaccination available everywhere.

The first 200 million doses from the U.S. will start to arrive in countries in August, the White House and manufacturer Pfizer said, with the rest following in the first half of 2022.

Inoculation campaigns in several richer countries have surged ahead while efforts have barely begun in many poorer nations. The recent surge in cases in India offered a searing reminder of how COVID-19 can devastate entire countries when vaccines are scarce or nonexistent.

Weve seen that the virus is not over. It might feel like its nearly over for some of us living in countries where were lucky enough to have been vaccinated. But in other parts of the world, the virus is still absolutely raging out of control," said Lily Caprani, head of vaccines advocacy for UNICEF.

The Biden administrations decision to donate Pfizer vaccines raised doubts about whether the doses would reach the poorest of the poor because those doses need to be stored in ultra-cold conditions. Many low-income countries with limited infrastructure will probably be unable to take them to their most remote areas.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would advise its countries to use the Pfizer shots in major cities.

Still, the administration's promise was clearly a cause for celebration, said Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC, particularly at a time when infections are increasing on the continent of 1.3 billion people, and some countries still have not administered a single dose.

Absolutely, it's going to be a big help, Nkengasong said.

The donation of the Pfizer shots is crucial because the global disparity in vaccination has become a multidimensional threat: a human catastrophe, a $5 trillion economic loss for advanced economies and a contributor to the generation of mutant viruses, said Jerome Kim, head of the International Vaccine Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to making vaccines available to developing countries.

The U.S. will work with the global COVAX vaccine alliance to deliver the shots.

The G-7 summit might also give an indication of whether and how far other nations in the elite club are willing to follow the U.S and the U.K. on vaccine sharing. Richer countries have been the focus of widespread criticism that they have fallen woefully short of lofty promises of fairness when the vaccines were being developed. Germany and France have each promised to donate 30 million doses by the end of the year.

The gaps in vaccine access are clear: The U.S. and Britain have fully vaccinated more than 40% of their populations, according to a global tracker kept by Johns Hopkins University. Countries like Haiti, on America's doorstep, Burundi and many others have vaccinated few, if any, of their people.

So far, 77% of all the vaccines administered have gone into the arms of people in 10 countries, said COVAX Co-Chair Jane Halton. Now that has got to change.

The inequality is not just a matter of fairness. There is also increasing concern over virus variants emerging from areas with consistently high COVID-19 circulation. At least three variants are circulating in Africa, the African CDC said, and driving infections. Even countries like Britain, with high rates of vaccination, have cited variants as an ongoing concern.

While Bidens plan is welcome, it is a small piece of the puzzle, and it doesnt help countries that are struggling now, said Fifa Rahman, who is a civil society representative on a World Health Organization body focused on increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines.

She cited the East African nation of Uganda as an example, saying the countrys intensive care units are already full, and it has only small numbers of vaccines left.

Biden's announcement is also tangled up in geopolitics. He hopes to put the U.S. and its allies at the forefront of the global virus fight in the face of a growing supply of Chinese and Russian vaccines.

China has exported 350 million doses of its vaccines to dozens of nations, according to its Foreign Ministry. While those vaccines have faced scrutiny because of a lack of transparency in the sharing of clinical trial data, many poorer nations were eager to receive anything at all.

The shots promised by the Biden administration will go to 92 lower income countries and the African Union. Pfizer said the doses are part of a previous pledge, with its partner BioNTech, to provide 2 billion doses to developing countries over the next 18 months.

The White House had earlier announced separate plans to share 80 million doses globally by the end of June, most through COVAX.

Some experts said donations alone will not be enough to close the huge gaps in supplies and called for allowing qualified companies around the world to manufacture vaccines without intellectual property constraints.

The U.S. has expressed support for suspending IP protections on vaccines, and some other countries have agreed it should be explored. But in an indication of the disjointed response from the G-7 nations, Germany on Thursday repeated its opposition to such a waiver.

___

Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writers Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan; Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia; Ken Moritsugu in Beijing; Maria Cheng in London; Jill Lawless in Falmouth, England; Angela Charlton in Paris; Geir Moulson in Berlin; and Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  A judge has halted plans for oil and gas drilling on vast areas of Wyoming and Montana, citing concerns about a sagebrush-dwelling bird.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management didn't adequately consider how the drilling would affect the greater sage grouse, nor an option to defer drilling in the bird's prime habitat, Idaho U.S. District Judge Ronald E. Bush ruled Wednesday.

Bush ordered more study of potential effects on the bird before drilling may proceed.

The drilling would occur on over 600 square miles (1,500 square kilometers) of federal land scattered across the energy-rich states. The Bureau of Land Management auctioned off hundreds of leases in sage grouse habitat in four sales in 2017.

Sage grouse are a chicken-sized, primarily ground-dwelling bird whose numbers have fallen significantly from the millions that inhabited the U.S. West in frontier times. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined in 2010 that the bird deserved special protection but said in 2015 that conservation efforts led by Wyoming made that unnecessary.

The environmental group that sued over the leases praised Bush's ruling.

This ruling sends a very strong message that the BLM can no longer lease public lands for fossil fuel development without weighing the outcomes for sensitive lands and wildlife, Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, said in a statement Thursday.

BLM spokesman Brad Purdy declined to comment, citing agency policy not to discuss ongoing litigation. The agencys allies in the case included the Western Energy Alliance industry group and the state of Wyoming, where Republican Gov. Mark Gordon was weighing whether to appeal.

The governor is dismayed by Judge Bushs ruling but is pleased that the leases have not been vacated," Gordon spokesman Michael Pearlman said by email.

The ruling comes amid a federal oil and gas leasing moratorium imposed by President Joe Biden's administration while it studies the effects on climate change.

___

Follow Mead Gruver at https://twitter.com/meadgruver
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Former Wisconsin governors Jim Doyle and Scott Walker don't agree on much, but they are joining together to call for people to get the COVID-19 vaccine in a new public service television advertisement.

The spot released Thursday, produced by UW Health, features the Republican Walker placing a Zoom call to Doyle, a Democrat. Both are in their personal offices and never appear in the same room together.

Im just ready to be done with this pandemic, Walker says.

Doyle responds, I couldnt agree with you more.

Thats what I thought, Walker says. Heres another thought: Lets do a commercial together  reminding people in Wisconsin how important it is to be vaccinated.

Doyle quips, That may be the best idea youve ever had.

Both Walker and Doyle have been vaccinated.

Both governors said in statements that they hoped the ad would encourage everyone to get vaccinated to enjoy the summer and return to a more normal life.

It just makes sense, Walker said Thursday on Twitter in response to a post about the ad.

The spot comes as the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature is considering bills that would prohibit business owners, university leaders and government officials from requiring the COVID-19 vaccination or treating unvaccinated people differently.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is all-but certain to veto the bills should they pass. He has already vetoed a bill that would have prohibited health officials from mandating the vaccine.

As of Wednesday, nearly 49% of Wisconsin residents have received at least one dose of vaccine and just over 43% are fully vaccinated.

This isn't the first time that political rivals have appeared together in a public service announcement during the pandemic. Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan appeared in a spot last year encouraging people to wear masks.

And a third former governor, currently interim University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson, wielded a sledge hammer in a series of videos last year urging people to smash COVID.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP)  A former school worker in Kansas faces additional charges accusing him of sexual exploitation of a child.

Prosecutors last week charged 31-year-old Aaron Zachry of Junction City with one count after police allegedly found nude photos of children on his phone.

Three additional counts were filed Wednesday. Riley County Police say the additional charges are related to an incident believed to have occurred March 13 at a home in Manhattan. No additional information was released.

Zachry is jailed on $360,000 bond. It wasn't immediately clear on Thursday if he had an attorney.

Zachry worked as a paraprofessional at a Manhattan grade school from 2018 through the end of this school year.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)  The man who shot and killed five people at a Maryland newspaper told a state psychiatrist he wanted to destroy a building Timothy McVeigh-style and that there was no defense for the crimes he committed, attorneys said during a court hearing Wednesday.

Attorneys said Jarrod Ramos spoke of thinking about destroying the Capital Gazette office during an interview with a state psychiatrist . He also talked about targeting the building where Maryland's two appellate courts are located.

Ramos also studied books on mass shootings and police response times, according to court testimony.

Lawyers for Ramos tried to persuade a judge to redact statements their client made to a state psychiatrist in a report that will be part of the second phase of his trial to determine whether he is criminally responsible for the June 2018 attack at the Capital Gazette due to his mental health. Ramos already has pleaded guilty but not criminally responsible due to insanity.

Matthew Connell, one of Ramos lawyers, argued that reports by expert witnesses in the case were hearsay and prejudicial and should not be admissible. Judge Michael Wachs ruled the reports were admissible, but he said some material in them would be redacted.

Dr. Sameer Patel, a psychiatrist with the state Health Department, interviewed Ramos after the shooting as part of a mental health evaluation and found him to be legally sane. The report has been under seal. Attorneys for Ramos have said experts on the defense team reached a different conclusion.

In addition to referring to McVeigh, whose fertilizer truck bomb ripped apart the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people, Ramos also mentioned the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead, and the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in suburban Denver that left 12 students and one teacher dead, the psychiatrist wrote in his report.

He wrote that Ramos also told him initially he didnt want a lawyer because there is no defense for the crime I committed.

Ramos' attorney Katy O'Donnell argued that the references should be redacted from the record because they are prejudicial to her client. But Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Anne Leitess contended the references pointed to Ramos' thoughtful planning of the attack and indicated that he understood the criminality of his actions.

Wachs denied the request for redaction on those points.

The court has started preparing to select a jury in the high-profile case in Maryland's small state capital by summoning 300 people to the courthouse to fill out a questionnaire. Jury selection is set to begin June 23. Opening statements are scheduled to begin June 29, a day after the third anniversary of the attack.

Ramos, 41, had a well-documented history of harassing the newspapers journalists. He filed a lawsuit against the paper in 2012, alleging he was defamed in an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case in 2011. The defamation suit was dismissed as groundless, and Ramos railed against staff at the newspaper in profanity-laced tweets.

Ramos also was angry at the courts for dismissing his case. One of three letters he sent on the day of the shooting went to Maryland's Court of Special Appeals, the state's intermediate appellate court, addressed to retired Judge Charles Moylan Jr., who decided against Ramos in his defamation case.

Ramos pleaded guilty in October 2019 to all 23 counts against him for killing John McNamara, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, Rob Hiaasen and Rebecca Smith.

If Ramos were found not criminally responsible, he would be committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital instead of prison.

Under Maryland law, a defendant has the burden to show by a preponderance of the evidence that he is not criminally responsible for his actions. State law says a defendant is not criminally responsible for criminal conduct if, because of a mental disorder or developmental disabilities, he lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct.
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Matthew Brown/AP

NYE, Mont. (AP)  Two workers for the only palladium and platinum mining operation in the U.S. have died in an underground accident at a Montana mine, company officials said.

The employees were in a utility vehicle called a side-by-side that crashed into an underground locomotive Wednesday afternoon, said Heather McDowell, a vice president with the South Africa-based Sibanye-Stillwater, which owns the Stillwater Mining Co.
Huawei has already begun the HarmonyOS 2 rollout in China and earlier today we reported the platform has reached 10 million devices. In an interview with media representatives in China, company execs revealed an important detail about the upgrade process.

After flashing the new firmware all user data, games, photos and apps will carry over without losing any data.

HarmonyOS 2 is in its final rollout stage with A/B testing with current users who signed up for the public beta. Some devices are still on internal beta, but Huawei is optimistic about making quick progress.

Speaking about the move from Android to the HarmonyOS (which we already established behaves very similarly), you will be able to keep even your photos, login info for apps like WeChat, QQ, and other platforms. However, when Huawei AppGallery becomes the main app store, you have to watch out for the applications that are not officially supported and they have to use that for future updates.

The information might be about the Chinese market where Google Services were banned a long time ago, though. Those using GMS-packing Huawei phones in overseas markets will certainly see some apps lose partial functionality or even being unable to run on HarmonyOS altogether.

Meanwhile we also learned that Honor smartphones that were launched before the split of the brand will keep receiving updates and will eventually get the option to migrate to HarmonyOS, but the Huawei execs did not reveal any timeline whatsoever.

Source (in Chinese)
A scene from TV series "Mine" / Courtesy of tvN



By Kang Hyun-kyung



Mystery thriller TV series "Mine" has enjoyed durable popularity since its first episode aired on tvN on May 8 with a relatively high viewership rating of 6 percent.



The latest episode, which aired last Sunday, hit 9.4 percent ratings.



Considering that "Mine" is another version of the same old story about a superrich family, sibling rivalry, and the brutal infighting to become the heir of their family business, its steady popularity among viewers is something rare.



As always, there are things that keep viewers tuning in to the Saturday-Sunday drama.



Veteran supporting actors who know how to spice up the TV series are some of the unsung heroes behind its steady popularity.



Ms. Ji (played by Park Sung-yeon) seems to be one of the top contributors. Playing a housekeeper in charge of domestic staff, she is disciplined, ambitious but playful. Having served the superrich family for 10 years on, she knows all the dirty secrets of each family member. Her knowledge is her weapon. To keep her quiet, Mr. Han, president of Hyowon Group and owner of the mansion, gave her a four-bedroom apartment in Seoul's affluent southern district of Gangnam. But she is not satisfied with the financial compensation.



Park recreated the ambitious lower-class woman's character with her witty reactions and playful interruptions which help viewers find time to laugh while watching the mysterious thriller full of turns and twists.



Park Hyuk-kwon who plays Han Jin-ho, Mr. Han's incompetent, helpless first son, is another supporting actor who makes the drama addictive. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he is the spoiled brat of the family. With his consistently disappointing academic and professional performances, he failed to impress his father to be chosen as heir apparent to succeed his multi-billion-dollar business. A reformed alcoholic, he keeps trying to win back his father's heart and remove his smart younger brother, a child born out of wedlock, from his father's radar in the selection of his successor.



The more he does that, however, the more his actions screw him up.



"Mine" overcomes the temptation of portraying a simple dichotomy of a competition between good and evil characters. In many dramas, the haves are portrayed as greedy, destructive and self-serving, while the have-nots are the ones that are always down to earth, genuine and good natured. Viewers are sick and tired of that kind of simplistic, unconvincing storytelling.



"Mine" seeks an alternative storytelling. It says greed and desires are part of every human's nature, regardless of wealth or social status.



Kim Sung-tae (played by Lee jung-ok), for example, is a male employee of the family responsible for property maintenance. He is poor but has the heart to pity the billionaires living dramatic lives with no peace in sight. But the man who seems to be the last person to cheat on others is wicked enough to steal Mr. Han's iconic blue diamond necklace he purchased at an auction.



"Mine" captures the darkness that every human has  no matter how rich and successful they are  and this makes it different from other dramas about superrich families.



The drama writer's sophisticated skill in touching on lesbian love, a topic that has rarely been addressed in Korean TV series, also plays a part in its lasting success.



Jung Seo-hyun (played by Kim Seo-hyung), Mr. Han's daughter-in-law, has been involved in "forbidden love" even before she married her husband. Her love interest was (and still is) a woman she met in college. They both found their hearts were pounding whenever they are together. Also born with a silver spoon in her mouth, Jung was raised and educated to live like other women of superrich families. She chose to live the way she was supposed to and married her husband for the sake of her parents' business. Her heart, however, is still wrenching because of her choice.



Veteran actor Kim perfectly pulls off that character, a woman who has it all but feels her life is empty because of her decision to choose her family over her love.






Haiti - Constitution : 4 Associations of the private business sector ask the Government to postpone the referendum





In a letter addressed to the Minister of Communication Pradel Henriquez, Marc Pierre-Louis Treasurer of the Tourist Association of Haiti (ATH) Wilhelm Lemke, President of the Association of Industries of Haiti (ADIH), Laurent Saint-Cyr, President of the West Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIO) and Jean-Philippe Boisson, President of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham - Haiti), four Associations of the private business sector, after having acknowledged and also their members of the preliminary draft of a new Constitution which has been submitted to them, after information sessions and informed debates by experts in law and constitutional law, informs the Minister of the position that their members wish them to adopt.



Extract from the letter addressed to Minister Henriquez :

"[...] At the end of this consultation of our members, and in the concern to respect the wishes thus translated, the Associations signatory of the present, while recognizing the need and the merits of a constitutional reform, express with force their reservations about the process chosen, which should be carried out within the framework of the prescriptions of the current mother law, or, within the framework of a broad political agreement in order to guarantee an inclusive, consensual and transparent process.



In addition, it seems obvious that the deterioration of the insecurity that reigns on the national territory and the current state of health emergency relating to the Covid-19 pandemic only worsen a climate already unsuited to a reaction on a subject as important for the future of the Nation. Today, it is indisputable that the population lives in fear and terror whether in Cap-Haitien, Petit-Goave passing by Martissant, Croix des Bouquets and Laboule.



Consequently, the signatory Associations ask the Government to postpone the constitutional referendum project to guarantee inclusive and participatory consultation.



While reiterating their wish to see the establishment of a serene climate and a frank dialogue within Haitian society, the Signatory Associations hereof take the opportunity to assure you of their availability in order to contribute to the advancement of Haiti.



Cc : Mr. Claude Joseph, Prime Minister

Cc : Independent Consulting Committee."



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





The USA against the referendum in Haiti

Tuesday, June 8, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, questioned by Congressman Andy Levin during a hearing before the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee concerning the position of the Biden administration regarding the constitutional referendum in Haiti replied "Our position is that it should not take place [...]". The Haitian Caucus is pleased that the US Secretary of State has finally spoken out against the referendum process underway in Haiti.



More than 1,120 residents have fled Martissant

UN Haiti and humanitarian partners are working with the Haitian Government and local authorities to provide the necessary emergency assistance to some 1,120 residents of Martissant, including women and girls displaced by violence in their neighborhood https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33912-haiti-flash-gang-war-hundreds-of-people-flee-martissant.html



BRI patrol kills a racketeer

Tuesday at around 8:30 p.m., a patrol of the Intervention and Research Brigade (BRI) was the target of shots from unidentified armed individuals. The latter ransomed passers-by on Boulevard Toussaint Louverture near Universal Motors. During the exchange of fire, one of them was fatally shot and a 9mm caliber pistol was recovered.



Me Andre Michel did not respond to the OAS invitation

Me Andre Michel, one of the leaders of the radical opposition, informs that the so-called "Democratic and Popular" Sector did not respond to the invitation of the Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33935-haiti-news-zapping.html explaining that nevertheless a document explaining the position of the "Democratic and Popular" Sector was sent to the members of the Mission.



4th Superior Council of the National Police in one week

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister a.i, Claude Joseph, organized his 4th Superior Council of the National Police (CSPN) in one week on the security situation of the country. A Board extended to the Directors General of the General Customs Administration and the National Port Authority (APN) with a view to strengthening the control structures at the ports and the border.



900,000 Haitians will benefit from humanitarian aid

USAID is one of the partners supporting the World Food Program (WFP) in providing humanitarian assistance in Haiti. Since the start of 2021, WFP has provided emergency aid to more than 200,000 Haitians thanks to funding from USAID, i.e. 18% more than in 2020. In 2021, WFP is expanding its operations to reach 900,000 Haitians by the end of this year.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















By William Schwartz | Published on 2021/06/09

Netflix has released new character-centric still shots for the upcoming film "The 8th Night" which will premiere on the streaming platform. The pictures paint a mundane portrait of a supernatural presence involving a bridge to another world and the people trying to prevent its awakening. The distinct tension in the five shots hits at a thriller that will be principally grounded in realism rather than its fantastic concept.

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Yet the film also has spiritual elements. Lee Sung-min has claimed to have discoursed long with director Kim Tae-hyung-II about the karmic qualities of his character Jin-soo, whose destiny is driving him to prevent the ordained disaster. Park Hae-joon likewise describes his detective character as passionate and stubborn, yet strived to make sure he gave off brotherly vibes in relation to other characters. Kim Yoo-jung had her driving source be an unnerving lack of emotion for her character's secret role.

While "The 8th Night" was confirmed on relatively short notice, there is definite enthusiasm for the project among the cast and crew as Netflix works to properly market the movie ahead of its July 2nd release. Worldwide fans of Korean film too are taking notice. While not a major title, success for "The 8th Night" could well encourage Netflix to acquire distribution rights for still more projects that may not otherwise have a chance of being widely distributed internationally.

Written by William Schwartz
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Published on 2021/06/10 | Source

New poster added for the upcoming Korean movie "Hostage: Missing Celebrity" (2019)

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Directed by Pil Kam-sung

With Hwang Jung-min, Han Kyu-won-I, Lee Ho-jung, Kim Joo-hee-I, Ji Nam-hyuk,...

Synopsis

After a VIP movie premiere, Korean top movie star Hwang Jung-min gets kidnapped by strangers. Jeong-min first thinks that someone is playing pranks, but the kidnappers' cruelty helps Jeong-min realize that the abduction is no joke. Jeong-min tries to find his way out, while the kidnappers demand him a huge amount of ransom within 24 hours.

Jeong-min encounters a real brutality that is way different and more extreme than the ones he has seen in the movies.

Release date in Korea : 2021/Summer
Published on 2021/06/09 | Source

New character posters added for the upcoming Korean movie "Shark: The Beginning" (2021)

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Directed by Chae Yeo-joon

With Kim Min-seok, Wi Ha-joon, Jung Won-chang, Lee Hyun-wook-I,...

Synopsis

Cha Woo-sol, a victim of school violence who was imprisoned in a boys' prison due to an unexpected incident, meets mixed martial arts champion Jeong Do-hyeon and breaks his limit one by one.

Release date in Korea : 2021/06/17
McKinsey & Company Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader speaks in a video address at the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



McKinsey chief emphasizes role of businesses for better world



By Park Jae-hyuk



Businesses should be aware of the fact that serving all stakeholders is a source of long-term competitive advantage, when enacting "stakeholder capitalism" within the focus of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors, according to McKinsey & Company Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader.



Stakeholder capitalism is a system in which corporations are oriented to serve the interests of all participants, including customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders and local communities.



Sneader said his company believes there is synergy between the actions required to take the stakeholder view and the value of doing so, after arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of ESG-focused and stakeholder-centric approaches to the future of business.



"I believe that this has been a moment when the similarities and differences between the pandemic and the other elements of ESG will allow us to now know that we must act, act with a view to the long-term and not just with an eye to the short-term improvement of performance," he said in a pre-recorded video address during the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday.



Starting his speech with comments on environmental factors that have drawn more attention for the similarities between the pandemic and climate change  being systemic with direct impacts, non-stationary, risk multipliers, non-linear, regressive and tragedies of the commons  he mentioned some important differences that make climate change harder to combat than COVID-19  gradualness and cumulativeness.



The McKinsey chief, however, emphasized that addressing climate change issues does not require a trade-off with the actions required to recover from the pandemic, despite their similarities and differences, because government spending on renewables creates more jobs, green economic recovery measures perform as well as non-green alternatives, and more people favor recovery policies prioritizing climate change.



Citing the Korean Green New Deal with its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, he urged governments, businesses and societies to embed climate change into all decision-making, take actions that are needed to adapt to existing climate risk, and work together to decarbonize.





McKinsey & Company Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader speaks in a video address at the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Care for customers, suppliers, employees



Regarding the societal side of ESG, the consultant said the pandemic led many businesses here and overseas to go the extra mile to ensure that customers, suppliers and employees were safe and taken care of.



"Now, recognizing how goods and products impact consumers and then taking action to reduce the negative consequences of that impact is a vital part of stakeholder capitalism," he said.



Amid the growing calls for conglomerates to help their subcontractors to ensure sustainability in entire supply chains, Sneader noted larger companies can play a powerful role in reducing social and environmental damage by improving the way in which they work with their own suppliers and contractors.



"We've seen large employers such as Walmart, for example, make massive commitments to environmental progress. And in doing so, that motivates and requires the whole of the supply chain that supplies a company of the scale of Walmart to make a difference," he said.



Describing employees as human beings worth of respect and dignity, he also asked companies to treat their employees with respect, and invest in them for the future of both workers and businesses.



"Going above and beyond the issues we've been talking about is one way to ensure that they feel higher commitment, stay longer, and are prepared to help produce the extra productivity that we believe is a key part of ensuring that stakeholder capitalism is a superior source of long-term competitive advantage," he said.





McKinsey & Company Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader speaks in a video address at the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
Note: This was provided by U.S. Small Business Administration

WASHINGTON  The U.S. Small Business Administration and Public Private Strategies Institute held an educational webinar May 27 about the Community Navigator Pilot Program  a $100 million competitive grant program to strengthen outreach to businesses in underserved communities enacted through the American Rescue Plan.

More than 1,600 participants spanning the nation joined the session intended for nonprofit organizations, state, local, and tribal governments, SBA resource partners, and other community organizations. Participants heard from the following panelists:

 SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman  by video

 Moderator Renee Johnson, Public Private Strategies senior advisor

 SBA Office of Entrepreneurial Development Associate Administrator Mark Madrid

 SBA Office of Womens Business Ownership Assistant Administrator Natalie Madeira Cofield

 Rick Wade, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Our Community Navigator Pilot program was established through the American Rescue Plan to better reach our underserved businesses and connect them to our vast range of programs and services to help them reopen, start, grow and be resilient, Guzman said. The Community Navigator Pilot program will help us meet small businesses where they are instead of waiting for them to come to us.

The American Rescue Plan enables us to reach outward and support our small businesses where the rubber meets the road, Madrid said. Key to this program is in the delivery, connecting small business owners who have not received any assistance. Giving local resources to reach those owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, people of color, women, veterans, and Native Americans  they need us the most, and they need us now.

The presentation was delivered by Cofield. She covered program goals, funding model, eligible entity requirements, hub and spoke model defining organizational roles and how to apply on grants.gov.

Earlier this week, SBA announced it is accepting applications for the new Community Navigator Pilot Program, which is open to nonprofit organizations; state, local and tribal governments; SBA resource partners; and other community organizations to assist small businesses during recovery. The program will focus on the smallest of small businesses  in rural and urban America  and prioritize small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, as well as women and veterans. People can watch a video of SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman announcing the program online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Pk6

NNATvg.

Competitive grant awards will range from $1 million to $5 million for a two-year performance period. Applicants have until July 12 to submit their applications at http://grants.gov .

Disclaimer

Cosponsorship Authorization # 21-0501-14: The SBAs participation in this cosponsored activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products, or services of any cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.
Defendant Shane Johnson sits in state District Court in the Hill County Courthouse Tuesday during jury selection in his trial on a charge of negligent homicide. Johnson is accused of shooting his brother, Travis Johnson, in 2013.

After a day of jury selection Tuesday, opening arguments in the retrial of a Havre man convicted of negligent homicide in 2014 in the shooting death of his brother were made Wednesday morning in state District Court in the Hill County Courthouse.

Attorneys representing Johnson and the state made their opening arguments before the jury. The arguments are similar to the cases made in the first trial in 2014, but this time the state will be arguing that the evidence presented will clearly show that Johnson is guilty of negligent homicide instead of that or deliberate homicide.

The defense again argued that the death of Johnson's brother was a tragic accident, the result of an altercation ultimately caused by poor judgement on the part of Shane Johnson's brother, Travis, fueled in part by alcohol.

Johnson had appealed his 2014 conviction, arguing the court made errors in allowing the jury unrestricted access to all of the state's testimonial audio and video exhibits during deliberations and by allowing the state to add a negligent homicide charge at the end of trial that was not included within the deliberate homicide charge for which the state tried Johnson.

The Montana Supreme Court ruled that select errors had been made and overturned the verdict, sending the case back to District Court in Havre last fall for a new trial.

At the end of Shane Johnson's trial in September 2014, the jury could not agree on a verdict on a charge of deliberate homicide but convicted him of negligent homicide.

He was sentenced to 52 years in prison with 10 suspended, with District Judge Dan Boucher citing his lengthy criminal history and declaring him a persistent felony offender in imposing a 50-year sentence and adding a two-year enhancement for use of a weapon in a violent offense.

The prosecution this year, after the case was sent back to court in Hill County, amended the charges to negligent homicide with a sentencing enhancement for using a dangerous weapon in the offense.

Prosecuting attorney Daniel M. Guzynski's opening argument Wednesday laid out what the state contends happened the night Johnston's bother Travis was killed back in the fall of 2013.

Guzynski said the brothers were originally in the living room of their mother's house, where they lived at the time, drinking, when a fight broke out, one that ended in a bloody nose for Shane Johnson. Guzynski said the blood from that injury will be a significant part of state's case and acts as a kind of GPS, showing where Johnson went.

"At some point, as sometimes happens with brothers, a fight ensued, during that fight Mr. Johnson was struck on the nose by Travis and Mr. Johnson's nose bled," he said. "From that nose bleed will come some of the most significant evidence in this case."

Guzynski laid out what the state would show to support their case for what happened that night, including the defendant's blood found under the bed where the murder weapon, a pistol, was kept, and on an envelope found beside the case the gun was taken from on top of a bed.

He said the state would demonstrate the reliability of DNA evidence found from the blood as well as what the condition of the crime scene, including blood spatter and the trajectory of bullets fired from the weapon say about what happened.

He said the crime lab that examined the evidence is credible, and experts will be called to explain the particulars of the evidence at the scene.

Guzynski said Shane Johnson was found in his bed under the blankets with the pistol nearby after EMTs had taken his brother from the scene, attempting to save his life shortly after their mother found him upon coming home. She had been out of the house during the incident.

He said the state would also address comments made by Johnson while being taken into custody that were recorded.

After the prosecution finished its opening arguments Assistant Public Defender Stephanie McKnight rose to make the case for her client, contending that the events that took place the night of Travis Johnson's death were tragic, but do not warrant conviction.

She said after being struck by his brother, Shane Johnson went to bed, but his brother, in a state of rage and intoxication took the gun from under Johnson's bed.

She said her client, upon realizing that his brother had taken the weapon, followed him intending to take it back for fear that he would hurt himself or someone else.

"We don't know why he decided to grab that pistol, but Shane, rightfully so, thought that Travis was either going to hurt himself or someone else with it," McKnight said. "... Shane had also been drinking, but he knew enough to know that Travis should not have a gun."

She said a struggle over the weapon ensued that ended in the accidental death of Travis Johnson.

She said the defense will show that the weapon was on a hair trigger which caused it to go off in a chaotic fashion during the struggle, and the DNA of both her client and his brother can be found on the weapon, including the trigger area.

McKnight said the death of Travis Johnson was a tragedy, but the state's depiction of the defendant as guilty of negligent homicide is inaccurate.

She said the defense would show that Travis Johnson was intoxicated, in a rage and determined to hurt her client, and ultimately his actions lead to this event.

"The state will try to paint Shane as the negligent one, but only one person in that house that night was so angry and so drunk that he beat another person," she said, "and that person was Travis."

She said the defendant retreated to bed after the altercation because he was not in the right frame of mind, having been pummeled in the head by his brother not long before and having just witnessed a deeply traumatic event.

"No one intended for Travis to end up dead that night, and my client certainly wishes his brother was still here," McKnight said. "But the reality of that night, November the 9th, 2013, is that Travis was intoxicated with alcohol, he was violent with rage, and he had a gun, and those are three things that just don't lead to happy endings, but they do lead to tragic accidents. And what happened to Travis on that night in November in 2013 was just that. It was a tragic accident."
Also supplies at Rocky Boy, Fort Belknap and in Chouteau and Liberty counties

Hill County Health Department has announced that it will have a supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in stock next week and is inviting people to call to sign up for its vaccination clinic at the health department on the third Tuesday of the month, next Tuesday.

Hill County Health Officer Kim Berg said the department still has Moderna vaccine as well.

People can call 406-400-2415 to schedule an appointment.

To date, the Pfizer vaccine is the only vaccine approved in the U.S. for use on people younger than 18.1

U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine to people 12 and older.

Moderna and Johnson & Johnson also have been testing their vaccines for use in people 12 and older, and Pfizer and Moderna are holding tests for children 6 months and older and Johnson & Johnson has said it also plans to conduct tests for those ages.

To date, the only emergency use authorization for people younger than 18 is in the Pfizer vaccine. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have received emergency use authorization for people 18 and older.

People have had access to the Pfizer vaccine already. The health departments at Rocky Boys and Fort Belknap Indian reservations have had that vaccine for months, and have offered it to people not associated with the reservation and provided it for clinics in Havre, Harlem and Chinook.

The Chouteau County Health Department announced June 3 that it also had access to the Pfizer vaccine, and the Liberty County Health Department also said it has the Pfizer vaccine.

The region has had an uptick in cases in the past few weeks, including multiple school-age people being confirmed with COVID-19.
The moderator and panelists hold a discussion during the first session of the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. From left are KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, Institute for Global Economics Chairman Jun Kwang-woo and National Pension Service Chairman Kim Yong-jin. The screen shows foreign participants at the session. Clockwise from top left are Carlyle Global Head of Impact Megan Starr, MSCI APAC ESG Client Coverage Head Chitra Hepburn and BNP Paribas Asset Management APAC CEO Steven Billiet. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Capital market leaders unveil key strategies for sustainable finance



By Park Jae-hyuk



Global capital market leaders with expertise in investments based on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles unveiled key strategies for sustainable finance during the COVID-19 pandemic.



Moderated by Institute for Global Economics Chairman Jun Kwang-woo, who described a well-working governance factor as a "critical catalyst" for ESG management to move forward, top experts from around the world shared their insights and strategies of their institutions during the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday.



KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo started the discussion with a brief speech, mentioning net-zero, green finance and diversity as the three key ESG agendas for the financial industry in the post-pandemic era.



As the head of the nation's leading banking group in terms of sustainability and profitability, he emphasized the necessity of reasonable standards for disclosures and ratings regarding the ESG factors, so that those satisfying the standards enjoy benefits, while those who fail to do so get penalized.



In response to questions from some market insiders on the governance structure of domestic financial holding companies, Yoon showed KB's efforts to improve its governance structure, such as excluding the chairman from the procedure of recommending non-executive directors.



"Our governance structure is okay systematically," he said. "We hope people admit the fact that governance structures can differ from company to company, depending on each of their cultures and characteristics."



National Pension Service (NPS) Chairman Kim Yong-jin introduced the world's third-largest state pension fund's ESG investment strategies, emphasizing that such strategies are essential for the entire Korean economy, given that the pension fund is investing in almost all companies representing Korea and that their performances are highly related to the fund's medium- to long-term returns.



"Last month, we decided to adopt negative screening for climate change," he said, stressing that companies that fail to embrace environmentally-friendly policies will get sidelined among the pension fund's targets for investments. "Starting this year, we need to step forward to practically boost socially responsible investments."



The NPS chairman vowed to make more investments in socially responsible assets, integrate ESG factors with its financial analysis and demand private firms consigned to manage its assets submit reports on responsible investments.



Kim shared the KB chairman's view that better standards are needed for ESG investments and management.









"We need to elaborate our overall schemes for ESG investing to set the standard for Korea," he said. "Sharing the experience, capability and data we have, we want to serve as a foothold to bring K-ESG innovation to this country."





National Pension Service Chairman Kim Yong-jin speaks during the first session of the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Foreign experts impressed with Korea's efforts



The efforts made by KB and the NPS for sustainable finance received favorable reviews from foreign panelists from institutions that are regarded as exemplary in terms of ESG strategies.



Expressing her keen interest in KB's robust approaches and describing the NPS's strategies as "commendable," Carlyle Global Head of Impact Megan Starr, who joined the panel discussion virtually from Costa Rica, emphasized social factors as well as environmental ones.



Starr picked diversity as one of the most important ESG topics, along with climate change and energy transition.



She cited Kewsong Lee, the global private equity firm's Korean American CEO, as an example of diversity, adding that the firm is also making efforts to enhance diversity in the boards of its portfolio companies.



According to the head of the firm's dedicated ESG team, Carlyle recently secured the largest ESG-linked private equity credit facility in the U.S. for $4.1 billion and is the first to focus exclusively on advancing board diversity.



MSCI APAC ESG Client Coverage Head Chitra Hepburn, who said she was encouraged by KB's decarbonizing efforts and the NPS's adoption of stewardship codes, noted what the most critical of ESG policies is governance, although she did not rule out the importance of efforts to fight against climate change and social inequality amid the COVID-19 pandemic.



"Governance continues to be a focus in any event," she said during her virtual participation from Singapore.



Hepburn, who drives the growth of the index provider's ESG Research in the Asia-Pacific market, also agreed with the need for a global standard, explaining that mandatory ESG disclosures can help.



BNP Paribas Asset Management APAC CEO Steven Billiet, who attended the panel discussion from Hong Kong, welcomed the collaboration among media and all market participants  public, financial and private sectors  to take steps to enhance sustainability.



Highlighting the importance of the societal factors that have failed to draw enough attention so far, Billiet said his company has focused on companies making investments to improve fairness, inclusiveness and equality.



The Asia-Pacific head of the French asset management firm also hoped more companies will follow his firm by paying attention to the "3Es," which stand for energy transition, the environment and equality.




Robert Peter Nieuwenhuyse, 73, passed away due to pancreatic cancer on Friday, May 28, 2021.

Cremation has taken place, and memorial services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 26, 2021, at Fifth Avenue Christian Church with Pastor Rick Hodshire officiating. Burial will follow with Sue in Highland Cemetery, and a reception will follow his graveside service at the Havre Elks Lodge #1201.

In lieu of flowers, Bob requested that memorial donations be made to the Havre Elks Lodge #1201 Scholarship Fund or Fifth Avenue Christian Church.

Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with services and arrangements.

Please visit Bob's online memorial page and leave a message of condolence for his family at http://www.hollandbonine.com .

Bob was born in San Francisco, California, on April 2, 1948, to Pieter and Paulina M.F. (vander Peijl) Nieuwenhuyse. After graduating from Encinal High School in Alameda, CA, Bob went to the Columbia School of Broadcasting and served in the U.S. Navy as a submarine radio operator. In his service to our nation, he received the National Defense and Vietnam Service Medals.

After his service underwater, to stay high and dry, Bob moved to Havre in 1969 for a position at KOJM radio, but his calling was always one of service. In 1973, he joined the Havre Fire Department as an engineer/EMT, and became a deputy state fire marshal with the Fire Prevention and Investigation Bureau in 1983. During his tenure, Bob received several commendations and awards. For the past 19 years, Bob worked passionately as a substitute teacher at Havre High School.

As Bob's career was progressing, he fell in love with Janice Sue Streeter and they were married on September 11, 1976. As their family grew with their daughter Lynette, Bob and Sue's life continued to be one of giving.

Bob was a proud member of the Fifth Avenue Christian Church and served as a deacon, Praise Team member, A/V technician, and of course the youth group pie auctioneer! He was a member of the Havre Elks Lodge #1201, serving four times as past exalted ruler, past trustee, Scholarship and Americanism committees chairman, district deputy, and Veterans Committee.

Bob sang with the Bullhook Bottoms Barbershop Chorus and volunteered with the American Red Cross. He was a member of the HPS Education Foundation and the USS Montana Committee.

Bob took delight in Lynette marrying Darren Stortz and having two wonderful grandsons, Ethan Andrew and Aaron Robert Stortz. He would do anything to spend time with the boys, and made it a point to pick them up from school and instill in them the best parts of faith and life.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Sue, and his parents.

Left to honor Bob's memory are his daughter and son-in-law, Lynette and Darren Stortz of Havre; grandsons, Ethan and Aaron Stortz; in-laws, Andy and Jody Stortz; his Fifth Avenue Christian Church family; his Elk and fire service brothers and sisters, and many friends
Early voting starts Monday for the city of Granburys special election set for Tuesday, June 29.

The special election is due to the resignation of Mayor Nin Hulett, whose term does not expire until November 2022.

Place 5 will also be on the ballot due to Tony Mobly relinquishing that seat to run for mayor. Whoever replaces him will have to run again in November if they want to serve a complete, three-year term.

The special election drew seven candidates  four for mayor and three for Place 5.

Candidates for mayor, in ballot order, are: Charles Nangle, Mobly, Jim Jarratt and Joanie Keays.

Candidates for Place 5, in ballot order, are: Richard Hoefs, Steven Vale and Cathy Reidy.

Friday, June 18 is the last day for the local elections office to receive applications for mailed ballots in that election.

All early voting will take place at Annex 1, 1410 W. Pearl Street.

Early voting hours are: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday (June 14-18); 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, June 21, Wednesday, June 23 and Friday, June 25; and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 22 and Thursday, June 24.

Election Day voting will take place at Annex 1 as well. Hours will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Hood County News will post unofficial election results on its website, www.hcnews.com, that evening after votes have been tallied.

Some votes might possibly come in the next day. Wednesday, June 30, is the last day to receive completed ballots by mail that are postmarked on or before June 29.

Anyone with questions can contact the Elections Administration office at 817-408-2525. Elections Administrator Michele Carews email address is mcarew@co.hood.tx.us.

The Granbury chamber will host a candidate forum Thursday, June 17 in the auditorium at Granbury High School, 2000 West Pearl St. It will be from 6-7:30 p.m. and will be moderated by Eric Morrow, dean of the College of Liberal & Fine Arts at Tarleton State University.
Apple Festival names 2021 Apple Ambassador

Callie Stepp McCall is the 2021 Apple Ambassador.

Callie Stepp McCall, a fourth generation member of the family that owns Stepps Hillcrest Orchards in Edneyville, has been named the 2021 Apple Ambassador by the North Carolina Apple Festival.

The daughter of Rex and Danielle McCall, Callie is a student at Mountain Gems Academy. She will receive a $2,000 college scholarship. The Apple Ambassador represents the festival, making public appearance throughout the event's four-day run Labor weekend, and at other events locally and across the state. Each year, the Festival selects its Ambassador from local rising high school seniors.

Like many Apple Ambassadors before her, Callie brings a rich family legacy to the job of promoting the apple industry. Her great-grandparents, J.H. and Yvonne Stepp, started one of the first U-pick apple orchards in Henderson County, in 1972, and her grandparents, Mike Stepp and Rita Stepp, a retired teacher, currently run the multi-faceted farm along with other families.

Regarded as a model of agritourism, the Stepp farm in addition to pick-your-own apples has an on-site bakery and shop selling apple cider, jams and other farm products, a pumpkin patch and tours and wagon rides for students and other visitors. Mike Stepp was named Apple Farmer of the Year at the 2019 North Carolina Apple Festival nine years after his father won the honor.

The Apple Ambassador and runner-up are awarded the Evelyn Lutz Hill Memorial Scholarship, named in honor the longtime secretary of the North Carolina Apple Growers for many years. Hill was serving as president of the North Carolina Apple Festival when she died in 2004.

Apple Ambassador runner-up was Sadie Anna Rowe, a rising senior at Hendersonville High School and the daughter of Charles and Debbie Rowe. She will receive a $1,000 college scholarship. Other applicants were Kylie Varnadore, of Hendersonville High School and Anaya Padilla, Savannah Crisp and Kera Putman, all of West Henderson High School.
Amy Lynn Holt plans to challenge Edney

Amy Lynn Holt, the immediate past chair of the Henderson County School Board, plans to announce a run for the Board of Commissioners in two weeks.

Ms. Holt loves Henderson County and is proud to be a member of this community and will make an announcement to this community on June 23, Colby Coren, a former School Board member and friend of Holts said. I believe Amy has the business background and has the comm connections and community outreach to appeal to voters. She is involved in not just one but multiple nonprofits in our community and looks for ways to help not only the schools but our community as well.

Holt, whom Coren said was on vacation, did not immediately return the Lightnings request for an interview. Her prospective campaign has already developed a campaign logo and registered a website, Holtforhendersoncounty.org, though the website has not gone live.

Holt would be running for the District 1 seat currently held by five-term incumbent Michael Edney, an attorney who served on the board from 1988 to 1996 and has been serving since 2010.

Thats nice, Edney, 60, said when Wednesday night. Not made up my mind (about running for re-election. Its very early in a local race to be making that call. Probably will but its too early to say. This is not a congressional race, its a county commission race. Its too early to talk about this stuff.

Asked whether he thought Holt, a Republican, could defeat Edney in a primary election next March, Coren said, I believe that Amy has the strengths that people of Henderson County would get behind.

First elected to the School Board in 2010, Holt was re-elected in 2014 and 2018 and served as chair from 2016 until 2020. Holt was the leader along with Blair Craven in the effort to reject a plan to build an all-new Hendersonville High School that would have abandoned the original Erle Stillwell-designed core classroom building and auditorium and was among the leaders who pushed after the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting that killed 17 people in 2018 for SROs in every school and increased mental health support. She is co-owner and chief financial officer of the family-owned HVAC business, Champion Comfort Experts.
Korea Times Chairman Seung Myung-ho, front row fourth from left, and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, fifth from left, pose during a VIP session prior to the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) building in Seoul, Thursday. From left in the front row are McKinsey & Company Senior Partner Richard Lee, University of Utah Asia Campus Chief Administrative Officer and Dean of Faculty Gregory Hill, P&G Korea CEO Balaka Niyazee, Seung, Hong, AMCHAM Korea Chairman James Kim, Korea International Finance Institute CEO Kim Sang-kyung and Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Koichi Aiboshi. From left in the second row are Korea Times President Oh Young-jin, Hana Bank CEO Park Sung-ho, Woori Bank CEO Kwon Kwang-seok, National Pension Service Chairman Kim Yong-jin, Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung, Institute for Global Economics Chairman Jun Kwang-woo and KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo. From left in the third row are Kelly Services Korea Managing Director Jeon You-me, Korea Exchange Chairman Sohn Byung-doo, Mirae Asset Global Investments President Seo Yoo-seok, IKEA Korea CEO Fredrik Johansson, Hankook Ilbo CEO Lee Young-sung, LG Corp. President Lee Bang-soo, Korea Investment Corp. Chairman Jin Seoung-ho, Morgan Philips Group Managing Director Christina Ahn and Korea Times editorial writer Shim Jae-yun. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
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Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki delivers an opening speech during the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Government plans to unveil K-ESG guidelines this year



By Lee Kyung-min



Korea will do its utmost to create a private sector-led ecosystem that promotes environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) values by establishing the necessary infrastructure and incentive systems, the country's top policymaker said Thursday.



"In a situation where ESG management is gaining traction worldwide, the government plans to introduce Korea's ESG guidelines by the end of this year so that local firms can prepare for the global spread of ESG," Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said during the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) building in Seoul



"At the same time, the government will set up an ESG platform that can offer related comprehensive information for Korean businesses and overseas investors," he added.



Behind the government's move is its expectation that economic growth will be increasingly defined by how fast and thoroughly economic actors reprioritize future goals conforming to ESG values, a new "social metric" that will prompt change in government policies, investor behavior and public awareness.



The country, he stressed, is facing mounting calls to abandon previous growth models, long unchallenged by risk factors as grave as the country is now facing such as climate change and inequality. It is no longer, and should not be, only about year-on-year macroeconomic figures of annual growth.



"Corporate growth will no longer be about meeting short-term shareholder demand to raise share prices, but about creating a long-term vision whereby employees, customers and partner firms can thrive together with shared values," he said.





Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, center, and Korea Times Chairman Seung Myung-ho, front row second from left, attend the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Paradigm shift



He expects the stakeholder-oriented paradigm shift will in turn facilitate growth through greater priorities placed on innovation, resilience and sustainability, three key values that will underpin what the government considers a "desirable advancement" of an economy measured only by statistics, with long-term policy consequences left unaddressed.





Governance viewed as critical catalyst for ESG management Korea Times sheds light on ESG through global forum 'COVID-19 pandemic accelerating shift to ESG' [PHOTOS] 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum The administration plans to help spur corporate activity seeking greater correlation between the pursuit of ESG values and profit, in the broader context of mutual, inclusive growth where low-income earners are not left behind.



Also to be strengthened are measures to incentivize businesses that promote ESG values amid fair competition, propped up by continued efforts to increase transparency in corporate governance structures.



The government's green policy initiative will prioritize decoupling carbon emissions from economic growth, and advancing its "net zero-emissions" drive by 2050. It also plans to build infrastructure for firms to reduce dependence on carbon-intensive growth models and develop carbon-neutral technologies.



Under the plan, about 1.13 million electric vehicles and 200,000 fuel cell vehicles will be made by 2025, while a climate response fund will be set up next year to help transition and train workers expected to lose their jobs once many coal-dependent businesses shut down.



Also to be considered is a revision to the stewardship code to ensure responsible investment by institutional investors including the National Pension Fund, the world's third-largest with over 800 trillion won in assets under management.



Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki delivers an opening speech during the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

"The government, businesses and investors are all required to identify a survival strategy that reflects ESG considerations amid a seismic paradigm shift in the post-pandemic world where a fundamentally new formula will be needed to lead the discussion beyond efficiency implications. The ESG drive will further emerge as a key agenda issue in the years to come," Hong said.



The recent wave of fossil-fuel divestment by global investors in his view is an encouraging sign of investment interests increasingly aligning with ESG values, a corporate activity that should be fostered further by government policy directives.



"Top global asset managers are divesting from coal, followed by automakers and refineries whose business models are considered to have little consideration for ESG. This resulted not from government regulations but profit-oriented decisions, the beginning of change that will last. ESG values are no longer a cost but an investment," he added.



BlackRock, the world's largest fund manager with over $8.67 trillion (9.66 quadrillion won) in assets under management, was one of the first firms to announce that it would divest from coal, a move followed by many insurers and banks that have long financed cheap energy production.



Similarly, a group of ten automakers launched "DRIVE Sustainability: The Automotive Partnership," with objectives including "minimizing the environmental impact of our industry and promoting business integrity." Included are BMW Group, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota Motor Europe and Volkswagen Group.



Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki delivers an opening speech during the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Hong stressed the importance of ESG values by citing Richard N. Langlois who in his 1988 paper said, "It is a fundamental insight of economics that a competitive system incorporates not only an invisible hand but also various kinds of invisible feet that go around prodding the ill-adapted."



This in his view speaks volumes about how over 400 Fortune 500 firms in 2000 were no longer on the list in 2020.








South Korea's top economic policymaker said Thursday the government plans to provide support to help around 1,000 auto parts makers transform into key suppliers of next-generation automobiles by 2030.







Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the country plans to create a 500-billion won ($448 million) fund to support research and development and facility investment in the next-generation vehicle sector.







"It is very necessary to take the lead in the next-generation vehicle and related parts markets," Hong said at a government meeting on new industries.







Korean automakers are accelerating the development and production of next-generation automobiles, including autonomous and hydrogen-fueled vehicles.







But local auto parts makers have been struggling to cope with the changing trend due to lack of technology and manpower.







Hong also said the government will push for a preliminary feasibility study over its key projects to foster the chipmaking industry.







In May, the country unveiled a plan to provide tax incentives and subsidies to chipmakers to encourage them to invest a combined 510 trillion won by 2030.







The move is aimed at helping the country become a global powerhouse in both memory and non-memory chips.







South Korea is a powerhouse of memory chips, led by Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip maker, and its smaller rival SK hynix Inc. But they have relatively lagged in developing non-memory chips, including system semiconductors. (Yonhap)


Millions of J&J COVID-19 vaccines set to expire in U.S. while developing countries in desperate need

Xinhua) 09:16, June 10, 2021

A man gets vaccinated against COVID-19 at a vaccination festival in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States, on May 29, 2021. (Photo by Lan Wei/Xinhua)

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said that approximately 200,000 doses of Johnson &Johnson vaccine in the state are set to expire on June 23, while "Ohio does not have legal options for sending the vaccine elsewhere, either to other states or other countries."

WASHINGTON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Hospitals and state health departments across the United States are racing to decide how to use up millions of Johnson &Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine doses that are set to expire this month, while lots of developing nations are still falling short of shots.

Millions of Johnson &Johnson vaccines will expire in June, and thousands could be wasted because fewer and fewer Americans are getting vaccinated, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said Monday that approximately 200,000 doses of Johnson &Johnson vaccine in Ohio are set to expire on June 23.

"Ohio does not have legal options for sending the vaccine elsewhere, either to other states or other countries," DeWine said in a statement. The Ohio Department of Health has been aggressively working with COVID-19 vaccine providers to identify tactics to use as many doses of the Johnson &Johnson vaccine before they expire.

Like Ohio, some other states have considered shipping excess doses to other states or overseas, but said they faced legal and logistical hurdles.

The stockpile is, in part, an unintended consequence of the U.S. decision in April to temporarily suspend administration of Johnson &Johnson doses to assess a rare blood-clot risk, according to The Wall Street Journal report.

The pause forced states and providers to cancel large blocks of appointments that were never rescheduled, leaving a surplus of supply, and in some areas increasing hesitancy over the Johnson &Johnson vaccine's safety, according to industry officials.

Staff members work at a drive-thru vaccination site in San Francisco, the United States, May 22, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

According to the latest data of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just 52 percent of Johnson &Johnson shots delivered to states have been administered, compared to about 84 percent for Pfizer vaccine and 83 percent for Moderna vaccine.

The Johnson &Johnson vaccine is the only single-dose vaccine authorized for emergency use in the United States. It can be stored in a regular refrigerator for up to three months. Thus it is easier to transport, store, and administer than other vaccines.

The prospect of so many Johnson &Johnson doses going to waste in the United States when developing nations are desperate for shots has sparked criticism.

As high vaccination rates are helping wealthier countries to gradually recover from the pandemic, many poor countries are far behind in their inoculation efforts, hobbling their economies and raising risks for wide spread of more dangerous COVID-19 variants.

The international community has called for the Biden administration to share stockpiled COVID-19 vaccines.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Candida Hofer's "Kunstmuseum Basel IV" (1999) / Courtesy of MMCA and BILD-KUNST, Bonn - SACK, Seoul, 2021



By Park Han-sol



There is no doubt that COVID-19 is a major catastrophe of the 21st century. More than 17.4 million confirmed cases and 3.7 million deaths worldwide have been reported as of June 10. It is becoming harder and harder every day to spell out all of the social and perceptual changes the virus has inflicted on humanity  from fear of basic human contact to the mosaic of social inequality exposed and exacerbated by different ways governments have dealt with the pandemic.



In Korea, over 500 days have passed since the first reported case of COVID-19. Since then, many galleries here organized exhibitions that naturally take into account this reality in their curatorial themes  usually aiming to comfort weary viewers and help them escape from the suffocating reality for a moment and immerse themselves in art.



Against this backdrop, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) has instead chosen to confront the unforeseeable pandemic head-on in its exhibition, "Catastrophe and Recovery." As the title clearly indicates, it aims to navigate the current "catastrophe" from the eyes of 35 contemporary artists here and abroad with the goal of uncovering paths to sustainable "recovery."



Although COVID-19 vaccinations have started to bring noticeable changes in a number of nations, addressing the ongoing global crisis that seemingly has no end in sight through an exhibition proved to be a difficult task, according to curator Yang Ok-kum.



"On a personal level, curating a pandemic-themed exhibition while my life was caught in the middle of this very pandemic was a source of great melancholy at first," she told The Korea Times in a recent interview at the museum.



What added fuel to the fire was the news of some of the MMCA's own staff members getting diagnosed with the coronavirus, causing the temporary shutdown of an entire department and eventually, the weeklong delay of the opening of the exhibition itself. It was a chilling reminder that the danger of the virus lurks behind every corner, even inside the museum.



Should viewers be made to encounter works that remind them of the very catastrophe they are living through right now, even inside the gallery? Is an exhibition really the right way to address the ongoing pandemic? Such questions lingered in Yang's head throughout the months-long period of preparation for the show. But she noted that such doubts were ultimately what contributed to the decision to show a wide range of artworks, each with different focuses and messages.



"There are pieces that speak directly to COVID-19, while others simply suggest or imply its presence in a poetic way. Some pieces, instead of focusing specifically on the ongoing crisis, suggest to viewers new topics to muse about that have become especially relevant in the pandemic era," she said. "So, in the end, we tried to turn the exhibition not into a place that fatigues visitors, but allows them to take a moment to contemplate on the fundamental aspects of our reality."





Installation view of Seo Seung-mo's "Vanishing Line. Sea." (2021) / Courtesy of MMCA



Upon arriving at the site of the exhibition, viewers will first note that the 60 artworks, especially large-scale murals and installations, are displayed not only within the confines of the gallery space, but are also scattered throughout the museum lobby and other common spaces. One installation, Seo Seung-mo's "Vanishing Line. Sea.," extends beyond the building's interior and continues to the museum courtyard. The layout of the pieces itself reflects our sobering reality, in which the virus cannot be contained in a single, enclosed space.



The number of featured artworks and digital pieces that speak directly to COVID-19 reveal different aspects of human lives amidst the pandemic, including those that have previously remained under the public radar.



Chinese artist Liu Wa turned her eyes to the new surge of internet culture as people, stuck in their homes during lockdown and quarantine, turned to online platforms to escape from the sense of existential crisis and "apocalyptic" anxiety.



In her video tower installation, "2020 Got Me Like," Wa combined footage from films, social media and her own life into memes to convey the roller coaster of emotions she experienced amid this unprecedented disaster caused by the 21st century's first pandemic.



At one point during the 9-minute video, top trending searches in the form of questions during the year 2020 appear and fill up the screen. In addition to hard-hitting ones such as, "How many deaths today?" and "How to file for unemployment?", there were also perfectly ordinary and innocuous questions: "How to change background on Zoom?" "Where to find toilet paper?" "How do I cut my own hair?" These banal questions have taken on a whole new meaning in the age of the coronavirus pandemic.



Another concept that came to be understood in a significantly different way in the ongoing crisis is none other than that of numbers. From daily new cases and deaths, the duration of quarantines and the stages of social distancing levels, numerical figures have become a new barometer to judge a nation's success or failure in virus containment.





Two diagrams from "The Unequal Pandemic" series (2021) by Lee Ji-won (archetypes) / Courtesy of the artist



Graphic designer Lee Ji-won concentrates on these numbers in her "The Unequal Pandemic." In this series, she focuses not on the figures that measure virus containment efforts, but on those that expose social inequality, discrimination and hate speech exacerbated in Korea as infections soared.



Based on statistical data analysis, Lee graphically visualized the stark difference of the unemployment rate between full-time and irregular workers, the spread of hate speech related to COVID-19 and the steep increase in the numbers of reported child abuse cases in the greater Seoul area, turning them into ten black-and-white diagrams.



"After the pandemic is over, these kinds of works will be remembered as pieces that recorded an important part of our history," curator Yang explained.





Hong Jin-hwon's "Injured Biker" (2020) / Courtesy of the artist

Hong Jin-hwon's web video, "Injured Biker," focuses on the lives of delivery workers, whose roles amid the delivery app boom have become more essential than ever. Stating, "Someone's safety is guaranteed at the risk of others," Hong points out the ironic reality, in which individuals who help other people lead their lives safely in self-quarantine are themselves among the most exposed to contracting the virus.



While the background audio plays deadpan public announcements of the need for social distancing in the form of COVID-19 emergency alerts, a limping red-suited biker onscreen is forced to overlook these warnings in the continuous struggle to move forward, with his destinations left unclear and in the end, meaningless.



Of course, not every work showcased in "Catastrophe and Recovery" directly addresses the topic of the virus. The exhibition's aim, as Yang noted, is not to overwhelm the viewers and be a constant reminder of the disaster, but rather to provide a space to reflect on the fundamental changes in our perception toward human connection and contact.



As a result, some pieces on display were produced long before the COVID-19 era, but have become imbued with new meanings at the present.



One noteworthy example is Yang's curatorial choice of placing two photographs side by side: Candida Hofer's "Kunstmuseum Basel IV" and Thomas Struth's "Audience 11 Florenz." The former captures an empty space devoid of life inside the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland, in 1999, while the latter shows a swarm of awestruck visitors in a museum in Florence, Italy, in 2004.





Thomas Struth's "Audience 11 Florenz" (2004) / Courtesy of MMCA



Even though experiencing a moment of emptiness inside a popular museum like the one captured in Hofer's photograph would have been almost unthinkable in the year 1999, in the age of the pandemic, it has become a sobering reality.



"Last year was the first time for the MMCA since its founding to have so many days of closure," Yang stated. "A museum without an audience remains alone and without purpose. So when I saw Hofer's work, I had that feeling of emptiness that comes from the vacuum of human civilization."



And as Hofer's work is placed next to Struth's photograph, whose primary focus on a huddle of museumgoers gives contemporary viewers a strong sense of nostalgia of the mask-free days of old, the two create a striking contrast that is seared into one's memory.





Gillian Wearing, "Your Views" (2013-present) / Courtesy of Maureen Paley, London; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles and Regen Projects, Los Angeles
A man receive a Janssen COVID-19 vaccine shot at Changwon Hanmaeum Hospital in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, June 10. Yonhap



South Korea has inoculated over 10 million people amid its accelerating vaccination drive, making the country's goal to get about 14 million vaccinated by the end of this month attainable, health authorities said Thursday.



A total of 10.06 million people have received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines as of 11 a.m., accounting for 19.6 percent of the country's population, since the country started its vaccination program on Feb. 26, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).



The country aims to vaccinate up to 14 million people by the end of this month, a quarter of its 51.2 million population, and achieve herd immunity in November, but it hopes it can reach its goal earlier than expected with the increased vaccine rollout.



The authorities said the inoculation drive has sped up recently as the country began inoculating seniors aged 60-64.






Former President Donald Trump may be considering a run for a congressional seat in Florida and a stint as House Speaker in 2022.

Trump on Friday appeared as a guest on conservative radio host Wayne Allyn Root's USA Network show where he was pressed to run for a House seat in Florida and unseat Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, as House Speaker in 2022 as part of an effort for Republicans to takeover control of the House.

Congressional Seat

"Why not instead of just waiting for 2024, and I'm hoping you run in 2024, but why not run in 2022 for the United States Congress, a House seat in Florida, win big, lead us to a dramatic landslide victory, taking the House by 50 seats, and then you become the Speaker of the House," Root said.

Trump, who was being interviewed via a phone call, called Root's proposal intriguing.

The former United States president replied by saying it was a very interesting proposal. Trump also said some people have told him to run for senate many times. But he thought that Root's idea was much better than what others have recommended.

Right-wing commentator Wayne Allyn Root urged Trump to run for a House seat, become Speaker of the House, and then launch criminal investigations into Biden and impeach him. Trump was intrigued: "It's very interesting." pic.twitter.com/5ECkSABDbi  Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) June 4, 2021

During the TV segment, Root also urged Trump to launch an investigation into President Joe Biden's win during the November election and start an effort to get the current president impeached from office.

"You'll wipe him [President Biden] out for his last two years, and then you'll be president. Do it! Do it! You'll be a folk hero," Root said.

In February, Stephen Bannon, who formerly served as Trump's White House strategist, floated the idea of the former president's bid for Congress during his speech at a Lincoln Day Breakfast.

Read Also: New Audio Shows Giuliani Pressuring Ukraine To Help In Smear Campaign Against Biden

Re-Election

"Trump is a disruptor, but he has a long-term vision because I absolutely believe in the marrow of my bones that he will be our nominee in 2024. He'll come back to us. We'll have a sweeping victory in 2022, and he'll lead us in 2024," Bannon said.

The Republican and his allies will remove current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from her post, Bannon added. As his first move as speaker, Trump will impeach Biden and reveal his illegitimate activities and how he stole the presidency from him, Bannon said, according to the Boston Herald.

While Bannon's speech earned applause and hollers from Boston Republicans, some GOP pundits are not sharing the same sentiment.

Roger Stone, longtime GOP operative and a known foe to Bannon, recently voiced concern over Trump possibly becoming a back-bench member of House Democrats if Republicans fail to win a majority in 2022.

The idea of Trump running for the House of Representatives was a sloppy idea by Bannon, Stone said. He added the notion of ousting Pelosi, becoming speaker and impeaching Biden, will be unsuccessful if Republicans fail to take a majority despite Trump getting a possible seat in Congress, according to Salon.

The result of the wager would make Trump a backbench member following the every whim of Adam Schiff, Pelosi, Eric Swalwell and Jerry Nadler, he continued.

On Monday morning, Trump backtracked his statement, claiming it is "highly unlikely" that he will run for House Speaker. The idea of him taking the position was not set in stone, despite many people urging him to continue running for speaker, he told Fox Business' Stuart Varney.

Read Article: Rare Bipartisan Vote in Senate Passes China Competition Bill, Challenges Unfair Trade

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A 22-year old Central Pennsylvania man impersonated members of the Trump family online to raise over $7,000 for an invented political organization "Gays for Trump." He then spent the funds on his living expenses, according to federal officials. Joshua Hall, from Mechanicsburg, was taken into custody on Tuesday for identity theft and wire fraud, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Justice Department.

The DoorDash driver raised $7,300 by promoting a group, which he later disclosed did not exist.

Hall was detained on June 8. According to Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss, "Joshua Hall allegedly impersonated family members of the then-President of the United States on social media to fraudulently induce hundreds of victims to donate to a political organization that did not exist and then pocketed those funds for his own use," reported the United States Department of Justice. Strauss went on to thank the FBI for their participation in investigating the case and emphasized their commitment to prosecuting cases of fraud.

Phony Online Endorsements

By posing as the 45th president and his relatives, including his son Barron, Hall seized more than 100k followers online via phony endorsements that he carried on for an entire year. According to federal prosecutors, from September 2019 to December 2020, the 22-year-old ran a scheme that yielded thousands of dollars from hundreds of MAGA supporters from all over the United States.

Hall is currently facing up to 22 years in prison following his slamming with charges of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud, reported Meaww.

The man allegedly raised funds for the pro-Trump reelection organization that did not exist through the creation and usage of social media handles bearing such family members' photographs and names, as indicated by the criminal complaint. Instead of financially supporting the supposed reelection organization, prosecutors alleged Hall used the funds raised for his personal living expenditures, reported NBC News.

Read Also: Pence Says He May Never See 'Eye to Eye' With Trump Over the January 6 Capitol Siege

Prosecutors also alleged that Hall used the photo of Barron, 15, to falsely claim the boy touted him as a "friend and partner" of the president. According to one of the posts, Hall is reportedly an "amazing patriot" who is doing plenty of things for the nation and has his endorsement.

Hall also posed as Trump's brother Robert Trump and sister Elizabeth Trump Grau who is in her late 70s and resides in Florida, according to federal officials. Robert Trump passed away last year.

According to FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr., Hall led numerous people to believe they were donating to an organization that was non-existent by pretending to be someone he was not, as alleged. As they continue to probe into the fraud in all its many forms, they urge the public to remain aware of the prevalence of internet scams and exercise due diligence when making donations on the internet.

Hall had also fabricated many social media accounts bearing such family members' names and photos.

Related Article: Trump Goes Offline Again as He Permanently Shuts Down New Blog Site After People Made Fun of It

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Beech-Nut Nutrition officials ordered the recall of some of its infant rice cereals from stores across the United States after some samples were found to contain excessive levels of arsenic, a toxic chemical for humans if ingested in large quantities. Additionally, the company said it would cease all production of the product after fears it will not be able to comply with federal limits on the chemical and other elements considered heavy metals.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented a limit on the level of naturally occurring inorganic arsenic last year. The agency posted a notice warning companies of the risk elevated levels of these elements pose to young children. In April, the FDA announced plans to further limit the arsenic, lead, and mercury content in baby food.

Toxic Chemicals

Beech-Nut issued the voluntary recall because of the discovery of high concentrations of the toxic chemicals in a routine sampling by the state of Alaska, the company's Vice President of Food Safety and Quality, Jason Jacobs, said in a statement. He added the small sample of products were found to have arsenic levels above the guidelines of the FDA, CBS News reported.

In February, a congressional report discovered several manufacturers across the United States had baby food products with high levels of toxic heavy metals. The elements found included lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury and were found in "significant levels." Officials warned the chemicals could negatively affect the brain development of babies and toddlers.

No cases of illnesses or side effects have been reported in relation to the discovered high levels of toxic chemicals, Beech-Nut officials said.

Read Also: What Is Maskne? Dermatologists Reveal Prolonged Wearing of Face Mask Cause Various Skin Reactions

Toxic chemicals in baby food products have been known by experts for many years, the Director of Food Policy's Brian Ronholm said. Officials implemented strict guidelines and restrictions to avoid the potential risk of having high levels of toxic elements in the products young children consume.

Previously, Consumer Reports has recommended to Congress the 2021 Baby Food Safety Act, which requires the FDA to implement much stricter guidelines on heavy metals in baby food products, including lead and mercury, Texas News Today reported.

Threat to Young Children

Similar to Beech-Nut, other baby food manufacturers have been discovered to have high levels of toxic chemicals in their products. The list of companies includes Walmart, Gerber, Hain Celestial, and Nurture Inc.

The FDA said the elements, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury are able to stay in the environment for decades after the use of pesticide and herbicide, Consumer Reports Senior Staff Scientist Michael Hansen said.

Baby foods more frequently contain higher levels of toxic metals due to the vitamins and minerals added to the products during processing, Hansen said. A common ingredient in baby food, rice, is also known to have high levels of arsenic. The element comes from the soil and dissolves in water when rice is grown, USA Today reported.

Parents worried for their children's safety are encouraged to switch to unprocessed fruits and vegetables instead, Hansen said. Additionally, the FDA recommends parents give babies a variety of grain-based cereals instead of the ones made with rice.

Related Article: Did COVID-19 Come From a Wuhan Lab? Classified Report Provides Early Report for Previously Taboo Notion

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The family of the deceased, identified as Charlene Wimbush who died at 43, filed a case against a NYC funeral home. Relatives say that her body was taken without permission and soon after, several actions were done to the body to make its condition worse.

Body snatchers

Owens Funeral Home, which took the body a week ago, is owned by Isiah Owens. According to the story, Owens went and got the body from the New York Medical Examiner's Office without any documents or permission from Wimbush's relatives, reported NY Daily News. As far as the family was concerned the funeral home had no right to get the body, but why the medical examiner allowed the body to be taken was not explained.

The details

Wimbush died at Harlem hospital on February 11, 2021, from cardiac arrest. Her relatives called Owen's Funeral Parlor because they did the final rites for the deceased parents before in New Jersey. This was what was mentioned in the Bronx Supreme Court, where the case was file by Tracy Reese and four others, who are relatives of the deceased woman.

One of the problems was Owens said he could not remember where Charlene's parents were buried. Relatives were aghast at the cold attitude towards them in a meeting and he was not amiable on a phone call, which aggravates the tense situation further. When an NYC Funeral home gets body under these circumstances, it can be considered criminal.

Read also: Stolen SUV Hearse Recovered With Body Inside After Highway Pursuit by Police

Isaiah Owens said that he hqe been in the industry for 50 years and also had a "good name" in a short interview. He asserted that he had a verbal contract with Wimbush's common-law husband, but it was hampered by the difficulty to establish her parents' gravesite. He alluded to the suit as a "complete farce.", noted by Yahoo News.

In the end, the family ended the negotiations with the parlor and decided on an alternative venue but not Owen's. On February 23, the parlor operator called the family and said he got their relative's remains from the NYC coroner's office. He added that the body had been embalmed already by his technicians.

A statement from the case said that the relatives had not allowed Owens or Owens Funeral Home to touch the remains of Wimbush, which is the main complaint in the lawsuit.

Closed casket required

Many relatives were distressed at what happened to Wimbush's body. One statement, from the suit, said she was not fit for an open casket funeral.

According to a report, the Owens Funeral Home has been taking bodies from the coroner's office without permission. This new lawsuit mentions that in 2013, the funeral parlor operator had done the same thing to another family and it was documented too.

Kin of James Turner filed a case for the situation where an NYC Funeral home gets body without permission. The owner confessed that of the 400 final rites services done in 2011, more than 200 had no permission said the court. Eric Rothstein, an attorney for the Wimbush family said, noted sNewsi," "Owens Funeral Home's conduct is reprehensible, and it makes them appear like body snatchers, previously having been held culpable for the same thing."

Related article: Woman Revived from Death? Funeral Home Staff Shocked After Woman Wakes Up Seconds Before Getting Embalmed

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The government said on Wednesday that over 2.3 million new stimulus checks were handed out, totaling over $4.2 billion in payments, to Americans. Since Congress enacted the American Rescue Plan Act in March, more than 169 million payments totaling $395 billion have been made.

Individuals and families that fall below specified income limits and satisfy other conditions are eligible for payments of up to $1,400 per person, plus $1,400 per eligible child. Approximately 1.1 million of the new checks, worth more than $2.5 billion, were "plus-up" payments in this round, CNBC reported.

Individuals and families will be due new or higher payments when their 2020 tax returns have been completed. Over 8 million of these payments have been sent thus far. Additionally, more than 900,000 checks totaling $1.9 billion were distributed to those who had just filed tax returns with the IRS but whose information had not previously been recorded. More than 1.2 million direct deposit payments were sent in this round of payments, with the balance being delivered by paper checks.

Who will receive the 2.3 new stimulus checks?

Per CBS News, while the most recent stimulus payments started arriving in bank accounts in March, some recipients have had to wait weeks or months for their checks. Because the IRS was able to quickly verify eligibility based on income and decide where to mail or direct deposit the checks, it prioritized delivering payments to persons who had already filed their 2019 or 2020 tax returns.

Others, though, have had to wait for the IRS to process their payments, such as those who are not obliged to file tax returns or who have sought changes on their stimulus payments. Among the 2.3 million stimulus checks, people who had just filed a tax return and those whom the IRS did not have enough information to give the money are included in the 900,000 payments sent.

According to the IRS, another 1.1 million payments were for plus-up adjustments for recipients who were eligible for larger benefits based on recently submitted 2020 tax returns. The newest round of stimulus checks arrives as 25 states prepare to phase out enhanced unemployment benefits, slashing millions of jobless workers' weekly benefits to $300 only two months before federal funding ends.

The Century Foundation, a liberal think tank, said around one out of every four persons on unemployment will lose their benefits due to the early termination of unemployment benefits. Many families have continued to suffer financially after the pandemic, with the unemployment rate reaching 5 percent, which is still much higher than the pre-pandemic average of 3.5 percent. According to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of Census survey data from early May, a quarter of Americans struggled to pay their household bills in the preceding week.

Read Also: Fourth Stimulus Check: Joe Biden Says He Supports More Relief; Remains Open to Range of Ideas

Eligible but haven't received yours?

The IRS advises those who do not generally file tax returns to do so now so they may take advantage of the benefits they are entitled to, such as the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Earned Income Tax Credit. People who receive federal benefits, such as Social Security, should submit a 2020 tax return so that the IRS has the most up-to-date information, including information on eligible dependents, to make payments, as per Miami Herald.

People who are homeless or do not get federal assistance may still be eligible for stimulus checks, but they must submit a tax return to get funds, says the IRS.

Related Article: IRS Says Millions Will Receive Unemployment Tax Refunds. When Will You Receive Yours?

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The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is continuing the distribution of the third stimulus check worth $1,400 to eligible citizens across the country, but many people are still unsure of how to track their payments.

The IRS sent $2.8 billion in stimulus checks, half of which were paper checks and the other half were direct deposits to bank accounts of eligible residents. However, many people have still not received their third stimulus checks and are wondering how to track their payments.

The American Rescue Plan passed in March is also giving out "plus-up" payments which would increase the amount of money a person receives. The IRS will also send out advance monthly payments for the child tax credit to eligible families beginning July 15. The payments would give up to $3,600 per child depending on several factors such as age and income limits.

Third Stimulus Checks

If you are unsure of where your payment is or believe it could have been stuck somewhere, you can contact the IRS so they could provide details of the status of the check. The agency is sending out payments on a weekly basis, which include the third stimulus check and plus-up payments.

The plus-up payments are additional money for residents who received less money than they otherwise should have. The situation was caused when the IRS mistakenly used an older tax form to calculate the payment to be issued. This will be cleared up once the agency receives the 2020 tax return and recalculates the third payment, CNET reported.

IRS officials said the plus-up payments were automatically being sent to people who have received less than the amount they were owed. However, residents who believe they should be part of the recipients should contact the agency and clarify the situation.

Read Also: Rare Bipartisan Vote in Senate Passes China Competition Bill, Challenges Unfair Trade

How Much Money?

The third stimulus checks will give residents up to $1,400 if they are eligible for the payments under the American Rescue Plan. People who earned $75,000 in 2020 will be able to receive the maximum payment while those who earned more will receive less depending on their income.

Additionally, married couples who jointly filed taxes and earned $150,000 in 2020 will receive a maximum of $2,800. For individuals who earned $80,000 and couples filing jointly who earned $160,000 in 2020, they would not receive any payment from the third stimulus check, 10TV reported.

Fourth Stimulus?

With the third round of stimulus checks still going around, some people are now wondering about the possibility of the fourth round of payments. Many are arguing the previous financial package has not been enough to support residents affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Lawmakers have been expressing their support and are urging President Joe Biden to work on providing Americans with a fourth stimulus check. Many are saying the return of Congress this week could bring good news about the possibility of a new stimulus package, Yahoo Finance reported.

More than 80 members of Congress expressed their support for a fourth stimulus check by sending a letter to Biden urging him to approve a new package. Seven members of the House Ways and Means Committee recently joined the supporters of the fourth stimulus package.



Related Article: Biden Infrastructure Plan Talks With Capito End, President Turns to Centrist Senators for Support

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Auguste Bartholdi's little bronze statue will travel from Paris to New York City and then to Washington, D.C.

Voyage of the mini replica of the Statue of Liberty

In a recently published article in The Associated Press, a nearly 10-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty was set to sail onboard a container ship from a French Port on Monday. The replica was made using the original plaster wax.

Later this month, the bronze statue will sail across the Atlantic Ocean on a container ship from the French port of Le Havre to Baltimore. It will subsequently be shipped to the United States, where it will arrive in time for the July 4th celebrations.

According to a published article in Yahoo News, before arriving in the nation's capital, the statue will make a stop on New York's Ellis Island to celebrate the Fourth of July with the original statue that welcomed immigrants to the United States in the early twentieth century.

Read Also: Top 10 Must-See Places in the US

French ambassador says the replica is a sign of friendship

French ambassador Philippe Etienne wrote, "I am truly honored to receive this symbol of the friendship of the French and American peoples," according to an email he sent to a national news outlet Fox News. He also added that the replica of the Statue of Liberty that is set to arrive in the U.S. this month has a significant value. It is a symbol that that "enlightens the world" and has "a value that's still so necessary."

Meanwhile, Liam Wasley, a U.S. Embassy representative, said the monument not only represents liberty but also "the depth of our connection" with France. He said this during the ceremony in Paris, according to The Associated Press.

Some important details about the replica of the Statue of Liberty

Before it was determined that the replica would call Washington, D.C. home, The 1,000-pound statue has been on exhibit for a decade at the Musee des Arts et Metiers, a French industrial design museum in Paris, as a temporary home.

According to an article published in The New York Times, Susse Fondeur, a French foundry, created the reproduction by using a "lost wax process" to replicate the statue's minute features.

It has been 135 years since the first Statue of Liberty was unveiled to the public on Ellis Island. From 1886 through 1924, the 305-foot monument welcomed approximately 14 million immigrants who entered the United States through New York.

Additionally, The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by France in 1885 as a symbol of Franco-American friendship. The statue, designed by sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, was intended to symbolize America's welcoming of immigrants and refugees. With Gustave Eiffel's assistance, he built the bigger replica in New York Harbor.

Olivier Faron, general administrator of Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers also said "Franco-American friendship will be marked under the sign of liberty. A new era in relations between France and the United States will open up, that's what we want," according to a published report in Reuters.

Related Article: Reclining Statue of Liberty Soon to Grace Morningside Park

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When President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson met for the first time on Thursday, they pledged to open a US-UK travel corridor "as soon as possible" and to lift Transatlantic travel restrictions. They will also draft a new Atlantic Charter, built by the one drafted by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II.

The COVID-19 pandemic has completely halted transportation as the summer holiday season approaches, so international travel will be a big issue during this week's G7 Summit.

Biden, Johnson to form a task force to implement safe UK-US travel reopenings

Boris Johnson intended to question Joe Biden about establishing a green channel between their countries, allowing individuals who have been vaccinated to travel without having to follow a quarantine procedure.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, more than 5 million British citizens visited the US each year, while over 4.5 million Americans visited the UK - more than any other country. To restore transatlantic travel, the two leaders will form a new task force to provide suggestions on how to do it safely.

Biden and Johnson will meet in person for the first time on Thursday. Since Biden's electoral victory, they have talked on the phone several times, Daily Mail reported.

In addition, Biden and Johnson will commit to a new Atlantic Charter, modeled by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt's historic joint declaration in 1941, which spelled out the leaders' ambitions for the world post-World War II. During the difficult days of the war, the US and the UK developed a particular friendship.

Since then, the charter has been used by both American and British leaders to characterize the tight alignment of their countries' interests. In remarks to Air Force troops upon his arrival in the UK, Biden emphasized the significance of the special relationship between the US and the UK.

Return of transatlantic tourism

Per The Daily Telegraph, people in the United Kingdom who are not US citizens are restricted from traveling to the United States, with a few exceptions, due to a restriction issued by Washington at the onset of the pandemic. A larger effort is ongoing among world leaders to agree on a single scheme for foreign travelers to prove their COVID-19 status, reducing the complexity of the existing system.

The leaders of the "Group of Seven" countries - the UK, US, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, and Japan - are meeting at Carbis Bay, Cornwall, for the first time in nearly two years. Mapping a way out of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, including supplying additional vaccinations to underdeveloped nations and restoring the global economy, will be at the top of their agenda.

However, domestically, concerns about whether the last step of the UK's reopening on June 21 would go forward as scheduled may dominate conversations on relaxing border restrictions. Boris Johnson said yesterday that COVID-19 infections, as well as cases in the UK, were on the rise and that more data was needed before final decisions were made on Monday.

Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London, whose modeling is popular in Whitehall, cautioned that a significant third wave of COVID-19 cases might emerge and grow to be as large as the second. The Bank of England's top economist, Andy Haldane, said that reopening on June 21 would be great for the economy and may drive the UK's growth rate beyond that of EU countries.

Read Also: North Korea's Kim Jong Un Appears to Have Lost Some Weight. Why is the World Watching His Waistline?

Joe Biden may force Boris Johnson's hand over Northern Ireland

Another topic the two leaders will discuss is the issue between the EU and the UK. The two sides' talks may be on the verge of collapsing, and London is still mulling unilateral action.

The EU Commission's vice president, Maros Sefcovic, responded by saying that "patience wearing thin" and relations with the UK are at a crossroads, as per The Independent. David Frost, the Brexit minister who appears to have cultivated a great deal of antipathy in the EU, has said that there has been no breakthrough.

The deadlock follows a significant outbreak of violence in Belfast - and elsewhere in Northern Ireland - in the spring, as well as widespread concern about the upcoming marching season, which has previously been a hotspot of violence.

According to US sources, when Biden meets Boris Johnson for the first time on Thursday, he will confront the developing problem in Northern Ireland. Biden will also urge European leaders he meets at the G7 conference to do everything possible to reach an agreement. He is unlikely to give the British administration an easy ride. The President's concern for Northern Ireland has been expressed by Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser.

Related Article: UK Warns G7 Countries: China to Dominate Global Trade

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The office involved in the evening attack belongs to the Britain-based HALO Trust. It was supervising the removal of land mines left after the last conflict. Added to the 10 slain by the identified 'Taliban Mujahidin', were dozens more injured by the raiding militants.

Caught in the crossfire

HALO Trust's office is located in the northern Baghlan province where the fighting between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban often erupts. In this case, the conflict occurred within the organization's premises and its personnel became caught in the struggle.

According to the provincial police spokesman, as told to VOA, victims said that the insurgents reportedly assembled the Afghan civilians working at the demining site inside a room before showering them with bullets.

Perpetrators of the massacre

A report by the SITE Intelligence Group remarked that the ones who killed the workers are a local affiliate of the Islamic State terror group, called IS Khorasan Province (ISKP). These militants admitted to the mass slaying, which took 60 lives.

Zabihullah Mujahid, designated Taliban spokesperson, disputed the rebel group's responsibility, claiming the Baghlan-e-Markazi district, in which the "truly horrific" massacre of non-combatants occurred late Tuesday, was never under Taliban control.

#Clarification

Attack on deminers in Markazi Baghlan, martyrdom of 10 & injuries to multiple has no relation with IEA Mujahidin.



We condemn attacks on the defenseless & view it as brutality. We have normal relations with NGOs, our Mujahidin will never carry out such brutal acts. https://t.co/6CUbjWJyHL  Zabihullah (..   ) (@Zabehulah_M33) June 9, 2021

He posted on Twitter," We consider attacks on the unarmed to be harsh and reject them. We enjoy normal interactions with non-governmental organizations, our Mujahidin will never engage in such barbaric activities." Several gunmen attack a camp intent on killing individuals.

Read also: Obama Administration Allotted Money to an Al-Qaeda Affiliate From 2014 to 2015

The NGO

HALO Trust started efforts in Afghanistan around 1988, although the nation had been under the Soviet Union's decade-long occupation that ended in 1989. The organization operates throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America, and wherever there is any need to eliminate post-war remnants such as land mines.

The organization slammed the assault, stating that more than 100 de-miners from local areas were laboring in the region for humanitarian missions. Officials added, "local Taliban" came to the victims' assistance and "scared the assailants off."

Writing on Twitter, the charity remarked," "The gunmen stormed into the encampment and fired shots. Approximately 110 men from north Afghanistan's local communities had been in the camp, after finishing their jobs on adjacent minefields."

Survivors mentioned the terrorists picked out and murdered mostly members of the Hazara Shi'ite community, based on videos posted on social media. Those claims were corroborated by the Brtish NGO, "Our team's Hazara personnel were sought by several armed men. These assailants moved from room to room slaughtering the personnel after they refused to identify them," the organization alleged.

Almost all recent deadly bombings and other atrocities on Hazara Afghans in the province were claimed by the Sunni extremist ISKP, the United Nations called for a thorough investigation into the occurrence so those guilty can be held to account.

According to U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Kabul, Ramiz Alakbarov as mentioned Aljazeera, "It is reprehensible that an organization committed to clearing land mines and other hazards and bettering the welfare of vulnerable individuals must be intended to target."

Amed gunmen attack a camp of Afghan de-miners that happened as the Taliban increased battlefield efforts around the country, seizing more than 14 districts after the US and NATO allies started withdrawing troops in Afghanistan in May.

Related article: Explosion in Afghan Capital, Near Girl's School, Kills 30

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President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga / Yonhap



By Nam Hyun-woo



Seoul and Tokyo are seeking to arrange a bilateral meeting between President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on the sidelines of the G7 Summit being held this weekend in the United Kingdom., in an effort to improve the chilly relations between the two countries.



According to Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday, Moon will depart for the U.K. Friday (KST) to attend the G7 Summit which will take place in Cornwall from Friday to Sunday (local time). While attending official sessions there, Moon will have bilateral meetings with the leaders of the U.K., Australia and the European Union.



So far, the presidential office has not confirmed any preparations for an official meeting between Moon and Suga or an official trilateral meeting that would include U.S. President Joe Biden; and did not announce any get together involving the three leaders in Moon's official G7 itinerary.



However, there does seem to be a chance that some form of meeting will taking place. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "We are open to cooperation between Korea, the U.S. and Japan," and hinted at a "pull-aside" meeting, saying the leaders "may talk casually while standing, or sitting on a sofa."



White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also left the door open for a trilateral meeting during the summit.









"We don't have a trilateral scheduled between the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, but I will tell you there's a possibility for virtually anything in these small spaces where you have just a  you know, in this case, 10 or 12 leaders in person there in Cornwall," Sullivan said in a press briefing Monday.





U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive on Air Force One at Cornwall Airport Newquay, near Newquay, the U.K., ahead of the G7 Summit in Cornwall, Wednesday. AP-Yonhap
Two wildfires blazing in Arizona have burnt more than 150,000 acres of land, causing evacuations as firefighters battle around the clock to knock them out. In response to the wildfires that have ravaged two Arizona counties, Gov. Doug Ducey declared states of emergency on Wednesday.

The emergency declarations will provide up to $400,000 to first responders battling the Telegraph and Mescal fires in Pinal and Gila counties in central and southern Arizona, which have burnt over 146,000 acres.

According to Ducey's office, the Telegraph Fire, which ignited on Friday, has burnt 76,260 acres of property as of Wednesday morning. The National Wildfire Reporting Group's InciWeb incident reporting system confirms the fire is 21 percent contained with a projected containment date of June 20, The Washington Examiner reported.

Per AZGovernor, Ducey said in a statement, "Firefighters and safety authorities have been working around the clock to secure Arizonans, and we need to make sure they have the resources they need to properly combat the wildfires in Pinal and Gila Counties. I issued Declarations of Emergency to guarantee that those responders have the resources they need to safeguard people, pets, and property - and we'll continue to work closely with local officials to meet those communities' needs."

FIRE UPDATE:



Today Im issuing Declarations of Emergency in response to the #TelegraphFire and #MescalFire, which have burned 146K+ acres and led to many evacuations and road closures. Fire and safety officials are working around the clock to contain these dangerous fires. 1/  Doug Ducey (@dougducey) June 9, 2021

As of Wednesday morning, the Mescal Fire has burnt 70,067 acres in Gila County. The fire, which started on Tuesday, June 1, and is located south of US 70 between Globe and Peridot, has been assigned to an Interagency Type 2 Incident Management Team. The majority of the San Carlos Apache Reservation's evacuated people were permitted to return home yesterday, although State Route 77 and US 70 remain partially closed.

Arizonans are asked to do the following to help prevent fires:

Make sure the trailer chains are not dragging as a single spark might cause a fire.

Follow fire restrictions and practice responsible outdoor recreation - practically the whole state of Arizona is now under some form of fire restriction.

Limit flammable items and plants within 100 feet of your house to be "fire-wise" and protect your home.

Remember that flying a drone near a wildfire is both illegal and extremely dangerous.

Ducey requested fire management help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sunday and it was granted. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the grant program offers a 75 percent federal cost share for fire control expenditures, with the seeking state paying the remaining 2 percent.

Read Also: WATCH: Colorado Tornado Spotted From Airplane Windows; Rips Buildings, Kills Animals

Arizona wildfires continue to grow, but residents are allowed to go home

Officials said Tuesday that two huge wildfires in eastern Arizona are still burning, but one of the blazes has made headway in lessening the threat to nearby communities. According to the Interagency Incident Information Center, the Telegraph Fire has burnt 71,756 acres and the Mescal Fire has burnt 66,913 acres.

While the Mescal Fire has spread since Monday, authorities on the San Carlos Apache Reservation have notified some people they can return homes. The fire has been put out to a third of its original size, and the reason is still being investigated, as per CNN.

The hot, dry weather will enhance the fire's spread, said the officials. The Telegraph Fire, which has been raging since last week, is still blazing. Officials believe the fire was set by a human, but the reason is still being investigated. Both fires have resulted in no deaths or injuries.

Related Article: Arizona Boy, 11, Faces Felony Charges for Starting Brush Fire, Causes $30,000 Damage



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Hundreds of crime figures were arrested by U.S. and Australian authorities who monitored an encrypted app used by criminals to read encrypted messages, officials said Tuesday.

Australian police and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation partnered together to carry out "Operation Ironside," which aims to ensnare hundreds of people suspected to be figures in organized narcotics trade across 18 countries globally.

Suspects included in the investigation were located in Australia, Asia, South America and the Middle East, the officials said.

Organized Crime Sting

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the operation was a heavy blow against organized crime across the world calling it a "watershed moment in Australian law enforcement history."

In subsequent announcements, Australia's police department said they had arrested 224 people during the operation, including members of outlawed motorcycle groups. In New Zealand, authorities netted 35 people.

"Operation Ironside" was launched by Australian police and the FBI in 2018. Authorities in the United States promptly took control of ANOM, a messaging app famous with organized crime networks and figures in the underworld.

Officials in the U.S. distributed mobile phones with the ANOM app installed among criminals. This allowed authorities to tap into the messaging app and monitor chats about drug smuggling, money laundering and murder plots among members of drug syndicates and people with links to mafia groups.

"We have been in the back pockets of organised crime," Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said at a media briefing. "All they talk about is drugs, violence, hits on each other, innocent people who are going to be murdered."

Read Also: New Audio Shows Giuliani Pressuring Ukraine To Help In Smear Campaign Against Biden

Black Market

ANOM is an app that can only be found on phones sold in the black market. These phones have been stripped of the capability to make calls or send mails. The phones could only send messages to other devices with the same app.

To get access to a hacked mobile phone, criminals had to know other criminals to get a device. In the case of the San Diego FBI agents, they were granted access by a developer who had created ANOM to compete against other encrypted communications platforms in the market.

Authorities refused to release more details about the developer, who agreed to cooperate with officers in exchange for a reduced sentence.

Law enforcement personnel have had difficulties with the prevalence of encrypted communication apps, which ANoM has conveniently solved to provide officials with more access to criminal operations, Kershaw said.

Over the course of three years, the operation involved more than 9,000 officers across 18 countries. The arrests also led to the seizure of tons of drugs and assets worth millions of dollars, officials said.

The police also acted on at least 20 "threat to kill," and potentially saved the lives of many innocent bystanders. In Sweden, officials say the operation may have prevented 10 planned murders.

The FBI is expected to present more details about the global sting on Tuesday. Kershaw noted that they are currently working on getting access to other encrypted communication apps.

Related Article: Man Charged with Impersonating Trump, Thousands Ripped Off in Massive Fraud Scheme

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This will be the first stealth ship of the Russian navy and a message to powerful nations that Moscow will not be trifled with.

Being lethal is the key

Called project 20386 and officially dubbed the Mercury naval corvette, this stealth ship is slated to be built by 2023. It is designed to go toe to toe with the US Navy's FFGX or Future Frigate. Both are frigates, but the corvette will be smaller but much meaner, reported the SUN. The Russian craft will be bristling with high-tech weaponry like cruise missiles, anti-aircraft ordnance, and artillery, and a specialized anti-sub platform for blunting submarine attacks.

Russia had made significant investments in its fleet in past years as a result of President Vladimir Putin's effort to modernize the military, which has been challenged by Western sanctions. Western nations have been at odds with Moscow for some time now, after the break up of the USSR.

There was prior use of stealth technology like a radar-absorbing coating used on some of the Russian vessels. One exception is the Mercury that breaks all traditions and stealth profile to use fewer surfaces that cause radar deflections said one outlet.

Russia had previously used stealth technology such as a radar-absorbing coating into some of its navy vessels, but lethal Russian stealth corvette is expected to be the first fully stealth vessel with a special shape to minimize protrusions and crevices on its surface, RIA mentioned Reuters.

Read also: US Navy Wants a Next-Generation Destroyer Designed From the Ground Up

Construction of the ship's superstructure will be next-generation composites and improved paint for better stealth.

Mercury was almost scrapped

It was reported that before the acquisition of Crimea in 2014, there were plans to create the high-tech Frigate. According to a military source published in the Izvestia daily newspaper during 2013, the warship would be incredibly costly, with an estimated cost of up to 18 billion rubles (175 million), and will be outfitted with "excessive" weaponry including the Kalibr cruise missiles, mentioned the Telegraph.

The Military Review was not optimistic about the Mercury project and said it will fail last April. One point is the lack of enough armament support, which will render it useless.

When Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the Kremlin started to reinforce its military due to escalating tensions with the West. Last April, there reports that the United Kingdom will be a sitting duck with the current numbers of the Russian submarine force, which can be used to disrupt vital undersea internet cables.

The subs are stowed beneath an enormous "mothership" underwater vessel and most are intended to hide at the seafloor bottom, traveling down from the Arctic to reach the Atlantic. It will utilize robotic arms to meddle with or even cut critical cables that keep the world economy functioning, causing potential catastrophic effects. Add a lethal Russian stealth corvette this will not look too good for the West.

Related article: US Navy Plans to Deploy Ship-Killer Missiles On Amphibious Ships as Fighting Ships

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Data published this week by federal health officials indicate the highest rise in heart disease and diabetes mortality rates in at least 20 years.

Increase of Death Rate in 2020

In a recently published article in NBC News, the United States observed significant rises in the mortality rates for heart disease, diabetes, and other frequent killers in 2020. Specialists think one major cause may be because many individuals with severe symptoms made the fatal error of avoiding the hospital for fear of contracting COVID-19.

The death rates, which were published online by federal health officials this week, add to the growing body of evidence that the number of lives lost directly or indirectly to the pandemic in the United States is far greater than the officially reported Covid-19 death toll of nearly 600,000 in 2020-21.

For months, academics have known that 2020 will be a deadly year in U.S. history, owing mostly to Covid-19. However, figures published this week revealed the largest rise in heart disease and diabetes mortality rates in at least 20 years, according to MSN News.

Read Also: New Alzheimer's Drug Aduhelm Now FDA Approved, Giving Hope to People With This Disease

Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier predicted that almost 3.4 million Americans will die in 2020, an all-time high. More than 345,000 of the fatalities were directly related to COVID-19. The CDC also gave death statistics for several of the main causes of death, including the top two killers in the United States, heart disease and cancer, according to Santa Fe New Mexican.

However, the data published this week include mortality rates that are deaths as a percentage of the population, which is thought to be a better method to measure the effects from year to year since the population varies. Nine of the causes of death for which the CDC has full-year preliminary data showed an increase. Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, chronic liver disease, stroke, and high blood pressure were among those listed.

Some of the gains were minor, while others were enormous. The long-term mortality rate from heart disease increased to 167 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 161.5 the previous year. The rate has risen for just the second time in 20 years. This growth of more than three percent outpaced the less than one percent growth witnessed in 2015.

Possible Explanations on the Increase of Deaths related to Diabetes and Heart Disease

Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, a Northwestern University researcher who is the President-Elect of the American Heart Association, said that during the crisis, many patients stopped taking care of themselves. People also started gaining weight or cutting down on high blood pressure drugs.

Experts stated the stress of the crisis, the elimination of exercise choices due to the lockdown, the loss of employment, and issues with associated health insurance were all factors in the rise in mortality rates.

Lloyd-Jones' explanation for the decline is that many of the virus's victims were battling cancer, but COVID interfered and became the predominant cause of death. Meanwhile, a prior study conducted by demographer Kenneth Johnson of the University of New Hampshire discovered that an unprecedented 25 states had more deaths than births last year.

Related Article: Heart Disease Cure Finally Found? Single Shot Heals Monkeys in Medical Experiment

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Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, left, bumps elbows with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, before their talk in Xiamen, China, April 3. Yonhap



By Jung Da-min



China seems to be sending signals to Korea not to side with the U.S. in the intensifying rivalry between the two superpowers, ahead of President Moon Jae-in's participation in the G7 Summit, where participants are expected to discuss toughening the anti-China campaign.



Just a day before the G7 summit is slated to run, from Friday to Sunday in the U.K., Beijing has called on Seoul to stay firm in its strategic partnership with Beijing, while also calling the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific strategy, a "Cold War framework."



According to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversation with Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong the previous night, telling Chung that Korea should not become trapped in a "biased" way of thinking, and that Seoul and Beijing needed to maintain a "political consensus."






By Bahk Eun-ji



The Seoul education office said it has decided to expand pre-emptive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in schools and increase the number of school quarantine personnel in preparation for the full resumption of in-person classes in the second semester.



Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), announced the plan during a press conference at the education office building, Thursday.





Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, speaks during a press briefing at his office, Thursday. Yonhap
Now Open

10 June 2021

Universal Hotels has opened the Hotel Florida Magaluf in Majorca, a new concept of flagship hotel which, following a complete renovation, will be one aspect of the company's new brand structure. The hotel was designed to be a place where guests can have a 360 holiday experience on the seafront, with music, organic and sustainable elements and gastronomy as fundamental pillars.

With nearly 75 years of history, the Universal group offers a space aimed at young people, who use social media and are keen to socialise, have fun and enjoy new experiences in harmony with the environment, with reusable elements and no single use products. The result is this completely renovated adults-only 4* hotel, inspired by the coolest hostels located in the main cities of the world, adapted to its Mediterranean setting.

Situated in the heart of Magaluf, one of the most important and recognised touristic places in the world in a decisive repositioning, Universal Hotels has chosen this area as the ideal place for a holiday experience which is social, modern, fun and sustainable.
Yim Geun-hyeong, CEO of CityNet / Courtesy of CityNet



By Bahk Eun-ji



Yim Geun-hyeong, CEO of CityNet, said the importance of urban diplomacy, meaning city- or other local government-level diplomacy, is growing as it can deal with the specific needs of each region that central government-level diplomacy often fails to fulfill.



In this regard, Yim, who served as the ambassador for international relations at the Seoul Metropolitan Government from 2018 to last year, said he has high expectations for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who played a role in moving CityNet's secretariat to Seoul while serving as the mayor previously, from 2006 to 2011.



CityNet, a coalition of local authorities in the Asia-Pacific region, is committed to helping local governments build more sustainable cities and facilitate cooperation between members. It started with 26 members in 1987, but now includes 173 municipalities, NGOs, private companies and research institutions. Yim is the chief of the secretariat.



"CityNet moved its secretariat from Yokohama, Japan, to Seoul in 2013. But the decision to move to Seoul was approved in September 2009 when Oh was mayor of Seoul. So it is natural for our members to expect Seoul's role and contributions to CityNet will be further expanded with his comeback," Yim told The Korea Times.



The mayor of the city where the CityNet secretariat is located becomes its president.



Yim also stressed the role of CityNet in helping local governments achieve the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). "Achieving the SDGs is the biggest common objective of the international society, trying to implement 17 main goals and 169 policy targets before 2030."



In 2016, CityNet launched the Urban SDG Knowledge Platform in collaboration with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) to come up with appropriate solutions for SDGs that meet specific regional conditions.



On the platform, the member cities share their knowhow and policies so other cities can refer to them for their own policy decisions.



"This serves as a communication platform where policymakers and city officials can exchange and introduce specific urban policies for targeted SDGs and recommend knowhow regarding budget, manpower, stakeholders and time frames," Yim said.



He expressed hope that Seoul City will encourage members to more actively share their exemplary policies, adding Seoul's COVID-19 quarantine response, which gained international acclaim, could be one such example.



CityNet also holds various seminars every year where participating city officials share best practices of their cities with other members.



Before joining Seoul City and CityNet, Yim worked as Korean ambassador to Denmark and Hungary.


Press Release

10 June 2021

By 2025, the group plans to expand its portfolio in Saudi Arabia to 47 hotels, for a total of nearly 7,000 rooms, via its Campanile, Golden Tulip and Tulip Inn brands. Its goal? Establishing its leading brands at the heart of a fast-growing tourist market.

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Development at the heart of Vision 2030

In 2021, five of the groups 3- and 4-star hotels will be inaugurated at the heart of various strategic destinations in Saudi Arabia:

The Golden Tulip Riyadh (94 rooms) and The Golden Tulip Unaizah (84 rooms) in the first quarter of 2021,

(94 rooms) and (84 rooms) in the first quarter of 2021, The Tulip Inn Dammam Corniche (70 rooms) in the 3 rd quarter,

(70 rooms) in the 3 quarter, The Golden Tulip Umm Al Qurah (454 rooms) in Mecca during the 4th quarter.

The Campanile brand will also be part of the Louvre Hotels Group rollout, joining the first 16 hotels which are already among the most sought-after leisure, cultural and urban destinations in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia hopes to attract some 100 million visitors by 2030.

Louvre Hotels Group will be there to meet the demand for midscale and upscale hotels, a new and extremely promising market segment in this flourishing region.

Development that generates local employment, trained by a renowned international hospitality group

Opening some fifty hotels by 2025, Louvre Hotels Group promotes the creation of over 3,500 local jobs in the tourism sector. The group will integrate these new employees in its training and development cycle, providing them with a chance to be trained at Chaud Devant!, our company Culinary University. Operating at the heart of the Rungis international market, the largest fresh produce market in the world, this new venue is the ideal environment for transmitting internal savoir-faire, the passion for good products and conviviality, an integral part of the groups DNA.

Saudi Arabia represents a strategic market for our global development, due in great part to its focus on tourism and the extraordinary choice of destinations it offers. Launching Campanile, our midscale brand, in this region is a point of pride for us because we want to inaugurate an innovative yet affordable offer, able to satisfy local customers and international tourists alike Pierre-Frederic Roulot, CEO Louvre Hotels Group
Press Release

10 June 2021

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has launched the Hong Kong Convention Ambassador program with more than 100 distinguished leaders of business and professional bodies in Hong Kong to help revitalize Hong Kongs MICE industry, after a turbulent and challenging 2020.

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With extensive connections, influence and personal standing in their respective fields, the Ambassadors have a significant advantage when they lobby potential conference organizers to consider Hong Kong as the preferred host city for future MICE events.

The Hong Kong Convention Ambassador program is formulated not only to bring business events to the city when travel resumes but also promote the advantages of Hong Kong to the global business community and help drive multi-sectoral recovery, said Dr. YK Pang, Chairman of the HKTB. The economic multiplier effect of hosting world-class MICE events is huge. And the HKTB team is here to offer full support to the Ambassadors efforts.

The MICE Multiplier Effect in Hong Kong

On average, MICE visitors are high-yielding travelers to Hong Kong who spend at least 20% more per capita than general visitors, creating a larger multiplier effect on the citys economy. MICE events also help drive the recovery and development of the region, including the Greater Bay Area.

The city is poised to welcome its first-ever Greater Bay Area Artificial Intelligence Congress with over 2,400 participants in November 2021. Hong Kong is in the best position to host this GBA event given its leading position as the most international city and a gateway to the mainland. The ambassador program will deepen the network between the HKTB and business sectors to bring even more leading international events, said Mr. Henry Li, Chief Marketing Officer of Hong Kong Productivity Council.

A Successful Ambassador-led Event Paves the Way for More

The Ambassadors are instrumental in strengthening the citys position as a best-in-class MICE hub. Their efforts have begun to bear fruit, with the Hong Kong International Dental Expo and Symposium (HKIDEAS) held successfully in January, a testament to their endeavors and paving the way for the 15th Asia Pacific Congress of Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia (ELSA 2021) to be held this November.

The three-day HKIDEAS event, the first trade exhibition held in the city since the fourth wave of COVID-19 hit in late 2020, drew an average daily attendance of over 3,000 dental professionals. Ambassador Dr. Century Tsang, President of Hong Kong Dental Association and Honorary Chairman of Organizing Committee of HKIDEAS, said, We worked closely with the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to implement stringent preventive and social distancing measures to ensure the event went smoothly and safely. Our success proves Hong Kongs unrivalled attributes in hosting top-notch events even under difficult circumstances.

Fellow Ambassador Professor Philip Chiu, the Associate Dean (External Affairs) of Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and ELSA 2021 Congress Chair,

has made every effort to bring the annual congress to Hong Kong in November 2021. To be held at the Hong Kong Science & Technology Park, ELSA 2021 is the biggest conference in Asia in endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery. The event will bring economic benefits and further elevate the citys medical standing, paving the way for bidding for more international medical events.

Professor Chiu said, Hong Kong has solid fundamentals and a track record in hosting international medical conferences, thanks to its connectivity, service quality, efficiency, and the citys leadership in various medical fields. Together with leaders in other specialties, I am honored to take part in promoting Hong Kong as the international city for conferences.

A Robust Recovery Ahead

The strong alliance of Convention Ambassadors will amplify Hong Kongs appeal in drawing more top MICE events to the city, thereby driving a robust recovery post-COVID-19. With the HKTB teams comprehensive support, they will contribute significantly to strengthening the citys status as The Worlds Meeting Place.

List of ambassador-led events in the pipeline:
Supplier News

10 June 2021

Kipsu, the leading guest engagement platform in the hospitality industry, and Quore, the leading provider of workflow management and productivity tools for hotels, are excited to announce their new alliance and integration that will allow teams to streamline communication between front- and back-of-house operations.

"Quore and Kipsu are working together to help our customers drive efficiencies, which is especially important as they confront the challenges of staffing up post-COVID," said Tom McGurran, Kipsu's Senior Vice President and General Manager of Hospitality. "Quore became a global leader by focusing on their clients' success, which is also a fundamental principle at Kipsu. We are confident that these shared beliefs will bring meaningful value to our clients as the relationship grows."

By connecting the data of these two essential systems, hotel teams will be able to submit requests and communicate the status to guests- all within the Kipsu dashboard. This integration will help hotels further streamline their operations by eliminating inefficiencies, driving transparency, and ensuring operational productivity.

"Our goal is to simplify the day-to-day operation for hoteliers," said Scott Schaedle, Quore Founder and CEO. "Our integration with Kipsu enables our customers to more easily and digitally engage with their guests while decreasing the time it takes to fulfill guest requests. Improving guest communications and operational efficiency is a win-win. We look forward to a long and productive collaboration with Kipsu."

Kipsu and Quore piloted their integrated solution at the 120-room Holiday Inn Charleston Historic Downtown where the staff saw an overall improvement in the work order and guest request process throughout their property. They decreased the amount of time from request to fulfillment and improved guest service by providing timely updates.

Communication will make or break your team, and we live by that, said Kisha Montgomery, General Manager of the Holiday Inn Charleston Historic Downtown. This integration has provided us a platform where we can easily click a button to communicate a guests needs with a different department. I love that it allows us to see when a task is in progress and completed so that we can effectively communicate updates to our guests while also holding departments accountable for these requests.

About Kipsu:

Kipsu is the industry leader in Real-Time Engagement, "RTE," allowing hotel teams to meet guests where they are and connect through preferred digital channels. Kipsu currently partners with over 2,700 customers, facilitating tens of millions of digital messaging engagements per year through SMS, Live Web Chat, social messengers, and in-app messengers. Kipsu currently operates in over 45 countries across the services sector, including hospitality, shopping, higher education, living environments, and healthcare. For more information about Kipsu, visit www.kipsu.com.

About Quore

Quore is an award-winning, cloud-based hotel operations solution, supporting hotels of any size to be more efficient and improve guest experiences. Founded in 2012, Quore manages all aspects of the guest experience, including preventative maintenance, guest requests & complaints, work orders, and housekeeping. More than 4,300 hotels in the U.S. use Quore, including hotels from the industry's largest brands, like IHG, Marriott, Hilton, and Choice. The Tennessee-based company is privately owned and was named one of America's Best Startup Employers 2020 by Forbes.

Kipsu Media Contact

Eva Dixon | [email protected]

Quore Media Contact

Katie Adgent | [email protected]
Opinion Article

10 June 2021

In 2020, EHL and Changins wine school launched a study on Swiss wines and the impact of Covid-19. Since a semblance of returning to normal is taking shape, the time seems opportune to summarize this project, taking care to place the Covid-19 crisis in a more general context. The aim is, in particular, to tackle the fundamental problems that affect Swiss wines and to try to identify possible solutions. The following analysis is based on interviews conducted with wine producers and key market players during the second half of 2020.

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Sales held up well in 2020

The results of a previous poll pointed to an increase in private consumption of wines, which particularly favored Swiss wines. A study by the Swiss Wine Market Observatory (OSMV) confirms this trend for wines sold in supermarkets. The feedback from the wine growers questioned is consistent with these observations, but only in part and above all, it needs to be qualified.

Private consumers have indeed consumed and bought more, but resellers, and especially the hospitality sector, have not. Some winegrowers are talking about a strong rebound and widespread solidarity during the summer of 2020, but overall restaurants and hoteliers have simply not been able to place sufficient orders to make up for the shortfall in spring. It should also be noted the complete collapse of the events sector which represents a significant part of the turnover for some producers.

Overall, the customer mix was therefore decisive. Those who do the best overall are those who have a large private clientele and have been able to reach it effectively. Several winegrowers stress the importance of a user-friendly website. Likewise, sending emails and being on social media seems to have helped maintain the connection with customers, and therefore, supported sales.

Important nuances

Next, it should be noted that there are strong nuances at two levels: market segment and geographic location. We can identify two distinctive dimensions that combine to create four main segments. The first dimension is the size of the farm. In Switzerland, we have "big houses", small to moderate-sized estates, and "micro-winegrowers". The latter are often very dependent on the former, to whom they sell most of their grapes. The second dimension refers to the quality reputation and the domain's hold on the production-sales cycle (these two elements generally go hand in hand). Thus, among the domains of moderate size, we can distinguish independent winegrowers who are strongly differentiated by their reputation and intermediate winegrowers who need sufficient notoriety and only market a limited part of their production directly.

The segment made up of independent winegrowers is generally the one that has withstood the crisis the best. In some cases, 2020 is even shaping up to be "the best year ever." The intermediate winegrowers segment experienced a complicated year, in particular due to a less accessible clientele (and sometimes even inaccessible in the case of events), a sluggish demand for grapes and must, and pressure on prices. The big houses exploited their size by launching communication/marketing actions and by reducing their margins. They seem to have been able to limit the damage in this way. Finally, the situation of micro-winegrowers, which was often already difficult before the crisis, has worsened further. The problems here are structural and are characterized in particular by a strong dependence on a small number of intermediaries and an inability to invest to develop the wine field.

Successful local initiatives

In order to counter the negative effects of confinement, the winegrowers acted mainly at two levels: careful management of financial flows (in particular by postponing investments) in order to maintain sufficient liquidity, and marketing/communication strategies (emailing, special offers, free shipping ). The second approach seems to have been well received by customers and has worked well.

Communities have also implemented measures such as reduced working hours (RHT), Covid loans and the possibility of downgrading parts of production. The wine makers interviewed consider that these measures have been rather weak overall. This is not necessarily surprising given the limited time available to develop and deploy these measures. This is also consistent with the fact that Covid-19 has only exacerbated the imbalances that were already present. Concretely, what is lacking is a real strategy to tackle structural problems.

Some local or regional actions have worked particularly well. For example, the good DireQt (French-speaking Switzerland), WelQome (Vaud), Kariyon (Friborg) and other local initiatives have been very effective. These offers have all offered a discount (subsidized by public authorities or businesses in the case of DireQt) to consumers to encourage them to consume locally. Some of these initiatives focused on the semi-containment period, but most have been active for a longer time. Besides being a commercial success, these offers were also an excellent opportunity to connect with consumers.

Five key issues that Swiss viticulture must face

The interviews made it possible to identify five issues that already existed before the Covid-19 crisis and which appear more significant than ever today:

Complexity: In Switzerland, everything is fragmented and subject to regionalism. In addition, we have our own practices (such as the AOC system perceived as confusing: "people don't get it"). Production costs: In particular, it is impossible to produce entry-level wines at prices comparable to those of neighboring countries: "we have the most expensive low-end wines in the world". No one-size-fits-all solution: Needs and opinions vary widely, depending on the segment, ranging from the establishment of mechanisms to protect indigenous production from foreign competition to the anticipated (and sometimes desired) disappearance of the weakest, notably via the uprooting of vines. Lack of leadership: Swiss wine production suffers from a lack of support and the absence of sufficiently strong governance at national level. The multiplicity of players representing the sector at the regional level makes everything opaque, complex and, ultimately, inefficient. Unsuitable organization of the sector: The sector operates in a tight flow, which makes it very dependent on economic and climatic hazards. In addition, the decline in the number of intermediaries combined with a frequent deferral of the role of carrying stocks from intermediaries to winegrowers places the latter in a complicated position, both financially and logistically.

A particularly important issue is the lack of support and the absence of sufficiently strong governance at national level. Several speakers mentioned the examples of the EU, which actively supports producers with a strategy, or of Austria, where a centralized policy has been put in place in order to modernize the sector and offer it some prospects. One winegrower mentioned the EU subsidies [which] are a kind of unfair competition. Stronger support in Switzerland could rebalance the situation. The following sentence sums up the general feeling well: "the Confederation must take a position on the question of the share of Swiss wines that we want in Switzerland". This share is currently 37.7% according to figures from the Federal Office for Agriculture (OFAG).

Questions for the future and possible solutions

There is no doubt that Swiss wines face significant challenges. But other Swiss industries have in the past skillfully turned difficulties into opportunities to reinvent themselves. This is consistent with our feelings in contact with respondents and this is reflected in the large number of thoughts and solutions they shared with us (see Table 1).

Table 1: Reflections and possible solutions

Table 1: Reflections and possible solutions  Photo: EHL

Conclusion

This report shows a contrasting situation for wine producers in Switzerland. While some actors benefit from a favorable situation, others really suffer. Covid-19 has to some extent exacerbated these imbalances, but it would be wrong to use the term "cyclical crisis" to characterize this episode. Indeed, there are real winners and the measures put in place seem to have worked well overall. In reality, the crisis is structural in nature: Swiss viticulture is facing several issues that have grown in importance in recent years.

The interviews made it possible to identify some of the main problems facing the Swiss wine industry and also to develop possible solutions. Some of these avenues deserve to be analyzed in depth in order to be able to develop a real strategy for Swiss wines. The interviews are generally rather optimistic and above all, it is interesting to note that non-winegrowers are often those who have the most positive vision and the most firmly oriented towards the long term. One retailer notes that the quality of Swiss wines has increased enormously and that it is increasingly recognized, he judges Swiss wine's image positively and indicates that even outside the borders he observes a positive development. Finally, he underlines that, for his part, Swiss wine sales are following a very positive dynamic.

Swiss wines therefore certainly have a future. But we have to tackle the identified problems, solve them, and work on a long-term strategy. This requires strong leadership and greater government support.
Opinion Article

10 June 2021

South Dallas Industrial Overview

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The industrial sector is a key player within southern Dallas County and northern Ellis County, which are part of the Best Southwest Partnership. A vast network of roads in the greater Metroplex provide direct access to other parts of the region and country. South Dallas is home to the International Inland Port of Dallas (IIPOD), an intermodal and logistics district that encompasses 7,500 acres and five municipalities. This area hosts over 17,000 workers, and major manufacturing tenants include American Textile Company, Pioneer Frozen Foods, Niagara Bottling, and Serta Dormae. Corporations with logistics/distribution facilities in the IIPOD include Amazon, Conns, The Home Depot, LOreal, and National Tire & Battery. Additionally, in 2020, FedEx signed a new lease to operate its nearly 800,000-square-foot sorting facility in South Dallas, near the companys shipping hub in Hutchins.

The greater South Dallas area continues to experience development projects that will support economic growth within the manufacturing and logistics/transportation industries. The following map illustrates existing key industrial or business parks (red markers) and significant industrial projects under construction or recently announced (gray markers), as well airports and intermodal rail terminals (blue markers) in southern Dallas County and northern Ellis County.

Photo: HVS

Within the inland port, the focus of moving cargo is surface transportation. Union Pacifics Dallas Intermodal Terminal comprises 360 acres and has played a key role in the increase in cargo volume in the area, as the facility provides intermodal access to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Lancaster Regional Airport and Dallas Executive Airport provide private commercial services for area businesses and service for corporate jets. The single-runway Lancaster Regional Airport is the only airport in Dallas County south of Interstate 20. At Dallas Executive Airport, construction of the Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center is ongoing; the facility, developed by the Commemorative Air Force, will include a STEM Innovation aircraft hangar, classrooms, and exhibit space. While a severe winter storm in February 2021 temporarily paralyzed the regions supply chain, the DFW Metroplex remains a strong distribution hub, supported by the areas vast transportation infrastructure and facilities, and southern Dallas County continues to strengthen as an industrial hotspot.

South Dallas Hotel Market

The South Dallas hotel market comprises properties located along the U.S. Highway 67, Interstate 35, and Interstate 45 corridors, generally south of Interstate 20. The area features roughly 50 hotels ranging from economy to select-service products and totaling approximately 2,900 guestrooms.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, market occupancy was generally near or above 70%. Like the Metroplex, state, and nation, the South Dallas lodging market was not immune to the economic slowdown, and RevPAR bottomed out in April 2020. Recovery trends were evident in late 2020, and this trend has continued thus far in 2021. This market is poised to recover quickly given the prevalence of demand from the logistics, manufacturing, and industrial industries, which have greater resiliency than other prominent industries in primary or urban markets, such as finance, technology, and telecommunications.

Since 2018, nine hotels (roughly 690 guestrooms) have opened in the South Dallas market, within the communities of DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Lancaster, and Red Oak. Additionally, we have identified the following hotels that are under construction or in early development.

Photo: HVS

Two significant projects in the local market include the under-construction Aloft in Cedar Hill, which will include a 12,000-square-foot meeting and banquet facility, and the planned Courtyard by Marriott as part of the Red Bird Mall redevelopment project. This redevelopment is also slated to include 300,000 square feet of office space, 400,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and apartments.

Conclusion

The greater South Dallas area is well positioned for long-term economic strength. Following the widespread distribution of the vaccine and lifting of restrictions on business operations, confidence in co-working environments and travel is increasing. We anticipate that hotel demand will continue to rebound and return to pre-COVID-19 levels in this growing southern Dallas County market. Moreover, given the growing industrial landscape of the region, we expect hotel supply additions to be absorbed quickly.

We continue to watch the factors affecting the local hotel industry, and our many appraisal and consulting engagements throughout the Metroplex, inclusive of South Dallas communities, allow us to keep our finger on the pulse of the market.

For more information, please contact Kathleen D. Donahue or Niraj R. Bhavsar from our Texas-based team.
A company specializing in single-family home rentals made Builder magazines list of top homebuilders, the latest sign that a significant number of homes being built amid unprecedented demand are going to renters, not homeowners.

American Homes 4 Rent, an investment trust formed by B. Wayne Hughes, who made his fortune by founding Public Storage, has been in the business of owning and operating homes as rentals since the aftermath of the Great Recession. In recent years, it also entered the construction business, building new homes expressly to rent. The company owns nearly 3,000 homes in the Houston area and more than 53,000 nationwide.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Build-to-rent communities are flourishing in Houston, but at what cost?

The Calabasas, Calif.-based company built 1,647 homes last year, making it the 45th-largest builder in the United States, according to Builder, the first time a build-to-rent company has made the ranking.

Were proud to be the highest ranked builder solely focused on single-family rental homes and we are laying the foundation for sustained growth over the coming years, said the companys chief executive, David P. Singelyn, in a statement. He called the ranking a testament to our foresight to pursue the built-to-rent strategy.

The build-to-rent business model has burgeoned as investors  faced with low or uncertain returns in more traditional investments  pour money into new residential developments. Single-family rentals allow investors to collect monthly rent payments as well as capture home price appreciation, which has soared to the double digits during the pandemic. (The median Houston-area home sold in May went for 22 percent more than the median price of a year before, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.)

Now, one in four Houston-area homes sold is purchased by an investor, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting, which tracks residential investing.

More than 7,500 build-to-rent homes have been developed in the Houston area, according to the RCLCO, a real estate advisory firm  good news for renters who, for one reason or another, are sitting out the pandemics homebuying frenzy but still want the perks of living in a home with a backyard, neighborhood amenities and a good school district.

But some argue it also means prospective homeowners face a tighter market.

rebecca.schuetz@chron.com;

twitter.com/raschuetz
WASHINGTON - The Biden administration, facing a Congress unlikely to take significant action on climate change, is considering reaching beyond environmental law to establish tough, new financial regulations that raise the capital costs of the nations fossil fuel industries.

To accomplish the presidents agenda of dramatically lowering greenhouse gas emissions, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Treasury Department are in various stages of rulemaking to encourage the nations banks, institutional investors and other financial players to invest more heavily in clean energy, mirroring efforts underway in the European Union.

The strategy threatens to accelerate the shift of investment away from the oil and gas companies that dominate the Houston and Texas economies, depriving them of the capital they need to launch drilling projects, expand and hire workers, analysts and policy experts said. It would only add pressure on an industry that has fallen out favor with investors after years of high costs and low returns and uncertainty over its future in a low-carbon world.

The SEC is where the money that goes into the ground gets regulated, so its a big deal for them to get into the climate game, not to mention all these other financial regulators moving at the same time said Kevin Book, managing director at the research firm ClearView Energy Partners. Nobody who assesses the health of these (publicly traded) entities will be able to say (emissions) dont matter anymore.

The process is still in the early stages. Furthest along is the SEC, which is still collecting comments on how greenhouse gas emissions are reported.

The agency has not said what action it might take, but the examination signals an attempt to establish uniform reporting standards that would allow investors to make apples to apples comparisons between not only companies but entire industries, experts said.

Companies now report emissions through a variety of voluntary protocols  with varying standards  that allow companies to present themselves as cleaner than they are, a practice known as greenwashing.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Biden eyes Gulf for offshore wind development

Investors maintain that the lack of reporting standards such hinders their ability to determine how well positioned companies are for a low-carbon future. Were the SEC to require uniform data on climate exposure  the same way they do on profits and cash flow  investors would likely move money from companies with the largest carbon footprints, experts said.

For the oil and gas industry, this could be particularly problematic, with as yet no viable way to capture the huge volumes of emissions that come out of vehicles tailpipes.

If you have asset managers and financial institutions all with net zero targets and at some point those things all become real, said Ben Cahill, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington There is a risk of decapitalizing the (oil) industry just as you have industry starting to grow again, at a time the industry has been underinvesting for years.

Weary on Wall Street

After oil prices crashed in late 2014, capital spending in the oil and gas sector abruptly fell  hitting a 13-year low in 2020. Prices have risen recently as governments lift COVID-19 restrictions, raising the prospect of a revival of the shale drilling boom in West Texas and other locales.

But the Biden administrations efforts to rewrite financial regulations stand to make it more difficult for companies to obtain financing from Wall Street investors that have grown weary of the oil and gas sector over the past decade.

So far, the oil and gas industry is holding off full-scale opposition to Bidens rule making, seeking instead less aggressive regulations that treat emissions from oil companies the same as those from say farms or pharmaceutical manufacturers  which the SEC has indicated it is exploring.

Theres a robust discussion that goes on between companies and their investors already, as well as significant climate reporting, said Stephen Comstock, vice president for corporate policy at the American Petroleum Institute. The SEC needs to take all that into account as they consider this, before they just step into trying to regulate this space.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Can Congress finally come to terms on climate?

The SEC is taking comments on climate disclosure through the middle of this month. At the same time the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has created a team to study how well futures markets are assessing demand for commodities such as oil in a net-zero future, potentially setting the stage for a rewriting of rules on how contracts for oil are traded.

And the Treasury Department has appointed a climate counselor to oversee not only shifts in financial policies regarding climate but taxes as well.

Just five months after taking office, Biden has shown himself ready to aggressively tackle climate change. In his budget proposal earlier this year, Biden requested Congress do away with tax breaks for the oil and gas industry worth billions of dollars a year.

Climate change poses a major threat to U.S. financial stability, and I believe we must move urgently and assertively in utilizing our wide-ranging and flexible authorities to address emerging risks, CFTC Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam, who was appointed in 2017 by former president Donald Trump, said in March.

Middle path

The moves to target the financing of fossil fuel industries comes with little progress in Congress on establishing the sort of carbon pricing system that oil companies say they want and economists maintain is the most effective way to reduce emissions economy wide. Under a proposal supported by oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and BP, the federal government would assess and collect fees from companies based on their greenhouse gas emissions, providing economic incentives to lower emissions

The fees would increase over time, with the proceeds returned to taxpayers through a direct check.

But Republicans appear reluctant to do anything that might raise energy costs while Democrats face an increasingly progressive left flank that believes a carbon fee wont cut carbon emissions fast enough to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

So far, Biden appears to be taking a middle tack, looking to raise the cost of capital on fossil fuels high enough to begin winding down the industry, but over a period of decades, not years, said Andrew Logan, oil director at the nonprofit Ceres, which advises companies on sustainable investing.

Last month, Biden ordered members of his cabinet to develop a government-wide strategy to address the financial risks posed by climate change, both from the jobs losses and decline in the value of assets caused by shifting away from carbon intensive industries, as well as damage caused by rising sea levels and changing weather patterns.

They may feel oil and gas is a sun setting industry, but they also see it as pretty long in duration, he said. This is an attempt to put the U.S. government on sound financial footing as the world decarbonizes and avoid the worst financial consequences for the economy.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Energy security fears rise with shift to clean energy

Its unclear what policies might come out of Bidens undertaking, but the administration could go so far as to consider emissions in awarding federal contracts or even restrict federal workers pension funds from investing in oil and gas companies, Cahill said.

If pension funds are not allowed to hold (oil) investments, that deprives the industry of a lot of capital, he said. For me, (the executive order) raises more questions than it answers. I dont know what direction we're going to go in.

Agency overreach?

Even so, Republicans are not waiting for clear proposals to speak out in protest. At a hearing in March, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, argued that the SEC and other regulators did not have the authority to use financial regulation to address climate change.

By straying beyond their mandates into the climate arena, financial regulators will pressure banks not to serve politically disfavored industries such as fossil fuel companies. Whos next? Gun manufacturers? Conservative media? Religiously minded businesses like Hobby Lobby?, he said. If Congress believes current environmental policies do not adequately address climate risks, changes should be enacted through the legislative processnot through financial regulation.

Republicans might count on support from allies in the oil and gas sector, but the position of the banking and financial services industry, another major source of Republican fundraising, is less certain.

Earlier this year, the Bank Policy Institute, the financial industrys largest lobbying group, said that it opposed measures such as testing how well banks perform under the stresses of climate change and depleting values for oil and other fossil fuels  already underway in the United Kingdom and Europe. But the trade group also says that financial institutions need better data, including standardized emissions tallies, if they are to effectively shift trillions of dollars in capital to less carbon intensive companies and sectors.

Disclosure is a relatively politically acceptable argument, said Book, of ClearView Energy Partners.  Most people putting money to work in the market will accept the concept of better information.

james.osborne@chron.com

Twitter.com/@osborneja
Harvard history professor Annette Gordon-Reed is best known for her groundbreaking research on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman with whom Jefferson fathered children. In 2008, Gordon-Reed won both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.

This year shes released a far more personal book. On Juneteenth mixes a recounting of the role that slavery plays in Texas history with Gordon-Reeds own remembrances  of her East Texas family and of growing up in Conroe, a town that had a particularly bad reputation for its treatment of Blacks. In mid-60s, as a first grader, Gordon-Reed became the first African American student to enter Conroes white school system.

Near the end of the book, she writes, The reader might ask, after all of this, what is it that I love about the state of Texas? Love, she concludes, does not require taking an uncritical stance toward the object of ones affections. In truth it often requires the opposite. We cant be of real service to the hopes we have for places  and people, ourselves included  without a clear-eyed assessment of their (and our) strengths and weaknesses.

Q: This book is far more personal than your previous books. What made you start thinking about Juneteenth?

More Information Listen: Lisa Gray interviews the best-selling, Pulitzer- and National-Book-award-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed, who grew up in Conroe. The Harvard history professor has a new book out, "On Juneteenth." See More Collapse

A: I did an essay for the New Yorker last year about Juneteenth, talking about how we celebrated it when I was a kid and about the day itself. Before that, I had done a review of five books about Texas for the New York Review of Books. Those two projects made me think that I could do something my editor has been after me for a long time to do: a book about Texas.

But I wanted to do something different here, something shorter, not the big book that we envisioned. The series of essays here is a kind of writing that I always wanted to do. When I thought of myself as a writer growing up, this is the kind of thing that I thought Id be doing. It was a really enjoyable experience.

Q: Lets start at the beginning. Where were you born?

A: I was born in Livingston, Texas, and when I was about 6 months old, my parents moved to Conroe, where my mother got a job as a teacher at the school for Black people, Booker T. Washington. So I grew up in Conroe, going back weekly to Livingston to visit my grandparents.

Ive always said Im from East Texas. Livingston is particularly East Texas. Conroe, I found out when I was working on this book, is classified technically as part of the Gulf Coast region. We do get hurricanes occasionally.

Here in Houston, we think of Conroe as the outer edge of our suburbs.

It is now. When I was growing up, there was pretty much a pine forest between Conroe and Houston and a few convenience stores, rest stops and so forth. When I go back now, its just all melded together. And in Conroe, there are so many different types of people, from all over the world. Its diverse. Its amazing to see the way its grown up.

Q: When you started school, what was Conroe like?

A: It was a sleepy town of, Id say, 5,000 to 7,000 people. It was spread out and rural. It started as an oil town, a prosperous town. At some point in the 30s, it was boasted that they had more millionaires in that area than any other community.

It was an oil town, a sawmill town, a town of Black people and white people. There was not a lot of diversity, not a lot of Latino people in Conroe at that time. I would say around 7 or 8 percent of the population was Black.

It was old-fashioned, traditional. Religion was very important to Blacks and whites in the town.

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Q:Your extended family wasnt thrilled that your parents moved to Conroe. Why were they so worried?

A: Conroe had a reputation for being very rough in racial terms. It had been the site of lynchings over the years. There were a couple of notorious events.

In one, a man was burned at the stake on the Courthouse Square  medieval stuff, right there in the middle of this town. And there was a famous case where Bob White, a man accused of raping a white woman, was shot in the courtroom. It was a premeditated murder that took place in front of the judge, jury, spectators and everybody. But the killer was acquitted.

My grandfather had told me about Bob White when I was a little girl. But I didnt know that case had gone up to the Supreme Court. It was in the news; I went back and looked at some of the articles.

That casts a shadow on a place. Some members of my family didnt want to spend the night in Conroe  probably from fear but also maybe on principle.

Q: So it was a big deal that Conroe was integrating its schools.

A: Yes, it was a big deal. But it wasnt Little-Rock-Ruby-Bridges kind of big.

Q: Not big in the national media. But big in Conroe?

A: It wasnt media-big because my parents and the school officials and everybody decided that it wouldnt be media-big  that I would just go and everybody would treat it as if it were a normal thing. Although it really wasnt a normal thing.

Q: You were basically the Ruby Bridges of Conroe  the little Black girl in beautiful dress who integrates the elementary school.

A: Yeah, thats pretty much it. Thats the story. I wasnt escorted by police. I dont know if police were there. There had been threats against my family, but I didnt know about that when I was a little kid.

There was a bus that I could have taken to school, but I think that was considered just a bit much  you know, tempting fate, taking it too far. So my father drove me to school and dropped me off. I went in as if this were the normal thing to do.

I knew it was something momentous. Kids know things. I could sense the excitement and tell from the way people talked about it. One of my relatives who lived in Houston went to Sakowitz, the ritzy department store there, and bought me lots of clothes  dresses and tights and hats, all kinds of things.

Q: She wanted you to represent?

A: To represent! Weve got to represent! I think this was her contribution to the Civil Rights movement.

Mrs. Daughtry, my first grade teacher, was wonderful to me. I had no sense that I was treated any differently than any other kid. In addition to her being a good person, I wonder if thats because my mother was a teacher, if there was a feeling of connection. My teachers were wonderful.

The kids, some were good and some were not. Some people, I think, went out of their way  that their parents told them to be friendly  and others did the opposite. So it was a mixed bag in that area, but I generally, genuinely felt comfortable there.

I got along with people, and I enjoyed school. I love to read, and it was exciting to see myself progressing, getting better and better at reading, getting better and better at doing math. All those things that excited me. I think if I didnt like school, it might have been worse for me. But I loved that part of it.

Q: What was your parents thought process in sending you to the white school?

A: Ive thought about it over the years. Would I have done that? My kids went to a private school that was predominantly white, but it wasnt all white. There were other Black kids there, and there were Black teachers.

I think my parents were idealistic. Their reasons changed over time. This is wonderful for a historian to think about  about memory and how people process memory. I think that later on, they made it into a pragmatic decision: We sent you because we knew that these freedom-of-choice school plans wouldnt last, that school integration was coming soon anyway.

Those freedom-of-choice plans were basically a way to avoid Brown v. Board of Education: The idea was that white parents would pick white schools, and Black parents would pick Black schools. But my parents decided to do something different. They chose to send me to Anderson Elementary School. Later they said, Well, we just knew the court was going to strike down the freedom-of-choice plans, and when they did, you would be in place.

And that did happen. It took three years for the courts to strike it down. Then everybody had to change schools, but I was already there at Andersen, used to it and everything.

But thats what they said later. When I remember how they talked about it then, when I remembered what was going on, I really think it was an idealistic decision on their part. You go back to the context: This is the mid-60s. There was the civil rights movement, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. I think they thought they were part of that process, of that movement, and it was an idealistic decision.

But then, after they became somewhat disillusioned about the effects of integration, it was almost as if they didnt want to appear to have been idealistic, to appear that they had had hopes for something bigger than what actually turned turned out.

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Q: Why did your parents become disillusioned?

A: I guess the primary thing was that integration, as it did across the South, took a lot of Black teachers out of the school system. Black students lost role models, and white students didnt have the opportunity to have Black teachers and figures of authority and expertise. I dont know if they had figured out that was going to happen.

White parents didnt want Black teachers over their children, so people were moved into disciplines they didnt want to be in, or into administration and things like that. It was a big deal.

There was also the loss of the community school. Booker T. Washington School had been the nerve center of the community. Its teachers were respected leaders of the community. They lived in the same places as their students. They went to the same churches. They may have been parts of their family.

As great as my teachers were to me, as far as I know, they didnt socialize with Black people. They were not in our communities. But for Black students who went to Booker T. Washington, the school extended out into the community because the teachers and the students were all there together.

There were gains, obviously. But there was something lost, too. My mother was one of the few Black teachers who remained in the classroom. She went to teach at the high school. I think my mother made great friends in her new job, but there was something about being with a cadre of other Black professionals who had been trained to be a vanguard in their communities.

My mother went to Spelman, and to (Texas Southern University) for graduate school, to teach Black students. I mean, she loved all of her students, Black and white, but she was of that generation of people who thought that Black people were on a journey, and it was their job to further that.

She said, I cant talk to them the way we used to talk to them  meaning the Black students. In an integrated classroom, she couldnt say to the Black students, Look, this is the situation were in. You guys have to get it together. You have to because were on this march.

White kids didnt need to hear that because the society was made for them. And you didnt want to single out the Black students among their peers and say, Well, youre different, and you have this special thing. So her mission had to become different.

She was a great teacher. She loved being in the classroom. But that feeling of camaraderie with other Black professionals - you know, going to the faculty lounge  was gone. Education was sort of an act of resistance for for Black people because it had been denied to enslaved people and treated as something that had no application for Blacks. So her mission changed. I think that she missed that.

I mean, she found something new. And she would never romanticize segregation. When I went to the doctors office, there was a separate waiting room for Black people and one for white people that was much better appointed, more spacious, a better place with better magazines. When I went to the movies, we sat in the balcony. You cant be nostalgic for that kind of thing.

The sense of community was something which we could have kept  I suppose thats maybe another book  but it didnt hold.

The power structure really didnt change in Conroe for a long time. Now, of course, they have Black principals, which would have been unimaginable to me as a child: to have Black people in control of things, in administration.

My parents, from their time horizon, didnt get the chance to see all of that take place. My mother died before a lot of that kind of thing took place. She would have been an excellent principal of a school, even though she would not have wanted to leave the classroom.

So that was the cause of their disillusionment with integration. It was Black and white integration, but it was Black people coming into white spaces and white power, not a sharing of power.

Q: What were you taught as a fourth grader and a seventh grader about Texas history?

A: Obviously, I dont remember all of it. But I do remember stories that were designed to bolster the image of Texas  to make us love Texas, to make us think of Texas as a place that was special among states, the Lone Star State. It was traditional fare. We talked about Quanah Parker. We talked about the Alamo.

I dont remember talking about slavery much in seventh grade. It may have been broached, but certainly not in the way that that can happen in some classrooms today, which take a much more extensive look at the institution.

Slavery was not a big part of it. Or race. There was a lot of discomfort about it. I think teachers may have had some discomfort because they thought maybe the Black students would be discomforted talking about slavery: You are a slave. Your family were slaves. You dont know how kids will respond to that. I dont recall there being a way into this topic that would have been comfortable for people. So I dont think we talked about it. I dont recall talking about it much at all.

Q: Could you tell us about Juneteenth  about what the holiday recognizes, and how your family celebrated it?

A: Juneteenth recognizes June 19, 1865, the date when U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger came to Galveston and announced the end of slavery in Texas. He also said  though he didnt have to say this  that former slaves would then exist on a condition of absolute equality with their former enslavers.

He told former slaves, Youre not to run to the Army, and were not going to take care of you. You should probably stay where you are and work for wages. I guess he was trying to maintain order in what he probably understood could be a chaotic situation.

This was a day that has been celebrated ever since, as near as Ive been able to tell, in one form or another. There were public ceremonies. As a kid, I went to Emancipation Park in Houston at least once for a picnic. But we mainly celebrated at home. It was sort of like the Fourth of July for Black people. It was a holiday that we recognized as being about Black people.

Now, of course, its about more than that. Its about thinking of the joy and the hope that this announcement engendered in people who knew that they would not be treated as property anymore.

We barbecued. There are certain foods that youre supposed to eat, like barbecued goat. We also always had red soda water.

Q: Was that Big Red soda?

A: No, we didnt have Big Red. (Laughs.) Im so old. I dont think Big Red existed yet. It was strawberry soda. We didnt have that on a daily basis. Its not like now, when soda is everywhere. It was a treat. It was a big deal that this was the day when we got to have a couple of cans of soda. 

Of course, they wouldnt have had soda for Juneteenth in the 19th century. Ive read that hibiscus tea may have been the precursor; it has a bright red color. And I have read that for some people strawberry pie, which is red, was an important part of Juneteenth.

Ive also read that red was supposed to be a a symbol of the blood shed during slavery. I dont know whether thats true. It could be an apocryphal thing that was grafted onto the story later on. [Laughs.] It could just be that Black people like red.

In my family, there was a twist added to this menu. My grandmother, at the urging of my mother, made hot tamales. My mother told my grandmother about them. We ate them in Conroe, buying them from a neighborhood woman who used to make them, and she gave my grandmother the recipe.

People would order them for holidays. My grandmother made tamales to raise money for the St. Lukes United Methodist Church; they were going to build a new church. For Christmas or Juneteenth, she would take a lot of orders for tamales.

We called them hot tamales, but basically they were just tamales. Depending upon how much pepper she put in them, they could be really hot, but she would also sell them mild or whatever.

So tamales were on the Juneteenth menu as well. Its a very Texas thing. In the Old South, you might think of people having barbecue. Yes. Maybe red soda water. Yes. Goat, maybe. But tamales? No.

We also threw firecrackers. Its hard for me to imagine that I was allowed to have matches and set off firecrackers. I mean, what were our parents thinking back in the 70s? [Laughs.] Its a wonder were here.

We didnt have cherry bombs or anything like that. But my grandfather would buy those Black Cat firecrackers for us. The neighborhood kids would just spend the day throwing firecrackers, lighting sparklers in the evening and drinking way too much soda water. We thought it was a fun day.

Later, I thought a little bit more about the seriousness of the holiday. I remember a conversation with my great-grandmother about that. She talked about how much it meant to them.

My great-grandmothers mother had been born enslaved and was freed as a child by her owner and father, along with her mother. So my great-grandmother knew people who had been enslaved, who were completely definitely affected. Juneteenth was always a serious occasion for that older generation of people. For them, the closeness to that institution was real.

Q: Until I read your book, I hadnt realized that Texas was still fighting the Civil War  and even winning a battle  after the rest of the Confederacy had surrendered. You also write about other ways that Texas differs from the rest of the South. Is that part of what gives Juneteenth its power?

A: All of the currents of American history flow through Texas: immigration, plantation slavery, Jim Crow, the urge to be a republic, the Anglo-Latino relationship, indigenous people. Those things are all in this one place. Theres no other state that has all of those things.

There was this Texas pride at having been its own nation for a time. And they were not defeated, not occupied by the United States Army. In my view, this lent an extra air of recalcitrance. Texans were sure of themselves: We are our own separate thing, and how dare you! seems to have been a part of all of this.

There was violence everywhere, all over the South, against the freedmen. But Texas was known as a particularly rough place for the Freedmens Bureau, the people who were trying to bring Black people into citizenship after the war. It was a hard place with lots of violence. There were stories about bodies floating down the rivers. One person recounts coming into a town and seeing almost 30 bodies hanging from trees  men, women and children  just retaliation against the freedmen because they were freed.

It was a real problem. And it continued. In the book I talk about the continuation of that anger, about the loss of property rights in people, and also the loss of the opportunity to have property rights in people. See, thats the thing. Most people say, Well, only a minority of people owned slaves. Thats true, but lots of people aspired to own slaves. Slaves were property, and property is at the center of Anglo-American life. It starts with the British.

Its hard for us to understand because were talking about property in people. Nevertheless, The notion of interfering with established property rights was a big deal. So many white Texans reacted poorly to this, and took it out on the freed people.

Q: Theres a movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday, not just a Texas holiday. What do you think about that?

A: I do think there should be a day that commemorates the end of slavery. Now, there are other candidates for this. It could be Dec. 31, the ratification of the 13th Amendment that legally ends slavery. Some people say Jan. 1, in connection with the Emancipation Proclamation. People in Virginia like April 3 because that was the day Richmond fell.

But for me, Juneteenth is a good candidate because No. 1, everybody likes it. Juneteenth is a cool word; everybody likes the word. And the holiday has gone very far already.  All but about three states have some form of recognition of the day. Theres path dependency. The structures are in place to do this.

Plus, theres no one day that brings about emancipation. The lawyer in me says, OK, legally, its the ratification of 13th amendment, but thats just a little too nerdy. And its Dec. 31. I mean, Dec. 31. And Jan. 1? Just saying those dates out loud tells you why theyre not good. Youre just setting yourself up to be aggrieved because people wont be paying enough attention to the holiday. So to my mind, there are intellectual reasons for for other days. But practical reasons? No.

So that leaves Juneteenth, which to me, is important because it comes after the Confederates give up the armed struggle to maintain their way of life, which was slavery, and Granger comes in  he has Black troops with him  and they make this proclamation. The people there took it seriously, and have kept the celebration going all these years.

Plus, its a family holiday. Black people who are not even from Texas tell me they celebrated it, and they all emphasize the family reunion aspect of it, the family and community aspects.

I think its a good time for that. Its close to July Fourth, which allows you to think of the two holidays together. I think they should be thought of together: the promise of July Fourth with the Declaration of Independence; and the reality of Juneteenth that reminds you that the Fourth did not achieve all men are created equal.

Juneteenth is a time to think about what we do to make those words come true. Its a day to commemorate a human rights victory. This is not just about Black Texans. It was a major development in human progress  for the state, for the country, for the world.

lisa.gray@chron.com

twitter.com/LisaGray_HouTX
As clashes continue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, Houston imams and rabbis unite for a common goal  peace.

Together, these faith leaders recently issued a statement, signed by 23 imams and 28 rabbis.

The statement began: For the past decade, we Imams and Rabbis in the Greater Houston area have found common ground on several issues that have impacted our respective communities and the Houston community at large.

Although challenging, we have done so again during this tumultuous time, it continued.

The statement acknowledged that at times, the interests of the two communities diverge, which is acutely experienced concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Still, there are common values that once again bring the clergy together.

These include praying for the continuation of the cease-fire, protecting sacred spaces and condemning any actions that target children and civilians.

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The statement also calls on all people to show restraint and not allow our anger and anguish to divide our communities through Islamophobic, anti-Arab and anti-Jewish actions and speech. Anything less would not be representative of our faith beliefs and has no place in seeking justice and peacebuilding.

Finally, the clergy expressed their continued commitment to work together and learn from each other, holding fast to the belief that interfaith dialogue is critical during this time of conflict.

It concludes: Through our interfaith dialogue and work, we have learned that our communities have many similar desires and needs, contrary to what many would want us and others to believe. Together, we will forge a path forward through this dark time and identify ways to show solidarity and peace, and justice for all.

The Minaret Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying American Muslim voices and advocating for positive change using multifaith and civic engagement, convened the clergy for this statement.

Director Shariq Ghani explained that the Jewish and Muslim communities in Houston have been building a solid relationship for years.

And there was never a sore point, he said.

Ghani wanted to be proactive to ensure that recent events in the Middle East did not threaten that dialogue. He reached out to longtime friend and collaborator Rabbi Steve Gross of the Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism.

The Jewish and Muslim communities have worked very hard to establish a relationship that is supportive and understanding, Gross said. We stand up for each other when the other feels targeted.

The rabbi agreed that solidarity between the faiths is critical.

If ever there were a time we needed interfaith dialogue and engagement, its now, he said.

Ghani suggested hosting a conversation on Zoom. He would bring four imams and asked Gross to gather four rabbis for the occasion on May 21. The cease-fire was announced a few hours before the videoconference.

We met for an hour and spoke honestly and openly, Gross said. We decided to come together with a joint statement on our ongoing commitment to dialogue and to engage each other in these times. We want to continue to strengthen our relationship between the Jewish and Muslim communities in Houston.

The clergy spent the next day drafting the statement. Then, the Minaret Foundation invited other rabbis and imams to join the effort.

Each clergy member who signed, Gross explained, represented their congregations. And that represented thousands of Jewish and Muslim people in the city, he said.

The statement is not meant to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but rather to express shared concerns for humanitarian issues, the rabbi explained.

Its about the commitment of Jewish and Muslim communities here in the city of Houston  to keep engaged despite the conflict, he said. We focused on recommitting to each other, as American Jews, as American Muslims. We can continue to learn from each other.

Imam Waleed Basyouni from Clear Lake Islamic Center agreed.

Yes, there are times we dont see eye to eye, but there are so many other things on which we agree, he said. When things like this happen, we should talk to each other. We should not stop talking to each other.

We all, as people of faith, should condemn targeting civilians, the suffering of innocent people, the taking of peoples homes.

Basyouni said that during recent conversations, both imams and rabbis opened up about friends and family affected by the conflict. By sharing their personal stories, they created a meaningful dialogue that he hopes continues.

Were all Americans; were all Houstonians, Basyouni said. We can make sure to not bring this conflict to our neighborhoods, to our mosques and our synagogues. And by talking to each other, us working together, hopefully it will be an inspiration around the world to do the same.

Imam Nisar ul-Haq at ASIA Center also signed the statement. He is a professor of religious studies at the University of Houston and an advocate of interfaith dialogue.

I really see the three Abrahamic faiths have a lot more in common than differences, Haq explained. No religion teaches their followers to fight or to hate. Religion is for the good of humanity, not against it.

We are looking for a better solution to the problem on both sides, Haq continued. When humanity is suffering, its a point of concern for all faiths. Well be looking forward to more opportunities to work together and stand together.

Ghani said that the recent action by the clergy was a milestone in their relationship locally  and is the first of its kind in Texas.

This statement will further the discussion between our clergy, he said. We can acknowledge our differences, share our pain and find steps forward. Trying to find common ground starts with listening to each other.

Rabbi Barry Gelman at the United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston was one of the first leaders recruited by Rabbi Gross.

I didnt hesitate to join the group, Gelman said. We could try to lower the temperature at least locally and create a sense of partnership and a common approach to the city.

He explained that during times of duress, difficult topics should be addressed.

We have to do it when everyone is hurting and everyone is vulnerable, he said. I felt like if we wait, we wont do it. If we wait until its quiet, everyone will have other things to focus on.

Gelman hopes that the continuing conversation between rabbis and imams will serve as an example to other religious leaders in Houston.

 I would love our city to become an example of religious peacemaking, he added.

Lindsay Peyton is Houston-based writer.
Emergency workers carry out recovery operations, Thursday, a day after a building collapsed in Gwangju, leaving nine people dead and eight others seriously injured. Yonhap



By Jun Ji-hye



Police have launched an intensive investigation into a building collapse at an urban renewal site in Gwangju that left nine people dead, forming a command center with the participation of the serious crime and economic crime units, police officers said, Thursday.



They also conducted a forensic examination of the scene, jointly with the National Forensic Service, in a bid to uncover the exact cause of the collapse.



The five-story building collapsed during demolition in the southwestern city at about 4:22 p.m., Wednesday, leaving nine people dead and eight others seriously injured. Those injured, who were mostly in their 60s and 70s, were taken to nearby hospitals, including Chonnam National University Hospital, according to rescue officers.



The 17 victims included the driver and passengers of a bus that was at a bus stop in front of the building at the time of the collapse. The building and the neighborhood behind it are being redeveloped, with plans for a large-scale apartment complex on the spot.





Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum speaks to reporters during his visit to the site of the collapsed building in Gwangju, Thursday. Yonhap
2 1 of 2 Courtesy Images/Gebert Family, Interfaith of The Woodlands / Courtesy Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Jamie Swinnerton Show More Show Less



The Woodlands would not be the place it is today without the spiritual work of Don Gebert, a pastor chosen specifically to help develop religious life in the planned community. Gebert died at the age of 91 in March and a celebration of his life will be held at his former church Saturday.

The community is invited to a public celebration of life that will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, 3801 S. Panther Creek Drive. The ceremony will also be live-streamed from the website for those who cannot attend in person. More information can be found on the church website at lolonline.org/funerals.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  The defense attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd is seeking not only a new trial but also a hearing to impeach the verdict" by investigating potential juror misconduct.

Eric Nelson's request for a new trial for Derek Chauvin is fairly routine, but the request to investigate the jury is not. Prosecutors have until Wednesday to submit written arguments in response to Nelsons requests. It's not clear when the judge will rule.

Heres a look at some of the issues Nelson raised.

NEW TRIAL REQUEST

Chauvin was convicted in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, death of Floyd, a Black man who was pinned to the ground for about 9  minutes as he said he couldnt breathe. Chauvin will be sentenced June 25.

Nelsons request for a new trial covers everything from the extensive publicity of the case to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, arguing the state belittled Nelson's defense by calling his arguments stories.

He takes issue with the fact that records weren't made of sidebar discussions between attorneys and the judge, and he says the court abused its discretion by not allowing a man who was with Floyd on the day he died to testify. He also takes issue with the addition of a third-degree murder charge and with the state's cumulative evidence about the use of force.

Nelson alleges all of these factors deprived Chauvin of his right to a fair trial.

Its almost as if Eric is sort of repackaging all of the major objections he made throughout the trial into one brief and putting them back in front of (Judge Peter) Cahill one more time and asking him to reconsider, said Brock Hunter, a Minneapolis defense attorney who has followed the case.

It's unlikely a new trial will be granted. Since Cahill already ruled on most of these issues, Hunter and other experts said he probably won't overturn himself. Still, experts say, Nelson has to try. He also has to present these issues in the trial court, if he wants to raise them on appeal.

Hes zealously representing his client, as we are ethically bound to do, Hunter said.

PRETRIAL PUBLICITY

Nelson said intense publicity  both before the trial and due to events during it  tainted the jury pool and prejudiced the jury against his client.

There were reports in February that Chauvin had been prepared to plead guilty to third-degree murder, an announcement during jury selection that Minneapolis reached a $27 million settlement with Floyds family, and the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright by a police officer in nearby Brooklyn Center, which happened during Chauvins trial and sparked days of protests.

Nelson said Cahill abused his discretion when he denied earlier requests to move the trial out of Hennepin County, postpone the trial and sequester the jury.

Ryan Pacyga, another Minneapolis defense attorney following the case, called the developments that came up during Chauvins trial a perfect storm and said the cumulative impact is worth noting. He said Nelsons strongest argument may be that the case should have been delayed.

If I were to think about any of those things happening in a case where I was defending somebody, I would be going crazy and have serious concerns about the impact -- either perceived or real -- on a fair trial, Pacyga said.

REQUEST TO IMPEACH THE VERDICT

The term impeach in this context means to call into question the integrity or validity of a jurys verdict.

Under Minnesotas Rules of Criminal Procedure, a defendant can ask the court for a hearing to investigate possible juror misconduct. The hearing, known as a Schwartz hearing, gets its name from a 1960 Minnesota Supreme Court case that set up a procedure for examining jurors when their impartiality is questioned.

The case, Schwartz v. Minneapolis Suburban Bus Co., stemmed from an automobile accident. One of the jurors said during jury questioning that he could be fair and impartial, without disclosing that his daughter had been in an accident. According to text of the ruling published on casetext.com, there was dispute about whether he was asked a question about that during jury selection.

After the trial, an investigator for the defendant bus company interviewed the juror and learned about the accident; the juror told the investigator it influenced him to somewhat favor the plaintiffs.

To avoid having attorneys or investigators harass jurors by interrogating them, the Minnesota Supreme Court said if a jurors untruthful answers to questions could prevent someone from getting a fair trial, its best to bring the matter before the trial judge. The juror may be summoned to court to answer questions.

ARE SCHWARTZ HEARINGS COMMON?

No. Pacyga said that's mainly because the judge and attorneys dont usually know about issues like this unless they're disclosed somehow. He said the defense has a high bar to overcome to get a Schwartz hearing, and prevailing in one is even tougher.

In Chauvin's case, Nelson alleges an alternate juror, who did not deliberate, made public comments after the trial indicating she felt pressured to render a guilty verdict.

He also alleged that a juror who did deliberate, Brandon Mitchell, didn't follow jury instructions and was not candid during jury selection because he didn't mention his participation in an Aug. 28 march in Washington, D.C., to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Nelson also alleged Mitchell made comments indicating he based his verdict on outside influence.

Hunter said he expects the state will say Mitchell wasn't untruthful and that the march wasn't specifically about police brutality. Hunter noted Mitchell said during jury selection that he supported the Black Lives Matter concept.

He wasnt really trying to be evasive or hide the ball about where his viewpoints were during jury selection, Hunter said.

___

Find APs full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Daniel Baldwin Hess, University at Buffalo and Jeffrey Rehler, University at Buffalo

(THE CONVERSATION) For urban planners, parking rules established decades ago have become a contentious 21st-century challenge. Parking takes up about one-third of land area in U.S. cities; nationwide, there are an estimated eight parking spaces for every car.

In 2017 Buffalo, New York, became the first U.S. city to stop requiring development projects to include at least a minimum amount of parking. Other cities followed, including Hartford, Connecticut, and Santa Monica, California. Many cities are now considering reforms, and a bill pending before the California Legislature would remove minimums for new buildings near public transportation across the Golden State.

But despite growing support for parking reform, there is little data showing how such changes affect urban development. As part of ourwork on urban planning, we quantified changes in construction during the first two years after Buffalo adopted its new Green Code, repealing minimum parking requirements citywide.

We found that the Green Code is changing Buffalos urban form in ways that had been difficult, if not impossible, under former zoning rules. As local leaders seek to reenergize the urban core and spark a post-industrial renaissance, public transit is now a priority. Inactive storefronts, underutilized historic structures and former industrial buildings are being rehabilitated, and vacant parcels are being developed in fragmented neighborhoods.

Most building codes prioritize cars

With rapid post-World War II development and an explosion in car ownership, cities and towns across the U.S. introduced minimum parking requirements during the 1950s. These zoning ordinances required new buildings to include off-street parking lots. The mandates remain nearly universal across America, raising real estate prices, bringing more cars into cities, increasing air pollution and carbon emissions and lowering use of public transportation.

Parking standards were created arbitrarily, without adequate data. Zoning laws usually require one parking space per apartment, one per 300 square feet of commercial development and one per 100 square feet for restaurants. For context, a parking space measures 160 square feet on average, plus additional area for driveways and driving lanes, so an eaterys parking lot may be three times the size of its dining area.

Since the 2005 publication of UCLA urban planning scholar Donald Shoups The High Cost of Free Parking, many people have begun to question the amount of precious urban land currently used for storing cars. Planners, developers, urbanists and nonprofits are now offering market-driven strategies to realign off-street parking supply and demand.

Prioritizing cars limits space for housing, businesses, parks and other land uses that benefit citizens and contribute to local tax bases. It also increases construction costs, which are then passed on to tenants and buyers. In Los Angeles, for example, each parking space costs developers at least US$50,000  a price tag that has scuttled some development projects.

In 2016 Portland, Oregon, waived parking requirements for affordable housing developments, showing how zoning changes could make urban housing more available and affordable.

Buffalos natural experiment in parking reform

Buffalos long-standing zoning code, established in 1953, reflected the emergence and dominance of the automobile as Americas transportation mode of choice. Inflexible minimums ensured plentiful parking at bowling alleys, dance halls and skating rinks. The code did not ease parking provisions for mixed-use development or offer flexibility to reduce parking at small businesses providing neighborhood necessities.

The result: Nearly half of downtown Buffalo was converted to parking lots. Locals joked about parking: If the goal was to destroy downtown, we only halfway succeeded.

Our review of the Green Codes initial effects found that from April 2017 to April 2019, the amount of off-street parking included in new building projects varied widely. Developers of 14 sites mixing retail space and residential units incorporated 53% fewer parking spaces than required under previous zoning. Four added no parking, opting instead to share parking with other properties.

In contrast, many single-use developers maintained or exceeded former parking requirements. Despite city leaders ambitions for more accessible transportation options, the car remains king in development plans for office buildings and townhomes, hampering reform in a region characterized by suburban sprawl and travel habits based on car ownership.

Despite these challenges, we found that developers of 36 major projects  including two large housing complexes targeted to graduate students, with over 200 units apiece  included 47% fewer parking spaces than previous zoning required. One-third of the developments in our study made parking an amenity, charging user fees rather than bundling it into rent or purchase prices. Overall, the Green Code encouraged less parking in transit-rich locations along primary commercial corridors.

Optimizing land use

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed development projects worldwide. Though personal automobile use dominated COVID-19-era transportation for many, there is broad support now for returning to a pre-pandemic focus on making urban places more dense, with a focus on walkable neighborhoods. Millennials and Generation Zers drive less than previous generations. Growing numbers of people working from home and shopping online are reshaping traditional urban commutes and travel.

Without minimum requirements, costly and land-consuming off-street parking becomes an option instead of a mandate, paid for by those who use it. Rethinking car-centric urban planning allows for more green space, transit-oriented development and active living.

Rethinking urban landscapes

Zoning is just one piece of a larger urban design puzzle that also must factor in location, market demand for parking and land use priorities. Good public transportation is also key to eliminating parking capacity. The Biden administration has signaled a commitment to public transportation.

Though development slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the desire for livable urban places has not. Nor has the need for affordable housing. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced a bill that highlights the need for equitable development to address the nations affordable housing crisis. It would withhold funds from development in areas that require parking minimums.

Meanwhile, parking reform is gaining momentum. In May 2021 Minneapolis struck down minimum parking requirements for new development as part of its climate and greenhouse gas emission goals. From San Diego and Salt Lake City to Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, cities are considering similar changes. In the future, U.S. cities could look quite different, designed for citizens rather than parked cars.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/parking-reform-could-reenergize-downtowns-heres-what-happened-when-buffalo-changed-its-zoning-rules-159683.
NEW YORK (AP)  Karen Glidden's loneliness became unbearable during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 72-year-old widow, who suffers from vision loss and diabetes and lives far from any relatives, barely left her house in Champion, Michigan, this past year, for fear of contracting the virus. Finally vaccinated, she was looking forward to venturing out when her beloved service dog died last month.

It doesn't help that her circle of trusted friends has dwindled to one neighbor she counts on to help her shop, get to the doctor and hang out.

"I feel like Im in a prison most of the time and once in a while, I get to go out, said Glidden, whose adult children live in California and Hawaii, where she was born and raised.

She is not alone in her sense of social isolation.

Millions of Americans are struggling through life with few people they can trust for personal and professional help, a disconnect that raises a key barrier to recovery from the social, emotional and economic fallout of the pandemic, according to a new a poll from The Impact Genome Project and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll finds 18% of U.S. adults, or about 46 million people, say they have just one person or nobody they can trust for help in their personal lives, such as emergency child care needs, a ride to the airport or support when they fall sick. And 28% say they have just one person or nobody they can trust to help draft a resume, connect to an employer or navigate workplace challenges.

The isolation is more acute among Black and Hispanic Americans. Thirty-eight percent of Black adults and 35% of Hispanic adults said they had only one or no trusted person to help navigate their work lives, compared with 26% of white adults. In their personal lives, 30% of Hispanic adults and 25% of Black adults said they have one or no trusted people, while 14% of white adults said the same.

Researchers have long debated the idea that the U.S. has suffered from a decline in social capital, or the value derived from personal relationships and civic engagement.

The General Social Survey, a national representative survey conducted by NORC since 1972, suggests that the number of people Americans feel they can trust had declined by the early 2000s, compared with two decades earlier, although there is little consensus about the extent of this isolation or its causes. The rise of social media has added another layer of debate, as experts explore whether it broadens networks or lures people in isolating echo chambers.

The Impact Genome/AP-NORC poll sought to measure how much social capital Americans can count as they try to pick up the pieces of lives fractured by the pandemic. The findings suggest that for many Americans, the pandemic has chipped away at whatever social capital they had going into it.

Americans were more likely to report a decline than an increase in the number of people they could trust over the past year. Just 6% of Americans said their network of trusted people grew, compared with 16% who reported that it shrank. While the majority of Americans said the number of people they could trust stayed the same, nearly 3 in 10 said they asked for less support from family and friends because of COVID-19.

Community bonds have proved to be critical to recovery from calamities such as Superstorm Sandy in 2012, said Jennifer Benz, deputy director of The AP-NORC Center.

But the nature of the pandemic made those bonds difficult or even impossible to maintain. Schools, community centers, churches, synagogues and mosques closed. People couldn't ask neighbors or grandparents for help with child care or other needs for fear of spreading the virus.

About half of Americans are engaged in civic groups such as religious institutions, schools or community service groups, according to the new poll. And 42% of all adults said they have become less involved with civic groups during the pandemic, compared with just 21% who said they became more engaged.

Compared to the way social capital can be leveraged in other disasters, the key difference has been that this is a disaster where your civic duty was to be on your own, Benz said.

Surveys from the Pew Research Center suggested that relocation increased during the pandemic. While some people moved to be closer to family, more relocated because of job loss or other financial stresses.

Warlin Rosso, 29, has moved often in pursuit of financial stability, often at the cost of his social ties.

He left behind his entire family, including 14 siblings, when he immigrated to the U.S. five years ago from the Dominican Republic. He worked at a warehouse in Chicago for three years, sharing an apartment with a girlfriend. But when that relationship fell apart, he couldn't afford to move out on his own. In December 2019, he relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, where a childhood friend let him move in.

That friend, Rosso said, remains the only person in Jackson he can trust for help. As the pandemic closed in, Rosso struggled in a city where the Hispanic community is tiny.

Through social media, he found work with a Nicaraguan man who owned a construction business. Later, he found a training program that landed him a job as hospital aide.

His co-workers are friendly, but he feels isolated. Sometimes, he said, patients bluntly ask to be helped by a non-Latino worker. He hopes eventually to get a similar job back in Chicago, where he has friends.

It's not always welcoming for Hispanics here, Rosso said. Here, I'm alone."

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The AP-NORC poll of 2,314 adults was conducted March 25-April 15 using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
CHICAGO  Illinois is lifting all capacity limits on bars, restaurants, businesses and other venues Friday, nearly 15 months after the first stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic.

Businesses still can have their own rules for capacity, masks and social distancing. Masks are still required on public transportation and in airports, schools and hospitals.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Thursday that as we take this next step forward, lets do so with a renewed commitment to empathy, to community, and to making each day together count.

State health officials say more than 68% of Illinois residents who are 18 or older have received at least one dose of vaccine against the coronavirus, and 51% of adults are fully vaccinated.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 US FDA officials extend expiration date on Johnson & Johnson shots

 Biden lays out vaccination play, asks G-7 leaders to do the same

 Germany rolling out digital European Union vaccination pass

 No audience, new venue, but Westminster dog show barks on after pandemic canceled show last year in New York

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 Follow more of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

WASHINGTON  U.S. health officials are investigating what appear to be higher than expected reports of heart inflammation in male teens and young adults after they get a second dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Its not clear if the inflammation is caused by the shots and the reports still are rare, the CDC says. It urges everyone 12 and older to get vaccinated.

A CDC official said Thursday that as of May 31, the agency had 275 preliminary reports of such inflammation in 16- to 24-year-olds,.Thats out of more than 12 million second-dose injections of the vaccines.

The official says the cases seem to occur more often in men and in younger people, and most already have fully recovered.

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DENVERColorado Gov. Jared Polis has announced the first five winners of $50,000 scholarships in a program designed to encourage students to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The state is offering 25 student scholarships for students ages 12 to 17 who have received at least one vaccine dose.

Winners selected in random drawings can use the scholarships at the post-secondary educational institutions of their choice. That includes colleges and technical, occupational and credential programs inside and outside Colorado.

Five winners will be chosen each week through July 9. Colorado also is offering a $1 million lottery program for five adults who get at least one shot.

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ATLANTA  Georgians receiving unemployment benefits will once again be required to look for work and will be able to earn less before unemployment payments drop beginning June 27.

Labor Commissioner Mark Butler announced the changes Thursday, also saying that employers with many laid-off workers collecting benefits will face higher unemployment insurance taxes after that date.

Georgia announced last month that beginning June 27 it would cut off federal programs that provide a $300-a-week pandemic boost to people on the jobless rolls as well as programs that pay federal money to people not usually eligible for state unemployment.

Butler earlier signaled he would reinstate work-search requirements, a move underway in more than three-quarters of states.

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CONCORD, N.H.  New Hampshires nearly 15-month pandemic state of emergency will end Friday night, Gov. Chris Sununu said Thursday.

Sununu first declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus on March 13, 2020. He renewed it every three weeks until two weeks ago, when he indicated he would let it expire at midnight June 11.

In the governors words: Weve kind of checked all the boxes and we feel very confident that moving away from it tomorrow still keeps us in a very strong position.

Sununu thanked public health officials as well as citizens for volunteering during the pandemic, balancing safety with maintaining a strong economy and getting vaccinated.

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ST. IVES, England  President Joe Biden is calling on global leaders to follow his lead in sharing coronavirus vaccines with struggling nations around the world.

He promised the U.S. would donate 500 million doses to help speed the pandemics end and bolster the strategic position of the worlds wealthiest democracies.

In Biden's words: In times of trouble, Americans reach out to offer help."

Speaking before the meeting of the Group of Seven, Biden announced the U.S. commitment to vaccine sharing, which comes on top of 80 million doses he has already pledged by the end of the month.

He says the other G-7 nations will join the U.S. in outlining their vaccine donation commitments Friday.

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WASHINGTON  Johnson & Johnson says U.S. health officials have extended the expiration date for millions of doses of its coronavirus vaccine by an extra six weeks.

The drug maker says the FDA approved a longer shelf-life for the one-dose shots. State officials recently warned that many unused doses would reach their original three-month expiration by the end of June.

The extension comes as the rate of new U.S. vaccinations continues to slip. The U.S. averaged about 800,000 injections per day last week. Thats down from a high of nearly 2 million per day two months ago.

President Joe Bidens goal is 70% of American adults partially vaccinated by July 4. The CDC says about 64% of Americans 18 and above have received at least one dose.

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ANKARA, Turkey  Turkey is expanding its vaccination drive to include restaurant workers, barbers and hairdressers.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Twitter that food production and distribution sector workers as well as employees of cafes and restaurants will be included in the inoculation program starting Friday.

Turkey is currently vaccinating those 45 and older as well as people in the health sector, police, teachers, journalists and tourism sector workers. Earlier this week, musicians, other performers and academics were added to the list of priority occupations.

The country of 84 million has administered some 32 million shots since starting its vaccination campaign on Jan. 14. Some 13.5 million have received two doses.

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CHICAGO  United Airlines says more than 830,000 people have entered the contest it started last month to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

People who upload pictures of their vaccination card to the airline have a slim shot at free flights.

The airline says the largest bloc of contest entrants are people in their 50s, and about one in eight are between 18 and 28.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif.  Californias workplace regulators have withdrawn a controversial mask regulation.

Their second such reversal in a week gives them time to consider a rule that more closely aligns with Gov. Gavin Newsoms promise that the state will fully reopen from the pandemic on Tuesday.

But some business leaders on Wednesday kept up their pressure on Newsom to override the board. The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Boards rule would have allowed workers to forego masks only if every employee in a room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

That contrasts with the states broader plan to do away with nearly all masking requirements for vaccinated people.

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NEW DELHI  India is asking China to facilitate essential two-way travel between the countries and grant visas to Indian nationals working and studying there.

Indias External Affairs Ministry says people from China, including the Chinese nationals, have been able to travel to India despite the absence of direct air connectivity. But Indian nationals have not been able to travel to China since November.

The Chinese Embassy in India in March issued a notification about facilitating visas for those who have taken Chinese-made vaccines. The Indian ministry says several Indian nationals have applied for Chinese visas after getting vaccinated in that manner, but they are yet to be issued visas.

There was no immediate comment by Chinese officials.

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LONDON -- British Health Secretary Matt Hancock is defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic following a series of allegations from a former top adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Facing questioning from lawmakers, Hancock says he has no idea why Dominic Cummings has a dispute with him.

Two weeks ago, Cummings told the same lawmakers investigating the coronavirus outbreak in the U.K. that Hancock should have been fired for a series of alleged lies and litany of errors during the pandemic.

After a devastating winter surge of infections, deaths have recently fallen sharply after months of strict lockdown and the rapid rollout of vaccines. However, the U.K. reported 7,540 new infections Wednesday, the biggest daily increase since Feb. 26.

The U.K. has recorded nearly 128,000 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths, more than any other nation in Europe.

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BERLIN  Germany has started rolling out a digital vaccination pass that can be used across Europe as the continent gears up for the key summer travel season.

The countrys health minister says starting this week vaccination centers, doctors practices and pharmacies will give out digital passes to fully vaccinated people.

The CovPass will allow users to download a proof of their coronavirus vaccination on an app to their smart phones, which will allow them to easily enter restaurants, museums or other venues that require proof of vaccination.

Health Minister Jens Spahn says the vaccination passport should be available to everyone in Germany who is fully vaccinated by the end of this month.

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa  Health officials and experts around the world are welcoming a U.S. plan to donate 500 million more COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries.

Two hundred million doses  enough to fully protect 100 million people  will be provided this year, with the balance donated in the first half of 2022, according to the White House.

The U.S. will work with the U.N.-backed COVAX alliance to deliver the shots. Some have noted that since the Pfizer vaccines require extremely cold storage, they present an extra logistical challenge for countries with struggling health systems and poor infrastructure.

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to talk about the plan later Thursday in a speech on the eve of the Group of Seven summit in Britain.

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The World Health Organizations Europe director warned that the highly transmissible COVID-19 variant first identified in India is poised to take hold in the region, as many countries prepare to ease restrictions and allow more social gatherings and travel across borders.

During a press briefing on Thursday, WHOs Dr. Hans Kluge said the variant also known as the delta variant, has shown signs of being able to evade some vaccines and warned that many vulnerable populations, particularly those over age 60, remain unprotected.

We have been here before, warned Kluge, WHOs European regional director. Over the course of last summer, cases gradually rose in younger age groups and then moved into older age groups, contributing to a devastating resurgence, he said. Kluge said that spike in COVID-19 ultimately led to more lockdowns and deaths in the fall and winter of 2020. Lets not make that mistake again.

Kluge didnt say people shouldnt travel, but urged any travelers to do so wisely. He also called for vaccination and other public health measures to be stepped up across the continent, saying even immunization coverage is far from sufficient to protect the region.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in the U.S. and admitted that she helped her husband run his multibillion-dollar criminal empire.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, wearing a green jail uniform, appeared in federal court in Washington and pleaded guilty to three federal offenses as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

The charges include knowingly and willfully conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine for several years. She also pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy charge and to engaging in transactions with a foreign narcotics trafficker.

The 31-year-old was arrested in February at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and has been jailed since then.

She is very happy to put this behind her, Coronel Aispuros attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said outside the courthouse. She didnt expect to get arrested after her husband received life in prison. So, this is obviously a troubling time. But were going to get past it.

Prosecutors have alleged Coronel Aispuro worked closely with the command-and-control structure of the Sinaloa cartel and conspired to distribute large quantities of drugs, knowing they would be smuggled into the U.S.

As Mexicos most powerful drug lord, Guzman ran a cartel responsible for smuggling cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors say. They also said his army of sicarios, or hit men, was under orders to kidnap, torture and kill anyone who got in his way.

The prosecutor, Anthony Nardozzi, said his wife had aided and abetted the Sinaloa cartels objectives to smuggle drugs into the U.S. and helped to import more than 450,000 kilograms of cocaine, 90,000 kilograms of heroin, 45,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and about 90,000 kilograms of marijuana.

Lichtman insisted that Coronel Aispuro was a very minimal participant in the drug empire. She was a very small part of this much larger thing, he said

Her arrest earlier this year was a surprise in part because authorities had made no move to arrest her over the past two years, even after she was implicated in her husbands crimes. During Guzmans trial in 2019, prosecutors said she helped orchestrate Guzmans two prison breaks in Mexico.

Nardozzi said Coronel Aispuro served as a go-between to deliver messages to cartel members after her husband was arrested and also conspired with Guzmans sons to plan and coordinate his prison escapes.

Coronel Aispuro listened quietly as prosecutors described how they could prove her illegal activity if she chose to go to trial.

Yes, she said through a translator, when asked by the judge if she had actually committed the crimes the government described.

Litchman said his client did not agree to cooperate with federal investigators but hoped she would receive below a statutory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison when she is due back in court in September for sentencing.

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Associated Press journalists Dan Huff and Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.
The City of Houston is known for so many things  great food, birthing world-renowned artists, the world capital of space exploration and international energy, the most diverse city in the U.S. and the fourth largest city in the country. And, it's the city with the most dog attacks on postal workers.

The United States Postal Service released its dog attack national rankings showing the Bayou City as No. 1, with 73 attacks reported in 2020.

And the state didn't do much better.

For the second year in a row, Texas came in at No. 2 with 402 reported dog bites in 2020, down some from 2019 when it reported 491 dog bites. California beat Texas with a whopping 782 dog bites reported in 2020, up 5 from 2019. Ohio ranked third with 369 dog bites, down slightly from the 378 dog bites it reported in 2019.

Succeeding Houston was Chicago with 59 dog bites and Los Angeles not far behind with 54 dog bites.

More than 5,800 postal employees were attacked by dogs in the United States in 2020, according to a release. The top 25 rankings comprise 47 cities, as some cities reported the same number of attacks.

The report comes just shy of National Dog Bite Awareness Week which begins June 12 through June 18 and is part of a USPS campaign aiming to raise awareness about dog bite prevention.

It's theme this year is Be Aware: Any Dog Can Bite.

"From nips and bites to vicious attacks, aggressive dog behavior poses a serious threat to postal employees and the general public," the release said.

Raising awareness about dog bite prevention and how to protect our letter carriers as we deliver the mail is paramount, said Jamie Seavello, a USPS acting employee safety and health awareness manager, in a prepared release.

Dogs are instinctive animals that may act to protect their turf and that whys its important to inform the public about this campaign.

You can spread the word by using the hashtag #dogbiteawareness.
While nearly 25,000 Houston Methodist workers are now vaccinated against COVID-19, 178 employees are now suspended without pay for not receiving a shot.

In a Tuesday memo to hospital staff, Houston Methodist CEO Marc Boom said 27 of the 178 workers who have not been fully vaccinated have received at least one dose of the vaccine. If they comply, they will not face termination.

I wish the number could be zero, but unfortunately, a small number of individuals have decided not to put their patients first, Boom said.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Supporters gather as unvaccinated Methodist Baytown nurses, workers finish their last shifts

More than 600 employees were granted deferrals or exemptions for medical or religious reasons, the hospital said.

The hospital will have a final number of employees fired for not complying with the vaccine mandate in two weeks. Houston Methodist also requires its workers to get an annual flu shot.

As the first hospital system to mandate COVID-19 vaccines, we were prepared for this, Boom wrote. The criticism is sometimes the price we pay for leading medicine. As of today, several other major health care centers have followed our lead and have announced their own vaccine mandates, with many more to follow soon.

More than 100 workers sued the hospital system last month, citing a violation of the Nuremberg Code, the ethics standards set at the end of World War II following medical experiments by the Nazis on German citizens.

Attorney Jared Woodfill, who represents the plaintiffs, accused the hospital in the suit of forcing its workers to be human guinea pigs as a condition for employment.

Not all of the plaintiffs are against the vaccine, said Jennifer Bridges, one of the nurses suspended as a result of not taking the COVID-19 vaccine. Some are hesitant to receive the shots because they have not been fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while others simply dont personally want to be immunized, Bridges said.

Clinical safety data submitted to federal regulators for the emergency-use authorization shows that Pfizers vaccines are safe and effective for use in people 12 and older. Johnson & Johnson and Modernas vaccines have also been approved for emergency use.

Were not against the vaccine, we just want to be more comfortable with this one and have thorough research out before we take it, Bridges said in April. When patients get care, they have the right to refuse treatment, but were not allowed that same exemption.

gwendolyn.wu@chron.com

twitter.com/gwendolynawu
Texas longest-serving death row prisoner was re-sentenced Wednesday to life in prison after prosecutors declined to pursue his execution in another trial, according to the Harris County District Attorneys Office.

Raymond George Riles, now 71, spent 45 years awaiting the death penalty for the 1974 murder of a Houston man. The former trucker has, for decades, been considered mentally ill and incompetent for execution.

Mr. Riles is too physically frail to withstand the rigors of a capital trial, and his mental illness legally precludes his execution, said attorney Jim Marcus, of the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. Todays resentencing is an appropriate resolution of this case and concludes the more than three decades Mr. Riles has spent stuck in legal limbo.

Marcus co-counsel also remarked on Riles ailing health: Life, for Mr. Riles, indeed describes the sentence in this case, attorney Thea Posel said.

The new sentence comes after the Harris County District Attorneys Office in February asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for another punishment hearing in the 179th judicial district court. In April, the court granted Wednesdays hearing before Judge Ana Martinez.

Riles is incompetent and therefore cant be executed, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said after the decision. We will never forget John Henry, who was murdered so many years ago by Riles, and we believe justice would best be served by Riles spending the remainder of his life in custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Riles was convicted in 1976 for the capital murder of John Thomas Henry, 31. He and an accomplice, Herbert Washington, shot and killed the used car dealer in Houstons Northside neighborhood, confronting him over the condition of a car and demanding a refund, authorities said.

Then 24 years old, Riles walked away with $42 from the deadly encounter.

His original sentence was later reversed on appeal and, after declining a plea bargain, Marcus said, Riles was resentenced to death in 1978. Washington, also sentenced to death, had his punishment overturned and he pleaded guilty to two related charges.

Riles has been incarcerated for 47 years total, 45 of which have been on death row. He will be transferred to another Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison at a future date, Marcus said.

Oggs office Wednesday declined to pursue another death sentence during the re-sentencing hearing, and the judge opted for life in prison  the only other option in a capital murder case. The district attorney previously said she was seeking another punishment hearing for Riles because sentencing for capital crimes has changed since his conviction.

Juries  prompted by the so-called Penry claim set through a U.S. Supreme Court precedent  are now asked to weigh mitigating evidence, such as an offenders childhood trauma, brain injuries or mental illness, into the punishment.

That mitigating evidence, Riles defense attorneys argued, would include serious mental illness since childhood.

Marcus and Posel previously said that Riles has been treated with heavy antipsychotic drugs over the past four decades and that he had multiple trips between death row and the psychiatric hospital.

Some of his illness was documented in the initial trial, in which Riles tore off a door jamb, jumped on the defense table and screamed that the judge and prosecutors were mad dogs.

On another occasion, he shouted religious scripture: Woe be to unjust judges. He was barred from the courtroom during most of the proceedings.

Riles in 1985 set fire to himself in his cell while reciting religious chants. He suffered burns to about 30 percent of his body.

Early in his incarceration, Riles also said he could no longer live under the mental stress prompted by death row and asked that the courts either set him free or execute him.

We suffer and we eventually end up executed anyway, Riles in 1986 told reporters. This is not living at all."

He was nearly executed by lethal injection that year and even ordered his last meal. A stay prevented the execution hours before the scheduled punishment.

samantha.ketterer@chron.com
Mosquitoes are thriving right now in Texas, where conditions are ideal for them to bite their way into your summer plans.

Many of these are just a nuisance, extracting blood to create the proteins that are required to lay eggs (mosquitoes eat nectar for energy; females drink blood to reproduce). But some mosquitoes leave more than the tell-tale welt. Harris County announced Tuesday that it has confirmed its first West Nile virus sample of the year. It was found in the Willowbrook area, near the intersection of Texas 249 and FM 1960.

West Nile virus has been detected in Texas mosquitoes every year since 2002. The worst year for Harris County was in 2014, when more than 1,000 mosquito samples tested positive for the virus. Harris County reported 134 cases in humans in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

You didn't imagine it: Houston's rain in May was one for the record books

The number of mosquitoes with West Nile in 2021 will depend on if this summer is dry or rainy, as well as the number of local birds that are carrying the virus. Mosquitoes get the virus from birds and can then transmit it to people, said Sonja Swiger, an entomologist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

But one thing is for sure  right now, mosquitoes are out in full force.

Mosquito season In Harris County, the period of highest mosquito-borne disease transmission starts in late May or early June, escalates until about mid-August and then declines as temperatures cool down. Here are some tips to stay safe: Use an EPA-registered insect repellent Wear long-sleeved shirts and pants when possible Remove/empty containers that can hold water, such as tires, flowerpots and toys Change water in birdbaths and pet water bowls every three to five days Keep rain gutters clean and free of debris Do not sweep lawn clippings, leaves or litter into storm drains Source: Harris County Public Health See More Collapse

Were having a higher load than normal in a lot of areas of the state because theyre getting more rain than they normally get, Swiger said. Will that continue into the next couple of months? Thats hard to say for sure.

Swiger places mosquitoes into three categories: floodwater mosquitoes, container mosquitoes and Culex mosquitoes. These categories tend to come in waves.

First are the floodwater mosquitoes. These mosquitoes lay eggs in soil that will flood when it rains, and the eggs can stay dormant for years, if necessary, waiting for water to reach them. Once the eggs get wet, mosquito larvae quickly emerge and grow into the larger, more aggressive mosquitoes. These tend to be the persistent biters from dawn to dusk.

Container mosquitoes lay eggs in locations such as tires, buckets and trash cans. They can lay eggs in a dry container before it rains, or they can glue their eggs just above the waterline in a container already filled with water. These larvae take longer to develop  hence why they appear after the floodwater mosquitoes  and are daytime feeders but can be opportunistic at night if people are gathered together.

The final category are the ones that carry diseases such as West Nile. Culex mosquitoes prefer dirty, stagnant water. They often emerge as water recedes and dry summer conditions set in.

Swiger said recent rains followed by this hot, dry period created ideal conditions for all three categories of mosquitoes. If it remains dry, then the Culex population could increase. But a heavy rain could flush out their breeding grounds.

If it does rain or continues to rain, that will flush those locations where the Culex likes to grow, she said, and that will keep their population lower.

According to the CDC, most people infected with the West Nile virus do not feel sick. One in 5 people will develop a fever and other symptoms, such as headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea or rash; 1 in 150 people will develop a serious, sometimes fatal, illness.

Chris Fredregill, director of Harris County Public Healths Mosquito and Vector Control Division, said the countys period of highest mosquito-borne disease transmission starts in late May or early June, escalates until about mid-August and then starts to decline. The risk remains through October.

The county sets up 300 to 350 traps to collect mosquitoes, and samples from each of these traps (a sample could have one to 50 mosquitoes) are tested every week for West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis, chikungunya, dengue and Zika. No mosquitoes have tested positive this year for the other diseases.

Fighting them back: How is Houston combating mosquitoes? Dragonflies, damselflies and carnivorous plants

The county also tracks birds. It takes blood samples from live birds, and it has a phone number (713-440-3036) and online form that residents can use to report dead birds. Both alive and dead birds can be tested for West Nile. So far this year, the county has not detected a bird with the West Nile virus.

The county treats an area if a mosquito-borne disease is confirmed or if theres a disaster and mosquitoes are interfering with the response and recovery efforts. It began treating the area in Willowbrook where its West Nile sample was collected on Tuesday night.

Fredregill urged Harris County residents to take precautions. They should empty standing water from outdoor containers and bring the containers inside if they could hold water from rain or irrigation systems. They should also change water in birdbaths every three to five days and keep rain gutters free of debris. Bug spray is a good idea, too.

The most important thing right now is for people to take precautions, he said, and take care of standing water on their property.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

alejandro.serrano@chron.com
Candidates running in the main opposition People Power Party's chairmanship election, including Lee Jun-seok, right, pose before their online debate in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap



By Kang Seung-woo



A generational shift in politics appears to be looming as young politicians are becoming increasingly vocal, refusing to stand in the shadows of high-profile veteran lawmakers.



Political watchers believe that the phenomenon reflects a strong desire for change in Korean politics among voters who are fed up with the old guard.



Lee Jun-seok, a 36-year-old former member of the main opposition People Power Party's Supreme Council who has never won a seat at the National Assembly, has been at the forefront of the new wave and is also the strongest candidate to be the PPP's next leader, according to public opinion polls. He is running against former PPP floor leaders Na Kyung-won and Joo Ho-young. Na is a former four-term lawmaker and Joo is a five-term Assemblyman.



Within the ruling party, Rep. Park Yong-jin of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), a two-term lawmaker who is regarded as a leading figure among a younger generation of lawmakers, ranked third in a DPK presidential hopeful poll, released Wednesday. Park, 50, the first ruling party lawmaker to declare his bid for the presidency last month, was even ahead of former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, one of the "Big Three" presidential hopefuls that also include Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung and former DPK leader Rep. Lee Nak-yon.



"It is true that an atmosphere for generational change in politics is being created," Hangil Research director and political analyst Hong Hyeong-sik said.



"Such a phenomenon means that voters no longer want to see extreme confrontations between rival parties and self-assertion, both of which are rampant in political circles  particularly among voters in their 20s and 30s. It can be viewed as their hopes for politicians to work out of their conventional style of politics."



Hong added: "Given that those in their 20s and 30s regard co-existence as being important, they want to witness a different political pattern from the existing system."



Bae Jong-chan, head of Insight K, expressed a similar view, saying that the current situation, sparked by Lee Jun-seok, is a judgment on the old regime in the political circles, in which leading figures play a key role and party leaders' nomination rights are at the center of politics.



"A generational shift in poitics is happening to some extent, but I think that it is more like a call for a frame change in the political arena. In other words, the public wants to see 'different' politics," Bae said, adding that it is not the same as an anticlimactic "new politics," initiated a few years ago by minor opposition People's Party chief Ahn Chul-soo.



Hong said, "Park's strong presence cannot be simply explained by a generational shift, because he is 50 years old, but given that he has often defied the DPK leadership's decisions and stressed political reform, voters want to see a different style of politics."



Analysts concurred that such a phenomenon will not remain as a one-off occurrence.



"Some 700,000 young people become eligible to participate in the election, while 500,000 die in the group of older generations every year; in other words, 1 million voters are replaced per year. In that respect, politicians' appeals to younger voters will continue," Hong said.



Bae said those who will accept calls for political changes could emerge as key voters in next year's presidential election.




A month before Donald Trump became president, former New York Times reporter James Risen penned a provocative observation: If Trump wanted to crack down on journalists and their whistleblower sources, he need only to consult the road map of his predecessor: President Barack Obama.

Risen spoke from experience as a journalist whose testimony the Obama administration tried for years to compel in a criminal leak investigation.

Despite Obamas promises on the campaign trail of running the most transparent administration in history, his office was notorious for slow-walking open records requests.

Risen and journalism groups often decried that Obama used the Espionage Act to prosecute more government sources for leaking information to journalists  eight  than all previous presidents combined and that his Justice Department and FBI spied on reporters and editors, secretly obtaining records for their home phones and mobile numbers.

Trump didnt just follow Obama down that road, he scorched the earth and burned the bridges, taking his war against the American press to levels not seen since Richard Nixon began adding reporters names to his enemies list.

Trump, as Fox News anchor Chris Wallace observed in a 2019 speech, is engaged in the most direct sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history.

Thats why journalists  and many Americans who value the fourth estates role in preserving our democracy  listened with hope and skepticism when candidate Joe Biden defended journalists against Trumps enemy of the people villainization, and spoke against Trumps call for more restrictive libel laws and demands to prosecute reporters who criticized him.

The skepticism turned out to be justified and the hope is fading as we observe yet another president whose words on press freedom do not jibe with his actions.

In March, the Biden administration told executives at the New York Times that Trump officials had spent months seeking email records of four of its reporters, then the Biden DOJ secured a gag order preventing those same executives from sharing that information with newsroom leaders.

On Friday, when the Times published an account of those conversations, a federal judge lifted the gag order  and the next day, the White House said it hadnt even known about it until the night before.

Bidens DOJ has sought subpoenas against USA Today, and continued other heavy-handed approaches begun under the Trump administration. Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan wrote an op-ed in his newspaper on Sunday condemning those extraordinary measures to secretly obtain journalists records, which despite Bidens insistence in May that such efforts are simply wrong, have continued under his administration.

New revelations suggest that the Biden Justice Department not only allowed these disturbing intrusions to continue  it intensified the governments attack on First Amendment rights before finally backing down in the face of reporting about its conduct, Ryan wrote.

And finally, the DOJ announced this week that it would adopt the legal stance taken by the Trump administration  and roundly ridiculed by Biden as a candidate  that courts should dismiss author E. Jean Carrolls defamation lawsuit against Trump because the harsh and crude comments Trump made in denying her rape allegations against him were made while Trump was president.

In the past week, Biden and his Justice Department have taken steps to change course, and thats deeply welcome.

Last week, it lifted the subpoena seeking records from USA Today and announced on Saturday that it will from now on avoid seeking records from journalists as evidence in leak prosecutions.

Biden could show his sincerity by insisting that the DOJ policy change be codified into firm department rules and lend his support to legislation that could bake them into law.

But alarmed journalists and the millions of Americans who depend on their news-gathering should remain vigilant and hold the president to his word. As the Columbia Journalism Review noted Monday, the administrations full-fledged commitment to government transparency is far from certain.

Biden needs to make clear he doesnt intend to repeat the stonewalling and spying he must have been aware of during this eight years in the Obama administration, when journalists found themselves surveilled and threatened with prosecution.

In the Obama administrations Washington, government officials are increasingly afraid to talk to the press, said a damning report co-authored by Leonard Downey, the former executive editor of the Washington Post for the Committee to Protect Journalists. Those suspected of discussing with reporters anything that the government has classified as secret are subject to investigation, including lie-detector tests and scrutiny of their telephone and e-mail records.

In Obamas second term, Attorney General Eric Holder announced new restrictions on seeking subpoenas against journalists and leak prosecutions became less frequent, but the chilling effect was already felt.

When Trump renewed and then ratcheted up the war on the press, it caused damage on a whole new level. Not only were whistleblowers put back on notice, Trumps endless vilification of the media sought to weaken the legitimacy of a free press everywhere. A rising tide of modern authoritarians around the world took notice.

Press freedoms, like democracy itself, are under attack globally, and if Biden hopes to push against that current, hell need to do a better job at home in setting an example he can point to with pride.
Ten Texas Democratic lawmakers will meet with Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington on Wednesday after they staged a walkout that killed Republican-proposed voting restrictions.

The Democrats who will be in attendance are:

Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus Rep. Jessica Gonzalez, D-Dallas Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas.

Martinez Fischer said in a statement Thursday that Democrats are looking to the White House to put pressure on Congress to pass federal legislation that would override restrictions already passed and being proposed in Republican-led states.

We are deeply appreciative that Vice President Harris understands what is at stake and is leading the way to protect our democracy, he said. We are honored to stand with her, Congressional Democrats, and the entire Biden Administration.

The For the People Act appeared dead June 6 when the lone Democratic holdout, Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, said in an op-ed in The Charleston Gazette-Mail that he would not vote for it, nor for getting rid of the filibuster to push it through.

Some in my party have argued that now is the time to discard such bipartisan voting reforms and embrace election reforms and policies solely supported by one party, he wrote. Respectfully, I do not agree.

The 818-page bill still could be broken up and passed in pieces.

Turner and Alvarado said in a joint statement that they plan to thank Harris and President Joe Biden for speaking out against legislation that promotes voter suppression.

We also intend to underscore the importance of passing HR 1 (For the People Act) and other critical reforms, and urge those in power to take action as soon as possible  for the sake of all Texans and all Americans, they wrote.

cayla.harris@express-news.net
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline said Wednesday it is pulling the plug on the contentious project after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office.

Calgary-based TC Energy said it would work with government agencies to ensure a safe termination of and exit from the partially built line, which was to transport crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska.
UPDATE:

Base officials reported the lockdown was lifted about 3:20 p.m. over social media and that there were no reports of injuries.

ORIGINAL STORY BELOW:

Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland was on a full lockdown at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday after the Air Force said two gunmen off the base fired shots toward the installation from near the Valley Hi gate.

The base went on immediate lockdown,

There were trainees in the area and the shooters fled the scene on foot, the 502nd Air Base Wing said in a brief statement. JBSA emergency responders are working with the San Antonio Police Department to clear the area and search for the shooters. 

In ordering the lockdown, the Air Force said those on the base should shelter in place until given further guidance.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas House, Senate reach deal on 'constitutional carry' bill

The Air Force issued an Active Shooter warning for all JBSA-Lackland personnel in a tweet Wednesday afternoon.

All base personnel implement LOCKDOWN procedures immediately and take cover, the Air Force said in it tweet. Real World LOCKDOWN, LOCKDOWN, LOCKDOWN.

The lockdown is expected to cause increased traffic and delays at gates on the installation.

The San Antonio Express-News initially learned of the lockdown after a person familiar with the situation said an active shooter was on the base and that it was not a drill.

San Antonio police reported a shooting in progress in the 100 block of Valley Hi Drive at 12:23 p.m. A recruit training dormitory is in the same area.

Lackland is the home of Air Force basic training, and also provides an array of technical school instruction for airmen and foreign military students. It has been the scene one at least one shooting incident over the past 5 years.

In that case, Air Force tech. Sgt. Steven Bellino killed his squadron commander, Lt. Col. William Schroeder, before taking his own life at Lacklands Forbes Hall, a building on the bases Medina Annex. The Air Force said Schroeder went out swinging after a confrontation in his office, sacrificing himself to save a noncommissioned officer.

Reporters Taylor Pettaway and Jacob Beltran contributed to this story.

sigc@express-news.net
By Alex Gratzek





Now that U.S. President Joe Biden is approaching Afghanistan with a policy based on realism, namely to never get involved in a land war in Asia, it's important that he keep his wits about him and not fall prey to emotions and the fallacy of sunken costs.



After 20 years of war, America is tired and in need of domestic reforms  Osama bin Laden was not a dumb man. He recognized that any strike on America would cause it to lash out in anger and that's what we did.



He baited an America high on the hubris of winning the Cold War into entering into a conflict in which its technological prowess would be negated, in a mountainous land awash in guns, the only thing that could put an end to local infighting was an outsider.



Many who are against any pullout cling to the idea that our mission remains unaccomplished, that all the soldiers who died in Afghanistan will have died in vain if we fail. Aye, they died in vain because we shouldn't have entered in the first place with no set goals: But what is the alternative at this point? Having another 2,400 dead over 20 years as we continue the futile effort to establish a democracy?



Our long-term interests in Afghanistan never amounted to a hill of beans, we only had short-term interests in the form of Osama bin Laden. The treasures and blood we expended has played right into the hands of bin Laden since he wanted to bleed America until it collapsed.



American supply lines are dependent upon the good will of Russia or Pakistani, each eager to see America out but in the meantime eager to squeeze and bleed the Americans as relations waxed and waned.



The vast distances involved meant that there would always be isolated outposts and convoys vulnerable to attack, our enemies would determine not only the tempo of fighting, but also when and where said fighting took place. Did America learn nothing from Vietnam?



I can't help but remember the words of German Chancellor Bismarck who dismissed the Balkans as "Not worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier." His successors forgot these words, eventually leading Germany to get involved in the Balkans and the fall of the German Reich.



In the 20 years since America invaded, Russia has undergone a resurgence in power while China's tremendous economic growth makes it a rival superpower. It's about time someone recognized that the American position in Afghanistan was untenable. To say so may make President Biden appear weak and lose face, but simply acknowledging the truth is a sign of strength and a chance to staunch the bleeding.



Now that the decision to pullout has been made I can't help but remember the words of Pyrrus of Epirus who wrote of Sicily, "What a wrestling ground we are leaving for the Carthaginians and the Romans," as his army withdrew from the region.



As America leaves, what will come next? South Vietnamese troops fought well with massive American support; but with the advent of Watergate and the evaporation of American support, the South Vietnamese army collapsed. It isn't inevitable, but I'd wager heavily on the American supported Afghan government collapsing followed by a period of turmoil and infighting.



There will be a new round of instability, as the various tribes, ethnic groups and gangs battle for control but ultimately nature abhors a vacuum. As we pull out, countries that have immediate interests there, Pakistan, India, Iran, Russia and the various "Stan" states of Central Asia will take a more active role in stabilizing the country.



With any luck, Central Asia will prove to be the new wrestling ground where Russia and China vie for influence. Russia has traditionally considered Central Asia to be within its sphere of influence. Russian is the lingua franca of the region, although China is eager for resources, markets and investment opportunities to link itself to Europe. Ultimately, the withdrawal could prove to be the beginning of the culmination of Nixon's China policy.



Initially, Beijing and Washington allied against the USSR. With the collapse of the USSR, Beijing and Moscow allied against D.C. This alliance has held today.



However, with the withdrawal of American troops, the equilibrium in Central Asia changes and with a stagnant economy, and declining population, Russia will have a hard time trying to curb Chinese influence there and in the Far East, lands it took from a weak China in the 1800s.



The next logical evolution of this three way dance will see yet another partner swap. But to this end, Biden needs to decrease tensions with Russia and China while increasing tensions between them. By withdrawing, it would increase America's options on the world stage and give the American empire a respite.





Alex Gratzek (ajgratzek@gmail.com) is an American who has lived, studied and worked in South Korea. Check his website at alexfromabroad.com. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.


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Meet Taishi Fukuyama, Chief Marketing Officer at Qrates

In this edition of A2IMs featured exec, theyre highlighting the work of Taishi Fukuyama, the Chief Marketing Officer at Qrates  a vinyl crowdfunding platform dedicated to meeting the needs of artists.

Guest post from A2IM

Taishi Fukuyama is co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Qrates, a vinyl crowdfunding platform and end-to-end solution for artists and labels that need short run and on-demand vinyl.

Follow Taishi on Instagram , Twitter and Linkedin .

Qrates + Taishi

Qrates eliminates any financial and inventory risk and hassle, working with a proprietary network of quality vinyl pressing plants around the world for the best pricing and fastest delivery.

Qrates (pronounced like crates) launched in 2015 as the worlds first crowdfunding platform dedicated to democratizing access to create, finance, and distribute vinyl for all, especially independent artists. Taishis mission and passion at Qrates is to improve the sustainability of independent artists careers by enabling anyone to create beautiful physical records.

How did Taishi start out in the music industry?

Previous to his current role, he started his career in the music industry as an independent artist and music producer. As an artist, he became the first Red Bull Soundclash champion in Japan and has also written and produced the music for some of Japan and Koreas top J-Pop and K-pop artists.

His career in the tech/startup scene first started in 2010 by consulting US-based music tech companies entering the Japanese market. With genuine passion and interest in the crossroads of music and technology, Taishi also helped launch the first Music Hackday in Asia in 2014, introducing the Japanese music tech scene to global technology platforms such as Spotify, Soundcloud, and more. Some of Taishis notable clients where he helped launch and grow their businesses in Japan include the Echo Nest and Spotify.

Whats one highlight of Taishis career to date?



In early 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taishi and the Qrates team launched an initiative, Press On with Qrates, to help the independent artist community by giving an extra 100 free vinyl pressing to any record pressed on Qrates. The campaign was extended multiple months due to popular feedback from the community.



At a time where no one had precedents to follow, the Qrates team was proud to have been able to support the independent community, providing an unprecedented campaign during unprecedented circumstances.



Do you or someone you know fit the bill? Submit an executive here.

About A2IM:

A2IM is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit trade organization headquartered in New York City that exists to support and strengthen the independent recorded music sector. Membership currently includes a broad coalition of more than 700 Independently-owned American music labels. A2IM represents these independently owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) interests in the marketplace, in the media, on Capitol Hill, and as part of the global music community. In doing so, it supports a key segment of Americas creative class that represents Americas diverse musical cultural heritage. Billboard Magazine identified the Independent music label sector as 37.32 percent of the music industrys U.S. recorded music sales market in 2016 based on copyright ownership, making Independent labels collectively the largest music industry sector.

Learn more about A2IM here, and contact our team at membership@a2im.org to join now

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Various supports needed to increase SMEs' foreign shipments



Korea's exports totaled $512.5 billion last year, up 9.9 percent from 2010, according to recent data released by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Large businesses' shipments increased 5.8 percent to $321.1 billion, and those by mid-market companies  with total assets of 500 billion won or more  soared 42.6 percent to $89.3 billion. However, overseas shipments by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) climbed only 2.1 percent to $100.7 billion.



The data show that the export growth rate of SMEs lagged far behind that of large and mid-market enterprises, failing to reach the overall average. A fundamental solution is urgently needed. Policymakers should not attribute SMEs' export slump only to their weak competitiveness. Many SMEs say they often give up selling hard-won products in foreign markets because it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to open a new export market.



Even after SMEs develop new products, they must acquire various standards and certifications required in overseas markets. Small exporters must also know about the situation of their target markets, a skill that requires marketing abilities. Even if SMEs overcome these barriers, they need administrative support ranging from for customs clearance to actual shipments. All these procedures require SMEs to have a professional workforce.



To jumpstart the sluggish exports of SMEs, the government needs to ensure a solid support system is in place. The country has various export-supporting agencies, including the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). Still, it is not easy for small exporters to get their feet in the door of these organizations. Most SMEs are short of the money and manpower to maintain export departments or teams as their large counterparts do.



Moreover, the export environment is changing rapidly, as shown by calls for carbon neutrality and the emphasis on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles. SMEs account for 99 percent of all businesses in Korea. Only if they maintain their competitiveness can the competitiveness of the entire nation increase. Therefore, the government should come up with a drastic policy shift toward enhancing SMEs' export competitiveness. Without their robust shipments, Korea's reputation as a global export powerhouse will crumble like a house of cards.


North Adams' Pandemic State of Emergency Expires June 15

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The city's state of emergency comes to an end next Tuesday, June 15, 459 days after it was declared at the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic on March 13, 2020.

In a statement announcing its termination, Mayor Thomas Bernard cautioned that it doesn't mean residents should throw caution to the wind.

"This action does not mean that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but with the expiration of the Governor's emergency declaration, I wanted to align the city with the statewide status," he wrote. "For everyone in our community, this means that I encourage you please to continue to take sensible public health precautions for cleaning and personal hygiene, avoiding gatherings and public spaces when you're not feeling well, and continuing to practice self-care.

"People who are not fully vaccinated should continue to wear a face covering and practice social distancing in most cases, and to get vaccinated as soon as you can."

Gov. Charlie Baker on May 28 signed an order rescinding as of June 15 the public health emergency the state had instituted on March 10, 2020. All capacity, face covering and social distancing limits were lifted on May 29 with exceptions for schools, public transport and people who had not yet been vaccinated.

Bernard, in conjunction with Adams Town Administrator Jay Green and then Williamstown Town Manager Jason Hoch, had proclaimed the emergency on March 13 a week after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in nearby Clarksburg, which had called for a state of emergency hours before.

This lead to the closing or limited access to public buildings throughout North County, many of which have only reopened in the past couple weeks.

The termination of the mayor's executive order was done to be consist with the new orders issued by the state and new standards and recommended practices that may be promulgated. The governor's state of emergency declaration is set to expire on June 15 but he has filed legislation to continue certain practices through September and to be prepared to revert to past practice should the virus resurface.

Massachusetts is one of now 13 states that have reached President Biden's goal of 70 percent full adult vaccination by July 4. Six others, including New York State, are closing in on 70 percent. According to Becker's Hospital Review, as of Thursday, Vermont continues to lead with the number of vaccinations, based on total population (not just adults), at 59.46 percent with Massachusetts close behind at 56.81 percent. The four other New England states round out the top six. The last weekly state update, posted on June 1, showed Berkshire County with 72 percent of residents ages 12 and older having at least one dose of the vaccine and 52 percent fully vaccinated. The three regional collaborative vaccination sites are now only providing second shots and will cease operation in mid-June. The city is already looking forward to resuming outdoor events and celebrations: graduations were held, the SteepleCats are playing, there will be Fourth of July fireworks, the Downtown Celebration will be held, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts is resuming concerts and the Freshgrass Festival, and discussions are being had as to whether it's possible to put on a Fall Foliage Parade this year. Bernard reminded residents that some people "may still be more comfortable wearing a face covering regardless of their vaccination status." Businesses, too, may continue some precautions. "We will continue to monitor and respond to our local and statewide public health data to ensure we are keeping the community as safe as possible," he wrote. "As I said recently, if we all do our part we can have the kind of summer we've been looking forward to, one where we can celebrate and reconnect safely."

AN ORDER ANNOUNCING THE TERMINATION OF THE MARCH 13, 2020,

DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY IN THE CITY OF NORTH ADAMS June 10, 2021 WHEREAS, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued a Declaration of Emergency on March 10, 2020, and determined that immediate public action was needed to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage to public health, safety, or general welfare of the people of the Commonwealth and/or property which may otherwise have resulted from the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 and the effects of its extreme risk of person-to-person transmission throughout the United States and the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts recommended that a State of Emergency be declared in local communities; and WHEREAS, the Mayor of the City of North Adams, Massachusetts, declared that as of Friday, March 13, 2020, a State of Emergency existed in the City of North Adams, and that said State of Emergency would remain in effect "until notice is given, pursuant to our judgment, that the State of Emergency no longer exists;" and WHEREAS, in response to sustained improvements in the public health data beginning in February 2021 and attributable most directly to the development and effective distribution to the public of safe, highly effective, and free COVID-19 vaccines, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has successively rescinded or adjusted many of the Orders that imposed special measures to address the risks of COVID-19, and the Commonwealth has steadily advanced to the final stages of its phased Re-Opening Plan; and WHEREAS, as of May 27, 2021, over 3.5 million residents of the Commonwealth have been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, and over 4.3 million have received at least a first dose, and over 78 percent of Massachusetts adults overall and over 89 percent of Massachusetts residents 75 years and older have received at least a first dose; and WHEREAS, the remaining threats to the public health presented by the COVID-19 virus will shortly no longer require the exercise of the extraordinary powers that the Civil Defense Act grants to the Governor in a time of emergency to take executive action, outside the normal processes of government and across the established geographic and political divisions of authority, in order to coordinate State and Local relief efforts and to act without delay as necessary to protect the public health and welfare; and WHEREAS, on May 28, 2021, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued an Executive Order (ORDER ANNOUNCING THE TERMINATION OF THE MARCH 10, 2020 STATE OF EMERGENCY AND RESCINDING COVID-19 EXECUTIVE ORDERS ISSUED PURSUANT TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CIVIL DEFENSE ACT) that declared, in part, "Effective at 12:01 am on June 15, 2021, the declaration that I issued on March 10, 2020, pursuant to the Civil Defense Act and Section 2A of Chapter 17 of the General Laws is rescinded and the state of emergency initiated by that declaration is terminated with respect to both statutes; and WHEREAS, on May 28, 2021, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued an Executive Order (GOVERNOR'S DECLARATION PURSUANT TO GENERAL LAWS CHAPTER 17, SECTION 2A) that stated, in part, "pursuant to Section 2A of Chapter 17 of the General Laws, that as of the date indicated below, an emergency exists that is detrimental to the public health in the Commonwealth. The Commissioner, with the approval of the Public Health Council, may rely on this declaration to extend or adopt measures to facilitate COVID-19 testing and vaccination of all populations throughout the Commonwealth, to mandate special measures to protect higher risk populations or to effectuate continued surveillance of COVID-19 in the Commonwealth, and to respond as necessary to outbreaks of the virus as they may arise; and WHEREAS, the Mayor of the City of North Adams intends to align the ongoing local response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the letter and spirit of the March 28, 2021, Order and Declaration issued by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to "to respond as necessary to outbreaks of the virus as they may arise;" NOW, THEREFORE, I, Thomas W. Bernard, Mayor of the City of North Adams, Massachusetts, declare that effective at 12:01 am on June 15, 2021, the Declaration of Emergency that I issued on March 13, 2020, is terminated.
Sign-up For Adams Free Library Children's Summer Reading Challenge

ADAMS, Mass. Adams Free Library will begin their Summer Reading Challenge that will run from June 14 to Aug. 16.

Sign-up for the program begins Monday, June 14. This year's theme, "Tails and Tales" celebrates animals.

Children of all ages are invited to participate. The program utilizes the Beanstack software or app. On or after June 14, readers can go to www.adamslibraryma.beanstack.org to create an account if they don't already have one. Adults may register an account to add additional family members.

Readers will choose either number of books read or timed reading for logging. Once sign-up is completed, participants will be able to log reading to earn virtual badges and tickets for a real prize basket.

Paper logs are available if preferred, please contact the library. Although this year's theme is "Tails and Tales," everyone may read whatever they like, and may sign up at any time.

The goal for this year's children's challenge is to read 20 books (or for 400 minutes) and attend three library events. Participants will unlock virtual badges, and earn two virtual tickets for every five books (or every 100 minutes.), and two tickets for each event attended.

Tickets are for chances for a prize drawing. There are two baskets for each of four age groups: 2-3, 4-7, 8-12, and 13-17. Raffle baskets and prizes are provided by the Friends of the Adams Free Library and will be displayed in the children's area of the library. Winning tickets will be drawn at the end of the program and announced on August 19. The deadline for submitting tickets in the Beanstack software is 4:00 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 16.

Visit the library's web site www.adamslibraryma.org for more information and the calendar with planned events, all of which will be held outdoors at the Adams Council on Aging, 3 Hoosac Street in Adams. Separate registration is required for each event.

"Tails and Tales" is sponsored by the Adams Free Library, the Massachusetts Library System, the Boston Bruins, and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. Additional funding provided by the Friends of the Adams Free Library.

Library events are free and open to the public. An adult must accompany children under 8 years of age. Attendance at library programs constitutes consent to be photographed; photos may be used in print or electronic publicity for the Adams Free Library.
ICSF celebrates World Oceans Day

June 10,2021 | Source: ICSF | Alert Type(s): Samudra Exclusive

World Oceans Day is an annual celebration held on 8 June, officially declared by the United Nations in 2008. Many countries have been celebrating this day since 1992, following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which took place in Rio de Janeiro. World Oceans Day draws attention to the important role the oceans play in our lives and the environment.



This year, focusing on the theme Life and Livelihoods, ICSF collaborated with small- scale fishers and fishworkers around the world to produce several video interviews. These videos highlight their experiences, what they love about their work, the challenges they face, and how their communities have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.



In Trat Province, Thailand, we heard from Mayuree Thammachat about how her community turned the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity to sell home-cooked seafood. Sak Sawasdee told us about the changes he has witnessed in fish stock levels in the area and how the pandemic caused fish prices to drop due to lack of demand from the tourism sector. Wanna Sawasdee explained the many responsibilities women have to ensure fishing activities can be carried out each day and the household runs smoothly.



In Accra, Ghana, Sandra Osabutey told us about about her love for her work as a fish smoker, a skill she inherited from her mother, and the challenges she faces in buying fresh fish to smoke.



In the inland lakes of the Netherlands, Freerk Visserman shared his excitement of catching eel and furthermore he told how he contributed to building a healthy eel population by (among others) releasing of legal glass eels in the lake. Glass eels are baby eels that migrate from the sea to fresh water to grow into eels. He also helps by releasing matured (adult) eels back from fresh water to the sea to migrate back to their spawning grounds. Because of Dutch water management (dykes, pumping stations) it is impossible for glass eel to enter fresh water eco systems to grow up and for matured eels to migrate back to sea for procreation.



In Costa Rica, Zoraida Bonilla Martinez sang a song for the sea and talked about how her love for fishing is in her blood, inherited from generations of family members. Silvina Paniagua Fernandez spoke about the importance of being granted fishing licenses so her community has equal opportunities to work. Luis Alberto Marin Saenz highlighted the challenge of having to go further from the coast to catch the same catch as he once could in shallower waters.



Full videos are available at:



'I love my work; I inherited it from my mother' | Sandra Osabutey, smoked fish merchant, Ghana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ89emgRxW0&t=30s



'We've tried to turn the Covid-19 crisis into opportunities' | Mayuree Thammachat, Thailand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z6HzOBx6wE



Some days were lucky; some days we lose | Sak Sawasdee, fisher, Thailand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?



Women have the main responsibilities | Wanna Sawasdee, fishworker, Thailand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWEZm8Z0aqM&t=1s



Let nature do its job | Freerk Visserman, inland fisherman, The Netherlands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xQESTWDMSM



Feel the excitement of catching eel' | Theo Rekelhof, inland fisherman, the Netherlands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGH43Zois3M



A song for the sea | Zoraida Bonilla Martinez, fisher, Costa Rica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EzhFwWpL0o



We need equal opportunities to work | Silvina Paniagua Fernandez, fisher, Costa Rica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnaQxCRTBBw



The sea is still here and we are still fishing| Luis Alberto Marin Saenz, fisher, Costa Rica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F49Mb0b3oc

 2021 ICSF

Theme(s): Others.
Helping oil spill impacted communities

by FIONA MCLEOD

June 10,2021 | Source: Earth Island Journal

On March 23, 1989, marine toxicologist Riki Ott gave a talk to the Valdez, Alaska Mayors Committee about the impact of oil spills on ocean ecosystems. Using crepe paper creatures and magnets, she showed how oil droplets move up the food web when fish consume tiny crustaceans that are contaminated with oil particles.



Otts message to the committee was clear: As long as oil was being shipped through the region, the health and well-being of people and the environment there were in danger. The city of Valdez needed to develop a viable contingency plan to be able to respond in the event of an oil disaster. It is not a matter of if, she told the committee, but when.



The very next day, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in the Prince William Sound, spilling between 11 million gallons (Exxons estimate) and 33 million gallons (the State of Alaskas estimate) of crude oil. The spill  which at the time was the worst oil spill in US history  affected some 1,300 miles of coastline; killed hundreds of thousands of birds, seals, otters, fish, and whales; and collapsed the fishing economies of shoreline towns. Nearby communities, including Valdez, were exposed to dangerously high levels of toxins, both from the oil itself and from the toxic chemical dispersants used in the oil spill response.



When an oil spill happens in your backyard, Ott told the Journal, somebody steps up [to help.] After the Exxon Valdez spill, she was that somebody.



For the next 20 years, Ott, who is the founder and director of Earth Islands ALERT project, dedicated herself to researching and documenting the long-term health impacts experienced by individuals who had been exposed to toxic substances during and after the spill. She harnessed her scientific training and passion for protecting human health and the environment, and became a leading advocate against the use of chemical dispersants in oil spill response.



Dispersants are chemical solvents that break floating oil slicks apart into tiny droplets that can more easily mix with the water. They transfer oil from the water surface into the water column, meaning the oil becomes submerged. While dispersants make an oil spill less visible to the naked eye, they do not actually reduce the amount of oil in the water, and both oil and chemical dispersants are hazardous to marine ecosystems, wildlife, and human health.



An oil-based, industrial solvent is dumped on oil, and the situation is supposed to be better somehow? Ott said sarcastically, when describing the harm of using dispersants in an oil spill response. It isnt. There is long-term harm.



After the Exxon Valdez spill, Ott was instrumental in creating guidelines for dispersant use in the Prince William Sound. She also helped establish a citizen advisory council that eventually helped push through a series of state laws strengthening oil spill preparation, response, and financial accountability in Alaska. But as time passed  even as scores of previously healthy people shared stories of becoming seriously ill after working on oil-spill response teams  the media and publics attention gradually moved on from the issue.



Then, in 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, spilling roughly 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days, and creating an oil slick that covered over 57,000 square miles. When she heard the news, she immediately knew it was going to be a human-health tragedy, Ott recalled.



Unfortunately, she was right. A month after the spill, Ott went to Louisiana, where she saw fishermen being evacuated from their boats with acute respiratory failure. She learned that Corexit  a line of chemical dispersants that have been found to be less effective and more toxic than others  was being applied aerially to the slick and pumped directly into the leak, a spill-management technique that had never been tried before. Such a large volume of Corexit was applied to the spill that, had it been petroleum, Ott said, it would have amounted to the sixth largest oil spill in US history.



Response workers and Gulf Coast residents were exposed to toxic oil chemicals and dispersants through their airways and skin, and emergency response workers were denied proper safety equipment to protect themselves. According to a 2015 Government Accountability Project report, Gulf Coast residents continue to suffer chronic health impacts, including respiratory illness and skin lesions. These ailments are so common that they are locally known as BP Syndrome.



I saw the difference in the oil texture and different ways the oil was changing due to chemical dispersants that we used, Jorey Danos, a lifelong Gulf Coast resident who helped with the Deepwater Horizon disaster response, told the Journal. It was changing the water, and it was changing me. I broke out with hives, I broke out with bumps, headaches, fatigue, irritability.



Corexit is toxic enough to be banned in nearly two dozen countries, but it is still widely used in the US during oil-spill responses. The safety data sheet for Corexit 9527A, one of the dispersants used after the BP spill, notes that it contains 2-Butoxyethanol, a toxin that may cause injury to red blood cells (hemolysis), kidney or the liver with repeated or excessive exposure.



Despite the well-known risks, Corexit and other chemicals are listed  though not technically approved for use  on the US Environmental Protection Agencys National Contingency Plan (NCP) Product Schedule, a list of products available for use on oil spills in the US.



Use of dispersants is woven into our countrys oil dependency, Ott said. Rather than developing oil spill prevention measures and response plans, the industry falls back on dispersants as the foundational contingency plan for dealing with oil spills, she added. And because use of dispersants is, in effect, authorized by the federal government by way of the NCP, which governs oil-spill disaster response, corporations are shielded from liability when people and the environment are impacted  placing the burden of harm on the public.



Its like a big externality on their bottom line. If industries were actually held accountable for making people sick, Ott said, they wouldnt be doing this. It would be too risky.



After decades of working with communities affected by exposure to oil pollutants and chemical dispersants, Ott founded the ALERT Project in 2014, to help concerned citizens develop local disaster response measures and push for policy changes at the federal, state, and local levels. In collaboration with frontline communities, ALERT has developed trainings and accessible scientific resources to help educate residents about the threat of oil-chemical exposure, identify ways to reduce exposure, and build individuals capacity to advocate for themselves when it comes to medical care.



This past April, on the eleventh memorial of the Deepwater Horizon spill, ALERT, along with other environmental groups, a Native Alaskan health aide, and a Gulf Coast commercial fisher, filed a motion for summary judgement in a lawsuit seeking to compel the US Environmental Protection Agency to update NCP regulations governing the use of toxic chemicals in oil-spill response. The hearing on the motion is scheduled for July. The suit follows a June 2020 ruling by a US District Court that the Clean Water Act imposes a legal duty on the EPA to update the NCP to reflect current science.



Guess what? Ott asked. The new science shows dispersants do more harm than good.

Theme(s): Others.
Minister announces that over 600 tonnes of marine waste has been collected by Irelands seafood sector since 2015

Ireland's Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D today paid tribute to the men and women working in Irelands seafood sector for their continued efforts to reduce Irelands marine waste as part of the Clean Oceans Initiative.



To date, the collaborative efforts of the sector have resulted in more than 600 tonnes of mainly plastic waste being collected at sea and during shore and pier clean-ups. A new focus for the Initiative is the drive to help Irelands fisheries harbours with their waste management systems in collaboration with local gear manufacturers to manage fishing gear throughout its life cycle.



Speaking at the pier in Greencastle, Co Donegal, Minister McConalogue commended Irish fishing, aquaculture and coastal communities for their achievements in helping to reduce what he described as the plastic pollution pervading the marine environment.



The Minister also highlighted the collective and ongoing work of the sector to better manage gear to prevent it from entering oceans in the first place and their efforts to remove waste from the Marine environment.



He stated: The Irish seafood sector are a leading example of what can be achieved through collaboration. This collective approach is the key ingredient needed to tackle the plastic pollution pervading the marine environment. I am ever- impressed by the level of ingenuity being taken by the sector and this new focus to address the problem of marine waste is helping to protect Irelands marine environment for future generations.



The Clean Oceans Initiative is being led by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Irelands Seafood Development Agency, and supported by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).



Jim OToole, CEO BIM spoke of the learnings being gained from the sectors involvement in the pilot project to better understand the benefits of a circular economy and said, BIM is proud to support the work of Irelands fishers, aquaculture producers and other members of the seafood sector in their continued Clean Oceans Initiative activities. The sector has assumed a leadership role in the protection of the marine environment through marine litter retrieval. BIM will continue to work with industry to ensure they are prepared for new waste management requirements under impending EU legislation.

Theme(s): Others.
Chinese-American traveler slammed by netizens for urging lower consumption of seafood

June 10,2021 | Source: Global Times

A famous Chinese-American professional traveler has become a target of mockery among Chinese netizens over his advice to stop eating seafood "for the earth's sake."



Kyle "Guyue" Johnson, who has over 2 million followers on China's Twitter-like social networking platform Sina Weibo, said in a post on Monday that Chinese people should "be responsible consumers" and he urged them to cut back on seafood consumption after he was told by a fisherman that fish stocks in Madagasar have almost been used up.



"I just realized how much demand there is for fish in China," Johnson wrote in his controversial post, which was later deleted. "As the world's number one consumer of seafood, China's insatiable appetite for seafood is depleting fish stocks around the world."



Many netizens left opposing comments but Johnson replied. "The earth's resources have been exploited by some countries that developed first such as the US and Japan, and now we, as a country with a large population, have to set an example for other countries," he said.



However, netizens soon discovered that Johnson himself is actually an avid seafood lover and consumer. As a traveler around the world, he has repeatedly posted various photos of himself eating luxury seafood on his account. This apparent contradiction drew a great deal of sarcasm.



"An average Chinese person doesn't eat half as much seafood as he does in his lifetime, so who is he to ask Chinese people to eat less seafood?" one netizen wrote.



Johnson was born with the name of Gu Yue, and has many followers in China. He is best-known for his trip hitchhiking from Beijing to Berlin. Johnson was born in China, but emigrated to the US when he was 11 and later became a US citizen and renamed himself "Kyle Johnson."



Many netizens said Johnson is not Chinese so he has no right to talk to Chinese people in such a tone.



"What does he mean by 'we'? He's not even Chinese," many comments said.



Netizens also pointed out that Johnson's claim is actually untrue. Although China is a large consumer of seafood, China's seafood production is far greater than the amount caught and the per capita catch is far below the world average.



Data released by the United Nations in 2018 showed that China is the world's largest producer of seafood and accounts for only 15 percent of the catch, even though it has 20 percent of the world's population.



According to official data released by China, in 2018 China exported $22.33 billion of fish products and imported $14.86 billion, with a trade surplus of $7.46 billion.



After being inundated by various objections and factual arguments from netizens, Johnson did not respond, instead simply deleting the two previous Weibo posts. He has not responded to the Global Times' request for comment as of Wednesday evening.

 2021 Global Times All Right Reserved

Theme(s): Others.
China's migrating elephant herd heads southwest

Xinhua) 09:22, June 10, 2021

KUNMING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The wandering wild Asian elephant herd that has caught global attention has headed 3.7 km further southwest after taking a good rest in the outskirts of the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming.

The herd of 14 elephants entered Shijie Township in the city of Yuxi at about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday. They were seen taking a rest in Yuxi at about 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to the headquarters in charge of monitoring their migration.

A male elephant, which broke free from the herd four days ago, is now about 12 km away in a forest in Anning, a county-level city under Kunming administration. All the elephants are safe and sound.

Authorities have dispatched emergency staff, vehicles and drones to help evacuate local residents, while ensuring the safety of the elephants. They fed 2.1 tonnes of food to the animals on Wednesday.

The herd traveled approximately 500 km from their forest home in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture before reaching Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan, late last Wednesday.

For over a month, authorities have sent police to escort the herd, evacuated roads to facilitate their passage and used food to distract them from entering densely populated areas.

Asian elephants are under A-level state protection in China, where they are mostly found in Yunnan. Thanks to enhanced protection efforts, the wild elephant population in the province has grown to about 300, up from 193 in the 1980s.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
More efforts needed to ensure public health



Fully vaccinated people will be able to embark on overseas group tours as early as next month. To that end, the government is seeking to sign "travel bubble" agreements with several countries, including Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, as well as Guam and Saipan.



A travel bubble is an agreement between countries, especially with low COVID-19 cases, to open their borders to each other. If South Korea strikes such a deal with other countries, its people  who have received their vaccinations  will be allowed to go on group tours to those countries without undergoing the two-week quarantine measures.



This agreement is designed to meet growing demand for overseas travel among Koreans who have endured COVID-19 restrictions since the outbreak of the pandemic early last year. It is also aimed at revitalizing the country's airline and tourism industries which have borne the brunt of the virus. Besides, it will help speed up the vaccination process to reach herd immunity by November as the government has promised.



Allowing overseas travel, though limited to group tours, will mark a step toward returning to normalcy. It is welcome news. Koreans, just like most people around the world, are craving to get back to pre-pandemic life. They are already sick of various quarantine measures and social distancing rules, gripped by fears of COVID-19 infections.



In this situation, the government's push for a travel bubble accord appears to be a step in the right direction. The nation's vaccination campaign is gaining speed. The authorities also plan to gradually ease social distancing guidelines for vaccinated people. A ban on the gathering of five or more people will be lifted for fully vaccinated people starting in July. And those getting at least one dose of the vaccine will be allowed to go out without wearing a mask.



Yet, we should not lower our guard until the country defeats the pandemic completely. That is why the Moon Jae-in administration must make through preparations before easing or lifting restrictions. We should not become complacent until more than 70 percent of the country's population is fully vaccinated to form herd immunity. So we have to keep in mind that haste makes waste. The inoculation rate is still low. Around 20 percent of the population have so far been given the first of two required shots.



Some skeptics argue that it is still too early to allow people to travel abroad, even on a limited basis, because such a measure could trigger a new wave of COVID-19 infections. Overseas travelers could bring variants of the virus to the country, making matters even worse.



No one can overemphasize the importance of making through preparations to cope with any unpredictable consequences. It is necessary to set up an efficient system to manage overseas travelers and sort out those with false vaccination certificates. The government must work with travel agencies to double-check the records of travelers' vaccination and coronavirus test results. Most of all, it should not compromise the health of the public under any circumstances.


By Park Jin





The summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden has reinvigorated and globalized the ROK-U.S. alliance on the security, economy, technology and health fronts, while both sides also agreed to pursue the inter-Korean "peace process" envisioned by Seoul. It's a surprising outcome that could transform the uneasy alliance into a global partnership.



It is noteworthy that the two leaders mentioned peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, for the first time in the history of the ROK-U.S. summit, despite China's concerns. The Washington summit also touched upon freedom of navigation and flight in the South China Sea, an issue that Seoul has been cautious to speak about, in order not to discomfort Beijing. The two presidents thus stood on the same side regarding sensitive regional security issues, in response to any coercive actions from China.



The joint statement also stressed "open, transparent, and inclusive regional multilateralism," including the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as the Quad, a network of quadrilateral cooperation between countries in the Indo-Pacific. Seoul has been reluctant to participate in the network, which includes the U.S., Japan, Australia and India, again out of concerns about China's potential negative reaction. But the summit has left open the possibility of Seoul's future participation in Quad activities, particularly in the areas of COVID-19 response and climate change, and in cooperation with the ASEAN countries.



President Moon pledged to cooperate with President Biden to oppose "all activities" undermining, destabilizing or threatening the rules-based international order for maintaining an "inclusive, free, and open Indo-Pacific." This pledge amounts to a strategic vision shared by Korea and the U.S. as the "linchpin" for stability and prosperity in the region.



The summit, therefore, signified a visible shift of Korea's foreign and security policy toward a closer strategic partnership between the two allies, despite the Moon government's penchant for "balancing diplomacy" between the U.S. and China. At face value, the Washington summit opened a "new chapter" in the alliance, as was described in the joint statement.



The question remains, however, as to whether the Moon government, whose term will end in less than a year, will be willing and able to abide by its summit pledges while avoiding diplomatic and economic friction with China.



The joint statement also underscored the "fundamental importance" of ROK-U.S.-Japan trilateral cooperation in order to meet common challenges. Relations between Korea and Japan have worsened under the Moon and Suga governments, due to historic, territorial, commercial, military and environmental issues.



Nevertheless, a Korea-Japan partnership remains indispensable to safeguarding peace and stability in the region, and to holding in check the aggressive behavior of North Korea. To protect the two countries' shared interests, common values and rules-based order, pragmatic dialogues between Korea and Japan should be reinstated. In that sense, a behind-the-scenes mediating role for the U.S. can facilitate Korea-Japan communication and encourage trilateral cooperation among the three countries.



In the area of economy, technology and biosecurity, a comprehensive ROK-U.S. partnership has been forged based on critical and emerging technologies. The two leaders agreed to deepen collaboration to tackle the "climate crisis" by reducing carbon emissions, contributing to "climate finance," and increasing the resiliency of the global supply chain, prioritizing semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries, strategic and critical materials as well as pharmaceuticals.



The leading Korean conglomerates, such as Samsung, Hyundai, SK and LG, have committed direct investments totaling nearly $40 billion to produce chips and batteries, as well as to develop a "future-oriented partnership" in the areas of clean energy and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and 6G. This investment will create tens of thousands of job opportunities in the U.S. The Korean media depicted it as an "economic alliance," which will be bolstered by the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) as a model.



The alliance will also strengthen its partnership in civil space exploration, science and aeronautics research, as well as promote cooperation in overseas nuclear markets, including joint participation in nuclear power projects. South Korea has signed the Artemis Accords, an ambitious lunar exploration project, led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as the 10th country to do so.



South Korea also possesses advanced technologies to build the world's top-level nuclear reactors, such as the APR-1400 model, and is developing small modular reactors (SMRs), while strictly complying to nonproliferation principles. The bilateral "technological alliance" between Korea and the U.S., therefore, holds tremendous potential.



With regards to public health security, the two leaders agreed to establish a "Korea-U.S. Global Vaccine Partnership" to cope with infectious diseases and to increase the manufacturing of vaccines for the benefit of other countries around the globe, especially through COVAX.



Although Korea itself currently is in urgent need of vaccine supplies sufficient to cover its 52 million population, this new vaccine partnership with the U.S. will enhance Korea's role to become a "vaccine production hub" for large-scale manufacturing in Asia to contribute to the global COVID-19 vaccine supply, based on the protection of intellectual property and technological licensing agreements with the U.S. This partnership will practically create a "vaccine alliance" between the two countries.



President Biden's offer to provide surplus American vaccines to the service members of the ROK military is a timely gesture of goodwill and friendship.



Concerning North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile threats, the Biden administration's new "calibrated and practical approach," relying on "diplomacy and dialogue," presents fresh opportunities for both North and South Korea. For the goal of disarming the North, Washington has apparently chosen a careful and flexible approach between the "strategic patience" of the Obama administration and the "grand bargain" of the Trump era to aim for the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."



So, the stage is set for Washington's exploratory diplomacy with Pyongyang. The ball is now in North Korea's court. The Biden team might take a cautious "bottom-up" approach based on a concrete and reciprocal roadmap. Whether this renewed approach by Washington will produce any "tangible progress" toward denuclearization depends on the critical decision by the Kim Jong-un regime.



The North Korean nuclear issue remains unresolved, despite policy alternating between confrontation and negotiation. If it cannot be resolved in the near term, it should be coherently managed in the longer term based on deterrence, sanctions, incentives and persuasion.



Finally, the two leaders agreed to improve the human rights situation in North Korea in tandem with necessary humanitarian aid. Human rights are essential moral issues and universal values that should not be neglected for the sake of pursuing an inter-Korean detente.





Park Jin (parkjin916@naver.com) is a lawmaker of the conservative main opposition People Power Party. He chairs the party's special committee on diplomacy and security and previously served as president of the Korea-America Association.


Shahadat Hossain, a journalist for the Bengali language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, was attacked on June 1 while reporting on a protest in Brahmanbaria railway station demanding the reopening of the railway. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the attack against Hossain.

According to news reports, Hossain was attacked at the railway station protest organized by the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). The railway was closed following the nationwide anti-Modi protest against the killing and attack of Hefazat-e-Islam's activists by police and members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the youth wing of the ruling Awami League political party.

Hossain told dainiksarod.com, Bangaldesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader named Roman Mia (26), and his brother attacked me after knowing that I informed a Juba League leader about BCLs attack on Muradul Islam, the gate keeper of the station. Other journalists at the protest assisted Hossain and took him to Brahmanbaria General Hospital for treatment.

The incident was condemned by Brahmanbaria Press Club. District political leaders including BCL president, Rabiul Hossain Rubel, also expressed grief over the incident.

Hossain filed a case against Roman Mia at Sadar Model Police Station on the same day. In response to the complaint, Mia was arrested and appeared at court on June 2. According to Sadar Model Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Emranul Islam, police arrested, Zahirul Islam Jumman, another person accused of attacking Hossain

On March 25 and 26, more than 17 journalists covering anti-Modi demonstrations were assaulted by Bangladesh police as well as members of the Chhatra League.

The Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum (BMSF) said: We strongly condemn an attack on the journalists in duty. We respect all the groups and political parties to respect freedom of press and expression.

The IFJ said: The trend of journalists being attacked at protests by members of political and other groups while reporting is concerning. The IFJ stands in solidarity with journalists that have been attacked and stress the importance of ensuring journalists can work freely without fearing for their safety.
Put simply, a data breach is when private and confidential information has been exposed or shared without the owners permission. Anyone is at risk of a data breach --- a company, a government or an individual can fall victim to it.

But do Filipinos really get a good grasp of it?

According to Kasperskys 2020 figures, it would cost a small and medium business a whopping $101,000 (P4.8 million) if they get hit. Meanwhile, an enterprise-level companys potential losses would be way higher at $1.09 million (P52.4 million). Organizations both big and small also stand to incur reputational damage which could result in loss of customers.

If a government organizations highly classified information has been compromised, expect that military operations, political dealings and details on critical national infrastructure can pose a major threat not just to the government but to its citizens, too.

For an individual, it could mean becoming a victim of burglary or car theft if your home address, location or vehicle registration details are shared publicly.

Worst case scenario: you could be a victim of identity theft. If your device is hacked, you could potentially lose priceless personal photos and videos, lose access to your online accounts like social media and email and then get blackmailed, lose money if cybercriminals get hold of your financial information, be charged for loans if they get your social security or passport details --- all because someone else now has your data and could easily pretend to be you.

Its that serious.

A string of data breaches affecting Filipinos have been reported quite frequently in recent years up to the present.

In April, almost 900,000 Facebook accounts of Filipino users were reportedly included in a large-scale data leak that affected over 506 million users worldwide. In the same month, some 345,000 sensitive court documents of ongoing legal cases were found to have been made publicly available. Earlier this year, data of about 3.3 million users of an online lending platform was reported to have been sold on the dark web.

In 2019, the countrys military database was hacked into  exposing personal details of almost 20,000 personnel. In the same year, private details of about 900,000 clients of a pawnshop operator were affected by a breach. There were several more but the massive leakage of personal information of 55 million Filipino voters in 2016 remains to be the biggest data breach in the history of the Philippines.

Neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam are all in the same predicament, making the region a hotspot of data breaches.

Generally, a data breach happens due to weaknesses in user behavior (human) and technology. Our devices get more connective features so there are places where data could slip through. There is no specific sector or person thats being targeted as cybercriminals do not discriminate. Anyone is vulnerable, said Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.

Cybercriminals responsible for data breaches use manipulation techniques like social engineering to exploit human error and penetrate the system. Social engineering tricks come in many forms, from offering time-sensitive opportunities, mass phishing, carrying out personalized and targeted attacks, intercepting communications, posing as someone legitimate, and many more.

Among users of Kaspersky products In the Philippines, the cybersecurity company has reported a 160.43% rise in detected web threats under social engineering attacks from Q1 of 2019 (7,674,407) to Q1 of 2021 (19,987,120). These attacks were stopped from further progressing by Kaspersky solutions in the devices of users in the country.

So what should be done when you or your company gets hit by a data breach?

Here is a five-step guide for organizations whether big or small, private or public:

Assess the situation. Evaluate the risk of the data breach to customers. Risk assessment helps you decide the next steps to take. If its a high risk, inform the customers without undue delay, perhaps even before reporting to authorities. Be transparent Be transparent. In 40% of businesses around the world, employees hide an incident when it happens. Hiding an incident may lead to dramatic consequences, increasing the damage caused. It may also result in customers losing trust in the business on top of negative news coverage. Tell customers what happened and give them advice on what to do next. Document everything. Document every data breach, even if you dont have to report it. Record what happened, the steps you took and why the breach was reported or not reported. Learn lessons. Once the cause has been identified, fix it. Next, make sure all staff receive training in how to prevent future breaches. Human error causes most data breaches. Notify parties. If youre processing data for other organizations, dont forget to tell them about the breach. They will have steps they must take too.

Here are pointers for Individuals who suspect being a victim of identity theft:

Discover the source. To correct the problem, you should find out the origin of the attack. Think of your most recent online activity. To limit your exposure, ensure logging in using a secure connection. Also avoid using linked accounts and similar passwords to not allow a cybercriminal to daisy chain your information. Daisy chaining allows all of your accounts to be compromised by breaking into just one. Run a reliable antivirus solution to detect and remove malware in your device. Start making calls. Begin with any companies where fraud occurred and ask them to close or freeze your accounts and change all of your login and password information. Cover your bases. Keep an eye on your credit reports beyond 90 days and flag anything fraudulent immediately. Limit the amount of credit services you use to reduce the long-term impact of identity theft.

To prevent data breaches, here are some surefire ways that Kaspersky recommends:

Always be on the lookout for new patches and updates for your software. Keeping the operating system fresh and running the latest version simultaneously removes outdated features and brings in fixes to previous security flaws. This practice is usually mandatory for organizations but is optional most of the time for individual users. Encryption is key to protecting extremely sensitive information and assets. Not only is it cost-effective to implement, but it can also give an additional layer of protection for remote workers as well as increase the integrity of your data. For individual users, there is a wide array of free or low-cost encryption software available online. Using devices that are no longer supported by the manufacturer will attract unnecessary risks. Upgrading devices ensures that users are protected against newer vulnerabilities. Although businesses might be hit with a substantial expense in the upgrading process, data breaches are proven to be more costly. Enforce strict Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) security policies by requiring the use of business-grade VPN services or antivirus software. Social engineering tricks usually target employees or individuals that have access to an organizations networks and systems through insecure devices. Observe safe practices like using strong credentials or activating multi-factor authentication. Educate employees on how to avoid socially engineered attacks and use the best security practices. Knowing how these attacks propagate is half the battle. Individual users must also take it upon themselves to be knowledgeable on how to spot a potential attack when there is one.

Small and medium businesses, are also not immune to cyberattacks, can avail up to 40% in savings on the KEDRO security solution by visiting go.kaspersky.com/SEA_SMB_Promo_KERO.html?utm_campaign=SEA21Q2KERO.

Incidentally, Kaspersky is offering free e-gift vouchers (choice of Grab, GCash, or PayMaya) for every purchase of:

Kaspersky Total Security (valid for 1 year for 1 device) or

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Participating Kaspersky products are available from official partner stores in Metro Manila, official partner e-stores, and via Shopee and Lazada. Promo runs from May 29 to June 30, 2021.

For the complete list of participating stores and for more information about the promo, please visit this link.
When serial entrepreneur Don Brown sold Interactive Intelligence, the third software company he'd founded, for $1.4 billion in 2016, his kids begged him to retire. But Brown, now 65, says he knew he wasn't done.

That same year Brown founded Indianapolis-based cloud and mobile software company LifeOmic, which aims to reduce the time it takes for researchers to identify the problem with a medical patient. It's his first venture into health care, but the work he's doing has been a longtime passion. Brown graduated from medical school in 1985, but before he did he also got hooked on computer programming. He started his first software company while a student.

"There was some nagging feeling that I hadn't accomplished what I had set out to do with my life," he says. "So I wanted to take a shot at it."

Brown says his time at the "little company" which he started with a friend, a program to help car dealerships quickly compute customers' monthly payments, was meant to be a temporary detour before he went into medical research.

But after selling his company to General Motors in 1986, Brown says, he was even more motivated to stay in the business world. He used the $800,000 he made to launch a second software company, but committed the "classic mistake" of not having a clear plan, and quickly ran through the money.

He was foolish to think, he says, that one success meant he'd find another: "I went from thinking that I was the smartest guy in the world to thinking I was the biggest idiot on the planet."

Luckily, he found a partner in venture capitalist Bob Compton, who invested in the company and became a mentor to the then-30-year-old. Brown launched Interactive Intelligence in the mid-'90s, taking it public in 1999 before the 10-figure sale five years ago.

Here's what Brown has to say about the rewards of entrepreneurship that have kept him going through four companies and more than three decades.

Finding solutions

For Brown, being an entrepreneur meant access to "unlimited possibilities." He was drawn to startups because they allowed him to tackle problems that bigger companies such as Google and Amazon haven't solved.

Collaboration

Teamwork is at the core of a successful startup, Brown says: "There's just nothing more thrilling, that I've found, than being able to work with a group of smart people and attack a hard problem. It's intoxicating."

He considers himself, first and foremost, a cheerleader for his team. At LifeOmic, he asks for weekly status reports from his staff of more than 100, and reads every note. He says the worst thing that can happen, especially at a tech company, is for people to feel like they don't matter: "That just becomes the death of an entrepreneurial company."

A passion for health care

Brown says that planning the road map for LifeOmic is the most fun he's ever had. It's also the most impactful work he's ever done. Before he sold his third company, he'd enrolled in a master's program in biotechnology, a topic he'd been passionate about since college. That's where he learned about personalized medicine and became convinced that health care is at an inflection point. He invested $20 million of his savings to launch LifeOmic. In 2020, the company generated $5 million in revenue, up from $2 million a year earlier.
On June 7, the U.S. Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (Usica) -- a $250 billion bill that hopes to counter China's ascendancy in a range of technologies. Usica could be considered by the House in the next several weeks, according to CNBC.

The funds from this legislation would help finance research into a range of technologies where the U.S. perceives it is losing ground to China. These include semiconductor manufacturing, artificial intelligence research, robotics, and quantum computing, according to The New York Times.

Read on for more details about why Usica is needed now, how the legislation would work if passed, and what business leaders should do about it.

Why Usica Is Important Now

Usica was passed by the Senate at a time when federal R&D is at historically low levels.

Federal R&D spending in the past several years has declined to the low it reached in the 1960s when the space race began. U.S. federal spending on R&D is less than 1 percent of GDP and accounts for under 3 percent of total government spending.

Meanwhile, the U.S. share of global semiconductor manufacturing has dropped from 37 percent in 1990 to 12 percent in 2021 -- the lowest level since the space race in the 1960s.

Government leaders seek to reverse these trends. "We are in a competition to win the 21st century, and the starting gun has gone off. We cannot risk falling behind," President Biden declared. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said the funding could result in seven to 10 new U.S. semiconductor plants, noted Seeking Alpha.

What Usica Does

Usica works through two organizations within the federal government to support U.S. innovation.

Specifically, the so-called Endless Frontier part of the legislation "overhauls the National Science Foundation (NSF), appropriates tens of billions for the NSF between fiscal 2022 and 2026, and establishes a Directorate for Technology and Innovation," according to CNBC.

The Department of Commerce will manage a grant program funded by the legislation that would match financial incentives offered by states and local governments. These funds would be provided to chip manufacturers to be used for semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing initiatives.

Most of the funding provided by the bill will be managed by the NSF with the remainder under the auspices of the Commerce Department. According to Seeking Alpha, the NSF will direct about $190 billion to U.S. researchers doing "cutting-edge science and artificial intelligence."

Commerce will invest $54 billion aimed at increasing U.S. production and research into semiconductors and telecom equipment, as well as design and manufacturing initiatives. It will also receive $10 billion in funding for the matching grant program described above.

What Usica Means for Your Business

If Usica is passed by the House and Biden signs it into law, your business could benefit.

At the moment, the bill will clearly benefit large businesses such as Micron Technology and Texas Instruments. The Times reported that the "allocation of funds to specific companies will not be decided by the administration until after Congress approves the bill."

Clearly, Usica will spur a competition for these funds. Scott Lincicome, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, told the Times that large company lobbyists are surely "going to exploit it. This is a very good time to be seeking subsidies for any industry in the technology space."
WandaVision star Elizabeth Olsen revealed that shes married during a recent conversation with actor Kaley Cuoco.

The actors were having a chat for Varietys Actors on Actors series. While explaining the reason why the 32-year-old Avengers actor had to conduct the interview in her bathroom. She said: Im in a bathroom. Ive been in the UK for seven months, and I got back two days ago, and my neighbour is doing so much construction to their backyard.

I also just noticed that my husband put Little Miss Magic, you know, the Little Miss books? Theyre these classic books, but magic because of WandaVision, because hes such a f****ing cutie, she said.

Olsen was seemingly referring to her now-former fiance Robbie Arnett.

This isnt the only news Olsen revealed during the conversation.

When the Big Bang Theory alum asked her whether WandaVision would come back, she responded back saying no and added: Its definitely a limited series.

She went on to clarify: I mean, Im saying that. I dont know. I mean, with Marvel, you can never say no. People die, people come back to life.

 WandaVision mid-season trailer

She expressed that she would be shocked if the series were to get renewed.

Olsen added: I do miss, I think, the four-five week experience of making a film and that just feels so exciting and like camp for a little bit. But I think this six-month experience of really hard work with the same people [on a show], its exhausting [and] it just feels really good.

In April 2020, Marvel boss Nate Moore also poured cold water over the suggestion that WandaVision could return for a second season.

Speaking to IndieWire, Moore said: [Wanda] cant go back into that reality.

That is such a complete arc of what that character can do and what that story wanted to do.

However, Moore seemed to suggest that other series on Marvels Disney Plus slate, including The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki, will be renewed for second instalments.
Rose Byrne is set to play Jacinda Ardern in a forthcoming drama about how the New Zealand prime minister successfully banned assault rifles in her country.

The film, titled They Are Us, follows the 2019 terrorist attack at two mosques in the city of Christchurch where 51 people were killed and 49 were injured.

At the time, Adern's response to the shootings was praised around the world. In the weeks following the attack, she and the New Zealand parliament passed a ban on most semiautomatic weapons and assault rifles, as well as higher capacity magazines and parts that can convert guns into semiautomatic weapons.

The films title, They Are Us, is taken from Arderns speech describing the attack's victims. In the same speech, she refused to name the perpetrators.

Racism exists, but it is not welcome here, Ardern said at the time. An assault on the freedom of any one of us who practises their faith or religion, is not welcome here. Violence, and extremism in all its forms, is not welcome here.

They Are Us is not so much about the attack but the response to the attack. How an unprecedented act of hate was overcome by an outpouring of love and support, director Andrew Niccol, who wrote The Truman Show (1998), said in a statement. The film addresses our common humanity, which is why I think it will speak to people around the world. It is an example of how we should respond when theres an attack on our fellow human beings.




Samsung Electronics on Thursday introduced a new mobile image sensor, the industry's smallest pixel size, as the South Korean tech giant eyes to beef up its presence in the non-memory sector.







The 50-million megapixel ISOCELL JN1 is the industry's first 0.64-micrometer pixel image sensor that can deliver ultra-high resolution images and allow manufacturers to make slim mobile devices, according to Samsung.







Its pixel size is 16 percent smaller than that of a 0.7-micrometer pixel image sensor, which will reduce the height of a camera module by 10 percent, the company said.







The ISOCELL JN1, which comes at the size of 1/2.76-inches, is equipped with Samsung's latest ISOCELL 2.0 solution that improves light sensitivity by 16 percent compared to the previous ISOCELL Plus technology. It also used Inter-scene HDR technology to deliver better contrast ratio.







Samsung, the world's largest memory chip supplier, said it applied the Double Super PD solution for the first time for its image sensor with the ISOCELL JN1. It doubles the number of pixels used for autofocus compared to its previous technology for faster phase detection even in low light.







The chipmaker has been gradually reducing the size of pixels since introducing the industry's first 1-micrometer pixel image sensor in 2015. It released a 0.9-micrometer pixel image sensor in 2017 and a 0.7-micrometer pixel image sensor in 2019.







Samsung hopes its latest image sensor solutions can boost its market share and help it catch up with the industry's leader, Sony.







The company held a market share of 29 percent in the global image sensor market last year, far behind Sony's 46 percent share, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. (Yonhap)


Coastal reef clownfish similar to the species that inspired beloved characters in Disneys Finding Nemo are dying faster as a result of artificial human light, new research has suggested.

A study reported by The Guardian found that a species of clownfish, the orange-fin anemonefish, are more likely to die in areas with strong artificial human light at night.

The researchers monitored the fish for more than 18 months on a South Pacific island, observing young clownfish that lived close to the shore and artificial light in comparison to those much further into the reef and natural nocturnal lighting.

The newspaper said that 36 per cent were less likely to survive than their counterparts living away from the coast, while 44 per cent of those who did survive grew at a slower rate.

The international team of scientists studied reeds on Moorea, a small island of French Polynesia which is home to luxury hotels and bungalows with strong intentional light.

Rooms have these little windows, like a portal in the floor, so you can turn the light on and look at the fish swimming around underneath, Stephen Swearer, one of the authors of the study, told The Guardian.

Mr Swearer, who is a professor of marine biology at the University of Melbourne, told the paper that researchers are unsure why the light is causing the worrying disparity.

He said that the increased light density could be attracting more of the fishs predators or be causing negative physiological effects that have an impact on the fish.

Basically, these fish are just really tired, not being able to lower their activity levels at night, he told the newspaper. They may then behave in ways that mean they have less energy to avoid predation.

The fish arent the only sea creature to have been recorded as being affected by ongoing light pollution due to humans, with Sea Turtle hatchlings also suffering due to its effects.

Artificial light is known to have detrimental effects on the ecology of sea turtles, a 2016 paper in the US National Institutes of Healths National Library of Medicine archive says.

It continues: Particularly at the hatchling stage when they emerge from nests on natal beaches and head towards the sea.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says that disorientation from artificial lighting causes thousands of hatchling deaths each year describing it as a significant marine turtle conservation problem.

Prof Swearer called on local governments to regulate light so that its not resulting in conditions that lead to public safety concerns but that also can mitigate the risk that they might pose to wildlife.

We can make sure populations of species that we care about have refuge from that stressor, he said.
Oceans, I hate to tell you, are a social construct. There is but one mega-ocean on our blue marble, covering 71 per cent of the surface of the Earth.

However, if your mind is still caged in the thinking of the man, and you subscribe to the artificial boundaries outlined on these things called maps, theres some exciting news for you: theres a fifth ocean, the snappily named Southern, joining the global family alongside the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic Oceans. According to some people, that is.

Theres a fifth ocean now? Kind of.

This Tuesday, on World Oceans Day no less, the venerable geographic institution and magazine National Geographic decided to recognize a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, on its maps for the first time in its more than 100 year history.

So where is it?

The Southern Ocean is a more than 7.8 million square mile blob of water, occupying more than twice the area of the US, that surrounds Antarctica.

Why would they do such a thing, and why now?

The Southern Ocean has long been recognized by scientists, but because there was never agreement internationally, we never officially recognized it, National Geographic Society Geographer Alex Tait told the magazine. Its sort of geographic nerdiness in some ways.

But theyve got a point, these map nerds.

Most oceans are defined by the continents that surround them, but this one has genuine natural boundaries within the water itself.

For one thing, theres the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which has been ferrying water around the southern continent in a circle for the last 24 million years. The waters within this circle are distinct as well, tending to be colder and less salty than in other places.

There are also thousands of species that can only be found in the Southern Ocean, and others who use it as an important stop on global migration journeys, like whales.

Then theres the vital matter of climate crisis

National Geographic says the decision will help shine a light on the many ways global heating is affecting the region, from melting sea ice, to warming the waters of the ACC, a worrying trend in one of the crucial global mechanisms that circulates and stores heat and carbon.

Antarctic ice is melting six times faster than it was in the 1990s.

But not everyone is on board with the change.

All the way back in 1937, the International Hydrographic Organization, which works with the UN to standardise place names, recognised the Southern Ocean as its own entity, but repealed the change in 1953 amid disagreement over its accuracy.

Others, like the US Board on Geographic names have used the term since 1999, while the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) joined them in this understanding this February. Australia and New Zealand also argue theres a Southern Ocean.

Regardless of ones position, people hope it brings more attention to a vital region of the Earth

Heres how NOAA marine scientist Seth Sykora-Bodie put it in a recent article:

Anyone who has been there will struggle to explain whats so mesmerizing about it, but theyll all agree that the glaciers are bluer, the air colder, the mountains more intimidating, and the landscapes more captivating than anywhere else you can go, he said.
Misleading information about a controversial plan to share GP patient data is unnecessarily fuelling fears among the public and putting life-saving research at risk, experts have warned.

Health minister Jo Churchill told the House of Commons on Tuesday that the General Practice Data for Planning and Research project was due to start in July but has been delayed until September.

The announcement came after concerns were raised about the project in relation to patient privacy as well as difficulties experienced by patients trying to opt out of the scheme.

A joint statement from 120 medical researchers and experts, organised by Health Data Research UK, was issued on Wednesday, warning: GP health data are crucial for the planning and provision of health services and to enable research discoveries that save and improve peoples lives.

In a briefing to journalists, organised by the Science Media Centre, Professor Cathie Sudlow, director of the British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre, said research into a range of diseases, including dementia, arthritis, heart failure and depression, was suffering due to limits on data sharing.

She said a small but vocal minority of campaigners were behind the circulation of misinformation about this new and improved primary care data collection.

Another expert, from the UK Biobank research project, said the scheme could potentially be derailed by misinformation.

Professor Sir Rory Collins, principal investigator and chief executive for the UK Biobank project, added that data on patients in the community left GP practices years ago.

GP data is already held by private companies that do not have the same independent controls and oversight that exist within NHS Digital, he said.

Meanwhile, peoples concerns about third party data access could be misunderstood, experts suggested.

For instance, Oxford University researchers are technically a third party.

Companies like Google would not be able to obtain data for marketing purposes, but could potentially be granted permission to access data for research purposes, for example if the tech giant was attempting to develop technology to help patients with diabetes control their condition.

At the moment, around 1.5 million people have indicated they want to opt out of the project.

But the figure may in part be explained by GPs opting whole practices out of the system.

Asked about GPs who have threatened to remove all their patients from the scheme, Prof Sudlow said: There have been some GP practices who have by default set all of the patients in their practice to opt out.

I dont know how much consultation there has been with all the patients in the practice when that has happened, and the choice here should be with patients, not with their doctors.

She added: The new improved data collection system will allow better planning and monitoring of health care for all patients in England, and more robust, reliable and rapid research to benefit the publics health.

Sir Rory said that half a million Britons had agreed to share their health data with the UK Biobank, but many are astonished that researchers are unable to access their GP records.

He said: The addition of GP data could substantially enhance the kind of research that can be done in UK Biobank  for example, conditions that typically lead to hospitalisation, such as depression, back pain and asthma, can be studied.

Many more cases of diseases can be identified, yielding much more reliable findings, but also allowing us to study disease at an earlier stage before it does lead to hospitalisation.

He added: If one reads GPs do not want the data to leave their practice, Im afraid that that is a fiction  the GP data left the practices many years ago and it is held by commercial IT system suppliers on behalf of the practices.

You can actually go along and get approval to do research on those data, you can access the data, you can use it to help you recruit patients into trials, you can use it to do all kinds of research  but without all of the checks and the independent oversight that exists with NHS Digital.

Im afraid that the consequences of misinformation are that a very carefully thought-through system is being derailed.
More than 150 lecturers are reportedly refusing to teach students at Oxford Universitys Oriel College in protest at the institutions decision not to remove a contentious statue of Victorian imperialist Cecil Rhodes.

The academics have also pledged to withdraw from all talks, seminars and conferences sponsored by Oriel and to stop their involvement in interviewing students and recruiting fellows as part of the boycott, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Last month, Oriel College was accused of institutional racism by the #RhodesMustFall campaign after its governing body ruled against moving the monument to the colonialist from its position outside the building.

An independent inquiry had been set up to examine Rhodes legacy last June after the body expressed their wish to remove the statue but the college ultimately decided three weeks ago not to proceed, arguing the time frame and cost involved would pose considerable obstacles.

Now, in a stinging letter to the college, the signatories write: The collegiate university can only effectively and credibly work to eradicate racism and address the ongoing effects of colonialism today if all the colleges do so. Oriel Colleges decision not to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes undermines us all.

Despite votes in favour from its student common rooms and despite an earlier vote of the governing body expressing their wish to remove it, Oriel has now decided not to.

Faced with Oriels stubborn attachment to a statue that glorifies colonialism and the wealth it produced for the college, we feel we have no choice but to withdraw all discretionary work and goodwill collaborations.

The lecturers have already been criticised by Lord Wharton, chairman of the Office for Students, who told the paper it would be utterly unacceptable if students were to lose out as a result of the protest.

Tim Loughton, a former minister for children and families, has also criticised the move. This is academic blackmail by a group of academics who think their own political views should trump everyone elses, and if they dont get their own way then any innocent students who happen to fall within their boycott will become the victims, he said.

The Independent has approached Oriel for comment.

The latest development in the long-running row comes amid another dispute over a decision to remove the Queens portrait from Magdalen College due to concerns over its colonial links.

Members of the Magdalen College Middle Common Room, home to graduate students, overwhelmingly voted to remove the painting.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson is said to agree with education secretary Gavin Williamsons criticism of the students, according to Downing Street, after the latter branded the gesture simply absurd.

Mr Williamson has since faced criticism from the University and College Union, which said the comments were a distraction from the disastrous, systemic failings this government has presided over in higher education.

Barrister Dinah Rose, president of the college, said staff had received threatening messages over the controversy and defended students right to free speech and political debate.

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick dismissed the feud student union politics, but said he is proud to hang a portrait of Her Majesty in his own office.

Political website Guido Fawkes has meanwhile reported that the motion to remove the Queens portrait was launched in order to make members feel welcome, with one student said to have commented that patriotism and colonialism are not really separable.

Additional reporting by agencies
Emmanuel Macron has launched an angry attack on the UKs failure to implement the Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, wrecking Boris Johnsons attempts to claim there is harmony at the G7 summit.

The French president branded the prime ministers attempt to reopen the legal protocol governing trade across the Irish Sea as not serious, saying: Nothing is renegotiable.

The attack  ahead of a face-to-face meeting with Mr Johnson in Cornwall  came after the US issued the UK with an extraordinary diplomatic rebuke for putting the Northern Ireland peace process in jeopardy.

Joe Bidens top diplomat in London warned David Frost, the Brexit minister, that the government is inflaming tensions by refusing to introduce checks at ports, revealed in a memo which No 10 did not deny.

At the G7, Mr Johnson and Mr Biden held talks for one hour and 20 minutes and emerged, Downing Street claimed, in complete harmony on the Northern Ireland controversy.

But the tensions exploded immediately afterwards, at Mr Macrons press conference in Paris and ahead of a showdown between the prime minister and the European Commission on Friday.

The UK has hinted it will unilaterally shelve an agreed ban on chilled meat exports from Britain to Northern Ireland, due to kick in at the end of June  having delayed earlier promised checks on goods.

The French president said: I think it is not serious to want to revisit, in the month of July, what we finalised after years of work on [in] December.

We have a protocol, an agreement of separation in the framework of which is Northern Ireland and a trade treaty.

If after six months you say we cannot respect what was negotiated, then that says nothing can be respected. I believe in the power of treaties. I believe in seriousness. Nothing is renegotiable. Everything is applicable.

Brussels is ready to slap tariffs and quotas on UK exports, unless it backs down  and even to suspend other parts of the Brexit trade deal, possibly hitting fishing and even power supplies.

Mr Bidens primary concern is preserving peace in Ireland, prompting the apparent issuing of the demarche, a formal diplomatic reprimand almost unprecedented between close allies.

The government memo, revealed by The Times, said the US had strongly urged Britain to reach a settlement, even accepting unpopular compromises to end the stalemate.

It stated that Yael Lempert, charge daffaires at the US embassy in London, had implied that the UK had been inflaming the rhetoric, by asking if we would keep it cool.

In Cornwall, Mr Biden avoided a direct confrontation, No 10 insisting he had not raised concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol as the two leaders stressed their shared commitment to the Good Friday Agreement.

They were in in complete harmony on this issue, Mr Johnsons spokesman said. However, he did not deny the demarche, saying: I wouldnt get into the details of the discussions countries have.

On Mr Macrons attack, the spokesman claimed: We are absolutely acting in accord with what was achieved and what was set out [in the Protocol].

Mr Johnson described the president as a breath of fresh air after the meeting, while Mr Biden stressed the UK-US special relationship  a term the prime minister is believed to dislike as needy.

The two leaders signed a new Atlantic Charter, reviving the close ties of their wartime predecessors Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.

They also agreed to work to reopen travel, but the rumoured announcement of a UK-US travel corridor  to spare vaccinated visitors the need to quarantine  still appears some way off.

Likewise, although they reaffirmed their desire for a post-Brexit free trade deal, there is no sign of negotiations starting. I dont have specific date for further talks, Mr Johnsons spokesman admitted.

An exchange of gifts saw the prime minister present the president with a framed photograph of the anti-slavery campaigner and former slave Frederick Douglass.

First Lady Jill Biden was given a first edition of Daphne du Mauriers The Apple Tree, to reflect the authors Cornish links, Downing Street said.

In return, Mr Johnson was given a US-made bike and helmet, while his new wife Carrie received a leather tote bag made by military wives and a presidential silk scarf.
A South African woman is reported to have given birth to 10 babies in a single delivery, news that would see her break a world record set just last month by a mother in Mali if confirmed.

Gosiame Thamara Sithole, 37, said she had already been shocked after doctors told her she was expecting eight babies following an ultrasound.

So the Gauteng province resident was even more surprised when she ended up having 10 babies  two of which were missed during the scans, Pretoria News reported.

It comes a month after Malian mother Halima Cisse gave birth to nonuplets in a hospital in Morocco. Ms Cisses antenatal scans had also missed two infants, meaning she had expected seven babies.

The South African births have yet to be confirmed by either the government or Guinness World Records, though the latter said it was aware of the news and investigating.

A spokesperson told the New York Post that they wished the new mother well and that her medical needs came first. Our records team alongside a specialist consultant are looking into this, they said.

Ms Sithole, who is already a mother to six-year-old twins, said she is now seeking funding to raise her one dozen children. She told Pretoria News she would be unable to return to work as a shop manager.

"Its seven boys and three girls. She was seven months and seven days pregnant. I am happy. I am emotional," her husband, Teboho Tsotets said.

Ms Sithole has said her babies were naturally conceived and she did not receive any fertility treatment. Multiple births tend to be more common after treatments like IVF.

During her pregnancy, she said initial scans showed she was expecting six children before the number was revised upwards to eight.

She said she had to look up on the internet whether it was possible for women to deliver that many children.

I didnt believe it. I doubted it, she said. I was convinced that if it was more [than one], it would be twins or triplets, not more than that. When the doctor told me, I took time to believe it.

Ms Sithole said she was worried about the health of her children during the pregnancy, that she experienced a lot of pain in her legs and suffered heartburn, while she struggled to sleep at nights.

She said she was forced to take unpaid leave from work just two months into her pregnancy and had exhausted her savings. As well as appealing for financial support she called on local volunteers to help out.

I appeal to the public to help me in whatever way they can. Anybody who has anything I would appreciate it. I am relying on my mother-in-law now, she said. I will also need people who can volunteer to help me raise the children  helpers.

The father of the children, who is currently unemployed, said he was overjoyed by the birth of the children. He said it felt like [they are] Gods chosen children.
British prime minister Boris Johnson and US president Joe Biden are expected to announce on Thursday a forthcoming resumption of transatlantic travel set to occur as soon as possible, according to a statement from Number 10.

The new directives are expected to be announced on Thursday, during the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders ahead of the upcoming G7 summit on Friday in Cornwall. The policies will be part of a new Atlantic Charter the pair will hammer out over the coming months. The name is a nod to a historic 1941 joint declaration from Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt during WWII, expressing solidarity between the two nations and a commitment to democracy, a prelude to later diplomatic cooperation efforts like NATO and the UN.

A bilateral taskforce will work to explore options for resuming US-UK travel and ensure that the UK and US closely share thinking and expertise on international travel policy going forward as part of the agreement, according to Downing Street.

The announcement was met with mixed reactions. Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss told the BBC on Wednesday, The creation of the Atlantic Taskforce is positive recognition of the importance of the UK-US travel corridor and a first step towards reopening the skies, but said it falls short because of a lack of specifics.

Its been more than a year since many have been able to fly between the countries and see friends and family due to coronavirus restrictions.

Last March, the Trump administration shut down most travel from the UK to the US by non-citizens. Major airlines have called on Mr Biden to lift those restrictions in recent days.

In the other direction, US travellers are currently required to isolate for 10 days upon arriving in the UK.

With world-leading vaccination programmes in both the UK and US, there is a clear opportunity to safely open up travel between these two low-risk countries, enabling consumers on both sides of the Atlantic to reconnect with loved ones, re-establish business relationships and explore new destinations after more than a year of lockdowns and restrictions, executives at popular transatlantic carriers like American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, JetBlue, United Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic wrote in a statement on Monday.

The new Atlantic Charter will include more than just travel guidelines, however, and is expected to cover trade, travel, and landmark policies for cooperation between US and UK tech firms.

Just as our countries worked together to rebuild the world following the Second World War, so too will we apply our combined strength to the enormous challenges facing the planet today  from global defence and security to building back better from coronavirus to stopping climate change, the British government said in a statement.

The news follows a previous announcement on Tuesday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ease travel restrictions between America and 110 other countries and territories.

Another major Covid announcement could be on the horizon in the coming days as well, even as the UK struggles with the fast-spreading Delta coronavirus variant first identified in India. On 14 June, a decision is expected on whether England will lift the final stages of its national lockdown, with reviews of similar rules in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland to follow later this month.
A California politician who once served as a hands-on policeman is spearheading efforts to reform law enforcement in the state  by banning everything from deadly chokeholds and restraints, to the officers own gangs that have been accused of intimidation and murder.

Mike Gipson, an assembly member whose district includes parts of south Los Angeles and the city of Compton, says it is time for a new vision of police in the nations most populous state, and where between 2013 and 2021, at least 1,402 people were killed by officers.

While it ranks the 14th-deadliest state for police killings per capita, he says the sheer scale of the numbers, and the fact the nations biggest sheriffs department  Los Angeles County  is allegedly riddled with police gangs and illegality, makes it ripe for reform.

We are reimagining what law enforcement looks like in the state of California, he tells The Independent. Were trying to make sure we have officers who are held accountable. Residents in constituencies across California are demanding more accountability when it comes to police officers, and police officers using deadly and lethal force.

In recent weeks, Gipson, 54, has introduced two bills, Assembly Bill (AB) 490, that would ban police from placing suspects into prone positions, which can cause people to die from what is known as positional asphyxia.

It supplements a bill passed last year, AB 1196, that banned officers from using chokeholds or carotid restraints, of the type used by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin when he murdered George Floyd last year.

A third bill that Gipson is sponsoring, AB 958, would make it a firing offence for an officer to be a member of a police gang, or clique. California, in particular Los Angeles, is notorious for being home to almost 20 reported gangs.

It is alleged the police gangs, which have names such as The Executioners and The Banditos, operate in much the same way as the gangs police vow to confront in their duties, with violent and sometimes deadly initiations, gang tattoos and corruption. Authorities have long been accused of failing to root out the police gangs, whose members have allegedly been involved in the killing of civilians, as part of their entry to the gang.

Thats absolutely crazy, but it exists, he says. And the only way you can be initiated in these gangs, is that you have to use excessive force or lethal force, on someone.

He adds: But theres one deputy sheriff in Compton, who refused to be part of that gang, and who was ridiculed and who was bullied, who was placed in an unsafe position after he said enough is enough, after five years and exposed it.

He says the bill would mean officers who are found to be members of such gangs would be fired. It is absolutely mind boggling were doing this in 2021, but we have to because it still exists in our communities.

Protesters gathered after police shot and killed 18-year-old Andres Guardado in the back (AFP via Getty Images)

In a statement, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department said: Sheriff Alex Villanueva was the first sheriff in the history of LASD to implement a strict policy prohibiting cliques and sub-groups, and he has repeatedly demonstrated his commitment to transparency and accountability.

We can also say, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department expects all of its members to hold themselves to the highest ethical and professional standards at all times. Those who allegedly engage in criminal misconduct will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Gipson is not the only politician or activist pushing for police reform in California. Kevin McCarty, a Democratic assembly member who represents Sacramento, last year was the sponsor of two bills, one that established a investigative unit within the Department of Justice to oversee investigations of officer-involved shootings, and a second that gives county officials more oversight of sheriffs departments.

Also in May, the California Senate passed SB 2, a bill that is seen as a key plank of Democrats efforts at reform, and which would permit officials to decertify officers fired for misconduct or convicted of certain crimes against public justice. Right now, California is one of just four states that does not have such legislation, designed to stop bad apple officers being employed by another force if fired from their jobs.

The bills sponsor, state senator Steven Bradford, told Politico the reforms were part of a tidal wave.

Were seeing it in the streets, were seeing it in our communities, were seeing it across this country, he said.

There is particular interest in Gipsons efforts because of his hands-on experience as a police officer in the city of Maywood, south-east of Los Angeles.

He says key to his work as an officer was engaging with the community, something he believes every person in uniform should be attempting.

I knew the different families that lived in the community. We need to make sure that that we go back to those days where people are supportive of the police, and not fearful of the police, to that extent we all try to work and make our communities better, he says.

We dont want law enforcement to think that our communities are the enemy, no more than we want a community to think that law enforcement is the enemy, but we also have to face the realisation there are bad apples. There are bad apples in uniform.

 Compton Mayor Aja Brown accuses sheriff's gangs of terrorising the community

The decision to author the bill that would prevent officers putting suspects, or people they encounter, in prone positions followed the death last December of a 30-year-old Asian-American, Angelo Quinto, whose family had called the police in Antioch after he suffered a mental health episode.

As it was, police ended up handcuffing him, and leaning on him for five minutes and him falling unconscious. He never regained consciousness and died three days later in hospital; his family believe he was asphyxiated by the polices actions, though the force has defended its response.

I was watching it the whole time. I was there. I saw everything unfold in front of my eyes in our bedroom, said his mother, Maria Cassandra Quinto-Collins.

Whatever they did, kneeling on his neck, the whole time, its all unnecessary, because he wasnt resisting. He did not resist. He wasnt violent. He was calm.

The case of her son was among five police-involved deaths of men of colour highlighted by The Independent to mark the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, and draw attention to more than 400 cases in the last 12 months.

In the city of Alameda, another young man, Mario Arenales Gonzalez, died in April after police pinned the unarmed 26-year-old to the ground and pressed on him. Three investigations are underway, and a lawyer for the family has demanded an outside investigation by the FBI.

Assembly Bill 490 is appropriately, and I want to underscore appropriately, titled the Angelo Quinto Act of 2021. Were going to say his name. We want justice for Angelo, we want a full investigation into the murder of Angelo Quinto, says Gipson.

He says because the law prohibiting chokeholds or neck restraints had not yet come into effect at the time, there was less his family could do in its efforts to seek justice.

But moving forward, police officers, applying those kinds of techniques will be held accountable, he says.

Anytime you cut someones oxygen ability to breathe, were saying thats excessive, that is lethal force, and should not be used by any law enforcement officer in the state of California.

Earlier this month, the bill was passed by the assembly and moved to the Senate.

My bill still allows officers to protect themselves in life-threatening situations, but it does not allow them to cut off anyones airway, Gipson said after it passed the lower chamber.

The circumstances of Angelo Quintos death are a stark parallel to George Floyds, which both exposed loopholes in use-of-force policies.
Burritos, tacos, salads and other Chipotle menu items are going to be around 4 per cent more expensive, as the Mexican-inspired restaurant chain bumped its prices.

The company says its increased costs are a result of its decision to pay staff higher wages.

While commentators pointed out that the company has undertaken other big ticket investments in recent years, including a relocation of its headquarters and a substantial pay packet for its CEO, Chipotle denied either issue had played any part in its decision.

Workers at the fast-food chain had their hourly rate raised from $11 to $18 last month, an indicator of the tight labour market faced by restaurant chains in the US.

Businesses are struggling to hire employees as the US economy recovers, with job openings reaching record levels in recent months.

The leisure and hospitality sector, which was hit hardest by Covid 19, opened up 292,000 jobs in May, as restaurants and bars sought to rehire employees that had been let go during the pandemic. Chipotles announcement came after a drive to recruit 20,000 new staff.

Chief executive Brian Niccol, speaking at the Baird Global Consumer, Technology and Services conference on Tuesday, said that while they prefer not to raise prices, it made sense in this scenario to invest in our employees and get these restaurants staffed and make sure we had the pipeline of people to support our growth.

Mr Niccol insisted that the cost of the chains food remained reasonable, reported the New York Times, with the price of a chicken burrito still well below $8 in most markets.

However, some media commentators took issue with the argument that the price rise was necessitated by paying staff more.

Alex Press, a staff writer at Jacobin, tweeted: Chipotle also recently burned around $100 million relocating its HQ from Denver to Orange County because the new CEO lived there and didnt want to move.

And Ken Klipperstein, a reporter at The Intercept, posted the headline to a Bloomberg story claiming that Mr Niccols pay nearly doubled in 2020 to $38m, adding: Funny how price increases are blamed on modest wage increases instead of executive compensation.

Asked by The Independent whether either issue had affected the price increase, the company said: No.

Chipotle is not the only restaurant chain to increase pay in an effort to attract applicants. In May, McDonalds entry-level wage for new employees in company-owned restaurants rose between $11 and $17 an hour. Current employees pay rose by an average of 10 per cent.
"The" Donald appears to have made sure he will be the most prominent Donald for years to come, as new data shows that the former president's first name hit record low popularity in 2020.

A new report from the Social Security Administration included data on the most popular names for babies in 2020.

Though Donald was not exactly the most beloved name in recent years  it started 2019 as the 555th most popular name for boys  it toppled 55 places to 610th in 2020.

At no time since the name records began in the 1880s has the name Donald been less popular.

Only 444 newborns were given the name Donald in 2020, compared to 507 in 2019 and 602 in 2017.

The name Donald hit its peak in 1934. That year, there were 30,408 boys  and 110 girls  who were given the traditionally Celtic name.

After that peak, the name never really saw a notable resurgence in popularity, save for a slight bump in 2017, which was the year Mr Trump took office.

The bump was short lived, however, as the trend downward continued the following year.

While no one wants to be the reason why a name actively loses popularity, Donald Trump can take some solace in the fact that the names of presidents tend to decline in popularity while they are in office.

The Huffington Post reported that the names Ronald, Richard, Gerald and George all declined in popularity when their corresponding presidents were serving in office.

Much like Mr Trump, the name Lyndon shot up in popularity the year Lyndon Johnson took office, but  also like Mr Trump  a slump began shortly after.

Another president was likely the only reason one name even made it to the board.

Because the SSA data only tracks the names of infants if at least five are given the name in a given year, the name Barack did not even appear on the list until 2007, when then-Illinois senator Barack Obamas star was rising in the Democratic Party. The name peaked in 2009, Mr Obamas first year in office.

Much like his predecessors, his name also lost its lustre as his administration continued.

Where Mr Trump probably cannot take solace is in the fact that even his children and family members' names are tanking in popularity.

In 2017, Melania was one of the fastest rising baby names for girls. In 2018, 233 girls were given the name. In 2019, that fell to 208. Then in 2020 the name's popularity dropped again to 190.

The names Tiffany, Eric and Jared all dropped too. The only Trump clan members whose names seemed to have survived the popularity purge are Ivanka  whose popularity increased slightly from 2019 to 2020  and Barron, the youngest of the Trumps.

In 2020, there were 134 babies named Barron, which was an increase from 2019, in which 107 were born. Both Barron and Ivanka's names popularity peaked in 2017  the same year that "Donald" got its bump  with 165 girls named Ivanka and 136 boys taking the name Barron.
SK Telecom (SKT) CEO Park Jung-ho speaks at the company's general shareholders' meeting held in March at SKT's headquarters in central Seoul. / Courtesy of SKT



By Kim Bo-eun



SK Telecom (SKT) announced Thursday it would split its shares five-for-one, as well as conduct a horizontal spinoff. The decision by the country's top mobile carrier is interpreted as a means to address possible complaints from investors as well as to boost its stock price over the long term.



The stock split comes while the telecommunications company is splitting into two entities  plans have been approved by the company's board. The spinoff would create two entities  one tentatively named SKT Investment. The spinoff will be effective from Nov. 1 this year, it said.



The spinoff ratio has been set as six for the surviving entity and four for the new entity based on net asset value. This would split SKT investors' shares proportionately into stocks in both companies, which could possibly give rise to complaints from investors as they see their number of SKT shares reduced, under the scenario a stock split does not take place.



The stock split will result in a larger number of shares for investors, which could appease them while their aggregate value would not change. After the split, SKT's total issued shares will come to 360,300,715, up from 72,060. The split would also slash SKT's stock price to 65,800 won as of its Thursday closing price of 329,000 won.



SKT said the split is aimed at boosting shareholder value. "The split facilitates the entry of new shareholders given the stock price is now more affordable," a company official said. In the longer term, the influx of new shareholders has the effect of bringing up the stock price.



SKT and the new entity will divide these stocks according to the 6:4 spinoff ratio. This will be reflected in the local stock market from Nov. 29, when the listing change and relisting for the companies will take place. Prior to this date, a month-long suspension of trading of SKT shares will go into effect from Oct. 26 to Nov. 26. Shareholders will be given cash in return for their fractional shares, which will be based on SKT's closing price as of Nov. 29.



"SKT and the new entity share the vision to boost corporate value and shareholder value by accelerating growth in their respective fields of businesses," the company official said.



The surviving entity  SKT  will focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital infrastructure and the new firm will invest in semiconductors and information and communication technologies (ICT). The latter entity is set to handle the exploration of various acquisition opportunities for SK Group's semiconductor affiliate SK hynix. SK hynix's stock closed at 123,000 won, Thursday, up 0.41 percent from Wednesday.


A British Airways pilot who spent a record 243 days in a hospital in Texas while suffering from Covid-19 before returning home, has died in a hospital in the UK.

Nicholas Synnott, 60, was a father of two who was infected with the virus more than a year ago while flying between London and Houston. He died last week, MailOnline reported.

Mr Synnott was admitted to a hospital in Houston in March 2020. The cause of his death remains unclear, but its probable that his death was related to the aftermath of surviving Covid-19 as doctors have said that his organs suffered severe damage as a result of the virus.

Houston Doctor Bindu Akkanti said it was remarkable that Mr Synnott managed to get out of the American hospital as he was comatose and went through several organ failures.

Mr Synnott is survived by his wife Nicola, 54, a school administrator, and his two children, charity worker Rebecca, 24, and George, 21, who is in training to also be a pilot, MailOnline reported.

Captain Al Bridger, director of flight operations at British Airways, said: We are devastated by this incredibly sad news. Nick was a valued member of our pilot family and a friend to many at the airline. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this extremely difficult time.

The family of Mr Synnott have asked those who want to support the family to donate to the charity where his daughter works, The Childrens Trust. The charity supports children with brain injuries.

Nick was a much-loved husband, father, brother, uncle and friend. He will be dearly missed by all that knew him, a fundraising page said.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation on Nicks behalf to The Children's Trust, where Rebecca (Nick's daughter) works, the message continued.

During his illness, Mr Synnott was on a ventilator after suffering respiratory failure. He was later treated using a heart and lung machine, according to doctors.

After leaving the hospital in Houston, Mr Synnott told ABC 30: My temperature was spiking over 100 degrees... then I went through sort of a dark phase where psychologically there were issues I had to come to terms with.

Every organ of his body was affected by Covid-19, Dr Biswajit Kar told ABC 30. But yet, because his health was so good as a pilot prior to the illness, he could sustain all this and survive something as serious as this. We were firstly overwhelmed by the joy that someone this sick could make it.

When asked how Mr Synnott managed to survive, Dr Akkanti credited his wife, who was at his bedside every day for almost eight months.

There was always a question, Is he even in there? Given the enormous number of... medications [and] the other multi-organ issues that were happening. I think all of us on our team agreed that it was his wife, Dr Akkanti said.

Mr Synnott told ABC 30 in December 2020 that he managed to get through the eight-month hospital stay with the support of my wife, and the thought of going back to my kids. It was a tough journey but, weve got where we are.
A fake reporter who caused an internet storm after telling Vice President Kamala Harris that she voted for her at a press conference in Mexico City has said the incident was a mix-up.

"Maria Fernanda of Univision ruffled feathers on social media on Tuesday when she said it was an honour to ask the vice president a question before revealing she had voted for Ms Harris herself.

"My question is, what would you say to these women, those mothers and also women of color on both sides of the border, farmers, many of them who I see every day as a message of hope but also aswhat will you do for them in the next coming years? the woman eventually asked.

Critics were quick to hit out at the woman, who they believed was an official member of the press, saying the comments were not impartial.

However, Fox News has now reported that the woman heard in the video, who was not seen on camera during the exchange, is not in fact affiliated with the media company.

The woman, whose full name is Maria Fernanda Reyes, reportedly spoke with the outlet on Tuesday and confirmed she is not a journalist and that the incident was a mix-up.

Ms Reyes also told the newspaper that she was surprised to be called on to ask a question and that she didnt correct the mistake because she was caught up in the moment.

Daniel Coronell, president of news for Univision in the US, also confirmed on Twitter on Tuesday that Ms Reyes was not associated with the company.

Let it be clear to everyone that Ms Maria Fernanda Reyes is not part of this media organization, he said.

In a possible explanation for the situation, Fox News reported that there is a Univision reporter named Maria Fernanda Lopez who is based in Miami.

When contacted by the broadcaster on Tuesday the journalist said she had never traveled in my life to Mexico.

I was in Miami during the incident where a lady named Maria Fernanda Reyes was presented by mistake as a Univision reporter, which is incorrect, the woman said.

In response to the confusion on social media, Symone Sanders, a senior adviser and chief spokesperson for Ms Harris, said that the White House would be looking into the incident.

Fox News reported that the San Francisco Bay-area entrepreneur said she has been invited to attend the vice presidents event and was asked upon arrival if she would be interested in asking a question as everyone else was.

"Everyones trying to twist it for their own agenda," she told the broadcaster. "I dont care. I asked a question. If people dont like it, fine.
Former White House counsel Don McGahn has said in his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee that Donald Trump wanted him to fire special counsel Robert Mueller who was probing Russian interference into the 2016 election result.

According to Mr McGahn, the former president was so clear in his demand that in 2017 he nearly threatened to resign. He reportedly told former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus that Mr Trump was asking him to do crazy s**t.

In his testimony, he says he does not remember saying that to the chief of staff, but Mr McGahn confesses that it does sound like something he may have said. He, however, characterised the use of those specific words as fair.

Describing several instances of potential obstruction by Mr Trump, McGahn said it had reached an inflection point and it was time to hit the brakes when Mr Trump allegedly pressurised him to direct deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to fire Mr Mueller.

If the acting attorney general received what he thought was a direction from the counsel to the president to remove a special counsel, he would either have to remove the special counsel or resign, said Mr McGahn during his testimony.

We are still talking about the Saturday Night Massacre decades and decades later, he said as he compared Mr Trumps alleged interference with the probe with that of President Richard Nixon firing several top officials in an attempt to block an investigation into the Watergate scandal.

Mr Nixons decision led to a huge outrage and highly damaged his reputation. His impeachment process began ten days after his decision to oust the special prosecutor.

The 2019 Mueller report on the other hand concluded that though the Trump campaign welcomed and expected to benefit from the Russian interference, there was insufficient evidence to bring any conspiracy charges against the then-president and his associates.

Defending his decision to not call Mr Rosenstein, Mr McGahn said, this seemed to be an inflection point.

It was time to hit the brakes and not make a phone call to Rod to raise this issue that the president had continued to raise with me, he said. It seemed to me that it'd be easier for me to not make the call and take whatever heat or fallout there would be than to cause, potentially, a chain reaction that I think would not be in the best interest of the president.

Mr McGahn said he also didnt call Mr Rosenstein because he [Rosensteing] could potentially react in a way that would cause him to potentially resign, and that would cause a chain reaction that would be not in anyones interest.

The House Judiciary Committee has been trying for a couple of years to question Mr McGahn, in its probe into whether Mr Trump obstructed justice in his attempts to thwart the investigation into the possible collusion with the Russians.

While earlier subpoenas to Mr McGahn were blocked by the White House, the committee made a breakthrough last week, following a two-year court battle to secure his testimony.
A rising number of women in Papua New Guinea have suffered brutal violence after being falsely accused of carrying out witchcraft, campaigners have warned.

Human Rights Watch noted that accusations over sorcery often surface when there has been a sudden death or illness in the community, and said that the increase in attacks could be linked to a steep rise in coronavirus cases in the southwestern Pacific country.

The organisation called for the authorities to take measures to urgently stop disinformation about Covid-19 deaths in a bid to prevent more attacks being carried out in relation to allegations of sorcery.

Human Rights Watch said at least five women have been attacked since March this year  with one of them being killed.

The most recent reported case, in early May, was of Mary Kopari, who was accused of sorcery after a young boy died in her village. She was tied up and burned alive in Komo-Magarima District  with the attack filmed and reported by Papua New Guinea television.

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Human Rights Watch said that while police are aware of the identities of some of the attackers, no arrests have been reported.

Violence in relation to allegations of sorcery is prevalent in the country, and takes place in the context of high levels of gender-based violence. Women are the victims in the majority of incidents of violence following accusations of witchcraft, but men have been attacked in the past too.

Stephanie McLennan, senior manager of Asia initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said: The Papua New Guinea government should urgently investigate all cases of violence following sorcery accusations, and prosecute those responsible.

Gender-based violence is a persistent problem in Papua New Guinea, and the government is doing very little to stop it.

Ms McLennan called for the government to tackle the root causes of sorcery accusations such as the dearth of basic knowledge among the public about health problems.

She added: The authorities should act swiftly and effectively to correct misinformation about deaths from Covid-19 to prevent more sorcery accusations and attacks.

In one case, a 45-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter were accused of causing the womans husband to have died. He is believed to have died from Covid.

The mother and daughter were held captive by the husbands relatives and tortured with hot iron rods in Goroka, capital of the Eastern Highlands province, at the end of March. Police managed to rescue both of them from the attack.

Police also rescued two women in April who were viciously attacked in Port Moresby by a group of up to 20 men, who tortured them after accusing them of witchcraft.

The women were scalded with hot irons for hours after men accused them of carrying out sorcery and of killing a woman who had recently died. Police discovered one of the women tied up with ropes and severely injured. Both women were treated for knife injuries as well as serious burns.

A coalition of members of parliament is currently holding a meeting about gender-based violence in the country  with the inquiry stretching from the end of May until the end of June.

Dr Fiona Hukula, a gender specialist who gave evidence at one of the summits hearings, said that women accused of sorcery are often tortured, often cut, sexually violated, their clothes are removed and they are often kept in captivity.

Ms McLennan, of Human Rights Watch, added: Papua New Guineas leaders should order the police to take gender-based violence seriously, provide sufficient resources for officials to prosecute these crimes, and provide all survivors with medical treatment, shelter, and access to support services.

The parliamentary inquiry should lead the way in exploring options for early warning, protection, and dispute resolution mechanisms that can help prevent such crimes.
Europes most polluting coal-fired power station, the Belchatow power plant in Poland, has announced plans for its closure.

The state-run Polish Energy Group said it will gradually decommission the plant, which produces 2728 terawatt hours of electricity per year, between 2030 and 2036.

The company also said it will end the exploitation of lignite deposits  also known as brown coal, which comes from a neighbouring strip mine.

Lignite is one of the most polluting types of coal, due to its low density, requiring huge quantities to be burnt to generate energy.

The facility, south west of Lodz, Polands third-largest city, produces around 20 per cent of the total power generation for the whole country.

The enormous building, over three quarters of a kilometre long, has chimneys standing over 900 feet in height, making them among the tallest free-standing structures in Poland.

The decision to close comes as the Lodz region applies for EU funding under the blocs Just Transition Fund, which aims to help communities transition to a more environmentally friendly way of living and carbon-neutral economy.

Poland still generates the majority of its energy from coal, but like other countries, is coming under increased pressure to move to renewable sources.

Wojciech Dabrowski, the chief executive of PGE said: We very much want the odzkie Voivodship to be able to access EU funding for just transition.

Setting the dates for shutting down the energy units at the plant in Bechatow and ending extraction at the lignite deposits Bechatow and Szczercow and thus also withdrawing from the plan to mine the Zloczew deposit are of fundamental significance from the viewpoint of planning the future of the Bechatow energy complex, its employees and the regions residents.

He added: They are also symbolic because the success of Polish energy transition will largely depend on the outcome of this project.

Announcing the creation of the Just Transition Fund in December 2020, the EUs commissioner for cohesion and reforms, Elisa Ferreira, said: The Just Transition Fund is a crucial instrument for the delivery of the European Green Deal. It is also at the heart of cohesion policys mission to make sure that no one is left behind, while we progress towards a greener and more competitive Europe.
As the travel industry continued to rage against the governments implementation of the traffic light scheme, Britains biggest holiday company has cancelled tens of thousands of early summer trips to Turkey.

The popular Mediterranean destination is one of 50 countries on the red list from which arrivals to the UK must go into hotel quarantine.

While there is a possibility Turkey may be moved from the highest risk category at the time of the next review, due on 24 June, Tui is telling anyone booked to travel there before 12 July that their holiday will not be going ahead.

A spokesperson for the company said: Due to ongoing uncertainty, were unfortunately cancelling all holidays to Turkey up to and including 11 July. Were in the process of updating customers and our web.

Customers are now entitled to a full refund within two weeks  though they can alternatively choose a different and/or later holiday.

Tui has cancelled all holidays to Cyprus, Croatia, Italy and Spain until 20 June, and to Bulgaria, Morocco and Tunisia until 27 June.

Its rival, Jet2, has suspended all international departures until 1 July  with Turkish holidays cancelled until 22 July.

When international leisure travel was legalised on 17 May, initially Portugal, Gibraltar and Iceland were the only accessible European nations on the quarantine-free green list.

The travel industry assumed that at the first review, on 3 June, the range of options would be expanded. But instead Portugal was moved to the amber list, from which 10 days of self-isolation is required.

At the time, Tui and its rivals expressed dismay. Andrew Flintham, managing director for Tui UK, called it another step back for our industry.

Despite multiple requests, the government has refused to be transparent about the data requirements for green, amber and red destinations, he said.

Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2, said: We simply cannot understand why more destinations across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands are not allowed to open to UK holidaymakers.

We know international travel can restart safely, so we urge the government to urgently reconsider its approach and work with the industry to help us achieve that.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, told Parliament on Monday that decisions were taken on the advice of the Joint Biosecurity Centre.
It was with some relief that Boris Johnson told journalists after his first meeting with Joe Biden that the US president had not made clear his alarm about views clear events in Northern Ireland. No, he didn't, Johnson insisted.

The fact is that Biden didnt need to. He had already deployed a preemptive strike, via the American Embassy in London, which expressed grave concern about the deepening UK-EU dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol to Brexit minister David Frost a week earlier. The leaked Whitehall version of this tense meeting said the US implied that the UK had been inflaming the rhetoric and urged it to keep it cool.

Johnson will be relieved that Biden did not go public on the Northern Ireland issue  initially, at leastafter their 90-minute meeting in Cornwall. Speaking afterwards, the president hailed a very productive meeting and focused on his announcement that the US will buy and donate 500m doses of the Pfizer vaccine to some of the world's poorest countries.

Unusually, there was no joint press conference, which suited Johnson as one might have brought their differences over Northern Ireland into the open. Downing Street's claim of "complete harmony" on the issue was probably overstated. But it was able to say the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and to protecting the gains of the peace process and agreed that both the EU and the UK had a responsibility to work together and to find pragmatic solutions to allow unencumbered trade between Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

There was just a hint in there of Biden urging both sides to compromise to make the protocol work for all sides. Johnson could live with that, though whether London and Brussels now act on it remains to be seen.

While the tension between Johnson and Biden over Northern Ireland is real, there was plenty of genuine common ground between them. Fears that the new administration would view Johnson as a mini-Trump have not materialised. Luckily for Johnson, the pair have been driven together by events on which they broadly agree: recovery in the wake of Covid-19; the climate crisis and forging an alliance of democratic nations to stand up to autocracies such as Russia and China. Johnson is holding the ring at a time when it suits Biden to revitalise the ailing G7 and will also chair the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November. Biden is being very supportive on climate change, one UK official told me.

So it was easy to agree their new Atlantic Charter, an echo of the 1941 agreement between Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt mapping out their goals for the post-war world. Johnson was careful to avoid the s-word  special  as he trumpeted a partnership that is more important than ever and described Biden as "a breath of fresh air." He is right to believe special relationship makes the UK appear needy. Biden didnt quite stick to this script, reaffirming the special relationship and saying he did not use the phrase lightly. Perhaps Biden has been on the scene for so long that it is hard to get used to a British prime minister who doesnt want to hear the words.

Johnson won a nod to a future UK-US trade deal, though it is not an immediate priority for the Biden administration. There was a commitment to work towards resuming quarantine-free travel between the two countries, though Washington is in less of a hurry than London amid fears about the Indian variant in the UK.

The meeting was a sign that the triangular UK-US-EU relationship has changed. Outside the EU, the UK can no longer be at the apex, trying to act as a bridge between Europe and America. Although Biden would not have wanted the role, the US is now at the top, trying to bridge differences between the UK and EU which threaten to undermine his drive to bring democratic nations together. Hopefully, the global perspective of the G7 discussions starting on Friday will remind Johnson he should not let the narcissism of small differences with Britains neighbours derail the greater project. The real enemy is seen as being in Beijing and Moscow, not Brussels.

That would mean Johnson showing greater respect for EU institutions rather than pretending they do not exist while he engages with individual EU leaders. It would also mean working constructively with the European Commission to defuse the growing crisis over Northern Ireland. Biden would welcome that, and might even award Johnson some precious brownie points, boosting the prime minister's chances of making "Global Britain" a success.
In just 15-20 minutes of screen space in a nine-episode web series, Uday Mahesh in the role of Chellam Sir stole the heart of the audiences.

His popularity reminds us of Bob Biswas, an insurance agent by the day who is a hitman in Vidya Balan starre Kahaani. Biswas caught people's fancy too. So much so, that now a spin-off movie starring Abhishek Bachchan is already in the works.

When Uday Mahesh was asked about a spin-off on Chellam Sir, he told PTI, "If I get an offer like that, I would definitely love to do it. Even for Family Man 3, if they'll call me, I'll be up for it".

PrimeVideo

Uday Mahesh, for the uninitiated, is a 51-year-old writer and director in Tamil cinema. Did you know he was originally offered another role?

PrimeVideo

Mahesh said he had first auditioned for the role of Dheepan, a senior Sri Lankan Tamil fighter who uses diplomacy to achieve the cause of liberation. The role was eventually played by Azhagam Perumal.

He didn't hear from the team for two months and then got a call and they offered him the role of Chellam. He accepted it because he wanted to be a part of the show he loved so much.

"So I said yes to the role," the actor said about his extended cameo. The creators of the show Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK briefed him about the character. They said this is a retired spy who helps Srikant and they have worked together sometime in the past. "He is a superconscious spy. It was an interesting part."

Who knew the character will become a trend on social media in no time.

When Srikant asked for Important info #ChellamSir : pic.twitter.com/2E3VVzoqWd  Unemotional Creature  (@ABrainLessVoter) June 6, 2021

Born and brought up in Chennai, Mahesh holds a diploma in chemical engineering from Central Polytechnic College. He was not interested in studying and wanted to join the Merchant Navy.



"I could not join the Merchant Navy due to family pressure. When I was studying in college, I had a passion for cinema. But I didn't know how to get into it."



Senior citizens have a very high chance of getting famous even with less screen time on an amazon prime series !#ChellamSir #TheFamilyMan2 #Mirzapur pic.twitter.com/BUoCUIq8fw  Dr. Shivasis Mohanty (@ImShivasis) June 7, 2021

Every time, Shrikant hits a roadblock, Chellam Sir gives him a breakthrough.

"I liked the role because there was a comical touch to it. We never thought this was going to be so huge," he said.

If incognito tab had a face #ChellamSir pic.twitter.com/LcFSuvNOUq  Nirmal Shankar (@IngaEnnaSoludhu) June 8, 2021

Around that time, he met cinematographer Natarajan Subramaniam through a common friend. "Through Nutty, I got an entry into the industry as an assistant director. Slowly, I worked towards becoming a writer and director," he said.

He made his directorial debut in 2006 with Naalai. He also co-wrote the story of Shoojit Sircar's directorial debut Yahaan.

He became an actor by accident. Mahesh said director Naveen wanted him to play the role of Salim bhai, a funny don, in the 2013 Tamil black comedy Moodar Koodam.

"I was reluctant to act. Naveen forced me and eventually I said yes. I wanted to be known as a writer-director, not an actor. There are so many great actors in the industry, comparatively, I'm nothing," he said.

Chellam sir breaking SIM card after every call from Sri.#Familyman2 #ChellamSir pic.twitter.com/PkY7jLm50G  Rohit Jagdale (@R_R_jagdale) June 8, 2021

In Madras Cafe, directed by Sircar, he essayed the role of an intelligence officer. "Shoojit offered me a small character in 'Madras Cafe' and I couldn't refuse because I was getting to share screen space with John Abraham."

He was also a part of Sudhir Mishras Serious Man. He also played a small role in Rajinikanth and Radhika Apte starrer Kabali, which released in 2016.



Now after the success of Family Man 2, Uday Mahesh says he would love to act more if good offers come his way.


A BMW Korea official gives a lecture to students during the car company's Young Talent Dream Project at Gyeonggi High School of Automotive Science in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, April 25. Courtesy of BMW Korea



By Kim Jae-heun



BMW Korea kicked off its "Young Talent Dream Project," as part of its efforts to contribute to fostering skilled young workers and creating jobs here.



In particular, the German carmaker will take advantage of its specialty to educate high school students who want to be automotive engineers or mechanics. The program will be run by the non-profit BMW Korea Future Fund.



The Young Talent Dream Project shares with students the experiences of automotive workers and gives them guidance on how to find the right jobs on their own.



Since April, BMW Korea has been sending executives and technicians from its official dealer firms to schools and universities to give speeches on their jobs and the car industry.



The very first lecture took place at Gyeonggi High School of Automotive Science in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, and BMW Korea has visited three more since then, including: Ewha Womans University, Hanyang Technical High School and Hanyang University.



Two hundred students have participated in this program, receiving education in the fields of branding, sales, mechanical work and judicial affairs in the car business and in the making of automotive parts.



BMW Korea is planning to visit a total of 15 high schools and universities this year as part of the Young Talent Dream Project.



The German carmaker is also working on solving job market issues here by offering opportunities to students.



It has been running its Apprentice Program since 2004, where it picks students with outstanding performance in automotive subjects and provides them with scholarships, as well as job opportunities, at BMW's dealer firms.



Students selected for the Apprentice Program will be given a chance to work at BMW Service Centers. When they graduate from college, they can join the BMW Group Academy to receive systematic training before beginning their professional careers.



BMW Korea has signed a memorandum of understanding with 21 local universities, and in 2017 it introduced the "Ausbildung" system for the first time in Korea. "Ausbildung" refers to a vocational education and training program in Germany that is best known for fostering automotive mechanics and engineers.



Through the Ausbildung system, 217 people have been hired at seven of BMW Korea's official dealer shops, as of last October. The German carmaker has plans in September to recruit new workers who went through the professional automotive education program.



BMW Korea said that it has created jobs for at least 16,000 people both directly and indirectly.



It has also donated 132 vehicles since 2001 to high schools and colleges related to carmaking, for research use and education.



"BMW Korea will not only fulfill its corporate social responsibility in the country, but also continue to share its vision for improving Korean society, and establish itself as a strong partner to seek mutual growth," the German carmaker said.


Doctors and health workers have been on the frontline ever since India began its battle against the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. Their efforts have doubled even more so during the second wave.

In one such instance of selfless dedication to the job, an eight-month pregnant doctor from Jammus Kathua district has continued to help her team in their fight against coronavirus.

Dr Shivani, 30, works at a Primary Health Centre in Lakhanpur near J&K-Punjab border. She chooses to continue to serve patients amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis despite of being heavily pregnant. She was five-months pregnant when she joined duty as Medical Officer in March.

J&K | 8-months pregnant doctor continues to work amid COVID pandemic in Kathua.



"This is my 8th month. A little stress is there but I have no problem working during pregnancy because right now, people are suffering due to shortage of doctors," Dr Shivani pic.twitter.com/nlXqVkqpW8  ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2021





Her journey

Dr Shivani got selected for the job and was straightway assigned to PHC Lakhanpur. PHC Lakhanpur witnesses footfall of passengers arriving through road at Lakhanpur, the main entry point of Jammu & Kashmir, besides catering to healthcare needs of the local population.

PHC Lakhanpur, at a centrally viable point, has been testing and providing regular OPD services, with the added task of vaccinating people as a part of government's drive.

ANI

Her spirit

Speaking to ANI, she said, "A little stress is there but I have no problem working during pregnancy because right now, people are suffering due to a shortage of doctors."



I knew that it would be difficult for me as we are in the middle of Covid-19 pandemic. However, I didnt have a second thought, I never wanted to give up my responsibilities and sit at home out of fear," she told India Today.

BCCL

Dr Shivani did not want her pregnancy to become the reason for not performing her duties. She adds that family support plays a key role in times like these. I live with my in-laws and everyone is supportive of my decision to work while being pregnant. My husband, who is also a practising doctor, says, 'Helping those in need becomes our first duty and our baby will be safe and protected with their blessings, Dr Shivani said.
In a major financial crackdown by Delhi Police, an elaborate money-laundering scam run by China-based entities is busted, as per TNN. Two CAs, a Tibetan woman along with 8 others have been arrested.

Around five lakh Indians have been cheated plus their sensitive data stolen through malicious quick earning apps running in the garb of an online multi-level marketing campaign. Over Rs 150 crore was lost by them in just two months, according to police commissioner S Shrivastava.

How the scam worked

Rs 11 crore of that money has been blocked in various bank accounts and payment gateways and Rs 97 lakh cash recovered from a Gurgaon-based CA who formed over 110 companies for Chinese fraudsters.

iStock

These apps offered lucrative returns on investment with claims to double the investment amount in 24-35 days. They also had schemes promising returns on an hourly and daily basis, and had investment options starting from Rs 300 to several lakhs. One of the apps, Power Bank, was recently trending at No 4 on Google Play Store, cops said.

Explaining the origin of the operation, DCP Anyesh Roy said the Cyber Crime Cell had taken notice of various posts on social media by people about two apps: Power Bank and EZPlan.

How they got busted

A team led by ACP Aditya Gautam carried out extensive technical analysis of apps at a lab. "EZPlan was available on the website www.ezplan.in. The Power Bank app projected itself as a Bengaluru-based Technology Start-Up involved in quick-charging technology, in a bid to deceive people. However, the server on which the app was hosted was found to be based in China," the DCP said.

The malicious apps were also associated with several permissions such as access to camera, read contact details and read and write to external storage.

In order to entice large number of people to invest more, a small pay out amounting to 5-10% of the invested money was given.

iStock

People, believing the "scheme" to be genuine, started investing more money as well as circulating and sharing the apps with their friends and relatives. Once someone had invested a large amount, their account was blocked by the apps, thus causing severe financial loss.

When asked how people got to know about these apps, the main Chinese handlers behind this massive scam used to randomly contact people over various apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram and hired interested persons as partners for procuring bogus bank accounts, creating shell companies, circulating and promoting the apps, transferring money, etc.

"A large number of such apps have been circulated by the fraudsters, including Power Bank, EZCoin, Sun Factory, Lightening Power Bank, etc. Some of these fraudulent, malicious Apps were also listed on Google Play Store," said a senior officer.

Cops said that most of these apps were promoted through YouTube channels, Telegram channels and WhatsApp chat links sent through bulk SMSes. Once the user registered on the apps, he or she was repeatedly induced to invest money to earn very high returns.


At a time when the number of new COVID-19 infections and deaths are reducing every day in India, the country quite literally shocked the world after 6,148 fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours.

This is the highest single-day COVID-19 death toll reported from anywhere in the world.

BCCL

However these deaths did not happen in the past 24 hours, instead is the result of Bihar revising its COVID-19 fatality figures.

Bihar's new figures

COVID-19 death toll in Bihar was on Wednesday revised drastically upwards by the state health department, which put the total number of fatalities caused by the pandemic at 9,429.

Bihar added 3,951 'missing' COVID-19 deaths to its tally after a state health department audit.

BCCL

The government has however not specified when these deaths took place, but it has provided the breakup of deaths in all 38 districts in the state.

As per the latest figures, maximum fatalities were reported in Patna district where the death toll stands at 2,303, followed by Muzaffarpur, which has recorded 609 fatalities so far. Patna also accounted for the highest number of additional deaths reported after verification on Wednesday with 1,070 new fatalities.

AFP

Forced to audit

The Bihar government was forced to relook into the deaths in the state after the Patna high court flagged irregularities in death figures in Buxar district following which the administration did an audit of COVID-19 deaths at private hospitals and homes not recorded earlier.

Many relatives of COVID-19 victims in Bihar had alleged that they were given negative certificates even when their kin who died had all the symptoms to keep the death count low.

WATCH: My sister had all symptoms of Covid, she was admitted in Covid ward, treated. But when she died, the hosp in death certificate termed her Covid -ve, saying we have pressure from top not to give +ve report: Brother alleges



Whats happening in Raxaul? Many complaints. pic.twitter.com/QByQBwL4WY  Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) May 30, 2021

Bihar is not alone

Bihar is not the only state that has been accused of underreporting COVID-19 deaths there.

On Wednesday, the Uttarakhand high court which was hearing a bunch of PILs alleging delays in reporting Covid deaths by hospitals ordered the government to conduct an audit of Covid deaths in the state and submit its report by June 21.

AFP

UP, Kerala reworking on death toll updation

In other states like Uttar Pradesh where hundreds of corps of suspected COVID-19 were found floating in the River Ganga and buried on its banks too there are allegations of underreporting of deaths.

In Kerala, the government said a new software will be used to report COVID-related deaths in the state from June 15.

The new software, the cause of death will be confirmed within a maximum of three days and the family will be informed.

This comes in the backdrop of the opposition, both Congress and BJP, alleging that Kerala is underreporting COVID-19 deaths and many deaths occurring due to COVID-related illness are not being categorised as COVID deaths.

BCCL

During the first wave of COVID-19 last year too several states including Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had revised their initial death counts to add many which were not initially reported.
An editorial in the June edition of Gujarat Sahitya Akademis official publication, Shabdashrushti, has hit out at a poem by Gujarati poet Parul Khakhar on the corpses found in Ganga.

What is the controversy?

The poem is on bodies of suspected Covid victims found floating in the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and the publication has called it out for spreading "anarchy". It also called those who discussed or circulated it "literary Naxals", reported The Indian Express on Thursday.

BCCL

The poem Shav Vahini Ganga, originally written in Gujarati, criticises the Narendra Modi government and talks about the suffering of Indians during the second coronavirus wave, according to The Wire.

Khakhar had posted the poem on her Facebook page on May 11, and it has since then been translated into at least six languages, including Hindi and English.

What are the contents of the poem?

The poem talks about the massive number of deaths during the second wave that had left the crematoriums overloaded. The 14-line satire refers to the country as Ram rajya (the kingdom of deity Ram), where river Ganga has become a shav vahini (hearse).

The editorial described the poem as a pointless angst expressed in a state of agitation and said that its words are misused by forces who are anti-Centre and anti-Centres nationalist ideologies.

AFP

What has the publication said?

"The said poem has been used as a shoulder to fire from by such elements who have started a conspiracy, whose commitment is not to India but to something else, who are Leftist, so-called liberals, to whom nobody pays any attention Such people want to quickly spread chaos in India and create anarchy," it said.

The editorial said, "They are active on all fronts and in the same way they have jumped into literature with dirty intentions. The purpose of these literary Naxals is to influence a section of people who would relate their own grief and happiness to this (the poem). While in Gujarati, the editorial uses the term literary naxals.



AFP

The academys chairperson Vishnu Pandya Pandya told The Indian Express that there was no essence in her poetry and that it was not a proper way to write one. This could be merely venting out ones anger or frustration, and it is being misused by liberals, anti-Modi, anti-BJP and anti-Sangh (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) elements.



The editorial goes on to note that Khakhars earlier works had been published by the Akademi, and she  would be welcomed by Gujarati readers if she wrote some good pieces in the future.
A flying cicada was blamed for causing a car crash on Monday in US' Cincinnati after it flew inside and smacked the driver in the face.

As per a report in CBS News citing local police, the red-eyed insect was part of a large swarm that descended on a black Chevrolet in the East End neighbourhood. It resulted in the motorist driving off the road and crashing into a utility pole, damaging the vehicle.

#Crash single car into a pole at 2600 Riverside Drive. Caused by a cicada that flew in through an open window striking the driver in the face. #nothinggoodhappenswithcicadas #cicadas2021 pic.twitter.com/0WWUM8y5Ye  Cincinnati Police Department (@CincyPD) June 7, 2021

"#Crash single car into a pole at 2600 Riverside Drive. Caused by a cicada that flew in through an open window striking the driver in the face," Cincinnati Police Department wrote on Twitter.

While the driver sustained only minor injuries, the cicada was not as fortunate and was found dead on the car's floorboard.



Twitter/Cincinnati Police Department

After the crash, Cincinnati police urged the city motorists to roll up their windows to avoid similar incidents.



Cicadas are swarming over more than a dozen eastern states of the US. They're part of Brood X, which emerge from the ground every 17 years to mate, CBS News reported.

Representational Image/popsci.com

Although cicadas have one of the longest lifespans of any insect, they die shortly after mating, and Brood X adults are expected to be gone by the end of July until the next cycle.



Described as extremely sex-driven in a report by The Guardian, the insects cannot bite people or eat solids but their red eyes and habit of flying into people have ensured that many Americans are now afraid to leave their homes.



Also read: US Driver Accidentally Sets Car On Fire After Using Hand Sanitiser While Smoking A Cigarette
Dental student Arooba Lodhi, who attends the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, has worked closely with the Stockton Shelter for the Homeless and San Joaquin County Behavioral Health Services to distribute oral care kits to the homeless community. (University of the Pacific photo)
A mourner pauses in front of a memorial for the nine victims of a shooting at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail yard on May 27, 2021 in San Jose, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)




The heads of South Korea's four major conglomerates met Thursday to discuss ways to set up a consultative body on hydrogen in a move that underscored their commitment to fostering the clean energy source.







Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun met with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo and Hyosung Chairman Cho Hyun-joon at the automaker's Namyang Research Development Center in Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, according to Hyundai Motor.







They will launch the consultative body in September after finalizing participating companies.







The consultative body  which is meant to encourage corporate investments and expand the hydrogen industry's value chain  will later become the Korean version of the Hydrogen Council, a global coalition of CEOs committed to expediting the energy transition with hydrogen, according to Hyundai Motor.







Hydrogen is an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels as automobiles running on the resource only create water in the process of generating power. It can be produced as a by-product of industrial facilities, including petrochemical plants as well.







The move comes as South Korea is pushing to boost the supply of power from clean and renewable energy sources while weaning the country off nuclear and coal-fired plants.







South Korea has also vowed to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2050, which means effectively reducing carbon emissions to zero.







South Korea's five major conglomerates  SK, Hyundai Motor, POSCO, Hanwha and Hyosung  announced in March that they plan to invest 43 trillion won ($38.2 billion) in building a wide range of hydrogen infrastructure, such as production and storage of hydrogen by 2030.







Hyundai Motor Group has said it will inject 11.1 trillion won for the research and development projects linked to hydrogen cars, while installing more charging stations.







SK Group, which has SK Innovation under its wing, plans to invest 18.5 trillion won to establish facilities that can create up to 30,000 tons of hydrogen annually.







Hyundai Motor has also said the company and SK Group will discuss ways to install hydrogen fuel cell chargers and fast electric vehicle chargers at SK gas stations across the country.







POSCO has said it will spend 10 trillion won to venture into methods to harness hydrogen instead of coal during its production of steel. (Yonhap)


A proposed bill in New York relating to unfair claims settlement practices would provide policyholders with a private right of action against insurers who refuse or delay payment of a claim. The bill comes as many policyholders have expressed frustration over business interruption claim denials in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 claims denials have left many victims without even a settlement offer in the absence of the threat of a trial and many small businesses in danger of shuttering after insurers refused to pay for losses due to mandated closures, says the text of New York Senate Bill S6813, proposed last month by sponsor and New York State Senator Jessica Ramos. The bill is currently awaiting a vote in the New York Senates Insurance Committee.

The bill aims to amend current state insurance law to allow insurance policyholders to recover damages when an insurance companys refusal to pay or unreasonable delay in paying a claim is not substantially justified. If passed, it would amend New York insurance law under section 2601 to grant insurance policy claimants a private right of action to seek damages in these cases.

Currently, section 2601 of New York insurance law regulates the conduct of insurers and prohibits actions constituting unfair claims practices, although only the superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) can enforce these provisions.

The bill says this does not go far enough in regulating the type of unfair claims practices that come in the wake of a disaster, such as the current global pandemic. However, opponents of the bill say it would be a detriment to the insurance industry by spurring a wave of litigation, and ultimately, negatively impacting policyholders by increasing costs in a state where premiums for many lines of coverage are already among the highest in the nation.

Clearly, the bills proponents are engaged in magical thinking, says Scott Hobson, assistant vice president of Government Relations in New York and Connecticut for Big I New York. You cannot add billions of dollars of in litigation costs, payments, and settlements, without impacting premiums.

As for the ongoing business interruption issue, which has been central to insurance industry conversation since the pandemics onset, Hobson says he doesnt see this bill as a solution for claim denials and coverage frustrations.

As advocates for our customers, we feel their frustration, but the fact is all coverage has limits, he says. Regulators approved and the courts have overwhelmingly upheld these coverage exclusions. We advocate for a real, workable coverage solution for pandemic related risks, and the private market has no appetite to write it.

Instead, Hobson is advocating for a federally backed solution so that businesses can obtain protection for future pandemics. Beyond COVID-19, Hobson says he believes the bill would create challenges for New York drivers as well.

It would be a brazen giveaway to personal injury lawyers at the expense of policyholders, he says.

The bill defines unfair claims practices, in part, as an insurers failure to provide a claimant with accurate information regarding policy provisions or to take its insureds interests into consideration as well as its own, exposing the insured to judgment in excess of policy limits. A failure to provide timely written denials of claims or refusal to pay a claim without conducting a prior reasonable investigation would constitute unfair claims practices under the bill as well.

Insurance companies have an overwhelming advantage in the handling of a claim, with the power and financial incentive to deny or delay coverage and otherwise avoid fair payment of legitimate claims, the text of the bill says, adding that this is partially because insurers are able to bear the costs of litigation, while most ordinary New Yorkers cannot afford to do so.

If passed, the bill would go into effect on January 1st following the date in which it becomes law. The bill says New Yorkers who pay insurance premiums should expect insurers to live up to their good faith obligations regarding claims practices.

When insurers do not meet this obligation, it is important that the consumer has a viable and effective means of seeking redress, the bill says. This bill gives consumers the legal means to achieve this goal.

However, Hobson says the challenges it could create for insurers and policyholders alike would be too great. With the New York legislative session wrapping up this week, the bill will likely see a vote.

Anything can happen here, especially in the waning days of session, he says. Our view is it should not move forward.

Ramos did not respond to requests for comment by press time. DFS does not comment on pending legislation.

Topics Claims New York Policyholder
A New Jersey U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier has been charged with making false statements to obtain federal workers compensation benefits.

Aida Perez, of Roselle Park, New Jersey, has been charged by complaint with one count of knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing and covering up a material fact, and making a false, fictitious and fraudulent statement and representation in connection with the application for and receipt of federal workers compensation benefits. Perez made her initial appearance by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk and was released on bail.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Perez worked as a mail carrier for the USPS in Westfield, New Jersey. On Nov. 18, 2020, Perez signed and certified a form in which she alleged she sustained an ankle sprain on Nov. 9, 2020, while performing her duties.

In subsequent forms, Perez certified that she did not receive earnings from employment outside of her federal job. However, an investigation revealed that Perez operated a business from which she received substantial income. For example, during the investigation, an undercover law enforcement officer purchased $245 in goods from Perezs business.

The count of making false statements to obtain federal workers compensation benefits carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine in New Jersey.

The charge and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Source: U.S. Attorneys Office, District of New Jersey

Topics Carriers Workers' Compensation Fraud Abuse Molestation Talent New Jersey




Korea Times Chairman Seung Myung-ho delivers a welcome speech at the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Kim Hyun-bin



Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) has become a hot topic around the world, with governments and major conglomerates prioritizing eco-friendly objectives in their pursuit of higher earnings. ESG practices are starting to be viewed as the foundation for continued growth at corporations and governments.



Against this backdrop, The Korea Times held the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) building in Seoul, Thursday, to highlight the importance of sustainable growth through ESG and offer new insights by inviting renowned professionals from the government, businesses and academia to share their perspectives on better implementing ESG strategies. However, Korean companies are still considered to be in the early stages of pursuing ESG principles compared to their foreign peers.



"For decades, conglomerates were focused solely on maximizing profits and enhancing their corporate value. As a result, many of them have shown substantial growth and prospered. However, in the current era, they are paying a hefty price in exchange for rapid growth in terms of global warning that is caused by environmental pollution," Korea Times Chairman Seung Myung-ho said during a welcome speech at the forum. "The corporations' societal roles are now becoming greater each year in order to swiftly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and resolve climate change and other global crises."





The 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum is getting ready to start at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Seung believes the days when conglomerates only had to focus on surviving have passed, and they now must think about continued growth and sustainability.









"Through ESG management, entities could take environmental and societal responsibility and in the long run will have a positive impact on corporate performance. Already, advanced countries have been announcing and strengthening ESG regulations along with climate change efforts," the chairman added. "Our corporations will need to actively engage in ESG management and set it as a growth driver within their corporate strategies. Implementing ESG management will bring about a transparent management image and the improved brand image will become another growth driver that will create a virtuous cycle."



Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki delivered the opening speech on the Korean government's ESG strategies for sustainable growth, followed by McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader, who stressed that ESG is not only the right direction but also a smart move for the post COVID-19 era.





Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung reads the program during the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum held at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. Executives of major Korean financial groups, conglomerates and foreign businesses participated in the event. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



The forum was divided into two main sessions. The first session, "ESG and Sustainable Finance," touched on the topics for the post-COVID agenda in the financial industry, ESG management, investing and governance reforms of Korean financial firms. Due to the pandemic, distinguished panelists joined the discussion both over the internet and in person.



The panelists included KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, National Pension Service Chairman Kim Yong-jin, Carlyle Global Head of Impact Megan Starr, MSCI APAC ESG Client Coverage Head Chitra Hepburn and BNP Paribas Asset Management APAC CEO Steven Billiet. The session was moderated by Institute for Global Economics Chairman Jun Kwang-woo.



The second session focused on the importance of ESG in corporate management. The main topics were ESG becoming the new normal in the business world and the role of conglomerates in getting small businesses to adhere to ESG principles. AMCHAM Korea Chairman James Kim took the role of moderator and panelists included KCCI Executive Vice Chairman Woo Tae-hee, BlackRock Investment Stewardship Team Directory Won Shin-bo, IKEA Korea Chief Fredrik Johansson and P&G Korea CEO Balaka Niyazee.



Attendees and guests at the forum included top executives of major Korean financial groups, conglomerates and foreign businesses as well as ambassadors from various countries.





Statista partner Thomas Clark virtually announces plans to conduct ESG research in Korea along with The Korea Times and its sister paper Hankook Ilbo at the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industries building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
FRANKFURT  Volkswagen said on Wednesday it had agreed to settle claims against four former executives, including long-time CEO Martin Winterkorn, that will see the carmaker receive 288 million euros ($351 million) in compensation related to its emissions scandal.

The settlement came on the same day that Berlin prosecutors charged Winterkorn with giving false testimony to the German parliament when he said he was unaware of the carmaker rigging diesel engine tests before it became public.

The settlement marks a major milestone in Volkswagens efforts to turn a page on its biggest ever corporate scandal, which has cost it more than 32 billion euros in vehicle refits, fines and legal costs so far.

The scandal, which Volkswagen initially blamed on a small number of rogue engineers, also spurred it to launch a huge investment in electric cars.

Volkswagen and top shareholder Porsche SE are still subject to 4.1 billion euros worth of shareholder claims in relation to the scandal, but it could take years before any agreement is reached.

Winterkorn stepped down as Volkswagen CEO in September 2015, a week after the scandal  in which the group admitted using illegal software to rig U.S. diesel engine tests  broke.

Wednesdays deal, which consists mainly of a 270 million euro payment from directors and officers liability insurances, also includes a settlement with former Audi boss Rupert Stadler.

It still needs to be approved at the groups annual general meeting on July 22.

A spokesman for Winterkorn, who served as Volkswagen CEO for nearly nine years, declined to comment on the charges brought against him by Berlin prosecutors.

Volkswagen, the worlds second-largest carmaker, said in late March it would claim damages from Winterkorn and Stadler for breaches of duty of care under stock corporation law.

Volkswagen concluded that Winterkorn had breached his duty of care by failing to fully and swiftly clarify circumstances behind the use of unlawful software functions in some diesel engines sold in North America between 2009 and 2015.

As part of the deal, Winterkorn and Stadler will pay 11.2 million and 4.1 million euros, respectively.

Former Audi board member Stefan Knirsch agreed to settle for 1 million euros, and ex-Porsche AG board member Wolfgang Hatz for 1.5 million, Volkswagen said.

In a further sign that legal implications of the scandal will still be felt for some time, Volkswagen said on Wednesday it was under investigation in France following a December ruling by Europes top court.

($1 = 0.8205 euros) (Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Jan Schwartz, Thomas Escritt and Sabine Siebold. Editing by Mark Potter)

Photograph: In this Monday, April 27, 2020 file photo, the Volkswagen logo stand on the top of a VW headquarters building in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is gradually launch the production at important plants after the corona lockdown. (Swen Pfoertner/dpa via AP.

Topics Carriers Directors Officers
Denmarks central bank warned rising waters pose a threat to the financial system as property used as collateral against bank loans may be worthless in coming years, amid increasing damage by climate change to the countrys 5,000 mile-long coastline.

Flood risks already threaten 41 billion kroner ($6.7 billion) in loans, and the figure could rise to as high as 198 billion kroner by the end of this century, the central bank said in a report, part of a new series anticipating the effects of climate change. Thats about 7% of all real estate exposures.

Floods may pose a risk for individual credit institutions as well as the financial system, the central bank said.

The Copenhagen-based bank said that lenders should incorporate climate-related exposure in risk management for their real estate loans.

Geographical concentrations also should be addressed, as some lenders face greater threats due to the higher exposure in loan books to property likely to be affected by flooding.

Detailed climate and flooding data provided by the Technical University of Denmark made it possible for central bank researchers to pin down what areas of the country are particularly vulnerable.

Banks currently have about 2.8 trillion kroner in real estate exposures, the central bank said. While property owners will be the first hit by flooding, banks too will likely experience losses as the value of properties drop. The research doesnt account for potential compensation from insurance.

Photograph: Residential and commercial properties stand on the bank of the canal in the Nyhavn district of central Copenhagen, Denmark, on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019. Photo credit: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Flood
AXA has offered a settlement to 15,000 French restaurant owners that purchased non-damage business interruption insurance after previously denying coverage during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns.

AXA estimates the cost of these settlements will be approximately 300 million (US$365.5 million) before tax and reinsurance  a cost that is expected to be offset by favorable developments in 2021 related to COVID-19 in France and Europe, said AXA in a statement.

AXA didnt respond to a question about what comprises favorable developments  lower COVID-19 rates or rising insurance premiums, or both.

The proposed offer, which is open from June 21 until Sept. 30, 2021, aims to cover 15% of the revenue of the activity of these restaurant owners during the COVID-19 lockdown periods of March 14, 2020 and October 29, 2020.

A research note issued by Berenberg Capital Markets applauded the settlement for three reasons:

It covers all 15,000 non-damage business interruption clients, even those who have gone to court and lost and those that have now become insolvent, The claims can be paid quickly, starting on June 21, and The timing of the offer is good, as it was announced the day after French restaurants opened for indoor business.

We believe the settlement augurs well for AXAs future growth and profitability in France, its largest non-life insurance business, said the Berenberg research note, which was authored by analysts Michael Huttner and Thomas Bateman.

Nevertheless, the note added, AXA continues to maintain that its policies did not provide cover for a pandemic-enforced lockdown.

On this topic, the French courts have made contradictory rulings, and AXAs new and renewal contracts have been rewritten to make the exclusion extra clear; the settlement is an elegant way of moving forward and avoiding lengthy and expensive court cases, continued the Berenberg note.

A research note from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) said the settlement offer raises the question of whether COVID-19 claims are in the rearview mirror.

For AXA, the impact to earnings from this settlement is neutral for 2021. Settling will remove any uncertainty and likely create some goodwill with policyholders, said the research note authored by Kamran Hossain, analyst for RBC Europe Ltd.

The proposed settlement offered by AXA, if accepted, would reduce the uncertainty related to the ultimate costs of business interruption claims as well as the large news flow around conflicts opposing the group and its clients, which could affect AXAs reputation, said Moodys analyst Benjamin Serra in a statement. This transaction will only have a limited impact on the groups results.

During the COVID-19 crisis, AXA has supported hundreds of thousands of customers and contributed significantly to the financing of the economy and the recovery, said Patrick Cohen, CEO of AXA France, in a statement.

We regret the lack of understanding that has developed with some of our restaurant customers, even though this sector has been particularly affected by the health crisis, Cohen added.

At a time when restaurateurs can finally welcome their customers back to their establishments, we want to act so that everyone can look to the future and resolutely embark on the path of business recovery, he said. Unprecedented in its scale for AXA France, this initiative will be carried out throughout France by our 3,000 general agents and all of our distribution partners with the support of our teams.

Related:

Topics COVID-19 Claims Restaurant AXA XL France
This wrap-up of international People Moves details recent appointments at three London-based brokers: BMS, Incepta (a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs-backed Aston Lark), and Oneglobal Broking.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

BMS, the London-based specialist insurance and reinsurance broker, announced the appointment of Mark Aylward as managing director of its newly structured London Delegated Underwriting Authority (DUA) and Programmes division, to lead BMS expansion in the sector, primarily in the U.S.

He will join BMS upon completion of his current contractual obligations and will report to Hannah Watkins, managing director, BMS Re.

Aylward has more than 20 years of experience in the delegated authority market. He was most recently director of the North American and International Property team at Tysers.

Last year, we brought our reinsurance and insurance DUA expertise together as one team. The DUA space continues to evolve, as do our coverholders needs  from alternative structures to analytics, to implementing cross-class strategies, said Watkins.

To do this successfully we provide a holistic approach to our clients, working closely with our program experts in our U.S. reinsurance operations, she added.

***

Aston Lark, the insurance broker backed by Goldman Sachs, announced the appointment of Robert Beere as director of Lloyds broker, Incepta, a subsidiary of Aston Lark.

Well known in the insurance market and with 23 years experience, Beere is a Lloyds and London market broker specializing in property and package business. He joins Aston Lark from JLT/Marsh, where he has spent the past 15 years, most recently as regional director for London Market Risks. Prior to that, he spent four years as a property insurance broker for Aon.

Beere will be tasked with driving the groups London Market property and casualty business forward, both in terms of supporting the groups own placement requirements and expanding third-party wholesale broker distribution.

Acquired by the Aston Lark Group in August 2020, Incepta is an established Lloyds wholesale broker with an appetite for UK commercial business developed through successful underwriting binders as well as effective open market broking. Incepta specializes in providing property, casualty and professional indemnity solutions in the London Market to regional brokers, with a focus on high service standards and market expertise.

Current Incepta Directors Paul Smith and Clive Gilbert will be exiting the business in the summer.

***

Oneglobal Broking, the London-based broker, announced the appointment of Mark Jenner as chairman of Energy.

With more than 30 years experience in the energy insurance sector, Jenner joins from Howden where he was executive director of the Energy Division. Prior to this he had a distinguished broking career at independent specialist energy broking companies including Agnew Higgins Pickering and JFS. He started his career at Willis.

Jenner will join Oneglobal once he has fulfilled his contractual obligations to his current employer.

Topics Underwriting
The FBI is now working with Iowas Des Moines Area Community College on a data security breach that has led to days of the school being shut down.

The security incident closed the college on Friday and forced it to partially shut down its computer network, the Des Moines Register reported. The college remained closed Tuesday, and the shutdown has affected the schools courses.

The college announced Tuesday night that in-person classes would resume Wednesday. Officials did not announce a date for online classes to resume.

Neither the college nor the FBI has offered details on the security breach, but college President Rob Denson said no personal information was disclosed. The incident occurred as ransomware attacks have been launched against thousands of businesses, schools, and state and local government agencies.

College officials have extended deadlines for classes, including sign up, Denson said. The college expects financial aid to be dispersed on time next week.

Our team has just done a great job getting engaged very early, and that is making all the difference, Denson said.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Cyber Education Iowa Universities
A now-defunct Wichita, Kansas, moving company has been ordered to pay more than $119,000 in restitution, civil fines, penalties and court costs after the company president ignored a consumer protection lawsuit filed by the Sedgwick County prosecutor.

District Attorney Marc Bennett said the company, Get A Move On, and its president Eric Kimler engaged in deceptive and unconscionable business practices, violating the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.

The case was prompted by the complaint of a 70-year-old man who hired the company last year for $6,000 to move the contents of his house from Kansas to Georgia, the Wichita Eagle reported.

In his complaint, the man reported that Get A Move On delivered only part of the load to his new home and that several of the items that were delivered were damaged. Among the missing items was a Rolex watch worth $11,000.

The man, who had bought insurance protection through the company, said he was told hed have to pay an additional $250 when he sought to file a claim on the insurance for the damaged items.

Bennett said his offices investigation showed that the companys authority to transport goods in Kansas had been canceled in 2018 and its authority to transport goods across state lines had been canceled in 2019. Bennett said the company also was advertising an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, when it actually had an F rating.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Kansas
Meat producer JBS USA paid the equivalent of $11 million in ransom in response to the May 30 criminal hack against its meat plant operations, the company confirmed in a statement released Wednesday.

At the time of payment, the company said the vast majority of its facilities were operational.

The company said it made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated in consultation with internal IT professionals and third-party cybersecurity experts.

This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally, said Andre Nogueira, CEO, JBS USA, in the statement. However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.

Brazilian JBS SA, the owner of JBS USA and Pilgrims Pride Corp., said the cyber attack affected some of the servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems. The company took immediate action, including suspending all affected systems and working with an incident response firm to restore its systems. The company said its backup servers were not affected.

On June 3, JBS USA and Pilgrims announced that all global facilities were fully operational. The company said it was able to limit the loss of food produced during the attack to less than one days worth of production and limit any potential negative impact on producers, consumers and the companys workforce.

Investigations thus far confirm that no company, customer or employee data was compromised. Third-party forensic investigations are still ongoing, and no final determinations have been made.

JBS USA said it was able to quickly resolve issues resulting from the attack due to its cybersecurity protocols, redundant systems and encrypted backup servers. The company said it spends more than $200 million annually on IT and employs more than 850 IT professionals globally.

JBS USA said it has maintained constant communications with government officials throughout the incident.

According to Reuters and other media outlets, a Russia-linked hacking group  REvil and Sodinok is behind the cyberattack against JBS.

The JBS cyber attack came following another by a group with ties to Russia against Colonial Pipeline. Colonial Pipelines CEO acknowledged his firm paid a $5 million ransom, while CNA Insurance paid hackers $40 million after it was attacked in March..

Topics Cyber Meat Processing
A federal judge in northern Illinois has dismissed a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by African-American McDonalds franchisees accusing McDonalds of steering them to underperforming stores.

U.S District Court Judge Harry D. Leinenweber ruled that the plaintiff Black franchisees failed to provide specific facts to support their legal claims. The court also found that even if there had been discriminatory practices, the claims were beyond the two year statute of limitations, since the last acquisition by either plaintiff was in 2012.

Leinenweber gave the plaintiffs 30 days to file an amended complaint.

Two brothers, James Byrd Jr. and Darrell Byrd, who have been McDonalds franchisees for several decades, brought the suit seeking class action status.

The judge said the complaint failed to tie any alleged discriminatory conduct by McDonalds managers and executives to discrimination experienced by plaintiffs or any purported class member. Plaintiffs also did not even allege that plaintiffs or any purported class members were subjected to any of these alleged discriminatory policies.

The major complaint alleged was that McDonalds growth strategy has been predatory in nature, targeting Black consumers, markets, and territories by steering Black franchisees to Black neighborhoods with high overhead costsincluding higher security, insurance, and employee turnoverwhere White franchisees refused to own and operate restaurants.

This allegedly discriminatory practice reduced the number of Black franchisees and increased the revenue disparity between Black and White franchisees, the complaint said.

The complaint contended that [t]hese differences are statistically significant and are the result of historic racial bias and barriers built into the McDonalds franchise system.

McDonalds moved to dismiss the complaint contending that the plaintiffs failed to allege intentional discrimination and but for causation. McDonalds also argued that the matters complained of are all barred by the statute of limitation.

Plaintiffs countered that their complaint sets forth a pattern and practice by McDonalds that has occurred throughout its franchise terms and thus it qualifies for the continuing violation exception to the statute of limitations defense

But the district court disagreed, noting that the Supreme Court has held that discrete acts such as termination, failure to promote, denial of transfer, or refusal to hire are easy to identify and do not constitute continuing violations but are claims that can and should be brought on a timely basis.

The court found that the allegation that McDonalds steers Black franchisees to economically undesirable locations is clearly pre-contractual conduct and subject to the two-year statute of limitations.

McDonaldss faces another lawsuit by more than 50 Black former franchisees who complain that they were pressured by the company to open stores in crime-ridden areas and then denied financial help extended to white franchisees.

The fast food chain has also been sued in Los Angeles for $10 billion by media entrepreneur Byron Allen, who accuses the firm of racial discrimination for not advertising enough with Black-owned media outlets.

Topics Lawsuits Legislation
As the number of fire deaths rises in North Carolina, Insurance Commissioner and State Fire Marshal Mike Causey organized a team of firefighters and volunteers last weekend, not to battle a blaze or answer medical calls, but to distribute and install free smoke alarms in neighborhoods across the state.

Thus far in 2021, there have been 52 fire deaths in North Carolina, and in many of those incidents, there was no working smoke alarm present, according to Causeys office. By comparison, 120 people lost their lives in North Carolina because of fire in 2020.

Last Saturday, the Office of State Fire Marshal joined forces with Kidde Fire Systems, Home Depot, and dozens of fire departments statewide for Smoke Alarm Saturday 2021 in North Carolina.

Smoke alarms cut the chances of dying in a home fire in half, but they have to be in proper working condition in order to save your life, said Causey. Smoke alarms are a key part of a home fire escape plan and our goal is to prevent fire deaths by arming our citizens with the proper knowledge and equipment.

Fire departments across the state went door-to-door to check homes and install new smoke alarms where needed. Kidde Fire Systems donated 540 smoke alarms.

Topics North Carolina
In this Aug. 7, 2020, file photo, icons for the smartphone apps TikTok and WeChat are seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing. AP-Yonhap



President Joe Biden on Wednesday withdrew a series of Trump-era executive orders that sought to ban new downloads of WeChat and TikTok, and ordered a Commerce Department review of security concerns posed by those apps and others.



The administration of former President Donald Trump had attempted to block new users from downloading the apps and ban other technical transactions that Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok and WeChat both said would effectively block the apps' use in the United States.



The courts blocked those orders, which never took effect.



A separate U.S. national security review of TikTok launched in late 2019 remains active and ongoing, a White House official said, declining to offer any details. The White House remains very concerned about the data risks of TikTok users, another administration official told reporters.



The Biden order directs the Commerce Department to monitor software applications like TikTok that could affect U.S. national security, as well as to make recommendations within 120 days to protect U.S. data acquired or accessible by companies controlled by foreign adversaries.



TikTok declined to comment. WeChat did not immediately comment.



WeChat, which has been downloaded at least 19 million times by U.S. users, is widely used as a medium for services, games and payments.



Michael Bien, the lead lawyer for the WeChat Users Alliance, which had sued to block the Trump order, praised the Biden administration for revoking the "wrong-headed ban on WeChat that ... would have led to the unprecedented shutdown of a major platform for communications relied on by millions of people in the United States."



Biden's new executive order revokes the WeChat and TikTok orders Trump issued in August, along with another in January that targeted eight other communications and financial technology software applications.



The January Trump order directed officials to ban transactions with eight Chinese apps including Ant Group's Alipay and Tencent Holdings Ltd's QQ Wallet and WeChat pay; no bans have been issued to date.



The Trump administration contended that WeChat and TikTok posed national security concerns because sensitive personal data of U.S. users could be collected by China's government.



Both TikTok, which has over 100 million users in the United States, and WeChat have denied posing national security concerns.



In February, Reuters reported corporate sponsors raced back to TikTok after some had paused or delayed efforts following Trump's August announcement. General Motors flagship Chevrolet brand began advertising on TikTok in February through its own channel.



The Trump administration had appealed judicial orders blocking the bans on TikTok and WeChat, but after Biden took office in January, the U.S. Justice Department asked to pause the appeals.



A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment. Status reports are due in the appeals cases on Friday.



Biden's order says collecting of data from Americans "threatens to provide foreign adversaries with access to that information."



The order directs the Commerce Department to "evaluate on a continuing basis" any transactions that "pose an undue risk of catastrophic effects on the security or resiliency of the critical infrastructure or digital economy of the United States."



Biden's executive order requires within 60 days that U.S. intelligence and Homeland Security agencies provide vulnerability and threat assessments on U.S. data controlled by foreign adversaries to the Commerce Department as it conducts its review.



Republican Senator Josh Hawley said on Twitter the withdrawal of the Trump orders are "a major mistake  shows alarming complacency regarding #China's access to Americans' personal information, as well as #China's growing corporate influence."



Last week, Biden signed an executive order that bans U.S. investment in certain Chinese companies in the defense and surveillance technology sectors. The order replaced a similar Trump-era order that did not withstand legal scrutiny. (Reuters)


Burma Buddhist Monk Venerated by Myanmar Coup Leader Killed in Plane Crash

The wreckage of a military airplane that crashed in Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region is seen on Thursday. / CJ

Twelve people including one of Myanmars most influential Buddhist monks and several military officers were killed when a military airplane crashed near the Anisakhan Airport in Mandalay Regions Pyin Oo Lwin Township on Thursday.

Well-known monk Abhisheka Maha Rattha Guru Dr. Bhatanda Kavisara from the Zaygone Monastery in Naypyitaw and another monk died in the crash along with five military personneltwo lieutenant commanders, two captains and a sergeantand five other passengers who were donors to a monastery construction project.

A sergeant and the child of a donor survived the crash with injuries. They were being treated at a military hospital in Pyin Oo Lwin, according to junta run-Myawady Television.

The plane crashed at around 8 a.m. while landing at Anisakhan Airport in Pyin Oo Lwin after a flight from Naypyitaw. The monks visit related to the construction of another Zaygone Monastery in Pyin Oo Lwins Kyaukphardoe Village.

Dr. Bhatanda Kavisara has counted a number of military leaders among his closest devotees since the days of the military government of Senior General Than Shwe.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmars current military chief who seized state power from the democratically elected government on Feb. 1, met and held a prayer session with the monk a day after staging the coup.

In June 2017, a military airplane crashed in Tanintharyi Regions Dawei Township, killing 122 people.

In February 2016, a military transport aircraft crashed in Naypyitaws Lewe Township.

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Burma Chinese Foreign Minister Assures Myanmar Junta It Has Beijings Support

Wang Yi (left) and Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw in January 2021. / The Irrawaddy

Chinas Foreign Minister told his Myanmar counterpart on Tuesday that Beijing is ready to work with his country, as Chinas policy toward its neighbor is not affected by changes to Myanmars domestic and external situation. The pair spoke on the sidelines of this weeks ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers Special Meeting in Chongqing.

China has supported, is supporting and will support Myanmar in choosing a development path that suits its own circumstances, Wang Yi said to Wunna Maung Lwin during their meeting.

The Chinese foreign ministers comments came as its southern neighbor Myanmar remains mired in economic and political turmoil more than four months after the military seized power in a coup in February.

The US and EU have imposed sanctions against the junta leaders, while some Western companies have left the country in response to the regimes human rights violations, including the killing of more than 800 people during crackdowns on anti-regime protesters.

Given the current situation, Wangs latest comment has prompted speculation that Chinese investors may be gearing up to fill the void left by their Western counterparts.

The two foreign ministers also discussed ways to advance relations between their countries and the continued implementation of Myanmar-China bilateral projects, among other issues, according to Myanmars state-run newspapers.

Of course they would be happy to jump in, said a China-Myanmar relations observer in Yangon, adding that the regime is now desperate for outside investment.

They [regime] would be very responsive to requests for project approvals, he said, meaning projects previously agreed between Myanmars ousted National League for Democracy-led government and China would likely get started soon.

During Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit to Myanmar last year, Beijing and the NLD government agreed to speed up bilateral economic corridor projects including the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone, the New Yangon City development in Myanmars commercial capital, and economic zones in Shan and Kachin states near the Chinese border.

Despite the agreements signed during Xis trip, none of the projects had moved to the actual implementation phase under the NLD government. The civilian government said it was carefully reviewing all the projects, especially their commercial viability and whether they were in line with Myanmars national development plan.

However, in the wake of the coup, the regime has reorganized three crucial committees as it pushes ahead with plans to implement giant infrastructure projects in Myanmar that are a key part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The committees play a crucial role in engaging with Beijing on the implementation of BRI-related bilateral economic development projects, including determining key projects, signing memorandums of understanding and conducting government-to-government negotiations.



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Burma Ethnic Karen Armed Group in Myanmar to Abide by Ceasefire Agreement

KNU chairman Saw Mutu Sae Poe (left) and KNLA chief of staff Saw Johnny.

The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) chief of staff Saw Johnny has said that he will follow the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) framework to the letter.

The KNLA is the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the most powerful ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, which signed the NCA with U Thein Seins government in 2015.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Saw Johnny said that he would follow the guidelines of KNU General Saw Mutu Sae Poe, who in a May 10 public statement urged stakeholders to solve political problems through dialogue.

The KNU chairmans statement came after the military launched airstrikes on civilians from late March to early May in retaliation for attacks on military outposts by the KNLAs Brigade 5.

I am saddened to see efforts to solve political problems arising in 2021 by taking up arms. Political problems need to be solved by political means, which is negotiation, said Gen. Saw Mutu Sae Poe.

His statement prompted mixed reactions, including strong criticism from Karen communities. The KNLAs Brigade 5 told The Irrawaddy that it viewed the generals statement as the personal opinion of a leader but not an order, saying that it would continue to do what it is supposed to do.

Now, a month after the KNU chairman issued his controversial statement, the KNLA chief has said the armed wing of the KNU will strictly follow the NCA and urged his troops to exercise strict military discipline.

The Irrawaddy was unable to contact a KNLA spokesperson for a comment on Saw Johnnys statement.

The letter is intended to enforce discipline on KNLA troops and ensure that they obey orders from headquarters, said an officer from the KNU headquarters.

KNLA Brigade 5 has been clashing with junta security forces in Karen States Papun District since March and military tensions are running high in the area.

On June 5, the Karen National Defense Organization, which is under the command of the KNU, attacked junta troops in the border town of Myawaddy, along with the Myawaddy Peoples Defense Force and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.



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Burma Myanmar Junta Charges 13 Arrested at Yangons Star City With Incitement

The group of young people are led away after their arrest at Star City in Yangon on May 9.

Thirteen young people who were arrested at Star City Housing in Yangons Thanlyin Township on May 9 while hiding from the military regime have been charged with incitement under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code by a court inside Insein Prison in Yangon.

Junta troops took 14 blindfolded young people from the complex after raiding their apartment last month. As one of the detainees is underage, she is likely to be tried at a juvenile court. Their next court hearing is scheduled for June 23.

During the raid, 30-year-old doctor and Yangon University of Medicine 2 alumni Dr. Nyein Thu Aung fell from the apartment and died.

Some residents of the housing complex said military collaborators residing in the block informed the regime of the groups whereabouts. A witness said he saw bloodstains on the balcony from which Dr. Nyein Thu Aung fell, suggesting that he was killed and did not accidentally fall.

The accused military informants are a family related to a minister in the former U Thein Sein government, and reportedly fled to a foreign country following the incident.

Families of ex-military officers with close ties to Daw Kyu Kyu Hla, the wife of coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, live in Star City Housing, according to a resident.

On March 9, the regime raided the office of banned media outlet Mizzima in Star City Housing.

Following the death of Dr. Nyein Thu Aung, the Star City Housing management committee announced that residents and guests will be subject to surprise inspections. As of May 17, it has tightened up security.

The management committee also objected to large groups of people sharing a single apartment; the complaint drew criticisms from residents.

Star City Estate was built by FMI founder U Theim Wai, also known as Serge Pun, the developer of a number of luxury housing complexes in Yangon including Pun Hlaing and FMI.



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Burma Myanmar Junta Charges Detained Leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi With Corruption

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in January 2021 / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged under the anti-corruption law by the countrys military regime, bringing to seven the number of legal cases brought against her by the junta since her arrest on Feb. 1 in the wake of the coup.

If found guilty of all charges, the 75-year-old would face at least 25 years imprisonmentmeaning she would have to spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Following the takeover, the junta launched corruption probes against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after accusing her of accepting cash and gold, as well as abusing her authority and funds donated to a charity foundation she leads.

The regime has also filed cases against her accusing her of possessing walkie-talkies illegally, breaching COVID-19 restrictions and incitement, among other things.

At a press conference in March, regime spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun repeated allegations that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi accepted US$600,000 and 7 viss (11.4 kg or about 25 pounds) of gold from detained Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein during the period between December 2017 and March 2018. He said the governments Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was probing the allegation.

In February, the military regime launched an investigation into the finances and landholdings of, and the use of buildings by, the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity founded by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

On Thursday, state-run newspapers said the ACC had found that the detained State Counselor illegally accepted the cash and gold.

Furthermore, it said she misused her authority in renting 1.86 acres of land and buildings in Yangon to open the Daw Khin Kyi Foundations headquarters.

According to data from the Yangon Region Auditor-Generals Office, the country lost more than 5.2 billion kyats [$3.15 million] due to her wrongdoing, it said.

It also said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi didnt act in line with procedures but used her power and authority to obtain a cheap land lease for the foundations La Yaung Taw Horticulture Vocational School in Naypyitaw.

The paper claimed that she paid a less than reasonable price to lease the land, costing the government more than 19 billion kyats for 125.185 acres of land [in Naypyitaw].

The ACC also said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is accused of using over 1.6 billion kyats in cash contributions from the public to build a house for herself, contrasting with the main goals of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation to promote the health, education and living standard of the people.

Therefore, she was found to have committed corruption using her rank. So she was charged under Anti-Corruption Law Section 55, it said.

If found guilty, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would face a maximum jail term of 15 years in prison.

In a related development, Dr. Myo Aung, ex-mayor of Naypyitaw and ex-chairman of the Naypyitaw Development Committee; U Ye Min Oo, the citys ex-deputy mayor; and ex-committee member U Min Thu were also charged under the Anti-Corruption Law for granting land use permits and land grants in violation of official procedures.



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Burma Myanmar Junta Deploys Reinforcements to Eliminate Kayah Civilian Resistance

A junta soldier in Loikaw on the Taungoo-Thandaunggyi road. / CJ

Myanmars military has been intensifying efforts to seize control of Kayah States Demoso Township from the combined forces of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and People Defense Force (PDF). Fighting began in the township, which sits on a key road junction, on May 21.

The military has used artillery in civilian areas, particularly Dawt Ngan Khar ward on the highway from Demoso to Taungoo in Bago Region, which suffers daily barrages.

They launched artillery attacks [on Wednesday] but we did not confront the military. If they enter Dawt Ngan Khar ward, clashes occur. When they use artillery, we fall back and they torch the houses. Artillery attacks have increased in recent days, said a PDF spokesman in Demoso.

The regime has reportedly deployed reinforcements from Taungoo against Dawt Ngan Khar.

The PDF spokesman said resistance fighters would defend the town. We will try our best to prevent them taking our town, he said.

The regimes state officials issued a directive on June 4 saying the PDF would be eliminated in the township and all civilians should leave.

Over 100 regime troops are stationed across the state border in Leiktho, Bago Region, according to the KNDFs information officer.

He said the armed group would continue to oppose the junta forces. Wherever they come from, either Taungoo or Shan State, we are ready to fight, to protect our homes and our state, he said.

Junta forces have been deployed in Myaung Auk, Ngwe Taung and Dawt Ngan Khar wards in Demoso town with Infantry Battalion 102 controlling the east of the town.

Electricity has been cut for four days in the west of the town, where the civilian forces are based. Mobile and internet connections are also down.

A Demoso resident said Dawt Ngan Khars houses have been destroyed. It is not fighting between the troops and the resistance. They [junta troops] are just destroying peoples abandoned homes. They have no ethics and just want to destroy everything.

Junta troops have reportedly buried dead soldiers in village cornfields. Churches have also been destroyed.

An artillery attack on a church in Kayan Thar Yar village on May 24 killed four sheltering civilians, prompting residents to flee into forests.

The Irrawaddy is unable to confirm the exact casualty numbers.

Troops have also reportedly fired on villages displaying white flags sheltering displaced residents from Loikaw and Pekon Township in Shan State.

More than 100,000 villages from Demoso, Hpruso and Loikaw have been displaced with many in hiding, too scared to establish camps as they fear further attacks.

A Kayah-based ethnic armed organization, the Karenni National Progress Party (KNPP), urged the military to follow its code of conduct and avoid targeting civilian homes and religious buildings.

KNPPs secretary Khu Daniel told The Irrawaddy this week that the armed group stands by the people. He said the militarys excessive use of force increased tensions and encourage more civilians to oppose the regime.

Since the Feb. 1 coup, the regime has faced protests in towns and cities and shootouts across Kayah, Chin and Kachin states and Sagaing, Magwe and Mandalay regions. The regime has killed at least 858 people and detained nearly 6,000 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.



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AA chiefs family members were among the ten released on June 9. / narinjara.info

Detained relatives of the Arakan Army (AA) chief have been released from prison after all charges against them were dropped, as the military regime seeks to bolster ties with the ethnic armed group based in western Myanmars Rakhine State.

The younger brother and sister of AA chief Major-General Tun Myat Naing, as well as the AA leaders brother-in-law, were part of a group of ten people released on Wednesday. Their release followed a May 27 request from the Myanmar Police Forces Special Branch asking the Central Committee for Counterterrorism to allow it to drop the lawsuits against them.

Defence lawyer U Aung Kyaw Sein told The Irrawaddy that the military intends to seek reconciliation with the AA by dropping the charges. The ten were arrested on terrorism charges in 2019 at a time of heightened tension between the Myanmar military and the AA.

The AA chiefs brother Ko Aung Myat Kyaw was arrested with seven other people by Singapore police on July 10, 2019 at the request of Myanmar authorities over allegations that they were financially backing the AA.

Most of the eight detainees were members of the Arakanese Association-Singapore (AAS), a social welfare organization that contributes relief aid from Singapore to ethnic Rakhine people displaced by fighting in Rakhine State.

They were subsequently deported to Myanmar, where authorities arrested them on arrival at Yangon International Airport and charged them under the Counter-Terrorism Law. They had since been held in Insein Prison.

They were released this afternoon, Ma Hnin Hnin Shwe, the sister of one of the detainees Ma May Myat Mon, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

The AA chiefs sister Ma Moe Hnin Phyu and her husband Ko Kyaw Naing were arrested in October, 2019 at Yangon International Airport as Ko Kyaw Naing returned from Chiang Mai in Thailand.

Police said the charges were linked to explosive materials seized in Mandalay a month earlier. Ko Kyaw Naing was accused of funding a suspect linked to the seized explosive materials.

After fighting broke out between the military and AA in late 2018 in Rakhine State, the Myanmar authorities declared the AA a terrorist group in March 2020.

However, the two sides have observed an unofficial ceasefire since November last year after Nippon Foundation chairman Yohei Sasakawa brokered talks between the AA and the military.

During the talks the AA demanded that all the cases opened for alleged ties with the armed group be dropped and all detainees be released.

The State Administration Council, as Myanmars junta describes itself, removed the AA from the list of terrorist groups on March 11 this year. That was followed by the regime dropping charges against some individuals arrested over their alleged ties with the AA.

Authorities had charged over 270 people in some 90 cases during two years of fighting between the AA and the military.



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Burma Ten Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Sagaing Region Ambush

Villagers burn the body of a civilian killed during shootouts with junta forces in Kani Township on May 6.

About 10 junta soldiers were reportedly killed and 10 wounded during a shootout with civilian resistance fighters in Kani Township, Sagaing Region, on Wednesday afternoon.

The Kanis People Defense Force ambushed five military vehicles carrying around 70 troops on the Monywa-Kalewa highway, according to residents.

The trucks were returning to a camp at Yargyi village after looting nearby Thalin village, which had been abandoned.

Junta soldiers reportedly triggered landmines beside the highway.

The Irrawaddy could not independently confirm the casualty numbers.

No resistance casualties were reported, said residents.

The firefight stopped at around 5pm when the civilians stopped shooting due to the rain. The junta soldiers retreated to Yargyi, a resident told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

He said the soldiers moved from Yargyi to Mingin Township on Thursday morning.

Around 5,000 residents from 10 villages in the area have now fled their homes.

Shootouts started in Kani Township on April 2.



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Tortured to Death in Myanmar Regime Custody

Chinese Foreign Minister Assures Myanmar Junta It Has Beijings Support

Myanmar Junta Deploys Reinforcements to Eliminate Kayah Civilian Resistance
Burma Tortured to Death in Myanmar Regime Custody

Those who have died after torture.

While hundreds of peaceful protesters have been shot dead on the streets by the regimes forces, many have also been killed while in custody.

The exact number is unknown but the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is tracking detentions and killings since the coup, has confirmed at least 21 deaths after bodies were returned to families bearing the marks of torture.

Among them were active members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), election officials, pro-democracy activists and young people.

Three NLD members tortured to death

The first NLD member to be killed in interrogation was U Khin Maung Latt, the partys ward chairman in Pabedan Township, Yangon. The 58-year-old Muslim died after torture, hours after he was detained.

He was violently beaten and kicked before being dragged away from his home on March 6. The next morning his family was informed that he died after fainting and retrieved his body from Mingaladon military hospital. His head and back were badly wounded and it was covered in a bloody shroud.

U Khin Maung Latt actively campaigned for the NLD in Pabedan for the 2015 and 2020 general elections. He was known for working for residents social welfare.

A day after U Khin Maung Latts funeral, another NLD member Ko Zaw Myat Lynn, who was in charge of the Suu Vocational Institute in Shwe Pyi Thar Township, Yangon, was arrested at night. The following morning, his family was notified that he had died.

The prominent 46-year-old community leader, who had led anti-regime protests, was believed to have been tortured to death. Horrific photographs of his body support the allegation. His face was badly disfigured, his mouth was melted and the skin on his face was peeling off. His body was bruised. His widow, Ko Zaw Myat Lynn, said he suffered a large abdomen wound and his intestines had come out.

The military claimed Ko Zaw Myat Lynn fell 9 meters onto a steel pipe while climbing a fence behind his school in an attempt to escape. His widow says the fence is less than 2.5 meters high.

U Kyaw Kyaw, an executive member of the NLDs branch in Zabuthiri Township, Naypyitaw, died on March 30 while under interrogation. He was detained on March 15.

His family was allowed to look at his corpse but could not take the body for a funeral. No explanation was given for his death.

Mother of three killed in detention

Daw Malar Win, 39, stepped out of her home when she heard gunfire in Pakokku Township, Magwe Region, on March 19. The security forces were firing on street protesters.

She was just an onlooker. She didnt run when soldiers stormed the street and was beaten. She was on her knees and pleaded with them not to arrest her, a witness told The Irrawaddy. The mother of three was hit in her thigh, beaten and taken away. The next morning, her family was told to retrieve her body.

There were bruises on her face. Its evident that she was tortured, said a student union member who helped the family retrieve the body.

Striking civil servant dies after brutal beatings

Ko Tun Htet Aung, a 24-year-old forestry worker, died of injuries sustained from torture and brutal beatings while detained in Monywa, Sagaing Region.

He was arrested on March 15 at a protest. He died from internal bleeding on the brain, less than 12 hours after he was released from detention.

Before he was released, regime forces held him at Monywa General Hospital but he was not given proper treatment, his family said. The family was denied contact, despite his mother begging to be allowed to call him.

The family said they were told Ko Tun Htet Aung was in a stable condition with only minor bruises. But when he was released, Ko Tun Htet Aung was unable to walk, his eyes were discolored and he was largely unconscious. The family took him to Mandalay hospital.

Before he died, Ko Tun Htet Aung murmured: I must fight them, Brother. They are so violent.

Three other civilians, Ko Kyaw Moe Khaing from South Dagon Township, Yangon, and Ko Aung Win Toe from Taunggyi and U Thein Lwin from Muse in Shan State were reported as tortured to death in March.

Ko Kyaw Moe Khaing, a 39-year-old private tutor, was dragged away after falling three floors. He died four days later. His family told the media that he was denied medical treatment and beaten repeatedly.

Ko Aung Win Toe was detained at a teashop with no reason given and died from torture under interrogation, the AAPP said.

U Thein Lwin, 43, was detained at a protest and his beaten body was returned to his family five days later.

By June 9, the death toll had reached 858, according to the AAPP. Among the dead are civilians who have not received medical treatment after being shot and detained by the regime forces.

Injured social worker dragged by motorbike

In a lethal attack on an anti-regime protest stronghold in Maggatic Road, Bago Region, on April 9, Ko Thiha, 32, was shot in the thigh while scaling a wall and detained, according to a witness.

The injured social worker was tied up and dragged by a motorbike. The following day, his body was found in a morgue with a bruised head. More than 80 civilians, including students, were killed by the regime that day.

Election officials die after torture

The military justified its February 1 coup with unfounded claims of voter fraud in last years general election, in which a clear majority of voters supported the NLD.

The Union Election Commission, which rejected the militarys fraud claims, was on the regimes targeted list for arrests. The commissions ousted chairman, U Hla Thein, was among those arrested shortly after the coup. Lower-level officials were also rounded up.

Khin Maung Kyi, 47, a village tract election sub-commission chair in Taungdwingyi, Magwe Region, went into hiding but was detained with five other villagers on May 19. They returned to tend their crops and informants allegedly alerted troops. After a few hours, Khin Maung Kyi was dead. The whereabouts of the other five are unknown.

His family said he had a broken jaw, arms and ribs and a stomach wound. He left three children.

Tin Maung San, the secretary of the election sub-commission in Pathein Township, Ayeyarwady Region, died after being summoned to the regional commission office. His wife was informed that he fell down the stairs and told to collect his body, which had head injuries and broken ribs.

Determined activists die in detention

Poet Khet Thi, who spoke out against the regime, is said to have been tortured to death in military custody overnight and his body was returned with its organs removed.

The 45-year-old was detained on May 8 along with his wife. He was taken to an army camp in Shwebo. His family was informed of his death the following morning. He died in transit to Monywa hospital with torture wounds, according to a relative.

The poet wrote the line: They shoot in the head but they dont know the revolution is in the heart.

Ko Soe Moe Hlaing, also known as Ko Mae Gyi, a veteran pro-democracy activist, died while in military custody in Bago Region. He is the younger brother of the juntas deputy home affairs minister and the chief of police.

The 53-year-old, who devoted his life to the democratic struggle since 1988, was arrested on May 22 in Zaung Tu village in Bago Region along with several villagers after an informant allegedly told troops about their whereabouts.

Witnesses saw the troops beating his head with rifle butts during his arrest. On May 24, his wife was informed by telephone that he was dead. The whereabouts of the detained villagers are still unknown.

His wife and friends believe he was tortured to death. The family was only allowed to see Ko Mae Gyis face while his body was in a coffin at Mingaladon military hospital in Yangon before his funeral.

He was married with five children.

Neighborhood watchmen tortured to death

Following the Feb. 1 coup, residents in several cities organized volunteer groups to protect their homes from nighttime raids. Neighborhood watchmen were targeted by the security forces.

Aung Kyaw and Tin Maung Myint from Thapyayaye village in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region, were detained on April 2 while guarding their village. Two days later they were found dead from torture, according to the AAPP.

Kyaw Lwin Htwe, 39, of Inseins Aung San neighborhood, went missing overnight on April 12 after he approached a suspicious vehicle. According to witnesses, he was taken by junta troops to a high school where they were deployed. Later his body was found in a hospital.

Troops claimed Kyaw Lwin Htwe was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. His wife said she found cuts and abrasions on his body which would not normally be caused by a motorcycle accident. His eyes were badly bruised and there were bruises under his arm. His motorcycle was largely intact.

He had two daughters, aged 13 and six.

Man who put out fire died after torture

Ko Aung Paing Htwe, 30, was detained by junta forces while he was extinguishing a fire at a ward administration office in Taunggyi overnight on April 4. Two days later, his body was returned. His family was told his brain bled after a car crash in which his lung was punctured by the steering wheel.

There were signs of severe torture on his body, said ward residents. His head was cracked open, his face was covered in bruises, one of his ears had almost been cut off and there was a knife wound in his back. His chest had been stitched together.

Ko Aung Paing Htwe was one of at least four people detained by the regime forces after helping to extinguish the Nyaungphyu Sakhan ward fire.

Resistance fighter dies in detention

Zin Ko Tun, a resistance fighter in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Region, was tortured to death in regime custody after being shot and detained while defending Talokmyo village from a junta attack on May 12.

He only had a wounded elbow when he was taken away and the next morning his family said his body had been tortured.

A relative told the media that the young mans body had wounds and burn marks, including several blisters on his arm, a wound on his chest and a tattoo of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions flag tattoo on his arm was burned off.

Zin Ko Tun was a member of the armed group and the Myingyan Technological Colleges student union. He was a first-year IT student.

Numerous civilian deaths

Ye Min Tun, 32, from Kawthaung, Tanintharyi Region, died due to torture on April 5.

Ko Aung Myint Hlaing, a 32-year-old electrical engineer, was beaten to death by regime forces on May 4 night shortly after being detained for questioning in Bago Regions Pyay Township.

The security forces, including plainclothes personnel, detained him on suspicion of involvement in a bomb blast at a military-owned bank despite not finding any evidence.

Witnesses alleged violent soldiers accused him of trying to waste their time when he said he and two other male residents knew nothing about the bomb.

Ko Aung Myint Hlaing called out to his mother that he was dying and asked for help, according to witnesses. The yelling soon stopped and residents were told to stay away or risk being shot.

The next day the family was only allowed to see his face for a few minutes inside a coffin at a military hospital. They were not allowed to take pictures.

His face was badly bruised with wounds on his cheeks, throat and jaw. When I peeked at his chest, it had been stitched back together, Ko Aung Myint Hlaings sister said. The regime claimed he died after jumping from a moving truck.

Ko Aung Myint Hlaing, also known as Ko Aung Khaing Myit, came back to his hometown Pyay to enter the Buddhist monkhood before Thingyan after his job in Yangon ended after the coup. His sister said he was undergoing a temporary ordination on the day a bank was bombed. The regime blamed Ko Aung Myint Hlaing.

Ko Min Min, 39, a motorcycle mechanic had not taken part in anti-regime protests, said his family. But after a bomb exploded at a high school in Kale, the security forces seized him from his workshop on May 24, saying they received reports that he threw the bomb.

They said they would release him later, said a relative.

The following day his family was told to collect his body. The military hospital said he died from lung problems while changing his clothes. Compensation of 500,000 kyats (US$300) was given to the family.

The family said the body was covered with bruises and his head and arms had been scratched with a knife.

His relatives blamed an alleged collaborator. A neighbor earlier sent a note complaining that the banging of pots and pans at Ko Min Mins home in protest at the regime was too noisy.

Ko Kyaw Naing, 36, of Chaungma village in Kani Township, Sagaing Region, died after being detained along with another villager at a checkpoint on April 27. The reason for the detention is unknown. His family was seeking to bail him out only to be told of his death in custody.

His family and villagers said his bruised body showed signs of torture. He was severely bruised on his chest, both shoulders, thigh and back. It seemed he was kicked, a relative said.

His brother told The Irrawaddy: I despise this injustice. We, the people, will keep fighting together until the military dictatorship is eradicated.

In Yangon, Kyaw Kyaw, 42, of South Dagon Township, was detained on May 14. The family was given permission to bury his rotting body and had to sign a statement that he died from a medical condition, the AAPP said. The face and body were bruised with broken teeth, according to the AAPP.

A neighbor told The Irrawaddy that the regime monitored the funeral and pictures were forbidden.

Myo Zaw Zaw, a construction worker, died on June 3 due to torture after he was detained the previous day when he returned to Shwepyithar Township after working at the Mingaladon Military Hospital construction site, according to the AAPP.



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In this June 2 file photo, the JBS meat plant is viewed in Plainwell, Michigan. AFP-Yonhap



The world's largest meat processing company says it paid the equivalent of $11 million to hackers who broke into its computer system late last month.



Brazil-based JBS SA said on May 31 that it was the victim of a ransomware attack, but Wednesday was the first time the company's U.S. division confirmed that it had paid the ransom.



''This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally,'' said Andre Nogueira, the CEO of JBS USA. ''However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.''



JBS said the vast majority of its facilities were operational at the time it made the payment, but it decided to pay in order to avoid any unforeseen issues and ensure no data was exfiltrated.



The FBI has attributed the attack 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.



The attack targeted servers supporting JBS's operations in North America and Australia. Production was disrupted for several days.



Earlier this week, the Justice Department announced it had recovered most of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment made by Colonial Pipeline, the operator of the nation's largest fuel pipeline.



Colonial paid a ransom of 75 bitcoin  then valued at $4.4 million  in early May to a Russia-based hacker group. The operation to seize cryptocurrency reflected a rare victory in the fight against ransomware as U.S. officials scramble to confront a rapidly accelerating threat targeting critical industries around the world.



It wasn't immediately clear if JBS also paid its ransom in bitcoin.



JBS said it spends more than $200 million annually on IT and employs more than 850 IT professionals globally.



The company said forensic investigations are still ongoing, but it doesn't believe any company, customer or employee data was compromised. (AP)


NASA's Mars Rover helicopter, called Ingenuity, successfully flew for the seventh time on the Red Planet. Ingenuity also took a black and white photo while it was up in the air.

The Mars Rover is also busy at work looking for signs of life, but not before taking videos of the rotorcraft as it did its first few flights.

Where Is the Rover? How to Track Perseverance and Ingenuity

NASA's "Where is Perseverance?" Map allows the public to track where the Martian Rover and helicopter are on the Red Planet.

According to the Perseverance Twitter account, both Perseverance and Ingenuity are heading south and it looks like they're not that far away from each other.

The map is composed of two layers, NASA explained. A grayscale of the Jezero Crater map, and a true-color base map that make up the rendered tracker available on the website.

Each dot on the map represents the end point of a drive and is labeled with the day, or sol on Mars, that the Rover stopped. Hovering over the lines, it tells you the distance Perseverance covered from one point to the other.

Ingenuity's initial mission flight path is also on the map. According to Space.com, Perseverance captured video and some audio of Ingenuity's first five flights. But the Rover later relinquished its documentarian role to focus on its own important mission.

While Ingenuity's mission is to test the capabilities of flight of rotorcrafts in space, Perseverance's task is to seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) to return to Eath, NASA said.

Like me, the #MarsHelicopter is heading south. You can track both our locations in this map:https://t.co/uPsKFhW17J https://t.co/UcUH8jacPr  NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) June 9, 2021

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NASA Mars Rover Helicopter: Ingenuity's Seventh Mars Flight

Ingenuity landed on the Red Planet with NASA's Perseverance Rover on February 18. The solar-powered rotorcraft was deployed from the Rover's belly on April 3, the start of Ingenuity's 30-day fight campaign, said Space.com.

The campaign was designed to show that powered, controlled flight is possible in Mars' thin air.

Business Insider reported that in the technology-demonstrating campaign, Ingenuity performed five flights. After successfully completing the campaign, it proceeded to go on an extended mission--this time to showcase the scouting potential of the rotorcraft on Mars.

On May 22 in the first flight of the extended mission, the helicopter suffered a glitch and momentarily interrupted the flow of photos from its navigation camera to its onboard computer.

Thankfully, Ingenuity powered through and landed safely near its intended destination.

With no in-flight anomalies, the helicopter lifted off at around 12:34 local mean solar time on Tuesday, June 8, which is about 11:54 a.m. EDT or 3:34 p.m. GMT, according to Space.com.

Ingenuity flew for 62.8 seconds and traveled about 106 meters, 348 feet, south to a new landing spot, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced on Twitter.

This brand new airfield was only ever captured from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in space, suggesting a flat landing ground. Now thanks to Ingenuity, we can now get a closer look.

Ingenuity's new mission is just as vital as the first, displaying just how important the ability to fly the helicopter out into terrain the rover cannot access or traverse and bring back scientific data.

"This is extremely important for future missions that could combine a rover with a reconnaissance helicopter," Ken Farley, a project scientist with NASA's Perseverance rover, said in a briefing (per Business Insider).

After showing some resilience, Ingenuity is expected to keep flying to new airfields for as long as it can go.

Related Article: NASA Mars Curiosity Rover Tracker: Where to Check Latest Photos, Mission Update and More
If you find that you can't connect to Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, you're not the only one.

More than a thousand users worldwide have reported massive outages on the social media websites and apps on Wednesday. This includes people in the United States, Morocco, Mexico, Bolivia, and Brazil, The Daily Mail said.

It is unclear if these web blackouts are related to the other massive internet blackout that occurred last Tuesday, which brought down hundreds of websites worldwide. That blackout was caused by an unnamed IT customer for Fastly--the U.S. cloud-computing company--who changed their settings and a software bug prevented millions of people from accessing sites like Amazon, Spotify, Netflix, BBC, and even the White House.

As of writing, Facebook has not given any additional comments about the problem.

How to Tell If Facebook Down

According to Lifewire, it could be difficult to figure out if losing connection to Facebook or to any of its sister companies is simply an isolated problem or a problem everyone else is experiencing. But if you know where to check, it would be easier to figure out.

Here are a few ways to check if Facebook itself is down:

1. Check the Facebook Platform Status Page.

The Facebook Platform Status page will inform you of "major disruptions," '"some disruptions," and if anything is "resolved." It will also explain some of these issues briefly.

Lifewire noted that this page is hosted by Facebook. Depending on the problem they're having, the information may not be as up-to-date, so go check their time stamps.

2. Head to Twitter and Check Hashtags for Facebook Down, Instagram Down, Or Whatsapp Down

Do check the timestamps to see if other people are also experiencing the issues the same time you are. You can also take the time to check Facebook's Twitter page to see if they've posted any updates regarding the website and app issue. Furthermore, better check Instagram and WhatsApp if they tweeted about a problem, too.

If you can't access Twitter, and other popular websites are also inaccessible, it could mean two things: something's wrong with your Internet Service Provider or the websites are having another major blackout.

3. Use DownDetector, Down For Everyone Or Just Me, downrightnow, Is It Down Right Now?, or Outage.Report.

Sites like DownDetector, Down For Everyone Or Just Me, downrightnow, Is It Down Right Now? or Outage.Report are third-party "status checker" websites that can help you find out if other users are also reporting issues with Facebook or any other website. If no one else is reporting issues, then the problem is more likely on your end, Lifewire said.

Read Also: Twitter vs. Facebook: 5 Tweet Reactions Rumored, Angry Expression Missing?

How to Connect Back to Facebook

If you find that Facebook is working well for everyone else except you, you can do the following steps:

1. Make sure you are actually visiting the official website.

Make sure you're entering www.facebook.com and not some website pretending to be Facebook or a third-party website.

2. Try the app

If you cannot open Facebook from your web browser, try using the app. Make sure it is also the official app for Android or iOS. The same goes for WhatsApp or Instagram.

If you haven't, check the web browser on your smartphone or tablet to check if you can connect to the website.

3. Do a quick browser restart

Go ahead and close all of your browser windows, wait 30 seconds, open one window, and then try accessing Facebook again, Lifewire added.

Do the same to your Facebook app if you're on a tablet or smartphone. Make sure you're actually closing the app and not just making it run in the background.

If the app or the browser is not closing, you can go ahead and try restarting your entire device and try accessing the website and app again.

4. Clear your browser's cache and cookies.

Simply put, try clearing your cache and cookies since it might be slowing down your access to the sites.

Facebook and Messenger Down!? Even the URL of Facebook is unaccessible.#facebookdown  Kenneth Condes (@K1netics) June 9, 2021

5. Scan your computer for malware

checking for malware can also reveal if anything else is amiss with your device.

If Facebook does inform its users of problems, all you can do now is wait for them to resolve those problems. If the problem is on your end, report the problem to Facebook or your local service provider if you're sure it isn't a problem with your device specifically.

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Leaked information regarding the taxes of some of the wealthiest Americans, including Elon Musk, has surfaced online. ProPublica's report earlier on Tuesday showed just how much the 25 richest Americans paid in tax.

The U.S. government is now investigating how their tax information got leaked to the public, Business Insider reported. The sensitive, private, and confidential nature of the leaked information have the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury assuring the public that the matter is being taken care of.

Despite raising the issue of tax information leaks as a violation of privacy, ProPublica insisted that it is of public interest to know such information. The tax system can clearly be gamed and, given the figures,be systemically unfair.

Even U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich took to Twitter to express their sentiments of taxing the rich after the leak.

True tax rates of billionaires:

Warren Buffett: 0.10%

Jeff Bezos: 0.98%

Michael Bloomberg: 1.30%

Elon Musk: 3.27%



Tax rate for working class Americans: 24.2%



Tax the billionaires. Make them pay their fair share. Rebuild our nation's crumbling infrastructure. https://t.co/MVtYO8w63O  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 8, 2021

The White House has made a statement that the Biden administration is taking the illegal leak of tax information very seriously, also noting how corporations and individuals of the highest income will be ensured to pay more of their fair share as part of Joe Biden's budget and proposals, Business Insider added.

Elon Musk Tax Leak

In the list of 25 wealthy individuals reported by ProPublica, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is included. For what it's worth, he is the the second-richest person in the world.

Musk's wealth grew close to $14 billion from 2014 to 2018, the ProPublica report claimed. His reported income was at $1.52 billion. However, he has only paid $455 million in taxes.

In 2015, he paid $68,000 in federal income tax. In 2017, he paid $65,000. In 2018, the report has found that Musk paid no federal income taxes.

That comes up to about 3.27 percent as Musk's true tax rate, or a percentage of his total wealth growth.

Read Also: Elon Musk Tweets Lead to Tesla Trouble: SEC Letter Reveals CEO's Big Violation

Elon Musk's Response on Twitter

While the other individuals on the list have their lawyers and representatives give out statements or have kept silent, Musk took to Twitter to address the concerns and his thoughts as well.

According to Teslarati, Tesla's rise in stock price over the past year is being accounted for Musk's "increase in wealth" and not by a paid salary from his employer.

Teslarati pointed out that Musk hasn't accepted salary from Tesla, and his stock isn't taxable unless he sells it due to the Capital Gains Tax, which are only paid when profit is realized on those stocks.

Twitter users who support Musk have also shared their opinion, backing the billionaire and the federal tax system.

Musk has shared and agreed with multiple Twitter users and shed more light to how his finances are in actuality.

Yeah, sold my houses, except for 1 in Bay Area thats rented out for events.



Working on sustainable energy for Earth with Tesla & protecting future of consciousness by making life multiplanetary with SpaceX. Also, AI risk mitigation with Neuralink & fixing traffic with Boring.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2021

Outlined in his contract, according to Teslarati, Musk receives performance-based incentives. He collects those when the EV company reaches thresholds for deliveries, profitability, or other metric that proves the CEO is assisting or complementing the company's growth.

These are paid in stock options and constitute his wealth but not his realized income. Unless sold, those stocks are not to be taxed like the salary he is legally required to collect, "I don't cash it. it ends up accumulating in a Tesla bank account somewhere," as Musk told The New York Times.

Exactly. Only time I sell Tesla stock is when my stock options are expiring & I have no choice.



Btw, I will continue to pay income taxes in California proportionate to my time in state, which is & will be significant.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2021

The figures of wealth, income, and taxes of the richest individuals and corporations have become a topic of debate for the longest time. This has also become the fuel of a lot of political campaigns for either party, or against the tax system of the government.

Related Article: Elon Musk Bitcoin Tweets Frustrate Hacktivist Group: Anonymous Warns Tesla CEO Over Constant 'Trolling'
The 2022 Honda Civic Hatchback will be joining its siblings soon. The Japanese automotive company is just about ready to show the world their updated Civic.

Initially offered as a sedan, then a coupe, now a sleek and redesigned hatchback, the Civic has become the car for just about anyone of nearly any need.

Honda took to Twitter to announce the global debut of the 2022 Civic Hatchback, scheduled for June 23.

2022 Honda Civic Turbo Engine, Transmission

The Honda hatchback will continue to offer a six-speed manual transmission like its predecessors, Car And Driver said. A continuously variable automatic front wheel will be available as well.

Although no official statement has shed light on what kind of engine the hatch will be housing, a lot of fans suspect that the five-door will carry the 180 horsepower turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four that comes optional on the 2022 Civic sedan.

Other trim levels that could come with the hatch are the LX, Sport and EX.

There could also be new performance variants coming once the hatchback is revealed. The Si and Type R might come standard as a sedan and hatchback respectively.

Motor Authority added that Honda has also improved both the body and chassis stiffness, giving 8 percent better torsional rigidity and 13% better bending rigidity. What this does is improve the ride and handling of the vehicle as well as noise, vibration, and harshness levels.

The 2022 Honda Civic Hatchback will make its world premiere on June 23 with a more mature design, an available six-speed manual gearbox, a 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster, as well as two powertrains to choose from, including a 1.5L turbocharged four-cylinder engine. #Honda pic.twitter.com/9ofpP3CtBa  Cole Marzen (@cole_marzen) June 10, 2021

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2022 Honda Civic Hatchback Specs

In earlier spy shots of the hatchback, Motor Authority noted the sleeker shape. Car And Driver, meanwhile, highlighted that the difference between the hatch and the dean is their B-pillar--with the hatchback having a different greenhouse and possibly more cargo space in the back.

The interior should be identical to its siblings with its handsome and modern design, Cnet added.

All of Civic's onboard tech should be carried over to the hatch as well, so that means since the top-level Touring models get a 9-inch infotainment display and a 10.2-inch digital gauge cluster, so shall the functional five-door.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will come standard and a 12-speaker Bose sound system will definitely give your jams that added boost. Wireless charging for mobile devices will also be available, Motor Authority noted.

Honda is said to be moving its hatchback production from the United Kingdom to its plant in Greensburg, Indiana. This will be the first time a Civic Hatchback has been sourced from a U.S. plant.

People should also expect that the Honda Sensing suite of driver-assistance features will be offered, giving improved adaptive cruise control and lane-centering tech, Cnet added.

To celebrate the debut, Honda is hosting Majid Jordan remixing H.E.R. Civic Tour concert and a sweepstakes entry can get you a chance to win an all-new Honda Civic and other prizes.

The livestream virtual concert and debut will be available on Honda's YouTube channel, June 23, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time/6 p.m. Pacific Time.

Catch the global debut of the all-new 2022 #CivicHatchback on 6/23 on the @HondaStage YouTube channel.  https://t.co/OyLs5uMKkg  Honda (@Honda) June 10, 2021

Related Article: 2022 Honda Civic Interior Boasts Redesigned Entertainment System: Specs, Release Date, and Other Features
Everyone knows the iconic scene from the original Star Wars movie back in 1977, with a holographic image of Princess Leia pleading, Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Youre my only hope. Since then, people everywhere have dreamed of bringing that kind of 3D engagement to real life and, now, four decades later, its finally happening.

Holographic technology developer IKIN announced its Ryz platform two years ago, its first step in creating an interactive, high-quality, and affordable holography ecosystem, including the tools needed to create and interact with holographic environments.

As Rich Tehrani wrote following an interview with IKIN CTO Taylor Scott, IKINs RYZ product line  comprised of RYZ Framework, RYZ Accessory and RYZ mobile app  delivers volumetric rendering and display to mobile devices, empowering the touch control and inclusion of holograms in nearly any mobile app, game or tool. Moving beyond existing AR and VR technologies, RYZ displays holograms in ambient light without the use of goggles or other specialized equipment.

We are all about creating technology for a better future, said Michael DArminio, IKIN CMO. Ryz is ultimately our first commercial launch, but we have thousands of ideas related to that lens of creating a better future. Our philosophy is, if we cant do something that is unique and really make a difference, why do it?

While the concept itself is certainly game-changing, what perhaps most amazing is the company is doing it on a smartphone scale. Users arent going to need large, bulky home hardware for holographic experiences. The Ryz accessory will be a small add-on to their smartphones, so they can have those experiences everywhere, right in the palms of their hands.

Todays digital environment is all about increasing emotional engagement, and bringing users from a 2D to a 3D world will undoubtedly take emotional engagement to a new level.

Brand attraction and interest have incredible value. But, when you look at todays younger generation, in particular, their interest factors tends to be low, explained DArminio. Though holographic content, brands can create a new emotional engagement factor that will increase interest and attraction.

How will it happen? How can developers get in on that emotional engagement journey?

IKIN University

For the first time, IKIN is bringing its holographic experience directly to developers with its IKIN University Hologram Developer Event, taking place June 22, 2021, at ITEXPO in Miami, Florida.

IKIN already has a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, through which it will supply 5G holographic smart warehouse technology to the U.S. Marines. But thats just the tip of the iceberg. Developers in nearly any industry will now be able to work with the Ryz platform to create their own holographic content.

We are giving developers their first opportunity to create content that doesnt rely on glasses or goggles, said Cody Oakland, IKIN co-founder. Right now, all you get is two dimensions, without depth. We are 3D people living on 2D devices, so there is part of the connection that gets lost for us.

Its not just about 3D imagery, though, its about a lifelike 3D experience. For example, if you are looking at an object on your screen, you cant see whats behind it, no matter how hard you try. But, with IKINs technology, users will be able to look around that object to see whats on the other side, just as they would in an in-person environment.

From a content creation perspective, the sky is the limit, added Oakland. We take the natural world and put it into the technology. Our solution allows our eyes and brain to view visual experiences the same way we see the natural world.

At IKIN University @ ITEXPO, IKIN will show various examples and demos of what is possible with holography, allowing developers and others to truly experience first-hand the value of 3D experiences and see the value it will bring to their content, regardless of their industry.

With its platform, IKIN will provide everything developers will need in terms of background, documentation, and support for whatever they want to develop.

We just want to help them become the best creators of content in a completely new space, said Oakland.

Importantly, IKIN isnt making it complicated. Developers wont have to learn a new language or platform, because IKINs SKD really comes down to making adjustments that will enhance the final product. Developers already proficient in Unity Development will be on their way to creating holographic content quickly.

Attendees at IKIN University @ ITEXP0 2021 will be the first to learn about and have access to the tools IKIN is bringing to the developer community. It means they will have a head start on their competition in creating a new level of emotional engagement  and its all part of the introduction at the IKIN University kickoff, exclusively at ITEXPO 2021.

The event will include step-by-step content creation examples, hands-on participation, an opportunity to become part of the IKIN Community Forum with access to IKINs documentation and knowledge base. There will also be a chance to join a design team and actually try it out, including a competition for prizes in a holographic applications design-off.

Attendance is free for IKIN University, but registration is required.

With everyone fighting for screen, voice, and market share, every developer should want to get ahead of the curve and bring a new level of engagement to their customers and users.

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Edited by Erik Linask
Meetric says regular meetings are mired with communication problems that render it ineffective and unproductive. Meetrics key features addresses these and provides the tools to solve these problems.

Sydney startup Meetric has one clear goal: to help the world have better and more effective meetings.

Meetric, which was funded by Antlers Accelerator Program in April 2020, plans to change how meetings are conducted.

From calendar and video conferencing integrations, agenda preparation, and note-taking, to meeting timers, shared to-do lists and email reminders, Meetrics focus on accountability transforms the way businesses host meetings.

By connecting with Google Calendar (Microsoft integration is coming late 2021), Meetric also enables users to have one clear reference point for all of their meetings notes, with notes linked directly to events in a user's calendar.

Regular meetings are riddled with communication problems like poor agenda prep, unorganised notes, and unclear next steps. Meetric addresses these and provides a tool to streamline these problems through a shareable, traceable, and actionable meeting notes.

Key features of Meetric:

Capturing meeting notes: The platform allows users to easily capture notes in real-time with others in the meeting (just like a Google Docs) or privately. Notes can be viewed through the platform and users calendars, as well the option to email them to all participants at the end of a meeting.

Shared to-do list: Alongside notes, tasks with deadlines can be assigned to any meeting participants. Reminders are sent directly to individuals to hold team members accountable and ensure tasks are completed on time.

Meeting history: Related meetings are linked together (for example, recurring meetings or 1-1s), making it simple to refer back to past meetings and see what actions are still outstanding, so nothing gets lost.

Built for meetings: Unlike traditional note-taking and task management tools, Meetric is built for the purpose of meetings: it can import the agenda, display the guest list, suggest an icebreaker, and keep track of time. It works with the tools already in use: Through its Chrome extension, users can access their Meetric meeting notes and tasks directly in Google Calendar or live in a Google Meet or a Microsoft Team meeting without switching windows.

Paul Boudet (pictured), Meetric co-founder and CEO says: Meetric is the missing thing in your calendar. For a given event, your calendar will tell you who will be there (guest list), where itll be hosted (location/video link), and why you are meeting (description/agenda).

He adds: But theres one important missing piecethe what. What actually happened in the meeting: the key points in the conversations, the decisions made, and the next steps. Calendars help us prepare for meetings but do not help us run or follow-up on them.

Meetric is that missing piece, he notes.

Boudet concludes: Other meeting tools focus on transcription as being the next big thing to transform workplace meetings, but for 90% of them, we believe transcription is not the answer. Transcribing a one-hour meeting into a 10-page document does not improve clarity and accountabilitybut writing the key things down, for everyone to see, does. We have all heard this before: If it is not written down, it did not happen. This is very true with meetings.

Meetric is a Google verified app partner and is currently available for free. Slack & Microsoft integrations are planned for late 2021.
Advertising, marketing, and public relations agency Ogilvy Australia has appointed Mark Albert as Chief Data & Analytics Officer as part of the further enhancement of its data intelligence offering.

In his new role Albert will lead the data practice across the Ogilvy Australia-New Zealand network, servicing advertising, experience, PR and health sectors.

An experienced data analytics advisor, Albert has extensive knowledge in providing data driven marketing solutions that bring creative and business value to major brands.

Albert started his career as a data planner at OgilvyOne in London and then went on to become founding partner and COO of Australian data and analytics agency, Torque Data, in 2002, where he worked with many of Australias leading brands as a strategic consultant solving data, digital and marketing challenges.

Following the 2015 acquisition of Torque Data by Virgin Australias Velocity Frequent Flyer loyalty program, Albert became Head of Data Consult at Velocity, managing the strategic use of Velocitys membership data for Virgin Australia, Velocity and its loyalty program partners.

In his role as Chief Data and Analytics Officer of Ogilvy, Albert will utilise his broad consulting and practical experience across data-driven marketing, CRM and loyalty programs to leverage data and analytics solutions that fuel brand experiences, optimise performance and underpin future business growth.

Sally Kissane, CEO at Ogilvy Australia - part of creative transformation company WPP AUNZ - said: We couldnt be happier to welcome Mark back into the Ogilvy family after many years. There are very few people in Australia that have Marks depth of experience and capability, and we are excited to merge his knowledge with our creative work.

Mark has a wonderful way of de-mystifying the world of data and making sense of whats important for brand and business growth. We are incredibly fortunate to have him on board to work with our clients and teams across the Ogilvy Network.

I am very excited to be re-joining the Ogilvy Network, and feel privileged to collaborate with such an amazing team, said Albert.

There is a huge opportunity for us to continue accelerating the smart application of data and analytics, and I look forward to combining my extensive data analytics experience with Ogilvy Australias talented creative minds to deliver exceptional work.

Ogilvy Australia is part of creative transformation company WPP AUNZ.
German Cardinal Reinhard Marx attends a press conference at the Vatican's press center in this Oct. 21, 2015, photo. Pope Francis refused Marx's resignation over the sex abuse scandal in the church, Thursday. AP-Yonhap



Pope Francis on Thursday rejected German Cardinal Reinhard Marx's resignation as archbishop of Munich over the Church's sexual abuse crisis, saying he agreed that it was a worldwide "catastrophe" but that the prelate should stay on.



Marx, one of Roman Catholicism's most influential liberal figures, offered to resign earlier this month, saying he had to share institutional responsibility for sexual abuse by clerics over past decades.



In a letter to Marx written on Thursday and released by the Vatican, Francis said he understood the motivation behind Marx's offer to resign, but would not accept it.



"That is my answer, dear Brother. Continue as you suggest, but as Archbishop of Munich," Francis told Marx in the letter, written in the pope's native Spanish.



A former head of Germany's Catholic bishops conference, Marx is not under any suspicion of having participated in abuse or cover-ups.



The Church is investigating abuse allegations in another German archdiocese, Cologne, after a report in March found hundreds of victims there.



"I agree with you that this is a catastrophe: the sad history of sexual abuse and the way the Church approached it until recently," Francis said.



"Becoming aware of hypocrisy in the way we live our faith is a grace and a first step that we must take. We have to take responsibility for this history, both as individuals and as a community. We cannot remain indifferent in the face of this crime," he said in the letter.



Declaring that "the whole Church is in crisis" over abuse, Francis said it could no longer take a "head-in-sand policy" over the crisis.



"Accepting the crisis, as individuals and as a community is the only fruitful way," he said.



Marx, 67, is a member of the pope's kitchen cabinet, a small group of cardinals from around the world who advise the pontiff on various issues, including economic ones. By staying in both positions, he can continue to help the pope with reforms.



"Marx remains archbishop of Munich and an important ally of the pope (in Rome)," said Thomas Schueller, a canon law professor at Muenster University, indicating that the pope's decision was a win-win decision for the pontiff.



A leading progressive, Marx is a proponent of the "Synodal Path," a movement that aims to give lay Catholics more influence over the running of the Church and in issues including appointment of bishops, sexual morality, priestly celibacy and women's ordination.



Conservatives have attacked the concept, saying it could lead to a schism.



The last few years have seen an accelerating exodus from the Church in Germany, with liberal faithful queuing in Cologne to quit the Church, protesting not only at abuse but also over conservative attitudes toward same-sex relationships.



Germany's Church has an outsized influence globally, in part because of its wealth: taxes paid by members and collected by the government make it the world's richest. (Reuters)


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Trade moves to ensure jobs

China Daily) 10:04, June 10, 2021

Cargo is loaded at Qingdao Port, Shandong province. [Photo by YU FANGPING/FOR CHINA DAILY]

Govt measures set to consolidate stability of supply, industrial chains

China will promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade, and consolidate the stability of the supply and industrial chains to ensure jobs for nearly 200 million people during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), a government report said on Wednesday.

Released by the Ministry of Commerce, the Foreign Trade Situation Report of China (Spring 2021) reviews the foreign trade situation in the country from last year to April this year, and also analyzes the global environment and prospects for the rest of this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic is yet to be controlled effectively globally, while the production, distribution and rollout of vaccines has been uneven, it said. Global economic recovery is still not stable or balanced, while there have been several constraints for international industrial and supply chains, all of which has led to a complex external environment for China's foreign trade growth, the report said.

With the government adopting stable foreign trade policies and measures, relatively new business forms and new models, such as e-commerce, are booming across China, and the development resilience of foreign trade enterprises is being reinforced. Such factors will provide strong support for the steady growth of both imports and exports.

To ease the pressure caused by COVID-19, the report said that more than 10,000 Chinese export-oriented companies went online for the first time in 2020, while a large number of Chinese companies adopted digital solutions, including big data, business-to-business platforms and online exhibition activities to attract global customers and increase sales.

"Many Chinese manufacturers have continued to add investment to improve the technical content and added value of export products, in a bid to move up the value chain," said Bai Ming, deputy director of international market research department at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

He said that a growing number of Chinese companies have also begun to cultivate their "soft power" for exports, focusing on improving the comprehensive capabilities of supply chain management, brand building, quality control and after-sales services to further compete with their global rivals.

China's efforts to leverage high-level openness to promote the dual-circulation development pattern, will not only stimulate domestic consumption, but also attract foreign resources, said Zhang Yongjun, a researcher at the Beijing-based China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

The new development pattern has the domestic market as the mainstay of the economy, while domestic and international markets support each other.

"While expanding domestic demand and ensuring the smooth flow of the internal circulation, the domestic cycle of production, distribution and consumption, China will continue to boost both exports and imports, as well as attract foreign direct investment," he said.

China's foreign trade rose by 28.2 percent on a yearly basis to 14.76 trillion yuan ($2.31 trillion) during the first five months of the year, reflecting that exports and imports are picking up growth momentum. It is also being driven by robust domestic demand and growing overseas orders, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

Shandong-province based CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co, a subsidiary of China Railway Rolling Stock Corp, the country's largest rolling stock manufacturer by production volume, and its partner Astra Vagoane Arad, signed a supply contract for 100 trams with Bucharest Town Hall of Romania last month. Vehicles covered by the project are 100 percent low-floor modern trams with a standard track gauge, four-module formation and advanced power supply system.

"This is the first complete vehicle project won by Chinese rail transit equipment manufacturer in Romania," said Ma Lijun, CRRC Qingdao Sifang's president, adding the company is willing to supply more trains to Central and Eastern European countries in the coming years.

At present, China's foreign trade reach has expanded to more than 230 countries and regions, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has become its largest trading partner, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Economic cooperation with countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative has continued to deepen trade and its proportion in China's total foreign trade has grown from 25.1 percent in 2015 to 29.1 percent in 2020.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
1. Comedian Amanda Seales (of HBOs Insecure) is about to take you to school. Sick of the stereotypes about African Americans in media and the overall lack of knowledge of black history, Seales mixes humor and her doctorate in African American studies with her love of games and music to cr


Location: Mequon - Wisconsin

Location: Cleveland - Ohio

Location: Kansas City - Missouri Job Description Enterprise Integration Architect Summary:

The Enterprise Integration Architect is responsible for conceptual development on how Rockwell Automation's Power Control Business Portfolio is represented within a Connected Enterprise industrial automation system. Defines methodologies on how power control devices efficiently manage data across the Connected Enterprise. Creates and maintains capability maps of how power control devices interact with the automation system. Focuses on simplifying and optimizing User Experience of power control devices within a system environment. Owns the Power Control Enterprise Enablement technical roadmap and keeps abreast on current technology. Leads the system integration stream, while partnering closely with product management to deliver a Common Architecture Vision strategy. Effectively collaborates across business operating segments to understand current and future software platforms and defines strategy on how Power Controls Business portfolio will effectively integrate. Has deep understanding of the FactoryTalk namespace, Rockwell Automation Edge/Cloud namespace, and the current applications contained within. High functioning contributor to the Power Controls Business simplicity effort of making products easier to use at the system level. Supports in-flight programs, reviewing Product Requirements and Functional Requirements documents in the initial stages of product development, while responsible for generating requirement and high-level design specifications. Effectively collaborates with peer architects and subject matter experts to facilitate delivery of simplified and differentiated products and solutions that solve real-world customer problems. Leads cross functional teams within the organization. Delivers and supports the deployment of re-usable engineering content and leads any associated knowledge capture. Defines requirements for SaaS and FaaS software and edge applications that would enable simplified customer access to data. Information Processing Capability Possesses a strong system or customer view, is an abstract thinker, and can step away from the details to look at "the big picture".

Able to create clarity from ambiguity.

Can lead a cross functional team of Architects (System and Functional) assembled to work as a high-performance team to deliver world class hardware architectures for various products.

Leads and coordinates cross BU technical alignment from an Information Software and system mindset point of view.

Technology owner who influences roadmaps of Information Software and Software and Control for identified PCB use-case.

Able to provide leadership in identifying strategic needs, drafting a vision, selling the vision, and executing against the strategic initiative.

Demonstrates thought leadership via customer support, presentations and white papers

Creator of business value, differentiation, cost competitiveness, and business strategy enablement Temperament Effective leader with ability to lead, inspire and develop others to deliver their best performance.

Highly resilient; pursues tasks with drive and a sense of urgency. Consistently moves problems toward resolution; helps others do the same. Committed to developing strong relationships and collaborative partnerships. Supports the goals and initiatives of other businesses and functional support organizations.

Can effectively work across company boundaries and bridge gaps between theory and practice.

Effective collaborator and innovation enabler; embraces and shares ideas, engages others to improve and realize innovations.

High performance team member who helps the team win as a group, expands the teams strengths, and motivates peers Accepts Role Requirements: Presents enterprise integration architecture plans to senior executives when necessary.

Passionate about leading and developing teams; track record of mentoring and developing talent.

Manages varying priorities and pre-consideration design requests, etc.

Provide leadership for key marketing and product initiatives.

Influential leader who is viewed as a stakeholder manager, able to effectively compile and sell ideas with strategic messaging and compelling communication skills Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree required. Desired Qualifications: Minimum 5 years of customer experience of implementing automation and information software systems.

Minimum of 15 years design experience in engineering.

Minimum of 8 years working as a design lead and leader - Proven ability to influence change and build effective partnerships in a matrix environment.

MS Degree or relevant advanced degree preferred.

Understands how customers use our products and how they fit into target applications and system environments.

Understands the competitive landscape for our technology and products.

Demonstrated ability to drive innovation and differentiation.

Experienced in proof-of-concept development and specification.

Experience in working within manufacturing domain - understanding typical OT and IT components of manufacturing operations: MES, CMMS, PLC, DCS, SCADA, HMI, ERP, Asset Management and similar.

Experience with industrial automation, OSI PI, data acquisition and edge technologies.

Understanding of level 0/1 sensor and PLC systems, architectures, and data types is preferred.

Competency in object-oriented development patterns in Java and .NET

Demonstrated domain experience in one industry segment (Automotive, Mining, Pharma, CPG, etc.)

Experience with SQL database management

Familiarity with FactoryTalk Historian, OSISoft PI, PTC ThingWorx and FactoryTalk Analytics We are an Equal Opportunity Employer including disability and veterans. If you are an individual with a disability and you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please contact our services team at +1 (see application details).


Job Location: Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA area

Job Category: Management

Job Status: Full-time

Job Description: Q.E.D. Systems, Inc., an established marine engineering firm, is seeking a Program Manager (PM) for a multi-year/multi $M Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock, Detachment Norfolk Combatant Craft Division (NSWCCDDN), Code 83 MAC contract, for Watercraft Installation Support (WIS) Services. Contract SOW requirements includes; all aspects of watercraft life cycle support, technical support, industrial support, including watercraft construction, modernization, repair, prototyping, surveys, and troubleshooting; logistics and material support, and watercraft operation and testing. The PM will serve as the primary company POC for all contract matters, including contract administration, reporting, meetings, tasking efforts, subcontractor oversight and customer communications. The PM will be responsible for managing and controlling all program costs, schedules and staffing requirements.

Job Requirements/skill sets: Must have 20+ years of experience in ship and boat design, acquisition, testing, prototyping, construction, maintenance and modernization, with a minimum of 10-years of experience serving in a Program Manager/Deputy PM capacity. Excellent verbal and written communications skills are required. QED desires proficiency in Microsoft Project and EVMS. DoD Security Clearance is required. Knowledge of Navy Watercraft and a general knowledge of Government contracting is required.

Education Requirements: Bachelors degree from an accredited institution in an engineering or managerial field. PMP certification preferred

Job Contact information: Please mail resumes to jromano@qedsysinc.com

EOE M/F

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The recent joint declaration of the Namibian and German governments on dealing with the 1904-08 genocide marks the first time a former colonial power has officially offered an apology to another country for state sponsored mass crimes.

The agreement stipulates that Germany will pay 1.1bn for development projects in Namibia over the next 30 years.

Some pundits consider the accord a potential template for efforts towards post-colonial reconciliation for other former colonies and colonial powers.

We recognise that this is the first time that a former colonial power has admitted an historical injustice on a state-to-state level. But the negotiated compromise displays glaring shortcomings in being overly cautious to avoid any legal implications for Germany that may create a precedent. It also shows that the limited participation of representatives from the Namibian communities most affected by the genocide is hampering true reconciliation.

In our view bilateral agreements between governments  like this one  fall short of a true decolonisation of relations between people.

The history

The agreement is the result of protracted negotiations between Germany and Namibia. It builds on former pronouncements, such as the 2004 speech by the German Minister for Economic Cooperation, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, at the centennial of the battle at the Waterberg, which marked the beginning of the genocide.

She acknowledged that what had happened was a war of extermination  today called genocide before asking: forgive our trespasses and our guilt.

More than a decade later, in mid-2015, the German Foreign Ministry conceded that the warfare in 1904-1908 was tantamount to genocide. At the end of that year, bilateral negotiations between the two governments were initiated. But these kept on hitting stumbling blocks.

Wary of possible far-reaching legal obligations, Germany wanted to negotiate the format of its apology to Namibia. It was also reluctant to use the term genocide. It has always refused to accept the term reparations.

A few years earlier, in 2011, some initial progress had been made in addressing the colonial atrocities with the first return of human remains from Berlin to Namibia of the victims of the genocide. The skulls and other human body parts had been taken to colonial Germany for anthropological anatomical studies that later contributed towards Nazi race science.

Subsequently, many more opportunities for meaningful reconciliation were missed.

The fear of potential legal implications of any agreement, and the precedent that might create for Germany and other former colonial powers, loom large. They fear opening the door for reparations.

From a German perspective, this also includes pending claims by Greece, Italy and Poland for compensation for mass atrocities committed by German soldiers from World War II.

The recent compromise negotiated by Germany and Namibia avoids such a trap for Germany and other former colonial powers.

Too little, too late

Germanys commitment of 1.1bn for development projects in Namibia is too cheap a price to pay for remorse. Compared with the lasting human costs and material damage created in Namibia, this amounts to tokenism. As Ovaherero paramount chief Vekuii Rukoro has said, it adds insult to injury.

The annual payment over the next 30 years amounts to about 37 million, just about N$618 million at current exchange rates. Namibias national budget for 2021/22 is N$67.9 billion.

For the Namibian government, such money is a tempting carrot. After all, the countrys economy is in a deep recession. COVID-19 has added to the fiscal crisis.

Thus, such a financial injection would come in handy, especially at a time of eroding trust in government. The money is earmarked for land reform and development, rural infrastructure, energy and water supply as well as education.

Germanys President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is expected to visit Namibia to ask for an apology in the National Assembly. But such an official policy level engagement cannot replace a direct exchange with the descendants of the most affected communities, who have threatened to welcome the German president with a protest.

Recognition without compensation

After the negotiations were concluded, the German Foreign Ministry issued an official statement. It stressed that the recognition of genocide did not imply any legal claims for compensation.

Instead, the substantial programme  for reconstruction and development was declared as a gesture of recognition for the wrongdoings by Germany.

One wonders if gestures are indeed an adequate form of recognition. Given the dimensions of the crimes committed then, more empathy would be an important signal. Such formal language can be very humiliating and hurtful.

Reconciliation needs more than material compensation. The devastating demographic and socio-economic consequences of genocide can never be compensated. Significantly improving the well-being of the descendants of the victims would be an important material aspect. This requires more than the payments offered.

So is an adequate expression of remorse in recognition of the historical injustice. The joint declaration states that

The Namibian Government and people accept Germanys apology and believe that it paves the way to a lasting mutual understanding and the consolidation of a special relationship between the two nations.

Without consultation and legitimacy, the two governments here declare what the Namibian people are supposed to accept.

Notably, even the representatives of three Ovaherero Royal Houses participating in the final round of negotiations indicated on their return home that they would not endorse the suggested agreement.

What true reconciliation requires

Through a long and halting process, Germany has ultimately made significant progress in facing up to the atrocities of the Holocaust of European Jews during World War II. Its remembrance is now claimed as part of the Germanys DNA. The Holocaust memorial in central Berlin does that for Jewish victims.

And Germany has reached a measure of reconciliation with neighbouring France, and to a lesser extent with Poland for its crimes during the war.

Germanys colonial atrocities should also enter public memory. Public commemoration of the victims of numerous crimes committed under German colonialism, such as those in Namibia, is long overdue.

If there is a lesson to be learnt from these actions, it is that bilateral agreements between governments cannot replace reconciliation between the people of the two countries concerned. The descendents of the victims on the Namibian genocide are traceable, but what about the perpetrators? As the Namibian activist and author Jephta U Nguherimo has stated,

President Steinmeier should deliver his apology to the Bundestag for the German people to understand and learn about their untold genocide.

So far, this vital perspective is totally missing.

A compromise, but not yet a solution

The German-Namibian agreement is the limited result of a compromise reached through flawed government negotiations. Still, this is a widely acknowledged pioneering step.

From a German perspective, the admission of guilt with the consequences attached is one step towards breaking continued colonial amnesia.

This could ultimately foster long overdue awareness of Germanys colonial past. It can promote unreserved recognition that Germans occupied foreign territories and subjugated people, creating lasting damage. But even this would contribute little towards healing festering wounds in Namibia.

Decolonisation and reconciliation must become a shared process between people. Governments can help to facilitate such a process. They can never supplant it.

Reinhart Kossler is Professor of Political Science at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He is the author of Namibia and Germany. Negotiating the Past (University of Namibia Press/ Westfalisches Dampfboot, 2015).

Henning Melber is an extraordinary professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He arrived in Namibia, then called South West Africa, in 1967 at the age of 17. In 1974 he joined SWAPO, the Namibian anti-colonial movement that became the main political party after independence in 1990. Melber is still a member. He is the author of numerous books on Namibia.

This article has been initially published by The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence.
Pressure mounted Thursday on US congresswoman Ilhan Omar as a Jewish group of fellow Democratic lawmakers called on her to clarify her remarks about unthinkable atrocities committed by the United States, Hamas and the Taliban.

Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to the US Congress, has antagonized or offended members of her Democratic Party in the past with comments that have been decried as anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.

Her latest remarks led to a rare public letter of disapproval from 12 House Democrats, who wrote that equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided.

The United States and Israel are imperfect and, like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups, wrote the group, led by Brad Schneider of Illinois.

We urge Congresswoman Omar to clarify her words.

At a Monday House hearing Omar had grilled Secretary of State Antony Blinken over accountability for victims of crimes against humanity.

She then followed up with a tweet that read: We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.

In their letter the Jewish lawmakers said Omars comments equating actions by a rule-of-law nation and those of organizations that engage in terrorism potentially reflects deep-seated prejudice.

Omar, who was born in Somalia and immigrated as a refugee in the mid-1990s, pushed back Thursday.

The islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive, she tweeted. The constant harassment & silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable.

Omar also said her earlier remarks were related to an open case against Israel, the United States, Hamas and the Taliban in the International Criminal Court.

Omar received support from the other Muslim woman in Congress, Rashida Tlaib, who said she was tired of colleagues demonizing Omar.

Their obsession with policing her is sick, Tlaib said.

Omar said she has recently received death threats, and on Thursday posted audio of a man threatening her staff and saying Muslims are terrorists.
US congresswoman Ilhan Omar faced a new, furious backlash Thursday from colleagues across the political spectrum after the Muslim lawmaker accused the United States and Israel of unthinkable atrocities comparable to those of Hamas and the Taliban.

Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to the US Congress, has antagonized or offended members of her Democratic Party in the past with comments that have been decried as anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.

But Republicans and Democrats alike have seized on her recent criticism of the United States to demand she clarify her remarks, or call outright for punishment including being stripped of her committee assignments.

Twelve Jewish House Democrats issued a rare public letter of disapproval against a member of their own party, writing that equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided.

The United States and Israel are imperfect and, like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups, wrote the group, led by Brad Schneider of Illinois.

We urge Congresswoman Omar to clarify her words.

At a House hearing on Monday, Omar  who was born in Somalia and immigrated to the United States as a refugee in the mid-1990s  grilled Secretary of State Antony Blinken over accountability for victims of crimes against humanity.

She then followed up with a tweet that read: We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.

Rep. Omars anti-Semitic & anti-American comments are abhorrent, said top House Republican Kevin McCarthy.

Speaker (Nancy) Pelosis continued failure to address the issues in her caucus sends a message to the world that Democrats are tolerant of anti-Semitism and sympathizing with terrorists, he added. Its time for the Speaker to act.

 Walk it back 

The 38-year-old Minneapolis congresswoman, who has repeatedly criticized Israels policies towards Palestinians, pushed back Thursday.

The islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive, she tweeted, referring to the letter by the dozen lawmakers.

Omar said her earlier remarks were related to an open case against Israel, the United States, Hamas and the Taliban in the International Criminal Court.

But in response to firestorm triggered by her comments, Omar also issued a statement insisting they were not a moral comparison between the US, Israel, Hamas and the Taliban.

I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems, she said.

Lawmakers from both camps were nevertheless fierce in their condemnation.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton said Omar, a naturalized US citizen, was welcome to leave if she believed America was as hateful as the Taliban or Hamas.

She should immediately be removed from her committees, Cotton said, echoing several House Republicans demanding such action, especially removal from the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee.

More Democrats also began calling on Omar to tone down her rhetoric.

She ought to walk it back, congressman John Garamendi told CNN. The problem is, this kind of language incites violence here in the US.

Anti-Semitic attacks increased sharply in May in the US, amid a deadly conflict between Israel and Islamist movement Hamas, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Omar received support from the other Muslim woman in Congress, Rashida Tlaib, who said she was tired of colleagues demonizing Omar.

Their obsession with policing her is sick, Tlaib said.

Omar said she recently received death threats, and posted audio Thursday of a man threatening her staff and saying Muslims are terrorists.

She endured brutal attacks in recent years by then-president Donald Trump, who branded her a rabid anti-Semite and questioned her loyalty to America.

During a campaign rally last September he mentioned Omars Somali roots, and warned supporters she was telling us how to run our country.
The repression of hundreds of thousands of Chinas Uyghur Muslim minority amounts to crimes against humanity, a report published Thursday by human rights group Amnesty International said.

In a 160-page document that includes testimonies from former detainees in camps in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang, Amnesty detailed what it called systematic state-organised mass imprisonment, torture and persecution amounting to crimes against humanity.

The report documents what the rights group called extreme measures taken by Chinese authorities since 2017 against Uyghurs and people from other ethnic-Turkic minorities.

The Chinese authorities have created a dystopian hellscape on a staggering scale, Amnestys secretary general Agnes Callamard said.

Muslim minorities face crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations, she added, saying the abuses should shock the conscience of humanity.

The report documents how, since early 2017, huge numbers of men and women in Xinjiang have been arbitrarily detained.

They include hundreds of thousands who have been sent to prisons in addition to hundreds of thousands  perhaps even a million or more  who have been sent to internment camps, the report said.

All of the more than 50 former detainees that Amnesty interviewed said they had been detained for conduct such as possessing a religious-themed picture or communicating with someone abroad.

Many detainees described first being taken for questioning in police stations where they were attached to steel chairs with leg irons and handcuffs.

They said beatings, sleep deprivation and overcrowding were common, and in extraordinarily regimented internment camps they had no privacy or autonomy and risked harsh punishments.

The Chinese government has gone to extraordinary lengths to cover up its violations of international human rights law in Xinjiang, Amnesty charged.

The US government accuses China of waging genocide in Xinjiang. Britain has declined to use that designation, but joined the United States and Germany last month in calling on Beijing to end repression of the Uyghur minority.

Beijing has repeatedly denied that abuses take place there, saying they are work camps meant to deter extremism and boost incomes.

China must immediately dismantle the internment camps, release the people arbitrarily detained in them and in prisons, Callamard said, calling for a UN investigation under international law.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday that online hatred may have contributed to the radicalization of men who killed Muslim family members in London, Ontario over the weekend. This prompted human rights advocates to criticize his government for failing to deliver on its promise to solve the problem through legislation.

Trudeau said at the Progressive Governance Digital Summit: They were deliberately dragged down maliciously and inexplicably. We dont yet know all the reasons or reasons. There may be factors that online incite violence or get things we must consider.

On Sunday, 46-year-old Salman Afzaal, his 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughters Yumna Afzaal and Salman Afzaals 74-year-old mother were killed by a black truck while they were walking. . Fayez, the youngest member of the family, survived and is 9 years old this year.

On Monday, London police charged a 20-year-old man with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, which they described as a planned and premeditated act against a family of five because of their Muslim beliefs .

After the mosque shooting in New Zealand, Trudeau signed the Christchurch Call for Action, promising to eliminate terrorism and violent extremist content on the Internet. Trudeau subsequently promised to target online hate speech, exploitation and harassment, and take more measures to protect the victims of hate speech.

But only ten days before the summer parliament convenes, the federal government has not yet proposed such legislation.

Human rights advocate Amira Elghawaby has spent more than a year researching online hatred. She said Canadas regulations on hate speech are dying.

Elghawaby said: It is really regrettable that real work will not only change peoples lives, not only Canadian Muslims, but also other racialized groups on the Internet. This change has not happened yet. Its really a shame for Canadians.

A key point

Elghawaby said that there have been many alarm bells that indicate that some measures must be taken.

In 2017, Alexandre Bissonnette killed 6 men in a mosque in Quebec City. An investigation revealed that the gunman was radicalized online and was reported by far-right media.

The investigation into the London attack is ongoing, but Trudeaus remarks about his possible inciting violence online raised concerns about the lack of progress in legislation.

Human rights advocate Amira Elghawaby said that there have been many wake-up bells indicating that action must be taken. (NCCM)

If this person does radicalize online, then I think this is a terrible reality that we must face, Elghawaby said.

Bernie Farber of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network said that most people who committed crimes such as mosque shootings and London attacks have radicalized online, and the best way to prevent further attacks is to legislate.

Laws must be enacted and fines must be imposed on hate materials, which will directly hit them in the stomach, which will make them want to change, because without these, it will not happen, he said. Tell CBC.

Although the federal government did not take any action, Faber said he was optimistic about prompting the government to take action.

Every time something happens there seems to be a different excuse, but now, with the terrible tragedy in London, I think it makes everyone refocus, he said. I very much think this may become a key point.

The office of Heritage Minister Steven Gilbert said it is committed to introducing a bill in time that would force online platforms to monitor and remove illegal content. However, with only 10 days left before the summer recess of Parliament, and elections may be imminent, any legislation proposed now will die as soon as the election is held.
The province of British Columbia has approved the request of three aboriginal people who want to postpone old-fashioned logging on their territory for two years, including at locations where protests and arrests continue.

Governor He Jin stated that the province has taken a transformative step in respecting the countrys land management rights as part of its commitment to align policies with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This move is also in line with the governments recommendation last year adopted by an independent team, first of which is to postpone the deforestation of nearly 200,000 hectares of virgin forest.

The leaders of the three indigenous peoples on the southwestern part of Vancouver Island issued a statement calling for the temporary postponement of logging of old trees in two areas, including the locations of continued protests and arrests.

Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht and Pacheedaht hereditary and elected chiefs said that they informed the province last weekend that they hoped Two-year logging ban on old trees In the Fairy Creek area near Port Renfrew and the central area of ??Walbrand.

In a statement issued on June 7, the indigenous people stated that they are committed to formulating and implementing world-class integrated resource management plans that draw on the teachings of their ancestors, the wisdom of the elderly, and the opinions of citizens and important partners .

Since the police began to enforce the courts injunction allowing the logging company Teal-Jones Group to resume work, the RCMPs latest update has arrested 194 people in Fairy Creek.

Teal-Jones said on Monday that it will abide by the declarations of countries and contact them when they develop forest management plans.
Pedro Castillo is ahead of Keiko Fujimori after an expert called it one of the most tense elections in the country.

Peruvians are still waiting for their final result National Presidential Election, Because left-wing union leader Pedro Castillo (Pedro Castillo) maintained a small advantage over right-wing Fujimori Keiko a few days after a severely polarized vote.

On Wednesday afternoon, the vote count was 99.8%, Castillos approval rate was 50.19%, and Fujimoris approval rate was 49.8%.

Sundays runoff was held amidst years of political instability in Peru, and Peru is also struggling to cope with the surge COVID-19 infection and death And the economic recession associated with the pandemic.

Of the 17.4 million valid votes counted, Castillo leads by more than 67,000, but as the votes are still being counted and both sides are questioning the votes, the final official results may take several days to be announced.

This Count slowed down With votes sent from abroad and from the more remote rural areas of Peru to the capital Lima-this is the stronghold of support for Castillo.

Fujimori, daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, has made unconfirmed allegations that Castillos supporters tried to steal votes, and her team has stated that it plans to challenge the results legally.

Castillos party strongly denied this claim, and election observers, including the ONPE electoral agency and the Organization of American States, stated that the vote was clean.

On Wednesday, the Peruvian military also pledged in a statement to respect the will of the people expressed in the ballot box because of social media calls for the armed forces to prevent Castillo from taking power.

In Peru, like in any democratic country, the results of elections must be respected, said Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Department of Human Rights Watch. Tweet Wednesday night.

Vivanco stated that any accusation of fraud must be supported by serious evidence, while international human rights law requires that every vote must be counted and respected.

Hundreds of voters on both sides took to the streets to protest for their candidates, mostly peacefully, sometimes with musicians and dancers.

Supporters of Perus presidential candidate Pedro Castillo gather outside the headquarters of the Free Peruvian Party of Castillo in Lima on June 6. [File: Liz Tasa/Reuters]

Both candidates previously agreed to respect the voting results.

Whoever wins will take over an economy that has been hit hard by COVID-19 and the world economy. Coronavirus death rate per capita is highestOfficial data show that 2 million Peruvians were unemployed during the pandemic and nearly one-third are now living in poverty.

At this point, Fujimori is unlikely to surpass Castillo, David Surmont, professor of sociology at the Catholic University of Peru and former head of the voting department, told Reuters.

This is one of the strictest elections in the country, he added. The profit margin may be constantly changing, but I think Castillo will be the winner.

Castillo said on Wednesday that party observers believed his victory was a foregone conclusion.

In the name of the Peruvian people, he thanked the Embassies and governments of Latin America and other countries for sending messages congratulating him on his victory.

No government officially recognized Castillos victory, despite the message of Congratulations on this victory by former Bolivian President Evo Morales.
Since the military seized power, the democratically elected leader has been under house arrest and has faced many other charges.

Aung San Suu Kyi had been leading Myanmar until the Myanmar military seized power in a coup in February. A few days before her formal trial, she will face more crimes of corruption.

The state-run Myanmar Global Shin Kong newspaper said that these new allegations were A series of other expenses, Following the investigation of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The newspaper said: She was convicted of corruption by using her position. So she was charged under Article 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law.

The committee accused the 75-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi of receiving 600,000 U.S. dollars and gold from the former chief minister of the Yangon region and improper behavior in the lease of some land and property of the foundation she chaired.

The newspaper said that some other officials were also convicted of corruption for issuing land use permits.

The newspaper stated: Yesterday (Wednesday) a case file was opened against them at their respective township police stations.

Aung San Suu Kyi and senior members of her government were detained by the military on February 1 because the commander-in-chief of the army, Min Aung Hlaing, seized power and plunged a country that is slowly moving towards democracy into a long-term crisis.

The seizure of power by the generals fueled months of demonstrations and large-scale civil disobedience, but they were hit by force. According to the Political Prisoners Aid Association, which has been monitoring the situation, more than 850 people have been killed in the crackdown.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with a series of crimes, including possession of an unlicensed walkie-talkie, ignoring coronavirus restrictions and violating the countrys colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

She is Will stand trial on Monday.
Corporate tax experts warned that with the intensification of technical negotiations, countries special requests to exclude industries from the G7-supported corporate tax agreement may undermine the final agreement.

The compromise reached at the G7 last weekend concealed remaining differences between countries on the outline of the agreement. however, British lobbying efforts The exemption from financial services underscores the threat to other parts of the agreement, even if Londons request is justified.

The question of where the largest multinational companies pay corporate taxes is the most difficult part of the proposal.

Known as pillar one, it requires a global agreement between countries to allow the use of an agreed formula to transfer the profits of some of its resident companies to another country.

The United Kingdom, France, Italy, and other countries want more taxes from the US technology giants and other large global companies to reflect the businesses that these companies conduct in their territories.

But the UK is worried that if the financial sector is included, it may fail. According to officials close to the negotiations, it wants to exclude financial services.

Heather Self, the corporate tax partner of the accounting firm Blick Rothenberg in the UK, said: If financial services are included in the first pillar, the UK may become a net loser because we are a large exporter of financial services.

Every country is working hard to ensure that they become winners, but they cannot all be winners, and there will be losers.

She said she expects to see more special demands from countries that are worried about transferring taxation power to other jurisdictions.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said: The ministers and all OECD working groups have been discussing many technical issues, and we will continue to discuss these issues.  Getty Images



The demand for the divestiture of financial services stems from the original OECD plan, which exempts the industry because it from activities that occur within the jurisdiction of a particular market [and] Taxes are usually levied where the market is located. Other countries with large financial institutions, such as France, have previously supported this special arrangement.

For the United States, which has hindered the first pillar of OECD negotiations under the Trump administration, it is difficult to even talk about redistributing profits.If a special exemption that seems to help other countries other than the United States is provided, the transaction will Congress faces greater difficulties Than it has already faced.

G7 did agree to some special treatments: Amazons large and profitable cloud business, Amazon Web Services, Will be included Even Amazon itself does not have the necessary 10% profit margin.

Respected

Other countries also generally agree with the USs position that the original OECD plan is too complicated and has multiple exemptions for internal departments and business lines. Instead, they agreed to distribute a portion of the profits of the 100 largest companies in the world.

As the G20 and the OECD negotiate in the coming weeks, attempts to modify the cautious compromises promoted by the Biden administration-such as the UKs bid for financial services-will need to maintain the integrity of this alliance to ensure that an agreement is finally reached.

OECD officials expressed optimism, suggesting that a broader agreement will be reached at the G20 meeting in Venice in July and the inclusive framework negotiations with more than 130 countries later this year.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday: The ministers and all OECD working groups have been discussing many technical issues, and we will continue to discuss these issues.

But he expressed confidence in the political momentum behind the talks, adding that with the first public commitment made in London, it is clear that we are moving in the right direction.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rich Sunak. The UK fears that it might fail if the financial sector is included  REUTERS



Richard Milnes, EY UK banking tax partner, said that efforts to exclude financial services from the G7 agreement should not be seen as a concession. It should also be noted that the concepts ofsales andmargin behind the G7 proposal are not easy to apply in the field of financial services, he said.

But Michael Deverrow, a professor of business taxation at Oxford Universitys Said School of Business, said that although the United Kingdom has good reasons for practical difficulties, its opposition to the inclusion of the City of London in the transaction is similar to American reservations. Regarding allowing the rest of the world to tax their tech giants.

Eventually, OECD officials will find a formula to make the transaction widely accepted.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen emphasized the importance of revenue to the U.S. in a letter She wrote Republican Senator Mike Crapo as seen by the Financial Times.

She said that the comprehensive scope of the new U.S. Pillar One proposal is basically income-neutral to the U.S. because we will be at the receiving and giving end of the proposed redistribution of profits.

Proving that the United States benefits from this part of the transaction will be the key to her belief that agreeing to it is in Washingtons interest.

Additional reporting by Guy Chazan in Berlin
On Thursday, the judge presiding over the murder trial revealed that Robert Durst was in prison for health problems and is currently receiving treatment in the prison hospital.

Mr. Durst is not here, Judge Mark E. Windham said during a long weekend of firing the jury. We know that he was in the prison hospital because of some incident involving his health this morning.

1 Robert Durst, 78 years old, currently on trial for murder Credit: Environmental Protection Agency

Prosecutors and Dursts lawyers questioned whether the apparent health problem is just a delaying strategy to further delay the proceedings.

Because of his diagnosis of bladder cancer, his lawyer had previously appealed to the judge, demanding that the trial be postponed indefinitely. Throughout the trial, Durst stayed in a wheelchair.

Deputy District Attorney John Lewin appeared to question the severity of Dursts condition. He told the judge that the 78-year-old had previously said in prison that he planned to fake dementia and ensure an invalid trial.

So, I dont know if this is legal, but obviously, given his history, his actual situation must be suspicious, Lewis said in court, according to law and crime.
Alberto Fernandez once stated that, unlike Mexicans and Brazilians, Argentines are from Europe, which has triggered accusations of racism.

After Argentine President Alberto Fernandez told visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez that modern Mexicans are natives, Brazilians from the jungle and residents of his own country are from Europe, It sparked a Twitter storm and regional ethnic debate, and apologized for it.

Fernandez made comments on Wednesday, apparently to emphasize the close relationship between Argentina and Spain.

Mexicans are from Indians, Brazilians are from the jungle, but we Argentines are from ships. They are ships from Europe, Fernandez said, claiming that these words were written by Mexican poet Octaviapas.

He also told the visiting leaders: I am European. I am a person who believes in Europe.

He later apologized for these comments, which triggered widespread reactions on social media, with many criticizing Fernandez for being racially insensitive.

I dont mean to offend anyone. In any case, no matter who feels offended or ignored, I will apologize, Fernandez said on Twitter.

He said: In the first half of the 20th century, we received more than 5 million immigrants who lived with our indigenous people. We are proud of our diversity.

We feel embarrassed

Despite this, the Brazilian media published Fernandezs statement on Wednesday, and many on social media joked that right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro would like to return to the left-wing Argentine leader.

Bolsonaro tweeted a photo of him wearing an indigenous headdress and smiling among a group of indigenous people. The only text in the tweet is the capital letter JUNGLE, flanked by the Brazilian flag emoji.

Representative Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of the Brazilian President, blasted these remarks as racist and countered Argentinas economic troubles that have fallen into recession since 2018.

I said that the sinking ship is an Argentine ship, he wrote on Twitter.

YouTube users also posted replies under the speech video, expressing anger or anxiety.

Sorry, friends in Mexico and Brazil, we are very embarrassed on behalf of all Argentines. You know how much we love you, and your country and customs, said a user named Barbara Bongiovanni.

At the same time, former Mexican President Felipe Calderon questioned whether this sentence really came from Nobel Prize winner Mexican writer Paz.

This could have been said [Mexican comedian] Cantinflas, or [Argentine comedians] Les Luthiers, but Octavio Paz? I hope he quotes the source, Calderon wrote on Twitter.
Good morning Arsenal fans

The Big Six, including Arsenal, have accepted the Premier Leagues fine of only 3.5 million pounds each for their defeat in the UEFA Super League.

But the Gunners, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Manchester City have agreed that if they join any future rebel plan, they will face a fine of 20 million pounds and a 30-point deduction.

The president of the league, Richard Masters, tried to draw a line in this defeat, and this decision is likely to be fiercely contested by 14 teams that did not participate in the coup attempt.

Masters received the support of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help thwart the separation during the 48-hour turbulent period and dismissed all calls for six points to be deducted.

He also recognized that despite all their conspiracies, the Big Six are still the driving force of Prems global success story.

By allowing them to accept severe penalties in the future, the Masters and other league owners believe that they have put the Super League elves back in the bottle forever.

At the same time, Arsenal are considering an exchange agreement with Wolves star Ruben Neves, which will allow ace Ainsley Maitland-Niles to move to Molyneux.

According to the Daily Express report, the gunman can use Maitland Niles to lower Neviss asking price of 35 million.

Manager Mikel Arteta is looking for a new midfielder who will partner Thomas Patty in the summer transfer window because Granit Zaka will leave the North Londoner and possibly join Roma.

In the end, Arsenal boss Stan Kroenke will reject any new offer from Spotify co-founder Daniel Eck.

According to the Daily Mirror report, he claimed that Eke was prepared to return with a second bid of more than 2 billion pounds to take over the club he had supported since childhood.

The Swedish billionaire recently rejected an initial offer of 1.8 billion pounds.

But Kroenkes position will not change in any way, even if the entrepreneur insists that he is ready for a long-term acquisition war.
U.S. President Joe Biden announces donation 500 million Provide Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses to the poorest countries in the world to help speed the end of the pandemic, no strings attached.

Biden is keen to improve his multilateral qualifications during his first visit as a leader, and on Thursday saw the donation as a bold move, showing that the United States recognizes its responsibility to the world and its citizens.

The United States is providing these 5 billion doses without strings attached. There are no strings attached, Biden said, before talking with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in the British seaside resort of Cabis Bay. G7 summit.

Our vaccine donation does not include pressure to seek favors or potential concessions. We do this to save lives and end this pandemic, nothing more, he said.

The COVID-19 vaccine provided through the COVAX Global Initiative arrived at Mogadishu Airport in Somalia [File: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP Photo]

The United States pledges to purchase and donate 500 million doses of Pfizer drugs for global distribution Kovacs 92 low-income countries and the African Union.

Biden is under increasing pressure to outline his global vaccine sharing plan, especially in Unfair supply It has become more obvious around the world, and the demand for injections in the United States has also increased A sharp decline In recent weeks.

Gayle Smith, the global COVID coordinator for the U.S. state, said: We strongly believe that, given the lack of global coverage, it is absolutely critical to take such a major step to get more vaccines into the system as soon as possible. department.

She said at a press conference on Thursday: These vaccines will be available in August, although we are launching the announced 80 million doses.

Officials stated that the goal is to distribute 200 million doses by the end of the year. The remaining 300 million doses will be shipped in the first half of 2022.

So far, COVAX has distributed only 81 million doses, and parts of the world, especially in Africa, have not received any shipments.

A woman receives vaccination at Yaba Continental Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria [File: Sunday Alamba/AP Photo]

Several countries in Central and South America, where there are COVID-19 cases Rise again, And has not made any meaningful progress in its vaccination activities.

Last week, Biden announced a sharing plan 25 million surplus Vaccine dose. The White House stated that most of the dose will be used for COVAX, while approximately 6 million doses will be used directly in various countries.

After most of last years number of new cases and deaths ranked first in the world, the rapid vaccination program in the United States now positions it as the leader of the global recovery.

almost 64% Of American adults received at least one dose of the vaccine, and the number of new positive cases and deaths in the United States is now lower than at any time since the beginning of the pandemic.

Oxfam, an anti-poverty campaign organization, welcomed the statement and called for more measures to increase global vaccine production.

Of course, these 500 million doses of vaccines are welcome because they will help more than 250 million people, but compared to the demand around the world, this is still a drop in the bucket, said Niko Lusiani, head of vaccines at Oxfam America.

Luciani said in a statement: We need to transition to more decentralized vaccine production so that qualified global manufacturers can produce billions of low-cost vaccines on their own terms, without being restricted by intellectual property rights.

Another obstacle, especially in some poor countries, is the infrastructure for transporting vaccines, which usually must be stored at very cold temperatures.
Newest:

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that countries around the world must put aside the beggar-thy-neighbor attitude, which has led to disputes over medicines, protective equipment and the much-needed COVID-19 vaccine.

Johnson said on Thursday that the leaders of the Group of Seven nations meeting in Cabis Bay in southwest England this weekend will pledge to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022.

The British leader wrote in The Times of London that it is time for rich countries to take up their responsibilities and vaccinate the world, because no one can be properly protected until everyone is protected.

But he has faced criticism because the UK has not sent any doses abroad and has cut its international aid budget on the grounds that the pandemic has hit the economy.

Johnson said on Thursday that Britain would donate millions of agents from excess stocks-although he did not specify when.

Johnson also pointed out that the British government helped fund the development of Oxford Universitys AstraZeneca vaccine, which accounts for one-third of the global vaccine dose.

President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that the United States will purchase hundreds of millions more doses of Pfizer vaccine next year to share with poorer countries.

The United States new commitment is to purchase and donate 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine, which will be distributed to 92 low-income countries and the African Union through the Global COVAX Alliance, bringing the first stable supply of mRNA vaccines to the countries most in need.

The United States will now become COVAXs largest vaccine donor, in addition to its largest single funder, the United States has pledged to provide $4 billion. So far, the Global Alliance has distributed only 81 million doses of vaccines, and parts of the world, especially Africa, remain a vaccine wasteland.

Watch | Experts say that vaccine unfairness is real-and poses a real threat: With Canadas reopening, about 88% of people in the world have not been injected with COVID-19 once, and experts warn that the apparent inequality is a threat to everyone trying to escape the pandemic. 7:26

Johnsons call is one of many aspects of the global pandemic and is expected to be discussed when leaders gather in the UK for the summit.

Before the meeting, EU leaders called for an unfettered investigation of the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic that was originally discovered in central China, while criticizing the World Health Organizations preliminary investigation.

Last month, Biden ordered US intelligence officials to redouble their efforts to investigate the origin of the coronavirus, including any possibility that this clue might lead to a Chinese laboratory.

-From the Associated Press and Reuters, the last update time is 7:15 am EST

Whats happening in canada

Watch | Nova Scotia reports once a week a breakthrough case in which a person is positive for COVID two weeks after receiving one or two doses of the vaccine: Nova Scotia reports breakthrough cases once a week, meaning that a person is positive for COVID two weeks after receiving one or two doses of the vaccine. 2:01

As of early Thursday morning, Canada had reported 1,396,798 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 16,640 were considered active. The death toll on CBC News is 25,843.

To date, more than 27.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been vaccinated across the country. CBCs vaccine tracker.

In Atlantic Canada on Wednesday, health officials reported a total of 29 COVID-19 cases in three provinces, with no new cases. Prince Edward Island.

Health officials in Nova Scotia with New Brunswick 13 new cases of COVID-19 are reported every Wednesday, and in Newfoundland and Labrador Three new cases have been reported.

in QuebecAt the same time, health officials reported another 8 deaths and 178 new COVID-19 cases.

OntarioThe number of new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday was 411, and another 33 people died. The province will enter the first phase of reopening on Friday. The province said that due to COVID-19, the number of hospitalizations is 571 and the number of intensive care units is 466.

in Manitoba A detail was announced on Wednesday Slightly relax outdoor restrictions, Health officials have reported 250 new COVID-19 cases and 4 deaths.Two of the deaths occurred in Ontario, where patients came from Hardest hit area As Manitoba is struggling with the surge in demand for healthcare.

Saskatchewan Another death was reported on Wednesday and 57 new COVID-19 cases.

Health officials in Alberta Five deaths and 313 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Wednesday.Update from Health Service Open a walk-in clinic For those seeking the first dose of Pfizers BioNTech vaccine.

Across the north, Yukon Territory Two new COVID-19 cases were reported on Wednesday, increasing the number of active cases in the region Territory to nine. No new case report Nunavut or North-west region.

in British Columbia, Health officials reported three deaths and 148 new cases COVID-19.

-From CBC News and Canadian media, the last update time is 7 am EST

What is happening around the world

As of early Thursday morning, Johns Hopkins Universitys COVID-19 tracking tool showed that there have been more than 174.4 million reported cases worldwide since the beginning of the pandemic. The reported global death toll exceeds 3.7 million.

inside Asia Pacific In the region, after the discovery of thousands of unreported cases, a state in India has significantly increased the death toll of COVID-19, which has increased the suspicion that the overall death toll in India is significantly higher than the official figure.

In the second wave of epidemics in April and May, Indian hospitals ran out of beds and life-saving oxygen, and people died in the parking lot and at home outside the hospital. Doctors and health experts say that many of these deaths are not recorded in COVID-19 statistics.

in EuropeThe Spanish Ministry of Health on Wednesday cancelled a plan to gradually reopen nightlife across the country. A week after launching the plan, the plan was ignored due to widespread complaints from regional authorities that the plan was too strict or too loose.

On Wednesday, in a gymnasium opened in an abandoned chapel in Caen, northwestern France, gym users were being trained as the country relaxed its lockdown measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. (Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images)

inside middle East, Abu Dhabi will restrict access to shopping centers, restaurants, cafes and other public places for those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or who have recently tested negative from June 15.

The new regulations were announced because the United Arab Emirates is a coalition of seven emirates, and the number of cases has been increasing every day for the past three weeks. The UAE does not have a breakdown of each emirate, with 2,179 new infections recorded on Wednesday, up from 1,229 on May 17.

On Wednesday, Uruguay began vaccinating adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, and the teenagers waited 15 minutes after receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Montevideo. (Matilde Campodonico/Associated Press)

If the spread of COVID-19 continues at the current rate, it will take years for the virus to be brought under control globally. America, The Pan American Health Organization said, because it called on countries to share excess vaccine doses.

Brazilian health regulatory agency Anvisa has authorized a phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trial on volunteers of the domestically developed Butanvac vaccine.

in AfricaThe South African Ministry of Health reported 8,881 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the number of active cases in the country to 66,128.

-From the Associated Press, Reuters, and CBC News, last updated at 7:20 AM EST
Boris Johnson played down the disagreement between the United Kingdom and the United States about the impact of Brexit on the peace of Northern Ireland, saying that the two countries and the European Union were completely harmonious in the 1998 peace agreement.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised US President Joe Biden as a breath of fresh air, Downplay differences After they met on the eve of the G7 summit, they discussed the impact of Brexit on the Northern Ireland peace agreement.

Before the 90-minute closed-door discussion, they put a big smile on the media, and Bidens reprimand of London was eclipsed when there was a dispute between London and the European Union over the new trade arrangement for Northern Ireland.

After the talks in Cornwall, England, Johnson stated that the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union were completely harmonious in finding solutions to maintain the 1998 peace agreement that ended decades of sectarian conflict in the British province.

Johnson said: There is complete agreement on the need to move on, find solutions, and ensure that we uphold the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.

After Brexit, the border between the UK and Ireland needs a new arrangement, because the EU requires inspections of certain goods, while others cannot enter the country at all.

Before the June 30 deadline, continued negotiations on commodities (including sausages) had been controversial and attracted the attention of the White House.

US officials said that the United States does not intend to participate in the negotiations, Biden will not teach Johnson, but will urge a settlement as soon as possible.

I think the interesting thing is that Northern Ireland is a great place and it has amazing potential. This is a very important part of the UK, Johnson said.

When asked if Biden was very clear about the situation in Northern Ireland, Johnson said: No, he doesnt.

Johnson said that Biden hopes to cooperate with London on a wide range of issues ranging from climate change, new crown pneumonia to security.

This is a big mouthful of fresh air, Johnson said of the meeting with Biden. Its new, its fun, and we are working hard together. We went on for about an hour and 20 or so. This is a long, long, good meeting. We cover a wide range of topics.

Special relationship

Biden was also positive about the meeting with Johnson and said that the two discussed a wide range of issues.

We affirmed the special relationship between our people, Biden said.

The US president stated that the alliance is responding to challenges including cybersecurity, new technologies, global health and the climate crisis.

Soon after the meeting between the two leaders, the White House issued a statement stating that the United Kingdom and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to working closely with all parties to protect [Good Friday] Agreement and realize its vision of reconciliation, consent, equality, respect for rights and equal respect.

The President of the United States firmly opposes Brexit advocated by Johnson and expresses great concern about the future of Northern Ireland.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Kelly Johnson, US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk outside the Carbis Bay Hotel in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, UK [Toby Melville/Pool/Reuters]

Atlantic Charter, new working group

Biden said that the two leaders also Renewed the 80-year-old Atlantic Charter, Which led to the United Nations and NATO.

The new plan focuses on the challenges posed by countries such as China and Russia, promises to promote free trade, human rights and a rules-based international order, and combats those who try to undermine our alliances and institutions.

The new charter also targets interference through false information elections and shady economic behavior, and the West has brought charges against Moscow and Beijing.

Biden and Johnson also agreed to form a new joint working group to study how to resume travel between the United Kingdom and the United States after the two countries successfully carried out coronavirus vaccination campaigns.

According to Downing Street, they also pledged to expand trade and advance the future Anglo-US free trade agreement.

Biden warned that any withdrawal by the United Kingdom from the EUs commitment to Northern Ireland after Brexit could jeopardize US trade negotiations.
Alberta Governor Jason Kenney has issued a stop order to a Calgary-based news outlet Because his lawyer called it false and defamation allegations in a recent article.

The letter from the lawyer obtained by CBC News concerns an article published on Wednesday by the Western Standards website, which claims that Kenny has held a social gathering at Bottega 104 restaurant in Edmonton since the New Year, violating COVID-19 restrictions.

The gatherings allegedly included Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon and Health Minister Taylor Sandro.

The article also alleged that Kenny and others attended a party at a private lobbyists house..

This article is based solely on the unnamed sources of the parties who are said by Western standards.

Kennys office denied the allegations via Twitter on Wednesday. CBC News has not yet verified the authenticity of the allegations.

According to lawyer Steven Dollansky in the letter, these allegations are completely fabricated.

Prime Minister Kenny, Secretary Nixon and Secretary Sandro did not attend any indoor dinner at Bottega 104 (or any other restaurant), and indoor dining is subject to public health restrictions.

It said that the Prime Minister had eaten two meals at Bottega 104, one in 2019 and one in last summer, in full compliance with health orders.

In addition, none of the elected officials you mentioned has participated in anyillegal gatherings held in the private residences of the lobbyists as alleged, or did not participate in anyillegal gatherings at all.

The restaurants managing partner also denied these allegations.

The report is false, and the Prime Minister has never eaten here, Antonio Petossa told CBC News. I talked to a reporter from the Western Standard and told him the same thing. Our lawyer will contact him.

Petossa said that if the so-called date of the rally is given, he can provide security camera footage to prove that the prime minister is not present. The article did not specify the date.

Kenny Apologized earlier this week After he and others were photographed dining on the outdoor terrace of the Alberta Legislative Grounds. Kenny admitted that people were sitting too close.

Western standards supporting articles

The cessation and termination letters also claimed that Western Standards actions were irresponsible because the article did not seek or include Kennys response.

His office stated that it does not have the records required by Western standard media. The publication stated that it asked for comments at 5:49 pm. This article was published seven minutes later.

The letter read: Pure speculation is not news, and unconfirmed gossip is not news. It called the article just a sensational politically popular article designed to promote page impressions and commercial profits.

This letter called on Western Standards to immediately delete the article and any related tweets, issue a written withdrawal statement, apologize to the Prime Minister and the people mentioned in the article, and stop publishing any further defamatory content related to the statement or article.

Western standards insist that this story is accurate.

We stand by our story. We have multiple reliable sources and they gave us the same statement in detail, publisher and CEO Derek Feldbrandt told CBC News.

We believe that the best way to deal with this story is to answer questions from our reporters, rather than trying to silence an independent media agency that does not accept federal media subsidies. They know they have much more resources than us, and they want this. Let it disappear. We are retaining lawyers and will make further statements in the future.

Fildebrandt withdrew from the Alberta United Conservative Caucus in 2017, causing controversy, including being convicted of hit and run, accused of illegal hunting, and renting out his apartment on Airbnb, while applying for housing allowance as an MLA.

After being elected as the leader, Kenny stated that after Fieldbrand deliberately misled the party on his legal issues, he would not be welcomed in the UCP caucus, nor would he be allowed to seek a party in his constituency. Nominated within. Fildebrandt ran for the election as an independent, but was defeated by the UCP candidate.

The two diverged on the details that led to the decision. Fieldbrandt claimed that Kenny had told him privately that he could rejoin the party and omitted the facts in a public statement at the time. Kenny said that Feldbrandt was told that he needed the support of the caucus to become a member again and needed to ensure that there were no outstanding moral or legal issues that could embarrass him or the party.
When the leaders of the Group of Seven nations gathered at the beach summit In Cornwall this weekend, their most powerful member, US President Joe Biden, will deliver two messages to them. The turmoil of the Trump era is over, and the Western democracies that have shaped most of the last century are able to meet the needs of the world better than the dictators of China and Russia.

The first goal is easier; Biden is clearly not Donald Trump. However, to prove the lasting value of democracy, the president and his G7 colleagues must do far more than they did before the meeting.enterprise Tax transaction The Minister of Finance they got a week ago is Good start. It should ensure that multinational companies pay fairer taxes.

Leaders summits must be based on this, first to close the frustrating Covid-19 vaccine gap created between rich and poor countries. Nearly 45% of people have played at least one jab in the wealthy clubs of the G7 countriesthe United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Canadaand in 44 African countries, the percentage is slightly higher than 2% . It is complete data.This divergence is not only Catastrophic moral failure The World Health Organization issued a warning in January. This is very economically unwise, because if the world is still at the mercy of spreading and mutated viruses, there will be no widespread global recovery.

Bidens $3.5 billion initiative Buying and donating 500 million vaccines to countries in need is welcome, but not enough. G7 should take plan IMF staff raised it last month. It has developed specific steps to vaccinate at least 60% of the global population by July next year, at a cost of US$50 billion, which will greatly exceed the revenue of approximately US$9 trillion.Its hard to imagine a better return In terms of investment, In addition to the many lives that can be saved. Ideally, this work will involve cooperation outside of the G7, which can be supervised by the G20 emergency working group, but should be passed by the G7 leaders first.

The vaccine failure may deepen another set of differences between rich and poor countries-this time on climate change, which is the second global crisis that Cornwall must resolve. The world has not made enough progress in reducing carbon emissions at the scale and speed required to achieve the Paris climate agreements goal of stopping dangerous levels of global warming.

Prior to the COP26 climate negotiations in Glasgow in November, pressure was increasing, but funding proved to be a stumbling block. As early as 2009, rich countries pledged to raise US$100 billion annually by 2020 to help poorer countries adapt to climate warming and acquire the technologies needed to reduce emissions.Its June 2021, and the latest estimates indicate that these countries are still Short $20 billion Deliver on promises. This complicates efforts to ensure stronger climate action in Glasgow.British host misled Move Cutting its international aid budget will not help.

The response of the G7 finance ministers last weekend was disappointing and vague.they Reiterate An annual commitment of US$100 billion, and vowed to increase and improve climate financing contributions by 2025, but did not specify exactly what this will bring. Their leaders must do better. Specific and quantifiable commitments are required. As Biden said on the way to Cornwall: We must denigrate those who think that the democratic era is over. If this G7 meeting is not realized, then this task will become extremely difficult.
According to CBC News, Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin (Jenica Atwin) is preparing to leave the Green Party caucus today and join the ruling Liberal Party across borders.

Atwin is expected to announce the news at a press conference in Fredericton later today, with Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc by her side.

A senior Liberal party source said that Atwin initiated a cross-border operation when he got in touch with the ruling party a few weeks ago.

The source said that Atwin expressed satisfaction with the Liberal Partys attitude on core issues such as environment and reconciliation. Atwins husband, Chris Atwin, is a member of Oromocto First Nation.

Atwin made a historic breakthrough for the Greens in the last election-when Fredericton defeated the current Liberal President Matt DeCourcey, she won their first place in the Atlantic. Seats. Atvin, along with Paul Manley and former leader Elizabeth May, provided the Green Party with three members of Congress and the largest caucus meeting in their history.

Rift in the Middle East

Atwins departure occurred after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict exposed the fault line in the Green Party.

Atwin directly challenged party leader Annami Pauls position in the conflict, saying that Pauls call for easing the dialogue between the two was completely not enough.

I stand with Palestine and condemn the incredible air strikes in Gaza. End apartheid! Atwin tweeted on May 11.

The day before, Manley said on Twitter that the expulsion of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah community in East Jerusalem was ethnic cleansing.

Recently, Canadian media reported that the Green Executive Committee voted not to renew the contract with one of Pauls senior consultants.

Adviser Noah Zatzman expressed solidarity with Israel in a social media post on May 14. The post accused many politicians, including unspecified members of the Green Party, of discrimination and anti-Semitism, triggering A letter movement called for his removal.

In addition, two party executives recently announced that they will step down early. One of them is John Kidder, who is the vice chairman of the partys governing body and the husband of Congressman and former leader Elizabeth May.

In the 2019 election campaign, Atwin stated that when Trudeau violated his promise to reform the electoral system, left-leaning voters felt betrayed and stated that they now see the Green Party as a more truly progressive choice.

We think we are the choice, she said. We believe that we are voters looking for change, hoping to achieve better results than in the past four years.

She also accused Trudeau of spreading fear when he warned voters that the split between the Liberal Party and the Green Party would help elect a federal Conservative government.

But during the campaign, she promised to pressure New Brunswick Governor Blaine Higgs to fund Frederictons Clinic 554 abortion, which she welcomed.

Interestingly, he didnt raise it before, but support means support, she said at the time. I hope the clinic at 554 will remain open so I am grateful for him to come forward now. It would be nice to see it during the Galant administration.
It is not surprising that TC Energy announced the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline project plagued by problems.

The Calgary-based company seems unlikely to get rid of the decision of US President Joe Biden to revoke its cross-border license in January last year.

After evaluating its options, TC Energy appeared to have reached the same conclusion on Wednesday.

But this weeks decision to suspend production did not solve several key issues that have been hanging over the project-not only Keystone XL, but also the Alberta government, environmental organizations and other pipeline projects.

Can Alberta get some money back?

Last year, Alberta invested US$1.5 billion and loan guarantees in Keystone XL to help launch a project plagued by legal disputes and protests in the United States

The purpose of this money is to get the Canadian part of the project to start construction, and it did. For a time.

US President Joe Biden signed his first executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on January 20, which included the cancellation of the Keystone XL license. (Evan Wucci/Associated Press)

On Wednesday, the province said that the governments cost of materials was C$1.3 billion, but it did not give up on recovering what it could do.

A government spokesperson said in an email: As mentioned earlier, we remain committed to representing Albertans to recover the governments investment in this project.

This may mean starting to clean up pipelines and other assets to help offset some of the costs.But as CBC News reported last week , The pipeline that is already underground will remain there temporarily.

There may still be a market for what is left, but at this point, the extent to which this will recoup Albertas investment is another unknown.

Dennis McConaghy is a former executive of TC Energy. He has written books on energy issues. He believes that there will be a market for spare parts.

Plumbing will be very useful, he said. The question of whether they can recover any expenditures they may have on pumps will depend on whether these particular types of pumps can find a market somewhere in the world. Ultimately, this may happen.

He said that what cannot be recovered is the cost of camp, engineering and labor.

McConaghy speculates that the official termination of the project may help the company conduct some rescue activities or litigation-if this is what it is after.

Watch | Experts explain why politics played a role in the demise of Keystone XL

Richard Mason of the University of Calgary said that political factors played a role in the death of the Keystone XL project pipeline. The Alberta government and TC Energy today announced the termination of the pipeline project. 3:38

What about legal action?

When referring to its commitment to recover the investment, the Alberta United Conservative Government also pointed out that we will continue to review all legal options for terminating the Keystone XL project.

Using history as a guide, it might try to do this in several ways.

After TC Energy stopped the project in 2015, it filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration in the U.S. Federal Court of Texas, claiming that the then President Barack Obama (Barack Obama) The decision to refuse to build Keystone XL Exceeds his power under the US Constitution.

The lawsuit was finally suspended after Donald Trump signed the required construction permit for the project to start again shortly after winning the White House.

James Coleman, associate professor of energy law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said he will pay close attention to whether Canada and TC Energy are weighing the challenges under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Although the trade agreement was replaced by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement last year, Coleman said that there is a three-year window for claims under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

They can file a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement and say they have been treated discriminatoryly, Coleman said. That being said, no one has ever won a NAFTA lawsuit against the United States. So I think most people will say that your chance of success is less than 50-50.

What does this mean for Jason Kenneys UCP government?

On the same day the news of the Keystone project was cancelled, Kenney also shared a 1.3 billion dollar hydrogen project Working for Edmonton.

But only one of these stories became news in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CNN.

Last summer, Alberta Governor Jason Kenney marked the start of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in the town of Oyen. (Flickr/Alberta Government)

When Kenny made a big bet on Keystone XL last year, it was consistent with his campaign promises of employment, access, and a better economy. This is also the time when oil prices were hit hard by the sharp drop in crude oil prices.

The Alberta government insisted on this decision on Thursday because the New Democratic Party once again called on them to announce the full details of the investment agreement.

Fully transparent, Energy Secretary Sonia Savage told the legislature. We support this pipeline because we believe it will bring higher prices for Albertas oil, increase oil sands production, and bring us $30 billion in royalties every year.

In any case, this is another blow to the governments priorities.

This is just another cumulative thing, said Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

If you just complete the energy file-the wholecounterattack strategy, Allen Investigation, War room, Investment in Keystone, carbon tax fight-there is no victory there. 

Politics aside, the focus of the Alberta oil field will be the completion of the cross-mountain expansion pipeline to Burnaby, British Columbia, and an alternative pipeline to the Emblich Line 3 in Superior, Wisconsin.

Thomas Kirk-Pearson, senior research assistant at energy data analysis company Enverus, said: This is really a magnifying glass.

Without these projects, production in Western Canada would be quite severely restricted.

Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline were displayed on the Dodge Street pedestrian bridge during peak hours in Omaha, Nebraska in 2017. (Nati Hanik/Associated Press)

Both projects are facing some strong opposition because they are worried that they environmental And the impact of climate change-this weeks news is expected to gain support Further protest.

Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist at Greenpeace Canada, said: This is of great significance to people who have been resisting new fossil fuel infrastructure and calling for alternatives, because this is the first truly large pipeline war. ..

He said that in addition, Keystone also informed how to carry out current and future environmental protection campaigns.

The Keystone struggle represents a strategic shift in the environmental movement, and more and more people realize that we must work with indigenous communities, and often under their leadership.

There is no doubt that industry, government, and environmental leaders have learned a lot from Keystone XLs long journey. The course may not end after this week.
Good morning and welcome to Europe Express. It is Thursday, so in keeping with tradition, we bring you the profile of a politician worth watching. This week, it is Ingrida Simonyte, Lithuanias prime minister, who is seeking to lead the way among EU leaders on Belarus sanctions and calling for a tough stance on Russia and China.

Today is also the moment for the European Central Banks governing council to come together (complete with a Christine Lagarde press conference later on). We will explore the odds of the bank slowing its bond purchasing programme  or at least indicating that they will do so further down the road.

We will also get an update on what the EUs inquiry into voice assistants  Siri, meet Alexa  has yielded so far and what it may mean for future antitrust probes and regulation.

This article is an on-site version of our Europe Express newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning

Hawk-in-chief

When a Ryanair flight diverted to Belarus finally reached its intended destination of Vilnius last month, one of the first people to greet the remaining passengers was Lithuanias prime minister, Ingrida Simonyte, who came on board to address them.

It was a very public gesture of solidarity. But it was characteristic of a politician who has taken a notably hawkish and outspoken approach both to EU security and the need to stand up for democracy in the region, writes Sam Fleming in Brussels.

Simonytes centre-right government assumed office late last year in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis, which was hitting the country hard. The self-declared Metallica fan had made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency the previous year, losing out to Gitanas Nauseda. She cut her teeth in politics as finance minister a decade earlier during the debt crisis, when she was forced to impose harsh reforms to shore up the embattled economy.

Today, Simonytes biggest concern alongside the pandemic is the chaos across the border in Belarus, a country whose history is closely interlinked with that of Lithuania. On a trip to Brussels last week, she flagged concerns about rising irregular migration across the border while dismissing any notion that the EU should tread softly for fear of doing excessive damage to the country via economic sanctions.

The situation is already very bad for people in Belarus, she told the Financial Times. Anyone in Belarus is actually in danger now.

Lithuania has willingly placed itself at the forefront of the EUs political response to the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, drawing in dissidents such as Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as well as Roman Protasevich, the journalist-activist who was arrested in Minsk.

We need a joint stance?.?.?.?Otherwise you dont have any parity [with China] in this discussion.

Vilnius has been outspoken in other, equally febrile areas of foreign policy. Lithuania was the first country to publicly withdraw from the 17+1 group of central and eastern European countries that was set up to engage China. It has been vocal about the risks of cosying up to Moscow and joined the other Baltic states in April in expelling several Russian diplomats in solidarity with the Czech Republic.

Simonyte was blunt about the decision over the 17+1, saying her country saw little benefit from its membership. The group did not wield anything akin to the kind of clout the EU possesses when it faces Beijing, she argued.

It would be better to voice your concerns via Brussels, she said.

Ahead of Joe Bidens arrival in Europe for G7, Nato and EU-US summits, she extended her calls for unity to broader transatlantic relations, predicting greater harmony over policies towards Russia and China than under Donald Trump.

For my country, it is of the utmost importance that there are very limited or no situations where we have to judge whose arguments are better  the European Unions or [those of] the United States, she said.

Edward Lucas of the Center for European Policy Analysis, a think-tank, praised the clear direction Lithuania had sought to provide on subjects such as Belarus, where it was offering the population the idea that there is another future.

But the fact remains that the EU has notoriously failed to muster the kind of muscular and unified foreign policy stances that smaller member state capitals such as Vilnius so urgently seek. The blocs policies towards both China and Russia have been hamstrung by internal divisions.

Lithuania also remains particularly vulnerable to a situation across the border in Belarus for which there is no easy resolution. If sanctions on Belarus bite too deep, the country could sink into an even deeper mire under Lukashenkos remorseless grip  or be driven further into the arms of Vladimir Putin.

Chart du jour: Europes spying cities

It is not just repressive regimes or low-income countries that buy Chinas surveillance technology. According to data seen by the FT, several of Europes liberal democracies including Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK have imported smart city and safe city equipment sold by companies such as Huawei, ZTE Corporation and Alibaba. (Read the full story here)

Bond-buying plans

Can a central bank achieve a dovish taper of its asset purchases? We may find out today when Christine Lagarde presents the results of the European Central Banks latest monetary policy decision, writes Martin Arnold in Frankfurt.

A dovish taper means indicating plans to slow the pace of bond-buying while committing to maintaining its ultra-loose monetary policy. BNP Paribas and Capital Economics are among those predicting the ECB will attempt what sounds very much like an oxymoron.

Analysts at Pictet Wealth Management forecast the ECB will strike a compromise between the hawks and the doves by maintaining a higher pace of bond purchases in the third quarter but hinting at a modest slowdown from the second quarter.

Goldman Sachs analysts said the central bank was likely to cite the seasonal slowdown in bond markets over the summer for an expected dip in monthly net bond purchases from 80bn in the second quarter to 75bn in the third quarter.

Having twice expanded the size of its pandemic emergency purchase programme last year, the ECB has just over 700bn of the overall 1.85tn left to spend under its flagship crisis-fighting policy, which is due to last until at least March 2022.

Given the brightening outlook for the eurozone, which is expected to be reflected in higher growth and inflation forecasts by the ECB today, some of the more conservative hawks on its governing council have called for a slowdown in bond buying.

But when this triggered a sell-off in bond markets a month ago, a string of council members pushed back against this idea, soothing investors nerves and bringing borrowing costs back down for eurozone governments.

Some analysts still believe the ECB will dismiss any suggestion it is talking about tapering. Even a slight reduction of the pace of purchases could be interpreted by the market as tapering and jeopardise the result of the recent more dovish communication, said Silvia Ardagna at Barclays.

Whatever the outcome of todays meeting, most ECB watchers are confident that Lagarde will brush off concerns about inflation rising above its target in May and offer reassurances that strong monetary stimulus will continue until the economy has fully recovered from the impact of the pandemic.

That means, at least for now, that the ECB is aligned with the Federal Reserve. It will get harder for the ECB once the Fed starts a genuine tapering of its bond purchases  expected early next year  which is likely to send bond yields higher on both sides of the Atlantic.

Investors will watch for clues of whether the ECB will expand its traditional asset purchase programme  currently running at 20bn a month  to at least partially replace the PEPP when it runs out next spring. If the ECB stops PEPP and doesnt replace it with anything, that will create a cliff-edge effect and push up interest rates further, said Ardagna.

Alexa, are you anti-competitive?

Regulators in Brussels are looking into whether voice assistant technologies such as Apples Siri and Amazons Alexa are undermining competitors, writes Javier Espinoza in Brussels.

After almost a year investigating alleged anti-competitive aspects of the Internet of Things, the European Commission said yesterday that more than 200 companies had raised concerns about the market and its rapid growth.

Here are the main issues identified in regards to the voice-activated services of Apple, Amazon and Google:

Companies are worried about makers of one voice assistant preventing others from installing an alternative on a device, which would undermine consumer choice. They are also concerned about voice assistant providers promoting their own services, which would also undermine rivals. Others see potential issues in the large amount of data that voice assistants collect and the huge advantage this could give them in relation to competitors. Companies worry that the absence of common standards has led to a lack of interoperability between services.

Margrethe Vestager, the EUs executive vice-president in charge of competition and digital policy, said the inquiry could lead to antitrust investigations (and left little doubt as to which companies would be targeted).

In the EU, Google Assistant, Amazons Alexa and Apples Siri are the leading voice assistants, she said. In addition, Google, Amazon and Apple provide the main operating systems for smart home and wearable devices, they offer digital services and they manufacture smart devices.

Within this position of power, the three companies could determine how different devices and services communicate and interoperate, she said.

Mission creep is another concern, according to Vestager: Voice assistants learn a lot about their users. Smart devices and Internet of Things services generate a huge amount of data about what we do in our homes.

The preliminary report will be subject to public consultation until September 1, and the final report is expected in the first half of next year. Beyond investigations, the inquiry could also lead to changes to existing regulations or new legislative proposals  the way the previous sector inquiry into ecommerce led to rules on geoblocking.

Two things to watch today

UK prime minister Boris Johnson meets US president Joe Biden ahead of the G7 summit EU environment ministers gather in Luxembourg

Notable, Quotable

The German Court deprived a judgment of the European Court of Justice of its legal effect in Germany, breaching the principle of the primacy of EU law

The European Commission has launched unprecedented legal action against Germany, saying a verdict by the countrys constitutional court on the legality of the European Central Banks bond purchase scheme undermined fundamental principles of EU law.

EU Brexit commissioner Maros Sefcovic has warned that patience with the UK is wearing very, very thin after the two sides failed to resolve differences over the Northern Ireland protocol.

The pandemic has barely affected Europes illegal drug market, with traffickers quickly adapting shipping routes, moving commerce online and relying less on human couriers, according to the EU drugs agency. (Read the full report here)

Poland and Hungary have refused to back a plan to introduce a global minimum corporate tax agreed by G7 finance ministers as long as there is no carve-out to protect substantive business activities in their countries.

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Thomas Markle asks for forgiveness-continued

In a recent interview with Oprah, Megan described how her father betrayed her, but she found it difficult to reconcile with him.

In the interview, Megan said: I looked at Archie and I thought of this child. I really cant imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child.

Thomas fought back within 60 minutes, denying her claims, then called his son-in-law Harry hate and accused him of not supporting her when she committed suicide.

In an interview with Good Morning Britain, Thomas said: This really makes me feel uneasy, as I said, she can easily contact me, other family members she claims do not have. Know.

But the other thing is that I think she can turn to her husband for help.
Simon Cowell will perform his first charity walk after a 110% recovery from a broken back.

The 61-year-old British Got Talent judge broke his back after an accident on an electric bicycle in the United States last year.

4 According to reports, Simon Cowell is doing a charity walk Credit: Splash

Simon before Said that he recovered healthier than ever before Seriously injured-It is now reported that he will participate in a charity walk to raise funds for the Meteor Childrens Shelter.

A source told mirror : Simon has fully recovered and has been telling friends that he feels 110%.

He seized the opportunity to participate in the charity walk because this is a cause very close to his heart. He has a contact book filled with celebrity friends, please rest assured, they will all receive calls about donations.

The newspaper reported that he had raised nearly 30,000 pounds in a few days.

4 He has fully recovered from a broken back Credit: Splash

Simon is He was almost paralyzed when he fell off the electric bike At his Malibu home last year.

Judge X Factor also explained that the damage could be life-threatening.

In a speech to promote Americas Got Talent, he said: Im still one millimeter away from cutting my back in half. So I think Im very lucky.

The weird thing is that its a good thing that it happened. I didnt get Covid because I couldnt travel, and last year I may have completed my due share.

4 Simon and his partner Lauren Silverman Credit: Splash

Simon broke three vertebrae in a terrible fall, and his spinal cord was missing a centimeter.

The star fell backwards and hit the concrete floor in front of his frightened six-year-old son Eric and his partner Lauren Silverman The teenage son Adam comes from a previous relationship.

The star was taken to Providence St. Johns Hospital in Santa Monica, a short drive from his 18 million waterfront property in Malibu, where he underwent surgery.

Later he confessed to the fans He didnt read the instructions Before trying his new toy.

4 The British Got Talent judge was with his son Eric Credit: Getty

As shown west Kanye West and Irina Shayk arrived in New Jersey by private jet after a romantic trip exclusive Noel makes tearing Noel said Fucking up Snowflake Harry needs to shut up like Liam Newest Another kimchi! Stacey Solomon is pregnant with her fourth child after a devastating miscarriage Significant Binky Felstead revealed her wild name for her newborn son Mummy ink Kerry Katona took her 18-year-old daughter Lilly-Sue to get her first tattoo Mothers life Kate Ferdinand admitted that she secretly cried while learning to be a stepmother

To break the silence, Simon wrote on Twitter at the time: Some good suggestionsIf you buy an electric off-road vehicle, please read the manual before the first ride.

My back is broken. Thank you for the good news

He added: Thank you very much to all the nurses and doctors. Some of the best people I have ever met. Take care, everyone.

Thankfully, Simon doesnt seem to leave any lasting physical or mental damage. Not afraid to return to the saddle Now his injuries have fully recovered.
After releasing its report on the WE Charity scandal, the House of Commons committee proposed a series of comprehensive reforms to the way the federal government makes contractual decisions.

Among the nearly two dozen recommendations in the 116-page report submitted today, the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics calls on the government not to award any contracts to WE Group before independent audits or CRA forensic audits to determine how funds are used in its charitable business. Flow between many affiliates and real estate holding companies.

The committee also recommended that the government no longer award contracts to shell companies that lack assets to avoid liability.

During the WE scandal, it was revealed that the US$912 million contract signed by the federal government and the WE organization was signed with the WE Charity Foundation (a shell company established by WE Charity) to run the student volunteer program.

The foundation was established to hold real estate assets, but these assets were not transferred to the foundation when the agreement was signed with the government.

The committee said it would also like to see changes in the formulation of rules to prevent conflicts of interest between cabinet ministers. For example, it hopes to strengthen the review of conflicts of interest for ministers before making cabinet decisions. It also stated that public officials should be accompanied by staff to take notes when they encounter lobbyists.

The report is the result of a process that began in the summer of 2020, when the committee began to study what safeguards were taken to prevent conflicts of interest in the federal governments spending policy. In November 2020, the committee shifted its research focus to conflicts of interest and lobbying related to pandemic expenditures.

When submitting a report to Parliament on Thursday, the chairman of the committee and Conservative MP Chris Walkendin stated that the refusal of government staff to testify and the difficulties the committee encountered in obtaining documents led the committee to conclude that many questions remain unanswered.

Congressman Michael Barrett, a Conservative Party ethics critic and committee member, criticized the government for obstructing the committees 20 meetings and adjourning parliament.

Canadians deservea government committed to good ethical governance, Barrett told the House of Representatives. A person who wont lay the red carpet for their friends and help them skip the queue and get into the internal tracks in Ottawa.

The report came after the Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion concluded that former Treasury Secretary Bill Morneau violated the rules of ethics when dealing with WE Charity, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ( Justin Trudeau) did not violate the rules of ethics one month later.
Donald Trump slammed the Biden administration even though the number of immigrants blocked by the authorities last month exceeded the number in the past 20 years.

Trump said in a statement: Our recently secured southern border is now worse than ever. In the history of our country, it has never been more dangerous or worse.

4 Trump slams Bidens handling of surge in immigration at the border Credit: Reuters

4 Authorities arrested more than 180,000 immigrants for the first time in more than 20 years Credit: Agence France-Presse

Trumps statement Mentioned the surge in immigration across the border since Joe Biden was elected.

Although his statement claimed that the continued number of people at the border was the largest in the countrys history, the countrys saw Similar immigration crossing points in the 2000s.

For the first time since April 2000, US authorities have prevented more than 180,000 undocumented immigrants from crossing the southern border. This is a shocking figure that highlights the ongoing border crisis.

Trump sees these numbers as an opportunity to attack the current government.

4 Trump attacks the Biden administrations policy to end the Trump era Credit: Associated Press

4 More than 220,000 immigrants were arrested in one month in 2000 Credit: Associated Press

He wrote: In the history of our country, such a heinous thing has never happened. The Biden administration stopped building the remaining small openings in the nearly 500-mile-long walled area and took away our great border. All powers of the patrol.

He said: And has ended the long-term struggle for policies including staying in Mexico, the third safety agreement, and our hugely successful plan to stop capture and release completely.

Millions of people have poured into our borders, including many criminals who have been released from prison for crimes such as murder, drug smuggling and human trafficking, he said. Because our country is being destroyed, they will take action soon!

Joe Time Biden choked in his UK speech and said he would tell Putin what do I want him to know Cash justice Police say 18-year-old toddler killer Darien Brown has been charged with congressional murder give up One year after the childrens bodies were found, De Bell was criticized as a liar for pleading not guilty. Giles Knapps Jill Biden scolded Joe in a British speech and told the president to pay attention break in Oh, Joe! Biden joked at the embarrassing moment of his speech in the UK, I keep forgetting that I am the President bad habit Sister, 79 years old, stole $835,000 from a Catholic school in 10 years to fund gambling

According to new data released by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Wednesday, the agency made 180,034 arrests in May, a slight increase from 178,854 in April.

In the first four months of 2000, at least 180,000 immigrants were arrested.

The figure reached 211,000 in February and exceeded 220,000 in March.
On April 1, 1987, then-Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone delivered the death blow to the nations radical labour union movement.

He broke the Japanese National Railways up into seven privatised railway firms  in the process, gutting the formidable National Railway Workers Union and eliminating the countrys leading platform for bottom-up politics.

Nakasones breakup of the public railway operator was the coup de grace for independent union power in the East Asian nation  achieving much the same as President Ronald Reagans firing of the members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization had in the United States in 1981 or Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers defeat of the National Union of Mineworkers had in the United Kingdom in 1985 (it was no coincidence that Nakasone was a personal friend and political ally of those leaders).

Then US President Ronald Reagan speaks during a briefing in the White House Rose Garden in Washington in 1981. The president gave striking air traffic controllers 48 hours to return to work or be fired [File: Jeff Taylor/AP Photo]

By the end of the 1980s, most of Japans labour unions had reorganised themselves under the umbrella of the cautious and conservative Japanese Trade Union Confederation. A docile labour organisation that has not supported any large-scale strikes in its more than 30 years of existence, it has contented itself with a small seat at the establishment table, arguing for job security for regular workers, small annual wage increases, and measures to enhance workplace safety.

The taming of the labour unions led to the collapse of the opposition-leading Japan Socialist Party (JSP) less than a decade later, as Nakasone had hoped. Until then, the JSP had been the nations second-largest political party, but without its backbone of union members who could be mobilised to support them in election campaigns, it was unable to compete against the governing partys support from business and professional organisations.

This put an end to the era in which anti-system political movements  those which promoted grassroots or anti-establishment views  had sufficient space to grow and develop within the Japanese political world.

In other words, it was one of the factors that explains why populist movements sweeping other advanced, democratic nations in the early 2020s seem to be quietly passing by a contented or complacent Japan.

Someone like Trump would never stand a chance

The first thing to be said about populism is that there is no universally accepted definition of what the term actually means. Commonly it involves political leaders who cast themselves as representatives of the people struggling against a corrupt elite who are said to be blocking necessary progress.

Beyond that, it is difficult to be too specific about what populism entails.

Whatever it is, there is a relative consensus that Japan has a lot less of it at this historical moment than can be found in North America or Europe, the other G7 nations with which Japanese political leaders prefer to be grouped.

In their attempt to explain this relative weakness of populist politics in Japan, some scholars suggest that there are structural impediments in the national political system.

Chris Winkler, associate professor of Seinan Gakuin University in western Japan, is among those who believe that the countrys political system creates a very high hurdle for any party, but especially for populist parties.

With the exception of the long-dominant governing party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), politicians at the national level are typically forced to compromise with those of different views, and even to work together with other smaller political parties in order to have the prospect of winning at the polls.

Much the same process of compromise is required by the politicians within the governing party, which is divided between seven significant factions, limiting their ability to simply go their own way. Indeed, the LDP was created in 1955 through the merger of two rival conservative political parties.

Could somebody like Donald Trump ever find electoral success in Japan? [File: Octavio Jones/Reuters]

Somebody like Trump would never stand a chance in Japan, Winkler asserts, because the LDP would never put up with somebody like that. He adds, As a complete outsider, you dont win.

Michael Cucek, assistant professor of Temple University Japan, agrees that we should not expect to see any genuinely Trump-like figure rising to national leadership in Japan. No billionaire could follow that path to power in Japan, because, in this country, you cant buy your way into the political world.

No mansions on a hill

However, not everyone agrees that it is the electoral system where we should really be looking to explain the current weakness of populism in Japan.

Tobias Harris, senior fellow for Asia at the Center for American Progress, contends that electoral rules are just rules, and if the people want something, the party system will change to accommodate it. He believes there are other explanations for why Japanese populism is at a low ebb.

In his view, Japanese populism has been constrained by the fact that the nations social safety net  like its national pension programme, unemployment benefits, and national health insurance programme  has been well maintained, meaning that there is not much dire poverty in Japan, or at least not many visible manifestations of such poverty.

Has Japans well-maintained social safety net stopped populism from emerging? [File: Carl Court/Getty Images]

Winkler notes that inequality in Japan has been on the rise over the past 20 years, but it remains nowhere near American levels. According to the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data, Japans poverty rate stands at 15.7 percent compared with 17.8 percent in the US. Most Japanese still regard themselves as members of the middle class, even if they are struggling economically more than they were before.

Also, unlike North America or Europe, there is little in the way of a billionaire class living ostentatiously wealthy lifestyles. There are, of course, rich people in Japan, but they tend to live in the same communities as everyone else, not in mansions on a hill or in remote gated districts. Flaunting wealth is simply not socially acceptable in this country which takes egalitarianism and mutual cooperation seriously.

There is thus no mainstream debate in Japan about the 1% who control the country  although in recent years a related term, higher level citizens (jokyu kokumin), has gained currency on social media, loosely denoting people who are in some way given preferential treatment by the political or judicial establishment.

No rural-urban divide

Whatever tensions do exist, Japanese society remains comparatively cohesive and united, as can be seen in any natural or man-made disaster when violence or looting is practically unheard of in recent decades.

Axel Klein, professor of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, notes in relation to populist politics, What is missing in Japan is that there are not really people who refer to the Japanese population as the two peoples.

While economies in North America and Europe have seen wide economic and cultural gaps open up between urban and rural populations, that has not been the case in Japan. The main political power base of the ruling LDP is in the rural communities, largely a legacy of successful land reforms after 1945 and a generally more conservative cultural milieu.

The LDP does a lot to keep rural regions alive, Klein observes, and the LDP channels a lot of money into these dying little cities and villages. As a result, rural Japanese can hardly refer to themselves as forgotten people.

There is little urban-rural divide in Japan as residents of towns and cities often visit the countryside during holidays [File: Christopher Jue/Getty Images for Tokyu Land Corporation]

Harris goes so far as to speak of an inverted populism in the country. If theres an urban-rural divide, its not the pure people of rural Japan being directed against urban elites; its the beleaguered people of urban Japan rising up against rural-based elites.

He agrees that rural areas are not forgotten in the cultural life of the people.

Indeed, regional foods and customs are routinely discussed and cherished. Urban residents eagerly await the holidays to travel out to the countryside and to visit their relatives or to experience another dimension of Japan.

This relatively unified national culture serves to reduce resentments and prevent an angry, rural form of populism from gaining traction.

Ignored immigrants

Finally  and closely related to the previous factor  is that foreign and immigrant communities in Japan make up only about 2.3 percent of the total population. They are largely ignored by all sides within the Japanese political debate.

Tina Burrett, associate professor of Sophia University in Tokyo, observes: If we look at Europe and the United States, anti-immigration sentiments have been one of the key determinants of voters support for populist candidates.

In contrast to those nations, Burrett notes, Immigrants are not necessarily seen in Japan as taking away jobs from hard-working native workers, because there isnt an unemployment crisis, and theres a demographic issue in Japan, which means that there are a lot of industries that actually lack labour.

This situation means that the nativist forms of populism that have flourished, for example, in many European countries, have little salience within the Japanese context.

Japans neoliberal populism

And yet, while most observers agree that populism is a weaker factor in Japanese national politics than it is in other G7 nations, there are some politicians in the country who are routinely identified as representing some form of populism.

Harris contends, in fact, that there was a populist moment in Japanese politics in the 1990s and 2000s that was effectively terminated with the rise to power of Shinzo Abe at the end of 2012.

Then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (centre) is routinely described as populist [File: Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool MC/Reuters]

One Japanese politician who is routinely described as a populist by analysts and the media is Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister who served from 2001 to 2006.

Koizumis brand of populism was definitely of a softer, toned-down variety, and attributable mainly to his personal style of communication that was addressed directly to the Japanese people, rather than aimed mainly at his colleagues in the governing party.

He also cast himself as the peoples champion struggling against a sclerotic bureaucracy and its political allies, who were said to be blocking the path towards national progress through their protection of vested interests and obstruction of needed economic reforms.

Tokyo Governer Yuriko Koike [Koji Sasahara/AP Photo]

The high point for Koizumi populism came in 2005 when he called a snap election to force through his cherished plans to reform the national postal service. Koizumi then expelled his leading opponents from the governing party and targeted their independent re-election efforts with his own group of assassin candidates (including Yuriko Koike, who is today the governor of Tokyo). The voters responded positively, and Koizumi won a dramatic landslide victory.

However, Koizumi stepped down as Japans leader the following year, and no one among the governing party elites, who routinely lacked his personal charisma, really wanted to carry on the populist legacy. To the extent that Koizumi did have a successor, it was probably Ichiro Ozawa, the then-leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).

Lower house lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa speaks during a press conference in Tokyo in 2012. He had been indicted on campaign finance charges, linked to a 2004 land deal, but was acquitted [File: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo]

Ozawa possesses nothing of Koizumis attractive and effective public persona (and this is probably why Ozawa is less frequently cited as being a populist), but, as Harris notes, Koizumi and Ozawa in some ways were united by a common goal  they saw the old LDP as standing in the way of realising the true destiny of Japan, referring to the much hoped for economic revitalisation.

Ozawas own shining moment came in August 2009 when his efforts led to an unprecedented DPJ landslide in general elections. However, he never had an opportunity to enjoy this victory since prosecutors indicted him on campaign finance charges (which seem to have been fabricated by the prosecutors for the purpose of keeping him out of the office of prime minister).

In Harriss reading, national-level Japanese populism died soon thereafter, with the DPJs three years of policy failures on US military base realignment, managing the Fukushima crisis, and much more, leading to the return of Shinzo Abe and a general public that had become both fatigued and dispirited about the prospects for positive political changes that could make Japan more independent and socially vibrant.

Local populism

Nevertheless, there is one part of the Japanese government where some politicians are frequently described as being populists  and that is at the level of governors and the mayors of big cities.

Burrett even goes so far as to suggest that at the local level, populism is much more apparent in Japan than it is possibly at the local levels in some other G7 countries.

Most frequently cited is Toru Hashimoto, who led Osaka as governor and then mayor from 2008 to 2015.

In 2012, the brash, young Hashimoto captured the public imagination and polled as the most popular politician in the nation.

Unlike the usual, gentler kind of Japanese politician, the far-right Hashimoto came from the poorer classes and he did not refrain from hitting out at his perceived enemies. Among those who received his lashings were the national government, the bureaucracy, the labour unions, and the Japanese Communist Party.

Still, according to Charles Weathers, professor of Osaka City University, Compared to what you are seeing in some Western countries  people like Trump  really threatening or violating democratic norms, he didnt go nearly that far, because Japan has simply not been that polarised.

Japan Restoration Party deputy leader Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto in Osaka, Japan [File: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images]

In the end, Hashimoto and his regional political party did not achieve many of their key objectives, the most cherished of which was their plan to centralise the prefectural and city administrations. As Weathers puts it, He knew how to say provocative things and stay in the news every day, but what he really accomplished was passing a bunch of ordinances which did things like infringe on the rights of civil servants by limiting their political activities.

The beginning of the end for Hashimoto was the election of Shinzo Abe as prime minister at the end of 2012. There was enough similarity in their right-wing political outlook that Abe may have stolen much of Hashimotos thunder, and made it more difficult for him to challenge the central government.

There are other local politicians who have been cited as being Japanese populists, including Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura, Nagano Governor Yasuo Tanaka, and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, mainly because they made charismatic appeals to the general public to gain an advantage over established political parties and other vested interests.

Yasuo Tanaka, former governor of Nagano prefecture (state), is sometimes described as a populist [File: Tsugufumi Matsumoto/AP Photo]

Burrett observes that these Japanese-style local populists are quite a separate breed from their cousins elsewhere in that they tend to be quite neoliberal  they are pro-reform, they are pro-business  theyre quite different in terms of their policy profiles from the populists that we see in other G7 countries.

She attributes this characteristic to the fact that Japan hasnt had such a neoliberal revolution. The curious outcome is that, in terms of their economic policy orientation, populists in Japan would be the establishment figures who the populists are fighting against in other G7 countries.

Co-opting the populist infrastructure

Japans relatively tame species of neoliberal populism is certainly related to the crushing of radical labour union power in the 1970s and 80s. The unions, for a few decades following the Pacific War (1937-45), were able to serve as an institutional incubator for world views that could exist outside of the Japanese mainstream, including the promotion of socialism, anti-imperialism, and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Nothing replaced the radical labour unions after they were co-opted in the 1980s.

As Harris explains, The populism we have seen has been within the system. Theres not really an organisational centre for anti-system politics.

Japan has permitted no political space for independent groups to place demands or to stimulate significant institutional changes. The governing party made a concerted effort in the post-war years to tame all sources of social conflict, and they have largely succeeded.

This is true of the Japanese news media as well. This critical sphere has been kept under tight control by the regime, with neither the left nor the right able to depart too dramatically from the government line.

The informational chasm that exists, for example, in the US between those who watch CNN and MSNBC, on the one hand, and Fox News and OANN, on the other, simply does not exist in anything like the same way in Japan. The establishment centre dominates, with the media only cautiously and occasionally drifting into mildly controversial political matters.

Indeed, the LDP has run Japan as something close to a one-party state since 1955, with its time in power interrupted only infrequently. Even in 2021, its clientelist style of politics is still going strong.

This kind of structural dominance, Klein notes, has had a cumulative effect that has killed the fighting spirit of many who would otherwise probably be active on the left. Instead, many people seem to have turned off on politics in order to settle into the quiet and reasonably comfortable lives that have been offered to them.

The Japanese education system also deepens these trends, teaching the young to prioritise cooperation, compromise, and dependence upon others.

Klein observes that people in Japan are just not brought up in a way to express their opinion and to argue for it.

The relative weakness of populist politics in contemporary Japan, then, may be attributable not only to the institutional barriers and the lack of platforms for anti-system politics, but also built right into the way that the government is educating its citizens to think about themselves.

Klein concludes, If you are not convinced that your opinion is right and you want to put it out there  and dont want others to follow and to agree with you  then there is no fuel on which populism can run.


Director Small Business Development Center

Small Business Development Center The Director for the SBDC will report to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Regional Director, U of H Gulf Coast SBDC for job responsibilities and other College related activities as outlined in the Policies and Procedures Manual. The Director assists in coordinating business seminars, consulting entrepreneurs regarding their business needs, developing business relationships with local financial institutions, promoting the Center to the public, overseeing the federal and state budgets allotted to the Center, participates in various training functions of the SBDC lead center at University of Houston and oversees the reporting of the Centers activities. Requires: Bachelors degree. Minimum seven years business management experience. Experience must include either business consulting/advising or direct entrepreneurial experience in launching and operating a small business. Business development experience required. Preferred: MBA and/or CPA certification. Applicable certifications are desired, including Certified Global Business Professional. Knowledge of tax forms and regulations. Knowledge of payroll and business taxes. Knowledge of business accounting systems. Skills in marketing.

Salary: Commensurate with Experience, Plus Excellent Benefits

Position is security sensitive and subject to Texas education Code 51.215, which authorizes the employer to obtain criminal history record information.

Open until filled. Review of qualified applicants to begin immediately. Apply Online at URL: https://lamarpa.peopleadmin.com/postings/2410 or Visit www.lamarpa.edu and click on Jobs@LSCPA to see a complete job posting listing. Include your resume, copies of your transcripts, and three professional references with their contact information. Member The Texas State University SystemTM

An Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

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BATON ROUGE, La.  The Louisiana Office of Cultural Developments Division of the Arts announces the release of applications for the Louisiana Cultural Districts program. The application period is now open. Any municipal or parish government can now apply to have a specific geographic area considered for designation as a Cultural District. Additionally, current eligible Louisiana Cultural Districts are able to apply for a boundary expansion. The deadline to submit applications is Saturday, August 1. All applications must be completed and submitted through the Louisiana Cultural Districts online portal, louisianaculturaldistricts.org.

Louisianas culture doesnt just Feed Your Soul, it means business for our state, said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. Our Cultural Districts have proven to be an excellent economic development tool for many cities in Louisiana, benefitting both the local government and developers in these areas. It is an economic tool that will be important for many areas as continue down the road to recovery from a rough 2020.

Any proposed cultural district must be geographically contiguous, distinguished by cultural resources, focus on an existing cultural anchor, be engaged in the promotion/preservation/educational aspects of local arts and culture, contribute to the public through interpretive and educational uses, and encourage opportunity for affordable artist housing and workspace.

Statewide, there are 115 cultural districts, representing 71 towns and cities in 41 parishes. Communities with designated cultural districts benefit from two, targeted tax incentives  rehabilitation of older buildings may qualify for state historic tax credits and the sale of qualifying works of original art sold within the district are exempt from local sales tax.

Created by Act 298 of the 2007 Regular Session, the Louisiana Cultural Districts Programs primary goal is to spark community revitalization based on cultural activity through tax incentives, technical assistance, and resources. The Louisiana Cultural Districts Program is considered a place-based cultural economy initiative. The Americans for the Arts defines a cultural district as a well-recognized, labeled, mixed-use area of the city in which a high concentration of arts and cultural facilities serve as the anchor attraction. Each one is a unique and distinct reflection of local heritage, history, and cultural development.

To gain access to the Louisiana Cultural Districts portal and submit an application, visit louisianaculturaldistricts.org. To view the application guidelines, program implementation guidelines, or procedures to apply for boundary changes, visit the Louisiana Cultural Districts forms and applications webpage.
BATON ROUGE  Gov. John Bel Edwards issued the following statement on the death of First Sergeant Casey J. Hart, assigned to Bravo Company 2nd Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, 256th Infantry Brigade, Army National Guard, New Iberia, Louisiana. A veteran of the Baton Rouge Police Department, he passed away while mobilized with the National Guard.

First Sergeant Casey J. Hart valiantly and proudly served the citizens of our state and nation, and we are deeply saddened to hear of his passing, said Gov. Edwards. A senior member of the 2nd Battalion, he grew as a strong leader over the past two decades. A true American hero, he selflessly served his community here and during his assignments abroad. Deeply committed to his family and unit, he will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him. Please join me and Donna in praying for his wife, daughter, family, colleagues and friends.
The Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV) is alerting residents of a text message phishing scam that has the potential to steal personal information. Louisiana residents have received text messages from scammers posing as the OMV. The messages originate from unfamiliar phone numbers and claim the recipient can collect a sum of money by clicking a link. The OMV recommends customers ignore and delete such messages.

The Louisiana OMV does not ask customers to provide sensitive personal data through text messages. Customers are encouraged to utilize the Louisiana State Police online system to report suspicious or criminal activity. The secure reporting form is located under the Suspicious Activity link at www.lsp.org.

The Louisiana OMV offers the following tips to help customers avoid scams:

 DO exercise caution with all communications you receive from anonymous sources.

DO confirm the message was generated from a legitimate source.

DO keep an eye out for signs of phishing (rewards, vague URLs, incorrect grammar).

DO NOT click on links in an unsolicited message from an unverified source.

DO NOT send your personal information via text.

DO NOT post sensitive information online.

Additionally, the Louisiana OMV strongly recommends customers remain mindful and cautious when processing online transactions. Some private, unofficial motor vehicle-based websites can collect and store customers personal information and charge unnecessary fees. Customers can visit the official OMV website, www.expresslane.org, to process online services safely and securely.
With amenities along the Bayou Teche National Water and Paddle Trail nearing completion, The TECHE Project has created new maps for those wanting to paddle the trail. Maps are available for each of the four parishes along the trail: St. Landry, St. Martin, Iberia and St. Mary. Safety information and paddling tips are located on the back of each map.

This project was funded in part by a grant from the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area. Maps are available at tourist and visitors centers in each parish, on The TECHE Project website at www.techeproject.org/bayou-teche-paddle-trail/map/ and Pack and Paddle. The maps are free and also downloadable and printable from the website.

We hope these new maps encourage more paddlers, both beginner and advanced, to explore the Bayou Teche Paddle Trail. Our dock sites in 11 communities make it easy to enter and exit the trail. The maps include locations for restroom breaks, dining, camping, lodging and historic sites, says TECHE Project Council Member Patti Holland.

Outdoor, low-impact recreation is an economic driver for rural communities, explains TECHE Project Executive Director Conni Castille. Its our hope that state and local tourism leaders, economic development authorities and business leaders embrace the Bayou Teche National Water and Paddle Trail by using these maps to encourage locals and visitors to explore our heritage by water.

Running 135 miles from Port Barre to Berwick, Bayou Teche and the Lower Atchafalaya River are often described as Louisianas most historic and culturally significant waterway. In 2015, The TECHE Project received the exceptional designation of National Water Trail from the U.S. Department of the Interior National Parks Service program. This recognition is one of 33 such designations in the United States and the only one in Louisiana.

In addition to floating docks, other amenities along the trail include 15 Information Kiosks with maps, safety tips and stories about the locality, the waterway, wildlife, native plants, musical traditions and more.
Frederick Elementary School is looking for teachers to join our learning community for the 2021-22 school year. If you are a passionate, self-directed, reflective practitioner, we would love to meet you and invite you to participate in our interview process. Positions are available in the following areas:

Grades K-2 general content

Grades 3-5 departmental content areas (Reading, Mathematics, and Science)

Grades 3-5 Special Education

All candidates must be eligible for hire by Baltimore City Public Schools AND eligible for certification from the MD State Dept. of Education.

About Us:

BCP started small, but more than 20 years later, BCP, in partnership with the Baltimore City school system, is the largest charter operator in Maryland with a network of some of the most highly acclaimed neighborhood charter schools in the state: City Springs Elementary/Middle, Frederick Elementary, Govans Elementary, Hampstead Hill Academy, and Wolfe Street Academy.

Over the years, many of BCPs educational innovations have been adopted by other city schools and have drawn visits from a constant stream of educators from across the nation and the world. Such replicable programsincluding Direct Instruction, Core Knowledge, and Restorative Practices, to name a fewhave made a significant difference in childrens lives in Baltimore and elsewhere.

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"Youth of May" cast members Go Min Si, Lee Do Hyun, Geum Sae Rok, and Lee Sang Yi bid their farewell as the KBS melodrama reached its season finale.

After 12 episodes, the Monday-Tuesday drama aired its finale on June 8 with a heartbreaking scene between Hwang Hee Tae and Kim Myung Hee.

Following the success and soaring viewership rating, the lead stars share their thoughts and experience in "Youth of May."

"Youth of May Cast" Reveals their Most Unforgettable Scene

The "18 Again" actor was asked about his memorable scene in the drama, to which he replied that everything is significant to him.

"I can't believe 'Youth of May' has come to an end," adding, "I thought about this for a long time, but every scene and every line is precious and memorable, so it's hard to pick just one."

In addition, he also thanked fans and viewers for their positive response and support for the drama.

In the Kdrama "Youth of May," Lee Do Hyun plays Hwang Hee Tae-- the Gwangju-born medical student from Seoul National University.

Amid his wealthy lifestyle, he has a complicated relationship with his father, Hwang Gi Nam (Oh Man Suk), who works for the Defense agency and the reason behind the arrest of several civilians.

Meanwhile, Go Min Si echoed the same stance and expressed her gratitude and appreciation to fans, viewers, as well as their director Song Min Yeop and screenwriter Lee Kang for creating exceptional characters.

"Thank you to our writer and director who created such a great [character in] Myung Hee, all of the cast and crew, and the viewers who gave us lots of love."

The 26-year-old actress portrays the feisty nurse Kim Myung Hee, who plans to study in Germany through a scholarship grant.

However, she chose to be by Hwang Hee Tae's side amid the chaos brought by the Gwangju Uprising.

On the other hand, Geum Sae Rok, who plays the activist Lee Soo Ryun, cited that "Youth of May," especially her character dubbed as the "Joan of Arc," served a meaningful moment to her.

In addition, she says that she won't be able to forget the memories they've had together with the team.

Lastly, Geum Sae Rok's on-screen brother, Lee Sang Yi, says that one of the remarkable scenes was Lee Soo Chan being awakened to the government's wrongdoings.

"If up until now, Soo Chan showed his sense of responsibility as the eldest son to protect those around him, this scene perfectly portrays a turning point where he discovers a different sense of responsibility, so it was memorable."

"Youth of May" Finale

"Youth of May" finale lands with a high viewership after garnering an average nationwide rating of 4.6 and 5.6 percent for its two parts, as cited by Nielsen Korea.

In addition, the drama became a trending topic due to its surprising ending that showed Hwang Hee Tae's undying love for Kim Myung Min.

He also promised her that they would see each other again in another life.

KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Geca Wills
By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

(CNN) -- California is appealing a federal judge's ruling last week that overturned the state's longtime ban on assault-style weapons, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday.

#BREAKING: We've appealed the district courts decision that overturned CA's decades-old assault weapons ban.



Equating firearms that have been used in many of the deadliest mass shootings in this country with Swiss Army knives has no basis in law or fact.https://t.co/treOYf3vsr  Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) June 10, 2021

US District Judge Roger Benitez on Friday blocked California from enforcing its ban, saying it violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms and deprives Californians from owning assault-style weapons commonly allowed in other states. He granted a 30-day stay on the injunction.

In a press conference Thursday announcing that an appeal has been filed, Bonta, a Democrat, called the judge's opinion "disturbing and troubling and of great concern."

"We cannot be and we are not deterred by this ruling," he said.

Bonta said his office will ask the appeals court to stay the district court's ruling, which would extend the 30-day stay and leave the laws in place during the appeals process.

In his ruling, Benitez likened the AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife, arguing that both are a "perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment." His comparison drew criticism from California Democrats and gun safety activists, while gun rights advocates celebrated the ruling and said they would continue their challenge at the Ninth Circuit -- and Supreme Court if necessary.

Bonta, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and others who spoke at Thursday's news conference slammed Benitez as an ideologue and claimed his ruling was a legal outlier.

"It is insulting to read his decision where he called the kind of weapon that killed my son akin to a pocket knife," said Mattie Scott, who heads the Brady Center's California chapter and lost her son to gun violence in 1996. "Pocket knives were not invented to kill as many people as possible. Pocket knives don't tear families apart."

Robyn Thomas, the executive director of the Giffords Law Center, said they expect the Ninth Circuit to reverse Benitez's decision, but also anticipate gun lobbyists will keep trying to get similar cases before Benitez to move them up through the federal system.

The judge's ruling came in Miller v Bonta, a 2019 lawsuit from California residents, San Diego County Gun Owners PAC and other gun rights advocacy groups.

California became the first state to ban the sale of semiautomatic guns in 1989, following a shooting at an elementary school in Stockton that left five children dead.

Six other states and Washington, DC, have bans on certain semiautomatic firearms.

In recent years, the US Supreme Court has declined to take up challenges to several states' assault-style weapons bans, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Illinois, leaving lower court upholdings of these laws in place. Gun-rights advocates, however, see new opportunities for legal challenges with the recent addition of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, giving the high court a 6-3 conservative tilt.

In April, the conservative-majority bench decided to review a case concerning a New York law that restricts an individual from carrying a concealed handgun in public in what will be the court's first major decision on gun rights in a decade.
MERLIN, Ore. -- Community members visited what was left of the Galice Resort, one day after the fire that burned down the lodge. People stood there in awe while remembering everything the family owned rafting business offered.

Orange Torpedo Trips in Merlin is now extending rafts and shuttles to Galice.

"Mostly, we just feel terrible for the owners of the lodge, employees of the lodge," said Orange Torpedo operations manager Kory Mahr.

Galice Resort offered libations, restaurant services, and live music out on the deck, while people could enjoy the scenery of the Rogue River.

Orange Torpedo trips is continuing to offer it's bar services through it's partnership with Taco Mania next door, but Mahr says nothing compares to the atmosphere felt while at Galice Resort.

Mary Lou Thomason, mother to the owner of the resort, says insurance will cover some of the damage, but a Go Fund Me started by Miranda Aschoff has already raised more than $2,000 to support owners with any expenses insurance will not cover.

The family is asking the community for privacy and prayers at this time, as they begin to plan the next steps for their business.
CENTRAL POINT, Ore.  Coronavirus vaccination efforts at the Jackson County Expo that began in late March will gradually wind down over the next several weeks, public health officials announced on Thursday.

Jackson County Public Health said that it would transition its own vaccination clinic to the Expo on March 29. The local effort was soon joined by a FEMA-backed pilot community vaccination center in April, greatly expanding the site's capacity to perform vaccinations each day.

The last day for FEMA's drive-through Pfizer vaccination effort will be June 15, Jackson County said. The walk-through clinic, operated by Jackson County Public Health and offering Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, will continue until June 28.

"Residents of southern Oregon are encouraged to take advantage of the final weekend of the drive-thru facility," public health officials said. "The Expo drive-thru can facilitate over 1,000 vaccines per day. No appointment or registration required, shots are free and everyone is welcome."

The drive-through clinic is open from noon to 7 p.m. until close of business next Tuesday. Meanwhile, the mobile pop-up clinics offered by the Oregon Health Authority and Jackson County will continue.

Anyone due to receive their second Pfizer dose after June 15 can connect with an appointment via the Jackson County site or by calling 211. They can also contact Safeway/Albertsons, Walgreens, or Walmart to schedule a second dose.

The County Vaccination Equity Center opened its drive-through clinic on April 21 for an eight-week mission. As of June 8, the operation had provided more than 24,000 doses, Jackson County said. The mobile outreach clinics have provided Pfizer doses to more than 2,300 people.

"The Center has provided a safe and accessible location for people living in Jackson County and surrounding areas to receive a COVID -19 vaccine," officials continued.

More than 200 staff from around the country and connected with a number of state and federal agencies came through to support the Jackson County vaccination site.
In this Dec. 18, 2020 photo, pipes to be used for the Keystone XL pipeline are stored in a field near Dorchester, Neb. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Chris Machian /Omaha World-Herald via AP
Active cases of COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus seen here in a photograph from an electron microscope, are down 80% from mid-April, provincial officials say.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives at the airport in Newquay, United Kingdom for the G7 Summit, Thursday June 10, 2021. Trudeau will participate in the G7 Summit in the United Kingdom and a NATO meeting in Belgium. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Less: Just look at London, Ont.

Same: We hear more bad news.

More: Canada is on the right path.

Vote

View Results
United States President Joe Biden listens via video as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaksduring a press conference in Ottawa, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. A New York congressman says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden will discuss plans to reopen the Canada-U.S. border when they meet on the margins of the G7 summit. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld


College and Career Readiness Coordinator Job Description Position Summary: Responsible for planning, promoting, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive college and career readiness counseling program to maintain that all students graduate high school with a post-secondary plan. The College and Career Readiness Coordinator will cultivate relationships and opportunities for work based learning experiences. The College and Career Readiness Coordinator will work with the high school staff to provide the promotion of college and post-secondary learning opportunities for all students. Job Functions: Collaborate with Elementary, Middle and High School Guidance Counselors to develop and implement a K-12 aligned college and career readiness counseling program.

Establishes 9-12 College and Career Exploration curriculum and conducts classroom lessons.

Establish and oversee a Career Exploration and Internship Program (CEIP) at Lansingburgh High School. Coordinates development of Certified CTE program within Lansingburgh School District.

Contacts and recruits area employers for the purpose of securing commitments of internships, part time, summer, and full-time jobs for students and maintains an active file of job availability. Communicates opportunities to students and parents.

Create an Employability Skills workshop that assists students with the job application and interview process, develops workplace readiness skills and prepares students for workplace success.

Assists in overseeing College in the High School (HVCC and SUNY) and P-Tech Programs.

Plans a variety of field trips and school based activities to expose students to postsecondary options.

Assists with scheduling university, college, and military recruiter visits.

Assists students with the college application process and holds weekly College/Career assistance meetings.

Plans multiple events for students and parents to explore financial aid options and applications..

Attends evening workshops to provide information to students and families.

Develops and distributes social media announcements regarding post-secondary information sessions.

Creates and distributes student surveys to track student plans and readiness for career and college. Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree in Social Work, Counseling, Education, or related field; minimum of two years of demonstrated success creating partnerships within diverse populations and stakeholder groups. This is a 12-month position with a competitive salary and excellent fringe benefits. Apply online at https://www.applitrack.com/lansingburgh/onlineapp/, Job ID 325, by June 23, 2021. Lansingburgh Central School District is rich in heritage, diversity, and pride. It is also faced with the needs of an ever-changing community. At Lansingburgh Central School District, we strive to create for all students a productive, challenging, and safe educational environment guided by the New York State Learning Standards. Our students will acquire civic values, skills, and strategies through a dynamic partnering of school and community. With these experiences, we hope students will be inspired to fill their lives with learning and self-sufficiency. Lansingburgh Central School District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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In this artist's sketch, Nathaniel Veltman makes a video court appearance in London, Ont., Thursday, June 10, 2021 as Justice of the Peace Robert Seneshen (top left) and lawyer Alayna Jay look on. Veltman, accused of deliberately running over and killing four members of a Muslim family in London, Ont., had his case adjourned to next week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alexandra Newbould


Description

Salary $39,348.24 - $47,828.76 Annually Location Everett, WA Job Type Full-Time Department Human Services Job Number 2021-00211 Division Human Services Housing & Community Services Closing 6/23/2021 11:59 PM Pacific Join our Snohomish County Human Services Team!



We have two full-time temporary positions in the Energy Assistance Program of our Housing and Community Services Division.



These positions will work 100% with the Energy Assistance Program. These positions require working in the office or remotely when the office is closed due to COVID-19. Looking dynamic individuals with excellent math skills, ability to accurately review and calculate various income sources, able to work in a fast-paced environment, willing to communicate by phone, through SKYPE and email with a very diverse population including low-income, disabled, seniors, persons with limited English and veterans. This individual must have the ability to redirect communications professionally and effectively when encountering disgruntled customers and be able to consistently retain program-related information as expected for this position.



NOTE: Any references to weatherization tasks or acquiring certifications in this notice are not applicable to this position.



Human Services Department mission is to help all persons meet their basic needs and develop their potential by providing timely, effective services and building community.



The Human Services Department includes 230 diverse, friendly, and dedicated employees who benefit from outstanding benefits and competitive wages. Employees are appreciated and have the opportunity to make a real difference in our community. Snohomish County is thriving and is a great place to live, work, play, and raise a family. We strive to not only provide a meaningful job, but a life-long career at Snohomish County.



BASIC FUNCTION



To interview low income clients and establish their eligibility for grant funded energy and weatherization programs. Process necessary documents for compliance with regulations. Job Duties STATEMENT OF ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES Assists clients in person and on the telephone in correctly completing forms; reviews forms for accuracy; requests additional information as needed; calculates eligibility and answers questions regarding eligibility.

Answers telephone; respond to questions or routes calls to correct party.

Reviews client files to ensure that all documents are signed and completed per contract compliance.

Provides information and referral to Community Service Agencies.

Enters information on the computer in specialized format, including application, program or financial data.

Receives and routes incoming mail; may deliver mail to Post Office and maintain mail log. STATEMENT OF OTHER JOB DUTIES Provides client training in Energy Conservation.

Assists client in budget counseling.

Schedules phone interviews; assists elderly, handicapped and homebound clients with their eligibility.

Assists with appointment scheduling.

Performs related duties as required. Minimum Qualifications One (1) year of experience in Energy/Weatherization programs performing a variety of office work, interviewing and computer experience; OR , any equivalent combination of training and/or experience that provides the required knowledge and abilities. LIHEAP Energy Assistance Program experience preferred. Must pass job related tests. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS



LIHEAP Energy Assistance Program experience preferred.



SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS



A valid Washington State Driver's License is required for employment. Additional Information KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITIES Knowledge of: computers, data entry and standard software programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel

standard office practices and procedures and all related office work

standard human service client protocol including interview techniques, client confidentiality requirements, and professional conduct Ability to: perform mathematical computations

communicate effectively with a diverse population

learn and retain a complex series of rules and regulations to determine eligibility and benefits

explain complex rules, policies and procedures in a concise easy to understand manner

read, interpret and enter data accurately and rapidly

maintain an organized work setting, tracking forms and applications

work with minimum supervision in a fast paced setting meeting deadlines while coping with distractions and interruptions

accurately follow oral and written instructions

maintain accurate records and prepare required reports

maintain a professional demeanor while exercising good judgment SUPERVISION Employees receive direction from a technical Lead Energy & Weatherization Assistant III, and supervision from a Human Services Specialist III or administrator as assigned. Objectives, priorities and goals/deadlines are established by the supervisor. Employees plan and carry out successive steps and resolve problems in accordance with instructions, policies and accepted practices. WORKING CONDITIONS The work is performed in the usual office environment with occasional field work when assisting clients.

Snohomish County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer.

Accommodations for individuals with disabilities are provided upon request.

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Requirements

None




As a renewed sense of optimism sweeps the US this summer with lower reported Covid-19 cases, the US surgeon general has issued a warning for those not vaccinated: Don't let your guard down quite yet.

"For those who are unvaccinated, they are increasingly at risk as more and more variants develop," Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN on Wednesday, specifically citing the B.1.617.2, or Delta variant, first identified in India.

"The news about the Delta variant is evidence of really why it's so important for us to get vaccinated as soon as possible," he said, adding that the variant is more transmissible and potentially more dangerous.

Concern over the risk of variants bringing an end to a nationwide reopening is shared by many health experts and officials.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted in an interview with CNN that the United Kingdom was earlier stricken with the B.1.1.7, or Alpha, variant before Delta infections became predominant.

"We don't want to let happen in the United States what is happening currently in the UK, where you have a troublesome variant essentially taking over as the dominant variant, which has made it a very difficult situation in the UK," he said Wednesday, adding that the Delta variant accounts for more than 6% of sequenced virus in the US.

While the US has "done very well" with vaccinating its population, Fauci said, "we cannot declare victory prematurely because there are still a substantial proportion of people who have not been vaccinated."

Vaccination rates throughout the country are continuing at an uneven pace. Eight states have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont, which leads the country with nearly 60% of residents fully vaccinated, recent CDC data shows.

Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Wyoming have among the lowest vaccination rates in the country, according to CDC data. And officials are urging citizens that the best way to get ahead of the variants is with vaccinations.

"The good news is that when they looked at the Pfizer vaccine, they found that it was quite effective after two doses at protecting against even the Delta variant," Murthy told CNN.

Moderna asks FDA to OK vaccine for adolescents

Another vaccine could soon be available to adolescents: Moderna has asked the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize its Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in 12- to 17-year-olds, it announced Thursday in a statement. That vaccine is now available for people 18 and older.

"We are pleased to announce that we have submitted for an emergency use authorization for our COVID-19 vaccine with the FDA for use in adolescents in the United States," said Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel. "We are encouraged that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was highly effective at preventing COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 infection in adolescents."

If authorized, Moderna's would be the second Covid-19 vaccine available in the US to adolescents. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, initially authorized for people 16 and older, was granted EUA last month for 12- to 15-year-olds.

Moderna previously released the results from a Phase 2/3 trial of 3,732 children between 12 and 17 in the US. Blood tests showed the vaccine produced an immune response equivalent to earlier findings in adults.

Initial observations found none of the children who received the vaccine got sick with Covid-19 starting 14 days after their second dose. Four kids who got a placebo tested positive for the virus.

Meantime, an FDA vaccine advisory committee is meeting Thursday to discuss, generally, what data is needed to support authorization of Covid-19 vaccines for children, including those younger than 12.

States look to reduce restrictions

In another example of local optimism with improved Covid-19 numbers, about two dozen states have decided to scale back their daily tracking of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, Johns Hopkins University said this week.

Many states have scaled back to five updates each week, while others have dropped to three times or fewer. Florida, for example, has dropped to once per week.

Some health officials are calling this move premature in the face of current vaccination rates, citing needed improvement in these areas before states can let off the gas pedal regarding Covid-19.

"As far as I know, we're still in a public health emergency as a country ... That has not been downgraded yet," Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told CNN on Wednesday.

"An ultimate goal is to get to the point where even those who remain unvaccinated are at far less risk -- and nobody that I know has really landed on that number," Freeman said of herd immunity.

Several states also this week announced plans to further loosen Covid-19 protocols. South Carolina lifted an emergency order placed on the state, touting what Gov. Henry McMaster called the "timid" approach the state took to closures and restrictions.

"It is no longer necessary to have a state of emergency, although it is still necessary for us to be smart, to follow the rules, to follow the guidelines and be very careful," McMaster said.

In New York, the state plans to lift "virtually all" pandemic-related restrictions when 70% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office said Wednesday in a news release. The state was then at 69.1%, according to the release.

Expiring vaccines are a new concern

With the lag in vaccination rates, some states report they have Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine doses that are set to expire before they get used.

"There were state health officials that have been sounding the alarm for months now, that they were soon going to reach the point where supply exceeds demand in these states," CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen said Wednesday.

The seven-day average of vaccines administered daily in the US was more than 1.12 million, a slight increase from earlier in June yet far lower than the peak average of 3.38 million shots per day reached on April 13, according to Wednesday's CDC data.

For Johnson & Johnson vaccines remaining in the US, which only require one dose when distributed and have a three-month shelf life at refrigerator temperatures, lowered demand means that doses are going unused and may soon expire.

Nearly 11 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine -- about half of the 21.4 million doses that have been delivered to states and other jurisdictions -- have not been administered, according to data from the CDC. Potentially expiring coronavirus vaccines make up 1% to 2% of vaccines distributed to states, a source familiar with the federal vaccination effort told CNN on Wednesday.

The US Food & Drug Administration is "very, very carefully" looking into extending shelf life or reallocating Johnson & Johnson vaccines that are set to expire, Fauci said Wednesday.

The company is working to ensure its vaccines can be used and deployed effectively, Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky said Wednesday during a Wall Street Journal Tech Health event.

"We're working very hard, both at the federal level at the local level, to do everything we can to make sure that these vaccines can be used and deployed in the very best possible way," Gorsky said.

"The good news was we got a lot of vaccines out to meet this initial surge in demand, and now making sure we get the very best possible deployment and allocation and the distribution system gets even more agile, more flexible, not only here in the United States, between states, but in fact around the world will be work that we need to continue to stay focused on in the weeks and months ahead," he said.
By Damali Mukhaye and Ivan Ssenabulya

The opposition forum for democratic change president Patrick Amuriat has revealed that the party National Executive Committee is to meet soon and decide on the replacement of Buganda Vice president Owek. Joyce Ssebugwawo.

This is after Ssebugwawo was appointed by president Museveni as the state minister for ICT and national guidance.

Amuriat says she has not yet notified the party whether she is leaving or not, but says by the time her name appeared on President Musevenis list, it means she was consulted and is likely to accept the offer.

He meanwhile advises her to accept the appointment well knowing that she will also be used and dumped just like other members of the opposition.

Meanwhile, the National Unity Platform party has advised FDCs Joyce Ssebugwawo to be extra careful before taking up a ministerial position in the NRM government.

The party spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi says such appointments do not come as a surprise, further warning the opposition and Ssebugwawo to learn from previous appointments.
By Benjamin Jumbe

President Museveni has defended his list of cabinet appointees.

This comes a day after he released the final list of proposed names for the various ministerial positions in the new cabinet.

Speaking at the budget reading ceremony at Kololo, the president said he needed a mixed cabinet with different qualifications just like Jesus.

When Jesus started his movement, there were intellectuals like the Pharisees. But, Jesus went for the fishermen. So, when you see my list, know that Im in the path of Jesus Christ, he said.

He also spoke out on some of the key qualities he looked out for in the new members of his cabinet.

The list has since drawn mixed reactions from sections of the public with many saying it was full of surprise names.

The president Museveni has also described groups using assassination as bankrupt.

It comes over a week since former works and transport minister Gen Katumba Wamala was attacked by unknown gunmen who claimed the lives of his daughter and driver.

He said people who use assassination are those who are not sure of themselves, adding that the NRM never uses such tactics because it is sure of itself otherwise many people opposed to him would have been killed like former FDC president Besigye.

The attack on Katumba is not any ordinary crime, this was a definite political motive and we shall know which pig it was. NRM never uses assassinations because we are sure of ourselves. Why should I kill you because you are opposing you? he said.

Meanwhile he has instructed the new internal affairs minister and Chief of Defence Forces Gen David Muhoozi to implement his directive of installing digital monitors in all vehicles and motorcycles.

He says with improved forensic capacity of the police and other digital means to be deployed, crime will soon be defeated.
By Ritah Kemigisa

The speaker of parliament Jacob Oulanya has warned members of parliament against politicizing the covid-19 pandemic.

He made the remarks during the 3rdsitting of the 11th parliament which is ongoing at the Kololo ceremonial grounds.

These are difficult times, whatever keeps us safe, we must hold onto it. We should not politicize a pandemic of this nature. The challenge is, because of the numbers, the results take longer than before, said speaker Oulanyah

His comments come after a section of opposition Mps raised concern over colleagues being held outside Parliament over COVID-19 tests.

MPS including Joseph Sewungu and Cecilia Ogwal argue that it is unfair to deny members their right to attend plenary just because they have not yet received their results.

When I look at where you are sitting and where the members are sitting, we are so far apart actually its almost 1000 times to where the president is going to sit. The president is the only one who requires that we must have covid19 tests, said Ms Ogwal.

The reappointed health minister Ruth Aceng has however objected to Ogwals submission.

The risk is not limited to the president, we dont test because we are coming in the presence of the excellency, we test to protect one another, we are all at risk of getting covid19, said designate health minister Aceng.

Speaker Oulanya has now meanwhile directed that a special tent is put up to accommodate members as they wait for their results.
By Ritah Kemigisa

Women rights activists have applauded the president for appointing more women to serve in various positions at cabinet level.

The top three seats of cabinet have been allocated to women, with Jessica Alupo designated as the vice president, Robinah Nabbanja as the prime minister and former speaker Rebecca Kadaga as the 1st Deputy Prime Minister and minister for East African community affairs.

Speaking to KFM, Sarah Bireete, the executive director, Centre for Constitutional Governance says the appointment of women in top positions is a step in the right direction of achieving gender parity and inclusivity.

She adds that it also fulfills the African Unions objective of achieving 50-50 women representation in all positions of governance and influence.

She meanwhile says having more women in leadership is an inspiration to the girl child.

We welcome the appointment of women because this has put Uganda at the same footing with Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda in terms of gender equality and women empowerment, we now have 42% of women representation in the cabinet, said Ms Bireete.


Watch Systems Scenario QA Engineer San Diego , California , United States Hardware Summary

Posted: Jun 8, 2021 Weekly Hours: 40 Role Number: 200252081 Do you want make a positive impact on product quality within Apple? At Apple, new ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job and there's no telling what you could accomplish! We are the Watch Systems Quality team, and we are looking for a Quality Engineer to help us deliver functional and stable products to millions of customers in a fast-paced environment. We work closely with cross-functional partners to ensure the quality of user experience for our customers. In this highly visible role, you will write and execute test cases, analyze test results, report defects and publish reports to cross-functional teams. Come join our team! Key Qualifications 3+ years of SQA or System Test experience

Experience working with cross-functional teams to identify tests

Understanding of customer scenarios on consumer electronics with embedded software

Strong project/time management skills

Excellent troubleshooting skills to isolate issues

Test tool development in Python, C or C++ is a plus Description Our team regularly communicates with cross-functional project management and development teams on test status and technical/project needs. As a System Scenario Test Engineer, you will have responsibilities spanning all aspects of software quality, including: - Develop and publish test plans/procedures, manage test case execution, and track test results. - Screen and review issues generated from testing for completeness and quality. - Use your QA background to characterize hard to reproduce issues, including hands on testing or automated reproduction. - Generate test results & test reports regularly to project partners. Education & Experience BS EE/CE/CS or equivalent experience


Teagasc, through its research, advisory, education, training, and media programmes, supports Mens Health Week 2021, running from Monday, June 14 - Sunday, June 20 and are keen to highlight some notable findings.

While males constitute almost 50% of the population in Ireland, they experience a disproportionate burden of premature mortality, have poorer lifestyles that are responsible for a high proportion of chronic disease, and present late to health services leading to many problems having poorer outcomes.

Among farmers in Ireland, research by Dr Breda Smyth MD has shown that farmers experience 5 times higher cardiovascular, 3 times higher cancer and 7 times higher mortality in the working age range than white collar workers.

Teagasc is currently sponsoring two PhD Walsh Scholarships on farmer health.

Diana van Doorn is researching approaches to assist farmers to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in a study called Farmers Have Hearts.

Conor Hammersley is researching the design of a famers health training programme called On Feirm Ground.

Both scholars are attached to the National Centre for Mens Health, Institute of Technology, Carlow. Findings of both studies are available on the Teagasc Website and further research findings will be published later in 2021.

According to Teagasc Health and Safety Specialist, Dr John McNamara research by Teagasc has shown that disability arising from ill health or injury massively interferes with farmer lifestyle and can jeopardise the livelihood of farm families due to reduced capacity to farm efficiently which consequently reduces income.

He also stated that recent research indicates that farmers give health issues less attention than aspects of safety implementation.

Dr McNamara stated that reluctance to get a regular health check could lead to farmers suffering outcomes that are more serious in the longer term.

Getting a regular health check by a medical doctor is a vital cornerstone to maintaining health as it allows issues to be monitored and picked up before progressing to serious issues.
The normally quiet country roads around the village of Clogh were a hive of activity yesterday afternoon as Kilkenny's newest garda recruit Conor Parr (7) took up duty.

The youngster was made an honorary garda and members from stations across the county attended at his home to mark the very special occasion.

Superintendent Derek Hughes told The Kilkenny People he was delighted to have Conor on board.

"I am delighted to be here welcoming our newest member, Honorary Garda Parr. He is very enthusiastic to get started and we have assigned Sergeant Ted to be his mentor," he said.

Honorary Garda Parr, who was also celebrating his seventh birthday, is clearly a natural in his new role.

After undergoing some training with Sgt Ted it was time for Honorary Garda Parr to patrol the area with his colleagues.

He also had occasion to speak to his grand dad, Henry, and even placed him in the back of the patrol van as part of his training exercises. With his walkie talkie in tow Honorary Garda Parr was kept informed of any unusual goings on in the area and also was given a whistle in order to get attention quickly if needed.

Conor's proud parents Jane and Trevor and his siblings Emma (9) and Harry (3) watched on as did his grandparents Henry and Heather as Honorary Garda Parr took up duty.

Conor is in senior infants at Clogh National School and is now a Little Blue Hero. The Little Blue Heroes Foundation is a not-for-profit charity operated entirely by volunteers (no paid staff) made up of Garda members/staff, retired Garda members, their families, friends and civic minded people from communities. It aims to help families in need from local communities in Ireland who have children undergoing long-term medical treatment for serious illness.

Kilkenny's newest Little Blue Hero is responding well to treatment for leukaemia and attends Crumlin Children's Hospital once a month. No doubt he will be a great asset to gardai locally with his positive, upbeat, can-do attitude!
Kilkenny's Phil Hogan has been given the green light by the European Commission to open his business - Hogan, Strategic Advisory Services.

The decision of the European Commission was given yesterday on Former Commissioner Phil Hogan's post term of office professional activities as regards his consultancy firm 'Hogan, Strategic Advisory Services'

On February 1, Former Commisioner Phil Hogan informed the Commission of his intention to establish an independent advisory company Hogan, Strategic Advisory Services. The purpose of this company would be: to offer high-level external advice on a routine basis to management; to support management regarding strategic issues; to advise the company on stakeholder engagement abd to offer advice regarding the implementation of programmes and campaigns in Europe.

Mr Hogan stated his awareness regarding the compliance requirements of the Code of Conduct for Commissioners under Article 245 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the need to respect confidentiality on all matters relating to his mandate, as outlined in Article 339 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Mr Hogan added that he would not engage in any activities on behalf of the company involving agriculture or any matter relating to his nine-month term of office as Commissioner for Trade.

Mr Hogan also indicated that two companies had already approached him to carry out advisory work, namely Vodafone and Proof of Trust.
THE HAWTHORN is in full flower around the countryside at present, so it is safe to put away the winter clothes and introduce the summer wardrobe.

Never cast a clout till May is out is an old saying associated with the Hawthorn bush. It meant not to change to your clothes summer clothes until the Hawthorn was in full bloom, which could be earlier or later than May 31. The once very popular May altars to Our Lady would never include the hawthorn blossom, as it was regarded as bad luck to bring it into the dwelling house.

The Whitethorn or May bush, with its milk white blossoms and thorns is a symbol of May time, and of magical powers, and the little people or fairies. The hawthorn especially the lone bush has always been regarded with a mixture of fear and respect. In Irish the hawthorn is the sceach (or scheach geal) very common in place names all over Ireland.

A lone thorn bush in a field nourished by the ashes from the hearth was never cut or touched as it was the remnants of the life that went on around the hearth.

Trees were worshipped in ancient Ireland the oak ash and hazel in particular, but also the whitethorn which is usually much smaller than those mentioned. In many ways the respect and fear given to the hawthorn goes back to a time, when people lived closer to the land and were more in tune with nature.

Some of the hawthorn trees in Ireland are up to two hundred years old. They are very hardy trees and can grow in poor soil and can resist the power of wind and harsh weather. In autumn its red berries, haws, provide much needed food for the birds. While the wood of the whitethorn was seldom used in this country it is used as firewood in other countries. In Ireland it was considered unlucky to interfere with it and to bring any piece of it into the house was strongly frowned on.

Hawthorn blossoms and leaves are edible and can be used to make a tea, to cure anxiety and poor circulation. The blossom was also used as a fertility symbol in many countries. The Greeks and Romans saw the hawthorn as symbolic of hope and marriage. The Roman goddess Cardea, mistress of Janus keeper of doors, had a bough of hawthorn as her symbol, and the month of January is called after Janus.

Popular folklore has it that the crown of thorns which Christ wore was of hawthorn. According to Cornish legend Joseph of Armiathea, who buried the body of Jesus, came to Britain after the crucifixion, and where he stuck his staff, a hawthorn grew, and it is now known as the Glastonbury Thorn. The success of the hawthorn was taken to symbolise the spreading of Christianity and it was there he built his first church.

While it is an important part of many hedgerows, it is the solitary hawthorn which is more revered and even if its position is inconvenient, it generally is left alone. The warnings have been passed down through the generations. Otherworld creatures particularly the sidhe (fairy folk), are believed to live in, or nearby, the tree and it has often been recorded how passerby would hear music or see a light coming from the vicinity of the hawthorn.

The magical powers of the hawthorn are said to be greatest when found growing beside an oak or ash tree. Hawthorns are very often found growing beside holy wells, and in times past pieces of cloth, medals, and rosary beads, could be seen hanging from the branches. They are often referred to as rag trees and tying strips of fabric to a tree was a way of seeking a cure.

A famous hawthorn tree is located at Latoon in Co. Clare. In 1999 the motorway from Galway to Limerick was delayed and eventually rerouted to avoid damaging the fairy tree there. It is not clear whether the local authorities did so out of respect for the solitary tree, or the international media attention that was drawn towards it by the folklorist, Eddie Lenihan. A native of Brosna Co. Kerry he is the author of several books on folklore, including The Fairy stories of Hidden Ireland.

Eddie claims that the tree was a meeting point for the fairies of Munster when they did battle with the fairies of Connacht. He argues the otherworld forces would take revenge, and the road would be a cause of accidents if the tree was removed. Hawthorns are still respected by the majority of people, in the know who still a little fear of the consequence have if they interfere with them.

The hawthorn is also the basis of agricultural superstitions; that hanging the afterbirth of a premature calf on a hawthorn would help it survive. It was also said that sprig of hawthorn hung in the cow byre, would help cows produce more and creamier milk.

An old custom was that the first milk of a newly calved cow was taken and poured under a hawthorn as a tribute. The hawthorn was also known for its powers of fertility. An English tale tells of how , when a certain thorn bush was cut down, no chicken would lay eggs, no cow would calf or woman have babies. The situation was only rectified when a new bush was planted.

The hawthorn bush was ideal for hedges dividing fields in times past, and a great source of food and shelter for wildlife, before farming practices changed. The ditches were levelled to create larger fields and replaced by wire and poles. This led to a scarcity of habitat for wildlife, which has suffered as a result. T

he practice of yearly cutting of roadside hedges has added to the problem leaving them scalped and bare during the winter months, and of no use to our bird population, who move elsewhere. Our ringforts are also being destroyed but that is a story for another time.

As time passes these old traditions are being forgotten and the younger generation have little time for such matters. At present many people are reluctant to talk about fairy trees, partially for fear of being ridiculed by strangers who do not understand, or who have been told that belief in such things is superstitious nonsense. This may be so, but I would not like to interfere with a lone hawthorn bush.
ROCHESTER, Minn.- It's another hot day in Rochester. With both public pools and Cascade Lake Beach being closed, the fight to stay cool continues, and people are looking for ways to beat the heat.

"We're drinking lots of water, trying to stay cool any way we can," said Jessica Eicksteadt. " We have the sprinkler going, a little splash pad in our yard hooked up to the hose. Just trying to get the water going as much as we can."

Folks like Thomas Morgan are a little surprised to see this excessive heat wave in Minnesota. Morgan is visiting family in The Med City from Colorado.

"It's pretty humid and warm but we're dealing with it. It's not so bad."

Other people like Terry Maus enjoy the heat and don't have a problem with it.

"I think it's wonderful. I get out of town when the winter is here. I come back to Minnesota when we have this lovely warm weather. There's nothing better."

Maus says he stays cool by drinking a tall cool glass of ice water.

If you plan to step out, remember to stay hydrated and put on some sunscreen.
DES MOINES, Iowa  The governors of Iowa and Tennessee say the federal government has transported illegal immigrant children into their states without any notice to state or local law enforcement.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee are joining with Iowas senior U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley in calling for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the crisis at Americas southern border.

We are writing to support your continued calls for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold an oversight hearing regarding the current border crisis, the governors wrote in their letter to Senator Grassley. We believe this hearing should also address the Biden Administrations failure to provide notice and transparency in their movement of unaccompanied migrant children into states.

According to the letter, 19 illegal immigrant children were flown from California to Des Moines on April 22 for unification with their sponsors but the federal government would not confirm that until May 21, despite repeated requests for information from the State of Iowa and Senator Grassleys office.

These experiences sow seeds of mistrust in our communities, and work to intentionally subvert the will of the people for a secure border and a clear, lawful immigration process, the governors wrote in their letter to Senator Grassley. Additionally, the federal governments failure to provide advance notification to states places an undue burden on our law enforcement partners to determine whether these types of flights constitute a criminal act of human trafficking or the federally-sponsored transport of vulnerable children.

To read the entire letter sent by Governor Reynolds and Governor Lee, click here.
China strongly opposes U.S. bill to counter China's tech development

CGTN) 10:14, June 10, 2021

Tourists are seen near the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, May 14, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

China's top legislature on Wednesday expressed strong dissatisfaction with and firm opposition to the passing of the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 (USICA) by the U.S. Senate and called on the U.S. to stop advancing the bill.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, in a statement, accused the bill of interfering in China's internal affairs and attempting to contain China's development in the name of "innovation and competition."

According to the statement, the bill plots to boast the so-called "China Threat Theory" in order to maintain U.S. hegemony.

Under the circumstance of turbulence and changes, the move of taking China as the enemy is against the trend of time and doomed to fail, the statement pointed out.

Taiwan questions are China's core interest and are related to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, stressed the statement, noting that the bill severely violates the one-China policy and the three China-U.S. joint communiques.

China resolutely opposes official exchanges between Taiwan region and the U.S. in any form, the statement reiterated, warning that issues related to China's Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong are purely China's internal affairs and allow no foreign interference.

China is committed to peaceful development, the statement said, adding that the country is also committed to a bilateral relationship featuring non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

China strongly urges the U.S. side to treat China's development and the bilateral ties in an objective and rational way, stop pushing forward the bill and stop interfering in China's internal affairs so as to prevent further damage to the bilateral ties and bilateral cooperation on important areas, the statement said.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry also echoed the statement at a regular press conference on Wednesday, urging the U.S. to stop promoting the bill.

The ministry urges the U.S. to stop interfering in China's internal affairs and give up seeing China as an imaginary enemy, said spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

How to develop and improve its competitiveness should be the U.S.' own business, and China firmly opposes that the United States makes trouble out of China and sees China as an imaginary enemy, said Wang.

"The biggest crisis of the U.S. is the U.S. itself. To get its own business done well is more important than anything else."

Wang reiterated China's commitment to peaceful development, and said China's goal of development is to improve itself and make the Chinese people live a happier and better life, and warned that no one can deprive the Chinese people of their legitimate right to development.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 68-32 to pass the sweeping package of legislation intended to boost the country's ability to compete with Chinese technology.

The bill has a number of China-related provisions including prohibiting the social media app TikTok from being downloaded on government devices, and would block the purchase of drones manufactured and sold by companies backed by the Chinese government.

The bipartisan measure authorizes about $190 billion for provisions to strengthen U.S. technology and research  and would separately approve spending about $50 billion to increase U.S. production and research into semiconductors and telecommunications equipment.

"This legislation will enable the United States to out-innovate, out-produce and out-compete the world in the industries of the future," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The bill must also pass the House of Representatives to be sent to the White House for U.S. President Joe Biden to sign into law.

Biden later said in a White House statement that he applauded the move and looked forward to signing it into law as soon as possible.

"We are in a competition to win the 21st century, and the starting gun has gone off. As other countries continue to invest in their own research and development, we cannot risk falling behind. America must maintain its position as the most innovative and productive nation on Earth," read the statement.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)


Description

Req #16523 Wednesday, June 9, 2021 Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is a subscription-led and digitally focused media and marketing solutions company committed to empowering communities to thrive. With an unmatched reach at the national and local level, Gannett touches the lives of millions with our Pulitzer-Prize winning content, consumer experiences and benefits, and advertiser products and services.



Our current portfolio of media assets includes USA TODAY, local media organizations in 46 states in the U.S., and Newsquest, a wholly owned subsidiary operating in the United Kingdom with more than 120 local news media brands. Gannett also owns the digital marketing services companies ReachLocal, Inc., UpCurve, Inc., and WordStream, Inc., which are marketed under the LOCALiQ brand, and runs the largest media-owned events business in the U.S., USA TODAY NETWORK Ventures.



To connect with us, visit www.gannett.com. News - Reporter/Public Safety

The Spartanburg Herald-Journal /goupstate.com, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK,is seeking a watchdog reporter to cover public safety in the city of Spartanburg and Spartanburg County. Spartanburg is a growing city where over half of its citizensbelong to a racial minority. This is not a cops beat that writes stories straight from press releases. Our reporters are expected to develop community sources especially within under-served communities. Breaking news, crime and courts will be part of this job, but the way we cover policing, criminal justice and our community must evolve, to hold law enforcement agencies accountable, seek a more nuanced representation of the challenges we face and rebuild trust with neglected communities in Spartanburg. We want our reporters to be out in the communities we cover.

Youll need to dig deeper, seek a wider perspectiveand cultivate diverse sources. Youll write about serious crime, scrutinize law enforcement tactics and spotlight social issues, while being sensitive to how our stories affect the people and neighborhoods we cover. In a competitive news market, the Herald-Journal strives to be the first to inform readers with breaking news and analysis. This reporter is expected to file public records requests and mine data for enterprise storieson the public safety beat. This reporter also works closely with our county governmentand city reporters for story tips and ideas. Spartanburg is part of the vibrant Upstate of South Carolina. Along with neighboring Greenville, it is the largest metro area in South Carolina. As of 2019 U.S. Census Bureau statistics, Spartanburg County is the 19th fastest-growing metropolitan area in the country. Spartanburg sits halfway between Charlotte and Atlanta. We are 45 minutes from the Blue Ridge Mountains and three hours from the Atlantic Coast. Responsibilities: Tell stories that accurately inform and engage audiences and helps to build a base of loyal readers and subscribers.

Writes stories that address problems in our communities and probes potential solutions, holds law enforcement and government leaders accountable, advocates for the well-being of Spartanburg and the people who live here.

Understands the use of metrics and analytics to tailor writing to audience and to encourage readers to subscribe.

Works toward becoming the communitys leading voice in area of expertise.

Connects with the community through storytelling and outreach (social media, on camera, forums, community leadership, etc.)

Works with editors to evaluate whats working and whats not and develops ongoing plans to better satisfy audience needs.

Collaborates to provide all appropriate elements for stories (i.e., Photos, videos and graphics). Captures basic photos and video as needed.

Provides great customer service, helping readers find answers and solutions. Requirements: Bachelor's or masters degree in communications, journalism or related field preferred or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience writing investigative or solutions-oriented journalism.

Proficiency on social media platforms; including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit and Snap Chat.

Experience shooting and editing photos and video on an iPhone.

Strong communication skills, news judgement and headline-writing ability.

Ability to multitask and excel under intense deadline pressure.

Ability to work collaboratively and efficiently.

Strong writing, spelling and grammar skills; familiarity with AP style.

Able to work occasional nights and weekends.

This role requires a valid drivers license, reliable transportation, and the minimum liability insurance required by state law.

Employment is contingent on passing a pre-employment, post-offer drug screen and background check. We are eager to learn more about you and how you fit this role. When you apply, dont limit your upload to a resume; show us what youve done. To do so, put together a single document file that includes the following, in this order: Your resume one to two pages. A cover letter that outlines how you would approach the job. Links to 5-10 online samples of your work. Show us what youve produced or had a hand in that best reflects what you can do in your desired role. It is important that these items be assembled into a single document and uploaded in PDF format. Completing these steps will ensure that your application receives the highest consideration.

Gannett Co., Inc.is a proud equal opportunity employer. We are a drug free, EEO employer committed to a diverse workforce. We will consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity, family responsibilities, disability, education, political affiliation, or veteran status. Job Family UNION

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  A federal judge has sentenced a Brainerd man to 15 months in prison for killing and then beheading a 700-pound black bear on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson sentenced 39-year-old James Stimac on Wednesday. According to prosecutors, Stimac used a compound bow to kill the bear on the reservation in northern Minnesota in September 2019. Stimac isn't a tribal member and entered the reservation without permission.

Stimac returned to the reservation the next day, posed for photos with the bear's carcass but couldn't remove the bear from the reservation because it was too big. He used a saw to remove the bear's head as a trophy.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  The 2022 Minnesota Republican State Convention is coming back to Rochester.

GOP State Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan made the announcement Thursday. The convention will be held May 13 and 14 at the Mayo Civic Center.

"We are excited to announce our 2022 State Convention will be held at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester next spring," says Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan. "Rochester is one of Minnesota's most vibrant cities and we are excited to host this important event in southern Minnesota ahead of the 2022 election."

The Minnesota GOP says over 2,200 delegates and alternates from Minnesota's eight congressional districts will gather to endorse candidates for statewide races for Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and State Auditor. The convention will be a milesone moment in the midterm election cycle, which Chair Carnahan tells KIMT presents Minnesotans with an important choice on the state's future.

"We've been living under Governor Walz's unilateral rule for well over a year now, where he's personally and individually made decisions that have impacted our families, our schools, our children, our businesses, and are still having a negative impact. We need to show Minnesota that we can do better, and we deserve better."

Political analyst Rayce Hardy says the convention should not only be good for Rochester from an economic standpoint but will allow Republicans to try and sway Olmsted County into voting for the GOP after failing to win over the county during the presidential election.

Hardy explained, "Biden only won 13 of the counties in Minnesota and all the rest went to Trump and one of those 13 was Olmsted County so there's importance there for the Republican also trying to get more votes."

The State Republican Convention has not been held in Rochester since 2014. It was to have been held in Rochester in 2020 but was changed to an online event due to the COVID pandemic.
DOVER, Minn. - A man is arrested after allegedly attacking two people at a bar Wednesday night.

The Olmsted Country Sherrif's Office says it happened around 10:10 pm at the Road Trip on Main Street in Dover. Investigators say Joseph Patrick Martin II, 31 of Dover, got into a verbal argument with a group of 3 to 4 people at the bar, then walked over and assaulted two of them.

Martin is accused of punching a 35-year-old Dover man in the face, who then fell and hit his head and was knocked unconscious. The Olmsted County Sherrif's Office says Martin then punched a 45-year-old man from Dover, put him in a choke hold, and then bit his ear. Both victims were taken to the hospital and authorities say the 35-year-old needed surgery for facial fractures.

The Sherrif's Office says Martin drove away and his vehicle was later located on Highway 52, just south of Interstate 90, after some sort of crash. The Minnesota State Patrol then found Martin some distance away on I-90.

The Sherrif's Office says Martin was "obviously intoxicated" and resisted arrest until he had to be shot with a taser. When asked why he resisted, Martin reportedly said he "just wanted to feel that shock."

Martin is facing charges of third-degree assault, fifth-degree assault, obstructio, and disorderly conduct.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

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Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 62F. Winds light and variable..

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Participants to the 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum's second discussion session pose at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. From left are KCCI Executive Vice Chairman Woo Tae-hee, American Chamber of Commerce in Korea Chairman James Kim, P&G Korea CEO Balaka Niyazee and IKEA Korea Country Retail Manager Fredrik Johansson. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Panelists say pursuing ESG efforts is imperative



By Baek Byung-yeul



Panelists taking part in The Korea Times Global ESG Forum said Thursday that the COVID-19 pandemic has made companies aware of the need to improve their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance as these factors have become keys to overcoming climate change and other crises that have shaken global society.



The Korea Times hosted its inaugural Global ESG Forum at a time when corporations are being urged to incorporate a high level of ESG in their operations. During a discussion session, panelists shared their thoughts on the importance of the issue.



The panelists were Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Executive Vice Chairman Woo Tae-hee; BlackRock Investment Stewardship Team Director Won Shin-bo; IKEA Korea Country Retail Manager Fredrik Johansson; and P&G Korea CEO Balaka Niyazee, and the session was moderated by American Chamber of Commerce in Korea Chairman James Kim.





KCCI Executive Vice Chairman Woo Tae-hee, left, speaks during a 2021 Korea Times Global ESG Forum discussion session at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. From left are Woo, session moderator and AMCHAM Korea Chairman James Kim, P&G Korea CEO Balaka Niyazee and IKEA Korea CEO Fredrik Johansson. The screen shows BlackRock Investment Stewardship Team Director Won Shin-bo, who joined the meeting virtually. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



The participants all agreed that various challenges such as growing inequality, climate change and supply chain issues have been highlighted by the COVID-19 outbreak, and how well they manage these risks is becoming ever more important.



The KCCI executive vice chairman said businesses rushing to pursue ESG principles is not just a fad and every company is required to improve their ESG efforts for sustainable growth.



"Unlike the CSR or transparent management of the past, ESG is vital for the survival of companies. Not only the financial and investment sectors demand ESG but also legislation is being passed. Customers also consider companies' ESG activities in their products and services purchase, and KCCI data show they deliberately did not purchase products from companies that were not engaging in ESG, and were willing to pay more for the best ESG companies' products," he said.



BlackRock's investment stewardship team director said, "Stronger ESG management is the new normal for management."






President Moon Jae-in speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. Yonhap



By Nam Hyun-woo



President Moon Jae-in will attend the G7 summit this weekend and make consecutive state visits to Austria and Spain, signaling that he will resume regular overseas trips to strengthen Korea's diplomatic presence in the later stages of his tenure.



Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee said Wednesday that Moon will depart Korea, Friday (KST), to attend the G7 summit slated from Friday to Sunday (local time) in Cornwall, the United Kingdom. After attending the leaders' meeting, Moon will jet off to Vienna, Sunday, for a state visit to Austria and then move on to Madrid, June 15, to meet with Spanish King Felipe VI



The visits come after Moon's meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C., last month. The President returned from his U.S. trip with a meaningful outcome on the two allies' partnership in technology and COVID-19 vaccine supplies. With the world making progress in vaccinations, Moon is also expediting efforts to finish up suspended diplomatic tasks before his tenure ends next May.



"President Moon will attend three sessions of the G7 summit and share Korea's experiences of the Korean New Deal Initiative, which has its backbone in the green and digital sectors," Park said. "Also, he will make a state visit to Austria to meet Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz. Then, he will make a state visit to Spain to meet King Felipe VI."



Korea is not a member of the G7  comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.  but was invited to the meeting as a guest country. At the G7 summit, Moon will attend three sessions: COVID-19 vaccine supply expansion, open societies and economies, and responses to climate change.



As Korea is participating in the meeting as a guest, however, Moon will not be part of discussions with G7 leaders about an official joint statement to be issued after the summit, another senior official at Cheong Wa Dae said.



The presidential office said Korea's participation in the summit shows that the country's status has risen. During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Moon said, "The fact that Korea was invited to the G7 summit for the second consecutive year shows that our international status has been elevated to that of the G7 countries."



Former U.S. President Donald Trump invited Moon to last year's G7 summit, which did not take place due to the pandemic. This year, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson invited Korea as a guest country, along with, India, Australia and South Africa.



The G7 summit is garnering keen attention from the perspective of Northeast Asia diplomacy as well, because expectations have been growing that the leaders of Korea, the U.S. and Japan may meet during it, as part of Washington's bid to strengthen relations with its Asian allies, and contain China.



For Korea, the summit has also been anticipated to be a test of Moon's balancing act between Washington and Beijing, because the G7 members are expected to agree on launching a development project that rivals China's Belt and Road Initiative.



The senior official, however, denied such expectations. "Sessions participated in by guest countries are for drawing up joint measures and responses to challenges in healthcare and climate change. And it is not about containing a certain nation," he said.



After the G7, Moon will fly to Austria to have a meeting with his Austrian counterpart, on what according to Cheong Wa Dae will be the first visit to Austria by a Korean president since the two countries forged ties in 1892.



"Next year will mark the 130th anniversary of the two countries' ties, and Moon will be the first Korean President to visit Austria," Park said. "Taking this opportunity, bilateral ties will be elevated further."



In Austria, Moon and President Van der Bellen are expected to share their opinions on bolstering cultural exchanges, and their countries' partnership in responding to climate change, and eco-friendly industries.





President Moon Jae-in and Spanish King Felipe VI shake hands before their summit at Cheong Wa Dae, Oct. 23, 2019. Yonhap
Magnolia, AR (71754)

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Kendallville, IN (46755)

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Magnolia, AR (71754)

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Malibu, CA (90265)

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Mostly clear. Low 61F. NW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

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ROME, JUN 10 - Rome prosecutors have put a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) official under investigation in relation to the death of Italy's Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Luca Attanasio and his Carabiniere security escort Vittorio Iacovacci during an attempted kidnapping in February. Their driver Mustapha Milambo was also killed in the ambush on convoy to visit a WFP school-feeding programme, which the DRC has blamed on Rwandan Hutu militia. The WFP official is a Congolese who is being probed over the alleged failure to follow the UN's security protocol and give the convoy an armed escort to protect it. (ANSA).
ROME, JUN 10 - Turin police have detained a suspect in relation to the murder on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday of a 25-year-old Bangladeshi man, who was found decapitated in his bedroom in his home in the city, sources said Thursday. The suspect is a compatriot of the victim, Mohammad Ibrahim, who worked as a dishwasher, the sources said. The cooperation of the Bangladeshi community with the police was important in achieving this breakthrough in the case, the sources said. The motive for the murder is not clear. One hypothesis is that it was revenge for an unpaid debt. (ANSA).
ROME, JUN 10 - Tourism is restarting and foreigners are returning to Italy, Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia told an ANSA Forum Thursday. "It'll take a bit of time to get back to the data of 2019 but there are two positive data: one novelty is the vaccine, which allows us to to reopen and no ,longer close down in September, and the second novelty is the return of foreigners' flows, albeit not at 100% and with a more diluted return over time", he told the Forum titled 'Tourism Is Restarting, Italy Is Restarting'. Garavaglia added that a digital revolution was "central" for the tourism of the future. "The central point is the digital revolution," he said. "We must advertise the individual realities, a thing which cannot be taken for granted. "There is scant knowledge of the various Italian realities and the digital sector is fundamental, we must press on with a more active digital promotion in order to restart the art cities and bring the foreigners back". Bernabo Bocca, head of Italian hoteliers group Federalberghi, told the Forum that the restart of tourism would be slow and many places would be left empty in the summer, calling on Italians to visit art cities. He said that "too much confusion on rules", on COVID quarantines and other issues, was "braking the return of foreign tourists". (ANSA).
ROME, JUN 10 - Italy has performed the world's first heart transplants from COVID-positive donors to virus-negative recipients in Bologna and Rome, sources said Thursday. A 64-year-old man got a new heart at Bologna's Sant'Orsola Hospital and a 15-year-old boy received one at Rome's Bambino Gesu Hospital. The recipients did not get COVID after the transplants, hospital sources said. The man got his heart at the end of April and the boy his in mid-May. The recipients suffered from very serious and potentially life-threatening heart conditions. They benefitted from an exemption for the two hospitals granted by the national transplant centre (CNT), which has banned other transplants from COVID-positive donors. (ANSA).
ROME, JUN 10 - Saving lives at sea is a condition for peace, President Sergio Mattarella told navy top brass on the Italian navy's anniversary Thursday. "Guaranteeing freedom of navigation, safeguarding human life at sea, and the security of coasts, constitute an essential framework for the development of international relations and are conditions for maintaining peace among peoples," he said in a message to the navy chiefs of staff. Mattarella added that the support of the navy during the COVID pandemic had been "precious". He said "in these difficult months of pandemic the support supplied by the Navy for the national health system has been precious, and has contributed in a significant way, together with its sister armed forces, to address the grave health emergency," he said. Mattarella also recalled Giacomo Matteotti as an example of how to "take care of the Republic" on the 97th anniversary of the Socialist Senator's murder by Fascist thugs. Mattarella made his comments in a message to Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone on Nay Day. (ANSA).
VATICAN CITY, JUN 10 - Pope Francis on Thursday declined the resignation of Germany's top cardinal, Munich archbishop Reinhard Marx, who last week proferred his resignation saying more responsibility should be taken for clerical sex abuse. Francis rejected Marx's resignation "with fraternal affection", the Vatican said. Marx offered to resign saying he wanted to take personal responsibility for the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the German Church, according to a letter dated May 21 made public by his office last Friday, the DPA news agency reported. In the letter, Marx said he Church had come to a "dead point". Marx said "the heart of the matter is to assume co-responsibility for the catastrophe of sexual abuse committed by Church officials in the past decades." He said investigations into past crimes had highlighted "many personal failures and administrative errors, but also institutional and systemic failures". Vatican inspectors are expected to report on abuse in the Munich archbishopric by the end of the summer. The global Catholic Church has been roiled by clerical sex abuse over the past few decades. Francis has repeatedly vowed a zero tolerance policy on abuse and cover-ups, but some victims of predator priests say he has not gone far enough. Last week the pope promulgated a reform of Vatican penal law making lay members liable to prosecution for abuse too. Cardinal Marx told a press conference Friday: "It's not OK that I should be personally happy that no fault has been laid on me, (the point is) institutional responsibility". (ANSA).
ROME, JUN 10 - Italy recognizes Ukraine's aspirations to join the European Union and will "concretely support them", Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told a press conference in Kiev with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba Thursday. "On the European level," Di Maio said, "I am convinced that the strengthening of relations between Brussels and Kiev is very important for both sides." For this reason, he said, "we are proud to have backed the signing of the accord of association and free trade between the EU and Ukraine and the concession of the liberalisation regime of Schengen visas". (ANSA).
ROME, JUN 10 - Italy is top in the EU for probes into funding, anti-fraud office OLAF said Thursday. OLAF opened 13 probes against Rome last year, the highest of any member State. Of these, nine concluded with a recommendation. Italy has a longstanding problem with using EU funds. (ANSA).
The U.S. is eyeing to acquire 500 million more doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to share globally through the COVAX alliance.

The recipients of the said vaccines will be those from 92 lower-income countries and the African Union over the next year, according to an Associated Press report.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce it on Thursday, June 10, in a speech before starting the Group of Seven summit.

An individual familiar with the matter said the 200 million doses would be shared this year, which is enough to fully protect 100 million people. The remaining balance will be donated in the first half of 2022.

In his speech to the U.S. military at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, which is the first stop of an eight-day, three-country foreign trip on Wednesday, June 9, Biden said that everyone should just not end COVID-19 at home but everywhere.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the Biden administration was committed to sharing vaccines as it was in the U.S.' public health and strategic interests.

The announcement comes after the White House revealed its plans to donate an initial allotment of 25 million doses of surplus vaccine overseas, CNBC reported.

READ NEXT: Moderna Scientists Warn Against New COVID Variants That Could Drive a New Wave of Transmission

COVAX Alliance

COVAX is an international effort established last year to ensure fair access to vaccines between rich and poor countries. However, the global situation is still unequal, according to a BBC News report.

Through the COVAX alliance, more than 49 million doses have been delivered. Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said funding of an additional $35-$45 billion would be needed over the course of years to ensure that most adults are vaccinated.

COVAX is being co-led by the WHO, the Global Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The UN Children's Fund, Unicef, is the key implementation partner of the COVAX.

Health experts had claimed that the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is a global one, urging wealthier nations to do more to help others bring the situation under control.

COVAX was established to encourage global vaccine effort and ensure a fairer distribution of the vaccines. Ghana was the first country to receive vaccines through the COVAX initiative in February.

Sweden is the latest country to donate to the effort, promising one million AstraZeneca doses at the start of May. COVAX is using vaccines with emergency use authorization.

The latest one to join the pot is Moderna, which has agreed to deal with COVAX for 500 million doses at its "lowest-tiered price." However, the bulk of the order will not be available until 2022.

U.S. Effort

Meanwhile, the U.S. will pay "not-for-profit" prices to Pfizer for supplies of the vaccines with 200 million doses to be distributed this year and 300 million more by the middle of next year.

Joe Biden had pledged to share 80 million vaccine doses with other countries, with most of those to be distributed by COVAX.

The U.S. has done 303 million vaccine administration to more than 171 people who have received at least one dose, Aljazeera reported.

READ MORE: Guatemala Struggles With COVID Vaccine Rollout, Corruption Issues

WATCH: Biden Administration to Buy 500 Million Pfizer Vaccines for Donation - From CNBC Television






The first Mexican reportedly suffering from mucormycosis or "black fungus" while recovering from COVID-19 died due to the rare fungal infection.

It was the first suspected case of mucormycosis that was found in a COVID patient in Mexico. Based on the report of the Mexican edition of Spanish newspaper El Pais on Tuesday, June 10, the man's relatives identified him as Gregorio Avendano Jimenez, 34.

Mucormycosis is a Rare Fungal Infection

In recent weeks, mucormycosis has risen to prominence, especially in India, where the illness has been reported widely acquired by COVID patients.

Mucormycosis is a rare fungal disease caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes. Individuals can acquire the disease if they inhale fungal spores from the air.

Aside from being airborne, it can also directly affect the skin if an individual had some skin injury. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that mucormycosis is more common in individuals with compromised immune systems.

Citing an El Pais report, Newsweek said that despite the surgery done to Avendano Jimenez, which removed the affected eye and the tissue from his nose and mouth, the man still died at the La Raza National Medical Center in Mexico City.

Avendano Jimenez's illness reportedly started as headaches and a small spot on his left eye, the Market Research Telecast reported. The first case of the disease was initially reported in Mexico last week.

READ NEXT: Mexico Election Day Marred by Violence, Kidnappings, and Tossing of Severed Head

Mexican Experts on Mucormycosis

In a press briefing on June 3, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexican undersecretary of prevention and health promotion, said the black fungus or mucormycosis is an aggressive and opportunistic infection.

Lopez-Gatell noted that it is dangerous in individuals with severe immunosuppression because it hinders the ability of the body to fight infections. Fortunately, he said it is a rare disease.

The Mexican undersecretary added that COVID-19 does not increase the risk of acquiring mucormycosis. However, the excessive use of steroids for treating the virus may cause patients with the virus to have a rare fungal infection.

Numerous reports show that the prescription of steroids is the potential driving factor behind recent mucormycosis cases. However, despite the help given by steroids in fighting against coronavirus, it also suppresses the body's immune system, making it vulnerable to diseases.

Meanwhile, doctors in 10 hospitals of the Indian state of Maharashtra were concerned in the last couple of weeks regarding the country's new "Delta" COVID variant, which is also known as B.1.617.

They suspected that it might have been the reason behind the cases of "black fungus," the Telegraph reported.

The leading ENT surgeon at the Seven Star Hospital in Nagpur, Dr. Shailesh Kothalkar, said they need more investigation, but they were concerned regarding the possibility of a new pandemic.

After recovering from COVID-19, Kothalkar further noted that around 40 percent more patients are developing diabetes.

The CDC described mucormycosis as "serious but rare." The CDC noted that in one review of published cases, they found that mucormycosis had an overall mortality rate of 54 percent.

READ MORE: Mexican Cartel Activity Suspected in Largest Drug Bust in Los Angeles' Sheriff Department's History

WATCH: What Is Mucormycosis Or Black Fungus That Can Cause Blindness or Even Death After COVID-19 - From CRUX
A Houston hospital has suspended 178 staff employees who have refused to follow the hospital's mandate for a COVID vaccination.

According to an NBC News report, the Houston Methodist hospital has mandated its employees to be fully vaccinated by Monday, June 7.

Almost 25,000 staff members of the Houston hospital have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as part of the hospital's vaccination requirement announced in April.

But the 178 unvaccinated employees, who did not get the vaccine due to religious or medical exemptions, were suspended without pay, including the 27 people who are only partially vaccinated.

Houston Methodist's president, Dr. Marc Boom, said that he wished the number could be zero. However, he noted that a small number of individuals have decided not to put their patients first.

There were 285 unvaccinated employees who received medical or religious exemptions, while 332 more were granted deferrals.

Boom said that science proves that vaccines are not only safe but necessary for the fight against COVID-19. The hospital's top official noted that they are 100 percent compliant with their COVID vaccine mandate.

He added that the Houston Methodist is the first hospital system in the country to achieve the said goal for the benefit of its patient.

READ NEXT: Can COVID Vaccine Affect Your Menstrual Cycle? Here's What Experts Say

Houston Hospital Suspended Its Employees

One of the employees, Amanda Rivera, said she feels betrayed a little bit, USA Today reported. Rivera, an emergency room nurse, said it was crazy during the pandemic.

She said the Houston hospital was over capacity with patients and they were short-staffed. So for the hospital to do this now, Rivera said it is like "a slap in the face."

Rivera also told KPRC that aside from being suspended, she is also facing termination if she refuses to comply. She said she feels like "they kind of bullied us into this little corner, like you have to do it or you don't have a job."

Meanwhile, the Houston hospital had granted vaccinated workers a $500 bonus in March, while the shots would not be voluntary for workers indefinitely.

The policy had also caused a court challenge by a group of unvaccinated workers, claiming that they are being used as human guinea pigs in a complaint filed by Houston-based lawyer and conservative activist Jared Woodfill, CBS News reported.

Houston Methodist said in a statement recently that it is legal for health care institutions to mandate vaccines, the same as what they have done with the flu vaccine since 2009.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the federal government is not mandating vaccines. However, some health care workers or essential employees, or local government employees may be required to be vaccinated as a matter of state.

Boom said that several other major health care centers have followed suit and have announced their own vaccine mandates.

Health Care System

Hospital employees across the nation are risking their lives tending to the sick during the pandemic. Some of the country's largest hospital networks and public hospitals have shown staff vaccination rates, varying from 51 percent to 91 percent.

Indiana University Health announced last week that it would require its 36,000 employees for a COVID vaccination by September. They said that the mandate is a safe and effective way to protect the patients and the community.

IU Health said in a statement that requiring vaccinations for health care employees is not new or unprecedented. Colleges and universities also require COVID vaccinations for the coming school year, while nursing homes also require a shot of the vaccines.

READ MORE: Pfizer's COVID-19 Pill Could Be Available This Year: Report

WATCH: Houston Methodist Hospital Workers Stage Walkout Over Vaccine Requirement - From KHOU 11






Idaho mom Lori Vallow has been ordered by a judge to be admitted to a mental facility after being deemed unfit for trial. The Idaho mom was charged with the murder of her two children.

Lori Vallow was ordered to have a competency evaluation in March for separate concealment of evidence charges. She was ruled unfit for trial last month, according to an ABC News report.

Prosecutors had initially disputed the ruling, but special prosecutor Rob Wood withdrew his contest to the court's decision on Friday. In dropping the objection, it allowed Vallow to be committed to a mental facility.

The order of commitment stated that the court found Lori Vallow lacking in capacity to make informed decisions about treatment. In addition, the court also found the Idaho mom not to be dangerously mentally ill.

The order also said that Vallow would be committed to the custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for care and treatment "at an appropriate facility" for no more than 90 days, NBC News reported.

Several people close to the defendant had raised their concerns about her doomsday beliefs and mental state.

The Idaho mom has not yet entered a plea for the charges filed against her. Meanwhile, her fifth husband Chad Daybell has pleaded not guilty to murdering her children and his previous wife, People reported.

RELATED ARTICLE: Idaho Couple Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell Face Murder Charges in Deaths of Her 2 Children

Lori Vallow's Crimes

Lori Vallow was indicted by a grand jury last month with conspiracy and murder in relation to the deaths of her two children, Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17.

Joshua and Tylee and disappeared in September 2019 but were never reported as missing by their mother. They were found dead last year in Idaho.

Chad Daybell, the children's stepfather, was also charged. Daybell was also charged in connection to the murder of his former wife, Tammy Daybell, USA Today reported.

Tammy reportedly died under "suspicious circumstances" in October 2019. Authorities grew suspicious when Daybell remarried just two weeks later. Daybell also declined to have an autopsy performed.

Authorities had the body of Tammy exhumed in December 2019. The autopsy's results have not been released. However, prosecutors said the manner of death should be classified as a homicide.

Vallow's friend, Melanie Gibb, cooperated with authorities and told them that the Idaho mom believed her children had turned into zombies.

Daybell and Vallow told Gibb that they were part of the "Church of the Firstborn" with a mission to lead the "144,000" mentioned in the Book of Revelation and rid the world of "zombies."

In 2018, Daybell and Vallow had begun supporting each other's apocalyptic system of religious belief. Vallow's husband was shot and killed by Daybell's brother, Alex Cox, and then claimed it was self-defense. Cox was never charged in connection with the death of Vallow's husband.

Vallow's husband was seeking a divorce at the time, saying that the Idaho mom believed she had become a god-like figure responsible for steering in the biblical end of times. Vallow and her children had moved to Idaho, where Daybell lived.

Both Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell face two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and grand theft by deception in the deaths of Vallow's children, Fox News reported.

Daybell was also charged with the first-degree murder of his former wife Tammy and two counts of insurance fraud related to the collection of benefits he received after her death.

READ MORE: Jasmine Hartin, Daughter-in-Law of British Billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, Set To Be Charged Over the Death of Belize Cop

WATCH: State Withdraws Competency Contest in Lori Vallow Case - From KTVB






Social media giant Facebook announced that their company will allow their employees to request or file for full-time remote work even after the pandemic. CNBC Make It reported that the flexible work arrangement was announced on Wednesday.

As of March 31, Facebook had more than 60,000 employees, according to a Bloomberg report, citing a regulatory filing. Workers from the social media giant were allowed to work remotely since their offices were closed due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the previous year.

READ NEXT: Amazon Sidewalk to Share Your Internet Connection; 2 Ways to Opt-Out From the Feature

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Work Remotely

Employees from all levels across the company can start to file their request to work remotely even after the pandemic. CNBC Make It noted that previously, the company only allows employees with certain levels of seniority to file for a remote work arrangement.

However, the wages of the employees may be affected if ever they applied for the remote work arrangement. The wages may be adjusted accordingly if the employee will move to a lower-cost region. Moreover, employees will still be asked to report in their respective offices sometimes to enhance team-building.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is also one of the personnel who will be working remotely.

"As part of my commitment to remote and hybrid work, I plan to spend as much as half of the next year working remotely," said Facebook CEO Zuckerberg to his employees on Wednesday. Zuckerberg argued that he found out that remote work gave him "more space for long-term thinking" and helped him spend more time with his family. The Facebook CEO noted that these incentives made him more productive and happier at work.

Meanwhile, Facebook employees with work that requires them to report in the office are recommended to be onsite at least half of the time. They will also be allowed to work under a "hybrid schedule in the future.

Facebook plans to reopen most of its offices in the U.S. to at least 50 percent capacity by September and fully reopen in October. Zuckerberg believed that the remote workers in the company can make up as much as 50 percent of the company's labor force in the next five to 10 years.

Facebook Teams Up With Health Groups to Address Vaccine Hesitancy

Facebook's announcement of allowing their employees to request remote work even after the pandemic comes a day after the social media giant partnered with various health groups to address the Vaccine hesitancy in under-served communities.

Cnet reported that the partnership between Facebook and the health groups was called Alliance for Advancing Health Online. Pharmaceutical companies Merck, World Health Organization (WHO), CDC Foundation, and Sabin Vaccine Institute are among the health groups that partnered with the social media giant.

Facebook's head of health, Kang-Xing Jin, noted that the alliance aims to "advance public understanding on how social media and behavioral sciences" can be utilized in improving the health of communities globally.

Jin also confirmed that the new alliance between Facebook and the health groups is creating a fund that will be given to researchers and organizations that will explore how behavioral science and social media curb vaccine hesitancy.

READ MORE: Apple Unveils iOS 15: Here's What's New

WATCH: How a rise in remote employment may impact post-pandemic work life - from PBS NewsHour


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Washington to rally symbolic solidarity at G7, fix ties with allies

Global Times) 10:19, June 10, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden (C) addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C., the United States, April 28, 2021. (Melina Mara/Pool via Xinhua)

As US President Joe Biden on Wednesday embarked on an 8-day trip to Europe, "China" and China-related topics, including a reference to the island of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, are expected to top his agenda, calling for support from Washington's major allies not only in Europe but also in the Asia-Pacific.

Chinese observers believe that though major Western countries would reach "symbolic solidarity" in forming a so-called united front in bashing China by playing the ideology and values card, fundamental divergences among them on how to get along with China will hinder them from making any substantial move.

Biden's meeting with the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) later this week will usher in a new focus on rallying US allies against common adversaries - the COVID-19, Russia and China, Reuters reported on Tuesday, as the core target of the trip is to advance the fundamental trust of Biden's foreign policy, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was quoted as saying. The trip, the first overseas one since Biden took office, is an important occasion for the US leader to rebuild ties with its major allies after former US president Donald Trump pulled Washington out of multiple multilateral mechanisms, undermining the relationship with the EU and attacking NATO.

Biden said that his first foreign trip would demonstrate that Europe and the US are "tight," as he spoke briefly to reporters Wednesday before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, according to the Washington Post.

Some Western media called the trip "Joe Biden's mission at the G7 summit: to recruit allies for the next Cold War" and to unite "the globe's top democracies to take on China," but chances for the US initiating this so-called next Cold War and how many US allies would follow this initiative remain unknown, and Chinese experts called it a "mission impossible" for the US to persuade major allies and European countries in forming an anti-China bloc after this trip, and pivoting NATO toward China strategically only reflects Washington's anxiety over its declining influence, which won't stop those advanced market democracies from cooperating with China.

'A strategic, comprehensive threat'

Biden will arrive in Cornwall on Wednesday, where the UK, the host country of this year's G7 summit scheduled from Friday to Sunday, has also invited Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa as guest countries, according to its official agenda. Some Western media consider the summit the West's last chance to lead. Including the Quad four-nation alliance of India, Australia, US and Japan in order to expand the G7 bloc also reflected Washington's attempt to confront China in multiple dimensions, experts said.

Attending a series of important meetings including G7, NATO summit, US-EU summit and Biden-Putin summit highlights the major focus of the Biden administration's foreign policy. It's obvious that the US has been exaggerating the threat from China to enhance its alliance not only on security but also from a strategic dimension," Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Technically, the G7 summit used to focus on economic issues. However, it has included topics such as the island of Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong as well as the human rights question into the agenda, signaling that the US is turning the economic summit into a China-bashing chorus, Li said.

Discussions were underway on including a reference to the island of Taiwan into the joint statement to be issued after the G7 summit, as the US and Japan seek to unite their stance in countering China on the question, Nikkei reported on Tuesday. And the leaders will also talk about China's Xinjiang policy by citing so-called human rights abuses, and the situation in Hong Kong.

Before attending the summit, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison voiced concerns over risks of conflict with China in order to push the G7 to rein in the country, in a speech on Wednesday at the Perth USAsia Centre before he leaving for the G7-plus meeting. Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Wednesday he hopes to hold talks with Australia's foreign and defense ministers on strengthening bilateral cooperation to raise the two countries' security ties to a new level, while urging "a peaceful resolution" of Taiwan-related issues, according to Reuters.

Australia, although not a G7 member, serves as one of the pillars of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy which aims at containing China as Morrison was invited to join the meeting of the group's leaders in the UK, Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Center at the East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Though Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will skip the G7 meeting due to the devastating COVID-19 outbreak, Japan and Australia will still help the US counter China in the region, Chen predicted.

"However, China won't change its stance of defending its core interests and taking countermeasures when necessary. Such collusion just exposes their weakness," Chen said.

It seems from the G7 foreign ministers meeting in London, the Biden administration has already succeeded in making, at least in word only, some kind of anti-China grouping and has worked with the UK to ensure the joint statement covered Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the COVID-19, as well as purported 'green alternatives' to the Belt and Road, Tom Fowdy, a British political and international relations analyst and a graduate of Durham and Oxford universities, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

It means the US makes compromise with its allies to forge a common position, Fowdy said, noting that many of the G7 do not want to take drastic anti-China actions.

Impossible to rally all

Besides expanding the anti-China chorus by including non-member countries in the G7 club, the US has been trying to mend relations with Europe to tie major European countries to Washington's chariot of countering China. However, some media reports suggested that European leaders have concerns about Biden's hawkish approach toward China as most of them expect balanced ties with Beijing for their own interests.

Charles Michel, president of the European Council, defended EU efforts to reach the investment deal with China ahead of the G7 summit, calling it as "a huge step in the right direction," media reported on Tuesday.

"The US is trying to fix ties with Europe by waiving sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 project to ease divergences with Germany. But there are still problems between the two sides. Europeans won't allow themselves to be dictated on by the US but to strike a balance amid the US-China rivalry," Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

There are not only divergences between Europe and the US, but also "cracks" in their ties. For example, when the Pentagon began troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, the German military, which maintains a modest contingent in Afghanistan's north, is struggling to meet the US schedule, according to the New York Times. Most recently, Denmark secret service spying on European politicians for the US is widely considered a political scandal, while EU countered Biden's vaccine patent-waiver with a WTO plan.

"Through the upcoming meetings, Europe and the US, along with its allies, will deliver a message of solidarity, but it's highly doubtful they will coordinate anti-China moves on specific issues," Cui said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Le cabinet a pris connaissance des actions et activites a venir dans les prochains semaines voire moi.

1. Cabinet has agreed to drafting instructions being conveyed to the Attorney Generals Office for amendments to be brought to the Mauritius Standards Bureau Act.

The main amendments proposed to the Mauritius Standards Bureau Act pertain to:

(a) replacement of some existing interpretations which are outdated;

(b) inclusion of two new objectives, namely to operate a National Enquiry Point in consultation with other Ministries and to conduct technical investigations in the field of conformity assessment;

(c) formalisation of activities such as formulation of Mauritian Standards and Metrology/Calibration; and

(d) provision for new activities of the Bureau, such as Conformity Assessment and Inspection.

2. Cabinet has agreed to the Minister of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change making an amendment to the Fourth Schedule of the Environment Protection Act by way of regulations under section 13(6) of the Act, to designate the Permanent Secretary responsible for the National Parks and Conservation Service as the enforcing agency in relation to wetlands.

3. Cabinet has taken note that the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development would promulgate the Economic Development Board (e-Commerce Scheme) (Amendment) Regulations 2021. The Regulations would be amended to provide, inter alia, that a company which does not satisfy the conditions specified in paragraph (1) of the Regulations would be eligible to apply for an e-Commerce certificate provided it satisfies the following conditions:

(a) minimum capital investment of at least 20 million rupees in Mauritius, including hardware, software and logistics;

(b) at least 20 suitably qualified resident personnel, including two at senior management level, who shall conduct its core income generating activities in Mauritius;

(c) engaging in e-Commerce activities in high priority sectors specified in the guidelines; and

(d) incurring minimum expenditure proportionate to its activities.

A company which holds a Global Business Licence, other than a company which operates and undertakes e-Commerce activities, in the Business Process Outsourcing sector would be eligible to apply for an e-Commerce certificate subject to some specified conditions.

4. Cabinet has taken note that the Environment Protection (Amendment of Schedule) Regulations 2021 would be promulgated and would come into operation with effect from 12 June 2021. Amendments are being brought to the Ninth Schedule of the Environment Protection Act to reinforce the law, and to harmonise provisions and fines for dumping and littering offences.

5. Cabinet has taken note that the Minister of Health and Wellness would amend the Public Health (Prohibition on Advertisement, Sponsorship and Restriction on Sale and Consumption in Public Places of Alcoholic Drinks) Regulations 2008 to align it with the recommendations of the World Health Organization 2010 Global Alcohol Strategy.

The National Action Plan to reduce the harmful use of alcohol 2020-2024 aims, inter alia, at reducing the harmful use of alcohol by at least 10 percent by year 2025 and to address alcohol related harmful effects through awareness campaigns. One of the recommendations of the National Action Plan is to strengthen and enforce the Public Health (Prohibition on Advertisement, Sponsorship and Restriction on Sale and Consumption in Public Places of Alcoholic Drinks) Regulations 2008.

6. Cabinet has agreed to the refund of the amount of training levy overpaid by employers in the tourism sector being made to those engaged in activities defined under Sub-Part B of Part I of the Twelfth Schedule to the Income Tax Regulations, pending appropriate provisions in the Human Resource Development Act. The employers in the tourism sector paid their respective training levy at the rate of 1%, instead of 0.5%, for the period April 2020 to June 2020. The amount overpaid by the employers would be refunded.

7. Cabinet has taken note of the proposal for funding from the Global Environment Facility Council through the United Nations Development Programme Mauritius Country Office for the implementation of a project aiming at Promoting Low Carbon Electric Public Bus Transport in the Republic of Mauritius with a view to expediting the introduction of modern and low emission buses. The objective of the project is to promote capital investments for developing a sustainable transport infrastructure in Mauritius in order to reduce transport-related Greenhouse Gas emissions and to mitigate climate change.

The project also intends to engage and build technical capacities of transport-related policymakers, regulatory and other government agencies, financial institutions and the private sector. The project comprises the following components:

(a) policy and regulatory framework for electric public (bus) transport in Mauritius;

(b) financial incentive package for electric buses and charging infrastructure;

(c) technical feasibility and capacity building;

(d) awareness raising to address barriers related to lack of awareness on benefits of low-carbon electric public transport; and

(e) knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation.

8. Cabinet has taken note that following the representations of Mauritius about the reference to the so-called British Indian Ocean Territory in paragraph 4 of Article 774 of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the European Commission has made on behalf of the European Union a Declaration on that issue. The Declaration, which has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 01 June 2021, reads as follows:

The European Union declares that the reference to the British Indian Ocean Territory in paragraph 4 of Article 774 of the Agreement is to be interpreted and implemented in full respect of applicable international law.

On 03 June 2021, the EU Delegation to the UK transmitted the Declaration to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

9. Cabinet has taken note of the main findings and recommendations contained in the report submitted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers Ltd and the UNDP consultant, for the establishment of a Business Continuity Plan for the Government.

Cabinet has agreed to the implementation of three digitalisation projects financed jointly by the UNDP and the Government namely:

(a) implementation of an Electronic Document Management System (eDMS) on a pilot basis at the level of the Ministry of Public Service, Administrative and Institutional Reforms. The eDMS would be a single repository that would be used to organise, share, retrieve, reuse and manage documents.

Based on the outcome of this pilot project, the system would be replicated and deployed to all Ministries and Departments;

(b) implementation of a Parliamentary Electronic Document Management System which would be used as a central repository to store and manage critical document and electronic voting facilities relating to the Sitting of the National Assembly; and

(c) automation of the Data Capture Process at the Registrar General Department to facilitate the processing and recording of documents electronically.

10. Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Seafarers Welfare Fund and the Mauritius Sailors Home Society. The Memorandum of Understanding provides for an improved cooperation between the two organisations and also to better promote social and economic welfare of seafarers and their families through appropriate schemes and projects. The Mauritius Sailors Home Society would use the monthly grant given by the Seafarers Welfare Fund for the provision of various facilities to seafarers and their families.

11. Cabinet has agreed to the Mauritius Standards Bureau signing a Memorandum of Understanding with:

(a) the Tanzania Bureau of Standards of the Republic of Tanzania; and

(b) the Instituto Nacional de Normalizaco e Qualidade of the Republic of Mozambique.

The objective of the Memoranda of Understanding is to promote and facilitate bilateral trade through the elimination of Technical Barriers to Trade. It would cover, amongst others, co-operation in Standardisation, Quality Assurance, Metrology, Conformity Assessment Services and Training.

12. Cabinet has taken note that the District Council of Moka would sign an agreement with the National Computer Board for implementation of the Innovative Council Project.

The goal of the project is to set up the necessary infrastructure at the Government Online Centre to host the Geospatial data of Local Authorities as well as develop the software and interface to allow users to add, edit and update assets of the Local Authorities.

13. Cabinet has agreed to amendments being made to the Consumer Protection (Scrap Metal) Regulations 2019 in order to exceptionally allow the exportation of scrap copper which has been legally traded and acquired. Scrap copper cables are normally processed into ingots or finished products before exportation. However, a small quantity of these scrap copper cables cannot be processed locally due to shortage of labour, expertise and equipment.

They remain an eyesore and constitute a loss of revenue for the scrap metal dealers and exporters.

14. Cabinet has agreed to the submission of the 24th and 25th Combined Periodic Report of the Republic of Mauritius to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The ICERD is the principal international treaty for the elimination of racism, racial discrimination and other forms of intolerance.

The report covers the period July 2017 to May 2021 and has been worked out in consultation with the Committee members of the National Mechanism for Reporting and Follow-Up comprising representatives of Ministries/Departments, NGOs and the civil society.

15. Cabinet has taken note that the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security would sign a Letter of Intent with the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science of the Peoples Republic of China to establish cooperation in the fields of training, research, technology and policy development related to tropical agriculture. The areas and types of cooperation would include, among others:

(a) collection and conservation of plant and animal genetic resources;

(b) environment protection;

(c) breeding and dissemination of improved crop varieties, especially dwarf fruit cultivars;

(d) development and recommendation of sustainable farming systems;

(e) control of pests, diseases and weeds in crop farming;

(f)research and development in animal health and production; and

(g) use of ICT and artificial intelligence including drones in agriculture.

16. Cabinet has taken note of the outcome of the call for applications following the launching of the Enterprise Innovation Booster Scheme by the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council.

As at the closing date of 30 March 2021, a total of 79 projects were received and after undergoing through stringent evaluation, seven innovative applications, were recommended for funding for a total project value of around Rs16.5 million, of which around Rs11 million would be funded by the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council. Payments would be staggered and made only on achievements of agreed deliverables. The selected projects relate to the following emerging sectors:

(a) Blue economy and smart tourism;

(b) Smart health;

(c) Internet of things;

(d) Fintech; and

(e) Digital Wallet.

17. Cabinet has taken note that three projects under the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange have been accepted by the European Union, namely:

(a) setting up of a Childrens Court in Mauritius;

(b) amendments to be brought to the Protection from Domestic Violence Act; and

(c) setting up of the child victim/witness support service and the Guardian Ad Litem Programme.

18. Cabinet has taken note that Mauritius has been elected to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 07 June 2021 along with 17 other countries for the term 2022 to 2024.

The ECOSOC is one of the six main organs of the United Nations. It is mandated to, inter alia, promote international cooperation on economic, social and cultural issues, and provide a platform for engagement with non-governmental organisations.

Cabinet has also taken note that HE Mr Abdulla Shahid from Maldives has been elected on 07 June 2021 as the President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

19. Cabinet has taken note that the Mauritius Imagery and Radio-Satellite (MIR-SAT1) was transported on board the Space X-22 Falcon rocket which was launched from Kennedy launching pad in Florida, USA, on 03 June 2021. The launch was a success and the NASA described the Mauritian satellite as one of the items of scientific interest being transported to the International Space Station, the orbiting laboratory. The deployment of the Mauritian satellite in orbit is expected to be carried out on 22 June 2021. Once the Mauritian nano-satellite would be successfully deployed in space and starts orbiting the earth, the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council, through its Ground Station, would be able to send commands to the satellite to capture pictures of the Mauritian region.

20. Cabinet has taken note that the Prime Minister participated, through a pre-recorded statement, in the GAVI COVAX Advance Market Commitment Summit on 02 June 2021, co-hosted by GAVI and the Government of Japan. He pledged an amount of USD2,500 to GAVI, with a view to assisting GAVIs endeavour to ensure universal access to the vaccines.

21. Cabinet has taken note of the status regarding the management of landslide prone and other hazard areas in Mauritius. A Steering Committee would be set up at the level of the Ministry of National Infrastructure and Community Development to look into the issues pertaining to landslide and other related slope disasters management, such as slope failures, rock fall, debris flow and stream erosions and subsequently propose a Landslide Management Plan which would include the responsibilities of every stakeholder involved, identify and map new regions affected by slope failures, formulate appropriate plans to tackle such disasters, advise on revision of Planning Policy Guidance and Outline Planning Schemes.

22. Cabinet has taken note of the new calendar of radio programmes Ansam avek CSU which would start as from 12 June 2021 in the MBC Kool FM studio from 09 00 hrs to 10 00 hrs.

23. Cabinet has taken note of the activities that would be organised by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare in collaboration with the National Childrens Council, in the context of the Day of the African Child 2021 celebrated on 16 June 2021.

The theme chosen by the African Union for this year is 30 years after the adoption of the Charter: accelerate implementation of Agenda 2040 for an Africa Fit for Children.

The local theme retained is Pran Kont Lavenir Nou Zanfan. The official launching of the commemoration of the Day of the African Child on 16 June 2021 would be held in the Conference Room of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare.

A leaflet on Drugs and Substance Abuse would be launched and would be disseminated in schools through Information, Education and Communication campaigns and affixed in public places.

A Webinar on the theme a Mauritius Fit for Children would be held.

24. Cabinet has taken note of the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic prevailing across the world. With regard to Mauritius, as from March 2020 to 10 June 2021, 1,572 cases (including imported cases) of COVID-19 had been registered.

There were 248 active cases of COVID-19 in Mauritius, out of which 245 were local cases and three imported cases. Contact tracing exercises and random testing are being carried out in accordance with the established protocol. The public should observe strict sanitary precautions, including the wearing of masks.

Cabinet has taken note that La Valette, Bambous has been declared as a Red Zone on 04 June 2021. Vallee Pitot was declared as a Red Zone on 24 May 2021.

Cabinet has also taken note of progress in the implementation of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme.

25. Cabinet has taken note of the prevention and control measures in respect of the Dengue fever in Mauritius. As at 31 May 2021, there had been no reported case of Dengue.

Control measures were still being undertaken at the level of each Health Office around the island to bring down the mosquito population, namely Aedes Albopictus.

Larviciding was being carried out to treat breeding places with a view to eliminating the mosquitoes at their larval stage. Public Health and Food Safety Inspectors were effecting regular inspections to identify and eliminate mosquito breeding places through serving of notices to individuals as well as through statements of nuisances to Local Authorities and other statutory bodies.

The Communicable Diseases Control Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness was ensuring regular monitoring of larviciding and fogging operations in the regions as well as implementing various strategies for vector control and vector surveillance. Vector Studies, Surveillance and Strategic Control were being carried out. An established Protocol to deal with positive cases of Dengue fever has been worked out by the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

26. Cabinet has taken note of the outcome of the 38th Session of the Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee of the New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD) held virtually under the chair of the President of the Republic of Rwanda.

The main items on the agenda of the meeting were the 2020 Annual Report of the African Union Development Agency  New Partnership for Africas Development (AUDA-NEPAD), the status of ratification of the African Medicine Agency and the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer of AUDA-NEPAD. In the interventions made by members of the Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee, the pivotal role played by AUDA-NEPAD in the implementation of development projects in Africa was emphasised.

They also praised the remarkable efforts and work accomplished

in regard to the continental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

27.Cabinet has taken note of the recent participation of the Minister of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) 4th Meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Industry held virtually.

The 4th Ministerial Committee was convened to:

(a) deliberate and adopt the draft Implementation Strategy for the domestication of the COMESA Local Content Policy Framework;

(b) consider the draft COMESA Framework of Managing Special Economic Zones and Industrial Parks; and

(c) adopt Guidelines on Increasing Industrial Production during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in an inclusive and sustainable way.

Member States adopted the Declaration of the Virtual Meeting of the COMESA Ministers of Industry which consisted of twenty-five commitments/pledges, including:

(i) greater collaboration in the development of sustainable value chains with a view to increasing intra-regional trade in manufactured goods; and

(ii) development and implementation of policies and strategies to improve the quality, safety and standards of manufactured goods in the region.

28. Cabinet has taken note of the results of the National Certificate of Education (NCE) Assessment 2021. Out of the 14,044 school candidates of the Republic of Mauritius who took part in the 2021 NCE assessment, 10,051 have met the requirements for the NCE representing a percentage of 71.6%. There were 13,087 candidates who took part in NCE Assessment 2021 in the Island of Mauritius, out of whom 9,554 have met the NCE requirements, (73%). As for Rodrigues, 950 candidates took part in NCE assessment and 495 candidates have attained the NCE requirements, (52.1%). In Agalega, out of the seven school candidates who took part in the NCE Assessment 2021, two have attained the NCE requirements.

29. Cabinet has taken note of arrangements made for the resumption of schools in a staggered manner. Remote Learning would take place from 21 June to 02 July 2021.

Classes would be held on school premises as from 05 July 2021, subject to strict sanitary protocols being observed.

30. Cabinet has taken note of the measures taken to prevent any oil spill following the grounding of Fishing Vessel Sea Master on the reef of Albatross Island of St Brandon.

No oil spill has been reported and the relevant authorities are monitoring the situation.

Cabinet has also taken note that a Wreck Removal Notice had been issued in line with section 140 of the Merchant Shipping Act.

31. Cabinet has taken note of the appointment Mr Devendre Kumar Heerah as Chairperson of the Radiation Safety and Nuclear Security Board.

32. Cabinet has taken note of reconstitution of the Council of Registered Professional Engineers of Mauritius for the period 2021-2023.

33. Cabinet has taken note of the reconstitution of the ICT Advisory Council with Mr Kritanand M. Bundhoo as Chairperson.

34. Cabinet has taken note of the reconstitution of the Board of Trustees of the Mauritius Tamil Cultural Centre Trust with Dr Adi Sankara Peruman, OSK, as Chairperson.

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A talented Laois artist has been selected as a finalist to decorate public fibre broadband boxes across Dublin city.

open eir, Irelands largest wholesale network operator, has announced their shortlist for an art competition which called for young Irish artists to help brighten up Dublin, by submitting their creative interpretation of what staying connected meant to them. The winning artwork will decorate 100 fibre cabinets.

Five pieces of art from hundreds of entries have been selected to make up the shortlist, including an entry from Lily-Anne Craven, age 15, from Ballylinan.

Lily-Anne's entry is a clever creation of digital art, showing the human connections made possible by broadband.

The overall winner will be decided by a public vote, with entries now open.

UPDATE: As of Friday evening, you've been busy voting and Lily-Anne is now in first place at 34% of votes. You can only vote once so share this story to friends and ask them to log on and give this Laois artist your vote! See link below story.

Although the winning entry will adorn fibre cabinets in Dublin, entries were received from talented young artists from right across the country. Fibre cabinets are street furniture, found in every town and village across Ireland, they are a necessary part of the infrastructure that keeps people connected, designed for function over form.

To help brighten up this infrastructure, and in turn the capital city, open eir asked aspiring young artists to create a piece of art demonstrating what staying connected means to them.

The overall winner will be selected by a public vote and that artist will have their winning artwork displayed on 100 fibre cabinets across the countrys capital for years to come, amongst other prizes.

Voting is now open online HERE.

The closing date for voting is June 21. The winner will also get a 200 art voucher with 50 vouchers for the four runners up.
An unknown number of Laois people were given appointments to Covid vaccination centres up to 100km away this week.

Laois people waiting on their vaccines received texts telling them to attend either UCD in Dublin or Waterford Institute of Technology.

The Health Service Executive was initially telling any callers to their helpline that the centre could not be changed once it was selected for a patient.

However appointment cancellations followed in subsequent texts sent out.

The Health Service Executive has now confirmed that the appointments were made in error.

"As a result of a scheduling error, people incorrectly received an appointment for the UCD, Dublin and Waterford Institute of Technology Vaccination Centres.

"When this issue was detected, a cancellation notice was issued to cancel these appointments. People can expect to receive an appointment for vaccination at a more local clinic in due course," a HSE spokesperson confirmed this Thursday, June 10.

They add that since April 20 last when the Vaccination Centre opened at the Midland Park Hotel, in Portlaoise, a total of 20,397 persons have been vaccinated.

Over the next four days over 2,300 more will be added to that total. On Friday at the centre they will perform 678 vaccinations, another 674 on Saturday and then on Monday 1,016.
A father who raped and sexually assaulted his daughter on a repeated basis over a 12-year period and told gardai that he considered her a partner by night has lost an appeal against the severity of his 15 year prison sentence.

The 54-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect his daughter's identity, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court in October 2018 to 21 sample charges including rape, attempted rape, anal rape and sexual assault at locations in Dublin and Leinster on dates between January 2006 and December 2017. He has no previous convictions.

His daughter was aged between five and 17 years old at the time of the offences.

The man, who was raised in a small agricultural town in North Africa, also pleaded guilty to three counts of assault causing harm to his daughter on dates between June 2016 and December 2017.

Sentencing the man to 18 years in prison with the final three years suspended in 2018, Mr Justice Michael White said the offences were at the very apex of seriousness and noted the profound breach of trust involved.

He said the moving victim impact statement reflected how the man had used his daughter's filial love to isolate her and cruelly abuse her.

Mr Justice White stated that the relationship between a father and daughter is very important for the development of personality and well being of any young daughter and is something to be respected at all times.

In her victim impact statement, the complainant said her father tore her soul apart. I cared about him from the depths of my heart, but he broke that, she said. The worst thing he did to me was that he made me love him unconditionally. The biggest danger in my world was right in front of me and he could not save me from himself," she added.

Moving to appeal his sentence last April, his barrister, Caroline Biggs SC, told the Court of Appeal that the main ground of appeal was that the sentencing judge had erred in principle by fixing a life sentence as the appropriate headline sentence.

While the case contained a serious and appalling set of circumstances, which included encouraging the victim to consume alcohol and watch pornography and a horrific breach of trust of a father-daughter relationship, Ms Biggs argued that the judge had erred by finding the offences were at the very apex of the serious offence of rape.

She suggested the appropriate headline sentence should have been in the range of between 10 and 15 years.

Ms Biggs said Mr Justice White had also given insufficient credit to the many mitigating factors in the case including the mans early guilty plea and his full co-operation with gardai.

She said the man had accepted the blame was all his and had left the family home immediately after the offences had been reported and became homeless.

The barrister said there had been a history of the man being defiled by male members of his own family.

She claimed similar cases in terms of gravity had received headlines sentences of 10 to 15 years.

Opposing the appeal, Conor Devally SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), argued there had been no error in fixing a headline sentence of life imprisonment given the large number of aggravating factors in the case.

In a judgement returned electronically on Thursday, the President of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham said the three-judge court did not agree with counsel for the appellant that it was inappropriate for the sentencing judge to have determined upon a headline sentence of life imprisonment given the seriousness of the offending conduct in the case.

Dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice Birmingham sitting with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice Michael Collins said there were a multiplicity of seriously aggravating factors of which due account had to be taken. "We are satisfied that the cumulative effect of these aggravating factors and the harm done, coupled with the intrinsic depravity of the offending conduct at issue, uplifted the overall culpability of the appellant's conduct and brought it within the sentencing judge's scope for action to nominate a headline sentence of life imprisonment," said Mr Justice Birmingham.

The Court of Appeal found that the offending involved a high number of individual incidents perpetrated with a regularity over nearly eleven years. "Almost the entirety of her childhood had been blighted by being subjected to the abuses for which the appellant faced sentencing and, as is evident from her poignant and moving victim impact statement, those abuses had a profoundly damaging effect on her," said Mr Justice Birmingham.

Furthermore, the three-judge panel said that the offending involved "the highest and most culpable degree of breach of trust, that between a parent and a child, and as a corollary of this he had grossly misused his dominant position within the family".

In summary, the three judges said they were completely satisfied that in the circumstances of the case it was legitimately within the discretion of the sentencing judge to take the view that the offending in this case was "at the very apex of the serious offence of rape", and to have nominated a life sentence as the headline sentence.

ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE FROM SENTENCE HEARING:

A local garda revealed that the man gave his daughter two black eyes on one occasion.

He said that the complainant suspected this was because her father had viewed an image of her on her phone in which he had deemed her inappropriately dressed. The garda told Conor Devally SC, prosecuting, that a subsequent beating had put the girl out of school for a time.

He revealed that after his arrest the man admitted his abuse, but downplayed beating the girl and suggested that he viewed her by day father and daughter, by night partner.

The court heard that during one summer the girl thought she was pregnant and this caused temporary respite for a month. When it transpired she was not pregnant the abuse resumed.

The girl told gardai that no week went by without her being raped and that the attacks happened almost daily on weekends and during holidays.
Cruinniu na nOg - Be Connected with Nature is part of the Nature is Good for you campaign is a series of events for children and young people across the county.

The Local Authority Heritage Officer Network launched the Nature is Good for you campaign to get people connected with nature, as part of the Governments Keep Well Campaign.

Catherine Casey Heritage Officer with Laois County Council said, Spending time in nature is good for our physical and mental health and that is why we have put together a selection of events for this years Cruinniu na nOg. These creative activities are all about doing, making and creating and I am delighted that, on Saturday, June 12, children and young people across Laois will have the opportunity to get back out into nature for a range of fun and engaging adventures.

Reconnect with Nature:

A series of nature activities for children and young people, ages 5-8 and 9-12 developed and designed by Barbara OSullivan from Reconnect with Nature.

These activities can be downloaded and used anywhere. They include a nature scavenger hunt and wildlife crafts with woodland mandalas, colours of nature bingo, recycled flower press and nature self-portrait. Theres no need to book these activities and they can be completed in your own time with no equipment or special skills required.

Find out more and download the activity sheets at laois.ie/nature.

For The Birds

One of the many joys of summer is the wealth of bird song it brings to our ears. It can be very relaxing to listen to but telling which bird is which by sound alone can be tricky. To get you started, Ricky Whelan of BirdWatch Ireland will present this very special guide to Irelands best-loved songbirds for young people, all ages. This video guide will be available on Laois Heritage YouTube.

Have a look and then get outside and try it for yourself. Find out more at laois.ie/nature.

In Your Nature Podcast

A special young persons edition of the hit podcast In Your Nature will be available to download on Sat, 12th June. With over 10,000 downloads to date, the podcast opens up the world of birds and biodiversity to its listeners. Featuring Niall Hatch and Ricky Whelan of BirdWatch Ireland, this podcast will be available to listen to via all major podcast providers. Find out more at laois.ie/nature.

Celebrating creativity in Laois

With current restrictions again this year, the Cruinniu na nOg programme has been predominately curated for online access and participation. The day is still about giving children and young people the opportunity to express themselves, explore their creative sides, be inspired, try something new and have lots of fun. For a range of workshops exploring the theme of Sense of Place, go to Dunamaise Arts Centre at dunamaise.ie to find our more, as well as entry details for Laoiss new art competition launched as part of Cruinniu na nOg.

The Cruinniu na nOg 2021 programme is at laois.ie/cruinniu2021and also at

cruinniu.creativeireland.gov. ie/events/location/laois. Keep in touch for updates and opportunities across our social media channels, @creativelaois.

Thanks to all involved in this years programme including Laois Arts Office, Heritage Office, Library Service, Music Generation Laois, Dunamaise Arts Centre, Abbeyleix Heritage House, Mountrath Youth Theatre, StrongWomen Science, Reconnect with Nature, Birdwatch Ireland, the Heritage Officer Programme and the Heritage Council.

Cruinniu na nOg is a national day of free creativity for children and young people across Ireland. It is an initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and is presented in partnership with RTE and the Local Authorities. cruinniu.creativeireland.gov.ie.
A councillor wants Laois County Council to start looking at EU models and projects to tackle problems and bring new ideas to how issues are dealt with in urban and rural areas.

Cllr Aisling Moran referred to a Dutch model to manage rivers and reduce flooding with restored flood plains and built mini-canals.

Cllr Moran raised the Room for the River project at a recent meeting with officials.

The key of the Room for the River approach is to restore the rivers natural flood plain in places where it is least harmful in order to protect areas.

A few years ago they had to evacuate 100,000 people from one town because the water levels came up, she told the Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District meeting.

Where it's flooding they built little canal beside the river to take away a lot of the excess water. The new canal could also be used for activities like kayaking, boating, swimming. The area (between the river and canal) is a recreational area like the park, she said.

She said this could be considered for Mountmellick but also east Laois where the River Barrow floods large tracts of land.

Cllr Moran also suggested to the meeting that the local authority investigate the URBACT projects potential for Laois.

The URBACT project aims to develop integrated solutions to common urban challenges across Europe, by networking, learning from one anothers experiences, drawing lessons and identifying good practices to improve urban policies.

Cllr Moran said authorities in Athy, Naas and Kilkenny have engaged with the URBACT project previously.

Its been very successful, she said.
Laois Gardai have alerted the public to the potential for traffic to be disrupted and possible delays in Portlaoise on Friday.

The gardai advise the public to plan any journeys in Portlaoise during the morning to avoid the town centre due to a protest by farmers on June 11.

A garda spokesperson said that while gardai will be on duty to ensure traffic should not be severely disrupted, they ask that the public be aware of the route of the demonstration which will involve a tractor convoy and could cause delays.

Gardai have been informed that the tractors will depart from Fr Browne Avenue opposite O'Moore Park at 11 am. The vehicles will travel along the Abbeyleix Road before turning right at the Abbeyleix Road Roundabout onto James Fintan Lalor Avenue.

From there the cavalcade will move along JFL Avenue to the Timahoe Road roundabout where it will turn right onto the Timahoe road. The tractors then plan to turn right into the Kylekiproe area where the protest pass the towns main supermarkets.

The convoy will rejoin the JFL Avenue at the county hall / Supermacs junction and then make its way back out the Abbeyleix Road where the vehicles will disperse.

Gardai have been told that about 50 vehicles will be taking part but the exact number will not be known until the farmers converge on the town.

The Laois protest is one of many planned by Laois IFA this Friday around Ireland.

To comply with Covid-19 social distancing guidelines the IFA has told the Gardai that no rally is planned by the farmers where speeches will be made.
The green light has been given for the refurbishment of Portlaoise College.

Funding will allow improvements works completed to the Construction Studies room, Art room and a Special Education Needs room for the college.

Laois Offaly TD and Minister of State at the Department of Finance Sean Fleming confirmed that the Minister of Education has given the approval to proceed to tender.

"Portlaoise College has a great reputation and the efforts between students, teachers and families working together ensures that every student who attends has the opportunity to achieve their goals.

"The Principal, teachers and support staff along with the LOETB should be commended for their work. I know that everyone who attends the college now and in the future will benefit from the upgrades to these rooms," said the TD.

Portlaoise College opened in 2007 and was the first of several new school builds in Portlaoise.

It is operated by Laois Offaly Education and Training Board.

Minister Fleming also extended best of luck to all who are sitting the Leaving Cert 2021.
Mahen Seeruttun a lance dans les locaux de la Financial Services Commission a Ebene, le 9 juin 2021, le Special Purpose Fund, un projet qui faisait partie des mesures budgetaires de lannee 2020-2021 qui est un rebranding dun produit financier deja mis en place dans le passe.

Selon les services de presse du gouvernement:-

Le secteur des services financiers contribuera, a travers le nouveau SPF, a renforcer le positionnement de Maurice en tant que juridiction novatrice et competitive pour les investissements transnationaux entre lAfrique et le reste du monde.

Good morning to you all.

How strange it feels to be addressing you offline for such important milestone events.

In normal times, I would have been delighted to meet you and engage with you in person.

However, current times call for restrictions on freedom to congregate and we need to abide by the rules even if our hearts would prefer it to be otherwise.

This said, I sincerely hope that we shall be returning to some normality in not-too-distant future and resume our face-to-face interactions.

I take the opportunity to thank the FSC team for setting up this session so that we can pursue our product diversification efforts and further consolidate our countrys position as a jurisdiction of choice.

My warm salutations also go to our colleagues from the Press present with us this morning.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The last time we met communally was the launch of Mauritius Finance earlier in February.

Thoughts and policy orientations I shared with you at that time are still highly relevant today.

I had mentioned that challenges both internationally and at home, compounded by a sanitary crisis of epic proportions, have hastened the need for us to transform and reinvent our business so that we can emerge stronger in the future and be a viable competitor in the league of Financial Centres.

Our competitors are speedily coming up with new and innovative structures to tap into the investor community.

At the beginning of last year, Singapore has come up with its Variable Capital Company, the Gujarat International Financial and Tech City is now offering incentives for the relocation of funds set up abroad.

Change is not foreign to us. The greatest strength of Mauritius as a nation lies in its nimbleness and inventiveness.

History abounds with such examples as we transformed from the days of King Sugar to a diversification of economic structures including Tourism, Manufacturing, Financial Services and ICT as significant economic pillars.

Looking ahead, I am confident that our agility and innovative spirit will be our strengths in shaping our country so that it can withstand external disruptive shocks and black swan events.

A Delivery Unit for the implementation of the Financial Sector Blueprint recommendations has been set up within my Ministry complemented by the Project Office team of the Financial Services Commission.

Our colleagues are working on a prioritized action plan and they are working closely with the Expert Group set up by the Financial Services Consultative Council to propose and introduce new financial services products.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I have undertaken that we shall be coming this year with revamped lines of business and a suite of new products to keep face amidst fierce competition among IFCs.

Following consultations and discussions with the operators of the industry today I have the pleasure to be participating in the formal launch of an upgraded financial product, the Special Purpose Fund.

You will recall that my colleague, the Honourable Minister of Finance had announced in his Budget Speech last year that the existing SPF regime would be modernised to provide additional flexibility and ease of access to new markets.

We are here this morning to execute on this promise.

The launch of this revamped product is rich in symbolism as it illustrates our need to rethink and innovate to maintain our position as an attractive international financial centre amidst competition.

Mauritius is well known among promoters and institutional investors as a domicile for structuring funds as the Mauritius Brand is synonymous to the rule of law, to clarity and consistency in our laws and regulations, to rigour in our supervisory process and adherence with international good practices and covenants.

With the introduction of this upgraded cost-effective and tax-efficient structure, we look forward

 to meeting the needs of international fund promoters,

 to renewed interest from investors,

 to the strengthening of economic substance for Mauritius,

 to enhancing the positioning of Mauritius as an innovative and competitive jurisdiction for cross-border investments between Africa and the rest of the world,

 to reinforcing the position of Mauritius as a fund destination of choice and,

 to the broadening of our offering to international investors looking for an investment hub that adheres to best international practices and the highest levels of transparency

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you are aware, the previous version of the Special Purpose Fund which was launched in 2013 did not pick up as it should owing to its restrictive applicability.

The new Rules aim to address these deficiencies and provides more flexibility for Special Purpose Funds to be structured in Mauritius under such terms and conditions as may be approved by the FSC.

Furthermore, Special Purpose Funds remain tax-exempt vehicles under Mauritius income tax law, and any income or capital gain from the Fund would be free of Mauritian tax to non-residents.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Amidst the current pandemic and other challenges shaking economies, the search for a safe harbour for funds has become even more important, and Mauritius is one of those safe harbours.

We should leverage on this key advantage.

You would have heard me say this before and I would wish to reiterate this morning that now more than ever, the critical success factor for the Mauritius IFC and for your business is Trust.

In actual fact, financial services is all about trust. People will place their money only where Trust exists.

In addition to trust, a sense of urgency is critical.

During my one-on-one meetings with many of you including associations, you have mentioned, and rightly so, ease of doing business and the need to reduce processing time for allocation of new licences.

I have transmitted these very legitimate requests to our colleagues of the FSC and I shall be personally following up on same.

Offering the right products, at the right time in a timely manner is the only winning formula.

Ladies and gentlemen

I cannot end without reassuring you that despite all odds from FATF and EU placing us on their unfavorable lists and the global pandemic, our sector is still doing well.

Last year, the Financial Services Commission issued 1,990 new licences and that too, at a time when Mauritius shut down for a long confinement.

This in itself is an indication that business and investor confidence is still very much alive.

I understand that the FSC has so far issued 641 new licences this year with many more applications in process.

I am sure that you will all be expecting some words from me with regard to the jurisdictions exit from the unfavourable lists of FATF and EU. What I can share with you today is that I am satisfied that we have made substantial progress in line with the expectations of the Joint Group Reviewers.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The ambition of this Government is to strengthen our position as the leading financial hub in Africa.

We are endeavouring to be among the best and we shall continue to work ceaselessly with you in joint purpose for the benefit of the Mauritian people and the customers and markets that we serve.

As we re-engineer and innovate to adapt and gracefully survive in a world in constant mutation, let us continue to invest in an educated workforce with a global mindset.

Let us keep investing in people who are future-ready and consistently delivering on innovation with a strong customer service culture so that we build a substantial and sustainable presence to service the demands of international investors.

Ladies and gentlemen

We are two days away from Budget Day.

Governments priority is to make Mauritius more healthy, more resilient, and more prosperous than before by supporting businesses and jobs.

Government is committed to our financial services sector and ensure that every branch of this sector and every operator contributing to it has every opportunity to flourish and be part of a strong crop of enterprises well poised to compete globally and participate in the economic and financial development of Mauritius.

I am confident that Budgetary announcements for the financial services sector will give a new impetus to your business.

I wish you the best of business and investment during this second half of 2021.

I thank you for your attention.
The death has occurred of Edel Donohoe Coyle

Chambers Park, Kilcock, Kildare / Leixlip, Kildare



Donohoe Coyle, Edel, Chambers Park, Kilcock and late of Ryevale Lawns, Leixlip, Co. Kildare, June 8th 2021, peacefully, surrounded by her loving family after an illness bravely borne, deeply regretted by her loving husband Trevor, daughter Matilda, stepchildren Tom, Lottie and Ruby, parents Michael and Colette, stepmother Margaret, stepfather David, brothers Philip and Jamie, sisters Michelle,Nikki, Lauren, Sarah, Kate and the late Ruth, father-in-law Tom, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, extended family and friends, especially her close group of girl friends.

Rest In Peace

Due to current government guidelines, a private family funeral will take place for Edel (limited to 50 persons). Those who would have liked to attend the funeral, but due to the current restrictions cannot, please leave a personal message for the family in the condolence's section below.

Edel's Funeral Mass can be viewed on Monday at 11am by clicking on the following link :http://maynoothparish.org/live-streaming/

Oliver Reilly Funeral Directors accept no responsibility for any live webcam interruptions or issues.

Edel's Funeral Cortege will be leaving her residence, on Monday morning at approx. 10.30am to arrive at St. Mary's Church, Maynooth for 11am Funeral Mass, followed by burial in Laraghbryan Cemetery. Those who would like to line the route, may do so in a safe and socially distanced manner.

For all enquiries, please contact Oliver Reilly Ltd. Funeral Directors on (045) 868230.

Family flowers only please. Donations, if desired, to

https://www.breastcancerireland.com/donate/

The death has occurred of Josephine (Josie) Clarke (nee Leavey)

Avondale, Leixlip, Kildare / Maynooth, Kildare



Clarke (nee Leavey), Josephine (Josie), Avondale, Leixlip and formerly of Old Greenfield, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, 9th June 2021, passed away peacefully, in the tender care of St. Francis Hospice, Blanchardstown. Beloved mother of her much loved children Denise, John and Vincent and cherished grandmother of Ellen, Joel, Sarah and Joseline. Sadly missed by her children, grandchildren, mother Ellie (Leavey),son-in-law Matty, daughters-in-law Pamela and Anita, her brothers Tony, Harry, Bernard, the late John and Jim, nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbours and dear friends.

May Josie rest in peace

Due to current government guidelines, a private family funeral will take place for Josie (limited to 50 persons). Those who would have liked to attend the funeral, but due to the current restrictions cannot, please leave a personal message for the family in the condolence's section below.

Josies Funeral Mass can be viewed on Friday at 11am by clicking on the following link : https://churchmedia.tv/camera/confey-parish

Oliver Reilly Funeral Directors accept no responsibility for any live webcam interruptions or issues.

The death has occurred of Liam Farrell

Two Mile House, Naas, Kildare / Portlaoise, Laois



FARRELL, late of Two Mile House and Portlaoise, June 7th 2021, unexpectedly but peacefully surrounded by his family. Loving husband of Evelyn, predeceased by his son Michael, adored father of Keith, Ross and Kate and grandfather to his cherished Eve. Beloved brother to Paschal, and Marie. Greatly missed by his sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews and family.

Rest in peace, gentle, kind man.

Removal tomorrow Thursday, to arrive at St Peter's Church, Two Mile House for 11am Requiem Mass. Interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Requiem Mass and burial can be viewed on www.streamlive.ie. Those wishing to leave condolences can do so on the link below or send on in the traditional manner.

House strictly private please

The death has occurred of Thomas (Tom) Kenny

Green Lane, Leixlip, Kildare / Maynooth, Kildare



Kenny, Thomas (Tom), Green Lane, Leixlip and late of Straffan Road, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, June 8th 2021, peacefully at Maynooth Community Care Unit. Beloved husband of the late Rosie. Deeply regretted by his loving sisters Margaret and Angela, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, relatives, neighbours, especially Eileen and friends.

Rest In Peace

Due to current government guidelines, a private family funeral will take place for Tom (limited to 50 persons). Those who would have liked to attend the funeral, but due to the current restrictions cannot, please leave a personal message for the family in the condolence's section below.

Tom's Funeral Mass can be viewed on Thursday at 12pm by clicking on the following link : http://maynoothparish.org/live-streaming/

Oliver Reilly Funeral Directors acccept no responsibility for any live webcam interruptions or issues.

Tom's Funeral Cortege will be leaving Oliver Reilly's Funeral Home, Maynooth, on Thursday morning at approx. 11:15am and will travel via Tom's late residence in Green Lane, Leixlip and then proceeding to St. Mary's Church, Maynooth to arrive for 12pm Funeral Mass, followed by burial in Laraghbryan Cemetery. Those who would like to line the route, may do so in a safe and socially distanced manner.

For all enquiries, please contact Oliver Reilly Ltd. Funeral Directors on (045) 868230

The death has occurred of Anthony Lawler

11 Greenhills, Athy, Kildare



Peacefully, surrounded by his loving wife Marie and their children Linda, Philip and Gavin. Deeply regretted by his son-in-law Pierre, grandchildren Megan, Lauren, Eoin and Ruth,Philips partner Lavinia and girls,brothers John,Eddie,Michael and Christy,sisters Annette and Betty,brothers in law,sisters in law,nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.Pre deceased by his sister Noreen.

Rest in Peace

Requiem Mass will take place at 11am on Friday morning (11th June) in St. Michael's Parish Church, Athy, limited to 50 people. The Mass will be livestreamed, see www.parishofathy.ie. Burial afterwards in St. Michael's New Cemetery, Athy.

Those who would have liked to attend the funeral but cannot due to current restrictions may leave a message in the 'Condolences' section below.

The death has occurred of Des O'Dowd

Celbridge, Kildare / Ennis, Clare



ODOWD, Des (Celbridge, Co. Kildare and formerly of Ennis, Co. Clare) died June 7th, 2021, suddenly, at home. Dear beloved husband of Patricia, treasured father of Kate, Ben and Cian, adored grandfather to Teddy and Albert. Desperately loved and missed by his siblings, son- and daughter-in-law, siblings-in-law, cousins, nieces, nephews, neighbours and many, many friends.

May his beautiful soul rest peacefully and watch over us.

Due to Government advice and restrictions, a private family funeral will take place. Those who would have liked to attend Des funeral; but due to current restrictions cannot, may view his funeral by following this LINK at 11.00am on the morning of Saturday (June 12th) and please feel welcome to leave a personal message below, by selecting Condolences. Family flowers only, please. Donations, if desired, to Sightsavers.

The death has occurred of Donal Rheinisch

Leixlip, Kildare / Dungarvan, Waterford



Rheinisch, Leixlip, Co. Kildare and formerly of Coolock, Dublin 5 and Dungarvan, Co. Waterford and late of Fortune Ltd., and Star Window Furnishings Ltd.) June 8th. 2021, (peacefully), at home surrounded by his four boys David, Aidan, Eoin and Eamon.

Sadly missed by his loving sons and their mother Margaret, daughters-in-law Amy, Ciara and Dawn, grandchildren Dylan, Liam, Indi and Evie, brothers Eamon, Killian and Pat, sisters Ann, Helen and Mary, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, all his relatives and friends, especially Pat and George, who put up with his peculiarities for the last 34 years.

Rest in Peace

Due to Government advice and restrictions regarding public gatherings, a private family funeral will take place.

Donals funeral cortege will leave his home in Castletown at 10.30 am on Friday, the 11th of June, for those that wish to pay their respects.

Donals Funeral Mass may be viewed on Friday, 11th June, at 11.00 am by following the link below;

http://oln.ie/oln/live-webcam/

Family flowers only please. Donations, if desired, the Irish Cancer Society.

Those who would have liked to attend the funeral; but due to current restrictions cannot, please leave your personal message by selecting Condolences below or alternatively leaving a message at www.cunninghamsfunerals.com.
Community policing and other issues will be discussed by a representative of rural development organisation Muintir na Tire at next week's Kildare Joint Policing Committee (JPC) quarterly meeting.

The members of the local JPC will be addressed by local Muintir na Tire development officer Conor O'Leary.

Mr O'Leary covers the Eastern Region of Laois, Offaly, Kildare, Wicklow, Meath, Westmeath and Fingal.

Muintir na Tire has operated Community Alert for over 30 years, in partnership with An Garda Siochana.

Community Alert - the largest crime prevention initiative in Ireland - relies on the age-old principle of neighbours watching out for each other and has also utilised modern tools such as Text Alert

The JPC meeting, which will be held online due to COvid-19 restrictions, will also be given a quarterly policing report for the Kildare/Laois/Offaly Garda Division by Chief Superintendent John Scanlan.

Superintendent Oliver Henry of Naas Garda District will also give an update on efforts by gardai to use local CCTV to prevent and detect crimes.
Leitrim County Council says they have not refused or ignored any allocations made by the Department of Housing in respect of funding for Traveller Accommodation.

Aonu Leader Deputy Peadar Toibin said in 2019 Leitrim County Council, like many other counties did not draw down allocated funding.

Deputy Toibin stated in the Dail, I have carried out a good bit of research over the last number of months on funding for Traveller accommodation. The responses I received to my parliamentary questions are absolutely shocking. Unbelievable information has come back in the last couple of weeks.

He told the members, In Leitrim County Council in 2019, nothing was drawn down despite an allocation of 178,000.

He commented, I cannot think of funding for any other section of Irish society that would stay on the dusty shelf and be ignored in the jaws of a housing crisis, and in a situation where Traveller accommodation throughout the State is in shocking condition. The topic of Traveller accommodation is avoided at local political level in many cases.

Leitrim County Council have refuted these comments. In a statement to the Leitrim Observer said it sought funding from the Department Housing for the refurbishment of traveller specific accommodation in 2019 and were approved funding for this. While the funding was approved in 2019 and the works were completed in 2019 , the funds were not drawn down from the Department in respect of these works until 2020.

In 2019, Leitrim County Council also purchased two housing units for allocation to Traveller families at a total spend of 282,609.00. Of this capital expenditure, Leitrim County Council drew down funding from the Department of 278,802.

The council also pointed out that in 2019, 74.2 % of Traveller households within the county were either permanently housed by Leitrim County Council in Local Authority housing or in long-term private rental accommodation through schemes such as RAS or HAP. Only 15.71% of Leitrims Traveller population live in Traveller specific accommodation.

Also read: Minister demands councils take action over derelict Garda Stations
Boyle native, Hilary Beirne, recently became the newest member of the Irish Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), in Washington D.C.

He was selected to join the bipartisan committee, which is dedicated to protecting the Good Friday Agreement and maintain an open border on the island of Ireland, based on his recognized leadership among the Irish diaspora in the United States.

Mr Beirne is one of only two Irish-born US citizens to joins the distinguished group, which includes former members of the Clinton administration, two former US Congressmen, five former US Ambassadors, several prominent academics and leaders of influential Irish American organizations.

I remember hearing of the Irish Ad Hoc committee as a child in Ireland; they were then and are now, well-respected in both U.S. and Irish political circles, so when I was invited to join, I accepted without hesitation, said Mr Beirne.

I remember in the 1970s watching RTE news, when Tip ONeill, then Speaker of the House and Chairman of the Committee, spoke of the troubles in Northern Ireland and U.S. support for Ireland. I look forward to serving in some small way Ireland - the land of my birth - and the United States."

The Ad Hoc Committee was formed by leading Irish American political leaders and diplomats who have a long-established history of supporting the peace process in Northern Ireland. The Committees brief deals with US  European policy, particularly concerning Britain, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. The Committees current focus is protecting the gains of the Good Friday Agreement, post Brexit. The group hosts weekly meetings with political leaders from Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States to discuss issues concerning economic and political stability in Ireland and Europe.

Hilary T. Beirne was educated in St Marys College, Boyle, Co. Roscommon. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from University College Dublin & Galway, and Masters degree in Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences from City University of New York, Hunter College. He is the Founding Chairman of the New York Citys St Patricks Day Foundation, Chief Administrative Officer of the NYC St Patricks Day Parade, and an Honorary Member of the famed Fighting 69th Regiment.

He has received multiple awards / honors for his involvement with the Irish community in the United States. In March 2021, he was honoured by the Board of Legislators of Westchester County, New York, at their Irish History and Heritage Celebration; in April, he was honoured by the Irish Echo Newspaper (Americas Oldest Irish Newspaper  est. 1925) with a 2021 Arts and Culture Award.
India has been reeling from the effects of COVID-19, with more than 338,000 deaths and nearly 28.5 million cases as of June 1. Although the country is on the other side of the world, some people in the community refuse to accept that living so far away means they're powerless to help.

Some Niwot community members have organized a trivia and curry night fundraiser for India at Niwot Wheel Works, 101 2nd Avenue in Niwot, on Monday, June 14. Proceeds from the dinner will be donated to support projectc.u.r.e, a Colorado-based nonprofit that is currently working to procure and ship 200,000 hospital beds and other medical supplies to be used for patients in India.

Kamla Chopra is a Realtor/Broker Associate for Colorado Landmark Realtors, a member of the Rotary Club of Niwot, and one of the fundraiser's organizers. "Everyone has been watching the news and knows something about what is happening there," she said. "I wanted to do something to try to make a difference."

Chopra has family in India and closely follows what's happening there. "I have been talking to my family on a daily basis," she said. "Luckily, they are well and I'm grateful for that, but I feel like I need to do more. There's something we can do, at least financially, helping along with other charities that are working to support others in need. One of those is projectc.u.r.e, who I first learned about through the Rotary Club."

The fundraiser came together quickly once Chopra began working with fellow realtor Debra Fowler of DRF Realty, Colorado Landmark Realtors, and vice-president of the Niwot Business Association. "It's easy to feel helpless, but this is something you can do to make a difference," Fowler said.

Those who participate in the fundraiser will be doing their part to support those in India. They will also be treated to a full Indian Buffet with dessert, and an India-themed trivia contest with prizes, and a silent auction with prizes generously donated by many Niwot businesses.

Fowler shared that the fundraiser's goal was $5,000 to support project c.u.r.e., and that the group was very appreciative of the community support they've received so far.

Eric Bergeson, owner of Niwot Wheel Works and president of the Niwot Business Association, is donating the space and service staff. The food, served buffet-style, will be catered at no charge by Meena's Kitchen in Broomfield. Dessert is being provided by local baker Joanne's Petit Sweets. Both Fowler and Chopra are grateful to all who were helping as well as to the Niwot businesses who donated prizes.

Bergeson is happy to do his part as a piece of the community effort. "I think it may have been [last month's] Niwot Around the World Day that sparked the idea in Kamla for whom the suffering in India is clearly top of mind," he said. "We're excited to participate. Some might say that the impact of a fundraiser like this will be a drop in the ocean, but some drops become a deluge as events like this do as much for donors as recipients."

Tickets for the fundraiser are $45 a person and include dinner, dessert, trivia, and access to the silent auction. They're available through an Eventbrite link at https://bit.ly/3gb9vtn. For questions or for ways to donate if you're unable to attend, contact Chopra at 303-651-5428 or Fowler at 720-378-1217.
A TALENTED Limerick girl has received a personalised watercolour painted by Don Conroy after she was chosen as the winner of the Gas Networks Irelands Draw with Don competition.

Emma O'Brien from Roxborough, who loves to paint pictures of animals and share them on her Instagram page, was one of hundreds of children who participated in the special online event which was hosted by Gas Networks Ireland.

The event was organised after GNI teamed up with artist, activist and TV legend Don Conroy to celebrate the launch of its partnership with the Laois Barn Owl Project.

During the event Mr Conroy, who devotes much of his time to barn owl conservation, invited participants to draw along with him and enter their resulting pieces of artwork into a competition.

Mr Conroy, who has spent many years merging his love of drawing and wildlife to highlight the importance of barn owl conservation commented: I have been fascinated with owls, especially barn owls, since I first encountered one at the age of six on my uncles farm in Laois. Barn owls are sadly in decline so any help we can give this iconic bird is great news. Ive drawn this bird hundreds of times, painted pictures, written childrens novels and poems about the barn owl."

He added that he was thrilled with the response to the competition. "It was wonderful to receive so many entries of such a high calibre and I enjoyed picking the winner. Many congratulations to Emma, the runners up and indeed all those who took part.

Emma received a watercolour of a nesting Barn Owl couple painted by Don Conroy, as well as copy of his book Sky Wings and a personalised note.

Gas Networks Irelands Sustainability Manager, Anne Moore, said:

We are delighted with the success of our launch of our partnership with the Laois Barn Owl Project, which is a is a wonderful community conservation initiative that forms part of our Biodiversity Action Plan. It was great to see so many enthusiastic and budding artists take part in our competition. Many congratulations to Emma for her winning artwork.
THERE has been another significant increase in the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Limerick.

Provisional data from Department of Public Health Mid-West shows there were 85 new cases of the disease yesterday. This compares to 51 on Tuesday, 37 on Monday, 74 on Sunday, 35 on Saturday and 45 last Friday.

Over the past 14 days, Public Health Mid-West has recorded close to 1,000 cases of Covid-19 across in the Mid-West region. More than 860 of the cases have been in Limerick with around 70 in Clare and around 35 in North Tipperary.#

Members of the public in Limerick are being encouraged to avail of the self-referral pop-up Covid-19 testing clinics which are operating at locations in the city and county.

The facilities are located at Eastpoint Business Park Ballysimon Road and St Josephs Health Campus, Mulgrave Street in Limerick city and at Fitzgerald Park in Kilmallock.

Another pop-up test centre will open at Moyross Health Centre at the weekend.

Appointments can be booked for between 8am and 4pm daily for the test centre at Eastpoint Business Park. Tests can be booked through the online portal via the HSE website and those being tested need to bring photo ID and provide a mobile phone number.

Commenting on the latest figures, Dr Rose Fitzgerald, Specialist in Public Health Medicine, said thanked those who have availed of the self-referral clinics to date as it has helped public health teams to chart the disease in the region.

However, we are still concerned about the prevalence of infection, particularly in Limerick city, and we are urging the public to be extra conscious of adhering to Public Health guidelines when meeting others. Wearing a mask and socially distancing has proven to significantly limit the spread of Covid-19, she said.

Public Health Mid-West is working with Limerick City and County Council in connecting with the local business community, and providing essential information to best protect workplaces, their staff and customers from Covid-19.
LIMERICKS loss is Clares gain was the message as Judge Mary Larkin presided over her final court sitting in Newcastle West.

Judge Larkin, who has been working as a judge in West Limerick for more than a decade has been assigned as the permanent judge for County Clare following the recent retirement of Judge Patrick Durcan.

Paying tribute to her on her final day in Newcastle West, state solicitor Aidan Judge said she was universally liked by all of the solicitors who practiced before her over the past decade.

You have been unfailingly courteous to the solicitors, to the court presenters, the staff who are here and you have also been unfailing courteous to the public, he stated.

Echoing his colleagues comments, solicitor Ted McCarthy said: I regret to see you leave. Limericks loss is very much Clares gain.

Barrister Erin OHagan and Norma Keane of the Probation Service also paid tribute to the departing judge as did Inspector Andrew Lacey.

You have a very good appreciation of the job that we do here on a day-to-day basis, he said adding that the team environment that exists at Newcastle West Court is a testament to Judge Larkin.

Acknowledging the comments, the judge said it was a difficult decision to make when she was offered the new role.

It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life to be here and to be a judge in this district, she said adding that she will have fond memories of both Newcastle West Courthouse and the town.

Of all the courts that I have ever sat in, this has to be my favourite and my favourite town and I will miss it terribly. It has been an absolute pleasure to be here and I have enjoyed every single one of the practitioners and I feel I got to know their style and their personality, she said.

Details of Judge Larkins replacement in Limerick have yet to be announced.
THE Mayor of the city and county of Limerick has visited the site of a major construction project in Newcastle West.

Last month, US Life Sciences firm Ortec Inc announced it was to begin construction of its European Headquarters in in the county town.

The company, which is a leading supplier of contract formulation and manufacturing services to the life science industry, will employ more than 100 people at the new headquarters for Manufacturing and Operations Centre at Newcastle West Business Park.

The facility, which will be completed and available by mid-2022, will be Ortec's first base outside of North America.

Supported by IDA Ireland the company had announced its intention to establish its European HQ in Newcastle West in 2016 and is now moving ahead with its plans.

Mayor Collins, who lives and works in the town, recently visited the construction site and met with management from Ortec who briefed him about the plans.
A MOTORIST who was caught driving without insurance for the 40th time has been jailed and banned from driving for a decade.

Darren Mason, aged 43, who has an address at Raheen Square, Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick, pleaded guilty to a number of offence relating to an incident which occurred on May 6, 2019.

When the case came before Limerick District Court, Sergeant Sean Murray said the defendant was stopped while driving at Grange West at 1.30pm.

He added that he did not have insurance and that he was disqualified from driving at the time.

Sgt Murray told Judge Patricia Harney the defendant has a total of 191 previous convictions including 39 for driving without insurance.

Solicitor Tom Kiely said his client accepts he has a bad record and he that he should have known better and should not have been behind the wheel.

He knows he cant drive, he said urging the court to be as lenient as possible.

No explanation as to why Mr Mason was driving on the day was put forward during the short court hearing.

Having heard details of the offence, Judge Harney expressed her concern about Mr Masons previous record and she said she had no option but to jail him.

She imposed a three month prison sentence in relation to the insurance charge and a consecutive three month prison sentence for driving while disqualified.

The defendant was also fined 550 and disqualified from driving for a period of ten years.

Recognisances were fixed in the event Mr Mason decides to appeal the severity of the sentence.
The CDC data shows that Pennsylvania ranks eighth among the 50 states and District of Columbia in the percentage of its eligible population who have gotten at least their first dose of a vaccine. Vermont remains the most successful at getting shots into arms, with over 80% of its eligible population having been jabbed at least once. Mississippi is the state with lowest portion of its population at least partially inoculated, at 41.1%.
STUDENTS across Limerick are celebrating after scooping a number of prizes at the annual Smedia awards.

The annual ceremony recognises the best of student journalism.

Mostafa Darwish of the University of Limerick (UL) picked up the student journalist of the year title for the second straight year.

He was joined on the podium by fellow UL students Ivan Smyth who won sportswriter of the year and Christine Costelloe of Castletroy who picked up an award for the layout and design of Limerick Voice.

In total, UL received 22 nominations across a wide variety of categories, while there was a win for Limerick College of Further Education (LCFE) photography student Mark Collins.

And Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) film production student Alyssa Fleming was also in the winner's enclosure for her film, The Daily Grind.

Its the second year in a row Egyptian-born Mostafa, 31, has taken home the top prize.

He said: "I am so happy that my stories which tell the stories of asylum seekers have had such an impact and have already effected some much needed change for this vulnerable community across Europe. I also am so proud that some of these were the stories which were recognised for this top award. I only spent two years living in Limerick and studying in UL but Limerick has a huge place in my heart. The University helped me a lot to write in a language that is not my native language. And ULs green campus helped me to have a peaceful time that I really needed after some tough years."

Mostafa was one of the first people to report Marchs party outside College Court in Castletroy, which sparked widespread controversy.

Many people had gathered outside his home, and a 30-second video he posted on Twitter was viewed almost 330,000 times.

The course director of journalism at UL, Kathryn Hayes said: "I am so happy for all of the students who picked up awards and incredibly proud to see a record number of nominations for UL students who worked on Limerick Voice multimedia news project, Prodigy Magazine, An Focal and ULFM. Its a fantastic achievement for students to have their work recognised by key industry leaders and a real testament to their hard work and talent, after what has been a challenging period for all third level students.

Over at LCFE, photography student Mark was celebrating after winning the news photographer of the year title.

It brings to 10 the number of awards won by LCFE photography students over the last 12 years.

One of Marks images depicted a fellow student, Isaac wearing a mask, with a number of other face-coverings depicting slogans from the racial equality struggle in the background.

Its lovely to win. Im super grateful. Its not really registered yet to be honest, said Mark, I liked the look of the picture, and its very topical. There are under-represented people in Ireland and we need to shine a light on them. Ireland is made up of a lot of different things these days.

LIT student Alyssa Fleming won the peoples choice award at the Smedia awards with her film The Daily Grind, which charts the efforts of coffee shop staff to keep the business going through lockdown.

Her win drew praise from the president of LIT, Dr Vincent Cunnane, who said: Winning a National Student Media Award  or Smedia  in any year is a great achievement, but to create an award-winning film during a time when our movements were limited due to a global pandemic is particularly significant. Alyssa and her fellow students have shown great determination, creativity and resolve to create such excellent work despite the Covid-19 restrictions.
When I was a teenager I spent several months on a farm near the village of Kilmoganny Co. Kilkenny, situated just five miles from the nearest town, Callan. During that time I became aware of some interesting things about Callan. First, Thomas Kilroy, playwright and novelist was born and schooled there. Second, it was the birthplace of the Roman Catholic missionary and pedagogue, Edmund Ignatius Rice (1762-1844) who established two religious orders  the Congregation of Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers.

Third, the writer John Locke (1847-1889), poet, novelist and Fenian activist also hailed from Callan. An early school textbook contained a poem by Locke called The Exiles Return and part of the first stanza is as follows:

O, Ireland! Isnt grand you look

Like a bride in her rich adorning!

With all the pent-up love of my heart

I bid you the top of the morning!

Perhaps that is where the phrase top of the morning comes from? When former US President Ronald Reagan visited Ireland in 1984, he quoted the first verse to shouts of acclamation and rousing applause.

Fourth, the architect James Hoban (1755-1831) designed and built the home of American presidents, the White House, in Washington, D.C. which is a matter of great pride, tarnished by the fact that he was a slave owner!

At least three slaves were employed as carpenters in the construction of the White House. Their names are recorded as Ben, Daniel and Peter and appear in a James Hoban slave payroll.

What has this to do with Ciaran ODriscoll? I know that Ciaran would want to distance himself from injustice and this is evident in his writing. You have probably guessed by now that he too was born (1943) in Callan. However, he is one of Limericks adopted sons! He has lived in Limerick since 1986 and he is a member of Aosdana, the Irish association of artists created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the Arts Council of Ireland. Membership, which is by invitation from current members, is limited to 250 individuals.

Among other writings, ODriscoll has published nine books of poetry, a memoir and a novel. His books of poetry include Gog and Magog (1987), Moving On, Still There (2001), and Surreal Man (2006). His work has been translated into many languages. Vecchie Donne di Magione (The Old Women of Magione) was published in 2006 and Selected Poems in Slovene translation in 2013. Ciarans work has also featured in special Irish issues of important European literary journals such as Die Horen and La Traductiere. Liverpool University Press published his childhood memoir, A Runner Among Falling Leaves (2001). His novel, A Years Midnight, was published by Pighog Press (2012). His awards include the James Joyce Prize and the Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry. His poem Please Hold (featured in Forwards anthology Poems of the Decade) has become a set text for A Level English Literature.

Speaking Trees

More recently, Ciaran published a poetry chapbook, The Speaking Trees, with SurVision Books (2018), and a selection of his work was also included in Seeds of Gravity: An Anthology of Contemporary Surrealist Poetry from Ireland, Edited by Anatoly Kudryavitsky (SurVision Books, 2020). In his Introduction to this anthology, Kudryavitsky wrote: ODriscoll, whose work has been popular among the Irish readers of poetry ever since the 1980s, is the link between the two surrealist groupings of Irish poets. He admired Brian Coffey and Denis Devlin, and he took up where they left off, eventually developing his own, unique style. According to the critic Michael S. Begnal, reviewing ODriscolls The Speaking Trees, His poems often conjure dream-like or visionary states... His language is clear and deliberate but describes a bizarre or surreal subject matter.

Ciaran says My head is full of poem-quotes as I had a phenomenal verbal memory in my youth. Lines from poems still come into my head with a sense of enchantment. But his interest is not strictly limited to poetry. He likes traditional Irish music, opera, and watching rugby, Especially the Munster team says Ciaran. The Romantic poet, William Wordsworth wrote, Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity. ODriscoll says, It is this kind of retrospective view that is often the thing that sets me writing.

Life Monitor

One superb collection of Ciarans poems is Life Monitor (2009). The poems range from reflections on the poets progress through life to expressions of filial feeling, to energetic tirades against injustice and bureaucratic absurdity, to quieter moments of natural and social observation. Humour is never far away in these pages, but it would be a mistake to miss the deeper intent.

Life Monitor is an expanded version of ODriscolls well-known chapbook Surreal Man, bringing together the much-published Magritte, The Lost Jockey, A Gift for the President and other surrealist pieces with a generous addition of newer poems broadening the scope of the book. In the poem which gives the book its name, the poet visits his thirteen-year-old sons bedroom at night to check his breathing, and realises that this is a habit which has persisted since the boys infancy.

Poetry is also a kind of monitor  of the poet himself and the world to which he belongs; a screen on which lines appear that indicate the extent of good or ill. This collection assembles the work of a decade, in which ODriscoll has continued to monitor life as presented in its various epiphanies of well-being or malaise. The subjects range from the poets own maturing state, to the obsequious bestowal of a bowl of shamrock on a bellicose American president, to a message of comfort from speaking trees; the moods from a wry regret at domesticitys woes, a grieving for estrangement, a tirade against robotic voices on the phone and celebrations of love.

Eamonn Grennan in his review of Life Monitor in The Irish Times (26 June, 2010) said that it is the work of a poet in confident possession and exercise of his craft. [His] poems do what good poems should do, widening and deepening the world for the rest of us. A review by Val Nolan in Southbound online literary journal, 2009 states, ODriscoll captures moments of idyllic beauty, those we are inclined to overlook in hectic days of finances and tailbacks. We have troubles, say the trees, but we dont worry.

A Runner Among Falling Leaves

Critics have been effusive in their praise of ODriscolls memoir, A Runner Among Falling Leaves. Gerald Dawe in The Irish Times said ODriscolls book is an important document: well written, briskit makes cool, frank and poetic observations of the intersection between personal desire and cultural possibility. At a time when we risk losing the run of ourselves in the forever new Ireland of today, this brave, honest book should not be missed.

Pearse Hutchinson wrote in the The RTE Guide Ciaran O'Driscoll is a poet of the first order. This book makes it clear that he is also a consummate writer of prose. This memoir reveals much suffering as well as unusual integrity, with humour and youth in it in spite of everything, and a hard-won resolution at the end. It is an extraordinary feat. Read it. Darragh McManus wrote of the memoir in The Irish Examiner, A wonderfully evocative exploration of personal childhood traumas and their adult resonancea rarity in the field.

Thomas Kilroy, playwright and author of The Big Chapel also wrote in praise of Ciarans memoir, I grew up in the town of this memoir. It all comes back to me through ODriscolls poetic eye, the back row of Egans cinema, the stink and sweat of Fair Days, the schoolboy jingles, the girls swimming in the Kings River. But at the heart of the book is a deeply affecting, traumatic relationship between father and son. Here the writing is terrifying and like no other memoir I have read.
The United Arab Emirates' second-most populous emirate Abu Dhabi will limit entry to shopping centres, restaurants, cafes and other public places from June 15 to those who have been vaccinated or recently tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

The new rules were announced late on Wednesday as the UAE, a federation of seven emirates, has seen daily cases rise over the past three weeks. The UAE, which does not give a breakdown for each emirate, recorded 2,179 new infections on Wednesday, up from 1,229 on May 17.

The restrictions will also apply to gyms, hotels and their facilities, public parks, beaches, swimming pools, entertainment centres, cinemas, and museums, Abu Dhabi's media office said.

Visitors will have to prove they are vaccinated or have recently tested negative through the country's Covid-19 app which displays an individual's vaccination and testing history.

The mobile app will show green if the person has been vaccinated or has tested negative. Unvaccinated individuals will need to be tested every three days to maintain their green status. A fully vaccinated person would do so every 30 days.

The UAE announced last month that from June 6 attendance to live events and social activities, including weddings and bars, would be limited to those who could prove they were vaccinated.

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

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There's a mystery brewing at the center of the Earth .

Scientists can only see it when they study the seismic waves (subterranean tremors generated by earthquakes) passing through the planet's solid iron inner core . For some reason, waves move through the core significantly faster when they're traveling between the north and south poles than when they're traveling across the equator.

Researchers have known about this discrepancy  known as seismic anisotropy  for decades, but have been unable to come up with an explanation that's consistent with the available data. Now, using computer simulations of the core's growth over the last billion years, a new study in the June 3 issue of Nature Geoscience offers a solution that finally seems to fit: Every year, little by little, Earth's inner core is growing in a "lopsided" pattern, with new iron crystals forming faster on the east side of the core than on the west side.

Related: 10 ways Earth revealed its weirdness

"The movement of liquid iron in the outer core carries heat away from the inner core, causing it to freeze," lead study author Daniel Frost, a seismologist at the University of California, Berkeley, told Live Science. "So this means the outer core has been taking more heat from the east side [under Indonesia] than the west [under Brazil]."

To visualize this lopsided growth in the core, imagine a tree trunk with growth rings radiating out from a central point, Frost said  but "the center of the rings is offset from the center of the tree," so that rings are spaced further apart on the east side of the tree and closer together on the west side.

A cross section of Earth's inner core might look similar to that. However, this asymmetric growth doesn't mean that the inner core itself is misshapen or at risk of becoming imbalanced, the researchers said.

The team's model proposes that Earths inner core grows faster on its east side (left) than on its west. Gravity equalizes the asymmetric growth by pushing iron crystals toward the north and south poles (arrows). This tends to align the long axis of iron crystals along the planets rotation axis (dashed line), explaining the different travel times for seismic waves through the inner core. (Image credit: Marine Lasbleis)

On average, the inner core's radius grows evenly by about 0.04 inches (1 millimeter) every year. Gravity corrects for the lopsided growth in the east by pushing new crystals toward the west. There, the crystals clump into lattice structures that stretch along the core's north-south axis. These crystal structures, aligned parallel with Earth's poles, are seismic superhighways that enable earthquake waves to travel more quickly in that direction, according to the team's models.

Unpacking the snowball

What's causing this imbalance in the inner core, anyway? That's hard to say without looking at all the other layers of our planet, Frost said.

"Every layer in the Earth is controlled by what's above it, and influences what's below it," he said. "The inner core is slowly freezing out of the liquid outer core, like a snowball adding more layers. The outer core is then cooled by the mantle above it  so to ask the question of why the inner core is growing faster on one side than the other might be asking the question of why is one side of the mantle cooler than the other?"

Tectonic plates could be partially to blame, Frost said. As cold tectonic plates dive deep below the Earth's surface at subduction zones (places where one plate sinks below another), they cool the mantle below. However, whether mantle cooling could impact the inner core is still a subject of debate, Frost said.

Equally puzzling is whether or not the lopsided cooling in the core could be affecting Earth's magnetic field . The modern-day magnetic field is powered by the movement of liquid iron in the outer core; this liquid's movement is powered in turn by heat lost from the inner core. If the inner core is losing more heat in the east than the west, then the outer core will move more in the east too, Frost said.

"The question is, does this change the strength of the magnetic field?" he added.

Questions this big are beyond the scope of the team's new paper, but Frost said he has begun work on new research with a team of geomagnetists to investigate some possibilities.

Originally published on Live Science.
Scientists have found a new way to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The new approach disarms their natural defense mechanism, making existing antibiotics more lethal.

The study, conducted in lab dishes and mice, offers a promising strategy for taking down so-called superbugs without needing to make brand-new antibiotics .

"You want to make the already existing antibiotics with good safety profiles more potent," and with the help of a few newfound chemicals, the research team did just that, said senior author Evgeny Nudler, a professor of biochemistry at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

In the new study, published Thursday (June 10) in the journal Science , the team took aim at Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, two bacteria that show pervasive resistance to multiple drugs and rank among the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections. These bacteria rely on an enzyme called cystathionine gamma-lyase (CSE) to counter the toxic effects of bactericidal antibiotics, drugs that kill bacteria rather than just slowing their growth.

Related: 6 superbugs to watch out for

Specifically, the enzyme produces hydrogen sulfide, a compound that shields bacteria from oxidative stress, or an accumulation of free radicals. So the team sifted through more than 3 million small molecules to find chemicals that would block CSE without interacting with mammalian cells, and they found three strong candidates.

In lab dishes, the newfound molecules made bactericidal antibiotics two- to 15-fold more potent against the microbes, depending on the antibiotic being used and the bacterial strain being targeted. One of the small molecules also improved the survival of antibiotic-treated mice that had been infected with either S. aureus or P. aeruginosa.

Given that the study was conducted in rodents in the lab, "moving on into a human system is, you know, that huge next step," said Thien-Fah Mah, a professor and director of the Microbiology Graduate Program at the University of Ottawa who was not involved in the research. And, as with any new drug-like molecules, more studies will be needed to pin down what dose and administration route would be the safest and most effective in people, Mah told Live Science.

But given that most bacterial species use this defense tactic, taking aim at hydrogen sulfide production could be a "true game changer" in the fight against antibiotic resistance, Mah wrote in a commentary, also published June 10 in the journal Science .

Long road to discovery

The road to the current study began years ago, when a 2007 report in the journal Cell introduced the idea that all bactericidal antibiotics might trigger cell death in the same way, Mah said. "At that point ... it kind of blew the lid off of what all of us were thinking," because each class of bactericidal antibiotics targets different parts of the bacterial cell, so it's counterintuitive to think they work the same way to ultimately kill microbes, she said.

For example, some bactericidal drugs target a cell's outer wall , while others disrupt its protein -building factory, the ribosome. But the 2007 paper suggested that, after hitting their primary targets, all these drugs trigger a common secondary effect: They push bacteria to produce "reactive oxygen species," also known as free radicals, highly reactive molecular wrecking balls that can seriously damage DNA and proteins if not promptly defused.

Following this work, Nudler and his colleagues discovered one of bacteria's natural defense mechanisms against reactive oxygen species: hydrogen sulfide. According to their report, published in 2011 in the journal Science , the team scoured the genomes of hundreds of bacteria and found that they shared common genes that code for hydrogen sulfide-producing enzymes, with S. aureus and P. aeruginosa primarily using CSE. They reported that hydrogen sulfide boosted production of antioxidant enzymes in the bacteria, which transform free radicals into non-toxic molecules, while also suppressing the production of reactive oxygen species.

They also found that deleting or disabling the enzymes in bacteria made them "highly sensitive" to a wide range of antibiotics. These sensitized bacteria died from oxidative stress caused by a buildup of reactive oxygen species. At that point, the team wanted to find "inhibitors" that could bind and disable bacterial enzymes in an infected person.

Related: 12 amazing images in medicine

"If we combined those inhibitors with antibiotics  we could make those antibiotics more potent," Nudler told Live Science. However, "it was very tricky to find those inhibitors targeting these enzymes that were specific to bacteria," he noted.

Mammalian cells also produce hydrogen sulfide, meaning human cells also rely on the compound; in humans, hydrogen sulfide acts as a signalling molecule and interacts with many tissues, from the brain to smooth muscle. Both human cells and bacterial cells use CSE to make hydrogen sulfide, but the human and bacterial CSE come in slightly different flavors. The team wanted to find molecules that would show a strong preference for the bacterial CSE, both to ensure that the chemicals would be potent against bacteria and to avoid any unintended side effects on mammalian cells.

To do so, they extensively studied the structure of human, bacterial and other versions of CSE to find an attractive target for their molecules to latch onto. Ultimately, they found a "nice pocket" on the bacterial CSE that a small molecule could slip into and change the activity of the enzyme, Nudler said.

"What they've done is, they actually identified something that's unique to the bacterial enzyme and is not present in the human enzyme  so this is specific for bacteria," Mah said. Having found a bull's-eye to aim at, the team set to work crafting their weapons. They ran a virtual screen of about 3.2 million commercially available small molecules to determine which would fit into their chosen pocket. Three stood out as promising choices and made it to the next round of experiments.

By tamping down hydrogen sulfide production, the inhibitors not only boosted the effects of antibiotics against the bugs but also suppressed a phenomenon known as "bacterial tolerance."

Unlike antibiotic resistance, in which bacteria evolve in ways that make them less susceptible to drugs, tolerance describes when bacteria turn down their metabolisms in the face of stress and enter a somewhat dormant state. In this state, the cells stop multiplying and reduce their energy use. Because many antibiotics work by causing bacteria to short-circuit while multiplying, tolerance keeps the bacteria alive until the antibiotics are gone. This means some bacteria cells can linger even after an infected person completes a full course of antibiotics, and if their immune system isn't equipped to deal with the leftovers, chronic infection can set in, Nudler said.

But in their experiments, the authors found that the inhibitors stopped many bacteria from switching into this protective state. "We demonstrate that hydrogen sulfide, clearly, makes a huge impact on tolerance," Nudler said. Currently, "there is no drug specifically targeting  this tolerance phenomenon," he added, suggesting this could be a new avenue for treatment.

That said, "from a mechanistic point of view, it is still not entirely clear how inhibition of hydrogen sulfide leads to the various effects observed," said Dr. Dao Nguyen, an associate professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at McGill University in Montreal, who was not involved in the study. Echoing the sentiment, Nudler noted that he and his colleagues plan to further investigate the role of hydrogen sulfide in tolerance.

The team also needs to determine whether they need to tweak the molecules to make them optimally effective for humans, not just mice, and to determine the best route of administration, Nguyen said. "If the inhibitors could be developed into safe and effective drugs, one could imagine that they would be used in combination with existing antibiotics to treat ... chronic infections where current antibiotics are not very effective," she said.

Originally published on Live Science.
Swooping low over Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, NASA's Juno probe has snapped the first close-up photographs of the frozen giant in more than two decades  and they're breathtaking.

Juno zoomed as close as 645 miles (1,038 kilometers) from the icy surface of the solar system's largest moon Monday (June 7), giving the spacecraft just a 25-minute window to snap photos  long enough for five exposures  before it zipped away on its 33rd orbit of Jupiter.

Two photos from the flyby released by NASA Tuesday (June 8)  one of Ganymede's light, sun-facing side and the other of its dark side  show an icy, inhospitable surface pockmarked with craters from asteroid impacts, as well as long, narrow striations possibly caused by tectonic fault lines.

Related: Jupiter's Great Red Spot: Photos of the solar system's biggest storm

"This is the closest any spacecraft has come to this mammoth moon in a generation," Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton, a physicist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a statement . "We are going to take our time before we draw any scientific conclusions, but until then we can simply marvel at this celestial wonder."

The dark side of Ganymede, with craters from asteroid strikes and narrow lines, which scientists believe are from tectonic activity. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI)

NASA's Galileo spacecraft captured the last photos of the ginormous moon, which is the ninth-largest object in the solar system, more than 20 years ago. Prior to this, the only other detailed close-ups came from the Voyager missions in the late 1970s.

First discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610, Ganymede is one of the gas giant Jupiter's 79 moons. At 3,270 miles (5,260 km) wide, Ganymede is larger than the planet Mercury and the only moon in our solar system with its own magnetic field.

The Juno science team will now scour the new images for vital clues about the composition, ionosphere (the upper part of an atmosphere where atoms are ionised by solar radiation), magnetic field, radiation environment and ice shell of the Jovian moon, as well as investigate whether any areas of the moon have been altered since our last clear look. The level of detail offered by Juno's camera has enabled the team to take photos with a resolution of about 0.6 to 1.2 miles (1 to 2 km).

Launched just under a decade ago in August 2011, Juno has been orbiting Jupiter for five years, and the spacecraft is just a month away from the end of its primary mission. NASA plans to keep the probe surveying the stormy surface of Jupiter until 2025, with passes over two of the gas giant's other large moons, Europa and Io, lined up for 2023.

Originally published on Live Science.
Archaeologists recently discovered Israel's oldest known seal impression, a device that stamps a pattern onto soft material such as clay or wax in order to seal an object. The tiny clay impression dates back 7,000 years and was likely used to seal and sign deliveries, as well as to keep storerooms closed, according to a new study.

The research team discovered the seal, along with nearly 150 others, during excavations that took place between 2004 and 2007 in Tel Tsaf, a prehistoric village in Israel's Beit She'an Valley. But while most of the other seals were just pieces of clay without any imprints, one had an impression with two distinct geometric shapes on them, according to The Jerusalem Post .

After conducting a thorough analysis, archaeologists identified this object as the oldest seal impression known in the region, according to a statement . Prior to this discovery, older seals dating back 8,500 years had been found in the region, but seal impressions had not.

Related: Photos: Israel's largest Neolithic excavation

Prehistoric people used such sealings, or "bulla," to sign and seal letters to prevent them from being read by nosy outsiders. But they were also used to mark shipments and to indicate that silos or barns were off-limits. As with letters, if a barn door was opened, the seal would break, making it clear that someone had gone inside, according to the statement.

Round silos pictured at the prehistoric village of Tel Tsaf in Israel's Israel's Beit She'an Valley. (Image credit: Boaz Garfinkel)

"Even today, similar types of sealing are used to prevent tampering and theft," senior author Yosef Garfinkel, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said in a statement. "It turns out that this was already in use 7,000 years ago by land owners and local administrators to protect their property," said Garfinkel, who, with his two students at the time, led the excavation.

The ancient seal, which was found in great condition due to the dry climate of the area, is less than 0.4 inches (about a centimeter) wide and has two different stamps on it. The two different stamp patterns suggest that the seal may have been used in a commercial activity that involved two people in the transaction, according to the statement.

Many newer seals, such as those found in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem from about 2,600 years ago, include a name and sometimes biblical figures. But this seal dates back to a time before writing, so it was marked by geometric shapes instead.

An analysis of the clay suggested that the seal wasn't actually made in the prehistoric Beit She'an Valley but originated at least 6 miles (10 kilometers) away. Other finds from the site, which was likely home to wealthy people who had built up large stores of materials, indicate that prehistoric people of the area interacted with faraway peoples.

"At this very site, we have evidence of contact with peoples from Mesopotamia, Turkey, Egypt and Caucasia [or Caucasus]," which includes a region spanning Europe and Asia, Garfinkel said in the statement. "There is no prehistoric site anywhere in the Middle East that reveals evidence of such long-distance trade in exotic items as what we found at this particular site."

The findings were published May 18 in the journal Levant .

Originally published on Live Science.
When the precursor to today's internet carried its first message in 1969, clunky but functional classical computers had already been around for decades . Now, physicists are designing the embryonic threads of a whole new internet for moving and manipulating a radically different type of information: the quantum bit, or "qubit." And this time, they aren't waiting for the corresponding computers to exist first.

Two teams have now demonstrated an ensemble of technologies essential to building the backbone of such a network  devices known as quantum repeaters. The researchers managed, for the first time, to use light particles to bind two crystals separated by tens of meters into a single quantum mechanical system and verify the connection in a simple way. The experiments foreshadow a future where institutions across the planet can take advantage of a bizarre type of connection called entanglement .

"This is for sure a new step for quantum repeater applications," said Julien Laurat, a physicist at Sorbonne University in France, who was not involved in the research.

Related: Infographic: How quantum entanglement works

Storing light in matter

One pillar of quantum information technology is the qubit, which is a system (like a particle) that exists in a combination of two states known as "superposition." The qubit's rich behavior compared with that of a classical bit (which can exist only as a 0 or a 1) allows for new modes of computation, somewhat like how a six-sided die is suited to different games than a two-sided coin.

In the recent experiments, teams at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Spain used photons, or light particles, to create qubits. Past experiments have often stored information of photons in gas clouds controlled precisely with lasers, but the USTC and ICFO researchers have advanced a new type of "solid state" quantum hard drive: glass crystals filled, or "doped," with ions of a rare-earth metal. The ions took the place of the gas in earlier experiments, and the glass held them in place.

"You can think of our doped crystals as pretty much being a frozen cloud," said Samuele Grandi, an ICFO physicist who worked on one of the experiments.

When a photon enters the crystal, it crashes into the ions (which the researchers have carefully prepared to respond to the incoming particle) and transfers its energy to them. In that moment, the crystal is holding the photon's qubit and serving as a quantum memory, a storage device for quantum information.

A spooky connection

The second pillar of quantum communication is an ethereal link called entanglement, in which two particles or groups of particles act as one system, even while separated by large distances. This phenomenon lies at the heart of a quantum internet, yoking quantum devices much as fiber-optic cables and radio waves connect classical computers. A quantum network could stretch as far as one can entangle quantum memories, and no farther.

The problem is that, unlike bits on a hard drive, the ironclad rules of quantum mechanics forbid the copying and relaying of qubits in a quantum memory (a property that helps make quantum messages theoretically hack-proof). To overcome this obstacle, researchers imagine daisy-chaining quantum memories together with repeaters. To someday entangle memories between Boston and Washington, D.C., for instance, one might entangle the Boston memory with a memory in a New York repeater, and the New York repeater with the Washington, D.C., memory.

Grandi and his collaborators have taken a notable step toward such a device. Their apparatus starts with two laser-like devices, one on each side, , either of which can produce a pair of entangled photons. Even this first step is a challenge, with each device having just a 1-in-1,000 chance of doing so.

But with persistence, eventually one device will fire off twin photons. One photon goes straight into a corresponding quantum memory (the doped glass), and the other races down a fiber-optic cable. Halfway between the two devices (and their memories), this photon runs into a beam splitter  a material that lets the photon through half of the time.

That's where the quantum magic happens. When Grandi and his collaborators see a photon pop out of the beam splitter, they have no idea if it came from the right side or the left side. Therefore they have no idea whether the partner photon is living in the memory on the right or the memory on the left. Quantum mechanics give this uncertainty a profound consequence. Since the stored photon could be residing in the right memory or in the left memory, it must exist in a superposition of right and left, both present and absent in both memories in a way that entangles the two crystals together.

"The fact that you cannot know which way it came [from]," Grandi said, "this is what generates the entanglement between the memories that are now holding one photon between them."

When successful, the group's apparatus stored one photon between two entangled memories in neighboring labs, 10 meters (33 feet) apart  an outcome frequently described mathematically in quantum textbooks but rarely experienced in the real world.

"This, for me, was mind-boggling," Grandi told Live Science. "You know it works, but then you see it and this is really counterintuitive."

Crucially, the team could easily confirm the surreal connection. A photon emerging from the beam splitter means the memories are entangled. Researchers call this particle a heralding photon because it "heralds" entanglement. Other physicists have entangled quantum memories of various types before, but the ICFO and USTC experiments were the first to entangle crystal memories with this clear signal of entanglement.

The ICFO apparatus also used light of the same wavelength used in fiber-optic cables and proved that their memories could make multiple entanglement attempts at the same time  a step toward a quantum network carrying different messages simultaneously. The USTC group, in contrast, achieved a form of entanglement between two photons that is more immediately useful, although their connection was shorter lived. The teams described their work in two studies published June 2 in the journal Nature.

These results "provide key important steps forward on building blocks of future quantum repeater chains," Ronald Hanson, a quantum communications researcher at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, told Live Science in an email. "For the field working on solid-state ensemble-based memories, these push the state of the art significantly."

A long road ahead

The ICFO experiment represents the culmination of a decade of work spearheaded by physicist Hugues de Riedmatten to develop the procedures, materials and devices needed to create the heralded link. Grandi and his ICFO colleague Dario Lago-Rivera also went to extreme lengths to isolate the rudimentary repeater's components from the turmoil of the world. If vibrations from the building or a blast of hot air caused the meters-long cable to stretch by even a dozen nanometers, for instance, the disturbance would ruin the experiment.

Despite the progress, practical quantum repeaters that can reliably entangle memories across cities  much less continents  remain years away. The ICFO memories can remember their qubits for only 25 microseconds, enough time to entangle with another memory no farther than 3 miles (5 kilometers) away. The finicky system is also unreliable, with attempts to write a photon to memory succeeding just 25% of the time.

Nevertheless, the researchers have various ideas for how to improve their setup. Buoyed by the success of combining so many quantum elements, they believe they're on the path to stretching entanglement and quantum communications from neighboring labs to neighboring cities.

"This was a proof-of-principle starting point," Grandi said. We just wanted to "see if everything works."

Originally published on Live Science.
A new population of pygmy blue whales has been discovered using nuclear bomb detectors.

Scientists have discovered an entirely new population of pygmy blue whales in the Indian Ocean, which have managed to evade detection for decades despite their enormous size.

Researchers uncovered the secretive cetaceans by analyzing acoustic data collected by an underwater nuclear bomb detection array, which revealed a unique song scientists had never heard before.

The new population of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda)  a smaller subspecies of blue whale that reaches a maximum length of 79 feet (24 meters)  is now called the Chagos population, after a group of islands in the Indian Ocean near the group's lair.

Related: Whale album: Giants of the deep

"We are still discovering missing populations of the largest animal that has ever lived," senior author Tracey Rogers, a marine ecologist at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia, told Live Science. "It's a testament to the difficulty of studying life in the ocean."

Bomb detectors

"Blue whales are generally hard to find," lead author Emmanuelle Leroy, a postdoctoral fellow at UNSW, told Live Science. "They were brought to the edge of extinction by industrial whaling and they are recovering very slowly."

Currently, about 5,000 to 10,000 blue whales exist in the Southern Hemisphere, compared with the pre-whaling population of about 350,000 there, according to the Center for Biological Diversity . The few that remain are often solitary and are spread across large geographic areas, making them easy to miss, Leroy said.

Blue whales are hard to find despite their enormous size. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

"The best way to study them is through passive acoustic monitoring," Leroy said. "But this means that we need to have hydrophones recording in the different parts of the ocean."

In the Indian Ocean, in particular, there are limited scientific acoustic arrays set up. So the team turned to underwater nuclear bomb detectors belonging to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO)  an international group that uses a global underwater acoustic relay network to detect illegal nuclear bomb tests in the oceans. This gave the researchers access to a long-term dataset of noises across the Indian Ocean.

"The CTBTO data is an important international asset," Rogers said. "I think it's cool that the same system that keeps the world safe from nuclear bombs is available to researchers and allows a host of scientists, including us, to do marine science that would not be possible without such sophisticated hydroacoustic arrays."

A distinct song

"This new whale song has been a dominant part of the soundscape in the Central Equatorial Indian Ocean for the past nearly 18 years." Tracey Rogers

After analyzing the data, the researchers discovered a particular blue whale song that had not previously been heard before.

"Blue whale songs are very simple in the way that they are the repetition of the same pattern," Leroy said. "But each blue whale subspecies and population has a different song type."

In general, blue whale songs are long, have a low frequency  sometimes below what humans are capable of hearing (below 20 hertz)  high intensity and are repeated at regular intervals. But different groups of whales have calls that differ in duration, structure and the number of distinct sections.

The Chagos song, belonging to the new pygmy population, has three sections, the first of which is the most complex, followed by two basic parts.

"This new whale song has been a dominant part of the soundscape in the Central Equatorial Indian Ocean for the past nearly 18 years," Rogers said. Because of the song's prevalence, the researchers are confident that the song belongs to an entirely new population and not just a few lone individuals. However, the exact size of this new population remains a mystery.

"Unfortunately, we have no idea of the pygmy blue whale population's size," Leroy said. "Acoustic [surveys] cannot give us this information yet."

Another one

"Finding a new population of pygmy blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere is exciting," Rogers said. "It increases the global population that we did not realize was there before."

Visual identification is still needed to definitively confirm the existence of the Chagos population, but the researchers are confident that this will only be a matter of time.

In December 2020, another study using acoustic surveys, of which Rogers and Leroy were co-authors, uncovered another new population of blue whales near Oman.

"This now takes us to five pygmy blue whale populations in the Indian Ocean," Rogers said, making the area a hotspot for the subspecies.

These discoveries "would not have been possible" without acoustic surveys, Rogers said.

The study was published online April 22 in the journal Scientific Reports .

Originally published on Live Science.
Kids as young as 12 can now receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, yet some parents are hesitant to get their children vaccinated. Parents might worry about giving a 12-year-old a vaccine that has not yet been approved for even younger kids. So we asked doctors who specialize in infectious diseases in children a question many parents have been wondering about: Should 12-year-olds get the COVID-19 vaccine?

The answer from experts is a resounding yes. "I absolutely think they should get the vaccine, just like I think anyone who's vaccine-eligible, which goes down to 12 now, should get vaccinated," said Dr. Aaron Milstone, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore. "Because it is, one, the best way they can protect themselves against this infection, and, two, it's the best way to help protect the community from the spread of the virus."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people ages 12 and older get a COVID-19 vaccine, as does the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Indeed, the CDC recently urged parents to encourage their teens to get vaccinated, after an increase in hospitalizations was reported in this age group in March and April.

Related: Quick guide: COVID-19 vaccines in use and how they work

"At some point, parents will have to decide whether they want to get their kids a vaccine or whether they want them to get COVID," Milstone said. "I know some people are nervous and they're anxious. And hopefully, as more and more children are safely vaccinated, it will reassure them that this is a safer approach than risking your child having a complication from the infection itself."

On May 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in kids ages 12 to 15, Live Science previously reported . The FDA had already granted an EUA for use of the same vaccine in people ages 16 and older on Dec. 11, 2020.

The vaccine is 100% effective in preventing COVID-19 in 12- to 15-year-olds, according to a Phase 3 clinical trial with 2,260 participants, the results of which were published May 27 in The New England Journal of Medicine . Approximately half of the participants received the vaccine, and half received a placebo. There were no cases of confirmed COVID-19 in the participants who received the vaccine and 18 cases in those who received the placebo.

The vaccine also has a "favorable safety and side-effect profile," the authors wrote in their study. None of the vaccine recipients in the trial had any serious vaccine-related adverse events. Further, in a statement about the EUA, the FDA said it had determined that the benefit of the vaccine to children 12 and older outweighed the "known and potential risks, supporting the vaccine's use in this population."

Benefits of vaccination

Severe COVID-19 is uncommon in children, but that's not to say COVID-19 hasn't affected kids. By the end of April, there had been more than 3.7 million cases of COVID-19 in children in the United States, 15,456 child hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 303 child deaths from COVID-19, according to a report by the AAP and the Children's Hospital Association. Many of those hospitalizations involved intensive care, added Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases and chief of Stanford University School of Medicine's division of pediatric infectious diseases.

"We really do think that to protect children themselves, it's really important to get vaccinated and also to protect people in the community where children live from getting infections transmitted by children. So for both the children's good and the good of the community, it is important," said Maldonado, who is also one of the investigators on the trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in kids under 12.

Another reason to get vaccinated is for protection against the long-term consequences of COVID-19, which remain to be determined, Milstone said. An example of a long-term consequence that has already been observed is multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which can develop in kids a month or two after infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, he said. MIS-C is characterized by the inflammation of multiple organs, Live Science previously reported .

"We don't know whether there could be other late effects from this virus that just emerged a year and a half ago," Milstone said. "So for right now, I think the surest way to protect ourselves is to get vaccinated."

Furthermore, vaccination offers kids the chance to go about many of their activities without wearing masks. "The social benefits are important," Maldonado said, adding that the new mask guidelines from the CDC indicate that vaccinated people can go without masks in most situations. "And it really would be helpful for children to have that opportunity," Maldonado said.

'Millions of kids'

Within a week following FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for kids ages 12 to 15, 600,000 kids within that age group had received their first doses, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told members of the media May 18, Reuters reported . As of that date, 4 million people 17 and under had been vaccinated, Walensky said.

"Hopefully, the fact that millions of kids have gotten these vaccines safely in the United States will reassure people that this is a safe thing to do for their child," Milstone said.

In a survey reported in the Kaiser Family Foundation's May Vaccine Monitor , 41% of parents of kids ages 12 to 17 said that their children have either gotten at least one dose or that they will get vaccinated right away.

Yet not all parents are eager for their kids to get vaccinated. In the same survey, 14% of parents said they would get their child vaccinated only if their school required it, and another 20% said they would "definitely not" get their 12- to 17-year-old vaccinated. Many parents said they are worried about vaccine side effects.

Side effects and risks

The most common side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in kids ages 12 to 15 are "tiredness, headache, chills, muscle pain, fever and joint pain," according to the FDA statement about the EUA. These side effects are similar to those reported by vaccine recipients ages 16 and up, according to the statement.

In a May 17 statement , the CDC said it had been investigating a few cases of myocarditis ( heart inflammation), primarily in adolescents, within four days of receiving a vaccine, Live Science previously reported . And recently, data from the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) showed a higher than expected number of myocarditis cases in older adolescents and young adults, ages 16 to 24, within a month after receiving their second shot of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, according to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) . Researchers will continue to monitor this link as more young people are vaccinated to determine whether the vaccine is really the cause of these myocarditis cases, the ACIP said. It will be important to determine if there really are more cases among vaccinated people, Milstone said, because only then would it make sense to attribute the heart inflammation to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Given the large number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 in children, "we do think that the benefits of the vaccine will outweigh the risks, and that if people are concerned about myocarditis, they should know that the CDC and others are still investigating a potential relationship, but if there is a relationship, it will be rare," Maldonado said. Out of millions of vaccinations given to people under 18, there have been just a few cases of heart inflammation. Those cases have been mild and have resolved quickly, she said.

Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in people under 18. However, Moderna announced in a May 25 statement that its vaccine is safe and effective in kids ages 12 to 17, based on the results of a Phase 2/3 clinical trial, and that it plans to submit its data to the FDA in June.
Lisa McVey got glimpses of her kidnapper through her blindfold and created and cataloged her own evidence by counting the number of steps leading up to Longs apartment and memorizing the color of the carpet on the stairs. She left her fingerprints on the bathroom mirror, dropped a hair pin in the living room and smeared blood from her finger inside of his car in the hopes it would one day be discovered by police.
By Zakiya Dalila Harris

Atria. 368 pp. $27

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The publicity materials for Zakiya Dalila Harris's debut novel, "The Other Black Girl," describe the book as a literary mash-up of "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Get Out." That sets the bar high with the promise of a cultural landmark - a novel that's timely, hilarious, witty, mildly terrifying, emotionally textured and conversant on the social and political issues that Black women face in the world and the workplace. Is the novel worth the hype? Yes. It should be at the top of your summer reading list.

The story opens in summer 2018. Nella Rogers (see: celebrated Harlem Renaissance author, Nella Larsen) is in the second year of her job as an editorial assistant at Wagner Books. A University of Virginia graduate and the daughter of a college dean, Nella is privileged but still disadvantaged relative to her wealthier White peers. Nella is hungry for a promotion and wonders if her professional ascent is halted by her race, her campaign for a more diverse workplace or something else altogether. Nella relies on two sounding boards - her best friend, Malaika, another 20-something Black girl, and her White boyfriend, Owen. The book earns its title from a new hire who disrupts Nella's status as Wagner's proverbial fly in the buttermilk.

Nella is immediately enraptured and perplexed by Wagner's newest editorial assistant, Hazel-May McCall. They bond over college-educated Black girl things - literary tastes, a Zora Neale Hurston mug. But Hazel swiftly eclipses Nella, joining forces with the company's editor in chief, Richard Wagner, and hogging the mic at a fall marketing meeting. Soon after Hazel's start date, Nella finds a mysterious note on her desk: "LEAVE WAGNER NOW." Is Hazel the culprit? Or are there darker forces at work?

An engaging subplot revolves around a Wagner book that hit the bestseller list in 1983 and the soured friendship between its author, Diana Gordon, and its editor, her childhood friend, Kendra Rae Phillips. Kendra flames out spectacularly after calling out, on television, the racism of the publishing industry and America in general. Kendra's subsequent disappearance and unrealized career ambitions haunt both Nella and this text. Nella and Kendra's story lines intersect in surprising ways as the novel transitions into a riveting thriller revolving around a covert brainwashing effort and an underground resistance movement.

One of the pleasures of "The Other Black Girl" is its unapologetic appeal to Black female readers. From references to '90s Black culture (Janet Jackson's braids in "Poetic Justice," "A Different World" reruns) to ample servings of hair-related angst, conversations and plot points, Black girls will appreciate how their experiences, perspectives and quirks are centered in this novel. At the heart of the book is Nella's belief - confirmed by personal experience as well as data - that the decks are stacked against Black women. Nella reflects upon " . . . the day she'd first learned that it would not be enough for her to simply go to college, get good grades, and get the interview. That it wouldn't be enough to simply show up to work; to simply wear the right clothes. You had to wear the right mentality. You had to live the mentality. Be everyone's best friend. Be sassy. Be confident, but also be deferential. Be spiritual, but also be down-to-earth. Be woke, but still keep some of that sleep in your eyes, too."

Harris is a capable, funny writer who crafts a compelling, sympathetic and complex protagonist. Glimpsing Nella's interior life and friendship with Malaika feels like overhearing the real thoughts and conversations of a young Black woman. Harris creates well-written characters without pandering to Black readers or translating African American cultural shorthand for a White audience. While I generally enjoyed this book, the transitions between the present-day story featuring Nella and Hazel to the past narrative were occasionally awkward, and one major plot point felt underdeveloped.

And yet, I believe that the novel will assume its place as a cultural artifact that resonates especially with Black female readers. It is part of an exciting wave of recent fiction by Black millennial writers, including Alexia Arthurs's "How to Love a Jamaican," Kiley Reid's "Such a Fun Age" and London-based Candice Carty-Williams's "Queenie." Readers who can't get enough of publishing workplace novels should see also Camille Perri's debut, "The Assistants."

"The Other Black Girl" dutifully and honestly recapitulates the literary world's debates about how to redress its long legacy of anti-Blackness. One cannot help but note the irony of a major publisher promoting a takedown of the industry. That said, it is heartening to witness a full press effort, complete with significant marketing, publicity and (one hopes) a large author advance, in support of a debut by a young Black writer. I hope this isn't the last we hear from Harris, as its heartbreaking, creepy ending seems to promise a sequel.

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Naomi Jackson is the author of "The Star Side of Bird Hill" and an assistant professor of English at Rutgers University at Newark.
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have fired another salvo against the British media by issuing a legal letter accusing the BBC of false and defamatory reporting over a story regarding their newborn daughter Lilibets name.

The latest spat centers around whether or not the couple asked Queen Elizabeth II for permission to use her personal nickname, Lilibet, for their daughter. Lilibet was the name used in private by the Queens father and her husband, Prince Philip. During Philips funeral in April, reports suggested that a hand-written card from the Queen, which accompanied a funeral wreath atop Philips casket, had been signed Lilibet.

Some media reports initially claimed that Harry and Meghan, who are currently on parental leave, consulted the Queen before using the name for their daughter. However, the BBCs long-time royal correspondent Jonny Dymond reported this morning that he had been informed by a palace source that the Queen had not been asked.

Dymond included in his report a rebuttal from the Sussexes spokesperson, who told him: The duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement  in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called. During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honor. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.

After other media outlets picked up on the BBCs report, the Sussexes instructed their London-based law firm Schillings to send out a threatening legal letter calling the BBCs report false and defamatory.

Variety has contacted the Sussexes reps for comment.

The legal warning shot represents another blow for the BBC in its relations with the royals, after being roiled by allegations that one of its former star correspondents, Martin Bashir, used forged documents in order to persuade Harrys mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, into sitting down for her infamous Panorama interview. An external investigation, which concluded last month, found that the BBC fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark in its conduct regarding the interview.

To those who have taken some form of accountability, thank you for owning it, Harry said in a statement last month. That is the first step towards justice and truth. Yet what deeply concerns me is that practices like these  and even worse  are still widespread today. Then, and now, its bigger than one outlet, one network, or one publication.

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CNN's chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin returned to the air Thursday - for the first time since he exposed himself during a virtual meeting with colleagues from the New Yorker magazine last fall.

Toobin appeared on an afternoon show hosted by co-anchor Alisyn Camerota after a long absence from public view that began last October, when Vice.com reported that he had been seen inappropriately touching himself during a Zoom video call with colleagues at the New Yorker, where he had worked as a staff writer since the 1990s. Toobin apologized at the time for what he called "an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera."

On Thursday, Camerota asked Toobin to address the fallout again.

"Nothing is really in my defense," Toobin said. "This was deeply moronic and indefensible. . . . It was wrong, it was stupid, and I'm trying to be a better person."

The October incident immediately upended Toobin's long career in journalism. The New Yorker suspended him. The next month, an executive at the company that owns the magazine announced that Toobin would not be returning, following an investigation into his behavior. On Twitter, Toobin said he was "fired."

But his other employer, CNN, told reporters that he had asked for "some time off while he deals with a personal issue" - a request the network quickly granted.

The network then remained silent about Toobin's status for months, until now.

Describing his absence from TV, Toobin told viewers: "I have spent the seven subsequent months - miserable months - in my life trying to be a better person. In therapy, trying to do some public service, working in a food bank, working on a new book. I am trying to become the kind of person that people can trust again."

He said he thought the magazine's decision to fire him was "an excessive punishment," but acknowledged: "That is why they don't ask the criminal to be the judge in his own case."

"I'm incredibly grateful for CNN to take me back," he said. "Other people are going to weigh in about whether it was appropriate for them to get rid of me, and for CNN to keep me."

Toobin said he has spoken with and apologized to his former colleagues at The New Yorker who witnessed the incident. "They were shocked and appalled," he said. But, he added, "They realized that this was not intended for them. They realized that this was something I would immediately regret."

Before his appearance on CNN, Toobin seemed to be in a sort of indefinite limbo. He had continued listing CNN as an employer on Twitter and on LinkedIn, a platform where he noted the end of his New Yorker role. Fox News reported that Toobin tweeted and then deleted a message in January saying, "I'll be back." But he has been quiet besides that.

Requesting anonymity to speak frankly, a network executive told The Post that enough time had passed since the incident, and Toobin deserved a second chance.

"I don't think that one terrible mistake should define a person or ruin their employment opportunities for life," the executive said, noting that Toobin had already been humiliated and mocked for a "wildly embarrassing" but "unintentional" mistake.

The executive said the network investigated the incident before allowing Toobin to return - even though it occurred at the New Yorker, not CNN - and that Toobin fully cooperated with that probe.

Critics of CNN have seized on the network's apparent leniency toward Toobin over the past seven months, particularly after the decision to fire commentator Rick Santorum last month for making derogatory comments about Native American culture.

"Crazy how CNN fired Rick Santorum but Jeffrey Toobin acted totally inappropriately in front of female colleagues on a Zoom call and he's still on staff," one Twitter user noted. The website of CNN rival Fox News has also prominently reported on Toobin's absence and the network's months-long silence.

Camerota said she was happy to have Toobin back. "Many of us really have missed having your legal analysis to guide us on our programs," she told him on the segment. "So, let me the first to welcome you back."

"It is good to be back," Toobin replied. "And, I hope to be a better person, off-camera as well as on camera."

But, he acknowledged that his return might not be universally welcomed. "I live in the world," he said. "I know social media. I know what the reactions are likely to be. I hope they will at least be mixed."
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In a victory for Native American communities, climate activists, environmentalists, farmers, ranchers, and all human beings who want a livable planet, the Keystone XL pipeline is officially dead. According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, the Canadian firm TC Energy Corp and the provincial government of Alberta have officially abandoned the plan for the pipeline that would have moved dirty crude from Canadas tar sands across the Great Plains states en route to refineries and export terminals on the U.S. Gulf coast.

The Keystone XL fight was extraordinary. The stakes were high. The process for extracting tar sands crude is extraordinarily energy intensive, and it yields crude that is dirty, viscous, and very high in carbon. The pipeline would have carried more than 800,000 barrels a day of the stuff to market  and the pipeline would have sent a strong market signal that Big Oils business model was here to stay, climate impacts be damned.

The battle also marked the first time that activists targeted a piece of oil infrastructure as a way to communicate the need to disrupt business-as-usual in defense of the climate. The fight over Keystone XL became a proxy fight against climate change itself  and a warning to the fossil fuel industry that it would face ongoing resistance attempting to extract reserves that threaten the planet.

The Keystone XL fight united a diverse coalition of activists, including those fighting to alert the planet to the threat of climate change (Bill McKibben wrote about getting arrested at a Keystone XL protest for Rolling Stone in 2011) as well as Great Plains farmers, ranchers, and Native tribes who were concerned about how the potential leaks and spills from the pipeline could endanger regions water supply.

There was a time when the pipelines construction appeared a foregone conclusion. Keystone XL was initially given a green light by the Obama administration and Hillary Clintons state department. Pressure from activists eventually convinced that Democratic administration to reverse course and abandon its backing of the project. By 2015, Obama would veto a Republican-passed bill to approve the pipeline.

The Trump administration, ever eager to promote oil interests, reversed course and attempted to put the pipeline back on track. But the approvals process was stymied in the courts long enough for the Biden administration to take power  and revoke a key permit for Keystone XL in the first days of his administration. Without that permit, the project was all-but dead. Today, what was once an activist dream is now a reality.

The greater impact of the Keystone XL fight has been the Keystone-ization of other infrastructure fights, including the battle over the Dakota Access pipeline and the current battle over Enbridges Line 3 pipeline. At every step where oil companies are putting private profits over the longterm health of the planet, activists are showing up, putting their bodies on the line, and insisting that untapped oil reserves need to stay in the ground.
Laredo City Council appointed its new city Planning & Zoning Director on Monday, but the decision was met with some backlash by local officials.

Orlando Navarro was recommended for the position by city manager Robert Eads, and he is slated to begin on July 1.

According to Eads, the position was vital to the welfare of the city and needed the involvement of the council in choosing the next director. He added that while several other solicitations were turned in, Navarro stood out as a native Laredoan.

Eads emphasized Navarros 22 years of experience in both public and private sector, which he believed would be important to the city moving forward. Eads also highlighted Navarros term as Laredo Planning & Zoning Commission member, President of the Laredo Builders Association, Chairman of the Laredo Parade of Homes and more.

What I need to express is that Mr. Navarro is being recommended for appointment because I think he brings a correct mix of what we need today for the current environment that we are in, Eads said.

However, opposition was presented after Eads conclusion.

District VIII Councilmember Alyssa Cigarroa cited the job listing for the position and compared it to the Stephenville, which has a population of 21,000 compared to Laredos nearly 260,000. She stated that she felt the city continues to hire unqualified personnel.

I dont understand why we make our job descriptions so broad  yet here we continue to hire people who are not qualified, and I dont see why we are setting such a low standard, she said.

She highlighted that with the Laredo job description, the education portion asks for an applicant to have a bachelors degree in either urban planning, public administration, business administration, marketing or a related field. It also asks for at least seven years of public experience in planning, public administration, land development, an oil-related field or real estate planning, with at least four years of supervisory experience.

Cigarroa compared it to the job postings of other cities such as Stephenville, where there a director requires a bachelors degree in civil planning, urban planning, urban development, architecture, public administration, geography or a related field. The candidate must also have 3-5 years of professional experience in planning in municipal government, zoning administration, building code experience, advance knowledge in GIS and more.

Geographic Information System is software used to analyze spatial and geographic data using maps and additional data points.

Why would we not have such a distinct job description for such an important position? Cigarroa asked.

According to the city, Navarro received a bachelors degree in business administration with a focus in marketing in 1994 from TAMIU. He has worked in leadership positions at Popeyes, St. Augustine High School, Arguindigui Oil Company and UETA.

As part of the B.P. Newman Investments Company, he performed the position of Development Director, where he contributed to the development of over 300 acres of land. He also provided oversight for over 1,500 apartments in Laredo and South Texas, and planned numerous residential properties during his time at this company, the city states. Additionally, Mr. Navarro supervised office staff and field personnel in multiple markets, which allowed him to enhance his leadership skills. He also assumed public relations responsibilities to the business community.

Cigarroa argues that as important as the position is, finding the most qualified personnel trumps choosing a Laredoan who is well known throughout the city with lesser qualifications.

Councilmember Vanessa Perez also gave her input about her experience with Navarro and his insistence with a zone change in her District VII, believing that it would clog the only way for people in Green Ranch to get out of their homes. She felt this led to a disappointing first impression.

Perez also said that there was little information and transparency regarding the other candidates for the position.

Perez said that prior to the city council meeting was the first time she saw his application, and she noticed some red flags. Among them was Navarro had heard of the position from a friend and did not have computer software program experience aside from Microsoft Office.

I am sorry, but a planner should know how to use GIS, should know how to be able to use more than Office, she said. I have a marketing degree, and I dont think I am qualified to be a city planner.

The frustration continued as Perez saw Navarro laugh in the audience and ultimately rejected the appointment, followed by Cigarroa saying that an unqualified director will result in the clogged city and be unable to meet the Viva Laredo Plan.

Mayor Pete Saenz said that important positions have no place for local favoritism. He added that from where the city is, he was against Navarros appointment as it needed someone more experienced.

However, District II Councilmember Vidal Rodriguez disagreed and felt that the city should continue hiring locals in an effort to help them better themselves and educate themselves. He said that he believed in Eads recommendation and claimed that voting against it is akin to destroying another Laredoan.

Rodriguez believed that due to Navarros experience with the planning & zoning commission, he would understand the city experience and make it better. Rodriguez did mention that if unsuccessful, it would be the councils duty to vote him out of the position.

District IV Councilmember Alberto Torres said that with Eads recommendation, they will be his appointments and he will be held accountable. If Navarro succeeds or fails during his employment, it will have its own consequences for both Navarro and Eads.

Despite Perez, Torres, Saenz and Cigarroa voting for the appointment to be tabled for a later date, the implication of Navarros employment being tied to Eads accountability resulted in another vote that approved his appointment. The vote in favor was 5-3, with Cigarroa, Perez and Saenz opposed.

cocampo@lmtonline.com
BANGKOK (AP)  At least one-quarter of the people in Myanmar's smallest state have been forced to flee their homes because of combat with the military junta that seized power in February, raising fears of a possible humanitarian tragedy including thousands of civilian deaths, a U.N. expert said Wednesday.

The U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, called for international pressure on the junta to deprive it of the resources needed to continue these brutal attacks on the people of Myanmar.

Mass deaths from starvation, disease and exposure could occur in Kayah state after many of the 100,000 forced to flee into forests from junta bombs are now cut off from food, water and medicine by the junta, he said in remarks posted on Twitter.

Kayah state, also known as Karenni state, is in eastern Myanmar along the border with Thailand and has an estimated population of 350,000-400,000.

The U.N.s office in Myanmar said in a statement Tuesday that people in Kayah are in urgent need of food, water, shelter, fuel and healthcare, and that this crisis could push people across international borders seeking safety, as already seen in other parts of the country. Villagers from the Karen minority south of Kayah fled to Thailand in March and April when they came under attack by Myanmars military.

The military, which ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, has faced widespread opposition to its rule, initially by massive nonviolent protests. After soldiers and police used deadly force to crush the peaceful demonstrations, a low-level armed insurrection has emerged in both the cities and countryside.

According to Myanmars Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 850 protesters and bystanders have been killed in the juntas crackdown, though the government puts the death toll at about a third of that.

There has been fierce fighting in Kayah since May 21, when government forces moved into areas controlled by the state's dominant political organization, the Karenni National Progressive Party, and its armed wing, the Karenni Army. The KNPP is one of about a dozen armed ethnic organizations that have been battling for decades for greater autonomy from the central government.

Andrews said he has received credible reports of a major shortage of safe drinking water, severe diarrhea outbreaks, and a lack of adequate shelter among Kayahs displaced people. He said there were reports that the military had set up blockades that are keeping aid from reaching them.

An official for the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, a recently formed group fighting against the government, confirmed that there was an urgent need among the displaced people for protection during the current rainy season and for medicine.

The spokesman, who was contacted by phone from Thailand and declined to give his name for safety reasons, said there was not much fighting Wednesday, though occasional sounds of government heavy weapons could be heard.

The defense force is an outgrowth of the protest movement that began against military rule after the February takeover. The units were formed locally and now sometimes operate at the state level. They are loosely affiliated with an alternative National Unity Government established by elected lawmakers who were denied their seats in Parliament by the army coup.

The National Unity Government seeks recognition as Myanmar's legitimate government, and has announced plans to unite the local defense forces into a federal army in alliance with the long-established ethnic rebel groups, who have provided the new groups with military training. The fighting in Kayah is believed to be the first in which a local defense force conducted joint operations with an ethnic guerrilla group.

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A previous version of this story corrected the name of the antigovernment group in Kayah to Karenni Nationalities Defense Force.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. military has already begun conducting combat operations and surveillance in Afghanistan from outside the country's borders, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress on Thursday, as the troop withdrawal continues.

But Austin declined to specifically address whether the U.S. will provide combat air support to the Afghan forces to prevent them or their major cities from being overrun by the Taliban after the pullout is complete. Austin said he would not speculate on potential actions but noted that once troops are fully withdrawn from Afghanistan it will be very difficult to provide such support to the Afghans.

Already, Austin said, the U.S. military is conducting air combat patrols and support from ships in the Gulf, and sending surveillance aircraft to Afghanistan from nations in the Gulf region. And Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that already the vast majority of MQ-9 Reaper drone missions are being flown from locations outside Afghanistan.

As of now, Austin said, the U.S. is still looking for options to station troops and aircraft in neighboring countries to make the flight to Afghanistan shorter. But, he said, that effort is still a work in progress and he had no timetable for completion of any negotiations.

Austin and Milley were testifying before the Senate Armed Service Committee on the proposed military budget and were pressed on a wide range of issues, including congressional proposals to change how the military prosecutes major crimes, including sexual assault.

President Joe Biden ordered the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by early September, and that pullout is ahead of schedule, the military has said. But many questions surrounding the withdrawal remain unanswered, including how the U.S. will conduct intelligence operations in Afghanistan after the withdrawal, how far it will go to defend the Afghan government and what diplomatic presence it will have in the country.

Austin noted that once the withdrawal is done, the U.S. will focus counterterrorism efforts on al-Qaida and other terror groups that can conduct attacks against the American homeland.

There have, however, been persistent questions, including from segments of the Afghan government, about whether the U.S. will provide any combat support to the Afghan forces if they are under siege from the Taliban and major cities, such as Kabul, are at risk of being overrun. The Pentagon has suggested that any such mission would not qualify under the parameters set by Biden for counterterror operations, but there is widespread concern that once U.S. and coalition troops have left, the Taliban will increase their attacks and the Afghan government could collapse.

As early as this week, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, Gen. Frank McKenzie, will give Austin a range of military options for securing the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan and providing counterterrorism support from outside the country once the withdrawal is complete, according to U.S. officials said.

The number of American troops needed for the overall security missions inside Afghanistan will depend on a variety of requirements, and could range from roughly a couple hundred to a bit less than 1,000, officials said. When the pullout officially began on May 1, the number of U.S. troops was between 2,500 and 3,500.

McKenzie is expected to provide options on the amount of aerial surveillance and drones needed to keep an eye on any potential resurgence of al-Qaida, the Islamic State or other militant groups. Those options will involve U.S. aircraft from ships at sea and air bases in the Gulf region, such as Al Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates. And they could range from persistent U.S. overwatch to a more minimal presence. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss planning details.

On the question of prosecution of sexual assault, both Austin and Milley said they remain open-minded about taking it out of the chain of command. But both also suggested that extending that to all major crimes would require more study, and that any changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice will take time to enact properly.

Earlier this year, an independent review commission created by Austin recommended that the prosecution of sexual assaults be shifted to judge advocates reporting to a civilian-led Office of the Chief Special Victim Prosecutor. The independent judge advocates would decide two key legal questions: whether to charge someone and whether that charge should go to a court martial.

Members of Congress are pushing for a similar  and in some respects more expansive  change. Because any such change would amend military law, it will require an act of Congress. A key advocate for the shift has been Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, who now has bipartisan, filibuster-proof support for a bill that would take prosecution decisions out of the chain of command for major crimes, including sexual assault, rape and murder.

On Thursday she pressed Austin and Milley on whether they backed removing all major crimes from the chain of command.

Austin said that so far he and the independent commission have been focused on the sexual assault issue. And Milley expressed reservations about a more expansive change.

I think the commander is essential to maintaining good order and discipline in the military, Milley said. I am very, very open to significant change in the area of sexual assault, sexual harassment. When we get beyond that, at this point my position is I need to study it more. ... It needs a lot of due diligence before we bundle all the one-year felonies and take them away from the commanders.
Three historic shotgun houses on the West Side of San Antonio once looked destined for a bulldozer. But a new pilot program is now giving those homes a new lease on life.

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The three shotgun houses were remodeled for less than what building a new home would cost thanks to the joint efforts of local nonprofit Micro:SA, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the City of San Antonio.

Shotgun houses, according to UTSA press release announcing the project, are narrow houses, typically 1,000 square feet or smaller, and built in the city prior to 1960. Along with being architecturally important, UTSA professor/executive director of UTSAs Westside Community Partnerships Roger Enriquez explains the homes play an important role in the history of San Antonio.

These small dwelling units are a vivid historical remnant of redlining practices in the urban core, says Enriquez in the release. Often the original owners could not find financing from financial institutions, so they purchased and built them as part of kits from local lumberyards.

The renovation initiative received $250,000 from the citys 2021 budget and identified close to 800 homes throughout the Alamo City that could benefit from renovation, rather than destruction.

RELATED: 'He couldn't even do five push-ups': Julian Castro drags Ted Cruz on comedian's new talk show

City District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales has acted as a liaison between residents and the city, and spoke to Vincent T. Davis of the Express-News about a renovation that transformed Humberto and Laura Martinezs home, a structure that's been passed down through generations.

That one-on-one communication with people in their homes has been most impactful for both parties. Its been the highlight of my career," Gonzales says.

Those wishing for a city-funded renovation can apply through Gonzales' district office, the Office of Historic Preservation, or the Housing Department.
Thompson asked the Delta agent for information about his daughter and her travel. When the Delta agent refused to provide the information, Thompson allegedly explained that his daughter was trying to smuggle drugs aboard the flight and asked if they had a procedure to get his daughter off the plane. The Delta representative said they had a policy but would not share it with Thompson.


Jenny and Bruce Eirena in front of their temporary accommodation on their lifestyle block. They value simplicity and being debt free.

Lifestyle blocks are becoming more common in Mahurangi. What is their appeal? And is it all worth it? Communications student Alisha McLennan talks to lifestyle blockers old and new to find out 

A haven for missionaries

Jenny and Bruce, Kaipara Flats

Jenny and Bruce Eirena recently moved onto some land in the Kaipara Flats area. They work for a non-profit organisation, so they were wanting to harness a more reliable income stream from the land long-term.

We value simplicity and we value debt-free, Jenny says.

Their family moved back to New Zealand last year after working as missionaries in Papua New Guinea.

Living in a third world country was really hard and really stressful. Our plans for the land are tied in with creating an environment and a place where people can come. It can be a sanctuary for other missionaries in transition.

Jenny says that they see themselves more as caretakers of the land than landowners.

Temporary accommodation is currently housing the family. They want to live on the land before committing to a permanent house and secondary dwelling.

Its kind of a 20-year plan. I believe slow is good, Jenny says.

She says she understands there are complex issues around lifestyle blocks.

I am aware that I am costing New Zealand in farmland, so I need to use this land that belongs to New Zealand and God really well, she says.

A chance to shoot some arrows

Gerald and Sharon, Wellsford

Gerald and Sharon North have recently moved from Warkworth into a house with a 10-acre section in the Wellsford area. With three of their children having moved out of home, this new land was more appealing than their five-bedroom Warkworth property. It was also a cheaper option for the couple than living in town.

We wanted to move into an area where there was some native bush land. I enjoy the outdoors, Gerald says.

Gerald competes in New Zealand Field Archery Association competitions and is going to set up an archery range for training purposes.

The couple also want to plant an orchard before spring.

Four years living in a bus

Stephen and Nikki, Tauhoa

Stephen and Nikki Dunn are in their 15th year on their lifestyle block in Tauhoa. They decided to move there for financial reasons, finding they could not afford a home in the city.

With two kids and on one income, we were just hard-up. We wanted to keep the mortgage as low as possible. Stephen says.

After buying the land, the family would travel up on weekends and stay in a tent while Stephen worked on a driveway. In 2006, the couple and their two young children moved in  living in a bus for the next four and a half years while building a house.

Nikki says there are a lot of companies that, if you tell them you are building a house, they will give you a trade account because you are going to be a regular customer.

These trade accounts got them savings from places like Mitre 10, Carters and Bunnings.

They also saved money by getting friends and family to help. In 2011, the family moved into their new home.

The negatives so far include living 30 minutes from any town, a lack of cell phone coverage and a metal road. This does not bother Stephen or Nikki though.

Its absolutely quiet, its really nice, Stephen says.

Nikki enjoys the quiet too. When youre going home, you really do go home, she says.
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

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A man is to appear in court this morning charged with the alleged assault of his mother in north Longford last night, the Leader can reveal.

The man, aged in his 30s, was arrested close to the scene of the incident in Granard at around 7:30pm.

It's understood the victim sustained at least one blow to her face and was treated at the scene by paramedics. It's not known at this stage if she was taken to hospital.

The alleged culprit was later charged at Granard garda station and is due to appear before a sitting of Mullingar District Court this morning.
Local artist Daniel Skany has released his latest single, Less Ordinary, which was available to download from Friday, June 4.

Less Ordinary is a powerful and emotional pop song about Daniels journey and ambition to achieve his goals and live his dream.

The vocals were recorded at his parents house and were then sent to a producer in the Netherlands to get a professional mix and master.

The song is a very energetic pop sing with an emotional touch and a good inspirational story behind it, he told the Longford Leader.

As a kid I always wanted to be on a big stage entertaining and inspiring people with my original music, those visions were making me feel good and I really wanted make my friends and family proud.

Obviously I didn't know where to start or how to get there but I kept being creative and driven.

The name, Less Ordinary, stands for a life Ive always wanted. I wanted to be different than everybody else, no ordinary lifestyle... just to live a life full of adventures, not worrying about the bills or financial income, just do as much music as possible, travel, meet new people and make the best memories... a life to remember and appreciate.

Daniel has been working hard on his music the last few years and has built his own home studio.

Less Ordinary by Daniel Scany is available now.
A barrister representing one of the men accused of abducting and assaulting Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney has criticised the government's failure to legislate on how gardai can access mobile phone data.

Michael O'Higgins SC told the Special Criminal Court that the State has decided to "shrug their shoulders" following various court rulings and reports since 2012 which revealed problems with the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011. He said that a "day of reckoning" has now come over the State's failure to act.

A 40-year-old man who cannot be named by order of the court, Alan OBrien (40), of Shelmalier Road, East Wall, Dublin 3, Darren Redmond (27), from Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin 3 and Luke OReilly (67), with an address at Mullahoran Lower, Kilcogy, Co Cavan have all pleaded not (NOT) guilty to false imprisonment and intentionally causing serious harm to Mr Lunney at Drumbrade, Ballinagh, Co Cavan on September 17, 2019.

Mr Lunney has told the court that he was bundled into the boot of a car near his home and driven to a container where he was threatened and told to resign as a director of Quinn Industrial Holdings. His abductors cut him with a Stanley knife, stripped him to his boxer shorts, doused him in bleach, broke his leg with two blows of a wooden bat, beat him on the ground, cut his face and scored the letters QIH into his chest. They left him bloodied, beaten and shivering on a country road at Drumcoghill in Co Cavan where he was discovered by a man driving a tractor.

Mr O'Higgins, representing the unnamed accused, has pointed out that a ruling of the Supreme Court in January 2019 stated that the 2011 Act was inconsistent with European Parliament directives and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The court has found that the mass collection of data is a breach of citizens' fundamental rights. As a result, gardai investigating Mr Lunney's abduction used search warrants to access mobile phone data. Mr O'Higgins has told the court that search warrants are not an appropriate way of obtaining personal, private, digital information as the Act that allows gardai to apply for warrants does not provide the necessary safeguards. Counsel said he will argue that evidence gained using mobile phone data should be ruled as inadmissible in the trial.



During his submissions Mr O'Higgins agreed with presiding judge, Mr Justice Tony Hunt, that the government is in a difficult situation regarding the retention of phone data but, counsel said, it shouldn't take nine years to remedy the problem.



Counsel pointed out that the first potential problems were flagged by the High Court in 2012 and in 2017 former chief justice John Murray wrote a report which found that the legislation breached European Law. Mr Murray included in his report a draft Bill that Mr O'Higgins said the government could have used. He added, however, that, "the policy appears to have been, plough on."

He said gardai, who have to investigate crime, were "caught in the middle of all this" and resorted to search warrants in the absence of options. Mr Justice Hunt asked what else could have been done and Mr O'Higgins responded: "There was a lot else that could be done and it wasn't... we are now ten years on and there is no sign of a Bill before the Oireachtas."



Counsel said: "If you have an unlawful scheme and it is well flagged and the powers that be just shrug their shoulders and dont do anything, then at the end of that there must be a reckoning and I say we are in a day of reckoning."

Mr Justice Hunt asked if gardai "can be criticised for trying." Mr O'Higgins responded: "They must do it in accordance with the law and the law doesn't change because you want to achieve a good result."

Mr O'Higgins has outlined the fundamental rights to privacy as stated in the European Charter including Article 7 which states: "Everyone has the right to respect for his or her private and family life, home and communications."

Article 8 states that everyone has the right to the protection of personal data and that such information can only be processed with consent or "some other legitimate basis laid down by law."

Mr O'Higgins will continue his submissions to the three-judge court on Friday. Mr Justice Hunt is sitting with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge David McHugh.
Ms Martina Moloney, who is a former County Manager / Chief Executive of both Louth and Galway County Councils, has been appointed to chair the new Local Community Safety Partnership pilot in Longford.

Longford is one of three counties - the others being Waterford and Dublins north inner city - where the Local Community Safety Partnership pilot will run for the next two years ahead of a national rollout to all local authority areas.

With a strong background in local government and governance, Ms Moloney was also centrally involved in the initial Joint Policing Committee pilots during her time in Louth County Council.

Ms Moloney holds a BA and MA in Public Management and a Doctorate in Governance and is a member of the Institute of Accounting Technicians. She is a Member of the National Oversight & Audit Commission for Local Government since 2014. She is also a member of the Arts Council since December 14, 2016. She was instrumental in assuring that the arts were integrated into various county strategies, such as the economic, social and cultural strategies and the age-friendly county strategy.

Minister of State with special responsibility for Civil and Criminal Justice, Hildegarde Naughton TD, thanked Martina Moloney for agreeing to Chair the new Local Community Safety Partnership in Longford.

Minister Naughton said, "The establishment of these Partnerships is key to the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland and will ensure that local communities have a real say in ensuring that their communities are safe and feel safe. Martina will bring extensive expertise and experience to her role and I look forward to working closely with her, and with the local communities, over the coming months as the Partnerships are established.

The Local Community Safety Partnerships will replace the joint policing committees, building on the work they have done to date.

The next Longford Joint Policing Committee meeting is scheduled for next Monday, June 14.

Each Partnership will devise and oversee a Local Community Safety Plan, which will be informed by the community itself.

The Plans will detail how best the community wants to prevent crime and will reflect community priorities and local safety issues. The goal is to make communities safer for families, residents and businesses.

The Minister has also published a policy paper on Community Safety, which provides an overview of what Community Safety is, how the new approach will make a difference, and how the Partnerships will work.

Minister Naughton added, The concept of community safety is about people being safe and feeling safe in their own community. At the heart of this policy is the principle that every community has the right to be and feel safe in order to thrive and flourish. Ireland is generally regarded as a safe country in international terms, with relatively low crime rates and a general feeling of safety and security. However, we recognise that this is not the case in every community and that many people can experience a different reality.

The new Community Safety policy will ensure communities are safer and feel safer by making community safety a whole of Government responsibility and priority, to be delivered through the Local Community Safety Partnerships, supported through a national governance structure. This structure will ensure that communities are empowered to have a strong say in what actions are prioritised by the services operating in their area, and will also have a key oversight role in ensuring those actions are followed through.

Membership of the Partnerships will include: residents; community reps (including youth, new communities and voluntary sector); business and education reps; relevant public services including HSE, Tusla, Gardai and the local authority; and local councillors.

Training will be provided to support the capacity of the Partnerships to work together, including individual training for residents to develop their understanding of their role and to build confidence in representing their community.

As the pilots progress, they will be carefully evaluated and any necessary changes made to ensure the Partnerships work as effectively as possible for the communities involved.

The pilots will inform the further development of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, which will facilitate the rollout of Local Community Safety Partnerships in every local authority area.
The site is almost L-shaped, with Stefanos at the entrance to the property as one leg of the L and the apartments taking up the other end of the L. In front of the apartments is an existing auto repair shop.
IFA will hold a nationwide rally this Friday, June 11, to highlight the importance of commercial farming to the rural economy. It will be the first large scale demonstration by IFA since the pandemic.

Farmers will gather in county towns across the country to warn against the dangers in the current CAP proposals and the Climate Action Bill.



The farming and food sector employs 300,000 people across the country and we contributed 13bn in exports in 2020.



IFA president, Tim Cullinan met An Taoiseach Michael Martin earlier this month, where he told him that the current direction of the CAP and the Governments Climate Action Bill could shut down commercial farming in Ireland.



We will be making a strong statement across the country on Friday that policies must support our largest indigenous industry, noted Mr Cullinan.



A cohort of farmers, many of who are the most productive farmers, are being hit with huge cuts under the CAP. In addition, the Climate Bill, the subsequent carbon budgets and sectoral targets could result in huge additional regulation being imposed on the same group of farmers, he said.



The IFA farm leader said farms sequester carbon and this has to be fully factored into the calculation of carbon budgets and sectoral targets.



We will not accept any attempt to remove credits from our sector, he pointed out.



According to the Teagasc National Farm survey, only one-third of farmers in Ireland are viable.



The EU and our own Government policies are targeting these farmers and will make them unviable, he said.



The Programme for Government and the Climate Bill refers to taking account of the distinct characteristics of biogenic methane in setting climate budgets. Yet it appears that the Government now want to walk away from this commitment, he said.



Farmers want to work with the Government on climate action, but there has to be real engagement. Setting targets without any regard for the consequences wont work, he said.
RTE will air the world premiere of US vs Ulysses by Colin Murphy  the compelling dramatization of the 1933 court case that resulted in the "un-banning" of Ulyssess in the USA - this Bloomsday, June 16.

Dubliner Killian Scott stars in the production which will be premiered in partnership with the James Joyce Centre.

RTE will also re-air the almost 30-hour production of James Joyces Ulysses worldwide on RTE Radio 1 Extra.

The full dramatised production  originally broadcast in 1982 to celebrate the centenary of Joyce, and totalling 29 hours and 45 minutes in duration  will begin at the same time as both Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Blooms journey through Dublin begins in the book: 8am on 16 June. Audiences can listen live on RTE Radio 1 Extra, or via podcast at www.rte.ie/ulysses.

Meanwhile, rte.ie will feature a range of additional content including the complete RTE production  all 15 stories - of Dubliners, along with Joyces only play, Exiles.

The website features 20 explainer programmes, Reading Ulysses, hosted by Gerry O Flaherty and Fritz Senn, as well as the Joycesongs series (music from the book performed by the RTE Concert Orchestra), and other audio and visual archive material.

See more at rte.ie/culture/ulysses.
It takes some practice, but old trees can be identified by the staghorn shape of their branches, and sometimes also by the bark. Oaks, for example, develop balding, in which their rough bark cracks and becomes smoother once theyve reached a century old or so. (Young trees can also have smoother bark, but develop rougher bark as they grow.)
(Alliance News) - Carnival PLC on Thursday said its subsidiary AIDA Cruises continued its restart with another cruise ship, AIDAstella, resuming holiday voyages from July 29.

The ship will operate with 10- and 11-day cruises from Palma de Mallorca with calls in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Malta.

In addition, the British-American cruise operator said AIDA Cruises will extend its Baltic Sea voyages with AIDAsol from the German port Warnemunde into September. AIDAsol will sail to Swedish ports during the popular Scandinavian midsummer, with visits to Stockholm, Gothenburg and Visby.

Carnival noted that AIDA Cruises has been operating cruises since March.

Carnival shares were trading 1.5% lower in London on Thursday at 1,836.80 pence each.

By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Quarantine-free travel to the UK from mainland Europe or the US will not be permitted before late July, an industry expert has warned.

The reopening of travel had been "sacrificed by ministers watching their backs", Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said.

Charles was among leading figures in the sector who expressed outrage when Portugal was moved to the amber list last week, as it meant no viable major tourist destination was in the green tier.

Portugal and other countries such as Malta, Morocco and Grenada should be on the green list but decisions on restrictions were "highly political, not based on data at all", Charles claimed.

People arriving in the UK from a green tier country are not required to self-isolate, while amber arrivals must quarantine at home for 10 days.

There were hopes that destinations such as Spain, France, Italy and the US would be added to the green list ahead of the peak summer holiday season.

But Charles said it was his "clear understanding" that ministers "do not intend to open up travel to mainland Europe or the USA before the end of July".

He continued: "Ministers have fallen into line to protect their future careers and potentially benefit from an upcoming Cabinet reshuffle. And that means sacrificing the early opening of the overseas travel sector.

"Now thousands of jobs are at risk a as are some airlines and travel firms a because June and July will be lost in travel terms."

Charles said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson were "in favour of opening up travel sooner", but were "over-ruled" by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove.

He added: "Buoyed by opinion polling, they have now all united to focus on reopening the UK by mid-July, once the vaccine rollout has reached 18-year-olds and above, and eradicating the Delta variant which originated in India.

"Once the UK has opened up almost completely, then overseas travel will be back on the agenda for the end of July."

The Department for Transport is reviewing the travel lists every three weeks, which suggests the next changes will be announced on June 24.

It previously said assessments would be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a population that had been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to play down differences with Joe Biden, claiming the new US president was a "breath of fresh air" and insisting there was "absolutely common ground" over Northern Ireland.

The US president's concerns over the way the UK government is treating the protocol with the EU which governs post-Brexit arrangements on the island of Ireland threatened to overshadow the first meeting between the two leaders.

Following the talks, Johnson said he was "optimistic" the peace process would be kept going.

Asked if Biden made his alarm about the situation in Northern Ireland clear, Boris Johnson said: "No, he didn't.

"What I can say is that America a the US, Washington a the UK plus the EU have one thing we absolutely all want to do and that is to uphold the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and make sure we keep the balance of the peace process going.

"That's absolutely common ground and I'm optimistic that we can do that."

Biden's first overseas visit has provided the US president with the opportunity to repair some of the international relations damaged by predecessor Donald Trump.

Johnson said: "It's wonderful to listen to the Biden administration and Joe Biden because there's so much that they want to do together with us a on security, on Nato, to climate change.

"It's fantastic, it's a breath of fresh air."

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
2 June 2021

Pennpetro Energy plc

("Pennpetro", the "Company" or the "Group")

Execution of a three-year 20,000,000 Shares Subscription Facility Agreement

Pennpetro Energy, an independent oil and gas company focusing on production in the Gonzales Oil Field in Texas, USA., is pleased to announce the execution of a three-year 20,000,000 Share Subscription Facility Agreement ("Facility") with GEM Global Yield LLC SCS, Luxembourg, and GEM Yield Bahamas Limited (GEM Global). The facility is available to use at the Company's discretion, subject to terms, for both general corporate purposes and the advancement of its petroleum development projects. Pennpetro Energy 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 40 pence each.

GEM is a US$3.4 billion alternative investment group with offices in New York, Paris, Nassau, and Los Angeles that manages a diverse set of investment vehicles, often preferring to partner with management teams and operators and together with them execute strategic plans and create value. GEM has completed over 435 transactions in 72 countries worldwide.

The Company's on ground technical team based in Texas and headed by Andy Clifford has made excellent forward progress in the implementation of the current Gonzales petroleum development plans with the prognosis that the drilling of the Company's second and third wells is focused on an August start. Thereafter, the Company intends to relocate back to COG#1-H, its initial development well to re-enter the Austin Chalk formation to produce from the initial oil flows encountered during first drilling, in addition to the Buda productive formation from which the Company has produced first oil, and, as previously stated, has now drill proved that reservoir as a productive oil-bearing zone.

Due to additional work commitments to his full-time executive roles external to the Company, Mr. Philip Nash has relinquished his non - executive directorship, but will remain engaged on the Company's current audit due for issuance on 30th June. The Company appreciates the dedication and focus that Mr. Nash brought and wishes him well in his expanded corporate role.

For further information, please contact:

Pennpetro Energy plc Thomas Evans tme@pennpetroenergy.co.uk Instinctif Mark Garraway / Sarah Hourahane/ Galyna Kulachek pennpetro@instinctif.com +44 (0)20 7457 2020

NOTES TO EDITORS

Pennpetro Energy is an independent oil and gas company focusing on production in the Gonzales Oil Field in Texas, USA. Shares in the company were admitted to the Official List of the London Stock Exchange by way of a Standard Listing on 21 December 2017.

Further information on the Company can be found at www.pennpetroenergy.co.uk
Rep. Jordan Harris of Philadelphia said that instead of talking about ending the declaration, time could have been spent getting federal aid money to front-line workers and resources to first responders, or on changes necessary to help businesses.
Manchester Center, VT (05254)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 59F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 59F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
(TNS) After a cyberattack crippled the worlds largest meat producer last week, JBS SA meat plants have begun to reopen across the globe. But the meat industry shouldn't be returning to business as usual  and for the security of our food supply, the Biden administration needs to make sure that it doesnt.

The JBS subversion, which has been attributed to a Russia-linked cybercriminal group, was the latest in a series of Black Swan events that have crippled large-scale meat producers in recent years. The March 2019 fire in Holcomb, Kansas, destroyed a Tyson Foods plant that processed about 5% of U.S. beef. In April 2020, major hog and chicken processing plants nationwide became COVID-19 hotspots, causing cascading shutdowns that included a Smithfield Foods plant processing more than 15% of all pork in the U.S. Last weeks JBS attack sabotaged more than a fifth of all U.S. beef processing in a matter of minutes.

It reminded us of a glaring truth we already knew: Consolidation has made the U.S. meat industry  and the global protein supply  profoundly and unacceptably vulnerable. It will become more susceptible in the years ahead as public health threats and potential cyberattacks continue to loom large, and as climate change increases the risk of natural disasters. Drought, heat, flooding, wildfires, insects, superstorms and weather volatility are raising pressure on our farms and ranches. In short, the cost-saving benefits of agricultural consolidation are increasingly outweighed by the risks of disruption.

Food-industry experts have long been clamoring for systemic resilience. Last April, as the pandemic bore down on meat producers and before he began his second tour as U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack told me that were better off having multiple plants in multiple locations  smaller facilities to produce enough product. And that may mean a little less profit, but it means that if you have an incident like this that threatens your workforce, you'll always have sufficient operation capacity. Vilsack reiterated this sentiment Tuesday in a call with reporters: Efficiency comes at a price, and that price is a lack of resilience when you have a major disruption."

Activists have made the case in stronger terms: The time has come for deindustrializing and decentralizing the American food system [and] breaking up the meat oligopoly, wrote environmental author Michael Pollan last May. Philanthropist Chef Jose Andres told me: The food system centralized in big factories is putting us in danger. Decentralization makes you nimble.

Yet little has been done to decentralize U.S. meat production. The Biden administration, along with state and federal lawmakers, have an urgent obligation not just to incentivize and support smaller and more diversified meat processors and producers, but also to begin dismantling and diversifying American meat monopolies, which have gone unchallenged and unchecked for too long.

Sweeping reforms will take years, but the USDA can begin to mobilize a plan immediately with the $4 billion allocated for food supply chain resiliency under the American Rescue Plan Act. Tuesday, Vilsack outlined how he intends to spend these funds, and while I applaud his plan to subsidize farmers practicing regenerative agriculture  inherently more resilient than industrial production  he should clarify his goals and timeline, and at least triple the $60 million in grant money that has been earmarked to help expand smaller-scale meat and poultry processors across the country.

The USDA is conducting a large-scale study on resilient meat and poultry processing that is expected to be published this summer. Vilsack should listen carefully to the small and mid-sized processors and producers to find out what they need to expand their operations while meeting federal food safety standards.

Beyond grant money, smaller producers and processors need other forms of USDA support. Vilsack should continue reforming and refocusing the Food Safety and Inspection Service to better assist small and mid-sized players. He should create dedicated roles at the department to help local processors build regional markets while meeting the standards necessary to sell their products across state lines and become competitive with large meatpackers. Vilsack should also re-empower the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, hollowed out under President Donald Trump, to investigate large meat processors and hold them accountable. Vilsacks USDA should also be coordinating with the Department of Justice for more active enforcement of antitrust laws  and DOJ must assiduously review proposed mergers in the food and agricultural sector.

Industrial Goliaths have accumulated a powerful grip on global agriculture: In the U.S. alone, four processing companies slaughter more than 80% of the beef; four meatpacking companies process roughly two thirds of the nation's hogs; and five companies control about 60% of the broiler chicken market. The vertical integration of livestock and poultry supply chains, with the same companies producing animals and slaughtering, has stifled competition and led to widespread price-fixing and corruption.

The Biden administration and Congress must clarify and strengthen antitrust laws so that they more clearly apply to largescale food production. And the president should continue to appoint people within the USDA and the DOJ who are willing to challenge the interests of industrial operators  a stance that's long been politically unfavorable for politicians in both parties.

Not since Upton Sinclairs eye-opening novel "The Jungle" has the American meat industry faced a more significant paradigm shift, and Biden and Congress must get out in front of it. If they dont, the U.S.  and the world  won't be able to maintain a reliable protein supply in an era defined by disruption.

Amanda Little is a professor of journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of a Bloomberg Opinion series on the fate of food after COVID-19 as well as the book "The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World."
Sen. Katie Muth, D-Chester, the top Democrat on the committee, said before the vote that there were still people in need in every county in the state and, I am baffled that there has been so much time spent on ending this and sticking it to the governor.
Before the pandemic, the MCLA Volunteer Center was running regular weekly programs, with participation from more than 200 student volunteers and community members. The COVID-19 pandemic forced it to pivot, but the staff and student volunteers rose to the occasion, expanding food pantry access, developing virtual programming, and keeping as much of its usual activities going as possible despite pandemic restrictions.

Weve been able to expand our geography, said Spencer Moser, MCLAs director of civic and community engagement. Now, we have an opportunity to connect with people from all over the world, as well as do hands-on work. When we come out of this, well be that much more poised, ready, and available to do more of these things in a dynamic way.

Some notable activities from the 2020-21 academic year:

MCLA students at the April 2019 Community Day of Service.

Food Pantry access expansion

Student volunteers Shelby Dempsey 21 and DeAnna Wardwell 22 developed an online pick-up service that students can access via an online form. Students choose a time to pick up their food order, and the pantrys student coordinators managed pickups. Its an excellent way for us to follow social distancing guidelines while also ensuring students are getting the food they need, Dempsey said.

Food Pantry Coordinator Meaghan Murphy 21 worked to established a Canvas page, which sends quick announcements, helps qualifying students learn about benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) and rent assistance, as well as a list of resources that includes every local food pantry in Berkshire County and Massachusetts and nearby New York locations, free tax help, and other services. Those of us managing the pantry felt it was the next, obvious step in what we can provide to the student body. We may not be experts in things like SNAP, but we can connect them with people who are, said Moser.

New volunteer programs

In addition to legacy programs like LEAD Academy, which is entering its 17th year, student volunteers regularly develop community programs, including Berkshire Buddies, a Facebook-based group for local school children run by Kaylea Nocher 21 that connects pen pals, writes notes of kindness for local community members, and organizes other positive activities for children and families, and the MCLA Mentoring Program, in which MCLA students virtually mentor school children in the Berkshires, New York, and Boston, run by Emma Marino 24. Melanie Davis 22 ran a weekly virtual theater program for young children living in her hometown of Sandwich, Mass., where they learned the basics of acting and costume design.

MCLA students are volunteering with Pathways, connecting with local high school students to encourage them to pursue higher education. Students are also developing a leadership skills program for their peers, which will support students in learning effective leadership, teamwork, and communication skills and applying them to real situations.

Spring Days of Service

In early spring, dozens of people asked to sign up for Day of Service activities before the Volunteer Center had a chance to post details about programming. When the College made the decision to pivot to a remote semester in April, the Volunteer Center pivoted as well.

Community Engagement Coordinator Christopher Hantman 14 adapted programming for the day and encouraged students to volunteer in their own neighborhoods. Hantman and the Volunteer Center staff also provided plenty of virtual options, including opportunities for dialogue around the importance of citizenship, voting, and advocating for marginalized populations.

Our intent now is that these programs also carve out time to talk to participants about volunteerism and civic engagement, voting, and public office, said Moser. Its lit a fire around our interests in having discourse and dialogue around why its really important that we engage with our community, and our public officials, and start to look at the spectrum of engagement, from volunteerism to social change through advocacy, Moser said.

Learn more at https://www.mcla.edu/student-life/service-leadership/volunteer-center/index.php.
The board revolt has flared as the fund has been grappling with a federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the U.S. attorneys office in Philadelphia. Grand jury subpoenas have been sent to the fund and to top officials and were obtained by Spotlight PA and The Inquirer. Those documents state that authorities were investigating the funds $5 million appropriation to buy Harrisburg properties near its headquarters and the botched calculation of a figure for investment performance.
China approves 7th self-developed COVID-19 vaccine, can cross-neutralize variants

Global Times) 10:22, June 10, 2021

Medical workers administer COVID-19 vaccine doses to residents at a vaccination site in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, May 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

China has approved a seventh domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine to meet increasing demand amid the country's accelerating mass vaccination drive, media reports said on Wednesday, the same day that the country announced it had administered more than 800 million shots.

The latest approved vaccine was developed by the Institute of Medical Biology of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences based in Kunming, capital of South Southwest China's Yunnan Province, Science and Technology Daily reported Wednesday.

Phase I/II clinical trials proved the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine, which can quickly trigger an immune response in recipients, read the report.

At day 14 after two shots, the seroconversion rates of the neutralizing antibodies and anti-S antibodies reached 96 percent and 99.33 percent, respectively. Research also showed that antibodies triggered by the vaccine can cross-neutralize variants of the novel coronavirus, read the report.

The vaccine requires two shots to be administered at an interval of two to four weeks to build immunity in recipients.

Production capacity is estimated to reach 500 million to 1 billion doses per year, the report said.

It is the fifth inactivated COVID-19 vaccine to obtain official approval in China, which will take China's production capacity of inactivated vaccines to about 6 billion per year, Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert, told the Global Times on Wednesday, noting that this should be enough to meet domestic demand.

China's National Health Commission announced on Wednesday that 808.96 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered as of Tuesday. The announcement came three days after Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the commission, confirmed with media that China aimed to vaccinate about at least 70 percent of its targeted population by the end of this year.

The four other inactivated vaccines approved in China were developed by Sinopharm Group, Sinovac Biotech and Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products.

A recombinant adenovirus vector COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by Tianjin-based CanSinoBIO and a team led by Chen Wei, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher at the Institute of Military Medicine under the Academy of Military Sciences, has been approved. So has a recombinant subunit protein vaccine developed by Anhui Zhifei Longcom. Both have been authorized for emergency use in China.

An inhaled version of the CanSino vaccine has been submitted for emergency use authorization.

To achieve its vaccination goal, China is not only approving more vaccines to expand supply but enlarging its targeted population to give more people access to the vaccines.

Sinovac Chairman Yin Weidong told the media on Friday that the company's vaccine has been authorized for emergency use for children aged between three and 17.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
In March, Georgia reduced the number of drop boxes for mail-in ballots and made it a crime for third parties to give food or drink to people waiting in line to vote. Supporters of the bill argue it enhances voting rights because it adds more days for people to vote ahead of Election Day. The changes came after Georgia voters narrowly backed President Joe Biden in the presidential election and then granted Democrats the slimmest control of the U.S. Senate.
Grand jury subpoenas have been sent to the fund and to top officials and were obtained by Spotlight and The Inquirer. Those documents reveal that authorities were investigating the funds $5 million appropriation to buy Harrisburg properties near its headquarters and the boards botched adoption last year of a false and exaggerated figure for investment performance. Critics have also focused on the luxury worldwide business travel by its investment staff. And on Monday, the funds management disclosed that it had filed numerous error-filled forms with the IRS misstating the role of investment staffers on nonprofits that own the systems real estate investments.
The election in 2020 actually turned out to elect a lot of people I personally wasnt happy with, but that didnt mean I had the right to go and start spreading lies about the election. The election happened. As in all elections, some of us like the outcome, some of us dont, he said.
Burley, ID (83318)

Today

A clear sky. Low near 60F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A clear sky. Low near 60F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
All medical institutions, including hospitals, scan centers, private clinics, and pharmacies area asked to report all suspected Covid cases to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).

The Chennai Corporation had earlier called upon all private clinics, scan centers, and hospitals to share details of patients who had approached them with fever and other symptoms like common cold and influenza.According to the GCC Commissioner, Gagan Singh Bedi, the order was issued under Section 30(2)(5)(6) of the Disaster Management Act.The Tamil Nadu Covid-19 2020 regulations have made it mandatory that all medical institutions, including hospitals, scan centers, private clinics, and pharmacies should immediately report all suspected Covid cases to the Greater Chennai Corporation.During the first wave of the pandemic as well, the GCC had asked the pharmacies and medical shops to share the details of those who buy paracetamol and other fever drugs. However, the shops did not share the details regularly.This has led to the GCC making it mandatory that all such shops report the details and that action would be taken under the Disaster Management Act if the order is not complied with.Source: IANS
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a condition that affects the blood by low platelet count, may be associated the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in rare cases (11 per million doses among 69 years old), as per a study at the University of Edinburgh, published in the journal Nature Medicine.



The risk from a vaccine remains very small but the risk of developing these disorders from Covid-19 is potentially much higher. The same risk was not found for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Other vaccines were not included in the study.

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a condition that affects the blood by low platelet count, may be associated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in rare cases (11 per million doses among 69 years old). This sets a terrific example of the importance of health for vital research that rapidly informs the response to the COVID 19 pandemic and its management strategies. 

Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).



The situation is however actively monitored by MHRA. The study of 5.4 million people in Scotland, of whom 2.5m had received their first vaccine dose, is the first analysis of ITP, clotting, and bleeding events following vaccination for an entire country.



Low Platelets and COVID Vaccine



The present study analyzed a dataset up to 14 April 2021 for people in Scotland who had received the first dose of either vaccine (more than 1.7 million had an Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and some 800,000 had a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine), as part of the EAVE II project, which uses anonymized linked patient data to track the pandemic and the vaccine roll out in real-time.



A slight increase in ITP in the second week following vaccination was found for those who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and possibly also increased the risk of arterial clotting and bleeding events. The exact causal factor for this remains unclear & is under active investigation.



"This study shows the advantage of being able to link together large national data sets to provide near real time information of vaccine safety, using a number of analytical methods. An important next step is to replicate this work in other settings to ensure that the findings are robust," says Professor Chris Robertson from the University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland.



However, a definitive link between other forms of clotting like cerebral venous sinus thrombosis or CVST was unconfirmatory due to lack of cases.



"This is a terrific example of why access to health data is crucial for vital research that rapidly informs the response to the COVID 19 pandemic. This research is important for individuals, the NHS, policy makers and the world. To do this safely, the UK has established the ability to perform secure and confidential data analysis that enables vital research questions to be answered in a trustworthy way. The HDR UK and ONS National Core Studies have supported the UK Health Innovation Gateway to provide a common entry point for researchers to discover and request access to UK health datasets for vital research that is improving people's lives," says Professor Andrew Morris, Director of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and Vice Principal of Data Science at the University of Edinburgh.



Source: Medindia The low platelet counts in combination with blood clots following vaccination with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were earlier estimated to occur at a rate of approximately 13 per million first doses by theThe situation is however actively monitored by MHRA. The study of 5.4 million people in Scotland, of whom 2.5m had received their first vaccine dose, is the first analysis of ITP, clotting, and bleeding events following vaccination for an entire country.The present study analyzed a dataset up to 14 April 2021 for people in Scotland who had received the first dose of either vaccine (more than 1.7 million had an Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and some 800,000 had a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine), as part of the EAVE II project, which uses anonymized linked patient data to track the pandemic and the vaccine roll out in real-time.The exact causal factor for this remains unclear & is under active investigation.says Professor Chris Robertson from the University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland.However, adue to lack of cases.says Professor Andrew Morris, Director of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and Vice Principal of Data Science at the University of Edinburgh.Source: Medindia

All the participants had at least one underlying chronic health problem such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. A low number of platelets (blood cells that help in clotting and prevent blood loss) can result in no symptoms or can lead to an increased risk of bleeding & clotting.
Mucormycosis, a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes has affected even Covid-19 patients and diabetics.

Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of Mucormycosis cases (6,339) followed by Gujarat (5,486).Till May 25 night, over 768 mucormycosis cases were being treated in Andhra Pradesh followed by Madhya Pradesh (752), Telangana (744), Uttar Pradesh (701), Central institutions (592), Rajasthan (492), Karnataka (481), Haryana (436), Tamil Nadu (236), Bihar (215), Punjab (141), Uttarakhand (124), Delhi (119), Chhattisgarh (103), Chandigarh (83), Kerala (36), Jharkhand (29), Odisha (15), Goa (10), Jammu and Kashmir (5), Himachal Pradesh (3), Puducherry (2) and Tripura (1).Mucormycosis is one of the rapidly spreading infections observed in patients recovering from Covid-19.Mucormycosis is a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes that has been developing in Covid-19 patients. The fungal disease is commonly being observed in patients who were given steroids for a long time, who have been hospitalized for a long time, were on oxygen support or ventilator, faced poor hospital hygiene or those who have been taking medication for other illnesses such as diabetes.If not treated on time, the mucormycosis infection can turn fatal. Covid medication can leave the body weak and low on immunity. They can also escalate the blood sugar levels in both diabetics and non-diabetic Covid-19 patients.Besides the Health Minister, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar; Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep S. Puri; Union Minister of state for Home Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey were present in the meeting.Speaking on vaccines and clinical intervention, Harsh Vardhan observed: "Till Monday morning, we have administered 23,27,86,482 vaccine doses to our countrymen in various categories."Talking specifically about the 18-44 age group, the first dose has been given to 2,86,18,514 people, the Minister said, adding: "As of today (Monday), over 1.4 crore doses are still available with the states."He noted that first doses have been given to 6,06,75,796 people in the above 60 plus category and 7,10,44,966 in the 45-59 age group.On the testing front, the Union Health Minister noted that "as of June 7 morning, we have conducted over 36.6 crore (36,63,34,111) tests so far and over 15 lakh tests yesterday despite being a holiday"."The labs for testing purposes have also gone up to 2,624. Daily Positivity Rate has also been declining and is at 6.34 percent and even though this is less than 10 percent positivity rate for 14 consecutive days, there still are 15 states where the daily positivity rate is greater than 10 percent."In the second wave, the Minister said we see that continuously daily cases are declining and are outnumbered by new recoveries 83 percent of active cases are in 10 states and the remaining 17 percent in 26 states and Union Territories.Seven states and UTs (Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand) have less than thousand cases. Five state and UTs (Jammu, Punjab, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh) have less than two thousand cases. Even the most affected states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have observed decline in the number of cases at a significant rate.Growth rate has declined from 14.7 percent (May 5) to 3.48 percent (today), said the Minister.Source: IANS
Do you remember your first love?

First love is often difficult to forget. The sweet-nothings and everyday milestones of that period will always remain a cherished memory.

But thats not the case for everyone. For some, first love is all about the emotional heartbreak, getting over the pain and being afraid to love again.

Our hero Kunal from MX Original Series Indori Ishq is one such troubled Gen Z lover-boy. He started out optimistic, the we-will-live-happily-ever-after-kind, but somewhere in the middle, this unsuspecting old-school romantic got the shock of his life  a breakup he didnt see coming.

MX Player

Everything about Kunal (played by Ritvik Sahore) is old-school. He listens to Kishore Kumar over Badboy Badshah, he believes in falling in love for forever, not the till-I-dont-find-anyone-better kind of love. Back home in Indore, just out of high school, Kunal finally got in a relationship with his crush, Tara (played by Vedika Bhandari), and believed she was it for him. Unfortunately, his true love couldnt survive the troubled waters of long-distance.

What happened next is the story of the drastic downfall of a vibrant young boy. He was cheated on by his girlfriend, his first love remained unrequited and he felt broken beyond repair. Actor Ritvik Sahore, who played Kunals character brought his versatile skills to the center with contrasting emotions.

MX Player

Director Samit Kakkad did a marvelous job of showing the emotional toll a failed relationship can take on a man. Men are equally fragile. All they want is to be loved. So why does society expect them to simply pick up the pieces of their broken heart and move on? The disparity in the rules of love is starkly brought alive in this web series and we for one believe that gender stereotypes surrounding infidelity, commitment, and trust issues in relationships must be addressed, equally!

As Kunal struggles to deal with the all-consuming grief, he finds comfort in an unconventional friendship with his broker, Reshma (played by TithiRaaj). She might be a broker by day, but what keeps her afloat is her work as a dancer at the local bar. As they exchange stories of love and grief, they find solace in each others company. But would Kunal take this new-found friendship as a hint to move on from his failed first relationship?





A lot is happening on Indori Ishq and if youre curious, dont forget to catch all the 9 episodes of his emotional rollercoaster only on MX Player.
Anya Taylor-Joy, who won a host of awards including a Golden Globe for her stellar performance in Netflix's The Queen's Gambit series has been reported to join the cast of the upcoming horror film, The Menu.

 Netflix

The 25-year-old actress will be joined by Harry Potter actor Ralph Fiennes, who is most popular for the role of playing the dark wizard, Voldermort in the eight-movie hit franchise.



 Reuters

The horror film, which is being produced under the banner of Searchlight Pictures, will be directed by Mark Mylod, who was also at the helm of HBO's Succession TV series.



So far, not a lot of details have been released about The Menu, which is set to fall under the genres of horror and dark comedy.

 iStock

However, as per reports, the plot will centre around a young couple as they travel to an isolated island to dine at an exclusive restaurant, which is headed by a renowned chef who decides to treat the couple to an experience of a lifetime.



While Fiennes has already sealed the deal to appear as the chef in the film, Taylor-Joy is reported to be at the negotiations stage to play the part of one-half of the couple.

 Netflix

Taylor-Joy, who has gained a huge fan following because of the tremendous success of The Queen's Gambit, will certainly be a promising addition alongside Fiennes, who is already an established actor in the industry due to his roles in The Schindler's List, The Grand Budapest Hotel and most notably, the Harry Potter series.



 Warner Bros

Both actors are currently super busy because of their hectic schedules and it would certainly be interesting to see exactly how they are going to appear to fans in the new horror movie.



 Universal Pictures

While Taylor-Joy's will be seen in Edgar Wright's upcoming psychological horror film Last Night in Soho, fans will see Fiennes on the cinema screens in the next James Bond film, No Time to Die and The King's Man, which is the prequel of The Kingsmen Series.


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The mechanism will integrate into the EUs current system that it established for greenhouse gas emissions allowance trading via the application of an equivalent regime for imports into the union, the EC said.The mechanism will be applied to aluminium, iron, steel, cement, electricity and fertilizer imports from outside the customs union, with the exception of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland as well as some other regions.Under the regulation, only declarants that the CBAM Authority has authorized can import goods and each authorized declarant must submit a CBAM declaration by May 31 of every year.

The CBAM declaration will contain the total quantity of goods imported during the calendar year, expressed in megawatt hours for electricity and tonnes for other goods, which is then multiplied by the embedded emissions of each good, the EC...
Press Briefing

On June 14, 2021 at 3 p.m. at the premises of the National Press Center of the Republic of Belarus Ministry of Foreign Affairs will hold the Press Briefing on topical issues on the recent agenda.

The leadership of the Department of Aviation of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Belarus, the Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Defense, the State Border Committee, the Commissioner for Religious and Ethnic Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, and other relevant speakers will attend the event.

The main topics of the upcoming briefing include the development of the story behind Ryanair Athens-Vilnius flight, the departure of certain representatives of the Polish national minority from Belarus, the transit of illegal migrants through the Belarusian territory, new circumstances regarding Roman Protasevich case.

A number of previously unpublished factual materials are planned to be shown.

Representatives of mass media outlets interested in covering the Briefing should arrive at the National Press Center no later than 2.40 p.m. Please send the questions you might have and inform the Ministry before 6 p.m. on Friday (June 11) via e-mail (press@mfa.gov.by).

Representatives of Foreign Embassies and International Organizations accredited in Belarus are welcome to participate in the Briefing. Please notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of your intention to attend the briefing before 6 p.m. on Friday (June 11) via e-mail (press@mfa.gov.by).

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Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus M.Barysevich meets the Ambassador of Malaysia

On June 10, 2021 in Moscow (Russia), the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Mikalai Barysevich, met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Malaysia to Belarus non-resident, Bala Chandran Tharman.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the entire range of bilateral cooperation with Malaysia with an emphasis on trade and economic interaction and exploring the new forms of collaboration.

The Malaysian side was presented with the idea to hold the next round of political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries in the near future, as well as to develop a roadmap of bilateral cooperation.



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The Bad Axe City Council received cost estimates for a proposed splash pad that were much higher than it had anticipated at this weeks meeting.

Bad Axe City Manager Rob Stiverson said the updated pad prices the city received from Minnesota-based Aquatrix were as high as $570,000, with the first phase costing $391,000, the second phase costing $130,000, and engineering costing $45,000.

The proposed location for the splash pad would be south of Bad Axe City Park next to a park shed and in-line skating rink.

The city had previously received a grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources worth $279,400 that would cover construction and engineering costs for a splash pad, but the city is 18 months into this grant period and may have to ask for an extension for using those funds.

Given that the city is expecting to pay half of the original costs, it would need to come up with $293,000 out of pocket, Stiverson said, even as the city is looking at a scaled back version of the project that would cost around $435,000. The city's parks committee will continue to look over the proposals."

Stiverson also said the city had received inquires from local car dealerships about placing electric vehicle charging stations on city property. This is the first time such a proposal has been presented to the city.

Its strictly conceptual in nature, Stiverson said about the proposal at this point. There may be no action, but that doesnt mean were not going to encourage private businesses to have charging stations.

Currently the only places in Bad Axe with charging stations are at Consumers Energys Bad Axe Service Center and Flannery Chevrolet.

The city is also looking into selling a piece of land on Chickory Street next to the wastewater treatment plant, as it is reviewing how it fits into its budget and seeing if there are any counter-offers for it.

In other news, the city council appointed Mary Rapson to the citys planning commission for a three-year term ending on May 1, 2024, and Josh Tschirhart and Pat Flannery to the downtown development authority for four-year-terms ending on June 17, 2025.

The council also announced that the areas Congresswoman, Lisa McClain, would be at City Hall from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on June 15 to meet with her constituents.

McClain represents the Michigans 10th Congressional district and last toured the Upper Thumb to talk with residents in March, where she visited Harbor Beach, Port Austin, and Caseville.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California's governor denounced in starkly personal terms a federal judge's upending of the state's restrictions on assault weapons as officials announced the filing Thursday of a formal notice that they will appeal the decision.

They described last week's ruling by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez as an outlier that conflicts with at least six other federal decisions upholding assault weapons laws in California and elsewhere, a ruling that is designed to get the issue before a recently more conservative U.S. Supreme Court.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, the son of a judge, denounced Benitez as a stone cold ideologue. He is a wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby of the National Rifle Association.

The state already is appealing the same judge's 2017 ruling against the states nearly two-decade-old ban on the sales and purchases of magazines holding more than 10 bullets, and his ruling last year blocking a 2019 California law requiring background checks for anyone buying ammunition.

We need to call this federal judge out. He will continue to do damage, mark my word, Newsom said. This is a very focused agenda to work through this judge, where the decision's already made before its even presented, who writes press releases on behalf of the gun lobby.

Gun owners rights groups have made no secret of their effort to get firearms restrictions before the nations high court.

But the Firearms Policy Coalition, which led plaintiffs who won at the trial level, condemned the governor's outrageous and callous personal attacks on the judge.

Newsoms verbal assaults on a long-respected member of the judiciary shows his deep and continuing disrespect for the rule of law, the judiciary, the Constitution, and the human rights of California citizens, the group said.

Benitez was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, and Newsom, a Democrat, also assailed Republicans who don't support gun restrictions.

A three-judge appeals court panel agreed with Benitez on his ammunition magazine ruling, but the decision is being reconsidered by a larger appellate panel.

Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the three-page notice of appeal and plans to ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay so the current 32-year assault weapons ban will remain in effect throughout the appeals process.

Benitez ruled on Friday that the states definition of illegal military-style rifles violates the U.S. Constitution because it deprives law-abiding Californians of weapons commonly allowed in most other states.

Critics of the ruling including Bonta and Newsom were particularly upset with the judge's comparison of assault weapons to a common tool: "Like the Swiss Army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. Good for both home and battle, the judge wrote.

Pocket knives were not intended to kill as many people as possible," said Mattie Scott, Brady California state president, whose 24-year-old son was killed with an assault weapon in 1996.

State officials announced their appeal at San Francisco General Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center, where trauma surgeon Dr. Andre Campbell vividly described the damage that can be done by a high-speed rifle round fired from an assault weapon.

An AR-15 is a weapon of mass destruction ... used in warfare," Campbell said. It causes absolute devastation to the human body. It is as if a bomb went off in the tissues of the patient."

California first banned specific brands of weapons in 1989 after a mass shooting at a Stockton elementary school killed five children and injured more than two dozen others. The state has updated the law several times since then and overall has some of the nation's strictest firearms laws.

As a result, we have one of the lowest gun death rates in the entire country, said Robyn Thomas, executive director of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

The Firearms Policy Coalition said it will oppose any stay of Benitez' order. It had argued in part that assault weapons are no more deadly than some other weapons that are not banned by the state.

The States desire to continue imposing its ban should not be allowed to prevail over the fundamental rights of law-abiding gun owners, the group said.

Newsom and Bonta, both Democrats, are longtime supporters of what they term commonsense gun restrictions. The governor likely faces a recall election this fall largely driven by his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Bonta took office in April to fill a vacancy and faces several more conservative challengers in next year's election.

Their move was backed earlier by 10 Democratic state lawmakers who said the restrictions help control gun violence.

Democrats who control the state Assembly on Thursday revived for future consideration a bill that would raise taxes on the sale of guns and ammunition.

The bill requires a two-thirds vote because it would raise taxes, and last week it failed to muster enough votes. It would impose a 10% tax on the sales price of handguns and an 11% tax on the sales price of rifles, precursor parts and ammunition, using the money for gun violence prevention and recovery programs.

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Associated Press writer Adam Beam contributed to this story.
There is a big difference between health department rules and regulations and building codes rules and regulations, according to Ann Hepfer, who is the health officer for both the Huron County Health Department, and the Tuscola County Health Department.

The (Tuscola) commissioners do not seem to have an understanding of what public healths roles and responsibilities are within the community," Hepfer said. "We treat and respect all aspects of our community. We cannot and will not just focus on business, that is not our role and responsibility. That is EDC's role and the county commissioners' role. Our role is to promote and protect health.

I feel that the health department is becoming a punching bag.

The comments stem from a recent contentious Tuscola County commissioners meeting, in which Hepfer was presenting at.

There were times when Hepfer was giving an update on COVID that Commissioner Dan Grimshaw would vehemently argue with her and say that the states statistics were flawed. He would talk over her while she was trying to give an explanation.

During her presentation, Grimshaw would interject information he had heard or talked to someone about or something that he had read disputing the countys health officer.

Commissioners also accused Hepfer and the health department of shutting down businesses because of COVID, which was not the case. Some businesses that were able to be open during the pandemic closed because of a worker being infected with the virus which requires others to quarantine as well, so there were not enough employees to operate.

Also without notice, commissioners ordered the health departments licensing fees be cut for those who had to close per the states order, which was about a $40,000 loss of income for the agency.

Commissioners allowed the health department to collect an administration fee of $40 for processing of business licenses being renewed.

In the face of the pandemic, health departments developed a full strategic plan and community health improvement plan based on an accurate health assessment of communities

This was conducted with the other healthcare partners in our community, Hepfer said.

That information can be found at the website www.TCHD.us under the report tab. That report is also supported by the board of health; which meets the third Friday of the month, and meetings are public.

The health department and building codes are absolutely separate entities, Hepfer stated.

The goal of local public health departments is to safeguard the public's health and improve the health status of communities, Hepfer said.

We monitor health status, active and passive disease surveillance, STD and communicable diseases treatments and prevention services, offer services for the uninsured, and enforce environmental codes and laws, she explained.

Also, Michigan has a food code.

It is our responsibility to prevent illness," Hepfer said. "We will not take shortcuts when it comes to preventing food-borne illnesses. We will follow all of the regulations that are required for septic and water supplies. Those codes are in place for a reason. It's for public safety."

The environmental health sanitarians at health departments are registered with the state of Michigan.

They are highly qualified and have exemplary accreditation audits," Hepfer said. "The state actually goes into the field with the sanitarians to ensure all codes are adhered to."

She also took exception to the perception that has been portrayed that she and health departments are not pro-business.

We fully support the efforts of any businesses that need assistance or require a little more attention to detail," Hepfer said. "I am proud as heck of our team for both nursing and environmental health. We have outstanding client satisfaction surveys for all the services we provide including environmental health. We conduct continuous quality improvement in all of our programs to ensure we are providing the best services possible.

In addition, during the height of the pandemic, she and her department developed a website that was kept up to date for businesses to obtain executive order information and supplies, especially when they were difficult to obtain.

Because COVID cases and deaths are coming down, Hepfer is no longer providing updates to the commissioners.
MIDDLETOWN  A local resident is raising concern about rain eroding the earth beneath some headstones at Calvary Cemetery.

A walk through the cemetery, which abuts the State Veterans Cemetery, shows at least a half-dozen toppled gravestones and dozens of headstones that are leaning precariously. With graves dating back to the late 1800s, but most from the 20th century, the Catholic cemetery is the final resting place for many people of eastern and southern European descent.

Kristen Rzasa, who has family buried in the cemetery, is a member of St. Mary of Czestochowa Church, which owns and operates Calvary. She has noticed flooding in the area of their burial site for some time.

Thats what disturbed me so much about this, she said, noting that several headstones have fallen over and dozens more are heavily leaning.

Certainly, nobody is notifying the family members, she said.

Rzasa sent emails last year to church administrators, expressing concern about the pooling of rainwater in that part of the cemetery. Rzasa said she was told it was the familys responsibility to maintain the headstones.

The issue first came to her attention in January 2020, when her family members headstone was damaged, Rzasa said. While a family member eventually paid for the repairs, she believes the church should do something  such as raise the land  to prevent other stones from falling over.

St. Mary staff declined to comment and referred Hearst Connecticut Medias questions to the Diocese of Norwich.

Wayne Gignac, director of communications for the diocese, also declined to answer questions about the cemetery, and referred Hearst Connecticut Media to Dale Fiore, general manager of Evergreen Cemetery and Crematory in New Haven.

Fiore, who is also the former president of the Connecticut Cemetery Association, said he was not familiar with the specific issues at Calvary Cemetery, but said it is not the responsibility of a cemetery to maintain headstones.

But, here in New Haven, we do, he said. If a stone is a little crooked or eroding, you clean it up, because it makes the whole place look poor. We wouldnt charge families for it. I dont believe in that.

Fiore said if there is a larger issue causing degradation of the headstones, it probably should be addressed to the cemetery.

As a member of the Connecticut Cemetery Association, every cemetery has different maintenance and management practices, he said. Were not the cemetery police.

Rzasa also had concerns that the flooding could be getting into caskets and causing damage to the deceased, but experts say that is unlikely.

David MacDonald, president of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association, said almost every cemetery in the state requires caskets to be put in an outer burial container or a vault. He said a burial container is made of cement, while the vault also has a rubber lining.

Burial vaults  many are lined and sealed  meaning they are considered protected and keep the elements out, he said. Then theres others that are just concrete, which arent considered protected, but it covers the casket in the ground.

MacDonald said using these coverings has been common practice for as long as he has been in the field. More than protecting the casket, he said, burial vaults serve to keep the ground stable at cemeteries. Having that concrete container prevents the ground from settling over time, or stones becoming crooked.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has announced that the state is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the murder of Joshua Tramaine Allen.

A news release from the governors office on Wednesday said the 33-year-old Allen was last seen alive in Marshville on Jan. 23, On Feb. 9, Allens body was found in a wooded area in Wingate, according to the Union County Sheriff's Office.
Despite criticism lodged by both Republicans and progressive lawmakers, the state House and Senate gave approval to a bill that would expand health care coverage to children in the country without documentaton who are age eight and younger, and immigrant mothers.

The change, which Gov. Ned Lamont is expected to sign, would cost the state $11 million a year after it ramped up in two years.

Republicans said during the House debate Tuesday that the changes would invite large numbers of immigrants without documentation to move to Connecticut from other states  which would make the program more costly and bigger than envisioned.

The legislation, they said, would also would provide a benefit to those here illegally which is not not available to U.S. citizens who move to Connecticut from other states. Income limits are higher for the immigrant childen than for children in the states HUSKY Medicaid program.

The states match in the Medicaid program is usually 50 percent, but in the case of these children and immigrant mothers, the state would pick up the whole tab because the federal government will not cover health care for those who are not American citizens.

Progressives felt the measure did not go far enough to help immigrants without documentation, who were often essential workers on the front lines of the pandemic and who, despite paying taxes, are ineligible for social services.

I rise in disappointment that this bill has been watered down to what amounts in my view as crumbs for kids, said state Rep. Anne Hughes, D-Easton.

To the question, when will we know if we have the money? The answer is simple. When we have the will, said Hughes, who voted in favor of the bill.

People without immigration documentation in Connecticut pay $145 million annually in state taxes and $253 million in federal, Hughes said, and yet, she said, they cannot access the programs that their taxes subsidize.

Republicans said Connecticut is stepping too deeply into a national crisis.

This is a bill which is trying to solve a real big societal problem, bigger than that which this body can solve, said said Rep. Harry Arora, R- Greenwich. Its an unworkable solution. Its a half baked solution. It smacks of hubris.

Arora and other Republicans also said it was unfair treatment of people not covered by the bill.

We want to create a bill to provide health care 100 percent paid by Connecticut residents for people who are citizens of other countries, where people who are citizens of adjoining states, but are American citizens, we dont care about, he said.

Any child born in the country is a citizen and therefore could be eligible for HUSKY coverage depending on his or her familys income. The bill would expand eligibility for those children and cover non-citizen children whose families move into the state. The cost to the state is estimated at $11 million a year after the program ramps up.

About 1,900 children would be eligibile for HUSKY Medicaid coverage under the bill passed by the House 95-52. The Senate also adopted the bill 26-10 with all Democrats and two southeastern Connecticut senators Heather Somers and Paul Formica voting for it.

To qualify, children would have to be living in households earning up to 323 percent of the federal poverty level  a far higher threshold than typical HUSKY coverage.

Mothers, regardless of their immigration status, would be able to qualify for prenatal care through HUSKY if living in households earning up to 263 percent of the federal poverty level. Up to 1,400 women would qualify for the coverage.

Another 1,400 or so women would have access to up to a year of postnatal care as long as they are living in households where incomes do not exceed 263 percent of the federal poverty level. The estimated cost is $750,000 in the first year and $5 million during the second year.

The measure was one of few remaining health reform measures adopted by the General Assembly in a legislative session that started with ambitious reform plans by Democrats.

The other surviving part of the health reform plan would provide more subsidies for Connecticut residents to sign up for health care coverage on the states insurance exchange. That is part of the budget tadopted by the House and Senate, but Gov. Ned Lamonts push to tax health insurers by $50 million a year to help pay for the subsidies died.

Under the state budget plan, federal stimulus money would be complemented by state-sponsored subsidies that would cover the costs of copays, deductibles and premiums for about 40,000 residents.

With the states improved fiscal outlook, the Lamont administration believes it can absorb that cost within the general fund, instead of through levying the health insurance tax, the governors budget director Melissa McCaw said last week.

julia.Bergman@hearstmediact.com
PHOENIX (AP)  Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Thursday called a special session of the state Legislature to boost wildfire funding as two large wildfires continue to burn in south-central Arizona.

The Republican governor wants the Legislature to approve extra money to ensure that firefighters have the resources they need across the drought-ravaged state and to address the problems the fires will trigger once they are out.

Now it's clear that weve got a lot more work to do and the response will not end even when these fires are out, Ducey said. When this years monsoon rains come, these burned areas are prone to landslides, mudslides and flooding, which pose another threat to this community."

Arizona is not alone in reporting large wildfires this year, as much of the U.S. Southwest is deep into a prolonged drought. The National Interagency Fire Center on Thursday reported that so far this year, 23 large fires have burned across nearly 400 square miles (1,036 square kilometers) of wildlands in nine states. New large fires were reported Wednesday in California, Colorado, Michigan and Utah.

The largest fires currently burning are in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, states hit exceptionally hard by the drought.

About 1,600 firefighters are battling the two large Arizona fires that broke out early this month and have burned at least 245 square miles (636 square kilometers) of grass, chaparral and pinyon pine forest in rugged terrain. The fires are burning west of Superior, Globe, Miami and other mining towns about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Phoenix.

The special session is expected to be held next week. The governor did not announce how much money he will request, besides mentioning it will be in the millions.

Ducey made the announcement as he visited south-central Arizona after traveling with House Speaker Rusty Bowers and another lawmaker to the area where crews supported by aircraft are working to keep the fires out of Globe and several other communities in Gila and Pinal counties.

Bowers lost his longtime family retreat home in the blaze on Monday, which was among five structures that were destroyed in one of the fires burning near Globe and Miami. He lives in Mesa, but he said his grandmother was a milkmaid in Globe when she met his grandfather and his family has deep roots in the community.

"The governor mentioned our loss. But my wife and I, when we look at the friends and the folks that have tried to help us, that are helping you, this is the character of Globe-Miami right here, and beyond over those hills, and were grateful," Bowers said at a midday news conference. Were grateful for good neighbors.

Bowers talked to the governor Monday and suggested the special session, saying the state's wildfire funds were depleted and that he was worried about flooding and mudslides to come.

With what's happened up on the mountain, its gonna be a bad, bad summer if we get a heavy monsoon, which we need, Bowers said Thursday. And so, were here to help. We want to make sure the resources (are there) and work with your emergency management folks to get prepared, to get stationed, to get pre-positioned so that we can really help you in this flooding season thats going to come up.

Ducey rode on an Arizona National Guard Black Hawk helicopter for an aerial tour of the two fires, then was briefed by fire officials and visited a Red Cross shelter for evacuees before holding a news conference.

Whether Ducey actually needed to call a special session is doubtful. The Legislature remains in session as lawmakers try to get enough votes to pass a $12.8 billion budget and massive tax cuts Republican legislative leaders negotiated with Ducey. At least two GOP lawmakers and all Democrats oppose the tax cuts, leading to weeks of no movement on the budget.

Ducey said a special session will help focus lawmakers on a single subject that has bipartisan support even as they are deadlocked on the budget.

Its a way to just stop all the other noise that is necessary in any legislative session, to get big things done and to focus on the fire and the people of Gila County, Ducey said.

The Legislature faces a June 30 deadline to pass a budget for the 2022 fiscal year that begins July 1.

The governors January budget proposal noted that the state has consistently exceeded the $4 million annual appropriation to the state Fire Suppression Fund over the past several years and sought to increase that annual amount by $2.4 million in the coming budget year. The proposal noted that in the previous five budget years firefighting costs exceeded $39 million while appropriations were only about $20 million.

The governor also sought to increase the amount of cash put into an emergency fund he controls and often uses to make up the difference in actual firefighting expenses.

Depending on where fires burn in the state, firefighting efforts may be paid for with either state or federal funding.

Ducey on Wednesday issued an emergency declaration for the two current large wildfires. The declaration will make up to $400,000 available for response efforts.

Crews increased the containment of one called the Telegraph fire burning near Superior and Miami to 40% of its perimeter as of Thursday. Containment of the so-called Mescal fire southeast of Globe was at 36% as of Thursday morning.

The Mescal fire has entered a mop-up stage. But residents shouldnt become complacent because embers could be blown over containment lines and start spot fires, fire management team spokesman David Shell said. If that happens, "were off to the races again, he said,

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Associated Press writer Paul Davenport contributed.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  A key reservoir on the Colorado River has dipped to its record low in the latest showing of the drought's grip on the region.

The surface elevation of Lake Mead along the Nevada-Arizona border dipped to 1,071.56 feet (326.6 meters) at 11 p.m. on Wednesday evening. The level was last hit in July 2016 and is 18.5 feet (5.6 meters) lower than one year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It's the lowest level since Lake Mead was filled in the 1930s.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  A long-recommended proposal to untie Louisiana's income tax collections from federal tax payments won passage Thursday from lawmakers on the legislative session's last day, sending the concept to voters for a decision on the October ballot.

The proposal would get rid of personal income tax and corporate tax deductions for federal income taxes paid in exchange for lowering the states income tax rates. Louisiana also would permanently eliminate the corporate franchise tax for small businesses and lower the tax rate for others.

Franklin Republican Sen. Bret Allain, who led the Senate tax debate, hailed passage as a critical tax reform."

Gov. John Bel Edwards could scuttle the tax swap if he vetoes individual pieces of a package that requires all measures to pass before it can take effect. If he rejects some bills, voters could still adopt part of the plan that lowers the top personal income tax rate, blowing a hefty hole in the budget without the remaining pieces of the tax package.

The Democratic governor seemed inclined to back the package, however, noting he's broadly supported the tax swap concept for years. He said he still needs to comb through the fine points of the measures, but added: I expect to support those bills.

Louisiana allows taxpayers to deduct the federal income taxes they pay from the computation of their state income taxes. When federal income taxes go up, Louisiana collects less in state taxes. When federal income taxes go down, state tax collections rise.

That leaves Louisiana's treasury harmed or helped by decisions out of state control  a situation that tax experts, economists and government watchdog groups have lamented for years.

The right-leaning Pelican Institute for Public Policy praised the tax package as starting the process of simplifying our overly complex and burdensome tax code that has sent jobs and opportunity to other states and hurt Louisianas families for far too long.

The left-leaning Louisiana Budget Project raised concerns. Jan Moller, head of the organization, objected that the tax changes would benefit business and higher-income taxpayers more than low- to moderate-income taxpayers. He also criticized triggers in the bills that could lower corporate franchise and personal income tax rates in later years if Louisiana sees certain revenue growth.

It puts tax cuts at the front of the line," Moller said. "I think its bad policy for 2021 legislators to make this decision for future legislators who may have different priorities, Moller said.

In exchange for losing the tax break for federal taxes paid, taxpayers would receive a 1.85% personal income tax rate on the first $12,500 of net income, down from 2%. The tax rate for the next $37,500 of income would fall from 4% to 3.5%, and the rate for income above $50,000 would drop from 6% to 4.25%.

The constitutional change would cap the maximum allowable rate of personal income tax in Louisiana at 4.75%, so lawmakers could never increase the rate above that percentage unless returning to voters.

On the corporate side, the proposal would scrap current rates that range from 4% to 8% and companies would lose the ability to deduct federal taxes paid from their state taxes. In exchange, the state would charge companies a 3.5% tax rate on the first $50,000 of earnings; 5.5% on earnings above $50,000 and up to $150,000; and 7.5% on earnings above $150,000.

Republican legislative leaders said they expect to largely raise the same amount of revenue for the state treasury. But a nonpartisan financial analysis of the bills suggests the state could lose some money in the early years of the changes.

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Follow Melinda Deslatte on Twitter at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte.
BANGKOK (AP)  The Anti-Corruption Commission in military-ruled Myanmar has found that ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi accepted bribes and misused her authority to gain advantageous terms in real estate deals, government-controlled media reported Thursday.

Suu Kyis lawyers already denied the allegations when they were first raised three months ago by the military regime that toppled her elected government in a February coup. The commissions findings come as prosecutors are set to present their case on separate charges against Suu Kyi in court on Monday.

Suu Kyi's supporters say all of the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the militarys seizure of power. The coup has been wildly unpopular among Myanmar's people, who voted overwhelmingly for Suu Kyis National League for Democracy party in last years general election after a first five-year term in office.

If convicted of any of the offenses, Suu Kyi could be banned from running in the next election, should there be one. The junta has claimed it will hold new elections, within the next year or two, but the country's military has a long history of promising elections and not following through.

The military ruled Myanmar for 50 years after a coup in 1962, and kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years after a failed 1988 popular uprising against army rule.

Since February's coup Suu Kyi has already been charged with spreading information that could cause public alarm or unrest. She also faces two counts of violating the Natural Disaster Management Law for allegedly breaking COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign; illegally importing walkie-talkies that were for her bodyguards use; and unlicensed use of the radios.

Another charge, breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, is being handled separately.

Thursday's report in the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the complaints based on the Anti-Corruption Commission's findings were filed at the relevant police stations on Wednesday. Other media, including state television MRTV, carried the same report.

The report said Suu Kyi has been charged under Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, which states that political office holders convicted for bribery face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prion and a fine. It would be the most severe penalty she faces; the Officials Secrets Act has a maximum 14 years prison term.

Kyi Win, a lawyer for Suu Kyi and her party, said her legal team would discuss the development with her when they meet at their next court hearing on the other outstanding charges.

Thursdays report said the anti-corruption body had found that Suu Kyi illegally accepted $600,000 and seven gold bars from the former chief minister of Yangon Region, a political ally.

The report also said the commission had found that Suu Kyi has misused her position to obtain rental properties at lower-than-market prices for a charitable foundation named after her mother that she chaired.

The story charged that the action deprived the state of revenue it would otherwise have earned.

These moves were not carried out in line with the procedures but with her power and authority, said the report. She paid lower than the reasonable prices for land lease.

The Global New Light of Myanmar said that the former mayor of the capital Naypyitaw, Myo Aung, who also chaired its development committee, was also being charged under Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, along with former deputy mayor Ye Min Oo and former committee member Min Thu.
GREENBELT, Md. (AP)  Two neo-Nazi group members whose talk of planning an attack at a Virginia gun rights rally was secretly recorded by the FBI pleaded guilty on Thursday to gun charges.

Former Canadian Armed Forces reservist Patrik Jordan Mathews, U.S. Army veteran Brian Mark Lemley Jr. and a third member of The Base were arrested on federal charges in Maryland ahead of the January 2020 rally at Virginia's Capitol in Richmond.

Mathews, 28, and Lemley, 35, pleaded guilty at separate hearings to charges including illegally transporting a firearm and obstruction of justice  they destroyed cellphones when FBI agents raided their apartment.

The third co-defendant, William Garfield Bilbrough IV, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty in December to helping Mathews illegally enter the U.S. from Canada in 2019.

After a prosecutor read aloud a summary of the case against them, the judge asked them the same question: Did you do the things the government said you did? Mathews and Lemley both replied that they did.

Mathews pleaded guilty to four counts that carry a combined total of 50 years in prison. Lemley pleaded guilty to seven counts punishable by a maximum of 70 years. However, in both cases, federal sentencing guidelines likely will recommend a prison sentence that is significantly lower than the statutory maximum.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, who isn't bound by the guidelines, is scheduled to sentence Mathews and Lemley on Oct. 28.

None of the defendants faced terrorism-related charges, and a stipulation of facts signed by Mathews, Lemley and prosecutors didn't mention the Richmond rally. But prosecutors are reserving the right to seek a so-called terrorism enhancement at sentencing that could lead to a significant increase in a prison term if the judge agrees to apply it.

Matthews and Lemley, who lived in Elkton, Maryland, discussed the planning of violence at the Richmond rally, where thousands of gun-rights activists later gathered peacefully to protest gun-control legislation, Justice Department prosecutors said in a court filing.

Investigators installed a closed-circuit television camera and microphone inside a Newark, Delaware, apartment that Mathews and Lemley shared for several months after Mathews left Canada. The surveillance equipment captured Lemley and Mathews discussing the next Civil War erupting in Virginia and talking about committing targeted acts of violence, prosecutors said in a Jan. 21 court filing.

I need to claim my first victim, Lemley said, according to prosecutors.

The talk of violence prompted Mathews to say, "Im worried were going to become psychopaths, prosecutors wrote.

Bilbrough, 21, of Denton, Maryland, participated in early discussions about traveling to Richmond but had tried to distance himself from the group shortly before his arrest, a prosecutor has said.

Among other white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, the Base has been a leading proponent of accelerationism, a fringe philosophy that advocates using mass violence to hasten societys collapse. Members often communicated in encrypted chat rooms and attended military-style training camps.

The Guardian identified The Bases founder as American-born Rinaldo Nazzaro, who formed the group in 2018 using the pseudonym Norman Spear and was believed to be living in Russia. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Nazzaro worked for the agency from 2004 to 2006, Vice News reported in February.

The case against the three men charged in Maryland was part of a broader investigation of The Base. In January 2020, authorities in Georgia and Wisconsin arrested four other men linked to the group.

The Base has crumbled amid members' prosecutions and revelations about Nazzaro's background, said Joanna Mendelson, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism. Nazzaro has tried but largely failed to resuscitate the group, she added.

Many within the movement have attempted to distance themselves from him and his activities, as the group is seen as either a honeypot or destined to attract immediate law enforcement attention, Mendelson said.

The unraveling of The Base doesn't eliminate the potential threat posed by extremists who joined the group, she stressed.

Were talking about adherents who are deeply steeped in an ideology, Mendelson said. They oftentimes direct their deeply embedded beliefs into other neo-Nazi organizations.

Mathews told investigators that he was living in Beausejour, Manitoba, and working as a carpenter for a construction company before he entered the U.S. Mathews also said he was a combat engineer in the Canadian Army before serving eight years as an Army reservist.

Mathews left Canada after a Winnipeg Free Press reporter exposed him as a member of The Base in an August 2019 article. Bilbrough and Lemley drove to Michigan to pick up Mathews and take him to Maryland.

Mathews and Lemley have remained jailed since FBI agents arrested them in Delaware in January 2020.

Mathews and Lemley were charged in Maryland with illegally possessing and transporting a firearm and ammunition. A grand jury in Delaware indicted them on separate but related charges.

In February, the judge refused to bar prosecutors from using evidence that FBI agents obtained through search warrants. The FBI also had an undercover employee infiltrate the group, visiting the Delaware home and driving with Mathews and Lemley to a gun range in Maryland in January.

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This story has been edited to reflect that Mathews is 28, not 29.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  A ruling this week by an official with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission locks a third company into a merger proposal that could profoundly affect how electricity is handled in the state.

The official, commission hearing examiner Ashley Schannauer, said Spanish energy company Iberdrola must be officially named a participant in the proposal to merge Public Services Co. of New Mexico with an Iberdrola subsidiary, Avangrid of Connecticut.

Iberdrola has acted as a party, but it has resisted submitting itself to the complete jurisdiction of the Commission as a party, Schannauer wrote.

Some say the order obligates Iberdrola to commitments and regulatory authority that other energy companies in the state operate under. Iberdrola and Avangrid had argued, among other things, the Spanish parent company was merely a holding company and not a full participant in the merger proposal.

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Wednesday he wants everyone to keep their eyes on whats key in the merger.

Most importantly, he said, I want to focus on how the merger helps people receive improved energy security in New Mexico.

Balderas, who has given his support to the merger, said in an interview he had no problem with Schannauers ruling. Opponents should be heard, he said, and information should be accessible to them. But Balderas doesnt want the proposal to merely become a fight showcasing lawyers.

New Mexicos energy grid is antiquated, he said, and there are New Mexico residents who dont have electricity. There are more important issues in the merger for the experts to focus on than legal details, Balderas added.

Avangrid said Wednesday in a statement: While there has never been any requirement in New Mexico for holding companies to be parties or applicants in merger proceedings, we are happy to make Iberdrola a party to the merger case. ... Iberdrola had already agreed to comply with all regulatory requirements.

Some critics of the proposal said naming Iberdrola a participant in the case enables interested parties to gain more information through the legal discovery process. Schannauer concluded the same.

That opportunity will not be easily accomplished if Iberdrola is not a party, Schannauer wrote.

The information critics might seek includes everything from Iberdrolas executive pay to the degree to which the company is lobbying interested parties in New Mexico. Iberdrola has hired New Mexico attorney Marcus Rael for $400 an hour to wield influence, critics say, but now they will get a better sense of his responsibilities.

Critics also point to a case in Maine in which Iberdrola allegedly avoided being named in a class-action suit because it hadnt been attached as a participant in the merger between Avangrid and Central Maine Power.

Avangrid responded that Iberdrola has complied with all merger conditions in every state (including Maine), and there has never been any effort by Iberdrola to avoid the jurisdiction of any state regulatory authority (including in Maine).

Mariel Nanasi with the Santa Fe-based non-profit New Energy Economy said the hearing examiners ruling acknowledges what is obvious in the merger proposal. Whos calling the shots here? Its actually Iberdrola, she said.

Schannauers ruling said Iberdrola has been a central participant in the proceeding and the merger negotiation that led to the proceeding.

Avangrid contends that adding Iberdrola to the merger proposal is a procedural distraction. The company said the sooner the commission approves the merger, the sooner customers can "reap the benefits of this deal.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Setting a national drinking water standard for what have been referred to as forever chemicals will be important in addressing contamination at military bases and communities throughout the U.S., witnesses said Wednesday during a congressional hearing.

New Mexico Environment Secretary Jim Kenney was among those who testified about the contamination, which is linked to a a group of chemicals known as PFAS, an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

New Mexico is locked in a court battle with the federal government over the cleanup of toxic plumes from past firefighting activities at two U.S. Air Force bases.

While the case runs its course, the state is trying to determine the size and scope of the contamination so it can begin to formulate plans for cleaning up the chemicals, which have leached into nearby water sources. The work will take another year to complete, but officials have said samples already show levels that exceed the health advisory set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by significant amounts.

Kenney said he can't protect New Mexicans without a federal regulatory framework for the chemicals.

The EPA drinking water health advisory from 2016 was a great start, but it's now 2021 and there's no regulatory certainty for states and our communities, he said. No person should suffer the negative health effects of PFAS  not in New Mexico or elsewhere.

Similar contamination has been found at numerous sites around the U.S., prompting lawsuits by other states and water utilities.

While the EPA is considering setting a maximum level for PFAS in drinking water nationwide, in Congress, there are several pieces of legislation pending that would address the problem in different ways, from allocating more money for the federal government for cleanup to mandating regulation of PFAS compounds.

Kenney also advocated for classifying discarded PFAS as a hazardous waste so that states can better regulate the chemicals.

U.S. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said the contamination is not just a public health concern but has put farmers out of business and has resulted in falling property values near contaminated sites.

A patchwork of regulatory schemes across various states isn't enough, he said.

Bottom line is this: PFAS is a sinister and pervasive threat to our families' health, a drag on local, state and national economies, and a problem that will not go away on its own, he said. We need strategic national policies.

An environmental official from West Virginia and a mother from Pennsylvania also testified about the effects of the contamination in their states.

Joanne Stanton, co-founder of the Buxmont Coalition for Safer Water, told the senators about her son being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor at the age 6. But it was only within the last several years that she learned drinking water in her community just north of Philadelphia had been contaminated for decades with PFAS.

That contamination has yet to be cleaned up, she said.

Its the EPAs job to regulate chemicals, to set safe drinking water standards, and to hold polluters accountable  even when that polluter is the Department of Defense, she said. And its your job to hold EPA accountable when the agency fails to act. You all have the power to change the current course of history. You have the power to protect people like me, communities like mine.
NEW MILFORD  Two fishermen went missing Wednesday night after they went into the Housatonic River at Bleachery Dam.

The search for the two men extended into Thursday evening, with neither having been found, as of around 5 p.m., according to authorities.

The search came almost a year to the day after two men from the Bronx drowned in the Housatonic at the Bulls Bridge Dam several miles north of where authorities were searching for the two fishermen Wednesday and Thursday.

Bleachery Dam sits just south of downtown New Milford, where the slow-moving waters that run alongside Youngs Field rush past the old Locks building. The dam is accessible down an overgrown dirt track off West Street gated with barbed wire.

A New Milford police boat, Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue and one inflatable search boat carrying Brookfield police dive team members could be seen slowly circling the waters just past the dam Thursday afternoon. Police were staged at the end of West Street, which ends in a private boat launch. The underwater dam is a popular spot for fishing and boating, but can have a dangerous current when the water runs high.

Wheeler said one of the men is 23-years-old, the other is 36. Police have not released the names of either man because one of the family members has not yet made contact with police.

New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said neither of the men missing is a town resident.

Police were first made aware of the incident at 8:31 p.m.

A witness told police one of the men slipped. When the other man went to help him, he also slipped and fell in.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said the agencys Environmental Conservation police were requested to the scene around 9 p.m. Wednesday night to help with a search for two fishermen who ended up in the Housatonic River.

The DEEP team included a K9 search team. With nothing found, police suspended the search a few hours later, the spokesman said.

New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said the property near where the incident occurred is state land, and is supposed to be patrolled by DEEP. He said he reached out to the agency about the incident.

The search comes nearly a year to the day after two men from the Bronx, N.Y. went missing in the river upstream at the Bulls Bridge power plant. Both men were later found dead.

In April, a Danbury man fell and drowned while hiking at the Lovers Leap gorge down river from where the two men were reported missing Wednesday night.

In 2019, a 25-year-old Bronx woman drowned after going in the water at Bulls Bridge.

In response to the deaths, town officials have put up Jersey barriers at some parts of the river to keep people from particulary dangerous sections. The town also put up signs in both Spanish and English advising people that swimming is prohibited.

Some residents have suggested posting the names of people who drowned along the river to advise people of the danger.
Contributed photo / East Hampton police

EAST HAMPTON  Local police arrested a 27-year-old Middletown man last week who they say had 25 bags of a heroin/fentanyl mix in his vehicle.

East Hampton Police Officers Steven Wawruck, John Wilson and his K-9 partner Ardo were conducting high-visibility traffic enforcement on East High Street June 2, when they spotted a Ford Taurus that was being operated with misused registration plates, according to a press release.
BEIRUT (AP)  A leading rights group warned Thursday that millions of Syrians risk losing access to lifesaving aid, including food and COVID-19 vaccines, if Russia manages to block at the U.N. Security Council the use of the last remaining cross-border corridor for U.N. aid into rebel-held northwestern Syria.

The warning came as activists and rescuers said Syrian government shelling of several northwestern villages killed at least 11 people and sent hundreds fleeing on Thursday.

The onslaught is part of an apparent escalation of Syrian military operations in the rebel-held enclave. The northwest is home to nearly 4 million people, most of them displaced and living in shelters, dependent on U.N. aid.

The U.N. Security Council mandate for humanitarian aid deliveries from Turkey to Syrias opposition-held region expires July 10. Veto-wielding Russia, Damascus close ally, has been pressing for the closure of the last remaining aid crossing corridor into the area, insisting the Syrian government should control all assistance going into the country  even to areas outside its control.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said that closing Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey for U.N. aid threatens to totally shut down humanitarian operations most of the areas residents depend on.

In its report, HRW said U.N. agencies will no longer have authorization to procure supplies or carry out or finance others aid work, particularly during emergencies such as the ongoing military campaign in Idlib or waves of displacement. The U.N., for instance, pays the salaries of 800 doctors and 2,000 nurses there.

A new humanitarian calamity will be unleashed on the northwest if Security Council members fail to renew the mandate for aid deliveries, HRW said. At least 75% of the people there depend on aid to meet their basic needs. Some 85% receive the aid from about 1,000 trucks that cross through Bab al-Hawa from Turkey each month, according to the U.N.

If Russia shuts down those trucks, there wont be any way of getting food to those people and they wont have food, said Gerry Simpson, associated crisis and conflict director at HRW.

Northwest Syria was also among the last places in the world to receive COVID-19 vaccines, with U.N.-secured 55,000 shots reaching the territory for a May inoculation campaign.

Simpson told The Associated Press that if the corridor is shut, it is unclear how and whether any further vaccines would reach the area. The United States, the U.N and other European countries are campaigning for the crossing to remain open for at least another year.

Syria's civil war has left the country divided, much of its pre-war population displaced and its infrastructure in ruins. Nearly half a million people have been killed while tens of thousands have disappeared.

Last year, and with threats of a Russian veto, the Security Council officially closed three border crossings into Syria  from Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. That shutdown left over 1 million people in northeast Syria, another area outside government-control and where aid used to cross from Iraq, in extreme need, according to the U.N. It forced 19 out of 50 U.N.-supported health centers to shut while authorities struggled to meet essential needs to fight the pandemic.

Sara Kayyali, Syria researcher with HRW, said if Russia vetoes the resolution to extend the use of Bab al-Hawa, that risks sidelining the U.N. in coordinating humanitarian and emergency responses in Syria.

Thursday's shelling hit Ablin village in Idlib where opposition fighters and militants still hold territory. Rescue workers, known as White Helmets who operate in opposition-held areas, said a mother and her child and at least nine other civilians were among those killed. At least 10 shells landed in Ablin, they said.

Turkey and Russia, who support rival parties in Syrias 10-year conflict, had reached a cease-fire deal in March 2020 that stopped a Russian-backed government offensive on Idlib. But military operations have not totally ceased, with limited violence breaking out occasionally as government forces try to make piecemeal advances in the enclave dominated by the al-Qaida-linked militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

Mark Cutts, the U.N.s deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, tweeted his condemnation Wednesday of what he called the big escalation in artillery shelling by Syrian government forces in southern Idlib. He said the shelling has caused civilian casualties and hit near a camp for displaced people, destroying a compound used as a school.

Mohammed Halaj, an aid worker who coordinates between local groups and the U.N. emergency responses, said at least 110 families  over 600 people  have fled the shelling.
HONG KONG (AP)  Hong Kong will allow children age 12 and above to receive the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as it seeks to boost immunization rates in the city.

Government officials said Thursday they will offer the vaccine to about 240,000 children from 12 to 15 years old starting Friday, joining other countries that have started vaccinating children.

The move comes as Hong Kong is urging its 7.5 million population to get inoculated. Since its vaccination drive began in late February, just over 15% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

The city has seen widespread vaccine hesitancy due to a mistrust of the government and outsized fears of side effects after several people died following inoculations, despite a determination that the deaths were not directly related to the vaccine.

The government attaches high importance to getting adolescents and students vaccinated, and it is the governments hope that more students, parents and teachers will be vaccinated, said Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip.

Since they are below 18, children must obtain parental approval before they can be vaccinated.

Health minister Sophia Chan urged parents to let their children get vaccinated to help them to go back to school for their normal lives as soon as possible. Students in kindergarten through secondary school are currently attending only half-day classes as part of preventive measures during the pandemic.

The semi-autonomous Chinese city is offering the Pfizer vaccine  better known as BioNTech in the city  and the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine.

Hong Kong officials say those wanting to receive the Pfizer vaccine must do so by the end of August before the doses expire, and that vaccination centers administering the Pfizer vaccine will cease operations in September.

The private sector is offering a slew of incentives to encourage people to get vaccinated. Companies are offering gold bars, a Tesla car and even an apartment in lucky draws open to vaccinated residents.

Hong Kong ended a 6-week streak with no local infections last week when a 17-year-old girl tested positive despite having no travel history. Her mother and sister later also tested positive.
Throughout the pandemic many folks looked around at their walls and decided that they need something to spruce up their spaces. If youre looking for a piece of art that is completely original (and doesnt bear a live, laugh, love mantra), consider turning to some critter creators.

In Connecticut, you can actually register to paint with wildlife, then keep the masterpieces you make with animals like goats, seals, sea lions and even penguins.

Sure, you could attend a paint-and-sip and follow a prompt to create your own painting. But imagine the kinds of stories you can share at dinner parties as you explain to guests that, oh, that painting over there? I made it with a seal.

Farm painting

Bradley Mountain Farm / Contributed photo

Bradley Mountain Farm in Southington is all about the goats. Terri Battaglia, farm event leader at Bradley Mountain Farm, said they offer 15 different goat programs at the farm, including goat yoga, goat snuggles, goat strolls and Go-at Painting.

You come in and you get a canvas and you get to create the painting with the goat. You get to pick out your own two colors, and we just apply the paint on the canvas and put it on the floor, and you work with the goat to get them to walk over the canvas.

For more information about painting with goats, visit bradleymountainfarm.com.

Sea creature paintings

Courtesy of Mystic Aquarium

Kendall Rabeneck, communications manager at Mystic Aquarium, said they offer in-person and virtual painting sessions with their animals. Currently folks can register to paint in-person with seals and sea lions. Mystic also offers virtual painting programs with beluga whales and penguins.

We came up with the program to provide an inside look at enrichment behaviors and provide guests with a painting to take home to reminisce on the experience, she said.

The humans select which colors they would like their selected animal to use. From there, the critter will channel its inner Picasso and apply the paint to the canvas.

Visitors who do a painting program at Mystic will also get a biography about the critter that helped them make their creation.

The painting programs help the animals to engage, learn and interact with their environment, benefiting them physically and mentally, Rabeneck said.

Of all their painting critters, the penguins are the only ones who arent trained to paint with their mouths. Instead, the birds step in paint and walk over the canvas to create their works of art.

For more information about the painting programs at Mystic, visit mysticaquarium.org.

Pet painting at home

Anyone looking to paint an animal might consider enlisting the help of a pet. To create a pet-made painting, all you need is a tarp, some non-toxic, animal-safe paint and a canvas. Lay the canvas and some paint down on a tarp and have your house pet step in the paint and step on the canvas with their paws. (Keep in mind: this could easily get messy, so it might be easier to create your pet-designed art work outside.) For additional pet painting tips the American Kennel Society offers techniques on different ways to teach fido how to paint.

tinamarie.craven@hearstmediact.com
Those who have had a baby while on civilian health insurance will be quick to remind anyone on Tricare just how lucky they are not to have to pay so much out of pocket. For maternal care and childbirth, insured Americans paid an average of $4,559 in 2015, an increase of 49% since 2008, according to a study by Health Affairs. For Tricare beneficiaries, the cost is very close to zero, but some decisions may come with an out-of-pocket bill.

Tricare Select, Prime and Overseas

The amount it costs to have a baby will depend on the type of Tricare coverage you have. It's important to note, however, that pregnancy is not considered a "qualifying life event" that allows you to switch coverage from Prime to Select outside of the open enrollment period in the fall. Relocations and marriages are qualifying life events; a full list is available online.

Tricare's coverage includes prenatal care, delivery, postpartum care and any complications that arise for mother or child. If you have optional or special ultrasounds, such as one that can reveal the sex of a baby, that is not covered. During delivery, anesthesia is covered as well as anything medically necessary. Tricare also covers the hospital stay for mother and child, even if complications require either of them to stay longer than a few days.

Enrollment in Tricare Prime and Tricare Select are free for active-duty family members, and you can read more information on the co-pays or fees for which Tricare Select users are responsible. For an active-duty family on Tricare Prime, there should be no out-of-pocket costs. For a pregnancy covered by Select, fees are about $25 a day for birthing centers, home delivery and hospital stays for in-network providers. For out-of-network providers, the cost is up to 20% for home delivery.

Having a baby overseas may incur additional fees, such as for parking while in Europe and obtaining a certificate of birth abroad, local birth certificates and a passport. A local birth certificate may be required if your child is born in a civilian hospital while stationed overseas.

Does Tricare Cover Home Births?

Tricare covers most options for delivery. The most common are military hospitals, civilian hospitals and birthing centers, which can be approved by Tricare for delivery.

Birthing centers are covered by Tricare -- but only for low-risk pregnancies, natural childbirth procedures and immediate newborn care. If you have a high-risk pregnancy, you will not be authorized to deliver at a birthing center. A high-risk pregnancy is determined by your provider for a variety of reasons, some of which are being over 35, being pregnant with multiple babies or having a history of pregnancy complications, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Planned home births are a possibility, depending on your location. They are not covered overseas, for example. There are additional referral and prior authorizations required before planning a home birth as well as fees that you are responsible for covering. You also want to check your state regulations regarding home births. For example, a midwife licensed in Georgia cannot attend a home birth unless they are a certified nurse midwife. Also, home-birth midwifery is illegal in seven states: Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina and South Dakota.

Are Midwives or Doulas Covered by Tricare?

If you'd rather see a midwife than an obstetrician for your pregnancy and delivery, Tricare covers that as long as they are licensed by the state and certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board. If your doctor's office has a midwife who doesn't meet these certifications, they can work under the doctor's supervision.

Many military spouses and service members may be interested in using a doula during delivery. A doula is not a healthcare professional but provides support through medical experiences, including birth, miscarriage or stillbirth. A doulas fees will not be covered by Tricare.

Does Tricare Pay for Surrogacy?

For beneficiaries interested in pursuing surrogacy, Tricare covers some things. If the surrogate mother is a Tricare beneficiary and has a contract with the parents, the coverage is the same. That coverage includes pregnancy, birth, postpartum care and any complications that may arise.

For more information or specific questions, visit Tricares website, where you can find the appropriate phone number for your region.

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During President Joe Biden's first overseas tour as commander in chief, he sent a clear message Wednesday that U.S. service members and their families are key to strengthening relationships at home and abroad.

"You are the solid steel spine of America around which alliances are built and strengthened," Biden told U.S. troops and their families, speaking in a hangar on RAF Mildenhall, England.

Biden's speech reflected the overall theme for his trip: "America is here to lead with strength."

The UK visit -- the first stop on his eight-day trip -- comes ahead of a meeting next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva and with leaders at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

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"I'm meeting with Putin to let him know what I want him to know," Biden said to roaring applause. "The United States will respond in a robust and meaningful way when the Russian government engages in harmful activities. That there are consequences for violating the sanctity of democracy."

Among the matters Biden is expected to address with Putin are recent cybersecurity attacks directed at U.S. businesses and government agencies. Officials believe Russia was behind those attacks.

Biden will convene with NATO allies Monday to discuss security issues in Europe and the progress of the alliance's withdrawal from Afghanistan. Since he took office, Biden has talked up the value of NATO, which faced frequent criticism from former President Donald Trump on issues like defense spending. During Biden's first visit as president to NATO headquarters, the allies are likely to project a unified front.

"This summit will be a strong demonstration of trans-Atlantic unity, of Europe and North America standing together in NATO," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday after meeting with Biden at the White House. "Because we are stronger, we are safer together in a more unpredictable world."
Dr. Richard Stone, a retired Army major general who has led the Veterans Health Administration since 2018, is stepping away from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The move, expected to occur next month, comes as the VA has ramped up its search for an under secretary for health -- a position that has been vacant since January 2017, when Dr. David Shulkin was promoted from the position to become secretary.

Stone became executive in charge of the department -- essentially fulfilling the duties of the under secretary position but without the title -- in 2018.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced the pending departure Thursday.

"I respect his decision to leave, especially given the reason he told me he would do so: to ensure the incoming under secretary, whom I strongly believe needs to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, has the opportunity to fully assume leadership of the Veterans Health Administration," McDonough said in a statement.

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Stone was named acting secretary of the VHA on Jan. 20, the day President Joe Biden was inaugurated. As part of former President Donald Trump's initiatives to decrease the size of the federal bureaucracy, under secretary and deputy positions often went unfilled while the duties of those jobs were performed by federal employees.

The VA established a commission in March to identify candidates for the position of under secretary. Stone's departure may indicate an announcement is imminent.

As acting under secretary, Stone was responsible for an $87.5 billion health care system that serves more than 9 million veterans. He will be remembered for steering the department and patients through the COVID-19 pandemic, related research and vaccinations, McDonough said.

"We owe Dr. Stone an immense debt of gratitude for his leadership, especially during the pandemic. When COVID-19 first began to spread, Dr. Stone was among the first people veterans and their families heard from, delivering a simple and urgent message: 'We are going to be here [for you] just like we have been for the last 100 years,'" McDonough said. "Under Dr. Stone's leadership, VHA's excellent employees have done exactly that -- vaccinating millions, saving lives and risking everything to serve those who served our country."

A dermatologist by training, Stone joined the VA in 2018 from Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked in military health. He had previously served as principal deputy under secretary of health at the VHA. As a member of the Army Reserve, he served as deputy surgeon general and deputy commanding general of support for Army Medical Command.

His military awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and Combat Action Badge.

"As much as I hate to see Dr. Stone go, I am grateful to him for staying through mid-July," McDonough said. "I'm proud to call Dr. Stone a friend, and I thank him for his decades of service. Our nation is safer, and our veterans are healthier because of his work."

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: The VA Has Now Administered More COVID-19 Vaccine Shots Than 42 US States
A new website that some 100,000 soldiers use to access tuition benefits has been broken for months, and the problem has caught the attention and ire of lawmakers.

The Facebook page for the Army's tuition assistance program and a Reddit community have been flooded with daily complaints from soldiers that they are going into debt to cover schooling charges, are too afraid to begin college with benefits being unreliable, or saying their degrees are on hold until their schooling is paid for, something that could hold back their military careers. Some also say they are having difficulties signing up for new courses because the schools have not received payment for previous classes.

The problem could persist for up to a year, a congressional staffer said. But Army officials are now giving assurances that soldiers will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket costs they incur due to the snafu.

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Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston told reporters Wednesday that troops shouldn't be paying out of pocket to begin with, adding that they will be repaid.

"Soldiers should not be paying for their education expenses. The Army will pay for those approved costs," Grinston said. "This won't be resolved until the new system is fully operational."

The issue began in February when the Army switched from the online platform GoArmyEd, run by IBM, to ArmyIgnitED, a service built by contractor Deloitte.

"America made a solemn promise to our service members with the passage of the first G.I. Bill in the 1940s that no one who serves our country should have to pay out of pocket for tuition or be saddled with college debt," Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., the chair of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Committee, said in a statement. "We must make sure that we're keeping that promise."

It is unclear whether Congress plans hearings on the issue.

An aide for Speier said about 80,000 soldiers are receiving tuition assistance with no problem, but that still leaves thousands of troops in the position of having to pay out of pocket, leaving school, or having their military careers stalled for not having enough civilian education to qualify for promotion.

"This process has been slow but should be mostly complete in August, which should smooth the process," Speier's aide said. "Full functionality of the new system is not expected until 2022, so expect some more growing pains."

Officials with Deloitte did not respond to a request for comment and were not present at a press conference Wednesday about problems with the website.

"The buck stops here; I'm responsible to fix this problem," Lt. Gen. Ted Martin, commander of the Combined Arms Center and executive vice chancellor of Army University, told reporters during the press conference. "I sincerely apologize to the soldiers and families out there with the rollout."

Col. Charles Rambo, director of Army University, told reporters that Deloitte's new platform is "stable," adding that there was "extensive" beta testing. But the site began to experience problems when it went live and 15 years of data from the old service started migrating to Deloitte's service.

The Army can't go back to using the old website while the new one is fixed because the contract for GoArmyEd has expired, he said.

"To be honest, we did not anticipate it being that difficult," Rambo said. "We've identified that problem."

If a soldier does pay out of pocket for authorized courses, they have a year to file a reimbursement claim. But there's confusion on what soldiers should do. Army officials are unsure how long it may take for a soldier to be paid back and have given out conflicting guidance.

Some schools may require students to pay upfront. In an April memo, Army officials said "soldiers will have to use alternative funding," and should consider withdrawing from school to avoid paying out of pocket.

"Soldiers enrolled in classes beginning 23 April 2021 and later should contact their [school] to discuss withdrawing from these classes if they do not want to pay out-of-pocket," states the memo, which has since been rescinded but is still online.

There are also concerns that the tuition problems create room for bad actors to swoop in and pressure soldiers into bad loans.

The Army does have a system to request an exception of policy from schools, essentially giving those institutions an IOU. That might work for large, high-profile universities, but may not with smaller schools that have little experience dealing with the military.

"Essentially what the Army has done is tell the soldier to figure things out on their own with the school," said Will Hubbard, interim chief policy officer for Veterans Education Success. "Good schools are likely to wait, but we know that not all schools in higher ed are ... that good. I would bet some are encouraging students to take out loans, which would be a serious problem."

Grinston wants soldiers who have tuition issues or are seeking reimbursement to go to this link to submit a complaint.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: How the Pandemic Spurred Congress to Rewrite GI Bill Rules for the National Guard
Dozens of U.S. troops, allied forces and civilian contractors donated blood to help an Iraqi soldier who was severely wounded in a roadside bomb blast near the Syrian border recently.

The 135th Medical Company (Area Support) of the Wisconsin National Guard prepared for the patient's arrival at al Asad Air Base in Iraq on May 27, the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition said in a statement Wednesday.

When he arrived, Norwegian medics with Task Force Viking brought him to a base medical facility, where he was stabilized for surgery before a medical evacuation helicopter took him to a hospital in Baghdad.

Within an hour, the limited supply of stored blood at al Asad was exhausted and a basewide call went out for donors with Type O blood who had been pre-screened, the military said. Volunteers were lining up within five minutes to be part of the walking blood bank, which takes fresh blood drawn from pre-tested "walking" donors for immediate use in casualties.

"Without that blood, we would not have been able to stabilize him enough to get him out of here," said Maj. Steven Schoeny, the 135th MCAS commander.

Others called to ask what they could do to assist.

"The volunteers didn't know who he was or what was wrong, but they wanted to help," Schoeny said.

While medics were busy drawing blood, a veterinarian stepped in to assist, the military said. The base established a walking blood bank for military working dogs last fall.

More than 60 people donated blood for the wounded soldier.

"Everyone did their piece to get him to the next echelon of care," said 2nd Lt. Jennifer Vanden Bosch, a nurse from Appleton, Wis.

Unfortunately, the Iraqi soldier died after being transferred to Iraqi medical care, U.S. Army Col. Wayne Marotto, a coalition spokesman, said in an email to Stars and Stripes.

Over 2,500 U.S. troops and 3,000 international forces remain in Iraq as part of the international coalition supporting efforts to defeat the Islamic State, which continues to fight an insurgent campaign. About 900 Americans are also supporting partner forces in neighboring Syria.

Iraqi security forces "have moved into the lead in the #defeatdaesh mission & now are doing the fighting themselves," Marotto said on Twitter last week. The coalition "continues to support ISF in training, advising, assisting, at a very high level, & far away from combat on the ground."
An Air Force pilot crashed his F-16 Fighting Falcon in a deep wooded area in Michigan's Upper Peninsula last December after experiencing spatial disorientation and the inability to recover the fighter jet, according to an Accident Investigation Board report released Wednesday.

Capt. Durwood "Hawk" Jones of the 115th Fighter Wing out of Truax Field Air National Guard Base in Madison, Wisconsin, was instantly killed in the crash. He was 37.

The service said contributing factors included bad weather; Jones' failure to properly identify the horizon because he was wearing night vision goggles; fixation on various avionics systems in the cockpit while neglecting the overall situational awareness; and the aircraft's "loss of satellite tracking data," the report states.

Jones and a wingman, also flying an F-16, were conducting a night training flight on Dec. 8 that simulated a mission to intercept an aircraft that had strayed into a restricted flight zone, according to the report.

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The accident occurred around 7:15 p.m. local time in the Hiawatha National Forest, roughly 300 miles northeast of Truax.

The two F-16s were supposed to rendezvous with a Wisconsin Civil Air Patrol aircraft that they would then track in the scenario, but because of weather conditions in the Green Bay area, the CAP intercept was canceled. The F-16s proceeded with their own two-plane mission, taking off at about 6:45 p.m.

Four minutes later, Jones noted an anomaly in the GPS. He told his wingman to radio over any corrections should he "drift off course," the report states. At 6:51, he put on his night vision goggles.

Prior to arrival at the next checkpoint, Jones said he would try an inflight alignment to recalibrate the inertial navigation system while troubleshooting the GPS malfunction. At the same time, the two pilots moved to switch roles, with the wingman leading the formation and Jones following.

Jones used his attitude display indicator as backup to track his orientation relative to the horizon.

Several other indicators such as attitude information and flight path markers, were also missing from the heads-up display, Jones said, as noted in the investigation. There had been no improvement with the embedded GPS following the troubleshoot attempt. Jones again tried to recalibrate the inertial navigation system.

The night grew darker as they headed further north. Jones at the wingman were about 3 nautical miles apart.

Jones radioed, "Looks like I'm getting into the weather.... Are you able to keep track of me?" Seconds later, Jones said he was "blind" at 10,000 ft mean sea level, meaning he had lost visual contact with the wingman, but was tracking him on radar. The distance between them grew to 5 nautical miles.

The wingman said he would press "a little further forward" before turning, the report says.

Trying to establish deconfliction of "vertical and horizontal means," Jones began a series of heading, altitude and attitude changes where his nose dipped. He also banked right, all while flying at speeds of 600 knots, or nearly 700 miles per hour.

Investigators determined Jones' modeled flight path resembled a "split S," a complicated aerial maneuver in which a pilot inverts partially into a half-loop in order to descend and turn into the opposite direction.

Instead he flew nose-first into the ground; he did not attempt to eject, the report states.

"At the time of impact, the aircraft was approximately 58 degrees nose low, with over 20 degrees of right bank, heading 205 degrees, and traveling over 600 knots," officials said.

A pre-flight inspection had taken place two days prior with no discrepancies. A further review of the aircraft's historical maintenance record revealed two unscheduled maintenance events during the 90 days preceding the mishap.

While "there is no evidence to indicate they contributed to the mishap," one of the maintenance upgrades included replacement of the embedded GPS.

A maintainer who made the modification said almanac data showed the aircraft had been able to connect to five GPS satellites. Furthermore, the F-16 had previously flown six sorties with the new embedded GPS with no issues, the report states.

There was some local precipitation and light snow north of the forest site, but the pilots only experienced scattered clouds at most, the investigation states. The wingman told investigators the darkness of the surrounding water, namely Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, "could create visual illusions" while in flight.

Jones had more than 560 hours of instrumentation experience while in flight and nearly 300 hours using night vision goggles, or NVGs. "The [mishap pilot] was current and qualified at instrument and night flying, with and without the aid of NVGs," officials said. "On the night of the mishap, the degraded primary flight data available to [Jones] created an increased dependence on standby instruments for aircraft orientation."

That's why Jones was intent on fixing the issues, the report added.

The combination of "night, weather conditions, the use of NVGs, low illumination, the [F-16's] altitude, attitude and airspeed, as well as [Jones'] breakdown in visual scan of the available primary and standby instrumentation impacted [his] ability to recognize, confirm, and recover from the unusual attitude created by the spatially disorienting event," said Brig Gen. David Smith, president of the Accident Investigation Board.

Local emergency responders, the Coast Guard, additional Air Force units and other government agencies initiated immediate search-and-rescue efforts on the ground, in the air, and in the water following the crash.

Jones, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, joined the Guard in 2011, according to a Facebook announcement from the 115th Fighter Wing following the crash. He completed F-16 basic qualification training in 2015 and deployed to Japan that same year to support operations in the Pacific, the Facebook post said.

Jones deployed to Korea in 2017, and to Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel in 2019, it said. Jones' awards include two Air Medals with combat 'C' devices.

Jones is survived by his wife and two children, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

Related: Air Force IDs Guard Captain Killed in Michigan F-16 Crash; Base Flight Ops Halted
The Department of Veterans Affairs has long cited the necessity to repair aging buildings and construct modern facilities to meet the needs of veterans -- at an estimated cost of $60 to $70 billion.

But the department is just beginning a process to review its aging infrastructure, and officials have given few specifics on the state of those assets or how they would spend any funding they receive to address them.

With the agency slated to get more than $18 billion for its infrastructure needs under President Joe Biden's American Jobs Plan, members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday pressed the VA's director of the office of asset enterprise management for details on his plans for the proposed funding.

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And they painted a grim picture of the facilities in their states.

In New Hampshire, for example, longstanding fly infestations in operating rooms led to canceled medical procedures for veterans in 2018 and 2019, according to Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan.

At the Sonny Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi, the dialysis treatment center has closed its doors due to aging infrastructure, according to Pat Murray, director of legislative services at the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

And at the West Haven VA Medical Center in Connecticut last year, a routine maintenance operation turned deadly when a steam pipe exploded during replacement, killing two.

"The facility needs to be rebuilt, and two people are dead now because of a failure to take necessary steps to invest in this infrastructure," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. "It is horrifying and outrageous."

Congress established an effort in 2018 for an independent review of the VA's real estate assets, infrastructure and construction needs and to make recommendations for future facilities. The Asset and Infrastructure Review commission, whose members have not yet been announced, is expected to oversee a process similar to the Defense Department's base closure and realignment commissions.

But final decisions by the commissioners, who are expected to deliberate for seven months and hold public hearings on their findings, arent expected until 2023.

Murray and others said repairs and maintenance can't wait two more years and the VA must take steps now to improve oversight of projects and make repairs.

"We must not wait for its completion to perform maintenance, upgrades and necessary construction. [The commission] represents the future of the footprint of VA, but there is 60-plus billion dollars of work needed now," Murray said.

But lawmakers increasingly are balking at providing more funds without seeing fixes in management that would improve oversight.

The VA's discretionary spending has risen by 291% since fiscal 2003, totaling $109.5 billion in fiscal 2021, and its mandatory spending has risen 313% to $133.8 billion -- increases that should have included investments in infrastructure, noted Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, the committee's ranking Republican.

But projects undertaken in the past two decades, including construction of a new medical center in Colorado that took 14 years and ran $1 billion over budget, demonstrate that mismanagement at the VA is responsible for many of the problems, according to Moran.

"More focus is needed on the VA's business process that produced this dismal state of affairs," he said.

Officials with the Government Accountability Office agree. According to the GAO, the VA lacks the resources and skills needed to effectively manage projects, with staffing shortages and insufficient communication between its central office for construction and facilities management and local offices.

It also lacks a system that allows it to evaluate its asset performance, said Andrew Von Ah, director of physical infrastructure for the GAO.

"Without such indicators, VA will have difficulty knowing whether the system is working and where it may need to make improvements," Von Ah said.

Those who testified alongside VA officials, including Murray and Don Orndoff, senior vice president for national facilities services at health care company Kaiser Permanente, had a number of suggestions for the department to improve its infrastructure oversight and management. They included teaming with the Army Corps of Engineers -- which was called in to fix the troubled Colorado construction project -- and partnering with private industry.

Kaiser Permanente, Orndoff said, invests roughly $3 billion each year in infrastructure. He suggested that the VA standardize its facility design and use modular components for facilities; accelerate project delivery so hospitals and clinics aren't outdated by the time they are complete; and practice sustainment -- staying on top of issues at existing infrastructure to prolong their service life.

Brett Simms, the VA's director of the office of asset enterprise management, said the department would use the $18 billion in Biden's proposed budget to address immediate needs and build new facilities.

According to Simms, the VA would spend $3 billion immediately to upgrade facilities to support health care for female veterans, improve utility and building systems to increase energy efficiency, and make accommodations for aging veterans.

The remaining $15 billion would be used to modernize or replace 10 to 15 aging medical centers, although Simms did not say which ones.

And he asked senators to support legislation that would give the VA more flexibility in leasing clinics in 13 states.

"It offers much-needed flexibility for VA," Simms said.

Committee Chairman Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said he would work to get that legislation passed, adding that he supports the commission.

"I'm hoping the VA makes this commission an opportunity to get rid of the excess VA infrastructure that is not being utilized, while building new leasing, new buildings and right-sizing facilities so they're able to meet the long-term needs of our veterans, he said.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: 'At What Point Does VA Become Adequately Funded?' Republicans Question Record Budget Request
A massive Saharan dust storm heading toward the Americas has been recorded on satellite.

According to NASA Earth Observatory experts, strong winds blasted over Mali and Mauritania earlier this month, blowing desert dust over Senegal and The Gambia and into the Atlantic.

One Year After Being Photographed

The dust cloud was detected traveling over the central Atlantic area by the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite on 4 June. By 7 June, it had been observed by the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite.

This storm arrives a year after NASA satellites photographed the greatest dust storm in 20 years, which swept across the Caribbean Sea in June 2020.

Satellite and ground sensors recorded the greatest dust concentration in the atmosphere since NASA's Earth Observing System satellites were launched during that storm.

Scientists recently released their findings on the "Godzilla" storm, explaining how the dust travels such a great distance.

Related Article: Chinese Dust Storm Turns Sun Blue in the Beijing Skies



Travelling Distance

In a NASA release, research lead author Bing Pu, a geologist and atmospheric scientist at the University of Kansas stated, "The African easterly jet (stream) transfers the dust from Africa into the Atlantic area."

The North Atlantic subtropical high, a high-pressure system that sits over the subtropical North Atlantic, can then transfer it farther into the Caribbean.

The Caribbean low-level jet, in conjunction with the subtropical high, has the potential to transfer dust from the Caribbean area to the United States.

It's uncertain how future dust storms may be affected by climate change.

According to Bing Pu's team, storms may become more common as temperatures rise and less vegetation holds Earth's soil on the ground.

Godzilla Storm

In June 2020, a "Godzilla" dust storm traveled over the Atlantic Ocean from the Sahara, the world's biggest and hottest desert, reaching North America. Dust uplift from low-level jets and haboobs causes Saharan dust plumes, which are a natural occurrence, especially during the summer. However, because of its gigantic size and volume of dust transport, this event was dubbed "Godzilla" dust plume - the most intense occurrence in the last two decades.

Godzilla's storm was absolutely monstrous. First, the harmattan, or desert winds, broke records by blowing at over 70 kilometers per hour in northern Africa. Then, across the Atlantic Ocean, a cloud of pink-tinged dust roughly the size of the entire United States drifted westward. According to Hongbin Yu, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, it weighed over 24 million tons, enough to fill hundreds of Olympic-size swimming pools.

Sahara Dust

Saharan dust falls into the water as it travels across the Atlantic, nourishing marine life and, similarly, plant life once it arrives on land. Minerals in the dust, such as iron and phosphorus, function as fertilizer for the Amazon rainforest, the world's most extensive and most biodiverse tropical forest, whose rains would otherwise wash away many of these vital nutrients into the Amazon river basin.

Also Read: The True Silent Killer: Air Pollution Killed More People Than Any Viruses

For more environmental news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
U.S. and other NATO allies could have 450 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters stationed in Europe by 2030, the general in charge of U.S. European Command said Wednesday.

Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, who is also NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, said during an Atlantic Council discussion that the coalition is continuing to build its fifth-generation fighter capability.

"That's a tremendous capability," Wolters said. "And if I were a potential foe against NATO or Europe, I wouldn't like to hear that."

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Wolters' hope for a fleet of 450 F-35s across Europe over the next decade would be a marked increase from current levels.

So far, according to manufacturer Lockheed Martin's website and other public statements, at least 49 F-35 jets have been delivered to allies including the United Kingdom, Norway, Italy, Netherlands and Denmark, with dozens more on the way.

Wolters' comments come as the Air Force is steadily increasing its F-35 presence in Europe. Though F-35s have periodically deployed to Europe since 2017, RAF Lakenheath in England is slated to become the first permanent U.S. F-35 base in Europe this fall.

The 495th Fighter Squadron, which is part of the 48th Fighter Wing at Lakenheath, will take on the nickname "Valkyries" when it becomes the Air Force's first U.K.-based F-35 squadron.

There are currently more than 600 F-35 aircraft operating from nearly 30 locations worldwide, according to Lockheed Martin.

Wolters also said he's excited to see what is in the works for the Air Force's planned future Next Generation Air Dominance program, or NGAD, which defies the traditional categorization of a single platform, featuring a network potentially including an advanced fighter aircraft alongside sensors, weapons or drones. He added that the German, British and French also have initiatives in the works on a potential sixth-generation fighter which couples with autonomous weapons or drones.

-- Oriana Pawlyk contributed to this report.

-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.

Related: Air Force's First Overseas F-35 Fighter Squadron Gets Crowdsourced New Name
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers Thursday that climate change is a serious threat facing the United States -- one that the military must take into account.

Milley's comments came a day after President Joe Biden told U.S. troops in England that top military leaders had told him about 12 years ago that global warming was the greatest threat facing America, due to its effects on population movements, increased scarcity of land capable of growing food and possible fighting over land.

"When I was over in the Tank in the Pentagon, when I first was elected vice president with President Obama, the military sat us down to let us know what the greatest threats facing America were -- the greatest physical threats," Biden said at RAF Mildenhall. "And this is not a joke: You know what the Joint Chiefs told us the greatest threat facing America was? Global warming."

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During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to discuss the Pentagon's proposed fiscal 2022 budget, Milley said that China is the top military threat facing the United States, and Russia is also a considerable "great power competitor."

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., asked Milley about Biden's comments about global warming being America's greatest threat.

Milley replied that climate change has had a significant effect on military operations that must be considered.

"Climate change is going to impact natural resources, for example," he said. "It's going to impact increased instability in various parts of the world. It's going to impact migrations, and so on."

Milley also cited the effect hurricanes -- which scientists say have been worsened by warming oceans -- have had on infrastructure in the United States. Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida was devastated by a major hurricane in October 2018.

He said there is no difference of opinion between himself and Biden when it comes to taking climate change as a serious threat.

"The president is looking at [potential threats] at a much broader angle than I am," Milley said. "I'm looking at it from a strictly military standpoint and, from a strictly military standpoint, I'm putting China and Russia up there. That is not, however, in conflict with the acknowledgment that climate change, or infrastructure, or education systems -- national security has a broad angle to it."

The Biden administration's first proposed Pentagon budget, released late last month, called climate change a "national security priority" and asked for $617 million in new infrastructure investments to help prepare for and respond to climate change.

During the hearing, Milley also addressed sexual assault and harassment in the ranks, saying "some significant and fundamental change" to how the military prosecutes such crimes is needed.

He was responding to a question from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who asked him to confirm reports that he is open to removing the authority to prosecute sexual assault and related crimes from the chain of command.

Milley replied that he is "completely open-minded" to significant changes for those offenses, adding that most of the military's other senior leaders feel the same.

Gillibrand said she has proposed "draw[ing] a bright line at all serious crimes" in the military and taking those prosecutions out of the chain of command, which she said would increase transparency and accountability in the system and lessen bias.

Gillibrand's proposals, which she has backed for eight years, instead would give military attorneys the decision on whether to prosecute in cases of serious crimes, such as sexual assault, murder and child pornography.

But Milley indicated he is not yet willing to make similar changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or UCMJ, for other felonies, saying more study would be needed first.

"It needs a lot of due diligence before we bundle all the ... felonies and take them away from the commander," he said.

Milley's comments Thursday show a continued thaw in his once-staunch opposition to changing how the military prosecutes sexual assaults. Last month, he told The Associated Press that he had dropped his opposition to suggestions -- backed in a slate of initial proposals from an independent review panel studying sexual assault in the military -- to no longer have commanders make decisions on whether to prosecute sexual assault cases.

He told the AP in May that "I was adamantly opposed to that [proposal] for years," but the military's ongoing failure to stop sexual assault had prompted him to reconsider his position.

During the hearing, Milley said that sexual assault and other offenses are not just crimes, but threats to military units' ability to effectively accomplish their missions.

Unit cohesion is one of the greatest factors contributing to the military's effectiveness, he said, and sexual assault, sexual harassment or "any kind of deviance from any sort of good order and discipline" tears that cohesion apart.

Commanders are also personally responsible and accountable for their units' good order and discipline, Milley said.

"I am absolutely open-minded to suggestions to improve the system, because what we want to do is fix the problem and improve the combat power of the U.S. military," he said.

During the hearing, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he also is willing to make such changes, adding that he is awaiting additional recommendations for the Pentagon's independent review commission.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., expressed concerns to Austin that the sweeping changes to the UCMJ backed by Gillibrand would take significant time and effort. Austin replied that the Pentagon will need "ample time" to properly enact any UCMJ changes.

Lawmakers also asked Austin about the military's effort to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, which is now more than halfway completed.

Austin said that the military is already carrying out some missions, such as combat missions or intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights, from outside Afghanistan. MQ-9 Reaper drones are some of the aircraft conducting ISR operations in Afghanistan while operating from elsewhere in the region.

But he acknowledged that once all U.S. personnel, except a handful of troops to guard the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, are gone, supporting Afghan security forces "will be very difficult to do."

Austin said the military's effort to station assets in countries neighboring Afghanistan to conduct so-called over the horizon counterterrorism missions is still a "work in progress," though he could not say when that might be ready.

He declined to comment on a New York Times report that the military is considering whether to conduct airstrikes to support Afghan security forces if there is a danger of the Taliban overrunning Kabul or other major cities.

"I won't speculate about any potential outcomes or any potential future actions," Austin said. "I will just say that the president has been clear that our mission in Afghanistan has been accomplished, and we are focused on retrograding our people and equipment out. And going forward, those [counterterrorism] efforts will be focused on those elements that can possibly conduct attacks against our homeland."

-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.

Related: Climate Change, Extremism Among Military Threats Targeted in DoD Budget Request
A U.S. soldier deployed in Kuwait died Thursday, the Defense Department announced.

The soldier's name is being withheld until the next of kin is notified. The incident happened at Camp Buehring and is under investigation, according to the announcement. It is unclear what led to the soldier's death.

Kuwait is used for training and a staging area for combat operations in other countries in the region, including Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

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The news came shortly after the announcement that a Louisiana National Guard soldier died after a separate non-combat incident in Syria. First Sgt. Casey Hart, 42, of Baton Rouge, died Tuesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. WAFB 9, a Baton Rouge news outlet, reported that Hart went into cardiac arrest while running last month.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

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The Marine Corps has formally kicked off a scientific study that may upend one of the most maligned aspects of life in the service: height and weight standards that many complain are outdated and prone to punishing those with bulky muscle.

The Corps, in partnership with the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, is testing volunteers at Quantico, Virginia, to get a better sense of the build and body composition of today's Marine and develop better standards and methods to assess fitness moving forward.

"This study is one of the most technologically advanced studies on the topic since the 1980s," Capt. Lara Soto, a Marine Corps human performance analyst, said in a new video promoting the effort. "Information gathered through this study will help inform the future of [body composition program] standards in the Marine Corps."

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Between now and March 2022, officials hope to bring in 600 to 800 volunteers for a five-part, 30-minute assessment that includes not only a standard weigh-in and circumference measurement, but also highly accurate screenings of fat, bone and muscle composition and an assessment of explosive power and strength.

"It has been a long time since those [tape-test standards] were first established, and it was a 1980s population," Karl Friedl, the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine's senior research scientist for physiology, told Military.com in April. "We're training differently, and physique may be changing, especially with more strength training by men and women. We want to see how reliable those [measurements] are for ... a current population."

The volunteer assessment includes a 3D body surface scan that can determine body type and composition, followed by a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, or DXA, scan that can go even deeper, measuring bone density and soft-tissue fat. Female Marines will be given a pregnancy test prior to the 12-minute DXA scan, a graphic describing the volunteer assessment says.

The Marine Corps is conducting a Body Composition Study from June 2021 until the 2nd quarter of 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps/Cpl. Audrey Schmitt Alves)

Marines will be able to view their own scan data and composition calculations in a printed-out report.

Next, Marines will undergo a bioelectrical impedance analysis that consists of placing two electrodes on the body, one each on the hand and foot. A low electrical current is then pulsed through the body. The electricity's rate of flow can determine the amount of water in the body, which then allows researchers to make an accurate calculation of body fat.

The final test in the evaluation is the counter-movement jump, in which Marines will jump and land with full force on a specially designed pressure plate. This measures their explosive lower-body power, which can provide insight into overall speed and strength.

HIstorically, Marine Corps height and weight standards have had far less basis in scientific data -- it did not even introduce age-specific standards until 2008. It remains unclear how the service will use the data it collects in the new effort, but officials have said it could inform not only the Marine Corps Body Composition Program, but also other services' fitness and appearance standards.

Volunteers are being accepted at Camp Barrett in Quantico; The Basic School is also inviting junior officers to participate for a parallel study that assesses them at the beginning and end of their six-month training cycle. Marines who want to be part of the effort will be asked to present their basic training record and most recent fitness test scores; troops of all performance levels, including postpartum Marines, will be included.

-- Gina Harkins contributed to this report.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

Related: Marines Need Volunteers to Help Them Reassess Body Standards
Youre about to PCS overseas, and your daughter is a Girl Scout. Your life is about to change dramatically -- new hair dresser, new babysitter, new favorite coffee shop -- but as a military spouse, you strive to make the transition as seamless as possible, especially for your kids.

You want your daughter to continue as a scout but dont know where to turn. Girl Scouts Overseas, or USAGSO, is there to help.

Whats the first step? After getting your PCS orders, visit USAGSOs Military Support page to begin the transfer from Girl Scouts of the USA, said Katherine Nolan Brown, manager of fund development and partnership strategy of USAGSO. Then email overseascustomercare@girlscouts.org, where you will receive help navigating the process as you move to and from overseas.

The process, which is similar to moving from one council to another, includes transferring membership, troop placement and/or purchasing new uniform insignia.

Theres the Girl Scout Promise and the Girl Scout Law, and the girls that youre going to meet in Poland or wherever know the same promise and law, Brown said.

How Girl Scouts Overseas Can Ease Transition

Air Force spouse Rebecca Jaegers two teenage daughters have been involved in Girl Scouts since they were in pre-K. They've been active in Girl Scouts in Texas, overseas at Yokota Air Base, Japan, and Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and now are moving back to Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.

Jaeger knew a new country would be a big change, and Girl Scouts would help them adjust to the culture, meet people and experience local events.

Not only have my girls had amazing Girl Scout experiences, but my husband and I have also enjoyed working alongside other Girl Scout volunteers and local nationals throughout our overseas tours, Jaeger said. We have made lifelong friends and connections all over the world."

Like Jaeger, Marine Corps spouse Shellii Roachs family has PCSed from stateside to overseas and back again. Roachs daughter started Girl Scouts in Northern Virginia, and they were very excited to continue the experience when moving to Okinawa, Japan.

Scouts use translation devices and earn special honors only available overseas, such as the International Friendship pin and the Lady Baden-Powell Award, Roach said.

We absolutely love Girl Scouts, and the experiences and friendships are for a lifetime," Roach said.

Is Being a Girl Scout Different Overseas?

Girl Scouts stationed overseas have the same opportunities and traditions as those stateside. USAGSO says they earn the same badges, awards and sell cookies -- though their selling season may be at a different time of the year.

If youve not been a part of Girl Scouts before, joining while overseas is a great opportunity. By registering your daughter, which you can do online, you will find a group of girls who are in the same age range and share similar interests. Overseas troops have the unique opportunity to earn community badges, which are done in conjunction with other scouting groups, Brown said.

Additionally, only Girl Scouts living overseas are eligible to earn the Lady Baden-Powell Award, Brown said, which strives to bring together USAGSO Girl Scouts with their sister host nation WAGGGS [World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts] organization. Girls who earn this award must be motivated by their desire to know individuals from a culture different from their own.

The most common challenge that families encounter regards the transfer of paperwork from one council to another. Brown said USAGSO has taken steps to make it easier, including creating a support page in early June 2021 and hiring a military-connected business services manager.

The way in which some badges and projects are earned also can be challenging overseas.

"With the local rules and language barriers, completing a service project off base is typically not an option, Jaeger said. If trying to complete a project on base, often several levels of approval are required."

Then there is the issue of recruiting new members and volunteers, especially if you were not associated with Girl Scouts before PCSing. Roach said they rely on word of mouth to recruit, but finding new volunteers is a problem across the military community as spouses feel pressure to volunteer everywhere. Volunteer opportunities are plentiful and range in time requirement and level of involvement. You could volunteer to help the girls earn a specific badge or assist with administrative tasks instead of leading a group of girls.

We are grateful to have had a wonderful relationship with base leadership and the base elementary school, Roach said. Thankfully we had a strong response to an open house and gained new girls and volunteers.

Boy Scouts also have opportunities if their military families PCS overseas. Boy Scouts of America is part of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, and its members can participate in activities with one of three BSA councils that service members who live overseas. If there are no BSA services where you are moving, the Lone Scout program is an option.

Make Your Next PCS/Transfer with Girl Scouts Easier

About 35% of USAGSO, which currently has more than 6,000 girls registered, is affiliated with the military, Brown said, and the other families who participate are ex-patriots or those who are working overseas in another capacity. The customer care team for USAGSO is based in Italy and Japan so they can be aligned with different time zones to help volunteers and troops.

Roach suggests incoming families search social media for information on Girl Scouts at their new duty station.

You might discover a Girl Scout volunteer or another Girl Scout parent who you can connect with and get the scoop on upcoming activities or a welcome-back event, she said.

Roach is moving from Japan to Tampa, Florida, and returning to the council where she was a Girl Scout as a child. Jaeger also hopes her daughters will continue to remain active in Girl Scouts, as she has.

No matter where they are in the world, their daughter can continue with the Girl Scout program, either in a troop, through virtual programming or as an individual, Jaeger said.

-- Rebecca Alwine can be reached at rebecca.alwine@monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebecca_alwine.

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Chairman of the Board of Governors of Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMCs), Mr. Henry Akwaboah, says the association is ensuring the safety of workers and customers at the pumps and other workplaces.

He said safety will always be a fundamental business practice that the association takes seriously.

Mr Akwaboah was speaking at the launch of 2021 AOMCs Safety Week Celebration, under the theme "Re-enforcing Positive Behaviour at the Workplaces to Achieve the Greatest Participation of Safety in this era of Covid-19 Pandemic."

According to him, achieving incident-free operations within the industry, offices and retail outlets requires a collective responsibility from all.

The theme for this years celebration is a reminder to all of us that achieving incident-free operations at workplaces requires the involvement of all persons in the organization from the Chief Executive Officer to the lower rank under the chain of command. Particularly, leaders of organizations need to demonstrate unwavering personal attitude to inculcate such character in employees.

As part of the week celebration, there will be training sessions to align the management of OMCS and LPGMCs to provide safety values through everyday processes that seek to promote safer workplace through critical and observation and intervention.

"As members of the oil marketing companies association, we will continue to ensure that every worker and customer at our retail outlets return home safely everyday".

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) Senyo Hosi has called for strict enforcement of laws to ensure safety in the industry.

According to him, persons who fail to comply with standards protocols must be exposed, arrested, and prosecuted to deter others from wrongdoing.

The CEO of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Duah said there are always ways to improve. "There can never be a perfect situation."

He noted that the outcome of deliberations of the week-long safety celebration will be compiled to enhance learning lessons for industry players to intensify public education solely to improve operations in the sector.

According to him, the association is willing to go above the normal standard. "The period where an oil company automatically becomes a member will be barred. After being issued with a license, you will work for 6months under supervision before joining the association, the wholesale has been barred".

He said work is in progress and the continuous acknowledgement of the celebration is a gradual process to addressing challenges of safety in the sector.

The atomic explosion happened when we first started and that dampened our spirits because we were trying to start something and another counters it but it happens. However, since its implementation, you would realize that there havent been consistent incidents in a particular area. The frequent ones are related to contractor safety."
Mali's neighbours on Wednesday offered breathing room to Colonel Assimi Goita, saying they were "reassured" the strongman intended to restore civilian rule after heading two coups in nine months.

Senior officials from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were sent to Bamako after Goita deposed the country's interim civilian leaders last month.

Goita -- who had already led a coup last August -- was sworn in as transitional president on Tuesday.

As well as appointing a civilian prime minister, the colonel stood by a promise made by the leaders he ousted that elections would be staged next February.

ECOWAS Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou told reporters: "On the key points, we were reassured by the transitional president and prime minister".

The statement will come as a relief to Goita, who has faced intense international pressure since the latest putsch.

Last August, the colonel led young army officers in ousting elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita after weeks of protests over perceived corruption and a bloody jihadist insurgency.

After ECOWAS imposed sanctions, the junta handed power to a civilian-led transitional government, which promised to restore civilian rule in February 2022.

Mali. By (AFP)

But Goita deposed its leaders on May 24 after they carried out a government reshuffle that sidelined some junta figures.

The chronic instability has deepened fears of chaos in a country key to efforts to stem the jihadist insurgency sweeping the Sahel.

Both the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS suspended Mali after the second coup, and urged that the previously-agreed timeline to restore civilian rule be respected.

Brou suggested that Mali's ECOWAS suspension could be lifted "after the return of the normal constitutional order," but did not offer further details.

The bloc's leaders are due to reconvene in Ghana on June 19.

'Inclusive' government

Mali's formal colonial power France also suspended joint military oppositions with Malian forces pending "guarantees" about the February 2022 elections.

Maintaining its international partnerships, not least with France, is crucial for Mali.

One of the world's poorest countries, its security forces suffer from poor equipment and training.

France has 5,100 troops stationed in the Sahel to help fight jihadist violence that erupted in Mali in 2012 and now threatens the region.

On Tuesday, Goita appointed leading opposition figure Choguel Kokalla Maiga as prime minister of the transitional government.

The move fulfilled a key international demand for the leader of the post-coup government to be a civilian.

Maiga, 63, is a prominent member of the M5 movement, which drove the anti-Keita protests last year that eventually led to his ouster.

He told reporters on Wednesday that he intends to form a new government by Sunday "at the latest".

ECOWAS is pushing for his government to be "inclusive" -- potentially a tall order in the politically fractious nation.

Mali's main political groups have offered little resistance to the new state of affairs, and some have said they will support the transitional government.

Goita's appointment of an M5 member as a prime minister is also significant: The military had sidelined the movement in the army-dominated government installed after the August coup.
South Africa: Minister Zulu to receive COVID-19 vaccine

Following her successful registration on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS), Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu will this afternoon receive her COVID-19 vaccine at the Randgate Clinic in Randfontein, Gauteng.

The Minister will be joined by the CEO of SASSA, Totsie Memela-Khambula and several other people who are at the age of 60 and above as part of Phase 2 of the Mass Vaccination rollout programme, currently underway countrywide.

Recent data from the Department of Health shows that five of the nine provinces, namely Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West have a positive-test rate of above 10%.

Minister Zulu is a member of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Vaccines which was established to promote mass vaccination and reassure members of the public about the safety of vaccines.

With the threat of the third wave on the horizon, Minister Zulus vaccination drive seeks to promote the public-health benefits of COVID-19 vaccines and to alleviate vaccine hesitancy.

Minister Zulu reiterated her call for all South Africans to continue to practice compliance with the prescribed non-pharmaceutical interventions: social distancing, wearing of mask at all times and washing of hands as prescribed.

Getting vaccinated is an important part of the solution against the pandemic. We appeal to all South Africans across the country to strictly comply with all regulations and protocols, said Minister Zulu.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Cool cultural treasures pop with style

Chinadaily.com.cn) 11:30, June 10, 2021

The ice cream pops rolled out by the Sanxingdui Museum in Sichuan province come in two flavors -- "bronze" matcha and "excavation" chocolate. [Photo/Sina Weibo account of Sanxingdui Museum]

Ice pops shaped like local landmarks or historical treasures have gone viral on Chinese social media, as tourist attractions aim to enhance visitors' experience with creative cultural products.

In the Sanxingdui Museum in Sichuan province, ice cream bars in the shape of its iconic "Bronze mask" catch the eye of visitors. The sweet treat comes in two flavors: "bronze" matcha and "excavation" chocolate.

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing debuted ice pop miniatures shaped like the ancient building last year, encouraging tourists to take pictures of the sites.

Chinese tourist sites and cultural institutes have invested heavily in the development of creative cultural products, which is believed to have contributed to the boom in cultural tourism in recent years, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The trendy, unique and creative cultural products like the ice cream have won over many consumers in the younger generations," Zhou Yunqing, a sociology professor at Wuhan University told Xinhua. "It is also a sign of China's growing cultural confidence."

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
The aviation color code and volcanic warning level of Mount Gareloi stratovolcano, the westernmost volcano in the United States, have been elevated by the USGS and its Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). AVO elevated the aviation color code to YELLOW and the Volcano Alert Level to advisory yesterday due to increased seismic activity at the volcano above background levels.

Rise in Seismic Activity

According to the AVO, Mount Gareloi saw a mild rise in seismic activity on May 18, and a persistent rise in the rate and size of minor volcanic earthquakes began on May 27. While seismic activity has risen, the AVO reports that satellite data and web camera images show no other significant changes at the volcano.

"Sulfur dioxide gas has been discovered in satellite photos from Gareloi during the last week, which is consistent with previous readings. An AVO field team flying above the summit on May 23 saw no activity," the AVO said in a statement.

The fumarole area in the south crater of the Gareloi volcano continues to release magmatic gases, and low-level seismic activity is regular. According to AVO, these findings point to shallow magma and the possibility of interaction with a hydrothermal system. "The present rise in seismicity is likely due to a shift in the magmatic-hydrothermal system, but the risk of a volcanic eruption has not increased."

Alaska Volcanic Activity

The Alaska Volcano Observatory, a collaborative operation of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute (UAFGI), and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS), monitors volcanoes in this part of the Ring of Fire. The Hawaii Volcano Observatory (HVO), which monitors Hawaii's three active volcanoes: Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai, is identical to the AVO. They also keep an eye on Cleveland, Semisopochnoi, and Veniaminof in the case of AVO.

Alaska has many volcanoes; there are over 130 active volcanoes and volcanic fields in the last 2 million years. Since the mid-1700s, 50 have been active, and AVO investigates them as well.

Related Article: Why is Mount Nyiragongo One of Africa's Most Dangerous Volcanoes



Alert Levels

Aviation Codes and Volcanic Activity Alert Levels are issued by the AVO. Green, yellow, orange, or red is the many types of aviation codes. When ground-based monitoring fails to show that a volcano is operating at an average background level of activity, it is simply designated as "unassigned."

Yellow indicates that a volcano displays high unrest symptoms above known background levels, whereas green indicates usual activity associated with a non-eruptive condition.

When a volcano shows increasing or growing unrest with an elevated risk of eruption, the color changes to orange. Finally, the code becomes red when an eruption is imminent, with large volcanic ash emissions predicted in the atmosphere or when an eruption is underway. Large volcanic ash emissions are predicted in the atmosphere. The activity of Volcanoes Normal, advisory, watch, or warning alert levels are available.

If data is lacking, it is simply classified as "unassigned," as with aviation codes. It is deemed normal when the volcano is operating at normal background levels in a non-eruptive condition.

An advisory is issued if the volcano shows evidence of heightened disturbance above the background level. A watch is issued when a volcano shows signs of increased or growing disturbance, whereas a warning is issued when a dangerous eruption is imminent.

Local Seismic Network

A local seismic and infrasound network, satellite data, and regional infrasound and lightning-detection networks all keep an eye on Gareloi. In addition, AVO says they'll keep an eye on things to see if the latest changes are due to a fresh intake of magma or other changes in the magma system. If an eruption looks to be impending, the aviation and alarm codes will be raised correspondingly.

Also Read: A Magnitude 2.6 Earthquake Shook Portions of South California

For more news about natural calamities, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Listen to article

A Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen has said the National Democratic Congress(NDC) are attention seekers hence Ghanaians must not tolerate them.

He launched a scathing attack on the NDC saying the party is frustrated and confused from 2020 election defeat.

The NDC clearly from all indications is confused. They are a confused political party and that is why they have been organising press conferences without any basis which doesnt even make sense. Their attacks on the government are unnecessary, Nana Obiri Boahen exclusively told Reynold Agyemang on Pae Mu Ka on Accra-based Kingdom FM 107.7.

He added Ghanaians should not take the NDC serious because they have nothing good to offer to the country and its people. I think they are still in great shock following the unexpected defeat that they suffered in 2020.

Nana Obiri Boahen called on party members to treat comments by the NDC with the contempt it deserves.
Social Democracy and Development Dialogue Forum, Africa (SDDDF-Africa) has urged Minority MPs on the vetting committee to use this opportunity to prove to the party and Ghanaians that they are not sleeping with the Majority in approval of Akufo-Addo's nominees.

The group is asking the NDC MPs to adopt the Pontius Pilate approach in dealing with government appointees with baggage to keep their credibility intact.

According to the group, Deputy Energy Minister nominee, Hon Andrew Agyapa Mercer's approval in the face of his own incriminating utterances is a typical case in point.

The group noted that the approval of Hon. Andrew Agyapa Mercer on the part of the NDC MPs will create doubt about their collective image.

The SDDDF-Africa insists that it must not take the Minority in Parliament to seek to save any sinking nominee when they know the nominee in question is not clean from controversy.

The Minority in a worse case must adopt the Pontius Pilate approach - to wash their hands off any nominee with baggage in order to keep their (Minority's) credibility and that of the NDC intact, part of the press release from SDDDF-Africa has said.

Find below the full press release from SDDDF-Africa:
The Health Committee in Parliament says government is not being ripped off in any deal to procure Sputnik-V for COVID-19 vaccination in the country.

Per reports from a Norwegian news portal and subsequent communication from the Minority in Parliament, the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, has signed an agreement to purchase Sputnik-V vaccines through intermediaries at higher prices at the expense of the taxpayer.

The concerned groups say the purchase is also in breach of procurement procedures.

But speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Health Committee, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, said although the country has signed agreements with suppliers, none of the vaccines consignment has been received.

He argued that Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the procurement of the Sputnik-V vaccines requires the use of middlemen whose activities will lead to an increase in the price of the original price of the jabs hence, the concerns being raised over abnormal pricing are misplaced.

We have not been swindled as a State. Even though we are in a desperate state to get vaccines, the policy of government which is a very good one is to get business persons to go into the Sputnik V space.

The concept of the acquisition of Sputnik-V is one that the government must express interest in to acquire the vaccines from source unlike the COVAX facility. The Russian vaccine is a bit different, the RDIF which speaks to the production and supply of Sputnik V, prefer the use of middlemen, and any space that allows for middlemen, definitely, there will be prices that vary  especially those that the Minority quoted. 

He added that; Yes, the factory price is US$ 10 but when you get expatriates, and it gets out of the factory, there are a lot of factors that come in including the profit, commission and freight to Ghana. So you dont expect a vaccine that costs US$ 10 at the factory to be the same price when it arrives in Ghana especially when a middleman is getting it.

Agreement

Commenting further on the agreement entered into by the government, he explained that government is seeking to procure about 3.4 million doses of the Sputnik-V vaccines from some seven suppliers and that it has not formally ordered for the jabs.

Government of Ghana has not ordered Sputnik V vaccines, but the companies will just give you a letter of authorization and agreement. Ghana has just signed an agreement to get Sputnik V vaccines with about seven companies

Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie pointed out that, government prioritizes the lives of Ghanaians, and therefore finds nothing wrong with paying more to acquire vaccines for its citizens.

The Ministry of healths open door policy has lettered seven companies to bring in the Sputnik-V. One of the companies that came in early quoted US$19 somewhere in April. One was also quoting US$ 13 and the other US$ 30. Regardless, the Ministry is saying that if it is going to cost US$ 50 to save the life of a Ghanaian, that life is worth more the US$ 50 so they should bring it, but disappointingly none of these companies has been able to deliver a drop of Sputnik-V vaccines

citinewsroom
The Interregional Maritime Safety Institute (ISMI) of the Regional Academy of Sciences and Techniques of the Sea (ARSTM) on Monday, June 7, 2021, officially opened the Search and Rescue (SAR) School and commenced the level 2 training on search and rescue at sea.

Amidst the challenges facing the Gulf of Guinea, ISMI in the past years has been working on finding appropriate responses from the coastal States.

With reference to the case of the Kenya Airways accident on January 30, 2000 off Abidjan, the JOOLA in Senegal in 2002, and more recently in September 2020 with the sinking of 45 migrants off Libya, ISMI with supports from French Cooperation is organising a week-long training for representatives from countries in the region.

The level 2 training on search and rescue at sea which started on Monday is expected to end on Friday, June 11, 2021.

At the opening ceremony presided over by Director-General of Maritime and Port Affairs (DGAMP), Colonel Julien Kouassi congratulated the Director of ISMI, Lt. Col. ABE Lazare for continually working to make the institute a Center of Excellence for sub-regional maritime training.

Noting that maritime disasters have shown the inadequacy of administrations in terms of effective maritime search and rescue, the Director-General of DGAMP added that the launch of the school will also support the Ivorian Government which for a number of years has undertaken several reforms for the promotion of a dynamic Blue Economy.

As Director-General of Maritime and Port Affairs, I am committed to supporting this project with all the means at my disposal to help it mature, Colonel Julien Kouassi further stressed.

Taking his turn to speak at the ceremony, French Cooperation Regional Coordinator for State Action at Sea (Gulf of Guinea), Guillaume TURQUET de BEAUREGARD said it will be unacceptable for ships to call for help for rescue of any kind for a State to fail to provide the needed aid especially in the age of modern technology and communication.

He said while sea rescue cannot be improvised, it requires technical know-how and a lot of training.

To do so, it is important to acquire theoretical knowledge (international and national regulations, procedures, maritime English, marine meteorology, knowledge of the area, etc.), and practical know-how (use of nautical charts, use of life rafts, use of communication means), Guillaume TURQUET de BEAUREGARD added.

Applauding the support of the Ivorian State in organising the level 2 training, the Chief Maritime Affairs Officer noted that, it is important for trainees to be followed and monitored over time in order to be provided the needed help to improve their skills.

On his part, The Permanent Secretary of the Interministerial Committee in charge of State Action at Sea ( SEPCIM ) of Cote d'Ivoire, Mr. Abroulaye Fofana said the opening of SAR School is therefore timely to address the shortcomings in research and maritime rescue of human resources responsible for the said task in the Gulf of Guinea.

As the President of the Strategic Committee of ISMI, he assured that they will ensure there is supervision and improved collaboration with partners of ISMI so that the school becomes a reference school in SAR, not only for the SAR areas of responsibility of the Gulf of Guinea, but also for those of East and North Africa.

Calling on all stakeholders to continue to invest so that the school achieves excellence for the development of the maritime economy in the Gulf of Guinea, Mr. Abroulaye Fofana also expressed appreciation to France, for its exceptional contribution to ISMI through the Directorate for Security and Defense Cooperation of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ongoing level 2 training has thirty-four participants from 17 countries of the Gulf of Guinea in attendance.

Countries represented include Cote d'Ivoire Ghana, Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
The ongoing strike by the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana is still in force despite a fruitful meeting with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and the National Labour Commission on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

The association declared an indefinite strike three weeks ago over the failure of the government to pay the Tier 2 pension of its members.

Members of the association are also asking for the award of market premium and non-basic allowance as well as the finalization of negotiations of their conditions of service.

This compelled the National Labour Commission and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to meet with them on Wednesday, June 9, to resolve their grievances.

However, the National President of the Association, Zakaria Mohammed in an interview with Citi News explained that though the meeting ended well, the National Executive Committee is yet to decide on the next line of action.

According to him, the strike will be in force until an official statement is issued to the contrary.

I must say that the discussions were very fruitful which is just one of the ways of resolving issues between us and the government. It wasnt a matter of determining who is right and who is wrong, but they were looking for ways to address the concerns that have been raised.

However, we are yet to brief the National Executive Council on the development that transpired between us and the team, and then issue a statement to let our position be known at the meeting with the NLC and FWSC. Our strike is still on until it is communicated.

---citinewsroom
A former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, has defended Hon. Dominic Ayines criticism of the Supreme Courts handling of the 2020 election petition.

In a letter written by the Judicial Secretar to the General Legal Council, the Chief Justice took issue with the views expressed by Dr. Ayine on the 2020 Election Petition Judgment on a CDD-Ghana platform.

The letter addressed to the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council, accused Dr. Ayine of stating that the Supreme Court's failure to apply the rules of procedures as well as the consistent and continuous dismissal of the petitioners' applications or reliefs were the basis of his assertion.

But according to Inusah Fuseini, there is nothing wrong with criticising the judgement or the conduct of judges.

There is no immunity from public criticism or the judgement or conduct of judges while sitting on cases, so judges must be aware that the spotlight will be shone on their activities whiles they are conducting cases so I do not see anything particularly wrong with anybody criticising a judgement or the conduct of judges based on the inconsistency in the judgement or lack of a deeper understanding on the procedure or misapplication of the law and throughout the world, the judgement of judges has been subjected to such criticisms.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the private legal practitioner said it was normal practice for lawyers to criticize judgments.

This is what we did for the five years we were studying law. We critiqued judgements within the confines of the law faculty, law school and we appealed against decisions of the court because of the disagreements with the opinion expressed by a judgement and when you disagree, you must point out the area you disagree with, either inconsistent with the law or procedure. That is what we do on a daily basis. You dont criticize a judge based on his personality traits, it is in the performance of his function that you are at liberty to point out any inconsistency or fact that points to a lack of adherence to the rules of procedure, and its acceptable.

To me, that is what Dominic Ayine, even in the first criticism of the court sought to do and the repeat at the Civil Society Forum, created by CDD was exactly what he sought to do again because Dominic Ayine has been a lecturer of the law and in Law faculty, that was what he was doing. He knows the parameters of criticisms within which to operate, he added.

Minority angry with Chief Justice

The Minority in Parliament also wants the Chief Justice to reconsider his petition to haul Bolgatanga East MP, Dr. Dominic Ayine before the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council.

According to the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, the action of the Chief Justice is in bad faith and an assault on free speech.

Addressing the press on Wednesday, June 9, 2021, Haruna Iddrisu indicated that the Chief Justice will set a bad precedent if the case is allowed to proceed.

The Minority Leader added that Dr. Ayine is duty-bound to speak to the public on matters of public interest and that is what he did.

He, therefore, described the petition from the Chief Justice as an attack on Parliament as an institution, and one that will deepen the growing culture of silence in the country.

citinewsroom
The Minority in Parliament says it will resist any attempt by state institutions to deliberately weaken the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

According to the caucus, the party remains the only credible alternative to Ghanas democratic governance.

The Minority considers a petition by the Chief Justice against Dr. Dominic Ayine at the General Legal Council, and an invitation by the Council to their member, Rockson Dafiamakor, as part of a plot to weaken the party.

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority leader, who addressed the press on Wednesday, June 9, 2021, said they will resist any attempt to oppress and intimidate the NDC.

He thus called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to join them in this endeavour.

It is not just Dr. Ayine but also Rockson Dafeamakpor, a key member of our caucus was also invited to the General Legal Council Committee. Is it a coincidence or by accident? We heard other persons in Ghana make disparaging comments about the judiciary and its decisions. This creeping culture of silence, the creeping intolerance in our democracy should be resisted.

The NDC remains the only credible alternative in Ghanas democratic politics and attempts to weaken us must be resisted by all well-meaning Ghanaians who cherish democratic governance.

About Dr. Ayines referral

In a letter written by the Judicial Secretary to the General Legal Council, the Chief Justice took issue with the views expressed by Dr. Ayine on the 2020 Election Petition Judgment on a CDD-Ghana platform.

The letter addressed to the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council, accused Dr. Ayine of stating that the Supreme Court's failure to apply the rules of procedures as well as the consistent and continuous dismissal of the petitioners' applications or reliefs were the basis of his assertion.

citinewsroom
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has justified governments decision to procure Sputnik-V vaccines at an overpriced value.

The GHS said the government was compelled to rely on the market for the vaccines after it failed to procure supplies directly from the Russian government.

It should be noted that US$ 10 price per dose which is being proposed as the correct price, is the ex-factory price which is only obtained from government to government arrangements. Government of Ghana was unable to obtain direct supplies from the Russian government as stated earlier, hence the resort to the market, a statement signed by the Chief Director of the GHS, Kwabena Boadu Oku Afari said.

A Norweigian news tabloid, Verdens Gang had reported that Ghana has requested to purchase 3.4 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine through two businessmen who are selling it to Ghana at $19 per dose instead of the $10 per dose on the international market.

The initial price quoted for the vaccine was US$25, but it was negotiated downwards to US$19, according to the GHS.

The GHS explained that at the time of negotiating for the deal, there was scarcity or non-availability of the vaccines on the market.

Ghana had also been informed by COVAX that the Astrazeneca vaccines would not arrive till the end of June 2021, so we were operating severely in the suppliers market. We were torn between accepting the price to enable us to have access to the vaccine or facing the situation of the seller withdrawing from the negotiations to the extent that the 15,000 doses that had been shipped to Ghana were going to be rerouted to other countries, the GHS added. No swindling

Despite concerns over the deal, the Health Committee in Parliament has insisted that the government is not being ripped off.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Health Committee, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, said although the country has signed agreements with suppliers, none of the vaccines consignment has been received.

He argued that the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the procurement of the Sputnik-V vaccines require the use of middlemen whose activities will lead to an increase in the original price of the jabs hence, the concerns being raised over 'abnormal' pricing are misplaced.

We have not been swindled as a State. Even though we are in a desperate state to get vaccines, the policy of the government which is a very good one is to get business persons to go into the Sputnik V space.

The GHS rehashed this claim, saying an increment in the cost of the vaccines was as a result of a cost build-up to the ex-factory price of US$10 per dose, taking into account land transportation, shipment, insurance, handling, and special storage charges as explained by the seller. Unfounded excuses

The ranking member on Parliament's Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, however, believes the government is making up unfounded excuses to buy several doses of the Sputnik V vaccine at an overpriced value.

He said there can be no justifiable reason why the vaccine, which is sold on the international market for $10, should be bought by Ghana at $19 per dose through middlemen.

The right thing must be done so that we don't create any desperate situation to attempt to milk the system. What is preventing the Ghana government from dealing with the manufacturer directly or joining the AU or even using the COVAX vehicle, he quizzed.

citinewsroom
Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL.
The Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products at the World Health Organization (WHO), Mariangela Batista Galvao Simao, has said her organization has received news of overpriced vaccines in some countries.

She has asked countries to deal with the manufacturers of the vaccines in order to purchase them at the right price.

We have received concerns from countries regarding other vaccines selling at a much higher price than what is being actually sold by the manufacturers. Two things to be aware off; First of all, the vast majority of manufacturers are selling only to public entities.

We have advised countries to go to the manufacturer to make sure that the intermediaries is legal.

This comes after Ghana has been cited by Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang in an investigative report for purchasing Sputnik V vaccines from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) through some businessmen at an overpriced unit cost of $19 instead of $10.

The Ministry of Health has assured Ghanaians that it will endeavour to secure vaccines based on national need and according to procurement processes.

In a statement dated Wednesday, June 9, the Ministry of Health said the several efforts to get the vaccines from the Russian government and some individuals came to naught and it had to rather respond to an offer from the private office of one Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the supply of 3.4 million doses at a unit cost of $19.

It should be noted that the US$10 price per dose, which is being proposed as the correct price, is the ex-factory price, which is only obtained from Government to Government arrangements, the statement signed by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, said.

The Government of Ghana was unable to obtain direct supplies from the Russian Government as stated earlier, hence the resort to the market.

It explained that the initial price of $25 had to be negotiated downwards to $19 through efforts of the government.

This is the result of the cost build-up to the ex-factory price of US$10 per dose, taking into account land transportation, shipment, insurance, handling and special storage charges, as explained by the seller.

These are the factors which led us to agree the final price of US$19 per dose, the Ministry stressed.

The Ministry explained that when the engagements with the Russian authorities such as the Russian Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the CEOs of the RDIF and Limited Liability Company Human Vaccine and even the Deputy Ambassador of Russia in Ghana yielded no results, the offer from Sheikh Dalmook Al Maktoum was responded to on Tuesday, March 9, a few days to exactly a year when the coronavirus disease struck the country.

It should be noted that at the time of negotiations, as is the case now, there was scarcity or non-availability of the vaccines on the market.

So far, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has approved the use of three vaccines in Ghana  AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and quite recently Johnson & Johnson.

By the agreement with Sheikh Dalmook Al Maktoum, who delivered 15,000 doses while in Accra as assurances to supply the 300,000 Ghana ordered at a cost of $5.7 million, the country can opt out if supply conditions are not met.

So far, the supply is yet to be delivered, according to the Ministrys statement.

Ghana began vaccinating its population against Covid-19 in March with a goal to vaccinate about 20 million of the population by close of this year.

---3news.com


Poland plans on closing the most polluting power plant in Europe by the end of 2036, a draft document released by local authorities said on Tuesday, after energy group PGE (PGE.WA) discarded plans to develop an open-pit coal mine that will support it.

The Abandoned Plan

The document, which is subject to public consultation, is among the application of Lodz region for support from the European Union Just Transition Fund, which aim is to help regions carry the cost of shifting to a climate-neutral economy.

The document said PGE deserted a plan to develop an open-pit lignite coal mine in Zloczew to fuel the Belchatow plant after coming to a conclusion that the project would be worthless. The document also said Belchatow, whose operations were anticipated to be extended more than the 2030s by output from the mine, will also now be eliminated between 2030 and 2036.

Also Read: Nearly 50 Percent of All Thermal Coal-Fired Power Plants Plan To Defy the Paris Agreement Pledge To Mitigate Climate Change

Belchatow Vs. Zloczew

Chief Executive Wojciech Dabrowski said in a statement: "Scheduling the dates of closing down the power units of the Belchatow Power Plant... (and) leaving the plan to utilize the Zloczew deposit are of fundamental cruciality for preparing for the future of the Belchatow Complex, the inhabitants of this region and its employees."

He added that they are also symbolic, since the success of this project will greatly determine the success of the Polish energy transformation. The coal assets of PGE, both Belchatow and Zloczew, are due to be divided and relocated to a state agency within months as part of the plan of Poland to free its utilities from coal.



Most of Poland's electricity is generated from coal, but under increasing pressure from the EU and with carbon emission costs surging, it has urged more investment in low emission sources. Greenpeace's Joanna Flisowska said: "Finally, PGE has put a stop to pulling the wool over the eyes of people that it would build the Zloczew mine."

Power Plant Pollution

Power plants that make use of oil, coal, and other fossil fuels are usually not considered sustainable.The fuels are unlimited supply and bring about environmental, animal, and human health problems when burned.

Strict emissions regulations have lessened the pollution problem a bit, but air and water pollution, water usage, heavy metals, and older power plants contribute to pollution issues that is in progress. Fossil fuels generate the most electricity. Petroleum, coal, and natural gas are used to produce around 65 percent of the electricity in the United States, as stated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Of the chief energy sources, natural gas represented a 33.8 percent portion, and coal represented 30.4 percent. By making comparison, nuclear power generation had a 19.7 percent portion and renewables had a sum of 14.9 percent.

Related Article: World's Largest Floating Solar Power Plant in China Connected to Grid

For more news, updates about power plants and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, has alleged that the Minority side in parliament was left in the dark concerning the acquisition of the overpriced Sputnik V vaccines from Russia.

He said it is because the minority was left out of the due process in acquiring the Sputnik V vaccines that they have come out to raise concerns of a bipartisan probe into the matter. The minority says they had disagreement with what was been done, the manner it was been done to acquire the vaccines and were equally surprised as Ghanaians when the news broke out.

Dr. Apaak was speaking on the back of news broached by the Norwegian flagship newspaper Verdens Gang(VG) that Ghana has purchased overpriced Sputnik V vaccines at $19 per dose instead of $10 sold on the international market through middlemen.

In an interview with Berla Mundi on the New Day show on TV3, Thursday, June 10, the Builsa South lawmaker said the due diligence component had to do with the entity that we are procuring these vaccines from. The relationship between that middle entity and the source and whether or not we can be assured that the product that is going to come from this middle entity is wholesome, meets the standards and indeed that entity has the legal backing to be able to engage in this practice.

In fact, our side in parliament has not come out to confirm participation in this discussion, if you have heard our side of it, in fact we have raised concerns. And we are asking for a bipartisan probe into this matter, that is what our side has said. So the Chair of the committee actually came out in response to what our Ranking Member had said because we had disagreements with what was been done, the way it was been done and from the commentary that was given by our Ranking Member Hon. Akandoh, in fact, this came as a surprise to us, we also heard it just like the rest of you did through the media, he pointed out.

Dr. Apaak added that we have been left in the dark and you see that is also the aspect that raises a lot of eyebrows. If there is unanimity, there is acceptability that this is a situation that is dire, why wouldnt we be made part of the discussions. How come our side was left in the dark until the story broke? If we were made part of that conversation, perhaps the current state of the public debate wont be so. But you see, the other component of the debate is also the personalities involved in the arrangement. I think you alluded to that earlier that this Sheik and his dealings have been sources of concern, not just within the context of this particular vaccine. But if you are somebody who has followed the public discourse you would know this is not the first time his name is coming up in something rather controversial.

And I studied in Norway at the university of Bergen and for Norwegians to be trying to look for somebody having engaged in acts deemed to be criminal, then it is no small matter because the Norwegian system is one of the most liberal systems in the world . And so for the Norwegian authorities to single him out as somebody to pursue because he has engaged in unwholesome conduct before, in itself should give us a worry. The concerns we are raising is not just about the price itself but it is the whole gamut of what transpired and the circumstances under which this Sheik was identified in the supply.

But you see something that caught my attention that it was the Sheik who made the offer, he apparently made us as a nation aware that he had the capacity to undertake this, doesnt that also come to you as a bit weird, some personal interest at play? Well on what basis did he make the offer to support us? Is it that we advertised our need for vaccines? Did we communicate to other entities or to the world that we were having challenges? And if that is so, which are the entities that we communicated that to? How did we publicize it? How did he become aware or was it an inside job because he had associates in the government? That is the question I am raising Dr. Apaak charged.

The Ministry of Health has assured Ghanaians that it will endeavour to secure vaccines based on national need and according to procurement processes.

in a statement dated Wednesday, June 9, the Ministry of Health said the several efforts to get the vaccines from the Russian government and some individuals came to naught and it had to rather respond to an offer from the private office of one Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the supply of 3.4 million doses at a unit cost of $19.

It should be noted that the US$10 price per dose, which is being proposed as the correct price, is the ex-factory price, which is only obtained from Government to Government arrangements, the statement signed by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, said.

The Government of Ghana was unable to obtain direct supplies from the Russian Government as stated earlier, hence the resort to the market.

It explained that the initial price of $25 had to be negotiated downwards to $19 through efforts of the government.

This is the result of the cost build-up to the ex-factory price of US$10 per dose, taking into account land transportation, shipment, insurance, handling and special storage charges, as explained by the seller.

These are the factors which led us to agree the final price of US$19 per dose, the Ministry stressed.

The Ministry explained that when the engagements with the Russian authorities such as the Russian Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the CEOs of the RDIF and Limited Liability Company Human Vaccine and even the Deputy Ambassador of Russia in Ghana yielded no results, the offer from Sheikh Dalmook Al Maktoum was responded to on Tuesday, March 9, a few days to exactly a year when the coronavirus disease struck the country.

It should be noted that at the time of negotiations, as is the case now, there was scarcity or non-availability of the vaccines on the market.
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A frontline APC chieftain in Rivers State, Prince Tonye Princewill has joined all well-meaning individuals and organizations to congratulate Prof Benjamin Okaba on his emergence as INC President and the National Executive Council, NEC of the Ijaw National Congress, INC the apex socio-cultural organization of the Ijaw ethnic nationality.

Mr Princewill in a statement said, your victory in the April 30, 2021 election, swearing in and your stepping forward to speak up on national issues of real concern to our people could not have occurred at a more opportune time than now, with the country facing deeply troubling challenges to the economy and insecurity.

The statement reads: Your emergence as president is particularly remarkable as an affirmation of your acceptability among Ijaw people, having won the 2019 election before it was unfortunately aborted.

I extend commendations to the Electoral Committee ELECO, ably chaired by highly respected Professor of Geodesy, Alabo Dagogo Fubara for delivering credible electoral outcomes recorded through e-voting that marks a definitive departure from past elections marred by rancour resulting often in litigation.

I take note of the successful participation of Ijaw delegates in the United Kingdom, European and North American Diaspora in the pre-election debates and elections, in response to the yawning desire for full participation by our Diaspora Ijaws in INC affairs. This success enabled by technology, demands deeper exploration of the possibilities for credible elections, by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC to address the troubling gaps in national elections and age long demands by the Nigerian Diaspora for voting rights wherever they may reside.

Congratulations also to the Committee of Ijaw Traditional Rulers and Elders, CITRE headed by His Majesty, King Alfred Diete Spiff for successfully steering the entire process that has translated to the return of the INC to visibility and voice of note on Ijaw and Niger Delta affairs ending about eight years of troubling absence.

I wish to recommend deeper collaboration between the INC, socio-cultural organisations across the country, professional bodies and the political leadership to work out appropriate responses to the challenges facing our peoples and country to navigate to safety, stability and prosperity.

Congratulations.
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The Eastern Regional Director of Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Bright Worlanyo Neku has urged agitating field data collection officers for the 2021 population and housing census in New Juaben South Municipality to remain calm assuring that nobody will be short-changed.

Data collection officers undergoing a ten-day training program which started from Monday, May 31 and ends June 9, 2021, were initially reportedly promised Ghc550 for transportation at the end of the training but the amount was reduced to Ghc440 and subsequently Ghc330.

A Statement by the Government Statistician Prof. Samuel Annim had said, on the side of GSS, we will be providing a transport allowance of GH330. The first tranche of 30% will be paid after the first week of training. The second tranche of 40% will be paid in the second week of training and the last tranche will be paid three days after the start of the listing.

He emphasized trainees that do not complete the training or who are selected but decline will forfeit the final 30%. For trainees who will finally be selected as Enumerators, a lump sum of GH2,520 will be paid for the listing and enumeration exercise. For trainees who will be selected as Supervisors, their remuneration will be GH2,940 for the listing and enumeration exercise.

These amounts will be paid in tranches and the details are provided in the contracts. All payments will be done via G-money and so all trainees should ensure they are registered on G-Money and provide the correct telephone number for payment.

However, the enumerators and supervisors are unhappy over the variations creating suspicion among them that they are being short-changed by some individuals in charge of the training, therefore, threatening to boycott the training and subsequently withdraw from the entire exercise.

The Eastern Regional Director of Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Bright Worlanyo Neku however blamed the agitations on miscommunication.

He noted their T&T in contention now, we promised to give them Ghc500 but later on theyve heard that we slashed it to Ghc440 then now going down to Ghc330 so because of those things they want to boycott the program. When I went there I met the facilitators, we discussed the issues, so I explained to the facilitators that this is the situation.

He told the media the first thing I did was that during the opening address, the address was sent from Accra from the Chief Executive which was read to them, in that opening address, it was stated that they will pay them G440 for ten days. So where they got that Ghc50 (per day) from I dont know. It was that document that the Ghc440 was quoted. But later, we had another communique that the Ghc440 was a mistake so it is now going to be Ghc30 for their T&T per day.

This years census is the first digital Population and Housing Census in Ghana.

Field Officers are therefore being trained to master the contents of the manual and the use of the tablets in order to be successful.

A real-time data collection and real-time data quality monitoring mechanisms to scrutinize the data daily have been synchronized for error identification for correction.

According to the GSS, the monitoring is an additional layer of supervision

added to enhance the accuracy of the data collected.

The technology will also offer Management an opportunity to monitor the movement of enumerators and supervisors, timing, and origin of interacting with servers.

The 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) is estimated to cost the country GHS 521 million.

Out of this amount, the government has raised and disbursed GHS 467 million for the start of the exercise.

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says the 2021 census will begin across the country from Sunday, June 27,(Census night). The exercise will run till July 11, 2021.

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The Deputy National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Edem Agbana, has called on the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin Yeboah, to withdraw his petition against Dr. Dominic Ayine.

According to him, the comment made by Dr. Ayine is not injurious and is harmless.

He insisted that the Bolgatanga East lawmaker only criticised the judiciary, which is permitted.

Speaking on Citi TVs Breakfast Daily programme on Thursday, June 10, 2021, Mr. Agbana urged the Chief Justice to withdraw the said petition.

I think its important for us to note that across the world the judiciary is the most protected arm of government because of the nature of work that they do, but it is also important for them to know that there is a limit to which they exercise that power. We all know that when there is a case in court until the final determination is made, there is a limit to what you can say, but after the judgment is given, there is absolutely nothing wrong with critising it.

So there is nothing wrong with what Dr. Ayine said. I have listened to what he said several times since the issue came up. There was nothing injurious in what he said to the judiciary, and I dont think the Chief Justice should be slighted by that, and he should withdraw the petition against him. Background

In a letter written by Judicial Secretary to the General Legal Council, the Chief Justice, took issue with the views expressed by Dr. Ayine on the 2020 Election Petition Judgment on a CDD-Ghana platform.

The letter, addressed to the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council, accused Dr. Ayine of stating that the Supreme Court's failure to apply the rules of procedures as well as the consistent and continuous dismissal of the petitioners' applications or reliefs were the basis of his assertion.

'Nothing wrong with criticizing judges constructively'  Inusah Fuseini

On the same issue, a former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini , has defended Dominic Ayine.

According to Inusah Fuseini, whos also a private legal practitioner, there is nothing wrong with criticising the judgment or the conduct of judges.

There is no immunity from public criticism or the judgment or conduct of judges while sitting on cases, so judges must be aware that the spotlight will be shone on their activities whiles they are conducting cases, so I do not see anything particularly wrong with anybody criticising a judgment or the conduct of judges based on the inconsistency in the judgment or lack of a deeper understanding on the procedure or misapplication of the law and throughout the world, the judgment of judges has been subjected to such criticisms.

Your petition against Ayine an attack on Parliament and free speech  Minority takes on CJ

The Minority in Parliament also wants the Chief Justice to reconsider his decision. According to the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, the action of the Chief Justice is in bad faith and an assault on free speech .

Addressing the press on Wednesday, June 9, 2021, Haruna Iddrisu indicated that the Chief Justice will set a bad precedent if the case is allowed to proceed.

The Minority Leader added that Dr. Ayine is duty-bound to speak to the public on matters of public interest and that is what he did.

He, therefore, described the petition from the Chief Justice as an attack on Parliament as an institution, and one that will deepen the growing culture of silence in the country.

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The USAID Strengthening the Care Continuum Project in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has, between October 2020 and March 2021 tested almost 30,000 people for Human Immune Virus (HIV) with 2,143 testing positive.

The USAID Strengthening the Care Continuum Project is designed to improve the capacity of the government of Ghana and its partners to provide quality, comprehensive HIV services for people living with HIV.

The Counsellor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy in Ghana, Virginia Eliot who disclosed this noted that out of the number who tested positive for HIV, 1,988 of them have been initiated on treatment.

She was speaking via zoom technology during the 2021 media workshop and anti-stigma campaign on HIV/AIDS organized by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The programme was aimed at equipping journalists to effectively report on HIV/AIDS issues.

Here in Ghana, we have made great progress in the fight to achieve epidemic control by 2030, she added.

Dr Henry Nagai, the Chief of Party of USAID Strengthening the Care Continuum project called on Journalists to use their media to encourage people, particularly the youth, to voluntarily test for HIV.

According to Dr Henry Naggai, the media is a powerful tool that can be used to minimize, if not erase the myth surrounding HIV.

People still see those living with HIV as outcasts, but journalists are in the position to tell the story better that though there is no cure for HIV, there is treatment for patients to live for years, he said.

Dr. Naggai disclosed that enough resources have been channelled into HIV advocacy in the regions and anybody could walk into any health facility to test.

He noted that, due to the stigma that people living with HIV go through, it is difficult for most of them to socialize and get involved in any community activity.

He therefore challenged the media to help people in the community to accommodate people living with the virus since it is not a communicable disease

Mrs Dzid Kwame, Media Specialist for the PEPFAR project would demonstrate effective strategies to achieve 95-95-95 epidemic control at the national level.

It means 95 per cent of people living with HIV will know their status, 95 percent of people diagnosed with HIV infection will receive a sustained antiretroviral therapy and 95 percent of people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suspension, he explained.


President Akufo-Addo has launched the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), formerly National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), to enhance the regulation and development of the Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) sector.

He also launched the National MSMEs and Entrepreneurship Policy - a plan to direct the growth and provide clear direction and opportunities for all actors within the sector, and grant fund of GH 145 million to enable hundreds of businesses to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Akufo-Addo said the transformation of the NBSSI into the GEA was in sync with his government's priority to transform the structure of Ghana's economy to that of a value-added one that would create the required jobs for the teeming youth.

The vision to transform the economy could not be fully realised without creating and strengthening an agency for the MSMEs sector to play a lead role, he said.

One might ask, why MSMEs? The answer is simple. It is because the sector employs more than 80 per cent of the workforce, and generates some 70 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, he said.

The Act establishing the Agency made the GEA the apex body to co-ordinate and promote the growth and development of MSMEs in the country, President Akufo-Addo said.

The GEA, he said, would lead the way in creating a dynamic MSME ecosystem and entrepreneurial community to help propel Ghana's growth.

President Akufo-Addo said the policy direction was to eliminate the duplication of efforts currently being witnessed in the MSME sector, ensure the judicious use of resources, implement programmes to formalise and support the informal sector, and design interventions to support MSMEs in the country.

On the GEA Small and Medium Enterprises Grant Fund, the President said the arrangement was established to support SMEs to recover from the effects of COVID-19 and resuscitate their operations under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project.

He said the disbursement of the GH145 million grant would be made to 250 to 350 SMEs to help them grow into sustainable businesses, capable of competing on the regional, continental and global stages.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Government announced and implemented the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme (CAPBuSS).

The goal was to limit the impact of the pandemic on job losses and livelihoods, by supporting MSMEs. Administered by the then NBSSI, now GEA, the novel seven hundred-and fifty-million-cedi (GH750 million) stimulus package from Government to the private sector provided relief to various business, in order to help sustain them, and keep staff on the payroll, President Akufo-Addo said.

Government further partnered the Mastercard Foundation, again through NBSSI, to advance to MSMEs an additional amount of ninety million cedis (GH90 million), as part of the NBSSI/Mastercard Foundation Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Programme, also referred to as the nkcsuo programme for MSMEs, he said.

This in line with Government's priority to achieve economic transformation, COVID-19 notwithstanding.

Three hundred thousand (300,000) businesses had benefited from those interventions, he said.

We know there is more work to be done, and we are doing the work. We will not rest on our oars. Government is working systematically to ensure that we find more solutions to support entrepreneurs and their MSMEs to fuel their growth, President Akufo-Addo said.

The one hundred-billion-cedi (GH100 billion) Ghana CARES 'Obaatampa' project is one such innovative initiative, which will revitalise and transform the economy. It, indeed, anchors bright prospects for the medium-term.

The Chief Executive Officer of the GEA, Ms Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, said the transformation of the NBSSI into GEA would enable the Agency to get rid of outmoded laws and introduce new practices to regulate and accelerate business growth.

"For years there were some of the businesses that did not know which home to go to. So this new Act opens its arms to all of them," she said, adding that the Agency had been well resourced to support MSMEs.

Ms Yankey-Ayeh said the GEA, with the new policy, would create a database of MSMEs to ensure that better programmes and policies were designed to support them.

Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, the Trade and Industry Minister, was positive that the new support for MSMEs would empower them to take full advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA).

He said the support would help build internal capacity of producing goods needed locally to enable the country to attain the vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, said the transformation of the NBSSI to GEA would help streamline the activities within the MSME sector and provide the necessary funding and support for such businesses to grow.

GNA
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Center for National Culture (CNC) has reminded communities in the Bono East Region to continue to observe all covid-19 safety protocols to avoid a third wave.

The Center observed that most communities do not take the observations of the covid-19 protocols serious anymore and saw the need to remind them of the dangers that could trigger a high spread of the virus again in the region.

The programme which was organized by the CNC in collaboration with the Covid-19 Trust Fund, National Commission on Culture was under the theme, Covid-19 Educational Campaign phase -2" at Tanoso on Wednesday in the Bono East Region.

The event aimed at ensuring people revisit the strict observance of the Covid-19 protocols including social distancing, regular hand washing and sanitizing, wearing of nose mask, among others.

Mr Emmanuel Ansu Bono East Regional Director for the CNC reminded the people of the culture of observing the protocols as it was the surest way to save the lives of relatives, friends, and community members from contracting the virus.

Mr Ansu noted that government and its partners have not relaxed on the enforcement on the observation of the protocols and that extra measures have been put in place to ensure people obey the protocols among other things to avoid the spread of the virus.

He urged all stakeholders to take pragmatic measures in stopping the spread so as to save lives and improved the livelihood conditions of people in the area.

Mr Ansu explained that even though some have gone for the vaccination there was still the need to observe the protocols in order to protect others.

According to him, the vaccination only protects one from contracting the virus but does not cure it, however there is the need to continue observing the protocols.

Mr Cosmas Bakyeayiri Techiman Municipal Disease Control Officer of the Ghana Health Service stated that as of the 8th of June 2021 about 3 new active cases has been recorded in the Bono East Region.

He added a total of 24 deaths has been recorded since the emergence of the virus in the region.

Mr Bakyeayiri indicated that no case has been recorded in the Techiman Municipality but previously a total of 465 cases were recorded and out that, 12 deaths were also recorded with 453 recoveries.

The programme attracted the general public, students from senior high schools, the traditional Authority, religious bodies and organizations.

An educative drama from the Bonokyempem of the Center for National Culture entitled Obey the Protocols threw more light on the need to obey the protocols.

GNA
Minister for Transport, Mr. Kwaku Asiamah, has disclosed that an amount of $17.3 million was realized between September and December 2020 from COVID-19 testing at the Kotoka International Airport.

Out of this amount, $16.2 million was retained by Frontiers Health Services, while the Ghana Airport Company received $1.1 million.

The Transport Minister made this known on Thursday, June 10, 2021 in Parliament, after the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu requested details about the proceeds from the COVID-19 testing exercise at the Kotoka International Airport.

The Minister also explained that the contract between the Ghana Airport Company and Frontiers Health Services stipulated a ratio of 10 to 140 dollars out of the $150 testing fee.

He also added that, per the concession agreement, Frontiers Healthcare Services paid $10 to the Airport Company as royalties.

Mr. Speaker, the concession agreement between the Ghana Airport Company Limited and the Frontiers Healthcare Services for the conduct of COVID-19 testing at KIA started on the 4th of September 2020. The measure was taken to limit the importation of the disease into the country through KIA, which is the foremost entry point by air passengers. The strategy was to test and isolate the infected persons for treatment at various treatment centres. Per the concession agreement, Ghana Airport Company was supposed to receive $10 per test conducted, and Frontiers Healthcare was to keep the rest as their service charge and the total conduct per test was $150.

Mr. Speaker between September and December 2020, the total amount realised from the COVID-19 testing at the KIA was $17,590,500. So as per the concession agreement, Frontiers Healthcare Services retained $16,202,200 for its services between the stated period. The Ghana Airport Company Limited on the other hand received $1,167,300 for the same period as royalties accruing from COVID-19 testing. During the period under consideration, a total number of 117,187 came through KIA, out of this number, 115,730 paid for the testing, while 1,157 passengers consisting of children between the ages of 5-12 were exempted from paying for the testing.

About the Frontiers Healthcare Services contract

Ghana's procurement law allows for emergency procurement and donations to be undertaken in the event of a natural disaster or epidemic, among other things, subject to the Public Procurement Board's approval, in accordance with Act 663, Section 40.

The government engaged Frontiers Healthcare Solution Services Limited to conduct the rapid COVID-19 tests following the reopening of the airport to international passenger flights in September 2020.

Non-ECOWAS passengers coming to Ghana by air are required to pay $150 for a 30-minute PCR COVID-19 test administered by Frontiers Healthcare Solution Services Limited.

The Minority wing in Parliament had raised red flags about possible procurement breaches and demanded documents to ascertain if due diligence was done.

The company was at a point said to be operating whilst unlicensed.

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As part of efforts to support governments Green Ghana Project, Tropenbos Ghana and EcoCare Ghana are donating 39,000 tree and fruit seedlings.

The two Environmental NGOs are partners in the European Union-funded Landscapes and Environmental Agility across the Nation (LEAN) project in the Transition Landscape.

Impressed by the Green Ghana Project, the NGOs have commended government, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, as well as the Forestry Commission while insisting that the project has come at the right time.

The partnership of Tropenbos Ghana and EcoCare Ghana has donated Thirty-Nine Thousand (39,000) indigenous and fruit tree seedlings to the Bono East Regional Office of Forestry Commission to support this remarkable initiative on the 11th of June 2021, part of a joint press release from the NGOs has said.

Meanwhile, the two organisations have also indicated that in line with the objective of the LEAN project, they are committed to supporting the government to embark on an agenda to restore Ghanas degraded landscapes, mitigate climate change and enhance the livelihoods of rural communities.

Find below the full joint press release from the NGOs:
Central African Republic Prime Minister Firmin Ngrebada and his government resigned on Thursday, setting the stage for a political reshuffle in an impoverished country struggling with a rebellion and a bustup with its traditional ally France.

The premier announced his resignation on Twitter, but President Faustin Archange Touadera's spokesman told AFP he could be tapped to lead a refreshed administration.

"We will know within a few hours if the president keeps the prime minister on," Albert Yaloke Mokpeme said.

A former chief of staff to Touadera, Ngrebada had been in post since early 2019 in Central African Republic (CAR), rated the second least-developed country in the world by the UN and suffering from the aftermath of a civil conflict that erupted in 2013.

Map of Central African Republic. By (AFP/File)

He had helped craft a February 2019 peace deal signed with rebel groups in Khartoum.

Touadera was re-elected in December on a turnout of fewer than one in three voters.

The ballot was hampered by armed groups that at the time controlled around two-thirds of the country, and a rebel coalition mounted an offensive on the capital Bangui in the runup to polling day.

Legislative elections have since left Touadera's United Hearts Movement (MCU) short of a parliamentary majority.

Political scientists nevertheless say that in key votes he can count on the backing of large numbers of independent MPs, many formerly associated with the party.

Beating back rebels

Since December, the army, backed by the 12,000-strong UN MINUSCA peacekeepers, Rwandan special forces and Russian paramilitaries, has wrested much of the territory from rebel control.

The Russians especially are credited with with strengthening the otherwise poorly-equipped national army.

At the same time, ties with traditional ally and former colonial power France have been badly fraying.

CAR troops have been gradually reconquering the country's territory from rebel groups. By ALEXIS HUGUET (AFP/File)

Paris on Monday froze financial aid and suspended military cooperation, accusing Bangui of complicity in a Russian-organised disinformation campaign against France.

The anger was sparked after a French national, Juan Remy Quignolot, was arrested in Bangui on May 10. An image of him with an arsenal of weapons was distributed on social media.

On Wednesday, CAR prosecutors accused Quignolot of espionage and conspiracy and harming domestic security.

France has long played a key role in the CAR since the impoverished landlocked country gained independence in 1960.

It intervened militarily to help still a bloody conflict that erupted along sectarian lines after the then president, Francois Bozize, was toppled by predominantly Muslim rebels in 2013.

Tensions over the CAR's friendship with Russia date back to 2018, when the Kremlin sent weapons and a large contingent of "instructors" to train the CAR's beleaguered armed forces.

It has also stepped up investment in the CAR's mining sector. The country's riches include gold, diamonds, copper and uranium.

Last week, Ngrebada was in St. Petersburg, where he strove to persuade Russian leaders to invest further.

Despite the relative lull in violence today, the country remains deeply poor and in need of help.

Conflict displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the first months of the year, while around half the population is facing "high levels of acute food insecurity," according to the UN.


After a short period of heavy rainfall over Richmond, Virginia, within the span of just a few hours, the fire department of the city responded to over a dozen calls of vehicles in high water and saved 19 people on Wednesday.

The Rescue

Between 4:27 and 5:22 p.m. EDT most of the crews were dispatched, and while 17 people were saved around that interval, another two were rescued later that evening, the Richmond Fire Department noted. Video from the fire department reveals a crew member assisting a motorist from the roof of their car into a pumped-up boat during one rescue.

The floodwaters were almost up to the engine of the car, submerging the front headlights completely. AccuWeather Meteorologist, Maxwell Gawryla said: "Richmond, Virginia, received an extraordinary amount of rain all through the day Wednesday,"

"Interestingly, the rain was heavily restricted with observations across the area ranging from about 1.3 inches to an incredible 3.34 inches at Richmond/Chesterfield County Airport. "He added that this rainfall wasn't dispersed all through the day but instead it took place over the course of four hours.

Also Read: China Flooding: Heaviest Rains in Decades Continues, 20 Million People Affected

Rainfall at Chesterfield County Airport

Over half of the rainfall recorded at Chesterfield County Airport - 2.87 inches - took place between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., approximately aligning with the period Richmond's fire department got their calls for rescue. While the heaviest rain across Virginia had departed from the coast as of Wednesday evening, Gawryla said the situation will persist through the next few days.

Gawryla said deep moisture over the region through the rest of the week accompanied with a few weak upper-level disturbances will allow for persistent widespread showers and thunderstorms all around the state, this generally moist pattern will begin to change early next week when high pressure starts to build into the northeast and moisture is forced out of the area.

Flooding

Floods are the most frequently occurring type of natural disaster and they usually take place when an overflow of water submerges land that is dry. Floods are often brought about by heavy rainfall, swift snowmelt or a storm surge from a tropical cyclone or tsunami in coastal areas.

Floods can lead to widespread devastation, causing loss of life and destruction of personal property and critical public health infrastructure. Floods affected over 2 billion people worldwide, between 1998-2017. People who inhabit floodplains or buildings that are non-resistant, or lack warning systems and awareness of flooding hazard, are most susceptible to floods.

Between 80-90% of all recorded disasters from natural hazards during the past 10 years have been due to floods, droughts, heat waves, tropical cyclones, and severe storms. The frequency and intensity of floods are also increasing, and the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation is anticipated to continue to increase because of climate change.

Related Article: Lake Charles Slammed: Flash Flooding Emergencies Declared in Louisiana, Texas

For more news, updates about flooding and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), is calling on media houses to support and promote the Green Ghana Project to ensure its success.

According to the association, if the media continues to push the program and build momentum through follow-up stories and programmes it will make the project a success.

Sustainability is key to the success of the Green Ghana Project. To this end, the GJA underlines the need for media practitioners all over the country to help maintain the momentum through follow-up stories and programmes. This will inculcate in the public, especially the youth, the Albert values of planting and nurturing trees.

Green Ghana Project is a novel national initiative to plant five million trees across the country.

In a statement signed by the President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Affail Monney, the association urged media houses and owners to contribute immensely to promoting this project.

The Ghana Journalists Association ( GJA) is urging all journalists and media houses to play a pivotal role in this project as they saturate the airwaves and litter their newspapers with relevant programmes, situational reports, exciting stories, and well-researched features. The aim is to get an overwhelming majority of Ghanaians to participate in and assume ownership of the tree planting exercise.

The GJA expects all media owners, CEOs, editors, and practitioners not only to promote the exercise but also to take an active part to green their media houses and communities, the statement added.

The statement also noted that Special awards will be given to media houses and journalists who promote the project.

For its part, the GJA will consider instituting SPECIAL GREEN GHANA AWARDS for journalists and media houses (traditional and online) who excel in championing this environmentally vital national exercise.
World leaders have recently, under the auspices of the United Nations, renewed their commitment to ending AIDS. The new phase offers much needed hope for the future, provided the commitments made are fulfilled.

The adopted political declaration and its recommendations offer strategies for ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV and paediatric AIDS. They also address inequalities faced by adolescents living with HIV. The commitments include an interim target of suppressing the viral loads of 75% of all children living with HIV by 2023. Greater emphasis on innovative tools and strategies to locate and diagnose children of all ages living with HIV are very welcome. These include early infant diagnosis at the point of care, family testing and self-testing to find older children and adolescents who are not on treatment.

Looking back, children have been one of the most neglected groups affected by HIV. The paediatric targets for 2020 were missed by a significant distance.

For example, the global target for the HIV treatment coverage rate for children by 2020 was 95%. But by 2019 only 53% of children were on treatment. In 2020, an estimated 150,000 children acquired HIV globally . The target was to reduce infections to 20,000.

Not meeting these targets represents a global failure. To make matters worse, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted HIV services for children and pregnant women.

Failure to achieve these targets for children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, home to 90% of the children living with HIV, means that new infections will continue to increase and HIV related mortality will be a reality for decades to come.

The June 2021 United Nations high level meeting was an opportunity to get the paediatric HIV response on track. The new political declaration is a result of extensive analysis of HIV data and consultation with member states, communities and partners from over 160 countries. In line with the 2021 political declaration, we emphasise that national governments should review their national strategies and commit resources to three key paediatric HIV issues. These are: prevention of mother-to-child transmission; HIV testing and treatment in children; and prevention and treatment of TB and HIV.

1. Prevention of vertical transmission

Programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV have been scaled up. But this transmission is rising in several African countries. Of equal concern, antiretroviral therapy coverage for pregnant women living with HIV is considerably lower in western and central African countries such as Nigeria and Angola (below 50%) than in southern Africa. South Africa and Botswana have coverage of over 90% . In 2017, an alarming one in five children born to mothers living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa became HIV positive during childbirth or breastfeeding.

We advocate for better planning for comprehensive HIV prevention during pregnancy and breastfeeding, access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and other new prevention technologies. As per World Health Organisation guidelines , pregnant women must be tested for HIV multiple times during pregnancy. And women who test positive for HIV should immediately be placed on antiretroviral therapy.

The efficacy of prevention of mother-to-child transmission practices needs to be reviewed and monitored closely in many African countries. Increasing access to viral load testing for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers living with HIV will also ensure the health of the mother and help to reduce vertical transmission.

2. Paediatric HIV testing and treatment

In 2020, 74,000 children were newly infected with HIV in eastern and southern Africa. And 46,000 deaths among children younger than 15 in the region were due to AIDS. The treatment coverage rate for children in eastern and southern Africa is 57% compared with 78% for adults. It is critical to ensure that all newborn babies exposed to HIV are tested between four and six weeks of age. Those living with HIV must start HIV treatment, because without treatment 50% will die before they reach two years of age.

This step is just the first of many in a process to ensure the health of HIV-exposed children as they grow older. We advocate for more resources to achieve the following:

95% of HIV-exposed children tested by two months of age and again after cessation of breastfeeding;

95% of infants tested for HIV receive their test results no later than 15 days after blood sample collection;

95% of infants diagnosed with HIV infection initiate antiretroviral therapy no later than 15 days after receiving their test results;

85% of all children living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy must have suppressed viral load by 2023 and 95% by 2025;

scale up point-of-care early infant diagnostic testing, starting with areas that are hard to reach;

scale up efforts to actively track mother-baby pairs using a digital register of positive results;

greater use of family-based index testing and use of HIV oral tests for children aged 2-11.

3. Childhood TB and HIV

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major contributor to illness and death in children living with HIV, particularly in TB endemic settings. Children under 15 account for around 12% of the 10 million TB cases globally.

TB preventive therapy is a proven and effective intervention, particularly in young children. But only 27% of the 1.3 million eligible children under five received preventive therapy in 2018. For children (and adolescents) living with HIV, TB is the most common opportunistic infection. Those with severe immune suppression have a five-fold higher risk of TB compared to those with mild immune suppression.

National governments should therefore strengthen TB services for children with HIV so that 90% of them receive treatment for both conditions. TB and HIV health services need to be integrated. Family approaches to TB preventive treatment must be scaled up to include HIV-negative households. Access to short-course TB preventive therapy regimens must be expanded. Innovative approaches for TB diagnosis among children must be considered, including the use of non-sputum biomarker-based samples such as stools and urine.

Getting back on track

In view of the threat to paediatric HIV services posed by further waves of COVID-19, we highlight the need to eliminate vertical transmission and prioritise paediatric testing and treatment services to achieve the new commitments.

The commitment can be delivered through strong community-led responses in partnership with governments; maintaining and increasing domestic and donor funding for HIV and AIDS, particularly for low-income countries with limited fiscal ability and weak health systems; and ring-fencing resources for paediatric HIV and TB services.

Dr Stuart Kean, Co-Chair Advocacy Technical Working Group at the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Inter-Agency Task Team on Children Affected by AIDS; Dephin Mpofu, Chair at the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Inter-Agency Task Team on Children Affected by AIDS and Regional HIV and Gender Inclusion Lead, Southern Africa Region, World Vision International; and Anock Kapira, Programme Manager at Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Inter-Agency Task Team on Children Affected by AIDS, contributed to this article.

Kaymarlin Govender receives funding from the National Research Foundation and Sida

Linda-Gail Bekker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

By Kaymarlin Govender, Research Director at The Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of KwaZulu-Natal And

Linda-Gail Bekker, Professor of medicine and deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Germany branch has urged Ghana courts to go hard on illegal miners (galamseyers) when arrested to win the fight against the menace.

The President has this year intensified the fight against illegal mining with the deployment of military personnel, Operation Halt.

Operation Halt which is made up of military and police officers have been patrolling, seizing, and burning equipment found on illegal mining sites.

While NPP Germany commends the government for taking on galamsey head-on, the group wants the courts to be firm in their dealings.

With reference to some Chinese nationals arrested in connection to galamsey and given bail, NPP Germany is pushing for galamsey to be tagged as a non bailable offence.

What amuses us is the soft nature of our courts when it comes to dealing with this criminality. Just last week some six Chinese who were arrested for indulging in Galamsey and other related crimes have been granted bail. That should not be the case if we value the harm these activities cause to us as a nation.

This crime should be a non bailable offence, keep them in custody till the conclusion of the trail and make them serve their sentences here before deporting them to their respective countries, not forgetting to surcharge them to reclaim the land, a press release from NPP Germany signed by Communications Director Nana Osei Boateng has said.

Moving forward, NPP Germany urges Ghanaians to help the President to stop galamsey in the country.

Find below the full press release from NPP Germany:

Galamsey is a crime that should not attract any mercies from our courtsNPP Germany

The galamsey menace is a creeping sensation that is gradually becoming more dangerous to nature. The positive news today is that the government has declared war against this criminality and the entire nation seemingly is rallying behind this worthy cause. All miscreants involved in this act must be fished out and dealt with drastically.

What amuses us is the soft nature of our courts when it comes to dealing with this criminality. Just last week some six Chinese who were arrested for indulging in Galamsey and other related crimes have been granted bail. That should not be the case if we value the harm these activities cause to us as a nation

This crime should be a NON BAILABLE OFFENCE, keep them in custody till the conclusion of the trail and make them serve their sentences here before deporting them to their respective countries, not forgetting to surcharge them to reclaim the land.

There are laws that warrant a judge to jail galamsey criminals up to a handsome 25 years yet non of such jail sentences has been dished out so far regardless the many arrest that have been made. Our judicial system must learn to be an enemy to these persons. The President and government must enforce the laws in order to shy others away from the act.

How does one person destroy the life in a whole river body and go free when they cant do same in their home countries.

The nation should forge into this fight with unison and the political will of the President to stop this should be fully supported.

Our laws must work if the nation is to be fixed. Our courts must effect the results we need when these miscreants are arrested and brought before them.

Long live Ghana, NPP and Nana Addo.

Signed

Nana Osei Boateng

NPP Germany Branch Communications Director.
A brief research document on the adherence to Ghana's smoke-free policy, put together by the Tobacco Control Capacity Programme (TCCP) Team has been unveiled in Accra.

It is to help reduce exposure to second-hand smoking and its related-deaths in the country.

It was the outcome of a study undertaken by researchers at the School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, led by Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo, Pro-Vice Chancellor.

Others are Dr Arti Singh and Mr Darlington Divine Logo.

The study said tobacco was a growing cause of death and diseases in sub-Saharan Africa with 77 percent of global smoking-related deaths and 89 percent of second-hand smoke related-deaths occurring in low-and-middle-income countries.

It said reducing exposure to second-hand smoking was an important public health challenge for countries like Ghana, where smoke-free legislation could have a significant impact.

Ghana had partial smoke-free policy, which prohibits smoking in enclosed public areas including hospitality venues but allowed for designated smoking areas.

In Ghana, there is currently a rise in tobacco use, particularly water pipe, among young people. The non-smoking population are also exposed to second-hand smoke, particularly in hospitality venues such as bars, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, and pubs, the study said.

It said smoking amongst the youth aged 11 to 17 years continued to rise to seven percent and close to 50 percent of students were unaware of the harmful effects of second-hand smoking while a third of them were exposed.

It said the implementation of a comprehensive smoke-free policy could provide several health benefits leading to a substantial decline in heart diseases, morbidity and respiratory symptoms in the population.

It would also reduce cigarette consumption among smokers including shisha among the youth, the study said.

The research said the creation of 100 percent smoke-free environments was one of the most effective, science-based measures to protect the non-smoking population from the harmful effects of exposure to smoking.

This highlights the need for the strengthening of compliance and enforcement of the current smoke-free policy in Ghana whilst there is a strong support for the banning of public smoking to help save the lives of the people, it said.

It recommended that civil society organisations and other actors dedicated resources to engage the media in educational campaigns to inform the public/hospitality workers about the smoke-free policy and the health hazards of second-hand smoke to non-smokers.

The study urged the Food and Drugs Authority and the Ministry of Health to continually monitor compliance and enforcement of the smoke-free policy while the Government should undertake a review of the current policy under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to facilitate the adoption of comprehensive smoke-free policies.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service who launched the June 2021 Policy Brief Document, expressed gratitude to the researchers and the sponsors for the scientific study, which, he said, would influence policy to reduce the impact of tobacco use.

Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, the Presidential Advisor on Health, who chaired the launch, assured participants and the programme organisers that the concerns raised in the policy document would be forwarded to the appropriate quarters for implementation.

That would ensure a smoke-free environment for the safety of the citizenry, he said.

The research was sponsored by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) with the key aims of developing country-specific studies focusing on tobacco control.

This was done through a process of co-creation with policy makers whilst investing in wider stakeholder engagements to identify pathways to impact future sustainability.

Other partners are UK academics in five universities along with research organisations in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, The Gambia, India, South Africa and Uganda.

---GNA
India has reported the world's highest Covid death toll after its third most populous state added thousands of names to a list of people who succumbed to the virus but were not counted. The grim audit took the national tally to 359,676.

India reported 6,148 Covid-19 deaths, according to a health ministry report published on Thursday.

The United States held the previous record, with 5,444 Covid-19 deaths on 12 February.

On Thursday, India also posted 94,052 new single-day infections which took the national Covid case tally to 29.2 million.

Bihar (state) reconciled its figures and put the total number of fatalities caused by the disease at 9,429 after verification, newspapers quoted the ministry as saying.

Bihar state census

The authorities in Bihar said the recount was the result of an audit of fatalities in the eastern Indian state's all 38 districts.

Four of the districts marked a jump of at least 200 percent in Bihar's revised death toll.

We came to know of demands that there could be more Covid-linked deaths than reported, Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey said in capital Patna, which accounted for the largest number of 2,303 Covid deaths.

District administrators were then ordered to conduct an audit of those confirmed killed by the virus, the health minister told reporters. He did not specify when these thousands of deaths occurred in the impoverished state.

Pratyaya Amrit, a senior Bihar government bureaucrat, asserted Covid patients who died in private hospitals or at home may have fallen off the state-run census.

These deaths had remained unaccounted earlier," Amrit was quoted as saying. The health department is trying to find out whose fault it was and proper action will be taken after we ascertain the facts.

The state high court last month ordered the local government to verify Covid-related deaths in Buxar district and report back to the judges.

The judges said there were inconsistencies in official reports.

Recount sparks political sparring

The revision of the death toll by 72.8 percent sparked political sparring in Bihar where opposition groups accused the government of concealing records of those killed by coronavirus.

Fudging data of people who have died from coronavirus? This is the limit, said Prem Chandra Mishra, a Bihar lawmaker from the opposition Congress party. This government seeks opportunities even in a pandemic."

The Rashtriya Janata Dal, which has ruled Bihar for years, said Bihar's two-party coalition government must step down.

It is not only the people of Bihar but partners within this alliance who have lost faith in this government, which has destroyed the state, Dal spokesman Shakti Yadav said after the recount of Bihar's Covid death toll.

Last month, the New York Times said India's official death toll could be as high as 1.6 million. The government in Delhi rejected the report as completely baseless and false.

India reported around seven million infections in May.

The country has so far added more than 159,000 Covid-linked deaths since April this year.
Communication Team Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Owusu Banahene has said Akufo-Addo's led government has borrowed more than any other government in Ghanas history.

He noted that in spite of the incessant borrowing by the government, it cannot point to any significant projects it has undertaken for the four years that it has been in power.

Despite promising to reduce government borrowing, President Akufo-Addo has borrowed more than any government in Ghanas history, with very little to show. Today, our current debt position is unsustainable and the worst ever in our 4th republican history.

He further accused President Akufo-Addo of mismanaging state funds.

The reason why President Akufo-Addo has very little to show for the unprecedented resource envelope that has accrued to his government is that he has wasted the chunk of the monies on consumption, corruption, and wasteful expenditures, Nana Owusu Banahene exclusively told Kwaku Dawuro on Anopa Nkomo on Accra-based Kingdom FM 107.7

He continued, he has supervised the worst mismanagement of Ghanas economy since its independence. His misplaced priorities are what have plunged Ghana into the catastrophic debt situation and economic quagmire we presently find ourselves in."
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The need to provide adequate and equitable housing has remained a major priority of present and past governments. The population and housing census indicates that Ghana is facing an acute housing problem with housing deficit of over 1.5 million units in 2000 and over 2 million in 2010.This indicates an increase in deficit but governments in those days were building houses to solve this problem but why an increase?

My question is, can Ghana government build houses to solve housing deficit? The answer is a big NO. Why no, there have been several attempts by pass governments to put up affordable houses but all failed. For instance, former president John A. Kuffuor sought to reduce the crisis by initiating 20,000 affordable housing units in 2001 and in 2007 about 4500 units were started but as we speak non is completed, and successive governments also sought to reduce the crisis and even introduce mortgages to help but none is yielding results.

Present government is trying his best to address the crisis by supporting the construction of affordable houses and access to mortgages and my question again is can the average Ghanaian be able to buy the so call affordable houses and access these mortgages. And the answer again is a big NO. One bedroom affordable apartment in Asokore Mampong Housing Project is GH99,000, is this what we called affordable? How can an average Ghanaian who earns between GH800.00-GH1000.00 per month acquire this type of building?

My findings: There are only two possible strategies government can use to reduce or solve housing deficit in Ghana;

Regulating prices and ownership of Land. Price of lands are increasing day in and day out and the rich are also acquiring vest acres of land without developing them and also causing the increase in prices, causing the average Ghanaian not able to buy even a single plot. The government can make policies which will determine the number of plots one can buy within a specific time and also set-up the maximum price a land can be sold in the country. The government can even use his powers (eminent domain) to acquire lands across the country and redistribute or sell at a low price to the people. Even in less competitive towns like Kintampo and Wenchi, a plot of land averagely is around GH5000.00 How can the average man within these localities buy a plot of land for building, even such lands are not without land disputes (Multiple Sale). Hence government must step in to set up maximum price for land or acquire vest lands and redistribute them.

Regulating prices of constructional materials. If building materials were to be as low as possible many people will be able to build their own houses. Before the increase in materials, averagely it will have cost between GH35,000-GH150,000 to build 3-bedroom bungalow and now with these increases, how will low-middle income Ghanaian able to raise GH35,000 to build such a house, but in a situation where prices of building materials are as low as possible and the construction of 3-bedroom bungalow can go as low as between GH15,000-GH90,000 it will be possible for the average Ghanaian to build.

In Summary the best alternative way to solve housing deficit in Ghana is to; Regulate prices and ownership of land in Ghana and regulate prices of building materials. If not this our kind of government structure where when there is a change of government the projects of the former is overlooked, we will be having a lot of uncompleted houses and increasing housing deficits.

Surv.Prosper Yeaka(MGHIS)

(Valuation &Estate Division)

Bsc.Real Estate
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The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Techiman South constituency wants Parliament's Appointments Committee to reject the nomination of the current Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah.

Mr. Korsah, a Deputy Minister-Designate for Local Government, is scheduled to be vetted on Friday, June 11, 2021.

He has been dragged to court by the NDCs parliamentary candidate for the 2020 polls, Christopher Beyere Baasongti, who is of the view that Mr. Korsah is not the rightful winner of the polls hence should not be in Parliament.

According to the NDC, the presidents decision to give Mr. Korsah such a portfolio is unfortunate, considering the fact that his election is a subject of legal tussle.

Speaking to Citi News, the NDC Bono East Secretary, Shamsudeen Ali stated that the Techiman South NDC has petitioned Parliament to express its concerns.

This is an individual whose issue is under contention, an individual whose presence in Parliament has made the NPP form the majority group in Parliament. [If the court case goes against him] his absence will create a great lacuna for the NPP in Parliament and the government as a whole, so why do you give such an individual such an appointment?

We have served the [Appointments] committee enough reasons to reject his nomination, he said.

Christopher Beyere Baasongti sued Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, the Electoral Commission, and the Clerk of Parliament in January 2021.

In his suit filed at the High Court in Wenchi, Mr. Baasongti asked the court to quash the decision by the Electoral Commission declaration Mr. Adjei-Mensah Korsah of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as the Member of Parliament for the Techiman South constituency.

The NDC in the constituency believes there was no collation of results in the area, hence the EC had no basis for declaring Mr. Korsah as the winner of the 2020 parliamentary poll.

Mr. Baasongti also wants the Electoral Commission to be compelled to collate polling station results in the constituency in the presence of the representatives of the candidates.

The NDCs Baasongti also asked the court to order the EC to declare him as the winner of the elections.

---citinewsroom
Ghana's former professional boxer, Prof. Azuma Nelson and actress Ama K. Abebrese, joined Geodrill, a leading exploration drilling company to plant trees as part of government's intent to plant five million trees on the 11th of June 2021 across the country as an initial programme under the Green Ghana Project.

Prof. Azuma Nelson, emphasized that, the Green Ghana Project is a laudable initiative which needs to be supported by all Ghanaians. Saying that, human existence hinges directly to the survival of trees. Thus, without the oxygen produced by trees, we cannot survive as human beings.

He was very hopeful that, the Green Ghana initiative, as a concerted effort on the part of every citizen, would help restore the environment for a better life for all.

The tree planting exercise took place at Children of the Light education center in Aburi, on Tuesday, 8th June 2021. Geodrill has been a long standing patron of Children on the Light.

Founded by Jeanette Brown Opoku, Children of the Light, has since 2005 been operating as registered charitable organisation in Ghana, with a passion to help further children's education in a wholesitc manner so that they may grow to reach their full potential. Environmental education is strongly emphasised at the center.

The organisation runs year-round educational programs, for children aged 4 to 16 years in one-on-one and small-group learning settings. In addition, children also enjoy numerous special programs which include language arts, performing and fine arts, social studies, mathematics, science and sporting activities.

Speaking to Mr. Dave Harper, CEO of Geodrill, he emphasized that, Geodrill is committed to being socially responsible, particularly within the communities in which it operates and with those in most need of support.

"Management believes that this core value embraced by the Geodrills corporate culture benefits not only our surrounding communities and their environment as a whole but the Company and its employees as well."

Mr. Dave said, "it is therefore, necessary to rally behind Ghana Government's Green Ghana initiative to ensure we win the fight together. It is very important the environment is protected in order to mitigate the climate change that the world is experiencing."

Ama K. Abebrese, Child safety icon and an accomplished television presenter with over two decades of experience, also enjoyed participating in the tree planting exercise with the children.

As they all planted trees at the Children of the Light education center, in support of Government's GGi, Ama K. Abebrese, discussed the importance and the need to care for the environment and also conserve nature.

A mixture of dwarf coconut, mango, citrus and sour apple trees were successfully planted and will be maintained with support of Geodrill so they may be enjoyed by generations to come.
Former Special Prosecutor, Martin A.B.K Amidu has accused government of deliberately delaying the formation of governing bodies for key institutions to perform their mandate.

He said the delay is a calculated attempt to undermine the fight against corruption in the country.

This has been detailed in the latest epistle of the statesman who through his fight against corruption earned the name Citizen Vigilante.

Stating the concerns raised by the Minority in parliament on the unjustifiable and undue delay by the Government in constituting governing boards of certain statutory bodies and corporations, Martin Amidu says they are genuine concerns.

However, on grounds that the delays have seriously impacted the discharge of the constitutional functions of these statutory bodies and corporations with serious effect on the governance and economic activities of the nation, Martin Amidu said the Minority missed the bigger picture.

According to him, the boards have not been formed deliberately by government because it wants to have control in undermining the fight against corruption.

the omission by the Minority in Parliament to have realised that even governing boards made entirely of representatives of constituent bodies which have not functioned within the last six months such as that of the Office of the Special Prosecutor are deliberate acts on the part of this Government to undermine the fight against corruption, part of the latest release from Martin Amidu reads.

He insists that the vital omission makes the minoritys intention to hold the President to his oath of office to be transparent and to account for good governance under the Constitution incomplete.

Martin Amidu charges the Minority in Parliament to uphold its obligation and hold the government to account by ensuring that all governing boards are operating under the Constitution and not only the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the Road Fund Board, and the appointment of Chief Executive Officers for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) simply because of the resources they disburse to the economy.

Martin Amidu concludes, The fight for democracy and against corruption in this Government must be holistic and not selective. Let us collectively defend the Constitution by putting Ghana First!.

Below is the full release from the former Special Prosecutor:

INTRODUCTION

The Minority Leader of Parliament, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Hon. Alhassan Suhuyini and other members of the minority in parliament have complained of the unjustifiable and undue delay by the Government in constituting governing boards of certain statutory bodies and corporations affected by the Presidential (Transition) Act, 2012 (Act 845) which has seriously impacted the discharge of the constitutional functions of these statutory bodies and corporations with serious effect on the governance and economic activities of the nation.

The serious and justifiable concerns expressed by the Hon. Minority Leader on Friday, 27th May 2021 which was concurred in by the Hon. Majority Leader six months after the assumption of office of the President on 7th January 2021, might have been raised because it has impacted the governance of such critical statutory boards and corporations, and the economy as the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the Road Fund Board, and the appointment of Chief Executive Officers for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) mentioned in their submissions in parliament.

It will appear that the Hon. Minority Leader and his other colleagues might have overlooked the fact that the problem of the interference in the proper and timeous functioning of the governing boards of statutory boards and corporations is a calculated and deliberate ploy to enable the executive to facilitate the taking of critical decisions by persons designated by the President to head these institutions, in the more than six months interim period, that has passed since the assumption of office of the President.

This reasoning is justified by the fact that even the governing boards of statutory boards and corporations made up entirely of representatives of constituent bodies on the boards and corporations have also ceased to function or have not been allowed to function since the Chief of Staffs directives issued. The functions of some of such statutory boards and corporations made entirely by constituent bodies appear to have been usurped by the executive authority which runs these institutions by verbal instructions to the Chief Executives or acting Chief Executives.

THE CASE OF THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR

I am referring, particularly to the Office of the Special Prosecutor established under the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) with its governing board made entirely of representatives of constituent bodies under Section 5 thereof. The Board of the Office of the Special Prosecutor has not been allowed to function since the very urgent letter of the Chief of Staff written on 12th January 2021 with reference number SCR/DAB9/314/01 with the subject matter of Reconstitution of Statutory Boards and Corporations notifying the Chairperson and all Statutory Boards and Corporations that members of statutory boards and corporations coming under subsection 1 of Act 845 ceased to hold those offices on 7th January 2021 when the President assumed his second term as President after the 2020 elections. This is despite the caveat contained in the Chief of Staffs letter stating that: For the avoidance of doubt, representatives of constituent bodies on the statutory boards and corporations are not affected by this directive. This caveat was necessitated by the Supreme Court decision in Donkor v Attorney General, Supreme Court, 12 June 2019, (unreported) which decided, inter alia that:

 section 14 of Act 845 does not affect representatives of constituent bodies and interest on the governing body who can only be removed by the body or interest that they represent, and in accordance with the tenure and removal provisions of the Act establishing the statutory body or corporation.

The Vulnerability of the Office

The Office of the Special Prosecutor has been in a vulnerable state since my resignation as the first Special Prosecutor and the assumption of the duties of the Special Prosecutor by the Deputy Special Prosecutor by operation of law. Section 8 of Act 959 mandates that: Where the Office of the Special Prosecutor becomes vacant, the President shall within six months appoint a person qualified for appointment as Special Prosecutor to that position and the word vacancy is defined for purposes of Section 8 to include resignation, death or vacation of post. The fact needs be underscored that the operative words in section 8 require that the President shall within six months appoint a person qualified for appointment as Special Prosecutor to that position (Emphasis supplied). It assumes a diligent President committed to good governance who would ensure that the nomination, and parliamentary approval are completed, and the appointment made by him within the enjoined six months period. The Deputy Special Prosecutor is mandated under Section 17 (3) of the Act to act in the absence of the Special Prosecutor or in the event of a vacancy in the position of the Special Prosecutor which in the case of a vacancy shall be filled by the President within six months.

Recruitments, Accounts and Audit Functions of the Board

A Deputy Special Prosecutor acting as Special Prosecutor is, thus, in a vulnerable situation of anticipating whether she or he will be nominated, approved by Parliament, and appointed by the President to the substantive position within the six months period mandated by the Act. The persons independence of action may be affected by such anticipations and render the person susceptible to manipulation by the appointing authority or his representatives in the performance of the functions of the Special Prosecutor for which she or he shall have authority and control over the investigation, initiation and conduct of proceedings under subsection 1 of section 3 of the Act 959 within the waiting period of within six months.

The Board of the Office of the Special Prosecutor shall, inter alia, advise the Special Prosecutor on the recruitment and selection of the Secretary and other senior staff of the Office. Since the Chief of Staffs letter of 12th January 2021, the Office appears to have been run by the Deputy Special Prosecutor alone, who had assumed the role of the acting Special Prosecutor within the six months period beginning 17th November 2020 when I resigned my office.

The Deputy Special Prosecutor was passed over and a new Special Prosecutor nominated and submitted to Parliament for consideration for approval. The letter officially conveying this nomination to the public from the Presidency is dated 6th May 2021. The six months period within which a Special Prosecutor shall be appointed by the President elapsed by 17th May 2021, and it is doubtful that the Deputy Special Prosecutor can legitimately continue to perform the functions of an acting Special Prosecutor. There is no Special Prosecutor appointed within the six months let alone for him to be absent for her to act in the normal scheme of things. Meanwhile, the governing board of the Office has ceased to function as though it was affected by the directives contained in the Chief of Staffs letter despite the caveat it made.

The Board of the Office also has critical statutory financial oversight functions which it has not and is unable to perform because it has ceased to function or be summoned even though it is made up of only representatives of constituent bodies. The functions of the Secretary to the Office became vacant at the end of October 2020 when the one- year contract of the interim Secretary expired. The Deputy Special Prosecutor took over from the interim Secretary as acting Secretary pending the appointment of a replacement. The Office is, thus, run by the acting Special Prosecutor, also acting as the interim Secretary to the Board. Apart from Board meetings held in November and December 2020 no Board meeting to the best of my knowledge has been held since the Chief of Staffs very urgent directives issued on 12th January 2021.

Capacity of the Deputy Special Prosecutor as Acting Special Prosecutor

The acting Special Prosecutor, who must have reverted to her position as Deputy Special Prosecutor by operation of law by 17th May 2021, continues to run to the Office of the Chief of Staff for her marching orders and instructions. Crucial decisions affecting an independent anti-corruption agency including recruitments, procurements and others are being taken singlehandedly by one person on instructions even after being passed over for nomination, and the nomination and referral to Parliament of a new Special Prosecutor for consideration and possible approval.

The danger is that in the absence of a functioning Board, whose three-year tenure soon ends in July 2021, decisions, which are crucial to the independent operations of such an anti-corruption Office, may be taken by persons who have no statutory mandate to do so.

A new substantive Special Prosecutor with integrity, who is eventually appointed, may find himself saddled with decisions taken while he had been nominated pending approval and appointment. The independence of a new Special Prosecutor in the performance of his functions would, thus, have been undermined even before his assumption of office, unless he was a collaborator in undermining the Office during the waiting period after his nomination for appointment.

My concerns about the ex-cathedral interference by the Office of the President in the operations of the Office of the Special Prosecutor are not mere conjectures. They are borne from my personal experience immediately after my appointment and events consequent upon my first meeting with the Chief of Staff in her office on 2nd March 2018 in which she mentioned her identification of a Secretary and an Accountant from the Ministry of Finance to work with me.

The Chief of Staff, the Ministry of Finance, and the Attorney Generals Office, thus, attempted to impose a Secretary and an Accountant on the Office and me. The names of two female officers from the Ministry of Finance and their curriculum vitae with a note from one of the Deputy Ministers of Finance to the Minister of Justice was delivered to me through the Minister of Justice.

I refused the intrusion into the independence of the new Office. The Board (together with its attendant problems in the nomination by election of a female representing the anti-corruption civil society organisations) was then about four months away from being constituted. Interestingly, the proposed Accountant was working in the Ministry of Finance as an Internal Auditor and was not a staff of the Controller and Accountant Generals Department.

Lethargy and corruption in the absence of governing boards

On 4th June 2021, Hon. Alhassan Suhuyini was quoted by Joy FM to have said on the composition of Boards that: The catalyst for government business is decisions that are taken at board levels. But nothing is happening. I mean you go to various institutions and agencies and people just come to work, warm the table, sleep and in some cases escape to do some private business because nothing is happening,

Then the next day, 5th June 2021, the first Minority Deputy Chief Whip, Hon. Ahmed Ibrahim, was also reported on Joy FM to have said that delayed constitution of statutory bodies will breed corruption in public institutions.

He is quoted as having said that: We are in the sixth month and the Akufo-Addo government is reluctantly and unwilling to form the boards of Corperations, Agencies and Departments. These bring checks and balances so without them, it will fundamentally cause corruption.

As true as these two statements are, the omission by the Minority in parliament to have realised that even governing boards made entirely of representatives of constituent bodies which have not functioned within the last six months such as that of the Office of the Special Prosecutor are deliberate acts on the part of this Government to undermine the fight against corruption. This vital omission makes the minoritys intention to hold the President to his oath of office to be transparent and to account for good governance under the Constitution incomplete. I have written about the agenda of this Government to undermine the rule of law, democracy, and constitutionalism through deliberate and persistent use of high-sounding political rhetoric signifying nothing.

CONCLUSIONS

Article 3 of the Constitution enjoins every Ghanaian to defend it against bad governance which I am doing in the foregoing article to sensitise fellow citizens. But the minority in parliament has a higher obligation to hold the Government to account by ensuring, inter alia, that all governing boards are operating under the Constitution and not only the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the Road Fund Board, and the appointment of Chief Executive Officers for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) simply because of the resources they disburse to the economy. The fight for democracy and against corruption in this Government must be holistic and not selective. Let us collectively defend the Constitution by putting Ghana First!

Martin A. B. K. Amidu

10th June 2021
Berlin Reporter City Council discusses spending request

by Tara Giles

Sports reporter - Coos County Democrat and Berlin Reporter Sports reporter - Coos County Democrat and Berlin Reporter write the author BERLIN  During a recent Berlin City Council session, Community Development Director Pam Laflamme presented a project list along with the estimates to the Mayor and Council.



Laflamme said, "The Senate will be restoring the authority to approve Congressionally-directed spending items. I'm looking for direction on which projects you would like me to pursue which is due. We've received more information on the process, and it was confirmed we wouldn't receive a response before November."



She went on to say, "All requests will be going through Senator Shaheen's office. I was informed by both Senator Shaheen and Congresswoman Kuster's offices that there is no guarantee the requests will be approved. I suggest pursuing the Route 110 Infrastructure upgrades."



Councilor Mark Eastman relayed that he agreed with Laflamme's suggestion to pursue the Route 110 Infrastructure upgrades.



Mayor Paul Grenier said, "Coos County will be receiving $3,065,000 per year for two years that will get split between the three districts. The County has allocated those funds to COVID related issues but also to Water and Sewer. There is still a lot to look into, but I'm hoping Berlin gets an amount that could be allocated to one of the projects from the list."



Councilor Peter Higbee suggested the Fire Department Equipment Floor Repairs be prioritized as a project as he would hate to see a fire truck go through the floor.



City Manager James Wheeler said, "We do have funds leftover from the construction loan that is allocated to the Fire Department Floor Repairs."



Grenier said, "The Mason Street Bridge project is on top of the list."



Laflamme said that she will look into different options and will discuss with the powers that be if it's an option to put in a request for the bridge. If not, she noted that she will pursue the Route 110 project.



In other news, the Council received a letter from Aaron and Pamela Throneberry for a New Hampshire liquor license. The letter said that they are requesting support from Council to approve opening a coffee Bistro located at 151 Main St., Berlin. They also noted that they will serve as an upscale cocktail lounge from the hours of 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. They would like the Council to send a letter of support to the NH Liquor Commissioner. All Councilors voted in favor to do so. BERLIN  During a recent Berlin City Council session, Community Development Director Pam Laflamme presented a project list along with the estimates to the Mayor and Council.Laflamme said, "The Senate will be restoring the authority to approve Congressionally-directed spending items. I'm looking for direction on which projects you would like me to pursue which is due. We've received more information on the process, and it was confirmed we wouldn't receive a response before November."She went on to say, "All requests will be going through Senator Shaheen's office. I was informed by both Senator Shaheen and Congresswoman Kuster's offices that there is no guarantee the requests will be approved. I suggest pursuing the Route 110 Infrastructure upgrades."Councilor Mark Eastman relayed that he agreed with Laflamme's suggestion to pursue the Route 110 Infrastructure upgrades.Mayor Paul Grenier said, "Coos County will be receiving $3,065,000 per year for two years that will get split between the three districts. The County has allocated those funds to COVID related issues but also to Water and Sewer. There is still a lot to look into, but I'm hoping Berlin gets an amount that could be allocated to one of the projects from the list."Councilor Peter Higbee suggested the Fire Department Equipment Floor Repairs be prioritized as a project as he would hate to see a fire truck go through the floor.City Manager James Wheeler said, "We do have funds leftover from the construction loan that is allocated to the Fire Department Floor Repairs."Grenier said, "The Mason Street Bridge project is on top of the list."Laflamme said that she will look into different options and will discuss with the powers that be if it's an option to put in a request for the bridge. If not, she noted that she will pursue the Route 110 project.In other news, the Council received a letter from Aaron and Pamela Throneberry for a New Hampshire liquor license. The letter said that they are requesting support from Council to approve opening a coffee Bistro located at 151 Main St., Berlin. They also noted that they will serve as an upscale cocktail lounge from the hours of 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. They would like the Council to send a letter of support to the NH Liquor Commissioner. All Councilors voted in favor to do so.

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2021-May-20 More... Thanks for visiting SalmonPress.com
William Ocloo, a 54-year-old farmer, has been remanded into police custody by a Ho Circuit Court for allegedly setting ablaze a business centre belonging to one Mr Daniel Esigie.

Ocloo was charged for causing unlawful damage and pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Court presided over by Mr Felix Datsomor remanded him into police custody to reappear on June 23, 2021.

Prosecuting, Police Inspector Agnes Ahiable, told the Court, the complainant rented a parcel of land from the accused along CK Road, a suburb of Ho, where he established a graphic design business in a metal container shop.

Inspector Ahiable said in 2019, a misunderstanding ensued between the accused and the complainant over the rent of Gh80.

The accused disconnected the complainant's electricity line and threatened to burn the container.

The prosecution said on August 23, 2019, at about 2030 hours, the complainant had a call that his container was torched.

She said the complainant rushed to the scene and with the help of the Ghana National Fire Service brought the fire under control.

However, items including Advance Canon copier 5045i colour machine, Canon MF8280 colour machine, three A4 Epson 3 in 1 machine, Laserjet printer 1320, HP Photo smart, one generator, Samsung digital camera, laminator,

One CPU, amplifier speaker, one Vodafone wi-fi, seven HP computers, five plastic chairs, one bicycle, three office tables, two plastic tables, one ceiling fan, all valued at GH51,460.00 were destroyed by the fire, she said.

Inspector Ahiable said the complainant reported the incident to the Ho Central Police and told them that on the day of the incident at about 1730 hours, he saw the accused with a used car tyre, and suspected him to be the culprit.

The prosecution said the accused person was arrested and in his investigation caution statement, he denied knowledge of the offence but admitted the misunderstanding between him and the complainant.

She told the court witnesses around the scene, in a statement obtained from them, that they saw the accused holding a used car tyre two hours before the incident.

The prosecution disclosed to the Court that a fire report received from the Ghana National Fire Service on March 3, 2021, revealed that there was a burnt tyre on the ground scene.

The case docket was sent to the office of the Attorney General's Department (AGs) for advice and based on the advice, the accused was charged, she said.

---GNA
Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah says the Judiciary will contribute its quota in helping government win the ongoing fight against illegal mining, also known as galamsey.

He says the third arm of government is aware of the continuous devastation of natural resources through illegal mining and will ensure laws governing Ghanas mining sector are enforced at all times.

The Chief Justice was speaking in Kumasi, at a training workshop for 32 judges and magistrates on the Offences and Penalties regime under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006(Act 703).

We are a nation of laws. That is something that I believe in, and we are all proud of it. This means that when abhorrent conduct such as this arises, it is the law that we turn to. When new laws are needed, we readily pass them to meet the challenges of the times. When old laws need updating to fit the moment, we must [update them], and where there are already laws in place, we must enforce them to the letter.

This is why this partnership with the Minerals Commission is very important. It is gratifying that they have chosen to partner with us to ensure that those engaging in this assault on state resources receive the punishment or correction they deserve according to the law. We will do all within our power to help the nation win this fight, he stressed.

At the same event, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor mentioned that only strict enforcement of the countys mining laws will help sanitise the sector.

The efforts of government and other actors will not amount to much unless the Judiciary  the vanguard of the rule of law in the country  is equipped with the necessary tools and skills to enforce without fear or favour, the mining laws of our country. The strict enforcement of the mining laws of our country, particularly without regard to status in society, is for the success of our national effort to sanitise this industry.

It is my fervent belief that with the support and vigilance of all players, we will be able to preserve our nations land, forest and wildlife and improve on the engagement of our natural resources for the benefit of the generations unborn, the Minister said.

---citinewsroom
Member of Parliament for the Tamale North Constituency, Alhassan Suhuyini, has announced his decision to kick against the approval of Gifty Twum-Ampofo as a Deputy Minister for Education.

He said his decision is based on the fact that the nominee did not give a satisfactory response on her alleged bribery of New Patriotic Party delegates ahead of the partys 2020 parliamentary primary in the Abuakwa North Constituency.

Gifty Twum-Ampofo, the Member of Parliament for the Abuakwa North, has been accused of bribing NPP delegates with GHS1,500 and a flat-screen television each.

Mr. Suhuyini said Gifty Twum-Ampofos response, when she appeared before the Appointments Committee on Thursday, June 10, 2021, suggests that her conscience is dead to the threat of bribery and corruption to Ghanas democracy.

I'm therefore disappointed in the nominees lack of candour and what seems to be a conscience that is dead to the threat of bribery and corruption to our democracy, he said in a public post.

Alhassan Suhuyini, one of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) members on the Appointments Committee, said he has communicated his decision to the Chairman of the committee, Joseph Osei Owusu. Read his post below:

I have just respectfully communicated my decision to vote against the nomination of Hon. Gifty Twum-Ampofo Deputy Minister Designate for Education, to the chairman of the Appointments Committee.

My decision is borne out of my dissatisfaction with the nominees handling of questions regarding a CDD's Corruption Watch assessment of the last NPP parliamentary primaries.

In that report, the nominee is said to have admitted to offering/bribing NPP delegates in the Abuakwa North constituency with GHS1,500 and a flat-screen TV each.

She repeated during her vetting that her conduct, which she downplayed, was not meant to induce and indeed did not induce the delegates.

When her attention was drawn to the fact that in 2016, when she was less than a year old as an MP from the classroom and perhaps not as resourceful, that she alleged and criticized her competitor, the then NDC candidate for the Abuakwa North Ambassador Victor Smith of attempting to buy votes in her constituency by giving two NPP executives GHS1000 each to join his campaign, she categorically denied that under oath.

I'm therefore disappointed in the nominees lack of candour and what seems to be a conscience that is dead to the threat of bribery and corruption to our democracy.

---citinewsroom
The Ashanti Regional Police Command says it is investigating the circumstances that led to the abuse of the COVID-19 safety protocols during the recent final funeral rites of Mr Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as 'Sir John'.

The funeral, held from June 3 to 5 at Sakora-Wonoo in the Kwabre-East District of the Ashanti Region, saw a mass gathering of mourners.

However, the majority of the thousands of mourners defied the laid-down safety protocols such as the wearing of nose masks and social distancing.

Since then, many concerned citizens, opinion leaders and professional bodies, including the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), have expressed displeasure about the breach of the safety protocols.

The GMA said the incident called for investigations since the teeming mourners at the community was a recipe for the spread of the virus.

The unfortunate development, according to the Association, violated the Imposition of Restrictions Act, introduced as an emergency measure to contain the spread of the COVID-19.

A source at the Regional Police Command, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, confirmed that some family members of the late Sir John were officially invited on Thursday, June 10, to assist with investigations.

Mr Charles Owusu, a representative of the bereaved family, in an interview, confirmed the invitation by the police and said they were ready to cooperate with the law enforcers in their enquiries.

Dignitaries at the funeral included a government delegation and representatives of the various political parties.

Mr Owusu Afriyie, a legal practitioner, until his death, was the Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission.

Born in 1952, 'Sir John', a former General-Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, died at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on July 1, 2020.

---GNA
Residents of Nsawam and its surrounding communities have appealed to the Police to arrest Okada riders in the area without licence to end the killing of innocent people.

Mr Kwasi Korankye Atee, the Unit Committee Chairman of Marfokrom and Assemblyman for Aworoeso Electoral Area in the Eastern Region made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after a Parent/Teacher Association meeting at Marfokrom.

He said boys at the Junior High School (JHS) in the area had taken to riding of Okada because of its commercial gains to the neglect of their education adding: This will not augur well for their future and the nation as a whole.

Mr Atee said just last Sunday a JHS student and a passenger died instantly at Akpeteshie Nkwanta, near Akwamu, a suburb of Nsawam when the motorbike they were riding collided with a taxicab.

He said the situation was becoming rampant and mentioned some of the communities where the problem was pervasive as Marfokrom, Akotuakrom, Krabokese, Amaadikrom, Otoase, Odentekrom, Otoase Amanfro, Ayibontey, Teacher Mante, and Adeiso all in the Eastern Region.

---GNA
Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday welcomed the announcement from the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin to take a day off, and go into their constituencies to take part in a national tree planting exercise dubbed: Green Ghana.

Green Ghana is an initiative to plant five million trees in a single day across the country. The tree planting exercise is slated for Friday, June 11, 2021.

Speaker Bagbin said: I want to take this opportunity to entreat Members of Parliament to participate in the tree-planting exercise across the country. All parliamentarians are encouraged to plant trees in their constituencies.

To allow Members enough time to be able to travel to their constituencies, the House, which was sitting beyond 1400 hours in recent days, closed earlier.

The Speaker said: As a result of that today (Thursday) will be a very short day. Parliament will adjourn by two, to allow Members to travel to their constituencies to lead the tree-planting exercise.

The Speaker directed the Clerk to Parliament to prepare a budget to cover the cost of the MPs' travel to, and from their constituencies, to participate in the national exercise.

Ahead of the exercise, workers working on the lush and green on the precincts of the House were busily seen raking dry weeds on lawns and other green areas of the House.

Speaker Bagbin announced that as his constituency was the whole of Ghana, he would lead the exercise to plant trees on the precincts of Parliament House.

Since my constituency is the whole of Ghana, I'll lead the exercise to green the enclave of Parliament,

he said.

I want to, on behalf of Parliament, and on my own behalf, pledge our collective support for the Green Ghana Day. I personally will lead the team in Parliament in the precincts of Parliament, he said.

The Speaker recalled the Biblical account of the beginning of creation of the Book of Genesis, where green vegetation was a beauty to behold, but had rather been plundered by the action and inaction of man.

Speaker Bagbin said it was necessary to recapture the lost greenery for the present and future generations and exclaimed: Greening Ghana, let's go!

---GNA
The La Magistrate's Court has convicted four landlords to a fine over their refusal to construct household toilets for their tenants.

The four; Mary Tagoe, Doris Lamptey, Nii Asowah and Borteley Lantei, were convicted on their own plea by the court, presided over by Mrs Juliet Osei Doudu.

This was after they had been summoned by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA). They were fined between GH480.00 to GH600.00 each.

Mr Gilbert Nii Ankrah, the Head of Public Affairs, AMA, told the Ghana News Agency that the court also fined two other persons; Ishmael Lamptey and Laryea Quarshie GH480.00 each for the rearing of animals at an unapproved place, which caused a nuisance.

Another offender, Charlotte Aakor, was fined GH240.00 by the court for accumulating refuse on her premises and keeping an untidy bathhouse.

Mr Ankrah said in all 16 persons were summoned to the court but seven appeared and a bench warrant had been issued for the remaining nine for prosecution.

He said the AMA had intensified enforcement of its sanitation bye-laws to improve sanitation in the city.

Under the bye-laws landlords were mandated to provide a sanitary place of convenience for their households but most had refused to comply, hence the summons and prosecution.

Mr Ankrah urged all residents to play their active roles in ensuring a clean Accra where all could live healthily, saying; Let's play our parts to complement efforts by city authorities to avoid embarrassment.

---GNA
The Minority in Parliament want immediate termination of the contract agreement between government and Frontiers Healthcare Services for COVID 19 testing at Kotoka International Airport.

It follows a revelation by Transport Minister, Kweku Ofori Asiamah that per each US$150 testing done at the Airport, government of Ghana only takes US$10 as against US$140 for the company.

The Minister disclosed this when he appeared before the house to answer a question in the name of Minority Leader, Haruna Idrissu but asked on his behalf by Deputy Minority Leader, James Avedzi Klutse.

According to Mr Asiamah, between September and December last year, total amount made from testing at the airport sums up to over US$17 million. Out of this, US$16 million went to Frontiers Healthcare Services while Ghana had a little over US$1 million.

The Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson Dafeamekpor told Class News Parliamentary Affairs reporter, Charles Akrofi that the ministers explanation was convincing to the extent that, that is the fact. We have always known. You know, it is taking about a year for the features of this transactions to be known to the public.

In his view, it was not a reasonable contract for government to enter into with a company to offer such facility or services which we think Noguchi could have offered and these proceeds could have gone to improve Noguchi or we could have even built another Noguchi in another location in this country. We're paying to a private man, as much as US$140 for every US$150 fee charged. That is the tragedy of the situation.

Describing the transaction as a completely needless agreement, he noted that I think that the government is taking the country for grantedYou cannot offer such an agreement for services to a company for which it is generating proceeds and then the percentage of proceeds that is coming to us is about 15 percent. It is most unacceptable.

Mr Dafeamekpor further stated that in the coming days some members of the health committee will bring the issue up in Parliament for thorough deliberations.

He called for the termination of the agreement because, given the terms, it doesn't make economic sense to maintain this agreement.

---classfm
On 7th June, finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman announced the launch of a new portal www.incometax.gov.in with a flourish, calling it an important milestone to make the compliance experience more taxpayer-friendly. A few hours later, her timeline was inundated with complaints. The website was slow; log-in time too long; did not show previous returns; had wrong information about gender, date of birth, bank accounts, etc. This forced her to direct Infosys, which created the portal, to fix the issue. I see in my TL grievances and glitches. Hope @Infosys & @NandanNilekani will not let down our taxpayers in the quality of service being provided, she tweeted, asking the company to prioritise ease of compliance.

Well, this is nothing new. The GSTN (goods and services tax network) filing portal as well as MCA21 (for company law compliances) unleashed untold pain on businesses. Both are the work of Infosys and werent fixed for years. Then there is FASTag. Even before it was made mandatory, a press release by Paytm Payments Bank Ltd spoke about rectifying 260,000 cases of wrong deduction in 2020. Multiply that with all banks offering FASTag and imagine the number of complaints after it was made mandatory!

A couple of weeks ago, I was double-docked on my very first drive using FASTag. It took over 90 hours for redress, including time taken to lodge the complaint after finding out how to, with help from social media. It surely takes the shine out of propaganda advertisements showing people breeze through toll plazas. In fact, independent transporters and taxis simply refuse to use FASTag because of such glitches and cash payments are still permitted.

Finally, there is the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) portal. Anyone who has to make a change to their Aadhaar data knows exactly how difficult it is to get things done in a reasonable time.

Grievance redress in India is abysmal everywhere. But it is especially nightmarish for digital transactions. The government and a powerful lobby of fintech companies are working overtime to push us to digital transactions ignoring connectivity issues, data theft and the rising incidence of fraud. People who are not tech-savvy are either blissfully unaware of the risks involved or are paranoid about the safety of their money. The fears are legitimate, mainly because redress is mostly non-existent or time-consuming and expensive. But the fintech industry dismisses complaints as inconsequential statistics or emanating from luddites and tech-haters.

When complaints rise, the government gives us yet another regulator; but, as Cashless Consumer discovered, CCPA is another such toothless entity which has yet to get a website or independent office. RBI, meanwhile, is more protective of banks and fintech companies than consumers.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) was set up in July 2020 with wide-ranging regulatory, investigative and adjudicatory powers, under the new Consumer Protection Act. In January 2021, CCPA wrote to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the insurance regulator after the national consumer helpline recorded 6,018 grievances against insurance companies and 2,850 complaints relating to long delays in crediting money deducted in case of failed or cancelled transactions during these nine months in the April-December 2020 period.

Cashless Consumer , which works at fairness in digital transactions, filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to find out what happened to the letter. The answer: RBI has not even bothered to respond to CCPA, a regulatory body. Instead, the banking regulator is busy accommodating the banking industry.

In September 2019, RBI issued elaborate timelines for crediting the money back to the consumer in failed transactions (due to failed communication links, non-availability of cash in the ATM, time-out of sessions due to incomplete information or technology issues) and prescribed compensation for delays.

These were to be effective October 2019 but have been repeatedly postponed, citing the pandemic as an excuse. Ironically, when the lock-down is pushing people into digital transactions and, probably, more complaints, RBIs latest directive on 21st May has extended the compliance deadline to 30 September 2021. So, laudable directions, such as asking banks to credit financial compensation to customers account suo moto, without waiting for a complaint or claim from the customer, have remained on paper.

When the regulator actively supports delays in refunding money debited for failed transactions, one can only imagine how much worse it is for victims of rising financial fraud where fraudsters with access to tech tools and data easily dip into your bank account, misuse your credit card, steal government benefits or appropriate property.

When complaints rise, the government gives us yet another regulator; but, as Cashless Consumer discovered, CCPA is another such toothless entity which has yet to get a website or independent office. RBI, meanwhile, is more protective of banks and fintech companies than consumers.

Unfortunately, there is no organised method of collating data related to tech-based financial fraud by misusing identification documents. But anecdotal data gathered from media reports collated under the twitter hashtags #DestroyTheAdhaar and #AEPS in just six recent months is frightening enough.

Consider these examples from just the past few months where I have provided links to the detailed reports.

10 December 2020: The Times of India reported that Easy Pay, an Ahmedabad based e-wallet company, filed a complaint about some of its agents duping 91 customers of Rs18.94 lakh. The fraudster obtained Aadhaar card data and fingerprints by offering free LED bulbs in exchange, taking advantage of the needy and the gullible. He sold the data to cyber criminals in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana at Rs150-Rs300 per lead.

Fintech geeks may sneer at the lack of savvy or greed of people who fell for the scam, but most of them have no idea of the extent of poverty, illiteracy and ignorance among people whose savings are at risk in their zeal to dematerialise cash. Indeed, dematerialise cash is the term used in a lobbying document of iSpirit.com titled Jandhan 2.0. It also spoke of using credit as a hook. Well, in this case, a fraudster used free LED bulbs as the hook to plunder savings.

16 December 2020: The Times of India reported how a man in Jind was cheated of Rs22,500 by using fingerprint verification through a cloned copy of his fingerprints.

22 December 2020: Mathrubhumi reported how PK Sreenivasan, the son-in-law of writer Sara Joseph, lost over Rs20 lakh from his bank account using the duplicate SIM card trick. This is now a routine fraud, where fraudsters, having already obtained bank details and credentials of a victim (usually through phishing), apply for a duplicate SIM card preventing the victim from receiving bank alerts while their money is siphoned off. While the fraud is widespread, there is little redress and no solutions from the authorities other than lamenting about phone companies issuing duplicate SIM cards without adequate checks.

26 December 2020: The Tribune wrote about a criminal gang that raised two-wheeler loans using Aadhaar cards of migrant workers with fake addresses. The workers were made to hand over their Aadhaar cards which were then used to create fake documentation. The workers would have been hounded by recovery agents and lose State benefits and subsidies credited to their accounts.

22 January 2021: Telangana Today arrested a gang that used Aadhaar and other identification documents to create fake property cards to transfer vacant land at Hayathnagar.

22 January, 2021: The Times of India reported that the Cyberabad police had busted a gang that used the SIM-swapping trick to transfer out several lakh rupees using IMPS transactions from a victims account. A Nigerian national was reportedly the mastermind of this fraud.

1 February 2021: The Hindu reported a GST refund scam where a group of fraudsters got GST numbers issued in the name of bogus companies to issue fake documents to 340 firms. They used 25 bank accounts for claiming GST refunds.

10 February 2021: IANS reported a Rs523-crore property fraud in Gurugram by three persons using fake identification documents, Aadhaar cards and impersonators who were paid a fee to pose as the real owners.

12 February 2021: IndiaTV reported how a 19-year old in Hathras forged documents to open 10 fake accounts in various banks, including Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and IndusInd Bank, to apply for loans and dupe them.

20 February 2021: OdishaTV reported how a 35-year old man at Balasore, operating an Aadhaar card correction and kiosk banking centre, stored biometric data of customers to defraud them. The police seized over 100 SIM cards and Aadhaar cards from him.

Tech giants pushing for dematerialised cash refuse to address this issue which makes even bank accounts unsafe for the poorest Indians. The standard callous response one sees on social media is that people used to be defrauded by fake IDs other methods even in the past. There is no acknowledgement that their dematerialised world forces people into a system they can neither understand nor afford.

23 February 2021: The Times of India reported how a man from Bareilly learnt to clone fingerprints on the Net and used it to hack 500 bank accounts of the beneficiaries of government schemes such as PM Kisan Samman Yojana, old age pension. This was in nexus with bank mitra, that our fintech giants believe, are adequate to service the needs of the poor who have been forced to open Jandhan accounts without access to actual bank branches.

16 March 2021: The Hindustan Times reported how the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) caught a scam where Aadhaar numbers of students were manipulated to make fraudulent payments to the tune of crores of rupees between 2014-19. It said, the technical education department didnt pay Rs18 crore scholarship to 7,757 students, though the amount was sanctioned and drawn from the treasury. The case is a great example of how technology, far from reaching benefits in a targeted manner, can deprive needy and legitimate beneficiaries at the bottom of the pyramid their dues.

6 May 2021: The New Indian Express reported how three persons at Bhawanipatna had siphoned off wages of 70 road construction workers worth Rs3 lakh under the MGNREGA scheme in collusion banking correspondents and anganwadi workers by getting hold of Aadhaar cards and photographs of the workers on the pretext of submitting documents for the integrated child development services (ICDS) work. The fraudsters opened accounts in the names of the workers to claim benefits and withdraw funds.

20 May 2021: The Times of India reports a Lucknow case where scamsters withdrew Rs30,000 from the bank account of a man using Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) by downloading the victims Aadhaar card and accessing his digital fingerprints. They allegedly used thermal scanner, butter paper, mirror, thinner gel, glue and image booster chemicals to create thumb impressions on rubber.

They bribed revenue department officials to get access to the stored fingerprints. 7 June 2021: The Hindustan Times reports how 45 residents of Palwal were defrauded of Rs1crore by using their Aadhaar numbers and cloning their fingerprints from official records to withdraw money from their bank accounts.

You will notice these reports are only about cases leading to police action and arrests. They are cold comfort for victims, if they don't get their money back quickly. In most cases, red tape and procedures keeps the money locked for years. Getting the police to act is itself a Herculean task for most people.

These cases expose the yawning gap between fintech geeks, who lobby policy-makers, and the travails of actual victims of fraud. When it comes to poor grievance redress or compensation, the urban educated are in the same boat as the rural poor. A government that is relentlessly pushing for digital transactions must realise that safety of money and prompt grievance redress if something goes wrong, is key to building confidence among people about Digital India.
France has launched a judicial investigation into German car giant Volkswagen for allegations of fraud relating to the emissions by its diesel cars, the latest legal action to be taken in the global Dieselgate scandal.

The proceedings were initiated on May 6, judicial sources said on Wednesday.

Late on Tuesday, it was announced that France's judiciary was investigating Renault on similar charges, dpa reported.

French authorities accuse Volkswagen of fraud concerning essential characteristics of a product, leading to a health risk for humans and animals.

Among other things, the company has been ordered to post a bail of 10 million euros (12.2 million dollars). In addition, a bank guarantee of 60 million euros is due.

The VW group denied the accusations, saying "VW AG is of the opinion that French consumers have not suffered any damage entitled to compensation in connection with the purchase of a VW vehicle."

It said the group was now considering all available courses of action to challenge the decision.

The Dieselgate scandal was triggered by revelations in 2015 that Europe's largest car manufacturer had falsified emissions levels from millions of its diesel vehicles.

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.
Coos County Democrat North Country educators honored by School Administrators Association

CONCORD  The New Hampshire School Administrators Association held the annual Champions for Children celebration on Friday, May 28 in Concord. The event was not held last year, due to COVID-19, so the winners for each region of the state were honored for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.



Each year, the Association honors individuals from each region of the state and selects a statewide individual to receive this award. The award program was established as a meaningful way to recognize New Hampshire citizens who have given distinguished and voluntary public service to benefit children. Winners must embody, through action, the guiding principles to champion efforts designed to successfully provide for the needs of all children. Their recognition reflects unique and special service above and beyond their normal duties.



SAU #58 selected Shirley Nickels to represent them for the 2019-2020 for her dedication to the Griffin Donald Kenison Foundation in memory of her grandson. Ms. Nickels was then selected as the North Country recipient as well.



In 2020-2021, Mrs. Louise Collins received the SAU #58 award, the North Country award, and was chosen from a highly deserving group of individuals across the state to be the 2020-2021 NHSAA Champion for Children. Dr. Cadarette shared, "As the face of the community, Louise is just as committed to the academic success of our students. From the onset of COVID, she has advocated strongly for students to be "in school." This was not a demand, but a promise to do whatever was in her power to support us to get schools open safely. This summer, she was in the facilities weekly coordinating with our maintenance staff and administration to determine how to make social distancing happen safely with her expertise in the construction industry. As a business owner and volunteer, she personally helped to explore spaces, measure areas, purchase sample products, and construct tools to provide "6 feet." She helped to design our plexiglass dividers and enabled ways to experiment with the best products for our needs. She donated hours of her own time and celebrated when our final products were being constructed in classrooms, and helped me to invite hesitant teachers and parents into our spaces for private tours to help alleviate their anxieties. She did not benefit from this financially, but donated and provided at cost when she could have sold at a profit to other entities.



Mrs. Collins proudly serves on our local School Board and SAU 58 Joint Board. Her smile and laughter help guide us on the journey of always advocating to promote the prudent stewardship of public resources in budget development and programming for the students of our rural community. The decisions are not easy and not always popular, but Louise serves as a voice of reason and calm. She is a light in our lovely community and a champion for everything "children." "



These distinguished individuals represent all that makes SAU #58 and the North Country beam with pride. CONCORD  The New Hampshire School Administrators Association held the annual Champions for Children celebration on Friday, May 28 in Concord. The event was not held last year, due to COVID-19, so the winners for each region of the state were honored for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.Each year, the Association honors individuals from each region of the state and selects a statewide individual to receive this award. The award program was established as a meaningful way to recognize New Hampshire citizens who have given distinguished and voluntary public service to benefit children. Winners must embody, through action, the guiding principles to champion efforts designed to successfully provide for the needs of all children. Their recognition reflects unique and special service above and beyond their normal duties.SAU #58 selected Shirley Nickels to represent them for the 2019-2020 for her dedication to the Griffin Donald Kenison Foundation in memory of her grandson. Ms. Nickels was then selected as the North Country recipient as well.In 2020-2021, Mrs. Louise Collins received the SAU #58 award, the North Country award, and was chosen from a highly deserving group of individuals across the state to be the 2020-2021 NHSAA Champion for Children. Dr. Cadarette shared, "As the face of the community, Louise is just as committed to the academic success of our students. From the onset of COVID, she has advocated strongly for students to be "in school." This was not a demand, but a promise to do whatever was in her power to support us to get schools open safely. This summer, she was in the facilities weekly coordinating with our maintenance staff and administration to determine how to make social distancing happen safely with her expertise in the construction industry. As a business owner and volunteer, she personally helped to explore spaces, measure areas, purchase sample products, and construct tools to provide "6 feet." She helped to design our plexiglass dividers and enabled ways to experiment with the best products for our needs. She donated hours of her own time and celebrated when our final products were being constructed in classrooms, and helped me to invite hesitant teachers and parents into our spaces for private tours to help alleviate their anxieties. She did not benefit from this financially, but donated and provided at cost when she could have sold at a profit to other entities.Mrs. Collins proudly serves on our local School Board and SAU 58 Joint Board. Her smile and laughter help guide us on the journey of always advocating to promote the prudent stewardship of public resources in budget development and programming for the students of our rural community. The decisions are not easy and not always popular, but Louise serves as a voice of reason and calm. She is a light in our lovely community and a champion for everything "children." "These distinguished individuals represent all that makes SAU #58 and the North Country beam with pride.

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In a strange turn of events, the State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday chose to withdraw the fraud tag against RComs tower and fibre company Reliance Infratel Ltd by filing an affidavit in NCLT Mumbai, stating that it wanted to remove the fraud tag on the company.

Reliance Projects and Property Management Services, a part of Reliance Industries Group, was the successful resolution partner in the CIRP (Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process) of Rel Infratel Ltd. It won the right to acquire 100 per cent shareholding of Rel Infratel Ltd.

In its resolution order dated December 3, 2020, the NCLT had awarded the company to RIL Group. However, SBI had classified the Rel Infratel Ltd account as fraud on November 10, 2020, but curiously withheld this vital piece of information before the NCLT when it gave its order.

Further, the material event of information being withheld from the NCLT process was a grave error and the same SBI fraud classification wasn't uploaded on the CRILIC website for 45 days till December21, 2020.

SBI thus violated the disclosure norms by updating CRILIC much later. On January 5, 2021, SBI chose to file a complaint with CBI Delhi against Rel Infratel Ltd's erstwhile directors.

Rel Infratel Ltd then moved the Delhi High Court on January 6, 2021 and got a stay against SBI actions. The court also ordered a status quo to be maintained on the CBI complaint.

Subsequently, SBI has chosen to withdraw the fraud tag against Rel Infratel Ltd by filing an affidavit to declassify it before NCLT Mumbai on June 10.

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.
Granite State News Building permit fee increases tabled for further study

by Elissa Paquette WOLFEBORO  The Board of Selectmen tabled discussion of increases to building permit fees during the June 2 meeting.



"We're going to get there. We're all on same page," said Selectman Luke Freudenberg, but "we need to look at the numbers for the next six months."



There are two proposals to consider, one from Planning Director Tavis Austin and Codes Officer Steven Paquin, the other from Selectman Brian Deshaies. Town Manager Jim Pineo said a revisit of the numbers in January 2022 would allow "more time to digest and thoroughly understand" the impact of each of the two formulas.



Austin said state statute allows towns to recoup the costs of the department's services. Selectman Dave Senecal, the Codes Officer for Freedom, said most towns do not cover the expenses of full-time staff with benefits.



Selectman Brad Harriman said it was important for residents to know that any increases in fees would not be a way to increase the budget, but rather help cover costs with increased revenue.



"Ultimately, we want to be a vibrant community," said Freudenberg, "not to cover the full budget."



Deshaies' variable formula, based on a curve, reduces the costs proportionately for those building smaller homes. He said his formula "makes it so more complex inspections are commensurate with the amount of work."



Austin, on the other hand, stated, "We don't want to fund services on the backs of those with the larger homes...every home requires ten inspections. The simple goal is for the BOS to raise fees to cover services provided."



"I'm not against raising fees," said Chairman Linda Murray, but it's a matter of "how we do it... The increases you've provided put a greater burden on smaller houses."



Murray shared an email sent to the board that differed dramatically from the current proposals.



The citizen suggested reducing the fees to zero. The town would bear the cost and use taxes to pay for the service, a means, the letter writer suggested, to ensure greater efficiency.



Speaking during the public comment period, builder John Rourke offered the suggestion that the permit process would be "a whole lot easier online," a process that he has experienced in other towns.



He said, "It takes a long time to get a permit in Wolfeboro."



The board will return to the permitting issues at the start of 2022. Meanwhile, town staff will be collecting data on the effects of the two proposals. WOLFEBORO  The Board of Selectmen tabled discussion of increases to building permit fees during the June 2 meeting."We're going to get there. We're all on same page," said Selectman Luke Freudenberg, but "we need to look at the numbers for the next six months."There are two proposals to consider, one from Planning Director Tavis Austin and Codes Officer Steven Paquin, the other from Selectman Brian Deshaies. Town Manager Jim Pineo said a revisit of the numbers in January 2022 would allow "more time to digest and thoroughly understand" the impact of each of the two formulas.Austin said state statute allows towns to recoup the costs of the department's services. Selectman Dave Senecal, the Codes Officer for Freedom, said most towns do not cover the expenses of full-time staff with benefits.Selectman Brad Harriman said it was important for residents to know that any increases in fees would not be a way to increase the budget, but rather help cover costs with increased revenue."Ultimately, we want to be a vibrant community," said Freudenberg, "not to cover the full budget."Deshaies' variable formula, based on a curve, reduces the costs proportionately for those building smaller homes. He said his formula "makes it so more complex inspections are commensurate with the amount of work."Austin, on the other hand, stated, "We don't want to fund services on the backs of those with the larger homes...every home requires ten inspections. The simple goal is for the BOS to raise fees to cover services provided.""I'm not against raising fees," said Chairman Linda Murray, but it's a matter of "how we do it... The increases you've provided put a greater burden on smaller houses."Murray shared an email sent to the board that differed dramatically from the current proposals.The citizen suggested reducing the fees to zero. The town would bear the cost and use taxes to pay for the service, a means, the letter writer suggested, to ensure greater efficiency.Speaking during the public comment period, builder John Rourke offered the suggestion that the permit process would be "a whole lot easier online," a process that he has experienced in other towns.He said, "It takes a long time to get a permit in Wolfeboro."The board will return to the permitting issues at the start of 2022. Meanwhile, town staff will be collecting data on the effects of the two proposals.

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June 10, 2021

Biden Seeks Allies For War On China

U.S. President Joe Biden is currently in Europe.

President Biden @POTUS - 14:26 UTC  Jun 10, 2021 I believe we are at an inflection point in history. A moment where it falls to us to prove that democracies will not just endure  they will excel as we rise to seize the enormous opportunities of this new age.

Democracies excel against whom?

According to the Democracy Perception Index 2020 73% of the people in China say that their country is democratic. Only 48% in the United States see their country as such.

China is indeed rising to the "enormous opportunities of this new age". The U.S., well, not so much. And that is the crux of the whole situation.

Biden's tweet is gibberish. A good translation of what he really meant is probably this:

chinahand @chinahand - 14:55 UTC  Jun 10, 2021 It's how the more homely and honest "we have to f*ck up china before it eats America's lunch" gets translated into faux Churchill hero speak. Suspect Jake Sullivan lobbied for the existential crisis for democracy angle coz why wud Europe line up to just to save America's ass?

Biden is in Europe to ask its leaders to support the U.S. in its efforts against China (and Russia). But that is not in Europe's interest:

The President and his advisors would do well to remember that while former Belgian foreign minister Mark Eyskens famously said that Europe is a political dwarf, he also called it an economic giant. As several U.S. presidents have discovered, the subservience of European countries to the United States stops as soon as European wallets are involved. This was demonstrated most recently in Germanys adamant refusal to bow to U.S.pressure to abandon the North Stream gas pipeline from Russia. A degree of common Western economic pushback against China is legitimate and necessary in two areas: Chinese behavior that clearly breaks universally accepted rules, as in the area of intellectual property theft; and control of vital national infrastructure. After all, the Chinese defend their own technological expertise, and they will never allow foreign control of essential sectors of the Chinese economy. The Biden administration however seems to want to go much further than this, to effectively shut China out from any important say in shaping the rules of the international economy, and greatly restrict Chinese investment and infrastructural development outside China. This strategy is doomed to failure, and will cause deep divisions between the United States, Europe and Japan.

Europe won't line up behind the U.S. for its great war on China. And a war it is gonna be:

I see stiff competition with China, Biden said at the White House. They have an overall goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world. Thats not going to happen on my watch, because United States is going to continue to grow and expand.

China will also continue to grow and expand - only at a faster rate than the U.S.

The U.S. lost the competition when it, in the early 1990s, declared itself to be the sole superpower. It lost when it pushed for globalization and free trade. It lost when it let its finance, insurance and real estate sectors of its economy run amok in 2000, in 2007 (and again now). It lost when I broke its promise not to expand NATO to Russia's border. It lost when it decided to a wage a war of terror in the Middle East.

All the above gave China the 30 years it needed to catch up and to overtake the U.S. It has three times the population. It now has all the necessary infrastructure and industries. It graduates some 4.7 million per year in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) while the U.S. has only 600,000 STEM graduates per year.

The U.S. became the primer power after World War II because the industrial capacities of all other powers had been destroyed by the war. To regain such a position the U.S. would have to engineer a war that would destruct China's industrial capabilities. A civil war within China could achieve that. But the color-revolution the U.S. incited in China in 1989 has failed and any new attempt to incite some strife will now be much more difficult. An external war waged on China is even more difficult because China is a nuclear power which can shot back.

What the U.S. could do is not to attempt to out compete China. I could instead try to make it instrumental for its purposes.

Despite being on the winning side in both World Wars the British empire did not survive the carnage. Its role was taken over by the more powerful United States. But Britain did keep a role on the world stage that was (and is) disproportionate to its size. It managed to do so by making itself useful to the U.S. and by fostering a special relationship with its successor.

Could the U.S. try to get into a similar position in its relation with China? I believe that might be possible to a certain degree. It would be useful for China to grant the U.S. some special privileges if that avoids the costs of outright hostilities. But I also think that the U.S., for cultural reasons, will never try to get into such an agreement. It simply does not want to play number two.

So where do we go from here?

The most likely path is a more aggressive United States which uses its presumed advantages to attack China's capabilities below the level of open warfare.

Cyber warfare is a field in which the U.S. has already invested a lot. If its uses those capabilities, unacknowledged and in a destructive way, China's industries could be seriously harmed. The effects of random electricity failures, burning refineries and unreliable communication networks would accumulate to a slow down of China's growth. Ransomware like attacks on the Chinese banking system could leave its markets in chaos.

I am sure that there are a number of people in the Pentagon who are wargaming such scenarios. If history is any guide they will downplay the reactions and capabilities of their opponent. They might even be able to lure a president into signing off such a mission.

In the big picture though that would not change much. China would hit back against badly defended U.S. cyber targets. The skirmish would continue for several month but would end in a no-winner situation. After that it would be back to a cold war. The strategic situation would still be the same.

The U.S. can not win against China. How long will it take for it to recognize that?

Posted by b on June 10, 2021 at 17:52 UTC | Permalink

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Littleton Courier Bethlehem celebrates Patsie Bonardi

by Angel Larcom

Bethlehem native Patsie Bonardi was delighted by a surprise reverse parade honoring her 90th birthday last week. (Photo by Angel Larcom) (click for larger version) BETHLEHEM  Patsie Bonardi is an icon, often called the Queen of Bethlehem. When she turned 90 last week, the community gathered along Main Street to celebrate her life in a surprise "reverse parade."



Bonardi's nieces organized the event and news spread quickly through town. Residents gathered outside the theater, post office and library, holding signs and cheering as Bonardi rode by in her convertible with a police and firetruck escort.



All of the children at the elementary school made handcrafted signs and lined both sides of Route 302, eagerly awaiting Bonardi's arrival. As she approached, they yelled and jumped with excitement.



"I really was speechless for the first time in my life. I had absolutely no idea that was going on, and it was lovely. It was overwhelming and I found it very humbling. But I loved it," stated the nonagenarian.



Born in Bethlehem in 1931, Bonardi grew up on Congress Street and worked at her parents' store on Main Street, once located between the gas station and the visitor center. She graduated from Bethlehem High School - which is now the elementary school - and became an elementary school teacher.



After a brief teaching stint in Littleton, the Bethlehem native moved to Westport, Conn. She returned to her hometown after retirement in the mid-1990s.



Bonardi was a longtime supporter of the Colonial Theater and served as both a Library Trustee and a Home Health Care Board member for several years. According to her niece Toni Bouchard, Bethlehem was always home for Bonardi.



"She always kept her house on Congress Street through the years because her heart was really in Bethlehem. I think a lot of the legacy that Patsie left, besides the impact of those kinds of positions, was that if she didn't agree with something, she spoke up at town meetings," stated Bouchard.



"Part of the reason why people came out on the street for her birthday was that Patsie would touch their lives in amazing ways. She took the time to talk to them and make them feel seen and heard and cared for - she was kind to everyone," she added.



Bouchard and her three sisters planned a week-long celebration for Bonardi's 90th birthday, featuring a new surprise each day from private dinners to brunches. In addition, several friends sent Bonardi videos and photo messages from afar.



In place of gifts, Bonardi asked that people instead make donations to the Colonial Theater. Bouchard said the non-profit received more than $1,300, thanks to community outreach. BETHLEHEM  Patsie Bonardi is an icon, often called the Queen of Bethlehem. When she turned 90 last week, the community gathered along Main Street to celebrate her life in a surprise "reverse parade."Bonardi's nieces organized the event and news spread quickly through town. Residents gathered outside the theater, post office and library, holding signs and cheering as Bonardi rode by in her convertible with a police and firetruck escort.All of the children at the elementary school made handcrafted signs and lined both sides of Route 302, eagerly awaiting Bonardi's arrival. As she approached, they yelled and jumped with excitement."I really was speechless for the first time in my life. I had absolutely no idea that was going on, and it was lovely. It was overwhelming and I found it very humbling. But I loved it," stated the nonagenarian.Born in Bethlehem in 1931, Bonardi grew up on Congress Street and worked at her parents' store on Main Street, once located between the gas station and the visitor center. She graduated from Bethlehem High School - which is now the elementary school - and became an elementary school teacher.After a brief teaching stint in Littleton, the Bethlehem native moved to Westport, Conn. She returned to her hometown after retirement in the mid-1990s.Bonardi was a longtime supporter of the Colonial Theater and served as both a Library Trustee and a Home Health Care Board member for several years. According to her niece Toni Bouchard, Bethlehem was always home for Bonardi."She always kept her house on Congress Street through the years because her heart was really in Bethlehem. I think a lot of the legacy that Patsie left, besides the impact of those kinds of positions, was that if she didn't agree with something, she spoke up at town meetings," stated Bouchard."Part of the reason why people came out on the street for her birthday was that Patsie would touch their lives in amazing ways. She took the time to talk to them and make them feel seen and heard and cared for - she was kind to everyone," she added.Bouchard and her three sisters planned a week-long celebration for Bonardi's 90th birthday, featuring a new surprise each day from private dinners to brunches. In addition, several friends sent Bonardi videos and photo messages from afar.In place of gifts, Bonardi asked that people instead make donations to the Colonial Theater. Bouchard said the non-profit received more than $1,300, thanks to community outreach.

Littleton Courier Resilience celebrated at LHS graduation Thanks for visiting SalmonPress.com
Last March, as COVID-19 was beginning to spread in Midland, Mayor Patrick Payton sat across from a group of doctors who told him if he didnt shut the city down, he would have 2,000 deaths on his hands. Shortly after that, he met with a group who said if he shut the city down, he was a communist or a socialist and 2,000 people would come after him.

The mayor told that story Wednesday to his audience at the Permian Basin chapter, American Association of Drilling Engineers, to illustrate how extremism has taken hold and important a middle ground has become.

Those in the oil and gas industry  and Payton noted everyone in Midland is touched in some way by the industry  are familiar with extremes, he said at the luncheon, held in conjunction with the Shale Energy Conference.

He defined those extremes as either no fossil fuels at all or renewable energy being unreliable. Residents of the Permian Basin are the only ones qualified to have that discussion, but theyve abdicated that position to the extremes, he said.

Those in the Permian Basin and in the industry need to learn to have better conversations, pointing out that there is no such thing as energy with no fossil fuels or a world with only renewable energy like wind and solar.

This country cant move unless the Permian Basin wakes up every day, he stated, urging those in the industry to tell their story of how important the industry is, what it is doing to improve the environment and how it works to provide power to billions around the world without reliable power, greatly improving those lives.

Payton told his audience he and the mayors of other energy-producing towns in North Dakota and Oklahoma and elsewhere plan to go to Washington, D.C. and speak with senators and congressmen.

We will show up on Capitol Hill and tell or story, he said. We need to step back from the extremes and step down to the issues ahead of us. Real life occurs in the middle. Those are the doors we will knock on. If we change the minds of three senators, we will win. If we get 10 representatives to change their minds, we will win. We will sit across the table from them and ask if they understand energy, if they understand oil and gas production.

You stand at the epicenter of a moment in history to take back the narrative on the oil and gas industry that powers America, that powers the American dream. You have to spread that gospel, you have to tell that story, he said.

He concluded, This is the third most strategic oil and gas producing basin in the world. Its time to grow up and act like it.
Plymouth Record Enterprise Ashland selectmen decide against moving police station

by David Ruell ASHLAND  The June 7 Ashland selectmen's meeting in the conference room in the Utility Building was the first attended by all five selectmen in person since they switched to Zoom meetings during the pandemic last year, and the first meeting attended by Fred Welch as the newly appointed Town Manager. The selectmen narrowly decided to not move the Police Department to the Town Garage/Utility Building. They also discussed other issues, such as a proposed policy on idling town vehicles, repairs to the Fire Station foundation, the mask mandate, and the Fourth of July celebration.



Town Manager Welch asked the selectmen to decide on the proposed move of the Police Department to the Town Garage and Utility Building, as all changes to town buildings require their approval. The Police Department now has cramped quarters in the Town Hall, which it shares with the Town and Utility Offices. There is no place to park the police vehicles indoors. The previous Town Manager and selectmen were



considering moving the Police station to the Utility Building where they would have two bays to keep their cruisers inside. The discussion quickly involved the somewhat controversial decision to move the utility clerks from the Utility Building to the Town Hall, as some selectmen wanted to move them back from the Town Offices to the former



utility office. Selectman Alan Cilley made a motion, seconded by Robert Letourneau, to not move the police station to the Utility Building at this time. The discussion revolved around two points of view. It was pointed out that the Town office was not ADA compliant and that the available space in the Town Hall for the town and utility offices was now too crowded, forcing people to wait outside the building. Selectman Andrew Fitch suggested that moving the Police Department out of the Town Hall would create more space for the utility office there and that the Town Hall could be made ADA



compliant. In the end, three selectmen, Cilley, Letourneau and Ann Barney voted in favor of the motion, while Fitch and Chairman Eli Badger voted against it. Badger pointed out that computer system changes would have to be made to the Utility Building to accommodate the systems now used by the utilities if the utility clerks returned



to their former quarters. The town is now waiting for estimates for those changes.



Town Manager Welch had presented the Selectmen with a No Idle Policy, which would require town employees to turn off town vehicles instead of leaving them idling, saving money and reducing the environmental impact. Objections were raised about police cruisers on duty and snowplows in the winter, when idling is necessary, but Welch stated that those situations were covered by the exceptions written into the policy. In the end, the selectmen voted 3 to 2 to table the proposed policy for now.



The Town Manager reported that there were a number of holes in the Fire Station foundation. Since the building expense lines of the separate departments were combined into a town wide building expense line in the 2021 budget, the selectmen would have to decide to fund the repairs to the foundation. They all agreed that the repairs had to be made, but wanted to wait for an estimate of the costs.



The selectmen voted unanimously to open all Town buildings to the public and to end the mask mandate in them. Barney pointed out that anyone who wanted a vaccination for Covid could now easily get one. Anyone who wishes to continue wearing a mask in Town buildings is free to do so.



Welch reported that he had reviewed the plans for the Fourth of July celebration, found them in order and had signed the necessary documents such as vendor permits. The proposed road race on North Ashland Road on July 4 will have to be approved by the Selectmen, so it will be on the agenda for their next meeting.



Public Works Director Craig Moore asked for and got the selectmen's approval for the relocation of a wooden light pole near the Common Man Restaurant as part of the Main Street sidewalk project. The selectmen approved the updated version of the Town Investment Policy. Cilley asked that the applications for the Finance Officer position be sent to all the selectmen, and was told that would be done the next day. The selectmen reappointed Mardean Badger as one of two Ashland representatives to the Lakes Region Planning Commision. (Eli Badger abstained from that vote.) The second LRPC representative position remains open, so volunteers are welcome. The selectmen ended their meeting with a non-public session. ASHLAND  The June 7 Ashland selectmen's meeting in the conference room in the Utility Building was the first attended by all five selectmen in person since they switched to Zoom meetings during the pandemic last year, and the first meeting attended by Fred Welch as the newly appointed Town Manager. The selectmen narrowly decided to not move the Police Department to the Town Garage/Utility Building. They also discussed other issues, such as a proposed policy on idling town vehicles, repairs to the Fire Station foundation, the mask mandate, and the Fourth of July celebration.Town Manager Welch asked the selectmen to decide on the proposed move of the Police Department to the Town Garage and Utility Building, as all changes to town buildings require their approval. The Police Department now has cramped quarters in the Town Hall, which it shares with the Town and Utility Offices. There is no place to park the police vehicles indoors. The previous Town Manager and selectmen wereconsidering moving the Police station to the Utility Building where they would have two bays to keep their cruisers inside. The discussion quickly involved the somewhat controversial decision to move the utility clerks from the Utility Building to the Town Hall, as some selectmen wanted to move them back from the Town Offices to the formerutility office. Selectman Alan Cilley made a motion, seconded by Robert Letourneau, to not move the police station to the Utility Building at this time. The discussion revolved around two points of view. It was pointed out that the Town office was not ADA compliant and that the available space in the Town Hall for the town and utility offices was now too crowded, forcing people to wait outside the building. Selectman Andrew Fitch suggested that moving the Police Department out of the Town Hall would create more space for the utility office there and that the Town Hall could be made ADAcompliant. In the end, three selectmen, Cilley, Letourneau and Ann Barney voted in favor of the motion, while Fitch and Chairman Eli Badger voted against it. Badger pointed out that computer system changes would have to be made to the Utility Building to accommodate the systems now used by the utilities if the utility clerks returnedto their former quarters. The town is now waiting for estimates for those changes.Town Manager Welch had presented the Selectmen with a No Idle Policy, which would require town employees to turn off town vehicles instead of leaving them idling, saving money and reducing the environmental impact. Objections were raised about police cruisers on duty and snowplows in the winter, when idling is necessary, but Welch stated that those situations were covered by the exceptions written into the policy. In the end, the selectmen voted 3 to 2 to table the proposed policy for now.The Town Manager reported that there were a number of holes in the Fire Station foundation. Since the building expense lines of the separate departments were combined into a town wide building expense line in the 2021 budget, the selectmen would have to decide to fund the repairs to the foundation. They all agreed that the repairs had to be made, but wanted to wait for an estimate of the costs.The selectmen voted unanimously to open all Town buildings to the public and to end the mask mandate in them. Barney pointed out that anyone who wanted a vaccination for Covid could now easily get one. Anyone who wishes to continue wearing a mask in Town buildings is free to do so.Welch reported that he had reviewed the plans for the Fourth of July celebration, found them in order and had signed the necessary documents such as vendor permits. The proposed road race on North Ashland Road on July 4 will have to be approved by the Selectmen, so it will be on the agenda for their next meeting.Public Works Director Craig Moore asked for and got the selectmen's approval for the relocation of a wooden light pole near the Common Man Restaurant as part of the Main Street sidewalk project. The selectmen approved the updated version of the Town Investment Policy. Cilley asked that the applications for the Finance Officer position be sent to all the selectmen, and was told that would be done the next day. The selectmen reappointed Mardean Badger as one of two Ashland representatives to the Lakes Region Planning Commision. (Eli Badger abstained from that vote.) The second LRPC representative position remains open, so volunteers are welcome. The selectmen ended their meeting with a non-public session.

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CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  The U.S. representatives from Northern New England are urging the Department of Homeland Security to safely reopen the U.S.-Canadian border, noting that Canadian tourists are vital contributors to the region's economy.

Canadian tourists spent an average of $19 billion in the U.S., with $500 million across northern New England, the Democrats wrote in the letter dated Thursday to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  A senior U.S. official said Thursday that less than two week ago, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Nicaragua's foreign minister that the Biden administration would respect the results of free and fair elections in November.

But since then, the U.S. has seen Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega unleash a wave of repression against political opponents and members of Nicaraguas civil society, Julie Chung, the acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told reporters.

A day earlier, the U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on four people close to Ortega, including his daughter and a top army official. The sanctions followed the arrests of four potential opposition candidates for the presidency since last week.

Blinken was in Costa Rica on June 1 and 2 to meet with member countries of the Central America Integration System, and Chung said he talked with Nicaraguan Foreign Affairs Minister Denis Moncada.

Secretary Blinken did speak to Foreign Minister Moncada and relayed that we want to see a free and fair elections, Chung said. The whole world would love to see free and fair elections in Nicaragua, and we would abide by the results of that if they were certified by an independent institution.

Ortega, and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, have been moving in the opposite direction ever since, apparently clearing the field of his strongest opponents.

As we inch towards election in November in Nicaragua, I think its apparent Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo are fearful. Theyre fearful of losing, theyre fearful of a free and fair, transparent system, Chung said. They are fearful of losing their grip on power.

Murillo has struck a defiant tone this week, lashing out at foreign interference. She and Ortega have maintained that widespread anti-government protests in April 2019 were a coup attempt with foreign backing.

Chung said the efforts to push a change of course in Nicaragua are multilateral.

On Thursday, the European Parliament warned Ortega in a letter that future cooperation with the European Union will depend on the country moving back toward democracy.

The November elections are an opportunity to end and peacefully resolve Nicaraguas deep political crisis, the letter said.

The EU similarly called for Ortega to change course Thursday. The EU firmly condemns the actions of the Nicaraguan authorities against opposition parties, media, journalists and other media workers, human rights defenders and civil society, including the systematic detention and arrest of potential presidential candidates and opposition leaders, the bloc said in a statement.

But later Thursday, Nicaraguas Attorney Generals Office said in the statement that judges had granted its request to hold two of those candidates arrested this week for up to 90 days while their investigations continue. Opposition leaders Felix Maradiaga and Juan Sebastian Chamorro face charges related to alleged crimes against the government.

Chung said she spoke to Maradiagas wife the day before, who described how police beat her husband before carting him off to jail.
BEIJING (AP)  The rocket that will send the first crew members to live on China's new orbiting space station has been moved onto the launch pad ahead of its planned blastoff next week.

The three astronauts plan to spend three months on the space station, far exceeding the length of any previous Chinese mission. They will perform spacewalks, construction and maintenance work and carry out science experiments.

The main section of the Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, station was launched into orbit on April 29. Cargo spacecraft sent up last month carried fuel, food and equipment to the station in preparation for the crewed mission.

The Long March-2F Y12 rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 spaceship was transferred to the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Wednesday, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said in a brief statement. Its tentative launch date is next Wednesday.

The space agency plans a total of 11 launches through the end of next year to deliver two laboratory modules to expand the 70-ton station, along with supplies and crew members. Next weeks launch will be the third of those, and the first of the four crewed missions planned.

Another cargo mission is planned for September, shortly after which a replacement crew will be sent up, according to reports. The station's other two modules are expected to be launched next year.

China said in March the astronauts training for the upcoming crewed missions were a mix of space travel veterans and newcomers and included some women. China has sent 11 astronauts into space to date, all of them pilots from the ruling Communist Partys military wing, the Peoples Liberation Army.

The first Tianhe crew will be all male, though women will be part of future crews on the station, according to Yang Liwei, who orbited Earth in Chinas first crewed mission in 2003 and is now an official at the space agency.

The Tianhe builds on experience China gained from operating two experimental space stations earlier in its increasingly ambitious space program. Chinese astronauts spent 33 days living on the second of the previous stations, carried out a spacewalk and taught science classes that were beamed down to students across the country.

China landed a probe, the Tianwen-1, on Mars last month that carried a rover, the Zhurong. It also has brought back lunar samples, the first by any countrys space program since the 1970s, and landed a probe and rover on the moons less explored far side.

Beijing doesnt participate in the International Space Station, largely due to U.S. concerns over the Chinese programs secrecy and its military connections. Despite that, foreign science missions and possibly foreign astronauts are expected to visit the Chinese station in future.

Once completed, the Tianhe will allow for stays of up to six months, similar to the much larger International Space Station.

The Chinese station reportedly is intended to be used for 15 years and may outlast ISS, which is nearing the end of its functional lifespan.
Carnival Cruise Line is setting sail next month, but Gov. Greg Abbott isn't happy about one of its new policies.

The cruise line will begin leaving from the Port of Galveston on July 3 and has announced it will require passengers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before setting foot on the ship.

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Abbott took this news as an opportunity to announce his plans to sign a law banning businesses in Texas from asking for vaccine information after a tweet questioned why Carnival was allowed to require passenger vaccinations.

"Im signing a law today that prohibits any business operating in Texas from requiring vaccine passports or any vaccine information," Abbott wrote on Twitter. "Texas is open 100% without any restrictions or limitations or requirements."

Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, acknowledged in a statement the support of Abbott in making vaccinations available to cruise line personnel and expediting the cruise line's return.

"We appreciate the progress and support for our U.S. restart from the CDC and other key federal agencies; however, the current CDC requirements for cruising with a guest base that is unvaccinated will make it very difficult to deliver the experience our guests expect, especially given the large number of families with younger children who sail with us," Duffy said. "As a result, our alternative is to operate our ships from the U.S. during the month of July with vaccinated guests."

Carnival has not responded to Abbott's tweet or the upcoming law. The bill, Senate Bill 968, will take effect immediately once Abbott signs it.

However, the bill does not prevent businesses from "implementing COVID-19 screening and infection control protocols in accordance with state and federal law to protect public health."

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Abbott made his feelings on "vaccine passports"documents providing proof of vaccinationknown in April when he signed an executive order banning any state agencies or entities that receive public funds from requiring them from Texans.

"Those shots help slow the spread of COVID-19, reduce hospitalizations and reduce fatalities," Abbott said in a video statement in April. "But, as I have said all along, these vaccines are always voluntary and never forced. Government should not require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives."
Winnisquam Echo Franklin Savings Bank purchases $116,500 in tax credits to support Mill City Park at Franklin Falls

FRANKLIN  Franklin Savings Bank announced that it has purchased $116,500 in CDFA tax credits to close the funding gap on the development of Mill City Park at Franklin Falls. Located in the heart of downtown Franklin, the Park will be the first of its kind in New England and will be situated on 13 acres, featuring several whitewater features, a bike pump track, climbing walls, walking trails, an amphitheater, camping sites, and more.



"We are honored to assist Mill City Park with the final stage of funding needed to move forward with the development of Mill City Park in downtown Franklin," commented Ronald Magoon, President & CEO. "The Bank stepped forward early on in the fundraising phase with a $250,000 donation to the project in an effort to attract other donors to support this major initiative, which will transform the Winnipesaukee River into a popular destination for individuals with a passion for paddling whitewater rapids, hiking and biking. There is so much activity occurring with the revitalization of downtown Franklin, and Mill City Park will complement all the wonderful things taking shape in the city."



Mill City Park received a total of $500,000 in tax credits awarded by the Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA). The bank's purchase of $116,500 represents 23.3% of the allocation. CDFA tax credits enable businesses to partner with nonprofits to support worthy projects in their communities.



"We are grateful for the generosity of Franklin Savings Bank and all the support it has given Mill City Park over the past few years," stated Marty Parichand, Founder & Executive Director, Mill City Park. "In addition, their Board of Directors and executive management team have been very supportive of our project; we truly appreciate their assistance with seeing this project become a reality for Franklin."



About Mill City Park at Franklin Falls



Mill City Park at Franklin Falls is a 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to let the Winnipesaukee River repower the Franklin community. Visit millcitypark.com for additional information on the development of the whitewater rafting park.



About Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA)



The CDFA is a statewide nonprofit public authority focused on maximizing the value and impact of community development, economic development, and clean energy initiatives throughout New Hampshire. Visit nhcdfa.org for further information.



Established in 1869, Franklin Savings Bank is an independent, mutually-owned community bank, offering a full array of commercial lending, personal banking and investment services. Headquartered in Franklin, the Bank has offices in Bristol, Boscawen, Tilton, Gilford, Merrimack and Goffstown. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Independence Financial Advisors, Franklin Savings Bankalso offers investment, insurance and financial planning services. A recognized leader in providing the latest in financial services technology, Franklin Savings Bank is committed to serving the needs of businesses, families and the communities it serves, through a dedicated team of employees, a diverse line of financial products and services, and continued investment in emerging technology.



Franklin Savings Bank has donated more than 11 percent of its net income to charity since 2009. Visit FRANKLIN  Franklin Savings Bank announced that it has purchased $116,500 in CDFA tax credits to close the funding gap on the development of Mill City Park at Franklin Falls. Located in the heart of downtown Franklin, the Park will be the first of its kind in New England and will be situated on 13 acres, featuring several whitewater features, a bike pump track, climbing walls, walking trails, an amphitheater, camping sites, and more."We are honored to assist Mill City Park with the final stage of funding needed to move forward with the development of Mill City Park in downtown Franklin," commented Ronald Magoon, President & CEO. "The Bank stepped forward early on in the fundraising phase with a $250,000 donation to the project in an effort to attract other donors to support this major initiative, which will transform the Winnipesaukee River into a popular destination for individuals with a passion for paddling whitewater rapids, hiking and biking. There is so much activity occurring with the revitalization of downtown Franklin, and Mill City Park will complement all the wonderful things taking shape in the city."Mill City Park received a total of $500,000 in tax credits awarded by the Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA). The bank's purchase of $116,500 represents 23.3% of the allocation. CDFA tax credits enable businesses to partner with nonprofits to support worthy projects in their communities."We are grateful for the generosity of Franklin Savings Bank and all the support it has given Mill City Park over the past few years," stated Marty Parichand, Founder & Executive Director, Mill City Park. "In addition, their Board of Directors and executive management team have been very supportive of our project; we truly appreciate their assistance with seeing this project become a reality for Franklin."About Mill City Park at Franklin FallsMill City Park at Franklin Falls is a 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to let the Winnipesaukee River repower the Franklin community. Visit millcitypark.com for additional information on the development of the whitewater rafting park.About Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA)The CDFA is a statewide nonprofit public authority focused on maximizing the value and impact of community development, economic development, and clean energy initiatives throughout New Hampshire. Visit nhcdfa.org for further information.Established in 1869, Franklin Savings Bank is an independent, mutually-owned community bank, offering a full array of commercial lending, personal banking and investment services. Headquartered in Franklin, the Bank has offices in Bristol, Boscawen, Tilton, Gilford, Merrimack and Goffstown. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Independence Financial Advisors, Franklin Savings Bankalso offers investment, insurance and financial planning services. A recognized leader in providing the latest in financial services technology, Franklin Savings Bank is committed to serving the needs of businesses, families and the communities it serves, through a dedicated team of employees, a diverse line of financial products and services, and continued investment in emerging technology.Franklin Savings Bank has donated more than 11 percent of its net income to charity since 2009. Visit www.fsbnh.bank to learn more or follow the bank on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

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THE fight for control of Caps Holdings Limited (CHL) has turned nasty, with war veteran and businessman Frederick Mutanda alleging that State security agents were involved in a plot to assassinate him.

In a letter addressed to government lawyer Addington Chinake of Kantor & Immerman dated June 10, 2021, Mutanda demanded that the State show proof that CHL requested for a financial rescue package and that government paid off debts owed by him and his companies.

Government alleged it rescued the firm through Treasury Bills in a move aimed at making the company attractive to investors.

However, Mutanda said failure to furnish him with such proof within 24 hours would leave him with no option, but to seek recourse at the courts.

He also said he was worried about involvement of State actors in a matter where he is challenging governments involvement in the arbitration process between CHL and Caps Pharmaceutical Trust.

In a notice to file a point of in limine  lack of locus standi  submissions in the arbitration proceedings before retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ahamed Moosa Ebrahim, Caps Pharmaceutical Trust argued that: It is common cause that the arbitration proceedings have been instituted by the shareholders agreement and not in respect of any other agreement. Thus, no other party (such as the government) has the locus standi to participate in the arbitration proceedings as it was and remains excluded from the contract through privity of contract. It cannot rely on another partys right to refer a matter to arbitration neither can it enforce rights that do not accrue to it.

In the letter from government legal representatives dated May 4 2021, which letter is attached. Reference is made to a sale of shares agreement between the government of Zimbabwe and Mr FCM Mutanda through various vehicles. It is common cause that this is an agreement that does not involve either of the parties that are now before arbitration, namely the trust and CHL. The government has not stated what interest it has in CHL simply because it has no such interest. It never acquired any shares in CHL which is why the share certificates have only two parties being the trust and CHL.

It must also be noted that the sale of shares agreement that the government of Zimbabwe refers to, has its own dispute resolution clause which can be utilised should the government have the need to do so. The process is materially different from that outlined in the shareholders agreement between the trust and CHL and more importantly, it points to the fact that the government of Zimbabwe is not without recourse (in the event that it has issues with CHL or any other party).

It is pertinent to point out that the validity of the sale of shares agreement is in dispute. However, this is a matter which can only be determined through a different forum given that the subject matter of this current dispute is the shareholders agreement.

In light of the above, it is submitted that the government and indeed any other party apart from the trust and CHL, are strangers to the shareholders agreement and, therefore, cannot sit at the arbitration table in a matter arising from the same.

Sight must not be lost on the basis of the arbitration proceedings. This is abundantly clear from the shareholders agreement and the notice of commencement of proceedings. This dispute centres on the rights emanating from such agreement of which the government of Zimbabwe is not a party to. It must be precluded from clouding issues and prolonging the matter whereas it can present its own case without seeking to ride on the rights of another party, which rights it has no entitlement to.

Consequently, the preliminary point must be upheld with costs being borne by the government.

In its notice of response, government said: It is common cause between the parties that the company fell into financial difficulties. The company was at the time listed on ZSE. Its major shareholder was Mutanda through a variety of trusts and companies that were ultimately controlled by him.

When the company fell into difficulties, it approached the government of Zimbabwe for assistance.

The government of Zimbabwe took the view that the pharmaceutical industry was strategic and the country should continue to have a significant manufacturer of pharmaceutical drugs and products.

Mutanda refuted the claims that Caps asked for governments rescue and paid off debts (both in Zimbabwe dollars and United States dollars) that he and his company previously owed locally and abroad. I refute these claims and put you to task to prove your claims, which I submit are false and malicious, but seek to slander my person and then get me eliminated through unlawful extra-judicial assassination.

He said key to the dispute was absence of post-independence disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former Zipra combatants that led to the confiscation of ZPRA properties, Gukurahundi, a Cold War era conflict, my divestment from Caps, forfeiture of my assets, including cash and State sponsored assassination attempts.

The letter was copied to State Security minister Owen Ncube, Central Intelligence Organisation director-general Isaac Moyo, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander Philip Valerio Sibanda and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya.

In a letter to the chairman of the Commercial Arbitration Centre (CAC) dated May 24, 2021, Mutanda through his lawyers from Mberi, Tagwirei and Associates, said government had no justification to be part of the arbitration processes that only involved Caps Pharmaceutical Trust and Caps Holdings Limited.

He said other parties were only cited as parties to the proceedings.

Mutanda said he was concerned that in spite of his position, an arbitrator was appointed without his involvement and in addition was not happy with the inclusion of other respondents, the government and Caps (Pvt) Limited.

CAC chairman Muchadeyi Masunda said: Mutanda is an interested party, through certain corporate entities which are either beneficially owned or controlled by him and/or his family, in an arbitration case involving the Industry and Commerce ministry and eight other parties.

Ebrahim was duly appointed as the arbitrator by the CAC, with the concurrence of the other interested parties.

In the course of the pre-arbitration hearings which are currently being arranged prior to the commencement of the actual case in earnest in July 2021, the parties to the dispute are entitled to raise any points in limine for consideration and determination by the arbitrator. In this particular instance, Mr Mutanda is querying the locus standi of; inter alia, the RBZ, Masunda said.

He added that the presiding arbitrator will invite the parties respective legal practitioners to address him on the point in limine which has been flagged by Mutanda. There is, therefore, nothing unusual with the course of action taken by Mr Mutanda as he is well within his rights to do so. He has every right to be heard just like the other parties to the dispute.

Mutanda is demanding that the arbitration proceedings between CHL and the trust be immediately stopped as it is not opposed to the relief that is being sought and has made this expressly clear from as far back as November 2020.

In its response filed on June 6, 2021, the government said it had a real and substantial interest in the dispute between Caps Holdings Limited and Caps Pharmaceuticals (Private) Limited insofar as it relates to Caps (Private) Limited. Newsday
As the Pilot International Foundation celebrates 100 years, two area residents are in line to be governors for the Midwest district, one of twenty nationwide.

Jacksonville Pilot Clubs Shelle Allen, who has been a member for six years, will take the helm as district governor effective July 1 for the 2022 year and Karla Stice  a member since 2008  will then take over for 2023, making them both two of only four governors from the Jacksonville clubs 70-year history.

Im still a pretty new person, Allen said of her tenure, even though she has been president of the club, treasurer and currently the governor-elect.

For Allen, getting involved with the service club started when her daughter, Madison Allen, now 22, became severely sick 10 years ago.

I dont have $1 million to give back but I do have time, she said. I wanted to give back to our community, she said, adding that members of the Jacksonville Pilot Club assisted her during her daughters sickness, among other members of the community.

Shopping around to join the right service club that fit her, after her daughter was getting better, the mission statement of brain safety, health and supporting people like caregivers really struck a chord with Allen.

I like their mission because I was a caregiver, she said of her time taking care of her daughter.

Now, proud to be part of the Jacksonville Pilot Club and all its fundraisers, Allen is excited to take the clubs desire to try new things to the other eight clubs across the district.

What will be underneath me will be nine clubs, Allen said, grinning with relief explaining that some districts have double the clubs. Im getting excited again, she said of COVID-19s restrictions that caused so many cancellations and how she is now able to push for new, exciting programs.

The Midwest district includes Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, and part of her role as governor will be to hold one major workshop for all clubs to attend and one conference in addition to visiting all clubs.

Im going to be your biggest cheerleader, she said of her theme, adding work smarter, not harder.

Oct. 2, Allen will host the workshop in Jacksonville, which is normally held in Iowa.

Weve always traveled there, its time for them to visit Jacksonville, she said proudly about her hometown.

Allen said that she plans to hold some service projects during the one-day workshop and show off some of Jacksonvilles historical features. For the conference, which will be held April 22 in Rock Island, Illinois, will be more business oriented.

During the 2022 year as governor, Allen will be working under incoming international president Colette Cross and all governors have been named The Century Governors, playing off the celebration of the organizations 100 year milestone.

Obtaining the title of governor-elect under Allen, Stice  current president of Jacksonvilles club  is excited that not only has the Jacksonville club just celebrated 70 years, but that she gets to see Allen shine.

Im proud that Shelle stepped up to the do position, Stice said. I think she will be great.

During the 2022 year, Stice plans on learning as much as possible about all the district wide clubs.

When I become governor Ill have the knowledge, Stice said.

Also proud of the Jacksonville Pilot Club  with Pauline Newport being her sponsor  she likes the idea of being able to give back and support the community.

I love it, Stice said.

The Jacksonville Pilot Club is known for fundraisers such as Dancing with the Stars, the annual Home Tour, a salad luncheon held at the KC Hall, quarter auction, Pilots Cheese-ball sale and the current 2021 Concert in the Park series, held at Community Park every Sunday.

Also available to junior-high and high school students is the Pilot clubs Anchor Club for students that want to work in the community, which currently has 10 members.

With 30 members in the Jacksonville Pilot Club, Allen said were small but mighty.
Steve Hochstadt, Illinois College professor emeritus of history, will have a reading and book signing of his most recent work, Freedom of the Press in Small-Town America: My Opinions, starting at 4 p.m. today in Crispin Hall Dunham Auditorium.

In-person attendance is limited to Illinois College faculty and staff. It will be streamed live at www.ic.edu/FreePress.
DENVER (AP)  Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has announced the first five winners of $50,000 scholarships in a program designed to encourage students to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Twenty five scholarships are being offered by the state, along with a $1 million lottery program for five adult winners who get at least one shot.

The Denver Post reports that Natalie M. of Centennial, 14-year-old Arianna Garcia of Longmont, 15-year-old Liam Atkins of Boulder, 16-year-old Brett Cheney of Mesa County and 14-year-old Gabriella Sleight of Littleton won the first round of scholarships, which are paid for with federal pandemic relief funds.

Colorado resident students ages 12 to 17 who have received at least one vaccine dose are eligible. Winners selected in random drawings can use the scholarships at the post-secondary educational institutions of their choice  including colleges and technical, occupational and credential programs both inside and outside Colorado. Five winners will be chosen each week through July 9.

Polis previously unveiled a lottery to reward five adult Colorado residents who have received at least one vaccine shot $1 million each. Sally Sliger of the Weld County town of Mead won the first prize on Friday.

Other U.S. states, including Maryland, Ohio, New York and Oregon, have introduced vaccine-incentive lotteries. Ohio is offering four-year scholarships to an in-state public university, including room and board, to five residents ages 12 to 17.

One Steamboat Springs student, identified by officials only as Thomas M., won the Colorado scholarship prize but declined the prize because he said he already has a scholarship and help from his grandparents to cover engineering studies at Clarkson University.

I wanted to pass it on to someone who needed it a bit more than me, Thomas told reporters.

On Wednesday, Polis announced that 12 Colorado counties, including Denver, had reached President Joe Biden's goal of having 70% of the U.S. population with at least one vaccination shot by July 4.

More than 3.1 million Colorado residents, or more than half the state's estimated 6 million population, have received one dose, and nearly 2.7 million are fully immunized, according to state officials. Residents 12 years old and older are eligible for vaccines.

The Biden administration is fighting vaccine hesitancy and a lack of urgency among people to get shots, particularly in the South and Midwest. The U.S. averaged about 800,000 new injections per day last week, down from a high of nearly 2 million per day two months ago.

The Colorado Department of Health and Environment said that fewer than 2% of nearly 169,000 COVID-19 cases in the state since Jan. 15 were reported among fully vaccinated residents. But in Mesa County, with a full vaccination rate of just 38%, health officials have reported 125 cases of a highly transmissible COVID-19 variant first identified in India.

The variant, also known as the delta variant, has taken hold in Mesa County, according to county Public Health Director Jeff Kuhr. The Grand Junction Sentinel reported that the county issued a public health alert Wednesday about the variant's spread.

This is the one I think we need to protect ourselves against, Kuhr said. People have become disinterested in the vaccine and this is not the time.
China's top legislator attends symposium with lawmakers

Xinhua) 13:37, June 10, 2021

Li Zhanshu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, talks with lawmakers attending the 29th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee at a symposium in Beijing, capital of China, June 9, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese top legislator Li Zhanshu on Wednesday sat down with lawmakers at a symposium to listen to their comments and suggestions for leveraging their roles in "whole-process democracy."

Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, stressed the importance of developing a profound and comprehensive understanding of "whole-process democracy."

"Whole-process democracy" is a distinctive feature of socialist democracy, which requires the leadership of the CPC to serve as the fundamental political guarantee for its operation and the people's congresses as the main channel, Li said.

Li called on lawmakers to maintain closer ties with the people, and report the most pressing, most immediate issues that concern the people the most to the Party committees and the governments through appropriate channels in a timely manner, in a bid to identify solutions.

He also urged them to effectively tell the stories of "whole-process democracy" in China based on their own experience in performing their duties, to help the international community better understand China's system of people's congresses and socialist "whole-process democracy."

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
The initial race to inoculate the public against coronavirus primarily focused on those at higher risk from the disease, including the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. While younger age groups are less likely to develop a severe case of the illness, medical experts have said vaccinating them against the virus is still key to achieving herd immunity.
COVID-19 testing is being expanded to elementary schools across Illinois to help ensure a safe return to in-person learning next school year, the Illinois Department of Public Health said Wednesday.

Schools will be able to choose to provide tests, including a saliva-based test developed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Results will be available within 24 hours of the lab receiving the test.
Illinois College has established a new scholarship to help health care workers employed by Memorial Health System further their education.

Employees will be eligible for up to $2,000 over four semesters toward any of the colleges online degrees.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  Terry McAuliffe outperformed his own campaigns expectations, winning every city and county as he coasted to victory in the Democratic primary for Virginia governor, an election his party said showed persistent enthusiasm among its voters even in a post-Trump era.

Some Democrats had fretted that voters wouldnt turn out with McAuliffe, an establishment quasi-incumbent, as the frontrunner in the race and with Donald Trump out of office following a term that was disastrous for Virginia Republicans. But an unofficial accounting suggested that wasnt the case.

While the counting of absentee ballots was still underway, preliminary numbers showed turnout was roughly 90% of 2017s figures, in a contest seen as less competitive than the matchup four years ago between now-Gov. Ralph Northam and former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello.

I think a very good roadmap and route has been laid for November, said Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Susan Swecker, who called Tuesdays turnout robust.

McAuliffe, who was previously in office from 2014 to 2018, won about 62% of the vote and will go on to face political newcomer Glenn Youngkin in what's expected to be a competitive and expensive general election.

McAuliffe spokesperson Jake Rubenstein said Tuesdays results, which he characterized as stronger than the campaign had expected, should be a big wake-up call for Youngkin.

Virginians are fired up and unified behind Terry to stop Glenn from doing to Virginia what Donald Trump did to America, Rubenstein said.

In a statement Tuesday night that called McAuliffe a a recycled, 40-year political insider and career politician, Youngkin, a wealthy former executive of global investment firm The Carlyle Group, said Virginians from across the political spectrum want new leadership.

His campaign released two new ads after McAuliffes win, including one titled, Time for Change. The 30-second spot, a highlight reel of primary opponent Jennifer Carroll Foys sharpest criticism of McAuliffe, cuts to Youngkin, who says: A new kind of leader to bring a new day to Virginia.

Carroll Foy has since vowed to get in the trenches to help McAuliffe get elected.

Preliminary returns showed about 487,000 votes were cast for governor in Tuesdays primary, compared with about 543,000 in 2017. Despite facing four opponents, McAuliffe took in over 300,000 votes, right in line with Northam in 2017. More votes were also cast this year than in the previous contested Democratic gubernatorial primary, in 2009, according to records maintained by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

No one else in the field that also included state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax or Del. Lee Carter was the top vote-getter in a single locality. And in just a handful of localities did McAuliffe receive less than 50% of votes cast.

In a statement, Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Rich Anderson said the GOP was pleased to see McAuliffe, a career politician with a record of broken promises, win the primary.

Anderson also contrasted the Democrats' all-Northern Virginia ticket and the GOP's racially and geographically diverse slate, which was settled at a multisite convention in May.

Incumbent Mark Herring won the Democratic nomination in the race for attorney general Tuesday, fending off a strong challenge from a younger state lawmaker, Del. Jay Jones. Herring, who is seeking a third term, will face Republican state Del. Jason Miyares of Virginia Beach in the November general election. His win means two-thirds of the Democrats ticket will be a repeat from 2013.

Del. Hala Ayala, who launched her political career in 2017 in response to Trumps election, won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, boosted by an endorsement from Northam and House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn. Ayala will compete against GOP nominee Winsome Sears, who resides in the Winchester area, virtually guaranteeing Virginia will see history made with its first woman elected to that role.

Virginia, the only state in the nation that doesnt allow its chief executive to serve consecutive terms, is also the only state with an open race for governor this year. The commonwealths rare off-year elections routinely draw outsized national attention as a possible test of both parties strengths ahead of the midterms.

Tuesdays primary election followed a congressional race last week in New Mexico in which Democrats also claimed momentum was on their side.

Democrat Melanie Stansbury won a four-way race to fill a vacant seat previously held by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. Uncertified results showed a margin of victory far greater than Haalands win in 2020 and even greater than Bidens 23-point win in New Mexico last year.

New Jersey, the only other state with a regularly scheduled gubernatorial election this year, also held its primary Tuesday. Preliminary, unofficial numbers showed Democratic turnout was down compared with four years ago from about 25% to roughly 13%, but this years contest was uncontested. In 2017, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy won a six-way contest that boosted turnout.

Republicans in New Jersey saw turnout climb slightly this year, according to preliminary, unofficial results, from 20% to 25%. The GOP contest four years ago was a five-way contest, compared with four candidates this year.

____

Associated Press writer Mike Catalini contributed from Trenton, New Jersey.
I was always trying to pretend the camera wasnt there, and then in a film like this, you really work with it. You have to be aware of where the camera is a lot of the time when youre working. That was so new to me, and I felt so not good at it. For me to watch Harrison in some of his sequences and see how he worked was really helpful.
Myanmar anti-corruption body files cases against Suu Kyi View Photo

BANGKOK (AP)  The Anti-Corruption Commission in military-ruled Myanmar has found that ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi accepted bribes and misused her authority to gain advantageous terms in real estate deals, government-controlled media reported Thursday.

Suu Kyis lawyers already denied the allegations when they were first raised three months ago by the military regime that toppled her elected government in a February coup. The commissions findings come as prosecutors are set to present their case on separate charges against Suu Kyi in court on Monday.

Suu Kyis supporters say all of the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the militarys seizure of power. The coup has been wildly unpopular among Myanmars people, who voted overwhelmingly for Suu Kyis National League for Democracy party in last years general election after a first five-year term in office.

If convicted of any of the offenses, Suu Kyi could be banned from running in the next election, should there be one. The junta has claimed it will hold new elections, within the next year or two, but the countrys military has a long history of promising elections and not following through.

The military ruled Myanmar for 50 years after a coup in 1962, and kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years after a failed 1988 popular uprising against army rule.

Since Februarys coup Suu Kyi has already been charged with spreading information that could cause public alarm or unrest. She also faces two counts of violating the Natural Disaster Management Law for allegedly breaking COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign; illegally importing walkie-talkies that were for her bodyguards use; and unlicensed use of the radios.

Another charge, breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, is being handled separately.

Thursdays report in the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the complaints based on the Anti-Corruption Commissions findings were filed at the relevant police stations on Wednesday. Other media, including state television MRTV, carried the same report.

The report said Suu Kyi has been charged under Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, which states that political office holders convicted for bribery face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prion and a fine. It would be the most severe penalty she faces; the Officials Secrets Act has a maximum 14 years prison term.

Kyi Win, a lawyer for Suu Kyi and her party, said her legal team would discuss the development with her when they meet at their next court hearing on the other outstanding charges.

Thursdays report said the anti-corruption body had found that Suu Kyi illegally accepted $600,000 and seven gold bars from the former chief minister of Yangon Region, a political ally.

The report also said the commission had found that Suu Kyi has misused her position to obtain rental properties at lower-than-market prices for a charitable foundation named after her mother that she chaired.

The story charged that the action deprived the state of revenue it would otherwise have earned.

These moves were not carried out in line with the procedures but with her power and authority, said the report. She paid lower than the reasonable prices for land lease.

The Global New Light of Myanmar said that the former mayor of the capital Naypyitaw, Myo Aung, who also chaired its development committee, was also being charged under Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, along with former deputy mayor Ye Min Oo and former committee member Min Thu.

By GRANT PECK

Associated Press
Biden, Johnson strike warm tone in first meeting View Photo

CARBIS BAY, England (AP)  Striking a warm tone, President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson used their first meeting Thursday to highlight a commitment to strengthening their nations historic ties while setting aside, at least publicly, their political and personal differences.

Beginning a week of diplomacy across the Atlantic, Biden hopes to use his first overseas trip as president to reassure European allies that the United States had shed the transactional tendencies of Donald Trumps term and is a reliable partner again. Long a believer in alliances, Biden stressed the deep bonds with the United Kingdom as a lynchpin of his call for Western democracies to compete against rising authoritarian states.

We affirmed the special relationship  its not said lightly  the special relationship between our people, Biden said after the meeting. We renewed our pledge to defend the enduring democratic values that both of our nations share that are the strong foundation of our partnership.

Though thorny issues like Brexit and the future of Northern Ireland shadowed the meeting, Biden and Johnson began their sit-down by immediately striking a tone of conviviality as the news media watched.

I told the prime minister we have something in common. We both married way above our station, Biden joked after a highly choreographed walk with their spouses.

Johnson laughed and said he was not going to dissent from that one. But then he seemed to hint that he would be looking to only improve relations with his American counterpart.

Im not going to disagree with you on that, said Johnson, or indeed on anything else.

But there are areas of friction. The president staunchly opposed Brexit, Britains exit from the European Union that Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern over the future of Northern Ireland. Biden once called Johnson a physical and emotional clone of Trump.

The British government has worked hard to overcome that impression, stressing Johnsons common ground with Biden on climate change, support for international institutions and other issues. But Johnson, host for the Group of Seven summit opening Friday, has been frustrated by the lack of a new trade deal with the United States.

Johnson on Thursday, however, described the new U.S. administration as a breath of fresh air.

Speaking after his first face-to-face meeting with Biden, Johnson said it was a long, long huge session. We covered a good range of topics. He added that protecting the Northern Ireland peace agreement was absolutely common ground among Britain, the U.S. and the EU.

Before their formal discussions, the two men looked back on illustrious wartime predecessors, inspecting documents related to the Atlantic Charter. The declaration signed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt in August 1941 set out common goals for the post-World War II world, including freer trade, disarmament and the right to self-determination of all people.

Reaffirming their nations longstanding ties, the two men authorized an updated version of the charter, one that looks to the challenge posed by countries like China and Russia with its promises to promote free trade, human rights and a rules-based international order, and to counter those who seek to undermine our alliances and institutions.

The new charter also took aim at interference through disinformation in elections and murky economic practices, charges that the West has levelled at Beijing and Moscow. The leaders also promised to build stronger global defenses against health threats on the eve of a summit where discussion of the coronavirus pandemic is expected to take center stage.

The leaders had planned to visit the spectacular island of St. Michaels Mount but the trip was scrapped because of bad weather. Instead, they met above the beach at the G-7 site in Carbis Bay, staring out at the ocean while trading pleasantries.

Both couples  Johnson is newly married  held hands as they walked. First lady Jill Bidens black jacket had LOVE embroidered on the upper back  a fashion move that recalled her predecessor Melania Trumps decision to wear a jacket with I Really Dont Care, Do U? written on the back during a 2018 trip to a Texas border town.

The leaders also announced a new U.S.-U.K. task force to work on resuming travel between their countries. Most such travel has been banned since March 2020.

Both sides have stressed publicly that the meeting would be about strengthening ties between longtime allies in a week in which Biden will look to rally the West to rebuff Russian meddling and publicly demonstrate it can compete economically with China.

Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish roots, has warned that nothing should undermine Northern Irelands 1998 Good Friday peace accord. Some on the British side have viewed Biden warily because of his heritage. White House officials have said the United States does not plan to be involved in the negotiations.

After Brexit, a new arrangement was needed for the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, because the European Union requires certain goods to be inspected and others not to be admitted at all. Ahead of a June 30 deadline, ongoing negotiations over goods  including sausages  have been contentious and have attracted the attention of the White House.

One-on-one talks between Biden and Johnson lasted about 10 minutes before advisers joined for a larger meeting that lasted about an hour, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. The leaders also discussed climate change, the pandemic, creating an infrastructure financing program for developing countries and Afghanistan, and launch a bilateral commission to research and defeat cancer.

But Trumps presence was still felt on Thursday. Johnson and Trump, for a time, appeared to be kindred spirits, both riding a wave of populism that in 2016 delivered Brexit and upended the American political landscape.

Biden, for his part, has expressed a mistrust of Johnson, who once unspooled a Trump-like insult of President Barack Obama, saying that Bidens former boss was half-Kenyan and had an ancestral dislike of Britain.

Since World War II, the trans-Atlantic special relationship has been sustained by a common language, shared interests, military cooperation and cultural affection.

Brexit has tested those bonds. But Biden has made clear that he intends to rebuild bridges with the EU, a frequent target of Trumps ire. That suggests Berlin, Brussels and Paris, rather than London, will be uppermost in his thoughts.

Britain hoped to secure a quick trade agreement with the U.S. after its official departure from the EU in January. The change in administration in Washington leaves prospects of a deal uncertain.

And there may be one more, though admittedly small, obstacle to nurturing the special relationship  the very phrase itself.

Johnson has said he did not appreciate special relationship, used by the U.S. president, because to the prime minister it seemed needy and weak. Johnsons spokesperson said this week: The prime minister is on the record previously saying he prefers not to use the phrase, but that in no way detracts from the importance with which we regard our relationship with the U.S., our closest ally.

___

Lawless reported from London. Madhani reported from Mildenhall, England. Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Baltimore and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

By JONATHAN LEMIRE, AAMER MADHANI and JILL LAWLESS

Associated Press
Yosemite, CA  The price to camp in Yosemite National Park would go up under a plan released by the National Park Service.

Yosemite spokesperson Jamie Richards relays that 80-percent of campground fees collected in Yosemite are retained by the park and the additional revenue will support current and future maintenance and renovation projects.

Future projects include upgrades to the shower and restroom facilities at Camp 4 Campground, restoration of native plants at natural and cultural resource sites, rehabilitation of vault toilet facilities parkwide, and the replacement of signs throughout the park.

The proposed fee changes are listed below:

Camp 4 Campground 2020 fee: $6.00 per person | 2021 proposed fee: $10.00 per person

Family Sites in Reservation Campgrounds (this includes Upper, Lower, North Pines, Wawona, Bridalveil Creek, Crane Flat, Hodgdon Meadow and Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds) 2020 fee: $26.00 per site | 2021 proposed fee: $36.00 per site

(this includes Upper, Lower, North Pines, Wawona, Bridalveil Creek, Crane Flat, Hodgdon Meadow and Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds)

Family Site Campgrounds when First-Come, First-Served (this includes Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow during the Winter Season and White Wolf) 2020 fee: $18.00 per site | 2021 proposed fee: $26.00 per site

(this includes Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow during the Winter Season and White Wolf) Primitive, First-Come, First-Served Campgrounds (this includes Tamarack Flat, Yosemite Creek, and Porcupine Flat) 2020 fee: $12.00 per site | 2021 proposed fee: $20.00 per site

(this includes Tamarack Flat, Yosemite Creek, and Porcupine Flat) Group Campsites (30-person occupancy) 2020 fee: $50.00 per site | 2021 proposed fee: $75.00 per site

Stock Campsites (these sites are located at Wawona, Bridalveil Creek, and Tuolumne Meadows Campgrounds) 2020 fee: $30.00 per site | 2021 proposed fee: $50.00 per site

Double Sites (12-person occupancy) 2020 fee: $36.00 per site | 2021 proposed fee: $60.00 per site

Backpacker Sites 2020 fee: $6.00 per site | 2021 proposed fee: $8.00 per site



Yosemite National Park is accepting public comments on the proposed fee increases through July 10, 2021. Comments can be submitted via email to yose_cg_comments@nps.gov. These proposed fee increases are slated to take effect this October.
Governor Gavin Newsom responds to gun ruling View Photo

Sacramento, CA  The state is responding to a federal judges ruling that found the states assault weapons ban is unconstitutional.

In his 90-plus page ruling, US District Court Judge Roger Benitez defended the use of an AR-15 rifle, calling it the perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. He compared it to a Swiss Army Knife. He argued that efforts to limit the possession of assault weapons are a violation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with Governor Gavin Newsom, announced this morning that they are filing an appeal to the ruling.

Newsom pointed harsh criticism at Judge Benitez, stating, We need to call this federal judge out. He will continue to do damage, mark my word. They (gun proponents) are judge shopping.this is a very focused effort to work through this judge, where the decision is already made before it is presented.

The case could eventually go before the US Supreme Court, whom Newsom also criticized.

This stacked court (US Supreme Court) went through a vetting process based upon pre-disposition to know exactly where they are going to land on a quote-un-quote expansive view of not only the right to bear arms, but a well-regulated militia.

Californias ban on assault weapons has been in place for 32 years.

Judge Benitezs ruling was praised by the National Rifle Association (NRA) which put out a statement arguing that restrictive gun laws do not make people any safer and infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens.
Biden embraces a Trump policy in backing Arab-Israeli deals View Photo

The Biden administration is laying the groundwork for a renewed push to encourage more Arab countries to sign accords with Israel and working to strengthen existing deals after last months devastating war in the Gaza Strip interrupted those diplomatic efforts.

The embrace of the so-called Abraham Accords is a rare carryover of a signature Trump administration policy by President Joe Biden and other Democrats.

The Trump administration put U.S. clout and incentives into landing the country-by-country pacts by four Arab states last year, easing enmity and isolation for the Jewish state in the Middle East that had dated back to Israels 1948 founding. The Biden administration saw significant prospects of several other Arab governments signing accords soothing and normalizing relations with Israel. U.S. officials have declined to publicly identify the countries they regard as promising prospects.

Sudan, which signed a general declaration of peaceful intent but has not yet signed on to diplomatic relations with Israel, had been a prospect. Oman, which has a policy of non-interference that allows it to be a broker across the Middle Easts fault lines, long has been seen by Westerners as a likely contender.

But the 11-day war between Israel and Gazas Hamas militant rulers last month has complicated U.S.-backed diplomacy for new Abraham accords.

The fighting has strengthened the conviction of opponents of normalization with Israel, activist Doura Gambo said in Sudan. Sudanese were already divided over their governments agreement last year to become one of the four Arab states signing accords. In Sudans case, the Trump administration offered financial relief from U.S. sanctions.

Last months bloodshed, which killed 254 Palestinians  including 66 children and at least 22 members of one family  resonated deeply with the Arab public, including in the other countries that had signed accords with Israel: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Thirteen people died in Israel, including two children and one soldier.

The Biden administration is considering appointing a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, to a Mideast role that would marshal and potentially expand the country-by-country accords between Israel and Mideast governments.

Two people familiar with the matter confirmed Shapiro was being considered for the job, as first reported by The Washington Post. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

U.S. officials also are working to encourage more business, education and other ties among the four Arab states and Israel. They hope visible success there will also promote the bilateral accords in the region, at the same time the U.S. works to advance resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Last year, the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country in over two decades to establish ties with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan in 1979 and 1994, respectively. It was a move that bypassed the Palestinians, who saw it as betrayal.

The Abraham Accords include a general declaration of support for peaceful relations in the Middle East among Jews, Muslims and Christians, all followers of religions linked to the patriarch Abraham. The Trump administration saw the accords partly as paving a path toward full ties with Israel, including in security and intelligence cooperation to counter common rivals, such as Iran.

The deals former President Donald Trump struck were an important achievement, one that not only we support, but one wed like to build on, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week.

In addition, were looking at countries that may want to join in and, and take part and begin to normalize their own relations with Israel. That, too, has been very much part of conversations Ive had with, with several of my counterparts, Blinken added.

Opponents of these deals, however, argue that they undermine Arab consensus around only recognizing Israel when it resumes serious peace talks with the Palestinians that lead to tangible concessions.

These agreements were never about the peace process, said Marwan Muasher, a former foreign minister of Jordan, who charges that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saw the accords as an alternative to peace-making with the Palestinians.

Were they helpful to the peace process? No, they were not, Muasher said. They gave Israel the false impression that it can forge peace agreements with Arab states as a substitute for coming to terms with the Palestinians.

Supporters of the country-by-country accords say isolating Israel failed to overcome decades of stalemate on Palestinians demand for their own state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

As many ways as the Biden administration will depart from Trump policy in the region, there will be places where it sees an interest in continuity, said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who spoke to officials in Oman on a trip immediately before last months Gaza war erupted.

Before any new efforts on the accords move forward, big political and pragmatic developments need to fall into place in the region. Eyes are on Israel at the moment to see how a possible new coalition government led by a new prime minister may affect Israeli-Palestinian relations, especially in the aftermath of the Gaza war.

The Knesset is set to vote on Sunday on whether to confirm the new government and end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus 12-year rule. If it does, Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett will become prime minister. Bennett opposes Palestinian statehood.

The accords signed by the four Arab nations so far seem solidly in place despite the strain of last months war. So too do the big incentives that the Trump administration threw in to help close the deals, such as U.S. recognition of the disputed territory of Western Sahara for Morocco.

In the UAE, a Gulf financial hub that has been the most enthusiastic about establishing ties with Israel, Emirati political analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdulla said the government is gauging public sentiment, but can also control the street and sometimes defy whatever public opposition there is.

The UAE have taken this decision. They knew exactly where they are and knew the risk, and they are not going back on it, he said.

-

Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City, Kellman from Jerusalem and Batrawy from Dubai. AP diplomatic writer Matthew Lee contributed from Washington. AP writer Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem, and AP writer Samy Magdy contributed from Cairo.

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, AYA BATRAWY and LAURIE KELLMAN

Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  An Iranian destroyer and support vessel are now sailing in the Atlantic Ocean in a rare mission far from the Islamic Republic, Iran's state TV reported on Thursday, without offering the vessels final destination.

The trip by the new domestically built destroyer Sahand and the intelligence-gathering vessel Makran comes amid U.S. media reports, citing anonymous American officials, saying the ships were bound for Venezuela. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the ships' destination.

The vessels departed last month from Irans southern port of Bandar Abbas, said Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, Iran's deputy army chief. He described their mission as the Iranian navy's longest and most challenging voyage yet, without elaborating.

Iranian state TV released a short clip of the destroyer cruising through the Atlantics rough seas. The video likely was shot from the Makran, a converted commercial oil tanker with a mobile launch platform for helicopters.

The Navy is improving its seafaring capacity and proving its long-term durability in unfavorable seas and the Atlantics unfavorable weather conditions, Sayyari said, adding that the warships would not call at any countrys port during the mission.

Images from Maxar Technologies dated April 28 appear to show seven Iranian fast-attack craft typically associated with its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on the deck of the Makran. Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc. suggest it left a port at Bandar Abbas sometime after April 29. It wasnt immediately clear where the Makran and the destroyer are now.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price would not speculate on what the vessels were carrying, saying only that if this is an effort to transfer weapons or otherwise to violate its international obligations we would be prepared to respond.

We have seen the press reports regarding this movement," Price said. Were prepared to leverage our applicable authorities, including sanctions, against any actor that enables Irans ongoing provision of weapons to violent partners into proxies."

The website Politico first reported in late May, citing anonymous officials, that the ships' final destination may be Venezuela. Iran maintains close ties to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and has shipped gasoline and other products to the country amid a U.S. sanctions campaign targeting fuel-starved Caracas. Venezuela is believed to have paid Iran, under U.S. sanctions of its own, for the shipments.

A top aide to Maduro has denied press reports that the ships will dock there. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive geopolitical issues.

During a news conference May 31, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh declined to say where the Makran was going.

Iran is always present in international waters and it has this right based on international law and it can be present in international waters, he said. No country is able to violate this right, and I warn that no one makes miscalculations. Those who sit in glass houses should be careful.

The fast-attack craft aboard the Makran are the type that the Guard uses in its tense encounters with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf and its narrow mouth, the Strait of Hormuz. It's not immediately clear what Venezuela's plans would be for those ships.

If the boats are delivered, they may form the core of an asymmetrical warfare force within Venezuelas armed forces, the U.S. Naval Institute said in an earlier published analysis. This could be focused on disrupting shipping as a means of countering superior naval forces. Shipping routes to and from the Panama Canal are near the Venezuelan coast.

Earlier this month, fires sank Iran's largest warship, the 207-meter (679-foot) Kharg, which was used to resupply other ships in the fleet at sea and conduct training exercises. Officials offered no cause for the blaze, which follows a series of mysterious explosions that began in 2019 targeting commercial ships in Mideast waterways.

The unusual voyage comes ahead of Iran's June 18 presidential election, which will see voters select a successor for the relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani.

___

Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, Matthew Lee in Washington and Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.
Last year, the Fourth of July in San Antonio was quite grim.

Due to the rise of the coronavirus pandemic, the city canceled the official Fourth of July celebration at Woodlawn Lake Park and prohibited more than 10 people from congregating in any city park or plaza.
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Pop-culture convention Celebrity Fan Fest, returning to San Antonio this July, has just announced another icon to its roster. Ewan McGregor, most widely recognized as Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars prequel trilogy, will appear alongside famous faces like Krysten Ritter who stars in Marvel's "Jessica Jones," Mike Colter from Marvel's "Luke Cage" and Charlie Cox, who plays Matt Murdock in Marvel's "Daredevil" series.

The convention is set to run for 10 days from Thursday, July 30, through Sunday, August 8, at Six Flags Fiesta Texas at 17000 W. I-10. While Celebrity Fan Fest was canceled last year due to the pandemic, its last iteration in 2019 trafficked over 36,000 guests in a three-day span.
Tu Asador, Castle Hills' new steakhouse, is bringing Monterrey's "true carne asada" atmosphere to San Antonio's food scene.

Regina Gonzalez, one of the owners, said her family members all worked in the service industry prior to the pandemic. As the crisis weighed heavy on the service industry, each of the family members lost their jobs as waiters, bartenders, and kitchen staff. To make money, they started selling their asada dishes from a ghost kitchen, starting with family and friends and then developed a delivery model.

"It was doing really well so we decided to move into a restaurant space," Gonzalez says.

A concept launched as a means to survive is now an "upscale" restaurant at 8055 West Avenue.

RELATED: New Wayne's Wings location now open in San Antonio

Regina Gonzalez owns the steakhouse with her siblings: Emilia Gonzalez, Jose Gonzalez (Tu Asador's chef), and Valentina Gonzalez. Her parents, Jose and Sandra Gonzalez, are also on board.

Courtesy, Regina Gonzalez

Tu Asadoor opened a little more than two weeks ago. The family is aiming for a July grand opening once they get their liquor license.

Until then, the restaurant is BYOB. On weekends, each guest who is 21 and older gets a free paloma.

Regina Gonzalez gave us a taste of the menu. She says each of the dishes are flavors from their Monterrey, where they lived before coming to Texas.

Rather than serving Tex-Mex-style enchiladas doused in sauces and cheese, Tu Asador offers enchiladas regias, which are lightly fried red tortillas filled with queso fresco.

Courtesy, Regina Gonzalez

READ MORE FROM MADALYN: San Antonio's North Italia is opening soon, here's what to know

Regina Gonzalez says she also noticed most flauta plates in Texas use chicken. She's used to beef, so the family added those to the menu,

Of course, there are steaks, too.

She says the ribeye is her favorite. There's also chicharron de ribeye, which are not pork skin rinds, but instead are crispy chunks of meat. Tuetanos, or bone marrow, are also on the menu.

Courtesy, Regina Gonzalez

"Our customers can expect Mexican plates but also really good steaks," Regina Gonzalez says.

A menu which offers family-style portions of asada, ribeye, and sirloin all served in the center of the table for optimal sharing is the "best way" to enjoy the "true carne asada experience," Regina Gonzalez says.

Tu Asador takes both walk-in parties and reservations.

The restaurant is open Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tu Asador is closed on Mondays.
Ive known him for over 30 years. He was my friend. Hes pretending his mind is not right, but he knows what he did, said Quilvio Rodriguez, who is Rodriguez-Reynosos brother. Hes making things up. We will be there when he gets what he deserves.
Wayne's Wings

By lunchtime on Friday, June 11, the highly anticipated second location of San Antonio's award-winning Wayne's Wings will officially open.

The restaurant, owned by Dwayne Price, invited guests into the 11600 Bandera Road location earlier this week for a soft opening, but Friday at 11 a.m. will be the grand opening reveal.
Courtesy of Brian Billeck, Trader's Village Marketing

This Saturday, June 12, Trader's Village debuts a much-anticipated 10-acre sunflower field, located within San Antonio. Visitors will have the opportunity to frolic and photo-op through various paths and a maze while admiring the fresh flowers.

The site will host a variety of fair-like festivities,including live music from the Fleeks, a petting zoo, and an inflatable slide free with admission. Patrons will also have the chance to consume an array of concessions. Buzz, the official 'spokesbee' for the sunflower field, will be buzzing around to say hello while you enjoy the flowers.
It's a holy herb that's been mentioned in the Bible. The Romans first honed in on its still-current popularity in baths, beds, clothes and hair. It's even become popular as an ice cream flavor.

And in Texas, it serves as a much loved and economically important crop in the Hill Country.

In Blanco, Texas, Hill Country Lavender was the first commercial lavender producer in Texas, according to Southern Living. Now, fields of the purple dream can be found throughout the state's limestone soil fields.

Although lavender season usually begins in late May each year, the deep freeze throughout the state pushed back the royal debut to June, so there's still time to throw on a prairie dress and enjoy the Lone Star blooms.

Blanco Lavender Festival | 8241 FM 165, Blanco

The sixteenth annual Blanco Lavender Festival will kick off Friday, June 11 and run until June 13. Included in the schedule is a lavender cocktail-making class, cooking class and a lesson on growing your own lavender. The farm will sell fresh-squeezed lavender lemonade, handmade lavender cookies, lavender plants and other goodies from their field. The complete schedule can be viewed on their website.

Vino & Lavender | 464 Becker Farms Road, Stonewall

There's hardly a more calming duo that lavender and wine. The Becker family brought the two together when deciding to plant lavender at their vineyard after a trip to France where they studied the ancient history of the herb in Europe. At Becker Vineyards near Fredericksburg, visitors can taste the estate's wines and snack on small bites while enjoying their lavender fields. The property's Lavender Manager, Chris Perrenoud, offers lavender products in the tasting room, including soaps, eye pillows to put you straight to sleep, sachets, lotion, shower gel, grapeseed scrub, lip balm, and candles.

Ponies & Blooms | 401 Burnett Ranch Road, Wimberley

Another dual farm, Rough Creek Lavender Fields is also a working roping horse ranch. It's the oldest and largest lavender farm in the Wimberley Valley, and one of the closest lavender escapes near San Antonio, being just over an hour from the heart of downtown. Rough Creek prides itself in creating a special experience for those "looking to get back to the country and experience a simpler, peaceful life." Visitors can walk through the fields, pick their own lavender, and shop that farm's store that also sells lavender pet products.
A former Wyndham on the River Walk will undergo a $50 million renovation to transform it into a dazzling four-star luxury hotel.

On June 10, Scarlett Hotel Group and Trailbreak Partners announced the purchase of the former Wyndham San Antonio River Walk at 111 E Pecan Street A $50 million overhaul will turn the building into a "luxury, full-service, four-star, 390-room InterContinental."

As part of the multimillion-dollar upgrades, the new InterContinental will offer 40,000 square feet of meeting space and nearly 3,000 square feet of dining and restaurant space, as well as luxury rooftop amenities. (We do love a luxurious rooftop.)

Courtesy, Scarlett Hotel Group

The 21-story building, originally built as an office building in 1958, is near both the River Walk and Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, a location the new owners say was part of the property's appeal.

RELATED: New luxury hotel Thompson San Antonio will open with 2 restaurants soon downtown, one headed by chef Steve McHugh

"Turning this property into a luxury hotel is an amazing opportunity for us to contribute to the city of San Antonio," says Zio Pekovic, principal and co-founder of SHG, in a release. "San Antonio has been ranked within the top three cities for conferences for many years, and we're proud to bring a luxury hotel brand like InterContinental into the central business district, minutes from the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center."

Downtown San Antonio has seen a boon in luxury hotel properties in recent years, including the recent opening of the Thompson San Antonio earlier this year, the St. Anthony Hotel's $24 million "face lift" in 2015, and the opening of Hotel Emma, also in 2015. Once open in the Alamo City, InterContinental, which includes locations in Dallas and Houston, will join the city's growing list of four-star hotels.

"The InterContinental brand is recognized by travelers around the world for unparalleled luxury, sophistication and superior, personalized service and we are excited to partner with SHG and Trailbreak Partners to bring the brand to the San Antonio's landmark River Walk," says Julienne Smith, senior vice president of development, Americas, IHG.

No word yet on when construction is scheduled to begin, but the InterContinental San Antonio is scheduled to open in early 2023.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Florida's state Board of Education banned critical race theory from public school classrooms Thursday, adopting new rules it said would shield schoolchildren from curricula that could distort historical events.

Florida's move was widely expected as a national debate intensifies about how race should be used as a lens in classrooms to examine the country's tumultuous history.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared by video at the top of the board's meeting, urging its members, many of whom he appointed, to adopt the new measures he asserted would serve students with the facts rather than trying to indoctrinate them with ideology.

The Black Lives Matter movement has helped bring contentious discussions about race to the forefront of American discourse, and classrooms have become a battleground. Supporters contend that federal law has preserved the unequal treatment of people on the basis of race and that the country was founded on the theft of land and labor.

Opponents of critical race theory say schoolchildren should not be taught that America is fundamentally racist. Governors and legislatures in Republican-led states around the country are considering or have signed into law bills that would limit how teachers can frame American history.

Both sides accuse the other of politicizing classroom instruction and violating the free speech rights of countless people by limiting the allowable points of view.

Florida law already requires schools to provide instruction on a host of fundamentals, including the Declaration of Independence, the Holocaust and African American history, but the topics have often been muddled. Current events, including the killings of Black people by police, have intensified debates.

Some have called for a faithful interpretation of U.S. history that honors the founding of the country  as a rebellion against oppressive British rule. But some Americans  particularly Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans  argue that dissenting perspectives are often missing from text books and classroom discussions.

The new rules say classroom instruction must be factual and objective, and may not suppress or distort significant historical events. It goes on to mention the Holocaust, slavery and the Civil War, as well as the civil rights movement and the contributions of Blacks, Hispanics and women to the country.

But it also makes specific mention of theories that distort historical events that are inconsistent with board policy, including any teaching that denies the Holocaust or espouses critical race theory, which the new rules say asserts that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons.

During his brief appearance Thursday, DeSantis called it outrageous how some instructors are deviating from what he and others consider the fundamentals of history.

Some of this stuff is, I think, really toxic, DeSantis told the school board. I think its going to cause a lot of divisions. I think itll cause people to think of themselves more as a member of particular race based on skin color, rather than based on the content of their character and based on their hard work and what theyre trying to accomplish in life.

The Florida Education Association had called on the board to reject the proposal.

The association, which represents teachers across Florida, called on the board to strip away inflammatory language from the proposed rules. A particular sore point was the use of indoctrinate in the rule, which the union says presents an overly negative view of classroom instruction. That word, however, remained in the rules adopted by the board.

The job of educators is to challenge students with facts and allow them to question and think critically about information, and thats the antithesis of indoctrination, Cathy Boehme, a public policy advocate for the association, told the board. No matter our color, background or ZIP Code, we want our kids to have an education that imparts honesty about who we are, integrity and how we treat others, and courage to do whats right.

More than two dozen members of the public spoke on the matter, their opinions divided and impassioned. The board meeting, held at a state college in Jacksonville, was briefly recessed when one speaker went over his time limit and began chanting in support of teachers.

One woman implored the board to reject the new rules, saying it was important for children to learn about how the legacies of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow still created an uneven playing field for Black people.

Others spoke about how an individual's interpretation of history could reflect personal agendas and biases that could lead to the proselytization of children.

The new rules also forbids use of the 1619 Project, a classroom program spawned by a New York Times project that focuses on teaching about slavery and African American history. The projects name refers to the year popularly believed to be when slaves were first brought to colonial America.
There are lots of surprises that come with the responsibility of being a homeowner  and some surprises are more adorable than others.

One local homeowner, Scott Walters, was somewhat surprised to see a pack of young armadillos tearing up his backyard earlier this month, though he wasnt all too bothered.

I like to share my yard with the local critters, Walters wrote on NextDoor, alerting his neighbors in the Deerfield neighborhood of the Armadillo Party in his backyard. They were here first after all.

READ MORE: Invasive pink snail eggs are popping up on San Antonio's River Walk

Walters tells MySA.com that he put two and two together, realizing that the young armadillos were extremely local (they are Texas's state small mammal as of 1995, after all). His backyard, which he says is long and deep, shares a fence with five of his neighbors, one of which recently had a litter of four armadillos born underneath their deck. Walters says a few of his other neighbors have also seen the armadillos, but he got close enough to catch the critters in the act.

They were just digging away to their little hearts content, Walters jokes.

While he says another neighbor with a pristine yard very quickly shooed away the mammals, Walters has taken a different approach to the armadillo invasion.

I sort of let nature take its course. I could cover up the holes as they dig them, but once it rains it kind of fills the hole in a little bit, Walters tells MySA.com. My backyard is not nicely manicured, so Im not too worried about it.

The nature aspect of the neighborhood is part of the reason why Walters and his wife Laurie bought the home about 2 years ago. With a backyard with plenty of room for extra guests, Walters says hes made a bit of a game out of the armadillo sightings with his 8-year-old daughter, Abigail.

We see them usually every day, Walters explains. He says this allows him to ask Abigail how many armadillos shes seen and where in the yard each day.

READ MORE: The internet is amazed by S.A. Zoo's hippo Timothy and his aquatic zoomies

Theyre still coming around. Theyre still doing well, he clarifies. When its one by himself or herself, they seem to be a little skittish, but when theyre all together not so much.

Aside from the roll of armadillos, which Walters says are close to full grown now due to eating well, the family has seen foxes, opossums, and even hawks on occasion. They have also seen a pair of great horned owls, which Walters jokes were like a husband and wife that hooted at each other very loudly.

Though other locals may not be as enthusiastic about animals and nature as he is, Walters feels it is important to keep their distance from the armadillos should they encounter some in their own neighborhood.

The first time I saw the armadillos, I walked up to them and I petted them, Walters admits, saying the critters were younger and very docile. Theyre not terribly cuddly.

Though he couldnt help himself, Walters advises other locals from making that same mistake.

Theyre cute and ugly at the same time, I think more cute than ugly, Walters says. They do carry leprosy and Hansons disease. If you do come into contact with one, you may want to wash your hands afterward.

You heard it here first from the armadillo whisperer, San Antonio.
StackCommerce

Summer's just around the corner, and now that we're approaching some semblance of normal life, we understand if you are looking to connect with just about everyone you meet, whenever you can. American Sign Language is the perfect language to pick up so that you can connect with everybody in your community, possibly boost your resume, and learn a skill you will keep with you for the rest of your life. Sure, the year of pandemic has pockets feeling tight, but who said that learning ASL had to be expensive?

Allow us to introduce you to The Ultimate Learn Sign Language Bundle. Just like any other language out there, American Sign Language is pretty nuanced, so your best bet for learning is to take a reliable course. With 21 courses that focus on the most important parts of sign language, your money goes right to work with this bundle.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Bloombergs headline is forthright: Bribing People to Get Vaccines Just Might Be Working in U.S. In this short post, Ill try to tease out some of the civics lessons of the vaccine rollout  normalizing bribery among them. I dont mean to moralize; after all, I supported Operation Warp Speed, even though it would obviously empower Big Pharma, because given the givens it was the best way to get jabs into arms as rapidly as possible (and possibly we could disempower Big Pharma after the fact). Similarly, if bribery is what it takes to vaccinate as many (willing) people as possible, then so be it. That said, if we start bribing citizens to get vaccinated, what else are we going to end up needing to bribe them to do?

The bribes  or, as Bloomberg also calls them, incentives  take various forms:

President Joe Bidens announcement last week that Anheuser-Busch InBev would give away beer was the latest bid to bribe hesitant Americans to get vaccinated. Other public officials have dangled empanadas, guns and even cold, hard cash. As the administration aims to get at least one shot into 70% of Americans by the Fourth of July, the gimmicks appear to be working. Vaccinations surged in the past month among the young people typically targeted by the campaigns. About 44% of 18-24 year olds have now received at least one shot, up from 34% a month earlier.

Bloomberg doesnt mention it, but both Ohio and Manitoba offer scholarships, which, moralizing huffily, strikes me as a state taking a more high-minded view of its citizens than offering beer. That said, since the bribes target youth, the civics lesson for the next generation of citizens is that government really works by quid pro quo. Bloomberg goes on:

One key to the incentives effectiveness is that theyve been bespoke, said Austin Hall, a psychiatrist at the University of North Carolina who has worked to ease hesitancy among patients with severe mental illness. The more diverse the incentives that are offered, I think that we can capture that many more people, Hall said.

AFAIK, mobile vaccine units (like those in Maine), workplace-focused solutions (like vaccinating everyone in a plant), or, for those essential workers with scheduling issues, vaccination on demand[1], are not the norm. Instead, you go to a large venue like a stadiums or a school, line up, and get vaccinated in your turn. So the civics lesson here, for the youth, is that government does not take your working life into account when delivering services. When you hear the word diverse, class is always silenced. So, not bespoke that way.

Now, to be fair to Bloomberg, they immediately give an example of a vaccination drive that doesnt involve bribery:

In Chelsea, a predominantly young and Latino city near Boston that has been one of Massachusetts virus hotspots, health officials organized a vaccination party in late May attended by 120 people, replete with music and Latin American food like empanadas and pupusas. Theyre planning a follow-up so that attendees can get second shots. The parties reflect widespread efforts, from door-to-door visits to mobile vans, that have boosted Chelseas partial vaccination rate to roughly the state average. The city is working with local nonprofits to encourage vaccination, catching young people wherever possible, said City Manager Tom Ambrosino.

Personally, I wouldnt throw lotteries and block parties into the bucket labeled incentives, bespoke or not, because the cash nexus isnt the same thing as community building. More importantly, the civics lesson here is that government services are bespoke, and not delivered universally or in a standardized way. (On the one hand, its clear that trust is important for vaccine uptake, trust is in short supply, and trust may be most easily found in a highly granular way; Black barbershops, for example. On the other hand, delivering services through their dense and partly billionaire-funded bailey of NGOs is what liberal Democrats would do.) To contrast the universal vs. the bespoke approach, we can look at the vaccine rollout of the Sabin sugar cube vaccine for polio. From the University of Cincinatti:

On three consecutive Sundays  Sabin Sundays  in 1960, millions of families lined up at churches and schools across the country to swallow a spoonful of pink syrup or a sugar cube treated with a life-saving polio vaccine, developed by [University of Cincinatti] researcher Albert Sabin.

And in more detail, from the Weirton, WV Daily Times:

[T]he first Sabin vaccine would be distributed through a S.O.S., or a Sabin On Sunday program aimed at successfully eradicating polio. The date in our region was Sunday, Dec. 2, 1962, at 35 clinics throughout the seven-county area. Each site would have two physicians, two nurses and at least 16 volunteers on hand for the distribution. Drs. Sanford Press and Jonathan Yobbaggy were chairmen of the Jefferson County drive. The vaccine would be stored in the freezers of the Jefferson County Home on Sunset Boulevard until it was transported to the sites the day of the S.O.S. The Kroger Co., through its stores in the seven-county region, provided the needed sugar cubes upon which the vaccine was administered. Participants were asked for a 25-cent donation, if possible, for the vaccine. Throughout November 1962, promotional materials were distributed through the media explaining the Sabin vaccine. The Type I distribution would be administered to anyone 6 weeks or older on a sugar cube, and was recommended to be taken by anyone who had already received the earlier Salk vaccine. Dr. John W. Young, the county health commissioner, issued several newspaper stories, in addition to Press and all the medical societies of the seven counties. Volunteers were assembled by Drs. Earl Rosenblum, Carl Goll and Paul W. Ruksha. The Wintersville Citizen newspaper reported that nearly 6,000 people took the vaccine at the Wintersville clinic from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on that Sunday, one of the largest clinics attended, with more than 30 volunteers working that day. A second clinic was held a month later, and a third clinic was needed. A make-up clinic was held for all of Jefferson County on Dec. 8, 1962, at the City Building with another 1,163 taking the vaccine, for a total number of 51,052 having received the Sabin vaccine by the end of 1962 in Jefferson County. The S.O.S. Clinic for Type 2 of the Sabin vaccine was held Jan. 20, 1963, and more than 50,000 received the second vaccine in Jefferson County. The third S.O.S. Clinic was in March and a similar number received the final vaccine.

Granted, 1962 was a different era. Nevertheless, polio was eradicated (that is, vaccine equity was achieved). The civics lesson for our own rollout, as distinct from Sabin on Sundays is that national mobilization is not a thing. I cant recall any discussion at all of a similar approach in 2020 or 2021.

So lets review. The civics lessons from our vaccine rollout  and these are common to the Biden Administration and the Former Guy  are as follows:

1) Government works by quid pro quo;

2) Government does not take your working life into account when delivering services;

3) The delivery of government services is not universal but bespoke;

4) National mobilization is not a thing.

Now lets do climate!

NOTES

[1] New York Times: What might help this situation, added Mr. Grayson, is if it was like Dominos Pizza and you could call someone and say, Can I get my shot? And they come give it to you.'
By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans.

In a week thats seen me post on three depressing environmental topics  U.S. non-adherence to the Basel Convention, a UN report on soil pollution, and cyclone damage to the Sundarbans, Im pleased to report some good news: the Canadian developer of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, TC Energy and the government of the province of Alberta, has abandoned the project, which would have transported 800,000 barrels of petroleum per day from Canadian tar sands to Nebraska, and then onward through existing pipelines to to the Gulf Coast.

Cancellation was expected after Biden on his first day in office revoked a construction permit for the pipeline. As the New York Times reported in The Keystone XL pipeline project has been terminated.:

On the day he was inaugurated, Mr. Biden, who has vowed to make tackling climate change a centerpiece of his administration, rescinded the construction permit for the pipeline, which developers had sought to build for over a decade. That same day, TC Energy, the company behind the project, said it was suspending work on the line. On Wednesday, the company wrote in a statement that it will continue to coordinate with regulators, stakeholders and Indigenous groups to meet its environmental and regulatory commitments and ensure a safe termination of and exit from the project.

Keystone XL would have expanded the original Keystone pipeline. Planning for the extension commenced at a time when oil market conditions were very different from those that prevail today. According to the WSJ in What Is the Keystone XL Pipeline and Why Did President Biden Issue an Executive Order to Block It?:

The expansion was originally conceived when oil prices were at historic highsjust before the 2008 financial crisis and American shale oil boomas an artery that would pump 500,000 barrels of Canadian crude more than 1,700 miles from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The line, which is now partially built but not operating, was eventually expected to transport 830,000 barrels of oil 1,210 miles from the Canadian oil sands to Steele City, Neb., where it would link to existing pipelines heading to Gulf Coast refineries.

Solid opposition and protest from environmental groups has in recent years hindered construction of pipelines. In 2015, Trumps predecessor declined to approve a construction permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Trump made good on campaign promises to support the Keystone XL project and other fossil fuel pipelines, via executive orders and other policies, as I discussed in Trump Approves Keystone XL Pipeline, Making Good on Campaign Promise:

[Trumps] decision to approve the [Keystone XL] pipeline reverses a 2015 decision to scupper the project. That earlier decision was made over concerns that to do otherwise would undercut the apparent US leadership role in efforts to fight climate change, as reported in 2015 by The New York Times in Citing Climate Change, Obama Rejects Construction of Keystone XL Oil Pipeline: America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change, Mr. Obama said in remarks from the White House. And, frankly, approving this project would have undercut ]that global leadership. Despite those ostensible concerns, the previous administration allowed major expansion of US fossil fuel production via fracking (and withheld a key report on environmental consequences until well into lame-duck status, as I discussed in this December 2016 post, EPA Concludes: Fracking Harms Drinking Water).

Reactions to cancellation of the pipeline were predictable. On one side, according to the NYT:

Environmental activists cheered the move and used the moment to urge Mr. Biden to rescind the Trump-era permits granted to another pipeline, the Enbridge Line 3, which would carry Canadian oil across Minnesota. Hundreds of protesters were arrested earlier this week in protests against that project. The termination of this zombie pipeline sets precedent for President Biden and polluters to stop Line 3, Dakota Access, and all fossil fuel projects, said Kendall Mackey, a campaign manager with 350.org, a climate advocacy group. This victory puts polluters and their financiers on notice: Terminate your fossil fuel projects now  or a relentless mass movement will stop them for you.

BREAKING: The Keystone XL oil pipeline has officially been abandoned by its developers. Organizing works.  Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) June 9, 2021

Victory! When this fight began, people thought Big Oil couldnt be beat, said Bill #McKibben, who led sit-ins against #Keystone XL in 2011 at the White House. But when enough people rise up were stronger even than the richest #fossil fuel companies.https://t.co/q4rP4LjI1U  Reinhard Butikofer (@bueti) June 10, 2021

The prevailing reaction of fossil fuel proponents was also not a surprise. Again as per the NYT:

On Capitol Hill, Republicans slammed Mr. Biden. President Biden killed the Keystone XL pipeline and with it, thousands of good-paying American jobs, said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy committee. On Inauguration Day, the president signed an executive order that ended pipeline construction and handed one thousand workers pink slips. Now, ten times that number of jobs will never be created. At a time when gasoline prices are spiking, the White House is celebrating the death of a pipeline that would have helped bring Americans relief.

The Bottom Line

Biden administration policy on its face appears less congenial to fossil fuel producers than Trumps policy was. Whether that apparent shift represents a sincere change in emphasis, or is just a consequence of lower fossil fuel prices, isnt altogether clear to this cynical observer.

Ill however celebrate victories where I find them. This appear to be one.
An Intricate Rube Goldberg Chain Reaction Machine That Feeds Squirrels and Other Small Backyard Critters Laughing Squid

Huge new dinosaur the size of two double decker buses discovered in Australia The Telegraph

G-7 Stock Markets Imply Catastrophic Global Warming of 3C Bloomberg

CEOs and investors push world leaders for stronger climate action Reuters

Military Operations Will be Strained by Climate Change Scientific American

Ifyoucantbeatemjoinemitis Chris Jones, IIHR Research Engineer. Very interesting on EOF (Edge of Field) practice to capture nitrates:

The Ag advocacy organizations form a wagon circle around the idea that the industry needs a license to pollute. There are so many of these groups that they form coalitions of groups just to keep it all straight. Its not all one big happy Family (I capitalize family here intentionally because they call themselves The Family) but they are laser-focused on keeping Iowa farming unregulated. Its the sine qua non of Iowa ag and politics. Take your eye off that ball and youll get beaned by the big right-hander. Making the public think the industry is dedicated to an Iowa with clean water is integral to maintaining an unregulated countryside.

#COVID19

Identifying and Tracking SARS-CoV-2 Variants  A Challenge and an Opportunity NEJM

Vaccinated Consumers Are Now About as Likely as the Unvaccinated to Express Comfort With a Return to Normal Morning Consult

Many More Americans Would Be Vaccinated if Our Health Care System Wasnt So Terrifying The New Republic

Johns Hopkins announces COVID-19 vaccine mandate for faculty, staff Johns Hopkins University/

Plexiglass Is Everywhere, With No Proof It Keeps Covid at Bay Bloomberg

Observational Study on 255 Mechanically Ventilated Covid Patients at the Beginning of the USA Pandemic (preprint) (PDF) medRxiv. From the Results:  By discharge or Day 90, 78.2% of the cohort expired. The most common pre-existing conditions were hypertension, (63.5%), diabetes (59.2%) and obesity (50.4%). Age correlated with death. Comorbidities and clinical status on presentation were not predictive of outcome. Admission markers of inflammation were universally elevated (>96%). The cohorts weight range was nearly 7-fold. Causal modeling establishes that weight-adjusted HCQ and AZM therapy improves survival by over 100%. From the Discussion: The weight ranges of Covid patient cohorts are substantially greater than those of most antibiotic RCTs. Future clinical trials need to consider the weight variance of hospitalized Covid patients and need to study therapeutics more thoughtfully.

Heartache, compounded High Country News
I was always trying to [figure out] what the secret of his success was  and in my analysis, one of the secrets is that he was not someone who needed to have his name in the headlines, added Berman. He was willing to work behind the scenes and he was willing to give other people credit.
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).

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(Natural News) The surging homeless population in Los Angeles now accounts for 54 percent of all fires set this year. During the first quarter of 2021, the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) had to fight an average of 24 fires each day, with many of them due to the thousands of homeless encampments that litter the city and county.

According to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, over 66,000 homeless people are living in Los Angeles. This represents a 13 percent increase in the citys pre-pandemic homeless population. (Related: Homelessness in LA-LA Land Los Angeles getting WORSE under Democrats who blame the GOP for ignoring the NEEDY.)

An analysis of the fire departments records suggests that fires related to homelessness had doubled in all of the LAFDs 14 districts since 2018 when they first had complete records of homeless-related blazes.

In 2018, the LAFD responded to 2,978 homelessness-related fires, accounting for slightly under 30 percent of all fires that year. In 2019 that number rose to 3,662 fires and slightly under 36 percent of all fires.

In 2020 the number of homelessness-related fires  and all fires, in general  skyrocketed. The LAFD recorded responding to 14,405 fires, with 6,788 of them  or 47 percent  related to homelessness.

The fires were most prevalent in downtown and South Los Angeles. But the north side of the city, from the San Fernando Valley to Northeast Los Angeles, has also experienced a significant rise in fires.

The surge in the homeless population and the fires that follow them is another indication that city and county officials are not properly handling the crisis. This sentiment is echoed in parts of the city and county where the homeless populations concentrate, with residents and business owners in the area saying their concerns are not being heard.

Homeless people use heaters and cooking fires that can start large blazes

According to LAFD Capt. Erik Scott, the homeless population brings with it several hazards such as the heaters they use on cold nights and the propane tanks and other fires they start to cook their food. He added that these potential hazards increase significantly on windy days, when the fires can spread even more rapidly than they already do.

One of our concerns is fires in tents where people experiencing homelessness are sleeping  where they could be injured or even die  and fires that start against a building and spread into the structure, said Scott. Flames from those fires can spread into the brush in wildland areas, or to nearby buildings in urban areas or inside vacant buildings.

Armando Hogan, the deputy chief of operations for the LAFDs West Bureau, wondered why the fires are starting in homeless encampments.

Is it a simple matter of these folks just need a place to go and eat? Is it a bigger matter of individuals having problems within each other in the encampments? Is it just a warming issue? asked Hogan.

Hogan and other LAFD officials are hoping they can educate the homeless population  and the general public  on safe cooking practices to avoid fires.

If I can educate them a little bit more on maybe not cooking inside the tent, said Hogan. We dont want to encourage just having open cooking there on the sidewalk, but were trying to look at alternatives.

While a majority of the fires have been classified as accidental, around a third of the homelessness-related blazes recorded since 2018 have been classified as arson attacks. Arrests for these fires are rare, with only 303 people arrested for arson over the past two years. This represents a dismally low clearance rate of about six percent.

On May 3, a video went viral on social media showing someone throwing what looked like flaming material into a tent at a homeless encampment at the Venice Beach boardwalk.

On May 18, one homeless person was arrested and charged for committing arson attacks in the wealthy Pacific Palisades neighborhood. The fire he started ignited 1,158 acres of brush.

Los Angeles officials unwilling to find permanent solution to homeless crisis

A majority of the fires are small, usually limited to dumpsters and piles of trash. The most common outcome of these small fires is the destruction of several tents or other homeless shelters. But many more fires are costly and tragic.

In 2020, seven homeless people died in fires in Los Angeles. Fires that begin in homeless camps lined up right next to businesses have caused tens of millions of dollars in damages.

LAFD Fire Chief Ralph M. Terrazas recently toured through the Skid Row neighborhood with representatives from nearby business districts to discuss their concerns regarding the homeless encampments. Despite this show of interest, business leaders still do not believe city leaders are listening to them.

Venice Chamber of Commerce President George Francisco said city officials had not offered any concrete solutions to protect businesses and residents from encroaching homeless encampments.

No one is trying to solve this problem [because it would] cripple the largest financial business in Venice, which is social services, said Francisco. The emergency shelters city officials set up contract nonprofit organizations to operate them.

The reputation Los Angeles officials are getting for not taking the homeless crisis has been compounded by recent statements and actions from prominent officials.

When the suspect of the Pacific Palisades arson attack was arrested, the persons status as a homeless person was widely brought up. Bonin responded on Twitter:

Arson is a crime committed by a person and not by their housing status. Suggesting the suspects housing status is a contributing factor to the crime is irresponsible, and implies other people experiencing homelessness are inherently more dangerous or more likely to commit arson than housed people.

Luis Perez, the general manager of the Venice Beach Bar, told The Epoch Times that he has seen homeless people get bussed into the boardwalk from other cities. At the start of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Bonin declared the Venice boardwalk a sanctuary zone for homeless people.

All the people who actually were here for years went away, because I havent seen anyone who used to be around here, said Perez.

I do realize that as a situation we got to find a place to help these people out, but I personally just dont believe that a beautiful state park in a business district is the right place to allow for that to be a sanctuary area.

Learn more about how Los Angeles and other cities in California are failing to deal with their problems by reading the latest articles at Collapsifornia.com.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

FoxNews.com

Breitbart.com

LATimes.com

Twitter.com
(Natural News) Over 500 Republicans in the state of Georgia have signed a letter urging Governor Brian Kemp to conduct a forensic audit into the 2020 election results.

(Article republished from BigLeaguePolitics.com)

The letter, signed by 531 Republican precinct leaders, grassroots activists and delegates to the upcoming Georgia GOP convention, demands for an independent forensic audit to take place through the convening of a Special Session.

We believe that anyone who has a problem with a statewide forensic audit in Georgia has something to hide, the letter reads. Our goals are simple: we want to discover the underlying problems that occurred last year and ensure that we never make those same mistakes again.

These Republicans are making the argument that many in Georgia did not have the right to know that your vote counted because elected officials in both parties mishandled the 2020 presidential election, and as a result, the integrity of that election is in question.

Rep. Vernon Jones, a defector from the Democrat Party who will be challenging Kemp for governor, and tea party leader Debbie Dooley organized the letter. Kemps office is arguing the fraud that occurred in 2020 should not be investigated for the purposes of moving forward.

To ensure that it is easy to vote and hard to cheat in Georgia, Gov. Kemp was proud to sign S.B. 202 into law, Mallory Blount, Kemps press secretary, said to the Washington Examiner, which broke the story of the Georgia Republicans letter.

By requiring a photo ID to vote absentee, securing ballot drop boxes around the clock in all 159 counties, and ensuring continuous ballot tabulation on Election Day, Gov. Kemp took action to restore trust in Georgias election system. While Gov. Kemp was disappointed with the outcome of the 2020 election, he is laser-focused on ensuring that future Georgia elections are safe, accessible, and secure, she added.

Big League Politics reported about the incredible betrayal after the 2020 presidential election by RINO leaders in Georgia, who have essentially enforced the steal on behalf of the Democrats:

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has filed a legal brief to weaken an upcoming audit of suspect ballots in his latest peculiar move to stand in the way of electoral transparency

The Secretary respectfully requests that the Court permit Petitioners to inspect ballot images only, and deny Petitioners request to inspect and scan ballots, the brief states.

Petitioners have submitted to the Court a proposed order granting their Motion to Unseal, which would grant Petitioners sweeping and unprecedented access to all ballots, the brief adds.

VoterGA claims that Raffensperger misrepresented their position in his amicus brief. They are also weary of Raffenspergers request to provide the activists with only ballot images that are curated by the Secretary of States office, rather than the actual ballot itself.

Ballots are then scanned through optical voting scanners selected and furnished by the State of Georgia pursuant to O.C.G.A.  21-2-300. Once scanned, an electronic ballot image is created and stored on a memory card, the amicus brief explains.

Using ballot images rather than the ballots themselves, Raffensperger and his goons could potentially alter the ballot information and undermine the entire audit. Considering Raffenspergers string of dishonorable and disreputable behavior since last years election, vote fraud whistleblowers are certainly wise for having these concerns.

Raffensperger believes that the common people must be kept in the dark with regards to these ballots, and only government bureaucrats  who tend to investigate themselves and find they have done nothing wrong  are qualified to inspect ballots and ensure their integrity.

The Elections Code is furthermore clear that it is only authorized elections officials who are legally permitted to verify and tabulate ballots in an election, the amicus brief states.

Moreover, the scanning and tabulation of ballots is only permitted under Georgia law to be conducted on the equipment selected and furnished by the State of Georgia, the brief continues.

Allowing Petitioners to conduct their own scan on uncertified and unknown equipment is contrary to law and would set a new and dangerous precedent going forward, it adds.

Raffensperger also argues in the brief that even if fraud were to be discovered, its too late to do anything about it now anyway.

To the extent that Petitioners are using this open records act enforcement action as a pretext for challenging the legality of ballots cast in the general election, it is too late for them to assert such a challenge now, and any request for relief would be barred by the applicable statute of limitations, the brief states.

The Georgia Republican Party is such a disaster that it might sink the national GOP and the entire nation along with it. Raffensperger and his cronies Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan will be remembered as some of the most loathsome cowards to ever serve in public office.

Authentic Republicans want a legitimate investigation, but the RINOs are standing in the way. It is the same story in Georgia as it is in the rest of the country; treasonous interests within the GOP reveal their true colors when under pressure. Its up to real Patriots to keep the pressure up.

Read more at: BigLeaguePolitics.com and VoteFraud.news.
(Natural News) A health official in China said the country cannot relax Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions despite its vaccination drive. This is because it has no way of examining the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines it has administered to its population. Chinas situation comes in contrast to that of the U.S., which eased pandemic restrictions as vaccination drives rolled out.

Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) Deputy Director-General Feng Zijian said the country has some unique difficulties with its vaccination program. Because of these difficulties, China is unable to see the real-time effects of COVID-19 vaccines as infections and fatalities winded down. As of writing, China has administered more than 40 percent of its citizens with at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.

I dont think weve got to that point [that] if we try to open [up] even when 60 or 80 percent of [the] population are vaccinated, it could still lead to a severe outbreak. It largely depends on the technical considerations, societal consensus and political concerns, Feng said during a June 3 conference in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao.

The China CDC director-general remarked that the countrys current goal is to vaccinate all citizens. He added, however: We havent figured out or decided at what rate of vaccination can we adjust containment measures. Furthermore, Feng did not elaborate on the technical considerations he mentioned.

Fengs June 3 remarks implied that China will continue to close off its borders  in contrast to other countries opening up as their populations get inoculated. Despite initial vaccine hesitancy and supply shortages, China has now administered more than 700 million COVID-19 shots. This achievement bolstered the prediction that Chinas 1.4 billion population will achieve herd immunity in a few months time.

The communist country has largely curbed new COVID-19 infections  with only one fatality related to the disease in more than a year. Based on Johns Hopkins University data, China currently has 103,176 COVID-19 cases and 4,846 fatalities.

The adverse effects linked to Chinese-made vaccines have now come to light

As of writing, it is not yet known if vaccines made in China can prevent COVID-19 transmission aside from serious sickness. But Chinese government adviser for COVID-19 Zhang Wenhong said existing vaccines used in the country still have a long way to go when it comes to their long-term effectiveness against the disease.

Zhang expressed hope that China could conditionally resume travel with some countries, but added that this would depend on the pace of vaccinations there. If we do not vaccinate fast enough, wed be unwilling to open up, he said. Despite Zhangs hopes, Chinese officials appear to have no intention of loosening strict measures  such as closed borders, strict quarantine for foreign arrivals and hard lockdowns for COVID-19 outbreaks that may pop up.

The CoronaVac vaccine manufactured by Beijing-based drug firm Sinovac Biotech is one of the vaccines being used on Chinese citizens. It has also been used in other countries such as Brazil and the Philippines. Early this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) validated it for emergency use and lauded its easy storage requirements that make it very manageable and particularly suitable for low-resource settings.

The WHOs Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) also released its complete review of the Sinovac vaccine. It recommended the use of the two-dose CoronaVac on adults 18 years old and above. Based on efficacy results scrutinized by SAGE, it prevented symptomatic disease in 51 percent of vaccinated people and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospitalization in the entire vaccinated group. (Related: Shanghai district residents refuse to take Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine.)

But before the global health bodys analysis of the vaccine, it had been connected to a number of vaccine deaths in Hong Kong. The special administrative region approved the Sinovac vaccine candidate for use in COVID-19 inoculation drives there. The Epoch Times reported that three Hong Kong residents died days after they were vaccinated.

The first casualty in the city, a 63-year-old man, died on Feb. 28  two days after vaccination. Six days later on March 6, a 55-year-old woman died  four days after she got the vaccine. A third resident, a 71-year-old man, also died four days after vaccination on March 8. The first two Hong Kongers who died reportedly had underlying conditions, while the third victim was in good health before receiving the vaccine. (Related: Hong Kong reports third post-vaccination fatality in ongoing Sinovac immunization drive.)

Head over to Vaccines.news to read more articles about COVID-19 vaccinations in China.

Sources include:

Bloomberg.com

Coronavirus.JHU.edu

WHO.int

TheEpochTimes.com
(Natural News) In October 2019, the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security co-sponsored the pandemic exercise, Event 201.

(Article republished from ChildrenHealthDefense.org)

A little more than a year later, when the Event 201 scenario morphed from hypothetical to concrete, it became clear that sponsors of the event intended to see the majority of the world vaccinated against COVID-19.

Accomplishing this goal is a monumental challenge, however. In the U.S., more than one-third (38% to 45%) of adults continue to decline the unlicensed, Emergency Use Authorization injections, despite a marketing blitz that has included both carrots (ranging from the chance to win cash payments to a free order of fries) and sticks (such as nasty calls to get personal and shun the unvaccinated).

U.S. gov funded vaccine research to the tune of $9 billion+, spent $22 billion to support vaccine distribution, shelled out another $10 billion to expand access + $3 billion to spend on ad campaign to combat vaccine hesitancy. #TheDefenderhttps://t.co/TxqaIHWiS0  Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 25, 2021

Although some of the uninjected tell pollsters they plan to eventually get the vaccine, a solid minority remains committed to never doing so. The same pattern appears to hold true globally: Roughly one-third of adults worldwide said they will not take a COVID shot.

While social and behavioral science researchers apply soft science techniques in an attempt to maneuver vaccine confidence into more acquiescent territory, bench scientists have a different option potentially waiting in the wings  genetically engineered vaccines that move through populations in the same way as communicable diseases, spreading on their own from host to host.

Not mainstream (yet)

In theory, self-spreading vaccines (also referred to as self-disseminating or autonomous) can be designed to be either transferable (restricted to a single round of transmission) or transmissible (capable of indefinite transmission).

Vaccine scientists concede transmissible vaccines are still not mainstream, but the revolution in genome engineering poises them to become so.

The makers of self-disseminating vaccines use recombinant vector technology to build genetic material from a target pathogen onto the chassis of a viral vector deemed benign, innocuous or avirulent. This is similar to the viral vector approach used to produce the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca COVID vaccines.

For Johns Hopkins, the appeal of vaccines that are intentionally engineered to be self-disseminating seems obvious. The universitys Center for Health Security made its case explicit in a 2018 report, Technologies to Address Global Catastrophic Biological Risks. The report stated, These vaccines could dramatically increase vaccine coverage in human  populations without requiring each individual to be inoculated.

Further spelling out the utilitarian implications of self-disseminating vaccines, the reports authors stated, only a small number of vaccinated individuals would be required to confer protection to a larger susceptible population, thus eliminating the need for mass vaccination operations.

From a programmatic standpoint, this strategy would have the advantage of being cheaper than vaccinating everyone by hand. Perhaps even more significantly, however, it would override one of the thorny ethical questions that mass vaccination programs routinely wrestle with: informed consent.

As the universitys Center for Health Security briefly acknowledged in its report, self-disseminating vaccines would essentially make it impossible for those to whom the vaccine subsequently spreads to provide informed consent at all.

Blame the animals

Writing in 2020 in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers observed that viral zoonoses (diseases theorized to jump from animals to humans) have become an entrenched part of the global mindset and a central element of the pandemic-obsessed global health zeitgeist.

Despite SARS-CoV-2s unproven zoonotic origins (cast into doubt by figures such as Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the past years coronavirus hype has helped reinforce the popular perception that wildlife populations represent a menacing cauldron of latent viral threats  requiring only the right set of circumstances to spring into humanity-endangering action.

Parlaying the COVID moment into a convenient scientific opportunity, researchers suggest that the purported failure to contain the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic furnishes a rationale for accelerating the rollout of self-disseminating vaccines. As some journalists have phrased the question du jour, Wouldnt it be great if wild animals could be inoculated against the various diseases they host so that those microbes never get a chance to spread to humans?

Transmissible-vaccine research also has ascended the list of funding priorities for government agencies like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and, reportedly, donors such as the Gates Foundation.

At least officially, the primary focus of self-spreading vaccine research has thus far been on wildlife populations. Although the practice of direct wildlife vaccination (for example, against rabies) has been around since the 1960s, it is the longstanding efforts to develop sterilizing vaccines in wildlife (euphemistically called immunocontraception), as well as recent advances in genetic engineering, that have provided a foundation for transmissible-vaccine research.

Researchers explain how the targeting of wildlife reservoirs is intended to work:

The idea, essentially, is to vaccinate a small proportion of a [wildlife] population through direct inoculation. These so-called founders will then passively spread the vaccine to other animals they encounter either by touch, sex, nursing, or breathing the same air. Gradually, these interactions could build up population-level immunity.

When put to the test by Spanish researchers in a limited field trial in rabbits, about 50% of the unvaccinated rabbits developed antibodies after being housed with vaccinated rabbits who had received a transmissible vaccine either via injection or orally. When the researchers assessed second-generation transmission (that is, development of antibodies in another batch of rabbits moved in with the first batch of unvaccinated rabbits), the transmission rate was much lower (two of 24 rabbits).

What could possibly go wrong?

As the Johns Hopkins report made clear in 2018, there is no technical reason why the self-spreading approach could not be applied to humans. The authors admitted to several big challenges, however, including the fact that autonomous vaccines (as mentioned above) would render informed consent a moot point and would make it impossible to screen individuals for contraindications such as allergies.

According to Johns Hopkins and others, another major challenge is the not insignificant risk of the vaccine virus reverting to wild-type virulence, creating an opportunity for the vaccines to propagate disease rather than prevent it.

In fact, the world is already familiar with this phenomenon in the form of oral polio vaccines. Though not intentionally designed that way, oral polio vaccines are considered a little bit transmissible and are acknowledged to cause polio.

Hopkins researchers pointedly characterized the reversion challenge as both a medical risk and a public perception risk. Another Catch-22 articulated in the universitys report is that while reversion risks could perhaps be lessened by engineering the vaccines to be more weakly transmissible, this could defeat the purpose of getting vaccines to go on their own.

On the other hand, the two scientists who are most strongly promoting transmissible vaccines argue that even  where reversion is frequent, [their] performance will often substantially exceed that of conventional, directly administered vaccines.

These same authors have also developed models suggesting that starting the transmissible ball rolling with direct vaccination of newborns could be particularly impactful.

In September 2020, two researchers writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists agreed that self-spreading vaccines may have significant downsides and could entail serious risks, particularly given that scientists lose control of their creation once released. They noted, While it may turn out to be technically feasible to fight emerging infectious diseases  with self-spreading viruses, and while the benefits may be significant, how does one weigh those benefits against what may be even greater risks? They outlined several additional questions:

Who makes the decisions about the where and when of the vaccines release?

What happens when there are unexpected outcomes and unintended consequences such as mutation, species-jumping or border-crossing? About unintended consequences, the two authors added, There always are.

What about bioweapons and dual use risks  that is, using the technology to deliberately cause harm rather than prevent disease? Advances in pharmacogenomics, drug development and personalized medicine, the two noted, could enable ultra-targeted biological warfare.

On the latter point, the Bulletin authors drew readers attention to immunocontraception efforts in animals as well as an infamous example of weaponized biology against humans in apartheid-era South Africa, called Project Coast, which sought  reportedly unsuccessfully  to develop an infertility vaccine to be used on black women without their knowledge.

Other scientists have made an even more direct case against transmissible vaccines, arguing the risks of autonomously spreading vaccines do, in fact, far outweigh potential benefits. Risks, in their view, include the unpredictability of mutations of the virus, the inability to safely test at a large scale and the grave potential threat to biosecurity.

Vaccine science: many unknowns

When measles, rather than COVID, was dominating the headlines a couple years ago, the unvaccinated were heavily scapegoated for apparent outbreaks. This non-evidence-based finger-pointing (used to usher in draconian new vaccine mandates), ignored the well-documented phenomenon of measles infection spread by MMR (live measles-mumps-rubella vaccine), which has been known about for decades and has resulted in detectable measles infection in the vast majority of those who receive it.

The experimental Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines use new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology rather than the traditional live-virus technology featured in vaccines like the MMR, and thus, we are told, they cannot produce the same type of shedding.

However, many unvaccinated individuals are reporting unusual symptoms or illness after spending time in proximity to COVID-vaccinated individuals. Pointing to Pfizers protocol acknowledging the possibility of exposure via inhalation or skin contact with vaccinated individuals, concerned health professionals have raised the question of whether some novel form of shedding is occurring.

Some of the people raising these questions have pointed to the September 2020 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, subtitled, What could possibly go wrong? By May 2021, the Bulletins editors, apparently uncomfortable with the attention the September article had attracted, were trying to distance themselves by stating the Bulletins content was being misused to further conspiracy theories about highly effective and safe COVID-19 vaccines.

Whether the COVID injections are self-spreading in any sense of the word is a question that cannot currently be answered. However, there is at least one plausible molecular mechanism that could explain the observed vaccinated-to-unvaccinated shedding effects.

GreenMedInfos Sayer Ji explains that horizontal information transfer within biological systems [is] mediated by extracellular vesicles, which include a virus-like phenomenon known as microvesicle shedding and/or exosome-mediated transfer of nucleic acids. Citing a 2017 peer-reviewed study on the biology and biogenesis of shed microvesicles, Ji states:

[I]t is possible that [mRNA vaccines] do, in fact, contribute to microvesicle shedding, which represents an even greater, more persistent threat than live-cell vaccine shedding when it comes to the persistent biological impact the vaccinated can have on the unvaccinated.

What is even more certain is that scientists themselves do not have all the answers. Some may wish to believe in the possibility of simply genetically engineering a vaccine in ways that thwart its ability to evolve into something nasty. But others note the inevitability of evolutionary change resulting from [transmissible vaccines] ability to self-replicate and generate extended chains of transmission.

Techno-thriller author Michael Crichton predicted in 2002 that with the advent of nanotechnology and other technological innovations, the pace of evolutionary change was likely to be extremely rapid. Crichton cautioned, human beings have a poor record of addressing the hazards of new technologies as they arrive.

Read more at: ChildrenHealthDefense.org and Vaccines.news.
(Natural News) With two Congressional Bills recently proposed that we can support, and bipartisan measures at that, House Democrats and Republicans came together on two bills Friday to get to the bottom of how the pandemic started and to allow the families of victims to sue the Chinese Communist Party for damages stemming from its early concealment of the virus, we might soon witness the largest lawsuits in history since nearly EVERY American was a victim in some way or form of Covid-19 and the draconian lockdowns unveiled because of them.

(Article by Stefan Stanford republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

With the lockdowns themselves causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs and numerous companies to change forever if not go out of business completely, can YOU honestly say that you WERE NOT affected by Covid or the lockdowns in some way, shape or form over the past 16 months?

And with probably 327 million Americans, our entire population, affected in one way or another by Covid, even if that was just being forced to purchase and wear masks just to go into a store to buy life necessities or face arrest, wed argue that not only should the actual Covid disease victims be able to sue, but everybody else affected in one way or another as well, though well never expect to see that happen due to the nature of this crime against humanity.

And as we see in the excerpt below of this NY Post story reporting upon the proposed Bills, if passed and signed into law, the bills will not only allow victims to sue China but ANY OTHER COUNTRY that intentionally misled the international community on the outbreak, including the USA? Dr. Anthony Fauci is certainly ripe for a covid-lawsuit. From that NY Post story before we continue.

The first bill, being introduced by five Democrats and five Republicans, is called the Made in America Emergency Preparedness Act, and would establish a 9/11-style commission to investigate how the once-in-a-generation pandemic began.

The legislation was originally introduced last April by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.).

The second proposal, to be introduced by Fitzpatrick and Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), would allow families of COVID-19 victims to sue China or any other country that intentionally misled the international community on the outbreak.

Called the Never Again International Outbreak Prevention Act, the bill would strip China of its sovereign immunity, the legal doctrine protecting governments from civil or criminal prosecution.

So why might we think that victims of Covid should be permitted to sue the United States of America as well? No doubt about it, the American public has been misled about this event by the government from the start. With big tech banning people from their platforms for over a year for simply bringing up the Wuhan China lab origination theory, as this Daily Mail story reports, the globalists preferred Covid narrative is now blowing up in their faces. From that story.:

Liberal media reporters and pundits admitted over the weekend they were wrong to dismiss the Wuhan lab leak theory just because it was espoused by former President Donald Trump.

Mainstream reporters had pushed back at the idea that COVID-19 may have originated in a virology lab in Wuhan, China, and openly ridiculed the idea as Trump spoke openly about it in the early days of the pandemic.

But now, those same reporters have admitted that it is possible that the virus came from a lab leak  as more scientists and political officials openly question the virus origins.

I think a lot of people have egg on their face, ABC News Jon Karl told Martha Raddatz Sunday morning.

This was an idea that was first put out by Mike Pompeo, secretary of state, [and] President Donald Trump, he continued on ABCs This Week, and some things may be true even if Donald Trump has said them.

He noted that the idea was widely dismissed at the time, but now serious people are saying it needs a serious inquiry.

New York Times reporter David Leonhardt also said on CNN that he thinks people leapt to dismiss the theory too quickly because it was being espoused by then-President Trump and Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who has also said that the 2020 election was stolen.

I think a lot of people on the political left and people in the media made this mistake and said Wow, if Tom Cotton is saying something it cant be true, Leonhardt said. Or they assumed that. And thats not right.

Tom Cotton does deal in misinformation about things like election fraud, hes said some things that are just wrong, Leonhardt continued.

But that doesnt mean that everything he says is wrong, and it seems like a lot of people, including a lot in the media, leaped to dismiss the lab leak theory because of where it was coming from, and the reality is we dont yet know how COVID started.

But if Senator Cotton is correct about Covid, what if hes right about the 2020 election fraud, too? With the lab origination theory of Covid-19 called a conspiracy theory for well over a year until recently its being considered plausible, as Susan Duclos had pointed out in this May 30th ANP story, the collusion between big tech, the mainstream media and Democrat politicians/globalists has gone on for far too long already. So once again, from this Daily Mail story.:

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin slammed journalists for making a sudden U-Turn on their coverage of the lab leak theory.

Most MSM reporters didnt ignore the lab leak theory, they actively c****** all over it for over a year while pretending to be objective out of a toxic mix of confirmation bias, source bias (their scientist sources lied to them), group think, TDS [Trump Derangement Syndrome] and general incompetence, Rogin wrote in his first tweet Saturday morning.

He added that the lab leak theory has not changed and suddenly become credible.

The theory has always been the same, Rogin wrote. The people who got it wrong changed their minds. They are writing about themselves, with zero self awareness. 

All these reporters scrambling to defend their own records on the lab leak theory are exposing their own hypocrisy and ignoring their basic error, he continued. Just report the facts. Dont act like its your job to tell us whats OK to think or talk about.

Own up to it when you fail your readers, he wrote.

Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com and Pandemic.news.
(Natural News) James Corden of The Late Late Show has a solution for dealing with people who resist Chinese Virus injections: punch them in the face.

During a recent opener on the CBS program, Corden mocked Americans who would rather not alter their DNA with mRNA, saying that they should no longer be offered junk food or cash prizes as an incentive. Instead, the non-jabbed need a knuckle sandwich to get them to comply.

While ranting in his monologue, Corden started asking his presumed audience (or laugh track?) and team to come up with new ideas about how to force compliance with the plandemic agenda. Ian Karmel, the co-head writer of The Late Late Show, was then heard shouting out:

The only thing we should offer people who dont want the vaccine is a knuckle sandwich.

A few minutes prior, Corden was going off about how upset he is that tens of millions of Americans are thwarting Beijing Bidens plan to have 70 percent of America injected by the Fourth of July.

Vaccination rates in the United States have started to decline, Corden whined.

Which means were on pace to fall just short of President [sic] Bidens goal of having seventy percent of the country partially vaccinated by the fourth of July. Biden could end up just shy of his goal by three percent. See? This is exactly why you dont set goals.

Corden went on to joke that if free food from Shake Shack is not enough to bribe Americans into getting jabbed, well, Im afraid nothing will.

Medical fascists demanding total obedience to their lord and savior Fauci

After being presented with the violence idea by his colleague, Corden pretending to object to it, adding that he believes non-injected people should start being treated like second-class citizens and barred from participating in normal society.

I think we should be done offering them things, Karmel was heard shouting. And we should start excluding them from things.

I think you are right, I actually do, Corden responded. But then how, the problem is there is no way to know that people arent lying about it.

Karmel then interjected with, Start bringing your card, adding, Lets make that a normal thing. If you dont bring your card, you cant go to SeaWorld or whatever.

In other words, if you refuse to modify your DNA with life-destroying poison in the name of science, then you deserve to be punished from living a normal life like everybody else.

All of this aligns with Tony Faucis agenda to mass vaccinate the entire world for the Chinese Virus, using force if necessary. These overlords care so much about our safety that they are willing to kill us in an attempt to keep us all safe.

Dove reportedly sponsored Cordens completely unfunny bit. You can contact the company at this link to let them know your thoughts.

We also encourage you to never watch The Late Late Show or even visit the CBS website or social media page so as to avoid funneling clicks to this fascist operation.

Faustus (Fauci) was a major player in the coup and should be brought before a tribunal wholl read out the charges against him before sending him to GITMO, wrote one Natural News commenter.

This will all be over in just 14 days, joked another, referencing the two weeks to flatten the curve narrative that was deployed last spring to warm up America to a total deep state takeover of pretty much everything.

The latest news about the mainstream medias cringeworthy attempts at bullying America into getting injected for Chinese Germs can be found at Propaganda.news.

Sources for this article include:

Newsbusters.org

NaturalNews.com

MRC.org
(Natural News) Chinese researchers in Wuhan  ground zero of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic  are conducting experiments using bioengineered animals.

Reports being leaked out of China indicated that the Chinese researchers are experimenting on at least 1,000 genetically engineered animals. These include lab mice engineered to have humanized lungs and monkeys that have mutated genes that make them age faster than normal. These animals sometimes get injected with engineered viruses, including ones that are very similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

In an article titled The Possible Origins of 2019-nCoV Coronavirus, two Chinese academics claimed that the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Preventions lab in Wuhan had animals riddled with diseases, including 605 bats. The article mentioned how one of the researchers there was once attacked by bats and that a bats blood made contact with the persons skin.

These kinds of laboratories are meant to be extremely safe and secure. But even if that is the case and even if the people that work there are highly skilled professionals, dealing with live animals can still be a challenge.

Not only do these animals have their own thoughts, but they can also attack, excrete waste and shed skin and fur which might have parasites. This prolonged contact with animals carries the risk of contamination.

Other articles written by Chinese researchers have described how scientists in Wuhan captured bats from caves without using protective equipment. One researcher who did not wear a protective suit was sprayed with bat urine, which was said to be dripping like raindrops from his body.

Another article described how a team led by a well-known bat expert and virologist from Wuhan used a horseshoe bat to create a highly infectious virus that targeted the human upper respiratory tract.

No wonder so many experts say COVID did leak from Wuhan research center, wrote journalist and political commentator Jasper Becker for the Daily Mail. (Related: EVIL SCIENCE: Scientists create first human-monkey hybrid in chimera embryo experiment.)

Listen to this special Situation Update breaking news episode of the Health Ranger Report, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he talks about how the coronavirus vaccine, with its weaponized spike proteins, is a biological weapon made by the Chinese military designed to exterminate humanity.

Animal experimentation supervised by China and its armed forces

China has a financial incentive to maintain the air of secrecy behind its bioengineering research. It wants to gain a significant commercial advantage in what could be a very profitable field.

But Becker believes this is just one reason for China to keep its developing bioengineering industry a secret. The other is because a lot of the work in this field is being supervised by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), Chinas armed forces.

The PLA is keeping a close eye on the bioengineering work being done because it wants to monitor two possible breakthroughs in this field. The first is for potential gene-modification advances that it can use to create better soldiers. The second is for the discovery of microorganisms that can be bioengineered to create biological weapons like COVID-19, which people have no defenses against.

The fact is that China has a reputation for recklessly encouraging, or at least tolerating, all kinds of experiments that are not permitted elsewhere in the world, said Becker. And since the lucrative global biotech investment boom started, Chinese researchers seem to be taking even more daring risks with experiments on animals  and even humans  that would be deemed unethical in most Western countries.

China has strongly denied any suggestion that the coronavirus was engineered in a lab despite mounting evidence to the contrary. It continues to spread the message that the origins of coronavirus was entirely natural. Becker believes the Chine government will never accept responsibility for the pandemic.

Learn more about the lab-leak theory by reading the latest articles at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk 1

DailyMail.co.uk 2

TheSun.co.uk
Landlord Dom Petruzzelli said Edward Garcia suffered from developmental disabilities, and his step-father was trying to place him into an assisted living facility. His younger brother moved in with him, though, and the two allowed their drug-using friends to stay with them, causing problems for the other tenants.
(Natural News) Remember last spring when University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researcher Bing Liu was found dead inside his home, just days after it was speculated that he was on the verge of making very significant discoveries about the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19)? Could it be that Bing was planning to blow the lid on the alleged lab origins of the virus?

NBC News reported on May 5 of last year that Bing had at the time just uncovered something very important that would help in understanding the cellular mechanisms that underlie the Chinese Virus. What could these cellular mechanism have been that somebody apparently felt the need to off Bing right before he was able to bring them to light?

Based on everything that has come to light in recent days, there is a good chance that Bing was on the verge of unveiling some inconvenient truths about how the Chinese Flu bears markings indicative of tampering. It is not outside the realm of possibility that he was going to debunk the false narrative that the Wuhan Flu came naturally from bats.

Since we now know that Anthony Fauci and other criminals were conducting illegal gain of function research with American taxpayer dollars, it only makes sense that the Chinese Virus is a lab creation  meaning Fauci et al. are responsible for unleashing hell on the world and killing millions of people.

Bing, as you may recall, was shot in the head and neck. And less than a mile away, another person, Hao Gu, was also found dead just an hour later. What did these two individuals know that the medical deep state did not want getting leaked?

Are police departments colluding with the medical deep state to cover for the murder of covid scientists?

According to Ross Township police Detective Sgt. Brian Kohlhepp, Bing and Hao knew each other, and that Hao murdered Bing before returning to his car and killing himself.

The mainstream media chalked up all up to a lengthy dispute regarding an intimate partner, however this appears to be a cover story since Bing had been actively working with the Chinese Virus and was on the verge of a major breakthrough.

We have found zero evidence that this tragic event has anything to do with employment at the University of Pittsburgh, any work being conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and the current health crisis affecting the United States and the world, the local police department declared.

Bings colleagues, however, told a much different story. In a statement, they revealed that Bing was about to drop some major bombshells concerning the Wuhan Flu that likely would have debunked the Fauci narrative that it magically transferred from bats into humans.

Numerous other covid scientists also mysteriously died in this same time period, suggesting that many others also had to be offed to keep a lid on the truth. These efforts are proving to be in vain, however, as the entire plandemic scripted is suddenly being flipped on its head.

Anyone who dares to counter the established narrative set by the globalist Deep State and Big Pharma are liable to be targeted one way or another, one Natural News commenter wrote about the situation.

Nothing will get in the way of the Bill Gates / Medical Industrial Complex money machine, wrote another. You cant make an omelet without breaking some eggs.

Another pointed out that viruses are actually exosomes, which just so happen to be what are used in the mRNA injections to supposedly help minimize the impact of covid.

More related news about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) conspiracies can be found at Conspiracy.news.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

NBCnews.com

BioRxiv.org
(Natural News) The Fauci Emails have brought us another bombshell about how Americas Doctor was involved with conducting heinous human-animal hybrid experiments using aborted human baby parts.

Tony Faucis National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) funneled money to the University of Pittsburgh, where mad scientists used American taxpayer dollars given to them by Fauci to create abominable rats covered with the scalps of murdered unborn babies.

The University of Pittsburgh, by the way, is where Bing Liu, one of the murdered covid scientists, worked. Bing, as you may recall, was on the verge of revealing something major about the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) before suddenly turning up dead.

Faucis complicity in the rat-aborted baby Frankenstein experiments prompted Students for Life to call for his immediate resignation or firing from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A new video from the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) detailed research in which infant remains are harvested from abortions at a Planned Parenthood, Students for Life reported. This happened at taxpayer expense, through funding from Faucis NIAID office at the National Institutes of Health.

David Daleiden, the founder of CMP, recently gave testimony before the Pennsylvania Health Committee, revealing the shocking details of what Fauci has been up to at the University of Pittsburgh.

Its a matter of public record that there are horrific abuses of aborted infants taking place [in] Pennsylvania through the extensive fetal experimentation programs at the taxpayer-funded University of Pittsburgh, Daleiden stated.

In a recent study, Pitt scientists describe scalping 5-month-old aborted babies and grafting their scalps onto the backs of lab rats to keep them growing  in the study you can see the pictures of little baby scalps growing tiny baby hairs on the backs of lab rats and lab mice. Each one of those scalps  represents a little Pennsylvania baby who would have grown those little hairs on their head if they had not been killed by abortion for experiments with rodents.

Fauci spent millions turning the University of Pittsburgh into a distribution hub for aborted baby body parts

Beginning in 2016, the University of Pittsburgh received $1.4 million from Fauci to become a distribution hub for aborted baby body parts such as kidneys and bladders. These body parts were used as part of the NIHs genitourinary development mapping atlas program.

In its grant application, the University of Pittsburgh admitted that it has unique access to a large number of high-quality aborted fetuses and can ramp up delivery of aborted baby parts all across the country  and all thanks to Fauci.

While it has been known for some time now that Planned Parenthood has been illegally trafficking aborted baby body parts for cash, Faucis direct connection to the scheme is a new revelation of which Americans need to be aware.

This supposed trusted authority for all things China Virus is actually a corrupt devil who has been funding and profiting from baby murder and all sorts of other abominations happening in the name of science and medicine.

In one study published last year, Pitt scientists described scalping 5-month-old aborted babies to stitch onto the backs of lab rats, Daleiden further wrote in an op-ed for Newsweek.

They wrote about how they cut the scalps from the heads and backs of the babies, scraping off the excess fat under the baby skin before stitching it onto the rats. They even included photos of the babies hair growing out of the scalps. Each scalp belonged to a little Pennsylvania baby whose head would grow those same hairs if he or she were not aborted for experiments with lab rats.

More related news about Fauci can be found at Evil.news.

Sources for this article include:

TownHall.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Last April, we reported that foreign scientists had uncovered AIDS insertions inside the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), pointing to it being an engineered bioweapon rather than a random act of nature. Now, we have more evidence showing that Tony Fauci threatened many of these scientists to withdraw their research or else he would try to destroy their careers.

Great Game India was among the first to publish some of these studies, which drew such intense criticism that the authors ended up retracting them. Since that time, leaked Fauci emails show that it was Fauci himself who issued threats against these scientists, stifling their important work.

It turns out that Fauci knows a thing or two about AIDS, having worked with it heavily back in the 1980s in hot pursuit of an AIDS vaccine. Over the years, Fauci has pushed many other vaccines, all of them failures, and is once again doing the same thing with the Chinese Virus.

When it became clear that the plandemic narrative was starting to crack thanks to the work of outside independent researchers, Fauci leapt into action and put a stop to it. Fauci is not on the side of science, in other words, but is rather determined to force his own nefarious agenda.

Last year a group of Indian scientists discovered that coronavirus was engineered with AIDS-like insertions, tweeted Prashant Bhushan, a public interest lawyer and activist who has committed his life to doing what is just, fair and in the public interest, regardless of immediate fallout.

Now, Fauci Emails reveal that it was Dr. [sic] Anthony Fauci himself who threatened the Indian scientists and forced them to withdraw their study!

Fauci deserves a lengthy prison sentence for his crimes against humanity

The scientists threatened by Fauci had essentially blown the lid on the scam, revealing that the Wuhan Flu was purposely engineered by Fauci and his minions to be unleashed as a bioweapon. Naturally, Fauci did not want that information going public.

French Nobel Laureat Luc Montagnier confirmed that, yes, the Chinese Virus contains AIDS-like insertions that never could have occurred naturally. They were more than likely put there by researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), who were paid by Fauci with American taxpayer dollars to conduct illegal gain of function research.

Batwoman Shi Zhengli, one of Faucis co-conspirators, was also visibly upset about the revelations, having also threatened the scientists who uncovered them to shut their stinking mouths or else pay a price.

Fauci, Shi and other medical fascists have truly been acting like the mob with their endless threats and thwarting of real science. The good news is that all is now coming to light, and the hope is that these career criminals will one day face the justice they deserve.

We also now have evidence in the form of another email showing that Fauci was told last March precisely how the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) was created. A research partner named Adam Gaertner gave Fauci a play-by-play about how mad scientists put it all together, and still Fauci stood before the world and lied about everything for an entire year.

Fauci was also told by leading infectious disease expert Kristian Andersen that the Indian studies exposing the AIDS-like features of the Chinese Flu did, in fact, make a strong case about its bioengineered nature. Fauci proceeded to ignore both of these men while peddling the fake narrative that the virus came from bats at a wet market.

The true depths of Faucis criminality grow deeper by the day. To keep up with the latest, check out Tyranny.news.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

GreatGameIndia.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Todays Situation Update podcast (see below) focuses on what I learned from JR Nyquist in a horrifying interview conducted yesterday (also posted below, separately).

JR Nyquists website is JRnyquist.blog and everything there is worth reading.

Nyquist is a high-IQ researcher who has interviewed dissidents and whistleblowers from Chinese and former Soviet regimes, and he studies internal documents of these regimes to understand their geopolitical strategies and goals.

Nyquist warns that the long-term plan has always been for China to invade and conquer the continental United States by launching attacks from Mexico, while Russia plans to attack and take Alaska, then proceed to conquer Canada, which wont be difficult since Canada has disarmed all its own citizens with fascist gun control initiatives.

What has changed recently in all this, however, is that China has sharply accelerated its timetable of attacking America due to emerging revelations about the origins of the covid-19 biological weapon, which was developed under the supervision of the communist Chinese military.

China now knows it must attack and attempt to destroy America before these investigations show China deliberately built the bioweapon after infiltrating the NIH, Pentagon, Universities and scientific establishment in America to funnel taxpayer dollars into the Wuhan virology gain-of-function research projects. (Which also involved a transfer of intellectual property from U.S. universities to China.)

Accordingly, China is preparing a multi-faceted assault on America that JR Nyquist warns may be months away, not years. That attack, if it is not stopped in time, is likely to consist of:

Cyber warfare attacks on the US power grid, pipelines and food production infrastructure targets.

Nuclear weapons attacks on military installations.

EMP attacks on the power grid to plunge America into darkness and chaos.

Renewed bioweapons attacks using high-fatality strains of super bioweapons that China has already developed.

Lastly, kinetic attacks with invading troops and occupying forces, with China initiating its attacks along the U.S. / Mexico border and moving northward.

The JR Nyquist interview is shown here, with my Situation Update podcast analysis below. Be sure you are sitting down before you hear this information, and it may cause sleeplessness:

Brighteon.com/56efa647-c0a5-44fa-9808-c17199225c4a

Heres the full Situation Update podcast with further analysis of Chinas total war against America:

Brighteon.com/2c3dbab9-f19b-4e51-94a2-305aeae6a4c2

Find a new podcast each day at:

https://www.brighteon.com/channels/hrreport
(Natural News) New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on June 1 announced a lottery program that will award a total of $10 million in cash prizes to residents who have received at least one coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine dose.

Getting vaccinated is the right thing to do  for yourself, for your family and for your state, Lujan Grisham said. Im excited to add a little fun to our nation-leading vaccination push.

The states program called Vax to the Max has a grand prize of $5 million, the largest single cash award being offered by any state with a similar program. (Related: SPOOKY: Health Ranger predicted vaccine lottery ten years ago, now Ohio just announced a $1 million vaccine lottery for experimental covid injections.)

Vaccine lotteries have become a popular way to persuade people to get vaccinated. The headline on the programs website isnt even trying to hide its true purpose: Get Vaccinated for Your Chance to Win the Grand Prize of $5,000,000!!!

For five weeks starting in mid-June, the program will award $250,000 to winners in each of the states four health regions through a lottery. In early August, the state will award a grand prize of $5 million to a single winner. The program is being paid for with federal pandemic relief money.

The prize money offered by New Mexico would go far in the state that is one of the poorest in the country  ranking 48th in per capita income of around $45,800, according to the Department of Commerces Bureau of Economic Analysis.

To be eligible for New Mexicos cash awards, a person must be a resident of the state, register for the drawing, be at least 18, not be incarcerated and have received at least one vaccine dose in the state. A person must be fully vaccinated to win the grand prize, according to the programs website.

New Mexico officials are hoping cash rewards will increase vaccination rates in the state. Nearly 56 percent of New Mexicos 1,680,605 residents age 16 and older who are eligible are fully vaccinated, according to the New Mexico Department of Health website.

Some experts have warned that offering large prizes for getting vaccinated could backfire by inadvertently suggesting that the vaccines are problematic. Still, several states seeking to increase vaccination rates have announced lotteries and cash giveaways for people who get vaccinated.

States offering bribes in the form of vaccine lottery prizes

Ohio was the first state to announce a vaccine lottery for both young and adults. The first of five drawings to select a $1 million winner was held on May 26. Vaccinated individuals in Ohio now have four more chances to win. The lottery will also provide five young people, ages 12 to 17, with full-ride college scholarships to any Ohio state school.

Californias vaccine lottery is the largest to be announced and will give away $1.5 million each to 10 Californians who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. On Friday, June 4, the state will hold the first drawing of the recently announced $116.5 million Vax for the Win incentive program to encourage more Californians to get vaccinated.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis recently 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 percent.

Delaware Governor John Carney on May 25 introduced the program called DE Wins!, an incentive program aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates in Delaware. All vaccinated individuals above 12 years old will be entered to win $5,000 in cash and additional prizes in twice-weekly drawings conducted by the Delaware Lottery. On June 30, two vaccinated residents will be eligible to win the $302,000 grand prize.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, on May 20, announced the 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.

Oregon Governor Brown on May 21 introduced the Take Your Shot program. Residents of Oregon have until June 27 to get vaccinated to have a chance of winning $10,000 (36 winners) or $1 million (one winner). Younger Oregonians could win one of five $100,000 scholarships to Oregon universities or colleges. The campaign is funded with $1.86 million from the federal Coronavirus Relief Act.

West Virginia became one of the latest states to launch a COVID-19 vaccine lottery. The state announced that it will be giving away cash prizes and goods like riffles and trucks. (Related: West Virginia bribes residents to get them vaccinated.)

Leaders in Hawaii, Illinois, and Louisiana have announced that their states are also working to establish a COVID-19 vaccine lottery.

Bribes are modest at the start

The bribes to get people vaccinated were modest in the beginning.

In April, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice offered a $100 savings bond to convince younger residents to get vaccinated.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont touted a two-week program starting May 19 where adults can get a free drink at specific restaurants if they show their vaccination cards.

Detroits Wayne State University offered an additional $10 to the student accounts of those vaccinated while the University of Iowa offered $10 gift cards to its vaccinated students.

Follow Immunization.news to know more about the bribes offered by various states to persuade people to get vaccinated.

Sources include:

BlackListedNews.com

APNews.com

NYTimes.com

DesertSun.com

DelawarePublic.org

KGW.com

CBSNews.com
(Natural News) Recent emails to American top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed that an immunologist told him that the Wuhan coronavirus looks engineered. Scripps Research Institute (SRI) scientist Kristian Andersen informed Fauci of his observation back in January 2020. This new revelation went against the narrative by politicians and mainstream media outlets that SARS-CoV-2 being engineered was a conspiracy theory.

In a Jan. 31 email, Andersen told the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) that the pathogen responsible for COVID-19 was possibly engineered. The immunologist noted that unusual features he saw in the virus made him believe that it was tampered with.

Andersen elaborated in his email to Fauci: On a phylogenic tree, the virus looks normal and the close clustering with bats suggest [they] serve as the reservoir. The unusual features of the virus make up a really small part of the genome. [One] has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features potentially look engineered. Andersen also mentioned that he and his colleagues found the SARS-CoV-2 genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory following their discussions.

But some time after sending the email, Andersen walked back on his statement. He changed his initial theory about the Wuhan coronaviruss origins  even going to great lengths to do so. An SRI statement during the pandemics onset emphasized Andersens retraction of his earlier stance. By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural means, he said in March 2020.

According to the immunologist, the receptor-binding domain (RBD) on the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 naturally evolved to effectively target the ACE2 receptor on the outside of human cells. The ACE2 receptor is involved in regulating blood pressure. Furthermore, Andersen and other scientists found that SARS-CoV-2s backbone or molecular structure had a substantial difference from already-known coronaviruses. The pathogens backbone mostly resembled viruses found in bats and pangolins. (Related: Email: Researcher who funded Wuhan lab admitted to manipulating coronaviruses, thanked Fauci for dismissing lab leak theory.)

Andersens observations predated that of Dr. Li-Meng Yan who exposed the truth about COVID-19

A Chinese virologist also postulated the idea of the Wuhan coronavirus being engineered in a laboratory. In September 2020, Dr. Li-Meng Yan told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that SARS-CoV-2 was a Frankenstein strain genetically engineered to target humans. The former University of Hong Kong (HKU) virologist said that time: It could never come from nature. Together with my experience, I can tell you  this is created in a lab.

Yan and three other scientists detailed their findings about the pathogen behind COVID-19 in a 26-page scientific paper. She detailed in the paper that there is evidence [of engineering] left in the [SARS-CoV-2] genome. Because of her revelation, Yan remarked that the Chinese Communist Party wants her disappeared. (Related: Chinese virologist claims to have smoking gun evidence that COVID-19 is lab-created.)

The virologist also shared with Carlson that she performed her own investigation while working at the World Health Organizations HKU reference laboratory. Yans expertise in virology alongside information she received from her network in mainland China confirmed her suspicions of SARS-CoV-2s artificial origins.

Back in December 2019, her supervisor Dr. Leo Poon asked her to examine a number of cases similar to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that emerged in the mainland. She talked to her friends in hospitals for information and reported her findings. Poon just nodded and told her to continue working, the virologist recalled.

She presented her findings again the next month, but Poon warned her to keep silent and be careful. Yan recalled her supervisors warning: Dont touch the red line. We will get in trouble and well be disappeared. The red line Poon spoke of referred to the Chinese government. While Yan felt frustrated at the turn of events, she said that she was not surprised as corruption was definitely involved.

The virologist later fled Hong Kong in April 2020 aboard a U.S.-bound Cathay Pacific flight, eluding surveillance in the special administrative region. However, this came at the cost of no longer seeing her friends and loves ones again. Yan told Fox News three months after she fled: The reason I came to the U.S. is because I deliver the message of the truth of [COVID-19.] The virologist added that she will be disappeared and killed if she attempted to tell her story in China.

Visit Pandemic.news to read more articles about the Wuhan coronaviruss origins.

Sources include:

TheNationalPulse.com

Scripps.edu

FoxNews.com 1

FoxNews.com 2
(Natural News) World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan is reportedly facing a lawsuit from the Indian Bar Association (IBA) for spreading disinformation about the drug ivermectin, which some say is an effective remedy against the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19).

The IBA served Swaminathan with a legal notice on May 25 accusing her of spreading disinformation and misguiding the people of India, in order to fulfill her agenda by telling others that ivermectin is not effective against the Chinese Virus.

Swaminathans continued statements against ivermectin are causing further damage, the IBA says, by depriving the public of a potentially life-saving medicine that may keep them from getting sick or dying.

The IBA maintains that Swaminathan is rejecting sound science from both the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care (FLCCC) Alliance and the British Ivermectin Recommendation Development (BIRD), both of which say that ivermectin prevents and treats the Chinese Disease.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan has ignored these studies / reports and has deliberately suppressed the data regarding effectiveness of the drug Ivermectin, with an intent to dissuade the people of India from using Ivermectin, a statement from the IBA reads.

On May 10, Swaminathan tweeted that, Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for a new indication. WHO recommends against the use of ivermectin for COVID-19 except within clinical trials. Swaminathan immediately deleted this tweet after receiving notice of the IBA lawsuit.

Merck trying to push new drug for covid that trials show is useless

Swaminathan had originally put up the tweet in response to an announcement from Goas health minister that all residents 18 years of age and older would be given ivermectin as prevention, regardless of their Wuhan Flu status.

The ivermectin campaign is part of the Indian states efforts to stop transmission of Chinese Germs amid a new alleged wave of the disease that is supposedly spreading throughout the region.

The IBAs legal notice calls on Swaminathan to issue a response on a number of key points. Should she refuse, the group reserves the right to initiate prosecution against her under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Disaster Management Act of 2005.

Merck & Co., the creator of ivermectin, has also issued a statement claiming that its drug should not be used for any use other than what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provisioned  which means no trying to treat the Chinese Virus.

Merck is, however, busily conducting a clinical trial on another novel drug called molnupiravir that it claims is able to reduce viral infections quicker than ivermectin. The available science, however, shows that this is not the case.

Still, Merck is moving forward with rushing the drug through clinical trials at warp speed, and plans to seek emergency use authorization (EUA) for it by the fall.

Meanwhile, proponents of ivermectin are pushing that drug, much like how hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was pushed last spring, as a remedy for the Chinese Flu at all stages of the diseases progression.

Because of ivermectins anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties, proponents say it is a viable remedy that patients should be allowed to receive, rather than be forced to just get vaccinated and stay masked forever.

The current evidence on the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 patients is inconclusive, the WHO continues to insist. Until more data is available, WHO recommends that the drug only be used within clinical trials.

According to Dr. Pierre Kory, President and Chief Medical Officer of the FLCCC Alliance, there is a concerted effort to censor all information about ivermectin to keep it out of the hands of patients.

More of the latest news about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) chicanery can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Researchers suggest that mysterious booming noises called skyquakes are mainly caused by celestial phenomena, such as meteor explosions and supersonic aircraft zooming through the sky.

Described as explosive booms rumbling in the distance, skyquakes are widely thought to originate from the sky. These mysterious booms are often reported in the eastern coast of the United States where they seem to be coming from offshore.

In North Carolina, some skyquakes were so powerful that they rattled windows and caused buildings to vibrate. Last April, for example, a loud booming noise rang through several neighborhoods in southern Charlotte and caused the ground to shake. Meteorologists detected seismic activity but found no evidence of an actual earthquake or other seismic events that could have caused the celestial boom. Local news outlets reported that officials were not able to locate the cause. (Related: Mysterious booms rattle houses in Florida.)

Such unexplained noises also happen elsewhere in the world and, in fact, are so widespread and common that different countries have different names for them. They are called barisal guns in India, uminari in Japan, mistpoeffers in the Netherlands and Belgium, lagoni in Italy and retumbo in the Philippines. In the U.S., skyquakes are also called lake guns or Seneca guns after the Seneca Lake in New York, where residents often complain about loud booming noises.

But though they are widely reported, there is still no satisfactory explanation for skyquakes. To that end, the researchers attempted to narrow down the list of phenomena that could possibly cause skyquakes. They presented their findings last December during the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Skyquakes not caused by earthquakes but by different phenomena in the atmosphere

For their study, the researchers used the EarthScope Transportable Array, a mobile network of 400 atmospheric sensors and seismographs, to measure the seismic activities that occurred in North Carolina between 2013 and 2015. They then compared the recorded data with news reports featuring mysterious booms or other similar phenomena.

We wanted to go through local news articles, create a catalog of instances of the Seneca guns, and then try to verify them with actual seismo-acoustic data, said Eli Bird, an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and one of the studys researchers.

Bird and his colleagues found that two of the sensors detected some unusual signals near Cape Fear in Carolina Beach. The signals varied in length from about one second to nearly 10 seconds. The researchers then examined seismic records but found no earthquake that coincided with the signals. This effectively ruled out ground shaking as the cause of these two noises.

Because of these findings, Bird and his colleagues suspected that skyquakes are really atmospheric phenomena. We dont think its coming from seismic activity, were assuming its propagating through the atmosphere rather than the ground, Bird said.

Possible atmospheric causes included meteors that exploded above a cover of clouds. The resulting debris could burn up on their way down to the ground, causing such explosions to go unnoticed. Another explanation was that some skyquakes could simply be sounds produced by large ocean waves. These sounds could be heard widely because they were amplified by certain atmospheric conditions near the sea. (Related: Daytime fireball meteor generates sonic boom over UK and France.)

In other cases, skyquakes could be sonic booms generated by fast-moving aircraft that broke the sound barrier. This happened multiple times before during military operations.

For example, the earthshaking noises felt throughout the East Coast in January 2016 turned out to be sonic booms produced by a Navy fighter jet. The Navy owned up to the noises, saying that it was conducting supersonic testing of an F-35C stealth fighter in a cleared military flight area off the East Coast.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the aircraft generated nine sonic booms over the course of one and a half hours. The booms were heard in southern New Jersey, Long Island and elsewhere on the Eastern Seaboard.

Because of the wide range of possible explanations, Bird said that skyquakes could not be attributed to one cause only. Moving forward, he and his colleagues plan to use an array of at least three stations to collect more data and make a more accurate determination of where a particular skyquake originated.

Follow Unexplained.news for more about skyquakes and other mysterious phenomena.

Sources include:

StrangeSounds.org

WCNC.com

NYTimes.com
(Natural News) British news personality Beverley Turner has been blacklisted as a pundit from the This Morning show for challenging the safety and effectiveness of Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines while on air.

Turner engaged in a tense exchange with Dermot OLeary, calling out Chinese Virus injections as unnecessary and unsafe  especially for younger people, whom she says should not participate in the U.K.s national rollout.

For violating the script and poking holes in the narrative, Turner was punished not only by the program but also other networks, which reportedly were told not to book her for any future appearances.

It was a step too far, one media outlet said, for Turner to question the safety and effectiveness of Wuhan Flu shots, which governments throughout the West are demanding everyone receive in order to keep them safe against infection.

Production staff were told Bev is banned from the show after the comments she made  they couldnt have her on again, reported The Mail.

Throughout the past year, Turner has appeared on The Morning numerous times as a revolving guest. She was a well-respected personality before defying the plandemic protocol by questioning its validity.

It does not stop you catching or passing on the virus, Turner noted about Chinese Virus injections, which do nothing to protection again infection or spread.

It does, shot back Dermot, obeying his overlords. The finest minds of science have, in an extraordinarily short amount of time, come up with this vaccine. Its proven its working statistically. Why are you so skeptical?

Turner responded by explaining that there is no long-term data to prove that Wuhan Flu shots are safe or effective, prompting Dermot to lash out with even more aggressive propaganda.

We dont have a chance to have long-term data because we have this virus thats killing people around the whole world, he sneered. We dont have that luxury, surely. Why are you so skeptical about the whole thing?

Because of the fact theres a 99.8 percent survival rate from Covid-19, Turner responded. The average age of death is 82.

Turner: Covid-19 injections are not worth getting

Even though she ended up getting shunned from This Morning for her bravery, Turner has plenty of supporters on social media who continue to support her as she seeks to spread the truth about Wuhan Flu shots.

Turner thanked her supporters on Twitter for standing by her as she dropped the axe on This Morning, adding that she fully believes the risks outweigh any possible benefits when it comes to Chinese Virus injections.

I totally stand by my position that for healthy young people it is #SaferToWait for #longtermdata, Turner added. Risk v benefit does not stack up. That isnt controversial. Thanks for your huge support.

Alison Hammond, one of the hosts of This Morning, also spoke out against the injections, claiming that she is hesitant to get them herself. For daring to take a stand, she, too, is facing the ire of the injection mob.

I like Alison Hammond and appreciate the need for discussion but this is the second week she has expressed doubts about getting vaccinated without serious medical challenge at a time when all our health depends on everyone taking it, one viewer commented.

Im sorry Alison, but you are in a position of influence on the television and saying you are vaccine hesitant on that platform is hugely irresponsible, wrote another. Im incredibly disappointed. Totally wrong.

When pressed about still getting the jab despite her hesitancy, Hammond insinuated that she might not do it, despite peer pressure from her colleagues demanding her compliance.

More of the latest news about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine deception can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

Mirror.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
The events leading to Trawicks death  shown by an officers body camera and described by police officials  began when Trawick found himself locked out of his apartment. He called the FDNY to let him in, which firefighters did.
She spent more than a year in prison for a similar scam that she ran from 2010 to 2013, where she bilked 10 friends out of $300,000. In that case, she claimed she had to clear liens before collecting a multimillion dollar inheritance.
When we first catch him with a gun in October an innocent family almost gets hit. Prior to Raise the Age, he would have been considered an adult, the official said. And frankly we wouldnt be having this conversation because he would have been held in jail. Theres just no consequences in family court.
Bismah Malik By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: After El Salvadors historic move to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender (rendering it full currency status), things are looking brighter back home in India for crypto-enthusiasts.

Top sources tracking the industry told this publication that the government has moved away from its earlier hostile stance towards virtual currencies and will most likely classify Bitcoin as an asset class in India soon.

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will oversee regulations for the cyptocurrency sector after Bitcoins classification as an asset class, sources added.

Indias crypto industry is also in talks with the finance ministry regarding the formulation of a new set of regulations and industry sources point out that an expert panel at the ministry is studying the matter.

A Cryptocurrency Regulation bill is likely to be tabled in the Parliament during the Monsoon session, the added.

The development comes days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a circular, directed banks to stop avoiding transactions involving virtual tokens citing its earlier 2018 circular, since it had been quashed by the Supreme Court.

RBI Governor Shakthikanta Das, however, reiterated that there were still major concerns that have been communicated to the government on digital currencies.

We can definitely say that the new committee which is working on cryptocurrencies is very optimistic on cryptocurrency regulation and legislation... A new draft proposal will soon be in the Cabinet, which will look into the overall scenario and take the best step forward. We are very hopeful that the government will embrace cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies, Ketan Surana, Director and chief financial officer, Coinsbit, and Member, Internet and Mobile Association of India said.

A white paper by Indiatech.org suggests that Indias adoption of Bitcoin as an alternative asset class is more realistic.

Due to the volatile nature of digital currencies (prices fluctuate widely on a daily basis), it pointed, they cannot be regularly used as a payment instrument.

The paper also recommended taxing investments in cryptocurrencies, making them subject to the capital gains tax under the Income Tax Act.

Hitesh Malviya, blockchain and crypto investment expert, said, In my opinion, the Indian government will explore a way to regularise Bitcoin. I dont think India will consider accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender in the near future because it will affect the position of the Indian rupee. Accepting bitcoin as a legal tender is a good idea for those nations who dont have their own currency or are dependent on the US dollar.

$2 trillion Global crypto market cap.

190% rise in global crypto users in 2018-2020.

200 mn crypto users worldwide.

5,000 digital assets exist globally.

ALSO WATCH | India records world's highest single-day COVID death toll, thanks to Bihar
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a proposal for the revival of Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (RFCL) in an effort to boost the indigenous production of gas-based urea and help achieve self-sufficiency by improving availability of fertilisers.

The cost of the RFCL urea project is Rs 6,165.06 crore.

The state-of-the-art gas-based RFCL plant is part of the initiative taken by the government to revive the closed urea units of FCIL/HFCL in order to achieve self sufficiency in urea sector.

It will be one of the largest fertilizer manufacturing units of South India. The project shall not only improve the availability of fertilizer to farmers but also give a boost to the economy in the region including development of infrastructure like roads, railways, ancillary industry etc. besides ensuring food security to the nation, a statement from the Cabinet Secretariat said.

The note added that facility is aimed at meeting the demand for urea in Telangana as well as other Southern and central states of India, such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, etc.

The urea produced at RFCL shall be marketed by National Fertilizers. RFCL is a Joint Venture of National Fertilizers (NFL), Engineers India (EIL) and Fertilizers Corp of India (FCIL).
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The all-powerful GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will meet on June 12 to decide on GST rate cut for COVID essentials and black fungus medicine, according to officials.

In the previous meeting on May 28, the Council, which has state ministers as members, a Group of Ministers (GoM) was set up to recommend tax relief on COVID essentials, including PPE kits, masks and vaccines, to the GST council.

The GoM submitted its report on June 7.

Officials said the GST Council would be meeting on June 12, to discuss the GoM report as well as consider tax rate cuts for black fungus medicine.

Some state Finance Ministers in the GoM are understood to have pitched for a rate cut on COVID essentials.

Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna, who is also a member of the GoM, on Wednesday said that the state is in favour of cutting taxes on COVID essentials to facilitate patients, but will accept the decision of the GST council on tax rates.

The GoM on GST concessions on COVID relief items was mandated to examine whether a GST rate cut or exemption is required for medical-grade oxygen, pulse oximeters, hand sanitizers, oxygen therapy equipment like concentrators, ventilators, PPE kits, N-95 and surgical masks and temperature checking equipment.

Besides, the panel also looked into COVID vaccines, drugs, and medicines for COVID treatment and testing kits for COVID detection.

The GST Council on May 28, left taxes on COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies unchanged after the BJP and opposition-ruled states sparred over whether the tax cut benefits will reach the common man.

However, Goods and Services Tax (GST) was exempted on import of Amphotericin B -- a medicine used for treatment of black fungus.

Congress and other opposition-ruled states have been demanding a reduction in taxes but the central government felt the move may not result in tangible gains for people.

Currently, 5 per cent GST is levied on domestically manufactured vaccines, while it is 12 per cent for COVID drugs and oxygen concentrators.

ALSO WATCH:
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Liquefied natural gas major Petronet LNG said on Monday that a non-binding agreement it had signed with US energy firm Tellurian, under which it was to invest $2.5 billion in the latters Louisiana LNG terminal project in exchange of 40 years of gas supplies, has lapsed.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Houston, Texas, in 2019.

According to Petronet Managing Director & CEO A K Singh, Petronet has now opened discussions with alternate suppliers such as Qatar for natural gas supplies.

Petronets current long-term deal to import 7.5 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar ends in March 2028, and the company has time till December 2023, to decide on extending it.

Singh was speaking to reporters during a video press conference on its FY21 performance.

Petronet recorded consolidated net sales of Rs 7,575.32 crore in the quarter ended March 2021, down 11.58 per cent from Rs 8,567.15 crore in March 2020. Quarterly net profit stood at Rs 637.92 crore, up 71 per cent from Rs 373.20 crore last year.

The MoU with Tellurian had envisioned an annual purchase of up to five million tonnes of LNG from the proposed Driftwood LNG terminal for 40 years. In parallel, Petronet was to make an equity investment of $2.5 billion for an 18 per cent stake in Driftwood.

However, the MoU was not extended, Singh said, without divulging further details. The transaction had initially been slated for completion in March 2020, but was first extended to May 31, 2020, and then to December 31, 2020.

We did not get a request from their (Tellurians) side for an extension, Singh said.

He also said that gas demand in India, severely impacted by lockdowns, is likely to bounce back this fiscal.
Sahaya Novinston Lobo By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: A police constable was arrested recently for marrying a 17-year-old girl. The girl was rescued after she managed to contact a child helpline number. But, the child welfare officers alleged that the police were reluctant in taking quick action and the case was filed after a delay of three days after they were informed.

The accused, Pazhani Kumar, a 27-year-old constable attached to the Madhavaram Milk Colony police station, was posted as driver to a police inspector. On May 17, Pazhani Kumar, at his native village in Madurai, had married a class 12 girl in the presence of his family. The duo were staying in Madhavaram police quarters from May 23.

On May 30, the girl managed to contact child helpline (1098) and sought help as she was forced into the marriage. The information was passed on to officials in the child welfare agencies and in turn to the Chennai police. However, sources said for the next two days, no action was taken to rescue the girl or arrest the accused.

On June 1, officials ranging from District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO), District Child Protection Officer (DCPO), and Child Welfare Committee (CWC) visited the corresponding All Women Police Station. During the visit, the police officer in-charge said that he will only file a CSR even as the POCSO Act mandates immediate registration of a case, said one of the members. While the Collector was informed, the police officer had alleged that he could not file an FIR without the approval of city police commissioner as the accused is a police personnel. On Tuesday midnight, the police secured the accused and the girl whom he had hidden in a relatives house.

However, instead of taking the victim to the hospital for medical checkup, the police team sent her to the Child Care Institute. The next day, after I came to know, we made the police take the girl for a medical checkup, said one of the members who assisted the girl. Hence, after much deliberation on Wednesday evening, an FIR under POCSO Act was registered and the accused was arrested on Thursday, four days after the police got the information.

The member also said that the accused had coerced the girl to make a statement that she willingly asked for marriage and that she did not contact the child helpline. While the statement that she willingly accepted the marriage does not have an impact on the conviction, the accused and his family had encouraged the girl to provide the coerced version to the magistrate, said the source. When contacted, a senior police officer said, There has been no delay in the arrest. The accused was indeed absconding. It is usual that during cases related to child protection, there could be misunderstanding in interdepartmental cooperation.

Girl contacted helpline

On May 30, the girl managed to contact child helpline (1098) and sought help as she was forced into the marriage. The information was passed on to officials in the child welfare agencies and in turn to the Chennai police. The information was passed on to officials in the child welfare agencies
Express News Service By

It all began when I developed a mild fever. I went in for the RT-PCR test, and though my report came negative, I was not very satisfied with my health. I tele-consulted a doctor, who diagnosed I had Covid, but told me not to worry as my symptoms were mild.

On the third day of fever, I had a severe headache, but the doctor ignored my complaint. Disappointed, I consulted another doctor who had treated thousands earlier. On the fifth day, I went in for a chest CT scan at Fortis Hospital, which showed a mild infection.

The doctors here told me that I did not need hospitalisation, and could do with home isolation. But by then my SP02 level had come down from 95 to 91.

I showed the report to my consultant doctor, but he didnt bother.

I have treated more than 10,000 Covid patients, I will treat you too. You need not go anywhere and waste money, he told me.

By the evening, my oxygen level had dipped to 82, and my family decided I need immediate hospitalisation. I was fortunate to get a bed at Yatharth Hospital, Greater Noida.

When we reached the hospital, my oxygen level was below 80. I was put on oxygen support and my treatment began with Fabiflu. But my condition kept deteriorating.

A chest CT scan showed a bad lung infection and symptoms of pneumonia. I was moved to the ICU.

We are doing our best, but the next 72 hours are critical, said the doctors.

I was then subjected to plasma therapy for two days followed by a five-day Remdesivir course along with heavy doses of steroids, which raised my sugar level to over 300, and to keep this in check I was administered insulin shots.

The nurse assured me that once the steroids were stopped, my sugar level would become normal.

Doctors told me that my body was responding well to the treatment, but I was worried. I had neither prepared a will nor documented my assets, which would pose a problem for my children. So, that night I texted my son details about my accounts and investments.

The next day, my daughter called, and said: Papa, we are already stressed over your health, and your messages are making it worse. Just focus on fighting this virus out of your body.

With hospital staff increasingly getting infected from Covid, life there wasnt easy. Unwilling to serve Covid patients, many workers had quit and new staff had to be recruited.

Both my arms turned red and blue as the inexperienced nurses tried to fix Canola for intravenous medicines.

One night, a technical snag disrupted the oxygen supply. But, I must say the hospital did well even in the scarcity.

On the fourth day, Dr Sunil Baliyan told my brother that I will be back home soon. My oxygen mask was removed on the 10th day, and I was moved out of the ICU. I thought I would die without an oxygen mask, but was relieved to find myself breathing normally. I spent some days in the room to gain some strength.

Congratulations! You shall be discharged today. But remember that your immunity is down. It will take two-three months to recover fully. So please observe all the precautions and never try to exhaust yourself during this period or you may find yourself back in hospital, cautioned the doctor on duty.

I walked down to the entrance where my son was waiting for me, and to a new life. It took me 10 minutes and two stops to cover that 50-meter distance. Yet, I felt on the top of the world.

Alok Kumar is a resident of Amrapali Sapphire, Sector 45, Noida As told to Rajkumari Sharma Tankha
Judge Grasso said that laws criminalizing marijuana did not curb its use. Instead, the judge said, the marijuana laws have resulted in devastating collateral consequences including mass incarceration and other complex generational trauma that inhibit an otherwise law-abiding citizens ability to access housing, employment opportunities and other services.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Association of MD Physicians have urged the Delhi High Court to postpone the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) screening test scheduled for June 18 due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country.

The association, which also has as members some foreign medical graduates who have completed their primary medical courses in institutions abroad, said there are a limited number of cities being notified as centres for the FMGE screening test and a large number of candidates will be forced to travel without having received even one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

However, the plea was opposed by the counsel for National Board of Examination (NBE) and National Medical Commission (NMC) on the ground that it was only a qualifying exam which can be taken by petitioners even in December, if not in June and the test should not be postponed at the behest of a few candidates.

After hearing submissions of both sides, Justice Amit Bansal asked the counsel to place on record certain documents and listed the matter for further hearing on Friday.

The association, represented through advocates Adit S Pujari and Chaitanya Sundriyal, has sought to set aside the time schedule for conducting the June 2021 FMGE in the April 15 notice and the April 16 information bulletin titled 'Foreign Medical Graduate Exam Screening Test information bulletin June 2021 session' published by the NBE.

The plea said that in accordance with the Indian Medical Council Act and Screening Test Regulations 2002, persons possessing medical qualifications awarded by a foreign institution are required to qualify the FMGE Screening Test in order to receive recognition for their medical qualifications and to be registered to the State medical councils to practice medicine in India.

The petitioner is approaching this court at a time when the entire world is going through the COVID-19 pandemic, with India being one of the worst affected countries in the world.

"At such times, when the central government is undertaking strictest measures to control the pandemic and all the state governments imposing lockdowns and curfews, movement and transport restrictions, the members of the petitioner association and other eligible foreign medical graduates are being forced to appear for the FMGE Screening Test on June 18, while putting themselves and people around them at risk of contracting COVID-19," the plea said.

Advocates T Singhdev and Kirtiman Singh, representing NMC and NBE respectively, raised objections over maintainability of the petition and said it was not filed by duly authorised representative and that the plea was defective.

"We need more doctors as the third wave of the virus is coming. This is an exam for the entire nation and not only for these few petitioners. If they do not want to take the exam now, they can give it in December but they cannot stall the test for everyone else in the country," Singhdev contended.

Singh submitted that proper measures are being taken to conduct the exam and a lot of checks are in place and the COVID-19 protocol including social distancing will be followed.

The plea said on one hand the authorities have postponed the National Eligibility Entrance Test (Post Graduate) -2021 due to the ongoing pandemic, on the other hand, they have decided to conduct the FMGE screening test at times when the country is overcoming the second wave and preparing for the third wave of the pandemic.

Challenging the April notice and the information bulletin, the petitioners contended that the decision of the authorities was arbitrary and unreasonable and sought postponement of the FMGE to a later date.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The city police, investigating the disappearance of 33-year-old Martin Joseph, the prime accused in the rape and assault of a 27-year-old woman for nearly a month at a posh apartment here, appear to be groping in the dark.

The reason: An investigation based on the call data records (CDR) of the accuseds family members and close friends has failed to provide any indication regarding his whereabouts. Though the police, who took nearly two months to realise the gravity of the incident after receiving the complaint from the woman, have not even been able to collect the background details of the accused yet.

Cocking a snook at the police, the accused visited his lawyer to submit the anticipatory bail petition. This is the same police force which took barely a month to track down Sanu Mohan, the accused in the murder of his 11-year-old daughter Vaiga, here. We have not been able to obtain any crucial information on his disappearance. Officers have been deployed in several areas. Since the accused is not using his mobile phone, any investigation based on mobile tower location is a waste of time. Were ding everything to nab him as soon as possible, said an officer, defending the investigation team.

The lack of progress in the case comes even after the police issued a lookout notice on Tuesday. The case hit the headlines suddenly on Tuesday when a petition was filed before the High Court by the accused and the photographs of the woman, a fashion designer from Kannur, with bruises all over the body surfaced on social media.

Meanwhile, a source confirmed that the police have also deployed a team in Kozhikode. Some of his friends are there. So they could have helped him go underground. But still, we dont have enough evidence to track him down, said another officer.

City Police Commissioner C Nagaraju, on the other hand, expressed confidence that the accused will be tracked down even as he denied any procedural delay in launching the investigation. There was no procedural hiccup in starting the case. Everything went as per the plan. We are making all efforts to track him down. Within a few days, he will land in our custody, the commissioner said.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government will provide drinking water supply through household tap water connection to every rural household by 2024 under Jal Jeevan Mission scheme, Water resources minister Roshy Augustine informed the assembly. He further told the assembly that steps have been taken to inspect all drinking water sources using field test kits twice a year to ensure the quality of drinking water being supplied in the state. Quality control labs are functioning in all the districts. Laboratory information management system software is used to store and monitor test results. Plans are afoot to construct check dams and regulator cum bridges with the help of the Irrigation Department in areas where drinking water shortage is acute, he said.

Responding to a query from P V Sreenijan, K K Shailaja, V K Prashanth and N K Akbar, the minister said that priority will be given to areas, which face drinking water shortage during the summer, when new projects are launched.. The cleaning of polluted water sources with the help of local self- governments is the current priority of the government so as to ensure uninterrupted supply of clean water to households. The government will also ensure cleaning of polluted canals in the capital which cause flooding as a result of clogging, he said while answering Kadakampally Surendran.

Roshy also informed the assembly that the tendency to set up a water supply chain without inaugurating the water source and treatment plant will not be implemented during the present tenure. The construction of each treatment plant will depend on its preference. The government will intervene to avoid laying the pipe much earlier as many pipelines could be seen damaged during the supply phase.

The supply chain is in its final stages. He said that the supply chain will be restored only after the water source and treatment plant were completed. Mathew T Thomas pointed out that there are many projects where the supply chain was set up first without completing the production components.

Kuttanad second package is in the offing to ensure uninterrupted drinking water supply to all households. The government will check the pipelines which were laid under the ground before the water supply at Kuttanad, Roshy Augustine informed the assembly.

RECTIFYING FLAWS IN AMBEDKAR VILLAGE PROJECT: MIN

TPuram: SC/ST Development Minister K Radhakrishan on Wednesday informed the assembly that there were some shortcomings in the implementation of the Ambedkar village project for the modernisation of the colonies, and steps have been taken to rectify them.

No change in land rules planned for Idukki: Min

TPuram: The government has no plans to bring changes to the land assignment rules exclusively for Idukki, Revenue Minister K Rajan told the assembly, Rajan said. Land assignment rules were common for all 14 districts, the minister said.

Land acquisition for technological varsity

TPuram: Land acquisition for the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University is progressing in Kattakada taluk in Thiruvananthapuram, Revenue Minister K Rajan has said. He was replying to a submission by I B Sathish, MLA, in the assembly. The Centre for Management Development had submitted the social impact assessment report. Later, as per the recommendation of the expert group, an order was issued for land acquisition by paying the premium price.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Chellam sir, a retired spy who comes to the rescue of Manoj Bajpayee's Srikant Tiwari in the latest season of espionage action-thriller "The Family Man", is now a national rage and the subject of viral memes.

Actor Uday Mahesh, who played the "super conscious" former intelligence officer on the Amazon Prime Video series, says he is up for a spin-off on the beloved character and even a reprisal in the upcoming season three.

Chellum's popularity is similar to that of Bob Biswas, an insurance agent by the day, Biswas moonlights as a hitman in the Vidya Balan-starrer 2012 "Kahaani".

The character is now getting a spin off film with Abhishek Bachchan.

Asked if he was game for a Chellam stand-alone series given the popularity of the character, Mahesh told PTI over telephone from Chennai, "If I get an offer like that, I would definitely love to do it. Even for Family Man 3, if they'll call me, I'll be up for it."

ALSO READ | With 112 as 'Chellam Sir', UP Police joins 'The Family Man' meme fest

The 51-year-old, who is primarily a writer and director in Tamil cinema, said he had first auditioned for the role of Dheepan, a senior Sri Lankan Tamil fighter who uses diplomacy to achieve the cause of liberation.

a character that had roughly 15 minutes or less in a show but had a huge impact on it pic.twitter.com/UiPbFCQHfd  amazon prime video IN (@PrimeVideoIN) June 6, 2021

The role was eventually played by Azhagam Perumal.

Two months after no word from the team, Mahesh received a callback and they offered him the role of Chellam.

Since "The Family Man" was a hit show, the actor said, he wanted to be a part of it.

"So I said yes to the role," the actor said about his extended cameo.

The creators of the show Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK briefed him about the character, who is now a viral sensation on social media via memes, when they met on the set.

WATCH TRAILER:

"They said this is a retired spy who helps Srikant and they have worked together some time in the past. He is a super conscious spy. It was an interesting part."

From tossing sim cards into shopping bags, abruptly hanging up a call to chiding Srikant over wasting water, Chellam is now part of the pop culture in the digital age.

In the series, the character seems to give a breakthrough to Srikant every time he hits a roadblock in his mission, with a meme equating Chellam with Google, the search engine on the Internet.

"I liked the role because there was a comical touch to it. We never thought this was going to be so huge," Mahesh added.

Born and brought up in Chennai, the actor holds a diploma in chemical engineering from Central Polytechnic College.

But he was not interested in studying and wanted to join the Merchant Navy.

"I could not join the Merchant Navy due to family pressure. When I was studying in college, I had a passion for cinema. But I didn't know how to get into it."

Around the same time Mahesh met cinematographer Natarajan Subramaniam, known as Nutty, through a common friend.

"Through Nutty, I got an entry into the industry as an assistant director. Slowly, I worked towards becoming a writer and director," he said.

He made his directorial debut in 2006 with "Naalai", starring Richard Rishi and Madhumitha, and introduced Natraj as an actor.

Two years later, they reunited for "Chakkara Viyugam".

Mahesh also co-wrote the story of Shoojit Sircar's directorial debut "Yahaan" (2005) while he was working with the filmmaker for his production house in Mumbai.

Acting was an accident, Mahesh said who has since worked in films like "Kabali" and "Madras Cafe" and STAR Vijay series "Office".

Director Naveen wanted him to play the role of Salim bhai, a funny don, in the 2013 Tamil black comedy "Moodar Koodam".

"I was reluctant to act. Naveen forced me and eventually I said yes. I wanted to be known as a writer-director, not an actor. There are so many great actors in the industry, comparatively I'm nothing," Mahesh said.

When "Madras Cafe", also directed by Sircar in which Mahesh played an intelligence officer, happened, he was helping the director in casting the film on location in Kochi.

"Shoojit offered me a small character in 'Madras Cafe' and I couldn't refuse because I was getting to share screen space with John Abraham."

Working with Bajpayee on the series was a "delight and honour", Mahesh said.

After the success of "The Family Man", the actor said if a good character comes his way, he will "definitely" take it up.

"But I'm keen on writing and directing," he added.

Next, Mahesh is looking forward to directing a movie in Tamil.

ALSO WATCH | Worlds Largest Harry Potter Store Opens in New York
By Express News Service

Dhanush-Karthik Subbarajs upcoming film, Jagame Thandhiram, will premiere directly on Netflix on June 18. The film also stars James Cosmo, Aishwarya Lekshmi, and popular Malayalam actor Joju George in pivotal roles.

Joju is set to make his Tamil debut with the film, which has him essay the role of gangster Sivadoss. An ardent fan of Karthik Subbaraj, Joju also expressed his happiness in working with an actor like Cosmo.

I have been a huge Karthik Subbaraj fan. After seeing Pizza, I was trying to meet Karthik Subbaraj, but I didnt get a chance. I came to the Malayalam industry and was doing characters here. Finally, I got a chance to meet him through Vivek Harshan (editor of Jagame Thandhiram) and filmmaker Dimal Dennis. Karthik asked me to audition for this role since it was a huge character. He narrated a scene and asked me to act. I acted it out and said the dialogues in broken Tamil. He simply smiled at me, and I was so happy.

Talking about working with Cosmo, Joju said, I knew my opponent (in the film) would be James Cosmo sir who is a big Hollywood actor. In fact, he is the first Hollywood actor I have seen in person. I live for the excitement that life gives, to act with James Cosmo was a huge opportunity for me.
Mukesh Ranjan By

Express News Service

RANCHI: Nineteen-year-old Mansi Chaudhary, currently pursuing Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA) from St Xaviers College in Ranchi, has put her experiences of the month long isolation at home in words -- One Month Story which has been published by Notion Press and is available on Amazon and Flipkart.

According to Chaudhary, the book is all about her experiences and thoughts she had to undergo during that one month time after being detected with Covid. The book has been published both in English and Hindi.

The book includes some of her good and bad experiences which she had to face during that particular time. It is all about negative feelings which she was getting right after getting positive due to the confinement, which gradually started converting into positive ones as the time passed on.

Recalling the isolation days, Mansi said that she thought of writing her experiences in a diary as she could not express her emotions to anybody at that time.

When I was given a separate room, I realized that despite having 18 family members at home, I was not able to meet anybody as I was confined to a single room without being allowed to talk to anyone. It was really a horrible experience as there is nothing to entertain you and you lose all interest in food after losing the taste and smell. You cannot talk to the people even when they are near to you, said Mansi. Then she thought, why not write daily happenings in a diary as there was no one around her to share her emotions to pass her time, she added.

Mansi further added that she has put all her experiences she faced during isolation in words, which has been published in her book.

ALSO READ | Group of girls in Ranchi step up to provide food for the distressed

I started writing the diary on the day to day happenings like how family members were not able to come near me, how the food was put before me from a distance, and all other minor details. I started it right from day 1 after I got into isolation on April 27, till I got recovered after a month. After my recovery, I found it interesting and thought why not try to get it published and sent the PDF copy to Notion Press, which agreed to publish the book. I had never thought in my wildest dream that it will ever get published, said the young author.

According to Mansi, she also experienced that mobile phone, which has become an essential part of everybodys life, also did not work at that time as you need to talk to the people one to one in order to express your feelings. Mansis parents, however, were unaware of it that she has been putting her heart into words which will ever get published in a form of book.

It has really made us proud that my daughters book is getting published. I have been getting congratulatory phone calls from my family and friends. I have also been told by local administration that they will facilitate Mansi at the state level, once the Covid cases goes down, said the proud father Ranjeet Kumar Chaudhary.

Mansi was detected with Covid after her return to Gumla from Ranchi after writing her exams. She has an interest of writing since her childhood, and the quarantine period gave her an opportunity to put her experiences in words and get it published too, said Mansis father.
Prajna GR By

Express News Service

MADIKERI: Adorning the trademark camouflaged uniforms, the Anti-Naxal Force commandos of Karnataka are by and large involved in conducting combing operations inside the thick forests. However, during the ongoing pandemic, the ANF commandos have an additional task at hand -- help the poor forest dwellers.

Kodagu district has scores of tribal residents who live isolated in the forest. With no government-authorized identity cards, many of these residents are deprived of availing government schemes. Again, the pandemic has affected their livelihood.

While we carry out combing operations in the forests, we identify poor families in the forest. With the efforts from the ANF Superintendent B Nikhil, we are distributing food kits to such families, explained Shashikumar, ANF SI based in Bhagamandala.

A list of beneficiaries is being submitted by the commandos to the ANF teams. The food kits are arranged by the force. Once we receive the food kits, we go into the forest and hand over the kits to the beneficiaries, he added.

Across Kodagu, the ANF commandos have so far distributed nearly 100 food kits to tribals residing in naxal-hit areas. We distributed nearly 60 food kits across Bhagamandala, Aarji, and Kutta villages in the district. This year, we have just begun the initiative and have distributed nearly 40 food kits,

he confirmed.

The ANF has also donated oxygen concentrators to rural hospitals in Bhagamandala, Kutta and Aarji villages. Many donors have come forward to enable donations to poor families in naxal-hit areas in other districts. However, there are no sponsors in Kodagu and hence, we are availing kits from the ANF, added Sahshikumar.
Sumi Sukanya Dutta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The wait for the published data related to phase 3 clinical trials of Covaxin is only getting longer despite a growing clamour to release the findings urgently amid new information that compared to Covishield this Covid-19 vaccine may be triggering lower antibody response.

On Wednesday, Bharat Biotech, which has developed Covaxin with support from ICMR, said that the final analysis of its efficacy trials that were carried out between November-January will be made public only in July, after it is submitted to the drug regulator and peer-reviewed journals with a timeline of about three months for publication.

While announcing the second interim analysis of its phase 3 trials on April 20, the company had said that "safety and efficacy results from the final analysis will be available in June, and the final report will be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication".

In this statement, the company had claimed that the vaccine has shown a 78% efficacy against preventing infection while efficacy against severe Covid-19 disease was 100%, with an impact on reduction in hospitalizations after studying 127 symptomatic cases.

This efficacy was lower by 3% from the one claimed in another statement to the press, issued in early March, based on 87 symptomatic cases.

But a delay on the part of the company in coming up with the final data is bothering many -- since phase 3 trials data of all other approved Covid-19 vaccines, including the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V, were published within 4-6 weeks of interim analysis.

ALSO READ | Covaxin less effective against B.1.617.2 variant responsible for second wave: Study

Also, Covaxin had been approved by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for public use in "clinical trial mode" while still under efficacy trials on 25,800 people.

"It is unusual to have such a delay, particularly when the second analysis was so close to the sample size of 130 symptomatic cases," said a top virologist who did not wish to be named.

Health systems and vaccine policy expert Chandrakant Lahariya said that while publication in a journal may take time, the company should at least release the findings on a pre-print server in the interim.

The voices demanding proof that Covaxin actually protects against Covid-19 are also growing because a recent comparative report on evaluation of immunogenicity responses to spike protein after the first and second doses of Covaxin and Covishield showed that the former may have lower immunogenicity.

Though some experts say that the low antibodies after Covaxin is expected given that it is an inactivated virus based vaccine known for triggering cellular rather than just antibody response, these doubts can be put to rest only when data is out for independent researchers to see and analyse.

"It would be really useful to see published phase 3 results of Covaxin," said vaccinologist Shahid Jameel. "Peer-reviewed publications are globally considered to be the best way of judging science, and it would be a tribute to India's vaccine effort. It will also help Covaxin to quickly get WHO qualification."

Amar Jesani, a bio-ethics researcher and editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, said he was surprised that the final data has not been submitted even to the regulator yet.

"This is particularly surprising because the regulator recently approved Covaxin trials for kids and adolescents aged 2-17 years who should not be subjected to any experiment until the vaccine's protection in adults is fully understood and analysed," he said.

Jesani minced no words in saying that Indian drug regulator has been lax in the case of Covaxin.

"I think Bharat Biotech and ICMR are getting extraordinary privileges while science is taking a backseat. Such leniency would not have happened if this vaccine would have aimed to be marketed in developed countries," he said.


By Express News Service

VELLORE: Three policemen have been booked for stealing cash and gold ornaments during a 'prohibition raid' they launched in the hilly village Nachimedu near Ariyur in Vellore district.

The policemen - SI Anbalagan and constables Ilayaraja and Yuvraj - attached to Ariyur police station launched the raid on Wednesday morning, following information that arrack was being brewed in the village.

A police officer said, "They broke into a locked house and destroyed illicitly Distilled (ID) arrack and ingredients used in the arrack production such as fermented wash and jaggery."

ALSO READ | TN exhausts Covid vaccine stock, new doses yet to come

After the raid, the locals found cash and jewellery missing from the house. Suspecting the cops of stealing the valuables, the locals waylaid thems without letting them leave the village, the police officer said.

On information, Inspector A Suba went to the village and held an inquiry.

The officer said Rs 8 lakh in cash and gold ornaments worth 11 sovereigns were given back to the locals.

A case was registered against the policemen under section 454 (house-trespass or house breaking in order to commit offence) and section 380 (theft in dwelling house) of IPC.

Meanwhile, the prohibition offenders had absconded and a search had been launched to nab them, the officer said.

Superintendent of Police S Selvakumar could not be reached for comments in the incident.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: The Assam government will pay one-time financial assistance of Rs 2.5 lakh each to women, who have lost their husbands to Covid, from the Chief Ministers Relief Fund.

Making the announcement on Thursday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Covid-induced widows will also be entitled to the benefits of Arunodoi scheme and the monthly widow pension under Indira Miri Universal Widow Pension Scheme.

The package will be of Rs 830 per month from Orunodoi, Rs 300 from widow pension and Rs 2.5 lakh as one-time assistance, Sarma told journalists at a press conference on the occasion of completion of his governments one month in office.

Last month, the state government had announced the Chief Minister Sishu Seva Scheme for children orphaned by the pandemic. Under it, they will receive a financial support of Rs 3,500, including Central government support of Rs 2,000, on a monthly basis.

Sarma on Thursday handed over the cheques of financial assistance to a few beneficiaries.

ALSO READ | Adopt 'decent family planning policy' for population control: Assam CM to minority community

An amount Rs 7,81,200 will be parked in the bank as fixed deposit (FD) in the name of each beneficiary. The monthly financial assistance, to be realised from the FD, will be given to the beneficiaries till they attain the age of 24 years. On the completion of 24 years, the amount parked as FD will be credited to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

The scheme was announced on May 29 on the occasion of completion of seven years of Narendra Modi government in power. Within 10 days of the announcement, the financial assistance was transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

Sarma said the scheme would enable the beneficiaries to lead a life of dignity.

For children below 10 years and adolescent girls with no guardian, the state government will take steps to house them in one of the child care institutions and provide adequate funding for their upkeep, including educational expenditure.

The orphaned adolescent girls will be given accommodation in suitable institutions to ensure their sensitive care and proper protection.

Considering the marriage component of the scheme, the state government will extend one-time financial assistance. It will give one tola of gold under Arundhati scheme and Rs 50,000 to each girl. For skill development and training, laptops or tablets will be provided to school or college-going orphans for undergoing vocational training. All such students will
Later that afternoon, Worthley pulled up to the Hone Ave. residence in a 2017 BMW. He went inside for about 20 minutes, then came out of the building and spoke with Velez. Investigators swooped in and searched the two men, their cars and the home.
By ANI

KOLKATA: Border Security Force (BSF) has apprehended a Bangladeshi human trafficker who has been staying in India illegally for the last 20 years and was on the wanted list of the police for a long time.

On 7 June, acting on the reliable information of the Intelligence Branch of BSF, the troops of Border Out Post Ghojadanga, 153 Battalion, under Sector Kolkata ambushed near ICP Ghojadanga (IB).

"A man (human trafficker) was observed coming towards ICP Gojadanga (IB). On the basis of specific information, the ambush party stopped and searched the man. On searching 2 mobile phones, Indian SIM cards, 5 Bangladeshi SIM cards and many fake Aadhaar cards were recovered from him. The ambush party immediately arrested the smuggler and brought him to the Border Out Post Ghojadanga for further interrogation," read an official release.

The apprehended smuggler revealed his name as Hassan Ghazi (28) and said he presently residing in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas.

Further, he told his permanent address Molapara village in Satkhira district in Bangladesh, the BSF said.

"During questioning, the apprehended smuggler Hassan Ghazi revealed that he is a Bangladeshi national. He entered India through illegal means and has been staying in India illegally for 20 years. He has married an Indian national namely Khukhumoni Bibi (25)," read the release.

"He has been evading legal action by procuring fabricated government documents by means of forged documents. And having two (02) Fake ID Aadhar card of unknown females were also recovered from him. He also revealed the name of syndicate and many other smugglers who are involved in human trafficking with him," the BSF said.

The apprehended smuggler and the seized items have been handed over to the Police Station Basirhat for further legal action.
By Express News Service

KOLKATA: Three BJP MPs from West Bengal Nishith Pramanik, Arjun Singh and Saunitra Khan arrived New Delhi on Wednesday to meet the partys national leadership.

The three visited the national capital after West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJPs national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah this week.

Sources in the BJP said the three MPs were asked to visit Delhi as the BJPs high-command wants to take stock of the election loss in West Bengal and the post-poll situation in the state.

Pramanik, the Cooch Behar MP, will be asked to explain why the saffron camp failed to retain its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in north Bengal in the recent Assembly elections. Singh is also expected to elaborate the reason behind the BJPs debacle in his own LS constituency, said a BJP leader.

Sarkar, however, was asked to visit Delhi as the party did not perform up to its expectation in the belt dominated by Matuas, a Hindu religious sect comprising refugees from Bangladesh.
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: Mumbai received about 60 millimetres of rainfall in an hour on Wednesday, leading to waterlogging in several places including Hindmata, Milan Subway and Sion. The flooding of the railway tracks led to brief suspension of suburban rail services.

Mayor of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Kishori Pednekar blamed the railways for the flooding of the tracks and the adjoining areas. Pednekar said the Central Railway did not cooperate with the BMC, and therefore, the BMC could not conduct cleaning works in the nullahs and the adjoining areas that fall under the railways jurisdiction.

However, the Central Railway refuted her claim. Its spokesperson Shivaji Sutar said they have been in touch with the BMC officials to deliver the best possible services to the passengers. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited the BMCs disaster management room to take stock of the situation. BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal and Pednekar visited Hindmata.

Chahal said waterlogging was not reported in most places due to the working of the pump stations. BMC is working on war footing to drain out the excessive rainwater, he said.

Though the flooding disrupted traffic in some parts, in most areas there were no major disruptions. The local train services were suspended for a brief period, Chahal said.

Meanwhile, the BJP attacked the BMC over the flooding. BJP leader Ashish Shelar said the first rain in Mumbai this season has exposed the BMCs claim that 100 per cent nullahs have been cleaned.

The nullah cleaning the major scam where each year Rs 1,000 crore is wasted. The audit should be conducted. The Shiv Sena has been ruling the BMC for the last 20 years. But Mumbai is still suffering from a lack of basic infrastructure. The responsibility should be fixed, Shelar said.

ALSO WATCH:
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry has prohibited states from sharing Covid-19 vaccine stock-related information to any other agency or organisation, calling it sensitive, it has emerged. States are supposed to update the Centre on stock and transactions of all vaccines, those included in its Universal Immunisation Programme as well as using the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (EVIN), a management system implemented in India with the help of the United Nations Development Programme.

The eVIN system is used to track the vaccine stock status and temperature at all levels of vaccine storage from the national to sub-district levels after being launched in 2012-13.

It is overwhelming to see that all states are using the system to update the stock and transactions of Covid-19 vaccines on a daily basis, said a letter issued to the mission director of the National Health Mission in states on June 4 by the ministry.

The letter added that data and analytics generated by eVIN for inventory and temperature are owned by the ministry and should not be shared with any other organisation, partner or media agency, online and offline public forums without consent.

This is sensitive information and to be used only for programme improvement, the letter added.

The letter has come at a time when questions are being raised on the lack of centralised vaccine availability data in the public domain and opacity in the vaccine distribution plan to states. Officials in the ministry, however, insisted that this was a routine letter issued to states and is sent periodically on all vaccines and was not issued specifically for Covid-19 vaccines.

That is because information related to vaccine consumption and cold storage etc. can be used by private companies to push their trade agendas in specific areas, clarified an official in the reproductive and child division of the ministry. Another official said data related to vaccines is also updated on the CoWIN portal.
By PTI

KOLKATA: A Chinese national was apprehended by the Border Security Force (BSF) along the India-Bangladesh international border in West Bengal on Thursday, officials said.

The 35-year-old man, dressed in a black sweatshirt, pants and shoes, was "intercepted" by a BSF party around 7 am when he was "infiltrating" into the Indian territory after crossing the border in Malda district, they said.

A Chinese passport bearing a Bangladeshi visa, a laptop and three mobile phone SIM cards were found on the man who was identified by security officials as Junwei Han.

He has been kept at the Kaliachak post of the border guarding force, and a BSF spokesperson in Delhi said an "interview of the individual is underway by agencies concerned".

Sources said the Chinese man does not probably understand English, and hence, a security officer conversant in the Mandarin language has been called in for a joint questioning session by officials of the BSF, local police and the intelligence agencies.

Further details and the reasons for his venturing into the Indian side will be known once the session ends, they said.

Headquartered in Kolkata, the BSF's South Bengal Frontier guards the India-Bangladesh international border in this area.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Bombay High Court on Thursday said Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, shall remain admitted in a Mumbai-based private hospital till June 18 as he is suffering from COVID-19.

Swamy, 84, was on May 28 shifted from the Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai to the Holy Family Hospital here after he filed a petition, seeking interim bail on medical grounds.

After being shifted to the private hospital, he tested positive for the coronavirus infection. He was lodged at the Taloja prison since his arrest in October 2020.

On Thursday, his counsel Mihir Desai told a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar that Swamy had tested positive for COVID-19 and hence, his stay at the private hospital should be extended.

The bench said Swamy shall remain admitted at the private hospital till June 18, and posted the petition for hearing on June 17.

The court also directed the hospital to submit in a sealed envelope medical reports of Swamy by the next date of hearing.

Last month, when Swamy was produced before the HC from the prison via video-conferencing, he told the court that his mental and physical health had declined steadily in the jail.

The Elgar Parishad case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at a conclave held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the Maharashtra city's outskirts.

The Pune Police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) later took over the probe into the case.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday debunked media reports about CoWIN being hacked, stating that prima facie, these reports appear to be fake and that the portal stores all the vaccination data in a safe and secure digital environment.

"There have been some unfounded media reports on the CoWIN platform being hacked. Prima facie, these reports appear to be fake," a statement issued by the Union health ministry said. However, the ministry and the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration (EGVAC) are getting the matter investigated by the Computer Emergency Response Team of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MietY), the statement said.

Dr R S Sharma, Chairman of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration (CoWIN), clarified that "our attention has been drawn towards the news circulating on social media about the alleged hacking of the CoWIN system. In this connection, we wish to state that CoWIN stores all the vaccination data in a safe and secure digital environment. No CoWIN data is shared with any entity outside the CoWIN environment. The data being claimed as having been leaked such as the geo-location of beneficiaries is not even collected at CoWIN".
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Union Health Ministry's national telemedicine service -- eSanjeevani -- crossed another milestone by completing six million (60 lakh) consultations through more than 375 online OPDs, an official statement said on Thursday.

More than 40,000 patients consulted over 1,600 doctors on a daily basis using this innovative digital medium to seek health services, the health ministry statement said. Currently, the national telemedicine service is operational in 31 states and union territories.

The health ministry had conceptualised eSanjeevani -- a doctor-to-doctor telemedicine platform -- in November 2019 for implementation at 1,55,000 health and wellness centres under central government's Ayushman Bharat scheme in a hub and spoke model.

As OPDs across the country were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the Union Health Ministry ensured a rapid development and rollout of this initiative in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (Mohali).

The eSanjeevani AB-HWC has been implemented at around 20,000 health and wellness centres as spokes and over 1,800 as hubs in around 30 states, the statement said.

The Ministry of Defence too has hosted a National OPD on eSanjeevaniOPD, where over 100 veteran doctors and specialists -- roped in by the Ministry of Defence -- serve patients across the country, it said.

People in many states have been quick to recognise the benefits of eSanjeevani and this has led to an encouraging trend of widespread rapid adoption of this digital modality of seeking health services, the statement said.

It has led to massive improvement in access to specialised health services, particularly in rural areas, it added.

Further, the statement said, this service has come in handy for the patients in urban areas as well, especially during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has burdened the healthcare services delivery system in the country.

Leading 10 states in terms of adoption (number of consultations) of eSanjeevani are Andhra Pradesh (12,19,689), Tamil Nadu (11,61,987), Karnataka (10,56,447), Uttar Pradesh (9,52,926), Gujarat (2,67,482), Madhya Pradesh (2,64,364), Bihar (1,92,537), Maharashtra (1,77,629), Kerala (1,73,734) and Uttarakhand (1,34,214), it said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Kapil Sibal, a prominent member of the Congress' group of 23 leaders who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking organisational overhaul last year, on Thursday slammed fellow letter signatory Jitin Prasada for crossing over to the BJP and said it represented politics of "prasada" or personal gains.

The veteran Congress leader also said hypothetically if his party thinks of him as "dead wood" or of no utility, he may think of leaving, but would never join the BJP, asserting that such a switch could only happen "over my dead body".

In an interview with PTI, Sibal said if Jitin Prasada would have left the party unhappy over the response of the leadership on the concerns raised by the letter writers that would have been his personal choice and he was entitled to leave, but wondered why he decided to join the BJP.

"What is the rational basis for that except for 'prasada (personal gain) politics. We see this happening around the country," Sibal asserted.

Asked about the reforms not being implemented which he along with 22 other leaders had sought from the party, Sibal said that is for the top political leaders to decide and that at this stage he has no comments to offer.

"As long as we are in the Congress and we continue to embrace its ideology, I think all 22 of us, now that we are 22, and many more who were not part of the signed document will continue to raise our issues to strengthen the Congress and where we want the party to go and be the grand old party it was," he said.

"And if they tell me at any point in time that they don't need me, I will decide what to do, but as I said I will not join the BJP over my dead body," the senior Congress leader asserted.

In a tweet earlier, Sibal had said the question is will Jitin Prasada get "prasada" from the BJP, or is he just a 'catch' for UP elections.

In such deals if 'ideology' doesn't matter changeover is easy, he tweeted.

Slamming Jitin Prasada's switch to the BJP and his hailing the saffron party, Sibal told PTI that the norm in politics now is "Prasada will go for prasada".

"From Aaya Ram Gaya Ram we are into 'prasada (personal gain) politics. We saw this happening recently in West Bengal where en-masse people left the TMC and joined the BJP in the hope that they will contest on a BJP ticket and win because Amit Shah was claiming 200 plus for the BJP. When they faced defeat, they all want to go back to the TMC," Sibal said.

'Aaya Ram Gaya Ram' was an expression used widely in politics in the 1990s referring to the frequent floor-crossing and switching of parties.

Hitting out at switchovers by leaders to the BJP in various states, Sibal said all this shows that there is no concept of principled politics in this country as witnessed in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, among other places.

"It is all about prasada. How much prasada you are going to get, no regard for ideology. My criticism of what he (Jitin) has done is not that he has left the party; I cannot criticise him for that, that is his personal decision. But how does he justify to himself joining the BJP," he said.

"This is a party he (Jitin) abused for decades. He himself said that his association with the Congress and its ideology was for several decades. How then does he justify joining an ideology which he has opposed for three decades," Sibal asked.

The former Union minister said what concerns him is the way ideology is being put aside across the country.

He cited the example of Haryana and the absence of any rationale in the coalition of the Chautalas and the BJP.

It is just lust for power, he alleged.

Pressing his point, Sibal cited the example of the US and the UK, saying the Republicans may be in trouble at this moment but they are not joining the Democrats in America and the same was true of the Labour party and the Conservatives in the UK.

"Members of Parliaments in Europe do not indulge in such acrobatic switches for personal gain. Those too are functional democracies. Democracy in this country has become dysfunctional because it is not based on ideology," Sibal said.

The fight for power should be based on the clash of ideologies and not on personal "prasadas", he asserted.

Asked if he could ever think of leaving the party he has been with for decades, Sibal said "If the party considers that I have no value for it I might think of leaving it, but I would never join the BJP. This is because I am wedded to a particular ideology".

"Politics is not for personal gain, embracing ideologies which members of a party do not believe just for a Rajya Sabha seat or a position in the party or some other position. That is not my idea of politics," he asserted.

Expressing concern over the increasing trend of leaders switching between diametrically opposite ideologies, Sibal said the other real problem is that when people look at politicians behaving in this fashion they believe that these politicians are untrustworthy, unprincipled and have no ideology.

This has nothing to do with value-based politics.

If workers see their leaders jettisoning value-based politics they too will do the same, Sibal argued.

"That weakens the foundations of democracy, the trust of the people in democratic principles and if the foundations of democracy get weakened, the structure one day will collapse. My worry is that my worry is not Jitin Prasada moving away from the Congress," he said.

Sibal also slammed the BJP for welcoming 'prasada politics'.

Its actions are equally unprincipled, he added.
By Agencies

MUMBAI: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra will complete its full term and praised ally Shiv Sena, saying it is party which one can trust.

The remarks came against the backdrop of the one-on-one meeting between Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Tuesday and Pawar's meeting with BJP leader and former CM Devendra Fadnavis last week.

Speaking on the 22nd foundation day of the NCP, Pawar also said the MVA (comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) will do well in the next Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, indicating the three parties may contest the 2024 polls together.

ALSO READ | Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray meets PM Modi over Maratha quota, GST compensation

He said doubts are being raised as to how long the state government will last. "But, the Shiv Sena is a party which can be trusted. The government will last its full term and also perform well in the next Lok Sabha and Assembly polls," the NCP chief said.

"The Shiv Sena is a party you can trust. (Sena founder) Balasaheb Thackeray honoured his commitment to Indira Gandhi," he said.

The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress came together to form government in Maharashtra following the Assembly polls in 2019, after the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had a fallout with the BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

"We have formed a government comprising parties of different ideologies. We never thought we will one day form government with the Shiv Sena because we had never worked together. But, the experience is good as all the three parties are working well together during the COVID-19 pandemic," Pawar said.
Win-win cooperation with China to foster peace, prosperity: Philippine president

Xinhua) 13:43, June 10, 2021

Staff members transport cargos containing the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines in Manila, the Philippines on April 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)

In a pre-recorded message aired during the 46th anniversary of Philippines-China diplomatic relations and 20th Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said the online celebration "reminds us of the deep and abiding friendship between the Filipino-Chinese peoples."

MANILA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that a "win-win cooperation" with China would ensure a partnership that will foster peace and prosperity.

In a pre-recorded message aired during the 46th anniversary of Philippines-China diplomatic relations and 20th Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day, Duterte said the online celebration "reminds us of the deep and abiding friendship between the Filipino-Chinese peoples."

"It is a bond that predates by centuries the formal establishment of diplomatic relations 46 years ago," Duterte said.

Duterte thanked the Filipino-Chinese community for being a partner in promoting economic, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges between the Philippines and China.

Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stressed the significance of China's role in the region and in the global scene.

"China is involved not only in bilateral dealings but also collectively, such as through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," she said.

"The continuing friendship between our two peoples enhances the mutually beneficial relations between our two countries, and contributes to the peace and harmony in the Asia-Pacific region," Arroyo said, adding that bilateral ties between the Philippines and China "have reached new heights."

Workers work at the construction site of the China-funded Binondo-Intramuros Bridge in Manila, the Philippines, Nov. 18, 2020. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)

Tan Qingsheng, charge d'affaires of China's embassy in the Philippines, said the China-Philippines friendship is best exemplified during the common fight against COVID-19.

China was the first country to donate test kits, the first and the only country to dispatch an anti-pandemic medical expert team to the Philippines, and also the first country to issue a special permit for the Philippine military aircraft and vessels to land and dock in China for the transportation of medical supplies.

China's Sinovac was the first COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in the Philippines both through government-to-government donation and commercial procurement, and it now tops the list of the most welcomed and trusted vaccines among Filipinos, Tan said.

"The two countries will forge an even closer China-Philippines comprehensive strategic cooperative relationship in the new era, and our friendship would shine even brighter in the tempering of time," he said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Byron Morales, 25, was arguing with the gunman at 12:22 a.m. in front of the Dream Hotel on W. 16th St. near Ninth Ave. when the suspect pulled out a 9mm handgun and shot him in the lower body, cops said.
Pranab Mondal By

Express News Service

KOLKATA: A month after winning her third-straight term as West Bengal chief minister, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said her goal now is to derail the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre.

Meeting the chief of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Rakesh Tikait in Kolkata, Mamata called on all Opposition parties to support the farmers in their agitation against the Centres farm laws. Mamata assured Tikait of her support to the farmers movement and said West Bengal will continue to stand with the farmers.

The farmers movement is not just for Punjab, Haryana or Uttar Pradesh. It is for the whole country. From now, my goal will be to derail the BJP-led Central government. It is necessary for the states to come together to discuss policy issues and stand together against injustice, said Mamata after meeting Tikait.

Earlier, the Bengal chief minister had extended her support to the farmers agitation. Several TMC MPs had visited the venues along the borders of the national capital where the farmers have been protesting since last November.

Mamata said there should be a platform where the states could deliberate on the Centres policy.

"Bulldozing states is not good for the federal structure. India is hungrily waiting for policies, which help in fighting coronavirus and assist farmers and the industry," said Mamata.

Ahead of the recent Assembly elections, Tikait had visited Bengal and urged people not to vote for the BJP. Now, Mamata Banerjee is the face of the country, who can stand firm against the BJP. It is now obvious that the farmer leaders will seek our support to further intensify the ongoing farmers protest against the Centres farm laws, said a senior TMC leader. With the pandemic situation improving, the farmers are planning to intensify the protests again.

We thank her (Mamata) for this assurance. West Bengal should work as model state, said Tikait.
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

PATNA: It has been officially confirmed that the districts in Bihar were not doing accurate reporting of Covid-19 deaths during the second wave of the pandemic. In a verification drive launched by the state government on May 18, it was found that 3,951 deaths had not been recorded in previous fatality reports.

Till June 7, the states total count of Covid-19 deaths was 5,424. After revision, the tally went up to 9,375 on June 8. The highest number of unreported deaths 1,069 is from Patna. Now, this districts total has risen to 2,293 from 1,229.

The verification was done following a directive from CM Nitish Kumar, who wanted the right figures to ensure payment of ex-gratia to the kin of the deceased. Teams of civil surgeons, Additional Chief Medical Officers and senior medical officers from the district level were formed. Principals, superintendents and heads of departments of medical colleges were also part of the teams.

The state government has announced ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next kin of each of those who died due to Covid and sanctioned Rs 300 crore for this.

Bihar is the first state in country that has carried out such an intensive verification exercise, taking suo motu cognizance of deaths due to Covid with an aim to provide ex-gratia to the next kin of all those who died, said Pratyay Amrit, Additional Chief Secretary of the health department.

Previous reports filed by almost all the districts were inaccurate. After Patna, 316 new Covid deaths were reported from Begusarai, 314 from Muzaffarpur, 291 from East Champaran, 222 from Nalanda, 162 from Madhubani, 150 from Darbhanaga,122 from Rohtas, 102 from Kaimur and 97 from Buxar, where 75 unidentified bodies were floating in the Ganga.

Amrit confirmed the revised death tally is 9,375 and that the government will soon make the payments. He added that these deaths were verified after talking to people and other sources, which were confirmed by the teams of officials.

Asked whose fault it was when deaths were under-reported, Amrit said: The department is trying to find out whose fault it was. Proper action will be taken after we ascertain the facts. Principal opposition party RJD attacked the NDA government in the state, saying they had been frequently doubting that the actual number of Covid deaths had not been revealed.

Now, it has been exposed how the NDA government was not reporting deaths accurately, said Mritunjay Tiwari, the RJD spokesperso. He claimed RJD knew that deaths were being under-reported.
Sumi Sukanaya Dutta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Less than 60 per cent healthcare workers in India have been fully vaccinated against Covid so far, nearly five months after a nationwide inoculation drive was started for them in mid-January.

The number of healthcare workers in the country is about 1 crore and they are considered the most vulnerable to the infectious disease.

Union Health Ministry, in a review meeting on Covid vaccination in the country on Thursday underlined that while the national average for the first dose administration among for this category 82%, it is only 56% for the second dose.

Worryingly, in 18 states and Union Territories including Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Assam, the full vaccination coverage among healthcare workers is even lower than the national average.

Apart from low full vaccination coverage among this crucial category, less than half of the frontline workers in the country -- numbering about 2 crores --have received two complete doses of vaccine yet.

For this priority group, while the national average of first dose coverage is 85%, it is only 47% for the second dose, with 19 states and UTs reporting even lower figures than this. Among them are Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Telangana, Karnataka, and Punjab.

ALSO READ | Jharkhand tops in Covid vaccine wastage; Kerala, West Bengal report negative wastage

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the low full vaccination coverage for these two priority groups was a serious concern.

The universal vaccination coverage and full protection for these groups is crucial to protect healthcare response to pandemic, Bhushan told states, asking them to sharpen their focus and prepare effective plans for expediting the second dose administration.

States were also instructed to dedicate special time slots or sessions for the exercise.

Another worry for the Centre in the ongoing Covid vaccination drive is less than adequate private sector participation.

As per the governments coronavirus vaccination policy, 25% of the vaccine stock can be procured by the private hospitals but in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam, their participation has been negligible owing to the limited presence and their unequal spread.

In the review meeting, states were alerted to the new features in the CoWIN portal which were incorporated in light of the new vaccination guidelines. Now, rectifications can be done in the personal information such as name, year of birth, gender and photo id number of the card.

The amendments also allow change in vaccine type, date of vaccination, vaccination events particularly not recorded in CoWIN for which users however will have to take the help of district immunization officers.

The government said that a feature to tag the existing Covid vaccination centres as urban and rural is also being provided.
By Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Women Commission member Meena Kumari has kicked up a row by reportedly appealing parents not to give mobile phones to minor girls to prevent cases of crime, like elopement and rape.

The state women panel member has said that girls when given mobile phones often talk with boys and then elope with them.

While asking parents to be vigilant about with whom their daughters are seeing, she appealed them not to give mobile phones to girls and if cell-phones are at all given to them, the girls should be under continous watch of parents and family members.

When asked by journalists about rising rape cases and other crimes against women, she blamed mothers for what is happening with their daughters. "First of all mothers should keep close watch on daughters, as it was owing to their negliegence that all such things are happening with girls," the state women panel member said on Wednesday.

While maintaining that authorities are taking stern steps to prevent rising cases of crime against women, Kumari said "Besides the system, the society, particularly families should also keep an eye on their daughters, particularly with whom they are moving outside and with which boy they are sitting. Don't give mobile phones to daughters as they talk with boys using cell-phones and elope with them later," she reportedly said.

However, the state women's commission has distanced itself from Kumari's statement. Vice President of the Commission Anju Chaudhary termed Kumari's statement as "inappropriate", saying depriving girls of mobile phones is not a solution to stop sexual violence against them. "Instead of saying that mobile phones shouldn't be given to girls, we should be teaching them not to chat with strangers and educate them on the safe use of mobile phones," Chaudhary said.

However, with her reported statements triggering controversy, a concerned Meena said thatshe was misquoted. "Girls in villages don't know how to prudently use mobile phones. Further smartphones use is also promoting inappropriate content," he said.

"On a daily basis, I hear complaints of at least 20 women and 5-6 cases are related to friendships on phones and its consequences," she added.
Vineet Upadhyay By

Express News Service

DEHRADUN: Baba Ramdev on Thursday said allopathy is best for emergency treatment while ayurveda and Yoga saying are effective in 'lifestyle', 'genetic' and 'incurable' diseases. "For emergency treatment and surgery, allopathy is the best there are no two opinions about this," said the Yoga Guru.

He supported ayurveda and Yoga saying that these two are effective in 'lifestyle', 'genetic' and 'incurable' diseases and health problems. "Ayurveda and Yoga are effective in treating lifestyle', 'genetic' and 'incurable' diseases. It is a known fact since centuries without any doubt," added Ramdev.

The Yoga Guru was replying to the queries related to the scuffle between him and the Indian Medical Association after his comments calling allopathy a 'Stupid Science'. The Yoga Guru also praised the doctors.

"Doctors are devdoots. They are a boon to humankind on this earth by God. We can't be enemies with any group. If someone does a mischief it's that individual's fault not of any 'pathy'," said the Yoga Guru while interacting with scribes in Haridwar.

Targeting high cost of patent drugs, he said, "Prime Minister Medicine Centers were opened to address this problem of unaffordable cost of patent medicines which costs 10, 20, 50, 100 and even 200 times in some cases. All we want is that no one should be forced to buy medicines at inflated costs."

He also advised people to be aware of excessive medication and surgical procedures though did not elaborate on it.

On June 4, 2021, after learning that Baba Ramdev has suggested the Uttarakhand government to include Patanjali Yogpeeth's 'Coronil' in COVID kit, Uttarakhand chapter of Indian Medical Association wrote a letter to Chief Secretary to take action in the matter.

The letter said that addition of Coronil with Allopathic drugs shall also amount to ''mixopathy"- a cocktail of Allopathy and Ayurved which is not permitted as per rulings of the apex court. It asserted that apart from the apex court several High Courts of various states have also ruled that mixopathy is not allowed.

The letter dated June 4, 2021 by the IMA said, "Sir, I would be highly obliged if you kindly take prompt action and direct the Secretary Health, Govt. of Uttarakhand accordingly. This is for your information, necessary action and appraisal of the Honourable Chief Minister."

The COVID kit is provided by the state health department to the people who are diagnosed with mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all. The kit includes a thermometer, paracetamol, Vitamin D, Zinc and ivermectin tablet and an anti-parasitic drug.

The letter mentioning that tablet Coronil is 'NOT approved by WHO, DGCI and even Ayush Vibhag' and furthermore has no place in the central guidelines for Corona of Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated, "Coronil is however recognized as a food supplement by Ayush Vibhag of central government and it is not a drug or medicine as claimed by Baba Ramdev on national TV on hourly basis advertisements," it said.

"Hence, addition of Coronil shall be contempt of court. I am sending you the various decisions and rulings of Honble Supreme Court and High courts on your whatsapp for your kind perusal," the letter said. The IMA letter further added that Section 34 of National Medical Commission also does not allow the practice of mixing allopath and ayurvedic prescriptions.
Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan By

The Central government's decision to offer free vaccination to all those above 18 years of age in India is going to be a game changer. This is a massive step in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which was described as 'the century's worst calamity' by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The decision by the Centre to buy 75 per cent of vaccine doses produced in the country and supply the same free of cost to states is a decisive move that is likely to streamline and expedite vaccination. And not surprisingly, many states and CMs have heartily welcomed the announcement made by the PM through his address to the nation on Monday.

The free vaccination will begin from June 21 across the country coinciding with International Yoga Day celebrations. In the process, states will not have to bear even a rupee for the procurement of vaccine doses from the makers. This will save the already overburdened finances of many states.

Competing with many developed countries, India has already administered a massive 23 crore doses since it began the vaccination process on January 16. We are the third country in the world to administer so many doses among its population, next only to China and the US. Given the pace of the vaccination, it is expected that we will soon overtake the US that has administered a total of 33 crore doses till now.

A total of 24.06 crore vaccine doses have been provided to the states. And the number of doses with the states is 1.49 crore as on June 7. It is a testimony to the pace of the vaccination in the country that we have been administering not less than 20 lakh doses a day in the recent past. India is steadily increasing the count of daily vaccination doses. It administered a massive 36.5 lakh doses on June 4.

With the expected streamlining of vaccine distribution among states due to the centralised procurement, and with financial and logistics support from the Centre, the number of daily vaccine doses administered will be around 50 lakh in the near future.

The prime minister pointed out in his address that at least seven different makers are producing vaccines in our country and three more candidates are in the final phase of trials. If all these are available in the next couple of months, the supplies will be improved manifold.

The prime minister constituted the Vaccine Task Force in April last year and expedited the process, due to which we were able to come out with two Made-in-India vaccines in a short period of time. Earlier, it took decades for us to get the vaccines developed in other countries.

This all did not start overnight. The Central government had begun a massive increase in vaccine production and inoculation as early as in 2014 for the universal immunisation programme. This successfully took vaccination coverage from 60 per cent in 2014 to 90 per cent in the next five to six years under the Mission Indradhanush programme. Now the Central government has launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 so as to ensure that no child or pregnant woman will be left unprotected against vaccine-preventable diseases in India.

Living true to its reputation as the world's biggest vaccine maker, India is ramping up its COVID-19 jab production too. Leaving no stone unturned, the Central government is extending financial support to some other vaccine makers to expedite trials and come out with safe and effective vaccines. Giving top priority to vaccinating all its eligible population, the Centre has allocated a massive Rs 35,000 crore in its Budget for the programme. Talks with major global vaccine producers are also in the final stages and huge stocks will arrive in our country soon.

Russia-based vaccine makers have already supplied 30 lakh doses of Sputnik V to India. The Hyderabad-based Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has received the supplies and the rollout has already begun. Dr. Reddy's has a pact with the Russian vaccine maker to sell the first 250 million vials of Sputnik V to our nation.

Similarly, the Centre is extending all possible help and financial support for vaccine makers to come out with jabs for children. This assumes importance so as to protect the children from the feared third wave. The support to research on a nasal vaccine is a crucial step in inoculating children against COVID.

It is important to remember that the prioritised vaccination to doctors and other healthcare workers proved vital in saving our medical fraternity and helped their fight against the deadly second wave. The prioritisation of vaccine doses to people above 45 years and those with comorbidities has also helped save those vulnerable sections.

As vaccine procurement and supplies are to get streamlined from June 21, it is likely that our country will move ahead towards its goal to vaccinate at least 80% of the eligible population by the end of this year.

Saving millions from hunger

Another important decision by the prime minister - to extend the supply of free ration to 80 crore people in the country through Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana up to Deepavali (Nov 2021) - is also a major step. No poor family, especially the 79.88 crore existing beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, will suffer due to non-availability of food grains. A massive 80 lakh tonnes of food grains will be distributed under the scheme. It is a major welfare initiative with a huge food subsidy bill of around Rs 25,000 crore being borne by the Centre.

Till we achieve the vaccination target, it is important for people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour to contain virus spread. It is also important to overcome vaccine hesitancy. India has successfully shown the world its strong collective resolve to fight the pandemic earlier. Now its collective resolve and effort continue to help in the battle.

(The writer is Governor of Telangana and Lt Governor of Puducherry)
Santwana Bhattacharya By

Jitin Prasada must be feeling reasonably chuffed. He's had a relaunch that a million dollar advertising blitzkrieg could not have given him. Nor even years of ground work. All courtesy TV news channels and the commentariat that went on an overdrive to showcase the BJP's new 'prized catch'. Never mind if it was only Piyush Goyal who did the honours of welcoming Jitin to the saffron fold.

Thanks to the brouhaha that followed, Jitin is now the most prominent Brahmin face of UP politics, which may just about revive his nosediving career and renew his brand equity. As a Congress politician from UP, he could never have got the footage he consumed in the last two days. But make no mistake, half of Jitin's political capital is derived from his past positioning as a Congress dynast, as an elite new-gen 'leader' with a privileged life and education - and most of all, proximity to the prince-in-waiting.

In fact, that's the reason why he became the day's big breaking news - or why he had become the youngest minister in UPA-I all those years ago, almost as soon as he had won the Lok Sabha seat from his home turf of Shahjahanpur in UP in 2004. He didn't even have to wait for his turn to come, like many others who were not part of Rahul Gandhi's close circle had to.

However, Jitin, the pleasant and 'nice guy', is no Jyotiraditya Scindia, with an influence base and enough MLAs to pull down a government. Nor has he shown any fire in the belly to fight it out in the dust of state politics, like a Sachin Pilot. Jitin's is a safe bet politics, and the stakes he's trying to safeguard by switching camps are built around that.

"It was not easy it was a hard decision, given my family's three-generation-long association with the Congress," is how he puts it. Well, it wasn't such a hard decision either, one for which he may have spent the last week in tormented cogitation. He has in fact been trying to do this for the last two years. His previous attempt was thwarted by none other than Rahul himself. (Though there's another version which says it was Jyotiraditya who had persuaded him to stay back, on Priyanka's bidding!)

Now, the rumour is he has been on the BJP's waiting list for the past six months. Waiting for the right time to strike. And this time, he neither informed the Gandhis nor consulted his G-23 (now 22) seniors. He just took the plunge. The simple reason being, he saw no future for the Congress in UP politics and therefore for himself. The choice was between oblivion and self-revival. Not between ideology and power, as is all-too-easily posited. If he's inducted into the Yogi Adityanath government via the MLC route, it would be an add-on. That would be an additional badge as he seeks to contest or campaign in the next elections, eight months away, as the BJP's newly minted Brahmin face.

Jitin's quite comfortable ploughing the Prasada family legacy, for whatever it is worth now, in the Terai region of the vast state of UP - his father Jitendra Prasada had been felled by the Congress palace when he once, in a rare fit of ambition, dared to contest against Sonia Gandhi for the party president's post! Nor has he any qualms about peddling his privileged caste for political benefits. His babalog politics doesn't represent any new idea. Even while he was in the Congress, he had fallen back on his caste as his last bit of currency - doing yatras, video conferences and listening to grievances from poorer Brahmins, especially the youth, who were not finding enough space in Yogi's "Thakur raj".

His caste and legacy will now come of use within the BJP's own fluid power matrix. But they were not good enough to ensure any political longevity via the Congress, which has little brand value in UP politics. Jitin, it seems, was quite demoralised after having lost his deposit in the last Lok Sabha election from Dhaurahra, and blamed Rahul and Priyanka for it. The Congress had put up two minority candidates in the adjoining Sitapur and Lakhimpur Kheri constituencies, which Jitin felt polarised votes in favour of the BJP's Kurmi candidate, Rekha Verma. The Congress, which has a penchant for creating trouble for itself (like it's doing in Punjab now), did not make things any easier for Jitin thereafter. First, they made a person openly hostile to him the district president. And then sent him off to Bengal to add another humiliating loss for the party on his CV.

But why did the BJP need a Jitin Prasada, a Doon school-SRCC byproduct, a perfumed Brahmin face from the Congress with little mass base, to shore up its fortunes in UP? Is Modi, Yogi and Mandir falling short? The sheer onslaught of the Covid second wave and Yogi's high-handed way of functioning, it seems, has created a dent in the armour. It has left the BJP karyakarta demoralised, MLAs restive and ministers upset. Even its devoted vote banks are not too happy, as central fact-finders found to their dismay. The excess of Thakur assertion has also left the Brahmins and other dominant castes feeling cornered. It's a state where no one really has prospered without engineering an alliance with the 'opinion-making class' - whether it's Mayawati or Akhilesh Yadav. Or the Congress of yore or the BJP now. Along with EBC, OBC and Ram, it needs Parasuram to retain the heart of the heartland, without which ruling India could become a dream. If Jitin's tweets are anything to go by, he's aiming to be that unlikely Parasuram.

(The writer can be reached at santwana@newindianexpress.com)
By PTI

TOKYO: The Olympic Village has traditionally been a fun place to be, housing thousands of young athletes and staff ready to party and share a few beers and bubbly toasts.

But not at the Tokyo Olympics, which are to open in just over six weeks amid a pandemic.

These are going to be the "no cheers" Olympics with testing and vaccinations taking priority over fun and games.

It's not clear if alcohol will be allowed in the village, which will house 11,000 Olympic athletes and 4,400 Paralympians.

Organizers say they have yet to decide on a policy, which is expected by the end of the month.

Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the Tokyo organizing committee, said Wednesday it might be difficult to ban alcohol from the athletes' private rooms in the village, but public areas in the village might be a different matter.

"In the case that they were to drink inside their own rooms, this is equivalent to cases where we are drinking in our own home."

Muto said, speaking to Japanese media on Wednesday after an online meeting with the International Olympic Committee executive board.

"Can we prohibit that? That's not conceivable," Muto added.

"It would be very difficult to do so."

But he said it might be banned from dining areas and other public areas in the village.

Tokyo and much of the rest of the country is under a state of emergency, with many bars and restaurants closing early and banning alcohol sales.

The emergency order ends on June 20 and it's not clear if it will be extended.

Depending how the question is asked, 50-80% of Japanese people oppose holding the Olympics.

If the state of emergency is extended, many Japanese residents might not be happy seeing athletes partying in the village when regular citizens cannot do the same in local pubs.

New cases have been falling in Tokyo over the last several weeks.

Japan overall has attributed about 14,000 deaths to COVID-19, good by global standards but not as good as some Asian neighbors.

"We have not yet clearly decided on the (alcohol) policy," Muto said.

"We hope to do so by the end of this month."

Looking for more fun? There's the matter of GPS monitoring.

Muto said athletes, as well as media, broadcasters and others, will have to sign papers allowing organizers to use GPS to monitor their movements at the Olympics through smartphones.

Athletes will be isolated in a bubble-atmosphere in the village and are expected to stay there, or be in a similar bubble at venues or training sites.

Everyone else entering Japan for the Olympics will be tested twice before leaving home, and upon arrival in Japan.

They will have to agree to limit their movements for the first 14 days and submit an activity plan.

"We are not going to monitor at all times the behavior," Muto said.

"It's not for that purpose. The thing is, though, if there should be issues pertaining to their activity then, since the GPS function will be on, we'll be able to verify their activities."
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Junior doctors in the state called off their strike on Wednesday after the state government agreed to their demands. Pressing their four major demands--ex gratia/health insurance for all frontline workers, Covid incentives to all junior doctors (including post-graduates and interns), increased security measures in hospitals, and TDS waiver on stipend-- the AP Junior Doctors Association had boycotted out-patient (OP) services at non-Covid hospitals in the state.

It had threatened to intensify the agitation by blocking all Covid-related emergency services on June 12 if the government failed to respond.However, Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas and Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal held talks with the junior doctors to avoid hindrances in medical services during the pandemic.Siddhartha Medical College president Dr S Karthik Goud said junior doctors across the state worked by wearing black badges as a mark of protest for the last three days.

During the talks, the government assured to implement two of our demands: ex-gratia/ health insurance for all frontline workers, and resolving the TDS issue for stipend pay, he added. The minister has also said that the government is exploring possibilities to increase the stipend by 15 per cent or even more.

The health officials also approved super-speciality medical services free of cost for Covid-infected doctors, Dr Karthik added.
Express News Service

BENGALURU, MYSURU: While the vaccination drive should have picked up pace with the surge in Covid cases and deaths, the State Government is not close to its targets as yet. None of the four segments categorised for vaccine coverage has reached 30 per cent of respective populations.Starting with healthcare workers on January 16, of the estimated 16 lakh, only 4.77 lakh (4,77,210) have completed vaccinations (both doses), achieving only 29.82 per cent of the target with 11,22,790 remaining. This is the segment that has seen the highest coverage in the State with the remaining categories recording far lower percentages.

A mere 2,20,415 (just 1.10 per cent) of the two crore frontline workers across Karnataka have received both doses, leaving 1.97 crore (1,97,79,585) yet to complete the dosage; only 13.28 per cent (22,05,779) have been vaccinated among the 1.66 crore-strong segment of 45-plus age category, leaving 1.43 crore (1,43,94,230) yet to complete the vaccination.

Only 0.01 per cent (4,293) have completed their dosage in the 3.26 crore 18-44 age-group segment  the largest in the State  with 3,25,95,707 (3.25 crore) still waiting for the vaccination.Dr Giridhar Babu, epidemiologist at the Indian Institute of Public Health, and member of the States Covid Technical Advisory Committee, said, Meticulous microplanning and energetic mobilisation campaign are necessary to improve the coverage. Lessons from the other immunisation programmes will be helpful in planning. Also, it is important to address social mobilisation in population groups which have concerns about vaccines. So far, Karnataka has received 1,55,09,430 doses of vaccines, including 1,36,53,840 doses of Covishield and 18,55,590 doses of Covaxin. Of these, 1,36,12,490 were supplied from the Centre and 18,96,940 were procured by the State Government.

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said now that the decentralised policy is rolled back and the Centre will procure 75 per cent of vaccine production, the State cannot procure vaccines. The biggest challenge is the production capacity. It has now been scaled up significantly. With supplies streamlined and states already administering about 2-3 lakh doses per day, we will scale up the vaccination drive with better speed and coverage. I am hopeful that we will be able to vaccinate every eligible citizen by the year-end, he said.

Recently, villagers of Shivapura in Gundlupet taluk threatened to commit suicide if health workers insisted that they take the jab. In another incident in the same taluk, a man in an inebriated state came out of his house with a sickle when health staff asked him to take the vaccine. These are just a few examples of vaccine hesitancy in rural areas. Mysuru is among the districts leading the vaccination drive in the State. But hesitancy still prevails in certain pockets, especially tribal areas, officials said. What remains a concern is the low coverage in Chamarajanagar, which has recorded only 2,28,312 inoculations so far. Authorities blame it on the present restrictions on categories.

Trials for paediatric vaccine

Currently, two paediatric vaccine trials are going on in Karnataka. Jeevan Rekha Hospital in Belagavi has conducted the first phase of clinical trials on 20 children in the 12-18 age group with ZyCov-D vaccine. They started the trials in February this year. The children were administered three doses of ZyCov-D vaccine.Another set of trials is in Mysuru at Cheluvamba Hospital on children in the age group of 2-18 years with Covaxin. The hospital is waiting for the SOP to finalise the number of children to be included in the trial.
Police said a witness saw several men get out of a Chevy Blazer and run up to Ariel Santos as he sat in his black Mercedes, pictured here, at Arthur Ave. and E. 178th St. in East Tremont. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)
P Ramdas By

Express News Service

KOCHI: An FIR registered in Kochi has revealed a tale of torture and rape of a woman for more than two weeks. The FIR based on the 27-year-old fashion designers complaint says she had been locked up in a flat at Marine Drive, raped repeatedly and subjected to torture including physical assault by her live-in partner and businessman Martin Joseph of Puttekkara in Thrissur from February 20 to March 8 this year.

The Ernakulam Central police registered the FIR on April 8 against Martin and presented it before the Judicial First Class Magistrate here the same day. The accused had beaten her up with a belt, poured hot water mixed with chilli powder on her and ill-treated her physically, the complaint alleged. Photos produced with the complaint show scars and burn marks on her body.

The complaint stated that she and the accused had been in a live-in relationship from February 15, 2020. They had initially stayed in a flat at Kadavanthra and later moved to Marine Drive. She alleged the accused induced her to invest Rs 5 lakh in the stock market with which he did business, promising her she would get a monthly return of Rs 40,000. But he did not repay the amount. During the stay last year, the accused allegedly abused her both physically and mentally and also threatened to kill her. Finally, she left him in December 2020. Later, she came back and stayed with him again.

However, from February 20, 2021, to March 8, she had been confined in the flat and assaulted brutally. The accused raped her and took nude photos and threatened to send those to her parents. The FIR stated he had also beat her with a broom on several occasions. While dismissing the anticipatory bail plea of Martin on May 18, the Ernakulam Sessions Court observed that the accused had manhandled the woman brutally.

The nine photos show the torture suffered by the victim at the hands of the (accused). It is seen that she was brutally manhandled, said Additional Sessions Court Judge D Suresh Kumar while dismissing Martins bail plea.

HC ADJOURNS ANTICIPATORY BAIL PLEA OF ACCUSED

Kochi: The High Court on Tuesday adjourned to June 11 the anticipatory bail plea of accused Martin Joseph. The Additional Sessions Court, Ernakulam, had earlier dismissed his bail plea on May 18. In his petition, Martin claimed he is only 26 and that the woman, who hid her marital status from him initially, entered into a live-in relationship with him. When their relationship became strained, she filed a complaint alleging rape, he said. Senior advocate P Vijayabhanu, Martins counsel, submitted the allegations were false and that his client had no criminal antecedents.

Martin said neither had the woman given any money to him nor had he promised to return anything. In fact, he had been taking care of her financial needs and even paid her an amount to pursue a beautician course in Bengaluru, he said, adding they decided to part ways amicably following the intervention of their friends. However, she filed a complaint for reasons best known to her, he said in the petition. He said he was innocent and was falsely implicated.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Another woman has filed a complaint against Martin Joseph who is on the run for allegedly raping and brutally torturing a woman after confining her in an apartment for months in Kochi. The complaint was lodged by a 33-year-old woman who is staying at an apartment in Kakkanad on the outskirts of the city.

As per the complaint, an FIR 19/2021 was registered at Vanitha Police Station in Kochi on Wednesday evening. The complaint comes at a time when the police are on the lookout for Martin, 33, in Kochi and Thrissur.

"The victim has given written complaint that on May 31, Martin came to her apartment and she underwent verbal abuse and physical torture. She suffered a minor injury. The accused stayed at her apartment for a day and threatened her not to reveal the incident to anyone else. She said that she works in an IT company in Kakkanad and knows Martin as a friend for the past couple of years," a police official said.

The Vanitha Police have registered an FIR charging section 354 of IPC for assault or criminal force to women intending to outrage her modestly. The woman decided to approach the police after coming to know about the rape case against Martin from a news report. "The victim of the recent complaint was afraid to approach the police. We have registered a case charging non-bailable offense," a police official said.

Meanwhile, police have collected the details of Martin's friend circle in Kochi and Thrissur. Police suspect that more women might have been assaulted by the accused.

"From our probe, it is revealed that he maintains a vast friendship circle in Kochi and Thrissur. He even met and contacted some of his friends after the rape case was registered against him. We are also probing whether more women became his victims of abuse and assault. We have some information in this regard but cases will be registered only if there is a complaint from victims," the police officer said.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Forced onto the back foot following the Kodakara black money row and allegations of bribing a namesake candidate, the BJP state leadership has decided to hit back at the ruling LDF. Sources have indicated that the saffron party will urge the Union government to institute a probe into the Wayanad timber loot incident, that has put the LDF government in the dock, and also seek an expeditious investigation into the gold smuggling case.

Amid speculation that BJP state president K Surendran was summoned by the national leadership to Delhi in the wake of the recent controversies involving the party, sources close to the leader said he had gone to seek the Centres intervention in cornering the LDF government.

Surendran has reportedly sought an audience with Union Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar. It is learnt that Surendran would urge the Centre to intervene in the large-scale felling of protected trees from Wayanad as forests figure in the concurrent list. Sources also indicate that the BJP leader would also demand that the ongoing investigation into the gold smuggling case be hastened.

The state government is foisting false cases one after the other to intimidate and tarnish the party. We are not for any sort of tit-for-tat. But we will not waste any opportunity to expose the corrupt deals of the LDF government through whatever legal means possible, said a senior leader identified with the official faction.

Oppressive govt: BJP complains to guv

Rival factions in the party insisted that Surendran was indeed summoned to Delhi following the recent controversies that have badly tarnished the party's image. They claimed that the national leadership has sought their views on the latest developments. "We have conveyed that the present crisis in the party is the creation of the state president.

Though we will abide by the central leadership's directive to defend the party, no attempt will be made to whitewash anyone," said a senior leader. A delegation of BJP leaders, led by former state presidents O Rajagopal and Kummanam Rajasekharan met Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Wednesday to complain against "oppressive, anti-democratic and illegal actions" of LDF government. The BJP leaders alleged that a special investigation team has been specifically targeting BJP state chief K Surendran and making efforts to tarnish him and his family.

The petition also pointed out that the move to arrest a responsible political leader like Surendran in the Manjeshwar candidate bribery case was unwarranted and against the directives of the Supreme Court to avoid unnecessary arrests in criminal cases.

BJP LEADERS COMPLAIN TO GUV AGAINST OPPRESSIVE GOVT

A BJP delegation, led by former state presidents O Rajagopal and Kummanam Rajasekharan, met Governor Arif Mohammed Khan here on Wednesday to complain against the oppressive, anti-democratic and illegal actions of the LDF government.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu BJP president L Murugan on Thursday said the state government should not confuse students regarding NEET when they are preparing for the exam.

Talking to reporters here, Murugan said, "The students are preparing themselves for NEET. Don't confuse them in this regard." A couple of days ago, Murugan criticised the high-level committee formed to study the impact of NEET on medical admissions in Tamil Nadu as a tool to cheat the people and said this move would create confusion among students who are preparing for the exam. As such, the government should dissolve this panel.

Meanwhile, in a statement here, Murugan welcomed the directive of the Madras High Court that temples and ancient monuments should be protected. The state government should prepare a list of persons who have defaulted payment of lease and rent for the temple lands. Enumeration of idols in temples should be made and their photographs should be taken. The details of idols and other temple articles already stolen should be made public on the department website. The salaries for temple priests, Vodhuvars and temple workers should be fixed as per the Minimum Wages Act.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The first session of the 16th TN Legislative Assembly will begin on June 21 with the customary address of Governor Banwarilal Purohit. The duration of the session will be decided by the Business Advisory Committee of the House on June 21.

Speaker M Appavu made the announcement in this regard after Chief Minister MK Stalin and Leader of the House Durai Murugan held discussions about the session with the Governor at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat, the Speaker said members of all parties in the Assembly would be given equal opportunity to raise issues concerning the people. He said during the discussions on the motion of thanks to the Governor, question hour is unlikely to happen as members can raise questions after the session begins and they have to be sent to respective departments for answers.

All those attending the session, including the members of the House would undergo Covid tests ahead of the session. On the concluding day of the debate, the Chief Minister will give his reply to issues raised by the members.

The DMK had made an electoral promise of passing a resolution in the Assembly insisting the Central government to repeal the farm laws. The government will soon take a decision whether it would be done during the first session or during the Budget session, that is likely to begin in the first or second week of July.
By Express News Service

KHAMMAM: Covid-positive Adivasis of the remote Maddulamada village in Aswaraopet mandal returned to their village on Wednesday after being asked to leave from a nearby church that served as an isolation centre. Locals are now scared that the virus may spread in the village, which has a population of 369.

Since June 4, the 19 Adivasis Covid-positive chose an under-construction burial ground as their isolation centre. On Wednesday, health and revenue officials shifted them to a local church. Soon, the church officials objected to their stay and asked them to leave the church.

Therefore, all the 19 infected people left for their houses. Only six days of their isolation period are remaining. Aswaraopet medical officer Dr B Rambabu said, We have provided all medicines and are observing them, besides trying to shift them to an isolation centre.
By PTI

PESHAWAR: Twenty four people, who arrived at the airport here on Thursday from a flight from the UAE, were sent to quarantine centres after trained dogs identified them as carriers of the coronavirus, according to authorities here.

The Pakistan International Airlines flight PK-218 from Abu Dhabi landed at Peshawar's Bacha Khan International Airport with 128 passengers on board.

The rapid swab tests of 128 passengers were conducted at the airport.

Out of the 128 passengers, tests of 24 people identified by the trained dogs confirmed that they were COVID-19 positive, the airport authorities said.

Trained dogs deployed at the airport helped detect the COVID-19 positive patients arriving by flights, they said.

The affected patients were immediately shifted to the quarantine centre in Peshawar despite protests by the passengers.

The airport authorities immediately called the police and administration officials to shift them to the quarantine centre.

According to a new research in the UK, specially trained dogs can rapidly and non-invasively detect COVID-19 with up to 94.3 per cent sensitivity and up to 92 per cent specificity.

The dogs were able to detect odour from individuals who were asymptomatic, as well as those with two different strains of COVID-19, and with both high and low viral loads, the study released last month said.

With the threat of new variants entering the country, the need for testing means we face potential continued disruption for some time to come.

That's where these amazing dogs could play a role, said Professor James Logan, Head of the Department of Disease Control at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who led the project.
By PTI

COLOMBO: Highly contagious Alpha and Delta variants of the coronavirus have been detected in Sri Lanka, which is facing a third wave of the pandemic.

Patients carrying the Delta variant, or the B1.617.2 variant first identified in India, and the Alpha strain, formerly called the B.1.1.7 strain, which was first detected in the UK, have been found at around nine locations of different districts in Sri Lanka, said Dr Chandima Jeewandara, the Director of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

According to the sequencing report issued on Wednesday, 80 people were infected with the Alpha variant in multiple locations while the Delta variant was found in one person from a quarantine facility.

The Alpha variant cases were also reported in healthcare workers who were fully vaccinated.

Sri Lanka has witnessed an increase of positive cases and deaths since April, partly caused by celebrations and shopping during last month's traditional new year festival.

Sri Lanka has registered more than 210,000 cases and 1,843 confirmed deaths.

In view of the pressure on the health sector with the raging third wave, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has issued instructions to reinstate retired health workers on contract basis to battle the pandemic.

Sri Lanka continues with its vaccination programme with the arrival of another million doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine out of a total 13 million which the country had ordered this year.

The first batch of one million doses of Sinopharm arrived early this month.

The Health Ministry will extend the vaccine rollout to 12 more districts soon, the officials said.

The first dose of Covishield vaccine from India have been administered to 925,242 people so far with 353,789 being given the second dose.

For the 600,000 shortfall for the second dose, the government says they are sourcing other suppliers.

Sri Lanka has requested Japan provide 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in an attempt to complete administering the second dose to citizens.

Additionally, 64,986 people have received the first dose of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

By last night over 2 million of the island's 21 million population have been vaccinated.
By PTI

BEIJING: China's Parliament on Thursday passed the Anti-foreign Sanctions Law, providing a comprehensive legal cover for blocking foreign sanctions against Chinese officials and entities and protecting them against the long-arm jurisdiction, especially from the US.

The law was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature.

The law was passed in the backdrop of the US and EU countries slapping sanctions against a number of Chinese entities and officials over allegations of human rights violations against Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the imposition of China's national security law in Hong Kong.

The sanctions were introduced as a coordinated effort by the European Union, UK, US and Canada.

China responded with its own sanctions on European officials.

For some time, out of political manipulation needs and ideological bias, some Western countries have used Xinjiang and Hong Kong-related issues as part of their pretexts to spread rumours on and smear, contain and suppress China, the office of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC said.

Defending the law, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here on Thursday that to safeguard China's national sovereignty, dignity, and core interests and oppose western hegemonism and power politics, the Chinese government has announced counter measures against relevant individuals and entities of certain countries.

Meanwhile, we believe it is necessary for the country to have specific laws to counter foreign sanctions so that we have legal basis and guarantee for such countermeasures, he said, ruling out that the law will affect China's relations with other countries.

China's legal experts say the Anti-foreign Sanctions Law, the first of its kind in China, will provide strong legal support and guarantees for the country against unilateral and discriminatory measures imposed by foreign countries.

The US government has been imposing sanctions on a growing number of Chinese entities such as high-tech firms Huawei and ZTE over the so-called national security risks, and sanctioned a number of senior Chinese officials under the United States Xinjiang and Hong Kong bills last year.

China has speeded up plans for an anti-sanctions law after US President Joe Biden dashed Beijing's hopes that he would adopt a softer policy stance towards Beijing in contrast to his predecessor Donald Trump's hardline push against the Communist giant, the Hong Kong based South Morning Post reported.

The new law will provide a legal framework for retaliation and allow Chinese firms to seek compensation over foreign sanctions.

The idea was proposed last year and work on the anti-sanctions law started, but progress was not very quick because China was hopeful about Biden, the Post quoted a government official as saying.

Those sanctioned included Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the region's party chief Chen Quanguo, as well as other senior mainland and Hong Kong officials and the 14 vice-chairmen of the NPC.

Beijing has not yet provided details of the law, but the move will be seen as a signal that it will not shy away from further confrontation with Washington.

Under the new law, "China can make reciprocal sanctions or take harsher countermeasures, for example, restricting entry, freezing bank assets, or imposing sanctions on relevant individuals or entities, Tian Feilong, a legal expert at Beihang University in Beijing, told the state-run Global Times.

China's Foreign Ministry also announced 11 rounds of countermeasures in retaliation over Western countries' sanctions by sanctioning a number of NGOs, anti-China politicians, arms producers and entities as well as lawmakers who helped spread lies about those matters.

"Previous sanctions are fragmented and without sufficient legal basis, and may incur negative feedback due to lack of sufficient legal basis.

Now, we have a complete legal basis, offering us the same position as the West in taking countermeasures," Tian said.
By PTI

KUWAIT CITY: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived in Kuwait on a bilateral visit early on Thursday during which he will hold high-level meetings here and hand over a personal letter from Prime Minister to the emir of the oil-rich Gulf nation.

Jaishankar is visiting Kuwait at the invitation of Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs.

This is his first visit to Kuwait as External Affairs Minister.

"Hon'ble External Affairs Minister of India His Excellency Dr S Jaishankar arrives in Kuwait on a bilateral visit and was received by the Ambassador," the Indian Embassy there tweeted on Thursday.

The visit comes nearly three months after the two countries decided to establish a joint ministerial commission to formulate a framework to strengthen ties in sectors like energy, trade, investment, manpower and labour and information technology.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah visited India in March during which both sides decided to set up the joint commission.

During the visit, he will hold high-level meetings and also address the Indian community in Kuwait, the Ministry of External Affairs said in New Delhi ahead of the visit.

It said Jaishankar will also carry a personal letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the emir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

The year 2021-22 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Kuwait.

Kuwait has been supporting India in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic by supplying relief material as well as medical oxygen.

Indian Navy ships have brought a large quantity of medical oxygen from Kuwait in the last few weeks.
A man, who police later identified as Brown, was captured on surveillance footage taking Cash from his bed around 5 a.m. on May 15. About two hours later, a jogger stumbled across the toddlers dead body, lying in a Dallas street with multiple stab wounds, according to police.
By PTI

DUBAI: Hundreds have held a rare protest in Bahrain over the death of a prisoner from the coronavirus despite being vaccinated months earlier by the island kingdom.

The demonstration Wednesday night saw protesters march in the streets of the village of Diah over the death earlier in the day of Husain Barakat.

Videos of the protest, which corresponded to Associated Press reporting on the demonstrations, saw those marching shout that they held King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for Barakat's death over poor care.

An Interior Ministry statement said Barakat, 48, had been on a respirator and died at a hospital.

The ministry said Barakat had received an unnamed two-shot vaccination for the virus.

The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said Barakat received the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.

Bahrain, like the nearby United Arab Emirates, relied heavily on Sinopharm in their world-record per-capita vaccination campaigns, but now are offering booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine.

There have been reports of low antibody responses in the UAE, which saw that country announce in May it would offer boosters six months after a Sinopharm two-shot vaccination.

The two shots use different technologies.

The Pfizer shots, a so-called mRNA vaccine, contain a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognise the spiked protein on the surface of the virus.

The Sinopharm vaccine is an inactivated shot made by growing the whole virus in a lab and then killing it.

Bahrain, home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet, is now struggling through its worst wave of the virus.

It's in the midst of a weekslong lockdown and daily case numbers have dropped recently.

The island, home to 1.6 million people, has seen over 253,000 reported cases and 1,160 deaths.

Bahrain last week told the AP that 90% of new cases in Bahrain were people who had chosen to receive no vaccinations.

Barakat had lost his citizenship and been sentenced to life in prison in a 2018 mass trial, according to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy.

Bahrain's Public Prosecution said at the time the case involved a little-known militant group it identified as the Zulfiqar Brigades".

Zulfiqar is the name of the forked sword of Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad who is revered by Shiites.

Bahrain's Sunni-rule government has wielded denaturalisation and mass trials to beat back dissent on the Shiite-majority island off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the years since its 2011 Arab Spring protests.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: India has asked China to consider issuing visas and permit travel to China for Indians, who have adhered to the guidelines laid by Chinese embassy, especially those who have jobs or studying in the neighbouring country.

Last month after China set a precondition for travellers from India to be inoculated with Chinese COVID-19 vaccines, it is learnt that many Indians have followed the guidelines but are yet waiting to get their visas.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in his press briefing on Thursday: "As the Chinese side has suspended existing visas in March this year, the Chinese embassy issued a notification about facilitating visas for those taking Chinese-made vaccines. It is understood that several Indian nationals have applied for Chinse visas after getting vaccinated in that manner but they are yet to be issued visas. Since these Indian nationals had met the requirement laid down by the Chinese embassy , we would hope that Chinese embassy would be able to issue Chinese visa soon."

In the absence of direct flights, Indians are unable to travel to since last November whereas Chinese nationals and travelers have been visiting India. "As far as specific case of China or Chinese visas , currently persons from China including Chinese nationals are able to travel to India despite absence of direct air connectivity however for Indian nationals travel to China has not been possible since last November," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson said.

India is in touch with China on the issue, the MEA spokesperson said. "As conveyed earlier we have been in touch with the Chinese side in order to seek early resumption of travel by Indian citizens especially those who work and study there, while we recognize to ensure safety and strictly follow covid protocols essential two way travel should be facilitated especially keeping in view the fact that Chinese nationals are able to travel to India," Bagchi said.

Not only China, large number of Indian students in other foreign universities especially in the United States are also stuck as these countries are not permitting students who have took India's Covaxin or Russia's Sputnik, both of which are awaiting approval for emergency use from the World Health Organization.

The external affairs ministry said it is helping students and is in touch with countries.

The MEA spokeperson said: "Difficulties being faced regarding students who reside abroad but are currently stuck in India let me mention that ministry of external affairs in line with government of India policies at priority has been working actively to protect the Indians residing abroad be it for education, employment or other reasons."

"We are aware of the challenges being faced by Indian students who are unable to join and return to foreign countries to pursue their studies, we have been taking this issue up with the concern governments on priority we have also requested students facing difficulties to contact MEA details are available on our website and social media handles," Bagchi said.

"On the issue of Covaxin we are aware that Bharat Biotech has sought WHO emergency use listing for Covaxin we hope that this process of getting this approval is completed at an early date, I understand that Sputnik has also applied for emergency listing , getting emergency listing would help this process," the MEA spokesperson said.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: India will be receiving a share of the 80 million (8 crores) unused COVID-19 vaccines through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme that President Joe Biden has announced, according to a senior State Department official.

On June 2, President Biden announced that the US will allocate 75 per cent - nearly 1.9 crores of the first tranche of 2.5 crore doses - of unused COVID-19 vaccines from its stockpile through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa.

The move is part of his administration's framework for sharing 80 million (8 crores) vaccines globally by the end of June.

According to a White House fact sheet, nearly 19 million vaccines will be shared through COVAX.

"I don't have the specific details on when the shipment of vaccines will be arriving in India. Of course, India will be in receipt of a share of those 80 million vaccines and through COVAX, I believe there were some six million vaccines destined for the region," State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.

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.

ALSO READ: TikTok, WeChat ban lifted, Biden signs new orders to shield United States ICTS supply chain

"We know that India has suffered tremendously with this pandemic and as we have done in the case of these vaccines, but also as we did even prior to this vaccine sharing announcement. We have demonstrated our commitment to work closely with our partners in India to help see the way out of this epidemic," he said.

In recent weeks, the US has so far supplied seven planeloads of life-saving supplies worth approximately USD 100 million.

"This is also in addition to the tremendous generosity that we have seen from the private sector and the diaspora here in this country that has donated some 400 million additional dollars.

So, that's half a billion dollars that the United States government and the people here in the United States have committed to help our friends and to help our partners in India recover from this pandemic," Price said.

Responding to a question, he said the Biden administration is absolutely continuing with its commitment to help the government and the people of India emerge from this pandemic.

ALSO READ: US to buy 500 million Pfizer COVID vaccines to share with 92 lower income countries, African union

"We remain engaged with the private sector as we have spoken of our commitment of vaccines to India, of our commitment of planeloads of life-saving supplies, doing all we can not only on our part but also to galvanize action on the part of other non-governmental actors here in the United States to help our friends in India," Price said.

India is currently witnessing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So far, the country has recorded over 2,90,89,069 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 3,53,528 deaths.

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.
By PTI

KUWAIT CITY: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on Kuwait Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on Thursday and appreciated his commitment to taking the partnership between two countries to higher levels.

Jaishankar, who arrived in Kuwait on his first bilateral visit to the oil-rich Gulf nation early on Thursday, is also carrying a personal letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah.

"Called on PM HH Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. Conveyed our felicitations on the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Appreciated his commitment to taking our partnership to higher levels. Our historical ties have been reinforced through our joint fight against COVID19," Jaishankar tweeted.

Jaishankar is visiting Kuwait at the invitation of Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs.

Upon his arrival at the airport here, Jaishankar was received by Acting Assistant Foreign Minister Abdul Razzaq Al-Khleefa and Ambassador Jassim Al-Najjem.

Indian Ambassador Sibi George and senior Indian officials in Kuwait were also present at the airport.

His visit comes nearly three months after the two countries decided to establish a joint ministerial commission to formulate a framework to strengthen ties in sectors like energy, trade, investment, manpower and labour and information technology.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed visited India in March during which both sides decided to set up the joint commission.

During the visit, Jaishankar will hold high-level meetings and also address the Indian community in Kuwait, the Ministry of External Affairs said in New Delhi ahead of the visit.

There are over 10 lakhs Indians residing in Kuwait.

India is amongst the largest trading partners of Kuwait and Kuwait is a major supplier of oil for India.

The year 2021-22 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Kuwait.

Kuwait has been supporting India in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic by supplying relief material as well as medical oxygen.

Indian Navy ships have brought a large quantity of medical oxygen from Kuwait in the last few weeks.
By Associated Press

THE HAGUE: A group of lawyers presented a dossier of evidence Thursday to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court that they say establishes jurisdiction for the global tribunal to investigate allegations Chinese authorities are involved in grave crimes targeting Uyghurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group.

The move is the latest attempt by international human rights lawyers to get an investigation started at the Hague-based court into allegations of atrocities against Uyghurs by China, which is not a member of the court.

In a statement, the lawyers said their dossier establishes that Uyghurs have been targeted, rounded up, forcibly disappeared and deported from Tajikistan" back into China's western Xinjiang region "by Chinese operatives.

They argue that Chinese authorities have directly intervened in Tajikistan. The ICC therefore has jurisdiction over these actions which start in Tajikistan and continue into China and urge ICC prosecutors to open an investigation without delay.

The filing seeks to use the legal precedent of an investigation opened by the ICC into allegations of mass deportations and persecution of Rohingya people by Myanmar forces that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya across the border into neighboring Bangladesh. Myanmar is not a member of the court, but Bangladesh is.

In the Rohingya case, a panel of ICC judges ruled in 2019 that the court "may exercise jurisdiction over crimes when part of the criminal conduct takes place on the territory of a State Party.

In July last year, lawyers representing exiled Uyghur activists asked the ICC to investigate the forced repatriation of thousands of Uighurs from Cambodia and Tajikistan and alleged genocide in Xinjiang.

In a report issued in December, ICC prosecutors said that there was no basis to proceed at this time with an investigation into the allegations.

The lawyers who submitted the dossier Thursday say their findings are based on witness testimonies and investigations in countries including ICC member Tajikistan.

Based on their findings, the lawyers said, it is clear that the ICC does have jurisdiction to open an investigation.

An estimated 1 million people or more  most of them Uyghurs  have been confined in re-education camps in Chinas western Xinjiang region in recent years, according to researchers. Chinese authorities have been accused of imposing forced labor, systematic forced birth control, torture and separating children from incarcerated parents.

Beijing rejects allegations that it is committing crimes. Officials have characterized the camps, which they say are now closed, as vocational training centers to teach the Chinese language, job skills and the law to support economic development and combat extremism. China saw a wave of Xinjiang-related terror attacks through 2016.

The Chinese Embassy in The Hague did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the lawyers' dossier.

Last week, a peoples tribunal set up to assess whether Chinas alleged rights abuses against the Uyghur people constitute genocide opened in London, with witnesses alleging that inmates at detention camps for Uyghurs were routinely humiliated, tortured and abused.

The tribunal, made up of lawyers, academics and business people, does not have U.K. government backing or any powers to sanction or punish China. Organizers hope the process of publicly laying out evidence will compel international action to tackle alleged abuses against the Uyghurs.
By PTI

KATHMANDU: Nepal's embattled Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Thursday expanded his Cabinet for the second time in a week amid widespread criticism and the ongoing political crisis in the Himalayan nation.

Oli is heading a minority government after losing a trust vote in the House last month.

According to the Office of the President, the Cabinet now has a total of 25 members with the induction of seven new ministers and a minister of state.

In the latest rejig, Khagraj Adhikari, a close confidante of Oli, has been given the portfolio of the Ministry of Home Affairs, MyRepublica news website reported.

Adhikari had earlier served as the Health Minister in the Sushil Koirala-led Cabinet.

The home minister post was vacant after the Supreme Court on May 20 scrapped the appointment of seven ministers, including Ram Bahadur Thapa who was leading the Home Ministry, saying they were not lawmakers.

Oli dissolved the House a day later.

Thapa had joined the CPN-UML after the erstwhile Nepal Communist Party (NCP) was dissolved.

The other faces are Janta Samajbadi Party (JSP)'s Raj Kishor Yadav (Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supply) and Nainakala Thapa ( Minister for Communication and Information Technology).

Thapa is the spouse of the former home minister.

Oli picked Jwala Kumari Sah (Agriculture), Narad Muni Rana (Forest), Ganesh Kumar Pahadi (General Administration) and Mohan Baniya (minister without portfolio) in his Cabinet along with Asha Kumari BK, who has been provided with the portfolio of Minister of State for Forest and Environment.

On Friday last week, in a move to consolidate his grip on power and boost ties with India, 69-year-old Oli expanded his Cabinet with the inclusion of eight ministers and two ministers of state from the Madhes-based Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP).

Oli appointed three deputy prime ministers, including two from the Madhesi community, during the reshuffle.

Rajendra Mahato, senior leader of the JSP has been appointed as deputy prime minister with the portfolio of Ministry of Urban Development, while Raghubir Mahaseth, from ruling CPN-UML has been appointed as another deputy prime minister with the portfolio of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The third deputy prime minister is Bishnu Poudyal from UML, who has got the portfolio of the Ministry of Finance.

Madhesi parties in Nepal claim to be representing the cause of Madhesis, who are inhabitants of the Terai region.

The community shares strong cultural and family bonds with India.

Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the 275-member House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

In February, the Supreme Court reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives, in a setback to the embattled prime minister who was preparing for snap polls.

Oli repeatedly defended his move to dissolve the House of Representatives, saying some leaders of his party were attempting to form a "parallel government".

PTI AKJ SCY 06101739 NNNN
By PTI

KATHMANDU: A Constitutional Bench of Nepal's Supreme Court hearing petitions against the dissolution of the House of Representatives has refused to entertain any further arguments on its composition, saying the issues raised by the petitioners are of grave public concern and require to be sorted out without delay.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari, at the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, had dissolved the House for the second time in five months on May 22 and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19.

Prime Minister Oli is heading a minority government after losing a trust vote in the House.

Chief Justice Cholendra Shumser Rana constituted the bench to hear the cases on May 28.

But the hearing was postponed after questions were asked about the presence of Justices Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar Shrestha on the bench.

Chief Justice Rana on Sunday reconstituted the bench incorporating justices based on their seniority.

The new bench includes Justices Deepak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Ishwar Khatiwada and Ananda Mohan Bhattarai as members.

But those defending Prime Minister Oli, including Attorney General Ramesh Badal, questioned the presence of Justices Karki and Bhattarai, thereby delaying the hearing of the politically significant case.

The bench on Wednesday took a strong position and refused to entertain any further arguments on its composition, the Kathmandu Post reported on Thursday.

The issues raised by the petitioners are of grave public concern and require to be sorted out without delay, reads the order.

Continuous hearing would start from June 23, it added.

As many as 30 writ petitions, including by the Opposition alliance, have been filed in the Supreme Court against the dissolution of the House, which they said was "unconstitutional".

The bench has also sought amici curiae briefs from two senior advocates each from the Nepal Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association.

The bench has also adopted a strategy to shorten the hearing period by not allowing unlimited time for advocates to make their arguments, the paper said.

It has decided to allow 15 hours maximum to present argumentsto both sides.

Similarly, each amicus will get 30 minutes to present their arguments before the bench.

Experts on constitutional matters say, unlike the last time, the court appears to have attempted to take steps to systematise and streamline the hearing process.

The court has allocated adequate time, senior advocate Purna Man Shakya, also a professor at Nepal Law Campus, told the Post.

Its effort to systematise the hearing process is commendable.

 After questions were raised over the bench composition, which directly meant casting doubts on justices, the judiciary had plunged into a crisis.

Chief Justice Rana was under pressure, as responsibility was on him to save the image of the judiciary, the report noted.

When the plan to amend the Supreme Court (Operation of Constitutional Bench) Regulations was rejected by the full court, calls were growing that Chief Justice Rana should make a strong move and stick to a bench that he reconstituted with the senior justices.

The bench on Wednesday also issued a show-cause notice to the Office of the President, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers on the dissolution of the House of Representatives and sought a reply within 15 days.

Officials at the Supreme Court say that Wednesday's orders are indicative of a verdict very soonmost probably within a week after the hearing begins on June 23, the paper reported.

The directive to lawyers and the amici curiae to present their legal briefs by June 24, a day after the continuous hearing begins, indicates the court's intention to pass the verdict without delay, they say.

The orders on Wednesday came after hearing opening arguments from advocates pleading on behalf of the Opposition alliance.

The directives were issued on the petition filed by the 146 lawmakers from the dissolved House of Representatives, Kishor Paudel, a communication expert at the Supreme Court, told the Post.

The hearing on other 29 petitions filed as public interest litigation will begin after settling the petition filed by the Opposition alliance.

 The petition by the Opposition alliance, led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, is also backed by 23 members from the Madhav Nepal faction of the CPN-UML.

The Opposition alliance, which has demanded the restoration of the House, has claimed that Deuba should have been appointed prime minister on May 21 when he went to the President with the signatures of 149 lawmakers.

However, Oli, who was appointed prime minister on May 13 after losing a vote of confidence just three days prior, had also laid claim to the government before the President, saying he had the backing of 153 lawmakers.

Oli's House dissolution recommendation on May 21 followed President Bhandari's notice that both Oli and Deuba's claims were insufficient.

The hearing on the writs related to House dissolution has been obstructed multiple times following the petitioners' and government lawyers' cycle of objections over the composition of justices in the Constitutional Bench claiming conflict of interest.

Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

In February, the apex court reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives, in a setback to embattled Prime Minister Oli who was preparing for snap polls.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan-occupied Kashmir's top election official announced on Thursday to hold the general election for the legislative assembly on July 25, despite appeals to postpone the polls for two months due to the threat of resurgence of the coronavirus.

Last year, Pakistan conducted the legislative assembly election in Gilgit-Baltistan.

India had slammed Pakistan for its decision to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan and said any action to alter the status of the militarily-occupied region has no legal basis.

India has also clearly conveyed to Pakistan that the entire Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of the country.

Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd.) Abdul Rashid Sulehria unveiled the schedule for the elections at a press conference in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"The people of Kashmir (PoK) will use their right to vote on July 25 for good governance, said Sulehria, who is head of the PoK election commission."

He said that the candidates can submit their nomination papers till June 21 and the final list will be released on July 3.

The elections will be held to elect 45 representatives of the legislative assembly, including 33 in PoK and 12 for Kashmiri migrants, ARY news reported.

"Four constituencies have been enhanced in this election," Sulehria said.

Paramilitary Rangers and police along with civil administration will be deployed during the polls to enable over 28 lakh eligible voters to cast their franchise.

Earlier, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) had urged for postponing the election in PoK for two months due to the threat of resurgence of the coronavirus but the same was rejected by all Opposition parties.

The last general election for PoK Legislative Assembly was held in July 2016 and won by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and other Indian economic offenders in the United Kingdom will be extradited at the earliest. The UK has assured India that it will help in the early extradition of economic offenders.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has already ordered the extradition of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi and he is seeking to appeal against the orders. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters here that during the India-UK summit in May, London assured to help in the extradition of economic offenders.

"The issue of extradition of economic offenders was discussed on India-UK virtual summit on May 4. The UK side conveyed that there are some legal hurdles because of the nature of the criminal justice system in the UK. They are aware of the issue and they will do whatever possible to make sure that these people are extradited at the earliest," he said.

Referring to the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, the spokesperson said, "We will continue to make all efforts to make fugitives face justice in India".

"As regards the specific case of Mehul Choksi, I don't have any particular update this week. He remains in the custody of Dominican authorities and certain legal proceedings are underway. As for Nirav Modi, you are aware that on April 15 this year UK secretary of state had ordered his extradition to India. We understand Nirav Modi is seeking to appeal against this decision. He remains in the custody of UK authorities. In respect of Vinay Mishra we don't have any information," he said.

Nirav Modi and Choksi, both of whom have committed bank frauds, are trying to evade Indian security agencies. While Nirav remains in custody, Choksi is facing court proceedings in Dominica where he illegally entered from Antigua. India says he is an Indian citizen and should be handed over to India

Vijay Mallya is another economic fugitive who is out on bail in the UK.
By Associated Press

RIO DE JANERIO: The US ambassador known for friendly ties with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has tendered his resignation after just over a year in the position and is leaving the diplomatic service, he said in a statement on Thursday.

Ambassador Todd Chapman said that he wrote to President Joe Biden on Wednesday to inform him of his decision, and that he would be moving to Denver to be near his children and pursue other professional opportunities.

His appointment in October 2019 came as Bolsonaro was projecting ideological alignment with the US and then-President Donald Trump.

After Chapman's arrival in the capital, Brasilia, in March 2020, he quickly made headlines by cozying up to Bolsonaro's administration, particularly by hosting the president at a July 4 barbecue at his residence in the midst of the pandemic.

Photos showed him wearing a cowboy hat and no mask, leaning in to hug Bolsonaro and posing with him and top aides. His access built on friendly relations, but also raised concerns he was perhaps drawing too close.

One person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity last year confirmed local press reports that Chapman suggested Brazil could influence Iowa's vote in the US presidential election by lifting ethanol tariffs.

That prompted the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to demand Chapman provide written assurances he wasn't urging Bolsonaro's government to support Trump's reelection bid in potential violation of the Hatch Act, which bars executive branch employees from partisan politics.

Chapman vehemently denied crossing lines. An avid birdwatcher, Chapman this year increasingly shared photos and comments on social media lauding Brazil's nature and wildlife, and called for sustainable development.

That jibed with Biden's demands for Bolsonaro to take decisive action to halt surging deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Data in recent months have signaled the continued increase of destruction, after Bolsonaro at the US-led climate summit in April shifted his tone on Amazon preservation and showed willingness to step up commitment.

Thomas Traumann, a Brazilian political consultant, said by phone that Chapman's departure could signal more US pressure on Brazil regarding environmental issues.

More importantly, Traumann said, Chapman is perceived in Brazil as pro-Trump and pro-Bolsonaro, which would have limited his ability to make inroads with challengers to Bolsonaro's 2022 re-election bid.

Chapman was deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Brasilia from 2011 to 2014 and US ambassador to Ecuador before that. In a diplomatic career spanning three decades he has been posted to Afghanistan, Nigeria and Taiwan.

The Texas native highlighted in his statement that he had served under three Democratic and three Republican presidents. "In my letter to President Biden, I wished him God's blessings of wisdom and strength as he leads the American people," he wrote.
During a subsequent interview with investigators, Melissa identified the body, telling officers she awoke to find her mother dead in bed some time on May 31 or June 1. She said she buried her in the backyard because she did not want anyone to cut into her during an autopsy.
Another round of rain and thunderstorms hit parts of Connecticut on Wednesday, and over 1,900 Eversource customers were experiencing outages by nighttime.

Around 11:07 p.m., more than 1,900 customers were affected by power outages statewide, according to Eversource, the states largest electricity supplier. At that point, Branford and Guilford claimed the highest numbers  with 719 and 445 customers affected, respectively.

As of a little after 5:15 p.m., more than 530 power outages had been reported statewide, according to Eversource. Nearly 200 of those outages were reported in East Hartford, where the storm had been spotted. Another 241 outages were reported in Old Lyme, in New London County.

Mitch Gross, a spokesman for Eversource, said the outages in Old Lyme are storm related and were caused by tree limbs down on wires. He said power restoration was expected by 6:45 p.m.

The agency issued a severe thunderstorm warning for east central Hartford County and part of neighboring Tolland County just after 4 p.m.

The agency said a storm was detected over East Hartford. The storm was expected to bring wind gusts up to 60 mph with damage to trees and power lines expected.

A second severe thunderstorm warning was also issued for southeastern New Haven and southern Middlesex Counties in the afternoon.

The National Weather Service said a line of severe storms were located along a line extending from North Madison to North Branford moving south.

The storms were expected to bring wind gusts up to 60 mph along with half-dollar size hail.

Meanwhile, parts of Hartford, Tolland and Windham counties had been under a heat advisory, as heat indexes pushed into the 90s.

The scorching weather pushed dozens of schools to dismiss students early again on Wednesday, with some citing the need to wear masks as a concern.

Thunderstorms already dumped rain across the region Tuesday afternoon and into the evening. In South Windsor and Hartford, the storms knocked down trees, according to unconfirmed reports to the National Weather Service, and in Hartford wind gusts up to 37 mph were recorded.

As the storms passed over the state, power outages briefly spiked over 1,200 Tuesday afternoon.

Temperatures are expected to drop throughout the region on Thursday with highs in the low to mid 80s and sunny skies, the National Weather Service said.

Another chance of showers exists on Friday with temperatures in the 70s expected over the weekend.
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She was hospitalized for treatment and released, according to the criminal complaint. When he got home, her boyfriend noticed on her laptop that her cell phone, which was linked to the computer, had been accessed and nude photos had been sent to an unknown number.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
In an interview with authorities, the man said he returned home after the call and discovered Samuel bruised and unresponsive on the bed. From there, the pair moved the body into the bathtub, where it remained for two days. On May 13, the roommate allegedly purchased duct tape and a plastic bin, so he and Balboa could hide Samuels remains.
Smokers needed their blocked arteries fixed nearly a decade earlier than non-smokers, and patients with obesity underwent these procedures four years earlier than non-obese patients, according to a new statewide study.

The research included patients without a history of heart attack who were treated at hospitals across Michigan participating in BMC2, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium. The patients had undergone angioplasty and/or stenting to widen or unblock their coronary arteries and restore blood flow. Almost all of them had at least one traditional risk factor, including smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Most had three or more.

Additionally, women generally had their first procedure at a later age than men. Over the past decade, among patients undergoing their first angioplasty or stent procedure, the rates of obesity and diabetes have increased, while smoking and high cholesterol have decreased.

Smoking is a completely preventable risk factor. If we direct additional efforts at preventing smoking and obesity we could significantly delay the onset of heart disease and the need for angioplasty and stenting." Devraj Sukul, M.D., M.Sc., senior author, interventional cardiologist and clinical lecturer at the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center

Smoking cessation is a growing focus of the Michigan Collaborative Quality Initiatives, of which BMC2 is a member.

"In Michigan, we will work to help every smoker quit at the time of cardiac care because it is an unmatched teachable moment for patients," said Michael Englesbe, M.D., a surgeon and professor at Michigan Medicine who serves as portfolio medical director for the Collaborative Quality Initiatives.
A condition that affects the blood, known as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), may be associated the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in rare cases, research suggests.

The very small increased risk of the condition - which is characterised by low platelet counts - is estimated to be 11 per million doses, similar to figures seen in vaccines for flu and MMR.

A low number of platelets - blood cells that help prevent blood loss when vessels are damaged - can result in no symptoms or can lead to an increased risk of bleeding or, in some cases, clotting.

Researchers say that the increased chance of developing ITP after receiving the vaccine remains smaller than the risk of developing it because of Covid-19 and should not deter the rollout of the vaccine programme.

The same risk was not found for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Other vaccines were not included in the study.

Experts recommend that recipients of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine should be made aware of the slight increased risks of ITP, but also stress that the risk of developing these disorders from Covid-19 is potentially much higher.

The Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had previous reported low platelet counts in combination with blood clots following vaccination with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, estimated to occur at a rate of approximately 13 per million first doses.

Experts say the new study's specific findings about ITP are likely to be a manifestation of this general condition. The MHRA is actively monitoring the situation.

The study of 5.4 million people in Scotland, of whom 2.5m had received their first vaccine dose, is the first analysis of ITP, clotting and bleeding events following vaccination for an entire country.

Researchers were unable to establish a definitive link between other forms of clotting - including the rare form called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis or CVST - due to the very low number of cases in vaccinated people included in the study.

Those at most risk from ITP tended to be older - a median age of 69 years old - and had at least one underlying chronic health problem such as coronary heart disease, diabetes or chronic kidney disease.

The research team, led by the University of Edinburgh, analysed a dataset as part of the EAVE II project, which uses anonymised linked patient data to track the pandemic and the vaccine roll out in real time.

They investigated data up to 14 April 2021 for people in Scotland who had received the first dose of either vaccine. By this date more than 1.7 million had an Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and some 800,000 had a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Researchers - working in collaboration with the Universities of Strathclyde, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Oxford, Swansea and St Andrew's, Victoria University of Wellington, Queen's University, Belfast, and Public Health Scotland (PHS) - also looked at health records dating back to September 2019 to investigate any previous issues with ITP, clotting or bleeding disorders.

The data - including GP records on vaccination, hospital admissions, death registrations and laboratory test results - were then compared with those who were yet to be vaccinated to determine if any clotting events were outside what would have been expected pre-pandemic.

The data indicated that there was a slight increase in ITP in the second week following vaccination for those who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and possibly also increased risk of arterial clotting and bleeding events.

The 11 cases of ITP per million vaccine doses is similar to numbers seen for Hepatitis B, MMR and flu vaccines, which range from 10 to 30 cases of ITP per million doses.

The team found no adverse events in relation to ITP, clotting or bleeding in their analysis for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Experts say that while the study adds to the evidence linking the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccination to blood clots and ITP, a causal association has not yet been definitively demonstrated. This is under active investigation.

Researchers say a two-week lag for hospital data may mean some data are missing, which possibly limits the study's findings.

The study also included relatively few young vaccinated people under 40, especially for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because the Scottish vaccination programme followed the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which prioritised vaccinations for older and vulnerable adults.

The results are published in the journal Nature Medicine. The study was funded by the Medical Research Council, UK Research and Innovation Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), and was supported by the Scottish Government.

Additional support was provided through the Scottish Government Director-General Health and Social Care, and the UKRI COVID-19 National Core Studies Data and Connectivity programme led by HDR UK.

If a member of the public experiences side effects following vaccination with Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, or wishes to find out more, the researchers advise that they seek information contained in the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and rare blood clots leaflet which can be accessed on the NHS Inform web page.

Professor Aziz Sheikh, Director of the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute and EAVE II study lead, said: "This careful analysis of an entire country's vaccination programme, which involved the study of over 2.5m first dose vaccines, has found a small increase in the risk of ITP, clotting and bleeding events following the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. This very small risk is important, but needs to be seen within the context of the very clear benefits of the vaccines and potentially higher risks of these outcomes in those who develop Covid-19."

Lead author Professor Colin Simpson from the Victoria University of Wellington said: "Reassuringly, we did not identify any overall increased risk of ITP, clotting and bleeding events in those receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine. We are now planning to update our analysis as the vaccine programme is being extended to younger, healthier individuals and as new vaccines are becoming available."

Professor Chris Robertson from the University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland said: "This study shows the advantage of being able to link together large national data sets to provide near real time information of vaccine safety, using a number of analytical methods. An important next step is to replicate this work in other settings to ensure that the findings are robust."

This is a terrific example of why access to health data is crucial for vital research that rapidly informs the response to the COVID 19 pandemic. This research is important for individuals, the NHS, policymakers and the world. To do this safely, the UK has established the ability to perform secure and confidential data analysis that enables vital research questions to be answered in a trustworthy way. The HDR UK and ONS National Core Studies have supported the UK Health Innovation Gateway to provide a common entry point for researchers to discover and request access to UK health datasets for vital research that is improving people's lives." Professor Andrew Morris, Director of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and Vice Principal of Data Science, University of Edinburgh
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have identified a common mechanism underlying a spectrum of epilepsy syndromes and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, that are caused by variations in a gene encoding a vital transporter protein in the brain.

Their findings, reported last month in the journal Brain, suggest that boosting transporter function via genetic or pharmacological means could be beneficial in treating brain disorders linked to these genetic variations.

This points to a clear direction of treating a wide spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders, from various epilepsy syndromes (and) autism to neurodevelopmental delay and intellectual disabilities, caused by the pathological variants in this gene." Jing-Qiong (Katty) Kang, MD, PhD, associate professor of Neurology and Pharmacology, and paper's corresponding author

"The disorders associated with the gene mutations are rare and there is no effective treatment available," Kang said. "If ... the clinical syndromes we see are the tip of an iceberg, we now know what is going on underneath, and we start to know how to correct the problems."

The gene, SLC6A1, encodes the GABA transporter 1 (GAT-1) at the axonal termini (ends) of neurons (nerve cells) and astrocytes (star-shaped glial cells that support and protect neurons). GAT-1 removes or "reuptakes" GABA, the major inhibitory neurotransmitter, from the synaptic cleft between two neurons.

GABA regulates nerve signals throughout the brain and plays a key role in normal brain development. Reuptake enables the brain to precisely regulate the supply of the neurotransmitter in concert with GABAA receptors, ion channels that bind it.

Kang and her colleagues have extensively studied GABAA receptors and are world leaders in determining how disrupted GABA signaling can affect brain function and development.

SLC641 variants previously have been associated with a spectrum of epilepsy syndromes, autism and impaired cognition. But until now scientists did not know how these variants could cause such a broad range of brain disorders.

Using high-throughput assays such as flow cytometry and a radioactive labeling technique for measuring GABA reuptake by neurons and astrocytes, the VUMC researchers determined the impact of 22 different variants of SLC6A1 on GAT-1 function in several types of nerve cells derived from patients with neurodevelopmental disorders, epilepsy and autism.

The work was validated in patient-induced pluripotent stem cells that were "reprogrammed" to form neurons and astrocytes.

The researchers found that disease-causing variants were associated with misfoldings of the GAT-1 protein that led to its degradation and which reduced its expression on cell surfaces. Less GAT-1, in turn, lowered GABA reuptake by nerve cells and astrocytes and disrupted neurotransmitter function.

"This is the first large-scale study on SLC6A1 pathological variants," Kang said. "Our work indicates that SLC6A1-mediated disorders are good candidates for pharmacological as well as gene therapy that restore the functional transporter at the cell surface."

A compound identified at VUMC that corrects GAT-1 function in mouse models and cells from patients with urea cycle disorder is now being tested in a clinical trial. The inherited disease causes a buildup of ammonia in the bloodstream that can damage the brain and may be fatal.

Another potential approach is the use of antisense oligonucleotides, short, synthetic pieces of genetic material that may increase expression of the normal, "wild-type" GAT-1 protein.

Kang said the research could not have been done without the help of two "hero" mothers of children with rare genetic disorders: Amber Freed, founder and CEO of the Denver-based advocacy group SLC6A1 Connect; and Terry Jo Bichell, PhD, founder and director of Nashville-based COMBINEDBrain, which supports brain research.

"I have been very lucky and privileged to work with them," Kang said. "They have taught me so much along the way and inspired me to do meaningful research."

"She loves kids with SLC6A1 as her own and selflessly works to improve their lives with the urgency of a mother," Freed responded. "Throughout this journey, Katty has been a loving person, inquisitive scientist and pillar of strength."

"That empathy kept her discoveries progressing through the pandemic," Bichell added. "She would ride her bicycle to the lab and care for the mouse and cell models at night, on weekends and even holidays ... Dr. Kang is doing basic science that will translate to real treatments for real children she has met--and hugged."
University of Massachusetts Amherst health services researcher Dr. Sarah Goff has received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the impact of accountable care organizations (ACOs) on asthma care for children insured by Medicaid.

ACOs are the value-based health care delivery model expanded by the Affordable Care Act in an effort to reduce Medicare and Medicaid costs while improving coordination and quality of care.

A practicing pediatrician and internist, Goff has seen firsthand the risks and effects of childhood asthma in a region considered one of the country's most challenging places to live with asthma by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA).

Springfield, where Goff worked for more than a decade, was ranked the #1 asthma capital in 2019 and 2020, and dropped to #12 in 2021. Other high-risk areas in the state include Worcester (#11) and Boston (#18). The AAFA's rankings are based on asthma prevalence, emergency department visits and asthma-related deaths, as well as social and environmental determinants of health, including poverty, air pollution and health care access.

Goff, associate professor of health policy and management in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, notes that asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, causing more preventable hospitalizations and lost school days than any other childhood illness. Children in lower-income, urban, Black and Latinx populations are more likely to have asthma, as well as poorly controlled disease, which puts them at risk for long-term poor health.

As a clinician, I would see families struggling to figure out how to manage this chronic disease that's impacted by so many social determinants of health. And there are so many challenges to interface with - a fragmented health care system that can be difficult to navigate and so on." Dr. Sarah Goff, UMass Amherst Researcher

The new Medicaid ACOs in Massachusetts are designed to address the social determinants of health as part of medical care, Goff says. "A substantial and growing number children with asthma in populations at risk for disparate health outcomes receive care in ACOs, but their effect on asthma quality of care, outcomes and disparities is not known. I'm really interested in healthcare reform and this question of whether value-based care will make a difference."

The newly funded study is the first to address this "critical gap in knowledge," and it may have implications for other states considering the ACO model for their Medicaid programs.

Goff and colleagues will examine data from 17 Medicaid ACOs launched in Massachusetts in 2018. They will look at asthma outcomes for Medicaid-insured children in ACOs compared to commercially insured children and Medicaid-insured children in non-ACO plans.

Goff says that significant changes won't likely be apparent right away. "But after the first few years, in theory, the increased focus on care coordination and addressing social determinants of health could improve pediatric asthma care and outcomes for Medicaid-insured children in Massachusetts," she says. "It is also possible that, due to the complexity of the health care system and other factors, we may find minimal change, which is important to know, too."

Goff's team will use "Big Data" approaches to analyze claims data and identify patterns of change. "After that, we are going to do a series of surveys and interviews with the ACOs to 'look under the hood' and try to better understand why we see the patterns we find. Is it the size of the ACO? Is it their experience being an ACO before becoming a Medicaid ACO? Did they put special programs in place?"

Ultimately, she hopes the large investments made to develop the ACO model will give millions of children a better chance at a healthy future.
New research shows transmission of the virus behind COVID-19 varies seasonally, but warmer conditions are not enough to prevent transmission.

The study, led by Imperial College London researchers and published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to incorporate environmental data into epidemiological models of the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19.

The team show that temperature and population density are the most important factors determining how easily the virus spreads, but only in the absence of mobility-restricting measures, such as lockdowns.

Our results show that temperature changes have a much smaller effect on transmission than policy interventions, so while people remain unvaccinated, governments mustn't drop policies like lockdowns and social distancing just because a seasonal change means the weather is warming up. However, our work also suggests that lower autumn and winter temperatures may lead to the virus spreading more easily in the absence of policy interventions or behavioral changes." Dr Tom Smith, First Author, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London

Seasonal variation has been a source of uncertainty in forecasts of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Other viruses, like flu viruses and other coronaviruses, are known to be affected by environmental factors. For example, high temperatures and low humidity reduce the transmission of respiratory droplets, preventing the spread of flu. High temperatures are also known to inactivate other coronaviruses in the air and on surfaces.

However, quantifying the effects of environmental factors including temperature, humidity, and UV radiation (sunshine) on SARS-CoV-2 transmission has been difficult during the pandemic, since human factors like population density and behaviour have been the main drivers of transmission.

The differences in interventions and case-counting between countries and regions also makes comparing environmental factors on a global scale difficult, especially as some countries, like Brazil, India and Iran, have high transmission despite having warmer climates.

As a result, few epidemiological models have included environmental data, and those that do assume the response of SARS-CoV-2 is identical to other coronaviruses, as there is a lack of SARS-CoV-2-specific data.

To fill this gap, the team, from the Departments of Life Sciences and Mathematics at Imperial, as well as Imperial's MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, and Utah State University, compared transmission across the USA. The country has a large range of climates with comparable policies and case numbers, allowing the impact of environmental factors to be teased out.

They found strong evidence that lower temperature and higher population density are both associated with higher SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Lead researcher Dr Will Pearse, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: "While temperature and population density do influence SARS-CoV-2 transmission, our findings re-confirm that the most important drivers are public policy and individual behaviour. For example, during lockdowns, there was no meaningful signature of temperature influencing transmission.

"This means, for example, that warmer regions should not expect to ease mobility restrictions before colder regions. This is especially true as warmer regions tend to have higher population densities - for example, the population in Florida is more densely packed than in Minnesota."

The researchers are now extending their study to new variants, and say their environmental results should be incorporated into future forecasts to enhance predictions of disease spread.

Study co-author Dr Ilaria Dorigatti, from the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial, said: "We found evidence that, in the early phases of the pandemic, places with colder temperatures were associated with higher SARS-CoV-2 transmission intensities. However, the effect of climatic seasonality on SARS-CoV-2 transmission is weaker than the effect of population density and in turn, of policy interventions.

"This implies that, as we move towards summer in the Northern Hemisphere, public health policy decisions remain of critical importance for epidemic control and adherence to recommendations will continue to play a key role against SARS-CoV-2 transmission."
Aptamer Group, the developer of Optimer biotherapeutics and diagnostics, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jordan Clark as Chief Commercial Officer at Aptamer Group with immediate effect.

Image credit: Aptamer Group

Jordan joins Aptamer from Diaceutics PLC, where he held the role of Chief Commercial Officer. Jordan will lead the Groups commercial strategy and business development activities and will drive the commercialisation of the Optimer technology across diagnostic and therapeutic sectors.

Jordan Clark trained in Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at Cambridge University NHS Trust and has over 10 years commercial experience in the life science sector at the intersect of diagnostics and therapeutics. As part of the executive team at Diaceutics, he successfully navigated the listing of the company on the London Stock Exchange and led the company to high revenue growth over a 5 year period.

The appointment of Jordan completes a five strong Senior Leadership Team at Aptamer, which along with Jordan, comprises: Mark Vaux (Chief Operating Officer), Dr David Bunka (Chief Technical Officer), Eleanor Courtmann-Stock (Chief Financial Officer) and Dr Arron Tolley (Chief Executive Officer), all of which are Board directors.

Dr Arron Tolley, Chief Executive Officer, said:

I am delighted that Jordan has joined the team at Aptamer to drive the commercial strategy and lead the commercial operations for the Optimer technology. During the past year we have made considerable progress demonstrating the power of the Optimer technology both as research tools and as a therapeutic platform in collaboration with our partners. Jordan joins us after spending over 10 years in senior commercial positions in successful healthcare companies. I am very confident that his wealth of market knowledge and experience will allow Jordan to build on our early successes to help deliver the potential of this exciting technology.

Commenting on his appointment, Jordan Clark said:

I am pleased to be joining Aptamer Group at this exciting point in the development of the Optimer technology. I see many opportunities to leverage the unique strengths of Optimer platform for both diagnostics and therapeutics to benefit patients. I relish the opportunity to work with the Senior Leadership Team to drive the commercial strategy forward and help the Optimer platform reach its full potential.

Image credit: Aptamer Group
Even as the coronavirus disease 20019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread and new variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerge, much remains to be known about why severity varies so unpredictably between individuals.

A new study by researchers from the Galilee Medical Center, The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel, elucidates the relationship between vitamin D and COVID-19 severity. The researchers recently released their findings as a preprint on the medRxiv* server.

Background

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble molecule that is important for bone metabolism and as an immunomodulator. Low levels of this vitamin have been linked to autoimmune disease, poor heart health, and infectious diseases.

Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is a health problem worldwide, especially common in the Middle East. The major risk factors include low skin exposure, highly pigmented skin, and low consumption of fish and dairy products. Several researchers have found that influenza and respiratory virus infections are linked to VDD.

VDD is diagnosed at levels of less than 20 ng/mL. At 20 to 29.9 ng/mL, levels are insufficient. At or above 30 but below 40 ng/mL, levels are adequate, while above 40 ng/mL, they are high-normal.

It is an interesting fact that many risk factors such as temperate location, older age, increased skin pigmentation, Black, Asian or other minority ethnic origin, being male, obesity, diabetes and hypertension are associated with VDD on the one hand, and with COVID-19 severity, on the other.

Earlier studies point to a possible link between COVID-19 and VDD, therefore, but are based mostly on serum vitamin D levels in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. As a result, the low vitamin D levels could be either the cause or the result of the infection.

VDD associated with COVID-19 severity

In the current study, however, baseline vitamin D levels were examined dating from before the onset of COVID-19 to clarify the causality of this association. The last measured vitamin D levels came from 14 to 730 days before test positivity.

Interestingly, of the over 250 individuals in the study, with a mean age of 63 years, just over half had VDD. Mortality was 13 times higher in this group, occurring in 26% of patients vs. 2% in the vitamin D-sufficient group.

Of those with VDD, almost half developed severe illness, compared to less than a tenth in those with vitamin D levels above 20 ng/mL. The lower the vitamin D levels, the greater the risk of severe COVID-19, observed in 87% of people with VDD compared to 34% of the rest of the group.

In fact, VDD was found in 9% of mild COVID-19 patients, vs. 58% in those with moderate illness, but 87% of severely or critically ill patients. The odds that a patient with severe or critical disease would have VDD were 14 times higher compared to those with mild or moderate disease, even after adjusting for age, male sex, and the presence of other illnesses.

VDD is higher among those of Arab origin, perhaps due to a combination of lifestyle factors such as almost complete skin covering with darker skin and socioeconomic inequities, including less access to healthcare. In the current study, too, they made up 64% of the VDD cohort.

However, Arab ethnicity was not associated between ethnic origin and disease severity or mortality. This may indicate the overriding effect of vitamin D levels in determining COVID-19 severity.

The oldest patients, above 65 years, were most likely to have severe illness if they had VDD, with less strong, or still positive, correlations below 50 years of age. Younger patients with VDD may be at higher risk of hospitalization with COVID-19, but older patients share this increased risk even without such low levels.

What are the implications?

Earlier research has indicated that a low vitamin D level at admission, or a history of VDD, indicates higher chances of severe disease. Here, the investigators showed that VDD presents even before the onset of infection is linked to poorer outcomes during hospitalization.

These findings are not in complete congruence with all earlier studies. One reason may be the use of supplemental vitamin D in patients with low levels, the results being difficult to gauge. Genetic heterogeneity may also play a role in determining the risk posed by COVID-19 in the individual.

A large meta-analysis involving almost 50,000 patients with acute respiratory infections (ARIs) showed the safety of this measure and an overall reduction in ARIs compared to a placebo. The benefits of vitamin D supplementation in improving COVID-19 outcomes remain to be established, however.

The findings thus support a link between VDD and severe COVID-19. It should be emphasized that VitD represents only one piece of the complex puzzle that is COVID-19. Further studies are required to assess the possible benefits of supplemental vitamin D in those with VDD in terms of mitigating the risk in case of COVID-19 infection.

*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.
In April, San Francisco-based primary care company One Medical revealed an eye-popping compensation package for its chief executive and chairman, Amir Dan Rubin. His $199 million payday, particularly noteworthy at a company that has yet to turn a profit, made Rubin the second-highest-paid CEO in the United States last year  but only on paper.

About $197.5 million of his pay is in stock options. For Rubin to get all that cash, the stock of One Medical, traded as 1Life Healthcare, must rise sharply over the next seven years, to nearly triple its current price.

In short, his compensation is less a quick jackpot than a general statement of One Medical's ambitious vision of primary care that is more accessible, technologically enabled and patient-friendly, while cutting health costs for employers and individuals.

Loads of other firms, ranging from small start-ups to larger, more established companies, are selling similar concepts of new and improved primary care.

Some offer it directly to individuals; others target Medicare enrollees. Perhaps the most promising customers are employers, who insure an estimated 157 million U.S. workers and their dependents, and have long been frustrated with spotty primary care and perpetually rising health costs.

The "direct" primary care companies, as they are often called, face stiff competition from one another as well as the large regional health systems and their affiliated physician groups, which still dominate the field.

Analysts say these emerging primary care companies have significant room for growth because of mounting frustration with the medical status quo and because they currently have only a tiny share of the $260 billion U.S. primary care market.

"I think that, ultimately, they're going to grow in acceptance and accumulate patients and attract clinicians that want to provide a different level of care," said Richard Close, managing director of health equity research at Canaccord Genuity in Nashville, Tennessee. But he added that "all of these companies combined could grow very significantly and just put a dent in the overall system."

Also vying for a share of the primary care market are urgent care centers and walk-in clinics at retailers such as Target and pharmacies such as CVS, in addition to telehealth companies like Teladoc and Doctors on Demand.

In a sharp reminder of the competitive challenges ahead, the share prices of One Medical and Teladoc sank in mid-March after Amazon announced plans to begin offering its telehealth and home visit service as an employee benefit nationwide.

"Amazon is a threat, because Amazon knows how to appeal to consumers," said Gary Kurtzman, a Wharton Business School lecturer and managing director of Prostasia Health, a health tech investment advisory firm.

The appeal of these companies has grown as employers increasingly seek to address a shortage of high-quality primary care and reduce spending on the health of their workforce, said Ellen Kelsay, CEO and president of the Business Group on Health, which represents large employers.

Studies show a strong correlation between access to primary care and lower spending on expensive medical services such as ER visits, surgeries and hospital admissions. Yet in the United States, primary care accounts for only around 5% to 7% of total health spending, compared with 14% in the 36 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The big bet of One Medical and companies like it is that greater spending on primary care will fatten their bottom lines while reducing overall health costs for their clients.

A study published last year in JAMA Network Open showed that employees of Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX who got most of their primary care at One Medical's on-site health clinic generated 109% more in spending on primary care but 45% less on health care overall than those who used One Medical infrequently or not at all.

These direct primary care companies typically offer a digital platform as the first point of contact, which enables members to make appointments and text, email or video chat 24/7 with their medical providers.

They wed that technology to brick-and-mortar clinics staffed by doctors, nurse practitioners and medical staff, where members can go for checkups, prescription drugs, lab tests, scans, vaccinations, physical therapy and mental health visits. The patients generally get more time with their providers than in a traditional medical office.

One Medical's focus is improving health care for "multiple stakeholders simultaneously," Rubin said in a recent interview with KHN. "How do we delight consumers, serve employers and payers? How do we make medicine the best environment for providers to work in?"

Part of the company's answer is to put doctors on salary rather than paying a fee for every visit. That eliminates the pressure to book a lot of visits, which Rubin said helps physicians spend more time with each patient.

One Medical will offer its combination of telehealth and in-person visits in 22 metropolitan areas around the United States within a year or so, up from nine in 2020, Rubin said. It had nearly 600,000 members at the end of March, up 31% from a year earlier. When One Medical started in 2007, it sold only individual memberships, for which it currently charges $199 a year. But it has since moved increasingly into the employer market. Anecdotally, its patients are happy with the care they get.

"One Medical says your appointment is at 10 a.m., and my nurse practitioner is walking out at 10 a.m. to get me," said Kathleen Wiegand, 63, a One Medical member in Washington, D.C. "I've never had to wait for an appointment."

Brentwood, Tennessee-based Premise Health is the biggest player in the employer segment of the direct care market, with over $1 billion in annual revenue, 11 million employer-sponsored members via 1,600 large corporate and municipal employers and about 850 health centers. Most of those centers are at the worksites of its corporate and local government customers.

"Our bet going forward is that it's the combination of digital and physical access that will drive sustained value and better experience for the member, instead of pure digital or pure physical," said Jami Doucette, president of Premise.

Doucette said his company provides an entry point to medicine that is "an alternative to primary care physicians owned by hospitals who are driven by volume of expensive procedures."

Eden Health, a start-up headquartered in New York City, provides a similar service to small and midsize employers, and is also contracting directly with commercial real estate companies that want to provide on-site medical facilities for the businesses that are their tenants.

As the pandemic eases and many workers return to offices with safety on their minds, providing on-site medical care can help commercial landlords command higher rents, said Matt McCambridge, Eden Health's 29-year-old co-founder and CEO. "What the landlords are trying to do is craft an amenity package that allows them to be a class-A, high-end location, and health is really a key part of that," he said.

San Francisco-based start-up Forward Health, on the other hand, markets itself exclusively to individuals. It charges a flat monthly fee of $149 for access to digital health, in-person visits and technology the company says can scan for signs of skin cancer, perform genetic analyses and return comprehensive blood test results in 12 minutes.

While positioning themselves as "disrupters" in an industry that emphasizes volume of services over health, many direct care companies nonetheless participate in the networks of their members' health plans, and some receive fee-for-service payments from those plans.

One Medical, for example, gets about 37% of its revenue from such payments.

"That's just the way the U.S. health system is organized. If you want to easily serve people, you say, 'Hey, I accept your insurance.' And if you want to easily serve employers, you say, 'I'm in your network,'" Rubin said.

"But the powerful thing is that without changing how the system pays, we can still reduce the cost of care," he added. "We don't have to wait for some mythical unicorn of a reimbursement system to get these kinds of results."

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.
Life sciences entrepreneurs, researchers and investors working to shape the future of point-of-care medical technologies will gather next week for a free virtual event that will highlight new inventions and connect participants to resources to advance their work.

The Big Company/Little Company Showcase, to be held on Thursday, June 17 from 9 a.m. to noon, will be an interactive forum for participants to discuss how to pursue strategic partnerships and funding opportunities for their ventures. The event will also feature eight new cutting-edge medical devices and technologies supported by the UMass Center for Advancing Point of Care Technologies (CAPCaT), a business incubator funded by the National Institutes of Health that promotes innovations designed to improve the quality of life for patients with heart, blood, lung and sleep conditions.

The event is presented by CAPCaT in cooperation with the Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2), a joint venture of UMass Lowell and UMass Medical School in Worcester. These initiatives assist entrepreneurs with all aspects of moving new products and technologies from the drawing board to the marketplace.

Welcoming participants to the session will be UMass Lowell's Julie Chen, vice chancellor for research and economic development.

This event for life sciences startups is the latest example of the vibrant partnership M2D2 enjoys with corporate partners and investors to drive innovation to improve health outcomes. UMass Lowell is proud to partner with UMass Medical School to provide the clinical, engineering, and business expertise and resources medical device and biotech entrepreneurs need to fulfill their potential to develop competitive commercial products." Lowell's Julie Chen, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Bruce Tromberg, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will offer the event's keynote remarks. The program will also feature a presentation by Kadir Kadhiresan, vice president of venture investments, Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

"Following our hugely successful inaugural event last year, we are excited to have Bruce Tromberg and Kadir Kadhiresan as our featured speakers for next week's session. We will also talk about challenges and opportunities in the industry with leaders from Amgen Ventures, Boston Scientific, Kohler, Philips Ventures and Siemens. This will be a must-attend event for medical device entrepreneurs," said Bryan Buchholz, CAPCaT co-director and UMass Lowell professor and chair of the Biomedical Engineering Department.

Entrepreneurs from nine startups developing point-of-care innovations will pitch their inventions before a panel of experts during the event. The devices and technologies to be featured aim to assess and improve an array of health conditions including COPD, heart failure, low blood-cell counts, migraine headaches, poor sleep and more.

"CAPCaT is proud to support these startups with the talent and resources of UMass Medical School and UMass Lowell to enhance care for patients with heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders. This event will give them a platform to showcase their innovations and offer participants a unique chance to engage with industry leaders and learn about emerging opportunities, as together we grow the life sciences economy throughout New England and beyond," said CAPCaT Co-director Dr. David McManus, Richard M. Haidack Professor and chair of the Department of Medicine, UMass Medical School, where he is the founding director of the Program in Digital Medicine.

M2D2 has vetted more than 250 medical-device and biotech ventures for inclusion in its programs and provided support to more than 100 startups since the center was founded in 2007. In total, M2D2 resident companies have secured more than $150 million in external funding for their innovations.
Knowing I caused the deaths of five people and severely hurt two others is unbearable most of the time, Barson said on video, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. I want you to know that Im so truly sorry for what Ive done. I know you will carry this pain forever, and it breaks my heart that I caused this.
After the killing last year of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers declared racism a public health crisis. The governors of Michigan and Nevada quickly followed, as have legislative bodies in Minnesota, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Yet California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who governs one of the most racially and ethnically diverse populations in the U.S., has not.

State Democratic lawmakers are not waiting for Newsom to make a declaration and are pressuring the first-term Democrat to dedicate $100 million per year from the state budget, beginning July 1, to fund new health equity programs and social justice experiments that might help break down systemic racism. Possibilities for the funding include transforming parking lots in low-income neighborhoods into green spaces and giving community clinics money to distribute fresh fruit and vegetables to their patients.

Lawmakers say covid's disproportionate impact on California's Black and Latino residents, who experienced higher rates of sickness and death, makes their request even more pressing.

"Covid uncovered the disparities of the segregated California of the past that still has an effect today, and that we can correct if we focus on equity, said Assembly member Mike Gipson (D-Carson), who is spearheading the funding push. "We need to build a healthier society that works for everyone.

Lawmakers are lobbying for the money in their negotiations with the governor over the 2021-22 state budget. The legislature must pass a budget bill by June 15 for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Once Newsom receives the bill, he has 12 days to sign it into law.

The $100 million proposal to address the health effects of racism is part of the Democratic-controlled legislature's broader public health agenda that includes a request for $235 million annually to help rebuild gutted local public health departments, $15 million per year for transgender health care and $10 million to establish an independent "Office of Racial Equity," which would attempt to identify and address racism in state spending and policies.

Health care advocacy groups say the investments are critical to address inequality in society and the health care system that has contributed not only to higher rates of covid within disadvantaged communities, but also chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

"Those who got sick and lost jobs were mostly communities of color, so seeing no new investment from the governor to really tackle racial equity is unconscionable," said Ronald Coleman, managing director of policy for the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, which sent Newsom a letter last July asking him to declare racism a public health crisis.

Newsom hasn't committed to supporting the funding but said he'd be "very mindful" in negotiations with lawmakers. One proposal Newsom and state lawmakers agree on is funding for a chief equity officer to address racial disparities within state government.

Newsom pointed to other budget proposals he has made, including $600 economic stimulus payments to households earning less than $75,000, rent and utility bill assistance, and an expansion of the state's Medicaid program for low-income residents, called Medi-Cal, to unauthorized immigrants age 60 and older.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said George Floyd's killing in May 2020 motivated state and local lawmakers tolook at racism through the lens of public health  which could have helped save lives during the covid pandemic. "We're at a tipping point," Benjamin said. "It's important to first acknowledge that racism is real, but then it requires you to do something about it. We're now seeing other states beginning to put money and resources behind the words."

Some cities and counties in California have declared racism a public health crisis, including Los Angeles and San Bernardino County. But those declarations would be more meaningful backed by an infusion of state resources, health care advocates say.

"We need to be willing to put dollars into innovative approaches to addressing racism in the same way we invest in stem cells, and we need to be willing to accept that some of the things we try will work and some won't," said Kiran Savage-Sangwan, executive director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network.

Should Newsom sign off on the funding, grants would be available to health clinics, Native American tribes and community-based organizations to develop programs aimed at combating racism and health disparities.

The Community Coalition in South Los Angeles, a nonprofit that originally set out decades ago to address the crack epidemic, expressed interest in applying.

"There are so many vacant lots in South Los Angeles that could be turned into mini-parks. That helps not only with physical health but mental health," said Marsha Mitchell, the organization's communications director. "We have very few grocery stores, and if you live in Compton or South Los Angeles, your life expectancy is almost seven years lower than if you lived in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills or Malibu."

Directing more resources to address racism could backfire, in part because voters, including some Democrats, have displayed skepticism over some of the liberal and expensive policies sought by Democrats who control Sacramento, said Mike Madrid, a Sacramento-based Republican political consultant who has also worked for Democrats.

He pointed to Proposition 16, the November 2020 ballot initiative that would have repealed California's 1996 law banning affirmative action, which was defeated 57% to 43%.

"Racism is very much a public health problem  just look at the chronic diseases and lower life expectancies of Black and brown people, and most people believe that racism is systemic in our governance," Madrid said. "But voters are becoming more discerning about how racism is being used by politicians to advance an agenda."

Focusing too heavily on racism could prompt a backlash, he said, "whereas if you focused on poverty and inequality, that would solve many of the racial problems."

But state Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), who is leading the drive to establish an Office of Racial Equity, said funding and state leadership focused intensely on structural racism are essential to ending it. Should the office not be funded in the budget, Pan said he'd press forward with a bill.

The office would work with the state's new chief equity officer to examine the California government, including state hiring practices, proposed legislation and budget spending decisions, for evidence of racism or inequality.

It's a priority for the legislature's Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, given the rise in hate crimes perpetrated against people of Asian descent, Pan said.

"We need to invest more in prevention," Pan said. "The state needs to step up and support communities of color."

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.
When Paul Ranas primary care physician left the VA clinic in Kalispell to open her own practice, he followed her. But instead of picking up a new health insurance policy, Rana and his partner agreed to pay a monthly fee that came with the promise of better access.

Their provider, Dr. Lexi Tabor-Manaker, opened Glacier Direct Primary Care clinic in 2018. The model known as DPC, which can also stand for direct patient care, furnishes basic health care to patients for a set fee, often billed monthly like a subscription. The arrangement offers patients unlimited access to their doctors and allows them to communicate by phone or email. But the costs are all out-of-pocket.

"We have been pleased to be able to communicate with her instantly without going through an administrative gauntlet," as he might with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Rana said.

Direct primary care practices have been emerging around the country, but they are often criticized for not offering the patient safeguards of traditional insurance. State legislators this year, however, sought to preserve the approach and passed two new laws that prohibit direct primary care practices or health care sharing ministries  religious or ethical groups whose members pool money to cover medical costs  from being regulated as insurance.

Such arrangements, according to supporters, afford greater flexibility and lower costs for health care compared with traditional health insurance. Without these laws, "a future commissioner of insurance may deem them to be insurance and require them to come under the health insurance regulatory scheme, thus destroying their value and defining characteristics," said Sen. Tom McGillvray (R-Billings), sponsor of the bill on health care sharing ministries.

Lack of regulation comes with risks. Patients in direct primary care and health care sharing ministries mostly miss out on consumer protections mandated by the Affordable Care Act, such as coverage of preexisting conditions and prohibitions against charging more based on gender.

Some health care sharing ministries have developed into large nationwide organizations, such as Medi-Share and Trinity HealthShare. Critics of that model say the unregulated ministries aren't required to cap out-of-pocket costs or pay claims and can refuse coverage for certain treatments. They can also have annual and lifetime benefit caps.

In Montana, a pastor filed a lawsuit in 2007 after Medi-Share refused to pay for expenses for a member's heart condition. A state judge ruled the group was selling insurance without registering in the state, effectively banning health care sharing ministries. That changed in 2017 when Matthew Rosendale, then insurance commissioner, declared the programs weren't health insurance and could operate in the state.

McGillvray's bill cements Rosendale's ruling into state law.

Eight direct primary care facilities operate in Montana with out-of-pocket fees that typically range from $70 to $120 per month for an adult, according to DPC Frontier.

Supporters of direct primary care said the model lets doctors spend more time with patients. Physicians told lawmakers that when working with traditional insurance plans they might spend a significant chunk of their days on administrative tasks instead of patient care, according to Sen. Cary Smith (R-Billings), sponsor of the direct primary care bill.

That bill allows for any form of health care practice  therapists, dentists, physical therapists, etc.  to operate under the direct primary care model.

Direct primary care agreements don't cover hospital visits, prescription drugs, surgery or specialized care, such as cancer treatment. Providers and supporters recommend people sign up for health insurance to cover those costs.

Another criticism, one leveled by traditional health insurers, is that the monthly fee often doesn't save people money. Patients would have to go to the doctor several times a year to make the direct primary care monthly payments worthwhile, and people usually don't make that many visits, said Richard Miltenberger, CEO of Mountain Health Co-Op, a nonprofit health insurance cooperative that sells health insurance in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

"So, its actually often, for many consumers, more cost-effective to just pay for the service [that isn't covered by insurance] when you utilize it, as you utilize it, as opposed to paying a monthly membership fee," Miltenberger said.

Rana, a retired Army veteran who lives in Woods Bay, doesn't fully depend on direct primary care for his health care. He still uses the VA clinic for regular checkups. He also has Medicare and Tricare  a health program for military members and their families  for larger procedures he gets outside of the VA, such as when he had knee surgery in 2020.

But his first stop when he noticed something wrong with his knee was with Tabor-Manaker, who saw him quickly and referred him to a specialist. That makes the expense worth it, he said.

"I knew going in that this was all out-of-pocket for me, and I accepted that because the quality of service is far greater in its value to me than the hundred bucks a month," Rana said.
Watching what was happening around the world in early 2020, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers knew their region would likely soon be hit with a wave of patients with COVID-19, the infection caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. They wondered how the virus persists on surfaces, particularly in hospitals, and they knew they had only a small window of time to get started if they wanted to capture a snapshot of the "before" situation -; before patients with the infection were admitted.

After a call late one Sunday night, a team assembled in the hospital lobby the next day, ready to swab.

In the resulting study, described June 8, 2021 in Microbiome, researchers swabbed patient room surfaces before, during and after occupancy, and repeatedly collected samples from the skin, noses and stool of COVID-19 patients and their health care workers over time. In total, they tested 972 hospital-associated samples for traces of SARS-CoV-2 over two months.

Although it feels like we've been living with this virus for a long time, the study of the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and other microbes is still new, and we still have a lot of questions. The more we know about how a virus interacts with its environment, the better we can understand how it's transmitted and how we might best disrupt transmission to prevent and treat the disease." Sarah Allard, PhD, co-senior author, assistant project scientist at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Their findings: The virus, or at least its genetic signature, abounds. The team detected the virus on the floors next to the beds of patients with COVID-19 (39 percent of samples tested), floors outside patient rooms (29 percent) and surfaces inside the rooms (16 percent). SARS-CoV-2 detection tended to be highest during the first five days after a patient's onset of symptoms.

The researchers are quick to point out that just because they can detect the virus' unique genetic signatures on a surface, it doesn't mean the virus is able to infect people. Since they started the study, it has been well documented that SARS-CoV-2 spreads primarily through close human interactions, while surface transmission is likely very rare. What's more, none of the health care workers actively caring for patients in the study tested positive for the virus. The study focused on one hospital, but the researchers expect they would find similar results in any hospital treating patients with COVID-19.

"This is huge on so many levels," said co-senior author Daniel Sweeney, MD, critical care and infectious disease physician at UC San Diego Health. "We need to know if our personal protective equipment, PPE, is adequate, and fortunately we know now that things like masks, gloves, gowns and face shields really do work. This pandemic has been a global disaster, but it could've been even worse if our health care workers were getting infected, especially if we didn't know why."

Viruses don't typically hang out alone. Whether on people or surfaces, they are part of complex communities known as microbiomes, which may include a variety of other viruses, bacteria and additional microbes. In looking for the coronavirus, the team discovered something else: one particular type of bacteria from the genus Rothia was found alongside SARS-CoV-2 more often than not, regardless of collection site. In other words, the presence of Rothia strongly predicted that they would also detect SARS-CoV-2 in the same sample.

"Why that relationship?" asked Allard. "Does the bacteria help the virus survive, or vice versa? Or is it just that these bacteria are associated with the underlying medical conditions that put patients at higher risk for severe COVID-19 in the first place? That's an area for future research."

The study was a challenge from the beginning, and became more difficult as the hospital's intensive care unit began to take in more patients with COVID-19. The team specifically designed their approach to leverage existing resources to not stress the supply chain needed for clinical care and testing. In a separate effort, some of the team and their colleagues developed alternative swabs for research purposes. They collected samples as quickly and as efficiently as possible to minimize disruption to patient care. The samples were transported back to the lab in alcohol, preserving the virus for analysis but not exposing researchers to active organisms.

"A lot of people did a lot of basic and clinical research these last few months, and we did it well," Sweeney said. "We added to our infrastructure. We acquired the experience. I hope the same sort of focus, drive and spirit carry forward in whatever comes next."
Bodycam video recorded during the confrontation shows officers standing in the back of a pickup truck as it approaches Brown, who was seated in a parked car outside his home in Elizabeth City at the time. As soon as they spot him, the deputies leap from the bed, weapons drawn, and continue in his direction on foot while repeatedly shouting orders, according to the short clip.
(Newser)  Pfizer and Moderna are testing their coronavirus vaccines in children under 12, in a process that could have doses ready for US recipients as young as 6 months old by fall. Pfizer said Tuesday that it's starting its tests with children as young as 5 and will add younger ones in a few weeks, the New York Times reports. The results from the 4,500 recipients could be available in October or November, Pfizer said, and be ready for a decision by the Food and Drug Administration soon after that. The vaccine has been approved for children 12 to 15 already. In the trials, children 5 and older will be given doses one-third the standard size, and those under 5 will be given smaller doses. "We take a deliberate and careful approach to help us understand the safety and how well the vaccine can be tolerated in younger children," a Pfizer executive said.

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Moderna began testing its vaccine on younger children in March, in a study that could include 6,750 American and Canadian recipients. The company expects results by the end of summer that it will submit for FDA approval. "I think it's going to be early fall," Moderna's chief executive said, "just because we have to go down in age very slowly and carefully." Children are less likely to contract COVID-19 than adults and usually have milder symptoms if they do come down with it, per the Wall Street Journal. And children can spread the virus. A Pfizer researcher said the hope is that vaccinating children "will help further protect our communities and contribute to the evolving herd immunity." About 3 million children 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated, the CDC says. It hasn't been announced, but Sinovac's chairman said China has approved its vaccine for children as young as 3. (Read more coronavirus vaccine stories.)
(Newser)  A former Tennessee governor's administration helped fund a contract murder of a key federal witness decades ago while embroiled in the state's largest political scandal, law enforcement officials announced Wednesday. Investigators in Hamilton County, which encompasses Chattanooga, have been chipping away at the 42-year-old cold case of Samuel Pettyjohn since they renewed their investigation in 2015, per the AP. No new charges will be filed because all of the major players involved are now dead, but authorities say wrapping up the case provides closure to one aspect of a complicated piece of Tennessee history. Pettyjohn, a Chattanooga businessman and close friend of union boss Jimmy Hoffa, was fatally shot in 1979 in downtown Chattanooga after testifying before a federal grand jury during the early phases of Tennessee's notorious "cash-for-clemency" scandal.

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Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston told reporters that Pettyjohn would meet with inmates to indicate money would help secure an early release from prison. Per Pinkston, Pettyjohn and another man would drop payments off at the office of Democratic Gov. Ray Blanton. Pettyjohn was subpoenaed to testify about the scheme and eventually began cooperating with the FBI. Shortly after, he was killed. Per Pinkston, Ed Alleya bank robber who died in 2005 in prisonwas hired by several sources to kill Pettyjohn. Pinkston said those sources included a third party who paid some of the contract money on behalf of the Blanton administration. The scandal ultimately led to the ousting of Blanton, who was never indicted in the probe, though three of his aides were. He died in 1996. "Mr. Pettyjohn cooperated with authorities and knew too much about what was going on locally ... and individuals didn't like that and so individuals hired someone to murder him," Pinkston said.

(Read more cold cases stories.)
(Newser)  After Lori Vallow was found unfit to stand trial for one of the charges against her, a judge on Tuesday ordered her committed to a mental health facility, putting her trial for the murders of her two children on hold. She will receive treatment for no more than 90 days, NBC News reports. Prosecutors originally planned to contest the psychologist's finding that Vallow was not fit to stand trial, but, according to the order of commitment, they indicated on Friday that they will no longer challenge that conclusion or Vallow's treatment plan, KSL reports. The aim of the treatment is "to restore competency for trial," ABC News reports.

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Meanwhile Wednesday, Vallow's husband, Chad Daybell, pleaded not guilty to the murders of Vallow's children, Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16. Vallow is also charged with their murders, but it was a separate concealment of evidence charge for which she was declared mentally unfit. Daybell is also charged with the murder of his previous wife, and Arizona police have recommended that Vallow be charged in the death of her previous husband. Daybell and Vallow have made headlines for their apocalyptic, doomsday beliefs. (Read more Lori Vallow stories.)
(Newser)  Raymond Riles has been on death row for more than 45 yearslonger than anyone else in the US. But no longer: On Wednesday, the 71-year-old Texas man was resentenced to life in prison, CBS DFW reports. Riles, who shot and killed used car dealer John Thomas Henry at a Houston car lot in 1974 after a dispute over a car, has a history of mental illness. Texas prosecutors found he is not eligible for execution, nor is he competent to stand for a retrial. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had in April tossed his death sentence because jurors did not consider his mental health history when he was originally tried, the Texas Tribune reported at the time.

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District Judge Ana Martinez could not resentence him to life behind bars without the possibility of parole, because that sentence was not an option when Riles was convicted. So he is now eligible for parole, and an automatic parole review will be carried out by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, but the district attorney's office and Henry's family plan to oppose the issue if it appears Riles may be released. (Much more on the history of the case at CBS DFW.)
(Newser)  President Biden opened the first overseas trip of his term Wednesday with a declaration that "the United States is back" as he seeks to reassert the nation on the world stage and steady European allies deeply shaken by his predecessor. The president's first stop after landing in the UK Wednesday was a visit with US troops and their families at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, where he laid out his mission for the trip, the AP reports. "We're going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and issues that matter the most to our future," he said. "That we're committed to leading with strength, defending our values, and delivering for our people."

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The challenges awaiting Biden overseas were clear as the president and the audience wore masksa reminder of the pandemic that is still raging around much of the world even as its threat recedes within the United States. "We have to end COVID-19 not just at homewhich were doingbut everywhere," Biden said. The president will hold a sitdown Thursday with British Prime Minster Boris Johnson a day ahead of the G-7 summit in Cornwall. After the summit concludes, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will meet Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, NPR reports. The president will then visit Brussels for a NATO summit and a meeting with the heads of the European Union. The trip finale will be Biden's meeting with Putin.

(Read more President Biden stories.)
(Newser)  Alexei Navalny's political organization was outlawed by a Russian court Wednesday as "extremist," theoretically breaking up his opposition movement. The ruling is part of a broad crackdown by President Vladimir Putin on political opposition in general and on Navalny and his Foundation for Fighting Corruption in particular, NBC reports. It prohibits Navalny allies from running for office for years. The Kremlin's goal, per the Guardian, is to remove Navalny as a factor in Russian politics. He posted a statement online Wednesday denouncing the court's decision. "When corruption is the foundation of the government, fighters against corruption are cast as extremists," the statement said. "We will not abandon our goals and ideas. It's our country and we dont have another one." Navalny is being held in a prison colony after receiving a 2-year sentence that could be lengthened, keeping him removed from opposition work.

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"Putin has rewritten the constitution for himself, every article in the constitution about civil rights has begun to read like a joke, and yet we're the extremists," said an investigator for one of Navalny's organizations. The decision means that anyone who continues opposition work for Navalny's groups could face long prison sentences. But Navalny's chief of staff said the offices will not be renamed. The ruling takes effect immediately, per the Wall Street Journal, but Navalny's lawyers said they'll appeal. The heavyhanded tactics are new for Putin's government, which had harassed Navalny's movement but not moved against it. A partial court transcript shows a prosecutor saying: "It's gone beyond criticism of the government. You are leading people out on the street in order to change the government by force." President Biden is to meet with Putin on his current overseas trip. (Read more Alexei Navalny stories.)
(Newser)  The worlds largest meat processing company says it paid the equivalent of $11 million to hackers who broke into its computer system late last month, the AP reports. Brazil-based JBS SA said on May 31 that it was the victim of a ransomware attack, but Wednesday was the first time the companys US division confirmed that it had paid the ransom. This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally, said Andre Nogueira, the CEO of JBS USA. However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers. JBS said the vast majority of its facilities were operational at the time it made the payment, but it decided to pay in order to avoid any unforeseen issues and ensure no data was exfiltrated.

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The FBI has attributed the attack 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. The attack targeted servers supporting JBSs operations in North America and Australia. Production was disrupted for several days. The company said forensic investigations are still ongoing, but it doesn't believe any company, customer or employee data was compromised. Earlier this week, the Justice Department announced it had recovered most of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment made by Colonial Pipeline, the operator of the nation's largest fuel pipeline, in early May to a Russia-based hacker group.

(Read more ransomware stories.)
(Newser)  An Arizona box truck driver who plowed into bicyclists on a stretch of Nevada highway last December, killing five and injuring four, was sentenced Wednesday to a minimum of 16 years in Nevada state prison for driving under the influence of methamphetamine causing death, the AP reports. Jordan Alexander Barson, 45, of Kingman, Arizona, apologized Tuesday, during the first day of an emotional two-day sentencing hearing in Las Vegas, asking forgiveness as he spoke by video from the Clark County Detention Center, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. His attorney, Damian Sheets, said Barson did not intend to cause harm. Knowing I caused the deaths of five people and severely hurt two others is unbearable most of the time, Barson told the court. I want you to know that Im so truly sorry for what Ive done. I know you will carry this pain forever, and it breaks my heart that I caused this.

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Clark County District Court Judge Bita Yeager on Wednesday acknowledged Barsons remorse but stuck with the sentence agreed upon when he pleaded guilty in April to two counts of driving under the influence resulting in death. You had no business driving, Yeager told him. The judge paused, near tears, spoke the names of the five bicyclists and cited the effect of their deaths had on mothers, fathers, siblings, spouses, children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren. Killed were Las Vegas residents Erin Michelle Ray, 39; Gerrard Suarez Nieva, 41; Michael Todd Murray, 57; Aksoy Ahmet, 48; and Thomas Chamberlin Trauger, 57. Bicyclists Jose Vasquez and Jerome Ducrocq were seriously injured. The judge also ordered Barson to pay nearly $60,000 in restitution to victims. Barson's plea deal avoided trial on 14 felony charges that could have kept him behind bars for the rest of his life if he was convicted.

(Read more Nevada stories.)
All passengers on the cruise were required to be fully vaccinated if they were over age 18. All crew members were vaccinated, according to Royal Caribbean. The ages of the people who tested positive were not released.
(Newser)  Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, the California nun who embezzled $835,000 from a Catholic elementary school to fund a gambling habit, is "very remorseful," her lawyers say. The 79-year-old agreed to plead guilty this week to federal charges that could send her to a federal prison for up to 40 years. Kreuper, who served as principal of the St. James Catholic School in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance from 1990 until her retirement in 2018, is "sorry for any harm she has caused," her lawyers said in a statement to the Washington Post Wednesday. Prosecutors say Kreuper diverted donations and tuition fees into a different account and used the funds for personal expenses, including large gambling expenses at Nevada casinos.

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The fraud was uncovered as the school prepared for the change of leadership in 2018, the New York Times reports. Kreuper, who took a vow of poverty when she became a nun at age 18, admitted responsibility when she was confronted and has been cooperating with law enforcement, the lawyers said, adding that "later in her life she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment and caused her to do something that she otherwise would not have done." Prosecutors say Kreuper admitted falsifying financial reports and ordering employees to destroy records during an audit. KTLA reports that another nun, Sister Lana Chang, was initially implicated in the scheme, but prosecutors say only Kreuper was charged and the investigation is now closed. (At a school fundraiser, one parent noticed Kreuper was "one hell of a poker player.")
(Newser)  Scientists say a "miraculous" bacteria has shown great promise in tackling the threat from one of the world's most dangerous creatures: the Aedes aegypti mosquito. In a large-scale randomized trial in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, the use of mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria cut cases of dengue fever (there are as many as 400 million a year worldwide) by 77%, Science reports. The bacteria can prevent the dengue virus from replicating in the mosquitoes, making them less likely to pass on the disease to humans. It doesn't naturally occur in A. aegypti, but when mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia were released in 12 of the 24 zones researchers divided the city into, those zones saw a 77% decrease in dengue cases and an 86% decrease in dengue-related hospitalizations, researchers write in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Wolbachia passes itself on to the next generation of mosquitoes, making the program self-perpetuating. World Mosquito Program researcher Dr. Katie Anders describes the bacteria as "naturally miraculous." "It's very exciting, it's better than we could have hoped for to be honest," she says of the study results. She tells the BBC that the mosquitoes have now been released across the city and researchers hope the program will have an impact on other large cities where dengue is a major health problem. The bacteria has been used to fight the virus elsewhere, but this study "provides the gold standard of evidence that Wolbachia is a highly effective intervention against dengue," disease expert Oliver Brady tells the Atlantic. "It has the potential to revolutionize mosquito control." The treatment also appears effective against other diseases A. aegypti carries, including Zika. (Read more dengue fever stories.)
(Newser)  A Republican lawmaker from Texas is curious to know whether we could alter our planet's orbit to address climate change. Rep. Louie Gohmert was attending a House Natural Resources Committee hearing Tuesday when he noted that a past NASA director had told him the orbits of the Earth and moon change slightly, per the Hill. He then asked Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the National Forest Service, "Is there anything that the National Forest Service or [Bureau of Land Management] can do to change the course of the moon's orbit or the Earth's orbit around the sun? Obviously, that would have profound effects on our climate." Eberlien paused before replying, "I would have to follow up with you on that one, Mr. Gohmert." "Well, if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, I'd like to know," Gohmert responded.

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The Hill notes its unclear if Gohmert was kidding. But he was "deadpan through the exchange," per the Dallas Morning News. Earth's orbit does in fact vary in shape from almost a perfect circle to slightly elliptical in 100,000-year cycles. This, together with slight changes in the angle at which Earth tilts on its axis, influences Earth's climate over the long-term. But neither the Earth's nor the moon's orbit is tied to global warming. Indeed, "Earth's current orbital positions  predict our planet should be cooling, not warming," according to NASA. Moriba Jah, an astrodynamics expert at the University of Texas at Austin, says Gohmert's suggestion is "as feasible as making the sun rise in the west," per the Morning News. (Read more Louie Gohmert stories.)
(Newser)  Businesses across America are starting to more fully reopen and transition back to in-person operations, and Facebook is no exception. The Wall Street Journal reports that the social media giant will be opening the bulk of its US offices to half capacity in September, with a full opening set for October. But most of its workers will have a choice: Come into the office at least half the time or, if eligible, keep working remotely. The company has just expanded to all levels of the company who's able to work virtually, including entry-level engineers and other newbie workers. Facebook also has plans to gradually open up pathways for workers to move elsewhere, such as from the US to Canada, or from Europe or the Middle East to the UK, per CNN. CNBC notes these plans are a shift from ones announced in May 2020, when the company said it would let mostly senior-level employees ask to work remotely for good.

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One employee who intends to keep up the virtual work: CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In a Wednesday memo, the Facebook chief told employees he plans on working remotely for as much as half of the next year. "I've found that working remotely has given me more space for long-term thinking and helped me spend more time with my family, which has made me happier and more productive at work," he noted. Brynn Harrington, Facebook's VP of people growth, notes that certain roles can't be done remotely (e.g., hardware lab employees), and that even those who are eligible still need the OK from their individual teams. Indeed, Zuckerberg acknowledged that transitioning to this new work normal would take time. "Getting this right will take years," he noted in his memo, per the Journal. (Read more Mark Zuckerberg stories.)
(Newser)  The driver of a crashed vehicle had just been detained on suspicion of drunk driving when a Minnesota state trooper asked the woman to hand over her cellphone. While the 25-year-old was checked out by paramedics, the trooper scrolled through nude photos of the woman stored on the phone, three of which he sent to himself via text message. He then deleted the texts, thinking he'd covered his tracks, per the Washington Post. In fact, he hadn't. That same day, the woman's boyfriend saw the messages on her MacBook, which was connected to her iCloud account. He called the unknown number, and according to prosecutors, Albert Kuehne picked up, per KSTP. Kuehne, who was placed on administrative leave weeks after the March 2020 incident and fired in October, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images on Tuesday.

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The plea deal meant he avoided the possibility of a felony conviction, as the 37-year-old was initially charged with two felony counts of harassment with bias, due to the victim being a woman. The driver had contacted a lawyer, who reported the incident to law enforcement. An investigation turned up video from inside his patrol car, showing Kuehne alone with the woman's phone at the exact time the text messages were sent. State Patrol Chief Col. Matt Langer denounced the "reprehensible" conduct when charges were announced last year. Kuehne had previously been placed on paid administrative leave following a 2018 police chase in a residential neighborhood, which ended with the speeding driver striking three young children on a playground, all of whom survived, per the Post. He will face sentencing Monday, per the Minneapolis Star Tribune. (Read more Minnesota stories.)
(Newser)  The children of a Montana native who died almost a decade and a half ago have learned the man with no known criminal history was in fact a double murderer. It wasn't a skeleton in the closet, but rather genetic genealogy that supplied the shock. Since 1956, detectives have been looking to solve the Great Falls double murder of 16-year-old Patty Kalitzke and her boyfriend, 18-year-old Duane Bogle. "It was such a big case. Two popular kids who were essentially gunned down in a lovers' lane situation," Sgt. Jon Kadner of the Cascade County Sheriff's Office tells CNN. Bogle's body was found near his car, parked along a river, while Patty's body, showing evidence of rape, was found 5 miles away, per KRTV. Both had been shot in the head. Notorious crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger, who'd been in the area, was among suspects cleared over the years.

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By 2019, detectives had a new tool at their disposal. With help from a DNA analysis company, they tested semen taken from Patty's body against a DNA database, which showed three people were genetically compatible. One of those people was linked to Kenneth Gould, who'd lived a mile away from Patty at the time of the murders and corralled horses within blocks of her home. Though Gould died and was cremated in 2007, two children agreed to submit DNA samples to authorities, which identified their father as the presumed killer. Family members noted they were unaware of any criminal behavior during Gould's life. He left Great Falls a month after the killings and settled in Missouri after 1967, per KRTV. Kadner, who believes this could be the oldest US case solved with forensic genetic genealogy, says detectives have yet to find a motive. (Read more double murder stories.)
(Newser)  Stories about rampant fraud related to unemployment benefits paid out during the pandemic have been percolating for a while. The AP reported in March that states were being overwhelmed by bogus claims. Earlier this week, WBTW noted that the FTC has logged 400,000 complaints so far from people who say someone stole their identity to apply for government benefitscompared to 13,000 in all of 2019. But a new report from Felix Salmon at Axios might have the most jaw-dropping stat of all: He talks to a security expertBlake Hall of ID.me who estimates that up to half of all unemployment benefits might have been stolen. In dollar terms, that translates to about $400 billion. And it appears that most of the money went to scammers outside the country.

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Haywood Talcove of LexisNexis Risk Solutions tells Salmon that 70% of the stolen money went to members of crime syndicates in places such as China, Nigeria, and Russia. These are organized operations in which the scammers use stolen identities to impersonate Americans applying for benefits. "Many states are now getting more sophisticated about preventing this kind of fraud," writes Salmon. "But it's far too late." In the Wall Street Journal, Anne Tergesen writes a first-person account of being one such victim in New York state. One piece of advice she shares for those in the same boat: File a police report or an ID-theft affidavit with the FTC. That could help down the road in disputing bogus charges. (Read more fraud stories.)
(Newser)  The man who slapped French President Emmanuel Macron in the face on Tuesday will spend the next four months behind bars. A court in Valence Thursday sentenced 28-year-old Damien Tarel to 18 months in jail for assaulting a public official, with 14 months suspended, per Reuters. Tarelan unemployed medieval martial arts enthusiast, per the Guardiantold the court he held right-wing views and sympathized with the yellow-vest movement, which held anti-Macron protests in the early days of his presidency. Tarel said he'd debated throwing an egg or cream tart at the president, who he says represents "the decay of our country," but hadn't planned to slap him.

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"When I saw his friendly, lying look, which sought me out as a voter, I was filled with disgust," he said, per the BBC. "I acted instinctively." Macron declined to take legal action himself, saying it was "an isolated act." But his allies and rivals alike were right to condemn the violence, according to Olivier Knox at the Washington Post. France showed "that a Western nation's famously fractious political class, sharply divided on virtually every major issue the country faces, can still unite in unequivocal condemnation of an act of political violence," he writes. He suggests the US could learn a lesson from that. The second man arrested alongside Tarel will not face charges related to the slapping, which he apparently filmed. (Read more Emmanuel Macron stories.)
(Newser)  An Italian mother who gave birth to a baby girl the better part of a year ago can finally meet her daughter. The BBC reports that 37-year-old Cristina Rosi has woken from a 10-month coma and spoken her first word: "Mama." The outlet collects reports from Italian media outlets, including La Nazione, to tell the remarkable tale. Rosi suffered a heart attack while seven months' pregnant in July, leading to daughter Caterina being delivered early via cesarean section. Rosi, however, remained in a coma after the birth, and she was transferred to a clinic in Austriathanks in part to money raised on a GoFundMe page.

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Her husband and mother were by her bedside when she woke. "We didn't expect it, it was a real joy after so much suffering," says husband Gabriele Succi. However, it appears Rosi still has a long way to go in her rehabilitation. The fundraising page says she now must learn how to speak and swallow all over again. But her tracheostomy tube is gone, and Succi is hopeful of more "physical progress." (In England, a woman gave birth to twins while comatose last year, and she has since recovered.)
(Newser)  Both heads of the El Chapo household are now guilty of running a drug cartel. Emma Coronel Aispuro, the 31-year-old wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, pleaded guilty in federal court in DC on Thursday to multiple charges including drug trafficking and money laundering, reports CNN. As part of the deal, Coronel also confessed to her role in assisting her husband's famous 2015 escape from a Mexican prison via a secret tunnel, per the Washington Post. Among other things, she bought property near the prison where the tunnel would be dug, and she arranged for her husband to illegally receive a GPS watch in order to help tunnelers find his cell.

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"The only thing I can tell you is that she is at peace with her decision," says Coronel attorney Mariel Caron. Coronel and Guzman have young twin daughters, and she hopes to get out of prison in the not-too-distant future. Her plea carries a possible sentence of up to 11 years, but prosecutors have said they're OK with leniency provided Coronel cooperates in further investigations. She'll be sentenced in September. The former beauty queen has been in custody since being arrested at Dulles airport in February, notes NPR. Her husband, who ran the Sinaloa cartel for three decades before his extradition to the US in 2017, is serving a life sentence at a prison in Colorado. (Read more El Chapo stories.)
In July 2020, the 52-year-old pundit parted ways with his shows head writer, Blake Neff, after CNN reported that Neff had repeatedly and secretly posted racist comments to an online forum under a pseudonym. In March, talk show host John Oliver dedicated an episode of Last Night Tonight to Carlsons position on social issues, which included parallels between white supremacist talking points and the rhetoric used by the Fox News host. Carlson has repeatedly said he doesnt understand what white supremacy means and claims to support tolerance 100%.
(Newser)  Calling a federal judge's reasoning disturbing, California's attorney general on Thursday appealed the decision that found the state's assault weapons ban to be unconstitutional. In his ruling issued Friday, US District Judge Roger Benitez said an AR-15, like a Swiss army knife, could be used "for both home and battle." That assault rifle has been used to kill people in recent US mass shootings. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the comment was a "slap in the face to the families who've lost loved ones to this weapon." Benitez wrote that the ban, which the state has had in place for three decades, breached the rights of gun owners without succeeding in curbing mass shootings. Newsom attended Attorney General Rob Bonta's announcement Thursday at a San Francisco trauma hospital, NBC reports, as did activists and a trauma surgeon.

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Newsom called Benitez "a wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby and the National Rifle Association." Bonta said Thursday that the judge's opinion, including "equating assault weapons to Swiss Army knives and false claims that COVID-19 vaccines have killed more people than mass shootings, was shocking." Bonta and others cited evidence that the ban has saved lives, per the Los Angeles Times. One study showed a sixfold increase in the number of people shot when an assault weapon is used. California's homicide rate is 37% below the national rate, the head of the gun control group Brady pointed out. Assault weapons inflict "absolute devastation to the human body," said the trauma surgeon, Andre Campbell. "It is a gun used for warfare," he said, "and it should not be used on the streets of the United States." The ban will remain in effect during appeals. (Read more assault weapon ban stories.)
(Newser)  State health officials have been nervous about hundreds of thousands of doses of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine scheduled to expire in June. It's not an issue anymore. The Food and Drug Administration told the company Thursday to consider the shelf life of the product to be 4 months, up from the three months everyone has been following till now, Axios reports. So the doses in question will be good into July. The revised viability only appears to be arbitrary. Johnson & Johnson said the change is based on "data from ongoing stability assessment studies, which have demonstrated that the vaccine is stable at 4.5 months when refrigerated at temperatures of 36 to 46 degrees." The vaccine can be stored at higher temperatures than the Pfizer and Moderna versions, and it requires only one shot.

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A former FDA commissioner who's on the Johnson & Johnson board said it's not known how long the vaccine is good. "The J&J vaccine is one you can refrigerate for a long time but as part of this emergency, we weren't able to take the time to see just how long they could last," Dr. Mark McClellan told CNN. Ongoing studies could still provide the answer. The nearing expirations highlight the slowdown in vaccine distribution. CDC data show more than 10.1 million Johnson & Johnson doses have been delivered but not given to anyone. States with more than they need, or whose stock is about to expire, could share with other states, but officials said that's complicated. And sharing with other nations is even more complicatedand essentially not possible now. (Read more Johnson & Johnson stories.)
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Octogenarian designer shares beauty of qipao

People's Daily Online) 13:49, June 10, 2021

Jin Yuxia (right) talks with customers in her workshop in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei province, on June 2, 2021. (Photo/China News Agency)

86-year-old Jin Yuxia has been making dresses, especially the traditional Chinese costume qipao, for more than five decades in Shijiazhuang, north Chinas Hebei province.

Jin runs a workshop where 80 percent of the dresses were designed by her. She caught the attention of Chinese net users after a video of her making a qipao for her daughter-in-law was widely circulated online.

Jin became a researcher in the field of physics after she graduated from university, but as her first love was tailoring, she chose to make this field her lifelong career. I like to stay up to date with fashion trends, but I also think qipao has never become outdated. In fact, I think there is a huge market for traditional dresses, Jin said.

Qipao is a treasure of Chinese culture that should be carried forward, and it suits Asian peoples body shape very well, Jin pointed out. When I was making qipao, I paid so much attention to the details, including the embroidery patterns, knotted buttons, and side thigh splits. If the dress didnt fit the customer, I could hardly sleep, and kept thinking about how to improve it, Jin revealed.

I hope to show the beauty of qipao using an attitude adopted by scientists while seeking truth, Jin said, adding that in order to be a good qipao designer, one has to be able to work like an architect who builds, a sculptor who carves, a musician who produces rhythms, and an artist with a strong sense of beauty.

Hanfu, which has a much longer history in China than qipao, has also become chic among the younger generation in China. According to Guangzhou-based market consultancy iiMedia Research, the number of hanfu fans in China is expected to reach 6.89 million this year, and market sales are predicted to hit at least 10.16 billion yuan ($1.58 billion).

An analyst with iiMedia Research believes that young people have helped revive hanfu, and popular shows featuring Chinese costume dramas have also accelerated the development of hanfu-related businesses.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
Cops said Sykap and the five passengers, four teens between the ages of 14-18 and a 22-year-old, were suspects in an armed robbery that occurred earlier April 5. Police chased the vehicle until Sykap stopped the car. Then the cops fatally shot him.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 52F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 52F. Winds light and variable.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrains expansive contact tracing, testing and quarantining have reduced the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The trace, test and treat strategy has significantly reduced the infection cases and the countrys death rate remains one of the lowest in the world.

According to the National Medical Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the decision announced on 27 May to close non-essential businesses for two weeks has proved to be effective.

By 8 June, the number of cases had decreased to 19,238, down from 28,798 cases registered on 29 May. The Taskforce said that after 25 June, various sectors will be gradually reopened, in compliance with necessary precautionary measures.

Taskforce member Lt. Col. Dr Manaf Al Qahtani stressed the importance of receiving a booster shot when required, as every vaccination has a finite period of effectiveness.

He explained that those who are vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine can choose from two options for their booster dose, either a booster of Sinopharm or of Pfizer-BioNTech.

All other vaccines will eventually require a booster dose, with timings to be announced at a future date. Highlighting the effectiveness of all vaccines, Dr Al Qahtani noted that the percentage of vaccinated people with active COVID-19 is very small, ranging from 1% to 2%.

Individuals who have received a Sinopharm vaccine, and are considered high-risk, will be eligible for a booster dose after three months from receiving their second dose.

A six-month interval will apply to all those not considered high risk. Dr Al Qahtani said that individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 in 2020, and who have received two doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, are eligible for a booster dose 3 months from recovery.

Those recovering in 2021, who have received two vaccination doses, do not require a booster dose. Starting yesterday, active cases subject to home isolation, and in need of medical care can directly head to the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Center.

Meanwhile, the Health and Foreign Affairs Ministries are coordinating with Bahraini embassies abroad to ensure all citizens living abroad would be fully vaccinated.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain is committed to boosting cooperation with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in tackling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

This was emphasised by Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah bin Faisal bin Jabur Al Doseri, as he met virtually yesterday with OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias.

During the meeting, Al Doseri praised the efforts exerted by Arias in promoting international cooperation and the organisations prominent role in providing all means of support to all countries to achieve security and stability.

Al Doseri is also chairman of the National Committee on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapon and on their Destruction. He noted that the world today is going through challenges and exceptional circumstances due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic but the Kingdom is working harder to fulfill its obligations.

Al Doseri pointed out the committees keenness to continue its work by holding virtual meetings, organising training programmes in cooperation with the organisation and working to implement the obligations contained in the agreement.

He also reviewed the efforts made by Bahrain since the signing of the agreement, noting that the national committee was established in Bahrain based on Law No. (51) of 2009, which was issued in implementation of the agreement ratified by the Kingdom in 1997.

He pointed out the amendment of legislation to keep pace with the requirements of the agreement, stressing that Bahrains policy is consistent in supporting efforts aimed at eliminating weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery and preventing their spread.

The OPCW Director-General expressed his pride and appreciation for the constructive relations of cooperation with Bahrain, and on the implementation of international agreements to achieve desired goals.

He lauded the efforts of Bahrain in implementing the agreement at the national level through the enactment of legislation and training of its national cadres in all fields and sectors. Arias hailed the commitment of the Assistant Foreign Minister to follow up on the work of the National Committee.

He also expressed thanks and appreciation to Bahrain for the continuous support since the organisations inception. Arias praised Bahrains positive attitudes towards international and regional issues to ensure a world free of chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction, wishing the kingdom further progress and prosperity.

The two sides also reviewed a number of issues of common interest during the meeting
George Gascon, the Los Angeles District Attorney, said that if sold on the street, each card would be valued at around $15 each.
Danbury area leaders were largely pleased Thursday with the state aid their communities will receive under the budget the legislature approved on Wednesday.

Amounts varied depending on the town, but most municipalities received some increase in school funding, which the governor initially proposed freezing. Local leaders said there were no major surprises and that they had largely planned for the funds in their budgets.

Danbury is the biggest winner, receiving about $5.03 million more than the previous fiscal year. In total, the city will get almost $47.9 million, an 11.7 percent increase.

H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media

Im very happy that that has come to fruition, Mayor Joe Cavo said. Im grateful to the legislature for working in a bipartisan fashion to understand the pressures and challenges cities and municipalities are facing throughout the state with education and other issues.

The increase to Danbury includes about $2.58 million more for the schools. School board members noted at their Wednesday meeting that the state should be giving more to Danbury.

Board member Rachel Chaleski said she was disappointed in the failure of one bill that would have given Danbury schools millions more by immediately fully funding the education cost sharing formula.

We need our state funds now, not 2028, she said.

The only towns to see a decrease in school grants were Ridgefield and New Fairfield, which will get $134 less. New Fairfield will get about $15,500 more in non-education aid.

Ridgefield schools will get $17 less next fiscal year, although the town will get almost $33,000 more in non-education grants.

Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi said the state does not meet its commitment to the school funding formula. But he said his town will be OK.

Bottom line, I look from year to year and this is exactly what at a minimum I had hoped to see, he said. Im pleased and satisfied. The state has a lot of other issues that its dealing with, but for Ridgefield, this puts us in absolutely perfect condition.

In Brookfield, the town will receive about $20,600 more, with a $100 increase for the schools. First Selectman Steve Dunn said hes glad for the additional funds, but that the school district should get more money overall.

Brookfield schools are set to earn about $967,000, which is less than more comparable towns like Bethel, which gets about $7.9 million and New Fairfield, which receives $3.48 million.

Its a huge difference, Dunn said. I understand Bethel has more (students who qualify for) free lunches and things like that, but the difference just seems outsized compared to the difference in our actual income levels per capita.

More Information Increase in town and school aid Bethel: $31,922 Bridgewater: $14,916 Brookfield: $20,621 Danbury: $5,026,474 Kent: $5,444 New Fairfield: $15,515 New Milford: $5,388 Newtown: $232,306 Redding: $56,216 Ridgefield: $32,752 Roxbury: $25,744 Sherman: $24 Southbury: $757,271 Washington: $37,122 See More Collapse

Bethel saw its state grants increase by around $31,900, with about $1,300 more going to the schools. That will help the school district address academic gaps due to COVID-19, First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker said.

Not everyone thrived under remote learning, he said. They have a lot of challenges to deal with in getting their school population up to speed. Itd be great to get more funding, but then again, we have a huge amount of federal funding coming in, too.

Bethel can expect $9.89 million for the town and schools between the two latest federal coronavirus relief bills. Brookfield is getting $6.23 million, Danbury should see $71.3 million, New Fairfield at $7.97 million, New Milford is pegged for $18.9 million, Newtown may expect $10 million, with Redding getting $3.14 million and Ridgefield receiving $8.8 million.

In state aid, New Milford schools can expect almost $5,400 more than the previous year. But non-education aid to the town stayed flat at around $472,000.

We are appreciative of the additional funding coming for the educational piece, though we are disappointed in that we didn't receive additional municipal aid, Mayor Pete Bass said.

Alyssa Seidman contributed to this report.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Raphael E. Rogers, Clark University

(THE CONVERSATION) Nervous. Concerned. Worried. Wary. Unprepared.

This is how middle and high school teachers have told me they have felt over the past few years when it comes to teaching the troublesome topic of slavery.

Although I work with teachers in Massachusetts, their reaction to teaching about slavery is common among teachers throughout the U.S.

Fortunately, in recent years there have been a growing number of individuals who have weighed in with useful advice.

Some, such as history professors Hasan Kwame Jeffries and Kenneth Greenberg, have advocated for helping students see the ways in which enslaved people fought back against the brutality of slavery. Whether through a focus on the fight to maintain family and culture, resistance at work, running away, physical confrontation or revolt, students get a deeper understanding of slavery when the lessons include the various ways that enslaved people courageously fought against their bondage.

Others, like James W. Loewen, the author of the popular book Lies My Teacher Told Me, have argued for a focus on how slavery has deeply influenced our popular culture through movies, television series, historical fiction and music.

There are also those who recommend the use of specific resources and curriculum materials, like the Harriet Jacobs Papers Project, the four-part documentary series Africans in America and the Freedom on the Move database, which features thousands of runaway slave advertisements.

Heeding some of these recommendations, in my work with teachers we have sought to come up with lessons that students like Ailany Rivas, a junior at Claremont Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts, say have helped them to become more informed and educated about the brutal history of slavery and its legacy. These lessons that I have developed take a variety of approaches but are all rooted in taking a look at the realities of slavery using historical evidence.

Many students have echoed Ailany in feedback that I have collected from nine different classes where I have helped design lessons about slavery.

And the teachers whom I have worked with have all shared informally that they are now confident in taking on the challenge of teaching the complex history of slavery.

Much of this confidence, in my opinion, is due to four things that I believe are mandatory for any teacher who plans to deal with slavery.

1. Explore actual records

Few things shine the light on the harsh realities of slavery like historical documents. Im talking about things such as plantation records, slave diaries and letters penned by plantation owners and their mistresses.

It also pays to examine wanted advertisements for runaway slaves. These ads provided details about those who managed to escape slavery. In some cases, the ads contain drawings of slaves.

These materials can help teachers guide students to better understand the historical context in which slavery existed. Educators may also wish to look at how people such as historian Cynthia Lynn Lyerly, who wrote a chapter in Understanding and Teaching American Slavery, have used historical documents to teach about slavery.

2. Examine historical arguments

In order to better understand different perspectives on slavery, it pays to examine historical arguments about how slavery developed, expanded and ended.

Students can read texts that were written by abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and pro-slavery advocates like George Fitzhugh.

They should wade through the newspaper advertisements that provided details about those who managed to escape slavery.

Looking at these different arguments will show students that history is filled with disagreement, debate and interpretations based on different goals.

For instance, in examining arguments about slavery, teachers can show students how early 20th-century historians like Ulrich Bonnell Phillips sought to put forth ideas about kind masters and contented slaves, while others from the 1990s, such as John Hope Franklin, co-author of Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation, focused on how Black people resisted slavery.

Seeing these starkly different portrayals of slavery gives students a chance to examine how things such as choice, context, racism and bias might affect the way slavery is seen or viewed.

3. Highlight lived experiences

In my 11 years of teaching history, many students entered my classes with a great deal of misinformation about what life was like for those who lived under slavery. In pre-unit surveys, some stated that the enslaved worked only in the cotton fields and were not treated that badly. We know the historical records tell a different story. While many worked as field hands, there were others who were put into service as blacksmiths, carpenters, gunsmiths, maids and tailors.

To combat misconceptions like this, I advise teachers to use historical sources that feature details about the lived experiences of enslaved people.

For instance, teachers should have students read Harriet Jacobs memoir  Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl  alongside diaries written by white plantation owners.

Scrutinize photographs of slave quarters and excerpts from the Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project, which contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery.

Ask students to examine various historical sources to gain a better understanding of how people lived through their bondage over time.

4. Consider the relevance

It is also crucial for teachers to consider the various ways in which slavery is relevant to the present with their students. I advise them to ask questions like: How has the history of slavery influenced the status of Black people in the United States today? Why are there so many movies about slavery?

In Ailanys class, we ended our unit by providing students with a chance to read and think about the relevance of recent picture books about slavery like Patricia Polaccos Januarys Sparrow, Ann Turner and James Ransomes My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth and Frye Gallard, Marti Rosner and Jordana Haggards The Slave Who Went to Congress.

We asked students to draw on what they had learned about slavery to consider and then share their perspectives about the historical accuracy, classroom appropriateness and relevance of a selected picture book. Students always have much to say about all three.

[Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversations newsletter to understand the world. Sign up today.]

Teaching slavery has been and will continue to be challenging. To teachers who are asked or required to take on this challenge, the four things discussed above can serve as strong guideposts for creating lessons that should make the challenge easier to navigate.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/heres-what-i-tell-teachers-about-how-to-teach-young-students-about-slavery-161492.
NEW YORK (AP)  The Biden administration has exempted most employers from long-awaited rules for protecting workers from the coronavirus, angering labor advocates who had spent more than a year lobbying for the protections.

The Labor Department included only health care workers in its new emergency temporary standard published Thursday.

The rules require employers to draw up a virus protection plan, and tighten requirements for recording and reporting COVID-19 cases among workers. They also require employers to provide workers with paid time off for COVID-19-related absences, including getting vaccinated and recovering from the shot's side effects.

Rather than issue mandatory rules for other workplaces, the Biden administration released new nonbinding guidance that relaxed some recommendations. Most workplaces where people are fully vaccinated no longer need to provide any protection from the coronavirus, according to the guidance issued by Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the federal agency responsible for protecting workers. In separate order, Biden government also lifted a 25% cap of employer capacity inside federal buildings, though it kept in place flexible remote work policies.

The decision comes as many stores and other companies are already relaxing mask and other protection policies in response to new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it also represents a step back from President Joe Biden's earlier indications that he would reverse the Trump administration's refusal to issue mandatory protection rules for workers.

The new standard represents a broken promise to the millions of American workers in grocery stores and meatpacking plants who have gotten sick and died on the frontlines of this pandemic, Marc Peronne, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents 1.3 million workers, said in a statement.

Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA official who now works at the National Employment Law Project, said the new rules fail to protect many low-wage workers, such as slaughterhouse employees who work shoulder-to-shoulder on production lines.

"We are glad that OSHA is finally moving to protect health care workers, but disappointed that they failed to protect all other workers at risk, Berkowitz said.

Biden raised expectations for an emergency standard covering all workplaces when he signed an executive order soon after taking office, giving OSHA until March 15 to issue the rules. But the Labor Department missed that deadline, and the landscape surrounding the pandemic shifted, with vaccination rates rising and the CDC relaxing its own guidance surrounding distancing and masking.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh cited the changed reality and the new CDC guidance in a House Education and Labor Committee hearing Tuesday, where he faced questions from Democratic lawmakers about why the standards would not cover workers outside health care.

OSHA had no rules for workplaces to navigate disease outbreaks on the scale of a pandemic. While some state agencies issued temporary emergency standards, the Trump administration issued only guidance for how employers should protect workers.

Labor advocates had hoped new federal standards would signal Biden's commitment to strengthening OSHA, which has been criticized for conducting few inspections and issuing fewer citations over COVID-related complaints.

In statement, U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, the Democratic chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, criticized the new standard as too little, too late for countless workers and families across the country.

OSHA said the standard, which will be in place for six months, was justified for healthcare workers because the virus poses a grave danger to them. The agency noted nearly 500,000 health care workers have contracted the virus as of May 24 and more than 1,600 of those had died.

Jonathan Snare, a former acting assistant secretary of OSHA during the George W. Bush administration, said the federal watchdog must prove that a situation poses grave danger when issuing emergency temporary standards. Snare, a partner at Philadelphia-based global law firm Morgan Lewis, said the Biden administration likely felt it could face legal challenges from other workplaces if it imposed stringent regulations as the pandemic starts to recede.

Many employers, however, had hoped for a firm set of rules since the start of the pandemic, said Brian Kropp, chief of research of consulting firm Gartners human resources practice. The latest nonbinding guidance adds more uncertainty, especially for companies grappling with when and how to bring employees back to offices, Kropp said.

Only a small fraction of companies, for instance, plan to ask employees about their vaccination status before returning to work. That makes it hard for companies to decide whether they can drop safety standards for vaccinated employees, Kropp said. The new guidelines say employers should implement distancing and provide masks for unvaccinated workers, customers and visitors.

What employers want is simplicity and clarity and hard-and-fast rules they can follow, Kropp said. It allows them to say they are just following rules, rather than having difficult conversations with employees about one set of activities versus another. It lets them pass the buck."

___

Associated Press Writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this story.
WENDAKE, QC, June 10, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - The AFNQL Elected Women Council wishes to publicly demonstrate its indignation and exasperation with the discovery that a twelfth woman has been murdered in Quebec in 2021.

"There is a 'serial killer' who chooses his victims from among women in Quebec. This killer, we know him, we know his name, we know all the forms he takes: this serial killer is violence against women," condemned Chief Adrienne Jerome, co-spokesperson of the AFNQL Elected Women Council.

The Council, which brings together women elected to all the local governments of the First Nations in Quebec-Labrador, is well aware of the issue of violence against women, those of the First Nations and all the others. The Council intervenes daily in the follow-up of the numerous reports produced. The Council supports women who seek help for themselves and their children in situations of violence. The Council also wishes it to be remembered that women, despite their determination and solidarity, cannot, on their own, put an end to the ravages of this "serial killer" of violence against women. It is all of society that must hunt him down, denounce these violent behaviors that everyone is witness to one day or another.

What did these murdered women do to have their lives ended like this? Often, they simply said no! That's enough! They asserted themselves, demanded respect, peace, the opportunity to be themselves. The "serial killer" does not accept this. He demands submission and believes himself authorized to kill when he doesn't get it!," denounced chief councillor Nadia Robertson, co-spokesperson of the Council.

"Violence isn't just physical, it's often underhanded. There are some signs to look out for. Women should not be caged and imprisoned in violent relationships. We call on all women to unite and help each other to free ourselves from this violence," added Ms. Robertson.

The Council expresses its support for the families of the victims and launches an appeal to all of society, in towns and villages, in First Nations communities and in Inuit municipalities: we must all be vigilant; violence against women, we can track it down, denounce it, tell this killer that is enough! We know you, we don't accept what you do to our women, we can get rid of you.

The Elected Women Council and the AFNQL will take into account the calls to action and recommendations of the Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and must be included in the tables against violence against women, both at the provincial and federal level.

SOS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: 1-800-363-9010. 24/7

About the AFNQL Elected Women Council

The AFNQL Elected Women Council is made up of all the women duly elected to the positions of chiefs or councillors of each of the First Nations communities in Quebec and Labrador. The AFNQL Elected Women Council aims for an equitable perspective of gender relations within the Table of Chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, the First Nations communities in Quebec, as well as within all the entities dealing with First Nations that recognize, respect, and support the role of women in leadership positions.

SOURCE Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador

For further information: Alain Garon, AFNQL, Communications Advisor, [email protected] or 418-254-4620 / apnql.com

Related Links

http://apnql.com


OTTAWA, ON, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - As we continue to adapt to the new physical, social, and economic realities presented by COVID-19, all orders of government are working together to ensure the safety and well-being of Canadians. This includes providing local communities with tools and support for evidence-based decision-making that will help them plan a healthier, safer and more prosperous future for everyone.

This is why the Government of Canada is investing over $1.6 million in 39 new projects in Ontario communities through the Municipal Asset Management Program (MAMP), delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities on behalf of the federal government. The program helps municipalities strengthen local infrastructure planning and decision-making by increasing local asset management capacity through investments in activities such as asset management training, technology and software enhancements and information sharing.

With funding from MAMP:

The Township of Tehkummah will develop an asset management plan, implement software, and undergo training. This plan will advance asset data and involve staff across the organization in asset planning.

will develop an asset management plan, implement software, and undergo training. This plan will advance asset data and involve staff across the organization in asset planning. The Township of Addington Highlands will improve asset management plan and provide training in asset management and the relevant software to staff.

will improve asset management plan and provide training in asset management and the relevant software to staff. The City of Woodstock will inspect various building components such as roof, interior, electrical/mechanical and internal structure by engineering consultants and will provide current condition rating of these components for each building that is inspected. Consultants along with municipal staff will establish financial framework for the maintenance needs for a sustainable and acceptable level of service.

Details of all 39 projects are included in the backgrounder.

Quotes

"The 39 projects announced today ensure Ontario municipalities have the tools and technology necessary to make well-informed decisions for the long term. We're proud to invest in infrastructure asset management projects that will help communities grow their local economy and improve residents' quality of life."

The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

"Rural communities are the backbone of the Canadian economy and among the best places in Canada to call home. Smart investments in infrastructure help smaller communities to grow, strengthen their economies and improve quality of life for their residents. Through projects like those announced today, our government is helping to ensure that local leaders, especially those in rural areas, have the tools they need to plan for the long-term and creating stronger rural communities now and for generations to come."

The Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development

"Great news to see Thorold receiving funding to help them ensure they're providing the best possible level of service to their citizens. From maintaining roads and sidewalks, making sure water is safe to drink, or caring for our parks, trails and playgrounds, municipalities provide the essential services every community needs every day. And being good stewards of those resources is a never-ending job Thorold clearly takes seriously."

Vance Badawey, Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre

"When rural communities thrive, Canada thrives. Investments in infrastructure asset management projects are important for ensuring the success of all residents in Southwestern Ontario. This includes members of rural communities, like the ones located throughout Middlesex County. Rural Canada matters just as much as urban Canada and that vision will continue to guide the federal government's investment focus."

Peter Fragiskatos, Member of Parliament for London North Centre

"The funding our community will receive from the Municipal Asset Management Program will help the City of Kingston to ensure they have the technology and resources they need to make evidence-based decisions for long term planning. As we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, investments like this are essential to help municipalities across Canada plan for a more prosperous future and grow their local economies."

Mark Gerretsen, Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands

"As we continue to fight COVID-19 together, all levels of government are working together to build capacity and provide Canadians with the tools and supports they need. This $50,000 investment for both the communities of Red Rock and Dorion will build upon their asset management tools with new training, software, and program design capacity."

The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Member of Parliament for Thunder BaySuperior North and Minister of Health

"I'm happy to see the Township of Mattawan receiving funding through the Municipal Asset Management Program. Our rural towns and municipalities deserve to have the opportunity to grow and strengthen their economies. By investing in infrastructure and especially in asset management training, technology and software enhancements, and information sharing, it gives municipalities like the Town of Mattawan a chance to have a strong economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic."

The Honourable Anthony Rota, Member of Parliament for Nipissing-Timiskaming

"Through the Municipal Asset Management Program, FCM continues to help municipalities of all sizes, especially small and rural, manage municipal infrastructure and make stronger investment decisions based on reliable data. FCM supports communities from coast to coast to coast by providing funding, training, and resources to develop sustainable solutions that work and improve the quality of life for residents."

Joanne Vanderheyden, President, Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Quick facts

The $110-million Municipal Asset Management Program, delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and funded by the Government of Canada , has invested in more than 962 municipal asset management projects.

Municipal Asset Management Program, delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and funded by the Government of , has invested in more than 962 municipal asset management projects. MAMP offers funding, training, and resources to help municipalities strengthen their asset management practices thereby enabling them to make informed infrastructure investment decisions.

To support Canadians and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new 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. The COVID-19 Resilience Stream will help other orders of governments whose finances have been significantly impacted by the pandemic by increasing the federal cost share for public infrastructure projects in a variety of areas including disaster mitigation and adaptation projects and pandemic-resilient infrastructure.

Furthermore, the Canada Healthy Communities Initiative will provide up to $31 million in existing federal funding to help communities adapt spaces and services in response to immediate and ongoing coronavirus-related needs over the next two years.

in existing federal funding to help communities adapt spaces and services in response to immediate and ongoing coronavirus-related needs over the next two years. Across Ontario , the Government of Canada has invested more than $13.9 billion in over 3,200 infrastructure projects.

, the Government of has invested more than in over 3,200 infrastructure projects. Since 2016, the federal government has invested $28 billion in over 18,000 infrastructure projects in communities with populations under 100,000. More than 6,100 kilometres of highways and roads, and 103 bridges have been built, repaired or upgraded in rural communities, and more than 3,134 projects are providing rural communities with access to cleaner, more sustainable sources of drinking water.

in over 18,000 infrastructure projects in communities with populations under 100,000. More than 6,100 kilometres of highways and roads, and 103 bridges have been built, repaired or upgraded in rural communities, and more than 3,134 projects are providing rural communities with access to cleaner, more sustainable sources of drinking water. The federal Gas Tax Fund (GTF) is designed to provide municipalities with a stable and predictable source of funding. In 2020-21, Ontario has received more than $816 million through the federal GTF to fund its most pressing infrastructure needs.

Associated links

Municipal Asset Management Program

Infrastructure in your Community

Investing in Canada: Canada's Long-Term Infrastructure Plan

Investing in Canada plan project map

Speech from the Throne: A stronger and more resilient Canada

Twitter: @INFC_eng

Web: Infrastructure Canada

SOURCE Infrastructure Canada

For further information: Michelle Johnston, Director of Communications, Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Cell: 613-298-7386, [email protected]; FCM Media Relations, 613-907-6395, [email protected]; Infrastructure Canada, 613-960-9251, Toll free: 1-877-250-7154, Email: [email protected]

Related Links

www.infrastructure.gc.ca


SCARBOROUGH, ON, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Canadians everywhere are feeling the impact of COVID-19, on their families, their livelihoods, and their way of life. Together, Canada and Ontario are working to reduce the impact of the pandemic, ensure health and safety, rebuild businesses, and promote job creation, growth and investment.

Today, the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities; Jean Yip, Member of Parliament for ScarboroughAgincourt; Gary Anandasangaree, Member of Parliament for ScarboroughRouge Park; Aris Babikian, Member of Provincial Parliament for ScarboroughAgincourt on behalf of the Honourable Laurie Scott, Ontario's Minister of Infrastructure; Christina Mitas, Member of Provincial Parliament for Scarborough Centre; His Worship John Tory, Mayor of the City of Toronto; Medhat Mahdy, President and Chief Executive Officer of the YMCA of Greater Toronto; and Daniele Zanotti, President and Chief Executive officer of United Way Greater Toronto announced joint funding for the construction of the Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre of Community.

The Government of Canada is investing more than $26.7 million in this project through the Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada plan. The Government of Ontario is providing more than $22.3 million, while the YMCA of Greater Toronto is contributing over $14.8 million and United Way Greater Toronto is providing more than $3 million. The City of Toronto will contribute $9.8 million for investments that are not covered under the ICIP program and includes $5.942 million towards the purchase of land, and $3.9 million in capital funding for the new child care centre.

The project will see the construction of a new 82,440 square feet building in the Bridletowne Neighbourhood, with spaces for community, youth, and fitness programming including space for United Way agencies. Approximately 68,652 square feet will be used by the YMCA of Greater Toronto as a Centre of Community to house health and fitness facilities, including a pool and gymnasium; licensed child care from infant to preschool as well as before-and-after school programming; community space; and offer a variety of programming for people of all ages. United Way will have a dedicated space of 13,788 square feet for community agencies to directly assist local community members.

This facility will allow the YMCA of Greater Toronto, United Way Greater Toronto, and other partners to reduce existing service gaps in the community by connecting fragmented services and enhancing access to programs and services for those in the Bridletowne Community and surrounding area.

All orders of government continue to work together for the people of Ontario to make strategic infrastructure investments in communities across the province when needed most.

Quotes

"Ensuring residents have access to community and recreational centres is important for community development and wellbeing. Federal funding for the construction of the Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre means that residents will have access to modern health and fitness facilities, accessible programming, childcare, and after-school programming that families and residents can enjoy for years to come. Canada's infrastructure plan invests in thousands of projects, creates jobs across the country, and builds cleaner, more inclusive communities."

The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

"Community centres are key in ensuring that our communities are inclusive and caring places. Today's announcement ensures that residents in the Bridletowne Community and surrounding area have improved access to vital programs and services in a modern and reliable facility they can enjoy for years to come."

Jean Yip, Member of Parliament for ScarboroughAgincourt

"Community access to recreational, social, and healthcare infrastructure is vital in ensuring communities across the country stay healthy and strong. The investment announced today will see that residents in the Bridletowne neighbourhood have access to an important facility that will provide essential services and much needed recreational infrastructure."

Gary Anandasangaree, Member of Parliament for ScarboroughRouge Park

I am delighted to participate in this historic announcement to build the Bridleltowne Neighbourhood Centre community and health hub. This major funding announcement will enhance the quality of life of Scarborough residents. In 2018, I promised ScarboroughAgincourt residents that building the Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre would be my top priority. I am proud that our government has delivered. I am confident that our youth, seniors, and families will enjoy and benefit from programs offered by the hub and will fulfill their potential as productive members of our society."

Aris Babikian, Member of Provincial Parliament for ScarboroughAgincourt on behalf of the Honourable Laurie Scott

"I am proud that our government is working with partners such as the YMCA of Greater Toronto and the United Way of Greater Toronto to bring a new community hub to Bridletowne. The facility will host wellness and fitness services with amenities such as a pool, gymnasium, and multi-purpose community space. Ontario's investment of over $22 million demonstrates our government's commitment to improving community amenities and services in Scarborough."

Christina Mitas, Member of Provincial Parliament for Scarborough Centre

"The Steeles L'Amoreaux community is a strong diverse, vibrant area of our city that is in great need of a community centre. The combined investment and collaboration from all levels of government, neighbourhood agencies and community members, is helping us build the Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre. This will enhance the quality of life for our residents and provide an opportunity for residents to meet new people, socialize, and access vital programs and support. I want to thank the federal and provincial government for investing in this centre and for helping create a space that will be used and enjoyed by local residents for generations to come."

His Worship John Tory, Mayor of the City of Toronto

"This is wonderful news. After years of hard work by all levels of government and stakeholders, I am looking forward to seeing shovels in the ground as this project moves forward. The Bridletowne Hub will generate significant and much-needed benefits, services and jobs for the residents of the community. These services will have a lasting impact and I am glad that everyone is committed to making it happen."

Nick Mantas, City of Toronto Councillor for ScarboroughAgincourt

"Community connection and helping individuals reach their full potential have always been at the heart of the YMCA. The Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre of Community will be a shining example of our commitment to engaging people of all ages  in their own health and well-being as well as that of their community."

Medhat Mahdy, President and Chief Executive Officer, YMCA of Greater Toronto

"We're a region of neighbourhoods and a country of communities. Where we all come together to find a new or better job, to connect with friends, to get the support we need is in the spaces like this Hub, close to home. Thanks to the vision, investment and commitment from federal, provincial and municipal governments, the Scarborough Hospital Network, and our partners at the YMCA, the Bridletowne Community Hub will be a reality, making access to services and connection for residents of Steeles L'Amoreaux and adjacent communities, a reality."

Daniele Zanotti, President and Chief Executive Officer, United Way Greater Toronto

"Health is at the heart of our community, and this investment by the Federal and Provincial Governments in the Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre ensures that generations of people in Scarborough will live vibrant, healthy lives. Scarborough Health Network is proud to partner with community and government partners on this crucial project, and we look forward to improving people's lives, in the Bridletowne neighbourhood and in our broader community."

Elizabeth Buller, President and Chief Executive Officer, Scarborough Health Network

Quick facts

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.

plan, the federal government is investing more than over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and rural and northern communities. Across Ontario , the Government of Canada has invested more than $13.9 billion in over 3,280 infrastructure projects.

, the Government of has invested more than in over 3,280 infrastructure projects. Across the province and over the next 10 years, Ontario is investing approximately $320 million and Canada is investing approximately $407 million under the Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. This stream supports the construction of new facilities and upgrades to existing facilities that improve community infrastructure (community centres, libraries), recreational venues (arenas, recreational spaces) and cultural spaces (theatres, museums).

is investing approximately and is investing approximately under the Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Infrastructure Program. This stream supports the construction of new facilities and upgrades to existing facilities that improve community infrastructure (community centres, libraries), recreational venues (arenas, recreational spaces) and cultural spaces (theatres, museums). Ontario is investing over $10.2 billion under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program to improve public transit; community, culture and recreation; green, and rural and northern community and other priority infrastructure.

Associated links

Federal infrastructure investments in Ontario

https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/prog-proj-on-eng.html

Investing in Canada Plan Project Map

http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/gmap-gcarte/index-eng.html

Ontario Builds Project Map: https://www.ontario.ca/page/building-ontario

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

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]; Christine Bujold, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Laurie Scott, Ontario's Minister of Infrastructure, 416-454-1782, [email protected]; Sofia Sousa-Dias, Communications Branch, Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure, 437-991-3391, [email protected]; Lawvin Hadisi, Press Secretary, Office of the Mayor, City of Toronto, 647-460-5607, [email protected]; Chris Meyer, Senior Manager, Communications, YMCA of Greater Toronto, 416-994-6712, [email protected]; Adriana Suppa, Senior Manager, Communications, United Way Greater Toronto, 416-274-6004, [email protected]; David Belous, Chief, Communications and Public Engagement, Scarborough Health Network, 647-688-1170, [email protected]; Media Relations, Infrastructure Canada, 613-960-9251, Toll free: 1-877-250-7154, Email: [email protected]

Related Links

www.infrastructure.gc.ca


TORONTO, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Canadians everywhere are feeling the impact of COVID-19, on their families, their livelihoods, and their way of life. Together, Canada and Ontario are working to reduce the impact of the pandemic, ensure health and safety, rebuild businesses, and promote job creation, growth and investment.

Today, Julie Dzerowicz, Member of Parliament for Davenport, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities; Christine Hogarth, Parliamentary Assistant to the Solicitor General and Member of Provincial Parliament for EtobicokeLakeshore, on behalf of the Honourable Laurie Scott, Ontario's Minister of Infrastructure; and Susan Bisaillon, Chief Executive Officer of The Safehaven Project for Community Living announced joint funding for upgrades for the accessible community pool at The Safehaven Project for Community Living.

The Government of Canada is investing $66,000 in this project through the Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Plan. The Government of Ontario is providing more than $54,000, while The Safehaven Project for Community Living is contributing more than $44,000.

This project includes the construction of an accessibility ramp in the pool, accessible changing rooms and a pool enclosure to extend the time periods when the pool if open for the public. The construction also includes making the pool shallower to increase safety.

This renovation project will improve access to Safehaven's swimming programs which offers children and young adults with complex care needs a place for engaging in social contact and developing new skills. This project will provide residents with greater access to vital recreational and social infrastructure for years to come.

All orders of government continue to work together for the people of Ontario to make strategic infrastructure investments in communities across the province when needed most.

Quotes

"Ensuring residents have access to social and recreational programs and infrastructure is important for community inclusiveness and wellbeing. Today's investment for renovations to Safehaven's community pool will allow the centre to provide greater community access to the facility and its programs. Canada's infrastructure plan invests in thousands of projects, creates jobs across the country, and builds cleaner, more inclusive communities."

Julie Dzerowicz, Member of Parliament for Davenport, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

"Our investments will create a safe and more accessible swimming pool for Safehaven's residents. As the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly highlighted, investments in the health and wellness of Ontarians are more critical than ever. The Ontario government is committed to bringing infrastructure investments to Ontario communities and supporting cultural and recreational infrastructure projects to help protect our communities, making them stronger, healthier and safer, while helping create jobs."

Christine Hogarth, Parliamentary Assistant to the Solicitor General and Member of Provincial Parliament for EtobicokeLakeshore

"Having a fully accessible pool for individuals with special needs means that they are provided with opportunities that many individuals take for granted. The benefits for our clients are instant and they feel comfortable in the water, improve their range of motion and strength, build confidence and have an opportunity to socialize outdoors in the warm weather."

Susan Bisaillon, Chief Executive Officer of The Safehaven Project for Community Living

Quick facts

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.

Plan, the federal government is investing more than over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and rural and northern communities. Across Ontario , the Government of Canada has invested more than $13.9 billion in over 3,280 infrastructure projects.

, the Government of has invested more than in over 3,280 infrastructure projects. Across the province and over the next 10 years, Ontario is investing approximately $320 million and Canada is investing approximately $407 million under the Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. This stream supports the construction of new facilities and upgrades to existing facilities that improve community infrastructure (community centres, libraries), recreational venues (arenas, recreational spaces) and cultural spaces (theatres, museums).

is investing approximately and is investing approximately under the Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Infrastructure Program. This stream supports the construction of new facilities and upgrades to existing facilities that improve community infrastructure (community centres, libraries), recreational venues (arenas, recreational spaces) and cultural spaces (theatres, museums). Ontario is investing over $10.2 billion under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program to improve public transit; community, culture and recreation; green, and rural and northern community and other priority infrastructure.

Associated links

Federal infrastructure investments in Ontario

https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/prog-proj-on-eng.html

Investing in Canada Plan Project Map

http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/gmap-gcarte/index-eng.html

Ontario Builds Project Map: https://www.ontario.ca/page/building-ontario

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Web: Infrastructure Canada

SOURCE Infrastructure Canada

For further information: Contacts: Michelle Johnston, Director of Communications, Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, 613-298-7386, [email protected] ; Christine Bujold, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Laurie Scott, Ontario's Minister of Infrastructure, 416-454-1782, [email protected]; Sofia Sousa-Dias, Communications Branch, Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure, 437-991-3391, [email protected]; Victoria Bertini, Communications Lead, The Safehaven Project for Community Living, 416-535-8525, [email protected] ; Media Relations, Infrastructure Canada, 613-960-9251, Toll free: 1-877-250-7154, Email: [email protected]

Related Links

www.infrastructure.gc.ca


MONTAGUE, PE, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - The health and safety of Canadians are top priorities for the governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island. Communities across Canada are on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic, and need immediate assistance to ensure their public infrastructure is safe and reliable.

Today, the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, and Member of Parliament for Cardigan, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and the Honourable James Aylward, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, announced funding for upgrades to four public facilities in Eastern Prince Edward Island.

Kings County Memorial Hospital will receive structural upgrades to its interior and exterior, which includes a kitchen renovation, a heat exchanger replacement, renovations to the main lobby, and repairs to the exterior metal siding of the building. Montague Consolidated School, for its part, will see major repairs to its interior and exterior, including the reconfiguration of the central level of the building to accommodate extra offices and more teaching spaces with improved ventilation, the construction of a new roof, and the replacement of the exterior brick of the building.

In addition, the Bridgetown Highway Depot will be expanded to include four bus repair bays, a new welding bay, a wash bay, an expanded administration space, and an added parts and material storage space, while the existing building will see renovations to improve existing parts areas and administration areas, as well as improved lighting and increased storage. Finally, one Health PEI facility in Souris, the Souris Hospital, will receive new flooring for improved staff, patient and resident safety.

These projects will support economic recovery, improve the functionality of the buildings and extend the lifespan of these essential establishments.

The Government of Canada is investing over $6.3 million in the following projects through the COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. The Government of Prince Edward Island is also providing over $1.5 million.

Quotes

"Upgrading our public infrastructure creates jobs and improves the places people work at the same time. These facility upgrades will help make sure staff, students and patients have access to the modern, efficient and safe infrastructure they need to provide quality services to the folks in Eastern PEI, and I'm proud that our government is able to support them through our Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program."

The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, and Member of Parliament for Cardigan, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

"Infrastructure is one of the most important elements for a vibrant, healthy, sustainable community. These renovations happening at KCMH, Souris Hospital, Montague Consolidated, and the Bridgetown Depot, will help reduce greenhouse gases, modernize these facilities, and improve efficiencies and sustainability for years to come."

The Honourable James Aylward, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure

Quick facts

Through the Investing in Canada infrastructure plan, the Government of Canada 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.

infrastructure plan, the Government of is investing more than over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and rural and northern communities. To support Canadians and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, a COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure 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 Infrastructure 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.

To support smaller-scale projects, the Canada Healthy Communities Initiative is providing up to $31 million in existing federal funding to help communities adapt spaces and services to respond to immediate and ongoing needs arising from COVID-19 over the next two years.

The Government of Canada has invested over $405 million in 153 infrastructure projects across Prince Edward Island under the Investing in Canada plan.

Related Product

Backgrounder - Canada and Prince Edward Island invest in four public facilities to help reduce the impacts of COVID-19 in Eastern PEI

Joint federal and provincial funding will support upgrades to four public facilities in Eastern Prince Edward Island. These investments will support safer and more sustainable communities.

The Government of Canada is investing over $6.3 million in the following projects through the COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. The Government of Prince Edward Island is also providing over $1.5 million.

Project Information:

Project Name Location Project Details Federal Funding Provincial Funding Kings County Memorial Hospital Interior and Exterior Repairs Montague Kings County Memorial Hospital will receive interior and exterior upgrades, these will include: a kitchen renovation, replacement of a heating exchanger, and roof membrane and siding repairs. This project will support economic recovery and create a safer and more efficient environment for patients and staff. $1,040,000 $260,000 Montague Consolidated Infrastructure Improvements Montague Montague Consolidated School will receive upgrades to the interior and renovate the exterior to improve the functionality and to extend the lifespan of the building. These upgrades include reconfiguring the upper level for additional office space and work rooms; improved ventilation and electrical systems; construction of a new roof, and upgraded exterior brick to maintain waterproof protection. $1,020,000 $255,000 Bridgetown Highway Depot Expansion Bridgetown Expansion of the Highway Depot consists of 4 bus repair bays, a new welding bay, a wash bay, an expanded administration space, added parts and material storage space, renovations to the existing building to improve existing parts areas and administration areas, as well as improved lighting. This project will consolidate vehicle repair operations in the area allowing for more staff and resources in one location, as well as better physical distancing. $4,261,012 $1,065,613 Health PEI Flooring Replacement Projects (Souris Hospital) Souris One Health PEI facility in Souris, the Souris Hospital, will receive upgrades to the flooring by replacing the floors in main areas with a vinyl composite floor product that is easy for staff to maintain. This project will improve patient, resident and staff safety, comply with infection control protocols and enhance the appearance for overall improved quality. $40,000 $10,000

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 Prince Edward Island

https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/prog-proj-pe-eng.html

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

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]; Autumn Tremere, Senior Communications Officer, Transportation and Infrastructure, 902-368-5112, [email protected]; Media Relations, Infrastructure Canada, 613-960-9251, Toll free: 1-877-250-7154, Email: [email protected]

Related Links

www.infrastructure.gc.ca


In a criminal complaint from the unidentified husband who was taken to the hospital with severe injuries, he claimed that for the last number of months, their relationship was not working out. Recently, the victim had noticed that Smith was using spray paint in their basement and was unaware if she was huffing it. He also said that Smiths pill bottles were in the basement as well and she had taken more of her medication than she was prescribed.
WOLINAK, QC, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. The COVID-19 crisis has made it clear that affordable housing is key to the recovery of communities in Quebec.

Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and Member of Parliament for Saint-MauriceChamplain, announced details of a $900 000 investment through the Projects Stream of the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) for the immediate construction of six units of affordable modular housing for the Abenaki of Wolinak First Nation in Quebec.

Delivered by CMHC, under the National Housing Strategy (NHS), RHI provides capital contributions to develop new, permanent affordable housing by covering costs associated with modular multi-unit rental construction; conversion of non-residential to affordable multi-residential homes; and, rehabilitation of buildings in disrepair and/or abandoned to affordable multi-residential homes. Investments made under the RHI are expected to support thousands of construction-related jobs for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

Quotes:

"Our Government is taking steps, right now, to ensure that everyone in Quebec has a safe and affordable place to call home. Investments with our First Nations communities in Quebec under the Rapid Housing Initiative will go a long way to effectively support those who need it most by quickly providing six new affordable housing units to vulnerable individuals and families. This is one of the ways our Government's National Housing Strategy addresses the unique barriers faced by First Nations communities."  The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

"The National Housing Strategy is working to ensure more affordable housing for Indigenous peoples. At such a critical time, this development will provide community members with safe, stable and affordable housing. The Rapid Housing Initiative shows us we have a massive opportunity in front of us to deliver housing, at a rapid pace, and it helps us to ensure we address the needs of vulnerable people and those experiencing homelessness in Quebec."  The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and Member of Parliament for Saint-MauriceChamplain

"We are very pleased that the members of our community will benefit from such a significant investment enabling the construction of new permanent affordable housing. The living spaces that will be created by the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) will benefit young families who wish to settle in the community of Wolinak. The economic impacts caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have slowed down the accessibility of owning a home in the community; this initiative is therefore timely for our members."  Chief Michel R. Bernard, Abenaki of Wolinak Council

Quick facts:

The RHI is a $1 billion program to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians, especially in the context of COVID-19, through the rapid construction of affordable housing.

program to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians, especially in the context of COVID-19, through the rapid construction of affordable housing. Nationally, at 4,700 units, the RHI has exceeded its initial target of 3000 permanent affordable housing units thanks to the support of the provincial, territorial and municipal governments as well as Indigenous governing bodies.

The RHI has received significant interest from Indigenous groups, which resulted in nearly 40% of all units created under the program to be targeted to Indigenous peoples.

Budget 2021 provides an additional $1.5 billion for the Rapid Housing Initiative in 2021-22 to address the urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians by providing them with adequate affordable housing.

for the Rapid Housing Initiative in 2021-22 to address the urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians by providing them with adequate affordable housing. At least 25 per cent of the Rapid Housing Initiative funding will go towards women-focused housing projects with units constructed within 12 months of when funding is provided to program applicants.

Overall, this new funding will add a minimum of 4,500 new affordable units to Canada's housing supply, building on the 4,700 units already funded in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement through its $1 billion investment.

housing supply, building on the 4,700 units already funded in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement through its investment. The RHI takes a human rights-based approach to housing, serving people experiencing or at risk of homelessness and others who are among the most vulnerable, including: women and children fleeing domestic violence, seniors, young adults, Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, people dealing with mental health and addiction issues, veterans, LGBTQ2+, racialized groups, Black Canadians, and recent immigrants or refugees.

Canada's National Housing Strategy (NHS) is a 10-year, $70+ billion plan that will give more Canadians a place to call homethis includes more than $13 billion committed through the 2020 Fall Economic Statement.

Associated links:

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to all levels of Canadian government, consumers and the housing industry. CMHC's aim is that by 2030, everyone in Canada has a home they can afford, and that meets their needs. For more information, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

For further information: Media contacts: Mikaela Harrison, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, [email protected]; Audrey-Anne Coulombe, Media Relations, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, [email protected]

Related Links

www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca


Professional cuddlers, drag queens and a surrogacy business are among 30 small enterprises featured in a special report

TORONTO, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Contemporary Journalism students at Centennial College are publishing a collection of stories focusing on small businesses during the pandemic. The project, Spotlight on Small Biz, highlights the resolve of small business operators and showcases the skills required of 21st-century storytellers.

The online stories, to be released over two weeks beginning June 10, cover a range of themes, from businesses that have had to make the abrupt pivot to online, to creative innovations prompted by the ever-changing restrictions. The stories, written by 29 students, include:

How delays in the surrogacy business are affecting would-be parents ( June 9 )

) The rise of professional cuddlers as a result of limited human interaction ( June 16 )

) Drag queens transitioning to online performances from in-person shows ( June 17 )

) A dog-training business assisting the huge influx of new dog owners ( June 18 )

"This past semester, we've been focused on learning how to apply our new journalistic skills in a newsroom," says Agnes Felis, a student in the program who wrote a piece on two university students who started a jewelry business. "This is the largest project we have taken to as a group, where we are coordinating and producing all the content ourselves."

The Contemporary Journalism cohort comprises post-graduates from Centennial and journalism students from the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC) who are studying in a joint program with Centennial. Stories can be found online at The Toronto Observer website and will be shared daily via Instagram (@spotlight.smbiz) and Twitter (@smbiz_spotlight) and Facebook.

"Our students took ownership of a story of challenge and resilience among small business owners and operators during the pandemic and are telling it through the application of the multimedia storytelling skills they've learned and refined over the last 10 months" says Tim Doyle, the program's co-ordinator. "Entrepreneurial Reporting is one of the final courses in the demanding, three-semester Contemporary Journalism program at Centennial."

About Centennial College

Established in 1966, Centennial College is Ontario's first public college. It primarily serves the eastern portion of the Greater Toronto Area with five distinct campuses.



Best known for its record of exemplary teaching, innovative programming and extensive partnership-building, Centennial enrols more than 25,000 full-time students and 18,000 part-time learners annually. Contemporary Journalism is a three-semester graduate certificate program that explores new tools, trends and directions in journalism while maintaining an emphasis on sourced, credible and verifiable storytelling. www.centennialcollege.ca

Photos available upon request.

SOURCE Centennial College

For further information: For more information or to arrange an interview, please call: Alex Varoutas, [email protected], 416-455-8929; Akash Sidhu, [email protected], 416-616-3300

Related Links

http://www.centennialcollege.ca


This move further demonstrates Chop's unwavering commitment to Canadian farmers and ranchers. It recognizes the sustainable practices that beef producers embrace every day, not only to conserve the environment, but also to support strong local communities, excellence in caring for animals and utilizing innovations and research that help them continually improve, verified against standards set by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB).

By including the CRSB Certified Mass Balance Mark on the menu, Chop Steakhouse & Bar, supported by its beef supply chain partners, is committed to sourcing a minimum of 30% of all its beef from CRSB Certified farms and ranches. The CRSB Certification recognizes sustainable practices in Canadian beef production, verified through third-party auditing across five principles of beef sustainability: Natural Resources, People and Community, Animal Health and Welfare, Food, and Efficiency and Innovation.

"We are so pleased to see this continued commitment by a premium restaurant like Chop Steakhouse & Bar'', says Anne Wasko, Chair of the CRSB and rancher from Eastend, SK. "It shows the value of the everyday commitment of beef farmers and ranchers for a healthy planet, people and animals, the importance of continual improvement, and provides Canadians the assurances they seek about how their food is raised. We are proud to work with partners like Chop Steakhouse & Bar who have a shared vision for a sustainable food system."

Chop Steakhouse & Bar sources 100% Canadian beef, proclaims itself to be 'obsessed with steak', and is excited to share its passion with its customers for beef and the ranchers who produce it. "We want to share the stories of the people who are committed to doing the right thing for the land, the animals and their communities, and the environmental benefits that beef provides", says Marcel Blais, President of Chop Steakhouse & Bar. "More than ever, our customers are demanding responsible, sustainable products. We want to show our guests that we're listening, and that the food choices they make can have a positive impact."

"As a family owned, Canadian company, Chop knows it has a responsibility to our country and its beautiful landscape," says Stephen Clark, Executive Chef for Chop Steakhouse & Bar. "We are committed to our partnership with the CRSB and their mission to improve the sustainability of beef production in Canada, and I know that our sustainability commitments will draw other restaurant companies, food service providers, beef producers and partners into doing what is right for the continued improvement of our industry and for the environment."

Learn more about Chop Steakhouse & Bar's sustainability initiatives at chop.ca, and check out the Chop Steakhouse & Bar profile at crsbcertified.ca where you can learn more about how the Certified Sustainable Beef Framework supports sustainable beef production in Canada.

ABOUT CHOP STEAKHOUSE & BAR

Chop Steakhouse & Bar is a proudly Canadian company that started in Edmonton, Alberta in 2006. Since our journey began, we have grown to 16 locations from coast to coast. The best way to explain Chop is that we are obsessed with steak.

We employ teams that are passionate and committed to steak excellence and because of this, we combine the amazing qualities of 100% Canadian beef with modern, state-of-the-art cooking methods that set us apart from any other Steakhouse. This is presented to our guests with well-trained, educated and passionate hospitality.

When you come to Chop, your experience is always memorable and you can expect a high quality, flavourful and perfectly prepared steak-eating experience that will keep you wanting more.

ABOUT THE CRSB

Established in 2014, the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) is a collaborative, multi-stakeholder initiative focused on advancing environmental, social and economic sustainability in the Canadian beef industry. The CRSB drives recognition and continuous progress in beef sustainability through the National Beef Sustainability Assessment and Strategy, the Certified Sustainable Beef Framework and Sustainability Projects. Learn more at crsb.ca .

The CRSB's Certified Sustainable Beef Framework was launched in December 2017 as a tool to recognize sustainable practices in beef production and processing, support sustainable sourcing commitments for the retail and foodservice industry, and provide credible, science-based, transparent communication with consumers about sustainable beef production in Canada.

SOURCE Chop Steakhouse & Bar

For further information: Chloe Stelmanis, Citizen Relations - [email protected]
The awards, presented by Mitacs  a national innovation organization that fosters growth by solving business challenges with research solutions from academic institutions  celebrate start-up companies founded by outstanding former Mitacs interns, postdoctoral fellows and training participants, who have gone on to lead their respective fields as business owners.

"On behalf of the Government of Canada, I am thrilled to congratulate this year's Mitacs Entrepreneur Award winners," said The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade. "The energy, creativity and spirit of Canada's entrepreneurs are truly an inspiration and are key to driving innovation and economic growth right across the country. Mitacs's commitment to supporting young people by giving them opportunities to gain experience in innovation and entrepreneurship is making a real difference, especially at this difficult time. Our government is proud to join you in supporting some of Canada's best and brightest entrepreneurs."

According to Mitacs CEO and Scientific Director John Hepburn, "Supporting innovation is essential to help Canada rebound from the repercussions of the global pandemic, and Mitacs is extremely proud of the remarkable accomplishments achieved by our network of talented entrepreneurs. We are thrilled that our continued investment in talent, research and development is translating into more and more Mitacs interns successfully turning their groundbreaking research into dynamic start-ups, helping to boost both Canada's economy and our country's position on the global innovation stage."

The five 2021 Mitacs Entrepreneur Award winners are:

Global Impact Entrepreneur: Jason Deglint, 32, a Mitacs postdoctoral researcher in Engineering at Waterloo University, and Co-founder and CEO of Waterloo-based Blue Lion Labs. Deglint is being honoured for helping fish farms keep their operations safe from harmful algae blooms. His revolutionary smart monitoring platform uses machine learning software and a custom digital microscope to automatically identify harmful algae in water.

Outstanding Entrepreneur: Hossein Kamali, 32, a Mitacs postdoctoral researcher in Mechatronic Systems Engineering at Simon Fraser University, and Co-founder and CTO of Vancouver-based Autonopia. Kamali's company has invented a first-of-its-kind robot that mimics the behaviour of human window washers  including getting into the nooks and crannies of all types of building facades. The disruptive, patent-pending robot combines artificial intelligence, robotics, mechatronics and motion control technology in an effort to bring the high-rise window cleaning business into the 21st century and keep people safe in the process.

Change Agent Entrepreneur: Negin Ashouri, 28, a Mitacs intern and master's student in the Computer Science department at Concordia University, and Co-founder and Interim CEO of Montreal-based FemTherapeutics. With support from the Montreal-based Centech incubator, Ashouri is disrupting the healthcare industry with a groundbreaking medical device aimed at elevating women's quality of life. Her company is the first to develop a made-to-measure, biodegradable and disposable intravaginal prosthetic for women suffering from pelvic organ prolapse (POP), incorporating the same 3D printing process used for custom-fit orthodontics.

Environmental Entrepreneur: Ulrich Legrand, 30, a former Mitacs postdoctoral researcher in the Chemical Engineering department at McGill University, and Co-founder and CTO of Montreal-based Electro Carbon. Legrand is being recognized for his company's breakthrough system, which converts captured CO2 gas into commercial-grade formic acid  a high-value chemical used as a preservative in livestock feed, as well as in the leather tanning and rubber industries. The disruptive technology reduces global greenhouse gas emissions, while bringing to market an industrial-scale system capable of repurposing carbon after it is successfully removed from the atmosphere.

Environmental Entrepreneur: Marciel Gaier, 29, a former Mitacs intern and PhD graduate in Advanced Materials Science at Dalhousie University, and Co-founder and CTO of Halifax-based Graphite Innovation and Technologies. Gaier is transforming the global shipping industry with the launch of a disruptive paint, which is the first patented technology to use nanoparticles of graphite  called graphene  to achieve a high-performance, sustainable marine coating. The innovative coating system provides a low volatile organic compounds (VOC), non-toxic alternative that reduces the amount of greenhouse gases emitted per shipping journey.

Quick Facts:

Mitacs is a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada by solving business challenges with research solutions from academic institutions.





by solving business challenges with research solutions from academic institutions. Mitacs is funded by the Government of Canada along with the Government of Alberta , the Government of British Columbia , Research Manitoba, the Government of New Brunswick , the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador , the Government of Nova Scotia , the Government of Ontario , Innovation PEI, the Government of Quebec , the Government of Saskatchewan and the Government of Yukon .

Learn more:

Visit Mitacs for more information.

SOURCE Mitacs Inc.

For further information: Media information: ErinRose Handy, Communications Manager, Pronouns: She/Her, M: 604-754-1440, [email protected]

Related Links

www.mitacs.ca


OTTAWA, ON, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - In today's fast changing digital economy, Canadians need a fair and safe marketplace they can trust.

Today, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced more than $3 million in funding over the next two years through the Contributions Program for Non-profit Consumer and Voluntary Organizations to support 21 consumer-interest projects that will contribute to the protection and empowerment of Canadian consumers.

The funded projects cover many topics, including privacy protection in the online marketplace, the accessibility of telecommunications services for vulnerable Canadians, and consumer issues that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. These projects will support efforts to ensure Canadians are informed and protected when making decisions to purchase products and services. These efforts align with the government's goal to ensure a strong economic recovery where no one is left behind, and where Canadians feel protected and empowered.

Quotes

"By supporting this research, we are protecting Canadians' interests and empowering consumers. This research will equip consumers with the information they need to be confident marketplace participants, while supporting policy-making from a consumer perspective. Congratulations to today's recipients, I look forward to seeing the findings of their research."

 The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

Quick facts

The Government of Canada's Contributions Program for Non-Profit Consumer and Voluntary Organizations has an annual budget of $1.69 million . For the two-year 202123 call for proposals, the program received 37 proposals, 21 of which were recommended for funding based on merit.

Contributions Program for Non-Profit Consumer and Voluntary Organizations has an annual budget of . For the two-year 202123 call for proposals, the program received 37 proposals, 21 of which were recommended for funding based on merit. The Office of Consumer Affairs manages this program on behalf of the government.

Research funded through this program will examine emerging issues on topics which include :

the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on how consumers participate in the marketplace and their access to refunds/reimbursements



the Canadian consumer's experience with the existing electric vehicle charging infrastructure



privacy and data risks associated with consumer participation in the digital marketplace and the consumers' understanding of said risks



the evolving telecommunications environment and potential impacts on consumer services

Funding provided through the development stream of this program helps consumer organizations continue to impartially fulfill their mandates to represent the interests of Canadian consumers.

Stay connected

Find more services and information at Canada.ca/ISED.

Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on social media.

Twitter: @ISED_CA, Facebook: Canadian Innovation, Instagram: @cdninnovation and LinkedIn

SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

For further information: John Power, A/Director of Communications, Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, [email protected]; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, 343-291-1777, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/home


OTTAWA, TRADITIONAL UNCEDED ALGONQUIN TERRITORY, ON, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) is committed to supporting Indigenous communities in their response to COVID-19 and is working closely with Indigenous organizations and provincial and territorial governments.

As of June 7, 2021, vaccination has reached an important milestone, with more than 30,042,916 COVID-19 vaccine doses being distributed across the country.

Based on Statistics Canada's 2020 population projections, as of June 8, 2021, over 80% of individuals aged 18 and older in First Nations, Inuit and territorial communities have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Over 72% of individuals aged 12 and older in First Nations, Inuit and territorial communities have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Of this group, 41% have received their second dose.

Indigenous leadership, including the guidance offered by Elders and Knowledge Keepers, have been central in promoting vaccine confidence, encouraging communities to get vaccinated and ensuring people have the information and resources needed to stay healthy and combat COVID-19. In most provinces and territories, Indigenous Peoples aged 12 and older are currently eligible to register for their first vaccine dose.

As of June 8, 540,581 vaccine doses have been administered in individuals aged 12 and older in 687 First Nations, Inuit and territorial communities. Different approaches are being implemented across Canada, including home-based, school-based, family-based and drive-thru clinics to reach households and support uptake. Many provinces and territories are prioritizing first doses to the population aged 12 and older.

Despite many challenges throughout the pandemic, it is important to recognize the resilience and hard work of Indigenous communities in Canada. While the vaccine results are encouraging, Indigenous communities are making decisions based on ensuring the health and well-being of their community, recognizing the need for continued vigilance as outbreaks continue to occur. At an individual level, it remains essential to keep our loved ones, our communities and ourselves safe. This includes minimizing in-person interactions with people outside our immediate household, avoiding gatherings, wearing a mask and washing our hands frequently.

As of June 9, 2021, the following COVID-19 data have been confirmed:

30,568 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases

761 active cases

29,455 recovered cases

348 deaths.

The Government of Nunavut also provided reports on June 9, 2021, confirming one active case of COVID-19 in Iqaluit.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) continue to assist Indigenous communities across the country.

As part of Operation VECTOR, which is the CAF's support to the federal, provincial and territorial governments in distributing COVID-19 vaccines, Canadian Rangers and additional CAF personnel are assisting provincial vaccination authorities with logistics and general duty tasks in various communities of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in Northern Ontario. This is in response to a request for assistance to support the Government of Ontario and ORNGE partners with the delivery of the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to community members aged 12 to 17.

As part of Operation LASER, which is the response to a worldwide pandemic situation, Canadian Rangers are currently activated in Attawapiskat First Nation, Fort Albany First Nation, Kashechewan First Nation and Long Lake 58 First Nation in Ontario to provide assistance with COVID-19 response efforts in these communities

ISC is aware of and is closely monitoring the COVID-19 outbreaks in communities along the James Bay Coast. ISC is participating in regular calls with the leadership of each community, the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA), the Ontario Provincial Emergency Operations Centre and other partners to ensure immediate measures are taken to reduce the chances of further spread; identify additional supplies, resources and supports the communities may need to help protect residents; and ensure health protocols can be undertaken effectively.

ISC has taken steps to ensure that each community has adequate supplies of personal protective equipment for use by community health care providers. COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and case management is a collaborative effort between the individual First Nations, ISC, WAHA and the Porcupine Health Unit. Together, health partners are working to ensure that adequate health human resources are in the community and isolation space is available to support the communities' needs. ISC has provided funding to support the isolation strategies and repurpose space as needed in communities. To further support the isolation space needs of these communities, ISC approved a funding request from Mushkegowuk Council for a total of $4,389,158.

Since March 2020, ISC has allocated over $5.2 million to Fort Albany First Nation, over $5.9 million to Attawapiskat First Nation and over $8 million to Kashechewan First Nation to support community COVID-19 response efforts.

ORNGE's Operation Remote Immunity 2.0 launched on May 31, 2021, to vaccinate approximately 6,000 youths aged 12 to 17 in 31 Ontario fly-in First Nations communities and Moosonee. ORNGE supported clinics in Kashechewan and Attawapiskat this week, which were jointly organized by Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the individual communities.

Canada recognizes that First Nations and Inuit are among the most at risk during the pandemic, in particular, those in remote and fly-in communities are uniquely at risk. Additional support is currently available through the Indigenous Community Support Fund. This fund helps Indigenous communities and organizations prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19, and address specific needs identified by communities and their members. First Nations, Inuit and Metis also have access to all other measures provided through the Government of Canada's COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. This includes measures such as the recent proposed extension of the Canada Recovery Benefit and of the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit.

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SOURCE Indigenous Services Canada

For further information: Adrienne Vaupshas, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services, [email protected]; Media Relations, Indigenous Services Canada, 819-953-1160, [email protected]

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OTTAWA, TRADITIONAL UNCEDED ALGONQUIN TERRITORY, ON, June 9, 2021 /CNW/ - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities have taken actions to protect their communities and have shut down or reduced operations, resulting in declines in their own-source revenue. In responding to partners' calls for support to address these declines, and to continue supporting communities that provide core programs and important services, the Government of Canada created the Own-Source Revenue in Indigenous Communities Initiative.

Today, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services, announced the launch of a call for applications for the Own-Source Revenue in Indigenous Communities Initiative.

Announced in the Fall Economic Statement, this initiative will provide Indigenous communities with $332.8 million to partially offset declines in own-source revenue.

To assist First Nations with completing and submitting their applications, Indigenous Services Canada has partnered with the First Nations Financial Management Board, the First Nations Tax Commission, and the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Economic Development Commission.

Indigenous Services Canada will assist Inuit and Metis communities with completing and submitting applications, as required.

Partial replacement of own-source revenues will help communities to continue providing core community programs and important services for a safe restart, including in the areas of education, health, housing, water and community infrastructure.

Many communities have worked for years to build sources of own-source revenue that increase their capacity to exercise their self-determination and reduce their reliance on government transfers to provide their members with core community programs and important services. In keeping with this progress towards self-determination, it is important to ensure this pathway towards self-sufficiency is maintained.

Quotes

"Because COVID-19 has hindered many Indigenous communities in generating own-source revenue as they normally would, it is crucial that we step up to help fill the gap. The Own-Source Revenue in Indigenous Communities Initiative does exactly that, providing support to First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities so that they can continue to offer important programs and services to their members, to the extent that is possible and safe."

The Honourable Marc Miller

Minister of Indigenous Services

Quick facts

Own-source revenue is defined as money communities receive from business ventures, property taxes or other activities, including commercial leasing and tax revenues.

Financial compensation will be provided to successful applicants who incur costs to prepare their application and financial statements. Applicants who hire a third party to help prepare the application, including financial statements, may be eligible for up to $10,000 . Alternatively, applicants who prepare their application, including financial statements, within the community may be eligible for $5,000 .

Associated links

Own-Source Revenue in Indigenous Communities Initiative

Canada's COVID-19 Economic Response Plan

Fighting COVID-19  Fall Economic Statement 2020

Stay connected

Join the conversation about Indigenous peoples in Canada:

Twitter: @GCIndigenous

Facebook: @GCIndigenous

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You can subscribe to receive our news releases and speeches via RSS feeds. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.isc.gc.ca/RSS.

SOURCE Indigenous Services Canada

For further information: media may contact: Adrienne Vaupshas, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services, [email protected]; Media Relations, Indigenous Services Canada, 819-953-1160, [email protected]

Related Links

https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca


OTTAWA, ON, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Alcohol is one of the most commonly used substances among Canadians. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, hospitalizations due to alcohol-related harms and overall alcohol consumption increased during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. High-risk drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD) have significant and widespread health, social, and economic consequences. The Government of Canada recognizes that the effects of problematic alcohol use present a serious public health and safety issue that affects individuals and communities across the country, especially within the context of the pandemic.

Today, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, announced nearly $2 million over two years for three projects in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador to address alcohol-related harms, including AUD. The organizations receiving funding are Boyle Street Service Society, the McMan Youth, Family and Community Services Association and the St. John's Women's Centre.

These projects will support treatment through a managed alcohol program, other substance use disorder initiatives, community training, capacity and awareness building and wrap-around supports, such as improving housing access. Through these initiatives, the organizations will provide assistance to women, Indigenous peoples, and people experiencing homelessness.

The Government of Canada is committed to addressing alcohol-related harms more broadly through a public health approach.

Quotes

"Alcohol use disorder is a health issue that faces considerable stigma. It is challenging for people living with AUD to get compassionate support, especially during COVID-19. By providing Canadians treatment options that meet them where they are at, this health condition can be successfully managed through these evidence-based programs. These organizations are doing important work, which are helping Canadians reach their recovery goals and live healthier lives."

The Honourable Patty Hajdu

Minister of Health

"Together McMan and Aventa Center for Excellence for Women with Addictions will leverage this partnership to deliver an innovative program that recognizes the unique needs of women in Calgary who are struggling with substance use and addiction. The Journeys Program seeks to improve the continuum of care for women with addictions by providing pre-treatment outreach services, support during treatment, post-treatment wraparound supports, and community education. By engaging family and natural supports, the program strives to increase the overall well-being and long term sustainable recovery for women."

Karin Matthiessen

Director of Services, McMan Youth, Family and Community Services Association

"The development and operation of the first managed alcohol program in Newfoundland and Labrador will fill a service gap in the province for women and gender diverse people whose lives are deeply impacted by alcohol addiction. This program truly reflects the principles of harm reduction, trauma-informed practice, and feminism that are foundational to the work of the St. John's Women Centre. We look forward to making this a community-wide initiative, especially through the inclusion of lived experience in all aspects of the program."

Laura Winters

Executive Director, St. John's Women Centre

Quick Facts

Related Products

Backgrounder: Supporting projects to help address harms related to alcohol use in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador

Associated Links

SOURCE Health Canada

For further information: Thierry Belair, Office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, 613-957-0200; Media Relations, Health Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]; Public Inquiries: 613-957-2991, 1-866-225-0709
Ill be very direct and say this bill threatens how we take care of children, and how we keep them healthy, and how we keep them alive, Dr. Patty Manning-Courtney, chief of staff at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, told the outlet last week. To limit and restrict the ability to require vaccinations in schools or to check vaccination status, its almost unthinkable in a pediatric community to think that one of the best tools we have at prevention would be limited, restricted, or discussed in a way that is negative.
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VANCOUVER, BC, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Western Atlas Resources Inc. ("Western Atlas" or the "Company") (TSXV: WA), is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Gran Colombia Gold Corp. ("Gran Colombia") (TSX: GCM) dated June 9, 2021, to extend the outside date by which the acquisition from Gran Colombia of all of the outstanding shares of Medoro Resources International Ltd. ("Medoro") (the "Transaction") from October 9, 2021 to October 9, 2023 (the "Outside Date"). Medoro is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Gran Colombia and holds the mining rights to the Lo Increible 4A and Lo Increible 4B concessions near the town on El Callao, Bolivar State, Venezuela.

Medoro  Lo Increible Acquisition:

Under the October 7, 2019 share purchase agreement entered into between the Company and Gran Colombia (the "SPA"), the purchase price for the acquisition of Medoro is US$20,000,000, to be satisfied by the issuance to Gran Colombia of 59,115,555 common shares of Western Atlas at a deemed price of C$0.45 per share.

The SPA provides that the closing of the Increible Acquisition will take place upon the occurrence of both the following events (together the "Closing Triggers"):

the current government of Venezuela being replaced by an internationally recognized and democratically elected government; and completion of the lawful transfer and registration of transfer to Medoro (or to one or more of Medoro's Venezuelan subsidiaries) of the Increible Project (as defined below) by Venezuelan authorities of competent jurisdiction.

While Medoro holds the mining rights to the Lo Increible 4A and Lo Increible 4B concessions, it is unable to use the rights due to actions by the Venezuelan government which will require Medoro to complete the process of restitution which is the second of the two Closing Triggers described above. A working committee consisting of one representative from each of Western Atlas and Gran Colombia was formed in order to manage the process of restitution to Medoro of the mineral rights to the Increible Project.

The Closing Triggers must occur no later than the Outside Date or the share purchase pursuant to the terms of the SPA will be terminated, unless Western Atlas and Gran Colombia agree otherwise.

The Transaction contemplated by the SPA was approved at the Company's annual general and special meeting of its shareholders on January 10, 2020. More information regarding the Transaction can be found in the Company's Information Circular dated December 5, 2019 and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and in the press releases issued on September 3 and October 10, 2019, respectively.

About the Increible Project and Disclosure of Historical Resource Estimate

Western Atlas considers the resource estimate reported by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd. ("SRK") for the Increible Project which is disclosed in this news release to be relevant and reliable, but notes that it is an "historical estimate" as defined in NI 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators. Western Atlas further notes that:

The historical resource estimate was prepared in 2009. The most recent site visit by the author of the technical report described in this news release was in 2008, and therefore the estimates it contains are not current. The historical resource estimate uses the CIM Definitions in place at the time it was produced. The economics of exploiting the resource will have changed since the historical resource estimate was prepared. Ownership of the Increible Project is currently no longer with Medoro Resources Ltd. (which merged with Gran Colombia in 2011), but with Gran Colombia's subsidiary Medoro. No Qualified Person (as defined in NI 43-101) has done sufficient work to classify this as a "current mineral resource" and Western Atlas is not treating the historical mineral resource estimate as a current mineral resource estimate. For the estimate to be reported as a current resource estimate, a site visit by a Qualified Person would need to be undertaken, further pit optimization and other work would need to be undertaken to confirm that the mineralization still has reasonable prospects to be mined, and ownership of the concession would also need to be confirmed.

Introduction

Unless otherwise stated, the information that follows relating to the Increible Project is derived from a report titled "Updated Independent Technical Review of the Increible Gold Prospect, Bolivar State, Venezuela" (the "2009 Independent Technical Review") which was prepared by SRK for Medoro with an Effective Date of April 27, 2009.

The Qualified Person responsible for the above report was Dr. Mike Armitage, C.Eng., C.Geol., who remains a full time employee of SRK. Dr. Armitage has reviewed the text of this note and has confirmed that it provides a fair and reasonable summary of the 2009 Independent Technical Review, which contains the most recent estimates and data available to Western Atlas.

The Increible Project is located in the El Callao area of the State of Bolivar, and comprises two adjacent concessions covering a total of 2,217 hectares which lie immediately to the north of, and adjacent to, Crystallex International Corporation's La Victoria prospect and 3 kilometres north of the town of El Callao.

Exploration for gold in Bolivar State dates back to before Venezuelan independence in 1811 and most likely prior to the Spanish occupation. The El Callao mining district itself is historically the most prolific gold producing region in Venezuela, with a recorded output of 6 million ounces since 1870.

Despite the El Callao district's impressive production history and Increible's numerous artisanal workings, little modern exploration had taken place on the property until Bema Gold Co. commenced work in late 1993. This work included line cutting, soil and panel sampling, trenching, airborne magnetic and radiometric surveying, underground mapping and sampling, assaying, and limited metallurgical studies, structural studies and finally RC and diamond drilling.

The exploration carried out by Medoro largely comprised mainly of further infill drilling at the three key prospects of La Cruz, La Sofia and El Tapon. In total, the database used by Lions Gate Geological Consulting Inc. ("LGGC") to produce the historical mineral resource estimate included in the 2009 Independent Technical Report comprised of information from some 581 drillholes, representing some 90,000m of drilling in total.

In preparing the 2009 Independent Technical Review, SRK reviewed the above database and concluded that the data was of sufficient quality to support the historical mineral resources estimates prepared by LGGC.

LGGC's resulting historical mineral resource estimate is given in the tables below.

Historical Measured Estimate

Deposit Tonnes

(Mt) Grade

(g/t Au) Gold Content (Ounces x1000) La Cruz OP 3.08 2.4 240 La Cruz- UG - - - El Tapon - - - La Sofia 1.11 2.2 80 TOTAL 4.19 2.3 320

Historical Indicated Estimate

Deposit Tonnes

(Mt) Grade

(g/t Au) Gold Content

(Ounces x1000) La Cruz OP 3.18 1.6 160 La Cruz- UG - - - El Tapon 4.76 2.6 400 La Sofia 1.28 1.6 70 TOTAL 9.22 2.1 630

Historical Inferred Estimate

Deposit Tonnes

(Mt) Grade

(g/t Au) Gold Content

(Ounces x1000) La Cruz OP 0.26 1.1 10 La Cruz- UG 0.28 5.4 50 El Tapon 0.30 3.2 30 La Sofia - - - TOTAL 0.84 3.3 90

The historical mineral resource estimates prepared by LGGC were produced by the ordinary kriging of the available assay data into 3D block models produced for each deposit and following a statistical and geostatistical analysis of composted assay data to which top cuts were applied derived separately for each deposit based on an analysis the assay data available for each.

LGGC's resulting historical mineral resource estimate given in the table above was reported using the CIM Definitions that were in place as at the Effective Date of the 2009 Independent Technical Report. So as to ensure that only mineralization that had reasonable prospects to be developed was included in the estimate this was reported at a 0.5g/t Au block cut-off and assumed the mineralization would be mined by open pit mining, apart from a deep high grade zone at La Cruz, which LGGC and SRK considered had the potential to be exploited by underground mining, and which was reported using a 4.0g/t Au cutoff.

The historical open pit mineral resource was also restricted to mineralization within a certain depth from surface which was determined by a pit optimization study carried out by SRK. Notably this assumed a gold price of USD$750/ounce, a metallurgical recovery of 85%, unit mining, processing and administrative costs of USD$2, USD$10 and USD$3 per tonne respectively and a slope angle of 45%.

SRK reviewed the methodology used by LGGC to derive the above estimates as these were being derived and was therefore confident that these were based on appropriate geological models and had been produced using sound block modelling and grade interpolation techniques. In addition SRK noted in its report that the Increible Project as a whole had potential for the delineation of further deposits which following drilling will likely add to the historical mineral resources presented above and expressed the opinion that this was a significant prospect with excellent potential and which warranted further exploration/assessment.

Dr. Mike Armitage, C.Eng., C.Geol, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for reviewing and supervising the preparation of the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release.

About Western Atlas

The Company's common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol WA. Western Atlas is focused on the acquisition and development of scalable precious metals projects in premier mining jurisdictions. Western Atlas's wholly owned subsidiary, 5530 Nunavut Inc., holds its interests in the Meadowbank project located in Nunavut, Canada.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company's objectives, goals or future plans; the receipt of the requisite approvals with respect to the business and operations of the Company. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; those additional risks set out in Western Atlas's public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; and other matters discussed in this news release. Although Western Atlas believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by law, Western Atlas disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Reader Advisory

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 Western Atlas Resources

For further information: please visit our website at www.westernar.com or contact: Fabio Capponi, Chief Executive Officer, 604-256-4777 or [email protected]
On Tuesday (8, June) the Madras High Court demanded an explanation from Tamil Nadus government update on the status of 47,000 acres of temple land that have been reported missing from federal records. During proceedings, the High Court made the following observations the policy note for 1984-85 stated that there had been 5.25 lakh acres available, while the note for 2019-20 states that only 4.78 lakh acres are available, the data presented in the two policy notes 35 years apart were reviewed, the Court concluded that the 47,000 acres of temple land were missing.

To determine which lands have been removed from federal documents, the Court directed the government to provide a counter-affidavit with precise details and survey numbers of the areas indicated in the policy note for 1984-85 and those listed in the most recent policy note.

The High Court has given a set of 75 instructions to the State of Tamil Nadu to guarantee that vintage temples and ancient monoliths in the state are properly preserved, highlighting the significance of preserving cultural heritage.

The HC criticised the HR&CE and Archeology departments for not doing much to maintain old temples and statues and has issued a notice to the state government on behalf of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, with a deadline of July 5 to reply. Considerably, the Judge ordered the establishment of a Special Tribunal under the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Cultural Endowments (HR&CE Act) to deal directly with issues pertaining to temples, such as disputes over religious affairs, culture, tradition, heritage, and recovery of pending rent, validity of lease, illegal encroachment, and other temple and mutts land issues.
According to US President Joe Biden's order, the Commerce Department and other federal departments must establish standards "to safeguard sensitive personal data, including personal information and genetic data," against misuse.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (9, June) withdrew executive orders issued by former President, Donald Trump that sought to ban Chinese-owned smartphone apps TikTok and WeChat. Earlier, Trump stated that the applications were a threat to national security, and he tried to push the sale of TikTok, which itself is owned by China.

The Trump governments move resulted in a series of judicial challenges, and delaying efforts to ban and compel the sale of the apps, escalating tensions among US-China. According to the Trump administration, TikTok could keep its US operations only if it sold itself to a US firm and removed all Chinese-based technology and relationships.

Joe Biden issued his own order, setting a national security review of apps related to China and other antagonistic countries. Trumps statement, on the other hand, was somewhat haphazard. Despite the lack of open threats, Biden sets a clear mechanism, making it in some ways more strict.

Earlier this week 59 Chinese military enterprises were blocked by the Biden administration from attracting US investors and investments. The White House announced on Tuesday that it will battle any unfair international competition that harms US supply chains.

According to the new directive, the Commerce Department and other federal departments must establish standards to safeguard sensitive personal data, including personal information and genetic data, against misuse. Bidens executive instructs Commerce to provide suggestions within 120 days on how to preserve U.S. information acquired or accessed by foreign adversary-controlled enterprises.
Thousands of students in China have held mass protests against a CCP order to merge colleges with vocational institutions.. The protests have turned violent with the police thrashing the protesters.

China Wednesday witnessed a sight that is considered rare under the governance of the Chinese Communist Party. Students of the Nanjing Normal Universitys Zhongbei College came together to carry out a mass protest against a new reform believed to devaluate students degrees. The students held the 55-year-old principal of the institution hostage for more than 30 hours on the campus.

The new reform aimed at merging the undergraduate colleges with various vocational institutes in the province. Students of the Zhongbei college feared that this merger would be downgraded. Vocational institutions in China are assumed to be less prestigious. Students preparing for Chinas extremely competitive job market were worried that this merger would hinder their efforts to land a good job.

Also Read: Uyghurs deported to China: UK tribunal investigates Chinas genocide crimes

According to eye-witnesses, the protest site saw more than 3000 students and close to 400 police officials. According to the videos and images uploaded on social media platforms, the Chinese Police cracked down on the protest using violent measures such as arms, pepper spray, and batons. Many students were detained and arrested using law enforcement.

The videos circulating on the internet, including violent images of the crackdown of the protest (beating and dragging of the students by the police officials), were immediately taken down by the authorities. Authorities also blocked all the hashtags related to the protest. The incident comes after the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest that remains off-the-books of a ruthless and violent Chinese history.
HONOLULU (AP)  As people flock back to Hawaii after more than a year of pandemic travel restrictions, some industry experts are calling for more environmentally responsible and sustainable forms of tourism.

Crowded neighborhoods, highways and beaches have renewed calls for changes in the tourism industry, Hawaii Public Radio reported Wednesday.

Hawaii in 2019 had a record 10.4 million visitors. Travel to the islands was almost nonexistent for much of 2020 as coronavirus quarantine rules and travel restrictions were put in place. Now, daily arrivals are quickly approaching those experienced before the pandemic.

John De Fries, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said taking care of Hawaii's communities and land should be a major part of the hospitality industry's business model.

Unless were clear about who we are, our responsibilities, caring for our aina, caring for our kai, caring for our children and communities  Unless we mold that into a new model for tourism, were not going to be able to compete successfully, said De Fries, And were not going to be able to hold the confidence of our communities that this industry, in fact, can be of benefit to our quality of life. Aina means land in Hawaiian and kai means sea.

Pauline Sheldon, professor and former dean of the University of Hawaii's School of Travel Industry Management, said regenerative tourism  a model she's studied in Canada and New Zealand  could be a way forward.

Its very important that we stop thinking of tourism as an industry. It is a system that is nested in other living systemsfood systems, health systems, medical systems, transportation systems, said Sheldon, And so if we think about it as a system thats connected to other networks, then we make very different decisions than if we just think about an industry.

Tourism officials have been pushing a sustainable agenda in a recent advertising campaign called Malama Hawaii. Malama is a Hawaiian word that means to give back, take care of, preserve or protect.

Kainoa Daines, the Director of Culture and Product Development at the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, said some hotels now offer incentives such as free nights or meals if tourists give back to the community.

That could mean working in a taro root patch or restoring a Hawaiian fishpond, Daines said, acknowledging that such activities are not for everyone.

Again the message that were conveying through Malama (Hawaii) is inviting our visitor to come to Hawaii. Join the community, be part of the effort to keep this place beautiful so that your grandkids can come and visit and my grandkids can live here in their home, said Daines.
3 1 of 3 Sarah Page Kyrcz / Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed / Sal LoBalbo Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Scene This is Us star Justin Hartley and his wife, Sofia Pernas, his former co-star on The Young and the Restless, were seen at Eastend restaurant on Greenwich Avenue on May 27, eating dinner and chatting with Sal LoBalbo of LoBalbo Auto Body in Stamford. Hartley, who is in the area to film The Noel Diary for Netflix, was also seen there on Thursday night. Netflix is also making The Good Nurse in the area with actors Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne.

Out there Miku Sushi and the Allan Houston Legacy Foundation are partnering in June to raise money and awareness for its FISLL Project. which promotes faith, integrity, sacrifice, leadership and legacy. Mikus chef developed a special menu to promote the youth empowerment initiative, and 100 percent of the proceeds from sales this month will benefit the foundation. Since its creation in 2001, the foundation has helped thousands of participants in programs that promote youth mentoring, responsible fatherhood and entrepreneurship. For more info, visit www.mikugreenwich.com.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  One of the jurors who convicted Derek Chauvin of murder in George Floyd s death says expert testimony about asphyxiation and the former Minneapolis police officer's own body camera video convinced her he was guilty.

Journee Howard, a 25-year-old acting and modeling student, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the video footage was the most compelling evidence in his conviction.

The bodycam footage and audio was more damaging against Derek Chauvin than anything else, she said. When you get to be in the position of those men and hear the conversations of those men, that was overwhelming.

She also said Dr. Martin Tobins testimony helped sway her. Tobin is a lung specialist who supported prosecutors argument that Floyd died from asphyxiation as a direct result of Chauvin and two other officers pinning him to the ground. She said she found him especially credible because he wasn't paid for his testimony.

He was fantastic, Howard said. He was very, very convincing. He was probably my favorite.

Howard also praised Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, who testified that his department doesnt train officers to use the tactics Chauvin employed.

Howard, who identified herself during the jury selection process as the biracial daughter of a white mother and Black father, said she didn't like how defense attorney Eric Nelson was so confrontational with witness Donald Williams III, who was standing nearby as Chauvin, who is white, pinned Floyd to the ground with his knee on the Black man's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

Nelson tried to make Williams seem angry and emotional in a negative way, Howard said. (Williams) did an excellent job staying poised and truthful in his testimony."

She added it wouldn't have made a difference if Chauvin had decided to take the stand in his own defense.

If he had something he really, really wanted to say to get off, he would have, she said.

Howard is the second juror to speak publicly about the guilty verdict. Brandon Mitchell told The Associated Press in April that convicting Chauvin was an easy decision.

Mitchell, who is Black, defended himself in May from accusations that he was biased against Chauvin after word surfaced that he attended a protest last August in Washington D.C. to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech while wearing a T-shirt that read GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS and BLM, short for Black Lives Matter.

Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin and two other Minneapolis police officers pinned him to the pavement while he was handcuffed. Floyd gasped that he couldn't breathe before he went limp. His death sparked a national reckoning on race relations and police brutality.
NEW HAVEN  Everyone should be able to move about the city without the fear of violence, mayoral hopeful Karen DuBois-Walton said.

A retired assistant police chief, an antiviolence activist and the head of street outreach workers joined DuBois-Walton as she continued her focus on the uptick in violence in the city.

There have been 14 homicides and 49 non-fatal shootings in the city so far this year, putting it on track to exceed the 20 killings in all of 2020.

Speaking outside Lincoln Bassett School, she said she hears complaints in every neighborhood about the increasing level of violence.

DuBois-Walton, the mother of two young men, said she worries about their safety and that should not be.

We should all be able to move about our city freely, able to go about our lives ... without fear of violence ... and that is not what is happening right now, she said.

Currently on leave from her job as executive director of Elm City Communities, the citys housing authority, DuBois-Walton said the city has seen a rise in gun violence before and we know what has been effective.

She said it is frustrating to her to see leadership not doing what we know needs to happen or being slow to do what we know needs to happen.

Throughout her talk, she did not mention Mayor Justin Elicker by name. They are running, along with Maycee Torres, for the Democratic Town Committee endorsement and a win in the September party primary.

DuBois-Walton said the city needs to refocus policing and we know we need to invest in our street outreach workers, giving them not just additional bodies but also give them the tools that are needed to be able to offer something that actually gives people a way out.

Elicker recently announced updates to address the issue. The city has brought back biking and walking beats; added jurisdiction to the shooting task force; will add another street outreach worker, bringing the total to 5, where they serve 60 youths at highest risk; and add 4 more youth navigators.

Former Assistant Police Chief Douglas McDonald, who retired in 2003, said he worked with DuBois-Walton at the Yale Child Study Center and later on community policing in the 1990s.

In 2003, with Police Chief Melvin Wearing and programs such as Project Longevity and Project Safe Neighborhoods, which continue today, homicides dropped to single digits, he said.

He credited the success to the honest collaboration with professionals in the judicial area, as well as police officers and the community who had the skills of observation. We knew who the characters were.

McDonald said he and other retired officers see a vacuum in the leadership in the city.

He said the citys problem is community involvement, police involvement and police accountability.

McDonald said the department needs an audit of programs to see what works and also a review of deployment.

I hate to see any political disruption, but community safety is more important than political aspirations, McDonald said.

Rebecca Goddard, who retired as a police lieutenant from the New Haven Police Department after 20 years of service in 2015, said she was impressed with DuBois-Waltons safety platform.

A former district manager in Newhallville, she said police cant solve all the problems.

It takes a true partnership. ... It takes the residents of New Haven who really want to do something, Goddard said. She said she is 100 percent behind community-based policing, but it is more than walking and biking beats.

Chaz Carmon, president of Ice the Beef, which works with youths to prevent violence, said, It is a sad day in our city because tomorrow, once again, we are going to be burying another young person.

I wish I had a magic wand to make people forgive each other or make people love each other, but it is not just that easy, he said.

Carmon pointed to two groups of young children on swingsets at the school enjoying themselves. He said last week in the Hill, about 30 kids were part of a drill team practicing in the park when a shooting took place.

This got to change. This has to stop. The more we come together, bringing the cohesion, keep having events ... start bringing back the village ... that is the way we start to make the change happen, he said.

He urged the 25 people listening to get involved.

We have to start to not police our neighborhood, but to love the people in our neighborhood. We have to make sure that we dont turn a blind eye to things happening on our streets, Carmon said.

Leonard Jahad, executive director of the Connecticut Violence Intervention Program, said he and his staff work with the riskiest youth in Greater New Haven, such as gang members and shooters, as well as people who are victims of violence.

Jahad said New Haven is a community that is traumatized by every gunshot, every nonfatal shooting and every homicide.

He said they try to get ahead of the crime by mediating.

Jahad said those who are shooting are not going to put their guns down if they feel vulnerable in your community.

What we have to do ultimately is just change the culture about using gun violence. So when there is a beef, you dont have to grab a gun and use a gun. There are things that we can do. We can mediate. We can intervene, Jahad said.

He said the average age of people involved in the violence is 31.

It is not the kids doing it. It is the reentry population. It is those people who are not involved in any kind of convention  church, a club, a job. Those people who are disenfranchised, he said.

He said in the past his group took recidivism from 60 percent to zero with the right programs and it can be done again.

Jahad said every year there is a spike in crime when it gets warm. He said the bad actors didnt come out last year during the pandemic, but the interactions have now intensified.

With the courts opening up again, it should get better, he said.

He said when those coming out of prison couldnt get services, they went right back to what they knew.

Jahad said unfortunately the culture is to retaliate, not to mediate. Let the police retaliate. He said the opening of the reentry center should help.

Asked why he is supporting DuBois-Walton, he said he is is interested in new initiatives and continuing to change the gun culture.
Xavior was last seen around 11 a.m. on May 27, three days before his birthday, in Montezuma, about 60 miles east of Des Moines. A family friend reported him missing later that day.
PEARL, Miss. (AP)  A judge set bond Thursday for a prison guard who was arrested on charges of bringing contraband items, including methamphetamine, into Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections said in a news release Thursday that its investigators arrested Brenda Denise Hicks on Wednesday at the prison, where she is a correctional officer.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  Connecticut lawmakers closed out a legislative session like no other on Wednesday night, with the state Senate approving a two-year, $46.3 billion state budget that proponents said will help Connecticut in its continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic while beginning to address some longstanding inequities in the state.

Legislators wrapped up their work shortly before midnight. In the final moments, the House and Senate chambers were nearly filled with lawmakers - a rare sight this session, given the strict COVID-19 protocols.

As in the House, there was bipartisan support for the budget in the Senate, where the bill passed 31 to 4. Shortly afterward, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said he will sign it into law, calling it the most progressive, transformative, and life-changing budget our state has ever seen. The new fiscal year begins on July 1.

Wednesday's vote marked the culmination of an unusual and challenging legislative session, where the state Capitol was closed to the public due to COVID-19 restrictions and staff and legislators were forced to rely on Zoom meetings to get much of their work done, including committee meetings and public hearings. Besides dealing with the devastating impacts of the pandemic and its continuing challenges, the General Assembly was also under pressure to pass a budget that addresses the state's racial and economic inequities in the light of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

This is a budget, I think, to celebrate, said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven. It is one that puts us in a position to meet the needs of the state of Connecticut. I think it reflects the fact that Connecticut has an obligation to help people who are in need and struggling. Government needs to be a partner and friend.

While General Assembly was able to pass a new budget before Wednesday's midnight adjournment, a bill legalizing the adult use of cannabis was not going to make it in time. Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives said they would take up that and other bills in a special legislative session. Their decision comes after Republican House members who oppose the legislation were expected to run out the clock by continuing to debate the bill until the legislature's deadline.

Because we were not allowed to do the business we needed to do today, every item to me is open for consideration in the special session, said House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, acknowledging the list could be expansive. They should have allowed us to vote. So, that's how it's going to be.

The special session could happen within the next couple weeks, said Ritter.

Despite their concerns with the marijuana bill, there was some GOP support for the budget deal that Democratic legislative leaders reached with Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont. Twenty-two House and eight Senate Republicans voted for the bill, some lauding it for not increasing taxes, something progressive Democrats had sought early on in the legislative session to address long-standing racial and economic inequities.

The state of Connecticut is not in a position to begin looking at revenue, especially at a time when families are suffering," said House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, who voted for the bill. Our economy is trying to recover and were not sure where were going to be a year from now when the federal dollars start to dissipate and maybe show the real landscape of what our economy looks like.

The new budget benefits from a massive infusion of federal COVID relief funds, including $2.28 billion over two years from the American Rescue Plan, and an improving state economy that has led to historic tax collections. It boosts funding for local education, nonprofit agencies, nursing homes, college scholarships, health insurance programs, municipal aid, workforce development, group homes, housing, summer camp and learning opportunities for children and expanded day care slots.

Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, however, criticized the level of spending in the budget, saying it creates the largest state government that this state will have ever had.

The Senate chairman of the Finance Revenue and Bonding Committee, said he was disappointed the final budget did not include the tax increases that were voted out of the committee, with the goal of raising money for the long-term to address the state's inequities after the federal COVID relief funds run out. Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, argued now is the time to address the concentration of poverty in Connecticut and issues such as the lack of home ownership opportunities, capital for businesses and infrastructure and kindergarten readiness.

We can make those investments and not change the lives of those that were asked to contribute a little bit more, Fonfara said, who called the budget a status quo budget" that will lead to status quo results.

It's as though we have our policies, our knee, on the neck of the Black community and other underserved communities of our state, he said. We can do better and we must do better.

Lamont opposed the tax increases included in the Democrats' original revenue package, such as a new consumption tax and a capital gains tax on higher income residents, a so-called mansion tax and a tax on digital advertising, arguing they could stymie the state's economic recovery. He told reporters he took exception" to the comments of Fonfara, a veteran state legislator.

I think this is an incredibly important transformative budget. I think it makes a big difference in peoples lives, especially the lives of people who've been hardest hit by the pandemic, especially in the lives of Black and brown people, the likes of which hasnt been done for 30 years, Lamont said. "And I think youre finally getting it done right now.

Lamont said he's also pleased that the House and Senate finally passed legislation that generates new revenue for transportation projects. Both chambers late Tuesday approved, along party lines, Lamonts mileage-based highway use fee on tractor-trailers to help shore up the states financially troubled transportation fund. Republicans argued the fee is unfair to local trucking companies and will lead to higher prices for consumer, accusing Lamont and the Democrats of being disingenuous when they say no taxes will be raised.
DECATUR, Ill. (AP)  A central Illinois woman has been convicted of killing her 19-month-old son by smothering him in his bed one day after she did an internet search for how do you suffocate?

A Macon County jury found Jessica A. Logan, 27, guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday following a three-day trial in Jayden M. Comage's October 2019 death. The Decatur woman is scheduled to be sentenced July 21, the Herald & Review reported.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Pennsylvanias Republican-controlled Legislature on Thursday voted to end Gov. Tom Wolf's pandemic disaster emergency declaration and to extend hundreds of regulatory waivers his administration approved over the last 15 months.

There may be little immediate effect on daily life, for now.

The legislation is a centerpiece of the Republican response to Wolf's sweeping use of authority during his COVID-19 response, spurring Republicans to liken the Democratic governor to a tyrant or dictator.

The Wolf administration maintains that dissolving the disaster emergency does not affect a health secretarys disease-prevention authority to issue mask-wearing and stay-at-home orders or shut down schools and nonessential businesses.

Wolf, in any case, has ended those measures, as the vaccine has stemmed the spread of the virus. The exception is a mask mandate for unvaccinated adults that tracks federal guidance.

Still, Republicans framed Thursday's votes as carrying out the will of the people in last months statewide referendum. In it, voters approved a Republican-penned constitutional amendment to give lawmakers broad new power over extending and ending disaster emergencies.

The people of Pennsylvania wanted the emergency to be over, Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, said during floor debate. Its over. It was going to be over at some point, and its over today.

Democrats called Republicans hypocrites.

Ending the disaster emergency is purely political theater for Republicans as long as they are extending the regulatory waivers that are the key component of a governors authority under a disaster declaration, Democrats said. The suspended regulations cover a wide swath of government functions and the economy, including over licensing, inspections and training,

What happened to tyranny guys? Rep. Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, questioned Republicans during floor debate.

The bill to extend the regulatory waivers would keep the regulations suspended until Sept. 30, unless Wolf's administration ends the waivers sooner.

It passed the House and Senate unanimously, but still required approval from Wolf. Republicans had haltingly decided to extend the waivers at Wolf's urging. Wolf will sign it, his office said.

However, the resolution to end Wolfs disaster emergency declaration drew bitter recriminations from Democrats.

During floor debate, they accused Republicans of undertaking an experiment that could hamstring a state response to a resurgence of COVID-19 and risks losing tens of millions each month in federal emergency food aid for the poorest families.

The resolution passed the chambers with every Republican in favor of it and all but nine Democrats against it. It does not need Wolf's approval.

Republicans say they expect that federal aid will continue and that Wolf can declare another disaster emergency, should he need to. Lawmakers, though, would have the newly granted authority under the referendum to end a new declaration by a majority vote, rather than the two-thirds vote necessary previously.

In a statement, Wolf's office said he was disappointed that lawmakers would not extend the disaster declaration.

To avoid serious consequences, the administration will do everything it can to work with the federal government to try to maintain federal funding in the absence of a declaration, Wolf's office said.

Republicans and Democrats also quarreled over whether the resolution can take immediate effect, since the state has not yet certified the results of last month's referendum.

That could happen as early as Friday.

___

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timelywriter.
NEW HAVEN  The citys annual Payment in Lieu of Taxes funding will more than double under the biennial budget the state legislature approved, rising by $49.6 million from a previous formula that would have provided $41 million, to a total of more than $90 million.

The increase, which includes the unprecedented full funding of PILOT, came as the House and Senate both passed the Three-Tiered PILOT program advanced by state Senate Pro Tem Martin Looney, D-New Haven, and the Appropriations Committee co-chaired by state Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven.

Mayor Justin Elicker  who bet the citys 2021-22 budget on receiving the additional state funds  thanked Looney, Walker and the rest of the citys legislative delegation for their successful efforts, which also will increase PILOT payments for communities across the state.

This is a historic day for New Haven and puts us in a significantly better financial situation for years to come, Elicker said Wednesday night in a release.

With this budget, our city will be able to make greater investments in the residents of our city, provide services, reduce our structural debt and put a greater annual contribution into our pension  saving tax payers money in the long term  all without raising taxes this coming fiscal year, Elicker said.

This also represents a significant effort by the state of Connecticut to make our tax system more equitable, he said. Im so proud of the work our coalition of municipal leaders was able to accomplish  and thankful for the work of the New Haven delegation, as well as Speaker Ritter, and our Board of Alders, who were partners throughout this process.

Looney was pleased to be able to get the PILOT changes into the new budget.

Im very gratified that it is passed and now will become law, Looney late Wednesday. Its a matter of building greater equity into the system and recognizing that not all communities have the same amount of need, because some have much healthier grand lists.

While New Haven, home to Yale University, Southern Connecticut State University and two hospital complexes, is the greatest beneficiary of the changes, even communities in the third tier  the ones with healthier grand lists of taxable property  will see more money, Looney said.

Its a restructuring of the whole system, he said.

The passage of Tiered PILOT also marks the first time in at least two decades that the PILOT program, which compensates communities with hospitals, universities and other tax-exempt facilities for the tax revenue they lose, will be fully funded, Looney said.

Elicker was a leader of a bipartisan coalition that included the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and mayors of cities and towns both large and small. West Haven Mayor Nancy Rossi, Hamden Mayor Curt B. Leng, North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda, Guilford First Selectman Matt Hoey and New London Mayor Michael Passero all joined Elicker at a recent press conference calling for passing of Tiered PILOT.

Ive heard from so many residents tired of their taxes going up while services go down, Elicker said.

CCM said in a release last week that municipal leaders need to be able to count on this state aid coming through, especially now, since the vast majority of towns and cities have already enacted their budgets for the next fiscal year.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who is CCM president, said at the time, This is about a basic principle: the last time the state raised the sales tax, it promised to direct a portion of that revenue directly to cities and towns, and it needs to keep that promise.

We understand that the state is not going to fund its full commitment right now, and were pleased to see a bipartisan commitment to finally increase PILOT funding, Bronin said. But it would be very troubling if thats done in a way that abandons the basic promise of revenue-sharing and leaves municipal funding more vulnerable than ever in the years ahead.

Directing a portion of sales tax revenue directly to cities and towns represented a small but important step toward reducing Connecticuts ridiculous over-reliance on property taxes, and we need to protect that progress, he said.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
Hartford Police / Contributed

HARTFORD  Two people were killed in separate, unrelated shootings less than 20 minutes apart late Wednesday afternoon, according to police officials.

The first shooting was reported at 5:11 p.m., the second at 5:29 p.m., Lt. Aaron Boisvert said. He said the shootings were not related.
STRATFORD  Bunnell High School students were dismissed early Wednesday morning after a student was taken to the hospital for a self-inflicted knife wound, officials said.

In a prepared statement Wednesday afternoon, Stratford Police Capt. Frank Eannotti said the student was listed in stable condition.

The student used a knife to cause the injury to himself, Eannotti said. As a result, the school was temporarily placed in lockdown until officers and medical personnel arrived and the student was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

The student will not be identified because of his age, Eannotti said.

As a result of the incident, the school was dismissed at 9 a.m.

This was an isolated incident of self-harm and no other students were harmed, Eannotti said.

In an email to families Wednesday afternoon, Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson said no other students were in danger.

Due to the seriousness of this incident, counselors have been available to speak with both students and staff, Robinson said.

In a statement sent to students and families Wednesday, Bunnell Principal Nancy Dowling said the school will have half-days Thursday and Friday, dismissing at 11:15 a.m.

We appreciate the support of the Stratford Police Department, and we continue to work closely with them for the continued safety of our students, Dowling said. We understand that this can be very disturbing for students and staff.

She said the school will remain open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday with teams of counselors available for students and parents.

Virtual TeleHealth would be offered through Stratford Community Services from 2 to 8 p.m. at 203-385-4095, and after 8 p.m., anyone seeking support can call 211.

After-school activities have been canceled through the end of the week, Dowling said, and school officials will send more information to families regarding the rescheduling of end-of-year events.

Graduation is scheduled to proceed as scheduled June 16, the principal said.

As always, I thank you for your unwavering support of and commitment to our students, staff, school, and community, Dowling wrote. At this time, I ask that we all respect the privacy of the students and their families most impacted today.
HARTFORD  When the smoke cleared on the historic 2021 legislative session, the aroma was not that of a charred New Haven-style pizza crust.

The bill that would have given pizza the distinction as Connecticuts State Food, failed to make it into the flow of late-breaking new laws for Gov. Ned Lamonts final review and signature.

In fact, in the final 24 bills rattled off by Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff  approved with no discussion or even a description as the clock ticked toward the midnight deadline  there was no hint of Wooster Street in New Haven; not a whiff of Greek pizza from Norwalk; or even the mismatched plates and place settings of Roseland in Derby.

In the urgent flush of last-minute business, there was no room for the tourist-centric pizza. Earlier in the day, Duff had thought Connecticuts flatbread pies might make their way onto that plate of deadline bills. But it didnt happen.

Maybe next year, Duff said after the midnight curfew and the Senate emptied until a special session possibly as soon as next week. There are more important things like having a budget on time that gets bipartisan support, Duff said. New Haven is world famous for sure, but I have my favorite pizza places in Norwalk, as well. Maybe next year Ill bring some up and we can compare.

Last month, the pizza and tourist destination and public-relations idea, floated by veteran state Rep. Patricia Dillon of New Haven, was overwhelmingly approved in the House of Representatives above the protests of seaside district where the hot-butter lobster roll is king.

The list of animals (Sperm Whale, the state bird; American Robin, state bird), vegetation (Mountain Laurel, state flower), song (Yankee Doodle) and tartan (a colorful fabric), will not be joined this year by the famous flatbread with toppings.

Asked Thursday about the failure of the bill, Gov. Ned Lamont was upbeat.

Hey, everybody knows weve got the best pizza in the world. I dont need the state Senate to tell me that, he said. Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, who appeared with Lamont in a virtual news conference, was more politic.

Amen and no disrespect to lobster rolls, cider or craft beer, Bysiewicz quipped.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
HAMDEN  Police say a shed was deliberately set on fire in town.

Someone told police around 2 a.m. Wednesday that there was a fire in the area of Dixwell Avenue and Hamden Park Drive, a release sent by Capt. Ronald Smith of Hamden Police read.

At the back of 20 Hamden Park Drive, police saw a working fire and told area residents to leave, Smith wrote.

Investigation revealed that a shed, located in the rear of the property, was deliberately set on fire, Smith wrote. In addition, several windows were shattered by gunfire.

Local fire officials headed to the area to put out the blaze, according to Smith.

The town and state fire marshals offices are investigating the fires origin, Smith wrote. Police ask those who have information to contact Detective Donald Remillard at 203-230-4052.
Coronel was a permanent fixture at her husbands Brooklyn trial, though the pair havent spoken since his extradition to the U.S. in 2017. The judge overseeing his case would not permit them an embrace in the courtroom despite dozens of motions from his legal team. During one day of the trial, they each turned up in matching velvet jackets.
NEW HAVEN  A potentially fatal disease for beech trees has become widespread in large parts of Connecticut, and is no longer novel, according to Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station scientists.

Beech Leaf Disease, first detected in the state in 2019 in lower Fairfield County, now is widespread and prevalent on American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia) throughout Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London counties, and appears to be spreading into Litchfield, Tolland and Windham counties, as well, CAES officials said in an email.

Robert E. Marra, an associate scientist/forest pathologist in the Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology at CAES, said it is not known for sure how many beech trees are affected by beech leaf disease in Connecticut, but it is worth noting that the difference between last year and this year is dramatic, especially in these four lower Connecticut counties.

If you ask property owners in Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, and New London Counties, they would say that nearly all their beeches have beech leaf disease, Marra said. However, while we havent been able to survey all our state forested lands, it seems that there are pockets of severe outbreaks, and stands where we see little if any BLD.

Marra also noted that, according to the U.S. Forest Services inventory data (from January 2021), the American beech is the third most abundant tree species in Connecticut, after red maple and black birch, and is found in just over 40 percent of the states forested lands. He said from these data, it can be estimated that Connecticut has about 57 million beech trees throughout the state.

CAES officials said the disease, which can kill trees within several years of detection, was first discovered in 2012 in Ohio, followed in subsequent years by detections in Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, Canada.

The disease, typically characterized by dark striping between leaf veins on beech foliage, as observed looking up into the canopy, has been particularly severe this year.

The intensification was potentially driven by a hot and dry summer last year and a dry spring this year, according to CAES officials.

(This years symptoms) can include: aborted leaf enlargement; cupping, browning, and yellowing of foliage; branch and tip dieback; and in some cases, premature leaf drop, officials said.

The tree disease appears to be spreading, particularly from west to east based on the number of new county detections in 2019 and 2020, in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Insect or avian vectors as well as human-mediated movement of the nematode are possible modes of its dispersal that are currently being studied.

The disease is caused in American, Oriental and European beech trees by the foliar nematode, officials said.

It has become common enough, as widespread occurrence of BLD has been well-documented in 2021, that reports of BLD in Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, and New London Counties to CAES and DEEP are no longer requested from the public, officials said.

CAES scientists, along with federal staffers and researchers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario have joined together to study the diseases development and transmission, and possibilities for controlling it, officials said.

According to a report by Dr. Yonghao Li of the CAES and shared by the state Department of Environmental Protection, little is known about the biology of the pathogen and epidemiology of the disease, and no effective control or eradication measures have been developed.

Further, according to Li, the spread of invasive species can be prevented by restricting the movement of plant materials and monitoring trees closely for signs and symptoms.

Li noted that quarantines and regulations could be used to prevent further spread of the disease and that management efforts for the disease should focus on preventing the introduction of this invasive pathogen.

According to the federal agriculture agencys forest service, there also is likely a delay between initial nematode infestation and detection of the Beech Leaf Disease as the Litylenchus crenatae has occasionally been confirmed in asymptomatic tissue at the molecular level.

Tree mortality of all age classes has been occasionally observed within 2 to 7 years but appears to be more common for smaller trees, the agency reported.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
SHELTON  Long Hill School students have accepted the governors summer reading challenge and helped the city animal shelter in the process.

"We wanted our students to not only get excited about reading but also to learn about giving back to their community, Long Hill School Principal Andrea DAiuto said. Since May was National Pet Month, we collected donations all through the month for the animal shelter.
HARTFORD  Tempers in the State Capitol flared on Wednesday when the veteran chairman of the General Assemblys tax-writing committee charged that the elimination of his proposed taxes on the wealthy in the state budget was like a knee on the neck of the Black community and other under-served communities.

Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, who was first elected to the legislature in 1986, criticized what he called a status quo budget. The normally placid lawmaker fired his blast at the start of a five-and-a-half-hour floor debate, which ended with a bipartisan 31-4 vote, with support from eight Republicans, by dinnertime.

Gov. Ned Lamont applauded the vote but snapped back at Fonfara, defending the large amounts of federal pandemic relief that will flow into the cities when the two-year, $46.4 billion budget kicks in on July 1.

Somebodys whos been in this building for 30 years talking to someone whos been in this building for 30 months trying to make a difference for this state, I take exception to those comments, Lamont told reporters outside the Capitol.

The tense exchange evoked interlocking spats that defined this legislative session, between moderate and liberal Democrats on taxes, health reform, environmental issues, legalizing marijuana and criminal justice. But it was the exception on Wednesday, the final day of the 2021 session, as the massive taxing and spending plan, often a bloody battleground, passed with relative ease.

While the budget does not include the sweeping reforms that liberal Demcorats wanted, it does include provisions to help the middle class and working poor.

Fonfaras bitterness was directed at the deletion last week of a proposed hike in the income taxes for the states wealthiest, plus a surcharge on the states tax on investment income, both of which Lamont insisted come out of a budget. The two taxes would have raised $700 million a year on people making more than $500,000 a year as individuals or $1 million as joint filers.

Fonfara and other Democrats wanted to funnel that money into a separate fund to spend on distressed cities.

The plan failed as Lamont panned it, saying there was no need to raise taxes due to the $2.8 billion from the federal pandemic stimulus and the states rainy day fund, overflowing with taxes from stock market gains.

The governor is a Democrat and I think its time to back up that designation, that moniker if you will, with substance, Fonfara said during an April 23 press conference of Recovery for All CT.

Lamont said federal American Rescue Act funding will be combined with state funding for a variety of urban-related programming, as well as summer and early learning programs.

The states Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor will increase from 23 percent of the federal income tax to its highest rate 30.5 percent, resulting in an additional $40 million in income to nearly 195,000 Connecticut households.

More than $525 million in added funding is going to Connecticuts cities and towns over the next two years. New Haven, for example, will receive about $50 million more in state funding than last fiscal year, in addition to about $115 million in federal aid.

Another $29 million will be spent over the next two years to fully implement debt-free community. The budget also includes funding to support wage increases for long-term care workers, who threatened large-scale strikes if they didnt receive better pay and benefits.

During the Senate debate, both Democrats and Republicans highlighted the budget as a reflection of the states values going forward.

For Republicans, that meant not raising taxes including on peoples income, digital taxes and commercial property.

Connecticut families didnt need more financial burden what they needed was a financial break, said Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, who voted in favor of the budget.

Ahead of the vote, Kelly encouraged his members to reflect on whether the budget works for the people in their district and vote accordingly.

Although the budget itself doesnt raise taxes, Democrats this week pushed through a highway use tax on heavy trucks, proposed by Lamont. That tax is estimated to raise $90 million a year for transportation improvements, though the trucking industry said it will fail because out-of-state shippers will not pay up.

Despite some concerns about the budget  the Republicans offered a amendment to divert $415 million instead of $155 million into the states unemployment trust fund, which failed  Kelly said he wouldnt want to see the perfect become the enemy of the good.

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, had pushed for the higher taxes on the rich. But he said the budget was reason to celebrate and reflected the fact that Connecticut has an obligation to help people who are in need, who are struggling.

This budget deserves bipartisan support because it meets the needs of the time, Looney said.

Lamont, calling the budget transformative said it makes a big difference in peoples lives, especially the lives of people who have been hardest hit by the pandemic, especially for the lives of Black and brown people, the likes of which hasnt been done in 30 years.

In a statement after the early evening vote, Lamont praised lawmakers.

We agreed across party lines that now is the time to ensure thousands of families have access to affordable childcare, the expansion of access to free and affordable healthcare will provide security to households, and investments in our future through workforce development will make our state stronger, the governor said. The investments in equity will lift up our state for generations to come.
BOSTON (AP)  A man authorities say caused a fatal wrong-way crash while fleeing from the scene of a robbery was held without bail Thursday at his arraignment held via video from his hospital room, prosecutors said.

William Leger, 35, of Somerville, pleaded not guilty to several charges including vehicular homicide by reckless operation and unarmed robbery during the arraignment, according to a statement from Essex district attorney's office.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A longtime Tennessee judge who drew backlash from Republican officials for ordering an expansion of absentee voting during the COVID-19 pandemic won't seek reelection next year, saying it's a decision she made before GOP lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to remove her from office early this year.

This week, Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle informed members of the Nashville Bar Association that this will be her last term after 27 years in office. The general election for an eight-year term will take place in August 2022.

I made this decision last year in 2020, and I informed my staff so they could begin to make their arrangements," Lyle wrote in a letter. "Little did I know then that before I would make this announcement I would be faced in 2021 with holding onto my job. As has always been the case with me, life is unpredictable, and 2021 has been true to form.

While overseeing two lawsuits over Tennessee's mail voting restrictions, Lyle in June 2020 ruled in favor of a wide expansion of absentee voting during the pandemic. The ruling was ultimately overturned by the state Supreme Court to revert to Tennessee's excuse-based absentee criteria, but only after the state changed course to promise to allow people at higher risk of COVID-19 complications and their caretakers to vote by mail.

Later in the legal proceedings, Lyle extended absentee voting to all those living with a person at high risk of complications from COVID-19, ruling that the state had promised the Supreme Court those people could vote absentee as well.

Lyles rulings in the case were harshly criticized by Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Attorney General Herbert Slatery, both Republicans. Then early this year, as many as 67 of 73 House Republicans signed on in support of a resolution that would have initiated legislative hearings to consider Lyle's removal over the absentee voting case.

The push died amid outcry from members of the legal community who called it an unprecedented breach of judicial independence, and lined up in defense of Lyle's record on the bench. Afterward, lawmakers recalibrated toward what would become a new law to steer more constitutional legal challenges against the state out of Nashville courtrooms, where they currently are initially heard, and into a new three-judge panel system that will cycle in jurists from across the state.

The legislative back-and-forth over how to change the judiciary branch followed a year in which many states expanded access to absentee balloting or other voting methods due to concerns about the coronavirus spreading at crowded Election Day polling places, despite arguments by former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies that any expansions should have legislative approval.

Trump remains highly influential among the GOP, and is still repeating unfounded claims of absentee voting election fraud.

Lyle was appointed twice by former Republican Gov. Don Sundquist, first in 1995, then was elected multiple times as a Democrat. She is well known for her business litigation expertise. Her rulings touched on a variety of high-profile topics, ranging from Tennessee's death penalty to Memphis' removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from a public park in 2017.

Leaving close ties here at the Davidson County Courthouse is counterbalanced for me by the excitement and anticipation of what lies ahead," Lyle wrote. "There are many, many things I want to do and I have a lot planned.

___

Associated Press writer Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  The U.S. ambassador known for friendly ties with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has tendered his resignation after just over a year in the position and is leaving the diplomatic service, he said in a statement on Thursday.

Ambassador Todd Chapman said that he wrote to President Joe Biden on Wednesday to inform him of his decision, and that he would be moving to Denver to be near his children and pursue other professional opportunities.

His appointment in Oct. 2019 came as Bolsonaro was projecting ideological alignment with the U.S. and then-President Donald Trump.

After Chapman's arrival in the capital, Brasilia, in March 2020, he quickly made headlines by cozying up to Bolsonaro's administration, particularly by hosting the president at a July 4 barbecue at his residence in the midst of the pandemic. Photos showed him wearing a cowboy hat and no mask, leaning in to hug Bolsonaro and posing with him and top aides.

His access built on friendly relations, but also raised concerns he was perhaps drawing too close. One person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity last year confirmed local press reports that Chapman suggested Brazil could influence Iowa's vote in the U.S. presidential election by lifting ethanol tariffs.

That prompted the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to demand Chapman provide written assurances he wasnt urging Bolsonaro's government to support Trumps reelection bid in potential violation of the Hatch Act, which bars executive branch employees from partisan politics. Chapman vehemently denied crossing lines.

An avid birdwatcher, Chapman this year increasingly shared photos and comments on social media lauding Brazil's nature and wildlife, and called for sustainable development. That jibed with Biden's demands for Bolsonaro to take decisive action to halt surging deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.

Data in recent months have signaled the continued increase of destruction, after Bolsonaro at the U.S.-led climate summit in April shifted his tone on Amazon preservation and showed willingness to step up commitment.

Thomas Traumann, a Brazilian political consultant, said by phone that Chapman's departure could signal more U.S. pressure on Brazil regarding environmental issues.

More importantly, Traumann said, Chapman is perceived in Brazil as pro-Trump and pro-Bolsonaro, which would have limited his ability to make inroads with challengers to Bolsonaro's 2022 reelection bid.

Chapman was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia from 2011 to 2014 and U.S. ambassador to Ecuador before that. In a diplomatic career spanning three decades he has been posted to Afghanistan, Nigeria and Taiwan. The Texas native highlighted in his statement that he had served under three Democratic and three Republican presidents.

"In my letter to President Biden, he wrote. I wished him Gods blessings of wisdom and strength as he leads the American people.
President Muhammadu Buhari says he has given the military and the police the order to be ruthless against bandits terrorising the north-...

President Muhammadu Buhari says he has given the military and the police the order to be ruthless against bandits terrorising the north-west region of the country.

The president declared this during an interview with Arise TV broadcast on Thursday.

Problem in the north-west; you have people over there stealing each others cattle and burning each others villages. Like I said , we are going to treat them in the language they understand. We have given the police and the military the power to be ruthless. You watch it in a few weeks time there will be difference.

Because we told them if we keep people away from their farm, we are going to starve. And the government cant control the public. If you allow hunger, the government is going to be in trouble and we dont want to be in trouble. We are already in enough trouble. So we warn them sooner than later youll see the difference.

The statement treat them in the language they understand became controversial after the president tweeted referencing the civil war.

The president had warned insurrectionists against destroying the country. But the tweet was removed by Twitter. The federal government responded afterwards by suspending the microblogging platform.

Bandits have scaled up attacks on states in the north-west and in the north-central, kidnapping and killing citizens.

Over 130 students of an Islamiyya in Niger state are still held by bandits.
Our 25-minute spectacle will salute the hero within, highlighting American bravery and optimism, he said. It is these qualities clearly evident in all New Yorkers during the most challenging time in our history which allowed our city to come back and move forward into a brighter future.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says though he strongly believes in the existence of Nigeria as a single nation, it should not be at any ...





Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says though he strongly believes in the existence of Nigeria as a single nation, it should not be at any cost.

Obasanjo stated this on Wednesday during his investiture as a fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), organised by the Ogun chapter.

The elder statesman called on those agitating for the disintegration of the country to shelve the idea and work for unity.

He said it is better for Nigeria to remain as one indivisible nation, noting that disintegration is not the solution.

It is better that Nigeria stays together and finds solutions to its challenges than for each tribe to go its separate way, Obasanjo said.

I am a strong believer in one Nigeria, but not one Nigeria at any cost  one Nigeria where every Nigerian can feel proud that he or she has a stake in this country.

Those of us who have shed part of our blood and sweat for this country, we did so because we wanted a country where every Nigerian can claim as his or her own.

I believe that if we talk among ourselves the way we should, and if we change the narrative, I believe this is a great country.

The fact that we are not making Nigeria what God wants it to be is not the fault of God, but our fault, particularly the leaders.

Obasanjo further said disintegration will only result in weak republics, adding that if parts of the country secede, they may end up at war.

One thing that gives us strength is our diversity. If all that we have is Republic of Oduduwa for those who say so, members of that country will be diminished, compared to being citizens of Nigeria, he said.

Citizens of Oduduwa Republic or any other republic borne out of Nigeria will be diminished compared to being citizens of Nigeria.

In this age and time that we are talking about the reintegration of Africa for economic development, disintegration of any country will be almost idiotic.

If we have Igboland as an independent country, Yorubaland, an independent country, and Fulani/Hausaland an independent country, where will the Jukuns or the Gbasama belong? The only reason they can raise their heads is because they belong to Nigeria.

Are we thinking of them or are we just being selfish? We should note that it doesnt matter what we do; we will still be neighbours.

We had seen it before. India was broken into India and Pakistan. They are still at war till today. When that happens, we will be spending our money on building armies.

I know what is involved in building and maintaining an army which may not necessarily be productive. Let us think about it.
President Muhammadu Buhari is expected in Lagos today (Thursday) for a presidential visit to inaugurate the Mobolaji Junction Railway Stat...

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected in Lagos today (Thursday) for a presidential visit to inaugurate the Mobolaji Junction Railway Station at Ebutte Meta.

Governor Babbajide Sanwo-Olu is expected to receive the president for the commissioning of the project.

Security is expected to be tight as heavy military and other security presence is anticipated.

Security report said there is the possibility of heavy traffic due to road blockade/ closure while the Presidential convoy is in transit.

Sanwo-Olu, who is expected to receive the president would very early in the morning hand over some equipment to the Nigerian police at the Police College, Ikeja.

The Federal Government had in April 2021 said that the Ebute Meta train station, the most iconic on the Lagos-Ibadan train service would be named after the first Lagos state governor, Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson.

Johnson, who was military governor of Lagos between May 1967 and July 1975 died 30 October 2019.

He was 83 years old.
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Alkali Baba, the inspector-general of police (IGP), to go after those attacking police officers and s...

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Alkali Baba, the inspector-general of police (IGP), to go after those attacking police officers and stations.





The president spoke on Thursday at the handing over of security equipment by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, to the police command in the state.

Earlier in March, the president had directed security agencies to shoot anyone seen illegally with AK-47 rifles.

In his remarks at the event, the president said the order is still in place, and that as commander-in-chief, it is his responsibility to ensure the lives and properties of Nigerians are secured.

I have charged the inspector-general to leave no stone unturned in rebuilding the morale of his officers and men, especially in the aftermath of the mindless violence associated with the EndSARS protests, as well as the recent spate of attacks on police stations in some parts of the country, he said.

A nation that turns its Police personnel and infrastructure into targets of violence and destruction is a nation on the path of self-destruction. We will act firmly and decisively against any and all persons fomenting or carrying out attacks on our Police Force and other security personnel.

Let me also use this opportunity to reiterate that my directive to security agencies, to shoot any person or persons found illegally wielding AK-47s and other assault weapons, remains in place.





As commander-in-chief, my primary responsibility remains the security of the country and the safety of all citizens. Despite the many challenges we are facing, I want Nigerians to rest assured that we will secure this country. We will secure our infrastructure, our highways, our communities, and our forests, and we will secure the lives of our people.

In recent weeks, police stations and officers have come under attack, especially in the south-east part of the country.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low 61F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low 61F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Trump also knew at the time that McGahn had already told Muellers investigators the truth, and that the special counsel would not take kindly to the White House lawyer giving conflicting accounts of a key episode in his probe into whether the former president obstructed justice, according to the testimony.
Curtis and the Guardian Angels were there to help me win, and then they were there to help me reduce crime and make our city livable again, Giuliani said.
A New Orleans restaurateur best known for her Vietnamese flavors is headed to Oak Street, though this next project takes a different direction.

Kim Nguyen, founder of Magasin and Magasin Kitchen, has taken over the former home of Chiba, the Japanese restaurant that closed before the pandemic.

Her new restaurant is called Mukbang Seafood & Bar, and it will focus on traditional Louisiana style seafood and also boiled seafood tossed with Viet-Cajun style garlic butter.

Nguyen expects Mukbang to open in late summer, after renovations to the former Chiba spot at 8312 Oak St. It will share the same block with the epic music venue Maple Leaf Bar and Jacques-Imos Cafe.

+18 At new Kenner restaurant Big EZ Seafood, Viet-Cajun seafood and Mardi Gras float art From a small seafood market in Gretna, Big EZ Seafood made a name with garlic butter-coated crawfish. In Kenner, its latest location is out to

Magasin and its downtown sibling Magasin Kitchen serve traditional Vietnamese dishes, like pho, spring rolls and banh mi. The menu at Mukbang will revolve around fried seafood dishes and boiled seafood, including local crawfish, shrimp and crab, as well as lobster. The former sushi bar will be turned into an oyster bar.

It will be the latest in a growing number of local restaurants to embrace a style that coats boiled seafood in buttery sauces.

It will also be the second restaurant with this kind of menu to open just on Oak Street. Early in May, Seafood Sallys debuted one block up the street, serving a menu of familiar local seafood with some modern twists and splashing the house "chile butter sauce" on boiled seafood and plenty of other dishes.

+10 Seafood Sally's brings a fresh take on the neighborhood joint to Oak Street In a cottage decked with beach shack bric-a-brac and coral colors, Seafood Sally's got rolling this month on Oak Street.

Nguyen acknowledged the prevalence of the trend but shes confident theres room for more.

Not all the garlic butter sauce is the same, she said.

+10 With garlic butter and brotherhood, Dee's Xquisite Seafood soars on St. Bernard Avenue The recipe at Dees Xquisite Seafood is a three-part harmony of flavor. It plays through tight clusters of Dungeness crab legs, lobster tails,

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Mukbang takes its name from another raging trend, at least in some corners of the internet.

Its a term for performative eating, drawn from the Korean words for eating and broadcast. Of course its a thing on social media, especially Tiktok, where people try to gain followers by showing themselves eating big spreads of food.

I like the name because it means this kind of savage eating, just tearing into it, and thats what people do with this kind of food, she said.

Though its based on a Louisiana staple, the Viet-Cajun crawfish craze first started thriving around Vietnamese communities in southern California and southeast Texas.

The new restaurant is a partnership between Nguyen and her sister Thuy Nguyen, who are both from New Orleans, and their respective husbands, Luu Tran and Thai Nguyen, who are both from Texas.

That style is so popular in Texas, we like that this is two Texas guys and New Orleans girls combining it with New Orleans food here, Nguyen said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen is developing a new concept under the same roof as her original restaurant Magasin, called Mon Chay. This is an all-vegetarian Vietnamese concept, structured as a restaurant within a restaurant. Soon it will have its own open-air patio and walk-up window for outdoor service. For now, the Mon Chay menu is being served through Magasin.

Mukbang Seafood & Bar

8312 Oak St.

Slated to open late summer 2021

+10 Crawfish replaces pho at one Mid-City restaurant, and a family story continues Long before it was the Vietnamese restaurant Namese, the small building at South Carrollton and Tulane avenues was a market where Hieu Doans 
Former Lusher Middle School teacher Blake Bailey, whose acclaimed biography of Philip Roth was taken out of print by its original publisher earlier this year following allegations that he raped multiple women and preyed sexually on ex-students, is now facing accusations of abuse and harassment at a Virginia university where he taught.

According to a lengthy report published Thursday by The Virginian-Pilot, more than a dozen people told the newspaper that he sexually harassed and abused four women at Old Dominion University. Bailey taught in the creative writing program there for six years beginning in 2010, when his book on author John Cheever was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

One of the women accused Bailey of grabbing her crotch in a hot tub, forcibly trying to kiss her on campus, (and) threatening to rape her, only stopping the harassment after she pulled a knife out and held it against his throat, the newspaper reported.

Another account in the Virginian-Pilot's report came from two people who claimed they spoke directly to a female author who visited Old Dominion and recounted how Bailey had forcibly kissed her. And another was from a graduate student who described Bailey getting "handsy" with her and making unwanted advances.

The various sources told the newspaper that they had voiced their concerns to administrators, but their only action was to warn him.

The Virginian-Pilots report said Bailey, through an attorney, denied the allegations, as he did when his steadily growing number of accusers first spoke out in the news media this spring.

Author Blake Bailey accused of abusing ex-Lusher students' trust for sex; denies illegal conduct A celebrated literary biographer who taught eighth-grade English at New Orleans Lusher Middle School in the 1990s is now facing accusations t

Meanwhile, in a statement, Old Dominions administration acknowledged hearing concerns of Baileys teaching style, word choice, tenor, personality, even that he was a creep. But the university insisted, No report of any assault, attempted assault or any other kind of sexual harassment was ever made by any of the people who are now making accusations a decade later, according to the Virginian-Pilot.

Old Dominion is in Norfolk, Virginia, where Bailey was living with his wife and daughter when his various accusers began coming forward earlier this year.

The Virginian-Pilot noted that its reporting on Bailey was prompted in part by the decision of several former New Orleans students to speak out in April about how he forged close relationships with them at Lusher over their mutual passion for writing. The students, now women, said Bailey made it a point to keep in touch with them after they left Lusher  where he taught from 1993 to 2000  and then exploited their trust to pressure them for sex years later.

One of the women, Eve Crawford Peyton, accused him of forcible rape. Another former Lusher student, Caryn Blair, alleged that Bailey tried to rape her during a chance encounter in the months following Hurricane Katrina, and she said she needed to physically overpower Bailey to ward off the assault.

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+5 New claim against Blake Bailey: Ex-student alleges he tried to rape her after Hurricane Katrina Former Lusher Middle School student Caryn Blair never viewed her eighth-grade English teacher  literary biographer Blake Bailey  as a mentor

The former students said they spoke out because it was traumatic to see his profile continue to rise despite his behavior since he left Lusher and pursued a career as a literary biographer.

Their testimony then prompted a New York publishing executive named Valentina Rice to go public with her claim that Bailey had raped her in 2015.

Rice said she reported the allegation privately to the company that published Baileys best-selling biography on Philip Roth this year as well as Bailey's memoir. But Bailey strongly denied it, and the allegation was never publicly aired until recently.

Baileys publisher, W.W. Norton, ultimately took the Roth volume and Bailey's 2014 memoir out of print permanently. It also pledged to make a donation to sexual abuse organizations equaling the advance it paid to Bailey, which a media report estimates was in the six figures.

+3 Blake Bailey's publisher to stop printing his Philip Roth biography after rape, grooming allegations The publisher of a best-selling biography of novelist Philip Roth is permanently taking the book out of print after its author  ex-Lusher Mid

Skyhorse Publishing has since announced plans to republish the Roth biography.

Skyhorse also previously published a memoir from Woody Allen, which was dropped by its original publisher following renewed attention on accusations that Allen sexually abused his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.

Another Skyhorse title is a memoir from Roger Stone, the ally of former President Donald Trump who received a pardon after being charged in connection with the federal investigation into possible Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election.
Dwayne Lewis stateroom window was smashed open, and a violent Gulf of Mexico rose up a few feet below the sill.

The Seacor Power lift boat had capsized eight miles offshore and was sinking in a brutal storm. Lewis, who never learned to swim, wasn't ready to leave it.

We have to get out now, Jim Gracien told him.

Gracien, a Seacor Power crewman from Alabama, had climbed from his own room across a hallway that was now a shaft. He'd grabbed a fire extinguisher, and he and Lewis traded off bashing the window  their only path to survival -- until Gracien finally shattered it.

Gracien took a life jacket from the room and exited through the window. Lewis had his own life jacket but was gripped by fear, he said this week, in the first media interview of a survivor from the April 13 calamity.

You wonder, or at least I did, how exactly is this going to go?  And then youre terrified with getting beat up by these seas, because it was very violent, said Lewis, 53, of Erath, who is married with three children.

Then youve got lightning popping all around you, because it was a torrential rainstorm. So, yeah, I thought I was f---ed.

Lewis said a wave hastened his escape.

I nearly waited too long, he said. When I went to get out, a wave came and pushed me halfway back into the room, and then (when) the water was rushing out it sucked me under. And then I came up and I was like, Oh my god, what the hell just happened here?

He and Gracien would spend hours in a raging sea before being rescued. They were among the six survivors from the deadliest marine accident off the Louisiana coast in decades.

Thirteen are dead or presumed to have perished in the April 13 wreck. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 left 11 workers dead.

Gracien and another surviving crew member, first mate Bryan Mires, filed federal lawsuits on Tuesday against the lift boats owner, Seacor Marine, and oil company Talos Energy over the wreck.

Lewis filed a similar federal lawsuit last week that does not name the oil company.

All told, 13 lawsuits have been filed by survivors or family members of the dead or missing over the two months since the Seacor Power went under.

The boat remains where it fell in the Gulf. The U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday that the structural integrity of the Seacor Power was compromised, and that means it will have to be lifted and brought ashore in separate sections.

The lawsuits by those three survivors describe chaos and despair in the moments and hours after the 175-foot-long boat capsized with 19 crew members and contractors aboard as it headed to a Talos oil platform near the mouth of Mississippi River.

Six bodies were recovered. Seven remain lost, including three contractors that Lewis said he knew from previous offshore work. Lewis said he recently played a phone message from one of them, just to hear his voice.

Its a brotherhood, he said.

Graciens lawsuit describes him getting slammed into an interior vessel wall while the vessel took on water and breaking a window with a fire extinguisher to escape.

Gracien, 61, spent five days hospitalized and faces severe and permanently disabling injuries from the wreck, including spinal injuries and damage to internal organs from bobbing for hours in a cold and swollen Gulf, his lawsuit says.

Really, at the end of the day, Jim Gracien saved Lewis life, said Graciens attorney, Paul Sterbcow.

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Mires lawsuit says he climbed through the port side door of the wheelhouse and used a pocketknife to cut loose a rope that had knotted around his ankle. He washed into the Gulf, drifting for hours.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report last month that several personnel had escaped onto the exposed port side of the Seacor Power deckhouse after it flipped.

But U.S. Coast Guard and private boats struggled to reach them in waves that topped 10 feet. Some who had been clinging to the vessel were washed into the water, the report said.

Lewis, who managed to grab a rope, heard some of them after he burst through the broken-out window.

I saw what I thought to be four or five people screaming at me from the boat, he said. I was like, I dont know why youre screaming at me because I cant do nothing. I didnt ask for this. And then eventually the rope got away and then I drifted off.

Lewis, an independent consultant, is in the business of recompleting oil wells, a process of abandoning one zone in an existing well bore for another. He was planning to be at the Talos platform 10 to 14 days, living on the Seacor Power while the group worked.

Lewis took to offshore work even though his parents had kept him away from the water, after his oldest brother drowned at age 13, he said.

For several years, Lewis would only travel offshore by boat, after a friend died in a helicopter accident.

Knowing how to swim wouldnt have helped him for long in the Gulf, Lewis figures.

I made myself into a ball. I rearranged myself, got myself as tight as I could to bob. It helped, but youre still getting pushed underneath by the seas.

Lewis said he clung to the words of a water survival instructor years ago who stressed the importance of not panicking.

Still, he said, at the same time youre trying to divert your thoughts, youre begging God to calm the seas ... Its a shame to say, you talk to your dead mother -- telling her you wasnt ready to see her.

A crew from a good Samaritan boat, the M/V Mr. Lloyd, spotted Lewis, threw him a life ring and pulled him onto a ladder, in a scene captured on a video later posted on social media.

Lewis said he watched it and thought that I was a lucky sonofabitch.

He said hed never thrown up so much in all my life afterward. He had his wounds treated and went home.

Lewis said hell never work offshore again.

In a court filing on Friday, the owner of the lift boat argued that the capsizing "was a force majeure event  an unforeseeable act of nature. Capt. David Ledet made a responsible and prudent decision to leave port that morning based on weather forecasts at the time, the company argued.

A morning weather report had predicted afternoon winds at up to 12 knots and 3-foot seas, according to the NTSB. Forecasters later warned of a rare weather event known as a wake low in the area where the Seacor Power was heading. Winds would exceed 92 mph  hurricane strength  and seas swelled to 12 feet, the NTSB report said.

The agency said the Seacor Power capsized at 3:41 p.m.

Lewis recalled Ledet dropping by his office on the vessel about 3 p.m. to hand him a list of the people aboard as they motored across the Gulf. He then rested in his cabin for about 20 minutes before the boat turned clockwise and the bathroom door was below his feet, he said.

All I can tell you is, I went outside at 3:05, and it was 2- to 3-foot seas, and it was just starting to rain, Lewis said. Thats pretty quick.
A new summer internship program for students from the area's historically Black colleges and universities is aiming to open doors that typically are not accessible for budding entrepreneurs.

The program, which takes students from Xavier University, Dillard University and Southern University at New Orleans, offers some common training seminars as well as individual paid placements at city firms that are either startups themselves or which operate in that world.

Victoria Hardy, a 20-year-old junior at Dillard, who is studying mass communications and political science, said she's looking to follow a family tradition of entrepreneurship that goes back generations.

"Entrepreneurship is one of the key assets in creating social change," said the Montgomery, Alabama, native. "Even my great-great-grandmother was an entrepreneur when she was cleaning houses for White people during Jim Crow, and she was refusing to work for hourly wages and setting terms for her jobs."

Hardy will be working 120 hours over the month through July 9 at $15 an hour for Resilia, a 5-year-old technology company that connects nonprofits with donors.

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The program is part of regional economic development agency GNO Inc.'s Economic Mobility Strategy to promote Black wealth creation.

Lookfar, a 7-year-old company that invests in and counsels tech startups, is participating in the program in an effort to help shake things up, something that benefits both the companies as well as the student-entrepreneurs, said Chris Reade, Lookfar's founder and CEO.

"Like a lot of things, the internship world gets stuck in grooves," said Reade. "That can be less about people actively excluding anybody than just historical patterns. This program is looking to change those patterns."

Other companies participating include Lucid, one of New Orleans' most successful tech startups; Broadmoor, the developer; Obatala Sciences, a genetics-based testing outfit that has grown rapidly in the last few years; and NOBIC, the biotech incubator. The Idea Village, a startup incubator, also is facilitating programming.
Alaska Airlines said Thursday it plans to add direct flights from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to Portland, Oregon, starting in December.

The flights will run twice daily, three times a week on a seasonal schedule, the first of which will take off Dec. 16 and run through April 16, 2022. Alaska Airlines announced the new direct flights as part of four new city-pairing routes it will introduce with the aim of connecting Portland travelers with "winter sun" cities.

Alaska Airlines, the fifth-largest airline in the country in terms of passenger traffic, began flying direct to New Orleans from its home hub of Seattle-Tacoma in 2014.

+6 As travel rebounds, here's how New Orleans airport traffic shaped up over holiday weekend Air travel over the Memorial Day weekend was up by 31% at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport over a comparable period in April,

The expansion the New Orleans airport was seeing before the pandemic has resumed this year as the vaccination program encouraged travelers to hit the road again.

Breeze Airways, a new budget airline launched by the founder of JetBlue, is the biggest new operator at the airport so far this year. The fledgling airline said it will fly 10 new direct routes from New Orleans next month, making the city one of its four main bases.

Another new airline, Silver Airways is set to start its direct flights to Jacksonville, Florida, this month. Boutique Air, a tiny "concierge service" airline, started flying its small aircraft on direct routes to Greenville, Mississippi, in April.

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Among the larger operators, American Airlines added a new route to Austin, Texas, and Southwest and Spirit added flights to Central American destinations.

Passenger traffic has been making a comeback, with Memorial Day passenger numbers up by 31% at the New Orleans airport compared to the comparable period in April. Though that was still down by a third compared to the same holiday in 2019, it still marked big progress from previous months when traffic was running more than 60% below levels seen before the pandemic.

Another sign of recovery this week: The consortium led by Bethesda, Maryland-based HMS Host said it is looking for people to fill a wide variety of service jobs at its dozen concessions at the airport, including baristas, cooks, drivers, managers and utility staff.

Before the pandemic, HMS Host concessions, which includes Emeril's Table, Starbucks and The Munch Factory, had employed about 500 people at the various eateries and coffee shops.
BILLINGS, Mont. - The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline pulled the plug on the contentious project Wednesday after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit. Calgary-based TC Energy said it will work with government agencies "to ensure a safe termination of and exit" from the partially built line, which was to transport crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska.

Construction on the 1,200-mile pipeline began in 2020 when then-President Donald Trump revived the long-delayed project after it had stalled under the Barack Obama administration. It would have moved as many as 830,000 barrels of crude daily, connecting in Nebraska to other pipelines such as the Bayou Bridge line that feeds oil refineries in Louisiana.

Biden canceled the pipeline's border crossing permit on the day he took office in January. He cited longstanding concerns that burning oil sands crude could make climate change worse and harder to reverse.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had objected to the move, raising tensions between the U.S. and Canada. Officials in Alberta, where the line originated, expressed frustration in recent weeks that Trudeau wasn't pushing Biden harder to reinstate the pipeline's permit.

Alberta invested more than $1 billion in the project last year, kick-starting construction that had stalled amid determined opposition from environmental advocates and Native American tribes along its route. On Wednesday, Alberta officials said they reached an agreement with TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, to exit that partnership. The company and province plan to try to recoup the government's investment, although neither offered any immediate details on how that would happen.

+5 With Bayou Bridge Pipeline, Louisiana again weighs oil, environment BAYOU SORREL -- Down Louisiana 3066 and the Lower Grand River, past the middle of swampy nowhere, rests a cypress marsh hamlet of oyster shell

"We remain disappointed and frustrated with the circumstances surrounding the Keystone XL project, including the cancellation of the presidential permit for the pipeline's border crossing," Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said.

The province had hoped the pipeline would spur increased development in the oil sands and bring tens of billions of dollars in royalties over decades.

Climate change activists viewed the expansion of oil sands development as an environmental disaster that could speed global warming as the fuel is burned. That turned Keystone into a flashpoint in the climate debate, and it became the focus of rallies and protests in Washington D.C., and other cities.

+6 Bayou Bridge pipeline receives Corps, DEQ permits, closing in on construction start The Bayou Bridge pipeline, a controversial crude oil line proposed through the heart of the Atchafalaya Basin, cleared key permitting threshol

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Environmental advocates who had fought the project since it was first announced in 2008 said its cancellation marks a "landmark moment" in the effort to curb the use of fossil fuels. "Good riddance to Keystone XL," said Jared Margolis of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of many environmental groups that sued to stop it. On Montana's Fort Belknap Reservation, tribal president Andy Werk Jr. described the end of Keystone as a relief to Native Americans who stood against it out of concerns a line break could foul the Missouri River or other waterways.

Attorneys general from 21 states had sued to overturn Biden's cancellation of the pipeline, which would have created thousands of construction jobs. Republicans in Congress have made the cancellation a frequent talking point in their criticism of the administration.

Even some moderate Senate Democrats, including Montana's Jon Tester and West Virginia's Joe Manchin, had urged Biden to reconsider. Tester said Wednesday that he was disappointed in the project's demise but made no mention of Biden.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate energy committee, was more direct. "President Biden killed the Keystone XL Pipeline and with it, thousands of good-paying American jobs," he said.

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on TC Energy's announcement. In his Jan. 20 cancellation order, Biden said allowing the line to proceed "would not be consistent with my administration's economic and climate imperatives."

Construction on long disputed Keystone XL halted as Biden decides to revoke permit TORONTO (AP)  Construction on the long disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline halted Wednesday as incoming U.S. President Joe Biden decided to rev

TC Energy said in canceling the pipeline that the company is focused on meeting "evolving energy demands" as the world transitions to different power sources. It said it has $7 billion in other projects under development.

Keystone XL's price tag had ballooned as the project languished, increasing from $5.4 billion to $9 billion. Meanwhile, oil prices fell significantly - from more than $100 a barrel in 2008 to less than $70 in recent months - slowing development of Canada's oil sands and threatening to eat into any profits from moving the fuel to refineries.
The last remaining defendant to face trial in the killing of New Orleans-born rapper Young Greatness must be sent to a mental hospital for treatment, a state judge has ruled.

Donald Reaux will be held at the state forensic hospital in Jackson until doctors address symptoms of bipolar disorder and paranoia, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Camille Buras said this week.

Reaux is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Theodore Jones outside a Waffle House on Oct. 29, 2018. Jones was an up-and-coming rapper who went by the stage name Young Greatness.

The two other defendants have pleaded guilty. They are Donny Maxwell, whos awaiting sentencing on manslaughter and other counts, and Lovance Wix, who received a 20-year sentence on armed robbery and other counts in October 2019.

According to an indictment, the 34-year-old Jones was shot and his Nissan Sentra stolen in the parking lot of the restaurant in the 2900 block of Elysian Fields Avenue.

Police said in a warrant that Reaux and Jones arrived at the restaurant before 1 a.m. in separate cars and talked for a few minutes, according to surveillance video.

About 20 minutes later, the men returned to the parking lot and talked again. Police said that after a few minutes, Jones got into his car to leave, but two males lurking near a dumpster started to shoot at him.

Police were told that Reaux and Jones were friends and grew up in the same neighborhood. Detectives suspected, based on the video, that Reaux helped the shooters remove evidence like Jones' car, his cellphone and the guns from the crime scene.

The shooting stunned fans of the rapper, whose 2015 hit single "Moolah landed him on the Billboard Hot 100. A New Orleans native, Jones moved to Houston after Hurricane Katrina. Friends said he was in town for a funeral.

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In testimony Thursday, a clinical psychologist said Reaux would not be able to assist his defense attorney if the case went to trial today, one of the requirements under the law. Reaux exhibited symptoms of paranoia and bipolar disorder in a recent video examination, according to Salcedo.

+2 In killing of New Orleans rapper Young Greatness, 2 plead guilty, 1 awaits trial Two teenagers have pleaded guilty to roles in the deadly October 2018 shooting and robbery of New Orleans rapper Young Greatness, leaving the 

His thoughts were accelerated. He seemed paranoid, suspicious, Salcedo said. He was irritable. He was hyperactive in his speech and thoughts.

At one point during the examination, Salcedo and another forensic doctor, Richard Richoux, asked Reaux a standard question about his history of substance use. Who told you that? he snapped back at the doctors.

Reaux watched the court hearing from the Orleans Parish jail, wearing a blue mask and orange jumpsuit, and appeared to nod off at one point.

Salcedo said that Reaux was on medication designed to address his symptoms at some point during his incarceration, but he went off the drugs. He expects that Reaux could be restored to competency through a combination of mood stabilizers and antipsychotic agents, a process that could take from a few weeks to a few months.

However, a hospital official reported that theres currently a two-and-a-half month waiting list for the states sole forensic hospital, the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System. The prospect of further delay left the lead prosecutor on the case, Assistant District Attorney Alex Calenda, visibly frustrated.

Calenda asked the judge to maintain Reauxs current trial date, Oct. 4, in the hope that he will be restored to competency in time.

Man removed evidence after fatal shooting of rapper Young Greatness: warrant A 38-year-old man removed evidence from the crime scene outside a Waffle House where rapper Young Greatness was fatally shot last October, pol

Defense attorney Michael Kennedy said he would alert the court if Reaux is restored to competency more quickly than expected.

Reaux was initially set for trial on March 24, 2020. But like dozens of other cases at Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, that date was cancelled by the pandemic. After more than a years hiatus, jury trials are set to resume at the court next month.
After arguing with his former fiancee during a phone call from his mother's Baton Rouge home June 2, Charles Ross told authorities he began ingesting cocaine and became consumed with the idea of going to the woman's Metairie home.

Earlier in the day, Nygia Lambert, 46, had called the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office to report that Ross, 43, had been harassing her by telephone, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Ross was desperate to get to Lambert, but didn't have a vehicle.

So, authorities said, he carjacked a vehicle parked outside of a nearby corner store, eluded a Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office deputy who briefly pursued the stolen vehicle and drove the 66 miles to Lambert's Houma Boulevard apartment where he allegedly shot and killed her some time just before 4 a.m.

Ross was arrested June 3, a few hours after the shooting, after he returned to Baton Rouge, according to Capt. Jason Rivarde, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman.

"He admitted his involvement in the homicide," Rivarde said Wednesday.

Ross was being held at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges connected to the carjacking. He's also been booked as a fugitive from Jefferson Parish, wanted for Lambert's murder, according to authorities.

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+3 'Sweet, outgoing' grandmother found dead with gunshot wound in her Metairie apartment Thursday Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office homicide detectives are investigating the death of a woman who was found shot inside her Metairie apartment 

Lambert, 46, a mother and grandmother, was found dead inside her second-floor apartment in the 100 block of Houma Boulevard, authorities said. An autopsy determined she had been shot multiple times, the Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office said.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office detectives seem to have quickly identified Ross as a suspect in the case, according to Baton Rouge court records. Within the four hours of Lambert's slaying, the Sheriff's Office had already reached out to the Louisiana State Police Fugitive Task Force for help in finding Ross.

State Police Officers located him about 8:30 a.m. on June 3 as he was walking in the 13000 block of Meadowmere Drive in Baton Rouge, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office. Ross had a gun and the keys to the GMC Sierra pickup truck that had been stolen in the carjacking the night before, authorities said.

Ross also confessed to the holdup, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said. Fueled by cocaine and determined to make his way to Metairie, Ross told investigators he spotted a man asleep behind the wheel of the truck parked at Jayla Food Mart on Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge, a three-block walk from his mother's apartment, authorities said.

The victim told investigators he awoke to a man poking him in the ribs with a gun. The man, later identified as Ross, ordered the victim out of the truck and drove off with the vehicle, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office.

In Baton Rouge, Ross has been booked with armed robbery, possession of stolen property and illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Bond was set at $125,000 for those charges, court records said.

But he is being held without bond as a fugitive from Jefferson Parish. In Jefferson Parish, Ross will be booked with second-degree murder and obstruction of justice, Rivarde said.
The shooting that killed a 12-year-old girl outside a graduation party in the Lower 9th Ward was retaliation for an earlier gun battle, the New Orleans Police Department says.

Details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Todriana Peters on May 30 surfaced after authorities arrested four more suspects in the case. Dorian Ratliff, Tyreese Riley, Pernell Young and Marcus Venible each face one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder, Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said Thursday.

A fifth suspect, Dantrell Brown, was booked on the same counts Tuesday.

+16 In killing of 12-year-old Todriana Peters, NOPD arrests suspect Authorities have arrested a man accused of fatally shooting a 12-year-old girl and wounding two others at a graduation party in the Lower 9th 

Based on statements that at least some of the arrested men gave to police, detectives believe that Ratliff, Riley, Young, Venible and Raquian Bell were riding together in Ratliffs car when they began exchanging gunfire with another vehicle.

The group later spotted the car they were battling  an Infinity  outside a graduation party in the 500 block of Delery Street.

Police allege Ratliff, 20, and his four companions resumed firing at the Infinity, striking an 18-year-old and 19-year-old while mortally wounding Todriana.

One of the two men who was injured was the driver of the Infinity. Todriana happened to be standing next to him, police wrote in court records.

Loved ones have said that Todriana, a 7th grader at Schaumburg Elementary, went to the graduation party with an older cousin so they could charge their cellphones in Todrianas brothers car. They had been there mere moments when the shooting began. The party was for students who had just graduated from Chalmette High School.

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Police caught a break when they located Ratliffs car in St. Bernard and found Venible, 18, with the key fob to the vehicle, the records say. Venible was initially booked Wednesday with being an accessory after the fact because he told police all he did was ditch the vehicle after the shooting.

+2 2nd man jailed for alleged role in killing of 12-year-old Todriana Peters: NOPD Authorities have jailed a second man suspected of having a role in the triple shooting that killed a 12-year-old girl at a graduation party in

But by Thursday officers had re-booked him with second-degree murder and attempted murder. Hours later, Ferguson announced at a news conference that Ratliff, Riley, 19, and Young, 20, were also arrested on counts of murder and attempted murder.

Ferguson didnt mention Bells name at the news conference.

We hope this would bring some healing or comfort to (Todrianas) family, Ferguson said. We have not stopped working on this, and we will continue  as long as the investigation needs us to.

Venibles bail was set at $580,000, and Browns was set at $1 million. Both remained in custody as of early Thursday evening.

Bond amounts were not available for the others, who, according to the NOPD, were arrested by the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office.

In Louisiana, anyone convicted of murder faces life imprisonment. Attempted murder can carry up to 50 years in prison per count.
An Avondale man accused of killing his ex-girlfriends current boyfriend after the boyfriend allegedly beat the woman was charged with obstruction of justice and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, according to Jefferson Parish court records.

Anthony Smith, 39, pleaded not guilty Tuesday after he being charged by the Jefferson Parish District Attorneys Office.

Smith was initially booked with second-degree murder in the Feb. 8 shooting death of Cleveland Thompson, 23, of Hahnville.

Thompson was dating Smiths former girlfriend, a 40-year-old woman with whom Smith shares an 11-year-old son, according to authorities.

On the morning of Jan. 19, Thompson and the woman got into an argument at her Cohen Street apartment in Marrero, Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office investigators said. During the spat, Thompson allegedly punched the woman several times in the face before leaving the apartment.

Smith and the woman's son called 911 for help. But he also called an older brother who lives with Smith in Avondale, authorities said.

Smith was at the apartment when deputies arrived. They noted the womans cut lip, according to authorities.

The woman decided not to press charges against Thompspon, but Smith told deputies he planned to stay for a while in case Thompson returned, according to the Sheriffs office. Smith also planned to help the woman pack up Thompsons belongings and put them on the porch.

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Deputies left the womans apartment about 10:41 a.m. Less than 10 minutes later the Sheriffs Office received a 911 call reporting the shooting, authorities said. Deputies dispatched to Cohen Street found Thompson lying wounded in the driveway of a home about half-block from his girlfriends apartment.

The woman told investigators that shortly after the deputies left, she and Smith spotted Thompson walking toward them from a nearby yard. As Smith and Thompson began arguing, the woman ran back inside her apartment and barricaded the door.

From there, she heard a single gunshot, authorities said. Smith left the scene before deputies arrived to investigate the shooting.

Thompson at first told deputies he didnt know who shot him. He said he didnt live in the area, didnt know anyone there and was wounded by gunfire while walking down the street, according to authorities.

But Thompson said the words baby dad to a deputy who rode in the ambulance with him to the hospital, according to the Sheriffs Office. He also identified Smith as the shooter to relatives.

Thompson died of his injuries five days after the shooting.

The District Attorneys Office directly filed the obstruction and gun charges against Smith. He has a 2015 conviction of possession of heroin in Jefferson Parish that bars him from having a gun, court records said.

A second-degree murder charge requires an indictment from a grand jury. The District Attorneys office did not respond to a request Wednesday for comment about the murder charge in the case. But the office typically does not discuss open cases.

Smith was being held Wednesday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna on a $60,000 bond.

*Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Anthony Smith died five days after the shooting.
He knows where I am because hes probably one of the people thatve been following me all this time. They know where I am, he said. Were not going to deal with his silliness anymore. We turned over the E-ZPass ... We opened our home. He should try that. He should open his home and let folks walk through and see his living arrangement.
A 49-year-old man was arrested Thursday morning after police say he stole a car at knifepoint and led police on a chase from New Orleans East across parish lines into Kenner.

Isadore Foreman will be booked into the New Orleans jail on several charges, New Orleans police said, including armed carjacking and flight from an officer.

In Jefferson Parish, Kenner police Lt. Michael Cunningham said Foreman will booked with hit-and-run, reckless operation and driving with no license.

Started with carjacking at knifepoint

Police said they were called at 5:24 a.m. about an armed carjacking in the 12300 block of South I-10 Service Road (map) in New Orleans East. Foreman, police said, carjacked a man and woman, both 30, at knifepoint and drove off in their vehicle.

At 5:36 a.m., New Orleans police said they saw the stolen vehicle in the 7800 block of Chef Menteur Highway (map) in the Plum Orchard area. The driver fled from police, according to an NOPD statement, and a ranking officer authorized a pursuit.

Restrictions the NOPD put in place under a 2012 federal consent decree prohibit officers from car chases in many instances. However, the agency does allow its officers to chase suspects in violent crimes, including armed carjackings.

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The driver took Interstate 10 west into Jefferson Parish, police said.

Driver of stolen car crashed into another vehicle

New Orleans officers chased the stolen car to Kenner, where the driver exited at Williams Boulevard before crashing into another vehicle around 6 a.m. at the corner of 37th Street, police said.

Car parts, including pieces of tail lights and a bumper, were scattered on Williams for about a block.

Deputies from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office arrested Foreman, who was brought to a hospital to be examined following the crash.

Kenner police and JPSO assisted in responding to the chase and crash.

Staff writers Ramon Antonio Vargas and Michelle Hunter contributed to this story.
Mainland says DPP to blame for deteriorating cross-Strait relations

Xinhua) 14:02, June 10, 2021

BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority in Taiwan is entirely to blame for the current dire cross-Strait relations, a mainland spokesperson said Wednesday.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in response to the claim that "the deterioration of the cross-Strait relations is not caused by Taiwan" made by the so-called "American Institute in Taiwan" in an interview with Taiwan media.

It is generally known that the root cause of the tension and turmoil in the relations across the Taiwan Strait is the DPP authority obstinately seeking "Taiwan independence," stirring up anti-China sentiments on the island out of political interests and provoking confrontation and conflicts between the two sides of the Strait, Ma noted.

The mainland has tried its best to offer help to Taiwan compatriots in the fight against COVID-19. "We will never, however, allow the DPP authority to take our goodwill as an opportunity to seek 'independence,' nor allow anyone to split Taiwan from China in any way," said Ma.

"We urge the U.S. government and relevant individuals to act on the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, tell right from wrong on the Taiwan question, and not to release wrong signals to the separatists seeking 'Taiwan independence,' so as to play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, rather than the opposite," said the spokesperson.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits ones intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice, the group, which also included New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, said in a statement late Thursday. The United States and Israel are imperfect and, like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups.
The White House lawyer said he did not want to relay Trumps directive to then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because he feared Rosenstein either to fire Mueller or resign himself, according to a transcript released Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee.
The courts ruling on Wednesday required that the FBK be liquidated and its property transferred into the ownership of the Russian Federation, according to a statement from the Moscow City Courts press service. It also prohibits any activity in Navalnys regional network of political offices, which were previously disbanded in April after prosecutors issued an injunction to suspend their activities pending the court ruling.
According to Bloomberg, the group behind the JBS hack is known as REvil, but also goes by Sodinokibi. The gang is believed to have ties to Russian organized crime. Earlier this year REvil was responsible for hacking a hardware company in Taiwan to steal Apple data and plans.
Of course, New Yorks big business interests are working hard to claim that this bill is something scary. They constantly point out that abuse of dominance is a standard popular in Europe, trying to tie New York lawmakers to that continents penchant for socialism. They also claim that the bill, if it became law, would not only affect the Amazons of the world, but small, local businesses too, sweeping up everything from your favorite eatery to your local gym.
DA races are usually low salience, and few people know anything about the candidates. In the highly publicized June 2019 Queens DA Democratic Primary featuring Tiffany Caban and Melinda Katz, the winner, Katz, received less than 35,000 votes. In the 2017 Manhattan DA general election, approximately 200,000 votes were cast out of close to one million registered voters. It is sound policy to open the election across the city and allow more voices to be heard, especially those most affected by hyper-aggressive policing and prosecuting. Bear in mind, too, that there are no term limits and DAs often remain in office for decades.
There is not a chance I am giving this kid a bond right now, Venzer said, according to the Herald. Online jail records confirmed no bond had been issued in the case.
Samsung has set a date for presenting its 'New Watch Experience', following the announcement that Wear OS and Tizen will merge. The presentation is only a few weeks away, of which the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 4 are expected to be a part.

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It was already clear from Google I/O that Samsung had ditched Tizen, the operating system used on its smartwatches since 2013. Samsung has released a few cameras and smartphones running Tizen, along with its Family Hub 3.0 Refrigerator, but the South Korean company will be loading Wear OS on Galaxy Watch devices going forwards. According to Google, Wear OS and Tizen will merge to form a single and unified OS called Wear.

However, it remains unclear when Samsung plans to reveal Wear OS smartwatches. So far, leaks suggest that the company will launch the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 4 at some point, stylised as the Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch Active4. The pair has recently turned up at the 3C in China, which you can read about here.

While we speculated that the 3C certification implies that Samsung is close to announcing the pair, we did not necessarily think that it would be this month. According to a post on MWC Barcelona, Samsung will give a presentation on June 28 that will focus on the 'GALAXY ECOSYSTEM / NEW WATCH EXPERIENCE / MOBILE SECURITY'. Undoubtedly, Samsung will reveal at least something about its Wear OS plans, if not necessarily the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 4.
And back in May, more than five dozen big cats were seized by federal authorities from the couples Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park after they were accused of violating the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Department of Justice in a press release last month said that 68 protected lions, tigers, lion-tiger hybrids, and a jaguar were taken during the raid at the wildlife park, first opened by Joe Exotic back in 1999.
This is the third time Glazer, 56, has been dropped by his carrier since he built the nearly 4,800-square-foot home at 2001 Hamilton Lane in Orlando in 2007. First, it was State Farm, then Allstate. This time it was Southern Fidelity Insurance Co., one of three companies given the go-ahead to cancel policies without the usual amount of notice.
The message coming out of Tallahassee is the pandemics gone, lets move on, Eskamani said. What they dont understand or they dont care about is thousands of people are still missing benefits and thousands still need assistance, and cutting off access is not going to make the problem go away, its going to make the problem worse.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced on Wednesday that it planned to return two brass plaques from its collection, part of the group of West African artifacts known as the Benin Bronzes, to Nigeria, making it the latest institution to pursue repatriation of the looted works.

It has also brokered the return of a third object  a brass head produced in the city of Ife around the 14th century  that had been offered to the museum for sale.

The Met is pleased to have initiated the return of these works and is committed to transparency and the responsible collecting of cultural property, the museum said in a statement.

The two 16th-century brass plaques, Warrior Chief and Junior Court Official, were created at the Court of Benin.
A high-stakes trip for Biden

President Biden arrived in Britain on Wednesday to attend a Group of 7 summit, followed by meetings with NATO and European Union leaders. Biden will announce, possibly as early as Thursday, that the White House has reached an agreement to provide 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to 100 countries over the next year. We have live updates here.

European leaders are relieved to be dealing with a president who values alliances after former President Donald Trump called the E.U. a foe and dismissed NATO as obsolete.

But the talks arent going to be easy. Topics on the table include how to deal with Russia and China, the military withdrawal from Afghanistan and global warming. On the final day of his trip, in Geneva, Biden will meet with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Speaking to troops after landing in Suffolk, Biden called his weeklong diplomatic trip essential, and vowed to stand up to China and Russia.
The Biden administration is invoking provisions in a new trade agreement to ask Mexico to look into accusations of labor violations at an auto-parts plant near the U.S. border.

The action, announced Wednesday by the Labor Department and the Office of the United States Trade Representative, follows a complaint by groups including the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nations largest federation of unions, that workers were being denied the rights of free association and collective bargaining.

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. said workers at the Tridonex plant in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, had been harassed and fired over their efforts to organize with an independent union in place of one controlled by the company. Tridonex is owned by Cardone Industries, an aftermarket auto-parts manufacturer based in Philadelphia.

It is the second time that the United States has sought Mexican review of a labor rights matter under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which took effect last summer. The accord has a rapid response mechanism that provides for complaints to be brought against and for penalties to be applied to an individual factory.
The worlds largest meat processor said on Wednesday that it paid an $11 million ransom in Bitcoin to the hackers behind an attack that forced the shutdown last week of all the companys U.S. beef plants and disrupted operations at poultry and pork plants.

The company, JBS, said in a statement that the decision to pay the ransom was made to protect its data and hedge against risk for its customers. The company said most of its facilities were back up and running when the payment was made.

The F.B.I. said last week that it believed REvil, a Russian-based group that is one of the most prolific ransomware organizations, was responsible for the attack.

JBS, which is based in Brazil, processes roughly a fifth of the United States beef and pork. News last week of the cyberattack on a producer so central to the U.S. meat supply spurred worries that the shutdown could shock the market, creating shortages and accelerating the rise of already-high meat prices.
Scientists confirm new dinosaur species found in Xinjiang

Xinhua) 14:04, June 10, 2021

A drawing of the new dinosaur species found in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo provided to Xinhua)

BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The discovery of 114 dinosaur footprint fossils, found in rocks in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has been confirmed by scientists as traces left by pterosaurs 135 million years ago.

The dinosaur footprint site, only covering an area of 0.3 square meters, is located in the Wuerhe region in the Junggar Basin, where scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered 57 manus tracks and 57 pes tracks since 2006, indicating the trackmakers were quadrupedal.

After studying the main features, like digit lengths, scientists identified the tracks were different from those left by 15 other known pterosaur species. Therefore, they proposed a new species as Pteraichnus wuerhoensis isp. nov., dating back to the Early Cretaceous period.

Photo shows the dinosaur footprints found in rocks in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and their corresponding line drawings.(Photo provided to Xinhua)

The study was published online earlier this month in the international journal PeerJ.

According to Li Yang, lead researcher of the article, the varied sizes of these footprints suggest that the trackmakers are of different ages and provide evidence that pterosaurs lived in groups.

"The Wuerhe region was dotted with large lakes at that time. The pterosaurs left numerous footprints, most likely because they went to lakes for food," Li said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
But wait! Even as we look back at the festival, quirks and all  what was up with the closed parking garage?  the Fringe fun continues online. DigiFringe, an array of online shows, is available through June 18. Among the offerings: Award-winning shows from the May fest, new offerings such as comic mystery The DEFinition ASSOCiation, a film saluting beloved entertainer Miss Sammy, and an artistic reflection on the past year in Our COVID Stories.
Crooks Corner, the restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C., that helped spark a renaissance in Southern cuisine starting in the 1980s, has permanently closed, Shannon Healy, an owner, said Wednesday.

Mr. Healy said the business, which shut down in the spring of 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic, struggled to regain its footing after reopening last fall. It served its final meals on Sunday night.

The pandemic kind of crushed us, he said. We were trying to reorganize some debt, and we just couldnt get it done.

Crooks Corner was opened in 1982 by Gene Hamer and Bill Neal inside a former fish market. Mr. Neal had made his name locally as a chef with the French restaurant La Residence, which he opened with his wife, Moreton Neal. He envisioned Crooks as a new kind of Southern restaurant: a place where the regions food would be treated with reverence.
The two roles have been held by different people in the past, but a 2008 commission led by Mr. Ravitch helped spur legislation that reunited them into a single job as part of an effort to restore the chief executives independence.

Ms. Feinberg, who is currently the interim leader of the agency that operates the citys subway and buses, has told people that she would not take on the dual role because she wanted to reduce her workload, according to a person who spoke with her and asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.

Abbey Collins, an authority spokeswoman, disputed that characterization and called it frankly sexist.

By Thursday, Mr. Cuomo appeared to have reached a resolution with Senate Democrats following hurried negotiations: A deal to still split the leadership role, but require that both positions be confirmed by the Senate. The agreement, however, unraveled late on Thursday just before lawmakers gaveled out of session and left Albany without an immediate solution.

Mr. Cuomos original proposal was introduced in the Legislature earlier this week, the last of this years legislative session. When Senate Democrats met to discuss it on Tuesday, it quickly became clear it lacked the support it needed for approval, according to Michael Gianaris, a Democrat and the Senates deputy majority leader.

The governor is attempting a restructuring of the top echelon of the M.T.A. with very little notice and in such a way that the members of the Senate arent comfortable, Mr. Gianaris said in an interview. The notion that we were going to rubber stamp an effort to have even less oversight and more consolidation of power in the executive is not something were interested in.

Lawmakers raised concerns about the bills structure and timing and even about Ms. Feinberg herself. Mr. Gianaris said she had frequently taken to the podium to echo the governors attacks and that kind of politicization is not something were interested in.
Any additional airstrikes would require the presidents approval. Even then, officials indicated that such air support would be hard to sustain over a lengthy period because of the enormous logistical effort that would be necessary given the American withdrawal. The United States will leave all its air bases in Afghanistan by next month, and any airstrikes would most likely have to be launched from bases in the Persian Gulf.

A potential fall of Kabul is the crisis most likely to lead to military intervention after U.S. troops leave, officials said. Intervening to protect Kandahar, Afghanistans second-largest city, would be far less certain, one official said. Encroaching Taliban forces have increasingly threatened several other urban hubs in almost every corner of the country in recent months.

The discussion suggests the degree of concern in Washington about the ability of Afghanistans military to hold off the Taliban and maintain control of Kabul and other population centers.

And it is the latest indication of the scramble by the United States to address the ramifications of Mr. Bidens decision in April to order a full withdrawal  a goal that had eluded his two immediate predecessors, in part because of opposition from the military.

Whether to provide air support to Afghan security forces after U.S. troops pull out is one of several major questions about Afghanistan policy that the administration is grappling with as Mr. Biden prepares to meet NATO allies in Europe next week.
WASHINGTON  President Biden on Wednesday revoked a Trump-era executive order that sought to ban the popular apps TikTok and WeChat and replaced it with one that calls for a broader review of a number of foreign-controlled applications that could pose a security risk to Americans and their data.

The Trump order had not been carried out in the soundest fashion, Biden administration officials said in a call with reporters, adding that the new directive would establish clear intelligible criteria to evaluate national security risks posed by software applications connected to foreign governments, particularly China.

Mr. Bidens order reflects a growing urgency among American officials, both Republican and Democrat, to aggressively counter what they see as a growing threat posed by Chinas military and technology sectors. In a rare show of bipartisanship, U.S. lawmakers have also sought to reduce Americas dependence on China for supply chain technology like semiconductors, rare minerals and other equipment. On Tuesday, the Senate approved a $250 billion spending package to bolster American technology research and development.

The order is the first significant step Mr. Biden has taken to approach the saga between TikTok and the Trump administration, which tried to ban the app over national security concerns but was immediately challenged in federal court.
WASHINGTON  President Biden, under pressure to aggressively address the global coronavirus vaccine shortage, will announce as early as Thursday that his administration will buy 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and donate them among about 100 countries over the next year, according to people familiar with the plan.

The White House reached the deal just in time for Mr. Bidens eight-day European trip, which is his first opportunity to reassert the United States as a world leader and restore relations that were badly frayed by President Donald J. Trump.

We have to end Covid-19, not just at home, which were doing, but everywhere, Mr. Biden told American troops after landing at R.A.F. Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Theres no wall high enough to keep us safe from this pandemic or the next biological threat we face, and there will be others. It requires coordinated multilateral action.

People familiar with the Pfizer deal said the United States would pay for the doses at a not for profit price. The first 200 million doses will be distributed by the end of this year, followed by 300 million by next June, they said. The doses will be distributed through Covax, the international vaccine-sharing initiative.
Lawmakers quizzed the Biden administrations nominee to lead the National Counterterrorism Center on Wednesday about the role of intelligence agencies in investigating domestic terrorism.

Christine S. Abizaid, the nominee to lead the center, said that the kind of terrorist groups that the United States faced was changing. Though she repeatedly emphasized that the F.B.I. would continue to take the lead in domestic terrorism investigations, she also said there was a role for the broader intelligence community to look for connections between domestic extremists and foreign groups.

The counterterrorism center, she said, was established to connect the dots, integrating intelligence from across an array of sources, whether theyre foreign or domestic.

Still, Republican lawmakers suggested growing public unease with the intelligence communitys work on domestic terrorism could complicate Ms. Abizaids efforts. Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said there was a lack of trust by the American people in what the intelligence community is actually doing, and stressed that intelligence work should not curtail any U.S. citizens right of free speech.
WASHINGTON  A federal watchdog said on Wednesday that the United States Park Police had been planning to clear protesters from a park near the White House well before they learned that President Donald J. Trump was going to walk through the area last year.

The report by the Interior Departments inspector general concluded that the evidence did not support a finding that the Park Police had cleared the area just for Mr. Trump, who strode through it on June 1 last year before posing for photographs in front of St. Johns Episcopal Church holding a Bible.

The burst of violence in Lafayette Square, which came at the height of the racial justice protests last summer, became one of the defining moments of the Trump presidency. Protesters in the shadow of the White House were pushed back with smoke, flash grenades and chemical spray deployed by shield-bearing riot officers and mounted police.

The 30-page report by the Interior Departments inspector general offers new details about the Park Polices decision-making. And the sequence of events described in the report suggests that the operation to clear the area turned violent soon after the Park Police were informed of Mr. Trumps arrival.
I cant bear to remove any of it, she said, the newspaper reported. Im not ready to remove any trace of him. Its all I have left.

Before he was sentenced, Mr. Barson apologized to the victims families.

Knowing I caused the death of five beautiful people and severely hurt two others is unbearable most of the time, he said, according to Fox 5 in Las Vegas. Ive caused so much pain in all of your lives, and I want you to know Im so truly sorry for what Ive done. I know you will carry this pain forever, and it breaks my heart I caused this. If I could give my life to bring your loved ones back, I would. I am so ashamed of myself.

The portion of the highway where the cyclists were hit on Dec. 10 has a speed limit of 75 m.p.h. But the highway is generally considered safe for biking because of its wide shoulder, local cyclists said.

Mr. Barson was initially charged with five counts of driving under the influence resulting in death as well as other charges that could have resulted in his being sentenced to more than 100 years in prison, Mr. Sheets said.

But under a deal with prosecutors, he agreed to plead guilty in April to two counts of driving under the influence resulting in death, Mr. Sheets said.

Asked about the deal, Mr. Wolfson said that if the case had gone to trial, there was a possibility that a judge could have blocked as evidence the blood draw that determined that Mr. Barson had methamphetamine in his system.

Mr. Wolfson blamed the potential problem with the blood draw on less than perfect investigative work by the Nevada Highway Patrol.
Last summer, after generations of silence and denial, the city of Tulsa, Okla., began excavations in search of the graves of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Nearly a century had passed since a mob of white Tulsans violently invaded the prosperous Black neighborhood of Greenwood, overcoming a vigorous defense by some residents, killing and rounding up Black Tulsans en masse and burning much of the neighborhood to the ground.

The search for graves now underway is based on surveying technology informed by scattered evidence  nearly century-old newspaper articles, funeral home records and scarred memories.

The first site that was excavated, in a part of the citys Oaklawn Cemetery, turned up no evidence of a mass grave. But in October, the remains of at least 12 people were discovered in a mass grave in what was once the Black potters field within Oaklawn. At the beginning of June, the research team returned for more extensive searching. On Tuesday, they announced that evidence of at least 15 more coffins had been found, though whether any of them were connected to the massacre has yet to be determined.
Vaccinated Californians will be able to go mask-free in indoor stores, bars, restaurants, movie theaters and many other places as part of the states grand reopening next Tuesday, officials said.

The new rules align with federal guidance, meaning that face coverings will still be required on public transportation and in taxis, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters. Masks will also be required indoors at K-12 schools, child care facilities and other places where there may be a large number of children who havent been vaccinated, according to the plans announced on Wednesday.

Unvaccinated people will remain subject to rules to wear masks indoors, although the state, as throughout the pandemic, is maintaining a light touch with enforcement and is not requiring business operators to verify whether patrons are vaccinated.

The shift on masks for the vaccinated will coincide with the much-anticipated lifting of remaining business capacity restrictions in California, where life has been at least partially locked down for some 15 months.
Parker was the one, from what I was told, that actually was used for most of the scenes because the stunt double didnt work out, said Jennifer Mohr, Parkers owner and an animal trainer with Birds & Animals Unlimited. Parker was the one that made the cut, so to speak, and he did really well in all the behaviors that they had to rehearse for the movie.
RIO DE JANEIRO  Officials at the World Health Organization on Wednesday repeated their calls for the worlds governments to accelerate plans to distribute coronavirus vaccines to hard-hit nations, warning that many countries in Latin America continued to see rising caseloads.

Across our region, this year has been worse than last year, said Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, the director of the Pan American Health Organization, which is part of the W.H.O. In many places, infections are higher now than at any point in this pandemic.

The comments came as President Biden prepared to announce that his administration would buy 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and donate them among about 100 countries over the next year, according to people familiar with the plan. Mr. Biden could announce the arrangement as early as Thursday, as he begins his first trip abroad as president.

It is not yet clear which countries the 500 million vaccine doses would be supplied to, but Latin America is among the regions where the need is urgent. Eight of the 10 countries with the highest rate of Covid deaths per capita are in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
MUNICH  Gottfried Bohm, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect who was known for his strikingly sculptural concrete buildings and as a leader of a generation of German architects whose task was nothing less than to rebuild their country in the wake of World War II, died on Wednesday at his home in Cologne. He was 101.

His son Paul, who is also an architect, confirmed the death.

Mr. Bohm was considered one of his countrys leading architects long before he won that coveted award, often considered the Nobel for architecture, in 1986. Like his father, the expressionist architect Dominikus Bohm (1880-1955), he was highly regarded as a builder of churches. His first, completed in 1949, was Madonna in the Ruins, a chapel that is now part of the Kolumba museum complex in Cologne, a city whose postwar reconstruction he was particularly involved in.

Mr. Bohm built the chapel on the site of an early medieval parish church, dating to the year 980, that was destroyed by Allied bombs in 1943. His design incorporated the churchs few surviving elements, including the exterior walls, the northeast pillar of the main nave and the 15th-century life-size statue of the Virgin Mary that lent the reconsecrated church its name.

A year later, Mr. Bohm began working for Colognes official reconstruction program, which was headed by the noted architect Rudolf Schwarz.
The hope is to change what we hold to be of cultural worth and preservation in perpetuity, which is what museums are meant to do, Millar Fisher said. I really wish there werent so many Faberge eggs on display, and I wish there were more breast pumps.

She lobbied, unsuccessfully, to get one of the original, hospital-grade, portable breast pumps  a chromed, curvilinear model from the 50s, with Swedish engineering and American notions of labor-saving  accepted into exhibitions at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art or the Philadelphia Museum of Art, when she worked there. Her department, decorative arts, meant luxury items, she was told.

Toasters, toothbrushes, childrens toys  all sorts of household items have earned a place in museum collections, but the breast pump, which inspires impassioned monologues from anyone who has ever used one, cataloging its (many) design flaws and features, was spurned.

Millar Fisher eventually succeeded in having a breast pump displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago. But those initial nos  mystifying and infuriating to her, especially from people who had never lactated, as she put it  fueled the work on Designing Motherhood, which she and Winick began conceptualizing in 2017, after meeting at a baby shower. (Winick has children; Millar Fisher and Barton, their co-curator, do not. They made sure their work grappled with the choices and cultural and medical history of being child-free.)

* * *

The project comes at a moment when the material needs of women and mothers are being recognized more, driven in part by the booming personal care marketplace and young, body-positive consumers, said Cunningham Cameron, of the Cooper Hewitt. A research-backed movement for culturally specific maternal care is growing (Erica Chidi, a doula and a founder of the reproductive wellness site Loom, wrote a prologue for the Designing Motherhood book).
Founded in 2011, the Bronx Documentary Center is a gallery and teaching space in the Melrose neighborhood that offers screenings, exhibitions and education programs in documentary film and photography to members of the local community. The aim, said Bianca Farrow, the centers education manager, is to help people use photography as a tool to be confident in themselves, in the stories they have to tell, and creating a community interested in exploring their own histories.

As part of that mission, the center operates the Bronx Junior Photo League, a nine-month photography and college success program, and the Bronx Senior Photo League, courses for older adults held at senior centers in the borough. Over the last year, the pandemic ruled out in-person instruction. But the center adapted: It offered classes virtually or as phone calls, and sent each student a camera, which they used to document their own lives as the world shifted around them.

Earlier this year, The New York Times asked both the senior and junior leagues to make self-portraits; how they defined self-portrait was up to them. Their photos are included in a year-end exhibition at the gallery, now on display until June 20. For more, visit bronxdoc.org.
LONDON  Britains most recent rendering of the story of Anne Boleyn, the second of Henry VIIIs six wives, begins at the end. When the new mini-series Anne Boleyn opens, its 1536, the queen is pregnant and powerful  and has five months left to live.

Annes story, which occupies a special place in the British collective imagination, has spawned an abundance of fictionalized depictions onscreen (The Tudors) and in literature (Wolf Hall). It is generally told as a morally dubious young woman seducing an older king into leaving his wife and his church, before she is executed for failing to give birth to a male heir.

But the new mini-series, which premiered last week on Channel 5, one of Britains public service broadcasters, attempts to reframe Annes story, instead focusing on her final months and how she tried to maintain power in a system that guaranteed her very little.

In the three episode-long series, Anne is played by Jodie Turner-Smith, best-known for her role in the film Queen & Slim. It is the first time a Black actress has portrayed the Tudor queen onscreen.
The news coverage of Bidens trip got off to a bumpy start. The White House press plane was delayed almost seven hours because a swarm of cicadas flew into the engine of the plane. If this was a movie, the government would have to go to a cabin in the woods to convince Sully Sullenberger to do one last job.  JIMMY KIMMEL

United was like, Ooh, thats good; can we use that?  JIMMY FALLON

And theyre so out of touch. They havent been aboveground since 2004, and it shows. I mean, look at this one  Ed Hardy shirt, Von Dutch hat, and hes using a BlackBerry, wearing one of those Live Strong bracelets. Its embarrassing.  JIMMY KIMMEL

Oh, [expletive], a cicada got Joe Biden? Im no scientist but Im pretty sure that means Joe Biden is now going to turn into a cicada.  TREVOR NOAH, on Bidens swatting away a cicada on camera
Mary Mattingly grew up in a rural community in New York that had no access to clean drinking water. With that in mind, the artist recently organized a yearlong virtual exhibition chronicling the creation of New Yorks water supply system. In collaboration with More Art, she created a capstone project for this campaign, Public Water, a geodesic dome filled with water-filtering plants that operates like that system. Now at the Grand Army Plaza entrance of Prospect Park in Brooklyn through Sept. 7, the piece reveals whats involved in providing millions of people with this natural resource, despite the environmental challenges that threaten it.

The artist Maya Lin shows what other hazards climate change can produce: a Ghost Forest, her installation at Madison Square Park in Manhattan, on view through Nov. 14. The work features 49 dead cedar trees Lin planted in a rebuke of deforestation. Keen to also offer solutions, she has planned a series of public programs (listed on the park conservancys website) that focus on how we can help.

MELISSA SMITH

JAZZ

Celebrating the Return of Togetherness
People were messaging Ms. Kloots, asking what they could do. When she played music for Mr. Cordero and saw his vital signs improve, I knew my mission, she wrote in the book. She asked her followers to post videos of themselves singing and dancing at 3 p.m. Pacific Time to Mr. Corderos Live Your Life.

Her singalong became a communal appointment, similar in some ways to the applause and serenades that recognized essential workers in New York, Rome and other cities around the world. By May the song was being played on the radio and Sara Bareilles and the casts of Waitress and A Bronx Tale performed their own online adaptations. Live Your Life eventually hit No. 1 on iTunes.

She received a stream of offers from marketers, film producers, TV writers and documentarians. I was like, No, no, no and no. But when Lisa Sharkey, a senior vice president at HarperCollins (and a one-time attendee of Ms. Klootss fitness class) contacted her about a memoir, Ms. Kloots pitched the idea of writing it with Anna, 32, who has always wanted to be a professional writer. (Anna, who worked with and was married to a magician, is writing her own memoir, for an imprint of HarperCollins, called My Own Magic.)

When Mr. Cordero was sick and Anna was living with Amanda and Elvis, she took notes, kept journals and recorded her sisters conversations with doctors. When it came time to write the book, I had this crazy database of information and notes, Anna said, in addition to her sisters archived Instagram updates.

The book comes out as the anniversary of her husbands death approaches. Just after he died, Ms. Kloots Googled stages of grief and printed out what she hoped would be a road map.

It wasnt. The pain ebbs and flows in unanticipated waves.

She is proud that she is raising Elvis in the Laurel Canyon community her husband dreamed about. Still she struggles with regret.

I learned to appreciate his music too late, Ms. Kloots said. But Im determined to keep his voice alive.
What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?

Hilary Mantels Wolf Hall trilogy. The story of Henry VIII and his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell; the countrys breaking away from the papacy, and the creation of the Church of England. Talk about difficult books; she almost spoke a different language. I had to read it in hardcover because, with its long titles and many archaic English phrases, I had to keep going back and checking the names. Couldnt do that easily on a Kindle!

Whats the best book you ever received as a gift?

Your Police, by George Zaffo, was a nonfiction young adult book filled with colorful illustrations of the 1950s N.Y.P.D. As a boy, I didnt know any cops  no one in my family was a cop  but between Dragnet on TV and so many 50s blackandwhite movies in theaters, policing was all I truly cared about. Here were squad cars and motorcycles, as well as all the paraphernalia every officer carried with him on the New York streets. I saw call boxes, helicopters, emergency vehicles  a full complement of real objects to fulfill a fantasy. It said: We must always remember that wherever you see a policeman, he is your friend. He is there to protect you.  He would not hesitate to save your life at the cost of his own. I took that book out of the library regularly for years. Sometimes I would just walk over and visit it. In 1991 friends found a copy in a secondhand shop and without knowing my attachment to it, thought, This would be a nice book for Bill Bratton. I had not seen it since the 1960s. Brought me right back. After I used that copy during my 2014 swearing-in as N.Y.P.D. commissioner, the authors son came to my office and brought me another plus some of the original photos upon which the drawings were based. I am saving them for my grandsons.

Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?

Michael Connellys L.A.P.D. homicide detective Harry Bosch is my favorite hero. He is a flawed person, which makes him real. Theres both a vitality and a morose quality to Harry; youre rooting for him even when he acts out against his better judgment. You want him to win because he truly stands up for justice. I dont have a favorite villain.

What kind of a reader were you as a child?

I read avidly, all the time. When I was a boy in Dorchester, at the corner of Arcadia Street a beautiful red brick building housed my two passions: Boston Police District 11 and a branch of the Boston Public Library. I lived at that library.

If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?

With all due respect, two of them: my books Turnaround and The Profession, both written with Peter Knobler. I think in order to keep the country safe and headed in the right direction its important that our chief executive have a strong awareness of the history and character of policing and law enforcement. Theres so much misunderstanding about the role and potential of our profession, and a president would do well to have a clear vision going forward. I would also recommend Doris Kearns Goodwins Team of Rivals, about Lincolns predilection for surrounding himself with advisers of diverse outlooks. I build my leadership teams the same way; I want people who disagree with one in order for me to select the best path forward.

Youre organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

Tom Wolfe, Nick Pileggi and Pete Hamill. All premier raconteurs who captured the guts of New York. I read The Bonfire of the Vanities just before I became chief of the Transit Police in 1990, and found Wolfe accurately and devastatingly captured the city. His distinctive and highly idiosyncratic voice brought his characters sharply to life. As fine a writer as Tom Wolfe was, he had the ability to sit at a table and immerse you so deeply in a story that talking to him was like reading a book. Always good for a tale of the streets, Nick Pileggi intimately captures something New York is known for, the world of the gangster. He gets the Mafia; his book Wiseguy was turned into the movie Goodfellas. I ate at Elaines and attended various events with Pete Hamill. He lived New York and got under your skin. I loved his book Downtown, in which he walked from the southern tip of Manhattan to 42nd Street. Having met the men, all of whom were talkers, I would be pleased to sit back at the table and listen to them engage. If I could invite a fourth, Id bring Jack Maple in to grill them.

What do you plan to read next?

In my continuing love affair with New York, Im about to start Robert Caros Robert Moses epic, The Power Broker. Im also looking forward to reading what Stacey Abrams has to say about voter suppression, diverse empowerment and the difficulties of modern America in Our Time Is Now.
Biden and Johnson look to a new era

President Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain on Thursday used their first meeting to accentuate what they said was a growing divide between democracies and their autocratic rivals, led by Russia and China. Biden and Johnson met in Cornwall, before Fridays Group of 7 summit. Here are the latest updates.

The two leaders unveiled a new Atlantic Charter as they sought to focus the worlds attention on emerging threats from cyber attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.

In what he hopes will be a powerful demonstration that democracies  and not China or Russia  are capable of responding to the worlds crises, Biden also used his first full day abroad to formally announce that the U.S. would donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine to 100 poorer nations.

A source of tension: One of the toughest issues is the status of Northern Ireland, where Brexit-fueled tensions threaten a return of sectarian violence. Biden is a Roman Catholic and devoted Irish-American, fueling speculation that he will be more favorable to the Irish nationalist cause.
On a non-specific date, Weaver and the victim met with each other at the Best Western Hotel in Mulberry, Manautou said. The encounter lasted 30 minutes, according Manautou. The two took their shirts off and began making out, Manautou said. While Weaver reportedly was kissing the victims chest, the two were interrupted by a maid knocking at the door, Manautou said. This startled the two, and Weaver decided they should head back to the church.
Many Democrats are feeling bereft about Senator Joe Manchins opposition to a major voting rights bill and his continuing support for the filibuster. And they are correct that Manchins positions will constrain President Bidens agenda.

But Manchin has also clarified the paths that are open to Democrats. The party can now let go of its dreams of sweeping legislative change achieved through repeated 51-vote Senate majorities and instead focus on the realistic options.

Todays newsletter explains those options, broken into short term and long term.

What now?

The issues that tend to unite the Democratic Party are economic issues, and Manchin is a good case study. When he breaks with his party, it is typically on issues other than economic policy.

He effectively killed the voting rights bill this week, and he voted for Brett Kavanaughs Supreme Court confirmation in 2018. Manchin is also well to the right of most congressional Democrats on abortion and gun policy.
An activist investor successfully waged a battle to install three directors on the board of Exxon Mobil last week with the goal of pushing the energy giant to reduce its carbon footprint. The investor, a hedge fund called Engine No. 1, was virtually unknown before the fight.

The tiny firm wouldnt have had a chance were it not for an unusual twist: the support of some of Exxons biggest institutional investors. BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street voted against Exxons leadership and gave Engine No. 1 powerful support. These huge investment companies rarely side with activists on such issues.

The stunning result turned the sleepy world of boardroom elections into front-page news as climate activists declared a major triumph, and a blindsided Exxon was left to ponder its defeat, Matt Phillips reports for The New York Times.

Observers say Engine No. 1s victory shows there is a path for shareholder activism to change how companies approach issues like racial diversity and the environment, often considered distractions from producing profits.
Gig companies like Uber and Lyft have long resisted classifying workers as employees, stating in regulatory filings that doing so would force them to alter their business model and risk a financial hit.

After California passed a law in 2019 that effectively gave gig workers the legal standing of employees, companies like Uber and Lyft spent some $200 million on a ballot initiative exempting their drivers.

To avoid such threats in other states, the companies have pressed for legislation that classifies drivers as contractors, meaning they are not entitled to protections like a minimum wage and unemployment benefits, Noam Scheiber reports for The New York Times. Industry officials have estimated that making drivers employees could raise labor costs 20 to 30 percent.

As California considered its bill in 2019, the companies met repeatedly with a few large unions, including the Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters, to discuss a deal. But the talks collapsed because many in the labor movement refused to make significant concessions while holding the legislative upper hand.
The journalist Jeffrey Toobin has resumed his role as chief legal analyst at CNN eight months after he exposed himself on a Zoom call with colleagues at The New Yorker, where he had been a longtime staff writer.

After the October incident, the magazine fired Mr. Toobin and he took an indefinite leave from CNN, where he had been one of the cable channels most recognizable commentators. On Thursday, he reappeared on the network  to the surprise of some journalists there  and apologized again for his actions, saying, It was wrong, it was stupid, and Im trying to be a better person.

Mr. Toobin spoke with the anchor Alisyn Camerota, who summed up the events that had prompted his temporary departure from the public eye.

In October, you were on a Zoom call with your colleagues from The New Yorker magazine, Ms. Camerota recounted. Everyone took a break for several minutes, during which time you were caught masturbating on camera. You were subsequently fired from that job after 27 years of working there, and you since then have been on leave from CNN. Do I have all that right?
In addition to its questionable timing, the policy shift seemed puzzling since there had already been significant declines in emergency room visits throughout the pandemic into this year. Emergency room visits across the country fell by 27 percent in 2020, compared with the previous year, according to Gist Healthcare, a consultant. which also predicted that people with less serious conditions would continue to stay away.

Uniteds decision seemed aimed at making sure people did not go back to using the emergency room for nonurgent care, even as hospitals might try to encourage more people to return, said Chas Roades, a co-founder of Gist. Given the potential blowback, he did not believe United was likely to generate significant savings from the program. I cant quite believe the juice is really worth the squeeze on this policy right now, he said.

Physician groups were also critical of the decision to deny coverage for emergency visits that United considered nonurgent. We object to UnitedHealthcares pending policy that asks patients to second guess their instincts that emergency care is needed, Dr. Susan R. Bailey, the president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement. Patients should not be expected to self-diagnose to determine whether, for example, chest pain is a heart attack or indigestion.

Others noted that such a policy could thwart federal efforts to enlist emergency rooms in reaching more people for immunization against the coronavirus.

This new policy will leave millions fearful of seeking medical care, just as were getting hold of the Covid-19 pandemic and trying to get as many people vaccinated as possible, Dr. Mark Rosenberg, the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said in a statement earlier this week.

If United still goes ahead with the change later on, the policy would apply to millions of people in Uniteds fully insured plans in 35 states, including New York, Ohio, Texas and Washington. People covered through an employer that is self-insured or enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan or Medicaid would not be affected. The policy would exempt care for children under 2 years old.

United had insisted that its policy was not aimed at preventing customers from going to the emergency room to rule out a heart attack if they had chest pain or to address a medical crisis. The insurer said it would take into account the original reason for the visit, any laboratory work or imaging performed and whether there were existing medical conditions or other factors that could have warranted a visit. A hospital could still attest to the emergency needs, and patients could ultimately appeal.
At the Plaza de las Americas in Washington Heights, fruit and vegetable vendors usually sell produce until dusk. But on Wednesday, it was transformed into a replica of any other block in the neighborhood. There was a mock bodega, decorated with three Dominican flags that hung from an awning, a faux fire hydrant and a plastic fruit stand. Underneath the entire set ran a yellow carpet.

The reproduction served as a backdrop for the luminaries attending for the premiere of In the Heights, the big-screen adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudess Tony-winning Broadway show. The sunny carpet welcomed the cast and crew back to the Upper Manhattan neighborhood where it was filmed. The premiere, which also served as opening night of the 20th Tribeca Festival, was held at the United Palace, a majestic 91-year-old theater with a projection system that, years earlier, before his success on Broadway, Miranda had helped raise money to buy and then helped install.

While the actors, producers and executives streamed down the yellow carpet, pausing for pictures with photographers and interviews with the news media, the real Washington Heights whirred behind them. Waitresses at Malecon, a Dominican restaurant across the street from the plaza, peered outside the windows in between serving heaps of rice, stew chicken and beans, trying to figure out why crowds had formed in front of their restaurant on a sticky 90-degree day.
An understated gay romance, Sublet follows a fictional middle-aged New York Times travel writer assigned to discover whats what in Tel Aviv over the course of five days. Michael (played by John Benjamin Hickey with guarded propriety and bristling vulnerability) seems at odds with the citys madcap energy. When he arrives at his temporary abode in a particularly hip part of town, hes caught off guard by Tomer (Niv Nissim), his chaotically free-spirited landlord, who rents his home out to tourists for extra cash.

The film doesnt exactly subvert its cliched when two worlds meet premise, and its bubbly but lame music cues are no help. The Israeli director Eytan Fox offers insights into two generations of gay men that at times can seem superficial. Nevertheless, he creates a pleasurably low-key double character study.
Its so satisfying hailing a yellow cab, said Jelani Wiltshire of Staten Island. Sometimes they pull an entire U-turn to get you. Or they are like, Let me stop traffic just to pick you up.

Getting in one feels like a win, he added.

Mr. Wiltshire, 23, works for Classic Harbor Line out of Chelsea Piers, serving drinks and snacks to the people who buy tickets for group rides or who rent out the boats. To get to work he takes the Staten Island Ferry into downtown Manhattan and then, often, a car to the pier.

Before the pandemic, he used ride-hailing apps. Uber was so common and so convenient, he said. But recently, prices have soared for the services. And New Yorkers like Mr. Wiltshire have noticed.

There was one night when Uber was going to be $35 and take 10 minutes to come, he said. I thought, Why dont I take a yellow cab? The entire ride was $25, including tip, and Mr. Wiltshires driver was chatty and inspiring, he recalled. He told me he was studying in school and trying to become a teacher, he said. This total stranger opened up to me.
Amid this turmoil, Mr. Reichers employer set him to work on the list, not just to mark each death, but to encourage the living to learn from each persons life, said Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, the executive director of Chabad.org, a far-reaching Jewish website.

The conventional demarcation line between life and death, that the demise of the body represents an absolute end to life  we prefer to focus on the souls next stage, Rabbi Shmotkin said. Whats the persons continuing impact on this world? What can we learn from their lives to apply to our own?

It was early enough in the pandemic that each death made the news. The first confirmed Jewish death Mr. Reicher could find was on March 15. He made note: Daniel Scully, 69, Las Vegas, Nev.; Chicago Cubs fan and all-around happy person. In early April, during Passover, he opened his computer and saw that at least 30 people from the Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, had died over a period of two days.

His head filled with names and numbers of the dead. From a wedding in Morocco, 20 people dead. On some days last year in April, he would get 70 new names. He worked alone in the middle of the night from his parents house in Melbourne, away from his nine siblings, so he could maintain contact with New York. The names came from Israel, Argentina, England, Russia, Iran, but especially from Brooklyn, the source of 266 names so far. Their families, often denied the normal rituals of mourning, were grateful to talk, he found. The dead were becoming people to him, not statistics.

These stories I was hearing from all over the world, they stuck with me: the names, the Holocaust survivors, he said.
Indeed, if Mr. Adams did live in New Jersey, it would be unlikely to affect his eligibility to be mayor. State law only says that he has to be living in New York City on Election Day in November, according to the state Board of Elections.

So the controversy about his residence and work habits, at least for now, comes down to a battle of perceptions. And it was a battle where Mr. Adams appeared so far to be holding his own.

By Thursday afternoon, Mr. Adams seemed to be relishing the confrontation, cheerful and surrounded by steadfast supporters from the transit workers union.

A question came up, and I answered it, he said as he trotted to his car after speaking to city bus drivers at a depot in southern Brooklyn. I did it the New York way. I didnt run from it. I confronted the problem head on, the same way I confronted bad guys as a police officer.

The divide that was emerging was between rivals and critics who saw the confusion as a sign that Adams was evasive and possibly ethically challenged, and supporters who saw the whole issue as ginned up by rivals to distract from his appeal to working-class New Yorkers.

Was he sleeping in Brooklyns Borough Hall, or New Jersey, to evade taxes, while running as a lifelong public servant and dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker  at worst violating laws, at best displaying poor time management and disorganization that might not bode well for running the city?

Or was his chaotic-seeming lifestyle something more ordinary and relatable, the eccentric habit of a man with a life devoted to work and politics and overflowing, like so many other peoples, with conflicting commitments to professional, personal and family life?
Firehawk Helicopters, which as a hanger at Leesburg airport, was conducting tests on a recently-purchased water tank. As part of the test, the pilot flew the helicopter to a lake adjacent to the airport where it would pick up water and dump it nearby before flying back to the hanger area and starting the process over again. The first six passes were fine, but trouble started on the seventh which is when Firehawk employees tried unsuccessfully to get the pilots attention, the report said.
At least at first, the third major Democratic debate in the race for mayor of New York City focused on the story that has dominated the race this week: Where does Eric Adams live?

After the candidates criticized Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, over where exactly he sleeps, the debate moved on to other topics like public safety and bike lanes.

With fewer candidates onstage, it was a calmer affair than past debates.

But there were real policy differences, and the candidates continued to try to introduce themselves to voters before early voting starts on Saturday.

Image Thursdays debate was more substantive and civil than previous ones, but it still had its fireworks. Credit... WCBS-TV

The candidates tackled a central question: Does Eric Adams even live in New York City?

Andrew Yang, a 2020 presidential candidate, attacked Mr. Adams the hardest for spending time at a residence he co-owns in New Jersey, calling him a hypocrite for having criticized Mr. Yang for visiting his second home in New Paltz, N.Y.

I want to reflect on the oddness and the bizarreness of where we are in this race right now, where Eric is literally trying to convince New Yorkers where he lives and that he lives in this basement, Mr. Yang said. He spent months attacking me for not being a New Yorker. Meanwhile, he was attacking me from New Jersey.

Mr. Adams tried to put the matter to rest once and for all.

I live in Brooklyn, he said with a broad smile. I am happy to be there.

Mr. Yang, asked if he would have his police detail drive him to his country home as mayor, said he would be a hands-on mayor and would not leave the city for his entire first term.

Im going to be here grinding it out, he said, adding: New Yorkers are going to be sick of me.

They sharpened their attacks, and tensions flared.

The debate was fast-paced and substance filled, thanks to the skilled moderation of two CBS journalists, Marcia Kramer and Maurice DuBois.

The candidates, surely aware that this was one of their last chances to break out of the pack, spoke forcefully and emotionally  in their own defense, and in their attacks on competitors they wanted to wound in pursuit of the crown.

After Mr. Yang suggested he would be able to work well with the famously prickly governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo  in part because Mr. Yang and Mr. Cuomos brother have appeared together on CNN  Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, called Mr. Yang naive.

It is not enough to say, Were all going to be friends, kumbaya, Mr. Stringer said. We need a mayor with experience.

A few minutes later, Ms. Kramer asked Mr. Stringer about sexual misconduct allegations from two women dating back several decades. Mr. Stringers discomfort was evidenced by a twitch in his eye, but he disputed the allegations, incorrectly attacked reporting by The New York Times about one of the incidents, and said he was sorry if he made anyone uncomfortable.

Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio who is competing with Mr. Stringer for progressive votes, did not let that characterization slide.

It is not just about discomfort, Ms. Wiley said. It takes two to view any sexual conduct as welcome.

On at least one thing, they agreed: renaming places named for slaveholders

In one of the few moments of consensus, the candidates all said they would be open to renaming sites named for slaveholders.

Many people are surprised to learn a number of iconic places in our city are named after individuals who held people as slaves, Mr. DuBois said. Should New Yorkers have to live on streets or go to schools or buildings named for slave holders or should those names be changed?

Mr. DuBois referred to people like Peter Stuyvesant, a director-general of New Netherland who owned slaves; a large apartment complex on Manhattans East Side is named for him. Rikers Island, which houses New York Citys main jail complex, is named for the Riker family, which includes Richard Riker, who sent Black Americans into slavery.

We should not honor people that have had an abusive past, Mr. Adams said.

Ms. Wiley, who previously worked as a civil rights lawyer, said that symbols mattered and that these places should be renamed. But she added that it was also important to ensure that all of communities of color finally get the attention, the investments and the change that they deserve.

Maya Wiley cast herself as the top progressive candidate.

Ms. Wiley was able to cast herself as the leading progressive candidate in the debate, helped in part by Mr. Stringers scandals and Dianne Moraless absence on the debate stage.

Nowhere did she do that more decisively than on the question of the police and their use of guns.

Attorney General Tish James is proposing legislation to limit cops from firing their weapons, use of force as a last resort, Ms. Kramer said. Now, some might ask, why not go all the way and take away the guns all together like they do in 19 other countries where the bulk of the police force is unarmed?

Ms. Wiley did not rule out the idea, as every other candidate did. Instead, she equivocated.

First, she said that the mayors No. 1 job was safety.

Ms. Kramer interjected to ask if she would take the officers guns away from them.

Ms. Wiley responded by talking about the importance of getting illegal guns off the street. Ms. Kramer tried one last time: But will you take the guns away from the N.Y.P.D.?

I am not prepared to make that decision in a debate, Ms. Wiley said.

After the debate, Ms. Wileys campaign spokeswoman, Julia Savel, called the question ridiculous because no one is even discussing taking guns away from cops.

Clearly Maya wouldnt, she added, though it was not so clear during the debate.

Andrew Yang stood alone on congestion pricing.

Just a few years ago, New York City was poised to become the first major American city to implement congestion pricing, a plan to toll cars entering the center of Manhattan to raise money for the subway.

Then the pandemic happened.

Four candidates said the city should move forward now with congestion pricing because the city was grappling with terrible traffic congestion.

We are not suffering from a lack of cars in Midtown today, yesterday, the day before, said Kathryn Garcia, the citys former sanitation commissioner who has won support from top advocates for mass transit. People are coming in and if they all come in by car, we cant move. We need people to get back on the subway.

Mr. Yang said he was willing to push back the start date for the tolling plan because he was worried about the citys recovery and empty offices in Midtown.

Id be flexible on the timing of adopting congestion pricing in line with the citys return of commuters, Mr. Yang said.
And finally: A museum takes on its gaps in Black history

The Timess Jennifer Schuessler writes:

There is no shortage of ghosts at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side, which for nearly three decades has explored issues of immigration, home and belonging. But in recent years, the story of one particularly ghostly presence has lingered in the background.

In 2008, shortly after the opening of an apartment telling the story of Joseph Moore, an 19th-century immigrant Irish waiter, a museum educator noticed something interesting in an 1869 city directory. Right above Moores name was another Joseph Moore, also a waiter, living a few neighborhoods away.

Same name, same profession. But with an extra designation  Cold, or Colored.

The educator started inviting visitors to think about the two Joseph Moores, and a conversation grew about how to talk about the other Joseph Moore  and about the museums broader omissions.

Now, as the museum celebrates its reopening with a block party on Saturday, it is leaning into the story of the Black Joseph Moore. It is researching an apartment recreation dedicated to him and his wife, Rachel  its first dedicated to a Black family. And it is introducing a neighborhood walking tour that explores sites connected with nearly 400 years of African American presence in the area.

The reopening comes after a tumultuous year for the museum. Last June, after the murder of George Floyd, some staff members protested what they saw as the museums insufficient statement of support for Black Lives Matter. (The museum quickly issued a second, more self-critical statement.)

Now, it is taking on an enormous  and enormously fraught  question: How does a museum  and a nation  that celebrates the immigrant experience incorporate the stories of Black people who were brought here involuntarily, and who for centuries remained shut out of the opportunity and full citizenship open to most newcomers?
Nearly 15 years ago, during a ceremony in the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Atlanta campus auditorium, I was promoted to rear admiral in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. My father, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, positioned my new gold epaulets on the shoulders of my service dress blue uniform while my mother, a cultural anthropologist, observed the ritual from the audience. I said to the people gathered, Public service is a privilege. For me, it has also been a joy. After 33 years, Im retiring from the agency, and thats the same message I would like to send to the American public.

My father, like many in his generation, enlisted in the U.S. Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Another call to national service, for another generation, followed President John F. Kennedys inaugural address. My route to public service was more private and less intentional than those. I initially planned to apply my medical training to clinical practice. But the C.D.C.s disease detective program  the Epidemic Intelligence Service  got me hooked on public health.

Public service is difficult. The past year and a half left many among our ranks exhausted, threatened, saddened and sometimes sidelined. The Covid-19 pandemic is not the first time the U.S. public health system has had to surge well beyond its capacity, but with the worst pandemic in a century and, initially, a heavily partisan political context, the virus collided with a system suffering from decades of underinvestment. A recent report from the National Academy of Medicine revealed that state and local public health departments have lost an estimated 66,000 jobs since around 2008.

With prior responses  including the hantavirus outbreak and bioterrorist anthrax, pandemic H1N1 influenza and the Ebola and Zika epidemics  the public health front line has been the little engine that could. For each of those responses, state and local public health departments absorbed the initial shock until emergency funding came through  and then repeatedly watched resources ebb as the crisis abated. Over the past few decades, public health experienced a progressive weakening of our core capacities while biomedical research and development accelerated into the future. With Covid-19, we were the little engine that couldnt.
Hockey fans rejoiced last Sunday when Canadian health officials agreed to let National Hockey League teams cross the U.S.-Canada border for the Stanley Cup playoffs. It was not a big surprise; the Montreal Canadiens are looking good, and they stand to bring the Cup north for the first time since they won it last in 1993.

I, on the other hand, still cannot cross into Canada, at least through June 21. My case may not be quite as compelling as the N.H.L.s, but a neighbor up on the Laurentian lake where we have a cottage called last week to say a tree had snapped and a branch threatened to crush a shed where Ive stored many important things. And the municipalite says its time to empty the septic tanks. And I can argue that I pose less of a public health threat than a planeload of hockey players; I got my second Pfizer jab more than four months ago and have regularly tested negative for the coronavirus. And I really want to go.

My family has been spending summers, and some winters, in the Laurentians for nearly 70 years. Thats a lot of time, a lot of property and school taxes and a lot of money dumped to keep our chalets more or less upright. (The cottage, economists will confirm, was invented to support local economies.) More important, its a lot of good friends and deep roots. I can even cuss like a French Canadian, which is important up there.

A lot of people have it a lot worse. Many of the folks who live along the 5,525-mile border, the longest in the world, have shaped their lives around crossing it without a second thought, often to visit close kin on the other side. With the border closed, family visits and even marriages have been postponed, often month to month.
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Its not every week that the national discourse catches fire over tax policy. The match, of course, was the investigation ProPublica published on Tuesday of anonymously leaked tax documents that revealed that the 25 richest Americans  billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett  pay very little in taxes to the federal government relative to their astronomical wealth. In some years, they paid nothing at all.

Depending on your point of view, it was either one of the most important stories of the year or an invented scandal. Heres a closer look at the report and what people are saying about it.

Inside the report

In recent years, ProPublica noted, the median American household made $70,000 in annual income and paid about 14 percent in federal income taxes. The highest marginal tax rate, 37 percent, kicked in this year, for couples, on income above $628,300.
Despite the agitated millennials on TikTok defending their side parts and skinny jeans from perceived insults, skinny jeans remain a best-selling style. The concept that anyone ought to be wearing anything other than what theyre comfortable in represents the last gasp of an old system that is fading into irrelevance.

Weve arrived at a place where a new season doesnt usher in an accompanying new silhouette. Instead, the dominant way of consuming fashion now is through niche aesthetics like cottagecore, which holds that no style is superior. Of the possible postpandemic identities one can assume, theres the early 2000s nostalgist in ironic Juicy Couture sweats, the granola slow-fashion influencer wearing nubby cardigans and clogs, the streetwear hypebae and the Fashion Nova fan worshiping at the altar of all things Kardashian.

Historically, in these moments of disruption, there is a lot of confusion in the fashion world, said Justine De Young, a professor of art and fashion history at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. We all lived through this, and nobody knows exactly what people want  not just on the part of the consumer but also on the part of the designer.

Dr. De Young said that in moments like this, brands try out several different styles to see what consumers respond to. The fast-fashion emporium and Gen Z favorite Shein, for example, sells everything from barely there crocheted crop tops to grungy oversize flannels.

Now is the time to explore different styles and experiment with items you perhaps always wanted to try but never had the courage to. Figure out which items in your prepandemic wardrobe still resonate with the person youve become; otherwise, start from the ground up. Use this moment to figure out exactly what you like to wear, because nobody else is going to make that decision for you.

Post-calamity, theres often a turn to a celebration of exuberance, said Dr. De Young. Deprivation and loss pushes you to want to celebrate life.

After the Black Death in the 14th century, which wiped out 60 percent of Europes population, she said, clothing became much more vivacious and form-fitting. Similarly, in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, emerging fashions were referred to as the upholstered look, owing to a preponderance of ribbons and other fussy details. My students term it the YOLO moment, said Dr. De Young.
In Ms. Edwardss case, the prosecution derided her grandiose platitudes about protecting the American people and dismissed her description of herself as a whistle-blower. Yes, it conceded, she had started out by alerting the proper authorities about narrowly defined issues. But then, the prosecution argued, she went rogue, indiscriminately sending Mr. Leopold thousands of documents that werent targeted to expose some particular wrongdoing.

On that last point, the prosecution was right: The documents didnt reveal just one particular wrongdoing. They offered a sweeping view of global financial corruption.

Perhaps the most important documents Ms. Edwards turned over were more than 2,000 suspicious activity reports, which banks file to the U.S. government to warn of possible financial misconduct. Never before had journalists been able to see so many of the financial transactions that the worlds banks themselves thought were suspicious but too often carried out anyway.

A Treasury Department agency is supposed to sift through suspicious activity reports and alert law enforcement agencies if the transactions seem likely to be crimes. But sources told BuzzFeed News that officials didnt even read most of the reports and rarely took action on them. Worse, filing the reports all but immunizes banks and their executives from criminal prosecution. Far from being a tool to root out financial misconduct, the reports effectively give banks a free pass to keep moving money and collecting fees.

When the government does crack down on banks, it frequently relies on deferred prosecution agreements  sweetheart deals that include fines but no immediate high-level arrests. But the suspicious activity reports that we reviewed at BuzzFeed News showed that even when some banks were subject to such agreements, they still carried out dubious transactions.

When the series of articles based on the information provided by Ms. Edwards was published, it spurred meaningful action by authorities around the world. British lawmakers began a formal inquiry into Britains oversight of banks. Members of the European Parliament pushed for a stronger and unified strategy to fight money laundering. And in Washington, senior lawmakers credited the FinCEN Files investigation with helping to push through the most important anti-money-laundering legislation in a generation. In his memorandum last week, Mr. Biden specifically said that putting that law into effect would be a cornerstone of his administrations anti-corruption effort.

But Ms. Edwards, whose disclosures helped bring about these reforms, has been ordered to report to prison in August. This is unjust and unfair. Our criminal justice system must recognize that much of what we know about financial corruption, government surveillance and corporate crime comes not from reporters working in isolation but from journalists working with people who risk their liberty and livelihood to ensure that the truth comes out.
Democrats are offering something different than what they say: not an expansion of voting rights but a relaxation of voting regulations. The For the People Act would codify the looser rules many states adopted in order to conduct the 2020 elections in the midst of a pandemic. That election had the largest turnout rate (66.3 percent) since 1900, and strengthened Democrats. But the looser rules were not so much triumphs of reason as concessions to Covid-19. The conditions that made the new rules seem normal or common-sensical no longer obtain. We might want those rules. But we dont need them.

There is always a paradox when it comes to democratic elections. They must be opaque, in order to guarantee ballot secrecy and prevent intimidation. But they must also be transparent, in order to prevent fraud. The perennial danger is that some actor with a partisan interest might interpose himself in one of the opaque spaces to make the contest less fair.

At the crudest level, a politician can use private pressure as a way to render himself unaccountable to an electoral verdict. That is what President Donald Trump did when, on Jan. 2, two months after his electoral defeat, he phoned the Georgia secretary of state to seek the reversal of its results in that state. (Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.) Certain reforms urged by Democrats are meant to pre-empt abuses and irregularities specific to the Trump era. Title X of H.R. 1, for instance, includes requirements that presidents and vice presidents disclose their tax returns.

The basic practice that Republicans seek to curb is ballot harvesting: Whenever voting happens elsewhere than at a voting booth, third parties are responsible for conveying voters intentions to authorities. Obviously, bringing couriers into the voting system can increase turnout  consider shut-in older people in nursing homes and elsewhere. Just as obviously, ballot-harvesting increases opportunities for fraud  consider the same older people, chatting about their voting preferences as they plan to hand their votes to a partisan political activist. Some states authorize only relatives or caregivers to deliver votes; others, like California, have no such restrictions, opening the way for activist groups.

It is largely to prevent ballot harvesting that most states used to allow absentee voting only in extraordinary circumstances. The prevailing understanding was that, other things being equal, a slightly lower rate of participation was a price worth paying for an election less susceptible to corruption. Absent a pandemic, there is a coherent case that there should never be absentee or mail-in balloting.

It is striking that reformers in both parties have so little to say directly about what is arguably the biggest problem for the countrys electoral integrity: the dragging out of vote-counting till long after Election Day. Nothing did more to escalate tensions in the days immediately following last Nov. 3 than the indeterminate results in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, as Americans waited for who-knows-how-many votes to come in from who-knows-where.
Other recent blockbuster ideas in psychology are also steeped in this ideology. Take mind-set interventions, which are designed to shift peoples mind-sets from fixed (I failed the test  Im just stupid) to growth (Ill do better next time if I work harder). For 30 years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life, said Carol Dweck, the originator of that idea and a professor at Stanford, in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (ideas she echoed in a TED Talk that has been viewed more than 12.5 million times).

Perhaps better known is the implicit association test, which claims to be able to measure ones level of implicit (or unconscious) bias via a brief computer test that involves comparing reaction time to different stimuli. Since the creators of the test also claimed that implicit bias can go a long way toward explaining persistent racially discriminatory gaps in the United States, the computer test is now one of the most common features of contemporary diversity trainings.

Since these claims were first made, though, a full-blown replication crisis has hit psychology, meaning that when researchers attempt to redo previous studies, they often find either a much less impressive result or none whatsoever. It turns out that the standard statistical methods long employed by psychologists (and other scientists) can easily produce false positive results. About 50 percent of published results from experimental psychology have failed to replicate, and the subfield of social psychology  the home base of most social priming, implicit bias and stereotype-threat research  tends to fare even worse.

Studies purporting to offer simple remedies to serious problems have been hit particularly hard. Mind-set interventions appear to be nowhere near as powerful as Professor Dweck initially advertised: A major, well-constructed 2019 study in Nature found some effect, but only a relatively small one and only for weaker students. (In a phone conversation, she pointed out that the Nature study was centered on a fairly minimalist mind-set intervention designed to be easily scalable and referenced larger effects found in earlier studies premised on more costly, time-consuming multisession interventions involving highly trained personnel.)

As for that fascinating social-priming magic embraced by Dr. Bargh, like people walking slower after seeing words with geriatric associations? I dont know a replicable finding, said Brian Nosek, a psychologist and leading replication advocate, in 2019. Its not that there isnt one, but I cant name it. The few social-priming effects that have survived this scrutiny tend to be small, inconsistent and not necessarily relevant outside of lab settings.

(In a series of emails, Dr. Bargh argued, as he has elsewhere, that his fields replication tribulations have been overstated and pointed to some of the positive results.)

The implicit association test has experienced similar travails. It is still often a part of everyday diversity-training settings, but its creators long ago acknowledged that it is too noisy a test to be used to identify people as likely to engage in racist acts (which constitutes significant backtracking from their original claim).
No one within earshot batted an eye at the slur. I was at a festive Shabbat dinner with other undergraduates at Yeshiva University, a few months into my freshman year at its Stern College for Women. Hes a fag, I overheard a student in a spiffy suit say to the woman seated next to him.

A year earlier, as a senior at an all-girls Hasidic high school in Brooklyn in 2016, I had looked forward to being surrounded by open-minded, religiously committed Jews at the renowned Modern Orthodox university in New York City. But in that moment, my fantasies crumbled. As the slur echoed in my mind, glasses clinked, cheerful conversations continued, and the only visible concern in the room was mine. It was my first encounter with casual bigotry at Yeshiva, but not my last.

Over the next four years, I would face ridicule and bullying as a bisexual and nonbinary person advocating for the queer community at Yeshiva. The discrimination wasnt just from fellow students: Administrators denied us the right to form a recognized L.G.B.T.Q. student group and failed to meaningfully address discrimination by rabbis, students and teachers at the school, actions that effectively encouraged queer students to stay in the closet or leave the university. (In response to a request for comment on these and other allegations, a representative for Yeshiva said there were factual inaccuracies but declined to say what they were, and offered no further statement.)

I graduated in January 2021 and in April, I was part of a group of alumni and current students who filed a lawsuit against Yeshiva in New York County Supreme Court. We believe that Y.U. violated the New York City Human Rights Law by denying us the right to form an official L.G.B.T.Q. student group.
Barbara Poma is a complicated public figure. She and her husband, Rosario, and a business partner, opened Pulse nightclub in 2004 in memory of her older brother, who died after a long battle with AIDS in 1991. After the shooting, she founded the onePULSE Foundation, dedicated to building a memorial to the 49 killed and a museum to remember their lives and the impact of the tragedy. But she has also been the target of a lawsuit alleging the club did not do enough to protect patrons, and the foundation has been criticized for what some see as an overly expensive and inappropriately ambitious goal rather than a simpler memorial. Five years since the Pulse massacre, Orlando Sentinel senior reporter Kate Santich talks to survivors of the shooting and the people working to honor those who did not. This is an interview with Barbara Poma and the foundations chief communications and government relations officer, Scott Bowman. And this is Pulse, Five Years Later.
The same is true in Brooklyn and Queens, where the median asking rent has begun to rise after several months of decline or stagnation, according to a report by the listing site StreetEasy. In May, the median rent in Brooklyn, not including concessions, was $2,499, up from $2,400 in April; in Queens, it rose to $2,100 from $2,050.

But renters havent necessarily missed their opportunity at discounted apartments, said Nancy Wu, an economist with StreetEasy.

Just because more and more people are getting vaccinated and are coming back doesnt mean these incentives will disappear with the snap of a finger, she said. Concessions, including one or more months of free rent, remain higher than pre-Covid levels, as do other sweeteners.

While New York State recently upheld agents ability to charge broker fees, many landlords are still covering those fees to entice renters, Ms. Wu said. On StreetEasy, 81 percent of listings from January through May advertised that tenants would not have to pay broker fees, which can add up to 15 percent of an annual lease  the highest share of no-broker-fee listings on the site since 2015.

Its a sign that the recovery will be slow. In Manhattan, there were 19,025 apartments for rent in May, Mr. Miller said, down 26.5 percent from a peak of 25,883 in January, when many affluent renters had decamped to nearby suburbs and workers in hard-hit industries struggled to pay the rent at all. But the current inventory remains more than 50 percent above long-term norms. The unemployment rate in New York City  which has an outsize effect on renters and curtails new leases  was still 11.4 percent in April, compared to 3.8 percent in March 2020, the last month before the pandemic took its toll.
Shirley said, People have to feel you, she said. In typical campaign mode, pre-Covid, you get all these different ways for people to feel you  you can be with them, talk to them, look them in the eye. But because so much of the campaign is happening remotely, she said, appearance is even more important in helping people to feel me and know who I am.

Though she is aware of the way appearance has been used for and against women, especially Black women (remember the to-do about Michelle Obamas arms in an official White House portrait during her time as first lady?), and the fact that, as a result, most female candidates have refused to engage with the topic, she has a different approach.

Chalk it up to her experience on TV, where she was keenly aware of perception and the balance between drawing the viewers eye and getting them to hear the message, as she told The New York Times in an earlier interview.

At that time, Ms. Wiley described her aesthetic as Boho meets B.A.P. And Im sticking with it, she said now. That includes all that I am. That includes unapologetically being a Black woman. That includes unapologetically being a Black woman whose parents were activists, but also a Black woman who is a lawyer, so that just envelops all those different parts of me.

As she said this, Ms. Wiley, 57, was wearing the same power-shouldered Anne Klein lilac blazer she had worn in her ad, as well as small interlocking hoop earrings from the Makers Show at City Point Brooklyn, a pop-up shop created by Julie Feltman to support local female entrepreneurs.

Blazers are perfect for me because I just do a black T-shirt and pants underneath, Ms. Wiley said. I get to be comfortable and casual at the same time. In any case, the style choices are her own; she does not use a stylist and doesnt solicit input on her dress from her staff.
Slander-peddling websites have relied on this feature. They wouldnt be able to charge thousands of dollars to remove content if the posts werent damaging peoples reputations.

Mr. Nayak and Mr. Graff said Google had been unaware of the extent of this problem until the Times articles highlighted it this year. They said changes to Googles algorithm and the creation of its known victims classification would help solve the problem. In particular, it will make it harder for sites to get traction on Google through one of their preferred methods: copying and reposting defamatory content from other sites.

Google has recently been testing the changes, with contractors doing side-by-side comparisons of the new and old search results.

The Times had previously compiled a list of 47,000 people who have been written about on the slander sites. In a search of a handful of people whose results were previously littered with slanderous posts, the changes Google has made were already detectable. For some, the posts had disappeared from their first page of results and their image results. For others, posts had mostly disappeared  save for one from a new slander site, CheaterArchives.com.

CheaterArchives.com may illustrate the limits of Googles new protections. Since it is fairly new, it is unlikely to have generated complaints from victims. Those complaints are one way Google finds slander sites. Also, CheaterArchives.com does not explicitly advertise the removal of posts as a service, potentially making it harder for victims to get it removed from their results.

The Google executives said the company was not motivated solely by sympathy for victims of online slander. Instead, it is part of Googles longstanding efforts to combat sites that are trying to appear higher in the search engines results than they deserve.

These sites are, frankly, gaming our system, Mr. Graff said.

Still, Googles move is likely to add to questions about the companys effective monopoly over what information is and is not in the public domain. Indeed, that is part of the reason that Google has historically been so reluctant to intervene in individual search results.
Given that the tours attract musical lovers and theater die-hards, they are also currently serving as a substitute for actual Broadway. We would definitely be seeing a show a night, said Carrie Mershon, a visitor from Kansas who was taking the tour. She had booked the familys New York trip months ago, in the hopes that Broadway productions would be up and running by now. No such luck; their show tickets had been refunded. This fills the void a little bit.

At least Dolan can be relied upon to put on a show. Befitting the location, the more over-the-top the story, the better: Know the one about a Follies girl who found herself riding a runaway ostrich? How about the music director who dove into a watery orchestra pit after a flash flood at Evita? Or the theatergoer who fell out of the window onto the marquee of the Lyceum Theater?

Dolan delivers colorful anecdotes and his fact-filled soliloquies with the polished enthusiasm of a jobbing actor. He was last onstage three years ago, in a regional production of Arsenic and Old Lace, and said he had booked a show in Michigan before the pandemic struck.
The best scenes actually come when Laura, Amandas fragile daughter, is left alone with Jim, her old high-school crush. Cyril Guei makes a kind, gentle Jim, and van Hoves choice of a Black actor for the role reinforces the racial dynamics implicit in Amandas rose-tinted vision of the Old South. Gueis connection with Justine Bachelets Laura is genuine enough that for a second, a happy denouement seems within reach.

Laura, played as touchingly muted by Bachelet, briefly comes alive before resigning herself. Van Hove has given her a classic French song to sing as she gives Jim her glass unicorn as an adieu: Barbaras 1970 LAigle Noir (The Black Eagle), about a traumatic childhood memory that feels exactly right for Lauras character.

While capacity remained limited until this week to 35 percent of seats, a number of other theaters here rushed to reopen as soon as it became possible. At the tiny A La Folie Theater, the actress and director Laetitia Lebacq debuted a rare production of Jean-Paul Sartres 1946 play, The Respectful Whore, which is set, like The Glass Menagerie, in the American South.

While Sartre wrote a number of plays, they have mostly fallen out of fashion on the French stage. Its a shame, because The Respectful Whore, while occasionally over-explanatory, sets up its central conflict in a compact, efficient manner. It takes place entirely at the home of a prostitute, Lizzie, who is caught up in a case of blatant racial discrimination. Two Black men are accused of raping her as a way of exculpating the white son of a senator, who shot one of them.

Lizzie herself is overtly racist, yet refuses to falsely testify that she was raped  until the senator and his son force her hand. Lebacq navigates the role of Lizzie without smoothing over her contradictions and occasional foolishness, and Baudouin Jackson brings pathos to the resignation of one of the nameless accused in the face of normalized racism. Philippe Godin, as the smooth-talking senator, and Bertrand Skol, who plays his repressed son, also make an excellent case for Sartres character development.

As summer nears, some venues have also turned to alfresco theater to draw audiences. At the Theatre de la Tempete, Thomas Quillardet brought two shows adapted from movies by the Nouvelle Vague filmmaker Eric Rohmer. He was renowned for the quality of his dialogue, and both Where Hearts Meet (inspired by two films, 1984s Full Moon in Paris and 1986s The Green Ray) and The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque flow and fizz like good champagne.
Expect new tech and tweaked systems

Those who cruise regularly will be familiar with the muster drill, a safety exercise that usually requires passengers to gather in a cramped muster station and watch a safety demonstration that takes 30 minutes or more. One passenger described the process as miserable.

This week, Celebrity debuted its new e-muster system, which allows passengers to take a tutorial on their electronic devices, showing them how to wear life vests and familiarizing them with the sound of emergency signals. Once on board, passengers simply walk to their designated muster area and are given a small sticker to put on their room card to show that they have completed the process.

Upon embarkation, guests were allowed to go straight to their rooms. (Before the pandemic, they had to wait until 1 p.m.) All the rooms were stocked with hand sanitizer and face masks, and were disinfected each day.

All the ships amenities, including the gym, spa, casino and theater, were open and fully functioning, though the ship was operating with about a third of its normal passengers. To cut down on contact, rooms can be unlocked using Celebritys app on your phone and all restaurants, activities and shore excursions can be booked through the app.

Face masks were not required for cruise guests because of the vaccination requirement, but the crew was expected to wear them while on duty, a rule that will be reviewed after the inaugural sailing.

Both PCR and antigen Covid tests were complimentary and available onboard.
Maybe that submarine belched out a cloud of nastiness, she said.

On Wednesday, Jim Britt, a spokesman for Maines Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, offered the likely answer: Millions of tiny black kelp flies that feed off decaying seaweed appeared to have died on one stretch of beach.

Its not known why, he said. Nature does crazy stuff. This might be one of those instances.

The insect carcasses, which seemed to have washed ashore, contain a naturally occurring pigment, he said.

Efforts were underway to identify the particular kind of kelp fly, which should also help answer where they came from. Regardless, stepping on them does not pose any health issues, Mr. Britt said.

He could not answer whether it would be bad for dogs to eat them, a question that some were asking on social media.

Linda Stathoplos, a retired National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oceanographer, did her own informal examination of the sand on Wells Beach in Southern Maine on Tuesday, collecting a sample and looking at it under a microscope.

Image A black kelp fly as seen under a microscope. A pigment in the insects bodies is suspected of staining the feet of people who walked on beaches in New England. Credit... Linda Stathoplos

There were tons and tons of little bugs, about the size of a tip of a pin, she said. Some had two wings. Others had four. They were definitely all dead.
Three police officers in Columbus, Ohio, face criminal charges for their conduct during protests over the death of George Floyd last year, when officers in cities across the United States frequently used force to break up demonstrations.

The nationwide protests provoked accusations of police misconduct in many American cities. But in only a few  notably New York, Philadelphia and Buffalo, N.Y.  were any officers charged with crimes, and the officers in Philadelphia and Buffalo were later cleared. In Columbus, the city ordered a special prosecutor and an independent investigator last year to evaluate complaints of police misconduct during the protests there.

That led to the announcement on Wednesday that three officers had been charged. The Police Department said the officers had been assigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.

Traci Shaw, an officer, was charged with three counts each of assault, dereliction of duty and interfering with civil rights related to a protest on May 30, 2020, five days after Mr. Floyd was killed in police custody in Minneapolis.
AUSTIN, Texas  The State Bar of Texas is investigating whether Attorney General Ken Paxton committed professional misconduct by challenging President Bidens victory in the courts, which a complaint called a frivolous lawsuit that wasted taxpayer money.

The investigation, which could result in discipline ranging from a reprimand to disbarment, is the latest obstacle for Mr. Paxton, who has been at the center of bribery and corruption accusations and was indicted in 2015 on allegations of securities fraud in a case that has not been resolved.

Mr. Paxton, a Republican, is also being challenged by a member of the Bush family in next years primary for attorney general, the states highest law enforcement office and a position that has served as a political springboard. He was preceded in office by Gov. Greg Abbott and Senator John Cornyn.

After it became clear that Mr. Biden won the election, Mr. Paxton filed a lawsuit in early December that was ridiculed by many legal experts and ultimately rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. He had asked the court to extend a deadline for the certification of presidential electors, arguing that election irregularities in four other states  Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin  warranted further investigation.
According to her plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Ms. Coronel, who was arrested in February at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, was designated as a minimal participant in the crimes of her husbands former organization, the Sinaloa drug cartel. Under the agreement, she faces 108 to 135 months in prison when she is sentenced in September, but her lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, said that she may serve less time than that.

She is happy that she can start putting all of this behind her and is looking forward to getting back to her children, Mr. Lichtman said. We are expecting a sentence that will not destroy her life.

Even though prosecutors introduced significant evidence at Mr. Guzmans trial that implicated Ms. Coronel, his third  or possibly fourth  wife, in international drug deals, some involving her own father, she more or less roamed free for the past two years as U.S. law enforcement officers investigated her and ultimately negotiated her surrender.

Mr. Guzman, who was convicted in early 2019, is now serving a life sentence in the so-called Supermax, the United States most secure federal prison.

Despite incessant chatter in the news media, no provision in Ms. Coronels nine-page plea agreement called for cooperation with the American authorities. While there was intense speculation at the time of her arrest about whether she would spill the cartels secrets to investigators, it remains unclear who she could cooperate against. Her husband has been in U.S. custody since 2017 and many of the criminal associates that she might have theoretically testified against testified themselves against Mr. Guzman at his trial.
Lemon and Hendricks, both of Sanford, were arrested in Orlando by the Orlando Police Department and the US Marshals Service, according to the press release.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized an extension of the expiration date of Johnson & Johnsons coronavirus vaccine, the company said in a statement, expanding the shelf life by six weeks shortly before millions of doses were set to possibly go to waste.

The decision is based on data from ongoing stability assessment studies, which have demonstrated that the vaccine is stable at 4.5 months when refrigerated at temperatures of 36  46 degrees Fahrenheit, Johnson & Johnson said in a statement.

The move gives states extra time to figure out how to use up supply of the single-dose vaccine, even as local officials have struggled to use up stockpiles of the shot, which has lately faced sagging demand. Since it was authorized by the F.D.A. in late February, it has been a critical resource in reaching more isolated communities and people who prefer to receive just one shot.

But the vaccine took a major hit in April when the F.D.A. and C.D.C. recommended a pause in its use after a rare blood clotting disorder occurred in recipients of the vaccine. State officials have said that decision significantly curtailed interest in the vaccine, and roughly ten million doses delivered to states remain unused, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The pace of vaccinations has fallen in recent weeks for all three federally authorized shots, and the Biden administration has shifted its strategy from relying on mass vaccination sites to highlighting more targeted approaches, some with incentives.
Diversity, equity and inclusion is important to this military now and it will be important in the future, he said.

At times cutting off Mr. Austin when he tried to reply, Mr. Cotton warned, Were hearing reports of plummeting morale, growing mistrust between the races and sexes where none existed just six months ago, and unexpected retirements and separations, based on these trainings alone.

How widely those views are actually held among service members in an increasingly politically diverse military is impossible to know. Military culture varies by service branches, rank and generations.

But the Pentagons leadership says its approach is necessary both to uphold the nations values and to assure that it can recruit people with the skills necessary for 21st-century warfare.

The secretary has been very clear and fairly unapologetic about the fact that we want to get all the best talent that is available from the American people, said John F. Kirby, a spokesman for Mr. Austin.

If you meet the standards, and youre qualified to be in the military, and youre willing to raise your hand and serve this country, we want you to be able to do it and we want you to be able to do it free of hate and fear and discrimination, he said. We owe you that.

Even since President Harry S. Truman integrated the military, Americans have debated whether the services should lead or lag civilian society on social change concerning race, sex and sexual orientation, and the extent to which they are a threat to effective combat.
The issues of sexual assault and sexual harassment, Mr. Austin said, are the problems we are trying to resolve and improve.

President Biden has signaled his support for Ms. Gillibrands broader approach, at least for now. Her bill has gained support from at least 70 members of the Senate  including many who voted against the same bill in 2014, arguing it would undermine commanders  and key members in the House.

Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, believes Ms. Gillibrands bill goes too far, and he has been working behind the scenes with Pentagon officials to rein it in.

I want to be sure that whatever changes to the U.C.M.J. that I recommend to the president and ultimately to this committee, that they are scoped to the problem we are trying to solve, have a clear way forward on implementation, and ultimately restore the confidence of the force in the system, Mr. Austin said, referring to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is the foundation of the American military legal system. You have my commitment to that, and also my commitment to working expeditiously as you consider legislative proposals.

Mr. Austins remarks could set off an intense political battle about which approach Congress will take. It will test the power of Ms. Gillibrand among her bipartisan Senate allies, including Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, who could be forced to pick sides in determining the measures fate.
Bipartisan Group of Senators Say Tentative Infrastructure Deal Reached The statement from the senators, five Democrats and five Republicans, offers few details about the agreement, and the Biden administration has not said whether it would support it.

Centrist senators announce realistic agreement on an infrastructure plan. The bipartisan group of senators hashing out an infrastructure deal includes, from left, Senators Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah; Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire; Susan Collins, Republican of Maine; and Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat from Arizona. Credit... Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times A bipartisan group of centrist senators announced on Thursday that they had reached a tentative agreement on a framework for an infrastructure plan, as they mount a precarious bid to secure the blessing of the Biden administration, congressional leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers. The statement, released by five Democrats and five Republicans, offered few details about the substance of the agreement, beyond that it was a realistic, compromise framework to modernize our nations infrastructure and energy technologies that would be fully paid for without tax increases. But the preliminary framework is expected to include about $579 billion in new spending, as part of an overall package that would cost about $974 billion over five years and about $1.2 trillion over eight years, according to two people familiar with the details, who disclosed them on condition of anonymity. The Biden administration had previously signaled support for a package that spent at least $1 trillion in new funds over eight years, on top of the expected maintenance of existing programs. The announcement came after a dizzying day on Capitol Hill, where senators involved in the discussions offered conflicting assessments of their progress. It was unclear how soon the group would unveil specific details or release legislative text, though members of the group said they were discussing the proposal with their colleagues and the White House. The preliminary agreement, which sketches out funding for traditional physical infrastructure projects, faces steep headwinds, despite direct encouragement and personal outreach from President Biden. Lawmakers and aides in both parties remain skeptical that the group can muster the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, given deep divisions over funding levels and how to pay for such a package.

Austin supports a shift in how the military handles sex crimes, but declines to support Gillibrands bill. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, left, and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appeared before a Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington on Thursday. Credit... Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III suggested to lawmakers on Thursday that he supported changes to the laws that govern how the military handles sexual assault cases, but he declined to endorse a measure by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, that would cut out the military chain of command from other serious felonies. Mr. Austins support for changes around sexual assault cases represents a major shift for military leadership, which has long resisted such changes, but his opposition to Ms. Gillibrands proposed changes to the military justice system could set up a potential showdown between a large group of senators and the Pentagon. Clearly, what weve been doing hasnt been working, Mr. Austin said in his opening remarks before the Senate Armed Services Committee. One assault is too many. The numbers of sexual assaults are still too high, and the confidence in our system is still too low. Mr. Austin instead appeared to endorse the recommendations of a panel he appointed to study the issue earlier this year. That panel recommends that independent military lawyers take over the role that commanders currently play in deciding whether to court-martial those accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment or domestic violence.The issue of sexual assault and sexual harassment, Mr. Austin said, are the problems we are trying to resolve and improve. President Biden has endorsed Ms. Gillibrands approach, at least for now, and her bill has gained support from at least 70 members of the Senate  including many who voted against the same bill in 2014, arguing it would undermine commanders  and key members in the House. Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, believes Ms. Gillibrands bill goes too far and has been working behind the scenes with Pentagon officials to change it. I want to be sure that whatever changes to the U.C.M.J. that I recommend to the president and ultimately to this committee, that they are scoped to the problem we are trying to solve, have a clear way forward on implementation, and ultimately restore the confidence of the force in the system, Mr. Austin said, referring to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is the foundation of the American military legal system. You have my commitment to that, and also my commitment to working expeditiously as you consider legislative proposals. Mr. Austins remarks Thursday could set off an intense political battle that will test the power of Ms. Gillibrand among her bipartisan Senate allies including Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, who could be forced to pick sides in determining the measures fate, and the White House. In either event, it seems clear that commanders are all but certain to lose full control over sexual assault prosecutions. Change is coming to the department, Mr. Reed said Thursday in reference to the issue. Ms. Gillibrand and one of her Republican colleagues on the committee, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, an Army veteran, pressed Mr. Austin further on his views of the issue during the hearing. Ms. Gillibrand suggested that keeping other crimes off the table would contribute to racial disparities in court-martial cases, an argument that could be part of a new strategy to appeal to both remaining skeptical members of Congress and Mr. Austin. But while Mr. Austin took pains to praise Ms. Gillibrands work, crediting her incredible dedication for any changes that are made, he also made it fairly clear that he did not support the broad nature of her legislation. As you know, Senator, I always have an open mind to solving any tough problem, he said, but added that his commission had been focused only on sexual assault and harassment. When he was confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Austin made sexual assault one of his first priorities. In February, he appointed the independent commission to examine the issue and give recommendations that he and the service chiefs could consider. The members of the panel are seeking a new career track in the Defense Department in which judge advocates general  military lawyers  would be specially trained to deal with such cases. This alone would be a major shift in how the military does things. Mr. Austin has said he wants the service chiefs to review the recommendations. In 2019, the Defense Department found that there were 7,825 reports of sexual assault involving service members as victims, a 3 percent increase from 2018. The conviction rate for cases was unchanged from 2018 to 2019; 7 percent of cases that the command took action on resulted in conviction, the lowest rate since the department began reporting in 2010. Jonathan Weisman contributed reporting.

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As ransomware attacks rise, the Senate questions Bidens nominee to be the first national cyber director. The White House has tapped Chris Inglis to be the first national cyber director. Credit... Charles Dharapak/Associated Press A Senate committee weighed President Bidens nominations on Thursday to fill two top cyberdefense positions, amid a rising number of ransomware attacks that have shut down critical American businesses, including the nations largest meat processor and a major East Coast pipeline company. Congress last year agreed to create a new national cyber director, a White House position that is supposed to improve defenses and coordinate responses to attacks on both the federal government and the private sector. The White House tapped Chris Inglis, a former National Security Agency official and a member of the commission that proposed the creation of the position, to become the first national cyber director. The administration also nominated Jen Easterly to lead the Department of Homeland Securitys Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency. Together, the two positions are at the forefront of the nations cyberdefenses. Ransomware attacks go after the weaknesses of companies information technology, which must be improved, Mr. Inglis said. But he repeatedly added that the United States must confront countries that give safe harbor to criminal groups conducting the attacks and see that the hackers are brought to justice. Mr. Inglis said his role would be to make sure the administration has a consistent strategy for pushing companies to improve their defenses and for imposing consequences on ransomware groups. It will not stop of its own accord; its not a fire raging across the prairie that, once its consumed the fuel, it will simply stop, Mr. Inglis said. We must create resilience and robustness not simply in technology but in people. Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said the Colonial Pipeline attack had shown a lack of accountability for the private sector, particularly for firms that control critical infrastructure. Ms. Easterly replied that voluntary standards were inadequate. Its important that, if theres a significant cyber incident, that critical infrastructure companies have to notify the federal government, Ms. Easterly said. An executive order signed by Mr. Biden last month aimed at improving hacking defenses, required government contractors to report any breach. But lawmakers are looking at broadening reporting requirements through legislation. Questioned by senators, Mr. Inglis and Ms. Easterly said private companies should not pay ransoms. But Mr. Inglis said it was not a simple yes or no question. The solution, he said, was to improve companies defenses, making them harder targets, and removing the sanctuaries that hacking groups enjoy. Its not appropriate to pay ransom, Mr. Inglis said. Unfortunately we get into a place where that is the only remedy feasible to save lives or to bring back critical capabilities.

An expose has Congress refocusing on how to tax the superrich. My intention as the author of the 2017 tax reform was not that multibillionaires ought to pay no taxes, said Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania. Credit... Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times A jaw-dropping report by ProPublica detailing how Americas richest men avoided paying taxes has intensified interest in Congress, even among some Republicans, in changing the tax code to ensure that people like Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett pay their fair share. For Republicans, the idea that the tax code should give preferential treatment to investment has been sacrosanct, ostensibly to promote economic growth and innovation that could benefit everyone. But the news this week showed how the treatment of stocks, bonds, real estate and huge loans taken off those assets has sent the tax bills of the richest Americans plummeting. My intention as the author of the 2017 tax reform was not that multibillionaires ought to pay no taxes, said Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, who helped write the law that slashed taxes by more than $1 trillion. I believe dividends and capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate, but certainly not zero. Democrats, especially in the Senate, have been hard at work on a tax package to finance President Bidens costly domestic agenda, including a major infrastructure plan, climate change measures and the expansion of education and health care benefits. Much of that work  vehemently opposed by Republicans  has been focused on clawing back tax cuts lavished on corporations by the 2017 tax law, President Donald J. Trumps signature legislative achievement, and on preventing multinational corporations from shifting taxable profits offshore. The ProPublica report, analyzing a trove of documents detailing the tax bills of household names such as Mr. Bezos, Mr. Buffett, Elon Musk and Michael Bloomberg, showed that the nations richest executives paid just a fraction of their wealth in taxes  $13.6 billion in federal income taxes during a time period when their collective net worth increased by $401 billion, according to a tabulation by Forbes. Americans knew that billionaires played these kinds of games, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the chairman of the tax-writing Finance Committee, said on Wednesday. What was significant yesterday was it was all laid out in stark detail about the most affluent people in America. He said he was working on an array of proposals to get at the issue, possibly including a return to some kind of minimum tax, and would soon unveil specific proposals. Billionaires are going to have to pay their fair share, every year, he said. Jonathan Weisman and

Ilhan Omar compares the actions of Israel and the U.S. to Hamas and the Taliban. Rep. Ilhan Omar addressing the media at a news conference in Brooklyn Center, Minn., in April. Credit... Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters Representative Ilhan Omar is again at odds with her Democratic colleagues over Israel, but this time, she has brought her own country into the mix. The latest contretemps began on Monday, when Ms. Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, wrote on Twitter about a virtual exchange she had with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. In the actual exchange, Ms. Omar pressed for an investigation of human rights abuses both by Israeli security forces and by Hamas. But on Twitter, she seemed to compare Israel and the United States not only to Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the State Department, but also to the Taliban. We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity, she wrote. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. The analogy prompted outrage from a dozen Jewish Democrats in the House. They issued a statement saying that equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided, and, in congressional parlance usually meant to elicit an apology, they asked her to clarify her words.Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits ones intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice, they wrote. The United States and Israel are imperfect and, like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups. Rather than apologize, Ms. Omar fired off a defiant response on Thursday morning. Its shameful for colleagues who call me when they need my support to now put out a statement asking for clarification and not just call, wrote Ms. Omar, one of two Muslim women in the House, accusing her detractors of bigotry. The Islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive. The constant harassment & silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable. A House Democratic aide familiar with the back-and-forth said Ms. Omars anger stemmed from her treatment by the dozen colleagues who publicly upbraided her. She had heard that they were going to publicly call for a clarification of her remarks and reached out to some of them several times on Wednesday. They did not respond before their public chastisement, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.

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Biden and Johnson renew a World War II accord, pledging to unite against new challenges. President Biden with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain before their meeting at Carbis Bay on Thursday. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times With the world confronting the immediate crisis of a pandemic and the long-term challenge of climate change, President Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain on Thursday turned for inspiration to another period of peril and deep uncertainty. After meeting face to face for the first time since Mr. Biden assumed the presidency, they announced a renewal of the Atlantic Charter  the declaration of cooperation that Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid out during World War II. While the two current stewards of the special relationship between Britain and the United States have disagreed on critical issues, on Thursday they stressed the enduring strength of the alliance. When the original Atlantic Charter was signed on Aug. 14, 1941, the Nazis had conquered much of Europe, Britain stood largely alone and the United States had yet to join the war. But the symbolic import of the Atlantic Charter declaration had been backed up by the passage of the Lend-Lease Act only a short time earlier, allowing the United States to provide critical military equipment to allies. Before Mr. Biden and Mr. Johnson signed the new document, a senior United States official called it a profound statement of purpose that echoes the 80-year-old charter by underscoring the original declaration: that the democratic model is the right and the just and the best one for confronting the worlds challenges. The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity before the meeting between the two leaders, said the charter did not envision a new Cold War between great powers, but rather a world whose problems  including climate change, pandemics, technological warfare and economic competition  are complex and often nuanced. However, at the core of the presidents message during the trip is a central animating theme: The United States and its allies are engaged in an existential struggle between democracy and autocracy. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 0:46 - 0:00 transcript Johnson Welcomes Biden on His First International Trip as President President Biden met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain ahead of Fridays meeting of the Group of 7 leading industrial nations. The bilateral meeting kicks off Mr. Bidens first international trip as president. Thank you. All right. Wow, well its a great pleasure, Mr. President, to welcome you to Cornwall. Its a great pleasure to be here. Fantastic to see you, you know, in what I think is your first big overseas trip since youve been  It is  Ive been to your great country many times, but this is the first time as president of the United States. Everybody is absolutely thrilled to see you. I told the prime minister, we have something in common. We both married way above our station. Im not going to dissent from that one. Im not going to disagree with the president or indeed on anything else. President Biden met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain ahead of Fridays meeting of the Group of 7 leading industrial nations. The bilateral meeting kicks off Mr. Bidens first international trip as president. Credit Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times I believe were in an inflection point in world history, Mr. Biden said on Wednesday evening in a speech to troops stationed at R.A.F. Mildenhall at the start of his European visit. A moment where it falls to us to prove that democracies not just endure, but they will excel as we rise to seize enormous opportunities in the new age. In what he hopes will be a powerful demonstration that democracies  and not China or Russia  are capable of responding to the worlds crises, Mr. Biden announced that the United States would donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine to 100 poorer nations, a program that officials said would cost $1.5 billion. By playing a leading role in the effort to vaccinate the world and providing resources to confront the gravest public health challenges, officials said the United States was reclaiming a role it has sought to play since the end of World War II. Mr. Johnson, who is eager to use the summit as a showcase for a post-Brexit identity branded Global Britain, has also outlined ambitious plans to help end the pandemic. In the run up to the summit, Mr. Johnson called on leaders to commit to vaccinating every person in the world against the coronavirus by the end of 2022. Yet while Mr. Johnson and Mr. Biden may find common ground on key issues including the pandemic, fundamental divisions remain. Mr. Biden opposed Britains drive to leave the European Union, a push that Mr. Johnson helped lead. The American president is also concerned about Northern Ireland, since the Brexit deal has threatened to reignite sectarian tensions in the territory. Marc Santora, Michael D. Shear and

When is a jacket not just a jacket? When a first lady uses it to send a message. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 0:35 - 0:00 transcript First Lady Wears Jacket to Send Message on International Trip Jill Biden, the first lady, wore a black jacket with the word LOVE on the back during President Bidens first in-person meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday. Dr. Biden said her jacket choice and message was to bring love from America. Take away the message on the back of your jacket, if you will. Oh, the love. Yeah, well, I think that were bringing love from America. I think that this is a global conference and were trying to bring unity across the globe. And I think thats important right now, that people have to feel a sense of unity for all the countries and feel a sense of hope after this year of the panda. Jill Biden, the first lady, wore a black jacket with the word LOVE on the back during President Bidens first in-person meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday. Dr. Biden said her jacket choice and message was to bring love from America. Credit Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times It seems that the back of a first lady is now the hot place for White House messaging. During President Bidens first in-person meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, Jill Biden, the first lady, wore a black jacket over her black-and-white polka dot dress as the leaders and spouses met on a scenic overlook in the south of England. The jacket had a single word on it: LOVE. The delivery method  if not the content of the message itself  was an unmistakable echo of the time that Melania Trump, then first lady, famously wore a jacket during a visit to children separated from their parents at the southwestern United States border that said I really dont care, do u? Image Melania Trump, then first lady, on a trip to the southwestern United States border in 2018. Credit... Kevin Lamarque/Reuters That message, written in white letters on a green jacket, instantly became a sensation as people sought to find meaning in the harsh-sounding words. Mrs. Trumps spokeswoman later said that the message was intended as a slap at journalists, not a comment about the conditions that the migrant children were being kept in after her husbands policy of separating them from their parents. But it was clear that Mrs. Trump  like Dr. Biden on Thursday  was well aware that her jacket would be noticed. Unlike her predecessor, Dr. Biden was quick to provide an immediate explanation and context for her choice of a jacket and the message she was trying to send. In comments to reporters traveling with the president, she said that the jacket was intended to offer a sense of hope to a world gripped by Covid. I think that were bringing love from America, she said. This is a global conference, and we are trying to bring unity across the globe. And I think its needed right now, that people feel a sense of unity from all the countries and feel a sense of hope after this year of the pandemic. She did not, however, say whether her jacket was intended as a rebuke of sorts to Mrs. Trump, or even inspired by the previous incident. Asked about the comparison, her communications director referred to her comments to reporters.

House panels open an inquiry into the health effects of tear gas used by police. A demonstrator kicked a tear gas canister back at federal officers during a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, Ore., last summer. Credit... Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press A year after racial justice protests around the country touched off violent clashes between activists and law enforcement, House Democrats on Thursday opened an investigation into the health effects of the use of tear gas by police. Two subcommittees of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform began the investigation by asking companies that manufacture and sell tear gas and some government agencies to produce a wide range of documents, seeking to determine whether the federal government has done enough to ensure that the substance is safe to use on humans. The United States has agreed not to use tear gas in war, four Democrats, including the chairmen of the subcommittees, wrote in a letter to the agencies and companies. However, tear gas is frequently used in this country by law enforcement as a riot control agent. Given this domestic use, we would have expected an analysis demonstrating that tear gas products are safe to use on humans, but we have not seen this, they wrote. In fact, evidence suggests that tear gas may be connected to long-term adverse health impacts for those exposed. The letter was signed by Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois and the chairman of the subcommittee on economic and consumer policy; Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland and the chairman of the subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties; and two high-profile progressives on the subcommittees, Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. The lawmakers said they had been unable to determine whether there is any federal oversight regarding the composition or safety of these products. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York and chairwoman of the committee, said she supported the inquiry. At least 100 law enforcement agencies  many in large cities  used some form of tear gas against civilians protesting police brutality and racism last summer, according to an analysis by The New York Times. The brief period saw the most widespread domestic use of tear gas against demonstrators since the long years of unrest in the late 1960s and early 70s, The Times reported. In their letter, the lawmakers cited reporting by The Associated Press that military personnel exposed to tear gas in basic training were 2.5 times as likely of being diagnosed later with acute respiratory illness after their exposure to tear gas compared to before the exposure. Researchers have expressed concerns about tear gas formulations having gotten stronger over time and how that might factor into long-term health risks of exposure, they wrote. The Democrats are seeking information from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice, and the companies Safariland, Combined Systems, and Pacem Defense. Safariland announced last year that it was leaving the tear gas business after its product was used on protesters in Washington. The lawmakers asked the federal agencies for any research into the effect of tear gas products on human health and the feasibility of establishing standards for the substances. For the companies, their requests included a list of all the U.S. entities they sold tear gas products, a description of safety testing performed and all internal documents relating to any negative health effects on humans from tear gas.

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Biden administration lifts restrictions on number of federal employees allowed in the office. A carefully spaced line of people waiting for assistance at a Social Security Administration office in March 2020. Credit... Joshua Bright for The New York Times The Biden administration lifted restrictions on the number of federal employees permitted to work from the office while maintaining a flexible telework policy that was expanded during the pandemic, according to guidance issued on Thursday. The memo from the Office of Management and Budget reversed a policy issued in January that imposed a 25 percent cap on the number of employees that could work in the office. The new guidance comes as the nation works toward President Bidens goal of having 70 percent of the country vaccinated by July 4 and reopening offices, schools and businesses throughout the United States. The policy issued on Thursday followed up on an announcement the day before directing agencies to not require workers to get vaccinated in order to return to the office. Agencies may establish occupancy limits for specific workplaces as a means of ensuring physical distancing between unvaccinated individuals, according to the guidance issued Thursday. The loosening of the restrictions will facilitate planning for an increased return of Federal employees to physical workplaces, and it clearly reinforces that the safety of the Federal workforce remains a top priority, according to a statement from Jason Miller, deputy director for management for the Office of Management and Budget. But there will not be an immediate surge back to federal offices. The heads of agencies will need to complete a phased plan for the return of employees by July 19 while fulfilling obligations to respective labor unions, some of which have pressed for clean work environments and flexible schedules for employees. When each department does fully re-open, it will continue to allow employees maximum telework flexibilities, according to the directive issued Thursday. Republicans have recently pressed Mr. Biden to lift the restrictions. Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia, ranking member of the subcommittee on government operations, wrote a letter to the Office of Management and Budget claiming the lack of face-to-face services during the pandemic has had real, negative impacts on veterans, Social Security beneficiaries, and others who need prompt, attentive service from public servants at federal agencies.

Californias recall election could cost taxpayers more than $215 million, state officials say. Kevin Faulconer, a Republican candidate for governor in Californias recall election, during an appearance in Downey, Calif., last month. Credit... Michael R. Blood/Associated Press A special election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom of California will cost the state more than $215 million, state finance officials said Thursday. The price tag is about twice what had been expected, but less than the $400 million predicted by local elections officials earlier this year. Although recall attempts against governors are common in California, they rarely qualify for the ballot. The campaign against Mr. Newsom, which reached critical mass during the pandemic, is only the second in state history to gather enough signatures to trigger a special election. So far, 46 candidates have officially announced their intention to challenge Mr. Newsom in the recall. The most high-profile candidates are Republicans, including Kevin Faulconer, the former mayor of San Diego; Doug Ose, a former congressman from Sacramento; Caitlyn Jenner, a reality television star and former Olympic athlete; and John Cox, a San Diego businessman who recently distinguished himself by touring the state with a live Kodiak bear. Voters who signed the petition had until June 8 to change their minds, and counties have until June 22 to adjust their signature tabulation. Several procedural steps, including an official cost estimate, remain before the recall election is scheduled, probably this fall. In April, the California Association of Clerks and Elected Officials put the price of a recall at about $400 million, based on the costs of the November 2020 election. The estimate released on Thursday came in a memo to the Legislatures joint budget committee and was drawn from a survey of election officials in the states 58 counties. A separate, official cost estimate is still required under the states rules for recall elections, but legislators needed a preliminary number in order to meet a June 15 state budget deadline, said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the state finance department. The estimate does not include costs to the Secretary of States office, for example, but helps lawmakers determine how much to appropriate to cover the costs of 58 counties.

The Supreme Court limits the reach of mandatory minimum sentences law. The Supreme Court Building in Washington. Credit... Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times The Supreme Court on Thursday narrowed the reach of the federal Armed Career Criminal Act, a kind of three-strikes statute, ruling by a 5-to-4 vote that violent felonies committed recklessly  as opposed to intentionally or knowingly  do not count as strikes. The law requires mandatory 15-year sentences for people convicted of possessing firearms if they have earlier been found guilty of three violent felonies. An offense qualifies as a violent felony if it involves the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force against the person of another. The majority featured an unusual coalition, with Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joining the three-member liberal wing and Justice Clarence Thomas voting with that plurality on different grounds. The case concerned Charles Borden Jr., who pleaded guilty to a federal gun crime. Prosecutors sought to impose the mandatory 15-year sentence based on three earlier convictions, one of them in Tennessee for reckless assault. That conviction, Mr. Borden argued, should not count as a strike. Lower courts rejected his argument, and he was sentenced under the career-criminal law. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for four justices, disagreed, saying the law excluded crimes in which the defendant had merely been reckless. The words against the person of another, she wrote, requires volitional conduct and demands that the perpetrator direct his action at, or target, another individual. In addition to Justice Gorsuch, Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor joined Justice Kagans plurality opinion. Justice Thomas agreed with the pluralitys bottom line, but for a different reason. A crime that can be committed through mere recklessness does not have as an element the use of physical force, he wrote, quoting from an earlier opinion, because that phrase has a well-understood meaning applying only to intentional acts designed to cause harm. In dissent, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote that the courts decision overrides Congresss judgment about the danger posed by recidivist violent felons who unlawfully possess firearms and threaten further violence.

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New data shows that fewer migrant children arrived alone at the southern border last month. Migrant families seeking asylum in the United States are escorted to the main road to turn themselves in to the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande near Roma, Texas, on Wednesday. Credit... Go Nakamura/Reuters The number of migrant children and teenagers arriving alone at the United States border with Mexico decreased last month compared to a month earlier, according to newly released Customs and Border Protection data. There was a slight increase in the number of border crossings, encounters and apprehensions overall during the same time period, a sign that the record surge of migrants trying to get into the country this spring could be starting to stabilize. But the problem is far from over for the Biden administration, which is currently trying to safely place more than 16,000 migrant children in government custody with family members living in the United States. The administration on Monday threatened to sue the state of Texas if Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, follows through with his threat to shut down more than 50 shelters in the state where thousands of migrant children have been living. Mr. Abbotts action, which was part of a disaster order issued at the end of last month, was seen by many as a deliberate swipe at the Biden administrations more compassionate posture on immigration compared to the restrictive measures of the Trump administration. It is typical for the number of migrants traveling to the United States through the southern border to increase during spring months, but this year the turnout has been much higher, with a nearly 50 percent increase in border crossings, encounters and apprehensions in March, April and May compared to a similar surge over the same period in 2019. In a call with reporters Thursday afternoon, administration officials said 38 percent of encounters at the border in May involved a migrant who had crossed the border at least once in the last year, compared to an average recidivism rate of 15 percent from 2014 to 2019. Republicans have seized on the surge along the southern border, calling it a crisis  a term the Biden administration has avoided. Most of the adult migrants who have been arriving at the southern border this year have been barred from entering the country because of a public health rule put in place during the Trump administration, which is responsible for more than 463,000 expulsions on the southern border between January and May of this year. While the last administration also barred children for public health reasons, the Biden administration has been allowing migrant children to enter the country and stay in shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services until they can be placed with a family member or other sponsor. Since the beginning of the year, more than 65,000 migrant children and teenagers arrived alone on the southern border, with record numbers arriving during the spring months. Nearly 2,900 fewer migrant children arrived alone at the southern border in May compared to a month earlier. Because of a shortage of shelter space at the federal governments network of state-licensed facilities earlier this year, migrant children were forced to stay in overcrowded holding cells along the southern border long past the legal limit. Earlier this year, the Biden administration moved to set up about a dozen emergency shelters where the children could stay in Health and Human Services custody until they are placed with a family member or sponsor inside the United States. Recently, migrant children and teenagers have been staying in H.H.S. custody for an average of 37 days, according to government statistics. Childrens advocates have said ideally a child would not have to stay more than 20 days in a government shelter.

Trumps political legacy will be on the ballot in Virginia this fall. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican candidate for governor, at an event in Richmond, Va., last month. Credit... Steve Helber/Associated Press Former President Donald J. Trump wont be on the ballot in Virginia, but his political legacy will be. His shadow on the states political landscape could have profound implications for the election of a new governor, a contest that figures to be the only major competitive race in the country this fall. Glenn Youngkin, an affable former private equity executive, is testing whether a Republican can sidestep Mr. Trump without fully rejecting him and still prevail in a state the former president lost by 10 points but where he remains deeply popular with conservative activists. And in what could be equally revealing, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat seeking to reclaim his old job, is going to determine whether the strategy of linking Republicans to Mr. Trump  a tactic that helped turn Virginias suburbs a deeper blue the last four years  is as potent when hes no longer in the Oval Office, or even on Twitter. Both questions reflect a larger issue: how strong a tug the countrys polarized and increasingly nationalized politics can have on an off-year state race thats usually consumed by debates over taxes, transportation, education and the economy. Its a real-life political science experiment that is all the richer because its taking place in a state that only supported Republicans for president between 1964 and 2008, and where for many years it was the Democrats who had to distance themselves from their national party. If Republicans are to win back the governorship and reclaim a foothold in this increasingly Democratic state, this would seem to be the year.
A year after racial justice protests around the country touched off violent clashes between activists and law enforcement, House Democrats on Thursday opened an investigation into the health effects of the use of tear gas by police.

Two subcommittees of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform began the investigation by asking companies that manufacture and sell tear gas and some government agencies to produce a wide range of documents, seeking to determine whether the federal government has done enough to ensure that the substance is safe to use on humans.

The United States has agreed not to use tear gas in war, four Democrats, including the chairmen of the subcommittees, wrote in a letter to the agencies and companies. However, tear gas is frequently used in this country by law enforcement as a riot control agent.

Given this domestic use, we would have expected an analysis demonstrating that tear gas products are safe to use on humans, but we have not seen this, they wrote. In fact, evidence suggests that tear gas may be connected to long-term adverse health impacts for those exposed.
A gunman shot and killed a toddler and his grandmother before fatally shooting himself inside a Publix grocery store in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Thursday morning, the authorities said.

Deputies from the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office found their bodies near the produce section when they entered the store, in Royal Palm Beach, just before 11:40 a.m., a Sheriffs Office spokeswoman said.

The suspect was identified as Timothy J. Wall, 55, of Royal Palm Beach, the Sheriffs Office said on Friday. The office said the identities of the two victims will not be released as the family has invoked Marsys Law, a state measure that grants privacy to victims and their families.

The child, a boy, would have turned 2 later this month, said Teri Barbera, the sheriffs spokeswoman.
Ignoring such guidance increases the probability that a judge will construe a law at odds with legislative meaning, and potentially more in line with the judges own intuitions and policy preferences, he wrote in the Harvard Law Review in 2016, in response to a review of his book by Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, who now sits on the Supreme Court.

A judges work takes place not on the lofty plane of grand, unified theory, but on the ground of commonsense inquiry, he asserted.

In 2018, Justice Katzmann wrote the Second Circuit courts majority opinion in Zarda v. Altitude Express that the 1964 Civil Rights Act barred employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The next year, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, he held in Trump v. Vance that the president of the United States was not immune from a state grand jury subpoena that directs a third party to produce nonprivileged material in its investigation of potential crimes.

The case concerned a subpoena to Mr. Trumps accounting firm, Mazars USA, from the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. The appeals court rejected Mr. Trumps request to block the subpoena, which sought eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns.

Both the Zarda and Trump rulings were affirmed by the United States Supreme Court.

In 2017, Judge Katzmann, a consensus builder, issued a rare dissent when the Second Circuit court, overruling a District Court judge, said in Watson v. United States that a U.S. citizen who had been wrongfully detained for 1,273 days was not entitled to sue the government for damages because he had not filed his claim in a timely manner.

Even as a boy he sought to engage himself in civic affairs. When he was 9 he wrote to President John F. Kennedy on behalf of members of the Seneca tribe who had lost their territory to a flood control project. As a second-grader, in a letter to Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., he complained about a problematic traffic light in his Queens neighborhood.
A replica of the Statue of Liberty began a journey this week from Paris to New York, officials in France said, sending the United States another, much smaller monument to freedom and symbol of French-American friendship.

At under 10 feet tall, a 16th of her bigger sisters size, the bronze statue was carefully hoisted from its place at a museum of inventions in Paris during a ceremony on Monday, according to a news release from the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts. The statue, which weighs nearly 1,000 pounds, had been on display at the museum, Musee des Arts et Metiers, for 10 years and will be placed in a specially designed plexiglass box for its nine-day voyage across the Atlantic.

The smaller statue, based on the original 1878 plaster model by the sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, was installed just outside the museums entrance in 2011. This statue was cast using a 3-D scan of another model in Paris, the news release said. It will be exhibited on Ellis Island from July 1-5, facing its much bigger sibling on Liberty Island. Then, it will be moved to the French ambassadors residence in Washington, where it will be on display from July 14, Frances Bastille Day, until 2031.

There are over 100 replicas of the Statue of Liberty around the world, according to the conservatory. More than 30 are in France, including a handful in Paris.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for four justices, disagreed, saying the law excluded crimes in which the defendant had merely been reckless. The words against the person of another, she wrote, requires volitional conduct and demands that the perpetrator direct his action at, or target, another individual.

She gave an example to illustrate the difference. Consider, she wrote, a commuter, late for work, who runs a red light and hits a pedestrian. That driver was reckless, she wrote, but has not directed force at another: He has not trained his car at the pedestrian understanding he will run him over.

In ordinary language, Justice Kagan wrote, against means in opposition to, giving examples: The general deployed his forces against a rival regiment, or the chess master played the Queens Gambit against her opponent.

In addition to Justice Gorsuch, Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor joined Justice Kagans plurality opinion.
While many awaited a similar announcement from Broward, it hasnt come. The school district has been the strictest in South Florida related to COVID-19 rules, being the first in South Florida to announce schools would close in March 2020 and the last in the state to re-open campuses, returning to face-to-face learning in mid-October.
Only seven African nations, most of them small, are expected to meet the World Health Organizations goal that every country worldwide vaccinate 10 percent of its people against the coronavirus by September. It is a dire prospect for a continent where vaccine supplies are being quickly depleted, and governments are battling a resurgence in infections.

The W.H.O. said on Thursday that inoculation coverage remained at about 2 percent continentwide  and about 1 percent in sub-Saharan Africa  even as some rich nations across the world have administered shots to a majority of their people.

To achieve the 10 percent target for every country on the continent, Africa would need an extra 225 million doses, said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the W.H.O. regional director for Africa. In total, nine out of 10 African nations will miss out on this global vaccination goal, the agency estimated.

The seven countries likely to meet the goal are Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritius, Morocco, Sao Tome and Principe, the Seychelles and Zimbabwe. An additional six countries  Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda and Tunisia  could reach the target if they receive enough supply to keep up with their current pace of vaccination, the W.H.O. said.
Mark Lowcock, the top humanitarian emergency official at the United Nations, told a webcast meeting of aid officials and diplomats that the number of people affected by the famine was higher than anywhere in the world and was the worst in any country since a 2011 famine gripped neighboring Somalia.

Mr. Lowcock said the data paints a picture of a very, very extreme situation, requiring a generous donor response and smoother humanitarian access to areas of Tigray that he said had been blocked by Ethiopian forces and allies from neighboring Eritrea.

This is going to get a lot worse, said Mr. Lowcock, recalling the 1980s famine in Ethiopia that caused an estimated 1 million deaths and showed the horrors of mass starvation with jarring images on television.

The new famine data was from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a system used by humanitarian aid agencies and governments to determine the scale of a hunger crisis. The system is based on a five-phase scale of food insecurity  Phase 1 is minimal and Phase 5 is famine. The data showed that of 5.5 million people facing food insecurity in Tigray and neighboring zones during May and June, 350,000 were now in Phase 5.

This severe crisis results from the cascading effects of conflict, including population displacements, movement restrictions, limited humanitarian access, loss of harvest and livelihood assets, and dysfunctional or nonexistent markets, a summary of the data said.
LIMA, Peru  Peru has been through a year of profound turmoil: it cycled through three presidents, suffered one of the worlds highest coronavirus death rates and watched its economy shrink more than any in the region under the weight of the pandemic.

Many in the country hoped against the odds that the presidential election last Sunday would offer a new start. Instead, nearly a week after the votes were cast, Peru is again gripped by uncertainty.

The two candidates are locked in a near tie. One candidate is alleging fraud and calling for as many as 200,000 votes to be nullified  a move that would disenfranchise many poor and Indigenous voters. The other has called his supporters into the streets to defend those votes.

The tension is pushing democracy to the limit, analysts said, exacerbating the fissures running through a deeply divided society and raising concern about the countrys future.
Now, as American troops depart and Afghans experience a growing sense of anxiety and despair, the visa applications have taken on renewed urgency. With the Taliban taking advantage of the U.S. withdrawal, many former interpreters say they are more likely than ever to be killed.

I get phone calls from the Taliban saying, We will kill you  they know who I am and that I worked for the Americans, Mr. Walizada said. He has delayed marriage because he does not want to put a wife at risk, he said, and he has moved from house to house for safety.

The slightest blemish during years of otherwise stellar service can torpedo a visa application and negate glowing letters of recommendation from American commanders. In the last three months of 2020 alone, State Department statistics show, 1,646 Afghans were denied one of the special visas, which are issued to applicants satisfying demanding requirements and rigorous background checks even though interpreters would already have passed security screenings.

Among reasons cited for denial were the failure to prove the required length of service, insufficient documentation, failure to establish faithful and valuable service and derogatory information.

More than 18,000 Afghans are awaiting decisions on their S.I.V. applications, according to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Many say they are seized by dread, fearing they will be denied, or approved only after they have been hunted down and killed.
President Biden, under pressure to address the global coronavirus vaccine shortage, announced on Thursday that the United States will buy 500 million doses of vaccine and donate them for use by about 100 low- and middle-income countries over the next year.

This is about our responsibility, our humanitarian obligation, to save as many lives as we can, Mr. Biden said in a speech in England, ahead of the meeting of the Group of 7 wealthy democracies. When we see people hurting and suffering anywhere around the world, we seek to help any way we can.

In recent months, wealthy nations with robust vaccination campaigns have quickly moved toward inoculating large swaths of their population, but much of the world, particularly Africa, lags far behind, raising fears of more deadly waves that could overwhelm fragile health care systems and spawn new virus variants.

Now, as the leaders of the G7 prepare to meet in England starting on Friday, they are pledging to help close that gap. Mr. Biden said the G7 would announce a broader global strategy for containing the pandemic.
A long-running controversy at Oxford University over a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the British imperialist seen by many as an architect of apartheid in South Africa, gained new momentum this week after more than 150 academics said they would refuse to teach students of the college where the monument sits.

The scholars sent a letter to the college saying they would refuse requests from Oriel College, one of the 39 self-governing entities that make up the university, to give tutorials to its undergraduate students and to attend or speak at events the college sponsored, among other measures.

Faced with Oriels stubborn attachment to a statue that glorifies colonialism and the wealth it produced for the College, we feel we have no choice, they wrote in the letter seen by The New York Times.

The boycott is the latest high-profile protest in a complex reckoning taking place in Britain and several other European countries over their colonial and slave-trading pasts. In museums, public spaces and schools, a long-running discourse arguing that colonizing forces brought civilization to African countries is changing, with many critics arguing too little is being done to confront the past.
When God flooded the Earth as punishment for mans sins, the story goes, a devoted follower named Noah built an ark, preserving mankind by saving his family and the worlds animals from the water.

A modern version of the ark is facing a different challenge: British bureaucracy.

A Dutch television and theater producer named Aad Peters is facing a British government demand that he prove that his 21,528-square-foot ark is fit to travel at sea.

The ark, a floating museum of Bible-themed exhibits, has no engine. It was built on a steel barge and needs to be towed wherever it goes. According to its website, it made stops in Denmark, Germany and Norway before arriving in Ipswich, in eastern England, in October 2019. It welcomed visitors aboard until March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Mr. Peters declined to comment. In a statement, the museum said Britains Maritime and Coastguard Agency impounded the ark in November 2019, even as it remained open to the public, because it lacked two certifications, a load line certificate and an antifouling certificate. The first verifies a vessels seaworthiness, and the second affirms that it does not have a coating, paint, surface treatment, surface or device that can leach into the water and kill barnacles and other sea life, according to the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency.
As President Biden and his NATO counterparts focus on nuclear-armed Russia at their summit meeting on Monday, they may also face a different sort of challenge: growing support, or at least openness, within their own constituencies for the global treaty that bans nuclear weapons.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the Geneva-based group that was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to achieve the treaty, said in a report released on Thursday that it had seen increased backing for the accord among voters and lawmakers in NATOs 30 countries, as reflected in public opinion polls, parliamentary resolutions, political party declarations and statements from past leaders.

The treaty, negotiated at the United Nations in 2017, took effect early this year, three months after the 50th ratification. It has the force of international law even though the treaty is not binding for countries that decline to join.

The accord outlaws the use, testing, development, production, possession and transfer of nuclear weapons and stationing them in a different country. It also outlines procedures for destroying stockpiles and enforcing its provisions.
A Roman cleric who often speaks with Pope Francis insisted on Thursday that Cardinal Marxs resignation had come as a surprise to the pope, and said that it was an expression of the Germans conscience.

Cardinal Marxs role has given the German church significant influence in the Vatican, even as the church is hemorrhaging members in Germany, with more than 270,000 people leaving in 2019 alone.

In his original letter, which Cardinal Marx has said he spent months reflecting on before sending it to the Vatican on May 21, he wrote that It is important to me to share the responsibility for the catastrophe of the sexual abuse by church officials over the past decades.

He added that he believed Catholics were at a dead end in terms of the crisis, and that he had remained troubled by a question he was asked as the head of the German Bishops Conference during the release of a 2018 report that showed almost 3,700 children had been abused over seven decades in Germany alone.

He was asked how many bishops had resigned as a consequence of the abuse, and the answer was none. The Cardinal told reporters this month that he had decided to lead by example.

I believe one possibility to express this willingness to take responsibility is my resignation, the cardinal wrote in his letter, adding, I therefore strongly request you to accept this resignation.

In rejecting the resignation, Francis added that he shared Cardinal Marxs concerns. Silence and protecting the institution at all costs, he wrote, leads to personal and historical failure, and brings us to live with the weight of keeping skeletons in the cupboard, as the saying goes.
It also says that, Instruction on the required topics must be factual and objective, and may not suppress or distort significant historical events, such as the Holocaust, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the civil rights movement and the contributions of women, African American and Hispanic people to our country ... Examples of theories that distort historical events and are inconsistent with State Board approved standards include the denial or minimization of the Holocaust, and the teaching of Critical Race Theory, meaning the theory that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons. Instruction may not utilize material from the 1619 Project and may not define American history as something other than the creation of a new nation based largely on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.
MOSCOW  A legal ban on Russias leading opposition group. The attempted assassination of a Kremlin critic followed by his imprisonment. Near-blanket prohibitions on street protests. A tightening crackdown on independent media.

Russian domestic politics have taken a hard turn over the past year  perhaps, as some say, because of the leaderships fear of economic discontent or, as others suggest, a consolidation of power in the Kremlin by a clan of security officials.

President Biden has said he will object to the crackdown inside Russia when he meets with President Vladimir V. Putin for the two leaders first summit meeting, next week in Geneva.

Mr. Putin, for his part, has said Russias domestic affairs are not open for discussion, and in any case not so different from the political churn in other countries.
McGuires Irish Pub is a popular restaurant and local landmark in Pensacola, Florida, famous for having an estimated two million dollars in cash hanging from the ceiling.

The history of McGuires Irish Pubs unique decoration can be traced back to 1977, when Martin McGuire and his wife, Molly opened the opened the business. He tended the bar while Molly waited tables, and when she made her first $1 tip, she celebrated by writing the date on it and tacking it to the back bar for good luck. Little did she know that this was the start of a longstanding tradition that is still being respected by patrons of the pub. The very next day after that first bill was tacked to the bar, people started adding to the collection, and theyve been doing it ever since.

Photo: Panoramio

Its 15,000 square feet and theres dollar bills on every bit of that ceiling and quite a bit of the walls, owner William McGuire Martin told the Chicago Tribune back in 1999. We count it every year and we pay taxes on the growth in it. We treat it as an asset, and we borrow against it and so forth.

At the time of the interview, McGuire estimated his unique decor to consist of around $175,000, but according to more recent counts, the pub now has nearly two million dollars in autographed bills hanging from its ceiling. Thats a fortune literally at arms length from strangers, most of whom resist the temptation of taking some of that cash for themselves.

Of course, with so much money in plain sight, there are bound to be incidents, and thefts have been reported at McGuires Irish Pub over the years. An employee was once fined and put on probation after allegedly pulling down an estimated $5,000 of green wallpaper, and many others have tried using the marked bills to pay for various things around Pensacola.

But because every banknote that goes up on McGuires ceiling is autographed with a black marker and features staple holes, its hard to spend them anywhere in town without anyone noticing them. The Irish pub is a local landmark and the money tradition is very well-known, so whenever someone presents a marked bill virtually anywhere in Pensacola, alarm bells go off.

The teller instantly realized that was probably money from McGuires and notified a manager and during that time, the suspect became a little worried and left the building, one police offer told WEAR-TV about a thiefs attempt to exchange stolen banknotes at a local bank.

Fun fact, there is actually a second McGuires Irish Pub in Destin, Florida, which, according to a 2017 report had a whopping $1.7 million in cash hanging from its ceiling.
Prince Albert, which is located in the heartland of Saskatchewan, is looking to hire a firm to devise a positive storytelling strategy" to help overcome its reputation of being a lousy place to live.
A TOTAL of 11,218 people were vaccinated at the vaccination and testing centre in the Tullamore Court Hotel during May.

According to figures released on Friday last, 1,387 were vaccinated at the centre in the first days of June.

HSE Staff at vaccination and testing centres throughout Midlands Louth Meath have taken 106,000 swabs since February 2021 and have vaccinated over 65,000 people to date.

Mr Des OFlynn, CHO Midlands Louth Meath, this week, paid tribute to the staff involved for their resilience, commitment and willingness to respond to what might have seemed unimaginable challenges only a short time ago.

Over the past few months, he said, staff have contributed in many different ways from creating the physical infrastructure, preparing each centre, administration and technical support to working as vaccinators and swabbers in testing centres. This fantastic co-operative effort has been duplicated for the vaccination programme with 8 Community Vaccination Centres (CVCs) already operational across the CHO. We also want to acknowledge the great work of other statutory and voluntary organisations and their staff, for their ongoing support and assistance.

As registration for the 40-44 age group opened this week Mr OFlynn urged all concerned to register for the vaccine to protect everybodys health.

The vaccine uptake nationally is 99% in the over 80s, 95% in the 70-79 age group and over 90% in those aged 60 to 69.

Over Easter, rates of COVID in the Midlands were high, particularly in Co. Offaly. Thanks to the efforts of everyone in the community at that time, the numbers came down and are now holding steady. It would be great if we could keep it that way, according to Dr Una Fallon, Director of Public Health, Midlands

As more and more of our community is vaccinated against COVID, it is important that we maintain these low rates of COVID by lifting restrictions slowly and carefully. We need a higher proportion of people vaccinated before we drop our guard.

Some people are still vulnerable to and can still be potentially harmed by the virus. This week we would like to protect Leaving Cert students so that students who want to sit an exam can do so. It is important that primary school children remain at school until the end of June  they have had enough of their education disrupted  especially those with special education needs.

Now is not the time to be complacent. We are not quite sure yet whether COVID variants of concern (VOCs), particularly the Delta variant (B.1.671.2), are going to be a problem in Ireland she warned.

There is so much we can still do and enjoy; we just cant do everything.

Please do not have big social gatherings INSIDE and please be incredibly careful outside  where you should still keep your distance.

Shoulder to shoulder situations, in the presence of alcohol, outside or inside, are not a good idea.

The basics still matter - clean hands, face coverings, distance from others, good ventilation  these measures will continue to protect those who are not yet vaccinated. If you have symptoms, isolate yourself and go for testing in one of the testing centres. You do not need an appointment.

Most of all, when called for your vaccine, take the opportunity, and get vaccinated. You will not just be protecting yourself, you will be protecting others, she concluded.
THREE medieval churches in Offaly are being lined up for major conservation work after winning a grant from the Just Transition Fund.

Kilbride church and graveyard, which is close to the Grand Canal near Tullamore, Kilmurry church and burial ground, Shinrone, and the Monasteroris ruin and 1798 memorial were put forward for the funding by Offaly County Council heritage officer, Amanda Pedlow.

Ms Pedlow linked up with Laois County Council to lodge a joint application to the Just Transition Fund and approval was given last week for 748,000 to be spent over three years.

The Just Transition Fund, which has come under fire for being over-bureaucratic and slow to deliver, aims to support innovative projects that contribute to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the Midlands and which have employment and enterprise potential.

The grant towards the medieval churches work in the two counties was delivered under the community resilience element of the overall fund.

Ms Pedlow said she saw the Just Transition Fund as a means of releasing long sought aid for the projects in Offaly.

I went back and looked at the heritage plan so we put an application in for medieval churches based on three sites where the communities had been trying to get work done over the years, she said.

The work at all sites will commence with a comprehensive conservation plan which will be drawn up by a team including a conservation architect, conservation engineer, archaeologist and ecologist. They will work with the community groups locally to plan works for each site to be delivered.

This will include examining options from the All Ireland Pollinator Plan guidelines to see how best the sites can support pollinators. The proposals will then be submitted to the National Monuments Service for approval before conservation work will commence, added the heritage officer.

This programme runs for three years so it is anticipated the work in 2021 will focus on research and preparing the programme of works to commence on site in 2022 and 2023.

Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD said the project will bring significant benefits to the Laois and Offaly region.

Every funded project will play a key role in the Midlands successfully adapting to a Just Transition while also benefitting communities and individuals most affected by the move away from peat-harvesting, said Minister Ryan.

This project alone will create up to 13 roles, both directly and indirectly. The conservation of these six medieval churches and their graveyards in Laois and Offaly is a terrific development for the communities around them. I am also delighted to see that action will be taken to promote biodiversity and pollinators at each site in partnership with the community.

Nationally, he said there were now grant agreements with 26 projects through the first two strands of the Just Transition Fund and he expected the remaining agreements to be finalised shortly.

These innovative projects include establishment of supporting local business development and green enterprises, tourism and greenway infrastructure, heritage, regional business hubs, re-skilling and training initiatives, he said.

These projects have the ability to transform the Midlands region and its communities in the transition to a low-carbon economy. They will bring new, innovative, green energy enterprises with the potential to boost the economy in communities and create viable employment options for the region.

Cathaoirleach, Offaly County Council Cllr John Carroll said : It is great news that there will be positive interaction with communities at a church site in each of the municipal districts, I look forward to seeing works progress over the next three years.

Cllr Carroll added: Over the years Laois and Offaly County Council heritage officers have been working with a range of communities to care for their medieval churches and the surrounding graveyards. It is a key objective in the Offaly Heritage Plan 2017-21. These sites are a direct link to our medieval past and often are located at sites of importance dating right back to the early Christian period. They are very special places for local communities, of interest to visitors, as well as being the burial grounds for so many families. With increased extreme weather events and the impact of climate change there is an acknowledgement that the work to conserve these sites is more important than ever.

This conservation programme has received a huge boost with the allocation of Just Transition funding which will be used to conserve three churches in each county over the next three years. There are several strands to Just Transition funding and this programme has received funding through the Community Resilience Strand. This uses the deep connection people have to their local heritage as a tool to build community capacity, working with local community organisations to develop their capacity to respond to changes in the environment, and raise awareness of greener, cleaner, healthier communities.

The Laois sites chosen are Kilmanman, Clonaslee, Dysart Gallen, Aughnacross and Clopook graveyard, Lugacurren, Stradbally.
A DRINK driving charge in relation to a driver who collided with another car was dismissed on a technical point after the court was unable to determine the time both parties were driving or the time of the accident at last week's district court.

On May 14 2020, Andrzej Przystalski, (24) 15, Tarleton Hall, Tullamore, crashed into the back of a Renault Megane car driven by PJ Ward from Kilbeggan.

Giving evidence to the court, Garda Reynolds said he attended the scene and Mr Przystalski told him he had consumed ''one whiskey, one big drink.'' He also told Garda Reynolds: ''This man no show indicator.''

Garda Reynolds said while he was dealing with Mr Przystalski, PJ Ward appeared to be having a heart attack and fell to the ground holding his chest. Garda Reynolds said he administered first aid to Mr Ward and requested an ambulance.

He said the ambulance arrived in 15 to 20 minutes. Once the doctor and paramedic arrived Garda Reynolds said he returned to the accused.

He requested a specimen of breath from the defendant and outlined to him the penalties. The defendant complied with the request. He failed the test and Garda Reynolds said he formed the opinion that the defendant was intoxicated and incapable of driving his vehicle.

He arrested him with the help of an interpreter who was a friend of Mr Przystalski and had arrived on the scene. Garda Reynolds said he put Mr Przystalski into the patrol car and took him to Tullamore Garda Station.

Garda Reynolds said the defendant was informed of his rights before he requested a specimen of his breath at the garda station. The result was 56 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

Garda Reynolds said Mr Przystalski was then charged and released on station bail. He said the gardai's own interpreter was on the phone at the station when the defendant was charged.

Garda Reynolds had taken photographs of the accident location and said there were 10 metre skid marks where the defendant's vehicle had ended up.

He said the weather conditions were good and he had ample time to see Mr Ward's vehicle.

Having asked to see garda Reynold's notebook counsel for the defence Mr Staunton BL asked why some of the writing was in blue and the other in black.

Garda Reynolds said he had a four colour pen. But Mr Staunton said he was curious as to why there were two different colours in the one sentence.

Having viewed the notebook herself, Judge Staines noted that the change of colour appeared to be just in relation to a phone number.

Mr Staunton asked Garda Reynolds why he didn't ask the defendant to sign his notebook, Garda Reynolds replied that he omitted to do that.

Garda Reynolds said he took a statement from Mr Ward on May 21, 2020 at Kilbeggan garda station.

In his evidence, Mr Ward said he was proceeding from Kilbeggan to his parent's house on the Tullamore road. He said he indicated to take a right turn and slowed down as there was a pedestrian crossing the road. He said he was hit from behind and the impact pushed him ''a house and a half'' past his parent's house.

Mr Ward said he got out of the car to see if the defendant was alright and Mr Przystalski started shouting at him and tried to start the car. He then got out on the side of the road with his phone.

During this time, Mr Ward said he took pains in his chest. He said he was released from hospital at 7.30 that evening.

Judge Staines asked Mr Ward what time it was when he was driving. But counsel for the defendant objected to the question.

It was then impossible to know if the breath test on Mr Przystalski was carried out within three hours. She said she would dismiss the drink driving charge. The defendant still faced a charge of careless driving.

Mr Przystalski was described as a 24-year-old Polish national who works in the Kepak meat factory in Kilbeggan. Mr Staunton said he needs his car to get to and from the factory as there is no public transport to Kilbeggan from Tullamore. He has no previous convictions and was fully insured.

Turning to Mr Ward, Judge Staines said he was the unfortunate victim and asked if he had received any compensation.

Mr Ward said he received 19,000 insurance compensation but was at a loss of 7,000. He said the car was valued at 28,000. He said he attends physiotherapy twice a week for back and neck pain. He has issues with his eyes which affects his balance and also suffers from concussion.Judge Staines asked if Mr Przystalski was in a position to get a credit union loan. She said she was anxious that Mr Ward get compensated.

She adjourned the case to July 14 to give time for the payment of compensation but told Mr Staunton she was not making any promises regarding what type of sentence would be handed down to Mr Przystalski.
Blair also has objected to Pomas leadership of the foundation, which paid her $150,000 in 2018 but $108,000 in 2020. He has amassed hundreds of documents, including emails and code-enforcement documents, that he claims show Pulse was never properly licensed to be a nightclub, which the city refutes. The club did have an unpermitted fence in the back, which some say made it harder for patrons to escape during the shooting, and the corporation that owns the club  headed by Poma and her husband, Rosario  is still entangled in a lawsuit alleging it failed to protect patrons.
Joe Bidens trip to Europe is ostensibly about repairing relations damaged by the tumultuous Trump years but everyone involved knows that China is at the centre of it.
The Labor politician recently resigned from politics after being locked in a fight to live every day.
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A little-seen social media post with a Labor MP and the phrase From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free shows the depths of division in the party over Israel.
Aside from the fact that it was primarily a stunt to get right-wing media attention, and that it criminalized behavior that already was illegal, we think the new law was intended to have a chilling effect on the fundamental constitutional right to protest. Its many provisions include delaying bail for those who get arrested, providing civil lawsuit protection to people who run down protesters with their cars, and exposing people who arent involved in rioting to third-degree felony charges.
GOP Pennsylvania state Representative Seth Grove said that the state did see small-scale election fraud in the 2020 election, but..

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Positive opinions of the US within the international community have returned to the high ratings seen during the Obama era.
Queen Elizabeth II has honored what would have been her husband, Prince Philip's 100th birthday with a rose while Prince William also acknowledged the day.
Newsy 10 Jun 2021

Watch VideoA new infrastructure proposal could be making its way to the White House soon.



Newsy congressional reporter..
The US president, in England for a G7 summit, is seeking to bolster relations with America's allies.
President Joe Biden began a whirlwind European tour in the UK, vowing that the US was back to help "tackle the toughest challenges." While visiting, he was expected to voice concerns over peace in Northern Ireland.
Eurasia Review 10 Jun 2021

By Henry Ridgwell



Leaders of the G-7 group of industrialized nations meet this weekend in Britain, with an agenda..
U.S. President Joe Biden begins his first overseas trip in London; what are the expectations? Plus, who was behind a deadly attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 10 at an international charity clearing land mines? And, what countries are more likely to carry out state-sponsored cyber attacks?
COVID-19 leak from lab "less likely": U.S. expert

Xinhua) 14:35, June 10, 2021

WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- It's "less likely" that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory and was leaked, Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at Baylor College of Medicine, told the national media outlet U.S. News in an article published Tuesday.

The origin of the novel coronavirus might be related to several factors, including animal hosts, urbanization, expanding deforestation and perhaps climate change, which "may be driving the increased contact between humans and animals, or the ability of viruses to leap from animals to humans," while humans haven't fully understand their interplay, said Hotez.

To figure out "the potential animal origins of COVID-19," an interdisciplinary team of scientists from China and internationally needs to be established to "exhaustively test wild animal species, including bats and possibly domestic animals, such as livestock," he said.

After SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012, COVID-19 might be warning people that "a new serious coronavirus epidemic is going to appear every eight to ten years," and humans need to know the origin of COVID-19 to "prevent coronavirus pandemics," said Hotez.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
For these reasons, the law-enforcement response is just the first step in the enormous, costly response to a public mass shooting. Once security is restored, it falls on our elected officials to help communities recover from trauma. In the aftermath of recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Boulder, Indianapolis and San Jose, policymakers at all levels of government need to recognize and respond to the devastating and long-lasting impact of such events. Funding for mental health services for victims, first responders, and communities affected by these tragedies is urgently needed.
Joe Biden starts with the G-7 summit, then NATO, then a highly anticipated meeting with Vladimir Putin as Trump's history hangs over the trip.


A Canadian family and U.S. experts alike say a mentally ill man from Mississauga, Ont., who was convicted for his role in an online terror plot while a teenager shouldn't be in a supermaximum security prison in Colorado. Instead, they say he should be sent back to Canada where he can serve the remainder of his 40-year sentence and get the psychiatric help he needs.
The US President and Boris Johnson will have their first face-to-face meeting on the eve of the G7.
An Alberta man visited the hospital in Quesnel, B.C., three times in less than a day looking for mental health support, according to his widow. She says he never received the help he needed and took his own life in a bathroom at the hospital.
The victims of the Fishmongers Hall attack were killed unlawfully by a convicted terrorist after a string of failures by..

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A court on Thursday sentenced to four months in prison a man who slapped President Emmanuel Macron across the face after being..
Eurasia Review 13 Jun 2021

By Patsy Widakuswara and Steve Herman



U.S. President Joe Biden has declared that the G-7 summit was an..
US President Joe Biden has called on global leaders to share COVID vaccines with the developing world. He said the United States would become the "arsenal of vaccines" to help poorer nations to beat coronavirus.
Pfizer Inc's shipment of COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico this week includes doses made in its U.S. plant, the first of what are expected..

Reuters - Politics 30 Apr 2021
Less than a week after Brazils health regulator green-lighted the exceptional import of 4 million doses of Bharat Biotechs Covid-19 jab Covaxin, it has now granted certification of Good Manufacturing Practices to the companys vaccine-manufacturing facility as well as its biological input, paving the way for full-fledged exports of Covaxin to Brazil.
At the time, I was the senior pastor at Northland Church, a conservative evangelical congregation in Orlando. That Sunday morning as news spread, the terror at Pulse shook me to the core. Each one of those murdered was a child of God  a sibling, a parent, a spouse or a partner  taken too soon from their families and communities. As I prayed for the victims and their families, I had to examine my own heart and ask: Why do I have so few relationships within the LGBTQ community?
Bang Media International Limited 10 Jun 2021

Prince Edward says his mother Queen Elizabeth is coping as well as can be expected following the death of her husband Prince Philip..
Top officials in the Biden administration are working to stop two Iranian vessels headed for Venezuela and Cuba that are believed to be carrying arms, a report said Wednesday.
euronews (in English) 13 Jun 2021

The meeting will be their first since Biden was elected last November and comes at a time of strained relations between the United..
Founder of the Center for Racial Equity and Justice the Rev. George C. Gilbert, Jr. was one of the final speakers at a rally for the Democrats election bill, the For the People Act, held outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
California Latino lawmakers issued a statement Wednesday rebuking Vice President Kamala Harris controversial comments in El Salvador this week when she told folks from the northern triangle states "Do not come."
Their nations may have a famed "special relationship," but President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet for the first time Thursday against a backdrop of differences both political and personal.
Senior Democratic leadership issued a unified statement Thursday, denouncing comments made by Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar when she compared U.S. and Israeli war crimes to actions by the Taliban and Hamas.
China has arrested more than a thousand people for using the profits from crime to buy cryptocurrencies, security officials said, as part of a growing crackdown on the industry. The countrys bitcoin mines power nearly 80 percent of the global trade in cryptocurrencies, although trading in China is banned. Officials have started to turn a []
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP)  DNA evidence preserved after a 1956 double homicide and the use of forensic genealogy has helped a Montana sheriffs office close the books on the 65-year-old cold case, officials said.



Investigators with the Cascade County Sheriffs Office concluded Kenneth Gould  who died in Oregon County, Missouri, in 2007  more than likely killed Patricia Kalitzke, 16, and Duane Bogle, 18, the Great Falls Tribune reports. Both were shot in the head.



Detective Sgt. Jon Kadner, who took over the case in 2012, said Tuesday it was the oldest case he could find nationwide that has been solved using forensic genealogy, which searches commercial DNA databases to find familial matches to the DNA of a crime suspect.



On Jan. 3, 1956, three boys hiking along the Sun River near Wadsworth Park northwest of Great Falls found Bogle dead near his car. A day later, a county road worker found Kalitzkes body north of Great Falls.



Kalitzke was a junior at Great Falls High School, and Bogle was an airman at Malmstrom Air Force Base from Waco, Texas.



Officers investigated for years, but they were unable to make an arrest.



The case went cold for decades until 2001, when then-Detective Phil Matteson sent the slide of a vaginal swab gathered from Kalitzkes body to the Montana State Crime Lab for analysis. The lab found a sperm cell that did not belong to Bogle, officers said.



In the following years, law enforcement compared the DNA sample to about 35 other men, including gangster James Joseph Whitey Bulger Jr. They were all ruled out as suspects.



When Matteson retired, he said he didnt believe the case would be solved. A lot of different people had a turn at this, and we just werent able to take it to conclusion, he said.



In 2018, however, forensic genealogy, which was...
An Oxford college should place a sign saying Sorry around the neck of a statue of Cecil Rhodes, a senior academic has suggested in the latest row over the controversial monument.
You know, instead of going to San Diego and the Northeast and wherever (DeSantis is) going for his presidential run or whatever it is hes doing, Im here in Leon County, Crist said. I was in Alachua County this morning. Later, Im going to be in Palm Beach County.  You go to the people. You travel the state. You look them in the eye. You tell them what you want to do and listen to what they want and what they need.
The Duchess of Cornwall has paid tribute to the late Duke of Edinburgh on what would have been his 100th birthday.
Oxford students could be entitled to compensation if their teaching is disrupted by an academic boycott over a statue of Cecil Rhodes, Downing Street has said.
Oxford Universitys head has criticised academics for choosing to punish students with a boycott of tutorials amid a row over a statue of Cecil Rhodes.
During the four years of the Trump administration, resistance and even revolutionary talk were in the air as organizations with..

Eurasia Review 05 Jun 2021
Newsmax 10 Jun 2021

A French court has sentenced a 28-year-old man to four months in prison for slapping President Macron in the face.Damien Tarel was..
Cristiano Ronaldo is exploring his options amid talk of a possible move away from Juventus this summer - according to ESPN.



The 36-year-old's representatives are looking into reports of interest from a number of top clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain and his former employers Real Madrid and Manchester United.



Ronaldo's...
In a recent dump of Dr. Anthony Faucis emails, Peter Daszak thanks Fauci 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. In reality, evidence has been mounting that the Wuhan...
The JBS Canada beef processing facility in Alberta has resumed production after a cyberattack that impacted the company's operations in North America and Australia.
Team Talk 13 Jun 2021

Raheem Sterling scored his first tournament goal for England as they got off to a dream start at Euro 2020 with a win over Croatia
Oswego, NY (13126)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms, especially during the evening. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms, especially during the evening. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Sky News UK Studios 10 Jun 2021

On what would have been Prince Philip's 100th birthday, the Queen planted a newly-bred rose named after the Duke at Windsor.
After 25 years with Members First Credit Union (MFCU), President and CEO Eric Brubaker has announced his retirement at the end of this year. Carrie Iafrate, executive vice president, has been appointed by the board of directors as the credit unions new president and CEO as of Jan. 1, 2022.

Brubaker began his career with the credit union as the accounting manager, moving to vice president of finance before taking the lead as president and CEO. Through his career, he led the credit union in growth from 18,000 members and two branches to 58,000 members and 11 branches, spanning from Midland to Grand Rapids. He further developed the credit union from $161 million in assets and 30 employees to $661 million in assets and 230 team members.

It has been an honor to lead this credit union for the past fifteen years, and to work with our members for nearly a quarter century, stated Brubaker.

Brubaker led the charge in adding business lending and deposit products, offering investment options through Members First Investment Services, and was instrumental in collaborating with fellow leaders to open Credit Union Trust, Michigans first fiduciary service provider organized by credit unions.

Erics leadership, vision, and care for our members and employees has helped us to achieve great success throughout his career, stated Bob Cooper, chairman of the board. We are grateful for his dedication and commitment to our credit union, and are excited for him to transition into this new phase of life.

Iafrate started her career with the credit union nearly 20 years ago as the marketing manager, now working side-by-side with Brubaker as the executive vice president of MFCU. Throughout her career, Iafrate has focused on strategic planning, organizational growth, product development, high performing leadership and talent development, strategic marketing/data analytics and culture development. Iafrate emulates the core values of MFCU in everything she does, building trust, caring for, and enthusiastically celebrating her fellow team members every chance she gets.

We are very proud to have Carrie take the lead of our credit union, stated Cooper. We have great confidence in Carries vision for our credit union, and are excited to work with her to continue to grow our organization.

I couldnt be more honored than to be chosen by the Board as the next leader of our outstanding organization, Iafrate stated. I speak openly and often about my love for this credit union and our movement. Our teams commitment to people helping people and confidence in our future together is inspiring. I care deeply about our members, team, and communities and will embrace this responsibility to ensure we all thrive.

Brubaker and Iafrate have worked closely for years building and implementing growth strategies, leading mergers and acquisitions, and ensuring financial stability and security for the organization.

I look forward to working with Carrie in the transition and continuing to support the success of Members First Credit Union, stated Brubaker. I am confident that Carrie is the best fit for this role, and know that her dedication and vision will help our credit union continue to succeed.

Iafrate shares appreciation for Brubakers leadership.

Eric has set us up for success. We have huge potential to take advantage of due to his extraordinary execution of growth strategies, she said,

Iafrate studied at Northwood University, receiving a BBA in marketing and management and associate in accounting in 2000. With her personal philosophy of work hard, train hard, play hard, Iafrate continued her education by receiving an MBA from Richard DeVos Graduate School in 2005. Iafrate has earned certifications from CUNA as a certified credit union executive, credit union marketing executive, and is completing her Business Lending Professional certification this year.

Iafrate is actively involved in MFCUs communities as well as local, state, and national industry affiliations. Most recently, being appointed to Credit Union Trusts Board of Directors. She has received a Spirit of Rotary Award and Credit Union Spirit award. Natives to Midland, she and her husband, Buddy, are co-owners of CrossFit Jack Pine and enjoy adventuring around the world. They reside in Midland with their teenage son, Owen.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)  When the Asian American Student Union at a Connecticut high school organized a Zoom call following the killing of six Asian women in Atlanta, senior Lily Feng thought maybe 10 or 15 classmates would attend. When she logged on, more than 50 people from her school were online. By the call's end, nearly 100 people had joined.

Seeing her peers at Farmington High School turn out for the conversation  one piece of a student-led effort to explore Asian American identity issues  made her realize how much they wanted to listen and learn about a topic that is often absent from the curriculum.

Our Asian American and Pacific Islander community members, they want their voices to be heard, said Feng, co-president of the student group that also has brought in speakers, hosted panels and created lessons about Asian American history. They are almost desperate to be speaking about it. This is so heavy, this is heartbreaking and it was a space for them to really voice that.

As students push for more inclusive curriculum, some lawmakers, educators and students themselves are working to address gaps in instruction and fight harmful stereotypes by pushing for more Asian American history to be included in K-12 lesson plans.

Illinois would become the first state to require public schools to teach Asian American studies if the governor signs a bill that cleared the state Legislature. Lawmakers have proposed similar mandates this year in Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin.

Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, an Illinois representative, said she sponsored the bill in response to the increasing anti-Asian violence and rhetoric. Growing up, she said she knew little of the discrimination her family had faced in earlier generations because it wasnt taught in school and her family did not openly speak about it.

I think, like a lot of Asian families, their response to that discrimination was to endure, to survive, she said. And that meant moving past it, not talking about it, not educating the next generation about the struggles faced by a first generation.

It wasnt until law school that Gong-Gershowitz learned about the Chinese Exclusion Act, an 1882 law that prohibited Chinese workers from immigrating and the only law to exclude a specific ethnicity from entering the country, and the deportation threat it represented for her grandparents. Understanding that history is central to addressing the violence today, she said.

When people talk about what are we going to do about racism, hate, violence, otherization, my answer is always look at the root cause of that, she said. Empathy comes from understanding, and we cannot do better unless we know better.

On the federal level, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., has reintroduced legislation intended to promote teaching Asian American history. The bill would require Presidential and Congressional Academies, which offer history and civics programming to students and teachers, to include Asian American history in their grant applications. It would also encourage state and national assessment tests to include Asian American history.

Asian Americans are largely excluded from textbooks, shown as stereotypes or framed as model minorities, said Nicholas Hartlep, an associate professor at Berea College in Kentucky who authored a book on those depictions in instructional materials. He said it is encouraging to see the legislation, but funding to support the requirements is necessary for them to make a difference.

Is that an unfunded mandate where they just say, Yes, it has to be covered? Hartlep said. Or does it come with funding? And what quality assurances do we have for whats being taught? Because if its just glossing over, that can be equally damaging.

The growing conversations around anti-Asian hate have also given new urgency to long-running efforts to develop and introduce instructional material for schools that explores Asian American history.

Some educators have taken it upon themselves to fill the content gap.

As public school teachers earlier in their careers, Freda Lin and Cath Goulding each saw little of their personal history reflected in the lessons they were teaching unless they designed their own. Now, as co-directors of YURI Education Project, they provide curriculum and professional development around teaching Asian American history.

Goulding said that while the push for inclusion dates back to the 1960s, recent advocacy to expand Asian American and ethnic studies, including Black, Latino and Native American history, in K-12 classrooms has tried to go beyond representation to look at how race shapes power structures and lived experiences.

When I was becoming a teacher in the early 2000s, the trend in education then was multiculturalism," Goulding said. At its core, it was not about critiquing power and for me thats been the real shift in the conversations.

At its best, ethnic studies helps students understand their own agency and teaches children to draw connections between historic events like the Chinese Exclusion Act and modern-day immigration issues, said Jason Oliver Chang, a professor at the University of Connecticut who has worked to advance the states legislation on Asian American studies.

I think ethnic studies is in some ways a way of practicing citizenship, Chang said. Learning about ourselves, but then also acting on that knowledge. Its about teaching in a way that engages the student and their own story and perspective, with content that engages with the structures of power that shape their world.

Students at Farmington High School are pushing those lessons forward on their own. This year, the Asian American Student Union's leaders met with the school administration to propose changes to the social studies curriculum.

Mingda Sun, a member of the organization, recalls being taunted by racist slurs from her peers in elementary and middle school. Back then, she said, she was too young to fully understand the racism that fed the bullying, and her experiences were rarely acknowledged at school.

She hopes the advocacy that has followed this year of violence can change that in the future, starting with her own school and state.

At the end of the day its about empowering young Asian Americans to feel proud of who they are, she said. Its about helping schools that are able to provide resources and opportunities to do that.

___

Ma covers education and equity for APs Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/anniema15 ___

The Associated Press reporting around issues of race and ethnicity is supported in part by the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___

This story has been corrected to show that the spelling of a quoted teachers name is Cath Goulding, not Golding, and to show Goulding is a co-director of the YURI Education Project, not Project YURI.
Rep. Annette Glenn, R-Midland, on Wednesday, reported supported a broad bipartisan reform package that would create a permanent bipartisan ethics committee to police compliance with code of conduct and conflict of interest rules.

Lawmakers and certain state officers would be required to file financial disclosure reports, and new restrictions and requirements would be put in place related to lobbying.

In my two-and-a-half years as your state representative, Ive worked hard to restore trust in government. These measures are a significant part of the effort to tear down barriers to open and honest representation and rebuild faith in the government you pay for and should be able to count on, Glenn stated in a news release. Michigan has a poor track record when it comes to accountability and transparency in state government. You deserve better and implementing the reforms in this legislative package would help ensure you receive better.

In a 2015 review by the Center for Public Integrity, Michigan ranked dead last in transparency and accountability laws. The legislation approved Wednesday  House Bills 4680-92  addresses these shortfalls in a number of ways:

New bipartisan ethics committees  Permanent House and Senate ethics committees with an equal party split and alternating co-chairs would enforce ethics and conflict of interest laws, issue advisory opinions, accept and investigate public complaints about legislator misconduct, and recommend disciplinary action. If wrongdoing is determined, then the committees records must be made public.

Expanded penalties for legislative misconduct  The House and Senate would be authorized to suspend the salary and expense allowances of a legislator who acts unethically or is excessively absent by a supermajority vote.

Requiring financial disclosures for state legislators  By requiring legislators to disclose their finances to a new oversight panel, conflicts of interest can be better regulated, and officials held accountable. To ensure the panel is doing its job, the disclosure forms will be made public once a legislator leaves office.

Prohibiting legislative conflicts of interest  Lawmakers would be banned from voting for personal financial benefit.

Closing the revolving door  Legislators and department heads would be prohibited from becoming lobbyists for two years after the end of their term or tenure.

Some believe the transparency reform falls short of real disclosure.

Unlike the financial disclosure laws for state lawmakers that exist in a majority of states across the country, these bills would give these disclosures over to a secretive legislative committee rather than releasing them to the public, according to Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan.

Here at Progress Michigan, weve been calling for financial disclosure laws in Michigan for years because Michiganders deserve to know whether their elected officials are acting based on whats best for their constituents or whats best for their own pocketbooks, Scott stated. Theres no question the lack of financial transparency in our legislature is a big contributor to Michigans last-in-the-nation ethics ratings and the legislature should be taking up this important issue. Unfortunately, the version passed through the House today is merely the illusion of transparency and contains critical flaws that would allow lawmakers to evade real accountability. We urge our legislators to reconsider their approach to financial disclosures, follow the lead of almost every other state in the country, and ensure the public has the full truth about their lawmakers financial interests.

Glenn has been a vocal supporter of reforms to make state government more open and accountable to the people of Michigan.

Her legislation to make the Legislature and governors office subject to freedom of information or sunshine laws has been approved by the House and is awaiting action in the Senate. So is her plan to establish an ombudsman's office that whistleblowers could contact without repercussions or having their identities disclosed  an effort to help state employees raise concerns about possible problems in their departments.

Glenn also is working on several fronts to end hush money payouts to former government officials.
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The latest attack on an artisanal gold mine near the village of Solhan in the northeastern province of Yagha in Burkina Faso on 5 June has brought to more than 500 the number of civilians killed since the beginning of 2021 in Africa's Sahel region, Human Rights Watch reported Wednesday on its website
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyas finance Ministry has embarked on a massive expansion of the monetary policy, marked by the countrys largest ever budget for the 2021/22 financial year to revive an economy which has suffered a sluggish growth ignited by the coronavirus pandemic
New York, US (PANA) - The international community must stay focused on achieving justice and peace for the people of Darfur, the outgoing Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the Security Council on Wednesday
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As the saying goes, when it rains it pours. At the end of April Patently Apple posted a report titled In a 'Statement of Objections' The EU Commission warns Apple that it's App Store is abusing its dominant position." Then early this morning we posted a report titled "A Preliminary EU Commission Report Claims that Digital Assistants from Apple, Amazon & Google may violate Anti-Competitive Practices." Now we're learning that Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are working on drafts of five antitrust bills, four of them aimed directly at reining in Big Tech, and may introduce them within days.

We're learning this afternoon that Reuters has read discussion drafts of five measures that are currently on the table. Among the five bills being considered, two address the problems of platforms like Amazon and Apple, creating a space for businesses to sell products and then competing against those products.

One of the two would make it illegal in most cases for a platform to advantage its own products on its platform with potentially a fine of 30% of the U.S. revenues of the affected business if they violate the measure.

A second bill requires platforms to sell any business if owning it creates an incentive for the platform to advantage its own products or lines of business.

A third bill would require a platform to refrain from any merger unless it can show the acquired company does not compete with any product or service the platform is in.

A fourth would require platforms to set up a way for users to transfer data if they desire, including to a competing business.

To read about the fifth bill and more, read the full Reuters report.
Bumping up your resolution or screen size is great, but one of the most important aspects of gaming visuals come down to an essential issue: frame rates. The more frames your graphics card can push out each second, and that your monitor can display without tearing or stuttering, the better the gaming experience. Faster monitors provide a smoother experience during standard desktop usage as well.

But did you know that high refresh rate monitors on Windows often dont maximize their potential out of the box? Even if your in-game frame counter is showing over 100 frames per second, your display may actually be stuck at 60Hz, rather than the 144Hz-plus speeds you paid for. Higher frames coming from your GPU still offer visual improvements even at a regular monitor refresh rate, but thats not why you bought that killer display.

You bought that sucker to rip through Cyberpunk 2077, taking in all of its glorious scenery at drool-worthy, buttery-smooth speeds. But to hit those heights you need to have your monitor configured correctly, and if youre counting on Windows to tell you when theres an issue, forget it. For all of its wonder, Windows 10 will happily let that high refresh rate monitor sit at 60Hz for its entire life without alerting you to the greater potential within.

Heres how to change that.

Check your cables first

Jared Newman / PCWorld A DsiplayPort cable ready for action.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, lets talk about your monitors connection. Typically, high refresh rate monitors have two cable choices to connect to your graphics card: HDMI and DisplayPort. The trick is that quite often these two connections are not equal, and one will be capable of displaying higher refresh rates than the other.

If you have a newish 144Hz display then its likely that both connection types have equivalent capabilities. Thats not always the case, however, and if you have a monitor that can do 165Hz or 240Hz its even less likely.

For anyone with a FreeSync display, AMD makes it easy to figure out which connection supports which refresh rate. The companys FreeSync website has an extensive list of AMD FreeSync monitors and their specs. This list isnt exhaustive, but its rare to find a FreeSync monitor that isnt covered.

If you have a G-Sync monitor Nvidia maintains a similar list, but you dont really need it. G-Sync always uses DisplayPort.

How to change your monitors refresh rate

Now the moment youve all been waiting for: its time to check your displays working speed, and change your monitors refresh rate if needed. This is actually an easy adjustment, and its scandalous that Windows 10 doesnt help you figure this out, but here we are.

IDG Start by selectin Advanced display settings.

To start, open Windows 10s Settings by tapping the Windows Key + I or browsing to Start > Settings. Once the Settings window is open, go to System > Display. Then scroll down until you see the heading Multiple Displays and click the Advanced display settings link.

IDG Settings shows basic information about your monitor.

On the next screen, make sure the drop-down list is showing the correct display if you have a multi-monitor setup. Then, towards the bottom, click on the link entitled Display adapter properties for Display 1. (This can also say Display 2, or Display 3 depending on your particular setup.)

Clicking the link opens a small utility window with three tabs. Select Monitor, and then in the section under Monitor Settings, youll see a drop down box entitled Screen refresh rate. Select the maximum refresh rate for your monitor. If you dont see the maximum setting, then its likely you have to switch display cables to see the higher rate.

IDG Select your desired refresh rate from the drop down menu.

Once youve selected the desired refresh rate, click Apply, and the screen will go dark for a moment. Windows will ask if you want to keep the desired settings. Click Keep changes, then click OK back at the utility window to close it, and youre done!

As a final tip for gamers, FreeSync and G-Sync arent always enabled by default. You may have to activate those variable refresh rate features in the monitors onboard menu to get the most from your new display.

Enjoy the buttery-smooth visuals youve paid for!
The government is poised to phase out the double-track system in senior high schools across Ghana in the 2024-2025 academic year, Dr Yaw Adutwum, the Education Minister, has said.



Late last year, William Akwasi Sabi, the then deputy minister of monitoring and evaluation, told Asaase Radio that the government hoped to phase out the double-track system for SHSs within two years.



However, speaking with Nana Yaa Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday 9 June 2021, Adutwum said the target is now 2024.



The president made the promise in Tamale; it has been, I think, about three years now. So that puts you at two to four [years] for the double-track system to be eliminated. And we are on track to that elimination agenda by the president, he said.



Adutwum added: In academic year 2025 schools are going off the track and the good news is that there will be new schools to accommodate more, and then existing schools would have had capacity to accommodate more.



In September 2017 the government began implementing the flagship Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme with an initial government fund of US$138 million.



Statistics from the Ghana Education Service in March 2020 showed that there were 404,856 children enrolled in state-run senior high schools and benefiting from free education.



Dr Adutwum said that the government has so far spent nearly GHC8 billion on implementation of the Free SHS programme since 2017.



In 2017 we spent GHC480 million, in 2018 GHC1,137,861,816, in 2019 GHC1,682,641,924 and the following year there will be adjustment because of the COVID-19 but the actual budget was GHC2,429,257,748 which would be revised because of the COVID-19 and the academic year changes. And this year it is GHC1,174,021,968, he said.



He added: In all, we have spent to date GHC7,703,783,456, and that is the data that was given to me by my chief director.







Source: asaaseradio.com









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

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Deputy Education Minister-designate, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour has called for a collective support for the free Senior High School policy of the Akufo-Addo administration.



Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, the Deputy Minister-designate noted that the free SHS policy has benefited all Ghanaians in that every Ghanaian child has access to quality education.



He explained that, but for the free SHS intervention, impoverished Ghanaian families would have found it difficult to send their children through the Senior High level and many students would have also had their dreams scattered because their parents can't afford their tuition and other educational needs.



He stressed there is no discrimination in the free SHS, hence no matter a person's political affiliation, he or she is entitled to the same benefits.



He asked the politicians not to politicize the policy.



Rev. Ntim Fordjour further touched on some advantages of the free SHS saying, "it is very difficult to beat Nigeria when it comes to WASSCE but for the first time, we have outperformed them . . . Out of 465 students who sat for the exams in West Africa and passed with A1 in all the eight subjects, 88% representing 411 are from Ghana. We must be proud as a country. And it doesn't matter that, out of the 411, we don't know those who are NDC, NPP or PNC members; what we know is that they are from Ghana. They're holding high the flag of Ghana''.



Due to this, he called for the sustenance of the programme advising the entire nation, particularly political actors, to support the initiative as well as collectively work to address challenges with the free SHS.



"This is the time for us to unite and lift high our certificate and education. We must be proud. This is not the time to say things against our children's hard work to undermine their certificate. We are moving forward. From 2017 to 2020, President Akufo-Addo has set a solid foundation and that solid foundation he has set is swiftly making strides," he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

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PARLAMENTUL REPUBLICII MOLDOVA

 2010

The Moldovan Parliaments website design was supported by the Democracy Support Programme in Moldova"  an initiative financed by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe
The former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has good reason to be cheerful.



Last March, the International Criminal Court upheld his acquittal on charges of crimes against humanity.



And the current government in Abidjan says he is now free to return home, something he is expected to do later this month.



Theres a certain nervousness about his coming back, because people dont know what he has in mind now, says the BBCs Lalla Sy in the capital.



The problem is what he wants from now: is he going to come back to his political life or is he going to be a quiet former president?



So, will Mr Gbagbo get a heros welcome when he lands in Abidjan? And what does his return really mean for the country?

Source: BBC









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

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At least 60 women have been kidnapped by armed gangs in Nigerias north-western Zamfara state, local media reports.



Gunmen reportedly attacked three villages and burnt down several houses, killing some villagers - though casualty figures are not yet known.



Eyewitnesses told the BBC that as soon as residents heard of their approach, many of them fled into the bush.



It has been reported that the security forces fought the gunmen, killing many of them.



Zamfara police have confirmed the attacks but dispute the casualty figures and the number of those abducted.



These raids come a week after a warning by the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres that rising violence in Nigerias north-west is causing a humanitarian crisis.



Armed gangs regularly attack communities and kidnap villagers in Zamfara - many of them for ransom.



People are forced to flee their homes and farms because of such dangers.



Meanwhile, more than 130 children abducted from a Koranic school last month in Tegina, in central Nigeria, remain in captivity.

Source: BBC









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Five days after the Nigerian government blocked access to Twitter, many privately-owned media outlets in Nigeria have continued to use the platform.



This is despite an order by the countrys media regulator to deactivate their accounts.



Some of the countrys most popular media outlets, including the newspaper Punch, which has more than four million Twitter followers, have continued to use the platform.



Many Nigerian users are still circumventing the ban using virtual private networks.



Pressure for the government to reverse its decision is also building from other quarters.



Samantha Power, the head of US development agency US Aid, described the suspension as nothing more than a state-sanctioned denial of free speech and called for it to be reversed immediately.



A local rights group and 176 Nigerians have filed a lawsuit against the ban at a regional court.



Former US President Donald Trump has however praised the ban.



Since Saturday Nigerians have been unable to access Twitter, following an earlier announcement by the government saying it was blocking it for threatening Nigerias corporate existence.



The move came a day after Twitter deleted a post by President Buhari for breaching its rules.



The presidency has denied that the ban was a retaliation to that decision.

Source: BBC









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One of Ghanas leading automobile servicing companies based in Accra, Hardford Auto Service has supported the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital with 25 beds and 10 wheelchairs as part of its Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR).



The items which is valued at GHC100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis) was presented to Korle Bu on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of Hardford Auto Service, Mr. Yasser Alia.



They were received on behalf of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital by the Director of Medical Affairs, Dr. Ali Samba.



The donation, according to the Management of Hardford Auto Service, was to give back to the society.



The Hardford Auto Service team was led by Mr. Samuel Asante Mensah, Personal Assistant to the CEO, Advisor to the Board of Hardford Auto Service, Nana Odidwour Baah Kokroko III, Tumfohene of Asante Akyem Hwediem and Mr. William Nana Yaw Beeko, Media Relations Manager for Hardford.



Presenting the items, Mr. Samuel Asante Mensah emphasized that Ghanas public health facilities have numerous challenges and that it is not the sole responsibility of the government to provide all solutions.







We at Hardford Auto Service believe that the government cannot do it all that is why we are here today to lend this crucial support to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. We presented 25 double crank hospital beds and 10 wheelchairs. We also want to use this opportunity to assure Korle Bu that this will be a long term partnership since we will be coming from time to time, Mr. Samuel Asante Mensah said.



Nana Odidwour Baah Kokroko III, Tumfohene of Asante Akyem Hwediem who was also there to throw his weight behind the Hardford Auto Service Management team reiterated the companys commitment to supporting the society it finds itself in.



I believe this is a good gesture by Hardford Auto Service which should also be emulated by other corporate institutions and organizations. Our hospitals are in dire need of critical materials to care and offer treatment for the sick and we believe this donation will go a long way to help, Nana stated.



In his acceptance remarks, the Director of Medical Affairs, Dr. Ali Samba was exceedingly grateful to the management of Hardford Auto Service for the donation.



We usually go out soliciting support but in the case of Hardford Auto Service, they voluntarily decided to come and help us. I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Hardford CEO, Mr. Yasser Alia and the entire management team for this timely donation, Dr. Ali Samba stated.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Governance Lecturer, Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah has expressed worry over the extradition of foreigners arrested for engaging in illegal mining, popularly called galamsey.



Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah wondered why the foriegners are sent back to their home countries while local offenders are jailed.



He said this while commenting on the jail term handed to three Ghanaian illegal miners by the court.



The three convicts; Joseph Donkor, Joseph Paul and Charles Ewusi were each jailed 15 years on two counts of mining without licence and conspiracy to commit crime, a Daily Graphic publication indicated.



In total, the three culprits are to serve 45 years imprisonment and also fined GHc 720,000.



Meanwhile, Chinese illegal miners, when arrested, are extradited to their country instead of they facing a a jail sentence.



Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, Dr. Otchere-Ankrah questioned the logic in repatriating the foreigners who commit acts of illegality in Ghana.



He explained that there is no way a Ghanaian can go to a foreign country like China and engage in illegal mining or anything illegal but the Chinese are given the freedom to undertake illegal activities and when arrested too, are sent back to their country.



He called for an equal punishment for both locals and foreigners.



Dr. Otchere-Ankrah wondered why the laws of Ghana are not enforced on the Chinese and any other foreigner who commits a crime.



''When it happens that way, then we are not ruling. Let the law deal with everybody accordingly," he said.



Watch video below





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Rice growers in the Volta Region have appealed for government support to expand their farms.



Richard Mawutor, a rice farmer in the Region, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that tree stumps remained a major challenge to farmers, affecting field expansions.



He said most farmers were as a result, forced to rotate crops on the same field season after season.



There are lots of tree stumps in our fields and it is the biggest problem for rice farmers. They are preventing the expansion of farms. Cleared fields ease our work, Mr Mawutor stated.



He was among some 450 farmers from the Region, who benefited from the governments provision of potable rice harvesters, an initiative made possible through the support of the Canadian Government under the Modernising Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) programme.



The machines are manoeuvrable, user friendly, and designed to enable harvesting in fields not engineered, and also have accessories for reconfiguration into grass-weeding tools.



Mr Mawutor said the machines would aid harvesting on the stump-ridden farms, and would further help reduce dependence on weed killers.



He said lack of irrigation was another problem small-scale rice farmers faced and appealed to stakeholders to intervene in that area.



Mr Sylvester Owusu, Regional Agricultural Engineer, who handed over the harvesters, said most farmers had limited tools and complained about labour availability.



He said the combined harvesters could not be utilised on undeveloped fields, thus the provision of the small, motorized harvesters was a refreshing intervention.



The Engineer noted that reliance on combine harvesters, most of which arrived from Tamale, was a major cause of post-harvest losses in the rice-growing sector.



He said the region remained the leading producer of rice by volumes, thanks to the governments interventions, and added the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, as part of its Special Rice Initiative, was focusing on the provision of farming machinery, farmland development, and accessibility to quality processing equipment.

Source: GNA









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The Judiciary has affirmed its commitment to partnering with the government for the successful execution of the national campaign against illegal mining in all its forms.



Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah said the Ghanaian Judiciary will do its best to discharge the responsibilities in this existential battle.



We will do all in our power to help the nation win this fight. And we will partner with any agency of the state that is ready to work with us to achieve the needed results, he emphasized.



Mr Anin Yeboah was addressing the opening session of a two-day special training workshop on the offences and penalties regime under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) and Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act 2019 (Act 995), in Kumasi.



The programme, being held under the auspices of the Minerals Commission and the Judicial Service of Ghana, is to build the capacity of judges to interpret the more technical provisions of the law guiding mining in Ghana.



In all, 32 judges and magistrates drawn from mining areas across the country are taking part in the training workshop.



Chief Justice Anin Yeboah drew attention to the fact that the laws of the nation ought to reign supreme above all other parochial interests.



We are a nation of laws. That is something that I believe we are all proud of.



Which means that when aberrant conduct such as this arises, it is the law that we must turn to not self-help, the Chief Justice noted.



He expressed worry at the wanton destruction of the ecosystem mainly through illegal mining and other unhealthy environmental practices.



Not only is it depriving the nation of its rightful due from the exploitation of its resources, but it is also exacting an incalculable toll on our environment, he said.



The Chief Justice further expressed concern about how the output of farmers, whose activities were dependent on the land, had been affected.



Think of the parents who, according to a troubling report recently published, are giving birth to children with various genetic challenges owing to this menace, he observed.



Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, Minister of Land and Natural Resources was hopeful the workshop would help bridge the knowledge gap between the mining sector and the judiciary.



This, according to him, would lead to the emergence of robust judgments from the various courts relating to mining offences.



The Minister said the urgency to deal with the negative impact of illegal small-scale mining and the need to garner multi-stakeholder collaboration had prompted the government to come out with several measures.



The measures included a freeze on the issuance of forest entry permits by the Forestry Commission for purposes of mining, the designation of forest reserves and water bodies as red zones and decentralization of the enforcement mechanism.



He also cited the Green Ghana Project, which sought to plant an initial five million trees in a day across the country.

Source: GNA









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The only woman among the 10 people being tried for allegedly attempting to stage a coup detat and overthrow the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, suggested that they should eliminate President Akufo-Addo when he is finally captured.



The Director in charge of Operational Intelligence at the Defence Intelligence Department of the Ghana Armed Forces, Colonel Isaac Amponsah, who is the prosecutions first witness, insisted under cross-examination that WO II Esther Saan, aka Mama Gee, was captured on an audio recording suggesting that the President needed to be eliminated.



Ziyerli Agbambila, lawyer for the accused person, in his cross-examination sought to challenge the evidence-in-chief of the witness that WO II Esther Saan suggested that the President be eliminated but the witness insisted that she did and said she was captured on audio and there was a witness at the meeting too.



The lawyer then suggested to the witness that there is nothing to show that the accused person said such a thing, but Col. Amponsah insisted that as the Director of Operational Intelligence, I dont go to the field to collect information so the information that I get or what I have is what is brought to me by my operatives or informants and my role is to assess the value of the information whether it is credible or not credible so there is no way I will be at the meeting to hear her mention those words.



Evidence In Chief



The official trial of the coup plotters commenced last Tuesday at an Accra High Court where Colonel Isaac Amponsah testified as the PW1.



Led in his evidence in chief by the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, the witness had told the court about the chilling strategies of the accused person, including how they intended to capture the President, the Vice President and some officials of government as part of their plan to overthrow government.



The NPP government had been formed in 2017 after winning the crucial 2016 general election and was barely two years into its administration when the accused persons started planning to overthrow it.



The witness also told the court about how the accused persons planned among other things, to take over some key military installations in the country, including artillery regiments and ammunition depots.



The court also heard how a military officer infiltrated the camp of the accused persons and successfully recorded their meetings both in video and audio forms.



He had told the court that WO II Esther Saan, who was at meeting held on July 7, 2018 and attended by Bright Alan Debrah and Corporal Awarf Sule, suggested that they needed to eliminate the President and Awarf responded that yes, that is the work we are doing.



Cross-Examination



Her lawyer sought to discredit this evidence by the witness, stating that his client never said such a thing.



Even when the witness insisted that the accused actually made the statement and there was an audio recording and a witness to prove she made the statement, the lawyer maintained it was not true.



Counsel then asked the witness if he was the one who interpreted President to mean Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo or he heard the accused saying to anyone that they needed to eliminate the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



Did you hear A6 (Esther Saan) saying to anybody that they should eliminate President Nana Akufo-Addo? the lawyer asked, and the witness responded she mentioned his name Akufo-Addo.



Give And Take



Lawyer (Ziyerli Agbambila): So you interpreted Akufo-Addo to mean the President of the Republic. Is that right?



Witness (Col. Isaac Amponsah): That is correct, based on the context of the discussion.



Lawyer: Apart from this claim saying that President Akufo-Addo should be eliminated, did you hear her say anything about eliminate, killing or coup or anything violent in your said audio or videos.



Witness: I didnt hear her use the word coup in the conversation. She contributed to the areas that needed to be blocked on the D-day.



Lawyer: With regards to the plan, the roads to be blocked and military installations to be targeted, nowhere in your evidence did you mention A6 (Esther Saan) as a contributor. Is that correct?



Witness: My Lord, that is not correct.



Lawyer: I am putting it to you that it is not in your evidence that A6 participated in any discussion about planning or military installations to be targeted.



Witness: My Lord, that is not true. I indicate that on July 7, 2018, A6 and Awarf and Mr. Allan Debrah met at Next Door Beach Resort and on that day they were waiting for Akanpewon (another accused) to come. If you listen to the audio they kept on calling him. Since he didnt show up they proceeded with their meeting and closed. So it is not true that A6 did not make any contribution. She indicated that the commanding officer of the Base Ammunition Depot was her man so she could get the map of the Base Ammunition Depot.



Counsel: With regards to the plan, the roads to be blocked and military installations to be targeted, nowhere in your evidence did you mention A6 as a contributor. Is that correct?



Witness: My lord that is not correct.



Counsel: I am putting it to you that if you had seen any video recording or heard any audio recording where A6 is reported to be partaking in any discussions bordering on any attempts to overthrow the Constitution or the Government of Ghana, same are doctored and not accurate.



Witness: My lord, that is not true. As I stated, the information were gathered not only from one source. Some of the audios and videos were gathered by the BNI.



Hearing continues on June 14, 2021.









Source: Daily Guide









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

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A five-member Supreme Court panel presided over by Justice Yaw Appaw has quashed a High Court ruling dated 6 May 2021 that essentially restrained organisers of the #FixTheCountry from protesting.



The #FixTheCountry protest was scheduled to take place on Sunday 9 May 2021 but could not take place because of the court order. The police in an ex-parte application at the High Court secured the restraining order against organisers of the #FixTheCountry demonstration just days to the scheduled demonstration date.



Displeased with the court order, conveners of the #FixTheCountry protest filed an application at the Supreme Court seeking to quash the High Court ruling. Their application was praying for two orders.



First, an order of certiorari directed to the High Court (Criminal Division 1) Accra, to bring up to this honourable Court for the purposes of being quashed and the quashing of the order of the said High Court dated May 6, 2021 given by and under the hand of Her Ladyship, the Judge, Justice Ruby Aryeetey (MS), restraining the conveners of the Fix-the-Country public demonstration and Applicants herein, indefinitely, to embark on a public demonstration.



Secondly, an order restraining the Ghana Police Service, the 2nd Interested Party or their agents, assigns, workmen or workwomen, howsoever described or styled, from unlawfully interfering with the constitutional right of the conveners of the Fix-the-Country public demonstration and Applicants herein to embark on a public demonstration.



The Supreme Court in its ruling on 8 June 2021, granted the first order indicating that since the police obtained the restraining order in an ex-parte application, it should have been for a period of 10 days, following which, the State or Police must go back to the High Court on notice with a new application.



To the extend that the High Court did not observe this rule, it exceeded its jurisdiction. The order of the High Court is thus quashed, the Supreme Court held.



The Supreme Court, however, did not grant the second order. The court explained that there is no evidence that the police have or intend to unlawfully interfere with the constitutional right of the conveners to go on demonstration.

Source: asaaseradio.com









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The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, Prof Ken Attafuah has said his vision is to build a formidable national identification system.



And in line with that, he will not countenance on employing unqualified personnel including.



In a radio interview with Kumasi based Angel FM, Prof Attafuah said he was focused on his mandate and would not be swayed by his detractors including party supporters.



He insisted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has charged him to ensure that no party executives or party members were hired in the process at the National Identification Authority.



Speaking in Twi, Prof Attafuah said President Akufo-Addo's vision is for him to build a neutral public service and so he [Attafuah] was doing what the law permits.



He said the public needs to ensure political neutrality in public service.



Prof Attafuah's comment has elicited varied responses with many NPP members expressing anger about the comment.



The Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Agyapong for instance thinks Prof Attafuah did not choose his words well.









Source: graphiconline.com









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

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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
A section of the assembly members of Asante Akyem Central Municipal have called for the reappointment of the incumbent Municipal Chief Executive, Mrs Susuan Akomeah.



A press conference monitored by (online platform) on Tuesday 19th January 2021 addressed an earlier press conference by an unknown group within the constituency and also called for the reappointment of the MCE. Present at the press conference were Hon. Oheneba Appiah Kubi (Dwease), Hon. Charles Gyasi Dapaah (Konongo), Hon. Samuel Ofori Amanfo (Konongo), Hon. Michael Appiah Boadi (Odumasi) Hon. Prince Atta Effah (Patriensa) and Hon. Michael Darkwah (Praaso).



Speaking on behalf of the assembly members, Hon. Oheneba Appiah Kubi , assembly member for Dwease Newton electoral area , mentioned that the accusations raised against the MCE by the said group is based on flimsy evidence. Additionally, the MCEs commitment to safeguard our natural resource as part of the #STOPGALAMSEY initiative by the President has caused this empty press conference by this unknown group.



Outlining the reasons for the reappointment of the MCE, he stated that  If the President indeed wants to fight corruption, instill discipline and strict adherence to law and order and also to foster development of our constituency, then we are very clear in our minds, without any ambiguity that Mrs. Susuan Akomeah is an embodiment of all of that.



He concluded by saying that the call for the the reappointment of Mrs Susuan Akomeah is a clarion call for the development of the Municipality.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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

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Seasoned Journalist, Kweku Baako Jnr. has questioned the logic in the Minority dragging President Nana Akufo-Addo to Parliament for joining thousands of people at the late Sir John's funeral last week.



The Minority is demanding an apology from the President after a video surfaced on social media showing some mourners not wearing nose masks and not observing physical distancing.



Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, Kweku Baako revealed the Minority has intended to bring the President's conduct to Parliament.



He wondered why the Minority would drag the President into the issue because, to him, the President had no control over the funeral.



''If you look at the number of attendees alone it was difficult to say that it could have been avoided. It couldn't have been avoided in my candid opinion. When you take the people who know his character and love him, his personality, all those things; so I wasn't surprised at the numbers . . . Unless it was a government-sponsored or a State-sponsored. Again, from the little I know, it wasn't government-sponsored or State-sponsored. Government might have given some contribution, that's distinct from being the sponsor," he said.



Mr. Baako however hinted that the Minority might be planning to impeach the President, otherwise they wouldn't summon him before Parliament.



"Right now, the President is sitting in the office and you say you're referring his conduct to Parliament, I get the hint of possible impeachment proceedings; otherwise, it's not worth it. You're referring the President's conduct to Parliament for Parliament to do what? To scold him? Censor his conduct? They can't."



''So I ask myself what's the reference of the President's conduct to Parliament for? Is it just an exercise in futility?'', he asked the Minority.



Watch video below





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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

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The country has completed the implementation of an action plan required by a global watchdog to enhance internal structures and systems against money laundering and terrorist financing.



The action items were completed in February this year, ahead of the scheduled time, and acknowledged by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body that sets standards for countries to follow in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.



The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), Mr Kwaku Dua, announced this at a sensitisation workshop for banking sector practitioners on anti money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) in Accra yesterday.



The workshop was part of a series of capacity-building programmes to help strengthen Ghanas AML/CFT regime.



He explained that the completion of the action plan now paves the way for the task force to meet later this month to take a decision on removing Ghana from its 'grey list', a condition that affects the country in many ways, including limiting its financial institutions ability to access concessionary funds from the international market.



Action plan





Mr Dua said the action plan included the implementation of a policy on AML/CFT, a comprehensive assessment of money laundering and financing terrorism, risks associated with key persons and the improvement in risk-based supervision by regulatory institutions. He said those actions were aimed at boosting the country's fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.



The plan roll out became necessary after the country was found by the FATF to have some deficiencies in its AML/CFT regimes. Mr Dua said the action plan was developed by the global watchdog for the government to implement as part of a road map to exiting from the FATFs grey list  a list of countries with weaknesses in their AML/CTF structures.



Grey list





Ghana was placed on the FATFs grey list as a result of some deficiencies identified in its AML regime during the second round of mutual evaluation report (MER). Following the FATFs action, the European Union (EU) also placed Ghana on its list of Third World countries with strategic deficiencies in the AML/CFT regime.



To guide the country out of the list, the International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) tasked the government to complete an action plan, failing which it would end up on the FATF blacklist, which would have adverse effects on the economy and national reputation.



The challenge



The CEO of the FIC said following from the development, the centre, with the support of the government and relevant stakeholders, took up the challenge and executed the action plan even ahead of time.



At the recently held Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) plenary in Lome, Togo, from May 16 to 21, GIABA commended Ghanas efforts and hoped that it would serve as a source of inspiration to other member states in the sub-region.



It is to be noted that Ghana is the first country in the sub-region to have gone through the second round of mutual evaluation and completed the ICRG process in record time, Mr Dua said.



He said although the country met the expectations of the FATF on the action plan, the FIC would continue to work hard to consolidate the gains chalked up in the fight against the acquisition and usage of ill-wealth, as well as other illegal financial activities in the country.

















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Ex-US President, Donald Trump, has congratulated the President Buhari-led APC Government of Nigeria for banning Twitter operations in Nigeria. Mr Trump whose account was suspended by Twitter a few months ago, took to his official website to praise the Nigerian government.



According to him, Twitter should be banned in more countries as they oppose free and open speech on their platform.



Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President. More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speechall voices should be heard, he said.



In the meantime, he indicated, competitors will emerge and take hold. Who are they to dictate good and evil if they themselves are evil? Perhaps I should have done it while I was President. But [Facebook founder Mark] Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was. 2024?















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The Electoral Commission (EC) has paid in full, all 236,000 field officers who assisted in the conduct of the 2020 general election.

Dr Bossman Eric Asare, the Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, who disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the last payment was made on Tuesday, June 08 and that the accounts of beneficiaries would be credited by Thursday, June 10.



Just as it happened last time, the accounts details of some people were not correct so if anyone does not receive the money they need to present their details again, he added.

Dr Asare thanked the field officers for their patience and also the meritorious services, ensuring a successful exercise.









Source: graphiconline.com









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

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A woman has been arrested in Brazil on suspicion of killing her husband before cutting his penis off and cooking.



Dayane Cristina Rodrigues Machado, 33, was arrested by police in the Brazilian city of Sao Goncalo - across the Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro - on of June 7.



Officers were called to the couple's house in the neighbourhood of Santa Catarina and found the victim's lifeless, naked and mutilated body inside.



He was identified only by his first name, Andre.



According to officers, his wife had cut off his penis and cooked it in soybean oil in a frying pan.



Read Full Story .... dailymail.co.uk >>> :

















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NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is joined by NDP MP Laurel Collins speak during a press conference on the front lawn of the B.C. Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Friday August 14, 2020. NDP environment critic Laurel Collins says her party will help the Liberals get the government's climate accountability bill to the Senate as soon as possible, even though the bill isn't as good as she thinks it could be. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
NDP member of Parliament Charlie Angus rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, April 19, 2021. The federal ethics watchdog may have let Prime Minister Justin Trudeau off the hook but that won't deter opposition parties from issuing a scathing report today on the WE Charity affair. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
No decision has yet been made on whether Facebook has broken the law, the CMA added.

We will be working closely with the European Commission as we each investigate these issues.

( ) is facing simultaneous investigations in the UK and Europe to see if it is abusing its market position in the way it collects and uses data.

The UK's competition authority the CMA said it will look into whether Facebook has unfairly used the data gained from its advertising and single sign-on to benefit its own services.

Europe has simultaneously launched its own investigation with the CMA saying it will work closely with the European Commission as it carries out its probe.

The US social media giant collects data from its digital advertising services to allow other businesses to advertise to Facebook users and from Facebook Login, which allows users to sign in to other websites, apps and services.

Facebook Marketplace, where users and businesses can put up classified ads to sell items and Facebook Dating, a dating profile service it launched in Europe in 2020 will be especially scrutinised said the regulator.

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive, said: We intend to thoroughly investigate Facebooks use of data to assess whether its business practices are giving it an unfair advantage in the online dating and classified ad sectors.

Any such advantage can make it harder for competing firms to succeed, including new and smaller businesses, and may reduce customer choice.

We will be working closely with the European Commission as we each investigate these issues.

No decision has yet been made on whether Facebook has broken the law, the CMA added.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday urged lawmakers to act on his proposal to place in the state constitution a new formula for the annual check residents receive from Alaskas oil-wealth fund as the current special legislative session slumped along.

Some legislators have raised questions about some of the administrations modeling assumptions and concerns with tackling the dividend issue without other pieces of a possible fiscal plan.

Its like whack-a-mole, Dunleavy said in an interview with The Associated Press. Every time we come up with a thing to...
Has enough resources to build a new facility

SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium spoke about the possibility of collaborating with the Petersburg Borough, taking over the Petersburg Medical Center and building a new hospital facility during a Borough Assembly meeting on Monday.

SEARHC Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Elliot J. Bruhl gave the presentation at the request of Mayor Mark Jensen. He explained the details about a possible partnership with the borough and addressed concerns about SEARHC taking over a locally operated facility.

SEARHC is led by a 15 member board of directors. Each member of the...
In honor of World Ocean Day and celebrating its community of friends and partners including world-renown shark experts, divers, universities, and non-profits, Ulysse Nardin unveils a stunning, shark-themed limited edition of the DIVER 42 mm.

June 8th, Key Largo, Florida Keys

Ulysse Nardin, the Swiss watchmaker, has pledged its efforts in an environmental commitment that follows the United Nations guidelines and their 17 sustainable development goals (SDG), set to be met by 2030. Our aim is to reduce marine pollution by integrating materials culled from the ocean whenever possible into our new products. While we recycle discarded fishing nets into watch bands, we are also acquiring greater oceanographic knowledge with our focus being mainly on sharks. With their status as the apex predators of the sea and a largely misunderstood species of marine life, sharks are the avatars and cherished emblems of Ulysse Nardin.



In keeping with the Swiss watch manufacturers devotion to shark conservation around the world, Ulysse Nardin has launched the DIVER Lemon Shark, a contemporary and functional model designed specifically for the deep. The 42 mm model is the newborn in the Diver collection and features a black dial with a yellow lemon shark signature, a stamp of three lemon sharks on the back and a black R-STRAP made from recycled fishing nets. The touches of yellow on the bezel, dial, crown and band pay homage to the lemon shark, recalling the color of its skin and its connection to the ocean floor. It is a technical marvel fitted with the Caliber UN-816 movement; the concave bezel with a domed sapphire glass creates a sleek look designed for those who consider exploring the depths of the ocean a personal challenge.

Diver Lemon Shark Ulysse Nardin

The DIVER Lemon Shark works thanks to revolutionary silicium technology, pioneered by Ulysse Nardin at its headquarters in Le Locle, Switzerland. Superluminova indexes in shark gray adorn the dial and a yellow 0 marks the 12 oclock position on the bezel. The lemon yellow second hand, second markers and discreet stitching on the R-STRAP distinguish this model from all others, making it a unique and coveted timepiece that pays homage to these magnificent animals. The DIVER Lemon Shark is available in a limited series of just 300 pieces.



To celebrate the launch of the DIVER Lemon Shark on World Ocean Day, Ulysse Nardin has teamed up with world-renown shark experts dedicated to the study of marine life and ocean conservation by bringing together two outstanding organizations: OCEARCH and the FIU Medina Aquarius Program in the Florida International University Institute of Environment.

OCEARCH, and the scientific importance of tagging sharks

Sharks are essential to the natural order of marine ecosystems. By studying these misunderstood and often feared animals we are able to learn more about their feeding habits, mating processes and movements in the ocean. This ultimately allows us to understand how to best protect them. OCEARCH is a nonprofit organization that helps scientists collect and access previously unattainable data in the ocean. This data is extremely valuable in helping achieve their goal of reestablishing the balance of the ocean and achieving maximum abundance through scientific research, education, outreach and policy. OCEARCHs dedication to inclusion is highlighted in their sophisticated Shark Tracker App, which allows scientists and the general public alike to follow along in real time with sharks that have been previously tagged by the organization and its collaborators. This gives more people the access to study and learn about the movement of sharks in our ocean.



At the heart of FIUs Medina Aquarius Program is the Aquarius Reef Base. The worlds only underwater research and education laboratory, Aquarius is deployed 60 feet beneath the surface of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This globally significant asset provides unparalleled means to study the ocean, test and develop state-of-the-art undersea technology and train specialized divers.

Diver Lemon Shark Ulysse Nardin

Florida International University (FIU) and its Aquarius Reef Base underwater research laboratory

At the heart of FIUs Medina Aquarius Program is the Aquarius Reef Base. The worlds only underwater research and education laboratory, Aquarius is deployed 60 feet beneath the surface of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This globally significant asset provides unparalleled means to study the ocean, test and develop state-of-the-art undersea technology and train specialized divers.

Diver Lemon shark Ulysse Nardin

Sharks are largely misjudged to be dangerous to humans, which are not their natural prey, said Patrick Pruniaux, CEO of Ulysse Nardin. We and OCEARCH believe in education. The more informed the public is about these magnificent creatures, the more they will respect their place in the natural hierarchy of the oceans.
A look at the major movers on the London market on Wednesday

Thungela Resources Ltd (LON:TGA) continues its roller-coaster ride in its first - and only - week in the FTSE 100.

Shares in the thermal coal miner slumped on Monday, revived on Tuesday and are now down again on Wednesday.

Down 8.48% to 131.82p to be precise.

The company was spun off from Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) and is in the leading index by default. Its market capitalisation is in the millions rather than billions for a start.

It will also have its primary listing in Johannesberg which rules it out of joining the FTSE UK indices.

But for this week, until its nationality changes from the UK to South Africa on Friday, it has been placed in the same category as Anglo.

Which means it is in the FTSE 100 for just a week. But an eventful one for shareholders.

3.28pm: HeiQ higher as it signs German partnership deal

HeiQ PLC (LON:HEIQ) has moved higher after signed a partnership deal with a leading European chemicals group.

Its HeiQ Chrisal subsidiary has linked up with Germany's Wollner GmbH to supply an environmentally friendly cleaning solution. Under the terms of the distribution agreement, HeiQ will receive revenues of at least 2mln over a five-year period.The solution will be added to Wollner's Process Enhancement Chemicals product lines for industrial water circuits.

HeiQ chief executive Carlo Centonze said: "This agreement is of strategic importance for HeiQ Chrisal, providing this innovative business access to the previously unentered arena of industrial water circuits...We believe that this is just the start of similar contracts which have the potential to deliver solid growth to HeiQ as we strengthen our presence in the $50bn probiotics market."

HeiQ shares have climbed 6.5p or 3.58% to 188p.

1.33pm: Distribution group hit by COVID-19 uncertainty and cost increases

HC Slingsby PLC (LON:SLNG) is out of favour after a downbeat trading statement.

The company, which distributes industrial and commercial equipment ranging from power generators to workwear, had previously said that profits in the three months to March had come in at 0.1mln.

An improvement in sales had offset the impact of a fall in gross margin.

But updating the figures for its annual meeting, it said there had been a flat April so profits for first four months were stuck at 0.1mln. This compares to 0.2mln for the same period in 2020.

It said: "The market remains competitive and the group remains cautious regarding the outlook. This is particularly the case due to the significant uncertainty caused by coronavirus.

"Whilst the group's sales grew in 2020 due to demand for coronavirus related products, the group has not experienced the same level of orders in April and May 2021 that it did during 2020.

"It is unclear as to the impact that the virus will have on demand going forward. There is also heightened potential for credit related issues should customers become insolvent."

It also warned it was experiencing significant cost increases across its product range, as well as higher shipping costs and delays.

This impacted gross margins, an effect which it expected to persist for the remainder of the year.

Its shares are down 7.41% or 20p at 250p.

12.07pm:

Keras Resources PLC (LON:KRS) is climbing higher after a positive update on a US mine.

The company said that construction of the processing plant at the Diamond Creek organic phosphate mine in Utah had been completed and commissioning had commenced.

It said: "Once at steady-state operational capacity, which is expected to be achieved by the end of June, the plant will produce a range of premium organic phosphate products for sale directly into the growing North American organic fertiliser market."

Diamond Creek is owned by the company's 51% subsidiary, Falcon Isle Holdings.

Keras chief executive Russell Lamming said: "Diamond Creek is the one of the highest-grade organic phosphate mines in the US and installing this plant will enable us to extract maximum value and sell a range of fully certified, high-quality products into a growing organic fertiliser market.."

Keras is up 9.52% at 0.12p.

10.48am: Clinigen crashes by 25% after COVID-19 hits earnings

Shares in Clinigen Group PLC (LON: CLIN) are heading for their worst day on record.

The pharmaceutical firm has lost a quarter of its value after it said the fallout from COVID-19 would hit its profits.

It said demand for kidney and skin cancer treatment Proleukin (where it acquired global rights from Novaritis) had been significantly weaker than expected in recent months.This was due to the global reduction in hospital-based oncology treatments and delays to clinical trials.

It expects this reduced level of demand to remain until "revitalisation efforts into new indications alongside novel cell therapies are successful and normal Hospital and Cancer Centre Services have resumed."

So while revenues for the full year are expected to be in line with previous guidance, adjusted earnings are likely to be within a range of 114mln-117mln, below forecasts.

Chief executive Shaun Chilton said: "COVID-19 has continued to have a significant impact on our business as it has for many other companies operating in the clinical trial and hospital-based products area.

"Due to the strength of our underlying business, the simplification of our operating model and continued high-level of business wins in Services, we are optimistic about the future and anticipate a return to double digit growth in the next financial year."

But that optimism has not prevented a 25.12% or 210p fall in the shares to 626p.

9.28am: Miner files hefty claim over Polish projects

Prairie Mining Ltd (LON:PDZ) has seen its shares surge as it unveiled an 806mln claim against the Republic of Poland.

To put that in context its market capitalisation before the announcement was just 29.69mln.

It is markedly higher now, with the shares up 42.31% or 5.5p at 18.5p having earlier been as high as 22p.

The Australia-headquartered coal company alleges that the Republic of Poland breached its obligations in blocking the development of its Jan Karski and Debiensko mines, thus depriving it of the entire value of its investments in Poland.

The 806mln includes an assessment of the value of lost profits as well as damages and accrued interest.

8.56am: IT group climbs after resilient performance

Shares in CloudCoCo Group PLC (LON:CLCO) have gone sky-high after it unveiled improved results and took steps towards making acquisitions.

The IT and communications specialist said revenues for the six months to the end of March slipped from 4.43mln a year ago to 4.14mln but trading profits up 435%.

Overall pretax losses fell from 1.57mln to 0.67mln.

Chief executive Mark Halpin said: "We have delivered a resilient performance in the period, with notable revenue and total contract value increases on the second half of 2020, despite the continued impact of COVID-19on the trading environment.

"The business is in good health, both operationally and in the pipeline of opportunities ahead of us. There will continue to be challenges to overcome, but we will meet them head on and remain confident of making further progress in the second half and beyond."

It has appointed Darron Giddens as finance director to replace Mike Lacey who has stepped down for personal reasons.

It also has a new strategic consultant in Nigel Redwood, the former chief executive of AIM-listed Nasstar.

Halpin said: "Nigel has a track record of accelerating growth - particularly in the listed IT managed services space - and recognises the importance of fostering a strong company ethos and culture. I have no doubt his counsel will prove invaluable as we deliver our organic growth initiatives and begin to explore the possibility of M&A."

CloudCoCo has climbed 17.24% or 0.25p to 1.7p.

Also heading higher is Blancco Technology Group PLC (LON:BLTG).

The mobile device diagnostics specialist said revenues had grown significantly in the second half of the year despite the effect of a strong pound, and it expected operating profit and cash to be significantly above expectations.

Its shares are 3.7% better at 280p.

Proactive news headlines

Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE) said it has been appointed by software firm CAE Australia to integrate its precision eye-tracking technology for a customer in the Australian defence industry.

Walls & Futures REIT PLC (LON:WAFR), an ethical housing investor and developer, said it has joined P1 Investment Management's Net-Zero Carbon target as part of its Ethical Investment Policy rollout.

Ncondezi Energy Ltd (LON:NCCL) said Ncondezi Green Power, its renewable energy subsidiary, and Captive Power Ltd have signed a relationship agreement giving Ncondezi first refusal to fund up to US$5.5mln of commercial and industrial solar and battery storage projects in Mozambique.

Sativa Wellness Group Inc (LON:SWEL) said new research suggests cannabinoids may be able to treat inflammatory lung disease. A Kings College London research paper has been published which includes the results of an investigation on the potential therapeutic use of cannabinoids for the treatment of respiratory diseases.

MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:MXC, LON:MXC) has appointed David Lim as joint company secretary with immediate effect, bringing over 15 years of experience working for ASX-listed companies.

Avation PLC (LON:AVAP) has updated investors on its current revenue collection and cash situation as it supported its customers through the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Cornish Metals Inc. (LON:CUSN, TSX-V:CUSN) announced an increase in resource estimates at the iconic South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall. An updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) showed a 10% increase in indicated resources in both the lower mine and upper mine areas and an almost 130% gain in inferred resources at the lower mine.

Custodian REIT PLC (LON:CREI) said it acquired five industrial units on Knowsley Business Park in Liverpool for 3.5mln. The units, which cover a total area of 40,419 sq ft, are occupied by Portakabin, Green Thumb, Central Electrical Armature and Med Imaging.

Sirius Real Estate Limited (LON:SRE) said it has appointed Joanne Kenrick to the board as an independent non-executive director with effect from September 1.

SIMEC Atlantis Energy Ltd (LON:SAE) provided an update for investors on Tuesday on the status of its major shareholder.

Remote Monitored Systems PLC's (LON:RMS) executive chairman Antony Legge said he is looking forward to several positive developments in the coming months.

TomCo Energy PLCs (LON:TOM) joint venture Greenfield Energy has entered a deal to acquire a site in Utah.

Empire Metals Limited (LON:EEE) announced that managing director Shaun Bunn, non-executive director Mike Struthers and finance director Greg Kuenzel will provide a live presentation via the Investor Meet Company platform on Thursday 17 June 2021 at 10:00am BST.

Arecor Therapeutics PLC (LON:AREC) notified that three directors had bought shares in the company.

Dr Andrew Richards, non-executive chairman, purchased 12,500 at a price of 242.7p; Christine Soden, non-executive director, also bought 12,500 shares at the same price; and Jeremy Morgan, non-executive director, purchased 20,503 shares at a price of 242.5p apiece.

Condor Gold PLC (LON:CNR, TSX:COG) announced that with immediate effect it has appointed H&P Advisory Limited as joint broker to the company. Mark Child, Chairman and CEO said: "On behalf of the board I am delighted to appoint Hannam & Partners as a joint broker to the company at an exciting time when Condor has purchased a complete new SAG Mill Package, significantly advanced several Feasibility Level engineering designs and studies, commenced site clearance and preparation and is heading towards gold production on Condor's fully permitted La India Project."

Oriole Resources PLC (LON:ORR) said company management will be undertaking a pre-recorded shareholder presentation and Q&A session ahead of the Company's annual general meeting on 23 June 2021. The Company requests that all shareholder questions be submitted to info@orioleresources.co.uk on or before 11 June 2021. The recording will subsequently be made available on the Company's website on or around 16 June.
Written by Michael Law and Lana Law

Jun 10, 2021

We may earn a commission from affiliate links ( )

Tofino is home to the best beaches in Canada. Wide-open expanses of sand front the Pacific Ocean and attract surfers and vacationers throughout the year. The beaches are wonderful and wild, and each has its own personality depending on the day and time of year. Tofino's beaches may be rough and stormy, calm and placid, rainy, foggy, or windblown and lonely. It all depends on the whims of the Pacific Ocean, the massive body of water that stretches uninterrupted from here to Japan.

These beautiful stretches of sand are exceptionally easy to access; in most cases just park your car and walk 100 meters (or less). Things to do on Tofino's beaches include everything from surfing, swimming, going for long romantic walks, biking, shell hunting, and playing with your dog right through to just relaxing and staring out at the waves.

The best way to fully experience the area is to stay at a waterfront resort or lodge. That way you'll be able to see the beach as it changes throughout the day from sunrise to sunset.

Discover the best places with our list of the top beaches in Tofino.

Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues.
Written by Brad Lane

Jun 10, 2021

In the mountainous region of Southwest Montana, Bozeman is a university city with significant outdoor appeal. The sprawling Custer Gallatin National Forest surrounds the town, inviting public parks stem from the city streets, and several quintessential Montana hiking trails spiderweb throughout these wide-open spaces.

The Gallatin Valley Land Trust maintains several excellent in-town routes within their "Main Street to the Mountains" trail network. This ever-expanding network has family-friendly hikes, great sunset routes, and endless connecter trails for all-day adventures.

And classic Montana landscapes await outside city limits within the surrounding national forest. This lodgepole pine-infused landscape has more hiking trails than days in the year. From high-mountain pursuits to leisurely creekside ambles, every hike in Custer Gallatin offers a postcard adventure.

Discover a memorable Montana adventure with our list of the top hiking trails near Bozeman.

Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues.
Natural8 Donates $40,000 to Support COVID-19 Response in India

June 10, 2021 Natural8

Natural8 today announced that they will be donating more than $40,000 to support COVID-19 relief efforts in India.

Last month, Natural8 launched the Unite to Fight COVID-19 in India campaign. The fundraiser saw the online poker site raising funds to provide aid in the form of medicine, oxygen and other essential items crucial in the fight against COVID-19. India was chosen as it was one of the countries most affected by the pandemic.

In total, more than 300 players from all over the world contributed to raise $22,297.79. With Natural8s pledge to match every donation dollar for dollar, the total donation amounted to $44,595.58.

All-In Flipout Rewards Players' Generosity

In addition to matching the players donations, Natural8 organised a lucky draw in the form of an All-In Tournament (Flipout) for the players who made a donation of $1 or more. A total prize pool of $3,000 was given out through the Unite To Fight Covid-19 in India Flipout.

Natural8 ambassadors and Team Hot members Danny Tang, Michael Soyza, Phachara Wongwichit and Pete Chen were amongst those who made contributions and helped create awareness of this campaign.

When asked for his thoughts, professional poker player and Team Hot member Michael Soyza said, It was important to me to donate, as the situation in India looks to be very dire. It is so important that we come together and help in whatever way we can.

Natural 8 believes that this contribution will go some way in the fight against COVID-19, and help to rebuild hope for those who have been affected by this devastating disease. Natural8 would also like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank their players and everyone else who donated for their generosity.

More About CryptoRelief

The donations will go directly to community-run fund CryptoRelief, who have so far amassed close to $1,000,000 in their goal to provide #OxygenForEveryone during the ongoing crisis in India.

India has been one of the countries most affected by the ongoing pandemic, and this second most populated country in the world has recorded more than 28 million cases and more than a quarter of a million COVID-19 deaths. With the highest count at roughly 400,000 daily infections, the country has seen more than 15,000 infections per hour and approximately 2 deaths per minute.

Those who missed out on this fundraiser can still donate directly to CryptoRelief and assist in their mission to reduce suffering by providing healthcare and essentials to those fighting for survival against COVID-19.

Every dollar will help provide relief to those suffering in India, and even the smallest of charity can make a huge impact on another persons life.

Sponsor-generated content from Natural8
The company said it has purchased an additional 1.17mln shares in the Australia medicinal cannabis producer, taking its stake to 2%

( ) said it purchased a further 1.17mln shares in its portfolio firm (LGP) through the Australian Stock Exchange at an average price of A$0.655 each.

The investment firm said following the purchase it now holds shares equivalent to around 2% of LGPs share capital.

LGP is a medicinal cannabis firm that operates an indoor cultivation facility and manufacturing plant in Western Australia for the production of its own-branded range of GMP-grade medicinal cannabis products.

"We have been extremely pleased with Little Green Pharma's progress of late in what is one of our most recent investments in the medicinal cannabis space", FastForwards vice president of investment analysis Alfredo Pascual said in a statement. "Their latest operational announcement of an additional purchase order from Germanyis consistent with the widely reported growth of the German medical cannabis market, which is Europe's largest. The purchase order of c.21,300 units represents c.320kg of the flower medicine for delivery during the quarter ending 31 December 2021. When compared to the latest German official data available showing the country is now importing just over 3,000kg of medical cannabis flower per quarter, with strong double-digit year-on-year growth, it clearly demonstrates that LGP is becoming one of the leading exporters into Germany and crucially shows the increasing global demand for LGP's GMP-grade medicinal cannabis products".

"We continue to be impressed with the management of LGP and believe in their strategy. We will continue to support the company both financially and with our cannabis sector expertise and we are looking forward with confidence to their further growth and progress", added FastForward chief executive Ed McDermott.
South Carolina's top doctor praised the COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday and continued to encourage all South Carolinians to get the shot.

Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist, spoke during a S.C. Department of Health news conference and talked about how far the state has come in the last 15 months since the pandemic started.

The first vaccine doses arrived in the Palmetto State on Dec. 14, 2020, and Bell said, "theyve been helping us to fight this pandemic" since they arrived.

"Its really astonishing that we had these vaccines and the feats that weve accomplished that we owe to science and to medicine for the availability of these vaccines," Bell said Wednesday.

"If we think about where we would be today if we didnt have these vaccines, if we hadnt yet vaccinated nearly 2 million South Carolinians with at least a first dose, (our) daily case counts and most importantly, our deaths, would still be at significantly higher and, in fact, alarming rates," Bell said.

"So, where we are now tells us that the COVID-19 vaccines are working; that theyre safe, that theyre effective and that theyre saving lives," Bell continued.

As of the most recent data from June 7, 1,961,774 South Carolinians, or about 46% of the state's population, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 1,653,052 residents, or about 39% of the population, being completely vaccinated.

In Aiken County, 58,057 residents, or about 34% of the county, have received at least one vaccine dose, while 48,512 residents, or about 28% of the county, have been completely vaccinated.

Bell noted that there are still studies being done about the virus and some things are still unknown, including any potential long-term effects. Thus, she urged residents to not be complacent, even given the decline in cases and deaths.

For residents who have not yet been vaccinated, Bell hopes they consider it because the consequences of not getting vaccinated can be "severe" and the benefits are "extraordinary."

She continued by saying DHEC wants to make sure everyone is getting accurate information and not consuming misinformation about what the vaccine might do.

"We ask people to weigh the known benefits, the known safety of the vaccine against the known complications of the disease itself," Bell said. "So when making decisions about the vaccine, they must weigh the risk of the disease itself against the vaccine."

The early barriers of getting vaccinated have been removed, according to Bell.

"It's never been easier to get vaccinated," Bell said. "So, it's really by choice now."
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President Joe Bidens pick to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration recently endorsed plans to process metric tons of plutonium and entomb the final product in New Mexico, a means of disposal that South Carolina officials have criticized.

Nominee Jill Hruby in testimony published last month described whats known as dilute-and-dispose as a safe, secure and environmentally responsible approach to ridding of excess plutonium, a hazardous nuclear-weapons ingredient.

The method, she said, uses existing, proven technologies, and will allow the United States to meet its disposition commitments in less time and at half the cost of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, which was canceled in late 2018 after billions of dollars and years of work had been invested at the Savannah River Site footprint.

Dilute-and-dispose is also known as downblending, and is considered the way forward after the MOX fiasco. The time-consuming process involves converting the plutonium into an oxide, adulterating it and, ultimately, shipping the mixture to southeastern New Mexico for burial at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a Department of Energy repository resembling a salt mine.

The multi-state and -site endeavor has been estimated to cost roughly $18.2 billion  markedly less than MOX, according to Hruby and Trump-era officials. It will take decades to complete, leaving it vulnerable to swings in workforce, resources and public opinion and education.

In a preface to a recent National Academies study, Robert Dynes, the chairman of the Committee on Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, said the dilute-and-dispose plan is not technically complex. But, he continued, the true challenges lay in the many mostly nontechnical threads that are connected to the technical plan.

It is important to stress that the program was and is evolving in real time, he added.

Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Lindsey Graham, two South Carolina Republicans, have attacked the dilute-and-dispose approach, describing it as immature, conceptual, half-baked. Canceling MOX, Graham has said, was a colossal mistake.

Hruby last month pledged to work with New Mexico and other officials to help educate the public on the dilute-and-dispose process.

Hruby will need to be confirmed by the full Senate.
Moncks Corner, SC (29461)

Today

Mostly clear early then increasing cloudiness after midnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly clear early then increasing cloudiness after midnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.
COLUMBIA  A few months before South Carolinas decadelong nuclear construction project collapsed, two companies in charge of the $9 billion venture spun a brazen lie, prosecutors told a federal judge June 10.

It was February 2017, and after years of budget overruns, supply chain problems and reactor design revisions, the lead contractor of the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant construction project, Westinghouse Electric, had remarkably good news for the plants owners: All was well.

The two reactors, expected to provide electricity to millions of South Carolinians for decades to come, would both be completed by December 2020, Westinghouse officials reported in a closed-door meeting. That date was crucial, as it meant the reactors would be online in time to qualify for $1.4 billion in federal tax credits that were seen as necessary to offset the ventures gargantuan costs.

Executives with the projects majority owner, Cayce-based S.C. Electric and Gas, knew better than to believe Westinghouse's rosy projections, Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday asserted Thursday morning at the federal courthouse in Columbia. SCE&G had seen reports of lagging productivity, soaring costs and other issues that ensured the reactors couldnt be completed on time.

Yet, shortly after the Feb. 14 meeting, SCE&G gleefully relayed Westinghouses overly optimistic projections in a financial disclosure to investors and the public. It was a message of confidence, and a lie, that kept the project alive, if only for five more months, as SCE&G continued to charge ratepayers millions of dollars each month for the doomed construction effort.

And on Thursday, an executive at the center of that falsehood pleaded guilty to federal charges in the ongoing criminal investigation into the projects failure.

Carl Churchman, Westinghouses top official on the ground at V.C. Summer from 2015 to 2017, attended the Feb. 14 meeting and personally relayed the faulty projections to executives of SCE&G and its partner on the project, Santee Cooper.

Thursday morning, the former vice president of Westinghouse pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators. He admitted that when an FBI agent asked him about the February 2017 meeting, he claimed to have no role in relaying the false projections to the owners.

"That interaction with the agent was a head fake," one that investigators eventually snuffed out after uncovering emails and other documents that detailed Churchman's direct involvement, Holliday said.

Churchman, who now lives in Utah, faces a $250,000 fine and five years in prison. That sentence could be reduced if he continues to cooperate as a witness against other V.C. Summer leaders.

"Mr. Churchman is a key witness for us," Holliday told Judge Mary Geiger Lewis. "We view this as a preamble to the case. There's more to come."

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Churchman becomes the third executive to plead guilty in the state-and-federal V.C. Summer investigation. He joins SCE&G CEO Kevin Marsh and chief operating officer Steve Byrne, who each admitted to defrauding their utilitys ratepayers as they wrongfully kept the doomed project going.

Now, prosecutors have three star witnesses at their disposal as they continue to investigate what is widely considered the largest business failure in South Carolina history. Ratepayers of both SCE&G  which was sold to Virginia-based Dominion Energy  and Santee Cooper remain on the hook to pay billions of dollars more on their power bills in the coming decades as the two utilities pay off their V.C. Summer debt.

Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office of South Carolina have made clear they intend to charge more Westinghouse executives for the lead contractor's role in the project's failure. The investigation does not appear to target anyone from Santee Cooper, V.C. Summer's minority owner, which played a more limited role in managing the project.

This guilty plea shows that the investigation into the V.C. Summer nuclear debacle did not end with the former SCANA executives, Acting United States Attorney Rhett DeHart said in a statement after the hearing. We are committed to seeing this case through and holding all individual and corporate wrongdoers accountable.

Westinghouse, which filed for bankruptcy a month after the February 2017 meeting and emerged from it in August 2018, has declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

The project was an effort to build two new nuclear reactors at the existing one-reactor V.C. Summer power plant in Fairfield County, which was jointly owned by SCE&G and Santee Cooper. The endeavor was costly and carried huge financial risks, so SCE&G persuaded state lawmakers to pass a law  the infamous 2007 Base Load Review Act  that allowed them to charge ratepayers for the reactors while they were under construction.

The law guaranteed SCE&G's 700,000 electric customers would have to pay for the project, even if it was never completed. It also created perverse incentives for SCE&G to keep the project alive and shifted nearly all the utility's financial risk for the mammoth venture to its ratepayers.

Previously, if a power plant construction project failed, the utility's investors  not its customers  ate the costs.

If they needed any more incentive to keep the project going, SCE&G's executives were rewarded each year with millions of dollars in pay and bonuses tied to their supposed good work at V.C. Summer. Now, after pleading guilty to defrauding customers, they may have to repay some of that compensation.
COLUMBIA  More than 21,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered at the eight-week mass vaccination site at the Columbia Place Mall.

The FEMA-supported Community Vaccination Clinic ended June 9 and was part of a national effort to increase vaccine availability.

The mall in Columbia was the chosen site because of its central location in the state. For 12 hours each day, people were able to utilize the walk-in or drive-thru options to receive vaccines at the clinic without an appointment.

Language translators were on-site and free rides to the clinic were provided by The COMET, the regional transportation authority.

More than 20,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were administered at the site and 1,551 doses of the Johnson & Johnson shot, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The agency said 5,600 additional second-dose Pfizer shots that were scheduled prior to June 10 will be administered over the next two weeks.

Kim Stenson, director of the S.C. Emergency Management Division, said the Community Vaccination Clinic was a success because of the efforts of the State Emergency Response Team and other partner agencies.

"We are proud of the work that led to more than 21,000 people choosing to protect themselves against a virus that's caused so many hardships in the state and across the country," Stenson said.

Statewide numbers

New cases reported: 119 confirmed, 70 probable.

Total cases in S.C.: 492,633 confirmed, 102,026 probable.

Percent positive: 3 percent.

New deaths reported: 0 confirmed, 0 probable.

Total deaths in S.C.: 8,602 confirmed, 1,159 probable.

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Percent of ICU beds filled: 68.4 percent.

S.C. residents vaccinated

DHEC's vaccine dashboard shows that 45.7 percent of the state's residents have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Hardest-hit areas

In the total number of newly confirmed cases, Greenville County (10), Horry County (seven), Oconee County (seven) and Richland County (26) saw the highest totals.

What about tri-county?

Charleston County had five new cases on June 10, while Berkeley County had five and Dorchester County had five.

Deaths

No deaths were confirmed from COVID-19 on June 10.

Hospitalizations

Of the 181 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of June 10, 56 were in the ICU and 29 were using ventilators.

What do experts say?

DHEC is continuing to urge eligible South Carolinians to get vaccinated. People ages 12 and older can receive the Pfizer vaccine. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available for people 18 and older. Go to vaxlocator.dhec.sc.gov to find a nearby vaccine provider.
JPM noted the Shell was likely to appeal the recent Dutch court ruling on its climate change transition policies.

PLC ( ) is frustrated with its recent share price performance JP Morgan said after meeting yesterday with CFO Jessica Uhl.

Shares are almost 44% below the level of two years ago, but JPM said it sees the major as one of the best bets in the oil sector with the meeting confirming the emphasis is now on improving the fiscal performance to boost shareholder returns.

This includes a commitment to reducing debt to below US$65bn, the broker added.

JPM noted the Shell was likely to appeal the recent Dutch court ruling on its climate change transition policies.

The US broker said the oil giant does not see a fire-sale of its hydrocarbon assets as desirable for society, but its response remains pragmatic.

We maintain that Shell offers premium leverage to a price/demand recovery (incl. a potential Supercycle, which the board appears sympathetic towards is but not going to plan for), and see execution on the ND (net debt) threshold as a key second-half catalysts.

Shell shares offer the majors cheapest valuation and we stay overweight, said the broker.

Shares rose 0.5% to 1,339.6p.
MOUNT PLEASANT  Authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information about the shooting death of Demetrius MeMe Woodard.

Woodard, 46, died from a gunshot wound in early May, according to the Charleston County Coroners Office. He was from Mount Pleasant.

Police leading the homicide investigation have not announced any suspects.

Police are offering the reward for any information that could lead to a conviction or an arrest in the case, Inspector Donald Calabrese, a department spokesman, wrote June 10.

The department values the partnership that exists with our community and knows that working together will be important in this case, Calabrese wrote.

Woodard died at a home on Labor Camp Road about 4:40 p.m. May 6, reports show.

Authorities are asking those who have information regarding Woodards death to call 843-884-4176 or email detective Desiree Schnackenberg at DSchnackenberg@tompsc.com.
Trapped.

Forced to run through heavy fire.

More than 200 casualties.

It was a rout of British forces engineered by Francis Marion  "The Swamp Fox"  and it solidified his reputation as a brilliant strategist of the American Revolution.

It happened about a mile from Parkers Ferry in a wooded swamp. Now, the site of the confrontation is in the hands of the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust.

About 31 acres in Colleton County were purchased in March from a timber company for $110,000. Half the money came from the S.C. Conservation Bank; the other half from private-sector donors.

The best we know based on archaeology, that is the entire battlefield, Trust Executive Director Doug Bostick said.

The historic site straddled two adjacent 1,000-acre parcels about 30 miles west of Charleston, so a bit of creative subdividing was required.

We had to put on bloody head bandannas, pull out our flute and drum and appeal to their sense of patriotism, Bostick said.

It worked, and now the battlefield of Parkers Ferry will become part of The Liberty Trail, a series of Revolutionary War sites to be interpreted for public use.

In the past year or so the Trust, with support from the Washington, D.C.-based American Battlefield Trust and assistance from local, state and federal partners, has secured the sites of the 1779 Battle of Beaufort and the 1782 Battle of Tar Bluff along the Combahee River, where young John Laurens met his maker. Adding Parkers Ferry to The Liberty Trail is an accomplishment in and of itself, but this time there is a bigger opportunity.

This is in Jacksonboro, an amazing cluster of historic sites, but little known or recognized, Bostick said.

Here in old St. Bartholomews Parish one finds the ruins of the Pon Pon Chapel of Ease, once a central place of religious and civic activity.

Here, one finds the old plantation of Isaac Hayne, along with his gravesite. Hayne, an artillery captain and state senator, was executed by the British in 1781 for violating his parole. He had promised not to take up arms against the Crown while the British occupied Charleston but did so after first joining the royal army to aid his family, then abandoning it when he was called upon to confront his compatriots.

Here once stood The Tavern, where the General Assembly convened briefly during the occupation of Charleston.

Here, in the chapels burial ground, lies Aedanus Burke, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, anti-Federalist politician and jurist who helped establish the Library of Congress and the U.S. Postal Service, and who, in 1799, served as second to Aaron Burr in a duel with Alexander Hamiltons brother-in-law, John Church.

And here, at Duharra Plantation, congressman OBrien Smith hosted George Washington during the presidents Southern tour in 1791.

Sarah Miller, a professor of history at the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie, and historian with the Colleton County Historical and Preservation Society, said the Jacksonboro area generally is overlooked. One drives by this rural stretch of Colleton County on the way to a better known destination. With help from Bostick and others, she wants to change that.

It can really be a historical and cultural destination, which is our ultimate goal, she said.

The ambush

The skirmish along the well-trafficked road to Parkers Ferry was a prelude of sorts. Just nine days later Marion would be at Eutaw Springs, where patriot fighters under the able command of Nathanael Greene would face the British in a decisive battle, the last of the war fought in the Carolinas.

But first there was the ambush on Aug. 30, 1781.

By then, the British held Charleston but thats about all. Near-constant challenges launched by Greene and his partisans had eroded the British hold on villages such as Camden, Georgetown, Augusta and Ninety Six. To sustain their last stronghold, British regulars ventured out from Charleston to forage and to raid various properties in the area in search of food and supplies.

When they did so, Greenes men often were waiting to harass them, or worse.

These were the circumstances that led to the engagement along Parkers Ferry Road. Marion had caught wind that about 100 Loyalists were camped at the ferry, and he knew that even more would make their way down the road soon.

He put his main body of troops 40 yards off of the road and cut down trees to use as barrier, said Steven Smith, director of the S.C. Institute for Archaeology and Anthropology and a professor of archaeology at USC. Then he deployed his reserve 100 yards behind and ordered them to join the main line on the right flank (south of them) when the ambush began.

A group of Loyalists noticed Marion and his men, exchanged fire, then returned to the ferry. The noise attracted the main body of British troops, some mounted, some on foot. They assumed it was a small-scale engagement they could handle with ease, Smith said.

They did not handle it with ease.

When they reached the ambush, Marions 445 men fired from the northwest, leaving Maj. Thomas Fraser and his dragoons no choice but to flee forward and take on even more bombardment.

Concerned the enemy was flanking the patriots, Marion ordered his line to fall back.

The British casualties were significant: 125 dead and 80 wounded. Marion lost just one man, though three more were injured.

The Swamp Fox and his sharp eye lingered in the swamp for a few hours, and even managed to inflict additional damage when his column fired on a group of advancing British infantrymen.

Its an example of Marions tactical genius, Smith said of the confrontation. His tactical thinking is best illustrated by this little skirmish.

This little skirmish turned out to make a difference in the Battle of Eutaw Springs. The British had far fewer cavalry to deploy, improving the odds for the patriots.

But Smith warned against the tendency to identify turning points  single battles that signified the beginning of the end for the British. Really, he said, it was an accumulation of factors and the persistence of patriots who never lost hope.

The trail gets longer

On the site, Smith and others cross-referenced what they saw with what the literature says. They posed hypotheses and discovered evidence in support. They found all kinds of gunshot, mostly on the southeast side of Parker's Ferry Road, suggesting that Marion and his men were hidden in the foliage on the other side. (Had they been on both sides, presenting a true gantlet to Fraser and his British rangers, it's plausible they would have shot each other, Smith said.)

The archaeology also turned up brass buckles, a 1771 English half penny, a horseshoe, buttons and a bullet. The artifacts helped Smith determine the outline of the battlefield, and it helped explain what happened there, he said.

And now this history can be presented by the S.C. Battleground Preservation Trust on the site where Marion and his men showed such pluck and resolve  a site near other fascinating places that each tell us something about how and why we are here in this land today.

Our plan, particularly in Jacksonboro ... is to follow the old cliche of all boats go up on a rising tide, to market not just the Parkers Ferry battlefield alone, but Pon Pon, (Haynes) burial site, and the (temporary) state capital, and really turn it into something, Bostick said. Getting this battlefield is a big key to all that happening.

And thus The Liberty Trail extends across South Carolina, enriched with each new acquisition.
HOLLYWOOD  This small town's beleaguered sewer system may soon get some help, as officials with a larger utility are planning to divert sewage away from leak-prone lines that run through ecologically sensitive streams and marshes.

Charleston Water System held a kickoff meeting at the end of May for the project, which would connect Hollywood to CWS's system at Main Road and Savannah Highway. The tie-in is closer to the town than the current connection with the city of Charleston's water utility, and would effectively remove 5 miles of sewer line, including a portion that sprang a major leak in 2018.

It would also send sewage through plastic CWS piping that's only a few years old, instead of the metal Hollywood lines that date to the 1980s and are prone to corrosion. Right now, two parallel 8-mile mains connect Hollywood to CWS' system in West Ashley, at Stinson Drive. CWS charges Hollywood for treatment of the effluent.

"I am ecstatic, I am happy, happy, happy," John Dunmyer III, the mayor of Hollywood, said of the proposed project.

CWS is devoting its own resources to designing the new connection and paying for 25 percent of construction costs, while asking the S.C. Rural Infrastructure Authority for a grant to cover the remaining 75 percent. The total cost is estimated at about $700,000, said Russell Huggins, capital projects officer for the water utility.

The grant application period closes in September. Assuming funds are granted, CWS would work to complete the connection by the end of 2022, said Kin Hill, CEO of the water system.

"For a relatively reasonable amount of funding, there will be some very significant improvements," Hill said.

Hill said he was confident about the monies being awarded because of a history of high-profile sewer problems in Hollywood.

Hollywood is a town of about 5,000 at the southern end of Charleston County, with a mix of older, poorer neighborhoods and upscale subdivisions like Stono Ferry and Poplar Grove. Its sewage collection system was built in the 1980s, both to bring much-needed sanitation to nearby Petersfield and to pave the way for development in the area.

But years of underinvestment and neglect caused major problems for Hollywood's sewer collection system, a Post and Courier investigation found. The worst incident was a leak that seeped over the first two months of 2018, sending an estimated 10 million gallons of untreated effluent into a tributary of the Stono River.

That episode and other issues led to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control putting the town under a consent order to improve major problems with its system, which includes 36 miles of pipe and 26 pump stations in all.

A spokeswoman for the agency said Hollywood was in compliance with that order.

Still, DHEC records indicate Hollywood has had five small spills over the past two years. Not all were the town's fault; the most recent spill, on June 2, happened when a contractor accidentally cracked a sewer line.
SUMMERVILLE  The return to post-pandemic normal has shown its downside: an increase in pet surrenders for Dorchester County's sole animal shelter.

Where during the pandemic residents were more willing to foster animals due to working remotely, they're now surrendering them, Dorchester Paws' Executive Director Maddie Moore said.

Many families are also facing financial hardships, and adding a pet to the list of concerns has made things complicated.

"It's just hard on everyone," Moore said. Our animals are sitting on our adoptions floor longer."

To help with overload, the shelter has started a program called "Mutts for Miles." It's a chance for local runners to sign up and have one of the shelter's pets join them on one of their runs.

The idea was introduced by Lanea Wilson, the rescue and rehabilitation manager for Dorchester Paws.

We had a lot of support from the volunteers and the public," Wilson said. "I've always wanted to start this program."

It works this way: residents who are interested sign up online and specify their running pace. That can range from a slow walk to a sprint. The reason is so that volunteers are paired with animals that match their pace.

After signing up, volunteers will go to the Sawmill Branch Trail in Summerville every Wednesday. There, Dorchester Paws staff will bring one of the shelter dogs to join in on the exercise.

The dogs that are chosen are the ones that show the most noticeable signs of what Wilson refers to as kennel deterioration. Those stress signs can range from dogs barking at kennel doors when approaching them to jumping off the walls and licking the doors. It often happens with dogs who have been at the shelter for too long or are returned after being adopted.

Without intervention, it's very serious," Wilson said.

Those interested in Mutts for Miles or donating can go to the shelter's website at dorchesterpaws.org. They can also email Wilson at lwilson@dorchesterpaws.org for any additional questions on Mutts for Miles.

At the height of the pandemic, Dorchester Paws was unable to host its usual number of volunteers for safety reasons, so there were fewer opportunities for a lot of dogs to get walked.

In 2020, Dorchester Paws saw an increase in the number of people willing to foster animals. By the end of 2020 it had 1,700 animals in foster homes.

Moore said one of the good things about the pandemic slowing has been the return of volunteers. They were also recently gifted a van that the staff and volunteers can use to transport pets to rescue spaces outside of South Carolina.

Before staff had to either use their own vehicles or rent a van for a day from a local dealership to make transports. Last year, many rescuers were shut down due to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the organization is having to raise $18,000 by the end of the month to cover medical bills while also saving funds for a new shelter.

The staff said they are hopeful for the future of Dorchester Paws. The shelter is hosting its first gala on June 19 at the Dorchester Shrine Club called Prom at the Pond.

They have also recently started back hosting orientations to train new volunteers.
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
If you make a cash deposit of $10,000 or more, your bank has to inform the federal government, under a law designed to detect money laundering and tax evasion. If you deposit the cash in multiple slightly smaller amounts in order to evade detection  a process called structuring  you could be looking at the inside of a federal prison cell for 5 years. Twice that long in egregious cases.

The same idea in a S.C. anti-corruption law prohibits state and local agencies from dividing large purchases into smaller purchases so they can buy them from anyone they please rather than putting them out to bid. Unfortunately, the state procurement code doesnt include criminal penalties.

Reporting by The Post and Couriers Uncovered partner, the Greenwood Index-Journal, demonstrates that the Legislature needs to make dividing purchases to evade procurement requirements a crime  at least in egregious cases. And boy have we just seen an egregious case. Several, actually, all at the same school for troubled youth that, facing obsolescence, dreamed up a plan to transform itself into the Governors School for Agriculture at John de la Howe.

The transformation had the blessing of the Legislature, and has cost $5 million so far for renovations. And school officials had no interest in obeying the state procurement law, which is designed to ensure government agencies get a good deal for the taxpayers rather than a good deal for themselves, their relatives and cronies, by requiring purchases of more than $10,000 to be put out to bid and larger contracts to be approved by independent state officials.

The Index-Journal identified about a half-million dollars in renovation expenditures of less than $10,000 each; thats probably not all the illegally divided projects, since officials have refused to provide some of the documents and answer questions. Several larger purchases for paint and concrete work appeared to be divided in a way to stay below a $50,000 threshold that requires the agency to go through a more extensive bidding process and requires contractors to pay a bond and be approved by the state Division of Procurement Services.

Among the apparently illegally divided purchases:

 Three companies were paid $120,000 spread out over more than 30 purchases to renovate bathrooms in decrepit dormitories.

 A painting contractor was paid $94,000 over more than 20 contracts.

 A flooring contractor received more than $50,000 across 12 payments.

 A drywall company received eight payments totaling $58,365.

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 An electrical company was paid nearly $30,000 over nine purchase orders.

 Another company received $45,000 in 13 payments for renovations and carpentry.

 A window company received four payments totaling a little more than $20,000.

That looks like at least nine violations of state law; maybe its 100 or so. By either count, it is not possible to imagine that this was an accident. These were deliberate violations of state law by people who understood what they needed to do to evade it. It doesnt take a cynic to wonder if that skill is why the school made Scott Mims the highest-paid facilities maintenance manager in the state salary database, or why Facilities Director Ken Durham makes even more.

Mr. Mims and Mr. Durham are both local elected officials, and an earlier investigation by The Post and Courier found that Mr. Mims had a close relationship with a contractor he hired to do some of the work, likely in violation of state ethics laws.

The only penalty when an agency evades the bidding process is revoking its authority to make purchases without the approval of the state Procurement Services Division  which state officials had to do to the school 11 years ago. That needs to happen again. Immediately. But that shouldnt be the end of this matter.

Mr. Mims and Mr. Durham should be terminated. If they didnt realize they were violating the law, theyre too ignorant to remain on the payroll. And although we think the Legislature should narrow the states breathtakingly expansive common-law misconduct in office provisions, the fact is that the state Supreme Court has declared those provisions state law, and its hard to imagine that the division wasn't a violation. Attorney General Alan Wilson should investigate  perhaps with the help of the new forensic auditor the Legislature is about to provide funding for SLED to hire  and bring charges if possible.

The Post and Couriers earlier reporting also revealed that former interim President Sharon Wall negotiated a contract to continue paying the consulting group that had dreamed up the governors school idea  and then went to work for that group. That sounds like a violation of state law, and the State Ethics Commission should investigate.

Finally, the governor appoints the John de la Howe trustees and has the authority to remove them for good cause. The trustees were either complicit or ignorant of the procurement scheme, and the former president's self-dealing. And they've done nothing to correct the problems that have been revealed over the past six weeks. They should be replaced unless they can prove that they were deceived  and in that case only for long enough to allow some continuity, to prevent anyone in what appears to be a corrupt management culture having too much say over the direction of the school.

With a clean slate of trustees and procurement officials, perhaps the new governors school can right itself. But lawmakers need to keep a close eye and be ready, if problems persist, to shut the place down  which probably should have happened years ago.
After South Carolina lost the Charleston Naval Base and Naval Shipyard and the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in the 1990s, state leaders got organized to guard against future rounds of Base Realignment and Closure.

The Pentagon provided states with wish lists of laws that would help them earn the coveted military friendly title. South Carolina already checked a lot of the boxes, and over the years the governor and other top officials have pushed for more  and the Legislature has passed more  to keep us in the generals good graces.

Military leaders said they wanted service members to be able to pay in-state tuition to attend S.C. colleges, and the Legislature granted their wish. They wanted surviving spouses to receive the same property tax exemption on vehicles that disabled veterans received, and the Legislature complied. And the list went on.

Most recently, the Legislature passed a bill last year to let cosmetologists, physical therapists, nurses and other professionals licensed in other states work temporarily in South Carolina while their spouses are assigned here, checking another item off the list.

Somehow, though, we never paid much attention to the militarys interest in good schools.

But according to The Post and Couriers Thomas Novelly, one of South Carolinas highest ranking military leaders recently told Charleston business leaders that our states poor reputation for education is worrisome because it's turning off active-duty airmen and retired service members.

Col. Marc Greene, commander of the 628th Air Base Wing and Joint Base Charleston, didnt actually say South Carolina could suffer in the next round of BRAC as a result, but other military leaders have left no doubt that they consider subpar schools a threat to military recruitment and preparedness. Service members are more likely to leave the military when their children are stuck in bad schools.

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As Mr. Novelly reports, the former secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force told the National Governors Association in a 2018 letter that the Defense Department will encourage leadership to consider the quality of schools near bases and whether reciprocity of professional licenses is available for military families when evaluating future basing or mission alternatives.

To be fair, you cant just snap your fingers and fix our schools. Our schools arent doing a good enough job because of generations of inadequate leadership, inadequate laws and inadequate funding.

And simply fixing the schools near military bases  which tend to be particularly bad, because they tend to be in low-income neighborhoods  isnt the answer. Military leaders look at state rankings, not individual schools, when making decisions about which states are military friendly.

The Legislature continued to make progress this year on a menu of reforms that should improve our schools, and the 2021-22 state budget will include hefty raises for teachers  although pay was so far behind that its unlikely to be enough to stem the growing teacher shortage.

So lawmakers have to keep plugging away at that, and at nip-and-tuck reforms working their way through the process  and at expanding pre-kindergarten programs, which will make more difference than all the other improvements combined. Most of all, our lawmakers need the unshakable commitment to improving our schools that too many still havent developed.

One reason to provide a good education to all S.C. children is moral, which you either buy or you don't. The other reason involves enlightened self-interest, which no rational person dismisses: When we dont provide children with a good education, they can grow up to be a drain on society. They end up in dead-end jobs, relying on government support to care for their families. Or they turn to crime, and either we have to pay more for police and courts and prisons to protect ourselves from them or else we become their victims. Or both.

To that self-interest argument we can now add another point: If South Carolina doesnt do a better job of educating the next generation, we could lose military bases to states that do, creating another self-inflicted blow to our economy.
Please get vaccinated

Mondays Post and Courier coronavirus status article by reporter Olivia Diaz ends with the category, What do experts say?

This section included a definition about herd immunity, which is good.

What was missing, however, was the percentage figure of South Carolinas rate of inoculation.

A quick Google search for South Carolinas COVID-19 vaccination rate is less than 40%.

And that, my friends, is truly abysmal.

This means at a minimum, 1 out of every 2 adults you meet is not yet vaccinated.

I, for one, am somewhat medically compromised, so not liking these odds, I am not in any hurry whatsoever to remove my mask in public and around other people. Not yet.

My advice is that everyone should wear masks until this vaccination rate reaches a far higher percentage.

So how about getting vaccinated, please?

DAYLE FISH

Tall Sail Drive

Charleston

Vaccination reality

The federal government has done a good job of developing an effective COVID-19 vaccine and making it available to the population.

Now its time to stop trying to convince people to get the shot.

It is clear that one-third of the population is not going to take it.

Thats unfortunate, but its reality.

At the same time, there is no point in leaving the confusing mask guidance in place.

If you dont want to protect yourself with a vaccination, I dont want to wear a mast to protect you.

Lets just acknowledge that we are in much better shape now as a vaccinated nation and the virus is going to continue to be with us for a long time.

Get the boosters ready for winter and lets move on.

HUNTER GEORGE

Monhegan Way

Mount Pleasant

Slow speeding drivers

Kudos to the Monday letter writer about Dangerous Drivers.

The author is absolutely right about the way people are driving in Charleston.

When I drive across the Ashley River bridges, I follow the 35 mph speed limit and end up having most people speed past me on both sides going upwards of 50 mph.

To me, it is like being assaulted by a vehicle.

There is rarely a police officer in sight. And even if there were, one officer pulling over one speeder isnt going to do the trick.

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I really dont understand the rush. Didnt all these people move here to adopt the slower and more peaceful way of life that Charleston used to have?

Now Charleston is just like all the other overcrowded cities that newcomers were trying to escape.

What are the police doing about this problem?

I offer a possible solution: Post unused police cars around the city. Not to pull over people but to have a police presence.

The idea is not to give out as many tickets as possible, but to save lives and maintain law and order.

LEISA LAWRENCE

Savannah Highway

Charleston

Questions for senators

I have questions for the Republican senators of our state.

Are voters suppose to believe the Big Lie being told by Donald Trump and his allies? Are we suppose to suspend belief in the truth? If the sun is shining, are we suppose to believe it is raining? Do our senators believe that Donald Trump is helping or hurting our country? Why are so many Trump supporters unwilling to get the COVID-19 vaccine? If we cant believe in the actual facts presented, how will democracy survive?

ALAN COLEMAN

Riverland Woods Place

Charleston

Leave state flag alone

Whats the big deal about our state flag? Redesigning it is just busy work for a busybody.

Weve got a Palmetto tree and a crescent moon.

Its not much to work with, but it means a lot to me the way it is.

Leave it alone.

DONNY WILDER

Bowman Boulevard

Mount Pleasant

Beyond call of duty

On Memorial Day morning, I went to my building in Goose Creek to lower the flag to half-mast.

I entered the building to get my ladder and set off the alarm when I accidentally entered the wrong code to deactivate it.

In a matter of a few minutes, a Goose Creek police officer showed up. I explained the situation to her, and she verified my information.

When I brought the ladder outside, she offered to assist me in lowering the flag.

I did not get her name, but I would like to publicly thank her for the prompt attention to duty and kind offer of assistance.

LARRY NYSVEEN

Hollyridge Lane

Summerville
Oil price Oil is doing nothing as the reporting agencies come in with their monthly reports, even a decent set of inventory stats seemed to be ignored by the market. The EIA report was read as bearish as it upped supply and reduced demand numbers but it is forgotten that they either take no notice of the politics of Opec+ or feel it is not for them to get involved.

Oil price, Serica, Longboat, Pharos, Hurricane, Zephyr, Lekoil, Decklar. And finally

WTI $69.96 -9c, Brent $72.22 U/C, Diff -$2.26 +9c, NG $3.13 U/C, UKNG (Aug) 68.92p +1.07p

Oil price

Oil is doing nothing as the reporting agencies come in with their monthly reports, even a decent set of inventory stats seemed to be ignored by the market. The EIA report was read as bearish as it upped supply and reduced demand numbers but it is forgotten that they either take no notice of the politics of Opec+ or feel it is not for them to get involved. It is more important to be aware of what has been said most recently by the KSA and Secretary General Barkindo that stocks are falling and that betting against Opec is always a risk

As to those inventory stats, they can be explained in one line. A big draw in crude and compensating product builds are always the case when, as is normal at this time of the year, refiners increase runs to ensure higher seasonal consumer demand is covered. Hence crude drew by 5.2m barrels, gasoline built by 7m bs and distillates by 4.4m, a rise of 2.6 points to 95.1% in the refinery operating capacity rate was the culprit.

Serica Energy

Serica has provided an operational update for the Rhum R3 well. The new completion equipment has been successfully installed into R3 and a flow test has now been performed. Astabilised flow rate of 58.4mmscf/d of gas and 135bbls/d of condensate has been achieved through a 60/64ths inch choke. This rate was constrained by the surface well test equipment on board the WilPhoenix semi-submersible drilling rig and it is expected that the well will be able to produce at higher rates when in production.

A diving support vessel has been contracted to install the subsea control equipment required so the well can start producing in Q3 2021. The successful recompletion of R3 will increase the Rhum production capacity utilising the existing facilities located on the Bruce platform and will, therefore, not lead to significant additional CO2 emissions. This is in line with Sericas stated objective of reducing the carbon intensity (i.e. CO2 per barrel of oil equivalent) of its production operations.

Mitch Flegg, Chief Executive of Serica Energy, commented:

Operations on R3 have proved more challenging than expected but the skill and dedication of our operational team has enabled us to achieve this welcome result. The volumes flowed during the test are equivalent to over 10,000 boe/d which demonstrates the quality of the Rhum asset.

It was always expected that the flow test results would be constrained by the surface test equipment, but initial analysis of the data recovered indicates that the flow potential of the well is at the upper end of our range of expectations.

The third Rhum well will enable enhanced production rates from the field and will provide redundancy to support production from the other two Rhum wells.

A great result from Serica today and in its own quiet, understated way the company has yet again delivered the goods for shareholders. Accordingly, whilst the share price has risen some 35% off the lows it is way lower than it should be and for a share that ticks all the boxes that investors require nowadays, particularly in low carbon and associated ESG issues, but in an old fashioned way is still finding hydrocarbons in increasingly profitable volumes and dont forget gas is increasingly important in the mix.

Longboat Energy

Longboat has successfully raised gross proceeds of 35 million by means of a placing and subscription with the fundraising completed at a price of 75 pence per share, a 6.8% discount. The raise is for long promised deals two of which are detailed today. The company has executed farm-in agreements with Equinor and Spirit Energy Norway with a third transaction anticipated to be executed imminently  Longboat has also executed a NOK 600 million (52 million) Exploration Finance Facility (EFF) with SpareBank 1 SR-Bank ASA and ING Bank N.V.

The Fundraising and EFF will enable Longboat to pursue a significant, near-term, low-risk exploration drilling programme on the Norwegian Continental Shelf across seven wells targeting net mean prospective resource potential of 104 MMboe and an additional 220 MMboe of upside and follow-on prospectivity. The first well in the programme is expected to spud in Q3 2021.

Helge Hammer, Chief Executive of Longboat, commented:

The Board of Longboat is delighted by the support we have received from new and existing shareholders. Securing these Farm-Ins will enable us to pursue a significant, near-term, low-risk exploration drilling programme. We can now look forward to a busy period of almost continuous drilling and frequent catalysts during the next 18 months. Our ambition remains to build Longboat in to a full-cycle, North Sea E&P company.

At long last investors were saying when the news came out that the former Faroe team had actually done a deal, or three in this case, and came to the market for a raise. Apart from the glitch on day 1 of dealing last time, when the brokers messed up letting a loose underwriter crash the price single handedly, the market is excited about Longboat being back and with only a few months before first spud on the newly acquired assets.

This is a classy, experienced management who which will relish getting to grips with a new portfolio of exciting assets, it may take some storytelling but if it were me I would undoubtedly back Helge and the team.

Pharos updates the market today, in Egypt where the Batran-1X commitment exploration well, drilled on a fault bounded and three-way-closed dip prospect located 4km west of the Main Tersa-1X well, reached Total Depth on Friday 4 June. The well encountered 52 ft (15.85m) of net oil pay in the LARG and UB sands. Additional thin pay zones may also be present in the Abu Roash A, D and E sands where oil shows were also encountered whilst drilling.

Pressure readings confirm that the oil-bearing reservoirs are at initial pressure. The Batran-1X well will be completed as a potential future producer in the LARG and UB reservoir sections using a workover rig as part of El Fayum field activities ramp up phase. The preliminary post-well in-place volume and resource estimates for the LARG and UB discoveries are 4.3 mmbbls and 430,000 bbls respectively.

El Fayum concession

The El Fayum concession prospect and lead inventory has an estimated unrisked in-place volume potential of >400 mmbbls in 40 prospects all with more of the same geology and covered by the existing 3D seismic. Of this total >220 mmbbls is in prospects close to existing infrastructure and 156 mmbbls is located within current long-term development leases. An additional 230 mmbbls of unrisked in place volumetric potential lies in new plays (e.g. deeper untested formations) or in leads outside of the present 3D seismic area.

The unconventional Abu Roash F play, which is considered potentially prospective over the northern half of El Fayum and which was also encountered in the Batran-1X well, has a further 1.5 billion bbls of unrisked unconventional oil in place potential in tight organic-rich marls.

The Company is currently engaged in a farm out process run by Jefferies, to seek a partner before recommencing investment in the development of the existing discovered resource on El Fayum and the exploration potential of both blocks.

Future exploration drilling activity in the proven basins of El Fayum and NBS can be expected to focus on near field prospects close to existing facilities and prospects with new play potential. Similarly future seismic acquisition will focus on 3D seismic in the northern portion of El Fayum, once land access is granted, to mature existing leads and 2D seismic in the unexplored eastern desert portion of NBS to evaluate its frontier potential.

Ed Story, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented:

In Egypt the Batran-1X exploration commitment well has encountered oil in the Abu Roash Lower G (LARG) and the Upper Bahariya (UB) reservoirs. This modest discovery reconfirms the potential for additional oil on the El Fayum concession. Separately, offshore Vietnam, we are poised to commence a low risk development drilling programme in the Cuu Long Basin and a 3D seismic acquisition programme over Exploration Acreage in the Phu Khanh Basin.

Whilst there is good news from Pharos today I think that it will be the news from the farm-out process that the market will be keen to hear, and to be frank before too long. Assuming that this is imminent they Pharos remains an attractive offer in the sector.

Hurricane Energy

May 2021 Lancaster Field Data

As of 7 June 2021, Lancaster was producing 11,020 bopd from the P6 well alone with an associated water cut of 31%. On 8 June 2021, the electric submersible pump (ESP) in the P6 well tripped causing the well to be shut in. The well is currently on natural flow while the cause of the trip is investigated and the ESPs electrical system is tested ahead of an attempt to restart the ESP. Further announcements will be made in due course.

Hurricane have a busy few weeks, tomorrow sees the shareholder restructuring plan meeting and then on July 5th the board restructuring vote. Expect plenty of noise from all the camps involved but equity shareholders should be preparing to get a grip and vote or they will likely lose most of their holding

Decklar Resources

Decklar Resources has announce the completion of a non-binding Letter of Intent to purchase all of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Purion Energy Limited, a Nigerian entity that has the right to enter into a Risk Finance and Technical Services Agreement (RFTSA) with Prime Exploration and Production Limited (Prime) to participate in the Asaramatoru field in Nigeria, located in OML 11, the same block where Decklar is also currently developing the Oza Field.

Zephyr Energy

I managed to get a few valuable minutes with Colin Harrington, CEO of Zephyr yesterday and it was very much worth the while. This imaginative, smart board is constantly coming up with ways of differentiating the offer to investors who have taken to the company since it appeared on the Paradox scene.

Already this week the company have had results and given guidance on the Paradox Basin and also delivered a pledge to move to an operationally 100% carbon neutral situation by the end of September. These are not just box ticking exercises, the board are clearly determined to deliver and their mission statement  good environmental & operational performance + good governance = superior investor returns tells it all.

Core Finance CEO Interview: Colin Harrington, Zephyr Energy

Lekoil Ltd has made an announcement trying to explain the sacking of CEO Olalekan Akinyanmi who is, and remains CEO of Lekoil Nigeria. Best if you try and make something of that

And finally

Today sees the start of the 2nd Test match between England and the Black Caps at Edgbaston, England won the toss and are batting and are 67-0 at lunch.

And for those of you who remember Tim Hoare I have noticed that the very substantial collection at Hollycombe House is going under the hammer next week through Dreweats, worth a look on their website but way too rich for me!
Cast Iron Food truck has been serving the community since 2009 and has been well known for its popular menu items.
Guam Visitors Bureau officials on Thursday not only voted to seek quarantine exemption for nonvaccinated travelers who can present negative COVID-19 test results, but also announced plans to give vouchers or other types of incentives to tourists.

As of Thursday afternoon, Adelup said it was still reviewing GVB's adopted resolution seeking an expanded exemption to the mandatory quarantine.

Quarantine exemption upon entry to Guam, starting on May 15, has been granted to those who can show proof they are fully vaccinated with the Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Now, GVB wants Guam to follow Hawaii's lead in also allowing those with negative COVID-19 test results to enter without going through a 10-day quarantine.

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero earlier in the year planned a testing-based quarantine to reopen tourism, but her medical advisers said that protocol allows only for a 13.1% risk reduction. So Guam chose a protocol that's vaccination-based.

Guam's tourism officials have been looking for ways to welcome back tourists after more than a year of a near standstill, especially now that most vaccine-eligible residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

At the Thursday meeting, the GVB board of directors, led by Chairman Milton Morinaga, adopted a resolution that:

Requests that the Department of Public Health and Social Services allow unvaccinated visitors, including minors, to skip the mandatory quarantine upon entry to Guam if they can present a negative COVID-19 test result, and the test was taken within 72 hours prior to travel;

Requests implementation of safe protocols so that military personnel and allied military personnel visiting Guam for duty or liberty can enjoy what the island has to offer, provided they are fully vaccinated or present a negative COVID-19 test result; and

Tasks the GVB management team to work with the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association and the Department of Public Health and Social Services on safe reopening procedures.

GVB has succeeded in persuading the governor to soon allow those fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca to skip quarantine, pending the final approval of Public Health.

The governor is now preparing to issue an executive order related to AstraZeneca vaccination, according to GVB President Carl Gutierrez.

Incentives for tourists, residents

Morinaga announced that GHRA, in partnership with GVB and the Guam Economic Development Authority, is working on an initiative to offer an incentives program for tourists.

This would be similar to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands tourism investment program, Morinaga said. The CNMI plan involves giving each tourist $250 to $500 in "travel bucks" per island they visit, such as Saipan, Tinian and Rota.

These tourists could spend their travel bucks at qualified retail stores, restaurants, optional tours and other qualified businesses that have received a World Travel and Tourism Council Safe Travel Stamp.

GVB officials said several Guam businesses are now also WTTC Safe-certified so it would be easy to adopt a similar incentives program here, which could also use federal pandemic recovery funds. Adelup has committed $20 million for tourism recovery, GVB officials said.

GovGuam itself already has an incentives program for its residents, also using federal pandemic funds.

To ensure at least 96,000 individuals get fully vaccinated by July 21 amid declining demand for doses, GovGuam launched the Vax N' Win program, offering fully vaccinated individuals a chance to win $10,000 cash, a new car or other prizes.

As of 1 p.m. Thursday, GVB has received more than 30,000 entries.

Some 85,500 residents have been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, out of the 96,000-plus needed by July 21 to achieve 80% herd immunity for the island.

Air V&V

GVB, along with Public Health, continues to develop its Air V&V, or vaccination and vacation, program for American expatriates.

More than 200 separate requests from individuals, families and organizations from countries where there are American expats have reached out to GVB, according to Nadine Leon Guerrero, director of global marketing for GVB.

Gutierrez said these are on top of those who want to charter flights to Guam just to get vaccinated here.

On Tuesday, he said he talked to Philippine Airlines officials who told him that they're willing to transport American expats from Bangkok, Thailand, to Guam, nonstop, when the Air V&V program is formally launched.

The governor has asked the White House whether it could increase the COVID-19 vaccine dose allocation for Guam, for it to also vaccinate non-American citizens. Gutierrez said Guam awaits a decision on that request.

Gutierrez said besides hotels and other tourism partners, health care facilities such as Guam Regional Medical City and American Medical Center are working to put together the vaccination and vacation packages.

He said T Galleria by DFS also is willing to provide a space in Tumon where clinics can administer vaccinations to expats.

There's a "ray of sunshine" again, Gutierrez said, after more than a year of slumping tourism because of the pandemic.

Korean tourists are expected to be the first ones to arrive on Guam, with Jeju Air and other airlines from Korea firming up their plans, officials said.
A number of stocks are fancied by JP Morgan as it takes the temperature of the travel sector as it emerges from the pandemic.

Travel and tourism stocks may be set for an Indian summer, according to JP Morgan Cazenove, as its analysts found that tourists are getting ready to travel again.

A survey of travellers conducted by the US bank found that the next three to six months will still be challenging for the sector but suggests cause for optimism beyond that.

At the same time, research conducted by Perspectus Global claimed close to a quarter of Brits have gone against government advice and booked trips to amber list countries. Some 40% of people polled said they need to get away for the sake of their mental health, and 27% said they were fully vaccinated and saw no reason not to travel.

In its own research, JPM Cazenove surveyed 1,071 individuals, 51% of which had received at least one vaccine dose, and some 20-26% of them plan to fly in the next three months (before the end of August).

Around 38% of those surveyed still have significant concerns about Covid whilst travelling, though JPM notes that this marks a reduction from 48% back in February. The requirement to quarantine was the number one concern (given by 52% of respondents).



Most people, however, said that their travel plans for 2022 will be similar to their behaviour back in 2019.



Moreover, the survey saw greater appetite for the resumption of business travel than the broker had anticipated and less enthusiasm for virtual meetings than in the February survey.

JPM gave its top picks in the travel sector with IAG, WizzAir and Whitbread among the notable inclusions.



British Airways owner ( ) is marked with an overweight rating as JP Morgan describes it as a strong cost reduction story with a potential upside surprise.

PLC ( ) is also seen as overweight as JP Morgan says it has the strongest multi-year growth story, plus good liquidity in its shares.



Rival low-cost airlines easyJet Plc ( ) and Ryanair are both rated neutral as the former offers disappointing structural cost savings and it says the latter carries risk and onerous shareholder restrictions.

Airport and railway station food outlet firm SSP Plc (LON:SSP) is another stock tipped by JPM with an overweight rating, with the analysts saying that the company is well-positioned to face prolonged travel headwinds after its rights issue, despite its share price weakness, and the survey is the most supportive to SSP.



Premier Inn owner ( ) is meanwhile deemed to be more immune to travel uncertainty and a defensive business mix.
I have posted five previous editions of footnotes to our coverage of the trial of Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd. This edition bears on the pending case against Chauvins three former colleagues as well. My purpose here is to provide background on the legal issues for those who seek to understand them. Readers who think they know all they need to know about these cases are invited to pass them by.

I post these footnotes in the form of bullet points and differentiate facts and law from (my) opinion. I posted my fifth set (June 3). The fourth set (May 9) appended previous editions (May 5, May 2 and April 25). Today I want to add another 16 footnotes in the same form:

 All four officers have been charged with third-degree murder. Chauvin was convicted of the charge as a lesser included offense. He will be sentenced on the second-degree murder conviction. Before trial Judge Cahill dismissed the third-degree murder charge as inapplicable. He reinstated the charge on the order of the Minnesota Court of Appeals based on its decision in the Noor case. The same issue is raised by the charges against the three other officers.

 The legal sufficiency of the third-degree murder charge in the Noor case is before the Minnesota Supreme Court. Yesterday morning the court heard oral argument in Noors appeal. The court has posted video of the oral argument here.

 Associated Press reporter Steve Karnowski covered the oral argument here and provides background on the issue in this explainer.

 The case was argued via Zoom. The Covid war is over. Its time to return to regular order in the courts.

 Chief Justice Lorie Gildea is an excellent judge. In the oral argument she confined herself to keeping the trains running on time. One can glean no sense of her thinking about the case from the oral argument.

 I thought the case was well argued on both sides. Noor does not dispute his manslaughter conviction. Arguing in support of Noors murder conviction, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Jean Burdorf essentially conceded that case law belies the States argument and urged the court to clarify it. Without reading the parties briefs, I take it that substantial Minnesota Supreme Court precedent supports Noors legal argument.

 The case against Chauvins three former colleagues was set for trial before Judge Cahill in August. Judge Cahill has rescheduled the trial in deference to the federal civil rights case brought against all four officers in federal district court here. Yesterday Judge Cahill entered a scheduling order that is posted here.

 Trial of the three other former officers on the state criminal charges is set to commence before Judge Cahill with legal argument and jury selection on March 7. The trial proper is set to begin on March 28.

 We have yet to hear an explanation why federal prosecutors are piling on the former officers in the civil rights case. In Chauvins case, the prosecution is redundant. In the three other cases the prosecution is disruptive. In all four cases the prosecution is unsavory.

 Like federal district Judge Patrick Schiltz, who is concerned about leaks of grand jury information to the Times and the Star Tribune, Judge Cahill is disturbed by a leak to the Times regarding plea negotiations per a page-one story that ran on February 10. Judge Cahill has required attorneys in the cases to file affidavits regarding their knowledge of the source of the leak.

 Numerous affidavits denying knowledge have been filed. All of the affidavits have been posted on each of the court pages devoted to the state prosecutions of the four former officers, such as Alexander Kuengs here.

 The most interesting filing on the Times leak is the letter submitted to Judge Cahill by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison posted here. It provides the background to Judge Cahills order requiring counsel to file the affidavits. Although the letter was filed on February 19, it was only posted on May 21.

 Last month I took issue with Jack Cashills American Spectator column alleging the intimidation of expert witnesses in the Chauvin case. Cashills column was based on the May 12 motion filed by counsel for Tou Thao. The motion is posted here.

 In relevant part Cashills column relied on an exhibit to the defense motion that has not been made public. I didnt think the average reader would understand that Cashill himself hasnt seen the evidence on which his column was based. The motion alleging witness intimidation remains pending before the court and is taken up by Chauvin in his post-trial motions as well.

 The exhibit has remained concealed from the public because it was filed with the designation Confidential. I have asked the court spokesman four times for the source and meaning of the designation. He doesnt know. He tells me he has asked Judge Cahill but that Judge Cahill has not as yet responded.

 Both Thaos motion and Cashills column raise an important issue that needs to be resolved on a full public airing of the facts.
To say that Democrats have mixed feelings about the American flag is an understatement. The more moderate ones dont actually burn the flag, but you can tell that they dont much like it, either. That doesnt prevent them, of course, from copious flag displays on ceremonial occasions, but I dont think anyone believes their hearts are really in it.

Occasionally the mask slips, as when far-left New York Times editorial board member and MSNBC contributor Mara Gay expressed her horror at seeing American flags on Long Island. Long Island, mind you! A place she would normally expect to be civilized. Legal Insurrection has a good roundup of the story and its sequel, with video of Gays incriminating MSNBC interview:

MSNBC contributor Mara Gay said Tuesday that she was disturbed to see dozens of American flags flown by Donald Trump supporters during a weekend trip to Long Island, New York. I think that as long as they see Americanness as the same as one with Whiteness, this is going to continue, Gay said, turning to race and adding that Americanness and Whiteness needed to be separated. I was on Long Island this weekend visiting a really dear friend, and I was really disturbed. I saw, you know, dozens and dozens of pickup trucks with explicatives [sic] against Joe Biden on the back of them, Trump flags, and in some cases just dozens of American flags, which is also just disturbing  Essentially the message was clear. This is my country. This is not your country. I own this, Gay said.

It was a classic moment of self-revelation. Poor Ms. Gay has no idea what drivers of pickups who fly American flags think, but the world now knows what Ms. Gay thinks. Displaying the flag means whiteness, and that This is not your country. I.e., not Ms. Gays country, despite her exalted status at a young age. Also, I own this.

Actually, I think Ms. Gay and her ilk believe that they own this, and she is disturbed to see American flagslet alone Trump signs!because it means that the resistance to her left-wing agenda somehow manages to persist, against all the odds. It reminds me of several news stories I have seen in recent days where liberals have warned that President Trump is still dangerous.

When Ms. Gays expression of dismay at seeing American flagson Long Island!encountered pretty much universal ridicule, the New York Times, which can be relied on for tone deafness, sprang to her defense with this tweet:

New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay's comments on MSNBC have been irresponsibly taken out of context. Her argument was that Trump and many of his supporters have politicized the American flag. The attacks on her today are ill-informed and grounded in bad-faith.  NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) June 8, 2021



But Gay made no such argument. She took it for granted that her MSNBC viewers would share her horror at seeing dozens of American flags, and join her in attaching a perverse racial significance to such displays. No explanation was necessary.

If the Stars and Stripes have become a political symbolif you can pretty much take it for granted that if you see a flag flying in front of a house, that house is owned by Republicansit is not because Donald Trump and his supporters politicized the American flag. It is because liberals like those at the New York Times consistently show contempt for the flag, and approve of those who display contempt for the flag, like kneeling athletes, because they despise America.
Jill Biden visited Harlem on Sunday hoping to persuade residents to get vaccinated against the Wuhan coronavirus. Its a worthy task and not an easy one given all the effort the left has expended trying to persuade Blacks that they cant trust either Whites or the government.

According to data from the New York City health department, only 29 percent of Black New Yorkers have received at least one shot, compared with 45 percent of White New Yorkers. In Harlem, which is almost entirely Black and Hispanic, vaccination rates hover between 39 and 46 percent, while the average in Manhattan as a whole is 64 percent.

The Washington Post was in Harlem to cover Bidens visit. The title of its report is Can Jill Biden help move the needle on vaccination rates?

Whatever suspense this question might have produced vanishes in the first three paragraphs:

When Monique Harouna, 51, showed up at a vaccination center in the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New Yorks most famous predominantly Black neighborhood, on Sunday, she knew there was a to-do going on. The Secret Service was outside doing security searches, plus dozens of cameras were crowded around, with an Eyewitness News 7 van parked outside. Yet, it was still a surprise when first lady Jill Biden, accompanied by infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), walked over to shake her hand. Hi, Im Jill, said Biden, as Harouna did a double take. They told us Michelle Obama was coming, Harouna said later, in an interview. Thats what I heard. So, shes not coming?

The event at the Harlem church apparently did induce some to get vaccinated. However, the Post suggests that this was largely due to the presence of religious leaders.

Michelle Obama might have added value to the efforts of the religious leaders. But Jill Biden? I dont think so.
For the past twelve months, the mainstream media has been peddling the view that President Trump had the U.S. Park Police use tear gas to disperse protesters in Lafayette Park so that he could have a photo-op in front of a church on the other side of the park. I never accepted this version of events because I never accept on faith the truth of anything the mainstream media says about Trump.

At the same time, the MSM version, even if true, didnt bother me. Presidents should be permitted to cross Lafayette Park for any purpose. The protesters had had their say, and not always peaceably. They had no right to limit Trumps movement indefinitely.

It turns out, however, that the medias narrative was false. After an extensive investigation, the independent Inspector General of the Interior Department, Mark Lee Greenblatt, has concluded that the protesters werent dispersed to facilitate a Trump photo-op.

They were dispersed, instead, to allow a contractor to safely install anti-scale fencing in response to destruction of Federal property and injury to officers that the mostly peaceful protesters had recently inflicted. Greenblatt found that the evidence established that relevant USPP officials had made those decisions and had begun implementing the operational plan several hours before they knew of a potential Presidential visit to the park, which occurred later that day. (Emphasis added)

Greenblatt, by the way, held important positions in the Obama administration. He was investigative counsel at the Department of Justices Office of Inspector General and Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at Obamas Commerce Department. He is not a GOP or Trump partisan.

Glenn Greenwald does a great job of cataloguing the mainstream medias falsehoods about this matter. Among the offenders (lets call them fabulists to be polite) he calls out are NPR, the New York Times, CNN, George Stephanopoulos, the Intercept, and Washington Post fact checker Philip Bump.

In short, a rogues gallery of dishonest anti-Trumpers.

And speaking of rogues, lets not forget Kamala Harris. She said:

Last night I watched as President Trump, having gassed peaceful protesters just so he could do this photo op, then he went on to teargas priests who were helping protesters in Lafayette Park.

How did all of these outlets and individuals get it so wrong? Thats an easy one. They had no interest in getting it right. Their only interest was to trash the U.S. president because they hate him. The truth was of no concern to them.

Greenwald concludes his piece by pounding home the reality that, at least for me, has been the main theme of Power Line for 19 years:

Over and over we see the central truth: the corporate outlets that most loudly and shrilly denounce disinformation  to the point of demanding online censorship and de-platforming in the name of combating it  are, in fact, the ones who spread disinformation most frequently and destructively. It is hard to count how many times they have spread major fake stories in the Trump years. For that reason, they have nobody but themselves to blame for the utter collapse in trust and faith on the part of the public, which has rightfully concluded they cannot and should not be believed.

UPDATE: The Posts Philip Bump says there are still lingering questions about this matter. He clings to the view that Attorney General William Barr is to blame.

John Sexton shows that Bumps salvage effort is in vain.
The latest Ilhan Omar outrage is two days old, but I dont believe we have commented on it yet. Nowadays, you just cant keep up.

On Twitter, Omar equated the U.S., Israel, Hamas, Afghanistan and the Taliban as committers of unthinkable atrocities. You have to see it to believe it:

We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked @SecBlinken where people are supposed to go for justice. pic.twitter.com/tUtxW5cIow  Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) June 7, 2021



If Omar seriously believes that the United States government, of which she is an employee, is a committer of unthinkable atrocities just like Hamas and the Taliban, she should resign immediately. How can she possibly justify being a party to unthinkable atrocities?

Having resigned from her U.S. government employment, she could go to work for Hamas. She evidently has a lot more sympathy for their unthinkable atrocities than for ours, whatever they might be. She doesnt say.

One amusing aspect of the video that Omar tweeted is the patent nervousness and confusion demonstrated by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken looks like a 9th grader called upon to give a talk in speech class for the first time. God help us if this is the man who represents the U.S. in the councils of the mighty.

Then again, to be charitable, maybe we are watching a man who knows he is talking to a lunatic of his own party. Thus: nice Democrat doggie, nice Democrat doggie

Over the last several years, I cant count the number of friends from around the country who have said, Ilhan Omar is obviously a crazy leftist. Her latest pronouncement is unhinged! No doubt she will lose in the next election, right?

Wrong. Omar represents a district in which most voters are about as crazy as she is. The Omar pronouncements that have fairly been described as anti-American, anti-Semitic, far left, etc, have only deepened her popularity in Minnesotas far-gone 5th Congressional District. Her denouncing of her own country as irredeemably racistthe country that rescued her from an African refugee camp, brought her here, fed her, educated her (more or less), elected her first to Minnesotas legislature and then to the U.S. Congresswill only enhance her popularity with the twisted voters who put her in office in the first place.
When I wrote yesterday about the meeting of Israels US/UN ambassador with AP executives on the destruction of the high-rise Gaza building with tenants including both the AP and Hamas, I had not found the statement AP spokesman Lauren Easton issued following the meeting. Here it is:

The Associated Press appreciates the opportunity to meet with Ambassador Erdan to discuss the attack on the building housing our Gaza bureau and Israels support for our efforts to rebuild the bureau. It was a positive and constructive conversation.

Israeli authorities maintain that the building housing our bureau was destroyed because of a Hamas presence that posed an urgent threat. We have yet to receive evidence to support these claims.

AP continues to call for the full release of any evidence the Israelis have so that the facts are public.
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Neo Lithium (CVE: NLC  OTCQX: NTTHF  FSE: NE2) CEO Waldo Perez joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share details the company has announced an updated resource estimate for the Tres Quebradas lithium project in Catamarca Province, Argentina.

Perez telling Proactive the 3Q Project deposit continues to improve, confirming that it is one of the largest and highest-grade lithium brine deposits in the world. Perez also telling Proactive this news will not affect their ongoing work toward the completion of the Feasibility Study in Q3.
Annissa Foster, who was recently diagnosed with MS, and her fiance Eric Crosbie in Riverside Park for their MS walk, May 30.
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Naira gained marginally against the U.S. dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window on Wednesday, as foreign exchange supply rose, data from the FMDQ Security Exchange where forex is officially traded showed.

Data showed that the local unit closed at N410.95, a N0.55 or 0.13 per cent appreciation from N411.50 it traded Tuesday.

However, the domestic currency remained unchanged at the unofficial market.

The naira experienced an intraday low of N420.77 and a high of N400.00 before closing at N410.90 on Wednesday.

This happened as foreign exchange supply increased significantly by 261.50 per cent, with $226.98 million posted as against $62.79 million recorded in the previous session on Tuesday.

The last time naira closed around the rate of N410.00 and above was on June 6, when it closed at N410.75.

Meanwhile, the naira on Wednesday remained unchanged at the parallel market, data posted on abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel market rates in Lagos showed.

Data posted showed the domestic currency exchanged hands again with the hard currency at N502.00, the same rate it has been trading since June 4 last week.

Based on the aforementioned, the disparity between the black market and official market rates is pegged at N91.05, translating to a margin of 18.12 per cent as of the close of business on Wednesday.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to halt the continuous slide of the naira.

The lawmakers unanimously reached the decision on Wednesday after debating a motion of matter of urgent public importance moved by Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun) during plenary.

While presenting the motion, Mr Salam said naira has lost 9 per cent in the past six months.

While the value of the Nigerian Naira relative to the US Dollar has declined by 9 per cent in the last 6 months, the South African Rand and Ghanaian Cedi have appreciated by 11.4 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively, he noted.
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The ECOWAS Parliament on Thursday moved a step closer toward achieving a single currency for the sub-region as it adopted the draft resolution on the Macroeconomic Convergence and Stability Pact.

The pact, which was adopted at the closing of its First Ordinary Session in Abuja, was a critical prelude to achieving the criteria for Member-States adoption of the single currency  the ECO.

The parliament adopted its resolution for a Draft Supplementary Act on the Pact.

This followed deliberation at Plenary on the submissions by its Joint Committee on Macro-Economic Policy and Economic Research and Committee on Administration, Finance and Budget.

The resolution, which would be transmitted to the Commission, sought to ensure macroeconomic policy coordination with the aims of ensuring a viable economic and monetary union as well as reinforce macroeconomic stability.

In the presentation, the Joint Committee, chaired by Kebba Barrow, highlighted that the pact shall be implemented in two phases.

He said that the resolution also sought to strengthen the convergence of Member States economies, including monetary and financial cooperation.

Mr Barrow added that it also shall define the procedures for the adoption of as well as the modalities for implementation of national convergence programmes.

According to him, the first phase which shall focus on convergence is to run from January 2022 to December 2026 while the second phase will centre on stability and shall run from January 1, 2027.

Meanwhile, other resolutions adopted by Parliament bordered on issues such as consideration on the political situation in Mali, discussions on the post-election situation in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea and Niger.

They also included Trade, Customs and Free Movement as well as rules for the management and award of ECOWAS mark of conformity to ECOWAS standards.

(NAN)
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The Presidency says it will present a one-hour documentary titled Nigeria: Consolidating Democracy and National Unity, in commemoration of 2021 Democracy Day slated for June 12.

According to a statement in Abuja on Wednesday by the Presidents spokesman, Garba Shehu, the documentary will debut simultaneously on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Channels TV networks this Saturday at 8:00-9:00pm.

He said TVC would be showing the documentary at 4:30-5:30pm June 13.

The presidential aide revealed that the film featured President Muhammadu Buhari and dignitaries, who were central to the annulled June 12 election and the events that followed, including retired General Abdulsalam Abubakar and Bola Tinubu.

Kola Abiola, Hafsat Abiola-Costello and Mohammed Fawehinmi, son of legal luminary Gani Fawehinmi, who along with Babagana Kingibe, was also recognised with a Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger national honour, were also featured in the documentary.

Mr Shehu said sections of the documentary was dedicated to the annulled election, recognition process and evolution of Nigerias democracy and continuing quest for its consolidation and national unity from Independence in 1960.

He added that the documentary was filmed exclusively in Nigeria and directed by the award winning, Nigerian-American, Hollywood-based filmmaker Ose Oyamendan.

Also featured are President Goodluck Jonathan, children of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the countrys first and only Prime Minister, those of Obafemi Awolowo, the first republic opposition leader and Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigerias first President

Others are Shehu Malami, nephew of Ahmadu Bello and son of Sultan Abubakar III, as they capture the spirit of Nigerias Independence Day in 1960, he added. (NAN)
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The Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) has promised to reconcile aggrieved members back into the association.

AGN is an umbrella union that regulates and represents the affairs of film actors in Nigeria.

The newly elected AGN Lagos state chapter chairman, Emeka Rising, shared his agenda with PREMIUM TIMES at his swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday in Lagos.

I will make sure that we go all out to reconcile every warring faction in the guild, especially people who may have decided to stay away from the guild, people who have been offended who may no longer come around for the meetings, he said.

Mr Rising who has served in different capacities in the guild since 1998 said aside from reconciliation, he has the mandate to bring up and coming actors and actresses into the limelight.

My association will go all out to bridge the gap between A-listers and starlets. I have so much belief in upcoming actors because my name is Emeka Rising, Im rising in the lord, so, I expect that many upcoming (sic) actors will also rise along with me.

My agenda is to create an enabling environment for upcoming actors because they are the ones that attend our meetings and activities, said Mr Rising.

The sworn-in officials include Bukky Fagbiyi VC, Babajide Ogunlana; Secretary, Chioma Joan; Assistant Secretary, Julius Amijio-Omije; Treasurer, Olalekan Muhammed; Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Onyeaka; Director of Guild Services and Shedrack Itua; Chief Whip.

The officials were sworn in by Olugboyega Osiloya, a legal practitioner.

The guild also inaugurated a three-member business Committee to distribute its programmes nationwide while it announced a partnership with All News media.

The groups national president, Emeka Rollas, expressed gratitude to the members for having faith in the administration. He added that a united group can produce a show bigger than Big Brother Nigeria (BBN). He also urged them to send their creative ideas to the business committee for execution.

He pointed out that the media reports their scandals rather than successes but the partnership with All News will ensure they have more unifying reports.

We have a body that sees it from our own perspective. All news is a bridge between the AGN and the media, he said.

In his welcome address, AGNs Southwest Vice-President, Femi Branch, congratulated the officials while urging them to follow the path of the associations president while charging them to build and reunite all existing factions within the state.

There is no progress in the division for even the good book says, a house divided against itself, will not stand. You are now father and servant to all. Right now you have no enemies, only partners in progress. Set this as your foundation and trust me, the building would rise faster than you can imagine, Mr Branch said.

AGN has been enmeshed in crisis in the past and held its first hitch-free national election in 2019.

AGN has been enmeshed in crisis in the past and held its first hitch-free national election in 2019.
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The Somali National Army (SNA) said on Thursday that its forces killed 19 al-Shabab fighters in Deynunay village, about 25 km from Baidoa town in the southern part of the country.

The military said its forces also burnt two vehicles belonging to the terrorist group after inflicting heavy casualties on the fighters in an attack which took place on Wednesday.

Somali National Army killed 19 members of the terrorist group and burned two vehicles after al-Shabab attempted to attack the army base in Deynunay, near Baidoa town on Wednesday, SNA said in a statement.

The army said its forces had thwarted an attack by al-Shabab terrorists and also took over areas from terrorists that have been harassing civilians in the region.

It said the terrorists had tried to attack the military base in Deynunay but were repulsed by the SNA forces.

The militant group has been engaging the government forces in near-daily attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.

But the Somali and partner forces have intensified military operations into territory formerly controlled by al-Shabab after driving the insurgents out of Mogadishu in 2011.

(NAN)
In what is one of Nigerias worst cases of arbitrariness, disregard for the court and shabby treatment of her heroes since Muhammadu Buhari, a former major-general, became president, senior army officers illegally dismissed five years ago are still hoping the authorities will comply with the law and ensure justice in their case. PREMIUM TIMES Taiwo Adebayo, who has reported on the matter for five years, takes a look at the matter again.

From Zaria in the north to Lekki and Oyigbo in the south, the Nigerian Army under Tukur Buratai, the army chief between 2015 and 2021, left communities bloodied and traumatised after war-grade shootings targeting unarmed, defenceless, and innocent civilians. The massive extra-judicial killings were widely reported, have elicited condemnations and formed dark patches of blood, blotting the image of the army.

But apart from the extra-judicial killings, which remain unpunished, Mr Buratai also shares with the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Gabriel Olonisakin, a record of arbitrariness and disregard for the law and court orders.

On June 9, 2016, the Nigerian Army under Mr Buratai forced 38 senior officers out of service by compulsorily retiring them. Most of the affected officers were illegally punished. Among the officers were some of the countrys best in the war against terrorism.

One of them was Mohammed Suleiman, then a colonel, who was among the 2012 national honorees. He had earlier that year 2012 helped foil a Boko Haram terrorist attack on Aso Rock Villa in what is now home to President Muhammadu Buhari, having discovered and penetrated the cell tasked to carry out what would have been a major blow to Nigeria.

The key planner of that foiled act of terrorism was a police sergeant, identified as Babagana, according to army records seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Suleiman was so key to Nigerias counter-terrorism efforts that his deployments for services abroad, for instance in Darfur and Washington, were repeatedly cancelled and, in another case, he was recalled from Command and Staff College, Jaji, as directing staff, to help track a globally wanted terrorist, Adam Kambar.

He initiated the creation of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) and coordinated their activities in Borno State, before collaborating with 3rd Division of the Army to have Civilian JTF in Adamawa State. He was key to the arrest of and appropriate provision of information on the first successfully prosecuted Boko Haram pioneer spokesman, Umar Sanda Kodunga.

Even before Boko Haram gained notoriety and when they were covertly building a base in Bauchi, he was responsible for discovering, penetrating and profiling the group. In 2009, he led the joint army/police team that cleared and arrested 377 terrorists with scores killed with no casualty to own troops.

All these about Mr Suleiman were documented in his official service records with the Nigerian Army. However, for five years now, he has been in a legal battle with the military after he and 37 other senior officers were illegally removed from service shortly after Mr Buhari assumed office.

In separate judgements, Mr Suleiman and five of the affected officers have won the cases they initiated to challenge their forced retirement by the military. In ordering their reinstatement, the National Industrial Court has six times held that the military acted unlawfully. PREMIUM TIMES has repeatedly called the attention of the Buhari government to this matter. But authorities have continued to ignore the court and its decisions.

This matter is one of Nigerias worst cases of arbitrariness, disregard for the court and shabby treatment of her heroes since Mr Buhari, a former brigadier general, became president.

One of the officers, Ojebo Ochankpa, died in 2017 while awaiting justice. Their statutory appeal for redress to President Buhari within 30 days of their sack, and other letters subsequently, have neither been acknowledged nor replied to.

The Illegal Compulsory Retirement

On June 9, 2016, each of the 38 officers woke up to sudden letters of retirement in their emails. They had been compulsorily retired from service.

It was absolutely unexpected as I had not gone through any disciplinary process, said Abdulfatai Mohammed, then a Lt. Colonel, and one of the 38 affected officers. I was never queried, nor was there any indictment.

In the letters, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, to the affected officers, their compulsory retirement was hinged on provisions of Paragraph 09.02c (4) of the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers 2012 (Revised).

The referenced section  09.02c (4)  of the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers 2012 (Revised), shows the officers were laid off on disciplinary grounds i.e. serious offence(s).

Emphasizing service exigencies and that the military must remain apolitical and professional at all times, the then army spokesperson, Sani Usman, now a retired brigadier-general, on June 10, 2016, released a statement, disclosing what could have constituted the serious offences that warranted the compulsory retirement of the 38 officers.

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It should be recalled that not too long ago some officers were investigated for being partisan during the 2015 general elections, the statement read. Similarly, the investigation by the Presidential Committee investigating Defence Contracts revealed a lot. Some officers have already been arraigned in court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

However, contrary to the claim by the army, our investigations showed that only a few of the affected officers were queried, tried and indicted.

Others, like Mr Suleiman and Mr Mohammed, had their careers abruptly cut short for reasons that smacked of arbitrariness and witch-hunting by the army authorities.

While some officers cleared by either arms procurement panel or election panel were retired, others who were not questioned at all were also sent away.

Highly placed sources in the army told PREMIUM TIMES that of the major generals affected, only one  E.D. Atewe (N/7674)  faced a panel and was indicted. Mr Atewe was indicted by the presidential arms probe panel, and he is currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Although S.D. Aliyu (N/7711); M.Y. Aliyu (N/8114), the then GOC 7 Division, and Fatai Alli (N/7914), a former director of operations in the army, also faced the presidential arms panel, they were cleared. Yet they were laid off for serious offence, by the army.

Five other Major Generals  L. Wiwa (N/7665), who is the late Ken Saro-Wiwas brother; Nwokoro Ijeoma (N/8304) whose reinstatement was ordered by the industrial court last year; T.C Ude (N/7866); L.C. Ilo (N/8320), and O. Ejemau (N/8340)  were neither queried nor indicted by any panel before they were retired.

Brigadier Generals sacked because of suspected loyalties

The cases of the affected brigadier generals were not different. The 11 of them were retired allegedly because they were suspected to have failed to help the Buhari regime to power in 2015.

For instance, two officers were laid off because of their alleged ties to the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, our sources said.

The two officers  A.S.H. Saad (N/8392), who was at the Directorate of Military Intelligence, and Mormoni Bashir (N/8396), former principal staff officer to Mr Dasuki, were retired without indictment. Although Mr Saad faced a panel, he was not found to have engaged in any wrongdoing.

For his alleged close ties to a former army chief, Kenneth Minimah, D. Abdulsalam (N/9169) was sent away. Anthony Onibasa was pursuing a doctorate at the University of Calabar when he was notified of his sudden retirement. He was neither queried nor indicted.

Koko Essien (N/8794), a former Brigade Commander, 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt, faced the election panel but was cleared. Mr Essien was laid off nonetheless. Just like Bright Fibioinumana (N/8399); L.N. Bello (N/8799), former brigade commander, 34 Brigade Owerri, and M.G. Alli Moundhey, former director of campaign planning in the armys North-east operations, who were not queried not to talk of being indicted.

Although the Nigerian Army said the affected officers were retired for either involvement in the 2015 general elections or arms procurement fraud, our investigations showed that some officers who were not in Nigeria at the time of the elections were also sacked.

That was the case of I.B. Lawson (N/8812) and G.O. Agachi (N/9363) who were defence attaches at Nigerias missions in China and Benin Republic respectively.

They aided PDP to get votes

Many Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels who were laid off were merely suspected of failing to cooperate with the All Progressives Congress to garner votes for candidate Buhari in the 2015 elections, sources told PREMIUM TIMES.

In one instance, T.A Williams (N/11469) a major; and Abdulfatai Mohammed (N/10659), a lieutenant colonel, both attached to the 195 Battalion, Agenebode, Edo State, with the latter as commanding officer, were said to have been flushed out because of the complaint of not cooperating with Mr Buharis APC, brought against them.

But according to documents seen by this newspaper, Mr Mohammed was away in the North-east at the time, fighting Boko Haram, not at Agenebode. But somehow, his name was among those listed for alleged partisanship.

Similarly, in Rivers State, army insiders said, APC officials accused four officers attached to the 332 Air Defence Regiment (Ojebo Ochanpa  N/10417 who died while awaiting justice in 2017); 5 Battalion, Elele (A.S. Mohammed -N10662); 2 Brigade Garrison, Port Harcourt (A.Adimoha  N/10421), and 29 Battalion Port Harcourt (T.O. Oladuntoye (N/10338) of aiding the PDP in the state.

Our findings revealed that these officers, accused of partisanship, were not queried or investigated before they were forced out of the army. The former Commanding Officer, 93 Battalion, Takum, O.C. Egemole (N/10423), who was also compulsorily retired, was also allegedly accused of not doing enough to avert APC loss in Taraba State. He was also neither queried nor investigated.

Seven colonels, including Mr Suleiman (who had helped foil the Boko Haram attack on the Presidential Villa), who were compulsorily retired, had no query issued to them nor were they made to face any panel before they were fired.

For instance O.U. Nwankwo (N/9678) was studying at the University of Ibadan at the time of his ouster.

Also, without probe or indictment for any offence, T. Minimah (N/10185), brother to former army chief, Kenneth Minimah, was also removed from his post in Benin and retired.

Lawless army

PREMIUM TIMES checks indicate the army violated its own rules in the ways the officers were disengaged.

The Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers whose paragraph 09.02c (4) was relied upon to remove the officers, originates from the Armed Forces Act. The section cited by the army provides that an officer may be compulsorily retired on disciplinary grounds i.e. serious offence(s) without defining what constitutes serious offences.

But the principal law  the Armed Forces Act  establishes all actions that constitute offences in the Military. The Act prescribes steps to be taken in punishing offences, and a review shows no section empowers the Army Council to arbitrarily punish or compulsorily retire officers for any offence. In fact, the Army Council, in Section 11(a-f) of the Act, has no power to retire any officer on disciplinary ground without compliance with the steps prescribed by law.

Petitions to President Buhari

In line with Paragraph 09.02(e) of the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers, many of the affected officers, including Mr Mohammed and Mr Suleiman, petitioned Mr Buhari within 30 days of their sack for administrative review.

I want to respectfully state that I was not in any way involved in any of the two issues stated as reasons for compulsory retirement of 38 officers of which I was among, Mr Mohammed wrote in his appeal. I was never investigated at any time and have not committed any serious offence. This was also the ground of appeal of his colleagues, who also petitioned Mr Buhari.

Some of the affected officials also subsequently, separately, wrote to the president and once asked him to prove his integrity. None of the letters was acknowledged or replied to by President Buhari or his appointees. But it is alleged that the then Chief of Defence Staff, Gabriel Olonisakin, who had the lawful responsibility to transmit the officers petitions to the president, was blocking the appeals. He also refused to show evidence of transmitting the petitions to the industrial court and now risks a jail term for that.

Military continues to lose in court; Buhari wont act

Apart from petitioning Mr Buhari as required by law, many of the officers also approached the industrial court for justice. Six of them have now gotten favourable judgements with judges faulting the military.

The compulsory retirement of the claimant is wrongful, unconstitutional, null and void, Justice Rakiya Haastrup of the industrial court said in her January 14 judgement in the case initiated by Mr Mohammed at the headquarters of the industrial court in Abuja, adding: the defendants failed to act with respect to the law.

Apart from Mr Mohammed and Mr Suleiman, four others, namely Mr Ijeoma, a major general; Danladi Hassan, a colonel; Thomas Arigbe, a colonel; and DB Danzang have also got judgements ordering the army to reinstate them. There has been no compliance, nor have the authorities appealed yet.

The army and the defence headquarters have continuously refused to comment on the matter.

But in the wake of the defeat the army suffered in the case of Mr Mohammed in January 2020, a former army spokesperson, Sagir Musa, had said, It is a legal matter, and declined further comment when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES.

With a new Chief of Army Staff, Farouk Yahaya, some of the affected officers have expressed hope they can now have justice.

We are still hopeful of justice, said Mr Mohammed.
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The Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria is largely fuelled by youth unemployment and poverty, Nigerias President, Muhammadu Buhari, has said.

Mr Buhari said this in an interview with Arise TV aired on Thursday and monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.

The Nigerian leader said he believes his government has done a lot to fight the terrorists but the problem in the North-east is very difficult.

He said he believes the majority of the Boko Haram members are Nigerians after being told so by the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum.

Details later
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President Muhammadu Buhari turned down a question posed to him on Nigerias ban of microblogging platform Twitter but insisted on armed response to the troubles in the South-east.

I will keep that to myself, Mr Buhari said about his stance on the Twitter ban, in an Arise TV exclusive interview broadcast on Thursday morning.

The federal government recently banned Twitter in Nigeria, a move that followed the tech companys deletion of a controversial tweet by Mr Buhari. In the deleted tweet, the president warned of armed responses to the insecurity in the South-east and alluded to the countrys Civil War, a comment many reported as abusive and insensitive. Millions of people died during the Civil War; fought to stop an independent Biafran republic.

The Twitter ban has been widely condemned with concerns that it hurts the fundamental right to expression and raises fears Nigeria is slipping into dictatorship.

During the interview, Mr Buhari was asked when the Twitter ban would be lifted. But he declined to comment, saying he would keep the answer to himself

He insisted on an armed response to the insecurity in the South-east, where armed militants belonging to the separatist Eastern Security Network formed by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, are blamed for escalating attacks on INEC, security facilities and personnel, and innocent citizens.

We will organise the police and the army to pursue them, he said. We will respond to them in the language they understand, that is what we will do.
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The Nigerian government continued its controversial move to regulate social media platforms on Thursday as it asked Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others to apply for broadcast licenses.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), in a newspaper advertorial, asked all social media platforms and online broadcasting service providers in Nigeria to apply for the broadcast licence.

The announcement was placed in the TheNation newspaper and signed by the NBCs director-general, Armstrong Idachaba.

Mr Idachaba said the application is in line with the provision of the National Broadcasting Act CAP N11, Laws of the Federation 2004, section 2(1)(b)).

The Commission shall have responsibility of receiving, processing and considering applications for the establishment, ownership or operation of Radio & Television Stations including cable television services, Direct Satellite Broadcast (DSB), and ANY medium of Broadcasting.

The National Broadcasting Commission hereby directs every Online Broadcast Service provider and Social Media Platforms operating within the Nigerian State to apply and obtain broadcast Licence for their Service(s), the official said.

Mr Idachaba said the application should be sent to his Abuja office.

He also noted that any online broadcast service provider that fails to obtain a licence will be considered an illegal entity.

War on Freedom of Expression

The announcement by the NBC shows the Nigerian government is proceeding with regulating the use of social media despite the opposition by many Nigerians and civil society groups. Previous efforts by lawmakers from Nigerias ruling party, APC, to get a law through the parliament to regulate social media failed based on the massive opposition by Nigerians, who fear the clampdown on free speech and freedom of expression by a government notorious for human rights abuses.

Apparently seeing that its move to get a clear social media law has failed, the government now appears determined to use the existing broadcast regulations and expand its scope to include social media.

The announcement by the NBC also occurs a few days after the ban on Twitters activities in Nigeria and the federal governments announcement that social media platforms must be registered in the country.

An estimated 40 million Nigerians have been denied access to Twitter and can only access by bypassing domain restrictions through alternative mediums.

The suspension followed Twitters deletion of President Muhammadu Buharis controversial tweet about the civil war after some Nigerian users flagged it.

The government, in its response, accused the platform of bias against President Buhari and undermining Nigerias corporate existence.

Although the presidency says the ban is temporary and an attempt to curb fake news, human rights and foreign missions have criticised the President Buhari-led administration for censorship, calling for a reversal of the suspension.
( N) is working towards delivering a definitive feasibility study (DFS) for its Great White Kaolin Project joint venture with ( ) on South Australias Eyre Peninsula this month.

The company recently commenced a 2,500 metre aircore drilling program at the Great White deposit with the aim to provide additional material for ongoing testing and to better define the high purity kaolin (non-halloysite type) Ultra Bright Domain of the deposit.

Testing to date has shown that the Ultra Bright Domain, which consists of extremely high purity kaolinite with ultra-high brightness and with low halloysite levels and extremely low iron oxide, is ideally suited to high-value markets in specialist coatings and polymer.

Proven premium HPA feedstock

In February 2019, Andromeda received results from a third round of enhanced HPA metallurgical test-work of halloysite-kaolin from the Great White Project after testing had shown that 4N purity could be achieved with only one stage of purification - confirming it to be a truly world-class feed material for HPA production.

Round one preliminary testing had already achieved a purity of 99.9855% from an over-refined sample where impurities had been introduced and a second round of testing used a more suitable halloysite-kaolin sample and gave an Al2O3 purity of 99.9946% with only a single stage of purification.

The third round of testing was undertaken to confirm that the single-stage purification result was repeatable and to also determine if even higher levels of purity were possible.

Results confirmed that producing 4N HPA from a single-stage purification process is fully achievable and repeatable when using the high-purity halloysite-kaolin as a feed.

Offtake and market opportunities

HPA is used primarily to make LED lighting and increasingly ceramic coated separators (CCS), a key component of Electric Vehicle Lithium-Ion Battery (EV-LIB) cells.

The LED industry is the primary driving force behind 4N+ HPA demand  where demand is growing at a 19.8% CAGR (2020-28) from a high base  with demand for CCS growing at a higher 24.5% CAGR, but from a much smaller base.

Overall, 4N+ HPA annual demand is set to quadruple between 2020 and 2028 (CAGR 18.7%) to exceed 100,000 tonnes per annum in 2028.

While the DFS will focus on supplying high quality kaolin to the ceramics industry, the company will also add on additional pre-feasibility studies for potential applications in other markets.

The company has secured an initial offtake agreement with Japanese company Plantan Yamada.

It is also investigating the potential for the use of its high purity kaolin in technical porcelain for power applications, as well as in the concrete and the high-end paint and coatings industries.

Kaolin is used in a range of materials including ceramics.

MoU with AEM Technologies

In late May the company signed an MoU with AEM Technologies Inc to explore a joint technical and commercial development under which the company can access AEMs patented process to construct a facility to produce high purity alumina (HPA) using ADN kaolin.

ADN and AEM, part of the Advanced Energy Minerals group, have also entered an initial 90-day exclusivity period to explore a HPA licensing transaction that includes testing ADN kaolin feed, process feasibility studies and potential licensing and marketing arrangements.

AEMs Cap Chat HPA Process Plant in Quebec, Canada, uses its patented process to make 99.99% (4N) and 99.999% (5N) pure HPA and is the only facility globally that is capable of producing this from a kaolin feed.

During the exclusivity period, Andromeda will carry out further due diligence and testing on the AEM HPA process, with a large sample of ADN kaolin sent to Cap Chat.

Agricultural research program

In addition, the company, along with partner Minotaur, recently announced a three-year, $2.4 million research project that evaluates how halloysite nanotubes could be used in fertiliser that better delivers nutrients to agricultural crops.

The program will be launched via the companies joint research venture, Natural Nanotech.

Soil scientists, agronomists and industry partners will all contribute to the study, which is set to kick off this month and was awarded a research grant from the Cooperative Research Centre for High Performance Soils (Soil CRC), funded by the Australian Government.

Natural Nanotechs upcoming program will utilise halloysite clay sourced from Andromeda and Minotaurs Great White Kaolin Deposit in South Australia to analyse if it could be used to create novel fertiliser formulations.

The location of the company's Great White Kaolin Project in South Australia.

Looking forward

The project remains on track for the commencement of open pit mining in February 2022, with the company having designed an extremely economical processing plant on site.

Andromeda plans to start production at around 115,000-120,000 tonnes per year, and then ramp up production quickly, in-line with market demand.

The next step once the DFS is released is to complete the bankable feasibility study, with the aim of securing a final investment decision for the project in late 2021.
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President Muhammadu Buhari has again hit Samuel Ortom, the Governor of Benue , whose state is the hotbed of herders killings in the country.

The governor of Benue said I cannot discipline the cattle rearers because I am one of them. I cannot deny that I am one of them, Mr Buhari said during an interview with Arise TV on Thursday morning.

He also tasked state governors to rise up to the challenges facing their states, recalling how he sent back a southern governor to his state after submitting reports of violence.

These governors campaigned and won elections, they should be able to sort out issues arising in their localities, not running to the presidency, Mr Buhari said.

The president said he had instructed that all old grazing routes be re-opened and taxes paid, as a measure to resolve the hostilities between farmers and herders.

The Presidency and Mr Ortom had in the past engaged in brickbats with the governor accusing the president of abandoning the state to its challenges.

Mr Ortom, through letters and press statements, repeatedly called on the president to immediately proffer solutions to the crisis in the state lest it suffers from a full blown anarchy.

Herders-farmers clashes have claimed several lives in Benue in recent months.

As a result of the wanton killings, many communities have been in disarray and residents seeking refuge in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, scattered across the state.

The situation in Benue reflects the security challenges bedevilling the six-geopolitical zones of the country.

This newspaper had on Sunday reported how no fewer than 201 were killed and 137 abducted in violent attacks across the country last week
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said about 47 African countries, amounting to more than 90 per cent of the 54-nation continent, will miss the September, 2021, target for the vaccination of 10 per cent of their total population.

The global body, which noted that the new targets were announced recently at the World Health Assembly- the worlds highest health policy-setting body, said as of June 10, only 9.4 million of the continents about 1.3 billion people have been successfully vaccinated.

According to a statement issued by the global health organisation, speaking on Thursday at a media briefing facilitated by APO Group, a Pan-African communications consultancy firm, the WHOs regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said at 32 million doses, Africa accounts for less than one per cent of more than 2.1 billion doses of vaccines administered globally.

She was quoted to have added that only two per cent of the continents total population have received one dose of the vaccines.

The WHO official also expressed fear of the third wave of the pandemic on the continent, saying the figure of new cases has kept rising on a weekly basis by nearly 20 per cent to more than 88,000 in the past week.

Ms Moeti said; The pandemic is trending upwards in 10 African countries, with four nations recording a spike in new cases of over 30 per cent in the past seven days, compared with the previous week. 72 per cent of all new cases were reported in Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia and over half were recorded in nine southern African countries.

As we close in on 5 million cases and a third wave in Africa looms, many of our most vulnerable people remain dangerously exposed to COVID-19. Vaccines have been proven to prevent cases and deaths, so countries that can, must urgently share COVID-19 vaccines. Its do or die on dose sharing for Africa.

Possible interventions

But Ms Moeti revealed possible interventions, saying the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has promised to announce his countrys planned purchase and donation of 500 million Pfizer vaccines to 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries and the African Union.

She also said other countries such as France are also making tangible deliveries via COVAX, one of the three pillars for the access to coronavirus pandemic vaccines which is led by Gavi.

The tide is starting to turn. We are now seeing wealthy nations beginning to turn promises into action, said Ms Moeti.

Fear of vaccine expiration

Even as WHO continues to make a case for donation of vaccines to Africa, the body has said at the pace some African countries go about the vaccination of their population, some of the vaccines may expire before they are used.

Ms Moeti hinted that 12 African countries risk losing their available doses of vaccines if they dont use them before August.

She said; While more vaccines are vital, some African countries must ramp up actions to swiftly roll out the vaccines they have. While 14 African countries have used from 80 per cent to 100 per cent of the doses they received through the COVAX Facility, 20 countries have used less than 50 per cent of the doses received. Twelve countries have more than 10% of their AstraZeneca doses at risk of expiring by the end of August.

We need to ensure that the vaccines that we have are not wasted because every dose is precious. Countries that are lagging behind in their rollout need to step up vaccination efforts.

Applause

The WHO has, however, commended some African countries for being creative and proactive in their vaccination efforts.

Several African countries, including Cote dIvoire and Niger are seeing more success by adjusting their vaccine rollout strategies. Where possible, WHO recommends spreading vaccinations beyond large cities into rural areas, prioritizing vaccines that are close to expiring, tackling logistical and financial hurdles and working to boost public demand for vaccines, she said.

Low confidence in vaccine

The global health organisation explained that acceptance of vaccination varies across the various countries, saying peoples confidence in vaccines ranges from 38 per cent in Cameroon to 86 per cent in Guinea.

Ms Moeti said on the average, West and Central Africa has the lowest vaccine confidence, which she noted stands around 60 per cent. She said the Risk Communication Community Engagement Collective, a joint WHO, United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) initiative, gave the report.

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She said; To combat mis-and-disinformation around vaccines, WHO and partners set up the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA), which leverages the reach and insights from a unique network of 14 organizations and pools resources to combat misinformation. Viral Facts Africa, the public face of the alliance, has created over 150 videos and social media posts to counter misinformation this year and they have been disseminated on almost 60 social media channels across the region and gained more than 100 million views.

About the briefing

Ms Moeti spoke during a virtual press conference today facilitated by APO Group. She was joined by Pierre NGou Dimba, Cote dIvoire Minister of Health, Public Hygiene and Universal Health Coverage, and Luchen Foster, Director of Health Partnerships, Facebook. Also on hand to answer questions were Phionah Atuhebwe, Vaccines Introduction Officer, WHO Regional Office for Africa, Thierno Balde, Team Leader, Operational Partnerships, WHO Regional Office for Africa, and Gilson Paluku, Routine Immunisation and New Vaccines Introduction Officer, WHO Regional Office for Africa.
The Nigerian Army has redeployed some of its senior officers in a major shakeup.

Outgoing Army spokesperson, Mohammed Yerima, a brigadier general, made this known in a statement on Thursday.

Notable amongst the new appointments was that of C.G. Musa, a major general, who was named the new Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, the counter insurgency operation in the North-east region.

Also, Onyema Nwachukwu, a brigadier general, has now been appointed as the army spokesperson.

Another brigadier general, A.M. Umar, was named the chief of staff to the COAS.

The reshuffle, considered normal when there is a new leadership in the force, was expected when the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Faruk Yahaya, a major general, was appointed on May 27.

He replaced the late COAS, Ibrahim Attahiru, who died in a plane crash on May 21.

A similar reshuffle in the army had taken place in February, a few days after Mr Attahiru took over.

In the latest reshuffle, Mr Yahaya urged all the affected senior officers to justify the confidence reposed on them, adding that all posting and appointments are with immediate effect.

Read full statement:

NIGERIAN ARMY RELEASES POSTING AND APPOINTMENTS OF SENIOR OFFICERS

The Nigerian Army (NA) has released posting and appointments of senior officers. This is in line with the Chief of Army Staff vision to have a professional Nigerian Army ready to accomplish assigned missions within a Joint Environment in Defence of Nigeria.

Those affected in the reorganization include; Major General FO Omoigui from Headquarters Theatre Command Operation HADIN KAI to Land Forces Simulation Centre Nigeria and appointed Director General, Major General CG Musa from Nigerian Army Resource Centre to Headquarters Theatre Command Operation HADIN KAI and appointed Theatre Commander, Major General OR Aiyenigba from Defence Headquarters to Headquarters Nigerian Army Corps of Military Police and appointed Provost Marshal(Army) and Major General IM Jallo from Defence Space Administration to Headquarters Theatre Command Operation HADIN KAI and appointed Deputy Theatre Commander 1.

Others affected in the posting include ; Brigadier General NU Muktar from Nigeria High Commission Islamabad to Office of the Chief of Army Staff and appointed Director of Procurement, Brigadier General O Nwachukwu from Defence Headquarters ( Director Defence Information) to Headquarters Directorate of Army Public Relations and appointed Director, Brigadier General AE Abubakar from Department of Training and Operations( Defunct) to Headquarters 22 Brigade and appointed Commander, Brigadier General KO Ukandu from Office of the Chief of Army Staff (Director Procurement) to National Defence College and appointed Directing Staff, Brigadier General IB Abubakar from Nigerian Army Armour School to Army Headquarters Department of Army Operations and appointed Deputy Director Operations, Brigadier General AM Umar from Army War College Nigeria to Office of the Chief of Army Staff and appointed Chief of Staff to the Chief of Army Staff and Brigadier General AJS Gulani from Nigerian Army Armour School to Headquarters 24 Task Force Brigade and appointed Commander.

Others are; Colonel KE Inyang from Headquarters Department of Army Logistics to Office of the Chief of Army Staff and appointed Military Assistant to the Chief of Army Staff, Colonel OO Braimah from Headquarters Theatre Command Operation HADIN KAI to Nigeria High Commission Islamabad and appointed Defence Attachee and Colonel IP Omoke from Office of the Chief of Army Staff to Defence Intelligence Agency and appointed Assistor Director Foreign Liaison/ Liaison Officer(Army).

The Chief of Army Staff, Major General Faruk Yahaya urged all the affected senior officers to justify the confidence reposed on them. All posting and appointments are with immediate effect.

MM YERIMA

Brigadier General

Director Army Public Relations

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10 May 2021
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The United States Ambassador to the Nigeria, Mary Leonard, has proposed alternatives the Nigerian government can deploy instead of an outright ban of Twitter in Nigeria.

On June 4, the Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter, alleging that the platform was capable of undermining Nigerias corporate existence.

This followed the deletion of President Muhammadu Buharis tweet on June 1, in which he threatened to punish those bent on destroying Nigeria through insurrection.

In an audio interview sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday by the U.S. Embassy, Ms Leonard suggested that the Nigerian government collaborate with tech companies to address inappropriate contents on their platforms.

According to her, while the U.S. is against the restrictions on freedom of expression including on social media, the platforms should not be used to engage in online hate speech.

At the same time, we should be very clear that the United States does believe any government should sit idly by so far as people are engaging in online hate speech, she said.

I think where we differ is that the response to that is not banning Social Media which plays so many important roles not only in freedom of expression but in the commercial sphere and disseminating health information rather in addressing that part of the issue.

There are many ways to do thatworking within the framework of civil rights laws or infrastructure to punish those violate the abilities of others to live free of discrimination and violence.

But more to the point, I think government can expand voluntary collaborations and partnerships with technological companies to address inappropriate contents on their platforms, she said.

She lauded the move made by Twitter to begin a dialogue with the Nigerian government.

On the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Mohammed, said Twitter had approached the federal government for dialogue to resolve the problem that led to the suspension of its activities in Nigeria.

The U.S. ambassador also urged the Nigerian government to realise it has a role and responsibility in creating an atmosphere in which their citizens can live their lives free of violence, and said the absence of violence is about law enforcement and identifying and using the criminal Justice system to punish people who would engage in such acts of violence.

She said the governments activities need to be firmly grounded within law enforcement and judicial processes with attention to human rights and civil liberties.

Ms Leonard added that the United States looks forward to a rapid resolution of the debate surrounding Twitter and social media and the path to secure Nigeria lies in more and not less communication.
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The Police Command in Osun on Wednesday confirmed the killing of a 10-year-old girl by suspected hoodlums on a motorcycle at Ilerin, along Ilesa-Iperindo Road.

The commands spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, said in a statement that the suspected hoodlums shot at the girl, her mother, and another child while on a motorcycle.

As a result of the shooting, the three of them on the motorcycle sustained injuries, but the little girl died on the way to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTECH), Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa, Ms Opalola said.

She said the girls body had been deposited at the mortuary, while her injured mother and the other child were admitted at the same hospital.

Ms Opalola said that police had intensified efforts to arrest the suspected criminals, who perpetrated the crime.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that similarly, there was a shooting at Irojo area of Ilesa on Wednesday.

NAN reports that the incident claimed the life of one Olorunda, a sawmill worker, who was hit by stray bullets from some suspected cult members.

NAN also reports that between last Saturday and Wednesday, suspected cultists/hoodlums-related shootings were recorded in Osun, with two deaths each recorded in Osogbo and Ilesa. (NAN)
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The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed for second reading a bill seeking to give legal backing to the Nigerian Navy University.

The university is currently in existence as Admiralty University, Ibusa, Delta State.

According to the sponsor of the bill, Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau), the bill seeks to make the school a conventional university.

The general principle of the bill was debated on Wednesday and passed for second reading.

Debate

Leading the debate on the bill, Mr Gagdi said the school will promote research and other means of advancement of knowledge and its practical application to military hardware and software, social, cultural, economic, scientific and technological situations, stimulate, particularly through teaching (and research, interest in and appreciation of military policy, logistics and strategy.

It will also encourage and promote scholarship and conduct research in selected fields of learning and human endeavour including entrepreneurship skills

It will enhance the diffusion of knowledge throughout Nigeria in general and the Nigerian Navy in particular; and undertake other activities appropriate for a university.

Following the passage for the second reading, it was referred to the House Committee on Tertiary Education.

There are other tertiary institution bills being treated in the 9th session.

There is a bill in the House to give legal backing to the Army University, Biu in Borno State.

Army University is also at committee stage in the House.
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President Buhari Thursday inaugurated the commercial operations of Lagos-Ibadan railway project at the Mobolaji Johnson Railway Station, Ebute Metta, Lagos, describing the feat as another milestone in the drive of this administration to revitalize the railway system and establish it as a choice mode of transportation for both passengers and freight.

The president pledged that his administration would continue to prioritise the railway system as a transportation backbone that can transform industrial and economic activity in the country.

On the benefits of the Lagos-Ibadan corridor as well as other ongoing railway projects across the country, President Buhari said:

This vital line establishes an end-to-end logistic supply chain in railway transport within its short corridor, Lagos  Ibadan, as goods to the hinterland would now be transported by rail directly from the Apapa port Quayside straight to the Inland Container Depot located in Ibadan from where it can be distributed to other parts of the country.

In clear recognition of the challenges posed to our economic growth by absence of strong and effective infrastructure, we have in the rail sector, further to other ongoing railway infrastructure projects, embarked on the completion of the outstanding segment of the Lagos  Kano railway, which is Ibadan  Kano.

The Lagos-Kano railway project when completed will link the Kano  Maradi line at Kano and a rail link from the Nigeria southern ports of Lagos to Maradi in Niger Republic will be achieved.

The connection through rail would position Nigerian ports as the choice for import and export business of the people of landlocked Niger Republic.

This would be beneficial to the economy through employment from new business opportunities and wealth creation.

The president expressed delight that his directive to the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Finance on reaching financial agreements with appropriate co-financiers to partner with the Federal Government for the development of the Ibadan  Kano railway was yielding results.

He noted that Ibadan-Kano project would have a connection to the Tin Can Island port as well as the West  East Coastal rail line from Lagos to Calabar linking Onitsha, Benin, Warri, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Aba and Uyo.

From the beginning of this administration, railway infrastructure development has been given the priority it deserves and various milestones have been reached, right from when the Abuja  Kaduna railway was flagged-off for commercial operation in 2016 to this Lagos  Ibadan railway project being commissioned today for full commercial operation, he said.

Commending the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, for his drive and tenacity in achieving the milestone recorded today, the president praised the wonderful team in the ministry for a job well done.

Shortly after he inaugurated the project, President Buhari took a ride from Ebute Metta Station to Energy Nature Light (ENL), Terminal, Apapa Port, Lagos.

He was joined by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Governors of Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun and the Deputy Governor of Ondo, the Minister of Transportation, the Minister of State Transportation, Gbemisola Saraki, other ministers as well as some government officials.

Femi Adesina

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)
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President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that all appointments he makes are strictly based on merit and not based on ethnic or regional balance.

Mr Buhari stated this on Thursday during an interview with Arise TV which was monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.

The president has been criticized for allegedly appointing more northerners in strategic positions. In the interview, the Nigerian leader said he cannot jettison seniority and merit for balance and federal character.

The Nigerian Constitution states that major appointments and other privileges should be shared in such a way that it reflects Federal Character, that is balance across the 36 states.

Merit over balance

In his submission, the president also said he cannot favour those who have spent shorter years in service over those that have stayed longer.

People who have been there for 18 years or even for 10 years, they trained in Zaria or in Abeokuta, they come through the ranks.

And because they served under all the circumstances, the crises and everything and they gradually rise to that status and you think you just pick somebody just to balance up? These positions have to be earned, he said.

The recent appointment of the Chief of Army Staff, Yahaya Faruk, however, contradicts the claim by the President.

Mr Yahaya was picked over many of his seniors who have more years in service and are now to be forced into retirement. Mr Yahaya is a Northerner like President Buhari.
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President Muhammadu Buhari has hinted at his governments plan to revive cattle grazing routes and grazing areas set across the country in the 1960s, suggesting an opposition to the open grazing ban announced by the 17 southern governors.

The southern governors had in May declared a ban on open grazing, asking the mainly Fulani herders to practise a settled form of livestock production to control their incessant violent conflicts with farmers and host communities over resources.

But in the wake of that declaration, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, controversially challenged the governors and set an equivalence between banning open grazing and banning auto parts trading in the north.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Malamis comparison was seen as a false equivalence and disguisedly targeting the Igbo group, who are known for auto parts trading, prompting protests on the social media.

After Mr Malami, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, also said the ban by the southern governors was lawless and his principal had a better plan.

I have asked to dig up gazettes of the First Republic, Mr Buhari said in his Arise TV interview aired on Thursday morning, referring to the documents that in the 1960s set hundreds of routes and areas for free range cattle grazing across the country.

The routes traverse Nigerias states and neighbouring countries, thereby allowing foreign herders to seasonally explore Nigeria for pasture. But the foreigners have been blamed for being particularly violent, a point the president also made in his interview. However, indigenous herders also fight with farmers over access to shrinking resources amid growing population and need for land.

There are cattle routes and grazing areas, the president further said. You have to stay there and if you allow your cattle to stray into another persons farm you will be arrested.

He added that the routes and the areas are known, and warned that encroachers will be dispossessed.

Cattle routes, as well as grazing areas, are facilities to enable nomadic pastoralism and open grazing, instead of a settled form of animal production that allows the herders to be sedentary and practise within a defined property to avoid frictions with farmers.

The farmer-herder conflict has killed thousands and forcibly displaced communities. It threatens Nigerias unity and stability largely because the two sides are often of different ethno-religious divides with a history of tension and distrust.

Mr Buhari, in the interview, said the nomadic culture of the Fulani herders was not understood. But many observers have said culture is not static and many pastoral families have settled over the years. Mr Buhari practices a settled form of cattle production in his native Daura.

The president further said that a community-level conflict resolution system would be helpful in addressing the farmer-herder conflict. He said he had to ask two southwest governors to resolve the problem locally using existing traditional institutions.
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The police in Imo State have arrested a 40-year-old man, Uzoamaka Ugoanyanwu, said to be a notorious native doctor who allegedly prepares charms for members of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB and members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

The Commissioner of Police in Imo Abutu Yaro, confirmed the arrest in statement signed by the commands spokesman Bala Alkana, a superintendent of police.

The commissioner said the police also arrested nine suspects who took part in the attack on the country home of Governor Hope Uzodimma.

Mr Yaro said the breakthrough followed painstaking investigation carried out by the commands tactical units and urged criminal elements who are still in possession of Police arms to willingly return them.

The police with the support of the military, foiled a deadly attack on Police headquarters on Sunday and killed five members of the ESN.

They also invaded ESN camp on Monday in Ikeduru council area, dislodged the camp and rescued a female police officer held captive.

In consonance with the mandate given to the operatives of the command by IGP Alkali Usman to fish out all criminal elements in the state and restore normalcy to the state, we have declared war on criminal elements.

On June 8, at about 1630 hrs, tactical teams of the command through diligent and painstaking investigations, stormed Ukwuorji, Mbaitoli Local Government area, along Onitsha road and arrested one Ezeugo Ordu, a native of Ubachima, Omuma, Oru West LGA.

He confessed to being a member of IPOB/ESN and made useful statements to the Police as regards to the recent attacks on Police stations as well as the residence of Gov. Uzodinma.

He further led operatives of the command to the IPOB/ESN camp, a bush close to Njaba River, 9 persons were arrested at the criminal hideout while planning another attack, assorted charms were recovered from them.

However, two out of the 9 arrested in the hideout, Chinedu Nwakaire and Uzoamaka Ugoanyawu the native doctor, were identified to be part of the hoodlums that attacked the private residence of the governor recently, he said.

Furthermore, the CP reiterated the call on members of the IPOB/ESN, or any other criminal syndicate operating in the state, especially those who stole police arms and ammunitions to voluntarily surrender themselves to enable them get a soft landing.

(NAN)
Lot Fourteen is a competitive and future industries-focused innovation precinct located in Adelaide.

We continue to make significant progress in the development of our 12CQ quantum chip," says CEO.

( ) ( ) (FRA:38A) CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair has sent a letter to investors outlining the importance of the companys move to the fledgling innovation precinct Lot Fourteen in Adelaide.

As reported by Proactive, Archer has relocated its head office to the Lot Fourteen innovation precinct in Adelaide, South Australia.

The company, which is hard at work developing its flagship 12CQ chip - a world-first qubit processor technology that will enable quantum computing-powered devices for mobile and data-centric applications - made the move to be closer to quantum computing end users.

Hardware and software partnerships

Hardware and software firms working together at an early stage of technology development provides a foundation for success in the computing industry and our recent move to Lot Fourteen is a step in that direction, aligning us with quantum computing end users and potential collaborative partners, Dr Choucair said.

Lot Fourteen is focusing on the high-growth industries of space, defence and hi-tech, encompassing cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data.

All of these high-growth industries could benefit from quantum computing and in some instances require integrated quantum processor hardware to reach their full potential.

We expect our 12CQ quantum processor chip technology to create entirely new quantum computing powered mobile devices that enable industry-wide innovation, and we are already actively working with global leaders in computing and AI to enable the operation of our 12CQ chip in high impact end-use applications.

Recent progress

Archer began collaborating with leading AI and machine learning company Max Kelsen in December last year, to develop quantum algorithms relevant to the operation of the 12CQ quantum computing processor.

It is currently working on optimising Quantum Neural Networks, which could be relevant to consumer and enterprise-scale AI technology products.

The company also passed a key technological milestone earlier this year, with electronic transport achieved in a single qubit at room temperature.

Archer also signed a quantum computing agreement with IBM Corporation ( ) that progresses the work conducted with IBM under a previous agreement.

There is an immense amount of value to be generated and captured from outperforming modern computing using mobile quantum devices, spanning autonomous tech, cybersecurity, AI and big data, blockchain, space, and finance, Dr Choucair said.

We continue to make significant progress in the development of our 12CQ quantum chip, and I look forward to updating you on key technical advances, international patent prosecution, and collaborations with local and international industry members of the deep tech ecosystem.

Quantum computing summary

Quantum computing aims to utilise quantum mechanical phenomena to power the next generation of computers.

At a basic level, quantum mechanics describes the way nature and matter function at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. This is fundamentally different from the way they function at the many scales above that size (which is described by classical physics).

Functioning quantum computers remain a matter of theory at this point in time but, should they be successfully developed, it is hypothesised that they could solve computational problems substantially faster than existing computers.

- Daniel Paproth
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The Nigerian government says it will sell electrical power through its generation companies to four West African countries.

The countries are Togo, Burkina Faso, Republic of Benin and Niger Republic, the acting managing director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and chairman, executive board of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), Sule Abdulaziz, disclosed this on Wednesday, according to The Cable.

The power we will be selling is the power that is not needed in Nigeria. These generators that are going to supply power to this transmission line are going to generate that power specifically for this project. So, it is an unutilised power, he said.

Nigeria, which is extremely underserved with a low electricity per capita ratio, has ironically been selling electricity to Benin Republic, Togo and Niger for years.

Mr Abdulaziz said Nigeria will benefit from the deal in terms of revenue and job creation.

So from that, the revenue is going to be enhanced and a lot of people will be employed in Nigeria, he said.

Mr Abdulaziz said the four countries are expected to make the power purchase through the $570 million North Core Power Transmission Line currently being built.

The North Core project, funded by the World Bank, French Development Council and the African Development Bank (AfDB), is expected to be completed in two years.

The country will be getting new generators to participate in the energy export for the 875 kilometre 330 kilovolts transmission line which would run from Nigeria through the four countries, Mr Abdulaziz was quoted as saying.

He said some 611 communities under the power line route will get electricity.

The West African Power Pool, secretary-general, Siengui Appolinaire Ki, said the investment in each country is funded by the country, supported by donors, while Nigeria is funding its own.

He said while the funding agreement was ready and participating countries await the disbursement, donor agencies want a power purchase agreement between the buying and the selling countries to be executed before releasing the fund.
Borno and Yobe States in the North-eastern part of Nigeria are among the states of the federation that are yet to set up a judicial panel of enquiry to probe cases of police brutality.

The panels expected to be established in all the 36 states of the federation and Abuja are popularly referred to as #EndSARS panels, a name coined from the #EndSARS tag used to describe the anti-police brutality protest that erupted in different parts of the country last October.

The protest was triggered by years-long acts of brutality of police officers, especially the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) which was later disbanded in response to a calls by the protesters.

Resolution to set up #EndSARS panels

The National Executive Council (NEC), chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo with state governors as members, had passed a resolution for the setting up of the panels in the wake of the #EndSARS.

It was hoped that the panels would serve as a channel for bringing police officers who violated citizens rights to book, and address the grievances of victims which fueled the public demonstrations last year.

As part of its resolutions, the NEC also recommended the setting up of the Victims Fund to enable the payment of monetary compensation to deserving victims.

But eight months after, officials, in separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, ruled out any plan to constitute the panel in Borno and Yobe States.

Borno official speaks

The Borno State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture, Babakura Abba-Jato, said there was no need for the panel, as there were no #EndSARS protest or cases of excesses of SARS operatives in the state.

He added that contrary to the agitation against SARS, the disbanded tactical police unit was a blessing for the state.

To us in Borno, we didnt even experience the protest in the first place. So, there is no basis for setting up a panel.

Even if it is about the excesses of the proscribed SARS, we still had nothing against them. The SARS is considered by many here as a blessing. Thats why we even pleaded that they should be left to operate in Borno.

The commissioner said most attacks in Maiduguri (the state capital) were repelled by the help of the proscribed SARS.

Even the most recent attacks on Maiduguri by Boko Haram gunmen, who came through Molai and Polo area, were prevented by the SARS whom we now call by their original name, Police Crack Squad.

So it will be an effort in futility to set up a panel when there is no events or cases for which to probe them, said Mr Abba-Jato.

Yobe official speaks

Similarly, Yobe State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture, Abdullah Bego, the state had no reason to constitute the panel as there was never an #EndSARS protest here at all.

Mr Bego did not give further explanation to his response.

It will, however, be recalled that Yobe State had a stakeholders engagement in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest.

The non-constitution of the panels in some states of the federation raises concerns that some aggrieved citizens with genuine grievances arising from police brutality might have been shut out.

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Four local hunters have been reportedly killed at Faje, a community in Asa Local Government Area of Kwara State, by suspected herders.

Sources in the community said about five local hunters were involved in the attack carried out on Tuesday evening.

While three of the hunters were brutally killed by their assailants, two escaped with gunshot injuries.

However, one of the survivors died on Wednesday morning while receiving trado-medical attention.

It was also gathered that before the villagers got to the scene of the incident, the herders had fled with one of the hunters motorcycle.

The victims bodies were retrieved from the police in Otte on Tuesday and have since been buried in the Islamic way.

The recent attack has raised concerns amongst residents who feared that the pockets of herders attacks could become a growing trend capable of escalating to other parts of the state.

The states Police Public Relations Officer, Ajayi Okasanmi, when contacted on Thursday, told PREMIUM TIMES that three people had died.

He added that the police were on a fact- finding visit to the affected community to properly address the menace.

He also said efforts were on to bring the perpetrators to book.

Meanwhile, as insecurity persists in the region, leaders in the north-central geopolitical zone have called for urgent steps to address it.

It should be noted that Plateau, Niger, Benue are other states in the region plagued by banditry, gruesome killings and incessant kidnappings.

The leaders met at a meeting organised on Thursday in Abuja ahead of the proposed security summit being organised by the North Central Peoples Forum (NCPF).

Immediate past governors of Nasarawa and Kwara States, Tanko Al-Makura and Abdulfatah Ahmed, said the north-central must regain its place as the domain of peace and tranquillity.

Our zone has always been known as the home of tourism, of harmony, of solid minerals, the confluence of the two major rivers in the country, the food basket of the nation.

Unfortunately, various acts of lawlessness have negatively impacted peace in the zone. We cannot sit back and watch these developments without taking action, Mr Al-makura said.

Mr Ahmed said Kwara, which is generally regarded as a safe haven has also suffered attacks by bandits and other criminals.
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President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the leadership and members of the 9th National Assembly on their second anniversary.

In a congratulatory statement issued by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Thursday, Mr Buhari extolled the Assemblys sense of duty and diligence in handling issues related to the development of the country.

He saluted the vision, courage and patriotism of the legislature, appreciating the understanding and maturity of the lawmakers in speedily processing bills that directly impact the welfare of Nigerians, courageously finding common grounds to move the country forward.

He also lauded the Assembly for passionately carrying out their oversight functions with justice and fairness.

The president, therefore, presented his goodwill to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.

He congratulated them for using their wealth of experience, wisdom and knowledge to ensure a peaceful working relationship among lawmakers, between both chambers, the Judiciary and the Executive, by always focusing on the larger picture of nation building.

Mr Buhari believed the legislature had brought dignity and honour to the country.

According to the president, he looks forward to more years of harmonious working relationship, with focus on improving the livelihood of citizens, and creating an enabling environment for a prosperous nation where both the young and old can fully realise their dreams.

(NAN)
The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has berated the governors of Kaduna, Plateau, Benue and Bayelsa States for allegedly withholding or deducting the salaries of judiciary workers for months.

Members of the union on Wednesday suspended their nationwide strike which they started on April 6 in agitation for the financial autonomy of the judiciary.

The strike paralysed court activities across the country for 64 days.

The union announced the suspension of the industrial action in a communique issued earlier at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Wednesday.

The communique announcing the suspension of the over-two-month-old strike was signed by the unions Deputy President, Emmanuel Abioye, and General Secretary, Isiah Adetola.

Governors slammed

JUSUN, in the communique, slammed Governors Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, Simon Lalong of Plateau, Samuel Ortom of Benue for allegedly withholding the salaries of the judiciary workers, and Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State for deducting the salaries of its members in the state.

It asked the affected governors to reverse their actions.

NEC-in-session condemns the actions of the governors of Kaduna, Plateau and Benue states for withholding the salaries of the judiciary in their various states for months and urges all governors involved to do the needful, the communique read in part.

It added, NEC-in-session frowns at the deduction of salary of JUSUN members of Bayelsa State and requests that the deducted sum be restored forthwith.

Benues reaction

When contacted on phone by our correspondent, Wednesday night, the Benue State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Michael Gusa, directed our reporter to his colleague at the Ministry for Finance, David Olofu.

However, in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, Mr Olofu declined to comment on the veracity or otherwise of JUSUNs claims.

Mr Olofu said, You go and speak with the Chief Judge, he said.

When this reporter pressed further by reminding Mr Olofu as the Finance Commissioner that it was within his purview to respond to issues on payment of staff salaries in the state, he retorted, That is not how we operate. If I am the Commissioner for Finance, am I the Head of the judiciary?

So, you go and ask the Chief Judge, (Benue State) if the judiciarys salaries are being withheld or not, Mr Olofu said.

Plateaus reaction.

On his part, the Commissioner for Information, Plateau State, Dan Manjang, denied JUSUNs claim of withholding judiciarys salaries by the state government.

He said, All I know is that the (Plateau) state government is pressing for the financial autonomy of the judiciary and the legislature. We have already given local government autonomy.

The governor (Simon Lalong) is in favour of financial autonomy for the two arms of government.

The allegation that salaries of judiciary workers are being withheld is strange to us, because the governor has been up to date in salaries and pensions.

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Even in the last administration, those who were not paid for going on strike, have been paid by our administration.

Bayelsa

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Diri, Daniel Alabra, declined to comment on JUSUNs allegation against the governor.

An official of the state government who pleaded not to be named because he had not been authorised to speak on the matter, admitted that there were discrepancies in the workers salaries.

But the official had no issues with the court workers.

The Bayelsa State judiciary workers joined the industrial dispute on sympathy grounds with their counterparts, he said, adding, In any case, a meeting has been fixed for next Mondaybetween the Chief Judge of the state and officials of the executive to resolve the issue.

Kaduna

Muyiwa Adekeye, the spokesperson for Governor el-Rufai of Kaduna State, did not answer PREMIUM TIMES repeated calls or respond to a text message requesting his reaction to JUSUNs claim.
President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday in Lagos reiterated that his directive to security agencies to shoot any person or persons found illegally wielding AK-47s and other assault weapons remains in place.

The president also vowed that his administration will act firmly and decisively against any and all persons fomenting or carrying out attacks on our Police Force and other security personnel.

The president spoke at the handing over of security equipment by the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to the Lagos State Police Command during his one-day official visit to the State.

President Buhari warned that a nation that turns its Police personnel and infrastructure into targets of violence and destruction is a nation on the path of self-destruction.

As Commander-in-chief, my primary responsibility remains the security of the country and the safety of all citizens. Despite the many challenges we are facing, I want Nigerians to rest assured that we will secure this country.

We will secure our infrastructure, our highways, our communities, and our forests, and we will secure the lives of our people, he said.

The President told members of the Nigeria Police that as the government strives to improve their welfare and capacity, the citizens equally had expectations from them.

First let me commend the Inspector-General of Police and the entire Force for the recent efforts to restore peace to troubled parts of the country.

I have charged the Inspector-General to leave no stone unturned in rebuilding the morale of his officers and men, especially in the aftermath of the mindless violence associated with the EndSARS protests, as well as the recent spate of attacks on Police Stations in some parts of the country, he said.

Commending the Lagos Governor on the newly-acquired security equipment and assets, the President noted that it would go a long way in boosting the morale of the Police, and further enhance their capacity to fight crime and combat criminality.

This is even more touching in the light of the unwarranted violence that ensued in the wake of the ENDSARS protests last October, which saw the security architecture in Lagos State being severely damaged, he said.

The President added that it was commendable that Lagos State, the Centre of Excellence, has shown a truly resilient spirit, in the face of the massive destruction it suffered last October.

You did not allow yourselves to be deterred by the severe setback; instead you have bounced back and are now boldly rebuilding the confidence of residents and investors in the State.

I acknowledge the initiative taken to kick-start the rebuilding process, through the establishment of the Lagos State Rebuild Trust Fund, and through this very laudable effort by the Lagos State Security Trust Fund. I enjoin other State Governments to emulate your bold, proactive and resourceful initiative, he said.

The President also used the occasion to reiterate that the Federal Government takes very seriously our constitutional oath to secure the lives and properties of the Nigerian people, adding that his administration was conscious of the fact that lasting security is a necessary foundation for business, investment and true prosperity.

President Buhari declared that no Federal government since 1999 has been as committed as his administration in reforming and repositioning the Nigeria Police Force and national policing architecture.

In 2019, I signed into law the Act establishing the Nigeria Police Trust Fund, the first in the history of the Force, to provide guaranteed funding to support Police welfare, logistics and equipment.

In September 2020, I assented to the Bill amending the Nigeria Police Act, which was originally enacted in 1943.

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This new Act, a vast improvement over the old one, among other things spells out the modalities for the implementation of a National Community Policing Scheme in Nigeria.

This new scheme will build confidence within our local communities and make them active stakeholders in the safety and security of their environs.

We are currently recruiting 10,000 new Police officers to reinforce our personnel capacity across the country. In addition to this, I have directed the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to carry out an upward review of Police salaries and benefits, he said.

Femi Adesina

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

June 10, 2021
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The Sarkin Fulani of Igangan, Salihu AbdulKadir, has denied any involvement in the recent killings in Igangan community of Oyo State.

Mr AbdulKadir, who was evicted from the community months ago, said this in a chat with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Thursday.

He also alleged that members of Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) in a reprisal attack, killed eight Fulani men in Igangan and Elekokan near Igangan during the week.

He, however, called on both Oyo State and the federal government to probe the crisis and bring the perpetrators to book.

I want to tell the whole world that my family and I were not involved in Igangan crisis. Since the crisis began about four months ago,we have relocated from Igangan. None of my children was killed in the recent crisis because they are not residing there anymore.

 The OPC people killed eight Fulani in Igangan and Elekokan village during the week . The utterances of Fatai Owoseni, Special Adviser on Security to Oyo State government show that the government is backing Sunday Igboho.

 I hereby urge both the federal and Oyo State governments to carry out full investigation into the whole crisis in order to put a permanent end to the crises . Its only when culprits are arrested, prosecuted and brought to justice that permanent peace can be restored to Igangan.

We also have reports of how hoodlums on daily basis ambush vehicles in Igangan and kill any Fulani man found in such vehicles, he was quoted to have said by TheReporters.

The community came under attack by gunmen suspected to be herders, who set houses, a filling station and the kings palace ablaze on Sunday.

This newspaper obtained pictures and videos of hacked and bloodied human bodies from the midnight attack.

While police confirmed the death of 11 people, residents said over 20 people were killed. Many Yoruba groups have condemned the attack.

Also, the six governors in Nigerias south-west states have begun moves to prevent a recurrence.

The attack on Igangan comes months after Sunday Adeyemi, also known as Igboho, led youth to Igangan to eject Abdulkadir from the community.

He accused Mr Abdulkadir of backing criminal herdsmen whom he alleged were responsible for the kidnapping and killing of farmers and residents of the community.

Mr Abdulkadir denied the allegation but he was nonetheless ejected from a community he had lived in for decades.

The Federal and Oyo State governments frowned at the development, saying no citizen has the right to eject other citizens from wherever they wish to reside in the country.

Some residents of Igangan said the latest attack was a retaliation for the eviction of Mr Abdulkadir.
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Workers in the banking sector may be barred from operating foreign accounts as the House of Representatives passed for second reading a bill to amend Banks Employees Act.

On Tuesday, the lawmakers debated the bill that seeks to amend a decree promulgated by the Ibrahim Babangida military administration.

The proposed bill provides that bank employees and customs officers must declare their assets.

According to the principal Act, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is the custodian of the asset declaration for bankers and customs officers.

Shina Peller (APC, Oyo), the sponsor of the bill, while leading the debate on it, said the legislation seeks to block lacuna in the principal act.

 It was observed that the Principal Act did not prohibit employees of banks from having foreign accounts. This omission may be exploited. The Amendment Bill expressly prohibits employees of banks from operating foreign accounts.

Under the Principal Act, it is only the assets of bank employee concerned which shall be declared in the form. The Act does not apply to the spouse and unmarried children under 18 years of the declarant. This is another loophole of the Act which may be exploited. To address this, the Bill makes assets declaration by declarants to include the assets of their spouses and unmarried children less than 18 years old.

According to the lawmaker, the bill seeks to extend the mandatory asset declaration law to other financial institutions like pension funds agencies, insurance firms and stock brokers.

It was also observed that the Principal Act did not prohibit employees of banks from having foreign accounts. This omission may be exploited. The Amendment Bill expressly prohibits employees of banks from operating foreign accounts, Mr Peller said.

He noted that the bill, if passed, will transfer the responsibility of keeping the assets declaration records from the SGF to the respective regulators of the sectors.

The amendment Bill seeks to transfer this responsibility to the appropriate regulatory body of the financial institution to which the staff concerned belongs i.e Central Bank of Nigeria for the bank employees, Pension Commission for employees of Pension Fund Administrators, Security and Exchange Commission for stockbrokers.

Furthermore, the bill seeks to rectify an inconsistency of the principal Act with the constitution.

Mr Peller argued that since customs officers are already declaring their assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), they should be removed from the Bank Employees Act.

Following the debate, the bill was passed for second reading and referred to Committee on Banking and Currency.

EFCC and enforcement of the Act

Last month, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had announced that it will start enforcing the Act.

Abdulrasheed Bawa, the chairman of the commission, had directed enforcement of the law, starting from 1st of June

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the EFCC had written to banks, demanding the asset declaration forms of their top executives.
What really is the crime of Ola Oni, Baba Omojola and G.G. Darah, some of the countrys most accomplished humanists that Komolafe has opted to take them to Golgotha? So, their gravitation towards mobilising their people was an offence? For our self-styled purists, comrades need to radiate in their cocoon and distance themselves from the agitations of what has been condescendingly referred to as ethnic struggle

When I did the tribute on our two fallen activists, Yinka Odumakin and Innocent Nwankwo, titled, My Prolonged Trance Over Yinka & Innocent, little did I envisage that it would stir the hornets nest and evoke so much controversy and brickbats, particularly within the countrys radical revolutionary movement.

Almost everywhere I turned, someone was waiting to pick issues, throw some darts or simply upbraid me with the edge of his/her tongue. Whether on my Facebook wall, deafening phone calls or via physical engagements, the debates over the piece have been heated, with some impugning all manners of motives.

There were also those who, rather than being locked in some doctrinaire positions, sided with my views that Marxist-Leninist theory is a tool for analysing, explaining and understanding our society and it is not a dogma. I should, however, be a little upbeat that at least many were indeed tickled by the 1,885 word tribute.

Confronted by the larger Nigerian crises, now snowballing into demands for independence by self-determination groups, largely led by lumpen elements, as armed Fulani groups ravage many Nigerian communities, Ive been nudged into some rhetorical questions on how plausible to seek for the resolution of both primary and secondary contradictions in one fell swoop in our dear country.

If some are offended that I lionised Yinka Odumakin for his effrontery to speak truth to power in a clime where many have mortgaged their voices, I really do not have any apologies to offer anyone. Are we pretending to be oblivious to the prevalence of varied strands within the Nigerian revolutionary movement posing different options for getting the country out of its mess? In what way has the presentation of some of the opposing strands, as reflected below, gone beyond the brink?

While others of his ilk chose to romanticise class analysis and the primacy of primary contradictions in explaining the crisis of the Nigerian state, he long cast his lot to stoutly defend the cause of the Yoruba in a multi-ethnic Nigeria enmeshed in its resolution of the national question. Im just wondering in what way the above statement, which some believe was directed at them, also excludes this writer?

Quite frankly, although I had also tangentially sought to whet the appetite of the left and compel some reflection on our praxis over the countrys raging national question, I was a bit taken aback by the responses of those who felt I had set out to undermine and make mincemeat of the epic revolutionary contributions of Eddie Madunagu, an acclaimed radical intellectual, writer and theoretician who recently marked his 75th birthday. Haba!

In their perception, I had committed what amounted to heresy by categorising him along with some highly respected and distinguished Comrades, Ola Oni, Baba Omojola and Godini Gabriel (G.G.) Darah, whom they now demonise as ethnic champions, and berate at their Golgotha.

In a country where revolutionary ideas and praxis are not only in contention but still in flux, we must be careful in pushing our positions from the high horse. Im really amazed to be accused of seeking to defame Madunagu.

In his Madunagu on the National Question, published in Premium Times of Saturday, May 15, Comrade Kayode Komolafe, who almost came short of pronouncing a fatwa, accused me of ideological violence.

Hear him: it is a gross defamation of Madunagus ideological character for Iyare to include his name in this group. Nothing in the revolutionary politics of Madunagu in the last 45 years could warrant this ideological scandal. What Iyare has done is nothing short of ideological violence!

I can hardly fathom the import of this charge. Can anyone really point to a golden book or bible of the Nigerian revolution? What then is the basis of KKs magisterial assertion? Sometimes, Im really worried about how we bandy words, amid misconception and abstraction.

Im miffed by the resort to very strong words in what ordinarily should be a healthy discourse. It only reminds me of the venom that laced Ishaq Modibbo Kawus response to Dare Babarinsas piece titled, Ilorin and the crisis of identity, published in The Guardian of March 25.

Are we saying it would have been fine for Ola Oni, who played a significant role in nurturing many radical movements across Nigeria, to have shut himself away from the agitations of the Yoruba, a group which if massed in Europe with their kith and kin in Diaspora, will be that continents sixth most populous country?

I virtually got smothered struggling through Kawus piece titled, Ilorin and Dare Babarinsas Crisis of Ignorance that was full of bile. It appears the atmosphere of insecurity laden with guns that are now cheaper than bread on our streets, has reinforced a dialogue of the deaf which seems to have also permeated our discourse.

In abstracting and amplifying only two issues from my 1,885 word piece, Komolafe went on a voyage of Madunagus stance on the national question, as if I had embarked on its repudiation.

My reference to Ola Oni, Baba Omojola, G.G. Darah and Edwin Madunagu was on account of the fact that they popularised the discourse on the national question which KK has not faulted. He only added a rider that Madunagus view is that the national question should be resolved within the context of the resolution of class contradiction.

Did any of the distinguished comrades ever oppose that? Are we being goaded on some revolutionary utopia that our intervention against all forms of oppression and injustice must only be within the context of the resolution of the class contradiction? If we heed this praxis, perhaps many countries that are now independent in Africa may still be waiting for Godot.

What really is the crime of Ola Oni, Baba Omojola and G.G. Darah, some of the countrys most accomplished humanists that Komolafe has opted to take them to Golgotha? So, their gravitation towards mobilising their people was an offence? For our self-styled purists, comrades need to radiate in their cocoon and distance themselves from the agitations of what has been condescendingly referred to as ethnic struggle to avoid being labelled ethnic champions.

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Perhaps we need to be reminded that all the classical Marxist-Leninist works were either written in German or Russian. Why were they not written in Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa? Or what will be our verdict on acclaimed Kenyan Writer, Ngugi wa Thiongo, who long ago opted to write mainly in his local language, Gikuyu, spoken by 7 million (22 per cent) of the countrys population?

Will I also be accused of irredentism by those who ascribe non-engagement of ones community as a revolutionary purism for querying why Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, a 40 year old institution, does not teach any Edo language but instead teaches Modern European languages?

Are we saying it would have been fine for Ola Oni, who played a significant role in nurturing many radical movements across Nigeria, to have shut himself away from the agitations of the Yoruba, a group which if massed in Europe with their kith and kin in Diaspora, will be that continents sixth most populous country?

Or it was wrong for Baba Omojola, who not only translated the Communist Manifesto into Yoruba by 1985 and had replicated the internationalist exploits of the Argentine Marxist revolutionary, Ernesto Che Guevara, by playing a heroic role in revolutionary struggles from Algeria, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa, to have opted also to galvanise the Yoruba?

Those who have already set up a polit bureau to preside over our fate have also sentenced G.G. Darah for exploiting his intellectual eminence in folklore, dance, and literary scholarship to mobilise the Urhobo and many other Niger Delta groups battling the despoliation of their environment as a result of many years of oil exploitation.

The most uncharitable in KKs attempt to present Ola Oni as an ethnic champion is his allusion to how he was buried as the Olori Apapo Egbe Omo Oodua by Yoruba self-determination groups, while comrades watched passively from the distance. While it is not completely true that comrades did not play a significant part in Ola Onis burial, we also need to appreciate that individual comrades are products of diverse social relationships, which may play a part at their demise.

At the night of tributes for Comrade Chima Ubani, I recall then Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) President, Ayo Obe stressing the point that Chima meant different things to different people, which was a way of reminding comrades that other persons were also involved in mourning him.

We need to appreciate that sometimes these issues are not as simplistic and beyond what Guy Burger, a South African Communications scholar, calls the bubble gum. The import of all these is that how Ola Oni or these eminent personalities were interred has little to do with their eminence.

Even with his towering status in the revolutionary movement, Ola Oni also meant different things to different people. If Ola Oni were a member of Ogboni or Pyrates Confraternity, how many comrades would have participated in his final rites? How does the mere symbolism of his burial affect his strong revolutionary convictions?

Same for Baba Omojola, who nurtured loads of children from different places in his home. In fact, it took several years before many of us knew Babas biological children. Or Festus Iyayi, whose social ties to his school mates at Annunciation College, Irhua and Government College, Ughelli, was almost as strong as his involvement in the radical movement and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

You may chuckle to know how many people made the burial of Karl Marx, who was flung from one apartment or the other in London on account of inability to pay his rents. Or the classical musical expert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was too indebted when he died and had to be buried in a paupers grave.

Have we asked why one of the most accomplished founding fathers of the U.S., Thomas Jefferson, its third President and pioneer Secretary of State, opted for his servants to bear his casket in a simple burial ceremony, rather than a glamorous state burial laced with gun salute and parades? Or why Charles de Gaulle, the renowned father of modern France, chose a quiet burial in his village, Colombey, rather than the glamour of the famous Paris Cathedral and the Pantheon?

Why did Winston Churchill, one of Britains most accomplished Prime Ministers and the Allied Commander, Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery shun burial at the prestigious Westminster Abbey and opted to be laid quietly to rest in their respective villages of Bladon and Binsted?

We need to appreciate that sometimes these issues are not as simplistic and beyond what Guy Burger, a South African Communications scholar, calls the bubble gum. The import of all these is that how Ola Oni or these eminent personalities were interred has little to do with their eminence.

We can sit down on hindsight to appraise the role of the students union in its hey days and also the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) but how many of us remember that the radical movement used to see these groups as bourgeois, which its leading cadres must relate with a long spoon. To buttress this, I will end this piece with a recall of my birth into the revolutionary movement at Ife from an earlier tribute on Dapo Olorunyomi at 60 titled, Toast to Dapsy, Our Grandmaster @ 60 now published in a book titled, Testimony To Courage: Essays In Honour of Dapo Olorunyomi, edited by Chido Onumah and Frederick Adetiba:

The period of our enlistment coincided with a raging debate amongst members of the movement on whether its frontline cadres should actively intervene in the Students Union which many had hitherto considered bourgeois. There was also the fear of exposing the movements leading cadres to potential backlash that may ultimately ossify its growth.

Incidentally the same debate was also taking place amongst members of the Ife Collective about this time on its relationship with the then newly formed Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which was equally perceived as bourgeois. ASUU had arisen from the ashes of the National Association of University Teachers (NAUT) perceived as too conservative. Sometimes these debates and disagreements on theory and praxis become very heated, leading to factional groupings.

Its the reason why the election of Biodun Jeyifo, now professor of African and African American Studies and Comparative Literature at Harvard University as ASUU President was not only regarded as a non-event but he had to wade through what amounted to a near guillotine before some of the comrades grudgingly opted to work with him.

Recalling this episode in his tribute to Dipo Fashina at 70, Jeyifo narrates his predicament: Back at Ife, the news of my election as ASUU president was received almost as an anti-climax or non-event, especially by many members of our group, the Socialist Forum Collective. There were three factions: one neutral or indifferent; one supportive but only mildly and cautiously so; one very vigorous in its opposition. This last group was numerically and vocally the most dominant.

Its leading proponent ..poured his scorn and disapprobation, not on me, but on the Union and its entire membership. Quite correctly at that time, he said that NAUT/ASUU was a union without backbone or spine, a union that had constantly betrayed its members in the past and would do so again, regardless of its leadership under me/us. Of me this comrade asked what had happened to our longstanding practice of maintaining a distance to conservative, bourgeois organisations that we knew we could never change from within. Why had I unilaterally departed from this practice and had gone and accepted to be ASUUs national president?

Tony Iyare is a communications and development consultant.
The NC Protect platform is used for enhanced information protection for file access and sharing, messaging and emailing of sensitive and classified content across Microsoft 365 apps, Dropbox, Nutanix Files and Windows file shares.

archTIS Ltd (AX:AR9) has entered a contract to further expand the deployment of its NC Protect platform with an Australian Commonwealth national security agency.

Total value of the contract is $868,000 to cover software licence and support over a four-year period at $217,000 of annual recurring revenue.

NC Protect is used for enhanced information protection for file access and sharing, messaging and emailing of sensitive and classified content across Microsoft 365 apps, Dropbox, Nutanix Files and Windows file shares.

The agency intends to expand its use of NC Protect to secure information collaboration and sharing within additional branches of the agency.

Microsoft suite integration

Tightly marketed and integrated into the Microsoft suite of collaboration tools, NC Protect enables agencies to enforce granular, zero trust-based security at the document level with secure information collaboration and sharing.

The contract is also a large Microsoft IP Co-sell opportunity for archTIS/Nucleus Cyber.

archTIS Global COO and US President Kurt Mueffelmann said: I am very pleased with archTIS rapid expansion in the Australian Government with NC Protect.

Our integration and continued partnership with Microsoft allows us to solve complex global information security problems and expand our reach in a time of increasing need for secure collaboration.

Validates Nucleus Cyber acquisition

archTIS CEO and managing director Daniel Lai said the contract validated the companys Nucleus Cyber acquisition with year-to-date 2021 NC Protect related contract sales exceeding $2 million, versus $500,000 for the entire 2020 calendar year.

He said: The expanded deployment of NC Protect highlights the value we provide to clients and is more evidence that our commercialisation and acquisition strategy is the right one.

archTIS has had over $2 million of NC Protect related sales in the first five months of the calendar year which is a $1.5 million increase over the entire 2020 calendar year.

This is a great result considering the merger of Nucleus Cyber was only a little more than five months ago.
The ban means more. It means that a government, which is currently battling unemployment at 33 per cent, doesnt really bother what happens to nearly 300,000 of its citizens who, by its own statistics, earn a living from ICT. Buharis government has been a compulsive job loss-maker and yet, it has no qualms making things worse.

The Nigerian government thinks Twitter is the greatest source of its misery. After straining at the leash for months, it couldnt resist swatting the microblogging platform with a ban last week.

But what does the ban mean, really?

It means that about 40 million users in Nigeria, who are mostly young people, would be unable to access the service through local service providers.

This figure is more than the total number that voted for President Muhammadu Buhari in the last two elections combined, over half the total number of those who voted in the general elections of 2019, and nearly three times the number that voted him back in office for his second term in the presidential poll.

The ban means Buharis government is afraid of listening to its own citizens, especially the young ones. According to NOI Polls in November 2019, Twitter users in Nigeria said that it is most effective in gaining attention for an issue or trending topic.

This was followed by those who said the service is used to communicate grievances or dissatisfaction, and then, those who said they use it for activism and advocacy.

The ban means more. It means that a government, which is currently battling unemployment at 33 per cent, doesnt really bother what happens to nearly 300,000 of its citizens who, by its own statistics, earn a living from ICT. Buharis government has been a compulsive job loss-maker and yet, it has no qualms making things worse. That is what the ban means.

Banning Twitter in an already impoverished country is hardly in keeping with the Presidents promise to lift 100 million people out of poverty. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the government advertised the 15 per cent contribution of ICT to the GDP as proof of its seriousness to modernise and diversify the economy.

And just a few months down the line, an irritation by one nuisance called Nnamdi Kanu throws the government into a tantrum that is currently costing it $250,600 every hour. The Twitter ban tell us that the government is so confused taht its even prepared and happy to pay for its own mockery.

The ban also means that the government does not know its own history, or does not care. One of the major criticisms against Buhari when he was running for president was his poor record on press freedom and human rights.

He responded, quite reasonably, that the draconian laws on his watch as military head of state reflected the very nature of military regimes. He added, however, that he had since become a reformed democrat. If he could ban Twitter for deleting his tweet, and he is a reformed democrat, what would he have done if he was not reformed?

The Twitter ban means, more tellingly, that Buharis government is still in the mode described by Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in 2010, when he said Buhari, then the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), did not know the difference between a Blackberry phone and the blackberry fruit.

His action also means he doesnt quite understand Nigerias struggle against tyranny, or he doesnt care. No leader, military or civilian, who has ruled with an iron hand has ended well. Before Twitter, Nigerians used plays, drama, songs and other art forms, apart from a vibrant press, to express themselves in spite of government. Banning Twitter only instigates their creative genius.

Nigerians are voted the worlds happiest bunch because they have big mouths and theyre not shy to use them. It was this gift that was generously deployed against then President Goodluck Jonathan by Lai Mohammed, the opposition party spokesman, and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), making Jonathan one of the worlds most abused presidents. Yet, he took it in his stride.

The Twitter ban means, more tellingly, that Buharis government is still in the mode described by Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in 2010, when he said Buhari, then the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), did not know the difference between a Blackberry phone and the blackberry fruit.

Buharis government is apparently lost between Twitter, the microblogging site, and twitter, the bird. Twitter is not a spirit or a committee that decides whose tweet to delete and whose to leave. There is a system for handling complaints.

A report on its action site, for example, showed that between January and June 2020, 93 countries filed 12,657 requests for information from accounts, presumably for matters related to perceived violations.

Complaints may be filed under the companys emergency or routine action rules. Under the former, requests for disclosure of information about accounts are provided if information is given to support good faith belief of imminent threat; and in the latter case, or routine non-emergency, requests are treated when they are backed by legal demands issued by subpoenas, courts, warrants, and so on.

In the report, requests for the two types of reports increased by 44 per cent over the previous reporting period and compliance was 36.7 per cent against 40.4 per cent previously. Three countries  U.S., India and France  topped the request list.

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While the report for the last six months is still being awaited, Buharis government did not cite a single instance of government request for information about any one or group. Nor did it file any complaint for redress after the Presidents tweet was deleted. Jack Dorsey does not have to like or dislike Buhari to delete his tweet. The President or his followers only need to file a request with reasons or basis for action.

But the government says its not about money, jobs or any infringement on personal liberties. It also says its not true that Buhari has conscripted Nigeria into this Twitter war to save the Presidents personal ego bruised by a deleted message.

It says the ban is about national security and accuses Twitter of aiding and abetting the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the banned separatist group determined to dismember the countrys South-East.

Its not Twitter, Buhari; its your government. While Twitter tantrum may boost the testosterone levels of some people in the government, well soon wake up to find that like all aphrodisiacs, the effect would wear off, but the problem remains.

Theres a bit of history to the governments Twitter tantrum.

During the #EndSARS protests last year, when hundreds of young people marched to demand an end to police brutality among others, Jack Dorsey backed them, making the government mad.

The scar had barely healed when Twitter snubbed Nigeria and, instead, opened its first Africa office in neighbouring Ghana, with a backhanded comment about free speech, online freedom and open internet, aimed at Nigeria.

The message was not lost on the Nigerian government. Mohammed blamed the lack of patriotism among Nigerian journalists and the countrys negative portrayal in the media as the reasons why foreign businesses were looking elsewhere and once again, dredged up memories of Twitter and #EndSARS.

Complaints against tech giants are not new, and not altogether unfounded. The cookies and bots these companies deploy prey on our vulnerabilities and map our lives relentlessly, while algorithms keep us addicted to the very thing killing us.

After the allegations of Russia hacking in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and the scandalous role of Cambridge Analytica in that election and in Brexit, tech giants have been forced to take greater responsibility. And with the increasing influence they exert on mindshare worldwide, the pressure on them to act responsibly will not  and should not  recede.

But the platforms also have a responsibility to protect their users from powerful arbitrary forces wherever they may raise their ugly heads. The Buhari Twitter saga, just like former U.S. President Donald Trumps rascality, highlights just how important and compelling the need for user vigilance and protection is.

Twitter is not Nigerias problem and Buhari does not need the futile mission of waylaying citizens on social media. Nigerias problem is that Buharis government has lost its way. Theres only a narrow track left that leads to lip-service and self-aggrandisement by a handful.

The government is failing on every major promise it made six years ago and is failing terribly where it matters most: security. Yet, every day it promises a different result while stubbornly determined to do things the same old way.

Its not Twitter, Buhari; its your government. While Twitter tantrum may boost the testosterone levels of some people in the government, well soon wake up to find that like all aphrodisiacs, the effect would wear off, but the problem remains.

Azu Ishiekwene editor-in-chief of LEADERSHIP.
From the way this government and its aides have been talking, it seems Twitter is the beginning and the end of Nigerias security problems. Twitter is probably behind the high level of insurgency in the country; who knows, the platform could be fuelling the series of abductions and kidnappings that have become the lot of Nigerians in recent times.

For the first time in a long while, the Nigerian government suddenly came alive after Twitter deleted President Muhammadu Buharis tweet echoing the civil war. As many Nigerians were still wondering if the news report was fake or real, Information Minister Lai Mohammed accused the micro-blogging platform of being selective and biased. Shortly after that, government announced the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. Before people could get out of the shock, government came up with a directive to all broadcast organisations in Nigeria to deactivate their Twitter handles immediately. Before then, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice had stated that any Nigerian who uses Twitter would now be prosecuted.

Almost simultaneously, the Foreign Affairs Minister invited all the envoys of the countries that issued a joint statement to condemn the Federal Governments action, to a meeting in Abuja. Everything has been happening at a fast pace. Its so interesting that a government that had hitherto been accused of being indifferent, especially to critical national issues, could be so swift in galvanising major government organs at different levels to speak about a mere social media platform. In less than 72 hours, the Ministers of Information and Foreign Affairs had reacted; the Director General of the National Orientation Agency spoke; the Acting Director General of the National Broadcasting Corporation issued a release, as pro-government apologists dominated different social media platforms, justifying the governments action.

From the way this government and its aides have been talking, it seems Twitter is the beginning and the end of Nigerias security problems. Twitter is probably behind the high level of insurgency in the country; who knows, the platform could be fuelling the series of abductions and kidnappings that have become the lot of Nigerians in recent times. Some government officials have even gone to the extent of saying that it is better not to be on Twitter than to lose Nigeria. They said Twitter was out to dismantle the Nigerian entity. This line of argument is the one that sounds most intriguing to me. I am like, if Twitter is strong enough to dismantle Nigeria, shouldnt that suggest that we probably didnt have a country in the first instance?

Anyway, the lesson from all of this is that this government is not as deaf and dumb as some people think it is. Rather, it decides what is important to it and it treats such on the basis of its own definition and understanding alone. Banditry and kidnapping have become the biggest criminal enterprises across Nigeria with hundreds of Nigerian students being kidnapped. From reports, between December 2020 and May this year, almost one thousand students have been kidnapped from their schools. More than 300 boys were kidnapped in December, from a school in Kankara, Katsina, President Buharis home State; 279 schoolgirls were kidnapped from Jangebe village in Zamfara State in February; and 42 people, including 27 students, were kidnapped from a Government Science College, Kagara in Niger State in February. Also, 39 students were taken away from Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Igabi LGA, in Kaduna State on March 11; 20 students of Greenfield University and two members of staff were kidnapped on April 20 in Kasarami village, in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State; and the latest is the abduction of about 200 children from the Salihu Tanko Islamic school in Niger State.

Parents of students of the Greenfield University said they paid N180 million and bought 10 motorcycles for the bandits before their children were released after about six weeks in captivity. Apparently, the Nigerian government did not consider this to be an important issue worthy of its attention as Twitters. The kidnapped students parents said government did nothing to secure their childrens release. They narrated how they had to borrow money and sell their property to get their children released.

Nobody is even talking about the 200 or is it 135 schoolchildren kidnapped in Niger State on May 30. The Federal Government has not even uttered a word on their abduction. Our schools are not safe but our government prefers to talk about Twitter than address the real problems confronting the nation. Of course, these are diversionary tactics; how they think all Nigerians are fools still surprises me though.

A casual look at the state of schools where students are kidnapped shows obvious signs of dilapidation. Nearly all of them dont have fences. Yet, we have state governments and local governments that are supposed to be in charge of these schools. The Federal Government also provides intervention through the UBEC Act. Two per cent of tax payable by every company registered in Nigeria goes into the UBEC fund to finance education. But most of the money belonging to states is still with the Central Bank of Nigeria because they are not ready to contribute the counterpart funding required to access the fund. The governors are even trying to make the National Assembly amend the clause on counterpart funding so that they can collect the money without contributing a dime to the fund and probably spend it on other things aside education.

My humble advice to the Nigerian government is that they should leave Twitter alone and concentrate on solving the security challenges confronting the nation which has made Nigeria an unattractive destination to the rest of the world. It should work on making its educational system world class so as to attract others to its shores.

Yet, in the midst of this sorry state of Nigerian schools, we are being told that Nigeria provides the highest number of students in universities and colleges across America, in comparison to other African countries. According to Susan Tuller, the U.S. missions country consular coordinator, Nigeria ranks 11th on the list of countries with the highest number of students in the U.S., with over 13,000 Nigerians studying in the United States.

Some people will argue that this should be expected, after all Nigeria is the largest country in Africa. But it goes beyond that. Besides, such argument would have been tenable if our educational system has been something to write home about. However, we all know that Nigerias public school system is a sham. Todays working class Nigerians are struggling to fix their children in private institutions. Come to think of it, how many middle class Nigerians, if they still exist, can afford to send their children abroad with an exchange rate of over N500 to $1?

Truth be told, most Nigerians studying abroad are children of politically exposed parents. A February report from an American foundation, Carnegie Endowment states that Nigerian politicians are training their children in U.K. schools with stolen public funds. According to the report, Nigerian politicians and civil servants whose children are paying about 35,000 per year in U.K. private boarding schools dont even earn such money. So, how do they get their money? The report further states that many of the students in the U.K. schools are children of Nigerians who have either been indicted for corruption or are being prosecuted for it.

Can anyone fault this report? It is common knowledge that many people who call themselves politicians in Nigeria today are rogues; and it is the same for many senior civil servants. Many of them have gone beyond stealing to the looting of public money and the pillaging of our resources. This is a country in which a governor could be denied a second term in office for failing to give opportunity for political jobbers to fleece his state. Without any iota of shame, Nigerians are then told that the governor was good in terms of performance but was a bad politician. In other words, he was too stingy with public funds. He didnt allow the state resources to be shared. What a country!

We destroy our own educational facilities and other countries are taking advantage of our precarious situation to make money for themselves. The average cost of college in the United States is $35,720 per student, per year. According to Times Higher Education, tuition fees could be up to $50,000 per year. Which university in Nigeria charges this kind of exorbitant tuition? What stops Nigeria from attracting foreign students too? Why cant we work towards marketing our own education to other countries?

While we are busy fighting Twitter, these countries are busy looking for ways to make us bring our money to their shores. They have studied us and realised that we are selfish; our leaders and their allies would rather steal from government coffers to guarantee a space for their children in schools abroad than to develop a system for the good of all.

Before our own eyes, other countries are showing us how foolish we are and we are not bothered. While we are busy fighting Twitter, these countries are busy looking for ways to make us bring our money to their shores. They have studied us and realised that we are selfish; our leaders and their allies would rather steal from government coffers to guarantee a space for their children in schools abroad than to develop a system for the good of all. The United Kingdom, Canada, United States of America and many of these countries have turned their education to exports targeting Africa. As usual, Nigeria is the main target and we have not disappointed them.

All that the United States is doing is marketing its schools to Nigerians. The U.S. mission has said that it would continue to prioritise Nigerian students with admission to schools in the U.S. because it knows the implication of such influx of money to its economy.

The pandemic which has affected visa appointments notwithstanding, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria is saying it would continue to offer interviews to every single Nigerian whos been approved at a U.S. university or college. In 2021 alone, the U.S. embassy in Abuja and the Consulate General in Lagos have interviewed over 5,000 Nigerian students. This shows that America will do everything possible to get its own fair share of Nigerian students in its schools.

Which is more expensive? Overseas education for just a few, payment of ransom, or developing and securing Nigerian schools? My humble advice to the Nigerian government is that they should leave Twitter alone and concentrate on solving the security challenges confronting the nation which has made Nigeria an unattractive destination to the rest of the world. It should work on making its educational system world class so as to attract others to its shores. Honestly, being the country with the highest number of international students in U.S. in Africa can only be a thing of pride if we also have Americans studying in Nigerian universities. Anything short of that is simply a proof of our countrys foolishness!

Olabisi Deji-Folutile is the Editor-in-Chief, franktalknow.com and member, Nigerian Guild of Editors. Email: bisideji@yahoo.co.uk.

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It takes ordinary people like my new sister, Zubaida of Adamawa State, and I, Chisom of Anambra State to rise up and resist the divisive message and policies of people bent of pinning us against one another. Our generation of Nigerians is saying: this is enough and we must act upon it.

Before our dear government bans opinion writing and blogging in Nigeria, a beautifully written piece titled One-Sided Report on Igbos: A Fulani Womans Dilemma, by Zubaida Baba Ibrahim, caught my attention and I couldnt resist responding to it swiftly.

At a time of uncertainty, insecurity, civil unrest and injustice, one must commend those who are brave enough to speak up loudly and clearly. That was what, Zubaida, a young Fulani woman from Northern Nigeria did eloquently and courageously with her article.

As a young Igbo woman living in Nigeria, I have family and friends who lived through the civil war and several ethnic clashes across Nigeria and I join my brothers and sisters to say Ozo Emena.

I have also seen in real-time how destructive Fulani herdsmen can be and totally condemn it. However, I know that not all Fulani are destructive and it is an unfortunate case of a very few bad eggs.

While it is true that most herdsmen are of the Fulani nationality, and the nomadic lifestyle is an integral part of Fulani history and culture, there is more to the Fulani than cattle rearing and trading.

The Fulani are also known for being great artists and are primarily known for their decorated gourds, textiles, hairstyles and personal adornment. Important collections of Fulani art appear at the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in USA, the Musee de Bamako in Mali, among other great museums.

There must never be a time when the majority should pay for the crimes of a few members of their group. It is unjust and uncivilised. With the menace of the Fulani herdsmen ravaging farmlands and crops of fellow Nigerians, one may be tempted to classify all Fulani as hostile and irrational people but that would be a grossly false narrative.

The Fulani have also been great Islamic and scientific scholars throughout history, like Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Al-Fulani Al-Kishwani, an early 18th century Fulani Mathematician, astronomer, mystic, and astrologer from Katsina, in present-day Northern Nigeria.

The late President Umaru Musa YarAdua, one of the best performing presidents of Nigeria was also Fulani. He championed peace, unity and innovation during his time. His policies on the economy, education, infrastructure, among others, still remain fresh in the minds of many Nigerians, which is why he was widely accepted across all the regions of the country. He only spent three years in office but those years were considered more or less some of the best in Nigerias democratic history. To him, it was always country first.

Personally, I too have witnessed the accommodating and respectful nature of the Fulani, having worked very closely with some of them here in Abuja, who groomed me in the arts and science of media relations and management, back in 2017.

Every region of Nigeria is endowed with great and brilliant minds from the Hausa/Fulani of the North-East and North-West, to the Igbo and Yoruba of the South-East and South-West to the over 300 ethnic groups in between. We have the human and natural resources to build a country that we all can be proud of, instead we are presently occluded by tribalism and religious differences.

There must never be a time when the majority should pay for the crimes of a few members of their group. It is unjust and uncivilised. With the menace of the Fulani herdsmen ravaging farmlands and crops of fellow Nigerians, one may be tempted to classify all Fulani as hostile and irrational people but that would be a grossly false narrative.

It is also unfortunate that the current administration seems to have done nothing to mitigate the ongoing conflict between farmers and herdsmen through a mutually benefiting solution. This has only worsened the widely held opinion in some quarters that it is a Fulani administration, rather than a Nigerian administration.

We must restructure the federation for the sake of peace and progress. It is pertinent that every person feels like a Nigerian with all privileges, as well as the responsibility of other Nigerians, irrespective of ethnicity and religion.

In recent times, due to distasteful politics at all levels, there are loud agitations for secession in the Southern part of Nigeria, in the South-East (for the Republic of Biafra) and the South-West (for Oduduwa Republic).

Perhaps one day, the European marriage of Nigeria will be annulled and we may all go our separate ways, but in the meantime, we are one country and it is in our own best interest to coexist in respect for one another and in peace.

We must restructure the federation for the sake of peace and progress. It is pertinent that every person feels like a Nigerian with all privileges, as well as the responsibility of other Nigerians, irrespective of ethnicity and religion.

It takes ordinary people like my new sister, Zubaida of Adamawa State, and I, Chisom of Anambra State to rise up and resist the divisive message and policies of people bent of pinning us against one another. Our generation of Nigerians is saying: this is enough and we must act upon it.

Like Barack Obama said, In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

Chisom Omeokachie writes through chisomomeokachie@gmail.com
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rather than address these issues that are posing an existential threat to the Nigerian nation, President Buharis strategy seems to be a re-enactment of the 1967-1970 civil war episode. However, what President Buhari may not realise is that unlike 1967, when the rest of Nigeria united to wage a war of re-unification against the rebel Biafra republic, there is no such a united Nigeria in 2021

In what appears to be his first formal reaction to the unfolding armed insurgency against the Nigerian state by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) separatist group, President Muhammadu Buhari had this to say: many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Biafra war. As though to remind these young and misbehaving separatist agitators of his exploits during the 30-month long Nigeria-Biafra civil war, President Buhari, who was then a Brigade Major in the 1st Division of the Nigerian Army under the command of General Muhammadu Shuwa, boasted thus, those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.

President Buharis threat of treating Biafra separatist agitators in the language they understand evoked the horrific memories of the civil war, which was characterised by a high level of starvation, deaths and physical destruction. Unfortunately, the federal military government of Nigeria under the leadership of General Yakubu Gowon launched an operation to crush the Biafran rebellion between 1967 and 1970, which recorded a collateral damage of mass starvation and over three million civilian deaths, including those of women, children and the aged. The Biafran territory, an area approximating the predominantly Igbo speaking South-East geo-political zone in present day Nigeria, was completely devastated by heavy air and artillery bombardment by the Nigerian security forces. It is against this background that President Buharis statement was widely condemned as a threat against citizens of his own country, and this subsequently drew the sanction of the tech company, which cited a violation of its rules.

Amidst widespread castigation, the angry reaction of the Buhari administration to the action taken by Twitter against his offensive tweet, by banning the messaging application from the Nigerian cyberspace, is a clear and dangerous indication that President Buhari did not learn any lesson from Nigerias civil war history, which he was part of. And because of the many lessons not learnt from Nigerias civil war history, President Buhari clearly misunderstood the condemnation of his statement as a support for the IPOB insurgency and misinterpreted the deleting of his tweet as a deliberate act of aiding the forces of destabilisation of his government. Beyond his misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the issues arising from his threat of sorrow, tears and blood lay a deep seated anti-Igbo sentiment by President Buhari; one that has been demonstrated through the skewed nature of the appointments, programmes and policies of his administration since his election in 2015.

Not even during the civil war did Nigerias war time commander-in-chief, General Gowon make such incendiary statement to the people of the rebel republic of Biafra. With the deep understanding that a common feature of injustice, inequity, exclusion and marginalisation underlined the events leading up to the.. civil war, General Gowon prosecuted the war with caution

Not even during the civil war did Nigerias war time commander-in-chief, General Gowon make such incendiary statement to the people of the rebel republic of Biafra. With the deep understanding that a common feature of injustice, inequity, exclusion and marginalisation underlined the events leading up to the unfortunate 30-month civil war, General Gowon prosecuted the war with caution and his tone throughout the period was conciliatory, just as his military government was open to dialogue, as well as negotiation. In his own words: we fought the war with great caution, not in anger or hatred, but always in the hope that common sense would prevail. Many times we sought a negotiated settlement, not out of weakness, but in order to minimise the problems of reintegration, reconciliation , and reconstruction.

To bring the war to a conclusive end, General Gowon was ready to make concessions to the rebel republic of Biafra and address their concern about injustice but only within the framework of a united Nigeria. General Gowon never gloated about the superiority of his better armed and funded Nigerian Army and their exploits in the Biafra territories but was always calling for peace, unity and reconciliation, with a firm promise for a better Nigeria for all Nigerians, including the Igbo people. Again, General said: the Igbos, when they are returned to the fold, must be given their rightful place and as a people who have been misguided and misled by their leader, the rest of us have a duty to bind their wounds and give them our right hand of fellowship.

And when the war eventually ended in 1970 with the unconditional surrender of the Biafran war commanders, General Gowon famously declared the outcome of the Nigeria/Biafra civil war as one without a victor or a vanquished. Therefore, President Buharis statement reminding the Igbo people of their defeat and conquest by the victorious Nigerian army during the civil war was a direct repudiation of General Gowons no victor, no vanquished declaration, which paved the way for national healing, reconciliation and unity in a post-war Nigeria. In declaring no victor, no vanquished, General Gowon was pragmatic enough to know the cause of the war was injustice and what ended it was not his aerial and artillery bombardment but his firm assurances to Nigerias Igbo people of justice in a united Nigeria.

President Buharis 97 per cent and 5 per cent political miscalculation, which has seen him elevate sectionalism to a near state policy and consequent marginalisation of the Igbo people of Nigeria, is directly responsible for the resurrection of the spirit, body and soul of Biafra in the form of Nnamdi Kanus IPOB, 51 years after.

President Buharis sectionalism has polarised Nigeria along ethno-geographic and religious fault lines and left the country more divided today than it was in the years preceding the civil war. For a man who equates partisan support for his political aspiration and loyalty to his personae with patriotism to the Nigerian state, President Buhari clearly holds a grudge against the Igbo people of Nigeria for voting against him in his four attempts at getting elected to the highest office in the land. And neither Twitter nor those condemning President Buharis condemnable statement are responsible for the renewed Biafra secessionist agitation, half a century after the end of the civil war in 1970. Instead, President Buharis 97 per cent and 5 per cent political miscalculation, which has seen him elevate sectionalism to a near state policy and consequent marginalisation of the Igbo people of Nigeria, is directly responsible for the resurrection of the spirit, body and soul of Biafra in the form of Nnamdi Kanus IPOB, 51 years after. Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB are side effects of President Buharis 97 per cent and 5 per cent political experimentation gone wrong.

In addition to the heightened marginalisation of Ndigbo in Buharis Nigeria, to the extent of their exclusion from the kitchen cabinet of the President and top leadership of any of the countrys security agencies, President Buharis elevation of sectionalism to a near state policy has severely undermined his responsibilities of securing the lives and properties of Nigerians in the raging cattle war in Nigeria. The failure of President Buhari to effectively contain the violent activities of killer herdsmen, which has left many communities ravaged and pillaged and bring perpetrators to justice, has increasingly diminished the legitimacy of the Nigerian state, leaving Nigerians no choice but to resort to self-help. It is this acute failure of leadership on the part of President Buhari that Nnamdi Kanu exploited to form his Eastern Security Network (ESN), ostensibly to protect Ndigbo from the terror of killer herdsmen. It is also this same ESN that is suspected of hiding behind the guise of defending Ndigbo to carry out an insurgency against a government of Nigeria that the people of South-East Nigeria feel alienated from, because of heightened marginalisation.

Havent learnt nothing from history, President Buhari has failed to realise that the level of injustice, inequity, marginalisation and exclusion that triggered a chain of reactions, resulting in a coup in January 1966, a counter coup in July of the same year, pogroms against Igbo living in northern Nigeria, and finally a civil war in 1967, is much higher under his administration. And rather than address these issues that are posing an existential threat to the Nigerian nation, President Buharis strategy seems to be a re-enactment of the 1967-1970 civil war episode. However, what President Buhari may not realise is that unlike 1967, when the rest of Nigeria united to wage a war of re-unification against the rebel Biafra republic, there is no such a united Nigeria in 2021 to fight a second Biafra war, where he will have the opportunity to treat Igbo people in the language they understand.

Majeed Dahiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja and can be reached through dahirumajeed@gmail.com.
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The Beer Sectoral Group (BSG) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in collaboration with the Cross River State Ministry of Quality Education launched the SMASHED Project in Calabar recently.

The BSG which consists of leading beer manufacturers in Nigeria including, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc and International Breweries Plc says The SMASHED Project is aimed at breaking the culture of underage drinking and reducing alcohol-related harm among underage persons in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, represented by the Deputy Governor, Ivara Esu, commended the Beer Sectoral Group for its efforts in tackling the issue of underage drinking through such a credible and impactful platform.

We are pleased to collaborate with the BSG on the SMASHED Project in Cross River State, as a public-private sector partnership on social responsibility. Partnerships of this nature are crucial, as the government and private sector have a better chance of achieving their shared objectives when they work together.

There is no gainsaying that the private sector comes with significant insights. In this case, the BSG has extensive experience in social advocacy against harmful consumption of alcohol, such as the SMASHED Project and the BSGs campaign against drink-drinking, to mention a few. The Government of Cross River state is keen to build on such industry insights and have them applied for the benefits of the good people of our state, he said.

The Deputy Governor went on to thank BSG for creating an avenue for positive social impact other organizations can emulate, citing the initiative as a highly effective means to influence the decision-making in teenagers with regards to underage drinking.

In his address, the Chairman of Beer Sectoral Group, Jordi Borrut Bel, stated that part of the initiatives focus is to help teenagers build confidence in the face of peer pressure as it is considered one of the causes of underage drinking globally.

The SMASHED Project is a global campaign against underage drinking, aimed at educating and enlightening adolescents on the dangers of underage drinking and ways to prevent and avoid it. With this Project, parents are also engaged as this enables them to understand the vulnerability of the teenage years and how to sensitize their children on the dangers of underage drinking.

This is in addition to being encouraged to help preclude their underage children from consuming alcohol by being better role models and talking to them about how to overcome peer pressure during their formative years, he stated.

Mr Borrut Bel went on to reiterate BSGs commitment to campaigning against the harmful use of alcohol, saying that its members will continue to enlighten the public on the inimical effects of abuse.

The campaign against underage drinking is only a part of a broader aspect of the discourse on the harmful use of alcohol, which the BSG and its members continue to advocate against. The key notion here is that the dangers associated with alcohol consumption arise from the harmful use of alcohol, he added.

Conceived in 2004, the SMASHED Project has engaged over 1 million students internationally and has been delivered in 25 countries around the world. In Africa, SMASHED has been delivered in Cameroun, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

The SMASHED Project was introduced in Nigeria in 2018 and has so far been delivered in Lagos, Abuja FCT, Ogun, Edo, Enugu, Anambra and Delta states, covering over 100 different localities, both urban and rural. The initiative has reached about 35,000 students in over 170 public and private schools and has enjoyed the immense cooperation of the State Ministries of Education, principals, teachers, guidance counsellors and students. The BSG plans to continue to deliver SMASHED on an annual basis, with a focus on reaching a minimum of 12,000 students across 60 schools in 3 states in 2021 alone (referring to Cross River, Delta and Oyo states).

Other social responsibility initiatives of the Beer Sectoral Group include its annual Dont Drink & Drive campaign and the donation of breathalyzers to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). The BSGs Dont Drink & Drive campaign has been delivered in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt and has in all cases included motor park rallies and billboard campaigns, educating on the dangers of drink-driving. In addition to this, the BSG maintains an active social media presence, through which it promotes public enlightenment messaging on responsible consumption.

The SMASHED Project is an initiative of Collingwood Learning UK, aimed at breaking the culture of underage drinking and reducing alcohol-related harm among underage persons in Nigeria.
On May 18, Polaris Bank made headlines with the launch of its Digital Banking solution. Known as VULTe, this solution, the Bank says, promises to positively impact the payments and lifestyle ecosystem in and outside Nigeria, writes AKANNI RAJI

The world of financial services has not been the same again since October 1994, when Stanford Federal Credit Union in the United States (US) became the first institution to let its customers access banking functions via the new internet. It seems like a long way from then, but the world of financial services has continued to revolutionise expeditiously, offering customers increased convenience, self-service and several other values that the world of Digital Banking has come to represent.

In an April 2021 article published by Forbes under the title: What is Digital Banking, Daphne Foreman and her Co-Author, E. Napoletano did surmarise the edge Digital Banking has in these words; Thanks to the power of digital banking, many consumers have never set foot inside a brick-and-mortar Bank. From the ability to access everyday banking functions via a computer or mobile device, to empowering cashless transactions at a wide swath of stores, it would appear that digital banking isnt just the future. Its now.

The recent launch of VULTe, a new Digital Banking platform by Nigerias Polaris Bank, and the conversation it has generated shows that, as Foreman noted, Digital Bankings future is already here. VULTe, as a new entrant in the growing community of Digital Banking solutions in Nigeria, has been created as convenient, easy and quick self-service digital solution to enable access to banking services via mobile devices or on desktops. Happening immediately following the announcement of an impressive full year customer deposits growth margin of N56billion, it would seem the launch of VULTe was designed for a singular purpose  to spike shareholder value through the time-honored route of enhanced consumer experience.

VULTe is a high voltage solution designed to enable customers consummate every banking transaction, from account opening, through requesting for certain categories of loans, to generating bank statements. It does a bit more. According to Dele Adeyinka, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of the Polaris Bank, VULTe also connects the customer to discover lifestyle trends and social events.

VULTe is an all-in-one solution that is created to offer the most convenience for our customers. It was built to understand the needs of the customer and provide solutions to everyday challenges of accessing financial service solutions. For instance, in this platform, we have ensured that customers with multiple accounts can complete all their transactions through a single window of a digitally consolidated customer information file. This, totally eliminated the need for multiple Apps and platforms for customers, Mr Adeyinka stated.

He added that customers who were hitherto locked in a daily transaction limits are allowed to seamlessly increase this to as high as N5 million without having to visit their Banks for forms and concurrence.

VULTe was built with enhanced security. Our customers have the option of securing their accounts through the added means of biometric validation that ensures no other person can remotely compromise their accounts, the CDO said.

Since its birth on September 24, 2018, Polaris Bank has not had an event as big as the one it organised to launch VULTe into the market. It was an A-list event, complete with all the trappings that attract the young, enterprising, self-driven and upwardly mobile executives. This, for many watchers, speaks of where the Bank seems to be headed in the future. As banking transactions continue to go off the traditional brick and mortar channels, to the more convenient online solutions, future-forward Banks have been taking positions.

Nigerians are quick technology adopters and have gathered in the digital ecosystem, beckoning on financial services providers to pitch value-adding solutions. As early as 2016, a KPMG report stated that 47 per cent of Nigerians have adopted one form of online banking solution or the other. Although the KPMG reports suggested this was a small percentage, considering the depth of broadband penetration in the country, this represents a significant number in 2016 and would have significantly improved ever since. For instance, in 2020, Nigeria recorded $428 billion worth of e-transactions, 42 per cent higher than in 2019. Happening in a year of Covid-19-induced business meltdown, one can only imagine what the numbers would have been had the year not been encumbered by the debilitating pandemic.

This is clearly what Polaris Bank is positioning to profit from. At the launch event, Chairman of the Bank, Muhammad K. Ahmad, pointed to the importance of the new platform to the future of banking in Nigeria, pointing to the strategic positioning of Polaris to offer cutting- edge solutions that meet the need and exceed the expectations of customers. This, according to him, informed the creation of a platform for customers and non-customers of the Bank.

Creating a digital banking solution that supports non-customers of the Bank, to say the least, is unique, new and strategic. On the one hand, it supports customers in managing multiple account relationships, including those in other Banks. On the other, it enables the Bank register presence in the minds of customers of other Banks using the solution. This is strong marketing driven by value. By placing itself as a gateway in the relationship between its customers and those of other Banks and by being a vehicle which customers of other Banks explore in consummating their transactions, VULTe is primed to position Polaris Bank as a value-adding enabler of business, commerce and relationships.

This may have been why the Banks Chairman described VULTe as, a milestone in our pursuit of a strong and digitally-led retail brand.

Said Ahmad: When we started the Polaris journey almost three years ago, we were very clear on the type of Bank we must build and the direction we must go. This was largely informed by the fast pace of change in financial service provisioning and the apparent technology-defined outlook of our business. VULTe is not just another mobile App, but one with a world of difference, a mobile digital Bank. This is your Bank in your hand, affording you total Control of your financial service needs. With VULTe, you serve yourself, the way you want to be served.

During his address at the same event, the Managing Director/CEO of the Polaris Bank, Innocent C. Ike, said the newly-launched banking platform, was a means of handing over all powers to the customer and proclaiming him as King, saying that customers have been enabled the freedom for unhindered, contactless and refreshing banking experience.

With VULTe, we affirm our resolve to serve the customer better and make their banking experience, more pleasurable. Therefore, we will continue to launch an array of banking products to cater to the varying needs of our diverse customers. VULTe represents our bold declaration to hand over CONTROL of banking services to our customers and allow them to serve themselves as they would want to be served. As a Polaris Bank customer, you are at liberty to determine your banking experience since we have put the Bank in your hand 24/7. You now have total CONTROL to serve yourself; its no more customer service but customer self-service.

With the entry of VULTe, the frontiers of the Nigerian Digital Banking ecosystem appear to have expanded with enhanced values. One of the standout narrations around the new solution was the fact that from ideation to finish, it was developed, not just by Nigerians, but by a team of employees at Polaris Bank. This speaks strongly to the growing global regard for the sophistication of Nigerias software development capacities. It also tells of a Bank that is ready to look inwards for solutions, rather than invest scarce capital in sourcing for the same and sometimes less valuable, solutions from outside.

Akanni Raji, a Fintech enthusiast, writes from Lagos

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The Commissioner of Police in Anambra, Chris Owolabi, said about 90 per cent of cult-related deaths in the state are not documented.

Mr Owolabi disclosed this during a Peace/Security Summit, organised by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), in collaboration with the state Police Command at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka, on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the summit had, as its theme: Importance of Safe Society and the Roles of Nigerian Students and Youths in the Security of our Campuses.

Mr Owolabi attributed the non-documentation of most of the cult-related deaths to the fact that most parents and guardians of the deceased would not want such cases investigated.

Cultism can be identified as the mother of all the crimes being committed by the youth and it is unfortunate that many lives are being lost.

We are advising our youth in the country, particularly students, to eschew all forms of vices capable of jeopardising their future.

Parents should also take issues of cultism seriously by inculcating good moral values in their children as well as monitoring their movement, because most cultists are groomed in higher institutions.

We urge students in various higher institutions to be brave enough to release timely information to security forces in their various institutions, he said.

The police commissioner, who was represented by the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations in the state, Emmanuel Ogbuanya, also decried what he called growing consumption of illegal drugs.

According to him, the consumption of illegal drugs has landed most youth in trouble, including death.

Also speaking, Vice-Chancellor of NAU, Charles Esimone, regretted that lots of lives and future of students had been truncated, owing to the nations growing security challenges.

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In his remarks, the Convener of the summit and Senate President, NANS, Chuks Okafor, said that the current security situation in the country had prompted the summit.

Mr Okafor attributed the high rate of crimes among the youth to the rise in consumption of hard drugs, urging the youth to shun the act.

He urged Nigerias leaders to organise a national summit where the nations problems would be discussed and addressed.

(NAN)
The Deputy Governor of Imo State, Placid Njoku, has refuted reports on social media that he resigned from office

Mr Njoku, in a statement issued on Thursday by his media aide, Ozioma Ukwuoma, described the report as baseless and fake.

My attention has been drawn to the fake news circulating in the social media purporting that the deputy governor of Imo, Prof. Placid Njoku has resigned.

While it remains our practice to ignore such baseless stories, the need to put the truth out to Imo citizens has necessitated this rebuttal.

This story has no iota of truth in it but is a mere figment of the imaginations of those working against the government and people of Imo State.

Prof. Njoku enjoys a robust working relationship with his boss, Governor Hope Uzodimma, and indeed with every member of the state executive council, including members of the state legislature, the statement said.

Mr Ukwuoma urged residents in the state to disregard the unfounded rumour and continue to support efforts to sustain the peace and development of the state.

No attack on Imo Government House  Police

Meanwhile, the police have refuted a report in the social media that gunmen attacked the Imo Government House.

The police spokesperson in the state, Bala Alkana, said in a statement on Wednesday the report was a false alarm, which only existed in the imagination of the writer.

Mr Alkana, a superintendent of police, urged the public to disregard the report and warned mischief makers to desist from raising fake alarms else they would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

Imo, like other states in Nigerias South-east region, has been grappling with insecurity, including deadly attacks on security officials.

The recent killing of Ahmed Gulak, a former political adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, in Owerri highlighted the level of insecurity in Imo State.

The country home of the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma was attacked in April by gunmen who set ablaze part of the building.

Mr Uzodinma himself has been accused of not doing much to restore peace to the troubled state.

We are doing our best. So far, the situation is relatively okay in Imo State than it was. Imo is okay now, people can come around and do their businesses. The normal life and activities have resumed in Imo State, security agencies are on top of their situation, Mr Uzodinma told reporters a few days ago at the Presidential Villa after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

The governor said he was open to suggestions from people on how to improve upon the security situation in the state.

I did not closed no door (sic), he said when asked if he had shut the door against negotiation with people he thought were causing trouble in the state.

The police spokesperson in Imo, Mr Alkana said peace had returned to the state.

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(NAN)
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The senator representing Imo West District, Rochas Okorocha, has told fellow senators that it is only the people who have the moral right to judge the performance of the Senate.

Mr Okorocha, a former governor of Imo State and a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), spoke on Wednesday at a special session where the senators took turns to appraise the performance of the Ninth Senate since its inauguration in June 2019.

The right persons to judge our performance should have been the people, Mr Okorocha said to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and fellow senators.

Mr Okorocha said it was only a miracle of God that he and his colleagues were still in the Senate as a united Nigeria despite the situation in the country.

The senator was apparently referring to the insecurity in Nigeria, the killings in the different parts of the country, and the agitations for the break-up of the country.

As we catalogue our achievements and enumerate the great achievements of the Ninth Senate which I congratulate you and congratulate my dear colleagues, Ill like to say, Mr President, that we do not forget that we are here because of the people, and that we were elected by the people to serve the people, and we are here at their mercy.

So the right persons to judge our performance should have been the people. I say so because political power, whether legislature or the executive, is but a trust  a trust that can only be justified when used for the benefit of the common man.

The question before us this afternoon is, how happy are the people? What are their emotions? Mr Okorocha said.

The senator said it would have been better for the Senate to dedicate the session to discussions on the state of the nation and use the moment to give hope to the citizens.

I have repeatedly said that this Senate must rise and support the executive to address the issue of poverty and injustice in this nation. In Imo, there is a cry for injustice. In Borno, theres a cry for injustice, in Sokoto theres a cry for injustice.

And we must also as a Senate stop this ethnic-profiling of our people, where we believe we are not able to separate criminals from where they come from.

The senator said the Igbos and Fulani in Nigeria have been profiled as killers.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Mr Lawan said the Ninth Senate has so far passed 58 out of the 742 bills introduced at the two chambers of the National Assembly since 2019.

Mr Lawan assured that the Senate would pass the Electoral Reform bill before the annual summer recess.

Senators, both from the APC and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, said the Ninth Senate has performed well, since its inception.
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, has urged police officers in Lagos State to remain alive while being committed to their duties of securing lives and properties.

Mr Baba said this on Wednesday during a visit to the Lagos Police Command.

The IGP arrived in Lagos on Wednesday morning and paid a courtesy visit to the State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, before proceeding to the police headquarters.

The IGP, who addressed officers of the Lagos command amidst heavy downpour, urged to them maintain efficiency, discipline, and commitment to duties.

Your welfare is being taken care of like never before, do not commit suicide by being unprofessional, Mr Baba said.

Making reference to the destruction of properties and police facilities during and after the #EndSARS protest, the IGP called on police commanders to lecture their men on the protection of public and police facilities.

Never again should your police stations be sacked by hoodlums wielding guns, sticks, and machetes, he said.

He added that officers must learn to control the use of arms, saying there is a time and reason for their use.

We must also be civil in discharging our responsibilities. Never should we allow our stations to be overrun to the extent that we will not be able to handle situations because of cowardice or lack of professionalism.

We have not got all we need to discharge our duties in terms of welfare, logistics, and equipment. But with the available limited resources, we will do our jobs with more dedication and professionalism.

I want to congratulate us that the government and the people are taking cognisance of our duty, the police chief said.

We need helicopters

Addressing the IGP on the needs of the Lagos police command, Hakeem Odumosu, the police commissioner urged the police chief to release two helicopters to the Command to fortify the aerial patrol and surveillance of the state and south-west region.

The Command will appreciate the release of two police helicopters to the Command to assist in fortifying the aerial patrol and surveillance of the Command with a view to tactically tackling some of the crimes being experienced in the state and by extension, in the south-west, Mr Odumosu said.

Mr Odumosu also requested 13 additional water cannons and five gunboats for the Area Commands in the state, adding that the IGP should facilitate the rebuilding of police stations that were destroyed during the #EndSARS protest.

He told the IGP that the police in Lagos have arrested 2,228 suspects connected with offences ranging from armed robbery, cultism, murder, hooliganism, and defilement/rape in the past months.

87 arms and 129 ammunition of various calibres were recovered. In addition, 36 stolen vehicles were recovered by the command within the period under review, he said.

The police commissioner said the state was relatively calm and violence-free due to the proactive efforts of his men.

Responding to the requests of the Commissioner, the IGP promised to release some crime-fighting equipment to the police command to boost its arsenal and promote public safety in Lagos State.

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It has now completed the suite of contract awards for the initial stage of Field Development Planning for Phase I Concept Select.

Fenix will evaluate the effectiveness of the three successful fracs historically executed on the Viking Wx and Victoria Gas Fields

s (ASX:HHR) (FRA:P6V0) wholly-owned UK subsidiary, Hartshead Resources Limited, has awarded the contract for the frac modelling and design of horizontal multi-frac well completions, as part of the 2171 Bcf Phase I gas development project in the UK Southern Gas Basin, to Fenix Consulting Delft BV.

It has now completed the suite of contract awards for the initial stage of Field Development Planning for Phase I Concept Select.

Vast experience in designing, modelling fracs

Hartshead Resources chief executive officer Chris Lewis said: We are delighted to have Fenix on board to assist with the frac design.

Fenix have a vast experience in designing and modelling fracs for our reservoirs and I look forward to their valuable input to the project.

Fenix business manager and partner, Bart Vos added: We are very much looking forward to working with the team and creating value for Hartshead.

Evaluation of successful fracs

Fenix will undertake an evaluation of the effectiveness of the three successful fracs historically executed on the Viking Wx and Victoria Gas Fields.

This will form the basis of new frac designs for the undeveloped parts of the gas fields and provide input to the reservoir model to enable optimisation of frac placement and well trajectories.

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Commercial activities in some parts of Lagos metropolis ground to a halt Thursday as President Muhammadu Buhari arrived the state for the inauguration of the Lagos-Ibadan railway project.

The ever-busy Yaba market, some hundreds of metres away from the Mobolaji Johnson Railway Station in Ebute-Metta where the president was billed to visit, was a ghost town. Shops were closed and a handful of traders lurked around.

Taiwo Subair, an official of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, said he had to trek from Oyingbo to Alagomeji bus top but could not go further because of the road blockade by the security operatives.

Mr Subair said he was aware of the presidents visit but did not envisage it would be as tough as this.

This time around, there is no way, he said.

They should have created an alternative route for people to pass. Im going back home. I have been here (Alagomeji bus stop) for over three hours.

A POS operator, who simply identified herself as Hannah, said the roads leading to her kiosk were also blocked.

I just heard he was coming, she said. I have lost money today since they blocked the route. They blocked everywhere. They ought to have informed us that they will block the vicinity here, she said.

My shop is on the next street here, even if they allow me to operate, who will patronise me?

Desmond Kalu, an interior decor trader, said business had been halted since Tuesday especially for traders along the railway in Yaba due to the presidents visit.

Everywhere is down, we are struggling to feed, it is not easy for us. Since on Tuesday, we traders from the railway terminal to BRT we have not been doing business because they said Buhari is coming, he said.

Mr Kalu lamented that there have been poor sales since the beginning of the week.

In Ikeja, the state capital, where the president was also scheduled to visit, roads were cordoned off and commuters forced to trek long distances under the hot, humid sun.

Bashiru Sanusi, a stranded commuter, said the commissioning should have been done virtually so as not to disrupt commercial activities.

Peoples business should not be impeded. This is a military regime camouflaging as a democracy.

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A bus driver, popularly called Ebony, who plies the Ojuelegba to Yaba route, said police officers came in the morning to chase them away.

When the police came in the money to chase us, I went home to sleep before it leads to something else.

We dont have an option but to take our fate like that.
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President Muhammadu Buhari has flagged off the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure project in Nigeria, called the Deep Blue Project.

During the flag-off in Lagos on Thursday, Mr Buhari said the activity will improve maritime security for member states in the Gulf of Guinea.

This Flag-off is an important step in the continuing shift in strategic action about regional maritime security. It will serve as a benchmark for member states in the Gulf of Guinea and other relevant stakeholders to further develop innovative strategies and align efforts with the subsisting framework to improve maritime security in the region, he said.

The Deep Blue Project was established to prevent illegal activities in the Nigerian Exclusive Economic Zone, enforce maritime regulations, enhance safety of lives at sea, and prevent illegal activities in the inland waterways.

The countries in the Gulf of Guinea are Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon (Ambazonia), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola.

Mr Buhari said the project has been initiated to bolster the maritime security architecture and ensure greater enforcement action within Nigerian waters and beyond.

He said that new maritime security assets are coming at a crucial time when international discussions are geared towards piracy activities and the new dimension it has taken in the Gulf of Guinea region.

With the worlds waters accounting for over 80 percent of transportation requirements of the global economy, concerted efforts and innovative actions are required to address attendant security challenges, he said.

The DEEP BLUE project is a critical step towards the realization of maritime security in the region, which underscores Nigerias commitment in providing the necessary framework and resources in cooperation with other nations and maritime users, Mr Buhari said

He said this action will facilitate a productive space for the maritime sector to thrive and contribute to the diversification of the nations economy.

This forum is to help galvanize regional and international efforts to ensure security in the Gulf of Guinea. Its main focus is counter piracy and armed robbery prevention by bringing together regional, international, industry and NGO partners to advance and coordinate near-term maritime activities, with a view to working towards a set of common operational objectives off the coast of west and central Africa, he said.
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The Police in Oyo State on Thursday embarked on a show of force in major areas of the state following reports of an invasion by armed bandits.

Briefing journalists at the end of the patrol, the state Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Onadeko, said the patrol was to let the public be aware that their safety was the primary responsibility of the police.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that there had been suspicion that armed bandits had invaded the state to cause crisis.

NAN reports that the police started the show of force from the commands headquarters at Eleyele, Ibadan, through Egbeda, Monatan, Akinyele, Moniya, Beere, Agodi-Gate, Olodo, Iwo Road, among others.

Mrs Onadeko said there was no truth in the rumour that suspected bandits had invaded major towns, warning that unfounded rumours would not do anybody good in the society.

According to her, the police and other sister security agencies in the state, in collaboration with the local hunters and vigilance groups, are working to ensure the safety of lives and property in the state.

She called on the citizens of the state to stop creating unnecessary fear in the public and provide credible information for the police to act upon.

Go about your normal businesses; even, the June 12 issue, the police and other security agencies are working harmoniously together with non-state actors to ensure that the state is safe, Mr Onadeko said.

In an interview with NAN, the Head of Akinyele Livestock Market, Muhammed Sugaba, said that there was calm and no ethnic discrimination in the market.

Mr Sugaba said there was peaceful coexistence, among various ethnic groups in the market, assuring the residents of a continuous relationship among the people in the market.

Also, Dauda Alamu, Chairman of the Goat Sellers Association, Akinyele Market, said they were impressed and felt secured with the patrol of the police in the state.

(NAN)
A massive march is held by First Nations in Toronto, Canada, on June 6 after remains of 215 indigenous children were discovered in Kamloops on the site of a former residential school. Photo: AFP

From the use of the term "concentration camp" in the first instance to describe the vocational education and training centers in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to parse reports rife with loopholes on topics of "forced labor," "separating ethnic minors from parents," and "forced sterilization," the US and the West in general have elaborately woven a malicious narrative in a bid to ramp up a war against China, thoughtlessly bandying about claims of "genocide"- a heinous act entirely foreign to Chinese but altogether too familiar to Anglo-Saxons with a long legacy of genocide and extinction of races.

However hard the West and the US have tried to perfect their "genocide" narrative against China, they cannot find any legal basis in international laws, as genocide is a well-defined term in international laws and treaties. The most respected international tribunals have agreed that proof of the crime of genocide depends on an extremely convincing presentation of factual evidence, which the current "genocide" accusation against China sorely lacks, observers said.

In recent months, more experts and scholars globally have stood up to criticize the US and the West for unfounded genocide accusations against China, pointing out how the misuse of the term for geopolitical agendas is tantamount to a direct insult to the true victims of genocide.

Fabricating lies against China's Xinjiang

The term genocide was first adopted by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by the UN and is well-defined in the UN Convention and international laws and treaties. But it loses a lot of its specific meaning when it becomes involved in politics, Graham Perry, a British solicitor and international arbitrator, told the Global Times.

Five acts that are regarded as genocide include the killing of members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction in whole or in part of the group, and imposing measures intended to prevent births, which is forced sterilization. The last is forcibly transferring children of one group to a different group.

By reviewing reports on Xinjiang from Western and US media outlets, the Global Times has found that the accusation of "genocide" against Xinjiang did not miraculously appear, but rather followed calculated efforts dating back to 2017 with the goal of fitting said allegations within the parameters defined by the UN Convention.

The first batch of "reports" to use "genocide" in their accusations against China on its Xinjiang policy appeared in January 2018 and has exploded since the beginning of 2020, Li Baiyang discovered, with the help of the GDELT news research tool.

Li is a member of the team conducting "Research on Basic Science Issues of National Security Management Decision-Making Systems" and a postdoctoral fellow at the Information Resources Research Center of Wuhan University.

On January 12, 2018, the Turkish Anadolu Agency reported that a Buddhist educator from Myanmar withdrew from a China-backed forum in London in protest of the "persecution" and "detention" of "1 million Muslims" in China's Xinjiang region.

This report about the Myanmar educator got facts about Xinjiang wrong while using the inflammatory terms, but it had been quickly reposted by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a US-backed right-wing network seeking the "fall of China" as stated on its own website.

Since then, WUC has been engaged in pushing the term "genocide" to various media outlets and occasions and used it in releases on its website. For example, during a visit to Australia in December 2018, the leaders of the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), WUC's main project funded by infamous US regime change foundation the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), said governments, businesses, academics, and think tanks were duty-bound to end their "business as usual" relations with China over the alleged "genocide."

CNN is among the first Western media outlets to use the term "genocide." A report on November 15, 2018 claimed that China is "tearing" Uygur families apart in Xinjiang, which is "cultural genocide."

"News on 'genocide' in Xinjiang exploded since the beginning of 2020, more than 90 percent of these reports are negative. Looking at the sources of these news pieces, Lithuania has become the country with the highest number of 'genocide' reports followed by the US, Canada, Japan, European countries, and finally India," Li said.

Local children play along Pigeon Lane in Tacheng in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in May 2020. Photo: Xinhua

Western media also hyped related topics to fabricate "evidence" to portray China as an "executor" of genocide.

In August 2020, WUC released a statement on its website, claiming that 1 million Uygurs have been "detained" in "internment camps" where they have been subjected to "torture and other human rights violations."

Then henceforth, words like "camp," "internment camp," "concentration camp," and even "gulag" emerged in almost every report by the Western media on China's Xinjiang region despite the Chinese government's reiteration of there not being any such camps in Xinjiang. Xinjiang only had the vocational education and training centers as a de-radicalization measure.

The word "camp" has been chosen by the anti-China forces to not only conjure the horrific imagery of concentration camps run across Europe by Adolf Hitler's Nazi forces and the resultant Holocaust but also as a ploy to demonize China. This was the first salvo that was to culminate in "genocide" accusation against China, Peng Qinxuan, an associate professor at Wuhan University Institute of International Law, told the Global Times.

Topics of "forced labor," "birth control," and "separating Uygur children from their families" have appeared in reports made by anti-China scholars, Western media, and US reports on human rights, but none have offered concrete evidence except for self-claimed victims' stories.

For example, in September 2019, the HRW "called for" Xinjiang to "return minors" housed in state-run institutions to their families. Adrian Zenz and WUC as well as some Western media outlets including the New York Times also claimed, without evidence, that Xinjiang took Uygur children from their parents.

In response, Xinjiang officials repeatedly refuted such rumors. Parhati Rouzi, an official from Kashi Prefecture, told a press conference in January 2020 that "As Xinjiang is a vast region, there are a significant number of students who come from places far away from their schools, and therefore many of them choose to live on campus It is up to students and their parents to decide whether or not to choose boarding education."

Ironically, when some Western countries cannot find evidence supporting their claims of genocide against China, irrefutable proof of genocide on their own soil emerges. The latest such case was the remains of 215 indigenous children being discovered in a former residential school, the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia which is believed to have housed 500 indigenous Canadian children. At least 150,000 children attended such schools in what a historic 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission described as a "cultural genocide" targeting Canada's indigenous people.

Evidence is crucial in the process of making a genocide judgment. Currently, there is not a shred of concrete or irrefutable "evidence" in the genocide accusations levied against China, most of which, it should be noted, has been provided by the WUC in the form of "testimonies" of people currently living unfettered lives in the West, Perry said.

"Despite satellites flying overhead, they've got no evidence from Xinjiang Is this a 'genocide' - without a murder, without deaths, without crematoriums, without executions, without refugees, without a stream of people running away from Xinjiang seeking safety outside," Perry said.

Aside from the glaring lack of evidence, those who attempt to charge China with "genocide" would face more difficulties on the systems of contentious jurisdiction in international law, Peng from the Wuhan University said.

According to Article IX of the UN Convention, disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application, or fulfillment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or for any of the other acts enumerated in article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.

China has reservations about this article. So if the US wants to bring "genocide" accusations against China's Xinjiang to the international courts, it will face systematic problems as far as international law is concerned, Peng said.

West 'greatest perpetrators of genocide in human history'

People pay tribute to the murdered aboriginal children in Ottawa, Canada, on June 4.Photo: Xinhua

People pay tribute to the murdered indigenous children in Ottawa, Canada. Photo: Xinhua To the Chinese, the term "genocide" is an altogether unfamiliar and alien concept - the intentional physical destruction of a people bound by a history, language, culture, and tradition, systematic, in whole, or in substantial part. This isn't the Chinese way of interacting with people of different backgrounds, said Ren Yi, a graduate from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, who is an influential Chinese blogger with over a million followers on Weibo.

"Genocide is a very real concept to the European and Western ears: Because they are the greatest perpetrators of genocide in human history. What they are doing now is projecting their own sin onto and demonizing China in their own mindset," said Ren.

The West developed racialized thought to its extreme and to this day, race-based hate crime is still a common and prevalent scene. The West constructed the concept of race and lives in the shadow of many of the most horrific crimes in human history. Hence the European civilization is really the "great architect and executioner of the very concept of genocide," Ren said.

"Lies cannot be turned into facts even if they are repeated hundreds of times. The US' launching of the campaign to accuse China of genocide only reflects the desperate struggle of the US in its global descent," Peng said.

Hegemonic powers usually adopt double standards on issues pertaining to human rights - they cannot confront or erase their notorious history of racially fuelled massacres and genocides; and on the other hand, they exploit the topic to attack other countries for political gain, Peng said.

Recently, more global experts have stood out to express their opposition to the US and Western countries' misuse of the term "genocide."

"The charge of genocide should never be made lightly. Inappropriate use of the term may escalate geopolitical and military tensions and devalue the historical memory of genocides such as the Holocaust, thereby hindering the ability to prevent future genocides," Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, and William Schabas, professor of law at Middlesex University, London, wrote in an article released by Project Syndicate in April.

In an article released on independent website Counterpunch, Alfred de Zayas, former United Nations independent expert, and Richard Falk, an Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, also noted that the crime of "genocide" has been crassly instrumentalized to beat the drum of Sinophobia and the US has weaponized human rights as a countermeasure against China.

"The sudden flurry of United States interest in the fate of the Uyghur people seems less motivated by compassion or the protection of human rights than lifted from the most cynical pages of the Machiavellian playbook of geopolitics," they wrote.
European Metals Holdings Limited's (LON:EMH) Keith Coughlan talks to Proactive London's Katie Pilbeam about commissioning an independent assessor to verify its lithium operation at Cinovec in the Czech Republic.

Consultancy Minviro will provide an ISO-compliant life cycle assessment (LCA) for the entire Cinovec lithium/tin project. Coughlan is confident the report will prove the project has 'very good credentials' with regards to is being sustainable and carbon neutral.
- Colombia will showcase projects and companies to international investors during a new edition of the Colombia Inside Out to be held online from June 22nd to June 24th 2021

LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Colombia Inside Out 2021 (CIO 2021) is a business platform and one of the largest and most recognised Colombian economic forum outside of Colombia. It is a significant milestone for celebrating investment and capital market relations between the South American country and the United Kingdom, as well as other European and global Investors. The event is a joint effort between the British Government, the Colombian Embassy, ProColombia in the United Kingdom and binational chambers of commerce.

For the CIO 2021 virtual edition, to be held from June 22nd to June 24th, a portfolio of opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure, technology, agribusiness, energy, hospitality and tourism, among others will be available for investors to meet with.

Besides the individual meetings, during the three days high level speakers such as President of Colombia, Ivan Duque, the Finance Minister, Jose Manuel Restrepo, and Flavia Santoro, President of ProColombia, will discuss the central role of FDI in Colombia's economic recovery; a fiscal overview of about Colombia and financial regulation updates; and the importance of sustainable investment, as well as Infrastructure and Energy in a post-COVID era.

In the infrastructure sector, several important developments in Colombian cities such as Medellin, Bogota and Cartagena will be presented to investors. Moreover, the infrastructure projects showcased during the CIO 2021 aim to develop key toll roads, airports, telecommunication infrastructure, schools and R&D centers around Colombia.

Technology and IT projects are instrumental to Colombia. Participating companies are looking for partnerships and international investors and most of them are related to fintech solutions, artificial Intelligence, software development and other creative ventures.

Colombia is committed to sustainable growth. 100% of the energy projects promoted in this event focus on renewable energy generation in different regions of the country.

Also, Colombia weather conditions are key for enabling all year-round crops, which makes the country attractive for projects in coffee, cocoa, fruits, as well as other products such as medical cannabis and sustainable wood production.

"The main objective for CIO 2021 is to strengthen the British and European perspective on Colombia, highlighting specific opportunities to promote interest and investment on upcoming years, and positioning Colombia as a main trade partner for these markets in Latam region," stated Flavia Santoro, President of ProColombia.

In the last edition, in 2019, the event took place in Mansion House, where more than 330 guests joined conferences, more than 24 projects, and 16 Colombian listed companies met with British and European investors.

As a region, Europe is the worlds largest investor in Colombia while the United Kingdom ranks fourth, according to reports from Banco de la Republica (Central Bank).

Register now and join the Colombia Inside Out here: https://meetings.colombiainsideout.com/

SOURCE ProColombia
NEW YORK, June 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) has opened an office in the United Arab Emirates and named Ambassador Marc Sievers as the office's inaugural director. AJC Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Center for Arab-Jewish Understanding is the leading global Jewish advocacy organization's first office in an Arab country, and its 13th overseas post.

"AJC Abu Dhabi is truly historic," said AJC CEO David Harris. "It will enable AJC to expand on our decades of bridge-building in the region and create a wider network of stakeholders in the new relationships made possible by the Abraham Accords."

The announcement that AJC's Abu Dhabi office is now open came in a conversation today at the 2021 AJC Virtual Global Forum between Jason Isaacson, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer, and Ambassador Sievers. The organization initiated discussions with UAE officials in 2019 on the possibility of establishing a permanent presence there, and announced in September 2020 that the government welcomed AJC's plans.

"I've had the privilege in my career to open doors and open minds across the Middle East and North Africa over more than 25 years, building trusting relationships with governments, and business and civil society leaders, addressing misconceptions about the Jewish people and educating ourselves about Arab realities, introducing the bold idea of common interests and potential synergies with Israel," said Isaacson.

Among the many American envoys AJC delegations have encountered in the region over the years, "one who stood out as the consummate diplomat, deeply knowledgeable, pragmatic, straightforward, and persuasive, was Marc Sievers," said Isaacson.

Sievers, who recently retired after 38 years in the U.S. foreign service, served in 12 posts in ten countries, including in Rabat, Ankara, Algiers, Cairo, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Baghdad, and Muscat. He served as Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman until November 2019.

"I am deeply honored to be the first director of AJC Abu Dhabi. This is a very exciting moment, a unique opportunity," said Sievers. "It's wonderful to be based in Abu Dhabi not long after the Abraham Accords and the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain." Sievers thanked the UAE government and its ambassador in Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, "for their support for this new venture in the Arab world." Ambassador Sievers also thanked the Sultanate of Oman for the warm welcome and cooperation extended to him and his family and for Oman's longstanding support for dialogue and peace.

The AJC office in Abu Dhabi is named after the late Sidney Lerner, who, together with his widow, Helaine Lerner, have been longtime friends and partners of AJC. Mr. Lerner had been particularly focused on advancing relations and understanding among the Muslim, Arab, and Jewish worlds, believing this can be an important contribution to advancing regional and global peace and harmony.

The AJC office in Abu Dhabi will, among other activities:

Promote and advance Arab-Jewish and Muslim-Jewish dialogue, mutual respect, and cooperation;

Represent AJC to governments, civil society, business leaders, and media throughout the Gulf, and relay regional concerns to AJC constituencies in the United States and globally;

and globally; Combat antisemitism wherever it appears;

Support the further development of the Abraham Accords and strengthening of relations between Israel and the states of the Arab Gulf based on mutual interests;

and the states of the Arab Gulf based on mutual interests; Partner with Jewish communities of the region  in particular, with the Manama -based Association of Gulf Jewish Communities and the Dubai -based Jewish Council of the Emirates  to preserve, celebrate, and enrich Jewish life in the Gulf.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


MANAMA, Bahrain, June 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- His Excellency Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain, addressed a worldwide audience of thousands participating in the 2021 American Jewish Committee Virtual Global Forum.

In a conversation with Jason Isaacson, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer, the foreign minister discussed the historic Abraham Accords, Bahrain-U.S. relations, and the Iranian threat. Isaacson has spearheaded the leading global Jewish advocacy organization's engagement with Bahrain and other Gulf Arab states over the past 25 years.

"Bahrain is a nation that believes in dialogue, that believes in respecting the other, that believes in coexistence, that believes in cooperation, and that's what His Majesty, the King, practices in his doctrine and his decision to pursue peace with Israel," Dr. Al Zayani declared.

"Hopefully, the people of the region can see the benefits, and, in particular, the Israelis and Palestinians can see the benefit of the peace," he said. For Bahrainis, "the most important benefit is that the values of the Bahrainis are being really recognized. We are sending the message from a small nation, saying that peace is the way forward."

Bahrain has sought privately and publicly over the years to help facilitate efforts to achieve Arab-Israeli peace and, notably, hosted the Peace to Prosperity Workshop in 2019.

"Bahrain's decision to sign the Abraham Accords is firmly based on our belief that they represent a step towards resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," said Dr. Al Zayani. "Our position is firm in supporting the Palestinians to reach a solution and cooperation with the Israelis. We hope that the path we have pursued will really help in achieving that."

"Through our long engagement with Bahrain, the only country on the Arabian Peninsula with an indigenous Jewish community, AJC has seen again and again the kingdom's commitment both to regional peace and to interfaith harmony," Isaacson noted. "Both of those commitments were evident in Dr. Al Zayani's remarks."

Bahrain's long history as a trading center, bringing together peoples of different faiths from around the world, underlies "why we believe in coexistence," he explained.

"Manama is the most religiously diverse city in the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council], perhaps in the world," said Dr. Al Zayani. Many places of worship -- synagogue, mosque, church, temple  are located together in an area of less than one square mile.

Interfaith cooperation "is one of the really defining characteristics of modern Bahrain and informs our approach to both national and international issues," he affirmed. This has been highlighted in recent years by the establishment in 2017 of the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence, which plays an important role in promoting interfaith dialogue.

On relations with Washington, the minister emphasized that "Bahrain and the United States have enjoyed a very healthy, long, close partnership that has proved its value in safeguarding the region." King Hamad "believes the men and women with the Fifth Fleet are here to support peace and stability in region." Bahrain is home base for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Bahrain was designated a major non-NATO ally of the U.S in 2009, and the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement dates to 2006. This year, Bahrain and the U.S. are marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

And last year, the minister noted, Bahrain became the first Arab country to accept the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, when it signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. State Department on combating antisemitism.

Discussing the "shared challenge from the Iranian regime," the minister stressed that "the totality of the Iranian challenge" must be addressed, not only the nuclear issues. The challenge includes, he pointed out, Iran's missile development and "support for proxies and militias that interfere with other countries."

"Bahrain has firsthand experience," he said, disclosing that his country's Coast Guard and law enforcement recently seized numerous stashes of weapons. In addition, "the Iranians use the media and NGOs" for a "wider international propaganda campaign" that threatens other nations in the region.

"We need the international community to convince Iran that it cannot prosper by trying to subvert and undermine other countries," he concluded. "The interests of Iran and its people are best served by being a responsible regional and global citizen."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


BRUSSELS, June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- "Our fight against antisemitism is more urgent than ever," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told thousands participating in the 2021 American Jewish Committee (AJC) Virtual Global Forum. The commission, she announced today, will adopt later this year "the first-ever EU strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life."

Surging, violent attacks on Jews in Europe and the United States "are a stark reminder of how dangerous antisemitism is for our societies. It is a poison for our democratic values and an attack on our way of life," she said. "We must fight it together, and we have to eradicate it."

The new plan is aimed at strengthening Europe's fight against antisemitism, preserving Holocaust memory, and fostering Jewish life in Europe.

"All European students should learn about the Holocaust, no matter their background, family history, country of origin," she added. "For many of our young people, the events of the Holocaust seem to belong to a distant past. Some have never even heard of Auschwitz."

She said the Commission is committed to protecting and fostering Jewish life in all its diversity. "We are immensely glad that, 76 years after the Holocaust, Jewish life is thriving again in schools, kindergartens, synagogues, and fashionable kosher restaurants," said von der Leyen. "We want to make sure that Jews are free to follow their religious and cultural traditionsThey are the heart of our communities, and we will never allow them to be threatened again."

Ending "hatred and antisemitism on the Internet" is a key component of the plan. "The COVID-19 pandemic in particular has shown how quickly antisemitic conspiracy myths can spread," von der Leyen emphasized.

"Online platforms have a crucial role in disseminating and promoting antisemitism material, and, therefore, they must take greater responsibilityEvery business, especially powerful tech giants, has to combat hatred and to stand for historical truth."

Developing and implementing effective means to combat hatred of Jews has been a priority for von der Leyen, a former German defense minister, since she became president of the EC in 2019. "I stepped up Europe's fight against antisemitism," she declared.

The new EC plan announced today at the AJC Virtual Global Forum follows on other significant initiatives, including EU-sponsored events at the UN, on antisemitism. "We are strongly committed to building a future free of antisemitism in Europe and beyond," the European leader noted.

In January, the Commission, together with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), published a handbook for the practical use of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism. With the handbook, "we aim to support policymakers, judges, prosecutors, teachers, in recognizing antisemitic bias in their daily work," she said. "To eradicate antisemitism, you must be able to identify every manifestation of it, including where it is subtle and insidious."

The EC President also cautioned that the commission "will take action if any European money is used to call into question Israel's right to exist."

"Israel is a vitally important country for the European Union, not only because of our common past, but also because of our common future," she said.

On April 25, the EU and Israel celebrated 25 years of cooperation in science and innovation. "Europe can learn from Israel's successes. Israel is known to quickly turning science successes into business opportunities," von der Leyen affirmed. In addition, Israeli scientists and organizations have participated in 2100 projects to date in Horizon 2020, the EU research program.

Von der Leyen saluted AJC for its longstanding relationship with Germany, engagement with the European Union, and promotion of transatlantic relations. "AJC has been at the forefront of reestablishing the Jewish community's relationship with Germany. Only three years after the end of the war, AJC was the first global Jewish organization to engage," she said. "AJC has been a strong supporter of the European Union and NATO alliance," she said. And the Brussels-based AJC Transatlantic Institute "plays an important role in our conversations with Israel and across the Atlantic."

In closing, the EC President praised AJC CEO David Harris, with whom she has met on several occasions, she recalled. "AJC has been so successful for such a long time because you care about what you fight for, you never give up on your mission, and you have that unique ability to foster friendships around the world. Many of those friends are here today at AJC's Virtual Global Forum, and I am happy to be one of them."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


WASHINGTON, June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With two major human rights organizations now claiming Israel is an apartheid state , IRmep makes available to news media and event planners distinguished historian and author Walter L. Hixson. Hixson's latest book is "Architects of Repression: How Israel and Its Lobby Put Racism, Violence and Injustice at the Center of US Middle East Policy."

Hixson can comment on:

Why is U.S. aid to Israel unconditional and more than aid to other small countries? How does the U.S. help Israel avoid accountability for ongoing human rights violations and illegal settlements? When did Israel's U.S. lobby first form? What are some of its programs? Which presidents attempted to hold Israel accountable? What happened? Should Americans expect politicians to ever represent the movement to cut or condition aid to Israel ? What hopeful signs are emerging?

Experts laud "Architects of Repression."

"The power of the Israel lobbies in American political life, widely acknowledged, has most often been discussed in a theoretical manner. The acclaimed Walter Hixson brings to the subject the clarity and careful documentation of the archival historian, and in so doing he sheds loads of illumination on lobbying that AIPAC officials themselves have admitted flourishes best in darkness."

--Juan Cole, Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History, University of Michigan.

"A devastating, learned, brilliantly narrated study of how the extremities of US pro-Israeli policy came about and were maintained despite decades of severe Israeli crimes victimizing the Palestinian people as a whole in what had been their native country.

--Richard Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, is the former United Nations Human Rights Rapporteur in the Occupied Territories.

"If you ever wondered what the USA role in the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people is, you need to read this book. If you ever wondered how the Israeli lobby in the USA corrupted the American foreign policy towards Palestine and beyond, you need to read this book.

--Ilan Pappe is professor of history and director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter.

Architects of Repression is now available in print , Kindle and audio book formats.

For review copies and author media interviews and events, email [email protected] or call 202-342-7325.

IRmep is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit corporation researching U.S. Middle East policy formulation since 2002.

SOURCE Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy

Related Links

www.irmep.org


HIGH POINT, N.C., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Martinca siblings are losing America as their home on June 21, 2021. Adrian and Miriam Martinca could be poster children for the American Dream. They moved to the United States with their family 14 years ago. Miriam completed her bachelor's degree at UNC-Chapel Hill and became the first person in the family to get a college degree. Adrian started a successful computer company and a charity that provides laptops to children and schools. In fact, their charity Technology for the Future donated over 10,000 laptops to children in 2020 alone.

Technology for the Future

"My brother and I were two weeks late renewing our i94," Miriam explains. "Our i94 expired May 3, during which time we were in the midst of a 'crisis response,' delivering 350 devices for children in time for state testing on May 10. This meant that our own due date was overlooked." Their visas that were valid until 2023 are now canceled. The siblings have set a goal to get 300,000 signatures to challenge America to OPEN Doors back up for them and "uncancel" their visas. This family who has given so much to so many children is asking for help. "The petition is our only hope," says Miriam.

The family immigrated from Slovakia to Canada, with aspirations to make America their home. "Technology was the key to victory in protecting my family's freedom to access opportunities we needed to survive," Adrian says. Soon, he started his own for-purpose tech company A.M.-Technologies to help other families and businesses do the same. "Our parents taught us that victory is only real when it is shared by all people."

In 2016, Adrian founded Technology for the Future as a "philanthropic arm" to his company. It serves as a crisis response system across America for students and organizations that do not have access to technology. Adrian says, "If you have the key, it's up to you to open doors for others." The Martinca family saw a doorway to the world of opportunities through technology. In March 2019, they challenged students to envision their dreams through technology and held an event at the Greensboro Coliseum to celebrate 650 students' dreams and to equip them with a free laptop.

During the pandemic, hundreds of schools across the country requested their help. Adrian and Miriam rallied an effort that donated 10,000 computers to Guilford County children alone, and thousands more across the United States. They sourced computers from all over the world for American children.

They now challenge American families to come together and OPEN Doors by signing and sharing their petition. Go to opendoorschallenge.org.

Press Contact:

[email protected]

336-929-0055

Related Images

adrian-and-miriam.jpg

Adrian and Miriam

2019-open-doors-awards-ceremony.jpeg

2019 OPEN Doors Awards Ceremony

Related Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YF5RhvCanQ

SOURCE Technology for the Future
"While the need to support small businesses through economic recovery is important, it is critical to keep public health a priority. As a tax-paying constituent, and advocate for youth and community safety, my primary concerns are with sales of alcoholic beverages to-go and alcohol deliveries to consumers," said Jeanne Shimatsu, AADAP, Inc. (Asian American Drug Abuse Program), and CAPA spokesperson. "Alcoholic cocktails are not an essential food or drink, and allowing 'alcoholic beverages to go' in easy-to-access containers within a vehicle is an open door to youth access and consumption. More importantly, it contributes to the dangers of 'drinking while driving' for everyone."

Newsom disappointed public health and neighborhood activists when he declared that he would be continuing last year's numerous ABC "Regulatory Relief" orders until December 31, 2021 "to promote public health." These orders were intended to be temporary tradeoffs, promoting alcohol consumption as a lifeline for restaurants and bars during the pandemic, with the intention that sales would return to normal when the state did.

Under Newsom's new orders deregulation will continue to the end of 2021. Legislation seeking to make a number of deregulatory initiatives permanent could well pass and go into effect on January 1, 2022. Some have sunset dates of a year or two, but state public health and safety advocates fear the Governor's actions will embolden the industry to continue pushing the legislature down a slippery slope to permanently reduce critical alcohol regulations, enhance their profits, and accelerate the already increasing rates of clinical dependence and alcohol-related crashes.

The glorification and promotion of public drinking at the core of Newsom's recent actions will benefit business owners (including the governor's own PlumpJack Group) at the public's expense. The Governor and the California legislature currently seek to expand and extend alcohol sales and consumption on public sidewalks, alleys, parking lots, and "parklets", along with the creation of "party zones," and permanent cocktails-to-go by delivery without any ABC licensing, oversight, or required Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) training for third party home delivery companies.

"Expansion of outdoor alcohol service, alcoholic beverages-to-go, and unregulated home alcohol delivery do NOT promote public health! In fact, Governor, there has been an increase in alcohol consumption in addition to pandemic stress, and loss of jobs contributing to more mental health issues including suicides," stated Maribel Briseno, CAPA Representative (Palmdale). "Public health and safety are in danger. Instead of saving businesseswhich also includes large corporate chains, not just small businessyou should be focused on saving people's lives, not prioritizing profit over lives!"

While the Governor does not seem concerned, public health advocates are particularly worried that alcohol deliveries to customers, particularly through restaurants, lack regulation from point of purchase to delivery at a home, where there is no formal legal age check to verify that a sober adult is purchasing and receiving the alcohol order. In addition, the Governor seems tone deaf to the public safety risk of continuing to allow streets and sidewalks to be clogged with outdoor diners.

"Allowing businesses to continue outdoor dining, infringes on rights of individuals with disabilities and pedestrians," added Briseno. "People's safety is put in danger by having to walk onto the street because tables obstruct their right of way on public walkways. This is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We should not be compromising the public's right of way."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have estimated there are 10,500 alcohol-related deaths annually in California, 165,000 alcohol-related hospitalizations, $14.5 billion in government costs, and $35 billion in total related economic harm. Meanwhile, rates of alcohol use disorder have risen 50% or more over the past 20 years, and fatal motor vehicle crashes increased 30% from 2015 to 2020. "In the eagerness to return to economic normalcy, we cannot by-pass common sense to gain a few more cents, especially when the cost is about people's lives," added Shimatsu.

"The industry and California government from the top down are locked in a sick codependent relationship," stated Bruce Lee Livingston, Executive Director/CEO of Alcohol Justice. "The California Restaurant Association and the global alcohol corporation, Diageo, are behind much of the lobbying campaign pressuring the Governor and California legislature to choose regulatory relief over public health, public safety and neighborhood concerns."

Alcohol Justice and CAPA believe it's time for Governor Newsom and the California legislators to honor their oaths of office to protect health and safety. Harm reduction should be the goal  not misdirected economic recovery promoting outdoor, public consumption of products that cause so much pain, suffering and death in California communities. The public is encouraged to take action to tell the Governor and their elected leaders that public health is more important to the state's recovery than public drinking.

Click here now: https://bit.ly/3oFz1uo or text PUBLICHEALTH to 313131 to send your message to Governor Newsom and California legislators.

Contact: Michael J. Scippa 415 548-0492

Jorge Castillo 213 840-3336

SOURCE Alcohol Justice; California Alcohol Policy Alliance

Related Links

http://www.AlcoholJustice.org


79% of American voters, including Republicans and Trump voters, support the U.S. helping global vaccination efforts. Tweet this

Overwhelmingly, the findings establish a firm case of Americans' approval for the Biden Administration to go above and beyond the 500 million purchased doses. In fact, 79 percent of voters (including Republicans and Independents) support the U.S. helping global vaccination efforts and 76 percent support the U.S. being the leader to help vaccinate countries around the world.

"President Biden has saved countless American lives through his bold leadership in vaccinating Americans over the last few months and in the next few, he has the chance to save lives across the globe," said Tom Perriello, Executive Director of Open Society-U.S. "With this announcement, the President is not only meeting the moral urgency of this moment but also fulfilling a mandate from the American  to not only be a contributor, but to be a leader in this fight."

"Biden's announcement of 500 million doses is much closer to the type of numbers we should be talking about if we actually want to address the crisis of vaccine inequity," said Keifer Buckingham, Senior Policy Advisor at Open Society-US. "There are still many questions though, like how these vaccines will be produced and the timeline for which they will be available  we anticipate President will address these during the G7 Summit. But fact remains, dose sharing alone will not end this pandemic. The U.S. and our G7 partners must commit to tackling the underlying inequalities and structural barriers that perpetuate vaccine scarcity and inhibit low- and middle-income countries from producing their own vaccines."

The white paper also finds:

Nearly 9 out of 10 likely voters agree that pharmaceutical companies, governments, and countries around the world should work collaboratively to help us recover from the pandemic as quickly as we can.

83 percent of voters want to share excess vaccine doses in the U.S. stockpile that would otherwise expire unused.

Three- fourths want the U.S. to help countries like India who are overwhelmed by COVID-19.

who are overwhelmed by COVID-19. Broadly, voters think we should help other countries who are struggling with mutations of the virus and that may not have the resources to vaccinate their people.

"Our polling finds President Biden has a clear mandate: America must be a global leader to ensure we vaccinate the world," said Sean McElwee, Data for Progress Executive Director. "After four years of Trumpism and absence from the world stage, we find national voters strongly support America leading global efforts to distribute coronavirus vaccines. This support notably transcends partisan lines and should give the Biden Administration clear approval of their current and future humanitarian vaccine efforts."

"As part of the research, we spoke to swing voters in Pennsylvania. What is most surprising is that former Trump-Biden voters not only want America to help with vaccinating the rest of the world," said David Binder, pollster and founder of David Binder Research. "But that they believe it is a moral imperative for the country, and that COVID-19 and the economy will not get back to normal until the rest of the world has access to vaccines."

With world leaders convening at the G7 Summit tomorrow, President Biden has the opportunity to ask his peers to follow America's lead and commit  both money and resources  to dramatically increase vaccine availability around the world. The white paper outlines immediate policy actions for the Biden Administration that could further support a bold global vaccine initiative which includes scaling up global financing and dose sharing; supporting technology transfer and intellectual property reform; and increasing global manufacturing capacity, especially in the Global South.

The research reflects two phases of surveying, with the first based on two focus groups conducted in early May 2021 of primarily independent voters who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. The second survey was conducted in late May 2021 of 1,304 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. To view the white paper, visit dataforprogress.org/memos/vax-the-world .

About Open Society Foundations

Active in more than 120 countries, the Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people. Working with local communities, the Open Society Foundations support justice and human rights, freedom of expression, and access to public health and education.

The Open Society Foundations were created in 1993 by investor and philanthropist George Soros to support his network of foundations in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Those foundations were established, starting in 1984, to help countries make the transition from communism. The Open Society Foundations have expanded their activities to other areas of the world where the transition to democracy is of particular concern. www.opensocietyfoundations.org/

About Data For Progress

Data for Progress is a progressive think tank and polling firm, which arms movements with data-driven tools to fight for a more equitable future. DFP provides polling, data-based messaging, and policy generation for the progressive movement, and advises campaigns and candidates with the tools they need to win. DFP polling is regularly cited by The New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC, CBS News, and hundreds of other trusted news organizations. Learn more at dataforprogress.org or follow DFP on Twitter at @dataprogress .

About David Binder Research

For over 25 years, David Binder Research has provided research and insight to political, government, and private sector clients. https://www.db-research.com/

MEDIA CONTACT:

Sunshine Sachs

[email protected]

SOURCE Data For Progress
"I want to thank City staff and elected officials and our public and private partners for helping New Haven reach this pivotal milestone in the Downtown Crossing project," Mayor Elicker said. "Together, we've removed what was long called the "Highway to Nowhere" and started on a path to a better future for New Haven. With the construction of 101 College Street, we're moving towards an expanded city tax base, approximately 700 to 1000 new jobs on site and an expected spur of 3,000 jobs throughout the local economy.

Together, we've removed the "highway to nowhere" and started on a path to a better future for New Haven

"Most importantly, I want to thank the Board of Alders and the entire New Haven Community for their involvement and support despite the many challenges of an unprecedented pandemic. This thoughtful, inclusive growth project would not have happened without collaboration among residents, community organizations, neighborhood groups, Community Management Teams, the New Haven Public Schools, and New Haven's colleges and universities. This effort is an example of our resiliency; together we grow, together we thrive, and together we can build a better City for all of us," Elicker added.

Phase 3 of DTX will reconnect Temple Street to Congress Avenue with pedestrian and bicycle-friendly streetscapes designed for slower-speed vehicular traffic.

"This project is another strong example of my administration's commitment to Connecticut's cities. By investing in projects like Downtown Crossing and successfully leveraging federal funds as well as public and private partnerships, we will be able to transform Connecticut's city streets and local economy," said Gov. Ned Lamont. "With patience, perseverance, and collaboration, we have solidified New Haven's standing as one of our state's key bio-science hubs."

Work on Phase 1 of Downtown Crossing began in 2013 with the removal and replacement of the expressway with urban boulevards and the addition of pedestrian and bicycle amenities to College Street. The approximately mile-long stretch of highway had been called the Oak Street Connector, a reference to the neighborhood torn down in the late 1950s to make way for the expressway. Initial plans called for the expressway to extend west into neighboring towns, but the plan was later abandoned.

"New Haven is on the forefront of reconnecting communities - addressing the divisive transportation projects from decades ago. This is not an easy process. It requires a long-term vision, coordinated strategy, and strong partnerships. New Haven is thriving because of these efforts, and we are looking at the result of that hard work today," said Senator Blumenthal.

Carter Winstanley, the developer of 101 College Street, was among the stakeholders at the groundbreaking. Representatives from Arvinas, Inc., BioLabs, and Yale University  all future tenants of 101 College Street  were also on hand. Winstanley Enterprises, LLC, developed 100 College Street, a neighboring, fully-leased bio-tower in DTX, and other buildings with over a million square feet of combined laboratory space in Greater New Haven. Construction on 101 College Street is expected to begin immediately,

"The site will include the headquarters of Arvinas, new research laboratories for Yale University and BioLabs, which will operate the largest co-working laboratory and technology space in the state," Winstanley said. "In addition to our ongoing commitment to local hiring in construction, we will continue to make connections to this industry through the BioPath, a new stem classroom for New Haven high school students, and workforce opportunities with New Haven Works. We look forward to this project setting a new precedent for collaboration between public and private industry."

"I am thrilled to join Governor Lamont, Mayor Elicker, other state and local leaders, and colleagues and neighbors from Yale's home city for the groundbreaking of 101 College Street," added Yale President Peter Salovey. "As an anchor tenant, Yale University is pleased to take part in this economic development project for our City and state. Yale's support of the incubator and lab spaces that will be housed at 101 College Street symbolizes our commitment to creating innovative connections among faculty experts, business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and community members. Together, we can speed up the launch of new ventures and make New Haven an international hub for bioscience, pharmaceutical, and health technology companies."

"New Haven offers great potential to become a central hub for research and innovation within the life sciences industry," noted BioLabs President and CEO Johannes Fruehauf, M.D, Ph.D. "101 College Street will be key to unlocking this great potential as we at BioLabs have experienced in our hometown Cambridge and New York, Philadelphia, North Carolina, and other geographies. We are excited and honored to partner with the City, Yale, and Winstanley in this endeavor."

For Arvinas, the new location will allow for continued growth and leadership in the creation of a completely new treatment approach for cancers and other difficult-to-treat diseases, said John Houston, Ph.D., President, and Chief Executive Officer at Arvinas.

"We are proud to be part of the 101 College Street project and contribute to the rapidly growing biopharmaceutical hub in New Haven," he said.

Representatives of The Together, We Grow inclusive growth program  another key economic development component of the project  were also in attendance. The academic partners from New Haven Public Schools, Southern Connecticut State University, and Gateway Community College discussed BioPath and related initiatives designed to connect residents to new jobs.

Project partners include the City of New Haven's Economic Development Administration, City Plan Department, Transportation, and Engineering Departments, the New Haven Parking Authority and the State of Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and Transportation.

Over the four phases of the DTX project, three new intersections  or crossings  along the former expressway will be installed, reestablishing previously severed connections between downtown New Haven, Union Station, the City's medical district, and the Hill neighborhood.

"The Downtown Crossing project is about many things: reconnecting the roots of our city with its surrounding neighborhoods, creating good-paying jobs in our City, making our community more walkable and friendlier to cyclists, supporting the continued growth of the biomedical sector of our local economy," said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. "I am proud to have secured millions of dollars in federal funding made available for this project. I will continue to fight for the inclusion of this project in the transportation reauthorization bill that will be considered in the House in the coming months."

Phase 3 infrastructure work is expected to run through the end of 2021. 101 College Street is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2023. The fourth and final phase of infrastructure work has not yet been finalized. For more information on New Haven's Downtown Crossing Project visit: https://downtowncrossingnewhaven.com. Renderings of the project or additional photos of the groundbreaking are available upon request.

SOURCE City of New Haven

Related Links

https://downtowncrossingnewhaven.com/


MARLBOROUGH, Mass., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- APITech (API Technologies Corp.), a leading provider of high-performance RF and microwave signal conditioning, and electromagnetic spectrum management solutions, announced the appointment of David Lynch Ph.D. as Sr. Director of RF2M-US Engineering, based out of Delmar DE and Nathan Langford Ph.D. as Director, RF2M-US Process Engineering based out of Marlborough MA.

David most recently served as the Chief Technology Officer at Filtronic PLC., where he led a global team of engineers that created a technology and product strategy. Prior to Filtronic PLC, David was the Chief Engineer at Trak Microwave Ltd., leading the development of several products for their Space business. He holds a PhD from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, and has authored and co-authored many professional articles and textbooks. At APITech, David will be responsible for the technical vision and implementation of strategic objectives and aligning technology investments to meet customer needs.

Nathan has worked in the processing engineering and advanced manufacturing field for over a decade in support of the Defense & Space industry. Nathan's areas of expertise include Manufacturing Operations, Process Engineering, Data Analysis, Engineering, and Creative Problem Solving. Nathan holds a PhD focused in Mechanical Engineering and Printed Electronics from University of Massachusetts Lowell.

"David's and Nathan's experience and commitment to excellence in RF design and manufacturing fit well with the APITech culture of innovation. They will be responsible for developing new technologies and capabilities as part of the company's growth strategy and new product development plans," said Ian Dunn, CTO of APITech.

About APITech

APITech (API Technologies Corp.) is an innovative designer and manufacturer of high performance systems, subsystems, modules, and components for technically demanding RF, microwave, millimeterwave, electromagnetic, power, and security applications. A high-reliability technology pioneer with over 70 years of heritage, APITechs' products are used by global defense, industrial, and commercial customers in the areas of commercial aerospace, wireless communications, medical, oil and gas, electronic warfare, unmanned systems, C4ISR, missile defense, harsh environments, satellites, and space. APITech is a leader in space technologies, with Class H and K manufacturing facilities.

Learn more about APITech and our products visit www.apitech.com

Contact:

Dana Morris

APITech

+1 508-251-6483

[email protected]

SOURCE API Technologies Corp.

Related Links

https://www.apitech.com


Flagship Salar del Diablo project is a massive 103,450 hectare (400 square miles) lithium brine project located in the State of Baja California, Mexico.

Geological similarities to Salar de Atacama, which produces nearly 30% of the worlds lithium supply

Huge exploration upside to never-before-drilled southern half of the property

What One World Lithium does:

One World Lithium Inc (CSE:OWL) (OTCMKTS:OWRDF) is progressing what could be the worlds largest lithium brine property.

Located in Baja California, northwest Mexico, the Salar del Diablo project is an expansive salt flat, or salar, with significant exploration potential. OWL owns an undivided 60% property interest, with the right to acquire another 30% for a total of 90%.

The northern portion of Salar del Diablo was initially explored, leaving 80%% of the over 103,500 -hectare property with a significant amount of exploration upside.

The company currently owns a 60% property working interest. Once its Phase 3 drill program is completed, OWL will own an 80% property working interest with a onetime option on receiving a bankable feasibility study to purchase an additional 10% property working interest for a total property working interest of 90%.

CEO Doug Fulcher has over 40 years of experience in mining and exploration. As the CEO of Abacus Mining and Exploration Corp, he spent several years advancing the Ajax deposit that was subsequently joint ventured to KGHM, the worlds largest copper producer. KGHM undertook to spend a minimum of C$200 million, leaving Abacus with a 20% carried property interest. Founder Tim Brock, the founding shareholder is currently a strategic advisor to the board of directors.

How it is doing:

The drills are turning again at the Salar del Diablo.

In April 2021 OWL announced it had started drilling the third hole (DDH-3) of a four-hole drill program as part of its Phase Three drilling program at the Salar del Diablo lithium brine property.

Drilling at DDH-3, which is 50 kilometres south of DDH-2, will operate 24 hours a day. Depending upon the results, OWL said it may drill more diamond drill holes in the immediate area.

The projects operator Mike Rosko of Montgomery & Associates prefers drilling at DDH-3s location as there is historic and current hydrothermal activity that are evident and is often a source of lithium, such as in the Lithium Triangle in Argentina and Chile, according to the company.

The surface area of the hydrothermal activity at the DDH-3 location is around 20,000 hectares or 77 square miles.

DDH-3s total depth to sample brines or sediments where hydrothermal activity may have occurred is likely between 300 and 400 metres. There has not been any previous drilling at the south end of the property, so the expected time to reach the total depth at the DDH-3 location is unknown.

Meanwhile, OWL is raising up to C$2 million to advance work at Salar del Diablo as well as funding a proof of concept program for a critical fluid separation technology.

The company is issuing up to 20 million units priced at $0.10 each, with each unit comprised of one share and one half-warrant exercisable at $0.15 for a three-year period following closing of the offering.

OWL said it expects about $750,000 of the proceeds to go towards drilling the southern and potentially middle portion of Salar del Diablo, with another $750,000 earmarked for initial lab tests, design of and completing engineer design work for a pilot plant for the companys critical fluid separation technology. The remaining $500,000 will be working capital.

OWL has the right to own 100% of the separation technology, subject to a positive proof of concept program. In addition there will be a 2% royalty paid to a chemical engineer who was the genesis of this technology.

The company also signed an agreement with FinnMedia AG to consult on business development in Europe and Asia.

Inflection points:

Phase Three drill results from Salar del Diablo program

Advancements in lithium separation technology initiatives

Further financing announcements

Lithium price moves

What the boss says:

Doug Fulcher, OWLs CEO, told investors recently that the company is looking forward to drilling Salar del Diablo.

Last year proved to be a very tough year for exploration companies to start and carry out their exploration programs, Fulcher said. Once OWL is funded, our company can complete Phase Three drilling without exploration disruptions waiting on further financing.

Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas
Arrington Algo Growth Fund will focus on further expanding the Algorand ecosystem

SEATTLE, Wash., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Arrington Capital, a digital asset management firm in blockchain-based capital markets, today announced it has launched a new $100 million USD fund to support initiatives building on Algorand, a leading blockchain accelerating the convergence of decentralized and traditional finance. The Arrington Algo Growth Fund (AAGF) aims to encourage and spur additional development on Algorand, which has seen significant growth and adoption recently across DeFi (decentralized finance), traditional finance, the public sector, NFT space and more.

AAGF will invest in Algorand-focused projects, including liquid and illiquid coins, to empower projects that are creating new financial applications in the Algorand ecosystem. Algorand, the brainchild of Turing Award winner Silvio Micali, was designed from the ground up for modern financial applications and provides the security, decentralization, scalability and efficiency needed to support billions of users  all on a carbon-negative blockchain.

"We are inspired by the traction that Algorand has in the market right now. With unmatched tech, robust developer resources and a vision for long term sustainability, Algorand is empowering its community to more easily create the future of finance," said Michael Arrington, Partner at Arrington Capital. "The launch of this fund represents our commitment to supporting the growth and success of the Algorand ecosystem."

Recent Algorand adoption highlights include Exodus ' announcement of their digital security ($700m valuation), MAPay transforming Bermuda's healthcare system and moving $800m in traditional healthcare payments to Algorand, Bnext revolutionizing the remittances market in Europe and LatAm by processing an initial $100m in remittances on Algorand, and SAP providing an open connector API to enable its enterprise customers much needed interoperability between SAP and the public Algorand blockchain.

"It has been our approach at Algorand since the beginning to partner with those who are contributing in a meaningful way to the Algorand ecosystem as they invest and deploy capital," said W. Sean Ford, COO of Algorand. "The Arrington Algorand Growth Fund represents yet another key strategic pillar in supporting the momentum of those building on top of what we think is the best technical platform for regulated defi and the future of finance."

The launch of AAGF comes on the heels of consistent funds that have been created to support Algorand-based initiatives, including accelerators across Asia and Europe:

$25m fund in Miami

fund in $400m fund from Borderless Capital

fund from Borderless Capital $10m fund for NFTs, and

fund for NFTs, and $250m grant program from the Algorand Foundation

In total, more than half a billion dollars in investment has come from various groups who align with Algorand's long-term vision for the Future of Finance.

About Arrington Capital

Arrington Capital is a digital asset management firm primarily focused on blockchain-based capital markets. The firm, founded in 2017 by TechCrunch and CrunchBase founder Michael Arrington and TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde, has over $1 billion under management and has invested in hundreds of startups across the world. Arrington Capital is a seasoned, international team composed of Silicon Valley veterans and operators with deep venture capital experience and crypto native roots. Arrington Capital's first fund was Arrington XRP Capital, and has expanded to multiple funds over time. For more information on Arrington Capital, visit http://arringtoncapital.com/ .

About Algorand Inc.

Algorand Inc. built the world's first open source, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol for the next generation of financial products. This blockchain, the Algorand protocol, is the brainchild of Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali. A technology company dedicated to removing friction from financial exchange, Algorand Inc. is powering the DeFi evolution by enabling the creation and exchange of value, building new financial tools and services, bringing assets on-chain and providing responsible privacy models. For more information, visit https://www.algorand.com/ .

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Algorand
PORTLAND, Ore., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Automotive Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) Market by Component (Urea Tank, Urea Pump, Engine Control Unit (ECU), and Injector), Vehicle Type (Passenger Vehicle and Commercial Vehicle), and Fuel Type (Gasoline and Diesel): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20192026."According to the report, the global automotive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) industry was estimated at $6.05 billion in 2018, and is anticipated to hit $15.05 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 12.0% from 2019 to 2026.

Download Report (219 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures) at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/6380

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities-

Implementation of emission control regulations by government and rise in automobile production fuel the growth of the global automotive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) market. On the other hand, increase in production of electric vehicles and high cost of catalysts restrain the growth to some extent. However, innovations in emission control catalysts and several government initiatives for emission reduction in developing nations are expected to create lucrative opportunities in the industry.

COVID -19 scenario-

With disruption in Chinese parts exports, large scale manufacturing interruptions across Europe , and the closure of assembly plants in the United States , the global automotive SCR market is likely to experience a downfall during the period.

, and the closure of assembly plants in , the global automotive SCR market is likely to experience a downfall during the period. However, most companies have taken a comprehensive approach and developed a range of scenarios as well as strong contingency plans to navigate through this turbulent time.

Request for Customization of this report at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/6380

The diesel segment to dominate by 2026-

Based on fuel type, the diesel segment accounted for 99% of the global automotive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) market share in 2018, and is expected to rule the roost by the end of 2026. This is due to the widespread usage of diesel as a fuel in commercial vehicles. The gasoline segment, on the other hand, would grow at the fastest CAGR of 28.3% throughout the forecast period.

The passenger cars segment to maintain the dominant share-

Based on vehicle type, the passenger cars segment contributed to more than two-thirds of the global automotive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) market revenue in 2018, and is anticipated to retain its top share till 2026, owing to availability of modern and advanced passenger cars in the developing economies. Simultaneously, the commercial vehicles segment would register the fastest CAGR of 12.7% from 2019 to 2026. This is attributed to rise in demand for better and efficient commercial vehicles across the globe.

Interested to Procure The Data? Inquire here at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/6380

Asia-Pacific to dominate the market, North America to grow significantly-

Based on geography, Asia-Pacific held the highest share in 2018, generating more than half of the global automotive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) market. The same region is also projected to portray the fastest CAGR of 15.1% by 2026. This is due to increased sale of passenger and commercial vehicles across the province. On the other hand, North America is anticipated to manifest the CAGR of 7.4% from 2019 to 2026.

Frontrunners in the industry-

Faurecia

Friedrich Boysen GmbH & Co., KG

Bosal

Johnson Matthey , Kautex Textron GmbH & Co., KG

, Kautex Textron GmbH & Co., KG Magneti Marelli SPA

Robert Bosch GmbH

Tenneco Inc.

Rochling Group

Plastic Omnium SA

Schedule a FREE Consultation Call with Our Analysts/Industry Experts to Find Solution for Your Business at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/6380

Similar Reports We Have on Automotive Industry:

Automotive Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Market 2020-2030: The global automotive electronic control unit (ECU) market is segmented on the basis of technology, vehicle type, and geography.

Drive by Wire Market 2020-2030: The global drive by wire market is segmented into application, vehicle type, component and region.

Automotive Hydrostatic Fan Drive System Market 2020-2030: The global automotive hydrostatic fan drive system market is segmented based on vehicle type, component, pump type, and region.

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Automotive Fuel Delivery and Injection Systems Market 2020-2030: The global automotive fuel delivery and injection system market encompasses vehicle type, fuel type and injector type of the automotive fuel delivery and injection system market.

Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) System Market 2020-2030: The gasoline direct injection (GDI) system market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period owing to advantages such as engine downsizing, improved engine performance & thermal efficiency, high fuel efficiency, turbocharging, and significant reduction in emission.

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.

Pawan Kumar, the CEO of Allied Market Research, is leading the organization toward providing high-quality data and insights. 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. 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.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
VANCOUVER, BC, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE AMERICAN: BTG) (NSX: B2G) ("B2Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has published its fifth annual Responsible Mining Report entitled "Raising the Bar" (the "Report"), which details B2Gold's global economic contributions and its environmental, social, and governance management practices, together with the Company's performance against key indicators in 2020. Full details are outlined in the Report, which is available to view or download at www.b2gold.com. All dollar figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.

In announcing the release of the 2020 Responsible Mining Report, Clive Johnson, President & CEO of B2Gold, said that "for B2Gold and the world, 2020 was an unprecedented year. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way we all live and work, and I could not be more proud of the way that our teams across the globe were able to meet and exceed all expectations and deliver another successful year."

Highlights from 2020 "Raising the Bar" Responsible Mining Report

Economic Contribution

As a responsible gold miner, B2Gold aims to create and distribute economic value among our stakeholders. Our economic performance is measured by the economic value that we generate for others, including payments to governments through taxes and royalties, local hiring and procurement, and investment in communities. In 2020, B2Gold:

recorded annual gold production for the 12th consecutive year;

generated $1.8 Billion in Annual Revenue;

in Annual Revenue; paid $145 million as Employee Wages and Benefits;

as Employee Wages and Benefits; spent $14.4 million on Community Investment; and

on Community Investment; and paid $419 million to Governments (through taxes and royalties).

B2Gold is committed to maximizing local and national economic benefits from its contracting and purchasing. In sourcing the goods and services necessary to run its operations, B2Gold gives preference to local businesses where possible, provided they meet minimum safety, quality, ethical, and cost requirements. Several 2020 success stories are outlined in the Report.

People

As a reputable employer, B2Gold generates opportunities for people to develop their careers; trains employees to acquire new skills; and opens doors to women, minorities, and previously-disadvantaged people. In a contracting world economy due to COVID-19, the social return on investment in the mining industry is now more important than ever. B2Gold is proud to continue positive contributions to the livelihoods of its employees and their families during this challenging time.

At the end of 2020, B2Gold employed 4,2991 people across all of its operations, 95% of which were local employees. Where the Company operates abroad, 55% of senior management is local. B2Gold continues to maintain high local employment rates by targeting recruitment efforts at local and national levels.

B2Gold saw a slight increase in female representation in 2020, with 13.4% of its total workforce being female (12% in 2019), and 23% of its senior positions being occupied by women. A Diversity and Inclusion Statement was implemented in 2020 with an executive champion to drive this important work. Moving forward, the Company will broaden its diversity focus beyond gender and, as such, this important work has evolved into an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy. During a challenging time of lockdowns, quarantines, and changing work arrangements, B2Gold focused on including diverse voices in decision-making processes and providing equal access to benefits and support.

_______________________________ 1 Employee total includes Gramalote Colombia Limited employees. It also includes supervised contracted labour but does not include unsupervised contractor employees. The reported numbers include full-time and part-time permanent employees as well as temporary employees.

Health and Safety

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges to the Company's goal of ensuring the ongoing health and safety of its workforce. Through the proactive efforts and the early targeted actions of B2Gold's senior leadership team, health and safety teams, and epidemiological advisors, the Company was able to significantly mitigate and effectively manage the negative health and safety impacts of COVID-19 on its employees, operations, and the communities in which it operates.

B2Gold is pleased to report that in 2020, it once again maintained a zero-fatality workplace for the fifth consecutive year. Over this same period, B2Gold reduced its annual consolidated Lost Time Injury (LTI) Frequency Rate by 93%  from 0.83 in 2016 to an all-time low of 0.06 in 2020. This performance reflects B2Gold's longstanding commitment to continuous safety improvement. The Company's target for 2021 is to again have zero fatalities and for each operation to reduce its Total Recordable Injury (TRI) Frequency Rate from 2020 levels.

Environment

B2Gold is continuing to implement its 2020 to 2023 Environmental Strategic Plan (the "Strategic Plan"), which identifies key environmental aspects and defines specific objectives and targets for B2Gold's operations. The Strategic Plan provides a road map for improved environmental risk management and performance in line with the overall Company strategy.

B2Gold recognizes that society, including business, must act against climate change and it is implementing a series of changes within the Company as a key aspect of the Strategic Plan. The strategy focuses on assessing and reducing the Company's carbon footprint, incorporating climate change risk management into business planning/design, and increasing its external reporting and accountability. B2Gold will publish its first Energy and Climate Report in the second half of 2021, in line with the FSB TFCD Climate Disclosure Recommendations.

B2Gold is proud to be an industry leader in the implementation of renewable energy solutions to actively manage our emissions. The Company's Otjikoto operation in Namibia maintains a fully autonomous hybrid power plant (consisting of 6 MW solar and 24 MW Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) components), which eliminated over 17,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) emissions in 2020. Following the success of the Otjikoto hybrid power plant, B2Gold commenced the construction of a similar hybrid plant (consisting of 30 MW solar and 64 MW HFO components) at its Fekola operation in Mali in 2020. The Company expects that solar production will reach full capacity by the end of the second quarter of 2021. When complete, the Fekola hybrid power plant will be one of the largest off-grid facilities of its type in the world and is expected to reduce the operation's annual HFO fuel consumption by approximately 13.1 million litres, keeping approximately 39,000 tonnes of CO 2 e from being released per year.

Throughout 2020, B2Gold continued its biodiversity conservation programs at its various sites around the world. Download our full Report and read more about our Chimpanzee Action plan in Mali, the Rhino Gold Bar initiative in Namibia, and the "Ridge to Reef" rehabilitation concept in the Philippines.

Approach to Reporting

Since 2016, B2Gold has reported its economic and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in alignment with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards, Core option and the G4 Mining and Metals Sector Disclosures. B2Gold's performance is also mapped to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Company firmly believes that the mining industry has an opportunity to contribute positively to the SDGs and B2Gold has reported its contribution in this regard since 2018.

In 2020, the Company updated its approach to reporting against the SDGs in alignment with the GRI and UN Global Compact's An Analysis of the Goals and Targets. As part of this process, B2Gold reviewed the targets developed for each SDG to identify those targets which are most applicable to the Company, as well as possible business actions to help achieve them.

COVID-19 Response Statement

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company put measures in place and introduced additional precautionary steps to manage and respond to the risks associated with COVID-19 to ensure the safety of its employees and surrounding communities.

B2Gold has worked closely with national and local authorities in each country where it operates to ensure compliance with all public directives. Since the start of the pandemic, all B2Gold corporate personnel travel has been restricted to absolute minimum requirements and employees in the corporate offices have been encouraged to work remotely. In Mali, Namibia, the Philippines, Colombia and Canada, B2Gold provided approximately $4 million in financial assistance to the local communities and the local and national authorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please read the Report for more detail.

The Company continues to address the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The pandemic continues to present new challenges, as COVID-19 cases surge again in different parts of the world at different times. Government and the private sector, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the mining industry, must work together to ensure continued success around the globe in recovering from this public health crisis.

To view or download a copy of the Report, please visit www.b2gold.com/responsible-mining/esg-reporting-portal/.

About B2Gold Corp.

B2Gold is a low-cost international senior gold producer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has operating gold mines in Mali, Namibia and the Philippines and numerous exploration and development projects in various countries including Mali, Colombia, Burkina Faso, Finland and Uzbekistan. B2Gold forecasts total consolidated gold production of between 970,000 and 1,030,000 ounces in 2021.

ON BEHALF OF B2GOLD CORP.

"Clive T. Johnson"

President & Chief Executive Officer

For more information on B2Gold, please visit the Company website at www.b2gold.com or contact:

Ian MacLean,

Vice President, Investor Relations,

+1 604-681-8371,

[email protected]; Katie Bromley,

Manager, Investor Relations & Public Relations,

+1 604-681-8371,

[email protected]

The Toronto Stock Exchange and NYSE American LLC neither approve nor disapprove the information contained in this news release.

Production results and production guidance presented in this news release reflect total production at the mines B2Gold operates on a 100% project basis. Please see our Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2021 for a discussion of our ownership interest in the mines B2Gold operates.

This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation, including: projections; outlook; guidance; forecasts; estimates; and other statements regarding future or estimated financial and operational performance, gold production and sales, revenues and cash flows, and capital costs (sustaining and non-sustaining) and operating costs, including projected cash operating costs and AISC, and budgets on a consolidated and mine by mine basis; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on B2Gold's operations, including any restrictions or suspensions with respect to our operations and the effect of any such restrictions or suspensions on our financial and operational results; the ability of the Company to successfully maintain our operations if they are temporarily suspended, and to restart or ramp-up these operations efficiently and economically, the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's workforce, suppliers and other essential resources and what effect those impacts, if they occur, would have on our business, our planned capital and exploration expenditures; future or estimated mine life, metal price assumptions, ore grades or sources, gold recovery rates, stripping ratios, throughput, ore processing; statements regarding anticipated exploration, drilling, development, construction, permitting and other activities or achievements of B2Gold; and including, without limitation: total consolidated gold production of between 970,000 and 1,030,000 ounces in 2021; and the anticipated cost, timing and results for the addition of a solar plant to the Fekola Mine, including the completion of construction by the end of the second quarter of 2021. All statements in this news release that address events or developments that we expect to occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, although not always, identified by words such as "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "project", "target", "potential", "schedule", "forecast", "budget", "estimate", "intend" or "believe" and similar expressions or their negative connotations, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur. All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made.

Forward-looking statements necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond B2Gold's control, including risks associated with or related to: the duration and extent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effectiveness of preventative measures and contingency plans put in place by the Company to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including, but not limited to, social distancing, a non-essential travel ban, business continuity plans, and efforts to mitigate supply chain disruptions; escalation of travel restrictions on people or products and reductions in the ability of the Company to transport and refine dore; the volatility of metal prices and B2Gold's common shares; changes in tax laws; the dangers inherent in exploration, development and mining activities; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates; not achieving production, cost or other estimates; actual production, development plans and costs differing materially from the estimates in B2Gold's feasibility and other studies; the ability to obtain and maintain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for mining activities; environmental regulations or hazards and compliance with complex regulations associated with mining activities; climate change and climate change regulations; the ability to replace mineral reserves and identify acquisition opportunities; the unknown liabilities of companies acquired by B2Gold; the ability to successfully integrate new acquisitions; fluctuations in exchange rates; the availability of financing; financing and debt activities, including potential restrictions imposed on B2Gold's operations as a result thereof and the ability to generate sufficient cash flows; operations in foreign and developing countries and the compliance with foreign laws, including those associated with operations in Mali, Namibia, the Philippines, Colombia and Burkina Faso and including risks related to changes in foreign laws and changing policies related to mining and local ownership requirements or resource nationalization generally, including in response to the COVID-19 outbreak; remote operations and the availability of adequate infrastructure; fluctuations in price and availability of energy and other inputs necessary for mining operations; shortages or cost increases in necessary equipment, supplies and labour; regulatory, political and country risks, including local instability or acts of terrorism and the effects thereof; the reliance upon contractors, third parties and joint venture partners; the lack of sole decision-making authority related to Filminera Resources Corporation, which owns the Masbate Project; challenges to title or surface rights; the dependence on key personnel and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the risk of an uninsurable or uninsured loss; adverse climate and weather conditions; litigation risk; competition with other mining companies; community support for B2Gold's operations, including risks related to strikes and the halting of such operations from time to time; conflicts with small scale miners; failures of information systems or information security threats; the ability to maintain adequate internal controls over financial reporting as required by law, including Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; compliance with anti-corruption laws, and sanctions or other similar measures; social media and B2Gold's reputation; risks affecting Calibre having an impact on the value of the Company's investment in Calibre, and potential dilution of our equity interest in Calibre; as well as other factors identified and as described in more detail under the heading "Risk Factors" in B2Gold's most recent Annual Information Form, B2Gold's current Form 40-F Annual Report and B2Gold's other filings with Canadian securities regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which may be viewed at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively (the "Websites"). The list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect B2Gold's forward-looking statements

B2Gold's forward-looking statements are based on the applicable assumptions and factors management considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to management at such time. These assumptions and factors include, but are not limited to, assumptions and factors related to B2Gold's ability to carry on current and future operations, including: the duration and effects of COVID-19 on our operations and workforce; development and exploration activities; the timing, extent, duration and economic viability of such operations, including any mineral resources or reserves identified thereby; the accuracy and reliability of estimates, projections, forecasts, studies and assessments; B2Gold's ability to meet or achieve estimates, projections and forecasts; the availability and cost of inputs; the price and market for outputs, including gold; foreign exchange rates; taxation levels; the timely receipt of necessary approvals or permits; the ability to meet current and future obligations; the ability to obtain timely financing on reasonable terms when required; the current and future social, economic and political conditions; and other assumptions and factors generally associated with the mining industry.

B2Gold's forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management and reflect their current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. B2Gold does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what benefits or liabilities B2Gold will derive therefrom. For the reasons set forth above, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.

SOURCE B2Gold Corp.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- An estimated three in ten Americans who are homeless also suffer from serious mental illness (SMI), an indication of the acute lack of affordable, stable housing for some of our society's most vulnerable members. An innovative project, funded by a grant from Cardinal Innovations Healthcare, hopes to use micro-housing configured with supportive services and nearby amenities to help overcome this problem in North Carolina and nationally.



A public/private partnership between Cross Disability Services, Inc. (XDS) and The School of Social Work (SSW) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will use a $100,000 grant from Cardinal Innovations to develop "Tiny Homes Village" (THV) whose primary purpose is to offer "well-designed, affordable, permanent homes to support the health and wellbeing of people with SMI."

According to the grant application, the project will comprise 15 tiny homes, each valued at $50,000 with approximately 350 square feet of living space. The homes will be built in a village with a communal clubhouse, green spaces and ready access to public transportation and a variety of community-based services.

Residents of the THV will receive Permanent Supportive Housing (PHS), a service model that has been proven effective at supporting the successful integration of people with SMI into the community by improving mental health outcomes while reducing health care costs.

XDS is the owner and operator of THV, located adjacent to the Farm at Penny Lane in northeastern Chatham County, NC. Thava Mahadevan, MS, CEO of XDS, is the founder and co-director with Amy Blank Wilson, PhD, associate professor at the UNC-CH School of Social Work, the primary sponsor. Construction began in March 2020 and is expected to be completed in October 2021.

Residents will receive long-term leases and pay one-third of their monthly income to rent a tiny home. Veterans will be given priority consideration for five of the homes.

"Access to safe and affordable housing is a fundamental human right," said Thava Mahadevan, Executive Director, XDS Inc. and Director of Operations for the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health. "The Tiny Homes Village project has the potential to transform the lives of people impacted by mental health conditions. We are grateful to Cardinal Innovations for their generous support and partnership on this initiative."

The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health will be the primary service provider for the project. Its staff will work with residents to develop individual wellness plans. Peer support specialists also will be available on-site. A wide range of ancillary activities will be offered in the village such as yoga, horticultural therapy, art and music classes and cooking lessons, and banks, grocery stores, transportation and other educational programs will be accessible nearby.

"Tiny Homes Village is an exciting and pioneering effort in support of those with SMI," said Trey Sutten, Cardinal Innovations CEO. "Addressing the vitally important element of affordable and stable housing is the foundation for health and wellbeing. We are honored to be a partner in helping to realize such an important project with great potential to become a national model."

About Cardinal Innovations Healthcare: Cardinal Innovations Healthcare is a specialized health plan and care coordinator for Medicaid recipients and the under- and uninsured in North Carolina with complex behavioral and special needs. Cardinal Innovations connects people with treatment and support for mental health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and substance use disorders through a network of providers in their communities. The organization serves this important role in 20 counties. In 2020, Cardinal Innovations administered nearly $850 million for the care of 825,000 people in the region and invested more than $50 million to improve support systems and to respond to the pandemic. Cardinal Innovations also works with local governments to address public health concerns such as homelessness, suicide prevention, child welfare and domestic violence through education, engagement and outreach.

Additional information:

SOURCE Cardinal Innovations Healthcare

Related Links

https://www.cardinalinnovations.org


LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CleanEquity was founded in 2007 by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco & Mungo Park, Chair of Innovator Capital. The conference, aimed at accelerating development and implementation of sustainable technology innovation, returns on 22nd & 23rd July 2021.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Over 600 companies across 11 sectors and 70 sub-sectors are sourced annually by Innovator Capital's CleanEquity team. The 30 best-in-class technologies, chosen by the selection committee are invited to present at the conference. The invitation-only conference is attended by financial, strategic, sovereign, corporate and family investors, established industry representatives, government officials, end users and international trade media. The chosen companies must meet high standards of unique technological differentiation, global relevance & impact, management ability & integrity, intellectual property and self-sustaining revenue potential.

In the 14 years since its founding, more than 350 companies have presented their ideas and solutions to advance climate change mitigation and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. These companies have since gone on to raise over US$2 billion.

The conference provides an intimate and collegiate setting. This allows entrepreneurs to share their stories with established delegates and investors in key decision-making positions who share CleanEquity's ambition to address the climate crisis by supporting sustainable technologies with reaching their commercial and strategic goals. CleanEquity's proven team works efficiently to facilitate introductions and meetings before, during and after the conference.

In 2020 we joined forces with EarthX TV and opened our doors to a live, global audience. During the two day conference, over 28,000 people tuned in. We shall build on this success in 2021.

We are delighted to be partnering with Covington & Burling LLP for their 12th year. Andrew Jack, Partner and co-chair of Covington & Burling's Energy Industry Group, commented:

"In a time of global disruption and societal inflection, we all need reminders that the future remains full of promise if we seize the opportunities that are before us. As long time sponsors and supporters of CleanEquity, we at Covington deeply appreciate the differentiated value proposition that CleanEquity holds for that promise by convening leading entrepreneurs, investors and advisors from around the globe to drive progress in commercializing transformational sustainable technologies and expanding sustainability thought leadership.

Covington is proud to support and assist CleanEquity through our year-round commitment of a dedicated group of senior technology, policy and transactional lawyers to source and advise CleanEquity investors and presenting companies. And as the conference continues to leverage the unique in-person features of its special setting in Monaco while also expanding its reach through a virtual medium on EarthX, we look forward to greater opportunities to connect with a broader universe of conference participants.

In a world that is increasingly complex and resetting rules in recovery from the pandemic, Covington & Burling has built a powerful firm-wide capability to help our clients navigate the intersection of law and policy, a capability which is aligned perfectly with the dynamic development of the global sustainable technology sector and the focus of events such as CleanEquity Monaco. The firm's transactional and technology expertise coupled with our ability to advise on the toughest legal, policy and commercial challenges produces consistent results for our clients' businesses."

For further information about attending CleanEquity Monaco 2021, please use the contact details below or visit the conference website: www.cleanequitymonaco.com

Contact:

Conor Barrett

Innovator Capital

[email protected]

Twitter: @CleanEquity

SOURCE Innovator Capital

Related Links

www.innovator-capital.com


The official opening of Costa Rican Exports Promotion Agency PROCOMER's trade promotion office took place on Tuesday, June 8 at the headquarters of the Greater Houston Partnership, the city's largest Chamber of Commerce. The Central American Chamber of Commerce - Texas, the Houston Port Authority, the Mayor's Office of Trade, businessmen and members of the press were also in attendance. This is PROCOMER's 4th office in the USA and its 6th in North America, where there is already a Costa Rican presence in Miami, New York and California, as well as in Canada and Mexico.

Various studies carried out by PROCOMER have identified potential for exports in southern and eastern USA in sectors such as foodservice, information and communications technology (ICT), agricultural products, roasted coffee, health care services, the aerospace industry and artisan beer, among others; products that Costa Rica produces with certified quality.

"Texas is the ninth-largest economy in the world, as corroborated by the intensive migration of people and companies from other US states, because of its pro-business environment and job growth. Additionally, 30% of Costa Rica's international trade with the USA is with the state of Texas. It is for these reasons, and others such as opportunities in information and communications technology, creative industries, biotechnology and life sciences, digital animation, advanced manufacturing and medical technologies, that we decided to increase our presence in this state. We have detected strategic opportunities in this region, and the goal of this trade promotion office (TPO) is to leverage them and to continue building a solid commercial relationship that allows us to do purposeful business focused on people, the planet and prosperity," said Pedro Beirute Prada, General Manager of PROCOMER.

Costa Rica's Promoter of Foreign Trade indicated that moving into the south-east region of the USA is a good strategy for the country as the growth in GDP in those states has been highly dynamic. Additionally, the five states with the greatest share of the Hispanic or Latin American population belong to the West, which is an advantage since its population is accustomed to the region's products.

"We see great potential in establishing alliances in the service sector. Houston is a leader in the development of pro-business environments, and its innovation funnel represents an opportunity to connect with Costa Rican entrepreneurs that have broad skills and talent they can bring to developing big projects that benefit both countries," added Beirute.

As well as offering the products and services of Costa Rica to buyers in Texas, promoting the country's Essential Costa Rica brand, establishing alliances with chambers of commerce, centers for entrepreneurship and innovation, and sector associations; the PROCOMER trade promotion office in this state will offer other services: operating under a multi-purpose office model and working to attract direct foreign investment together with Costa Rica's investment promotion agency CINDE, in turn facilitating the work of representing business interests carried out by the Costa Rican Consulate in the city, thus providing support for the collaboration strategies maintained with the Chancellery.

PROCOMER's TPO in Houston will be run by Andrew Crawford Bolton, who has served as director of other PROCOMER offices, such as those in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. For more information, you can email him at [email protected].

Costa Rica in numbers

Despite the global crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Costa Rica showed itself to be a resilient country, with an export sector that overcame the challenges of 2020 with 1.9% growth in the export of goods, leading to an all-time record of $11.683 billion, $202 million more than was exported in 2019, a year in which there was no pandemic.

The four main sectors for Costa Rican exports gave a positive closing to 2020: precision and medical equipment exported +8% and represented 34% of total exported goods, the agricultural sector grew by 2% and had a 24% share in 2020, the food industry achieved a performance of +7% with a representation of 14%, while the pharmaceutical sector increased by 3% and covered 6% of all exports.

In 2020, Costa Rica exported a total of $4.91 billion in goods, the precision and medical equipment sector being the biggest contributor with exports of $2.53 billion; this is Costa Rica's main export sector (34% of the total) and the main sector for exports to the USA (52% of the total). The second largest sector is agriculture, with $1.287 billion in 2020 (26% of the total). Texas, specifically, imported approximately $408 million of Costa Rican goods in 2020, making it the 4th destination state in the USA.

The general manager of PROCOMER stated that 2020 was a very challenging year that negatively affected many sectors in Costa Rica and across the world. It was a year that tested the capacity for innovation and the reinvention of people and companies. Yet, despite the pandemic, the closure of borders and other barriers, the Costa Rican export sector showed a high capacity for resilience, strengthened by good practices in the country in terms of sustainability, diversification of destinations, clients, modes of transport and innovation in sales channels.

SOURCE PROCOMER

Related Links

www.procomer.com


The awards recognize Digi-Key's contributions to Vishay's North American revenue growth, customer count and more over the past year. Vishay offers a broad passive and semiconductor product offering, and their diverse portfolio is of critical importance to the global engineering community. Digi-Key is proud to partner with and represent their global position in many key industries worldwide including medical markets, automotive, consumer, telecommunications, military, aerospace, industrial and computing.

"Both of these recognitions are an honor to the Digi-Key team and represent our team's efforts and dedication to such a significant contributor to the global engineering community," said David Stein, vice president of global supplier management for Digi-Key. "We are proud to partner with a global leader in our industry, and our achievement is a shared partnership success."

"Digi-Key consistently demonstrates, in the most challenging environments, the ability to acquire and connect customers to our broad portfolio of essential components," said Dave Valletta, executive vice president of sales at Vishay Intertechnology. "We are pleased to present the Americas team with the Catalog Distributor of the Year and the Catalog Semiconductor Distributor of the year awards."

For more information, or to order from Digi-Key's full line of Vishay products, please visit any of Digi-Key's global websites.

About Vishay Intertechnology

Vishay manufactures one of the world's largest portfolios of discrete semiconductors and passive electronic components that are essential to innovative designs in the automotive, industrial, computing, consumer, telecommunications, military, aerospace, and medical markets. Serving customers worldwide, Vishay is The DNA of tech.TM Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. is a Fortune 1,000 Company listed on the NYSE (VSH).

About Digi-Key Electronics

Digi-Key Electronics, headquartered in Thief River Falls, Minn., USA, is an authorized global, full-service distributor of electronic components, and provides access to unlimited adjacent products and technologies through their online Marketplace. They offer more than 11.8 million components, with over 2.6 million in stock and available for immediate shipment, from over 1,700 quality name-brand manufacturers. In addition, Marketplace Product provides a singular shopping experience for all things related to technology innovation  IoT, industrial automation, test and measurement and more. Additional information and access to the world's broadest resources for technology innovation can be found by visiting www.digikey.com and on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Editorial Contact

Shelli Lissick

Bellmont Partners

+1 651 276 6922

[email protected]

SOURCE Digi-Key Electronics

Related Links

http://www.digikey.com


LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A monumental signing for the Commonwealth of Dominica's international airport took place at Windsor Park Stadium on Wednesday. The agreement saw the Government of Dominica and Montreal Management Consultants (MMCE) move one step closer to the development and construction of the airport. The project  funded entirely by the country's Citizenship by Investment Programme  is set to be completed by 2025.

The new airport, and the years taken to construct it, will be life-changing for Dominica and its citizens, providing both job creation and an expected spike in tourism across the island once completed. Visitors from around the world will now have even easier access to truly experience the island known as the Caribbean's best-kept secret.

Dominica's natural beauty, welcoming community, and its exceptional handling of the Covid-19 pandemic have already made it a popular tourist destination particularly for visitors from the United States and Europe. Once the new airport is completed, it will allow even more tourists to truly discover Dominica.

The international airport will enable Dominica to further diversify its economy by becoming a more central hub for business purposes and trade. Locally, those in the farming and fisheries sectors will greatly benefit, as exporting to the United States and other countries across the globe will become a viable option.

"We need this airport to achieve the economic diversification which we have been speaking about for many decades. We need the international airport if we are to position ourselves with the rest of the region and the world by extension," stated Minister for Blue and Green Economy, Agriculture, and National Food Security, Fidel Grant.

Dominica is committed to becoming climate-resilient with a ban on plastic already in place and a thriving eco-tourism sector that has already seen construction of luxury resorts from renowned hoteliers like Kempinski, Marriott and Hilton. With a geo-thermal plant set to be completed next year and numerous natural beauty spots such as boiling lake, the island prioritises the wellness of both its environment and its people. The international airport will only further assist in allowing others to benefit from the island.

"After today, the airport will begin to rise out of the ground, then from the ground to the air. And I give you this solemn assurance that planes will land here direct from Europe and the United States of America in 2025," said Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.

The airport is fully funded by Dominica's Citizenship by Investment Programme, which has, since 1993, been pivotal to the country's national development. From healthcare to tourism to aviation, investments generated under the Programme have made a positive impact to almost all sectors of Dominican society. For nearly three decades, CBI has welcomed foreign investors and their families to become citizens of the country once making an economic contribution through either the Economic Diversification Fund or through the purchase of real estate. The real estate arm offers investors the chance to buy into eco-luxury properties from either top tier hotel giants to unique boutique resorts like Secret Bay or Jungle Bay.

The signing of the agreement to begin construction on Dominica's international airport is a historical moment for an island that has made significant strides in rebuilding itself since the devastation felt by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The boost to tourism, the economy and the morale of the Dominican people will allow the island to opens its doors even wider to the rest of the world.

Contact: +447867942505, [email protected], www.csglobalpartners.com

SOURCE CS Global Partners

Related Links

http://www.csglobalpartners.com


AUSTIN, Texas, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Projections, Inc. is proud to announce DPI Academy's participation in the 2021 Texas CTO Clinic on June 16th and 17th. The event will be held at the Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center in Georgetown, TX. "Participation in this clinic is important to us as it is our way of investing in teachers that have worked so tirelessly to teach and engage young learners this past year, even amidst the most challenging of circumstances," said Matthew Zaleski, President of Data Projections.

With CARES Act funding for public education, students now have access to more technology devices at school than ever before, including digital applications, STEM related tools, and interactive displays. In response, Data Projections formed DPI Academy to empower and equip teachers to integrate this classroom technology in new and effective ways that will engage students and promote active learning.

DPI Academy's session at the Texas CTO Clinic will focus on sharing purpose-driven professional development with educators, teaching them how to leverage technology and award-winning digital platforms to support areas such as Social Emotional Learning, Google Workspace for Education, Learning Recovery, ESL/ELL, and STEM. The session will be taught by Data Projections' Director of Business Development, Sandy Hill, and Director of Education Sales, Chris Mitchell, along with Alex Urrea from Eduscape.

"To be a part of this amazing group of skilled presenters at the Texas CTO Clinic is wonderful, but to have the opportunity to support everyday superheroes like teachers is truly an honor," Zaleski concluded.

About Data Projections:

Founded in 1987, Data Projections has grown into a leader in the audio/visual solutions industry. With offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Data Projections focuses on the businesses and institutions that also call Texas home. Data Projections offers its clients the ability to connect with others, collaborate in innovate ways and simplify even the most technically complex processes. Visit www.dataprojections.com to learn more.

Media Contact:

Beth Guide

713-703-3030

[email protected]

SOURCE Data Projections
The specialty pharma group's key commercial activity initially is in-licensing drugs from companies in Europe, Asia, and the US

Valeo Pharma Inc (CSE:VPH) (OTCQB:VPHIF) (FRA:VP2) is a company on a roll.

At the end of May this year, Valeo told investors that for the three months to April 30, 2021, it is projecting revenues to have risen by over 40% compared to the first quarter of its fiscal year and gross margins to have doubled.

The company put this growth down to the commercial launch of its anticoagulant drug Redesca during the period. And the specialty pharma group, which specializes in bringing innovative prescription products to market in Canada, says there are more drug launches to come soon.

Proactive sat down recently with Valeo CEO Steve Saviuk (SS) to find out more about the company and its growth story.

PROACTIVE: For those who may not know anything about the company, can you outline what Valeo Pharma does?

SS: We're a Canadian pharmaceutical company focused, for the time being, only on the Canadian market. We're a full-service pharma so we do everything that the typical Big Pharma would do other than develop drugs, or manufacture drugs. So our key commercial activity initially is in-licensing drugs and we do so from companies in Europe, Asia, US. These are innovative drugs that are not available in Canada. We bring them to Canada, and then we do everything after that, from the registration, all the commercial activities, as well as all the medical activities without taking on the risks and costs associated with the clinical development side of such drugs.

PROACTIVE: Can you tell us a little bit more about the portfolio you've got and why you pick the drugs you do?

SS: Well, some people refer to the company as Valeo 2.0. The company started in 2003 and we built a portfolio of drugs which we ultimately sold to Bausch Health, or what was known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals at the time. Subsequently, we focused on two therapeutic areas - neurology and oncology - so we have drugs in both of those categories. But more recently, we have launched a low molecular weight heparin biosimilar and we've in-licensed some major drugs from Novartis in the asthma space.

So now with that we have become a respiratory, specialty products, neurology, and oncology company. The key focus as to why we would select those therapeutic areas is the ability to reach healthcare professionals with a relatively small sales force. The other aspect is that we're looking for innovative drugs, so drugs that really bring a benefit to patients, to healthcare providers, whether it be with less side effects, better efficacy, or potentially even a lower price.

PROACTIVE: You mention there the Novartis deal struck in March this year for asthma drugs Enerzair Breezhaler and Atectura Breezhaler. Can you explain what this means for the company and your growth this year?

SS: It puts us into a totally different league. Asthma is a big area in Canada. The asthma maintenance market is about C$800 million per year. These two new asthma drugs, they are new, they were just approved last summer by Health Canada, and are top of the class. They're the best drugs in the category. They definitely will bring benefits to asthma patients. So the size of the market is big.

The products themselves are first in class, best in class, with a clear benefit over the existing standard of care. And what it does for us is it changes us from a company that had mid-40s employees - we're going up to about C$120 million revenue growth, with up to C$160 million projected in five years, from about C$8 million last year. So huge growth, largely on the back of these two drugs.

Obviously, we have others (drugs). We have about a dozen drugs that we currently commercialize, including these two asthma drugs. But these two asthma drugs will be 60% of that revenue, and then our other drugs will provide the balance.

PROACTIVE: Where else are you expecting to see more growth in the coming year?

SS: The other focus is a drug called Redesca, which we launched about a month ago. Redesca is a blood thinner - an anticoagulant. It's a large market in Canada ($200M), it's an injectable drug. It's the first of what's known as a biosimilar. So it's a drug that's biologically equivalent to an existing drug.

Sales are doing very well. I would say almost exceeding our early expectations. We expect this drug will be about a C$30 million a year annual revenue drug within 24 months.

So again, in the short term, this will be the big driver - Redesca. In the medium term and I mean, nine months out, you will start seeing the asthma drugs really kicking in and those three will drive our quarterly growth going forward, at least as we see it today.

I mean we're always looking at in-licensing more drugs and we have a number of them already in discussion. So I would say to you now, people stay tuned. We have a very diversified portfolio, but obviously, these three are the key.

PROACTIVE: Your Q1 results clearly showed a growing company. Can you outline the path you hope to take towards profitability?

SS: I think you'll see better results in Q2. I don't think, I know. We haven't mentioned anything publicly about that, but it will be a much better quarter than Q1, because of the launch of Redesca. Had we not done the Novartis deal we would be a profitable company going forward. I mean the Redesca launch is certainly generating enough cashflow for that. With the licensing from Novartis of these two key products, there will be a 3Q dip into continuing negative cashflow followed then by even stronger positive cashflow. So I would say mid-year next year, 2022, look to us to be starting to be very profitable going forward and no turning back.

PROACTIVE: In January this year, you brought on a new president and chief operating officer, Frederic Fasano. What does he bring to the table?

SS: I look at our company and think how are we going to get to where we would like to go in terms of revenue. There are two aspects. One is the products, clearly you need world-class products that have that revenue potential.

But the second thing you need to do and equally important is you got to execute and to execute means you have to have the people that have the experience to execute. Fred comes to us with 25 years of Pharma experience, ten years running Servier in Canada, which is quite a substantial company.

An entrepreneurial spirit and really the leader in building out this management team as we are building out our sales force. You need people that have taken a company to a certain level that we aspire to get to. And Fred has done that.

And as a result, now the management team is stronger. And I think we've taken a lot of the risk out of the execution part. So I think we have the products to drive us. And we have a great and getting better, even greater management team.

We'll make some announcements on that front shortly, because we've been hiring a lot of people and I think we haven't given the market a sense of that. Sales coverage across Canada is starting shortly and again expanding the internal team a bit to take over, with a stronger medical department - the things you need to execute and grow to that level of revenue.

PROACTIVE: We were talking earlier about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Does that change anything in your strategy or do you think there'll be different opportunities for a company like yours because of it?

SS: I think there's a couple of factors there. Number one, I think the way Pharma companies interact with healthcare professionals has changed in the last year. There's much more digital outreach. I think that will continue. I think there will be a swing back to face-to-face visits but I think a lot of people realize that there's a lot of efficiency by having these type of discussions rather than waiting an hour in a doctor's office, which serves not much. I think our reps will be much more effective.

As for products, we actually have a product we haven't spoken about yet. It's called Hesperco. It's a flavonoid so it's a naturally occurring substance - it's considered a natural product. The medicinal ingredient is called hesperidin and there is a clinical trial currently underway at the Montreal Heart Institute using our product for treatment of patients that have symptoms from COVID-19.

The trial is fully enrolled, a 216 patient, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial, we expect a summer readout. If the results are what we would anticipate that'll be a fourth product that will swing in as a strong revenue contributor. And one thing that I need to further highlight is the fact that we do not take on R&D risk, we don't take the clinical development risk. You say, Steve, you just talked to me about a clinical trial? Well, actually, that trial was funded by the Institute itself because the data we presented in terms of pre-clinical was so compelling they felt that they needed to do it. So I'm quite encouraged about this trial. It's potentially another product that will have a really strong appeal -worldwide, we have the worldwide rights to that product.

Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
TORONTO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Toronto-based international payments and Foreign Exchange firm Dunbridge Financial announced today that they have entered an exclusive partnership with Tim-Br Marts Ltd. (TIMBER MART), one of Canada's largest buying groups for independent building material and hardware dealers. The partnership will offer all TIMBER MART members access to industry-leading foreign exchange, global payment and receipts, and currency risk management solutions.

As a trusted partner, Dunbridge Financial will provide TIMBER MART locations across Canada with cost effective, secure money transfer solutions for all their foreign purchasing and revenue repatriation needs. Dunbridge Financials' international payment solutions will help TIMBER MART locations mitigate foreign currency risk and offer preferred FX pricing, all managed from a single platform.

Speaking on the partnership, Dunbridge CEO Alex Arnold said "We are thrilled to align ourselves with this well-established and trusted brand within the Canadian market. We look forward to supporting TIMBER MART members with their international payment needs and to help take the complexity and cost out of procuring goods internationally".

Kurt Norlen, National Procurement Manager for TIMBER MART added "We are very excited to add a premier Financial Services brand to our collection of programs, which will allow our members to receive preferred pricing and catered service when transacting internationally."

The partnership will also make it easier for foreign suppliers of building materials and hardware products to enter the Canadian market and get their merchandise on Canadian shelves.

About Dunbridge Financial

Dunbridge Financial provides customer-first technology led, global money movement solutions to corporate customers across North America. With an industry leading digital platform, and services that include foreign exchange, international payments and receipts, and FX risk management, Dunbridge Financial is a feature-rich financial services company that allows customers to operate and grow globally, confidently.

About TIMBER MART

Founded in 1967, TIMBER MART is the largest national member-owned buying group in Canada for the true independent entrepreneur. With hundreds of members, including independent building-material and hardware retailers, commercial dealers and manufacturers located in every province across Canada, TIMBER MART provides its extensive dealer network with a menu of competitive buying programs, comprehensive marketing services and personalized support to drive independent business success.

SOURCE Dunbridge Financial
SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The global durable medical equipment rental market size is expected to reach USD 35.4 billion by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2021 to 2028. The growth is attributable to financial benefits offered by renting durable medical equipment (DME) as it aids in bridging the gap between capital availability and clinical needs. Moreover, before buying, renting DME helps in determining whether or not they are a suitable fit.

Key suggestions from the report:

The bathroom safety and medical furniture segment accounted for the largest revenue share of 56.4% in 2020 owing to growing technological innovations in such medical equipment

The hospitals' segment accounted for the largest revenue share of 59.2% in 2020 owing to huge patient footfall in comparison to laboratories and institutes coupled with growing need to keep up with technological advancements

North America contributed for the largest revenue share of 32.5% owing to the presence of dominant market players, high healthcare expenditure, and high adoption rate for advanced medical technologies

Read 187 page research report with ToC on "Durable Medical Equipment Rental Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Application, By End-use (Personal/Home Care, Institutes & Laboratories, Hospitals), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/durable-medical-equipment-rental-market

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the supply chains of various medical devices. The shelter-in-place mandates have led to a shortage in the workforce across the supply chain industry. However, there has been a sudden surge in the demand for respiratory equipment owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The DME rental players are fulfilling these demands for hospitals as well as home care patients. Looking at the short-term necessity of these products, and to boost sales, various local manufacturers have come up with a marketing strategy that involves renting out this equipment. Therefore, the market for DME rental is projected to grow with a lucrative CAGR during the pandemic crisis.

The rising number of people with disabilities across the globe is boosting the demand for wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, and other such personal mobility equipment and aids. This, in turn, boosts the demand for DME rental. According to the WHO, more than a billion people have some form of disability in the world that accounts for around 15% of the global population. Also, there is a rapid increase in the number of people with disabilities owing to rising chronic health conditions and demographic trends. For instance, over 54 million adults have arthritis in the US according to a study by the CDC. This number is projected to cross 78 million by 2040.

The market is also driven by the growing demand for therapeutic and monitoring equipment. This demand is attributable to improving healthcare infrastructure across the globe coupled with continuous technological advancements in durable medical equipment. Renting advanced durable medical equipment helps in keeping up with the changing technology in a cost-effective manner. Moreover, people who need mobility equipment temporarily mostly prefer renting.

The rise of financial services for renting DME has been beneficial for various end-users such as hospitals, institutes & laboratories, as well as home care. Moreover, renting equipment confers cost benefits to end-users, as it reduces ownership costs and in turn allows these players to adopt advanced product modules. Medical equipment insurers typically cover around 50% to 80% of the overall cost of durable medical equipment such as a wheelchair. The maintenance and insurance are taken care of by the provider. This, in turn, reduces the risk for end-user and augments the growth of the market.

Grand View Research has segmented the global durable medical equipment rental market on the basis of application, end-use, and region:

DME Rental Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2016 - 2028)

Personal Mobility Devices



Bathroom Safety and Medical Furniture



Monitoring and Therapeutic Devices

DME Rental End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2016 - 2028)

Personal/Home care



Institutes and laboratories



Hospitals

DME Rental Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2016 - 2028)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



U.K.





Germany





France





Italy





Spain



Asia Pacific



China





Japan





India





Australia





South Korea



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico



Middle East & Africa

&

South Africa





UAE

List of Key Players of Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Rental Market

Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.

Siemens Financial Services, Inc.

Nunn's Home Medical Equipment

Westside Medical Supply

Universal Hospital Services, Inc.

Woodley Equipment Company Ltd.

C.N.Y Medical Products Inc.

All American Medical Supply Corp.

Homepro Medical Supplies, LLC

Find more research reports on Medical Devices Industry, by Grand View Research:

U.S. Durable Medical Equipment Market  The U.S. durable medical equipment market size is expected to reach USD 84.3 billion by 2028. Increasing penetration of home healthcare services & staff are factors driving the demand for durable medical equipment.

The U.S. durable medical equipment market size is expected to reach by 2028. Increasing penetration of home healthcare services & staff are factors driving the demand for durable medical equipment. Personal Mobility Devices Market  The global personal mobility devices market size is expected to reach USD 18.2 billion by 2028.Growing product development and rising number of accidents causing disabilities are some of the key factors driving the market.

The global personal mobility devices market size is expected to reach by 2028.Growing product development and rising number of accidents causing disabilities are some of the key factors driving the market. Long Term Care Market  The global long term care market size is expected to reach USD 1.7 trillion by 2027. The market for long term care is expected to boom owing to aging baby boomers and increasing disabilities among the geriatric population.

Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com

Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter

SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Embraer S.A. (" Company ") (B3: EMBR3,NYSE: ERJ), in accordance with CVM Instruction No. 358, of January 3, 2002, in view of the report published by Bloomberg.com today under the title "Embraer's Eve in $2 Billion Merger Talks with Zanite SPAC," informs its shareholders and the market that Eve Urban Air Mobility Solutions, Inc. (" EVE "), a subsidiary of the Company dedicated to the development of an urban air mobility system (" UAM "), has started negotiations related to a possible business combination with Zanite Acquisition Corp. (" Zanite "), a U.S. publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

The negotiations with Zanite are ongoing. The Company cannot predict if Eve will reach a definitive agreement or what will be the terms thereof.

The Company will keep the market informed of subsequent material developments in the context of such negotiations, to the extent imposed by applicable laws and stock exchange regulations.

June 10, 2021.

Antonio Carlos Garcia

Executive Vice President of Finance & Investor Relations

PRESS OFFICES:

Headquarters (Brazil)

Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Cell: +55 11 98890 7777

Tel.: +55 11 4873 7984

North America

Alyssa Ten Eyck

[email protected]

Cell: +1 954 383 0460

Tel.: +1 954 359 3847

Europe, Middle East and Africa

Guy Douglas

[email protected]

Cell: +31 (0)657120121

Tell: +31 (0)202158109

China

Mirage Zhong

[email protected]

Cell: +86 185 1378 5180

Tel.: +86 10 6598 9988

Asia Pacific

Nilma Missir-Boissac

[email protected]

Cell: +65 9012 8428

Tel.: +65 6305 9955

SOURCE Embraer S.A.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Explora BioLabs , a national provider of preclinical vivarium space, vivarium management services, and contract research services, today announced it has completed its acquisition of Novalex Biotech Resources, LLC, a vivarium service provider based here.

The acquisition expands Explora BioLabs' OnSite vivarium management services to the Boston-area biotechnology market.

Explora has accelerated the introduction of its comprehensive Vivarium-as-a-Service model to the Boston market with the acquisition of Novalex and the opening of its new, state-of-the-art vivarium facility and contract research service in Watertown.

"Explora BioLabs was attracted to Novalex's strong alignment of values, client relationships, and standards of client supportprinciples that Explora shares," said Sandy Paige, CEO of Explora BioLabs. "The Novalex team has a passion for customer service and understanding of Boston biotech, making them a welcome addition to our Explora team."

"We've built strong relationships with our clients over the years. They will be well cared-for by Explora," said Jason Saraceni, founder and president of Novalex. "I'm confident that Explora's expanded vivarium and contract research services will help our clients and the Novalex team realize their potential, and I look forward to joining the talented Explora team."

New Benefits to Customer

Following the acquisition, existing Novalex clients and new customers alike will have access to Explora's comprehensive suite of vivarium management, husbandry, regulatory, and technician support services. From increased staffing and service flexibility to access to local contract research services and preferred partner network pricing, researchers operating under Explora's care will experience greater capital and operational efficiencies as they remain focused on their scientific research.

Supercharging Boston Biotech Research

Explora has accelerated the introduction of its comprehensive Vivarium-as-a-Service model to the Boston market with the acquisition of Novalex and the opening of its new, state-of-the-art vivarium facility and contract research service in Watertown. Explora remains committed to empowering both local and national biotech researchers, enabling them to focus on their research instead of vivarium management. Explora's vivaria management services are capital efficient and deliver the flexibility of expanding or contracting research activity without disruption. Explora's Watertown contract research services support researchers in meeting their scientific milestones with options ranging from a-la-carte technical services to complete study execution.

"Whenever we have the opportunity to join other great teams of in vivo services, we'll jump at the chance," said Paige. "Jason Saraceni founded Novalex on the same premise that Dr. Richard Lin founded Explora: biotechs should be empowered to focus on the promise of their science, not worrying about cage changes and ordering supplies. Service partners like Explora can empower them by delivering the non-core operations biotechs need with greater flexibility, speed, and capital efficiency."

About Novalex Biotech Resources, LLC

Novalex Biotech Resources, LLC, based in Cambridge, Mass., provides comprehensive, cost-effective, and customizable vivarium services and support packages for pharmaceutical companies to support their research efforts. The Novalex service model can be adapted to any company with in vivo experiments.

About Explora BioLabs

For nearly two decades, Explora BioLabs has provided industry-leading vivarium and contract research services to companies ranging from early-stage biotechs to large pharma. Explora's Ph.D.-backed suite of Vivarium-as-a-Service solutions provides the vivarium-related resources that biotechnology organizations need to begin in vivo studies in as little as two weeks. Whether operating out of their own vivarium or utilizing Explora's growing network of nationwide facilities, clients have access to Explora's experienced vivarium management, facility design, rodent housing and caging equipment, supply chain management, regulatory compliance, and veterinary oversight. For clients whose research programs or internal expertise is at capacity, Explora offers preclinical contract research staff and services to support the design and execution of preclinical studies for oncology, metabolic diseases, pharmacokinetics, non-GLP toxicology, pain, and a variety of other common therapeutic areas. For more information, visit explorabiolabs.com .

Media Contact:

Krystina Feucht, Marketing Manager

Explora BioLabs

858-768-2100

[email protected]

SOURCE Explora BioLabs

Related Links

https://explorabiolabs.com/


PITTSBURGH, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Chad Mattix, CEO and Founder of Kinettix, Inc., was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 East Central Award finalist. Now in its 35th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors unstoppable business leaders whose ambition, ingenuity and courage in the face of adversity help catapult us from the now to next and beyond.

Chad Mattix Founder and CEO Kinettix Global Field Techs

Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive award programs for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. The nominees are evaluated by a panel of independent judges based on six criteria: entrepreneurial leadership; talent management; degree of difficulty; financial performance; societal impact and building a values-based company; and originality, innovation and future plans. Since its launch, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries around the world.

Chad Mattix is honored to be named as a finalist. "The Kinettix mission is made possible due to our incredible team of industry executives backed by exceptional project coordinators and managers. All of us firmly believe that advancements like our Dispatch1 platform show that it is possible to transform the customer experience, even in an established industry such as IT field services," shared Mattix. Kinettix is an industry leader in providing IT field services anywhere on the globe. Their innovations in the field include on-demand management of labor-pool technicians and their Dispatch1 platform, which uses API integrations to create a transparent delivery system for their clients.

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, to be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nation's most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June 2022.

About Kinettix

Kinettix is the go-to global leader in providing IT field technicians and break/fix dispatches to U.S.-based enterprises and managed service providers, anywhere, anytime. They bridge the gap between traditional staffing and a reliable contingent workforce.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored by SAP America.

In East Central, sponsors also include PNC Bank, VRC, Oswald Companies and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year

Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National Overall winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year title. ey.com/us/eoy

About EY Private

As Advisors to the ambitious, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/us/private.

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

Media Contact:

Rich Humphrey

502-419-0102

[email protected]

SOURCE Kinettix

Related Links

https://www.kinettix.com/


EVANSVILLE, Ind., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Feed the Children and StarKist are joining forces to provide food and essentials to 400 families in the Evansville area from 5 to 7 p.m. June 10 at St. Mark's Lutheran Church (2300 Washington Ave.) The event is part of organizations' efforts to fight summer hunger.

At the event, each family will receive a 25-pound box of food, a 15-pound box of essentials (such as shampoo, conditioner and personal care items), a 5-pound box of Avon products and children's books and StarKist products from Feed the Children and StarKist.

Though an end to the pandemic may be in sight, many families are still suffering and too many children wondering where their next meal will come from. For many families, a significant gap exists between what they can pay for and their food needsto say nothing of nutritional needs. Nearly 30 million children rely on free or reduced lunches, and not all of them can take advantage of feeding programs that have been set up by schools in the wake of COVID-19. As a result, many families must still make impossible choices between buying food and paying utility bills or other necessary costs like transportation and childcare.

With more than 22 percent of families in the Evansville community living below the poverty line, the summer can be especially difficult once school is out, leaving children food insecure - without a source for consistent meals.

"StarKist has heart for those in need, and we are proud to continue our partnership with Feed the Children in Evansville, Indiana," said Michelle Faist, Head of Corporate Affairs, StarKist Co. "It's an honor to give back to members of this community and we hope to replicate this event in other cities around the U.S. over the next few months."

Since 2009, the national partnership has brought beneficial community resource events as well as nutritious and protein-packed StarKist products to families in need across the U.S.

"Today, we are not only providing food and essentials to these familiesbut also hope," said Travis Arnold, Feed the Children CEO and president. "Hope for a better future that is made possible thanks to our partners at StarKist who play a vital role in helping us to create a world where no child goes to bed hungry."

About Feed the Children

At Feed the Children, we feed hungry kids. We envision a world where no child goes to bed hungry. In the U.S. and internationally, we are dedicated to helping families and communities achieve stable lives and to reducing the need for help tomorrow, while providing food and resources to help them today. We distribute product donations from corporate donors to local community partners, we provide support for teachers and students, and we mobilize resources quickly to aid recovery efforts when natural disasters strike. Internationally, we manage child-focused community development programs in 9 countries. We welcome partnerships because we know our work would not be possible without collaborative relationships.

Visit www.feedthechildren.org for more information.

About StarKist Co.



StarKist Co. provides trusted, healthy, food products in the United States. An industry innovator, StarKist was the first brand to introduce single-serve pouch products, which include Tuna Creations, Salmon Creations and Chicken Creations. As America's favorite tuna, StarKist represents a tradition of quality, consumer trust and a commitment to sustainability. StarKist's charismatic brand icon, Charlie the Tuna, swam into the hearts of tuna fans in 1961 and is still a fan favorite today. StarKist Co. is a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Dongwon Industries Co., Ltd.

For more information:

Carrie Snodgrass  405-213-9757

[email protected]

SOURCE StarKist Co.

Related Links

starkist.com


SAN DIEGO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Air Logistics and Training, Inc. (GALT) completed a successful government customer developmental test of the Fused Integrated Naval Network (FINN) Prototype system at MCB Camp Pendleton, California. FINN encompasses a MCWL-led effort to provide the Naval Force (US Navy and US Marine Corps) with the ability to share Situational Awareness (SA) between incompatible platforms with emphasis on high priority LPI/LPD and assured links.

During the successful ground and flight tests, the GALT team demonstrated the airborne FINN Prototype communication gateway capabilities between ground-based communication nodes and the podded system flown on an MQ-9 surrogate (SAAB-340). Over the course of two weeks and 24 flight hours, the FINN Prototype demonstrated multi-waveform cross banding (L-16, TTNT, BE CDL, IBS, and TSM-X) monitoring, management and control of the payload, track correlation, data fusion, and edge networking communication to and from remote/disadvantaged users and command elements.

The development test is the latest in a series of successful flights, using AFRL approved pods, advancing the development and maturing of the FINN capability.

GALT is a non-traditional, small business that delivers premier communications and command and control solutions in support of the Department of Defense. GALT's combination of technical innovation and fast-paced execution unleashes new capabilities, bolsters security, and transforms information flow. GALT specializes in open, scalable, and tailorable communications architectures, rapid prototyping, and user experience design. GALT's process is based on Agile Software and System engineering development to improve, modernize, and enhance command, control, and communications systems.

SOURCE Global Air Logistics and Training, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.galt.aero/


Key Players in the Floor Polisher Market Include: Alfred Karcher SE & Co. KG, Nilfisk AS, Tennant Co., Powr-Flite, A Tacony Co., Mastercraft Industries Inc., Boss Cleaning Equipment Co

Get detailed insights on the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and recovery analysis of the Floor Polisher market. Request for FREE Sample Report

Floor Polisher Market Analysis

Analysis of the cost and volume drivers and supply market forecasts in various regions are offered in this Floor Polisher research report. This market intelligence report also analyzes the top supply markets and the critical cost drivers that can aid buyers and suppliers devise a cost-effective category management strategy.

Insights Delivered into the Floor Polisher Market

This market intelligence report on Floor Polisher answers to all the critical problems faced by investors who seek cost-saving opportunities in a competitive market. It also offers actionable anecdotes on the industry structure and supply market forecasts including highlights of the top vendors in this market. Our procurement experts have determined effective category pricing strategies that are attuned to the dynamics of this market which can be leveraged to maximize revenue generation against minimum investments on the products.

The reports help buyers understand:

Global and regional spend potential for Floor Polisher for the period of 2021-2025

Risk management and sustainability strategies

Incumbent supplier evaluation metrics

Pricing outlook and factors influencing the procurement process

This Floor Polisher Market procurement research report offers coverage of:

Regional spend dynamism and factors impacting costs

The total cost of ownership and cost-saving opportunities

Supply chain margins and pricing models

For more information on the exact spend growth rate and yearly category spend, Sign Up for a FREE sample report

This market intelligence report identifies the major costs incurred by suppliers and provides additional information on:

Competitiveness index for suppliers

Market favorability index for suppliers

Supplier and buyer KPIs

Related Reports on Materials Include:

Plastic Bags and Pouches - Forecast and Analysis: The plastic bags and pouches industry is set to witness a spend growth of over USD 3 billion with spend momentum to accelerate at a CAGR of more than 3% by 2024. Plastic bags and pouches are extensively being used by food and restaurant chains, supermarkets, and hypermarkets to pack food products, as they keep them fresh for a longer time. Dyes and Pigments Market Sourcing and Procurement Report: This spend growth is mainly attributed to buyers' growing preference towards organic pigments to cater to consumer's demand for organic clothing. Beneficial properties of UV curable inks such as environment-friendliness, sharp contrast, good opacity, lightfastness, among others will propel their demand in the inks sector. Synthetic Resins - Sourcing and Procurement Intelligence Report: The proliferation of the e-commerce sector is creating a substantial requirement of a range of flexible packages which, in turn, is catering to the spend growth in the synthetic resins market. Among the category segments, epoxy resins segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 7.35%.

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

Contacts

SpendEdge

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us

SOURCE SpendEdge
"Freestyle Partners has received rapid allowance of five patents from the U.S. and foreign patent offices." Tweet this

Patents typically take three to five years to secure, according to attorney Greg DeGrazia, a principal at Miller Canfield and member of Freestyle's leadership team who focuses on the protection of U.S. and foreign intellectual property. The speed with which the initial patents have been allowed, which was only months from filing, indicates that the government recognizes the technology's significant potential.

Freestyle's growing patent portfolio includes dozens of pending patents spanning 50+ countries.

While conventional UV-C light has been used for more than 100 years to disinfect operating rooms in hospitals, it requires clearing a room and/or utilizing protective gear to guard those applying it from harmful side effects like skin cancer and cataracts.

Filtered Far UV-C is a breakthrough, disruptive technology developed by a team of researchers led by David Brenner, PhD, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University. It has been extensively tested and endorsed by leading institutions across the world in peer-reviewed, scientific journals. Studies have shown the technology has the same efficacy as conventional UV-C and is scientifically tested technology shown to be safe to use when used within the current American Conference of Governmental Hygienists (ACGIH) dose limits when humans are present because it does not penetrate the layer of dead cells on skin or the tear layer of the eye.

Dr. Brenner, a pioneering champion of filtered Far UV-C light, originally focused on testing the technology as an overhead solution to safely inactivate airborne and surface pathogens. Columbia University subsequently secured its first issued patent for filtered Far UV-C in 2018. Tokyo-based lighting giant Ushio Inc., with revenue nearing $1.5 billion USD in fiscal year 2019, secured an exclusive license to Columbia's patent in 2015 and subsequently began manufacturing high-efficacy, filtered Far UV-C lamps.

Freestyle, which had been in discussions with Dr. Brenner for three years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, also established a development and commercialization agreement with Ushio America, Inc. This paved the way for Freestyle to develop working models of a handheld, battery-operated, filtered Far UV-C device that successfully applies Ushio's existing Care222 technology. Studies have shown that Care222 can inactivate pathogens such as coronavirus, Influenza, E. coli, Salmonella and more from commonly touched surfaces in seconds; and when used within ACGIH dose limits, this can be achieved in a way that is safe on human skin and eyes in occupied settings.

Freestyle is currently in discussions with launch partners to help bring its innovative portable, handheld device to market.

*All references to "disinfection" are referring generally to the reduction of pathogenic bioburden and are not intended to refer to any specific definition of the term as may be used for other purposes by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Columbia University has received research funding from Freestyle Partners, LLC to continue studying the safety and efficacy of Far UV-C technology.

About Freestyle Partners, LLC

Based in Detroit, Freestyle Partners, LLC is an IP accelerator, focused on bringing leading-edge concepts to acquisition or commercialization. Founded in 2012 by marketing and branding experts Jennifer Rosen and Ben Feeney, Freestyle Partners has a focus of identifying and delivering new revenue opportunities and conceiving new ventures in both corporate and start-up environments that have driven profitable growth, created culture change, and impassioned people.

SOURCE Freestyle Partners, LLC

CONTACT: Wally Petersen, [email protected], 312-804-3475

Related Links

freestylepartnersllc.com


OCEAN CITY, Md., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team will take flight during the 2021 OC Air Show on June 19-20 along the shores of Ocean City, MD. The squadron of six World War II-era aircraft will perform their dynamic aerobatic precision flying demonstration twice during the weekend. In celebration of Father's Day, the team of elite aviators will skytype special tributes honoring dads prior to their performances on Saturday and Sunday.

The solo aircraft from the GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team in a close head-on pass. The GEICO Skytypers in a six-ship delta formation. The team will perform an 18-minute low-level precision-flying demonstration during the 2021 Ocean City Air Show.

"We're excited to return to Maryland's Eastern Shore to participate in the OC Air Show," says team flight lead Larry Arken. "We consider it an honor to demonstrate the amazing abilities of these vintage warbirds on behalf of our sponsor, GEICO, while sharing a bit of aviation history. Despite being nearly 80 years old, the SNJ-2 is a testament to the engineering genius of the Greatest Generation. These aircrafts are a dream to fly."

The GEICO Skytypers fly six SNJs powered by 600-horsepower Pratt and Whitney engines. As training aircraft, the SNJ can perform all the maneuvers of a fighter plane, but at slower speeds. A majority of the team's low-level flying demonstration takes place in front of the crowd. The historic sound of the vintage engines fills the air as the team performs more than 20 different tactical maneuvers during its 18-minute, low-level flying demonstration.

The team also creates giant skytyped messages utilizing a unique technology only used by a few organizations in the world. Flying five aircraft in a tight, line-abreast formation, the planes coordinate in typing messages with environmentally friendly puffs of white smoke. A computer located in the lead aircraft utilizes a custom programmed tablet to send commands to the other planes via radio signals. The result is astonishing to behold. Messages can be seen from 15 miles away in any direction with 20-25 characters generated in less than two minutes. Individual letters can be as tall as the Empire State Building.

The OC Airshow returns to Ocean City, MD, on June 19-20 for two days of family fun featuring a lineup of world-class military and civilian performers. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds cap off each air show day with a thunderous performance demonstrating the capabilities of current generation fighters. Spectators can witness the amazing capabilities of the team's signature red, white, and blue F-16 aircraft known as the "Fighting Falcon."

For more information on the air show and VIP tickets, visit https://ocairshow.com/.

For more information on the GEICO Skytypers, visit http://www.geicoskytypers.com.

The GEICO Skytypers are known for their thrilling airshow performances, but the team is firmly grounded in the community through its work with children's charities and youth organizations. The team conducts presentations at youth centers, schools, hospitals, Boys & Girls Clubs, community groups, ROTC programs, and veterans' facilities. The Skytypers also host some of these events planeside, pending local and state regulations. Organizations interested in partnering with the GEICO Skytypers can request an appearance by emailing the team's public affairs contact at [email protected].

For Media USE ONLY:

To schedule an interview or request more information on the team:

CONTACT: Brenda Little - [email protected] - 813-391-4542

Media only - A limited number of seats may be available for media flights. This is a ride back in time in an open cockpit with world-class aviators flying close formation. Those interested should inquire at their earliest convenience. These seats fill up fast.

Digital Assets:

Media members interested in an electronic press kit may download the content directly from the team's website - https://www.geicoskytypers.com/newsroom/

Link to NEW GEICO Skytypers B Roll  https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/eL4zipnhQl https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/OeS70wkACU

Link to GEICO Skytypers Photos - https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/XuK0VmXOkM

Media Contact: Brenda Little [email protected] 813-391-4542

SOURCE GEICO Skytypers Air Show Team

Related Links

http://www.geicoskytypers.com


MyMarble app provides Canadians with tools and education to improve financial fitness

Fast Track Loan helps users repay consumer proposals

Relies on automated software to give personalized recommendations

What Marble Financial does:

Marble Financial Inc ( ) ( ) (FRA:2V0) is a financial technology company that wants to empower Canadians to manage their personal finances, improve their credit and deal with debt.

To help them do that, the company built MyMarble, an app that takes real-time data from users existing credit reports and financial data to make recommendations that can help them achieve financial fitness in as little as three months.

MyMarble uses automated tools to deliver personalized recommendations and offers interactive bite-sized financial courses to educate users on how they can progress toward their financial goals.

Using its proprietary technology solutions such as Fast Track Loan, Score Up, and Credit Meds, Marble is able to guide its customers back to mainstream credit faster than traditional methods. Since 2016, the company has helped thousands of Canadians to build a positive financial future.

Fast Track Loan helps Canadians get out from under consumer proposals, legally binding agreements made with a licensed insolvency trustee that create a plan for repaying creditors debt owed. Filing one negatively affects ones credit score and can make buying a house or making other major financial moves harder.

Marble works with the trustee to pay off the entire consumer proposal immediately and shrinks the monthly payment owed by the consumer. Monthly Fast Track Loan payments are then reported to the credit bureau, which can raise ones credit score.

Marble also owns Inverite Verification Inc, a Canadian open banking and consumer-directed financial data provider for the financial services industry.

How is it doing:

In May 2021, Marble launched GIC Savings Loans with Jenson Graf Risk Management Inc on the MyMarble platform. MyMarble will provide Jenson Graf with a progressive software solution that will automate the GIC Savings Loan application and approval process.

MyMarble will also provide an affiliate portal that will collect consumer credit and banking data through its proprietary Inverite Risk Score to support the underwriting process and improve loan performance.

Marbles Inverite Verification Inc subsidiary also entered into a data verification agreement in June with PowerSports, a company engaged in financing all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), snowmobiles, motorcycles, boats and personal watercraft, recreational vehicles and travel trailers.

By integrating Inverite into its online lending origination solution, PowerSports will be able to obtain the fastest and most secure digital identity verification (KYC) information  providing insight into a borrower's transaction history and real-time banking verification in order to offer the best customer experience and financing solution available.

Marble Financial also found new partners in May to the tune of 15 auto-lending companies. The new partners will offer consumers access to MyMarble. They will also be able to leverage MyMarbles credit improvement recommendation technology to help consumers to improve their credit scores in order to obtain vehicle financing at optimal rates.

The previous month, Marble announced an online performance marketing partnership with Canadas largest parent-focused performance marketing and media platform, 55Rush

55Rush will enable MyMarble to amplify its user reach and generate more leads by helping Parent Life Network members improve their financial fitness through sponsored content, including giveaways, deals, resources and forums.

Inflection points:

Expansion of user base through partnerships

Growth of data verification services with Inverite Verification

Users turning to GIC Savings Loans with Jenson Graf

What the boss says:

The amalgamation of customer data provides an opportunity for Marble to offer and deliver more efficient processing and approvals of credit solutions in-house or through our partner network of lenders and mortgage brokers, as an example, Marble Financial CEO Karim Nanji said in April.

Ultimately, the consolidation of the consumers financial data creates an opportunity for us and our partners to access this information to provide new services and more robust solutions in the areas of personal finance, money management including savings, investment, tax and insurance, he added.

Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel
RICHMOND, Va., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) today released monthly operating statistics related to credit performance of the mortgage insurance portfolio for Enact Holdings, Inc. (Enact), its wholly-owned subsidiary formerly known as Genworth Mortgage Holdings, Inc., for the months of April and May 2021. The information includes total primary delinquencies, new delinquencies, cures and claims paid.

The report is posted on the Enact section of Genworth's investor website and will be posted monthly moving forward in support of Enact's ongoing business activities.

About Genworth Financial

Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is a Fortune 500 insurance holding company committed to helping families achieve the dream of homeownership and address the financial challenges of aging through its leadership positions in mortgage insurance and long term care insurance. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Genworth traces its roots back to 1871 and became a public company in 2004. For more information, visit genworth.com.

From time to time, Genworth releases important information via postings on its corporate website. Accordingly, investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information is found under the "Investors" section of genworth.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This communication contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "will" or words of similar meaning & include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the outlook for future business and financial performance of Genworth Financial, Inc. (Genworth) and its consolidated subsidiaries. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially due to global political, economic, business, competitive, market, regulatory and other factors and risks, including those discussed at the end of this presentation, as well as in the risk factor section of Genworth's Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 26, 2021, Genworth undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

SOURCE Genworth Financial, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.genworth.com


SAN CARLOS, Calif. and WASHINGTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To help diagnose early-stage lung cancer when it is more treatable and even curable, GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer (GO2 Foundation) is expanding its early detection efforts to include incidental pulmonary nodule (IPN) management. Each year in the U.S. an estimated 1.57 million IPNs are encountered on patient CT scans conducted for diagnostic reasons unrelated to lung cancer, with 4 percent  or 63,000  of these IPNs leading to a lung cancer diagnosis within two years.

People with IPNs make up the largest segment of asymptomatic lung cancer patients, yet two-thirds of IPNs are not currently managed. GO2 Foundation is prioritizing this work to identify and track suspicious nodules and malignancies alongside existing screening efforts, further advancing early detection for even more people.

"While lung cancer screening has gone a long way to improving early detection of lung cancer, our Centers of Excellence report that 50 percent of patients diagnosed with lung cancer through an incidental finding do not currently meet screening criteria, leaving them vulnerable to developing later-stage disease if otherwise not found and managed," said Laurie Fenton Ambrose, co-founder, president and CEO of GO2 Foundation. "GO2 Foundation's new IPN initiative will give health care providers additional tools to diagnose lung cancer early, when it's more treatable and even curable."

To broadly implement the new IPN initiative, GO2 Foundation is working with its 850 Center of Excellence (COE) health care facilities throughout the country to identify best practices on IPN management and provide guidance to sites who have not yet adopted this approach. As part of its early detection offerings, GO2 Foundation has developed a thoracic oncology business model that includes both lung cancer screening and IPN management and is designed to help teams financially plan to build and grow their programs. Many innovative and pioneering COEs are already demonstrating clinical impact with their IPN programs.

"It is extremely important that facilities have a process to identify, track and manage incidental lung nodules," said Dr. Debra S. Dyer, FACR, member of GO2 Foundation's Scientific Leadership Board (SLB), member of the IPN Task Force, and professor and chair of the Department of Radiology at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado. "Having a well-organized process for monitoring IPNs is a valuable adjunct to formal lung cancer screening programs. The goal is the early detection of a lung cancer whether identified though screening or a robust IPN program."

In addition, GO2 Foundation is proud to be partnering with Biodesix who is providing strategic guidance, as well as collaborating with COE experts to form an IPN Task Force. The IPN Task Force is creating a toolkit that will include IPN education, program implementation, growth/optimization, as well as exploring research opportunities to study patients who are diagnosed incidentally with the goal of providing further evidence for lung cancer risk factors.

Members of GO2 Foundation's IPN Task Force include:

Bart Daugherty , AVP Clinical Technology, LifePoint Health, TN

, AVP Clinical Technology, LifePoint Health, TN Wendi Waugh , Administrative Director, South Ohio Medical Center, OH

, Administrative Director, South Ohio Medical Center, OH Dr. Debra Dyer, Radiologist, National Jewish Hospital, CO

Dr. Krish Bhadra , Pulmonologist, CHI Memorial Hospital, TN

, Pulmonologist, CHI Memorial Hospital, TN Dr. Michael Gieski, Primary Care Provider, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, KY

Dr. Mathew Ninan, Thoracic Surgeon, Medical Center of Trinity, FL

Dr. Kyle Hogarth , Pulmonologist, University of Chicago , IL

, Pulmonologist, , IL Dr. Susan Garwood , Pulmonologist, HCA Healthcare, TN

, Pulmonologist, HCA Healthcare, TN Dr. Neil Horning, MercyOne Pulmonologist, IA

Dr. Bobby Mahajan, Pulmonologist, Inova Health System, VA

Dr. Michael Pritchett , Pulmonologist, FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, NC

, Pulmonologist, FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, NC Cheryl Campbell , Navigator, Blount Memorial Hospital, TN

, Navigator, Blount Memorial Hospital, TN Stephanie Gerardin, Navigator, Dignity Health St. Joseph Medical Center, AZ

To launch the initiative, GO2 Foundation will be hosting a series of free educational webinars. The first webinar entitled "The Multidisciplinary Voices on Incidental Pulmonary Nodules" will take place on June 14 at 7 PM EST. Healthcare team members and others interested in learning more about IPN programs are welcome to attend by registering here.

For more information on GO2 Foundation's early detection program, IPN initiative, thoracic oncology business model, webinar series, and how to join the COE network, please contact Kim Parham RN, BSN, CN-BN and Director, Quality Care and Clinical Relations at 650-779-8286 or [email protected].

GO2 Foundation gratefully acknowledges AstraZeneca and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group for their commitment and support of this program.

About GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer

Founded by patients and survivors, GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer transforms survivorship as the world's leading organization dedicated to saving, extending, and improving the lives of those vulnerable, at risk, and diagnosed with lung cancer. The GO2 Foundation serves and listens to those living with and at risk for lung cancer to reduce stigma, improve quality of life and increase survival. They empower its community by helping people navigate the paths of early detection, diagnosis and treatment. Insights allow the GO2 Foundation to improve care, amplify awareness, drive advocacy and lead research with the vision of doubling the five-year survival rate by 2025. For more information, visit https://go2foundation.org.

SOURCE GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer

Related Links

http://www.go2foundation.org


Eurodam maintains recently announced Mediterranean season through October; Nieuw Statendam and Volendam cruises will be canceled; Rotterdam's season shifted

SEATTLE, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- While Holland America Line continues to work with governments and port authorities in correlation with the phased resumption of cruising, it is canceling the remainder of the summer 2021 European sailings aboard two ships, Nieuw Statendam and Volendam. This affects cruises that were scheduled to depart from September through November, along with the Collectors' Voyages (combined cruises) associated with those departures.

In addition, after an expected on-schedule delivery from the Fincantieri shipyard July 30, Rotterdam will remain in non-guest operations until its Sept. 26 cruise from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Plans for Rotterdam's naming ceremony are being finalized.

Guests Moved to a Europe Cruise in 2021 or 2022

Guests currently booked on canceled Nieuw Statendam and Volendam departures automatically will be moved to a 2021 cruise on Eurodam in the Mediterranean, beginning with the Aug. 15 cruise through the Oct. 30 transatlantic crossing, and receive a $100 Onboard Spending Credit per person.

Nieuw Statendam and Volendam guests also can choose to move to an equivalent cruise in 2022 at the 2021 fare or receive a Future Cruise Credit of 110% of any cash paid that will be placed in the guest's loyalty account.

Guests currently booked on a canceled Rotterdam voyage may select an equivalent sailing in 2022 at the 2021 fare paid, or they can choose to receive a Future Cruise Credit of 110% of any cash paid.

Any guest on a canceled voyage also can request a full refund of all monies paid to Holland America Line.

For more information about Holland America Line, consult a travel advisor, call 1-877-SAIL HAL (877-724-5425) or visit hollandamerica.com.

Find Holland America Line on Twitter, Facebook and the Holland America Blog. Access all social media outlets via the home page at hollandamerica.com.

About Holland America Line [a division of Carnival Corporation and plc (NYSE: CCL and CUK)]

Holland America Line has been exploring the world since 1873 and was the first cruise line to offer adventures to Alaska and the Yukon more than 70 years ago. Its fleet of premium ships visits nearly 400 ports in 114 countries around the world, offering an ideal mid-sized ship experience. A third Pinnacle-class ship, Rotterdam, is under construction and will join the fleet in July 2021.

The leader in premium cruising, Holland America Line's ships feature innovative initiatives and a diverse range of enriching experiences focused on destination exploration and personalized travel. The best live music at sea fills each evening at Music Walk, and dining venues feature exclusive selections from Holland America Line's esteemed Culinary Council of world-famous chefs.

In light of COVID-19, Holland America Line is currently enhancing health and safety protocols and how they may impact future cruises. Our actual offerings may vary from what is displayed or described in marketing materials. Review our current Cruise Updates , Health & Safety Protocols and CDC Travel Advisories.

SOURCE Holland America Line

Related Links

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HOUSTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Houston American Energy Corp. (NYSE American: HUSA) today announced that it plans to adjourn its annual meeting of stockholders (the "Annual Meeting"), originally scheduled to be held on June 15, 2021, at 10:00 a.m., central time, until Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 10:00 a.m., central time.

No changes have been, or are expected to be, made to the record date or the proposals to be brought before the Annual Meeting, which proposals are presented in the previously distributed proxy statement. The Company has determined to adjourn the Annual Meeting in order to provide additional time to solicit proxies with respect to the proposals presented to the stockholders for approval, including specifically Proposal 2 to amend the Company's certificate of incorporation to increase the Company's authorized shares from 12,000,000 to 20,000,000 shares. Although nearly 90% of the shares represented by proxies received to date have approved Proposal 2, the number of votes in favor of the proposal has yet to reach a majority of the Company's outstanding common stock, which is required for passage.

The Company's board of directors recommends a vote in favor of Proposal 2 for the reasons described in the proxy statement, including the need to have sufficient authorized common stock in order to permit the future issuance of common stock to support the growth and expansion of the Company.

The Company encourages any stockholder that has not yet voted its shares or is uncertain if their shares have been voted to contact their broker or bank. The board of directors and management respectfully requests stockholders as of the record date, April 26, 2021, to please vote their proxies as soon as possible. Stockholders who have previously submitted their proxy or otherwise voted for the Annual Meeting and who do not want to change their vote need not take any action.

About Houston American Energy Corp.

Based in Houston, Texas, Houston American Energy Corp. is a publicly-traded independent energy company with interests in oil and natural gas wells, minerals and prospects. The company's business strategy includes a property mix of producing and non-producing assets with a focus on the Permian Basin in Texas, Louisiana and Colombia.

For additional information, view the company's website at www.houstonamerican.com or contact Houston American Energy Corp. at (713) 222-6966.

SOURCE Houston American Energy Corp.

Related Links

http://houstonamerican.com


SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovaccer Inc., a leading healthcare technology company, recently announced its partnership with healthcare IoT devices company, Carematix to integrate remote patient monitoring (RPM) capabilities on the Innovaccer Health Cloud. The partnership will enable providers and healthcare organizations to proactively monitor and engage with high-risk and rising-risk patients, improving care plan adherence and patient wellness.

Innovaccer Inc.

A leader in remote patient monitoring programs, Carematix develops innovative and affordable telehealth solutions designed to improve patient outcomes while decreasing the total cost of care. Its suite of vital signs monitoring products enables clients to monitor their patients' vitals as often as needed and from the comfort of their own homes.

Innovaccer will leverage Carematix's RPM devices to help its customers collect and integrate data into the Innovaccer Health Cloud, allowing for timely engagement. Innovaccer will also use Carematrix's solutions to develop better care management and patient engagement workflows. Patients and caregivers will have the ability to track their own data, increasing compliance and improving outcomes.

"We are excited to partner with Innovaccer to complement their patient-centric approach to care," says Sukhwant Khanuja, CEO at Carematix. "Over the years, we have learned to work with patients at home collecting biometrics and other patients-reported outcomes while focusing on the ease of use and patient compliance. When combined with Innovaccer's leading-edge data aggregation and analytics platform, caregivers can coordinate care at a completely different level. They can now focus on chronotherapy, behavioral analytics, and personalized care planning."

The partnership will also enable Innovaccer to improve the readmission predictive models of the Innovaccer Health Cloud by objectively analyzing patients' behavior patterns, thus reducing 30-day readmission rates and emergency department (ED) visits. The partnership will result in higher compliance rates and improved monitoring, providing a wholesome experience to both Innovaccer clients and their patients.

"We are excited to take a giant leap in remote patient monitoring through our partnership with Carematix," says Abhinav Shashank, CEO at Innovaccer. "The more than 20 years of experience that Carematix brings to the table better positions us to provide our customers with world-class care management and virtual patient engagement capabilities. This partnership will help us redefine excellence in hospital admissions and patient connectivity. It will help us advance our mission to build the future of health."

About Carematix

Based in Chicago, USA, Carematix is a leading provider of remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions to chronic care programs and clinical trials. Carematix offers a wide range of wireless monitors, including weight scales, pulse oximeters, glucometer connectivity, peak flow meters and blood pressure units, along with ePRO and eCOA tools. With experience in over 15 countries, Carematix can serve any patient anywhere in the world. Carematix customers include Partners Health, Aetna, BCBS, VA, Univ of British Columbia, Univ of Auckland, Novartis and Abbott.

About Innovaccer

Innovaccer Inc. is a leading San Francisco-based healthcare technology company committed to helping healthcare care as one. The Innovaccer Health Cloud unifies patient data across systems and settings and empowers healthcare organizations to rapidly develop scalable, modern applications that improve clinical, operational, and financial outcomes. Innovaccer's solutions have been deployed across more than 1,000 care settings in the U.S., enabling more than 37,000 providers to transform care delivery and work collaboratively with payers and life sciences companies. Innovaccer has helped organizations integrate medical records for more than 24 million people and generate more than $600 million in savings. Innovaccer is recognized as a Best in KLAS vendor for 2021 in population health management and a No. 1 customer-rated vendor by Black Book.

For more information, please visit innovaccer.com.

Press Contact

Sachin Saxena

Innovaccer Inc.

415-504-3851

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SOURCE Innovaccer Inc.
MORRISTOWN, N.J., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jim Fakult, president of Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), has been elected chairman of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

Fakult, who has spent the past 33 years with FirstEnergy, has led JCP&L since 2013, the same year he joined the Chamber Board of Directors. He joined the Chamber's executive committee in 2017 and has served for the past two years as first vice chair. Fakult succeeds Linda Bowden, who is retiring from her position as New Jersey Regional President at PNC Bank.

"The Chamber's mission, focusing on economic growth, job creation and prosperity throughout the state, is even more important as New Jersey's businesses and economy continue to recover from the coronavirus pandemic," said Fakult, whose two-year term was confirmed by the Chamber Board on June 3. "I have been fortunate to work with remarkable leaders on the Chamber and am honored to take on this role at such a vital time."

In May 2020, Fakult was selected to join New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy's Restart and Recovery Advisory Council, helping to advise state leadership on economic matters impacted by the pandemic. He has also been named to ROI-NJ's "Power List 2021" and this year's NJ BIZ "Power 100" list.

Under Fakult's leadership, JCP&L has been named as the only electric utility on the New Jersey Sustainable Business Registry and has been honored with the 2020 Environmental Leadership Award by The Commerce & Industry Association of New Jersey (CIANJ) and COMMERCE Magazine.

"We are extremely fortunate to have Jim's leadership at this crucial time," said Thomas A. Bracken, president and CEO of the State Chamber. "Jim has long been a powerful supporter of the New Jersey Chamber, the business community and the state of New Jersey. Jim's experience and dedication will serve the N.J. Chamber and New Jersey well."

In addition to the Chamber of Commerce, Fakult serves of the boards of the Alliance for Action, New Jersey Energy Alliance, Choose New Jersey and the New Jersey Utilities Association. He also is a member of the Morris County Chamber Business Cabinet and is chair of the board of trustees for the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey.

JCP&L serves 1.1 million customers in the counties of Burlington, Essex, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren. Follow JCP&L on Twitter @JCP_L, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JCPandL or online at www.jcp-l.com.

FirstEnergy Corp. is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com . Follow FirstEnergy and its utilities on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp , @ToledoEdison, @IlluminatingCo, @OhioEdison , @MonPowerWV , @JCP_L , @Penn_Power , @Penelec , @Met_Ed , @PotomacEdison , @W_Penn_Power .

Editor's Note: A professional photo of Jim Fakult is available for download on Flickr.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.

Related Links

http://www.firstenergycorp.com


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Job Training Albuquerque (JTA), first established as a partnership between the City of Albuquerque's workforce development program and Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), is expanding its course listings this summer. The program is now offering high-demand skills training through The University of New Mexico's Anderson School of Management and WESST, a nonprofit that supports entrepreneurs in New Mexico.

Launched in January 2020 and maintained during the pandemic, JTA offers free job skills courses through funding provided by the City of Albuquerque's Economic Development Department (EDD), in partnership with CNM. Since its inception, JTA has helped 72 organizations and 117 employees build high-demand workforce skills like Coding, Accounting, Project Management, Commercial Driver's License Training, and more.

"The success of JTA in its first year shows that this investment is working on both ends by helping workers learn new skills and businesses create new jobs," said Mayor Tim Keller. "These new partnerships with UNM and WESST are part of our economic development strategy to push Albuquerque into the recovery."

A core objective of this planIncrement of Oneis creating jobs one, two, and three at a time by supporting business expansion and workforce development locally. By participating in JTA, employers agree to add one job to their operation within two years, thereby spurring small business growth through job creation, and building a deeper pool of workforce talent for existing and potential companies.

Kyerstin O'Neal is a JTA participant who completed the Activate New Mexico program, a CNM Ingenuity business accelerator that helps early-stage, software-enabled startups with the goal of expanding the New Mexico tech landscape.

"Thanks to the JTA funding, I was able to take a big step forward," O'Neal said. "ActivateNM was hugely rewarding for my business, and the networking and mentorship opportunities were really powerful."

The UNM Anderson School of Management is a world-class business school with award-winning faculty, and programs that offer a wide array of degree programs for a diverse student population. It will be offering the following Career and Professional Development (CPD) programs through JTA:

Fundamentals of Human Resources

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Exam Prep

Mediation Certification

"The UNM Anderson School of Management is pleased to collaborate with the JTA program in offering non-credit business courses for those looking to increase their business skills," said Gina Urias-Sandoval, executive director at the Anderson School of Management. "We are excited about the opportunity to serve the community and to provide professional development programs that are of value to community members and will impact the economic development of our state."

WESST is a New Mexico nonprofit that has been developing and delivering small business training curriculum for over 30 years. Their mission is to help entrepreneurs start and grow businesses using the latest tools and technology to enhance their core processes. WESST is adding its Power Tools for Planning and Growing Your Business During COVID curriculum to the JTA lineup. The course helps improve participants' financial business acumen and business operation. The program will be available in Spanish, and is the first Spanish-language offering for JTA.

"WESST is delighted to partner with CNM and the City of Albuquerque on its Job Training Initiative," said Agnes Noonan, president of WESST. "There is incredible entrepreneurial talent in Albuquerque and we welcome the opportunity to provide our Power Tools Training for interested students."

"We're thrilled to announce these vital new partnerships with UNM and WESST as a part of our efforts to boost training opportunities for Albuquerque's workforce," said Synthia R. Jaramillo, Director of Economic Development. "Empowering individuals through continued education is essential to economic recovery and will lead to improved career outcomes for our city."

JTA is a partnership between the City of Albuquerque and Central New Mexico Community College. Program funding is provided by the City of Albuquerque Economic Development Department and the program is administered by CNM Ingenuity, a workforce training arm of the college.

JTA is currently accepting applications for 2021 courses. A full listing of courses, how to apply, and more can be found at https://jobtrainingabq.org/.

SOURCE Central New Mexico Community College (CNM)

Related Links

http://www.cnm.edu


BANGKOK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With the number of new cases of Covid-19 increasing in Thailand, as published by the Public Health Ministry, newly imposed lockdowns and restrictions are creating a stressful environment for the poverty-stricken individuals that survive on a month-to-month basis.

Jurassic Mountain Resort & Fishing Park, alongside the Panthera Group, who are both located in Thailand, have been providing relief through charitable donations to help those in need. Since March 2021, a joint donation was made totaling 2.5 million Thai baht to desperately provide ventilators for hospitals across Thailand that were suffering the most.

This is the fourth donation of its kind by Jurassic Mountain Resort & Fishing Park to date. They genuinely intend to continue assisting people that need the care the most who are facing an uphill battle from the Covid-19 pandemic. "We believe that the newly acquired ventilators, alongside our cash donations, will go a long way in helping those infected with Covid-19," commented Tom Broomhead, the fishery manager and partner of Jurassic Mountain Resort & Fishing Park.

Both companies have received gratitude from the Thai communities that they have helped, and the companies are encouraging others to give back to the communities in these times of hardship.

Continuing their charitable acts, Jurassic Mountain Resort & Fishing Park teamed up with the Kiiran Care Foundation whose mission is to provide housing for the homeless who live in the streets and spend their nights in temporary shelters. The company donated a further amount of 250,000 Thai baht, working on numerous projects relating to building properties.

Jurassic Mountain Resort & Fishing Park understands the importance of impoverished communities, and they are also the proud sponsors of Port FC under 21's, who are located in Bangkok, Thailand.

They made a further donation of 300,000 Thai baht via the Madam Pang Foundation, and the cheque was presented at the Muangthai Insurance Complex by Tom Broomhead.

"As a company, we are committed to continuing our efforts where possible by giving back to these communities who have been so kind to us over the years," commented Tom Broomhead.

For those reading this article who would like to fund a worthwhile cause, please do not hesitate to contact us for further details.

About Jurassic Mountain Resort & Fishing Park

Being closely situated to Cha-Am and Hua-Hin, the Resort offers easy access to and from the local beaches and towns, and long stay guests enjoy preferred rates and terms to fish on our well-stocked sport fishery, the centrepiece of our community. As well as fishing, there are a multitude of other activities available from the resort.

Media Contact: Tom Broomhead

Phone: +66 61-631-2614

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.jurassicfishingthailand.com

Address: 43/6 Moo Baan Kokesehti, Na Yang, Cha-am District, Phetchaburi 76120, Thailand.

Related Images

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Construction underway

After days of thinking construction starts and the house start to take shape.

SOURCE Jurassic Mountain Resort & Fishing Park
NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Klarna, the leading global payments provider, retail bank, and shopping service, today confirms a new equity funding of USD 639 million. The round was led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 ,with additional participation from existing investors Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group, to support international expansion and further capture global retail growth. Klarna's other investors include Sequoia Capital, SilverLake, Dragoneer, Permira, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bestseller Group, Ant Group, Northzone, GIC - Singapore's sovereign wealth fund - as well as funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and HMI. The post-money valuation of Klarna is USD 45.6 billion and remains the highest-valued private fintech in Europe and the second-highest worldwide. As part of the GiveOne initiative established by Klarna earlier this year, 1% of this equity raised will be directed to initiatives supporting planet health.



Klarna enables consumers to shop, pay and bank in a smarter way, designed to fit the lives they lead, rather than the requirements of the traditional payments and banking industry. The ongoing structural shift of consumers turning away from revolving credit lines where they incur interest or fees to debit and simultaneously seeking superior retail experiences means Klarna's healthier, more transparent and convenient alternatives, which put consumers in control are closely aligned to evolving global consumer preferences and drive global growth.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna Founder and CEO said: "Consumers continue to reject interest-and fee-laden revolving credit and are moving toward debit while simultaneously seeking retail experiences that better meet their needs. Klarna's more transparent and convenient alternatives align with evolving global consumer preferences and drive worldwide growth. I'm very proud of the investors who are supporting Klarna's ambition to challenge these outdated models to empower consumers with fair, transparent, and convenient products to help them bank, shop and pay each day."

Yanni Pipilis, managing partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers said, "Klarna's growth is founded on a deep understanding of how the purchasing behaviors of consumers are changing, an evolution which we believe is accelerating. Klarna has already successfully expanded into the US and we are excited to continue supporting the team in bringing the next generation of financial services to new markets worldwide."

Eric Munson, founder and CIO of Adit Ventures said, "Adit Ventures is a proud Klarna investor. We are excited to watch this unique brand continue to challenge the boundaries of modern payments, banking, and shopping. Klarna's rapid growth has been a testament to their innovation, leadership, and executionhowever, we believe the best is yet to come as Klarna multiplies their addressable market through global expansion."

David Fiszel, founder and CIO of Honeycomb Asset Management said: "Honeycomb is proud to add to our earlier investments in Klarna. We are excited to support its long-term global growth initiatives and mission to redefine the consumer purchasing experience at scale. Klarna truly is a unique founder-led company with a world-class management team focused on innovation in the rapidly-growing fintech sector."Charlie Young, partner at WestCap commented: "Klarna is leading a revolution in consumer preference, and has already reimagined the payments, eCommerce, and banking experience for tens of millions of people. Klarna's global scale and leading market position create even more opportunity for the business going forward. WestCap is pleased to partner with Klarna at this exciting moment in the company's history."

Klarna is available direct to consumers via the company's shopping app, used by 18m customers worldwide as well as at over 250,000 retailers globally. In the app, consumers can browse and shop at any brand online with Klarna payment options, allowing them to pay immediately or later, manage spending and available balances, add favorite items to collections, initiate refunds, access tailored discounts, receive price-drop notifications, track deliveries intelligently and join Klarna's loyalty program, Vibe.



Klarna's Q1 2021 results evidence how such services are resonating with consumers, recording over USD 18.9bn (Q1 2020: USD 9.9bn) for the period driven by growth in all markets and exceptional momentum in the US with over 18 million American consumers now using Klarna. In 2020, the Klarna app consistently ranked among the Top 10 app downloads in the US and this momentum continues as downloads in 2021 have increased 125% year on year, propelling record volumes in March 2021. Klarna is now live with 24 of the top 100 US retailers, more than any of its competitors, illustrating our position as the global shopping partner of choice. Equally, Klarna's global footprint across 17 markets continues to grow, with a number of new markets launching in 2021 including France just this week, soon to be the largest e-commerce market in Europe worth over USD 185bn by 20243. This funding round provides

GiveOne, the initiative to support planet health established by Klarna earlier this year, with its third significant donation since launch. Recent investor A$AP Rocky pledged to support the Miti Alliance in Kenya and its founder Michael Waiyaki, who is fighting to slow down the effects of climate change due to deforestation. Klarna has also launched a CO2 tracker on every purchase. In one of the largest-ever awareness-raising efforts on carbon footprints, 90 million Klarna consumers across all markets are now provided with the kgCO2 value on every purchase.

1 As of the date of this press release, SoftBank Group Corp. has made capital contributions to allow investments by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 ("SVF 2") in certain portfolio companies. The information included herein is made for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy limited partnership interests in any fund, including SVF 2. SVF 2 has yet to have an external close, and any potential third-party investors shall receive additional information related to any SVF 2 investments prior to closing.

2 https://www.cbinsights.com/research-unicorn-companies

3 https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/france-e-commerce-market-size-2021---latest-research-report-to-share-growth-strategy-industry-share-covid-19-impact-analysis-key-findings-and-forecast-by-cagr-till-2024-2021-05-28



ENDS



For further information, please contact Klarna at:

Aoife Houlihan, VP of Communications

Phone: +46 (0) 72855 8047

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

About Klarna

With over 90 million global active users and 2 million transactions a day, Klarna is meeting the changing demands of consumers who want to shop, pay and bank on one intuitive platform and with one trusted brand. Over 250,000 global retail partners, including H&M, Saks, Sephora, Macys, IKEA, Expedia Group, Samsung, ASOS, Peloton, Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike and Shein have enabled Klarna's innovative shopping experience online and in-store. Klarna is one of the most highly valued private fintechs globally with a valuation of $45.6 billion. Klarna was founded in 2005, has over 4,000 employees and is active in 17 markets. Klarna has been backed by Sequoia Capital since 2010 and more recently, SilverLake, Dragoneer, Bestseller Group, Permira, Ant Group, HMI Capital, TCV, NorthZone, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock amongst others.

About Adit Ventures:

Adit Ventures is a family-office owned investment firm with offices in California, Florida, New York, Texas and Utah. An "Adit" is an entrance to a mine and serves as an anagram for the firm's services, since it provides Access, Diligence, Insight and works with Trusted partners across the United States and around the world. Team Adit has relationships cultivated over their 150 years of principal investing experience.Adit seeks to capitalize on long-term secular trends in the global economy where they see dynamic areas of growth. It is in these sectors Adit sees the best opportunities for long term capital appreciation and to make a positive impact on the world by improving quality of life, while generating a healthy return on our invested capital in alignment with their investors & principles. Adit has invested in some of the world's leading companies with exits in Airbnb, DocSend, GoPro, Lemonade, Palantir, SharesPost, SoFi, Spotify, Snap and Lyft.

About WestCap

The WestCap Group is a growth equity firm founded by Laurence A. Tosi, who, together with the WestCap team, has founded, capitalized, and operated tech-enabled, asset-light marketplaces for over 20 years. With over $2 billion of assets under management, WestCap has made notable investments in technology businesses such as Airbnb, StubHub, iPreo, Skillz, Sonder, Addepar, Hopper, iCapital and Bolt. To learn more about WestCap, please visit WestCap.com.

About Honeycomb Asset Management

Honeycomb Asset Management was founded by David Fiszel in 2016 and specializes in public equities and private investments. The honeycomb is one of nature's best examples of a scalable and repeatable process driven by a common purpose  this serves as the inspiration to Honeycomb's business. The firm's mandate is to invest in the future and short the past through rigorous fundamental company analysis.

Honeycomb seeks to identify secular growth opportunities as the foundation of its public and private portfolios. The firm has invested in some of the most innovative private companies, including Palantir, SpaceX, Spotify, Peloton, Mirror and MasterClass.

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SOURCE Klarna Bank AB
Serving as the Global Director of Artistry, Wolff joins the talented Global Veritas Artistry team which include @FannyMaurer from France, @ChristianSchild from Germany, @TheSandraSaenz from U.S.A., and @AnthonyHNguyenMakeup from U.S.A. As part of her role, Wolff will also consult on new product development and innovation as well as serving as a lead artist on KVD Beauty's branded campaigns and marketing efforts.

"KVD Beauty continues to amaze me with their innovation of high quality and high-performance makeup, truly representing next-level artistry," states Celebrity Makeup Artist Nikki Wolff. "As a member of the makeup artist community, I've always counted on the brand to deliver versatile products that have aided me in editorial shoots, red carpets and more. Being a great makeup artist is all about experimentation and practice and their products give me the creative freedom to do so. I'm so honored to be taking on the role as Global Director of Artistry at KVD Beauty and I am excited to work together on new product launches and overall, be a part of their legacy in the makeup industry."

"We're so thrilled to be collaborating with Nikki Wolff and welcome her to the KVD Beauty team," states Tara Loftis, Global Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for Kendo Brands. "We have been following her career since the very beginning and have been in constant awe at the influence she has had  she's become an Instagram celebrity in her own right! Her vision and commitment for the craft aligns seamlessly with the brand. We are excited for her involvement in the product development process as KVD Beauty continues to deliver tattoo-inspired makeup to consumers."

Based in London, Wolff embarked on her makeup career training at the prestigious London College of Fashion. During her time there, she landed her first job as an apprenticeship with a fashion photographer doing makeup for the models. The experience provided her with a better understanding of the power of makeup, and its ability to transform your look. Since then, Wolff has become the go-to for many celebrities and influencers. Wolff now boasts a repertoire of clients that include A-list celebrities and socialites while her work with top editorials such as VOGUE, ELLE, and Marie Claire has earned her a high-profile status of her own.

The partnership with Nikki Wolff comes right in time as the brand recently unveiled the KVD Beauty ModCon Liquid-Gel Blush, which started to receive buzz even before its release. It's the brand's next must-have product following the success of Good Apple Foundation.

For more information, visit kvdbeauty.com and connect with us at @KVDBeauty on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

ABOUT GLOBAL VERITAS TEAM:

Sandra Saenz (U.S.A.): Fusing her aspirations of becoming a plastic surgeon and painter, Sandra found her passion in makeup artistry. She is proud to be the first Mexican hijab-wearing makeup artist to secure agency representation in the U.S.A.

Anthony Nguyen (U.S.A.): Makeup has served as Anthony's creative outlet for storytelling. He is known for his versatility in creating highly innovative and conceptual looks for editorials, to simplistic beauty for the red carpet, working with many notable celebrities and on international campaigns.

Christian Schild (Germany): Chris started as a hairdresser and soon began working as a freelance hair and makeup artist in 2010, which spurred his passion for makeup. It didn't take long for him to book international clients in the beauty and fashion industry. He is known for his creative mind and his love for every little detail.

Fanny Maurer (France): Passionate about music, she started working with rock bands on tour in Europe and the United States, discovering her love of tattoos. A few years later, she collaborated with talented artists in the fashion industry, exposing herself to the world of makeup that led her to her career today.

ABOUT KVD BEAUTY:

KVD Beauty stands for Kara, Veritas, DecoraValue, Truth, Beautybecause your truth is valuable and beautiful. We create high-pigment, high-performance makeup inspired by tattoo artistry, like our #1 award-winning Tattoo Liner. With long-wear, ink-like pigment and needle-sharp precision, it's the uncontested holy grail of liquid eyeliner. But we stand for more than just performance: Our makeup is 100% vegan and cruelty-free, we care about the planet, and we champion artistry of all kindsnot just makeup. We celebrate the individual through artistic self-expression and limitless creativity. And above all, we give you the tools to live your beauty truth.

ABOUT KENDO

KENDO BRANDS solely owns and operates KVD BEAUTY. KENDO is an innovative beauty brand incubator that creates and acquires beauty brands and turns them into global powerhouses: FENTY Beauty by Rihanna, OLEHENRIKSEN Skincare, Marc Jacobs Beauty, Bite Beauty, Lip Lab Stores, and KVD Beauty. KENDO offices are in San Francisco, Paris, Dubai, London, Sao Paulo, Sydney and Singapore.

SOURCE KVD Beauty
The pair will assist the lithium-ion battery materials focused-firm with applications for non-dilutive and non-repayable grants under a variety of programs

CEO Spencer Huh believed accessing such funding would "speed up our scaling up and pilot plant process while protecting our shareholders' value going forward"

NEO Battery Materials Ltd ( ) (OTCMKTS:NBMFF) (FRA:1BC) told investors it has hired James Suk and Dr Andrew Fraser to act as advisors as the company bids to access non-dilutive funding from the Canadian federal and provincial governments.

The pair will assist the lithium-ion battery materials focused-firm with applications for non-dilutive and non-repayable grants under a variety of programs, including Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) Research Grant, Clean Growth Program Grant, and provincial government grants.

Spencer Huh, CEO of the company, said he believed that accessing such funding would "speed up our scaling up and pilot plant process while protecting our shareholders' value going forward".

Suk has a multitude of experience over the past 25 years in early-stage seed, angel funds, and planning SR&ED and non-dilutive government grants for start-ups and small-medium-sized companies.

Dr Fraser is an expert in chemistry with over ten years' experience in research and development (R&D) and writing technical documents.

NEO Battery said it also plans, concurrently, to seek grants and funding from the South Korean government with Dr Jong Hyeok Park, the company's chief scientific advisor and director.

Park and his lab have received substantial funding in the last ten years from the Korean government and large battery technology companies, including Samsung and LG.

In addition, the company noted that Dr Jinhyuk Lee, NEO Battery's scientific advisor has received meaningful grants spanning multiple years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) such as the Discovery Accelerator Supplement and the Discovery Grant.

"I am glad to have two valuable advisors for NEO and will work closely with Dr. Park, Dr. Fraser, and Mr. Suk to achieve access to both Canadian and Korean government grants, Lee said.

"NEO's strategic approach will not only benefit the company and shareholders but also Canada and Korea, potentially strengthening battery technology development and supply chain of both countries."

Vancouver-based NEO Battery Materials aims to become a silicon anode materials supplier to the electric vehicle (EV) industry.

The company has staked new mining claims in Golden, British Columbia, along a strike with a quartzite bed, targeting silica in the quartzites for a total of 467 hectares.

Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
Silk Road Rediscovery Tour of Beijing has so far rolled out eight themed tours in a line to carry out people-to-people and cultural exchanges for learning mutually from each other, attracting over 100 former political leaders, national think-tank scholars, media professionals, as well as well-known directors, photographers, bloggers and Internet celebrities from 44 countries along the Belt and Road. The 2021 Silk Road Rediscovery Tour of Beijing has invited foreign influencers to take a tour themed on a centurial journey of progress. Focusing on topics like history, culture, scientific and technological innovation and eco-environment, the participants will pay visits to multiple sites in Beijing and conduct interviews to experience new developments of the city.

Liu Xiaolong, Member of the Editorial Board of China Media Group, said that, as the national flagship media, China Media Group is committed to better telling Chinese stories and spreading the Chinese voice to present true, multidimensional and panoramic views of China. The 2021 Silk Road Rediscovery Tour of Beijing being launched is such a nice case for telling the stories and presenting new images of China in a lively way. We welcome more of our friends from abroad to visit China because only after you've experienced China in person can you have a real and full picture of the country.

Xu Hejian, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Director of the Information Office of Beijing Municipality, noted in his speech that other than being China's political and cultural center, Beijing is also a center for international exchanges and scientific and technological innovation. Beijing has undergone earthshattering changes and experienced turbulent times in the past. It has been witness to extraordinary events in history, made numerous brilliant achievements, and transformed itself into a modern international metropolis with a wide influence. It is a shining example of China's current high-quality development. The Silk Road Rediscovery Tour of Beijing, initiated by the Information Office of Beijing Municipality and CRI Online of China Media Group, has become an important brand to spread Chinese culture, forge people-to-people connections and promote mutual understanding and respect of different civilizations. Moreover, it has consolidated the bases of public opinion and human culture for the joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative. He hoped all participating influencers will share heart-warming stories about Beijing that showcase the latest images of the city that is beautiful and charming.

Fan Jianping, President and Editor-in-Chief of CRI Online, in a welcome speech said that, over the past 22 years since it was founded, CRI Online has remained committed to acting as a media bridge to promote exchanges and mutual trust between Chinese and foreign media and audiences. It does this through various information services and inspiring exchange activities. All participants during this tour will be able to appreciate the unique charm of Beijing, and experience the achievements made in Beijing and across China over the past century. They will also feel the happiness and well-being shared by the Chinese people.

Yann Debelle de Montby, Member of Advisory Committee of UNESCO International Center for Creativity and Sustainable Development, delivered a speech on behalf of the foreign influencers in participation. He said that Beijing is one of the most attractive cities in China. To him, Beijing represents the "peak" of Chinese culture, and is an inspiring place where the past and the future meet.

British video blogger Lee John Barrett, along with his son Oliver Joshua Barrett, has created the "Barrett" online video series which has now 1,625,000 followers worldwide. They hope to use their videos to show people the true images of China and help Westerners get a better understanding of China.

The commencement ceremony for this tour was held at the front square of the Beijing Wangfujing Department Store. After the ceremony, the foreign influencers visited the Internet famous site Wangfujing Heping Guoju, where they immersed themselves in experiencing what Beijing was like in the early 20th century.

In the next few days, the online influencers will visit a number of other sites, including venues for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games, Beijing Municipal Administrative Center, E-Town Economic and Technological Development Zone, Zhongguancun National Innovation Demonstration Zone, Beijing Fun, Yangmeizhu Xiejie, "Guangyi Plus" Public Cultural Center, etc. The itinerary will allow participants to experience the blending of ancient and modern styles as well as the contentment of local residents in Beijing. Through their words and lenses, the foreign influencers will record and share impressive stories during the tour and present new images of Beijing to the world.

SOURCE CRI Online
LOS ANGELES, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Making It Media , a production company specializing in travel and destination content, announced that its lifestyle program, 'Staycation,' has won an Emmy Award in the 'Outstanding Achievement: Lifestyle  Long Form' category at the 47th Annual Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards.

Pictured (left to right): Making It Media CEO and 'Staycation' Executive Producer and Host Robert Parks-Valletta and 'Staycation' Director Marvin Nuecklaus. (PRNewsfoto/Making It Media) 'Staycation' takes viewers inside some of the most luxurious rental homes in the world. (PRNewsfoto/Making It Media)

Sensing a shift in consumer travel behavior and content consumption, Making It Media is redefining the travel genre with a new class of destination-themed content. The company focuses on reaching consumers on streaming platforms, social media, and local and national television networks with a genre of travel content that offers a virtual getaway, as well as highlighting local hotspots that pose an alternative to traditional vacations.

"Making it Media is creating the travel channel of the future. Helping people discover new places and people, and showcasing all facets of life like never before," said Robert Parks-Valletta , CEO, Making It Media, and Executive Producer and Host, 'Staycation.' 'I'm excited for our team, and to see 'Staycation' recognized with an Emmy Award as we continue to reinvent what travel destination content looks like."

'Staycation' showcases local hotspots where travelers can enjoy a unique vacation experience. Destinations highlighted on the show range from plush vacation homes in Palm Springs to cabin retreats in Big Bear and Lake Tahoe to ocean-view homes in San Diego and Costa Rica. Staycation is hosted by Parks-Valletta, and co-hosted by Sean Breuner, CEO of AvantStay .

The show aired regionally on multiple broadcast stations & CBS affiliates in California, internationally on Roku TV, and was distributed to more than 5 million followers via Making It Media's network of social media partners. Additional episodes will air in 2021.

"Staycation' takes the audience on a journey to explore vacation rentals that go beyond typical destinations and accommodations," said Marvin Nuecklaus , Director, 'Staycation.' "By highlighting unique locales and homeowner stories, we're giving viewers and travelers access to one of a kind travel experiences and local cultures."

Previously, Making It Media produced two successful travel television series in 'Wonderful Places,' and 'Destination LA,' both of which are available on Amazon Prime. Hosted by Crystal Lee , in-arena host for the Golden State Warriors and former Miss California, Destination LA highlights local businesses and shares the stories of the people who built them. Destination LA is expanding to additional locations, with Destination Dallas to air in 2021.

ABOUT MAKING IT MEDIA

Making It Media (MIM) is a production company on a mission to create the travel channel of the future. Founded by Robert Parks-Valletta in partnership with Emmy Award-winning actor Darin Brooks (The Bold & the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives) and Dante Basco (Avatar: The Last Airbender, A Million Little Things). The team has accounted for a combined 3,000 episodes of network television content to-date. Making It Media's content expertise is complemented by a cross-platform approach to distribution, with its combined social media partner networks consisting of over 20 million followers, and plans to launch the Destination Network, a 24/7 streaming channel living on multiple platforms.

Media contact:

Tim Napier

[email protected]

+1 (951) 403-5197

SOURCE Making It Media

Related Links

https://makingitmedia.com/


MIAMI, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Manhattan Solar Partners, LLC, a joint venture between BIT5IVE, LLC and GMine LLC, plans to build crypto data centers utilizing over a gigawatt of renewable energy in Texas.

The data centers will add up to 700 high paying jobs to the local economy in addition to bringing international focus to Texas as a global crypto mining center. Manhattan Solar Partners has identified significant renewable energy sources to provide 100% of the electricity needed to operate over 1 gigawatt of data centers. The crypto data centers are expected to break ground in Q3 2021 and projected to begin operations in Q4 2021. Manhattan Solar Partners' clients plan to move existing international and domestic operations to Texas to take advantage of the renewable energy in a pro-business environment.

The Partners:

BIT5IVE, LLC is a US based manufacturer of class A cryptocurrency mining data centers. For the last 8 years, BIT5IVE has sold, hosted and supported the most advanced cryptocurrency hardware available on the market, creating a user-friendly experience for its business partners. BIT5IVE's main objective is to provide institutional clients, private investors, and individuals with top level, environmentally friendly approaches for cryptocurrency mining solutions. Along with this project BIT5IVE will continue to manufacture its class A modular Pod5ive solutions.

GMine LLC was started by energy industry professionals to explore the capabilities of renewable power in the crypto mining industry. These professionals have over 40 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry and see the importance of moving to a sustainable future. GMine believes that crypto mining will encourage future sustainable energy growth to help reduce global carbon emissions.

For additional information contact Manhattan Solar Partners: [email protected] and BIT5IVE: [email protected]

Media Contact:

Robert Collazo, CEO BIT5IVE, LLC

+1 (754) 230-1165

[email protected]

https://www.bit5ive.com/

SOURCE BIT5IVE, LLC

Related Links

https://www.bit5ive.com/


The HISD Foundation is invested in every child's success and demonstrates this dedication by advocating for and funding critical initiatives in public education. The main priorities for the Foundation include ensuring the health and safety of the whole child so that they can be engaged and successful learners; supporting college and career readiness for these students; creating a passion for innovation to encourage students to come up with new ideas and turn them into reality; and ensuring that all of our students have access to the information, programs and resources necessary for lifelong success.

"We are thrilled to have Matthew as our Chairman. He has been an integral part of the HISD Foundation's board of directors for two years and we look forward to his leadership and support in realizing our mission," said Katherine W. Smith, HISD Foundation Executive Director. "His work professionally  and personally - to support innovation and growth in our communities will continue to create a strong basis for all that we want to accomplish."

Matthew Noll has been with alliantgroup for eight years and is a crucial part of the executive management team. alliantgroup is known for its strong support of the communities it serves, especially through those groups, such as the HISD Foundation, that align with alliantgroup's core values. In addition to supporting the HISD Foundation, alliantgroup also supports HISD through STEM initiatives and scholarships, as well as celebrating its educators through the HISD Elementary Science Teacher of the Year Award.

"Matt continues to drive positive growth for our firm and I know he will do the same as HISD Foundation's Chairman. His devotion to his team, community and clients is unwavering and he inspires those around him to be their best. He will be a great asset to the Foundation in this new role," said Dhaval Jadav, CEO of alliantgroup.

"I am extremely excited and honored to be the next Chairman of the Board for the HISD Foundation. Our team of talented professionals are all dedicated to ensuring that the students of HISD are given every opportunity to achieve success both inside and outside of the classroom. I am looking forward to connecting with the individuals and business leaders in the City of Houston to help provide a best-in-class education that will prepare our students to be the next generation of leaders that our community is counting on."

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) Foundation was founded in 2007 and is dedicated to mobilizing the local community in support of innovative priorities to improve outcomes for all students in the district. HISD is the largest school district in Texas, serving nearly 200,000 students, nearly 80% of whom are considered economically disadvantaged. The Houston ISD Foundation is invested in each child's success and demonstrates this dedication by supporting projects at both the school and system levels in the following priority areas: Innovation, College & Career Readiness, Equity and supporting the Whole Child.

alliantgroup is a management and tax consulting company with a mission to strengthen American businesses through reinvestment in innovation and job growth. We educate businesses, the industry groups that serve them and the accounting firms that advise them on federal and state credits and incentives that are legislated by our government to keep the U.S. competitive in the global landscape. We are proud to have helped over 18,000 businesses claim more than $10 billion in credits and incentives. alliantgroup is headquartered in Houston, Texas with additional offices located in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, New York, Irvine, Sacramento, Washington, D.C.; and Bristol and London in the U.K.

SOURCE alliantgroup

Related Links

http://www.alliantgroup.com


SEATTLE, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- mytaptrack, in coordination with the Wharton School of Business Impact Fund, is raising funds on the Netcapital crowdfunding platform. This funding will continue the company's growth in the Special Education market. "We are excited to be working with two marquee names in the business world to get the funding we need to accelerate sales as the country pulls out of the disruptions to education from Covid-19," says CEO Nikody Keating.

Link to Netcapital: https://netcapital.com/companies/mytaptrack

Since 2018, mytaptrack has been working to improve how students are supported in special education while making that support more cost effective for schools. In October 2020, mytaptrack hired Aaron Quigley as Vice President of Sales to implement the sales growth initiative. Since that time, the sales pipeline has grown from $1 million to almost $2 million with in-school trials more than doubling. "I am excited that more than 33% of sales leads are being generated outside of our marketing channels," Quigley says. "This indicates our product awareness is being assisted by word-of-mouth communication and our target market's focus on trying to find a product like mytaptrack." This pipeline is the tip of a worldwide market estimated to be up to $3.4 billion.

mytaptrack is a service marketed directly to schools designed to disrupt the status quo and help schools and parents with their special education challenges. The solution provides the most convenient method to track behaviors in school and share that information in real time with the child's full support team. This allows timely and efficient responses to each child's needs to help him or her achieve the best possible outcome.

mytaptrack simplifies this process down to a click of a button, getting automatic real-time reports and notifications to the support team members that can respond the best. This allows immediate support to be provided to the classroom and efficiently in aiding the student in a timely manner.

About mytaptrack



mytaptrack is a behavior tracking IoT device and online platform solution for children with special needs. It shares data in real time with educators, parents and providers and uses Artificial Intelligence monitoring to send notifications when behaviors change. mytaptrack is committed to providing private, secure, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) compliant solutions for children nationwide. Learn more at mytaptrack.com and @mytaptrack on all social media platforms.

Contact:



Nikody Keating



[email protected]

SOURCE mytaptrack
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) today announced the publication of new guidance on COVID-19 vaccines for people with cancer, intended to clear up confusion for patients and caregivers. The new four-page patient guide is based on the latest expert review of evolving evidence.

"We're happy to provide plainspoken answers for people with cancer and their loved ones that directly address concerns about the COVID-19 vaccines," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. "We know people with cancer are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, and also that vaccination is a safe way to reduce infection. One of NCCN's biggest strengths is our ability to quickly bring together leading national experts in order to share their collective knowledge and insights on the evidence in straightforward, non-medical language."

The newly-published guidance for patients and caregivers covers:

A brief overview of all approved vaccines in the United States ;

; Answers to Frequently Asked Questions;

The importance, effectiveness, and safety of COVID-19 vaccinations in people with cancer and their caregivers, households, and close contacts;

An explanation of which specific types of cancer treatments should appropriately result in a slight delay before vaccination;

And the importance of continued mask wearing after vaccination for vulnerable populations.

"We want to reinforce that the decision to get vaccinated against COVID-19 should be something that isn't scary or confusing for people with cancer," said Brahm Segal, MD, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Co-Leader of the NCCN COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee. "The members of this NCCN committee have devoted our lives to studying how to reduce infectious diseases and improve outcomes in people with cancer. I personally was happy to get whichever vaccine was first available to me; we want our loved ones, patients, and community at large to have that protection too."

Visit NCCN.org/patientguidelines to access the COVID-19 patient guide and for additional free, trusted resources that empower people with cancer and their caregivers with unbiased guidance from some of the world's leading cancer experts.

Updated recommendations on COVID-19 vaccination for oncology care providers

The new patient resource is launching alongside new updates to the NCCN: Cancer and COVID-19 Vaccination recommendations for healthcare providers, which were first published in January. The newly-updated clinician guidance was published at NCCN.org/covid-19 on June 9 and includes emerging information on vaccination in younger people plus discussions around vaccine effectiveness in people with cancer.

The updated clinical recommendations include a note about counseling patients with a history of heparin-induced thrombocytopaenia and/or thrombosis to consider mRNA vaccines instead of the AdV-type 26 vector vaccine. The committee also cautions against antibody testing outside of a study, and encourages more research on the topic of booster shots.

Visit NCCN.org/covid-19 to learn more about how the coronavirus interacts with cancer, including documents, videos, and self-care tips in English, Spanish, and Chinese. Learn why experts agree that recommended cancer screenings are safe and essential, now more than ever.

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.

Media Contact:

Rachel Darwin

267-622-6624

[email protected]

SOURCE National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Related Links

www.nccn.org


BRENTWOOD, Tenn., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ncontracts, the leading provider of integrated risk management and lending compliance solutions for the financial services industry, announced that the company's annual user conference, Ngage, and its accompanying hands-on training event, Nstruct, will be coming back as in-person events in 2021. The company had previously cancelled both events in 2020 due to COVID-19 health conditions. The Ngage user conference will be held this year in Nashville, TN on September 28-29, 2021. Nstruct will have two sessions this year: the first will occur in Nashville on September 27th, just preceding the company's user conference, and the second will be in San Diego on October 25-26, 2021.

"We're so excited to be back with our customers this year at Ngage and Nstruct," said Michael Berman, CEO of Ncontracts. "After an incredibly challenging year for our industry, we look forward to sharing our insights and learning from the users of our solutions while having some much-needed fun and time to reconnect with everyone in Nashville and San Diego."

The company recently surveyed its customers as travel restrictions around the country began to ease and contraction rates of the COVID-19 virus continued to decrease. Customers indicated a strong desire to resume the Ngage & Nstruct conferences. The company will continue to monitor local health guidelines to ensure a safe experience for everyone who is able to travel to Nashville and San Diego.

"Our customers are excited to learn more about Ncontracts' products and services, and to share best practices, discuss industry trends, and network with their peers! said Melissa Outlaw, Ncontracts executive vice president of client services. "And with the addition of QuestSoft's lending compliance customers, newly launched solutions, and an ever-changing regulatory environment, we're excited to share our insights and experiences with everyone this fall."

This year's Ngage user conference will be held at the JW Marriott in downtown Nashville, just a block off of the city's world-famous Broadway St. music row. With opportunities to interact with fellow users in keynote sessions, break-out sessions, Nstruct training, and evening events around the city, the week promises to be a great experience for everyone in attendance.

About Ncontracts

Ncontracts provides integrated risk management and compliance software to a rapidly expanding customer base of over 3,700 financial institutions and mortgage companies in the United States. The company's powerful combination of software and services enables financial institutions to achieve their risk management and compliance goals with an integrated, user-friendly cloud-based solution suite that encompasses vendor risk, organizational risk, audit risk, and compliance risk management. The company was named to the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies in America for the 2nd consecutive year. For more information, visit www.ncontracts.com or follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.



SOURCE Ncontracts

Related Links

ncontracts.com


Geographically speaking, 55% of US and 49% of UK respondents have experienced the most severe impact to their network security due to these attacks (suggesting that their businesses are more of a target than those in continental Europe) which, in turn, has resulted in a clear majority of respondents (60%) increasing their investment in this area.

The Business Impact

A sizeable 68% of leaders said their company has experienced a DDoS attack in the last 12 months with the UK (76%) and the US (73%) experiencing a significantly higher proportion compared to 59% of their German and 56% French counterparts. Additionally, over half of the leaders who participated in the survey confirmed that they specifically experienced a DDoS ransom or extortion attack in that time, with a large number of them (65%) targeted at UK companies, compared with the relatively low number in France (38%).

"Due to the sensitive nature of these incidents, the survey didn't ascertain the extent to which cybercriminals were successful in extorting money from enterprises, but the results do highlight the seriousness of the problem and that there is a financial motive behind many DDoS attacks", explained Mattias Fridstrom, Chief Evangelist at Telia Carrier. "The findings also clearly suggest that UK businesses are being specifically targeted and that the heightened fears of US and UK businesses are justified."

COVID-19 has also had an impact on the sense of vulnerability among business leaders, with 51% of them feeling more vulnerable to cyber attacks since the pandemic. In keeping with the other trends identified, the US and UK again appear to feel the most vulnerable.

The impact of these DDoS attacks has been dramatic for some, with 11% of respondents saying that such an attack has posed a threat so serious that it could have undermined business continuity. A further 40% said that such an attack had a major impact, resulting in significant disruption and loss of business revenues. The countries most severely impacted were the UK (43%) followed closely by the US (39%), with organizations within the financial service and IT service sectors suffering the most.

Security Pain Points

Startlingly, 78% of leaders revealed that they responded to up to 100 network security incidents in the last 12 months. The figures were highest in the UK and US.

As for the nature of the cyber threats faced, it is no surprise to find that phishing (where victims are contacted by fraudsters via phone, email or text message and lured into divulging sensitive information) is regarded by many leaders (56%) as the main cyber threat to their business. What is more telling, perhaps, is the fact that almost as many (49%) view DDoS attacks at the same level.

Commenting on these findings, Mattias Fridstrom said: "A comprehensive security solution for enterprises consists of several components, where network security is only one part. However, the network is probably the most vulnerable part of the security stack because of its inherent exposure to the outside world  often across long distances. When it fails, so do all the systems and workflows that depend upon it. It comes as no surprise, when you look at these findings, to know that network security is also by far the biggest security cost for business with 42% of leaders citing it as their greatest security outlay."

Mitigating Attacks

To counteract the network security threats, nearly half (45%) of leaders currently mitigate DDoS attacks by using ISP/network provider DDoS protection. A significant number have their own in-house mitigation/scrubbing capabilities (34%). Cloud-based solutions are utilized by less than a fifth, while a small but worrying three in 100 businesses don't mitigate at all.

When asked about their familiarity with network service providers' DDoS protection services, more than half (53%) of respondents said that they do not consider themselves to be familiar with the DDoS protection services offered by network service providers. Leaders in the US displayed the highest level of familiarity, while those in France had the lowest.

"Enterprises need to evaluate potential security threats throughout their entire ICT ecosystem if they are to successfully face down the ever-increasing severity and unpredictability of evolving threats in an increasingly digitalized and distributed business environment. They will need to act on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and scale their security programs with sufficient headroom to protect their business from future, and as yet unforeseen, threats," concluded Mattias Fridstrom.

Study Methodology

Research was carried out online in February-March 2021, with 418 industry representatives in the US, the UK, Germany and France, on behalf of Telia Carrier by Savanta, a global leader in digital data collection. Participants in the survey came from a range of industries, led by: IT services (119); banking (79); manufacturing/engineering (70); and finance/financial services (52). All worked for enterprises of more than 4,000 people. All respondents were involved in decision-making regarding their company's network security and development strategy, with more than half (56%) having the last word. Participants were split between the four markets as follows: US (153); UK (107); France (79); Germany (79).

Media contacts:

US

Jeannette Bitz, Engage PR, +1.510.599.5499, [email protected]

UK

Lorena Duke, Ascendant Communications, +44 (0) 20 8334 8041, [email protected]



Telia Carrier

Martin Sjogren, Senior Manager PR and Analyst Relations

+46 (0)707 770 522

[email protected]

About Telia Carrier

Telia Carrier solves global connectivity challenges for multinational enterprises whose businesses rely on digital infrastructure. On top of the world's #1 ranked IP backbone and a unique ecosystem of cloud and network service providers, we provide an award-winning customer experience to customers in 120 countries worldwide. Our global Internet services connect more than 700 cloud, security and content providers with low latency. For further resilience, our private Cloud Connect service connects directly to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud and Oracle cloud across North America, Europe and Asia. Discover more at teliacarrier.com , and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter .

SOURCE Telia Carrier

Related Links

https://www.teliacarrier.com


GUANGZHOU, China, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Onion Global Limited ("Onion Global" or the "Company")1 (NYSE: OG), a next-generation lifestyle brand platform that incubates, markets and distributes the world's fresh, fashionable and future brands to young people in China and across Asia, today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2021.

First Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights

Total revenues were RMB668.9 million ( US$102.1 million ) in the first quarter of 2021, compared to RMB709.4 million in the same period of 2020.

were ( ) in the first quarter of 2021, compared to in the same period of 2020. Gross profit was RMB125.7 million ( US$19.2 million ), compared with gross profit of RMB187.8 million in the same period of 2020.

was ( ), compared with gross profit of in the same period of 2020. Net income attributable to Onion Global's ordinary shareholders was RMB8.9 million ( US$1.4 million ), compared with net income of RMB55.3 million in the same period of 2020.

First Quarter 2021 Operational Highlights

Total GMV 2 generated by the sales of the Group was RMB730.9 million ( US$111.6 million ) in the first quarter of 2021, compared to RMB942.6 million in the same period of 2020.

generated by the sales of the Group was ( ) in the first quarter of 2021, compared to in the same period of 2020. Total GMV generated by sales of our private label brands on O'Mall was RMB22.7 million ( US$3.5 million ), representing a significant increase of 149.1% from RMB9.1 million in the same period of 2020.

was ( ), representing a significant increase of 149.1% from in the same period of 2020. As of and for the twelve months ended March 31, 2021 , the total number of key opinion consumers ("KOCs"), total number of active KOCs3, total number of registered users and total number of active buyers4 was 710.8 thousand, 513.2 thousand, 15,516.4 thousand, 2,097.6 thousand, respectively.

Recent Developments

On May 7, 2021, the Company successfully completed its initial public offering (the "IPO") of 9,310,350 American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"), at a price of US$7.25 per ADS. The Company received a total of approximately US$67.5 million of gross proceeds from the IPO before deducting the underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses.

On June 9, 2021, the representatives of the underwriters partially exercised the over-allotment option and purchased an additional 399,270 ADSs at the IPO price of US$7.25 per ADS. As a result, the Company has raised US$70.4 million in gross proceeds, before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses, through the issuance of a total of 9,709,620 ADSs in the IPO.

"Our disciplined approached to building the business over the past five years has allowed us to successfully complete our IPO on the NYSE in May 2021," commented Mr. Cong (Kenny) Li, Founder and CEO of Onion Global Limited. "With the IPO completed, we are now positioned to share our successes with shareholders in the global capital markets and are well-funded to pursue the many growth opportunities ahead."

"We will strive to accelerate the expansion of our distribution channels to build a diversified, borderless fashion brand operator, and further integrate the resources of upstream global manufacturing and processing facilities and product R&D labs to fully leverage our advantages in downstream omni-channel and other marketing solutions," Mr. Li continued. "By executing on our growth strategy, we will optimize our supply chain efficiencies and cost structures for our brands and create a closed ecosystem for the management and operation of a brands full life cycle development."

"Our mission is to be the dream factory of lifestyle brands, and we aim to meet the needs of our users by creating more channels and penetrating everyone's life with our products, services and culture. The IPO was just the beginning of the next phase of our journey, and we will preserve our entrepreneurial nature as we move forward. The industry is rapidly changing, but we believe our humbleness, inquisitive attitude, and optimism is what brought us to where we are and will drive us to the next level."

First Quarter 2021 Financial Results

Total Revenues were RMB668.9 million (US$102.1 million) compared with total revenues of RMB709.4 million in the same period of 2020. The decreases were primarily due to (i) lower sales of disinfection and/or sanitizing kits in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to the atypical sales volume in the same period of 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, (ii) stock piling of daily necessities and other household products by our buyers during the initial periods of the COVID-19 outbreak, and (iii) shift from "daigou" (surrogate shopping) to cross-border e-commerce retail platforms in the first quarter of 2020 in response to overseas transportation and shipment restrictions that were imposed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Product revenues were RMB632.4 million ( US$96.5 million ), compared with RMB642 .0 million in the same period of 2020.

( ), compared with .0 million in the same period of 2020. Service revenues were RMB36.5 million ( US$5.6 million ), compared with RMB67 .4 million in the same period of 2020.

Cost of revenues was RMB543.2 million (US$82.9 million), representing a slight increase of 4.2% from RMB521.5 million in the same period of 2020, primarily attributable to more diversified goods supplied to our customers.

Gross profit was RMB125.7 million (US$19.2 million), compared to gross profit of RMB187.8 million in the same period in 2020.

Gross margin was 18.8%, compared with 26.5% in the same period in 2020.

Total operating expenses were RMB118.5 million (US$18.1 million), remained stable as that of RMB117.1 million in the same period of 2020.

Total income from operations was RMB7.9 million (US$1.2 million), compared with RMB70.9 million in the same quarter of 2020.

Net income attributable to Onion Global's ordinary shareholders was RMB8.9 million (US$1.4 million) or 1.3% net margin, compared with net income attributable to Onion Global's ordinary shareholders of RMB55.3 million or net margin of 7.8% in the same period of 2020.

Basic and diluted Earnings per share5 was RMB1 (US$0.15), compared with RMB7 in the same quarter of 2020.

As of March 31, 2021, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of RMB273.2 million (US$41.7 million), compared to RMB241.7 million as of December 31, 2020. Short-term investments, as of March 31, 2021, decreased to RMB85.0 million (US$13.0 million) from RMB103.2 million as of December 31, 2020, as the Company redeemed certain short-term financial products in the first quarter of 2021.

Definitions

"we," "our," "Onion Global", the "Group" and the "Company," refer to Onion Global Limited, a Cayman Islands company, its subsidiaries and, in the context of describing our operations and consolidated financial statements, its VIE and subsidiaries of VIE. "GMV" (i) with respect to GMV generated by sales through self-operated distribution channels (including O'Mall) and third-party platforms, such term refers to gross merchandise volume, which represents the total value of confirmed orders placed with us and sold via our platforms, including the total value of orders sold through our active KOCs through their social networks, as well as the VAT and tax surcharges paid, regardless of whether the merchandises are returned and without taking into consideration any incentives granted to KOCs; for the avoidance of doubt, such value of confirmed orders placed with and sold via our platforms before deduction of discounts and loyalty points applied to the orders sold and (ii) with respect to GMV generated by the Group, such term includes both (a) GMV referred in (i) and (b) all types of payments made by individuals who open an O'Partner account registered with our system. "active KOCs" refers to KOCs that confirmed one or more shipped orders on our platform within the indicated period. "active buyers" refers to a registered account, identified by a phone number that confirmed one or more shipped orders on our platform within the indicated period, which, for the avoidance of doubt, includes active KOCs. Ten ADSs represent one ordinary share.

Exchange Rate Information

This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of readers. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from RMB to U.S. dollars, in this announcement, were made at a rate of RMB6.5518 to US$1.00, the noon buying rate in effect on March 31, 2021 as certified for customs purposes in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board. The Company makes no representation that the RMB or US$ amounts referred could be converted into US$ or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "target," "aim," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "potential," "estimates" "continue," "is/are likely to," or other similar statements. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Onion Global's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Onion Global does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About Onion Global Limited

Onion Global Limited (NYSE: OG) is a next-generation lifestyle brand platform that incubates, markets and distributes the world's fresh, fashionable and future brands, which we refer to as "3F brands," to young people in China and across Asia. The Company's mission is to be the dream factory of lifestyle brands for young people. The Company's platform offering an integrated solution to develop, market and distribute new and inspiring branded products, thereby reshaping the lifestyle shopping and consumer culture in China. For more information, please visit http://ir.msyc.com/. Onion Global Limited has been listed on New York Stock Exchange since May 2021.

You may get access to detailed financial information by visiting our filings with SEC at https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001829949/000119312521187369/d193464d6k.htm

Investor Relations Contact

In China:

Onion Global Ltd.

Investor Relations

E-mail: [email protected]

Christensen

Mr. Eric Yuan

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: +86-13801110739

In United States:

Christensen

Ms.Linda Bergkamp

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: +1-480-614-3004

SOURCE Onion Global Limited

Related Links

http://ir.msyc.com/


"Working in conjunction with the broader healthcare community to better serve patients, we at ZoomCare supported HB 2508A because it benefits Oregonians and removes several barriers to accessing telemedicine, promoting the continuation of a hybrid model of in-person and telemedicine care," said Torben Nielsen, CEO of ZoomCare. "This is the next big step in the healthcare industry, ensuring quality care for all patients during a pandemic and far beyond."

As demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has served as a mechanism to expand access to physical and behavioral health services to Oregonians. The bill requires Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to reimburse health services delivered via telemedicine if criteria are met, including reimbursing a provider at the same rate for a health service delivered in person. Additionally, applicable health plans are now required to reimburse providers at the same rate for a health service delivered in person or via telemedicine.

"We're pleased that this critical bill has passed and are appreciative of the bill's supporters," said Erik Vanderlip, MD MPH, Chief Medical Officer at ZoomCare. "Telemedicine care is an important mainstream care option to offer to those who want it, not just a nice-to-have addition. HB 2508A recognizes that and brings it to fruition for Oregonians."

About ZoomCare

ZoomCare is focused on a single goal: reinventing healthcare to put people in charge of their own health. We deliver same day, on-demand primary, urgent, specialty, and emergency healthcare through mobile-first technology, text and video visits, and in-person at over 60 neighborhood clinics across 4 states. Our trusted professionals help you feel better, faster, with compassionate care, no-wait visits and on-site access to prescription medication. And our patients love us, with 19k reviewers rating us 4.8/5 stars. For more about ZoomCare, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook .

Media Contact:

Maddison Mackin

Matter Communications for ZoomCare

[email protected]

SOURCE ZoomCare

Related Links

http://www.zoomcare.com


Fobi's venue management system will provide secure coronavirus vaccination confirmation and validation, contactless registration within CareSpace's CampusPass platform

There is a monumental need for higher education facilities to have a platform in place to manage accurate and secure records

Inc (CVE:FOBI) (OTCQB:FOBIF) announced it has signed a licensing agreement with CareSpace.AI, a digital health company, to bring its Fobi Wallet Pass to higher education facilities across North America.

The Fobi venue management system will provide secure coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination confirmation and validation, contactless registration, promotion, payment and more. Fobi Wallet pass technology, SmarTap and Insight portal solutions will be integrated with the CareSpace CampusPass platform.

More than 100 college campuses across the US have stated that they will require proof of vaccination to resume in-person classes and on-campus activities, the company said. That means there is a monumental need for higher education facilities to have a platform in place to manage accurate and secure records, to limit liability and ensure the safety of students and staff.

The integration of Fobis Wallet Pass with the CampusPass platform will also offer community partners and sponsors ways to engage with students through personalized promotions, events and digital touchpoints.

With higher-level institutions hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, they are looking for new ways to entice students back to on-campus operations in a way that protects student identity and privacy, while opening new revenue opportunities, CareSpace CEO David Richards said in a statement.

This agreement with Fobi will enable us to provide all of our campus clients with the ability to not only keep their students safe and secure but to enrich the student experience with new expanded touchless transaction opportunities. With the help of Fobis real-time capabilities, this platform will ensure that campuses see an increase in student and alumni loyalty and affinity with positive community impact at scale.

CareSpace has had success developing an emergency response platform for the International Red Cross, the company said, which is used by more than 96 million volunteers worldwide. The platform itself is delivered by Microsoft and Unisys who provided key contributions to its data security and data privacy.

Both Fobi and CareSpace have seen great success within the venue management and events space over the past year, with CareSpace driving new population health programs through their HIPAA compliant platform and Fobi having had major success creating secure sporting events bubbles for the NCAA, Fobi CEO Rob Anson said. We are confident that this agreement will enable us to continue to provide campuses across North America with the tools to resume operations and recoup lost revenue streams with our combined venue management tools.

Fobi expects the agreement to generate revenue from an annual license and service agreement, in addition to Wallet Pass fees. Given that there were more than 3,982 degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the US as of 2019-2020 and over 19 million students registered, the company sees this as a significant potential market.

Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel
PHILADELPHIA and GRAZ, Austria, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ossianix, an antibody engineering company, and the University of Graz today announced the publication of a preclinical study that describes discovery of highly potent neutralizing single domain shark antibodies (VNARs) directed against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The study, "Single domain shark VNAR antibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro," was published in bioRxiv on June 8, 2021. Single-domain VNAR antibodies are attractive therapeutics in the fight against COVID-19 as they not only interact with unique epitopes inaccessible to regular immunoglobulin G (IgG) but also are small in size and highly stable.

The study was conducted by Ossianix's team led by Dr. Pawel Stocki in conjunction with Dr. Andreas Kungl, Professor at the University of Graz, Austria. The trial tested a panel of ten VNAR antibodies that blocked the interaction of the spike protein with its receptor ACE2 and effectively neutralized the SARS-CoV-2 virus in vitro. A number of these VNARs were also found to block the interaction between spike protein mutants (N501Y and E484K) and the ACE2 receptor.

"The fight to control the COVID-19 pandemic will require a broad range of therapeutic approaches," said Dr. Frank S. Walsh, CEO of Ossianix. "Vaccination is the primary strategy, but therapeutic antibodies will also have an important role to play in treating the infection. Shark single-domain VNAR antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are potent therapeutics and complement the human IgG approaches. Their small size, ability to be used in various formulations such as inhalation and the comparatively low cost of goods make them an attractive addition to existing approaches. These antibodies can be used either as single or combination therapeutics."

Dr. Kungl added, "We were very intrigued by the highly potent anti-viral activity of Ossianix' VNARs in inhibiting viral infection and propagation. Taken together with their physical stability, a very patient-friendly dose-response for these biologics can be expected for the treatment of COVID-19 infections."

About Ossianix

Ossianix is an antibody engineering company that utilizes single-domain antibodies (VNARs) from the shark to develop novel biopharmaceuticals for a number of therapeutic areas including CNS, immunology and oncology. The company was founded by former senior executives from Wyeth and Pfizer and is based in Philadelphia, PA, with research laboratories in Stevenage, UK. For more information, please visit www.ossianix.com.

About University of Graz

At the University of Graz, researchers and students work across a broad spectrum of fields to find solutions for tomorrow's world. The scientists address some of the key challenges of our society and are working to develop strategies for tackling them. How to respond to climate change, for example, and how to fight diseases of the metabolism and of old age  these and other important topics are studied through our innovative programs. Students learn to apply their knowledge and findings effectively to help shape our future.

Contacts

Frank S. Walsh, CEO +14847672843, [email protected]

Hing Kin Chan, Business Development +4915162653310, [email protected]

Andreas Kungl, University of Graz +436641999600, [email protected]

SOURCE Ossianix

Related Links

http://www.ossianix.com


NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Reitler, a full-service boutique law firm, welcomes Joseph Choi and Vincenzo Paparo to its Lending & Debt Finance practice group. Joseph Choi, joins the firm as Partner, and Vincenzo Paparo joins the firm as Senior Counsel; both will be based in Reitler's New York office.

"Joseph and Vincenzo are exceptional lawyers who perfectly complement our growing Lending and Debt Finance practice and our entrepreneurial and collaborative firm culture," said Ed Reitler, partner. "Their talents will help fuel the next stage of growth in our expanding Lending & Debt Finance practice group."

Joseph Choi's practice focuses on the representation of banks, financial institutions, direct lenders, institutional investors, private debt funds, alternative lenders and financing companies, as well as private equity funds and sponsors, their portfolio companies, and other operating companies in connection with the full spectrum of corporate finance and restructuring transactions, with a particular focus on cross-border transactions and complex lien structures. He regularly represents both lenders and borrowers in a wide range of financing transactions, including acquisition financings, asset-based facilities, recapitalizations, multiple lien structures and subordinated financings, capital call facilities, private placements, other structured finance and capital markets transactions, and debtor-in-possession and exit financings. He earned his JD from Fordham University School of Law and his BA from University of California, Los Angeles.

Vincenzo Paparo advises U.S. and international financial institutions, direct lenders, distressed debt funds and corporations in a broad range of financial transactions, particularly lending and cross-border matters. He also has an extensive background in traditional asset-based financings, secured and unsecured syndicated bank financings, junior capital lending, specialty financings, senior lending facilities and subordinated bridge loans. In addition, Paparo leads corporate finance workouts and restructurings with experience in the oil & gas, natural resources and financial services sectors. Paparo has served on the Board of Governors of the Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys, is a member of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, and the Arab Bankers Association of North America. He earned his JD from Seton Hall University School of Law, his MA from New York University and his BA from Fordham University.

About Reitler

Reitler is a full-service boutique law firm that delivers responsive, high quality legal services to sophisticated business clients. Reitler possesses leading capabilities in venture capital and private equity financings, fund formation, mergers and acquisitions, and securities offerings. Reitler is also widely recognized in the fields of intellectual property, executive compensation, domestic and international taxation, corporate governance, commercial litigation, real estate, hospitality and maritime. www.reitlerlaw.com

Contact:

Kristen Edelman

[email protected]

Related Images



image1.jpg

SOURCE Reitler
Demand for single-family rental homes is at an all-time high. According to a report from CoreLogic, rent growth for single-family homes grew by five times the growth rate of multi-family properties between June 2020 and March 2021. The same report found rents for these homes jumped 4.3% this March compared with a year ago; a 3% year-over-year increase.

"The pandemic caused an unprecedented number of Americans to move to the suburbs last year, resulting in record occupancy rates for single-family homes and aggressive rent hikes on rental properties across all markets," said Paraag Sarva, co-founder and CEO of Rhino. "The launch of our single-family home policies will expand our services to the suburbs and help ease the financial burden for individual and family renters when they need it most."

Rhino will be partnering with several property management companies across the country as they roll out their single-family home offerings. Of those companies, PMI Property Management, one of the largest property managers in the country with thousands of assets throughout the US, will be offering Rhino services across their extensive portfolio to help their renters alleviate the burden of a traditional upfront cash deposit.

"I'm thrilled to work with Rhino as they are a significant differentiator in the market. We want the rental process to be as easy as possible for our renters, and working with Rhino helps achieve that by removing some of the financial obstacles that individuals face when moving into our rental homes," said Brian Birdy, owner of PMI Birdy Properties and former VP of Residential at PMI.

Rhino's flagship product, security deposit insurance, acts as a direct replacement for a cash security deposit. Instead of a large upfront cash deposit, renters pay Rhino a small monthly fee that can be as little as $2 per month, and Rhino insures the property owner for damages that might occur and lost rent. Rhino's latest expansion has already saved single-family home renters $17 million and will further help renters achieve financial freedom as one of the only services of its kind available to single-family home renters.

About Rhino: Rhino was founded to give renters everywhere greater financial freedom to plan and enjoy their lives. We eliminate the need for traditional security deposits by replacing them with smart, affordable insurance so renters can maintain control of their cash. Instead of a large upfront cash security deposit, renters pay Rhino a small monthly fee, and Rhino insures the property owner for damages that might occur and lost rent. To date, we are offered in over 1 million homes, and we have saved renters over $300 million in cash.

SOURCE Rhino
Returning to kick off cruise week for 2021, MotorTrend Presents Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge is back with legal street drags on iconic Woodward Avenue.

For the sixth year, Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge returns as the traditional kick off to the Motor City's weeklong celebration of classic cars and car culture with legal street drag racing, classic and modern muscle car show, exhilarating interactive experiences and immersive, fun-filled activities at M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Michigan. Unlike any other event in the world, drivers of the fastest street-legal drag cars in America have the opportunity to drag race in front of spectators on historic Woodward Avenue as it is transformed from a street into a sanctioned, 1/8-mile drag strip.

"Roadkill Nights  legal street racing powered by Dodge  is back this summer," said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge Brand Chief Executive Officer - Stellantis. "Our Brotherhood of Muscle spoke  screamed, actually  that they were ready for it to return, so we're doing it. Plus, this year we're going to take it up a notch with a TV-versus-online build-and-race challenge. The 'build rules' are going to be really loose, so we should see some serious hardware being built to find out who's faster: the TV or the Internet stars."

Also returning for 2021 are Dodge thrill and drift rides in Challenger and Charger SRT Hellcats, where participants can go for the rides of their lives as the supercharged HEMI cuts the tires loose on the M1 Concourse skidpad and north loop portion of the track. Other returning fan favorites include the high-octane virtual head-to-head racing in Dodge Challenger SRT Demon simulators; classic and modern muscle car show; dyno testing; "Roadkill" stunts; flamethrower, wheelstander, pro-mod exhibitions; family-friendly activities; and an eclectic array of food truck offerings (subject to change).

Roadkill Nights is shifting gears this year with a new celebrity showdown format providing four popular automotive social media influencers each with a Dodge Hellcat, $10,000 in cash for car modifications and one task: build drag racing machines capable of besting Eric Malone, star of MotorTrend's series "Fastest Cars in the Dirty South," in a drag race. Nothing compares to the pure adrenaline of a driver hitting the gas on a 1/8-mile straightaway and MotorTrend will capture it all this year within a one-hour "Roadkill Showdown Special" to air on MotorTrend's streaming service and on MotorTrend TV.

"After a COVID-19 hiatus in 2020, we are proud to partner with Dodge and bring back for our fans Roadkill Nights," said Eric Schwab, MotorTrend Group's Group SVP, Head of Revenue and Partnerships. "If you've ever dreamed of watching street-legal drag racing down Woodward Avenue, come to our event! We have Dodge thrill rides, a car show and street-legal drag racing. It's going to be an absolutely epic day for anyone with a passion for cars!"

Gates will be open for MotorTrend Presents Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge on Saturday, August 14 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Drag racing starts at 11 a.m.

For those unable to attend Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge, there will be a livestream feed across a variety of channels, so everyone can experience the excitement as the event unfolds, including:

Registration Information

Additional information and details are coming soon, including spectator tickets, car show registration, participant registration for drag racing and an extensive range of packages, at hotrod.com/events/roadkillnights.

Automotive super fans will be able to attend and take part in this year's ultimate car festival. Final capacity limits, rules and regulations will be in accordance with state and local health department guidelines.

Roadkill Nights is an event produced by ROADKILL, a brand of MotorTrend Group, with a hit show that delivers a one-of-a-kind taste of "Automotive Chaos Theory" on the MotorTrend App and MotorTrend TV.

For more information on Roadkill and Roadkill Nights, follow facebook.com/roadkillshow and twitter.com/roadkillshow. Fans can follow the action for Roadkill Nights with hashtags #RoadkillNights and #PoweredByDodge.

Street racing can have serious legal and safety risks. Both ROADKILL and Dodge want enthusiasts to enjoy performance driving in a safe, controlled environment, run by professionals with vehicle safety inspections, driver evaluations and track safety.

ROADKILL

The ROADKILL brand delivers a one-of-a-kind taste of "Automotive Chaos Theory" and features authentic gearheads David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan in a variety of mediums, including Roadkill Nights branded events, and Roadkill, Roadkill Extra, Roadkill Garage, and Roadkill's Junkyard Gold shows, available on the MotorTrend App.



MotorTrend Group

MotorTrend Group is the largest automotive media company in the world, bringing together Discovery's MotorTrend TV and a vast automotive digital, direct-to-consumer, social, and live event portfolio, including MOTORTREND, HOT ROD, ROADKILL, AUTOMOBILE, and more than 20 other industry-leading brands. With a monthly audience of 26 million across web, TV, and print, and 110 million social followers, culminating in 1.3 billion monthly impressions across all platforms, the company encompasses television's #1 network for automotive superfans, a leading automotive YouTube Channel, and the MotorTrend App, the only auto-dedicated subscription video-on-demand service. MotorTrend serves to embrace, entertain, and empower the motoring world.

Dodge//SRT

For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge shifts into high gear with muscle cars and SUVs that deliver unrivaled performance in each of the segments where they compete.

2021 marks the year that Dodge is distilled into a pure performance brand, offering Hellcat-powered, 700-plus-horsepower SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2021 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the new 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the new 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the most powerful SUV ever. Combined, these three muscle cars make Dodge the industry's most powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.

In 2020, Dodge was named the "#1 Brand in Initial Quality," making it the first domestic brand ever to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS). The Dodge brand also ranked No. 1 in the J.D. Power APEAL Study (mass market). These results are historic because it marks the first time a domestic brand has earned top spots in both J.D. Power studies in the same year.

Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

Follow Dodge and company news and video on:

Company blog: http://blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Media website: http://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Dodge brand: www.dodge.com

DodgeGarage: www.dodgegarage.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dodge

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dodgeofficial

Twitter: www.twitter.com/dodge and @StellantisNA

YouTube: www.youtube.com/dodge, https://www.youtube.com/StellantisNA

SOURCE Stellantis
CHICAGO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE: RYI), a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, announced today that it has closed a purchase and sale agreement, pursuant to which Ryerson sold properties located in Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The sale price for the eleven properties totaled approximately $107 million. In connection with the purchase agreement, the Company entered into lease agreements for each property.

The Company will utilize proceeds from this sale-leaseback transaction to redeem $100 million of its outstanding 8.50% Senior Secured Notes due 2028 as allowed under the Company's optional redemption features secured in the July 2020 bond issuance at a redemption price in cash of 104.0% of the principal amount of the Notes, plus accrued interest. The Company expects to notice bondholders of the redemption immediately after transaction closing with the note redemption scheduled to occur on July 9, 2021.

Eddie Lehner, Ryerson's President and Chief Executive Officer said, "We are pleased to announce the completion of this sale lease-back transaction and the exercising of our special redemption right to redeem $100 million of our outstanding Senior Secured Notes. This transaction highlights and evidences Ryerson's continuing efforts to strengthen its balance sheet while beneficiating its assets to their highest and best use. Additionally, the redemption marks the second exercise of the Company's optional Senior Secured Notes repurchase features within the past twelve months as permitted under the Company's bond indenture. These actions further evidence Ryerson's stated plans to accelerate deleveraging of the balance sheet while catalyzing and effecting recognition and realization of an enterprise value shift from debt to equity."

About Ryerson

Ryerson is a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China. Founded in 1842, Ryerson has around 3,900 employees in approximately 100 locations. Visit Ryerson at www.ryerson.com.

Safe Harbor Provision

Certain statements made in this presentation and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of the Company constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates, objectives, or projections relating to the future. Such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "objectives," "goals," "preliminary," "range," "believes," "expects," "may," "estimates," "will," "should," "plans," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. The Company cautions that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and may involve significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may vary materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Among the factors that significantly impact our business are: the cyclicality of our business; the highly competitive, volatile, and fragmented metals industry in which we operate; fluctuating metal prices; our substantial indebtedness and the covenants in instruments governing such indebtedness; the integration of acquired operations; regulatory and other operational risks associated with our operations located inside and outside of the United States; impacts and implications of adverse health events, including the COVID-19 pandemic; work stoppages; obligations under certain employee retirement benefit plans; the ownership of a majority of our equity securities by a single investor group; currency fluctuations; and consolidation in the metals industry. Forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various factors, including those set forth above and those set forth under "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, we caution against placing undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, new information or otherwise.

SOURCE Ryerson Holding Corporation

Related Links

https://www.ryerson.com


GURUGRAM, India, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

During Covid pandemic, cargo was backlogged at KSA's major container ports; travel restrictions led to a shortage of truck drivers to pick up containers and ocean carriers canceled sailings.

The warehousing market is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of 5.2% and the freight forwarding market with a CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period 2019-2025F.

Surging local manufacturing of automotives and spare parts is leading to an increased demand for the logistics services in Saudi Arabia .

Saudi Government's Vision 2030: Under the Vision 2030, the KSA government aims for OEMs to produce 300,000+ vehicles in the country between 2020 & 2030. Saudi Vision 2030 aims to reduce dependence on oil exports highlight the potential for growth of logistics industry in future. Large investments in road infrastructure under Saudi Vision 2030, a 680 Km Saudi-Oman highway and the UAE-Saudi Mafraq-Ghuwaifat International Highway underway contribute to the growth of the logistics industry.

Technological Advancements and Innovations to Drive the Growth of Logistics Industry: Rising adoption of technologies such as RFID, Warehouse Management System, Transportation Management System and others by the logistics companies in Saudi Arabia is leading to improved cost efficiency within logistics framework. Companies have started adopting these technologies to have an edge over other players in the logistics market in the country. The latest technologies that the logistics companies are adopting in Saudi Arabia includes RFID Tagging & IOT analytics, big data analytics, drone technology, 3D printing, augmented reality and others.

Lifting of Ban on Female Drivers: An estimated more than 3 Million female drivers are expected to be added in the country by the end of 2020, which will drive the demand for New Automobile sales. Removal of ban on women driving along with recovery in Oil prices is expected to drive the automotive aftermarket in Saudi Arabia. Influx of female drivers stimulating demand for new & used vehicles within Saudi Arabia. The surging demands for vehicles among the women drivers to contribute to the growth of the automotive and spare parts logistics industry in Saudi Arabia.

The report titled "Saudi Arabia Automotive & Spare Parts Logistics Market Outlook to 2025: Lifting of Ban on Female Drivers and Improving Vehicle Sales to Influence Market Growth" by Ken Research suggested that the automotive & spare parts logistics market is further expected to grow in the near future as automotive companies are willing to set up their manufacturing plants within the country. The government initiatives such as localization of vehicle imports and incentives for OEM's using local auto parts, to contribute to the growth of the automotive & spare parts logistics market in the next few years. The market is expected to register a positive CAGR of 4.3% in terms of revenue during the forecast period of 2019-2025F.

Key Segments Covered in KSA Automotive & Spare Parts Logistics Market:-

By Service Mix

Freight Forwarding



Warehousing



Value Added Services

KSA Automotive & Spare Parts Freight Forwarding Market

By Mode of Freight



Road Freight





Air Freight





Sea Freight



By Type of Transport



Domestic Freight





International Freight



By 3PL & Integrated Logistics



3PL Logistics





Integrated Logistics



By Cost Split



Last Mile





First Mile



By Automotive Segment



Vehicles





Spare Parts



By Sea Flow Corridors



Sudan





GCC





Egypt





Others



By Air Flow Corridors



Sudan





Egypt





Kuwait





Libya





Oman





UAE





Others



By Road Flow Corridors



Bahrain





Jordan





Lebanon





UAE





Kuwait





Oman





Others

KSA Automotive & Spare Parts Warehousing Market

By Business Model



Industrial / Retail





Container Freight / Inland Container Depots



By Cities



Jeddah





Riyadh





Dammam





Others



B y Type of Warehouse



Closed Warehouse





Open Warehouse

Key Target Audience:-

International Domestic Freight Forwarders



Warehousing Companies



Logistics Companies



Logistics Consultants

Time Period Captured in the Report:-

Historical Period: 2014-2019

2014-2019 Forecast Period: 20192025

Companies Covered:-

Oriental Commercial & Shipping Co.

Hala Shipping Services

Gulf System

Uniworld Logistics

Abdui Global

NTF Logistics

Four Winds

KWE Transport

Glaube Logistics

Al Rashed Transport

Arabian Transport Co.

SITCO Logistics

Takhzeen Logistics

Kanoo Terminal

Agility Logistics

Al Khodari Sons & LV Shipping & Logistics Co.

& LV Shipping & Logistics Co. BAFCO International

Wolf Transport

Almajdouie Logistics

GAC Logistics

JAS Logistics

Platinum Logistics

Kerry Logistics

Namma Cargo

Al Jabri Transport

Automotive & Spare Parts Companies Covered:-

Audi

Mercedes

Isuzu motors

Nissan

Kia Motors

Toyota

Hyundai

Mazda

General Motors

Mitsubishi

Ford

Changan

Key Topics Covered in the Report:-

Saudi Arabia Overview and Major Economic & Logistics Zones

Automotive Import Procedure (Import Procedure for Automobiles and Impact of VAT & Custom Duty Increase)

Trade Scenario

Regulatory Landscape

End-User Analysis (Automotive)

End-User Analysis (Spare Parts)

Saudi Arabia Automotive & Spare Parts Logistics Market

Saudi Arabia Automotive & Spare Parts Freight Forwarding Market

Saudi Arabia Automotive & Spare Parts Warehousing Market

Industry Analysis (SWOT Analysis, PESTLE Analysis, Government initiatives)

Covid-19 Impact on the Automotive Transportation Industry

Snapshot on Control Tower Market

Snapshot on Pre-Delivery Inspection Market

Covid-19 Impact on Automotive Warehousing Industry

Comparative Landscape  KSA Automotive & Spare Parts Logistics Market

Comparative Landscape in Saudi Arabia Automotive Market

Automotive Market Recommendations / Success Factors

Research Methodology

Appendix

Warehousing Automation in Saudi Arabia

Transport Infrastructure Saudi Arabia

Seaport Operations Saudi Arabia

Jubail Port Saudi Arabia

Jeddah Islamic Port Saudi Arabia

King Abdul Aziz Port Saudi Arabia

Maritime Network Saudi Arabia

Yanbu Commercial Port Saudi Arabia

King Fahad Industrial Port Yanbu Saudi Arabia

Jubail Commercial Port Saudi Arabia

Ras Al-Khair Port Saudi Arabia

Dhiba Port Saudi Arabia

Jizan Port Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Cargo Logistics

Automotive Logistics Revenue Saudi Arabia

Spare Parts Logistics Revenue Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Automotive Companies

Saudi Arabia Auto Parts Companies

Saudi Arabia Overall Logistics Revenue

Expansion of Industrial Cities Saudi Arabia

Non-Oil Manufacturing Saudi Arabia

Automotive Market in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Logistics Services Providers

Leading Export Categories Saudi Arabia

Leading Import Categories Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Logistics Cost

Saudi Arabia Automotive Freight Forwarding Market

Saudi Arabia Auto Parts Freight Forwarding Market

International Freight Saudi Arabia

Automotive Freight Saudi Arabia

Spare Parts Freight Saudi Arabia

Auto Parts Freight Saudi Arabia

Road Freight Saudi Arabia

Sea Freight Saudi Arabia

Air Freight Saudi Arabia

Rail Freight Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Freight Forwarders

Competition in Saudi Arabia Freight Forwarding

Freight Forwarding Saudi Arabia Trucking Industry

KSA Automotive Freight Forwarding Revenue

KSA Spare Parts Freight Forwarding Revenue

KSA Auto Parts Freight Forwarding Revenue

Saudi Arabia Vehicle Freight Cost

Saudi Arabia Auto Parts Freight Cost

Saudi Arabia Spare Parts Freight Cost

Saudi Arabia Fleet Management System

Autonomous Vehicles in Saudi Arabia

COVID Impact KSA Automotive Freight Forwarding Market

COVID Impact KSA Vehicle Freight Forwarding Market

COVID Impact KSA Spare Parts Freight Forwarding Market

COVID Impact KSA Auto Parts Freight Forwarding Market

Automotive Warehousing Revenue Saudi Arabia

Spare Parts Warehousing Revenue Saudi Arabia

Auto Parts Warehousing Revenue Saudi Arabia

Industrial Warehousing Saudi Arabia

Retail Warehousing Saudi Arabia

Container Freight Saudi Arabia

Real Estate Companies in KSA Warehousing

Logistics Companies in KSA Warehousing

Total Warehousing Space Saudi Arabia

Logistics and Distribution Centers Saudi Arabia

Major Players in KSA Warehousing Market

Warehousing Management System Saudi Arabia

Robotic Automation KSA Warehousing

COVID Impact on Saudi Warehousing Market

COVID Impact on Automotive Warehousing in KSA

COVID Impact on Spare Parts Warehousing in KSA

COVID Impact on Auto Parts Warehousing in KSA

Number of Containers Imported in Saudi Arabia

Air Shipments Saudi Arabia

Logistics Companies in Saudi Arabia

Logistics Companies Fleet Size Saudi Arabia

Logistics Companies Fleet Type Saudi Arabia

Ideal Composition of Fleet Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Logistics End User Analysis

Last Mile Delivery of Automotives in KSA

Last Mile Delivery of Spare Parts in KSA

Last Mile Delivery of Auto Parts in KSA

First Mile Delivery of Automotives in KSA

First Mile Delivery of Spare Parts in KSA

3PL Logistics Companies in Saudi Arabia

Oriental Commercial & Shipping Co. Saudi Arabia

Hala Shipping Services Saudi Arabia

KWE Transport Saudi Arabia

Glaube Logistics Saudi Arabia

Al Rashed Transport Saudi Arabia

Arabian Transport Co. Saudi Arabia

SITCO Logistics Saudi Arabia

Takhzeen Logistics Saudi Arabia

Al Khodari Sons & LV Shipping & Logistics Co. Saudi Arabia

& LV Shipping & Logistics Co. BAFCO International Saudi Arabia

Wolf Transport Saudi Arabia

Almajdouie Logistics Saudi Arabia

For More Information on the research report, refer to below link:-

Saudi Arabia Automotive & Spare Parts Logistics Market

Related Reports:-

Saudi Arabia Dry Logistics and Warehousing Market Outlook to 2025  Warehousing Automation and Investment within Transport Infrastructure to Drive Market Revenue)

The market showcased a volatile growth trajectory. Dry logistics revenue declined at a CAGR of single digit CAGR during 2015-2019 due to oil price shock further leading to an economic slowdown during 2016-2017 period. Saudi Arabia is located at the crossroads of significant international trade route that connects Asia, Europe and Africa. This strategic location provides the Kingdom with a unique advantage over other nations thus, enabling it to become a leading regional logistics hub. In April of 2016, Saudi Arabia announced its Vision 2030 which includes transforming the Kingdom into a preferred logistics hub. It is making continuous efforts to make imports and exports processes more streamlined. Additionally, government is restructuring the regulations and structures logistics sector government and opening the way for market liberalization and private sector participation. Expansion of industrial cities continues to offer opportunities for foreign investors towards developing the non-oil manufacturing base, warehousing & logistics segments. For instance, Pfizer opened a manufacturing facility in the King Abdullah Economic City in the year 2017. Non-oil manufacturing growth is facilitated by launch of National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) in Jan 2019 by KSA government. Various companies are investing in Special bulk trucks and heavy lift movements to diversify their Revenue streams and Operations. For instance, Bahri launched new dry-bulk carrier 'Sara' & increased their total fleet of dry-bulk carriers to 6 ships in KSA.

UAE Logistics and Warehousing Market Outlook to 2025  By Road , Sea and Air Freight Forwarding; Domestic and International Freight, Major Flow Corridors, Integrated and Contract Freight Forwarding; By Warehousing (Industrial / Retail, CFS / Inland Container Depot & Cold Storage, Agriculture), End Users (Manufacturing, Retail, Food and Beverage, Automotive, Oil and Gas, Healthcare), Type of Warehouses; By Courier Express & Parcel Market , and, E-commerce Logistics

UAE logistics and warehousing market is on strong and sustainable growth trajectory. The economy has faced volatility in 2013-2019 owning to increasing foreign direct investments, increase investments in infrastructures, negative repercussions of global economic slowdown, 100% ownership in certain sectors and fall in oil prices. Foreign Direct investments in 2016-2018 is estimated to be USD 139 Billion leading to total foreign direct investments of USD 139 Billion in UAE. Government of UAE has consistently taken initiatives to reduce dependence on oil exports due to falling prices. Various government initiatives such as EXPO 2020, Dubai Vision 2020 , Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 and flexible rules and regulations have been taken up to promote economic diversification of the economy.

Competition Benchmarking of Top Logistics Players in KSA in Transportation, Warehousing, 3PL, International Express, Domestic Express, Automotive, Pharma, Oil and Gas and Retail Logistics

The industry is dominated by Sea and land freight Movements considering the strong position in Oil Exports and import Dependency for all the Essential Products too. The country has strong trade relations with Asian countries, European countries, and the US. Land freight is usually common with UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, and Egypt. Air freight is quite expensive than any other Mode and is usually used for Express Shipments. The KSA also has a strong warehousing market segment where the real estate players are leasing out their space to logistics companies and Captive players for longer durations. Warehouses are concentrated in areas of Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Al Khobar due to the high population and presence of Seaports. The Courier, Express, and Parcel market is driven by growth in Last-Mile deliveries and the E-Commerce segment in the country.

Philippines Logistics Market Outlook to 2024 (Sixth Edition) By Sea, Land, and Air Freight Forwarding; By Warehousing (Industrial/ Retail, ICD/CFS, Cold Storage, Agriculture), By End Users; By Cold chain market (Cold transportation and Cold storages)

Philippines Logistics Market has witnessed an average CAGR during 2014-19 due to favorable laws from CTAP, Investments in Bridges to promote Inter-island transportation through RORO, and development of ports both by the government and with Public-Private Partnerships. The Current logistics cost comprise 27.16 % of sales in the Philippines which is very high in comparison to other SEA countries. The influx of foreign players, increasing consolidation, Green freight policies by the Government, and investing in innovative technologies has stimulated the growth in the market.

Contact Us:-

Ken Research

Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

+91-9015378249

SOURCE Ken Research
With the launch of this public Bug Bounty program, Lazada is making a statement to the eCommerce industry, and highlighting the priority it places on security and transparency for its customers and partners, by offering security researchers up to US$10,000 per bounty.

Protecting customer data is a top priority

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Singapore, Lazada is one of the leading e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia and was acquired by Alibaba Group in 2016. The company, which has operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, also offers logistics, retail technology and payment services solutions, in addition to LazMall, the region's largest virtual mall with over 18,000 brands.

Since the launch of its private bug bounty program, Lazada has worked with over one hundred ethical hackers to surface vulnerabilities, and has awarded over US$150,000 in bounties to security researchers. This includes a pre-launch event for the public program conducted that saw hackers from the YesWeHack community identify vulnerabilities in 48 hours.

"Given the importance of data and personal information, Lazada takes great care in protecting our customers and we have worked to patch these vulnerabilities, to ensure a safe shopping platform. With the evolving nature of data security, as well as the aggressive nature of hackers who exploit technology to steal data, we believe in working with the larger cybersecurity community to strengthen our IT ecosystems," says Alan Chan, Chief Risk Officer of Lazada Group.

"Since working with YesWeHack, we have improved our security by enhancing our Secure Software Development Process, to avoid the same type of vulnerability coming up again. It has been very useful to verify with the wider researchers that our security monitoring can catch exploitation of vulnerabilities."

Up to US$10,000 reward for reports on critical vulnerabilities

Lazada is now taking additional steps in providing transparency and security to its customers, by transferring the areas previously tested in the private program to a public program. This allows cybersecurity researchers from all over the world to participate in the program and report vulnerabilities to the eCommerce platform.

Furthermore, special attention will be paid to vulnerabilities that affect personal data and have severity levels of "high" or "critical." For submitted reports on critical vulnerabilities, Lazada will pay out up to US$10,000 to security researchers. More information of the public bounty program can be found here.

"By launching this latest public bug bounty program, we are sending a clear message to everyone, that we value the importance of data in our possession. We believe in the expertise of the YesWeHack community and are excited to continue to work with ethical hackers in identifying new attack methods and countering them. This is about protecting our data, protecting our employees and protecting our customers against vulnerabilities," says Franck Vervial, Head of Cyberdefence at Lazada.

"YesWeHack is delighted to partner with Lazada and expand our market in Asia, ensure their e-commerce platform and its customers are protected against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats," says Kevin Gallerin, Managing Director, APAC at YesWeHack. "The switch to a public program follows over 18 months of collaboration, during which our global community of researchers has demonstrated its effectiveness and broad spectrum of skills. By reaching out to a broader community, Lazada strengthens its security, champions transparency and data privacy and protection. Ultimately, building and maintaining the trust and experience of the several million users across APAC."

About Lazada Group

Founded in 2012, Lazada Group is the leading eCommerce platform in Southeast Asia. We are accelerating progress in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam through commerce and technology. With the largest logistics and payments networks in the region, Lazada is a part of our consumers' daily lives in the region and we aim to serve 300 million shoppers by 2030. Since 2016, Lazada is the Southeast Asia flagship platform of the Alibaba Group powered by its world-class technology infrastructure.

About YesWeHack

Founded in 2015, YesWeHack is a Global Bug Bounty & VDP Platform.

YesWeHack offers companies an innovative approach to cybersecurity with Bug Bounty (pay-per-vulnerability discovered), connecting more than 25,000 cybersecurity experts (ethical hackers) across 170 countries with organizations to secure their exposed scopes and reporting vulnerabilities in their websites, mobile apps, infrastructure and connected devices.

YesWeHack runs private (invitation based only) programs and public programs for hundreds of organisations worldwide in compliance with the strictest European regulations.

In addition to the Bug Bounty platform, YesWeHack also offers: support in creating a Vulnerability Disclosure Policy (VDP), a learning platform for ethical hackers called Dojo and a training platform for educational institutions, YesWeHackEDU. For more information: www.yeswehack.com

SOURCE Lazada Group
"We are thrilled to welcome Mark to Strata Oncology. Successful cancer management requires collaboration, and nobody understands that better than Mark, who has decades of experience in leading teams that deliver exceptional results," said Dan Rhodes, Ph.D., co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Strata Oncology. "His proven leadership in commercial strategy and extensive experience in molecular diagnostics will be vital to our efforts to bring the right treatment to patients with cancer through precision medicine."

Szewczyk brings more than 25 years of experience in healthcare and commercial leadership in molecular diagnostics. Prior to joining Strata Oncology, he served as Vice President, Global Commercial Operations, molecular diagnostics at Abbott; General Manager in Abbott's molecular diagnostics division; General Manager, diagnostics imaging systems at Philips Healthcare; and General Manager of the Cleveland Clinic Home Care. Szewczyk holds a Masters of Business Administration from Drexel University and a Bachelor of Science in pharmacy from the Ohio State University.

"Strata Oncology is poised for significant growth and I am very excited to bring my experience in transforming healthcare organizations to the company," said Szewczyk. "The team's passion for changing the landscape of cancer care is clear and I look forward to working with these talented individuals to improve outcomes for patients with cancer."

About Strata Oncology

Strata Oncology, Inc. is a precision oncology company dedicated to delivering the best possible treatment for each patient with cancer. The company combines molecular profiling, real-world data, and a large-scale clinical trial platform to identify and deliver optimal treatments for patients with cancer. StrataNGS is a comprehensive genomic profiling test that features the lowest tumor tissue requirements in the industry so that more patients can get the results and treatments they need. For more information visit www.strataoncology.com.

Media Inquiries:

Renee Volpini

(917) 923-8117,

[email protected]

SOURCE Strata Oncology, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.strataoncology.com


NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Azuca, the leading all-natural, fast-acting cannabis edibles ingredient brand, today released its new white paper, Stability and Waste Solutions for Edibles Manufacturers. The study reveals that Azuca's proprietary technology, TiME INFUSION, not only offers solutions for fast onset and offset consumption, but also helps manufacturers by improving production cost and efficiency by reducing waste of active cannabinoids and combating other obstacles still plaguing the industry.

"We created Azuca TiME INFUSION to fill a void in the marketplace for fast-acting, predictable and consistent products consumers could trust, but as the industry matures, we realize the benefits of a successful delivery system stretch further," said Ron Silver, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of Azuca. "We're pleased to offer technology uniquely designed to improve the manufacturing process. We help companies save money, cut waste and revolutionize the market by bringing best-in-class edibles to a larger audience."

Currently, the industry standard for producing commercial scale edibles is to add the cannabis distillate as a raw ingredient into a recipe. While this method is generally effective, challenges do exist. Due to the natural texture of the distillate, the cannabis sticks to everything it touches: hands, bowls, mixing equipment, etc. creating "transfer loss." Additionally, when adding heat to cook the edibles, potency of the THC can be lost. When transfer and potency losses are combined, edibles manufacturers report an average cannabinoid loss of 15-20%. Overall, the study found when the reduction in transfer and potency losses provided by Azuca TiME INFUSION are combined, the total waste during the process is reduced by up to 65%.

Azuca TiME INFUSION is a process that makes cannabinoid molecules water friendly, and enables faster uptake, beginning immediately in the mouth and avoiding the liver where cannabinoids are degraded and absorption is slowed. Traditional edible products on the market take up to 90 minutes to take effect, however Azuca's are made to take effect within 15 minutes. Azuca's product line consists of a variety of chef-quality, innovative ingredients like syrups and sugars which can be used to create edibles that both taste great and act quickly. In addition to Azuca's licensed products, the company specializes in expert product development and can work with numerous raw ingredient applications.

Other key findings in the study include:

EASY TO USE: A key benefit to integrating Azuca TiME INFUSION  into an existing edibles manufacturing process is that it does not require significant training or large capital expenditures, making the transition to Azuca TiME INFUSION  seamless and trouble free.

A key benefit to integrating Azuca TiME INFUSION into an existing edibles manufacturing process is that it does not require significant training or large capital expenditures, making the transition to Azuca TiME INFUSION seamless and trouble free. EASY TO STORE: Traditionally edibles are impacted by temperature variations that cause imperfections in the final products. In contrast, products formulated with Azuca TiME INFUSION  are stable at a broad range of temperatures and do not leech or crystallize cannabis distillate when temperature fluctuates. This benefit offers peace of mind when shipping products in the middle of the summer heat or storing them in cold or even freezing temperatures.

Traditionally edibles are impacted by temperature variations that cause imperfections in the final products. In contrast, products formulated with Azuca TiME INFUSION are stable at a broad range of temperatures and do not leech or crystallize cannabis distillate when temperature fluctuates. This benefit offers peace of mind when shipping products in the middle of the summer heat or storing them in cold or even freezing temperatures. EASY TO CONSUME: Azuca TiME INFUSION  allows a more predictable experience for consumers with its fast onset and offset technology. Partnering companies like Wana Brands report incredible growth since launching the technology in their gummies.

Azuca TiME INFUSION allows a more predictable experience for consumers with its fast onset and offset technology. Partnering companies like report incredible growth since launching the technology in their gummies. EASY TO IMPLEMENT: Azuca TiME INFUSION technology can be implemented in a matter of hours without purchasing expensive or unreliable equipment, meaning anyone from a large corporation or a small cannabis start-up can use Azuca to help their manufacturing process run smoother.

Azuca's white paper highlights a case study of how Wana Brands, the No. 1 edibles brand in North America, has benefited from implementing Azuca TiME INFUSION into their manufacturing process and line of fast-acting gummies, Wana Quick. Wana Quick Gummies are now best-sellers, currently available in Colorado, California and Canada, with more expansion on the horizon. The process was simple, cost effective, and end consumers love the experience.

"We have been carefully - some might say obsessively - tracking the space for two years, and we have tried every product that we can get our hands on in the marketplace," said Nancy Whiteman, CEO of Wana Brands. "We didn't personally find that most of them were very effective in terms of delivering quick onset, so we were really looking for a better solutionWe found it in Azuca."

The full white paper report can be viewed here with additional insight on how the Azuca TiME INFUSION technology is helping reduce waste in edibles manufacturing. This is the first in a series of studies to be released from Azuca.

About Azuca

Azuca is a privately held, investor-backed company that serves the global cannabis industry with best-in-class, fast-onset edible formulations. Azuca's products are chef-created and powered by its patent-pending TiME INFUSION process which encapsulates cannabinoid molecules, making them easy to metabolize and more "water friendly," for a predictable and controllable experience every time. Azuca's hemp-derived CBD products are sold online at azucatime.com/shop. Azuca TiME INFUSION is also available in dozens of SKU's, including the Wana Quick gummies line. Azuca's branded and co-branded THC products are available in select dispensaries across the US and Canada. Follow Azuca on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Contact: Raquel Hochroth

[email protected] / 914.374.1213

SOURCE Azuca
JACKSON, N.J., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tammarro.com, a provider of location intelligence solutions, announced today that it will integrate DataMap Intelligence Geospatial Data as an add-on to its various product offerings to standardize and geocode new input addresses with greater street level accuracy.

Organizations that require precise geocoding and accurate property identification will now have access to DataMap Intelligence's exclusive detailed information of all new residential development across the United States previously unavailable. A variety of real estate related industries rely on new parcel data to research and analyze property characteristics such as environmental factors, demographics, and tax jurisdictions.

The exact location and the ability to analyze the characteristics of new residential developments are key components to real estate related industries when making critical business decisions. Integrating DataMap geospatial data into daily operations enables organizations to achieve greater insight into the impact of location-based variables.

"Our customers require very high quality data and DataMap Intelligence's geospatial data is another added dataset which we will make available to our customer base," said Jennifer Tammarro, managing director of Tammarro.com. "By integrating DataMap geospatial data, organizations are enabled to precisely locate more properties across the country and gain a greater insight into each specific location," added Moshe Shmuel Newhouse of Lakewood New Jersey based Moshe Newhouse Real Estate. "We are excited about this new business relationship," noted Yecheskel "Charlie" Schwab of Lakewood New Jersey based DataMap Intelligence.

"What makes DataMap unique is the fact that it has aggregated data, pinpointing the exact location of virtually all new and emerging residential developments throughout the United States and Canada, and DataMap can deliver this data in geospatial format. This combination is currently unavailable elsewhere," stated Chatz Schwab of Lakewood New Jersey based DataMap Intelligence.

About Tammarro.com

Tammarro.com provides location intelligence services for market expansion. With the industry's most comprehensive set of solutions for maximizing data, Tammarro.com provides the tools required to more effectively connect and communicate customer's goals. See www.tammarro.com



About DataMap Intelligence

DataMap Intelligence, LLC is a complete and comprehensive GIS content provider that creates, collects and distributes geospatial data pertaining to virtually all new and emerging residential developments across the United States and Canada. See www.datamapintel.com

SOURCE DataMap Intelligence

Related Links

www.datamapintel.com


The latest assays come from three holes (for over 684 metres) sunk in the central mineralized portion of the deposit at the Pit 2 target

Highlights from the three holes included 0.46% copper equivalent (CuEq) over 156 metres, including 24 metres at 0.65% CuEq in one, and 0.43% CuEq over 26 metres, including 4 metres at 0.87% CuEq in another

( ) (OTCMKTS:DSMTF) has reported more encouraging results from the current 10,000 metre (m) drill program at its Haib copper project in southern Namibia.

The latest assays come from three holes (for over 684m) sunk in the central mineralized portion of the deposit at the Pit 2 target, and all hit mineralization from bedrock or near bedrock surface.

"We continue to have success with our active drill program identifying thick, higher-grade zones. We are consistently intercepting significantly higher grades than the average grade of our NI 43-101 indicated resource that stands at 0.31% copper," said Pierre Leveille, the CEO of Deep-South in a statement.

Leveille added: "The higher-grade zone in Pit 2 extends significantly further west and at depth than previously demonstrated. Its increasingly apparent that the use of vertical drilling in the past missed many of the near-vertical structures contained within the broader mineralization of the project.

"Those near-vertical structures so far are proving to be associated with a higher grade of copper than contained within the current resource. Additionally, the presence of molybdenum has been confirmed with high Mo grades obtained in association with structures and alterations."

Highlights from the three holes included 0.46% copper equivalent (CuEq) over 156m, including 24 metres at 0.65% CuEq in one, and 0.43% CuEq over 26 metres, including 4 metres at 0.87% CuEq in another.

Around 40% of the 10,000m drill program has been completed, said Deep South, with 19 holes completed and two currently in progress.

Deep-South Resources holds 100% of the Haib deposit, which is one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in Africa.

A recent preliminary economic assessment (PEA) showed that at a price of copper of US$3 per pound, the project generates an after-tax net present value (NPV) of US$950 million and an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 30%.

Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
Reporters and newsrooms in Belarus, India, Peru, and the U.S. receive international honor for women journalists. Tweet this

"This year's Courage Award winners persist despite incredible odds, including censorship and intimidation both online and offline," said the IWMF's Executive Director Elisa Lees Munoz. "It is an honor to recognize Darya, Katsiaryna, Paola, Vanessa, and the team at Khabar Lahariya for their devotion and determination to keep us informed. For these women, and countless others, participation in public discourse is dangerous and traumatic  we salute them and congratulate their courage."

For Katsiaryna Andreyeva (Bakhvalava) and Darya Chultsova, reporting in Belarus cost them their freedom. Both journalists were arrested and imprisoned in November 2020 for covering public protests of political repression; they remain jailed facing a two-year sentence. Paola Ugaz  a correspondent for Spanish newspaper ABC  has spent her career investigating injustice. Ugaz's coverage of abuse within the Catholic church has inspired years of unrelenting legal and physical threats. Independent, hyper-local news outlet Khabar Lahariya is a feminist voice in in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The publication disrupts and interrogates the status quo, where newsmakers have long been male, upper-caste, and politically connected. Vanessa Charlot, a freelance U.S. photojournalist, documented the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement following George Floyd's murder, during the onset of COVID-19. Under an oppressive gaze, Charlot holds power to account while enduring trauma inflicted upon her own community.

"In receiving this award, Darya represents every woman journalist in Belarus and worldwide who suffers behind bars, despite the risks," said Chultsova's mother, Natalya Terebilenko. "I consider it my duty to publish," commented Ugaz, who continued, "this recognition will help other women journalists in the world to feel that they are not alone." Charlot noted, "This honor is validation of the work I'm blessed to do and the people whose voices help shape the stories we tell." Khabar Lahariya shared, "As rural Dalit women, we are mindful of being pathbreakers while also navigating the challenges that have intensified. We are thrilled and humbled by the recognition, and hope it promotes the global recognition of work that can only be done by women who've been pushed against a wall for too long."

Celebrating 31 years of the Courage in Journalism Awards, the IWMF would like to thank Bank of America, its National Presenting Sponsor for the 15th consecutive year, for its commitment to journalism, diversity in news media and the pursuit of press freedom. Support and funding for the Courage in Journalism Awards sustains critical programs, including direct support for the IWMF's Emergency Fund, which supports women journalists in crisis.

About the 2021 Courage in Journalism Winners :

Katsiaryna Andreyeva (Bakhvalava) and Darya Chultsova (Belarus)

Broadcast and print journalists

Katsiaryna Andreyeva grew up in Minsk and has devoted her life to journalism, developing numerous reporting projects and bylines since 2014. In 2017, she became a reporter for Belsat TV. In co-authorship with Ihar Ilyash, Katsiaryna debuted several investigative reports, and in 2020 they published "Belarusian Donbas" about the role of Belarusians in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In 2017 and 2020, Andreyeva was recognized as Belsat's "Television Person of the Year." She was also a laureate of the BAJ "Free Speech" contest and in 2020, she received the "The Hope of Freedom" award from the Lithuanian Association of Journalists. In 2021, Andreyeva was nominated for the Dariusz Fikus Award by the Press Club of Poland and the Ales Lipay Award in Belarus.

Darya Cultsova was born in Shklou. She graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Mahiliou State University with a major in journalism and began focusing on broadcast reporting. After the 2020 elections, Darya moved to Minsk. In 2021, Darya received Ales Lipay's award (Belarus) and a nomination for Belarusian Human Rights Defenders Community's Journalist of the Year.

During the summer of 2020 in Belarus, Andreyeva and Chultsova covered peaceful rallies, reporting live from the streets of Minsk. They were arrested together on November 15, 2020, for broadcasting at a violent dispersal of a gathering in memory of murdered protester Raman Bandarenka. After the rally, armed riot police broke the door to the apartment where the journalists were hiding. On November 20, 2020, they were charged under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (the organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order). On February 18, 2021, the Frunzenski district court of Minsk sentenced to two years of imprisonment.

Read more of Andreyeva and Chultsova's stories here and here.

Vanessa Charlot (United States)

Freelance photojournalist: @vanessacharlot_

Vanessa Charlot is a freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer whose work covers the intersection of race, identity, politics, and economics. She has worked throughout the United States, Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. Charlot's work has been commissioned by the New York Times, Gucci, Vogue, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Oprah Magazine, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Apple, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, Artnet News, among other national and international publications. She was recently awarded the Green Family Foundation Award and was among those listed in The New York Times' 5 Art Accounts to Follow on Instagram Now.

In addition to Charlot's extensive coverage of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, she also covered the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, former President Trump's rallies in St. Louis, Missouri, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Charlot's other work includes the impact of COVID-19, gun control, and immigration.

Her current projects are focused on the lived experiences of migrant workers in South Florida, queer families, and other voices absent from mainstream news. She is a member of Women Photograph, Black Women Photographers, Authority Collective, ROAAAR Collective, and Everyday Projects.

Read more of Charlot's story here.

Khabar Lahariya (India)

Dalit women-led newsroom: @KhabarLahariya

Founded in 2002, Khabar Lahariya is an Indian video-first digital news platform led by a team of all-women Dalit reporters and editors, producing independent news in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. With a hyper-local focus, Khabar Lahariya operates under the premise that, "news in a last-mile village is news, deserving of the same attention as what happens in a city or town."

The newspaper seeks to brings a feminist voice to local media, interrogating and disrupting the status quo to uplift those traditionally marginalized in the media landscape. It has broken barriers to establish women as journalists in small towns and villages where newsmakers have long been men, upper caste, and well-connected to the political system.

After almost 20 years of this work, Khabar Lahariya's reporters are still the outliers, even as more and more young women step into the field. As rural Dalit women, the paper's staff are pathbreakers across gender and caste, navigating myriad challenges and prejudices that have intensified through the years.

Read more of Khabar Lahariya's story here.

Paola Ugaz (Peru)

Correspondent, ABC  @larryportera

Paola Ugaz is a Peruvian journalist and correspondent for Spanish newspaper ABC, and a host of Lamula.pe's "Diarios de Pandemia." Ugaz began her career in 1999 as an investigative and human rights journalist for Caretas magazine, exposing election fraud and covering protests during former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori's second re-election campaign. In 2001, Ugaz became a correspondent for Europa Press, where reported on stories from Peru.

Ugaz later worked for Spanish news agency EFE, and was a founding member of IDL Reporteros, an investigative journalism website. She spent seven years as a correspondent in Peru for Brazilian outlet Terra Magazine. During her time as General Editor of Lamula.pe, Ugaz led a team of journalists to win the Peruvian Human Rights Coordinator's National Journalism Award.

Ugaz has published several books, including "Punche Peru" with photographer Marina Garcia Burgos, "Chinkaqkuna," (the Missing Ones in Peru), and "Mitad monjes, mitad soldados," (Half Monks, Half Soldiers) with journalist Pedro Salinas. The latter exposed the physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of former members of Sodalitium, a far-right Catholic organization founded in Peru, earning Ugaz and Salinas the 2016 National Journalism Award and the 2016 Human Rights Award from Peru's National Human Rights Coordinator.

Read more of Ugaz's story here.

About the International Women's Media Foundation

Founded in 1989, the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) is the only global non-profit organization that offers emergency support, safety training, grants, skills building and reporting opportunities specifically for female journalists. We are making more women-produced reporting possible and work tirelessly to ensure a greater diversity of voices represented in the news industry worldwide. Follow the IWMF on Twitter at @IWMF, on Facebook at @IWMFPage and Instagram on @TheIWMF.

SOURCE The International Women's Media Foundation

Related Links

www.iwmf.org


TORONTO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. ("Supreme" or the "Company" or "we") (TSX: FIRE) (OTCQX: SPRWF) (FRA: 53S1), is pleased to announce that, at its special meeting (the "Supreme Meeting") of shareholders of Supreme ("Supreme Shareholders"), Supreme Shareholders approved the plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") with Canopy Growth Corporation ("Canopy"), pursuant to which, among other things, Canopy will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Supreme ("Supreme Shares") for consideration consisting of 0.01165872 of a Canopy common share and $0.0001 in cash in exchange for each Supreme Share held, which was previously announced on April 8, 2021.

The Arrangement required approval by at least two-thirds (662/3%) of the votes cast by Supreme Shareholders on the resolution approving the Arrangement, present virtually or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at the Supreme Meeting.

Of the votes cast at the Supreme Meeting with respect to the Arrangement, an aggregate of 203,207,997 Supreme Shares were voted in favour of the Arrangement, representing approximately 81.05% of the votes cast.

Supreme's full report of voting results will be filed on SEDAR ( www.sedar.com ) under Supreme's issuer profile.

Supreme intends to seek a final order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) to approve the Arrangement at a hearing expected to be held on June 15, 2021. Assuming timely receipt of all necessary court, third-party approvals and the satisfaction of all other conditions, closing of the Arrangement is expected to occur on or about June 17, 2021.

Further information about the Arrangement is available in the management information circular (the "Information Circular") dated May 11, 2021 and related proxy materials, which are available on SEDAR under Supreme's issuer profile and on Supreme's website at https://www.supreme.ca/canopy-growth-acquisition.



ABOUT SUPREME CANNABIS

The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc., (TSX: FIRE) (OTCQX: SPRWF) (FRA: 53S1), is a global diversified portfolio of distinct cannabis companies, products and brands. Since 2014, the Company has emerged as one of the world's most premium producers of recreational, wholesale and medical cannabis products.

Supreme's portfolio of brands caters to diverse consumer and patient experiences, with brands and products that address recreational, wellness, medical and new consumer preferences. The Company's recreational brand portfolio includes, 7ACRES, 7ACRES Craft Collective, Blissco, sugarleaf, and Hiway. Supreme addresses national and international medical cannabis opportunities through its premium Truverra brand.

Supreme's brands are backed by a focused suite of world-class operating assets that serve key functions in the value chain, including, scaled cultivation, value-add processing, automated packaging and product testing and R&D. Follow the Company on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. We simply grow better.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Supreme or its respective subsidiaries to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release. Examples of such statements include statements with respect to the timing of the final order hearing and the closing of the Arrangement. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including assumptions as to the ability of the parties to receive, in a timely manner and on satisfactory terms, the necessary regulatory and court approvals; the ability of the parties to satisfy, in a timely manner, the other conditions to the completion of the Arrangement; risks related to the value of the Canopy common shares to be issued pursuant to the Arrangement; regulatory and licensing risks; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial and stock markets; risks related to infectious diseases, including the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic; legal and regulatory risks inherent in the cannabis industry, including the global regulatory landscape and enforcement related to cannabis, political risks and risks relating to regulatory change; risks relating to anti-money laundering laws; compliance with extensive government regulation and the interpretation of various laws regulations and policies; public opinion and perception of the cannabis industry; and such other risks contained in the public filings of Supreme filed with Canadian securities regulators and available under Supreme's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, including the Information Circular and Supreme's annual information form for the year ended June 30, 2020. Although Supreme believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information or forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Should one or more of the foregoing risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although Supreme has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and Supreme does not undertake any obligation to publicly update such forward-looking information or forward-looking information to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.supreme.ca/


The RAID Program provides a fully integrated common control and communications solution for both air and ground unmanned systems. It will enable universal robotic control of legacy Program of Record (PoR) systems as well as next generation unmanned systems, sensors, and payloads for dismounted Marine Corps units. Universal robotic control technologies provide infantry units significant improvements in situational awareness, mobility and lethality and ultimately ready Marines for the challenges of tomorrow's battlefields.

The RAID Program leverages Tomahawk Robotics' product family, including the Kinesis universal robotic control software, Grip, KxM and MxC-Mini. "This is a tremendous opportunity to provide universal robotic control technologies for the Marine Corps and build on the investments of other DOD units and allies. The Marine Corps is doing superb work preparing for the multi-domain battlefield of the future; you see this reflected in their force structure, doctrine, and technology adoption. We are proud to be part of this program and to support their efforts to achieve effective Manned Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T)," said Brad Truesdell, CEO of Tomahawk Robotics.

About Tomahawk Robotics

Tomahawk Robotics is the leading innovator of common control solutions that transform how humans and unmanned systems work together to make the world more safe and secure. From the battlefield to remote industrial sites, our products and technology safeguard users working under the most extreme and stressful conditions. Designed from the ground up with the user in mind, Kinesis is the only multi-domain, cross-architecture, AI-enabled control system that unlocks intuitive interaction with remote environments from across the room or around the world.

Learn more at https://www.tomahawkrobotics.com

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Tomahawk Robotics

Related Links

https://www.tomahawkrobotics.com


SALT LAKE CITY, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Utah today announced a landmark gift of $110 million for its School of Medicine from the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation and the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation.

The gift will further accelerate the nationally recognized school's ability to provide the highest quality medical education, advanced research, and patient care, dramatically increasing the school's endowment and powering critical research. It will also enable the construction of a state-of-the-art new home for the School of Medicine on the health sciences campus.

President Emerita Ruth V. Watkins, Ph.D., and Interim President Michael Good, M.D., announced that the university would rename the school the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah. The naming acknowledges not only this gift, but the lifetime of leadership, vision, and advocacy of Mr. Eccles, chairman and CEO of the two foundations awarding the grant.

"Through leadership spanning more than five decades, the Eccles family has shaped the University of Utah with remarkable breadth and depthespecially within the health sciences," Dr. Watkins said. "In particular, Spence has been a leading champion. He has passionately built upon his family's legacy to advance the University of Utah School of Medicine into a top-tier integrated academic medical institution. Today, he and his family foundations make their boldest and most forward-looking investment for the health of all Utahns. For these reasons and more, we are honored to have the School of Medicine bear his name."

"This gift sets the course for the future of the School of Medicine," Dr. Good added. "Medical education has advanced significantly in recent decades as new discoveries and technologies emerge. At the same time, the state of Utah is experiencing a need for more physicians, particularly in rural areas. This gift presents a unique opportunity: we will provide the most advanced education to raise new generations of health care professionals who will, in turn, improve health for our state and region. Our newly named school will join the ranks of the nation's preeminent named institutions. We will not just adapt to the future of medicinewe will define it."

The timing of the gift also holds special meaning for the School of Medicine and Mr. Eccles. Fifty years ago, a building named for his father opened its doors. The Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library was the first significant capital project at the university to be funded by the Eccles family. Since then, the younger Mr. Eccles has dramatically expanded his family's vision. The Eccles family and associated charitable foundations have supported the School of Medicine and health sciences in areas spanning cardiovascular and genetics research, nursing, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pharmacology, critical care, and more.

"I have long believed that no state or region can become truly great without a world-class medical center at its nucleus," Mr. Eccles said. "We hope this seminal grantthe largest ever awarded by our foundationswill help ensure the university not only provides the highest quality medical education for the doctors who serve Utah and the entire Intermountain West, but also furthers the excellence of health care for all our citizens and impacts the future of medicine through its groundbreaking research."

The University of Utah has long been a special place for Mr. Eccles. An Ogden, Utah native, he arrived on campus in the early 1950s and quickly adapted to campus life. His success as a four-year letterman and All American on the U's ski team and his active participation in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity set an early precedent for his later renown as a Utah Man. It was also at the U where he met Cleone Peterson of Fairview, Utah, who would become his wife of more than 54 years before her passing in 2013. Sharing Cleone's unwavering spirit of community and generosity and valuing her rural Utah roots, these tenets have become the cornerstones of Mr. Eccles' philanthropy.

Hailing from a long tradition of generosity, he once wrote, "I was fortunate to be born into a family that believes in the importance of giving back and doing our best to leave things better than we found them. I was also taught that we can make an even greater impact by joining together with others."

For nearly two decades, Mr. Eccles led the Eccles family's banking empire at First Security Bank until its historic merger with Wells Fargo in 2000. Throughout his career, Mr. Eccles and his businesses have become recognized for focusing on going above and beyond in delivering exceptional quality and service.

"Since 'Giving 110%' has been a legacy theme during my leadership of First Security Bank, this $110 million grant takes on special meaning for all of us," Mr. Eccles said. "It's an investment in the future of our fellow citizensparticularly in the medical students today and those to followwho will have opportunities to practice medicine in innovative ways never before imagined, committing themselves '110%' to improving and saving lives!"

Dr. Good praised that philanthropic spirit. "The University of Utahand the School of Medicine in particularwould not be the institution it is today without the visionary support of the Eccles foundations and families, and especially Mr. Eccles," Dr. Good said. "Today, he defines the next century for this institution and our great state. On behalf of the current and future generations of caregivers to pass through our halls, I express our profound gratitude. The name Spencer Fox Eccles will forever be identified with healing, discovery, optimism, and compassion."

University of Utah Health is the only academic medical center in the Intermountain West, providing patient care for nearly 10 percent of the geographic area of the continental United States. This gift will catalyze the most critical evolution in the School of Medicine's history and be used across three primary areas: education, research, and facilities.

The gift includes $40 million for endowment, which will enrich student scholarships, recruitment of top-flight faculty, and innovative medical education programs; $40 million for research, focused on cardiovascular science and heart disease; and $30 million for a new, state-of-the-art School of Medicine building. These resources will allow the School of Medicine to develop innovations in health care delivery (especially for rural and underserved populations), advances in teaching models and timelines, and, eventually, make future increases in the size of the medical school class possible. The health and well-being of Utahns and citizens in the Intermountain West will benefit from every aspect of the gift.

"This is a defining moment for the School of Medicine at the University of Utah," Dr. Good added. "The opportunity before us now is to achieve preeminencein our people, programs, and facilities. We are confident this gift will bring better health for the people of Utah and beyond by preparing the highest-caliber medical students for the challenges of the future. We also believe it will lead to path-breaking research that will improve care, extend life expectancy and function, restore health, and enhance quality of life."

About the GEORGE S. and DOLORES DORE ECCLES FOUNDATION

In the nearly 40 years since the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation first became active in 1982, it has furthered the philanthropic interests of its namesakes through statewide charitable grants to improve the quality of life enjoyed by the people of Utah. The Foundation's legacy of supportnow totaling more than $750 millionrepresents a significant investment in the economic vitality and future strength of the state of Utah and the Intermountain West.

The Foundation's grants are awarded in five focus areas including Arts & Culture, Community (social services), Education, Health & Wellness, and Preservation & Conservation.

A son of pioneering Utah entrepreneur and industrialist David Eccles, George S. Eccles was a leading figure for more than half a century in the banking industry in Utah and nationally. He played a key role in founding and guiding First Security Corporation and served as its Chairman & CEO for nearly 40 years (1945-1982). George and his wife, Dolores, were active civic volunteers whose generous involvement and supportespecially in education, health care, and the artsmade an important difference in Salt Lake City and throughout Utah. Today, the foundation they created furthers their remarkable generosity, with grant-making programs throughout the state continuing to enrich the lives of all Utahns under the leadership of its Board of Directors, including Spencer F. Eccles, Chairman & CEO; Lisa E. Eccles, President & COO; and Robert M. Graham, Vice President, Treasurer & General Counsel.

About the NORA ECCLES TREADWELL FOUNDATION

Since it became active in 1978, the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation has been a generous and consistent supporter of medical research in Utah and California, awarding more than $150 million to further basic research in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and arthritis. When Nora Eccles established the foundation, she became aware of the importance of basic medical research to advance our understanding of the science of the human heart. This led to her support of research that has contributed significantly to the world's understanding of cardiovascular diseases, leading to improved treatments and therapies.

The Foundation has been particularly supportive of University of Utah Health, which has benefitted from more than $82 million in grants, including more than $56 million to the Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI). Over its 52-year history, CVRTI investigators have contributed seminal findings in electrocardiography, the mechanisms and treatments of cardiac arrhythmias, and heart failure. In 1976, the University of Utah named the CVRTI in honor of Nora Eccles.

A daughter of pioneering Utah entrepreneur and industrialist David Eccles, Nora took an active interest not only in medical research but also the fine arts, and she was an accomplished ceramicist in her own right. As chair of her Foundation, she remained closely involved with the CVRTI's work until her passing in 1978. She is succeeded in that role today by a 30-year foundation veteranher nephew, Spencer F. Eccleswho is joined on the Foundation's board by Katie A. Eccles, Lawrence M. Harrison, Kathryn C. Econome, Robert M. Graham, and Kenneth W. Spitzer.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kathy Wilets

[email protected]

801-541-5093

SOURCE University of Utah
Leading global suppliers can assist buyers in realizing high-cost savings through their efforts on areas such as forward integration, reducing total ownership cost, manage ad hoc spend, negotiate on pricing and contractual terms, conference participation, managing labor price volatility, level of automation, quality management, and reduction in ad-hoc spend. Collaborations with global suppliers will also help buyers in cost-saving and ensure high-quality procurement in the dynamic market.

The report also offers information on the upcoming trends and challenges that will influence market growth.

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Smart Lock Market in India: Key Price Trends

According to the Smart Lock price trends, higher anti-dumping duties imposed by the governments in countries such as China , the US, France , Germany , and India will increase the price of exported Smart Lock.

The steady increase in crude oil prices will drive the prices of raw materials such as optical fiber, PE, PVC, steel, and aluminum. This will propel Smart Lock suppliers' manufacturing costs.

Insights Offered in this Smart Lock Market Report

Top Smart Lock suppliers and their cost structures

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Some of the top Smart Lock suppliers listed in this report:

This Smart Lock procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies.

Panasonic Corp.

Honeywell International Inc.

Allegion Plc

Vivint Smart Home Inc.

ASSA ABLOY AB

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

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.

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Table of Content

Executive Summary

Market Insights

Category Pricing Insights

Cost-saving Opportunities

Best Practices

Category Ecosystem

Category Management Strategy

Category Management Enablers

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers under Coverage

US Market Insights

Category scope

Appendix

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Report: www.spendedge.com/report/fiber-optic-cables-procurement-market-intelligence-report

SOURCE SpendEdge
BROOMFIELD, Colo., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) today announced that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz has exercised stock appreciation rights (SARs) that were set to expire in 2022, and will be making a charitable donation of 100 percent of the proceeds received. After withholding shares for payment of the exercise price and taxes, Katz received 91,661 shares of Vail Resorts stock from the SARs exercise. These shares will be sold, and the full proceeds will be donated. Based on the closing market price on the date of exercise of $319.94 per share, the donation is equal to approximately $29.3 million.

The donation by Katz, and his wife Elana Amsterdam, New York Times bestselling author and founder of Elana's Pantry, will be made to the family's charitable trust and foundation. The $29.3 million brings the total amount donated in the past five years by Katz and Amsterdam to nearly $150 million. Since it was founded in 2016, the Katz Amsterdam Foundation has focused on improving access to behavioral and mental health services in mountain communities and expanding programs to connect underserved youth to winter sports.

Supporting Racial Justice Initiatives

Today, the Katz Amsterdam Foundation also announced a new nationwide focus area related to racial justice. With support from Jessyca Dudley and Bold Ventures, a strategic advisory firm that works to transform and democratize philanthropy, the Foundation is working through a strategic planning process that will identify key issue areas where the Foundation can make a meaningful impact and best align with current efforts to advance racial justice.

To launch the commitment to this new focus area, Katz and Amsterdam are awarding $2 million in grants to support racial justice organizations across the country. These grants support existing social and racial justice efforts, create proximity to lived experiences of others, and help build networks of BIPOC leadership.

"Elana and I are so grateful for the impact our partners in mountain communities have made to improving mental and behavioral health support especially as the pandemic has amplified the mental health challenges all of us are facing," said Katz. "We remain very committed to supporting the continued work of all of these critical organizations, with particular attention to behavioral health equity, to ensure we are providing the needed care and services to all groups within our communities. We launch this new national focus on racial justice with an understanding that there is much to learn from talented leaders and organizations who fight to make progress against injustices every day. We look forward to better understanding the challenges and inequities faced by so many and how we can best partner and support efforts to transform systems."

The $2 million in grants announced today include:

Today's announced grants are in addition to the combined $1 million in grants awarded to the Equal Justice Initiative and the Know Your Rights Camp by Katz and Amsterdam in 2020. Last year, the couple also awarded $1.5 million in grants to organizations supporting youth in urban centers across North America, and $3.3 million in COVID-19 emergency relief and behavioral health grants in mountain communities.

About the Katz Amsterdam Charitable Trust and Foundation

Founded by Vail Resorts' CEO, Rob Katz, and his wife, Elana Amsterdam, New York Times bestselling author and founder of Elana's Pantry, the Katz Amsterdam Foundation believes that emotional and physical wellness is essential for people and their communities to thrive. With a primary focus on mountain communities, the Foundation strives to create an inclusive and equitable environment that empowers people to lead full and vibrant lives. Since 2016 Katz and Amsterdam have made contributions of nearly $150 million to the Katz Amsterdam Foundation and Charitable Trust, representing 100% of the proceeds of any sales by Katz of Vail Resorts common stock. During that same time period they have made grants to non-profits totaling over $24 million.

About Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN)

Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading global mountain resort operator. Vail Resorts' subsidiaries operate 37 destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada; Perisher, Falls Creek and Hotham in Australia; Stowe, Mount Snow, Okemo in Vermont; Hunter Mountain in New York; Mount Sunapee, Attitash, Wildcat and Crotched in New Hampshire; Stevens Pass in Washington; Liberty, Roundtop, Whitetail, Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania; Alpine Valley, Boston Mills, Brandywine and Mad River in Ohio; Hidden Valley and Snow Creek in Missouri; Wilmot in Wisconsin; Afton Alps in Minnesota; Mt. Brighton in Michigan; and Paoli Peaks in Indiana. Vail Resorts owns and/or manages a collection of casually elegant hotels under the RockResorts brand, as well as the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning and development subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and consumer website is www.snow.com.

SOURCE Vail Resorts, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.vailresorts.com


NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Weber Shandwick, one of the world's leading global communications and marketing solutions firms, today has named Susan Howe president, effective immediately. Howe will continue to report to Weber Shandwick CEO Gail Heimann. She will continue to have oversight of all Weber Shandwick regions as she deepens the strategic integration among the specialist brands within the agency's eco-system and drives cross-functional collaboration at global scale.

"Susan is the ultimate connector. Her deep understanding of our network, our talent, our work and our expertise around the world is extraordinary  and incredibly important as we harness the global power of our agency to drive value for our clients and provide meaningful opportunity for our people," Heimann said. "Susan's mark on our agency to date is profound  from the way we team to solve and how we share generously and celebrate often. I truly value her partnership, her infectious positivity and her unwavering commitment to our agency. I'm thrilled she'll be taking on this crucial role."

Howe has been a core driver of Weber Shandwick's success over 25 years at the agency, having held many prominent leadership and client roles in her career. She was the company's first chief growth officer, a new role established in early 2020 responsible for enhancing collaboration between sectors and specialties throughout the organization to drive growth. The role was a natural expansion from her previous position  chief collaboration officer  a first-of-its-kind C-suite role charged with driving deeper integration among the agency's disciplines. During her time as chief collaboration officer, Howe helped to architect and implement a new approach to talent mapping and teaming at Weber Shandwick, which resulted in a new talent model organized around the distinct value the agency brings to clients. She previously was responsible for the agency's best-in-class global Consumer Marketing practice, and flagship Chicago operation.

"I fervently believe that when we leverage expertise and ideas from across our immensely talented network in the right way, the solutions we bring to our clients are unmatched," Howe said. "The energy and passion that our teams bring to the work inspires me daily, and I look forward to doing my part to fuel that innovative, collaborative spirit to reach new heights."

Howe continues to provide senior counsel to many of Weber Shandwick's largest and longest-tenured clients, including Nestle and Anheuser-Busch. As a member of Weber Shandwick's leadership team, Howe also helps to drive the agency's commitment and strategy to becoming the most inclusive, anti-racist organization in the industry. She is a dedicated supporter of women in business and currently serves as the chair of Northwestern University's Council of One Hundred, which connects successful alumnae to female students and graduates to support their career advancement. Howe is also a member of IPG's Women's Leadership Network, which aims to be a force for gender equality and opportunity for women within the holding company. On June 10, 2021, Howe will be inducted to PRWeek's Hall of Femme, which honors inspiring women who "set the bar higher" within their organizations.

About Weber Shandwick

Weber Shandwick is a leading global communications network that delivers next-generation solutions to brands, businesses and organizations in major markets around the world. Led by world-class strategic and creative thinkers and activators, we have won some of the most prestigious awards in the industry. Weber Shandwick was named to Ad Age's Agency A-List in 2020 and Best Places to Work in 2019. Weber Shandwick was also honored as PRovoke's Global Agency of the Decade in 2020 and PRWeek's Global Agency of the Year in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The firm earned 25 Lions at the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Data-led, with earned ideas at the core, the agency deploys leading and emerging technologies to inform strategy, develop critical insights and heighten impact across sectors and specialty areas, including brand and B2B marketing, healthcare marketing, change management, employee engagement, corporate reputation, crisis management, data and analytics, technology, public affairs, social impact and financial communications. Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). For more information, visit http://www.webershandwick.com

Contact: Jill Tannenbaum

Company: Weber Shandwick

Phone: 212-546-7815

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Weber Shandwick

Related Links

http://webershandwick.com


Shaanxi launched the event on the homepage of @Visit Shaanxi on Facebook and Instagram. The unique well-layered poster for the event is designed with images such as wheat that stands for Grain in Ear and terracotta warriors and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda that represent Shaanxi, as well as elements of the World Environment Day. Fans acquired knowledge of the solar term and the World Environment Day and were impressed by Shaanxi while playing the game "Find Differences".

This event gained over 100,000 views and over 23,000 interactions on overseas social media platforms within three days and the numbers are growing. The outstanding figures show that this event has brought Shaanxi and its fans closer and promoted Shaanxi's image globally. Now, Shaanxi's cultural tourism brands are known to more overseas social media users.

The #ColorfulShaanxi event is an online marketing event that Shaanxi held by actively digging domestic and overseas heated topics in the aim of continuously enhancing its cultural tourism brands' international influence. This is also another attempt of Shaanxi at exploring the internationalization path for its cultural tourism brands. In the future, Shaanxi will keep seeking the cultural connotations of tourism and new ways of utilizing social media based on the fruitful results obtained on its way of publicizing its cultural tourism brands around the globe. It will build up its image, tell Chinese stories and make a contribution to the cause of Chinese cultural tourism brands' going global.

SOURCE Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism
NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CafeMom, part of Wild Sky Media, the largest portfolio of owned and operated Parenting and Family sites in the U.S., has just unveiled its partnership with Netflix in support of its movie Fatherhood, which will premiere on June 18, 2021; the initiative caps off a month-long effort honoring dads in celebration of Father's Day.

The collaboration, one of the first of its kind for any digital media platform, centers on one of Wild Sky Media's biggest sites: CafeMom. Over Father's Day weekend, well-established parenting brand CafeMom will become CafeDad, changing its name and its focus for two days across its website, Instagram feed, and Facebook page. Sister sites LittleThings and Mom.com will support the initiative by running concurrent social promotion of the change on their own social channels.

This groundbreaking collaboration will support the release of the Netflix movie Fatherhood, which stars Kevin Hart, and is the culmination of a month during which CafeMom will be committed to highlighting and celebrating all amazing dads for the entire month of June. As part of this multiplatform and multimedia initiative, CafeMom will feature content, video, audio, and social activations that celebrate all dads, whose contributions, humor, and sacrifices have always kept their families strongand who were especially present during the past tough year.

"This past year has seen seismic shifts in how we live our lives, and especially in our family dynamics," said Yuliana Delgado, VP of Content for Wild Sky Media. "With this effort on CafeMom in June and our partnership with Netflix over Father's Day weekend, we hope to spotlight and elevate all the dads who have stepped up, been there for their kids, and fully shared the brunt of the obstacles that we lived through as a nationas a planet, quite honestlyin 2020 and that continue to be our source of strength going forward."

"The dads in our lives deserve acclaim because they have been present, loving, attentive, and empatheticespecially in the face of adversity," said Jessica Herndon, Editorial Director of CafeMom. "In dedicating this initiative to dads, we want them to know we see them and appreciate all they've done, and continue to do, to ensure their families thrive."

About Fatherhood

Following the death of his wife soon after the birth of their daughter, Matt Logelin (Kevin Hart), finds himself navigating his grief while taking on the toughest job he's ever faced: Fatherhood. Choosing to care for Maddy (Melody Hurd) in the ways he knew his wife Liz (Deborah Ayorinde) would've wanted, Matt is determined to go it alone, but learns that raising a child  and becoming a great dad  takes a village. With the help of everyone from his family (Alfre Woodard, Lil Rel Howery, Frankie R. Faison) and friends (Anthony Carrigan), to his boss (Paul Reiser) and a new love interest also coincidentally named Liz (DeWanda Wise), Matt is able to provide Maddy the life of joy, love, and fullness he always wanted for her, no matter how different it turned out to be from what he imagined. Presented by Sony Pictures and Higher Ground, FATHERHOOD is based on the funny, heartwarming memoir by Matt Logelin.

About Wild Sky Media

Headquartered in New York City with offices in Bangkok, Wild Sky Media offers massive global reach through hyper-engaging content and multicultural audiences. A top-ten parenting group according to ComScore, Wild Sky Media's robust portfolio of parenting websites includes Mom.com, CafeMom, LittleThings, Revelist, and MamasLatinas. The company is owned by Bright Mountain Media, Inc.

SOURCE Wild Sky Media

Related Links

wildskymedia.com


MAULDIN, S.C., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Xcelerate, Inc. (OTC: XCRT) announced today it has signed two investment banking agreements with a leading New York-based investment banking firm to assist in sourcing capital. (The investment banking firm was founded in the late 1980's, is one of the oldest in the United States, a full-service broker-dealer employing over 300 people. The firm manages funds with over $2.8 Billion of retail accounts, nearly 100 registered representatives and 50 investment advisors in ten offices.)

Under this agreement, the Company has retained the investment banking firm as its exclusive placement agent and financial advisor in connection with acquisition financing. The Company must meet various terms and conditions which it believes are reasonable and attainable.

The Company's chairman and chief executive officer, Michael O'Shea, said, "We are exceedingly pleased to establish this relationship with such a prestigious firm, which validates our business plan. We expect the assistance of this well-established investment banker will accelerate our growth. We have launched an aggressive acquisition program and have begun due diligence on several acquisition targets. Our management believes we can satisfy the conditions in our investment banking agreement."

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Xcelerate has assembled an internationally recognized team of translational clinicians and engineers to identify and acquire engineering advancements and intellectual property that does not have immediately obvious applications to medical technology and clinical care. Xcelerate acquires innovation at the engineering / patent level, marries it with appropriate early-stage operational med tech companies and applies it in a controlled clinical care setting which fosters engineering/clinical/business advancements under one umbrella.

SAFE HARBOR AND INFORMATIONAL STATEMENT

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), including all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the company, its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) the company's financing plans; (ii) trends affecting the company's financial condition or results of operations; (iii) the company's growth strategy and operating strategy; and (iv) the declaration and payment of dividends. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "intend" and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's ability to control, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors including the risk disclosed in the company's registration statement and reports filed with the SEC. The Company claims the safe harbor provided by Section 21E(c) of the Exchange Act for all forward-looking statements.

Contact 

For more information about Xcelerate, Inc., check its EDGAR filings at: http://www.sec.gov/ or by calling Justin Baronoff 561-750-9800; [email protected].

SOURCE Xcelerate, Inc.
The company intersected 9 metres (m) at 946 grams per ton (g/t) silver equivalent from 170 m, including 0.65 m at 10,777 g/t silver equivalent from 176.9 m

The La Colorada vein is a hydrothermal breccia that contains gold-silver-lead-zinc values in a mineralized quartz and hematite matrix on the San Juan target

Ltd ( ) (OTCQB:GRSLF) (FRA:GPE) announced a blockbuster new high-grade silver intersection from the La Colorada vein on its Plomosas silver project.

The company intersected 9 metres (m) at 946 grams per ton (g/t) silver equivalent from 170m, including 0.65m at 10,777 g/t silver equivalent from 176.9m.

Other highlights included 6.9m at 467 g/t silver equivalent from 29.6m, including 2.1m at 1,306 g/t from 32.3m, and 2.1m at 492 g/t silver equivalent from 66.8m.

The La Colorada vein is a hydrothermal breccia that contains gold-silver-lead-zinc values in a mineralized quartz and hematite matrix on the San Juan target at Plomosas, located in the Rosario mining district of Mexico.

"The results from the 2021 surface drilling program at the La Colorada Vein are very encouraging, CEO Marcio Fonseca said in a statement.

La Colorada, together with the San Juan and Yecora veins, continue to deliver near-surface, high-grade silver and gold results over significant widths. These results are being incorporated into the maiden San Juan Area resource estimation, expanding the mineralized zones along strike and down dip."

To date, GR Silver has released results from 368 surface and underground drill holes from Plomosas, including from the San Juan Area. The results are being incorporated into a 3D model for resource estimation.

Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas
EIGHTY FOUR, Pa., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 84 Lumber, the nation's largest privately held building materials supplier, is launching a recruitment effort to fill immediate openings at retail locations in the greater Louisville region. The company will host a Hiring Event on June 17th from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the company's Jeffersonville, IN, location (2005 Cooper Lane, Jeffersonville, IN, 47130). At the event, job seekers will learn more about the company culture and get the opportunity to be interviewed for open positions in the area that include manager trainee (MT) as well as lumber yard and warehouse associate. Qualified job seekers may receive an offer of employment during the event. Attendees will also receive complimentary lunch from Boss Hog's Truck Stop and their food truck, which will be on location.

"84 Lumber is seeking to fill 12 open positions at three stores in greater Louisville, including one just north of the city in Jeffersonville, IN," said Rob Woodrow, divisional vice president at 84 Lumber. "We're growing along with the growth in the construction industry  here in the Louisville area and across the nation. We're looking for people seeking a fresh start."

Woodrow went on to detail the openings in the region:

Manager trainees (MTs) hired by 84 Lumber enter an intensive, one-on-one, on-the-job training program that teaches them about the company's business and puts them on a path to become a future leader within the enterprise. Starting compensation for manager trainees is more than $40,000 per year.

hired by 84 Lumber enter an intensive, one-on-one, on-the-job training program that teaches them about the company's business and puts them on a path to become a future leader within the enterprise. Starting compensation for manager trainees is more than per year. Lumber yard and warehouse associates need no prior experience and perform essential functions behind the scenes  from the management of supply shipments to the operation of equipment. These associates can expect a starting pay of $15.50 per hour.

"We are a family-owned company, which means we are committed to helping our employees build and cultivate a career with us. In fact, 95% of our store managers started in our manager trainee program," Woodrow said. "As we see it, 84 Lumber recruits individuals with a can-do attitude, a willingness to work hard, and a desire to learn. Once we find these people and they join the company, we teach and train them and find ways for them to grow with us."

Woodrow added that 84 Lumber expects it might find the right fit from all types of candidates  an individual with no construction experience, military veterans ready to embark on their next career challenge, or people with some previous work experience who seek to redirect their career.

Candidates interested in participating in the Hiring Event are asked to pre-register. To sign up, go to 84 Lumber's Hiring Page and complete the form. Once you are registered, you will receive an email from 84 Lumber with the link to apply for the desired position. To save time, candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for positions online before they attend the event.

NOTE: 84 Lumber requires all attendees to wear a mask at the event. Recruits will also be asked to practice social distancing during the Hiring Event. In addition, candidates will be required to undergo a background check and drug screening prior to receiving an offer of employment.

To learn more about 84 Lumber, follow the company on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

ABOUT 84 LUMBER

Founded in 1956 and headquartered in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, 84 Lumber Company is the nation's largest privately held supplier of building materials, manufactured components and industry-leading services for single- and multi-family residences and commercial buildings. The company operates nearly 250 stores, component manufacturing plants, custom door shops, custom millwork shops and engineered wood product centers in more than 30 states. 84 Lumber also offers turnkey installation services for a variety of products, including framing, insulation, siding, windows, roofing, decking and drywall. A certified national women's business enterprise owned by Maggie Hardy Knox, 84 Lumber was named by Forbes as one of America's Largest Private Companies in 2018 and one of America's Best Large Employers in 2019. For more information, visit 84lumber.com or join us at Facebook.com/84lumber and linkedin.com/company/84-lumber .

Contact: Jeff Donaldson, BLD Marketing

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (412) 347-8039

Photos: http://www.bldpressroom.com/84lumber/louisville-hiring-event

SOURCE 84 Lumber
NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Active pharmaceutical ingredients are drugs used for chronic diseases such as neuropathic pain, pulmonary diseases, cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases. However, these ingredients have both, benefits as well as adverse effects.

Pharma companies have focused on modernizing their manufacturing methods to improve overall product quality. This also means automation in process development, something that was previously done manually. Installing equipment with large capacities in terms of volume also enables greater production yield.

According to the revised report published by Persistence Market Research, the global active pharmaceutical ingredient market valued at around US$ 180 Bn in 2020, and is predicted to expand at a CAGR of more than 4% over the forecast period (20212031).

Key Takeaways from Market Study

Small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients are expected to contribute more than 91% revenue share in the market by 2031, owing to their wide availability and potency to relieve moderate to severe pain, usually after a surgery or traumatic injury.

Non-controlled substances are expected to account for more than half of the global market share.

Among all the end users, pharmaceutical companies accounted for more market share than others.

East Asia holds the highest share in the global active pharmaceutical ingredient market, owing to the presence of more CMOs, high healthcare expenditure, and growing research & development efforts in the region.

holds the highest share in the global active pharmaceutical ingredient market, owing to the presence of more CMOs, high healthcare expenditure, and growing research & development efforts in the region. Key players are focused on strengthening their clinical pipelines with new discoveries of novel abuse-deterrent formulations.

The market in the India is projected expand at a CAGR around 4% through 2021-2031. The U.S. holds a big portion of global revenue, and accounts for more than 87% share in the North America market.

Request for sample PDF report: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11260

"Strong growth in demand is being witnessed for small molecules, owing to their potency, efficacy, and safety," says an analyst of Persistence Market Research.

Increasing Healthcare Spending on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients

Global healthcare spending increased at a CAGR of 6.92% from 2003 to 2013. This growth in healthcare spending significantly outpaced the growth rate of population in this period, which grew at a CAGR of 1.22%. Consequently, per capita healthcare spending increased from US$ 597 in 2003 to US$ 1,032 in 2013, increasing at a CAGR of 5.62%.

Know the methodology of report by asking an expert: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/ask-an-expert/11260

Rise in healthcare spending across all regions has increased access to quality healthcare, and is expected to continue to drive demand for pharmaceutical products.

On 25 March 2019 , TUL secured its position in the 2018 China TOP 10 Member Enterprises of APIs. The position was awarded to TUL for its excellent exporting and importing profile of API, pharmaceutical formulations, and Chinese medicines in 2018.

, TUL secured its position in the 2018 China TOP 10 Member Enterprises of APIs. The position was awarded to TUL for its excellent exporting and importing profile of API, pharmaceutical formulations, and Chinese medicines in 2018. In 2016, Novartis' Sandoz discontinued operations at its Maharashtra, India site, as part of global plans to optimize manufacturing. The site, located in west-central India , employed 170 people and manufactured antibiotics and APIs.

Get full access of report: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/11260

What Does the Report Cover?

Persistence Market Research offers a unique perspective and actionable insights on the active pharmaceutical ingredient market in its latest study, presenting historical demand assessment of 2016  2020 and projections for 2021  2031. The research study is based on API (small molecules, peptides & oligonucleotides, carbohydrate drugs, and steroidal drugs) and end user (contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs), pharmaceutical companies, contract development manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), and compounding pharmacies), across seven key regions of the world.

Browse Research Release at: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-reports.asp

Browse End-to-end Market: Healthcare

Related Reports:

Animal Health Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market : https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/animal-health-active-pharmaceutical-ingredients-market.asp

: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/animal-health-active-pharmaceutical-ingredients-market.asp Cosmetic Active Ingredient Market: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/cosmetic-active-ingredient-market.asp

About Persistence Market Research

Overview:

Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.

To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.

Contact

Rajendra Singh

Persistence Market Research

U.S. Sales Office:

305 Broadway, 7th Floor

New York City, NY 10007

+1-646-568-7751

United States

USA - Canada Toll-Free: 800-961-0353

Email: [email protected]

Visit Our Website: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com

SOURCE Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.
SELBYVILLE, Del., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the latest report, "Aircraft Seating Market by Platform (Fixed Wing, Rotary Wing), Class (First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy Class, Economy Class), Fit (Line Fit, Retro Fit), Regional Outlook, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast 2027", by Global Market Insights Inc., the market valuation of aircraft seating will cross $16.5 billion by 2027.

Asia Pacific aircraft seating market is anticipated to progress at a significant growth rate of over 6.5% by 2027

The growing tourism industry, new entrants, and falling oil prices will augment the aviation industry. Increased R&D activities and growing demand for affordable aircraft seats are some of the factors that will drive the market growth during the timeframe.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3225

The business class segment in the aircraft seating market accounted for USD 1.5 billion in 2020. The introduction of smart design iterations for optimal cabin space utilization will provide significant support for the market expansion. In addition, due to the ongoing pandemic, passengers are concerned about safety and privacy while avoiding contact with others, thus making travel more functional and hygienic and further supporting the market progression.

Asia Pacific aircraft seating market is anticipated to progress at a significant growth rate of over 6.5% by 2027. The region has the world's largest commercial aircraft fleet, which is in great demand. India and China are the growth engines of the market in the APAC region. Additionally, the region is expected to provide high growth prospects to the market owing to the upgrading of aging fleets and rising commercial aircraft deliveries.

Major players focus on strategies such as mergers & acquisitions and expansion of their global distribution network to meet the growing demand. Some of the major manufacturers in the aircraft seating market are Acro Aircraft Seating, Collins Aerospace, Jamco Corporation, Martin-Baker Aircraft Co., Ltd., Recaro Aircraft Seating, Safran SA, Stelia Aerospace, Thompson Aero Seating Ltd., Aviointeriors SpA , Airgo Design Pte Ltd., and Embraer S/A, among others.

Request for customization of this research report @

https://www.gminsights.com/roc/3225

Some major findings of the aircraft seating market report include:

The increasing demand for business & private jets is attributed to reduced travel time in conjunction with superior passenger convenience. Private jets utilized for business & luxury travels provide a major growth platform for product penetration in the region. The expansion of airline fleets will provide potential opportunities for the industry progression over the forecast period.

The rising preference for retrofitting aircraft with advanced seating configurations will provide a positive outlook for the industry growth across the region.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought serious economic problems and challenges to the aviation industry. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the civil aviation sector has been one of the worst-hit industries in the world, thereby limiting the market value.

Growth in defense spending has increased the demand for multi-role fighter aircraft. According to SIPRI, in 2019, military expenditure rose to USD 1,917 billion , representing a 3.6% increase from 2018. The deployment of lightweight fireproof composite materials for added combat advantage and pilot safety is positively influencing the industry size.

Table of Contents (ToC) of the report:

Chapter 3 Global Aircraft Seating Market Insights

3.1 Industry segmentation

3.2 Industry ecosystem analysis

3.2.1 Component suppliers

3.2.2 Manufacturers

3.2.3 Profit margin analysis

3.2.4 Distribution channel analysis

3.2.5 Distributors

3.2.6 End-users

3.2.7 Value chain disruptions due to COVID-19

3.2.8 Value addition at each stage

3.2.9 Vendor matrix

3.3 Pricing analysis

3.4 Technology landscape

3.5 Regulatory landscape

3.6 Industry impact forces

3.6.1 Growth drivers

3.6.2 Industry pitfalls & challenges

3.7 Innovation & Sustainability

3.7.1 Self-sanitization of aircraft seats

3.7.2 IoT for aircraft seats

3.7.3 Zero-gravity leather seats

3.8 Growth potential analysis, 2020

3.9 Porter's analysis

3.10 Competitive landscape

3.11 PESTLE analysis

Browse Complete Table of Contents (ToC) @

https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/aircraft-seating-market

About Global Market Insights Inc.

Global Market Insights Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider, offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology.

Contact Us:

Arun Hegde

Corporate Sales, USA

Global Market Insights Inc.

Phone: 1-302-846-7766

Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688

Email: [email protected]

Related Images

aircraft-seating-market-growth.png

Aircraft Seating Market Growth Predicted at 6.5% Through 2027: GMI

Asia Pacific aircraft seating market is anticipated to progress at a significant growth rate of over 6.5% by 2027

SOURCE Global Market Insights Inc.
CHANDLER, Ariz., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alex Stovall is a 26 year-old Army Reservist Chaplain candidate running for Congress to stand up to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who he sees as the biggest problem in the U.S. House. If elected, Stovall would become the youngest Black Republican ever elected to Congress in American history.

Alex Stovall is running For Congress to defeat Rep. Greg Stanton in Arizona. Stovall is an Army Reservist Chaplain Candidate running to stand up the radical policies of the left.

"We are proud to launch this historic campaign for Congress. Alex was spurred into running by seeing the actions of AOC and her squad. He knew that our nation needed a young Conservative voice in Congress to counter her socialist agenda. Alex loves this country and will fight to make sure that it continues to be the greatest country in the world," said Stovall's Press Secretary, Joel Bailey.

The campaign launched with a video that went viral gathering over half-a-million views in 72 hours and featured a memorable opening line addressing Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, "Socialists like AOC hate two things: God and America." The video continues by outlining the grassroots approach Stovall is bringing to the campaign.

"To stop AOC and her cronies, we have to fight fire with fire. That's why I'm running to become the youngest black Republican Congressman in U.S. history. I will be the perfect voice to cut through their B.S."

The campaign has received a groundswell of support both online and offline after releasing the announcement video. He frequently posts pictures from drive-by rallies done in the district and memes targeting the embattled Congresswoman.

"We've seen a large increase in contributions from fans across the country that want to see us stand up to representatives like AOC, who claim they fight for minorities," says Bailey. "People are tired of her radical policies. They don't help anybody but her."

Stovall is running in Arizona's 9th Congressional district in Maricopa county in a seat held by Democrat Rep. Greg Stanton. The campaign says challenging the seat will be integral to taking back Arizona after the 2016 election.

"Arizona is now a battleground swing state that Republicans and Conservatives need to win. Electing Alex is a huge chance to take back a seat that the Democrats are afraid to lose and win back a state that Republicans need to take back in 2022," continued Bailey.

Stovall has focused his campaign on advancing job creation, championing education reform, and stopping illegal immigration. He is a Reservist Chaplain Candidate in the Army and has been enlisted for eight years. Stovall holds a bachelor's degree in theology and a Master in divinity from Grand Canyon university.

He experienced seeing domestic violence, child abuse, and gang activity growing up and wants to make sure that kids in his district never have to go through the same thing. His campaign features the tagline "Faith, Family, and Freedom."

You can contribute to Alex Stovall at his website here https://alexforarizona.com

Contact:

Joel Bailey

9038214301

[email protected]

SOURCE Alex For Congress

Related Links

https://alexforarizona.com


VANCOUVER, BC, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Alexco Resource Corp. (NYSE American: AXU) (TSX: AXU) ("Alexco" or the "Company") announces the results of matters voted upon at its Annual General Meeting (the "Meeting") of shareholders held earlier today.

A total of 70,374,901 votes were cast, representing 49.4% of the issued and outstanding common shares as of the record date for the Meeting. All nominated directors were elected with voting results tabulated as follows:

Nominee Votes For Percentage Votes Withheld Percentage









Clynton R. Nauman 44,528,348 99.3% 314,799 0.7% Elaine Sanders 44,522,782 99.3% 320,365 0.7% Karen McMaster 44,502,916 99.2% 340,231 0.8% Richard N. Zimmer 41,990,909 93.6% 2,852,238 6.4% Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse 39,888,178 89.0% 4,954,969 11.0% Terry Krepiakevich 44,394,071 99.0% 449,076 1.0%

Shareholders also voted 74.0% in favour of the approval of all unallocated awards under the Corporation's restricted share unit plan and 99.5% in favour to set the number of directors at six. In addition, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants, were re-appointed as auditors with 99.7% voting support.

About Alexco

Alexco is a Canadian primary silver company that owns and operates the majority of the historic Keno Hill Silver District, in Canada's Yukon Territory, one of the highest-grade silver deposits in the world. Alexco is currently advancing Keno Hill to production and started concentrate production and shipments in Q1 2021. Keno Hill is expected to produce an average of approximately 4.4 million ounces of silver per year contained in high quality lead/silver and zinc concentrates. Keno Hill retains significant potential to grow and Alexco has a long history of expanding the operation's mineral resources through successful exploration.

Some statements ("forward-looking statements") in this news release contain forward-looking information concerning the Company's anticipated results and developments in the Company's operations in future periods, made as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the timing of activities and reports. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that management believes are reasonable at the time they are made. 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. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

SOURCE Alexco Resource Corp.

Related Links

www.alexcoresource.com


"These 10 finalists are inspiring examples of the veterinary community," said Tara Bidgood, DVM, PhD, DACVCP, Executive Director, Zoetis Petcare Veterinary Professional Services & Medical Affairs. "The American Humane Hero Veterinarian and Hero Veterinary Nurse Awards are Zoetis Petcare's way of helping to put a spotlight on their vital work. Congratulations to these extraordinary finalists and all veterinary professionals who work so hard every day to protect and help provide better, healthier lives to beloved pets."

"Veterinarians and veterinary nurses are the ones we turn to in order to keep our best friends happy and healthy," said Dr. Robin Ganzert, President and CEO of American Humane. "These dedicated professionals work day and night, often behind the scenes and with little public recognition of the lifesaving roles they play. The American Humane Hero Veterinarian and Hero Veterinary Nurse Awards seek to provide a reminder of all that our veterinary heroes do for us and our beloved family members, and we encourage every animal lover to join us in giving them our heartfelt thanks by voting in this year's campaign."

Meet the 10 heroic veterinarian and veterinary nurse finalists!

Here are the nomination essays written by their supporters:

American Hero Veterinarian finalists

Dr. Priya DeSoyza (Lebanon, New Jersey)  When I think of Dr. DeSoyza, I think of incredible strength and compassion. I first met Dr. DeSoyza when she began working at Crown Veterinary Specialists. Her love and passion for the animals was clearly evident right from the start. Our relationship sprouted as we got to know each other at work. What we didn't know was that six years prior, Priya underwent a radical mastectomy for breast cancer. She battled through taking chemo and working. Shortly after beginning at Crown Vet, Dr DeSoyza took a special interest in the dogs from Outcast Rescue, knowing firsthand the horrible conditions the dogs would come in. She then volunteered to be the rescue's medical director. Shortly after, Priya received the horrific news that the cancer was back and her new diagnosis was metastatic breast cancer. Priya is one of the strongest women I have ever come across. To be diagnosed with cancer is horrible enough but to learn the cancer has metastasized is catastrophic. She has not once let her diagnosis stop her from the love and care she gives to every patient who comes through the door of the emergency room. Priya may not always feel well, especially on the weeks she receives her chemotherapy, but that vibrant smile and contagious laugh is always there. Priya is the same old Priya who is fighting an uphill battle. Her love for the animals and her constant will to help them keep her going. Not only is she a great ER doc, she is a great co-worker and friend. She is a HERO, our HERO!

Dr. Rob Coke (San Antonio, Texas)  Innovation is the trademark for Dr. Rob L. Coke, San Antonio Zoo Director of Veterinary Care. A 1996 Texas A&M University graduate, he leads an 18-person team at the 501c3 non-profit zoo, which had to make fundamental changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His work is critical to the Species Survival Plan Program and, specifically, to the lives of Komodo dragons. He serves as a veterinary advisor to the Komodo Dragon SSP, in which he aids other zoos with Komodo Dragon medical consulting. Locally, he has been using new techniques to treat the zoo's 27-year-old dragon, Bubba. Bubba has severe degenerative joint disease in his elbows and knees. At the beginning of treatment, he could not walk very well, but after several months of weekly therapy, he has been able to walk much better and increase his appetite. During the recent winter storm, the worst to hit San Antonio in four decades, Dr. Coke's steadfast attitude, unwavering commitment and leadership were instrumental in ensuring the zoo's animals were safely cared for in record-setting temperatures. In total, the zoo's herculean effort resulted in the temporary rehoming of 14 crocodilians, more than 50 turtles, three giant Thai catfish, and 300 birds. His team also answered the call when a local animal sanctuary suffered a devastating crisis, and is responsible for saving many primates and other animals' lives. Dr. Coke has been with the zoo since 2002 and is an incredibly deserving recipient of the hero veterinarian award.

Dr. April Gessner Deddens (Fuquay Varian, North Carolina)  Dr. April Gessner Deddens is passionate about veterinary volunteer work both internationally and locally. She has volunteered in several impoverished countries in Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and Asia. She was the campus coordinator for Volunteers for Intercultural and Definitive Adventures (VIDA) in Central America and volunteered in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala during veterinary school. She then founded Ross VIDA on the island of St. Kitts while still in veterinary school so that students could gain hands-on experience while also helping the less fortunate with their pets. The organization is still providing free veterinary care to pets of the island ten years later. Dr Gessner Deddens is currently a member of World Vets and has volunteered in Paraguay, Cambodia, Nepal, and Laos, providing free veterinary care and high-volume spay/neuter clinics in some of the most poverty-stricken villages in the world. She was also awarded the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from Ross University for her international volunteer work. Most recently, she started a 501c3 nonprofit called DEGA Mobile Veterinary Care (Determined for Everyone to Gain Access to Veterinary Care). She provides free basic veterinary care to low/no-income and homeless pet owners whose pets would otherwise not see a veterinarian. By working with other charitable organizations, she is able to identify those most in need of free basic veterinary care, which helps prevent disease and therefore decreases the number of pets surrendered to shelters. Her nonprofit has helped almost 600 pets in not quite four months!

Dr. Mary Kate Lawler (Houston, Texas)  Dr. Mary Kate Lawler has graced the Spay-Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP) with her proficient leadershipas chief surgeon in San Antonio since 2006, and as Executive Director since 2015. Her tireless work and dedication allow her to perform as many as 8,500 spay/neuter surgeries per year. When the last surgery is finished each day and the patients are recovering, she deftly shifts to her role as executive director. Her exemplary veterinary skill, business acumen, and compassion keep the SNAP team focused on our mission. Dr. Lawler is a 1995 graduate of NYSCVM at Cornell University. Throughout her veterinary career, spay/neuter surgery has been her focus. She has traveled extensively and has participated in spay/neuter clinics in India, Mexico, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, American Samoa, Hawaii, and on the reservations in the American Southwest. She has led the SNAP team to perform over 20,000 spay/neuter surgeries and 8,500 veterinary wellness visits annually. Her unwavering dedication to the well-being of the people and pets of our community has pushed her to persevere through hurricanes, fires, and pandemicskeeping SNAP thriving in spite of the challenges. She is a hero in the eyes of those she leads and the vast number of companion animals whose lives she has improved.

Dr. Keri Sanders (Stayton, Oregon)  I have taken my pets to Dr. Sanders for years. Not only is she a very kind, caring and compassionate person, she is also very giving. She is always there when we need her not only for her clients but for others, as well. During the devastating fires in the Santiam Canyon last September there were many pets, mostly cats, who got scared and ran or their families had to flee without them. Without hesitation Dr. Sanders and her staff opened their doors and accepted many very badly burned cats and injured dogs. Some who had owners and many that people brought in to ask for help. They took care of these animals and nursed them back to health, sent the ones home who had families and helped find the families for the others who were brought in by people who found them -- all of this at no charge to the families, many of whom were homeless at this point. When the word got out as to what she was doing, donations to her SOS account climbed to help her with the expenses for these injured pets. On one day, she had a completely free clinic for anyone to come for veterinary care if they had been impacted by the fires. She continued that free care for another month, and then on a case-by-case basis. She also offered a free clinic a few years back where veterans with pets who needed care and vaccinations could come in and they took care of their needs. Most of these people seeking help were not her regular clients. I feel Dr. Sanders is a true hero to our community and a fabulous veterinarian in many clients' eyes.

American Hero Veterinary Nurse finalists

Marisa Constantino (West Seneca, New York)  Marisa demonstrates the characteristics of an American Hero Veterinary Nurse on a daily basis. She demonstrates the perfect balance of professionalism, compassion, logic, curiosity and reason. Marisa approaches each animal she is presented with as if that animal is the only one she will treat that day, and may not see again. For a large, open admission, multi-species shelter and public-facing clinic, Marisa does the work of three technicians. She has taken on the role of trainer and mentor to a large number of fourth-year veterinary students on a regular shelter rotation. She does so as she herself was influenced by mentors and strives to pay it forward with the knowledge that these future veterinarians will depend on the talents and skills of technicians as they settle into their career. She believes that knowing how to navigate that partnership with grace and professional respect is crucial. As animal welfare shifts to a true social service initiative, the ability to serve people with the same respect as animals is a skill that Marisa demonstrates without even trying. She sees the big picture and works to undo much of the oppression and discrimination that many clients seeking services have experienced at some point in their lives. Marisa sees only solutions, not barriers. The animal welfare field needs to care about people as much as it cares about animals, and Marisa is a perfect vision of that goal.

Laura Gerard (Hooksett, New Hampshire)  Laura Gerard is the head tech for Northside Animal Hospital and is beyond knowledgeable. She is a can-do-everything type of person. Beyond that, she also is an amazing supervisor, teacher, caring individual and mother. She goes above and beyond for pets, their owners, staff members, and her job. The year 2020 was difficult for everyone due to the COVID pandemic. Laura went through a lot with this and still showed up to work every day with a smile on her face and a "Let's do this!" gleeful attitude. Oh, and did I mention that the vet clinic was under construction/renovation through most of 2020 and at this moment as well? The clinic did not close down at all. Laura is a core member and contributor to this hospital. She is a sturdy beam helping hold everything together, as well as the clockwork that keeps the gears turning. She does not know I entered her, but I feel she is beyond deserving of this acknowledgment and award for her excellence, knowledge and positive attitude. Everyone loves Laura. She works so hard every day and wears so many hats. I thought of so many fellow vet tech friends that I could nominate, but given all Laura has done in her career and continues to do at Northside, I believe she is the most deserving. She is just an amazing individual all around.

Jill Elston (Milan, Pennsylvania)  Jill is the embodiment of an "American Hero Veterinary Nurse." Since college, shelter medicine has been her passion and a couple years after graduation she found her true purpose working at Animal Care Sanctuary, serving and caring for those who had no home. protecting the wounded and abused and giving a chance to souls everyone else gave up on. She courageously leads a team of veterinary professionals who provide veterinary care in an underserved rural area, and Jill herself has become the St. Jude of ACS, "Mama Jill's Home for Lost Souls." She is always first in line to take home the sad, broken, sick, abused, or neglected creature. She regularly rehabilitates fearful dogs and helps sick animals to recover. Her special project, though, is being a hospice for older dogs and cats who aren't candidates for adoption, but who still deserve the dignity of a home and a family at the end of their lives. For all cats and dogs, she offers up her home, giving them a chance to flourish under comfortable (dare I say lavish) conditions, receiving the best of food and healthcare, a lively lifestyle, and a warm, soft spot next to Jill in the recliner or on the bed. These included Miss P. Kevin, Honey, Hershey, Yoda, Simza, Ava, Kado, Bacon, Barnaby, Poki, Grumio, Empress of Shadows, Squiggy, Mimi and her pups, Smokey, Teddy, Amos, Morgan, Edgar, The Bacon Bits, Cosby, Clancy, Murdock, Titan, Lou, Breeland, Yukon, Herc., and so many other patients I can't recall. And Hickory, who started it all.

Liz Phipps (Madison, Wisconsin)  How do you describe an absolutely selfless, kind-hearted, brilliant person? Hero? Angel? All those words and more describe Liz Phipps. Liz is an oncology CVT here at our emergency and specialty service. Professionally, Liz is an absolutely brilliant CVT, always willing to share her knowledge about everything. Her patients absolutely love her and she takes time to explain issues and comfort every single patient and owner. Liz has a quick wit about her and puts everyone's needs in front of hers. She won the Wisconsin Vet Tech of the Year award in the past and has also passed her VTS (Veterinary Technician Specialist) exams for oncology. That's just her professional life. In her personal life, Liz is part of many rescues. She takes in older bully breed dogs who have severe issues and gives them a chance to thrive. She is also part of a reptile rescue and currently has four tortoises, numerous turtles and other creatures. Real love was recently shown in the form of a puppy named Martha. Recently, our clinic suffered a tragedy when a fellow veterinarian committed suicide and left Martha and a few other pets behind. Martha has a heart condition and will only live for one or two years. When asked if someone could take Martha, Liz did not hesitate. She just said "This is what I do." Martha the Labrador will live out her short life with the best person I know. I could go on and on. Liz is our Angel, hero, and crusader. I'm blessed to have her in my life.

Stephanie Titler (Ann Arbor, Michigan)  Stephanie has worked in veterinary medicine for 13 years and has been a Licensed Veterinary Technician since 2012. She is currently finishing her last year of undergrad at Eastern Michigan University to achieve her bachelor's degree and will be applying to vet school in September of this year. She has performed approximately 15 years of rescue and worked alongside the Mayor of Jackson and city council members in 2019-2020 to reinstate animal control in the city. She attended monthly city hall meetings to make this possible and successfully brought back animal control to Jackson County. She is currently a fulltime lead LVT at Blue Pearl, where she has been employed for seven years. She is a full-time college student, and works independently with multiple 501(c)3 organizations, Jackson County Animal Shelter, and both Jackson County Animal Control officers on rescue, rehabilitation, mentoring them on cases when they call her for advice. She is currently working two unpaid side jobs. She is a mentor to a coworker who is in college to become an LVT and she is also a proctor for another coworker in her first year of college to become an LVT. Stephanie fostered two pregnant mother dogs and has rescued many kittens, cats and wildlife. Stephanie has two dogs of her own and three cats. Stephanie is a wonderful, caring person and I can only hope that she receives this award.

To read each of the finalists' stories, as told by the people who nominated them, and to vote daily for one of the five finalists in each of the American Hero Veterinarian and American Hero Veterinary Nurse categories, please visit www.herovetawards.org.

About American Humane

American Humane is the country's first national humane organization. Founded in 1877, the nonprofit today saves, shelter, feeds and protects nearly one billion animals around the world each year. For more information, please visit www.americanhumane.org and please follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

About Zoetis

As the world's leading animal health company, Zoetis is driven by a singular purpose: to nurture our world and humankind by advancing care for animals. After nearly 70 years innovating ways to predict, prevent, detect, and treat animal illness, Zoetis continues to stand by those raising and caring for animals worldwide - from livestock farmers to veterinarians and pet owners. The company's leading portfolio and pipeline of medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, and technologies make a difference in over 100 countries. In 2020, Zoetis generated revenue of $6.7 billion with ~11,300 employees. For more information, visit www.zoetis.com.

SOURCE American Humane

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AUSTIN, Texas, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Invicti Security , a global innovator in web application security, today announced cybersecurity leader Sonali Shah has joined its executive team as Chief Product Officer. A seasoned business and product leader, Shah brings more than 20 years of B2B SaaS and cybersecurity sector experience, having led product management, marketing, and strategy teams at companies such as HUMAN (formerly White Ops), Veracode, BitSight, and VeriSign, among others. Skilled at leading teams with a proven track record in bringing innovative solutions to market, she will be building on Invicti's long history of innovation, transforming the application security market, with its enterprise Netsparker and mid-market Acunetix solutions.

"We are thrilled to have Sonali join our leadership team, bringing her field-tested leadership and strategy expertise in the enterprise sector, alongside her success in scaling organizations and building high-performing teams," said Ferruh Mavituna, founder and CEO, Invicti. "As we continue to expand globally, Sonali will not only help accelerate our growth, she will bring the customer voice front and center in the next phase of our product innovation."

"Invicti has been leading innovation in the application security sector for over 15 years, and I am excited to play a role in shaping its future as we continue to grow the company," shared Sonali. "I was immediately impressed with our products and the accuracy, speed, and intelligence they bring to the daunting task of web security. I'm looking forward to working with our great team to release exciting new features, and to partnering with our customers to help them reduce risk and infuse security into development."

Shah joins Invicti at an inflection point for the company. With more than 3,300 customers in 115 countries, including many Fortune 500 companies, Invicti's Dynamic and Interactive Application Security Testing products are increasingly being adopted by organizations in every industry to scale their overall security operations, make the best use of their security resources, and engage developers in helping to improve their overall security posture. Recently recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Security Testing with its Netsparker and Acunetix products, Invicti has been chosen by global enterprises as their DAST provider of choice, including AWS, NASA, Amex, Air Force, Cisco, Lowes Verizon, Ford, and Starbucks, among many others.

About Invicti Security

Invicti Security is changing the way web applications are secured. A global leader in web application security for more than 15 years, Invicti's dynamic and interactive application security products help organizations in every industry scale their overall security operations, make the best use of their security resources, and engage developers in helping to improve their overall security posture. Invicti's product Netsparker delivers industry-leading enterprise web application security, while Acunetix is designed for small and medium-sized companies. Invicti is backed by Turn/River Capital, and is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with offices in London, Malta, and Istanbul.

Media Contact:

Anya Nelson

Scratch Marketing + Media for Invicti Security

[email protected]

SOURCE Invicti Security

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READING, Pa., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time ever, The Tax Claim Bureau of Berks County, Pennsylvania, will hold one of its delinquent real estate tax sales online via auction website Bid4Assets.com. By moving online, the county is eliminating COVID-19 concerns from the sale while exposing distressed properties to a wider group of buyers and increasing the likelihood those properties will be returned to the tax rolls. Funds generated from the sale support essential county services, which can face shortfalls when taxes go unpaid.

A $1,000 deposit will be required to participate in this sale.

"COVID-19 has opened our eyes to the possibility of transitioning the tax sale process," said Tax Claim Bureau Director Nicole E. Blanding. "Our office is happy to assist any taxpayer seeking to remove their property from the sale by offering relief options available to them. For those who do not, Bid4Assets has a great track record of auctioning tax-defaulted and foreclosed properties, including Berks County's sheriff's sales. Their services increase our office availability to taxpayers, make the process more efficient, and keep bidders safe from COVID-19; all at zero cost to the county."

Bidding opens on June 17 at 10:00 a.m. ET with 113 properties currently available. Auctions will close at staggered times on June 18 beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET. All auctions will start at a minimum bid of $1,000 and have no reserve price, meaning the highest bid at or above the minimum will win the auction.

"We're excited to work with Berks County to transition their tax sale online and we are looking forward to a successful first sale," said Bid4Assets' CEO Jesse Loomis. "Bid4Assets brings over 17,000 registered real estate bidders who reside in the Commonwealth, which makes for a highly competitive auction. We are pleased to build off the success we have had with the Berks County Sheriff's Office and now expand our relationship with the Tax Claim Bureau."

Bidders must register for a free Bid4Assets account and fund a $1,000 deposit to participate in this sale. To view a list of available properties, visit www.bid4Assets.com/berkstaxsale.

About Bid4Assets

Bid4Assets ( http://www.bid4assets.com) is an online auction site based in Silver Spring, Maryland. The privately held company auctions distressed real estate for the federal government, county tax collectors, sheriffs, financial institutions and real estate funds. Bid4Assets has conducted online tax sales for over 90 counties and cities nationwide, including counties in California, Pennsylvania, Washington, Nevada, Utah and more. Since its inception in 1999, the company has sold more than 125,000 properties nationwide and grossed over a billion dollars in auction sales.

Media Contact:

Teresa M. Lundy

TML Communications

E : [email protected]

P : 215-500-8749

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Berks County, PA Seal

A $1,000 deposit will be required to participate in this sale.

SOURCE Bid4Assets Inc.
RICHARDSON, Texas, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) has joined forces with Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization, to address the food insecurity crisis magnified across the nation and Texas by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through its Healthy Kids, Healthy Families program, BCBSTX awarded $507,000 in nutrition grants to 16-member food banks that serve approximately 151 counties in Texas.

BCBSTX's investments in communities go beyond investing in direct healthcare services but encompass a broad range of factors that impact a person's total health and wellbeing, such as access to affordable housing and employment opportunities, consistent nutrition and financial security.

"We've seen food insecurity in our communities amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Sheena Payne, director of BCBSTX's Community Investments. "As the state's largest health plan, we must be part of the solution when it comes of transforming people's lives whether that is providing access to cost-effective, high-quality healthcare or helping to reduce barriers in accessing nutritious food. That's why we teamed up with Feeding America to continue our support of local food banks. We want to help ensure everyone has access to healthy, nutritious food."

The food banks will have the option to use funds for the purchase of nutritious and culturally appropriate foods for the communities they serve, as well as develop nutrition policies that address food insecurity, intercultural competence in nutrition, and structural health inequities.

"Our work with Feeding America will focus our investment on proven strategies to increase access to and consumption of healthy foods," Payne continued. "The collaboration builds on BCBSTX's long history of partnering with community-based organizations to address the social determinants of health that impact our communities."

The 16 food banks awarded grants are:

Brazos Valley Food Bank

Central Texas Food Bank

Coastal Bend Food Bank

Concho Valley Regional Food Bank

East Texas Food Bank

El Pasoans Fighting Hunger

Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, Inc.

Food Bank of West Central Texas

Galveston County Food Bank

Houston Food Bank

North Texas Food Bank

San Antonio Food Bank

Southeast Texas Food Bank

Tarrant Area Food Bank

West Texas Food Bank

Wichita Falls Area Food Bank

BCBSTX is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all people, regardless of their personal and economic circumstances or where they live in the communities we serve. The collaboration with Feeding America will also address the complex challenges that increase families' risk of food insecurity, such as building cultural competency amongst frontline staff to more successfully meet the health and nutrition needs of communities.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX)  the only statewide, customer-owned health insurer in Texas  is the largest provider of health benefits in the state, working with nearly 80,000 physicians and healthcare practitioners, and 500 hospitals to serve more than 6 million members in all 254 counties. BCBSTX is a Division of Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) (which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Texas, Illinois, Montana, Oklahoma and New Mexico), the country's largest customer-owned health insurer. Health Care Service Corporation is a Mutual Legal Reserve Company and an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

BCBSTX.com | Twitter.com/BCBSTX | Facebook.com/BlueCrossBlueShieldOfTexas | YouTube.com/BCBSTX Community Highlights

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas

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ST. LOUIS, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- While the broadcasting industry faced numerous challenges and saw tremendous changes over the last year, broadcasters were still able to present a variety of unique and innovative programs harnessing the latest in technology and design.

Broadcasters ranging from ESPN and CBS News to Al Jazeera and Sky News have been honored in this year's Broadcast Production Awards competition, which saw over 200 entries from around the globe.

NewscastStudio

The annual competition from NewscastStudio focuses on those working behind the camera in broadcast and streaming media production across a variety of formats, ranging from motion design and branding to augmented reality and scenic design.

"The Broadcast Production Awards feature a unique look at how stories were told and the tools that make it possible," said Michael P. Hill, founder and publisher of NewscastStudio. "Broadcasters were able to work remotely last year to produce a variety of major events and programs."

Music library VideoHelper took home the most accolades with seven wins, while Stephen Arnold Music saw six and DreamWall five.

As one of the biggest television events of 2020, coverage of the United States presidential election from multiple networks saw honors including Noticias Telemundo, CBS News and Sky News. The coverage on Sky received top design honors for its unique presentation of augmented reality graphics and election data, which featured use of the Unreal Engine.

Top music honors, meanwhile, went to Stephen Arnold Music's sonic branding efforts for 37 TV in Qatar.

Clickspring Design's broadcast facility design for Asharq News took home multiple awards, with international broadcasters, including BBC News, TVNZ, RTBF, Al Jazeera, Tencent Sports, VTM and CGTN also seeing recognition. Nexstar Media Group's WREG in Memphis, with a set from FX Design Group, and NewsNation also saw wins for scenic design.

The awards were judged by a panel of over 35 industry veterans who evaluated the 40-plus categories on aesthetics, design intent, technology integration, use of new concepts and project budget.

Tools making remote production possible also saw technical honors including Blackmagic Design's ATEM Mini Pro live switcher, NewTek's TriCaster 2 Elite switcher and JVC's Connected Cam broadcast camera.

Other product and solution winners included EVS's Xtramotion AI replay system, Arti's cloud AR platform, Dalet's Galaxy xCloud and AmberFin and Disguise's xR platform.

The complete list of winners is available online at broadcastproductionawards.com.

About NewscastStudio

For nearly 20 years, NewscastStudio has served as the leading trade publication for broadcast production, creative services and broadcast engineering. NewscastStudio features the largest database of design and studio project photography, with thousands of galleries. The site also covers the changing landscape of media from software-defined production and IP to the latest equipment, case studies, thought leadership and industry roundtables.

Media Contact

Jason Marks

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE NewscastStudio
(CVE: GXU  OTCQB: GVXXF) CEO Daniel Major joined Stephen Gunnion from Proactive with news of the last gold assay results following the completion of its air core drilling program on the Madini exploration licence, which is part of the companys Falea uranium project in Mali.

Major telling Proactive the preliminary results are very encouraging and warrant further exploration. With Mali entering the rainy season, Major says the focus will now be on GoviExs other projects, including those in Zambia and Niger.
SHELTON, Conn., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Budderfly , the fastest-growing firm in the North American Energy-Efficiency-as-a-Service market, today announced Outlaw Enterprises, Inc. has selected its energy efficiency solutions to help reduce lighting costs and improve HVAC and refrigeration efficiency across 13 KFC, Taco Bell, and combination KFC/Taco Bell franchise restaurants located throughout South Carolina.

Page found his ideal solution in Budderfly's no-cost energy efficiency upgrades. Tweet this Budderfly LED Lighting Upgrade In Outlaw Enterprises KFC and Taco Bell Franchise

The organization was experiencing shrinking margins and profitability due to rising industry-related costs and sought to offset those increases by optimizing its lighting, cooling, and refrigeration equipment efficiency.

"The lighting and cooling equipment met our needs but it was not operating as efficiently as I wanted," said Ashley Page, Director of Operations, Outlaw Enterprises. "Replacing the equipment with newer technology all at once was not an option due to high costs." Page found his ideal solution in Budderfly's no-cost energy efficiency upgrades.

Working with Budderfly, Outlaw Enterprises, Inc. began a pilot program in May 2020 with four KFCs and one KFC/Taco Bell location. The program included:

Converting all exterior, interior, and parking lot lighting to lower power LEDs

Adding advanced walk-in refrigeration controls for improved visibility and efficiency

Installing Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) and react chips to improve HVAC operation

Installing smart thermostats to better regulate temperatures

Adding submetering IoT devices for advanced measurement and monitoring capabilities

Since the pilot program, Outlaw Enterprises has expanded its Budderfly relationship to include all remaining locations in the company's franchise, converting all restaurants to LED lighting and upgrading many HVAC units to match those enhancements in the pilot program. For the remaining HVAC units, Budderfly will be upgrading those at the end of their useful life with new high-efficiency unitsat no additional cost.

"Other energy efficiency companies approached us in the past. They identified our energy problems and asked us to pay for all of the technology cost upfrontwith no guarantees it would save us what they quoted. To have Budderfly assume all the upgrade costs, keep their quoted promises, and immediately show cost-saving results was a very refreshing change to what I've seen from others," added Page.

Outlaw Enterprises is located in Camden, South Carolina, and is part of YUM! Brand's franchise of Quick-Service Restaurants (QSRs). In 1964 Johnny Outlaw Sr. became a KFC franchisee with one restaurant in Camden located at his Greyhound Bus station and expanded the franchise over the years. Ashley is the son-in-law of current franchisee Johnny Outlaw, Jr.; and for the last 10 years, under Ashley's leadership, the franchise has grown through land acquisitions and two newly built restaurants. Today, Outlaw Enterprises Inc. operations include over a dozen KFC and Taco Bell locations.

"Many QSRs are struggling with rising costs due to increasing ingredient prices and supply chain issues," said Al Subbloie, CEO, Budderfly. "Budderfly's ability to assume all physical upgrade costs and recoup investments over time via a percentage of the monthly energy savings, allows our customers to instantly reduce operational costs helping to offset escalating prices in other areas."

Budderfly's EEaaS solution is also helping Outlaw Enterprises contribute to its parent company YUM! Brands' initiative of balancing business growth with environmental sustainability .

About Budderfly

Budderfly is disrupting the energy industry by leading the digital transformation of energy consumption conservation through its unique Budderfly EnergyCloud Energy-Efficiency-as-a-Service model. With no cost to its customers, Budderfly implements proprietary energy intelligence software, energy efficiency upgrades such as LED lights, HVAC replacements and upgrades, variable frequency drives, refrigeration controls, options for comprehensive maintenance, and much more, that span more than 20 savings categories.



Budderfly creates networks of patented IoT devices that meter and report on all elements of energy use. Together these optimize energy usage at the point of consumption within each facility across the enterprise. Budderfly's ongoing services and proactive maintenance ensure that a building's energy infrastructure never becomes outdated. The result is significant, immediate, and progressive energy expense savings, upgraded facilities, and a reduced carbon footprint for its client facilities. For more information visit www.budderfly.com or follow us on Twitter @BudderflyEnergy.

SOURCE Budderfly

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AMECO's deep construction and maintenance field service expertise helps clients enhance efficiency and reduce costs. Tweet this

AMECO has assembled a strong senior management team comprised of long-tenured construction and maintenance executives, including many former and present AMECO team members, to lead the organization. Gary Bernardez, who led AMECO from 2001-2012, will serve as chief executive officer.

The deal comes at a time of unprecedented opportunity and pressure for large contractors and owners alike. The current boom in construction and capital expansion projects in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has left the industry struggling to keep pace with rising demand for services and supplies. Many EPC companies such as Fluor are reducing the scope of their equipment and field services divisions in favor of focusing time and resources on core competencies, while owners and contractors in the construction field have an increasing need for outside help to assist with ensuring early integration with field construction execution, efficient procurement of services and supplies, reducing spiraling indirect costs and ensuring timely completion of projects, all areas where AMECO excels.

AMECO's comprehensive and customizable services include:

Forecasting and analysis of project indirect products and services

Leveraging buying power to ensure availability and cost-effective procurement and delivery of supplies and consumables at a time when supply chain issues abound

Front-end rent/lease/buy rolling stock analysis

Planning and rapid deployment of resources for shutdowns, turnarounds, outages and disaster relief and recovery

Providing maintained equipment, tools, supplies, consumables, scaffolding and indirect services such as fueling, on-site water distribution and dust control

"Those who use AMECO's services have seen significant improvements in project cost certainty, efficiency and responsiveness," noted AMECO CEO Gary Bernardez. "As a stand-alone company, we are better able to market and promote our services to a wider range of companies at a time when our expertise and history of simplifying site execution complexities and delivering value and bottom-line ROI are needed more critically than ever. OEP's investment in AMECO demonstrates the significant opportunity in the North America market. It's game on in the markets of capital construction and operations maintenance industries, and AMECO is here to be a trusted advisor and partner to our clients."

About AMECO

As a field services company, AMECO delivers unique solutions for efficient planning and management of indirect construction products and services throughout the project life cycle to the construction and maintenance markets in the U.S. and Canada. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., AMECO serves owners and contractors on capital construction projects and in ongoing facility operations with an emphasis on energy, chemicals, mining, biotech, manufacturing and infrastructure end markets. Customers depend on AMECO as a trusted advisor with expertise in simplifying site execution complexities. For more information, please visit www.ameco.com.

About One Equity Partners

One Equity Partners (OEP) is a middle-market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare, and technology sectors in North America and Europe. The firm builds market-leading companies by identifying and executing transformative business combinations. OEP is a trusted partner with a differentiated investment process, a broad and senior team, and an established track record generating long-term value for its partners. Since 2001, the firm has completed more than 300 transactions worldwide. OEP, founded in 2001, spun out of JP Morgan in 2015. The firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.oneequity.com.

Media Contact: JoAnne Laffey Abed

BRIGHT+CO for AMECO

[email protected] 773.308.5519

SOURCE AMECO

Related Links

http://www.ameco.com


"The first film, Simone, tells the story of how it all started" said Rich Merryman, CEO and 3 rd generation family member of Casino Mine Ranch. "I remember vibrantly detailed stories of how Aunt Simone killed a bear, which is a foundational moment in time for future generations. Even today, we store our wines in her original gold mine to embody the wild spirit and irreverent attitude that's captured in every bottle of Casino Mine Ranch."

In the true spirit of the California Gold rush, Simone Shaw purchased land in Amador County, home to the deepest and highest producing gold mines on the Continent. She came here to strike it rich and named it Casino Mine Ranch because it was a gamble on discovering gold. Today, Casino Mine Ranch is a boutique producer of wines curated by co-founders and brothers Rich and Jim Merryman.

"I love the passion and commitment to our product that can be felt everywhere here," said Jim Merryman. "Our wines are produced from grapes grown in soil rich with gold and history. You can taste the adventure in every glass."

Andy Erickson, consulting winemaker for Casino Mine Ranch, has been involved since the selection of varietals. Andy produces some of the most sought-after wines in Napa Valley, including Screaming Eagle, Harlan Estate, Staglin Family Vineyards, and has contributed his great influence over a more refined Casino Mine Ranch. Andy works alongside Jessica Tarpy to make our catalog of wines.

"This is Gold Country, so there are all these great mineral deposits in the soil that create something unexplainable" stated Andy. "We have the right combination of expert talent, leadership, proven methodology, and innovative accelerators to create something truly unique and impactful in the marketplace."

Mackenzie Cecchi, Chief of Staff, is curating the new marketing campaign. She is working with Beyondigital, a creative services agency in Dallas, Texas, to forge Casino Mine Ranch's new marketing and branding initiative. Highlights include a short film series recreating true historical events, and also an adventure guide on "How to Survive at Casino Mine Ranch" which serves a daily-dose of survival skills to an active social following on their Facebook and Instagram pages.

Mackenzie explains, "I am very excited to work with an amazingly dedicated team of creatives to deliver quality content that brings our vibrant history to light, with promise of an even brighter future. From the recreation of historical events on film to launching our new tasting room here at the vineyard, you must follow us @casinomineranch to #feel the gamble."

The short film series can be experienced online now at www.CasinoMineRanch.com. "How to Survive at Casino Mine Ranch" is available to anyone who follows Casino Mine Ranch on social media including Facebook or Instagram.

Soon Casino Mine Ranch will open an all-new Tasting Room, overlooking a tranquil pond where bass, ducks, and geese swim. It will be a retreat for relaxation and contemplation.

About Casino Mine Ranch

Founded in 1935, Casino Mine Ranch is a California-based vineyard and boutique winemaker, supplying artisanal wines to locals and customers online across North America. They are open for tastings on Saturdays and Sundays by appointment only.

Casino Mine Ranch is headquartered in Plymouth, CA and distributes out of Napa, CA. For more information about Casino Mine Ranch, please visit https://www.casinomineranch.com.

For general inquiries, please email [email protected] or call 209.330.0695

Contacts

Eric Johnson

Director of Marketing & Communications

Casino Mine Ranch + Beyondigital

[email protected]

SOURCE Casino Mine Ranch

Related Links

https://www.casinomineranch.com/


HONG KONG, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CBMG Holdings (or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, today announced early promising safety and efficacy results of C-CAR066, a novel second generation chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) therapy targeting CD20 antigen in relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (r/r B-NHL) that has failed to an anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy. Patients who fail anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy generally have a dismal prognosis and are an important group with high unmet medical needs. This abstract was recently presented at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting by the Principal Investigator (PI) of the study, Aibin Liang, M.D., Professor of Department of Hematology, Shanghai Tongji Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, China.

"C-CAR066 preliminary data has shown an early promising therapeutic index in patients with r/r B-NHL after relapsing to an anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy," said Tony (Bizuo) Liu, Chairman and CEO of CBMG Holdings. "These early clinical data suggest that C-CAR066 could potentially provide a solution to address the highly unmet medical need in B-NHL patients that have failed to respond to anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy".

About the Study

C-CAR066 is a novel second generation CAR-T therapy targeting the CD20 antigen. Preclinical studies suggest that C-CAR066 has superior anti-tumor activity compared to anti-CD20 CAR-Ts derived from scFVs of Leu16, Rituximab and Obinutuzumab, and to anti-CD19 CAR-Ts derived from scFV FMC63.

The Phase I clinical trials (NCT04036019, NCT04316624) were conducted in Shanghai Tongji Hospital and Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital in Tianjin, China, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of C-CAR066 in subjects with r/r B-NHL who were previously treated with and failed after an anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy.

Key Results:

As of April 30, 2021, 10 patients (8 DLBCL, 2 tFL) were infused with C-CAR066 at doses ranging from 2.0 x 106 to 4.8x106 CAR-T cells/kg. The manufacturing success rate was 100%. C-CAR066 was administered as a single intravenous dose after a 3-day cyclophosphamide (300mg/m2x3d) plus fludarabine (30mg/m2x3d) conditioning regimen. The median manufacturing time was 7 days and the median vein to vein time was 20 days.

Of the 10 patients enrolled in the study, the median age was 55.5 (range, 41-67) years. The median number of prior lines of therapy was 5 (range, 2-6). Two patients (20%) underwent autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). The median duration of response to prior anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy was 2.1 months (range:0.7~12.6).

Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) were graded according to ASTCT 2019 criteria. 9/10 patients experienced CRS, in which 8 were graded as either grade 1 or grade 2. One patient had grade 4 CRS and recovered after treatment with tocilizumab and corticosteroids. No patients experienced any ICANS event. Grade 3 neutropenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, and infections were reported in 80%, 50%, 30%, and 10% of patients, respectively.

At a median follow-up of 4.2 months (range, 1.2-11.7), the best overall response rate was 100%, with 70.0% (7/10) reaching complete response (CR). Median time to response was 1.0 month (range, 0.9-2.7). Median time to CR was 2.7 months (range, 0.9-2.9). Median duration of response was not reached by the cutoff date. By the cutoff date, 4 patients (3 PR, 1 CR) had experienced disease progression. Among them, two patients relapsed due to loss of CD19 and CD20 antigens on tumor cell. One patient relapsed due to the loss of CAR-T cell expansion and proliferation 2 months post C-CAR066 infusion. 6 patients continue to respond to C-CAR066 treatment at the date of the cutoff. Among them, 4 patients remained in CR after 10 months post C-CAR066 infusion.

About CBMG Holdings

CBMG Holdings develops proprietary cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and degenerative diseases. The Company operates a state-of-the-art facility in Rockville, Maryland with five GMP rooms in order to augment its global research and development capabilities and to support clinical development of multiple cell therapy platform technologies in the United States. The company conducts immuno-oncology and stem cell clinical trials in China using products from its integrated GMP laboratory. The Company's GMP facilities in China, consisting of twelve independent cell production lines, are designed and managed according to both China and U.S. GMP standards. The Company currently has ongoing CAR-T Phase I clinical trials in China. The China NMPA (formerly CFDA) approved the Company's IND application for a Phase II trial for AlloJoin, its "Off-the-Shelf" allogenic haMPC therapy for the treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA), and has accepted the Company's IND application for a Phase II trial for ReJoin autologous haMPC therapy for the treatment of KOA.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this communication relating to plans, strategies, specific activities, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include any risks detailed from time to time in CBMG Holding's reports, including risks relating to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations, including risks associated with the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken in response to it. Such statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of the management of the Company and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties outside of the Company's control. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Except as otherwise required by law, CBMG Holdings does not undertake any obligation, and expressly disclaims any obligation, to update, alter or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Company Contact:

Sarah Kelly

CBMG Holdings

Communications & Investor Relations

Phone: (301) 825-5320

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE CBMG Holdings

Related Links

https://www.cellbiomedgroup.com/


HONG KONG, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CBMG Holdings (or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, today announced updated clinical data for C-CAR039, a novel CD19/CD20 bi-specific CAR-T cell product in relapsed or refractory (r/r) B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). This work was presented at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, by the Principal Investigator (PI) of the study, Aibin Liang, M.D., Professor of Department of Hematology, Shanghai Tongji Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine.

Additionally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Orphan Products Development has granted the Company an orphan drug designation (ODD) to C-CAR039, for the treatment of follicular lymphoma, an indolent form of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

"C-CAR039 preliminary data has demonstrated an early favorable safety profile and encouraging efficacy in clinical trial in patients with r/r B-NHL," commented Tony (Bizuo) Liu, Chairman and CEO of CBMG Holdings. "The high response rate, especially the CR rate in r/r DLBCL is likely to allow the asset to differentiate from existing therapies. The clinical efficacy data compares favorably to any existing anti-CD19 CAR-T therapies. We are also pleased that the FDA has recognized C-CAR039's potential as a treatment option for follicular lymphoma in granting it ODD. This designation speaks to our therapy already showing promise in treating such serious illness and marks another significant regulatory milestone for our C-CAR039 product. We are excited to accelerate the development of C-CAR039 and to bring its potential therapeutic benefits to patients all over the world."

About the Study

C-CAR039 has been developed as a novel 2nd generation 4-1BB bi-specific CAR-T targeting both CD19 and CD20 antigens with an optimized bi-specific antigen binding domain. C-CAR039 can eradicate CD19/CD20 single or double positive tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. GMP manufacturing of C-CAR039 was carried out in a serum free and fully closed semi-automatic system. Dose escalation and expansion studies were conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of C-CAR039 in r/r B-NHL patients.

In the Phase I clinical trials in China (NCT04317885, NCT04655677, NCT04696432, NCT04693676), dose escalation and expansion studies were conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of C-CAR039 in r/r B-NHL patients. C-CAR039 was administered as a single intravenous dose after a 3-day cyclophosphamide (300mg/m2x3d) plus fludarabine (30mg/m2x3d) conditioning regimen. The median manufacturing time was 6 days and the median vein to vein time was 19 days.

Key Results

As of April 20, 2021, 34 patients were infused with C-CAR039. Among them, 28 (DLBCL, n = 25; PMBCL, n = 1; tFL, n=1; FL, n=1) patients had more than 1 month safety data and 27 were evaluable for efficacy at dose ranges of 1.0 x 106 to 5.0x106 CAR-T cells/kg (1 patient did not have evaluable disease on the day of C-CAR039 infusion). The median age was 55.5 (range, 28-71) years, median number of prior lines of therapy was 3 (range, 1-5), 75% (21/28) of patients were in Ann Arbor Stage III/IV, and 28.6% (8/28) never achieved CR to their prior treatments. 5 patients (17.9%) received bridging therapy.

Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) were graded according to ASTCT 2019 criteria. 92.9% (26/28) of patients experienced CRS. 25 of 26 were grade 1 or 2. Only 1 patient experienced grade 3 CRS. All CRS are reversible. 2 patients experienced a grade 1 ICANS. Grade3 neutropenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia and infection were reported in 89.3%, 32.1%, 25% and 3.6% of patients, respectively.

At a median follow-up of 7.0 months, the best overall response rate was 92.6% (25/27). The complete response (CR) rate was 85.2% (23/25). Of the 24 DLBCL patients, 20 (83.3%) had complete response. The median time to response was 1.0 month (range, 0.9-1.6). The Kaplan Meyer estimation of PFS at 6 months was 83.2% (95% CI, 69.1 to 100.0). The median duration of response has not been reached.

The Company plans to submit an IND to the US FDA later this year and initiate a Phase 1b study in the first half of 2022 based on communication with FDA.

About CBMG Holdings

CBMG Holdings develops proprietary cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and degenerative diseases. The Company operates a state-of-the-art facility in Rockville, Maryland with five GMP rooms in order to augment its global research and development capabilities and to support clinical development of multiple cell therapy platform technologies in the United States. The company conducts immuno-oncology and stem cell clinical trials in China using products from its integrated GMP laboratory. The Company's GMP facilities in China, consisting of twelve independent cell production lines, are designed and managed according to both China and U.S. GMP standards. The Company currently has ongoing CAR-T Phase I clinical trials in China. The China NMPA (formerly CFDA) approved the Company's IND application for a Phase II trial for AlloJoin, its "Off-the-Shelf" allogenic haMPC therapy for the treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA), and has accepted the Company's IND application for a Phase II trial for ReJoin autologous haMPC therapy for the treatment of KOA.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this communication relating to plans, strategies, specific activities, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include any risks detailed from time to time in CBMG Holding's reports, including risks relating to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations, including risks associated with the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken in response to it. Such statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of the management of the Company and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties outside of the Company's control. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Except as otherwise required by law, CBMG Holdings does not undertake any obligation, and expressly disclaims any obligation, to update, alter or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Company Contact:

Sarah Kelly

Communications & Investor Relations

CBMG Holdings

Phone: (301) 825-5320

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE CBMG Holdings

Related Links

https://www.cellbiomedgroup.com/


Cell phone use while driving has been linked to increased crash and near-crash risk. Despite bans on handheld cell phone use while driving in many states, crash reduction results are inconsistent. One explanation may be that those who use cell phones while driving are more likely to engage in other intentionally risky behaviors. Instead of solely addressing the use of cell phones while driving, the authors suggest training young drivers to avoid all risky behaviors associated with impulsivity and sensation seeking.

"This study found that frequent cell phone use while driving was only one indicator of a more general pattern of risky driving practices associated with prior crashes in young drivers," said lead study author Elizabeth Walshe, PhD, a research scientist at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at CHOP and co-leader of CHOP's Neuroscience of Driving research program. "Assessment of personality traits, such as impulsivity and sensation seeking, may be helpful to identify drivers most at risk in order to provide more targeted interventions promoting safe driving."

This retrospective study recruited 384 young drivers from across the U.S. to complete an online survey measuring risky driving practices  including cell phone use  as well as history of crashes and impulse-related personality traits. The study found that 44.5% of drivers reported being in at least one crash, and 73% of them reported cell phone use while driving. Those who used cell phones while driving were also more likely to participate in other risky driving behaviors, including ignoring speed limits, aggressively passing vehicles going in the same direction, and running red lights. The use of cell phones was not uniquely associated with prior crashes but was one of several risky activities related to crashes.

"It may be useful to treat cell phone use while driving as part of a group of risky driving behaviors, such as driving while impaired by alcohol," said study co-author Dan Romer, PhD, research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow at CIRP. "For example, messages to enhance driver safety might focus on a larger range of hazardous practices that place the driver and others at risk rather than citing only one, like cell phone use."

This work was supported by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Walshe et al, "Rethinking Cell Phone Use While Driving: Isolated Risk Behavior or a Pattern of Risk-Taking Associated with Impulsivity in Young Drivers?" Int J Environ Res Public Health, online May 25, 2021. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18115640.

About Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals, and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 595-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.

Contact: Ben Leach

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

(609) 634-7906

[email protected]

SOURCE Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Related Links

http://www.chop.edu


Preventing the transfer of poverty across generations

The Yangjialing Fuzhou Hope Primary School in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, was renovated with donations from Fuzhou City, capital of southeastern Fujian Province in 1995 after Xi Jinping, then Party chief of Fuzhou, encouraged local entrepreneurs to help build schools in the country's underdeveloped regions.

"Don't let the kids lose at the starting line," Xi said when visiting the school in 2015, highlighting education as a key factor in the development of poor areas.

The school, which at one time had only one teacher and a classroom in a cave, has undergone rapid changes with support from the government and society. It has now a four-story building equipped with modern multimedia classrooms, and students are also able to take a free lunch at school.

Statistics from the Ministry of Education (MOE) published in 2020 show China's total investment in education, including free meals and improving school facilities, had increased by more than eight percent annually in the previous three years.

According to the white paper on China's poverty alleviation issued in April 2021, the country has renovated 108,000 schools to strengthen the provision of nine-year compulsory education in poor areas since 2013.

"Reducing poverty must begin with reducing ignorance. Therefore, giving rural children a good education is an important task in poverty relief, and also a crucial means to stop poverty being passed on between generations," Xi has said.

Narrowing education gap

Regarding education equality as the basis of social equality, Xi Jinping has on many occasions stressed the importance of narrowing the gap in educational resources and quality between rural and urban areas.

In the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), China's central budget allocated around 749.5 billion yuan ($114.6 billion) worth of subsidies to support compulsory education, and 90 percent of the funds was invested in rural areas, according to the MOE. For instance, students from poor rural household were provided with living allowance from the government to support their study.

The 2021 white paper on China's poverty alleviation says there have been no dropouts in the countryside due to financial difficulties. Nine-year compulsory education is now available to all children from rural poor households, and the completion rate in 2020 was 94.8 percent.

As China goes digital in education, internet infrastructure has also bridged the gap between urban and rural education  primary and middle schools across the country all have internet connection.

Students at the Yangjialing Fuzhou Hope Primary School are now able to experience the "internet classroom" through which the school uses the internet to share real-time teaching with partner schools in big cities.

Favorable policies have also been leveraged to enroll more poor students, expand employment for graduates, and help students shake off poverty through vocational education.

More than 8 million middle and high school graduates from poor families have received vocational training, 5.14 million poor students have received higher education, and key institutions of higher learning have admitted some 700,000 students from designated rural and poor areas.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-06-10/Education-in-China-s-fight-against-poverty-Leaving-no-one-behind-10XpqIElk1q/index.html

SOURCE CGTN

Related Links

www.cgtn.com


Complementing Chevron's heritage Havoline xpress lube  brand, the Chevron xpress lube brand identity offers qualifying prospects the opportunity to leverage one of the most established, trusted brands in America, regarded for premium quality products and attracting loyal, discerning consumers. All xpress lube locations are independently owned and operated under a brand sales and license agreement with owners retaining operating flexibility without traditional franchise or royalty fees.

"With nearly 7,000 Chevron gas stations in approximately 15 states, the Chevron brand is well recognized for fuels unsurpassed in quality and a steadfast commitment to customer service and satisfaction," said Dave Schletewitz, Automotive Installed Marketing Manager, Chevron Products Company. "We're thrilled to extend the valuable Chevron brand into the fast lube automotive service sector. Prospective U.S. owners can harness Chevron's brand equity, built over decades, to attract the countless consumers that have an affinity for the Chevron brand - helping them to take their business to a new level."

As part of the program, Chevron xpress lube locations stock and sell Chevron's premium product brands; Havoline for passenger car motor oils, automatic transmission fluids, gear lubricants and antifreeze/coolants, Techron for gasoline and diesel aftermarket fuel additives, and Delo for heavy-duty diesel engine oils. Brand requirements for maximum visibility and awareness entail primary identification signage at the street and on the building, a dedicated mobile-responsive website and social media platforms, employee uniforms, oil change clings and a digital menu board.

Chevron's new xpress lube shopper program, designed to sustain Chevron brand equity, will require xpress lube locations to maintain minimum customer satisfaction and image scores with a built-in reward system for top-performing sites  a system that contributes to high customer retention and acquisition levels. Plus, business owners have access to industry experts that are committed to helping them thrive and achieve their business growth objectives.

"As a family business in facility management and real estate, we were looking to diversify our portfolio and had considered a variety of automotive businesses before landing on the fast lube segment," says Chris Boschetto, owner of the first Chevron xpress lube in Fountain Hills, AZ. "Given our service background, we liked the emphasis on speed and service with fast lubes and felt Chevron's well-known brand reputation and image was the right fit for us. We never expected this kind of attentiveness from such a big company. It's been a really positive experience and we are excited to see our business grow."

To learn more, visit chevronxpresslube.com . To speak with a sales representative about Chevron xpress lube opportunities call: (866) 354-4476.

About Chevron Products Company

Chevron Products Company is a division of an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) headquartered in San Ramon, CA. A full line of lubrication and coolant products are marketed through this organization. Select brands include Havoline, Delo, Techron and Havoline xpress lube. Chevron Intellectual Property LLC owns patented technology in advanced lubricants products, new generation base oil technology and coolants.

SOURCE Chevron Products Company
"Homes with Hope is a wonderful organization with an admirable purpose," said Jason Colodne, co-founder of Colbeck Capital Management. "Helping to provide the resources needed to help homeless individuals transition into independent life is a cause we believe in supporting.

Stand Up at Home will be live-streamed from the Westport Library at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 12. The event line-up features comedians Kathleen Madigan, an American Comedy Award winner; Pat McGann, creator, and host of The Chicago Stand Up Project; Ali Siddiq, a finalist on "Bring the Funny and creator of "It's Bigger Than These Bars"; and Courtney Davis, host of "Courting with Courtney" on the Anna and Raven Show on Star 99.9.

The comedy portion will be pre-recorded, but there will be in-person appearances during the evening by Alisyn Camerota from CNN; First Selectman Jim Marpe; Dr. Scott Gottlieb; Jamie Mann a Westport-born actor and musician; and Police Chief Foti Koskinas.

Event sponsors will receive the opportunity to attend the event in-person at the Westport Library in a limited-seating capacity with the Homes with Hope organization. General ticket holders can watch the event remotely through the live stream.

This support from sponsors, like Colbeck Capital Management, allows Homes with Hope to continue its vital role in helping at-risk members of the community by offering necessary resources to the homeless. Since 1984, Homes with Hope has offered essential services to the area's homeless, including an emergency shelter, a community kitchen, and a food pantry. Individuals and family members can also access a variety of services including youth development programs, supportive housing, diversion services, and mentoring.

For more information about Homes with Hope, including the upcoming "Stand Up at Home" event or future sponsorship opportunities, visit https://www.hwhct.org/ .

About Colbeck Capital Management

Colbeck Capital Management (www.colbeck.com) is a strategic lender that partners with companies during periods of transition, providing creative capital solutions to meet their evolving needs. Founded in 2009 by Jason Colodne and Jason Beckman, Colbeck's principals have more than 75 years of experience managing credit investing businesses. Colbeck Capital has offices in New York City and Los Angeles. Read Colbeck Capital's weekly newsletter Limited Liabilities on Medium.

About Homes with Hope

Homes with Hope is a Westport-based, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in Fairfield County since 1983. More than 70% of its funding comes from private individuals and foundations. Today, the organization provides emergency shelter for men and women, supportive housing for individuals and families, rapid re-housing, diversion services, a community kitchen, food pantry, youth development programs and mentoring. Our knowledgeable and innovative staff develops individualized case management plans with sustainable solutions so that everyone we serve has the opportunity to achieve and maintain an independent life.

SOURCE Colbeck Capital Management

Related Links

http://www.colbeck.com


As eCommerce and digital content boom, Corsearch and Incopro will create a global team capable of restoring trust against counterfeiting, brand abuse, and piracy

LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Corsearch is pleased to announce the acquisition of the online brand protection provider, Incopro, in a deal which further enhances Corsearch's brand and content protection capabilities. Like Corsearch, Incopro is an agile and innovative company that has pioneered new technologies to meet the increasing challenges of a complex online environment. Incopro's technology-enabled team protects more than 750 brands from counterfeiting and IP abuse and the combination of the two companies reflects a commitment to further developing and delivering the solutions that brands and IP businesses need.

The dramatic growth of eCommerce and digital media consumption mean that companies and consumers now rely on the Internet more than ever. Alongside the opportunities presented by global markets, however, come the increasingly common threats of counterfeiting, gray trade, brand abuse, and online piracy. More than ever before, brand protection solutions that use advanced technologies to reduce brand risks and protect consumer welfare are critical.

From enterprise-level corporations to SMBs, IP owners need a comprehensive brand protection solution built on a global network of technology, data, and expertise. Corsearch is a trusted name for brands in need of innovative, expert support against the loss of revenue and reputational damage caused by IP abuse. Adding the Incopro team to its worldwide network of analysts, developers, and investigators ensures that Corsearch's effectiveness against brand erosion in every market will be further strengthened.

Corsearch CEO, Tobi Hartmann, said: "For years now, we have been impressed not just with Incopro's future-facing technologies and global outlook, but with its commitment to the principle of restoring trust in digital commerce. In the past, Incopro has invited its brand customers to join 'a bigger gang' against counterfeiting and IP abuse  well, we are delighted that they have agreed to join the global team at Corsearch as we come together to support a cleaner Internet and a better society."

Simon Baggs, CEO of Incopro, said: "This is a really exciting opportunity for my management team and staff to join together with the talented team at Corsearch  to work together to deliver the technology and solutions that brand and IP owners need. We are thrilled that we will have an even stronger combined voice. We look forward to working even more closely with Internet platforms and to shouting loudly for the protections that rights owners deserve. I want to thank our customers, staff, and shareholders for their huge support. There is so much more we can do together!"

About Corsearch: In a complex world, Corsearch makes it easy for brands and legal professionals to manage their intellectual property from clearance to protection. A partner to thousands of businesses globally, Corsearch has a mix of comprehensive technologies, skilled analysts, and a customer-first approach that empowers the effective management of trademarks.

In addition to trademark screening, searching, and watching services, Corsearch supports rights holders with brand protection solutions that cover everything from anti-counterfeiting to anti-piracy.

About Incopro: Incopro's mission is to make the Internet better for businesses and their consumers. The combination of Incopro's intelligence-led, ML-driven Talisman platform with its global team of expert analysts offers rights holders full visibility of threats to their brand and consumers, and the ability to effectively mitigate those risks at scale. Founded in 2012 by a team including criminal intelligence, technical, and IP expertise the business is headquartered in London with offices in Los Angeles, Boise, Shanghai, and Cardiff. Incopro protects over 750 leading global brands, including Mondelez International, Reckitt, Unilever, Superdry, and Brother International.

Contact:

Please contact [email protected] or visit https://corsearch.com/our-products/online-brand-protection for more information.

SOURCE Corsearch
Mandalay Resources (TSE: MND) CEO Dominic Duffy joined Stephen Gunnion from Proactive with an update on the newly discovered Shepherd zone at its Costerfield operation in Australias Victoria state.

Duffy telling Proactive that the companys increased focus on the Shepherd zone has demonstrated great success with the Eastern and Western veining horizons extending 300m and 400m in strike length, respectively. And it has the potential to boost an already strong resource.
SAN ANTONIO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CPS Energy today announced the appointment of Shanna Ramirez as Interim Chief Legal & Ethics Officer (CLEO), General Counsel, & Board Secretary. Ramirez, who is a licensed Texas attorney, most recently served as CPS Energy's Vice President & Chief Integrated Security Officer, where she oversaw physical and data security, cyber, incident response and business continuity.

"Shanna has an incredible commercial and legal mind and brings decades of experience working on complex situations for CPS Energy. She is a dynamic, forward-thinking, consensus-building individual and is the perfect leader for this role," said Paula Gold-Williams, President & CEO of CPS Energy. "Her experience leading CPS Energy's security infrastructure and business continuity programs  combined with her strong experience in complex litigation  give her unique insights that will be invaluable to CPS Energy and our customers as we continue to fight the ongoing negative implications of Winter Storm Uri. Ramirez previously worked for a well-known publicly-traded company that calls Bexar County home. I am certain that she and her team will bring a renewed commitment to the wellbeing of our community and the people we serve."

Ramirez joined CPS Energy in 2015 as Director & Senior Counsel and has extensive experience providing business and legal advice. She practiced employment litigation at Haynes and Boone, LLP, while based in San Antonio, and was Vice President & Deputy General Counsel for publicly traded Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., supervising Legal Services, Safety & Risk, Claims, as well as Licensing & Compliance. While at Fiesta, which is the parent company of San Antonio's Taco Cabana and employs more than 10,000 people, Ramirez spearheaded numerous complex litigation mandates and honed her skills for consensus building and navigating combined commercial and legal decision-making.

"I am grateful to Paula and the Board for entrusting me with the responsibility to fight for our customers and serve as an advocate for San Antonio," said Ramirez. "I have called San Antonio home for many years, I will do everything in my power to drive the best outcomes for our community. I am incredibly excited to work alongside our CEO and many of my colleagues on the CPS Energy legal team, in City Hall, and across Greater San Antonio and to leverage my great working relationships within the San Antonio legal community to benefit our customers."

In the immediate term, Ramirez will help to drive CPS Energy's ongoing efforts to protect its customers from excessive, illegitimate and illegal prices stemming from Winter Storm Uri. She will work closely with the utility's CEO, an experienced bench of outside legal advisors, and members of CPS Energy's internal legal department to continue advancing the interests of its customers and Texans across the state.

The utility has had several notable recent wins in its legal battles and continues to demonstrate the strength of its legal arguments in its cases. In addition to advising and leading litigation efforts, Ramirez will help oversee the implementation of cybersecurity best practices within the legal department, and play a leading role in the utility's adoption of key environmental, social and governance ("ESG") principles.

Ramirez will report to Paula Gold-Williams, President & Chief Executive Officer of CPS Energy, and will be a member of the company's senior executive team. Ramirez's appointment is effective immediately. She replaces Carolyn Shellman, whose departure was announced June 2.

Ramirez earned her Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Trinity University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law. She is also a graduate of the Executive Education, Accelerated Development Program at Rice University. Ramirez's skills have been widely recognized in the community, including being named to Scene in S.A. Magazine's "San Antonio's Best Lawyers" in 2010 and 2011; San Antonio Business Journal's "Rising Stars: 40 Under 40" in 2004; and as an alumna of Leadership San Antonio's Class 30. Ramirez is also extremely active as a mentor and philanthropically as a founding member of Women Empowered, a CPS Energy internal networking group; president of the San Antonio Human Resources Management Association; and as a current or former board member for several charities and non-profits including the Texas Ranger Association Foundation, the Clarity Child Guidance Center, the Spurs Sorority Alumni Foundation, San Antonio Women's Chamber of Commerce, Above the Bones Foundation and Just 1 Foundation.

Simultaneously, Ramirez has promoted three talented internal team members to serve as new Interim Deputy General Counsels. The new leaders are introduced below.

Devi Kumar-Nambiar, who joined CPS Energy in 2015, has garnered extensive internal experience working on major strategic initiatives such as FlexPOWERBundleSM and FlexSTEPSM. These are global Requests for Proposals (RFPs) that are helping the company expand its power generation and demand-side options, while remaining focused on energy efficiency and conservation. Prior to working for CPS Energy, Kumar-Nambiar was an attorney with Davidson, Troilo, Ream & Garza, P.C., where she counseled international and domestic corporate clients and represented governmental entities. She also previously served as the Assistant General Counsel for Picoco LLC, an investment firm in California. Kumar-Nambiar earned an MBA from the University of Texas, McCombs School of Business; a Juris Doctor with a specialization in International Legal Studies from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law; and a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Riverside. She is licensed to practice in Texas and California. Kumar-Nambiar is a 2021 recipient of the San Antonio Business Journal's "40 Under 40" award.

Luis Garcia joined CPS Energy last year. Since joining CPS Energy, Garcia has supported various initiatives and programs for information technology, finance, security, safety, military operations, and university research. He also provides legal supports to the company's Rate Advisory Committee (RAC). Prior to working for the utility, Garcia was an Executive Director Managing Counsel Technology and Transactions for United Services Automobile Association (USAA), a global insurance company. Garcia's prior work experience also includes Pedernales Electric Cooperative, where he served in multiple C-Suite key roles, including General Counsel / Compliance Officer; Chief Information Technical Officer; and Chief Executive Officer. Educationally, he earned a law degree from St. Mary's University and a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin.

Kip Giles came to work at the company in 2009. He works extensively on litigation-related work including open records, subpoenas, discovery, and claims resolution. Prior to working at CPS Energy, Kip was an Associate at Strasburger & Price, LLP (now Clark Hill PLC), where he broadly worked on general litigation matters. Giles earned a law degree from St. Mary's University and a Bachelor of Science from Angelo State University.

About CPS Energy

Established in 1860, CPS Energy is the nation's largest public power, natural gas, and electric company, providing safe, reliable, and competitively-priced service to more than 884,811 electric and 366,709 natural gas customers in San Antonio and portions of seven adjoining counties. Our customers' combined energy bills rank among the lowest of the nation's 20 largest cities  while generating $8 billion in revenue for the City of San Antonio for more than seven decades. As a trusted and strong community partner, we continuously focus on job creation, economic development, and educational investment. True to our People First philosophy, we are powered by our skilled workforce, whose commitment to the community is demonstrated through our employees' volunteerism in giving back to our city and programs aimed at bringing value to our customers. CPS Energy is among the top public power wind energy buyers in the nation and number one in Texas for solar generation.

SOURCE CPS Energy

Related Links

https://www.cpsenergy.com


SAN DIEGO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Creo, an ingredient technology company with a proprietary platform for producing natural cannabinoids without the cannabis plant, today announced collaborations with both Fifth & Root and Joiya to introduce new CBG skincare products using Creo CBG. The company has also unveiled its first annual Creovate event, which will bring together experts to discuss promising cannabinoid ingredients like cannabigerol (CBG) and the future of the industry. The event will be held virtually on June 22, 2021 at 11am PST / 2pm EST and feature celebrity keynote speaker, actor and director Jaime King.

With rarer cannabinoids like CBG only being found in small quantities in the plant, it can be challenging to extract and produce them at scale. Through its proprietary fermentation technology platform, Creo produces pure, consistent, premium cannabinoids at scale, and in a more sustainable way.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with Fifth & Root and Joiya to bring high-quality innovative CBG products to market," says Creo Co-founder and CEO, Roy Lipski. "With Creo, our partners gain access to an abundance of superior cannabinoid ingredients that support the development of innovative products for wellness, beauty and nutrition."

Based on recent studies, CBG can act as a natural multi-functional antioxidant to help skin heal, hydrate and delay aging. Using Creo's proprietary CBG, Fifth & Root is introducing a spot treatment for blemishes, while Joiya is adding new targeted skin care products to its collection that calm the skin, promote radiance, and stimulate graceful aging.

"At Fifth & Root we focus on using thoughtfully-crafted, plant-based ingredients. By partnering with Creo and infusing its sustainable and high-quality CBG within future innovation, we are able to expand our collection of pure and natural solutions for healthier skin," says Ginger Mollo, Chief Integration Officer & GM of Fifth & Root.

"Partnering with Creo allows us to deliver clean, safe, and effective skincare products by maximizing the many benefits of CBG and other rarer cannabinoids," says Rachel Ross, VP of Product Innovation of Joiya.

Creovate 2021, Creo's first annual event, will take place on June 22, 2021 at 11:00am PST / 2:00pm EST, and will explore the cannabinoid ingredients revolution. The discussion will feature Jaime King, Actor, Director, Producer, Designer, who will share her experience with cannabinoids and how they are a mainstay in her wellness and beauty philosophy. Beauty, wellness, retail and sustainability experts include Liliana George, PhD, Former Estee Lauder Companies Global Corporate R&D Product Innovation and Current Founder of Pure Beauty Concepts; Mia Davis, VP of Sustainability & Impact, Credo Beauty; Bethany Gomez, Managing Director, Brightfield Group; Dr. Jessica Peatross MD, Internist, Gerson Therapist and Functional Medicine Leader; and Mitch Hara, CEO, Advisor & Investor; Cannabis, Beauty, CPG and Retail.

For more information and to register, visit creoingredients.com/creovate

About Creo

Creo is an ingredients technology company that produces high quality cannabinoids using the natural process of fermentation. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in California, Creo's mission is to enable the creation of value-added cannabinoid products that help people everywhere, at scale and in a more environmentally sustainable way, using advanced biology instead of the cannabis plant. Creo's technology partner and major shareholder is industry-leading biotechnology firm Genomatica. To learn more, visit creoingredients.com/.

About Fifth & Root

Fifth & Root was born from an obsession with plants and love of clean skincare. With female scientists and herbalists at the helm of the business Fifth & Root innovates clean, 100% plant-based skincare, infused with cannabinoids, designed to shield and protect skin from urban stressors. Fifth & Root can be found across national stockists such as Ulta Beauty, Urban Outfitters and Revolve. For more information please visit Fifth&Root.com.

About Joiya

Joiya is a direct-to-consumer wellness company that thoughtfully crafts highly-effective cannabinoid enriched products that support and benefit the unique lives of women and their families. Our team of medical doctors, scientists, and product innovators use the world's finest cannabinoids in harmony with scientifically proven all-natural ingredients to create products that support our customer's skin and beauty needs while addressing issues with sleep, pain, and occasional anxiety. Joiya products are promoted and sold socially by our national team of Wellness Advisors that enrich, guide, and inspire our customers through a wellness journey that combines Joiya's amazing products with proven wellness practices that deliver better health and more "joi". For more information, please speak with your local Wellness Advisor or visit us at www.Joiya.life. Or follow Joiya on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Press Contact

PopLab Marketing

Robin Diamond

212-600-4842

[email protected]

SOURCE Creo

Related Links

http://creoingredients.com/


Founded in 2003, CrossCountry Mortgage is a top 10 retail mortgage lender nationwide and the largest based in Ohio. With nearly 6,800 employees, it operates in all 50 states through a network of over 500 offices, more than 300 of which have opened in the past two years. The company, currently based in Brecksville, has appeared seven times on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation's fastest growing private businesses and has been recognized four times as a Northcoast 99 winner, representing the best workplaces for top talent in Northeast Ohio.

"We are the quintessential Cleveland story  we have built this business from the ground up through hard work and a shared commitment to make the mortgage process easy, stress-free and rewarding," Leonhardt said. "Like the tens of thousands of customers we help serve each year, we can't wait to move into our new home, located in an exciting and culturally rich neighborhood that has played a vital role in Cleveland's history."

Made possible through support from the City of Cleveland, Team NEO, JobsOhio and the Ohio Development Services Agency, the headquarters project includes the restoration and renovation of four industrial buildings dating back to as early as 1913. The site is the former headquarters, packaging and warehouse facility for TAP Packaging + Design. The business was formerly known as The Chilcote Company, a manufacturer of paperboard products.

"This is another outstanding example of continued progress toward the revitalization of an historic neighborhood and it brings new growth opportunities to Northeast Ohio," said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and CEO. "We appreciate the close collaboration with our partners and CrossCountry Mortgage to help the company continue its success in Ohio."

The facility will feature a 4,600-square-foot training center where the company will help prepare thousands of participants to become next-generation mortgage professionals. CrossCountry Mortgage's comprehensive training program is a major draw for recent high school and college graduates and others who want to pursue careers in roles ranging from loan processing to underwriting and closing.

"Our new work environment and central location will help make our training activities even more appealing and effective," said Jennifer Stracensky, chief operating officer. "Participants will be able to explore new career paths while learning and working in a beautifully restored facility located in an amazing part of Cleveland. The opportunity here is enormous."

The project will include extensive masonry and structural restoration, roof replacement, utility upgrades and installation of nearly 160 windows. New elevators and other changes will ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Building interiors will be transformed from factory and warehouse spaces to an open, comfortable and highly collaborative environment. A 7,100-foot commons area will be illuminated by a 40- by 60-foot skylight. Other amenities will include a conference center, barista, grab-and-go food pantry, commercial kitchen that will be run by local restaurants and a 8,600-foot gym with a group fitness studio and locker facilities. Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

Yearlong Art Competition

To celebrate its new role as a member of the Superior Arts District community, the company invited local artists Jenna Conforti, Scott Goss and Bob Peck + Rich Cihlar to offer live demonstrations of their work, and announced a yearlong competition that will award the winner an opportunity to showcase their art in the new headquarters.

The competition will accept proposals on a quarterly basis and select three artists per round. The public will be invited to vote for their favorite artist in each round at PainttheDistrict.com.

"As this historic neighborhood continues to rise, so does its creative energy," said Laura Soave, chief brand officer. "That played a big role in Ron's choice of this property for our headquarters. It will help us continue to attract smart, hardworking new team members who appreciate having an inspiring place to go to work every day."

For more information about CrossCountry Mortgage, visit www.crosscountrymortgage.com.

CROSSCOUNTRY MORTGAGE, LLC is a top 10 retail mortgage lender in America, founded in 2003 by CEO Ronald J. Leonhardt, Jr. The company has more than 6,000 employees and licenses in all 50 states. A direct lender and approved seller and servicer by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae, CCM offers a broad portfolio of home purchase and refinance programs ranging from conventional and jumbo mortgages to government-insured programs for Veterans and rural homebuyers. Additional options include down payment assistance, home equity products, and expedited closing programs. CrossCountry Mortgage is on the Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies and a recipient of several other local and national awards for sales and growth. For more information, please visit crosscountrymortgage.com.

SOURCE CrossCountry Mortgage

Related Links

http://www.crosscountrymortgage.com


With the spread of new remote working environments brought about by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the potential risks of telecommuting, and the blurring of physical boundaries, the financial industry has been on the frontlines, facing the threat of increasingly serious Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) and ubiquitous ransomware infections. ITFOR Inc. was founded in 1972 as an information service provider dedicated to creating total information and communication solutions for the financial industry, public institutions, retail, e-commerce and more. The company has an overwhelming market share in debt collection systems used in the financial industry, and therefore, this strategic partnership with CyCraft is a joint effort to enhance information security and create a new and secure working environment for financial industry customers.

The CyCraft AIR series of products have twice outperformed in the MITRE ATT&CK authoritative evaluations, and stands out with its exemplary AI automatic detection capabilities. The latest round of evaluation results, which was just released in April 2021, simulated the attack on financial institutions by FIN7 and Carbanak hacker groups to validate real-world capabilities of various information security products. CyCraft AIR had the highest signal-to-noise ratio (96.15%) among 29 major international vendors, and has achieved two consecutive years of out-of-the box detections with zero latency, thus attesting to the absolute advantages of fully automated AI for rapid response and accurate automated analysis results. CyCraft AIR is also eye-catching in its flexibility: it can be deployed in the cloud or on demand, helping enterprises to grasp the latest holistic information security situation on a large scale.

James Cheng, Chief Operating Officer of CyCraft Japan, noted, "Building off of our sustained excellence in the MITRE ATT&CK evaluations and detection and response space, CyCraft has also been utilized in many emergency investigations in Japan. In addition, more than 30% of financial institutions in Taiwan are current CyCraft clients, empowering CyCraft's deep knowledge and unparalleled experience in information security applications for the financial industry. The partnership with ITFOR Inc. is not only to actively expand overseas markets, but also to become a reliable information security backbone for Japanese financial institutions with deep-rooted information security best practices and insights in the financial sector."

Makoto Haneda, Communication Systems Director of ITFOR further pointed out, "The threat of cyber attacks is increasing, and even enterprises and critical infrastructure systems, which are considered to have strong information security measures in place, are constantly threatened by attacks. Therefore, it must be said that conventional information security technologies are becoming inadequate in the face of new and dynamic threats. CyCraft AIR utilizes the latest advanced AI technology to achieve effective detection and analysis without human intervention. In order to enhance local economies and promote regional revitalization with IT technology, this partnership between ITFOR and CyCraft will provide a leading information security platform that can withstand powerful attacks and significantly improve the information security defenses of businesses."

About ITFOR Inc.



Since its inauguration in 1972, ITFOR Inc. introduced advanced information devices developed abroad to Japan. In 1983, ITFOR Inc. developed the "Auto Call System" for demanding the collection of debt, for the first time in Japan. This has gained an overwhelming share in the field of debt collection business systems in financial institutions, and has so far gained higher reliability for customers. At present, a package system and a communication infrastructure system of this company are provided as a total solution to local financial institutions, local governments, local department stores, and contact centers of each company, so as to support business improvement and creation for companies. Further, the business is expanded by focusing on cashless settlement business that is realized non-face-to-face and contactless.



About CyCraft



CyCraft is the world's leading AI information security company. Headquartered in Taiwan, the company has expanded its market presence to Japan and Singapore. The company leverages innovative AI technology to automate information security, and features built-in EDR, CTI, NDR and a next-gen AI-enabled information security Command Center. Since its founding, CyCraft has gained the trust of over 50 government agencies, police and defense units, 30% of financial institutions, and dozens of leading companies in high-tech and key industries, solidifying the company's leading market position in Taiwan. From endpoints to networks, from investigation to blocking, from self-built to hosted, CyCraft AIR covers all aspects required for enterprise information security and follows Fast / Accurate / Simple / Thorough principles to provide customers with the most effective defense mechanisms, thus achieving the goal of eliminating threats as soon as possible.

Contact

Kate Wu

Marketing Manager

[email protected]

SOURCE CyCraft

Related Links

http://www.cycraft.com


DALLAS, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Gregory L. Deans and Katherine H. Stepp, the founding partners of Deans Stepp Law LLP, have been named among America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys for 2021. Selection to America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys is by invitation only and is reserved to identify the nation's most exceptional litigators for high-value personal injury, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, product liability, and medical malpractice matters.

Gregory L. Deans and Katherine H. Stepp, of Deans Stepp Law LLP, named among America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys for 2021.

"We are passionate about helping our clients navigate through complex personal injury, product liability, and wrongful death cases and, ultimately, obtaining the best possible results for their unique situation," said Deans. "We are honored to be recognized for this work."

Deans has tried cases for plaintiffs and defendants in courtrooms and arbitrations both in and out of Texas. He has recovered substantial amounts for plaintiffs and has obtained defense verdicts when his clients faced the possibility of multi-million-dollar judgments. Deans' practice focuses on cases involving complex business disputes, construction defects, catastrophic personal injury, negligence, and product liability.

"We founded Deans Stepp Law because we understood that clients need top-quality yet efficient representation," said Stepp. "In a trial, we are our client's fiercest advocate, but we always seek innovative solutions to protect them from ever having to see the inside of a courtroom."

Stepp represents a national clientele of plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil litigation matters. Stepp's practice is primarily focused on toxic tort, commercial litigation, premises liability, product liability, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, oil & gas litigation, and employment litigation.

To be considered for selection, an attorney must focus more than 50% of their active legal practice on personal injury, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, product liability, and/or medical malpractice matters. Candidates are carefully screened on a broad array of criteria, including professional experience, litigation experience, significant personal injury settlements or verdicts, peer reputation, and community impact. With these extremely high selection standards for America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys, less than one-half percent (0.5%) of active attorneys in the U.S. will receive this honor.

Learn more at www.ds-law.com.

Contact:

Lauren Yates

ThinkWell Consulting

703.593.3184

[email protected]

Related Images

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Deans Stepp Law LLP Founding Partners Named Among America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys

Gregory L. Deans and Katherine H. Stepp, of Deans Stepp Law LLP, named among America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys for 2021.

SOURCE Deans Stepp Law LLP
SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Deputy, the scheduling software company helping over 260,000 businesses worldwide manage their workforce, announces the addition of three new senior leadership hires. Nicole Brambila, Vach Hovsepyan and Brett Chester will help spearhead the company's aggressive global expansion efforts to empower small and middle-market business owners to master the art of employee scheduling. The company has introduced safer scheduling solutions for today's modern workforce in the last year, partnering with customers like Ace Hardware, Dutch Bros and Peloton to usher in efficiency and facilitate a healthier work environment.

From left to right: Vach Hovsepyan (SVP of Global Customer Success), Brett Chester (SVP of Global Marketing), Dave Zinman (Global President), Nicole Brambila (SVP of Global Sales)

"The pandemic has reminded us that agility is key. We've taken this lesson to our growing community and helped them transition and scale in this new era of working," said Dave Zinman, Global President of Deputy. "In the last year, we've released product features focused on safety and communication in the workplace, expanded our services to medical clinics, and provided resources for businesses navigating uncertainty. Our momentum in the workforce management and scheduling space makes it the perfect time to bring on our new leaders Nicole, Vach, and Brett. Their experience navigating rapid growth in sales, marketing and customer success is crucial to achieving our mission to simplify shift work. I'm thrilled to have them on board."

Since the start of 2021, Deputy has added 69 additional new employees to support and scale the company's mission to simplify shift work. To learn more about the new senior leadership team, see below:

Nicole Brambila was appointed Deputy's SVP of Global Sales in January 2021 . With over 10 years of experience at Eventbrite, serving most recently as GM of North America , Nicole grew the sales team from 15 representatives to over 100 and helped to grow Eventbrite's revenue to over $230M , resulting in a successful IPO. Nicole's expertise in leading and scaling global sales and deep knowledge of marketing will play a critical role in her new position at Deputy.

Joining as Deputy's SVP of Global Customer Success is Vach Hovsepyan . Vach's primary responsibility will be to develop deeper relationships with Deputy's global customer base of 260,000 workplaces - a challenge he's undertaken before in his roles as Head of International Strategy and Operations and VP of Customer Success for ServiceTitan. Vach's accomplishments include building out ServiceTitan's customer success function from inception to full maturity, which supported the hyper-growth of the company and expanded the customer base.

Deputy also welcomes Brett Chester to the team as the company's new SVP of Global Marketing. Brett, an Australian ex-pat living in the U.S., has a rich history in building fit-for-purpose marketing teams for high-growth startups. Prior to joining Deputy, Brett was the VP of Marketing at Sitetracker, an enterprise project and work management platform. Brett brings global experience, an ROI-focused approach and a pedigree of success to lead the global marketing team to his new role as SVP of Global Marketing for Deputy.

All three leaders are joining at a pivotal growth point for Deputy and are already playing an integral role in the company's expansion into the U.S. market. In the last year, Deputy has released a series of product features and updates to help customers remain compliant, improve workers' health and safety environments and increase communications across teams. The company recently announced the addition of Rajini Carpenter as VP of Engineering and Frank Chila as VP of Legal. Both are based in Sydney, AU - Deputy's corporate headquarters.

For more information on Deputy, visit www.deputy.com. To download the Deputy app, visit the App Store or Google Play.

About Deputy

Deputy is on a mission is to simplify shift work for millions of workers and businesses worldwide. The company streamlines scheduling, timesheets, tasks and communication for business owners and their workers. More than 260,000 workplaces globally are using Deputy to manage scheduling and effectively communicate with employees, providing millions of shift workers with more flexibility and control over their schedules. Deputy's software also navigates workforce legislation calculating correct wages, entitlements and penalties - keeping businesses compliant and employees protected. For more information, visit www.deputy.com, or find us on Twitter, Facebook, the App Store or Google Play.

Media Contact

Maya Varma | PR Manager, AMER

e: [email protected]

m : (650) 787-7564

Related Images

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Deputy GTM Team

From left to right: Vach Hovsepyan (SVP of Global Customer Success), Brett Chester (SVP of Global Marketing), Dave Zinman (Global President), Nicole Brambila (SVP of Global Sales)

SOURCE Deputy
ROANOKE, Va., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new statewide survey conducted by Delta Dental of Virginia shows 35% of Virginians still feel hesitant to return to the dentist, and more than half of Virginians postponed or missed dental visits as a result of the pandemic last year. With decreasing mask mandates and the gradual return to normalcy, Delta Dental is encouraging Virginians to return to the dentist to guard against the potentially painful consequences of neglected preventive care.

"We spent the last year with our smiles covered. Now, as many of us begin to remove our masks, it's a perfect reminder that we need to take care of those smiles," said Dr. Brad Guyton, chief dental officer for Delta Dental of Virginia. "Preventive care is crucial to maintaining physical, mental and emotional well-being, and putting off a routine visit is doing more harm than good. Dentist offices are safer than ever, and there is really no reason to postpone that visit," said Guyton.

The Delta Dental survey, which was conducted May 26-27, also found that despite lingering COVID concerns, nearly 73% of Virginians do plan to visit the dentist two or more times over the next 12 months and nearly 94% plan to visit at least once. Those with dental insurance are more likely to visit the dentist, with 79% of insured Virginians saying they plan to visit the dentist two or more times over the coming 12 months and 57% of the uninsured indicating an intention to do so. Seventeen percent of the uninsured said they do not plan to visit the dentist at all.

Americans in general are still largely underinformed about the serious link between oral health and the rest of our well-being. According to Delta Dental's national 2020 State of America's Oral Health Report only about one in two Americans understand that oral health is closely linked to several medical conditions, including strokes, diabetes, dementia and high blood pressure. The report also points out that:

The average number of cavities per child increased from one to two, and children missed 4.5 days of school due to oral health issues in the last 12 months.

Seventy-seven percent of parents worry that oral health issues will have a negative impact on their child's confidence.

Fifty-one percent of adults faced unwanted consequences as a result of oral health issues, including lost sleep and missed work.

In addition, 26% of Americans said that not having dental insurance was the reason they failed to visit the dentist in 2020. Dr. Guyton reminds people that most dental plans cover regular check-ups at 100%, so for people with insurance, there is really no reason to skip those visits. And 77% of Virginians feel that having dental insurance is a good motivation to maintain positive oral health.

"For many Virginians, employer-sponsored dental benefits may not be an option," said Guyton. "Carriers, such as Delta Dental and others, offer individual plans at various price points and the uninsured should certainly check out the federal health benefits exchange for other options," said Guyton.

To read the full 2020 State of America's Oral Health Report and learn more about its findings, click here.

About the surveys

Delta Dental's Adult's Oral Health & Wellness Survey was conducted December 28, 2020, through January 8, 2021, among a nationally representative sample of 1,000+ Americans ages 18+, with a margin of error of +/- 3%.

Delta Dental's Children's Oral Health & Wellness Survey was conducted during the same period, among a nationally representative sample of 1,000+ American parents with children 12 and under, with the same margin of error.

Delta Dental of Virginia's Thoughts on Dental Insurance Survey was conducted May 26-27, 2021 among a representative sample of 250 Virginians.

About Delta Dental of Virginia

Established in 1964, Delta Dental of Virginia is the largest dental benefits provider in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Delta Dental of Virginia provides high-quality, cost-effective dental plans to more than two million members. Through its foundation, Delta Dental of Virginia has donated millions of dollars to improve the oral health of Virginians.

Delta Dental of Virginia is a member of the national Delta Dental Plans Association (DDPA). For more than 50 years, the DDPA has worked to improve oral health nationally. Delta Dental member companies serve more than 80 million people in more than 148,000 groups across the nation.

Media contact: Chris Pyle, [email protected]

SOURCE Delta Dental of Virginia

Related Links

http://deltadental.com


BOSTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global financial wealth reached an all-time high of $250 trillion in 2020 as household savings rose and markets showed unexpected resilience in the face of the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The report, titled Global Wealth 2021: When Clients Take the Lead, reveals that despite the pandemic's enduring financial impact, global prosperity and wealth grew significantly throughout the crisis and are likely to continue to expand significantly over the next five years, in line with the emerging economic recovery.

According to the report, North America, Asia (excluding Japan), and Western Europe will be the leading generators of financial wealth globally, accounting for 87% of new financial wealth growth worldwide between now and 2025.

Many wealth management clients in 2020 embraced alternative investments in their quest for higher returns, shifting away from low-yield debt securities. As part of this trend, real assets, led primarily by real estate ownership, reached an all-time high of $235 trillion. Nevertheless, Asia, which has the largest concentration of wealth in real assets ($84 trillion, 64% of the regional total) will see financial asset growth exceed real asset growth (7.9% versus 6.7%) in coming years. In particular, investment funds in the region will become the fastest-growing financial asset class, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.6% through 2025.

Simple Needs and Retirees: Two Attractive Opportunities

In the report, BCG identifies two attractive markets for wealth managers. One consists of individuals with simple investment needs and financial wealth between $100,000 and $3 million. This "simple-needs segment" comprises 331 million individuals worldwide, holds $59 trillion in investable wealth, and has the potential to contribute $118 billion to the global wealth revenue pool.

Anna Zakrzewski, a BCG managing director and partner, global leader of the firm's wealth management segment, and a coauthor of the report, said, "Wealth managers often underserve those in the simple-needs segment with a standardized set of products, and the result is a poor client experience with no "wow" factor. This is essentially a missed opportunity. To better serve this key segment, wealth managers must embrace a new approach that lets them reach a larger audience in a cost-effective and scalable way, but with a highly personalized offering."

Retirees, one of the world's fastest-growing demographics, are another appealing market. Many are underserved and adversely impacted by the "advisory gap" that prevails during the retirement phase of life. Today, individuals over 65 own $29.3 trillion in financial assets accessible to wealth managers. That figure will grow at a CAGR of close to 7% over the next five years, enabling wealth managers globally to target nearly $41.1 trillion in financial wealth by 2025. By 2050, 1.5 billion people globally will fall into the 65+ category, representing an enormous source of wealth.

The New Ultras: A Rapidly Evolving Segment with a Changing Face

In addition to the simple-needs and retirees segments, the "ultra" wealth categoryindividuals whose personal wealth exceeds $100 millionexpanded in 2020, with 6000 people joining the 60,000-strong cohort, which has seen year-on-year growth of 9% since 2015. The category currently holds a combined $22 trillion in investable wealth, 15% of the world's total.

According to the report, China is on track to overtake the US as the country with the largest concentration of ultras by the end of the decade. If investable wealth continues to rise there at its current annual rate of 13%, China will host $10.4 trillion in ultra assets by 2029, more than any other market in the world. The US will be close behind, with a forecasted total of $9.9 trillion in such wealth by 2029.

The faces of the ultras are changing too, with the rise of the next-generation segment. These individuals, between 20 and 50 years of age, have longer investment horizons, a greater appetite for risk, and often a desire to use their wealth to create positive societal impact as well as earn solid returns. Many wealth managers are not yet ready to serve these new ultras.

"High-growth markets represent a massive opportunity, but wealth managers must build a genuine understanding of local differences and also key demographic changes," said BCG's Zakrzewski. "For example, women now account for 12% of ultras, most of whom are based in the US, Germany, and China. The next-gen segment is also going to be an influential driver of future growth in the next decade or so. Whether it's a simple-needs or ultra-high-net-worth client, managers need to offer a personalized service in order to effectively capture the next wave of growth."

A copy of the report can be downloaded here.

To arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or [email protected].

About Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholdersempowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

SOURCE Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

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TORONTO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SleepingOcean together with Brooklyn Bedding would be paying $1,250 in cash via PayPal and giving out a brand new mattress worth $1,749 to successful participants in a new sleeping contest announced here.

This contest would see participants write an honest review of their experience sleeping on a brand new mattress provided by Brooklyn Bedding. The organizers have made two premium hybrid mattress options available to contestants; with the bed delivered to the doorstep of selected participants.

Get up to $3,000 ($1,250 in cash and a prize worth $1,749) to sleep on a brand new mattress and share feedback

After contestants test the bed for at least two weeks, they would be required to review their sleeping experience to be qualified to get a sum of $1,250 (Paid via PayPal transfer). Again, contestants have the option of writing a detailed review or making a video review answering some questions from SleepingOcean and Brooklyn Bedding about their experience.

Applying for this opportunity is quite simple. Interested persons only need to fill a form providing required information and answering a few questions about their sleep routine. The contest is open till July 31st, 2021.

Only US Citizens living in the US above the ages of 18 are eligible for this contest. And for student participants, the contest organizers are throwing in a bonus of a complementary set of two pillows to go with the Queen size mattress to be tested.

All other information needed on eligibility terms is provided on SleepingOcean's page here.

SleepingOcean is one of the leading mattress and sleep blogs featured in reputable media such as New York Magazine, Healthline, Lifewire, and more. SleepingOcean's goal is to help readers find their perfect match in the world of sleep products and improve the quality of their slumber.

Contact Information

SleepingOcean

Alex Savy

[email protected]

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Get $3000 to sleep

Get up to $3,000 ($1,250 in cash and a prize worth $1,749) to sleep on a brand new mattress and share feedback

SOURCE SleepingOcean
VANCOUVER, BC, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Entree Resources Ltd. (TSX: ETG) (OTCQB: ERLFF)  the "Company" or "Entree") is pleased to announce the results of voting at its annual general meeting of shareholders which was held today (the "Meeting"). All matters submitted to shareholders for approval as set out in the Company's Notice of Meeting and Information Circular, both dated May 6, 2021, were approved by the requisite majority of votes cast at the Meeting.

NUMBER OF DIRECTORS

Shareholders approved setting the number of directors at six.

ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

The details of the voting results for the election of directors are set out below:



Votes For Withheld Votes Director # % # % Mark Bailey 103,880,958 98.61 1,467,966 1.39 Alan Edwards 103,582,197 98.32 1,766,727 1.68 James Harris 103,604,637 98.34 1,744,287 1.66 Michael Price 103,472,160 98.22 1,876,764 1.78 Stephen Scott 103,660,653 98.40 1,688,271 1.60 Anna Stylianides 103,590,317 98.33 1,758,607 1.67

APPOINTMENT OF AUDITORS

Davidson & Company LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants was re-appointed auditors of the Company for the ensuing year at the remuneration to be fixed by the directors.

DEFERRED SHARE UNIT PLAN

Shareholders approved the Company's Deferred Share Unit Plan and ratified grants made during the financial year ended December 31, 2020.

Detailed voting results for the Meeting are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

ABOUT ENTREE RESOURCES LTD.

Entree Resources Ltd. is a well-funded Canadian mining company with a unique carried joint venture interest on a significant portion of one of the world's largest copper-gold projects  the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia. Entree has a 20% or 30% carried participating interest in the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi joint venture, depending on the depth of mineralization. Sandstorm Gold, Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill Resources are major shareholders of Entree, holding approximately 24%, 9% and 8% of the shares of the Company, respectively. More information about Entree can be found at www.EntreeResourcesLtd.com.

SOURCE Entree Resources

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Editor's note: CGTN's First Voice provides instant commentary on breaking stories. The daily column clarifies emerging issues and better defines the news agenda, offering a Chinese perspective on the latest global events.

Joe Biden is traveling to Europe with the hope of rallying the world's democracies to end the COVID-19 pandemic, counter the worsening climate crisis, and confront what he calls the "harmful activities" of the governments of China and Russia. In an op-ed published on June 6, Biden wrote about his goals for his trip  calling for the democracies of the U.S., Europe and the rest of the world to rally together to protect their shared interests.

This sounds very noble and inspiring, but are the interests of these countries aligned? Is the idea of democracy enough to unite these countries to take a stand against a country simply because it has a different system of government, such as China? Biden himself acknowledges that the idea of democracy itself is in crisis. In his essay, he questions whether democracies can deliver results for their people in a rapidly changing world, and if democratic alliances and institutions have the capacity to meet modern-day threats.

Biden believes the answer is yes, but his European allies are surely considering the same question. After all, in the U.S., democracy itself is under threat. The U.S. Congress was sacked in January by rampaging supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The country is so divided that Congress could not even agree to launch an independent investigation of the violence. In fact, the country cannot even agree who the true president is  with 53 percent of Republicans believing it is actually Donald Trump, according to a May Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Violent protesters storm the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021. /AP

While Europeans are perplexed by the confusion and mayhem in the U.S., they are wondering if the U.S. can be a reliable partner. After former President Trump visited the continent, German Chancellor Angela Merkel concluded the U.S. cannot be one. She declared the days when Europe could rely on the U.S. were "over to a certain extent" and that Europe "really must take our fate into our own hands."

Biden hopes to heal the diplomatic damage done by his predecessor and rally his European allies around the causes of countering COVID-19 and climate change. However, the U.S. not only bungled its own response to the pandemic, but also hamstrung the global response by spreading disinformation and fanning the flame on the Wuhan lab-leak theory, even going so far as to ask the intelligence community for an investigation after WHO experts and independent scientists have claimed the improbability of that being the case. The U.S. has also behaved extremely selfishly with regard to offering aid or sharing vaccines with other nations, vowing to take care of itself first.

Biden's hope to rally Europe around the cause of climate change faces similar challenges. The U.S. sat on its hands for four years under the Trump administration, which claimed that climate change was not a man-made problem. Democrats like to pretend U.S. obstruction to cooperation on climate change began and ended with the previous administration, but the world remembers this is not the case. The U.S. never ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, or the follow-up 2012 Doha Amendment. It is a positive development that the Biden administration wants the U.S. to finally take climate change seriously. But in terms of partnership, the U.S. has been failing miserably.

A man takes part in a climate change protest in Times Square in New York, U.S., September 20, 2020. /Xinhua

As to leading the world in an economic recovery, the U.S. is still struggling to get its own house in order while China has actually been the driving force of economic growth in the wake of the pandemic. Bloomberg predicts China will contribute more than one-fifth of the total increase in the world's gross domestic product in the five years through 2026, based on IMF forecasts published in April.

In a stroke of coincidence and irony, the U.S. accused China of using its technologies to gain unfair advantages and intrude in European countries while U.S. itself has been exposed, yet again, tapping into European leaders' phones and mining their records. If the U.S. is really sure of its European allies' political inclination or "values," one must ask: What is the point of spying on them then?

"You are either with us or against us," former President George W. Bush once said. By dividing the world based on Western democracy and those who are not, Biden is doing the same, albeit with a loftier and prettier facade. The U.S. failed in facing one of the most pressing crises humans have faced in recent history. It has failed to be a model in governance and social justice. The country Biden inherited doesn't have the credibility to use political abstractions and nostalgic slogans to put outdated alliances back together.

And no one heeds a rallying cry just because it is shouted out the loudest.
Ayurcann Holdings Corp (CSE: AYUR) CEO Igal Sudman joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share details the company has signed an agreement to manufacture products with Bazelet Nehushtan and Bazelet Development and Technologies which is a huge licensed medical cannabis processor in Israel.

Sudman telling Proactive Ayurcann will manufacture and distribute 3 different Bazelet products which will also be introduced to the Canadian marketplace.
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Contact

BizVibe

Jesse Maida

Email: [email protected]

+1 855-897-5880

Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/

SOURCE BizVibe

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ATLANTA, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Faretrotter, a multimodal travel company that helps travelers search flights, trains, and buses between international cities, today announces the launch of its new Safe Travel Map. Aimed to help American travelers feel more confident traveling abroad again post-COVID-19, the new product feature on Faretrotter's website will provide the latest information that travelers need to know when planning their upcoming trips to foreign countries.

"As international borders begin to reopen to American travelers this summer, prospective visitors are in need of specific, detailed information on which countries they can travel to and what it's like in the country once they are there," said Justin Hill, Founder of Faretrotter. "With our new Safe Travel Map, we offer travelers a unique tool to see where they can visit now and what they will be able to experience when visiting. We want to help visitors be better informed when planning their trips, as just because they can technically cross the border does not mean that everything in the country will be back to normal."
BOSTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Edmit, now used by millions of students and families to demystify the financial aid process and make better-informed decisions about college, today announced the launch of a guarantee designed to give private loan borrowers increased peace of mind.

"Although federal grants and loans, which include strong protections for borrowers, are always the best option, some students need private loans to bridge the gap when it comes to paying for high-ROI colleges," said Sabrina Manville, Co-Founder of Edmit. "The Edmit Guarantee is about extending basic protections to ensure that graduates who are truly struggling get the support they need while they search for their first job out of college."

According to a recent study , eighty percent of college students say they are concerned about "getting any type of job once [they] graduate." In addition, research suggests that fear of high tuition costs can often lead students to "undermatch" to lower-ROI institutions  which can have significant long-term impacts on their career prospects and lifetime earnings.

The Edmit Guarantee, designed in partnership with Vemo Education, is designed to prevent students from borrowing too much and to reduce the risk of unnecessary debt, which often suppresses college-going aspiration, or encourages students to choose lower-cost colleges that might actually lead to a lower return on investment. Under the terms of the Guarantee, students who graduate from an Edmit-approved program but fail to earn more than the annual equivalent of $20,000 will receive up to six months of loan payments with participating loan partners.

"Optimizing for the lowest price isn't always the best choice for students. Without the right information and support, students too often opt into lower-cost options that are a poor fit  which can cost them more in the end," said Kate Cody, VP of Strategy at Vemo Education. "The Edmit Guarantee proves that it's possible to provide all students with downside risk protection, as long as they make an informed college choice. When they follow Edmit's recommendations and take advantage of the Edmit Guarantee, overborrowing and undermatching become a lot less likely."

Since 2017, Edmit has created hundreds of guides and financial literacy resources, and helped students and families who use Edmit's financial aid appeal save an average of $5,000 on college tuition. The company recently joined forces with Vemo Education to help quantify the return-on-investment of a college degree for students and colleges alike.

About Edmit

Edmit helps families make smarter college financial decisions so that they're better off after college. Designed by former university leaders, Edmit's tools and resources for saving, planning, and paying for college have saved families millions of dollars on tuition and loan payments. Edmit's software provides families with personalized reports on how to afford college, including cost estimates, and financial fit scores based on projected ability to repay student debt. Edmit's book, Better Off After College, was a #1 best-seller on Amazon. In 2021, Edmit became an independent subsidiary of Vemo Education, Inc., whose unique pay-for-success programs help align college costs with job outcomes at Purdue University, the University of Utah, and more than 70 other institutions across the country. For more information about Edmit, visit www.edmit.me .

SOURCE Edmit

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AKRON, Ohio, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) has once again earned recognition for its emergency response efforts from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a leading electric industry organization. FirstEnergy earned the "Emergency Recovery Award" for safely and efficiently restoring service to more than 371,000 of its customers following powerful winds that caused widespread damage throughout its service territory in November 2020.

"When severe weather impacts our customers, we have well developed storm restoration plans that are quickly implemented to reduce their outage time and keep them safe," said Sam Belcher, senior vice president of FirstEnergy and president of FirstEnergy Utilities. "This award recognizes the efforts of our crews in the field who worked safely around the clock in difficult, and sometimes hazardous, conditions to help our customers."

Beginning early Sunday, November 15, powerful winds between 45-55 mph and gusting up to more than 65 mph impacted Ohio and moved eastward across FirstEnergy's service territory throughout the day, bringing down tree limbs and causing widespread damage to FirstEnergy's utility poles and equipment. The heavy winds caused thousands of instances of downed wires, more than 800 broken poles and crossarms, and damaged nearly 500 transformers due to trees and other debris contacting the company's electrical equipment.

"Many EEI member companies experienced historic storms and other significant weather-related events in recent months that left customers without power," said EEI President Tom Kuhn. "Crews worked around the clock and often in the most dangerous of conditions to assess damage and to restore power safely and as quickly as possible. They did all of this during a global pandemic."

EEI presents awards twice annually to member companies to recognize extraordinary efforts to restore power or for assisting other electric companies after service disruptions caused by weather conditions and other natural events. Winners are chosen by a panel of independent judges following an international nomination process. The awards were presented June 8, 2021, during the online Annual Board and CEO meeting. The company earned both the "Emergency Recovery Award" and the "Emergency Assistance Award" earlier this year for its restoration efforts following Tropical Storm Isaias and Hurricane Laura, respectively.

EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Its members provide electricity for 220 million Americans and operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a whole, the electric power industry supports more than 7 million jobs in communities across the United States. In addition to its U.S. members, EEI has more than 65 international electric companies as International Members, and hundreds of industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate Members.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp or online at www.firstenergycorp.com.

Editor's Note: Photos of the November 2020 storm damage and restoration efforts are available to download on Flickr.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.

Related Links

http://www.firstenergycorp.com


ORLANDO, Fla., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Violet Defense, a Florida-based disinfection technology company, is excited to announce that its UV disinfection technology is now on display at Florida House on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The technology system will be used to clean and disinfect the building as part of their COVID-19 protocols.

Violet Defense

Violet Defense is an innovative UV light technology company that offers a full complement of UV disinfection products for both air and surfaces. Violet Defense uses the only known installable pulsed xenon solution that can be used to disinfect germs on both hard surfaces and the air. It has been proven effective, through independent third-party testing at killing up to 99.9% of coronavirus, norovirus, MRSA, C. diff, Salmonella, and E. coli.

Florida House serves as Florida's embassy in Washington, D.C. and is the only state to have an embassy. As a non-partisan, non-profit organization, Florida House is funded solely through private donations and receives no money from the State of Florida. It provides a welcoming space for all Floridians and Floridians-at-heart through its mission to connect, celebrate and champion Florida to the world.

"We're proud to be working with Florida House to teach the public about a new disinfection technology and its ability to create a clean and safe environment," said Terrance Berland, CEO of Violet Defense. "We believe that our Violet Defense technology will play a vital role in the future of public health and helping to reduce or prevent the spread of dangerous germs. This exciting opportunity puts our technology front and center with the public and gives us the opportunity to simultaneously disinfect a heavily trafficked public space."

Violet Defense's Flash M3 system will be on display and regularly used throughout Florida House, which is located just one block from the U.S. Capitol building. Florida House will use smart outlets with controllers to run the M3 mobile disinfection unit throughout the building.

"The Florida House is committed to sharing the amazing innovations and opportunities that our great state fosters," said Diana Wisler Beckmann, Executive Director of Florida House on Capitol Hill. "We are proud to share this exciting technology that will help us to provide a healthier environment for our visitors who come to see the only state embassy in our nation's capital."

The Florida House is scheduled to host its next event on June 10, 2021. It has been open to visitors since July 2020 and features a permanent collection of art from Florida artists, rotating exhibits including the current one on Innovation & Creativity with the Cade Museum, and provides educational opportunities for students of all ages. Floridians and Floridians-at-heart are invited to come visit the only state embassy in Washington, D.C. and enjoy some Florida orange juice.

About Violet Defense

Violet Defense uses UV disinfection to protect everyday spaces from harmful pathogens by killing up to 99.9% of E. coli, Salmonella, MRSA, C. diff., Norovirus, C. Auris, and coronavirus. Violet Defense's technology is the only known Pulsed Xenon solution that can be installed into a room full-time, creating a continuous way to address disinfection needs of all types of settings. For more information, visit www.violetdefense.com or follow us on Facebook (@violetdefense) or LinkedIn (@violetdefensetechnology).

About Florida House on Capitol Hill

Florida House on Capitol Hill is Florida's state embassy in Washington, D.C., that connects, celebrates and champions Florida to the world. Since 1973, Florida House has welcomed visitors, business and government leaders, students and guests to the only state embassy in our nation's capital. Open to the public during the week, Florida House is proud to welcome Floridians and Floridians-at-heart to explore our permanent art exhibits, rotating exhibits, educational activities, and warm hospitality.

Media Contact

Alexis Quintal

[email protected]

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Violet Defense

SOURCE Violet Defense
DENVER, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortis Financial, Inc., the parent company of Fortis Private Bank, recently announced the appointment of Brian Lilly to the Board of Directors as an independent director.

Mr. Lilly joins the Board of Directors of both Fortis Financial, Inc. and Fortis Private Bank with 30+ years of experience in the Banking and Financial Services industry. He has held various executive leadership roles at national financial institutions, including Colorado headquartered National Bank Holdings Corporation, where he provided expertise in their acquisition and growth strategy as the Chief Financial Officer from 2012 through 2018. Mr. Lilly served as the Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of F.N.B Corporation in Pittsburgh, PA, which was a $12B financial institution at the time of his departure in 2012. In this role, he provided strategic guidance during the historic geographic split of the organization, resulting in two multibillion-dollar publicly traded banks on the NYSE. He led the merger and acquisitions, financial, treasury, risk management, technology, consumer finance, administrative and investor relations functions.

"We look forward to the leadership and expertise that Brian will bring to our Board," stated Chris Luce, Fortis Chief Executive Officer. "He has created significant value for the businesses where he held executive leadership roles and has become a trusted advisor in the financial services industry over the past 30 years."

"I am pleased to be joining the Fortis Board of Directors during this instrumental time in the growth of the Bank," stated Mr. Lilly. "Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to sit on the Board and Executive Leadership team at a variety of financial institutions and look forward to partnering with Fortis during this period of strategic growth."

Mr. Lilly has been on the boards of First National Bank, NBH Bank, BillingZone.com and several community organizations. He served as Treasurer and a Director of the Pittsburgh Chapter of Financial Executive International and is a past Director of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Bank Administration Institute. Mr. Lilly holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and Mathematics from Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan and attained his Certificate of Accounting from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a Certified Public Accountant from the State of Pennsylvania.

Contact

Laura Hildreth

Head of Human Resources at Fortis

[email protected]

SOURCE Fortis
The OVDP relies on the cooperation of the taxpayer with the IRS and requires truthful and honest communication. Providing false information on your OVDP or withholding important details undermines the entire process. A less than truthful OVDP could make you vulnerable to criminal prosecution. Its important to note that ALL OVDP's will be audited and lying to a federal agent is a felony in and of itself.

If you hold offshore assets or accounts and failed to report them on your taxes at any time, you may be eligible to enter the OVDP. Doing so may be the best way to make good on your tax liability and avoid criminal consequences. Our California tax lawyers and CPAs can help you through this process and make sure that you disclose all that is required to qualify for the program. Call the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing at (800) 681-1295 for a consultation with our experienced tax team or schedule online here to receive a reduced rate initial consultation.

Consequences for Withholding Information in Your OVDP

One of the major benefits of the OVDP is that taxpayers have the opportunity to be protected from criminal offshore tax evasion and foreign information reporting prosecution. The OVDP allows taxpayers who have intentionally failed to file or failed to include important offshore information reporting on their taxes to cooperate with the IRS to resolve the issue without facing criminal tax prosecution. In return, the IRS will forego opening a criminal investigation and pursuing criminal prosecution even where a taxpayer's actions were obviously fraudulent. However, the key to the OVDP is that all communications from the taxpayer must be truthful and honest. Any false or misleading information provided by the taxpayer during the process of attempting to get clean may lead to termination from the program followed by criminal prosecution.

Once terminated from the program, the taxpayer will be subject to criminal prosecution because they are no longer protected under the OVDP. Under  9.5.11.9.4 of the Internal Revenue Manual are disqualifying factors that would result in someone's termination from the OVDP. One such factor is providing false information or withholding important information in your OVDP paperwork. Giving false statements or withholding information makes a person ineligible and they will be removed from the program.

Our dually licensed California Tax Fraud Defense Lawyers and CPAs can help you complete your OVDP paperwork and avoid making any unintentional false statements. We will also help you make sure all necessary information is provided.

Recent Court Ruling About Withholding Information in Your OVDP

As recently as 2020, courts have ruled on cases involving taxpayers who withheld information in their OVDP paperwork. Withholding such information is incredibly serious because the point of the OVDP is to avoid criminal penalties for tax fraud and related offenses. By intentionally withholding relevant information, the taxpayer is layering fraud on top of fraud.

The United States District Court of the Central District of California ruled in United States v. Agrama that a taxpayer who had been terminated from the OVDP for withholding information was subject to a summons issued by the IRS in relation to an open criminal tax investigation.

The Agramas reported in the OVDP paperwork that they were not under any criminal investigation when they entered the OVDP. This is important because any taxpayer under any kind of criminal investigation or under audit would be ineligible for the OVDP. However, the Agramas were, in fact, under criminal investigation by Italian tax authorities. They were convicted of tax evasion in Italy in 2012 and removed from the OVDP in 2013.

After termination from the OVDP, the Agramas were subjected to a tax audit for the years 1997 to 2011, a 14-year span. In relation to this investigation and audit, the IRS issued a summons against Agramas and they had to hand over all documents relating to the Italian criminal trials. The court upheld the enforcement of the summons.

In the case of the Agramas, and any other taxpayer found to be withholding information in their OVDP paperwork, criminal prosecution, and other legal penalties a very real possibility. Our dually licensed California Tax Fraud Defense Attorneys and CPAs can help if you have been terminated from the OVDP or better yet, help prevent your termination in the first place. At times, offshore compliance issues have been up to 80% of our book of business.

How Much Information Does the OVDP Require?

Filling out paperwork and forms for the OVDP requires very important and extensive information. Although the preliminary forms alone call for a lot of important details, the second part of the OVDP process requires the taxpayer and possibly their spouse to write a narrative explaining the complete story of their non-compliance. This narrative is not a short story but rather a lengthy explanation in great detail about your non-compliance or tax-related offense and specific facts are required in this narrative.

The taxpayer must include information about their personal and professional history and they must identify any professional advisors involved in their non-compliance. Taxpayers must also include all facts, favorable and unfavorable, that give a clear and complete story about the non-compliance from the date of inception up to the present. Depending on how long ago your non-compliance occurred, this could be a very lengthy story.

With so much information being provided, it can be easy to provide false or misleading information. It may even be tempting to leave out unfavorable details that cast you in a negative light. Keep in mind that taxpayers submit these narratives under the penalty of perjury. Under  7206 of the Internal Revenue Code, someone who willfully makes false statements under penalty of perjury may be guilty of a felony, fined up to $100,000, and incarcerated for up to 3 years. Call our California tax fraud defense lawyers and CPAs for assistance in writing your narrative and making sure all information is included.

If you were terminated from the OVDP, there is a chance you could be criminally prosecuted. Not only are you vulnerable to prosecution for your tax offenses, but you may face penalties for lying in your OVDP paperwork. For the best possible outcome in your OVDP, call the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing at (800) 681-1295 or schedule online here to receive a reduced rate initial consultation.

Public Contact: Dave Klasing Esq. M.S.-Tax CPA, [email protected]

SOURCE Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, PC
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- GenapSys, Inc. (GenapSys), a company developing a highly accurate and scalable electronic sequencing platform, today announced the appointment of Fredrik Eliasson, Diana McKenzie, and Loretta Cecil to its Board of Directors.

"I am delighted to welcome our new Board members during this exciting phase of transformation and growth for GenapSys," said Jason Myers, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of GenapSys. "Over the past year, we have positioned the Company for execution and success with a proven leadership team that supports our product development plans. We are confident the collective qualifications and unique insights from Fredrik, Diana, and Loretta will be invaluable assets to advance our mission to provide an affordable, scalable genomic sequencing ecosystem for researchers and clinicians."

"I am excited to join GenapSys as the Company's goals align with my passion to transform healthcare through technology that provides accessible genomic sequencing," commented Diana McKenzie. "Next-generation sequencing holds tremendous promise and GenapSys is pioneering a unique approach with an aspiration to unlock its full potential. I look forward to working with this team of talented and accomplished industry veterans and leveraging my experience to help the Company advance their next-generation sequencing platform vision."

Diana McKenzie brings over thirty years of leadership experience gained from growing and scaling global businesses in the Life Sciences and Software Industry. Ms. McKenzie is the former chief information officer for Workday, Inc. Previously, she was the chief information officer at Amgen Inc. Prior to joining Amgen, Ms. McKenzie served for 17 years at Eli Lilly and Company in a variety of IT leadership and cross-functional roles. She also serves on the boards of MetLife, Inc., Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Change Healthcare, Paradox, and is a special advisor to Brighton Park Capital. Ms. McKenzie has been an active leader in various trade, technology and government organizations and has been recognized by the National Diversity Council as one of the nation's Most Powerful Women in Technology. She is on the Forever Influential Women's list at the San Francisco Business Times. Ms. McKenzie has a B.S. in Computer Information Systems and Computer Technology from Purdue University.

Fredrik Eliasson brings over 25 years of executive and senior leadership experience. Mr. Eliasson is the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Change Healthcare, a healthcare technology company that offers software, analytics, network solutions, and technology-enabled services. Previously, Mr. Eliasson was at CSX Corporation where he held various leadership roles, including executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer, chief financial officer, director of investor relations, and vice president of emerging markets. Mr. Eliasson received an M.B.A. and a B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Loretta Cecil brings 36 years of legal and compliance leadership to GenapSys, with a wide range of proven expertise in corporate governance. Previously, Ms. Cecil was senior vice president, governance relations at McKesson Corporation where she supported McKesson's board on shareholder outreach, and also was general counsel for McKesson Technology Solutions. Prior to joining McKesson, Ms. Cecil was general counsel and chief compliance officer for NCR Corporation's retail division. Prior to that, she was a member of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice LLP., and also held several senior positions within AT&T. Currently, Ms. Cecil is the executive vice president and general counsel for Change Healthcare. Ms. Cecil received her J.D. with honors from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science and Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

About GenapSys, Inc.

GenapSys is a company focused on the advancement of universal access to genomic information by delivering an affordable, scalable, and accurate genomic sequencing ecosystem that empowers both academic and clinical research applications. Its system leverages a proprietary electrical microfluidic sequencing chip with a scalable number of detectors, allowing for a wide range of applications. GenapSys is headquartered in Redwood City, CA.

GenapSys products are provided for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

For Media Inquiries:

Surekha Karudapuram, VP, Product Management and Marketing

[email protected]

For Investor Inquiries:

David Deuchler, CFA

Managing Director |Gilmartin Group

[email protected]

Related Links

www.genapsys.com

SOURCE GenapSys

Related Links

www.genapsys.com


DUBLIN, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Crane and Hoist Market by Type (Mobile Cranes, Fixed Cranes), Operations (Hydraulic, Electric, Hybrid), Industry (Construction, Shipping & Material Handling, Automotive & Railway, Mining, Aerospace & Defense, Energy & Power) - Global Forecast to 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The crane and hoist market size is expected to grow from USD 26.0 billion in 2021 to USD 33.0 billion by 2026; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2021 to 2026. The key factors driving the growth of the crane and hoist market are significant demand from the construction industry, expanding mining industry, increased use in the shipping industry.

The market for mobile cranes to account for a larger market share during the forecast period

The mobile cranes' segment is expected to continue to hold a larger market size during the forecast period. The growth of the mobile crane segment of the crane and hoist market can be attributed to their features such as high mobility, high traveling speed, and the requirement of less time to set them up on construction sites. The use of mobile cranes in the mining, construction, aerospace, shipping & material handling industries has gained popularity, where lifting and lowering activities require extensive displacements of objects, materials, or equipment.

The market for the hydraulic operation to account for a larger market share during the forecast period

The hydraulic operation segment is expected to continue to hold a larger market size during the forecast period. The use of hydraulic technology ensures efficient use of energy and reduces the need for power. Hydraulic cranes are widely used for hoisting and moving heavy materials in warehouses and industrial workshops. Moreover, hydraulic cranes are used in the transport, manufacturing, and construction industries. The retraction length of hydraulic cylinders is 20-40% of the fully extended length. Therefore, telescopic hydraulic cylinders are ideal for limited mounting space, and a long stroke is required. The use of hydraulic cranes is increasing owing to the space constraint in different industries, such as construction and shipping & material handling, and assembly lines. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the growth of the overall crane market, which has consequently hampered the growth of the hydraulic-operated crane market.

Construction industry to hold the largest size during the forecast period

The construction industry is expected to hold the largest market size during the forecast period. The construction industry has undergone substantial changes in recent years because of the global recession, which has led to the downsizing of the industry in developed markets. However, the investments regarding construction in most emerging markets have continued to grow at a moderate rate despite the global crisis. Earth-moving equipment is mainly used for construction works such as digging the earth, lifting, loading and unloading weight, and leveling. Applications of cranes in earth-moving equipment include heavy loading, high cycle rating, and accurate movement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global construction industry by delayed projects and decreased investments in the infrastructure sector. With the development of vaccination against COVID-19, the real estate and infrastructure projects across the globe are expected to slowly gain pace and lead to the growth of the construction industry. China has already launched the "New Infrastructure" campaign to offset the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors are expected to result in a high growth rate of the crane market for the construction industry.

APAC is expected to capture the largest market size during the forecast period

The APAC region is expected to hold the largest share of the crane and hoist market during the forecast period. The Asia Pacific is the most rapidly growing market and offers high opportunities for the construction industry, which is driven by the growing population. Construction and material handling industries have boomed rapidly and consequently have driven the market for cranes in India, China, and Australia. The growing awareness related to automation and the increasing emphasis of leading economies such as China and Japan on construction and material handling industries are some of the primary factors contributing to the largest market share of APAC. Besides, the rapid growth of the automotive, construction, and aerospace & defense industries in emerging economies, such as China and India, is also supporting the growth of the crane market in APAC

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Opportunities in Crane Market

4.2 Crane Market, by Type

4.3 Crane Market, by Operation

4.4 Crane Market, by Industry and Region

4.5 Crane Market, by Geography

5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Significant Demand from Construction Industry

5.2.1.2 Expanding Mining Industry

5.2.1.3 Increased Use in Shipping Industry

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Disruption in Supply Chain due to COVID-19

5.2.2.2 High Cost of Manufacturing and Maintenance

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Increasing Demand for Material Handling Equipment in Aerospace & Defense Industry

5.2.3.2 Large Intralogistics Center in South-East Asia

5.2.3.3 Inclusion of Smart Technologies in Cranes

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Fluctuating Oil & Gas Prices

5.2.4.2 Unavailability of Skilled Workforce to Handle Crane Operations due to COVID-19

5.3 Value Chain Analysis

5.4 Ecosystem

5.5 Yc-Ycc Shift: Crane and Hoist Market

5.6 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.7 Case Study

5.8 Technology Analysis

5.9 Pricing Analysis

5.10 Trade Analysis

5.11 Patent Analysis

5.12 Regulatory Landscape

6 Crane Market, by Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Mobile Cranes

6.2.1 Mobile Cranes Market to Account for Larger Share During Forecast Period

6.2.2 Boom Type

6.2.2.1 Lattice Boom Type

6.2.2.2 Telescopic Boom Type

6.2.3 Crawler Cranes

6.2.4 Rough Terrain Cranes

6.2.5 All-Terrain Cranes

6.2.6 Truck Loader Cranes

6.2.7 Mobile Harbor Cranes

6.2.8 Automatic Stacking Cranes

6.3 Fixed Cranes

6.3.1 Fixed Cranes Market to Witness High Growth Rate in Shipping & Material Handling Industry

6.3.2 Industrial Cranes

6.3.3 Tower Cranes

6.3.4 Ship-To-Shore Cranes

7 Crane Market, by Operation

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Hydraulic

7.2.1 Hydraulic Operation Segment to Hold Largest Market Share During Forecast Period

7.3 Electric

7.3.1 Growing Use of Electric Operation in a Crane for Low Lifting Capacity to Fuel Market Growth

7.4 Hybrid

7.4.1 Hybrid Operation Segment to Grow at Highest Rate During Forecast Period

8 Mobile Crane Market in North America, by Lifting Capacity

9 Hoist Market

9.1 By Type

9.1.1 Wire Rope Type to Hold Largest Share of Hoist Market During Forecast Period

9.1.2 Welded Link Load Chain

9.1.3 Wire Rope

9.1.4 Roller Load Chain

9.1.5 Others

9.2 By Operation

9.2.1 Electric Operation Segment to Hold Largest Market Share During Forecast Period

9.2.2 Pneumatic

9.2.3 Electric

9.2.4 Hydraulic

9.3 By Industry

9.3.1 Shipping & Material Handling Industry to Hold Largest Share of Hoist Market During Forecast Period

9.4 By Region

9.4.1 APAC Region to Hold the Largest Market Share in Forecast Period

10 Crane Market, by Industry

11 Crane Market, by Region

12 Competitive Landscape

12.1 Introduction

12.1.1 Top 5 Company Revenue Analysis

12.2 Market Share Analysis of Players, 2020

12.3 Competitive Evaluation Quadrant

12.3.1 Star

12.3.2 Emerging Leader

12.3.3 Pervasive

12.3.4 Participant

12.4 Startup/SME Evaluation Quadrant

12.4.1 Progressive Company

12.4.2 Responsive Company

12.4.3 Dynamic Company

12.4.4 Starting Block

12.5 Competitive Situations and Trends

12.5.1 Product Launches

12.5.2 Deals

12.5.3 Others

13 Company Profiles

13.1 Key Players

13.1.1 Konecranes

13.1.1.1 Business Overview

13.1.1.2 Products Offered

13.1.1.3 Recent Developments

13.1.1.3.1 Product Launches and Developments

13.1.1.3.2 Deals

13.1.1.3.1 Others

13.1.1.4 Analyst's View

13.1.1.4.1 Key Strengths/Right to Win

13.1.1.4.2 Strategic Choices Made

13.1.1.4.3 Weaknesses & Competitive Threats

13.1.2 Liebherr

13.1.2.1 Business Overview

13.1.2.2 Products Offered

13.1.2.3 Recent Developments

13.1.2.3.1 Product Launches and Developments

13.1.2.3.2 Others

13.1.2.4 Analyst's View

13.1.2.4.1 Key Strengths/Right to Win

13.1.2.4.2 Strategic Choices Made

13.1.2.4.3 Weaknesses & Competitive Threats

13.1.3 Tadano

13.1.3.1 Business Overview

13.1.3.2 Products Offered

13.1.3.3 Recent Developments

13.1.3.3.1 Product Launches and Developments

13.1.3.3.2 Deals

13.1.3.3.3 Others

13.1.3.4 Analyst's View

13.1.3.4.1 Key Strengths/Right to Win

13.1.3.4.2 Strategic Choices Made

13.1.3.4.3 Weaknesses & Competitive Threats

13.1.4 Terex

13.1.4.1 Business Overview

13.1.4.2 Products Offered

13.1.4.3 Recent Developments

13.1.4.3.1 Deals

13.1.4.3.2 Others

13.1.4.4 Analyst's View

13.1.4.4.1 Key Strengths/Right to Win

13.1.4.4.2 Strategic Choices Made

13.1.4.4.3 Weaknesses & Competitive Threats

13.1.5 Zoomlion

13.1.5.1 Business Overview

13.1.5.2 Products Offered

13.1.5.3 Recent Developments

13.1.5.3.1 Others

13.1.5.4 Analyst's View

13.1.5.4.1 Key Strengths/Right to Win

13.1.5.4.2 Strategic Choices Made

13.1.5.4.3 Weaknesses and Competitive Threats

13.1.6 Ingersoll Rand

13.1.6.1 Business Overview

13.1.6.2 Products Offered

13.1.6.3 Recent Developments

13.1.6.3.1 Deals

13.1.7 Palfinger

13.1.7.1 Business Overview

13.1.7.2 Products Offered

13.1.7.3 Recent Developments

13.1.7.3.1 Product Launches and Developments

13.1.7.3.2 Others

13.1.8 Columbus Mckinnon

13.1.8.1 Business Overview

13.1.8.2 Products Offered

13.1.8.3 Recent Developments

13.1.8.3.1 Product Launches and Developments

13.1.8.3.2 Deals

13.1.8.3.3 Others

13.1.9 Kito

13.1.9.1 Business Overview

13.1.9.2 Products Offered

13.1.9.3 Recent Developments

13.1.9.3.1 Product Launches and Developments

13.1.9.3.2 Deals

13.1.10 Kobelco

13.1.10.1 Business Overview

13.1.10.2 Products Offered

13.1.10.3 Recent Developments

13.1.10.3.1 Others

13.1.11 Sumitomo Heavy Industries

13.1.11.1 Business Overview

13.1.11.2 Products Offered

13.1.12 Abus Kransysteme

13.1.12.1 Business Overview

13.1.12.2 Products Offered

13.2 Other Key Players

13.2.1 Xcmg

13.2.2 Mammoet

13.2.3 Kato Works

13.2.4 Altec Industries

13.2.5 Verlinde

13.2.6 Shanghai Yiying Crane Machinery

13.2.7 Nucleon Crane Group

13.2.8 Cheng Day Machinery Works

13.2.9 Liugong Machinery

13.2.10 Load King

13.2.11 Elliot Equipment

13.2.12 QMC Building Cranes

13.2.13 Broderson Manufacturing

13.2.14 Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company (Zpmc)

14 Adjacent & Related Market

15 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ifuk6q

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

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TSX: GPR | NYSE American: GPL

VANCOUVER, BC, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Great Panther Mining Limited (TSX: GPR) (NYSE-A: GPL) ("Great Panther" or the "Company"), a growing gold and silver producer focused on the Americas, reports that all proposed resolutions were passed at its Annual General Meeting (the "Meeting"), held on June 9, 2021, via virtual webcast.

A total of 119,910,686 common shares of the 355,399,779 common shares outstanding were voted, representing 33.74% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Great Panther. Shareholders voted in favour of all items of business before the Meeting, including the election of all directors as follows:



NUMBER OF SHARES PERCENTAGE OF VOTES CAST FOR WITHHELD FOR WITHHELD David Garofalo 35,961,242 30,715,292 53.93% 46.07% Trudy M. Curran 64,370,506 2,306,029 96.54% 3.46% Joseph Gallucci 64,344,861 2,331,673 96.50% 3.50% Alan Hair 64,646,566 2,029,968 96.96% 3.04% Robert Henderson 64,678,075 1,998,459 97.00% 3.00% John Jennings 64,305,757 2,370,777 96.44% 3.56% Elise Rees 64,274,383 2,402,151 96.40% 3.60% Kevin J. Ross 64,235,221 2,441,313 96.34% 3.66% Dana Williams 64,249,294 2,427,240 96.36% 3.64%

In addition, shareholders voted 94.64% in favour of setting the number of directors at nine and 95.20% in favour of appointing KPMG LLP as auditors.

ABOUT GREAT PANTHER

Great Panther is a growing gold and silver producer focused on the Americas. The Company owns a diversified portfolio of assets in Brazil, Mexico and Peru that includes three operating gold and silver mines, four exploration projects, and an advanced development project. Great Panther is actively exploring large land packages in highly prospective districts and is pursuing acquisition opportunities to complement its existing portfolio. Great Panther trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange trading under the symbol GPR, and on the NYSE American under the symbol GPL.

SOURCE Great Panther Mining Limited

Related Links

www.greatpanther.com


US Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas): I understand from whats been testified to the Forest Service and the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], you want very much to work on the issue of climate change. We know theres been significant solar flare activity, and so  is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moons orbit, or the Earths orbit around the sun? Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate.

Jennifer Eberlein, associate deputy chief for the National Forest System, responded that she would have to follow up with you on that one, after a brief pause.

Gohmert: Well, if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, Id like to know.
GURUGRAM, India, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

Government of Indonesia has declared infrastructure development by increasing the allocation for infrastructure up by approximately 50% to the value of 290 Trillion IDR . The infrastructure development include construction of 3,600 km of new roads, 15 new airports, 24 new seaports and railway network expansion by 3,258 km.

has declared infrastructure development by increasing the allocation for infrastructure up by approximately 50% to the value of . The infrastructure development include construction of 3,600 km of new roads, 15 new airports, 24 new seaports and railway network expansion by 3,258 km. Government introduced new measures requiring online sellers- estimated over 10m to secure government permits in order to sell their products as well as mandating sellers to store information in local data centers. Stringent rules for handling of data, development of cloud computing and data centers is expected to boost e-commerce growth.

to secure government permits in order to sell their products as well as mandating sellers to store information in local data centers. Stringent rules for handling of data, development of cloud computing and data centers is expected to boost e-commerce growth. Alibaba: the Chinese e-commerce giant is planning to invest USD 3 Billion in Grab which would ensure large base of delivery fleet in Indonesia as well as in various other regions of South East Asia.

in Grab which would ensure large base of delivery fleet in as well as in various other regions of South East Asia. Google and Temasek Holding Private Limited, an investment company owned by Singapore government is planning to invest in e-commerce company Tokopedia.

Impact of COVID-19: In order to ensure social distancing, the Pandemic has ensured e-commerce firms to register high online traffic for purchase of necessity goods. Online transactions are increasing by four folds, in order to capitalize the increase demand small firms are partnering with the existing e-commerce logistics partners and the large firms are outsourcing to support in-house delivery services. The effect of COVID-19 is transforming the retail sector and is facilitating substantial growth in e-commerce market of Indonesia.

Java is a major contributor in Indonesia for the growth of the market: Java is classified as a major business hub of Indonesia as Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya are home for large number of manufacturing companies. Major proportion of goods are produced here and shipped to other parts of the country. In addition to this, Jakarta is expected to retain its position of largest contributor in terms of demand of e-commerce products.

Changing Customer Preferences: Due to growing trend of consumer preference towards fast delivery and with players expanding their market to other cities, the market for E-Commerce logistics is expected to significantly improve in future. Moreover, the growing trend for online food delivery and grocery is also anticipated to augment the demand for fast delivery. The improving lifestyle of people and growing young population in the country is expected to transform the demand of these products.

Analysts at Ken Research in their latest publication "Competitive Landscape of Top 8 Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics Companies and Leading 5 E-Commerce Marketplace Platform: Basis GMV, GMV Split, Order Volume, Shipment Profile, Logistics Cost, Network, Fleets and Customer Profiles" observe that E-commerce Logistics Market of Indonesia is to grow at decent pace which is backed by emerging e-commerce players in the country. Covid-19 outbreak has further accentuated the growth of the market by shifting major retailers on online platform for sustenance in the market.

Key Target Audience: -

3PL Logistics Companies

Integrated Logistics Companies

E-Commerce Marketplace Platform

Retail Companies

Logistics/Supply Chain Industry Associations

Time Period Captured in the Report:-

Outlook Period: 2019 to 2025

E-Commerce Logistics Companies Mentioned:-

Lazada Express

JNE

Sicepat

Ninja Express

Lion Parcel

Wahana Express

Paxel

J&T Express

E-Commerce Marketplace Platform Mentioned:-

Tokopedia

Shopee

Lazada

Bukalapak

Blibli

Key Topics Covered in the Report:-

Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics Market (Overview and Genesis, Ecosystem of Indonesia E-Commerce & E-Commerce Logistics Market)

Market size of Indonesia E-Commerce Market (2019-2025)

E-Commerce Shipments per day (2019-2025)

Market segmentation by B2C & C2C E-Commerce

Market segmentation by sourcing- region

Market segmentation by delivery- region

Market segmentation by volumetric weight, Challenges in E-Commerce Logistics market)

Competitive Landscape

Cross Comparison of E-Commerce Logistics Companies

Cross-Comparison of E-Commerce Players

Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics Industry

Indonesia E-Commerce Industry

Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics Market Size

Indonesia E-Commerce GMV

Market Share Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics

Market Share Indonesia E-Commerce Marketplace

Number of Shipments Indonesia

Revenues Indonesia E-Commerce

Competition Benchmarking Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics

GMV and GMV Split Indonesia E-Commerce

Number of Fleets Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics

Warehouses Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics

Delivery Personnel Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics

Same Day Delivery Indonesia E-Commerce

Two Day Delivery Indonesia E-Commerce

Regular Delivery Indonesia E-Commerce Market

Shipment Profile Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics

Express Delivery Players Indonesia

E-Commerce Logistics Indonesia

Major Companies Domestic Ecommerce Logistics Indonesia

Major Companies Domestic E-Commerce Indonesia

Major Companies International E-Commerce Indonesia

Major Companies International E-Commerce Logistics Indonesia

For More Information on the research report, refer to below link:-

Indonesia E-Commerce Logistics Market

Related Reports:-

India E-Commerce Logistics Market Outlook to 2025-Driven by Changing Shopping Patterns and Increasing Demand of Fast Delivery Services

The E-commerce Logistics sector in India is in late growth stage and has evolving as an organized market structure. The Industry has flourished due to changing Consumer shopping preferences from physical stores to online market places from the comfort of their homes. The E-commerce Logistics Industry has grown at a CAGR of 24.3% on the basis of revenue and a CAGR of 27.4% on the basis of number of shipments over the period FY'2015-FY'2020. Major growth drivers of the Industry are higher internet penetration, increase in number of Smartphone users, increasing propensity to purchase online, growing demand from Tier 2 and below cities, new technological innovations, rising consumer expectations for fast delivery services and more.

Philippines Logistics Market Outlook to 2024 By Sea, Land, and Air Freight Forwarding; By Warehousing (Industrial/ Retail, ICD/CFS, Cold Storage, Agriculture), By End Users; By Cold chain market (Cold transportation and Cold storages)

Philippines Logistics Market has witnessed an average CAGR during 2014-19 due to favorable laws from CTAP, Investments in Bridges to promote Inter-island transportation through RORO, and development of ports both by the government and with Public-Private Partnerships. The Current logistics cost comprise 27.16 % of sales in the Philippines which is very high in comparison to other SEA countries. The influx of foreign players, increasing consolidation, Green freight policies by the Government, and investing in innovative technologies has stimulated the growth in the market.

Competition Benchmarking of Top Logistics Players in KSA in Transportation, Warehousing, 3PL, International Express, Domestic Express, Automotive, Pharma, Oil and Gas and Retail Logistics

The industry is dominated by Sea and land freight Movements considering the strong position in Oil Exports and import Dependency for all the Essential Products too. The country has strong trade relations with Asian countries, European countries, and the US. Land freight is usually common with UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, and Egypt. Air freight is quite expensive than any other Mode and is usually used for Express Shipments. The KSA also has a strong warehousing market segment where the real estate players are leasing out their space to logistics companies and Captive players for longer durations. Warehouses are concentrated in areas of Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Al Khobar due to the high population and presence of Seaports. The Courier, Express, and Parcel market is driven by growth in Last-Mile deliveries and the E-Commerce segment in the country.

Competition Benchmarking of Top Logistics Players in UAE in Transportation, Warehousing, 3PL, International Express, Domestic Express, Automotive, Pharma, Oil and Gas and Retail Logistics

The industry is home to an extremely strong Freight Forwarding segment, driven by the UAE's position as a key facilitator for global re-exports. Moreover, given its high dependence on Imports for Consumer Products and Technology, the UAE has strong trade relations with far-Eastern countries, European countries and the US. Given its oil-producing capabilities, the country relies heavily on Sea Freight as a mode of cargo transport, with the service being almost a common feature amongst freight forwarding companies in the country. The UAE also has a strong warehousing market segment, driven by players that lease warehousing space for long durations of time. Warehousing operations near to the Jebel Ali Port and Dubai Airport are considered most favourable to reduce the transportation cost from port to mother-hub. The Courier, Express and Parcel market is driven by growth in Last-Mile deliveries and the E-Commerce segment in the country.

Contact Us:-

Ken Research

Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

+91-9015378249

SOURCE Ken Research
CHICAGO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Grubhub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB) ("Grubhub"), a leading online and mobile food-ordering and delivery marketplace, today announced that its stockholders overwhelmingly approved the proposals necessary to complete the proposed acquisition by Just Eat Takeaway.com N.V. ("Just Eat Takeaway.com") of 100% of the shares of Grubhub in an all-stock transaction (the "Transaction") to create one of the world's largest online food delivery companies, measured by Gross Merchandise Value and revenue.

56,521,111 outstanding shares of Grubhub common stock voted at the Grubhub special meeting, and of the shares voted, approximately 99.98% were voted in favor of the adoption of the merger agreement between Grubhub and Just Eat Takeaway.com. The final voting results will be publicly filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a Form 8-K.

"We are pleased that Grubhub stockholders overwhelmingly supported the recommendation of Grubhub's board of directors on the pending combination with Just Eat Takeaway.com and voted in favor of the transaction," said Matt Maloney, Grubhub's founder and chief executive officer. "We thank our stockholders for their continued support and look forward to working with Just Eat Takeaway.com to complete this transaction."

Subject to satisfaction of remaining customary closing conditions, completion of the Transaction is expected to occur on June 15, 2021.

About Grubhub

Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) is a leading online and mobile food-ordering and delivery marketplace with the largest and most comprehensive network of restaurant partners, as well as 33 million active diners. Dedicated to connecting diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, Grubhub elevates food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub features over 300,000 restaurants and is proud to partner with over 280,000 of these restaurants in over 4,000 U.S. cities. The Grubhub portfolio of brands includes Grubhub, Seamless, LevelUp, AllMenus and MenuPages.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains "forward-looking statements" regarding Grubhub, Just Eat Takeaway.com or their respective management's future expectations, beliefs, intentions, goals, strategies, plans and prospects, which, in the case of Grubhub, are made in reliance on the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve substantial risks, known and unknown, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the right of one or both of Grubhub or Just Eat Takeaway.com to terminate the merger agreement; difficulties and delays in integrating Grubhub's and Just Eat Takeaway.com's businesses; risks that the proposed merger disrupts Grubhub's or Just Eat Takeaway.com's current plans and operations; failing to fully realize anticipated synergies, cost savings and other anticipated benefits of the proposed merger when expected or at all; potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the proposed merger; the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred; the ability of Grubhub or Just Eat Takeaway.com to retain and hire key personnel; the diversion of management's attention from ongoing business operations; uncertainty as to the value of the Just Eat Takeaway.com ordinary shares to be issued in connection with the proposed merger; uncertainty as to the long-term value of the common stock of the combined company following the proposed merger; the continued availability of capital and financing following the proposed merger; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Grubhub, Just Eat Takeaway.com or their respective directors and officers; changes in global, political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory forces; changes in tax laws, regulations, rates and policies; future business acquisitions or disposals; competitive developments; and the timing and occurrence (or non-occurrence) of other events or circumstances that may be beyond Grubhub's and Just Eat Takeaway.com's control. These and other risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors may be amplified or made more uncertain by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused significant economic uncertainty. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts Grubhub's and Just Eat Takeaway.com's businesses, operations and financial results, including the duration and magnitude of such effects, will depend on numerous factors, which are unpredictable, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the outbreak, its severity, the actions taken to contain the virus or treat its impact, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or Grubhub and Just Eat Takeaway.com's future financial or operating performance and include, without limitation, statements relating to the proposed merger and the potential impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Grubhub and Just Eat Takeaway.com's business and operations. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as "anticipates," "believes," "contemplates," "could," "seeks," "estimates," "intends," "may," "plans," "potential," "predicts," "projects," "should," "will," "would" or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms.

While forward-looking statements are Grubhub's and Just Eat Takeaway.com's current predictions at the time they are made, you should not rely upon them. Forward-looking statements represent Grubhub's and Just Eat Takeaway.com's management's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this communication, unless otherwise indicated, and there is no implication that the information contained in this communication is made subsequent to such date. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the cautionary statements and risk factors included in Grubhub's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including Grubhub's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 1, 2021, Grubhub's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any further disclosures Grubhub makes in Current Reports on Form 8-K. Grubhub's SEC filings are available electronically on Grubhub's investor website at investors.grubhub.com or the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. For additional information concerning factors that could cause future results to differ from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, please refer to Just Eat Takeaway.com's non-exhaustive list of key risks and cautionary statements included in Just Eat Takeaway.com's Annual Report, which is available electronically on Just Eat Takeaway.com's investor website at www.justeattakeaway.com. Except as required by law, Grubhub and Just Eat Takeaway.com assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements or this communication, or to update, supplement or correct the information set forth in this communication or the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Grubhub, Just Eat Takeaway.com or any person acting on behalf of either party are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements referenced above.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed merger, Just Eat Takeaway.com has filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form F-4 to register the shares to be issued in connection with the proposed merger. The registration statement was declared effective by the SEC on May 12, 2021, and includes a proxy statement of Grubhub/prospectus of Just Eat Takeaway.com. The definitive proxy statement/prospectus was first mailed to the stockholders of Grubhub on or about May 12, 2021, seeking their approval of the respective merger-related proposals. Also in connection with the proposed merger, on or about May 12, 2021, Just Eat Takeaway.com filed with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets ("AFM") and the UK Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") a prospectus for the listing and admission to trading on Euronext Amsterdam and the admission to listing on the FCA's Official List and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market for listed securities of the shares to be issued in connection with the proposed merger (the "Prospectus").

INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT ON FORM F-4 AND THE RELATED PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS INCLUDED WITHIN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT ON FORM F-4, THE PROSPECTUS, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THOSE DOCUMENTS AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC, THE AFM AND/OR THE FCA IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED MERGER, WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT GRUBHUB, JUST EAT TAKEAWAY.COM AND THE PROPOSED MERGER.

Investors and security holders may obtain copies of these documents and any other documents filed with or furnished to the SEC by Grubhub or Just Eat Takeaway.com free of charge through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov, from Grubhub at its website, investors.grubhub.com, or from Just Eat Takeaway.com at its website www.justeattakeaway.com. The Prospectus, as well as any supplement thereto, will be made available on the website of Just Eat Takeaway.com at its website www.justeattakeaway.com .

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and applicable United Kingdom, Dutch and other European regulations.

SOURCE Grubhub Inc.

Related Links

https://www.grubhub.com


"We sincerely appreciate Henry Repeating Arms, Brownells, and Crow Shooting Supply for stepping up to the plate and providing so much assistance to make this monument a reality," said Rusty Clayton of the Brooklyn Community Foundation. "This is going to solidify Pie's name and legacy in our town forever, and we could not have done it without the contributions that will come out of these incredible rifles."

The Pie Keller Memorial rifle features a custom engraved genuine American walnut buttstock depicting a triumphant Keller at the summit of Mount Suribachi, rifle in hand, with his fellow Marines in the background lifting the American flag as seen in Rosenthal's famous image. The date, "February 23, 1945," is etched above the design and a flowing scroll banner below contains Keller's name. Built on Henry's Golden Boy platform, the .22-caliber rifle also features a Brasslite receiver cover, barrel band, and buttplate with a 20" blued steel octagon barrel. The H004PKM has an MSRP of $744.

"The fact that "Pie" was misidentified for over 76 years is a testament to the man's humility," said Anthony Imperato, President, and Owner of Henry Repeating Arms. "He never came forward as one of the flag-raisers, not even to his kids, and I look forward to visiting the memorial to pay my respects to this incredible man in person."

"We are honored to recognize a true hometown hero who made history by raising the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima more than 75 years ago," said Pete Brownell, Chairman of Brownells. "The image of the flag-raising has become a symbol of valor and unity in the United States. It's fitting to have "Pie" Keller's heroics memorialized on another American icon, the Henry rifle, as it benefits a new memorial to Brooklyn, Iowa's hometown hero."

Henry firearms are purchasable only through a licensed firearms dealer. For more information about Henry Repeating Arms and its products, visit henryusa.com or call 866-200-2354.

About Henry Repeating Arms:

Henry Repeating Arms is one of the leading rifle and shotgun manufacturers in the United States and a world leader in the lever action category. The company motto is "Made in America, or not made at all" and its firearms come with a lifetime guarantee backed by award-winning customer service. The company is also known for its charitable endeavors under its Guns For Great Causes program, which focuses on sick children, both individual cases and children's hospitals, veteran and wounded veteran organizations, Second Amendment and wildlife conservation organizations. The company currently employs 535 people and has 250,000 square-feet of manufacturing space in its Rice Lake, Wisconsin and Bayonne, New Jersey facilities. The company is named in honor of Benjamin Tyler Henry who invented and patented the Henry rifle in 1860  the first repeating rifle, the lever action rifle, which is America's unique contribution to international firearms design and is one of the most legendary, respected and sought-after rifles in the history of firearms. Visit Henry Repeating Arms online at www.HenryUSA.com, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/HenryRepeating, and on Instagram @Henry_Rifles.

About Brownells:

Serious About Firearms Since 1939, Brownells is the world's leading source for guns, gun parts and accessories, ammunition, gunsmithing tools and survival gear. With a large selection of both common and hard-to-find items, and an extensive collection of videos, articles, and gun schematics, Brownells is the expert for everything shooting-related. Committed to maintaining our great traditions, Brownells has more, does more and knows more  and guarantees it all, Forever. For more information or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com. Stay up-to-date with Brownells on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

SOURCE Henry Repeating Arms

Related Links

www.henryusa.com


SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Incredible Health , the fastest-growing, venture-backed career marketplace for healthcare workers, today announced a major milestone in its mission to radically transform how nurses are hired: it is now partnered with 60% of the top-ranked hospitals in the United States. This is a major moment for the platform, which raised its Series A financing round 18 months ago and has seen rapid expansion. Since the Series A, the company saw a 1000% increase in revenue, a 500% increase in nurse job placements, 100% customer retention, and net revenue retention of 200%, as existing customers doubled their hiring and spend on the platform.

At the end of 2019, Incredible Health was only available in Texas and California. Today, more than 350 hospitals nationwide, including major health systems such as Johns Hopkins Health System, HCA Healthcare, Stanford Health Care, Kaiser Permanente, Providence St. Joseph, Jefferson Health, Houston Methodist, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and many others rely on Incredible Health to hire the best permanent nursing staff. Hospitals send an interview request every four minutes on the platform, flipping the script and giving healthcare workers unprecedented control over their careers.

"We started Incredible Health with the belief that the process for nurse hiring was fundamentally broken for both nurses and health facilities," said Incredible Health CEO and Co-founder Iman Abuzeid. "Our rapid growth over the last 18 months shows there is a new way to hire permanent nurses while delivering a delightful experience to both talent and employers. Nurses are the backbone of our healthcare system. They deserve more control over their professional careers and visibility into the options available to them, and hospitals need the technology to hire quickly. We bring these two priorities together, and our success underscores this urgent and huge need."

The category-defining platform now serves health systems that make up 50% of hospital beds in Texas and California, two states with the highest and second-highest number of hospital beds in the country. The company serves 65% and 70% of the hospital beds in major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, CA and Dallas, TX, respectively. The largest and most prestigious hospitals in the U.S. across 14 states trust Incredible Health with one of their most important drivers of success: hiring enough permanent nurses to deliver high-quality patient care.

Even before COVID-19, the U.S. faced a major nursing shortage and nurses experienced higher rates of burnout and stress due to long hours and challenging work environments. The pandemic exacerbated these problems, and hospitals are now grappling with an unprecedented staffing challenge due to astoundingly high turnover rates. Thankfully nurses hired through Incredible Health have a 15% higher retention rate than nurses hired through traditional channels. To further support hospitals and healthcare systems, Incredible Health launched its Pandemic Hiring Suite which allowed customers to hire permanent, specialized nurses in less than 12 days, two products to help nurses combat stress and burnout, as well as data and analytics tools that allow talent teams to:

Benchmark against anonymized peer organizations on hiring speed, utilization, salary data, and other metrics to ensure their hiring process is competitive

Accurately forecast future hires to improve workforce planning

Manage individual recruiter performance to optimize hiring operations

Track how quickly candidates progress through the hiring funnel, so teams can optimize and get the staff they need faster

The number of nurses on the platform grew over 800% in the past 18 months, and thousands of nurses secured permanent roles with Incredible Health's tools. On average, Incredible Health saves each hospital they work with at least $2M per year per facility in travel nurse, overtime, and HR costs.

"Incredible Health has done an outstanding job building out both sides of its marketplace," said Jeff Jordan, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and board member of Incredible Health. Jordan has invested in other notable marketplace platforms, including Airbnb, Instacart and OfferUp, and is the former CEO of OpenTable and former general manager of the eBay.com business. "Given the national focus on healthcare infrastructure and the healthcare talent shortage, the company's platform is quickly becoming the default choice for any hospital looking to recruit and hire permanent nurses."

"To do our best work, we need to have the talent to deliver quality care to those in need. With the ongoing shortage, it's taking our team longer than we'd like to find the ideal specialized, experienced candidates for hard-to-fill positions," said David Jones, Chief Human Resources Officer at Stanford Health Care. "With Incredible Health, we consistently hire in permanent roles in under three weeks."

To learn more about how Incredible Health helps hospitals hire, visit this link: https://www.incrediblehealth.com/employers/

About Incredible Health

As a career marketplace for permanent healthcare workers, Incredible Health puts nurses in the driver's seat. Hospitals apply directly to nurses rather than the other way around. The first and only platform to focus on permanent employees rather than contractors, Incredible Health is already used by over 350 top hospitals nationwide. Incredible Health's proprietary algorithm-based technology custom matches the needs of hospitals with the right nurses. Co-founded by MD and Wharton alum Iman Abuzeid and MIT alum from a family of nurses, Rome Portlock, Incredible Health is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and operates nationally. For more information visit https://incrediblehealth.com .

Press contact:

Inkhouse for Incredible Health

[email protected]

SOURCE Incredible Health

Related Links

https://incrediblehealth.com


PUNE, India and CORK, Ireland, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CyGenica has announced that it has raised USD $1.4 million in a seed fund investment round, led by global venture capital investor SOSV. The funding round will accelerate validation of CyGenica's proprietary technology, which enables safe, targeted and affordable intercellular drug delivery.

The current investment seed round was led by venture capital investor SOSV. Other investors participating in the round included the VOYAGER Health-Tech fund, David Rowan, founder of Voyagers.io and angel investors Sharaf Yamani and Sami Mikati.

CyGenica intends to utilize the investment to accelerate the development of its disruptive drug delivery technology, establish as a key partner of biopharmaceutical companies in the advancement of cutting-edge therapeutics for cancer and rare diseases to improve patient's health and quality of life.

Dr Nusrat Sanghamitra, Co-founder and CEO of CyGenica said:

"The challenge of delivering drugs for cancer and genetic therapies, be it genes/RNAs/CRISPRs across cell membranes without damaging the cells and triggering an adverse immune response remains a complex hurdle in the pharmaceutical industry. Our groundbreaking technology functions like a universal USB drive. It acts as a nanomachine which can deliver multitudes of cargoes carrying molecular information such as drugs and genetic therapeutics in an efficient, targeted manner without any toxicity and minimum immunogenicity. This will revolutionize drug delivery and lead to better patient outcomes."

Nusrat further emphasized: "This current financing round has brought a diversified international network on board. This will help de-risk our technology, expand our leadership team and take us significantly closer to our goal."

Bill Liao, Partner SOSV explained: "I am delighted to be leading this investment because CyGenica has solved one of the most pressing problems in biotech: delivery. We are incredibly excited to be part of this revolution."

David Rowan, Founder of Voyagers.io said: "Life-changing health-care innovation isn't only coming out of the established life-science hubs. The VOYAGERS Health-Tech Fund is particularly excited to support CyGenica, a remarkable company born in Odisha, India, with the potential to transform targeted drug delivery without the normal side effects that cancer and other patients have had to bear. The VOYAGERS community will do all we can to support Dr Nusrat Sanghamitra and her team in their important mission."

Sami Mikati, a life sciences angel investor, said: "Nusrat is solving one of the most valuable problems in therapeutics today. Her approach is completely novel, which is a reflection of her interdisciplinary background."

CyGenica

SOSV

Contact details:

Dr Nusrat J M Sanghamitra, CEO/CSO

CyGenica Ltd (www.cygenica.com)

[email protected], @CycaOncosol

+353 892347248

+91 7504206086

SOURCE CyGenica

Related Links

https://www.cygenica.com


AMITYVILLE, N.Y., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Infinity Drain, the manufacturer at the forefront of architectural and decorative drains proudly unveils the launch of its new website: www.infinitydrain.com.

Designed with enhanced features and an easy-to-navigate interface the new site introduces a modern look with improved functionality and dynamic tools that establish the website as a leading resource for builders, designers, homeowners and specifiers. The new site also includes:

Product Finder  a guide that allows visitors to delve into Infinity Drain's vast catalog and browse products by grate style and finish option.

Installation Utility a helpful tool that provides detailed graphics and installation instructions categorized by drain-type and waterproofing method.

Project Portfolio  a series of inspiring projects featuring products from Infinity Drain's expansive line of linear, center and custom-made drains.

Inspiration Gallery  a collection of indoor, outdoor and custom designs that showcase installed Infinity Drain products.

Video Learning Center  this education hub offers learning objectives that explore a number of topics including new products, installation tutorials, and industry trends.

Continuing Education - offers online, webinars and in-office options to earn credits and learn about specifying for barrier free bathrooms.

Visitors of the new www.infinitydrain.com can also explore the "News" section of the website where they can read articles on the latest products, projects and learn about what's trending in bathroom design.

"We're so thrilled to debut our new website that has been meticulously crafted to serve as valuable resource for those seeking a deeper knowledge on drainage solutions," says Jonathan Brill, President of Infinity Drain. "This new design truly aligns with the Infinity Drain mission to better provide quality information at the blick of a button."

Experience the new look and same great drains today by visiting: www.infinitydrain.com

About Infinity Drain

For over a decade, Infinity Drain has established itself as a leader in design-centric architectural shower drains with a reputation of unsurpassed quality. From hand polishing decorative grates to custom fabrication  all at the exacting specifications of customers, Infinity Drain offers the broadest selection of decorative choices and installation options. Its award-winning designs and innovations, including the Site Sizable linear drain, continue to shape barrier-free bathroom design. Infinity Drain is revolutionizing bathroom installation with its completely waterproof Stainless Steel Shower Base backed with an original owner lifetime guarantee. Infinity Drain products are proudly fabricated in Long Island, NY, USA. For additional information, visit infinitydrain.com.

Follow us on social:

https://www.facebook.com/InfinityDrain/

https://www.instagram.com/infinitydrain/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/infinity-drain/

Contact: Lori Dolnick

Phone: (609) 490-0999, ext. 22

Email: [email protected]

Catherine Hoy

Phone: (609) 490-0999, ext. 25

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Infinity Drain
MONTREAL, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - IOU Financial Inc. ("IOU Financial" or the "Company") (TSXV: IOU), a leading online lender to small businesses (IOUFinancial.com), today reported the results of the Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders held on this date (the "Meeting").

At the Meeting, Robert Gloer, Philippe Marleau, Evan Price, Yves Roy, Lucas Timberlake and Neil Wolfson were elected as directors of the Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was reappointed as the Company's auditor for the ensuing year, the Company's rolling Stock Option Plan was reapproved and the Advance Notice By-Law was approved by the shareholders.

Wayne Pommen did not stand for re-election at the Meeting. "I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Wayne Pommen for his many years of fine service as a director of IOU Financial and in particular as Chair of the Audit Committee", said Evan Price, Chairman of the Board.

About IOU Financial Inc.

IOU Financial Inc. is a wholesale lender that provides quick and easy access to growth capital to small businesses through a network of preferred brokers across the US and Canada. Built on a proprietary technology platform that connects underwriters, merchants and brokers in real time, IOU Financial has become a trusted alternative to banks by underwriting US$898 million in loans to fund small business growth since 2009. To learn more about IOU Financial's corporate history, financial products, or to join our broker network please visit www.IOUFinancial.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.

SOURCE IOU Financial Inc.

Related Links

https://ioufinancial.com/en-ca/


OVERLAND PARK, Kan., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Keen Wealth Advisors, financial advisory firm based in Overland Park, Kansas, announced a $100,000 grant for Veterans Community Project (VCP). VCP, a nonprofit organization, independent from federal funding, has a long-term goal of eliminating Veteran homelessness nationwide. Their first project, VCP Village - KC, is an innovative community of 49 tiny houses for Veterans experiencing homelessness. Using Kansas City as the blueprint for achieving similar successes in cities across the United States, Veterans Community Project has officially begun its expansion with the mission of serving eight communities by 2022.

Tiny Homes Make a Huge Difference for Kansas City's Veterans and Kansas-based Financial Advisory Firm is Grateful to Help

"One number really stood out to me. Over 90% of the veterans with whom the VCP works are able to get back on their feet and reacclimate into society. Today, both my family and Keen Wealth Advisors are grateful supporters of the Veterans Community Project's newest initiative, the VCP Veterans Navigation Campus."



Bill Keen, Founder & CEO

Keen Wealth Advisors

"A few years ago, I was intrigued by the many news stories I was seeing about the new 'tiny homes' helping homeless veterans around Kansas City," said Bill Keen, CRPC, founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors. "I reached out and connected with the Veterans Community Project, and the more I learned, the more impressed I was by the impact that the VCP is having. Their operation is now expanding with their newest initiative  The Veterans Navigation Campus, which will be modeled after the centralized location on military bases which help service members with military matters. The key difference is that this campus will focus on civilian life and will create a straight line to life-changing support including housing, emergency assistance, mental health, legal aid, substance abuse, healthcare, job skills/workforce training, VA navigation and more," said Keen.

$100,000 GRANT TO SUPPORT NAVIGATION CAMPUS FOR VETS

The Bill and Carissa Keen Charitable Foundation along with Keen Wealth Advisors provided a $100,000 grant to assist with the development of the Veterans Navigation Campus, a planned campus located in Kansas City, Missouri, that is being designed to harness the collective power of Kansas City's Veteran services community and a coalition of trusted partners  nonprofit agencies and local businesses  who will offer assistance to Veterans within their respective areas of expertise. Many Veterans fail to receive the services they need because access to them is complex and confusing to navigate. According to a study by the Department of Veterans affairs, 14 of the 20 Veterans who die by suicide on a daily basis are not connected to the VA or another support agency. "One number really stood out to me," said Keen. "Over 90% of the veterans with whom the VCP works are able to get back on their feet and reacclimate into society. Today, both my family and Keen Wealth Advisors are grateful supporters of the Veterans Community Project's newest initiative, the VCP Veterans Navigation Campus."

A WORTHY CHARITY, SERVING VETERANS IN NEED

"There are a lot of our brothers and sisters who are too ashamed to ask for help or don't know where to look for it," said Brandonn Mixon, Veterans Community Project (VCP) co-founder, Chief Project Officer and retired U.S. Army Specialist. "We owe it to them to be able to expand and really change and impact their lives. We believe in helping any individual who walks in our doors, whether they're homeless or housed, disabled, non-disabled, honorably discharged or dishonorably discharged. It's our goal to serve those who served us and we don't care who you are. Asking for help is what saved my life. And it could save someone else's life, too.

"By combining resources and working collaboratively, the resident partners of the Veterans Navigation Campus will provide targeted, comprehensive care for all Veterans in one setting. By greatly reducing barriers to access, VCP strives to not only prevent Veteran homelessness but radically impact the crisis of Veteran suicide in our community," said Mixon.

"We can't do it alone. VCP is called a community project for a reason. Community partners like the Keen family and Keen Wealth Advisors are why we can do what we do. With their help, we are building a new Navigation Center for Kansas City Veterans that will allow vets to find the resources they need all in one place. It's going to be a game-changer," Mixon added.

To listen to a podcast episode of "Keen on Retirement," wherein Keen and Mixon discuss the charity and how their remarkable team is transforming cities across the country and making sure that no heroes get left behind, click here: Tiny Homes Make a Huge Difference for Kansas City's Veterans.

"Sometimes vets get lost and fall through the cracks. I never had the honor of serving for our country's freedom, but my grandfather served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. That has always been very meaningful to me," said Keen. "VCP is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization that receives no government funding. Once we saw the success of their initial campus, and the continued need in the Veterans Navigation Campus, we were inspired to step up and participate."

Those interested in learning more about how they can become involved with VCP can visit https://www.veteranscommunityproject.org/get-involved.

ABOUT KEEN WEALTH ADVISORS

Keen Wealth Advisors is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. CEO Bill Keen is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor and financial advisor with 28 years of industry experience. As the founder of Keen Wealth Advisors, an SEC registered investment advisory firm, he and his team focus on providing personalized retirement planning designed to help people thrive before and during their retirement years.

With a passion for educating others, Bill co-hosts "Keen on Retirement"  a podcast designed to provide Keen Wealth Advisors' friends and clients with an additional tool to stay informed and educated on key issues related to retirement planning and investing. Furthering his passion for education, Bill authored Keen on Retirement, a book focused on common steps for building a financial plan and the psychological and emotional challenges associated with retirement. The firm also regularly presents several educational retirement planning topics to the Kansas City community. Keen appears regularly on Forbes and has previously shared his thoughts with national media outlets such as U.S. News and World Report, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch, and Yahoo Finance.

For more information, visit www.KeenWealthAdvisors.com.

ABOUT VETERANS COMMUNITY PROJECT

Founded in 2016 by combat Veterans and headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, Veterans Community Project offers an innovative homeless housing program and outreach assistance that provides inclusive services to aid Veterans in re-claiming control over their lives.

For more information, visit www.VeteransCommunityProject.org.

Media Contact:

Leesy Palmer

Impact Communications, Inc.

913-649-5009

[email protected]

KWMG LLC dba Keen Wealth Advisors is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser. Please note that the term "registered investment adviser" and description of Keen Wealth Advisors and/or our associates as "registered" does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Keen Wealth Advisors and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by Keen Wealth Advisors unless a client service agreement is in place. Amazon rankings, although relevant on how a product is selling overall, don't necessarily indicate how well an item is selling among other similar items or similar item categories. Amazon may choose the most popular categories or subcategories within which an item has a high ranking to determine its best-seller rankings. The Amazon Best Seller ranking is referring to rankings for the Kindle Top 100 Paid Lists under the subcategories of Budgeting and Financial Risk Management, based on data as of Sept. 5, 2019. These rankings are updated hourly and, as a result, should be expected to fluctuate as such.

Related Images

keen-wealth-advisors-kick-starts.png

Keen Wealth Advisors Kick Starts Local Veterans Navigation Campus with $100,000 grant

Tiny Homes Make a Huge Difference for Kansas City's Veterans and Kansas-based Financial Advisory Firm is Grateful to Help

keen-wealth-advisors-kick-starts.png

Keen Wealth Advisors Kick Starts Local Veterans Navigation Campus with $100,000 grant

Tiny Homes Make a Huge Difference for Kansas City's Veterans and Kansas-based Financial Advisory Firm is Grateful to Help

SOURCE Keen Wealth Advisors
NISKU, AB, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Latium Technologies is pleased to announce the launch of its Job Site Insights, Powered by Yonder suite of digital applications transforming construction, industrial and oil and gas sites into smart sites.

The smart suite of applications includes:

Job Site Insights IOT platform

Job Site Resourcing

Job Site Access

Job Site Vision

Job Site Fleet Management

Job Site Staffing

"We are very excited to bring these products to market which will enable organizations to better manage business outcomes and improve their operational excellence," said Latium Technologies CEO, Mark Bryant. "With JSI we take a hardware agnostic approach, enabling you to connect to virtually any third-party sensor to monitor things like asset location, sound, vibration, weather, oxygen levels, flood & leak detection, concrete maturity & strength, air quality and much more."

Latium is reducing costs, mitigating risk, limiting rework and improving both quality and safety on projects for its heavy industrial and construction clients. Speak with one of our representatives today and discover how to digitally transform your job site.

Latium Technologies: Work Smarter, Build Better.

About Latium Technologies

Founded in 2019, Latium has quickly become a go-to IoT solutions provider for Heavy Industry in Canada. Working with multibillion-dollar companies like Suncor, Enbridge, Trans Mountain Pipeline, TC Energy and PCL Construction, we help reduce cost, enhance logistics, bolster safety, and increase visibility using our advanced analytics platform. Learn more at thelatiumgroup.com

SOURCE Latium Technologies

Related Links

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VENTURA, Calif., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Meet Kevin Paffrath will be hosting a kickoff Campaign Rally on the green lawn at the Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco, holding the first major campaign event of the election. Attendance is expected to exceed 500. The event will open at 4:00 p.m. and speaking begins at 4:30 pm. Media and visitors are welcome, though visitors are encouraged to RSVP by going to MeetKevin.com. Questions from the media will be answered after the speech. After announcing his campaign on May 17, 2021, Paffrath has received tremendous support for his detailed 20-point plan. With over 3,200 individual donors, he has shown the strong, grassroots support behind his campaign to replace Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom in the upcoming recall election.

Meet Kevin Paffrath For Governor Campaign

Paffrath's 20-Part Plan to fix the State of California includes declaring four states of emergency on his first day in office, including:

State of Emergency: Ending homelessness within 60 days by deploying the National Guard.

Ending homelessness within 60 days by deploying the National Guard.

State of Emergency: Housing Crisis: State to takeover all building and safety/ development for expediting building permits immediately .

Housing Crisis: State to takeover building and safety/ development for expediting building permits .

State of Emergency: Creating future schools to immediately provide a free path to financial, vocational, high school, and college education in one platform by 18, debt-free.

Creating future schools to immediately provide a free path to financial, vocational, high school, and college education in platform by 18, debt-free.

State of Emergency: Transportation: immediately authorizing and requiring private proposals for tunnels, variable toll-roads, mass transit, roads, and ending high-speed-rail funding.

Meet Kevin Paffrath will also cover legislation he plans to introduce to eliminate income taxes on the first $250,000 of income. He also intends to legalize gambling, reform small claims courts, community police, and expand the speed of our renewable transition while lowering gas prices and reducing water shortages and fires.

Media contact: [email protected] | Full 20-part plan: www.MeetKevin.com

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SOURCE Meet Kevin Paffrath For Governor Campaign
NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This year marks the 54th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court decision that struck down U.S. laws against interracial marriage. Loving Day commemorates the June 12th, 1967 anniversary of this civil rights landmark. Loving Day observances form the world's largest network of multiracial community events.

In 2020, during a period of COVID-19 lockdown, thousands of Americans commemorated Loving Day by sharing their stories and family photos online. #LovingDay trended #5 on Twitter with many high-profile politicians and celebrities calling out the day, including Vice-President Kamala Harris. #LovingDay also trended #3 in 2017.

Nearly 20% of Americans still believe that interracial marriages are morally wrong (YouGov poll 2018). Despite this, 13% of millennials are married to someone "of a different race or ethnicity" (Pew Research Center 2020), as well as one-in-six newlyweds (17%) overall are married to a person of a "different race or ethnicity" (Pew Research Center 2017). This is five times more than in 1967, the year of the Loving decision.

Thousands will observe Loving Day on or around June 12th in cities worldwide. As of this writing, 21 virtual and in-person events are planned with hosts based in 3 countries (United States, the Netherlands, and Austria) from organizations and institutions including the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco and the NAACP Merced County Branch. Additional events and private celebrations are expected.

The new LovingDay.org provides educational resources such as the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the Supreme Court case arguments, state laws against interracial marriage (41 states states had them), and more resources about interracial relationships, multiracial families, mixed race people, transracially adopted people, and those with a similar lived experience.



About the Loving Day Project



Created in 2004, our mission is to steward a shared Loving Day tradition as a way to fight racism through education, create visibility, and build community. Our vision is to create an annual tradition that will make the Loving case a universally recognized civil rights landmark.

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE Loving Day
TULSA, Okla., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE: MMP) announced today an agreement to sell its independent terminals network comprised of 26 refined petroleum products terminals with approximately 6 million barrels of storage located primarily in the southeastern U.S. to Buckeye Partners, L.P. for $435 million.

"The sale of our independent terminals demonstrates Magellan's continued focus on utilizing all available options, including optimization of our asset portfolio, to maximize unitholder value," said Michael Mears, chief executive officer. "We would like to express Magellan's gratitude to all employees dedicated to these facilities for their contributions and efforts through the years."

The sale is expected to close upon the receipt of required regulatory approvals.

Magellan intends to use the proceeds from this transaction consistent with its stated capital allocation priorities.

About Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P.

Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE: MMP) is a publicly traded partnership that primarily transports, stores and distributes refined petroleum products and crude oil. The partnership owns the longest refined petroleum products pipeline system in the country, with access to nearly 50% of the nation's refining capacity, and can store more than 100 million barrels of petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel fuel and crude oil. More information is available at www.magellanlp.com.

Except for statements of historical fact, this news release constitutes forward-looking statements as defined by federal law. Although management of Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. believes such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual outcomes to be materially different. Factors that could lead to material changes in performance are described in the partnership's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the partnership's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2020 and subsequent reports on Forms 8-K and 10-Q. You are urged to carefully review and consider the cautionary statements and other disclosures made in those filings, especially under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Statements." Forward-looking statements made by the partnership in this release are based only on information currently known, and the partnership undertakes no obligation to revise its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

SOURCE Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P.

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BROOMFIELD, Colo., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Major General (Ret.) Garry Dean, US Air Force, has joined Vita Inclinata Technologies as a Senior Advisor, the company announced today, bringing his extensive background in National Guard and Reserve affairs, and aviation safety excellence to Vita's mission of "bring everyone home... every time."

Major General (Ret.) Garry Dean

General Dean transitioned from the service in 2015, retiring as Director of the National Guard Bureau Joint Staff in the Pentagon, where he supported Army and Air National Guard policy, missions and operations in the 54 US states, territories, and the District of Columbia.

His storied 30+ year career spanned early assignments as an F-15 Fighter Pilot, and later Commander Air Forces NORTHERN (AFNORTH) and NORAD, NATO Joint Forces, US Disaster Relief, and more. He has since focused on helping both civilian- and military-facing companies with planning, execution, new technology integration, and risk management of complex US and multinational air and ground operations.

Vita Inclinata CEO Caleb Carr announced the appointment, saying, "That we are honored to be guided by General Dean is an understatement. He has directed, commanded, or controlled large complex operations, from the squadron level up through the numbered Air Force level, along with overseeing and directing aviation safety priorities of multinational flight operations. His vast experience leading, directing, and managing aviation safety goals will be invaluable as Vita navigates the path to getting our common-sense, life-saving technology to all who need it."

General Dean emphasized aviation safety as an essential part of combat readiness. That key principle was tested across his command in deployments, as well as directing and supporting US Air Force disaster relief missions, including the 2010 Haitian earthquake followed shortly by the Deep Water Horizon Oil spill.

The genesis of Vita Inclinata came when Carr was a young search and rescue tech. His friend and mentor suffered cardiac arrest during a training mission, but the helicopter sent to rescue them was unable to lower the hoist rescue litter due to the challenging terrain, high winds, and rotorwash. Dean noted that from over 25 years living and operating in the Pacific Northwest, his shared understanding of the challenges faced by rescuers in hazardous conditions figured in his decision to join the company as an Advisor.

"Calebs story resonated with me, especially as a former Oregon National Guard aviator and leader. Im glad to be part of helping to write a better ending for others, keeping rescuers safe along with the rescued. As a former Chief of Safety experienced in accident investigation and analysis, I am well aware that behind most statistics are human lives that could have been saved so Im excited to help Vita get their new technologies to operators across the US military to get the job done safer, faster, and more precisely," Dean said.

"Thats what Vita is doing, relentlessly executing on a flight plan to solve the real problem of chaotic motion. The vision, the hard work of the engineering team to bring precision and safety it has endless possibilities, and I want to match the teams energy and excellence and bring the best advice I can to keep us on a good flight plan," he added.

For more on General Dean, visit: https://vitatech.co/about/advisors/garry-dean/

About Vita Inclinata

A friend's death during a rescue operationwith a helicopter close but unable to stabilize due to weather and terrainwas the genesis of Vita Inclinata. Founded in 2015 as a way to solve a real problem, Vita today controls chaotic swinging and spin, and adds precision for rotor wing and fixed wing aircraft and cranes. With the mission of "Bring them home, every time," Vita's technology changes the narrative while saving lives, time and money across industries, including search and rescue, military, firefighting, public safety, construction, wind energy, and oil and gas. The company is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, with offices in Washington, DC, and new offices opening in 2021 in Huntsville, Alabama. For more information, please visit www.vitatech.co .

MEDIA CONTACT:

Merredith Branscombe

[email protected]

833-600-8482 X707

SOURCE Vita Inclinata Technologies, LLC

Related Links

http://www.vitatech.co


The announcement is part of the company's commitment to help build thriving communities where it operates  a key pillar of McCain Foods Global Sustainability Strategy. Building a partnership with Feeding America will help ensure that perishable food from McCain Foods feeds families, and not landfills.

"This partnership with Feeding America will help us meet ambitious targets for North America around food donation, volunteering hours and community development projects," says Kerry Hunnius, Vice President Business Transformation & Sustainability for McCain Foods North America. "We are committed to contributing to the competitiveness, resilience and long-term development of the rural communities where McCain Foods operates, and Feeding America is the perfect organization to help us do that."

This announcement comes as part of McCain Foods first-ever Sustainability Week, a celebration of planet-friendly initiatives and progress across the business's global operation. Earlier this week, McCain Foods launched its 2020 Global Sustainability Report, built on four key pillars: Smart and Sustainable Farming, Resource-Efficient Operations, Good Food and Thriving Communities.

McCain Foods Thriving Community targets in North America include:

Increase Food Donations  As a Feeding America Supporting Partner, McCain Foods committed to a donation of $150,000 USD  roughly equivalent to 1.5 million meals donated. In addition, McCain Foods will continue to donate finished products and raw food to achieve a North American target of 17 million meals donated in the 2022 fiscal year .

 As a Feeding America Supporting Partner, McCain Foods committed to a donation of  roughly equivalent to In addition, McCain Foods will continue to donate finished products and raw food to achieve a North American target of . Reduce Food Waste  Feeding America will support McCain Foods in achieving its zero waste to landfill objective, ensuring that both raw and finished product is enjoyed, and never thrown out.

 Feeding America will support McCain Foods in achieving its ensuring that both raw and finished product is enjoyed, and never thrown out. Volunteer Opportunities  McCain Foods is launching an exciting program called Chips In' which allows employees from offices and plants to benefit from a paid day off to volunteer and support the communities where McCain Foods operates. McCain Foods is looking to achieve more than 4,000 hours of volunteering in fiscal 2022 in North America .

"Feeding America's nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs helps serve every county in the country," says Ms. Hunnius. "This will be great for employee morale. It has been a rough year, and everybody is looking to do something good and help out. We will have a direct positive impact in the communities where we live, work and play."

Feeding America serves 40 million people annually, including 12 million children and seven million seniors.

"Feeding America and member food banks are working hard to serve our neighbors in need of food," says Lauren Biedron, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships at Feeding America. "We are grateful for partners like McCain Foods who step up to support our mission."

McCain Foods and Feeding America already enjoy a relationship, with McCain donating more than 250,000 pounds of food to Feeding America between August and December 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more about McCain Foods sustainability commitments as well as our journey towards regenerative agriculture in Together, Towards Planet-Friendly Food, 2020 Global Sustainability Report Summary at mccain.com/sustainability .

For more information, please visit mccain.ca . Follow McCain Foods on Twitter @mccainfoods and Instagram @mccaincanada and Like it on Facebook at /mccaincanada .

*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks.

About McCain Foods

McCain Foods is the world's largest manufacturer of frozen potato products and supplies french fries, potato specialties, appetizers and desserts to retail and foodservice customers around the globe. McCain is the international leader in the frozen food industry, employing over 21,000 people and operating 49 production facilities on six continents. McCain Foods USA Inc., headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, employs 4,000 people and operates production facilities in Idaho, Maine, Nebraska, Washington and Wisconsin. For more information, visit https://www.mccain.com .

About Feeding America

Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, we provide meals to more than 40 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org , find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter .

SOURCE McCain Foods USA
Managed care reform integrates physical health, behavioral health and pharmaceutical services under one plan. Tweet this

Proven Medical Home Model Enhances Care Management

On July 1, North Carolina will join the more than two-thirds of states that have transitioned from a fee-for-service system to Medicaid managed care. In contrast to fee-for-service, which is pay based on the number and type of healthcare services performed, managed care reform gives providers incentives to improve individual member and population health outcomes while reducing low-value care.

MHN is helping to develop the care management program for the Carolina Medical Home Network, a collaborative of 24 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) that provide in-network care for health plans across North Carolina. NCCHCA is the collaborative's sponsor and managing partner.

"MHN's substantial results in seven years of working with Chicago area FQHCs were decisive in forming the alliance," said NCCHCA President Chris Shank.

"We believe care management is most effective when delivered by the medical home and has the potential to address health disparities facing the low-income populations we serve," Shank said. "Medical Home Network's care coordination protocols show a respect for diverse needs and cultures and will help our patients and their families better able to manage their health.

The MHN care management model includes National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) accreditation.

"We have documented success in establishing a high-value system of care for the Medicaid population in Chicago, and now other safety net providers are eager to learn from that experience," said MHN Chief Medical Officer Dr. Art Jones. Risk-adjusted key indicators that the model improves care and reduces costs include:

$81 million cost savings over 5 years.

cost savings over 5 years. 36% decrease in inpatient hospital days per 1,000 patient years.

27% decrease in admissions per 1,000 patient years.

12% drop in readmissions.

47% increase in follow-up with patients after an emergency room visit.

10% increase in visits to a primary care physician.

For the Chicago Medicaid population, MHN has developed an evidence-based health risk assessment (HRA) tool that reveals social determinants of health predictive of future hospital utilization and cost. Newly assigned members are screened within 60 days of enrollment. MHN's HRA completion rate is 89%, Jones said, far outpacing that achieved by health plans who centralize care management internally.

That information is combined with several other data sources and then analyzed using artificial intelligence to identify members who are most likely to benefit from intensive care management. The care plans give primary care doctors a clear view of patients' immediate and long-term needs.

Now MHN is ready to help North Carolina CHCs achieve successful outcomes.

"We're thrilled to expand our mission outside Chicago," said MHN President and CEO Cheryl Lulias. "The success we've seen and the lessons we've learned are replicable and can help primary care associations in other states meet their goals surrounding care transformation for the Medicaid population."

Care Coordinators, Care Managers Put Families First

Managed care reform integrates physical health, behavioral health and pharmaceutical services under one plan. MHN is helping the North Carolina collaborative set up policies and procedures, train staff and negotiate contracts with insurers to prepare for the launch of the NC Medicaid Standard Plan.

After sharing, modifying and teaching its managed care protocols, MHN will stay on for 18 months after the July launch to mentor care teams. The tools, approaches and training are based on the Chicago model, but tailored to North Carolina needs. MHN leaders will work together with the FQHCs to determine how to best improve outcomes for health plan members.

For some patients, the new system will be their first medical home experience. Patients under the MHN model build face-to-face relationships with a professional who is coordinating their care, identifying and respecting the wishes of patients and their families.

Care coordinators, people from patients' communities hired and trained to help bridge language and cultural gaps, connect health plan members to resources available under their Medicaid coverage. Care management teams collaborate with specialists, behavioral health providers and hospitals to share the care plan, avoid duplication of services, reduce medical errors and improve the patient experience.

In addition to simplifying care and avoiding duplication, North Carolina's managed care reform will give clinicians incentives to focus on preventive care and find creative solutions for engaging low-income patients in their long-term care plan.

About Medical Home Network

Medical Home Network is dedicated to transforming care and building healthier communities by enhancing care coordination and quality, improving access and reducing fragmentation and cost. MHN starts by building partnerships in the community to connect people with the care and support they need from comprehensive primary care to community-based organizations. MHN care teams build trusted relationships with patients and coordinate care with a focus on whole person health. The MHN model of care is powered by technology that connects different healthcare entities and enhances collaboration. This approach is improving outcomes, lowering costs and reducing health disparities. Learn more about their mission at medicalhomenetwork.org and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/medical-home-network.

Media Contact:

Christina Coons

Purpose Brand

[email protected]

SOURCE: Medical Home Network

SOURCE Medical Home Network

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At Pitch Day, co-founders Rogelio Caceres and Yuri Lau explained the company's mission, which is to connect Bitcoin investors with global mobility assets  including second passports, "golden visas" and foreign residency permits such as digital nomad visas that enable sovereign individuals unfettered access and settlement rights around the world.

"Citizens of Bitcoin was honored to participate in Bitcoin 2021, right here in Miami, our hometown and 'the Capital of Capital,'" said Caceres, who serves as CEO. "Global mobility assets accelerate Bitcoin adoption by removing unnecessary restrictions on the movement of human capital."

The judging panel included billionaire Bitcoin investor Tim Draper and Kevin O'Leary of "Shark Tank." The winners were 24 Exchange, a multi-asset class trading platform, and Satoshi's Games, a video game developer.

The target audience of Citizens of Bitcoin are people who embrace a location-independent, technology-enabled lifestyle that allows them to travel and work remotely anywhere in the internet-connected world. They want less burdensome taxation, the freedom of movement and to immerse themselves in a Bitcoin world. They unveiled the Satoshi Experience and the Nakamoto Expedition, fully immersive year-long programs enabling digital nomads to live and work in the best Bitcoin-friendly destinations, including Miami.

From behind the company booth and at private events, Citizens of Bitcoin representatives met with more than 500 attendees at Bitcoin 2021, which took place June 4 and 5.

Citizens of Bitcoin is the first network launched by the Global Residency & Citizenship Group (Global RCG), a Miami-based investment advisory firm building the world's first global mobility assets platform.

The tech startup's launch coincides with a national wanderlust to travel internationally and rediscover the world. As Americans invest in Bitcoin, global mobility assets will greatly enhance the achievement of their globally oriented, decentralized interests. For them, there is Citizens of Bitcoin: Where Plan B becomes Plan A.

Media Contact:

Rogelio Caceres

(786) 373-7988

[email protected]

SOURCE Global RCG

Related Links

https://globalrcg.com


TSX andOTCQX: MPVD

TORONTO and NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. ("Mountain Province", the "Company") (TSX: MPVD) (OTCQX: MPVD) today announces the results of its second quarter diamond sales and the Company's upside share of profits from the Diamond Sales Agreement with Dunebridge dated June 11, 2020. All figures are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted

The Company is pleased to report the completion of its sales for the quarter, with 718,549 carats sold for total proceeds of $64.5 million (US$52.6 million), resulting in an average value of $90 per carat (US$73 per carat). This Q2/21 sales result represents a 3% increase in US$ terms relative to the 603,000 carats sold for C$ 54.2 million (US$42.7 million) in Q1/21 at (US$71 per carat). The mix of diamonds sold varied across the quarters and on a direct comparison basis, second quarter market prices are approximately 18% higher than those achieved in the first quarter.

Demand in the rough diamond market is robust, supported by polished diamond price increases and buoyant jewelry retail sales in the US and China. At our most recent sale held over the past two weeks in Antwerp, Belgium, the Company saw high demand and increased customer interest across all rough diamond categories.

In addition to the Company's sales, in Q2/21 Dunebridge also completed the sale of all diamonds purchased from the Company in 2020 (see news release dated June 11, 2020 for details on the agreement). After fees and expenses the Company received C$10.4 million (C$7/carat) this week being its total share of the value uplift. The Company believes this further confirms the growing demand and pricing trends in the natural rough diamond market.

The improved cash in-flow from Dunebridge has resulted in the Company reducing the planned US$10M draw on the final tranche of the Dunebridge term facility (see news release dated May 12, 2021), down to US$8M. The lower draw on the second tranche will result in lower fees as well as a lower interest expense.

Mountain Province President and CEO Stuart Brown commented:

"This is an excellent result for the Company. Producers are reporting strong demand and higher diamond prices at their sales which we have also seen with our latest offering. This is additionally supported by the results from the Dunebridge sales. We remain optimistic that as the global economy continues to recover that the current positive pricing and demand momentum throughout the diamond industry will continue and translate into improved margins for the Company."

About the Company

Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canada's Northwest Territories. The Gahcho Kue Joint Venture property consists of several kimberlites that are actively being mined, developed, and explored for future development. The Company also controls 106,202 hectares of highly prospective mineral claims and leases that surround the Gahcho Kue Joint Venture property that include an indicated mineral resource for the Kelvin kimberlite and inferred mineral resources for the Faraday kimberlites.

For further information on Mountain Province Diamonds and to receive news releases by email, visit the Company's website at www.mountainprovince.com.

Qualified Person

The disclosure in this news release of scientific and technical information regarding Mountain Province's mineral properties has been reviewed and approved by Matthew MacPhail, P.Eng., MBA, and Tom E. McCandless, Ph.D., P.Geo., both employees of Mountain Province Diamonds and Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian and United States securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to operational hazards, including possible disruption due to pandemic such as COVID-19, its impact on travel, self-isolation protocols and business and operations, estimated production and mine life of the project of Mountain Province; the realization of mineral reserve estimates; the timing and amount of estimated future production; costs of production; the future price of diamonds; the estimation of mineral reserves and resources; the ability to manage debt; capital expenditures; the ability to obtain permits for operations; liquidity; tax rates; and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except for statements of historical fact relating to Mountain Province, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates," "may," "can," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "targets," "intends," "likely," "will," "should," "to be", "potential" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "should" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Mountain Province and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.

Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward-looking statements include the development of operation hazards which could arise in relation to COVID-19, including, but not limited to protocols which may be adopted to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and any impact of such protocols on Mountain Province's business and operations, variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in market conditions, changes in project parameters, mine sequencing; production rates; cash flow; risks relating to the availability and timeliness of permitting and governmental approvals; supply of, and demand for, diamonds; fluctuating commodity prices and currency exchange rates, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated.

These factors are discussed in greater detail in Mountain Province's most recent Annual Information Form and in the most recent MD&A filed on SEDAR, which also provide additional general assumptions in connection with these statements. Mountain Province cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on forward-looking statements should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. Mountain Province believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release.

Although Mountain Province 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 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. Mountain Province undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Statements concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered as the property is developed.

Further, Mountain Province may make changes to its business plans that could affect its results. The principal assets of Mountain Province are administered pursuant to a joint venture under which Mountain Province is not the operator. Mountain Province is exposed to actions taken or omissions made by the operator within its prerogative and/or determinations made by the joint venture under its terms. Such actions or omissions may impact the future performance of Mountain Province. Under its current note and revolving credit facilities Mountain Province is subject to certain limitations on its ability to pay dividends on common stock. The declaration of dividends is at the discretion of Mountain Province's Board of Directors, subject to the limitations under the Company's debt facilities, and will depend on Mountain Province's financial results, cash requirements, future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board

SOURCE Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mountainprovince.com


WASHINGTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As NASA continues plans for multiple commercial deliveries to the Moon's surface per year, the agency has selected three new scientific investigation payload suites to advance understanding of Earth's nearest neighbor. Two of the payload suites will land on the far side of the Moon, a first for NASA. All three investigations will receive rides to the lunar surface as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative, part of the agency's Artemis approach.

The payloads mark the agency's first selections from its Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) call for proposals.

"These selections add to our robust pipeline of science payloads and investigations to be delivered to the Moon through CLPS," said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "With each new PRISM selection, we will build on our capabilities to enable bigger and better science and prove technology which will help pave the way for returning astronauts to the Moon through Artemis."

Lunar Vertex, one of the three selections, is a joint lander and rover payload suite slated for delivery to Reiner Gamma  one of the most distinctive and enigmatic natural features on the Moon, known as a lunar swirl. Scientists don't fully understand what lunar swirls are or how they form, but they know they are closely related to anomalies associated with the Moon's magnetic field. The Lunar Vertex rover will make detailed surface measurements of the Moon's magnetic field using an onboard magnetometer. Lunar surface magnetic field data the rover collects will enhance data the spacecraft collects in orbit around the Moon and help scientists better understand how these mysterious lunar swirls form and evolve, as well as provide further insight into the Moon's interior and core. Dr. David Blewett of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory leads this payload suite.

NASA also has selected two separate payload suites for delivery in tandem to Schrodinger basin, which is a large impact crater on the far side of the Moon near the lunar South Pole. The Farside Seismic Suite (FSS), one of the two payloads to be delivered to Schrodinger basin, will carry two seismometers: the vertical Very Broadband seismometer and the Short Period sensor. NASA measured seismic activity on the near side of the Moon as part of the Apollo program, but FSS will return the agency's first seismic data from the far side of the Moona potential future destination for Artemis astronauts. This new data could help scientists better understand tectonic activity on the far side of the Moon, reveal how often the lunar far side is impacted by small meteorites, and provide new constraints on the internal structure of the Moon. FSS will continue taking data for several months on the lunar surface beyond the lifetime of the lander. To survive the two-week long lunar nights, the FSS package will be self-sufficient with independent power, communications, and thermal control. Dr. Mark Panning of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California leads this payload suite.

The Lunar Interior Temperature and Materials Suite (LITMS), the other payload headed to Schrodinger basin, is a suite of two instruments: the Lunar Instrumentation for Thermal Exploration with Rapidity pneumatic drill and the Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder. This payload suite will investigate the heat flow and electrical conductivity of the lunar interior in Schrodinger basin, giving an in-depth look at the Moon's internal mechanical and heat flow. LITMS data also will complement seismic data acquired by the FSS to provide a more complete picture of the near- and deep-subsurface of the far side of the Moon. Dr. Robert Grimm of the Southwest Research Institute leads this payload suite.

While these selections are final, negotiations are continuing for each award amount.

"These investigations demonstrate the power of CLPS to deliver big science in small packages, providing access to the lunar surface to address high priority science goals for the Moon," said Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division. "When scientists analyze these new data alongside lunar samples returned from Apollo and data from our many orbital missions, they will advance our knowledge of the lunar surface and interior, and increase our understanding of crucial phenomenon such as space weathering to inform future crewed missions to the Moon and beyond."

With these selections in place, NASA will work with the CLPS office at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston to issue task orders to deliver these payload suites to the Moon in the 2024 timeframe.

For these payload suites, the agency also has selected two project scientists to coordinate science activities including selecting landing sites, developing concepts of operations, and archiving science data acquired during surface operations. Dr. Heidi Haviland of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will coordinate the suite slated for delivery to Reiner Gamma, and Dr. Brent Garry of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will coordinate payload deliveries to Schrodinger basin.

CLPS is a key part of NASA's Artemis lunar exploration efforts. The science and technology payloads sent to the Moon's surface as part of CLPS, will help lay the foundation for human missions and a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface. The agency has made six task order awards to CLPS providers for lunar deliveries between late 2021-2023, with more delivery awards expected at least through 2028.

For more information, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/clps

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


National Grid Renewables contracted with Michigan-based Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor J. Ranck Electric, Inc. to construct the projects, and during peak construction MiSolar employed approximately 160 workers, 95% of which were recruited from communities within 100 miles of each site. Additional MiSolar job and economic benefits resulted from utilizing Michigan-based subcontractors, including The Hydaker-Wheatlake Company, based out of Reed City, Michigan.

"As a Michigan-based company, The Hydaker-Wheatlake Company was proud to help construct the MiSolar Portfolio," stated Neil Wallerstrom, General Foreman, The Hydaker-Wheatlake Company. "Solar projects like the MiSolar Portfolio provide economic benefits for Michigan residents at the local and state level. Throughout the construction process of both project substations, we were able to hire Michigan residents and were pleased to support local hardware stores, hotels, and restaurants."

Now operational, three full-time operations and maintenance staff work at the MiSolar project sites. During the first 20 years of operation, MiSolar is projected to further benefit the community through the creation of approximately $6 million in new tax revenue, based on current Michigan law. Throughout that same time period, using the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, the combined projects are estimated to offset carbon dioxide emissions by over 50,000 metric tons annually.

"Our company has a long history in Michigan, and we are proud to support the state and local economies through the creation of new tax revenue and jobs that result from these projects," stated David Reamer, Head of Development, US Onshore Renewables for National Grid Renewables. "Thank you to the residents of Clinton and Monroe Counties for welcoming us into your communities."

"In support of the company's triple bottom line strategy to serve the People, Planet and Prosperity in Michigan, Consumers Energy has committed to achieve a net-zero carbon energy future," said Tim Sparks, Vice President of Electric Grid Integration at Consumers Energy. "Projects like these National Grid Renewables' solar projects will produce clean, renewable energy and will help us realize our Clean Energy Plan. It is exciting to have two of their large-scale projects online, and we thank National Grid Renewables for their shared clean energy vision."

About National Grid Renewables

National Grid Renewables, part of the competitive, unregulated National Grid Ventures division of National Grid (NYSE: NGG), develops, owns and operates large-scale renewable energy assets across the United States, including solar, wind and battery storage. As a farmer-friendly and community-focused business, National Grid Renewables develops projects for corporations and utilities that seek to repower America's electricity grid by reigniting local economies and reinvesting in a sustainable, clean energy future.

National Grid Renewables has a robust development pipeline of wind, solar and battery storage projects in various stages of development throughout the United States, as well as geographically diverse operational assets across the country. It supports National Grid's vision of being at the heart of a clean, fair, and affordable energy future for all. To learn more about National Grid Renewables, visit www.nationalgridrenewables.com or follow the company on Twitter or LinkedIn.

About Consumers Energy

Consumers Energy, Michigan's largest energy provider, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

Contact:

Lindsay T. Smith

Director, Marketing & Communications

National Grid Renewables

[email protected]

Media Relations: 612-429-7050

SOURCE National Grid Renewables
Alleged murderer of Sochi bailiffs put in detention

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

13:42 10/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 10 (RAPSI)  The Central District Court of Sochi on Thursday placed a local resident charged accused of killing two court bailiffs in detention, the Investigative Committees press service reports.

The man stands charged with infringement on life of persons executing justice and attempted murder of two and more people.

According to investigators, on June 9, two bailiffs came to the defendant in order to execute a judgment on the demolition of unwarranted construction. The 60-year owner of the buildings demanded that the bailiffs left his territory and shot them and a man involved in demolition at least three times. As a result, the bailiffs received gunshot wounds and died on the scene. The third victims survived and received medical assistance.




WASHINGTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) announced the winners of the 2021 Military Foodservice Awards virtually during a Facebook Live event on Wednesday, June 9. The event, hosted annually by the NRAEF, is part of the Foundation's commitment to support members of the military, military spouses and veterans with training opportunities to hone their skills, and provide pathways to meaningful jobs and careers in the restaurant industry.

The winning teams were congratulated by Tom Bene, President and CEO of the National Restaurant Association and CEO of the NRAEF; Rob Gifford, President of the NRAEF; and Brett Ladd, CEO of Sodexo Universities and Government.

"We are thrilled to celebrate this year's best of the best in military foodservice," said Rob Gifford, president of the NRAEF. "For more than 65 years, the National Restaurant Association and NRAEF have recognized excellence in military foodservice to mark these momentous accomplishments. Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you to each of our industry sponsons for their support in honoring our military foodservice professionals."

Typically, representatives from the National Restaurant Association and NRAEF team up with senior military personnel and travel to installations around the globe to evaluate military foodservice operations. Due to COVID-19, the 2021 evaluations took place virtually, with volunteer evaluators spending time at night, early in the morning, and on weekends to conduct evaluations and select the best military foodservice operations for the awards.

Watch the full awards program on Facebook Live here.

The 2021 Military Foodservice Award winners:

Winners of The Philip A. Connelly Awards, honoring the Army:

Best Active Army Garrison

Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 10th Group Support Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, Airborne

Fort Carson, CO

Company Commander: Captain Notarianni

Best Active Army Field Kitchen

Headquarters & Headquarters Company, Group Support Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group Airborne

Eglin Air Force Base, FL

Company Commander: Captain Zaldivar

Best Army Reserve Field Kitchen

Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 368th Engineer Battalion, 302nd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade

Londonberry, NH

Company Commander: Captain Lapenna

Best Army National Guard Field Kitchen

Delta Company, 634th Brigade Support Battalion

33rd IBCT, IL

Company Commander: 1st Lieutenant (LT) Kamys

Winners of the Major General W.P.T. Hill Memorial Awards, honoring the Marine Corps:

Active-Duty Staff Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year

Gunnery Sergeant Jonathan A. Denhem

II Marine Expeditionary Force, 2nd Marine Division

Camp Lejeune, NC

Deputy Commander: Colonel Todd W. Ferry

Active-Duty Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year

Sergeant Gabriel C. Justice

I Marine Expeditionary Force, 13th Marine Expeditionary Force Unit

Camp Pendleton, CA

Commanding Officer: Colonel Andrew T. Priddy

Reserve Non Commissioned Officer of the Year

Sergeant Mouhammed Cisse

4th Marine Logistics Group, Combat Regiment 45

Marietta, GA

Commanding Officer: Michael C. Varicak

Winners of the Captain Edwards F. Ney Memorial Awards, honoring the Navy:

Best Aircraft Carrier

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower

Norfolk, VA

Commanding Officer: Captain Paul Campagna

Best Small/Medium Afloat

USS McFaul

Norfolk, VA

Commanding Officer: Commander Bobby Rowden

Best Large Afloat

USS Iwo Kima

Mayport, FL

Commanding Officer: Captain David Loo

Best East Coast Ashore

Gator Inn, Joint Expeditionary Base

Little Creek, VA

Commanding Officer: Captain Michael L. Witherspoon

Best West Coast Ashore

Trident Inn, Naval Base Kitsap

Kitsap, WA

Commanding Officer: Captain Richard G. Rhinehart

Best OCONUS - Outside the Contiguous U.S Ashore

Ristorante Bella Etna, Naval Air Station Sigonella

Sigonella, Italy

Commanding Officer: Captain Kevin Pickard Jr.

Best Submarine

USS Jimmy Carter

Kitsap, WA

Commanding Officer: Commander Brian Elkowitz

Winners of the John L. Hennessey Awards, honoring the Air Force:

Region One Winner

96th Force Support Squadron

Eglin AFB

Fort Walden Beach, FL

Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Hilary Hedberg

Region Two Winner

374th Force Support Squadron

Yokota Air Base

Fussa, Japan

Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Chang

USAFE Small Site Winner

702nd Munitions Support Squadron

Buechel Air Base

Buechel, Germany

Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Brent McCraney

AFGSC Best Missile Feeding Operation

5th Bomb Wing

Minot Air Force Base

Minot, ND

Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Michael Weeks

Air Force Reserve Winner

512th Memorial Affairs Squadron

Dover Air Force Base

Dover, DE

Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Elenah Kelly

Senior Master Sergeant Kenneth W. Disney Food Service Award Winner

179th Sustainment Services Flight

Mansfield, OH

Commander: Major Maegan Sutton

Winners of the Forrest O. Rednour Memorial Award, honoring the United States Coast Guard:





Best Large Afloat Dining Facility

USCGC Harriet Lane

Portsmouth, VA

Commander: Benjamin F. Goff Jr.

Best Large Ashore Dining Facility

Coast Guard Base Los Angeles/ Long Beach

San Pedro, CA

Commander: William "Brian" Winburn

Best Medium Afloat Dining Facility

USCGC Resolute

St. Petersburg, FL

Commander: Justin Vandel

Best Medium Ashore Dining Facility

Coast Guard Sector Northern New England

South Portland, ME

Commander: Mark R. Neeland

Best Small Afloat Dining Facility

USCGC Sockeye

Bodega Bay, CA

Master Chief: R. Shane Hooker

Best Small Ashore Dining Facility

Coast Guard Station Burlington

Burlington, VT

Senior Chief: Charles Northcott

Winners of the Captain David M. Cook Foodservice Excellence Awards, honoring the Military Sealift Command:

Best Foodservice Operation Small Ship

USNS COMFORT (T-AH 20)

Norfolk, VA

Captain, USMM: Andrew Lindey

Best Foodservice Operation Medium Ship

USNS YUKON (T-AO 202)

San Diego, CA

Captain, USMM: Euceif C. Balafas

Best Foodservice Operation Large Ship

USNS RICHARD E. BYRD (T-AKE 4)

San Diego, CA

Captain, USMM: Lee A. Apsley

Best Foodservice Operation Hybrid Ship

FRANK CABLE (AS-40)

Guam

Captain, U.S. Navy and Captain, USMM: Albert Alaron and Dale P. Cramer

The 2021 Military Foodservice Awards were sponsored Sodexo, Ecolab, Brinker International, HMSHost Foundation, Aramark, Sysco Corporation, Computrition, Whataburger Restaurants, BJ's Restaurant, Seaboard Foods, and Kitchens to Go.

In addition to recognizing foodservice excellence within the armed forces, the NRAEF provides military foodservice training on established industry standards of restaurant management and culinary training, connects transitioning military to apprenticeship opportunities, supports military spouses and provides scholarship opportunities.

Visit ChooseRestaurants.org to learn how to get involved with the NRAEF and its work to empower people from all backgrounds with the training and education they need to secure a better future.

About the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation  NRAEF

The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's mission of service to the public is dedicated to enhancing the industry's training and education, career development and community engagement efforts. The NRAEF and its programs work to Attract, Empower and Advance today's and tomorrow's restaurant and foodservice workforce.

NRAEF programs include: ProStart  a high-school career and technical education program; Restaurant Ready  partnering with community-based organizations to provide opportunity youth and justice-involved individuals with skills training and job opportunities; Military  helping military servicemen and women transition their skills to restaurant and foodservice careers; Scholarships  financial assistance for students pursuing restaurant, foodservice and hospitality degrees; and the Hospitality Sector Registered Apprenticeship project  a partnership with the American Hotel & Lodging Association providing a hospitality apprenticeship program for the industry. To learn more about the NRAEF and its work, visit ChooseRestaurants.org.

SOURCE National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation

Related Links

http://www.nraef.org


The new 2022-2023 itineraries include 15 distinct 10- to 21-day Antarctic and Amazon expeditions, with extended voyage options available up to 30 days in length. All Extraordinary Expeditions will feature a variety of opportunities for travelers to discover diverse wildlife and breathtaking landscapes, and learn about natural wonders, fascinating history, and enduring cultures and traditions.

"Seabourn Venture is the first-ever full luxury, purpose-built expedition ship," said Josh Leibowitz, president of Seabourn. "We are looking forward to returning to South America in 2022 and 2023."

Seabourn expedition itineraries come alive through a world-class expedition team of 26 highly regarded wilderness experts, scientists, historians and naturalists on board. These fascinating, accomplished experts are also part of the Seabourn Conversations program, providing in-depth insights into the history, ecology and culture of the places they visit.

Highlights from Seabourn Venture's itineraries from late fall 2022 into spring 2023 include:

Chilean Fjords, Antarctica, South Georgia & Falkland Islands

Between November 2022 and February 2023, Seabourn Venture will invite travelers on adventures of discovery cruising scenic sounds, fjords, channels and glaciers in Chile, sailing to Antarctica, and crossing back to explore South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. The ship will sail on nine voyages, ranging from 10 to 21 days, to "The Great White Continent" that will include multiple daily operations using the Zodiacs for landings and Zodiac cruises along the Antarctic Peninsula. Optional excursions will also be available, such as kayaking and the ship's submarines, allowing guests to explore the vast frontier below sea level. Guests can look forward to viewing myriad species of penguins, seals and whales; visiting sites of historical and geological interest; gaining firsthand insights into regional scientific research; and enjoying scenic cruising of spectacular waterways and passages.

Two of the Antarctic voyages will also include visits to South Georgia, one of the most far-flung destinations on Earth teeming with massive populations of penguins, fur seals, elephant seals and seabirds. Each of these voyages will also visit the Falkland Islands, located about 400 miles off the southeast coast of South America. Based on the day's weather and most favorable anchorage positions, Seabourn Venture may call at: Saunders Island, the site of Port Egmont, established in 1765 as the first British settlement in the Falklands; Steeple Jason Island, a protected nature reserve highly prized for its exceptional abundance of wildlife, including the world's largest colony of black-browed albatrosses; West Point Island, where guests can meet the Napiers, the island's only occupants and visit rockhopper penguins; and New Island, one of the most remote of the inhabited islands, which lies on the western fringe of the archipelago and supports some of the largest concentrations and diversity of wildlife in the Falklands.

Brazil & The Amazon

In March and April 2023, Seabourn Venture will embark on a series of four 10- to 12-day expedition voyages in Brazil and the Amazon. The ship will visit many colorful colonial cities on the coast of Brazil and sail into the heart of South America through one of the world's greatest rivers, where guests can cruise in Zodiacs along the Amazon River and visit ancient sites and indigenous villages. The voyages will explore a variety of environments shaped by the mighty river itself, cutting through three major regions: Flooded Forests and Blackwater Tributaries  Manaus, Brazil to Rio Jutai; The Frontier Amazon  Rio Jutai to Leticia, Colombia; and The Seaport in the Jungle  Leticia to Iquitos, Peru. Guests may also book back-to-back cruises for a longer and more immersive voyage lasting up to 22 days.

Adventures await

Featuring 132 oceanfront suites each, Seabourn Venture and its sister ship are being designed from conception for expedition travel blended with ultra-luxury and personalized service by a world-class team of professionals with great depth of experience in expeditions, hospitality and luxury cruising. Hospitality design icon Adam D. Tihany is fashioning the indoor and outdoor guest areas for the ships.

Both ships will be designed and built for diverse environments to PC6 Polar Class standards and will include a plethora of modern hardware and technology that will extend the ships' global deployment and capabilities. Two custom-built submarines will be carried on board, in addition to expedition kayaks and 24 Zodiacs that can accommodate all onboard guests at once.

A selection of renderings is available to download here. For full itineraries, fares and additional details of Seabourn Venture's Antarctic and Amazon season, please visit www.seabournexpeditions.com.

Seabourn represents the pinnacle of ultra-luxury travel. Our all-inclusive, boutique ships offer: all-suite accommodations with oceanfront views; award-winning dining; complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available at all times; renowned service provided by an industry-leading crew; a relaxed, sociable atmosphere that makes guests feel at home; a pedigree in expedition travel developed through its Ventures by Seabourn program and two new ultra-luxury purpose-built expedition ships coming in 2021 and 2022. Seabourn takes travelers to every continent on the globe with more than 400 ports, including marquee cities and lesser-known ports and hideaways. The line is also the official cruise partner of UNESCO World Heritage.

For reservations or more details, please contact a professional travel advisor; call Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com. A dedicated shore excursion call center is available for guests at 1-800-984-3225.

About Seabourn:

Ultra-luxury Seabourn currently operates a fleet of five modern ships with two under construction and is a proud member of World's Leading Cruise Lines. The exclusive alliance also includes Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, Costa Cruises, AIDA, P&O Cruises UK, and P&O Cruises Australia. Seabourn is a brand of Carnival Corporation and plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL andNYSE: CUK). Seabourn is the official cruise partner of UNESCO World Heritage under a multi-year agreement to help promote sustainable tourism at World Heritage sites around the world. Our highest responsibility and top priorities are compliance, environmental protection and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, team members, and the people and communities our ships visit.

Find Seabourn on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.

Notes to Editors:

Seabourn is consistently ranked among the world's top travel choices by professional critics and the discerning readers of prestigious travel publications such as Departures, Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler. Its stylish, distinctive expedition cruising vacations are known for:

Purpose-built expedition ships, PC6 ice-strengthened hull, with advanced maneuvering technology for superior stability, safety and comfort

World-class Expedition Team, delivering immersive experiences

All veranda, all ocean-front suites luxuriously appointed

Handcrafted itineraries developed for the expedition traveler to the most coveted and familiar remote destinations in the world

Intimate ships with a private club atmosphere

Intuitive, personalized service provided by staff passionate about exceeding guests expectations

Inclusive expedition experiences with Zodiacs, scuba diving and snorkeling

Optional expedition experiences with kayaks and custom-built, 6-guest submarines giving the option to extend your expedition further for greater ocean exploration**

Welcome Champagne and complimentary in-suite bar stocked with your preferences

Open bridge policy*, hosted by members of the Expedition Team providing firsthand access to the ship's command center and officers navigating your journey

World-class dining venues are all complimentary, dine where, when and with whom you wish

Tipping is neither required, nor expected

Complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available on board at all times

Meticulous and purposeful adventurers' resort at sea designed for the luxury traveler with unique attributes and spaces to enhance your experience

Spa & Wellness with Dr. Andrew Weil , featuring an exclusive mindful living program**

, featuring an exclusive mindful living program** Committed to environmental stewardship and sustainability

*At the Captain's discretion

** Optional programs, for additional charge

Click-to-Tweet: [email protected] reveals new 'Extraordinary Expeditions' itineraries aboard the fleet's first purpose-built expedition ship, #SeabournVenture, in destinations including #Antarctica, the #Amazon, and beyond. Make your plans today: www.seabournexpeditions.com

SOURCE Seabourn

Related Links

www.seabourn.com


BOSTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the United States' vaccination rollout gains momentum, millions of American workers are expected to return to their office desks once again this summer . But for many of them, workplace safety remains a big concern.

Results of a national online survey, conducted by edtech firm MindEdge Learning, show that 59% of those who have not yet returned to the workplace are concerned they will be required to come back before it is safe to do so. MindEdge's second annual survey on remote work, The State of Remote Work 2021 : The Age of the Hybrid Workplace , found that concerns about workplace safety are most pronounced in the Technology (78%) and Healthcare (67%) sectors.

At the same time, vaccine mandates appear to be finding favor among many businesses. A full 40% of survey respondents have been told that they must be vaccinated in order to return to work, while only 14% have been told that vaccinations will not be required.

Another 47% have not heard one way or the other about a vaccination requirement. Within this group, expectations are mixed: 36% expect vaccinations to be required; 34% do not think they will be required; and 30% are unsure.

Hybrid work model inspires FOMO, productivity concerns

Many companies are also embracing the hybrid work model, under which workers divide their work time between home and office. Just under half (49%) of survey respondents say their companies will institute a hybrid work schedule in 2021 and, on average, workers say they would like to spend 3.3 days per week in their office or place of work.

Only a quarter (24%) say they would like to work in their office or place of work all five days. Roughly the same number (27%) say they would like to spend only one or two days a week in the office.

"We're on the cusp of a new workforce culture where having everyone in the office at the same time will no longer be the norm," said Frank Connolly, director of research at MindEdge Learning. "Instead, most companies are creating a hybrid environment with a mix of remote and in-person workers. This will come with its own challenges, and companies will need to implement new processes for hiring, training, and maintaining culture."

In general, workers do not express strong reservations about adapting to the hybrid work model. When asked to choose from a pre-selected list of concerns about hybrid work arrangements, fully 37% say they have no concerns whatsoever. Of those who do express some concern, the top worries are missing out on camaraderie with colleagues (20%) and being less productive at work (17%).

Neither are workers greatly concerned that choosing to work remotely may cost them a chance at a raise or promotion. Only 33% of survey respondents say that workers who do not work remotely will do better, in terms of raises and promotions, than those who choose to work remotely. Two-of-five (42%) say it won't make a difference, and 15% think that remote workers will actually do better than those who don't work remotely.

Perhaps significantly, members of management are more likely (39%) to say that remote workers will come up short, in terms of raises and promotions.



Mixed reactions to the remote-work experience

A year into the nation's remote-work experiment, workers' reactions are decidedly mixed. Thirty-seven percent of survey respondents feel that remote work has had a negative effect on their mental health, while nearly a quarter (24%) of workers feel that working remotely has had a positive effect on their mental health. The most common activities for reducing stress while working remotely include going outside for a walk/fresh air (51%), catching up on movies and TV (35%), and taking breaks to spend time with family (33%)

Compared to the results of MindEdge's 2020 survey, State of Remote Work 2020: The Age of the Pandemic , respondents in this year's survey are somewhat more upbeat about the effect of remote work on their job situations. Just under two-of-five (37%) say that working remotely has made their jobs easier, up from 26% last year. One-of-four (24%) say that working remotely has made their jobs harder, down slightly from 30% in 2020. In both years, a substantial number of respondents said that working remotely had made their jobs easier and more difficult.

Among those who say that remote work has made their jobs easier, 66% cite increased flexibility, while 55% cite shorter commute times. Among those who say that remote work has made their jobs harder, 60% cite technological problems, while 56% cite the increased number of meetings and phone calls.

Hiring and certifications

In another sign that better times may be on the horizon, 55% of managers say their companies are now hiring  up from 37% in last year's survey. The current hiring outlook is rosiest in the Technology sector (60%), and least optimistic in the Manufacturing sector (45%).

Among managers whose companies are hiring, fully 80% say that certifications  exam-based credentials awarded by an industry-recognized authority, such as the Project Management Institute  add value to a job candidate's resume. Two-of-five (39%) say that certifications add a great deal of value. These figures are higher than we saw in last year's survey, when 72% of managers said certifications add value, and 28% said they add a great deal of value.

Training a remote workforce

Similar to what we saw in last year's survey, just over half (56%) of respondents say they have received remote-work training through their company. Among those who have not received such training, 41% say they would find it helpful.

In response to a separate question, 84% of managers say they would find it helpful to receive training in how to manage remote workers  including 56% who would find such training very helpful.

About the Methodology

MindEdge Learning's second annual remote work survey  The State of Remote Work 2021: The Age of the Hybrid Workplace  was conducted online during the week of April 19, 2021. The sample included 848 U.S. residents, who are 18+ and worked from home full or part-time currently or during the last year. The survey results have a margin of error of +/- 3.4%, at a 95% confidence level.

About MindEdge Learning

MindEdge's mission is to improve the way the world learns. Since its founding in 1988 by Harvard and MIT educators, the company has served some three million learners. With a focus on digital-first learning resources  from academic courseware to professional development courses  MindEdge's approach to best practices in online education focuses on learners' needs across the spectrum of higher education, professional development, skills training, and continuing education. MindEdge is based in Waltham, Mass. Find out more at https://www.mindedge.com/ .

Media Contact:

Inkhouse for MindEdge Learning

[email protected]

SOURCE MindEdge

Related Links

https://www.mindedge.com


HOUSTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NexTier Oilfield Solutions Inc. (NYSE: NEX) ("NexTier" or the "Company") today announced its latest achievement in providing low-cost, low-carbon solutions to the oil and gas industry. NexTier recently field tested the NOV Ideal eFrac pump with power sourced from multiple natural gas reciprocating engines. The Ideal eFrac Pump and natural gas reciprocating engines were deployed on a simul-frac operation in West Texas for a major operator and were fueled with customer-supplied field gas. The natural gas reciprocating engine will be the primary power source for the first NOV Ideal eFrac Fleet, which is expected to be deployed by NexTier and NOV in the first half of 2022.

The reciprocating engines supplied by Caterpillar Inc. can output 2.5 MW of power at 13.8 kV. Mounted on a standard trailer, this scalable power solution provides leading emissions reduction for a wellsite-based power source. Embedded in each unit is a control system that enables automatic load sharing across multiple engines. The reciprocating engines require minimal maintenance and are not hampered by emissions derating due to temperature and elevation. Field tests are ongoing and will be performed in multiple shale basins in the coming weeks.

"The NexTier team continues to set the bar for the future of low-cost, low-carbon solutions for the oil and gas industry," commented Robert Drummond, President and Chief Executive Officer of NexTier. "This latest achievement brings our team one step closer to the deployment of our first eFrac fleet. This power source provides a scalable, fit-for-purpose solution that can meet the mobility demands required in today's fast-paced well completions environment."

"Caterpillar is pleased to work with NexTier in providing mobile low-emission power sources for oil and gas well completions," said Rod Shurman, Vice President, Caterpillar Oil & Gas and Marine Division. "Our long history of providing low-carbon solutions to the mining, oil and gas, marine, and construction industries has enabled Caterpillar to help NexTier quickly deploy this best-in-class technology to power its eFrac pumps. We look forward to our continued collaboration with NexTier, including the ongoing development of power sources of the future."

About NexTier Oilfield Solutions

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, NexTier is an industry-leading U.S. land oilfield service company, with a diverse set of well completion and production services across the most active and demanding basins. Our integrated solutions approach delivers efficiency today, and our ongoing commitment to innovation helps our customers better address what is coming next. NexTier is differentiated through four points of distinction, including safety performance, efficiency, partnership and innovation. At NexTier, we believe in living our core values from the basin to the boardroom, and helping customers win by safely unlocking affordable, reliable and plentiful sources of energy.

Investor Contact:

Kenneth Pucheu

Executive Vice President - Chief Financial Officer

Marc Silverberg

Partner (ICR)

[email protected]

SOURCE NexTier Oilfield Solutions

Related Links

www.nextierofs.com


DETROIT, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) Awards announced on Tuesday that it has made $10,000 donations to four charities as part of its commitment to support youth education, veterans and people suffering from dementia.

In its second year providing charitable donations, NACTOY's jurors voted to donate a total of $10,000 each to the following charities:

Alzheimer's Association, which leads the way to end Alzheimer's and all forms of dementia.

Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America, which helps children realize their potential and build their future.

Gary Sinise Foundation, which honors America's defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need.

Indspire, a Canadian charity that helps give indigenous youth access to higher education.

Founded in 1994, NACTOY's car, truck and utility vehicle awards are the longest-running new-vehicle awards not associated with a single publication, website, radio or television station. They are judged by 50 highly experienced and respected professional automotive journalists from the United States and Canada who work for and contribute to a wide variety of magazines, newspapers, websites, television and radio stations.

"As our organization has evolved and its reach has grown, we have been able to expand our mission and purpose each year," said NACTOY president Gary Witzenburg. "As automotive journalists, we are privileged to drive, test and evaluate the finest new cars and trucks each year, and for the second consecutive year, we have been able to give something back with these charitable donations.

"This year, our American jurors voted to award $10,000 donations to three of the most worthy non-profits in the U.S. after narrowing the list of recipients down to five finalists, while our Canadian jurors voted unanimously to award $10,000 to Indspire," Witzenburg said.

The donations were made in partnership with the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA) with each organization providing $20,000 in funding.

"NACTOY has always supported the Detroit auto show by announcing its annual awards at our show," said DADA Executive Director Rod Alberts. "We value that partnership and are thrilled that we were able to help make these charitable donations possible once again this year."

NOTE: Spanish and French versions of this release will be available on NACTOY's website. For more information about NACTOY and its history: http://northamericancaroftheyear.org.

ABOUT NORTH AMERICAN CAR, TRUCK, AND UTILITY VEHICLE OF THE YEAR

The awards are intended to recognize the most outstanding new vehicles of the year. These vehicles are benchmarks in their segments based on factors including innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar. The organization gives out three awards. They are: "North American Car of the Year," "North American Truck of the Year," and the "North American Utility Vehicle of the Year." The awards are unique because they are given by an independent jury of automotive journalists from the United States and Canada instead of being given by a single publication, website, radio or television station.

SOURCE North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year Awards

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IRVING, Texas, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NorthStar Anesthesia, a leading provider of anesthesia care for patients across the country, has announced Randy Moore as its National Chief Anesthetist Officer.

Moore will join NorthStar Anesthesia after serving as the CEO of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) for the past four years. Moore brings extensive experience in leadership development in the field of anesthesia care and has a proven track record for building strong leadership teams at the local and executive levels, which will be invaluable as NorthStar expands its anesthesia services into new regions.

"NorthStar is committed to furthering its reputation as the destination employer for CRNAs and we are thrilled that Randy will be joining NorthStar to lead its CRNA services," said NorthStar Chief Executive Officer Adam Spiegel. "With Randy's extensive experience and expertise, he is uniquely positioned and qualified to understand and address the challenges that CRNAs face."

During his time as the AANA CEO, Moore led significant transformational changes for the organization including improving the organization's financial sustainability, increasing member engagement, improving member experience, and implementing new programs, products, and services for AANA members.

"The NorthStar team has established a world class model for providing excellent anesthesia care through its team-based approach and I'm excited to be joining the company at this pivotal moment in healthcare," Moore said. "I am looking forward to combining my clinical and healthcare management experience to support NorthStar in its mission to improve anesthesia care and better serve patients."





A member of the Illinois Association of Nurse Anesthetists, Moore previously served as the AANA treasurer and, before that, held several leadership roles at Passavant Hospital/Memorial Health System in central Illinois, including as the Director of Perioperative and Anesthesia Services and Director of Passavant Center for Pain Management.

While at Passavant, Moore was instrumental in expanding pain management services and the implementation of clinical quality initiatives, including one of the first Enhanced Recovery After Anesthesia (ERAS) programs in the Midwest.

A strong proponent of patient safety and clinical leadership, Moore has served on the Boards of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, Council on Surgical and Perioperative Safety, and the AANA.

In addition to Moore's clinical and healthcare management experience, Moore served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserve for over 22 years. Before retiring at the rank of Major, Moore served as an infantryman, combat medic, and as an active duty CRNA providing combat surgical care with the Forward Surgical Teams in Afghanistan.

NorthStar is a leader in the growing national trend of hospitals and medical centers externally sourcing certain medical practices to help them provide high-quality, efficient care while ensuring that patients continue to receive the best outcomes and care possible.





About NorthStar Anesthesia

NorthStar Anesthesia is a company of caregivers, founded by an anesthesiologist and a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). With more than 2,000 anesthesiologists and CRNAs under its banner, NorthStar partners with more than 170 hospitals and medical centers to deliver a more productive and efficient model of anesthesia care. Its "care team" approach focuses on the provision of high-quality care while measurably improving operating room performance. For more information, visit www.northstaranesthesia.com.

Contact:

Liz Squire

Trident DMG

[email protected]

413-668-6205

SOURCE NorthStar Anesthesia

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MCLEAN, Va., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The number of major healthcare record data breaches rose in 2020 for the fifth consecutive year, at an average cost of $7.1 million per breach -- the highest cost figure and the most targeted of the industries. In its new white paper, Onclave Networks, Inc., a global cybersecurity leader, highlights that trend and other data in urging hospitals, healthcare providers and insurers to adopt Zero Trust guidelines to secure their networks.

Onclave Networks, Inc.

In 2020, nearly 29 million patient healthcare and financial records were compromised by data breaches, about 92 percent resulting from cyberattacks. Healthcare data breaches of 500 or more records have more than doubled in five years -- from 270 breaches in 2015 to 642 in 2020.

A 2020 report from IBM's security group found those attacks in the Healthcare industry average cost of $7.1 million to be the highest of any industry sector, close to double the $3.86 million overall average. And the attacks have continued in 2021: In the last month, a cyberattack led two Florida hospitals to shut down their electronic health record systems, and 3.3 million patients from a Florida managed care network were notified their data had been illegally accessed.

"Looking at that data, it's easy to see why healthcare CIOs and CISOs and their staff on the front lines have sleepless nights," said Onclave Networks CEO Don Stroberg. "Digital transformation in healthcare continues to expand, and with it the rise in security issues and attack surface due to vulnerable devices and systems."

From operational technology like lighting control to medical equipment, to IoT devices like heart rate monitors, experts estimate the typical hospital has 85,000 or more devices. Most cannot be easily monitored for attacks or malware, creating a host of vulnerabilities, Onclave reports.

In addition, more hospitals now use remote patient monitoring and telehealth systems. That opens up hospitals to the vulnerabilities of home or clinic networks, generally with low levels of protection.

The solution, Stroberg said, is for healthcare organizations to adopt Zero Trust guidelines, as the federal government is doing under the recent Biden Administration Executive Order 14028.

The May 12 order calls for every government agency to "develop a plan to implement Zero Trust Architecture" as set forth by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The executive order cites NIST to define "Zero Trust Architecture" as a "coordinated cybersecurity and system management strategy based on an acknowledgement that threats exist both inside and outside traditional network boundaries."

"The Zero Trust security model eliminates implicit trust in any one element, node, or service and instead requires continuous verification of the operational picture via real-time information from multiple sources to determine access and other system responses," the order states. "The Zero Trust Architecture security model assumes that a breach is inevitable or has likely already occurred, so it constantly limits access to only what is needed and looks for anomalous or malicious activity."

"A Zero Trust model always assumes a breach," Stroberg said. "It changes the old saying of 'trust, but verify' to 'never trust, and always verify.'"

Onclave Networks' implementation of those principles goes further, to what the firm calls the "Zero Trust +" approach. Onclave's infrastructure-agnostic private network creates secured point-to-point communications aggregated into networks with their own root of trust. It provides automated management and continuous monitoring and the capability to isolate and contain threats.

The Onclave Zero Trust + network protects vulnerable endpoints by placing them in cryptographically separated groups. It greatly reduces the number of entry points for intrusion and completely eliminates the attack surface area of operational technology systems and connected devices (IoT).

For healthcare organizations, Onclave's Zero Trust + network reduces the number of vulnerable endpoints -- like heart monitors, ICU and lighting systems -- by separating those operational technology and IoT devices from the IT network, and treating every access request as unverified and requiring authorization, even if they come from within the network.

With the growth in data that healthcare systems are receiving, and the steady increase in attacks on that data, the responsibility to secure that data being exchanged across networks keeps growing.

"Breaches can cost both millions of dollars in direct and indirect losses, and cause incalculable damage to your patients' well being," Stroberg said. "Onclave's private network increases your infrastructure security, simplifies your management, lowers your costs, and more importantly can save lives of those who are dependent on these devices and systems."

About Onclave Networks, Inc.

Based in the Washington, D.C., area, Onclave Networks, Inc. is a global cybersecurity leader that specializes in securing operational technology (OT/IoT) through private networks. Onclave provides the first true Zero Trust secure communications platform that protects both legacy and new operational technologies from cyberattacks and other types of unauthorized access. Onclave makes trusted secure communications a standard for all by providing the fastest path to a more secure, simplified, and cost-effective alternative to today's solutions. For more information, visit onclavenetworks.com.

Media Contact



Alexis Quintal

[email protected]

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Onclave Networks, Inc.

SOURCE Onclave Networks, Inc.
MALMO, Sweden, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Panion , an all-in-one community management platform and mobile app, announced today a rebrand and transition into the B2B SaaS space. The company has shifted the entirety of its focus from a friendship-based app designed to help people integrate into new cities to an enterprise platform that helps community managers of large global networks build more privacy, empathy, and meaningful connection into their online communities.

"Community building is on the rise and community managers have for too long been juggling multiple tools in order to be able to manage the variety of different aspects of their communities," says Melanie Aronson, founder and CEO.

Using its existing matchmaking, geo-localization, and keyword-tagging technologies, Panion is building a powerful alternative to traditional online groups, like those facilitated through Facebook and Slack, which lack community engagement elements. Panion's platform facilitates event management, peer-to-peer communication and communal discussions, both U.S. and European friendly billing options, and will soon facilitate mentorship and buddy matchmaking programs, allow community managers to charge membership fees, and collect for paid events and knowledge-based content (courses). Panion has prioritized a mobile-first online community experience as increasingly more and more communities are born informally on Whatsapp and Telegram groups and they have recently released a beta version of their web platform.

"We all recognize that online groups are useful, but most of the time we use these groups for gathering knowledge or discussing a specific topic," says Aronson. "We are offering large associations and professional networks the ability to build thriving customized global communities that facilitate meaningful connection in which their members can feel a deeper sense of belonging and involvement in the community and the organization itself."

In-person communities are often centered around events and face-to-face peer interactions that better facilitate making friends and networking opportunities. Panion's platform mimics the various ways in which we socialize in real life by integrating member tagging, sorting and filtering, member-driven activities, and more opportunities for spontaneity into the online community experience.

Panion has interviewed over 250 community managers to learn more about their challenges and needs. Many are frustrated by social media platforms that don't offer a white label solution and existing SaaS platforms that don't accommodate the unique requirements of community management in an intuitive visually-engaging user interface. Panion's ongoing dialogue with these key stakeholders allows for invaluable customer feedback, testing, and strategizing with the company's most committed customers.

Since 2018, Panion has received $626K USD in angel investment from notable angels like David Helgason, Klaus Nyengaard, Sarah Drinkwater (Atomico Angel), Sune Alstrup Johansen, Alexey Levin, Scott Mackin, Fredrik Bendroth, Ulf Munkedal, Nordic Makers, &Grow Ventures, and Unconventional VC.

Klaus Nyengaard, Co-founder & CEO of LetsBuild and Former CEO of JUST EAT explains his reasoning for becoming one of the first to back Panion, "To create a community platform that solves the flaws of the current dominant platforms like Facebook is a really hard task. If someone can do it, then it is Melanie, with her unique background that enables her to mix both creative and analytical approaches - and driven by her passion to do good in this world."

ABOUT PANION:

Headquartered in Sweden, Panion is a global data-driven community management platform helping community managers build more privacy, empathy, and meaningful connection into online and offline communities. One of the only community management platforms of its kind in Europe, the company's mission is progressing the community experience into one that is more interactional rather than transactional. Learn more at www.panion.com .

MEDIA CONTACT:

Lauren Gill, MAG PR at 781-929-5620 or [email protected]

SOURCE Panion

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PetScreening , a first-of-its-kind screening platform that empowers property managers to outsource their pet risk assessment and assistance animal validation processes at no charge, today announced a $3 million Series A funding round. Grotech Ventures led the round with Camber Creek, Relevance Capital and Vesta Ventures as additional participating partners. The round marks Vesta's first investment in PetScreening. The other firms were part of PetScreening's Series Seed funding.

With the invested capital, PetScreening plans to grow its employee headcount 25%. The funding has already enabled the company to hire James Jenkins as associate legal counsel and Andrew Hartman as chief growth officer. Anticipating future growth, PetScreening recently moved into a new headquarters in downtown Mooresville, N.C. The Series A funding also will enable the company to enhance its current services, further the development of educational training and marketing content and add new functionality to its platform. This fundraise also occurs as PetScreening is beginning national partnership agreements with three of the five largest apartment management companies on the NMHC Top 50 list.

"Covid has placed an exclamation point on how important pets are to the rental experience," said Rich Ford, co-founder of Vesta Ventures. "PetScreening greatly enhances the relationship between resident and manager by providing professional processes and evaluation tools to create fair and value-add services. The significant traction to date and growth potential of Pet Screening made this investment extremely attractive to our venture fund."

Hartman joins PetScreening from Red Ventures, where he was a vice president and general manager, and will lead PetScreening's channel and partnership strategy. Jenkins graduated magna cum laude from Campbell University School of Law and is joining from PetScreening with experience in multiple roles at the North Carolina General Assembly and as a law clerk in the private sector.

Via the PetScreening platform, a rental applicant enters information about their pets into the only centralized pet-screening database to analyze rental housing-related risk. The platform weighs various pet-related factors, including a community's specific restrictions, such as breed, weight and age. This provides property owners with a streamlined process to comprehensively assess a specific pet and pet owner who wants to live at a rental property. Non-pet owning residents fill out a free profile to demonstrate they are aware of the community rules and will adhere to them should they acquire, foster or sit for a pet/animal during their stay. PetScreening also evaluates reasonable accommodation requests for service animals and support animals within the rental housing industry.

"We could not be more appreciative of the support provided by these four outstanding venture capital firms," said John Bradford, founder and CEO of PetScreening. "The pet population at apartment communities and rental properties continues to grow exponentially. To remain competitive, property managers must be pet friendly in order to attract residents, but they also have to manage the risk associated with accepting pets. This new funding will allow us to accelerate the development, sales and marketing of several new feature and functionality enhancements within our service offering for the benefit of both property managers and residents."

About PetScreening

PetScreening helps housing providers manage residents' pets and assistance animals for free while generating opportunities for pet-related revenue. The digital screening platform standardizes risk-assessment for household pets by providing a digital Pet Profile and FIDO Score for each pet screened. PetScreening streamlines the assistance animal accommodation request review process while following HUD guidelines, and it helps limit unauthorized pets. For more information, visit www.petscreening.com.

Media contact

Stephen Ursery

LinnellTaylor Marketing

303-682-3945

[email protected]

SOURCE PetScreening

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Interior Ministry investigators detained in developer Khudoyan's case freed from custody

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

12:59 10/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 10 (RAPSI)  The First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction has overturned a lower court decision to detain deputy chief of the Interior Ministrys Investigative Department Alexander Krakovsky and his colleagues Alexander Biryukov and Alexander Bryantsev charged with abuse of power when investigating the case of developer Albert Khudoyan.

The court of appeals overturned the decision of the Moscow City Court to extend the detention of the officers of May 24, 2021, lawyer Pavel Lapshov told RAPSI. According to the investigation, the defendants illegally assisted in the release of the owner of Optima Development construction company Albert Khudoyan charged with a 2-billion-ruble embezzlement (about $30 million) from detention and placing him under house arrest.

Moscows Koptevsky District Court is currently hearing the Khudoyan case where he stands charged with land theft. In October 2020, the court returned the case to prosecutors because of violations committed during the pretrial probe but the Moscow City Court later invalidated the ruling and ordered the first instance court to hear the case.

Investigators believe Khudoyan is the mastermind of an especially large fraud and former CEO of Aviasity company Sergey Konoplev is its perpetrator. The defendants stand charged with embezzling several land plots from Aviacity. Investigators have estimated damage allegedly caused at 2 billion rubles.

Khudoyan pleads not guilty and says the case against him is hostile takeover of his development company. Optima Development has been engaged in the construction of commercial and residential projects since 2007, the companys website reads.
Pharmaceutical Executive based rankings of the top 50 global biopharma leaders on companies' prescription drug sales. Tweet this

"With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in sight, the Pharmaceutical Executive Pharma 50 list demonstrates the top sales performers that played a part in combating the public health crisis the industry has been facing," said Mike Hennessy Jr., president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences, parent company of Pharmaceutical Executive. "Although the Pharma 50 has provided an intuitive look at the top 50 biopharma companies in the industry for more than 20 years, the companies recognized this year faced an even greater challenge because of the pandemic. Through treatment, research, outreach and education, they have performed at the highest level."

In addition to paying close attention to connected current trends, Pharmaceutical Executive based its rankings of the top 50 global biopharma leaders on the companies' full-year prescription drug sales in 2020. The list's data are provided in partnership with life sciences marketing intelligence firm Evaluate Ltd. Also included are data for sales of each company's top 3 best-selling products and their research and development (R&D) spending totals.

Roche, which generated $47.5 billion in prescription drug sales, ranks No. 1 for the second year in a row. Avastin remains the company's top-selling drug with $5.3 billion in 2020 revenue. Roche, which also repeated as biopharma's top R&D spender after investing $11.3 billion, has 19 compounds in Phase III of clinical trials or filed for approval.

Ranked second in prescription drug sales is Novartis, holding the No. 2 spot for the second year in a row and up 2.4% to $47.2 billion from the previous year. Rounding out the top 5 in the Pharma 50 are AbbVie, which jumped from eighth in 2020 to third; Johnson & Johnson with a 7.7% growth in prescription drug revenue, which brought it up two ranks to fourth; and Bristol Myers Squibb, which takes the fifth spot again with a 3% increase in prescription drug sales to $41.9 billion.

To view a complete list of the Pharma 50, click here.

About Pharmaceutical Executive

Pharmaceutical Executive is a multimedia platform that offers news, opinions, analysis, features and executive profiles. The magazine and its website serve as a forum for industry leaders to exchange opinions, experiences and insights about innovative business and marketing ideas, strategies and tactics. Pharmaceutical Executive is a brand of MJH Life Sciences , the largest privately held, independent, full-service medical media company in North America, dedicated to delivering trusted health care news across multiple channels.

Pharmaceutical Executive Media Contact

Alexandra Ventura, 609-716-7777

[email protected]

SOURCE Pharmaceutical Executive
WASHINGTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Prefect Technologies Inc., the global leader in dataflow automation, today announced $32M in Series B funding, led by Tiger Global with participation from new investor Bessemer Venture Partners, existing investor Positive Sum and others. Highlighting the massive growth opportunity and investor confidence in Prefect, the funding will be used to further innovate on the company's dataflow automation platform, build out its world-class team, and proactively execute its successful product-led growth strategy in support of its fast-growing community of users.

"Prefect has created and scaled the category of dataflow automation, allowing users and organizations alike to streamline their workflows and pipelines," said John Curtius, partner at Tiger Global Management. "Tiger Global is thrilled to provide the resources to help Prefect scale as they continue to grow their community and commercial business."

Prefect is solving a major problem for data engineers and data scientists, revolutionizing the way they manage their workflows and data pipelines. By providing an easy-to-deploy orchestration layer for today's modern data stack, Prefect reduces negative engineering and enables data professionals to effectively double their productivity. As a result, the company is experiencing exponential adoption with Prefect Cloud usage growing 130% per quarter since its public launch in February 2020 and recently surpassing its 200-millionth task processed.

"Our mission is to help data engineers and data scientists eliminate negative engineering by delivering a world-class orchestration tool for today's modern data stack," said Jeremiah Lowin, Founder & CEO of Prefect. "With this new round of financing, we are well-positioned to scale our open-source and commercial offerings to better serve our users and innovate our platform for years to come."

Prefect combines the convenience of the cloud with the security of on-prem to meet the needs of companies looking to quickly deploy, monitor and manage their workflows. Since the company's inception, Prefect has helped companies from every industry, including financial services, healthcare, technology, insurance, higher-education, and more, recognize the direct bottom line benefits of being able to quickly deploy, scale, and easily orchestrate their workflows. Prefect's hybrid model means it never receives customer data, ensuring customer code and data is completely private while still delivering an on-prem security experience. This has led a number of companies who have historically rejected traditional SaaS offerings to realize the benefits of Prefect across their organization.

"Prefect is uniquely positioned to serve those at the forefront of the data revolution by providing a world-class experience for developing, testing and running workflows," said Ethan Kurzweil, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. "Not only are they successfully executing an ambitious product vision, they have scaled a community with members from every corner of the globe."

"Prefect is changing the way data scientists and engineers automate their data, resulting in significant productivity and efficiency gains," said Michael Broukhim, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of FabFitFun. "Any engineer delivering custom code for their organization can easily reap the benefits of Prefect's platform, creating a massive addressable market for the company to capture."

Following the company's new collaboration with Microsoft for Startups , today's funding is the latest proof point in Prefect's continued momentum as the new standard in data flow automation. The funding also marks the second round of investment that Prefect has announced in 2021, with the company's Series A round that totaled $11.5M in February 2021 . This new round brings Prefect's total raised capital to $46.7M.

For more information on Prefect, visit: www.prefect.io

About Prefect

As the global leader in dataflow automation, Prefect provides a new dataflow automation platform that reduces engineering time and removes headaches for data engineers and data scientists by automating pipelines and workflows of any complexity. Prefect does so without ever seeing its customers' code to ensure privacy and security while providing visibility into what's running and where issues may arise.

About Tiger Global

Tiger Global Management, LLC is an investment firm that deploys capital globally. The firm's fundamentally oriented investments focus primarily on the global internet, software, financial technology, consumer and industrial sectors. The private equity strategy has a ten-year investment horizon and targets growth-oriented private companies. Such investments have included Spotify, Harry's, Warby Parker, Peloton, JD.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yandex, Mail.ru Group, Despegar, Ola and Flipkart. The public equity efforts emphasize deep due diligence on individual companies and long-term secular themes. Tiger Global was founded in 2001 and is based in New York with affiliate offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangalore and Melbourne.

Contact:

Hiro Rodriguez

Prefect Technologies

[email protected]

SOURCE Prefect Technologies

Related Links

https://www.prefect.io/


"Across our nation, an outpouring of grief and outrage continues at the horrific violence... against Asian American[s}." Tweet this

"Across our nation, an outpouring of grief and outrage continues at the horrific violence and xenophobia perpetrated against Asian American communities, especially Asian American women and girls," Moritsugu said. "As President Biden said during his first prime time address, anti-Asian violence and xenophobia is wrong, it's un-American, and it must stop."

Other featured speakers include:

Grace Meng , U.S. Congresswoman representing the 6th Congressional District of New York

, U.S. Congresswoman representing the 6th Congressional District of Jacinta S. Ma , Director of the Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

, Director of the Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission David Chiu , California Assemblymember representing the 17 th Assembly District of the State of California ( San Francisco )

, Assemblymember representing the 17 Assembly District of the ( Carl Chan , President of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce

, President of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce Audrey Kitagawa , Moderator, Chair of the G20 Interfaith Anti-Racism Initiative

The webinar will provide a platform for mutual discussion and learningrecognizing what Asian-Americans have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"For more than a year, Asian Americans have been fighting two viruses: the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-Asian hate," said U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng. "The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act that I introduced with Senator Mazie Hirono was signed into law last month by President Biden, and it will go a long way towards combatting this rise in xenophobia and racist attacks."

"In order to recover from and repair the harm to our communities, we need to share our experiences with each other and with those outside of our community," Assemblymember David Chiu said. "Confronting these awful incidents head-on strengthens us and chips away at the ignorance, fear and racism that has spurred these acts of hate."

"What I want to make sure everyone understands, when things happen to you, be calm and understand how to protect yourself as much as you can," Carl Chan of the OCCC stated. "I had to stand strong. I cannot be allowing myself to be a victim, or other people to become victims of crime. So that is the reason why I have to speak out."

"A strong, successful society is built on ensuring people feel welcome and recognized for their contributions," added Jacinta Ma of the EEOC. "Violence, harassment, and discrimination because someone is or is perceived to be of Asian descent must not be tolerated. Governments, leaders, and individuals all have a role to play in addressing anti-Asian violence."

SOURCE G20 Interfaith Forum Association

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https://www.g20interfaith.org/


GREENWICH, Conn., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Prostar Capital, a global private investment firm leading the energy transition to net-zero carbon emissions, announced today the appointment of In Ku Kang as an Operating Partner. Mr. Kang, who is based in Seoul, will focus on adding to Prostar's existing investment footprint in South Korea, where it owns Kyungnam Energy, the largest independent city gas business in the country.

"Mr. Kang has worked with the Prostar team for more than five years and we look forward to him bringing his operational insights and deep industry and government connections to his new role as Operating Partner," said Dave Noakes, Senior Managing Director at Prostar Capital. "South Korea has been an investment focus for Prostar for more than a decade, and the firm has a pipeline comprising of US$500 million in proprietary deals ready to deploy, including a clean energy business supported by strong energy demand growth and a renewed commitment by the South Korean government to accelerate the country's transition to net-zero carbon emissions."

Mr. Kang most recently served as CEO of Prostar's portfolio company, Kyungnam Energy, where he achieved the fastest growing gas penetration rate in South Korea, adding more than 160,000 new customers who transitioned to natural gas from less environmentally friendly sources of energy. Mr. Kang was also instrumental in leading Prostar's investments in hydrogen fuel cell, solar, biogas from sewage and steam from recycled plastic incineration.

Prior to Kyungnam Energy, Mr. Kang served as Chief Executive at Korea Energy Terminal, which is building an LNG import terminal in the Port of Ulsan in South Korea, and prior to that held various senior leadership roles at Daewoo and Isu Chemical. Mr. Kang has also served as Chairman of the Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers and was awarded the Government Industrial Service medal for his contributions to South Korean industry.

"As an Operating Partner, Mr. Kang will work with the Prostar team on developing investment opportunities in natural gas, the critical bridging fuel to support the energy transition, as well as investments in alternative, cleaner processes and technologies that can offset carbon emissions and be partnered with renewable sources," said Steve Bickerton, Senior Managing Director at Prostar Capital. "Given the depth of Mr. Kang's experience, we expect that he will make a significant contribution to the growth of our portfolio companies and support Prostar's long-term commitment to meeting the South Korean government's targets to increase LNG and renewables usage."

Mr. Kang joins Prostar's team of Operating Partners, comprised of former senior executives of leading Asian and global energy companies. Each of the Operating Partners brings their extensive industry knowledge and asset-level operating expertise to Prostar's investments that are accelerating the world's transition to net-zero carbon emissions. The addition of Mr. Kang reiterates Prostar's commitment to achieving operational excellence at each of Prostar's portfolio companies, maximizing value creation. The Operating Partners also enhance Prostar's strong ESG focus and long-term commitment to responsibly meeting expected strong growth in energy demand in South Korea and the broader Asian region.

About Prostar Capital

Established in 2012, Prostar Capital is a private investment firm that invests in energy infrastructure assets located in major trading and logistics supply hubs driven by strong GDP growth and rising energy demand in Asia. Prostar's investment strategy is supported by sound ESG principles and a focus on accelerating the world's transition to net-zero carbon emissions. Prostar's team is comprised of experienced professionals with decades of energy infrastructure investment and operational expertise. Prostar operates from offices in Greenwich, Sydney, and Hong Kong. For more information, visit Prostar's website at www.prostarcapital.com.

Media Contacts

Doug Allen/Shree Dhond

Dukas Linden Public Relations

[email protected]

+1-646-722-6531

SOURCE Prostar Capital

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- It is estimated that roughly 3.6 million people, annually, forgo non-urgent or elective medical appointments due to a lack of reliable transportation1. Some of the most vulnerable and at-risk populations face this serious barrier to accessing healthcare services, often hindering people from getting preventative and routine medical care. One Call, a leader in care coordination for the workers' compensation industry, is quickly expanding its non-emergent medical transportation (NEMT) footprint, through its One Call Government Solutions subsidiary, to serve Medicare and Medicaid members and get them to their healthcare appointments.

"One Call understands the critical role transportation plays in a person's overall health and wellbeing. We are meeting this need with our tailored, high-touch, quality care experience, from door-to-door," said Adam Beam, SVP Growth and Strategy at One Call. "Leveraging more than 25 years of experience coordinating care for injured workers, we are further extending our offering to improve member experience and positively impact cost savings nationwide."

As one of the leaders of NEMT solutions for health plans and workers' compensation, One Call's deep industry knowledge and experience shaped concierge-level ride management for Medicare and Medicaid members. With these beneficiaries expected to increase from 59 million to 80 million by 20302, One Call's NEMT solution provides direct access to national provider networks, real-time trip scheduling, and management and issue resolution while maintaining an acute focus on members' care management.

"Offering the right care at the right time, to all of our customers is our number one priority. We realize the ramifications that missed appointments have on patients and on the health care system. Our solutions are designed to streamline access to providers, driving down appointment no-show rates, and decreasing costly health care expenses," said Will Smith, Chief Growth Officer at One Call.

With health plans shifting their focus to value-based care solutions, more are turning to One Call to ensure that the most vulnerable populations have access to basic transportation. "One Call is prepared to meet the increased demands by delivering responsive, affordable, first-class services to all its members and clients," notes Beam.

On June 1, One Call continued the expansion of its NEMT footprint, partnering with two Medicaid health plans in Texas, providing medical transportation for over 400,000 Medicaid members that participate in various programs such as STAR, STAR Kids, and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). To date, One Call, through its One Call Government Solutions subsidiary, serves approximately 1,200,000 members and 14 Medicaid/Medicare clients in 10 states, including Texas, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, and Georgia. With health plan partnerships pending with the state of Ohio and other states, One Call's medical transportation will serve approximately 1,500,000 members by July 2021. To meet our growing business in this field, we're opening a call center in Louisiana, which is expected to be operational in early 2022.

To learn more about One Call's tailored Medicare and Medicaid transportation solutions, visit https://onecallcm.com/who-we-serve/non-emergency-medical-transport/.

About One Call Government Solutions

One Call Government Solutions timely and efficiently connects Medicaid and Medicare patients with high quality provider networks across a multitude of health care services. Our foundation is built on an unwavering commitment to deliver exceptional service and value-based care. For more information and the latest news, visit us at onecallcm.com, LinkedIn (One Call), Facebook (@onecallcm) and Twitter (@onecallcm).

Media Contacts: Jessica Taft

One Call, Vice President, Marketing & Branding

[email protected]

1 Health Research & Educational Trust. (2017, November). Social determinants of health series: Transportation and the role of hospitals. Chicago, IL: Health Research & Educational Trust. Accessed at www.aha.org/transportation

2 Newsroom CMS. (2018, Oct 01). Retrieved from CMS website: www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-announces-new-streamlined-user-experience-medicare-beneficiaries

SOURCE One Call

Related Links

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BOSTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Recorded Future, an Insight Partners portfolio company and the world's largest provider of intelligence for enterprise security, today announced the launch of The Intelligence Fund , a dedicated pool of $20 million to be funded and directed by Recorded Future. The Intelligence Fund will focus on seed and Series A investments in startups that are building novel intelligence data sets, collection platforms, and applications.

The Recorded Future Intelligence Platform is the de-facto standard in intelligence, drawing from the world's most comprehensive intelligence holdings, collected and curated over 10+ years, and continually enhanced in real-time. By funding companies through The Intelligence Fund, Recorded Future is committed to expanding its leadership position in the Intelligence market.

To date, The Intelligence Fund has invested in two companies, Gemini Advisory , a cutting-edge Fraud Intelligence platform with a unique view into the state of the payment card and merchant fraud, preventing fraud, on average, up to 24 days before it occurs; and SecurityTrails , a provider of comprehensive domain and IP address intelligence for third-party risk assessment, attack surface reduction, and threat hunting.

"In a world of aggressive uncertainty, intelligence is the only equalizer. With the launch of The Intelligence Fund, we are investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs who share our vision for securing the world with intelligence."  Dr. Christopher Ahlberg, CEO and Co-Founder, Recorded Future

"Cyberattacks continue to impact global enterprises across the globe and we're excited to see Recorded Future invest in intelligence startups tackling the business-critical issues that organizations face today. The Intelligence Fund will provide the resources needed by entrepreneurs to build applications with data and mathematics at the core."  Michael Triplett, Managing Partner, Insight Partners

By partnering with The Intelligence Fund, startups receive resources to help with the development and integration of intelligence applications, accelerating their go-to-market strategy and benefiting from the overall value of the Recorded Future ecosystem. Recorded Future clients benefit from partnerships that enhance its Intelligence Platform.

"With The Intelligence Fund, Recorded Future has created an ecosystem approach to fueling growth and transformation, and a novel way to continue serving its customers, partners, and the security community with the best security intelligence solutions."  Niloofar Razi Howe, Recorded Future Board Member

The Intelligence Fund will invest in experienced founders looking to tackle significant problems that require novel approaches using data sets, collection platforms, and applications that integrate into the Recorded Future platform and ecosystem. It invests in companies who are looking for funding with or without a lead investor.

Interested companies looking to learn more or submit an application can visit https://theintelligencefund.com .

About Recorded Future

Recorded Future is the world's largest provider of intelligence for enterprise security. By combining persistent and pervasive automated data collection and analytics with human analysis, Recorded Future delivers intelligence that is timely, accurate, and actionable. In a world of ever-increasing chaos and uncertainty, Recorded Future empowers organizations with the visibility they need to identify and detect threats faster; take proactive action to disrupt adversaries; and protect their people, systems, and assets, so business can be conducted with confidence. Recorded Future is trusted by more than 1,000 businesses and government organizations around the world. Learn more at www.recordedfuture.com and follow us on Twitter at @RecordedFuture.

SOURCE Recorded Future
SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ReviverMX, Inc., developer of the world's first digital license plate (DLP), announced today that the company has entered into an agreement with communications firm Runyon Saltzman, Inc. (RSE) to engage in public relations and public affairs activity on Reviver's behalf. As an integrated full-service agency founded in Sacramento in 1960, RSE has a deep history of supporting the growth of the Sacramento region's most innovative companies and organizations, while Reviver exemplifies the unique innovation in technology that is attracting companies of their caliber to the region. Reviver's cloud-based platform, related digital license plates (DLP) and smartphone apps are revolutionizing automobile license plates on a global basis.

"While Reviver gestated in the Silicon Valley, we are a company with deep personal roots in the Sacramento Metropolitan region," said Reviver Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Neville Boston. "It was a long-awaited homecoming when we moved our headquarters here in 2020 from the Bay Area. The entire Sacramento region is a rich environment for a company with our profile to thrive in. It is a great feeling to be able to help contribute to job and economic growth here, while working with a variety of other business leaders to help raise the region's profile."

"We look forward to working with the RSE team given their legacy in the Sacramento region and beyond," said Robert Wood, Reviver President and CEO. "Their track record in structuring both innovative and strategic communications programs align perfectly with the business objectives we've set for ourselves both here in the Sacramento region and for our broader market. Plus, like Reviver, RSE is heavily invested in the Sacramento region."

"Reviver is one of the most unique and innovative clients we have had the pleasure of working with," said Scott Rose, RSE Principal and Public Affairs Director. "Their status as first-to-market in their field makes them an innovator of the highest order. Their only competition is the low-profile they have maintained as they have perfected their offerings. It will be a pleasure to help them get the recognition they deserve."

Reviver's Rplate and more advanced Rplate Pro are currently being sold for vehicles registered in California and Arizona and on commercial vehicles in Texas. Eleven other states are actively engaged in adopting Reviver plates, and Reviver is working with the remaining 36 states and the AAMVA for additional engagements. The company is currently selling Rplates through multiple channels, including automotive dealerships and affinity groups such as The San Jose Sharks, Susan G. Komen and the Arizona State University alumni association. Reviver's Rplate Pro with its suite of telematic features is positioned to serve small to medium-sized commercial fleets. The Rplate and Rplate Pro can be reviewed and purchased at: www.reviver.com.

ABOUT REVIVER

ReviverMX, Inc. ("Reviver") is the developer of a proprietary platform that integrates motor vehicle administrations (MVA) with vehicle owners through the company's digital license plates (DLP) and a smart phone app. The platform allows MVAs to digitize vehicle registration renewals and a variety of compliance transactions for potential cost savings to MVAs. Additionally, the platform delivers a growing menu of DLP personalization features which customers manage from their smart phones. Reviver sells two types of DLPs: the Rplate and the Rplate Pro. Both are legal for sale in California and Arizona with eleven states in various stages of adoption. For additional company and product information visit www.reviver.com.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT

ReviverMX, Inc. (The Company) has prepared and provides all the financial and related information stated herein. The Company makes no express or implied representation or warranty as to projections, estimates, future plans, or forward-looking assumptions or statements, nor as to their attainability or the accuracy and completeness of the assumptions from which they are derived. Projections and estimates of the Company's performance are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and may vary materially from actual results.

ABOUT RUNYON SALTZMAN, INC.

Runyon Saltzman, Inc. (RSE) is an integrated marketing and communications agency offering a wide range of services under one roof: strategy, creative, production, digital, media, public relations and public affairs. With over 60 years of experience, RSE has honed its reputation as one of the leading independently owned agencies in California. Our talented team includes seasoned strategists, designers, producers, copywriters, media planners, subject matter experts and digital specialists. We are strategically positioned throughout the nation to deliver the highest level of service and expertise on behalf of our clients.

SOURCE ReviverMX, Inc.

Related Links

https://reviver.com/


VANCOUVER, BC, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Rritual Superfoods Inc. ("Rritual" or the "Company") (CSE: RSF) (FSE: 0RW) (OTC: RRSFF) is pleased to announce that the Company has received purchase orders totaling CAD $306,000 in the last week of May, with goods now shipping to customers.

"We are extremely excited to have had such a strong launch in our first month of full-scale commercial operations," said Rritual CEO, Mr. David Kerbel. "We fully expect that these initial orders from our cornerstone retailers will establish Rritual products on shelf with regular re-orders to follow. As we establish our distribution foot-print we will continue to execute our marketing strategies to support our retail partners."

Rritual has scaled its production to meet growing demand, with a sales and a marketing strategy targeting major retailers in Mass, Food & Drug, and Grocery across the USA in 2021. The Rritual Sales Team is in active discussion with a number of target retailers and will provide updates as new retail accounts are onboarded. Based on our projected distribution guidance of 6,000 stores and 20,000 points of distribution by the end of 2021 we expect to achieve a monthly run rate in the United States of CAD $1,300,000 achieving approximately 31-42% blended margins.

Rritual product offerings are all USDA-certified organic and are a caffeine-free option that can be mixed with other beverages or enjoyed by itself. Rritual's proprietary Immune-Synergy Six Mushroom Blend is the only functional health product on the market that contains a daily prebiotic blend which nourishes a healthy gut microbiome and facilitates balanced digestive function.

About Rritual

Rritual is a functional superfood company that creates plant-based elixirs, which support immunity, focus and relaxation. The company is poised to dominate a segment where demand and sales are growing exponentially. Under the executive leadership with over 100 years of CPG pedigree, Rritual is launching in North America in Q2 2021 as the company positions itself as a leader in the functional health and wellness industry. Rritual's superfood elixirs can be found online at www.rritual.com.

Follow Rritual on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram .

Functional Foods Market

According to Grandview Research*, it is estimated that the global functional food market is projected to reach $275 billion by 2025, growing at 7.9% each year with consumers putting more emphasis on health and wellness.

*https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-functional-foods-market

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements") that relate to Rritual's current expectations and views of future events. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as "will likely result", "are expected to", "expects", "will continue", "is anticipated", "anticipates", "believes", "estimated", "intends", "plans", "forecast", "projection", "strategy", "objective" and "outlook") are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. In particular and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the Company's plans to leverage third party manufacturing and logistics, the Company's broader retail distribution plans and the Company's other plans, focus and objectives.

Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Rritual's control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the impact and progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors set forth under "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the final long form prospectus of the Company dated February 26, 2021 and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Rritual undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Rritual to predict all of them or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE Rritual Superfoods Inc.
As a highly awarded leader and a passionate advocate for women's education, Dr. McGee will be a source of inspiration and advocacy to the young women of the Academy and College. Dr. McGee received the American College of Healthcare Executives Distinguished Faculty Regents Award in 2014, was named one of the Top 50 U.S. Healthcare Management Professors in 2015, was recognized as one of Connecticut Magazine's "40 Under 40" in 2019 and received the University of New Haven's Excellence in Teaching award in 2017.

Dr. McGee was selected by the Board of Trustees following an extensive, nationwide search with input from Salem's faculty, staff, and students.

"Dr. McGee has a deep appreciation for the history of Salem as the nation's oldest institution for educating women and embraces the Academy and College's focus on developing future leaders who will make a bold impact locally, regionally, and globally," McDara Folan, Chair of Salem Board of Trustees, said. "Our search committee spent a great deal of time and energy finding the right leader with the right qualities and experience as well as a strong passion for educating women. We are confident Dr. McGee is the perfect fit for the Academy and College."

Earlier this year, Salem College announced the launch of a new, innovative Health Leadership focus for fall 2021 to prepare the next generation of women leaders in fields across the health ecosystem. Salem Academy, a private boarding and day school for grades 9-12, shares a campus with Salem College and is one of the nation's premier all-girls schools with proven expertise in educating young women through a rigorous, highly-personalized academic model, focused on confidence-building co-curricular activities, and lifelong learning tools. Both schools place high value on academic excellence and women's leadership.

Folan and the members of the Board thanked Dr. Susan Henking for serving as Interim President of Salem since May 2020. Her tenure allowed the board time to find the ideal new President to launch a new era for Salem Academy and College.

"I am deeply honored to be selected as the next leader of Salem Academy and College. This is an incredibly exciting time for the institution to celebrate its history while at the same time imagining its future in bold new ways," Dr. McGee said. "Salem is uniquely positioned to develop the next generation of women leaders one woman at a time."

As the Founding Dean of the School of Health Sciences at the University of New Haven, Dr. McGee accomplished an ambitious strategic plan overseeing the creation of more than a dozen new in-person and online undergraduate and graduate level academic programs, including one of the only professional doctoral programs in health sciences in the nation. Under her leadership, the University of New Haven's healthcare management graduate program became the ninth largest in the nation, including its executive program at Yale-New Haven Hospital, both of which were accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education and became the only program of its kind in Southern New England. She also led the University of New Haven's COVID-19 response and became a sought after academic and media expert related to COVID-19 in the last year.

Founded in 1772 in Winston-Salem, NC, Salem Academy and College is celebrating its 250th Anniversary beginning in September with a variety of events throughout the 202122 academic year.

"Dr. Summer McGee is uniquely qualified to help lead Salem Academy and College into the next 250 years. Her experience as the founding Dean of the School of Health Sciences has honed her knowledge, skills, and abilities to bring about both schools' transformations," said Elizabeth Baird, incoming Chair of the Salem Board of Trustees and Chair of the Presidential Search Committee. "Dr. McGee brings enthusiasm, energy, and a clear vision to the campus, and I cannot wait to work beside her."

Dr. McGee holds a PhD in Bioethics & Health Policy from The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Philosophy and a BA in Bioethics from Indiana University Bloomington (IU). She also is a graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education Management Development Program. Before joining the University of New Haven, Dr. McGee served on the faculty of Loyola University Chicago, the University of Kansas School of Medicine, and Albany Medical College.

About Salem Academy and College

Salem Academy and College is the oldest educational institution for girls and women in the United States. Founded in 1772 in Winston-Salem, NC, Salem has educated and prepared women to lead, shatter expectations, and rise to the challenges of their timeresulting in generations of women leaders and influencers in leadership roles throughout the world. Today, Salem Academy and Salem College continues to be focused on educating future generations of global leaders. For more information about Salem Academy, please visit salemacademy.com . For more information about Salem College, please visit salem.edu .

News media contact

Steve Bumgarner

Capture Public Relations & Marketing

336.722.9660 or [email protected]

SOURCE Salem College
CARY, N.C., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Analytics leader SAS is increasing its support of COVID researchers through new, free analytics training options. A year ago, SAS provided free use of health care analytics software for users of the COVID-19 Research Database (CRD), a secure repository of HIPAA-compliant, de-identified and limited patient-level data sets. Organized by Datavant and their partners, the database is available to public health and policy researchers to further investigate COVID-19 and its impact on health care and socio-economic outcomes.

The SAS virtual learning environment is an extraordinary addition to the CRD ~Mark Cullen, Prof of Medicine, Stanford Tweet this COVID-19 researchers can more easily use advanced technologies like AI and machine learning with help from the SAS virtual learning environment.

Supported by a cross-industry partnership of health care and technology organizations, the CRD represents the largest pro bono COVID data resource and research environment available to researchers and policymakers. The database pulls in data from electronic health records, medical and pharmacy claims, and mortality, consumer and other data sets, covering more than 300 million individuals and 85 billion records.

Powerful data analysis tools derive insights from massive data repository

More than 2,800 researchers have registered for access to the COVID-19 Research Database, and over 200 research projects are currently underway. Researchers from more than 350 different research institutions have registered, including the country's top 30 medical schools, and numerous state and federal level health policy organizations.

To help more researchers use SAS Analytics in their work, SAS has created a virtual learning environment (VLE) for database users. The VLE is a free training environment that includes courses and live seminars to help upgrade investigators' data analytic skills, whatever the level of prior data and coding experience. Not exclusive for SAS users, the VLE will help all researchers, according to Mark R. Cullen, MD, Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and Chair of the COVID-19 Research Database Scientific Steering Committee.

"The new virtual learning environment supplied by SAS represents yet another extraordinary addition to the CRD platform, and assures an even higher quality of research," said Cullen. "This is one further example of the commitment of SAS and the growing list of contributing companies to this shared private-sector effort to enhance the nation's data infrastructure and time-sensitive research output at this critical time in the pandemic."

Jeremy Racine, Global Health Care AI Principal at SAS, serves on the CRD Scientific Steering Committee and has reviewed dozens of proposals.

"The CRD has continued to grow rapidly in both volume and variety," he said, "creating more opportunity to explore the most complex and under-researched areas of COVID. However, this has also posed significant challenges for teams that may not have strong analytic skill sets and wish to employ analytical methods such as machine learning and artificial intelligence to support their work."

New grant program supports research into COVID gender effects

A recently announced grant program for researchers using the CRD, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will help researchers explore the role of gender in the pandemic's effects. The VLE arrives at the right time, according to Sean O'Brien, SAS Senior Vice President of Education.

"Researchers will be studying the effects of COVID for years to come, and we want to them to be equipped with the technology and training they need," said O'Brien. "Analytics will be critical to understanding vaccine impacts, long- term COVID effects and the role of social determinants and other demographics."

Researchers using SAS to analyze critical COVID questions

Learning more about COVID's effects on different populations is a primary goal for the CRD. Niall Brennan, former Chief Data Officer at the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is the president and CEO of the Healthcare Cost Institute (HCCI). HCCI analyses of electronic medical record data, using SAS, not only showed significantly higher rates of COVID-19 infection among Hispanic and Black patients, but that the disparities persist across regions and over time. HCCI also used SAS to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the use of preventive health care and took a new look at daily COVID deaths by state using obituary data.

"SAS has been a strong partner since my days at CMS and is a standard in public health research," said Brennan. "HCCI relies on SAS to help us understand the far-reaching effects of COVID-19 on costs and policy."

Leading research universities such as Brown, Duke, Harvard and Vanderbilt are also deploying SAS in their work. Boston University researchers are exploring the impact of COVID-19 and racism on BIPOC experiences with mental health services. A team from the University of Pennsylvania is looking at disparities in telemedicine encounters during the pandemic.

Empowering public health with resources and expertise

As the pandemic abates, SAS technology and health experts are helping organizations recover and reimagine public health.

Visit the SAS COVID-19 Resource Hub for additional resources and more details of how COVID researchers and organizations are using SAS and analytics to recover from the pandemic.

for additional resources and more details of how COVID researchers and organizations are using SAS and analytics to recover from the pandemic. Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) conference: SAS public health experts Dr. Meg Schaeffer , EdD, MPH, MPA; and Theresa Do, MPH will host a roundtable session on Monday, June 14 , at 2:15 ET . They will discuss how agencies can navigate major data modernization decisions during the COVID recovery period to restructure the landscape of public health. The session captures a vision of the future of epidemiology.

SAS public health experts Dr. , EdD, MPH, MPA; and Theresa Do, MPH will host a roundtable session on , at . They will discuss how agencies can navigate major data modernization decisions during the COVID recovery period to restructure the landscape of public health. The session captures a vision of the future of epidemiology. Health Pulse podcast on June 11 will feature Dana Bernson , epidemiologist and Director of Special Analytic Projects at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. She will discuss the department's efforts to link data sources across state government to fight the opioid epidemic, understand social determinants of health and explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on underserved populations.

About SAS

SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries.  indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright  2021 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE SAS

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Former top managers of VIM Airlines granted release in fraud case

 RAPSI

16:58 10/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 10 (RAPSI)  Moscows Meshchansky District Court on Thursday ordered release of ex-CEO of VIM Airlines Alexander Kochnev and ex-chief accountant of the air carrier Yekaterina Panteleyeva due to the actual sentence completion in a fraud case, the courts pres service told RAPSI.

Kochnev was sentenced to 44 months in penal colony with a fine amounting to 600,000 rubles ($8,300) while Panteleyeva received 42 months in jail. According to the Criminal Code, the time they spent in detention and under house arrest were counted towards the completion of their term of imprisonment.

The defendants house arrest was overturned. They were ordered to be released in the courtroom.

Owners of the company, Rashid Mursekayev and his spouse Svetlana, and former vice-CEO and financial director Alevtina Kalashnokova are put on the international wanted list and arrested in absentia as part of the case.

According to investigators, between 2015 and 2017, the defendants abusing their power purchased aviation fuel from Mursekayevs companies at an inflated price.

Investigators believe that VIM Airlines headed by Rashid Mursekayev was made as a fraudulent pyramid scheme. The air carriers management covered up material losses adding false earnings information in financial statements. These steps gave them a chance to obtain loans in banks and avoid activity barriers from the Federal Air Transport Agency.

Being aware of the air carriers distress, its owner along with his wife received over 162 million rubles ($2.2 million at the current exchange rate) in salary and dividends. However, damages in the company were estimated at 2.5 billion rubles (over $34 million) by September 2017, investigators claim.

According to the Investigative Committee, the defendants illegal actions caused damage wort over 782 million rubles (about $11 million) to VIM Airlines corporate counterparties. Four companies are recognized as victims in the case.




SALT LAKE CITY, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Scorpion , a leading provider of technology and services dedicated to helping local businesses thrive, recently announced that they were the first full-service marketing agency to offer Google's Local Services Ads booking feature  allowing their home services Google Guaranteed customers to provide easy and seamless online booking options for customers.

The new feature stems from a unique automated integration that gives Scorpion home services customers the ability to view a business's availability and schedule their services directly by clicking through Local Services Ads. By simplifying the booking process, companies can expect increased consumer engagement and revenue. Since Local Services Ads are already particularly cost-efficient  providers pay for leads, not clicks  this update is a welcome integration with Scorpion's AI-driven marketing technology. Additionally, Scorpion's platform enables its customers to monitor revenue by advertising sources, ensuring they have the ability to adjust marketing efforts for optimal results.

"Everything we do at Scorpion is focused on keeping our local business customers at the forefront of digital marketing trends so they can maintain their competitive edge and generate new and repeat customers," said Mikel Chertudi, Chief Revenue Officer at Scorpion. "This strategic partnership showcases our dedication to making that happen, and we are excited to provide our customers with new capabilities that positively impact their bottom line and the communities they serve."

Scorpion guides its customers through the entire Google Guaranteed qualification process required for their company to earn its Google Guarantee badge. Once the badge has been issued, customers can begin integrating the booking feature into their Local Services Ads. In addition to this support, Scorpion manages customers' ad budgets, leads, and most importantly, adjusts and leverages their data to maximize growth and market exposure.

"As people continue to spend more time at home, we're making it easier to book services directly with home service professionals discovered through Google Search. This booking feature offers extraordinary value for both consumers and contractors, and we're excited to partner with Scorpion to help bring it to our mutual customers. We look forward to continuing this partnership and witnessing the benefits it delivers to countless small and medium-sized home services providers across the country," says Jon Diorio, Director of Product Management, Local Services Ads.

Overall, qualifying for the Google Guarantee badge and this new booking feature will support Scorpion's home services customers in generating more jobs and building a stronger reputation in their local markets.

About Scorpion

Scorpion is the leading provider of technology and services helping local businesses thrive. It helps local service providers understand their unique market dynamics, maximize their marketing efforts, and deliver experiences their customers will love. Scorpion puts SEO, Reviews, Advertising, Email Marketing, Chat and Messaging, Social Media, Websites, Lead Management, Appointment Scheduling, and more to work for local businesses. The company brings everything together in a way that's easy to understand and manage, blending AI and teams of real people with vertical expertise committed to customers' success and ready to do whatever it takes to help them reach their goals.

Scorpion is headquartered in the Salt Lake City area, with offices in California, Texas, and New York. For more information, please visit https://www.scorpion.co/about-us/ .

SOURCE Scorpion

Related Links

https://www.scorpion.co


NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday, June 3rd, RevOZ Capital celebrated progress on its $1B Social Impact Initiative through a series of events in Southern California.

In San Bernardino, California, RevOZ joined with top local, state, and national leaders to commemorate the opening of San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health  Juvenile Justice Program (JJP) Facility. Joined by U.S. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina - the co-author of the original federal Opportunity Zone legislation - RevOZ Capital Managing Partner Lisa Merage and local leaders cut the ribbon on a new 11,375 square foot facility financed with RevOZ's Opportunity Zone capital. The facility will serve an estimated 400 - 900 families per year, advancing the JJP's mission to provide a comprehensive and effective continuum of adolescent behavioral health care for justice-involved youth, in or out of custody, who have mental illness.

"The Juvenile Justice Program reduces recidivism, promotes wellness and recovery, and enhances the quality of life in our county," said Board of Supervisors Chairman Curt Hagman. "Also, this project was developed in a Qualified Opportunity Zone, which benefits both the public and private sectors and creates vital community benefit. The value of bringing new investment to underserved communities underscores the importance of this program."

"This project embodies so much of what RevOZ aspires to achieve," said Lisa Merage, RevOZ Capital Managing Partner and Chair of the RevOZ Social Impact Council. "We believe deeply both in the potential of emerging communities like San Bernardino, and in the potential of Opportunity Zone investments to create real economic, financial, and community benefits. We thank all of our partners for their support on this project, and are excited to explore further opportunities in the community to create economic and social impact."

In Newport Beach, RevOZ convened the first-ever in-person gathering of the funds Board of Advisors and Social Impact Council for a luncheon to discuss recent progress and plans for the next phase of growth. Both are comprised of a diverse multidisciplinary and bipartisan leaders in real estate, finance, policy, community development, and philanthropy.

Finally, RevOZ teamed up with the nonprofit trade group CalOZ and co-sponsors JTC Americas and UBS to convene a first-ever Social Impact OZ Summit. Over 100 regional leaders, investors, and professionals active in the Opportunity Zone landscape heard from several top OZ leaders:

- Hon. Tim Scott, Senator from South Carolina and OZ legislation co-sponsor

- Hon. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, RevOZ Social Impact Council and former Mayor of Baltimore

- Hon. Mick Cornett, RevOZ Social Impact Council and former Mayor of Oklahoma City

- Chris Cox, RevOZ Advisory Board member and Former Chairman U.S. Securities and Exchange Comm (SEC)

- Josh Childress, RevOZ Social Impact Council and CEO of Landspire Group

- Reid Thomas, Managing Director & Chief Revenue Officer, JTC America

- Alex Bhathal, Managing Partner, RevOZ Capital

- Lisa Merage, Managing Partner and Social Impact Council Chair, RevOZ Capital

- Kunal Merchant, President and Co-Founder of CalOZ

"Already millions of Americans have seen and benefited from the incredible potential of Opportunity Zones across the nation," said Senator Tim Scott. "I am amazed by the great work being done here at the San Bernardino Medical Center and look forward to hearing the success stories that come from their efforts."

The event commemorated the significant progress RevOZ has made A's a leader in the state and national Oz investment landscape. Earlier this year, RevOZ announced a $1B Social Impact Initiative, which includes formation of the Social Impact Council, and commitment to make significant investments into emerging OZ communities across the nation.

For more information on RevOZ Capital, please visit www.revozcapital.com.

About RevOZ Capital

RevOZ Capital facilitates the revitalization of Opportunity Zones by providing co-investment capital for institutional quality projects. RevOZ's proven approach is a product of the founders' deep experience in urban redevelopment, capital markets and decades of cycle-tested commercial real estate (CRE) experience. RevOZ has been recognized as a pioneer in the Opportunity Zone arena and was named "Opportunity Zone Investor of the Year" by Globe St. in 2019. RevOZ has developed unrivaled expertise in navigating the regulatory complexities as well as a rigorous deal selection process for qualifying Opportunity Zone projects.

SOURCE RevOZ Capital

Related Links

https://www.revozcapital.com/


NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Juan Monteverde, founder and managing partner at Monteverde & Associates PC, a national securities firm rated Top 50 in the 2018-2020 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report and headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is investigating American River Bankshares ("AMRB" or the "Company") (AMRB) relating to its proposed merger with Bank of Marin Bancorp. AMRB shareholders will receive 0.575 shares of Bank of Marin common stock per share they own.

The investigation focuses on whether American River Bankshares and its Board of Directors violated securities laws and/or breached their fiduciary duties to the Company by 1) failing to conduct a fair process, and 2) whether the transaction is properly valued.

Click here for more information: https://www.monteverdelaw.com/case/american-river-bankshares. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.

About Monteverde & Associates PC

We are a national class action securities litigation law firm that has recovered millions of dollars and is committed to protecting shareholders from corporate wrongdoing. We were listed in the Top 50 in the 2018-2020 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report. Our lawyers have significant experience litigating Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Class Actions. Mr. Monteverde is recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Securities Litigation in 2013, 2017-2019, an award given to less than 2.5% of attorneys in a particular field. He has also been selected by Martindale-Hubbell as a 2017-2020 Top Rated Lawyer. Our firm's recent successes include changing the law in a significant victory that lowered the standard of liability under Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act in the Ninth Circuit. Thereafter, our firm successfully preserved this victory by obtaining dismissal of a writ of certiorari as improvidently granted at the United States Supreme Court. Emulex Corp. v. Varjabedian, 139 S. Ct. 1407 (2019). Also, over the years the firm has recovered or secured over a dozen cash common funds for shareholders in mergers & acquisitions class action cases.

If you owned common stock in the Company and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 971-1341.

Contact:

Juan E. Monteverde, Esq.

MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC

The Empire State Building

350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4405

New York, NY 10118

United States of America

jmonteverd[email protected]

Tel: (212) 971-1341

Attorney Advertising. (C) 2021 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC (www.monteverdelaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

SOURCE Monteverde & Associates PC

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RESTON, Va. and WINCHESTER, Va., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ellucian, the leading higher education technology solutions provider, today announced that Shenandoah University will be migrating its Colleague ERP environment to cloud. Part of the HESS Consortium and a longtime Ellucian customer, Shenandoah University joins the more than 1,100 institutions worldwide that have chosen Ellucian as their cloud partner.

Shenandoah University's move to cloud allows the institution to become more agile, nimble and secure while removing long-standing technology customizations from their ERP platform. Moving from an on-premise hardware and server maintenance model to Ellucian's managed cloud environment will support the university's long-term sustainability and business continuity goals while freeing up IT resources to focus on other institutional priorities.

"At Shenandoah, we are setting the stage to move forward with a new model of shared services," said Vice President for Administration and Finance Bob Keasler. "The financial model of education is changing, and we are open for others to join us in this new world as a comprehensive private college system. Everything we do, we look to put students first. Now more than ever, the personalized private education experience is what students need."

"Moving to the Ellucian cloud will accelerate Shenandoah University's digital transformation and provide the flexibility needed as they deliver on their commitment to students, faculty and staff," said Laura Ipsen, President and CEO, Ellucian. "As an end-to-end cloud partner, we will work with Shenandoah University to configure a seamless technology ecosystem resulting in increased institutional agility and an elegant user experience."

The Higher Education Systems and Services Consortium (HESS) is a consortium of private colleges and universities focused on collectively lowering costs and increasing collaboration among members in the areas of administrative systems and services. Ellucian serves more than 130 HESS institutions. www.hessconsortium.org

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 Shenandoah University

Shenandoah University was established in 1875, and is headquartered in Winchester, Virginia, with additional educational sites in Clarke, Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Shenandoah is a private, nationally recognized university that blends the best of professional studies and the liberal arts. With more than 4,000 students in more than 200 areas of study in six different schools, Shenandoah promotes a close-knit community rich in creative energy and intellectual challenge. Shenandoah students collaborate with accomplished professors who provide focused, individual attention, all the while leading several programs to be highly nationally ranked. Through innovative partnerships and programs at both the local and global level, there are exceptional opportunities for students to learn in and out of the classroom. Shenandoah empowers its students to improve the human condition and to be principled professionals and leaders wherever they go. Visit su.edu for more information.

Media Contact

Lindsay Stanley

[email protected]

SOURCE Ellucian

Related Links

http://www.ellucian.com


The Club has been a longtime supporter of Temple University and has sponsored a scholarship for many years. This year's president, Amy Bendekovits Franks, is a product of this venture and became a Young Skal member while attending.

The Club is very active both on social media, and its website is well organized and engaging, encouraging all to become more involved. Skal Philadelphia not only met our essential criteria but went well beyond it. See for yourself in the presentation they've submitted here. Congratulations to Skal International Philadelphia for this tremendous achievement.

Skal International is the world's largest global network of Tourism Professionals promoting Tourism, Business, and Friendship worldwide since 1934. Its members are Directors and Executives of the Tourism sector who relate to each other to address issues of common interest, improving a business network and promoting destinations. Skal International has nearly 13,000 members in 335 clubs in 100 countries around the world. Skal International USA is currently the largest National Committee in Skal International, with almost 1,600 members and 45 clubs nationwide. For more information about Skal International and membership, please visit https://www.skalusa.org/.

Contact: Pam Davis, 808-225-8229, [email protected].

SOURCE Skal International USA

Related Links

http://www.useh.org


CHELSEA, Mass., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Spada Law Group LLC has awarded seven scholarships to support the education of Greater Boston students for the second year of the firm's scholarship program. Each student will receive $500 to be used for expenses related to attending 2 or 4-year college or accredited trade school.

The Scholarship Program was created to benefit students who have overcome struggles and contributed to their communities as they pursue their education.

"I understand from my own experience how difficult it can be to work through life challenges and stay on track to get an education," said Spada Law Group Managing Attorney Len Spada. "We want to support these students in pursuing their passion and to make this next step a little easier."

Spada praised the students for their persistence throughout high school.

"These students are active in their community, helping to make a difference for so many while they keep up with their academics and participate in extracurricular activities," he said. "It's an amazing testimony of their determination to succeed."

This year's winners are:

Hannah Lonergan , Salem High School, attending UMass Amherst to study public health

, Salem High School, attending to study public health Ryan Benenati , Revere High School, attending Salem State University to study business

, Revere High School, attending Salem State University to study business Alison Finnegan , Medford High School, attending UMass Lowell with a major in Health Pathways

, Medford High School, attending with a major in Health Pathways Izabella Barr , Chelsea High School , attending Tufts University to study veterinary science

, , attending to study veterinary science Jenna Dorr , Winthrop High School , attending San Diego State University to study digital marketing

, , attending to study digital marketing Michael Kenny , Saugus High School, attending Harvard University to study biomedical engineering

, Saugus High School, attending Harvard University to study biomedical engineering Claire Kafeero , Lynn High School, attending Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania to major in finance

Spada Law Group (https://www.spadalawgroup.com) is a boutique firm with offices in Chelsea, Salem, and Worcester, providing personal attention and specialized skills to accident victims.

Contact:

Len Spada

617-889-5000

[email protected]

SOURCE Spada Law Group

Related Links

https://www.spadalawgroup.com


NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Specialty Food Association (SFA) has released its annual State of the Specialty Food Industry Report, revealing that the specialty food market reached total sales of $170.4 billion in 2020, a 13 percent increase since 2018.

Specialty food sales, specically, grew 24 percent at retail from 2018-2020, and 19.4 percent in 2020 alone. Tweet this Specialty Food Association State of the Specialty Food Industry, 2021-2022 Edition

All food sales, both specialty and non, grew much faster between 2018 and 2020, a reflection of the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on buying, at-home meal preparation, and consumption. Specialty food sales, specically, grew 24 percent at retail from 2018-2020, and 19.4 percent in 2020 alone. Categories related to cooking or baking at home soared, benetting products like baking mixes, pasta and sauces, frozen entrees, and meat, poultry, seafood (frozen, refrigerated).

In contrast to online and brick-and-mortar retail, sales to foodservice, which was devastated by the pandemic, fell off by 30 percent. Industry estimates predict foodservice's overall recovery will take years, while retail sales are expected to continue thriving.

"The ripple across all channels of the specialty food industry has been tremendous," said Bill Lynch, president of the SFA. "We've seen businesses flex their creativity in ways they never could have imagined, from restaurants becoming pop-up specialty food grocers to makers increasing production to meet consumer demand. Despite these historic challenges, the industry has continued to innovate and grow, as outlined in our annual research."

The annual State of the Specialty Food Industry research is an examination of market size and sales; dollar and unit sales growth; specialty food category penetration; growth forecasts in key categories; and 10-year tracking and forecasting in key categories.

Key Facts and Figures:

Top 10 Categories in Retail Dollar Sales

Meat, poultry, seafood (Frozen, refrigerated) Cheese and plant-based cheese Chips, pretzels, snacks Bread and baked goods Coee and hot cocoa (non-RTD) Desserts (Frozen) Entrees (Refrigerated) Chocolate and other confectionery Entrees, lunch and dinner (Frozen) Condiments, dressings, marinades (Shelf stable)

Top 10 Fastest-Growing Categories

Seasonings Sauces, pasta and pizza (Shelf stable) Beans, grains, rice  dry (Shelf stable) Fruit and vegetables (Frozen) Creams and creamers (Refrigerated) Plant-based meat alternatives (Refrigerated) Pasta (Refrigerated) Tea and coee, RTD (Refrigerated) Tofu Creams and creamers (Shelf stable)

The Impact of COVID-19: Insights and Takeaways

Center store rebirth. A year of home cooking has led to consumers rediscovering the usefulness and necessity of a home pantry. Improving discovery. Combined with limited in-store sampling, fewer demos, and the decimation of foodservice, 2020 was a rough year for innovation discovery. This will be one of the key issues for the specialty industry in 2021 and beyond. Specialty's ecommerce visibility issue. Related to diminishing discovery, specialty is facing challenges with the growth of online shopping as it allows fewer opportunities for impulse buys. Plant-based competition. The plant-based specialty food and beverage market grew 42 percent, nearly twice as fast as the entire specialty market. Much of the growth occurred in 2020 when surge shopping served as a gateway in some categories. But the plant-based sector is shifting as big CPG players innovate in the specialty space, with massive funding and scale, and non-specialty ingredients. Channel shifting. Almost every online e-grocery market saw phenomenal growth in 2020, while drug stores gained new customers by adding grab-and-go and refrigerated aisles. Dollar stores continued pulling people from all other channels, and in 2021 are projected to account for 50 percent of all newly opened stores. Consumers shopped in stores for groceries that they may have rarely visited much in prior years.

The report will be discussed during a June 24 webinar, 1pm EST, free for SFA members/$19 for nonmembers, and will be a featured panel during Fancy Food Show 2021. Read more at specialtyfood.com/state2021

About the Specialty Food Association

The Specialty Food Association (SFA), is the leading trade association and source of information about the $170.4 billion specialty food industry. Founded in 1952 in New York City, the SFA represents makers, importers, retailers, distributors, and others in the trade. The SFA is known for its Fancy Food Shows; the sofi Awards, which honor excellence in specialty food and beverage; Trendspotter Panel Show reports and annual predictions; the State of the Specialty Food Industry Report; the Product Marketplace, featuring specialty foods and beverages in 161 categories and sub-categories; Infinite Aisle, a new ecommerce marketplace that enables SFA Members to make buyer-maker connections and sales year-round; Specialty Food LIVE!, a digital marketplace event; and SFA Feed, the daily source for news, trends and new product information in the specialty food industry (feed.specialtyfood.com).

Facebook: Specialty Food Association

Twitter: @Specialty_Food

LinkedIn: Specialty Food Association

Instagram: @specialtyoodassociation

Hashtags: #ShapetheFutureofFood #SpecialtyFood

SOURCE Specialty Food Association

Related Links

www.specialtyfood.com


Dr. Stewart will set the overall mission, vision and direction for multidisciplinary cancer care and cancer clinical research programs for LSU Health New Orleans and LCMC Health in his new leadership role. He and his team will develop a robust cancer clinical trials program, leverage resources to build an innovative targeted cancer research enterprise and create a comprehensive community outreach and engagement program to reduce cancer risk behaviors and cancer incidence. Initiatives will integrate disease-specific research and care delivery into a comprehensive patient-oriented approach to benefit patients of Louisiana and surrounding regions, including those currently underserved in accessing leading-edge cancer care.

"Developing such a comprehensive cancer center to better care for our community has been one of our long-standing goals, and to see it coming to fruition is an accomplishment for both the LCMC Health system and our academic partner at LSU," said Greg Feirn, CEO, LCMC Health. "The appointment of Dr. Stewart as the center's leader is the vital step needed to achieve our mission of health, care, and education beyond extraordinary."

A board-certified surgical oncologist originally from Shreveport, Dr. Stewart was recruited from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, one of the country's largest and most diverse medical schools. There, he served as a University of Illinois Presidential Scholar, professor of surgery in the College of Medicine, deputy director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center, and physician executive for oncology sciences at the University of Illinois Health.

"As a native of Louisiana, Dr. Stewart has a personal interest in improving quality, expanding access, and reducing inequities in cancer care for the people we serve throughout the state," notes LSU Health New Orleans Medical School Dean Dr. Steve Nelson. "We are thrilled that he has agreed to join our faculty in this leadership capacity. We welcome him back to Louisiana and look forward to working with him on this important partnership with LCMC Health."

Dr. Stewart's undergraduate degree is from Louisiana Tech. He graduated from Howard University College of Medicine and began his residency training in surgery at Temple. He completed two National Institutes of Health Fellowships in tumor immunology and surgical oncology before finishing his surgery residency at Vanderbilt. He then joined the faculty at Wake Forest, where he was a surgeon, researcher, and Director of Health Equity for the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also served as Program Director for the surgery residency, Vice-Chair of the Department of Surgery, and Associate Dean for Clinical Research. Dr. Stewart was recruited to Duke to join the faculty in surgical oncology and serve as Chief of Surgery at the Durham VA Hospital. In 2018, he was recruited to the University of Illinois to serve in his current roles.

In addition to his work in patient care and research, Dr. Stewart also earned an MBA from Wake Forest and completed leadership and public policy training at the Harvard School of Public Health. He remains active in immunotherapy research, cancer clinical trials and research, and policy in cancer care for underserved populations. He has funding for these research interests from the National Cancer Institute, the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, industry partners, and the University of Illinois Presidential Scholars Fund.

Dr. Stewart plans to assume his new duties on July 1, 2021.

LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's flagship health sciences university, LSU Health New Orleans includes a School of Medicine with branch campuses in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSU Health New Orleans faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout the region. In the vanguard of biosciences research in a number of areas in a worldwide arena, the LSU Health New Orleans research enterprise generates jobs and enormous economic impact. LSU Health New Orleans faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, advance treatment, or cure disease. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu, http://www.twitter.com/LSUHealthNO , or http://www.facebook.com/LSUHSC.

About LCMC Health

Established in 2009, LCMC Health is a Louisiana-based, not-for-profit hospital system serving the healthcare needs of the Gulf Coast region. LCMC Health currently manages Children's Hospital New Orleans, East Jefferson General Hospital, New Orleans East Hospital, Touro, University Medical Center New Orleans, and West Jefferson Medical Center.

SOURCE LCMC Health

Related Links

lcmchealth.org


COOK LIVE WITH THE STARS SPECIAL COOK ALONG SERIES, HOSTED BY BILLY HARRIS. Support the fight against COVID by purchasing a ticket to one of four celebrity cook-alongs in the (RED) ALL-STAR KITCHEN, hosted by Billy Harris . Billy will be joined by singer and songwriter , P!NK and Chef Andrew Zimmern , 'Black-ish' star Anthony Anderson and Chef Aaron Sanchez , actor and comedian Joel McHale and Chef Kristen Kish , as well as Al Roker who will cook live with Chef Tyler Florence ! The full the series lineup and recipes include:

Cook Along with Anthony Anderson & Chef Aaron Sanchez: Wednesday, June 16th at 7PM (CT)

Hominy with Pico de Gallo , Aaron's Guacamole & Bananas Faustos



Wednesday, June 16th at Cook Along with P!NK & Chef Andrew Zimmern : Monday, June 21st at 7PM (CT)

Seared Halibut with Miso & Strawberry Rhubarb Flambe with Rum Caramel



Monday, June 21st at Cook Along with Al Roker & Chef Tyler Florence : Wednesday, June 23rd at 7PM (CT)

Alaskan Halibut Fish Tacos



Wednesday, June 23rd at Cook Along with Joel McHale & Chef Kristen Kish : Saturday, June 26th at 7PM (CT)

Ricotta & Parmesan Gnudi Olive Oil, with Summer Squash, Lemon, Tomato, Pistachio & Basil

Tickets to each interactive cook-along are limited and priced at just $25 (plus ticketing fees), and thanks to generous dollar matching by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, every ticket purchased will result in $100 to the Global Fund. The cook-along series is generously supported by Merck, and tickets are available now.

Other upcoming SUMMER REDISCOVE(RED) events and activations include:

A brand new AR VIP lounge on Snapchat, with the full festival lineup, (RED) cook-along recipes, games, and more.



Stand-up comedian, New York Times best-selling writer and actress, Phoebe Robinson , is inviting everyone to go (INSIDE THE PARENS) through a series of honest conversations around the systemic issues facing women and girls, multicultural and the LGBTQ+ communities in the fight against pandemics. Guests include Javier Munoz , Meena Harris , Beatrice Dixon , Alexis McGill Johnson , Carmen Villar and others.



best-selling writer and actress, , is inviting everyone to go through a series of honest conversations around the systemic issues facing women and girls, multicultural and the LGBTQ+ communities in the fight against pandemics. Guests include , , , , and others. Gaming fans can support the fight against COVID this summer by doing what they love - supporting their favorite content creators as they STREAM FOR (RED). Headlined by the legendary DrLupo , fellow content creators gaming for (RED) this coming July include Sylvia 'Queen Arrow' Gathoni in Kenya, Thabo 'Yvng Savage' Moloi in South Africa , with additional creators to be announced!



, fellow content creators gaming for (RED) this coming July include in Kenya, in , with additional creators to be announced! Join Therabody founder and Chief Wellness Officer, Dr. Jason Wersland in a special Instagram Live discussion on wellness and learn how to recover and recharge. For your best night's rest, Blissy will also offer best practices and sleep tips as part of the campaign.



founder and Chief Wellness Officer, in a special Instagram Live discussion on wellness and learn how to recover and recharge. For your best night's rest, will also offer best practices and sleep tips as part of the campaign. All-new (RED) Originals merchandise will be available for purchase at Amazon.com/RED. The collection includes one-of-a-kind apparel and festival favorites, including t-shirts, water bottles, towels, and more, with each purchase going to support (RED)'s campaigns focused on generating funds and awareness for the fight against pandemics.



Elsewhere in the (RED) storefront on Amazon , there are many summer-essential (PRODUCT)RED items available, each generating money to support the life-saving work of the Global Fund.

(RED) Press Contact:

For more information or for interview requests, please contact: Mackenzie Christian | [email protected]

About (RED)

(RED), named for the color of emergency, was founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006 to turn companies into a cavalry to fight the AIDS pandemic. Today, that cavalry is also fighting the urgent threat of COVID and its devastating impact on the world's most vulnerable communities, answering the need for a truly global response.

(RED) partners with the most iconic brands and people to create (RED) products and experiences  all of which raise money for the Global Fund, one of the world's largest funders of global health. (RED) partners include: Amazon, Apple, Balmain, Bank of America, Beats by Dr. Dre, Buffalo Games, Calm, Claro, Durex, eos, Girl Skateboards, Louis Vuitton, Mavin Records, Montblanc, NTWRK, Primark, Salesforce, Starbucks, Telcel, Therabody, TRUFF, U-Mask and Vespa. (RED) Supporters include: Merck and Roche.

To date, (RED) has generated more than $650 million for the Global Fund, helping more than 220 million people. The money raised by (RED)'s partners and campaigns goes directly to strengthen health systems and support life-saving programs in the communities where pandemics hit hardest.

SOURCE (RED)
TORONTO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Superior Gold Inc. ("Superior Gold" or the "Company") (TSXV: SGI) will host its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") as a virtual meeting via live audio webcast on Thursday June 24, 2021 at 10:00am ET.

In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Superior Gold will be conducting a virtual meeting only. Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxyholders along with other interested parties will be able to virtually attend, participate and vote at the Meeting online by accessing the following link: https://virtual-meetings.tsxtrust.com/1146. For full details on how to participate in the online Meeting, please refer to the Company's Management Information Circular (Section 2 - How to Attend and Vote at the Meeting).

Tamara Brown, Interim CEO of Superior Gold will discuss the Company's performance in 2020 and provide a general corporate update followed by an online question and answer session.

Related meeting materials can be found on the Company's page on Sedar www.sedar.com.

About Superior Gold

Superior Gold is a Canadian based gold producer that owns 100% of the Plutonic Gold Operations located in Western Australia. The Plutonic Gold Operations include the Plutonic underground gold mine and central mill, numerous open pit projects including the Plutonic Main Pit push-back project, the Hermes open pit projects and an interest in the Bryah Basin joint venture. Superior Gold is focused on expanding production at the Plutonic Gold Operations and building an intermediate gold producer with superior returns for shareholders.

SOURCE Superior Gold

Related Links

https://www.superior-gold.com/


State Duma adopts bill on geolocation data use in search for missing persons

 RAPSI, Eugeny Varlamov

17:35 10/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 10 (RAPSI)  State Duma lawmakers adopted amendments to the Law Concerning Investigative Activities permitting the use of geolocation data in order to facilitate search for missing persons in the third and final reading on Thursday.

Under the bill, mobile operators would be obliged to provide data on the mobile subscribers geolocation without court rulings for the operative search of missing people.

In March, a coordinator of LizaAlert search and rescue team Oleg Leonov told President Vladimir Putin about the bill. According to Leonov, the draft law is undergoing the second reading in the State Duma. If the initiative is adopted, about 6,000 human lives can be saved, he said.

Putin backed the initiative and expressed confidence that the document would be passed if there were no pitfalls in it.
MINNEAPOLIS, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) today announced voting results from its 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Shareholders elected 12 members of the board of directors, ratified the appointment of Target's independent registered public accounting firm, approved the "Say on Pay" management proposal, and rejected one shareholder proposal.

The Carideo Group, the independent Inspector of Elections, has certified all voting results for the Annual Meeting, held on June 9, 2021. The final tabulation indicates that approximately 428,260,798 million shares were voted, representing 86.1 percent of outstanding shares.

The final tabulation of votes for each proposal is as follows:

1. Shareholders elected each of the following board nominees for a one-year term by a majority of the votes cast:

Nominee Percent For Percent Against Douglas M. Baker, Jr. 98.3 1.7 George S. Barrett 99.2 0.8 Brian C. Cornell 93.7 6.3 Robert L. Edwards 99.4 0.6 Melanie L. Healey 97.9 2.1 Donald R. Knauss 99.3 0.7 Christine A. Leahy 99.6 0.4 Monica C. Lozano 98.2 1.8 Mary E. Minnick 94.6 5.4 Derica W. Rice 98.5 1.5 Kenneth L. Salazar 98.5 1.5 Dmitri L. Stockton 98.9 1.1

2. Shareholders ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as Target's independent registered accounting firm for fiscal 2021:



Percent For 94.6 Against 5.2 Abstain 0.2

3. Shareholders approved, on a non-binding advisory basis, Target's executive compensation ("Say on Pay"):



Percent For 92.9 Against 7.1

4. Shareholders did not approve a non-binding shareholder proposal to amend the proxy access bylaw to remove the shareholder group limit:



Percent For 38.3 Against 60.9 Abstain 0.7

For purposes of determining the level of support needed for a shareholder to be eligible to resubmit a shareholder proposal in a following year the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission uses a simple majority standard. Under that simple majority standard Item 4 received support of 38.6%.

About Target

Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) serves guests at more than 1,900 stores and at Target.com. Since 1946, Target has given 5% of its profit to communities, which today equals millions of dollars a week. For the latest store count or for more information, visit Target.com/Pressroom. For a behind-the-scenes look at Target, visit Target.com/abullseyeview or follow @TargetNews on Twitter.

For more on the Target Foundation, click here.

SOURCE Target Corporation

Related Links

www.target.com


DALLAS, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Trees Foundation (TTF) is proud to announce that the first Dallas Urban Forest Master Plan has officially been adopted by the Dallas City Council. This long-term strategic effort is a major milestone for the city and will provide the framework for action steps to maximize the value of our urban forest.

Texas Trees Foundation commends Mayor Eric Johnson and Dallas City Council members Omar Narvaez and Chad West for their leadership and role in developing the UFMP and obtaining unanimous approval from the Dallas City Council.

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.

Dr. Bobby Lyle, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Texas Trees Foundation noted, "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."

This long-term strategic document specifically addresses urban challenges such as pests and disease control, rapid urban development, and inequitable distribution of tree canopy.

"We want to thank all of the stakeholders that contributed to the success of the Dallas Urban Forest Master Plan," said Janette Monear, President and CEO of the Texas Trees Foundation. "We are dedicated to advancing the 14 recommendations and 56 action items in the plan, and the Texas Trees Foundation looks forward to implementing those solutions. I join my voice with Dr. Lyle, Lyda Hill, and our entire Board of Trustees in commending the Dallas City Council for adopting this important plan."

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 Dallas Urban Forest Master Plan, please email Joshua Wilbanks at [email protected].

Related Images

dallas-urban-forest-master-plan.png

Dallas Urban Forest Master Plan

SOURCE Texas Trees Foundation
SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity investment firm focused on the software and technology-enabled services sector, today affirmed its commitment to purchase additional ironSource shares, should they become available through redemptions by shareholders of Thoma Bravo Advantage ("TBA") (NYSE:TBA), upon closing of TBA's previously announced business combination with ironSource Ltd. ("ironSource"), a leading business platform for the App Economy. The transaction is further supported by a $1.3 billion oversubscribed Class A ordinary share PIPE led by a $300 million investment by an affiliate of Thoma Bravo.

Pursuant to a support agreement entered into concurrently with the Merger Agreement between TBA and ironSource, in the event that redemptions by TBA's shareholders exceed $150 million, Thoma Bravo Advantage Sponsor, LLC ("Sponsor") has the choice to either (i) procure that affiliates of Thoma Bravo, L.P. commit to fund the amount of the excess redemptions by purchasing additional ironSource shares at closing, or (ii) surrender a number of TBA founder shares having a value equal to the excess redemptions, in each case up to $250 million. In the event redemptions exceed $150 million, Sponsor intends to exercise its right to purchase additional ironSource shares equal to the amount of such excess redemptions up to $250 million. An affiliate of Thoma Bravo, L.P. will provide the funding for the additional investment, with contributions from managing partners of Thoma Bravo, L.P.

"ironSource is a one-of-a-kind software company that combines scale, growth and profitability with a talented management team that has a track record of innovation and success in a rapidly expanding market," said Orlando Bravo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TBA and a founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo. "It has been clear from the start that we have an aligned vision and shared conviction about the value creation Thoma Bravo and ironSource can drive together. ironSource presents a highly unique opportunity to leverage our software and financial expertise, and we look forward to deepening our partnership with the company as it enters this exciting, new chapter."

As previously announced by TBA, the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of TBA (the "Extraordinary General Meeting") to approve the pending business combination between TBA and ironSource is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, at 10:00 am Eastern Time. Holders of TBA's Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares at the close of business on the record date of May 24, 2021 are entitled to notice of the Extraordinary General Meeting and to vote at the Extraordinary General Meeting.

About Thoma Bravo

Thoma Bravo is one of the largest private equity firms in the world, with more than $78 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2021. The firm invests in growth-oriented, innovative companies operating in the software and technology sectors. Leveraging the firm's deep sector expertise and strategic and operational capabilities, Thoma Bravo collaborates with its portfolio companies to implement operating best practices, drive growth initiatives and make accretive acquisitions intended to accelerate revenue and earnings. Over the past 20 years, the firm has acquired more than 300 companies representing over $85 billion in enterprise value. The firm has offices in Chicago, Miami and San Francisco. For more information, visit thomabravo.com.

About Thoma Bravo Advantage

Thoma Bravo Advantage is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purposes of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. Its Class A ordinary shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") under the symbol "TBA." Thoma Bravo Advantage is sponsored by Thoma Bravo Advantage Sponsor LLC, which was formed by individuals affiliated with Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled software services sector. Thoma Bravo Advantage was formed for the purpose of executing a business combination in the software industry.

About ironSource

ironSource is a leading business platform that enables mobile content creators to prosper within the app economy. App developers use ironSource's platform to turn their apps into successful, scalable businesses, leveraging a comprehensive set of software solutions which help them grow and engage users, monetize content, and analyze and optimize business performance to drive more overall growth. The ironSource platform also empowers telecom operators to create a richer device experience, incorporating relevant app and service recommendations to engage users throughout the lifecycle of the device. By providing a comprehensive business platform for the core constituents of the app economy, ironSource allows customers to focus on what they do best, creating great apps and user experiences, while we enable their business expansion in the app economy. For more information please visit www.is.com

Important Information and Where to Find It

This press release relates to a proposed transaction between ironSource and Thoma Bravo Advantage. In connection with the proposed transaction, ironSource filed a Registration Statement on Form F-4 (the "Registration Statement") with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which includes TBA's Proxy Statement for the Extraordinary General Meeting (the "Proxy Statement") and certain related documents in connection with Thoma Bravo Advantage's solicitation of proxies for the vote by Thoma Bravo Advantage's shareholders with respect to the proposed transaction, and a prospectus of ironSource. Thoma Bravo Advantage has also filed the definitive Proxy Statement with the SEC.

This communication does not contain all the information that should be considered concerning the proposed transaction and is not intended to form the basis of any investment decision or any other decision in respect of the proposed transaction. Before making any voting or investment decision, investors and security holders are urged to read the Registration Statement, the Proxy Statement 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.

The Proxy Statement has been mailed to shareholders of Thoma Bravo Advantage as of May 24, 2021. Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the Registration Statement, the Proxy Statement and all other relevant documents filed or that will be filed with the SEC by ironSource and Thoma Bravo Advantage through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. In addition, the documents filed by ironSource may be obtained free of charge from ironSource's website at www.is.com or by written request to ironSource at ironSource Ltd., Derech Menachem Begin 121, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, and the documents filed by Thoma Bravo Advantage may be obtained free of charge from Thoma Bravo Advantage's website at www.thomabravoadvantage.com or by written request to Thoma Bravo Advantage, 150 N. Riverside Plaza, Suite 2800, Chicago, Illinois 60606.

Participants in the Solicitation

ironSource and TBA and their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from TBA's shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction. 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. You may obtain free copies of these documents as described in the preceding paragraph.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to the proposed transaction between TBA and ironSource. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this communication, including statements regarding ironSource's, TBA's or the combined company's future financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "targets," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, ironSource's or TBA's expectations concerning the outlook for their or the combined company's business, productivity, plans and goals for future operational improvements and capital investments, operational performance, future market conditions or economic performance and developments in the capital and credit markets and expected future financial performance, as well as any information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations of the combined company. Forward-looking statements also include statements regarding the expected benefits of the proposed transaction between ironSource and TBA.

Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results or events may differ materially from those projected or implied in those statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) the risk that the transaction may not be completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect the price of TBA's securities; (ii) the failure to satisfy the conditions to the consummation of the proposed transaction, including the adoption of the merger agreement by the shareholders of TBA and ironSource, the satisfaction of the minimum trust account amount following redemptions by TBA's public shareholders and the receipt of certain governmental and regulatory approvals; (iii) the lack of a third party valuation in determining whether to pursue the proposed transaction; (iv) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement; (v) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the transaction on ironSource's business relationships, performance, and business generally; (vi) risks that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans of ironSource and potential difficulties in ironSource employee retention as a result of the proposed transaction; (vii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against ironSource or against TBA related to the merger agreement or the proposed transaction; (vii) the ability of ironSource to list its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange; (ix) volatility in the price of the combined company's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive industry in which ironSource operates, variations in performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting ironSource's business and changes in the combined capital structure; (x) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the proposed transaction, and to identify and realize additional opportunities; (xi) ironSource's markets are rapidly evolving and may decline or experience limited growth; (xii) ironSource's reliance on operating system providers and app stores to support its platform; (xiii) ironSource's ability to compete effectively in the markets in which it operates; (xiv) ironSource's quarterly results of operations may fluctuate for a variety of reasons; (xv) failure to maintain and enhance the ironSource brand; (xvi) ironSource's dependence on its ability to retain and expand its existing customer relationships and attract new customers; (xvii) ironSource's reliance on its customers that contribute more than $100,000 of annual revenue; (xviii) ironSource's ability to successfully and efficiently manage its current and potential future growth; (xix) ironSource's dependence upon the continued growth of the app economy and the increased usage of smartphones, tablets and other connected devices; (xx) ironSource's dependence upon the success of the gaming and mobile app ecosystem and the risks generally associated with the gaming industry; (xxi) ironSource's, and ironSource's competitors', ability to detect or prevent fraud on its platforms; (xxii) failure to prevent security breaches or unauthorized access to ironSource's or its third-party service providers data; (xxiii) the global scope of ironSource's operations, which are subject to laws and regulations worldwide, many of which are unsettled and still developing; (xxiv) the rapidly changing and increasingly stringent laws, contractual obligations and industry standards relating to privacy, data protection, data security and the protection of children; and (xxv) the effects of health epidemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

ironSource and TBA caution you against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect current beliefs and are based on information currently available as of the date a forward-looking statement is made. Forward-looking statements set forth herein speak only as of the date of this communication. Neither ironSource nor TBA undertakes any obligation to revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs. In the event that any forward-looking statement is updated, no inference should be made that ironSource or TBA will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any other forward-looking statements. Any corrections or revisions and other important assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements, including discussions of significant risk factors, may appear, up to the consummation of the proposed transaction, in TBA's public filings with the SEC or, upon and following the consummation of the proposed transaction, in ironSource's public filings with the SEC, which are or will be (as appropriate) accessible at www.sec.gov, and which you are advised to consult.

Market, ranking and industry data used throughout this communication, including statements regarding market size and technology adoption rates, is based on the good faith estimates of ironSource's management, which in turn are based upon ironSource's management's review of internal surveys, independent industry surveys and publications, including reports by Altman Solon, App Annie, AppsFlyer, Apptopia, eMarketer, Newzoo, Omdia and Sensor Tower and other third party research and publicly available information. These data involve a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. While ironSource is not aware of any misstatements regarding the industry data presented herein, its estimates involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed above.

SOURCE Thoma Bravo Advantage; ironSource
CANTON, Ohio, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TimkenSteel (NYSE: TMST) (timkensteel.com) and the United Steelworkers will begin discussions on August 9 regarding the current labor agreement that is set to expire on September 27. The current agreement covers approximately 1,180 bargaining employees at the company's Canton, Ohio operations.

"Our goal is to reach a fair, equitable agreement that supports the company's vision and provides job security for our employees," said Mike Williams, president and CEO. "We hope to reach a timely agreement as our industry and customers endure rapidly changing market dynamics, and our company continues to focus on achieving sustainable profitability through all cycles while operating safely and responsibly each and every day."

Consistent with prior practice, the company will reserve further comment until discussions are complete, although periodic updates will be posted on www.timkensteel.com/agreement.

About TimkenSteel Corporation

TimkenSteel (NYSE: TMST) manufactures high-performance carbon and alloy steel products in Canton, Ohio serving demanding applications in automotive, energy and a variety of industrial end markets. The company is a premier U.S. producer of alloy steel bars (up to 16 inches in diameter), seamless mechanical tubing and precision components. In the business of making high-quality steel primarily from recycled materials for more than 100 years, TimkenSteel's proven expertise contributes to the performance of our customers' products. The company employs approximately 2,000 people and had sales of $831 million in 2020. For more information, please visit us at www.timkensteel.com.

SOURCE TimkenSteel Corp.

Related Links

http://www.timkensteel.com


"Pep Boys' promise to our customers is 'We go further to help you go farther,' and our Top Techs are the ones who truly deliver on this promise day in and day out," said Brian Kaner, CEO, Pep Boys. "As we celebrate our centennial this year, we're especially proud of our Top Techs for demonstrating the same values on which our business was founded 100 years ago."

The 2021 Top Tech award winners are Loy Chour, Anaheim, California; John Morin, St. Augustine, Florida.; Dan Stone, Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania; David Wade, Lone Tree, Colorado.; and Jose Massanet, Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. The Top Techs were selected based on multiple factors, including ASE certifications, strong productivity and performance metrics, mentorship, and living the Company's values. The respective stores of each Top Tech now have the distinction of being home to the country's most outstanding technicians.

Automotive Service Professionals Month has been designated by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), an independent non-profit organization that has worked to improve the quality of vehicle repair and service by testing and certifying automotive professionals, to recognize vehicle service professionals who are proficient, credentialed and committed to excellence.

Pep Boys leads the industry in supporting technical training by sponsoring Team Members' certifications and providing paid time for testing. Given the critical role service technicians play at Pep Boys, the Company continues its emphasis on the "Race to 2026" initiative designed to recruit talented technicians in the automotive industry and close America's skills gap. The "Race to 2026" program includes initiatives to attract workers to the skilled trades, while supporting its own employee network through Top Tech and similar recognition, as well as a scholarship program, tuition assistance, apprenticeships and additional Company-sponsored training and certifications.

About Pep Boys

Pep Boys is driven by its promise to its customers: We go further to help you go farther. Founded in 1921 by military veterans, generations of drivers have counted on Pep Boys ASE-certified Pros to care for their cars. With a national network of Service and Tire Centers, millions of vehicles and fleets pass through Pep Boys bays each year. Our commitment to being the ONE our communities count on is demonstrated through our exceptional customer experience and support of the critical technical training initiatives needed to close America's skills gap. For more information, visit www.pepboys.com.

Media Contact

Arianna Stefanoni Sherlock, Pep Boys

609-969-8349, [email protected]



Christine Bowser, Pinnacle Media

330-688-3515, [email protected]

SOURCE Pep Boys

Related Links

www.pepboys.com


SEATTLE, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Episode Eleven of the Plastic Surgery Podcast hosted by Seattle plastic surgeon, Dr. Javad Sajan, features Dr. Sajan's patient, Kennedy Pridgen. Kennedy underwent an male to female gender affirming breast augmentation surgery with 800cc high profile silicone breast implants. Many surgeons would say that this surgery is impossible to perform through a transaxillary, or armpit, incision because of the size and type of breast implant Kennedy wanted.

Throughout the episode, Kennedy discusses coming to terms with her gender identity, experiencing rape as a teenager, coming out to her family, moving to Seattle, and medically transitioning. When she decided to undergo breast augmentation, many said that the procedure she wanted would be impossible. Dr. Sajan disagreed and told Kennedy that he could create the breasts she wanted without scarring on the chest.

Concerning her surgery, Dr. Sajan says during the episode, "You [Kennedy] wanted to go really big. And because you're ethnic like me, we didn't want to put a scar on your chest. So, we decided to go through the armpit. Now, most doctors say you can't do more than 300ccs through the armpit...We did 800ccs high profile through the armpit under the muscle. And the reason that's so hard is when you make the space for the implant, it has to be perfect."

Dr. Sajan was recommended to Kennedy multiple times and she eventually ended up creating a GoFundMe to get the money for her gender affirming breast augmentation. Tune in to the full episode to find out more about Kennedy's journey, how she raised the money, and the unique challenges of her surgery.

About Plastic Surgeon Podcast: The Plastic Surgeon Podcast was created by top Seattle plastic surgeon, Dr. Javad Sajan who is world renowned for his skill and specialization in transgender surgeries. Dr. Sajan regularly performs many transgender procedures including MTF breast augmentation, FTM top surgery, and tracheal shave in his Seattle plastic surgery clinic, Allure Esthetic . You can find Plastic Surgeon Podcast on all major podcast platforms:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/plastic-surgeon/id1518332299

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2TIxhNsxnrqOMhNAq4NkM8

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/plastic-surgeon

iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-plastic-surgeon-65258343/

Contact: realdrseattle Medical Marketing

Phone: 206-787-0784

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Plastic Surgeon Podcast
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Unite Private Networks (UPN), a leading provider of high-capacity, fiber-based communication networks is pleased to announce a major network expansion in the Little Rock metro area.

The new 114-mile route will create a diverse ring around the metro and expand UPN's existing infrastructure to approximately 235 fiber route miles in the Little Rock metro. The network expansion will traverse the 630 and 430 corridors, as well as throughout downtown and the major business enterprise areas including West Little Rock (along Chenal Parkway), North Little Rock, Riverdale, Northshore Business Park, and the Port of Little Rock. Additionally, it extends UPN's presence into Pine Bluff.

Business customers will now have access to a full array of lit fiber services that are scalable from 100 Mbps to 100 Gbps, including carrier-grade internet, dedicated data transport service, private line connections to the Cloud, and fiber-based voice service.

"UPN already has a significant presence in Arkansas and this expansion is a continuation of our commitment to further serve the entire Little Rock market," said Walt White, Regional Vice President of Sales at Unite Private Networks. "Our metropolitan optical ethernet (MOE) rings extend throughout the metro area, are survivable in the event of a fiber cut, and connect back into our core network. We're thrilled to expand our existing network infrastructure in Little Rock and look forward to working with even more businesses here."

"Strong fiber infrastructure is critical to Little Rock and the ability to keep and attract more companies in our growing business, financial, healthcare and manufacturing sectors. I'm excited to see Unite Private Networks expanding its fiber network and providing service options for enterprise customers in our business community that absolutely need and depend on high-level and reliable data services," said Bryan Day, Executive Director for the Little Rock Port Authority.

About Unite Private Networks: UPN provides high-bandwidth, fiber-based communications networks and services to schools, governments, carriers, data centers, hospitals, and enterprise business customers across a 21-state service area. Service offerings include dark and lit fiber, private line, metro-optical Ethernet, Internet access, data center services, voice, and other customized solutions. Headquartered in Kansas City, MO, UPN has been providing customer focused communications solutions since 1998. For more information on UPN, please visit www.uniteprivatenetworks.com , or connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:

Brandi Tubb

816-903-9400

[email protected]

SOURCE Unite Private Networks

Related Links

upnllc.com


DUBLIN, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "The US Rosacea Market: Size & Forecasts with Impact Analysis of COVID-19 (2021-2025 Edition)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The US Rosacea Market: Size & Forecasts with Impact Analysis of COVID-19 (2021-2025 Edition), provides a detailed analysis of the US rosacea market with market sizing and growth pattern.

The analysis includes rosacea market in terms of value, volume and number of patients seeking treatment. The report also provides an overview of the US dermatology drugs market in terms of value and market share by segments.

The US rosacea market has grown over the past few years and is projected to grow at a high growth rate on the back of rising incidence of disease, and aging population.

The growth in the market will be driven by unhealthy eating habits and environmental factors, rising disposable income, ageing population, escalating healthcare expenditure, high prevalence of rosacea, etc. Yet the market growth is restrained by factors such as lack of awareness and knowledge and stringent government regulations for the approval of new drugs.



The COVID-19 pandemic has led to decline in appointments of rosacea patients with dermatologists mainly due to travel restrictions. Thereby, impacting the market growth negatively as far as 2020 is concerned.

Furthermore, the report also assesses the key opportunities available in the market and summarizes the dynamic forces that are and will be accountable for growth of the industry. Growth of the US rosacea market has also been forecasted for the period 2020-2024, taking into consideration previous growth outlines, growth drivers and the existing and forthcoming trends.



Vyne Therapeutics (Foamix Pharmaceuticals Ltd.), Galderma, Sol-Gel Technologies Ltd., and Abbvie (Allergan Plc) are some of the major players whose company profiling has been done in the report. This segment of the report summarizes business overview, financial overview and the business strategies adopted by respective companies.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Introduction

2.1 Overview of Rosacea

2.1.1 Symptoms of Rosacea

2.1.2 Causes of Rosacea

2.1.3 Types of Rosacea

2.1.4 Treatment of Rosacea



3. The US Market Analysis

3.1 The US Dermatology Drugs Market Analysis

3.1.1 The US Dermatology Drugs Market by Value

3.1.2 The US Dermatology Drugs Market by Segments (Rosacea and Others)

3.2 The US Rosacea Market Analysis

3.2.1 The US Rosacea Market by Value

3.2.2 The US Rosacea Market by Volume

3.2.3 The US Rosacea Market by Number of Patients Seeking Treatment



4. Impact of COVID-19

4.1 Impact on the US Rosacea Market

4.1.1 Potential Opportunities



5. Market Dynamics

5.1 Growth Drivers

5.1.1 Aging Population

5.1.2 Rising Disposable Personal Income

5.1.3 Escalating Healthcare Expenditure

5.1.4 Unhealthy Eating Habits and Environmental Factors

5.1.5 High Prevalence Rate of Rosacea

5.2 Challenges

5.2.1 Lack of Awareness

5.2.2 Stringent Government Regulations

5.3 Market Trends

5.3.1 Approval of New Drugs



6. Competitive Landscape

6.1 The US Rosacea Market Players: A Financial Comparison

6.2 The US Rosacea Drugs Competitive Landscape

6.3 The US Rosacea Market Players Competitive Landscape



7. Company Profiles

7.1 Business Overview

7.2 Financial Overview

7.3 Business Strategy

Vyne Therapeutics (Foamix Pharmaceuticals Ltd.)

Galderma

Sol-Gel Technologies Ltd.

Abbvie (Allergan Plc)

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/od9nve

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


Adding a UBI product helps USAA achieve its mission by serving members with personalized pricing and control over the cost of their insurance. USAA's financial strength makes acquiring new technologies one way to accelerate the association's innovation and speed its entry into this growing market.

"The acquisition of Noblr, Inc. increases our competitiveness in the marketplace and adds the choice of UBI capability for our members," said Wayne Peacock, USAA President and Chief Executive Officer. "Members will get personalized pricing that fits their risk and usage profile, better control over the cost of their auto policies and an exceptional end-to-end digital experience."

"USAA has always been an innovator, and the addition of Noblr, Inc.'s technology platform is another example of our commitment to deliver world-class service and experiences to our members," added Peacock.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for the Noblr team to quickly and significantly expand the implementation of usage-based telematics to more states and to serve our military families, USAA members," said Gary Tolman, Noblr, Inc. CEO and co-founder. "We look forward to being a part of the USAA team as they embark on their next century."

USAA plans to roll out UBI nationally over the next three years, starting with the eight states where Noblr is currently available and expanding to additional states this year.

The acquisition complements the news that USAA's behavior-based insurance (BBI) program, SafePilot, grew 200% in 2020 and that nearly half of new policyholders in the states where SafePilot is available opt in to the program.

The Noblr, Inc. UBI program will be separate from SafePilot, which primarily uses behavioral data. UBI and BBI programs incentivize drivers to examine their driving habits, ultimately creating safer roadways while offering savings. Both programs will be optional for members.

USAA expects the acquisition to close later this year. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

USAA

Founded in 1922 by a group of military officers, USAA is among the leading providers of insurance, banking and investment and retirement solutions to more than 13 million members of the U.S. military, veterans who have honorably served and their families. Headquartered in San Antonio, USAA has offices in seven U.S. cities and three overseas locations and employs approximately 36,000 people worldwide. Each year, the company contributes to national and local nonprofits in support of military families and communities where employees live and work. For more information about USAA, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@USAA), or visit usaa.com.

Noblr, Inc.

Noblr is smart car insurance for smart drivers that rewards its members' good driving habits by giving highly accurate, competitive rates that are based on, among other things, time of driving, quality of driving, and miles driven. Noblr is an innovator in terms of its proprietary insurance solutions and its corporate structure. Through a reciprocal exchange model, Noblr customers are members who help steer the company's direction. Headquartered in San Francisco with a service hub in Austin, Texas, Noblr, Inc.'s experienced team of seasoned insurance and technology leaders have received investments from top-tier companies like Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd., White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. and SiriusPoint Ltd. The Noblr, Inc. team and its members are working together to change the way we think about driving and our insurance. For more information, please visit noblr.com.

Contact: USAA Media Relations

[email protected]

210-498-0940

USAA on Twitter: @usaa

SOURCE USAA

Related Links

http://www.usaa.com


CHICAGO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Usage-Based Insurance Market for ICE & Electric Vehicle by Package (PAYD, PHYD, MHYD), Technology (OBD-II, Black box, Smartphone, Embedded), Vehicle Age (New, Old), Device Offering (BYOD, Company Provided) and Region - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Usage-Based Insurance Market is projected to reach USD 66.8 billion by 2026 from an estimated USD 19.6 billion in 2021, at a CAGR of 27.7% during the forecast period. The growth of the Usage-Based Insurance Market is influenced by factors such as the increasing sales of telematics-equipped vehicles and government regulations on safety and telematics services. In addition, the anticipated increase in demand for connected cars and lower insurance premiums compared to regular insurance are expected to boost the market growth. Therefore, the Usage-Based Insurance Market is expected to witness significant growth in the future.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Usage-Based Insurance Market"

141  Tables

56  Figures

190  Pages

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id= 154621760

Light-Duty Vehicle (LDV) is expected to lead the market during the forecast period

Light-duty vehicles constitute passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. The adoption rate of UBI is higher in LDVs than HDVs. Light-duty vehicles can be easily fitted with OBD-II, black box, or other devices to access usage-based insurance plans. Additionally, as LDVs are generally driven by a single person, UBI plans based on driver behavior are ideal for this vehicle segment. Also, leading companies are developing various products and solutions for LDVs such as ride-sharing and autonomous vehicles. Thus, in the coming years, LDVs are expected to witness strong UBI penetration.

Smartphone segment is expected to be the fastest-growing market

According to MarketsandMarkets analysis, a smartphone is a fastest-growing segment, by technology, of the Usage-Based Insurance Market owing to the increasing popularity of mobile telematics. In the current market scenario, black box is widely used as it offers reliable data collection and has gained high customer acceptance. The major market is expected to be concentrated in North America and Europe owing to the presence of key players, affinity towards advanced automotive technologies, and relatively higher awareness of UBI than Asia Pacific.

Request FREE Sample Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id= 154621760

North America is expected to lead the market during the forecast period

North America is estimated to be the largest market for usage-based insurance owing to the high adoption rate of usage-based insurance in new and on-road vehicles equipped with telematics units. Most of the cars sold in the US and Canada belong to the premium segment. The dominance of premium cars increases the adoption rate of usage-based insurance as their regular insurance is very high. With the help of usage-based insurance, vehicle owners can save up to 30% on insurance. In addition, the increasing number of companies offering hardware to avail usage-based insurance has also contributed to the growth of the market.

Key Market Players:

The Usage-Based Insurance Market is dominated by globally established players such as UnipolSai Assicurazioni S.p.A (Italy), Progressive Casualty Insurance Company (US), Allstate Insurance Company (US), State Farm Automobile Mutual Insurance Company (US), and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (US).

Browse Related Reports:

Telematics Solutions Market by Service (ACN, eCall, RSA, Remote Diagnostics, Insurance Risk Assessment, Driver Behavior, Billing & Other), Form & Vehicle Type, Component, Connectivity, Aftermarket, Fleet Management Service, Region - Global Forecast to 2025

Connected Car Market by Service (OTA Update, Navigation, Cybersecurity, Multimedia Streaming, Social Media, e-Call, Autopilot, Home Integration & Other), Form, End Market (OE, Aftermarket), Network, Transponder, Hardware 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: [email protected]

Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/usage-based-insurance-market.asp

Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com

Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/usage-based-insurance.asp

SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
Prosecutor General asked to intervene in situation with war burials desecration

 RAPSI, Maria Petrova

18:07 10/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 10 (RAPSI)  Russias Civic Chamber has appealed to the Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov requesting to check the situation with the desecration of burials dated back to the Great Patriotic War in the Tosno District of the Leningrad Region.

Secretary of the Chamber Lydia Mikheyeva thinks it necessary to suspend any construction activity on the land plots where the remains of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland were found, until the measures to perpetuate their memory are completed.

Earlier, Chairwoman of the Commission on Youth, Volunteerism and Patriotic Education Elena Tsunayeva has said that this situation had been under the control of the Civic Chamber since last year, when a statement was received from participants in the search movement that they could not organize search work on land plots owned by Evrika company.

The search movement participants were simply not allowed there, despite the official data and evidence that the remains of our soldiers and military graves unaccounted for are there. According to the available archival data, there are at least 100 mass graves of soldiers of the 56th rifle division.

By now, five soldiers' medallions have been found there, and there is hope they could be read, the social activist said. According to Tsunayeva, investigators should take a firm position on the issue, because this is the first precedent. Certainly, there are laws in place that protect unaccounted graves of fallen soldiers, but it is very difficult to register violations of such laws by land plot owners.

The Chamber hosted discussions on amendments to the law on perpetuating the memory of those killed in the defense of the Fatherland and other legislative acts related to the topic of search work. All the participants expressed the opinion that it was necessary to toughen the respective punishments and introduce more severe measures with respect to repeated violations of the relevant legislation, Tsunayeva stressed.

The Investigative Directorate of the federal Investigative Committee for the Leningrad Region opened a criminal case over destruction or damage of military graves, monuments, or other memorial structures and objects.
NEW YORK and BRISTOL, England, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

Vertical Aerospace is a leading UK-headquartered engineering and aeronautical business founded in 2016 by energy tech entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick to develop electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft.





Microsoft's M12, American Airlines, Avolon, Honeywell, and Rolls-Royce all investing via the PIPE. Rocket Internet and 40 North key financial investors.





American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Avolon, Honeywell, Rolls-Royce, GKN and Solvay all providing individual expertise through partnerships with Vertical.





Up to 1000 aircraft pre-orders with launch customers American Airlines, and Avolon, with pre-order option for Virgin Atlantic, valued at up to $4bn .





American Airlines and Vertical expect to work on passenger operations and infrastructure development in the USA . Virgin Atlantic and Vertical to explore JV to develop launch of Virgin Atlantic branded short haul eVTOL network in the UK.





Outstanding in-house engineering team assembled with backgrounds from the senior levels of Rolls-Royce, Airbus, UK Ministry of Defence, Jaguar Land Rover and General Dynamics.





Targeted profitability and cash flow breakeven with annual sales of less than 100 aircraft.





Commercial operations planned for 2024 once certified under EASA; intends to be certified to same safety standards as large commercial aircraft.





Supported by the Broadstone team, with proven investment track record, delivering 48% IRR and 3.5x MOM returns (based on the weighted averages from investments during the period March 1993 to date).





Attractive entry point for investors structured to provide alignment with founder and sponsor. Stephen Fitzpatrick to remain largest shareholder.





Transaction is expected to close in second half of 2021 and values the combined company at a pro forma enterprise value of approximately $1.84 billion and pro forma equity value of $2.2 billion at the $10.00 per share PIPE price. Transaction expected to result in gross proceeds of $394 million .

Vertical Aerospace Group Ltd. ("Vertical"), a leading UK-headquartered engineering and aeronautical business developing electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, has entered into a definitive agreement for a business combination with Broadstone Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: BSN) ("Broadstone"), a special purpose acquisition company. The transaction will result in Vertical becoming a publicly-traded company, with a pro forma equity value of approximately $2.2 billion. Vertical will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange following the combination, which is expected to close in the second half of 2021, under the ticker EVTL.

Vertical is also announcing today investments from American Airlines, Avolon, Honeywell and Rolls-Royce, who have invested in the PIPE and are part of Vertical's strategic partner ecosystem; Microsoft's M12, 40 North and Rocket Internet SE have also invested in the business.

Commercial partnerships and individual conditional pre-orders have also been agreed with American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Avolon for up to 1,000 aircraft in total, providing a direct route to market and opportunity to work together on key go-to-market workstreams.

Vertical's mission is to make air travel personal, on-demand and carbon-free through designing, manufacturing, selling and servicing one of the world's best eVTOL aircraft, the VA-X4. It will travel at speeds over 200mph, be near silent when in flight, produce zero emissions and at low cost per passenger mile.

The VA-X4 is expected to be certified to the same standards as large commercial airliners and therefore is expected to be 100x safer than a helicopter. Vertical intends to certify the VA-X4 to European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards  the most stringent global standards  in order to unlock a large UAM TAM of $1 trillion by 2040, with an upside TAM of $4.4 trillion by 2040[1].

Vertical was founded in 2016 by Stephen Fitzpatrick, an established entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Ovo Group, a leading energy company determined to create a world without carbon and which includes Ovo Energy, the UK's second-biggest energy retailer with revenues of $6.5 billion. Stephen remains the majority shareholder in this business.

Over the past five years, Vertical has focused on building an experienced and senior team in the eVTOL industry who have over 1,200 combined years of experience, and have certified and supported over 30 different civil and military aircraft and propulsion systems. This includes:

Michael Cervenka , former Head of Future Technologies at Rolls-Royce,

, former Head of Future Technologies at Rolls-Royce, Eric Samson , former VP Engineering and Chief Engineer at General Dynamics,

, former VP Engineering and Chief Engineer at General Dynamics, Tim Williams , former Chief Engineer of Rolls-Royce,

, former Chief Engineer of Rolls-Royce, Madhu Bhabuta, former Chief Technology Officer of the UK's Ministry of Defence,

Dr. Limhi Somerville , former Technical Manager at Jaguar Land Rover responsible for the cell facility, battery functional safety and advanced cell development,

, former Technical Manager at Jaguar Land Rover responsible for the cell facility, battery functional safety and advanced cell development, Paul Harper , former UK Chief Airworthiness Engineer at Airbus, and

, former UK Chief Airworthiness Engineer at Airbus, and Eduardo Dominguez , former CEO of Airbus' Urban Mobility.

By combining this world-class team with a deliberately built ecosystem of top-tier partners, Vertical has assembled a broad mix of people and organisations with both commercial track records as well as experience testing, building and certifying some of the world's most advanced aircraft.

Vertical's ecosystem approach draws on R&D commitments and the commercial and manufacturing expertise of partners such as Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, GKN and Solvay alongside an in-house focus on high value-add design and proprietary technology, creating an asset-light business model with highly attractive unit economics. These strategic partnerships accelerate Vertical's path to certification, de-risk execution, allow for a lean cost structure, and will enable production at scale.

As a result of this, Vertical is able to achieve profitability and cash flow breakeven with annual sales of less than 100 aircraft (calculated as number of aircraft sales required to reach positive net income and cash flow in 2024).

American has agreed to pre-order, subject to certain conditions precedent and future agreed upon milestones, up to 250 aircraft, and an option to order an additional 100 aircraft. Avolon has agreed to pre-order up to 310 aircraft with an option for a further 190, and Virgin Atlantic has an option to purchase between 50 and 150 aircraft.

In addition, all parties will work together towards the prompt certification and deployment of aircraft in commercial operations. In the United States of America, American Airlines expects to work with Vertical on passenger operations and infrastructure development. In the United Kingdom, Virgin Atlantic and Vertical expect to work together to explore the joint venture launch of a Virgin Atlantic branded short haul eVTOL network, including operations and infrastructure development.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Vertical CEO and Founder, said: "This is the most exciting time in aviation for almost a century; electrification will transform flying in the 21st century in the same way the jet engine did 70 years ago. Today's announcement brings together some of the largest and most respected technology and aeronautical businesses in the world and together we can achieve our aim of making the VA-X4 the first zero carbon aircraft that most people will fly on. The United Kingdom is already a global leader in aerospace innovation and we believe Vertical Aerospace will be the British engineering champion to drive the aviation industry forward."

Derek Kerr, Chief Financial Officer, of American Airlines said: "Emerging technologies are critical in the race to reduce carbon emissions and we are excited to partner with Vertical to develop the next generation of electric aircraft. For years, American has led the industry in investing in newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft. Today's partnership is another example of that commitment, and an investment in the future of air mobility. We are excited about the prospect of what this could mean for our customers, and our company."

Domhnal Slattery, CEO of Avolon, the world's second largest aircraft lessor, said: "Avolon is proud to be a launch customer for the VA-X4 aircraft, demonstrating our commitment to a net zero carbon economy and to driving innovation in the global aviation sector. Our order with Vertical will also accelerate the inevitable commercial roll-out of zero emissions aircraft. Before the end of this decade, we expect zero emission urban air mobility, enabled by eVTOLs, to play an increasingly important role in the global commercial aviation market."

Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, said: "With innovation and sustainability leadership firmly in our DNA, we are excited to be partnering with Vertical Aerospace to pioneer sustainable and zero emissions air travel in the UK. We pride ourselves on building enduring strategic partnerships and are thrilled to be working alongside Vertical in its mission to bring eVTOL travel to the UK. Our partnership includes an option for Virgin Atlantic to acquire up to 150 eVTOL VA-X4 aircraft and exploration of a Joint Venture to bring short haul, electric vehicle connectivity to cities and our UK airport hubs, starting with London Heathrow as well as Manchester and London Gatwick. Combining the design, engineering and manufacturing expertise of Vertical with the award-winning customer experience and operational excellence of Virgin Atlantic."

Broadstone was founded by British entrepreneurs Hugh Osmond, Marc Jonas and Edward Hawkes, who have led and managed investments in excess of 10 billion over a 20-year period and delivered an IRR of 48% and equity multiple of 3.5x (based on the weighted averages from investments during the period March 1993 to date). The Broadstone team has a proven track record of identifying markets ready for innovation and disruption and backing exceptional management teams to create industry leading businesses, across sectors and generating outstanding returns for investors. The strength of the Vertical leadership team, coupled with a highly commercial approach and a clear route to market, are among the key attractions for the Broadstone investment team.

Hugh Osmond, Chairman of Broadstone, said: "Transportation is one of the next big sectors of the global economy to be disrupted at scale. Vertical has a clear commercial plan to challenge short-haul air travel, and to create new markets where neither cars nor public transport can cope with demand. Stephen has built an outstanding management and engineering team with extensive experience in navigating the aviation regulatory approval processes. The team also has an outstanding track record of delivering projects commercially. In our assessment, Vertical has a considerable lead over competitors in this field  and has a clear business model to achieve commercialisation and significant growth."

Mike Madsen, President and CEO of Honeywell Aerospace, said: "Vertical and Honeywell are great partners because our relationship combines the strengths of both companies. Honeywell brings state-of-the-art flight controls and avionics systems, and the Vertical team has a tremendous history of innovation and design excellence. We're doing more than just developing an aircraft, we're actually creating an industry together."

Warren East, CEO of Rolls-Royce, said: "We are delighted to build on our relationship with Vertical Aerospace as they take this strategic step to deliver eVTOL aircraft to a global market. Rolls-Royce is the leading supplier of all-electric and hybrid-electric power and propulsion systems for aviation and this exciting opportunity demonstrates our joint ambitions to lead the way in the new Urban Air Mobility market."

Clare Barclay, CEO of Microsoft UK, said, "M12's investment in Vertical Aerospace demonstrates the market opportunity in the growing demand for urban transportation, but historically, expanding mobility hasn't been environmentally sustainable. Automation and Industry 4.0 is a clear way forward to realize more operational efficiencies and mitigate transportation congestion and pollution."

Key Transaction Terms

The business combination values the combined company at a pro forma enterprise value of approximately $1.8 billion and pro forma equity value of $2.2 billion at the $10.00 per share PIPE price. The boards of directors of both Broadstone and Vertical have approved the proposed transaction, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2021, subject to, among other things, the approval by Broadstone's shareholders and satisfaction or waiver of the other conditions stated in the definitive documentation. The transaction is expected to result in gross proceeds of $394 million.

The ordinary share PIPE includes commitments from institutional investors, 40 North and Microsoft's M12 as well as the following strategic investors: American Airlines, Avolon, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell.

Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Broadstone with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov.

Advisors

Winston & Strawn LLP is serving as legal advisor and Citi is serving as advisor to Broadstone. Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal advisor and Barclays is serving as lead financial advisor and lead capital markets advisor to Vertical. Barclays and Citi acted as joint placement agents on the PIPE.

Investor Call

Vertical and Broadstone will host a joint investor conference call to discuss the proposed transaction today, 10 June 2021 at 18:00 ET.

To listen to the prepared remarks via telephone dial 1-877-407-9039 (U.S.) or 1-201-689-8470 (International) and an operator will assist you. A telephone replay will be available at 1-844-512-2921 (U.S.) or 1-412-317-6671 (International), passcode: 13720391 through 24th, June, 2021, 11:59 PM ET.

About Vertical Aerospace

Vertical Aerospace's mission is to make air travel personal, on demand and carbon free. The company has an unrivalled top-tier partner ecosystem and is backed by American Airlines, Avolon, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell among others. Vertical's partnerships de-risk execution and its pathway to certification, allow for a lean cost structure, and enable production at scale. With projected speeds over 200mph, near silent when in flight, zero emissions and low cost per passenger mile, the VA-X4 is expected to open up urban air mobility to a whole new range of passengers and transform how we travel.

About Broadstone Acquisition Corp.

Broadstone Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: BSN) was set up by serial entrepreneurs, operators and investors, Hugh Osmond, Edward Hawkes and Marc Jonas. It was established to combine with a UK/European business with a strong management team, significant growth prospects, and the opportunity to become a market leader in its sector.

Broadstone's executive team has an extensive track record in value creation. The combination of a strong internal team, a network of external resources and the experience of the management team enables us to support rapid, substantial, and lasting growth.

Contacts

For Vertical

Investors:

Media

Vertical UK - Nepean

Gavin Davis , +44 7910 104660

, +44 7910 104660 Samuel Emden , +44 7816 459904

, +44 7816 459904 [email protected]

Vertical US - ICR

Phil Denning / Dan McDermott

/ [email protected]

For Broadstone - Edelman

Iain Dey , +44 7976 295906

, +44 7976 295906 Raeesa Chowdhury-King , +44 7885 802774

, +44 7885 802774 [email protected]

Media Package

Media package download link

Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed business combination, Broadstone intends to file a Registration Statement on Form F-4, including a preliminary proxy statement/prospectus and a definitive proxy statement/prospectus with the SEC. Broadstone's shareholders and other interested persons are advised to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus and the amendments thereto and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and documents incorporated by reference therein filed in connection with the proposed business combination, as these materials will contain important information about Vertical, Broadstone, and the proposed business combination. When available, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials for the proposed business combination will be mailed to shareholders of Broadstone as of a record date to be established for voting on the proposed business combination. Shareholders will also be able to obtain copies of the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus, and other documents filed with the SEC that will be incorporated by reference therein, without charge, once available, at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to: [email protected].

Participants in Solicitation

Broadstone and its directors and executive officers may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from Broadstone's shareholders with respect to the business combination. A list of the names of those directors and executive officers and a description of their interests in Broadstone will be included in the proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed business combination and be available at www.sec.gov. Additional information regarding the interests of such participants will be contained in the proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed business combination when available.

Vertical and its directors and executive officers may also be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the shareholders of Broadstone in connection with the proposed business combination. A list of the names of such directors and executive officers and information regarding their interests in the proposed business combination will be included in the proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed business combination, which will be made available as noted in the above paragraph.

Cautionary Statement Regarding 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. Broadstone's and Vertical's actual results may differ from their 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, Broadstone's and Vertical's expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the proposed business combination, the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the proposed business combination, and the timing of the completion of the proposed business combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside Broadstone's and Vertical's control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the definitive merger agreement (the "Agreement"); (2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Broadstone and Vertical following the announcement of the Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein; (3) the inability to complete the proposed business combination, including due to failure to obtain approval of the shareholders of Broadstone and Vertical, certain regulatory approvals, or satisfy other conditions to closing in the Agreement; (4) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Agreement or could otherwise cause the transaction to fail to close; (5) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts and other expectations after the completion of the business combination, and identify and realize additional opportunities; (6) the potential inability of Vertical to produce or launch aircraft in the volumes and on timelines projected, (7) the potential inability of Vertical to obtain the necessary certifications on the timelines projected; (8) the potential that certain of Vertical's strategic partnerships may not materialize into long-term partnership arrangements, (9) the impact of COVID-19 on Vertical's business and/or the ability of the parties to complete the proposed business combination; (10) the inability to list Vertical's ordinary shares on the NYSE following the proposed business combination; (11) the risk that the proposed business combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the announcement and consummation of the proposed business combination; (12) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of Vertical to grow and manage growth profitably, and retain its key employees; (13) costs related to the proposed business combination; (14) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (15) the possibility that Vertical or Broadstone may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and (16) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in the final prospectus of Broadstone for its initial public offering and the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the proposed business combination, including those under "Risk Factors" therein, and in Broadstone's other filings with the SEC. Broadstone cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Broadstone cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Broadstone does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

No Offer or Solicitation

This press release shall not constitute a solicitation of a proxy, consent, or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the proposed business combination. This press release shall also not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any states or jurisdictions in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or an exemption therefrom.

[1] Morgan Stanley, eVTOL/Urban Air Mobility TAM Update, May 2021

SOURCE Broadstone Acquisition Corp.
Tuberculosis is the leading cause of deaths worldwide from an infectious disease, second only to COVID-19. Vietnam ranks 11 th among the world's 30 highest TB burden countries. However, according to the National TB Control Program, about 62% of people with active, transmissible TB disease would have been missed if they had been screened using the standard diagnostic algorithm, which relied on verbal screen for prolonged cough.

With the determination to improve the current situation of TB diagnosis and treatment to save more lives, VinBrain and FIT have collaborated to write and release a white paper on "Utilizing AI in reading Chest X-rays for TB screening in Vietnam".

The white paper provides an overview of the current situation of TB diagnosis and screening in Vietnam, and introduces the AI model developed by VinBrain which helps improve the accuracy in reading Chest X-rays for TB diagnosis and screening. The solution has been developed via several steps including system design, data collection and labeling, pre-processing and model training, model evaluation, model deployment and monitoring.

To develop the AI model, VinBrain utilized the Cloud Computing platform of Microsoft Windows Azure. On Windows Azure, VinBrain has built, deployed, and managed the model applications through Microsoft's global datacenters. In total, more than 500,000 TB X-ray images from Vietnam, India and China were collected. After filtering out the poor-quality images, 185,486 images were cleaned for model training, evaluation and testing. The AI model v1 for TB diagnosis and screening developed by VinBrain (launched on January 5, 2021) achieved a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of up to 96.1 %.

"The white paper on utilizing AI in TB diagnosis and screening has harnessed new tools and technologies to improve the current situation of the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, which has been considered to be 'incurable'. Technological solutions will help Vietnam to achieve its national goal of ending TB by 2030. This not only reflects Vingroup's determination to build a better society, but also affirms its right strategy of investing in industry and high technology," - Mr. Steven Truong, CEO of VinBrain, said.

VinBrain has integrated the AI model for TB diagnosis and screening into DrAid - its "Doctor Assistant". DrAid is an AI-powered product which can detect 21 abnormalities and diseases of heart - lung - bone with an average accuracy of over 88% within 5 seconds, and auto-generate medical reports. Thanks to this integration, the AI model can diagnose TB disease simultaneously with other lung diseases and abnormalities.

Doctors can now use DrAid to detect and screen TB by uploading X-ray images directly from the X-ray machines to the system and receiving diagnostic suggestions by AI.

Chest X-ray (CXR) is an effective and cost-effecient tool for TB diagnostic and classification. Hence, utilizing AI in reading CXR will help find and treat more persons with TB, and thereby cut down community transmission./.

About VinBrain

VinBrain is the leading AI for Healthcare products company in Vietnam, funded by Vingroup - the largest conglomerate by market capitalization in Vietnam. Our mission is to infuse AI and IoT into healthcare to improve human lives and productivity. VinBrain aims to provide equitable access for everyone to the best healthcare solutions, knowledge, and services. DrAid - AI doctor assistant developped by VinBran - is the first AI-powered healthcare product in Vietnam. To date, it has been deployed in 84 hospitals and medical facilities across the country, including key hospitals such as Hue Central Hospital, University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City, Thai Nguyen Central Hospital.

About Friends for International Tuberculosis Relief (FIT)

FIT is a German NGO working in the field of TB prevention and control. Since starting work in Viet Nam in 2013, FIT has helped up to 4.4 million people and 6,500 TB patients. FIT VN and its affiliates currently have donor commitments to provide TB-related services in 22 districts of six major provinces of Viet Nam. Major sponsors and partners include the Stop TB Partnership/UNOPS, European Union Horizon 2020 program, World Health Organization, and CDC Foundation, as well as industry stakeholders such as Johnson & Johnson, Otsuka and Qiagen. Lastly, FIT has been a sub-recipient of US government funding from USAID.

For more information, visit https://www.vinbrain.net/

SOURCE VinBrain LLC

Related Links

https://www.vinbrain.net


Alex Liao, the president of VIVOTEK stated, "When we say, 'We Get The Picture', it means to understand the whole situation in a prompt manner, and to always be a step ahead to deliver the solutions demanded by our end-users. During the rebrand journey, we discovered that the way we did business for the last two decades, with outstanding service and business integrity, has profoundly shaped who we are today. Our new positioning and look redefine our role in the next era of IoT, but more importantly, deliver the clear message to our customers and partners that they can trust and stand side by side with VIVOTEK."
INDIANAPOLIS, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- VMS BioMarketing - a leading provider of nurse-led patient and HCP engagement solutions for the biopharma industry - announced today that Jennifer Wilson has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer.

"I could not be more excited to welcome Jennifer Wilson as our new CFO," said VMS President and CEO Andrea Heslin Smiley. "Jen comes to us with extensive financial experience, broad healthcare background and, most importantly, a relentless passion to improve the way healthcare is delivered and provided to patients."

VMS BioMarketing announces Jen Wilson as CFO

Wilson started her career in investment banking, working in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch healthcare group. Innovation across life sciences and healthcare services allowed her to work on transformational strategic transactions for companies such as Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Cardinal Health, and Iasis Healthcare. From investment banking, she then moved to the payer market, working for Anthem's Corporate Development team, where she led execution on hallmark transactions such as Amerigroup, Cigna, 1-800 Contacts, and American Well. Most recently, Jen was Vice President leading Business Development at TherapeuticsMD, a biotech company whose mission is to empower women with innovative therapies in contraception and hormone replacement.

"VMS has the deepest expertise and experience providing personalized support programs utilizing Clinical Nurse Educators to help patients self-manage their disease and therapy," said Wilson. "Joining an organization that is so well-differentiated from its competitors in the market is a great opportunity for me to support and augment the VMS growth strategy to continually expand our impact and reach to new patients."

About VMS BioMarketing

VMS BioMarketing is the leading provider of patient and HCP support solutions for biopharma. For 25 years, our singular focus has been on Clinical Nurse Educator programs, and we have invested in building a platform that is forward-leaning, proven and focused on improving outcomes. We have relationships with 800-plus Clinical Nurse Educators nationwide and deliver 1M-plus engagements for our clients, whose therapies span the product lifecycle and include 50-plus categories. Using behavioral health and analytical models, each of our engagements is highly personalized to address brand needs, support behavior change and lead to an improvement in medication adherence.

Contact: Abigail Mallon

317-805-6600, Ext. 225

[email protected]

Related Images

jen-wilson.jpg

Jen Wilson

VMS BioMarketing announces Jen Wilson as CFO

SOURCE VMS BioMarketing
CHICAGO and LOUISVILLE, Ky., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Waystar , a leading provider of healthcare payments software, today announced a multi-year partnership with INROADS, a nonprofit organization committed to building long-term career pathways for diverse and underrepresented talent. As part of the collaboration, Waystar is launching an internship program that will empower students from local colleges and universities to find meaningful careers in the healthcare technology industry.

With the global healthcare IT market continuing to grow at an exponential rate and digital transformation across all industries accelerating, demand for tech talent is at an all-time high. Hiring, developing and retaining professionals from diverse talent pools is a source of competitive advantage as businesses look to close the tech talent gap within their organizations.

During the 10-week program, Waystar will provide eligible students with salaried internships, as well as comprehensive mentoring and leadership development opportunities. Each student will have access to learn industry-relevant technical skills across various departments.

"We know that diversity in the workforce fuels innovation and business growth ," said Kimberly Sisnett, Chief People Officer of Waystar. "Expanding the pool of talent is key for increasing representation in software technology and building more resilient, innovative organizations. We could not be more proud to partner with INROADS to reinforce our company's commitment to hiring talent with diverse perspectives and backgrounds."

The INROADS internship program will run from June through August 2021. Students will have the opportunity to complete the internship in-person at Waystar's corporate headquarters, fully online or through a hybrid option.

"We are delighted to work with Waystar and unlock opportunities for underrepresented, high performing undergraduate students," said Forest T. Harper, Jr., president and CEO of INROADS, Inc. "Waystar's internship program is a great example of how companies, workforce development organizations and local universities can come together to build a pipeline of diverse talent across all industries."

Waystar's partnership with INROADS builds on the company's current initiatives aimed at cultivating, recruiting and hiring diverse and underrepresented talent in the healthcare technology industry. In addition to INROADS, Waystar is also a proud partner of Code Louisville, a program dedicated to helping people kick start their careers in tech. Through its partnership with nonprofit Bit502, Waystar also offers apprenticeships for those looking to learn on the job while earning their Associate's Degrees from local community colleges.

To learn more about career opportunities, visit Waystar's careers page .

About INROADS

INROADS is the world's largest nonprofit organization committed to developing the leadership of talented and underrepresented youth. With more than 30,000 alumni worldwide, INROADS has contributed to increases in the number of C-suite executives in corporate America. Founded in 1970, INROADS' record of impact extends more than 50 years. For more information, visit https://INROADS.org/ .

About Waystar:

Waystar provides next-generation, cloud-based technology that simplifies and unifies healthcare payments. The Waystar platform removes friction in payment processes, streamlines workflows and improves financials for providers in every care setting. Waystar products have won Best in KLAS or Category Leader every year since 2010 and earned multiple #1 rankings from Black Book surveys since 2012. The Waystar platform supports more than 500,000 providers, 1,000 health systems and hospitals, and 5,000 payers and health plans. Waystar is backed by EQT, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Bain Capital. For more information, visit waystar.com or follow @Waystar on Twitter.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Waystar
MINNEAPOLIS, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wealth Enhancement Group, an independent wealth management firm, today announced that it has acquired MACRO Consulting Group (MACRO), an independent hybrid registered investment adviser (RIA) based in Parsippany, N.J. with over $900 million in total client assets. Upon the closing of the transaction, Wealth Enhancement Group's total client assets are expected to exceed $35.5 billion.*

Jeff Dekko, Chief Executive Officer of Wealth Enhancement Group, said, "On behalf of our entire team, I'm pleased to welcome MACRO Consulting Group to the Wealth Enhancement Group platform. I've known MACRO's founder, Mark Cortazzo, for many years, and have always been greatly impressed with his intellect and skill in building his business. MACRO's nearly 30-year history of helping clients address risk and build wealth is a natural cultural fit with our firm, and I look forward to supporting their team as we work together to continue to grow our footprint in the critically important Tri-State area. We and our capital partner, TA Associates, continue to be fully focused on executing our growth strategy by accelerating our pace of acquisitions across the country, as well as by promoting organic growth."

Mark Cortazzo, CFP, CIMA, founded MACRO in 1992 with a sharp focus on comprehensive wealth management and financial planning for affluent retirees and the "millionaire next door." Mr. Cortazzo, a winner of numerous wealth management industry awards, has been recognized on the Barron's Top Advisor list for 11 years (including five years as the #1 independent advisor in New Jersey) and named one of America's Top 250 Wealth Advisors by Forbes for four years. He serves as the firm's Senior Partner and leads the firm with Nick Spagnoletti, Jr., CFP. Both advisors have over 30 years' experience in the financial services industry.

Upon the closing of the transaction, the MACRO team of 24 individuals, including five financial advisors, will join Wealth Enhancement Group, and will operate under the Wealth Enhancement Group brand as the MACRO Team.

Mark Cortazzo said, "Over the past three decades, our successful approach to managing risk has helped us establish MACRO Consulting Group as a trusted long-term partner to the clients we serve. In looking ahead to the next stage in our growth story, we could not have found a better partner than Jeff Dekko and his team at Wealth Enhancement Group. We are extremely proud of the nationally recognized practice we have built in the Tri-State area, and we are confident that the technical, back office and consulting support we will receive from Wealth Enhancement Group will empower our continued growth as we seek to further elevate the client service experience we provide."

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. MACRO Consulting Group was represented by Lowenstein Sandler LLP. The transaction is expected to close on July 1, 2021.

About Wealth Enhancement Group

Wealth Enhancement Group is a Greater Minneapolis-based independent wealth management firm offering comprehensive and customized financial planning and investment management services. Founded in 1997, Wealth Enhancement Group serves clients nationwide. Wealth Enhancement Group specializes in providing retail clients with the team-based knowledge and resources they need to simplify their financial life. For more information, please visit www.wealthenhancement.com.

Advisory services offered through Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services, LLC (WEAS), a registered investment advisor. Certain, but not all, investment advisor representatives (IARs) of WEAS are also registered representatives of and offer securities through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealth Enhancement Group and Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services are separate entities from LPL Financial. Wealth Enhancement Group is a registered trademark of Wealth Enhancement Group, LLC.

*Wealth Enhancement Group and its Registered Investment Advisor, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services, had $31.6 billion in client brokerage and advisory assets as of 4/30/2021. MACRO Consulting Group had $901 million in client assets as of 3/31/2021. With the expected closing of other previously announced transactions and the MACRO Consulting Group closing on 7/1/2021, Wealth Enhancement Group plans to have $35.5 billion in client brokerage, advisory and trust assets as of 7/1/2021.

Media Contacts

Joseph Kuo / Chris Clemens

Haven Tower Group

424 317 4851 or 424 317 4854

[email protected] or [email protected]

SOURCE Wealth Enhancement Group

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WLO held a virtual gathering of more than 400 female leaders in oncology who raised nearly $73,000 for oncology research Tweet this

"I am pleased to see women leaders in oncology rally together to use their influence and power to champion health equity and cultural competency to profoundly improve patient outcomes," said Dr. Pierce.

"As a board member of Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, I am thrilled with this year's participation in our WLO virtual reception and the generosity of the inspiring community of women," says Deanna van Gestel. "Based on the momentum generated at this event and our plans to continue fundraising, I am confident we will reach our endowment goal to further advance funding for the most promising candidates in cancer research."

2021 YIA Recipients



This year WLO was able to award 2 grants to support the research of young investigators in oncology. Marcella Kaddoura, MD, Mayo Clinic Rochester, was awarded a grant for her work on the characterization of residual myeloma cells that are refractory to up-front therapy among newly diagnosed patients with myeloma, with the hope of stopping disease progression and extending patient survival.

Elizabeth Zhang-Velten, MD, PhD, UT Southwestern Medical Center, also received a YIA for her research on metabolic imaging to improve earlier detection of heart damage from radiation and guide the design of clinical trials to better support heart health for cancer survivors.

About WLO



WLO is focused on creating research, business, and philanthropic connections for women in oncology drug development, clinical research, and clinical practice. WLO establishes and nurtures connections among women leaders through events, fundraising, and recognition. For more information, visit WomenLeadersinOncology.com.

About Vaniam Group LLC



Vaniam Group is a people-first, purpose-driven, independent network of healthcare and scientific communications agencies committed to helping clients realize the full potential of their compounds in the oncology and hematology marketplace.

Founded in 2007 as a virtual-by-design organization, Vaniam Group harnesses the talents and expertise of team members around the world. For more information, visit vaniamgroup.com.

About Conquer Cancer



Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation was founded by the foremost cancer doctors of ASCO to see dramatic advances in the prevention, treatment, and cures of all types of cancer. As ASCO's foundation, Conquer Cancer supports groundbreaking research and education so both doctors and patients have the resources they need. Their mission is to conquer cancer worldwide by funding breakthrough research and sharing cutting-edge knowledge.

SOURCE Vaniam Group LLC

Related Links

vaniamgroup.com


DUBLIN, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Commercial Greenhouse Market - Forecasts from 2021 to 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The commercial greenhouse market was valued at US$23,020.435 million in 2019 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 6.65% over the forecast period to reach US$36,121.941 million by 2026. A commercial greenhouse is a greenhouse, which grows crops that will be sold for commercial consumption. Mostly Commercial greenhouses are high-tech facilities specifically designed to grow the intended crops. Commercial greenhouses grow vegetables, flowers, trees, ornamentals, cannabis, and shrubs. Many greenhouses have transparent roofs to allow sunlight to grow the plants. Other greenhouses could be in buildings and use special lights to act as the sunlight. This enables reliable growth of greenhouse plants despite the local climate, soil, or topography challenges. The ability to control the environment enables farmers to grow crops and produce throughout the year.



Growing crops in the safe environment of a greenhouse help in improving the genetics of the plant, which leads to the growth of a healthy variety of produce. Commercial greenhouses range from large farms to neighborhood nurseries. These provide a variety of features providing controlled conditions optimum for the growth of plants according to the need or requirement. Rapid urbanization and less availability of arable land, increasing demand for food due to the growing population, and climate change, which affects the yield of crops are the major drivers driving the growth of the commercial greenhouse market. In addition, the changing climatic conditions during traditional farming have led to the adoption of commercial greenhouses, which is further fueling the market growth. The commercial greenhouse market has several advantages such as the even distribution of light in the greenhouse facility, optimizing heat, and control of microclimate, protection against diseases, excellent ventilation, and protection from rain, production in regions with adverse weather conditions, and ability to produce crops even during the off-season.



Based on region-wise segmentation, North America and South America regional markets are projected to grow on account of the rising number of low-tech and medium-tech greenhouses in these regions supported by the adoption of modern farming practices. In Europe, greenhouse cultivation is the most preferred form of cultivating crops owing to harsh climatic conditions. The demand for commercial greenhouses in the Asia Pacific region is projected to witness a rise owing to the growing focus towards improvements in the agricultural sector by the governments and multiple institutions.

The booming trend of rooftop farming and the rapidly increasing population are two major drivers for the market. Based on type, the gutter-connected commercial greenhouses account for the significant market share owing to their cost-effectiveness and their ability to be installed on a small piece of land without compromising on crop productivity. By component, High tech commercial greenhouses hold the dominant share in the market and are expected to be the fastest-growing segment owing to their increasing adoption in developed economies. By Application, owing to the advantage of growing plants regardless of climatic condition and yearly demand for fruits and vegetables this segment holds a significant share in this market. Also, growing competition in this industry is pushing the market players towards adopting new technologies while also focusing on cost reduction. In addition, cultivation in greenhouses requires less labor and is aiding in the inclination towards the increasing adoption of greenhouses across the world.



Growth Factors: High amount of yield



The implementation of greenhouse farming provides much more control over the environment where crops grow. The producers can manage the temperature, irrigation process, air humidity, and the light efficiently; which results in giving them a good yield. By exercising control over the growth of crops, farmers keep them healthier and are able predict the amount they are going to harvest. Owing to the multiple benefits of the commercial greenhouses, the amount of yield produced using these greenhouses are much more than the ones produced traditionally. This benefits the producer as the yield produced is more in quantity and the quality is better.



Restraints: Initial high cost and requirement for precision technology



For the crops to grow properly in the commercial greenhouses, precise environmental conditions are required. It is essential to monitor optimum air quality, temperature, and relative humidity. Such crops need optimum light and water quality to grow. The nutrition levels should be constantly managed and adjusted to the suitable level as per the need and growth stage of each crop. The monitoring and accuracy of the natural resources and nutrients are the key to producing greenhouse crops. The initial cost of setting up a commercial greenhouse is very high as there is a requirement for the proper designing of the watering systems and supplemental lighting. Thus, setting up of these systems involve huge costs, which are difficult for a traditional framer to afford. This could cause a major hindrance for the growth of the commercial greenhouse market, especially in developing regions.



Impact of COVID - 19



The novel coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted the overall supply chain in agriculture, and, in turn, the commercial greenhouse market as due to the nationwide lockdown all the operations across the globe were put on a halt. The supply-chain disruptions have resulted in many producers using the greenhouse process to struggle to transport their producer to the markets. The demand for fresh food has increased but the producers are finding it difficult to meet the increasing demand. In addition, the government of several countries have restricted and delayed the imports and exports which has further impacted the producers. Thus, the pandemic has resulted in a major drawback for the producers, as the supply chain is not well equipped to cater to the increasing needs of the customers.



Competitive Insights



Some of the key market players in the commercial greenhouse market are Richel Group SA, Argus Control Systems Ltd., Certhon- Greenhouse Solutions, Lumigrow, Inc. Agra Tech, Inc., Rough Brothers, Inc., NEXUS Greenhouse Systems, and Heliospectra AB. The are implementing various growth strategies to gain a competitive. For Instance, Heliospectra AB, in April 2021, has announced the launch of heliCORE 2.O, heliCORE 2.O enabled growers are likely to have unprecedented control over light intensity, spectrum, and photoperiod. In addition, LumiGrow, a smart horticultural lighting company, announced the successful completion of a $5.1 million bridge financing in 2018.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research Methodology

3. Executive Summary



4. Market Dynamics

4.1. Market Drivers

4.2. Market Restraints

4.3. Porters Five Forces Analysis

4.3.1. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.3.2. Bargaining Power of Buyers

4.3.3. The threat of New Entrants

4.3.4. Threat of Substitutes

4.3.5. Competitive Rivalry in the Industry

4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis



5. Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Type

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Free Standing

5.3. Gutter Connected



6. Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Component

6.1. Introduction

6.2. High-Tech Commercial Greenhouse

6.2.1. Heating System

6.2.1.1. Heaters

6.2.1.2. Valves

6.2.1.3. Vents

6.2.1.4. Others

6.2.2. Cooling System

6.2.2.1. Fans

6.2.2.2. Cooling Pad System

6.2.2.3. Lighting

6.2.2.4. Sensors

6.2.2.5. Others

6.3. Medium-Tech Commercial Greenhouse

6.3.1. Heaters

6.3.2. Cooling Pads

6.3.3. Thermostats

6.3.4. Exhaust Fans

6.3.5. Others

6.4. Low-Tech Commercial Greenhouse



7. Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Application

7.1. Introduction

7.2. Fruits and Vegetables

7.3. Flowers and Ornamentals

7.4. Nursey Crops



8. Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Geography

8.1. Introduction

8.2. North America

8.2.1. North America Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Type

8.2.2. North America Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Component

8.2.3. North America Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Application

8.2.4. By Country

8.2.4.1. United States

8.2.4.2. Canada

8.2.4.3. Mexico

8.3. South America

8.3.1. South America Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Type

8.3.2. South America Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Component

8.3.3. South America Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Application

8.3.4. By Country

8.3.4.1. Brazil

8.3.4.2. Argentina

8.3.4.3. Others

8.4. Europe

8.4.1. Europe Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Type

8.4.2. Europe Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Component

8.4.3. Europe Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Application

8.4.4. By Country

8.4.4.1. UK

8.4.4.2. Germany

8.4.4.3. France

8.4.4.4. Spain

8.4.4.5. Others

8.5. Middle East and Africa

8.5.1. Middle East and Africa Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Type

8.5.2. Middle East and Africa Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Component

8.5.3. Middle East and Africa Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Application

8.5.4. By Country

8.5.4.1. Saudi Arabia

8.5.4.2. Israel

8.5.4.3. Others

8.6. Asia Pacific

8.6.1. Asia Pacific Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Type

8.6.2. Asia Pacific Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Component

8.6.3. Asia Pacific Commercial Greenhouse Market Analysis, By Application

8.6.4. By Country

8.6.4.1. Japan

8.6.4.2. China

8.6.4.3. India

8.6.4.4. Indonesia

8.6.4.5. Others



9. Competitive Intelligence

9.1. Competitive Benchmarking and Analysis

9.2. Recent Investment and Deals

9.3. Strategies of Key Players



10. Company Profiles

10.1. Richel Group SA

10.2. Argus Control Systems Ltd.

10.3. Certhon- Greenhouse Solutions

10.4. LumiGrow, Inc.

10.5. Agra Tech, Inc.

10.6. Rough Brothers, Inc.

10.7. NEXUS Greenhouse Systems

10.8. Heliospectra AB



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/nov96k

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets

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UPPER MARLBORO, Md., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Melwood is proud to partner with Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) in support of Melwood's Operation Tohidu, holistic retreats for female veterans who have experienced Military Sexual Trauma (MST). The MST survivors' retreats offer specialized programming and a sanctuary for reflection and companionship with warriors whose trust in their battle buddies or chain of command was broken.

Thanks to WWP's generous support, more than 100 women will have the opportunity to live Operation Tohidu's maxim and make "Peace with the Past, through Power in the Present."

A 2018 study by the Department of Defense's Psychological Health Center of Excellence estimates that more than six percent of active duty female service members have experienced sexual assault in the past 12 months. These numbers increase dramatically with the addition of women who have been sexually harassed. Both sexual assault and harassment can lead to a variety of conditions including post-traumatic stress, suicidal tendencies, self-harming behavior, depression, anxiety, social phobias, and/or substance abuse.

"Women make important contributions to our nation's military, and we want to honor and empower them for success during and after service," said WWP CEO Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mike Linnington. "Wounded Warrior Project has been serving women warriors since our inception and recognizes that women warriors have unique needs. But no single organization can meet all those needs alone. We're proud to support Melwood and their Operation Tohidu program, which will help to fill in critical gaps in care that exist for women warriors, especially those living with the pain of Military Sexual Trauma."

Melwood's specialized retreats consist of three weeks of virtual programming, followed by travel to the Melwood Recreation Center in Southern Maryland for four days of in-person activities. Participants then complete the transformative program with three weeks of virtual follow-up sessions. Warriors who have participated in these experiential retreats have reported that they continue to use effective practices learned from the retreats to overcome obstacles in their recovery, even years later. Warriors are also empowered to recover from the trauma of war, moral injury, and combat stress, while supporting their transition towards post-traumatic growth.

"Attending an Operation Tohidu retreat is a life-changing experience. Wounded Warrior Project teaming up with Melwood helps address the scarcity of resources and support available to vets who have experienced Military Sexual Trauma," said Larysa Kautz, Melwood's President and CEO. "For nearly 60 years, Melwood has been dedicated to serving our injured veterans and people with disabilities through training, education, and employment opportunities while advocating for the rights of the people we serve."

The retreats are scheduled to start in the coming months. If you know someone that has experienced Military Sexual Trauma and would like to heal from their trauma through experience-based learning and other alternative therapies and interventions, you can find out more by going to www.melwood.org/veterans-services/.

About Wounded Warrior Project

Since 2003, Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) has been meeting the growing needs of warriors, their families, and caregivers  helping them achieve their highest ambition.

About Melwood

Melwood is one of the largest employers of people with disabilities in the country, employing more than 1,600 workers  nearly 1,000 of whom are people with disabilities. Melwood offers job placement, job training, life skills for independence, and support services to more than 2,500 people each year in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Melwood also has an inclusive summer camp program for children and provides support services to veterans and active duty military members who have experienced service-related trauma or injury. For more information, visit www.Melwood.org.

SOURCE Melwood

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BEIJING, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. ("Xinyuan" or "the Company") (NYSE: XIN), an NYSE-listed real estate developer and property manager operating primarily in China and also in other countries, today announced its completion of five newly constructed properties, including Zhengzhou International New City III, Jinan Royal Spring Palace, Chengdu Xinyuan City, Zhengzhou Fancy City II, and Tianjin Spring Royal Palace.

Zhengzhou International New City III is located in the downtown city highlands, within the south 3rd Ring Road in Zhengzhou and benefits from all conveniences and luxuries of a bustling city. Property amenities include a beautiful courtyard and top-quality property management services, allowing tenants to enjoy every taste of a prosperous city lifestyle.

Jinan Royal Spring Palace is located in Zhangqiu city center, surrounded by Baimai Springs, Yanming Springs, various parks, and in close proximity to Mingshui Ancient City. The project is conveniently located near the West Shiji Road, Fu'An Road, and Mingtang Street. As one of the most sought-over residential areas of Jinan, the Royal Spring Palace is close by Zhangqiu Railway Station, public bus lines 3 and 11, and in the vicinity of various medical, commercial, and education facilities, allowing a convenient and quality lifestyle.

Chengdu Xinyuan City is located in Shu Du New Town in the Pi Du District in Chengdu. The location is surrounded by natural resources and is only 800 meters from Xinyuan City, which offers various commercial facilities, including shopping malls, restaurants, etc. It is near the Medi River, Municipal Park, Knowledge Park, Cuckoo Park, and Chuangzhi Park.

Zhengzhou Fancy City II is located two kilometers east of the Songshan South Road and south 3rd Ring Road intersection at the center of the Erqi Ecological New City, a high-end, livable, ecological and cultural new city. The place offers convenient transportation and quality lifestyle with access to subway lines 7 and 9, and within close proximity to various educational and commercial facilities.

Tianjin Spring Royal Palace is located in Wuqing District of Tianjin, close to Beijing-Tianjin intercity railway and the six expressways of Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu, Beijing-Tianjin, Beijing-Shanghai, Tianjin-Baoding, Tianjin-Ji Xian and Binbao. This premier location enables convenient transportation amongst the urban Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei areas.

Upon delivery of each project, Xinyuan staff conducted multiple exercises to ensure an optimal delivery procedure. Xinyuan also provided industry-qualified inspectors on handover days to facilitate clients in repossession operations. Due to the great efforts by Xinyuan staff, each delivery process was highly commended by all clients.

Mr. Zhang Yong, Chairman of Xinyuan Group, commented: "We are thrilled to have completed five high-quality accommodations. These projects further exemplify our commitment to construction excellence and the Company's dedication to meeting and exceeding client demands. Providing comfortable and convenient real estate related products and services to middle-class consumers will continue to be our top priority."

About Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd.

Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. ("Xinyuan") is an NYSE-listed real estate developer and property manager primarily in China and recently in other countries. In China, Xinyuan develops and manages large scale, high quality real estate projects in over ten tier one and tier two cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Qingdao, Chengdu, Xi'an, Suzhou, Dalian, Zhuhai and Foshan. Xinyuan was one of the first Chinese real estate developers to enter the U.S. market and over the past few years has been active in real estate development in New York. Xinyuan aims to provide comfortable and convenient real estate related products and services to middle-class consumers. For more information, please visit http://www.xyre.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements". These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements includes statements about future debt and financial position, potential future collaborative efforts, among others, and can generally be identified by terminology such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "future", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates" and similar statements. Statements that are not historical statements are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated, including, but not limited to, our ability to continue to implement our business model successfully; our ability to secure adequate financing for our project development; our ability to successfully sell or complete our property projects under construction and planning; our ability to enter successfully into new geographic markets and new business lines and expand our operations; the marketing and sales ability of our third-party sales agents; the performance of our third-party contractors; the impact of laws, regulations and policies relating to real estate developers and the real estate industry in the countries in which we operate; our ability to obtain permits and licenses to carry on our business in compliance with applicable laws and regulations; competition from other real estate developers; the growth of the real estate industry in the markets in which we operate; the impact of pandemics, such as Covid-19, on the real estate market and the economies in our markets; fluctuations in general economic and business conditions in the markets in which we operate; and other risks outlined in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2019. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or review publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statement is made.

For more information, please contact:

In China:

Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd.

Mr. Rick Wang

Investor Relations Department

Tel: +86 (10) 8588-9376

Email: [email protected]

The Blueshirt Group

Ms. Susie Wang

Mobile: +86 (138) 1081-7475

Email: [email protected]

In the United States:

The Blueshirt Group

Ms. Julia Qian

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.xyre.com


A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
"The significant interest shown by potential investors has been very encouraging," said chief executive Nikolai Zelenski.

PLC confirmed its plans to sell shares on the London Stock Exchange as it highlighted significant interest among potential investors.

No new funds will be raised, instead existing shares held by major shareholders Alexey Mordashov, Kirill Mordashov, and Nikita Mordashov will be sold to new investors.

The company is expecting the London float, which follows a listing in Moscow, to occur in late June or early July.

It is expected that the listing will see a free float of around 25% of the companys share capital, making the gold producer eligible for inclusion in FTSE UK indices.

describes itself as a pure-play internationally diversified gold producer, with over one million ounces of production per year. It has nine mines in four countries - Russia, Kazakhstan, Burkina Faso and Guinea.

"The significant interest shown by potential investors has been very encouraging, giving us the confidence to move forwards with our proposed premium listing on the London Stock Exchange, said Nikolai Zelenski, Nord Gold chief executive.

Nordgold is a one million ounce plus gold producer, with a globally diversified asset base, a proven track record of new mine development and ambitious plans for future production growth centred on our strong position in the highly prospective Gross Region.

The combination of scale, growth and a commitment to shareholder returns is expected to leave Nordgold well positioned to continue to create value for all stakeholders."

The shares are being offered to institutional and professional investors, with Bacchus Capital Advisers supporting the share sale along with sponsor Citigroup and bookrunners JP Morgan, VTB Capital, BMO Capital, , Gazprombank, and Renaissance Securities.

Stockbroker Peel Hunt is additionally acting as lead manager for the offer.

Alexey Mordashov, Kirill Mordashov, and Nikita Mordashov currently own 35%, 32.5% and 32.5% respective stakes in the company.
A look at some of today's main stories from the Proactive newswire

(LON:CNR, ) said it has started an 8,500 metre infill drilling programme within the permitted high-grade La Mestiza open pit at La India project, Nicaragua.

( ) remains confident of achieving net operating income in excess of 330mln in the current financial year. The online trading platform operator said in its results statement for the year to the end of March 2021 that its monthly active client base has remained strong, although client trading activity has come off the boil a little.

( ) said it has purchased a further 1.17mln shares in its portfolio firm (LGP) through the Australian Stock Exchange at an average price of A$0.655 each.

( ) ( ) has announced three senior management appointments, all of which will become effective immediately.

( ) said the ongoing drilling programme at the Havieron gold-copper joint venture in Western Australia continues to support the potential for resource expansion with all the latest holes continuing to intersect significant mineralisation.

( ) announced the completion of an induced polarisation (IP) survey at the Bassala gold project in southern Mali and said it had identified several targets for follow up drilling.

( ) said it has participated in a crowdloan for the Shiden Network, a smart contract platform that acts as a research and development chain of the Plasm Network.

( ), which listed on AIM earlier this month, has appointed life sciences veteran Lindsey Foulkes as its chief operating officer.

( ) said has pulled out of the Donovan 2 copper-gold project in Mexico due to a shift in corporate strategy and insufficient confidence following a maiden drilling programme.

( ) is to raise around 7mln through a placing of shares at 130p. The placing price represents a discount of around 10.3% to last nights closing mid-market price of 145p.

( ) said drilling will start this month on the northern (Hukuntsi) section of the Kalahari Suture Zone (KSZ) in Botswana.

( ) has signed a multiyear supply agreement for cannabigerol (CBG) with Toronto-listed Willow Biosciences.

( ) said following the passage of all resolutions at its AGM, Line Fredriksen and David Neuhauser have been appointed as non-executive directors with immediate effect.

(LON:THR, ) said a 2,000 metre diamond drilling programme has started at the Alford East copper-gold project, in South Australia. The company also said it has published an educational, explanatory video on In Situ Recovery and how it will be utilised at the Alford East project.

( ), the biotechnology company focused on the development of novel medicines to prevent life-threatening infections, will present data from its successful Phase 2b clinical study of XF-73 nasal gel at the 2021 ECCMID congress.

iClima Earth, an environmental impact fintech, is set to launch the worlds first distributed renewable energy exchange traded fund (ETF) on the London Stock Exchange. The ETF will be launched on the HANetf platform and is expected to list on the LSE this month.

Empire Metals Limited ( ) said it has completed the sale of its 50% stake in Georgian Copper & Gold JSC and the cash consideration totalling US$3.3mln has been received.
Applications have been submitted for an additional 14 mining concessions and it has executed an option agreement for two more mining concessions.

NE view of Cumbre Coyavolcanics on left sediments on right

( ) (FRA:LFY) has expanded its landholding around its existing mining concessions following the recently completed initial technical review of the Picha Project, where initial assays delivered strong highgrade results.

Applications have been submitted for an additional 14 mining concessions and the company has executed an option agreement for an additional two mining concessions in prospective areas surrounding its existing landholding.

This new expansion covers a total of 14,500 hectares (145 square kilometres), along with the existing four granted mining concessions, which cover 2,000 hectares (20 square kilometres).

Significant land position for exploration

Valor executive chairman George Bauk said: Expanding our landholding by over 700% was an obvious step with the outstanding results announced on June 2nd, 2021.

The new project area provides the company with a significant land position to continue our exploration for further copper and silver exploration success.

Notable channel and rock chip sample assay results from the technical site visit to the Project included:

563 g/t silver, 1.11% copper and more than 20% lead  Channel;

444 g/t silver, 2.84% copper and 0.9% lead  Rock chip;

89.7 g/t silver and 6.04% copper  Channel; and

65.6 g/t silver and 4.97% copper  Channel.

Right place, right commodities, right time

Bauk said: Peru is the third largest producer of copper and silver in the world.

Copper is a key critical component in our pathway to reducing carbon emissions.

Results last week demand immediate follow up.

Right place, right commodities and right time.

The company now has two exciting projects both being right place, right commodities and right time, with the Picha Copper Silver Project in Peru and our Hook Lake/Cluff Lake Uranium Projects in the Athabasca Basin in Canada.

Picha Project mining concessions and geology

Further field work planned

The field evidence to date indicates that the Picha mineralisation is similar to other coppersilver strata-bound deposits in Peru and Chile, such as the Tacaza Mine, 60 kilometres northwest of Picha, and the El Soldado deposit in Chile, which are mainly hosted in andesitic volcanics.

The company intends to commence further fieldwork at Picha in July, along with the ongoing desktop review involving compilation of all available historical data.

Follow up work includes:
Washington, June 10 : US top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has warned of the risks of a new Covid-19 variant, first identified in India, which is now spreading widely in the UK.

The Delta variant, known by the scientific name B.1.617.2, has spread from where it was first discovered in India to over 60 countries, according to the World Health Organization, Xinhua reported.

More than 6 percent of the sequenced Covid-19 infections in the US trace to the highly transmissible Delta variant, Fauci said on Tuesday.

The variant has become the dominant strain in the UK, accounting for an estimated 60 per cent of new cases, replacing the B.1.1.7 strain, according to Fauci.

He called on more Americans to get vaccinated to keep the new variant from proliferating across the country.

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Washington, June 10 : US President Joe Biden has ended infrastructure talks with Senate Republicans after weeks of intense negotiations between the two sides, according to top negotiator Shelley Moore Capito.

"Despite the progress we made in our negotiations, the president continued to respond with offers that included tax increases as his pay for, instead of several practical options that would have not been harmful to individuals, families, and small businesses," Capito, Republican senator from West Virginia, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"While I appreciate President Biden's willingness to devote so much time and effort to these negotiations, he ultimately chose not to accept the very robust and targeted infrastructure package, and instead, end our discussions.

"After negotiating in good faith and making significant progress to move closer to what the president wanted, I am disappointed by his decision," Capito added.

Biden's original proposal, with a price tag of $2.3 trillion, included funding to improve transportation infrastructure and high-speed broadband, revitalise American manufacturers and small businesses, boost the country's research and development, as well as modernise schools and early learning facilities, reports Xinhua news agency.

The White House had previously lowered the overall price tag to $1.7 trillion, while the Republicans then offered a $928 billion counteroffer, up from an earlier $568 billion proposal.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that Biden had informed Senator Capito on Tuesday that the latest offer from her group "did not, in his view, meet the essential needs of our country to restore our roads and bridges, prepare us for our clean energy future, and create jobs".

"He offered his gratitude to her for her efforts and good faith conversations, but expressed his disappointment that, while he was willing to reduce his plan by more than $1 trillion, the Republican group had increased their proposed new investments by only $150 billion," Psaki continued.

Psaki added that the President also spoke with three senators on Tuesday and urged them to continue their work with other Democrats and Republicans to develop a bipartisan proposal that he hopes will be more responsive to the country's pressing infrastructure needs.

In addition, Biden spoke to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top two Democrats, and encouraged them to begin crafting an infrastructure bill that can pass the Senate with a simple majority, adopting a process known as budget reconciliation.

This would mean it could clear the Senate without any Republican votes.

Calling the 2017 tax cut "a huge windfall" for corporate America and those at the very top, Biden recently said it had poured billions of dollars into the pockets of CEOs, widening the pay gap between CEOs and their workers.

Urging corporate America and the wealthiest 1 per cent of Americans to "pay their fair share", Biden said his tax policies, which include raising the corporate rate, the top personal income tax rate and the capital gains rate, will help pay for what he proposed to spend on infrastructure, education and childcare in 15 years.

In late May, the White House unveiled a $6 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2022, which included Biden's plan to increase investment in infrastructure, education, health care and beyond, drawing mixed reviews from lawmakers and budget watchers.

The proposal calls for total federal spending to run above $6 trillion throughout the next decade, and rise to $8.2 trillion by fiscal year 2031, reaching the highest sustained levels in decades.

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a watchdog group, argued that the budget adds "too much" to already record-level debt over the next decade and "does far too little" to address rising structural deficits over the long term.

Republicans, however, lashed out at Biden's tax hike proposals.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina said the President's tax hike proposals, if enacted, would lower wages, kill jobs and shrink the US economy.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had previously said that he thinks no Republican would vote in favour of raising taxes to pay for the infrastructure plan.

Refuting these arguments, Sachs said the Republicans have "consistently over-valued the benefits of low taxes and under-estimated the costs of low taxes", accusing them of representing the interests of the super-rich.

With slim majorities in both chambers of Congress, Democratic leaders are poised to face challenges in unifying the party, if they end up using the budget reconciliation process.

In the 50-50 split Senate, the party can not afford to lose a single vote, while in the House of Representatives, the party can lose just three Democratic votes, with unanimous Republican opposition.
Melbourne, June 10 : The two-week lockdown in Melbourne, the second most populous city of Australia, will end on Thursday midnight as the state of Victoria recorded only one new confirmed Covid-19 case.

Health authorities in the state have been battling a new outbreak, since the first new locally acquired case was recorded in late May, reports Xinhua news agency.

Speaking to reporters here, Acting Premier of the state James Merlino said Melbourne would "move to most of the same settings currently in place across regional Victoria, and regional Victoria will move further towards further easing".

The easing of restrictions will mean that from Friday, Melbourne residents will no longer have only five reasons to leave their homes and their travel radius will increase from 10 km to 25 km.

"The regional/metro divisions will come down and we'll be able to travel more freely around the state again," Merlino said.

Masks will no longer be required indoors unless people cannot maintain a 1.5-metre social distance, and restaurants and cafes will reopen for seated service with up to 100 people per venue and a maximum of 50 people inside.

"Everyone should be absolutely proud of what we have all achieved together, but we know this isn't over yet, and until we have widespread vaccination across Victoria and across our country, the virus will still be with us," Merlino said.

"We'll continue to assess the data each day and provide more detail as soon as we can," he said.
Canberra, June 10 : Australian researchers have provided a roadmap for addressing educational deficiency in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic-induced disruptions to improve the country's dealing with educationally disadvantaged young people.

Researchers from Australia's University of Queensland (UQ) and Paul Ramsay Foundation explored the impact of the national lockdown on educational disadvantage, saying on Wednesday it was the first study to present evidence-based solutions to help inform policy, reports Xinhua news agency.

The study adopted 16 recommendations for decision-makers and sector stakeholders, which was divided into four priority areas for action, including improving student mental health, wellbeing and hope, building up the future roles of teachers, schools, and communities, setting up protections for most vulnerable students and digital equity.

Professor Mark Western, UQ's Institute for Social Sciences Research director, said that compared to other countries, Australia lacks the same evidence-based support services, leaving Australians exposed to widening the educational divide, although more than 60 programs already existed to support children and young people experiencing disadvantage.

Researchers analysed large data sets and conducted interviews with focus groups with underprivileged children and young people, as well as service providers, government, and academic experts to capture and understand which elements of the system of educational disadvantage were directly impacted by Covid.

"More needs to be done to invest in the future of Australia's children and young people by deploying evidence-based programs that address four priority areas for action," Western said.

"Our report gives decision-makers, service providers, and potential funders a toolkit for implementing a range of guiding principles for school-based programs that would provide more support services tailored to students during the next potential lockdown or disaster," he noted.

Paul Ramsay Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Professor Glyn Davis AC said few Australian-based programs are supporting vulnerable students with rigorous evidence of effectiveness now, so they hope these findings will guide the implementation of school-based and community-based programs that meet the needs of Australia's vulnerable young people.

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Mumbai, June 10 : Actor Ranvir Shorey, who is playing a pivotal role in the upcoming web series "Sunflower", says that Sunil Grover is an exciting actor to work with.

"After I got the narration for 'Sunflower' I asked who is playing Sonu and I was told that Sunil will be doing it. I was readily excited to be part of the story then.

"It is a murder mystery and working with Sunil was such a delight. He is really a talented actor who is getting all the deserving chance now. He started with comedy so his journey was different. But really, Sunil is a very good actor," Ranvir told IANS.

The story of the show revolves around a murder that happens at a housing society named Sunflower and the investigation that follows.

Ranvir plays a police inspector in the show while Sunil is Sonu, one of the residents.

Ranvir has appeared in uniform earlier in "Rangbaaz" and "Lootcase", and he shared how he keeps the approach towards his performance fresh with every new cop role.

"As an actor I think I should not play it like a caricature and that is why I do not look at the character based on profession.

"There could be two professional actors, who are completely two different personalities, right? It is the same with any two police officers as well, so keeping a few elements aside, I try and play the character, who happens to be a police officer.

"When you play characters, each time they are different and that is how I keep it fresh and engaging for the audience," shared Ranvir.

Directed by Vikas Bahl, the web series has a huge ensemble cast Mukul Chadha, Girish Kulkarni, Annapurna Soni, Dayana Erappa, Ashish Vidyarthi and Shonali Nagrani, along with Ranvir and Sunil. It releases on Zee5 on June 11.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Aligarh : , June 10 (IANS) In a shocking statement, a member of the Uttar Pradesh State Women's Commission has said that girls should not be given mobile phones as it encourages rape.

"Girls talk on phones and later run away with boys," Meena Kumari said during a Mahila Jansunwai in Aligarh on Wednesday and appealed to parents to keep the cell phones away from their daughters.

Meena Kumari also added that parents, especially mothers, should monitor their daughters as crime against women was a result of "their carelessness".

The State Women's Commission has distanced itself from Meena Kumari's statement.

Anju Chaudhary, vice chairperson of the commission, said that the statement was uncalled for.

Meena Kumari, meanwhile, told reporters that she meant that minors and girls from villages do not know how to use phones in the 'right manner'.

"They use phones to make male friends and later run away with them," she said.

She further said that smartphones were also being used to watch inappropriate content.
Berlin, June 10 : Companies in Germany will continue to benefit from simplified access to short-time work funds, a form of state aid to avoid layoffs during crises, as the government decided to extend the application deadline by three months till September.

German companies using the short-time work scheme for the first time, or reintroducing the scheme after an interruption, would be granted simplified access for short-time work benefits until the end of the year, reports Xinhua news agency.

In order to give companies and employees "a fair perspective" to secure jobs and to ensure that German companies remain in business, it would be important to "extend the strong bridge of short-time work", Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil said in a statement on Wednesday.

The German government would continue to fully reimburse social security contributions for short-time work until the end of September, he added.

Under the relaxed conditions, companies in Germany can register for short-time work benefits if at least 10 per cent of employees are affected by the measure, according to the government.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the threshold was three times as high, at 30 per cent.

According to recent figures from the Federal Employment Agency (BA), 2.61 million German employees still received short-time work benefits in March.

To date, the highest number of people on short-time work in Germany was reached in April last year, when the figure stood at just below six million.
Tehran, June 10 : The state-run, The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has made preparations to bring its crude production back to the levels it had before the US unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on the country, a top official said.

"We have estimated the time required for a full recovery to be three months, on the basis of the plans and arrangements made, and our anticipation is we would revive most of the capacity as planned within one month," the NIOC's Deputy Director for Production Affairs Farrokh Alikhani said on Wednesday.

To that effect, precise plans have been designed on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis, Xinhua news agency quoted Alikhani as saying.

Younger and "greener" oil fields would return to their full production capacity quickly, while others may require acidising, pipelines may need technical services, and some offshore fields may require new rigs, he added.

The official admitted that recovering the wells and restoring production would come at a financial cost.

In any case, he further said, the NIOC's plans are not limited to restoring the pre-sanctions level production of 3.38 million barrels per day but aim to increase Iran's output.

"The NIOC has planned to return to the pre-sanctions production in the first step if the sanctions are lifted, and in the next step to increase production capacity to more than 4 million barrels per day," Alikhani noted.
San Francisco, June 10 : With an aim to empower public on how social media and behavioural sciences can be leveraged to improve the health of communities, Facebook has formed a global alliance called 'Alliance for Advancing Health Online with leading health organisations.

The partners include the Bay Area Global Health Alliance, the CDC Foundation, Facebook, the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, Merck, Sabin Vaccine Institute, the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Merck and Facebook are each committing $20 million to this multi-year initiative, which will initially focus on addressing vaccine hesitancy and vaccine equity among underserved communities.

The Alliance has established the Vaccine Confidence Fund, an independent fund to support research on how social media and online platforms can best support confidence in and access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world, as well as routine immunizations impacted by the pandemic.

The goal of this initial research is to produce timely, practical applications, focused on reaching historically underserved communities and those communities particularly at risk in the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Alliance will help us build a deeper understanding of the dynamics of health communication online and how the global community can use social media to improve health," said Heidi Larson, head of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The Fund will provide grants to researchers and organisations that are exploring how best to use behavioural science, social media and digital platforms to build confidence in and access to vaccines.

"The Alliance for Advancing Health Online and the new Vaccine Confidence Fund are important steps forward in leveraging social media for health impact at scale," said Andy Pattison, Team Lead, Digital Channels, WHO.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
London, June 10 : The UK's Brexit Minister David Frost said that talks with the European Union (EU) on the Northern Ireland Protocol did not result in any breakthroughs as tension remained between the two sides on trade.

"No breakthroughs, but no breakdown either. But the issues are now becoming urgent and we now need to find solutions," Frost tweeted on Wednesday after officials from the two sides met in London ahead of the G7 meetings later this week.

"The UK made clear its continued commitment to constructive engagement in order to find pragmatic solutions that ensure the protocol operates in a way that safeguards the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all its dimensions, minimises its impact on the day-to-day lives of communities in Northern Ireland, and maintains the integrity of the EU's Single Market," Frost said in a statement.

He said the UK will continue to work actively to find solutions.

"If solutions cannot be found, the government will of course continue to consider all options available for safeguarding peace, prosperity and stability in Northern Ireland." But UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face pressure from US President Joe Biden at their bilateral meeting ahead of the G7 summit to respect the Good Friday Agreement of which Washington is a guarantor, according to the Times newspaper.

Under the protocol, a part of the post-Brexit trade deal reached between London and Brussels in 2019, food products from the UK to the EU will have to enter through new border control posts at Northern Ireland's ports.

Northern Ireland will continue to apply EU customs rules at its ports, to allow goods to flow into the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU.

This is known as the Irish sea border, which is a new trade border between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK.
Chennai, June 10 : Tamil Nadu assembly session will begin at the Kalaivanar Arangam from June 21 at 10 a.m. This was announced by the Speaker M. Appavu on Wednesday.

The assembly will commence its proceedings with the address of Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

All the legislators and assembly officials will have to undertake a Covid-19 test and only those who are negative will be allowed to attend the session, the Speaker said.

According to a statement from the Speaker's office, Business Advisory Committee would meet after the Governor's address to decide on the number of days that the house would meet.

The Speaker's office said that the question-answer session is unlikely to take place. The live telecast of the assembly proceedings which was a promise in the election manifesto of the DMK is under consideration, the statement said.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin also called on the Governor on Wednesday to discuss the proceedings of the house before the session.
New Delhi, June 10 : Cyber-security researchers in India on Thursday said they have discovered a malicious free gift campaign pretending to be an offer from Tata Motors that is collecting users' data, and the campaign has been traced to China-based hackers.

The research wing of New Delhi-based CyberPeace Foundation received some links via WhatsApp, related to a free gift offer from Tata Motors, collecting browser and system information as well as the cookie data from the users.

"The campaign is pretended to be an offer from Tata Motors but hosted on the third-party domain instead of the official website of Tata Motors which makes it more suspicious," the research team said in a statement.

If any user opens the link from a device like smartphones where WhatsApp application is installed, the sharing features on the site will open the WhatsApp application on the device to share the link.

"The prizes are kept really attractive to lure the laymen," the team said.

The title of the fake website is "Tata Motors Cars, Celebrates sales exceeding 30 million." On the landing page, a congratulations message appears with an attractive photo of a Tata Safari car and asks users to participate in a quick survey to get a free TATA Safari vehicle.

"Also, at the bottom of this page, a section comes up which seems to be a Facebook comment section where many users have commented about how the offer is beneficial," the research revealed.

After Clicking the OK button, users are given three attempts to win the prize.

After completing all the attempts, it says that the user has won "TATA SAFARI".

"Congratulations! You did it! You won the TATA SAFARI!" Clicking on the 'OK' button, it then instructs users to share the campaign on WhatsApp.

The user then has to click the WhatsApp button in order to complete the progress bar. After clicking on the green 'Complete registration' button, it redirects the user to multiple advertisements webpages, and it varies each time the user clicks on the button.

According to the researchers, cybercriminals used Cloudflare technologies to mask the real IP addresses of the front-end domain names used in the free gifts from Tata Motors campaign.

"But during the phases of investigation, we have identified a domain name that was requested in the background and has been traced as belonging to China," the researchers revealed.

CyberPeace Foundation, a think tank and grassroot NGO of cyber security and policy experts, along with Autobot Infosec Private Limited looked into this matter to realise that these websites are online fraud.

"The campaign is pretended to be an offer from Tata Motors but hosted on the third-party domain instead of the official website of Tata Motors which makes it more suspicious," the Foundation said.

The Foundation recommended that people avoid opening such messages sent via social platforms.
Caracas, June 10 : US sanctions against Venezuela are part of a "comprehensive assault" against the South American country, Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza said here.

"It's not just the sanctions, the unilateral coercive measures. Let's see this as a comprehensive assault, a political and diplomatic assault, definitely an economic assault, a communicational and ideological assault. It is a real assault with operations by mercenaries," Xinhua news agency quoted Arreaza as saying on Wednesday.

The Foreign Minister made the remarks while addressing a virtual academic conference which gathered experts in the field and diplomatic envoys accredited to the UN Human Rights Council.

"There is no doubt" that the measures applied by Washington "have hurt the Venezuelan economy and the Venezuelan people, and constitute crimes against humanity", said Arreaza.

From every perspective, unilateral coercive measures are illegal under international law and that is clearly established by the UN General Assembly itself, in different debates and resolutions, he added.

For over 15 years, the US has imposed sanctions in response to activities of the Venezuelan government and Venezuelan individuals.

The earliest sanctions imposed related to Venezuela's lack of cooperation on anti-drug and counter-terrorism efforts.

The former Barack Obama administration had imposed targeted sanctions against individuals for human rights abuses, corruption, and anti-democratic actions.

Former President Donald Trump had also significantly expanded economic sanctions.

As of January 22, 2021, the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on roughly 166 Venezuelan or Venezuelan-connected individuals.

Meanwhile, the State Department has revoked the visas of more than 1,000 individuals and their families so far.
Tehran, June 10 : The five rounds of the negotiations in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal have led to an agreement over the removal of some 1,000 US sanctions on Tehran, but about 500 others were still disputed, parliamentary sources said.

The figure was offered by the head of the Iranian negotiating team, Abbas Araqchi, during a meeting on Wednesday with Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee, Xinhua news agency quoted Ebrahim Azizi, a member of the committee, as saying.

The next round of talks between delegations from Iran and the P4+1, namely the UK, China, France, Russia plus Germany, is scheduled to begin later this week.

According to Araqchi, the lawmaker noted, the delegations have not yet defined a verification process by Iran of the lifting of the sanctions.

On Tuesday, US.Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "hundreds of sanctions" against Iran will remain in place even if Washington re-enters the 2015 nuclear agreement and Tehran returns to full compliance with the deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

On June 3, Araqchi, who is also the country's Deputy Foreign Minister, expressed hope that the next round of talks in Vienna may be conclusive and lead to a final agreement.

The US government under former President Donald Trump withdrew in May 2018 from the JCPOA and unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its JCPOA commitments from May 2019.

The JCPOA Joint Commission began the negotiations on April 6 in the Austrian capital aimed at a possible return of the US to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the 2015 landmark agreement.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
United Nations, June 10 : The Unicef on Thursday voiced grave concern about the decision of the UK government to reduce funding to the agency.

"We depend on these resources to sustain our humanitarian and development programs for millions of children around the world, helping us to reach them before, during and after crises," Xinhua news agency quoted the UN agency as saying in a statement.

"Any cuts to these vital funds will have serious consequences for the most vulnerable children, especially now that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a global spike in the number of those in need of essential education, protection, health and water services.

"We estimate that 150 million additional children are living in multidimensional poverty because of the pandemic," the statement added.

It is too soon to know the full impact of the British funding cuts on Unicef programs, but early indications paint an alarming picture, it said.

The UK government has announced a 60 per cent reduction in core funding to the Unicef.

In addition, it has also announced pauses and reductions to earmarked contributions for Unicef programming at the local, regional and global levels.

"The UK government has long been a key partner for Unicef's work for children around the world. While we recognise the challenging financial situation currently facing governments, the needs of children have never been greater.

"We continue to engage with the UK government on our shared agenda for children worldwide and trust that the government will meet its commitment to reinstate the 0.7 per cent GNI (gross national income) aid spending target as soon as possible.

"The UK leadership on the global stage is needed now more than ever," the statement added.
Mumbai, June 10 : Actor Prateik Babbar has been in the Hindi film industry for over a decade. He calls it an eventful journey with lots of ups and downs.

Prateik made his Bollywood debut in 2008 with the coming of age romantic film "Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na". He was then seen in movies such as "Dhobi Ghat", "Aarakshan", "Ekk Deewana Tha", "Baaghi 2", "Mulk", "Chhichhore" and "Mumbai Saga".

Talking about his 13-year-journey in Bollywood, Prateik told IANS: "It's been one hell of a rollercoaster ride. There have been lots of ups and downs but so far so good." "Every person has his or her own journey. Mine has been quite an eventful one but hey no regrets except for a few because of which I lost a few years of my life but otherwise no regrets," he added.

Prateik, who is the son of politician-actor Raj Babbar and late veteran star Smita Patil, is looking forward to his upcoming journey.

"It's part of my journey and me becoming the person I am. It has been a very eventful journey and I am looking forward for the rest of it," he said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Khartoum, June 10 : Sudan and Egypt have reiterated rejection to unilateral filling of the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile River.

The two countries held closed-door talks here on Wednesday to review the latest developments regarding the GERD with the participation of their Foreign and Irrigation Ministers, reports Xinhua news agency.

At the conclusion of the talks, the two sides issued a joint communique in which they stressed on the risks of the unilateral filling of the GERD.

They stressed the importance of coordination at the regional and international levels to push Ethiopia to negotiate seriously and with political will to reach a satisfactory and binding deal, according to the communique.

The two sides saw that the talks under the African Union have failed to reach an agreement because of the "Ethiopian obstinacy".

They urged the international community to intervene to stop Ethiopia's "unilateral will".

They further expressed concern over the possible impact of unilateral filling of the GERD without reaching a legal deal to organise the work of the dam.

Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia have been in talks for years over the technical and legal issues related to the filling and operation of the GERD.

Sudan proposed a mediation quartet of the UN, the European Union, the US and the African Union regarding the GERD issue.

Ethiopia, however, has announced its rejection to this formula.

In February, Ethiopia said it would carry on with the second-phase 13.5-billion-cubic-metre filling of the GERD in June.

The volume of the first-phase filling last year was 4.9 billion cubic metres.

Ethiopia, which started building the GERD in 2011, expects to produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity from the dam project.

But Egypt and Sudan, downstream Nile Basin countries that rely on the river for its freshwater, are concerned that the dam might affect their share of the water resources.
South Africa: UIF intervenes in Qebherha taxi industry protests over TERS benefits

The Department of Employment and Labour has begun an intervention process into the stalemate between the taxi industry and other groupings in Qebherha over COVID-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS).

In a statement, the department said it had on Monday deployed a team of senior managers to meet the leadership of various taxi associations and taxi drivers, Eastern Cape South African National Taxi Council and the Provincial Department of Transport. The meeting was chaired by Nelson Mandela Bay executive mayor Nqaba Bongo.

This intervention came two weeks after taxi drivers in the city embarked on a strike complaining about the irregular disbursement TERS benefits.

In the meeting, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) outlined the COVID-19 TERS application and payment process, and indicated that a payment of R19.7 million was paid to Eastern Cape Transport Tertiary Co-operative, which submitted the TERS application on behalf of various companies including bus companies and taxi associations, the department said in the statement.

In preparation for the meeting, taxi associations were requested to provide ID copies of all taxi drivers to enable UIF to check status of claims submitted on their behalf.

The Fund confirmed that about 5 963 copies were received and 5 757 claims were paid to the tune of R25 million.

The department said some identity numbers from individual taxi drivers were tested against the COVID-19 TERS online system during the meeting, and it was clear that for some taxi drivers COVID-19 TERS claims were never made because they could not be found in the system.

The executive mayor stressed the importance of individual drivers to check their status on the TERS online portal themselves.

"We appreciate that the Department of Employment and Labour has provided objective tools that will enable taxi drivers to check for themselves if an application was made for them, and secondly they can also be able to see how much they have been paid, he said.

He requested that taxi associations assist drivers by making the TERS payments information available and encouraged those with grievances to first consult with the taxi associations, and if dissatisfied, take the matters to the department.

The UIF indicated that a team of auditing firms was appointed to follow all payments done on all applications received since the inception of TERS, and where fraud is suspected payments are immediately blocked and initial investigation is carried out by the Risk and Fraud Prevention Unit of the UIF.

In cases where fraud is confirmed, the case is referred to law enforcement agencies for further investigation and possible prosecution, said the department.

A follow up meeting will be scheduled where all stakeholders will be invited to apprise the leadership of taxi drivers and associations about further details on TERS payments.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Luo Xi

The US-ROK summit concluded in late May revealed that the US-ROK missile guidelines would be terminated, and restrictions on the range and load capacity of missiles developed independently by the ROK will be lifted, which gives the ROK the so-called "missile autonomy". Behind this move are the geopolitical considerations of the two sides regarding the current security situation in East Asia.

The first US-ROK missile guidelines signed in 1979 set up a "ceiling" for the ROK's self-developed ballistic missiles and stipulates that the missile's range should not exceed 180 kilometers. Since then, the guidelines have been revised many times. The range of the ROKs missiles has been relaxed, and the restrictions on warhead weight have been removed.

For the US, there are strategic considerations behind the termination of the missile guidelines. On the one hand, it aims to increase the bargaining power for the resumption of negotiations on the DPRK nuclear talks. From the perspective of the US, the DPRK has both strategic and tactical levels of all-round nuclear strike capabilities. At this moment, the US chose to cancel the limit of the ROKs missile development capability and promptly promote the development and test launch of the ROKs medium- and long-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, in a bid to reduce its pressure and costs, and use the ROK's power to achieve its strategic interests on the Korean Peninsula.

On the other hand, the US aims to narrow the distance between itself and the ROK to build a strong Indo-Pacific strategic capability system. Currently, the Biden administration has launched the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), and the ROK has become an important target worth winning over. In recent years, the US has been committed to building a missile defense system in Northeast Asia and now has the capability to defend against medium- and short-range ballistic missiles. "Authorizing" the ROK to develop ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with longer ranges will further strengthen the ROK's strategic offensive and defensive force system.

At the same time, removing the "limit" for and restoring the "autonomy" of missile development can also help the ROK accelerate the process of military modernization based on strategic strike capabilities and enhance its independence of national defense construction.

The ROK tested the Hyunmoo-4 new ballistic missile with a range of 800 kilometers and a payload of 2,000 kilograms in August 2020. In addition, the Hyunmoo series cruise missiles have a maximum range of 1,500 kilometers, indicating that the ROK has possessed medium- and short-range offensive campaign tactical strike capabilities. In recent years, the ROK has been committed to pursuing strategic strike capabilities represented by new-type ballistic missiles and hypersonic missiles with longer range, more diverse warheads, and higher precision. A few days ago, there were reports that the ROK military was discussing plans for launching carrier rockets in the air and in the open sea.

We need to stay vigilant because this move will have a profound impact on the regional security situation. The relaxation of the ROKs missile development is likely to stimulate the DPRK to develop missiles and other weaponry in an accelerated manner. Japan may also make similar demands. A new arms race may emerge in Northeast Asia. All these will bring more uncertainty to the ROK's security situation. For the ROK, the "unbinding" looks like a sweet "carrot", but it is actually a "poisonous apple" that harms its interests.

The Biden administration has repeatedly proposed to lower the strategic position of nuclear weapons and return to the "nuclear-free world" since taking office. However, the US lifting the "ceiling" of the ROK's missile capabilities essentially continues Donald Trump's zero-sum thinking of "peace through strength ". This will further complicate the peninsula nuclear issue and the regional situation is likely to become more turbulent and bring more uncertainties to the international arms control and non-proliferation process.

(The author is from the War Research Institute of the PLA Academy of Military Science.)
Espanola, NM (87532)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Bengaluru, June 10 : Karnataka Police, and Military Intelligence (Southern Command), have together busted an illegal network, comprising six telephone exchanges, that were converting international calls to local calls, and also ferreting out information from Indian army exchanges, and personnel.

Two persons, hailing from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, have been arrested in the city on June 7, a statement issued by the police said. They have been identified as Ibrahim Pulatti of Malappuram, Kerala, and V. Gautam of Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, residing in BTM Layout of the city.

The duo had established a network of six illegal telephone exchanges in BTM Layout. Using 30 electronic devices fitted with 32 sim cards each for their operations, the illegal telephone exchanges converted international calls into local calls.

Indian Army officials went into alert mode when their Siliguri helpline began recieving several suspicious calls seeking information on troop movements in April. The army located the calls to Bengaluru, and contacted the city police.

A joint raid conducted by the Anti-Terrorist Cell (ATC) on June 7, led to the arrest of the two persons, while a Hawala operator has been arrested from Bhatkal in coastal Karnataka.

Bengaluru city police commissioner, Kamal Pant said that the arrested persons are being charged with defrauding the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the exchequer, by illegally creating a telephone exchange.

Meanwhile, an Army Intelligence and law enforcement press note, said that the arrested men are also accused of "disrupting the country's security".
Washington, June 10 : US President Joe Biden's administration plans to buy 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine and donate them among about 100 countries over the next year, according to media reports on Thursday, citing people familiar with the plan.

According to the plan, the US will pay for the doses at a "not for profit" price, which will be distributed through COVAX -- the international vaccine-sharing initiative.

While the first 200 million doses will be distributed by the end of this year, another 300 million will be distributed by June 2021.

Biden, who has been facing pressure to aggressively address the global coronavirus vaccine shortage, is set to announce the plan ahead of his eight-day European trip, the New York Times reported.

"We have to end Covid-19, not just at home, which we're doing, but everywhere," Biden was quoted as saying.

"There's no wall high enough to keep us safe from this pandemic or the next biological threat we face, and there will be others. It requires coordinated multilateral action," he added.

The 500 million doses are in addition to the earlier contracted deal between the US and Pfizer for 300 million doses of two shots vaccine for the country.

Early, this month, the Biden administration had announced sharing at least 80 million vaccine doses globally by the end of June. Of these 25 million doses will be distributed this month to countries in the Caribbean and Latin America; South and Southeast Asia; Africa; and the Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank. The remaining 75 per cent of these vaccines will be distributed through COVAX, the White House said in a statement.

The 500 million doses, however, still fall far short of the 11 billion the World Health Organization estimates are needed to vaccinate the world.

Less than 1 per cent of people are fully vaccinated in a number of African countries, compared with 42 per cent in the US and the UK.

"The world needs urgent new manufacturing to produce billions more doses within a year, not just commitments to buy the planned inadequate supply,a Peter Maybarduk, the director of Public Citizen's Access to Medicines programme, said in a statement.

"We have yet to see a plan from the US government or the G7 of the needed ambition or urgency to make billions more doses and end the pandemic," he added.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kolkata, June 10 : The BJP high command are looking to build up Suvendu Adhikari as the party's answer to the "Pishi-Bhaipo' (aunt-nephew) leadership in West Bengal, top party sources said.

They say this is a conscious departure from the BJP-RSS line of having a 'swayamsevak' (from the RSS stable) for the key position like Chief Minister or Leader of Opposition in a state.

"Himanta Biswa Sarma's emergence as Assam Chief Minister and Suvendu Adhikari's as Leader of Opposition marks this new line that defectors who have proved their loyalty and competence must be given the top jobs," said a top BJP leader but he preferred anonymity.

Adhikari's victory in Nandigram has boosted his stock and his attack on Mamata Banerjee's behaviour during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bengal has further endeared him to Modi-Shah-Nadda triumvarite, he said.

That BJP state unit chief Dilip Ghosh had no idea of Adhikari's visit to Delhi, where he got personal audience from Modi and all BJP seniors, points to the new clout of Adhikari.

Even BJP dissidents like former Governor Tathagata Roy, so critical of the 'KDSA Gang of Four' (Kailash-Dilip-Shiv-Arvind), have not been critical of Suvendu Adhikari, despite their pitch for restoring BJP 'old timers' to position of importance.

Roy also met BJP party chief Nadda on Wednesday night.

He said he has come to Delhi on the request of the party top brass but state BJP sources were not aware of either his or Adhikari's Delhi visit.

"His victory over Mamata in Nandigram with 34 per cent Muslim electorate has really boosted his credentials," the leader said.

He said the BJP is looking at 2024 Lok Sabha and 2026 state assembly polls in West Bengal and they want Suvendu to lead the charge against the Trinamool.

The BJP top leader said Dilip Ghosh will remain state party chief to maintain organisation stability, but Suvendu Adhikari will be projected as the future CM.

"The strategy of fighting in Bengal by projecting the central leadership was a huge mistake. You have to project a CM face here," said the BJP leader.

"Adhikari's age, his GenNext connect, his understanding of Trinamool all work in his favour," he said.

Suvendu's pitch for implementing the CAA has been accepted by the BJP.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 10 : In what may be a big casualty of Covid-19 related market disruptions, India's Petronet LNG Ltd has shelved it's $2.5 billion investment plan in US LNG developer Tellurian's upcoming Driftwood LNG terminal in Louisiana.

Government sources said that with low spot LNG prices and gas widely available in the market, it would make little sense to sign an agreement committing to pay on sea price of over $ 4.5 per mmBtu for 40 years for the gas.

The delivered price of gas would be even higher. Thus, there was no need to pursue the deal at this juncture they said.

At its results call on Wednesday, PLL managing director and CEO A K Singh also mentioned that at present the company had no MoU for investment in Tellurian's gas project in US.

As per the second extension given to the MoU reached between Tellurian and PLL in September 2019, the agreement was to be reached latest by December end, 2020. But as per Singh, as the US gas company did not approach them for further extensions, there was no investment MoU with PLL now.

A PLL official also said that with prices at record low levels and easily available, the company is more concerned about signing LNG supply contracts rather than investing in greenfield project that will meet has needs after five to seven years.

In September last year a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between PLL and Tellurian that gave the Indian entity PLL the option to buy 5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) LNG from Tellurian's Driftwood project on the banks of the Calcasieu river in Louisiana. In return, Petronet was to spend $2.5 billion for an 18% equity stake in the $28 billion Driftwood LNG terminal.

The term of the MoU was to expire on March 31, 2020, which was extended to May 31 in February. It was again extended till December end. But with deadline latest extension also ending, PLL also seemed in be on no mood to commit investment.

The change of government in US has also made decision to move out from the project easier.

As a test to determine gas prices available on long-term contract basis now, PLL last year invited bids for one million tonne per annum of LNG for 10 years. It asked bidders to quote a price below Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) that takes the price on long term as well as closer to spot prices.

Though Tellurian placed its bid for the supply contract, it did not qualify from a list of 13 other suppliers.

The Tellurian deal, if concluded, would have been the first long-term LNG deal under the Modi government since 2014. The previous long-term gas supply deals were signed before 2014. The deal for 7.5 mtpa of LNG from Qatar, 1.44 mtpa from Australia, 2.2 mtpa from Russia and 5.8 mtpa from the US were concluded by the previous UPA government.

The landed price of some of the earlier concluded long-term LNG supply deals is higher at $9-$10 per mmBtu that is being renegotiated by PLL now.

Under the Tellurian deal, the first set of gas from the Driftwood project would have reached Indian shores only by FY24.

As per analyst presentations given by Tellurian, the first phase of the 27.6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) Driftwood project will be able to deliver LNG only in 2023. This would have meant that Petronet would have to wait for the LNG under a long term contract from the US project for four long years. The wait is long given competitively priced LNG is available in plenty in the spot market to meet the immediate energy needs of the country.

The Driftwood project is a proposed LNG terminal where actual construction work is yet to start. Though Tellurian has appointed Bechtel as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner for the project, it is still waiting for investment commitments from partners for starting construction work. So far only French energy major Total has committed to invest $500 million in the project for 2 mtpa of LNG.

Sources said of the 5 mtpa proposed contracted quantity, Petronet may not get even full capacity from the first phase 11 mtpa Driftwood project to be ready for delivery by 2023.

As the US project is proposed to be constructed in four phases, sources said full capacity may not be reached before 2030. By then the gas market may be looking a lot different and could make Petronet's investment unproductive.

Tellurian is selling 51 per cent holding in Driftwood to third parties while it itself would retain 49 per cent stake or control over 13.6 mtpa of LNG. Tellurian expects to generate $8 per share cash flow from the project.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Adelaide, June 10 : South Australia (SA) is set to become the fourth state in the country to legalise euthanasia after a landmark vote on Thursday.

The lower house of SA's parliament voted 33-11 in favour of giving terminally ill patients the right to request a lethal drug to end their lives, reports Xinhua news agency.

The vote took place in the early hours of Thursday morning after a six-hour debate on the legislation.

It represented the 17th attempt in 26 years to legalise voluntary assisted dying in the state.

The upper house voted 14-7 in favour of the bill in May but will have to vote again after several amendments were added to it.

If endorsed again there, it will make SA the fourth Australian state to legalizs euthanasia after Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia.

MP Kyam Maher, who co-sponsored the bill with colleague Susan Close, said it was historic for SA.

Maher became an advocate for euthanasia after witnessing his mother die in pain from terminal cancer.

In order to be eligible for voluntary assisted dying in SA, a patient must be an Australian citizen over the age of 18 who has lived in SA for at least one year.

They must have a terminal condition expected to cause intolerable suffering and death within months, and the decision must be approved by two doctors separately within a prescribed time frame.

Both SA Premier Steven Marshall and opposition leader Peter Malinauskas voted in favour of the bill but Malinauskas said the decision weighed heavily on him.
Panaji, June 10 : BJP national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh took stock of the the party's efforts taken during the Covid pandemic, including the steps taken under the 'Seva hi Sangathan' prorgamme during his visit to Goa, state party president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said on Thursday.

Santosh who arrived in Goa on Wednesday also met the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and is scheduled to conduct meetings of the ruling party MLAs and the core committee of the Goa BJP later today, before heading for the national capital.

"He reviewed the party's performance under the 'Seva hi Sanghatan' programme for Covid management. He assessed how we performed as a party and reached out to help people (during the pandemic)," Tanavade told reporters.

When asked if poll preparation was a partAof Santosh's agenda during his two-day visit to the state, Tanavade said: "This is an all India tour, not related to politics". Elections to the state assembly are scheduled to be held in early 2022.

Tanavde also said that Santosh was scheduled to meet ruling party MLAs and the party core committee later on Thursday.

Emerging from a one-on-one meeting with Santosh, Goa's Revenue Minister Jennifer Monserrate said that the top party office bearer spoke to her about the party organisation and "works being conducted in my organisation related to the next elections".

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Washington, June 10 : Major American meat producer, JBS USA has confirmed that it paid an equivalent of $11 million in ransom in response to the criminal hack against its operations last week.

JBS USA, headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, had to temporarily halt production at its beef plants across the country following the ransomware attack, as its computer systems in North America and Australia were severely affected by the attack, reports Xinhua news agency.

It said in a statement on Wednesday that the vast majority of the company's facilities were operational at the time of payment.

"In consultation with internal IT professionals and third-party cybersecurity experts, the company made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated," said the company.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly attributed the JBS attack to REvil, a Russian-speaking group.

But the Russian government has denied any involvement in cyberattacks like the JBS hack, calling these allegations "groundless".

"The FBI stated this is one of the most specialized and sophisticated cybercriminal groups in the world," noted JBS USA.

The company said it "has maintained constant communications with government officials throughout the incident" and "preliminary investigation results confirm that no company, customer or employee data was compromised", "This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally," Andre Nogueira, Chief Executive Officer of JBS USA, was quoted as saying in the statement.

"However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers," he added.

Brazil-based JBS is the world's biggest meat supplier.

According to the company's official website, JBS USA is the No.1 beef producer in the US.

It's also the No. 2 pork and poultry producer in the country.

The attack against JBS came after another high-profile ransomware attack targeting Colonial Pipeline, which forced the company to shut down approximately 8,800 km of fuel pipeline for days last month.

The US government concluded that the Russian government was not involved in the attack against Colonial Pipeline, while indicating the criminals behind the hack were living in Russia.
Nay Pyi Taw, June 10 : A military plane crashed in Myanmar's Mandalay region due to severe weather on Thursday morning, a military spokesperson said.

With 14 people on board, the military plane travelling from the capital city Nay Pyi Taw to Pyin Oo Lwin, crashed in Pyin Oo Lwin of Mandalay region at around 8 a.m.,Major General Zaw Min Tun of the Information Team of the State Administration Council, told Xinhua news agency.

He said the number of casualties has yet to be known as the rescue operation is being carried out, while the Mandalay Region Fire Department's social media page said 12 on board were killed.

Two people have been rescued and sent to the military hospital for treatment so far, the information team said.
Tokyo, June 10 : The Japanese government's expert coronavirus advisory panel on Thursday approved a plan to lift the quasi-state of emergency in three prefectures on Sunday as scheduled.

Public broadcaster NHK said the quasi-state of emergency measures in place for Gunma, Ishikawa and Kumamoto prefectures are set to end on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The three prefectures have been under the restrictions since May 16.

The plan, approved by the expert panel, is expected to be finalised by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga later in the day.

Under the quasi-state of emergency, the affected prefectures have seen bans placed on restaurants serving alcohol and such businesses are required to close by 8 p.m. local time.

In addition, large events have a cap of 5,000 people attending.

Those not following the anti-virus measures are subjected to smaller fines, however, than those breaking the rules in prefectures under a fully-fledged state of emergency.

Amid concerns over the spread of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus, 10 prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka remain under a fully-fledged state of emergency set to end on June 20.

Along with five other prefectures that are still under a quasi-state of emergency, NHK said decisions on lifting these measures will be made next week.
Washington/Moscow, June 10 : As US President Joe Biden began his visit to Europe, where he will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next week, Washington and Moscow have sent tough messages ahead of the much-awaited summit.

Biden arrived in the UK on Wednesday, kicking off his first foreign trip since coming to power in January, reports Xinhua news agency.

Addressing US troops and their families at Royal Air Force Mildenhall base there, Biden said he would deliver a clear message to Putin.

"We're not seeking conflict with Russia," Biden said. "We want a stable and predictable relationship." "But I've been clear: The US will respond in a robust and meaningful way if the Russian government engages in harmful activities," he warned.

Meanwhile, a Russian court on Wednesday night outlawed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's political organisation and labelled it as "extremist".

The ruling prevents those associated with Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation and his regional network from seeking public office.

Condemning the court's decision, the US Department of State said in a statement that with this action, "Russia has effectively criminalized one of the country's few remaining independent political movements".

In March, Washington announced sanctions and restrictions against Russian individuals and entities over the alleged poisoning of Navalny.

The US intelligence community assessed that officers of Russia's Federal Security Service used a nerve agent known as Novichok to poison Navalny on August 20, 2020, according to a senior Biden administration official.

Russia has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying the Navalny case is a purely domestic affair and foreign intervention is not allowed.

Biden's first in-person meeting with Putin is scheduled to take place in Geneva, Switzerland on June 16, at the end of his eight-day trip to Europe.

During his trip, Biden will be in the UK till June 13 during which he will attend the G7 Summit and hold bilateral meetings with leaders of member countries.

He will then travel to Brussels, Belgium to participate in the NATO Summit, before meeting Putin.

Ahead of the US-Russia summit, Biden on Monday reaffirmed his support to Kiev in a call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, in a bid to reassure Ukraine ahead of the summit.

Following the call, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday that "irresponsible" US policy will lead to continued tensions in Ukraine.

There may be a chance at productive talks if the US rises above its own interests and focuses on what is best for solving the Ukrainian crisis, Ryabkov said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The Delhi High Court on Thursday declined to stay the release of movie, Nyay: The Justice, scheduled for release on Friday, purportedly based on the life of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

A bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula dismissed an application filed by Krishna Kishore Singh, Sushant's father, against movie and other ventures using his son's name or likeness in the form of a biopic or story.

The court noted the right to privacy has also been invoked not just of the deceased but also of his family.

"The submissions on this aspect are unspecific and vague. No definite instance has been presented by the plaintiff to show how this right is infringed upon and therefore, the plea is devoid of merit," said the court.

The court also found merit in contention of one of the defendants that if information of events which have occurred is already in the public domain, one cannot plead any violation of right to privacy if a movie is inspired from such events.

The court noted the events that form the subject matter of the film are in the public sphere, and it does not find any justification to restrain publication of work claiming to be fictional, which draws inspiration from such events.

"Since the defendants' films are neither portrayed as a biopic, nor a factual narration of what transpired in the life of SSR and are depicted to be complete fictional and inspired from certain events which have occurred in the past and have been widely discussed and are available in public domain, the Court finds no reason to grant a restraining order," said the court.

According to Singh's plea, some of the upcoming or proposed movie projects based on his son's life are -- Nyay: The Justice, Suicide or Murder; a star was lost, Shashank and an unnamed crowd-funded film.

Krishna Kishore Singh expressed apprehension that various plays, movies, web-series, books, interviews or other material may be published which would harm the reputation of his son and his family.

The court noted that the suit was filed close to the release of the film, after substantial time, money and effort have been expended by movie makers on production and promotion. "For this reason, the balance of convenience lies entirely in favour of the defendants," said the court.

Rajput's father, represented through senior advocate Vikas Singh and advocate Varun Singh, contended the filmmakers are taking advantage of the situation for commercial gains and therefore, the right to freedom of speech and expression would not apply to them.

The court observed the fictional rendition for dramatic representation based on certain events falls within the scope of artistic freedom of expression and speech.

The court added that as long as the name was not used and a disclaimer was published along with the movie, the filmmakers cannot be disallowed from making a movie based on such events.

Vikas Singh had fleetingly argued that the right of free speech, in matters of news reporting, does not enjoy the same protection when it comes to matters of commercial exploitation.

"The argument is misconceived, and one cannot read this classification of core and non-core rights under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. The protection and guarantee provided by the Constitution would apply with equal rigour, even if the publication leads to commercial gain," said the court.

The suit filed by Rajput's father sought damages of over Rs 2 crore from the filmmakers for "loss of reputation, mental trauma and harassment" to Rajput's family.

The court noted that without knowing the contents of the film and only by relying on some news articles, the plaintiff cannot argue that the depiction in the films is intended to tarnish.

Senior advocate Chander Lall, representing the director of Nyay, opposed the plea and argued that Rajput's caricature, name or likeness has not been used in the film.

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging in his Bandra apartment under mysterious circumstances on June 14, 2020.
Kabul, June 10 : Three Afghan soldiers and an assailant were killed on Thursday in a suicide car bombing in Baghlan province, a local army source confirmed.

The assailant tried to carry out a car bombing against an army base in Bagh-e-Shamal locality of provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri city early Thursday, Abdul Hadi Nazari from the army's 217th Pamir Corps told Xinhua news agency.

"When the soldiers manning the base opened fired, the vehicle exploded, resulting in the killing of the terrorist aboard the vehicle and martyrdom of three soldiers," he said.

The militants failed to cause massive damage to the base after the soldiers in the first gate of the camp responded to the attacker, he said.

Since the official withdrawal of the US and other NATO troops in Afghanistan on May 1, the Taliban have intensified attacks on provincial capitals, districts, bases and checkpoints.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have been displaced in the past few weeks.

The withdrawal of international troops is due to be completed by September 11 at the latest.
Patna, June 10 : The latest data presented by the Bihar government on Covid deaths in the state has triggered a major controversy and has put the Centre into an uneasy situation.

The health department of Bihar has reported 9,429 deaths due to the coronavirus. The data which was put out on Wednesday evening reveals 3,951 more deaths compared to a day before. The total deaths till Tuesday due to Covid in Bihar was 5,458.

The sudden spike in death number has affected the central all India tally which suddenly jumped to 6,148.

The health department has given the breakup of deaths in all 38 districts of Bihar but it has not mentioned dates and time or when these deaths occurred. Patna has registered 2,303 deaths which is the highest in the state followed by Muzaffarpur (609) and Begusarai (316).

After the mismatch, a senior officer of the health department said that the matter is under investigation. The detailed report is expected to come later in the evening.

The health department has also issued mismatch data about the numbers of patients recovered. On Tuesday, it presented 7,01,234 recoveries from the Covid infection while it published 6,98,397 recoveries, a day later. The recovery rate on Tuesday was shown at 98.7 per cent while on Wednesday it was 97.65 per cent.

The Bihar government is facing flack from opposition leaders for presenting such data mismatch.

Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) has slammed the Bihar government accusing it of corona death scam.

"Who is making death scam in Bihar. Nitish Kumar government should answer it," JAP released a written statement on Thursday.

"Our leader Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav has pointed out that the Bihar government is hiding the number of deaths. He further pointed out that there were 1,000 deaths per day in April and May this year," Said Raju Danvir, national youth wing president of JAP.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Nay Pyi Taw, June 10 : Myanmar's ousted de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with corruption, the state media reported on Thursday.

The Anti-Corruption Commission in Myanmar found evidence that the 75-year-old committed "corruption using her rank", dpa news agency quoted the state-affiliated daily, Global New Light of Myanmar as saying in a report.

The accusations include illegally accepting $600,000 and several kilograms of gold, as well as misusing land.

Suu Kyi's lawyer described the accusations as "absurd" and "groundless".

"I've never met any statesman more honest and incorruptible as Aung San Suu Kyi," Khin Maung Zaw, the head of her defence team, told dpa news agency.

Corruption is punishable by up to 15 years in prison in Myanmar, which has seen widespread unrest since a military coup in February.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been under house arrest since the coup on February 1 - as she was for years under the previous military dictatorship.

The judiciary has already charged her with half a dozen offences, including violating foreign trade laws, violating coronavirus measures and inciting sedition.

The sedition charge is the most serious she faces.

It is suspected that the junta wants to use the proceedings to keep the popular former head of government out of politics permanently.

Myanmar has been plunged into chaos and violence since the coup.

The military suppresses all resistance with brutal force.

According to estimates by the prisoners' aid organization AAPP, at least 858 people have been killed.

Almost 6,000 have been arrested.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Guwahati, June 10 : The protests and appeal against the sale of two paper mills owned by the government-run Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has been mounting rapidly in the BJP-ruled Assam.

The main Opposition Congress, Raijor Dal led by jailed MLA Akhil Gogoi, Assam Jatiya Parishad, the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU) and various other organisations and individuals have been urging the Centre as well as the Assam government to stop the sale of the two defunct paper mills owned by the HPCL.

In separate letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Congress President Ripun Bora said that a suitable revival package can be prepared to protect the two paper mills and the employees as the Kerala government took over Hisdustan News Print Ltd, a subsidiary unit of HPCL.

Bora, a Rajya Sabha member, in his letter to PM said : "I think it is not necessary to remind you about your repeated commitment in many occasions of election campaigning meetings while you visited Assam during 2014, 2016, 2019 and even 2021 to revive the two paper mills by giving special economic packages." 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.

AJP (a regional party) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi said the party would launch an online petition-cum-signature campaign against the sale of the two vital paper mills.Referring to the Prime Minister's promise since 2014 to revive the two plants Gogoi said that the two plants are considered as the pride of Assam, a source of direct and indirect employment for thousands of people, and have a sentimental value for the people of the state.

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 also 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 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 and other central ministers and BJP leaders also renewed their 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.The JACRU has been agitating to revive the two paper mills and strongly opposing the sale of the two paper mills.

President of the JACRU, Manobendra 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 a meager ARs 1,139 crore.The two paper mills also have the immovable properties of over 2000 acres of land.

"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 JACRU, so far 88 poverty stricken workers of the two mills have died, four of them by suicide, during the past 54 months.
Nay Pyi Taw, June 10 : At least 12 people have died after a military aircraft crashed in Myanmar, according to a fire brigade spokesperson on Thursday.

The accident occurred near the central city of Mandalay, the spokesperson told dpa news agency.

The weather conditions were very bad, according to local news reports.

Soldiers and Buddhist monks were on board.

The monks had been due to take part in a religious ceremony, the reports said.

The plane was en route from the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, to the city of Pyin Oo Lwin and crashed shortly before landing, according to Myawaddy TV, a station run by the military junta.

Images were posted in social media showing the crashed plane.
Chennai, June 10 : The Tamil Nadu government which received a rebuke from the Madras High Court on Tuesday over the 'missing' 47,000 acres of temple land when compared to the land holdings between 1984 and 2019, is taking steps to retrieve the lost land.

A division bench of the Madras high court comprising Justice N. Kirubakaran and Justice T.V. Thamilselvi had directed the state government council Richard Wilson to act on behalf of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department and to file a counter affidavit by July 5 on the missing 47000 acres of temple land as per government records.

Tamil Nadu minister for HR and CE, PK Sekar Babu while speaking to IANS said, "Chief Minister MK Stalin is keen that the temple lands are restored and that the interests of the temples are taken care of. We have found that houses were constructed in some areas on temple land. We are taking steps to ensure that these house owners become tenants and pay rent to the temple." The HR&CE department confirmed that the government is in the process of restoring temple land and already details of 3,43,647 acres of temple land have been verified. The department has compared the data available with it and that with the Tamil Nadu government's revenue department in the state's land record registry.

A senior official with HR&CE told IANS, "We have already uploaded details of the title documents, chittas, and even gift deeds belonging to thousands of temples in the state in the HR&CE website and people can easily get complete details of the land with the temples." BJP leader and party spokesman KT Raghavan told IANS, "We will have to see how serious the Tamil Nadu government is in this regard. The Madras high court has already asked the HR&CE department to file a counter-affidavit regarding the disparity of temple land records in the policy notes of the state government in 1984 when it was 5.25 lakh acres and in 2019-20 when it was reduced to 4.78 lakh acres - a difference of 47,000 acres. If the government does not take steps to retrieve the temple land from encroachers, the BJP will launch major agitations across the state."
Geneva, June 10 : The much-awaited summit between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will take place in a stately villa overlooking Lake Geneva on June 16, the Swiss Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.

The statement confirmed preparations that had been visible for some time as police and the armed forces blocked access to the park on Tuesday, reports dpa news agency.

Workers have erected a high metal fence around the walls of the park, some 2 metres high.

Police are guarding the entrance gate, which is locked.

A sign hanging on the gate states that "the park is closed to the public from Tuesday, June 8, to June 18, inclusive, for a special occasion".

The spacious villa dates back to the 18th century and is situated on a hill.

The terrace offers a view of Lake Geneva and the park contains trees and a meadow.

The city of Geneva rarely uses the house for state occasions; it is closed almost all year round.

The eagerly-awaited summit comes at the end of Biden's first trip to Europe, where he will attend the meeting of the G7 nations and NATO talks in Brussels, among other events.
Sanaa, June 10 : Arrangements are underway to re-open Yemens Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport next week, nearly five years after it closed to commercial flights, informed sources said on Thursday.

The airport is ready to operate and receive international flights starting next week, the sources told dpa news agency.

Yemen Airways also received notifications from the airport and the Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority to prepare to resume flights to and from Sanaa.

The airport will operate flights connecting eight international destinations, the sources said, without naming them.

A Omani delegation was in Sanaa this week for talks with the Houthi rebels, who have seized the capital and other areas since late 2014.

Re-opening the Sanaa airport is part of a UN-backed initiative to end the conflict.

It has been closed to commercial flights in August 2016 by the Saudi-led alliance fighting the Houthis.

Omani mediators also discussed a partial re-opening of the Hodeida port and a ceasefire that would be followed by UN-sponsored political negotiations.

On Wednesday, Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi met with his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Riyadh.

In March, Saudi Arabia offered an initiative to the Houthis that would include a UN-supervised ceasefire and the reopening of Sanaa airport.

At the time, the Houthis dismissed the proposal as "not serious".

Last week, US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking held talks during a regional tour that included Saudi Arabia and Oman.

The State Department said the Houthis "bear major responsibility for refusing to engage meaningfully on a ceasefire" to end the conflict.
Patna, June 10 : The robbers struck at a private bank in Bihar's Hajipur and looted Rs 1.19 crore from the bank in broad day light on Thursday morning. The robbers were armed and their number is said to be five, police said.

A police official said that as soon as HDFC Bank (Jadua branch) opened, the robbers, who were five in number, took over the bank, threatened the employees and after opening the locker, looted Rs 1.19 crore and escaped on two bikes on which they had come, waving weapons.

Confirming the incident, Vaishali Superintendent of Police Manish said that after getting information about the incident, the police reached the spot. He said that all the vehicles are being searched by setting up blockades in the area.

Senior police officers of the area have also reached the spot after the incident.

He said that the CCTVs installed in and around the bank are being scrutinized and the bank employees are being questioned.
New Delhi, June 10 : The Chhattisgarh government is planning expansion of the mobile medical units (MMUs) under its flagship initiative 'Mukhyamantri Slum Swasthya Yojna'.

The Mukhyamantri Slum Swasthya Yojna was an initiative launched by the Chhattisgarh government on November 1 last year to provide free and quality health care services to the needy.

Till now, at least 10,000 camps have been organised under this scheme and over five lakh patients have benefited from the qualified doctors and trained team providing door-to-door test-treatment-medicine facilities to all the 1,600 settlements across 14 municipal corporations, a government statement said.

As many as 60 MMUs equipped with modern equipment are providing healthcare services to all the 14 municipal corporations of the state.

In these mobile medical units, MBBS doctors are providing health facilities to the patients by setting up camps in about 1,600 slums.

Along with the doctors, pharmacists are also available for free distribution of medicines, lab technician for free lab tests. ANM and MMU driver are available to serve patients in the camp.

Out of the five lakh patients treated so far under this scheme, free lab tests have been done for about 1,20,000 patients.

41 types of different lab tests are done in MMU. In these, blood, excreta, urine, sputum, tuberculosis, thyroid, malaria, typhoid, among others, are examined by skilled lab technicians with state-of-the-art machines.

About 4,40,000 patients have availed services from pharmacists on the basis of doctors' prescriptions, taking advantage of the free drug delivery service in the MMU, the statement said.

Availability of 200 types of medicines like paracetamol, brufen, metformin, atenolol, among others are being ensured in the MMU.

There is also a provision for a blood pressure measuring machine, sugar test machine, ECG machine, oxygen cylinder etc. in the MMU vehicles.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has lauded the officers, employees of the Urban Administration and Development Department, District Collector and the team of MMU on completing the treatment of five lakh patients, the statement added.

In Raipur about 1.26 lakh from 15 MMU, in Durg about 35,000 from 4 MMU, in Bhilai about 34,000 from 3 MMU, in Rajnandgaon about 33,000 from MMU, in Bilaspur about 51,000 from 4 MMU, in Korba about 55,000 patients from 8 MMU have availed these health services.

Last year, the state had rolled out "Dai-Didi Clinics" at Raipur, Bilaspur and Bhilai on the birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Through the Dai-Didi clinics, 7,958 women were treated in 163 camps in Raipur city. Similarly, 9,802 women were treated in 165 camps in Bhilai city and 11,858 women were treated in 158 camps in Bilaspur city.
In a massive setback for the Indian fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, wanted in India in Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, the Dominican government declared him as a "prohibited immigrant" in their country.

An order issued by the Ministry of National Security and Home Affairs on May 25 said, "in accordance to section 5(1)(f) of the Immigration and Passport Act Chapter 18:01 of the 2017 Revised laws of the Commonwealth of Dominica, you, Mehul Chinubhai Choksi, are hereby declared a prohibited immigrant."

"I further direct that the necessary action be taken to have the said prohibited immigrant removed from the Commonwealth of Dominica in keeping with the procedure laid out in the said Act," added the order, signed by Dominican minister Rayburn Blackmoore.

Meanehile, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit termed Mehul Choksi as an "Indian citizen" and stated that the courts will decide what happens to the fugitive, Antigua News Room reported on Wednesday.

According to the Caribbean news outlet, Skerrit also added that the government will protect the rights of Choksi as he awaits trial.

Currently, Choksi has got interim relief from immediate repatriation to India by the Dominican court, which adjourned the matter of his detention.

Choksi had gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda sparking a massive manhunt. He was reportedly captured in Dominica on May 26.

Earlier, Choksi had appeared before a local magistrate in Dominica and pleaded not guilty of entering Dominica illegally.

However, Choksi's lawyers had alleged that he was abducted from Antigua by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian, and brought to Dominica on a boat forcibly.

The latest development is a setback for Choksi as it counters the abduction theory.

The diamantaire is wanted in India by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in Rs 13,500 crore case. He had taken the citizenship of Antigua in 2017 and left India on January 4, 2018 days before the case came to light.
Varanasi : , June 10 (IANS) With the Ganga river in Varanasi turning green due to algae bloom, the district administration has started an extensive survey to find out its origin.

District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma has set up a five-member team to look into the matter and submit a detailed report after environmentalists expressed concern over the appearance of algae in abundance in the Ganga water, which may harm the aquatic life in the river.

Sharma said, "The team will go on a boat of the Jal Police in search of the source of the algae. The team will also examine how algae bloom covered the stretch of Ganga along the ghats. The algae first appeared around 15-20 days ago, which was examined by the officials of the Pollution Control Board." It became visible again in the Ganga water in the last three-four days.

The district magistrate has asked the team to submit its report with all details along with photographs and videos.

According to environmental scientists, it might have come from some side drains or stagnant sources during the recent rainfall. It will disappear with the increasing flow of water.

The UP Pollution Control Board officials also claimed that the algae bloom is coming to Varanasi from the upstream of the river.

Environmental scientist and chairman of the Malviya Ganga Research Centre at Banaras Hindu University, Prof BD Tripathi said, "It will disappear with increasing flow of water. If the condition persists for a longer duration, it may cause fish mortality." "Normally, neurotoxin-microcystin is produced by these algae which may be harmful to other aquatic animals." A scientist of the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, BHU, Dr Kripa Ram said, "The algae grow due to increased nutrients in the water. During rain, these algae flow to the river from fertile lands. After getting adequate nutrients, they start the process of photosynthesis. Phosphate, sulphur and nitrate are the nutrients that help the algae grow." Environmental scientist Prof Vishwambharnath Mishra said that the ecology of the Ganga is being disturbed for commercial gains, which will create serious problems in the future.

"The construction of a platform in the Ganga near Lalita Ghat has obstructed the flow of water. Due to the growth of algae in the upstream of Lalita Ghat, the colour of water has turned green. The presence of abundant algae in Ganga's water is not good for people's health," he added.

A local lawyer, Saurabh Tiwari, has filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal seeking its intervention in the matter.
New Delhi, June 10 : Over 95 per cent developers in the country expect delays in project completion due to the second wave of Covid-19, according to a survey by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI).

The survey also showed that developers feel relief measures from the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are of utmost necessity to avoid delay.

The CREDAI report noted that these delays are attributed to a range of factors, with 92 per cent developers experiencing labour shortage at sites, 83 per cent developers are working with less than half the workforce, and over 82 per cent of developers are facing project approval delays.

Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President, CREDAI National, said: "The real estate sector showed tremendous resilience in bouncing back on a cautious recovery path post the first wave, despite little relief measures." "However, the second wave has prompted us to reflect and re-evaluate the growth path of the industry, and we felt it was vital to assess the challenges faced by the customers and industry partners in light of the recent developments," he said.

The findings reveal that the second wave has had a more debilitating impact on the real estate sector than the first wave, the CREDAI President said.

Further, factors such as recent spike in construction materials including steel and cement have contributed to more than 10 per cent increase in construction cost for more than 88 per cent developers.

The 'Covid Impact Analysis Report' also showed that various financial constraints and liquidity crunch are further adding to the problem, with 77 per cent developers experiencing issues in servicing of existing loans, 85 per cent developers facing disruptions in planned collection, and 69 per cent are facing issues in disbursement of customer home loans.

Patodia said that the industry body has made a representation to the government citing the survey and requesting the government to infuse urgent financial stimulus and initiate quick progressive measures to assist recovery.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Panaji, June 10 : Maharashtra has more Covid deaths and infections than Goa, BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi, who is the party's in-charge of the two states, said on Thursday, brushing aside the fact that Maharashtra is a much bigger state than Goa.

Ravi said that in comparison to Maharastra, the Goa government has handled the pandemic crisis better.

Ravi is in Goa along with B.L. Santhosh, national general secretary in-charge of organisation, to meet party leaders and legislators in order to chalk out plans for the upcoming state assembly polls which are scheduled to be held in 2022.

"There are more deaths and positive cases in Maharashtra, which is headed by three parties. There are more positive cases and deaths than in Goa. It (pandemic) has been handled well (in Goa). A new hospital has also been opened and facilities are provided to people. Slowly it is coming under control," Ravi told reporters in Panaji.

The senior party official also refuted reports about differences between Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane which had spilled out in the open regularly for several months over control of the state's Covid management apparatus.

"Everybody is one. Is there a doubt in your mind? There is no doubt in their minds. All are working together... You have doubt that is why you think like this," Ravi cryptically said, adding that there were no differences between the two leaders.

When asked about the party's preparation for the 2022 state assembly elections, Ravi said: "The BJP is not just there for elections. We also work under the motto of 'Sewa hi Sangathan'. There are other parties who work only for elections. We do not do that. This party is for the people".

Ravi also dodged a question from the media as to whether the pandemic would impact the political fortunes of political parties across the board.

"Pandemic is there in Europe, US, across the world. Not just in India. It is there in every region... In one year, two vaccines have been manufactured in India. What the administration can do and leadership can do, has been done," he said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chennai, June 10 : One person was arrested at the Chennai International Airport while trying to smuggle in gold, said Commissioner of Customs, Chennai International Airport.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, the Commissioner of Customs said Kabari Samino Jesaiah flew in from Dubai.

On personal search, nine packets of gold paste weighing 1.42 kg were found stitched inside the waist belt and ankle portion of his jeans.

On extraction 1.25 kg of 24 K purity gold valued at Rs 63.20 lakh was recovered and seized under Customs Act. He was taken into custody.
Lalitpur : , June 10 (IANS) In a case of shocking negligence, a man in Lalitpur district was given both doses of the Covid vaccine within five minutes.

This incident took place at a vaccination centre in Ravarpura locality.

According to reports, the man who went there to take the jab on Wednesday has alleged that the nursing staff was so busy talking among themselves that they administered both the doses of vaccine to him within five minutes.

He said he did not know that the second dose of the vaccine was to be injected after a certain time gap.

He claimed that when he reached home after getting vaccinated, he felt uneasy and restless so he narrated the incident to his family members.

After this, he approached the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and complained about the same. He was then sent to an emergency ward and the matter was reported to the district officer too.

Meanwhile, CMO has ordered an inquiry into the matter. He said that the double vaccination will not cause any harm to the man.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 10 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday declined to stay the release of movie, Nyay: The Justice, scheduled for release on Friday, purportedly based on the life of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

A bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula dismissed an application filed by Krishna Kishore Singh, Sushant's father, against movie and other ventures using his son's name or likeness in the form of a biopic or story.

The court noted the right to privacy has also been invoked not just of the deceased but also of his family.

"The submissions on this aspect are unspecific and vague. No definite instance has been presented by the plaintiff to show how this right is infringed upon and therefore, the plea is devoid of merit," said the court.

The court also found merit in contention of one of the defendants that if information of events which have occurred is already in the public domain, one cannot plead any violation of right to privacy if a movie is inspired from such events.

The court noted the events that form the subject matter of the film are in the public sphere, and it does not find any justification to restrain publication of work claiming to be fictional, which draws inspiration from such events.

"Since the defendants' films are neither portrayed as a biopic, nor a factual narration of what transpired in the life of SSR and are depicted to be complete fictional and inspired from certain events which have occurred in the past and have been widely discussed and are available in public domain, the Court finds no reason to grant a restraining order," said the court.

According to Singh's plea, some of the upcoming or proposed movie projects based on his son's life are -- Nyay: The Justice, Suicide or Murder; a star was lost, Shashank and an unnamed crowd-funded film.

Singh expressed apprehension that various plays, movies, web-series, books, interviews or other material may be published which would harm the reputation of his son and his family.

The court noted that the suit was filed close to the release of the film, after substantial time, money and effort have been expended by movie makers on production and promotion. "For this reason, the balance of convenience lies entirely in favour of the defendants," said the court.

Rajput's father, represented through senior advocate Vikas Singh and advocate Varun Singh, contended the filmmakers are taking advantage of the situation for commercial gains and therefore, the right to freedom of speech and expression would not apply to them.

The court observed the fictional rendition for dramatic representation based on certain events falls within the scope of artistic freedom of expression and speech.

The court added that as long as the name was not used and a disclaimer was published along with the movie, the filmmakers cannot be disallowed from making a movie based on such events.

Vikas Singh had fleetingly argued that the right of free speech, in matters of news reporting, does not enjoy the same protection when it comes to matters of commercial exploitation.

"The argument is misconceived, and one cannot read this classification of core and non-core rights under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. The protection and guarantee provided by the Constitution would apply with equal rigour, even if the publication leads to commercial gain," said the court.

The suit filed by Rajput's father sought damages of over Rs 2 crore from the filmmakers for "loss of reputation, mental trauma and harassment" to Rajput's family.

The court noted that without knowing the contents of the film and only by relying on some news articles, the plaintiff cannot argue that the depiction in the films is intended to tarnish.

Senior advocate Chander Lall, representing the director of Nyay, opposed the plea and argued that Rajput's caricature, name or likeness has not been used in the film.

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging in his Bandra apartment under mysterious circumstances on June 14, 2020.

Latest updates on Sushant Singh Rajput Death Mystery

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Mumbai, June 10 : Actors from Bollywood and Bengali cinema took to social media on Thursday to mourn the death of legendary filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta and recall their experiences of being directed by him.

Sharing a throwback black and white photograph with the late filmmaker from one of his shoots, Bollywood veteran Deepti Naval posted on Facebook: "Very saddened to hear about the sudden demise of our dear dear Buddhadev Dasgupta - one of the finest directors of Bengali cinema. I had the good fortune of working with him in a Hindi film called 'Andhi Gali' and since have had a huge regard for Buddha Da not only as a fine director but also as an extremely sensitive poet and a wonderful, gentle human being. My deepest condolences to Buddha Da's family - I pray that his soul rest in peace." Bengali film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee tweeted in Bangla: "One by one as if everybody is getting lost somewhere. Buddhadeb Dasgupta was a renowned name not only of Indian cinema but world cinema. I have been fortunate enough to work with him in two of his films and while accompanying him to various film festivals, I learnt how much his cinema is valued at the international level. I feel proud for being a Bengali. Buddha da was a great human being also. May you rest in peace. You will continue to survive through your works." Rituparna Sengupta posted on Facebook: "Really sad to know that the doyne of Indian cinema has left for a heavenly abode...such a devastating time for all of us... I grew up seeing his films like Grihojuddho voraciously watching the iconic performances by Mamata Sankar, Anjan Dutta and Gautam Ghose.... that time I was not even a teenager but my uncle who is a doctor gave me insights about this huge filmmaker who was all set to make a difference in the society...

"I personally was privileged to play the pivotal role in Mondo Meyer Upakhyyan which made me evolve as an actor and threw light on huge perspectives an actor should be knowing in this craft...He was a perfectionist and exactly demanded the best out of his actors...Mondo Meyer Upakkhan was a tough call for me and I was completely drained and exhausted after I did that role envisioned by the director of international repute ....it was the initial start of my career and playing and handling a sheer heavyweight of a prostitute and a mother kept me sleepless nights in a row...just thinking how to get my act right," she added.

"...He was a taskmaster and his cinema spoke volumes of his genius and craftsmanship... He was a torchbearer of his generation and many more to come. He had this fondness for the magic light which only had a very short life during the dusk and the dawn ... Buddhadeb Dasgupta appreciated my films later too and always told me he would love to work with me again ... My most favorite films of Dasgupta are ...Bagh Bahadur Grihojuddho, Uttara, Tahader Katha, Charachar...An era is gone with him... Rest In Peace," she further wrote.

Actor Rahul Bose shared in an Instagram post: "This is a tribute to #BuddhadevDasgupta who passed away today. Mithunda and I made 'Kaalpurush' with him - one of my most satisfying films (and performances) of my career. Buddhada was part poet, part filmmaker. You could see that in the way he approached cinema, in the stories he wrote, the way his movies were photographed, his use of sound.

"Working on 'Kaalpurush' was challenging, engrossing. It was a delicate film with tenderness and depth running through it like two best friends. It took time for me to understand Buddhada's style of direction. But once we understood each other the relationship flowed with ease. Sensitive, emotionally acute, with an impish sense of humour, we gradually got to know the other better," he recalled.

"But more than the filming of 'Kaalpurush' what I will miss more is evenings spent with him during shooting, at film festivals - in Kolkata, Bombay, Berlin, Toronto. Eating, drinking, walking new streets, talking, sharing ideas and always laughing, his sense of humour always ready to bubble out in a conversation. It's a cliche when people pass away that we say - 'he / she / they will be missed'. But for those who truly love cinema these words will never be truer than now. My thoughts and wishes go out to his family and loved ones," the actor concluded.

Bengali film actress Sudipta Chakraborty shared in an Facebook post: "Poet and Filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta is no more!! In the post Ray-Ghatak era, he was one of the most celebrated, sought after, respected, treasured and valued Indian (and Bengali) Filmmaker in the International Diaspora." "I've been fortunate enough to have worked in two of his films... #MondoMeyerUpakhyan and #Kalpurush. It is indeed an irreparable loss for Indian and Bengali film industry and World Cinema at large, of course. We knew that he's been suffering from health issues since long but we all were hoping that he would fight back, will come back to the shooting floor again and gift us another masterpiece soon... But.... that never happened!! May your soul rest in peace Buddha da. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends," she added.

Actor Chandan Roy Sanyal posted on Instagram: "Sorry I am at loss of words and have not been able to talk to anyone - apologies to my friends in Press. I grew up watching his films in Delhi when I was a kid at various film festivals and on Doordarshan. These films included Bagh Bahadur, Uttara, Tahader Kotha and many others. Mithun Chakraborty in Tahader Kotha was beyond extraordinary and the film and his performance won National Awards. Before I became an actor, I was the filmmaker's fan.

"For a regular Bengali, Buddhadeb was the god of cinema and he leaves behind a great legacy of films. He was in a league of his own. Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that at some point in my career, I would actually get to work with him and fortunately or unfortunately I would get to star in his last works and he wanted to make another one with me," Chandan expressed.

"He first called me for Tope when I was in Venice Film Festival , he asked me just one thing, Will you be comfortable acting with monkeys?! That was the genius to me. And i was atop a tree for 2 weeks acting with monkeys. He was a poet and he had a certain way of explaining a scene. He was a tough director and a man of perfection. He shot his films like he was a poet. When I did his film Urojahaj, I was with him for a month and a half. He directed the film on a wheelchair. His kidneys were failing and he was on dialysis. Yet, he made it to the shoot every day and completed the film. I found it amazing. What a will power!" the actor added.

"He meant to make yet another film with me, which never happened. The greatest trophy for me is that after we finished shooting Urojahaj he told me, Chandan, you deserve an award for this and you have outperformed my expectations which was rare in his dictionary. I bid him farewell. I think he shaped me as an artist and deflected me to another orbit. I will miss you Buddhada. In debt for the art you taught me over the last 4 years. Farewell sir! Yours Truly Goja (in Tope) Bachchu (in Urojahaj) #auteur," Chandan concluded.
Chennai, June 10 : Perhaps in a first of its kind, doctors at the MGM Healthcare, on Thursday said they have successfully performed a live-donor liver transplant on a Covid positive national kabaddi player in coma with liver failure.

The 26-year-old patient, Raghul Gandhi, hailing from Puducherry developed acute liver failure and his condition worsened due to sudden onset of jaundice.

He slipped into a deep coma within two days after being diagnosed with the disease and was shifted to MGM Healthcare.

The situation was complicated as Gandhi also tested positive for Covid-19. Fortunately, his lung was not affected by coronavirus.

"We took up the challenge to do the emergency liver transplant bearing in mind the complicated nature of the patient's health condition," Thiagarajan Srinivasan, Director, Institute of Liver Diseases, Transplant and HPB surgery said.

Normally a liver transplant is performed on Covid free end stage liver disease patient or 4-5 weeks post Covid recovery with 2 successive negative RTPCR tests.

However, Gandhi's condition was critical and the transplant had to be done within 24 hours.

The other problem the doctors faced was the availability of liver as there was only one liver donation in May in Tamil Nadu.

According to Srinivasan, it was then decided to do a living donor liver transplant in which a part of the donor's liver is transplanted after removal of the diseased liver.

The live donor was Gandhi's brother.

Srinivasan and his team conducted the emergency liver transplant within 12 hours.

A bio-bubble was implemented in place to avoid non-mixture of donor and recipient teams, building of separate Covid-proof transport corridors, ICUs, wards and Operation Theatres throughout the entire hospital stay of 15 days for the patient and the team.

Doctors said Gandhi has recovered well with the new liver and has successfully defeated Covid infection and his condition will be monitored for a few days.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi/Patna, June 10 : India recorded 6,148 deaths in last 24 hours -- the highest since the pandemic hit last year -- according to data released by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Thursday, as Bihar sharply revised its toll upwards.

This spike in death comes as daily infections have been steadily showing a downward trend, with 94,052 fresh Covid infections reported -- less than one lakh for the third straight day.

Bihar's previously unaccounted 3,951 deaths, which has sent its toll soaring above 9,000, is behind this spike. If the state's revised tally is reduced, then the death toll stands at 2,197 across the country in last 24 hours.

The Bihar Health Department reported 9,429 deaths due to coronavirus on Wednesday evening, a jump of 3,951 more deaths compared to a day before. The total deaths in Bihar due to Covid were 5,458 as on Tuesday.

The Health Department has given the breakup of deaths in all 38 districts of the state but it has not mentioned when these deaths occurred. Patna has registered 2,303 deaths which is the highest in the state followed by Muzaffarpur (609) and Begusarai (316).

After the mismatch, a senior state Health Department official said that the matter is under investigation. The detailed report is expected to come later in the evening.

The Health Department has also issued mismatched data about the numbers of patients recovered. On Tuesday, it showed 7,01,234 recoveries from Covid infection while it published 6,98,397 recoveries a day later. The recovery rate on Tuesday was shown at 98.7 per cent while on Wednesday it was 97.65 per cent.

The Bihar government is facing flak from opposition leaders for presenting such data mismatch.

Earlier, several other states have also revised their death tally.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Beijing, June 10 : China's "artificial sun" recently broke the world record as achieved a plasma temperature of 120 million Celsius for 101 seconds and 160 million Celsius for 20 seconds, setting new records in the field of nuclear fusion, media reports said.

The experiment was achieved by Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) device, or the "Chinese artificial sun," located at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Global Times reported. EAST is part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) facility -- a collaboration of 35 nations, also comprising India.

EAST is designed to replicate the nuclear fusion process that occurs naturally in the sun and stars to provide almost infinite clean energy through controlled nuclear fusion, which is often dubbed the "artificial sun." Previously, the plasma could be maintained up to a temperature of 100 million Celsius for 100 seconds.

"The breakthrough is significant progress, and the ultimate goal should be keeping the temperature at a stable level for a long time," Li Miao, director of the Physics Department of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, was quoted as saying.

The next milestone might be to maintain the stability for a week or more, Li added.

Achieving a plasma temperature above 100 million Celsius is one of the key challenges to harness nuclear fusion. The temperature at the core of the sun is widely believed to be 15 million degrees Celsius, meaning that the plasma at the device's core will be seven times hotter than that of the sun.

The ITER project aims to prove that fusion power can be produced on a commercial scale and is sustainable.

ITER, the world's largest experimental fusion facility, is being built in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, some 35 km north of Aix-en-Provence in southern France.

India is one of the seven partners (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, the US, and Europe) both in-kind and in-cash, in a first-of-a-kind global collaboration.

India has also, along with others, shipped ITER's massive first-of-a-kind magnets and other components to France.

The 1,250-ton cryostat base, the first two sections of which have been constructed by Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is India's largest single procurement contribution to the ITER facility that spans over 42 hectares.

Fusion is the process that powers the sun and the stars, when light atomic nuclei fuse together to form heavier ones, a large amount of energy is released.

Fusion research is aimed at developing a safe, abundant and environmentally-responsible energy source.

The project aims to complete through first plasma in 2025, a key milestone toward full fusion power by 2035.


Kapil Sibal A day after Jitin Prasada left the party, the Congress leaders of the G-23 group of which Jitin Prasada was a part of, attacked him and said that ideological commitment is more important in politics. Sibal said the Congress desperately needs reforms and the party leadership had to listen. In an interview to a television channel, Kapil Sibal, who was part of the "G-23" team who wrote a letter to Congress' Sonia Gandhi which was dubbed as a dissident activity, said the issues must be addressed as soon as possible. When asked about the chances of him joining the the saffron party, Sibal ruled out any such move, saying, I will never in my life over my dead body join the BJP who I have opposed since my birth as a politician. "Issues were not addressed, that is true. They must be addressed as quickly as possible. We will continue to raise those issues. If the party for some reason tells me we don't need you, I will leave it. I am not in it for myself, but I will never in my life over my dead body join the BJP who I have opposed since my birth as a politician, he said, as the channel quoted him. On the need for reforms in the Congress Kapil Sibal said: Don't ask me, ask whoever has to address them. The Congress must become the grand old party that it was. For that we need reforms. We are fighting within the system we have continued to raise issues. If the head stops listening, the organization will decline. All that we want is that the Congress party should listen to us." Earlier, joining the BJP, Jitin Prasada had said his family had been associated with the Congress for three generations and that he had reflected long before severing the ties. He also asserted that it was not about which party he was quitting but which he was going to be a part of, Prasadas exit has thrown up a fresh challenge to the Congress. There are reports of fresh cracks in the Rajasthan Congress where the camps of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot are at loggerheads. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and former Union minister M Veerappa Moily on Thursday said the grand old party needs to undergo a "major surgery" and not just depend just hinge upon legacy. He also asserted that the top leadership of the party must give primacy to ideological commitment while giving responsibility to leaders.




Bars, clubs and liquor shops in Kerala all set to open. Image Source: IANS News

Chennai, June 10 : Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) smuggling has been witnessing a rapid rise in Tamil Nadu since the closure of TASMAC outlets due to the enforcement of the Covid-induced lockdown.

With the neighbouring Puducherry opening its liquor vends and shops, a heavy rush was seen at the outlets in Karaikal and Villupuram areas, bordering Tamil Nadu.

The soaring number of IMFL smuggling cases is keeping the police on their toes.

The Mylapore police on Wednesday arrested a 32-year-old man Kulandai Yesu, with 10 IMFL bottles. He works with a leading food aggregator.

On being interrogated, Yesu admitted that he and three of his friends used to buy liquor from Karnataka and Puducherry and later sell it to their customers under the guise of delivering food at homes.

In another such incident, the Tenkasi police arrested one Gnanamani, who was transporting 230 bottles of Karnataka Silver Cup Brandy in a car. The vehicle was seized by the police.

Police have also seized 1,399 bottles of different varieties of IMFL brands at Salem city, Karuppur, which were smuggled to the state from Karnataka.

The Salem City police intercepted and arrested one V. Subrathin, while another person Aakash, who was also in the same vehicle smuggling liquor bottles, fled the spot.

The Pudukottai Prohibition Enforcement Wing seized 2,200 litres of arrack on June 9 in the Annavasal police station limits.

Those who were involved in the illicit liquor trade escaped and the police later destroyed the seized bottles.

Police have also nabbed three youths who were trying to smuggle liquor at Cuddalore, with around 140 IMFL bottles.

With the arrest of people from different parts of Tamil Nadu, police and excise personnel have increased their vigilance for liquor smuggled from Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Karnataka.

Another major issue the police are tackling is the illegal brewing of arrack in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu especially in the southern pockets of the state.

Theni, Cumbum are under the lens of police and excise departments to curb the illegal sale of arrack in these areas.

A source in Dindugal district told IANS on condition of anonymity: "Arrack is available secretly but it's very costly and 750 ml of arrack will cost you around Rs 1,450 to Rs 2,000." Deputy Superintendent of the Prohibition Enforcement Wing of the state police, R Purushothaman said, "The police is on constant vigil and are intercepting almost all the vehicles which cross into our state from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. Those behind liquor smuggling will not be spared."
Patna, June 10 : Facing criticism over revised Covid-19 deaths in Bihar, state's health minister Mangal Pandey on Thursday said that the delay in reporting deaths at village and district level is the main reason for spike in number in Bihar. He said, the government learnt from various sources that the number of deaths could be higher and then started working on it.

"We have learnt from different sources including media reports about the actual number of deaths due to Corona in Bihar. Hence, we had directed the district magistrate and civil surgeon of every district to find out the actual number of deaths at village level," Pandey explained why there is a sudden jump in the number of deaths in Bihar.

He further said that the reasons for deaths in the last 15 days are also being investigated.

"When we received final figures on Wednesday, we put it out in the public domain," Pandey said.

The health department of Bihar has reported 9,429 deaths due to the coronavirus. The data which was put out on Wednesday evening reveals 3,951 more deaths compared to a day before. The total deaths till Tuesday due to Covid in Bihar was 5,458.

Pandey, while replying to the allegation of opposition parties, said that they should avoid politics on it.

"We have listened to every section of the people and thoroughly investigated the matter," Pandey said.

Earlier, Manoj Jha, the Rajya Sabha MP of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alleged that the state government hid the numbers of corona deaths in Bihar.

"The Nitish-BJP government hid the numbers in a bid to save its image and collapsed health infrastructure in Bihar. I appeal to Nitish Kumar who played with the lives of common people during the second wave and is now doing politics over dead bodies," Jha said.

The health department has given the breakup of deaths in all 38 districts of Bihar but it has not mentioned dates and time or when these deaths occurred. Patna has registered 2,303 deaths which is the highest in the state followed by Muzaffarpur (609) and Begusarai (316).

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 10 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reached the national capital on Thursday where he is likely to meet the BJP central leadership.

Adityanath has reached Union Home Minister Amit Shah's residence for a meeting to discuss the political situation in Uttar Pradesh. The UP Chief Minister is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning before calling on BJP President J.P. Nadda in the afternoon, sources said.

Preparations for next year's Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will be the main agenda of Adityanath's meeting with the party's central leadership, sources said.

The sources also said that the handling of the Covid situation during the second wave of the pandemic by the Uttar Pradesh government is also likely to be discussed during the meetings.

While the state's efforts drew flak from the opposition, the BJP leadership had appreciated the works done by the UP government.

Adityanath's visit to New Delhi has fuelled speculation about the possible changes in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet and in the party structure ahead of next year's Assembly polls.

"A possible cabinet expansion or reshuffle is also likely to be discussed in the meetings. Changes in the state BJP unit are also part of the agenda in order to strengthen the party ahead of next year's Assembly elections," a party insider said.

Talks of changes are doing the rounds for the last fortnight ever since BJP national General Secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh and state in-charge Radha Mohan Singh visited Lucknow to review the party's preparations for next year's Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Santhosh had taken feedback from the state ministers and MLAs, which had fuelled speculation about possible changes in the party's Uttar Pradesh set up.

Sources claimed that based on the feedback collected by the central leadership, it has been decided to go for a reshuffle in the Uttar Pradesh government as well as in the party's state unit.

The sources also said that the role of former Union minister Jitin Prasada, who jumped ship from the Congress to the BJP on Wednesday, will also be discussed during Adityanath's meetings with the central BJP leadership.

A well-known Brahmin face in Uttar Pradesh, Prasada's father Jitendra Prasad was a prominent Brahmin leader in Uttar Pradesh.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 10 : Artificial Intelligence-powered talent intelligence platform Eightfold AI on Thursday announced that it has raised a $220 million in its Series E funding round led by SoftBanks Vision Fund 2.

The company has raised more than $410 million to date, with $350 million coming in the last six months.

Eightfold AI said that the funds will be used to continue the rapid growth and development of its talent intelligence platform and expand its growing partner ecosystem.

"Current HR systems were designed to address issues from a previous era, and they have failed to keep pace with the changing nature of work and the workforce," said Ashutosh Garg, Founder and CEO at Eightfold.

"At Eightfold, we have an unprecedented opportunity, using AI to align the career goals of individuals while simultaneously creating better results for employers," Garg added.

Additionally, Eightfold AI will use the funds to continue expanding its India operations, investing in the most talented data scientists and engineers in the region.

The Series E funding round also saw investments from General Catalyst, Capital One Ventures, Foundation Capital, IVP and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

"Powered by AI and machine learning, Eightfold's platform provides global enterprises with a single solution for managing the entire talent lifecycle, including hiring, retaining, and growing a diverse global workforce," said Deep Nishar, Senior Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.
Chennai, June 10 : PMK Youth Wing leader and former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Thursday condemned the Tamil Nadu government for mulling to shut down bars attached to the TASMAC liquor outlets and allow standalone bars in the state.

Ramadoss said that it is a move that is against the basic principles of the DMK, which had even brought out an election manifesto before the 2016 Assembly elections, advocating total prohibition in the state.

The PMK leader also said that if the DMK government under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin moves ahead with this proposal, the PMK would be forced to hold a slew of agitations against the state government.

In a letter to the state government on Thursday, Ramadoss said that this step would lead the opening of standalone bars even in the residential areas, which would create a major issue for the women and children.

Stating that this may become a serious law and order problem for the state government, the PMK leader demanded the DMK government not to go ahead with the proposal.

It may be noted that the Tamil Nadu government has conducted a series of meetings with Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC) officials to elicit their views to shut down bars attached to the TASMAC liquor shops and instead open new standalone bars.

The proposed move, according to the senior officials privy to the meeting, is aimed at increasing the revenue share from liquor sale in order to support the state's economy which is reeling under the impact of the Covid pandemic.

Tamil Nadu already has several private bars functioning throughout the state, but they are all attached to hotel rooms as per the Tamil Nadu liquor licence rules.

The state government earns annual revenues of Rs 440 crore from private bars attached to TASMAC outlets.

The standalone bars, if opened, are likely to increase the state government's liquor sales revenue share by more than three times.

A senior TASMAC official told IANS on condition of anonymity that a similar proposal was raised during the previous AIADMK regime, but it failed to take off owing to several reasons.

The state president of TASMAC employees' union affiliated to the AITUC, N. Periyaswami, told IANS, "We have been demanding for the past several years that the state government should shut down all TASMAC bars attached to liquor outlets and allow standalone bars. Several bars attached to TASMAC outlets have become hubs of various other violations and they are getting away owing to the political clout of the people running these outlets." However, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) in Tamil Nadu is against the proposed move to allow standalone bars.

The joint secretary of the state unit of SJM, Mahesh Krisnhamoorty, told IANS, "Private standalone bars would create law and order problems in the state. SJM has always been against promoting liquor and now the DMK government is planning a free-flow of alcohol, which would lead to major anarchy in the state."
Mumbai, June 10 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a Recovery Agent of the Union Bank of India working at its Main Branch in Aurangabad in connection with a bribery case vide bearer cheques, an official said here on Thursday.

Following a complaint, the CBI had lodged a case against the Recovery Agent, Suresh Bhalerao and another unknown public servant.

As per the complaint, Bhalerao was allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs.100,000 for getting sanction and disbursement of a loan of Rs 10 lakh under the Prime Minister Employment Guarantee Scheme (PMEGS).

During investigation, the CBI managed to trap and catch him at Aurangabad while demanding and accepting the bribe from the complainant in the form of two bearer cheques of Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000.

The CBI also raided Bhalerao's Aurangabad residence and seized certain incriminating documents. He is currently in judicial custody.

The CBI sleuths are now probing further to find out the role of officials of the Union Bank of India who may be involved along with Bhalerao.
London, June 10 : The Indian government's Covid-19 vaccination approach has inappropriately prioritised people and is thus causing huge numbers of avertable deaths, warn a team of nine experts from research institutes in the UK and India.

The government's current approach to vaccination -- focusing on younger age groups -- "is causing huge numbers of avertable deaths and is deeply inequitable, both between age groups and within them", argue doctors and researchers in a commentary published in British medical journal fro BMJ on Wednesday.

From May 3 to June 5, 2021, more first doses were administered to people under 45 than over 60, even though at least 77 million people aged 60 remain unvaccinated, they wrote.

They urged the government to take a more targeted approach and reallocate available doses to older people, especially in more deprived areas.

India's vaccination programme began, in January 2021, with health professionals and "frontline workers." In March, it was extended to people aged 60 or over and those aged 45 or over with comorbidities, and in April to anyone aged 45 or over. From May 1, vaccine entitlement was extended to all people aged 18 or over, although people under 45 had to pay.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra announced that vaccines would now also be free for people aged 18-45. But, authors suggest it is likely to increase the focus of vaccination on people in this young age group, rather than those aged 45 or over.

"In practice, access to Covid-19 vaccination is mainly determined by socioeconomic status, with very low coverage in rural areas and among disadvantaged urban populations," they wrote.

"As a result, Indians of all ages are increasingly resorting to private purchases, and the country's minimal pension system makes this especially unaffordable for older people," they added.

There is also no special provision to facilitate vaccine access for adults with impaired mobility, they said, adding that older people are less familiar with the digital technology that is required to make a booking for taking the jab.

The concern was also voiced by World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "There is a disturbing narrative in some countries that it's OK if older people die. It's not OK.

"It is important that everywhere older people are prioritised for vaccination. Those most at risk of severe disease and death from Covid-19, including health workers and older people, must come first. And they must come first everywhere," he added, in a recent statement.

While some Indian states have reallocated available doses to older people, the researchers urged the Central government to do the same until all elderly people in India receive at least one dose.

The researchers include from the University of East Anglia, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, King's College London, University of Aberdeen from the UK; Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, and Alagappa University in Tamil Nadu.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Kolkata, June 10 : A total of 81 Rohingya refugees, whose boat had landed safely in East Aceh coast of Indonesia on June 5, have been moved to a refugee accommodation centre in Medan located further inland.

Dwi Prafitria, UNHCR spokesperson in Jakarta, told IANS by email that the Rohingya refugees were initially being sheltered in Pulau Idaman and they remained there until Wednesday.

"They had been provided food and medical assistance by the local authorities as initial response. UNHCR's team was present since Saturday (June5) and was coordinating the response," Prafitria said.

"Vitamin B was distributed to all the refugees to treat malnutrition and prevent possible Beriberi, a serious disease resulting from a vitamin deficiency. They also received food, drinking water, and health assistance from multiple humanitarian organisations," she said.

All the Rohingya refugees have tested Covid negative and have received the first dose of Covid vaccine. The vaccination camp was organised by the East Aceh government and was assisted by UNHCR and IOM, Prafitria told IANS.

The 81 Rohingya refugees left Bangladesh on February 11 in a group of 90. Within a week, their boat suffered technical malfunction following which they were rescued by the Indian coast guards.

Nine of the refugees died after drinking sea water and due to malnutrition before they were fed and cared for by the Indian coast guards on the Andaman Islands.

When Bangladesh refused to take them, the Indian coast guards fixed their boat and allowed them to sail to Southeast Asia.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 10 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the state's political situation and Covid management. Former Union Minister and Apna Dal chief, Anupriya Patel also joined the deliberations.

Adityanath's meeting with Shah lasted for around 90 minutes. Sources said that their discussion revolved around preparations for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls next year and possible cabinet expansion or reshuffle in the state.

The BJP's performance in recent panchayat polls was also discussed and it was decided to focus on electing its members as 'Zila Panchayat Adhyaksh' ahead of the polls, sources said.

"In the meeting, the strategy for winning the maximum posts of Zila Panchayat Adhyaksh was also discussed as a BJP member heading it will send a strong message ahead of the Assembly polls," a source said.

Patel, who was Minister of State in the first Narendra Modi government but failed to make the grade in its second term, is demanding a ministerial berth for herself in the Modi cabinet and a ministerial post for her husband Ashish Patel in the state.

Sources said she is also demanding posts of Zila Panchayat Adhyaksh of five districts -- Mirzapur, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh, Banda, and Farrukhabad.

Shah also had a separate meeting with Patel after Adityanath left.

Adityanath reached the national capital on Thursday. He is expected to meet Prime Minister Modi on Friday morning and BJP chief J.P. Nadda in the afternoon.

Preparations for the Assembly elections will be the main agenda of Adityanath's meeting with the party's central leadership, sources said.

The sources also said that the handling of the Covid situation during the second wave of the pandemic by the Uttar Pradesh government is also likely to be discussed during the meetings. While the state's efforts drew flak from the opposition, the BJP leadership had appreciated the works done by the UP government.

Adityanath's visit to New Delhi has fuelled speculation about the possible changes in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet and in the party structure ahead of the Assembly polls.

"A possible cabinet expansion or reshuffle is also likely to be discussed in the meetings. Changes in the state BJP unit are also part of the agenda in order to strengthen the party ahead of next year's Assembly elections," a party insider said.

Talks of changes are doing the rounds for the last fortnight ever since BJP General Secretary, Organisation, B.L. Santhosh and state in-charge Radha Mohan Singh visited Lucknow to review the party's preparations for the Assembly elections.

The sources also said that the role of former Union Minister Jitin Prasada, who jumped ship from the Congress to the BJP on Wednesday, will also come up during Adityanath's meetings with the central BJP leadership. A well-known Brahmin face in Uttar Pradesh, Prasada is son of late Congress leader Jitendra Prasada.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Thiruvananthapuram, June 10 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Thursday that another 14,424 people tested Covid positive out of the 1,07,250 samples sent for testing in the past 24 hours.

But while the test positivity rate (TPR) came down from 13.45 per cent from 14.09 per cent on Wednesday, the number of deaths rose to 194, against 156 on Wednesday, taking the toll to 10,631.

A statement issued here by Vijayan said there were 1,35,298 active cases on Thursday, while 17,994 people turned negative, taking the total number of cured people in the state to 25,42,242.

Across the state, 5,80,417 people were under observation at various places, including 31,966 people at hospitals. There were 891 hotspots in the state.

The state is presently under lockdown and while on Friday, there will be some relaxations and more shops will be allowed to open, but on Saturday and Sunday, there would be strict curbs.

The present lockdown is till Wednesday but with the situation continuing to remain sticky, it is likely to be extended for a few more days.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday afternoon visited the injured victims of last night's house crash in Malad - which claimed 11 lives. The injured are undergoing treatment at Dr BR Ambedkar Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali, here.

Accompanied by Ministers Aslam Sheikh and Aditya Thackeray, Mayor Kishori Pednekar and Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal and other officials, the CM enquired after the health of the victims, the course of their treatment and other details with the attending medicos.

Thackeray also announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 to kin of each of the deceased 11 persons, mostly minors, who perished in the house collapse - the first major monsoon-related tragedy in Mumbai this year.

He added that the government would bear the entire treatment cost of the injured persons.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Leader of Opposition (Council) Pravin Darekar visited the crash site and slammed the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for laxity in the matter.

"The local MP Gopal Shetty had warned in writing to the BMC highlighting the dangers of many of these illegal multi-storied tenements, which posed a huge risk in monsoon. But nothing was done about it," Darekar said.

Around 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday, a ground-plus-two storied house crashed and fell on an adjoining tenement in the New Collector's Colony at Malvani, Malad west as the city was clobbered with heavy rains.

The tragedy has claimed 11 victims so far, including 9 members of a family with 3 adults. The victims include 8 minors of which one was an 18-month-old female toddler and the oldest 15-year-old boy.

Officials claimed that in many slum pockets across the city, local residents construct multi-storied tenements without authorization, some as tall as four or five floors, in places like Bandra, Dharavi, Jogeshwari, Malad, Dahisar and other slums, and ignore demolition notices of the BMC.
New Delhi, June 10 : When at the age of 15, Manan Kapoor discovered Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali, something hit him with a force.

"It was as if his poems spoke to me. His work was so different from what we had been reading at school. That was the moment my voyage of discovering Shahid began -- with the poetry collection 'The Veiled Suite'," says Kapoor, whose biography of Agha Shahid Ali, 'A Map of Longings' (Penguin Random House), recently hit the stands.

In the book, Kapoor explores the concerns that shaped Shahid's (1949-2001) life and works, following in the footsteps of the 'Beloved Witness' from Kashmir to New Delhi and finally to the United States.

Charting the poet's friendships with figures like Begum Akhtar and James Merrill, Kapoor looks at the lives he touched and also traces the complex evolution of Shahid's evocative verses, which mapped various cultures and geographies, and mourned injustice and loss -- both personal and political.

Drawing on various unpublished materials and interviews with the poet's family, friends, students and acquaintances, Kapoor narrates the riveting story of a major literary voice.

The 27-years-old author, who studied at the Ambedkar University, did most of his research papers and assignments on Shahid's poetry.

"Eventually, I realised, there is this wonderful world-renowned poet, who led an extremely interesting life. But there was not a lot written about him, apart from a few essays. The first essay on Shahid that I read was Amitav Ghosh's 'The Ghat of the Only World'.

"The more I read about Shahid, I realised that his life is worth being celebrated and written about. It was basically a book that I wanted to read. So I did research, got in touch with his family and friends and worked on it," Kapoor says.

Stressing that the poet's family was generous and forthcoming, inviting him to their homes, Manan also went to Kashmir a couple of times to meet the poet's late father Agha Ashraf Ali besides other family members.

Although Kapoor wanted to go to the US to do some more research on the poet who died of brain cancer, he was denied a visa by the American Embassy.

"That was a setback as I could not visit the archives. But the people there shared some of the documents I required. All those I had to meet in the US, I got in touch on Skype. However, I feel that a visit to the archives would have turned out richer," he says.

Stressing that Shahid's poetry is one of the biggest examples of what Indian English can be, Kapoor feels that it enriches the language in multiple ways.

"There is that transaction, right. During the time he was writing, a lot of new poets started to emerge, working in English. Their concerns were deeply rooted in the Indian sub-continent. The circle of people choosing to write in English was growing. For him, there was no question of 'this is not my language'. That was the language spoken at home and he started writing in it from the age of nine or ten," Kapoor says.

Kapoor, who took four years to complete the book, says that he is yet to decide on his next.

"However, it is going to be fiction," he concludes.
Mumbai, June 10 : Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday afternoon visited the injured victims of Wednesday night's house crash in Malad - which claimed 11 lives - undergoing treatment at the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday afternoon announced an ex-gratia of Rs 200,000 to the kin of each deceased from the PMNRF besides Rs 50,000 to those injured in the tragedy.

Earlier on Thursday, accompanied by Ministers Aslam Sheikh and Aditya Thackeray, Mayor Kishori Pednekar and Municipal Commissioner I. S. Chahal and other officials, the CM enquired after the health of the victims, the course of their treatment and other details from the attending medicos.

Thackeray also announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 to the families of each of the 11 deceased persons, mostly minors, who perished in the house collapse -- the first major monsoon-related tragedy this year.

He added that the government would bear the entire treatment cost of the injured persons.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Leader of Opposition (Council) Pravin Darekar visited the crash site and slammed the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for laxity in the matter.

"The local MP Gopal Shetty had warned in writing to the BMC highlighting the dangers of many of these illegal multi-storeyed tenements, which posed a huge risk in monsoon. But nothing was done about it," Darekar said.

Around 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday, a ground-plus-two storeyed house crashed and fell on an adjoining tenement in the New Collector's Colony at Malvani, Malad West as the city was clobbered by heavy rain.

The tragedy has claimed 11 lives so far, including 9 members of a family with 3 adults. The victims include 8 minors of which one was an 18-month-old female toddler and the oldest a 15-year-old boy.

Officials claimed that in many slum pockets across the city residents construct multi-storeyed tenements without authorization, some as tall as four or five floors, in places like Bandra, Dharavi, Jogeshwari, Malad, Dahisar and other slums, and ignore the demolition notices of the BMC.
San Francisco, June 10 : Tech billionaire Elon Musk's satellite Internet service -- Starlink -- is in talks with "several" airlines for in-flight Wi-Fi, media reports said.

Since 2018, SpaceX has launched nearly 1,800 Starlink satellites out of the roughly 4,400 it needs to provide global coverage of broadband internet, primarily for rural homes where fibre connections aren't available.

Starlink is now being expanded to airlines, as SpaceX races to open the broadband network commercially later this year, the Verge reported.

"We're in talks with several of the airlines," Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX's VP of Starlink and commercial sales, was quoted as saying at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit on Wednesday.

"We have our own aviation product in development... we've already done some demonstrations to date, and looking to get that product finalised to be put on aircraft in the very near future," he added.

Hofeller said the design for SpaceX's airline antennas will be very similar to the technology inside its consumer terminals, but "with obvious enhancements for aviation connectivity", the report said.

The aviation hardware will be designed and built by SpaceX, he noted. The airborne antennas could link with ground stations to communicate with Starlink satellites.

Last year, SpaceX filed plans to test Starlink on five Gulfstream jets. And in March, it sought US Federal Communications Commission approval to use Starlink with vehicles that receive a signal, including cars, trucks, ships and aircraft.

Early last month, Elon Musk also announced that the new Starlink internet service will make web access more affordable for people in remote areas worldwide, including in India.

The satellite broadband company will double the internet speed to 300 Mbps this year.

The company currently promises speeds between 50 and 150 Mbps for the Starlink project that plans to deliver high-speed internet through a network of about 12,000 satellites. The company has already put over 1,200 of its Starlink satellites in orbit.

SpaceX is currently offering the beta version of Starlink on pre-orders in India for a fully refundable deposit of $99.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Pakistan: Fire breaks out at the blast site in Quetta, Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, on April 21, 2021. (Str/Xinhua/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Patna, June 10 : Facing criticism over the explosion in a madarsa, Banka Superintendent of Police Arvind Kumar Gupta said the explosion happened due to a crude bomb kept in a container.

The officer said no terror angle appeared during the investigation.

"We have seized Rs 1.65 lakh from the cupboard of Maulana Abdul Momin who died in the blast on Tuesday. Besides that there was no evidence to prove a terror angle in this matter. There is no evidence of an IED in the debris as well," Gupta said.

The officer added that the bomb was not so powerful.

The claim of the officer was quite astonishing keeping in view that a huge portion of the madarsa building collapsed in the explosion.

Suharsha Bhagat, district magistrate of Banka, said that the madarsa was not registered with the education department. It was built on private land.

Meanwhile, sources said that the National Investigation Agency also made inquiries with the district administration and took a copy of the FIR filed in the case.
Mumbai, June 10 : Actor Mrunal Jain, who will soon be seen in Akshay Kumar-starrer "Sooryavanshi", is all set to feature in a web series inspired by the Rohtak Sisters incident. He will be seen playing a central character in the upcoming show, and says it is totally different from what he has done before.

The Rohtak Sisters incident, as it is popularly known, is about two sisters, Arti and Pooja, who thrashed men in a bus in 2014, accusing them of molesting them.

"I'm not supposed to be talking much about my role, but I would say that the audience will get to see a different side of me as an actor. I will be speaking in a different dialect, actually everything is very different from what I have done in the past. It's based on a real-life incident and has a very interesting storyline. The audience will get to know about the various events that took place in the whole story," Mrunal tells IANS, about the show produced by Azra Syed and directed by Manoj Singh.

Mrunal says he is waiting for workshops to start, in order to prepare for his role. "I'll prepare once I get a proper detailed narration about the character," he informs.

The actor mentions he is ready to do bold scenes, but only if the story demands it. It depends on how crucial it is to the storyline," says the actor.

He adds: "As an actor, I would see if it is an actual requirement for the story and is bringing some change to it or just for a sexual purpose. If the latter is the case, then I would definitely not do it." This is Mrunal's second OTT venture after "26 January", and he shared that during lockdown and the pandemic he utilised his time in watching series like "Queen Of South", "The Family Man" and "Money Heist". Speaking of the pandemic, he shared that with a new project in hand his first priority is to get vaccinated while also following the other Covid protocols so that the show wraps up successfully.

"I think we all must take the basic precautions like masks, sanitizing and social-distancing. While shooting we need to have less people on the set. The most important thing right now is that we should all get vaccinated before we go for the shoot. I also feel actors should carry their own makeup at the moment, at least till this pandemic doesn't get over, so that we can avoid Covid as much as we can," Mrunal concluded.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 10 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday said that it has arrested an executive engineer of the CPWD and two private persons in an alleged graft case.

The arrested accused have been identified as executive engineer V.L. Bhaskar, at the CPWD, Zonal Office in Tamil Nadu's Madurai, P.N. Sivasankar Raja, proprietor of Brahma Developers, and P.Narayanan, representing S.K. Electricals, Chennai.

A CBI spokesperson said that the agency registered a case against the engineer and others including two private persons on the allegations that Bhaskar conspired with the said contractors for receipt of illegal gratification of Rs 50,000 for clearing the bills of a private company and another Rs 1 lakh for the purpose of refunding GST.

"During the trap proceedings, an amount of Rs 70,000 was recovered from the public servant, which he had demanded and accepted from the said contractors," he said.

The official said that searches were conducted at the premises of Bhaskar at Madurai which led to recovery of cash of Rs 1.85 lakh said to be kept in different covers and allegedly received by him from various other contractors.

All three were produced before the Special Judge for CBI Cases at Madurai and sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
New Delhi/Amaravati, June 10 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday sought approval for investment clearance of Rs 55,657 crore for Polavaram Project from Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as part of his Delhi tour on the first day.

He sought the investment clearance as per 2017 - 18 price list at the earliest for the project works which include land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation with a plan to complete the dam by June 2022.

Reddy requested Shekhawat to consider water supply component as an integral part of the irrigation component as it would be in sync with the guidelines followed by the Jal Shakti ministry towards national projects.

The Chief Minister asked the ministry to reimburse the cost incurred in land acquisition and resettlement of the project affected families.

Likewise, Reddy requested for the relocation of Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) headquarters from Hyderabad to Rajamahendravaram at the earliest as it is difficult for easily monitoring and inspecting the project.

Earlier, he also met with Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for resolving environmental clearance issues regarding stocking works of the project. Eom/210 words --IANS

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Chandigarh, June 10 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday termed the 'meagre MSP hike for paddy as not only grossly inadequate, but also an insult to the farmers who have been fighting for their rightful dues through their anti-farm law agitation for the past six months.

At a time when the farmers continue to put their lives on the line with their prolonged protest on the borders of Delhi, the BJP-led Central government has, instead of putting balm on their wounds, added insult to their injuries with the minimum support price (MSP) announcement, said the Chief Minister.

Amarinder Singh slammed the 'anti-farmer' government at the Centre for consistently failing to protect the interests of the farmers and for its apathy towards their problems.

The less than 4 per cent hike in MSP for paddy is not enough even to meet the increased input costs, Amarinder Singh pointed out, citing the extraordinary hike in diesel prices and other costs over the past one year.

The increase in MSP for other crops is also quite measly, he added, noting that the small hike in the base price of maize would discourage the farmers from going for the much-needed crop diversification to save the precious and depleting water resource.

The Chief Minister noted that the Swaminathan Committee, whose recommendations the Central government has 'adamantly' refused to accept, had clearly suggested that MSP should be "at least 50 per cent more than the weighted average cost of production".

Far from implementing the recommendations of the committee in the interest of the farmers and for the nation's food security, the BJP-led government had passed the anti-farmer laws that are clearly aimed at destroying India's farmers, the Chief Minister said.

Amarinder Singh also said that it is not enough for the Union Agriculture Minister to say that the doors for talks with the farmers are open.

The government of India should repeal the farm laws and then sit across the table with the farmers to come out with genuine and meaningful reforms in the agriculture sector in the interest of the farming community as well as the nation, the Chief Minister asserted.
Hyderabad, June 10 : A consortium of four Indian city clusters has been established to upscale coronavirus genomic surveillance, complementing national efforts led by the INSACOG.

The consortium comprising Bengaluru, Hyderabad, New Delhi, and Pune is established with generous support and seed funding from Rockefeller Foundation. The new effort will track the emergence of viral variants correlated to epidemiological dynamics and clinical outcomes, said CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB), Hyderabad, which is leading the consortium.

The consortium currently includes different partners in three other cities: NCBS-TIFR, InStem-DBT, and NIMHANS in Bengaluru; the CSIR-IGIB in New Delhi; and the Pune Knowledge Cluster, IISER-Pune, and CSIR-NCL in Pune.

The consortium aims to develop targeted sampling strategies based on granular epidemiological and clinical data. Coupled with intense environmental surveillance and advanced computational techniques, the consortium would also focus on building capabilities for real-time surveillance and epidemiology.

It will work closely with local governments, hospitals and clinicians. In collaboration with the INSACOG, the consortium aims to eventually make this a national effort by expanding to other strategic locations in India.

Dr Rakesh Mishra, Advisor at the CSIR-CCMB, will lead these efforts along with Prof Satyajit Mayor of the NCBS, Prof L.s. Shashidhara of the Pune Knowledge Cluster, and Dr Anurag Agrawal, of the CSIR-IGIB.

"Our aim is to develop strategies and capabilities to identify Variants of Concern before they spread widely and cause outbreaks. This will also help correlate with clinical symptoms and disease severity, potentially associated with emerging variants," said the team.

"All the partner institutes have been fighting COVID-19 since its very beginning in the country. This much-needed collaboration will bring all their strengths together in a structured fashion," CSIR-CCMB Director, Dr Vinay Nandicoori, said.
Bengaluru, June 10 : The Karnataka government on Thursday rolled out its own direct benefit transfer app to disburse funds to beneficiaries through 120 schemes.

Launching the application, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said the platform was developed by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (e-governance).

"The government's intention to bring in transparency in governance will be fulfilled when all citizens make best use of the DBT app and keep informed about the transfer benefits," he said.

The state government had credited Rs 12,000 crore directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries availing the 120 schemes during the last 2 years.

"The app will also eliminate misuse of funds, middlemen and loopholes, as accounts of beneficiaries are linked to their Aadhar unique identity number," said the Chief Minister.

The state government has disbursed economic relief aid to all the beneficiaries affected by the Covid pandemic's first and second waves.

"All schemes providing financial assistance to the beneficiaries have been linked to the DBT scheme," said Yediyurappa.

The app identifies beneficiaries through their Aadhar number, which is considered as their address and directly transfers cash into their Aadhar-linked bank account.

The app, which can be downloaded through Google Playstore and registered through e-KYC, will connect to the National Payments Corporation of India, and update on the present status of bank seeding.

"The DBT mobile app will also provide scheme-wise information on instalments of transferred amount, date of digital payment, bank account number and UTR (unique transaction reference) number," said DBT app project director Jayanthi.
In a major catch, the Border Security Force (BSF) on Thursday arrested a suspected Chinese spy who was trying to illegally cross the India-Bangladesh border into Indian territory in West Bengal's Malda district.

Identified as Han Junwe, 36, he belongs to China's Hubei. He entered Bangladesh on June 2.

Han's capture is a big achievement for the BSF as he is a wanted for working in India for a Chinese intelligence agency, according to a statement issued by the paramilitary force.

The Chinese man and his wife have a case against them in Uttar Pradesh. He also said he has a hotel in Gurugram named "Star Spring" and has visited India more than four times.

All intelligence agencies are working together and interrogating the Chinese national as some electronic equipment found from his possession raised suspicion that he was working in India for a Chinese intelligence agency, the statement said.

"This apprehension is a big achievement for the Border Security Force and the matter will be investigated in the depth. Many startling details may get surfaced."

The BSF troopers, of the South Bengal Frontier, arrested the Chinese national in the area under Border Outpost Malik Sultanpur.

The BSF statement said that the intruder started moving stealthily after crossing the border and tried to run away when the vigilant troopers on border duty challenged him and asked to stop.

The BSF troopers chased and caught him and after arresting him, brought him to the Border Outpost Mohadipur for questioning.

From interrogation and his recovered passport, it was learnt that Han reached Dhaka on June 2 on a business visa, and stayed there with a Chinese friend.

On June 8, he came to Sona Masjid in Chapainawabganj district (Bangladesh) and stayed in a hotel there, the statement said, adding he was trying to enter Indian territory today (Thursday) when he was caught by the BSF trooprs.

During interrogation, the Chinese man said that even before this he has come to India four times. He had come to Hyderabad in 2010 and Delhi-Gurugram thrice after 2019.

According to him, he has a hotel in Gurugram named "Star Spring". Some of his colleagues in this hotel are from China and rest are Indian.

On further questioning, Han told when he had gone to his hometown Hubei, one of his business partner Sun Jiang used to send him 10-15 numbers of Indian mobile phone SIMs after a few days, which were received by him and his wife. But a few days ago, his business partner was caught by the Anti-Terrorist Squad from Lucknow.

The Chinese man that a case has been registered against him and his wife after his business partner revealed his name to the ATS, and due to this, he did not get an Indian visa in China and got visa for Bangladesh and Nepal to come to India.

An Apple Laptop, twoiPhone mobiles, a Bangladeshi SIM, an Indian SIM, two Chinese SIMs, two pen drives, three batteries, two small torchs, five Money Transaction Machine, two ATM and Master Card, US dollars, Bangladeshi takas and Indian currency were recovered from his possession.
New Delhi, June 10 : After reports surfaced that India's vaccine registration portal CoWIN has been hacked and database of 15 crore people is up for sale, Indian cyber security researchers said that the website behind this is itself fake and is a Bitcoin scam.

A hacker group that goes by the name of "Dark Leak Market" claimed, via a tweet, that they have the database of about 15 crore Indians who registered themselves on the CoWIN portal and are reselling it for $800 since they are not the "original leakers" of the data.

Independent cyber security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia told IANS that the hacking group's website is fake, and they are running a Bitcoin scam.

"CoWIN is not hacked as the so-called hacking group is listing fake leaks. It is a Bitcoin scam and people should not fall victim to these hackers. The CoWIN data is safe," Rajaharia told IANS.

Earlier, French security researcher Baptiste Robert aka Elliot Alderson also retweeted the post by the "Dark Leak Market" but later deleted it.

India has vaccinated over 23.7 crore people as of now.

With a view to facilitate access to vaccination for persons with disabilities, the Central government this week directed all states and Union Territories to include the Unique Disability Identification (UDID) card in the list of prescribed photo identity documents for Covid-19 vaccination registration.

As per the guidance note for CoWIN 2.0 issued on March 2 this year, seven prescribed photo IDs were specified and prescribed for verification of beneficiary prior to their vaccination.

In order to minimise errors and the subsequent inconvenience caused to the citizens for online appointments for vaccination, the government last month introduced a new feature of "four digit security code" in the CoWIN application.
Agra, June 10 : The mood of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) vote bank in this Dalit capital of north India continues to remain confused and wavering as the last few elections have marginalised the party.

The deep frustration in the BSP cadre is the result of the gnawing feeling of utter irrelevance of the party in the current political scenario, as well as that of party supremo Mayawati, who looks fatigued and spent out.

Local leaders of the BSP are particularly disenchanted with Muslim politics, and many feel the Muslim votes will again go to the Samajwadi Party.

Ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati has made new appointments besides restructuring the party organisation, but insiders say the 'josh' (enthusiasm) is clearly missing.

The voters are neither angry nor too happy with the Yogi Adityanath government in Lucknow, according to poll watchers in the city which has a sizeable population of Dalits, mostly engaged in the shoe industry.

At present, all the nine Assembly seats in Lucknow are with the BJP which has three MPs from the district, two in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha.

"The last four years have seen social tranquility, though vain efforts were made to flare up the Hathras gang-rape incident. But prompt intervention by the judiciary and the proactive approach of the Chief Minister helped defuse the tension," observed a local Dalit leader.

Also to be noted is the fact that the number of beneficiaries of a slew of welfare measures taken both by the Centre and the state government has been continuously rising. Even during the Covid-19 first and the second waves, help poured in from all ends and cases of chill penury or acute deprivation were few, according to a social activist.

Naresh Paras, a prominent activist working for the downtrodden, said, "Chances are that a section of the Dalit votes would go to Chandrashekhar Azad of the Bhim Army, a chunk could go to the BJP, but the bulk of the conventional Dalit votes will remain loyal to Bahenji (as Mayawati is popularly known). Though the Congress too has been trying hard to woo the Dalit votes, it is doubtful if a swing in favour of the Congress could now be engineered." An analysis of the voting trends and figures points to a gradual decline in the BSP's fortunes, after it swept to power in 2007, winning 206 out of the 403 seats with a vote share of 30.43 per cent.

In the 2012 Assembly polls, Mayawati could win only 80 seats, with BSP's share of votes falling to 25.91 per cent.

In 2017, the BSP could win only 19 seats with a vote share of 22.14 per cent.

In the recent panchayat polls too, the party fared poorly, further demoralising its rank and file.

In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh too, the BSP has failed to improve its performance and looks set for a total wipe out.

Poll pundits say that the BSP's loss has been the BJP's gain, as the saffron brigades operating at different levels have heavily dented the Mayawati vote bank which was estimated to be between 18 and 21 per cent.

Reports suggest that the BSP supremo has no option other than supporting the Yogi Adityanath government, in return for a Vice Presidential position, or maybe even as a new tenant of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"For the BJP, it is more important to consolidate Hindu votes, bring all layers of the Hindu society under a common umbrella, than sharing power with any xyz," a youth leader of the Vishva Hindu Parishad said.

Political commentator Paras Nath Choudhary said that the BJP should definitely try to persuade Mayawati to ally with the NDA and if necessary should offer the Vice Presidential position to her.

"Given the challenges faced by India, it is necessary to strengthen the nationalist forces and bridge the communication gaps among different layers of the society. The need of the hour is to integrate the Dalits with the national mainstream and to work this out there is no harm in bargaining a deal with Mayawati," Choudhary said.
Mumbai, June 10 : Maharashtra's Covid-19 death toll catapulted by a whopping 1,915 - a new high - while new infections shot above the 11,000 mark after five days, health officials said on Thursday.

Against 461 deaths declared on Wednesday, the state has revealed its highest-ever - fatalities, at 1,915, comprising 393 new, and 1,522 earlier deaths, surpassing the previous peak of 1,377 deaths on June 4, and taking its toll to 103,748.

The number of fresh cases rose from 10,989 on Wednesday to 12,207, and the state tally climbed to 58,76,087.

However, Mumbai, for the 14th consecutive day, saw new infections remain below the 1,000 level, dropping from 785 on Wednesday to 655, and the city tally rose to 713,495. Deaths fell from 27 to 22, with total fatalities in the country's commercial capital rising to 15,055.

The number of active cases dropped from 161,864 to 160,693, while 11,449 fully cured patients returned home, taking the total to 56,08,753, and the recovery rate remained stable at 95.45 per cent for the second day.

The Mumbai Circle - comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad districts - recorded 2,058 cases, taking the total to 15,56,872 and with 145 more deaths, the toll reached 29,339.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home isolation stood at 10,76,165, while those in institutional quarantine totalled 6,384.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 10 : Telecom industry body COAI on Thursday said that Bharti Airtel's Ajai Puri has been re-elected as the Chairman of the association for 2021-22.

Puri is the Chief Operating Officer (India and South Asia) of Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd President Pramod Kumar Mittal will be the Vice Chairman of the Association.

A COAI statement said that Puri has been with Bharti Airtel since 2004, and has held several senior leadership positions including Director, Market Operations and Director and CEO, DTH. Prior to joining Bharti Airtel, he served as the Business Head, Foods at Cargill Foods India.

Mittal comes with a rich experience of 42 years in telecommunications. Before joining India's largest telecom operator, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd as President, Mittal served in the Department of Telecommunications for over 37 years.

COAI Director General S.P. Kochhar expressed his appreciation for Puri and Mittal's support and their leadership.

The past year has been one of the most eventful and also the most challenging for the Indian telecom industry. The AGR ruling of the Supreme Court added to the challenges posed by the pandemic, the nationwide lockdowns, and the multiple cyclones that battered India, the statement said. Despite these challenges, the industry has continued to serve the nation as an essential service, it added.

COAI is optimistic about the future of the industry and the opportunities ahead, as 5G and allied technologies get closer to commercial deployment, it added.

Puri said: "The digital communications industry has once again risen to serve India and has kept the nation connected during this unprecedented phase. On behalf of the industry, I would like to reiterate our commitment to support the government's efforts to connect and digitise the country at large as we emerge from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic." Mittal said: "It's a pleasure for me to once again take the responsibility as Vice Chairman of COAI and continue to work with the industry to bring about the next level of reforms in order to uplift and strengthen the sector while initiating measures for the benefit of end consumers." Kochhar noted that the digital communications industry, with the support of the government has emerged as the economic and social backbone of the nation, keeping the citizens connected and enabling the economy to function during the crisis period of Covid-19 and cyclones.

"As the industry continues to play its critical role, the future has a lot in store for us with the ecosystem gearing up for 5G. We are committed to play an even greater role in achieving the Digital India vision," he added.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 10 : To push tap water supply in the rural households in Maharashtra, the Centre has allocated a Rs 7,064 crore grant for 2021-22 under the Jal Jeevan Mission, which was Rs 1,828.92 crore in 2020-21.

The increase in grant followed a recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, while approving this four-fold increase in allocation of funds, has assured full assistance to Maharashtra for ensuring tap water supply in every rural home by 2024.

At the start of the mission in 2019, out of a total of 19.20 crore rural households in the country, only 3.23 crore (17 per cent) had tap water supply.

During the last 21 months, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns disruptions, the Jal Jeevan Mission has been implemented with speed and 4.27 Crore households have been provided with piped water connections.

With this increase in coverage by 22 per cent, 7.51 crore (39.12 per cent) rural households across the country presently have tap water supply.

Goa, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry have achieved 100 per cent household tap connection in the rural areas.

In Maharashtra, out of a total of 142 lakh rural households, 91.30 lakh (64.14 per cent) have been provided with tap water connection.

When the mission was launched in August 2019, 48.43 lakh (34.02 per cent) rural households had tap water supply in Maharashtra. In the subsequent 21 months, 42.86 lakh households in the state have been provided tap water connection.

For 2021-22, the state has planned to provide tap water connections to 27.45 lakh households, followed by 18.72 lakh connections in 2022-23, and 5.14 lakh connections in 2023-24 to achieve tap water supply to every rural household.

The water supply work to provide tap water connection has not yet started in 29,417 villages in Maharashtra.
Paris, June 10 : No. 31 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia on Thursday defeated world No. 85 Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 34 minutes in the semifinal to reach the French Open women's final.

Anastasia, 29, thus became the first woman to play more than 50 major tournaments before reaching a final, having made her Grand Slam debut as a 15-year-old wildcard entrant at the Wimbledon in 2007.

Italian Roberta Vinci, who was the 2015 US Open runner-up in her 44th main draw, held the previous record.

This tournament is the 52nd time that Anastasia has made the main draw of a Grand Slam event.

Anastasia will meet the winner of the second semifinal to be played between Maria Sakkari of Greece and Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova.

Anastasia is the first Russian woman to advance to a Grand Slam final since 2015, when Maria Sharapova reached the title round of the Australian Open where she lost to Serena Williams of the US.

The win takes Anastasia into her 21st career final. Her last entry in a final was in 2019 in Moscow. Her first entry into a final was at Monterrey in 2010, where she defeated Slovak Daniela Hantuchova to win the title.

If Anastasia wins, it will be her first title since winning the 2018 Strasbourg tournament. In all, she has won 12 career titles.

Anastasia has been the 'junior' opponent to No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 15 Victoria Azarenka and No. 21 Elena Rybakina in her earlier matches. And now she is the 'senior' pro left in the contest.

Anastasia's career-high ranking has been world No.13, achieved in July 2011. She has reached the quarterfinals in six majors.

Tamara, on the other hand, is the first player from Slovenia to reach the last four stage of a Grand Slam.
Patna, June 10 : Two days after an explosion at a madrasa in Bihars Banka district left one imam (religious teacher) dead, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) on Thursday attacked the BJP leaders for terming madrasas as hubs of terrorist activities in the state.

Former Bihar Chief Minister and HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi alleged that when Muslims study in madrasas, they are labelled as terrorists, and when poor Dalits achieve success in their lives or raise their voice against wrongdoings, they are branded as Naxals.

"Leaders who are declaring people as terrorists and Naxals should come out of this mind set. It is not good for the unity and sovereignty of the country," Manjhi said.

Danish Rizwan, the national spokesperson of HAM, said that those leaders who are raising questions on madrasas should apologise for their statements in public.

"We have a clear stand about conducting a thorough probe into the blast. Now the Banka police have clarified that there was no terror link to the incident. It was a crude bomb that had exploded in the madrasa and no evidence has been collected so far to link the incident to any kind of terror activity," Rizwan said.

"The inflammatory statements of BJP leaders may create communal tension in the state," Rizwan added.

Earlier, BJP MLA from Bisfi, Haribhushan Thakur, had alleged that madrasas are the hubs of terrorist activities in Bihar, demanding the closure of all such institutions.

HAM is an alliance partner of the NDA government in Bihar, which is reported to be close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Chennai, June 10 : The administration in Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur district has ordered an enquiry into allegations that around 800 doses of vaccine meant for Primary Health Centres (PHCs) were diverted and sold to private garment factories.

The Tiruppur District Collector's office told IANS that an order has been issued to investigate whether there have been any lapses in allotting vaccines to the garment factories and whether vaccines meant for PHCs were sold to these factories.

The issue came into light after the Tirupur corporation decided to administer around 800 doses of Covaxin, meant for four PHCs, to workers of three garment factories.

Meanwhile, an internal communication from the Health Department had stated that 728 doses of vaccine were remaining unutilised across four PHCs -- Sundamedu, Annanesavlar, Kovilvali, and Periyandipalayam.

On Saturday, local people, coming to know of the availability of vaccines, reached these PHCs but were informed that vaccines were not available. At the same time inoculation was conducted to employees and workers of three garment factories - M.S. Garments, Prisma Garments and Network Clothing Company - on Saturday itself.

The local people then suspected that the vaccines meant for them in PHCs were diverted and sold to the garment factories and created a row.

Corporation officials said that the vaccine drive was conducted at the three garment factories on Saturday and 700 doses of vaccine administered. A senior corporation official, who did not want to be identified, told IANS that "it was a case of miscommunication as the vaccine stocks were diverted to the garment factories without informing the PHCs and local people came to know of this and hence the hue and cry." District Collector Vijayakarthikeyan ordered a probe into the media reports and complaints from local people that vaccines were sold to private garment factories.

Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan also said that prioritising institutional vaccination is the prerogative of the district administration. He said that if no sale had happened, there is no controversy.

The district administration is expecting a written report on the incident and if there was no mention of any sale of the vaccine, no action will be taken regarding inoculation at the garment factories.
Gandhinagar June 11 : The Managing Director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul), R.S. Sodhi, was conferred with the regional award as Asia Pacific Productivity Champion from Asian Productivity Organization (APO), Tokyo, Japan in recognition of enhanced productivity and efficient milk supply chain.

Sodhi is the first Indian to have received the prestigious award, in the last 20 years.

The APO invites nominations from the National Productivity Organizations (NPOs) of member countries. The Government of India's National Productivity Council (NPC) under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, unanimously recommended Sodhi's name for the award.

The award is conferred to eligible individuals who have significantly contributed to advancing the productivity movement in the Asia-Pacific region and those in a specific member economy of the APO.

The APO regional awards are conferred every five years and each country can nominate only one candidate out of the all nominations. Every five years only five regional nominees receives the award.

Sodhi received the award on behalf of 3.6 million dairy farmers. "I was recommended for the first time by the ministry of commerce and industry, government of India for this award. I think that this award is a recognition of India's most productive and efficient supply chain of milk in the world, where a farmer gets 70-80 per cent of consumer price as compared to world average of 35-40 per cent," Sodhi told IANS.
Paris, June 11 : Unseeded Czech Barbora Krejcikova pulled off a remarkable upset by outlasting No.17 seed Maria Sakkari 7-5, 4-6, 9-7 in a French Open women's semi-final match to reach her first Grand Slam final on Thursday.

Barbora saved a match point at 5-3 in the third set and went on to win the titanic battle in three hours and 18 minutes.

Barbora will play first-time Grand Slam finalist No.31 seed Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated world No.85 Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 34 minutes in an earlier semi-final encounter.

On an 11-match winning streak, Barbora needed five match points over two games. She duly subdued the challenge from the Greek player and improved to 3-0 in their head-to-head rivalry.

Earlier, Anastasia, 29, became the first woman to play more than 50 major tournaments before reaching a final, having made her Grand Slam debut as a 15-year-old wildcard entrant at the Wimbledon in 2007.

Italian Roberta Vinci, who was the 2015 US Open runner-up in her 44th main draw, held the previous record.

This tournament is the 52nd time that Anastasia has made the main draw of a Grand Slam event.

Anastasia will meet the winner of the second semifinal to be played between Maria Sakkari of Greece and Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova.

Anastasia is the first Russian woman to advance to a Grand Slam final since 2015, when Maria Sharapova reached the title round of the Australian Open where she lost to Serena Williams of the US.

The win takes Anastasia into her 21st career final. Her last entry in a final was in 2019 in Moscow. Her first entry into a final was at Monterrey in 2010, where she defeated Slovak Daniela Hantuchova to win the title.

If Anastasia wins, it will be her first title since winning the 2018 Strasbourg tournament. In all, she has won 12 career titles.

Anastasia has been the 'junior' opponent to No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 15 Victoria Azarenka and No. 21 Elena Rybakina in her earlier matches. And now she is the 'senior' pro left in the contest.

Anastasia's career-high ranking has been world No.13, achieved in July 2011. She has reached the quarterfinals in six majors.

Tamara, on the other hand, is the first player from Slovenia to reach the last four stage of a Grand Slam.
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/10/2021 -- Advance Market Analytics recently introduced ASIC Bitcoin Mining Hardware Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2025. ASIC Bitcoin Mining Hardware Market effective study on varied sections of Industry like opportunities, size, growth, technology, demand and trend of high leading players. It also provides market key statistics on the status of manufacturers, a valuable source of guidance, direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.



Major Players in This Report Include:

Bitmain Technologies Ltd. (China), BIOSTAR Group (Taiwan), BitFury Group (Netherlands), Ebang (China), Butterfly Labs, Inc. (United States), CoinTerra, Inc. (United States), Black Arrow (China), HashFast Technologies, LLC (United States), iCoinTech (Cyprus), Innosilicon (China), ,



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Brief Overview on ASIC Bitcoin Mining Hardware:

Application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is a bitcoin mining hardware created solely to solve bitcoin blocks. The ASIC have only minimal requirements for other computer applications. ASIC Bitcoin mining hardware can solve bitcoin blocks much quicker and use lesser electricity or power than other mining hardware, such as FPGAs. Moreover, in bitcoins, ASICs are gradually being preferred by miners owing to its extraordinary speed which consumes much less power than FPGA or GPU mining rigs.



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- Booming Economy and Increasing Disposable Income



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Market Challenges:

- Internet Security Break and Complex to Use



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- Large Untapped Markets Of Developing Economies



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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.



Every segment of the market offers thorough information on the qualitative and quantitative sections of the market. The segmentation in this research study has been finalized by extensive primary research and in-depth secondary research. It defines, describes, and analyses the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis of ASIC Bitcoin Mining Hardware Market by type, application, and region. The report also provides an in-depth SWOT analysis for all five regions after evaluating economic, political, social and technological factors affecting the ASIC Bitcoin Mining Hardware market.



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London, June 11 : Indian fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, who is currently facing the charges of entering Dominica illegally, was "unlawfully renditioned" from Antigua and Barbuda to Dominica so that he would no longer have the option of appealing to the UK Privy Council, his lawyer contended on Thursday.

Michael Polak, part of the legal team representing Choksi and an expert in providing legal assistance to foreign nationals around the world, told a virtual news conference that the team has also filed a complaint with the War Crimes Unit of UK's Metropolitan Police on the ground that Choksi was tortured.

Describing Choksi's case as one of "egregious breach of the rule of law and fundamental fairness", Polak said, "What has happened to Choksi has been terrible. He was lured into a property, kidnapped, a bag placed over his head, beaten, forced on to a boat and unlawfully renditioned into another country." "In Antigua, he has the right to appeal to the Privy Council in London to determine whether the government is acting properly...against him. In Dominica, he does not have such protection. The motive behind the kidnapping could not be clearer," he said.

He further claimed that there was sufficient proof that Barbara Jarabica and the other men involved in the incident had carried out a "reconnaissance or a failed attempt to kidnap" Choksi in April 2021 and said that Choksi should be returned to Antigua.

Giving details of the abduction attempt, Polak said Jabarica, who lured Choksi to her AirBNB accommodation on May 23, had specifically asked the owner if there is a place for docking a small boat in the backyard.

Showing chats between Jabarica and owner of the properties, Polak said she had discussed taking two adjoining properties after getting confirmation about docking place for boats.

Polak alleged that one property was used by people with her, who were part of kidnapping team.

The lawyer also claimed that soon after the kidnapping of Choksi, Jabarica left Antigua and Barbuda in a private plane to Dominica at 7.26 pm as she felt safe from investigation.

Polak also contended that Choksi continues to be an Antiguan citizen and can appeal against any move to strip him of his citizenship or to extradite him to India in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

He also said that the diamantaire would not have access to this legal protection in Dominica.

A complaint filed by Polak with the UK Metropolitan Police contended that Choksi's case should be investigated by the War Crimes Unit as it involves "torture".

"The War Crimes Unit of the Metropolitan Police investigates war crimes, torture and genocide wherever it takes place," the lawyer said.

The Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service will have the final say in an investigation.

According to Polak's complaint filed with the Metropolitan Police on June 7, Choksi was allegedly lured by Jarabica and then attacked and taken by force by several men to Dominica in a boat. The complaint has also pointed out that Jarabica and three men allegedly involved in the incident - St Kitts and Nevis national Gurdip Bath, Gurmit Singh and Gurjit Singh Bhandal - are all residents of the UK.

"The process is with Metropolitan police and we will let them carry out their investigations. We say in this case there is evidence of torture," he said.

IANS was first to report report names of Singh and Bhandal on June 4.

Choksi, who is wanted in Ondianin Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case had gone missing on May 23 from Antigua sparking a massive manhunt. He was reportedly captured on May 26 in Dominica.

Choksi is facing the charges of entering Dominica illegally. A Dominican High Court has restrained the extradition of Choksi.

The diamantaire is wanted in India by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in Rs 13,500 crore case. He had taken the citizenship of Antigua in 2017 and left India on January 4, 2018 days before the case came to light.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
A portion of the 50+ Aprilaire employees who climbed at AmFam Field May 22 in the Fight for Air Climb benefiting the American Lung Association. Thanks to the service of Aprilaire employees, Dale and our other Local Leadership Board members, we are helping Wisconsin residents breathe a little easier.

An employee team from Aprilaire, the nationwide leader in indoor air quality products and solutions, participated in the American Lung Association in Wisconsins 13th annual Fight for Air Climb May 22 at American Family Field and raised more than $9,500, the third highest fundraising company in Wisconsin. Dale Philippi, president and CEO of Research Products Corporation, Aprilaires parent company, was among the climbers and recently joined the Wisconsin Leadership Board of Directors of the American Lung Association.

Last year in 2020, Aprilaire was the fifth highest donor company, with $6,800 going to the Wisconsin chapter of the American Lung Association, so the 2021 effort represented a 40% increase in fundraising. The money raised goes to support the American Lung Associations COVID-19 action initiative, an effort to protect against future respiratory virus pandemics, according to Megan Cordova of the American Lung Association in Wisconsin.

Climbing stairs and gasping for air is a natural fit for Aprilaire and its employees since the company has been manufacturing products and systems to improve air quality since 1954. The company has a singular purpose of enhancing peoples health by improving the air in their homes.

Due to the pandemic, this years event was a combination of virtual and in-person outside climbing AmFam Fields 1,400 stairs. Normally held climbing indoor staircases at the U.S. Bank Center, all participants including the Aprilaire employees were no less enthusiastic. In fact, the Milwaukee CBS TV affiliate reported the event raised more than $416,000.

Not only did Aprilaire support the non-profit with employee feet stepping up stairs, the companys give back will include board leadership beginning as Dale Philippi, the newly appointed president and CEO of Aprilaires parent company Research Products Corporation, donates his time and joins the Local Leadership Board of Directors of the American Lung Association in Wisconsin. Philippi began a three-year term in February.

Dales insight and experience with Aprilaire will help us in our mission to raise awareness for lung cancer in Wisconsin, reduce smoking rates and ensure that we all have clean air to breathe, said Megan Cordova, executive director for the Lung Association in Wisconsin. Thanks to the service of Dale and our other Local Leadership Board members, we are helping Wisconsin residents breathe a little easier.

Philippi was among Aprilaires team of more than 50 employees that climbed the stairs at AmFam Field on May 22, proving he puts his feet behind causes he supports and also his time and talent.

About Aprilaire

Aprilaire, a division of Research Products Corporation (RPC), is on a mission to enhance peoples health by improving the air in their homes nationwide. Headquartered in Madison, Wis. since 1954, Aprilaire has been creating and delivering Healthy Air solutions to manage air purity, humidity, temperature, and fresh air supply for all homes in all environments. The company has an unparalleled reputation as the brand of choice among tens of thousands of professional contractors and the millions of homeowners who use their products every day. Our professional-grade solutions reflect a combination of practical science and human understanding, intuitively designed to create healthy environments so people can breathe the fullness of life in their homes. For information, call Aprilaire at 1-800-334-6011 or visit http://www.aprilaire.com.

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99K Limited Partners with Centric Software to Ensure Smooth and Efficient Product Development The managerial aspect of PLM will be of great help and we look forward to saving time on communication with suppliers and reducing errors in the production.

Fast-growing fashion merchandising company 99K Limited has selected Centric Softwares Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution for emerging brands, Centric SMB. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source and sell products such as apparel, footwear, sporting goods, furniture, home decor, cosmetics, food & beverage and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Founded in 2018 under parent company Momokrom  an independent online denim brand and wholesaler  Manchester-based 99K Limited is a fashion merchandising company supporting various large clothing retailers worldwide with product design, development and production. Thanks to its ethos of tireless commitment and passion, the company has grown exponentially in the relatively short time it has been operating.

Product Manager Mo Lin explains that one of the companys biggest business challenges is keeping up with the fast-paced, ever-changing fashion industry, in particular the complications associated with the global pandemic. Like all industries, manufacturing, freight and sales have been greatly affected by COVID-19, she says. Planning is almost impossible, and we are now forced to learn to adapt and react quickly to a constantly changing macro environment.

As 99K Limited outgrew its existing systems, it became clear that a PLM tool was necessary to ensure smooth, efficient product development and to enable all team members to be clear on their duties and responsibilities. Without PLM, we constantly came across miscommunication issues that led to poor products and service, says Lin.

Many of 99K Limiteds customers seek solutions to leave a smaller carbon footprint, and the company responds to this by lessening its environmental impact with sourcing organic and recycled cotton; moving a large ratio of its production to sustainable cotton mills; and sourcing recycled polyester and nylon. With the introduction of Centric SMB, the business will gain greater visibility across product ranges that will help it to track projects such as its Organic Cotton Range, and PLM will also aid the business to track material surplus and aim for zero waste.

As well as expecting to see its production rejection rate to drop to 0 and its design rate increase by 20-30%, the company predicts that it will save hours of staff time per week by replacing outdated communication and data storage methods.

We hope to smooth out a lot of obstacles along the way with Centric SMB. The managerial aspect of PLM will be of great help and we look forward to saving time on communication with suppliers and reducing errors in the production, explains Lin.

As a forward-thinking business, 99K Limited is constantly striving to find the newest systems and the best platforms to ensure the most efficient communication. The company was drawn to the sophistication of Centric SMB as a PLM platform covering every aspect it would need, as well as the impressive customer base of Centric Software.

We are delighted to be working with 99K Limited to support its exciting company growth, comments Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. We are thrilled to have teamed up with such a fast-growing and entrepreneurial business and look forward to partnering with them on their transformation journey.

Request a Demo

99K Limited

Based in Manchester, 99K Limited, also known as Momokrom - an Independent Online Denim Brand & Denim Wholesaler - is a business-to-business company that designs, sources, buys and manufactures products for retailers in the UK and US. As well as its main outsourced suppliers, it also has its own factory in China. Its main product lines are womenswear denim, but it also produces a range of woven dresses.

Momokrom is a popular online shopping store in the UK that offers a stylish and trendy collection of tops, denim and jeans.
AIS UV Light Disinfection Robot - called Orion - eliminates harmful viruses and bacteria to promote health & safety in shared spaces. AIS enabled the rapid development of viable disinfecting solutions and demonstrates the diverse manufacturing and technology capabilities that exist here in Canada.

Advanced Intelligent Systems (AIS), a leading custom robotics engineering firm that solves industry challenges with modular, autonomous robots, announced today it has successfully launched an ultraviolet light robot to destroy harmful bacteria and viruses in healthcare facilities and combat the spread of infectious diseases in public spaces. The development was made possible by a grant from Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen).

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, NGen rallied industry leaders from across the country to help build a domestic supply of critical equipment. Support for organizations like AIS enabled the rapid development of viable disinfecting solutions and demonstrates the diverse manufacturing and technology capabilities that exist here in Canada , says Jayson Myers, CEO, NGen.

NGens support was instrumental: indeed, the future of our countrys economy relies on our capacity to be a world leader in developing and commercializing scientific and technological innovations. We must be innovators, says Afshin Doust, CEO, AIS.

AIS received $975k in July 2020 from NGen, to develop the made-in-Canada mobile robot. The Grant represents 50 per cent of the total project cost which was $1.95M. The pandemic required AIS to work quickly, and using its modular approach to robotics, AIS was able to repurpose its agriculture-focused robot and software products to create Orion, an autonomous UV robot for hands-free cleaning and disinfection using ultraviolet light, in less than two months.

Orion eliminates harmful viruses and bacteria to reduce hospital acquired infections and healthcare associated infections in public spaces such as hotels, shopping malls and airports. The robot can map large-scale environments to navigate to interest points, and perform crucial disinfection tasks using ultraviolet light technology to reduce the spread of infectious diseases.

Orion is currently being piloted at an international hotel chain with locations in Vancouvers Lower Mainland. Soon to be deployed commercially, Orion will also help provide critical support to hospitals, senior care facilities and health care workers dealing with health, safety and resource issues during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are very excited to have been able to so quickly develop an alternative to manual cleaning. Our hands-free mobile robot destroys harmful bacteria and viruses, which is so critical now as there is great need for hands-free disinfection to ensure customer safety and confidence, and to manage operational budgets, said Doust.

One of AIS advantages which allows the company to deploy its UV disinfection robot in numerous industries - is its modular design. AIS has a variety of modules that are interoperable and exchangeable, and enable greater flexibility for robotics consumers. This is especially key now that there are a number of industries that require a hands-free robotic solution for disinfection of patient rooms and public spaces, and to attract patrons back into hotel common areas and rooms.

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ABOUT ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS:

Advanced Intelligence Systems Inc. (AIS) is a private engineering firm specializing in autonomous mobile robotics to solve real industry problems.

Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, AIS leads the Canadian market for creating customized and modular robotics solutions to automate business processes.

The AIS team has numerous intellectual properties and patents currently being applied to develop custom robotic solutions for various industries such as agriculture, health care, manufacturing, and warehousing.

AIS autonomous robots have the intelligence to perform repetitive or dangerous tasks with exceptional dexterity and precision.

Collectively, the AIS team has decades of experience in robotics engineering, management, and operations. https://www.ai-systems.ca

ABOUT NEXT GENERATION MANUFACTURING CANADA (NGen):

NGen is the industry-led not-for-profit organization that leads Canadas Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster.

Its mandate is to help build world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities in Canada for the benefit of Canadians.

NGen strengthens collaboration among its membership of more than 3,300 manufacturers, technology companies, innovation centres, and researchers. It provides funding and business support to industry-led initiatives to develop, and scale transformative manufacturing solutions in Canada for commercialization in global markets.

NGen also works to attract young Canadians into careers in advanced manufacturing. Learn more at http://www.careersofthefuture.ca
A Veterans Guide to Right Living: Saving Our Military Lives Through The Word: a potent exploration of addiction and recovery. A Veterans Guide to Right Living: Saving Our Military Lives Through The Word is the creation of published author, Airman Derek Seeney, a Navy veteran who experienced homelessness and addiction upon return from serving the United States.

Seeney shares, A Veterans Guide to Right Living: Saving Our Military Lives through The Word is a book about my journey, which started with the United States Navy and integrated into a life filled with drug addiction, posttraumatic stress disorder, and being homeless on the streets of Baltimore City, sleeping in abandoned buildings and panhandling for small change. During this time, my nephew, Private Clifford Williams, who recently joined the United States Army Infantry Division, was killed in front of his home while holding his newborn baby in his arms. During this time, Clifford was only on fifteen-day leave from the Afghanistan war on terrorism. If I had put my trust and faith in the Lord while serving my country, maybe I would not have gone through as much turmoil, self-doubt, and postmilitary syndrome upon exiting the navy. I also may have been able to witness to Clifford about Jesus Christ, which would have made a difference in the ending of his life. Only the Lord knows.

This book makes a great gift and must-have reading study guide to accompany anyone who has family members heading into the armed forces, already serving an enlistment in the military, or whos ready to give their heart and mind to the Lord! May all our family members and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ return home from service and may all those who havent accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into their life do so now with a clean and pure heart.

Many thanks to God, Baltimores Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center veterans mental health program, and the Wounded Warrior Project.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Airman Derek Seeneys new book is a thought-provoking narrative of the effects of addiction and the positive impact of developing a relationship with God.

The author writes with an open honesty about the trials that awaited at home after serving in the Navy. This narrative is offered in hopes of inspiring those who serve and those who love someone in the military.

View a synopsis of A Veterans Guide to Right Living: Saving Our Military Lives Through The Word on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase A Veterans Guide to Right Living: Saving Our Military Lives Through The Word at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about A Veterans Guide to Right Living: Saving Our Military Lives Through The Word, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
'Anchor' powerfully tells the story of a teenage sexual assault, fostering empathy with edge-of-your-seat action.

Anchor, a short film first debuted at Ringling College of Art & Design in 2020, has collected 25 award nominations ahead of its public release on June 25, 2021. Written and directed by Paige Irene Bruns and produced by Parker Alexander Meyers, Anchor tells the story of Haleigh (Sierra Green), a bright and independent college student focused more on her academics than making social connections. Her best friend Cam (Sergio Myers) is a soon to be national swimmer and highly regarded relay anchor with an eye on the Olympics. A confrontation at a post-swim meet celebration will ultimately determine if their relationship can survive conflicting priorities.

Filmed on location in Bradenton, Fla, the short film powerfully tells the story of a teenage sexual assault, fostering empathy with edge-of-your-seat action.

Awards and honorable mentions for Anchor include: Best Women Short, Best Student Short, Best Student Director (female) and Best Acting Ensemble at Independent Shorts Awards (January 2020); Best Student Short Film at Rocky Mountain International Film Festival (July 2020); Best Student Short Honorable Mention at Mabig Film Festival (August 2020); and Best Narrative Short at Mindfield Film Festival (August 2020).

Additionally, Anchor was recognized as a finalist in the U.S. Short Films at Los Angeles Theatrical Release Competition & Awards (April 2021); Best Student Film, Best Producer of a Student Film, Best Actress in Student Film and Best Original Score in Student Film at Student Los Angeles Film Awards (October 2020); Semi Finalist for Short Narrative Film at Dumbo Film Festival (April 2020); Best Women Short, Best Student Director and Best Actress at Indie Short Fest (April 2020); and Best Student Film Under 15 Mins at BLASTOFF (March 2020).

Anchor has been nominated for Best Student Short at Vegas Cinefest International Film Festival (May 2021); Best Student Film at Veritas Film Festival (December 2020); Best Student Short at International Art Film Festival (November 2020); Best Student Short at Motion Pictures International Film Festival (November 2020); Student Short Film at AFIN International Film Festival (November 2020); Best Student Film at Golden Gate International Film Festival (November 2020); Best Short at San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival (October 2020); Best Short Film at Cannes International Independent Film Festival (October 2020); Best Student Short at Orlando Film Festival (October 2020); Best Student Short at YoFiFest, The Yonkers Film Festival (September 2020); Breakthrough Short Film at Bute Street Film Festival (April 2020); Best Narrative Short at Sunset Grove Film Festival (April 2020); Best Student Film at Hot Springs International Womens Film Festival (March 2020); Best Student Short at Sandy Dennis Film Festival (March 2020); Best Short Film at Moody Crab Film Festival (February 2020); and Emerging American Director at American Screen Awards (January 2020).

Anchor will be released Friday, June 25, 2021 at 7:00 PM EST on the Paige Irene Bruns YouTube channel and on Vimeo. Following the release there will be an Instagram livestream with the actors about the film, at 7:30 PM EST on the @paigeirenebruns Instagram profile.

About Paige Irene Bruns & Affinity Insight Pictures

Paige Irene Bruns is an award winning screenwriter and director who draws on narrative storytelling to foster empathy and understanding. Paige has been recognized by over a dozen film festivals worldwide, earning nominations and wins in several categories including the Young Filmmaker Award, Best Director, Best Narrative Short, Best Woman Short and Best Short. Paige holds a BFA in Film from Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. Affinity Insight Pictures is an independent production company founded by Paige Irene Bruns in 2020. More about Anchor here: https://www.anchor.film/
Kinetic Vision helps to bring two historic Indy 500 racecars to this years event. This is a truly historic display of Andretti Indy cars. As an advanced technology partner of Andretti Autosport, we're thrilled to help sponsor the display of these incredible technical machines driven by two generations of Andrettis

Kinetic Vision is co-sponsoring two historic Andretti race cars at this year's upcoming Concours d'Elegance. Marco Andretti's race car is hot off the 2021 Indy 500 track and will appear alongside a historic Indy car driven by his father, Michael Andretti, in the 1991 Indy 500.

"This is a truly historic display of Andretti Indy cars. As an advanced technology partner of Andretti Autosport, we're thrilled to help sponsor the display of these incredible technical machines driven by two generations of Andrettis," said Jeremy Jarrett, Executive Vice President of Kinetic Vision.

The Andretti Autosport team is bringing Marco Andrettis Indy car to the Concours in the same battle condition the car was in after he finished the Indianapolis 500 two weeks ago. To help show the evolution of racing, the Concours team has arranged to have a private collector's 1991 Indy car driven by Michael Andretti on display next to Marcos car. Its fascinating to see the design and technology changes when you look at two Indy cars that are 30 years apart, said Jarrett.

"The team at Andretti Autosport not only crave innovation, they truly harness every new technology they can to give their race cars the edge," said Jarrett. "Helping the Andretti team with some of their technical challenges has been amazing and it is fantastic to be able to see two generations of these highly technical machines up close at the Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance," he added.

The two Andretti Indy cars help to highlight the theme of this years event: Excellence in Motorsports  Racing. The event will be held in Cincinnatis historic Ault Park on Sunday, June 13th. The collection of antique and historic automobiles and motorcycles makes the Cincinnati Concours dElegance among the finest motorsport exhibitions in the United States.

This is a one-of-a-kind chance to see the history of racing, and with the two Andretti Indy cars, this will be an event you wont want to miss, said Jarrett.

To learn more about the Cincinnati Concours dElegance and to purchase tickets, please see OhioConcours.com.

Kinetic Vision provides advanced technology to Andretti Autosport and is an official advanced technology sponsor. For more information about Kinetic Vision, please visit Kinetic Vision or click here Contact Us.


Truth and Faith: a thought-provoking argument for acceptance of faith. Truth and Faith is the creation of published author, Andrew W. P. Gage, a loving husband and passionate seeker of the truth in Gods word.

Gage shares, Truth and Faith is a book to dispute the worldview, the mentality that Christianity is just another story or fable that we tell our children. Some scientists like to ridicule faith as childhood fantasies or just a human fabrication to answer questions that science can answer better. Psychologists like for us to follow their interpretation of how to live instead of Gods way. Even political leaders like to use and abuse religion to gain their own goals. We see it every day coming out of Hollywood, as they try to convince us to think as they do.

Truth and Faith is a book set out to prove faith and truth are to be the same thing. It is not a human understanding or the human way of thinking, but a recognizing of the truth of the world around us, one created by God. If God created the universe, He created how it works. He creates the truth of how the world works.

People believe the universe is chaos, but imagine it is so far above our understanding that it appears chaotic to us, but to God, it is all one big plan. Now apply that truth to faith. After thirty-plus years of studying the Bible, I have discovered that Jesus was in Gods plan before the creation of the universe, before the earth came to be. Jesus literally is the image of God because He is God. Adams sin, Abrahams promise, Mosess law, and Jesuss death were all part of the plan from the beginning, played out for us a little at a time so we could understand, over the millennia, His plan from the beginning.

When Jesus died, He said, It is finished. The whole plan for redemption from the beginning of the world, the plan, was complete. Come explore these truths with me and judge for yourself.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Andrew W. P. Gages new book is a complex exploration of Gods plan as detailed within the Bible.

Following a thirty-year consideration of the bible, Gage was inspired to write the narrative presented regarding truth and faith, chaos and control, and science and religion. Readers will find themselves considering unique perspectives and, potentially, a renewed sense of faith.

View a synopsis of Truth and Faith on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Truth and Faith at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Truth and Faith, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for robust, remote data management, global collaboration and reproducible lab automation to accelerate therapeutic and diagnostic discovery.

Can everyone in your organization access and learn from experimental data? In this webinar, learn how cloud-native technology specifically designed for a life sciences R&D Data Cloud can unlock innovation and discovery by making your data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR).

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for robust, remote data management, global collaboration and reproducible lab automation to accelerate therapeutic and diagnostic discovery. We believe that unlocking and harmonizing experimental data facilitates more effective, safer and less expensive solutions to humanitys greatest challenges.

TetraScience Chief Scientific Officer Mike Tarselli will provide an overview of the technological and organizational challenges facing todays leading pharma and biotech companies as they seek to accelerate discovery through Industry 4.0 digital transformation and replatforming to the cloud. Some of these will include:



How can we break down technological, departmental and geographical silos?

How can my organization automatically retrieve experimental data from thousands of heterogeneous instruments and sources?

What is the best way to harmonize, structure and decorate our experimental data so that its clean, consistent and prepared for ELN, LIMS, data science, and AI/ML?

Which scientific scenarios and workflows can TetraScience enable today and in the near future?

Register for the live webinar on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 at 11am EDT (4pm BST/UK) to learn how the top 20 life sciences companies are using an R&D Data Cloud to address these challenges, accelerate innovation and unlock discovery.

For more information, or to register for this event, visit Bidirectional Data Flow: Unlock Discovery and Break Down Silos.

ABOUT XTALKS

Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global life science, food and medical device community. Every year, thousands of industry practitioners (from life science, food and medical device companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers.

To learn more about Xtalks visit http://xtalks.com

For information about hosting a webinar visit http://xtalks.com/why-host-a-webinar/
Jefferson Terminal EB-5 Project in Texas The opportunity to obtain USCIS pre-approval of the Jefferson Energy Terminal project provides a great deal of assurance and predictability to both our project and our investors, said Tom Rosenfeld, CanAms President and CEO.

CanAm is pleased to announce that its Jefferson Energy Terminal EB-5 project received Exemplar I-526 Petition approval from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on May 24, 2021.

Jefferson Terminal is an energy infrastructure expansion project sponsored by Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors. Strategically located at the Port of Beaumont, TX, the project will include expanded terminal and rail, inbound and outbound pipeline connections, and marine and storage facilities.

The opportunity to obtain USCIS pre-approval of the Jefferson Energy Terminal project provides a great deal of assurance and predictability to both our project and our investors, said Tom Rosenfeld, CanAms President and CEO.

CanAm knows how much uncertainty there is in the EB-5 Program, both for the projects that depend upon EB-5 financing and for the immigrant investors waiting to learn whether their investments will make them eligible for conditional permanent resident status. CanAm diligently prepares and submits Exemplar I-526 Petitions for its projects so that the businesses relying on EB-5 financing and the investors contributing such capital can receive assurance as soon as possible that USCIS has deemed credible and reasonable the underlying project business plan and job-creation methodology, and therefore is likely to defer to its favorable determinations when adjudicating the investors related individual I-526 petitions.

Walter S. Gindin, CanAms Director of Legal Affairs, adds, We strive to make sure that each submission to USCIS seeking pre-approval of a new project addresses any possible concerns that USCIS may have. We work closely with each project during our due diligence process to make certain that all the project-related information necessary to obtain approval of the Exemplar I-526 Petition Business Plan, Economic Impact Analysis, and supporting documentation is included in our Exemplar filings, to preempt any follow-up by USCIS in a Request for Evidence or Clarification. Our track record attests to that.

With the EB-5 Program reauthorization deadline approaching, being able to tell a prospective investor that a project has been pre-approved by USCIS is hugely meaningful, states Jeffrey DeCicco, the CEO of CanAm Investor Services, the FINRA-registered broker-dealer affiliated with CanAm. These investors are making an incredibly important decision for their families. Being able to tell them they only have to worry about documenting their source of funds because the project has been pre-approved takes an enormous amount of worry off the table.

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program (EB-5 Program) is administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The EB-5 Program provides qualified foreign investors with the opportunity to earn a conditional, or temporary, two-year green card in return for investing $900,000 in projects located in high unemployment areas that create at least ten permanent full-time jobs for U.S. workers.

# # #

About CanAm Enterprises

CanAm is an integrated, multinational investment management firm that specializes in immigration-linked investment funds and private equity. With over three decades of experience, CanAms strategic approach to utilizing investor capital and managing risk has raised over $3 billion in private placement funds. Headquartered in New York City with offices in China, Vietnam, India, and Singapore, CanAm is proud to serve a domestic and international community of investors.


Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/10/2021 -- Stay up-to-date and exploit latest trends of Employee Referral Software Market with latest edition released by AMA.



Employee referral is an internal recruitment method in which the current employee is encouraged and rewarded for introducing a suitable candidate to work in the organization, from among the people they know. Employee referral software is a program that allows the human resource management team to collect the recommendations from the current employees at the time of job openings. This software is very useful for large enterprises to keep the record of the complied data provided by the number of current employees. It also helps to provide them rewards at the time of confirmation of the referral employee. The demand for employee referral software is increasing owing to the advantage associated with software and growing awareness among various companies.



Key Players in This Report Include,

Workable (United Kingdom),Comeet (United States),Teamable (United States),Cornerstone Recruiting (United States),RolePoint (United States),EmployeeReferrals.com (United States),ERIN (United States),Talentry (Germany)



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Employee Referral Software Market Comprehensive Study is an expert and top to bottom investigation on the momentum condition of the worldwide Employee Referral Software industry with an attention on the Global market. The report gives key insights available status of the Employee Referral Software producers and is an important wellspring of direction and course for organizations and people keen on the business. By and large, the report gives an inside and out understanding of 2021-2026 worldwide Employee Referral Software Market covering extremely significant parameters.



Market Trends:

- Technological Advancement in software Industry



Market Drivers:

- High Demand Due To Growing Requirement for Managing the Widespread Workforce

- Reducing Turnover Rate and Improving Employee Retention



Market Opportunities:

- Rapid Growth of Employee Referral Software in the Emerging Countries



The Global Employee Referral Software Market segments and Market Data Break Down are illuminated below:

by Organization Size (Large Enterprises, SMEs, Others), Deployment type (Cloud Based, Web Based)



This research report represents a 360-degree overview of the competitive landscape of the Global Employee Referral Software Market. Furthermore, it offers massive data relating to recent trends, technological, advancements, tools, and methodologies. The research report analyzes the Global Employee Referral Software Market in a detailed and concise manner for better insights into the businesses.



Regions Covered in the Employee Referral Software Market:

- The Middle East and Africa (South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, Egypt, etc.)

- North America (United States, Mexico & Canada)

- South America (Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, etc.)

- Europe (Turkey, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)

- Asia-Pacific (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia).



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The research study has taken the help of graphical presentation techniques such as infographics, charts, tables, and pictures. It provides guidelines for both established players and new entrants in the Global Employee Referral Software Market.



The detailed elaboration of the Global Employee Referral Software Market has been provided by applying industry analysis techniques such as SWOT and Porter's five-technique. Collectively, this research report offers a reliable evaluation of the global market to present the overall framework of businesses.



Attractions of the Employee Referral Software Market Report:

- The report provides granular level information about the market size, regional market share, historic market (2015-2020) and forecast (2021-2026)

- The report covers in-detail insights about the competitor's overview, company share analysis, key market developments, and their key strategies

- The report outlines drivers, restraints, unmet needs, and trends that are currently affecting the market

- The report tracks recent innovations, key developments and start-up's details that are actively working in the market

- The report provides plethora of information about market entry strategies, regulatory framework and reimbursement scenario



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Key Points Covered in the Table of Content:

Chapter 1 to explain Introduction, market review, market risk and opportunities, market driving force, product scope of Employee Referral Software Market;

Chapter 2 to inspect the leading manufacturers (Cost Structure, Raw Material) with sales Analysis, revenue Analysis, and price Analysis of Employee Referral Software Market;

Chapter 3 to show the focused circumstance among the best producers, with deals, income, and Employee Referral Software market share 2020;

Chapter 4 to display the regional analysis of Global Employee Referral Software Market with revenue and sales of an industry, from 2020 to 2022;

Chapter 5, 6, 7 to analyze the key countries (United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea & Taiwan), with sales, revenue and market share in key regions;

Chapter 8 and 9 to exhibit International and Regional Marketing Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis, Trade Type Analysis;

Chapter 10 and 11 to analyze the market by product type and application/end users (industry sales, share, and growth rate) from 2020 to 2026

Chapter 12 to show Employee Referral Software Market forecast by regions, forecast by type and forecast by application with revenue and sales, from 2020 to 2025;

Chapter 13, 14 & 15 to specify Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source of Employee Referral Software market buyers, merchants, dealers, sales channel.



Browse for Full Report at @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/118603-global-employee-referral-software-market



Employee Referral Software Market research provides answers to the following key questions:

? What is the expected growth rate of the Employee Referral Software Market?

? What will be the Employee Referral Software Market size for the forecast period, 2021  2026?

? What are the main driving forces responsible for changing the Employee Referral Software Market trajectory?

? Who are the big suppliers that dominate the Employee Referral Software Market across different regions? Which are their wins to stay ahead in the competition?

? What are the Employee Referral Software Market trends business owners can rely upon in the coming years?

? What are the threats and challenges expected to restrict the progress of the Employee Referral Software Market across different countries?



Contact US:

Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)

AMA Research & Media LLP

Unit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJ

New Jersey USA  08837

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sales@advancemarketanalytics.com
CenterLight Participant Receives the Covid-19 Vaccine We love our participants and miss having them at our sites. We serve vulnerable, medically-complex New Yorkers, so ensuring that they are vaccinated is an important first step towards safely re-opening our centers.

CenterLight Health System, which operates Teamcare, New Yorks largest Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), held a series of COVID-19 vaccination clinics for its participants across the New York metropolitan area.

The events provided approximately 200 CenterLight participants with COVID-19 vaccinations in a celebratory atmosphere, which included music, as well as a take home gift of fresh fruit, courtesy of The Friends of CenterLight Foundation.

The series kicked off on March 29 at its Grand Street Center in Manhattan and continued on April 23, at its Allerton Center in the Bronx. CenterLights Brooklyn-based participants were served at a clinic that took place at the organizations Rockaway Parkway site on May 26.

CenterLights Pandemic Response

In March 2020, when COVID-19 first struck New York, CenterLight was forced to close its centers to all activities except medical care. Since then, the company, which operates one of the oldest PACE programs in nation, has pivoted its programming in a myriad of ways to help engage participants who continue to remain in isolation. This includes the establishment of a food pantry to support participants who have become food insecure as a result of the pandemic, as well as the launch of virtual recreational and educational programming on Facebook Live. Free, and open to the public, this programming is available at http://www.facebook.com/centerlighthealthsystem.

We love our participants and miss having them at our sites, says Tara Buonocore-Rut, President and Chief Executive Officer of CenterLight Health System. We serve vulnerable, medically-complex New Yorkers, so ensuring that they are vaccinated is an important first step towards safely re-opening our centers. There, they can more fully enjoy the benefits of PACE, including nutritious, on-site meals, clinical oversight, recreational activities, creative expression, social connection and friendship.

Getting the vaccine is safe, effective and the best defense against the virus and we urge all of our participants to receive it, continues Buonocore-Rut. Nevertheless, she adds, CenterLight will continue to follow strict screening, testing, mask-wearing, social distancing and quarantining when necessary for all our staff and participants, in accordance with the latest CDC guidelines.

You feel free, says CenterLight Teamcare participant Nilda Lugo, who lives in the Bronx and encourages her friends to receive the vaccine. As soon as you put your mask on and you know you got vaccinated, youre free. I go shopping and I know I am protected. Im not going to be worried because I took care of myself and everyone else thats around me.

About CenterLights Interdisciplinary Care Model

Each day, CenterLight delivers highly-personalized, culturally-sensitive care to thousands of dual eligible (Medicare and/or Medicaid) New Yorkers who need community-based, long-term care services and supports in the home and/or a PACE/ ADHA or an Alternative Care Site (ACS). This care is provided via the combined talents and expertise of its Interdisciplinary Team (IDT), which includes, but is not limited to a doctor, nurse, physical therapist, nutritionist, recreational therapist and other professionals, as needed.

A Commitment to COVID-19 Education & Support

Since the start of the pandemic, CenterLight has been committed to helping participants understand and remain safe through an unprecedented public health threat. To that end, the organization drew on internal expertise to create a colorful, easy-to-understand education pamphlet to help keep participants informed and dispel common misconceptions surrounding the Coronavirus. This piece was translated into multiple languages and was included in a care package to participants.

CenterLight additionally encourages vaccinations via continued COVID-19 education for its participants, caregivers, staff and home health aides.

About PACE

PACE is an integrated plan that covers Medicare, Medicaid, prescription OTC drugs and community-based long-term care services and supports in the home and/or at a PACE site  all with one ID card, along with a robust OTC benefit. PACE was established as a care model in the early 1970s, to address the long-term care needs of immigrant communities in the San Francisco area. Today, PACE operates in 31 states and has been shown to help decrease avoidable hospitalizations, comorbidities and emergency room visits, as well as increase longevity. CenterLight Teamcare is New Yorks largest PACE plan.

About Friends of CenterLight

The Friends of CenterLight Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to improving the lives of CenterLight participants by helping them to maintain their health, well-being and autonomy in environments that honor their individual needs, values and preferences. Learn more at http://www.centerlight.org/foundation.

About CenterLight Teamcare

CenterLight Teamcare, a program of CenterLight Healthcare, operates 14 locations throughout New York City, Westchester and Nassau/Suffolk Counties and empowers older adults to continue to live independently, at home and in their communities. Providing culturally sensitive care to thousands of New Yorkers daily, CenterLight staff speaks 26+ languages and dialects, including Arabic, Albanian, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese), Creole, English, Korean, South Asian (Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali), Russian, Spanish, and more. CenterLight Teamcare develops individualized care plans, which are carried out by a dedicated interdisciplinary team (IDT) of doctors, nurses, physical therapists, nutritionists, recreational therapists and other professionals working in concert to provide care as unique as the richly diverse participants enrolled in the plan. Learn more at http://www.centerlighthealthcare.org.
Hillary Ashton joins the CentralSquare Board of Directors. She is a customer-focused innovation leader who understands how to build and deliver world-class user experiences.

CentralSquare, a leader in public sector technology, today announced that Hillary Ashton, Chief Product Officer for Teradata, the connected multi-cloud data platform for enterprise analytics, has joined the companys Board of Directors.

Ashton is responsible for defining the strategic direction for Teradatas cloud-first portfolio and leading its diverse Products organization overseeing innovation, product management, engineering and quality. Prior to her current role, Ashton served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of PTCs Augmented Reality (AR) business unit. Previous roles include serving as SVP of Analytics SaaS solutions at Manthan and as Director, Customer Intelligence at SAS. In each of these roles, Ashton has contributed to expanding market share and increasing revenue.

Hillary brings impressive product leadership and cloud expertise to CentralSquare, commented David Zolet, CEO of CentralSquare. She is a customer-focused innovation leader who understands how to build and deliver world-class user experiences. Her depth of experience will be valuable to CentralSquare as we realize our mission to build safer, smarter, connected communities.

Co-Chairs of the CentralSquare Board of Directors, Ian Loring and Betty Hung, added, we are delighted to welcome Hillary to the CentralSquare Board as our newest Independent Director. Her SaaS product and development experience bring a valuable perspective to CentralSquares growth strategy.

Public service agencies are facing rising citizen expectations for service delivery, service equity and community engagement, said Ashton. With its expansive customer footprint and deep customer relationships, CentralSquare is uniquely positioned to deliver transformative technology experiences for public sector agencies -and their communities.

Ashton received her BA in Government from Franklin & Marshall College and has been named to the National Diversity Councils annual list of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology. She is CentralSquares second independent director, joining Commissioner William Evans, Former Commissioner of Boston Police, on the CentralSquare Board of Directors.

About CentralSquare

Formed by the merger of Superion, TriTech, Zuercher, and the public sector and healthcare business of Aptean, CentralSquare is an industry leader in public safety and public administration software, serving over 8,000 organizations from the largest metropolitan city to counties and towns of every size across North America. Its technology platform provides solutions for public safety, including 911, computer-aided dispatch, records management, mobile, citations, evidence management and corrections. For public administration agencies, CentralSquare provides software for finance, payroll, citizen engagement, asset management, regulatory compliance and community development. CentralSquares broad, unified and agile software suite serves 3 in 4 citizens across North America. More information is available at CentralSquare.com.
Its always great to get recognized by Bob Scott. Our team has endured a lot of stress to provide value for our clients this past year, and placement on this list is just one testament to their incredible hard work and sacrifice. -Tim Thompson, CEO

Crestwood Associates has again been named as one of Bob Scotts Top 100 VARs for 2021, for the ninth year in a row. The Top 100 resellers are chosen from organizations that sell and implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and accounting software.

Nine consecutive years is a triumph! says Tim Thompson, CEO of Crestwood Associates. Its always great to get recognized by Bob Scott. Our team has endured a lot of stress to provide value for our clients this past year, and placement on this list is just one testament to their incredible hard work and sacrifice.

The selection is based on annual revenue generated by each reseller. A special report is published each year that includes names of the organizations selected for this years Top 100 list, ranked by revenue.

About Crestwood Associates, LLC

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, Crestwood Associates is an award-winning partner, passionately focused on the success of small- to midsized businesses through implementing the best ERP and CRM technologies along with supporting services such as cloud hosting, business intelligence, and office products.

Drawing on our twenty-plus years of experience in the ERP and CRM sector, Crestwood understands fully that identifying the right technology  although essential  does not ensure success. Flawless implementation is crucial as well. It is our unmatched dedication to achieving 100% success for our clients that truly sets Crestwood apart from the competition. Our team of certified experts strive to do this through various methods of deployments to match every business style.

About Bob Scott

Bob Scott has been informing and entertaining the mid-market financial software community via his email newsletters for 22 years. He has published this information via the Bob Scotts Insights newsletternow known as ERP Global Insightsand website since 2009.

He has covered this market for nearly 30 years through print and electronic publications, first as technology editor of Accounting Today and then as the Editor of Accounting Technology from 1997 through 2009. He has covered the traditional tax and accounting profession during the same time and has continued to address that market.
The award-winning series, Advancements with Ted Danson, will focus on improvements in finger prostheses devices, in an upcoming episode scheduled to broadcast 3Q/2021.

With a look at Naked Prosthetics, Advancements will explore how innovations in prosthetics technology are helping amputees get back to work and back to doing what they love. Created specifically for partial hand amputation, spectators will see how Naked Prosthetics durable, custom, functional finger prostheses are designed to replace the partial or total loss of the finger.

Audiences will learn how Naked Prosthetics works with clinics, independent prosthetists, physicians, and surgeons to provide prostheses that are simple, elegant, and fully functional for everyday use.

In addition, the show will discover how the American-made devices are individually created to mimic the natural motion of the finger, utilizing the remainder of an amputees digit to power each device.

Although fingers are the primary site for amputation, technology has struggled to provide relevant solutions until now. Naked Prosthetics uses traditional machining, injection molding, and 3D printing to make robust, functional prostheses. We are excited to showcase our technology in the hopes of reaching professionals serving this market and those with partial hand and full finger amputations, looking for a solution, said Bob Thompson, CEO.

Hearing from experts in the field, viewers will learn how Naked Prosthetics is supporting and impacting the lives of people with finger amputation.

These functional, high-quality finger devices aim to restore the users ability to perform daily tasks, supporting job retention and encouraging an active lifestyle, said Richard Lubin, senior producer for Advancements. We look forward to exploring this on the show.

About Naked Prosthetics:

Visionaries of elegant, robust, functional devices for partial hand and full finger amputees  Naked Prosthetics designs and manufactures products to get people back to work, performing most activates of daily living, and back to doing the things that they love.

For more information, visit: http://www.npdevices.com.

About Advancements and DMG Productions:

The Advancements series is an information-based educational show targeting recent advances across a number of industries and economies. Featuring state-of-the-art solutions and important issues facing todays consumers and business professionals, Advancements focuses on cutting-edge developments, and brings this information to the public with the vision to enlighten about how technology and innovation continue to transform our world.

Backed by experts in various fields, DMG Productions is dedicated to education and advancement, and to consistently producing commercial-free, educational programming on which both viewers and networks depend.

For more information, please visit http://www.AdvancementsTV.com or call Richard Lubin at 866-496-4065.
Hope House exhibit We invite Columbus coffee lovers to join us in creating a more sustainable future for coffee and the workers who produce it. - Greg Ubert

With your next cup of Crimson coffee, you can help give Honduran coffee workers new homes, clean drinking water, better education and stronger communities.

Just visit Crimson coffeehouse at 4066 Worth Avenue in Easton Town Centers newest district. Through June 30, the coffeehouse will donate $1 of your purchase toward community improvements in Siquatepeque, Honduras.

Every delicious drop of coffee starts with coffee workers, who hand-pick ripe coffee cherries from coffee trees for $1 per hour or less, said Brandon Bir, director of sustainability for Columbus coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea.

We created Crimson to showcase the hard work of coffee farmers and their workers, he added. By helping small-plot farmers and their communities thrive, we can help ensure a sustainable coffee harvest for years to come.

To show how donations support coffee workers, Crimson has set up a Hope House exhibit outside the coffeehouse. There, you can view a time-lapsed video of a homebuilding process, examine a water filtration bucket and learn about the companys partnership with ServeHope International.

100 percent of the funds we raise go directly to helping coffee workers, their families and their communities, Bir said.

Through its Friend2Farmer initiatives, Crimson Cup has been working with small-plot coffee farmers in Siguatepeque, Honduras since 2011.

During frequent visits to work with farmers, weve seen that lack of safe housing, access to clean drinking water and education are serious issues  especially for families with children, said Coffee Buyer Dave Eldridge. Working with community leaders and ServeHope, we chose these three priorities for investment.

He noted that the it costs only about $25 to purchase and transport a filter bucket to Honduras, where ServeHope distributes the buckets and trains workers to use them.

ServeHope and Crimson Cup have built tiny homes for several workers using about $3,000 in building supplies and donated labor. In 2018, Crimson Cup led a group of college students and independent coffee house owners to build a home for the Lorenzo family.

Its all part of our focus on good, said Crimson Cup Founder and President Greg Ubert. We invite Columbus coffee lovers to join us in creating a more sustainable future for coffee and the workers who produce it.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is celebrating 30 years of Coffee + Community. Since May 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced craft coffee for consumers and wholesale coffee customers. It is a 2020 Good Food Award winner, 2019 Golden Bear Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee franchise alternative, the company teaches entrepreneurs to run independent coffee houses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into how much it costs to open a coffee shop.

Crimson Cup also supports life-enriching projects through its Friend2Farmer initiatives, promoting the education, health, sustainability and economic growth of small-plot coffee farmers and their communities.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also operates several Crimson Cup Coffee Houses and a new Crimson retail flagship store. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com, or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.
Arizona Grand Resort Entrepreneurs registering now are receiving the limited-time early bird pricing offer.

The 2021 RAL NAT CON Early Bird Registration is Underway

RAL NAT CON  The annual Residential Assisted Living National Convention and Inner Circle meeting will be taking place live and in-person.

The 2021 event theme is The Year of Innovation.

Last October, the online experience was a success during the pandemic, but attendees are filling seats fast for the annual gathering.

About 800 industry movers and shakers are coming together to grow the assisted living industry.

Homeowners and industry leaders have already started registering to assemble in Phoenix, Arizona, for RAL NAT CON.

Three keynote speakers will bring priceless knowledge for building successful toolboxes for every entrepreneur:



Teepa Snow, Alzheimers & Dementia Expert, Founder of Positive Approach to Care (PAC)

Gary Chapman, New York Times Bestseller Author, Pastor, Speaker, and Counselor of The Five Love Languages

Brent Kesler, Founder of the Money Multiplier Method

Participants will network during cocktail receptions, connect with industry vendors, and enjoy a banquet awards dinner at the Arizona Grand Resort.

There will also be many expert guests presenting dynamic teaching sessions throughout the convention agenda.

Entrepreneurs registering now are receiving the limited-time early bird pricing offer.

REGISTER TODAY WHILE SPACE IS AVAILABLE

Residential Assisted Living National Convention

http://www.RALNATCON.com

Inner-Circle Members Only

September 30, 2021

Convention Expert Sessions

October 1st - 2nd, 2021
Elevate K-12, the instruction technology company that brings high-quality live streaming into K-12 classrooms, is partnering with school districts to offer virtual academies for grades 6 to 12 across all states in all core and elective subject areas.

Launching later this summer, this state-of-the-art live teaching option provides a new way to teach students who have shifted to homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even though the FDA has approved the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 to 17, many families with kids below the age of 12 are opting not to return to school,said Elevate K-12 CEO Shaily Baranwal. In light of this, we are working to support school districts in a different way by helping them elevate their homeschooling options with Elevate K-12s live virtual classes.

Launched in 2015, Elevate K-12 has provided a solution to the lack of high-quality, certified educators that plagues many low-income school districts across the country.

Now, as schools prepare to reopen in August, Elevate K-12 is providing a solution to a problem that COVID brought to the forefront by becoming a homeschool provider with district partnerships.

According to a new report released by the National Education Policy Center, the pandemic has exacerbated a trend thats been rising since 2013: For-profit virtual schools are expanding rapidly, but theres been little effort at the state level to address and assess the quality of those schools. Moreover, as U.S. school districts found themselves ill-equipped to offer their own online learning models, many lost crucial funding as their enrollment levels saw a steep decline during the pandemic.

Now, federal funding recently granted to schools struggling to fill the education gaps created during COVID is beginning to change things. As a result, Baranwal says that many schools that had been using Elevate as a solution to the teacher shortage crisis are now reaching out for additional support in an effort to meet the growing demand for remote learning options.

We recently became the home school provider for middle schools in Shreveport, Louisiana, she said. They had been using an asynchronous provider, which only allows students to watch pre-taped classes before attempting to teach themselves the material. Elevate K-12 classes are live streamed and taught in real time everyday and every minute of the class, which makes an incredible difference in learning outcomes and experience. Students are able to interact with the teachers, ask questions and receive personalized guidance, which is vitally important to learning.

Elevate K-12 is also more cost effective than asynchronous learning options, which is yet another reason why schools are turning to the instruction technology company.

According to the U.S. Census Bureaus latest Household Pulse Survey, homeschooling more than doubled during the pandemic. The way we educate students is changing, and that change has been accelerated by the pandemic, Baranwal said. Homeschooling is not going away, and public schools will need to pivot in order to meet the needs of their students and families. We are dedicated to offering learning support to students in all forms, and our Virtual Academy is only one of the many ways Elevate K-12 is continuing to innovate in order to meet todays educational demands.

For more information about Elevate K-12 and its Virtual Academies, visit https://www.elevatek12.com.

About Elevate K-12

Elevate K-12 is a Chicago-based instruction-technology company that brings high-quality live streaming instruction into K-12 classrooms. Schools and districts partner with Elevate K-12s unique instructional solution to solve their teacher shortage challenges, overuse of long-term substitutes or low-quality teachers. Its tech-enabled service comprises Proprietary Live Instructional Management Technology, Live Instruction Service, Curriculum and Classroom Management to provide the necessary tools for collaborative teaching and learning that emulates the experience of a real, physical classroom. Elevate K-12 currently operates in 15 states and is rapidly expanding to new states across the U.S. in K-12 schools. For more information, visit http://www.elevatek12.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Being an AML and Cryptocurrency investigator has made me realize the role the financial industry holds within our National Security framework.

The Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists (ACFCS), a CeriFi Company, today announced that financial crime industry expert, Erin OLoughlin, recently joined ACFCS as Senior Director of Training, reporting to Brian Kindle, Vice President of Product at ACFCS.

OLoughlin comes to ACFCS with deep-rooted experience gained working inside the financial crimes/compliance industry in a variety of roles, including AML investigations for Bank of America, scouring dark web markets to identify proactive risk on the TOR network for Western Union, and supervising crypto fraud and money laundering investigations for Coinbase.

Prior to entering the private sector, OLoughlin served as an operations officer in the Central Intelligence Agency for ten years. She was posted in both overseas and domestic positions, specializing in Counter Terrorism, conflict resolution, mediation, and due diligence.

The events of 9/11 shaped so many of our lives here in the U.S. and around the globe. For me, it became personal, said OLoughlin. I became passionate about learning our countrys threats, our enemys motivations, and how to thwart nefarious plots in multiple ways. Now that I am in the private sector, that passion hasnt waned. Being an AML and Cryptocurrency investigator has made me realize the role the financial industry holds within our National Security framework. I am honored to be a part of ACFCS and its mission to educate this industry and contribute to the safety of our citizens.

Joseph Yerant, ACFCS President said, "We are very fortunate to welcome Erin to the growing ACFCS team. Her experience in both the private and public sectors will further the mission of ACFCS to be the best-in-class association serving the needs of the financial crime fighting community. I am confident that with her talent, ACFCS will continue its path of building world-class solutions to combat the evolving challenges presented by financial criminals and expand our ability to deliver valued education around the world.

As a key member of the ACFCS team, OLoughlin will be responsible for moderating and programming webinars and events, product development, hosting thought leadership sessions and workshops, as well as sharing her insights through articles and whitepapers.

For additional information, visit acfcs.org.

ABOUT ACFCS

ACFCS, a CeriFi company, founded in 2013, is a leader in broad-based financial crime prevention training and exam prep. ACFCS provides online, and live training guided by top worldwide experts on the latest industry developments in preparation for the CFCS certification exams. The CFCS certification affirms the competence of public and private-sector financial crime specialists who work in such areas as fraud, money laundering, corruption, and global asset recovery.

If you would like to learn more about the CFCS certification, email marketing@cerifi.com.
Willamette Connections Academy celebrates the Class of 2021 It is so rewarding to watch these graduates persevere and grow in a year full of challenges. They have demonstrated so much resilience and self-motivation. We wish the graduates in the Willamette Connections Academy Class of 2021 the very best as they go forth and make a difference in the world.

Willamette Connections Academy, a statewide tuition-free online public charter school, is holding a drive-through commencement ceremony for an estimated 45 graduates, as well as family and school staff, on Saturday, June 12th in Scio.

Many students transitioned to Willamette Connections Academy because they were seeking an established online learning program to support their needs over the past year, said Willamette Connections Academy Principal Chris Long. These graduates benefited from a complete education experience with opportunities to develop critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration abilities, so theyre prepared to succeed now and as they progress through college, career and life.

Approximately 30 percent of the Willamette Connections Academy Class of 2021 are graduating early. In addition, 40 percent are expected to receive an honors cord to wear at graduation for achieving the schools highest GPAs.

John Schenk Jr. from Dundee is an honor cord recipient. Hes excited to be attending George Fox University in the fall and decided to change his major from electrical engineering to computer science after taking an AP computer science class at Willamette Connections Academy this year.

I feel more prepared for what the future holds, said Schenk. I now have a clearer view on what exactly I want to do as a career, all because Willamette Connections Academy gave me the experiences I needed.

Over half (54 percent) of the graduates plan to attend two-or-four-year colleges or universities. Another 17 percent are planning to enroll in a trade school. Additional graduates have plans to join the military, enter the workforce, take a gap year or pursue other opportunities.

It is so rewarding to watch these graduates persevere and grow in a year full of challenges, said Victoria Neer, 12th grade advisor for Willamette Connections Academy. They have demonstrated so much resilience and self-motivation. We wish the graduates in the Willamette Connections Academy Class of 2021 the very best as they go forth and make a difference in the world.

Nine of the 45 graduates are interested in careers related to the healthcare field, some as a result of the pandemic. Emily Diermier from Lebanon had planned to explore the medical field before the COVID-19 outbreak and became even more committed after her mother was diagnosed with cancer.

I find the development of vaccines, like the ones for COVID-19, a very noble and exciting possible future for me, explained Diermier. I see cancer research and development the same way. Mostly, I just find cellular biology and genetics really cool and the fact I could do some serious good with that encourages me. Diermier is working on an Associates Degree at Linn Benton Community College and hopes to transfer to Oregon State University for a four-year degree in Biology.

Willamette Connections Academy serves students in grades K-12 from across Oregon who have a variety of needs and educational backgrounds, providing each student with individual learning plans tailored to their unique abilities. Teachers specially trained in the online environment help motivate and engage students and encourage them to take ownership of their own unique education journey.

The pandemic has impacted so many things around us, but fortunately our students were able to continue their education uninterrupted in a safe, welcoming learning environment, added Long. Our focus throughout this last school year was providing students stability in their education and supporting their social and emotional wellbeing to help them gain the skills and confidence they need to thrive in a changing world.

Willamette Connections Academy is currently enrolling students for the 2021-2022 school year. Free informational webinars are available for prospective families and students who want to learn more about the engaging online education program. For a complete schedule and to sign up for one of the webinars please go to WillametteConnectionsAcademy.com/events.

To learn more about the school call 888-478-9474 or visit the schools website http://www.WillametteConnectionsAcademy.com.

About Willamette Connections Academy

Willamette Connections Academy (WillCA) is a unique, tuition-free, online public school for K-12 students across Oregon. Authorized by the Scio School District but overseen by its own governing board and school leadership, Willamette Connections Academy offers 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 888-478-9474 or visit http://www.WillametteConnectionsAcademy.com.
My hope to everyone that is going through any form of abuse [is] to reach out to the authorities, a neighbor, friend or your local church. Find creative ways to bring love and goodwill into your community.

Author Sherry B shares how God worked through her painful beginning to bring hope to her and, through her, to others in I AM Journey ($18.99, paperback, 9781662817205; $8.99, e-book, 9781662817212).

Cheyennes father tried to protect her from strife, but to no avail. Her mother, Angela, abducted Cheyenne from her fathers home and took her along her own path of destruction. One day, an angel spoke to Cheyenne and told her help was on the way. In this book, Sherry B shares how God worked through both natural and supernatural beings to save Cheyenne and bring her into the light.

My hope to everyone that is going through any form of abuse [is] to reach out to the authorities, a neighbor, friend or your local church. Find creative ways to bring love and goodwill into your community, said B.

Sherry B is a humanitarian and volunteer who founded Silent Rescue, a non-profit that helps transform individuals from helplessness to hope. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Phoenix and has received recognition for her work with the Volunteer Houston Community.

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Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 15,000 titles published to date. I AM Journey is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.
Phoenix, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/10/2021 -- Born in South Korea to parents uncharacteristically NOT urging "just fit in," Dr. Kim reveals his early years in Americafeelings as an outsider, often stared at, and struggles with what being Korean means. His Father, tough and unashamed of his roots, guided his son to complete medical school before other studies, so he'd "have a skill that no one can take away from you."



Unlike Asian stereotypes, Dr. Kim divulges his nature as a fighter and shares fondly his exhilarating, formative time at Brown University's "Third World Center" and feeling closest to his fellow people of color. You may be surprised: studying anthropology was largely a way to resolve his identity crisis, and rather than "service," fighting for justice is his raison d'etre, compelling his fearlessness to "speak truth to justice" on uncomfortable topics to the world's most powerful political leaders and respected experts.



Hear him talk of his difficulty with tough conversations, his "no cry zone" at Partners in Health, "fighting for things worth fighting for," and many insights from his roles around the world, including:



"Global action is extremely difficultthe personalities matter a lot."



"Optimism is a moral choice."



Dr. Kim talks of his regrets, worries he has for the world and why he remains optimistic. He sees Asians waking up to "things not being fine" as a good thing.



"People knowing how it feels to be Asian can create greater awareness for ALL underrepresented groups and a powerful sense of solidarity. With the awakening of BLM and The Asian American Foundationthere's a sense it is possible to be respectful of all people and their choices."



Tune in to Episode #83 here: https://bit.ly/3znfVyq https://www.voiceamerica.com/show/3923/say-it-skillfully



About VoiceAmerica

VoiceAmerica is the original digital broadcast company for the production and delivery of Live Internet Talk Radio programming and continues to be the industry leader in digital media, marketing, and distribution. We are the pioneers of digital radio programming and have been since 1999. We create and distribute over 500 unique and innovative radio programs for our millions of engaged listeners worldwide over five niche community based channels: the flagship VoiceAmerica Variety Channel, VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel, VoiceAmerica Health & Wellness Channel, VoiceAmerica Business Channel, and VoiceAmerica Influencers Channel. VoiceAmerica TV offers targeted and exclusive video programming channels. Our network channels distribute live programs daily that reach a growing domestic and international audience who connect through all devices via our mobile, desktop, and tablet VoiceAmerica destinations.



Learn more at http://www.voiceamerica.com . Download the VoiceAmerica App now to listen live on Apple and Android. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.



For more information about the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network, or our parent company, World Talk Radio, LLC, call 855-877-4666.
Greenberg Traurig Represents Buff City Soap and its Management Team in Recent Growth Investment We are thrilled to accept General Atlantics investment in Buff City Soap to support the ongoing exponential growth of the company, said Mike Sutton, managing partner of Guideboat Capital and Wayne Moore, managing partner of Crux Capital, in a joint statement.

Attorneys from global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP represented Dallas-based Buff City Soap and its management team led by Crux Capital and Guideboat Capital Partners in a recent investment by General Atlantic in Buff City Soap.

We are thrilled to accept General Atlantics investment in Buff City Soap to support the ongoing exponential growth of the company, said Mike Sutton, managing partner of Guideboat Capital and Wayne Moore, managing partner of Crux Capital, in a joint statement.

The transaction was led by Greenberg Traurig Corporate Practice shareholder Thomas Woolsey, who is based in the firms Dallas office. Woolsey has represented the Buff City Soap management team led by Crux Capital and Guideboat Capital Partners since the acquisition of the company in late 2019.

We are delighted to support Buff City Soap and its management in this transaction, Woolsey said. This matter illustrates the growing momentum of the private equity sector in Dallas and represents a great outcome for all of the parties involved.

Buff City Soap creates plant-based products handcrafted daily in each of its 100+ Soap Makeries. According to its website, the company has experienced rapid growth.

The Greenberg Traurig team also included Dallas office Tax Practice Shareholder Labry Welty, Corporate Associates Richard D. Dusenbury and John-Paul G. Haskins, and Tax Associate Josh Prywes.

Read the press release issued by Buff City Soap.

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 Traurig, LLP  Texas: Texas is important to Greenberg Traurig, LLP and part of its history. With approximately 130 Texas lawyers in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Greenberg Traurig has deep roots in the Texas business, legal, and governmental communities. Greenberg Traurig Texas works with clients to address their interdisciplinary legal needs across the state utilizing the firms global platform. The Texas attorneys are experienced in industries key to the states future, including: aviation, chemicals, construction, education, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, health care, hedge funds, hospitality, infrastructure, insurance, media, medical devices, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, real estate, retail, sports, technology and software, telecommunications, transportation, and video games and esports.

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
We are incredibly thankful for all of our clients and partners who have been with us over the years. With their support of a local company like GTM Payroll Services, we are able return that commitment to the community with job creation and investment in the regions economy.

In recognition of 30 years in business and serving the Capital Region, GTM Payroll Services will be contributing $30,000 to community organizations.

The groups receiving donation are non-profit clients of the firm that collectively provide a variety of social services for families, children, seniors, and many others in need.

Much like GTM, these organizations have long histories of serving their communities, said GTM Payroll Services Founder and CEO Guy Maddalone. They are indispensable resources for the Capital Region and were proud to support their payroll and human resources needs as well as their visions and missions.

These contributions to local groups are just the latest way GTM has given back to the community since the companys founding in 1991 with household payroll and tax management for families that hired household help.

That year Maddalone started his payroll business with a few hundred dollars and a small office in Colonie serving high-net-worth clients in the tri-state area.

GTM was one of the first firms in the country to provide nanny tax services, which became increasingly in demand after several high-profile nominees to federal government positions withdrew due to non-compliance with household employment tax laws.

Just 10 years after its founding, GTM moved its headquarters to a new 10,000-square-foot facility in Clifton Park and started a business payroll service that continues to serve the human capital management (HCM) needs of Capital Region companies of all types and sizes.

With both business and household payroll service offerings, GTM landed on the INC 5000 list of the fastest-growing, U.S. private companies in 2005.

Also that year, GTM made The Business Reviews Best Places to Work. A few years later the firm added the Times Unions Top Workplaces to its accolades.

With its fun and engaging work environment, employee recognition programs, involvement in the community, and a commitment to client service, GTM continued to be acknowledged by both publications as a top employer in the Capital Region. GTM has been identified as an exceptional workplace a combined 24 times by The Business Review and the Times Union including recognition by at least one of these awards for each of the past 17 years.

In 2015, GTM added an office location in Glens Falls to strengthen its footprint and service capabilities in the Adirondacks region.

GTM began a partnership with isolved to deliver state-of-art HCM solutions to meet the demands of its growing client base and, in 2019, expanded into a new 12,500-square-foot building on its office campus in Clifton Park to meet the needs of its growing workforce.

We are incredibly thankful for all of our clients and partners who have been with us over the years, Maddalone said. With their support of a local company like GTM Payroll Services, we are able return that commitment to the community with job creation and investment in the regions economy.

Today, GTM processes more than $1 billion in payroll every year for more than 44,000 employees. GTMs staff of more than 70 employees includes certified payroll professionals, licensed insurance brokers, PHR-certified human resource managers, employment tax experts, and CPAs.

While 2021 marks a major milestone for the company, GTM Payroll Services and its employees get involved in the community every year by volunteering their time, participating in fundraising events, making donations, and contributing goods to local organizations.

About GTM Payroll Services

Founded in 1991, GTM Payroll Services is a recognized leader in payroll, tax, insurance, and compliance services for families that employ household help and human capital management solutions for businesses across all sectors and sizes. Today, GTM processes more than $1 billion in payroll every year for more than 44,000 employees. GTMs staff of more than 70 employees includes certified payroll professionals, licensed insurance brokers, PHR-certified human resource managers, employment tax experts, and CPAs. GTM is an iSolved Network Certified Partner. The firm is SOC 1-compliant, the industry standard for client information security. GTM is an active member of the American Payroll Association (APA), Independent Payroll Providers Association (IPPA), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and Professional Insurance Agents (PIA). The firm is also an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). GTM has been featured by the Times Union and The Business Review as one of the best places to work in the Capital Region. For more information, visit http://www.GTM.com.
Flawed Innocence: a potent consideration of modern-day spirituality and purpose. Flawed Innocence is the creation of published author, H.M. Hyra, a retired mathematics teacher and passionate Christian.

Hyra writes, Flawed Innocence presents the nine components needed for a person of the Christian faith to begin to understand what religious people call divine providence. In particular, being a Roman Catholic, the perspective uses as a base the tenets of the Catholic faith. The nine components are set in the framework of an arc. I call this the Arc of Existence. Divine Providence is what the faithful refer to as the will of God.

"Each component is presented as a chapter of the book. Each chapter presents information dealing with the premise. Each chapter has an editorial section where common concerns are discussed. Also, there will be a section entitled Crisis Corner where important information is discussed pertinent to contemporary times.

"The book begins with the fundamentals of the Catholic Church needed to comprehend the nine components that will follow. After the introduction the text begins with the beginning of the universe and Gods transcendent presence. Of course, the use of scripture, sacred tradition, the Magisterium and the real world experiences of prominent people are instrumental in the accomplishment of our task.

"The Human Condition is discussed in terms of mans fallen nature. It is stressed that because of original sin, humans are suspect in their efforts to lead people to their proper end. Reasons/Faith/Revelation is the chapter concerning the ability of man (women) to digest to some degree the immensity of God. The chapter of Culture and Society discusses the fundamental elements common to all societies past and present.

"Chapter 5 begins the exploration of God in relationship to the importance of the universe and the earth in the plan of God. There is a profile of Jesus being both human and divine. His mother Mary plays a prominent role in all of Catholic teachings. In chapter 7 the Catholic Church is discussed as the instrument God has used to further His will in a real world where Satan exists. It is Satan and his followers that must be overcome before human existence becomes the holy perspective that God demands. Finally, in the last chapter there is a view of eternity, from the Particular Judgment to the end times. This is when human existence reaches the pinnacle of possibility which the faithful refer to as heaven.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, H.M. Hyras new book pairs relevant Scripture with sections for reflection to engage the reader throughout.

By encouraging the reader to ruminate on their own faith, Mr. Hyra hopes to see a renewed faith emerge with a deeper understanding of God.

View a synopsis of Flawed Innocence on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Flawed Innocence at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Flawed Innocence, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
With the adorable bunnies on your back and belly, this will be an amazing experience for families to find inner peace and wind down while enjoying the Summer Solstice and celebrating Fathers Day weekend.

With Fathers Day approaching, Harmony Family Yoga is organizing a special event for families to celebrate this special holiday in a unique way. On June 19, 2021, Harmony Family Yoga will be hosting Bunny Yoga, which is geared towards families with younger children, teenagers, and animal lovers.

Harmony Family Yoga is a boutique yoga studio that offers yoga for kids, teenagers, and adults of all ages. They believe that every kid deserves to feel happy, grounded, and confident in their life. Using calming breathing techniques, yoga, and meditation tools to help tweens and teens to manage emotions through adolescence and become physically healthy, mentally, and emotionally balanced.

With Fathers Day Bunny Yoga, your families will be able to improve inner strength, flexibility, and balance, all while creating closer bonds with each other and nature. Besides vinyasa, yin restorative, and heath yoga that is offered at Harmony Family Yoga, bunny yoga is unique and can offer the most benefits of stress relief, while encouraging a close interaction with Flemish Giant rabbits and adorable Holland Lop rabbits.

We wanted to give each family member the opportunity to receive the benefits of yoga, said Cici Bo, owner of Harmony Family Yoga. With the adorable bunnies on your back and belly, this will be an amazing experience for families to find inner peace and wind down while enjoying the Summer Solstice and celebrating Fathers Day weekend.

There are two sessions (5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.) of Bunny Yoga taking place outdoors on Saturday, June 19. Tickets include a Family Pass that admits one child and one adult, an individual adult pass for $45, and the option to bring any additional siblings. With a limited amount of space, please pre-register to secure a spot. It is recommended guests bring their own yoga mats, towels, or picnic blankets for the family fun time. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity and sells out quickly, so be sure to pre-register!

To find more information and sign up for Fathers Day Bunny Yoga, please visit https://harmonyfamilyyoga.com/bunny-yoga/.

About Harmony Family Yoga

As a post-pandemic opened yoga studio located in the Conejo Valley, Harmony Family Yoga was created as an international school of learning that offers yoga to all ages. Harmony Family Yoga re-grouped with trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive training to dedicate our teaching towards healing after the pandemic with a new team of yoga instructors. Harmony Family Yoga is a dedicated studio whose goal is to become a resource for our local community and help children and teens become healthy in their minds and body.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Foundation, in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation  JLABS will host the 2021 IDea Incubator, the premier showcase of technology in the field of infectious diseases and a pitch-style competition that drives innovations across various disciplines with the potential to improve the infectious diseases specialty and patient care.

The IDea Incubator competition uncovers and highlights groundbreaking solutions that help reduce the burdens of infectious diseases worldwide, said Javeed Siddiqui, MD, MPH, creator of the IDea Incubator and co-founder and chief medical officer of TeleMed2U.

The 2021 IDea Incubator will take place during this years virtual IDWeek conference  Sept. 29 through Oct. 3, 2021  and is open to innovators across all fields, from ID specialists, researchers and health care professionals to entrepreneurs. Finalists are invited to present to the ID community and receive feedback from the panel of judges and experts in medicine, technology and business; winners will be awarded up to $10,000 in funding.

New this year, up to three IDea Incubator applicants may be selected for residency opportunities through BLUE KNIGHT, a joint initiative between JLABS and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Blue Knight residency opportunities may be offered to eligible companies at select JLABS locations, including JLABS @ Washington, DC the hub for Blue Knight. For companies that may not require physical space, there are also opportunities for virtual Blue Knight engagement.*

Applicants selected for Blue Knight residency may have access to unique benefits, including fee assistance, access to JLABS space with dedicated equipment at select locations, and dedicated mentorship from BARDA and the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. Those selected for the Blue Knight opportunity may differ from IDea Incubator finalists.

The IDSA Foundation looks forward to hosting the annual competition with JLABS for the second year in a row.

JLABS' support has helped to increase the visibility of the IDea Incubator to more young and innovative minds across a broad spectrum of fields in health care and beyond ID, said Stephen Peeler, executive director of the IDSA Foundation.

Grand prize winners of last years IDea Incubator competition were Holly Frost, MD, assistant professor at Denver Health, and Sonal Munsiff, MD, assistant professor at University of Rochester Medical Center for their innovation  OASIS (Outpatient Automated Stewardship Information System). OASIS generates and distributes antibiotic stewardship audits and feedback reports in outpatient settings. The innovation will help health care systems implement the CDCs Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship in a cost-effective manner that requires substantially less time than traditional methods.

Applications for the 2021 IDea Incubator are open through July 8, 2021. To apply or learn more about competition rules, please visit http://www.idsafoundation.org/ideaincubator.

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*Subject to the execution of an Award agreement with Johnson & Johnson Innovation, or any affiliate thereof, and other agreements and/or documentation as is necessary and required for residency at a JLABS physical or virtual location to become part of the JLABS and Blue Knight networks

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About IDSA Foundation

The IDSA Foundation is the nations leading nonprofit organization committed to reducing the burdens of infectious diseases worldwide. Founded in 2001, the IDSA Foundation is the Infectious Diseases Society of Americas charitable arm, committed to providing career development opportunities, supporting education and funding groundbreaking research. Through its work, the Foundation invests in the next generation of diverse ID leaders, supports innovative research and promotes advancements in patient care.

About IDWeek

IDWeek is the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS). With the theme Advancing Science, Improving Care, IDWeek features the latest science and bench-to-bedside approaches in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and epidemiology of infectious diseases, including HIV, across the lifespan. IDWeek 2021 will take place virtually Sept. 29 - Oct. 3. For more information, visit http://www.idweek.org.
Brotherhood of Fire: a potent tale of faith and healing. Brotherhood of Fire is the creation of published author J. A. Guinn, a graduate of Washington State University who served in the United States Air Force and is a Vietnam veteran.

Guinn shares, A small rural fire department in North Idaho has only four full-time members, a chief, and an office manager. The district relies heavily on volunteers to provide a proper service to the rural community. The chief is relatively new, anticipating this fire district would operate at a much slower pace than the one he came from in southern California, but he was sadly mistaken. Malfunctioning equipment and insufficient funds to conduct the repairs started resulting in loss of buildings and loss of life. Chief Keeting had seen plenty of that in California, including loss of his own new wife and unborn child when his house burned down while he was gone on a job interview. He was just out of engineering college and was about to land a very lucrative engineering job in New Mexico when tragedy struck. His faith in God finally pulled him through but on a different coursethat of becoming a firefighter and EMT. However, the recent incidents kept dredging up those old memories. He was working hard trying to provide a service to his community but felt he was failing and didnt understand why, not until a small group of local citizens contacted the state attorney-general who sentwith Chief Keetings approvalan undercover firefighter to try to resolve the problems did Chief Keeting start feeling he was getting his head above water.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, J. A. Guinns new book is a heartfelt and thrilling Christian fiction.

Guinns tale is an action-packed story of love, loss, and faith. Reeling from the devastating and sudden loss of loved ones, Chief Keeting sets out on a new path in hopes of healing and helping save those in need.

View a synopsis of Brotherhood of Fire on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Brotherhood of Fire at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Brotherhood of Fire, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Legacies: an encouraging assortment of faith-based stories. Legacies is the creation of published author L.M. Haynes, a devoted husband and loving father who works as a licensed land surveyor and enjoys illustration as a hobby.

Haynes shares, It is the simpler things in life that we leave behind that become our most enduring legacies. It can be just a thought or an idea, a holiday tradition, or the lessons taught to us by a faith in God.

Please join me as we share five short stories about parenting, traditions, unconditional love, deep faith in times of sorrow, and the greatest legacy of all.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, L.M. Hayness new book is a powerful selection of stories that examine what one is leaving behind for those who will follow in their footsteps.

From Christmas traditions to the pain of losing a loved one, this collection is certain to pull at the readers heartstrings as they consider the underlying messages found within each story.

View a synopsis of Legacies on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Legacies at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Legacies, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Lightbridge Academy, an early education and child care franchise with more than 50 locations open across the Mid-Atlantic and another 50 under construction or in development, announced it is deploying a powerful new center-management tool, Lightbridge Journey, to all of its centers and parents by July, 2021.

Under research and development since 2018, Lightbridge Journey provides a single cohesive, 360-degree touchpoint for parents, staff and center directors. The result of this centralized resource is increased efficiency and reduced operational costs providing additional time to support families and educators and all those in the Circle of Care.

Available on a phone, tablet or the web, Lightbridge Journey was developed in conjunction with educational management software company MomentPath. In the centers where it has been fully deployed and administrators reported saving an average of over 35 hours of center administrator and teacher time per month per center, freeing almost an entire day per week to spend on relationship building which is at the core of every successful Lightbridge Academy.

The whole idea of the Lightbridge Journey app centers on this: If we can free the center directors and staff from administrative work, we open up time for them to spend focused on the needs of the children and parents, said Benjamin Blake, Lightbridge Academys Chief Information Officer. Additionally, it enhances the center directors ability to look after the needs of teachers who are taking direct care of the children. Time is the most precious commodity. By providing more of it, we enable directors to increased their focus on what creates the most value. This is the most powerful aspect of the whole project.

Transparency for Parents

The Lightbridge Journey provides increased transparency to parents, by providing a direct line of communication between parents and the center, quick access to resources like Peek of the Week lesson plan previews and progress reports on their childs development.

Additionally, parents are never more than a click away from checking in on their child because the app provides real-time snapshots of whats happening with their children through photos and videos of their childrens special moments and milestones as they happen. The app also lets parents have instant, 24/7 access to their billing and accounts.

Partnering with Lightbridge provides us with an incredible opportunity to further our mission of changing the way families and educators connect, one moment at a time. We pride ourselves on bringing the best-in-class experience for teachers and parents through the Lightbridge Journey application, said MomentPath CEO, Caitlin Coffman.

Enhanced Home-School Connection

The app doesnt stop working when children leave the center, it functions as the central hub for creating a home-school connection. The app provides the ability to drop off notes and send messages between parents and teachers while also offering a central resource for reminders about necessary forms, documents, and other important paperwork.

Parents love it because they're now able to directly communicate with their childs teachers, said Blake. The importance was even more evident as we navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic. In many states, parents didnt have the ability to enter their child care center due to state restrictions. The app helped solidify the parent-teacher connection because they could easily message back and forth, even if theyre socially distanced. The ability for parents to receive real time notifications and experience what their child is doing through pictures or videos created much needed peace of mind throughout the day.

Efficiency for Administrators

For administrators, Lightbridge Journey provides all-in-one planning, scheduling, billing and even security in one central location, helping reduce paperwork and increase time in classrooms with children and staff.

North Carolina Lightbridge Academy franchise owner Rebecca Grovenstein says the app provides powerful planning tools for her when running her business. The reports show us forecasting with billing and enrollments from one month to four months out, and tracks attendance of our children, she said. As owners, this helps us when making decisions with purchasing, employment and goal setting for the growth of the business."

Lightbridge Academy Center Technology Manager Shannon Kellys two children have graduated from Lightbridges early education program, and currently has a two-year-old enrolled at one of the centers. She understands the value of the app both as a parent and as an administrator.

The Lightbridge Journey app has been great for me because I can be at the office and go into the app and see, Oh, he's taking a nap right now, she said. I can stop at the food store right now, rather than go to the center and wake him up from his nap.

But shes seen the benefits for teachers as well. Previously, the Peek of the Week lesson plan preview required multiple steps to be able to send it out to parents.

Now, it is automatically generated as soon as the teachers enter their lesson plans, Kelly said. That one process alone saved the center over 30 hours a month. A small change that made a huge difference.

About Lightbridge Academy

Established in 1997, Guy and Julia Falzarano founded the company based on core values and a Circle of Care philosophy that places equal importance on the needs of children, their families, teachers, center owners and the community. Lightbridge Academy provides early education and child care to children ages six weeks through kindergarten, as well as special programming for children up to 10 years old for summer camp and a new school age remote learning program. The company franchised in 2011 to expand their distinctive concept throughout the Mid-Atlantic region; it currently has over 119 child care centers either open, under construction or in development throughout Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia.
Hyundai of Moreno Valley is offering automotive service specials for all Hyundai vehicles until July 31, 2021.

Hyundai of Moreno Valley- a Hyundai dealership located in Moreno Valley, California, has several service specials currently running for all Hyundai vehicles. Interested parties can save more on vehicle maintenance by availing their list of service special coupons. All the offers are valid up to July 31; so, if your vehicle is due for maintenance, do have a look at the exciting offers.

The coupons in stock for automotive service specials are cooling system service, 15,000 mile service, four wheel alignment, 30,000 mile service, drive belt replacement, and tire special. Cooling system service will cost $129.95 plus tax. Four wheel alignment will cost $89.95 plus tax. 15,000 mile service will cost $199.95 plus tax. 30,000 mile service will cost $299.95 plus tax. Drive belt replacement will cost you $149.95 plus tax. The tire special coupon offers three tires for regular price and the fourth tire for $1. The charges of some services might vary depending on the model of the Hyundai vehicle. The service special coupons are available for all Hyundai car owners.

Interested customers can visit hyundaiofmorenovalley.com and learn more about the available service special coupons. For any queries call the dealership at 951-900-4284. Hyundai of Moreno Valley is open from Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. The dealership is located on 27500 Eucalyptus Ave., Moreno Valley.
"Our priority is helping clients succeed by creating secure, healthy technology ecosystems within their organizations." James Loffler

Loffler Companies, the largest privately-owned technology solutions provider in the Upper Midwest, has been ranked #183 on the CRN 2021 Solution Provider 500 list. CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, releases a list of top 500 solution providers each year, ranking the leading IT channel partner organizations across North America by revenue. This is the sixth consecutive year Loffler has been named to this list.

We are proud of the first-class team we have built and the strong value we provide in the marketplaces we serve. Our priority is helping clients succeed by creating secure, healthy technology ecosystems within their organizations, said James Loffler, President of Loffler Companies.

Founded by Jim Loffler in 1986, Loffler Companies is nationally recognized as a leader in business technology and managed services. Loffler is among the top office solutions dealers in the US for service and support, with more than 500 employees working hard every day to exceed the expectations of their clients, partners and the community.

Loffler Companies provides the most comprehensive business technology solutions in the country, with experts who bring it all together to build secure, optimized technology environments. Lofflers offerings include IT managed and security services, business security systems, disaster recovery/business continuity, multifunctional copiers and printers, print management services, software and workflow technology consulting, professional IT services/consulting, unified communications, and on-site management of print and mail centers.

As one of the top-selling Canon and Konica Minolta dealers in the U.S., Loffler Companies also works with leading partners such as Nutanix, Arctic Wolf, Microsoft, Mitel and 8x8 as well as Xerox, HP, Lexmark and FP Mailing Solutions. These wide-ranging products and services exist for one purpose: to help organizations succeed. Lofflers specialized trainers, flexible billing and financing options at all price levels and award-winning service and support are all benefits clients appreciate. For more information about Loffler Companies, call 952-925-6800 or email information@loffler.com or visit us online at http://www.loffler.com.


Written by Pam Lim, manager, Communications & Engagement, Sustainability Office

SFU expects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from heating by 80 per cent now that the new $33-million Corix biomass plant has begun operation. The GHG saved is equivalent to the emissions from 900 homes every year.

By slashing direct emissions from operations and indirect emissions from energy purchased GHG emissions, SFU leads the way in sustainability with one of the smallest GHG footprints of any university in Canada.

This facility will allow SFU to achieve 97 per cent of the provinces 2050 greenhouse gas target, making SFU a leader within the Canadian public sector in reducing GHG emissions, says Larry Waddell, chief facilities officer, SFU. Im grateful for our partnerships with the Province, Corix Utilities and SFU Community Trust in taking this plant from idea to reality, to benefit our SFU community and local environment.

Instead of using natural gas to heat SFUs campus, the fully operational biomass plant, located on South Campus Road at SFU Burnaby, transforms clean wood waste, once destined for landfills, into a low carbon energy source. The plant now provides heat and hot water to most of SFU Burnaby and approximately half of the UniverCity community.

Carys Kenny-Howell, a chemistry and molecular biology and biochemistry student at SFU, lives on campus, and says, Having an alternate energy source that creates the energy for all of the people who live and work up here, I think thats a really big step.

"Thank you at the end to all our dedicated and committed staff who worked so diligently towards making this happen," says Waddell.

The biomass plant will help SFU achieve sustainability targets developed in the universitys five-year sustainability plan. Launched in 2020, the SFU 2025 Sustainability plan aligns with the United Nations objective of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, and includes 16 targets to reduce the universitys carbon footprint, including reducing GHG emissions by half and shifting half of the universitys energy use to renewable sources by 2025.

Read more about sustainability actions at SFU:

http://www.sfu.ca/sustainability/sfu2025.html
Traffik is an excellent example of our design team working with the client to bring their mission to life.

LPA Design Studios was honored for excellence in workplace design at this years IIDA Southern California 2021 Calibre Design Awards. The judges recognized LPAs new workplace for Traffik, a fast-growing marketing and advertising firm that sought to create buzz and a strong public presence with its new corporate headquarters.

The Calibre Design Awards recognize design excellence in commercial interior design and celebrate the teamwork required to deliver outstanding design. LPA won in the medium-sized workplace category.

The design for Traffiks workplace embraces its public face and assumes an almost hospitality vibe, recreating a retail space into a workplace that welcomes visitors and puts the firms work on display.

LPA is honored to receive a Calibre Design Award for this project, said Rick DAmato, Design Director at LPA. Traffik is an excellent example of our design team working with the client to bring their mission to life.

Traffiks office is part of a large retail environment, in between an Apple Store and an H&M. The design takes on the aesthetic of a hip, urban hotel, with a check-in area, lounge space and luggage carts. A barber shop-inspired area promotes socialization and a different type of thinking, while the cocktail lounge promotes collaboration.

Traffiks workspaces are designed as libraries, with long collaborative tables that promote interaction, and huddle and conference rooms that inspire creativity. The space also includes a glass podcast studio with views of the outdoor retail space.

The Traffik design is truly a celebration of a workplace, with personality that really shines through and evident branding throughout, IIDA jurors noted. There are a lot of ideas working together here that create a strong statement and a wonderful connection between the graphics and artwork, along with the addition of personality pieces.

The IIDA award is the latest in a recent series of top honors for LPA, which was earlier this year named California firm of the year by AIA California. In the last year, the firm also earned a national AIA COTE Top Ten Plus award, the industrys top honor for sustainable design, and an AIA CAE Educational Facility Design award, the top national honor for school design.

About LPA Design Studios

Founded in 1965, LPA specializes in creating innovative environments that work better, do more with less and improve peoples lives. An integrated design firm with six locations in California and Texas, LPAs team includes more than 400 in-house architects, master planners, engineers, interior designers, landscape architects and research analysts, working across a wide array of sectors. For more information, visit lpadesignstudios.com.


Petro Gone by Meter Engineers The quality, reliability, and ease of use make this product a game-changer for any technician working with meter provers in the petroleum industry.

Brad Young, President of Meter Engineers, has announced it has a new product offering. A cleaning mixture originally used for the companys own needs, and now available and trademarked as Petro Gone. It is an environmentally friendly, citrus-derived solvent formulated to remove hydrocarbons prior to meter prover calibration.

Due to the strict tolerance demands by the hydrocarbon measurement industry, having a clean measurement section in any prover is critical in the calibration process, Young said. We are excited to bring this product to the market and provide customers with confidence, knowing their equipment will be free of hydrocarbons.

After using the 100% technical grade solvent internally for years and experiencing how well it worked on our own equipment, we knew our customers would love it, said Young. The quality, reliability, and ease of use make this product a game-changer for any technician working with meter provers in the petroleum industry.

Petro Gone has a 4-step cleaning process with a recommended dilution strength of half a gallon to 5 barrels of empty prover volume. The custom cleaning solution is available at Meter Engineers Headquarters in Kechi, KS, their new service center in Baytown, TX, and online when scheduling a water draw. You can purchase Petro Gone solvent in 3 container sizes, including 1 Gallon Jug, 5 Gallon Pail, and 55 Gallon Drum.

About Meter Engineers:

Meter Engineers, headquartered in Kechi, Kansas with a Service Center in Baytown, Texas, has over 40 years of experience developing products and services used in the petroleum measurement and automated quality control monitoring industry. Now a leader in the field of meter provers, the companys innovative thinking and expertise has pioneered solutions for the industry including patented Meter Engineers-SDS prover detector switches, UniCast Spheres and the new MagnaProve. Also recognized for exceptional factory and field support, Meter Engineers provides water draw calibrations, meter proving, prover inspections, piston prover resealing and maintenance programs on the automated quality control monitoring equipment. Meter Engineers delivers assurance and accuracy for every application. Their unidirectional prover design has been a staple on many large pipeline projects, along with the ability to custom design and engineer any configuration of bidirectional prover. Meter Engineers is a forward-thinking company with several new products currently in development. To learn more, please visit https://meterengineers.com/.
Brian Kibby, Modern Campus CEO For colleges and universities experiencing decreased enrollment, they need every advantage available to attract, engage and graduate the modern learner on time. The combination of DIGARC and Modern Campus helps deliver this...

Modern Campus, the leading modern learner engagement platform, today announced the acquisition of DIGARC, the leading provider of academic catalog and curriculum management, class and student scheduling and student pathfinder software for higher education. The acquisition enables Modern Campus to accelerate its commitment to customer success by revolutionizing learner engagement with massively personalized digital experiences.

Founded in 2001, DIGARC is committed to aiding higher education institutions to engage students through the power of a connected, integrated curriculum. Today, its catalog management software solutions are used by nearly 800 higher education institutions. DIGARC enhances the student experience, helping them better navigate degree planning, and ultimately improve retention and graduation rates.

Modern Campus will integrate its award-winning web experience platform and personalization engine with DIGARCs comprehensive course curriculum management software. Together, they will empower higher education institutions to solve two of the biggest challenges they face today: attracting and converting prospective students, and creating a highly personalized and engaging pathway to on-time graduation. In most institutions today, accessing the course catalog  typically the first stop for prospective students after the homepage  requires navigating an often-cumbersome menu structure. Likewise, current students often struggle to set a path to successful program completion. With DIGARC, Modern Campus Omni CMS and Personalization by Modern Campus, higher education institutions can enable a modern student catalog experience with personalized content, pathways and recommendations.

Theres never been a more exciting time in higher education. The modern learner is a savvy consumer and their expectations of higher education institutions have changed. They expect a highly personalized, Netflix-like experience. Theyre primarily focused on maximizing the return on one of the most important and largest investments theyll make  their post-secondary education, said Brian Kibby, chief executive officer of Modern Campus. For colleges and universities experiencing decreased enrollment, they need every advantage available to attract, engage and graduate the modern learner on time. The combination of DIGARC and Modern Campus helps deliver this, combining a highly personalized web experience with world-class catalog navigation.

Combined with DIGARC, Modern Campus offers what no other provider can: a platform to both attract prospective students with high conversion and give them the critical tools needed to enroll and engage with their higher education institution:



Modern Campus Modern Learner Engagement Platform, including Omni CMS and Destiny One: Purpose-built solutions for main campus and continuing education teams to attract, enroll and engage traditional and non-traditional learners with massively personalized web experiences, backed by award-winning support.

DIGARC Connected Curriculum, including Acalog, Curriculog, Section, Register and Explore: The system of record for catalog and curriculum data, enabling automated workflow management, curriculum approval, catalog publication, schedule planning, class registration and student pathway exploration.

This transaction marks the second acquisition by Modern Campus in 2021; the company acquired interactive campus map and virtual tour provider nuCloud in March.

This is a perfect next step in DIGARCs evolution and our Connected Curriculum strategy. Since its founding, DIGARC has supported student recruitment and retention by engaging students via a powerful, connected, integrated curriculum, said Richard Becker, chief executive officer at DIGARC. Together with Modern Campus, well be able to deepen relationships with our higher education partners and extend our ability to improve user experience, establish a single source of truth across campuses and support student recruitment and retention.

This acquisition is great news for customers of Modern Campus and DIGARC, said Stephen Rice, principal at The Riverside Company. It's clear higher education institutions are facing massive transformation, and need technology partners to help them accelerate and succeed. The Riverside Company is thrilled to play a role in making it happen, and we look forward to continued innovation and customer success.

DIGARC employees will join Modern Campus, forming a higher education powerhouse of exceptional industry talent. Brian Kibby will remain CEO of Modern Campus.

About Modern Campus

Modern Campus, the innovator driving Omni CMS and Destiny One, empowers higher education institutions to thrive when radical change is required to successfully respond to lower student enrollments and revenue, rising costs, crushing student debt and even school closures. Powered by the industrys leading student first modern learner engagement platform, presidents and provosts can create pathways for lifelong learning, while marketing and IT leaders can deliver Amazon-like personalization and instant fulfillment. Award-winning products and average annual revenue growth of 19% for its 550+ higher education customers have earned Modern Campus a 98% retention rate and a reputation for customer obsession.

Learn how Modern Campus is leading the modern learner engagement movement at moderncampus.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

About DIGARC

DIGARC is the leading provider of higher education software technology and services, providing a unified platform that helps educators engage students through the power of Connected Curriculum.

Serving nearly 800 institutions of higher education, the DIGARC portfolio is designed to offer curriculum management, student scheduling, administrative schedule planning and student academic pathway exploration, enabling engagement between educators, administrators and students.

DIGARC is based in Central Florida with offices in Orlando and Lakeland. For more information about DIGARC, visit http://www.digarc.com or call 866-328-9012.
Nesten, a wireless network developer with expertise in community-driven blockchain technology and distributed edge computing and storage, has joined the OnGo Alliance, a collaborative organization of industry leaders committed to building 4G LTE and 5G NR wireless networks in the shared CBRS spectrum. As a member of the OnGo Alliance, Nesten is again redefining the boundaries of large-scale, open-source wireless communications platforms with a full suite of innovative wireless technologies.

Since its founding in 2018, Nesten has remained dedicated to empowering people with a trusted communications platform and the tools necessary to realize its myriad real-world use cases. Nestens decentralized network infrastructure is built on individually-operated G1 wireless nodes, which are embedded with support for multiple wireless protocols including LoRaWAN, WiFi, Bluetooth, and UWB. The G1 nodes also serve as readily deployable access points linked together through the blockchain via secure data transmissions.

Nesten is excited to support the creation of 5G networks within our ecosystem, says Dr. Andrew Baek, Nesten CEO. Our team has deep roots in cellular technologies, dating back to the low-power architecture and implementation of our own mobile WiMAX, which laid the foundation for key features of 4G and 5G cellular technologies. Now, as a member of the OnGo Alliance, we are ready to apply our knowledge base to the scalable deployment of CBRS networks.

Nestens ecosystemwhich is comprised of layers of blockchain, enabled with multiple protocols of leading-edge wireless solutions, and integrated with advanced machine learning and AI is ideally suited for cost-effective private CBRS network deployment with real-time data analytics. The machine learning functionalities embedded within the G1 wireless node reduce storage and bandwidth demands on system infrastructure and minimize data processing latency for timing critical user scenarios. Additionally, the self-sustaining platform is not only universally beneficial to all network participants, but it is also an economically viable option for rapidly and cost-efficiently establishing effective wireless networks with emerging technologies.

Thanks to their technical talents and expertise in communications-optimized blockchain platforms, as well as a unique network ecosystem, we believe that Nesten will contribute substantially toward advancing broader CBRS adoption, says Alan Ewing, Executive Director of the OnGo Alliance. We also look forward to the practical knowledge Nesten can offer our organization.

A host of industry-leading technologies also makes Nestens network perfectly designed to support the growing trends of edge and fog computing, both of which greatly benefit the expansion of private 4G LTE and 5G NR. Some of these features include:



Data control with cryptographic data encryption and key parity generation at the point of data creation for additional protection of sensitive information

A distributed network that operates without the need for a central server, so even high-bandwidth data and traffic stay local to the network instead of stored on a public cloud, reducing latency and enabling timing-critical decisions in remote locations

Self-sustaining G1 wireless nodes are easy to deploy and maintain for rapid scalability

Multi-layer blockchain for impenetrable and immutable data security

Embedded capabilities for data on-demand, diagnostics, and real-time analytics for constant performance and user experience improvement

Deep technical expertise and domain knowledge in wireless communications place Nesten among the industrys preeminent leaders for building complex networks. With decades of experience in wireless communications, digital and advanced systems development, hardware design, and custom consensus and private blockchain, the team is in full possession of the technology, skill sets, and industry sustainability necessary to lead a paradigm shift in traditional communications. Within the last three years alone, Nesten has established partnerships with globally recognized leaders in the IoT sphere and developed a proven design methodology that produces operational use cases with valid applicability that are ready for mass adoption. The team at Nesten is also well-versed in the requirements of bringing consumer-grade solutions to market in a way that generates the greatest value for both the users and the network.

You can find out more about Nestens network expansion, current use cases, and additional partnerships here:

Semtech collaboration

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200701005271/en/Semtech-and-Nesten-Deploy-LoRa%C2%AE-based-Wireless-Infrastructure-Nationwide

Partnership with PNI Sensor for shared parking

https://www.prweb.com/releases/nesten_announces_strategic_collaboration_with_pni_sensor_to_bring_blockchain_economics_to_iot_connected_shared_parking/prweb17444896.htm

Coverage in Dallas-Fort Worth Metro Area

https://www.prweb.com/releases/nesten_inc_announces_lorawan_network_in_dallas_fort_worth_metroplex/prweb17088860.htm

White paper contribution on LoRaWAN and WiFi roaming

https://lora-alliance.org/in-the-news/lora-alliancer-and-wireless-broadband-alliance-demonstrate-increase-market-opportunity

Nesten vision on IoT

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/341451

About Nesten

Nesten, Inc. is a privately-held company based in Tustin, CA. The company specializes in IoT-optimized blockchains and communications networks that redefine the wireless landscape into one that places participants at the center of data generation, transmission, and trading. Since early 2019, the company has deployed hundreds of its advanced computing wireless nodes, establishing significant coverage footprints in New York; New Jersey; California; the Dallas and Houston metro areas; suburban Washington, DC; and Seoul, South Korea. To learn more, please visit http://www.nesten.io.

About the OnGo Alliance

The OnGo Alliance believes that 4G and 5G solutions, utilizing shared spectrum, can enable both in-building and outdoor coverage and capacity expansion at massive scale. In order to maximize the full potential of shared spectrum, the OnGo Alliance aims to enable a robust ecosystem towards making OnGo solutions available. The mission of the OnGo Alliance is to evangelize 4G and 5G OnGo technology, use cases and business opportunities while simultaneously driving technology developments necessary to fulfill the mission, including multi-operator capabilities. The Alliance also established an effective product certification program for OnGo equipment in the U.S. 3.5 GHz band ensuring multi-vendor interoperability. For more information, please visit http://www.ongoalliance.org and follow the OnGo Alliance on LinkedIn and Twitter.
"Foreign national talent plays an essential role in filling specialized occupations and decreasing the labor shortage across the U.S.," said Richard Burke, CEO, Envoy Global

Today, Envoy Global and New American Economy (NAE) released a new report showing that despite the economic upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, there remains a shortage of highly skilled workers to meet the persistent demand of American employers. While many businesses are seeking to expand, the United States outdated immigration system and continued travel restrictions may prolong and exacerbate the shortage of high-skilled workers, hindering a fast and successful economic recovery. Failure to enable employers to fill critical workforce gaps hampers their ability to fulfill their economic potential, stymieing economic growth nationwide. These findings support the argument that more responsive employment-based immigration policies may help the U.S. economy bounce back faster and more robustly from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report, How Has Demand in Sectors Dependent on Specialty Skills Changed Due to COVID-19? compares data from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on the number of Labor Condition Applications (LCA) filed for H-1B specialty workers; Burning Glass Technologies Labor Insights Database based on public job postings; Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); and U.S. Census data.

Key findings include:



Despite the economic upheaval of the pandemic, there remains a shortage of highly skilled workers to meet the persistent demand of employers.

Demand for computer-related workers is stable, and even growing. In fact, computer-related jobs made up 69.6% of all foreign labor requests in FY2020, a slight increase from FY2019 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Demand for computer-related occupations is growing and outpacing supply. In 2019, the unemployment rate for computer- and mathematics-related occupations was 2.3%. By 2020, it had only increased by 0.7 percentage points, to 3.0%. By March 2021, the unemployment rate was 1.9%  lower than it was before the pandemic.

Employers' ability to fill these roles will be critical to America's long-term economic recovery. If businesses cannot find enough workers to fill technical and specialized roles that are often critical to their continued growth and innovation, U.S. companies may be hamstrung in their capacity to expand and operate efficiently.

This report comes at a time when employers are in critical need of filling highly-skilled roles amid an ever-growing competitive labor market, said Andrew Lim, Director of Quantitative Research at NAE. Our findings highlight the critical shortage of highly skilled workers to meet the persistent demand of employers in the U.S.  specifically in computer-related and professional services industries. Without foreign nationals to fill technical and specialized roles that are critical to companies' continued growth, the shortage could have a consequential impact on the countrys long-term economic recovery.

We know that foreign national talent plays an essential role in filling specialized occupations and decreasing the labor shortage across the U.S., said Richard Burke, CEO at Envoy Global. While many businesses have sought to expand their foreign national workforce, continued travel restrictions on top of an outdated immigration system may in fact prolong and exacerbate the shortage of high-skilled workers. Our research brief with NAE suggests that immediate and smarter policies around employment-based immigration is critical and needed among U.S. employers to source the talent they need to continually innovate, and for the U.S. to make a robust recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and future economic disruptions and crises.

To access the full report, please click here.

About Envoy Global

Founded in 1998, Envoy Global is a global immigration services provider offering the only immigration management platform that makes it seamless for companies to hire and manage an international workforce. By combining expert legal representationfor both inbound and non-U.S. immigrationand proprietary technology, Envoy empowers companies to acquire the best talent regardless of where they live, while simultaneously managing their entire global workforce and enabling employees to take advantage of business opportunities around the globe. Envoy is a 2019 honoree of the 18th Annual Chicago Innovation Awards, 20th Annual Illinois Technology Association (ITA) CityLIGHTS Awards, Corporate Immigration & Relocation Best Global Corporate Immigration Platform, Built In Chicagos 2019 100 Best Places To Work and 50 Best Mid-Sized Places To Work and ChicagoInnos Coolest Companies List. Envoy is affiliated with two law firms, Global Immigration Associates, P.C. (GIA), who provide immigration legal services to companies, and Corporate Immigration Partners (CIP), an elite group of immigration attorneys and legal professionals who provide personalized immigration services to companies.

Website, technology platform and administrative services are provided by Envoy Global Inc., a Delaware corporation. Legal services are provided by Envoy-affiliated attorneys. Please visit envoyglobal.com for more information or if interested in exploring an affiliation with Envoy.

About New American Economy

New American Economy (NAE) is a bipartisan research and policy organization that has as its mission to better inform the intellectual and political debate around immigration in the United States, with a particular focus on immigrants role in the U.S. economy. Since its creation in 2010, NAE has published hundreds of reports, white papers, and interactive data visualizations, often in partnership with other leading research and policy institutions and organizations. NAEs research is widely cited by national news outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Vox, NPR, and Reuters among others. The findings from NAEs research also appear often in legal briefs, including in several Supreme Court cases, and in supporting documents to pieces of legislation at federal, state, and local levels of government in the United States.
The strong response to our HF+ service offerings is an indication of the crucial need for biopharma companies and original equipment manufacturers to understand the user experience across the entire lifecycle of a medical device.

In direct response to the rapid growth of the recently launched Human Factors + (HF+) program, Noble, an Aptar Pharma company, today announces the appointment of two new members to its internal HF+ team. In the four months since launch, the HF+ service has experienced this growth across each of its patient-administered medical device programs.

Current HF+ projects for clients include formative studies, threshold analyses and use-related risk analyses for biopharmaceutical companies, whose patients use autoinjectors, prefilled syringes and nasal drug delivery devices to self-administer their drug therapies. In addition, Noble has joined the Human Factors MEdical DevIce Consortium (hfMEDIC), whose mission is to engage industry and universities in a partnership to develop safer and more effective medical devices through human-centered design.

The strong response to our HF+ service offerings is an indication of the crucial need for biopharma companies and original equipment manufacturers to understand the user experience across the entire lifecycle of a medical device, beginning with product development through regulatory approval and post-market analysis, said Tim McLeroy, Nobles executive director of marketing and patient services.

To support the rapid growth of the HF+ program, Noble has expanded its team and added two new HF-focused positions to better serve its clients. These two new team members bring human factors engineering experience to support the growing demand for Nobles HF+ service offerings:



Aditya Adi Jagannathan, Patient Services New Business Development Manager brings a decade of experience in developing combination products for leading pharmaceutical companies, including eight years of human factors engineering experience. Most recently, he served as clinical and human factors program leader for a global medical device company, where he led clinical product safety, efficacy and usability development for wearable drug delivery devices. Jagannathan holds a Master of Science in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University.

Mikey Brogdon, Senior Human Factors Specialist is responsible for human factors research and project development. Prior to Noble, Brogdon worked as a research consultant, providing Fortune 100 companies with human factors and user-experience research services as moderator, lead researcher and project manager. He holds a Master of Science in human systems engineering from Arizona State University.

Expanding our HF+ team was essential to continuing our mission to be a single source partner, leveraging the voice of the patient throughout the entire product launch process, added McLeroy. The addition of Adi and Mikey will broaden the range of value-added benefits Noble and Aptar Pharma Services can deliver to our clients and their patients.

Noble has traditionally developed training devices and onboarding solutions for pharma and biotech companies. As it expands its services for clients, Nobles patient-centered approach focuses on fully understanding patient needs and providing data as well as anecdotal information to help ease the burden and anxiety connected with self-administration.

HF+ applies Nobles deep understanding of the "voice of the patient" to the product launch process in successive activities that include product development, HF regulatory approval, training and onboarding strategy development, and post-market confirmation of training effectiveness.

Noble offers a robust suite of capabilities as part of its HF+ program, which include:



Regulatory submission support

Contextual inquiry  observation of users in their environments

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

Heuristic evaluations  HF expert review based on experience

Task, IFU and training analyses

Threshold analysis  systematic comparison to approved products

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

Design of drug delivery and medical training devices and prototypes

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) considers human factors engineering an essential component for drug delivery and medical device product development. It recommends making it a robust part of the design control process to maximize the likelihood that a new device will be safe and effective for its intended users and use environments.

About Noble

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

Noble is an Aptar Pharma company, which is part of AptarGroup, Inc., a global leader in the design and manufacturing of a broad range of drug delivery, consumer product dispensing and active material science solutions. Aptars innovative solutions and services serve a variety of end markets including pharmaceutical, beauty, personal care, home, food and beverage. For more information, visit http://www.aptar.com.
We are honored to win a 2021 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year Award for IXCloud, said Avi Margolin, CEO and CTO of Numonix. Simple to set up and use, IXCloud empowers organizations of any size to take advantage of our fully managed, native Azure-based recording service for Microsoft Teams.

Numonix, the developer of the most versatile interaction recording solution for Unified Communication platforms, today announced that it has received a 2021 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year Award for IXCloud for Microsoft Teams from TMC, a global, integrated media company. IXCloud also won a 2020 Cloud Computing Excellence Award and a 2020 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award.

We are honored to win a 2021 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year Award for IXCloud, said Avi Margolin, CEO and CTO of Numonix. Simple to set up and use, IXCloud empowers organizations of any size to take advantage of our fully managed, native Azure-based recording service for Microsoft Teams.

Congratulations to Numonix for winning a 2021 Product of the Year Award for its IXCloud, said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. Numonixs IXCloud is among the best communications and technology solutions available on the market today.

Recently certified by Microsoft as one of the first compliant recording solutions for Teams, IXCloud is a new-generation, cloud-based interaction recording solution developed by Numonix, the innovator in capture technologies. Built on the runtime service fabric of Microsoft Azure, IXCloud empowers users to record with integrity, providing instant hyper-scale, security and compliance plus the benefits of Data Sovereignty. Taking interaction capture into the future, IXCloud redefines versatility, providing the ability to record, store and analyze interactions in the cloud. Its API framework also enables application development.

For detailed information on IXCloud for Microsoft Teams, please visit https://www.numonix.cloud.

About Numonix

Numonix offers the industrys most versatile cloud and premises-based interaction recording solutions for Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, SIPREC and most unified communications and PBX systems, giving business users and service provides versatility in how they record, centrally store and access to their interactions. With full omnichannel recording of voice, video, chat, screen and screen sharing, Numonix empowers organizations to improve regulatory compliance, resolve disputes and enhance the customer experience by granting safeguarded access to their recordings and agent/customer data. Numonix RECITE interaction recording solution gives users an on-premises solution with extensive customization options; Numonix IXCloud delivers the ultimate cloud-based communication capture platform built on the runtime service fabric of Azure and requiring no physical or virtual servers. Numonix is based in Boca Raton, Fla. Visit http://www.NumonixRecording.com
Woodsboro Bank congratulates Steve Ott on his upcoming retirement. Mr. Ott has been at the Bank for over 23 years and has been in the banking industry for over 40 years. Since joining Woodsboro Bank, he has been the Branch Manager of the Thurmont Branch and for many years he oversaw all branch operations. Mr. Ott will be retiring in June.

We are very thankful for Steves years of service to the Bank and will miss him greatly. We wish him the best in this next chapter of his life, said Steve Heine, President & CEO of Woodsboro Bank.

Woodsboro Bank is pleased to announce that Angie Simmons will be transiting to Branch Manager of its Thurmont Branch. Ms. Simmons has 10 years of banking experience joining the Bank in 2011 with her experience in the branch channel beginning at the Thurmont Branch until she was promoted to Branch Manager of the Rt. 40 Branch in 2019.

Ms. Simmons received her Associate Degree in Business Administration at Frederick Community College and is a graduate of the Maryland Bankers Associations Emerging Leaders Program. She is the Volunteer & Impact Chair for the United Ways Emerging Leaders United. Ms. Simmons is co-chair of the Banks United Way workplace campaign and a volunteer for United Ways VITA program and sat on the Board of the Golden Mile Alliance.

Woodsboro Bank is excited to announce the promotion of Kenny McDonald to Branch Manager of the Rt. 40 Branch. Mr. McDonald has over 25 years experience in client service industries with 17 years in the banking industry. He joined Woodsboro Bank in 2018. During his banking career, Mr. McDonald has held positions as a branch associate, customer service representative, loan operations specialist, lender and branch manager. Most recently, he was a relationship banker at the Monocacy Branch.

Mr. McDonald is active with the BNI Downtown Connectors and recently joined the Board of the Golden Mile Alliance.

Congratulations to both Angie and Kenny! They both have a love for serving our clients and community, and we look forward to their continued growth here at Woodsboro Bank, said Thomas Ramsay, Senior Vice President & Chief Retail Banking Officer at Woodsboro Bank.
Ryan brings with him unmatched knowledge in the corporate financial space; his wealth of knowledge and experience help support the PCF Shared Services Center in its ongoing financial endeavors," said Peter Foy, chairman, CEO, and founder, PCF Insurance Services

PCF Insurance Services (PCF), a leading national full-service insurance brokerage, has announced the strategic new hire of Ryan Stradling as Vice President of Finance, Shared Services. With years of financial experience, Stradling is a well-versed leader in the financial industry, having most recently served as the Interim Chief Financial Officer for CareXM.

I am happy to welcome Ryan Stradling as the newest member of the PCF management team, said Peter Foy, chairman, CEO, and founder, PCF Insurance Services. Ryan brings with him unmatched knowledge in the corporate financial space; his wealth of knowledge and experience help support the PCF Shared Services Center in its ongoing financial endeavors.

Prior to CareXM, Stradling served as the Vice President of Finance for Cotiviti. Stradling also led the financial strategy for Aetna as the Director of Finance. Preceding Aetna, Stradling served in senior roles for companies such as Henry Schein and Microsoft.

The Shared Services team is a driving factor for PCF and its success, and I couldnt be happier to be part of the team, said Ryan Stradling, vice president of finance, Shared Services, PCF Insurance Services. PCFs exponential growth is so impressive, and I look forward to assisting in its continued expansion.

Stradling has a strong background in financial planning and analysis with proven experience in forecast and budget management, strategic initiative modeling, and financial reporting and consolidation.

In April of 2020, PCF partnered with HGGC, a leading middle-market private equity firm. With the resources and guidance of HGGC, PCF has been strategically enhancing its management team and meaningfully investing in a Shared Services Center in Salt Lake City, UT. With the backing of its investors and the strength of its entrepreneurial agency partners, PCF has been on a remarkable growth trajectory, including announcing the completion of 36 new agency partnerships in 2020.

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About PCF

Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, PCF is a full-service insurance brokerage firm offering complete risk management solutions with a broad array of property & casualty, life and health, commercial, employee benefits, and workers' compensation insurance products. PCFs growing network and partnership philosophy drives greater access to the nations leading carriers and enables brokers to offer integrated risk management solutions bespoke to client challenges. Due to its scale and growth, PCF is a top 30 broker in the United States by revenue. Additional information can be found at http://www.pcfinsuranceservices.com.
By Lian Degui

The Japanese government has recently made constant moves on the Taiwan question. Not only were Taiwan region related contents written into the joint declarations of the Japan-US leaders' meeting and of the Japan-EU summit, but several China-related topics, including the Taiwan Straits, were also involved in the joint statement of Japan and Australia's "two plus two" meeting on June 9. Japans persistent and excessive interest in Taiwan region appears to reflect the country's security concern, but it is actually driven by Japan's deep-down, unspeakable colonial complex.

According to the series of political and legal arrangements after WWII, Japan was forced to give up its rule in Taiwan region and admit that the island is part of China, but its ambition for Taiwan region never died. When Kishi Nobusuke visited Taiwan as then Japans prime minister, he publicly supported Chiang Kai-shek in fighting back against the mainland. While he, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), was known for his pro-Taiwanese stance, his little brother Sato Eisaku refused to admit Taiwan region as part of China before the China-Japan relations were normalized and was eventually abandoned by LDPs mainstream force. Bilateral ties were not normalized until Kakuei Tanaka took office.

But Kishi Nobusuke's supporters in LDP have continued to maintain ties with Taiwan region, sabotage the One China policy, and undermine China-Japan relations. In 2007, Taro Aso, a top official of LDP, visited Taiwan and met with Chen Shui-bian.

Now, Shinzo Abes little brother Nobuo Kishi is the key figure of LDPs pro-Taiwanese forces. He is the defense minister of the Yoshihide Suga administration, and Katsunobu Kato, also a staunch supporter of Abe, is the Chief Cabinet Secretary, making the Suga administration actually the Abe-Suga administration. Yoshihide Suga isnt pro-Taiwanese, but he became prime minister because of Abes support and is naturally influenced by Abes stance, so its hard for him to blaze a new foreign policy. Apart from the American factor, the Japanese pro-Taiwanese forces also play a significant role in Tokyos interference in Chinas internal affairs. In February this year, the pro-Taiwanese forces set up an interagency Taiwan policy taskforce to plan future policies toward Taiwan.

The joint statement with the US and EU with the attempt to interfere in Chinas internal affairs reveal Japans attempt to turn the Taiwan question into an international issue and use it as a way to curb Chinas rise.

However, Japans national strength is nevertheless unable to sustain its pro-Taiwanese ambition. The latest statistics show that Japan registered negative economic growth as its GDP fell 1.3% in the first quarter. Its efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic have proved ineffective with the fourth surge underway, while vaccines are still in shortage, which leads to another dilemma  should it hold the Olympic Games as scheduled or not? At this point, Japan stands to suffer an enormous amount of losses, whatever its decision is.

Severe pandemic, economic decline, falling national strength, and escalating population aging  these realities make it impossible for Japan to interfere in its neighbors internal affairs. But the Japanese government sees Chinas rise as a threat. It seems to believe that concocting an Indo-Pacific strategy and a so-called quadrilateral mechanism, and issuing some statements will block Chinas way to reunification and curb its developing momentum. Tokyo should be aware that the EU is not on the same page with it regarding its interests in the Asia Pacific, and Japans attempt to get the Wests backing will turn out to be a pipe dream.

The US used to view Taiwan as an unsinkable aircraft carrier. At the same time, Japan still harbors smoldering colonial sentiments toward the island, so its no surprise that the two countries would act in collusion with each other over this issue. Past powers are over the hill, but they are still clinging to their old imperial and colonial dreams and straining themselves in the hopeless pursuit for global domination. But its a brave new world now!

Editor's note: The author is a professor with the School of Japanese Studies at the Shanghai International Studies University (SISU). This article is originally published on huanqiu.com, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
You are strongly advised not to use the cut-off marks pattern of the previous years as the sole criteria in deciding the preference for the courses of study and universities.

by Professor Jayantha Lal Ratnasekera

Chairman, Committee of Vice Chancellors & Directors (CVCD), Sri Lanka and Vice Chancellor, Uva Wellassa University

The results of 2020 GCE A/L examination held in October, 2020 amidst COVID-19 pandemic were released on May 4, 2021. According to the Department of Examinations, 301,771 candidates sat for 2020 A/L examination and 194,297 have qualified to enter the universities. At present, those qualified students are in the process of submitting online applications to the University Grants Commission (UGC), and they face many difficulties in selecting suitable degree programmes for admission. The students have little or no awareness about the large number of recently introduced new courses of study, when compared to the traditional programmes like Medicine, Engineering, Dental Surgery, Management etc. As a university teacher with 25 years of experience, I have some idea about the problems faced by students in this situation, and hope this article would provide answers for few questions faced by them in filling the application for university admission.

First of all, you should understand that though you have obtained the minimum qualifications to enter a university, it does not necessarily guarantee a seat in a public university. It is highly competitive to secure a place in a Sri Lankan state university, and in general, only about 20% of the qualified students actually enter the universities. For example, 167,992 students were qualified to enter the universities in 2018 A/L examination, but only 31,881 (18.98%) were admitted. Similarly, in 2017 A/L examination, the number qualified was 163,160 while the number admitted was 31,415 (19.25%). The UGC has decided to increase the total intake by 10,000 this year, and approximately 43,000 students will be admitted. (The accurate number of admitted students will be known only after the completion of the admission process.) Even with such a substantial increase in the intake, only around 22% of the qualified students (i.e. 43,000 out of 194,297) will be admitted. So it is obvious that university entrance in Sri Lanka is highly competitive, and you have to be very thoughtful in filling the application for university admission.

The UGC annually publishes a booklet titled, Admission to Undergraduate Courses of the Universities in Sri Lanka, and the booklet relevant to 2020 A/L examination is now available in bookshops. It contains comprehensive information regarding the university admission, and generally called the Admission Handbook. All students who wish to apply for a placement in a state university should read this handbook very carefully before completing the admission application. I would rather recommend you read it several times until you comprehend it fully. If necessary, it would be good to get some advice from a person knowledgeable on this matter. It is essential that you have a prior understanding of different degree programmes offered by different universities as well as different subject combinations in those programmes. There were numerous cases in the past that the students have lost the opportunity of entering to the most preferred degree programme or completely lost the university admission due to inaccurate filling of the application.

The admission handbook consists of 10 sections and the instruction for its use are given in pages 5-6. The policies and principles governing admissions to degree programmes in state universities and higher educational institutes (HEIs) coming under the purview of the UGC are given in section 1 of the handbook. Section 2of the handbook(pp. 20-108) provides the list of courses available for different A/L subject streams and the subject pre-requisites to satisfy the entry requirements for different degree programmes. Introduction to the system of codes (Uni-Codes) assigned for each course of study in a particular university/campus/institute is provided in section 3 (pp. 110-114). An introduction to the universities and other HEIsfunctioning under the UGC and a detailed account of the degree programmes conducted by them are given in section 7 (pp. 166-237). Section 8 (pp. 240-247) contains the frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers. It is strongly recommended that every applicant read this section on FAQs thoroughly before filling the admission application.

In the academic year 2020/2021 (i.e. based on the 2020 G.C.E. A/L examination), there are 119 different degree programmes conducted by 15 national universities (excluding the Open University), three campuses (Sripalee, Vavuniya and Trincomalee) and four HEIs under the UGC. A unique code (a separate identity number) is given to each individual degree programme in a particular university/campus/institute, and this unique code is referred to as Uni-Code. In total, there are 244 Uni-Codes, and the list of Uni-Codes is given in pages 139-144 of the handbook. Out of these 244 programmes (Uni-Codes), there are 38 programmes for which every candidate should pass the practical/ aptitude test conducted by the respective universities. The list of those 38 programmes is given in page 146 of the handbook. The university concerned will publish a press notice and the students should apply directly to the respective universities. Hence, the interested students are advised to keep an eye on the newspaper advertisements these days, and in addition, it would be beneficial to log in to the websites of the respective universities from time to time.

You could apply for any number of programmes (any number of Uni-Codes), to which you are eligible to apply. In this regard, it is strongly recommended that you mark the maximum number of Uni-Codes, when filling the admission application. It has to be noted that you will not be considered for a Uni-Code (a degree programme), if you have not requested (marked) it in your application. Further, it is important that you arrange your Uni-Codes from the highest preferred Uni-Code (degree programme) to the least preferred one. UGC will always attempt to select you to your most preferred Uni-Code (degree programme). However, if the seats of that programme are already filled with the candidates who have obtained higher z-scores than you, then the next preferred Uni-Code (degree programme)for which you are eligible will be considered. In other words, the selection to a particular degree programme is based on two criteria, namely the z-score obtained by the candidate and the preference given by the candidate to different degree programmes (i.e. order of Uni-Codes). Thus, I would like to reemphasize the importance of your order of preference for the courses of study and universities, in your admission application.

Furthermore, you are strongly advised not to use the cut-off marks pattern of the previous years as the sole criteria in deciding the preference for the courses of study and universities. The cut-off marks (i.e. minimum z-scores) for the selection to various courses of study are given in pages 250-267 of the handbook, and it is only a guide for you to understand the demand patterns for different degree programmes. Usually, the number of students that will be admitted to a particular course of study (i.e. annual intake) is decided in advance by the relevant university, and the students are selected based on the results (z-scores) of the A/L examination of the particular year. Hence, the cut-off marks (minimum required z-scores) will be known only after the completion of the admission process. The belief that the cut-off marks for various courses of studyare decided as the initial step and then the selection re made, it is completely a wrong perception.

As mentioned above, the students face many difficulties in arranging the preference list for different courses of study in completing the university admission application. When someoneask my advice in this regard, I always have a trivial question to ask. What is your most liked or favourite subject area? The answer, I usually get is the same. Mmmm.. not thought about it yet! It is really unfortunate that most of our young people have not given due consideration to their career future even at the A/L classes. Of course, the parents and teachers also have their share of responsibility in guiding the children towards a particular subject area most suited to their capabilities and liking. More appropriately, this type of decision should have been taken at the selection of the A/L subject stream or subject combination. However, at this time of selecting the degree programmes in universities, you should give first priority to your liking, your fondness to a particular subject area, specialization. At the same time, you should assess your capacity and capability in following such a degree programme, and pursuing a professional career in the selected specialization. The demand in job market for such graduates also need to be considered, but it should be third factor. In other words, the priority order for consideration should be, firstly your liking, secondly yourcapacity and capability, and thirdly the job market demand. If you do not select a degree programme suited to your liking, then the entire university education will be really boring. If you do not select a degree programme suited to your capabilities, then the entire university education will be very tedious.

Of course, you might not get selected to your most preferred course of study, as the selection depends on many other factors such as number of seats available, number of applicants, z-scores etc. You can consider yourself lucky if you somehow get selected for university admission. However, as mentioned above, you will not be considered for a course of study if you have not indicated the relevant Uni-Code in your preference list. That is why it is so important that you arrange the preference list and complete the application formaccurately. In this regard, you should carefully go through the details of various degree programmes conducted bythe universities and other HEIs, as given in pages 166-237 of the handbook. In the recent past, many universities have introduced a large number of new, job oriented degree programmes. For example, all the 15 degree programmes offered by the Uva Wellassa University are job oriented ones and are of high quality. Unfortunately, many students are not aware about these new, high quality courses of study, and as such, I strongly recommend that you pay due attention to these programmes as well.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that there are many factors which require special attention in completing the university admission application. The main factors are your liking, your capability and the job market demand. Filling of the admission application need to be done very carefully and cautiously.
B.I.G. Enterprises, Inc. guard booth at FedEx's Memphis, TN "Superhub" (World Express Hub) distribution center We chose B.I.G. because of a combination of price, delivery time frame, and product quality. With the convergence of all three things, B.I.G. was a clear winner. --B.I.G. customer statement

The FedEx Superhub distribution center in Memphis, Tennessee sends freight and packages to 375 destinations in six continents each day making it FedExs largest transportation center and one of the largest cargo traffic airports in the world. With FedExs commitment to secure transportation solutions, they turned to B.I.G. Enterprises (http://www.bigbooth.com).

B.I.G.s expertise in state regulation knowledge helps expedite permitting process.

FedEx came to B.I.G. Enterprises with a specific request; they needed a steel guard booth with superior design flexibility to meet the companys architectural specifications, and code compliance capacities to meet Tennessees permitting and energy requirements.

B.I.G. is possibly the only manufacturer who holds a State Modular Building manufacturing license in every U.S. State that requires it. This means B.I.G. could easily obtain the 3rd party State Modular Building approval for FedEx, with the State of Tennessees Approval insignia affixed to the booths interior wall  helping accelerate the permitting process. And with B.I.G.s modular designs, the unit could be built in accordance with FedExs particular architectural stipulations.

B.I.G. manufactured a galvanized steel Guard Booth to FedExs unique specifications.

Made with all galvanized steel, the facade of the FedEx Guard Booth features a large front cantilever overhang, continuous exterior insulation encapsulated in the exterior formed and welded architectural metal panels, and a Bright Metallic Silver paint finish making for an energy-efficient and attractive booth up to par with FedExs architectural requirements.

The unit also includes a heavy-duty galvanized steel door hung by rigid steel ball bearing rollers with a lower stainless-steel guide. These doors have stainless steel pull handles welded to the frame, with a mortise lock recessed into the frame with an IC core. The booths windows are comprised of tinted tempered dual pane insulating glass and Low-E coating.

The units interior features an acoustic tile drop ceiling with a galvanized steel formed grid welded in place, a galvanized steel floor with industrial tile flooring, and stainless-steel shelving with painted galvanized steel storage cabinets. These components are finished with a high solids polyurethane paint that is impact, face, chemical & graffiti resistant.

For superior visibility, comfortability, and communication capacities, this booth is equipped with the full electrical package: LED lights inside and outside the structure, a ductless split system HVAC with an interior air unit recessed in the ceiling, extensive electrical plus conduits, and boxes for Security, Data & Communications wiring.

This B.I.G. Guard Booth offers the total package: a transportation security booth with class-leading durability, safety, and efficiency features. And it is prefab, so its literally plug and play when delivered to the site, allowing FedEx to keep in budget and on time.

As one B.I.G. customer stated: We chose B.I.G. because of a combination of price, delivery time frame, and product quality. With the convergence of all three things, B.I.G. was a clear winner.

About B.I.G. Enterprises:

For over 50 years, engineers and decision-makers from hundreds of transportation, chemical, agricultural, manufacturing, university, and corporate facilities have trusted B.I.G. Enterprises to produce exceptional products and designs to meet the exacting requirements of todays corporate and industrial security environment.

Utilizing a proprietary "Critical Span" manufacturing technique that increases convenience and strength in prefabricated structures, the B.I.G. team has booths protecting our nations capital, nuclear power plants, international airports, colleges, universities, military bases, amusement parks and corporate offices.
Were thrilled to have Matt join our talented pumpspotting Board, and welcome his product knowledge and high-growth startup experience to the table.

pumpspotting, a breastfeeding platform that supports new parents throughout their baby-feeding journeys and allows employers to provide essential family benefits, today announced the appointment of Matt Douglas to the pumpspotting Board of Directors. Douglas joins a distinguished group of experts on the pumpspotting Board including Caitlin Wege, Chairman of the Board, Managing Partner of MooDoos Investments and President of Tech Coast Angels San Diego Chapter; Tim Hoechst, former Chief Technology Officer at Accenture Federal Services and SVP of Oracle; and board observers Joe Powers, Managing Director of Maine Venture Fund, and Susan Morris, seasoned Sales and Marketing VP, Maine Angels member.

The appointment of Matt Douglas to the pumpspotting Board adds a strong family-tech voice to the pumpspotting leadership team. Both Punchbowl and pumpspotting build technology platforms that support families in the most important years of their lives.

Were thrilled to have Matt join our talented pumpspotting Board, and welcome his product knowledge and high-growth startup experience to the table, said Amy VanHaren, CEO and Founder of pumpspotting. We look forward to collectively expanding our impact and driving our next phase of growth as a team.

Matt Douglas is the Founder & CEO of Punchbowl, and has led the Company from inception to profitability. Matt has raised three rounds of venture capital from Intel Capital, Contour Ventures, Launchpad Ventures and other prominent angel investors. In addition, he negotiated and closed a strategic investment and multi-year commercial relationship with Party City Holdings, Inc. and an exclusive licensing relationship with The Walt Disney Company. Matt has 20+ years of experience in software and mobile technology, with expertise in team building, product vision, and creative marketing. Prior to Punchbowl, Matt held Senior roles at Adobe Systems and Bose Corporation.

As a CEO and a parent, I see the huge potential of pumpspottings business, said Douglas. The company has strong leadership, a respected brand, and all the pieces in place to be a leading solution for parents and essential family benefits.

About pumpspotting

pumpspotting empowers women by enabling nursing, pumping, breast- and chestfeeding parents to achieve their feeding goals. The companys software and services, deployed by employers, retailers and other partners, transform legally-required accommodations into comprehensive and effective programming that positions employers as heroes and helps working parents feed both their families and their careers. Moms love pumpspotting because its encouraging community reduces isolation and anxiety while connecting them with peers, experts and places to feed. For more information, visit pumpspotting.com.
Robert L. Lattimer, a scholar for diversity studies and a lecturer of public policy, has completed his new book Redemption Song: The Promise of American Diversity: Values for the 21st Century: a provocative work that discusses the shift in the state of diversity in America over the last four years and societal impacts on people of color.

Robert L. Lattimer has captured the essence of the current cultural climate for constructive protest based on the nations principles of liberty, freedom, opportunity, and achievement for all Americans, that the promise of American diversity means that if Black lives dont matter, no lives do. In this book, Lattimer has truly presented the Soul of America.

Published by Page Publishing, Robert L. Lattimers captivating tale considers major, life-dictating issues faced by people of color in America and how that opposes constitutional views.

In a cultural climate where privilege is valued more so than principles, the risk is present of losing the meaning that came with the culmination of the American constitution. Discussing the issue of income inequality, race, and education and how this impacts the cyclical lack of privilege among people of color, Lattimer encourages compassion and understanding. Acknowledging a repeating cycle that is increasingly difficult to break, Lattimer exposes the unfulfilled promises of a country founded on freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and what the promise of diversity in Americas future will hold.

Readers who wish to experience this compelling work can purchase Redemption Song: The Promise of American Diversity: Values for the 21st Century 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.
Strategies include knowing what to expect on June 15, applying for Payroll Protection Program loan forgiveness, and knowing the local resources that are available.

As Californians look forward to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions on June 15, businesses are revamping and reorganizing in preparation. The attorneys from San Luis Obispo Toews Law Group, Inc. have preorganized some strategies that can help businesses return to business as usual.

These strategies include:



Knowing what June 15 means for California businesses

Applying for Payroll Protection Program loan forgiveness

Knowing the local resources that are available

What happens on June 15?

Capacity and distancing restrictions are lifted for restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls, movie theaters, churches. Most everyday places will be open as normal, with some recommended protocols for event venues.

For outdoor events with more than 10,000 people and indoor venues with 5,000 or more people, the state recommends that venues have a process to verify vaccination/negative test in place. The vaccination/negative test protocol remains in place until October 1, 2021 and the state will revaluate the recommendations starting September 1, 2021.

For more information and specific details for, visit Californias Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

Apply for loan forgiveness

One of the first things to do is to apply for forgiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program loan (PPP) loans. Your business is a candidate for loan forgiveness if the loan was used to keep employees on the job at their full wages (at least 66-percent of the PPP money must be spent on payroll costs), and the remaining proceeds paid for operating costs, mortgage payments, utilities and protective equipment for employees.

PPP funds spent for uninsured recovery from property damage incurred during civil unrest in 2020 is also considered forgivable. Businesses that spent most of the loan on eligible expenses can still get a portion of the loan forgiven, but will need to repay the unforgiven portion.

To obtain forgiveness you will need to apply for PPP forgiveness with the original lender. Complete all of the forms and provide all necessary documentation to your original lender. The lender will then send the packet to the Small Business Administration, which determines whether the loan qualifies for forgiveness. If a lender denies a loan-forgiveness application, the business can request a review by the SBA. If the SBA denies forgiveness, the borrow can appeal to the SBA office of hearing and appeals within 30 days.

Local resources

Most California county governments have reopening resources and information available for businesses. In San Luis Obispo County, those resources can be found on recoverslo.org. The resources include:

Access to financial assistance including the Restaurant Revitalization Fund,

Shuttered Venues Grants, SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans, grants programs, including the Shuttered Venues Grants and a link to the California consolidated grants portal;

Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards for California employers;

Business guidance including local agencies that can help, and how to get general training;

An employer playbook outlining how to reopen safely;

Where to get legal advice.

The San Luis Obispo business attorneys from Toews Law Group, Inc. would also like to remind business owners that effective January 1, 2021, California law temporarily exempts limited liability companies, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships from paying Californias $800 minimum franchise tax for their first year of operation.

With the implementation of Assembly Bill 85, California LLCs, LLPs, and LPs, which are formed after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2023, are also exempt from the minimum franchise tax in their first taxable year.

As business attorneys in San Luis Obispo, Toews Law Group, Inc. can meet a range of business legal and consultation needs. We serve as business and legal consultants on debt restructuring, sales, purchases, and reorganizations of troubled businesses.

This information has been prepared by Toews Law Group, Inc. for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. The transmission of this information is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation.

Toews Law Group, Inc.

1212 Marsh Street, Suite 3

San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

(805) 781-3645
Matt Jevne

Spring-Green Enterprises (SGE), the parent company to the Spring-Green Lawn Care and the Pet Butler franchise brands, is pleased to announce that Matt Jevne has been named as Vice President of Information Technology.

Jevne is an accomplished IT professional with 20 years of experience, most recently as the Director of Information Technology / Application Development for Berlin Packaging and previously Vice President of Information Technology for CompusSystems, Inc. Matt was instrumental in both organizations evolution and has held leadership roles in data analytics, quality assurance, software development and IT infrastructure.

As Vice President of Information Technology for Spring-Green Enterprises, Jevne is responsible for shaping the organizations technology road map, building, and leading a blended team of onsite, offshore and strategic vendors across the Software Development, Business Intelligence, and the Infrastructure Team.

I am excited to join Spring-Green Enterprises at this stage of growth. Having the opportunity to join a family-owned organization who put its franchise owners and staff first is exciting for me. There is an appetite and a clear vision for growth. I look forward to being a key member of the team, using my experience to help navigate the technology road map and build a high-power technology division. said Jevne.

Spring-Green Enterprises is long known for its progressive marketing and industry back office support and was named to the Forbes List of Top 10 Franchises to Buy in 2019 as well as Lawn and Landscape Magazines 2021s Top 100 Largest Companies in the industry.

We are excited that Matt has joined our team. Having recently set our next 10-year vision for the organization, his experience aligns well with where we are going. Matt will make an immediate impact and have responsibility for one of our most critical business units. Matts proven ability to build and lead high powered teams along with his strong family values, makes him a welcomed addition to the organization said James Young, COO.

About Spring-Green Lawn Care

Spring-Green Enterprises (SGE) is the parent company to the Spring-Green Lawn Care and Pet Butler franchise brands as well as its portfolio of company-owned locations. SGE operates an affiliate company that provides marketing and technology services to its clients, which includes the management and development of a suite of proprietary applications, a national call center which provides back-office support and industry leading marketing services. Spring-Green Lawn Care has been delivering lawn, pest and tree care services to residential and commercial properties since 1977. Pet Butler makes life safer & easier for pet parents by providing pest waste removal and other pet related services. parents.

Both brands are an attractive opportunity for entrepreneurs and existing business owners who are seeking to diversify with a business model that has proven economic resilience, recurring revenue, and industry leading operations and marketing support. For more information, visit springgreenfranchise.com or petbutlerfranchise.com
Vedantas key focus areas around exploration, optimization and oil and gas decline management are all at the heart of our organization and technology

Today Tachyus announced it was the winner of a spot in the highly regarded Vedanta Spark program. Vedanta Spark is a global Corporate Innovation & Ventures program that partners with early-stage, growth stage and venture stage Digital Tech startups driving Industrial Digital Transformation in AI, IoT, edge computing, robotics, power electronics, visual intelligence, additive manufacturing etc. for strategic innovation initiatives. Tachyus was one of only 23 global companies selected to participate.

This is a great opportunity for the Tachyus team, said Tachyus Senior Vice President of Operations Carlos Calad, Vedantas key focus areas around exploration, optimization and oil and gas decline management are all at the heart of our organization and technology and we are excited to see where this collaboration leads.

Tachyus Corporation is a leading Silicon Valley company with offices in Houston, TX specializing in oilfield solutions using Data Physics and a combination of traditional reservoir modeling with artificial intelligence.

Vedanta is India's leading and world's 6th largest diversified natural resources conglomerate with business operations majorly in India and also in South Africa, Namibia, UAE and Australia. They are a fully integrated producer of Oil & Gas, Zinc -Lead -Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power with world class, low-cost and long-life assets, Vedanta contributes 1.4% towards India's GDP, as per IFC.

For more information contact:

Tachyus: contact@tachyus.com http://www.tachyus.com

Vedanta: http://www.vedanta.com
We look forward to showing the real estate professionals the effective and personable way we serve our customers.

Title Alliance, Ltd., a leading partner in forming affiliated businesses in the title and escrow space, is excited to add a new Washington state office to its family of joint ventures with Title Alliance Northwest, a partnership with Keller Williams Puyallup in Washington. This Pacific Northwest location is Title Alliances second in the state after arriving in late 2020 as housing markets across the country saw an unprecedented level of activity.

With its bustling real estate market, the Tacoma area is ripe for further growth and development. We are thrilled to expand our commitment to Washingtons real estate community with the opening of our second location, said Jim Campbell, Chief Executive Officer of Title Alliance. Washington marked Title Alliances 10th state when we arrived last fall, and we are excited to continue expanding and offering our innovative business model to additional customer bases.

Title Alliance Northwest joins Title Alliance Puget Sound, which is located in Federal Way and serves the Seattle area. Title Alliance is expanding its presence nationally, operating in 60 offices across 11 states.

Bringing our customer-centered focus on business to Washington has long been a goal of Title Alliance, said Lindsay Smith, Chief Strategy Officer for Title Alliance. Our second joint venture within a short amount of time shows our dedication to the Realtors, lenders and builders who serve this great state. We look forward to showing the real estate professionals the effective and personable way we serve our customers. Title Alliance is passionate about the benefits of joint ventures and operating at the forefront of our industry thanks to our expert team members.

About Title Alliance:

Title Alliance, Ltd., has been forming successful single and multi-state joint ventures with lenders, Realtors and builders since 1983. We work with our partners to establish in-house title and settlement operations, dramatically enhancing their customer service and increasing their profit. Started and headquartered in Media, Pa., Title Alliances family of companies are currently in 11 states and across 60 offices. More information at http://www.titlealliance.com.


Ur1Stop opened its first computer/electronic retail store in Schaumburg, Illinois.The store offers New, Renewed, and Manufacturer Certified Refurbished Products from all major brands. Schaumburg Mayor, Tom Dailly was among the invitees attending the opening ceremony.

At the opening, Moiz Mohammed, CEO shared his vision of setting up smaller retail stores nationwide, which will serve as a one stop shop for businesses/consumers. The stores will have best of the breed computer offerings and on site repairs. Our vision is to help out consumers repair/upgrade their computers same day at an affordable price.

Ur1Stop is an online retailer selling New and Refurbished Computer and Electronic products for the last 4 years. For more information on Ur1Stop, reach out our sales team at (866) 232-7408, or email sales@ur1stop.com. You may also visit our website at https:// http://www.ur1stop.com.
Todays marketing doesnt need to be overwhelming or create a headache. Its a matter of working with someone who understands it and can help your business excel in it. Thats exactly what I specialize in and the mission of Game Changer Marketing Solutions

If theres one thing that sets millennials apart in the business world its that they have a keen understanding of marketing in todays digital age. One person who has excelled in this area is Cassi Manner, a 24-year old who is celebrating two years of running the leading marketing agency in Hawaii, called Game Changer Marketing Solutions. As a young female entrepreneur, she continues to break through barriers and lead her company to the top. Along the way, shes using her marketing skills to take her clients with her.

Im thrilled that my hard work has paid off and Game Changer Marketing Solutions is thriving, explains Cassi Manner, owner of the company. Many people find it intimidating to navigate todays digital world in order to market their business, but its all Ive ever known, so I am comfortable with it.

No stranger to digital media success, Manner is a social media expert, model, and blogger, who has an Instagram following of over 450,000 people. She is a freediver who blogs about freediving in Hawaii, as well as health, travel, fashion, fitness, and more. She is able to use the power of todays digital media world to help herself, and her clients, reach more potential customers, stay in contact with their current customers, and increase brand awareness.

What sets Game Changer Marketing Solutions apart is Manners knowledge on using digital media. Her team focuses on providing such solutions as expert web design and search engine optimization, social media management, brand awareness, email newsletter management, and photo and video content creation.

Millions of people begin their search for products and services online. They use the Internet to find information, read reviews, see videos, learn about companies, and more. In order for businesses to tap into the power of that audience its important that they understand the various ways to reach their potential customers, and how to turn them into buyers. Online is also an important way to help brand a company and bring a business to life, with also providing the ability to interact with consumers.

Todays marketing doesnt need to be overwhelming or create a headache, adds Manner. Its a matter of working with someone who understands it and can help your business excel in it. Thats exactly what I specialize in and the mission of Game Changer Marketing Solutions.

Manners marketing agency in Hawaii has soared to the top, under her leadership, where she shares everything she knows and understands about todays digital market. The agency offers a full range of marketing management solutions for all types of businesses, both in Hawaii and around the globe. She has worked with clients in such fields as health, fashion, and lifestyle.

To get more information about Game Changer Marketing Solutions, visit the site at: https://www.gamechangermarketingsolutions.com

About Game Changer Marketing Solutions

A full service marketing agency based in Hawaii, Game Changer Marketing Solutions helps companies navigate todays digital media world. Founded by Cassi Manner, a 24-year old digital media expert and blogger, the company works with companies around the world. To get more information, visit the site at: https://www.gamechangermarketingsolutions.com [https://www.gamechangermarketingsolutions.com __title__ ]

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Afghanistan war veteran and author Trent Reedy (l.) is best known for his novel Words into Dust, about an Afghan teen girl. His new novel, Enduring Freedom, co-written with Afghan English teacher Jawad Arash (who uses a pseudonym), is based on the aftermath of 9/11 and Reedys deployment in Afghanistan; its also inspired by the unlikely friendship the two struck up when the Army stationed Reedy in Arashs town when Arash was a teen. PW spoke with the authors about how they met, what prompted them to write together, and how they crafted the narratives dual perspectives.

What inspired you both to write this book based on your actual friendship in time for the anniversary of 9/11 and Operation Freedom?

Reedy: Ive been back for 16 years and I thought I was done writing about the war, but Afghanistan keeps luring me back [as a subject]. It amazes me how much time has passed and how quickly. Its been 20 years and I am still struck by how strongly 9/11 and the Afghan people stick with me. Its a huge part of my life, so writing this book was very personalparticularly to write it with Jawad and to bring our friendship to life against the backdrop of that time.

Arash: For me it was also very personal. And it felt like the right thing to do, to bring this cooperation to life and tell a story based on our story. To be honest, for us [in Afghanistan], 9/11 was a great tragedy that we watched at home later on VHS tapes that we smuggled in and had to keep secret from the Taliban. We had no idea what would be next for us as a country. And for all of us who were kids at the time, my generation, though this was something horrifying and it brought a terrible war, later on it also brought us opportunities for a better future.

How did you originally meet?

Arash: In my town, me and the other boys, we were all desperate to practice our English. We heard that there was an American soldier who would talk to people. And I tried to meet him and started to talk to him. Our friendship started from there.

Reedy: The real story mirrors what we wrote in the book. When our unit first arrived, we rented a compound right next to Jawads home. On one intensely hot day, I was stationed on a tower up high on a concrete platform above a dusty street and an Afghan teen started to talk to me. I am ashamed now to remember what I thought then. The Army trained us to think we were in a constant fight and to treat all the Afghan people as potential enemies. So, when Jawad came up to me and spoke, I feared this kid might be a suicide bomber or want to hurt me in some way. We [the Americans] had so many mistaken ideas. I was on edge all the time in the beginning. But when I finally talked to Jawad it turned out that all he wanted was to meet me, to practice his English, and it was a hot day so he wanted to get into the shade. I can laugh now, because I was overreacting. I would like to take a moment to thank the Afghan people for bearing with us [the Army] as we bumbled along in those early tours.

Arash: I would just like to add that for kids like me in Afghanistan who knew a bit of English and wanted to learn more, we were so enthusiastic to talk to this particular guy, Trent. We all knew about him and funnily enough, this incident that really happened gave us more connection eventually. It benefited the friendship rather than harming it. Other units who came later also helped us. After Trent, a group of soldiers from Texas arrived, and they helped us learn English, too. And later when we finally learned about the internet, I found Trents email and we reconnected. I hope he never shares that first email I sent, which shows the level of English I had then.

Reedy: And when we started writing [the book] we relied on old journals, photos, and emails to help us develop the voice of each of these characters.

How did the book come to be?

Arash: It was all Trents idea. I will always be thankful that he took a chance on me, a first-time writer. He gave me so much support. Our timing was tricky, as my days were his evenings. Trent sacrificed a lot of opportunities to work on this with me. We started with a small question for each other, How was 9/11 for you? And the entire story began with that simple question. And for me, parts of the book come straight from my experience. I did live right next to a Talibs house. Trent asked me to explain what that was like, and I told him about how we had to hide our TV and disguise the sound so that none of [the sound] would leak into the other house. We talked about it and went into more detail and realized right there is a story. But it was a lot of hard work.

Reedy: I think what becomes clear as you listen to Jawad is that it all comes from him. And when we talked about that smuggled VHS tape of 9/11, rolled up in a rug, and how they were so terrified of the Talib next door, it just all fell together. We worked on that particular scene a lot. When Americans see that footage, they react with fear, sorrow, and anger. At least for me after 9/11, I also had a desire for vengeance. But for the Afghan people, their fear was a little different. Just like in our book, when the grandfather is sad and terrified: he knows that the U.S. might blame them, and his family and people are already so tired of war after the ravages of the Soviet invasion. We really tried to zero in on the Afghan perspective. And if you think about it, they were more victims in this scenario. They didnt do it [the attacks on 9/11].

One of the most engrossing elements of this book is how the dual third-person narrative perspectives unfold. How did you come up with this structure?

Reedy: As I started to write, there was so much I had forgotten. To trigger my memory, as I said, I relied on scenes from photos and my old journals. And Jarad did the same. As we discussed scenes and how we each felt at the time, we decided to frame the novel around our own unlikely friendship and how it evolved.

But the writing itself was technically very difficult. The structure is surprisingly complex. Its not as simple as I hope it reads, nor was crafting it as smooth. We developed two concurrent and very different timelines from when 9/11 happened until the end of the book. We worked hard on the pacing and timing. As we alternated back and forth between the two characters perspective, our editor at Algonquin, Krestyna Lypen, urged us not to hold too tightly to the back and forth. If we needed to focus more on the Afghan perspective she recommended we stay on that focus, and vice versa, rather than sticking too tightly to equal time and words. That freed us up a lot to make the story, at least I hope, both more compelling and more true.

And we were also 12 1/2 hours apart. We joked that we were always saying goodnight to the other. So, when Jawad was asleep I was writing, and when I sent him my drafts to review he was just waking up.

Arash: One of the things that helped as we were writing is that I am always connected to my phone. And my wife and I had a new baby at the time, so sometimes Trent would ask me a translation question or want to clarify a point about Afghan culture, and because I was awake with the baby I could often answer him right away.

Reedy: I love that kid.

Arash: Trent made a chapter list that was really helpful. We also had an incident list with all the events we wanted to include, so that as we were writing and reviewing we could make sure they were there and where we wanted them to occur. Those tools really helped me as a first-time writer.

Jawad, how did you craft your character Baheer? Can you share more about how you developed his perspective and chose to portray Afghan life?

Arash: To be honest, there is just so much of myself in Baheer. There is a scene in the very beginning with the students, all boys, lined up for inspection before school. The Taliban inspected the length of our hair, and whether or not we shaved properly, among other things. This is something I have seen every day. And I saw the kids who were older, teens over 13 or so who needed to shave, hide from the inspectors because they shaved incorrectly, or wanted to have a more fashionable hairstyle. That fear was all around us, all the time.

Reedy: There are key turns of phrase in the book that are all Jawad. He wrote his eye jumped out of his knuckles, and that was so vivid. When I asked him about it he said, Dont you have this same saying in America? For this and so many other reasons it wasnt as important that we have a sensitivity reader familiar with Afghan customs (of course we still had one), because we had Jawad himself.

Trent, your characterwhite high school senior Joe Killianinitially resents his units peace mission to Baheers town. Does this reflect your own feelings during your experience?

Reedy: Though Im not a big fan of disclaimer apologies, I feel a bit of that coming on in this instance. I am ashamed of how I felt then about the Afghan people. I am a veteran who writes war books for young adults, and I feel morally and personally compelled to be as honest as I can. So, yes, initially I wanted vengeance like my character does. And I wished I were assigned active duty rather than a peace mission in Afghanistan. Though the U.S. is currently preparing to bring back our troops [from Afghanistan], I wouldnt bet that well never be at war anywhere ever again, so I want to share my honest perspective with young people even though Im now deeply ashamed of my attitudes then. I address this in the authors notes, about how I was still so angry about 9/11 and yet we were still clearing the wreckage from the war in 2004.

When I went to Afghanistan I had never even been to Canada. I was taken from my wife, my friends. And I was fed some lies by the military. Enduring Freedom tries to refute those lies. Afghanistan is a beautiful country. It was a prized vacation destination until the Soviet bombings set them back.

And I wanted my character Joes experience to indict the Army training we received. It took me halfway through my tour to realize a lot of it was just a waste of time and dead wrong. Most of us in the Army went into the war expecting a firefight every day and blaming the Afghans and maybe all Muslims for 9/11. I had a profound and total conversion, just as Joe does in the book. I have never in my life changed my mind so completely. I watched one day as a group of Afghan kids played with a little shoebox, dragging it up and down the street. It was their only toy. Now I grew up poor, but even I had better than a shoebox. You just cant keep the anger up that long when faced with the reality of these kind people. Time and time again the Afghans rescued us, often risking their own lives to do so. And all of them were Muslim. I remember one instance when an old man came running out in front of us waving his arms. He could have been shot by the Taliban or us or both. We thought it was an ambush but all he wanted was to warn us about a mine. He saved our lives. Joe Killian, as I did, naively thinks he wants to fight, until he realizes that reconstruction is the real mission. And that it is a real honor. Ive done some work at the VA on the emotions of this, and that helped in writing Joes perspective.

What do you most hope readers will take away from your novel?

Reedy: There are so many American readers who lost someone in this war: a parent, a relative, a friend who didnt come back. I want readers to know their sacrifices were not in vain. There was high cost, a monumental cost, to their service, but we did good there in that peace mission. And I am frankly amazed at how much changed in such a short amount of time. Jawad asked me to come speak to his class online and I was so shocked to see how many girls now study at school rather than at home. That happened so quickly. When I was there I couldnt even compliment an Afghan friends sisters cooking without raising alarm. Back then a comment on a girl by a man outside the family was a major blunder with potentially terrifying consequences. And now Jawads class is full of girls studying alongside boys.

Arash: This is a huge step we have all taken together. I hope readers can see that. And this, I hope, will lead to a better life for the Afghan people.

Enduring Freedom by Jawad Arash and Trent Reedy. Algonquin, $18.95 May ISBN 978-1-64375-040-8
The 2021 Invest Sri Lanka Forum, organized by the Board of Investment, The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Colombo Stock Exchange, which commenced on Monday, 7thJune concluded successfully on Wednesday, 9th June.

Asias first ever virtual investment forum was held with foreign participation of 2,200 from 85 countries and 2,500 local participants. The conference consisted of 118 insightful sessions with 108 local and foreign dignitaries, leading entrepreneurs and global expertsjoining to share information on foreign investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.

The forum was inaugurated by His Excellency the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whoshared his vision for the spawning of a decade of growth culminating in the doubling of the economy. His Excellency further pointed to the pivotal role local and foreign investors would play in the rapid transformation of the economy to reach a per capita income of US $ 8,000 within the current decade.

In inviting global investors to participate in Sri Lankas decade of growth, His Excellency encouraged investors to seize the window of opportunity toleverage onSri Lanka's strategic location as the gateway to South Asia, high quality human resources, unique tourism potential, progressive policy environment and inherent political stability, among other factors.

Day 2 of the event was inaugurated by Hon. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who stated that Sri Lanka has embarked on a wide range of development initiatives to encourage investment and has created a conducive business environment. Day 3 was inaugurated by Hon Ajith NivardCabraal, State Minister for Money and Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reform.

The forum was streamed globally through Microsoft Teams and Youtube platforms accommodating multiple time zones as well as Dialog TV and Peo TV for Sri Lankan Television audiences. SLIF 2021 generated a rich content of significant value to current and potential Investors. Forum sessions can be accessed via www.invest-srilanka.lk in replay mode.

In addition to the comprehensive coverage of policy topics and deep dive sessions on sectoral opportunities and enabling environments over 3 days, the forum was enriched by a broad spectrum of investor testimonials from across FDI and Portfolio spheres, and contributions from a galaxy of international speakers. Further, investment opportunities and concessions in various economic sectors as well as the favorable climate for Sri Lankan capital markets, in particular equities, were examined over several sessions. Country specific sessions designed for investors from China, Japan, India, South Korea, United Kingdom, European Union and United States were also held during the forum.

SLIF 2021 was supported by the following partners and sponsors: International Finance Corporation (Knowledge Partner), Boston Consulting Group ( Strategic Partner), Port City Sri Lanka (Flagship Project Partner), Microsoft (Technology Partner), HSBC (Banking Partner), Asia Securities (Platinum Sponsor), Shangri-La (Hospitability Partner), SLASSCOM (IT-BPM Sector Partner), FairFirst Insurance (Insurance Partner), Dialog ( Communication partner), Citibank (Gold Sponsor), CAL (Gold Sponsor), NSB Fund Management (Silver Sponsor), CT CLSA (Silver Sponsor), NDBIB (Silver Sponsor), Melstacorp (Bronze Sponsor), Softlogic Stockbrokers (Bronze Sponsor), CIMA (Skills Development Partner) and CFA Sri Lanka (Investment Professionals Partner).
Founded in the U.K. in 2019, Welbeck Childrens Publishing Group currently publishes an array of nonfiction in the U.S. under three imprints: Welbeck Childrens, Welbeck Editions, and Mortimer Childrens. The number of titles released in this country, all of which are Americanized from the U.K. editions, will jump from 60 books in 2020 to 80 in 2021. And next year, the companys offerings will grow further with the introduction of its two inaugural fiction imprints for children, Welbeck Flame and Orange Mosquito, which will debut worldwide in January 2022.

The mission of Welbeck Flame, the publisher explained in a statement, is to publish middle-grade fiction full of hope, heart, and humor; originality of voice; and above all stories that transport readers to worlds beyond their own. Welbeck Flame will launch with two series: the After School Detective Club begins in January with The Case of the Smugglers Curse; and Luma and Her Pet Dragon is a February release starting up a series of the same name.

A second new fiction imprint, Orange Mosquito, created in partnership with Mosquito Books of Barcelona, will issue approximately 20 books annually for children and teens. Specific titles have yet to be announced.

Jane Harris, Welbecks group publisher for childrens books, noted that incorporating fiction into the publishing program had always been in the plan, and emphasized the propitious timing of its implementation. In todays challenging world, the importance and relevance of storytelling could not be more pertinent, especially for children, she said. Developing a new childrens fiction list to complement Welbecks existing list of illustrated nonfiction is exciting and one that we believe will intrigue authors, illustrators, and agents. We have a strong and clear vision for growing our childrens business and adding fiction to the division will enable us to reach even more readers in the U.S. and Canada.

Nonfiction Continues to Flourish

While heralding its move into fiction, the publisher has also announced additions to its nonfiction imprints. Welbeck Childrens, which publishes illustrated nonfiction encompassing STEM themes, history, nature, the environment, hobbies, and mental well-being, has two food-themed lead titles for fall. Due in October is Annabel Karmels Fun, Fast & Easy Childrens Cookbook, a kitchen companion for children ages five and up and their parents, illustrated by Bryony Clarkson. Karmels numerous earlier cookbooks for children include the bestselling Real Food Kids Will Love. And scheduled for December release is My Vegan Year: The Young Persons Seasonal Guide to Going Vegan by Niki Webster, illustrated by Anna Stiles.

Welbeck Editions, a boutique imprint focusing on highly designed, illustrated picture books and nonfiction titles, welcomes a trio of middle-grade titles in the fall. Written by Joe Fullman and illustrated by Rose Blake, The World Book is an almanac highlighting key facts and stats about countries across the world. And Robert Ingpen Illustrated Classics will release reissues of Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe.

And next up from Mortimer Childrens, a self-described trend-led imprint that taps into popular culture, gaming, and licensing brands, are two board books in the How Many Sleeps til? series: Halloween and Christmas and Secrets of a Fortnite Fan 3: Llama Drama, a paperback novel written by Eddie Robson and illustrated by Oscar Herrero, in which a Fortnite-obsessed boy deals with his real-life drama.

Getting Up and Running Stateside

Welbeck has hired several publishing veterans to build the business and oversee sales and marketing initiatives in the U.S., and plans to further expand its dedicated publishing team for the U.S. and Canada in 2022. Kim Brown, v-p of sales and marketing for North America, leads the current initiatives for Welbecks expansion in this country. She is assisted by Josalyn Moran, director of new business for childrens books, and Michelle F. Bayuk, who heads up childrens marketing. Brown explained that the company has recently lined up the very knowledgeable and engaged team at Two Rivers to handle North American sales and distribution for its list, which she described as broadwith a little something for everyone, including commercial board books for more mass-market accounts, higher end nonfiction books for specialty gift stores, and loads of nonfiction that is perfect for schools and libraries.

Harris underscored the wide range of talent and experience represented by Welbeck staffers on both sides of the Atlantic. We have people in all parts of the company who have worked for major publishers on different continents, as well as people who have worked in TV production, recorded music, music publishing, and magazines, she said. And we have the size, scale, and reach of a major publishing house with the passion, creativity, and ability to move quickly of an independent publisher.
The witch niche is a niche no more. Books by, for, and about the women of witchcraft (and a handful of men) have escaped that confining label to become a booming book category for a number of publishers who are expanding their lists. And ditch the pointy hat, broom, and cauldron stereotypes, too. Publishers highlight contemporary witch writers authentic cultural knowledge, adventurous thinking and artistic expressions from traditional practices such as spell casting to intensely specific themes from manicures-with-meaning to home decor to handling poison plants.

Magick titles (the k signifies this is esoterica, not bunny-from-a-hat magic) are mainstays for two publishers, Llewellyn and Weiser. At Llewellyn, witchcraft, magic and pagan-related titles are eight in 10 of their all-time bestsellers with some titles racking up millions of dollars in sales. This year, the house is releasing 57 new titles in this category, says marketing director Tom Lund. He also observes growth in the number of Metaphysical stores that make our titles much more available. The same is true of online retailers. They sell so we publish more.

As publisher Bill Krause put it, Spells are like recipes. Everyone wants a new one. Their annually updated Llewellyns Witches Spell-a-Day Almanac: Holidays & Lore Spells, Rituals & Meditations compiled by popular magickal thought-leaders regularly sells 75,000 copies, according to the publisher. There are introductory guides for newbies, arcane explorations of the elements for the more advanced and more specialty subjects than ever.

Unmarried? Reconsider your status to see yourself as a confident force evolved beyond the expectations of a male-dominated culture with Spinstress Craft: Magick for the Independent Witch by Leslie Linder (July). Into yoga? Theres a crossover title, Magick from the Mat: Using Yoga to Enhance Your Witchcraft, by Casey Giovinco who wants to rev up your psychic powers with poses and breathwork. Seek protection from harmful forces? Hex Twisting: Counter-Magick Spells for the Irritated Witch by Diana Rajchel teaches how to shield oneself from negative magick, trap malevolent spirits and ward off psychic attacks (Nov.).

At Weiser, associate publisher Peter Turner says sales are up dramatically, both in terms of the rate of sales for particular books and Weiser books overall  doubling in year-over-year revenue in a three year period. If a book sells 10,000+ copies in the first year and moves into the backlist with a reasonable chance of selling 30,000+ over time we would consider that a bestseller for us.

Weiser's 2021 lists are chock-a-block with witchcraft books including more for beginners and for practitioners taking magick to new depths and in new directions, he says, citing more interest in ancestor work, LGBTQ+ rights, African-American religious traditions, and regional folk traditions. Turner also sees growth of interest through social media and across all demographics: male, female, young, old, Hispanic, African American, Asian, white.

Knowledge is power

The increased interest in magick may be driven by a hunger for personal power in uncertain times when people have lost trust in institutions and religion. [Readers] are looking to take control of their own destiny, Turner says, Its not just about obtaining power, but finding and feeling free to use your powers without asking permission from any authority. Upcoming titles include Hekate: Goddess of Witches (Aug.) by Courtney Weber, whose text combines scholarship and spiritual practices; Yemaya: Orisha, Goddess, and Queen of the Sea (Sept.) by Raven Morgaine, explores the African goddess in her forms as mother, lover, witch, warrior, and mermaid with special appeal to the LGBTQ community; and Witch Queens, Voodoo Spirits, and Hoodoo Saints: A Guide to Magical New Orleans (2022) by Denise Alvarado.

Judika Illes, a witch herself and editor for witchcraft and esoterica titles at Weiser since 2015, says, The word witch derives from words for 'knowing' and 'knowledge.' We know about political power and economic power. Witchcraft is knowledge of the earth and of non-visible powers. She sees a hunger for connection to the past in a time when genealogy and DNA searches are so popular. Illes is also an author with nine books published since 2001, primarily for Weiser and for HarperOne, where her still-popular 2004 book The Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells sold 12,000 copies last year and her newest book, Daily Magic: Spells and Rituals for Making the Whole Year Magical, releases in August.

HarperOne senior editor Kathryn Hamilton says, In the last few years, weve seen a resurgence in interest in books on new age, magical arts, the divine feminine, and other areas that equip and empower women to tap into their spirituality and unique female power. In addition to established leaders such as Illes, they have brought in new young witch authors such as Erica Feldmann whose 2019 HausMagick melded witchcraft and interior design, and theyre planning a future book with Bri Luna, known as the HoodWitch, who identifies as Black and Mexican and combines tarot card knowledge, mystical visuals, self-care wisdom, nail art, and "some legit #bigwitchenergy" according to her website thehoodwitch.com.

Editors say it is critical to respect authentic cultural representation, traditions, and practices. BIPOC authors are the future of the metaphysical shelf, says Allison Janice, acquisitions editor for Hay House. The only meaningful way to address concerns about appropriation in this space is to work with more authors who can bring their lived experience and culture to their work. To that end Hay House will publish two Abiola Abrams titles, African Goddess Initiation (July) and African Goddess Rising Oracle, (Oct.). Also signed: two books by Asha Frost (an Indigenous medicine woman) with You are the Medicine (March) and The Sacred Medicine Oracle in 2023.

Ideas From All Directions

Jill Alexander, executive acquisitions editor at Quarto Publishing, says the Fair Winds Press imprint has seen more interest in witchcraft-related titles. Were also seeing witches becoming a symbol of social and political activism and calling out injustice whether it has to do with how we treat the earth and environment or the BLM movement, says Alexander. Fair Winds October release, Dark Goddess Magick: Rituals and Spells for Reclaiming Your Feminine Fire by C. Ara Campbell has practices to guide folks to embody strength, set boundaries, and transform their lives. Titles can be entrepreneurial, too. Readers can get their earth-friendly herbal guidance from Susan Tuttle in Green Witch Magick: Essential Plants and Crafty Spellwork for a Witchs Cupboard (Sept.) and buy herbs she forages in Maine through her online business In the Wood Botanicals

Witches raise some risky subjects, too. The Poison Path Herbal by Coby Michael (Oct.) from Park Street Press, an imprint of Inner Traditions, looks at the use of baneful plants in magical practice, a topic thats becoming increasingly popular, says acquisitions editor Jon Graham. Inner Traditions has long published on specialized witchcraft and metaphysical topics, but Graham says they are now bringing out ten times more titles than ten years ago when they had only three witch titles such as Cait Johnsons hit with Witch in the Kitchen.

Now Inner Traditions has a deep backlist of authors in the metaphysical realm. There are 10 titles by Nigel Pennick, whose look at folk magic in witchcraft and religion, The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Mascots Folk Magic in Witchcraft and Religion, was published last month and whose next title, The Spiritual Power of Masks releases in spring 2022. And in October theyll add to the 15 titles in translation they offer from French writer Claude Lecouteux with Tales of Witchcraft and Wonder: The Venomous Maiden and Other Stories of the Supernatural.
Four book industry CEO participated in State of the Nations, the gateway event of the inaugural BolognaBookPlus, the new industry-focused professional trade program of the Bologna Childrens Book Fair, held on Tuesday. The panel, conducted over Zoom and moderated by U.K.-based publishing executive Richard Charkin, looked at how various publishers around the world coping with the fallout of the pandemic.

Hitting closest to home for Americans were the words of Roberto Banchik, CEO of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, Mexico who said for those in Mexico and Latin America, the pandemic is still very much part of our lives, and there are several countries, such as Argentina, that are once again closed. The big challenge for his company in Mexico was getting books to bookstores and customers. He noted that many booksellers do not have the same ability to shift to online sales like they did in the U.S., as the infrastructure for online bookselling simply was not there at scale. Online sales have been growing, but not far enough and deep enough to cover demand.

Chantal Restivo-Alessi, CEO, international foreign language and chief digital officer at HarperCollins, recounted the domino effect of helping people transition into remote work after seeing offices close around the world. The first big challenge was communication management and, frankly, understanding what was happening. She said that HarperCollinss international network enabled everyone to learn from each others experiences She concurred that the supply chain has been challenging, and she saluted those who were able to keep stores and businesses open, even for limited periods throughout the year. it was incredible what they were able to do," she said. Restivo-Alessi cited printers in Italy, for example, as having continued to operate throughout the pandemic, and credited similar resilience and tenacity for helping the industry overall bounce back rather quickly from the earliest blows of the pandemic.

Further afield, Louise Sherwin-Stark, CEO of Hachette Australia and New Zealand, agreed that supply issues were her firms biggest challenge, particularly as the company relies primarily on air freight for deliveries. We have around 45,000 titles of which about 25,000 are supplied on demand, which means were not actually holding the stock in Australia. In a traditional year wed air freight books in as we needed them, which would take about two weeks. But during the Covid year there were no planes, there are still no planes, so about 8,000 of those 25,000 we just cant get them to Australia or New Zealand except by boat. In normal times a boat would take three months and now its taking six to eight months. In turn, she says the company has increased printing in Australia and is looking to improve its overall logistics.

The person with the most dramatic story of all was Hakan Rudels, CEO of Swedens Bonnier Books, which had a record sales year, bought five publishing houses, and was bolstered by a robust business selling childrens books to homebound families. Suddenly, we realized the pandemic would be a positive thing for us, which was really weird," he admitted. "I think many of us wrestled with this because people are dying and the world was in the biggest crisis more or less in modern times, and we had a fantastic business. . . it was being in publishing but in a way being in the dot.com era because you just saw sales increases that you had never seen before."

One unexpected silver lining of the pandemic, said Rudels, is that publishers are more confident now than a year or two ago. Publishers have always been proud, but maybe not confident. I think that can change a lot for the future. Because this is a good business, self-sustaining in a way.
Purdue Graduate School News

June 10, 2021

Applications sought for Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate program

The Graduate Schools Office of Graduate Diversity Initiatives (OGDI) is seeking talented underrepresented minority doctoral students to join its Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program. This program is designed to improve student success in graduate school and equip students with the resources necessary to successfully enter the professoriate.

As of 2016, racial and ethnic minorities accounted for only 10 percent of tenured faculty nationwide, and that is something we are working to change," says Julius Eason, senior manager of OGDI. "That change starts with improving retention in graduate school and providing underrepresented minority graduate students with the resources they need to enter a career in academia. This program helps accomplish those goals."

The program offers a series of personal and professional development workshops, mentoring and outreach activities that provide students with the opportunity to foster academic and research collaborations, further enhancing underrepresented graduate student experiences and preparing them for the professoriate track.

Ali Camara, a Ph.D. candidate in biological sciences and AGEP scholar, reflected on his experience, saying, AGEP is a reminder for students that they are not alone, there is support, and there are people who come from our same backgrounds with the same goals.

OGDI is asking faculty members to encourage eligible graduate students to apply for this opportunity. Participants must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or DACA recipient who graduated from a U.S. high school. In addition, they must have passed their qualifying/preliminary exams while pursuing a doctoral degree. Doctoral candidates from historically underrepresented populations and diverse backgrounds include but are not limited to African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Native Pacific Islanders.

The next AGEP program will take place from fall 2021 to summer 2022. Interested students can apply online through July 15. Questions about the program should be directed to Eason at eason2@purdue.edu.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Learn about innovative farm management strategies, new technologies for improving efficiency and productivity, ways to help ensure a successful transition of your operation to the next generation and more at the annual Purdue Farm Management Tour, July 8-9.

Purdue Universitys Center for Commercial Agriculture and Purdue Extension sponsor the tour, which includes stops at three crop and dairy farms in Posey and Vanderburgh counties. Farms are chosen based on successful business management practices or farm managers unique perspective on farm business management.

The Purdue Farm Management Tour brings together some of Indianas best farm business managers, making it a fantastic opportunity for farmers to learn from others experiences and discover new principles to apply on their own farms in order to maximize innovation and success, said James Mintert, director of Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture.

Each tour includes an interview session where farm operators provide an overview of their farms. Host farmers will also share successful farm management tips, discuss how the management of their operations is changing in response to the agricultural economy and evolving family circumstances, and share reasons behind their recent innovations in production practices and adoption of new technology.

The tour is free and open to the public; however, registration is required by visiting purdue.ag/farmtour or calling 765-494-7004.

Tour Schedule  All times are listed in Central Daylight Time (CDT)

12:30 p.m., July 8  Koester Brothers Farms: Koester Brothers Farms is a multigeneration Posey County crop and dairy farm started by Ralph and Loretta Koester in the early 1950s. The farm was formally incorporated in 1993 and is now led by four brothers (Ray, Duane, Dale and James) who are poised to transition the farms leadership to the familys next generation. The farms dairy operation uses four robotic milkers, and the cropping operation consists of white and yellow corn, corn silage, haylage, both GMO and non-GMO soybeans and wheat. They also plant cover crops on a portion of their crop acreage each year. Koester Brothers Farms prides itself on the diversity of its enterprises to maximize profitability and hedge against risk.

8 a.m., July 9  Kron Farms: Located in Vanderburgh County, Randy and Joyce Kron are first-generation farm operators, starting Kron Farms in 1983. They operate the farm with their son, Ben, who manages day-to-day operations, and longtime employee Steve Glacier. Randy Kron has long been active in ag and community organizations and has served as Indiana Farm Bureau president since 2016. Kron Farms raises yellow corn and soybeans and is focused on adopting new technology to increase productivity, reduce cost per bushel produced and improve operating margins. Ben has entered Kron Farms in the National Corn Growers Association Corn Yield Contest and, in 2020, was a contest winner in the Strip, Minimum, Mulch, Ridge-Till Irrigated class. Using knowledge gained via participation in the corn yield contest to improve profitability is one of Kron Farms goals.

1:30 p.m., July 9  Seib Farms: Mark and Wayne Seib provide senior leadership to Seib Farms, a multigeneration Posey County crop farm started in 1898. Mark Seib has served in various ag leadership positions and is a member of the United Soybean Boards Executive Committee. Seib Farms is in the process of implementing a comprehensive transition plan to the familys next generation. The Seib family raises corn and soybeans and is a frequent user of on-farm research trials to make technology adoption decisions. Seib Farms has cooperated with a variety of agribusiness suppliers to conduct research on their farm for decades, which has allowed them to incorporate the knowledge gained directly into farm operation. Recently, Seib Farms started using cover crops to help sequester carbon on their farm.

Indiana Prairie Farmer Master Farmer Banquet

The Indiana Prairie Farmer Master Farmer Reception and Panel Discussion will be held July 8 at 3:30 p.m. in conjunction with the Farm Management Tour to honor the 2021 Master Farmers. This years award recipients will discuss keys to success during the course of their long farming careers. The reception will take place at the New Harmony Inn Resort & Conference Center, 504 North Street, New Harmony, Indiana. The Master Farmer Program is a long-standing tradition that honors individuals who have contributed heavily to Hoosier agriculture and demonstrated success in farming efficiency, stewardship of natural resources and community service. There is no cost to attend and all are welcome.

Writer: Torrie Sheridan, 765-496-6032, ward121@purdue.edu

Media contact: Sarah Zahn, 765-494-7004, smithse@purdue.edu

Source: James Mintert, 765-494-7004, jmintert@purdue.edu

Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415;

Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu

Agriculture News Page
Do we need plant diseases, unwanted pests and plagues to add to the countrys woes?

The President and the government is urged to at least postpone the decision made to ban the import of inorganic fertiliser at least for one year until it has had time to consult widely with experts and arrive at a more informed decision. Depriving some crops with inorganic fertiliser in the immediate term, and importing organic fertiliser as a substitute could be catastrophic in many ways.

by Raj Gonsalkorale

Judging by comments made by politicians and even some experts on the subject of fertilisers, both organic and inorganic, it appears there is a clear need for a better understanding on the pros and cons of using either or both categories of fertilisers.

The entire discourse on the fertiliser issue seems to be riddled with confusing and incomplete statements. What some understood to be a policy decision applicable to the current season, which is the Yala season is now understood to be from the following Maha season. The Minister for Agriculture also was heard in Parliament stating that organic fertiliser is currently being imported by some 20 importers and that the government will not import it. If his statement was correctly heard, he is saying that the country is already importing unwanted, undesired foreign substances and living matter and polluting and even poisoning the ground and possibly, ground water. He was also heard saying that there is enough stock of fertiliser for the current season, assuming the available stock referred to inorganic stock, although some feedback from growers seemed to indicate they do not have adequate fertiliser for this season.

The government must realise that the policy decision on the banning of imports of inorganic fertiliser, and how it is being implemented, information on the status quo when it comes to availability of fertiliser (organic and inorganic), and how it plans to address the gap between the requirement for organic fertiliser and what might be available locally and how they intend increasing the manufacture of it over the next few years, how they would contend with the after effects of not providing some crops with its essential nutrients found in inorganic fertiliser, and other related consequences will be managed. Perhaps a comprehensive press statement that covers all aspects will be not just helpful, but essential.

In a wide ranging opinion by Professor Janendra De Costa, Professor of Crop Science at the University of Peradeniya (See The Fertiliser Saga; A Considered Opinion, https://island.lk/fertilizer-saga-in-sri-lanka-a-considered-opinion/), a well-researched and balanced opinion, Professor De Costa explains how a balance could be found between the progressive reduction of inorganic fertiliser and the increase in use of organic fertiliser, without endangering the health of people, with a guided, guarded and selective use of inorganic fertiliser, needed to ensure food security and export earnings in the immediate and medium term, and a self-sufficiency program for organic fertiliser through local manufacture. Resorting to importation of organic fertiliser with all its negatives associated with the introduction of unwanted evils that come when importing organic fertiliser, and creating a potential catastrophe even in the nature of a devastating plague that could impact very seriously on the countrys agrarian economy.

Readers are urged to consider the opinion expressed by Professor De Costa, and get clarity on why fertiliser is needed, and also the role played by inorganic fertiliser in particular for crops like Tea, Rubber and Coconut, and Rice, and how organic fertiliser introduction could be achieved without a disruption to crop yield, which will have a direct cascading effect on foreign exchange earnings and also on the countrys food security. Some have questioned, cynically perhaps, whether food importation is the real desired outcome of this sudden shift to organic fertiliser.

The merits associated with not using inorganic fertiliser are many, and health benefits are significant. Neither Professor Costa nor any other person questions these benefits or the duty of care that is owed to the people of the country. Inorganic fertiliser manufacture is also very expensive and using the money spent on importing it could be better used to manufacture organic fertiliser.

However, in assessing benefits of using it for a better crop yield, at least in regard to some crops where subsidies are extended, it is possible that the costs may outweigh the benefits in regard to some crops if the actual cost rather than subsidised costs are taken as the cost of inputs.

Whilst not wishing to label it as a benefit in using inorganic fertiliser, the reality as pointed out by Professor De Costa, in the role played by inorganic fertiliser for Tea, Rubber and Coconut, and Rice output, Sri Lankas key foreign exchange earners, and the staple food of Sri Lankans, Rice, is indeed a benefit or could even be labelled a necessary evil for this key export based agriculture industry which could have a significant downturn in yield, and therefore export earnings, in attempting to switch virtually overnight to organic fertiliser. In regard to Rice, such a drop in yield will result in the need to import Rice. Ironically, such imports of Rice will very likely be from inorganic fertiliser fed Paddy.

Besides the pros and cons associated with the fertiliser issue, the timing of the decision to impose a total ban on imports of inorganic fertiliser, switching to organic fertiliser, reliance on imported organic fertiliser to meet gaps in demand for it along with all the pitfalls associated with imported organic fertiliser, looks like a self-inflicted punishment, when this decision is considered from the troubled environment faced by Sri Lanka at present. It has more than enough of a share of bad luck and bad management. First, the COVID pandemic, which has impacted on the countrys health, education, the economy and brought out the worst in the countrys citizens, then the X Press ship linked pollution that will affect the environment of the country for more than 100 years according to several experts, and the rain and floods ravaging the country that poses a serious danger to the lives of many, and the countrys agriculture and food production.

The pit falls associated with importing organic fertiliser is explained by Professor De Costa as follows,

Almost all organic fertilizers, being material of plant, animal or human origin, retain a diverse population of microorganisms. Unlike inorganic fertilizers, which are inert material, organic fertilizers are live material. Microorganisms, whether in soils, plants or any other location or entity, are often highly environment-specific. Introduction of such alien microorganisms to Sri Lankan soils could cause all types of unforeseen interactions with local microorganisms. Some of these interactions could have environmental repercussions, which are irreversible as once released to the soil, these alien microorganisms cannot be recalled. Therefore, it is always advisable and safer to develop organic fertilizers locally rather than importing.

Sterilization of imported organic fertilizer to kill all alien microorganisms via a process of fumigation after importation is suggested as a solution to this problem. However, the large quantities of organic fertilizers that are required to be imported and the toxicity levels

of the chemicals that are used in fumigation could lead to environmental issues that the organic fertilizers are aiming to prevent. Recently, the Cabinet Minister of Agriculture went on record saying that only sterilized organic fertilizer conforming to quality standards acceptable to a government-appointed expert committee would be imported. Given Sri Lankas poor record of regulation, implementation and enforcement of quality standards on a range of items, both imported and locally-produced and both agricultural and non-agricultural, it remains to be seen whether these promises will be fulfilled.

In reading Professor De Costas article, one gets the impression that the hurried decision to impose and immediate ban on inorganic fertiliser has been a decision based on an inadequate degree of consultation with experts on this subject.In this regard, the President and the government is also urged to consider the issue of fertiliser from a wider perspective of land management, and a long term policy on it with immediate, medium term and long term objectives.

As the President rightly acknowledged at the inauguration of the Investment Forum on the 7th June, the long term goal should be to produce more with less, meaning using research and development to produce crop varieties that will yield higher crops using less land. This objective can only be achieved through research and development work and not by chance activity. In this regard, it is abysmal that, according to Professor De Costa, the country spends only 0.11 % of GDP on research and development including in Agriculture.

The answer to a higher yield is not to use more land in order to achieve that goal. Unless someone has missed it, Sri Lanka is not exactly blessed with huge tracts of arable land!

Land management and a policy on land management should also take into account the current use of land for different agriculture products, and the future of such products. This is especially relevant when it comes to Tea, Rubber and Coconut. Plucking tea and tapping rubber is increasingly becoming a challenge, and is predicted to be even more of a challenge say in 10-20 years.

Mechanisation of this activity may be a possibility, but in regard to Tea, the land terrain in most Tea growing areas will be a challenge by itself for mechanisation.Again, research work will be needed as to how best technology could be used to find solutions to such difficulties. In the event some land that is presently used for Tea and Rubber becomes so unproductive and therefore unprofitable, thought will have to be given as to what other agricultural use such land can be employed to serve the needs of the country.

As regards coconut, an assessment of whether land used for coconut cultivation is optimally used or not is an assessment that will have to be made. In some countries land used for coconut cultivation is also used for other crops like cocoa and coffee. Perhaps even crops like cinnamon, and other spices may be possible in some areas.

Optimum use of land therefore has a direct relationship to fertiliser as all agricultural products need to be fed, either with inorganic fertiliser or organic fertiliser. The better, safer, cheaper and healthier option is to use organic fertiliser indigenously produced and on lands that has been acclimatised to organic fertiliser. This however, needs to be done progressively, ensuring there is no reduction in crop yield and no threat to food security in the country.

Water management is the other key aspect that needs to be considered in formulating a land management policy. Agriculture without water is not a possibility and envisaged land use needs to be considered along with availability of water to sustain the use of land for agriculture.

The government is therefore urged to consider the issue of fertiliser more holistically and from the wider perspective of a policy on land management, which must also include water management, and do so through a long term plan that has short term, medium and long term objectives and relevant action plans, targets and milestones. This requires an extensive consultation process, not just with experts, but also with people who are currently engaged in agriculture, health officials, community leaders and economists, and very importantly, the private sector.

It is hoped that the government will commence such a consultative process and perhaps by the middle of 2022, come up with a long term vision and a plan that is suitable for the country and which has broad acceptance of the people, therefore a sense of ownership of the plan.

The government is also urged to partner with the private sector in the country, and with universities (we have 17 of them now), so that the future direction when it comes to land management encompasses the interconnected, mutually dependent aspects which are all driven by research and development and private sector entrepreneurship.

Unfortunate as it is, it needs to be stated that the calibre and the quality of the countrys elected representatives, even highly educated academics who have turned politicians, leaves much to be desired, and government driven entrepreneurship would be an oxymoronic contradiction, and this task should be one that is driven and managed by the private sector in combination with universities that will be responsible for research and development work.

The planning horizon should not be when the next election is to be held, but how many generations are to be advantaged with sound, long term policy decisions.
In Islam, Tawhid in its true sense would be believing in One God and its diverse essence of establishing the Godly society, Godly law and Godly system.

by Mass L. Usuf

Tawheed variously spelt as, Thawheed, Thowheed, Tauhid, Tauheed

is an Arabic term translated in simple English as Monotheism. Tawheed is dearest to all the three great Abrahamic faiths namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In fact, it is on this foundation of Tawheed that these religions have been established.

The total population of the world is approximately 7.9 billion. Of this, the total Jewish, Christian and Muslim population of the world approximates to 4.4 billion. Monotheism is thus close to the hearts, feelings and sentiments of more than half of the people living in this world. Therefore, to understand the depth and meaning of this word, Tawheed or Monotheism in the light of the above three major religions would broaden perspectives. Especially, at a time when this term has been grossly misunderstood and, consequently, misinterpreted. Mostly, through innocent ignorance.

In Islam, Tawhid in its true sense would be believing in One God and its diverse essence of establishing the Godly society, Godly law and Godly system. It is clear that this belief is not one of faith alone but is connected with duties and responsibilities of man. The relationship of man with his God. Mans relationship with his own self. Mans relationship with society. Mans relationship with nature.

Oneness And Unity

All these three religions believe in an Omnipotent and Omniscient Creator. This Creator is One, and everything is originated from that One source. The concept of Tawheed or Monotheism clearly negates the idea of several gods and goddesses or, gods who have different functions and so on. Greek mythology informs us that Zeus is the king of all the gods (called Jupiter, in Roman mythology). Aphrodite (Venus) as goddess of beauty and love. Apollo (Apollo) as god of prophesy, music and poetry and knowledge. Dionysus (Bacchus) the god of wine, pleasure and festivity and so on.

The Abrahamic triad believes that God created this entire universe and all of its creatures including the human beings. God Alone is the Sustainer, Cherisher and Controller of all His creation. God does not need the assistance of anyone. He is All powerful.

Elohim, Elah, Allah

The personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament has not really been translated. In Judaism, it is believed that it cannot be translated. It is represented by The Tetragrammaton. Tetra means, four and Grammaton means, letters. The four letters are, YHWH or JHVH and articulated as Yahweh or Jehovah. The Old Testament states:

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. (Bible, Exodus 20 :7)

In the biblical Hebrew Elohim, is used as one of the common names of God in the Bible. While in the biblical Aramaic Elah is used. In the Arabic language the word is ilah. There can be noticed a close resemblance between Elohim, Eli and Ilah. The Book of Mathew in the Bible has reference to this.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Bible, Matthew 27:46)

In Islam, God is called, Allah derived from the word, ilah which has a close resemblance to the biblical Hebrew, Elohim and the biblical Aramaic Elah. The Quran states:

Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;

Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;(The Self-Sufficient, Whom all creatures need).

He begets not, nor was He begotten;

And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him."

(Quran, Chapter 112:1).

Genesis of Tawheed

The above verse means, the Oneness of God, the Unity of God and, naturally, the worship of this One God. The single outstanding thread that wove the messages of all these great recent Prophets  Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (May peace and blessings be upon all of them) was the message of Monotheism (Tawheed).

Judaism was the first among the three Abrahamic religions circa 500 years after Prophet Abraham. The triad trace their messengers to the first two sons of the patriarch Abraham, namely Ishmael and Isaac. The advent of Prophet Abraham, one of the early Monotheists (Tawheed) was circa 4000 years ago. The covenant of God with Abraham was that He alone was to be the God to Abraham and his offspring.

I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. (Bible, Genesis 17:7).

As can be seen, the above covenant to worship one God was binding on the descendants of Abraham as well. They were his sons Ishmael and Isaac and their progeny. It is following this that the Jews and Christians take the lineage of his second son Isaac - the teachings of Prophet Moses, the Torah and Prophet Jesus, the Gospels. For the Arabs, his elder son Ishmael was the bearer of the message of the worship of One God, the concept of Tawheed. The patriarchal lineage of Prophet Abraham ending with the final Prophet Muhammed.

Noachian Laws

Prior to Abraham, there was the Noahide Laws, also called Noachian Laws a Jewish Talmudic designation for seven biblical laws given to Adam (the first man created) and to Noah binding on all mankind. (Encyclopaedia Britannica,Noahide Laws).

Behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you. (Genesis 9:9).

Here again, what is evident from the Biblical scripture is the ownership by virtue of His creation of the entire mankind. The Talmud reports the following laws (cf. Genesis Rabbah 34:8). They are:

1. Do establish laws.

2. Do not curse God.

3. Do not practice idolatry.

4. Do not engage in illicit sexuality.

5. Do not participate in bloodshed.

6. Do not rob.

7. Do not eat flesh from a living animal (eating an amputated limb of an animal).

Evidence of this early laws of God laid down to man is clearly seen established in todays world irrespective of religious bias.

Adam to Muhammad

Adam was the first human to be created and he was also the first prophet of God. From Adam up to the Final of the Prophets namely, Muhammed (May peace and Blessings be on them), the dominant message was the same. All the prophets, reformers and messengers of God, who were sent by God to all nations, all tribes and all regions of the world at different time periods carried the same message of Tawheed - Monotheism.

The Quran gives the names of some of these Prophets. Their biblical names are given within brackets.

And Messengers We have mentioned to you before, and Messengers We have not mentioned to you,  (Quran, Chapter 4:164).

In elaborating on the exposition of this verse, the famous Quranic exegete Ibn Katheer said:

These are the names of the Prophets whose names are mentioned in the Quran in various places: Adam, Idrees (Enoch), Nooh (Noah), Hood, Salih (Methuselah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Loot (Lot), Ismail (Ishmael), Ishaq (Isaac), Yaqub (Jacob), Yoosuf (Joseph), Ayyub (Job), Shuayb (Jethro), Moosa (Moses), Haroon (Aaron), Yoonus (Jonah), Dawood (David), Sulaiman (Solomon), Ilyaas (Elijah), al-Yasa (Elisha), Zakariya (Zachariah), Yahya (John the Baptist), and Eesa (Jesus) (peace and blessings be upon them), as well as Dhul-Kifl (Ezekial) according to many commentators, and finally, Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).

The words, and Messengers We have not mentioned to you mean: other people who are not mentioned in the Quran. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 2/469.)

Oldest Religion

Islam is the Arabic word for submission to that One God and the worship of One God. From the beginning of Prophet Adam, Islam remains to be the oldest religion on this earth. Prophet Abraham brought the message of Islam over 4,000 years ago and prior to him, it was Prophet Noah who was responsible to spread the message of monotheism.

An important question sometimes raised is if Gautama Buddha who came later circa 2,500 years ago, was also one such Reformer among the unnamed Reformers the Quran refers to above. There is, however, no direct evidence to prove it. Nevertheless, the moral and ethical lessons taught by this great teacher Gautama Buddha has very close similarities with the teachings of the others. An implication worthy of research indicating that the message has been emanating from the same fountain source. This is an altogether separate discussion.

Scriptural References For Tawheed

Judaism:

Tawheed constitutes the monotheistic concept of God in Judaism, as declared in the Shema Yisrael, prayer. Shema Yisrael means, Hear, [O] Israel"). This is the Jewish declaration of faith. This is a prayer that serves as a centrepiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services.

The first verse encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Judaism. In the Hebrew language: Shema Israel ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI Echad,

"Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4).

They read the section, "hear, O Israel", first, because there is in it the unity of God (Tawheed), and the love of him and his doctrine; for it is, "the great root", or "foundation", on which all hangs or depends.'' (See: Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible).

Further references to the concept of Tawheed or monotheism is seen below:

Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. (Deuteronomy 4:35)

  might do evil in the sight of the LORD your God and violate the covenant. For instance, they might serve other gods or worship the sun, the moon, or any of the starsthe forces of heavenwhich I have strictly forbidden. (Deuteronomy 17:3-5).

Christianity:

The Bible too emphasises in the New Testament the reference to this Monotheistic concept, as seen below:

And Jesus answered him (the Scribe), the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. (Bible, Mark 12:28-29)

You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone." (Bible, Luke 4:8)

Islam:

Similarly, in Islam, the foremost article of the Muslim profession of faith is this Monotheistic declaration. This forms the first part of the Shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith). This declaration is the belief in the Oneness of God, Tawheed.

The Oneness of God asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world; A unique, independent and indivisible being, who is independent of the entire creation. God does not need offerings from his creation  the human beings. This One God, is a universal God, rather than a local, tribal, or parochial one. The Quran states:

Say: He is Allah, (the) One and Only. (Quran, Chapter 112:1-3)

And your Allah (God) is One God , there is no god but He, the Most Merciful, the All-compassionate. (Quran, Chapter 2:163)

Understand And Appreciate

All of the scriptures point to the Oneness of Godhood which is monotheism and translated as Tawheed in Arabic.

With specific reference to the triad, it is part of our common belief that every human being is the creation of God. Therefore, all the citizens of Sri Lanka and around the world are part of this larger brotherhood in humanity. This brotherhood is irrespective of race, colour, caste, ethnicity or religion. This is written with the fervent hope that our majority Sinhala (Buddhist) and Tamil(Hindu) friends and the venerable Buddhist and Hindu clerics will appreciate and get a clear understanding of this term, Tawheed.
Memo for the White House: You should get out more.

Joe Biden is about to fly to the United Kingdom on his first foreign visit as U.S. President. Biden will attend the G7 summit in Cornwall from 1113 June, head to Belgium for summits with NATO and the European Union on 1415 June, then meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Switzerland the following day. His trip will be the first time time Air Force One has carried the president abroad since Donald Trump went to London in December 2019, before Covid-19 closed international borders and made diplomacy virtual.

Bidens first two stops involve talks focused on bolstering diplomacy between democratic countries to counter Chinas rising power and the challenges that poses for human rights, economic openness and regional security. Yet despite Bidens flurry of activity next week, a tally of the past three decades of travel by the presidents of the U.S. and China suggests that Washington is now playing catch-up with Beijing when it comes to presidential diplomacy abroad. Chinas President, Xi Jinping, has out-travelled his U.S. counterparts.

Records of U.S. presidential travel can be found in the Travels Abroad of the President series maintained by the Office of the Historian in the U.S. Department of State. Chinese presidential travel lacks such an authoritative database but can be tracked through Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reports in Peoples Daily, the Chinese Communist Partys official mouthpiece. These sources allow for a count and comparison of the respective travel itineries.

While there are many other influences on international relations, leadership travel is important because diplomacy is a personalised enterprise, where the old wisdom that 80% of success is just showing up is widely recognised. Xis trips help him lobby world leaders to support Beijings policies, to vote with China in multilateral institutions, and to join Chinese programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Indeed, scholars have used insights from neuroscience and psychology to show that face-to-face diplomacy deepens trust and nurtures cooperation. Leadership visits are associated with more bilateral agreements, investment and aid.

Analysing the data on overseas visits by the U.S. president and Chinas president from 19892019 reveals that China overtook the United States last decade in the quantity, duration and breadth of its presidential diplomacy. The return of in-person summits after more than a year of travel restrictions provides an opportunity to examine the pre-pandemic record that both countries will build upon.

The U.S. president increasingly ventured abroad after the Cold War and during the period defined by the so-called war on terror, but their travel declined markedly as domestic dysfunction intensified following the 2008 global financial crisis. In contrast, trips by Chinas president rose steadily after 1989, and in the years since Xi took office in 2013, he has averaged more foreign visits annually (14.3) than his U.S. counterparts Barack Obama (13.9) and Donald Trump (12.3).

Also significant is the time that leaders spend abroad  a week-long stay clearly allows for more diplomacy than a 10-hour stopover. And Chinas president is now clocking more hours on the ground in foreign countries, with the average number of days spent abroad rising from 29.6 under Hu Jintao to 34 under Xi. That average has declined for each U.S. president since Bill Clinton, hitting a post-Cold War low of 23 days under Donald Trump.

The charts above include multiple visits to the same country, so its worth considering the breadth of countries deemed worthy of presidential diplomacy. China is ahead and gaining on this score, too, as shown in the chart below. In the 2010s, the U.S. president visited 57 countries, while Chinas president visited 72. Xi averaged 9.7 countries per year, compared to Obamas 7.4 countries, and 8 for Trump.

Where are the U.S. and Chinese presidents choosing to travel? Presidential visits reveal a countrys diplomatic priorities and signal which relationships a government believes worthy of attention and resources. This point is especially true for the United States and China, both countries where the president has the final say on major foreign policy decisions.

Looking at regions, China outnumbered the United States over the last decade in presidential visits to Africa, Asia, the Americas, Eastern Europe, and Oceania, reflecting Beijings strategy of building global influence through economic diplomacy with the developing world. The U.S. president only outdid Chinas president in trips to the Middle East and Western Europe, locations of key U.S. partners and allies such as Israel and the NATO states. In the 1990s, conversely, the only region that Chinas president visited more was Asia.

Asia in the last decade saw the greatest rise in presidential travel for both countries, likely due to its trade centrality, security hotspots, and growing tensions between China and U.S. allies in the region. The U.S. presidential presence has never trailed Chinas president by much in Asia this century. China led in visits to Central Asia and South Asia, while the U.S. was ahead in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Chinas president also began visiting Western Europe more often, to foster commercial ties that helped China to grow and that helped Beijing to wedge other middle powers against the United States.

Looking at countries, most of the multiple-visit destinations for Chinas president in the last decade were neighbors such as Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, plus regional powers such as Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines  all BRI partners that Beijing wants within its sphere of influence. The U.S. president appeared to prioritise trips to treaty allies and security partners in Europe, East Asia and the Middle East.

The countries with the highest combined number of visits from U.S. and Chinese presidents were France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and India. This implies that both China and the United States view these democratic middle powers as swing states in the emerging strategic competition for power in global governance, security and economics.

Countries visited multiple times by the U.S. or Chinese president, 201019 U.S. president Visits Chinese president Visits France 8 Russia 11 UK 7 U.S. 7 Germany, Japan 6 France, Kazakhstan 5 Afghanistan, South Korea 5 India, Spain 4 Belgium, Poland, Saudi Arabia 4 Brazil, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, Uzbekistan 3 Canada, China, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam 3 Argentina, Cambodia, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Philippines, Tajikistan, Vietnam 2 Argentina, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Senegal, South Africa, Vatican City 2 Source: U.S. Department of State; Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Peoples Daily.

Biden will meet the leaders of these swing states at the Cornwall G7 summit, which should deliver new commitments on issues related to global norms and the international order. But Xis pre-pandemic travel shows how seriously China takes this diplomatic competition.

So if Biden wants to renew American leadership, he must sustain higher levels of presidential travel into the future, alongside his packed domestic agenda. Thats because overseas visits offer unmatched opportunities to strengthen bilateral and multilateral relationships. As Biden told Japans Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Washington in April, theres no substitute for face-to-face discussions.

Neil Thomas is a China Analyst at Eurasia Group, the political risk advisory and consulting firm. He was previously a Senior Research Associate at MacroPolo, the in-house think tank of the Paulson Institute, and a Lecturer in the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. His writing has appeared in publications including Foreign Policy, Los Angeles Review of Books, The South China Morning Post, The Washington Post, and The Wire China. He holds a graduate degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Western Australia.
It is disappointing that the 75th Anniversary of the end of World War II  a major milestone marking the conclusion of humankinds most titanic conflict  went largely unnoticed amidst the unrelenting dread of 2020. Perhaps this year, we can pay adequate tribute to the wars end  particularly given that so many WWII veterans are leaving us. In any case, the importance of these anniversaries remains: they are an immovable point on the calendar that essentially forces society to pause and reflect, to remember what happened, to consider the cost, to appreciate the sacrifice, and to learn at least some small part of the history.

This includes the history of Americas National Guard in the Second World War.

Its unfortunate that the contributions of the Guard and its experience in WWII have gone relatively uncelebrated. The reasons for this are many  the most prominent being that the National Guards history in the war has been simply subsumed by that of the U.S. Army. To some, delineating the service of the National Guard from the U.S. Army may be a distinction without a difference, a tidbit of military esoterica that is inconsequential in the final grand scheme. After all, the National Guard is a reserve component of the U.S. Army and  since 1947  the U.S. Air Force.

But the National Guard in WWII was invaluable, particularly when considering the traditional American model of the citizen-soldier and the nation's pre-war attitude regarding standing armies.

To start, from the standpoint of organization, the National Guard was vital in helping America establish a wartime footing. The activation of the National Guard throughout 1940 and 1941 was instrumental in transitioning the U.S. Army from an antiquated and undermanned service  that essentially marked time in isolationist America  into a highly lethal, modern, tough and efficient combat force. In essence, the nation responded to its constitutional intent to raise an Army at the inception of WWII by mobilizing the Guard. In late 1940, General Jacob Devers, who would eventually go on to command 6th Army Group in Europe, clearly summed up the importance of the National Guard in building the U.S. Army, "The 300,000 National Guardsmen doubled our military strength."[1] The lesson from WWII only underpins the value and need for healthy reserve forces today  forces that are able to quickly and cost-efficiently surge to address a national defense imperative.

The ability of the War Department to man, train and equip the services at the beginning of the war would have been significantly hindered, with even deeper readiness gaps, without the National Guard to provide substantial ranks of patriotic personnel to augment the regular U.S. Army. At the same time, the activation of the National Guard  President Roosevelt called the entire National Guard into active status shortly after the German invasion of Poland in 1939  sent a strategic signal that reassured our allies in a time of crisis.

Once the shooting started, National Guard units and soldiers served their country with unquestioned valor, courage and commitment. Guard units earned their battle stripes in every combat theater  from the torrid tropics of the Pacific to the grinding deserts of North Africa, to the charnel sands of Normandy, to the bitter frozen Bulge. Some of World War IIs most infamously bloody battles were fought, at least partly by elements of the National Guard  from Sicily and Anzio to the Solomon Islands and the Philippines.

In fact, the first U.S. Army forces to execute offensive combat operations in the war were National Guard units  and they fought with great distinction. The 164th Infantry Regiment from North Dakota  which was one of several Guard units that formed the core of the newly established Americal Division of the U.S. Army  saw combat on Guadalcanal in early 1942. The 164th, along with the 132nd Infantry Division from Illinois, both arrived in Guadalcanal in early October of 1942, engaging the enemy well before any other U.S. Army unit in any theater of the war.

On D-Day, the 116th Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division  a unit composed of Guardsmen from several states, including Virginia and Maryland  was in the first wave of allied troops that hit Omaha Beach. The 116th, after missing its landing zones and losing most of its tank support, faced the blistering German fire that raked the shore as waves of Americans struggled to gain a foothold. Company A of the 116th  all from Bedford, Virginia  lost nineteen men on the morning of June 6th, a particularly painful tragedy in a day of suffering that devastated their hometown. Another soldier from Bedford also died at Omaha Beach, raising Bedfords sacrifice at Normandy to twenty. Today, Bedford is the site of the National D-Day Memorial.

The National Guard had other notable claims as well. For example, the first enemy prisoner of war detained by U.S forces  a commander of one of Japans midget submarines that had infiltrated Oahu during the attack  was captured by a Hawaii National Guard soldier from the 298th Infantry on December 8th.[2]

And, the National Guard was one of the only components representing the U.S. Army in the Battle of Iwo Jima. The 147th Regiment from Ohio  a unit that had curiously operated on independent status throughout the Pacific due to bureaucratic shuffling  dueled alongside the Marines in grueling and terrible combat against fanatic and entrenched Japanese. The 147th also participated in operations on Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa.

World War II wasnt the first time that the U.S. mobilized its National Guard forces to rapidly build an army to fight abroad. As America prepared for The Great War, 27 Guard units from across the nation came together to become the 42nd Infantry Division  known as the Rainbow Division  a famous unit with a distinguished record of service that carries on today.

And of course, World War II certainly wasnt the last time that the Guard would be activated to fight the nations wars, either  the National Guard has honorably carried Americas battle flag in Korea, Vietnam, in Desert Storm, and in Iraq and Afghanistan. This year, the Guard has supported comprehensive public health efforts, executed multiple natural disaster responses, and helped mitigate widespread civil unrest. At the height of mobilization in June, roughly 90,000 Guardsmen and women were deployed across the country, representing an all-time record for Guard personnel on orders to support domestic operations. Additionally, National Guard troops also continue to serve under active duty Title 10 authority in support of combat operations overseas. The U.S. may be executing a continuing phased drawdown of forces in Afghanistan  but the National Guard is still there, armed and in harm's way.

But it was in World War II, the idea of Americas citizen-soldier was most prominently, consistently, and widely put into practice. And the National Guard truly embodied this concept, with ranks filled by hometown boys  such as those from Bedford, Virginia  who raised their hands and mustered in.

The history of the National Guard in the Second World War is interesting, inspirational, and important  all at once. And the individual stories of compassion, grit and bravery under fire would fill tomes. Over the course of the war, the Guard sustained tens of thousands of casualties, and Guardsmen were decorated with scores of commendations for their service and sacrifice, including hundreds of Silver Stars and multiple Medals of Honor. In total, no less than eighteen different National Guard infantry divisions participated in the Second World War.[3]

Activating the National Guard to perform combat operations in theaters abroad is sometimes fraught with political controversy  particularly to fight in wars that do not engender great support from the citizenry. But regardless of conflict  whether a just and noble cause like WWII or an unpopular war like Vietnam  once the call to arms is made, Guardsmen and women do their duty for cause and country.

This is the history of our National Guard in war.

Connor Martin is a US Marine veteran and policy analyst in Washington DC.

Notes:
Recall that the lockdowns that came to the U.S. in 2020 had an unusual origin. It was from Wuhan, China. That citys experience became the test and the model. We saw all the images of the wicked effects of the virus. People were dying on the streets and body bags were piling up.

But the government came to the rescue. It dragged people into quarantine. It locked people into their apartment units. It banned travel. The power of the Communist Party in all its glory was deployed. Lo and behold, the virus went away.

Thus did China show the way. Neil Ferguson of the Imperial College in London was impressed and so was Dr. Anthony Fauci in the U.S., as we learn from his emails. Ferguson said it was an effective policy, adding: Its a communist one-party state, we said. We couldnt get away with it in Europe, we thought. And then Italy did it. And we realised we could. Fauci carried on an extensive correspondence with Chinese officials during that very time.

The presumption has been all along that China managed somehow to suppress the virus, and so should we. So we did too, using much the same tactics with stay-home orders, travel restrictions, school and business closures, and the end of mass events. Eventually in the U.S., the consensus emerged that none of this was working, that we needed to learn to live with the virus that was not a mortal threat to most anyone but the aged, infirm, and immuno-compromised. Besides, we had vaccines and growing natural immunities.

Now we see what opening looks and feels like in most parts of the country. Fauci (I am the Science!) is under fire, and so too are those governors who panicked while ignoring all American law, values, and traditions of liberty as the first principle of life. We too adopted the dictatorship of the power/medical elite in the name of virus suppression, some states more than others. There has proven to be no actual medical benefit to the lockdowns while the economic and cultural costs are indescribably enormous.

Well, lets check in on how China is doing today. What says the New York Times? It turns out that lockdowns are back in full force. This time the spot is the home of Chinas most prestigious universities, Guangzhou in the southern part of China. It is locked down in the name of virus control. Millions quarantined, tested, locked in their homes. This is all because of the latest and greatest new variant, from India given the name Delta.

The Times writes on this as it did of Wuhan a full year and a half ago: Neighborhoods under strict lockdown. Thousands quarantined. Millions tested in mere days. Overseas arrivals locked up for weeks and sometimes months. China has followed variations of that formula for dealing with the coronavirus for more than a year  and a new outbreak suggests that they could be part of Chinese life for some time to come.

Track and trace are again in full operation: The city tested practically its entire population of 18.7 million between Sunday and Tuesday, some of them for the second time. It has also put neighborhoods with a total of more than 180,000 residents into total lockdowns, with practically no one allowed out except for medical testing.

There are several questions we are right to ask.

First, what happened to the great suppression of January 2020? Is the CCP willing to admit that it did not work? Of course not. Even so, the renewal of lockdowns speaks for itself, raising fresh questions as to why the U.S. (and the rest of the world) copied China in the first place.

Second, if the first lockdown did not drive the virus away, what is this one supposed to achieve? Surely we can grow up, wise up, and recognize that viruses are not somehow scared of governments. Every virus that has ever existed still exists but smallpox and rinderpest that have been eradicated through vaccines and herculean efforts over many decades. There are particular reasons why that happened in those cases while it is not likely ever to happen with common and multivariate coronaviruses.

Third, why are lockdowns being deployed in this particular case? Is the virus striking down people in the street? You have to get to the end of the New York Times article to see that in the entire Guangzhou province that only 157 people are in the hospital with the virus and there are only 10 new cases per day out of a population of 126 million people  0.0001%. Meanwhile, Worldometer still shows the whole of China completely flatlined in cases and deaths.

Im not one for conspiracy theory, and I spent many years reading the New York Times at face value (go easy on me). But this whole news story is starting to make me wonder. How can we know for sure that this is not just theater to scare the Americans into locking down yet again? It seems to work last time. Why not try again? Just how stupid are the Americans?

Ill just point out that the same day that the news of the China lockdown came to the U.S., National Public Radio ran a big story on the Delta variant on the loose here at home. Meanwhile, our old friend Dr. Fauci gave an interview saying The Delta variant currently accounts for more than 6% of the sequenced cases in the United States. This is a situation, the way it was in England before it supposedly took over. We cannot let that happen in the United States, Fauci said.

I dont know but this is all a bit much. Fortunately, most Americans have tuned out this stuff months ago. How much disease panic can anyone really endure? There is too much maskless bliss alive in this today to imagine that Americans will go back. Im pretty sure.

As for full-blown lockdowns, I truly cannot imagine that people will put up with any more of this. Maybe this is all about the drive for universal vaccination even though new studies come out by the day confirming the power of natural immunities even on the variants. You can search all day and find not one word from Dr. Fauci on that.

In any case, the upside of this propaganda from China, if thats what it is, is that anyone can now say definitively that the China model of disease suppression did not work here or even in China. The only group that seems to benefit from this model of virus control is the government itself. Why anyone in a country that calls itself free should put up with this nonsense is the real question.
Critical race theory (CRT)the idea that systemic racism permeates American life and American institutions despite all our civil-rights advanceshas moved from the academic journals where it began life three decades ago into public-school classrooms and business training programs.
In preparation for her detective role in HBOs The Mare of Easttown, set in suburban Philadelphia, Kate Winslet visited the citys Kensington neighborhood to understand the opioid epidemic. As the Philadelphia Inquirer recently reported, a notorious heroin economy continues to thrive there. Some street corners gross more than $20 million annually.

In a New York Times interview, Winslet recounted heartbreaking scenes in Kensington, once described as the Walmart of Heroin. In one instance, she saw a man who had been amputated from the knee down on his right leg, and he was injecting into the toes of the other foot.

Though rarely so visible as in Kensington, opioid addiction is a brutal reality in other Pennsylvania communities, whether in suburban Philadelphia or York County, which recorded its most-ever overdose deaths last March. Overdoses reflect Americas ongoing deaths of despair, a term coined by Princetons Anne Case and Angus Deaton to describe Americas higher mortality rates caused by suicide, alcoholism, and opioid addiction. The opioid crisis afflicts not only middle-aged, white, working-class Americans but also minorities throughout urban America.

Data indicate that COVID-19 intensified the nations opioid epidemic, which claimed nearly 500,000 lives between 1999 and 2019. The Centers for Disease Control found that more than 81,000 overdose deaths occurred nationally between 2019 and 2020  the highest in any 12-month period ever measured. Overdose deaths have continued to rise.

The crisis is especially acute in Pennsylvania. Before the pandemic, the states Department of Health reported a 19% decline in overdose deaths from 2017 to 2019, which nevertheless represents 4,458 deaths in 2019  a staggering 35 people per 100,000. But the pandemic-driven recession caused overdose numbers to skyrocket. As the states Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs found, 2020 was likely the worst year on record for overdose deaths in the Keystone State.

Pennsylvanias rural areas illustrate this disturbing trend. According to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, rural overdose rates consistently outpaced urban areas, peaking at five per 100,000 in July 2020. Meanwhile, Pennsylvanias Association of County Drug and Alcohol Administrators reported that in Blair County alone, the coroner projected a 78% spike in overdose deaths in 2020 compared to 2019. This increase partly stems from the reality that access to addiction treatment is harder to find in rural communities.

But the Keystone States cities arent spared, either. In urban Pennsylvania, black residents are consistently hit harder than whites, indicative of wider COVID-era trends disproportionately affecting black communities. Philadelphia saw an 11% increase in overdoses in the first three quarters of 2020, for example  but overdoses among black residents rose 40%. Meanwhile, overdoses in Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, rose 22%. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently reported, county data indicate that fatal overdoses among black residents have begun to consistently outpace those of whites.

Obtaining treatment for opioid addiction, though, is difficult in both rural and urban Pennsylvania. And the COVID-19 crisis worsened the problem. Spotlight PA reported, for example, how many addiction clinics initially closed or lost funding.

But since last spring, a transformed regulatory environment has changed everything for clinics that managed to stay open. This was the case for Prevention Point Philadelphia, a nonprofit harm-reduction organization in Kensington. Theres been a pretty marked shift for us in our small clinic and in the broader community, said Kaelee Shepherd, a PPP coordinator.

For instance, the pandemic loosened restrictions on medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder, resulting in easier access to treatment. Some insurance companies no longer require urine tests for access to suboxone, and federal drug agencies now permit telehealth appointments  instead of mandatory in-person meetings  for suboxone prescriptions. Such changes benefit those who couldnt access drug treatment locations due to inhibiting factors like transportation and child-care costs.

As Shepherd told me, fewer restrictions also mirror the declining stigma of addiction. Weve started to treat opioid use disorder more in line with how we treat diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure, she noted.

Despite encouraging developments, PPP still confronts challenges. Neighborhood residents, for example, are often unsure if the clinic is open. PPP also struggles with a reduction in resources for the population it serves and the closure of welfare offices, whose dependents turned to PPP for updates on their benefits. The pandemic didnt create new problems so much as it exacerbated existing ones.

Overall, the opioid epidemic has transcended Pennsylvanias urban-rural divide. Though media coverage and public attention have stalled, Pennsylvanians cant afford to turn away from this crisis. Winslet told the New York Timess Maureen Dowd that she was staggered that there arent more  support networks in place to help with people. As the pandemic slowly fades, the deaths of despair will keep occurring.
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Melissa Mooney was promoted to the position of chief financial officer with The Red & Black in June 2021.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of heavy rain late. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of heavy rain late. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
WEST HAVEN  An informant used by police allegedly purchased narcotics from Louise Martone, a local bakery owner and former District 10 councilwoman, who is charged with dealing drugs out of the eatery, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Louise Martone is charged with four counts of selling narcotics and four counts of the illegal sale of prescription drugs, according to police. She also is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit sale of narcotics and one count of conspiring to illegally sell prescription drugs, police said. Her husband, Ronald Martone, is charged with one count of conspiring to sell narcotics and another count of conspiring to illegally sell prescription drugs, according to police.

In three of four arrest warrant affidavits issued in connection with Martones arrest and obtained from the Superior Court Milford District Court, Street Crime Unit police officers said they were contacted by an informant in December 2020 who claimed Martone was selling prescription Oxycodone from Louises Homemade Food and Baked Goods on Ocean Avenue.

Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

Police submitted four affidavits, each detailing one instance of an alleged sale of narcotics during a monthslong investigation. The first three arrest warrant affidavits detail different alleged controlled purchases of Oxycodone  one in December, one in January and one in February. A fourth details police surveillance of an alleged exchange of money and Oxycodone in the parking lot of Louises Homemade Food and Baked Goods and the arrest of two alleged customers in May.

In a brief conversation, Martone denied the charges.

Im so upset about what was done to me, I need to clear it up, she said. I cant believe theyre taking a 53-year resident of West Haven and doing this to me.

Martone said that, during her arrest, officers brought police dogs into her business; she said they found nothing. She said she would provide further comment after meeting with her attorney . A follow-up attempt to reach Martone was unsuccessful.

A court clerk said Martones arraignment is scheduled for July 6.

In the three arrest warrant affidavits describing the alleged controlled purchases, police said they prepared their informant to make three controlled purchases of Oxycodone  one in December, one in January and one in February.

On all occasions, police said their informant was searched for money and contraband prior to meeting with Martone, and that they found nothing, according to the warrant affidavits.

In all three affidavits, police said the informant wore a transmitting device monitored by police. According to the affidavits detailing Decembers and Februarys operations, the informant reportedly entered Martones bakery and a short while later exited with a number of small, round, pink pills marked with K56 the informant claimed to have purchased from Martone. Police reported they searched for the pills on drugs.com and determined they were 10 mg Oxycodone pills.

Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

In the affidavit detailing an alleged controlled purchase in January, police reported the informant entered the bakery and exited shortly after, alleging Martone said she did not have the pills and that the informant should return later. The informant was able to make a purchase of Oxycodone pills after returning at the designated time, police allege in the affidavit.

In a fourth arrest warrant affidavit, police said they received information from an informant on May 4 that a man was scheduled to purchase Oxycodone from Martone.

It was not clear from the document whether it was the same informant used in the previous incidents. At 5:15 p.m. on May 4, undercover Street Crime Unit officers began surveillance of the Louises parking lot; at 6:05 p.m., police said they saw Martone lock up her business, meet with a thin white male in the Baybrook Plaza parking lot outside Martones business for a brief conversation, before the man entered the passenger seat of a waiting vehicle and Martone left in her 2019 Lexus.

Officers followed Martone to the Jones Hill Road CVS, which she quickly entered and exited before heading back to her business, according to the May warrant affidavit. In the parking lot, officers said they observed a short exchange near the open passenger door of Martones Lexus.

When the other vehicle left the lot, police followed and stopped the car, according to the warrant affidavit. An older man who was driving the car said he had a registered firearm in a satchel on his body, which he removed for officers, police said in the warrant.

Police said a search of the passenger revealed five of the round, pink pills.

Police allege a further search of the vehicle, which was registered under the drivers name, turned up a bottle that had no label but contained 39 of the pink pills.

Police said both men were placed under arrest and later agreed to discuss the case with officers, according to the warrant affidavit. Officers said the driver of the vehicle said he connected with the passenger in Alcoholics Anonymous where he told the passenger he was looking to purchase some Oxycodone. Officers said the passenger told police that Oxycodone had come up in conversation at the bakery eight months prior to the May incident, during which he expressed an interest in purchasing the pills.

Police said the passenger alleged Martone charges $10 per pill, according to the warrant affidavit.

Police said in the warrant affidavit that Martone is prescribed 90 Oxycodone pills each month and her husband Ronald is prescribed 120 pills each month. Officers said in the warrant affidavit that they confirmed Martone filled a prescription for 90 pills on May 4, the day of the observed transaction.

Ronald Martone also was arrested by officers, who, according to the arrest warrant affidavit detailing the controlled purchase in January allegedly was observed entering the bakery, between when the informant first entered the business to make a purchase of Oxycodone and when the informant returned to successfully make a purchase. He is charged with conspiracy to commit the sale of a narcotic substance, according to police.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
Amna Mohamed and her four children, born in Sudan, are learning English in New Haven public schools. Ali is in the fifth grade; Halima and Mostafa are in second grade and kindergarten, respectively. Walid, the youngest, is in preschool.

When COVID-19 pushed school online, the district provided Mohameds children with computers and iPads but couldnt give them the morale or resolve needed to attend and engage with virtual class. Mohamed said the absences began to pile up.

They were stressed and not happy when learning was online, she said in Arabic through a translator. The year was extremely difficult for them. It affected me too as their mother.

As initial crisis settled into habit, Ali stepped up to help siblings log online. The students returned to their school building two days a week in February and four days a week in March, but remote days are still a challenge: Mohamed can only work when the kids are in school or her husband is home on Saturdays, she said.

English learners like the Mohameds were much more likely to miss school during the pandemic than their English-speaking peers, data show. Almost 34 percent of English learners are chronically absent this year so far, according to the most recent state data. About 19 percent of their non-ELL classmates have been chronically absent.

Students are considered chronically absent if they miss 10 percent or more of available school days. All absences, even if theyre excused, contribute to the tally, so that educators can track the total loss of academic and social-emotional learning time.

A report out Wednesday from Attendance Works shows English learners were significantly more likely to be chronically absent than their peers, though differences decreased slightly as the year progressed. The study broke the data down into the fall and winter, and showed that those students had better attendance in-person than online.

About 36 percent of English learners in school districts with predominantly remote learning were chronically absent this fall, compared with 25 percent of their English-speaking peers, state data show.

The report also found chronic absence rates declined between the fall and winter  as time went on, more students showed up for class. That was especially notable since before the pandemic, districts often reported that attendance is highest when school begins, researchers said.

Chronic absence has a wide-ranging impact on student outcomes including lower academic achievement, a higher probability dropping out of high school and worse social emotional outcomes, according to Attendance Works researchers.

Chronic absence measures when a kid has missed so much instruction that theyre academically at risk, said Hedy Chang, the executive director and president of Attendance Works. Its a leading indicator and a contributor to educational disparities.

In other words, chronic absenteeism both exposes and creates challenges in childrens lives and education.

Before the school closures, about 17 percent of English learners were chronically absent during the 2019-20 school year, compared with 12 percent of non-English learners, according to state data.

Interviews with families and experts revealed several reasons for this years spike. Some students had increased responsibilities, from caring for younger siblings or sick family members to working to support the family financially. Others had trouble with computer or internet access, or had working parents who werent present during the day. Families have also expressed concerns about privacy and surveillance with online instruction.

In Bridgeport, Nohelia Sanchezs son found adjusting to a new country a challenge.

In the beginning, it was a cultural shock for him, she said in Spanish. He felt like he didnt want to go to school because he didnt understand the language.

He transferred just before the pandemic hit to the Cesar A. Batalla School. About half of the students at Batalla are English language learners, according to district enrollment data.

The pandemic, and particularly remote learning, made the language barrier a greater issue for the newly emigrated Sanchez family, who was still in the process of connecting with the school after moving here from Colombia.

The computer was in English, the Wi-Fi  everything, she said. And mind you, we just arrived to the states.

Sanchez and her husband had to work, so they couldnt always supervise their fourth grader in remote classes. They later discovered that their young son was distracted playing online games during class, Sanchez said.

Chang from Attendance Works and one of her co-authors Kevin Gee, a UC Davis researcher, applauded Connecticut for the standardization, level of detail and speed of collection and publication of its attendance data. The education department has been collecting data from districts monthly, as opposed to when the school year wraps. That put the state in a unique position, they said, to use the figures as diagnostic tools of targeted support.

When we dont look at data until after the school year ends, its an autopsy, said Chang. It doesnt help prevent chronic absence or academic failure.

Gee added that the data can be used to make informed decisions as districts head into the fall.

Investments need to be made in targeted outreach, said Gee. That needs to start now.

At an online event this week, Charlene Russell-Tucker, acting commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Education, cited past and present state investments in devices and connectivity, summer enrichment and a learner engagement and attendance program with more than a $10 million price tag.

We can literally put supports on the ground, in districts, using the (chronic absentee) data, she said. We have folks who are able to go knock on doors if necessary to reconnect families and find out what the needs are.
Dominica: Regulator holds consultation on new amateur radio rules The National Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (NTRC) is issuing a call for Amateur Radio Operators to participate in the consultation on the draft Amateur Radio Guidelines and Standards in Dominica



Dominica News Online reports:



Amateur radio operation is a personal and rewarding hobby to its many enthusiasts, but it is also a crucial source of communication in times of disaster. However, there is limited guidance for those who seek to utilise this medium for communicating. As a result, the NTRC is issuing draft guidelines standards for the operation of Amateur Radio Services in Dominica.



Amateur radio operation is a personal and rewarding hobby to its many enthusiasts, but it is also a crucial source of communication in times of disaster. However, there is limited guidance for those who seek to utilise this medium for communicating. As a result, the NTRC is issuing draft guidelines standards for the operation of Amateur Radio Services in Dominica.



This medium of telecommunications is governed by the Telecommunications Act, (No. 8 of 2000) and its associated regulations, in the Commonwealth of Dominica and the NTRC is responsible for ensuring adherence to the legislation by service providers and other telecommunications users, including amateur radio operators. NTRCs mandate also bears responsibility to manage and oversee the radio spectrum allocated to the amateur radio service in the Commonwealth of Dominica.



The consultation, which will run from June 10  July 12, 2021, will allow for active participation and assistance from the local amateur radio enthusiast and fraternities to collaborate. The consultation will take the form of online and face to face meetings with the various stakeholders to discuss issues pertaining to the guidelines. Further details for these meetings will be publicised on NTRCs website, Facebook page and other means of social media.



Following the Initial Comments period, the NTRC will review the comments and subsequently submit the Revised Draft Amateur Radio Guidelines and Standards document for the comments on the initial comments received. This will be followed by the Comments-on-Comments period; subsequently, the NTRC will review these comments and finalize the policy document, taking all views into consideration, to adopt and publish the AMATEUR RADIO GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS document.



Full details of the consultation can be found at

https://ntrcdominica.dm/amateurradioconsult/



Source https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/ntrc-to-launch-amateur-radio-guidelines-and-standards/
WEST HAVEN  Half a year ago, city officials expressed excitement after receiving the go-ahead from the City Council to redevelop the delapidated Savin Rock Conference Center into what was pitched as a 40,000-square-foot restaurant and catering venue.

Since then, however, not much has changed at the waterfront property.

Developer Alexander H. Marathas said his team with the Smyrna Group is still planning on moving forward as anticipated, but thats pending the results of a study into the retail demands of the area.

Frankly, our plans have not changed except for the sizes of the potential spaces and price points, he said.

Marathas said he expects the results from that study to be ready in four to five weeks.

Read about the history of the area: West Havens Savin Rock once Connecticuts Coney Island

West Haven Corporation Counsel Lee Tiernan said that, despite the delays, the project is basically on track.

Just because of COVID, we thought it would be appropriate for him to do a market study. We dont want something to go in thats not going to work, Tiernan said.

Tiernan said it would be unwise to do a market study unless you know where youre going to be in COVID. Doing a market study during COVID is a waste of money.

Now, with case rates of COVID-19 going down in West Haven and all over the state, Tiernan said he expects the demand study more accurately to reflect the sort of commercial activity that is most viable for the conference center.

I think its going to bolster what he wants down there: space for people to have events and weddings, space potentially for restaurants, maybe theres some type of retail or office operation that would fit down there to complement what hes trying to do, Tiernan said.

Mayor Nancy Rossi said Marathas is expected before the City Council soon to provide an update on the project.

He needed time to do his due diligence, as any developer does, Rossi said. Im hopeful we have something soon, because we did meet with him.

West Haven Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Alan Olenick said that while hes not very familiar with Marathas plans, the conference center plays a key role in attracting people to West Haven.

Its an asset to the city that really needs to be worked on and developed, he said.

Despite the conference center project being slowed by a need for post-pandemic economic viability data, Olenick said he believes the pandemic has not stopped or slowed economic development in the city overall.

If you look at the Post Road, with very few exceptions theres only a couple spaces for lease, he said, also citing the completion of some mixed-used Acorn Group buildings in the Allingtown section of the city near the University of New Haven campus.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
Bjoern Wylezich / TNS

HARTFORD  A Waterbury man was sentenced Wednesday to 33 months behind bars after investigators found videos and pictures of child sex abuse imagery on his devices.

John Perugini, 79, was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant, the U.S. attorneys office said.
Gov. Ned Lamont signed into a law Thursday a controversial bill that wipes out the records of criminal convictions after 10 years, including some felonies  but his approval has strings attached.

The law is seen by supporters as a major step toward criminal justice reform, and by opponents as a violation of victims rights.

The governor delayed acting on the so-called clean slate bill, and formally asked for a fix, because he was concerned about a firearms provision, as reported last week by Hearst Connecticut Media. A person convicted of illegally possessing a firearm, a Class D felony, could have that record expunged after 10 years  then apply for a gun permit.

Lamont didnt like that, especially because it didnt make an exception for illegal possession at a school.

In a letter to lawmakers Thursday, Lamont said he is concerned that more felonies were not excluded from the legislation and that the erased records will not be available to criminal justice agencies to consider in determining whether to issue a gun permit or to the Judicial Branch in the event the individual is someday back in court.

Without offering any specifics, he added, I call on the legislature to address these concerns.

The bill maintains Connecticut as a national leader in criminal justice reform, Lamont said, and addresses well-documented collateral consequences of a criminal conviction and lowers barriers for people seeking to move on with their life and past their involvement with the criminal justice system.

Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, the chief sponsor of the bill, did not respond to a request seeking reaction to the signing and the request for the fix.

Starting in 2023, people convicted of most misdemeanors and class D and class E felonies will have the charges expunged from their records after seven or 10 years from the time of conviction, depending on the charge, if they dont commit any other crimes, even minor ones, during that time period.

The bill does not include convictions involving the actual use of a firearm  only illegal possession  nor, for the most part, crimes involving children and other vulnerable victims, nor violent crimes.

Lamont was wary of the legislation from the start, preferring to begin with a smaller set of misdemeanors before branching out to felony convictions  an idea that drew some Republican support.

If he had vetoed the bill, he would have faced harsh and potentially lasting backlash from advocates  including the most influential lawmakers from the cities that Lamont or any Democrat needs in order to win election in Connecticut.

Republicans criticized the bill for its reach, saying the measure applied to a broad list of crimes including hate crimes and illegally possessing a firearm, which could apply to a student who brought a gun to school. An earlier version adopted by the Senate had to be amended because some Democrats House thought it went too far.

If you bring a firearm with you to school, that shouldnt just disappear, Rep. Jason Perillo, R-Shelton, said recently. There are a lot of legislators here that are concerned about that, and if you asked 100 residents in the state of Connecticut how they felt about that, the vast majority would be opposed.

Perillo singled out the clean slate bill Thursday as an example of overreach by Democrats in a year when, he and House GOP Leader Vincent Candelora said, debates were skewed by coronavirus restrictions keeping legislators in separated silos.

Rep. Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, during the debate in the House a few weeks ago, emphasized the checks and balances that would still be in place if someone, charged with illegal possession of a firearm, went to apply for a pistol permit after the conviction was wiped clean.

The person would still need to pass a background check and suitability review, and maintain a pristine record for a decade, he said.

julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN  After two years of research, the Killed in Action War Memorial in Bubeck Park will be updated to honor local fallen service members.

The memorial lists the names of Schuylkill Haven area natives who died in the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Ellen Smith and her husband, James Spink, are leaders of the Schuylkill Frontier Girls and Quest Clubs, which has taken training courses on monument and gravestone cleaning. Smith said the project stemmed from findings they made in Bubeck Park.

We were cleaning the memorial and saw the name Isaac was spelled wrong, Smith said, referring to the World War I soldier whose name is spelled Issac Burkert on the plaque.

After that, Smith said, the group was restoring the gravestone of John Dentzer, whose name is also on the Killed in Action War Memorial, which had toppled over in the Cressona Cemetery. Buried next to John, they found his brother, George, who also had fought in the Civil War but was not listed on the memorial.

We didnt know why one brother was on the memorial, but one was not, Smith said. Then we were wondering how many other names were missing.

Smith said she brought the project to the borough council two years ago, and then the team began researching through ancestry.com, newspapers.com and trips to the Pottsville Free Public Library. They also worked with Schuylkill Haven historian Richard Nagle to verify names and spellings.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused some delays, but Spink said that gave them more time to perform research.

In addition, final approval and completion of the project fell during the memorials 30th anniversary.

It is nice how it played out, Smith said.

The following names will be added to the memorial:

 Civil War: Samuel B. Laubenstein, George Denzter, Rudolph Small, George Schreck, Peter Fitzsimmons, Daniel Musick, Lucien Schwartz, George Payne, Robert Luckenbill and David Fenstermacher.

 World War II: Lester Strause, John Brinich, Matthew Zemencik, Joseph Woll and Jack Paul.

Also, Roger Lehman Jr. will be added from the War on Terror, and the spellings of the names Isaac Burkert, Ivan Lautenbacher and Russel Neyer will be corrected.

Smith said replacing the three plaques will cost $15,000. They are planning to hold a benefit concert in town and have a stand during Borough Day to begin fundraising.

Having support for this and other projects from the Schuylkill Haven Borough Council, American Legion and the community at large has meant a lot to both Smith and Spink, who have had many family members serve in the military.

Its very near and dear to our hearts, Smith said. Were thankful to live in a county that values their military.
POTTSVILLE  Administrators of the Salvation Army Pottsville Corps are leaving the city to lead a corps in their home state.

Envoys Bradley and Gina Harris have led the Sanderson Street-based corps since June 2017. Their last day will be June 27, after which they will be administrators and pastors at Center Hill, one of four corps in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Pottsville Corps will have new administrators, Lts. Gavin and Holly Yeatts, who will come from the West Pittston Corps in Luzerne County, where they are administrators. Both couples begin their new assignments June 30.

In their four years at Pottsville, the Harrises restarted a mens group and in their final weeks will start a program to offer free Wi-Fi to children and seniors at the corps building.

They have worked with other agencies, including Servants to All, which runs My Fathers House on South Centre Street, Schuylkill Community Action, Service Access Management and Child Development Inc. Also, the Salvation Army is a partner agency for the Schuylkill United Way.

Bradley Harris said agencies working together is unique and fills a need. It was particularly obvious when Schuylkill County communities experienced flooding soon after they came here in the summer of 2017.

Seeing these agencies working together, it was really special, he said.

The couple also work with the Salvation Armys Adult Rehabilitation Center in Wilkes-Barre, which administers the Salvation Army thrift shop on North Centre Street and Toys for Tots. They work with two case workers, a maintenance employee and volunteers.

Ohio natives

The Harrises previously spent three years as corps helpers at the Levittown Corps near Philadelphia, with the Pottsville Corps being their first post as envoys.

They are originally from Portsmouth, Ohio, and knew each other in high school.

Bradley, 45, earned a bachelors degree in social sciences from Shawnee State University in Portsmouth and masters degrees in pastoral counseling and religious education from Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia, while Gina, 40, also attended Liberty.

The couple reside in Pottsville with their 15-year-old daughter, Allison, who just completed her freshman year at Pottsville Area High School.

Before joining the Salvation Army, Bradley Harris was a pastor of Otway Christian Union Church in the Portsmouth area and was a hospital chaplain, while his wife operated a church day care center.

Along with being envoys, they are pastors of a congregation that meets in a chapel at the corps building and they lead a Sunday school and Bible study.

Gina Harris, assisted by her husband, oversees youth programming, which includes troops for children in grades K-12 and a teen group. In addition, they run a food pantry, offer rental and utility assistance, motel vouchers, offer community meals weekly and run the Red Kettle donation program during the holiday season.

They also offered music programs and homework help.

Blessed to be here

Gina Harris said she has enjoyed getting to know the area, calling the community giving and loving.

Both said community leaders have been kind and welcoming, noting that commissioners Chairman Barron L. Hetherington has donated corn from his Ringtown area farm and Dick Yuengling, president of D.G Yuengling & Son Brewery, brings a carload of turkeys every year.

They make the time to serve, Bradley Harris said.

Gina Harris said she will miss the children and teens she works with, as well as the food, adding she likes Ritas Italian Ice, which doesnt have locations in Ohio.

Bradley Harris said he will miss the scenery, noting how much of Ohio is flat, and the history.

During his time in Pennsylvania, he learned his ancestors came to eastern Pennsylvania to mine coal before later settling in Ohio.

We thank God for the opportunity to be appointed to Pottsville, he said. Weve learned so much and have built some really meaningful relationships.

We cant say enough how blessed we have been to be here these four years. We are going to miss it.
Iceland holds ham radio exam

The PTA examination for an amateur license took place in the IRA's meeting room in Skeljanes on June 5, there were five candidates



A translation of the IRA post reads:



A total of five people took the exam. Four achieved satisfactory results, of which three for the CEPT HAREC G-license and one for the CEPT Novice N-license.



The IRA examination committee carried out the implementation in the presence of a representative of the Post and Telecom Administration (PTA). Tested in electronics and radio technology and rules and business. The exam started at 10 am. Both exams were written but one examinee took an oral exam.



Representatives of the examination committee: Kristinn Andersen, TF3KX, chairman; Vilhjalmur or Kjartansson, TF3DX; Einar Kjartansson, TF3EK; Vilhjalmur I. Sigurjonsson, TF3VS; and Yngvi Hararson, TF3Y. Representative of the Post and Telecom Administration: Bjarni Sigursson, engineer. Representatives of the board: Jon Bjornsson, TF3PW; Jonas Bjarnason, TF3JB; Smundur E. orsteinsson, TF3UA and Hrafnkell Sigursson, TF8KY.



The board of IRA would like to thank Jon Bjornsson, TF3PW, the course supervisor and the instructors for a job well done. The same applies to Kristinn Andersen, TF3KX, chairman of the examination committee and examination committee members, who perform their duties professionally and diligently. Bjarni Sigursson, a representative of the Post and Telecom Administration, is also thanked for his professional approach to the project.



Last but not least, sincere congratulations to the new licensees.



Source IRA https://tinyurl.com/iaru-iceland
Editors Note: The following letter was submitted in the wake of the Blue Mountain School Districts decision to not allow military-enlisted members of its senior class to wear sashes bearing their designated branches of service at commencement. The district reversed that decision.

To the Editor:

First, congratulations to the students entering the service. They deserve respect from their school and to be acknowledged the same as other students accomplishments.

How disgraceful and cowardly of that school board to deny these young men on their brave decision to serve and protect our freedom. Any American to vote against those who serve is shameful. Personally, these students have better character than the adults in charge of their district.

Surely if this vote was published before elections, this board, I would hope, would not be sitting there now. Their decision had to be made without any public opinion.

What would be interesting to know is who the individuals were on the board who voted for this and the reasoning behind it  even more so, if any board member was as brave as these students and served.

Best wishes and prayers for these young patriots, but mostly, thank you for your service.

Proud daughter of a World War II hero and POW survivor of the Bataan Death March,

Kathy Kleeman Gough

Ashland
Parineeti Chopra often shares glimpses of her daily life through social media. The actor is currently holidaying in Turkey and has been out of the country since March. She recently conducted an Ask Me Anything session through her Instagram and answered several questions from her fans and followers.

Parineeti Chopra's favourite childhood memory

Parineeti Chopra recently conducted an Ask Me Anything session via Instagram to answer her fans' questions. Parineeti, who enjoys a massive social media following on Instagram of over 32 million, answered some general questions and revealed that she was in Turkey. Several fans came up with interesting questions. One of Parineeti's fans asked her about her favourite childhood memory. Parineeti went down memory lane and added a childhood photo with both her siblings. In the answer, she wrote, "My yearly trips to Kenya. Have practically grown up in Masai Mara.". Parineeti further tagged her siblings Sahaj and Shivang along with her mother Reema Chopra in the photo.

Parineeti: Beauty with brains

While fans were asking Parineeti questions about her childhood and early life, a fan came up with a question about her schooling. One of the fans asked Parineeti how much she scored in her 12th standard board examination. Parineeti answered the question and wrote, "I was among the toppers in India in Economics- 97%". Reportedly, Parineeti was also felicitated by the then-President of India for her achievement.

Parineeti Chopra's upcoming project

Parineeti Chopra, whose last films were Saina and Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, is up to a new project with Ranbir Kapoor. A fan asked Parineeti about her upcoming ventures, to which she replied with a poster of the film Animal. Parineeti would be co-starring with Ranbir Kapoor and Anil Kapoor in her upcoming film Animal. The film would be directed by Sandeep R Vanga and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Pranay Reddy Vanga, and Murad Khetani.

Parineeti Chopra's holiday in Turkey

In one of Parineeti Chopra's latest photos, she was seen enjoying the sun and beach in Turkey. The actor wore a two-piece swimsuit and paired it with a pair of sunglasses. The actor added a funny caption with the photo and wrote, "I was doing Pranayama before this photo.  Ok thats a lie.".

IMAGE: PARINEETI CHOPRA'S INSTAGRAM

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Priyanka Chopra and Parineeti Chopra have always been very close and they are not afraid of showing it to the world. Priyanka Chopra has been supportive of Parineeti Chopra in all that she does and the two of them have even collaborated on a number of projects together. Priyanka Chopra and Parineeti Chopra are both out of the country at present for work-related purposes. When Priyanka Chopra saw Parineeti Chopras photos from her trip to Turkey, it seems as though the older Chopra sister felt a pang of jealousy. She commented on Parineeti Chopras picture saying, Im soooo jealous and she followed this by the lovestruck face emoji.

Here's why Priyanka is jealous of Parineeti Chopra

The picture in question was one where Parineeti Chopra was seen seated on a luxurious beach in Turkey. She is wearing a black two-piece bikini and has paired it with a pair of black sunglasses. Her hair is let loose and it is being ruffled by the wind. Parineeti Chopra seems to be alone on the isolated beach away from crowds and the fear of contracting the virus. The sky and the water in the background blend beautifully to create a menagerie of blues, adding to the dreaminess of the picture. Parineeti Chopra captioned the picture by saying, I was doing Pranayama before this photo. Ok that's a lie.

Parineeti Chopra recently held an Ask Me Anything session where people asked her how she was out of the country and posting pictures, given the current situation of the country. The actor clarified that she had been out of the country since January and that is why she was being able to travel. She further revealed that while pictures may not say so, she was actually out of the country for work.

While Priyanka Chopra said that she was jealous of her sister, she herself seems to be trotting around the globe. Priyanka Chopras Instagram is witness to the fact that the actor has been around a lot these past few months. She has been primarily living in London to shoot for her next project. She was recently in the USA to support her husband as he hosted the BBMAs.

IMAGE: PRIYANKA CHOPRA'S INSTAGRAM

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Jennifer Lopez called off her two-year engagement with Alex Rodriguez in April 2021 and reunited with Ben Affleck in May 2021 whom she was engaged to in 2002. According to a source, the couple discussed how they would handle paparazzi photographing their every move as they entered their rekindled romance. It is known that this time, Ben wont let the intense media attention get in the way of their relationship.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck discussed how to deal with paparazzi

As reported by Page Six, a source reveals that one of the big issues between Ben and Jennifer when they first dated back in 2002 was how many photographers were always around the high-profile relationship. The source added that Ben is now aware of what he is in for and the couple had a discussion about paparazzi. JLo warned Ben that they would be followed by paparazzi again and he knew and understood. It is reported that Ben Affleck is a private person but is accepting it as it is what it is.

The couple is photographed regularly and most recently, on June 2, 2021, they were clicked outside the Pendry hotel in West Hollywood as they headed for a dinner date. They held hands and hugged each other as they walked towards the hotel. Have a look at Jen and Ben's pictures below.

On May 24, 2021, the couple were spotted together in Miami and a netizen pointed out that Ben appeared to be wearing the same watch Jennifer bought for him in her 2002 music video, Jenny From the Block. A fan account posted side-by-side pictures of him wearing the silver watch in 2002 and the present day.

Its the lil things...



Ben Affleck wearing the same watch JLo gave him while filming Jenny From The Block pic.twitter.com/Yfs7hN3xfT  bennifer tea (@jloaffleck) May 24, 2021

More about Jen and Ben's relationship

According to People, photos taken on May 23, 2021, show the couple having a gala time in Miami as Jennifer Lopez had a big smile on her face while Ben stood behind her in one of them. Previously, a source told the website that the couple reconnected during her recent trip to Los Angeles. It was also revealed that the two have been in touch every day since their Montana trip and Jennifer seems very happy and excited about her future.

(IMAGE: BEN AFFLECK, JENNIFER LOPEZ'S INSTAGRAM)

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Money Heist season 5 finally has a release date and it seems that apart from fans, the actors of the show are just as excited with the news! Money Heist's Rio aka Miguel Herran, recently shared an Instagram post featuring a BTS photo of himself from the show. The actor can be seen wearing a bullet proof vest, while holding an assault rifle and looking quite rattled.

Miguel shared the post with his caption in Spanish which read, "Que ganas tengo de que llegue el 3 de septiembre.." which loosely translated means, "I am looking forward to September 3". The actor wrote about how he's excited for the day since the Money Heist season 5 release date is scheduled for the same, which is September 3, 2021. Take a look at Miguel Herran's post below -

Money Heist Season 5 cast, plot, and more

In July 2020, Netflix renewed Money Heist for a fifth and final part. Season 5 will release in two five-episode halves, with Volume 1 dropping September 3, followed by Volume 2 on December 3. The series was filmed in Madrid, Spain.

According to digitalspy, Miguel Angel Silvestre and Patrick Criado will join the Money Heist cast for season five. Ursula Corbero, Alvaro Morte, Itziar Ituno, Miguel Herran, Jaime Lorente, Esther Acebo, and others are set to reprise their roles from the previous seasons. The series recently wrapped up filming on May 14, 2021.

Netflix's official description for season 5 of the show reads, "The gang has been shut in the Bank of Spain for over 100 hours. They have managed to rescue Lisbon, but their darkest moment is upon them after losing one of their own. The Professor has been captured by Sierra and, for the first time, doesn't have an escape plan. Just when it seems like nothing else could go wrong, an enemy comes on the scene that is much more powerful than any they've faced: the army. The end of the greatest heist in history is approaching, and what began as a robbery will turn into a war".

Image - La Casa De Papel Instagram

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Kuwait City, June 10 (PTI) External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar arrived in Kuwait on a bilateral visit early on Thursday.

According to diplomatic sources, the aim of the visit is to deepen India's ties with the oil-rich Gulf nation.

It comes nearly three months after the two countries decided to establish a joint ministerial commission to formulate a framework to strengthen ties in sectors like energy, trade, investment, manpower and labour and information technology.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah visited India in March during which both sides decided to set up the joint commission.

"Hon'ble External Affairs Minister of India His Excellency Dr S Jaishankar arrives in Kuwait on a bilateral visit and was received by the Ambassador," the Indian Embassy there tweeted on Thursday with the hashtag 'India Kuwait Friendship'.

Kuwait has been supporting India in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic by supplying relief material as well as medical oxygen.

Indian Navy ships have brought a large quantity of medical oxygen from Kuwait in the last few weeks. PTI NSD NSD

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla on June 10 released new postage stamps to commemorate the 70th anniversary of India-Germany diplomatic relations. On Thursday as the ties between both nations complete seven decades, Shringla also highlighted the multifaceted nature of the India-Germany Strategic Partnership. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said that Foreign Secretary released the commemorative postage stamps alongside Secretary Vineet Pandey and German Ambassador to India Walter J. Lindner.

While speaking at the event, Shringla said that an important indicator of the bilateral ties has witnessed extensive cooperation between both India and Germany to tackle with COVID-19 pandemic in areas involving research and supply of health products. On the occasion, the Foreign Secretary took the opportunity to thank the German government and the people of the European nation for receiving timely assistance amid the crippling second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The India-Germany Strategic Partnership, which was established in the year 2000, draws strength from an ever-expanding trade and investment relationship. Enhanced cooperation in areas such as science and technology research and higher and vocational education has contributed to a high degree of mobility for students and professionals between India and Germany, Shringla said.

"Germany has been one of our most important friends in the European Union. The recommencement of negotiations on the India-EU trade and investment agreement augurs well for the future of our economic ties," he added.

Foreign Secretary @harshvshringla released India-Germany at 70 years commemorative Postage Stamp with Secretary @IndiaPostOffice and @AmbLindnerIndia of Germany. Highlighted the multifaceted nature of the India-Germany Strategic Partnership. pic.twitter.com/smeEAsSiXQ  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) June 10, 2021

India looking to work with Germany for free Indo-Pacific

Shringla also said that in 2020, Germany became the second European country to issue guidelines for the Indo-Pacific, which we welcome. We look forward to working with Germany on our convergent vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. While noting the collaboration required in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, the Foreign Secretary said, The post-pandemic global order will require concerted effort on the part of like-minded countries to ensure that the principles of multilateralism and a rules-based international order are respected by all.

He added, India and Germany must therefore continue to enhance the level and quality of their strategic engagement. We both have unique strengths that we can synergise to be a force for good in the world.

IMAGE: GermanyinIndia/Twitter
On Wednesday, June 9, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and the United States acting Ambassador Daniel B Smith held a meeting and discussed India-US relations, regional issues, and cooperation in the United States. The pandemic situation, vaccination supply, and cooperation in combating COVID-19 were some of the issues discussed during the meet.

MEA spokesperson Aridham Bagchi took to Twitter to brief about Shringhla and US Envoy meet.

Foreign Secretary @harshvshringla had a productive meeting today with US Acting Ambassador Daniel B. Smith @USAmbIndia about India-US relations, regional issues & cooperation in the UN; also discussed Covid19 situation, supply of vaccines & cooperation in combating the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/UnxCz4xlZ8  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) June 9, 2021

Daniel Smith pledges support to India

In May, Daniel B. Smith was appointed as the US Charge d'Affaires to India. Further, Smith took responsibility to help India curb medical supply shortages and pledged to support the nation as New Delhi assisted Washington. He took to Twitter to show his support to India.

Namaste, I'm Dan Smith, the new Charge d'Affaires at the U.S. Mission in India. These are difficult times, but I'm ready to get to work in support of the #USIndia partnership. Just as India helped the U.S., the U.S. will stand with India. I look forward to working with you all.  Charge DAffaires Daniel B. Smith (@USAmbIndia) May 3, 2021

Daniel Smith in his first address as US Envoy to India stated that he will advance US President Joe Bidens objective of strengthening India-US relations. Considering the COVID situation in India, Smith also reiterated that the US stands with India to showcase solidarity. He said US President attaches great importance to the US-India relationship and added that he is "looking forward" to working collaboratively with India.

US helps India amid COVID situation

In early June, United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the Biden administration has made a commitment to dispatch the COVID vaccine doses to The US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his commitment to leading a coordinated vaccine effort and announced to donate 80 million COVID-19 vaccines  the 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines previously announced and an additional 20 million doses by the end of June.

Asia will receive nearly 7 million Coronavirus vaccine doses under the US proposed allocation plan for the first 25 Million doses, of which 19 million will be shared through COVAX. Also during the US Vice president, Kamala D. Harris virtual meet with PM Modi, she reiterated that the Biden administrations efforts are focused on achieving broad global coverage of the COVID-19 vaccines, responding to surges and other urgent situations and public health needs.

India battles COVID-19

To date, India has reported 2.91Cr total active cases of Coronavirus infection with 2.75Cr total recoveries and 3.54L deaths. The country has administered 23,82,11,639 vCOVID vaccine doses across 42,187 vaccination sites.

(With ANI input)

(Image Credit: ANI/HARSH V SHRINGAL FACEBOOK/@USAMBINIDA TWITTER)
External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar on June 9 met Qatari National Security Advisor (NSA) Mohamed Bin Ahmed Al Mesned and thanked him for middle east support and solidarity in India's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Jaishankar is on a three-day visit to Kuwait to further cement bilateral ties and thank the two countries for supporting India during the raging second wave of coronavirus pandemic. This is his first visit to the middle eastern nation as Union Minister since he took over the office in 2019.

A pleasure to meet Qatari NSA Mohamed Bin Ahmed Al Mesned. Appreciate his insights on developments in the region and beyond. Thanked him for the support and solidarity in Indias fight against Covid. pic.twitter.com/IoFIBxPy1t  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 9, 2021

According to an MEA statement, the EAM took this trip at the invitation of Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Kuwait. During the visit, which will end on June 11, Jaishankar will hold high-level meetings and also address the Indian community in Kuwait. He is also carrying a personal letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Amir of Kuwait.

The MEA said, The year 2021-22 marks the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Kuwait. Traditionally warm and close bilateral relationship between India and Kuwait is characterized by strong people-to-people connect. There are around one million Indians residing in Kuwait. India is amongst the largest trading partners of Kuwait and Kuwait is a major supplier of oil for India.

Meanwhile, India and Kuwait have set a maritime bridge for the convenient transport of medical oxygen as well as oxygen-carrying equipment. With this bridge, Indian Navy ships brought essential medical supplies under its Operation Samudra Setu II as the nation was tackling a dramatic surge of coronavirus infections. On May 27, Indian Navy Ship INS Shardul arrived at Kochi with 270 Metric Tonnes (MT) of liquid oxygen from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates ((UAE) including 11 International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) containers, two semi-trailers, and 1200 oxygen cylinders.

India-Kuwait relations

Jaishankar's Kuwait visit comes after on May 12 he spoke with Kuwait Foreign Minister Dr. Ahmed Nasser Mohammed Al Sabah. During the phone call earlier this month, Jaishankar thanked Kuwait FM for the much-needed assistance. EAM had tweeted saying that the call between both the diplomats was warm with India conveying its appreciation for the maritime bridge with Kuwait that facilitated smooth oxygen flow.

Kuwaiti FM Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, on the other hand, met with EAM on March 18 after he landed in India for a two-day visit on March 17 this year. During the in-person meet, both sides reviewed all aspects of India-Kuwait ties and also discussed regional, international developments. Jaishankar and Al-Sabah agreed to coordinate closely on issues of mutual interest in multilateral forums while exploring fresh ways to further elevate the bilateral relationship between both countries. At the time, Kuwaiti FM also expressed gratitude for India for supplying 200,000 doses of India-made COVID-19 vaccines, Covishield in February 2021.

(Image: Twitter)
After facing backlash, the Lakshadweep administration withdrew an order dated June 2 for the deployment of government servants on fishing boats for intelligence gathering. Earlier, NCP MP Mohammed Faizal questioned the practicality of implementing this as hundreds of fishing boats operate from Lakshadweep. He also revealed that the Coast Guard has regular interaction with the local fishermen to train them on how to report the movement of suspected objects in the seas at least once in three months.

Additionally, Port, Shipping and Navigation Director Sachin Sharma also reversed the decision to increase the security around ports, jetties, ships and other vessels. The protests against Lakshadweep Administrator Praful Khoda Patel intensified on Monday when several people held an underwater stir and staged a 12-hour fast demanding his recall for taking anti-people measures. Simultaneously, all UDF MPs except Rahul Gandhi, K Muraleedharan, K Sudhakaran, Kodikunnil Suresh, Shashi Tharoor, Adoor Prakash and N K Premachandran staged a protest in front of the Lakshadweep Administrators office in solidarity with the protestors,

Opposition seeks withdrawal of controversial decisions

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. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured that all their concerns will be addressed.

Here are some of their concerns:
K6K to celebrate Kamehameha Day June 11 Hawaii's Tribune-Herald reports radio amateurs will be operating special event station K6K on June 11 to celebrate Kamehameha Day



Kamehameha Day on June 11 is a public holiday in Hawaii. It honors Kamehameha the Great, the monarch who first established the unified Kingdom of Hawaii.



Ham radio operator Lloyd Cabral sits in the station he built inside his Hawaiian Paradise Park home, headphones on and finger moving on a CW, or continuous wave paddle, tapping out a message in Morse code.



On other end is an operator more than 2,400 miles away on a beach in Coos Bay, Ore.



Cabrals station will join other amateur radio operators in Hawaii for a special Kamehameha Day celebration on June 11.



A special event call sign, K6K, will be on the air from 6 a.m.-10 p.m.



But its not a contest, Cabral said. Its an operating event, so on our side, theres no pressure, theres no stress.



Read the full Tribune-Herald story at

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2021/06/07/hawaii-news/hamming-it-up-radio-operators-enjoy-competitions-plan-special-kamehameha-day-event/

K6K https://www.qrz.com/db/K6K
In a major crackdown on the Narco terror nexus, Punjab Police on Friday arrested the third aide of dreaded gangsters Jaipal Singh Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh Jassi who were killed in an encounter by a team of Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police. The name of the third aide arrested by the Punjab Police is Bharat Kumar. Bharat Kumar is said to be the person who helped gangsters Jaipal Singh Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh Jassi flee from Punjab to Kolkata. As per reports, Bharat Kumar is involved in cross-border drug smuggling and the Punjab Police have also recovered Pakistan and Australia's SIM cards from his possession. Bharat was produced in Kharar court and has been sent to 7 days of police custody.

Kolkata Encounter

On Wednesday, two gangsters involved in killing two policemen recently in Ludhiana were gunned down by a Kolkata police team in a shootout there in the metropolis, a Police official source was quoted by PTI. Gangsters Jaipal Singh Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh Jassi were shot dead by a Special Task Force team of the Kolkata police on pin-pointed information provided by the Punjab Police about the gangsters' hideout in a housing society in the New Town area of the city, he said.

In the operation, which took place at around 3:30 pm, a Kolkata police inspector too was injured, he said.

"We wanted to arrest them and asked them to surrender. But as they started firing, we had to fire in self-defense," West Bengal STF's Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Vineet Goel told reporters earlier in Kolkata.

The Punjab Police had earlier informed the Bengal police about the two, but no representative of that force was present during the raid, Goel said. The Punjab police had declared earlier an award of Rs 10 lakh on Ferozepur resident Bhullar's arrest and that of Rs 5 lakh over Mohali man Jassi's apprehension, the Punjab police official said in Chandigarh.

Bhullar and Jassi had been on the run since the killings of two assistant sub-inspectors at the new grain market at Jagraon in Ludhiana. Their two other accomplices were nabbed by a joint team of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh at a railway station near Gwalior, minutes before they were to take a train to Maharashtra on May 28.

Jaipal Bhullar was an 'A' category gangster says DGP Dinkar Gupta

Addressing a news conference here, Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said Jaipal Bhullar was an 'A' category gangster and was involved in the killing of the two ASIs last month at Jagraon in Ludhiana. DGP Gupta said after they came to know that both Bhullar and Jaspreet were hidden in a rented apartment in Kolkata, the Punjab police dispatched a special team to Kolkata by flight on Wednesday.

In the meanwhile, we also coordinated with Kolkata Police to share pinpointed inputs regarding their current hideout for the arrest of these two most-wanted drug smugglers, said Gupta. The DGP said a senior police officer from Kolkata police informed later in the afternoon that both the criminals had been killed in retaliatory firing by the Kolkata STF in which one of their police inspectors had also sustained bullet injuries. He said four pistols had been recovered from the flat by the STF of the Kolkata police.

Operation code-named 'OP-Jack' to nab Jaipal Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh Jassi

About the recoveries from the flat of the slain gangster, WB STF's ADGP Goel said Rs 7 lakh in cash, besides several firearms including 9 mm pistols and 89 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the flat. After the killings of the two ASIs at Jagraon and a pistol snatching incident near Doraha last month, police had launched a massive operation code-named 'OP-Jack' manhunt to nab Bhullar and Jaspreet.

Many police teams were dispatched to various states to nab these gangsters with the help of other state police forces, he stated.

The duo's hideout in Kolkata was traced after the arrest of one Bharat Kumar, a Ludhiana resident from near Shambhu border in Rajpura area and recovery of one .30 bore pistol, along with a car, bearing West Bengal registration number from him. Bharat, a close accomplice of Bhullar, had been providing logistic support to him in the Gwalior area of MP after Bhullar and Jassi had fled from Punjab. Two other accused -- Darshan Singh and Baljinder Singh -- involved in the murder of the two ASIs were nabbed from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on May 28.

The two ASIs had gone to the grain market in Ludhiana where they had noticed four people shifting drugs from a truck to their car. When they asked them to surrender, the accused opened fire, resulting in the death of the two ASIs.

Who was Jaspreet Singh Bhullar?

Bhullar, who fell to the Kolkata police bullet was the son of a retired assistant sub-inspector of Punjab police and was a promising sportsperson as a hammer thrower. But he graduated in crime, with his name figuring in Punjab police files as a dreaded gangster, wanted in more than 25 criminal cases, including those of murders and drug smuggling, and on the run since 2014.

Bhullar was presently involved in the smuggling of drugs from across the border in close collaboration with major drug smugglers based in Pakistan. Bhullar was also allegedly involved in the killing of gangster-cum-politician Jaswinder Singh Rocky in 2016, at Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh. He had suspected that Rocky had leaked information about another gangster Shera Khuban, who was shot dead in a police encounter in 2012.

He even took responsibility for Rocky's murder on social media and declared it as the revenge of the Shera Khuban encounter. In 2017, Bhullar had allegedly looted Rs 1.30 crore from a cash van on Chandigarh-Patiala Highway near Chitkara University and Rs 35 lakhs from an ATM loading van in Ropar. In 2020, Bhullar carried out a dacoity in which he looted about 33 kg gold from Ludhiana, an official said.

(Story Inputs: PTI)

(Image Credits: @TejpalVirk96/Twitter)
In the latest development relating to the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Popular Front of India (PFI) has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Centre's decision to invite non-Muslim minorities to apply for Indian citizenship from three neighbouring countries. As per the notification dated May 28, the MHA invited applications for citizenship from Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Buddhists hailing from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who are currently residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab. PFI became the second organisation to challenge MHA's order at the SC following the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). In its petition filed at the SC, PFI has sought a stay on the MHA's notification pertaining to citizenship for non-Muslim refugees.

IUML moves SC over MHA notification

Last week, the Indian Union Muslim League moved the Supreme Court against the Ministry of Home Affairs' notification. While the rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, are yet to be framed, the Ministry invoked the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The IUML, which was incidentally the first petitioner to have challenged the CAA before the apex court, argued that the Citizenship Act, 1955 does not allow the classification of applicants on the basis of religion. Recalling that the Centre had told the SC that a stay on the CAA is not necessary as the rules under the law have not been framed yet, it alleged that this notification was an attempt to circumvent this assurance. Moreover, the political party stressed that it will be a herculean task to take back the citizenship of these persons if the CAA is struck down by the top court.

What is the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)?

The CAA seeks to provide citizenship to the minority communities, namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This will be applicable to the members of these communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. Moreover, they shall not be considered as illegal migrants. Additionally, the mandatory residence period for naturalised citizenship for these communities would be reduced to 5 years.

Several parties in the North East such as the (AASU) have been vehemently opposed to this legislation. To ameliorate their concerns of organizations such as the All Assam Students Union, the Centre has exempted a major part of the North East from the ambit of the Act. The opposition contended that the Act discriminates on the basis of religion, which might go against Article 14, which guarantees the right to equality.

After an hours-long debate in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the legislation was cleared by a majority of the members voting in the favour of the Centre in December 2019. During the West Bengal election campaign, Union Home Minister Amit Shah revealed that the process of granting citizenship to refugees as per this legislation will commence after the end of the COVID-19 vaccination process. Interestingly, the implementation of the CAA was a key poll promise in West Bengal. CAA had caused an almighty on-ground political movement in late 2019 and early 2020, culminating in the 2020 Delhi Riots.
In the latest development, the Madras High Court refused to extend the interim protection from arrest granted to former AIADMK Minister M Manikandan who has been accused of rape and cheating. Earlier on June 3, the Madras HC had adjourned the anticipatory bail hearing of AIADMK leader M Manikandan in the rape case lodged against him by actor Shantini Theva and had noted that he wouldn't be arrested until the date of the next hearing i.e June 9. The HC bench led by Justice Abdul Quddhose refused to extend interim protection for Manikandan noting that the former AIADMK Minister had not stated valid reasons in his plea.

AIADMK leader M Manikandan moves Madras HC seeking anticipatory bail

Accusing actor Shantini Theva of lodging the complaint with the ulterior motive to 'extort money,' the petition filed by AIADMK's M Manikandan had leveled counter-allegations of a slanderous nature. Further, the AIADMK leader denied taking a 'naked photo' of Shantini Theva and claimed that the offence under section 67A of the Information Technology Act was added only to aid the allegation. Accordingly, AIADMK leader M Manikandan had sought the Madras High Court to grant him anticipatory bail in the matter.

Actor accuses AIADMK's Manikandan of abusing, cheating her

Former AIADMK Minister M Manikandan was booked under Sections 417, 376, 313, 323, 506 (ii) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under section 67A of the Information Technology Act based on a complaint lodged by Tamil actor Shantini Theva. Speaking to the press earlier last week, Shantini Theva, who was also a former ambassador for Tamil Nadu tourism, claimed that she was physically & mentally abused by the former AIADMK Minister for nearly five years while they were in a relationship during which she was also allegedly forced to abort thrice after becoming pregnant. The actor also alleged that the Minister had threatened her family.

Narrating her ordeal to the media, Shantini Theva claimed that she met AIADMK leader Manikandan in 2017 and got close to him after the latter promised to do business together in Malaysia. The actor revealed that she frequented the ex-Minister's bungalow as she was told by Manikandan that his wife did not take good care of him and that he allegedly wanted to marry her. Noting that she had reportedly tagged along with the AIADMK leader to several places during his official tours, Shantini Tehva claimed that she was tortured and was also forced to abort after becoming pregnant as the AIADMK leader had objected to it, allegedly citing that he was a Minister.

Explaining what led her to file a police complaint against AIADMK leader Manikandan, Shantini Theva claimed that the ex-Minister had threatened to leak a photo of the actor (which he had allegedly taken without her knowledge). Further, she claimed that Manikandan had many photos of her in his possession and filed a police complaint against him, seeking her photos to be deleted. On being asked why she did not raise a complaint while she was physically abused by Manikandan, Shantini Theva asked who would have taken her complaint seriously if she had filed one then & went on to say that they (Manikandan & her) had taken life forward at multiple points after compromises.

Noting that all the details of her abuse had been mentioned in the complaint, Shantini Theva claimed that she had WhatsApp photos as evidence to show that she lived with Manikandan for five years. Showing pictures from her alleged WhatsApp chat with the AIADMK leader (which she attached with her complaint to the Police), Shantini Theva claimed that Manikandan had threatened her by saying that he had photos of her including those in a compromising position.
The prices of Bitcoin surged by 7.71 per cent to US$37,824.28 on June 10, according to the pricing on Coin desk. The cryptocurrency recorded a 24 hour high at US$38,461.25, a little over half of its overall high at US$ 64,829.14. The value of worlds most popular crypto currency has been surging for the past two days after El Salvador, became the first country to approve it for legal transactions.

Meanwhile, Ethereum also saw a jump with its price stationed at US$2,546 at the time of writing this article. Dogecoin, which had garnered popularity in recent times recorded a rate of US$0.336186 marking a 1.65 per cent jump at the time of writing this article. Other crypto currencies- Cardano and XRP also recorded a small but significant rise in their values, according to data on Coindesk.

Why is Bitcoin going up?

On June 9, the El Salvador government passed a historic bill called the Bitcoin Bill, legalising Bitcoin as one of the official currencies of the country. The Bitcoin Bill was made possible by the El Salvador president Nayib Bukele, who had campaigned heavily to introduce Bitcoin as one of the official currencies of the country. It should be noted that this was a historic step in the history of cryptocurrencies as El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. This El Salvador Bitcoin update also had an overall positive effect on the crypto market in general, as all major cryptocurrencies saw a rise in prices. If the trend continues, and Bitcoin keeps rising, the crypto market could quickly recover to the bull market stage they were at in the months of March and April. Stay tuned for more Bitcoin news and cryptocurrency updates.

DISCLAIMER: The information provided on this website is for educational and entertainment purposes. The information provided on this website does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. Republic World does not recommend purchasing any cryptocurrency. Crypto markets are highly volatile and crypto investments are risky. Readers should do their own research on cryptocurrencies and consult their financial advisers before making any crypto investments.

Image: Unsplash
Koo is being branded as a platform developed by Indians for Indians, thus gaining prominence in the nation. However, it seems even foreign accounts are taking to it. Not a netizen account, but it was the Government of Nigeria that joined the Atmanirbhar app days after banning Twitter in the country.

Government of Nigeria joins Koo after banning Twitter

Co-founder of Koo, Aprameya Radhakrishna tweeted a warm welcome to the official handle of the Government of Nigeria. Tagging Mayank Bidawakta, his partner in setting up the app, he expressed delight about the platform spreading wings beyond India.

A very warm welcome to the official handle of the Government of Nigeria on @kooindia! Spreading wings beyond India now.  @mayankbidawatka pic.twitter.com/9ufSOKI7sd  Aprameya R (@aprameya) June 10, 2021

This was after he had tweeted on June 5 that Koo was available in Nigeria and that they were contemplating on enabling the local languages.

@kooindia is available in Nigeria. We're thinking of enabling the local languages there too. What say? pic.twitter.com/NUia1h0xUi  Aprameya R (@aprameya) June 5, 2021

The Nigeria government had accused Twitter of double standards as it banned the Jack Dorsey-led company on June 2. This was in response to the platform deleting President Muhammadu Buhari's tweet. Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed had expressed condemnation of the 'persistent use' of Twitter for actions that could allegedly undermine Nigeria's corporate existence.

Koo is also widening its base amid rival Twitter being currently involved in a stand-off with the Government of India over compliance with the new IT rules. While Facebook, Google, and Telegram agreed to comply with the latest guidelines, Twitter was yet to fall in line. On Wednesday, it was reported that Twitter had begun partial compliance of the rules, by appointing a Nodal Contact Person and a Resident Grievance Officer.

Apart from numerous Union ministers and other politicians and actors like Anupam Kher hitting 1 million followers on Koo, the platform recently raised $30 million, with funding led by Tiger Global. The valuation of the company is now close to $150 million.
The leader of Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has killed himself, according to a jihadi organization linked to the Islamic State group.

An audio recording purportedly from Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP, said Shekau detonated explosives killing himself after a battle between the two groups.

The audio message follows media reports last month that Shekau, one of Africa's most wanted men, blew himself up to evade capture by ISWAP fighters.

Neither Nigerian authorities nor Boko Haram have confirmed Shekau's death.

There had been several false reports about Shekau's death in the past, with Shekau later appearing in videos to refute them.

Al-Barnawi, a son to the founding leader of Boko Haram, the late Mohammed Yusuf, made the statement in an audio message heard this week by The Associated Press in the native Kanuri language.

The audio message, which last about 28 minutes, had what is reportedly al-Barnawi's voice, lacing his speech with quotes from the verses of the Quran.

The audio was obtained from a former jihadist who provides intelligence to the government and is familiar with al-Barnawi's voice.

"He never thought this would happen to him even in his dream, but by the power of God we destabilized him; he became confused and fled to forest where he spent five days, wandering and stranded," he said.

Shekau was asked to surrender in order to be pardoned or reinstalled as a leader.

To him its better to die than to surrender, al-Barnawi said.

ISWAP broke off from Boko Haram in 2016 following a dispute between Shekau and al-Barnawi.

Both jihadi groups have also been fighting each other over territory since they fell out.

The Nigeria-based Boko Haram has been waging a bitter war against Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad since 2009.

Boko Haram under Shekau's leadership has carried out numerous suicide bombings targeting markets, crowded bus stations, churches, mosques and media houses.

A Boko Haram bombing in 2011 at the UN building in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, killed 21 people and wounded 60 others.

Boko Haram attacks on towns and villages mainly in northeast Nigeria have left tens of thousands of people dead and displaced more than 2.3 million others.

In February 2014, Boko Haram killed 59 male students in an attack at the Federal Government College Buni Yadi.

Two months later, the group shocked the world when it abducted 276 teenage schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

Shekau appeared in a video saying that the girls would be forced into marriage because girls as young as 9 are suitable for marriage.

While many of the girls have either escaped or been released, 112 of them are still missing.

The Boko Haram leader was notorious for using underage boys as child soldiers, while underage girls and young women have been used as suicide bombers in recent years.

Some gruesome Boko Haram videos have shown captives, including security personnel, aid workers and others, executed  sometimes by beheading.

Shekau had bounties on his head, with a reward of up to $7 million offered by the United States in 2012.

If indeed Shekau, the driving force behind Boko Haram, has died, that will likely weaken Boko Haram and make it possible for ISWAP to take over vast territories under Boko Haram control in Nigeria's northeastern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.

A stronger ISWAP will be bad news for the Nigerian military, as the group appears to constitute a greater threat against the Nigerian army, carrying out attacks on highly fortified military bases.

Many attribute ISWAP's recent successes to new tactics of buying over the local population with food and money.

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A high-level U.N.-led committee that focuses on rapid responses to humanitarian crises estimates that some 350,000 people in Ethiopias embattled Tigray region are facing famine conditions, a U.N. official said late Wednesday.

The estimate was presented at a meeting on Monday of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, comprising 18 U.N. and non-U.N. organizations.

An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (ipc) analysis update conducted in Tigray and the neighbouring zones of Amhara and Afar concluded that over 350,000 people are in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) between May and June 2021.

That number is expected to rise beyond 400,000 over the next few months if access isn't provided to those areas, said Brian Lander, the World Food Programme's Deputy Director of the Emergency Division.

"Overall the situation is extremely worrying" added Lander who said the WFP would need over 200 million dollars to maintain its operations over the next month.

"We'd like to get that message out to our donors very clearly because while we are able to deliver to some effect today, if we don't have the resources to maintain the pipeline of food coming into Tigray that really hampers our ability to plan forward to adapt and be responsive as the situation evolves over time," he argued.

The UN food agencies stressed in the report released Thursday that over 60% of the population, more than 5.5 million people, are grappling with high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Food Catastrophe level 3-5) in Tigray and the neighbouring zones of Amhara and Afar.

According to the IPC report "the key cause of acute food insecurity in Tigray is conflict as it has led to massive population displacement, widespread destruction of livelihoods and critical infrastructure, and loss of employment. Conflict has also limited access to markets."

Lander stressed how providing humanitarian assistance in the Tigray region is extremely difficult and often risky.

"We need unimpeded access to those areas that we haven't been able to reach to this point and we have faced severe constraints, we were stopped by armed actors from reaching certain areas," he explained, calling for an immediate ceasefire to gain access to struggling communities.

No one knows how many thousands of civilians or combatants have been killed since months of political tensions between Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmeds government and the Tigray leaders who once dominated it exploded into war last November.

Eritrea, a longtime Tigray enemy, teamed up with neighboring Ethiopia in the conflict.

The U.N. has criticized the lack of access to all areas of Tigray for humanitarian workers seeking to deliver aid

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The School of Mathematical Sciences of Chinas Fudan University on June 8 said that Wang Yongzhen, Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Committee of the school, was killed, reported state-media Global Times. Shanghai police said that the prestigious universitys 39-year-old teacher with the surname Jiang allegedly stabbed a Chinese official with a knife and was arrested on Monday. The CCP official killed in the incident is Yongzhen, 49 who was Jiangs colleague. The Communist Party official reportedly died at the scene.

As per the report, the police has revealed that Jiang claimed that he had a grudge against the CCP official due to work and stabbed him. The Chinese state media also stated that the incident took place on the Fudan University campus which is located in Handan Road in Shanghai. The educational institutes School of Mathematical Sciences also posted condolences for the CCP official killed by its teacher. The authorities reportedly also said that Wangs death for a great loss to the school. In a bid to mourn the Fudan University murder, the website is turned to black and white. Jiang has reportedly admitted the guilt.

Fudan university murder in 2013

The latest incident at Fudan University came after a murder took place inside the same campus back in 2013. As per the Associated Press, in one of Chinas most prestigious universities, a graduated student had positioned his roommate following a dispute in 2013. The CCP official, such as Wang who was killed by the professor, are reportedly ubiquitous on Chinese campuses. As per AP, they are mainly responsible for maintaining ideological purity, preventing the dissemination of Western concepts of human rights and free speech, and ensuring students and faculty remain loyal to the party.

Both murders in 2013 and this week took place in Fudan which is also ranked as one of the worlds top 100 universities with great foreign connections. However, as per AP, Fudans connections with the Chinese Communist Party have triggered controversy. On Saturday, several thousand people reportedly rallied in Hungarys capital against an agreement with the university to open a branch in Budapest citing both the cost and relations with chinas authoritarian leaders.

IMAGE: AP
Hundreds have held a rare protest in Bahrain over the death of a vaccinated prisoner from the coronavirus held by the island kingdom.

The demonstration Wednesday night saw protesters march in the streets of Diah, a village in the Persian Gulf kingdom, over the death earlier in the day of Husain Barakat.

Videos of the protest, which corresponded to Associated Press reporting of the demonstrations, saw those marching shout that they held King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for Barakat's death.

An Interior Ministry statement said Barakat, 48, had been on a respirator in recent days and died at a hospital. The ministry said Barakat had received a two-shot vaccination for the virus, without identifying which shot he received.

The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said Barakat had received the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.

Bahrain, like the nearby United Arab Emirates, relied heavily on Sinopharm in their world-record per-capita vaccination campaigns, but now are offering booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine.

There have been reports of low antibody responses in the UAE, which saw that country announce in May it would offer boosters six months after a Sinopharm two-shot vaccination.

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The European Parliament gave final approval Wednesday to the COVID-19 digital certificate -- a smart phone app that European Union citizens can use to travel freely among European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra tests.

The regulations governing the use of the document were adopted in two votes at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. The lawmakers also secured an agreement that member nations would not insert additional rules on those carrying the certificates.

Member nations must now give their approval to the app, which is viewed as a formality.

The program is expected to begin July 1, and all EU countries must recognize certificates issued by other EU countries. The passes will be issued by individual nations, not from a centralized European system. They will contain a QR code with advanced security features. Personal data will not be shared with other countries.

Several countries already have begun introducing the system, including Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Poland.


Washington D.C. (USA) 10 June 2021 (SPS)- US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, affirmed on Wednesday that Bidens administration is not continuing former President Donald Trump's policies on Western Sahara and the Middle East, when asked by journalist about Washington's continued recognition of Moroccan claims to Western Sahara.

Denying journalists suggestion that Biden is keeping up with his predecessors policies on the conflict, Price said that I would certainly take issue with the characterisation that there's been a continuity, including when it comes to our approach towards the region from the last administration."

When it comes to Western Sahara, we're consulting privately with the parties about how best to halt the violence and achieve a lasting settlement. I don't have anything further to announce at this time," he said.

A reporter had asked the spokesperson how the administration can reconcile its rhetorical push for multilateralism in a move away from Trump's policies while still recognising Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory, but Price didnt agree with this suggestion.

When journalists pushed back against Price's claim - stressing that the administration of President Joe Biden is keeping up with the Trump approach, including by encouraging normalisation - the spokesperson insisted that there is "very little continuity" of previous policies on the Middle East.

It should be recalled that Trump had openly violated international law and consensus and jeopardize the UN process of pushing for a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara, in return for Morocco joining few other Arab countries in normalising relations with Israel as part of what Trump called a deal.

Bidens administration has shown little agreements lately with Moroccan attempts to imply USA recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara as promised before by Trump.

The current administration didnt open a consulate in occupied Western Sahara as promised by Trump, nor did it accept Moroccan attempts to organize Africa Lion 2021 military exercises in Saharawi occupied territories despite Moroccan governments and armys propaganda about the organization of part of these exercise in occupied Mahbes region.(SPS)

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In a major development in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, the Pakistan National Assembly on Thursday adopted a bill to give the right of appeal to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav has been locked in a Pakistani jail on charges of espionage and terrorism ever since his sham abduction from Chabhahar in Iran where he was working as a privateer. Furthermore, top sources have told Republic that India is likely to demand examination of the Pakistani officers who abducted Jadhav.

The retired Indian Navy officer had been sentenced to death by a Pakistani kangaroo military court in April 2017. Following this India approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenged the death sentence, eventually winning a favourable verdict forcing Pakistan to eventually cow down.

Pakistan Compelled To Comply With International Court of Justice

The Pakistan National Assembly on Thursday adopted the Bill to give the right of appeal to Indian prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav in regard to the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) ruling. The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July 2019 that Pakistan must undertake an 'effective review and reconsideration' of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay. The ICJ, in its 2019 verdict, had asked Pakistan to provide a proper forum for appeal against the sentence given to Jadhav by a military court. Senior Advocate Harish Salve QC had represented India at the Hague, while Pakistan had been represented by Khawar Qureshi.

Exclusive: India likely to ask Pakistan for cross-examination of military officers who arrested Kulbhushan Jadhav

After Pakistan gave in to India's demand to provide Kulbhushan Jadhav the right to appeal, top sources said to Republic that India is likely to seek the cross-examination of the Pakistani military officers who abducted Kulbhushan Jadhav, and also those who recorded his confession. On numerous occasions, Republic has highlighted the tell-tale cuts and clear edits in the 'confession' videos that Pakistan had shared of Kulbhushan Jadhav. Furthermore, when his mother and wife had been allowed to visit him, Republic had highlighted the less than friendly treatment that had been meted out to them.
The United Nations, on Wednesday, called for a complete investigation after gunmen killed 10 people and wounded 14 other HALO Trust workers who were in the camp after finishing their operation in nearby minefields in Afghanistan. The UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that they will ensure 'those responsible for this horrendous attack are held accountable'. According to HALO Trust, the attack occurred on Tuesday night when some 110 men were resting in the camps of Baghlan-e-Markazi district.

Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan expressed his disgust over the unfortunate incident.

It is repugnant that an organization that works to clear landmines and other explosives and better the lives of vulnerable people could be targeted, he said in a statement.

The UN has clarified that it will not leave Afghanistan and keep delivering its committed responsibilities. The UN mission in the country, UNAMA also condemned the attack and expressed shock towards the killing of those 'humanitarians dedicated to protect all people'.

The mission also called 'parties' desiring peace for Afghan people to unite and 'put an end to the terrible crimes'.

All those parties claiming to desire peace for the Afghan people need to demonstrate concrete action to support their claims and put an end to the terrible crimes such as witnessed in #Baghlan #Afghanistan. (3/3)  UNAMA News (@UNAMAnews) June 9, 2021

Attack on HALO Trust staff

Spokesman Tariq Arian blamed the Taliban as information of the attack came out, reported AP News. However, the Taliban immediately refused any connection to the onslaught. According to the UN, more than 40,000 Afghans have been killed by landmines and other explosive remnants of war since 1989. Spokesperson Dujarric further added that 11 people were killed, 27 were injured and 36 were abducted, between January and April of this year.

There is a 140 per cent increase in such crimes, alleged Mr. Dujarric.

"Our humanitarian colleagues warn that interference with humanitarian activities escalated in 2020, with a 140 per cent increase in incidents compared to 2019. This escalating trend continues in 2021, he added.

The HALO Trust is one of several de-mining organizations in Afghanistan that is responsible to clear landmines and other explosives for the betterment of people. As per the data stated by the UN, last year it helped the country to clear some 14 square kilometres of land.

(With AP inputs)
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Thursday nabbed a Chinese intruder attempting to enter India through the Bangladesh border. The Chinese national, identified as Han Junwe, allegedly tried to stealthily cross the international boundary between India-Bangladesh and attempted to run away when sighted by the BSF at the Malik Sultanpur outpost. The infiltrator was apprehended and brought to Border outpost Mohadipur for questioning, where he divulged sensational details.

As per the BSF statement, the Chinese intruder claimed to be a resident of Hubei province and revealed that he had arrived in Dhaka on June 2 where he stayed with a Chinese friend, on a business visa. He then moved to Chapainawabganj district in Bangladesh and stayed at a hotel on June 8 before attempting to cross the international border.

Intruder nabbed at Indo-Bangladesh border Chinese spy?

According to the statement issued by BSF South Bengal Frontier, Han Junwe is a wanted criminal and is being interrogated properly. All intelligence agencies are working together in this. The BSF has stated that during an extensive search of the electronic equipment found in possession of the Chinese intruder, many facts have indicated that he was working for the Chinese Intelligence Agency in India. The BSF has also hinted that many 'startling details' may surface as the matter is probed in depth.

Significantly, the 36-year-old Chinese intruder revealed that he had visited India on four occasions previously. These included a visit to Hyderabad in 2010 and three visits to Delhi after 2019. He has claimed that during his previous visits to the national capital, he stayed at a hotel in Gurugram named "Star Spring" where some of his colleagues often stayed. Moreover, when he returned to China, his colleague in India, whom he has identified as Sun Jiang, sent him 10-15 numbers of Indian mobile phone SIMs. Moreover, he alleged that Sun Jiang - his business partner - had been arrested by ATS Lucknow due to which he could not obtain an India visa.

The BSF has recovered 1 Apple Laptop, 2 iPhone Mobile, 1 Bangladeshi SIM, 1 Indian SIM, 2 Chinese SIM, 2 Pen Drive, 3 Battery, 2 small torch, 5 money transaction machines, 2 ATM/Master Cards, US Dollars, Bangladeshi Takas and Indian currency from his possession as well.
A miner in the Yukon region in Canada has unearthed a well-preserved fossil of a mammoth beast nearby the Indian River. Yukon Territory of northern Canada is famous for ancient treasures that have been widely excavated from the melting permafrost. In the Klondike region of Canada, otherwise popular for gold, miners had previously found two mummified ice age mammals wolf pup, and a caribou calf. The Canadian miner Trey Charlie, who was working with an excavator at the Little Flake Mine around two weeks ago came across a tusk. The crew paused the project and unearthed more fossils at the site.

Charlie told Canada's CBC it was probably one of the best days he had worked as he discovered the mammoth tusk. He added that throughout the day he was picking bones, ribs, teeth, and all kinds of things. The miner posted the photographs of the ancient well-preserved fossil on both his Instagram and Facebook.

The crew was working on 'placer mining when the bones were discovered. The method involves using water to excavate, transport, concentrate and recover heavy minerals from alluvial or placer deposits. The team noticed that the excavator had bones falling out of the bucket and thats when they stopped to search for more, Charlie said. The mammoth bones seemingly belong to the elephants that walked ancient Alaska and Yukon approximately 12,000 years ago.

[Trey Charlie/facebook]

57,000-year-old Ice Age wolf puppy was found at the site

Miners in Canada have been digging out the ice age mammal skulls, bones, tusks, and fossils for more than a century, particularly at Klondike Gold Rush. In 2016, a miner similarly dug out an Ice Age wolf puppy in permafrost around 57,000 years ago. Neil Loveless of Favron Enterprises was searching for gold in Canada's famed Klondike fields when during the process called hydraulic thawing he found the fossil of the mummified wolf puppy.

Paleontologists later found that the fossil belonged to the juvenile female pup in the likeness of American mastodons that roamed northwestern Canada. Local Trondek Hwech people named the pup as Zhur, meaning wolf. The well-preserved mummy provided insight into Pleistocene wolves. It was agreed to be displayed at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center in Whitehorse back then, where the fossil was cleaned, conserved, and studied.
Canadian Jasmine Hartin was granted bail by a court in Belize City on Wednesday as she awaits trial on a charge of manslaughter by negligence in the shooting death of a police superintendent. Hartin's defense attorney, Godfrey Smith, said bail had been set at 30,000 Belize dollars (15,000 USD) with a requirement to report to a police station once per day.

Prosecutors had argued the 32-year-old could represent a flight risk as she was not a Belizean national and could face a serious prison sentence. But Smith said the risk was deemed not unacceptable, due to Hartin's wish to regain her role as primary caretaker to her four-year-old twins, coupled with the intense media scrutiny of the case, making it unlikely for her to be an international fugitive.

Hartin was charged on June 1 following the discovery of the body of police Superintendent Henry Jemmott on a dock in San Pedro days earlier. She is the partner of Andrew Ashcroft, son of Michael Ashcroft, a former deputy chairman of Britain's Conservative Party and a major financial backer. Michael Ashcroft also holds Belizean citizenship and was once its representative before the United Nations.

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Argentine President Alberto Fernandez hosted Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Buenos Aires on Wednesday as the two leaders shared their vision for making coronavirus vaccines available worldwide more quickly.

Sanchez backed lifting patents on COVID-19 shots as a "global public good" and speeding up their distribution "to be able to vaccinate all our societies as quickly as possible".

Fernandez said it was a "great concern" 90% of vaccines remained in the hands of 10% of countries, adding Argentina was moving closer to being able to produce the Russian-developed Sputnik V shot.

Fernandez also had to apologize on Wednesday for making statements in which he compared the origin of Argentines with that of Mexicans and Brazilians, branded by many of his compatriots as discriminatory and stereotyped.

"Mexicans came from the Indians, the Brazilians came from the jungle, but we Argentines came from the ships," Fernandez said during a meeting with business leaders.

He later apologized in a tweet saying "whoever has felt offended or invisibilized, my apologies."

Sanchez, on an overseas which will also take him to Costa Rica, also defended the prospect of pardons for jailed Catalan separatists.

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Conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori on Wednesday called into question some half a million ballots amid a close count with her rival in Peru's presidential runoff. Fujimori called on the National Jury of Elections to investigate 500,000 votes as the margin which sees her trailing leftist Pedro Castillo remains narrow.

The daughter of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who has not presented evidence for her claims, said the review of ballots was needed "for this process to be transparent and clean".

Thousands of supporters of her Popular Force party took to the streets of Lima on Wednesday, carrying banners asserting a defence of democracy and against communism.

With 98% of ballots tallied, Castillo had 50.2% of the vote, while conservative Fujimori had 49.8%, according to official results.

Perus elections agency, the National Office of Electoral Processes, continued to count votes cast in remote rural areas and abroad.

The winner of the runoff will succeed President Francisco Sagasti on July 28.

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Peru is currently sitting on the knife's edge of what may perhaps be the tensest elections in its modern history. The major cliffhanger of an election is dictated by a mere 0.4 per cent vote margin as of Thursday morning.

For years, if not decades, Peru suffered from violence, instability and poverty. Many credit Keiko Fujimori's father, Alberto Fujimori, who became President in 1990, promised to implement free-market reforms that eventually grew the economy and violently crushed the communist insurgency in the nation that was then also prevalent in several South American countries.

Corrupt Oligarch vs Authoritarian Socialist

Pedro Castillo, a staunch communist, teacher and union leader at the time of publishing this article has 50.2 per cent of the vote share; whereas Keiko Fujimori, the right-wing daughter of a former authoritarian President, has 49.8 per cent.

In the years that followed after the 1990 elections, Peru's poverty reduction rate was among the best in the world, as companies thronged to invest in the country that was mineral-rich. Notably, in 1997, 17.3 per cent of the country lived on less than $1.90 a day but by 2019, the number had dropped to 2.2 per cent. However, much of Peru remained poor as corrupt governments failed to invest in health, development and education.

When COVID hit, similar to other countries, Peru was also completely unprepared. Its economy had shrunk by 11 per cent and 3 million of its 32 million people fell into abject poverty, and it also recorded the world's highest COVID death rate owing to its poor health infrastructure and lack of awareness.

Peru Elections 2021

The current election is significant for another reason, it takes place in the middle of a widely divided Peru. While Castillo's support is garnered among the poorer Peruvians and in rural regions, where people see unequal growth, the middle and upper classes form Fujimori's vote base. She has reportedly won every district in Lima-Peru's wealthiest city forming an elite society.

Castillo's party's slogan is along the lines of 'We're heading to socialism, without fear.' His party support communism and hails leaders such as Fidel Castro. Castillo has been alarmingly vocal about wanting to limit foreign companies' profits and is rumoured to have links with communist insurgents that Fujimori's family and other leaders struggled to eradicate from the country. He has stated his intention to nationalise companies and even shut the Supreme Court. Among his other threats, he has also declared to limit press freedom in the country.

Castillo and Fujimori's legacy and political connections

while on the one hand, Castillo is a communist-loving, anarchist, Fujimori, on the other hand, represents the corrupt establishment. Parts of her manifesto include pardoning her father, who is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and human rights abuses. Fujimori herself if convicted is staring at 30 years in prison for alleged laundering of campaign money. However, she denies all charges and stated that these claims are baseless and strictly political in nature. Fujimori's party wants to continue condoning the free market but increase social spending and raise the minimum wage.



In the Primary elections that decide the final 2 candidates which concluded in April 2021, Castillo won 19 per cent of the votes and Fujimori won 13 per cent. There were 16 other candidates whose vote share occupied two-thirds of the rest of the ballot-who voted in the hope that a possible third front could be elected to power.

Future of Peru after May 2021 Elections

Fujimori-who seemed to be leading until Wednesday night-was in for a rude shock as Castillo gained a slight advantage after rural votes started coming in. Although Castillo's victory looks likely, it appears to be too close a call at the moment, whoever wins is likely to contest the results while facing the wrath of millions of angry Peruvians.
The European Union on June 9 threatened the UK with retaliatory action if it refuses to implement post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland. The talks between the EU and UK over Northern Ireland appear on the brink of collapse as London indicated that it was still considering action to keep unhindered supplies flowing from Great Britain into the region. However, according to The Guardian, visiting European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic said that patience was wearing very very thin and further described the relationship with the UK as at a crossroads.

While speaking at a news conference, Sefcovic said, Today I can say we are at a crossroads in our relationship with the UK. Trust, which should be at the heart of all relationships, needs to be restored.

He said that there were numerous and fundamental gaps in Britains compliance with the agreement and added, if the UK were to take further unilateral action in the coming weeks, we will not be shy in reacting swiftly, firmly and resolutely.

Further, Sefcovic said that the actions could include legal action, arbitration or other retaliatory measures, including targeted tariffs, which has prompted talk of a UK-EU sausage war on the UK side of the channel. But the EU official also insisted, We don't want this to happen... It's not too late. Let's correct the path.

UKs Brexit minister, David Frost, on the other hand, said that there had been no breakthroughs over the Brexit checks and no breakdowns after a two-hour meeting with Sefcovic in London. The sides have now agreed to continue to try to find a solution before a ban on chilled meats including sausages and mincemeat is due to come into force. The UK has extended the grace period for checks on British meat products heading to Northern Ireland, including sausages, until the end of this month.

Northern Ireland Protocol

It is worth noting that the terms for the UKs departure from the EU have Northern Ireland effectively still anchored to the blocs single market. The aim of the arrangement is to preserve a single economic area on the island of Ireland and prevent fragmentation that could endanger the peace agreement. However, it has also erected trade barriers between the region and the rest of the UK.

Britain has complained that the EU is enforcing checks on goods moving from the UK to Northern Ireland too strictly. EU has, however, refused to back down and argued that unless if checks are enforced between Britain and Northern Ireland, then goods can enter the blocs single market without abiding by the blocs standards. The EU leaders in a joint statement said that the relations with the UK should remain mutually beneficial and can under no circumstances undermine the integrity of the Single Market, the Customs Union or the EUs decision-making autonomy.

(Image: AP)
While some countries are contemplating vaccinating children, other countries like the remote mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho are still struggling to vaccinate health workers.

With supply limited, settlements remote, and terrain difficult to negotiate, the job of delivering vaccines has fallen to doctors traveling by light aircraft.

The Lethoso Flying Doctors Services have been delivering jabs to health workers in remote areas in an attempt to add to their vaccination figures.

While more than 2 billion vaccines have been administered across the world, on the African continent just 2% of the population has been vaccinated.

Many countries rely on donations from the World Health Organization's COVAX scheme.

Speaking to UK broadcaster Sky, a nurse with the flying doctor's services said she was "not comfortable" with the slow pace of the rollout.

"It's not fair to all, it has to be rolled out as quick as possible because this pandemic is killing people," said Mampho Leleka.

Frank Molefi, a resident of Kuebunyani, was concerned that even in the remote village he lives in, COVID is a threat.

"Of course it will come here, because human beings live here," Molefi said.

The Lethoso Flying Doctors Services campaign comes as some of the world's wealthiest nations prepare to meet at the G7 conference, with vaccine donations expected to be high on the agenda.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he will announce a vaccine plan for the world during the summit.

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Algiers, June 10, 2021 (SPS) - The President of the Council of the Nation of Algeria (Upper House), Mr. Saleh Gudjil, received this Thursday a delegation from the Parliament of the Sahrawi Arab Sahrawi Democratic Republic (SADR).

During his meeting with the Sahrawi delegation, Mr. Gudjil expressed his satisfaction with the state of health of the President of the Republic and Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Brahim Ghali, highlighting the importance of the promising results of parliamentary diplomacy in the achievement of the aspirations of the continent .

For its part, the Sahrawi delegation, made up of Mr. Jamal Bendir, member of the Saharawi Parliament and President of the North Africa Regional Group in the Pan-African Parliament, along with Ms. Mariam Mohameddu, member of the Saharawi Parliament and the Continental Parliament, they expressed their "gratitude to the Algerian people and his government for the firm position expressed by President Tabboune's visit to his Saharawi counterpart in the hospital where he is recovering from COVID-19." SPS

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP)  A North Carolina city has committed $2.1 million toward funding reparations, an initiative it began last summer when it joined a number of U.S. cities which have voted to address their histories of racism and discrimination.

The Asheville City Council approved a budget amendment on Tuesday to pull the money from city land purchased in the 1970s as part of the citys urban renewal programs that took apart Black communities, the Asheville Citizen Times reported. The city council also adopted a proclamation declaring June 19 as Juneteenth, the date which marks the end of slavery in the U.S.

We must collectively strive to close gaps of immeasurable distance between us and affirm the promise of the Declaration of Independence that all people have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," said Mayor Esther Manheimer, reading the proclamation,

Asheville passed its historic reparations in July 2020 , apologizing for the citys role in slavery, discrimination and denial of liberties to Black residents. The city manager was directed to establish a process for gathering recommendations to address the creation of generational wealth and economic mobility and opportunity in the Black community.

The City Council has previously said the reparations do not require direct payments but would mandate investments in areas where Black residents face disparities. City Manager Debra Campbell on Tuesday said officials have not yet determined what those investments will entail.

There was a question about, well, how will this be spent? What are the projects? Campbell said. We dont know yet. What we do know is that we have asked the commission once it is formed, to provide us with short, medium and long-term initiatives.

While the amount is almost double what was allocated in earlier presentations, some community members at the councils meeting expressed opposition. Some argued the $2.1 million isn't enough and that divesting from the city police department would be a form of reparations. Others said the money could be better spent, including that it could be targeted at helping Black people become homeowners and that with a proposed tax hike, theyre being priced out of the city.

Across North Carolina, the Durham City Council passed a resolution last October calling for a federal program of reparations. In April, a panel in the U.S. House of Representatives advanced a decades-long effort to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves by approving legislation that would create a commission to study the issue.

In March, the city council in the Chicago suburb of Evanston became the first U.S. city to make reparations available to its Black residents for past discrimination and the lingering effects of slavery. The City Council voted to begin making good on its pledge to distribute $10 million over the next 10 years with the distribution of $400,000 to eligible Black households.

Other communities and organizations considering providing reparations include Amherst, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Iowa City, Iowa; religious denominations like the Episcopal Church; and prominent colleges like Georgetown University in Washington.

In California, a first-in-the-nation task force met for the first time last week to study and recommend reparations for Blacks, part of a two-year process to address the harms of slavery and systemic racism despite a lack of action by the federal government.

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Ouk Chayavy (C), president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers' Association, and two other supporters of jailed union leader Rong Chhun stand outside the municipal courthouse in Phnom Penh, June 8, 2021.

Family members and colleagues of detained labor and border activist Rong Chhun and youth activist Sar Kanika said they are disappointed that the Phnom Penh Municipal Court denied their bail requests following a hearing on Tuesday.

The two activists did not appear at their hearings because of court concerns over the possible spread of the coronavirus in the prison where they are being held following an outbreak in the country in March.

Rong Vichea, nephew of jailed union leader Rong Chhun, criticized the courts decision as unjust and urged authorities to release the two activists.

The court needs to reconsider the case, he said. I hope that the government will consider releasing my uncle. As a family member, I am very concerned about his health.

Rong Chhun, who is also a member of the Cambodian Watchdog Council, was officially charged with incitement to commit a felony or cause social unrest and jailed at Prey Sar Prison in Phnom Penh on Aug. 1, 2020, a day after his arrest for claiming the government had allowed Vietnam to encroach on farmland along the two countries shared border.

The arrest of the president of the Cambodian Confederation of Trade Union prompted near daily protests in the capital, and scores of domestic civil society groups demanded that the government release him and drop charges he faces over his criticism of the countrys handling of a border dispute with Vietnam.

Sar Kanika, affiliated with the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was detained and jailed in 2020 after protesting in support of Rong Chhun.

Presiding Judge Li Sokha denied bail for the pair, saying that there were many other defendants involved in the case, and the court would schedule the two trials soon.

Defense lawyer Sam Sokong said the reason the prison did not send his clients to the hearing was not the stated concern over COVID-19, but rather the judges bias in favor of the prosecutor.

He said he would ask his clients if they want to appeal the decision, though he was uncertain whether the prison in which they are being held would allow him to meet in person with them because of the latest COVID-19 outbreak.

Ouk Chayavy, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, attended the hearing and later said that the trial is a joke.

During the hearing, I was so disappointed with the court officials who are intellectuals with doctorate degrees [because] they are treating the case just like a joke, she said. They are trying people who have scarified for the country and helped the country.

Ouk Chayavy expressed concern about the health of the two activists in the face of a COVID-19 outbreak in the prison where they are being held, and said court officials should have allowed Rong Chhun to appear in person at the hearing because they said he had received virus vaccines.

It is language to imprison him, Ouk Chayavy said of concerns the popular activist would stir up the public.

Rong Chhun did not provoke social chaos as do drug dealers, she said. Rong Chhun raised concerns over what the government should or should not do about the border issue.

RFA could not reach court spokesman Y Rin for comment on Tuesday.

Ex-reporters want cases dropped

Also on Tuesday, former RFA reporters Yeang Sothearin and Uon Chhin requested that court officials expedite or drop almost four-year-old cases against them, saying that the delay of their trials have violated their rights and freedom and prevented them from finding jobs.

They issued the appeal because the court currently handling their case has been silent since in October 2019 when an appeals court returned it to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for a reinvestigation.

Yeang Sothearin, who worked as an editor, reporter, and news anchor for RFAs Khmer Service, Uon Chhin, who was an RFA photographer and videographer, were taken into custody in November 2017 and charged with illegally collecting information for a foreign source after RFA closed its bureau in the capital in September that year amid a government crackdown on independent media.

The two also were slapped with additional charges for illegally producing pornography in March 2018.

If convicted of the first charge, they could face a jail term of between seven and 15 years. They remain out on bail but in legal limbo after a series of appeals have been rejected by courts.

Yeang Sothearin told RFA that he has unjustly lost his freedom more than three years due to groundless allegations made by authorities. He urged the court and authorities to stop persecuted him.

It is appropriate that the court drop charges against me, Yeang Sothearin told RFA.

The court detained me for about one year though I have not committed any crime, and the investigation has been a failure. There is no evidence with which to charge me.

Uon Chhin told RFA that the investigating judge has not questioned them yet, and he urged the court to drop the case.

I dont know for how long they want to persecute us, he said. Please end the case and drop all the charges so we can resume our freedom and find jobs to support our families.

RFA could not reach court spokesman Y Rin for comment.

Court prosecutor Plang Sophal declined to comment on the case, saying that it was beyond his role as a prosecutor as an investigating judge is working on the case.

The pairs attorney, Sam Chamroeun, told RFA that he will request that the investigating judge send the case to trial if the court does not question his clients, adding that the delay has seriously violated their rights.

All laws require court cases to be processed [quickly] so that justice will be delivered quicker, he said, adding that the holdup of the case has affected his clients chances of a fair trial, affected their reputations, and prevented them from being able to travel freely and find jobs.

Nop Vy, executive director of the Cambodian journalists association CamboJa, said that retaining charges against the two former reporters is detrimental to press freedom and affect other reporters who fear that the same thing may happen to them.

We have observed that the charges against the two people is very unjust for them, while the court has failed to investigate the case thoroughly and independently, he said.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Cambodia's Minister Energy and Mines Suy Sem hands over the first drop of oil extracted from an offshore petroleum deposit to Minister of Defense Tea, Banh during a ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 9, 2021.

Cambodias government held a ceremony Wednesday to commemorate the delivery of the first drop of oil extracted from the countrys offshore deposits, but the partner company that produced it went bankrupt days earlier and activists said oil is not the answer to the countrys ailing economy.

During the ceremony at the Win-Win Monument in Phnom Penh, Tea Banh, Cambodias minister of defense, described the delivery of the first drop, enshrined in a gold-mounted glass container, as an important first step for the country to build national capacity and its oil, gas, and energy industry.

Cambodia has for decades hoped to develop the means to tap into its offshore deposits, finally teaming up with Singapore-based KrisEnergy in 2017 in a deal that was supposed to start producing in 2019.

But KrisEnergy declared bankruptcy only five days before the ceremony, meaning Cambodia may not soon become an oil producer after all.

Activists see the setback as a huge blow to Cambodias oil ambitions and an embarrassment to the regime of Hun Sen.

I dont see any pride or blessing for the Cambodian people, but a disgrace. It is not a disgrace for Cambodia or Cambodian people. It is a disgrace for Hun Sen, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, founder of local environmentalist group Mother Nature, told RFAs Khmer Service.

Hun Sen should offer an apology and explain to the Cambodian people as to why just a few months ago he said Cambodia would acquire millions of dollars by becoming an oil-producing country, he said.

Gonzalez-Davidson said that Cambodia has long allowed foreign companies to explore the possibility of exploiting the countrys oil reserves, but they have failed each time, calling the oil drop handed over during the ceremony the last drop of the Hun Sen regime.

Tea Banh acknowledged during the ceremony that Cambodias oil plans had hit a snag, but that critics of the government were looking for ways to fabricate destructive stories to hinder the development of the country.

There are people who interpret things in a way to destroy us If they see a benefit from destruction, they just do it, he said.

RFA attempted to contact Chiep Sour of the Ministry of Mines and Energys General Department of Petroleum, but he said he was too busy to answer questions.

Other activists said the handover ceremony of the drop of oil, which had been extracted to much fanfare in Dec. 2020, was another attempt to distract the public from Cambodias human rights violations and economic woes.

Thuy Kimleak, a resident of the western province of Battambang, told RFA that despite the governments promises, she has not seen any results from Cambodias foray into oil production.

As a people, I want Hun Sen to show how the drop of Cambodian petroleum will improve our lives. We buy gas every day, so if weve found oil then this should be really great, but so far we dont see anything, she said.

San Mala of the Cambodian Youth Network said he was confused by the government holding the handover ceremony on the heels of KrisEngerys bankruptcy.

He said the government should resume dialogue with stakeholders to ensure such failures are not repeated.

We have questions regarding the procedures that the government went through to screen the oil investment company. Did they carefully study the companys profile or scan for loopholes, because as far as we know the company has had many scandals, said San Mala.

In Feb. 2021, Hun Sen told the press that Cambodia had the capacity to extract 1,200 barrels per day from its first oil station in Sihanoukville, and that this would increase as development nears completion.

At the time he said the amount of revenue the country could generate from a year of oil extraction would be only slightly ess that brought in from one million foreign tourists.

According to an April report by the UK-based oil industry news outlet Energy Voice, KrisEnergy had been facing financial troubles and was essentially gambling its continued existence on its hopes of being able to extract an optimistic 7,500 barrels per day and the Ministry of Energy and Mines had planned to export between 270,000 to 300,000 barrels by the end of May, but output between February 23 and March 30 reached a daily rate of less than 3,000 barrels.

The ministry at one time even gave warning to KrisEnergy that it needed to turn the situation around, or face consequences that could include a fine or a cancellation of the companys agreement, according to an April Nikkei Asia report.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on issued plans for mass rehearsals of its centenary parade, cordoning off large swathes of downtown Beijing over the coming weekend.



The rehearsal will take place throughout and 13, taking up all of the area within a 500-meter radius of Tiananmen Square, the Beijing municipal police department said in a press release printed in full by the Beijing Daily newspaper.



"Vehicles and pedestrians are prohibited from the area, with the exception of vehicles and personnel with special permits for the exercise," the notice said. "No parking will be allowed."



Beijing Metro exits that fall within the area will also be shut off, it said.



Beijing dissident Zha Jianguo said most of the CCP's political focus in recent years has been on the centenary celebrations.



"There will be a mass staged event on Tiananmen Square of a kind not seen since the 70th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the People's Republic of China," Zha said.



"This has already begun with the drive to study CCP history last year," he said. "There has been mobilization of all organizations and media at all levels, on an unprecedented scale."



He said the CCP under general secretary Xi Jinping will be keen to make a display of unity in the face of worsening relations with the United States and its allies over Beijing's human rights record and an ongoing trade war.



"[The centenary] is important for consolidating the leadership of the party in a new Cold War era," Zha said.



Rounding people up

Beijing dissident Ji Feng said celebrations will also be held in other locations important to the history of the CCP, including Zunyi, Jinggangshan and Yan'an.



"The CCP veterans will all turn out on Tiananmen Gate," Ji said, referring to the podium overlooking Tiananmen Square above the portrait of late supreme leader Mao Zedong.



"There'll probably be a bunch of primary school students wearing red Youth League scarves and performing," he said. "They'll probably broadcast the whole thing live."



Police in Beijing have already begun detaining migrant workers and petitioners from temporary accommodation in the city's suburbs, local residents told RFA.



"The operation started on , with a lot of people arrested," a resident of the southern district of Fengtai said.



"Police are going house to house looking for petitioners from other areas of China, at the request of the local police departments."



"They are also checking rental agencies and workplaces, and telling people that they have to go home, and that they can come back to Beijing after [when the centenary is over]," the resident said.



The preparations come after the CCP canceled a conference of prominent Maoist ideologists slated for , the anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), suggesting that CCP leader Xi Jinping is unwilling to allow the faction to increase its power base in a possible challenge to his "core" leadership.



While many commentators have noted an apparent shift towards political practises and ideological tropes that echo the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) under late supreme leader Mao Zedong in recent years, it appears that Xi is unwilling to allow actual Maoists free rein under his rule.



Authorities in the eastern province of Shandong are detaining Maoist activists ahead of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) centenary celebrations on , Taiwanese media reported.



Police in Shandong's Jining city are running a nationwide operation targeting leftwingers in a bid to "maintain stability" ahead of the politically sensitive anniversary in a largely secret operation that began on .



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Authorities in China are cracking down on information relating to the coronavirus, as a fresh wave of COVID-19 cases hits the southern province of Guangdong.



China reported 21 new coronavirus disease infections on , compared with 16 patients on the previous day, the health ministry said in a statement on .



Six of the newly confirmed cases were local transmissions in Guangdong. The provincial capital Guangzhou has reported 115 local infections in the recent outbreak that started , state media reported.



Authorities in Guangzhou started mass testing local residents, with nearly 28 million nucleic acid samples taken since the operation started on , health officials told reporters on .



But there is considerable public skepticism over whether the government is under-reporting the outbreak.



A resident of the central city of Wuhan surnamed Guo said he found the numbers in Guangdong suspicious.



"It is said that there are 170,000 medical staff in Guangzhou, which should be enough to treat these patients," Guo said. "Why then are 6,500 medical staff being transferred into Guangzhou from other places to support [local hospitals]?"



He said it was unlikely that anyone within the healthcare system would speak out about the true situation on the ground, however.



"They will get detained even if they just say a few words," Wu said. "They won't let ordinary people say anything."

'Inappropriate comments'

The Shantou Daily newspaper reported that two men were held recently under administrative detention for "rumor-mongering" about the pandemic.



"Chaonan police investigated and dealt with two rumors involving the pandemic, and the two men involved were administratively detained by the public security bureau in accordance with the law," the paper reported.



One of them, surnamed Zhuang, was detained on for making "inappropriate comments" on the social media platform WeChat, and held for five days for "spreading rumors and disrupting public order," it said.



Another WeChat user surnamed Zhou was detained on for saying he had tested positive for COVID-19 and sentenced to 10 days' administrative detention, the paper reported.



A Beijing resident surnamed Liu told RFA: "You're not allowed to tell the truth in this pandemic. If you do, and someone retweets it online, you're finished."



"This goes to show how afraid the government is of the truth; it's very strict now."



Legal scholar Li Lin said the authorities are clearly exercising greater and greater control over public speech.



"It's becoming more and more obvious, this tendency towards a higher degree of control," Li told RFA. "They want the [ruling Chinese Communist] Party [CCP] to control everything."



"Information is only allowed to flow in one direction, to the people, and they have to just receive notice of arrangements passively," Li said. "Nobody is allowed to discuss anything or release any information."



"This means that there is no way for the public to participate in public affairs, and [the CCP] actually controls everything," he said.



Reported by Qiao Long and Gigi Lee for RFA's Mandarin and Cantonese Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
China has passed a tit-for-tat law allowing targeted sanctions against foreign individuals and organizations following a slew of sanctions targeting ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.



The country's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), passed the law on , with state media reporting it as a move intended as a counter to recent sanctions from the U.S..



It comes after CCP general secretary Xi Jinping called last November for the government to use "legal means" to defend China's interests amid growing international criticism of its rights record and overseas propaganda and infiltration operations.



China's state broadcaster CCTV made the announcement ahead of the three-day G7 leadership summit, which opens in the U.K. on .



Chinese political commentator Wu Qiang said the passing of China's Anti-Sanctions Law sends a strong message to the international community.



"China is trying to respond to the sanctions imposed on it by the international community," Wu said.



"Escalating the current standoff will exacerbate its isolation and the rift between China and the international community," he said. "It is not trying to find ways to communicate, [or move] towards mutual alignment."



He said further tensions could emerge around the U.S. insistence that the origins of the coronavirus that led to the COVID-19 pandemic be investigate, amid further unconfirmed reports of a possible leak from a top-security viral research laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic first emerged.



Coordinated sanctions over Uyghurs

Last week, the Biden administration banned U.S. investment in around 60 companies in Chinas defense or surveillance technology sectors in a bid to limit the flow of money to firms that undermine U.S. security or domestic values, which allows listings for human rights abuses.



On , the European Union, U.S., Canada, and the U.K. sanctioned Chinese officials and security entities as part of a multilateral approach to hold to account those responsible for Beijings policies of oppression against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).



China has already leveled retaliatory sanctions against Western officials and scholars in response to U.S. and European measures over rights abuses in the region.



Some sanctions target the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament, the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Germany, and the Alliance of Democracies Foundation in Denmark.



China's Foreign Ministry has also designated members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Canadian lawmaker Michael Chong and the House of Commons Foreign Affairs subcommittee on human rights for retaliatory visa and financial sanctions related to Xinjiang.



And on , one day before a high-level bilateral meeting in Alaska, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced sanctions against 24 Chinese officials for their efforts "to unilaterally undermine Hong Kong's electoral system" by enacting amendments to screen legislative candidates for their allegiance to Beijing.



Feng Chongyi, Chinese studies professor at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia, said China has adopted a tit-for-tat approach to respond to foreign sanctions, but often overestimates its own strength.



"They tend to greatly overestimate Xi Jinping's power and prestige, and China's strength," Feng said. "They believe they are really powerful, to the point of self-delusion."



"They impose sanctions on Australia and the European Union because they believe that the EU and Australia are heavily dependent on China," he said.



Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam, who has reportedly been forced to use cash after sanctions hit her credit card accounts, said on that her government supports the new law.



Reported by Qiao Long and Chingman for RFA's Mandarin and Cantonese Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Major General Tun Myat Naing (R), commander-in-chief of the Arakan Army, and Nyo Tun Aung (L), the AA's second-in-command, arrive for a dinner commemorating the 30th anniversary of peace-building efforts in Pangkham, capital of Wa self-administered region, in Myanmar's eastern Shan state, April 16, 2019.

Myanmars junta has dropped terrorism charges against 10 ethnic Rakhines, including relatives of the top commander of the rebel Arakan Army, setting them free after nearly two years in custody awaiting trial, a lawyer representing them told RFA.

The move to free the detainees, including siblings of Arakan Army (AA) Commander-in-Chief Maj. Gen. Tun Myat Naing, follows the removal of the ethnic fighting force in western Myanmar from a state terror designation list on March. 11.

A conflict that erupted in late 2018 between Myanmars military and the AA killed 300 civilians, injured more than 700 others, and, at its peak, displaced roughly 230,000 people to makeshift refugee camps. A ceasefire agreed between the AA and military for the November 2020 elections remains intact.

Eight of the Rakhine activists -- including Aung Myat Kyaw, a brother of AA chief Tun Myat Naing -- were arrested by Singapore police in July 2019 and deported to Myanmar and charged under the Anti-Terrorism Law. Separately, Tun Myat Naing's sister and brother-in-law were arrested at Yangon International Airport in October 2019 and charged under the same law.

They had been on trial for almost two years and were acquitted by the Yangon Western District Court today. All 10 were released in good health, Aung Kyaw Sein, a lawyer representing the group, told RFAs Myanmar Service Tuesday.

Others suspected of links with AA rebels and charged under anti-terrorism laws in Rakhine State were later dropped and released, the attorney said without elaborating.

The junta spokesman was not available for comment.

Later on Tuesday they received a raucous welcome in the Rakhine State capital Sittwe from dozens of supporters, local news outlet Western News showed in a livestream video of a gesture by the AA that the military had not previously tolerated.

On top of enduring widespread atrocities committed by government troops, the citizens in the northern half of Rakhine were disenfranchised in the November 2020 elections after Myanmar election authorities cancelled voting due to security concerns, and then ruled out a make-up vote.

Before the AA-national military hostilities flared up, northern Rakhine erupted in brutal communal violence pitting Rakhines against Rohingya, culminating in a scorched-earth military crackdown that killed thousands of the ethnic Muslims and drove more than 740,000 others into neighboring Bangladesh in 2017.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Kyaw Ming Htun. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
The countrys refugee crisis is out of control and getting worse, observers say.

A family takes refuge in a jungle area in Demoso, Kayah state, after fleeing from fighting between the Myanmar military and members of the People's Defence Force (PDF), June 3, 2021.

More than a quarter of a million civilians in seven regions of Myanmar have been displaced by clashes between the military and militias or fighting between ethnic armies in the four months since the junta overthrew the countrys democratically elected government, aid groups said Wednesday.

On Feb. 1, Myanmars military staged a coup, seizing power from Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD), rejecting its landslide victory in November 2020 general elections as the result of voter fraud. The junta has provided no evidence to back up its claims and citizens from all walks of life have protested the junta.

Amid nationwide turmoil, the military has stepped up offensives in remote parts of the country of 54 million that have led to fierce battles with a plethora of Peoples Defense Force (PSF) militias formed to protect residents from troops loyal to the junta. Ethnic armies in other parts of the nation have used the instability to encroach on one anothers territory.

As of the first week of June, aid groups estimate that more than 100,000 people had been forced to flee clashes in Kayah state, 14,000 in Kachin state, 100,000 in Moebye township alone in southern Shan state, as well as 2,000 in northern Shan state, 60,000 in Kayin state, 15,000 in Chin state, 15,000 in Sagaing region, and 10,000 in Magway region.

The 226,000 displaced in 2021 join more 500,000 refugees from decades of military conflict between the government military and ethnic armies who were already counted as internally displaced persons at the end of 2020, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, a Norwegian NGO.

Aung Myo Min, minister for human rights for Myanmars shadow National Unity Government (NUG), comprised of the countrys ousted elected leadership, told RFAs Myanmar Service that he is working with the Ministry of Humanitarian and Disaster Management to assist refugees.

We are working with parliamentarians and local groups in the regions to provide much-needed shelter and assistance to displaced people, he said. We are trying to find ways to provide them with food and medicine.

Aung Myo Min said the Ministry of Education is also working to provide education programs to displaced children who cannot attend classes, while the NUG is collaborating with ethnic health organizations to provide medical attention to the refugees.

In eastern Myanmars Kayah state, fighting erupted in Demoso township on May 20 between the military and a branch of the Peoples Defense Force (PSF) militia formed to protect residents from troops loyal to the junta, forcing 10,000 people to flee, according to Ma Khine of the Kayah State Refugee Assistance Committee.

By the end of the month, at least 100,000 had fled their homes after the military pounded the townships of Loikaw, Demoso, and Hpruso with airstrikes, she said.

People who fled into the forests and mountains have to live in makeshift tents in bamboo groves and under trees, she told RFA, saying they are now in desperate need of medicine and food.

Much of the available water is not good enough for drinking and many people are suffering from diarrhea. It is the rainy season, and the conditions are very difficult during heavy downpours.

According to the governments 2014 census, nearly 300,000 people live in Kayah state, mostly in the townships of Demoso and Hpruso, suggesting that one in every three residents has been displaced by the fighting.

Fighting in other regions

In eastern Myanmars Kayin state, which lies along the countrys border with Thailand, more than 60,000 people are displaced, including nearly 40,000 who fled military airstrikes and artillery shelling of the Karen National Union (KNU) controlled district of Papun, according to the Karen Peace Support Group.

Their artillery units were constantly shelling [the area] and their ground units were frequently launching attacks from nearby outposts, so there were a lot of casualties among the civilians and their communications lines are totally cut off, said Karen Peace Support Group spokeswoman Naw Wah Ku Shee, adding that refugees are now in desperate need of food and security.

In northwestern Myanmars Chin state, more than 15,000 people from some 50 villages in Mindat township have fled to the mountains to escape fighting between the military and the members of the Chinland Defense Force (CDF) militia, a network of volunteers that formed in April, who are taking on Myanmars armythe second largest in Southeast Asiawith slingshots and the same crude flintlock Tumee rifles their forefathers used to fight off British colonizers in the 1880s.

The army is currently launching attacks on places where people are taking shelter, a local source told RFA on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal.

They came in three columns, each with more than 100 troops. It is difficult for us to get rice and water and there are no blankets. There is no safety either. We could hear the sound of heavy weapons from our camp the whole day.

The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) estimates that some 40,000 civilians have fled their homes throughout Chin state since May.

In Kani township, in northwest Myanmars Sagaing region, more than 15,000 people from some 40 villages have been displaced by fighting between the local PDF and the military since April 2.

The people are facing a lot of hardshipthey have to go searching for food in the heavy rains and dont have any protection from the elements, a Kani township PDF member told RFA.

They are surviving on wild animals for food. They do not have enough medicine. The military has left for the moment, but if they come back, well see more refugees.

In Magway region, to the west, fighting between the PDF and the military in Gangaw township has been ongoing since June 3, causing more than 10,000 people from six villages to seek refuge in the mountains.

Most people are now hiding in the forests, a resident said. Some have only one meal a day, while others have nothing.

In addition to clashes with the military regime, Myanmars myriad ethnic armies have continued to fight amongst themselves in the pursuit of new territory, further exacerbating the countrys refugee crisis.

In neighboring Shan state, fighting between Shan State Reconstruction Council (SSRC) forces and the combined forces of Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) began in late April in northern Shans Hsipaw and Namtu townships, forcing some 2,000 people to flee their homes according to sources.

While clashes have subsided since June 4, more than 100 houses in four villages were destroyed in the fighting, leaving many who escaped to safety without a place to live.

UN concerns

On Tuesday, the United Nations in Myanmar voiced concern about what it called the rapidly deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Kayah state and other areas in southeastern Myanmar.

The U.N. specifically referred to the estimated 100,000 men, women, and children in Kayah that it said are mostly seeking safety in host communities and forests across the state and southern parts of Shan state, noting that the crisis could lead refugees to spill across international borders, as seen in other parts of the country. Some 15,000 civilians are believed to have fled across the border into Indias state of Mizoram to escape fighting in Chin state in recent weeks.

The U.N. stressed the urgent need for food, water, shelter, fuel, and access to healthcare for people fleeing the fighting, saying that the aid it has distributed is insufficientparticularly for those in remote locations, where insecurity, travel restrictions, and poor road conditions are delaying the delivery of supplies.

A spokesman for UNICEF in Myanmar told RFA on Wednesday that more than 200 staff members are working to support relief efforts for affected children and provide them with water, food and other necessities.

According to the Thailand-based rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 858 civilians have been killed and nearly 4,800 people have been arrested in Myanmar since the military coup.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
'Though the entire world can hear the voices of our people, our neighboring countries pretend not to hear them,' says shadow foreign minister Zin Mar Aung.

Zin Mar Aung, foreign minister of Myanmar's shadow government, poses with US First Lady Michelle Obama (L) and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pose with r as she received the 2012 International Women of Courage Award during a ceremony at the US State Department in Washington, DC, March 8, 2012.

Zin Mar Aung, a former student activist who spent 11 years as a political prisoner for her opposition to Myanmars military government in the late 1990s, won re-election to her seat in the main city Yangon in November, but was not allowed to take her seat when a coup ousted the elected government on Feb. 1. After joining fellow ousted lawmakers in the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, in March she was named Minister of Foreign Affairs of the National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel administration that rejects military rule. She wrote an open letter to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week urging him to talks to all sides of the conflict in her country. RFA Myanmar Service editor Aye Aye Mon spoke to Zin Mar Aung about the NUG's stance on diplomacy by China and ASEAN, a policy shift on the Rohingya, and other issues facing the shadow cabinet.

RFA: Chinas foreign minister has said Beijings priority in Myanmar is to meet and work with all parties concerned in the interests of the people. But just before the conference, the Chinese ambassador to Myanmar had met only with the military chief and made no efforts to meet with NUG representatives. What does NUG think of that?

Zin Mar Aung: China often says they are doing things in the interests of our people. But it is not the case. Though the entire world can hear the voices of our people, our neighboring countries pretend not to hear them. Referring to Min Aung Hlaing as the leader of Myanmar showed total ignorance of the peoples desires. Thats why we sent the open letter and let the people know about our position.

RFA: Have you received any response from them?

Zin Mar Aung: No, but they have notified us that they have received our letter.

RFA: Some people have expressed concern about Chinese factories in Yangon and projects including the Belt and Road Initiative in our country. Do you think Wang Yis words will later be transformed into deeds? Do you think they will approach NUG somehow?

Zin Mar Aung: We have contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry two or three times. Only if we have stability in our country and have a stable political system, will we be able to protect foreign investments. At a time when the military cannot even protect the lives and property of the people, how can Min Aung Hlaing provide protection to Chinese investments?

RFA: How important do you think Chinas role will be in the rehabilitation of our country?

Zin Mar Aung: We have all along accepted the importance of Chinas role. Thats why we want them, as an important ally, to understand the true situation of our country.

RFA: At a recent news conference, the NUG said it would recognize the Rohingya and would give citizenship to those who deserve it, and that it would abolish the 1982 Citizenship Law. However, Rakhine people have not accepted the Rohingya. Do you have any concerns about problems that could arise because of the NUG statement?

Zin Mar Aung: We had expected there would be concerns based on our policy statement. The decision was not made one-sidedly. We had listened to the voices of various stakeholders in Rakhine and had very frank discussions about what is acceptable and what is not. Some of them said even though they do not want to use the name Rohingya for various reasons, they have no objections about others using the name. And the Rakhines do not want to be blamed for the current plight the Rohingyas are in. There are Rohingyas who were citizens before the 1982 law and there are issues about their registration cards being taken away. When the time for implementation comes, we will have to carry it out very systematically, in accordance with domestic and international norms, to give recognition to these former citizens. Right now, we just want to let the people know our basic principles and policies that could guarantee their future. And we wont be able to implement this until we can bring an end to the military dictatorship and bring out a federal democratic system that recognizes and guarantees human rights.

RFA: The International Court of Justice has fixed July 23 as the date for the second hearing in the case raised by Gambia. Aung San Suu Kyi attended the first hearing and people commented she had defended the military against the charges it faced. Will the NUG attend this second hearing if invited?

Zin Mar Aung: We have no intention of attending that hearing to defend the charges. We will accept whatever the court decides.

RFA: Aung San Suu Kyi told her lawyers recently that she didnt have any news of the outside world. Do you think she will agree to the new developments and the work the NUG has done, especially the new policy on Rohingya? Because of the sensitivity of the issue, she had even avoided using the word Rohingya.

Zin Mar Aung: This is very difficult for me to answer. I have been in prison, too. Even though there was a news blackout we could still get bits and pieces of information in there. So I think she might know.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane
Algiers, June 10, 2021 (SPS) - The Minister of Public Health, Ms. Jira Bulahi, met this Wednesday with her Algerian counterpart, Mr. Abderrahm Bin Buzeid, to examine ways of collaboration and support for the Saharawi people, particularly in the current circumstances characterized by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In statements made to the SPS, Minister Bulahi said that "the talks also addressed various issues related to the health situation in the Saharawi refugee camps and the help that can be provided to face the COVID-19 pandemic."

At this meeting, in which the SADR ambassador in Algiers, Abdelkader Taleb Omar, was also present, the Algerian Minister of Health stressed that his country had already delivered half a million vaccines against COVID-19 to the Sahrawis and that all Algerian health institutions are willing to offer their help in the vaccination process of the Saharawi population to prevent contagion from the pandemic .

For her part, Jira Bulahi expressed her gratitude for the support that Algeria provides to our country and affirmed that the Algerian government has been the first to offer direct aid for vaccines to the Sahrawi Republic, monitoring the health situation and raising awareness about the dangers of this pandemic . SPS

125/090/TRA
Kazakh-Uyghur Omir Bekali (L) demonstrates how he says he was shackled in chains at a 're-education camp' in northwestern China's Xinjiang region, at the 'Uyghur Tribunal' in London, June 4, 2021.

Chinese officials of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) presented relatives of ethnic Uyghurs at a news conference on Wednesday to speak out against witnesses who testified during a recent independent tribunal in London, discrediting their accounts of torture, sexual assaults, and other grave human rights violations inflicted on Muslims in the region.

Xu Guixiang, a deputy spokesperson for the Xinjiang regional government who led the news conference, rejected testimony provided by witness at the Uyghur Tribunal that aimed to gather evidence on whether the Chinese governments alleged human rights abuses in the XUAR constitute genocide.

More than 30 witness and experts submitted written testimony and reports and replied to questions at the June 4-7 tribunal, chaired by prominent British attorney Geoffrey Nice. The nine jurors will hold a second round of hearings in September and are expected to issue a non-binding verdict in December.

At Wednesdays news conference, relatives of Uyghur internment camp survivors rejected grim accounts of abuse presented at the tribunal, while Xu called the London panel a pseudo tribunal performed by actors telling fabrications and lies.

During a similar news conference in April, Xu said witnesses who shared experiences in the XUARs detention camp system were actors who make a living by smearing Xinjiang abroad in exchange for refugee status and material benefits.

A reporter from Britains ITV News challenged Xu and what appeared to be a staged news conference.

The accusation could also be made the other way; that is, a scripted procedure that you are conducting this morning and that those relatives have been put up to give evidence in a scripted manner, said Debi Edward, Asia correspondent for ITV News.

So who are we to believe in this scenario, and why should we believe you rather than what is being said at the tribunal that was held in the UK? she asked.

Xu did not provide a direct answer to the reporters question.

The London-based tribunal invited the witnesses Xu presented to appear at the next round of hearings in autumn.

"The Uyghur Tribunals primary concern is the impact on the wellbeing of the witnesses who gave evidence at the recent Tribunal Hearings in London and to the relatives and a neighbour of those witnesses who appeared at the PRC conference," it said in a statement.

"The Tribunal notes the statements made by the relatives and a neighbour and the Tribunal extends an invitation to them to attend the Tribunals next Hearings in September of this year," the panel said in response to the XUAR media event.

"We would invite the PRC to confirm that they are at liberty to travel to the UK if they so wished."

China has subjected relatives of Uyghur exiles to what appear to be coerced interviews with state media in which they say the purported victims were never detained, pledge allegiance to the ruling Communist Party, and denigrate their family members abroad for telling lies.

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) noted that Beijing has a known history of broadcasting forced confessions and holding family members of activists abroad in duress.

IPAC condemns these cruel and senseless attempts to intimidate activists abroad, the lawmakers group said on Twitter.

We salute the courage of all taking part in the #UyghurTribunal, it added.

Dolkun Isa, president of president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a Germany-based organization representing the interest of the Uyghurs in the XUAR and abroad, said it was despicable that Chinese authorities forced the people to lie about the suffering of their family members in the camps.

Theres no doubt these family members are being held hostage and were forced to say what they were told against their loved ones by the authorities, he said in a statement.

China has held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention camps since 2017. Beijing has said that the camps are vocational training centers or re-education centers and has denied widespread and documented allegations that it has subjected Muslims living in the XUAR to severe rights abuses.

The Uyghurs are a predominantly Muslim group estimated at more than 12 million people in the XUAR. Smaller numbers of Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, fellow Turkic speaking people, have also been incarcerated in the camp system.

Todays press conference by the Xinjiang government just a day after the conclusion of the Uyghur Tribunal is a desperate attempt to whitewash Chinas atrocities against the Uyghurs and other indigenous Turkic peoples in East Turkestan, Dolkun Isa said.

He also said that China should show it has nothing to hide by allowing those who appeared at the press conference to attend the session of the Uyghur Tribunal in September and freely provide testimony.

In late May, Chinese officials and state media has lashed out at the Uyghur Tribunal ahead of its first session, with Xu saying that Beijing condemned and despised the hearings.

This is a total violation of international law and order, a serious desecration of the victims of real genocide, and a serious provocation to the 25 million people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, Xu told reporters at a briefing in the capital.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden committed to deepening and strengthening the long-standing partnership between their countries after their first face-to-face talks on June 10 ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) summit.



Johnson described Biden's desire to work with Britain on a range of issues from climate change to COVID-19 and security as "a big breath of fresh air."



"Its new, its interesting and were working very hard together. We went on for about an hour and 20 or so. It was a long, long, good session. We covered a huge range of subjects," Johnson said after the meeting.



Biden set out on his first overseas trip as president to reassure European allies that the United States is a reliable partner again and to change the tone from former President Donald Trump's brash style and America First approach to foreign policy.



Johnson played down what had appeared ahead of the meeting to be a potential disagreement between the two leaders by saying they were in "complete harmony" on finding solutions to uphold the 1998 peace deal in Northern Ireland.



The U.S.-brokered accord, known as the Good Friday Agreement, ended decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland, but Britain's exit from the European Union has strained the peace.



Johnson said the United States, Britain, and the European Union want to uphold the agreement, and "make sure we keep the balance of the peace process going." He said that it is "absolutely common ground" and "Im optimistic we can do that."

'Arsenal Of Vaccines'



After his meeting with Johnson, Biden announced that the United States will purchase half a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses and donate them to lower income countries with no strings attached.



"Our vaccine donations don't include pressure for favors, or potential concessions. We're doing this to save lives," Biden said, vowing that America would be the "arsenal of vaccines" just as it was "the arsenal of democracy during World War II."



Biden also called on other countries to follow the United States, saying "it is in all of our interests to see the global economy recover."



Johnson and his wife, Carrie, greeted Biden and first lady Jill earlier on June 10 at the Cornish seaside resort of Carbis Bay, England, where the G7 summit with the other members of the worlds richest nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan -- will open on June 11.



Biden and Johnson also signed a new Atlantic Charter "building on the commitments and aspirations set out 80 years go" by predecessors Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in 1941.



The new far-reaching document looks to the challenge posed by countries like China and Russia with its promises to promote free trade, human rights, and a rules-based international order, and to counter "those who seek to undermine our alliances and institutions."



The two leaders also promised to build stronger global defenses against health threats.



The Johnson-Biden meeting kicked off a packed agenda for the U.S. president, whose trip culminates in Geneva on June 16 with the face-to-face meeting with Putin amid escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow.

Biden has made clear his intention to strengthen ties with U.S. allies to defend democracy and a warning to Russia against harmful activities.



Addressing U.S. Air Force personnel stationed at a British air base, Biden said he would deliver a clear message to Putin when they meet for bilateral talks next week following separate summits with the G7, NATO, and European leaders.

The White House has said Biden plans to discuss Ukraine during his summit with Putin. Russia seized the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014 and Kremlin-backed separatists took control of a chunk of eastern Ukraine the same year.

Biden will also discuss the diversion last month by Belarus, Russia's close ally, of a Ryanair passenger plane that led to the detention of an opposition activist.



The arrest and jailing of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and other contentious issues are also expected to be among the topics on the agenda.

With reporting by AFP, AP, the BBC, and Reuters
Amnesty International says Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in China's northwestern Xinjiang region face "systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture, and persecution" amounting to crimes against humanity.



In a new report published on June 10, the London-based human rights watchdog details "the extreme measures taken by Chinese authorities since 2017 to essentially root out the religious traditions, cultural practices and local languages" of the regions Uyghur, Kazakh, Hui, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Tajik people in an effort to "forcibly instill a secular, homogeneous Chinese nation and Communist Party ideals."



"Under the guise of fighting 'terrorism'," the Chinese authorities have subjected hundreds of thousands of Muslim minority men and women to "mass internment and torture" and millions of others to "systematized mass surveillance" to create what Amnesty International's Secretary-General Agnes Callamard called "a dystopian hellscape on a staggering scale" in Xinjiang.



Beijing is facing growing international criticism over its policies in Xinjiang, with the United States using the word genocide to describe the treatment of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim indigenous people.



The UN has estimated that at least 1 million members of these ethnic groups have been detained in what it described as "counterextremism centers" in the region.

The UN has also said that millions more have been forced into internment camps, though Beijing insists that the facilities are "vocational education centers" aimed at helping people steer clear of terrorism and allowing them to be reintegrated into society.



Rights defenders also accuse China of forcing hundreds of thousands of people into labor camps under a "coercive" scheme targeting ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang -- a claim rejected by Beijing.



Mass Detention In 'Prison-Like' Camps



In its report -- titled Like We Were Enemies In A War: Chinas Mass Internment, Torture, And Persecution Of Muslims In Xinjiang -- Amnesty International released testimonies from more than 50 people who had been detained in Xinjiang's "vast network of hundreds of grim 'transformation-through-education' centers -- actually, internment camps."



Amnesty International said all the ex-internees were detained for what appears to be lawful conduct, such as "possessing a religious-themed picture or communicating with someone abroad."



Most of them were first questioned at police stations, where they were "often interrogated in 'tiger chairs'  steel chairs with affixed leg irons and handcuffs that restrain the body in painful positions."



"Beatings, sleep deprivation and overcrowding are rampant in the police stations, and detainees reported being hooded and shackled during their interrogation and transfer" to a "prison-like" internment camp.

There, detainees lives were "extraordinarily regimented," with every activity in their daily routine being "pre-ordained" and their behavior "constantly monitored and evaluated."



Internees had "no privacy or autonomy, and they faced severe punishments when they responded to prison guards or other officials in their native tongues instead of Mandarin."



They generally were "indoctrinated to disavow Islam, forgo using their language and other cultural practices, and study Mandarin Chinese language and Chinese Communist Party propaganda."



Detainees "practically never leave their cells and rarely see sunlight or have outdoor access or exercise."



Systematic Torture And Other Ill-Treatment



Amnesty International said all the former detainees it interviewed said they faced torture or other ill-treatment in the camps.

This included "the cumulative psychological effect of their daily dehumanization, as well as physical torture in the form of beatings, electric shocks, solitary confinement, deprivation of food, water and sleep, exposure to extreme cold, and the abusive use of restraints."

After being released from a camp, the former internees have been under "near-constant electronic and in-person surveillance" for at least several months, and their freedom of movement has been "heavily restricted."



Religious And Cultural Persecution



Muslims are not free to practice their religion in Xinjiang, where basic religious and cultural practices are deemed "extremist," according to Amnesty International.



As a result, most people have stopped praying or showing any outward signs of observing Islam, while mosques, shrines, gravesites, and other religious and cultural sites have been demolished or repurposed throughout Xinjiang.



China has worked hard to cover up its violations of human rights in Xinjiang, with the authorities threatening, detaining, and mistreating "anyone who speaks out."



The fate of hundreds of thousands of detainees remains unknown.

Many may remain in detention in the camps, while others have been given long prison sentences or have been "transferred to situations of forced or coerced labor," Amnesty said.
The Rumbach Street Synagogue in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, officially reopened with a ceremony on June 10. Prior to the reopening, the Torah was transported from the Dohany Street Synagogue, the largest in Europe, in a festive march to the sound of a brass band. In the communist era, the synagogue was taken into state ownership, and was not returned to the Jewish community until 2006.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has confirmed that Hungary will hold a referendum on a controversial project to build a Chinese university in Budapest after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the plan.



The decision to build a Budapest campus by 2024 using a $1.5 billion loan from a Chinese bank has put a spotlight on Orban's close ties to Beijing and raised concerns about the long-term impact of such a project on the country's higher-education system.



The government has argued that having a campus of the Shanghai-based Fudan University would allow Hungarian and international students to acquire high-quality qualifications, but Budapests liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony and other critics fear a lack of transparency and academic freedom.

Subscribe To Our New China Newsletter It's impossible to tell the biggest stories shaping Eurasia without considering Chinas resurgent influence. China In Eurasia is the new newsletter by Reid Standish in which he builds on local reporting from RFE/RLs journalists to give you unique insights into Beijings ambitions. It's sent on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. To subscribe, click here.

Orban, who has notched three successive election landslides since 2010, faces stiff opposition for the first time in more than a decade, especially from the liberal mayor, Karacsony, who is eyeing a run against the right-wing nationalist at a general election next year.



Karacsony has long urged Orban not to force unwanted projects on the city, while a recent opinion poll showed that a majority of Budapest residents oppose the Chinese university campus, which is slated to be built at a site where affordable housing for Hungarian students had previously been planned.

"This has become a political issue and we should decide this in a way that is the most acceptable to all," Orban told a June 10 news conference days after plans to build what would be the first Chinese university in the European Union roiled the capital.

Last week the mayor announced that streets surrounding the project site were being renamed to "Free Hong Kong Road", "Dalai Lama Road", and "Uyghur Martyrs' Road" to highlight Chinese human rights sore points.



During his June 10 news conference, Orban dismissed accusations that allowing a Chinese campus would open the door to greater influence for Beijing.



"We are not afraid of the Communists, because we have defeated them once already," the prime minister said. "We know exactly what needs to be done and how, therefore, we consider economic cooperation with them and...education especially important."



Beijing has defended the project, calling on its critics to "avoid politicizing and stigmatizing the normal personnel exchanges between China and Hungary."



Orban has built friendly ties with China, Russia, and other illiberal governments, while repeatedly clashing with the EU by curbing the independence of the Hungarian judiciary and media.



Last month, a poll showed a neck-and-neck race between Fidesz and a joint list of six opposition parties.



According to the survey, the opposition platform had the support of 33 percent of respondents with Fidesz getting 32 percent.

With reporting by Reuters
YEREVAN -- A senior U.S. diplomat has voiced concern over the lack of progress in the release of prisoners of war following the 2020 conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.



Six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan in and around Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh ended in November with a Moscow-brokered cease-fire deal. More than 6,000 people were killed during the conflict.



Under the truce agreement, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces. The agreement also provided for an exchange of POWs and other detained people.

"I think it's important to remember that this is about human beings, it's about people on both sides of the conflict who are the children, the spouses, the parents of people, and we want to see all detained people returned," acting Assistant U.S. Secretary of State at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker told RFE/RL.



In December, after several weeks of cease-fire, the two sides finally exchanged prisoners of war. Some 44 Armenian and 12 Azeri prisoners were exchanged on December 15.



Armenian authorities have said that about 60 Armenian servicemen were captured by Azerbaijan as prisoners of war. Azerbaijan has not confirmed the information.



It is unclear how many more prisoners remain in captivity on either side.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in March called on Azerbaijan to investigate all allegations of ill-treatment against Armenian prisoners of war.



"I've expressed concern as has the United States government repeatedly over the need to have all prisoners, all detainees freed and returned home. We have to remember that this conflict affects people," Reeker said.



In recent weeks, the two sides have blamed each other for a number of incidents along their border, putting pressure on the cease-fire in the run-up to Armenias snap parliamentary elections on June 20.

Reeker said that Washington was ready to offer help, including technical expertise, to settle the issues regarding the border demarcation between the two sides.



"We may be able to help with technical expertise, with imagery and we are willing to do that, we are willing to work the other co-chairs [of the Minsk Group of negotiators for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] or others as necessary," Reeker said.
Latvia's parliament has voted to allow investigators to arrest Janis Adamsons, a lawmaker from the Saskana (Harmony) faction who is suspected of spying for Russia.

A total of 69 lawmakers on June 10 supported the move to arrest Adamsons and search his home, while five voted against, and four abstained.

Media reports said on June 9 that the Latvian Prosecutor-General's Office had requested parliament allow the arrest and search. The specific reasons for the move remain unclear, but local media reported that Adamsons is suspected of spying for Russia.

At the June 10 parliament session, Adamsons denied any wrongdoing, saying that he learned about the probe against him from journalists.

Adamsons graduated from the High Naval Political College in Kyiv in the 1970s, when Latvia was a Soviet republic.

From 1979 till the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he served in the Soviet Border Guard forces in the Far East.

After Latvia gained independence in 1991, Adamsons served as the commander of Latvia's border-guard service and interior minister.

Adamsons is a member of the parliamentary committee for defense, interior affairs, and prevention of corruption.

He is a member of the opposition Social Democratic Saskana (Harmony) party that is known for its policies defending the rights of Latvia's Russian-speaking residents.

Adamsons' eligibility to be a lawmaker has been questioned in the past by politicians who accused him of serving in the ranks of the KGB as the Border Guard troops during the the Soviet era were under KGB command.

Latvia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Based on reporting by Delfi and Tvnet.lv
A court in Moscow has fined social media outlets Facebook and Telegram for their "failure" to remove content "banned" by Russian authorities.



The Magistrates Court in the Taganka district on June 10 fined the U.S.-based social network giant Facebook 17 million rubles ($235,300) and Telegram 10 million rubles ($138,400) for what it called "administrative offenses."



Moscow claims it is trying to rein in Western tech giants and bolster what it calls its Internet "sovereignty," though many critics say authorities are trying to quell dissent with parliamentary elections looming in September and the ruling United Party's popularity slumping.



Several social media giants have been embroiled in a broad dispute with authorities who say posts on their sites, among other things, encouraged minors to join unsanctioned protests in January, when people across the country took to the streets to support opposition politician and Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny after he was detained on what he calls trumped up charges.



Russia's communications watchdog on May 24 threatened that it could eventually slow down Google's Internet traffic in the country if it fails to delete content that is prohibited by Russian authorities.



Russia has already imposed a punitive slowdown on the U.S. social network Twitter for refusing to delete content banned by the Russian government.



Last month, the same court fined Facebook 26 million rubles ($359,000) and the U.S. technology giant Google $82,000 on the same charge.



In April, a court issued three separate fines against Twitter totaling about $120,000 over accusations it had failed to delete banned content.



Social media site TikTok was also fined on similar charges earlier this year.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
Independent investigative groups Bellingcat and The Insider say a detailed investigation shows Russian writer and poet Dmitry Bykov, a critic of the government, suffered a poisoning attack two years ago at the hands of the same agents suspected of being involved in the poisoning of opposition figures Aleksei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza, Jr.

In a report released on June 9, the groups said they had identified "significant correlations" between the travels of members of a Federal Security Service (FSB) squad and the previously unexplained poisonings or deaths of several other public figures, including the twice near-fatal poisoning of outspoken the opposition politician Kara-Murza.

Other likely targets, they said, included two human rights activists in the Caucasus as well as an anti-corruption activist.

Bykov is an outspoken critic of the Russian government and twice refused personal invitations to meet with President Vladimir Putin as part of the president's regular sit-downs with representatives of Russia's cultural elite.

"The case of Dmitry Bykov's presumed poisoning bears a striking resemblance to that of Aleksei Navalny, including an extended FSB tailing period, presence of the same FSB officers near the victim shortly before the poisoning, an onset of symptoms and collapse into a coma during a flight, and an initial obstruction by authorities to the victim's relocation to a more sophisticated medical establishment," the report says.

In April 2019, Bykov, who has opposed Russia's seizure of Crimea and its intervention in eastern Ukraine, fell ill aboard a plane en route from Yekaterinburg to Ufa.

After landing in Ufa, Bykov was rushed to a hospital, where he was treated for an extended period. The diagnosis has never been officially announced but Bykov has said that he was poisoned.

The chief editor of The Insider, Roman Dobrokhotov, told Current Time on June 9, that his group and Bellingcat had discovered that the FSB had imposed constant surveillance on Bykov at least a year before his poisoning.

According to Dobrokhotov, the poison was most likely put on the writer's clothes while he was staying at the Domina Hotel in Novosibirsk on a trip with his wife.

Bellingcat and The Insider started investigating Bykov's poisoning after they followed the travels of FSB officers believed to be involved in the poisoning of Navalny with the Novichok nerve agent in Siberia in August 2020.

One of the officers implicated in the Navalny affair, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, described the details of a state operation to poison Navalny in a phone conversation with the Kremlin critic in December.

Navalny made the 49-minute conversation, in which he posed as an FSB official conducting an internal review, public.

Navalny, who is currently in prison, was arrested in January upon his arrival from Germany, where he was treated after the poisoning with what was confirmed by European labs as Novichok.

Navalny has accused Putin of ordering the poisoning, which the Kremlin has denied.

A Moscow court in February converted a 3 1/2-year suspended sentence on a charge that Navalny and his supporters call politically motivated to real jail time saying he broke the terms of the original sentence by leaving Russia for Germany for the life-saving treatment he received.

The court reduced the time Navalny must spend in prison to just over 2 1/2 years because of time already served in detention.

Kara-Murza has said he was twice poisoned deliberately in Moscow in 2015 and 2017 due to his lobbying for U.S. sanctions against Russian officials allegedly involved in rights abuses.

In both cases, his Russian doctors indicated he suffered from the toxic effects of an "unidentified substance."

In February, Bellingcat said in a report that the FSB's hit squad had followed and surveilled Kara-Murza while he was traveling in Russia in May 2015 and February 2017, alleging that among the security agents was one linked to the poisoning of Navalny.

Dobrokhotov told Current Time that The Insider and Bellingcat are currently studying other strange illnesses of well-known persons in Russia and the travels of FSB officers implicated in poisoning Navalny.
Russia says it has declared an employee of North Macedonia's embassy in Moscow as persona non grata in response to a similar move by Skopje last month.

Calling North Macedonia's initial move "unwarranted," the Russian Foreign Ministry said the Balkan country's charge d'affaires was informed of Moscow's decision to expel the embassy worker on June 10.

The statement did not name the person who was being expelled or when that individual had to leave Russia.

North Macedonias Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said he regretted Moscows "unjustified" decision, which he said will "undoubtedly have negative influence" on bilateral relations.

In May, North Macedonia announced it had decided to expel a Russian diplomat "in accordance with Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations."

Based on this article, the host country at any time and for any reason can declare a particular member of the diplomatic staff persona non grata.

Several other former Soviet bloc countries in Central and Eastern Europe, all of them members of the European Union and NATO, have expelled Russian diplomats recently, triggering reciprocal measures by Moscow.

The series of expulsions began in April, when the Czech Republic expelled scores of Russian diplomats over the accusations that Russian spies were involved in a deadly ammunition depot explosion in 2014, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Moscow.

North Macedonia previously expelled Russian diplomats in 2018 in solidarity with Britain following a nerve-agent poisoning in England that targeted former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.
MOSCOW -- Members of the political network built by Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny in Russia have pledged to continue their efforts to campaign for change and expose corruption in the upper echelons of power after a Moscow court declared their movement "extremist."

The Moscow City Court handed down its ruling late on June 9, preventing people associated with Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and his collection of regional political offices from seeking public office.

The ruling marks a watershed moment for Russia's opposition. Protests for Navalny's release from jail in January precipitated a concerted state crackdown against his supporters. Law enforcement raided the homes of protesters, opposition-minded journalists, and even defense lawyers involved in the multiple criminal and civic cases against Navalny and his employees.

"I woke up an extremist," Georgi Alburov, a Navalny aide who has spearheaded investigations into corruption in Russia, wrote on Twitter early on June 10. "And sat down to work."

The message of defiance comes after a ruling that was widely expected and against the backdrop of an intensifying campaign by authorities to dismantle opposition networks ahead of elections to the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, in September.

The court's decision makes it illegal to hold membership or participate in the activities of the groups tied to Navalny, who is serving a 2 1/2-year sentence in a prison outside Moscow on fraud charges he says are trumped up. It also means his supporters face fines and jail time for displaying symbols associated with the groups.

Prosecutors in Moscow claimed that "under the guise of liberal slogans," Navalny-linked organizations were "engaged in creating conditions for destabilizing the social and sociopolitical situation." Tens of thousands of Russians rallied in Navalny's support during waves of protest in January and April.

In a Facebook post published to his account after the ruling, Navalny called the court's decision and the closed trial that preceded it a "laughingstock," and insisted he and his supporters won't back down.

"When corruption is the basis of state power, fighters against corruption are extremists," he said.

"We'll figure everything out. We'll change, we'll evolve, we'll adapt. But we won't retreat from our goals and beliefs. This is the only country we have," he added.

But opponents of the anti-corruption crusader, who has spent more than a decade digging up evidence of graft and urging demonstrations against President Vladimir Putin, hailed what they called a long-overdue decision.

"That's it," tweeted Ilya Remeslo, a pro-Kremlin blogger who has consistently criticized Navalny online and claimed substantial credit for encouraging the legal crackdown against his network, which intensified after his January return from Germany after treatment for a near-fatal poison attack he blames on the Kremlin. "[We] swatted [them] like a fly."

The Russian opposition has for years operated in a climate of constant surveillance, physical assaults, and exclusion from formal politics, despite being broadly tolerated as a thorn in the Kremlin's side.

But in the more than 21 years that Putin has served as a president or prime minister, the space for dissent has gradually narrowed, culminating in the latest ruling that critics say eviscerates even the modicum of political freedom that activists had previously enjoyed.

Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty Internationals Moscow office director, said that the designation of organizations founded by Navalny as "extremist" places tens of thousands of his supporters "at risk of prosecution."



"This is one of the Kremlins most cynical and brazen attempts so far to crack down on the rights to freedom of expression and association," she added.

"The opposition will become less organized," Abbas Gallyamov, a Moscow-based political analyst, told RFE/RL. "But it won't disappear, because the fundamental reasons that have facilitated its rise -- authoritarianism, falling quality of life, tiredness of the same faces in politics -- are not going anywhere."

The ruling also coincides with a flurry of laws that have outlawed most forms of political activism and provided tools for authorities to punish freedom of speech ahead of the September vote, with opinion polls showing support for the ruling United Russia party at a historic low.

Legislation signed by Putin this month banned people tied to "extremist" organizations from running for elected posts, and the ruling against Navalny's group was widely seen as the inevitable final step in a legal process that would allow authorities to formally exclude any political force deemed to pose a challenge.

"The law has come into force, the president has signed it, and now they needed a court ruling to ban the maximum number of people from contesting elections," Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny's FBK, said in an interview with the independent TV channel Dozhd.

Zviagina denounced "an unparalleled campaign of politically-motivated repression."



"Vladimir Putin's regime is compensating for its waning public support by creating an atmosphere of fear and despair, throwing its political rivals behind bars, forcing them out of the country and banning one after another those organizations held in disfavor by the regime, she said.

The designation is also seen as a message to U.S. President Joe Biden ahead of his meeting with Putin in Geneva on June 16. Biden's administration has condemned the court ruling, as have officials and leaders in Britain and the EU.

"It is another Kafkaesque attack on those standing up against corruption and for open societies, and is a deliberate attempt to effectively outlaw genuine political opposition in Russia," British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement.

Biden has pledged to challenge Putin on his human rights record and violations of international norms, even as Putin has dismissed any such rebuke from the West as interference in Russia's domestic affairs.

"You can have different opinions about our political system," Putin told reporters at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last week. "But give us, please, the right to decide ourselves how to organize this part of our life."
BLAGOVESHCHENSK, Russia -- A contributor to the programs of RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities project in the Russian Far East city of Blagoveshchensk says he has been attacked by three unidentified individuals.



Andrei Afanasyev told RFE/RL that he was attacked when he was entering his apartment block late at night on June 9.



Afanasyev said one of the attackers hit him with a metal bar, knocking him down, before all three assailants severely beat him for about 10 minutes.



"While they were beating me, one of the them told me, 'Write fewer reports about decent people.' They called me 'an American whore.' When they had to flee [after people appeared at the site] one of them said, 'Report to Domik,'" Afanasyev said, adding that Domik is the nickname of a local lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party, Andrei Domashenkin.



Afanasyev said Domashenkin is also the founder of the Chechnya-linked local martial arts club Akhmat.

Afanasyev is an independent journalist who reports about corruption among local authorities and law enforcement.



One of his latest investigative reports was about the Akhmat club, whose manager, Adam Magomadov, used to be the leader of the Chechen diaspora in the Far Eastern Amur region.



In April, Magomadov was arrested on an extortion charge.



Afanasyev's investigation revealed that Domashenkin had founded the martial arts club.



Commenting on the attack against Afanasyev, Domashenkin told RFE/RL on June 10 that "law enforcement is taking care of that case." He did not elaborate.



Afanasyev said that, since his current address is not his registered permanent address, it is very likely that he had been under surveillance prior to the attack.

The New York-based media-rights watchdog Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) called for an immediate investigation into the attack.



"Russian authorities should immediately investigate the vicious attack on RFE/RL freelance journalist Andrei Afanasyev, and ensure that the perpetrators are found and held to account," said Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.

"Russian law enforcement should take attacks on journalists seriously, and do its job by protecting members of the press and making sure that they can work freely and without fear of retaliation."
The new chief executive officer of Ukraine's state-owned gas behemoth has said he is committed to pushing reforms at the company after a recent management change sparked Western concerns about transparency.



Yuriy Vitrenko, who was named CEO of Naftogaz in late April, told RFE/RL on June 9 that he was behind many of the company's reform initiatives since 2014.



Vitrenko's comments came following a day of meetings in Washington with officials from the State Department and Energy Department, among others, and a day before addressing U.S. energy industry investors.



Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, of which Vitrenko was a member in his capacity as acting energy minister, came under harsh criticism after it temporarily dismissed the supervisory board of Naftogaz on April 28 in order to fire longtime CEO Andriy Kobolyev.



The body then appointed Vitrenko to replace Kobolyev.



The United States, which has pushed reforms of the once notoriously corrupt company for years and viewed Kobolyev's efforts positively, sharply criticized the decision as "calculated."



Vitrenko said that Washington reacted as it did because of existing concerns over Ukraine's reform agenda and because Naftogaz had emerged as a "symbol" of the nation's reform progress.



The Naftogaz shakeup came in the wake of the Constitutional Court's decision in October to roll back many of the anti-corruption laws put in place with the help of the West following the overthrow of Kremlin-leaning President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.



The decision came as other key reforms stalled or were rolled back, including corporate governance at other key state-owned companies.

'It Hit A Nerve'



Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat-Connecticut), who visited Ukraine last week, summed up the U.S. view during a hearing of the Foreign Relations Committee on June 8, saying Ukraine appeared to be taking "one step forward and two steps back."



"I believe that it hit a nerve," Vitrenko told RFE/RL during his first trip to Washington since being tapped as CEO. He added, however, that he felt the criticisms were "less about Naftogaz" and "more about this general context" of reforms.

Vitrenko said the purpose of his trip was twofold -- to push the United States to restore sanctions against Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and also to "rebuild trust" with officials in Washington and to share his vision as CEO of one of Ukraine's most crucial companies.



Vitrenko, 44, served for many years at Naftogaz, and was behind a victorious legal battle against Russian state-owned Gazprom that netted the company billions of dollars. He also negotiated a new transit contract with the Kremlin in 2019.

He was considered Kobolyev's right-hand man, but the two had a falling out in 2020. Vitrenko left Naftogaz and began criticizing its performance before being tapped as acting energy minister, which put him in a position to oversee the company.



Vitrenko told RFE/RL that the government was right to fire Kobolyev for poor performance, citing the company's loss in 2020 as well as its failure to boost natural-gas production over many years.



Kobolyev had defended his leadership, saying the 2020 loss was driven in large part by unpaid debts from government-owned heating companies and private retail supply operators controlled by tycoon Dmytro Firtash, who is wanted by the United States on corruption charges.

Kobolyev also blamed the failure of Naftogaz to boost gas production to a lack of new fields, saying the company was unfairly denied dozens of licenses by local officials during his tenure.



Kobolyev has alleged that the government fired him in part to get its hands on the $2 billion in cash sitting on its balance sheet.



The Supervisory Board, which backed Kobolyev, initially criticized Vitrenko in a statement following his appointment.



The board said in a May 3 letter to the government that "it would appear difficult" to work with Vitrenko since he had backed the Cabinet of Minister's statement that its performance was "unsatisfactory."



The board also said Vitrenko failed to share a plan for the company, a claim Vitrenko dismissed during his interview with RFE/RL, saying it was an unreasonable expectation just days after his appointment.

Boosting Production



Vitrenko said he will focus on boosting Naftogaz's production with the help of Western partners, a request made by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in an effort wean the country off expensive imports.

Vitrenko also said he would look to tackle industry problems that hurt the company's performance.



U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 8 that Ukraine has "unrealized" potential to improve its energy production and efficiency, calling it a "really important story which gets missed."

Vitrenko said he would try to push heating companies that historically have failed to pay their natural-gas bills into using other forms of energy, including biomass.



Vitrenko also said he would go after Firtash, whom the United States has been trying to extradite for seven years, in Ukrainian courts for not paying his natural-gas bills and seek assets as compensation.



Vitrenko also claimed that Firtash has historically charged Ukrainian residential users significantly more for natural gas than other supply companies yet shows almost no profit because he overpays for European gas.

High natural gas prices led to protests late last year, pushing the government to impose a temporary price cap in January that has since been lifted.



Vitrenko said he is looking into a contract the previous Naftogaz management team signed with Firtash companies at the beginning of the year at below spot market prices for delivery to residential users. He said he is concerned that the Firtash firms may be selling some of the gas to commercial buyers, which pay higher prices, and pocketing the difference.



Vitrenko said he was confident he will get the backing of Washington for his leadership and his plans.



"I met all these people before, and I believe they trust me personally as a reformer, so they don't need to second guess if I'm a true reformer or not," he told RFE/RL.
The U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on what it says are members of a smuggling network that produces millions of dollars in revenue for Yemen's Huthi movement.



"This network generates tens of millions of dollars in revenue from the sale of commodities, like Iranian petroleum, a significant portion of which is then directed through a complex network of intermediaries and exchange houses in multiple countries to the Houthis," a Treasury statement said on June 10.



The network works with Iran's Quds Force, the elite arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), to generate the revenue, the statement said.



The move comes amid U.S. pressure on the Iran-aligned movement to accept a cease-fire and peace talks.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has sought to advance a UN effort to ease Yemen's humanitarian crisis and end fighting between Huthis and Yemens government and a Saudi-led coalition.



"The United States will continue to apply pressure to the Huthis, including through targeted sanctions, to advance those goals," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.



Twelve individuals and entities were slapped with terrorism-related sanctions blocking any U.S. property they hold and barring Americans from doing business with them.



Those targeted by the new sanctions include two Yemenis, two Syrians, one Emirati, one Somali and one Indian national, as well as entities based in Dubai, Istanbul, and Sanaa, which is controlled by the Huthis.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
(opendemocracy.net) - In 2016, Robert Mugabe, then the president of Zimbabwe, announced that a mining company had looted diamonds worth $15bn from the country. The company was Anjin, a joint venture between a Chinese firm and the Zimbabwean military. Anjin strongly denied the allegations. But considering the dire state of the country at the time  a collapsed healthcare system, chronic fuel and food shortages, dilapidated roads  the claims were explosive. Yet in January this year, the state-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company pulled out of the most lucrative diamond-producing block in the east of the country and handed it over to the very same company: Anjin. Diamonds from Zimbabwe have Kimberley Process certification, which means they are supposed to be traceable. However, in recent months critical questions about accountability and transparency in the countrys diamond-mining sector have resurfaced.
When the parents want to come here, we think the kids will want to come here just as much, said John, who is also a dad. This is Warren. This is based on family.
PHOTO; Ann Marie Brown, deputy representative for the VA hospital and a member of the American Legion Auxiliary Post 6, District 22, presented an award honoring Helen Orkin for 12 years of volunteer services. Orkin worked many hours sewing and crocheting fleece blankets, pillow cases for children, burp cloths for infants, and belly bands needed for tube feeding, and will soon embark on a new project creating drawstring bags for girls in Kenya and Rwanda. Recipients included Rady Childrens Hospital, special needs students at several area schools and young mothers finishing high school. Orkin said she does the volunteer work to honor her late husband, a World War II Air Force veteran and prisoner of war who inspired her to help others. From left: Diana Young, president of American Legion Auxiliary Post 6; Nora Williams, Orkin, Carole Wilson, Brown and Patricia Versteeg.

CARDIFF

Lecture on surfing, tsunamis and sea levels

MiraCosta College will host a free lecture as part of the lifelong learning group series from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday in Room 201 at the San Elijo Campus, 3333. Keith Meldahl, professor of geology and oceanography at MiraCosta, will lecture on surfing, tsunamis, and sea level changes along the California coast as well as other issues covered in his latest book, Surf, Sand and Stone. For questions, email lifesanelijo@gmail.com.

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CARLSBAD

DNA Genealogy Group to gather Saturday

The DNA Genealogy Group, sponsored by the North San Diego County Genealogical Society, will meet from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday in the Community Room of the Cole Library, 1250 Carlsbad Village Drive. Kitty Cooper, a well-known genealogy speaker and blogger, will discuss Back to Basics. The program will be especially helpful to those who are new to DNA testing, but all attendees should get useful information. Admission is free; reservations are not necessary. Email nsdcgs.dig@gmail.com or call (760) 632-0416.

For the Young at Heart concert set for Sunday

The Chamber Music Players of the North Coast Symphony Orchestra present a family-friendly concert, For the Young at Heart, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday featuring Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev and Morceau de Concert by Camille Saint-Saens, with harp soloist Stefan Wendel. The Chamber Music Players are directed by Daniel Swem. The concert will be at the Schulman Auditorium at the Carlsbad Dove Library. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated. The concert is funded, in part, by the city of Encinitas and the Mizel Family Foundation. Visit northcoastsymphony.com.

ESCONDIDO

Taxi vouchers for low-income seniors

Senior Service Council, Escondido provides taxi vouchers from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays to Wednesdays for transportation to medical-related appointments in Escondido. Low-income Escondido residents, ages 60 or older, with no other means of transportation may qualify. Must apply in person. Bring proof of income, including most recent bank statement, picture ID and proof of age and allow one week for approval. Call (760) 480-0611.

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Legal advice, notary services offered

Senior Service Council, Escondido provides legal aid and notary services from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays. Advice is given on wills, trusts, divorce, landlord relations and other general legal issues. Free notary services are available. Register at (760) 480-0611.

Photo exhibit on display at library

The Escondido Public Library hosts an exhibit, HOME: A Living Archive, through Jan. 31 at the Librarys Pioneer Room, 247 S. Kalmia St. The exhibition documents the experiences of adult students in the Read. Succeed. Adult Literacy program. The display includes photographs and narratives of learners as they reflect on Escondido and the concept and meaning of home. The exhibit is sponsored by the Pioneer Room Friends and the Escondido Public Library Friends of Literacy Services. Call (760) 839-4315.

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OCEANSIDE

Civitan group gets together for lunch

The Oceanside Civitan Group is slated to meet from noon to 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Jolly Roger Restaurant, 1900 N. Harbor Drive. Lunch is served at the cost of $14. The century-old Civitans are a service group, headquartered in Birmingham, Ala. The groups main focus is to raise money for research to help children and adults with autism and Alzheimers. The group holds fundraisers throughout the year to support nonprofits in North County. The group typically meets the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Call (760) 439-7766.

Video series on financial peace

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A video series, Financial Peace University  Your Money Made Simple, will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Mondays, Jan. 22 to March 19, at Grace Church North County with financial expert Dave Ramsey. The classes are at 1602 S. El Camino Real. Call (760)433-9922 or visit gracesd.tv.

Fall prevention, senior living lectures Friday

LIFE Lectures at MiraCosta College will host two speakers starting at 1 p.m. Friday at the colleges Oceanside Campus, 1 Barnard Drive, Administration Building 1000. Paige Colburn-Hargis from Scripps Memorial Hospital-La Jolla will explain that falls are the No. 1 reason patients are transported to the Trauma Center at Scripps Memorial Hospital-La Jolla. She will provide information about how to keep safe. Cathy Ellis from Senior Care Option will inform the group about choices for senior living outside of the home, how to pay for them and what is ahead for the next generation. Purchase a $1 parking permit at the machine in Lot 1A, and park in this lot. Visit miracosta.edu/life or call (760) 757-2121, ext. 6972.

Speaker to discuss sustainable agriculture

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The Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista branch of the American Association of University will hold its monthly meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church, 2001 S. El Camino Real in Oceanside. Refreshments are at 9:30 a.m., followed by the presentation at 10 a.m. Irma Ortiz, a University of California Riverside graduate student, will be the guest speaker. She is one of the national winners of an Educational Opportunity grant from AAUW national. Her field of study is plant science research and her focus is working with tomatoes in a project designed to advance sustainable agriculture. Guests are welcome. Visit aauw-ca.org or cov-ca.aauw.net.

RANCHO BERNARDO

Republican group to host police officers

Rancho Bernardo Republican Women Federated holds a luncheon meeting in 11 a.m. Friday at the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo, 12280 Greens East Road. Cost is $23 for members and $25 for nonmembers. Special guests include two police officers, a canine handler and a police drug dog. RSVP is a must to Rosalind Duddy at (858) 485-1770 or rosalindduddy@sbcglobal.net.

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VISTA

Free movie screening Friday at senior center

The Gloria McClellan Senior Center screens a new movie release from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday and the third Friday of each month at 1400 Vale Terrace Drive. Admission is free and there are refreshments. Closed-captioning available for the hearing impaired. For details, call (760) 643-5282.


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The woke class wants to teach kids to hate each other, rather than teaching them how to read, but we will not let them bring nonsense ideology into Floridas schools, DeSantis said in a statement. As the Governor of Florida, I love this state, and I love my country. ... Im proud that we are taking action today to ensure our state continues to have the greatest educational system in the nation.
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In a profound scientific breakthrough, researchers from the University of Queensland have designed a quantum microscope that reveals minuscule complex biological structures that would otherwise be next to impossible for scientists to view.

The microscope paves the way for numerous biotechnology applications and could extend to medical and navigational imaging. Powered by quantum entanglement science, the microscope is set to advance scientific fields well into the future.

What is Quantum Entanglement?

At the beginning of the 20th century, physicists developed the theories behind entanglement as they spearheaded the mechanics of the quantum world. According to LiveScience, the quantum world is not a world of certainty. Like the electron of an atom where you can only calculate the probability of the electron appearing at a specific area, quantum states refer to the probability of measuring a specific property of a particle such as its position or angular momentum.

This is why quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where the quantum states of objects need to be described in reference to one another, despite these objects being spatially separated. This fundamental phenomenon makes it almost impossible to tell two particles apart from each other.

Unlike what most believe, there are many ways to simulate quantum entanglement. Particles can be supercooled and placed close to each other, enough to stimulate an overlap between their quantum states. At this point, it is almost impossible to distinguish a particle from another.

Nuclear decay is also a prime example of natural quantum entanglement.

ALSO READ: Understanding Turbulence: Vortices in Quantum Fluid Visualized





Quantum Microscope: A Profound Scientific Leap

Warwick Bowen, lead author, and professor at the University of Queensland Quantum Optics Lab, describes the design of a quantum microscope in an article published in the journal Nature, "Quantum-enhanced nonlinear microscopy". It is the first-ever entanglement-based sensor that can perform beyond the capabilities of the best technology today.

According to Phys. Org, Bowen says that the scientific breakthrough by researchers will spark new technologies that could enhance tools from navigational systems to Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI machines.

Because quantum entanglement lies at the heart of the quantum revolution, a sensor that could demonstrate its ability could supersede existing technology. Researchers are excited that the design is proof of the paradigm-changing potential the microscope holds and by extension the utilization of quantum entanglement.

The best of today's non-quantum microscopes utilize bright lasers, billions of times brighter than the sun, in an effort to illuminate its subjects and paint a clearer picture. However, fragile biological systems are unable to survive laser exposure for more than a few seconds. This paradox has become a major roadblock for scientific advancements.

Researchers stress that the newly designed quantum microscope allows 35% more clarity without damaging complex biological structures. The technology allows researchers to peer into the minuscule world of the complex biological structures that would otherwise be impossible to do.

The implications of the technology are profound: not only will it help research to understand the complexities of living systems down to their roots, but it could also spearhead diagnostic technologies.

RELATED ARTICLE: Experts Discover Semimetal with Naturally Occurring Quantum Criticality

Check out more news and information on Quantum Mechanics in Science Times.
All kinds of crazy stuff goes on at this time of year, said Kramer, who own Kramers Gator Control in West Palm Beach. Its emergency calls at 3,4,5,6 in the morning. Especially once we get a little bit of rain. The gators start moving around. Theyre looking for love, out and about.
President Joe Biden arrived in Europe Wednesday on his first overseas trip as the U.S. leader, set to hold high-level talks with other Western heads of state before meeting next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Geneva.



The first stop was at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom, where he addressed U.S. troops. "To all you airmen and soldiers, I want to say, thank you. We owe you. We're so damned proud of you," Biden said. He also took a swipe at Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he will meet later in the trip. "I've been clear -- the United States will respond in a robust and meaningful way when the Russian government engages in harmful activities," Biden said.

The president also said he will be reassuring allies about the U.S. role in the world. "At every step of the way, we will let everyone know that the United States is back." As he boarded Air Force One, Biden said his goals for the trip were strengthening ties with allies, while "making it clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight."



Biden also said he would be announcing a new strategy for vaccinating the world against the coronavirus pandemic. News outlets later reported that the U.S. will buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to donate to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union over the next year. The U.S. has vaccinated more than half of its adult population, but impoverished countries are trailing far behind that level of inoculation. The U.S. plan calls for donation of 200 million doses -- enough to fully vaccinate 100 million people -- by the end of this year, with the remainder sent overseas in the first half of 2022.

As the president left for Britain, the White House said the trip "will highlight America's commitment to rallying the world's democracies, coming together to shape the rules of the road for the 21st century, defend our values and tackle the world's biggest challenges."
In practice, it meant lawyers attending a seminar with three or more presenters would be assured that at least one would be a person of color, a woman or LGBTQ. That requirement, according to the court, amounted to a quota, and quotas are out of bounds.
The increases they cite are real, and several big cities did make cuts to police spending. But the reductions were mostly modest, and the same big increases in homicides are being seen nationwide  even in cities that increased police spending. At the same time, the rates for burglaries, drug offenses and many other types of crime are down in many cities across the country.
When something like that comes up, we look at those cases, but I dont know that that necessarily makes it a priority to jump in front of the line, Parson said during a Monday news conference. We understand some cases are going to draw more attention through the media than others, but were just going to look at those things.
The three judges upheld the circuit-court decision to terminate the mothers parental rights to K.M.4. The judges also agreed to send the case back to circuit court for further analysis of whether terminating the rights to the other children was in their manifest best interests.
Jeff Chiu/AP

The state Supreme Court authorized Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday to grant clemency, and parole eligibility, to a man who has been serving a life-without-parole sentence for murdering an El Cerrito restaurant worker during a 1980 robbery.

George L. Hughes was convicted in 1982 of kidnapping and fatally shooting Mary Washington, assistant manager of Churchs Chicken restaurant, in November 1980. Hughes brother-in-law testified that Hughes told him he had approached Washington in her car at 3 a.m. after the restaurant closed, pulled a gun on her, drove away with her in the car and then shot her and dumped her body. He was also convicted of other robberies and was sentenced to life without parole for murder in the course of a robbery.
The 10 Bay Area health officers stood on the steps of a San Francisco Mission District middle school, unmasked, hugging, kissing cheeks and shaking hands, together for the first time since they ordered the regions residents to shelter in place more than a year ago.

They decided to gather shoulder-to-shoulder, in-person last Thursday to send a powerful message: California can and must reopen schools fully and completely in the fall.

On this we are 100% united, said Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County health officer. Our message is for everyone, for anyone concerned about COVID-19.

Not reopening fully for all students is not an option, said Dr. Scott Morrow, San Mateo County health officer, citing increases in anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidality and alcohol and drug use among youth during distance learning.

The cost to our kids by keeping them out of school in remote learning is immense, he said.

Yet across California and in some Bay Area communities, doubts linger about what classes will look like in the fall and whether there will be enough wiggle room in state law for districts to limit a return to in-person instruction.

If there is discretion, it could lead to a repeat of the past year, with a hodgepodge of reopening plans. Despite state and county authorization and urging to reopen schools as early as the summer and fall of last year, the majority didnt, at least not until the early months of 2021, even as private schools welcomed back students by the thousands.

The district-level decision making resulted in some schools fully reopening, while others a few miles away remained closed. Decisions were not typically based on science, coronavirus case rates or expert advice, but rather political will, leadership, labor negotiations and fear  all of which could also play a role for the fall.

Already, some school districts, including San Francisco and Oakland, anticipate negotiating reopening terms with labor groups; others, like Manteca and Fremont, plan a return to pre-COVID contracts.

Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle

In San Francisco, teachers union officials announced the start of negotiations with the district for an agreement on reopening in the fall and are requesting feedback this week from the 6,000 members on what theyd like to see in it.

That could include ventilation requirements, social distancing, mask mandates or the amount of hand soap or masks that need to be on hand at schools  which could follow or exceed health guidelines  or options for educators who want or need to work remotely.

Ongoing labor negotiations delayed the reopening of San Francisco schools, which were scheduled to start returning to in-person learning in January, until April.

Officials from the United Educators of San Francisco said they are waiting on new state reopening guidelines expected later this month, but look forward to a full return in the fall, said union spokeswoman Amanda Hart. The school board, in a unanimous vote, also vowed to fully reopen in August.

We are focused on understanding what the needs of our students, families and educators are as we all prepare to return for full in-person instruction, she said.

Oakland Unified administrators and teachers union leaders have agreed to wait until July to negotiate terms or conditions for a full return in the fall, said Chaz Garcia of the Oakland Education Association.

What I can say is that I would imagine we will have to have some things in place for safety, but we dont anticipate anything similar to what we experienced last fall, she said. That means that we essentially would be following our regular contract and negotiating some additional safety factors.

Other districts, including Fremont and Manteca, say that they dont see a need at this point for any additional labor agreement on fall reopening and that they will revert back to their pre-COVID union contracts.

In Fremont, there is an agreement on the operation of a virtual academy for families who opt for that, but otherwise, the district will be back to normal, at least on paper, with labor.

Once we receive updated (health) guidance from the county, specific to education/schools, well be sure (Fremont Unified) is in compliance with all local and state health and safety measures related to COVID-19, said district spokesman Brian Kilgore.

Its unclear whether labor negotiations or ongoing mitigation efforts to address health and safety concerns, including ventilation or other facilities issues, could delay or limit reopening in the fall in some communities.

Like most other districts, OUSD is planning for a full opening of all schools on Monday, August 9, 2021, with an independent study option for students/families who cant or are not comfortable coming back just yet, said Oakland district spokesman John Sasaki. We cant say much about the details of how we will get there because we are awaiting guidance from the state. Like other school districts, we are somewhat frozen in place for the moment.

Bay Area education officials have asked state legislators to clearly define if and when distance learning would be acceptable and whether there is leeway in terms of health and safety standards, which could mean staff shortages or space constraints restricting a full return.

The more explicit the state can be, the less opportunity for interpretation, said San Francisco Deputy Superintendent Gentle Blythe.

Health experts say the science is clear on the safety of in-person learning, with dozens of studies backing up a low rate of infection in school settings, even during the surge and before widespread vaccines.

COVID Resources Coronavirus Map Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California.

In San Francisco, with nearly 50,000 private and charter students and teachers in classrooms starting in the fall, there have been fewer than five outbreaks with limited in-school transmission, said San Francisco health officer Susan Philip

In the district schools, since April, there have been zero outbreaks, she said.

Teachers and students are not putting themselves at risk by putting themselves in the classroom, she added. We can let a little bit of a breath go.

A new study of San Franciscos learning hubs  located in libraries, recreation centers and other public facilities  found very little transmission, despite imperfect masking or other mitigation.

The study looked at 54 of the citys 85 hubs, including 1,175 children and 295 adults full-time. From November to February, there were 36 cases of coronavirus identified, with only one  adult to adult  transmitted at a hub.

During that time, about two-thirds of children were masked and about half of students and less than half of the staff maintained social distancing of 6 feet.

Our findings indicate we can achieve safe in-person learning even with imperfect compliance to mitigation policies, said lead author Dr. Sunitha Kaiser, a UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospitals pediatrician.

Vaccines are now available to those 12 years and older, and the risk of serious complications in children is higher for flu than from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The Bay Area health officials who gathered at Everett Middle School last week said its still too early to identify what types of mitigation efforts might be required this next academic year. Such guidance is expected in the coming weeks.

Masks will likely be part of the day for some students and staff, as well as the need for some social distancing or limits on sports, choir and large gatherings by keeping them out of school

The bottom line, however, is that distance learning was devastating for many students, physically, emotionally and academically, and kids need to be back in school, the officials said.

There is no other viable option, Morrow said. Schools must go completely back to normal in the fall.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
Empress by Boon is arguably the most splashy blockbuster of a restaurant opening to hit San Francisco since the pandemic began.

Occupying the top floor of the historic Empress of China banquet restaurant space at 838 Grant Ave. in Chinatown, the new 7,500-square-foot restaurant offers sweeping views of San Francisco and a stunning design to match. It opens June 18, with reservations largely booked up until July  even with a whopping 156 seats across multiple dining rooms, the tea lounge and the bar.

Ho Chee Boon, best known as the longtime executive chef of upscale international Chinese chain Hakkasan, is starting out with a $68 tasting menu  a way for Boon to introduce diners to his take on modern Cantonese dishes using unexpected ingredients.

It opens with a steamed shrimp dumpling topped with caviar  Boon generally loves the idea of serving higher end dim sum  and moves onto heartier fare like grilled rib eye with tofu and a Sichuan peppercorn-infused sauce, evoking mapo tofu.

Nick Otto/Special to The Chronicle

For the restaurants first month in business, diners must order the prix-fixe. After that, Boon plans to gauge diners reactions to develop a new menu  likely a mix of a la carte options and a seasonal prix-fixe. Boon will use organic produce such as pea shoots from Empress by Boons own 200-acre Gilroy farm, something the chef described as a dream come true and the perfect way to offer a farm-to-table experience like no other in San Francisco.

That said, Boon already has some ideas for dishes he wants to serve down the line. While not on the opening tasting menu, Peking duck is likely to be a staple of the restaurant, with ducks sourced from Joe Jurgielewicz & Son, a fourth-generation farm in Pennsylvania.

The ducks we serve are specifically bred to have great natural favor and unmatched crispy skin with an ideal meat-to-fat ratio, Boon said by email.

Nick Otto/Special to The Chronicle

Dishes wont necessarily be strictly Chinese, either. Boon, who was born in Malaysia, plans to serve a spicy, peanut-laced beef salad inspired by shrimp paste-spiked snacks and fruit salads he grew up eating at street stalls. South Asian flavors inform a crispy chicken with curry and milk, heady with curry leaves, galangal and turmeric.

The space, designed by Atelier LLYS, features three distinct atmospheres to highlight different views of the citys skyline. Royal blue curved booths are elevated along the north-facing windows, giving diners a striking look at Coit Tower. To the east, theres a dining room surrounded by maroon, carved wood screens, with a chefs prep table taking center stage.

The tea lounge, with plush seats and low tables, is contained within the same intricate wooden pergola that used to sit inside the original Empress of China. Restored fixtures from the former banquet restaurant are peppered throughout the space.

Nick Otto/Special to The Chronicle

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Large banquet restaurants like the original Empress of China, which closed in 2014, have served as important gathering spaces for Chinatowns many family associations, community organizations and cultural celebrations. But theyre expensive to maintain  and most have shuttered in recent years. Mister Jius took over Four Seas in 2016. China Live and Eight Tables replaced Gold Mountain one year later. China Live owner George Chen included a banquet hall in his complex but said it was a losing game financially.

Some Chinatown organizations unsuccessfully fought Empress by Boons arrival, hoping to keep the legendary Empress space geared toward the people who live in Chinatown. But Boon hopes his activation of the space brings helpful energy to the neighborhood.

I hope to continue the special locations dining legacy with modern and approachable cuisine in an elegant, reimagined dining atmosphere, Boon said. I want to provide a positive contribution for the people of this great city that I love so dearly.

Empress by Boon. Opening June 18. 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 838 Grant Ave., San Francisco. 415-757-0728 or theempresssf.com

Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin said Thursday he is in treatment for alcohol use, a day after The Chronicle asked him to respond to complaints about his behavior, including allegations that he was under the influence during a Board of Supervisors meeting.

After serious consideration, I have decided to enter into alcohol treatment under the guidance of professionals, Peskin said in a statement. I stand by my long legislative and civic record but must also take full responsibility for the tenor that I have struck in my public relationships  for that, I am truly sorry.

Peskin, one of the most powerful politicians in City Hall, made the announcement as several of his colleagues, department heads and other city staffers became increasingly frustrated with the supervisor, who has long been a combative and polarizing figure in San Francisco. It came a day after The Chronicle asked the supervisor whether he had been drinking before or during Tuesdays meeting, an allegation that he neither confirmed nor denied.

Many people in our society imbibe; many people use different substances, and I am one of those people, but I keep it together, Peskin said Wednesday. He added that he works about 24 hours a day. He said he had drunk excessively a time or two but not too often and that alcohol does not influence his behavior or actions.

Elected officials have been known to have a drink, he said. I believe Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, major world leaders, have had a drink on the job. It has been widely documented that former President Trump doesnt drink.

Drinking in the workplace violates the Department of Human Resources official policy for city staff.

When Peskin sent The Chronicle his statement Thursday, he asked the newspaper not to publish his comments from the previous day, while admitting hed made them on the record. He called his Wednesday remarks flippant, irresponsible and incorrect.

He said in an email Thursday that he will stay in treatment for as long as it takes to get better and intends to continue serving to the best of my ability. He said he would defer to the guidance of my health care provider on the work/life/treatment balance. It is unclear if he will be present for his upcoming committee and board meetings.

While numerous people applauded Peskins decision to seek help, including some current and former colleagues on the board, more than two dozen people interviewed by The Chronicle over the past couple of months reported concerns about the supervisor. They said he had often bullied colleagues and lower-level city staff, used profane language in private conversations, and accused a department head of corruption in a public meeting without direct evidence the person knew about the scandal.

Many said Peskin has appeared to be visibly intoxicated in public and private phone meetings, with some alleging they smelled alcohol on him during in-person meetings before the pandemic and noticed that he spoke in a slow, slurred fashion. Multiple people, including elected officials, said they feared Peskin would retaliate against them if they spoke publicly about his behavior or filed an official complaint.

Peskin, the boards longest-serving member and past president, was recently re-elected to his fourth term in November with 58% of the vote. He has been described as a genius politician with deep knowledge of city rules and legislation and can be funny, warm, charming, persuasive and generous, colleagues said.

Hes a fierce advocate for his district, ranging from rich homeowners on Telegraph Hill to low-income immigrants in Chinatown. But some people interviewed by The Chronicle said Peskin can also be abrasive and vindictive.

His announcement about seeking treatment for alcohol use also came two days after he berated Recreation and Park Director Phil Ginsburg about a controversial letter from a nonprofit group.

On Wednesday, Mayor London Breed told department heads the type of behavior exhibited at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday would not be tolerated and that she would work with the City Attorneys Office and the Department of Human Resources to better address inappropriate actions. She did not mention Peskin specifically.

Breed, whose relationship with members of the Board of Supervisors has grown increasingly tense, also declined to discuss Peskins behavior specifically in an interview Thursday.

It is appropriate to always hold department heads and staff accountable for the challenges that we face in our city ... but the disrespect, the berating, the accusations, is completely out of line and definitely not behavior becoming of an elected official, she said.

She added that one supervisor is definitely very problematic and has been able to get away with this for far too long. But there are other members of the board who are guilty of terrible treatment toward city staff as well.

Asked why Peskins behavior has been tolerated for so long, Breed said, I dont have an answer to that. All I can say is we are trying to do what we can do now to address it. She said of Peskins decision to seek treatment, I wish him the best and I hope he gets the help he needs.

Over the past year, Angela Calvillo, clerk of the Board of Supervisors, said she has had individuals express concern about Peskin. She declined to provide specifics, citing confidential personnel matters.

If the supervisors were concerned about another colleagues behavior, they could have invoked section 5.12 of their Rules of Order. The rule says that no supervisor should act in any way that is unworthy or unbecoming of a supervisor. According to the California government code, any state, county or city official who is intoxicated while performing official duties can be guilty of a misdemeanor.

The Chronicle could not locate any formal complaints made against the supervisor  either to the clerk of the Board of Supervisors or to the Department of Human Resources.

Supervisor Matt Haney was the only member of the Board of Supervisors who would address Peskins behavior on the record when asked by Chronicle reporters and said he has previously spoken to the clerk of the board and board President Shamann Walton about Peskins behavior and his drinking. Several others said privately that Peskins behavior has at times intimidated them and interfered with their day-to-day business.

Were all humans and we all have our struggles, Supervisor Myrna Melgar said Wednesday. I hope that we can be kind to one another and to city staff. Thats all I will say.

Many City Hall staffers said his sometimes aggressive and offensive behavior escalated during the pandemic and became more obvious on Zoom than it had been in the crowded board chambers over the years. Several of his colleagues said they are worried about him on a personal level.

Tuesdays attack on Ginsburg happened as the board heard a routine item about spending bond money. Peskin, along with Supervisors Connie Chan and Walton, turned the parks chiefs appearance into a grilling session focused on a controversial letter the nonprofit Parks Alliance sent to Chan three months ago about a playground in her district.

In an unusual exchange, Peskin accused Ginsburg of lying, evading questions and smirking.

Ginsburg said Thursday that Peskins alleged bullying and problem with alcohol has been an open secret at City Hall since 2000. Ginsburg, who served as chief of staff under then-Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2007 and 2008, said he received frequent and regular calls from Peskin as late as 11 p.m. back then in which the supervisor would scream and curse at him.

When Ginsburg took his parks job in 2009, he said he stopped answering Peskins calls after 8 p.m. However, in a phone call about city parks in February, Ginsburg said, Peskin told the department head that his wife was hot, which Ginsburg found highly inappropriate.

His behavior isnt new, Ginsburg said. Hes been verbally harassing and intimidating people as long as Ive worked in government. The behavior is insidious and cancerous.

Ginsburg added that hes glad Peskin is getting help and wishes him the best.

In June 2020, during a private phone meeting regarding the citys gross receipts tax, Peskin used profane language while arguing with another staff member on the call, two people on the call told The Chronicle. The exchange has not been previously reported.

According to the sources, Peskin said, This will have to be one of those times where I take my d out, and the mayor takes her d out, and lets see whose is bigger.

The Chronicle viewed a screenshot of text messages sent between two meeting attendees afterward.

One person who attended the meeting wrote, The comments tonight were really offensive. I hope we can all agree that talking about sucking d, cursing, and being clearly drunk on a call is not appropriate.

The other person responded, And its also not ok that we even have to bring that s up. Just not okay.

In an email Thursday, Peskin said, I regret that it happened and I immeditately (sic) apologized for my poor behavior and inappropriate language and the discomfort that it caused others.

Peskin has in the past been accused of drinking on the job and treating staff poorly. In 2007, former Port of San Francisco Director Monique Moyer said in a letter that Peskin had called her in the evening at home in what she described as outlandish harassment and seemed to have been drinking. At the time, Peskin told The Chronicle, I do not threaten peoples jobs.

In 2018, city firefighters wrote in memos that they believed Peskin was intoxicated at a North Beach fire as he unleashed an expletive-laced emotional diatribe that called for the fire chiefs resignation. Peskin said it was untrue that he was drunk, but apologized to the chief for his conduct.

On Thursday, Peskin said he is taking my drinking issue and my unacceptable behavior seriously.

I want to make amends with those who have been on the receiving end of my bad behavior. I am taking my recovery seriously to ensure I learn from my experience and become a better person, colleague and leader, he said.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Dominic Fracassa contributed to this report.

Mallory Moench, Trisha Thadani and Heather Knight are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com, tthadani@sfchronicle.com, hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench, @TrishaThadani, @hknightsf
State officials are appealing a federal judges ruling last week that declared Californias assault weapons ban unconstitutional, pitching the state into a fresh legal battle over a prohibition that has been in place for 32 years.

Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the widely expected appeal Thursday at a news conference in San Francisco, flanked by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mayor London Breed and anti-gun-violence advocates.

The ban on assault weapons will not put an end to gun violence, but is one important tool the state has to protect the safety of Californians while also respecting the rights of law-abiding residents who choose to possess firearms, Bonta said.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego overturned the states decades-old ban on the sale of assault weapons Friday, ruling that it violates the Second Amendment  a decision that was promptly slammed by Newsom.

The governor, like many others at the news conference, blasted not only Benitezs decision but the judge himself, deeming him a puppet of gun rights advocates.

Judge Benitez is a stone-cold ideologue, Newsom said. Hes a wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby and the National Rifle Association.

Benitez was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2003 and has history of siding with gun rights advocates in cases about background checks, high-capacity ammunition magazines and other issues that were later overturned or challenged.

Benitez ruled that Californias definition of illegal military-style guns robbed Californians of their constitutional right to obtain the type of weapons allowed in other states.

Like the Swiss Army Knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment, Benitez wrote in a 94-page ruling.

Good for both home and battle, the AR-15 is the kind of versatile gun that lies at the intersection of the kinds of firearms protected under (Supreme Court rulings). Yet, the State of California makes it a crime to have an AR-15-type rifle. Therefore, this Court declares the California statutes to be unconstitutional.

Benitezs Swiss Army knife comment has been perhaps the most widely panned portion of his ruling, with nearly all of Thursdays speakers deeming the comparison absurd.

Dr. Andre Campbell, a trauma surgeon at San Francisco General Hospital, gave a harrowing and graphic depiction of the damage hes seen in victims struck by bullets from AR-15-style rifles or similar weapons.

It is as if a bomb went off in the tissues of patients, Campbell said, later pulling a small red Swiss Army knife out of his lab coat pocket. Theres no way that a simple pocketknife that you can buy in a store can be compared to a weapon of mass destruction.

Bonta said Thursday that equating firearms that have been used in many of the deadliest mass showings in this country with Swiss Army knives has no basis in law or fact.

Breed said the assault weapons ban has saved countless lives over the years and that turning a blind eye to the ruling is not an option.

Lives are at stake here, she said. We dont want to see another person, another child, lost to gun violence, in this city, in this state, in this country.

The decision carries a 30-day stay, giving the state an opportunity to appeal before the decision takes effect. The Office of the Attorney General will additionally ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to extend a 30-day hold on the judges ruling throughout the entire appeals process.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
Officials declared a water shortage emergency in Santa Clara County on Wednesday afternoon, setting the stage for mandatory water restrictions for the countys 2 million residents.

Board members from the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the main provider in Santa Clara County, voted unanimously to declare the emergency, target a 33% countywide reduction in water use from 2013 levels, and urge county officials to proclaim a local emergency.

Drought conditions are worsening in California and the Bay Area. Marin County was the latest in the region to declare a state of emergency as parched conditions forced ranchers to truck in water.

This is a serious situation, said Valley Water board chair Tony Estremera. This is an emergency, and weve got to take all measures that we can to keep our community safe and continue to provide safe, clean water for all of us.

Valley Water, which is a public agency and water provider, cannot impose restrictions and will have to work with retailers to achieve the cuts in water usage. The districts board members and staff are recommending cities, counties and water companies implent mandatory limits on watering lawns and landscapes.

In the wake of the vote, retailers are expected to approve new drought restrictions over the coming weeks. The San Jose Water Co., the districts largest retailer, serving more than 1 million people, said last month that it would follow the agencys guidance. It will be the Bay Areas largest retailer to impose restrictions so far this year.

The districts recommendations include:

 Hourly limits for residents to water their lawns or landscapes no more than three days a week.

 Bans on filling swimming pools

 Prohibitions on washing cars and driveways with a hose without a nozzle

 Requiring restaurants to serve water to diners only upon request.

Were seeing the perfect storm building up and its right in front of us. We cannot recommend that we gamble, keep our fingers crossed so that we can obtain the many sources of supply that were not fully in control of, especially in a drought, said Valley Water CEO Rick Callender.

Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
Anthony Bledsoe walked with his bicycle through the courtyard of the Lake Merritt Lodge on Wednesday morning, carrying a guitar on his back and in his pocket a Styrofoam cup that read, Care to Share?

Bledsoe, who has been homeless for longer than he cares to recount, said he planned to bike to the lake or to the Temescal area to dance and sing for money. But unlike most of his recent days, Bledsoe said he felt relief because he would return in the evening to a bed, hot shower and warm meal.

I get my own room, Bledsoe said. Im just relaxed.

Bledsoe is one of more than 90 unsheltered Oaklanders who have moved into Lake Merritt Lodge over the past month. The city leased the lodge for emergency housing for homeless people. On Wednesday, city officials said the lodge was at full capacity.

The six-story, 92-unit hotel provides shelter for homeless Oakland residents who are medically vulnerable and over 65, putting them at risk of serious complications from COVID-19. In May, city staff worked with Alameda County to identify unsheltered people living near the hotel to move in.

Oakland is determined to end the moral outrage of homelessness on our streets and in any street of America, Mayor Libby Schaaf said outside the lodge Wednesday. This year has been one of particular challenge as we know that our unsheltered neighbors have faced particular vulnerabilities and risks while fighting this pandemic.

Schaaf was joined by Councilwoman Carroll Fife and staff from Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplans office. Fife and Kaplan have urged the city administration to take advantage of federal and state help to purchase and lease hotel rooms for the homeless during the pandemic.

Fife said Wednesday that unsheltered people need accommodations now.

Thats the only way we will be able to address this crisis we are experiencing, Fife said. This is a huge step forward, but we have much further to go. We need 100 spaces like this to deal with the growing homelessness crisis and the number of people that are living on the streets.

In 2019, Oakland counted more than 3,200 unsheltered people on city streets out of a total homeless population of more than 4,000. That number likely has increased during the pandemic. The city estimates it has about 155 encampments.

In December, the city acquired Clifton Hall, a dormitory at the California College of the Arts campus in Rockridge, and transformed it into transitional housing for homeless families and seniors. Officials estimate that close to 100 people will live there.

In March, the Oakland City Council voted to use Cares Act funds to rent the lodge as an emergency homeless shelter until September with the possibility of increasing the lease to a year. The cost of leasing the lodge is more than $2 million through September and will be reimbursed by the federal government due to President Bidens plan to fully repay local governments that open non-congregate COVID-19 shelters.

Schaaf said the city hopes to extend its lease by using county and state funds. Fife also plans to work to make the acquisition of the lodge permanent using city, state or federal funds. In the meantime, occupants are working with staff from the Housing Consortium of the East Bay to find housing and work opportunities.

Lake Merritt Lodge was a student dormitory until 2019. But once the pandemic hit, the building remained vacant.

Mahnaz Khazen, the building owner, began working with Alameda County, which was interested in purchasing the property for homeless housing. But Khazen said the deal fell through because they couldnt agree on a price.

Instead Khazen began working with the city on a deal to lease the hotel. Khazen said she has always been interested in investing that impacts the lives of the community in a positive way.

And her hope is for the hotel to be a place for residents to get back on their feet.

Thats what it is for Francine Stovall. Stovall, a new resident at the hotel, said living somewhere that is nice, quiet, clean and safe makes a huge difference.

Im very grateful and very happy living here, she said.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
Its going to be tough to do, but thats what she needs, Jewett said, saying she has to turn out African American voters in particular. She needs to somehow generate the enthusiasm that Barack Obama was able to generate, or at least something close to it. Its probably unfair because you cant equal that enthusiasm ... but she needs to get something that approaches that.
Oaklands first protected bike lane on Telegraph Avenue, near the citys downtown, could be undone if the City Council approves a recommendation from its Department of Transportation to remove the gray, knee-level circular barriers and replace them with painted buffers.

The proposed change would come five years after the protected bike lanes were initially installed on the 10-block stretch of Telegraph Avenue between 20th and 29th Streets as a pilot. It was a milestone celebrated by bike advocates who say that the protected lanes are doing what they were intended to do: keeping cyclists and pedestrians safe from vehicular traffic.

The citys transportation department, though, said in a report that while the number of pedestrians and cyclists on this portion of Telegraph Avenue doubled since the protected lanes were installed in 2016, the lanes hamper the visibility of vehicles turning toward the avenue from adjacent streets via several of the corridors uncontrolled intersections.

The Oakland City Council will consider the proposed changes to Telegraph Avenue at its July 6 meeting, according to a staff presentation. If approved, the protected lanes would be replaced with buffered bike lanes next year.

A significant portion of the Oakland part of Telegraph Avenue, the entirety of which runs from Downtown Oakland to UC Berkeleys campus, has been covered with protected bike lanes since 2016. Bike lanes run north through Telegraph in the nearby Temescal neighborhood thats dotted with restaurants and commercial shops and businesses.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

Bike advocates have envisioned an Oakland where protected bikes lanes run fully across Telegraph Avenue, one of the citys main arteries connecting various neighborhoods to downtown. Several bike enthusiasts reacted critically to the proposal on social media, characterizing the changes on the table as shortsighted.

OakDOT is trying to characterize the painted buffer bike lane design as an equally safe design, and were not buying it, said Dave Campbell, advocacy director for Bike East Bay.

Campbell said the changes, if approved by the council, would mean more cars double-parking on designated bike lanes, risking the safety of cyclists and pedestrians. He argued that the citys recommendation is largely motivated by concerns from local businesses struggling to financially recover from the pandemic.

Shari Godinez, executive director of the Koreatown Northgate Community Benefits District, said local businesses have seen more near-collisions involving pedestrians and bicyclists because of the reduced visibility. The protected bike lanes put at risk the popular Oakland First Fridays gatherings that were temporarily shelved during the pandemic.

Were grateful that the (Department of Transportation) actually examined it a little bit more closely, and determined that this actual design in this actual part of Telegraph was not a good idea, Godinez said.

In a Medium blog post supporting the recommended changes, OakDOT Director Ryan Russo said the chief goals of the protected bike lanes were not realized.

Up front, we believed this project would serve those needs  and five years later, we need to recognize that its not working, learn from it, and adjust, Russo said in the blog.

Ricardo Cano is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ricardo.cano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByRicardoCano
When Patti Poppe took the reins of PG&E Corp. in January, she assumed a sobering double challenge: rehabilitating one of the most criminally convicted companies in U.S. history while confronting climate change.

Poppe, 53, didnt always accept the reality that humans are fueling global warming by burning fossil fuels. In fact, she calls herself a recovered climate denier who is now a big climate believer  a fervent convert who wants to help Pacific Gas and Electric Co. adapt to the changing environment while moving beyond its troubled past.

Poppe worked at General Motors for 15 years before climbing the ranks at two Michigan utilities, eventually becoming CEO of CMS Energy. With a background in gas-powered cars and coal-fired power plants, she was inherently skeptical of the role that petroleum use plays in upending the Earths climate.

She said she began to change her mind after hiring former staffers of Jennifer Granholm, the two-term Democratic governor of Michigan who is now President Bidens energy secretary. By the time Poppe left CMS, the company had retired several coal power plants and set its sights on zeroing out its carbon emissions.

Once you stop listening to sound bites and start actually doing your homework, it wasnt that hard to realize we had a huge impact on climate, and we had an opportunity to make a difference, Poppe told The Chronicle last week.

Now she is leading a company that had failed to prepare itself for the effects of rising temperatures  with catastrophic consequences. Poppe is tasked with reversing that record and winning back trust from a deeply skeptical public.

Under Poppes predecessors, PG&E caused a series of disasters that killed more than 100 people and left neighborhoods from the Bay Area to the Sierra foothills in ruins. The companys power lines ignited major wildfires in five of the past six years, as decades of electric system neglect collided with Californias changing climate.

This year could see more devastation if PG&E falls short again. Most of California is in an extreme drought, and fire activity this year is up compared to both last year  when more land burned than any other year on record  and the five-year average.

Here, what hangs in the balance is a matter of life and death, Poppe said. I understand that to my core.

In interviews and comments to her employees, Poppe has sought to position herself as a transformative leader who can move PG&E beyond its deadly past. She said she believes the utility can regain consumers trust while creating an electric grid thats better prepared for a warmer, drier, more fire-prone California. That means one with many more power lines buried underground.

For years, PG&E has resisted calls to drastically expand moving power lines underground, citing high costs. But Poppe has said the company has learned that, when done systematically, the price tag can be greatly reduced.

Sumeet Singh, the companys chief risk officer, said PG&E was scoping out opportunities for more underground power lines in areas with a significant density of large trees that could crash into surface-level infrastructure.

In those areas, our focus is not just to build our system for the climate risk that were facing now but the climate risk that were going to be facing in the future, Singh said.

Poppes revelation about the cost of burying power lines came in Paradise, the Butte County town almost entirely destroyed by the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history. PG&E is putting all the towns power lines underground as the city rebuilds.

Undergrounding our system is going to be a much bigger part of our future, Poppe said.

The Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and incinerated more than 18,000 buildings, was caused by broken equipment on a poorly maintained, century-old PG&E transmission line. PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection after the fire and pleaded guilty to 85 felonies, nearly all of them for involuntary manslaughter. The company was already on probation for prior convictions arising from the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people.

With its bankruptcy nearly one year behind it, PG&E is now trying to keep its business financially sound. Part of that entails seeking a higher stock price, which will have impacts for victims of past fires. As part of its exit from bankruptcy, PG&E agreed to pay $13.5 billion to an independent trust that will compensate fire survivors, with half the funds being granted in company shares that the trust will cash out over time.

A recent KQED investigation found that the trust had, in the first year it operated, spent the vast majority of its fund on overhead costs and distributed a tiny fraction of what victims were promised. Payments have since increased.

Poppe said the settlement agreement creates a mutual benefit between the companys financial success and the trusts ability to compensate victims. While PG&E does not control the trust, Poppe said company leaders were as frustrated as others are about the pace.

So far, Poppes reception both inside and outside the company appears largely positive. Concerns linger, however, partly because she is the parent companys fifth CEO since 2019.

Its not her fault, but it still is a fact that PG&E goes through CEOs like nobodys business, said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network consumer group. No CEO has a chance of creating a safer, more accountable company unless they make a long-term commitment. That is something that we are hoping we are going to see in Patti Poppe.

Workers are cautiously optimistic.

At the moment, shes very refreshing for everybody, said Bob Dean, business manager of Local 1245, the union that represents about half of PG&Es workforce. Theres a healthy skepticism of lets see what it means. But right now, shes very engaged. Shes out in the field more than any CEO Ive seen before. Shes doing videos, all hands meetings, shes put a lot of effort in being exposed to workers and getting their feedback, so thats positive.

Poppe has relocated with her husband to the East Bay, where PG&E is in the process of moving its headquarters to Oakland after more than 100 years in San Francisco. She has two adult daughters who live in the Midwest.

Her long-term vision for PG&E involves a major transformation of the electric system as it adapts to climate change.

Eliminating some traditional power lines in some places is a key piece of the strategy, and it extends beyond putting more of the infrastructure underground. In Mariposa County, PG&E recently rolled out a remote microgrid, in which a handful of customers in a high fire-threat area are powered by a stand-alone system of solar panels, batteries and backup propane generation instead of overhead power lines. Poppe wants to see more of that.

We might not have wireless power, but were going to have a lot less wires one way or another, and that will make the system safer, she said.

The company is also reconsidering its gas system, which has also had major safety problems  namely the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion. Cities and counties across California are moving away from natural gas because of climate change, adopting codes that ban new gas hookups or encourage construction to be all electric where feasible.

Poppe said the company is embarking on a 10-year strategic review of its gas system, after which she and other executives will have a decision to make about how to enable electrification to happen in a very orderly way. That could mean PG&E winds down its natural gas operations someday, though the system will remain in place for at least a decade.

But PG&E must first get through this years fire season, and conditions are already dire. Scott Strenfel, the companys director of meteorology and fire science, said fuel moisture levels have already plunged to depths not normally reached for another month and a half into the year.

Mindful of how the past drought killed millions of trees in California, making them even more susceptible to burning intensely in wildfires, PG&E is trying to remove dying or diseased vegetation around its power lines, said Singh, the chief risk officer.

But that wont eliminate the need for preemptive power shutoffs, a controversial step PG&E has used repeatedly in recent years when the weather is dangerously windy and dry. The company has updated its shut-off criteria to expressly consider the potential for trees to fall on power lines. Even so, Singh said PG&Es shut-offs are unlikely to affect as many people as they did two years ago, when hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses lost power for days, causing widespread uproar.

Poppe envisions a future where electric cars, while charging in garages, can provide energy that keeps residents lights on for days if PG&E decides to shut off certain power lines so they dont start fires. In the meantime, shes focused on getting the company through this summer and fall.

She came to PG&E as an industry superstar with a sterling reputation as someone who can get things done, said Dean, the IBEW leader. We hope she succeeds, and we need her to do that.

The outcome of Poppes path is paramount not only to her own career trajectory, Dean said, but the future of PG&E  and, most importantly, the lives of 16 million Californians who depend on its services.

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
The state Supreme Court rejected the appeal Wednesday of the owner of an island in Suisun Bay who has been ordered to pay millions of dollars in penalties and restore landfill he discharged into marsh waters to make room for duck hunters and a kite-surfing club.

John Sweeney purchased the 39-acre island, Point Buckler, on the eastern edge of Grizzly Bay in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in 2011. It had been used by duck hunters for many decades until the 1990s, but regulatory agencies said levee breaches and neglect of the site had turned it into a tidal marsh.

Sweeney rebuilt levees around the island, opened a kite-surfing center  where members ride surfboards propelled by kites  and announced plans to re-establish the club for duck hunters, whose prey swim in ponds maintained by the levees and tidal gates.

But the Bay Conservation and Development Commission and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board said in 2015 that Sweeney had acted without the required permits and damaged habitat for waterfowl and fish, including endangered species of salmon and the delta smelt, by depositing dirt from trenches in marsh and tidal waters. They ordered him to clean up the 8,500 cubic yards of landfill he discharged and pay more than $3.5 million in penalties.

Those orders were overturned in December 2017 by a Solano County Superior Court judge, Harry Kinnicutt, who said Sweeney actually had improved conditions on Point Buckler and apparently had been targeted by the regulatory agencies. But the states First District Court of Appeal disagreed in February and reinstated the agencies orders. The state Supreme Court rejected Sweeneys appeal Wednesday.

In his ruling, Kinnicutt said the dirt Sweeney used to repair the levees and left in the water was not waste but actually a valuable building material. But the appeals court said the soil, though not contaminated, was harmful as used and caused excess sedimentation that smothered the (water) habitat.

The discharges have harmed habitat for waterfowl, blocked access to habitat for fish and endangered species, interfered with tidal flows to the interior of the island, killed tidal marsh vegetation, and caused excessive salinity, turbidity and discoloration of the (islands) interior waterways, Justice Peter Siggins said in the 3-0 ruling.

The law contains no mandatory duty directing state agencies to carry out activities in a manner favorable to duck-hunting clubs, Siggins said.

Sweeneys lawyer, Lawrence Bazel, said Sweeney has been financially drained by the case and cannot afford to pay penalties or other costs. He also said the island has been restoring itself without human intervention, and that nature has provided what the government agencies tried to get by litigation.

The cases are Sweeney vs. BCDC, S267896, and Sweeney vs. California Regional Quality Control Board, S267897.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
California is set to fully reopen its economy this week, which means nearly all COVID-19 pandemic restrictions will be lifted.

Under the new Beyond the Blueprint framework, the states mask mandate will change  but some confusion has surrounded the rules, especially for the workplace.

Heres what we know about when vaccinated and unvaccinated people will need to wear masks in California, before and after the new rules take effect June 15.

Through Monday, June 14

Fully vaccinated people: Masks are required in indoor public settings and businesses, including public transportation. Masks are not required outdoors except when attending crowded events.

Unvaccinated people: Masks are required in indoor public settings and businesses, including public transportation. Masks are required in outdoor settings anytime physical distancing cannot be maintained, including while attending crowded outdoor events.

At workplaces: Under California Division of Occupational Safety and Health rules, masks are required for all workers at all times, indoors and outdoors, regardless of vaccination status.

Exemptions: Children younger than 2, individuals with a medical condition, mental health disability, disability or hearing impairment that prevents them from wearing a mask, and people who work jobs in which wearing a mask would create a risk for them at work.

Starting Tuesday, June 15

Whats new: California will mostly align with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on mask mandates starting June 15, which means that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks except in particularly risky spaces. However, state regulators will continue to require masks for all employees in the workplace for at least several weeks.

Vaccinated people: Masks are not required in indoor or outdoor public settings except on public transportation including in airports and transit stations, in health care settings, schools, shelters and correctional facilities. Also, all employees must wear masks in the workplace, indoors and outdoors. Businesses and venue operators may implement vaccine verification or require all patrons wear masks, regardless of vaccination status. Individuals may still choose to wear a mask

Unvaccinated people: Masks are required in indoor public settings and businesses, and in outdoor settings anytime physical distancing cannot be maintained. All employees must wear masks in the workplace, indoors and outdoors.

At workplaces: Starting June 15, masks will still be required for all workers regardless of vaccination status. However, after changing course several times in the past week, the standards board of Californias Division of Occupational Safety and Health has proposed a set of rules allowing vaccinated employees to go maskless in almost all job settings, while unvaccinated Californians working indoors would wear masks. The proposal faces a vote Thursday, June 17, and if approved, the earliest the new rules could take effect is June 28.

Exemptions: Children younger than 2, individuals with a medical condition, mental health disability, disability or hearing impairment that prevents them from wearing a mask, and people who work jobs in which wearing a mask would create a risk for them at work.

Enforcement: Mask wearing for those who are unvaccinated will mostly rely on the honor system.

Although Bay Area counties have indicated they will mostly align with state policies, local governments and businesses may choose to enact stricter rules in some situations  so look for signs or other guidance before you enter, and be aware of your employers policies.

Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KellieHwang
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)  Wild weather in southeast Australia toppled trees, trapping people in cars and houses, cut power to more than 200,000 homes and unleashed flooding that claimed at least one life.

The extraordinary weather system that hit Victoria state and its capital, Melbourne, Wednesday night brought wind gusts of up to 119 kilometers (74 miles) per hour and up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) of rain, officials said.

The wind and rain moderated on Thursday, but the flood risk increased from rising rivers. People in around 220 homes threatened by a swollen creek were ordered to evacuate at Traralgon, east of Melbourne, officials said.

The body of a man in his 60s was recovered late Thursday from a car almost submerged in floodwater near the village of Westside, east of Melbourne, a police statement said.

A woman in her 40s was taken to a hospital in stable condition earlier Thursday with head injuries after a tree struck her home in Olinda, east of Melbourne, officials said.

Australias second most populous state had not been lashed by such a severe wind and rain event since 2008.

Several major roads had been closed by floodwater, a landslide and fallen trees. Collapsed power lines also posed dangers and left more than 200,000 homes across Victoria without electricity.

Emergency services received more than 5,000 calls for help, and 3,500 of those related to trees falling on houses and trapping people.

New South Wales, Australia most populous state on Victorias northern border, was in the grip of a cold snap on Thursday with unusually heavy and widespread snow cutting power to hundreds of homes.

Sydney, the state capital and the nations largest city, recorded its coldest day in 37 years on Thursday with a high temperature of 10.3 degrees Celsius (50.5 degrees Fahrenheit).
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

San Francisco Bay tides likely will rise more than a foot and a half by centurys end, according to the California Ocean Protection Council, with a substantial risk that over 4 feet of shoreline will be submerged. A special Chronicle report detailed the alarming and costly consequences for San Franciscos Mission Creek and airport, suburbs such as Foster City and Hayward, and other neighborhoods, infrastructure and environments around the bay.

Gov. Gavin Newsoms otherwise generous budget proposal doesnt rise to the level of this challenge to the region he calls home. While Newsoms spending plan is swollen with a $38 billion surplus he plans to spend on cash payments to middle-income households and more, it doesnt specify any funding for restoring Bay Area wetlands and otherwise protecting the region against the inevitability of rising seas.
On Tuesday, Californias own Kamala Harris concluded a high-stakes diplomatic mission to Central America and Mexico.

Many were optimistic about the trip. Harris had previously pledged $310 million to address root causes of migration from Central America, which she said were corruption, violence and poverty, the lack of economic opportunity, the lack of climate adaptation and climate resilience, the lack of good governance.

The White House hoped that by delivering humanitarian aid, clamping down on corruption and spurring public-private partnerships, they could dissuade would-be migrants from entering the United States.

Instead, Harris made her biggest news by telling potential migrants Dont come, a comment taken by many as callously dismissive of the plight of those who seek asylum in the United States.

Harris statement was indeed unfortunate, but the media focus on her words is detracting from a far more serious discussion  how U.S. foreign policy is helping to create the conditions that cause young Guatemalans to cross the border. And how Harris could help correct that policy if she so chose.

Influenced by American aid dollars and pressure to crack down on drug trafficking and migration, Guatemalan budgets consistently prioritize law enforcement over fundamental social rights and services. Having worked closely with Mayan youth in Guatemala for the past 10 years, we have watched as militarized prescriptions incubated in Washington have failed the countrys young people  and sent many fleeing for the border.

In the Mayan community of Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, where we work, it is nearly impossible to get a job as a teacher, nurse, doctor, agronomist, or public health worker. Even those with college degrees are essentially limited to three career paths: eking out a living as a merchant, entering the police force, or attempting to migrate illegally to the U.S.

Consider Diana, 22, a (pseudonymous) student we mentored for years in our youth leadership development program.

Diana hoped to become a social worker. However, the nearest public university with a social work major was four hours away from her home. Diana couldnt afford the cost of college education, so she tried to enlist in the police force instead  the only decent-paying job in town.

But she did not pass her entrance exam. So Diana took the option of last resort: the perilous journey to the U.S.

We have met countless young people just like her. Among the nearly 100 young people who graduated from our program, 13% joined the police force or the military (among young men, it was 25%). By comparison, only 1% became teachers, and 2% became nurses.

This is not because of any special proclivity for law enforcement; it is because jobs in other fields are virtually nonexistent.

Harris has a historic opportunity to support a new model of what government can look like in Central America  one that ensures citizens have access to jobs, clean water, education and health care.

Humanitarian assistance must increase, as Harris has pledged. Yet the foundation for ensuring Central Americans can live safe and dignified lives is building a robust and thriving public sector.

Along with government transparency and anti-corruption measures, programs that address essential health, educational and environmental needs would not only safeguard key social rights but also provide young people the opportunity to gain meaningful work.

If young peoples basic needs are met at home, they will have little need to migrate abroad.

Costa Rica provides an example of how this can be achieved in Central America.

The country disbanded its military in 1948 and now invests 7% of its GDP in education  more than twice that of Guatemala.

According to World Bank data, Costa Ricas poverty rate is far lower than that of Guatemala (21% vs. 59%) and its average life expectancy higher (80 years vs. 74 years). It should come as no surprise that stories of Costa Rican children attempting dangerous border crossings to get to the U.S. are rare.

To be successful in Guatemala, Harris will have to resist the gravitational pull of historical precedent. U.S. policies have long favored the prosperity of markets over the well-being of people. Yet as long as young people have little means to live a decent life, they will continue, in great numbers, to flee to the U.S. in search of the opportunities denied to them at home.

Michael Bakal and Yenifer Valey Gomez are co-founders of Voces y Manos (Voices and Hands), a nonprofit that works in Guatemala, a youth leadership and climate justice program. Bakal is a doctoral student at UC Berkeleys Graduate School of Education.
Democrats might want to think twice about ripping West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin for wanting to appear bipartisan  many of them ran on a promise to do the same.

House Democrats spent $21 million on TV ads in 2020 touting their bipartisanship  and next to nothing about racial justice or climate change, according to a new analysis from the progressive strategy and donor group Way to Win.

That is one of the findings from the California-rooted group, which contributed $110 million in support of Democrats in 2020. It commissioned an analysis of all the TV ads for 2020 House candidates, and the results pointed to some real challenges facing the party in the midterms.

While Dems spent three times as much as Republicans to convey their desire to appear bipartisan, no ads mentioned the words Black lives, and few focused on global warming, according to Way to Wins findings.

Meanwhile, while Democrats were promising to sing Kumbaya when they got to Washington, Republican candidates spent half their ad dollars  $49 million  shredding Democrats as socialists and extremists who want to defund the police. And, as has been the case for the past decade-plus, Republicans invoked the specter of San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi returning as Speaker of the House, to the tune of $42 million.

Way to Win is worried that the $243 million worth of TV ads run by Democrats  37% more than the GOP in House races  didnt push back hard enough on GOP attacks, said Jenifer Fernandez Ancona, the groups vice president and director of strategy.

We didn't really talk about the right things. We ignored our own base. And then Republicans used our silence to define our agenda to voters, Ancona, an Oakland resident, said on my Its All Political podcast.

Way to Wins analysis is the latest Democratic post-mortem on the 2020 race, and the one that dives the deepest into its TV advertising  which is still the main way that many voters over 50 and the DVR-averse absorb campaign messaging. The analysis studied key words that were used in the ads, whether they were positive or negative, and how much was spent.

Its worth noting that one top Democratic operative scolded me for using the word postmortem to describe a party that won the House, Senate and White House. But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee acknowledged that when it comes to media planning we must rethink where we make expenditures and when. While Democrats had expenditure advantages on TV in 2020, it did not always translate to wins.

Its another sign that Democrats, who are typically more into navel-gazing and self-reflection than the GOP, are understandably worried about the 2022 midterms. They are combing the 2020 campaign with extra scrutiny, knowing that the party in power typically loses seats in the midterm election if it also occupies the White House.

An even starker statistic to Ancona: Even though House Democrats vastly outspent Republicans on TV ads, they won zero of the 27 races listed as toss-ups by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Plus, 279 of Democratic candidates underperformed how Joe Biden did in their districts; 156 performed better.

Thats a sign Democrats have little room for error. They currently hold an eight-seat advantage in the House, with five seats vacant.

It is possible to buck historic trends and gain power in the 2022 midterms, said Way to Wins analysis, which was shared with The Chronicle, but it wont happen without doing things differently, particularly when it comes to our message.

Lets start with health care, the issue where the Democrats spent most, including $64 million on ads that mentioned pre-existing conditions. The problem, Ancona said, is that its a poll-tested policy term that often doesnt resonate at a gut level with voters.

Meanwhile, Ancona said, Republican ads focused on the words taxes and Nancy Pelosi. That tells you right away what their story is, she argued: Democrats are gonna raise your taxes. Nancy Pelosi is the ringleader of it all.

Similarly, she said, too many Democratic ads focused on appearing bipartisan while Republicans spent big on painting their opponents as radicals. That question likely will linger into next years elections as Democrats fume at Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, for saying he wont back the partys preferred legislation on infrastructure unless there is GOP support.

If youre lifting up working with them across the aisle, youre essentially normalizing their attacks by not calling it out, Ancona said.

Its a bit like how Democrats spent far too much time trying to woo back whites who voted for Barack Obama and then switched to Donald Trump in 2016  and not enough time on the partys base, half of which are people of color, she said.

Our base is really diverse, she said, but a lot of our messaging has mostly ... kind of been white-centric.

Occasionally, according to the analysis, Democrats ran ads that were not culturally competent. The study called out former Orange County Rep. Harley Rouda for airing anti-China ads against an Asian-American GOP candidate, now-Rep. Michelle Steel, in a district that is 18% Asian Pacific Islander.

Rouda responded Wednesday that the groups analysis was completely wrong, noting that the districts Asian-American population is overwhelmingly Vietnamese Americans who have a lot of distrust for communist governments, such as the government where they fled, as well as the Chinese Communist Party.

Rouda, who has defined himself as a moderate in the suburban district where Republicans outnumber Democrats, also touted bipartisanship.

When I decided to run in 2017, I made a commitment to the voters in my district that I would do my best to work with members across the aisle as well as members within my caucus, Rouda said, adding that he was committed to continuing to do that, as he plans to challenge Steel again next year.

That rematch, should it happen, will be one to watch. It will be a sign of whether Democrats will be writing a real postmortem on how they performed in the 2022 midterms.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
SACRAMENTO  Democratic leaders plan to include more than $200 million in the upcoming state budget for local costs related to the recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a move to speed up the process that the governors supporters believe could help him beat back the attempt to remove him from office.

In a letter Thursday to legislators, the state Department of Finance estimated that running the special election would cost counties $215 million. Within hours, Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood (Los Angeles County), said they would include funding in the budget bill to pay for the election, allowing them to skip a financial analysis and let California voters weigh in sooner.

Our local communities dont deserve to be saddled with unnecessary recall costs as they work to recover from the pandemic, Atkins and Rendon said in a statement. By providing counties with the funding they need, we can waive the required period for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to review the election costs.

With recent polls indicating that support for the recall has plateaued at around 40%, some Newsom supporters have been agitating to hold the election as soon as possible.

That would require racing through months of additional steps that Democratic lawmakers added to the process in 2017. Those include 30 business days for the Department of Finance to estimate how much the election will cost, and another 30 days for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to review the estimate. Only then will Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis set a date for the election.

The preliminary figure released Thursday by finance officials was based on a survey of Californias 58 counties, which have requested help paying for the recall election. Their estimates range from $19,200 in tiny Sierra County to more than $49 million in Los Angeles County, where a quarter of the states population lives.

The total price tag is likely to be even higher, because the state has additional responsibilities for administering the election.

In 2003, when California voters recalled then-Gov. Gray Davis, the state spent about $24.5 million on printing and mailing the voter information guide, staff support for counties, managing a voter help line and other election costs, according to the Department of Finance. It did not cover the administrative costs to counties that year.

A final estimate for the Newsom recall election will be due later this summer, once the secretary of states office confirms that organizers submitted enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. The office is currently determining how many signatures were withdrawn during a recently concluded period for voters to rescind their support for the recall drive, though it is highly unlikely enough did to stop an election later this year.

The Legislature must pass a budget, which would include the funding for counties, by June 15. Negotiations with Newsom over the scope of the bill are ongoing.

Newsoms campaign said the $215 million for the cost of the recall could be better spent on other needs, such as vaccinating Californians or small business aid.

Instead, its being wasted by Trump Republicans in their election rejection power grab, said Newsom political adviser Nathan Click.

But Newsoms GOP rivals were quick to respond that the cost of the recall was a small price to pay to rid the state of the first-term governor, whose term runs through 2022.

Gustavo Portela, press secretary for former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer, noted that California has experienced an estimated $30 billion in unemployment insurance fraud during the coronavirus pandemic. That is paid for through federal funding and a tax on employers, a separate pot of money than would be used on election costs.

Given Newsoms track record, recalling him will save California billions, Portela said.

Recall organizer Anne Dunsmore said there is no amount of money great enough to get rid of someone who is destroying, possibly permanently, the greatness of this state.

Alexei Koseff and Joe Garofoli are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com, jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff, @joegarofoli
As far as San Francisco rite of passages go, your first shot of Fernet-Branca is the hardest to explain.

Just try it, someone will inevitably say.

And because youre incredibly susceptible to peer pressure, youll throw back the bitter, molasses-black liqueur and then immediately have questions. What is that? Why did you make me take that? Why is this a thing people in San Francisco do?

My biggest question has always been: How?

How did an aggressively polarizing drinking bitters from Italy start a love affair with a city clear on the other side of the world? And how did that city of just under 875,000 consume 35% of the entire countrys Fernet-Branca bottles at one point? And how how how was San Francisco drinking more Fernet-Branca per capita than any place in the world?

I decided to go looking for the answer.

---

Fernet, an Italian type of amaro (a bitter, aromatic spirit), was first introduced to San Francisco in the 1800s, and was originally marketed as a cure for cholera. It gained some popularity during Prohibition since it was still sold as a medicinal product in pharmacies.

In the 1980s, it gained a cult following among a small group of SF bartenders. But then something happened. The digestif  known to calm upset stomachs and soothe hangover misery using a secret formula comprising some 40 herbs, roots and other natural compounds  exploded in popularity in the city in the 90s and aughts. Its then that Fernet became linked to San Francisco in the same way that Malort is to Chicago, and Guinness is to Dublin, Ireland.

I decided to track down the one person who I figured might know how: Count Edoardo Branca, the heir to the Branca throne and son of its current CEO, Count Niccolo Branca di Romanico.

Edoardo Branca, a 37-year-old former banker who drifted back toward the family business almost a decade ago, calls the spirits popularity in San Francisco a big mystery, even though he sounds like he already solved it.

"Well, we had this amazing portfolio manager in the 90s who went bar by bar, convincing bartenders to carry it, and she used a catchphrase, he says via video chat from New York.

Edoardo, whos wearing very banker-y maroon suspenders and a pink shirt, hurries over the catchphrase so quickly I have to ask him to repeat it.

Its a vulgar line, he warns, but it was Fernet-Branca is a bong in a bottle. And that started to catch on at the end of 1990s and beginning of the 2000s. A lot of city bartenders fell in love with our product.

---

At one point, no bar in North America was buying more Fernet-Branca than Chris Fogartys Polk Gulch dive, R Bar.

If anyone might know who this amazing portfolio manager was, I figured it was him.

Antoinette, right? he says.

I dont know, is it?

Oh yeah, Antoinette Cattani. She was fking super at sales. She threw a lot of parties, did tons of bartender appreciation things; I remember she helped sponsor us for Bay to Breakers where wed start from R Bar with 1,000 mini bottles, 50 bartenders and a wagon with two kegs on it, and wed be the Fernet fairies just passing out bottles, thats the st she used to do.

Fogarty, whose dad, Mike, was a bartender in San Francisco in the 1970s, says prior to the late-90s, Fernet was far more cultish.

All the old-school bartenders, they come in hung over and pass around shots of Fernet and say, Youre either going to feel better or throw up, and either way, youre going to feel better, he says. It started becoming the bartender handshake in the late 90s. I feel like back then, if you went into a bar, ordered a shot of Fernet, it was like, Where do you work? That was code. Every bartender drank it. If you ordered a shot of Fernet, right away, you were accepted.

Fogarty says the period when Cattani was running the show in San Francisco is when everyone began to associate Fernet-Branca with SF.

I lived in Argentina for four months. Its huge there, everyone drinks Fernet and Coke, and I ordered a shot of Fernet there and theyre like, Oh, are you from San Francisco? he says. Its kind of cool. Its a San Francisco icon kind of. But its still an acquired taste.

Fogarty recounts a story of buying a round for a hotshot New York bartender who almost punched him in the face before Fogarty finally explained, No, this is what we drink man.

But it all started with Antoinette, it was already cult here, she just kind of blew it up.

---

I still drink it like water, Antoinette Cattani says with a chuckle.

I catch Cattani at an interesting point in her life. Shes one week into being retired from the liquor industry. After 28 years of building brands, including seven with Fernet-Branca, the 49-year-old is finally walking away to try something new.

And she leaves behind a legacy that continually plays out across a city every time someone buys a round of Fernet-Brancas for their unsuspecting friends.

Born and raised in LA, Cattani started out bartending at a Mexican restaurant in LA doing every flavor of frozen margarita.

Id see the liquor reps come in all the time, and I started seeing Jaeger around everywhere and I knew I wanted to work there.

She worked her way into the Jaeger rep world almost immediately and was selling to liquor stores from San Luis Obispo all the way down to Palm Springs, then jumped to Southern Wine and Spirits, only to be pulled back in by Chuck Grimmett, a former colleague at Jaeger who was then working with Fernet-Branca.

Chuck said, Meet me in Orange County, so I meet him in a parking lot in 1998, and he pulls out a Fernet mini from his trunk, and its super hot, and I just downed it and was like, Oh my God, what the hell is that?

She took a $25,000 pay cut to go work for a brand that still existed in relative obscurity, moved to San Francisco and got to work.

I thought it was going to be the next big brand, she says. But we had a shoestring budget, there was not a lot of money for marketing at the time. I had a lot of samples, and all I had to do was help get it across the bar.

She focused all of her efforts on bartenders and would eventually earn the nickname Antoifernet. In three years, she almost tripled the yearly volume of cases sold in San Francisco and eventually earned Fernet a nod as one of the top five fastest growing global brands.

We did road trips where wed rent a van in SF, pick up bartenders in the city, then pick up bartenders in LA, then drive down to San Diego  I realized it needed to be sold bartender to bartender  so wed give everyone a backpack full of Fernet, and everyone had a different set of bars we went to, and it was just four days of pure debauchery and we just spread it everywhere, she says. Anything bartenders wanted to do, I made it happen.

The amaro category before that, it was Fernet and Campari and that was it, she says. Now any bar you go into, theres an entire category of amaros, all because of what we did with Fernet.

Cattani is a celebrity of sorts when she goes back to Fernet-Brancas New York offices.

This is the woman who started everything, they say as they parade her around the office, boxes of free bottles under her arms.

---

Since Cattanis departure, Fernet-Branca has added the Barback Games  which was 14 years running prior to the pandemic. It pits barbacks against one another all across the country (the finals are held in SF every year) in a bunch of everyday bartender challenges with a WWE-style wrestling belt on the line for the winner.

And theyve continued to expand. Fernet nearly doubled in size right after Cattani left, Edoardo Branca launched its first distribution company, and it weathered the pandemic  helped by his fathers foresight on the pandemic while in Milan (they shipped all of their product to the United States before shipping channels were paused). Even with a huge increase in global sales over the past decade plus, San Francisco is still No. 1 in Fernet-Branca sales in North America and saw a 15% uptick in bottle sales during the pandemic.

Weve been through two World Wars, the unification of Italy, the unification of the United States of America, Edoardo Branca says. Weve been through a lot of things, and from father to son to father to son, we have some values that weve passed down.

Even in this moment of crisis, I never thought wed have to shut down.

I thank Branca for his time and for giving the city the gift (and sometimes curse?) that is Fernet-Branca.

He says something in Italian that I dont totally catch. Maybe it was about a bong in a bottle?
Well-meaning Americans have been calling for a national conversation on race for decades, but the participants in it remain determined not to hear each other. People who mean to deny that most Americans are racist or that our institutions are illegitimate  people such as Pence and Scott  are taken to mean that everything is OK now. Those who mean to affirm the existence of large-scale racial injustice, such as Harris and Biden, are taken instead to be slandering the country and most of its population.
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin released a statement Thursday saying that he's entering alcohol treatment under the guidance of professionals.

I stand by my long legislative and civic record but must also take full responsibility for the tenor that I have struck in my public relationships  for that, I am truly sorry," Peskin wrote in a statement posted on Twitter. "Im extremely grateful to my family, colleagues, staff and constituents for their understanding and support as I work through the difficult issues that Im finally confronting. I take seriously my duties and responsibilities as a community member and public official and remain deeply committed to the issues and legislative agenda that I have pursued on behalf of the people of San Francisco for two decades.

Peskin represents District 3, which includes the neighborhoods of North Beach, Chinatown, Telegraph Hill, North Waterfront, Financial District, Nob Hill, Union Square, Maiden Lane, Polk Gulch and part of Russian Hill. He served on the Board of Supervisors from 2001 to 2009 and was re-elected to the board starting in 2015 and is known for his left-leaning progressive politics. He's also recognized as a neighborhood preservationist, stopping many building projects in San Francisco.

Peskin served as president of the board when Gov. Gavin Newsom was mayor and was known for challenging the then-mayor.

Peskin was reportedly intoxicated in 2018 when he ripped into fire officials at the scene of a St. Patrick's Day fire in North Beach.
Tasha Leverette was in the mood for her favorite drink from Starbucks, an iced peach green-tea lemonade.

When she went through the drive-thru of her usual Starbucks in Atlanta three weeks ago, though, she was told they couldnt make the drink because they didnt have any peach-flavored juice. Shrugging it off, she drove to another store. And another. And another.

Each stop brought disappointment. None of the locations had the integral ingredient.

I said to them, This is the Peach State, right? said Leverette, 33, who owns a public relations firm. Its surprising because Starbucks always seems like it has anything and everything you need.

Across the country, customers and baristas are taking to social media to bemoan shortages not only of key ingredients for popular Starbucks drinks, like peach and guava juices, but also a lack of iced and cold-brew coffee, breakfast foods and cake pops, and even cups, lids and straws.

A video on TikTok this week featured what appeared to be a group of employees screaming in frustration over a list of ingredients the shop had run out of  including sweet cream, white mocha, mango dragon fruit and every food item. The caption also said that they were low on cold brew and the will to live.

Starbucks is hardly the only company struggling with supply issues. Earlier this spring, ketchup packets became hotter than GameStop stock. Automakers have slowed production because there are not enough computer chips for their vehicles. And homeowners are waiting weeks, if not months, for major kitchen appliances.

JOHNATHON KELSO/NYT

But Starbucks is running out of ingredients for Very Berry Hibiscus Refreshers and almond croissants after being one of the clear winners of the pandemic economy. During lockdowns, the coffee chain quickly shifted from its position as a third place, where people could linger to work or meet up for long chats, to focusing on frictionless transactions with customers ordering through mobile apps and drive-thrus. Earlier this year, company executives said Starbucks had seen a full recovery in U.S. sales, back to prepandemic levels.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Starbucks said the company was experiencing temporary supply shortages of some of its products. She said the shortages varied by location, with some stores experiencing outages of various items at the same time. She added that the company was working with its vendors to restock the items as soon as possible, and that the supply-chain issues had not affected prices.

Although most people are familiar with the problems in the global supply chain to some extent, some Starbucks customers are still shocked  even incensed  by their inability to get their coffee exactly how they want it. Others laugh it off.

I was told they couldnt give me an extra shot of caramel because there was a national shortage, Nicole Brashear, a 24-year-old pharmacy student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, said of ordering an iced caramel macchiato with extra caramel drizzle in late May. I just sort of laughed and was like, Isnt caramel just burnt sugar?

The problem for Starbucks is that it was never just selling a simple cup of coffee. For many, the experience of visiting the chain is a self-indulgent treat.

JOHNATHON KELSO/NYT

Customers learn the language regarding sizes and special drinks and then share their customized, 12-ingredient drink orders on social media. Many look forward to seasonal specials, like this summers Unicorn Cake Pop and Strawberry Funnel Cake Frappuccino, which are available for a limited time.

Orders are not barked out by number like other fast-food chains but rather are announced by name, suggesting customers are friends or are part of the Starbucks club, said Bryant Simon, a history professor at Temple University and author of Everything But the Coffee: Learning About America From Starbucks.

Starbucks did something remarkable: taking a really ordinary product, coffee, and remaking it as an identifier of class, of culture, of discernment and of knowledge, Simon said. Starbucks is a way to communicate something about yourself to other people. While it has become more complicated over time, that drink still says, I deserve a break in my life. I can afford to waste money on coffee.

There were earlier hints that supply issues could be bubbling up for Starbucks. In a late April call with Wall Street analysts, the chief executive of Starbucks, Kevin Johnson, voiced some concerns about companies that were part of its supply chain struggling to hire the staff they needed.

I do anticipate well do a little more to invest and help our supply chain partners, whether its staff that they need in manufacturing or staffing that they need for distribution and transportation, Johnson said.

By late May, customers and baristas were reporting shortages of key ingredients or foods in stores all over the country.

Fred Rogers knew something was wrong right before Memorial Day weekend when he opened his Starbucks app and an alert flashed that the company was experiencing shortages of certain items. He wasnt able to order his 3-year-old daughter her favorite sandwich  sausage, Cheddar and egg  from his nearby Starbucks in Burlington, New Jersey. His drink, a Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino, was also not available.

I know if you go after a certain hour that theyre going to be out of some items, said Rogers, a 33-year-old manufacturing specialist. But this was 6:45 in the morning.

Customers may be unhappy, but Simon said the paucity of drinks or food items would likely only increase demand. One of Starbucks biggest challenges in recent years has been overexpansion, meaning it has shed some of the uniqueness that once made it special.

Im sure there are a lot of heated conversations in Seattle right now about the supply-chain issues, but someone on the branding side is going to be chirping in that the scarcity may not be a bad thing, Simon said.

Perhaps, but the issues could also be a risk if customers become too frustrated over not being able to get what they want, as they always have. When his daughter couldnt get her favorite breakfast sandwich at Starbucks, Rogers took her to a nearby Chick-fil-A for breakfast.

And after driving to four Starbucks locations and not getting her favorite drink in late May, Leverette is no longer a regular customer.

Its disappointing, she said. You go, and youre waiting in the drive-thru, and youre only going for one thing and they dont have what they need to make it.

I just stopped even bothering to go.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Basil Yaqub of Fremont, Calif., visited San Francisco on Saturday with his family to celebrate the purchase of a new car.

After dinner at a restaurant, Yaqub said he parked at the city-owned Union Square garage to allow the children to run around in the square. This was the first trip his family had made to Union Square since before the pandemic, and his kids were excited.

When Yaqub returned to the garage with his wife and children, he found three windows smashed on the new Maserati that he had purchased only the day before. The broken windows chipped the paint, and he said repairs will cost in the $20,000 range. The children's Switch that was hidden in the trunk was stolen.

"It was really a horrific experience," he told SFGATE. "Ive lived here for 22 years and Ive been going to S.F. for years. I love it, but then this."

A family friend drove into the city with them and windows on his Lamborghini were also smashed.

Basil Yaqub/Courtesy

"There were eights cars in a row with smashed windows," Yaqub said. "Our two cars and six others. It was a nice car. It's the first time in our lives weve spent money on a nice car. I wouldnt be this sad if it was a regular car. I guess its part of life."

Yaqub put his family in an Uber home and drove in his car strewn with shattered glass.

Smashed car windows are a familiar scene in San Francisco, and KGO, which was the first to report this story, pointed out Yaqub represents "one of 6,911 other auto burglary cases reported across the city this year, which is only a one-percent decrease from this time last year."

The city operates 22 parking garages. The San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency confirmed security is reduced as utilization is at only 40% of pre-pandemic levels.

"Out of necessity, we needed to prioritize the staff that provide the most wide-ranging services to our garages," SFMTA said in a statement. "Security isnt being replaced, but currently the responsibility has shifted to other staff who maintain our parking facilities. We are focused on tracking the metrics of vehicle break-ins on a daily and weekly basis, and have the ability to bring additional security back on a one-day notice if warranted. It is important to note that our parking operators security subcontracts are not terminated, but rather on hold. Vehicle break-ins at city-owned garages remain low."

SFMTA said the city-owned garages are safer than ever with new lighting, way-finding signs, audible alarms, cameras, gate arms and payment machines with two-way digital intercoms.

"Additionally, behind the scenes is an all-new parking management system and 24/7 command center, connected to every machine," SFMTA said.

The San Francisco Police Department wasn't immediately available for comment.
The Metropolitan Opera says a positive $31 million on its latest tax return is mostly money pledged for future seasons that the company has not yet received.

The companys tax return, released Thursday, showed revenue fell by $13 million for the season that included the initial months of the pandemic and salaries dropped by $41 million. The Met said it operated at a balance budget in 2019-20.

Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin earned $915,571, up from $392,152 in the fiscal year ending July 31, 2019, when he conducted two productions in his first season, succeeding James Levine as the Mets music director.

Met general manager Peter Gelb earned $1.46 million in the latest fiscal year, down slightly from $1.49 million.

The Met, the largest performing arts institution in the U.S., has not been on stage since March 11, 2020, because of the pandemic, losing the final two months of 2019-20 and its entire 2020-21 season for a total of 276 missed performances.

The Met, saying it needs to cut expenses, has been involved in acrimonious labor negotiations with its three primary unions.

It reached a tentative agreement last month a four-year contract with the American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents the chorus and solo artists; resumed negotiations this month with Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents stagehands and has been locked out since Dec. 8; and is negotiating with Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, which represents the orchestra and has a contract that expires July 31.

Revenue dropped from $307 million in the year ending July 31, 2019, to $295 million in the year ending last July 31, and expenses fell from $313 million to $263 million.

Salaries fell from $240 million to $199 million.

The Met listed net assets at $78 million, down from $103 million. Secured notes and mortgages increased by $11.5 million to $57 million and other liabilities, including federal income tax and payables to third parties, rose by $67.6 million to $213 million  of which $194 million is pension obligations.

The endowment fund rose from $249 million to $264 million.
NEW YORK (AP)  Fans of the Broadway adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird will get a treat when the show restarts on this fall  Jeff Daniels and Celia Keenan-Bolger, two of the play's original stars, are returning.

Producers said Thursday that Daniels and Keenan-Bolger will once again play Atticus Finch and his daughter, Scout, starting Oct. 5 when the show remerges more than a year after the pandemic shuttered Broadway and a wave of calls for social justice made the plays themes even more vital.

Keenan-Bolger, who won a Tony Award in the show, tells The Associated Press the play's exploration of ingrained racism in the 1930s is especially relevant since the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.

I think since I last performed the play, the story of our country has changed. And what a beautiful gift to be a part of something that is interested in continuing to go back and investigate the story of who are as a country and the story that we choose to believe about ourselves and the story that we need to change for ourselves, she said.

I just think it feels like such an opportunity to not only revisit the play, but to revisit the themes that the play and the book were trying to examine in the first place.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and has been widely praised as a sensitive portrait of racial tension in 1930s Alabama. At its core is Atticus Finch, a lawyer called upon to defend a Black man falsely accused of raping a white woman.

Lees iconic book has been adapted for the stage by Aaron Sorkin, who won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his screenplay for The Social Network. The play is directed by Bartlett Sher.

Keenan-Bolger said she wouldn't have entertained the notion of rejoining the show if disgraced producer Scott Rudin was still the lead producer.

During the pandemic shutdown of Broadway, the Hollywood Reporter exposed a decades-long history of Rudins physical and mental abuse toward his staff. In response, Rudin said he would step back from his theater work, saying he was profoundly sorry.

It was enormously important to me that Scott Rudin be no part of the production, either behind the scenes or financially, said Keenan-Bolger. I dont think I would have been able to join the production again if he was so attached.

She said she found new lead producer Orin Wolf to be receptive to making sure cast and crew felt comfortable returning. Broadway is in the middle of a discussion about who gets opportunities and how the system works inequitably.

We have a lot of work to make Broadway a better place for everyone. And there are going to be a lot of different approaches in that work. Some people are going to say, I need to tap out and wait for it to get itself together and I can return when it feels safe, she said.

I think my feeling is that I will engage with it and I will try to make a place as just and equitable and compassionate  that every theater project that I am a part of, I am dedicated to making those spaces as just and equitable and compassionate and anti-racist as they can be.

Tickets are on sale now via Telecharge.

___

Mark Kennedy is on Twitter as KennedyTwits
When I heard that you could camp on the bay waters 20 miles north of San Francisco on the site of a historic 1880s Chinese shrimping cove, I didnt expect the original village to still be standing.

But there it somehow sits, in a hidden beach under the low Marin hills, little sun-bleached huts on the sand and a rickety pier stretching out over the brackish marsh, almost ghostly through the mist, as if lost to time.

---

I arrived at China Camp State Park campground with my family too late on a Friday afternoon to seek out the fabled fishing village, so we put that adventure off until the morning. Instead we squeezed in a short family-friendly dusk hike around a curious bluff named Turtle Back Hill. (The entire state park boasts more than 15 trails of varying difficulties.)

Turtle Back Hill is an ecologically unique peninsula  its very nearly an island, save for a spit of dunes adjoining it to Marin. It rises out of the reedy marsh like, well, a turtles shell. The easy, three-quarter-mile heart-shaped trail winds its way through open grasslands and a shady oak forest.

The far point of the trail overlooks Jakes Island, about 200 feet offshore, across a muddy plain. That small island is inaccessible to hikers, but not to deer, and we were lucky enough to see three peek out from the oak trees and skip out over the reeds and make their journey across the marsh.

Andrew Chamings/SFGATE

Doe-spotting complete, we made our way back to the campsite, set up our tent, made a fire, charred some marshmallows and stared at the skies. While only half a mile from San Rafael, the site feels wonderfully alone thanks to the hills and canyons that separate it from the rest of Marin County.

It was a beautifully peaceful California night and we slept well (I chose not to tell my daughters about the grisly Barbecue Murders that happened at that very spot 46 years ago).

In the morning, we excitedly made our way a mile around the coast to the historic fishing village, not really knowing what to expect.

The old settlement is both desolate and magical, and at first seems like a ghost town, preserved on the sandy shore of San Pablo Bay for a century and a half. An old, battered wooden shack covered in faded signs for Tacoma Beer and fresh crabs looks over the narrow pier. But we were surprised to find it was still doing business, and while crab was no longer on offer, we bought some sodas from a kind man named Ernie Stanton, and I gave my kids some dollars to throw in the Friends of China Camp donation jar.

Andrew Chamings/SFGATE

Stanton's story overlaps with a man who formed the last link to a part of Bay Area history, Frank Quan.

I grew up in San Francisco and was a beach bum here, but Id help Frank load into the store, Stanton tells me, and hes run the shack with friends since Quan passed in 2016.

Living out his final years in the hut right there on the beach, Frank Quan was the last Chinese American shrimp fisherman to ply his trade at China Camp, where he would walk the pier to his fishing boat almost every day for more than 80 years.

Andrew Chamings/SFGATE

Franks parents met at the camp, he was born there, and his grandfather was one of the first Chinese immigrants to pull in nets of shrimp from that very spot in the 1880s.

The cove was once the ancestral home of Indigenous Coast Miwok people. The Miwoks took only what they needed from the land and sea, hunting deer and rabbits in the hills, fishing in the bay and harvesting acorns from the surrounding oak groves.

As with so many Indigenous settlements, the population was nearly wiped out by the arrival of the Spanish in the late 18th century.

Andrew Chamings/SFGATE

After the Transcontinental Railroad was completed in the 1860s, Chinese laborers, many of whom had immigrated from the maritime province of Kwangtung, or modern-day Guangdong, found themselves looking for work. The fertile mud flats on the Marin bayside coast were perfect for grass-shrimping and after securing a lease to the cove 500 fishermen settled there to net shrimp from the rich tidal mud flats. In its heyday, the small village had 28 structures, including three general stores, a fishing store, a boat rental and a barber shop.

The villagers would sail out from the pier in junks (long wooden boats), and haul in the shrimp in hand-sewn nets. The bamboo buckets of crustaceans would be boiled and then dried on a nearby hillside in the California sun before being sent across the ocean to market. In the early 1880s, nearly 3 million pounds of shrimp were caught each year in China Camp and exported to Hawaii and China.

Archival / Unknown

At the time there were around 30 similar Chinese shrimping villages around the bay, from Hunters Point to the Sacramento River Delta.

With vicious anti-Chinese resentment growing in San Francisco, the villages became isolated, and so maintained their culture, language and traditions, though in the winter when the shrimping was poor and the fog too thick to dry their shells, the villagers would boat to visit San Franciscos growing Chinatown.

Andrew Chamings/SFGATE

The booming success of the fishing enterprise was short-lived, however, due to a proliferation of anti-Chinese violence and racism, which culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that halted new Chinese laborers moving to the U.S. The wide nets used by the community at China Camp were even outlawed. Nevertheless, the remaining families continued to fish into the early 20th century. One of those first fishermen, Quan Hock Quock, Frank Quans grandfather, moved to the cove from San Francisco to run the seaside store that still stands today.

The coves peak population came unexpectedly in 1906, when the village gave shelter to about 10,000 Chinese Americans displaced from San Francisco after it was ravaged by the earthquake and fire.

By the Second World War, though, the industry had dwindled, and all 30 Bay Area Chinese fishing villages were gone, save this little cove outside San Rafael. The Quans were the only family still pulling shrimp from the marsh.

Andrew Chamings/SFGATE

Thanks to the area gaining state park status in the 1970s, the little town was preserved as is, and Quan was allowed to live in the little hut on the water into his later life, where he continued to fish and sell the shrimp for bait. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Fewer spots in California may exemplify the worth of afforded historical protections.

Quan never married, and his century-old lineage at China Camp was drawing in, like empty nets on the ebbing tide.

When asked in 2014 if he was sad thinking about the fact that there will be no remaining Chinese fishermen to continue the legacy after he died, Quan smiled. No, I dont think about it, he said. None of us are immortal.

Its hard to believe this little slice of preserved history is so close but so hidden from San Francisco. Often shrouded in mist rolling off the low hills, China Camp can feel lonely, a corner of the bay standing on the water almost exactly as it did 140 years ago.
Paco Ruiz opened his namesake bar Club Paco Paco in December of 1989, just 20 years after the Stonewall Uprising in New York that was the impetus for the modern LGBTQ rights movement. At the time, Puerto Vallarta had a reputation for being gay-popular but not particularly gay-friendly.

A little more than a 3.5-hour flight from San Francisco, in Mexicos west coast state of Jalisco, Puerto Vallarta is now a big city with more than 221,000 people. But when director John Huston filmed The Night of the Iguana there in 1963, P.V.  as its widely known by English-speaking expats and frequent visitors  was a sleepy fishing village. The paparazzi who descended on the town to report on the illicit affair between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor helped put it on the map for U.S. tourists.

When Ruiz opened his club, it was one of only three gay bars in the city. At the time, Jalisco didnt have formal laws against homosexuality. But police and regulators often targeted gay-owned businesses for shakedowns because, without political connections or meaningful support in the broader local community, they were vulnerable.

Ruiz, however, stood up to them. Sometime in 1991 or 1992, when police officers spotted two lesbians kissing at Paco Paco, the club owner refused to pay the bribe they demanded. The police left the club but returned the same night to arrest Ruiz for disorderly conduct. Coincidentally, a national TV personality, Nino Canun, was in Puerto Vallarta at the time, taping his talk show. Canun heard about the incident at Paco Paco and interviewed Ruiz. The television program embarrassed local leaders, who felt like theyd been made to look unsophisticated and bigoted by the media power structure based in Mexico City, the countrys capital. From that point on, the citys police were less hostile to the gay community.

The arrest, and subsequent release, of Paco Ruiz would become Puerto Vallartas Stonewall moment and eventually lead to the city becoming the countrys most popular LGBTQ beach destination. Ruiz eventually moved his bar a couple of blocks away in another part of an area south of downtown known as Zona Romantica, a neighborhood that now has more than two dozen gay bars, a handful of LGBT hotels and three gay-focused cruises departing from the citys public beach, Playa de los Muertos.

Ed Walsh/Courtesy

In addition to his nightclub, Ruiz ran a hotel and Pacos Paradise  a private beach and bed-and-breakfast that was open to day visitors  and started the first organization in the city designed to support people with HIV/AIDS.

Paco's Paradise was popular for day trippers who came for its food and drink and private clothing-optional beach. It was an escape from the crowds and vendors along the public waterfront. I met Paco for the first time there around 18 years ago. He caught fresh fish and cooked it for guests in what was hands-down the best meal I had in Puerto Vallarta. An eagle nested nearby and Paco would call the bird, which would swoop down and eat pieces of meat off his hand.

Sadly, Ruiz died in 2016 at 62 years old. He was a longtime HIV/AIDS survivor but had battled cancer in recent years. Ruizs HIV/AIDS support work is now being done by SETAC, a nonprofit that also serves as Puerto Vallartas LGBTQ community center. SETAC stands for Solidaridad Ed Thomas Asociacion Civil and is named for former Bostonian Ed Thomas, who founded the organization after he retired to Puerto Vallarta. The organization runs support groups, offers testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, and recently launched a PrEP program to prevent HIV with the drug Truvada.

Ed Walsh/Courtesy

The center, which now has three locations, is working to build a memorial to Ruiz on the citys pedestrian walkway, directly in front of Francisca Rodriguez Streets landmark public pier, according to the centers director, Paco Arjona. Ruiz was laid to rest in San Juanito de Escobedo, a small town in Jalisco about a four-hour drive from Puerto Vallarta.

Ruizs legacy lives on

After Ruizs death, other LGBTQ residents took up where he left off. Among them is Don Pickens, a former San Francisco tech industry worker who celebrated his 40th birthday in Puerto Vallarta in 2002 after the dot-com crash. I decided to go down to Puerto Vallarta to lick my wounds and think about whats next, Pickens told SFGATE.

While there, Pickens saw a large home on a hillside near his condo. The gay couple who had owned the home were killed in the 2000 Alaska Airlines crash and the house was for sale. Pickens bought it and eventually started a bed-and-breakfast. It started with just five rooms but expanded through the years  adding a restaurant, gym, pools and a jacuzzi. It would eventually become the 19-room luxury LGBTQ resort Casa Cupula, which routinely ranks near the top of best of lists of hotels in the city.

The citys gay bars have fared surprisingly well during the pandemic. All have survived except the newest, Candy Bar, which shuttered in May following complaints from a church across the street. The bar hasnt responded to questions about the closure, but the owner of several gay bars in Zona Romantica, including the wildly popular Mr. Flamingo, Javier Jimenez, told SFGATE that the controversy may have been averted if the bar had put its entrance on the side of the building rather than directly in front of the church. They were giving Holy Communion with a drag show right across the street, Jimenez said.

One popular gay-owned business that sadly didnt survive was El Arrayan, the critically acclaimed restaurant owned by Carmen Porras and her wife Claudia Victoria, which closed last summer. Porras, the granddaughter of former Mexican President Luis Echeverria, is well-known for her activism in the community. When Puerto Vallarta celebrated Pride last month (its timing was a deliberate effort to attract American tourists to the city during a slow time of the year for tourism), it didnt include a parade because of COVID-19. But thanks to Porras and other lesbian organizers, there were five women-focused events under the label Pink and Proud.

Bouncing back from the pandemic

From the beginning of the pandemic, Puerto Vallartas LGBTQ+ businesses banded together. Pickens estimated that with help from guest donations, he gave away about 10,000 meals to the community. While most of what Pickens distributed were staples, he always tries to throw in some fresh food and indulgences to boost peoples spirits.



Tim Wilson, who runs Gay PV, one of the citys two gay guides, believes this summer will be the best ever for the cash-starved LGBTQ small businesses. (The citys other gay guide, fittingly called Gay Guide Vallarta, was founded by former Oakland resident Mark Page, who died in 2019. ) There's also an LGBTQ news magazine, Out and About PV, with an accompanying website with news and information on the gay community.

Ed Walsh/Courtesy

The owner of the gay budget Hotel Mercurio, Paul Crist, echoed Wilsons optimism. Most of his guests are vaccinated, he said, and his hotel has been booked solid every weekend since March. His view was shared by many other business owners who expect this to be the best summer ever.

Among those who have already noticed business rebound is Puerto Vallarta native Vidal Meza, who with his brother owns the luxury 100-unit Almar LGBT resort and Mantamar Beachclub. Meza estimates that about 85% to 90% of Almars guests, who tend to be a younger, hipper crowd, are from the U.S. He attributes the citys popularity, in large part, to its affordability.

While Mexicos vaccination rates continue to be significantly below that of the United States, theres a tension between struggling small businesses, which hope vaccinated LGBTQ tourists will return, and others, who have criticized Californias gay community for returning too soon. This past New Years Eve, weeks before vaccines were widely available, well-known club promoter Jeffery Sanker took heat for holding a New Years Eve party in Nuevo Vallarta, about 25 miles north of Puerto Vallarta. Though the two cities are cousins, Nuevo Vallarta is in neighboring Nayarit state, which had less restrictive COVID regulations. Around this same time, the gay party boat Delice sank on a bay cruise, tossing about 60 revelers into the water. All were rescued, but after video of the accident made the rounds, there was a backlash against those on board. SETACs director, Paco Arjona, for his part, said the biggest concern among locals wasnt COVID being spread by tourists but job losses due to the lack of tourists. Mexico, he explained, does not have government unemployment insurance.

Visitors to Puerto Vallarta fell sharply last year, according to airport data provided to SFGATE. A total of 279,000 people flew nonstop to Puerto Vallarta from Bay Area airports in 2019, while that number plunged to 105,000 last year. So far in the first four months of 2021, almost 30,000 passengers from the Bay Area arrived in the city. While thats less than a third of those who arrived during the same period before the pandemic, anecdotal reports, social media posts and rising airfares suggest business is quickly bouncing back.

But Puerto Vallartas LGBTQ popularity is not just reflected in tourism. Attorney and longtime Puerto Vallarta resident Orlando Santamaria estimates that about 90% of his real estate closings for condos in the Zona Romantica area are for gay couples. Meanwhile, Wilson, the publisher, said that he is noticing more and more LGBTQ people buying condos in the Fluvial Vallarta neighborhood, an area north of downtown and south of the airport, as they get priced out of Zona Romantica.

Santamaria fondly recalled being 13, in the 1990s, and sneaking into Balcones, which may have been the second-oldest gay bar after the Piano Bar, which dates back to the 1980s. The Piano Bar was never officially gay, according to Tom Finley, the owner of the Bar Frida, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in June and is the Cheers of gay Puerto Vallarta, but, he said, it was popular with the Hollywood crowd.

Santamaria still remembers the tough lesbian who owned Balcones, Vicky Macedo. Although she wasnt as strident in her activism as Ruiz, Santamaria said she held her own in standing up for the community. Although she died years ago, Santamaria can still picture her in his mind as a strong, formidable figure, Santamaria said.

The beach scene

Puerto Vallarta doesnt have an official gay beach, but Zona Romanticas Blue Chairs Beach comes close. This section of the public Los Muertos Beach, in front of the Blue Chairs Resort by the Sea, is roped off. But the larger area just to the south of that, which is operated by the Ritmos Beach Cafe, has mostly green chairs and is just as gay.

Before Blue Chairs Beach, there was El Dorado Beach. Longtime gay PV residents explain that El Dorado restaurant had a popular waiter who left his job and was hired further south at a concession with blue chairs on the beach, so his gay clientele followed him there. Then, about 20 years ago, a gay couple from Atlanta leased the hotel in front of the blue chairs, renaming it the Blue Chairs Hotel and operating it as a gay destination. They ultimately lost their lease, but the family who owned the hotel have continued to operate it as a gay hotel.

At this point, most mainstream hotels in Puerto Vallarta are LGBTQ-friendly, and some actively promote themselves to the gay market. The Costa Sur Resort & Spa Puerto Vallarta, a seaside resort about five minutes south of Zona Romantica, has a section of its website devoted to gay weddings, while the Westin Resort & Spa promotes itself to wellness-seeking LGBTQ travelers and created a Rainbow Over Puerto Vallarta image to show off its gay-friendliness with brightly colored juices that it offers.

The influence of Paco Ruiz with his partner David Lansley, a New Yorker from Albany who settled in Mexico and died only months after he and Ruiz were finally married, ultimately shaped the city becoming one of Mexico's most LGBTQ-welcoming destinations. Club Paco Paco was the first out and proud gay club in Zona Romantica, but it wasn't alone for long. The building where Club Paco Paco once stood has been replaced by the new upscale nightclub Co-De, and more than a dozen LGBTQ-focused businesses are now just steps away.

The city has so thoroughly embraced its LGBTQ community that it has even painted hued rainbow crosswalks on the corner near Ruiz's old club. With a possible memorial in the works, Ruiz may finally get the recognition he deserves.

I had the pleasure of meeting him and Lansley several more times over the years, including in 2011, when Ruiz gave me a tour of his hometown. I met his extended family and stayed overnight in his mother's home. He was proud that he was able to build a home for her with the money he made from his club. I remember sleeping more soundly than I slept for weeks in his house but being woken up by a mechanical sound and people talking next to my room. His mother shared his entrepreneurial spirit. She ran a small tortilla factory out of her home. I ate a tortilla for breakfast fresh off the machine. Its still the best I've tasted.

Ed Walsh is a freelance journalist based in San Francisco and is a frequent visitor to the Jalisco cities of Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara.
ESPANOLA, N.M. (AP)  Two Espanola police officers fatally shot a man who allegedly used his vehicle to drag one of the officers during an encounter in a park, the New Mexico State Police said.

The officers drew their guns and shot Luis Nathan Leyba, 38, of Espanola, Tuesday night after he disregarded commands to stop, a State Police statement said.
JENIN, West Bank (AP)  Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians, including two security officers, in a shootout that erupted in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin during what appeared to be an Israeli arrest raid overnight, Palestinian officials said Thursday.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority coordinate security operations in the territory against Hamas and other militant groups seen as a threat to both of them. The coordination has contributed to mounting anger at the PA among Palestinians.

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called a dangerous Israeli escalation," saying the three were killed by Israeli special forces who disguise themselves as Arabs during arrest raids. The spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, called on the international community and the United States to intervene to halt such attacks.

The Israeli military and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Israeli media reported that special forces went into Jenin to arrest two operatives from the Islamic Jihad militant group when they came under fire. One of the Palestinian suspects was killed, in addition to the two security officers, the media reports said.

There were no reports of any Israeli casualties.

The PA said the two officers who were killed, Adham Aliwi, 23, and Tayseer Issa, 33, were members of its military intelligence force. Islamic Jihad identified the third man as Jamil Alamouri, one of its fighters.

Online video appears to show Palestinian officers taking cover behind a vehicle as gunshots are heard in the background. One shouts that they are exchanging fire with Israeli undercover forces.

Under interim peace agreements signed in the 1990s, the Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in scattered enclaves that together make up around 40% of the occupied West Bank. Hamas drove its forces out of Gaza in 2007 when the Islamic militant group seized power.

Israel has overarching security authority in the West Bank and routinely carries out arrest raids in Palestinian cities and towns administered by the PA.

Abbas called off the first Palestinian elections in 15 years in April when it appeared his fractured Fatah party would suffer another embarrassing defeat to Hamas, and he was largely sidelined during last month's Gaza war.

Abbas is committed to a negotiated solution that would create a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, which Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war. But there have been no substantive peace negotiations in more than a decade.
Manchin acts as if the Republicans will come around to bipartisanship if he helps them resist it long enough. His eyes should have been opened, as those of most other people were, when only seven GOP senators voted to convict former President Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection and only six voted to allow debate on creating an independent commission to investigate that mass attack on the government. The others openly expressed fear that a commissions findings would embarrass them in the next election.
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Alert: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says G-7 nations will pledge to give 1 billion vaccine doses to poorer countries
SEATTLE (AP)  Corporate and tech employees at Amazon wont have to work in offices full time after coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

The Seattle Times reports the online retail giant said in a company blog post Thursday that those workers can work remotely two days a week. In addition, the employees can work remotely from a domestic location for four full weeks each year.

Amazons work policy update follows backlash from some employees to what they interpreted as the expectation they would have to return to the office full time once states reopen.

Some tech companies had launched recruiting campaigns that seemed targeted in part at Amazon workers dismay over an end to remote work.

Most Amazon employees will start heading back to offices as soon as local jurisdictions fully reopen  July 1 in Washington state  with the majority of workers in offices by autumn, the company said previously.

Amazon has about 75,000 employees in the greater Seattle area. The companys new remote-work plan is similar to other large tech companies.

Google said last month that it expected roughly 60% of its workforce to come into the office a few days a week, and for 20% to work from home full time. Google also gave all employees the option to work remotely full time four weeks per year. Facebook and Microsoft have both said most workers can choose to stay remote.

Amazons new policy could add to the challenges faced by Seattles traditional business core. In pre-pandemic times, tens of thousands of Amazon workers commuted into the South Lake Union neighborhood north of downtown every day. Most haven't returned.

More than 450 downtown retailers, restaurants and other street-level business locations have closed permanently in the 16 months since the pandemic sent office workers home, according to a Downtown Seattle Association survey.

Of the roughly 175,000 people who worked in downtown offices before the pandemic, 80% continue to work remotely, according to association data.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  A federal appeals court on Thursday said it will reconsider a panel's decision that Arkansas law requiring state contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel is unconstitutional.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the state's request that the full court rehear the case, months after a three-judge panel ruled against the law.

The panel in February reversed a federal judges 2019 decision that dismissed the challenge to the law filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Arkansas Times. The newspaper had asked the judge to block the law, which requires contractors with the state to reduce their fees by 20% if they dont sign the pledge.

The court said it would set an argument date later for the rehearing.

I am pleased the full Eighth Circuit will hear this important case defending Arkansass law that prohibits discrimination against Israel," Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said in a statement. I will wholeheartedly defend Arkansass law against the Arkansas Timess frivolous lawsuit."

The Times lawsuit said the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College refused to contract for advertising with the newspaper unless the Arkansas Times signed the pledge. The newspaper isnt engaged in a boycott against Israel.

Arkansas law is similar to restrictions enacted in other states that have been challenged. The measures are aimed at a movement protesting Israels policies toward Palestinians. Similar measures in Arizona, Kansas and Texas that were blocked were later allowed to be enforced after lawmakers narrowed the requirement so it applied only to larger contracts. Arkansas law applies to contracts worth $1,000 or more.

Courts in Kansas, Arizona, Texas, and Georgia have already blocked anti-boycott laws like the one at issue here, and we look forward to pressing our challenge to Arkansas unconstitutional anti-boycott statute," Brian Hauss, senior staff attorney for the ACLU Foundation's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said in a statement.
PHOENIX (AP)  Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Thursday he's running for U.S. Senate, becoming the third major candidate seeking the Republican nomination to take on Democrat Mark Kelly.

Brnovich, who is in his second term as the state's top law-enforcement officer, is the best-known GOP candidate and the only one with political experience.

In a video announcement, Brnovich described himself as the son of immigrants who fled communism in Yugoslavia. He says he used his post as attorney general to take on crony capitalists" and government overreach, while promoting religious liberty, border security and election integrity.

We need an Arizona conservative in Washington who stands up for us and our values, Brnovich said in the video. Someone whos been tested. Someone who won't go run and hide at the first sign of trouble.

Brnovich has drawn the ire of former President Donald Trump, which could become a major liability in a crowded GOP primary. Trump has repeatedly called Brnovich lackluster and said he's nowhere to be found in support of the audit of Maricopa County election results by state Senate Republicans.

Trump and many of his most loyal supporters have latched onto discredited allegations of widespread election fraud in Arizona and elsewhere, which they claim cost him his re-election. Brnovich, Gov. Doug Ducey and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs certified Arizona's election results showing a narrow victory for Democrat Joe Biden.

Our Country needs Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who has done little so far on Voter Integrity and the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, to step it up, Trump wrote in a statement earlier this month.

Brnovich downplayed the presidential feud, saying he can't worry about what anyone else does.

I want this race to be about me, what I believe in and what I stand for, Brnovich said in a brief interview. The media focuses so much on the things that no one can control. They dont want to focus on what I stand for, what I believe and the record I have.

Solar energy entrepreneur Jim Lamon and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Mick McGuire, both political newcomers, have also announced plans to seek the GOP nomination. U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs has said he's considering a run but has not announced a decision. Blake Masters, who has worked closely with billionaire Peter Thiel, also may run.

Kelly, a retired astronaut, won a special election last year to finish the late John McCains Senate term. He is now running for a full six-year term. The race is one of the most high-profile contests in 2022 and will help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

As attorney general, Brnovich has picked a number of high-profile fights, including suing the Arizona Board of Regents  which is typically his client  over plans to build a hotel at Arizona State University. He's also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate part of the Voting Rights Act in a high-stakes case filed by the Democratic National Committee; a decision is expected in the coming weeks.

Democrats immediately signaled that they would highlight his support for a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, the health care law known as Obamacare. Democrats effectively used opposition to the law against Republicans in 2018 and 2020.

Before he was elected attorney general in 2014, Brnovich was a federal prosecutor and head of the state Gaming Department, which regulates gambling.
VAN HORN, Texas (AP)  At least six people were injured Thursday when a semitrailer cut off a Border Patrol van carrying migrants on a West Texas highway, forcing the van from the road and rolling it, an agency spokesman said.

The crash happened at around 7:30 a.m. near a rest area on the westbound side of Interstate 10 two miles east of Van Horn, which is roughly 115 miles (185 kilometers) southeast of El Paso, said Greg Davis, Customs and Border Protection spokesman for the Big Bend Sector. He said the van was in a passing lane when the truck pulled in front of it, forcing it from the road and rolling it.
Ted Shaffrey/AP

Hertz will likely emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by the end of the month after a bankruptcy court confirmed the reorganization plan for the beleaguered car rental company.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2020, said Thursday that its plan will erase more than $5 billion in debt and provide more than $2.2 billion in liquidity. Creditors will be paid in full and existing shareholders will receive more than $1 billion in value.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  New Jersey will carry a $10.1 billion surplus  about 25% of the total budget  into the new fiscal year that starts July 1, a stark turnaround from last year when Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy sought to borrow almost $10 billion because of a revenue downturn.

State Treasurer Elizabeth Muoio delivered the news to the Democrat-led state Senate Budget Committee in writing on Thursday, just a day after sending it to their Assembly counterparts.

The $10.1 billion figure is nearly $4 billion higher than the Murphy administration had forecast earlier this year.

Thanks to a remarkable two-month revenue collection surge  an April and May surprise like no other  state tax collections in Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) are hitting historic highs, Muoio told lawmakers.

The surge in revenue comes just as lawmakers and Murphy face a June 30 deadline to enact a balanced budget. The extra cash confronts lawmakers and the governor with a tantalizing question in an election year: how do you spend the money?

The answer, though, isn't clear. Murphy hasn't tipped his hand, and the Democrat-led Legislature canceled the in-person hearings on Wednesday and Thursday when there typically would be hints.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo said in a phone interview that he wants to use the funds to pay down state debt, increase the state's payment for the public pension and make longer-term investments.

The last thing we want to do is create a bunch of new programs, he said.

The revenue updates are typically delivered in person, and lawmakers have a chance to ask questions of Treasury officials, but the Assembly and Senate hearings were both canceled. No reason was given.

Republican lawmakers on Thursday fumed about the cancellations, saying they showed a lack of transparency. As to how to spend the money, Republican state senators in a remote news conference suggested they could get behind several proposals, including increasing the public pension payment and replenishing the hard-hit unemployment insurance trust fund.

They also suggested considering some kind of giveback to taxpayers, though exactly what that would look like isn't clear.

We need to have the conversation about how to return the money to the taxpayers, Republican state Sen. Steve Oroho said.

The cause for the higher-than-expected revenues stems from federal stimulus checks in December and March, quick vaccine development and rollout and a soaring stock market, according to Muoio.

It's election year in New Jersey, with Murphy seeking a second term. This week, GOP voters picked Jack Ciattarelli, a former Assembly member and the founder of a medical publishing company, to be their nominee.

All 120 seats in the Legislature are also on the ballot.

The current fiscal year's budget got a $4 billion infusion from bonds that Murphy and lawmakers passed legislation to take on. The governor had originally sought nearly $10 billion in borrowing authority, but eventually took out just over $4 billion because of fallen revenues stemming from COVID-19's effect on the economy.

New Jersey's rosy revenue picture reflects a dynamic in other states, as well. Spending plans for the budget year starting July 1 are up 10% or more in states from Florida and Maryland to Colorado, Utah and Washington.
BOSTON (AP)  Bostons leaders are scrambling to tamp down a series of political crises.

The acting mayor just fired the new police commissioner. Two school committee members abruptly quit after exchanging a series of racially charged text messages. The Boston Police Department is embroiled in an overtime fraud scandal. And on Beacon Hill, the governor is getting heat for hiring a veterans home administrator who had nearly 80 former military members die of COVID-19 under his watch.

All the drama is playing out against a potentially historic mayoral race that will likely see Boston elect its first person of color or woman to lead the city.

The challenges have landed on the desk of the citys Black chief executive, acting Mayor Kim Janey, also the citys first woman to occupy the office.

For Janey, the most recent development  the resignation of two Latina members of the Boston School Committee  has proven to be one of the more delicate problems shes faced since assuming the office in March after former Mayor Marty Walsh stepped down to become President Biden's labor secretary.

The two resigned after texts obtained by The Boston Globe showed school committee Chair Alexandra Oliver-Davila and fellow committee member Lorna Rivera disparaging parents at a virtual hearing about a proposal to temporarily drop the entrance test requirement to the citys exam schools.

Wait until the white racists start yelling at us, Rivera texted. Whatever. Theyre delusional, texted Oliver-Davila. I hate WR, she texted Rivera again, a reference to the citys West Roxbury neighborhood.

Sick of Westie whites, Rivera replied. Me too. I really feel like saying that, Oliver-Davila texted.

In her resignation letter, Oliver-Davila said she regretted the texts, but also said she was not ashamed of the feelings from history that made me write those words, referencing a personal history growing up in a city where she said was ostracized, teased, and called racial slurs.

The texts put Janey in an awkward spot, having also experienced racist attacks growing up in Boston.

In a written statement, Janey said the texts were unfortunate and unfairly disparaged members of the Boston Public Schools community.

But she was quick to praise the two as passionate advocates for Boston families" and said she could empathize with their personal stories.

As a Black woman, I know that racism hurts. The rocks and racial slurs thrown at me as a child left a lasting impression," Janey wrote.

As the revelation over the school committee texts was playing out over the weekend, Janey was also deciding the fate of Bostons police commissioner after decades-old domestic violence accusations came to light.

On Monday, Janey fired the top cop.

Dennis Whites removal came four months after he was placed on leave just days into his job. White, who waged a bitter legal battle to keep the job, had been appointed by Walsh, who later said he was unaware of the accusations.

Janey said keeping White on the job would send a chilling message to victims of domestic violence in our city and reinforce a culture of fear and a blue wall of silence in our police department.

White denied ever engaging in domestic violence.

I am a Black man, who has been accused falsely of crimes, White said during his termination hearing, according to a statement provided by his lawyer.

The firing of White isnt the only police-related controversy facing the city.

Just last week two more former Boston police officers pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with an investigation into overtime fraud at the departments evidence warehouse.

Twelve current and former officers have been charged in the scheme. Prosecutors say more than $250,000 was embezzled.

And on Beacon Hill, Gov. Charlie Baker has been facing increasing scrutiny of his handling of a COVID-19 crisis at the Holyoke Soldiers Home, with calls mounting for a legislative response to the outbreak that killed 76 veteran residents last year.

The tragedy led to the removal last year of Bennett Walsh, the former superintendent of the 240-bed, state-run facility.

Critics say investigations of the outbreak, including one headed by a former federal prosecutor commissioned by Baker, have raised more questions, including about Bakers decision to appoint Walsh to lead the home in 2016 despite scant health care administration experience.

A legislative committee charged with looking into the tragedy found that a crisis of leadership on many counts contributed to the deaths.

Baker last week said he was eager to work with the Legislature and that he and lawmakers largely agree on the reforms needed. Baker signed a $400 million spending bill to finance construction of a new home.

Boston, of course, is no stranger to crises.

The most notable in recent decades came in the turmoil over school busing in the 1970s that thrust Boston into the national limelight and exposed in ugly ways the city's simmering racial tensions  a crisis that also helped give rise to a new generation of leaders in communities of color that have transformed the city's political landscape.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  The California Supreme Court on Wednesday said Gov. Gavin Newsom can grant clemency to a man serving a life sentence for killing a woman during a 1980 robbery.

George L. Hughes is serving life without possibility of parole for the death of Mary Washington, an assistant manager at a fast food restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area city of El Cerrito.
Rafael Gallart Martinez, a soldier serving with the 4th Alejandro Farnesio Tercio of the Legion in Ronda, died this Thursday afternoon (10 June) after parachute jump over the sea, off the coast of Cartagena, the Army has reported.

He was a great military man who had served in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic and Senegal. He gave his life for Spain," they said, while sending their condolences to family and friends.

Due to unknown circumstances, the personnel in charge of recovering the parachute jumpers found him unconscious, face down. Resuscitation techniques were performed and he was transferred to hospital where he died," an Army statement explained.

The sergeant joined the Army in 2008 and rose to the rank in July 2020. "He had been awarded the Military Merit Cross with a White Distinction," the statement said.
LONDON, Ontario (AP)  The man accused of deliberately running over and killing four members of a Muslim family in London, Ontario, has had his case adjourned to next week.

Nathaniel Veltman made a brief virtual appearance in court Thursday to face four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Veltman, 20, said he is still in the process of retaining a lawyer. He has yet to enter a plea.

Relatives have identified the dead as 46-year-old Salman Afzaal, his 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Salman and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal. The couples son, Fayez, was seriously wounded but is expected to recover.

Police allege the attack was a planned and premeditated act that targeted Muslims.

Veltman is set to return to court on June 14.

The head of a local taxi company, meanwhile, said Veltman demanded a cab driver call police to arrest him minutes after the attack.

Hasan Savehilaghi, president of Yellow London Taxi, said of one the companys drivers was having a cigarette and a coffee next to his car in an empty strip mall parking lot on Sunday night when a black pickup truck came screeching to a halt directly behind his vehicle.

The man in the truck launched into a profanity-laced tirade directed at the taxi driver, said Savehilaghi, speaking on behalf of his employee, who he said was badly shaken by what happened.

He yelled at our colleague to call police because he had killed somebody, Savehilaghi said.

It was then that the cab driver noticed heavy damage to the front of the pickup truck, as well as the presence of a lot of blood, Savehilaghi said. The cab driver called 911 and, while on the line with the dispatcher, noticed a police car going by, Savehilaghi recounted.

The taxi driver immediately sprinted after the officer and told her what he had heard from the man in the truck, the company president said. The officer and a few others came over to the truck and took the man out of the vehicle, he said.

The man who was in the pickup truck wore a military helmet and what appeared to be an armored vest, Savehilaghi said his employee recounted. Once police removed those items, the taxi driver noticed swastika signs on the chest of (the mans) T-shirt, his employer said.

He was laughing the entire time and he was chanting something, and asked the taxi driver to record the arrest and make a movie of him, Savehilaghi said.

Meanwhile, the worlds largest body of Muslim-majority nations, with a membership of 57 countries, condemned strongly what it described as the heinous terrorist run-over perpetrated by an extremist against a Muslim family in Canada.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation called on authorities to take the necessary preventive measures to address anti-Muslim hatred, which it said is spreading in many countries where Muslims constitute a minority. In its statement issued Thursday, the OIC renewed its calls on the United Nations and other global bodies to declare March 15 a day against Islamophobia and intolerance of Muslims.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  A gunman who killed nine co-workers at a California rail yard last month was the subject of four investigations into his workplace conduct, and after one verbal altercation a colleague worried that the man could go postal, according to internal documents published Thursday.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, where the May 26 shooting occurred, described the investigations and released more than 200 pages of emails and other documents relating to the gunman Thursday, the Mercury News reported.

It was the first time the rail authority has said whether there were warning signs or if co-workers ever raised concerns about 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy before he opened fire on colleagues at the rail yard in San Jose, killing nine co-workers and then taking his own life.

In January 2020, Cassidy had a verbal altercation with a co-worker, the authority said. While being questioned by a supervisor, an employee reported hearing another colleague say of Cassidy, He scares me. If someone was to go postal, itd be him.

Upon further investigation, there was nothing in Cassidys disciplinary history, or additional information to explain or support that concern, the authority wrote in a statement Thursday.

The authority's statement described three other incidents involving Cassidy, including a July 2019 suspension without pay for two days. The authority said the action was taken for insubordination after Cassidys refusal to follow company policy in signing out a two-way radio.

Last October, Cassidy refused to attend a mandatory CPR training, citing concerns about COVID-19.

Last November, he left work without permission after he had trouble clocking in for his shift and, later, improperly used a VTA two-way radio for personal communication, rather than for operational matters.

In the two weeks since the shooting, questions have swirled about what might have set off Cassidys lethal rampage and whether there were warning signs.

Authorities have described him as a highly disgruntled employee at the Valley Transportation Authority, where he had worked for more than 20 years.

His ex-wife said after the shooting that he had expressed hatred and resentment of his workplace for at least a decade. A co-worker described him as an outsider who didnt mingle with others.

Neighbors and former lovers described Cassidy as moody, unfriendly and prone to angry outbursts at times, especially after drinking. But they expressed shock he would kill.

After the mass shooting, authorities found an arsenal and 25,000 rounds of ammunition at Cassidys home, which he tried to burn down before going on the deadly shooting spree. Santa Clara County sheriffs officials said they found weaponry that included 12 guns, nearly two dozen cans of gasoline and a dozen or more suspected Molotov cocktails.
DENVER (AP)  Colorados Legislature during its 2021 session launched an ambitious path to recovery from the coronavirus pandemic's devastating economic and social consequences, with majority Democrats doling out millions of dollars to dozens of business and health care needs.

They also strengthened a state greenhouse gas emissions plan, passed gun measures and mandated reduced health insurance premiums and costs for individuals and small businesses.

A transportation funding plan that eluded lawmakers for years was approved, as were measures addressing racial disparities in health care and criminal justice.

Lawmakers also followed up on a sweeping 2020 police accountability bill that was passed during protests over the killing of George Floyd.

Republicans fought in vain against a hastily-prepared, last-minute bill that, in part, requires rural electric cooperatives  and power providers including larger utilities  to prepare clean energy plans for the state.

It also directs the Air Quality Control Commission, a panel appointed by the governor, to create fees on greenhouse gas emissions and regulate emissions sources that directly affect lower income and communities of color.

Lawmaker after lawmaker railed against having to vote on legislation many hadnt seen and that had been modified after a threatened veto by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who prefers market-based solutions to achieve Colorados carbon emissions goals.

Weve not seen this bill, lamented House Minority Leader Rep. Hugh McKean, insisting its expanded spending required at least a committee hearing and not a rushed vote.

McKeans Senate counterparts warned that the legislation would punish thousands of Colorado residents, especially in rural areas, who are employed by the states multibillion-dollar oil and gas industry.

What about my justice? What about my family? If the continual drumbeat from Denver is to put me out of business, how can you possibly say I dont get justice as well? Republican Sen. Ray Scott of Mesa County recounted a field worker as telling him about the bill.

Our health is not expendable. We deserve access to clean air, clean water, just like every other community, countered Democratic Sen. Dominick Moreno, whose Commerce City constituents live next to an oil refinery thats been cited for air and water emissions. This gives us a seat at the table.

Following the mass shooting at a Boulder supermarket, Democrats passed legislation to require safe firearms storage, tighten background checks, allow municipalities to enact gun control laws that are stricter than state laws.

They also created a state Office of Gun Violence Prevention aimed at educating residents about gun safety while collecting data about gun violence in the state. Opponents said the office would amount to a state government gun-control agency.

Democrats also passed the nations first state restrictions on the use of the sedative ketamine by law enforcement and first responders. Ketamine has been blamed for contributing to the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man, hustled to the ground by police after someone reporting a suspicious person.

Another bill to reduce jail populations and limit arrests for lower-level offenses that primarily affect persons of color failed.

The purpose of this bill was to heal and reset the relationship between law enforcement and the community  ending the dangerous practices that have both criminalized poverty and taken innocent lives, lamented Democratic Sen. Pete Lee, a sponsor of the bill.

Colorado state senators clashed over government control of health care pricing and affordability in a prolonged quest to increase state regulation of health insurance premiums.

What was once envisioned as a so-called public option to be offered by the state became a plan to require insurers to offer a standard health plan to individuals and small businesses  and sanction hospitals and other health care providers that dont participate.

The bill requires insurers to offer a to-be-developed standard health plan that could affect about 15% of Colorados health insurance market by 2025. It requires gradual premium reductions of 15% from plans now offered. And it would give the state insurance commissioner power to fine hospitals and health care providers.

Advocates argued the bill will expand health care affordability, especially among underserved communities that include minorities and rural residents. Opponents said it could force many physicians and specialists who refuse to participate to leave the state.

Lawmakers from both parties contend that an $800 million state stimulus package passed this year and $3.8 billion in federal pandemic relief will have far-reaching impacts in future years. A bipartisan legislative task force will study how to invest the coming pandemic relief funds in housing, behavioral health and job creation over the summer.

This was an ambitious and historic session, House Speaker Alec Garnett tweeted Wednesday. From the start, we were clear about our priorities and we delivered on our promises.
SALEM, Ore. (AP)  Lawmakers in Oregon on Thursday night expelled a Republican legislator who let violent, far-right protesters into the Statehouse.

Rep. Mike Nearman was the first member of the House to be expelled in its 160-year history. The House voted 59-1 to remove him from the Legislature for disorderly behavior.

At an earlier hearing Rep. Paul Holvey said Nearman let in protesters who had planned to occupy the Capitol. Some were armed.

Nearman was seen on security video opening a door to protesters on Dec. 21 as lawmakers met in emergency session to deal with economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Protesters barged into the building, which was closed to the public because of coronavirus safety protocols, got into shoving matches with police and sprayed officers with bear spray.

Its impossible to overstate the seriousness of the reason we are here today, Holvey said. Rep. Nearman enabled armed, violent protesters to enter the Capitol, breaching the security of the Capitol, which was officially closed to the public, and also endangered the authorized staff and legislators inside the building.

Some of the protesters had guns. Among those who gathered outside the Capitol in Salem that day were people espousing false QAnon conspiracy theories about Democrats kidnapping babies. They carried American flags and banners for former President Donald Trump. One carried a sign calling for the arrest of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, Holvey said.

Nearman was unapologetic as he read a statement to the committee.

The fact is that I exited the building and members of the public entered into the Capitol building, a place they had a right to be  a place the Legislative Assembly had no right to exclude them from, Nearman said. He said that on the advice of his attorney he would not answer questions.

Hundreds of people provided written testimony to the House Special Committee On December 21, 2020, which is composed of three democrats and three Republicans.

Some people who testified excoriated Nearman as a seditionist. Others praised him for letting people into the Capitol, saying residents should be allowed to attend even though hearings are livestreamed on video.

Mike Nearmans behavior ... was abhorrent and anti-democratic, David Alba said. Furthermore, by aiding and supporting extremists, he has placed peoples lives in danger. He should be removed from office and he is not fit to represent my district.

After video emerged in local news reports Friday showing Nearman choreographing how he would let protesters into the Capitol, pinpointing the door he would open for them and disclosing his cellphone number so protesters could text him, all of his House GOP colleagues on Monday strongly recommended he step down.

But Nearmans supporters said they elected him and the House should not expel him. One supporter suggested those 22 GOP lawmakers be voted out of office.

We see you compromising Republicans that whittle away at concepts of morality, liberty, and justice to take a knee to the woke mob, Casey Ocupe said in written testimony. May your Republican constituents take no mercy on you.

On Monday, House Speaker Tina Kotek introduced a resolution that would have the House expel Nearman if two-thirds of its members vote in favor. She appointed the committee to consider the matter.

Kotek credited riot police, who finally pushed out the protesters, with preventing a full-scale assault like the one by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. She said some were visibly injured and shaken.

Nearman has not responded to numerous requests from The Associated Press for comment. He told a conservative radio talk show that a video presentation he held on Dec. 16 was me setting up the 21st. He indicated that his actions were civil disobedience because he objected to the Capitol being closed to the public.

Nearman also faces two misdemeanor criminal charges and has said he will seek a trial by jury.
Connecticut lawmakers may have closed out the regular legislative session on Wednesday night, but they're expected to return to the state Capitol soon to vote on legalizing recreational marijuana for adults, some remaining budget bills and possibly some other bills that didn't survive in the first round.

While legislative leaders had originally hoped to avoid a special session, or at least restrict it to a limited number of bills, House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said everything is on the table after it appeared Republicans would use up the remaining hours of the legislative session debating the cannabis proposal.

"Because we were not allowed to do the business we needed to do today, every item to me is open for consideration in the special session, he said on Wednesday, acknowledging that list could be expansive. They should have allowed us to vote. So, thats how its going to be.

Ritter said the special session could be held in a week or two.

Besides the cannabis bill, lawmakers are expected to take up a bill that spells out the details of the budget. Often, that piece of legislation is used to resurrect proposals that died during the session and is sometimes jokingly referred to as a Christmas tree.

While Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday he didn't want any Christmas trees or a whole second round of the regular legislative session, he would like it if the Democratic-controlled General Assembly considered taking up his proposal to have Connecticut formally adopt the regional Transportation and Climate Initiative Program, which wasn't included in the final budget deal.

If we have a chance to revisit it, why not, asked Lamont.

Under the bill, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection would adopt regulations for the program, which the leaders of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., have also signed onto, along with Lamont. A cap would be established on greenhouse gas emissions from gasoline and on-road diesel fuel. Wholesale fuel suppliers would then be required to purchase allowances at an auction, beginning in 2023, to cover the cost of the pollution from those fuels.

Advocates have said the funds generated  an estimated $1 billion over 10 years  would pay for clean transportation investments, with at least half invested in communities adversely impacted by air pollution. But Republicans maintain the plan will result in higher gasoline prices for consumers, possibly an additional 5 to 9 cents-per-gallon or more.

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said Thursday he felt the GOP was being unfairly blamed for the marijuana legalization bill not passing during the regular session, and subsequently forcing lawmakers to go into overtime and possibly voting after all on the governor's Transportation Climate Initiative, which the GOP has labeled a gas tax increase.

We never threatened to filibuster the bill, said Candelora, who argued there simply wasn't enough time to thoroughly debate the massive marijuana bill. And so, I think that it really came down to poor calendar management on the Democrats' side. Look, they have both chambers, they have the governor's office. They had six months to get their work done.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)  Health officials in Tennessee's most populous county are lifting most existing face mask usage requirements enacted as precautions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Shelby County Health Department order going into effect Saturday is another step in the gradual process of easing restrictions related to masks and social distancing as vaccinations continue and COVID-19 cases drop.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Lawmakers in Cyprus on Thursday elected a woman to the country's second most powerful political post for the first time since its founding as an independent republic in 1960.

Annita Demetriou was elected parliamentary speaker on the second ballot with 25 votes in the 56-seat parliament. The choice seen as a major step in leveling the political playing field for women in the divided eastern Mediterranean island, who have been traditionally under-represented in politics.

The 35-year-old lawmaker said that she assumes the post with a deep sense of responsibility" and pledged to work with impartiality and objectivity."

Political leaders and colleagues praised Demetriou, the only female among other six other male rivals for the position.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said hes particularly pleased with Demetrious election because a woman now holds the countrys most powerful political post behind the presidency.

What's most important is that a strong message is being sent out to all women of Cyprus, to all citizens of Cyprus, that women can and must strive for such positions because they deserve them," Anastasiades told reporters.

Demetriou belongs to the center-right Democratic (DISY) Party that Anastasiades previously led for many years.

There have been a number of notable female politicians in the country's 61-year history since gaining independence from British colonial rule. But the proportion of women to men holding top positions has been dismal.

In last months parliamentary election, only eight women were elected in the 56-seat body  three less than in its previous composition.

Anastasiades has three female ministers in his 15-member Cabinet and hinted to reporters that he may appoint more women during an reshuffle expected shortly, saying the election was also a message also directed at me."

Demetriou for the last five years served in a senior legislative position as parliamentary secretary.

First elected to parliament in 2016, Demetriou, who earned a graduate degree from Britain's University of Kent also served as deputy chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Equal Opportunities between Men and Women and the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  The two sheriff's deputies who shot and killed a Black man during an arrest attempt by a U.S. Marshals Service task force in Minneapolis were working undercover at the time so their names will not be released, state investigators said Wednesday.

Winston Boogie Smith Jr., 32, of St. Paul, was killed last Thursday as authorities were trying to arrest him on a weapons violation in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood. The U.S. Marshals Service said he was wanted for allegedly being a felon in possession of a firearm and that Smith, who was in a parked vehicle, didnt comply and produced a handgun resulting in task force members firing upon the subject.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has said evidence indicates Smith fired his gun  a handgun and spent cartridge were found inside the car. The Hennepin County medical examiner said Smith died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Last week, state investigators said two sheriffs deputies  one from Hennepin County and one from Ramsey County  were the officers who fired their weapons, striking Smith. Investigators said Wednesday that both agencies said their deputies were working undercover. State law bars releasing the identities of undercover officers.

I don't care if he's undercover. When someone is killed, the name of that person who killed him should be made public, said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. We don't have secret police here. Our government's only accountability is transparency.

Officers from the Anoka County Sheriff's Office, the Minnesota Department of Corrections, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service were also part of the task force during the arrest attempt, the BCA said.

The BCA also said it is unaware of any video of the incident. Investigators said there is no body camera or squad camera footage, and they are unaware of surveillance video. The Associated Press left messages this week with the owners of the parking ramp where Smith was shot to see if any security video exists, and those messages were not returned.

The lack of body camera footage has raised questions in Minnesota, as Smith's family members and activists continue to demand transparency.

This all does not add up, Hussein said, adding that secrecy and lack of information erodes public trust. He said fundamental change is needed at all levels of government.

Local officials say the deputies were assigned body cameras, but were told by the U.S. Marshals Service that they could not use them, despite an October change in Justice Department policy that would have allowed them to be used. The issue led the Ramsey County sheriff to pull his deputies off the task force until body cameras are authorized.

This week, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco ordered Justice Department law enforcement officers to wear body cameras when making planned arrests or serving search warrants. The directive orders the heads of the Marshals Service, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to develop body-worn camera policies within 30 days.

The fatal shooting comes as Minneapolis has been on edge since the death of George Floyd just over a year ago, and the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright by an officer in nearby Brooklyn Center in April.
PHOENIX (AP)  An attorney representing a man who told police he was texting when he fatally struck a police officer with his vehicle asked a judge to send the case back to the grand jury when records showed the driver was not on his phone.

Jerry Sanstead, 42, told law enforcement he must have been texting his wife in January 2019 when his car veered across the lanes of Loop 101 and fatally hit Salt River Police Officer Clayton Townsend, who was conducting a traffic stop, The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday.

But an investigation showed he was not texting, calling or using his iPhone at all for nearly two minutes before the crash. Given his speed, the phone went unused more than two miles (3.2 kilometers).

Sanstead was indicted on a single charge of reckless manslaughter. His attorney, Lawrence Kazan, argued Tuesday that prosecutors distorted the evidence they presented.

In their zealous attempt to get an indictment in this case, it was pretty obvious they played pretty fast and loose with the truth, Kazan told Judge Roy C. Whitehead.

However, Edward Paine, the deputy county prosecuting attorney, said the grand jury was told exactly what happened, including the hole in the prosecution's case.

The state made it crystal clear that at the exact moment of impact, we could not prove that he was actually on the phone, Paine said. There was absolutely no misrepresentation on any of that at all.

Whitehead said he will now consider the matter and issue a ruling.

It was not immediately clear from court records what caused Sanstead to veer off the freeway. Kazan suggested Sanstead may have had a seizure. Records show he had a seizure in jail the night of the accident and was taken to the hospital.

Sanstead had told doctors he had quit drinking alcohol days before and had undergone a cleanse of some sort, Kazan said. Doctors determined that might have triggered his seizure, documents said.

Sanstead, who remains free on bond, could not be reached for comment. His attorney said he would not pass along a request for an interview until after the case was resolved.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety told news outlets that Sanstead admitted to texting his wife before the accident. News stories, including those in The Republic, repeated the detail.

Townsend, 26, a five-year police veteran, left behind a wife and 10-month-old daughter. His death prompted the state Legislature to pass a ban on texting and driving that went into effect in January.
The Junta de Andalucia's Minister of Health, Jesus Aguirre, said this Wednesday (9 June) that now is not the time to enter into the debate on the removing the mandatory wearing of a face mask, even outdoors, as requested from certain sectors.

"We cannot relax; the mask protects us a lot from infections. It is the most powerful weapon - after vaccination, Aguirre said during a session of Andalusian Parliament, in which he said was still in favour of wearing the mask both outdoors and indoors.

"We must avoid a false sense of security," said Aguirre, especially in relation to the relaxation that occurs in social gatherings such as weddings, baptisms, communions and other celebrations.

The head of the Andalusian health department has explained that the 15 to 29 age group is the one in which infections have grown the most, "with a disproportionate increase" among adolescents aged 16 to 17.

"We must control these population groups because although their illness does not have a significant impact on hospital admissions, they transmit the virus to other people," said Aguirre.

AstraZeneca vaccine

The councillor also revealed that 96 per cent of essential wokers under the age of 60 who are receiving their second dose have chosen the AstraZeneca vaccine and only four percent have picked the Pfizer one.

Aguirre also has guaranteed that there will be no supply problem to give a second injection of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged from 60 to 69.
BRUSSELS (AP)  European Union lawmakers threatened Thursday to sue the blocs executive branch within weeks if it fails to take action against countries allegedly violating democratic standards, notably Hungary and Poland.

In a resolution, adopted by 506 votes to 150 with 28 abstentions, they urged European Parliament President David Sassoli to demand that the European Commission fulfil its obligations within two weeks, under a system tying access to some EU funds to a countrys respect for the rule of law.

The system was included in the budget the EU approved last year covering the 2021-27 period and which also included a massive coronavirus economic stimulus fund. In March, the right-wing governments of Poland and Hungary filed a complaint with the European Court of Justice to challenge it.

The lawmakers had given the Commission until June 1 to finalize a set of guidelines on use of the rule of law mechanism, but they say its failure to do so constitutes a sufficient basis for taking legal actions under EU treaties. Part of the Commissions remit is to ensure that EU rules are respected.

In Warsaw, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro called the European Parliament's resolution a clearly anti-democratic and unlawful document, and he accused the lawmakers of seeking to impose their will on a sovereign and democratic country.

German Greens lawmaker Terry Reintke, who helped supervise the assemblys work on the mechanism, said that instead of defending European values, the Commission is watching, writing reports and sitting on its hands.

People in Poland, Hungary and elsewhere need to know that the Commission is on their side and will fight for their rights as EU citizens, she said. Some lawmakers suspect the Commission is buying time and has no intention of acting before the court rules on Poland and Hungarys legal challenge. A verdict could be months away.

The two countries have faced criticism in the EU for years over allegations that they have been eroding judicial and media independence, among other democratic principles. Unable to alter the course of either nation, the Commission turned to linking money to their adherence to democratic principles.

Hungary and Poland initially tried to block the budget to thwart the introduction of the rule of law mechanism, but they eventually agreed to the plan on condition that the ECJ would review it.

Also Thursday, the Commission said it has asked Poland to withdraw a motion sent by the Polish prime minister to his countrys constitutional court seeking a ruling on whether EU or Polish law has primacy in the central European nation.
PARIS (AP)  Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions, in hope of luring back tourists  and their dollars  to the continent's trattorias, vistas and cultural treasures. But travelers will need patience to figure out who's allowed into which country, how and when.

As the European Union's doors reopen one by one to the outside world for the first time since March 2020, tourists will discover a patchwork of systems instead of a single border-free leisure zone, because national governments have resisted surrendering control over their frontiers amid the pandemic. And post-Brexit Britain is going its own way altogether.

Meanwhile, the welcoming mood isnt always mutual. U.S. borders, for example, remain largely closed to non-Americans.

Here's a look at current entry rules in some popular European tourist destinations. One caveat: While these are the regulations as written by governments, travelers may meet hiccups as airlines or railway officials try to make sense of them.

FRANCE

If you're vaccinated, come to France. But only if you got one of the four EU-approved vaccines: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. That works for Americans  as long as they can produce official proof of vaccination  but not for large swaths of the world like China and Russia where other vaccines are used.

France's borders officially reopened Wednesday. Vaccinated visitors from outside Europe and a few green countries will still be asked for a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours, or a negative antigen test of no more than 48 hours. Unvaccinated children will be allowed in with vaccinated adults, but will have to show a negative test from age 11.

Tourists are banned from 16 countries wrestling with virus surges and worrisome variants that are on a red list that includes India, South Africa and Brazil.

Non-vaccinated visitors from orange list countries  including the U.S. and Britain  can't come for tourism either, only for specific, imperative reasons.

ITALY

Americans  the second-biggest group of foreign tourists to Italy  have been welcome since mid-May. However, they need to self-isolate upon arrival for 10 days unless they arrive on so-called COVID-tested flights. That means passengers are tested before and after the flight and must fill out documents about their whereabouts to facilitate contact tracing if required.

COVID-tested flights from the U.S. started in December and have also been operating since May from Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

Italy also started allowing tourists from Britain and Israel last month, meaning they no longer need an essential reason to visit and dont have to self-isolate, providing they present proof of a negative COVID test taken no more than 48 hours prior to arrival.

The same rules apply to travelers from EU countries and those on COVID-tested flights from the U.S., Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

GREECE

Tourism-reliant Greece started opening to American travelers back in April, and now visitors from China, Britain and 20 other countries are also allowed to visit for nonessential travel.

All must provide a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test and fill in a passenger locator form on their plans in Greece. This directive expires on June 14, but could be extended.

Athens long pressed for a common EU approach, but didn't wait for one to materialize. On June 1, Greece, Germany and five other bloc members introduced a COVID certificate system for travelers, weeks ahead of the July 1 rollout of the program across the 27-nation bloc.

SPAIN

Spain kicked off its summer tourism season Monday by welcoming vaccinated visitors from the U.S. and most countries, as well as European visitors who can prove they are not infected.

Americans and most other non-Europeans need an official vaccine certificate by a health authority. Spain accepts those who were inoculated with the four EU-approved vaccines as well two Chinese vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization  as long as visitors are fully vaccinated at least two weeks before the trip.

Arrivals from Brazil, South Africa and India are banned at the moment because of high infection rates there, and non-vaccinated Americans and many other non-EU nationalities cannot come to Spain for tourism for now.

But there are exemptions for countries considered at low risk, such as citizens from Britain, who can arrive without any health documents at all. EU citizens need to provide proof of vaccination, a certificate showing they recently recovered from COVID-19, or a negative antigen or PCR test taken within 48 hours of arrival.

BRITAIN

There are few, if any, American tourists in the U.K. at present. Britain has a traffic-light system for assessing countries by risk, and the U.S. along with most European nations is on the amber list, meaning everyone arriving has to self-isolate at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days.

U.K. and U.S. airlines and airport operators are pushing for a travel corridor to allow tourism to resume, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to raise the issue when he meets President Joe Biden at a G-7 summit in England this week.

Meanwhile, anyone traveling between Britain and continental Europe, be warned: In addition to the isolation requirement for those arriving or returning to U.K. shores, rising concern about the delta variant of the virus has prompted some other countries to introduce special restrictions for those arriving from Britain.

EUROPEAN UNION

The 27-nation EU has no unified COVID tourism or border policy, but has been working for months on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus. EU lawmakers endorsed the plan Wednesday.

The free certificates, which will contain a QR code with advanced security features, will allow people to move between European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival.

Several EU countries have already begun using the system, including Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland. The rest are expected to start using it July 1.

It's mainly meant for EU citizens but Americans and others can obtain the certificate too  if they can convince authorities in an EU country they're entering that they qualify for one. And the lack of an official U.S. vaccination certification system may complicate matters.

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Associated Press reporters around Europe contributed.

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Follow more of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP)  A former assistant state attorney general has pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty by a public officer.

Brian Kolodziej also agreed Wednesday to a 5-year suspension of his law license, according to the Kent County prosecutor's office.

Two felony charges of misconduct in office were dismissed. A no-contest plea isnt an admission of guilt but is treated as such at sentencing.

Kolodziej was charged in December, more than a year after he was forced to resign when authorities learned he had an intimate relationship with a woman while handling her allegations of sexual assault.

Kolodziej was prosecuting a former Central Michigan University student who insisted he had consensual sex with the woman in 2016 after meeting her at a Mount Pleasant bar. The former student pleaded no contest to third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sent to prison.

Attorney General Dana Nessel agreed the former student could withdraw his plea after Kolodziejs relationship was uncovered in 2019. He subsequently pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and was moved to a county jail for the remainder of his one-year sentence.

Kolodziejs sentencing is scheduled for July 16. The misdemeanor charge carries up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
GRAYLING, Mich. (AP)  Firefighters brought a wildlife under control at northern Michigan's Camp Grayling after the blaze had scorched about 130 acres of state-owned land, officials said.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said agency firefighters joined Camp Grayling's fire staff and local fire departments in battling the fire just before 5 p.m. Wednesday. By 8:15 p.m., the fire was reported under control.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  A former executive who embezzled more than $22 million from a Los Angeles-based digital marketing company was sentenced Wednesday to more than 6 1/2 years in federal prison.

Dennis Blieden, 31, of Cincinatti also was ordered pay nearly $22.7 million in restitution.
BERLIN (AP)  The German city of Frankfurt's tactical police unit is being disbanded amid an investigation of some members' suspected participation in a chat group where far-right messages were exchanged, authorities said Thursday.

The decision by Hesse's state government came a day after the homes and workplaces of six officers were searched and the city police force said the unit was being restructured.
Andalucia is willing to vaccinate national tourists who holiday in the region this summer, the president of the Junta de Andalucia, Juanma Moreno, has said.

Madrid, the Valencia region, the Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Cantabria and Galicia have also said they are in favour of vaccinating people from other regions and even international tourists as a method of encouraging holidaymakers - although they have asked the State for some kind of compensation.

The Juntas head, Juanma Moreno, said this week that the Andalusian regional government is studying the possibility of vaccinating national tourists who spend their holidays in the area and that it is"willing" to do so although he recognised that it requires "a lot of effort" and a great deal of "special logistics".

Regarding the Andalusians who are going to spend their summer outside the region, he reassured them that they will not forfeit their dose of a vaccine, if called, and will be able to postpone their appointment.

The regions most in favour of the proposal to vaccinate national tourists have asked central government to take this into account when distributing the vaccines and to establish a "national protocol" that sets the guidelines for the process.

The Valencian region is one of the most keen on this idea and is already vaccinating those away from home, both with their first and second doses.

In the Balearic Islands, the health services general director, Juli Fuster, said they will give a second dose of a vaccine to those who travel to the islands to work this summer. Regarding the vaccination of tourists, he said that they are "open to any suggestions".

The president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, has repeatedly called for the vaccination of tourists, including international ones, so that it is an attraction to encourage holidaymakers. Regarding the vaccination of foreign tourists, he has said that although he considered it desirable, he recognises that there are not enough doses at the moment to complete the vaccination of target population in Spain.

Cantabria has also agreed to vaccinate those who are on vacation in the region this summer, but will request "compensation" from the Ministry of Health so that the measure does not detract from the vaccination schedule for Cantabrians.

But there are still some regions, including Navarra and the Basque Country, that remain unconvinced about the tourist vaccination strategy.
BERLIN (AP)  German architect Gottfried Boehm, who was famous for his concrete brutalist-style church buildings, has died at 101.

Boehm's Cologne architecture office on Thursday confirmed his death on Wednesday night but didn't give a cause.

Boehm, who was born in Offenbach in central Germany in 1920, built more than 50 churches, many of them in his signature concrete style. He was one of the most famous postwar architects in the country and in 1986 became the first German to receive the renowned Pritzker Architecture Prize.

One of his most best-known sacral buildings is the Catholic pilgrimage church Mary, Queen of Peace, in Neviges near the western city of Duesseldorf. Built in the brutalist style and consecrated in 1968, the church became famous for its irregular roof and forum-like interior.

Boehm also created other buildings such as the city hall of Bensberg near Cologne, a glass-and-steel fronted theater in Potsdam, and a pyramid-shaped public library in Ulm.

The governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state, Armin Laschet, praised Boehm for his work.

His unique architecture style made him world-famous, Laschet said adding that Boehm leaves behind a visible and impressive lifework.
NEW YORK (AP) 

Huma Abedin, the close aide to Hillary Clinton and estranged wife of disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner, has a memoir coming out this fall.

Abedin's Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds will be released Nov. 2, Scribner told The Associated Press on Thursday. Abedin will tell her inspiring story, coming of age as an American Muslim, the daughter of Indian and Pakistani scholars who split their time between Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the UK, according to the publisher.

'Both/And' grapples with family, legacy, identity, faith, marriage, and motherhood, Scribner announced. It shares Huma Abedins personal accounts as a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton during Mrs. Clintons years as First Lady, U.S. Senator, a presidential candidate, Secretary of State, and Democratic Presidential Nominee, and a candid and moving reckoning of Ms. Abedins marriage to former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

Abedin, for years an object of speculation, said in a statement that her memoir will allow her to define herself.

For most of my life, I was viewed through the lens of others, a refraction of someone elses pronoun. They as in the parents who raised me; she as in the woman I worked for; and he as in the man I married, Abedin said.

Writing this book gave me the opportunity to reflect on my own life  from the nurturing family I was privileged to be born into, to working for one of the most compelling leaders of our time. This journey has led me through exhilarating milestones and devastating setbacks. I have walked both with great pride and in overwhelming shame. It is a life I am  more than anything  enormously grateful for and a story I look forward to sharing.

Abedin, 45, has known Clinton since she was a student at George Washington University, when she worked as an intern in 1996 for the then-first lady. She was an aide to Clinton during Clinton's successful run for the U.S. Senate in 2000; deputy chief of staff during Clinton's years as secretary of state in the first term of the Obama administration, 2009-2013; and a top adviser during the 2016 election, when Clinton lost in a stunning upset to Republican Donald Trump.

She currently serves as Clinton's chief of staff.

Over the years, weve shared stories about our lives, weve shared more meals than I can count, weve celebrated together, weve mourned together," Abedin said of Clinton in an August 2016 feature about the aide in Vogue, which called her in many ways the engine at the center of Clintons well-run machine, crucial and yet largely out of sight.

Clinton, mother of Chelsea Clinton, has spoken of Abedin as a second daughter. And former President Bill Clinton officiated at her 2010 wedding to Weiner, then a New York congressman seen as an emerging star in the Democratic Party. But Weiner's career collapsed the following year after he acknowledged texting lewd photos of himself to several women. In 2013, he attempted a comeback by running for mayor of New York City, but his campaign was soon upended when it was revealed he continued sexting even after resigning from Congress, a scandal that unfolded on camera during the award-winning documentary Weiner.

Weiner pleaded guilty in 2017 to charges of sending sexual materials to a minor and was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Abedin had announced their separation in 2016 and, according to her publisher, she and Weiner are finalizing their divorce. (They agreed in 2018 to settle their divorce out of court).

Abedin's marriage, and her relationship with the Clintons, led to her being caught up in the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private computer server for her emails while she was secretary of state  an issue through much of the 2016 campaign.

Then-FBI Director James Comey announced in July 2016 that he would not recommend any criminal charges against Clinton even as he said she had been extremely careless. But in late October, less than two weeks before Election Day, he informed Congress that the bureau was reopening the case after emails between Clinton and Abedin were found on Weiners computer during the probe into the former congressman's sexting. The FBI reported a week later that nothing on the laptop changed the recommendation against charges, but Clinton has called Comeys intervention  and the headlines it created  the determining factor in her narrow defeat to Trump.

In Clinton's 2017 memoir What Happened, she remembered being on the campaign plane when she and Abedin learned that the FBI probe had been reopened.

When we heard this Huma looked stricken, Clinton wrote. Anthony had already caused so much heartache. And now this. This man is going to be the death of me, (Huma) said, bursting into tears. Clinton added that it was agonizing to see Abedin in such distress.

Some people thought I should fire Huma or distance myself. Not a chance," Clinton wrote. "I stuck by her the same way she has always stuck by me.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Hundreds have held a rare protest in Bahrain over the death of a prisoner from the coronavirus despite being vaccinated months earlier by the island kingdom.

The demonstration Wednesday night saw protesters march in the streets of the village of Diah over the death earlier in the day of Husain Barakat.

Videos of the protest, which corresponded to Associated Press reporting on the demonstrations, saw those marching shout that they held King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for Barakat's death over poor care.

An Interior Ministry statement said Barakat, 48, had been on a respirator and died at a hospital. The ministry said Barakat had received an unnamed two-shot vaccination for the virus.

The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said Barakat received the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.

Bahrain, like the nearby United Arab Emirates, relied heavily on Sinopharm in their world-record per-capita vaccination campaigns, but now are offering booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine. There have been reports of low antibody responses in the UAE, which saw that country announce in May it would offer boosters six months after a Sinopharm two-shot vaccination.

The two shots use different technologies. The Pfizer shots, a so-called mRNA vaccine, contain a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the spiked protein on the surface of the virus. The Sinopharm vaccine is an inactivated shot made by growing the whole virus in a lab and then killing it.

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, is now struggling through its worst wave of the virus. It's in the midst of a weekslong lockdown and daily case numbers have dropped recently. The island, home to 1.6 million people, has seen over 253,000 reported cases and 1,160 deaths.

Bahrain last week told the AP that 90% of new cases in Bahrain were people who had chosen to receive no vaccinations.

Barakat had lost his citizenship and been sentenced to life in prison in a 2018 mass trial, according to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. Bahrains Public Prosecution said at the time the case involved a little-known militant group it identified as the Zulfiqar Brigades. Zulfiqar is the name of the forked sword of Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad who is revered by Shiites.

Bahrains Sunni-rule government has wielded denaturalization and mass trials to beat back dissent on the Shiite-majority island off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the years since its 2011 Arab Spring protests.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  Fatou Bensouda briefed the U.N. Security Council for the last time as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, lamenting that the tribunal has not yet brought justice to victims of atrocities in Sudans western Darfur region. But she said a new era in Sudan and the transfer of the first Darfur suspect to the court should give them hope.

Bensouda said Darfur victims she spoke to last week had one message: Sudans transitional government should hand over three suspects sought by the court who are in its custody -- former President Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of genocide; former defense minister Abdel Raheem Hussein, and former interior minister and governor Ahmad Harun.

Bensouda, whose mandate ends June 15, said she has focused on Darfur since crimes being committed there were referred to the the court by the Security Council in 2005, when she was deputy prosecutor. But her recent visit to Sudan and Darfur was a first  a memorable trip that she said was a strong reminder that we should focus on achieving justice for the victims and finding lasting peace for the people of Darfur.

Bensouda cautioned, however, that the road ahead remains long and fraught with dangers, saying that Sudans transition following al-Bashirs ouster in April 2019 after mass protests demanding civilian rule is still in its infancy.

Still, she said, after years of hostility and no cooperation, the ICC and the government of Sudan have turned a new page in their relationship and have been engaging in constructive dialogue and a good spirit of cooperation.

The vast Darfur region was gripped by bloodshed in 2003 when rebels from the territorys ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination and neglect.

The government, under al-Bashir, responded with a scorched-earth assault of aerial bombings and unleashed local nomadic Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, who are accused of mass killings and rapes. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.

Bensouda said she urged the handover of al-Bashir and the others at meetings with Sudanese government officials, including the head of the Sovereignty Council, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Sudan is under a legal obligation to surrender the suspects under the Security Council resolution that referred Darfur to the court, she said.

Bensouda said Harun's transfer is urgent so he can be tried with Sudanese militia leader Ali Kushayb, who voluntarily surrendered a year ago to the court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands. She appealed to the Security Council to prevail upon Sudan to immediately honor Mr. Haruns wish and facilitate his transfer to the ICC without delay.

Richard Dicker, the international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said: Its well past time for Khartoum to honor its responsibility to the victims of Darfur. Surrendering these three suspects would signal an indelible commitment to the rule of law.

Adam Day, program director at United Nations Universitys Center for Policy Research who was a political officer with the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur in 2008, said the question now is: What incentives can the international community offer the new Sudanese government to turn over the suspects to the ICC? ... Will major international donors insist that their support be conditioned on the handover of al-Bashir and the others?

As a cash-strapped government in desperate need of support, that could tip the balance towards handover, he told The Associated Press.

Eric Reeves, a retired Smith College professor who has worked on Sudan for 22 years and is a trustee of the Darfur Bar Association, said Bensouda has spent her entire time trying to get the Darfur cases prosecuted and has not succeeded.

She knows as well as anyone if the court cant bring convictions in the case of Darfur then the court has probably seen its relevance either diminished entirely or diminished to the point where it just cant function, he said in an AP interview. If it fails it will be a major failure for international justice.

The International Criminal Court was officially established on July 1, 2002, to hold accountable perpetrators of the worlds most serious crimes -- genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity -- in cases where adequate national judicial systems are not available.

It has 123 member nations, and Bensoudas staff is currently investigating alleged crimes in 13 other places from Congo, Central African Republic and Libya to Bangladesh-Myanmar, Afghanistan and occupied Palestinian territory. Darfur was the first referral to the court by the Security Council.

Nine Security Council members that are parties to the court issued a statement after Wednesdays council meeting calling for intensified efforts to surrender all suspects, commending Sudanese authorities and the U.N. for facilitating Bensoudas visit, and expressing gratitude to the prosecutor for her persistence in fighting impunity and pursuing international justice without fear or favor.

Day, at United Nations University, recalled that when Bensouda became prosecutor in 2011 the court faced criticism for being overly focused on African conflicts as well as the risk that some African countries might withdraw from the court.

One of Bensoudas biggest accomplishments was in fact saving the ICC from that negative trajectory, restoring the legitimacy of the international community, he said.

I think Bensouda has successfully kept Darfur on the Security Councils agenda, and has made a consistent and well-reasoned point that peace in Darfur cannot be achieved without a meaningful reckoning with past human rights abuses, Day said.

Human Rights Watchs Dicker referred to sanctions against Bensouda and another court official by President Donald Trump in 2020 over the courts investigations into alleged war crimes by the United States in Afghanistan and by U.S. ally Israel in the Palestinian territories. They were lifted by the Biden administration April 2.

Fatou Bensouda brought a staunch commitment to defending the independence of her office in the face of unprecedented pressure that was aimed at exacting a high personal cost, Dicker said. Yet, she did not flinch. This prosecutorial legacy is fundamental to the courts legitimacy.
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Idaho's most popular state parks started doubling camping fees for out-of-state residents on Thursday as required by a new state law.

Still, it will take at least a year to see if the move  intended to help more Idaho residents get spots in the parks  will have the desired effect. That's because the state's five most-popular parks were fully booked for the summer as soon as reservations opened up back in December.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP)  North Macedonias foreign ministry said Thursday that Russia has expelled a diplomat from the small Balkan country, weeks after a Russian embassy official was ordered to leave Skopje.

The acting ambassador at North Macedonias embassy in Moscow was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry and informed that a member of her staff had been declared persona non grata, according to separate statements from the two foreign ministries.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  West Virginia is about five percentage points away from meeting its goal of at least partially vaccinating 65% of all eligible residents before a mask mandate drops on June 20.

Weve crossed a milestone. ... Now were at 60.1% that have received their first shot," Republican Gov. Jim Justice said at a news conference Thursday.

The state's coronavirus vaccination drive has remained sluggish despite incentives for young people and a lottery for all. But officials said they have not returned any doses to the federal government. About 268,000 does are currently unused, according to state data.

Demand for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the state has plummeted since a brief national pause on the one-shot vaccine in April. An announcement from the company on Thursday extending the vaccine's expiration date by six weeks was a relief to officials who expected unused doses to become spoiled soon.

Now we have another month and a half for use of those, said James Hoyer, who leads the state's coronavirus taskforce. Sending the doses to other states or countries is under consideration, he said.

We particularly continue to order Pfizer doses because of the 12 years and old eligibility that the vaccine allows, he added.

West Virginias has a vaccine sweepstakes that includes prizes ranging from hunting rifles to $1 million. The first prizes are set to be announced June 20, which also marks West Virginias birthday and the end of the mask mandate. The giveaways, which also include Rocky Ridge version Ford F-150 trucks, weekend getaway packages, and college scholarships, will conclude on Aug. 4.

Justice said the state will begin sending out promised $100 gift cards or bonds for residents aged 16 to 35 who got their vaccine. He said they will begin mailing those out on Monday at the latest.
President Moon Jae-in will fly to the U.K. to attend the G7 summit from Friday to Sunday before paying a state visit to Austria and Spain.

He will be accompanied by first lady Kim Jung-sook.

It seems unlikely that Moon will sit down face-to-face with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on the sidelines of the G7 meeting amid a fresh chill in relations. "We have nothing to confirm for now" a Cheong Wa Dae spokesman said when asked about the possibility.

There will probably be no trilateral meeting with Suga and U.S. President Joe Biden, either.

"We're always open to dialogue with Japan," the spokesman added. "We also agree on the need for trilateral cooperation in response to Korean Peninsula issues and regional and global issues. And we're open to cooperation of various kinds between the three countries. There's always the possibility of a 'pull-aside' during the G7 summit."

But White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters, "We don't currently have a trilateral scheduled between the U.S., Japan and [Korea]."

"But I will tell you there's a possibility for virtually anything in these small spaces where you have just... in this case, 10 or 12 leaders in person there in Cornwall," he added.
The Junta de Andalucia's so-called committee of experts, will meet again next Tuesday, 15 June, to analyse the evolution of Covid-19 in the region and determine if any virus control measures can be eased.

The regions Health minister said that the meeting of the Territorial Committee for High Impact Public Health Alerts of Andalucia would look at ten parameters before reaching any decision. But he did explain that the cumulative incidence rate will play a key role in the decision-making process to ease, maintain or adopt new measures.

In the last few hours, the number of new infections in the region has risen and the incidence rate is already close to 190 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, eight tenths more in one day and 8.2 more than seven days ago.

On 6 May, the president of the Junta de Andalucia, Juanma Moreno, outlined that the easing of virus control restrictions in the region would happen in three phases after the end of the national state of alarm.

But the region has remained stuck in the first stabilisation phase which ran from 9 May and was due to end on 31 May.

On Tuesday 1 June, the Andalusian government, after a meeting of the committee of experts, decided that the region would remain in phase 1 of the easing of measures roadmap for at least a further two more weeks and wait for the numbers to stabilise.

The second progress phase was initially scheduled to start on 1 June and last until the 21st of the month. The third, so-called normalisation phase was due to begin on 21 June.

In phase 1 bars and restaurants across Andalucia may open until midnight. Tables will have a maximum of up to eight people indoors and up to 10 outdoors, depending on the health alert level of each municipality. Nightclubs can open until 2am. The capacity at tables will be the same as for the hospitality sector, while dancing is only authorised outside and with a mask, only in health alert level 1 areas.

With regard to swimming pools and beaches there is an obligation to maintain a distance of 1.5 metres between groups out of the water. The capacity varies depending on the health alert level of the municipality. As for theatres, shows, sporting events and bullrings, in municipalities in health alert levels 1 and 2, the groups of spectators must be separated from other groups by seat distance all around, while in municipalities with in health alert levels 3 and 4, the spectators must be separated by 1.5 metres.
DARLINGTON, Ind. (AP)  A man from Indiana and a woman from Iowa were identified Wednesday as the victims of a weekend plane crash in central Indiana.

The single-engine Diamond Katana DA40 aircraft departed from Lift Academy, a flight school in Indianapolis, and crashed about 50 miles away Sunday.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds complained in a letter sent Thursday that the federal government didn't notify her before flying migrant children into the Des Moines airport in April, then shuttling them to other cities as part of an effort to join them with relatives.

In a letter sent to Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Reynolds called for a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on immigration that should address the Biden administrations lack of notice when it moves children through the states.

Although similar migrant children relocation occurred during the Trump and Obama administrations, Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett said the recent flight was different because it occurred late at night and a federal agency initially denied it had organized the flight.

Reynolds claims 19 children were flown into the Des Moines International Airport from Long Beach, California, late on April 22. Two buses were used to transport most of the children to other airports in or near Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and Janesville, Wisconsin. Two children were unified with their sponsors at the Des Moines airport.

Reynolds, a Republican and a Donald Trump supporter, said little about immigration problems when Trump was president despite highly publicized issues, but she has repeatedly sought to focus attention on President Joe Biden's immigration efforts since the Democrat took office.

In the letter, Reynolds said Trump had made significant progress at the nation's southern border and argued Biden's failed policies have incentivized the largest surge in illegal crossings in 20 years, including the largest monthly number of unaccompanied children in history.

Reynolds said the lack of notice about the movement of children through the airport forced law enforcement to investigate whether the flights indicated a criminal act of human trafficking or the federally-sponsored transport of vulnerable children.

The letter also was signed by Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who questioned similar flights into his state.

The travel was arranged by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Administration for Children and Families, which is in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement said in a statement that its mission is to safely care for unaccompanied children until they can be unified with a vetted sponsor, usually a parent or close relative.

Their parents and relatives are located across the United States, and ORR contractors use various transportation modes to unite unaccompanied children with their families. These modes include air and ground transportation options, taking into account child safety and wellness, travel time, and cost-effectiveness. This travel may consist of flights originating from various locations with stops/layovers in different airports," the agency said.

Data from the agency shows 27,417 unaccompanied children have been released to sponsors since October 2020, including 163 in Iowa. Last year, Iowa sponsors took 119 children and 489 were located with Iowa sponsors in 2019.

The agency provided data details numbers of children brought to Iowa since 2015.

Reynolds last month rejected a federal request for the state to help migrant children, saying the need to find homes for them is the presidents problem."

Reynolds stand contrasted with her willingness to accept refugees coming into the United States when Trump raised the issue in 2019. At that time, Trump signed an executive order giving states the right to refuse to take refugees.

Reynolds was among more than 30 governors who said they would accept refugees.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn said in a statement that Reynolds is "only focused on dividing and distracting Iowans from her own record and using a fake crisis to further attacks on our friends and neighbors.

However, Democratic U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, whose district includes Des Moines, also complained that when she asked about reports of the flights, the Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn't clarify the situation.

I join Governor Reynolds in demanding further investigation and disclosure from HHS to determine why this flight was kept secret and why its existence was denied to both the public and to the public officials seeking to learn the whole truth," Axne said in a statement.
NEW YORK (AP)  CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin returned to the network Thursday for the first time in more than seven months after he was caught masturbating on a Zoom call with former colleagues at The New Yorker.

Toobin, in an interview with CNN's Alisyn Camerota, said that he was grateful to CNN for another chance and that he was trying to become the kind of person that people can trust again.

Camerota asked him bluntly, what the hell were you thinking?

Obviously, I wasn't thinking very well or very much, he said.

Toobin was fired from The New Yorker after working there for 27 years, following an investigation into last October's Zoom call. He said he has no excuse for his conduct, but that he mistakenly thought that he was off camera.

Being fired from the magazine was heartbreaking, he said.

I thought this punishment was excessive, he said. But that's why they don't ask the criminal to be the judge in his own case.

He said he's been in therapy, apologized personally to those he let down and has been doing community service at a food bank. He apologized to CNN viewers.

I've got a lot to rebuild, he said. But I feel very privileged and very lucky that I have the opportunity to do that.

CNN said it had no statement about his return.

Following the interview with Camerota  done in studio and not remotely  Toobin launched into legal analysis of a California court decision overturning an assault weapons ban and upcoming events at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Many of us have really missed having your legal analysis on our programs, Camerota said, so let me be the first to welcome you back.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Rhode Island jewelry maker Alex and Ani has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying in the filing it has between $100 million and $500 million in debts.

The company lists assets in a similar range, according to Wednesday's filing.
CHICAGO (AP)  A judge on Thursday ordered a special prosecutor to investigate the Cook County state's attorney's office for any possible wrongdoing, months after a man was cleared in the deaths of two Chicago police officers following nearly 40 years in prison.

Jackie Wilson was in the midst of a third trial in October when a county prosecutor testified that he had a personal relationship with a jail informant who helped convict Wilson at a second trial in 1989.
CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP)  A Virginia jury that found a woman guilty of sexually abusing and making child pornography of her 2-year-old son recommended she serve two life sentences plus 10 years in prison.

The Montgomery County jury took only an hour to convict Kayla Nicole Thomas on Wednesday and just minutes to make a sentencing recommendation, The Roanoke Times reported.

Circuit Court Judge Mike Fleenor will determine whether to accept the jurys recommendation or impose a different sentence at a hearing scheduled for Sept. 23.

Witnesses explained in the day-long trial how Thomas sexually abused Steven Dale Meek II in January 2019 at the request of her boyfriend, McKenzie Kyle Hellman. The toddler died about a week later due to injuries from another incident, according to testimony at other hearings related to the case. Hellman is accused of killing the boy.

Thomas admitted on the witness stand that she performed sex acts with her son and recorded the abuse on her phone. She sent five 30-second clips to Hellman, who was in a bedroom on the other side of the mobile home they shared in Christiansburg.

The 27-year-old said she abused her son because she was terrified that her boyfriend would harm her, the boy and the child she was pregnant with at the time. Thomas testified that Hellman became angry with her after a pregnancy checkup. He claimed she had sex with her doctor and told her to abuse Meek to make up for it, Thomas said.

The couple had dated for about two years and moved in together before Christmas in 2018, a few weeks prior to the abuse. Hellman, also 27, was not related to the 2-year-old.

Thomas was convicted on charges of inanimate object sexual penetration, forcible sodomy, making child pornography and distributing or electronically transmitting child pornography.

In March, another jury found Hellman guilty on child sex and pornography charges. It recommended he be sentenced to two life sentences plus 45 years in prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 29. Hellman is also expected to stand trial starting Aug. 10 on charges of second-degree murder and child abuse related to Meeks death.
SALINA, Kan. (AP)  Authorities identified on Thursday Staff Sgt. Wesley Kubie as the Kansas Air National Guard airman who was killed when a Humvee overturned during a training accident.

The 30-year-old Salina man was among members of the Salina-based 284th Air Support Operations Squadron who were training Tuesday afternoon at the Smoky Hill Air National Guard Range near Salina, the Adjutant Generals Department said in a news release.
FRANKFORT, Ky (AP)  Kentucky's highest court heard clashing views Thursday on the scope of executive powers as it reviewed Republican-backed laws that were meant to limit the Democratic governor's authority to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nearly hourlong Supreme Court hearing came a day before all coronavirus-related capacity limits on Kentucky businesses are being lifted. But the case tests the balance of power between the states executive and legislative branches and will have far-reaching implications for future governors confronted by long-running public emergencies.

The constitutional showdown pits Gov. Andy Beshear against Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who appealed a lower court ruling that temporarily blocked the new laws.

The case revolves around measures passed this year by the GOP-dominated legislature to curb the governor's emergency powers in response to his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Beshear immediately filed a lawsuit after his vetoes of the bills were overridden. The new laws were temporarily blocked by Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd.

Amy Cubbage, Beshear's general counsel, argued at Thursday's hearing that the legislature was micromanaging the pandemic and giving itself a veto over his use of emergency powers.

State Solicitor General Chad Meredith, representing Cameron, said it was the legislature that established those gubernatorial powers in times of emergencies.

They gave it; they can take it away, Meredith told the high court.

Republican lawmakers said the challenged measures were meant to put checks on what they viewed as Beshears overreach in ordering a series of restrictions to combat the viruss spread. The governor maintained the steps he took to limit activity during the pandemic have saved lives.

Kentucky has had more than 7,130 virus-related deaths.

One of the contested laws would limit the governors executive orders in times of emergency to 30 days unless extended by lawmakers. Under another measure, businesses and schools would have to comply either with COVID-19 guidelines from the governor or the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They could follow whichever standard is least restrictive.

Last year, the state Supreme Court upheld the governors authority to issue coronavirus-related restrictions on businesses and individuals to try to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Both lawyers on Thursday tried to gain an advantage from last year's ruling. Meredith said the justices indicated that lawmakers had the authority to change the executive powers law.

The General Assembly did exactly what this court said it could do," he said.

Cubbage countered that the prior ruling recognized that the states response to an emergency is inherently an executive function.

Deputy Chief Justice Lisabeth T. Hughes noted the case's far-reaching ramifications, saying it could apply to a future governor perhaps now in grade school who someday faces a public emergency.

Were looking at an apparatus to deal with emergencies that applies now, in the future and that every single governor ever since its been in existence has used," she said.

Cameron, in a statement after the hearing, said the governor challenged the new laws simply because he did not like them.

"The General Assembly is a separate, co-equal branch of government and legislators must be able to make changes to state law and alter the governors authority without the threat of lawsuits that have no cause or validity, Cameron said.

Beshear told reporters his use of emergency powers had spared Kentucky from the extreme hardships other states endured from what he called our generation's plague.

It would have been irresponsible for a governor not to have the authority to take the actions that were taken here, he said. And it's critical that governors in the future have this power, too.

The Supreme Court also heard arguments Thursday in a second pandemic-related case.

In that Scott County case, Circuit Judge Brian Privett temporarily blocked applying some pandemic-related restrictions to several restaurants and breweries challenging the governors actions. The state Court of Appeals stayed Privetts temporary injunction.

Much of that case becomes moot Friday when virus-related restrictions are lifted, Cubbage said. But she asked the justices to invalidate the judge's order because the plaintiffs challenged the governor's overarching emergency declaration issued at the outset of the public health crisis.

That emergency declaration needs to stay in place for much of the federal funding that we are getting as well as to enable the continuing vaccine effort, Cubbage said.

Later in the day, Kentucky Senate President Pro Tem David Givens said the governor should end the pandemic-related state of emergency.

We cannot continue to operate in a declared emergency and move this state forward the way it should move, Givens, a Republican, said at a news conference.

Oliver Dunford, an attorney representing the businesses, said the continued state of emergency could lead to renewed restrictions if COVID-19 cases spiked again.

"My clients shouldnt have to go back to court every time when weve already got the relief we asked for and the law clearly precludes him from doing so, Dunford said.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Inditex, the Spanish fashion giant that owns stores including Zara, Massimo Dutti and Oysho, has posted a net profit of 421 million euros during the first fiscal quarter of 2021. It compares to the losses of 409 million it suffered during the same period in 2020.

On Wednesday (9 June) the group revealed that thanks to its commitment to online commerce it managed to sell even more than before the Covid-19 crisis, reaching a turnover from May to June (the latest figures available) of some 102 per cent more than in the same period of 2020 and five per cent more than in 2019.

Returning to the first quarter, its sales jumped by 50 per cent to 4.9 billion euros and online sales grew by 67 per cent, exceeding the analysts' forecasts.

With coronavirus restrictions remaining in place in some locations, Inditex revealed that 16 per cent of its stores were still closed in the first quarter of 2021 and the others had capacity restrictions imposed on them in key markets such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Brazil.

"The strategic transformation towards a fully integrated, digital and sustainable business model continues to yield results," said Pablo Isla, president of Inditex.

The firm currently has 6,758 stores in 96 countries, which is 71 fewer than at the end of 2020 and 654 fewer than the year before. The closure of Inditex stores - including Zara, Massimo Dutti and Oysho - has continued, a process that the company calls "takeovers" because it does not mean the dismissal of its employees because workers are integrated into other larger establishments.

The objective is to have a network of stores large enough to have a physical presence in better locations - such as the opening of an 8,000-square-metre store in the Espana Building in Madrid - while having the capacity to integrate a digital store in the same space, explained the company.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Pennsylvanias Republican-controlled Legislature appeared Wednesday to back off a wholesale end to the governors pandemic disaster emergency declaration, with lawmakers working to decide on which regulatory waivers to extend.

The House on Tuesday abruptly passed a bill along party lines to end the declaration, including the hundreds of regulatory waivers that Gov. Tom Wolf's administration had approved under the authority of the emergency declaration going back to March 2020.

But a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, said Wednesday that the Senate was working to keep some of the waivers in place.

With the health and safety of all Pennsylvanians at top of mind in our decisions, we are working to keep health care measures in place for a certain period of time," spokesperson Erica Wright said in a statement.

Wolf, a Democrat, has said that he supports keeping some regulatory waivers in place, particularly for health care professionals, and criticized the House's vote as rejecting valuable resources that will help Pennsylvanians recover from the pandemic.

A vote by Republican lawmakers to end Wolfs pandemic disaster emergency declaration is carrying out what they see as the new powers given to them by voters in last months statewide referendum.

In addition to waiving procurement rules, a key component of a disaster declaration is a governors authority to waive a regulation.

The suspended regulations cover a wide swath of government requirements, including licensing, inspections and training.

Numerous health care licensing regulations were waived to ensure that hospitals could find qualified medical staff more easily as they stretched thin to handle an influx of COVID-positive patients and a wave of demand to administer vaccines.

But the resolution to end the disaster declaration that came out of the House negates all of that, and I think thats a problem, Wolf said at an unrelated news conference Wednesday.

Im not sure that Pennsylvanians really want to go that far back," Wolf said.

Wright said details were being finalized, with Senate votes expected Thursday on several measures, including a resolution to end Wolf's emergency declaration.

Separately, the Senate on Wednesday passed veto-bound legislation to prohibit so-called public-sector vaccine passports and to put limits on a state health secretarys powers when fighting a contagious disease.

The bill passed on party lines, 29-20, and headed to the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives.

If it passes there, it will be met with a veto by Wolf, whose office said the limitations on a health secretarys powers would undermine any attempt to protect public health in any circumstance.

It could end up as just the latest vetoed bill in a long-running fight between Republican lawmakers and Wolf over the governors expansive use of authority during the coronavirus pandemic.

Those pandemic restrictions have largely expired, except for a mask-wearing mandate for the unvaccinated that tracks federal guidance, until June 28 or 70% of adults are vaccinated, whichever is first.

Ending the disaster declaration would not end the mask-wearing mandate because it rests on public health law, the governor's office said.

The bill would strip a state health secretary of power to order people who havent tested positive for a disease to obey travel restrictions, wear masks, undertake certain hygienic practices or isolate at home.

The bills prohibition on vaccine passports applies to state agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts and universities that receive state aid.

It would bar them from requiring a proof of vaccination to use their services, enter their buildings or engage in any of their activities.

The prohibition does not apply to private businesses or organizations.

___

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timelywriter.
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP)  Lawyers for the man charged with killing a Google employee from New York who went missing while out for a run in Massachusetts in 2016 questioned the competency of police investigating the case during a hearing to get DNA evidence thrown out.

Angelo Colon-Ortiz has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in the death of Vanessa Marcotte, 27, in the town of Princeton.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra has engaged a new executive director.

Anwar Nasir is coming to New Orleans from Nebraska, where he is chief revenue and advancement officer for the Omaha Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic's board of trustees said in a news release. He will start the new job on July 19.

The LPO is one of the crown jewels of the Greater New Orleans area. It has proven to be innovative and resilient from its inception and continues to expand its relationship to the community it serves, Nasir said. It is my hope that we can amplify that energy and find new ways to bring music to people near and far.

Before coming to Omaha, Nasir, originally from Philadelphia, held front-office positions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl, the Atlanta Ballet, and the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corp.

We are thrilled to have Anwar join the LPO, bringing with him an impressive track record of audience development and a bold vision for the orchestras role in the community, board President Dwight McGhee said. The LPO has found creative ways to keep the music playing over the last year, and we were looking for an equally creative leader to take us into the future.

Nasir said he wants to make the New Orleans orchestras artistic and education programs more visible and increase their impact in the area.

The Louisiana Philharmonic is a musician-owned co-op created after the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra collapsed under debt in 1991. Nasir will work closely with the 67 musicians, the board, Music Director Carlos Miguel Prieto, and staff.

The LPOs 2021-2022 season opens with a digital festival starting September 10 and a free, in-person community concert on Oct. 19. That will be the first time that the full orchestra has performed together since March 2020.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  Maine lawmakers in both the House and Senate approved am initial bill on Wednesday that aims to open primaries to unenrolled and independent voters.

The 92-52 vote in the House gives initial approval to a bill that would allow unenrolled and independent voters to participate in primary elections without having to register with a certain political party, the Portland Press Herald reported. The Senate previously voted 27-7 in support of the bill.

Additional votes are still necessary for the bill to pass. If it does, it would come into effect during the 2024 election, the newspaper said.

Under Maines current law, independent voters must register with a party in order to cast a ballot in a primary election. They are not allowed to withdraw from the party for at least three months.

This would be a success for the bill's supporters, who have garnered bipartisan support after pushing this legislation for several years, the newspaper said.

Thats very exciting because, oftentimes, voter reform efforts can be partisan, but thats not the case here, said Democratic state Rep. Chloe Maxmin, lead sponsor of the bill.

The state's unenrolled voters account for about one-third of all registered voters.

Republican state Rep. Will Tuell said allowing independent voters to participate in party primaries might be a way to encourage more bipartisanship.

Opponents to the bill said that independent voters already have access to voting; they just have to pick a party.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has yet to say where she stands on the bill.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  A Maine man accused of tampering with pizza dough has pleaded guilty to one of two federal charges of tampering with a consumer product.

Nicholas Mitchell was arrested last October after razor blades and bits of metal were discovered in premade pizza dough sold at Hannaford supermarkets in Maine and New Hampshire, WCSH-TV reported Wednesday.
AP

DALLAS (AP)  A Texas man now faces a capital murder charge in the death of a 4-year-old boy who was found dead in a Dallas street last month.

Dallas police said late Wednesday that Darriynn Brown, 18, will face the new charge for the death of Cash Gernon. Brown already faced a kidnapping charge in the case after authorities said surveillance video showed a man lifting the sleeping child from his bed.
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A man who stabbed nine people at a toddler's birthday party  killing the 3-year-old birthday girl and leaving several others gravely injured  will spend the rest of his life in prison for the crimes, a judge said on Thursday.

Fourth District Judge Nancy Baskin sentenced Timmy Kinner to two life terms in prison plus another 120 years on Thursday after a heart-wrenching hearing that included a grim description of the attack and a recording of a 911 call made by a terrified 8-year-old boy who had been stabbed. At one point, the slain toddler's mother threw a water bottle and tissues at Kinner, prompting court officers to briefly clear the courtroom.

The judge said she didn't think Kinner could ever safely be released into society, and said his sentence needed to be balanced against the lifetime of pain that his surviving victims are experiencing.

Timmy Kinner, 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and 11 other counts including aggravated assault, aggravated battery and use of a deadly weapon in March as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, who agreed not to seek the death penalty.

The mass stabbing on June 30, 2018, was among the most brutal in Boise's history, police said at the time. The victims were all refugees from Syria, Iraq and Ethiopia who fled conflict in their homelands and were resettled in Boise in hopes of a safer life. The attack left many with life-altering injuries.

Kinner, a homeless man originally from Tennessee with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had been staying at the Boise apartment complex with a new acquaintance when he was asked to leave because of bad behavior. Police said he returned the next day and committed the mass stabbing, targeting a group that was outside the complex at the toddler's birthday party.

Little Ruya Kadir was turning 3 and her mother Bitifuu Kadir had just gone inside the complex to get the girl's birthday cake when the attack began. Prosecutor Dan Dinger said a young boy was the first to be stabbed, followed by his aunt who was holding her 2-year-old daughter in her arms. The aunt was stabbed more than a dozen times, and the toddler was stabbed in the chest.

The young boy, meanwhile, ran for help, warning others and calling 911.

Meanwhile, Kinner chased the boy's mother as she fled with her 6-year-old daughter. Dinger said Kinner managed to stab both the mother and daughter and slashed a 7-year-old child across the face. At one point Kinner entered an apartment, and a man was able to force him out of the building despite being stabbed multiple times.

Kinner next attacked a 12-year-old boy, and at some point, attacked Ruya.

He picks her up, he stabs her in the heart, and he throws her to the ground, Dinger said.

Kinner also stabbed Ruya's mother, Bitifuu Kadir, as well as the mother of the 7-year-old child who was slashed in the face. He eventually fled the scene. Police found the knife in a nearby canal.

After Dinger described the attack on Ruya, the child's mother screamed and threw a water bottle and tissue box at Kinner. She repeatedly called Ruya's name as court staffers tried to subdue her. Kinner wasn't hit by the thrown items.

Earlier, Kadir told the court that she wished Kinner had killed her instead, describing her daughter as a very happy girl.

She learned of the attack when a child ran into her apartment.

My daughter was laying by the door. Her eyes were open, my daughters eyes were open, she said. That day I tried to close her eyes. I just didnt want to see her open-eyed. I ran. I just couldnt make it. I just could not rescue her.

Kadir said she would regularly go to the cemetery in the morning to say hello to Ruya, and return at night to say goodnight. She vowed to outlive Kinner.

I will go to where you are buried and I will spit on it, she told him, but that will not bring my daughter back.

Kinner has a history of violent behavior, including a shooting and a slashing incident, Dinger said.

He is a violent person, and he is not afraid to lash out at others, Dinger told the judge.

Defense attorney David Smethers said Kinner was in the midst of a psychotic episode when he attacked the group. He called Julia Yackel, a capital mitigation specialist who researched Kinner's history and childhood, to describe his chaotic upbringing and troubled adulthood.

Yackel said Kinner and his younger siblings were found abandoned in a storage unit when Kinner was just 2, and that he acted as a caretaker to his siblings in early childhood. Both parents were addicted to drugs, she said. As an adult he was committed to a mental health facility for a time because police determined he was a danger to himself and others, Yackel said, but was released without being psychiatric medication.

He was really homeless and flying solo with a major mental illness, Yackel said.

Kinner apologized for the pain he caused, and said he hopes the victims understand that he was having a mental breakdown and didn't intend to attack anyone.

I didnt have any plans to throw my life away and I definitely didnt have any plans to hurt these people, Kinner said. I hate that I took their baby away from them.
NEW YORK (AP)  A New York City man was charged with murder Wednesday in the shooting of a 10-year-old boy killed at a family barbecue by bullets that police say were spurred by a quarrel over a driveway.

Jovan Young, 29, was being held without bail after his arraignment in a case that stirred grief and outrage from the victim's family's Queens neighborhood to City Hall. The boy, Justin Wallace, would have been 11 on Tuesday.

There isnt a parent alive who doesnt mourn this familys loss," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.

A message was left for Young's attorney. His mother, Inita Young, told the Daily News of New York that he wasn't the gunman or even present at the shooting Saturday and turned himself in Tuesday "because he has nothing to hide.

A criminal court complaint cites witnesses and surveillance video as evidence against Young. "He is, in fact, the gunman, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told WPIX-TV.

Justin was a fifth-grader at Challenge Charter School. Katz said the child was at a family barbecue when bullets ripped through a screen door and into his abdomen, also hitting a relative multiple times. According to a criminal complaint, Young was firing at the relative, 29-year-old Kyle Forrester, who was taken to a hospitalized in critical condition but has survived.

Surveillance video released by police showed a man standing on the sidewalk and firing several shots.

Shea told WPIX that based on what police have learned so far, the shooting stemmed from a dispute over a shared driveway earlier in the day.

This is not the first time there has been words over that driveway, he shared, saying that after the disagreement, the gunman returned and fired into the home.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who visited Justin's family on Sunday, has called the shooting a profound injustice. He praised the New York Police Department's work on the case.

When someone does something wrong, at least we need to know and feel that there will be real consequences, the mayor said Wednesday. He is a Democrat, as is Katz.

The police commissioner told cable news station NY1 detectives on the case really took this personally.

I think all of New York City was disgusted by that incident, Shea said.
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SAN JACINTO, Calif. (AP)  Authorities have arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of impersonating a police officer and making a traffic stop in inland Southern California.

Ryan Lee Meeker used his Ford F-150 pickup illegally outfitted with lights and a siren to pull over a vehicle Monday in the French Valley area of Riverside County, the California Highway Patrol said.

The motorist he pulled over realized Meeker wasn't an officer and left the scene. The motorist had a dash camera that recorded the incident and the footage was turned over to the highway patrol, the Press-Enterprise reported.

Investigators identified Meeker, who had his child in the truck during the traffic stop. He was arrested Wednesday and could face charges including impersonating an officer and child endangerment, the highway patrol said.

It wasn't known Thursday if he has an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Officers seized two handguns, four badges marked security and a gun belt from the truck, the highway patrol said.
VALENCE, France (AP)  A 28-year-old Frenchman who described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right patriot was sentenced to four months in prison Thursday for slapping President Emmanuel Macron in the face.

Damien Tarel was also banned from ever holding public office in France and from owning weapons for five years over the swipe Tuesday, which caught Macrons left cheek with an audible thwack as the French leader was greeting a crowd.

During Thursdays trial, Tarel testified that the attack was impulsive and unplanned, and prompted by anger at Frances decline.

He sat straight and showed no emotion as the court in the southeastern city of Valence convicted him on a charge of violence against a person invested with public authority. He was sentenced to four months in prison and handed an additional 14-month suspended sentence. His girlfriend broke down in tears.

Tarel, who shouted a centuries-old royalist war cry as he hit the president, described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right patriot and member of the yellow vest economic protest movement that shook Macrons presidency in 2018 and 2019.

Poised and calm, he firmly defended his action and his views on Macron, without providing details of what policies he wants France to change.

Tarel acknowledged hitting the president with a rather violent slap. When I saw his friendly, lying look, I felt disgust, and I had a violent reaction, he told the court. It was an impulsive reaction... I was surprised myself by the violence.

While he said he and his friends had considered bringing an egg or a cream pie to throw at the president, he said they dropped the idea  and insisted that the slap wasnt premeditated.

I think that Emmanuel Macron represents the decline of our country, he said, without explaining what he meant.

He told investigators that he held right- or ultra-right political convictions without being a member of a party or group, according to the prosecutors office.

The slap called attention to an assortment of ultra-right groups bubbling beneath Frances political landscape, which are considered increasingly dangerous despite their small following.

Macron wouldnt comment Thursday on the trial, but insisted that nothing justifies violence in a democratic society, ever.

Its not such a big deal to get a slap when you go toward a crowd to say hello to some people who were waiting for a long time, he said in an interview with broadcaster BFM-TV. We must not make that stupid and violent act more important than it is.

At the same time, the president added, we must not make it banal, because anyone with public authority is entitled to respect.

Another man arrested in the ruckus that followed the slap, identified by the prosecutor as Arthur C., will be judged at a later date, in 2022, for illegal possession of weapons.

The prosecutors office said as well as finding weapons, police who searched the home of Arthur C. also found a copy of Adolf Hitlers manifesto Mein Kampf, and two flags, one symbolizing Communists and another of the Russian revolution.

Neither Tarel nor Arthur C., also 28, had police records, the prosecutor said.

While crimes in France often take months or years to reach trial, in this case authorities used a special emergency procedure to hold a trial within just two days of the slap. Tarel did not object to the procedure.

Videos showed Macrons attacker slapping the French leaders left cheek and his bodyguards pushing the man away during a quick meet-and-greet with members of the public, who were kept back behind traffic barriers in the winemaking town of Tain-lHermitage.

The attacker was heard to cry out Montjoie! Saint Denis! a centuries-old royalist war cry, before finishing with A bas la Macronie, or Down with Macron.

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Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.
LOUISVILLE, Ky (AP)  A military medical service operation that will provide free health services is coming to eastern Kentucky in July.

Military health care workers will operate clinics roughly between July 10 and July 21 as part of the Operation Gateway Kentucky Innovative Readiness Training Medical Mission, Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday.

They will provide free general medical, dental and optometry services on a first come, first served basis to approximately 1,800 uninsured or underinsured Kentuckians.

The 2019 Medical Service Mission provided medical services to more than 1,800 Kentuckians, and military personnel performed more than 12,000 procedures. The clinics for this year's mission will be located in Bath, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan and Rowan counties.
DENVER (AP)  Denver authorities say a portable traffic sign was hacked to flash the phrases, Burn It Down, Abolish Cops and Support Trans Kids.

The city's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure tells KDVR-TV that the sign was removed after motorists spotted the phrases on Wednesday. The sign was located at an intersection in the city's RiNo neighborhood, just north of downtown.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected a call for an election do-over from a Republican candidate who lost his bid for a county commission seat in Las Vegas by 15 votes.

Stavros Anthony chose the wrong legal method to seek a new election, the court said in an opinion issued Thursday following a hearing in April.
RENO, Nev. (AP)  Nevada has become the latest flashpoint in a national debate over how to teach students about racism and its role in U.S. history, with parents clashing over curriculum proposals.

People wore MAGA hats and waved signs outside a packed school board meeting this week in Reno, while trustees considered expanding K-5 curriculum to include more teaching about equity, diversity and racism.

Opponents say the proposal would lead to the teaching of critical race theory, which seeks to reframe the narrative of American history. Critics say such lesson plans teach students to hate the United States.

A conservative group even suggested outfitting teachers with body cameras to ensure they arent indoctrinating children with such lessons.

You guys have a serious problem with activist teachers pushing politics in the classroom, and theres no place for it, especially for our fifth graders, Karen England, Nevada Family Alliance executive director, told Washoe County School District trustees Tuesday.

District officials there and in Carson City, where a similar debate is playing out, say critical race theory is not part of their plans.

The clashes mirror fights underway throughout the U.S.

In GOP-controlled statehouses, lawmakers have passed measures prohibiting the teaching of critical race theory, a reaction to the nations racial reckoning after last years police killing of George Floyd.

Nevada has bucked that trend. Gov. Steve Sisolak signed legislation this week to add multicultural education to social studies curriculum standards and teach students about the historic contributions of members of additional racial and ethnic groups.

Dr. Jonathan Moore, deputy superintendent of Nevada's education agency, said the laws clarified social studies content themes, which already included concepts like social justice and diversity. The standards do not include critical race theory, which draws a line from slavery and segregation to contemporary inequities and argues racism remains embedded in laws and institutions.

Meanwhile, the Black mother of a mixed-race student is suing a Las Vegas charter school over a Sociology of Change course that covers the concept of privilege as it pertains to race, gender and sexual orientation.

In Reno, the Washoe County School District arranged overflow rooms and set up loudspeakers outside Tuesday's school board meeting to accommodate a large crowd.

Opponents gathered outside carrying signs that read No CRT, CRT teaches racism and The School Board works for the people!

You say theres no CRT (critical race theory) in this curriculum, Sparks resident Bruce Parks told trustees. It is being taught in our schools right now. When you use words and language like white male privilege, systemic racism, thats straight out of CRT.

On the other side of the entrance, students, parents and teachers wore green T-shirts and carried signs with slogans including Amplify Student Voices to signify support for Washoe County School District Students for Change, a group that has pushed for curriculum additions.

These are systemic issues, and theyve been here for a long time. But I think the protests last year really gave light to how divided people were and how polarized people were, said Michael Arreygue, a college student who attended Washoe County schools. Theres people who dont want to acknowledge that these problems exist  that there is systemic racism and injustice.

Superintendent Kristen McNeill recommended the district form a task force to review curriculum instead of implementing the plan. The board approved the task force on Wednesday.

In Carson City, a proposal to incorporate concepts like equity into the strategic plan raised concerns about how schools broach the topic of race.

At a Tuesday school board meeting, parent Jason Tingle said he was worried when he heard talk about critical race theory in schools.

But he reviewed district materials and concluded the fears were unfounded.

"Ive yet to see anything in the curriculum that shows that we are actually going to take a hardcore approach to critical race theory," said Tingle, who has four children enrolled in district schools.

Until our kids come home and show us something different or tell us something different, then we should keep our faith in the school district and let them do what they were sent here to do.

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Sam Metz 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.

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This version corrects the last name of the college student. It is Arreygue, not Arreyguy.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  The New Hampshire Legislature has voted to protect the ability of schools to display the national and state mottos.

The House passed a bill in April specifying that the state can't prohibit schools or school districts from displaying the national In God We Trust motto. The Senate later amended the bill to add the state motto, Live Free or Die, and the House went along with that change on Thursday.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  New Mexico officials are opening up applications next week for the second round of cash payments to residents who are ineligible for federal stimulus funds, including immigrants in the country without legal permission.

The application window for the $5 million program opens Monday, the Human Services Department announced Thursday, and closes June 25.

Applicants must be New Mexico residents who didnt qualify for the $1,400 federal stimulus checks.

Immigrants in the country illegally were among those who applied in the last round, often using their tax identification numbers and state drivers licenses to prove residency.

Others eligible for the money include elderly residents that can be claimed as dependents by caretakers and others excluded by IRS rules.

The department says it will prioritize the lowest-income applicants and may dole out less than the $750 authorized by the state legislature in order to help the most people with the highest need. Around 15,000 people received checks of about $465 each from a similar round of state funding in December, excluding around half of those who applied.

The New Mexico state legislature funds the program with an appropriation from federal pandemic relief funds. Cities like Albuquerque and Santa Fe have similarly aided residents ineligible for federal payments, using their own pandemic relief dollars.

State and local officials have also distributed billions of dollars in pandemic relief to businesses and individuals who are also eligible for direct federal relief payments.

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Attanasio 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 under-covered issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  It will be unlawful for oil and natural gas drillers to spill liquid waste under revised rules adopted Thursday by New Mexico oil and gas regulators.

The unanimous vote by the state Oil Conservation Commission comes after the panel heard testimony from environmentalists, industry representatives and residents during a daylong hearing.

The changes stem from a joint proposal by the states energy agency and the environmental group WildEarth Guardians.

Before now, New Mexico did not have a rule that expressly prohibited drillers from spilling oil, waste water from the drilling process or other liquids. Instead, companies were required to report spills and then work with the state to clean it up.

Industry representatives told the commission that leeway should be given to operators who sustain spills because of weather events, vandalism, equipment breakdowns and other things beyond their control.

Critics argued that the previous rules were inadequate and relied on an honor system that not all operators adhered to, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

Environmentalists during the hearing pointed to state data that showed there were roughly 12,000 spills and releases between 2010 and 2020.

Daniel Timmons of WildEarth Guardians said in a statement that the changes will provide incentive for companies to prevent spills from happening in the first place.
HONOLULU (AP)  Grand jurors have declined to indict three Honolulu police officers in a shooting that killed a 16-year-old boy.

The Honolulu prosecuting attorney's office said it presented evidence to a grand jury Wednesday seeking indictments of the three officers. The grand jury declined to return indictments for any of the officers in the April 5 shooting that killed Iremamber Sykap, it said.

Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm is also investigating an April 14 Honolulu police shooting that killed 29-year-old Lindani Myeni.

Police said Sykap was driving a stolen Honda linked to an armed robbery, burglary, purse snatching and car theft and led officers on a chase. Medical records provided by an attorney representing Sykap's mother and grandmother in a lawsuit say the teen was shot in the back of the head and shoulders.

Police have refused to release officer body camera footage from the shooting.

Police work is difficult, and officers must sometimes make split-second decisions in potentially deadly situations, interim Police Chief Rade Vanic said. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to do the best we can to protect and serve our community. We are appreciative of the jurys time and consideration.

Eric Seitz, an attorney representing Sykap's family, said he wants to see transcripts from the grand jury proceedings.

My clients are very distressed about the news that they got today, he said, adding that he wants prosecutors to explain to the family what happened.

They've had no contact from the prosecutor's office, he said. We had no knowledge of what was going on.

Transcripts will be the only way the public can know what evidence prosecutors presented during the secret proceedings, said Kenneth Lawson, a professor at the University of Hawaii's law school.

You've heard you can indict a ham sandwich. It doesn't take much to get an indictment from a grand jury," he said.

Lawson said he's not surprised there are no indictments, partly because the teen was Micronesian.

Micronesians in Hawaii are viewed the way Black and brown people are viewed on the mainland  less than, said Lawson, who is Black.

Jacquie Esser, a state deputy public defender not involved in the case, said she's also not surprised. Grand juries largely favor police, so it's no surprise that they came back with a no bill" of indictment, she said.

Prosecutors could still seek charges against the officers through a preliminary hearing, where a judge determines if there's probable cause, she said.

The Department is still reviewing the matter and won't be commenting further at this time, said Matt Dvonch, special counsel to the prosecuting attorney.
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP)  Authorities have identified a man who was killed earlier this week in a shootout with police in western Nebraska following an hourslong standoff at a Scottsbluff home.

Daniel Ojeda, 47, was fatally wounded in the shootout, the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office said Thursday in a news release. The Attorney Generals Office will conduct the grand jury investigation into Ojedas death, which is required by state law whenever someone being arrested or in police custody dies.
SALEM, Ore. (AP)  The Oregon Legislature gave final passage Wednesday to a bill to protect homeless campers in public spaces.

The measure, which goes to Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, mandates that any city or county law must be reasonable if it regulates sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property.

Among those championing the bill was Jimmy Jones, executive director of the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, which assists those experiencing homelessness.

The bill before you will regulate the time, place, and manner that public camping can be policed. It will give us a chance to give the people living in these conditions a little dignity, a few more services, and it will give us a chance to show that we believe that the Constitution applies to all of us, Jones testified to a House committee in March.

The bill passed the House on April 15 and the Senate on Wednesday.

Under the measure, a homeless person charged with violating a ban on camping or loitering would have an affirmative defense against a law that is not objectively reasonable. A person experiencing homelessness may also sue to challenge the objective reasonableness of a city or county law, and be awarded attorney fees if the plaintiff prevails

Eric Mitton, deputy city attorney for Medford, testified that the city supported the measure because it recognizes the rights of people experiencing homelessness while also recognizing the rights of municipalities to reasonably regulate their public property so it remains available to all for its intended uses.

The Marion County Board of Commissioners opposed it, however, saying the measure would limit local control of the homeless crisis facing Oregon.

This bill would place residents in our communities at risk by restricting local government's power to limit homeless camps, commissioners Kevin Cameron, Danielle Bethell and Colm Willis wrote.

Legal experts testified that the bill's standards are consistent with recent federal case law.

The Oregon Law Center noted that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that homeless people cannot be punished for sleeping outside on public property in the absence of adequate alternatives, or unless the law imposes reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on regulated activities in public space.

Passage of (the bill) will preserve the important pieces of the cases in state law, written in a way that has been agreed upon by key stakeholders, said Becky Straus, staff attorney with the Oregon Law Center.

If Brown signs the bill, it will take effect on July 1, 2023.

Straus said it would force local governments to review their camping and related ordinances "in a way that recognizes the reality of Oregons rising rates of homelessness."

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Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky
MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. (AP)  A fight that broke out at the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville, West Virginia, involved makeshift weapons and left three inmates injured.

The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is investigating overcrowding issues at the facility after the June 3 incident, The Intelligencer of Wheeling reported.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP)  Pakistani police have arrested a cleric after a video of him went viral on social media, in which he threatens Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai over her recent comments about marriage, officials said Thursday.

The cleric, Mufti Sardar Ali Haqqani, was arrested in Lakki Marwat, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Wednesday, said Waseem Sajjad, a local police chief.

In the video, the cleric threatens to target Malala with a suicide attack when she returns to Pakistan, allegedly because of her comments earlier this month to British Vogue magazine about marriage that he claims insulted Islam.

Yousafzai has been living in Britain since 2012, after the Pakistani Taliban shot and seriously wounded her. She was just 15 years old at the time and had enraged the Taliban with her campaign for girls education.

At one point in the Vogue interview, Malala says: I still dont understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why cant it just be a partnership?

The remark caused a stir on social media in Pakistan and angered Islamists and clerics like Haqqani. Under Islamic laws, couples cannot live together outside marriage.

Malala's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, defended her on Twitter, saying her remarks were taken out of context.

Malala, now 23, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for working to protect children from slavery, extremism, and child labor. She briefly visited Pakistan in 2018.

She remains highly popular in Pakistan but is also widely criticized by Islamists and hard-liners.

In February, Malala's 2012 attacker threatened a second attempt on her life, tweeting that next time, there would be no mistake. Twitter subsequently permanently suspend the account with the menacing post.

The threat prompted Yousafzai to tweet herself, asking both the Pakistani military and Prime Minister Imran Khan to explain how her alleged shooter, Ehsanullah Ehsan, had escaped from government custody.

Ehsan was arrested in 2017, but escaped in January 2020 from a so-called safe house where he was being held by Pakistans intelligence agency. The circumstances of both his arrest and escape have been shrouded in mystery and controversy.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  When Oregons most populous city had a rampant gang problem 30 years ago, Portland detectives were stunned if they found more than a few dozen bullet casings after a shooting. Now, police are recording multiple shootings a week with 50 to 70 shots fired, and in one case more than 150, as gang attacks and retaliatory shootings again spiral into a vicious cycle.

With more bullets comes more bloodshed. There have been 37 homicides in Oregons largest city so far this year, more than six times the number recorded in the same period last year. If nothing changes, Portland will surpass its all-time record for homicides of 70 set in 1987, when the city was in the midst of a gang siege.

The violence has deeply affected Portland, a liberal city that continues to grapple with the role of its police force more than a year after thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters demanded change following the murder of George Floyd.

The surge in gang-related shootings, which has disproportionately impacted people of color, puts the spotlight on a sensitive and polarizing topic  felt in major cities across the country  where violence is increasing as people continue to call for defunding police.

This touches all of us, said Portland Pastor Matt Hennessee, a longtime anti-gun violence activist whose 33-year-old stepson was shot and killed in a parking lot in May. I have lived here for 32 years and I have always seen this city as a safe place. This is not the Portland that we know.

Police estimate half of Portlands 470 shootings this year, which have injured more than 140 people, are gang-related. Mayor Ted Wheeler warned last month that perpetrators are being told by gangs to shoot someone within 30 days or be shot and that people are traveling from other states to engage in violence in the Rose City.

People are scared. They are angry. They are fed up, said Portland Police Sgt. Ken Duilio.

Portlands pervasive gang violence in the 90s  when it was estimated that there were 2,500 people in up to 600 gangs in the area  left a crimson stain on recent city history. But now, following the pandemic shut down and Floyds murder, paired with a diminishing police presence, community leaders say the problem has returned.

While the number of shootings is comparable to the 90s, police and residents say the boldness of the shooters and amount of shots fired surpass what they have seen before. Gangs are also no longer waiting for the typical tit-for-tat cycle in targeting of a rival, but instead immediately shooting again at places such as vigils  injuring up to seven people at a single event.

You have multiple shooters  thats kind of a new phenomenon  multiple guns and lots of shots being fired, said Duilio, who added more gunshots increases the odds of bystanders being hit, including most recently a newspaper carrier, Uber driver and city bus driver.

While all agree that Portland has a problem, how to solve it is where people splinter.

There are a lot of bullets being fired in this area  all over the place, Duilio said. But the police bureau is underfunded, understaffed and under supported.

The rise in violence comes at a time when the Portland Police Bureaus staffing is at its lowest in decades  the department is more than 100 officers short of authorized strength, as determined by the city.

In the past nine months, the department has experienced a rapid turnover with more than 120 officers having left the department, many citing low morale and burnout from nightly racial justice protests that would end in confrontation and plumes of teargas. During that time, while officers' priorities were shifted to protests, Portland was also experiencing its deadliest year in more than a quarter-century.

Despite police pleas for more personnel, city leaders slashed $27 million from the police budget  $11 million due to the pandemic-caused budget crisis and $15 million amid calls to defund the police  vowing to devote money to community groups working to curb gun violence.

Police cant prevent shootings," said Portland activist Royal Harris. "That part of it, we as a community have to work together to prevent these things instead of looking at it as a police approach.

Officials also disbanded a specialized unit focused on curbing gun violence that had long faced criticism for disproportionately targeting people of color  a decision that some residents impacted by gun violence are still questioning.

You took away the gun violence reduction team. There is nobody in this city doing traffic stops of these armed, violent shooters traveling the city looking for their rivals to shoot and who are going to vigils and lighting up an entire crowd, said Duilio.

Jo Ann Hardesty, the first Black woman elected to the City Council and who pushed to cut the unit, maintains disbanding the team last summer was the right decision.

The police have a role but their role is simply to solve crime  their role is not to prevent crime, their role is not to intervene in other community activities, Hardesty told KOIN 6 last month. A response to gun violence should not be a knee-jerk reaction.

But as gun violence continued into 2021, leaders were forced to re-evaluate. More officers have been assigned to shootings, the police bureau has teamed up with the FBI to investigate crimes and the U.S. Attorney for Oregon has ramped up efforts to prosecute gun violence cases. But efforts to refund even a portion of the cuts have been controversial.

In addition, City Council voted to create a team of 12 officers and two sergeants to address gun violence, but with no additional funds.

Chief Chuck Lovell said the department is so lean right now that officials will likely have to pull officers from patrol, domestic violence or human trafficking investigations to support the new team.

Duilio said while funding organizations and social services is important, it is only a portion of the solution and should not compete with police funding.

They both need to happen, Duilio said. If you can get a 15-year-old and get him on the right track where he is not involved in shootings every other week, that is great. But to really quell this intense level of violence that we are seeing right now, it is going to take uniform police officers to stop those cars that are traveling from Point A to Point B for a shooting."

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Cline 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.
MORROW, Ga. (AP)  A shouting match led to dozens of gunshots and one person wounded Thursday at a mall southeast of Atlanta, authorities said.

Local news outlets report officers were called to Southlake Mall in Morrow just before 3 p.m.

We believe there may have been a verbal altercation inside the mall that migrated to the exterior of the mall and then there were multiple groups of shooters firing back and forth, Morrow Police Sgt. Eli Skelton told WAGA-TV.

Skelton said a 28-year-old man was shot in the thigh and taken to a hospital. The victim is expected to recover.

Police say they detained seven people for questioning, but no charges were immediately announced. An estimated 25 shots were fired, with officers taping off a parking lot outside a Macy's store to investigate. It's not clear what led to the shouting.

Like 15 younger kids, they just started running, like I guess they were meeting up at the mall to come shot or come fight, Nelida Smith told WAGA-TV. One of them just starting shooting inside the mall and the whole mall just started to disperse. We started running back into the store to get to safety.

Paramedics treated three people for anxiety attacks, and many other shoppers said there were scary moments

Scared. I was scared trying to get cover," is how Jada Smith described her reaction to WSB-TV. "You dont know where the bullets are coming from, Smith said.

Several vehicles were also damaged in the shootout, and some cars were towed.
A state appeals court has tossed out a Sheboygan Falls mans sexual assault conviction because a police officer lied when he told him that hed never get a chance to testify at his trial.

Daniel Rejholec pleaded guilty in 2018 to sexually assaulting his girlfriends 14-year-old daughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He argued on appeal that Sheboygan Police Detective Eric Edson coerced him to confess by telling him hed never get a chance to testify.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  Hartford police say they have recovered the rifle used in a shooting that took the life of a city woman who was inside her apartment cooking when she was hit by a stray bullet.

Police Chief Jason Thody said no arrests have been made in the Wednesday evening killing of 56-year-old Sylvia Cordova, but investigators have significant leads.

Cordova was found dead inside her apartment by police doing a neighborhood canvas after responding to reports of shots fired, Thody said.

He said the shot came from the street and was targeting someone else in a dispute that had nothing to do with that area.

She was truly an unintended victim in this, he said.

Thody said the rifle, which he described as an assault-style weapon, was recovered about 10 hours after the shooting. He did not say how or where it was located.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said the shooting points to the need for a national ban on assault rifles, saying that while such weapons are illegal in Connecticut, they are often brought into the city from out of state.

There are now words to describe our community's anger and frustration and grief at a loss of life like this, he said.

Authorities said the shooting was unrelated to a second homicide, which occurred less than 30 minutes later in another part of the city.

In that case, Trelique Ward, 22, of East Hartford, was killed in an exchange of gunfire, Thody said. The suspect in that case, Aubrey Perry, 35, of Hartford, was wounded in the shooting and will be charged with murder when he is medically capable," Thody said.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Polk Countys long-serving top prosecutor, who has faced criticism for his decisions to charge a journalist and others in last years protests over racial inequality, has announced he will not run for reelection.

Television station KCCI first reported County Attorney John Sarcone's announcement Wednesday that he will not seek a ninth term next year. Sarcone is a Democrat who has served as the countys top prosecutor since 1991, but he has faced recent criticism for his prosecution of protesters and especially Des Moines Register journalist Andrea Sahouri.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Robert Durst, the multimillionaire real estate heir on trial in the killing of his best friend, was hospitalized Thursday for an unspecified health issue, according to the judge in the long-delayed trial.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark E. Windham said in court that Durst was sent to a hospital in the jail system for some incident this morning involving his health," the Los Angeles Times reported.

Windham said jail staff found the 78-year-old down and not in his wheelchair Thursday morning. The judge dismissed the jury and delayed the proceeding to Monday morning.

Chip Lewis, one of Dursts attorneys, had no information about his clients condition. All we know is that he was hospitalized earlier this morning, Lewis wrote in an email to the Times.

Durst has been escorted into court each morning in a wheelchair since the trial resumed last month after a 14-month delay because of the coronavirus pandemic.

He has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of his friend Susan Berman, who was shot in the back of the head in her Los Angeles home in December 2000. Prosecutors say he silenced Berman before she could tell police she helped him cover up the killing of his wife, Kathie, in New York in 1982.

Durst, an eccentric worth more than an estimated $100 million, is being held without bail. He is only charged with Bermans killing but prosecutors are using his wifes disappearance and neighbors slaying in Texas to build their case against him.

The cases were the subject of the HBO documentary, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst."
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  The Michigan Senate voted Thursday to give drivers more time to renew expired licenses and vehicle registrations during the coronavirus pandemic and to pressure Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to restore people's ability to visit branches without an appointment.

The bills won approval from all 19 Republicans in the majority and six of 16 Democrats. The voting came days after Benson, who opposes a return to a broken take-a-number system but is facing legislative criticism, said greeters have been stationed outside busier offices to help motorists book an appointment if they did not make one online or by phone.

The legislation headed to the GOP-led House would extend the expiration date of plates, driver's licenses and state ID cards that expired after March 1, 2020, to Sept. 30. A 13-month grace period ended March 31, leading to a backlog as residents seek to conduct transactions.

Benson, a Democrat, is adding 350,000 appointment slots and letting people who need a disability placard come with no appointment. But lawmakers, particularly Republicans, say there should again be a walk-in option for everyone.

The bills would require Benson to submit a report detailing a plan to reopen all branches for in-person services without an appointment. The Department of State could not charge late renewal fees for plates, driver's licenses and ID cards until walk-in business is offered at least eight hours each day an office is open.

The decision to end same-day services and go to an appointment-only system does not work when people still can't get an appointment for months in many areas, said Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Holly Republican and sponsor of one bill.

Benson has said reinstating the walk-in option would not work because staff would be diverted. She renewed her call for legislators to increase her department's funding.

Frankly, its astounding that any senator would force their own constituents backward into a system that already proved a failure, Benson said in a statement. In 2018, walk-in service and appointments were both offered 40 hours per week, but average office wait times had tripled and countless residents had no choice but to take time off work and pay for child care to wait in line for hours if not entire days.

Her office has said expirations should be lengthened on a rolling basis instead of to a single day, to avoid placing pent-up demand on the system after Sept. 30.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  A North Carolina man accused of sexually molesting a minor was sentenced on Thursday to 30 years in prison for making child pornography, federal prosecutors said.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said Raul Ayala Jr., 72, of Angier pleaded guilty to the charges in April.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  The skeletons of two related Viking-era men, one who died in central Denmark and the other who was killed in England during a massacre ordered by a king, are set to be reunited for an exhibition opening in Copenhagen this month.

Scientists on both sides of the North Sea have established a genetic link between the Norsemen. DNA tests showed that they are either half brothers or nephew and uncle, University of Copenhagen geneticist Eske Willerslev said.

The man from the central Denmark island of Funen was a farmer in his 50s; his skeleton was excavated in 2005 near the town of Otterup. He stood 182-centimeters-tall (just under 6 feet), had arthritis in most of his bones and signs of inflammation inside some ribs which could indicate tuberculosis, according to Odense City Museums chief curator Jesper Hansen.

The man likely took part in the raids for which Vikings remain notorious because he also has a violent lesion on his left pelvis, which may have originated from a proper stab from a sword. The wound from that blow may have cost him his life because it did not heal, Hansen said in a statement.

Across the North Sea, the skeleton of a younger man was found in a mass grave near Oxford, England in 2008 with the remains of at least 35 other men. All were killed more than 1,000 years ago when the king ordered the slaying of dozens of Danish settlers.

He died of massive injuries from several types of weapons, Lasse Soerensen, head of research at the National Museum of Denmark, said. His skull shows traces of at least nine lesions caused by a sword or other sharp object, and the skeleton also revealed signs he was speared several times in the back.

The pair of skeletons will be displayed as part of an exhibit titled Togtet - Danish for The Raid - that opens June 26 at the National Museum of Denmark.

From the year 850 A.D, people from Denmark settled in England as farmers. King Aethelred II ordered the Danes - adults and children - to be killed in 1002.

During the Viking Age, considered to be from 793 to 1066, Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest and trading throughout Europe. They also reached North America.
ST. LOUIS (AP)  St. Louis police have identified a man who was shot to death at a childs birthday party over the weekend and have announced an arrest in the case.

The Saturday evening shooting killed William Kennedy, 27, of St. Louis, police confirmed to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Police said Kennedy was attending the party being held in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood when he was shot by another person at the party.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  A statue commemorating York, an enslaved Black member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was defaced this week in Portland, Oregon.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that while the bust itself was unmarked, symbols and words, including love not hate, were spray-painted in purple lettering onto the gray pedestal underneath. A plaque describing York had also been spray-painted over and then removed, leaving behind a blank square framed in purple.
BROOKWOOD, Ala. (AP)  Miners striking against an Alabama coal company say they're being targeted on the picket line.

In a video on YouTube, a red truck can be seen hitting one picketer, while another view shows a black truck driving through a line with one striking miner barely getting out of its path, al.com reported.

The incidents have occurred over the last few days, said Larry P. Spencer, United Mine Workers of America International vice president for District 20.

It looks like there are guys coming off the road pretty fast, Spencer said. Our people dont have any time to get out of the way.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office told al.com that they were unaware of any reports related to the incidents.

In a statement, Warrior Met Coal said it was granted a court-ordered injunction to maintain a safe environment for its employees, including those actively at work and those currently on strike.

This injunction was put in place due to unlawful activity on the picket lines early during the strike, to allow for peaceful ingress and egress to our facilities, as well as maintain public safety, the company said. Among other items, the injunction specifically prohibits picketers from interfering, hindering or obstructing ingress and egress to the companys properties. This is a stressful situation for all individuals involved, and continued violations of the injunction have resulted in recent incidents.

A walkout by 1,100 workers at the company began April 1 after contract talks failed. Members said they made sacrifices to save the company a few years ago and want better pay and health benefits.

Miners rejected the companys initial offer less than two weeks after the strike began, and Mine Workers International President Cecil Roberts said the company has refused to engage in meaningful negotiations.

Warrior Met Coal has continued with operations during the strike. The company produces coal used in steel production in Asia, Europe and South America.

UMWA International President Cecil Roberts blamed the company for the alleged attacks, saying members are concerned about their families and potential of violence against them if they come to the picket line.

We have been to court on multiple occasions regarding what we can and cannot do on the picket lines and our members respect the guidance of the court, Roberts said. Warrior Met seems to believe that it is all right to strike people with cars as they engage in legal, protected activity. This is a dangerous course of action that can swiftly lead to events spiraling out of control. That is the last thing anyone should want.

Warrior Met Coals statement said the company does not condone any acts of violence.

We are thankful for the support of local law enforcement as we navigate through these issues, the company said. We remain committed to active negotiations with the goal of reaching a fair contract that protects jobs and ensures the longevity of the company.
PHOENIX (AP)  Traffic stops of Hispanic drivers by the sheriffs office in metro Phoenix were more likely to last longer and result in searches or arrests than those of white drivers, according to a new study eight years after the agency was found to have racially profiled Hispanics in immigration crackdowns.

The report released Tuesday echoes some of the same conclusions from past traffic enforcement studies aimed at identifying signs of racial bias in stops by Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzones office. The agency is required to produce the reports as one of the remedies to a 2013 verdict that found officers profiled Hispanics in then-Sheriff Joe Arpaios traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.

Though the study doesnt conclude officers are still profiling Latinos, it said the enforcement disparities are concerning because they identify possible systematic racial bias and its effect on our community.

In a statement, Penzone said his office will continue working on methods to mitigate the disparate outcomes in our patrol function, as well as root out racial bias, where it exists. I remain committed to ethical, constitutional policing practices at the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office.

Raul Pina, who serves on a community advisory board set up to help improve trust in the sheriffs office, criticized the report for what he said was a reliance on euphemisms to describe discriminatory policing, rather than squarely calling it racial profiling.

Its a horrific problem if you are a Hispanic driver, Pina said. Its a disservice for them to continue picking it apart and playing verbal gymnastics and this PR campaign to try to clean this up when its impacting peoples lives.

In response to the criticism, Penzones office said the study doesnt evaluate the pre-stop behavior of officers, but rather is focused on patterns of deputy behavior after stops are made.

The study examined more than 20,000 traffic stops made by the sheriffs office in 2020.

After the profiling verdict, a judge ordered the agency to retrain officers on making constitutional traffic stops, establish a warning system to identify problematic behavior by officers, equip deputies with body cameras and intervene with officers flagged for having statistical differences from their peers in how they have treated Latinos. The sheriffs office also has incorporated lessons on implicit bias in its training curriculum.

Three months ago, the lawyers who won the profiling case complained that the agency stopped looking for deputy-level bias in traffic-stop data collected after June 2017 and hadnt completed an intervention with a deputy to address indications of bias since early 2019.

Penzones office responded by saying a pilot program using traffic-stop data for officer interventions began in 2021. Penzone said none of the 17 bias complaint investigations his office completed for the one-year period ending on March 31 were sustained.

In another development in the profiling case, Penzone faces a Thursday deadline for saying whether he will contest a claim that hes in contempt of court for noncompliance with a court-ordered overhaul of his agencys internal affairs operation, which has a backlog of 1,800 cases, each taking an average of 500 days to complete.

Arpaio, who served six terms as sheriff and is running for his old job again this year, conducted traffic patrols targeting immigrants from January 2008 until the spring of 2013. His refusal to stop the patrols led to his criminal contempt of court conviction, though he was spared a possible jail sentence when he was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump.

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.
BETHEL PARK, Pa. (AP)  A woman was driving under the influence when she tried to run over two children in a school parking lot and made racial slurs about one of the youths, authorities said.

Haley Jankowski, 18, of Bethel Park, faces numerous charge stemming from the June 2 altercation in the western Pennsylvania community. She has denied the allegations, saying she was not trying to hit the youths but instead was trying to flee the scene because a large crowd was converging on her car and throwing bricks and rocks at it.
WICHITA FALLS, Texas (AP)  A Texas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to plotting to blow up an Amazon data center in Virginia, federal prosecutors said

Seth Aaron Pendley, 28, of Wichita Falls, entered his plea before a federal magistrate judge in Wichita Falls, according to a statement from acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah of the Northern District of Texas.

According to his plea documents, Pendley admitted that he planned to blow up the servers at the Amazon data center in Ashburn, Virginia, and revealed the plan last February on the Signal encrypted messaging app. He told a source who responded to his message that he hoped the attack would kill off 70% of the internet.

The source offered to help Pendley obtain C4 plastic explosives, then introduced him in March to an undercover FBI agent posing as a supplier of explosives. In recorded conversations, Pendley told the agent that he wanted to blow up Amazon web servers that he believed served the FBI, CIA and other federal agencies. Pendley told the agent the he hoped it would trigger a backlash from the oligarchy that would convince Americans to act against a dictatorship.

Pendley also told the agent that he had been present at the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and that although he did not enter the building, he came prepared with a sawed-off assault-style rifle that he left in his car.

On April 8, Pendley met the agent to pick up what turned out to be a decoy bomb that the agent also told him how to arm and detonate. When he loaded the decoy into his car, Pendley was arrested. A search of his home revealed the sawed-off AR-15 rifle, a pistol painted to look like a toy gun, masks, wigs, and notes and flashcards related to the planned Amazon attack.

Pendley faces a prison sentence of five to 20 years when he is sentenced Oct. 1.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Opening statements have started this week for a trial against a New Mexico man prosecutors say raped and killed 6-year-old Ariana Jade Romeo in August 2018.

Jades mother, Stephanie Romeo, told a jury on Wednesday that she came home from a long night of work and climbed into the bed beside her daughter without realizing the girl was dead. Romero recounted that the following morning on Aug. 11 she tried to wake the girl up.

Court records show Ariana Romeo, who was mostly nude and bloodied, was cold to the touch, not breathing and wrapped tightly in a blanket. She also had multiple injuries to her body. The medical examiners office ruled her death as homicide by strangulation.

The Rio Rancho Police Department responded to the home where an officer encountered a man, later identified as a suspect, Leland Hust, 24, leaving a room in the home. It is unclear what, if anything, Hust told police that day.

A criminal complaint revealed detectives later interviewed Hust on Aug. 23, where he told detectives he last saw Ariana Romeo on Aug. 10 when he put on a movie for her in her room. He denied having anything to do with her death. The complaint also said laboratory results from the New Mexico State Crime Lab matched Hust's DNA to DNA found from the girl's genital swabs.

Hust is charged with intentional child abuse resulting in death and rape of a child younger than 13, both first-degree felonies. Hust could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of either charge.

His attorney Michael Rosenfield told jurors that police botched the investigation and later coerced Hust into making incriminating statements by overstating the strength of DNA evidence implicating Hust, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

This is a murky case based on insufficient investigation, Rosenfield said, noting during his opening statement that sloppy police work destroyed evidence at the scene that could have identified the killer.

Assistant District Attorney Jannette Mondragon argued that Hust was the only member in the home who could not be eliminated as a source of the DNA. She also said he was the last person to see her alive, a claim Rosenfield disputed.

Two Rio Rancho firefighters and the owner of the home, Brenda Scates, were also called to testify.

The trial is expected to last up to 10 days.
LONDON (AP)  British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic following a series of damaging allegations from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's former top adviser.

Facing questioning from lawmakers, Hancock said Thursday that he had no idea why Dominic Cummings had a dispute with him and that he'd become aware that Cummings had wanted him fired.

I'm not responsible for anybody else's testimony, but I'm really pleased to have the chance to come here to be able to tell you the truth, Hancock said.

Two weeks ago, Cummings told lawmakers investigating the virus outbreak in the U.K. that Hancock should have been fired for a series of lies and for a litany of errors during the pandemic. Among the charges, Cummings said Hancock had claimed that during the early stages of the pandemic that people discharged from hospitals were being tested for the virus before going back to their nursing homes.

Cummings had told lawmakers he would send them evidence to back up his claims. Hancock said it was telling that Cummings had not produced anything yet.

Hancock denied that he had said anything to the prime minister that he knew to be untrue and added that Johnson's Conservative government was functioning better as a result of Cummings' departure at the end of last year.

I think the best thing to say about this, and this will be corroborated by lots of people in government, the best thing to say, is that government has operated better in the past six months," Hancock said.

In his testimony, Cummings also lashed out at Johnson, saying he was unfit for the job of prime minister and that tens of thousands of people had died needlessly during the pandemic primarily because of delays in ordering a succession of lockdowns.

The U.K. has recorded nearly 128,000 coronavirus-related deaths, more than any other nation in Europe. After a devastating winter surge of infections, deaths have fallen sharply following a strict months-long lockdown and the rapid rollout of vaccines.

The improved backdrop has allowed lockdown restrictions to be eased in the U.K. over the past couple of months. However, there are concerns that the next planned easing on June 21, where social distancing restrictions were to be lifted, may have to be delayed because of a recent spike in new infections largely due to the delta variant that was first identified in India.

The U.K. recorded 7,393 new infections Thursday, just down from the previous day's more than three-month high. Though the number of people being hospitalized with the virus rose by 153 to 1,048, it's still way down from nearly 40,000 at the peak of the second surge in January.

The hope is that the rapid rollout of vaccines will dramatically break the link between new infections, hospitalizations and deaths. So far, the evidence suggests that a large proportion of the people being infected are in younger age groups, many of whom have yet to receive a first dose.

Johnson will decide Monday whether the next easing can take place.

Hancock also said he had been made aware in late-January 2020 that 820,000 people in the U.K. could die from COVID-19 in a worst-case scenario, but said ordering a lockdown a week or two before one was actually announced on March 23, 2020, would have gone against scientific advice.

The clear advice at the time was that theres only a limited period that people would put up with it, would put up with lockdown," he said. Now that proved actually to be wrong.

Hancock's claim that an earlier lockdown would have gone against the scientific consensus was dismissed by a leading British scientist.

It is an old claim that has been comprehensively debunked, said Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

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CHICAGO (AP)  An unmasked Chicago man denied entry onto a city bus faces attempted murder and weapons charges after allegedly firing shots at the vehicle, police said.

Fred White, 37, was arrested Tuesday night after shooting at a Chicago Transit Authority bus on the far South Side, police said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. leveled sanctions Thursday against a Yemeni network that it claims was cooperating with Iran's Revolutionary Guard to illicitly transfer tens of millions of dollars to Yemen's Houthi rebels.

At the same time, the Biden administration also announced it was lifting sanctions on three former Iranian oil executives and two companies that it said had been involved in banned petroleum sales, saying the U.S. had verified a change in status or behavior" on their part. Neither the State Department nor the Treasury Department would elaborate further on the reason for the de-listings.

The departments of State and Treasury announced both moves in simultaneous statements that come as the administration is trying both to press the Iranian-linked Yemen rebels into peace talks for the war in Yemen, and close a deal returning the United States and Iran to an accord on Iran's nuclear program.

The money moving through the alleged Houthi financing network came from sales of Iranian petroleum and other commodities throughout the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

International officials and analysts say Iran has increased its material support to Yemen's Houthi rebels as the war in the Arab nation passes the six-year mark. A Saudi-led coalition is trying to hold off the Houthis, who seized the country's capital and are waging an offensive now to capture a major northern city, in defiance of U.S. and U.N. calls for a ceasefire.

The new U.S. action designates 11 Yemeni individuals, alleged front companies and intermediaries and vessels involved in what it said were the illicit transfers.

The 11 included Jami Ali Muhammad, a Houthi and alleged Iranian Revolutionary Guard associate who the United States says helped procure vessels, facilitate shipments of fuel, and transfer funds for the benefit of the Houthis."

The 2015 nuclear deal is based on Iran limiting development of its nuclear program in return for the U.S. and others lifting sanctions against Iran. Ongoing talks in Vienna have focused partly on timing of the U.S. lifting sanctions and Iranians returning to compliance with the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

The administration said the lifting of sanctions on the three former officials and two companies is unrelated to the indirect discussions in Vienna that are to resume this weekend.

There is no linkage, there is no connection to the de-listings that we announced today to the JCPOA or to negotiations that are ongoing in Vienna," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. However, he was unable to offer a complete explanation of the reasons behind the move, other than it was made in response to a petition for the removals.

These petitions are reviewed very carefully, he said. They are verified by experts to ensure that the information put forward is factual, that it is accurate, and only after we have verified the information put forward in petitions would we undertake a de-listing. In the case of these three individuals it was the result of our ability to verify that there was a change in status or a change in behavior that allowed us to undertake this de-listing.

Price added that the step demonstrates our commitment to lifting sanctions in the event of a change in status or behavior by sanctioned persons. He said that practice is consistent with good sanctions hygiene and administrative processes.

Still, he could not say what the change in status" or change in behavior had been, and Irans national oil company, NIOC, and a number of other affiliates remain under U.S. sanctions. Sanctions have been removed in the past because a target has died, retired or otherwise left their position but there was no indication any of those had happened.

Critics of the nuclear deal and the administration's intent to return to it immediately denounced the lifting of sanctions as a concession in the absence of anything in return from Iran, and while Tehran continues to ignore demands from the U.N. atomic watchdog to explain elements of its nuclear program.

The Biden administration should not be offering Iran sanctions relief at a time when Tehran is refusing to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency investigation into its nuclear program," said Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Unfortunately, the U.S. just signaled that it is buckling on sanctions relief and the IAEA investigation before a deal is even reached. Iran will be sure to seize on this concession and try to get more.

The sanctions against Ahmad Ghalebani, a managing director of NIOC, two directors of NIOC affiliates and those companies had been imposed in 2013 by the Obama administration.

The 2015 deal with world powers allowed it to sell crude oil again on the international market. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, leading Iran into clandestinely taking its oil abroad and selling it.

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Ellen Knickmeyer contributed from Oklahoma City.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for the sixth straight week as the U.S. economy, held back for months by the coronavirus pandemic, reopens rapidly.

Jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 376,000 from 385,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The number of people signing up for benefits exceeded 900,000 in early January and has fallen more or less steadily ever since. Still, claims are high by historic standards. Before the pandemic brought economic activity to a near-standstill in March 2020, weekly applications were regularly coming in below 220,000.

Nearly 3.5 million people were receiving traditional state unemployment benefits the week of May 29, down by 258,000 from 3.8 million the week before.

Businesses are reopening rapidly as the rollout of vaccines allows Americans to feel more comfortable returning to restaurants, bars and shops. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that job openings hit a record 9.3 million in April. Layoffs dropped to 1.4 million, lowest in records dating back to 2000; 4 million quit their jobs in April, another record and a sign that they are confident enough in their prospects to try something new.

As life normalizes and the service sector continues to gain momentum, we expect initial jobless claims to continue to trend lower, said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at the economic and financial consulting firm Maria Fiorini Ramirez, Inc.

In May, the U.S. economy generated 559,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8% from 6.1% in April. Many economists expected to see even faster job growth. The United States is still short 7.6 million jobs from where it stood in February 2020.

But employers are posting vacancies faster than would-be applicants can fill them. Many Americans are contending with health and childcare issues related to COVID-19 and with career uncertainty after the coronavirus recession wiped out many jobs for good. Some are taking their time looking for work because expanded federal jobless benefits pay more than their old jobs.

Many states are scheduled to begin dropping the federal benefits this month. Altogether, 15.3 million people were receiving some type of jobless aid the week of May 22; a year earlier, the number exceeded 30 million.

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In a story June 10, 2021, about federal jobs data, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the U.S. economy generated 559,000 million jobs in May. The correct figure for May is 559,000 jobs, the word million is extraneous.
CHICAGO (AP)  A billboard honoring a Chicago police officer who was killed on duty in 2018 was defaced with the word propaganda.

The billboard, sponsored by the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, showed a photo of Officer Samuel Jimenez and a positive message about duty and sacrifice.
RANDOLPH, Vt. (AP)  The Vermont State College system is offering $16 million in scholarships and free tuition programs for Vermonters in the upcoming academic year, officials said Wednesday.

The funds from the American Rescue Plan Act prioritizes higher and continuing education and workforce development with investments in student scholarships and the public higher education system.
NEWPORT, Vt. (AP)  A Vermont woman has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2016 stabbing death of her boyfriend in the town of Brownington.

Jennifer Simard, 49, who appeared by video from the woman's prison in South Burlington, entered the plea Wednesday in the death of Kevin Smith, 38, in court in Newport.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  Family members of Walmart founder Sam Walton on Thursday launched a $1 million fund for groups assisting LGBT people in the retail giant's home state of Arkansas, which has enacted measures restricting transgender people's rights.

The new fund is being established with support from the Alice L. Walton Foundation and from Olivia and Tom Walton through the Walton Family Foundation. The fund will distribute grants of $25,000 and more for groups that offer legal, health, education and advocacy services, along with other high-demand needs.
TIRANA, Albania (AP)  Western Balkan leaders meeting in the Albanian capital Tirana Thursday voiced satisfaction with a large investment plan announced for the region by the European Union  which they all hope to join some day.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama described the investment plan as the EU's "greatest historic move toward the Western Balkans. He said it would lead to a fundamental improvement of the road, railway and port infrastructure, inter-connectivity, energy sector and digitalization.

Thursday's talks in Tirana brought together the leaders of Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, North Macedonia and Montenegro.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said the project would mobilize 9 billion euros ($11 billion) and potentially raise investment of up to 20 billion euros ($24 billion) in 2021-27 for the region, which has a combined population of about 18 million.

It's intended to spur long-term recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and to better connect regional economies with each other and with the EU.

As a first success, Varhelyi announced the free roaming use of cellphones in the region.

But Varhelyi warned that the plan "will give its results only if the region itself works for its regional market, urging closer cooperation in a part of the Balkans that was ravaged by war during the bloody break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Western Balkan countries are at different stages of integration with the bloc.

Montenegro and Serbia have already started full membership negotiations while Albania and North Macedonia are expecting to launch them. Kosovo and Bosnia have signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement, which is the first step in the long process.

The bloc is also pressing for the normalization of ties between former foes Serbia and Kosovo. Their next talks are planned to resume next week in Brussels.

We should acknowledge that the EU, the European Commission have done their job so far, said Rama. Now we should do ours.

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Follow Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  A group of Wisconsin GOP legislators plan to fly to Arizona to watch a contentious review of 2020 ballots.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday that six lawmakers sent Assembly Speaker Robin Vos a letter Wednesday seeking permission to travel to Phoenix on Friday, observe the recount of ballots in Maricopa County and return to Wisconsin on Saturday.

Rep. Janel Brandtjen said in the letter that the group wants to observe a large-scale recount process. A group called Voices & Votes, which describes itself as an organization that protects free speech from cancel culture, will pay for the trip, she said.

A Vos spokeswoman said the speaker has approved the request.

Wisconsin's 2020 election saw recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties, the state's two most populous counties. The results confirmed Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump in the state. Nevertheless, Vos recently hired former police officers to review Wisconsin's ballots and election process.

The Maricopa County review has drawn criticism from around the country. The county's Republican-led board of supervisors called the review a sham last month.

A cybersecurity firm called Cyber Ninjas is conducted the review. The firm has no history of auditing elections. Workers are examining ballots using microscopes and ultraviolet lights. One official overseeing the project has said they're looking for traces of bamboo to support a theory that 40,000 ballots were smuggled into Arizona from Asia.

Wisconsin Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach said that Republicans are nuts.

I hope they bring their tinfoil hats," he said.
ROME (AP)  Lawyers for an Italian intelligence analyst wanted by the Vatican on embezzlement-related charges have asked Italy's government to press papal prosecutors to decide whether to put her on trial or archive the case.

In a June 8 registered letter and an email to the Italian embassy to the Holy See, the lawyers argued that Cecilia Marogna hasnt been able to find work or been able to support her young daughter since she was illegally arrested at the Vaticans request in October.

They asked the embassy to intervene with the Vatican on behalf of Marogna, an Italian citizen, to put an end to this situation of (stagnation) due to the damaging inaction by the authorities of the Vatican City State, according to the communications provided to The Associated Press.

The Italian embassy declined to comment Thursday.

Vatican prosecutors have accused Marogna of embezzlement and misappropriation of Holy See funds. They say she was paid at least 575,000 euros ($700,000) by the Vatican secretariat of state from 2018-2019 to help liberate Catholic hostages, but that the money was used instead to buy Prada, Chanel and other high-end luxury goods.

Marogna has said she was paid for legitimate intelligence and security work, and reimbursed for her expenses.

Italian police arrested Marogna in Milan on Oct. 13 based on an international warrant issued by the Vatican via Interpol. She was jailed for two weeks before an Italian court ordered her freed.

Italys highest court ruled that she never should have been arrested since there is no extradition treaty between Italy and the Vatican, and a court needed to evaluate if she could be extradited. In January, in an embarrassing admission that it would likely lose in court, the Vatican formally dropped its extradition request altogether.

At the time, Vatican prosecutors said a trial against Marogna was imminent. But six months later, they have not charged her with any crime.

The Marogna investigation is a spinoff of the main Vatican probe into the secretariat of states 350-million-euro investment into a London real estate venture, which has similarly dragged on for two years without any indictments being handed down.

Marogna has said she reached out to the secretariat of states then-No. 2, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, in 2015 with concerns about security for Vatican embassies in hot spots, and was quickly brought into Beccius inner circle. He hired her as an external security consultant and authorized payments for her.

Pope Francis sacked Becciu in September as the Vaticans saint-making chief as a result of yet another investigation. In that one, Becciu is under investigation for alleged embezzlement for having donated 100,000 euros in Holy See funds to a diocesan charity run by his brother. He denies wrongdoing.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The FBI's director told lawmakers Thursday that the bureau discourages ransomware payments to hacking groups even as major companies in the past month have participated in multimillion-dollar transactions aimed at getting their systems back online.

It is our policy, it is our guidance, from the FBI, that companies should not pay the ransom for a number of reasons, Christopher Wray testified under questioning from members of the House Judiciary Committee.

Besides the fact that such payments can encourage additional cyberattacks, victims may not automatically get back their data despite forking over millions, and that's not unknown to happen, Wray said.

In ransomware attacks, hackers lock up and encrypt a victim's data and demand a payment in order to return it. They have proliferated in scale over the past year, targeting not just hospitals and police agencies but also critical infrastructure and vital industries. Some recent major corporate targets have responded by paying the ransom, fearing that a prolonged shutdown of their businesses could have catastrophic consequences for the country and disrupt crucial supply chains.

Colonial Pipeline, which transports about 45 percent of fuel consumed on the East Coast, last month paid a ransom of 75 bitcoin  then valued at roughly $4.4 million  in hopes of getting its system back online.

On Wednesday, JBS SA, the worlds largest meat processing company, revealed that it had paid the equivalent of $11 million to hackers who broke into its computer system last month.

Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount told lawmakers this week that the decision to pay the ransom was the hardest choice of his career but ultimately the right thing to do, particularly given the gas shortages that surfaced within days in parts of the United States. He said that although the key the company was given to decrypt its data did not work perfectly, Colonial has resumed operations after a brief shutdown.

The Justice Department has said it was able to recover the majority of the ransomware payment after locating the virtual wallet used by the hackers. Wray said that in addition to helping companies in that way, the FBI also in certain instances has been able to obtain the encryption keys of hackers and unlock the seized data without any payment being made.

There are a whole bunch of things we can do to prevent this activity from occurring, whether they pay the ransom or not, if they communicate and coordinate and work closely with law enforcement right out of the gate, he said. That's I think the most important part.

____

Follow Eric Tucker on http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
By Joe Dworetzky

Bay City News Foundation

President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Wednesday that vacated an executive order issued on August 6, 2020 by then President Donald Trump that was intended to shut down the messaging app WeChat in the United States.

The new order also vacates the executive order that tried to shut down TikTok as well as a third order relating to software controlled by Chinese companies.

The Trump executive order on WeChat was challenged in litigation in 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

In that case, on September 19, 2020, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler preliminarily enjoined the shutdown and, despite appeals, her order remained in effect at the time Biden took office in January of 2021.

Shortly thereafter, lawyers for the government and plaintiffs agreed to put the case on hold while the Biden administration considered what position it wished to take with respect to WeChat.

The new executive order is captioned "Executive Order on Protecting American's Sensitive Data from Foreign Adversaries" and it seeks to establish a new framework for evaluating the risks of foreign powers gaining sensitive information from and about Americans.

While the new order vacates the earlier order, it is not yet clear if that will mean the end of the government's attempt to narrow WeChat's influence in the U.S.

The order directs the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to "evaluate on a continuing basis transactions involving connected software applications that may pose an undue risk of sabotage or subversion...of information and communications technology or services in the Unites States."

The secretary is also directed to look for software that poses an unacceptable risk of causing "catastrophic effects" on the country's "critical infrastructure or digital economy" or "the national security of the United States."

Should the secretary find a serious concern he is directed to take "appropriate action."

In a fact sheet accompanying the new order, the administration explained that it is "committed to promoting an open, interoperable, reliable and secure Internet; protecting human rights online and offline; and supporting a vibrant, global digital economy."

However it recognizes that certain countries--and it names China explicitly--"seek to leverage digital technologies and Americans' data in ways that present unacceptable national security risks while advancing authoritarian controls and interests."

The fact sheet said that the earlier orders were revoked in order to replace them with "a criteria-based decision framework and rigorous, evidence-based analysis to address the risks..."

The new order directs the secretary to prepare a report within 120 days with recommendations about how to protect against harm from foreign actors gathering, selling, and using sensitive personal data of Americans.

In 180 days, the secretary is to prepare a report that recommends additional actions that can be taken by the president and congress to address the risks of software and technology designed or developed or controlled by foreign adversaries.

WeChat began in China as a messaging app and over the years added additional functionality including calling, video conferencing, and in-app payments.

WeChat is owned by the Chinese company, Tencent Holdings Ltd., and is estimated to have more than a billion users worldwide, including 19 million in the United States.

Asserting that the app is used by the Chinese government for surveillance and data collection within the United States, Trump's August 2020 executive order was intended to "address the threat posed by WeChat."

The order, as supplemented by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce's delineation of six specified prohibitions, imposed a number of limitations on WeChat and third parties, including prohibiting new downloads of the WeChat app, stopping the transfer of funds out of the United States by WeChat users, and forbidding the providing of technical services to WeChat by third parties.

A group of WeChat users sued, contending--as Beeler subsequently found--that by prohibiting third-party services such as web hosting and internet transit services, WeChat would be effectively be shut down, depriving millions of Chinese-speaking Americans of the primary platform they use to communicate and interact with friends and family in China.

Plaintiffs argued, among other things, that this violated the WeChat users' rights under the First Amendment.

The government contended that the order was a justified exercise of the president's national security powers against a "foreign adversary whose hostile acts are undisputed, and whose aspirations for global dominance are undisputed."

The magistrate judge rejected the government's position and issued the preliminary injunction to block the order, ruling that the order was a burden on the First Amendment rights of WeChat users in the United States.

She found that although the government had identified significant national security interests for its action, the order was not "narrowly tailored" to protecting those interests.

Government lawyers asked first the magistrate and then the 9th Circuit to suspend the injunction while the government pursued its appeal of the magistrate's ruling. Both courts denied the request. The government did not ask the U.S. Supreme Court for review.

Meanwhile, on June 20, the Biden administration took office.

During the campaign Biden at times used tough language in referring to China, though it was unclear to what extent his administration would continue many of the aggressive positions taken by the Trump administration.

In the stipulation to put the litigation on hold, the government stated that the Commerce Department had begun a review of "certain recently issued agency actions, including the Secretary's prohibitions regarding the WeChat mobile application at issue in this case."

The government said that it "plans to conduct an evaluation of the underlying record justifying those prohibitions, which will better position the Government to determine whether the national security threat described in the [order]... continue[s] to warrant the identified prohibitions."

The new order results, at least in part, from that review.

Ernest Galvan, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, reacted to the new order stating,

"The government never should have even considered a policy to ban the WeChat platform. The government's conduct disrupted family contacts and business operations for millions of people. While it is good that the new administration has finally reversed course, it is unacceptable that the government ever strayed this far from the basic principles that govern a free society."

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PALO ALTO (BCN)

In the second time in as many months, a large group of shoplifters made off with more than $100,000 worth of designer handbags from a store in the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.

At about 5:30 p.m., officers were called to the Louis Vuitton store at the shopping center at 180 El Camino Real but by the time they arrived, the suspects had already fled, according to Palo Alto police.

Witnesses said a group of 11, described as males and females in their late teens to early 20s, rushed into the store, grabbed 36 handbags, then ran though the mall and fled in five vehicles.

All of the suspects were wearing face coverings, police said.

Their cars were described as a a gray Lexus sedan, a gray Infinity sport utility vehicle, a white Audi sedan, a black four-door Hyundai sedan, and a red two-door Honda sedan.

While the crime is similar to one from May 19 at the Neiman Marcus store, police said the get-away cars were different than those used in Monday's theft.

In last month's incident, a group of 10 males and females used similar tactics to steal 43 handbags worth more than $150,000.

Investigators are reaching out to other Bay Area law enforcement departments to see if similar crimes have been reported in other cities.

No injuries or arrests were reported from either crime.

Anyone with information is asked to call (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.

Copyright  2021 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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By Jana Kadah

Bay City News Foundation

Could we have predicted that Sam Cassidy, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority employee who killed nine of his co-workers before turning the gun on himself, would have committed such a crime?

That's what VTA staff and local leaders are trying to answer now through an investigation of Cassidy's personnel history as a VTA employee following the May 26 mass shooting.

Right now, the answer is: no.

"So far, there is no indication of records in Cassidy's VTA personnel file of any formal discipline for threatening behavior or violence during his 20-year career at VTA," the VTA said in a statement Thursday.

Cassidy's record may not have indicated violent behavior, but his record wasn't clean.

He had been sent home for insubordination because he refused to comply with company policy to sign out a two-way radio that was necessary to perform his job in July 2019.

He refused to attend CPR certification in October 2020 citing COVID-19 concerns.

And most recently in November 2020, he left work without permission because of frustrations with clocking in. He also used the radio station for personal communication instead of operational matters, which is against VTA policy.

"He left work without permission instead of resolving the problem," the VTA said.

However, there is one record that may require more investigation.

On Jan. 29, 2020, a verbal altercation between Cassidy and another VTA employee was reported to VTA Employee Relations and the VTA Office of Civil Rights.

In an email to VTA leadership, an employee wrote that Cassidy yelled at a female co-worker for about two to three minutes, calling that person the "most corrupt person at VTA."

Many Amalgamated Transit Union representatives and co-workers were there when the altercation broke out and an ATU representative had told Cassidy that "this was not the time or the place."

The altercation subsided at that point, however, upon questioning from a supervisor, a co-worker reported that another unnamed employee said, "He (Cassidy) scares me. If someone was to go postal, it'd be him."

But because there were no other disciplinary incidents of concern, there was no further investigation and disciplinary action was referred to Cassidy's management.

The VTA said it is still reviewing "thousands of pages of documents that include emails, attachments, and other materials" that require review and will be released "as soon as practical," and with respect to co-workers' privacy.

The VTA also said among the thousands of documents, they had not found information about Cassidy being provided by any federal agency, including the Department of Homeland Security, at any time.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Cassidy had been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after he took a trip to the Philippines. There, authorities found books on terrorism and a notebook with complaints about the VTA in Cassidy's possession.

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said that federal agents did not inform local law enforcement.

At a Tuesday news conference at San Jose City Hall, Rosen said he is working with San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo to create information sharing protocols with different law enforcement agencies to avoid something like that happening again.

The VTA will continue to release documents pertaining to Cassidy if more relevant information is discovered.

Copyright  2021 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Copyright  2021 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP

It seems the White House is concerned about Vice President Kamala Harris' awkward interview with NBC's Lester Holt in Guatemala, in which he pressed her on why she has yet to visit the southern border amid a surge in migrant arrivals.

In April, Harris was put in charge of the administration's efforts to mitigate the surge, with her embarking on the Guatemala trip to work on solutions for the "root causes" of migration. CNN reports that "some administration officials" are "quietly perplexed about what they perceive as her bumpy answers to questions about whether she will go to the US-Mexico border."
The recent hot buzz in Kollywood is that Sun Pictures has inked a five-film deal with Sivakarthikeyan. The actor will be paid a whopping 75 crores for these five films.

Sources say that Sivakarthikeyan has to settle a huge amount for the financiers who funded his films through 24 AM Studios. To settle the money, the actor has now signed this five-film deal, says a source in the know.
Kriti Sanon took to social media on Wednesday to celebrate her 2017 film 'Raabta' completing four years of its release.

The Bollywood actress sounded emotional while talking about her co-star in the film, the late Sushant Singh Rajput.

Kriti shared a beautiful behind the scenes video shot during the film's shoot. The video captures the actress having fun with Sushant and the crew on the sets of the film.

"I believe in connection, I believe that we are meant to meet the people we do.. My Raabta with Sushant, Dinoo and MaddockFilms was just meant to be... Films come and go... But every single film has so so many memories behind it... The connections we make and the moments we live with each other stay within us... Some more than others," Kriti wrote alongside the video on Instagram.

"Raabta was one of my best and most memorable experiences and it will ALWAYS remain extremely close to my hearti Little did I know that it would be our first and last... #Raabta," she added.

Kriti was rumoured to be in a relationship with Sushant during the shooting and release of 'Raabta'.

The Dinesh Vijan directorial, which hit theatres on June 9, 2017, also featured Rajkummar Rao, Varun Sharma and Jim Sarbh in key roles.

Text: IANS

Images: Kriti Sanon on Instagram


The actor has revealed that the process has already started with two places being locked in Andhra Pradhesh's Nellore and Kurnool cities. The process will be in full swing by June end and will be completed by September in all the states.

Actor Sonu Sood, who has been relentlessly trying to help people who have been affected by Covid-19, has announced that he will set up oxygen plants across the country in almost 16-18 states.

Talking to IANS over phone, Sonu said: "I have tried to cover all the states. The oxygen plants will be set up near the needy hospitals which will have almost 150-200 beds. All these hospitals will never have shortage. The patients have to sometimes travel far to reach the hospitals and in some cases, they lose their lives as well. With this, I hope, such situation will never arise."

Is this his precautionary method to tackle the predicted third wave of Covid-19?

"This will solve the problem forever. Right now there are almost 700 concentrators which we are servicing pan India, but it's a temporary arrangement. With an oxygen plant, no one will ever face a problem. Why wait for a third or fourth wave to happen? Even when the pandemic will be over, the villages and districts nearby will have oxygen supply forever," says the actor.

The actor's work has reached the masses and he often has visitors coming outside his house to meet and discuss their problems with him. He says that helping people only makes him feel more responsible.

"It doesn't make me nervous, but gives me more sense of responsibility. It's raining right now but people are still standing outside and I have requested them to go. I worry for them and there is so much pain across the country. So, the privileged people should come forward and help and do whatever best they can do," says the actor, who will soon be seen in the Telugu film "Acharya" and Bollywood flick "Prithviraj".

For more stories click here: Kollywood l Malayalam l Bollywood l Telugu
Telecom and digital communications major Reliance Jio is the strongest brand in India, according to the latest report on Indian brands by Brand Finance.



Jio is also the world's strongest telecom brand, as per Brand Finance.



The report noted that despite being founded only in 2016, Jio has quickly become the largest mobile network operator in India and the third largest mobile network operator in the world, with almost 400 million subscribers.



Known for its affordable plans, Jio took India by storm, offering 4G to millions of users for free and simultaneously transforming how Indians consume the internet -- known as the 'Jio effect', it said.



As brand strength is one of the key drivers of brand value, this year Jio also counts among the top 10 most valuable brands in India for the first time.



Savio D'Souza, Valuation Director, Brand Finance, said: "The dominance of the Jio brand across the nation is evident from the results of Brand Finance's original market research. Jio scores highest in all metrics -- consideration, conversion, reputation, recommendation, word of mouth, innovation, customer service, and value for money -- compared to its telecom competitors in India."



D'Souza also noted that the brand has no major weaknesses within the sector, and unlike many telecom brands globally, Jio has shown that it has broken the mould, and enjoys genuine affection from the consumers.



The five strongest brands include Taj, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank and Britannia.



Further, Tata Group has retained the title of India's most valuable brand by a considerable lead with a brand value of $21.3 billion. Operating in more than 100 countries across six continents and employing over three-quarters of a million people, Tata Group is a force to be reckoned with on the global stage, the report said.



With 30 companies under the Tata Group umbrella, ranging from Tata Steel and Tata Motors to TCS and Tata Consumer Products, the brand has managed to protect itself from Covid-19 damage -- recording 6 per cent uplift in brand value this year.



The report noted that the total value of India's top 100 brands has increased by 2 per cent, from $162.1 billion in 2020 to $164.9 billion in 2021.



This uplift in brand value over the course of the first year of the pandemic is an impressive feat given the global economic crisis following the implementation of national lockdowns in March 2020, when business activity was brought to a halt, affecting both production and consumption, it said.
PETALING JAYA, June 10 (Sin Chew Daily) -- Restaurants are hit hard by the lockdown imposed from June 1 to 14 due to sharp drop in their businesses.



Compared to Movement Control Order (MCO) 1.0 and MCO 2.0 implemented last year, members of the public now stay at home due to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic whereby orders for takeaway have also plunged to only about 15% of usual volume.

Huang Shou Qun, president of the Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors' General Association who is also president of the Pan-Malaysia Koo Soo Restaurants & Chefs Association, said for the past one year, many restaurants were finding it hard to remain in business.

Some have opted to close down, pending economic recovery, including established restaurants.

In an interview with Sin Chew Daily, Huang said the restaurant sector was badly hit by the full lockdown.

Many were still willing to place orders for takeaway during MCO 1.0 and MCO 2.0 last year. Restaurants were able to have 30 per cent of the business through takeaway while food hawkers were still able to have 30% to 50% of their usual businesses, he said.

"As the pandemic is getting worse, people stay at home and takeaway orders have also dropped, the operators are at breaking point," he said.

Many building owners were also unable to offer more discounts for rents, he added.

"Many building owners were willing to offer 20% to 30% of discounts for rents. Some even gave 50%. Now even building owners were finding difficulty to offer discounts. We are all in the same boat," he said.

The Grand Sea View Restaurant announced that it would be closing down on June 30 after operating for 34 years.

The owner of the restaurant told Sin Chew Daily it was an impromptu decision. As the restaurant was running at losses for more than a year while staff were exposed to infection risks, the owner decided to close down despite owning a grand hall with 220 dining tables.

"We are incurring losses of a minimum of RM10,000 per month. For the past one year, we reduced the number of staff from more than 100 to only 40. Some switched to other jobs while we sent the foreign workers back to their home countries," he said.

"If we continue to operate, the workers are facing the risk of being infected," he said, adding that safety issue was the main concern.

Many regular patrons were ordering takeaways after learning that the restaurant would be closing down end of this month.
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Special agent channels funds to Party

By:Zheng Qian | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-06-09 14:17

In the website column of China Taiping Life Insurance Company, there is a delicate young man in a robe, a mandarin jacket and black-rimmed glasses. He is Yang Yanxiu, whose well-known identity is one of the founders of China Mutual Trading Company. But what is lesser know is that he was also one of the founders of Minan Insurance, the predecessor of Taiping Insurance.

(Yang Yanxiu working in the China Mutual Trading Company)

Known as a special agent in charge of the Partys finance, he was ordered to hide among the enemies for more than ten years. During this period, he participated in the founding of a number of companies and channeled millions of yuan to the Party. Premier Zhou Enlai once praised that the secret work done by Yang Yanxiu was equivalent to the contribution made by a division on the battlefield.

Red insurance company behind enemy lines

In 1911, Yang Yanxiu was born to a family of handicraftsmen in Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province. Due to poor family circumstances, he dropped out of school at the age of 7 and came to Shanghai. At the age of 14, he joined a foreign bank as a trainee, and was later employed by the Assurance France-Asiatiqus as a senior employee.

(On May 8, 1932, the third day after the signing of the Songhu Armistice Agreement, the Boy Scouts of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce get ready to return from the Shanghai North Railway Station to the army base. The flag bearer is Yang Yanxiu in his youth.)

Yang Kunhua, son of Yang Yanxiu, recalled that in 1933, five passionate young men from the Boy Scouts of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce collected 300 silver coins and established the China Mutual Trading Company in a small room in a Shanghai Shikumen house.

Five founders of the China Mutual Trading Company established in 1933. Back-right is Yang Yanxiu.)

(Old site of the predecessor of China Mutual Trading Company. It was in a small room on the first floor at the intersection of Henan Middle Road and Ningbo Road.)

After the "September 18th" Incident, a large number of Chinese staff from foreign banks were inspired to resist Japan and save the country. While operating the China Mutual Trading Company, Yang Yanxiu and his friend Lu Xuzhang actively served anti-Japanese activities. Pushed forward by the underground CPC organization, Yang Yanxiu even established a wartime service group to back frontline activities.In April 1938, recommended by Lu Xuzhang, Yang joined the CPC.

In 1940, China Mutual Trading Company was reorganized into a joint-stock company. It realized that industrial development depended on finance.

To improve financing capacity and get more funds, after careful study and analysis by the Party branch, in 1942, the China Mutual Trading Company officially launched an insurance business as the first step to enter the financial industry."At that time, it was too difficult to engage in banking. But the organization and business of insurance companies were relatively simple, so they decided to engage in insurance first," Yang Kunhua said.

The Party members noticed that Lu Zuofu, then deputy minister of the Ministry of Transport of the Nationalist government, had a strong presence in the bureaucracies and owned many companies including Minsheng Shipping Company and was the best candidate for cooperation.

At first, Lu only agreed to own 49% of the shares of the China Mutual Trading Company, but Zhou Enlai instructed that Lus investment share and the CPCs should be equal. Therefore, Yang made great efforts to make many negotiations. After the China Mutual Trading Company provided one hundred thousand US dollars to help the Minsheng Shipping Company solve the foreign exchange debts on ship booking, Lu agreed to increase his share to half.

In early 1943, Minan Insurance company was established with China Mutual Trading Company and Minsheng Shipping Company both having 50% investment. In November, Minan Insurance opened. Lu Zuofu was appointed as chairman and Yang Yanxiu was elected as managing director.

At the beginning of the opening, Lu Zuofu handed over the transportation insurance business of more than 50 ships of the Minsheng Shipping Company to Min'an Company for underwriting, making Minan earn the first pot of gold, and soon become a rising star in the insurance industry.

With the development of business, Minan Insurance Company set up branches in Kunming and agencies in Chengdu, Guiyang and Xian. It also developed a foreign insurance business, becoming more and more influential. Later, it even made equity investments in dozens of companies.

(A family photo of Yang Yanxiu in Hongkong in 1948)

Years later, China Mutual Trading Company was developed into a large-scale joint-stock company, covering businesses of financial insurance, pharmaceutical and commerce. During its heyday, it had as many as 60 or 70 equity participation companies. In 1947, the missions of China Mutual Trading Company and Minan Insurance to support the campaign behind enemy lines in China were basically completed. The Party decided that the companys business focus moved to Hong Kong.

The branch of Minan Insurance in Hong Kong was retained and later registered as "Hong Kong Minan Insurance Company" on October 1, 1949.

According to Yang Kunhua, during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, others dared not to do insurance, except Minan Insurance, because it had a red background. Even China Resources gave its insurance business to Minan, so it became larger and larger, with a registered capital reaching 10 million, becoming the largest insurance company operated by a Chinese.

In 2009, the three major brands of Taiping Insurance, China Insurance, and Minan Insurance were integrated into the "China Taiping", namely todays China Taiping Insurance Group.

Risking life to fight among enemies

Yang Yanxiu was quite good at business management. Through continuous business expansion, China Mutual Trading Company quickly accumulated a large amount of funds. But how to safely transfer the funds to the Party became a difficulty.

Yang Kunhua explained that although China Mutual Trading Company was the Party's most secret third front, it was a joint-stock company which was responsible to the company's shareholders. If large sums of funds disappeared on the books with no reason, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.

When my father provided funds for the Party, the most important thing was to check the accounts to make the book look flawless. He should not only be responsible to the board of directors, but also deal with the Nationalist government's inspections and spies' investigations, and complete the Party's tasks. This was not easy, said Yang Kunhua.

The funding requested by the Party was usually "of urgent need and large amount." Yang Kunhua recalled that once, the Party needed funds in Chongqing. At that time, paper money was worthless. A bundle of paper money weighed several kilograms and the Party needed several bundles. They needed to be old banknotes, since new paper money would easily arouse the enemy's suspicion.

To safely deliver the funds, the comrades responsible for the funds transportation often had to carry several large packages on their backs, and detour to avoid the enemy's patrols. There was a comrade in poor health who was even too exhausted to cough up blood when transporting the funds. Yang Kunhua said that the Party members of China Mutual Trading Company experienced unimaginable difficulties and this was just one of them."They were risking their lives to fight in the hinterland of the enemy."

The China Mutual Trading Company was not only a pocketbook for the Party, but also a pool of economic talent for it too. After the Liberation War, Yang Yanxiu participated in the establishment of China's first private enterprise, Shanghai Patriotic Construction Company, and served as the Party secretary. Together with the company's main founders, Liu Jingji and Tang Junyuan, he led its development. A wholly-owned subsidiary, Shanghai Aijian Financial Trust and Investment Company, was established in 1986 and contributed to China's economic construction and Shanghai's urban development.

Capitalist not degenerated

Working under the identity of a capitalist, Yang Yanxiu often needed to entertain guests. He held his liquor quite well."To entertain guests, my father could drink 2 catties (one catty is 500 gram) of white wine. He also smoked as a way to make the acquaintance of friends." Yang Jianhua recalled that after liberation, his father no longer needed to entertain guests, and thus quickly gave up smoking and drinking.

Although he created countless wealth for the country throughout his life, Yang Yanxiu always maintained a simple and unpretentious quality and never occupied the Party's funds. He was kindhearted and was always willing to help those in need.

(Yang Yanxiu in his later years)

In the eyes of neighbors, Yang Yanxiu was an amiable man. Yang Jianhua remembers that his father was always very neighborly. Knowing that the community was lacking in fitness equipment, he donated some.

Yang Jianhua remembers that once, when his father returned to Taizhou and saw that there was no computer in his hometown school, he felt very sorry. After returning to Shanghai, the father immediately asked him and his older brother to purchase a batch of computer facilities and sent them to the school in person. He also set up the "Yang Yanxiu Education Scholarship Fund" in Yangqiao Central Primary School, his alma mater, with his personal savings of 200,000 yuan. Before his death, he asked his family to donate another 200,000 yuan.

Yan Jianhua is quite impressed by his fathers strict discipline.He didnt like us dressing up so much, and told us to study and work hard, so our family members have all become the backbone of our units. We all took a doctor or a teacher as our career."

In 2017, Yang Yanxiu passed away at the age of 106. His tombstone was designed in the shape of a lotus flower, which symbolized that he was not degenerated although he was a capitalist, like a lotus flower coming out of the mud unsoiled. In the end, he and his old comrades laid together in Shanghai.
The corporate watchdog is taking legal action against shipbuilder Austal and its former chief executive over allegations the ASX-listed firm withheld market sensitive information about costs related to major design flaws with its fleet of US navy warships.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) launched civil proceedings against the company in the Federal Court on Thursday for allegedly breaching continuous disclosure laws and engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct.

Austal is being sued by ASIC over allegedly failing to inform the market of significant changes to its financial position. Credit:

At the heart of the case is a series of market statements made between late-2015 and mid-2016, where Austal told investors it expected to be profitable but later reported it would generate a significant loss, which caused the companys share price to tank.

ASIC will allege the company and its directors were aware at least $US90 million in write-backs was required to fix defects in its US navy ships, which would have pushed Austal into the red. However, the company delayed informing the market until the last minute.
TC Energy has ended its 16-year quest to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a controversial cross-border project that became a litmus test for climate activism and was blocked by President Joe Biden.

Calgary-based TC Energy said in a statement it had formally terminated the project after consultation with the government of Alberta in Canada. It had already suspended construction on the pipeline earlier this year, after Biden revoked a presidential permit for the project.

TC Energy had already suspended construction on the pipeline earlier this year, after Joe Biden revoked a presidential permit for the project. Credit:TC Energy

Keystone XL helped galvanise modern climate activism, uniting environmentalists in a battle against the project some described as a climate dirty bomb. It also shifted the course of American environmentalism from its roots battling nuclear power, toxic waste and chemical insecticides in the 1960s and 1970s.

The protest over the Keystone pipeline was a massive development in the climate movement, and the projects cancellation is a testament to the effectiveness of collective citizen action, said Robert Brulle, a visiting professor at Brown University who is an expert on environmental activism.
A company awarded $7 million to monitor industrial emissions on 47,000-year-old rock art in Western Australias north has been dismissed for breach of contract; meanwhile, the state has indicated for the first time that it is considering limiting industrial development nearby.

Murujuga (the Dampier Archipelago, including the Burrup Peninsula), near the mining town of Karratha in the states Pilbara region, is home to the worlds largest, densest and most diverse Aboriginal rock art gallery  more than 1 million images across 37 hectares.

On Murujugas Burrup Peninsula, rock art and industry are a little too close for comfort.

It is also home to the major export operations of Woodside Petroleum, Rio Tinto and Yara Pilbara.

Fifteen years worth of studies over whether industrial emissions, dust, clearing and traffic are accelerating the natural weathering of the art have been hotly contested, including through a federal inquiry, with previous monitoring identifying shortcomings in the science.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen framed the G7 deal as a way for governments to protect their national sovereignty to set tax policy. For too long there has been a global race-to-the-bottom in corporate tax rates, Yellen said following the G7 finance ministers meeting in London last week, ahead of this weekends gathering. Amazon and some other tech companies, meanwhile, have endorsed the agreement, believing the global regime will be more manageable than costly alternatives being pursued by individual countries. Bezos has also voiced support for higher US corporate taxes to pay for infrastructure. Advocates for higher taxes say the steps are necessary to stave off a rise in populism and even for the sustainability of capitalism. The most visible and prominent winners of globalisation are these big multinationals whose effective tax rates have collapsed, said University of California at Berkeley economics professor Gabriel Zucman, who tracks wealth and inequality. That can only lead to a growing rejection of that form of globalisation by the people.

The World Economic Forum, the organiser of the annual conference for the rich and powerful in Davos, Switzerland, issued a white paper this month arguing taxation systems must be redesigned efficiently to tax capital and multinationals. Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Microsoft collectively skirted approximately $US100 billion in US taxes from 2010 to 2019, according to an analysis of regulatory filings from Fair Tax Mark, a progressive think tank. Many of those untaxed profits were shifted into tax havens like Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Credit:AP There remain plenty of defenders of low taxes. Conservative economists such as Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, argue taxing the wealthy and corporations more heavily will damage the economy. Higher taxes on capital generally raises the possibility of a slowdown of productivity growth, said Holtz-Eakin, who was an adviser to President George W. Bush.

That view is losing ground though as resentment grows over the ways that highly profitable corporations reduce their taxes. Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Microsoft collectively skirted approximately $US100 billion in US taxes from 2010 to 2019, according to an analysis of regulatory filings from Fair Tax Mark, a progressive think tank. Many of those untaxed profits were shifted into tax havens like Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Amazon paid an effective corporate tax rate of 11.8 per cent in 2020, according to a Bloomberg Economics analysis, and its hardly an outlier among highly successful tech companies. Facebook, founded by the worlds fifth-richest person, Mark Zuckerberg, paid 12.2 per cent last year. Asked to comment for this article, an Amazon spokesperson pointed to some of the companys prior statements related to its tax bill, including, in part: Amazons taxes, which are publicly reported, reflect our continued investments, employee compensation, and current US tax laws. Billionaire tech founders often pay even less personally than their corporations do.

Bezos, for example, got $US77 billion richer in 2020, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But in the US, gains on stock are only taxed when theyre sold, at a far lower rate than well-off workers pay, meaning that Bezos owed at most a few billion dollars in taxes to the US Treasury last year. It is very easy for multinationals and the richest people to escape tax. What we are seeing with the G7 is that the time has come for politicians to take back power. Philippe Martin, a former adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron who now heads the Conseil dAnalyse Economique. This countrys wealthiest, who profited immensely during the pandemic, have not been paying their fair share, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden said after ProPublica reported that several of the worlds billionaires, including Bezos, didnt pay any federal income taxes in some years. The media organisation said it obtained confidential tax documents on thousands of the wealthiest Americans, including for Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. Bloomberg and others told ProPublica they had paid the taxes they owed. To remove advantages in the US tax code that benefit the ultra-wealthy, Biden has proposed taxing inherited assets that currently escape levies, and boosting the top rate on investment income so that well-paid workers and investors pay the same.

On an international scale, the administration is seeking a global minimum tax of at least 15 per cent for the worlds most profitable companies  the deal expected to be pushed forward at the G7 meeting this weekend. The G7 deal would change other rules for taxing multinationals, in order to undercut efforts to shift profits to low-tax countries. Biden is also advocating to increase the US corporate rate to 28 per cent, partly reversing Trumps tax overhaul. Tech companies could see their effective tax rates jump if a global tax deal is reached, according to research from Morgan Stanley. Facebook and Alphabets Google could both pay 28 per cent on their profits worldwide, up from 18 per cent and 17 per cent respectively under current rules, the report found. For all the talk of taxing the rich, Bidens proposals, and the international tax deal, face serious hurdles before theyre adopted. While some of his fellow Democrats, who narrowly control Congress, are pushing for more radical changes to the taxes of estates and wealth, others are hesitant.

Loading The next step for the global tax negotiations, which were launched years ago by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and have involved roughly 140 nations, is to win agreement among the Group of 20 countries. Finance ministers for the G20, which collectively oversee about 90 per cent of the worlds economy, will meet in July in Venice. Stumbling blocks to reaching a deal by year-end include China, which may seek exemptions from the minimum tax. Still, there are hopes the global effort puts an end to the craziness, said Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the centre for tax policy at the OECD. You had loopholes everywhere and nobody was taking care of that. Its undermining the very goal of capitalism and a free-market economy. Bloomberg
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Its serious, this bloody Alzheimers. I was diagnosed a couple of years ago, and its the reason Ive pretty well stopped doing any dramatic work, he says. He appears in the latest (ostensibly final) season of Jack Irish, reprising his role as Wilbur, one of the old drinking buddies at the Prince of Prussia in Fitzroy. In the original telemovies, there were three of them  Terry Norris as Eric and Ronald Falk as Norm helping prop up the bar  but Falk died in 2016, and now Eric is bedridden, so we find Wilbur sitting alone at the bar, lost in a fog of memories, bewildered by the gentrification of his old watering hole, barely grasping a word of the slang publican Stan (Damien Garvey) spouts in a bid to seem hip to his young clientele. Stan (Damien Garvey) and Wilbur (John Flaus) in the newly renovated Prince of Prussia pub in the third season of Jack Irish. Credit:ABC Its a rather grim portrait of ageing, I tell Flaus; is this how you feel, like you dont belong? I still feel like I belong, he says, and theres plenty of evidence to that effect. The day after we meet, a car is due to come and take him to Melbourne for a small role  I havent seen a script; I think its for a commercial  and at the end of the week hes due in a recording studio in nearby Chewton for a voiceover. On June 26, hes launching his second volume of poetry at the Northern Arts Hotel in town. I devised a poetic form, which is like the haiku in some respects. I call it the parallact, he explains. Its two lines, each of nine or 10 syllables, in which differing perspectives contend. Theres also a short film called Trust Frank that has played at 25 festivals in 11 countries, winning him some of the best notices  and seven acting awards  of his career.

Receipt for lunch Credit:Karl Quinn But a little later, he offers a slightly more melancholy view. I dont think there is a place for me any more, he says. Im just not reliable enough to remember stories now. Jack Irish is probably the last acting job Ill ever do. I have trouble remembering dialogue  not just the lines to speak, but the cue too, when to start speaking and when to connect with someone else. For a man who has spent his life enmeshed in words  writing on film, teaching film history to students at La Trobe University, where he helped devise the first film studies course in 1972, and at the Australian Film and Television School (later AFTRS) the following year; broadcasting and writing about movies in the media; and of course speaking other peoples dialogue  it must be very sad to feel them slipping away. It is sad, he agrees, though with no trace of heaviness. But we can talk like this, and some of these things coming back to me have been with me all my life.

Flaus loves a yarn, and his recollections take us through the streets of Vaucluse where he worked in the 1950s with a horse and cart, delivering 800 bottles of milk six mornings a week to customers who included alleged underworld figure Abe Saffron and a young actor called Coral Lansbury, the future mother of Malcolm Turnbull. Spinach, feta and rice tart with tomatoes. Credit:Simon Schluter He tells me that as a Christian Brothers scholarship boy, he dreamt of being a teacher, but was ruled out by poor eyesight, the result of a schoolyard brawl when he was just eight. The other kid bashed me head up against a brick wall and me eyes went on me and I had to have glasses, he says. He didnt even dream of acting  I never got cast in any of the school productions  until he was on the set of The American Poets Visit, a short film being made by Sydney Push figure Michael Thornhill in 1969. Flaus was there to observe; as a writer on film, he was keen to see what all those jobs in the credits amounted to. But then Thornhill barked at him to make himself useful in a party scene. But I havent got a script, demurred Flaus. You dont need a f--ing script, replied Thornhill. Get in there and speak your normal bullshit. His next screen appearance was in 1974, in a film called Yackety Yack, in which he once again effectively played himself. I like to say I behaved rather than acted, he says. The first real role came in Queensland (1976), a 52-minute film from Swinburne students John Ruane (who would later direct Death in Brunswick) and Ellery Ryan (a prolific cinematographer). They came to Flaus for help with the script; he saw similarities with his father in one of the main characters. I said, You know, I think I could play this fellow. It wouldnt have occurred to them otherwise.

For most actors in Australia, its essential to have a Plan B. For Flaus, acting was the Plan B, and a most fruitful one (hes been in everything from Neighbours to The Castle to Tracks). Teaching was the Plan A, but his various stabs at academia tended to run aground. A lifelong philosophical anarchist, his tolerance for bureaucracy was pretty low  and the feeling was mutual. A selection of salads from Togs Place, Castlemaine. Credit:Simon Schluter You can perhaps gauge just how much he loved the learning environment by how long he spent there. I dont know whos got the record for the longest undergraduate degree at Sydney University, he chortles, but I enrolled in 1953 and graduated in 1971. But its outside the academy where he made the most impact, teaching film appreciation at the Council of Adult Education, working as a script editor, mentoring young writers and directors in some capacity or other, and sharing his love and knowledge of movies on the radio and in print. Hes like the Velvet Underground of Australian screen; he may never have been a big star, but plenty of people went on to make movies because of him. As were wrapping up, I remember Paul Harris, his co-host on Film Buffs Forecast in the 1980s and 90s, had told me to ask him about his time teaching at Long Bay jail. Not teaching, Flaus corrects; he was a psychologists assistant, testing inmates for literacy and numeracy, helping them write letters if they needed help, or offering a hand with their studies.

Thats how I met Judith, he says, referring to the mother of his four children. She was a prisoner. Well, I didnt see that coming. Three wise monkeys: John Flaus, Ronald Falk and Terry Norris as Wilbur, Norm and Eric in Jack Irish. Credit:ABC They fell in love while she was inside (shed been jailed for burglary) and carried it into the outside world. But a few years after her release, by which time they had two children together, they were spotted (at the cinema, of course) by someone who recognised them from prison. So when I went to work the next day I was told to go to the governor, and that was it, I was out of a job. I got sacked. Honestly, the stories he could tell. Id love to stay and hear more, but its getting late and the Calder calls. On creaky legs, Flaus gets up and walks me to the door. This has been a good day, he says as I head to the car.
In New Zealand cinemas, there has been sobbing.

The drama Cousins, about three Maori girls separated as children, has struck a chord with viewers, especially those who grew up reading the emotional novel on which its based, by celebrated Kiwi writer Patricia Grace.

Even in films like Once Were Warriors or Whale Rider, were in those stories but theyre not necessarily told from our perspectives: Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith who co-directed Cousins. Credit:Louie Douvis

Some of them were connecting really strongly to the experience of family being taken, writer, co-director and actor Briar Grace-Smith, the authors former daughter-in-law, says. Other people were just connecting to the whole idea of dislocation or missing family.

The film centres on the story of three cousins: orphaned Mata, cheeky but dutiful Missy and ambitious Makareta, from childhood after World War II to now.
Australian politicians spend so much time sniping at each other that it is easy to forget the parts of Parliament House that work very effectively very quietly. Behind all the arguments about national security, for instance, stands a committee that has reached bipartisan agreement for years on every major bill that grants powers to police, spies and security agencies.

Like a wall nobody notices as they walk by, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security supports an entire system of laws on foreign interference, telephone interception, metadata and more. It does this by settling disputes between the major parties and, most of the time, telling ministers when their powers go too far.

While there is sniping, many parts of Parliament House actually function quite well. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Take away that wall, in other words, and the roof caves in.

So there was concern on both sides of politics this week when Scott Morrison took a shot at Labor during his press conference to reveal an Australian Federal Police operation that led to 220 arrests and disrupted drug deals and murder plots.
The number of sexual assaults reported to NSW Police jumped dramatically in March, a surge attributed to the public discussion around rape and consent driven by young women like Chanel Contos and Brittany Higgins.

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research revealed the number of reports in March was 61 per cent more than the monthly average, with 973 incidents reported, up 360 from the average in February when media reporting on the issue intensified.

Chanel Contos, who has called for changes to consent education, helped drive an unprecedented increase in attention on sexual violence. Credit:Liliana Zaharia

There was a larger spike in reports in Sydney, up 69 per cent, while regional NSW recorded a 48 per cent increase.

The increase appears to be due to a temporary rise in victim willingness to formally report sexual violence. The timing of the increase closely aligns with saturation media coverage of numerous sexual assault allegations in late February and March 2021, the bureau said in a statement on Thursday.
The death of an elderly man involving a forklift at a Gold Coast workplace on Wednesday night will not be investigated by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland inspectors.

Emergency services were called to Fremantle Street at Burleigh Heads over a workplace incident, involving a forklift just after 7pm on Wednesday.

Police are preparing a report for the coroner.

Paramedics assessed the 78-year-old man, who had suffered critical injuries.

He died at the scene.
Mick Gattos nephew faced court on Thursday, accused of forcing a man into a car, holding him against his will and threatening him in a dispute over the purchase of luxury handbags.

Police allege Daniel Gatto, a nephew of the high-profile underworld figure, kneed a man to the head, then he and two associates bundled the man into their car and drove him for about an hour on Monday night after they met outside a McDonalds outlet in Templestowe.

Daniel Gatto. Credit:Pat Scala

As they drove, Daniel Gatto demanded the man return $2000 to him after buying a Louis Vuitton handbag on sales website Gumtree, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Thursday.

Detective Senior Constable Sophie Templeton told the court Mr Gatto had bought two handbags from the man on Gumtree but later believed they were fake. Police ultimately seized the bags during a search of Mr Gattos home and will determine if they are fake or genuine.
Thanks so much for all the comments and interactions today.

Thats all we have for you but here is a quick look at the major developments from today:

We are not out of the woods yet: Hunt on for mystery cases

Infected couple didnt have permit to enter Queensland says CHO

International students to return to NSW

No one was going to stop me: Quarantined parents finally meet newborn

One million jabs a day: South-east Asias race to vaccinate

Thanks so much for joining us. We will have much more COVID-19 coverage to come tomorrow so please join us in the morning.
A former High Court chief justice has slammed the deliberate cruelty inflicted on the children of a Tamil family detained on Christmas Island in a warning that Australia must not harm the two young girls to punish their parents.

In a dramatic intervention in a growing row, Sir Gerard Brennan says he is ashamed of the treatment of the family after one of the daughters, Tharnicaa Murugappan, was evacuated to Perth to treat a suspected blood infection.

People gathered outside Perth Childrens Hospital for a vigil in support of the Murugappan family. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

Tharnicaa has committed no offence; she presents no danger. Cruelty is being inflicted upon her to punish her parents who came by boat without a visa and thus to discourage others from breaching one of our immigration policies, he says.

The warning comes as Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan accuses the federal government of an internationally embarrassing mistake that should be fixed by letting the family settle permanently in Australia.
Universities will foot the bill for international students to return to NSW within weeks, with 250 students to arrive each fortnight on charter flights before quarantining in special accommodation.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced the long-awaited rescue plan for the $14 billion international education sector on Thursday, with final Commonwealth approval expected in days.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet says the return of international students to the state is critical for the economy. Credit:James Brickwood

Mr Perrottet said the plan had been signed off by NSW Health and NSW Police and would operate in the same way as the existing quarantine system but the state would not pick up any of the costs.

Students from a range of countries, determined by the universities, will quarantine in purpose-built student accommodation once they arrive in Sydney, likely to be close to the city.
Hundreds of people waited for hours in the rain on Thursday to take a COVID-19 test at a northern NSW pop-up clinic as locals and a mayor complained of overstretched staff running out of swabs and turning patients away.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the states western regions were at very serious risk of a coronavirus outbreak after a Victorian couple  a 44-year-old woman and her husband  tested positive for COVID-19 after driving through Gillenbah, Forbes, Dubbo and Moree.

Hundreds of people queued for COVID-19 testing in Moree on Thursday after a couple who tested positive for coronavirus travelled through the state on their way to Queensland. Credit:Jacob Collier

Its a real and present danger to us throughout the state, Mr Hazzard said. I am very concerned that weve had people leave the lockdown and travel across our state and into Queensland, putting everyone at risk.

A pop-up testing site in Moree was inundated with locals on Thursday after authorities listed five exposure sites in the northern NSW town, bringing the list of locations in the state to 20.
Former Queensland Labor politician Duncan Pegg has died after a 20-month battle with cancer.

Mr Pegg announced in April he would resign his seat of Stretton, with the 40-year-old saying he could no longer continue to both fight cancer and also fight for my local area in the manner in which my community deserves.

Former member for Stretton Duncan Pegg has died after battling cancer. Credit:Matt Dennien

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk paid tribute to the MP, saying he battled cancer with incredible bravery and grace.

I join with [Mr Peggs parents] Lindsey, Graham and the Pegg family in expressing my deep sadness over the loss of my friend, Duncan Pegg, she said.
The husband of a woman who sparked a COVID-19 scramble by leaving locked-down Victoria for an interstate driving trip has also tested positive.

Authorities have been on high alert after it was discovered a 44-year-old woman and her husband left Greater Melbourne on June 1 and drove through NSW to Queensland, where she tested positive to COVID-19.

People have been banned from entering Queensland from Victoria since May 28 and police are investigating whether the couple lied on their border declaration form to enter the state.

Health authorities are testing 17 close contacts in Queensland, with three already testing negative, including two parents of the couple, who they were staying with in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.
Queenslands hopes of producing a come-from-behind series victory could be dealt a huge blow, with South Sydney duo Dane Gagai and Jai Arrow in doubt for game two in Brisbane.

The Herald can reveal Gagai, who has been one of Queensland's best players over recent years, suffered a potential broken hand in the series opener in Townsville on Wednesday night.

Gagai today returned to Sydney and was sent for scans on Thursday night to determine the severity of the injury he was nursing at Townsville airport on his way back home.

If scans reveal a fracture in Gagais hand, it is unlikely he will be fit in time for the second game of the series at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, June 27. Regardless of results, he wont play for South Sydney this weekend after being left out the Rabbitohs 21-man squad.
Singapore: In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the vaccination rollout is not a race.

In south-east Asia it very much is, and those in the midst of it are doing whatever they can to get ahead.

The divide been wealthy and developing countries on vaccine accessibility has been laid bare in this part of the world. On top of grappling with highly contagious variants bringing in a new infection wave, most south-east Asian countries have barely got off the starting line in the pursuit of herd immunity.

But as supply begins to increase a little in some nations, they are demonstrating an urgency to distribute it.
Washington: During the Democratic Party presidential primaries in 2019, Joe Biden described British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a physical and emotional clone of Donald Trump.

Given Biden was positioning himself as the soothing, well-qualified yin to Trumps disruptive and inexperienced yang, he didnt mean it as a compliment.

Biden was reflecting the widespread view in America that Johnson was essentially a transatlantic carbon copy of Trump. This was always an oversimplified caricature, but its one Trump himself embraced and promoted.

US President Joe Biden held his first overseas meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Cornwall. Credit:AP

In Johnson - a leading proponent of Brexit - Trump saw a fellow charismatic right-wing populist who was sticking it to the left-wing global elites.
Washington: Planning is under way for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to travel to the United States in September to join US President Joe Biden at major commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of the signing of the ANZUS treaty.

Australian and US officials are hoping to co-ordinate the ANZUS events with a high-powered joint summit with the Japanese and Indian prime ministers in Washington as well as the United Nations general assembly in New York.

Plans are under way for Scott Morrison to go to the US to meet Joe Biden and commemorate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the ANZUS treaty.

Lavish ceremonies marking the anniversary are being planned in New York and Washington for mid-to-late September, with organisers who are not yet cleared to speak on the record hopeful both Biden and Morrison will be in attendance.

The two leaders will meet at the G7 summit in the United Kingdom this weekend for their first face-to-face meeting since Bidens inauguration in January.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On June 13th, 2021, the people and the Government of Sint Maarten will be commemorating the 36th Anniversary of Flag Day. The annual commemoration of Sint Maarten Flag Day will take place during the early hours of June 13th at 6:00 am, in front of the Government Administration Building in Philipsburg.

This year will mark 36 years since the Sint Maarten flag was designed by Roselle Richardson, presented by Dr. Claude Wathey, approved, and established by the then sitting members of Island Council on June 13th, 1985. Today, the Sint Maarten Flag remains an intricate part of the fabric of our Historical and Cultural heritage.

In response to the existing social distancing protocols of the COVID  19 Pandemic, only the Council of Ministers along with invited dignitaries and guests will attend this event. Some of the main highlights of this event will be the raising of the Sint Maarten Flag along with key cultural performances.

In the days, leading up to the commemoration ceremony on June 13th, Minister of Education Culture Youth & Sport drs. Rodolphe Samuel is calling on persons and businesses in the community to show their pride and patriotism by flying the Sint Maarten flag on their vehicles and buildings or wherever they deem it appropriate. Persons are also reminded to follow proper protocol and etiquette of how the flag should be displayed.
CITIC Telecom CPC won Datacloud Global Awards 2021

\The Innovation Award\ recognized our Data Science Professionals\-\- innovation capability and our revolutionary DataHOUSET(TM) AR Remote Hand Service

SINGAPORE, June 9, 2021  (ACN Newswire)  CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (CITIC Telecom CPC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (HKG:1883), is proud to announce the winning of \The Innovation Award\ at the Datacloud Global Awards 2021.

Judges at Datacloud Global Awards 2021 mentioned that DataHOUSETM AR Remote Hand Service demonstrated exemplary creativity to leverage on a widely used Industry 4.0 Augmented Reality solution. By applying this to the data center industry, DataHOUSETM AR Remote Hand Service instantly resolved the challenges of travel restrictions and lockdowns, to enable remote hand personnel to be wherever in the world that they are needed. Datacloud Global Awards 2021 \The Innovation Award\ celebrates outstanding achievements of those across the data centre, cloud and edge sectors, it aims to provide recognition to genuine inspiration, innovation and excellence.

\CITIC Telecom CPC is much honored to receive the Datacloud Global Awards 2021 for our DataHOUSETM AR Remote Hand Service. The award reaffirms our revolutionary and innovative services recognized by customers and the market; it is also a testament to our Data Science Professionals\-\- innovation capability,\ said Mr. Esmond Li, CEO of CITIC Telecom CPC. \As data center evolves from on-premises facilities to edge deployments to cloud, there is an increase in the need for hyper-converged infrastructure and complex equipment. As such, the demand on-field engineers to support such a complex environment become higher. DataHOUSETM AR Remote Hand Service allows field engineers across multiple locations to come together, troubleshoot using live streaming of real-time images and this increases their productivity by more than 50%. We are pleased that this innovation won the recognition from the judges at Datacloud Global Awards.\

In line with our recent ICT-MiiND strategy, CITIC Telecom CPC deploys the latest container technology with advanced algorithms to perform a periodic cycles of data collection, experience learning and correlation, as well as algorithmic analysis and modeling. This will build a foundation for deep machine learning which will continuously drive advancement in Artificial Intelligence capability for diagnoses under the DataHOUSETM AR Remote Hand. \We hope with our ICT-MiiND strategy and development, we will be able to enhance and accelerate our customers\-\- digital transformation journey, as one of their trusted partners in premier connectivity, cloud services, information security and data centre services,\ added Mr. Li.

Other than Datacloud Global Awards 2021, DataHOUSETM AR Remote Hand managed to clinch the \GOLD STEVIE Award\ in the 2021 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards under the Innovation in Technology Development. The nomination further received the highest scoring among the other nominations in the China nation and won the \Grand Stevie Award\ in the corresponding nation. \We are delighted that DataHOUSETM AR Remote Hand managed to win the recognition from industry practitioners in the global community,\ concluded Mr. Li.

About the awards

Organized by BroadGroup, the information media technology and professional services company, Datacloud Global Awards recognise the team, products, innovations, initiatives and projects that demonstrate data centre, Edge, cloud innovation and service excellence. Judged by a panel of 26 industry experts, the Awards offer a chance to acknowledge the industry\-\-s successes across 15 separate categories.

For more information about CITIC Telecom CPC\-\-s awards and recognition, visit https://www.citictel-cpc.com/EN/HK/Pages/about-us-accreditation

About CITIC Telecom CPC

We are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (CITIC Telecom CPC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (HKG: 1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over by addressing their specific ICT requirements with highly scalable tailored solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT(TM) private network solutions, TrustCSI(TM) information security solutions, DataHOUSE(TM) cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD(TM) cloud computing solutions.

With the motto \Innovation Never Stops\, we leverage innovative technologies, embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies to transform technical potential into business value for our customers. As enterprise digital transformation partner, we strive to help our customers achieving industry-leading position, high agility and cost-efficiency through digitalization.

Bringing with our Global-Local capabilities, we are committed to providing our customers with one-stop-shop ICT solutions with superior quality. Having a worldwide footprint across 160 countries, including Asia, Europe and America, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, our global network resources connect over 160 points of presence (POPs), 18 Cloud service centers, 30+ data centers, and two dedicated 247 Security Operations Centers (SOCs). As one of the first managed service providers in Hong Kong to achieve multiple ICT-related certifications, including ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017, we have been offering professional local services, superior delivery capabilities as well as exceptional customer experience and best practices through our global presence and extensive industry know-how, becoming a leading integrated intelligent ICT service provider to enterprise customers.

For more information please visit www.citictel-cpc.com

Media Contact:

June Tay

CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited

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Uranium Report 2021  Update: New and Relevant Information for Download

Posted by Publisher Internet

57 million pounds of U3O8 or the equivalent of about 32.5% of total annual demand, global uranium production fell short of demand in 2020, with 47 million pounds of U3O8 projected for 2021. This means that the uranium sector will have a supply deficit of more than 100 million pounds of U3O8 for 2020 and 2021 alone.

In addition, the development of so-called \small modular reactors\ is progressing rapidly. This should result in a huge surge in demand for uranium in the future, because there is no way around nuclear power as the only base-load-capable, emission-free energy source in the coming decades if the climate targets set around the globe are to be achieved.?

The update of the Uranium Report 2021 provides the latest information on demand, price development and investment opportunities for the raw material that is the only one that enables emission-free and at the same time base-load capable power generation: uranium.

Raw materials are essential for the development of industry and technology worldwide, which makes them a sought-after commodity. The mining and commodity experts of Swiss Resource Capital AG regularly prepare special reports on the precious metals gold, silver, platinum and palladium, the battery metals lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper as well as on uranium.

Currently, the brand new update of the Uranium Report 2021 is available for free download: https://download.resource-capital.ch/fileadmin/reports/2021/2/ok_en_Uran_2021_Update.pdf

It contains comprehensive information on the uranium and nuclear power sector. ???????

In addition, the report provides insightful interviews with exclusively selected experts from the industry. The presentation of a number of interesting companies suitable for speculation on rising uranium prices completes the report.

All special reports can be found here: https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/reports/

This is for information only. No guarantee for information, data. No liability. This is not an invitation to buy or sell securities. The disclaimer/risk information of Swiss Resource Capital AG as below applies. Direct access can be obtained at Disclaimer: https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/disclaimer/.

For publication, free of charge. Please send us a voucher copy or a reference.

Swiss Resource Capital AG, based in Herisau, Switzerland, is one of Europe\-\-s leading communications agencies for commodity companies, focusing on the German-speaking region. In addition to the special reports, SRC AG, as the world\-\-s leading provider, also offers self-produced contributions on Commodity-TV and Rohstoff-TV.

The complete range of services can be found online at www.resource-capital.ch, the TV reports at https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/mediathek/videos/ and all special reports at https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/reports/.
Voipfuture proudly announces participation in Mobile World Congress 2021 as part of the AWS Virtual Village

Posted by Publisher Telecommunication

.

The annual MWC Barcelona is one of the most influential events of the communications industry. This year it will take place from June 28th to July 1st 2021

Voipfuture was invited by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to the AWS Virtual Village to showcase 5G voice monitoring and AI/ML applications in the cloud

Voipfuture is proud to announce participation in the Mobile World Congress 2021. Voipfuture was selected by AWS to showcase 5G voice analytics at the AWS Virtual Village.

During the MWC Barcelona AWS will provide a deep dive into the latest strategic thinking, innovative approaches, and use cases that are accelerating business outcomes for telecom operators and the consumers and enterprises that depend on their digital services. The AWS Virtual Village will show how AWS enables communication service providers to transform and offer an unlimited range of new services based on 5G networks and beyond. The AWS Virtual Village will feature interactive demo showcases, spotlight sessions and a Partner Showcase area.

Voipfuture contributes to Amazon?s vision of reinventing communications and was invited by AWS to join the Partner Showcase. Voipfuture?s Qrystal for AWS is the carrier-grade, vendor-agnostic solution for VoIP service monitoring and analytics in the cloud.? Qrystal for AWS provides reliable and accurate performance data for voice service providers. It addresses the need for operational efficiency and helps to ensure that service quality meets customer expectations. Qrystal provides control over voice quality and reduces costs by shortening the time-to-fix by up to 80% through automatic root cause detection, timeslicing and behavioral analysis of users matching the actual customer experience. Qrystal data together with Amazon?s artificial intelligence and machine learning services paves the way to reliable and efficient service automation for 5G networks. As part of Amazon?s Partner Showcase, Voipfuture will demonstrate Qrystal?s benefits to mobile network operators and the integration with AWS AI/ML services.

?I am excited to showcase our capabilities as part of the AWS Virtual Village. Qrystal for AWS is a strategic product line for Voipfuture. Qrystal will help CSPs migrating to AWS to increase their operational efficiency and reduce costs by shortening the time-to-fix by up to 80%?, said Leor Penn, VP Sales at Voipfuture.

The MWC Barcelona, is the world?s most influential exhibition for the communications industry. After last year?s cancellation, the Mobile World Congress 2021 will take place between the 28th of June and 1st of July in hybrid form. Attendees can visit the MWC Barcelona in-person or virtually.

Voipfuture is a premium voice quality monitoring vendor developing unique technology for assessing, aggregating, analyzing, and visualizing voice quality information. Voipfuture products offer a precise view on media and control plane to communication service providers, wholesalers and enterprises. Since its launch, Voipfuture has been at the forefront of voice quality monitoring and continues to redefine Voice over IP by connecting their customers? view on service quality with high resolution user experience.

More about Voipfuture Qrystal for AWS

More about Voipfuture
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.
Washigton, June 08, 2021 (SPS) - The Pentagon has once again denied the holding in Sahrawi territories of part of the "African Lion 2021" military exercises which kicked off yesterday.

According to a statement from the Pentagon, the African Lion 2021 military maneuvers organized in partnership with Morocco, will take place at the Kenitra air base in the north in Tan Tan and at the Grier Labouihi training complex, in Moroccan territories.

This statement contradicts the recent statements of the head of the Moroccan government Saad-Eddine El Othmani, who declared, a few days ago, that the military exercise will take place partly in the desert of occupied Western Sahara.

A first denial was made last Tuesday by the spokesperson for the United States Africa Command (Africom), Colonel Christopher Karns and the spokesperson for the Africom Central Command, Bardha Azari, who both specified that the exercises would take place on Moroccan territory.

In a message posted on his Twitter, Saad-Eddine El Othmani had argued that the international military maneuvers would take place in part in the occupied Saharawi territories "consecrating", according to him "the American recognition of the sovereignty of Morocco over occupied Western Sahara".

Mr. Othmani's tweet was deleted on Tuesday. Frente POLISARIO quickly denied Rabat's announcement, calling it a "totally false rumor". SPS

125/090/TRA
Greenwich remains entrenched as the dominant Connecticut market for home sales with gaudy numbers for prices and transactions through May, according to a Hearst Connecticut analysis of statewide real estate data published by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties.

But on the east bank of the Connecticut River, tiny Lyme has also seen numbers swell, placing it in the topmost tier of towns across nine of 20 categories tracked for sales or trends compared to a year earlier.

The Berkshire Hathaway report is the first to include sales transactions from May 2020 when COVID-19 infections intensified interest in extra space, particularly among those living in New York City.

3 1 of 3 Alexander Soule/Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Alexander Soule/Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Overall sales were up 26 percent from the first five months of last year, as more than 19,100 Connecticut deeds changed hands and brokers predicting more big numbers this summer.

Speaking Thursday with reporters on the state budget, Lamont referenced the economic impact the newcomers are already having and the cascade effect on the states fiscal outlook.

We have tens of thousands of families moving into the state of Connecticut who are now beginning to pay taxes, Lamont said. We have a lot of our cities beginning to lower their taxes  at least holding the line  in part because their economic pie is growing [and] their grand list is growing.

New listings are not keeping up, however, with Berkshire Hathaway reporting a 10 percent increase from last year.

Theres not going to be a better market than today to sell your property in this part of the country  this is it, said Candace Adams, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties based in Wallingford. There are also properties that I think people realize the value ... and the reasons they want to live there.

Fairfield County continues to draw buyers in droves; seven of the 10 biggest markets for house and condominium sales through the first five months of the year are in Fairfield County, according to Berkshire Hathaway figures.

Entering June, Stamford had generated the most sales and new listings of any Connecticut municipality this year  more than 1,000 homes listed for sale and close to 700 changing hands.

Greenwich is far out front of the rest of the state for prices, with average and median home sale prices of $2 million and $2.6 million on the year. The town also had the biggest increase in the number of properties changing hands, at nearly 240 more than in 2020 at the outset of the pandemic.

May was another all-time record for sales, said Mark Pruner, a broker in the Greenwich office of Berkshire Hathaway who tracks local trends on his Greenwich Streets blog. I think were going to see a continued high level of sales for the next several months, but we may not see them accelerating like they were for the first four months of the year.

Bethlehem, in Litchfield County, has seen the greatest revival from a year ago of any town in Connecticut, with 21 homes selling through May after just four in the first five months of 2020.

Only two slots behind is Lyme, whose real estate market jumps off the chart if looking at year-over-year gains across several criteria; like Bethlehem, Lyme is boosted by the law of small numbers. From six property sales in the first five months of 2020, Lyme has seen 22 homes change hands this year according to Berkshire Hathaway, a 270 percent increase on paper.

Lyme transaction prices are up 65 percent on average from a year ago  the highest for any town with at least 20 sales  and homes are going under contract four months faster than in 2020. Only a small handful of towns have shaved more time off the average sale, with Eastford and Washington leading the state sales executed five months faster than the 2020 crop of transactions.

Still, Lyme is only middle of the pack in Connecticut on one key criterion for sellers  whether buyers will pay the full asking price to land a home. Lyme sellers averaged getting just 96.7 percent of what they sought for their properties. Even in Greenwich, however, sellers yet to get their full asking prices on average, with the town placing only a few spots ahead of Lyme.

Realtor.com lists more than 60 Greenwich homes where sellers have reduced their prices, of nearly 1,500 in Connecticut.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
STAMFORD  Short of a vaccine for younger students, its looking like remote learning is not going away for students in Stamford.

Currently, only residents who are 12 years of age or older can secure the COVID-19 vaccine, meaning students from sixth grade and below are not yet eligible.

Superintendent Tamu Lucero said unless the vaccine is approved for students in the younger age groups, which she said would be a game-changer, remote learning is likely to be on the menu for families in the fall.

But, as with everything during the pandemic, things could change quickly.

At this point, were really guessing, said Superintendent Tamu Lucero, during a meeting of the districts reopening committee, known as CORE. We just dont know whats going to happen.

Lucero said remote learning is not part of the plan for the fall for students who are 12 years of age or older, since they have the opportunity to get the vaccine.

The situation could get complicated for the seventh grade, where some students would qualify for the vaccine while others would not, since the grade is mostly comprised of 11- and 12-year-old students.

According to Amy Beldotti, associate superintendent for teaching and learning, about one-third of seventh grade students wont be age-eligible as of Sept. 1.

If remote learning is still offered, theres the possibility that Stamford could partner with other school districts to provide it. Lucero said officials have been in discussions with educators in Norwalk and Bridgeport about a possible collaboration, though those talks are very tentative, according to Beldotti.

In all grade levels, Lucero said if a student had to quarantine, they would likely be provided some form of remote learning.

She said the district would send out a survey to families to gauge the interest in a remote learning offering.

Beldotti said the goal is to have an idea of how many students would be interested in remote learning much earlier in the process compared to last year. That information would dictate if remote learning is offered across the board or if it will be a condensed version, perhaps just for the first trimester of the school year.

The district created a standalone Distance Teaching and Learning Academy, or DTLA, for this school year. The academy had its own roster of teachers, for the most part, and students in the program received instruction entirely online during the year. Roughly a fourth of all students were in the academy, though that number has declined significantly toward the end of the school year

Figuring out the logistics of such an academy caused headaches early on, as student movement from the academy to the in-person model, or vice versa, caused a ripple effect across schools.

For example, if 400 high school students suddenly decided to move into the distance learning academy, that would mean filling seven courses for each student. In all, that would equal 2,800 new high school class slots for the academy.

More students in online learning also meant more teachers would be needed, so many instructors in the in-person hybrid model were moved to the academy at the last minute, meaning the classes they had been scheduled to teach in-person were collapsed.

Nonetheless, the model did receive praise from some, as Stamfords academy was an unusual approach for the region.

Beldotti acknowledged the challenges of the academy during the recent CORE meeting.

It was messy, she said.

Mike Meyer, director of family and community engagement for the district, said virtual teaching should be considered as an option for the fall.

The COVID event has allowed us to explore technology in new ways, he said.

He suggested looking at options such as flexible scheduling for remote learning, perhaps offering it for students who need extra support.

Regan Allan, a parent of children in the school system and a member of the committee, said remote learning has been good for some students, such as those who suffer from anxiety from being in a classroom. And, she said, many of those students are struggling with the idea of going back inside school buildings.

How are we bringing those kids back? Allan asked.

Jackie Heftman, a member of the committee and the Stamford Board of Education, said the goal of the district should be getting as many students as possible back into classrooms. But she suggested adding student health centers to each of the districts schools in an effort to help students through the challenging times brought on by the pandemic.

Currently, the centers  operated by Family Centers  are at Stamford High School and Westhill High School, as well as Rippowam, Dolan and Cloonan middle schools.

I certainly think that the federal dollars are there to support it, Heftman said, referring to the millions in COVID-19 relief the district is receiving for the next three years.

I would love to have one in each one of our schools, Lucero said.

Heftman added, Its just a further way for us to deal with these mental health issues if every school had its own center. That would be huge.

ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com
Published: 10 June 2021

Number of attainers of vocational qualifications decreased further, number of new passers of the matriculation examination unchanged

According to Statistics Finlands education statistics, a total of 107,000 students attended upper secondary general school education leading to a qualification and 314,000 students were in vocational education leading to a qualification in 2020.

The number of matriculation examinations completed was 29,000, which is nearly 300 more than in the previous year. A total of 65,000 vocational qualifications were completed, which is nearly 7,000 fewer than in the year before.

Attainers of matriculation examination and vocational qualifications in 2010 to 2020

Altogether 107,000 students in upper secondary general school education

The number of students in upper secondary general school education leading to a qualification was 107,000 and the number of passers of the matriculation examination was 29,000. Fifty-eight per cent of the students and passers of the matriculation examination were women. There were nearly 38,000 new students in upper secondary general school education. The number of new students remained unchanged from the year before.

Upper secondary general education was provided in 382 educational institutions, 335 of which were upper secondary general schools. Education in Swedish was offered in 36 upper secondary schools and six per cent of the students in upper secondary general school education studied at these schools. Of all students, 2,064 studied for an international matriculation examination. The International Baccalaureate examination was passed by 488 students in 17 upper secondary schools, the European Baccalaureate examination by 12 students at the European School of Helsinki, and the DIA qualification by 35 students in the Helsingin saksalainen koulu (the German School of Helsinki). Eight per cent studied according to the curriculum of upper secondary schools for adults. Ninety-eight per cent of students in upper secondary general schools were under the age of 25.

From 2011 to 2020, the number of educational institutions providing upper secondary general school education has fallen by 51. Over the same period, the number of students in upper secondary general school has diminished by two per cent. The number of matriculation examinations has gone down by nine per cent in ten years. Throughout the 2000s, over one-half of the students and passers of the matriculation examination have been women.

Students in vocational education numbered 314,000, number of new students increased

The number of students in vocational education was 314,000, of whom 51 per cent were women. Of the students in vocational education, 238,000 studied in initial vocational education, 52,000 in further vocational education and 24,000 in specialist vocational education.

Students in upper secondary general education and vocational education in 2010 to 2020*

* The data are from the calendar year, except for those on initial vocational education, which describe the situation on 20 September for the years 2010 to 2012.

New students in vocational education numbered 128,000. The number of new students went up by three per cent. Of the new students, 90,000 studied in initial vocational education, 27,000 in further vocational education and 11,000 in specialist vocational education. In all, nearly 3,000 more new students than one year earlier began studies in initial vocational education. Sixty fewer students began studying for a further vocational qualification, while 700 more students began studying for a specialist vocational qualification than one year previously.

At the autumn cross-sectional period on 20 September, a total of 168,000 students attended initial vocational education leading to a qualification. The number of students in the cross-sectional period is comparable starting from 2019. From 2019 onwards, the data for the cross-sectional period on 20 September include all students in initial vocational education irrespective of the way in which the education is performed.

The variation in the shares of men and women in vocational education viewed by fields of education was large. Of all students the share of women was 85 per cent in the field of health and welfare and 13 per cent in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT). The field of education divided most evenly by gender was the field of services, where 53 per cent were women.

Of the new students, 25 per cent studied in the field of engineering, manufacturing and construction and 22 per cent in the field of services. In both the fields of business and administration, and health and welfare, 19 per cent of new students were studying in each.

Altogether, 65,000 students completed a vocational qualification in 2020. A total of 43,000 initial vocational qualifications were completed, 15,000 further vocational qualifications and 7,000 specialist vocational qualifications. The number of attainers of qualifications was 9 per cent lower than in the previous year. A total of 5,000 fewer initial vocational qualifications were completed than in the previous year. The number of further vocational qualifications attained was 600 lower and that of specialist vocational qualifications 700 lower than in the previous year. Fifty-five per cent of those having completed a qualification were women. The number of qualifications completed was highest, 24 per cent, in the field of engineering, manufacturing and construction. Twenty-three per cent of the qualifications were completed in the field of business and administration and 20 per cent in the field of health and welfare.

Altogether 90 per cent of the students in vocational education attended education according to the reform of vocational education (Vocational Education and Training Act 531/2017) (See Appendix table 2.). If the completion of a qualification was started before the new criteria entered into force (1 August 2018), the qualification can be completed according to the old criteria until 31 December 2021

Of all students, 17 per cent had completed apprenticeship training periods and 13 per cent training agreement periods. Both training agreement and apprenticeship training periods had been completed by one per cent of students.

Twenty-six per cent of the qualifiers had apprenticeship training periods. Sixteen per cent of those with qualifications had training agreement periods. One per cent had both apprenticeship training and training agreement periods. .

Nearly 13,000 students in instruction preparing for and preparatory education for upper secondary education

In all, 400 students participated in preparatory studies for general upper secondary school (LUVA) and good 100 completed the education.

In all, 11,000 students participated in preparatory education for vocational training (VALMA) and 3,000 completed the education. In all, 1,700 students participated in preparatory education for working life and independent living (TELMA) and 400 completed it.

More detailed data on students in upper secondary general education, vocational education and completers of qualifications, and participants in guidance and preparatory education by region of education and age can be found separately in the database tables of upper secondary general education and in the database tables of vocational education. The data are mainly based on the Finnish National Agency for Education's Koski database.

Source: Education. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Helena Aaltonen 029 551 2697, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

Publication in pdf-format (230.3 kB)

Updated 10.6.2021

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Students and qualifications [e-publication].

ISSN=2737-0410. 2020. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 14.6.2021].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/opiskt/2020/opiskt_2020_2021-06-10_tie_001_en.html
Wednesday, 09 June 2021 00:32:55 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo

Brazilian miner and iron ore producer Vale said this week it will pay off a $2.5 billion debt at the Nacala Logistics Corridor (NLC) in Mozambique, of which Vale owns a portion. Vale, which has agreed to buy Mitsuis shares in both the Nacala and the Moatize coal mine projects, said the debt payment is scheduled for June 22.

With the full debt payment, which is related to financing provided by banks to support the Nacala Logistics Corridor, Vale will be able to meet all conditions to buy Mitsuis stakes in both the Moatize and Nacala projects, the Brazilian miner said.

After (closing the transaction), Vale will consolidate the Moatize mine and the NLC in its financial statements. Accordingly, the EBITDA will no longer be burdened with costs related to debt service, investment in maintenance of operations (which will be executed directly by Vale as sustaining capital) and others, financed by NLC's tariff, and that already discounting the interest received by Vale, impacted the 2020s EBITDA by approximately $300 million, Vale said in a statement.

Vale has already said that it after it fully owns the two projects it will be able to sell them to an interested investor. The future asset disinvestment is part of a Vales plan to focus on core businesses.
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The 14th edition of the documentary film and human rights festival One World Romania - which is dedicated this year to the celebration of women and their fight for asserting themselves as equal members of society - opens on Friday evening at Cinema Elvire Popesco with Paris Calligrammes, the latest film by German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger, the organizers announced in a release.

The screening is part of the Ulrike Ottinger Retrospective that also includes two of the New Wave director's early fiction films, five travel or social observation documentaries and a short.

Also on the first day of the festival, Petit Samedi by young Belgian director Paloma Sermon-Dai will be presented at the Peasant Museum Cinema from 20:00 hrs.

The festival this year is a tribute to women, featuring films directed by women, about women. Four of the selected films will also be part of the competition, which brings together some of the most exciting documentaries made this year worldwide. They will be assessed by two juries: one of professionals from the international film industry, another made of highschool students from all over the country.

The celebration of the feminist struggles of yesterday and today will be an occasion to make known the militant activity of Lebanese-born French actress and film director Delphine Seyrig and of the Simone de Beauvoir Audiovisual Centre she created in 1982 together with Carole Roussopoulos and Ioana Wieder.

Apart from the main theme, OWR #14 includes the classic sections dedicated to justice, immigrants and refugees worldwide. The varied geographical origin and wide time range covered by the films in the section When Tanks Cry Instead of Us shows us not just that peace and democracy that reign in some parts of the world are never granted, but also that they must not act as an anesthetic for our empathy and interest in the less privileged.

The films included in the All Together section bet on proving that the edge and the center are notions that depend entirely on the viewer's position. The refugee crisis, prolonged and exacerbated by the new global context determined by the Covid pandemic is the subject of the No Place Like Home section.

As far as Romanian films are concerned, One World will take a look back at the little-known history of Romanian documentaries, through a series of screenings dedicated to some of the most important filmmakers of the genre - Paul Calinescu, Jean Mihail, Ada Pistiner, Florica Holban or writers Geo Bogza, Nina Cassian and Radu Cosasu - and will also take a glance to the future with the screening of films made by students of the National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC).

This year's edition also proposes two of the most recent Romanian productions, the recent recipient of the Berlin Golden Bear 'Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn' directed by Radu Jude, and an international premiere, 'The Certainty of Probabilities', Raluca Durbaca's debut in the documentary feature film.

One World Romania #14 runs between June 11 - 20 at the venues Cinema Elvire Popesco, the Peasant Museum Cinema, the Eforie Cinematheque, the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Bucharest, UNATC and J'Ai Bistrot on Calea Grivitei, and will be also available online all over the country between June 21 and 27.
Romania and Germany are hosting, from Thursday until Monday, the command exercise Defender Europe 2021 Computer Assisted Exercise / Command Post Exercise (DE21 CAX/CPX), where approximately 400 soldiers are taking part.

The soldiers come from the Commandment of the South-East Multinational Corps (HQ, MNC-SE), 46th Regiment Support, the allied Corp of Quick Reaction (HQ ARRC) of Great Britain, the V Corps of the USA Ground Forces for Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF), as well as from different structures of the Romanian Army.

Defender Europe 21 CAX/CPX, part of the multinational joint exercise Defender Europe 21, planned and led by USAREUR-AF, represents a major training event in which the South-Eastern Multinational Commandment Corps follows, in the context of the operationalisation process it carries, to raising the preparation level and interoperability in a multinational training environment, along with the military of the participating nations, in order to accomplish the Initial Operational Capability (IOC), with support from HQ ARRC, according to a press release sent by the Ministry of National Defence (MApN).

According to the quoted source, within the exercise, the South-East Multinational Command Corps plans, executes and leads a defence operation, in the context of the Romanian-American and allied strategic partnership, by exercising the command and control of the Romanian and allied forces and in cooperation with those partners, based on a scenario that contains fight actions of high intensity, integrating in the command chain NATO structures created on Romania's territory.

The start of the exercise was preceded by a series of complex activities of training and planning, which included theoretical training exercises of staff, dislocating in Romania of military from the Allied Quick Reaction Command Corp from Great Britain and of USAREUR-AF and integrating them in specific structures especially prepared for the exercise. Furthermore, during this period, the training of approximately 150 Romanian military was carried out, belonging to all force categories of the Romanian army and dislocating them for fitting the response cells associated with the drill, at the Center for Training of USAREUR-AF in Grafenwohr, Germany.

On the national territory, the training sequences of the Defender Europe 21, organized based on the Romanian-American strategic partnership, are synchronized with those of the exercise carried out in allied format within NATO Steadfast Defender 21 through the national level complex exercises DACIA 21. The Defender Europe 21 Command exercise CAX/CPX marks the end of the series of exercises carried out within Defender Europe 21.

Defender 21 is a reunited large-scale multinational military exercise, planned and led by the USA Ground Forces Commandment for Europe and Africa, having the purpose of increasing reaction capacity and level of inter-operability of the USA Ground Forces with the forces of the NATO member countries and partners. The exercise integrates approximately 28,000 military belonging to allied forces and partners from 26 nations which are training simultaneously, in over 30 training areas in 12 countries.
The Ministry of Culture recommends, in a report published following the organization, in May, of some pilot cultural events in Bucharest and Cluj, that the activity of the sector should not be suspended during the state of alert established on the Romanian territory, regardless of the epidemiological situation.

"The pilot events were aimed at confirming that cultural actions are not a source of infection, that the participating public is responsible, that the creative cultural sector can continue its work and that the state can provide predictability for this area. The recommendation of the Ministry of Culture is that the activity of the sector should not be suspended during the state of alert on the Romanian territory, regardless of the epidemiological situation," the report of the Ministry of Culture, sent on Thursday to AGERPRES, reads.

According to the Minister of Culture, Bogdan Gheorghiu, for the return to normalcy the solution is and must remain vaccination.

In May, the Ministry of Culture organized four pilot events, performances with audiences both inside and outside, which aimed to relax the conditions in the cultural-creative sectors. Two weeks after the last event, the one outside the Bucharest National Opera, the ministry prepared a detailed report on how the events unfolded. The report provides the organizers' challenges during the pandemic, as well as a series of recommendations and conclusions.

Following the monitoring, according to an official address of STS (Special Telecommunications Service), no person who participated in the three shows in Bucharest tested positive. After the show in Cluj, only one person tested positive, following a rapid antigen test.
The turnover of the hospitality industry plunged 35 percent in 2020 from 27.5 billion lei in 2019 to 17.9 billion lei as a result of the pandemic, shows a survey by the Termene.ro platform based on the financial statements reported by Romanian companies.

The headcount in the hotel and restaurant industry dropped 19 percent in 2020 from 186,000 to 150,000 and the cumulative net losses in the industry surged by 220 percent in 2020 to 2.3 billion lei, compared to 710 million lei in 2019.

According to the survey, the net profit registered by hospitality companies that are above the break-even point decreased by 46.5 percent to 2.49 billion lei in 2020, compared to 4.65 billion lei in 2019.

The hospitality industry is the sector that saw the largest increase in net losses in 2020, of 220 percent, followed by the events industry (169 percent increase in net losses compared to 2019) and the information and communications sector, with an advance of 81 percent in net losses, shows the Termene survey.

In terms of turnover, only the events industry registered a steeper plunge than the HoReCa operators, with a total decline of 38 percent in 2020 compared to 2019.

"We processed the data available in the Termene.ro platform based on the balance sheets submitted by the companies, and we already have the first statistically relevant conclusions about the impact of the pandemic on the Romanian business milieu. (...) For instance, after a year during which decline estimates for the hospitality industry ranged between 20 and 70 percent, we now see firsthand that hotels and restaurants earned 35 percent less in 2020 than in 2019," said Termene.ro co-founder Adrian Dragomir.

Against this background, Romanian entrepreneurs and managers are increasingly concerned about the ability to pay and the insolvency risk for all current customers and suppliers, but also for those they prospect. The number of checks among Romanian companies has doubled in the context of the pandemic. Termene offers the "Company Verification" product that provides the users instant access to raw information or advanced reports on the financial, fiscal and legal data of all companies in Romania, from reliable sources and updated in real time.

Regarding the capacity of the hospitality industry to adjust to the context of the pandemic, the survey shows that 47 percent of the restaurant market was generated by delivery services, and that the delivery sector kept many HoReCa businesses afloat.

The findings of the Termene.ro survey are confirmed by the National Foodservice Research survey conducted by the Hospitality Culture Institute. The total annual value of the market of out of home cooked food and drinks (standard restaurants, fast food, canteens, pubs and supermarkets) in five of the largest Romanian cities (Bucharest, Timisoara, Iasi, Cluj and Brasov) amounted to 10.2 billion lei in 2020 - down 29 percent compared to 2019. According to the survey, these five cities represent 60 percent of the total market, which takes the hospitality industry to a value of 17 billion lei in 2020, in line with the results released on Thursday by Termene.ro.

Also, the hospitality industry has a significant contribution to the evolution of companies that develop businesses in related fields, such as agriculture, local ingredient suppliers, producers and distributors of kitchen raw materials, food product importers and distributors, providers of industry dedicated services, as well as management systems, cleaning, transport, logistics, packaging.

According to the employers' organization HORA and the members of the Tourism Alliance, the hospitality industry contributes approximately 5.07 percent to the GDP as follows: direct financial impact (added value) - 3.42 pct; social impact (employee salaries and consumption contribution) - 0.91 pct; indirect financial impact (suppliers and investments) - 0.74 pct.

"In order to start and continue investments, companies need predictability. Romanian managers and entrepreneurs want to run predictable businesses. The call for HoReCa projects funded from state aid grants, as a recovery solution, has only recently been put up for public debate. Under the state aid scheme, operators whose activity was affected by the Covid pandemic can get 20 percent of the 2020 loss compensated, but not more than 800,000 euros per single enterprise. This state aid scheme is absolutely necessary, even if it comes 16 months after the outbreak of the pandemic that caused the hospitality industry the steepest surge in net losses in 2020," the document shows.
Heroes' Day will be marked on Thursday by the Romanian Naval Forces through numerous activities organized in Constanta, Braila, Tulcea, Babadag, Bucharest and in Ciurea commune, Iasi County, to honour the Romanian heroes who died in the line of duty over time.

In Constanta, Braila and Tulcea, the military and religious ceremonies will start at 12.00 pm, and in Babadag and Ciurea, Iasi County, the ceremonies are planned for 09.00 am.

In Constanta, the ceremony will be organised at the Monument of the Heroes of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989, in the Central Cemetery, in Braila at the "Saint Constantine" Cemetery of the Heroes, in Tulcea the ceremony will take place at the Cemetery of Heroes, and in Babadag - the ceremony will take place at the Monument of Heroes in the city park, between 09.00 and 09.30 am.According to a release sent to AGERPRES, this year, on the occasion of Heroes' Day, military seamen will be present in Ciurea, Iasi County, to continue the series of events dedicated to the commemoration of the 1,000 martyrs killed in the largest railway catastrophe that took place in Romania, on December 31, 1916 / January 13, 1917, in which naval commander Alexandru Catuneanu died, the one who laid the foundations of Hydrography in our country and made the first navigation map for the coast of Romania on the Black Sea.
Prime Minister Florin Citu declared on Thursday, at the western Polytechnic University of Timisoara (UPT), that Romania needs well prepared engineers, the academic institution having "full support" in doing what is necessary for supplying such graduates.

The PM met at UPT with representatives from the academia sector, the economic sector and with students, the talks being focused mainly on the research zone, its financing and support, and, implicitly, on creating jobs with large added value, which will motivate the youth to stay in the country, according to a press release sent by UPT to AGERPRES.

Starting from the UPT's motto, uttered by King Ferdinand at the inauguration of the first building of the Polytechnic - "Walls do not make a school, but the spirit which resides inside" - PM Florin Citu highlighted that this spirit is also the key of his message.

"We need engineers, well prepared engineers and you have the full support in order to make all that is necessary for supplying such graduates", Citu said.

Speaking about Romania's accelerated economic growth, among the highest in Europe, the PM highlighted the necessity of investments in this period, which will support long-term development, especially in the research area, which will produce motivating jobs for young graduates and would be a real engine for the entire economy, but added that research needs to be made in universities, based on competition and to deliver palpable results. The PM specified that under these conditions, he will grant the entire support for developing research centers close to universities.
Prime Minister Florin Citu announced that a programme will be launched at the governmental level aimed at making investments in communal and county roads financed from the budget, and priority will be given to localities "where sewerage and water already exist".

"We cannot have communal roads, roads from small, common localities neither under the PNRR [the National Recovery and Resilience Plan] nor the European funds, these could not be included there. And then I looked and asked my colleagues to make an analysis, to see what happened in the last years, where all those investments went. And we see that neither under the non-reimbursable funds nor under the PNRR was this county and communal infrastructure included, this does not exist. (...) And here we have a problem, because we know very well that those localities where no investment has been made in county and communal roads are lagging behind. (...) I want to tell you that we will launch a special investment programme for these roads. Priority will be given to those localities where there is already sewerage and water, but we cannot leave behind the Romanian communities, we must develop the whole of Romania. (...) These investments cannot be made through the PNRR and European funds and we will make them through the budget. I will announce in the upcoming period the structure of this programme," Florin Citu told on Thursday a press conference in western Timisoara.
The heroes of the Romanian nation were and continue to be genuine symbols of selflessness, courage and a sense of duty, President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday at a Heroes' Day ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Bucharest.

"We are here today to celebrate together the day of our heroes at the same time with the feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, a moment of a profound spiritual significance. We are paying our pious homage to the sacrifice of all Romanian warriors who, over the centuries, sacrificed their lives on the battlefields, for the Romanian land, in defence of their country and the integrity of their nation, for freedom, justice and democracy," said Iohannis.

The president added that the values and principles that guided the destiny of the nation's heroes remain landmarks of responsibility."The values and principles that guided their destiny remain our new landmarks of responsibility to bequeath to our descendants a developed Romania, whose citizens live in unity, prosperity and solidarity, a dignified country and fully integrated with the community of democratic countries," Iohannis added.He mentioned that today's Romanian armed forces are "modern, able to fulfill their missions" living up to their commitments jointly with Romania's NATO allies and together with other European Union member states for the implementation of the EU Common Security and Defence Policy."Romania is currently a true security provider in the Black Sea region, a credible and strong ally and partner in NATO and the European Union, as well as in its relationship with its strategic partner, the United States of America. Today, we are paying tribute to our military killed in the war zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Western Balkans, as well as on missions under the auspices of international organisations to which Romania is a party. They fought to defend the interests of our country, demonstrating Romania's firm commitment to its allies, to the values of democracy. The lessons in devotion, altruism, patriotism and the spirit of sacrifice represented by the sacrifice of the heroes of the Romanian nation must inspire us all, bring us closer to the values on which modern Romania is built: unity , democracy, prosperity and solidarity," added the chief of state.The ceremony opens with the Romanian national anthem being sung. A religious service was held to commemorate the nation's heroes. President Klaus Iohannis, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Ludovic Orban, Prime Minister Florin Citu, Defence Minister Nicolae Ciuca, other officials called out the names of some heroes who fell in their line of duty in the country's wars. A wreath-laying ceremony followed.The event was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Dan Barna, ministers, Bucharest Mayor General Nicusor Dan, and other officials.
The State of Israel will for ever support the wife and son of Lieutenant Commander (post-mortem) Stefan Claudiu Dragnea and will respect his memory, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said on Thursday in a speech at the memorial dedicated to soldiers who died in the 2010 aviation tragedy in Bucegi Mountains.

A helicopter, two states, seven families and seven victims - their fate was tied up for eternity. (...) The six members of the Israeli forces' crews and the Romanian officer went out together on a mission from which they never returned. This was the beginning of a blessed collaboration with NATO states, which allowed our aviation to train in tough, complex terrain conditions, a collaboration between the Israeli and Romanian forces, between fighters who love their country and their people, dedicated to maintaining peace and national security, said President Reuven Rivlin, at the ceremony in the village of Simon, the County of Brasov.

He said, in context, that "the stable bilateral cooperation between Israel and Romania in the field of defence is particularly important for the regional security of the State of Israel".

Israel and Romania are friendly states and there have been diplomatic relations between them since the founding of the State in 1948, and they have never been interrupted, not even for a minute. Romania is a special ally. (...) It is a friendship, it is a true friendship, which begins with the history of Judaism in Romania and continues to this place today. (...) And I thank the Romanian authorities, the Romanian Air Forces, their commander for their support in continuing and building this cooperation so important to us, said the Israeli president.

The head of the State of Israel stressed that the best way to commemorate the heroes is to follow their example.

In his message on this occasion, the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, stressed, in turn, that the tragedy that took place 11 years ago "highlighted the strong connections between Romania and Israel", noting that one of the fallen Israeli soldiers comes from a "hard-pressed family in the great tragedy of the 20th century, the Holocaust" in Romania.

"On the frontispiece of the monument erected in memory of the seven heroes who have fallen in the mission it says so deeply and disturbingly that they were partners in the mission, in the joy of flying, in life and death. It is the testimony of the great price that our military pay to ensure the calm, security and peace of those who have placed their trust in them. Here, in front of the monument, the need to commit to continue and strengthen the excellent relations between our states in as many areas as possible becomes evident, taking into account the fact that the State of Israel is a partner of strategic interest for Romania," Iohannis said in the message read by State adviser Lieutenant-General Mihai Somordolea.

The Romanian president also welcomed the growing dialogue between Romania and Israel "given the fundamental traditional diplomatic cooperation on common strategic values and interests" and particularly appreciated the partnership in the field of security and defence, especially in the current security context, expressing his belief that "in the future we have significant potential for development in this area".

"Today's commemoration is a good opportunity to renew the decision to continue to act together to strengthen regional security, to protect the freedom of our children and citizens, but especially to build a world of peace and democracy, without discrimination, racism, anti-Semitism or xenophobia," the message from President Iohannis reads.

General Amikam Norkin, the head of the Israeli Air Force, said that from the tragedy in the Bucegi Mountains "all the lessons that could be learned were learned".

"The Israeli aviation has also changed as have the Yasur crews [the type of helicopter that was involved in the exercise in Bucegi Mountains, ed. n.]. We've drawn the lessons from everything we could to prevent such an accident from happening, and you, the bereaved families, have helped us in this process with humanity and responsibility," General Amikam Norkin said.

The President of the State of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, together with the heads of the Israeli and Romanian Air Forces, Generals Amikam Norkin and Viorel Pana, lit a memorial torch in honour of the seven heroes at the end of the ceremony. At the end of the military and religious ceremony, a wreath-laying took place from some institutions of the two states and the families of the dead soldiers. An IAR 330 Puma helicopter of the Romanian Air Force flew over the area.

The commemoration ceremony was attended by Romanian and Israeli officials, comrades and family members of fallen soldiers.
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) pretesting ended the other day, and the final result of Romania's participation is 94.69%, said on Thursday Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu, who underlined the importance of international comparative evaluations, specifying that 4 million lei have been allocated this year to support these studies.

"The other day we completed the PISA pretesting. We managed to reach the required standard for participation: 94.69% is the final result of the participation in the PISA pretesting. Along with the PISA Programme, the TALIS [Teaching and Learning International Survey] Programme, the TIMSS [Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study] Programme is considered of major importance. (...) Systemic interventions in education must come out of the gray area of improvisation; they must be based on data, on solid scientific evidence, and international comparative evaluations that we have decided to support financially are essential. Almost 4 million lei have been earmarked this year alone for such studies. It may be little. We want to expand the support base for these instruments, which we consider extremely important," the minister told a conference on Romania's pre-university education under the magnifying glass of TIMSS 2019, guidelines for educational policies in Romania, organised by the University of Bucharest.

He pointed out that science education has a major social role because it trains young people to understand life, to relate to the great challenges of the contemporary world."Learning mathematics and science is not just a necessary exercise for school and exam. Science education has a major social role; it trains young people to understand life, to relate to the great challenges of the contemporary world. The Ministry of Education is and will remain committed to the generation of educational policies based on scientific evidence. We need more than ever to collaborate with education science experts," said Cimpeanu.He pointed out that the government approved on Wednesday Romania's participation in the TALIS 2022 Programme.
The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Ludovic Orban, sent a message on Thursday, on Heroes' Day, mentioning that the the memory must be honored "of the best of the sons of the country, the deed of whom laid the foundation of today's freedom".

"Ascension day has been for us, for more than a century, the day in which we honor the memory of the best among the sons of the country, the deed of whom laid the foundation of our freedom of today. Over one million Romanians sacrificed their lives, died on the front, were declared missing, suffered horrible detainment from which many did not return to make Romania just as we inherited it. Since the first moments of its existence, the Romanian nation rose above through the deed of these people, women and men, often remained anonymous, the destiny of whom is intertwined with the country's destiny," Orban wrote, on Facebook.

"The international recognition of the existence of the Romanian State was achieved after the war of 1877-1878, where the people paid with the lives of the bravest and the best for the right to have an independent state. Then, In World War One we lost over half a million Romanians, on the battle field and behind the front, combatants and non-combatants, but all engaged in the fight for reuniting the country and for resisting occupation. The triumph of 1918, Greater Romania, is above all, their victory, of those who could not see it but with their heart. The Second World War was horrible, with hundred of thousands of casualties, gone missing, wounded and prisoners, but also hundreds of thousands of civilians who were victims of the sinister ethnic cleansing. Without forgetting the guilt of those responsible, we must remind ourselves of the honest sacrifices made on the front by simple people, called to fight in the country's army, people who in the name of the patriotic ideal, placed their trust in the then leaders of the nation," Ludovic Orban added.

"In the middle of suffering, our people rose up stronger than before, and the proof of its resolve is the fact that Romania, in 1920, was the first country who, decreeing a Heroes' Day, embraced equally all of the fallen on the front. Regardless of where they lost their lives, in an act of reconciliation with the past. This gesture of tolerance and forgiveness honors best the sacrifice made by the heroes of the people, who left for war, but fought to achieve peace," Orban said.

He sent his gratitude to the heroes, mentioning that we owe them our lives of today and Romania's future.
The National Alliance of Romania's Student Organizations (ANOSR) criticizes the government's plans to introduce the possibility for tertiary education teachers to extend their tenure till the age of 70 upon their exclusive wish, as provides a bill approved by the government, and are asking Parliament to remove this provision.

ANOSR considers that the government's proposal to raise the upper retirement age represents "an additional brake on the modernization of universities".

"The federation's position on this issue is very clear and firm: the way the higher education system is currently organized, all higher education teaching staff should retire at the age of 65, as originally provided in the National Education Law. (...) In absence of actions regarding continuous quality training of teachers so as to ensure the improvement of teaching methods, the integration of new technologies and, as a corollary, compliance with student-centered education, the student is further ignored," the student federation argues, pointing out that the age limit of 65 encourages in the first place the access of young people to a university teaching career.

"The modernization of universities is without doubt done also by opening a career in higher education for young people with results, through competitive contests meant to attract the best potential candidates for both teaching and for doing research in higher education. Statistics provided by the Education Ministry show that the number of tenured university assistants decreased by 27 percent between 2015 and 2019, highlighting why the emphasis should be laid on encouraging entry into the system. Such a change would even more upset the professional path of the youth, who are left in the haze as to when they could be accepted into the profession," ANOSR explains.

In the opinion of the student federation, Parliament must correct this "obvious error" proposed by the government and turn its attention to other initiatives capable of bringing about an improvement in Romanian tertiary education.
The National Company for Energy Transport Transelectrica and the University Politehnica of Bucharest (UPB) have signed a partnership through which they will establish and operationalise DigiTEL, the only integrated digital laboratory in Romania, for testing future technologies from the energy sphere, the company informs.

"In the materialization of a 10 year vision, DigiTEL wil function as a testing and validating medium for integrated concepts used in developing the pilot-project of the first digital station in Romania, which will be implemented by Transelectrica, namely the 200/110/20 kV Alba Iulia Station. Once with implementing the retrofitting of the Alba Iulia Station, DigiTEL will become an incubator for new standards and technologies which support the digital transformation of the energy sector. The digital station's project is referred to in the RET Development Plan of the company during the interval of 2020-2026, with an allocated budget of 30 million Euro, among which 3-5 million Euro will be allocated to the laboratory. The digital station's project represents the spearhead within Transelectrica's strategic initiatives, ensuring the materialization of the company's strategy in the area of innovation and research," according to the Transelectrica press release, sent to AGERPRES on Thursday.

Catalin Nitu, the chairman of the CNTEE Transelectrica Directorship, declared, in context, that at a global level, the energy sector is in a transitional stage which is quickly advancing, and the only way to face this challenge is to consolidate the partnership between the real academy and the academic environment.

In his turn, Mihnea Costoiu, the rector of the University Politehnica of Bucharest, explained that, in the last years, digital transformation has become one of the priorities of the community and Romania needs support from the largest engineering community in the country, that of the Bucharest Polytechnic University, for the digitization of administration or services.

The main objectives of the partnership are: testing and setting up equipment and mounted systems within the laboratory; participation in training and certification sessions with a view to capitalise the laboratory's capabilities; developing students' knowledge and competence, as well as of the UPB specialized staff regarding equipment and systems necessary for the functionality of the Electric Transport Network, as well as of Transelectrica specialists; testing and validating digital technology associated with energy systems; promoting the best practices, standards and technologies which will influence future generations of equipment and systems, among the Transelectrica experts, professors and students of UPB; identifying young competent students who can consolidate the UPB and Transelectrica teams; creating a learning environment as close as possible to the used operational environment within Transelectrica and of the transport operators and European system (ENTSO-E).

According to the quoted press release, the endeavor for implementing the DigiTEL laboratory will be initiated this year, the term for operationalization being the year 2024.
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In April 2021 Chinese media announced that an American robotic vessel was hauled in by Chinese fishermen in the Yellow Sea between China and Korea. China described the three-meter (ten foot) long device as something used to spy on China. What China described was the surface component of the American Wave Glider SV3 AUV (autonomous unmanned vehicle) which also contains an underwater component, connected to the surface AUV float by an eight-meter (25 foot) cable that transmits power and data from the float to the underwater component, and data collected by the underwater component to the AUV float that contains solar panels and communications equipment to transmit position back to a land base via a satellite phone. This enables a surface ship to get close enough to use a cellphone cell tower to collect accumulated data from the Wave Rider and send new instructions about where Wave Rider is to search. The surface component weighs 90 kg (198 pounds) while the underwater portion weighs 155 kg (340 pounds).

Wave Rider has been around since 2007 as a commercial product. There have been two upgrades, the latest in 2017, which made Wave Rider able to operate rough seas and farther north and south than previous models. Wave Rider can be used individually or in small groups to monitor ocean conditions as well as weather. Individual Wave Riders stay at sea for up to six months, or more, before being hauled aboard a ship for repairs, maintenance or upgrades. Basic Wave Riders cost about $300,000. That can increase by a third or more with some of the more expensive sensors available. Wave Rider data can be used for military purposes, but that is secondary to the task of monitoring the state of oceans in general. In 2012-2013 the record for Wave Rider duration was one that remained at sea for a year and travelled 14,000 kilometers from central California to northeastern Australia. Normally single or groups of Wave Riders monitor one portion of the ocean.

For over a decade the waters of the western Pacific have been increasingly populated by UUVs (Unmanned Undersea Vehicle) set loose to collect technical data on the water all the way from the surface to the sea bottom. Increasingly these UUVs are being caught by fishing nets by accident or seized by warships on purpose to make a political point or, eventually, interfere with legal data collection that is nevertheless very useful in submarine operations. The UUVs have been getting cheaper, more capable and proliferating. After a 2016 incident with China the U.S. pointed out that a UUV Chinese fishermen had found was using commercially available technology and was worth about $150,000. Faced with a grand theft droid charge China agreed to return the AUV.

This is the first time China has seized a Wave Rider and despite initially calling it an espionage device will probably return it as well because China can also purchase Wave Rider for its own oceanographic research.

Until the 2016 incident with China most of the Wave Rider and UUV incidents were accidents and curiosities, not diplomatic showdowns. For example, later in 2016, Filipino fishermen in the South China Sea caught an American AUVs in their nets. These torpedo-like devices are clearly marked as to what they are and the American embassy will send someone to pick them up if found. These AUVs are silent, very small, and able to operate on their own for up to a year. The first models were two meters (six feet) long, weighed 59 kg (130 pounds) and operated completely on their own, collecting valuable information about underwater weather. What this AUV does is automatically move slowly (30-70 kilometers a day) underwater, collecting data on salinity and temperature and transmitting back via a satellite link every hour or so as the AUV briefly reaches the surface. This data improves the effectiveness of sonars used by friendly forces, making it easier to detect and track enemy submarines. Thats because the speed of sound travelling through water varies according to the temperature and salinity of the water. Having more precise data on salinity and temperature in a large body of water makes your underwater sensors (sonar, which detects sound to determine what is out there) more accurate. This data can also assist submarines in better avoiding detection. The first of these navy AUVs could dive as far down as 200 meters (620 feet) and later models were able to go down to 1,000 meters or more.

The Wave Rider is simply an advanced design based on the earlier underwater only AUVs. Wave Rider and the earlier UUVs use a unique form of propulsion. They have wings, and a small pump that fills and empties a chamber. This changes its buoyancy, causing it to glide down, then back up. This maneuver moves the UUV forward. Equipped with GPS and a navigation and communications computer, the UUV is programmed (or instructed via the sat link) to monitor a particular area. The small pump uses less electricity than a propeller moving the UUV at the same speed. As a result of this all UUVs UAVs can remain at sea for up to a year on one battery charge. Before the battery runs out the owner has to direct the UAV and a ship to a rendezvous where the AUV will remain on the surface and the ship will haul it aboard, replace the battery and perform any other needed maintenance.

Wave Rider uses the surface component to carry solar panels to recharge the battery and power more sensors. Small UUV maintenance detachments (of two or three sailors) can be flown to a ship that is close enough to make the rendezvous. In some cases, you can direct the UUV to move close to land, which makes it even easier to find a boat to go out and get the AUV. These UUVs can be launched from ships or shore. In 2009 an UUV of this type crossed the Atlantic on its own, as part of a civilian research project. A few years later a Wave Rider travelled even farther and crossed the Pacific.

The U.S. Navy currently has over 2000 of these UUVs and about twenty Wave Riders in service or on order and plans to keep increasing this robotic UUV fleet as long as they keep demonstrating they can do the job. This is part of a plan to have UUVs replace many of the ocean survey ships currently used for this kind of work. The survey ships take temperature and salinity readings from instruments deployed from the ship as well as a global network of several thousand research buoys. Unlike the survey ships the UUVs could be deployed in areas where hostile subs are believed to be operating, and be kept at it as long as needed. If successful in regular use, larger versions are planned, equipped with more sensors and longer duration.

The U.S. Navy apparently has a lot of these UUVs operating in the South China Sea because of the disputes everyone is having with China over Chinese claims to nearly all the South China Sea. Its not just UUVs Filipino fishermen come across. In 2015 and 2013 fishermen found a Chukar target drone. The target drone had a curious history because it landed intact in late 2012 and then drifted over 2,000 kilometers from Guam until it reached the Philippines. The Chukar is designed to float so that it can be recovered and reused.
Indirect negotiations with the United States over lifting sanctions have gone through five negotiating sessions since April, without an agreement. Apparently, some progress has been made and it may only take one or two more sessions to get some sanctions relief for Iran. These talks are the result of a new (since early 2021) U.S. government, containing many people who worked with the 2015 U.S. government that joined JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) group and made the lifting of Iranian sanctions possible. JCPOA consists of six nations (China, France, Russia, Britain, the U.S. and Germany) that negotiated and signed the 2015 treaty with Iran. This deal lifted economic sanctions in return for Iran halting its nuclear weapons program, which Iran insisted it did not have. Currently Iran refuses to talk with the U.S. directly, so the current negotiations are being held in Austria where the U.S. representative has to be briefed by the other JCPOA members who can meet with the Iranians. This is cumbersome and Iran refuses to deal directly with the Americans while the renewed sanctions are in force. That sort of pre-condition, thanks to abuse by North Korea, is now unacceptable to most Americans and keeps the American negotiators from actively participating in the new talks. Another obstacle is the growing list of Iranian sponsored violence worldwide. In some cases, Iranians are directly involved, something Iran prefers to avoid by using proxies; Iran-backed groups that deny they are taking orders from Iran. This use of proxies is no longer very effective because so many Iran proxies have been exposed. Iran no longer gets the benefit of the doubt because if some group carries out a violent act that benefits Iran, that attack was probably ordered and supported by Iran. While more distant adversaries in Europe and the United States still contain a lot of people inclined to trust Iran, that is definitely not the case with Irans neighbors.

Another obstacle to lifting sanctions is the UN inspectors of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), who have been inspecting real or suspected Iranian nuclear facilities for years, believing that the Iranians have been concealing nuclear weapons work for years and are still at it. A major factor in shaping current IAEA assessments was the 2018 Israeli Mossad (foreign intel) operation in the Iranian capital where a heavily protected warehouse containing top-secret documents was located by Mossad, covertly entered and half a ton of documents on the Iranian nuclear program were removed and 24 hours later showed up in Israel. Iran denied that the Mossad operation took place and that the documents were real. Since 2018 Israel has allowed foreign intel and nuclear program experts to examine the documents and that led to international acceptance of the documents as authentic. IAEA used information from these documents to improve their inspection operations and Iran responded by blocking IAEA access to areas that the 2018 documents identified as involved in nuclear weapons research. The 2018 disclosures also persuaded Irans neighbors that they had to start planning how they were going to develop or buy nuclear weapons to prevent Iran from using nukes to bully its way to domination of the region and the removal of any government that opposed this.

The Angry Neighbors

The continued lack of hard currency and growing anti-Iran attitudes in Iraq have led Iran to reorganize its pro-Iran militias. Most of the Iraqi militiamen have been dismissed, or asked to work without pay. The small percentage of militia members who remained loyal were offered jobs in smaller, better equipped units. These are the ones keeping the assassination and intimidation program going. Iran has given these Iraqis a license t0 kill, which means if you get caught Iran will get you out and prevent prosecution. What Iran desperately needs in Iraq is more cash and Iran is trying to make a deal with the new American government to lift economic sanctions. Officially, Iraq backs the lifting of sanctions because Iran will work against government officials who say otherwise. Off the record, Iraqi leaders and most of the population want Iran sanctions to continue.

The Iranians are very much still in Syria, but in reduced numbers because of the cash crisis back home. The Iranian mercs and their IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) supervisors are mostly concerned with establishing a military presence near the Israeli border so they can carry out terror attacks using missiles or rockets. So far this has proved slow going and expensive. The Israeli airstrikes regularly hit weapons shipments from Iran and secret Iranian bases. Israel has more friends in Syria than Iran does in Israel, or Syria for that matter. Israel is not alone in wanting the Iranians to just go home. That sentiment is shared by many Syrians, Lebanese, Turks, Kurds, Iraqis, Russians and Americans.

While Afghanistan has been hostile to the religious dictatorship in Iran, this is one Iranian neighbor that sees Iran as a source of help if the Taliban again seek to gain control of the entire country. Most Afghans oppose the Taliban and if there is another civil war it will not, as in the past, go well for the Pushtun minority. The Taliban are a Pushtun movement. During the late 1990s civil war, after Pakistan armed and recruited the Taliban to defeat the armed factions and take control, there was one insurmountable problem. The one part of Afghanistan the Taliban could never conquer was the north, especially the Tajik northeast. The Tajiks are undefeated, while the Pushtuns were beaten in late 2001. If there is another civil war the Tajiks will again be the main opponent. The Tajiks have allies that include the other minorities, especially Turkmen, Uzbeks and Mongols (Hazara). This anti-Taliban opposition is still known as the NA (Northern Alliance). The Hazara are a special case because they are largely Shia Moslems and look to Iran for protection from attacks by Afghan Sunnis. This was not a problem until the Taliban showed up, backed by Pakistan. The Taliban were particularly brutal towards the Hazara and Iran has been very active in protecting Afghan Shia ever since.

In the Arabian Peninsula Iran has a military presence in northern Yemen and one thing Saudi Arabia and most Yemenis can agree on is that they both want Iranians out of Yemen. There is potential for a deal here because Iran wants the economic sanctions lifted or at least modified and the Saudis want Iranian forces gone from their southern border. Making that happen is how deals are made in the Middle East. So far, the Iranians are unwilling to give up their ability to launch missile attacks on Saudi Arabia from northern Yemen. The Iranian government believes that getting economic sanctions lifted can be accomplished without leaving Yemen. This has led to a disagreement between the IRGC and the Iranian government, which has had growing problems with the independent minded IRGC. This has come up in negotiations Iran is conducting with the Americans and Europeans to lift the sanctions. With a new government in the United States since January the Iranians believed they could get the sanctions lifted. This has proved difficult because it is no longer secret that IRGC-run operations in Syria, Iraq and Yemen were seriously weakened after the sanctions were reinstated by the Americans in 2017. At the time it was also becoming clear that widespread anti-government protests inside Iran were largely about IRGC grabbing most of the money provided by the 2015 treaty that lifted sanctions. Iranians were told that this additional cash and export sales would be used to raise the standard of living in Iran. That did not happen and Iranians began calling for the end of the religious dictatorship. The IRGC exists mainly to keep that government in power and cracked down against the protests, killing over a thousand Iranians and wounding and arresting tens of thousands. The increasingly independent IRGC faction became an issue in Europe as the Iranian negotiations have not been able to assure the Americans and Europeans that the IRGC will tolerate any sanctions deal that involves a reduction in IRGC activity in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

All this leads the Saudis to believe that there will be another revolution inside Iran and the misbehavior of the IRGC will be a major reason. For both sides, its a gamble but because both sides are run by Islamic governments that believe God is on their side, logic and history have less impact on decision making. To an outsider Iran seems to be in a weaker position. Yet the Iranians have been more successful at gaining and holding onto power for thousands of years and even the wealthy Gulf Arab states recognize that.

The word from rebel held territory in Yemen is that Iran has been visibly in charge since late 2020, after Iran sent a Quds Force general to be the Iranian ambassador to Yemen. Few nations, including Iran, have had ambassadors in the Yemeni capital after 2015. The rebels insist that because they occupy the capital and control over a third of the population, they are the real government and their opponents are southern separatists or foreigners. This ignores the fact that many of the people in rebel territory are kept in line via threats to cut off access to food, medical supplies and imported items. Tribes that try to break away risk starvation and a blockade of roadblocks and attacks on smugglers trying to get in. More and more tribes have been able to break away but the rebels have maintained a presence around many towns and cities.

The new Iranian ambassador came to Yemen mainly to supervise Iranian support for combat operations and take a more direct role in running the war. That meant keeping the rebels under Iranian control no matter what. Quds felt so confident that they bluntly rejected UN and American offers for ceasefire talks and instead increased the number of offensive operations. For more than a month after the Quds general took over in Yemen, Quds force officers outside Yemen boasted to foreign journalists about what the Quds Force was up to in Yemen. The Iranian senior clerics, who have the final say in what Iranian policy is, realized that openly discussing the direct Iranian control of rebel operations was a mistake. Quds was ordered to leave media interviews and Internet announcements to the government. What the Iranian leaders could not do was order the IRGC to shut down their operation in Yemen, or Syria or Iraq.

Iran is taking more direct control over the Yemen Shia rebels in order to use this control as part of the negotiations to end economic sanctions on Iran. If Iran pulled out of Yemen the Shia tribal forces would be defeated, as they have many times before. Quds force commanders are reluctant to give up gains made in Yemen and may have been told that they could revive support for the Yemeni Shia after the economic sanctions on Iran are lifted. Because of these sanctions Quds force saw its budget cut by half since 2017, forcing major reductions in Quds activities in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Yemen was always the least expensive Quds operation and did not suffer noticeable aid cuts. Yemen was the only IRGC operation that was able to attack arch-enemy Saudi Arabia directly and that counted for something.

June 6, 2021: In northern Yemen (Sanaa city) the leaders of Hamas and the Yemen rebels met in a very public event. Hamas, a Sunni Arab Islamic terror group in Gaza, is one of the few Sunni groups openly supported by Iran. This meeting was all about Iran showing off how well it controls and coordinates the overseas Islamic terror groups it often denies having any influence over. The Hamas visit was unpopular with Yemeni Sunnis because most Yemenis are hostile to Israel and inclined to support the Palestinian goal of destroying Israel. Yemenis saw Hamas praise of the Yemeni rebels as an insult to Yemenis Sunnis, who are at war with Shia rebels that are increasingly using Iranian guided missiles against Sunni civilians.

June 5, 2021: In central Iran (Kerman province) a steel plant suffered major damage due to a fire caused by mishandling of molten metal. The large number of fires breaking out in ships and industrial facilities in the last week is not believed to be the result of sabotage or foreign attack but something far worse. Lack of investment in infrastructure and the economy for decades is catching up with Iran. Since the 1980s the religious dictatorship has been obsessed with destroying the United States and Israel as well as achieving military domination throughout the region. These goals were pursued at great cost to the economy and the living standards of most Iranians.

June 4, 2021: In Yemen Saudi Arabia agreed to lift the air blockade of Sanaa airport so that a group of Omani officials and rebel leaders from pro-peace factions could meet with senior rebel officials and discuss ways in which peace negotiations could proceed despite Iranian resistance. Getting the Omanis involved was a clever move by the Saudis because Oman has always been on good terms with Iran. This was the reason why Iran continued to get weapons, ammo and missile and UAV components into the Shia rebel stronghold in northwest Yemen. Oman shares a 293-kilometer border with Yemen and the Saudis knew the Omanis were tolerating Iranian weapons smuggling. It took several years of negotiations before a deal was worked out and Iran lost regular use of the Oman land route to the Yemen rebels. There is still the water route through the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. That route is guarded by the naval blockade and Iran has to spend a lot of money to hire experienced smugglers that can get past that.

While Oman maintains good relations with Iran, it also maintains even better relations with the United States and Britain. The Saudis are an ally, so Oman does not take orders from the Saudis but does get along with them. Now the Saudis have the support of Oman in getting the Iranians out of the Arabian Peninsula. Such is not the case with Qatar, which sides with Iran, in part because of family feuds with the other Arab monarchies. Arabia is ruled by monarchies and the royal families have numerous links via past marriages, with the other Gulf dynasties and the resulting family feuds as well. Ending the family feud between Qatar and the Saudis is still a work in progress.

June 3, 2021: In the southwest (Khuzestan province) two pilots in an F-5 jet fighter died when their ejection seats were activated while the aircraft was on the ground. These older ejection seats do not protect pilots from such mishaps and both pilots died. The elderly U.S. made F-5s are now used by Iran mainly for training.

In eastern Syria (Deir Ezzor province) two IRGC officers were killed by an ISIL ambush.

June 2, 2021: Iran, and four African countries, have lost their voting rights in the UN General Assembly because they have not paid their annual dues for two years. Iran blames this on American sanctions. Most Iranians blame it on the continued heavy spending to support IRGC operations in Iraq, Syria. Lebanon, Yemen, Gaza and elsewhere. Iran has to pay $16 million to regain its voting rights.

In the north, outside the capital (Tehran) an accident at an oil refinery, caused by a leak in a liquified natural gas pipeline set fire to over a dozen large storage tanks. The fire was raging throughout the night and could be seen throughout the sprawling city, the largest in the country with a population of nearly none million.

June 1, 2021: In the south, off the coast, the largest warship in the IRGC Navy, the Khrag, caught fire and sank off Jask , an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman. There were 400 crew and trainees on board and while 33 were injured, everyone got off the ship. The fire burned out after a day and the ship sank.

Khrag was built as a fleet oiler (tanker) in the 1970s and became part of the post-1979 revolution. Kharg went through several refurbishments since the 1990s that ultimately converted it to what Iran called a warship and aircraft carrier. Kharg was armed like a corvette, with a 76mm gun and lots of smaller caliber autocannon. There was a helicopter landing pad and hangers for two helicopters. With that Kharg could carry three helicopters but has never been seen doing so. Kharg retained some replenishment ship capabilities as it still had some of its hold space devoted to fuel and other supplies for transfer to other ships at sea. Israel was suspected as responsible for the loss of Kharg, but given the Iranian use of so many elderly ships and aircraft, which naturally are more prone to accidents, it is more likely Kharg self-destructed. That has been the case with several other Iranian warships, including new ones. Officer and crew inexperience as well as shoddy construction standards leads to more accidents.

May 29, 2021: In the northwest (West Azerbaijan Province) IRGC troops clashed with some separatist Kurds crossing the border from a camp in northern Iraq. The IRGC killed two of the intruders and forced the others to flee back into Iraq. In doing this the Kurdish separatists left some weapons and equipment behind.

May 27, 2021: In neighboring Iraq a new voting fraud scandal was exposed when it was discovered that some political parties had managed to buy thousands of non-biometric voting IDs. These are used to sway close elections. The only solution to this sort of fraud is to change the law and require all voters to have a biometric ID, which includes an electronically recorded fingerprint as well as a photo. With enough money, especially from Iran, a lot more of these non-biometric voter ID cards can be obtained. Biometric cards are nearly impossible to fake and the most serious impediment to voting fraud in a country notorious for such illegal activity. Iran-backed groups in Iraq have, next to ISIL, been the biggest threat to voter registration, especially when it involves biometric IDs. For that reason, the 2021 elections allowed some areas to accept non-biometric IDs.

May 26, 2021: In neighboring Iraq, Baghdad security forces arrested Qassim Musleh, the commander of the 13th PMF (Popular Mobilization Forces) brigade. The dawn arrest was ordered by the prime minister, who had compiled well-documented charges of Musleh supporting Islamic terrorism and Iran. Musleh was also responsible for attacks on American forces in Anbar, often while the U.S. troops were housed in Iraqi military bases. The 13th Brigade has long been accused of causing more problems in western Iraq (Anbar Province) where the PMF is supposed to be fighting ISIL and any other Islamic terrorists in the area. There arent many ISIL men left in Anbar but there are a lot of Sunni Arabs who oppose Iran and the 13th brigade is composed of and led by Iraqi Shia Arabs who believe Iraq should be more like Iran, which is currently a corrupt religious dictatorship. Most Iraqis want no Iranian influence at all but appreciate Iran helping to create the PMF in 2014, to deal with the IISL threat after the Iraqi security forces collapsed under ISIL pressure. The PMF, along with Iraqi Kurdish militias and a growing force of Iraqi special operations trained by the Americans, plus an American led air support coalition defeated ISIL in Iraq and liberated all ISIL controlled territory in Iraq by 2017. The Kurds and PMF both contributed about 100,000 armed men. The Kurds were more effective and not seeking to take control of the government. The 25,000 Iraqi special operations troops were part of the NATO effort to select and train select Iraqi volunteers for intensive training to be effective troops loyal to the Iraqi government. Retraining the rest of the security forces meant ten times as many personnel and were in the elite special operations units. There were not enough reliable recruits available for that and the biggest problem was tribal and religious leaders who pressured recruits to remain loyal to tribe and religious faction, not Iraq, The Iraqi government planned to eventually integrate most of the PMF fighters into the military. Soon after 2014 the PMF were being paid regularly and wore army uniforms with shoulder patches identifying which of the 67 PMF brigades they belonged to. In 2014 most PMF brigades were loyal to or at least on good terms with Iranian influence. By 2019 the PMF was no longer dominated by pro-Iran brigade officers. At that point Iran realized they were in trouble. At the same time the government was being pressured by the United States to crack down on Iranian weapons shipments being allowed to cross the border into Syria at guarded border crossings. The weapons shipments are often hidden from view by legitimate cargo, but it does not take much effort to reveal that deception. These weapons shipments are guarded by Iran-backed PMF members. The 13th brigade was often involved with this and now the long-feared armed confrontation between Iraqi forces and Iran backed PMF occurred in the heavily guarded Baghdad Green Zone. After the arrest of Musleh earlier in the day, some of the thousands of pro-Iran PMF men in the Green Zone providing security, mainly for the PMF headquarters, promptly went rogue and surrounded the prime ministers headquarters. That was followed by the arrival of loyal army units who surrounded the PMF men blocking access to the prime minister's headquarters. Apparently, the goal was to have this settled by negotiation rather than a firefight. Musleh was transferred to the custody of the PMF and avoided prosecution. Yet this was a major defeat for Iran because it made clear that senior Iraqi PMF officials who backed Iran were vulnerable and becoming more vulnerable. This was not the first such defeat Iran has suffered. In 2020 the government arrested about twenty members of Kataib Hezbollah, a coalition of pro-Iran PMF militias that Iran is trying to turn into an Iraqi version of the Iran-controlled (since the 1980s) Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran was able to force the government to back off in 2020, but that left the government more determined to suppress the Iran-backed militias that the Iraq government was forced to support.

May 23, 2021: In west Iraq (Anbar province) and northwest Iraq (Muthanna province) Iran-backed militia attacked American supply convoys with roadside bombs, wounding several Iraqi soldiers guarding the convoys and damaging two trucks.

May 22, 2021: In west Iraq (Anbar province) there was another Israeli airstrike against Iranian weapons being stored near the Al Bukamal crossing into Iraq. There were apparently some casualties as well among the Syrian and Iraqi pro-Iran militiamen who guard such Iranian facilities in Syria.

May 21, 2021: Iraq officially backed Hamas in its recently ended war with Israel, the second one since 2014. The 15-day 2021 war was even more costly to Hamas, and less damaging for Israel than the 51-day war in 2014. Hamas called it a victory because they were still alive and in control of Gaza when it was over. Most Arab and Western donors to the Palestinians have reduced or cut aid to Gaza because of continued Palestinian corruption, violence against Israel and refusal to make a peace deal. Hamas has been the worst offender in this area and started both wars with a massive use of rockets against Israeli civilians. Iraqs support for the Palestinians is all theater and little in the way of substance. Many opportunistic Moslem politicians worldwide still blame all bad things on Israel while many of them trade with Israel on the side because that is economically (or militarily) advantageous. A growing number of Arab Gulf oil states are establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, which has given the Arab alliance against Iran a member with a track record of producing weapons that can defeat anything the Iranians have and is determined to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Israel is currently the only Middle Eastern nation with nuclear weapons and the only one that designs and builds space satellites and launches them on Israeli designed rockets. In part because of the increased Iranian threat, Arab states found they have more in common with Israel than fellow Moslem majority state Iran.

May 14, 2021: In southern Syria (Golan Heights) someone, probably an Iran-backed group, fired three rockets into Israel. One rocket was faulty and landed on the Syrian side of the border while the other two landed in uninhabited areas of the Israeli Golan Heights. Someone was seeking to trigger another front in which Iran organized mass rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.

May 13, 2021: In northwest Syria (near the Lebanese border) an Israeli airstrike destroyed a smuggler truck headed for Lebanon, apparently carrying Iranian weapons for Hezbollah.
Carlos E. Calderon appointed Chief Financial Officer

Judy Smith to join Company Board of Directors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ariel Investments, LLC (Ariel or the firm), a global value-based asset management firm, today announced the appointment of two new leaders.

Carlos E. Calderon has been appointed Chief Financial Officer, effective June 7, 2021. Calderon joins Ariel from Eaton Vance, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Investment Management. As Vice President and Director of Financial Planning and Analysis, he oversaw strategic planning and profitability, as well as the initiative investment committee for the multi-affiliate asset management and brokerage business. Calderon also managed mutual fund investment management reporting for both the Eaton Vance Management and Calvert Management fund boards. Prior to Eaton Vance, he held leadership roles at State Street Global Advisors and BNY Mellon supporting Global Investment Management, Global Product, Marketing and Wealth Management. He serves on the boards of various external affinity organizations, including the Junior Achievement of Northern New England Associate Board and City Year Seven Generations Board, and is a member of Association of Latino Professionals for America. Calderon earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Corporate Finance from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Calderon will serve on the firms Operating Committee, and report to Co-CEO and President, Mellody Hobson.

Hobson commented: We are delighted that Carlos is relocating to our corporate headquarters in Chicago. He will be a tremendous asset to Ariels operational leadership, bringing his deep expertise in financial strategies and systems.

As the firm previously communicated on March 24, 2021, outgoing CFO Maureen Longoria will remain at Ariel until the end of Q2 2021 to ensure a seamless transition of responsibilities.

John W. Rogers, Jr., founder, Chairman, Co-CEO, and Chief Investment Officer, continued: We would like to take another opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to Maureen for 16 years of exceptional partnership and service to the firm and our clients.

Additionally, renowned strategic counselor Judy Smith has been appointed to Ariels Company Board of Directors. Smith is the founder and President of Smith & Company, an advisory firm with offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and New York. For over 25 years, she has counseled U.S. Presidents, global leaders, and Fortune 500 companies on a wide array of complex challenges and issues. A former federal prosecutor, Smith also served in the White House as Deputy Press Secretary to President George H. W. Bush. Prior to her legal career, Smith worked as a writer and public affairs specialist for several publications and private organizations headquartered in Washington, D.C. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Boston University and J.D. from American Universitys Washington College of Law, where she was the first African American woman to serve as Executive Editor of the Law Review. Smith is the inspiration for the protagonist in the hit TV series, Scandal, for which she also served as Executive Producer. She is the author of the book, Good Self, Bad Self, published by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Rogers and Hobson remarked: Each day, Ariel benefits from the myriad of perspectives on our board. Judy will add incredibly rare and diverse experience to our team.

Smith will join the Ariel Company Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2021. As the firm previously announced on March 24, 2021, members of the Ariel Company Board of Directors, as of Q3 2021, include: Martijn Cremers, PhD, Arne Duncan, Mellody Hobson, Valerie Jarrett, Fazal Merchant, John W. Rogers, Jr., Anthony D. Romero, Judy Smith, Heather Tookes, PhD, and Paula Wolff.

About Ariel Investments, LLC

Ariel Investments, LLC is a global value-based asset management firm founded in 1983. Ariel is headquartered in Chicago, with offices in New York City, San Francisco, and Sydney. As of March 31, 2021, Ariels firm-wide assets under management totaled approximately $16.2 billion. Ariel serves individual and institutional investors through five no-load mutual funds and 11 separate account strategies. For more information, please visit Ariels website at arielinvestments.com.

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Christina Sciarrino

Director of Communications

csciarrino@arielinvestments.com

Source: Ariel Investments, LLC
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Insight School of Minnesota (ISMN) will celebrate the Class of 2021 during a commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 12th, 2021.

Collectively, the Class of 2021  which includes more than 95 graduates  reports it has been accepted to trade schools, colleges and universities across the country, including: Anoka Technical College, North Dakota State University, St. Cloud State University, University of MN, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.

No matter where a student goes after graduation, their determination to reach this point should be recognized, said ISMN Head of School John Huber. This graduation ceremony provides an opportunity for us to come together as a school community and celebrate their many hours of hard work.

An online public school program of the Brooklyn Center Community School District, ISMN offers students statewide a tuition-free education option for grades 6-12. ISMN offers a supportive online learning community and an individualized approach to meet students at their point of need and to spark a lifelong love of learning.

With virtual classes and live online learning sessions led by state-licensed teachers, ISMN creates a personalized educational experience for students to ensure their success leading up to and after earning their high school diploma.

Details of the graduation ceremony are as follows:

WHAT: Insight School of Minnesota 2021 Graduation Ceremony

WHEN: Saturday, June 12th, 2021 | 1:00pm

WHERE: Virtual (link available upon request)

About Insight School of Minnesota

Insight School of Minnesota (ISMN) is a tuition-free, full- and part-time online public school program of Brooklyn Center School District that serves students in grades 6 through 12. As a Minnesota public school, ISMN is tuition-free, giving parents and families the choice to access the curriculum 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 ISMN, visit mn.insightschools.net.

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AJ Blomberg

Associate, Corporate Communications

Stride, Inc.

ablomberg@k12.com

Source: Stride, Inc.
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Kosmos Energy (NYSE/LSE: KOS) announced today that Mr. Roy A. Franklin has joined its Board of Directors, effective June 9, 2021. Mr. Franklin is a senior executive with more than 45 years in the energy industry and extensive board experience in multiple companies both in the public and private sector.

Mr. Franklin currently serves as Chairman of the international energy services group, John Wood Group PLC (Wood), and is also a member of the Advisory Board of Kerogen Capital LLC.

In Mr. Franklins current role at Wood, he has overseen the companys strategic positioning for the energy transition, broadening the companys core activities from oilfield services to sustainable energy infrastructure, delivering solutions for a net-zero future. Wood is recognized as a sector leader in ESG matters with an AA rating from MSCI (Kosmos is also AA rated by MSCI) and Mr. Franklins experience in this area will be invaluable to Kosmos as it continues to navigate the energy transition.

He was previously the Chairman of Premier Oil plc, a UK-based independent oil and gas exploration company, from 2017 until its acquisition in 2021, the Chairman of privately-held Energean Israel Ltd from 2017 to 2021, and the Deputy Chairman of Equinor A/S from 2015 until 2019.

In addition to those listed above, he has served on the boards of a number of other international companies in non-executive roles, including Statoil A/S from 2007 until 2013, Santos Ltd from 2006 until 2017, Keller Group plc from 2007 until 2016, and Amec Foster Wheeler Plc from 2016 until 2017 when it was acquired by Wood.

Mr. Franklin began his career at BP where he spent 18 years in roles of increasing responsibility. He then joined Clyde Petroleum plc as Group Managing Director, and served as CEO of Paladin Resources plc from 1997 until its acquisition by Talisman Energy in 2005. In 2004 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire, and in 2006 the Petroleum Group Medal of the Geological Society of London, both in recognition of his services to the UK oil and gas industry.

Mr. Franklin earned his Bachelor of Science in Geology in 1973 from the University of Southampton, UK.

We are delighted to have Roy join the Kosmos Board of Directors, said Andrew G. Inglis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He has an impressive record of achievement across the upstream sector. In his executive roles he has created significant value for shareholders and in his non-executive board positions the companies he has served have benefited from his deep strategic understanding of the sector. This is a time of challenge and opportunity in the upstream sector and I am confident Roys extensive and varied experience will prove invaluable at the Kosmos Board.

About Kosmos Energy

Kosmos is a full-cycle deepwater independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused along the Atlantic Margins. Our key assets include production offshore Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and U.S. Gulf of Mexico, as well as a world-class gas development offshore Mauritania and Senegal. Kosmos is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange and is traded under the ticker symbol KOS. As an ethical and transparent company, Kosmos is committed to doing things the right way. The Companys Business Principles articulate our commitment to transparency, ethics, human rights, safety and the environment. Read more about this commitment in our Corporate Responsibility Report. For additional information, visit www.kosmosenergy.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that Kosmos expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Kosmos estimates and forward-looking statements are mainly based on its current expectations and estimates of future events and trends, which affect or may affect its businesses and operations. Although Kosmos believes that these estimates and forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, they are subject to several risks and uncertainties and are made in light of information currently available to Kosmos. When used in this press release, the words anticipate, believe, intend, expect, plan, will or other similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Kosmos, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied or expressed by the forward-looking statements. Further information on such assumptions, risks and uncertainties is available in Kosmos Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. Kosmos undertakes no obligation and does not intend to update or correct these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release, except as required by applicable law. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210609005077/en/

Investor Relations

Jamie Buckland

+44 (0) 203 954 2831

jbuckland@kosmosenergy.com



Media Relations

Thomas Golembeski

+1-214-445-9674

tgolembeski@kosmosenergy.com

Source: Kosmos Energy Ltd.
MONTPELLIER, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Platinum Equity announced on June 6th, 2021 that it has entered into a definitive agreement with China Tianying (CNTY) to acquire the entire business of Urbaser Group.

Platinum Equity is a leading U.S. investment fund with more than $25 billion of assets under management with a portfolio of approximately 40 operating companies worldwide.

Tom Gores, founder and CEO of Platinum Equity, said Urbaser is a complex company, that is both vital service provider and important caretaker of the environment. It is a leader in a sector that requires both professional excellence and ESG best practices. It is a tailor-made for Platinums hands-on approach, and were excited about the opportunity.

Louis Samson, Partner at Platinum Equity and Head of the Group's European operations, confirmed that Urbaser will be a strong addition to Platinums growing portfolio of the operating companies headquartered in Europe, fully in accordance with the Platinums strategy to continue investing in this region.

Igor Chacartegui, Managing Director of Platinum Equity, emphasized the fund's commitment to accelerate Urbaser's growth, particularly through acquisitions in key geographic areas.

Platinum announced that Jose Maria Lopez Pinol will continue to lead the Urbaser Group as CEO. "Platinum's global operational capabilities, financial resources and commitment to supporting our business make it the ideal partner," he said.

Claude Saint-Joly, Chairman and CEO of Urbaser Environnement (Urbaser France), said he was extremely pleased with this new momentum in the development of Urbaser Group. According to the Chairman of Urbaser France, in view of the Urbaser's very dynamic position in France, of the situation of the French environmental services market, which is currently undergoing a complete overhaul with real opportunities for external growth, and of the discussions held with Platinum Equity, there is no doubt that the Urbaser Group will continue to pay particular attention to the French market, making it one of the priority geographical sectors in its international development.

About Urbaser

Urbaser is a global environmental management company focused on sustainability and innovation, serving over 70 million people in 25 countries with 50,000 employees. It is currently responsible for cleaning over 8 million kilometers of streets in cities around the world and maintaining 25 million square meters of green space. It operates 133 waste treatment facilities for a total of 20 million tons treated, generates 1,500 GWh of electrical energy from waste and avoided the emission of almost 2 million tons of CO2 equivalent last year. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Madrid, Spain, Urbaser is active in 3 business lines - urban services (waste collection, street cleaning and water management), municipal waste treatment and industrial waste treatment - concentrated mainly in Spain, Chile, Argentina and France. Urbaser has made substantial investments in R&D with a focus on circular economy solutions such as bioplastics, bioproducts, compost, waste oil from ship recovery, and advances in innovative waste collection practices. The company's commitment to innovation is a competitive advantage and is fundamental to providing solutions for the sustainable development of urban services, integrated water management and municipal and industrial waste treatment.

About Urbaser Environnement

Urbaser Environnement, a subsidiary of the Urbaser group, has become one of the key players in the French market for environmental services for local authorities. Our expertise of more than 30 years is to be found in the fields of waste collection and cleaning, but also in waste recovery through the design, construction and operation of household waste recovery units.

In order to support local authorities in the evolution of our activities and their environmental, technical and regulatory components, Urbaser Environnement relies on its know-how in treatment engineering and in the field of urban waste management to design integrated and scalable solutions at the cutting edge of technology. The many French local authorities that have placed their trust in our activities, such as the Metropolises of Aix-Marseille Provence, Montpellier, Nantes, the Agglomerations of La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), Marmande (Lot-et-Garonne), Charleville-Mezieres (Ardennes), Greater Poitiers, the cities of Paris, the treatment syndicates of Varennes-Jarcy (Essonne), the Paris conurbation, Valor Bearn, Trifyl (Tarn), Chalosse (Landes), Calaisis (Pas-de-Calais), Trivalis (Vendee), Bil Ta Garbi (Pyrenees-Atlantiques), etc. , can testify to the quality and reliability of our services and to the daily involvement of our teams in working closely with our clients.

Urbaser Environnement achieved a consolidated turnover of 210 million euros in 2020 and employs 1,250 staff on the French market.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005430/en/

Urbaser Environnement

Bertrand Hyllaire

Tel : 04 67 99 41 00

b.hyllaire@urbaserenvironnement.fr

Source: Urbaser
MONTPELLIER, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

Sensorion (FR0012596468  ALSEN) a pioneering clinical-stage biotechnology company which specializes in the development of novel therapies to restore, treat and prevent within the field of hearing loss disorders, today announces the appointment of Nora Yang, Ph.D., a leader in gene therapy and rare diseases with extensive leadership experience in industry, academia, and government, as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

Dr Yang joins from Stratify Therapeutics, LLC, where she was Co-Founder and CSO, having previously held senior roles at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Amgen Inc., and Eli Lilly & Co. In particular, she was instrumental in the development of clinical stage gene therapies to treat monogenic diseases. In her new role, Nora Yang will be based in the U.S. and will lead the preclinical organization at Sensorion Research Laboratories in Montpellier, France. She will also spearhead the development of collaborations between fundamental and clinical research, including working with Sensorions partner, Institut Pasteur.

I am delighted to welcome Nora Yang to Sensorion as our new CSO. Nora brings a wealth of highly relevant experience from pharmaceutical industry, academia and government. She will play a vital role in the expansion of Sensorions unique gene therapy platform, step-up innovation in our R&D organization and support us as we take our gene therapy programmes closer towards first clinical studies, in addition to spearheading our expansion in the U.S. market, said Nawal Ouzren, CEO of Sensorion.

I am excited to join Sensorion and to play a role in the development of its transformative therapies for hearing loss and beyond. Sensorion, in partnership with world-renowned Institut Pasteur and Necker Hospital, is leading the field in understanding the pathophysiology and etiology of inner ear related disorders and developing potentially life-changing therapies, including gene-based therapies. I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead Sensorions exceptional preclinical team to continue to build its product pipeline with innovative therapies and work with leading global experts to bring much needed medicines to patients suffering from inner ear related disorders globally, said Nora Yang, CSO of Sensorion.

About Nora Yang

Nora Yang, Ph.D., has 20 years of executive and scientific leadership experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, venture capital industries, academia and government, building up a unique blend of expertise in biomedical research, drug development, regulatory sciences, finance, portfolio and pharmaceutical projects management. She is a leader in gene and cell therapies for treating monogenic rare diseases, including expertise in developing three clinical stage gene therapies to treat monogenic rare disorders. Noteworthy, she has been a founding member of the leadership team that built the Therapeutic Development Branch and the Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases Program and founded the Gene Therapy Platform for Rare Diseases at the NIHs National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and developed close working relationship with the FDA Office of Orphan Product Development.

Dr. Yang is an internationally recognized expert and leader in rare and ultra-rare disease translational research with deep domain knowledge and broad network in orphan drug development. She is a proven leader of multidisciplinary matrix teams to develop therapies with various modalities, including small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, peptides, oligonucleotides, and gene therapies, in a wide range of therapeutic areas. These include oncology, metabolic diseases, endocrine disorders, neuromuscular diseases, CNS diseases, and other rare indications. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry, from the University of California, San Diego and the Gene Expression Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Dr. Yang also holds a master's degree in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

About Sensorion

Sensorion is a pioneering clinical-stage biotech company, which specializes in the development of novel therapies to restore, treat and prevent within the field of hearing loss disorders. Its clinical-stage portfolio includes one Phase 2 product: SENS-401 (Arazasetron) for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Sensorion has built a unique R&D technology platform to expand its understanding of the pathophysiology and etiology of inner ear related diseases enabling it to select the best targets and modalities for drug candidates. The Company is also working on the identification of biomarkers to improve diagnosis of these underserved illnesses. Sensorion has launched three gene therapy programs, currently at preclinical stage, aimed at correcting hereditary monogenic forms of deafness including deafness caused by a mutation of the gene encoding for Otoferlin, hearing loss related to gene target GJB2 as well as Usher Syndrome Type 1 to potentially address important hearing loss segments in adults and children. The Company is potentially uniquely placed, through its platforms and pipeline of potential therapeutics, to make a lasting positive impact on hundreds of thousands of people with inner ear related disorders, a significant global unmet medical need.

www.sensorion.com

Label: SENSORION

ISIN: FR0012596468

Mnemonic: ALSEN

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Sensorion and its business. Such forward looking statements are based on assumptions that Sensorion considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will be verified, which statements are subject to numerous risks, including the risks set forth in the 2020 annual financial report published on April 9, 2021, and available on our website and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Sensorion operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Sensorion or not currently considered material by Sensorion. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Sensorion to be materially different from such forward-looking statements. This press release and the information that it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe for, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for, Sensorion shares in any country. The communication of this press release in certain countries may constitute a violation of local laws and regulations. Any recipient of this press release must inform oneself of any such local restrictions and comply therewith.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210609005851/en/

Press Relations

Sophie Baumont

LifeSci Advisors

sophie@lifesciadvisors.com

+33 6 27 74 74 49

Investor Relations

Markus Metzger, Ph.D.

Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

markus.metzger@sensorion-pharma.com

Source: Sensorion
FILE PHOTO: Crude oil storage tanks are seen in an aerial photograph at the Cushing oil hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, U.S. April 21, 2020. REUTERS/Drone Base

By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices edged up to their highest in over two years in volatile trade on Thursday, on optimism for strong economic demand after new U.S. unemployment claims fell to their lowest since the country's first wave of COVID-19 last year.

The market shook off a brief plunge after media reports suggested the United States lifted sanctions on Iranian oil officials.

The U.S. Treasury later said it had removed sanctions on three former Iranian officials and on two companies previously involved in trading Iranian petrochemical products. A U.S. official told Reuters that the activity was "routine" and not related to talks with Iran over reviving the 2015 deal to restrict its nuclear weapons development.

Brent futures rose 30 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $72.52 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 33 cents, or 0.5%, to end at $70.29.

Those were the highest closes for Brent since May 2019 and WTI since October 2018.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly 15 months, while consumer prices increased solidly in May as the pandemic's grip on the economy continues to ease.

"The recent unemployment and labor data published in the (United States) are a definite positive sign that the recovery in the country is speeding up," Louise Dickson, analyst at Rystad Energy, said.

"More business activity means more energy consumption, and a better economy is a needed prerequisite for road and air traffic to increase."

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said oil demand would rise by 6.6%, or 5.95 million barrels per day (bpd), this year. The monthly forecast was unchanged for a second consecutive month.

"Oil prices are still grinding higher. The demand outlook continues to strengthen and supplies are not necessarily keeping up," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

Kilduff noted, however, that the market was "priced to perfection in relative tightness," and said Thursday's brief midday price drop shows what can happen if Iran or OPEC+ add more barrels to global supplies.

OPEC+ is an alliance between OPEC and other producers including Russia.

Analysts have said Iran could provide about 1 million to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in additional oil supply if a deal is struck and sanctions lifted.

(Additional reporting by Julia Payne in London and Jessica Jaganathan in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)
Shareholders approved all resolutions







Gosselies, Belgium, 10 June 2021, 7am CEST  BONE THERAPEUTICS (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BOTHE), the cell therapy company addressing unmet medical needs in orthopedics and other diseases, today announces the results of its Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 9 June 2021 at 4pm CEST.

Shareholders approved all items on the agenda of the annual shareholders' meeting including the renewal of the mandates of Jean Stephenne and Jean-Paul Prieels as non-executive director for a period of three years until 2024. The General Meeting also approved the remuneration policy for the board of directors.

I would like to thank all our shareholders for the commitment they have shown over recent years and especially during this extraordinary last year of 2020, said Jean Stephenne, Chairman of the Board of Director, Bone Therapeutics. Bone Therapeutics has made fantastic progress in 2020. As a result, 2021 will be a landmark year for Bone Therapeutics, building towards the key results of the ongoing phase III study with the enhanced viscosupplement JTA-004, in the third quarter of this year. Positive results from this study will pave the way to the commercialization of our first product in Europe and Asia. Simultaneously, we have started discussions with the US Food and Drug Administration to prepare the clinical development of JTA-004 in the US, a large and important viscosupplement market. Bone Therapeutics will also continue to advance the ALLOB Phase IIb clinical study in patients with difficult-to-heal tibial fractures, while it focuses on further expanding its allogeneic differentiated MSC based cell therapy platform, beyond ALLOB, into other therapeutic indications. With the continued support of our shareholders, Bone Therapeutics through its expanded management team and its partners, will be able to continue this advance of its clinical programs and bring new technologies and innovation to patients in need.

The final results of the Annual General Meeting will be made available on Bone Therapeutics website.





About Bone Therapeutics

Bone Therapeutics is a leading biotech company focused on the development of innovative products to address high unmet needs in orthopedics and other diseases. The Company has a, diversified portfolio of cell and biologic therapies at different stages ranging from pre-clinical programs in immunomodulation to mid-to-late stage clinical development for orthopedic conditions, targeting markets with large unmet medical needs and limited innovation.

Bone Therapeutics is developing an off-the-shelf next-generation improved viscosupplement, JTA-004, which is currently in Phase III development for the treatment of pain in knee osteoarthritis. Consisting of a unique combination of plasma proteins, hyaluronic acid - a natural component of knee synovial fluid, and a fast-acting analgesic, JTA-004 intends to provide added lubrication and protection to the cartilage of the arthritic joint and to alleviate osteoarthritic pain and inflammation. Positive Phase IIb efficacy results in patients with knee osteoarthritis showed a statistically significant improvement in pain relief compared to a leading viscosupplement.

Bone Therapeutics core technology is based on its cutting-edge allogeneic cell therapy platform with differentiated bone marrow sourced Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) which can be stored at the point of use in the hospital. Currently in pre-clinical development, BT-20, the most recent product candidate from this technology, targets inflammatory conditions, while the leading investigational medicinal product, ALLOB, represents a unique, proprietary approach to bone regeneration, which turns undifferentiated stromal cells from healthy donors into bone-forming cells. These cells are produced via the Bone Therapeutics scalable manufacturing process. Following the CTA approval by regulatory authorities in Europe, the Company has initiated patient recruitment for the Phase IIb clinical trial with ALLOB in patients with difficult tibial fractures, using its optimized production process. ALLOB continues to be evaluated for other orthopedic indications including spinal fusion, osteotomy, maxillofacial and dental.

Bone Therapeutics cell therapy products are manufactured to the highest GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) standards and are protected by a broad IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio covering ten patent families as well as knowhow. The Company is based in the BioPark in Gosselies, Belgium. Further information is available at www.bonetherapeutics.com.





For further information, please contact:

Bone Therapeutics SA

Miguel Forte, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer

Jean-Luc Vandebroek, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +32 (0)71 12 10 00

investorrelations@bonetherapeutics.com

For Belgian Media and Investor Enquiries:

Bepublic

Catherine Haquenne

Tel: +32 (0)497 75 63 56

catherine@bepublic.be

International Media Enquiries:

Image Box Communications

Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall

Tel: +44 (0)20 8943 4685

neil.hunter@ibcomms.agency / michelle@ibcomms.agency

For French Media and Investor Enquiries:

NewCap Investor Relations & Financial Communications

Pierre Laurent, Louis-Victor Delouvrier and Arthur Rouille

Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

bone@newcap.eu





Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such persons officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.
ALISO VIEJO, Calif., June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- One Identity, a proven leader in identity-centric security, today announced the appointment of four executives that bring a wealth of software-as-a-service (SaaS) expertise to the organization. The appointment of Rima Pawar as Vice President of Product Management, Joe Garber as Vice President of Marketing, Teri Robb as Vice President of North American Sales and Chris Wood as Vice President of Sales for One Identity and Quest Software Asia-Pacific Japan (APJ) enables One Identity to continue to capitalize on the market demand for identity-centric security solutions delivered in the cloud.

As companies continue to evolve their SaaS strategy, we play an integral role in helping them achieve a strong access management and governance approach in the cloud, said Bhagwat Swaroop, President and General Manager of One Identity. The deep functional expertise that Rima, Joe, Teri and Chris bring to our leadership team, coupled with their SaaS expertise within the security industry, will help us continue to support organizations as they scale and navigate their cloud journey. As VP of Product Management, Rima Pawar brings over 20 years of experience in enterprise cybersecurity and building SaaS offerings from companies such as Oracle, Intel, McAfee and more. As the former Head of Identity Secure Access products at Mobileiron (acquired by Ivanti), she delivered an innovative secure platform that positioned the company in the leadership quadrant and lead to an aggressive growth. Pawar will leverage her experience launching and creating identity SaaS and Zero Trust solutions to help strengthen and expand One Identitys SaaS portfolio. As the Vice President of Marketing at One Identity, Joe Garber brings over 20 years of experience in software, privacy, compliance and governance marketing to One Identity. Having worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP Software, Micro Focus and more, he has held a number of marketing leadership roles, including for a compliance-oriented SaaS solution that operated the worlds largest private cloud at the time. In his role, Garber will drive marketing activities and oversee the cross-functional program execution for the organization and its identity-centric security portfolio.

Teri Robb joins as VP of Sales for One Identity North America with strong experience across security and information technology. She joins the company from Check Point Software, where she led the North American Sales Organization, driving $350M in annual revenue, and was responsible for the restructuring of channel teams and sales teams, strengthening the companys customer base to achieve revenue targets. Robb will be focused on developing new sales channels in the North American region.

Chris Wood brings over 20 years of information technology sales leadership and market development to his role as Vice President of APJ Sales for One Identity and Quest. Wood comes to One Identity and Quest from Imperva, where he led teams as SVP of APJ, specializing in recruiting, motivating and managing high performing sales teams, and developing go-to-market strategies in key market verticals.

The new additions to One Identitys executive team come on the heels of the companys announcement of its core security solutions, One Identity Manager On Demand, One Identity Safeguard On Demand, Active Roles On Demand, Starling CertAccess and Password Manager On Demand, being available in SaaS models. To learn more about One Identity, visit https://www.oneidentity.com/. About One Identity One Identity, a Quest Software business, helps organizations achieve an identity-centric security strategy with a uniquely broad and integrated portfolio of identity management offerings developed with a cloud-first strategy including AD account lifecycle management, identity governance and administration and privileged access management. One Identity empowers organizations to reach their full potential, unimpeded by security, yet safeguarded against threats without compromise regardless of how they choose to consume the services. One Identity and its approach is trusted by customers worldwide, where more than 7,500 organizations worldwide depend on One Identity solutions to manage more than 125 million identities, enhancing their agility and efficiency while securing access to their systems and data  on-prem, cloud or hybrid. For more information, visit http://www.oneidentity.com.Media Contacts:Andrea IpolyiOne Identity/Quest Global PR+36 1 398 6700andrea.ipolyi@oneidentity.com

Mariah GauthierHighwire PR915-314-0760oneidentity@highwirepr.com

Source: One Identity
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Regimen Equity Partners Inc. (Regimen) is pleased to announce a majority investment in Williams Brothers Corporation and Strike First Corporation (collectively Williams Strike First or the Company) in partnership with its two senior executives Jennifer Williams and Ian Shearer. Williams Strike First is Regimens seventh platform investment and its third in Ontario. The Companys lengthy history of manufacturing extensively regulated and essential products is an ideal fit with Regimens long-hold strategy. The Companys strong technical know-how, recurring revenue and stable cashflows provides increased depth to Regimens portfolio. The products manufactured by Williams Strike First contribute to saving lives, property, goods and intangible memories which Regimen is proud to support.

Located in Scarborough, ON, Williams Strike First is a multi-generational business with a storied past, spanning over 100 years. The Company is Canadas largest independent manufacturer of fire extinguishers, access doors and fire housing apparatuses sold under a well-recognized and reliable product portfolio. The Companys fire extinguishers are manufactured under the Strike First brand while a complementary line of metal access doors and extinguisher, hose and valve cabinets are fabricated and sold under the Williams Brothers brand. The Companys diverse product offering backed by its short lead times and unmatched quality are instrumental in attracting new customers and maintaining long-tenured customer relationships, many spanning decades.

Proudly Canadian and strategically located in the Greater Toronto Area, Williams Strike First is situated in direct proximity to major distribution channels serving the Companys diverse North American customer base. Regimen purchased an interest in the Company in partnership with Jennifer Williams and Ian Shearer, the husband and wife duo who are well-respected industry operators. Bill Williams, the father of Jennifer Williams, was the visionary leader for Williams Strike First for decades, before passing over the day-to-day operations to Jennifer and Ian. Regimen is thankful to Bill Williams for building a great company with a strong brand and ongoing legacy.

Were very excited to be working with a quality firm like Regimen on the next chapter of success for our business. Well continue to build on Bill Williams legacy of manufacturing quality products and forging lasting relationships with our customers, new and old, Jennifer Williams said.

David Eisler, Managing Director at Regimen, added We are pleased to be partnering with Jennifer and Ian who are the fourth generation of Williams family members to own and operate the business. Williams Strike First and its enduring operating history is a perfect fit for Regimens long-hold strategy and provides additional portfolio diversification for our investors. We look forward to furthering the Companys growth in the years and decades to come.

For additional information, please contact Farhana Khan at fkhan@regimenpartners.com.

Source: Regimen Equity Partners Inc
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WPD Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CSE: WBIO)(FSE: 8SV1) (the Company or WPD) a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, is excited to announce that it has been invited to be a member of an international consortium of leading industry experts researching the potential of AGuIX nanoparticles in maximizing radiotherapy efficiency. The consortium will also explore two of WPDs compounds specifically, WP1066 and WP1122, to restore GBM cells' sensitivity to radiotherapy.

The consortium is coordinated by Dr. Muriel Barberi-Heyob from CRAN, University de Lorraine, France, and has been successfully funded by EuroNanoMed III "European Innovative Research & Technological Development Projects in Nanomedicine" project  RXnanoBRAIN Nanoparticles to optimize the effects of radiotherapy of brain tumors: Multi-scale modeling and experimental validation. Along with WPD Pharmaceuticals Dr. Beata Pajak, the consortium includes Oslo University Hospital (Norway) represented by Dr. Kristian Berg, NH TherAguix (France) company represented by Dr. Sandrine Dufort, and Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland) represented by Dr. Martyna Elas.

Over the three year project timeline, the consortium aims to plan and adapt the X-ray doses given to the patient to maximize radiotherapy efficiency on these high-grade tumors while preserving the adjacent healthy tissue. This project will base its work on pre-clinical experiments at different biological scales (cells, tissues, and in vivo on rodent models) and algorithms' development. An evaluation will then be carried out of the therapeutic potential of an innovative nanoparticle which results from the discovery of NH TherAGuIX and is currently in clinical development. Researchers will study the complementarity and effectiveness of the energy of radiotherapy and nanoparticles (NPs) within tumor tissue. Gaining an in-depth understanding of the effects on the immune response to control and comprehensively enhance the potential of the effects of this treatment also represents a crucial innovative step for the project.

Glioblastoma is the most common form of brain cancer and is generally aggressive. The standard treatment consists of surgical removal of the tumor when possible, followed by concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Radiotherapy has an undisputedly positive role to play after surgery and contributes to improving the overall prognosis of these tumors. However, unfortunately, many patients develop a recurrence of local tumors even when treatment is carried out well. Nanomedicine - and nanoparticles in particular - are the source of excellent prospects for development and innovation in radiotherapy.

About WPD Pharmaceuticals

WPD is a biotechnology research and development company with a focus on oncology and virology, namely research and development of medicinal products involving biological compounds and small molecules. WPD has licensed in certain countries 10 novel drug candidates with 4 that are in clinical development stage. These drug candidates were researched at medical institutions, and WPD currently has ongoing collaborations with Wake Forest University and leading hospitals and academic centers in Poland.

WPD has entered into license agreements with Wake Forest University Health Sciences and sublicense agreements with Moleculin Biotech, Inc. and CNS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., respectively, each of which grant WPD an exclusive, royalty-bearing sublicense to certain technologies of the licensor. Such agreements provide WPD with certain research, development, manufacturing and sales rights, among other things. The sublicense territory from CNS Pharmaceuticals and Moleculin Biotech includes for most compounds 30 countries in Europe and Asia, including Russia.

On Behalf of the Board

Mariusz Olejniczak

Mariusz Olejniczak CEO, WDP Pharmaceuticals

Contact:

Investor Relations Email: investors@wpdpharmaceuticals.com Tel: 604-428-7050 Web: www.wpdpharmaceuticals.com

Investor Relations:

Arrowhead Business and Investment Decisions, LLC

Thomas Renaud Managing Director 42 Broadway, 17th Floor New York, NY 10004 Office: +1 212 619-6889 enquire@arrowheadbid.com

Cautionary Statements:

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that contemplate activities, events or developments that the Company anticipates will or may occur in the future. Forward-looking statements in this press release include that WPDs drugs could be developed into novel treatments for cancer. These forward-looking statements reflect the Companys current expectations based on information currently available to management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those projected. Factors which may prevent the forward looking statement from being realized is that the technology may not provide the benefits expected and we may not engage them further; competitors or others may successfully challenge a granted patent and the patent could be rendered void; that we are unable to raise sufficient funding for our research; that we may not meet the requirements to receive the grants awarded; that our drugs dont provide positive treatment, or if they do, the side effects are damaging; competitors may develop better or cheaper drugs; and we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval for any drugs we develop. The Company assumes no obligation to update them except as required by applicable law.

Source: WPD Pharmaceuticals
VANCOUVER, BC, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE AMERICAN: BTG) (NSX: B2G) ("B2Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has published its fifth annual Responsible Mining Report entitled "Raising the Bar" (the "Report"), which details B2Gold's global economic contributions and its environmental, social, and governance management practices, together with the Company's performance against key indicators in 2020. Full details are outlined in the Report, which is available to view or download at www.b2gold.com. All dollar figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.

In announcing the release of the 2020 Responsible Mining Report, Clive Johnson, President & CEO of B2Gold, said that "for B2Gold and the world, 2020 was an unprecedented year. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way we all live and work, and I could not be more proud of the way that our teams across the globe were able to meet and exceed all expectations and deliver another successful year."

Highlights from 2020 "Raising the Bar" Responsible Mining Report

Economic Contribution

As a responsible gold miner, B2Gold aims to create and distribute economic value among our stakeholders. Our economic performance is measured by the economic value that we generate for others, including payments to governments through taxes and royalties, local hiring and procurement, and investment in communities. In 2020, B2Gold:

recorded annual gold production for the 12th consecutive year;

generated $1.8 Billion in Annual Revenue;

paid $145 million as Employee Wages and Benefits;

spent $14.4 million on Community Investment; and

paid $419 million to Governments (through taxes and royalties).

B2Gold is committed to maximizing local and national economic benefits from its contracting and purchasing. In sourcing the goods and services necessary to run its operations, B2Gold gives preference to local businesses where possible, provided they meet minimum safety, quality, ethical, and cost requirements. Several 2020 success stories are outlined in the Report.

People

As a reputable employer, B2Gold generates opportunities for people to develop their careers; trains employees to acquire new skills; and opens doors to women, minorities, and previously-disadvantaged people. In a contracting world economy due to COVID-19, the social return on investment in the mining industry is now more important than ever. B2Gold is proud to continue positive contributions to the livelihoods of its employees and their families during this challenging time.

At the end of 2020, B2Gold employed 4,2991 people across all of its operations, 95% of which were local employees. Where the Company operates abroad, 55% of senior management is local. B2Gold continues to maintain high local employment rates by targeting recruitment efforts at local and national levels.

B2Gold saw a slight increase in female representation in 2020, with 13.4% of its total workforce being female (12% in 2019), and 23% of its senior positions being occupied by women. A Diversity and Inclusion Statement was implemented in 2020 with an executive champion to drive this important work. Moving forward, the Company will broaden its diversity focus beyond gender and, as such, this important work has evolved into an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy. During a challenging time of lockdowns, quarantines, and changing work arrangements, B2Gold focused on including diverse voices in decision-making processes and providing equal access to benefits and support.

_______________________________ 1 Employee total includes Gramalote Colombia Limited employees. It also includes supervised contracted labour but does not include unsupervised contractor employees. The reported numbers include full-time and part-time permanent employees as well as temporary employees.

Health and Safety

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges to the Company's goal of ensuring the ongoing health and safety of its workforce. Through the proactive efforts and the early targeted actions of B2Gold's senior leadership team, health and safety teams, and epidemiological advisors, the Company was able to significantly mitigate and effectively manage the negative health and safety impacts of COVID-19 on its employees, operations, and the communities in which it operates.

B2Gold is pleased to report that in 2020, it once again maintained a zero-fatality workplace for the fifth consecutive year. Over this same period, B2Gold reduced its annual consolidated Lost Time Injury (LTI) Frequency Rate by 93%  from 0.83 in 2016 to an all-time low of 0.06 in 2020. This performance reflects B2Gold's longstanding commitment to continuous safety improvement. The Company's target for 2021 is to again have zero fatalities and for each operation to reduce its Total Recordable Injury (TRI) Frequency Rate from 2020 levels.

Environment

B2Gold is continuing to implement its 2020 to 2023 Environmental Strategic Plan (the "Strategic Plan"), which identifies key environmental aspects and defines specific objectives and targets for B2Gold's operations. The Strategic Plan provides a road map for improved environmental risk management and performance in line with the overall Company strategy.

B2Gold recognizes that society, including business, must act against climate change and it is implementing a series of changes within the Company as a key aspect of the Strategic Plan. The strategy focuses on assessing and reducing the Company's carbon footprint, incorporating climate change risk management into business planning/design, and increasing its external reporting and accountability. B2Gold will publish its first Energy and Climate Report in the second half of 2021, in line with the FSB TFCD Climate Disclosure Recommendations.

B2Gold is proud to be an industry leader in the implementation of renewable energy solutions to actively manage our emissions. The Company's Otjikoto operation in Namibia maintains a fully autonomous hybrid power plant (consisting of 6 MW solar and 24 MW Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) components), which eliminated over 17,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions in 2020. Following the success of the Otjikoto hybrid power plant, B2Gold commenced the construction of a similar hybrid plant (consisting of 30 MW solar and 64 MW HFO components) at its Fekola operation in Mali in 2020. The Company expects that solar production will reach full capacity by the end of the second quarter of 2021. When complete, the Fekola hybrid power plant will be one of the largest off-grid facilities of its type in the world and is expected to reduce the operation's annual HFO fuel consumption by approximately 13.1 million litres, keeping approximately 39,000 tonnes of CO2e from being released per year.

Throughout 2020, B2Gold continued its biodiversity conservation programs at its various sites around the world. Download our full Report and read more about our Chimpanzee Action plan in Mali, the Rhino Gold Bar initiative in Namibia, and the "Ridge to Reef" rehabilitation concept in the Philippines.

Approach to Reporting

Since 2016, B2Gold has reported its economic and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in alignment with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards, Core option and the G4 Mining and Metals Sector Disclosures. B2Gold's performance is also mapped to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Company firmly believes that the mining industry has an opportunity to contribute positively to the SDGs and B2Gold has reported its contribution in this regard since 2018.

In 2020, the Company updated its approach to reporting against the SDGs in alignment with the GRI and UN Global Compact's An Analysis of the Goals and Targets. As part of this process, B2Gold reviewed the targets developed for each SDG to identify those targets which are most applicable to the Company, as well as possible business actions to help achieve them.

COVID-19 Response Statement

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company put measures in place and introduced additional precautionary steps to manage and respond to the risks associated with COVID-19 to ensure the safety of its employees and surrounding communities.

B2Gold has worked closely with national and local authorities in each country where it operates to ensure compliance with all public directives. Since the start of the pandemic, all B2Gold corporate personnel travel has been restricted to absolute minimum requirements and employees in the corporate offices have been encouraged to work remotely. In Mali, Namibia, the Philippines, Colombia and Canada, B2Gold provided approximately $4 million in financial assistance to the local communities and the local and national authorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please read the Report for more detail.

The Company continues to address the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The pandemic continues to present new challenges, as COVID-19 cases surge again in different parts of the world at different times. Government and the private sector, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the mining industry, must work together to ensure continued success around the globe in recovering from this public health crisis.

To view or download a copy of the Report, please visit www.b2gold.com/responsible-mining/esg-reporting-portal/.

About B2Gold Corp.

B2Gold is a low-cost international senior gold producer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has operating gold mines in Mali, Namibia and the Philippines and numerous exploration and development projects in various countries including Mali, Colombia, Burkina Faso, Finland and Uzbekistan. B2Gold forecasts total consolidated gold production of between 970,000 and 1,030,000 ounces in 2021.

ON BEHALF OF B2GOLD CORP."Clive T. Johnson"

President & Chief Executive Officer

For more information on B2Gold, please visit the Company website at www.b2gold.com or contact:

Ian MacLean, Vice President, Investor Relations,+1 604-681-8371, imaclean@b2gold.com; Katie Bromley,Manager, Investor Relations & Public Relations,+1 604-681-8371, kbromley@b2gold.com

The Toronto Stock Exchange and NYSE American LLC neither approve nor disapprove the information contained in this news release.

Production results and production guidance presented in this news release reflect total production at the mines B2Gold operates on a 100% project basis. Please see our Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2021 for a discussion of our ownership interest in the mines B2Gold operates.

This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation, including: projections; outlook; guidance; forecasts; estimates; and other statements regarding future or estimated financial and operational performance, gold production and sales, revenues and cash flows, and capital costs (sustaining and non-sustaining) and operating costs, including projected cash operating costs and AISC, and budgets on a consolidated and mine by mine basis; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on B2Gold's operations, including any restrictions or suspensions with respect to our operations and the effect of any such restrictions or suspensions on our financial and operational results; the ability of the Company to successfully maintain our operations if they are temporarily suspended, and to restart or ramp-up these operations efficiently and economically, the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's workforce, suppliers and other essential resources and what effect those impacts, if they occur, would have on our business, our planned capital and exploration expenditures; future or estimated mine life, metal price assumptions, ore grades or sources, gold recovery rates, stripping ratios, throughput, ore processing; statements regarding anticipated exploration, drilling, development, construction, permitting and other activities or achievements of B2Gold; and including, without limitation: total consolidated gold production of between 970,000 and 1,030,000 ounces in 2021; and the anticipated cost, timing and results for the addition of a solar plant to the Fekola Mine, including the completion of construction by the end of the second quarter of 2021. All statements in this news release that address events or developments that we expect to occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, although not always, identified by words such as "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "project", "target", "potential", "schedule", "forecast", "budget", "estimate", "intend" or "believe" and similar expressions or their negative connotations, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur. All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made.

Forward-looking statements necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond B2Gold's control, including risks associated with or related to: the duration and extent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effectiveness of preventative measures and contingency plans put in place by the Company to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including, but not limited to, social distancing, a non-essential travel ban, business continuity plans, and efforts to mitigate supply chain disruptions; escalation of travel restrictions on people or products and reductions in the ability of the Company to transport and refine dore; the volatility of metal prices and B2Gold's common shares; changes in tax laws; the dangers inherent in exploration, development and mining activities; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates; not achieving production, cost or other estimates; actual production, development plans and costs differing materially from the estimates in B2Gold's feasibility and other studies; the ability to obtain and maintain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for mining activities; environmental regulations or hazards and compliance with complex regulations associated with mining activities; climate change and climate change regulations; the ability to replace mineral reserves and identify acquisition opportunities; the unknown liabilities of companies acquired by B2Gold; the ability to successfully integrate new acquisitions; fluctuations in exchange rates; the availability of financing; financing and debt activities, including potential restrictions imposed on B2Gold's operations as a result thereof and the ability to generate sufficient cash flows; operations in foreign and developing countries and the compliance with foreign laws, including those associated with operations in Mali, Namibia, the Philippines, Colombia and Burkina Faso and including risks related to changes in foreign laws and changing policies related to mining and local ownership requirements or resource nationalization generally, including in response to the COVID-19 outbreak; remote operations and the availability of adequate infrastructure; fluctuations in price and availability of energy and other inputs necessary for mining operations; shortages or cost increases in necessary equipment, supplies and labour; regulatory, political and country risks, including local instability or acts of terrorism and the effects thereof; the reliance upon contractors, third parties and joint venture partners; the lack of sole decision-making authority related to Filminera Resources Corporation, which owns the Masbate Project; challenges to title or surface rights; the dependence on key personnel and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the risk of an uninsurable or uninsured loss; adverse climate and weather conditions; litigation risk; competition with other mining companies; community support for B2Gold's operations, including risks related to strikes and the halting of such operations from time to time; conflicts with small scale miners; failures of information systems or information security threats; the ability to maintain adequate internal controls over financial reporting as required by law, including Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; compliance with anti-corruption laws, and sanctions or other similar measures; social media and B2Gold's reputation; risks affecting Calibre having an impact on the value of the Company's investment in Calibre, and potential dilution of our equity interest in Calibre; as well as other factors identified and as described in more detail under the heading "Risk Factors" in B2Gold's most recent Annual Information Form, B2Gold's current Form 40-F Annual Report and B2Gold's other filings with Canadian securities regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which may be viewed at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively (the "Websites"). The list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect B2Gold's forward-looking statements

B2Gold's forward-looking statements are based on the applicable assumptions and factors management considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to management at such time. These assumptions and factors include, but are not limited to, assumptions and factors related to B2Gold's ability to carry on current and future operations, including: the duration and effects of COVID-19 on our operations and workforce; development and exploration activities; the timing, extent, duration and economic viability of such operations, including any mineral resources or reserves identified thereby; the accuracy and reliability of estimates, projections, forecasts, studies and assessments; B2Gold's ability to meet or achieve estimates, projections and forecasts; the availability and cost of inputs; the price and market for outputs, including gold; foreign exchange rates; taxation levels; the timely receipt of necessary approvals or permits; the ability to meet current and future obligations; the ability to obtain timely financing on reasonable terms when required; the current and future social, economic and political conditions; and other assumptions and factors generally associated with the mining industry.

B2Gold's forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management and reflect their current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. B2Gold does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what benefits or liabilities B2Gold will derive therefrom. For the reasons set forth above, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/b2gold-releases-its-annual-responsible-mining-report--raising-the-bar-301310221.html

SOURCE B2Gold Corp.
WASHINGTON, June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Southern Environmental Law Center today released the following statement regarding the EPA's announcement that it plans to repeal and replace a harmful, destructive rule by the prior administration that removed federal Clean Water Act protections against pollution and destruction from streams, wetlands, and lakes by the previous administration. The so-called "Navigable Waters Protection Rule" removed protections from several public lakes including Lake Keowee, a drinking water reservoir for almost 400,000 people in South Carolina, and from wetlands that protect many Southern communities facing increased, more intense rain events and flooding with climate change. Today's action recognizes the significant problems with the current rule, but does not immediately reverse it.

"No administration can allow the interests of industrial polluters to trump the sole objective of the Clean Water Act: to restore and maintain the integrity of our nation's waters, so that they are safe for fishing, swimming, and as sources of drinking water for our families and communities," said Kelly Moser, senior attorney and leader of the Southern Environmental Law Center's Clean Water Defense Initiative. "The Biden administration must act quickly to restore clean water protections because the current rule lets developers, industry, or anyone else pollute, fill, or pave over these waters without federal permit. Every day the rule remains in place means that more streams, wetlands, lakes, and drinking water sourcesprotected under every other administrationcan be destroyed. The administration must make this a priority, and we will hold their feet to the fire."

The prior administration stripped protections under the Clean Water Act from countless streams, lakes and wetlands, leaving thousands of stream miles, many public recreational lakes, and millions of acres of wetlands without protections that have been in place for decades and putting our communities and water supplies at risk.

Since the Trump administration's rule took effect in June 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has allowed thousands of wetlands and other waterways to be destroyed by industry. Among those projects are two recently revised jurisdictional determinations that removed protections from about 400 acres of wetlands by the Army Corps of Engineers for a massive mine on the doorstep of the Okefenokee Swamp and from about 200 acres of wetlands that absorb floodwaters in a flood prone area for a large development near the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina.

The Southern Environmental Law Center's challenge to the unlawful roll back of federal clean water protections filed on behalf of several conservation groups is pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.

For more than 30 years, the Southern Environmental Law Center has used the power of the law to champion the environment of the Southeast. With over 80 attorneys and nine offices across the region, SELC is widely recognized as the Southeast's foremost environmental organization and regional leader. SELC works on a full range of environmental issues to protect our natural resources and the health and well-being of all the people in our region. www.SouthernEnvironment.org

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/biden-administration-announcement-leaves-crucial-streams-wetlands-and-drinking-water-sources-in-jeopardy-301309527.html

SOURCE Southern Environmental Law Center
DALLAS, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), celebrating the 50th Anniversary of its first flights this month, has extended its bookable flight schedule through Jan. 5, 2022, adding the carrier's 18th new airport since early 2020. The carrier announced today service to Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) in New York, will begin Nov. 14, 2021. Syracuse will become the 121st airport for Southwest. The carrier also published new flights today that resume service to all previously served international destinations.

"We're continuing to expand our service bringing low fares, flexible policies, and world-famous Hospitality to more people, making it easier to choose Southwest," said Andrew Watterson, Chief Commercial Officer & Executive Vice President for Southwest Airlines. "Our latest destination in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York not only allows New Yorkers easier access to our growing network, but brings the offerings of Upstate New York to our existing Customers."

SOUTHWEST SERVICE IN SYRACUSE, NEW YORK BEGINS NOV. 14, 2021 Southwest continues to grow across North America with service to its sixth destination in New York: Syracuse, beginning Nov. 14, 2021. Southwest initially will offer up to three daily flights each way between Syracuse and Baltimore/Washington (BWI), allowing travelers to reach more than 50 destinations across the Southwest network on same-plane or connecting service. Syracuse flights are available for purchase now at Southwest.com:

Fly nonstop between Syracuse and: Initial service: One-way fares as low as*: Baltimore/Washington (BWI) 3 times daily $49

*The number of seats, days, and markets for these fares are limited; blackout dates apply. Book from June 10, 2021, through June. 11, 2021. See a full list of fares, fare rules, and terms and conditions below and at Southwest.com.

Southwest additionally will offer nonstop service on select Saturdays during peak fall and winter holiday periods between Syracuse and Orlando.

SOUTHWEST TO BEGIN SERVICE FROM BELLINGHAM, WASH. NOV. 7, 2021On Nov. 7, 2021, Southwest also will begin service to Northwest Washington with new service twice daily between Bellingham, Wash. and Oakland and once daily between Bellingham, Wash. and Las Vegas. With this service pattern, Customers traveling from nearly 40 airports across the Southwest network will be able to land closer to southern British Columbia, Canada. Bellingham service is available for purchase now at Southwest.com:

Fly nonstop between Bellingham, Wash. and: Initial service: One-way fares as low as*: Las Vegas 1 time daily $39 Oakland 2 times daily $39

*The number of seats, days, and markets for these fares are limited; blackout dates apply. Book from June 10, 2021, through June 11, 2021. See a full list of fares, fare rules, and terms and conditions below and at Southwest.com.

RETURNING TO INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS, PLUS NEW CANCUN SERVICE FOR CHICAGO (O'HARE) AND KANSAS CITY With demand for beach and leisure destinations continuing to increase, Southwest intends to resume service to all of its previously served international destinations by Nov. 7, 2021.

Effective Oct. 7, 2021, Southwest intends to resume once daily nonstop service between Ft. Lauderdale and: One-way fares as low as*: Nassau, Bahamas $69 Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands $99** Providenciales, Turks and Caicos $99

Effective Nov. 7, 2021, Southwest intends to resume once daily nonstop service between Ft. Lauderdale and: One-way fares as low as*: Cancun, Mexico $99 Montego Bay, Jamaica $129

Effective Nov. 7, 2021, Southwest intends to resume once daily nonstop service between Houston (Hobby) and: One-way fares as low as*: Belize City, Belize $99

*All international destinations served prior to April 2020 will resume operations by Nov. 7, 2021. Not all routes previously offered will be available. The number of seats, days, and markets for these fares are limited; blackout dates apply. Book from June 10, 2021, through June 11, 2021. See a full list of fares, fare rules, and terms and conditions below and at Southwest.com.

**Service to Grand Cayman resumes Oct. 7, 2021, subject to border reopening.

For a list of the carrier's international destinations as well as service resumption dates, visit Southwest.com/international.

New Nonstop Flights to CancunSouthwest will serve Cancun nonstop from 17 airports in the U.S. as winter 2021/2022 begins. Starting Nov. 7, the airline will offer new, seasonal, daily service between Chicago (O'Hare) and Cancun, complementing the carrier's daily Cancun service from Chicago Midway Airport.

Fly nonstop between: Initial service: One-way fares as low as*: Chicago (O'Hare) and Cancun Daily $129

*The number of seats, days, and markets for these fares are limited; blackout dates apply. Book from June 10, 2021, through June 11, 2021. See a full list of fares, fare rules, and terms and conditions below and at Southwest.com.

On Nov. 13, Southwest will bring its first-ever international service to Kansas City with seasonal service on Saturdays between Kansas City and Cancun.

Escape to the Caribbean and Central America Southwest continues responding to growing Customer demand for more access to beaches. Beginning Nov. 13, 2021, Southwest intends to launch seasonal service on Saturdays between Denver and Liberia, Costa Rica. The same day, the airline will begin Saturday-only service between both St. Louis and Buffalo/Niagara Falls and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

More Heart for Hawaii As Southwest begins previously announced service this month to Hawaii from Los Angeles (LAX), Las Vegas, and Phoenix, the carrier is also adding new service between Sacramento and Kona on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, starting Dec. 19, 2021.

NEW NONSTOP FLIGHTS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATESWith the popularity of Southwest's newest destinations increasing, the carrier is expanding its flight offerings with more nonstop flights linking to some of the most popular spots on its route map.

Effective Oct. 7, 2021, Southwest will add daily nonstop service between: Sacramento and Palm Springs, Calif.

Effective Nov. 7, 2021, Southwest will add nonstop service between: Washington, D.C. (Regan National) and Sarasota, Fla. (Daily) New York (LaGuardia) and Sarasota, Fla. (Sundays through Fridays)Dallas (Love Field) and Palm Springs, Calif. (Weekly on Sundays, plus peak travel days)

For a list of all the new routes, as well as service returning for the winter holidays, please visit Southwest's newsroom.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES SALE FARE RULESPurchase today, June 10, 2021, through June 11, 2021, 11:59 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Continental U.S. travel is valid Nov. 7, 2021, through Jan. 5, 2022. Syracuse, New York (SYR) travel is valid Nov. 14, 2021, through Jan. 5, 2022. International travel is valid Oct. 7, 2021, through Dec. 9, 2021. Houston (Hobby) to/from Belize; Cancun to/from Fort Lauderdale and Chicago (O'Hare); and Fort Lauderdale to/from Montego Bay, Jamaica is valid Nov. 7, 2021, through Dec. 9, 2021. Continental U.S. travel is blacked out Nov. 23, 2021, through Nov. 24, 2021; Nov. 27, 2021, through Nov. 29, 2021; Dec. 17, 2021, through Dec. 18, 2021; Dec. 22, 2021, through Dec. 23, 2021; Dec. 26, 2021, through Dec. 28, 2021; and Jan. 1, 2022, through Jan. 3, 2022. Continental U.S. to international destinations is blacked out Nov. 19, 2021, through Nov. 21, 2021. Continental U.S. from international destinations is blacked out Nov. 26, 2021, through Nov. 28, 2021. Except as otherwise specified, continental U.S. travel is valid only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Travel Baltimore-Washington (BWI) to/from Syracuse, New York (SYR) is not valid on Fridays and Sundays. Travel continental U.S. to international destinations is valid only on Sundays through Wednesdays. Travel continental U.S. from international destinations is valid only on Tuesdays through Fridays. Fares valid on nonstop service where indicated; if not indicated, fares are valid on single connecting service. Displayed prices include all U.S. and international government taxes and fees. Rapid Rewards points bookings do not include taxes, fees, and other government/airport charges of at least $5.60 per one-way flight. Fares not available to/from continental U.S. to/from Hawaii. Seats and days are limited. Fares may vary by destination, flight, and day of the week and won't be available on some flights that operate during very busy travel times and holiday periods. Travel is available for one-way Wanna Get Away fares. Fares may be combined with other Southwest Airlines combinable fares. If combining with other fares, the most restrictive fare rules apply. Sale fares may be available on other days of the week, but that's not guaranteed. Fares are nonrefundable but may be applied toward future travel on Southwest Airlines, as long as reservations are canceled at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure. Failure to cancel prior to departure will result in forfeiture of remaining funds on the reservation. Any change in itinerary may result in an increase in fare. Standby travel may require an upgrade to the Anytime fare depending on Rapid Rewards tier status. Fares are subject to change until ticketed. Offer applies only to published, scheduled service.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. In its 50th year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. continues to differentiate itself from other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 56,000 Employees to a Customer base that topped 130 million Passengers in 2019. Southwest has a robust network of point-to-point service with a strong presence across top leisure and business markets. In peak travel seasons during 2019, Southwest operated more than 4,000 weekday departures among a network of 101 destinations in the United States and 10 additional countries. In 2020, the carrier added service to Hilo, Hawaii; Cozumel, Mexico; Miami; Palm Springs, Calif.; Steamboat Springs; and Montrose (Telluride), Colo. Thus far in 2021, Southwest has initiated service to Chicago (O'Hare) and Sarasota/Bradenton both on Feb. 14; Savannah/Hilton Head and Colorado Springs both on March 11; Houston (Bush) and Santa Barbara, Calif. both on April 12; Fresno, Calif. on April 25; Destin/Fort Walton Beach on May 6; Myrtle Beach S.C. on May 23; Bozeman, Mont. on May 27; and Jackson, Miss. on June 6; and will begin service to Eugene, Ore. on Aug. 29; Bellingham, Wash. on Nov. 7; and Syracuse on Nov. 14.

The carrier issued its Southwest Promise in May 2020 to highlight new and round-the-clock efforts to support its Customers and Employees well-being and comfort. Among the changes are enhanced cleaning efforts at airports and onboard aircraft, along with a federal mandate requiring every person to wear a mask at all times throughout each flight. Additional details about the Southwest Promise are available at Southwest.com/Promise.

Southwest coined Transfarency to describe its purposed philosophy of treating Customers honestly and fairly, and low fares actually staying low. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline to offer bags fly free to everyone (first and second checked pieces of luggage, size and weight limits apply, some carriers offer free checked bags on select routes or in qualified circumstances). Southwest does not charge change fees, though fare differences might apply.

Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for a triple bottom line approach that contributes to the carrier's performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities they serve, and an overall commitment to efficiency and the planet. Learn more about how the carrier gives back to communities across the world by visiting Southwest.com/citizenship.

Book Southwest Airlines' low fares online at Southwest.com or by phone at 800-I-FLY-SWA.

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SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.
SAN RAMON, Calif., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chevron Products Company, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., announced the official rollout of the company's new Chevron xpress lube program for qualifying U.S. fast lube owners and investor prospects. With the inaugural Chevron xpress lube location now operating in Fountain Hills, AZ and another impressive facility in Meridian, ID, Chevron anticipates strong interest in its new image program.

"We're thrilled to extend the valuable Chevron brand into the fast lube automotive service sector."

Complementing Chevron's heritage Havoline xpress lube brand, the Chevron xpress lube brand identity offers qualifying prospects the opportunity to leverage one of the most established, trusted brands in America, regarded for premium quality products and attracting loyal, discerning consumers. All xpress lube locations are independently owned and operated under a brand sales and license agreement with owners retaining operating flexibility without traditional franchise or royalty fees.

"With nearly 7,000 Chevron gas stations in approximately 15 states, the Chevron brand is well recognized for fuels unsurpassed in quality and a steadfast commitment to customer service and satisfaction," said Dave Schletewitz, Automotive Installed Marketing Manager, Chevron Products Company. "We're thrilled to extend the valuable Chevron brand into the fast lube automotive service sector. Prospective U.S. owners can harness Chevron's brand equity, built over decades, to attract the countless consumers that have an affinity for the Chevron brand - helping them to take their business to a new level."

As part of the program, Chevron xpress lube locations stock and sell Chevron's premium product brands; Havoline for passenger car motor oils, automatic transmission fluids, gear lubricants and antifreeze/coolants, Techron for gasoline and diesel aftermarket fuel additives, and Delo for heavy-duty diesel engine oils. Brand requirements for maximum visibility and awareness entail primary identification signage at the street and on the building, a dedicated mobile-responsive website and social media platforms, employee uniforms, oil change clings and a digital menu board.

Chevron's new xpress lube shopper program, designed to sustain Chevron brand equity, will require xpress lube locations to maintain minimum customer satisfaction and image scores with a built-in reward system for top-performing sites  a system that contributes to high customer retention and acquisition levels. Plus, business owners have access to industry experts that are committed to helping them thrive and achieve their business growth objectives.

"As a family business in facility management and real estate, we were looking to diversify our portfolio and had considered a variety of automotive businesses before landing on the fast lube segment," says Chris Boschetto, owner of the first Chevron xpress lube in Fountain Hills, AZ. "Given our service background, we liked the emphasis on speed and service with fast lubes and felt Chevron's well-known brand reputation and image was the right fit for us. We never expected this kind of attentiveness from such a big company. It's been a really positive experience and we are excited to see our business grow."

To learn more, visit chevronxpresslube.com. To speak with a sales representative about Chevron xpress lube opportunities call: (866) 354-4476.

About Chevron Products Company

Chevron Products Company is a division of an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) headquartered in San Ramon, CA. A full line of lubrication and coolant products are marketed through this organization. Select brands include Havoline, Delo, Techron and Havoline xpress lube. Chevron Intellectual Property LLC owns patented technology in advanced lubricants products, new generation base oil technology and coolants.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chevron-launches-chevron-xpress-lube-image-program-for-qualifying-us-fast-lube-owners-301309573.html

SOURCE Chevron Products Company
SEOUL, South Korea, June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 2021 has been a breakthrough year for the Korean startup ecosystem despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Korean Chat API startup Sendbird raised $100 million in Series C funding with a valuation of $1.05 billion. Sendbird is now one of the 12 unicorn startups based out of South Korea. South Korea's largest e-commerce company, Coupang, raised around $4.6 billion in the biggest U.S. initial public offering (IPO) this year. In the first quarter of 2021, at least 34 companies (many of which were tech startups), have applied to the Korea Exchange (KRX) for IPOs. South Korea wants to grow its tech ecosystem and digital economy by making it easier for startups from abroad to expand in the country. The South Korean government aims to attract global startups to set up operations in South Korea.

Startups from around the world can apply to K-Startup Grand Challenge 2021 till June 15, 2021. The program represents an unparalleled opportunity for startups to expand into the South Korean and wider Asian markets. KSGC 2021 will offer 60 teams and entrepreneurs an all-expenses-paid, 3.5-month residency program in South Korea that includes access to expert guidance, co-working spaces, state-of-art R&D labs, corporate partnerships, entry to Asian markets, and more.

The acceleration program is hosted at the startup campus in Pangyo Techno Valley, a tech hub near Seoul. The top 10 chosen startups will also win grants worth $320,000, with the first-placed team receiving $120,000. To apply, startups must be less than seven years old, and their representative must be of foreign nationality. They must also demonstrate a clear interest in expanding into the Korean and East Asian markets.

The program, first launched in 2016, aims to promote the expansion of an open entrepreneurship ecosystem in Asia and assist in South Korea's evolution into a prominent startup and business hub in the region. In the year 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the program saw a 58% surge in applications, with 2,648 teams applying from 118 countries.

Several startups from around the world have expanded to South Korea and East Asia through the program. Texas-based health-tech startup Ommo technologies spread its reach to the Asian markets with participation in the K-Startup Grand Challenge 2020 program. Since joining the KSGC program in the summer of 2020, Ommo technologies has raised US $3M led by Korean investors. Kyul Ko, co-founder & COO, Ommo technologies shared, "KSGC helped pave the way for us to reach out to potential investors and partners. Not only does the Korean government support domestic startups, but it also helps international startups find their home in Korea to take advantage of the support it provides, KSGC being the epitome. Once you are able to run your business successfully in Korea, then all of Asia is within reach."

For further information and to apply for the K-Startup Grand Challenge, visit the website - https://www.k-startupgc.org/.

Press contact: vallabh@topprwire.com

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SOURCE K-Startup Grand Challenge 2021
FILE PHOTO: A member of local hygiene services wears a protective suit and a face mask as he disinfects the street and market to stop the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Dakar, Senegal March 22, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

DAKAR (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $650 million in aid to Senegal to support the West African country's COVID-19 recovery, it said in a statement late on Monday.

The announcement follows an earlier payment of $442 million to Senegal in April 2020, also to mitigate the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the IMF said.

The pandemic has hit the Senegalese economy hard and caused growth to contract to an estimated 1.5% in 2020 from 5.3% in 2019, the IMF said. The Fund expects a modest recovery in 2021 with growth reaching 3.7% and forecast to reach 5.5% in 2022.

The $650 million will be paid over 18 months, with an immediate disbursement of $187 million, the IMF said.

"The 18-month arrangements ... will provide a policy anchor for the next phase of the authorities' COVID-19 response and support a strong and job-rich recovery," it said.

The West African country said last week that it plans to raise $500 million from the debt market to create jobs for young people as part of a response to riots in March. It also issued 775 million euros in Eurobonds.

Senegal, one of Africa's most stable democracies, was rocked by its worst unrest in a decade in March after the arrest of a popular opposition politician triggered an explosion of pent-up anger over economic hardship.

Senegal has brought COVID-19 cases under control in the last few months, ramping up its vaccination drive, but there is a risk of a third wave, the IMF said. The health ministry has recorded 41,725 cases and 1,150 deaths from coronavirus to date.

(Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Bate Felix and Jane Merriman)
FILE PHOTO: A United Airlines Boeing 737-800 sits at a gate after arriving at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., June 5, 2019. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski/File Photo

(Reuters) - United Airlines is in talks to place a multibillion-dollar order for single-aisle jets to be potentially split between Boeing and European rival Airbus, industry sources said.

If confirmed, the deal is expected to include more than 100 of Boeing's 737 MAX 8 and dozens of the slightly larger Airbus A321neo, they said, asking not to be identified.

None of the parties agreed to comment. The potential Boeing order was first reported by Bloomberg News.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Radhika Anilkumar, Kanishka Singh; editing by Jason Neely)
Smoky Hill Air National Guard Range in Salina, Kan., is shown during a training exercise on Dec. 12, 2017. (Tyler Woodward/U.S. Air National Guard)

WICHITA, Kan. (Tribune News Service)  One airman has died and two more were hospitalized during a training accident at a Kansas Air National Guard facility.

The military vehicle accident happened Tuesday afternoon at Smoky Hill Air National Guard Range, located near the town of Salina, officials said Wednesday in a news release.

Today we lost a member of our family under unfortunate circumstances, said Col. Jason Knobbe, commander of the 184th Wing. We share in the sorrow felt by his loved ones and we extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and fellow Guardsmen. We will continue caring for the injured Airmen and provide assistance to their loved ones. Their health, safety and well-being is our top priority.

The crash involved three airmen from the 184th Wing, which is based out of McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita. They are part of the Salina-based 284th Air Support Operations Squadron.

The airmen were training at the range when their military vehicle overturned, injuring all three personnel, officials said. The cause of the wreck is unknown and remains under investigation.

Two airmen were responsive and were taken to a local hospital for treatment. One airman was unresponsive and medically evacuated by a helicopter headed for a Wichita hospital. He died before reaching the hospital.

My thoughts are with the Kansas National Guard and 184th Wing after yesterdays military vehicle accident near Salina, Gov. Laura Kelly said in a statement. I am hoping the two injured Airmen a speedy recovery, and share my condolences with the family, loved ones, and fellow Guardsmen of the service member who tragically lost his life. His commitment to our state will not be forgotten.

___

(c)2021 The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)

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An MQ-9 Reaper flies a training mission over the Nevada Test and Training Range in 2019. A catastrophic fuel leak in a Reaper forced the crew controlling the drone to crash and destroy it last year, somewhere in U.S. Africa Commands area of responsibility. (William Rio Rosado/U.S. Air Force)

The Air Force destroyed a multimillion-dollar MQ-9 Reaper in June last year by deliberately crashing it somewhere in Africa after the drone had a catastrophic fuel leak during a mission, an accident report said.

The drone, assigned to the 162nd Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard and operated by the 214th Attack Squadron Mission Control Element at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, began to display warnings that its fuel levels were low about three hours before the crash, said the report, released Tuesday.

The remote flight crew initially thought they had enough fuel to return the Reaper to base, but an hour after the initial alert the pilot and mishap mission crew commander determined that the leak was catastrophic and began planning to crash the Reaper in a way that would minimize chances of a successful recovery effort by hostile parties.

MQ-9s are used by the Air Force to attack targets, gather intelligence and conduct search operations, among other roles. They can be equipped with laser-guided bombs and air-to-ground Hellfire missiles.

The pilot controlled the glide of the aircraft to optimize the impact point after the MQ-9 ran out of fuel, roughly three hours after the first alert that it was running low. Airspeed was increased until impact around a dozen minutes later, Air Force investigators said, and the drone was completely destroyed in the crash.

The monthslong probe into the accident found that fuel was leaking from the forward electric fuel heater. The problem was not new: another MQ-9 was nearly lost six months earlier due to a similar leak. In the nine months prior to the deliberate crash of the Reaper in Africa, eight electric fuel heater leak incidents were reported, the accident investigation found.

Two months after the accident last year, General Atomics - Aeronautical Systems, Inc., which developed the MQ-9, released a technical order explaining how to bypass the fuel heater on the MQ-9. The proposed fixes would cost approximately $37,000 for the entire Air Force fleet of MQ-9s, the accident report said. The June 2020 crash carried a tab of more than $11 million, it said.

There was no reported damage to civilian property, injuries or fatalities when the MQ-9 was brought down, the report said.

The exact location in Africa of the crash has not been made public, although the report said the drone came down somewhere in U.S. Africa Commands area of responsibility. That includes 53 African nations and islands off the coast of the vast continent, which is three times the size of the continental United States, AFRICOM said on its website.

zeitvogel.karin@stripes.com

Twitter: @StripesZeit
RAPID CITY, S.D. (Tribune News Service)  U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds and John Thune announced Wednesday that Ellsworth Air Force Base will officially be the Air Forces first base to receive the new B-21 Raider stealth bomber.

During a call Wednesday afternoon with Air Force Global Strike Commander Gen. Timothy Ray, Rounds said he was informed that Ellsworth has been officially designated as the main base of the B-21.

I am pleased that the U.S. Air Force has officially selected Ellsworth Air Force Base as the first home of the B-21 Raider bomber, Rounds said. This landmark decision makes certain that South Dakota will continue to play a critical role in our national defense.

Thune told the Journal on Wednesday the announcement was a huge step for South Dakota. Ellsworth is not only the first base to host the B-21, but it will also host the formal training unit and the first operational squadron.

This is really a slam-dunk. We hit the trifecta with this, Thune said. Its been in the works for a long time. Its hard to believe that 16 years ago the base was the verge of being closed, and now here we are celebrating something that is going to secure the future of (Ellsworth), but it will enhance and expand the role that it plays in national security and the enormous impact it will have on Rapid City, the Black Hills and the entire region.

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson said he was pleased with the selection of Ellsworth AFB to be the home of the B-21.

This has been a long journey, Johnson said. Weve felt good about our progress over the last few years, but now we can say without any hedging or hesitation: Our nations first B-21 bombers will call Ellsworth home.

Thune and Rounds worked simultaneously to remove Ellsworth AFB from the Base Realignment and Closure list in 2005  Thune in the Senate and Rounds as governor.

In 2006, Rounds led a legislative effort to establish the South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority to help secure the base, and Thune worked toward having the Air Force place the consolidated Financial Services Center at Ellsworth.

When the B-21 program was announced in 2014, the two senators began advocating for the selection of Ellsworth as the key base for the stealth aircraft.

The B-21 will eventually replace the B-1 and B-2 bomber aircrafts. Both Ellsworth and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas were being considered to host Main Operating Base 1, B-21 operational squadrons, a formal training unit and a weapons generation facility.

A Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the base was released in August and notes that both Ellsworth and Dyess are similar in size, and facility installation would have similar environmental impacts.

Wednesdays decision solidified Ellsworth AFB as the official host.

The selection of Ellsworth is a testament to the hard work of our Air Force personnel on the ground at Ellsworth and the communities of Box Elder and Rapid City that have worked hard to improve the long-term suitability of the base for this new state-of-the-art aircraft, Rounds said.

With the B-21 base established at Ellsworth, aircraft operations would increase by up to 15.8% and total flight operations would increase by 41.1% at the Powder River Training Complex. There will also be about 7,700 military members, spouses and children at the base.

The Powder River Training Complex overlies large portions of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. It allows aircrews to plan realistic training scenarios directly applicable to current operations and potential future conflict.

Thune said the Powder River Training Complex was a key part of the Air Forces decision to locate the B-21 fleet at Ellsworth AFB.

We quadrupled the size of that, increased its capabilities. That was a 10 year process... I think that was key to this (decision), Thune said.

Thune said the mission will result in 582 indirect jobs and $23,878,400 in economic activity in Rapid City and Box Elder. Approximately 4.3 million square feet of new construction and 1.7 million square feet of renovation will be conducted over the next several years in preparation for the B-21 mission.

The record of decision formally enables the Air Force to proceed with planning and contracting for the military construction activity, which will progress alongside the active B-1 mission, Thune said.

Box Elder, the Douglas School District, Pennington County and the surrounding communities are preparing for the arrival of the airmen and their families.

The Douglas School Board approved a 20-acre purchase in September to add a new elementary school in anticipation of the bases growth and eventually expects to add a high school for 1,400 students and three new elementary schools with 500 students each.

The South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority approved a $12.6 million recreation center planned to be completed in 2022 in Box Elder in anticipation of the base. The center will be built along Liberty Boulevard.

Rounds said some of the funding for infrastructure needs in Box Elder for the base expansion is likely to come from federal appropriations.

We are just in the middle of the appropriations process right now for the next fiscal year. I know there are requests out there for assistance for particular projects, specifically in (the Box Elder area) that would be impacting the roads in Box Elder, Rounds said. Normally, that would be considered state or local in nature, but I know we just got a request that I looked at today requesting some federal funding as well.

Thune said the pre-construction work at Ellsworth will begin perhaps as early as this summer.

We know what some of the needs are and obviously, there will have to be a significant amount of investment, Thune said. The difference between the B-21 and the B-1 is the nuclear capability of the B-21. That will take some additional construction and facilities that you wouldnt need for a conventional mission.

Rounds said some of the facility and security needs at Ellsworth will take into consideration the nuclear strike capability of the B-21.

There will be some (security protocols) in place because the B-21 will be a nuclear-capable platform. That means the weapons construction systems that are put in place will have their own special security requirements, Rounds said. Those facilities will have to be constructed, completed. Naturally, there is additional security anytime you have nuclear weapons capability in the area.

___

(c)2021 Rapid City Journal, S.D.

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Air Force Capt. Durwood "Hawk" Jones was killed when the F-16 that he was flying crashed into the Hiawatha National Forest during a nighttime training exercise in Michigan in December 2020. An Air Force investigation said spatial disorientation while Jones was trying to fix a problem with the fighter jet's GPS system caused the crash. (Wisconsin Air National Guard)

A Wisconsin Air National Guard pilot who died when his F-16 crashed in Michigan during a nighttime training exercise in December had become disoriented after trying to fix a problem with his global positioning system, an Air Force accident report said.

The cause of the mishap was the [pilots] failure to effectively recover from spatial disorientation, Brig. Gen. David W. Smith, president of the Air Force Accident Investigation Board, said in the report released Wednesday.

Capt. Durwood Jones, 37, died when the F-16C he was piloting in an exercise involving one other F-16 fighter jet crashed into the Hiawatha National Forest in northern Michigan, the National Guard said in a statement in December.

Because the plane was totally destroyed in the crash, accident investigators had to rely on radio communications, radar data and witness testimony to compile the report.

The crash occurred during a practice mission that was supposed to include an air-to-air intercept of a Cessna aircraft operated by the Wisconsin Civil Air Patrol. But the CAP canceled the intercept because of poor weather conditions. The two F-16s instead conducted a practice scramble on a backup instrument profile, the report said.

Shortly after takeoff, Jones reported to his wingman that his GPS was not receiving satellite tracking data, and said he was initiating an inflight alignment of another navigation system.

While Jones was troubleshooting the GPS issue, he entered a weather system and lost visual contact with the other F-16.

After the two pilots established where they were in relation to each other, Jones F-16 went into a series of heading, altitude, and attitude changes  culminating with an extreme attitude that resulted in the crash at 7:17 p.m., the accident report said.

The only checklist Jones had access to when he was conducting the inflight alignment, or IFA, did not include a note to say GPS satellite tracking data is necessary for the maneuver, the report said.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon with the 115th Fighter Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard. Capt. Durwood "Hawk" Jones, a Wisconsin Air National Guard pilot, died in December 2020, when his F-16 crashed in Michigan during a nighttime training exercise. (Cristina J. Allen/U.S. Air National Guard)

The F-16 was travelling at 600 knots (690 mph) when it crashed, the report said. Its nose, which was pitched at 58 degrees low, and right wing tip both struck the ground. Jones did not try to eject.

When Air Force investigators recreated the crash, they determined that the fighter jet was in a 45-degree descent, traveling at 550 knots, or about 630 mph, when it was about 7,500 feet above the ground.

If Jones had recognized the problem and taken corrective actions, he would have recovered within 2,000 feet, the report said.

But environmental conditions, including darkness and deteriorating weather conditions, had affected Jones vision, and his fixation on rectifying the loss of GPS data had impacted his ability to recognize, confirm, and recover from the unusual attitude created by the spatially disorienting event, leading to the crash, the report concluded.

Jones, whose call sign was Hawk, joined the Air National Guard in 2011. He graduated from the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, in 2013, according to the report, and started flying F-16s in 2015, the Guard said. He deployed to Japan in 2015 and South Korea in 2017. In 2019, he served a combat tour in Afghanistan.

His awards included two Air Medals with C devices awarded for operating under hostile combat conditions.

He is survived by his wife and two children, according to the National Guard.

zeitvogel.karin@stripes.com

Twitter: @StripesZeit

Karin Zeitvogel
Army Spc. Zainab Olivo takes part in engineer training earlier this year with Company D, 554th Engineer Battalion at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. (Brian Hill/U.S. Army)

Standing 4 feet, 11 inches and weighing 110 pounds, Army Spc. Zainab Olivo had her work cut out marching with 60 pounds of gear during basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

The physical challenge of boot camp, which Olivo, 32, completed in March, was just the latest hurdle for someone who had seen her share of war before putting on a uniform.

As a child growing up southwest of Baghdad in the Iraqi city of Karbala, she dreamed of becoming a police officer or a soldier. Years later, during the war against the Islamic State, she got a taste of that life while working on the front lines as an interpreter and translator for Stars and Stripes.

Olivo was a 14-year-old schoolgirl when a U.S.-led coalition invaded the country and deposed dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. She recalled the chaos of that time in a May 14 telephone interview from Fort Leonard Wood.

It was a mess, she said of post-invasion Iraq. There was no government and no army left and just the American soldiers and Marines. They were handing out food and water to civilians.

Olivo said she was impressed by the seemingly superhuman strength of the U.S. troops who marched in the heat carrying their weapons and heavy equipment.

Zainab Olivo works in Iraq as an interpreter and translator for Stars and Stripes in 2017. (Zainab Olivo) Zainab Olivo holds a camera while on a reporting assignment in Iraq with Stars and Stripes journalist Chad Garland, far right, in 2017. (Zainab Olivo) Zainab Olivo poses with Iraqi troops while working as an interpreter and translator for Stars and Stripes during the Battle of Mosul in 2017. (Zainab Olivo)

In 2011, as U.S. forces returned home, Olivos family moved to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, where she studied business at Dijlah University and continued to improve the English shed learned in school.

But in 2014, the Islamic State plunged Iraq into conflict once more and brought U.S. forces back to the country. Olivo, who by then had a daughter of her own, answered a job advertisement and started working as a linguist for Stars and Stripes. Soon, she found herself face-to-face with the conflict.

I am against extremists, she said of her motivation to work with journalists. I wanted to go to the battlefield and see for myself and do something and get the job done and help.

Olivos duties with the newspaper took her to combat outposts, where she saw U.S. troops at work, and to the war-ravaged suburbs of Mosul filled with enemy snipers, improvised explosive devices and armed drones.

Stars and Stripes reporter Chad Garland, who worked with Olivo in Iraq, praised her bravery.

Zainab had a way of getting us closer to the front lines than the Iraqis initially seemed to want to let us go, he said in a June 4 email.

On a ride into Mosul with the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service in 2016, the pair found themselves next to a Humvee with a gunner firing a .50 caliber machine gun, presumably at the enemy, Garland recalled.

I dont think the Iraqis realized theyd brought us that close to the fight until we got there, he said.

The city was recaptured from the Islamic State by the end of July 2017, a year later, Olivo moved to the United States on a family visa. She enlisted in the Army last summer and completed advanced individual training at Fort Leonard Wood on May 29 to become an engineer.

Olivos company commander during engineer training, Capt. Zachary Hawkins, said she came into the Army with more military knowledge than most recruits since she had interacted with troops in Iraq.

She saw how they presented themselves, and I think she came into basic training and advanced individual training already knowing a lot of things service members do, he said.

The other trainees, whose are mostly 19 and 20 years old, looked to her for wisdom and knowledge, Hawkins added.

She is small, but it doesnt seem to faze her, he said. She is able to operate equipment just as well as anyone and on ruck marches, carrying a heavy load with a weapon, she keeps up.

Part of the engineer training involved learning how to use heavy equipment such as tractors and excavators.

Olivos experience in Iraq included working at Qayara Airfield West in October 2016. The facility, at that time recently recaptured from the Islamic State, had been repaired by Air Force engineers.

Olivo said her goal is to deploy somewhere with the Army, become an active-duty soldier and train as an officer. She is also planning to become a U.S. citizen with the help of the Army, she said.

I want to make a difference and I want to be part of something bigger, she said. And that is why I chose the Army.

Editors note: The author of this report worked with Zainab Olivo on several assignments in Iraq between 2014 and 2017.

robson.seth@stripes.com

Twitter: @SethRobson1
FORT WORTH (Tribune News Service)  During the past year, Fort Worth artist Juan Velazquez has painted more than 60 murals in Dallas-Fort Worth.

His work ranges from Mexican icon Frida Kahlo on Magnolia Avenue in Fort Worth, to Dallas Cowboys players Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott in Grand Prairie and Tejano music star Selena on Main Street in Fort Worth.

He's been featured in local publications, has been commissioned by multiple businesses and has had his murals posted all over social media.

But a year ago, he nearly gave up on art as a full-time career.

Now, as his portfolio has grown and his status has increased, Velazquez prepares to expand his footprint outside of the Metroplex while still trying to remain faithful to his Latino and Fort Worth roots.

The Vanessa Guillen mural

In the summer of 2020, Velazquez considered his work as a full-time artist a failed experiment. A lover of art since he was a kid, Velazquez took the leap to pursue the passion full-time and had been trying to get into the local art scene for several years.

He struggled to find footing as a more traditional canvas artist, and when COVID-19 put an end to events and art exhibits, his sources of income all dried up.

During that summer, he was preparing to make his way back into a 9 to 5 job, but he wanted to paint a mural to honor a slain U.S. Army soldier who was making headlines.

Himself a member of the Army Reserve, Velazquez felt the need to honor Vanessa Guillen, so in early July he drew a mural in the corner of Hemphill and West Ripy Streets in the Southside.

Guillen, 20, was killed by a fellow soldier April 22, 2020, at Fort Hood in Texas. Before she was killed, she was sexually harassed by another soldier.

The mural earned widespread attention from local media, activists and members of the military alike. While Velazquez simply wanted to honor a fellow soldier, the attention from the mural brought him into the local spotlight.

Murals of all kinds

Velazquez's most well-known murals typically display famous figures, from athletes to musicians to politically significant people. But Velazquez also has consistently produced murals of neighborhood heroes, slain members of communities and Latinx figures.

Last month, Velazquez finished a mural of Cristopher Guardado, a 16-year-old defensive tackle for Garland High School who died in an accidental shooting.

In April, he completed a mural of Benjamin Isaac Castaneda Floran, a 17-year-old North Side High School student and member of the school's mariachi band who was killed by a suspected drunk driver.

In February, he did a mural of Paul and Rosemary Blackwell, two Grand Prairie teachers who died of COVID-19.

Velazquez said it's crucial for him to depict local residents in his work, and said although these murals get less fanfare, the people who cared deeply for these individuals are always extremely thankful and emotional.

He also has set out to make mural of Latino figures like Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata, Puerto Rican rapper Big Pun and paintings inspired by Mexican artist Jesus Helguera.

Velazquez said he's motivated to give the Latino community figures that look like them that they can look up to.

Expansion

Velazquez said he was insistent for a while on painting murals only in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He said he felt a sense of pride about continuing to work locally.

But after a certain point, Velazquez realized he was running out of space in the area to continue to make murals, so he sees the need to expand out to other cities.

He plans to see his work out of state in the next year, and has also started receiving commission work for more traditional canvas painting.

But Velazquez insists that no matter where his murals take him, he will always represent Fort Worth and his Hispanic heritage.

(c)2021 the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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WHITEWATER, Wis. (Tribune News Service)  A UW-Whitewater student who served his country in Afghanistan died in an accidental self-inflicted shooting last Friday, Whitewater police said.

Zachary "Zac" Wasendorf, 23, was found dead of a single gunshot wound after a 911 call to the apartments at 304 N. Tratt St., according to a police news release.

No one else was injured, police said. The firearm, a handgun which was legally owned and possessed, was recovered.

UW-W on Thursday expressed sadness in an announcement to students and staff, saying Wasendorf was a political science major with a minor in leadership and military science.

"Zac was proudly serving as a sergeant in the Wisconsin National Guard and was an active member in Phi Delta Theta fraternity," the university release states.

"As we process this information, please know that counseling services are available to you. For students, please contact the University Health and Counseling Services. For faculty and staff, please contact Kepro, the employee assistance program," the university said.

The Middleton High School graduate served in multiple deployments, including a long one to Afghanistan, according to his obituary.

"Zac was a strong advocate for the care of returning soldiers from active duty," the obituary states.

A public gathering was planned for 4-7 pm. Thursday, June 10, at Gunderson West Funeral and Cremation Care, 7435 University Ave., Middleton. Military funeral honors by the Wisconsin Army National Guard were set for 6 p.m.

UW-Whitewater flew its flag at half staff Thursday in Wasendorf's memory.

The investigation by the Walworth County Medical Examiner's Department was continuing.

Whitewater Police Chief Aaron Raap told The Gazette on Thursday that it took several days for officials to get ahold of Wasendorf's next of kin.

On gun safety, he said he only had a standard piece of advice that many have heard before but was worth reiterating: "Always assume that any firearm is loaded."

"It's really, unfortunately, that simple," he said.

Update: This article was updated at 12:27 p.m. Thursday to include comments from the police chief.

(c)2021 The Janesville Gazette (Janesville, Wis.)

Visit The Janesville Gazette (Janesville, Wis.) at www.gazetteextra.com

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U.S. Marines drive assault amphibious vehicles through the surf during training at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, July 14, 2020. Marines at Camp Pendleton were back in the ocean with AAVs this week. (Brendan Mullin/U.S. Marine Corps)

WASHINGTON  Marine Corps and Navy officials told House lawmakers on Monday that they are looking at ways to create a culture of safety following the sinking of an assault amphibious vehicle that killed nine service members last year.

The sinking of this AAV and the deaths of eight Marines and one sailor were preventable. Preventable in so many ways. But we failed, Gen. Gary Thomas, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told members of a subpanel of the House Armed Services Committee.

A confluence of human and mechanical failures caused the sinking of the AAV off the coast of California in July, according to a nearly 2,000-page internal investigation released in March that found the deadly training accident was preventable.

The units vehicles were in horrible condition and 12 out of 13 were inoperable, though they should have been ready for land and water operations, the investigation concluded.

Thomas and other military officials spoke at the hearing about lessons learned after the investigation, how to lower the risk of preventable accidents and build a culture of safety within the Marine Corps and Navy.

If we can, with our education system, our reporting systems create an environment where people are comfortable, I think we'll make a lot of headway towards the safety culture that we need, he said.

That includes looking at how to instill in leaders the importance of conducting oversight, identifying risk, stopping operations and rewarding hazard reporting.

The nine service members, part of Battalion Landing Team 1/4 of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, drowned as their AAV sunk during a training exercise ahead of a deployment.

The AAV was traveling back to the USS Somerset when the vehicle began to take on water. The investigation found there were no proper safety boats on the water. It also found the accident was caused by a sequence of mechanical failures, a communications breakdown inside the AAV, and a lapse in training.

Eleven Marine Corps members in the chain of command have been disciplined so far for their roles in the accident. Review boards are still considering whether a majority of them should be separated from the service, Thomas said. Some have had lesser discipline taken against them, he said.

Last month, Thomas also directed Lt. Gen. Carl Mundy III to lead a new investigation into the forming of the Marine Expeditionary Unit, including training and readiness oversight. It was unclear Monday what led to the latest probe.

He said all Marines must be empowered to assess risk and speak up when they see something unsafe. Commanders must also foster a climate that rewards hazard reporting to improve the overall safety culture of the service.

Historically, the Marine Corps has a culture of instinctively relieving everyone after a mishap or a disaster, without parsing individual command responsibilities. ... Clearly there was some oversight there that should have happened, whether in regards to [coronavirus] training timelines or basic oversight of this AAV battalion, said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., a Marine Corps veteran who served four tours in Iraq.

The investigation found some leaders properly reported on training and material deficiencies, but these reports either were ignored or the leaders were punished for escalating concerns up the chain of command.

The Marine Corps made a series of recommendations as a result of the accident once the investigation was released in March that include reviewing the effectiveness of life preservers, underwater egress training, and the employment of safety boats during waterborne operations.

In coordination with the Navy, the recommendations include a review of standard operating procedures for AAV operations and the amphibious combat vehicle program to ensure lessons learned from AAV accidents are incorporated into training and operations.

Rep. John Garamendi, the chairman of the readiness subpanel of House Armed Services Committee, criticized the Marine Corps recommendations, citing the lack of a path for service members to blow the whistle and call time-out.

He said 137 Marines have died in various accidents during the last decade, and 60 members within the last five years.

Clearly, [pausing the exercise] could and should have happened in this tragedy, but it didnt, Garamendi said.

To encourage that action, Thomas said the Marine Corps is looking to add additional safety specialists to ensure exercises are safe and establish more adequate safety protocols.

In all the exercises that we do across the Marine Corps every day, every exercise at some point, Marines are standing up and closing operations, and that's exactly what we need to do in this case, which is where we failed, he said.

The Navy, including a panel of 16 subject-matter experts within and outside both services, is conducting a separate investigation into the incident. It will provide findings on planning, Navy and Marine Corps integration, and training and operational safety.

That investigation is expected within 30 days, said Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, commander of Naval Surface Forces. The Navy has not resumed waterborne AAV operations since a safety pause after the accident.

The probe also will examine what actions and decisions Navy personnel made that day that could have contributed to the accident, and what policies and practices are required or that must be improved, among other items.

I am working deliberately and urgently with my Marine Corps counterpart to look across the full range of Navy, Marine Corps integrated operations to ensure that our operating procedures are aligned, including a joint policy on the use of safety boats and clear lines of authorities during training evolutions, Kitchener said.

A subsequent investigation into AAVs directly after the accident found the majority of the vehicles failed inspection and should not be in use. The mechanics who had been inspecting the vehicles returned them, up to code for land operations, but not waterborne operations.

We had a problem across the fleet with our watertight integrity. Some 54% of the vehicles that were inspected had failures in the watertight integrity of their plenum doors, thats the large intakes of the front, to permit air to come in and out of an engine that's underwater, said Maj. Gen. Gregg P. Olson, staff director of the Marine Corps.

Olson said they have upgraded manuals and instructions to ensure the vehicles are inspected to the highest level of detail necessary to determine discrepancies in whether the vehicle is safe for both types of operations.

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., asked Thomas what the process is for ensuring changes and recommendations issued as a result of the investigation are incorporated in the service policy and doctrine.

Thomas said an oversight panel, led by a flag officer, is looking at the recommendations and those individuals are leading briefings on the progress that has been made until the action is complete. Part of that also includes providing an action plan to Congress.

Garamendi said the House subcommittee intends to hold another hearing to follow up in about six months to make certain the recommendations have been implemented.

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U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Robert F. Castellvi speaks during a change of command ceremony held at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Sept. 22, 2020. Castellvi, who oversaw the ground combat unit that was involved in the deadly sinking of an amphibious assault vehicle last year, will not return to his position after Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger suspended him May 3 amid an investigation. (Jailine AliceaSantiago/U.S. Marine Corps)

WASHINGTON  The Marine Corps has fired its inspector general in connection with an assault amphibious vehicle accident last year in which nine service members died, the service announced Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. Robert Castellvi will not return to his position after Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger suspended him May 3 amid an investigation into the formation of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which now oversees the AAV platoon that suffered the accident, the service said in a statement.

At the time of the accident, Castellvi served as commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, which was in charge of the AAV platoon in the training accident that killed eight Marines and one sailor about 70 miles off Californias southern coast.

The commandant took adverse administration action against him, the Corps said in its statement. The commandant personally and formally counseled him for his failure to properly train the Marines and sailors for whom he was entrusted and for the inadequate evaluation of the AAV platoon before it was attached to the 15th MEU.

An investigation published March 25 found maintenance procedures on the AAV were disregarded and troops were not properly trained in evacuation and safety procedures.

Contributing factors included lack of training, the material condition of the AAVs assigned to 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, lack of safety boats in the water, a higher-than-anticipated sea state, and insufficient buoyancy provided by personal flotation devices at depth, the service said in a March statement announcing the findings.

The investigation also determined Castellvi bears some responsibility in the accident, according to a Wednesday report by The Associated Press.

His removal comes after some family members of the troops who died in the sinking questioned why no generals were punished in the accident, according to the AP.

Castellvis punishment did not include a reduction in rank, but his removal as inspector general will remain part of his permanent record and must be considered if he is evaluated for promotion, retention, or roles of responsibility, according to the services Wednesday statement.

This action typically prevents an officer from being promoted or serving in a role where he/she would be charged with the responsibility of caring for Marines and sailors, the Marine Corps said.

The investigation into the 15th MEU remains underway, and will be released once completed, the service said.

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., in a statement Wednesday called the firing an important step toward ensur(ing) that dangerous training required to prepare our service members for combat is done as safely as possible.

It is my view that [Castellvis] failures in ensuring the Marines under his charge were adequately trained prior to joining the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit were a direct and contributing factor to the tragic loss of eight Marines and one Navy corpsman last July, said Garamendi, who serves as chairman of the House Armed Services Committees subpanel on readiness.

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Marines from Company B, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion train in an assault amphibious vehicle at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, June 2, 2021. (Diana Jimenez/U.S. Marine Corps)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa  The Marine Corps has resumed waterborne assault amphibious vehicle operations on Okinawa, nearly a year after nine service members died while training in one of the vehicles off the California coast.

A demanding training began last week and was completed Tuesday by Marines from Company B, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion following a thorough review of safety, maintenance and operating processes and procedures, a III Marine Expeditionary Force statement said.

The maneuvers were conducted in compliance with updated policies and procedures following the fatal accident on July 30, 2020, according to the statement.

The incident took the lives of eight Marines and one sailor from Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/4 of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The Marine Corps called it the deadliest AAV training accident in its history.

III MEF heralded the return of an important capability, its statement said. Everything possible is being done to ensure safety.

We completed a rigorous review to ensure we can operate our [amphibious assault vehicles] safely, protect our Marines and Sailors, and complete our mission responsibly, the III MEF commander, Lt. Gen. H. Stacy Clardy, said in the statement. We will continue to mitigate risk while employing a ready and capable force to deter aggression and respond to crisis in the region in support of our nations interests and our allies and partners.

The AAV now in use was first fielded in 1983 to ferry Marines from ship to shore for both combat and humanitarian operations, according to the Marine Corps. It resembles an armored tank that can traverse both land and sea. It was designed to carry 21 combat-equipped troops and a crew of three at a maximum speed of 8 mph at sea. The 26-ton vehicles are much faster on land at a maximum of 45 mph.

The vehicles have been at the heart of Marine operations in the Pacific in recent years, often seen during exercises plunging into the surf off the back of one of the Navys amphibious assault ships and heading toward shore for a beach raid.

Marines from Company B, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion train in assault amphibious vehicles at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, June 2, 2021. (Diana Jimenez/U.S. Marine Corps)

The platform came under intense scrutiny after last years accident, about 70 miles off California's southern coast. The AAV began taking on water while returning to the USS Somerset.

After the incident, waterborne use of the vehicles was suspended by Commandant Gen. David Berger while a review of equipment, procedures and training was conducted. The AAVs were inspected to ensure watertightness, bilge pump function and emergency lighting.

An investigation found proper maintenance had been disregarded, Marines had not been properly trained and leadership had failed to evacuate personnel in a timely manner. The Corps also determined there was a lack of safety boats in the water that day, high waves and deficient personal flotation devices.

Commanders of the I Marine Expeditionary Force in California and III MEF on Okinawa were directed to review safety practices and procedures and ensure commanders were directly responsible for safety. They were also ordered to improve training for exiting AAVs in an emergency and communications between vehicles during a mishap.

The service told a subpanel of the House Armed Services Committee last month that 11 Marine leaders had been disciplined so far for their roles in the sinking.

Maj. Gen. Robert Castellvi, who commanded the 1st Marine Division at the time of the sinking, was fired Wednesday from his position as Marine Corps inspector general after it was determined he was at least partially responsible.

Review boards are still considering separation for some of the disciplined Marine officials, Gen. Gary Thomas, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, said at the May 3 hearing.

The service is in the process of replacing its fleet of AAVs with the next-generation amphibious combat vehicle by BAE Systems after abandoning plans to modernize the AAV fleet.

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WASHINGTON  House and Senate lawmakers voiced concern Thursday over the acting Navy secretarys move to cancel the services nuclear sea-launched cruise missile in fiscal 2023 as top defense leaders said they had not been briefed on the decision.

I think were all shocked to have heard the news of the acting secretary of the Navy appearing to take action to zero out the sea-launched cruise missile. This is something that is incredibly important, said Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee subpanel on strategic forces.

We know that the Nuclear Posture Review isnt underway, and yet we have the first steps toward actions that would be unilateral disarmament, Turner said during the committees hearing to review the fiscal 2022 budget proposal for nuclear forces.

Multiple media outlets reported this week that acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker directed the service in a June 4 memo to defund [the] sea-launched cruise missile.

The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review  an examination of U.S. nuclear policy that occurs when a new administration takes office  supported pursuing this type of missile. The strategy under former President Donald Trumps administration called for expanding the role and capability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

The Defense Departments Melissa Dalton testified Thursday that the review by President Joe Bidens administration is on the cusp of commencing. Biden has said he wants to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons.

The sole purpose of the U.S. nuclear arsenal should be deterring  and if necessary, retaliating against  a nuclear attack, Bidens campaign said in an online statement before the presidents election.

In a Senate Armed Services Committee budget hearing Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they had not been briefed on the memo about the sea-launched cruise missile.

At the House hearing, Turner asked whether Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, the Navys director of strategic systems programs, had been consulted about the missile.

I was not privy to it before it was actually signed. But my understanding is, for the [Navy secretary] it was part of a deliberate process to start the dialogue for building the next [Program Objective Memorandum] ... in starting that dialogue he does point out that it is not a decision, Wolfe testified.

Its a hell of a way to start a dialogue, to call for the canceling, Turner replied.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., called out Harker for going rogue.

I dont say that lightly. It appears to me that hes gone rogue, because the people above him and the people below him are denying any knowledge of this decision and seem to be disavowing the decision, Lamborn said.

Wolfe said the sea-launched cruise missile does have value.

It causes yet another calculus thought that the adversary has to have before they think that we would have to use something bigger than a sea-launched cruise missile. So, it does provide many options to continue this deterrent thought process, he said.

At the Senate hearing, Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said she was very concerned about Harkers move to cancel the missile, especially as the Pentagons fiscal 2022 budget proposal includes $5 million to continue to study the weapon.

Austin testified all the services are making tough choices in terms of what to prioritize.

I dont feel comfortable in commenting on his memo, he said. I would just say that again, I am committed to a posture review to make sure that we adequately analyze what our capabilities are.

Milley said he was not familiar with the memo, and nor was I consulted, but as soon as were done here, Ill go find that memo, and get consulted.

I dont think this is the right way to make decision about nuclear policy, Fischer said.

Austin said the final decision will be made as a result of the posture review after further analysis. The Defense Department said the review will start soon and conclude after several months.

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(U.S. Navy)
President Biden boards Marine One in Washington, D.C. on June 2. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg)

President Joe Biden's first overseas trip as president will focus on bolstering the availability of Western coronavirus vaccines abroad  a bid to both counter China and calm tensions with allies who've been at odds with the U.S. over its hoarding of shots and intellectual property rights.

Biden departs Wednesday for the Group of Seven summit in the U.K., leaving the U.S., where the pandemic is receding, to discuss how the world's richest democracies can help the rest of the world snuff out the virus. Both Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson aim to rally the G-7 behind a plan to make more shots available to low-income countries.

Biden and Johnson will meet for the first time on Thursday, before the G-7.

The summit will be a show of unity after the group's members spent much of the year at odds over vaccines. Biden riled Europe by continuing Trump-era policies that directed almost all early U.S. vaccine production into American arms, and by throwing his support behind a push from lower-income countries to waive certain patent protections for the shots.

While the G-7 countries are sure to agree on the need for more shots, the specifics of what they'll propose or how it will be funded remains unclear. Johnson has called for a goal of vaccinating the world by the end of 2022, while Biden has said the U.S. would be an "arsenal" of vaccines for the rest of the globe but has so far committed just 25 million doses of the American government's stockpile.

"The U.S. is headed into the G-7 in a position of strength," Jeff Zients, Biden's COVID-19 response coordinator, said in a statement. About 47% of the U.S. population is vaccinated, according to the Bloomberg COVID-19 Tracker, and cases are falling while the economy is recovering.

"The president will use this momentum to rally the world's democracies around solving this crisis globally, with America leading the way to create the arsenal of vaccines that will be critical in our global fight against COVID-19," Zients said.

Biden aides have previewed his European trip as focused on "three C's"  COVID-19, China and climate change. After the G-7, Biden will attend NATO and European Union summits in Brussels before meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.

At the G-7, "he will join with his fellow leaders to lay out a plan to end the COVID-19 pandemic with further specific commitments toward that end," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday.

Vaccine makers have already pledged to make more than a billion doses available this year to low- and middle-income countries. But wealthy nations gobbled up early supplies, and it's not yet clear how doses will be distributed going forward.

Some countries are receiving doses through Covax, a World Health Organization initiative that relies in part on donations, while others have ordered directly from manufacturers or are receiving shipments from the U.S. or other wealthy nations.

"I would like to see the largest contribution we can out of the G-7, because I think the doses are going to be available," said Thomas Bollyky, director of the Global Health Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. "The big issue is really going to be the allocation  where do these doses go?"

Vaccine access has been a thorny issue for Biden, who carried on facets of President Donald Trump's "America First" approach to combating the pandemic while also pledging to re-establish the U.S. as a leader on the global stage. Trump and Biden both used wartime powers that gave priority to U.S. government orders for shots, meaning that the first hundreds of millions of doses made on U.S. soil went to Americans.

But the U.S. has also backed efforts at the World Trade Organization to waive intellectual property protections for vaccines, a proposal from lower-income countries in order to make it cheaper for them to manufacture shots themselves.

The waiver is opposed by European leaders, who urged Biden to instead share doses immediately from his country's own stockpile to help satisfy global demand.

Discussion over the waiver looks poised to languish at the consensus-based WTO.

"It's going nowhere, which is of course what the Europeans wanted  and, if you wanted to be cynical, maybe the Biden administration knew that was going to happen from the beginning," said Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

That has relegated the simmering issue to a "footnote" in international talks, which instead will focus on how to steer a coming wave of production and who should pay for it, he added.

"In some ways, the road map in terms of production capacity is clear  there's going to be a lot of production capacity in a few months that's ready to supply the world, because both the U.S. and Europe will be done by then," he said. "How do you get out of that situation, where essentially the rich are vaccinated but the rest are not?"

Biden has said that the world's democracies should lead a push to boost supply and to share it on the basis of need, while criticizing China and Russia for a transactional brand of vaccine diplomacy.

Only recently have U.S.-made vaccines begun leaving the country. Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. have begun directly exporting U.S.-made doses, in addition to Biden's announcement that the U.S. government would donate a first tranche of 25 million shots to an assortment of allies and lower-income countries.

Biden has pledged to donate a total of 80 million doses before the end of the month, though that depends on the availability of AstraZeneca Plc shots, manufactured in the U.S. but not approved for use in the country, that are undergoing a safety review.

And Biden has only begun donating U.S. shots as domestic demand plunged: The country's daily vaccination rate has fallen by two-thirds since mid-April.
USS Carter Hall sailors haul on a mooring line during a port visit in Aqaba, Jordan. Carter Hall is part of the Norfolk-based Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group. (Seaman Sawyer Connally/U.S. Navy)

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (Tribune News Service)  More than 100 days at sea without a single COVID-19 case, the sailors and Marines of the Virginia-based Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group arent letting their care to keep the pandemic at bay get in their way.

Working alongside the Norwegian, British and French navies, the ships and aircraft at the group have landed Marines on Norways military training grounds, after figuring out how to minimize contact with allied troops and civilians who may not have been vaccinated.

Operating closer inshore than normal, using the shelter of Norwegian fjords to shield the groups USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio and USS Carter Hall from the worst of the wild waters of the North Sea, the groups ships hosted Norwegian officers to help them understand that nations rules for operating in its airspace and seas. Sailors from the Greek Navy have been on the flight deck of the Carter Hall, to support their pilots operating off the ship.

We work on interoperability, and were building trust with our friends, said Capt. Darren Nelson, the Iwo Jima groups commodore.

Last year, Navy ships operating with allies usually had to do that trust-building and coordination remotely; this year, theres been a chance to work side-by-side.

Of the 4,300 men and women of the group, more than 94% voluntarily lined up to be vaccinated as they headed east from Norfolk, Virginia, in February. At sea, theyve been following the guidelines set in Hampton Roads and by the Sixth Fleet, which itself has seen no COVID-19 among the sailors and Marines of U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa.

While the group has made port visits in Europe and hosted visitors, it has maintained a COVID-19-free bubble, said Capt. William Wallace, officer in charge of Fleet Surgical Team Six, which embarked with the groups sailors and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

In those events we might have seen someone contract COVID-19 yet with our thorough mitigation efforts we were able to protect our most vital asset, sailors and Marines, he said.

For the Iwo Jima group, being COVID-19-free has meant some restrictions have eased  on the groups way to the Middle East, sailors and Marines had a chance to go ashore to see the sights and enjoy some beach time on the Greek island of Crete, keeping in small groups and maintaining social distancing.

Crete is really something to see, Nelson said.

Before stopping in Crete, meanwhile, the groups fighters played the role of enemy aircraft to help the Royal Navys new carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, certify its crew as ready to deploy.

The group was among the 19 ships from 11 nations that participated in the first part of NATOs big Steadfast Defender exercise off the the coast of Portugal May 30, an exercise led by Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, commander of NATOs new Joint Force Command Norfolk and the U.S. Second Fleet.

The Steadfast Defender work focused on the challenges of trans-Atlantic military reinforcements, particularly when near European shores where air and sea attacks could be most intense. The Queen Elizabeth, fresh from defending against the Iwo Jima groups mock attacks, drilled on attacking, while the other NATO ships practiced defense.

After transiting the Suez Canal earlier this month, the group now faces yet another different pandemic situation. Nelson is hoping it may mean still more chances to get off the ships and the piers they moor on when making port calls.

But it still means making decisions step-by-step.

We think about this every day, it takes a lot of work, Nelson said .Dealing with COVID is part of our mission.

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Buy Photo Taszar Air Base, Hungary, Jan.uary, 1996: Taszar's tent city is the staging area for nearly all the 20,000 troops deploying to and returning from Bosnia. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)

(This story was published on January 7, 1996.)

TASZAR AIR BASE, Hungary  The massive tent city that serves as a temporary home for most of the U.S. troops on their way to Bosnia is nearly complete.

Newly arriving personnel can't believe the comforts to which they are treated:

 Tents have cots, wooden floors, electricity and heat.

 Showers are abundant and have hot water.

 Deluxe toilet stations  which recently replaced stand-alone portable toilets  have heat and lighting and can serve as many as 20 people at a time.

 The dining facility is a large "fest tent" with ample tables and chairs, and is dishing out about 3,500 tray pack rations; or T-rations. per meal.

In addition, soldiers have satellite television in the dining facility. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service is working to open a small exchange soon. And a number of telephones with commercial and DSN capabilities have been installed for soldiers.

"The quality of life is coming together real well," said Army Capt. Mark Dardcn, a spokesman for the U.S. National Support Element based at Taszar AB. "The conditions at the Life Support Area (tent city) are better than at Grafenwoehr (training area in Germany)."

Such was not the case a week ago.

And the tent city was nowhere near completion when thousands of troops descended upon the base in mid-December as the Army made a dash for the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Troops arrived to an incomplete staging area that often provided no place to sleep, little heat and terrible living conditions. Then, flooding of the Sava River delayed the building of the bridge that would carry the troops into Bosnia.

For those troops left waiting in camps poorly equipped to handle the influx, it seemed things were done haphazardly.

"Everything was chaotic," said a civilian Defense Department employee on a team monitoring the Army contractor responsible for building the tent city.

"Brown and Root (the Houston-based contractor) got the word to build the tent city (at Taszar) on December 10," he said, "They were supposed to have two weeks to get it all built and ready for the troops, but the first troops arrived three days later."

He added that the plan was to have all the tent cities at the Army's various staging areas between Hungary and Bosnia built before any troops arrived. But he speculated that the Army was anxious to get its troops into Bosnia soon after the Dayton, Ohio, peace accord, before any of the warring parties in Bosnia changed their minds.

And that left no time to get the tent cities completed,

Navy Seabees rapidly constructed a tent city at Zupanja, Croatia. Some 2,500 troops from the Army's 1st Armd Div had been stalled there by delays in crossing the Sava River.

Mike Page, liaison between Brown and Root and U.S. Army Europe headquarters forward, said he couldn't imagine the contractor building a camp in Zupanja under those conditions.

"The Seabees were forced to make soup and salad out of chicken crap," Page said.

Now, with the Taszar tent city completed, Brown and Root will be working its way south, where company employees will maintain and manage the tent city the Seabees built, as well as other tent cities.

Now, too, things are moving more steadily at the staging areas leading into Bosnia. The U.S. military population in Taszar is nearing 7,000. About 3,300 of those troops are part of the permanent force.

Each day, the number of people living in the tent city fluctuates as convoys leave for Bosnia and fresh batches of soldiers arrive by the busloads.

In addition, 12 to 25 aircraft  with equipment, food, vehicles and personnel  land each day at Taszar. Trainloads of military vehicles and equipment continuously arrive as well.

From early morning until late at night, crews unload planes and trains and prepare the armored vehicles for transit into Croatia and then Bosnia.

When the work finally is done, soldiers get a chance to return to their tent cities.

There, to maintain "unit integrity and cohesiveness," the Army is having all soldiers of a particular unit  both male and female  share the same tent. The larger units with hundreds of soldiers stay in the huge fest tents.

Pfc. Laura Martinez of Vilseck, Germany, said sleeping in the same area as male soldiers was nothing new.

"We did the same thing when we went out on field training exercises back in Germany," she said, "You get used to it. The guys will leave and give you privacy when you need it. The girls do the same for them. Everybody keeps their clothes on."

Martinez said they were told men and women will get separate tents once they get "down range" in Bosnia.
Buy Photo A medical worker with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force injects a patient with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during a mass shot clinic in Otemachi, Tokyo, Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa  The U.S. military will start inoculating Japanese base workers interested in receiving either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, U.S. Forces Japan announced in a joint statement with the Japanese government on Thursday.

Details, such as when the vaccinations would begin or how they would be rolled out, were not included in the release. USFJ did not respond to requests seeking further information on Thursday afternoon.

The inoculations will be performed in close coordination with Japans own vaccination efforts, which are ramping up ahead of the Tokyo Olympics on July 23. Japanese base workers will not be treated adversely if they choose not to receive a vaccine, the statement added.

Vaccinating local employees will contribute to the prevention of further spread of COVID-19 in Japan and will protect the resilience of the Alliance, the joint statement said. The vaccinations will also ensure steady operations of USFJ, further enabling the USG to meet its Treaty obligations to the security of Japan.

The U.S. military in Japan has administered tens of thousands of vaccines to American troops, personnel and their families since December.

Though Japan has lagged other developed nations in vaccinating its population, COVID-19 cases have been on the decline in recent weeks after a surge in April and May.

Japan reported 1,699 new coronavirus cases as of 7 p.m. Thursday, 1,362 fewer than the same day last week, according to public broadcaster NHK and the World Health Organization. There were also 59 deaths reported.

Buy Photo People wait for 15 minutes after receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during a shot clinic hosted by the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force in Otemachi, Tokyo, Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

The government has counted 765,000 COVID-19 cases during the pandemic and more than 13,500 deaths, the WHO said.

Tokyo on Thursday reported another 439 coronavirus infections and six deaths, according to NHK, citing metropolitan government data. Thats 69 fewer infections than the same day last week.

Osaka prefecture, the nations second-largest metro area, reported 148 new cases Thursday and 17 deaths, NHK said.

Okinawa prefecture, now experiencing its worst phase of the pandemic, reported another 166 new infections Thursday, according to NHK. The number of new infections is 78 fewer than the same day last week.

New military cases in Japan, South Korea

U.S. military bases in Japan and South Korea had reported 14 new COVID-19 infections  two at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa and a dozen on the Korean peninsula  as of 7 p.m. Thursday.

Kadenas new patients tested positive for the coronavirus respiratory disease on Wednesday, according to a base Facebook post that evening. One self-isolated after coming down with COVID-19 symptoms. The other tested positive before traveling to the United States. Contact tracing is ongoing for both cases.

U.S. Forces Korea had 12 service members test positive for the coronavirus respiratory disease between May 16 and Thursday, according to statements by the command.

Nine of the new patients arrived at Incheon International Airport on commercial flights between May 22 and Sunday, one of the statements said. Two landed at Osan Air Base on the Patriot Express, a government charter flight, on May 30 and Sunday.

The remaining new patient, a service member at Camp Humphreys, tested positive after developing COVID-19 symptoms on Wednesday, according to a separate statement.

All of the newly infected individuals were taken to isolation or quarantine facilities, according to USFK. Contract tracing for the Humphreys case is ongoing.

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Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden with first lady Jill Biden walk outside Carbis Bay Hotel, Carbis Bay, Cornwall, Britain, ahead of the G7 summit, Thursday June 10, 2021. (Toby Melville, Pool /AP)

CARBIS BAY, England  Striking a warm tone, President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson used their first meeting Thursday to highlight a commitment to strengthening their nations' historic ties while setting aside, at least publicly, their political and personal differences.

Beginning a week of diplomacy across the Atlantic, Biden hopes to use his first overseas trip as president to reassure European allies that the United States had shed the transactional tendencies of Donald Trump's term and is a reliable partner again. Long a believer in alliances, Biden stressed the deep bonds with the United Kingdom as a lynchpin of his call for Western democracies to compete against rising authoritarian states.

"We affirmed the special relationship -- it's not said lightly -- the special relationship between our people," Bide said after the meeting. "We renewed our pledge to defend the enduring democratic values that both of our nations share that are the strong foundation of our partnership."

Though thorny issues like Brexit and the future of Northern Ireland shadowed the meeting, Biden and Johnson began their sit-down by immediately striking a tone of conviviality as the news media watched.

"I told the prime minister we have something in common. We both married way above our station," Biden joked after a highly choreographed walk with their spouses.

Johnson laughed and said he was "not going to dissent from that one." But then he seemed to hint that he would be looking to only improve relations with his American counterpart.

"I'm not going to disagree with you on that," said Johnson, "or indeed on anything else."

But there are areas of friction. The president staunchly opposed Brexit, Britain's exit from the European Union that Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern over the future of Northern Ireland. Biden once called Johnson a "physical and emotional clone" of Trump.

The British government has worked hard to overcome that impression, stressing Johnson's common ground with Biden on climate change, support for international institutions and other issues. But Johnson, host for the Group of Seven summit opening Friday, has been frustrated by the lack of a new trade deal with the United States.

Johnson on Thursday, however, described the new U.S. administration as "a breath of fresh air."

Speaking after his first face-to-face meeting with Biden, Johnson said "it was a long, long huge session. We covered a good range of topics." He added that protecting the Northern Ireland peace agreement was "absolutely common ground" among Britain, the U.S. and the EU.

Before their formal discussions, the two men looked back on illustrious wartime predecessors, inspecting documents related to the Atlantic Charter. The declaration signed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt in August 1941 set out common goals for the post-World War II world, including freer trade, disarmament and the right to self-determination of all people.

Reaffirming their nations' longstanding ties, the two men authorized an updated version of the charter, one that looks to the challenge posed by countries like China and Russia with its promises to promote free trade, human rights and a rules-based international order, and to counter "those who seek to undermine our alliances and institutions."

The new charter also took aim at "interference through disinformation" in elections and murky economic practices, charges that the West has levelled at Beijing and Moscow. The leaders also promised to build stronger global defenses against health threats on the eve of a summit where discussion of the coronavirus pandemic is expected to take center stage.

The leaders had planned to visit the spectacular island of St. Michael's Mount but the trip was scrapped because of bad weather. Instead, they met above the beach at the G-7 site in Carbis Bay, staring out at the ocean while trading pleasantries.

Both couples  Johnson is newly married  held hands as they walked. First lady Jill Biden's black jacket had "LOVE" embroidered on the upper back  a fashion move that recalled her predecessor Melania Trump's decision to wear a jacket with "I Really Don't Care, Do U?" written on the back during a 2018 trip to a Texas border town.

The leaders also announced a new U.S.-U.K. task force to work on resuming travel between their countries. Most such travel has been banned since March 2020.

Both sides have stressed publicly that the meeting would be about strengthening ties between longtime allies in a week in which Biden will look to rally the West to rebuff Russian meddling and publicly demonstrate it can compete economically with China.

Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish roots, has warned that nothing should undermine Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday peace accord. Some on the British side have viewed Biden warily because of his heritage. White House officials have said the United States does not plan to be involved in the negotiations.

After Brexit, a new arrangement was needed for the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, because the European Union requires certain goods to be inspected and others not to be admitted at all. Ahead of a June 30 deadline, ongoing negotiations over goods  including sausages  have been contentious and have attracted the attention of the White House.

One-on-one talks between Biden and Johnson lasted about 10 minutes before advisers joined for a larger meeting that lasted about an hour, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. The leaders also discussed climate change, the pandemic, creating an infrastructure financing program for developing countries and Afghanistan, and launch a bilateral commission to research and defeat cancer.

But Trump's presence was still felt on Thursday. Johnson and Trump, for a time, appeared to be kindred spirits, both riding a wave of populism that in 2016 delivered Brexit and upended the American political landscape.

Biden, for his part, has expressed a mistrust of Johnson, who once unspooled a Trump-like insult of President Barack Obama, saying that Biden's former boss was "half-Kenyan" and had an ancestral dislike of Britain.

Since World War II, the trans-Atlantic "special relationship" has been sustained by a common language, shared interests, military cooperation and cultural affection.

Brexit has tested those bonds. But Biden has made clear that he intends to rebuild bridges with the EU, a frequent target of Trump's ire. That suggests Berlin, Brussels and Paris, rather than London, will be uppermost in his thoughts.

Britain hoped to secure a quick trade agreement with the U.S. after its official departure from the EU in January. The change in administration in Washington leaves prospects of a deal uncertain.

And there may be one more, though admittedly small, obstacle to nurturing the "special relationship"  the very phrase itself.

Johnson has said he did not appreciate "special relationship," used by the U.S. president, because to the prime minister it seemed needy and weak. Johnson's spokesperson said this week: "The prime minister is on the record previously saying he prefers not to use the phrase, but that in no way detracts from the importance with which we regard our relationship with the U.S., our closest ally."

___

Lawless reported from London. Madhani reported from Mildenhall, England. Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Baltimore and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
This week, the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan will convene in England for the annual Group of 7 summit, a gathering of the worlds most powerful economies.

Here are some of the key issues that are likely to be at the forefront of their discussions.

Vaccine sharing and the coronavirus recovery

With G-7 nations on track on finish administering coronavirus vaccines to their adult populations in the coming months, pressure to share doses with developing nations is mounting. More than 100 former world leaders have urged the G-7 to cover two-thirds of the estimated $66 billion that it will cost to vaccinate low-income countries. A celebrity-backed appeal from UNICEF, meanwhile, asks the G-7 nations to donate 20% of their vaccine supplies by August.

Discussions are also likely to center on how to ensure that world economies bounce back from the pandemic, and what that recovery should look like. A report requested by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month concluded that the G-7 had a unique opportunity to rebuild by funding a transition to climate-friendly energy sources, and called for $10 trillion in investments.

Climate change

The looming crisis posed by climate change is expected to be one of the summits major themes. Although all the leaders in attendance have acknowledged the problem, they will face pressure to announce concrete policies designed to tackle it head-on. According to the Times, Johnson intends to press leaders to sign onto a climate Marshall Plan that would fund renewable energy projects in developing nations in Africa and Asia.

Australia, the only G-7 nation that has not pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, will probably be urged to do so, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Trade and taxing corporations

Ahead of the summit, G-7 nations reached a historic deal to set a minimum global corporate tax rate, aimed at ending the race to the bottom, in which companies move overseas to reduce their tax obligations. That agreement is only the first step, however: The Group of 20 and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development still have to sign off on the deal, and the process of rewriting international tax laws is expected to be long and complicated.

In the meantime, questions about the logistics of the arrangement have emerged, such as how leaders can guarantee that it will be approved and enforced by every country. Theres also some debate about whether the 15% minimum tax rate is high enough.

Last month, trade representatives from the G-7 countries signed a communique committing to free and fair trade as foundational principles and objectives of the rules-based multilateral trading system. Not everyone, however, agrees on how to get there.

President Joe Biden is expected to focus in part on preventing China from using trade relations to punish its critics. Johnsons team has called for changing World Trade Organization regulations, with actors such as China in mind.

The Northern Ireland Protocol  a sensitive part of Britains withdrawal from the European Union  will also probably top the trade agenda, as Biden and European leaders are expected to pressure Johnson not to renege on the pact.

Brexit

With the summit being held in Britain, the issues surrounding the countrys protracted exit from the European Union will be on full display. British newspapers reported Thursday that the Biden administration had issued a demarche  a formal diplomatic message  warning that the British government is imperiling the Northern Ireland peace process over Brexit.

Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, told the BBC this week that our concern runs very deep on the Northern Ireland issue but did not link it to a proposed free trade agreement between Britain and the United States.

Tensions between Britain and E.U. member states also remain high, with Europeans starting legal action over alleged breaches of a long-delayed exit deal. One dispute has been dubbed the Sausage War, with Britain accused of delays in the enforcement of promised controls and inspections of goods passing between Britain and Northern Ireland across the Irish Sea.

Russia and Belarus

Biden has made it clear that he views the solidarity against autocratic nations one of his key aims of the summit - and notably, immediately after the gathering he will join Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva for their first in-person meeting as world leaders.

In an op-ed published before his trip, Biden wrote at length about his meeting with the Russian leader, noting that Western countries will be standing united to address Russias challenges to European security, starting with its aggression in Ukraine.

Also at stake will be Putins ongoing support for Belarusian autocrat Alexander Lukashenko, who has refused to relinquish power despite mass protests following a disputed election last year, instead turning his states security forces on critics and activists.

Further sanctions on Belarus are expected to be debated at the summit. British government officials said last month that the G-7 would discuss Belaruss reckless and dangerous behavior but would not agree to a request by France to invite opposition figures to the event.

Rebuilding international ties in the post-Trump era

Bidens flight to Cornwall marked his first overseas trip as U.S. head of state  and the first face-to-face gathering of world leaders since Donald Trumps presidency.

On the agenda for Biden will be mending and strengthening ties with U.S. allies following four years of Trumps isolationist America First approach.

Were going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and the issues that matter most to our future, Biden said Wednesday after landing in Britain.

Our alliances werent built by coercion or maintained by threats. Theyre grounded in democratic ideals, a shared vision of the future, where every voice matters, he said.

Biden has taken a far more adversarial stance than Trump against Putin. On Thursday, he warned Russia that there would be robust and meaningful repercussions if it engages in harmful activities.

Bidens rhetoric has also centered on strengthening democratic institutions and combating autocracies, which Trump at times praised.

We have to expose as false the narrative that the decrees of dictators can match the speed and scale of current challenges, Biden said Wednesday. You and I know they are wrong. But it doesnt mean that we dont have to work harder than ever to prove that democracy can still deliver for our people.
A group of lawmakers and advocates is calling on the Biden administration to evacuate Afghans who aided the U.S. and who are waiting for immigration visa processing to Guam, a U.S. territory. (Wikimedia Commons)

KABUL, Afghanistan  The U.S. should evacuate thousands of interpreters and others who aided the U.S. military and government to the Pacific territory of Guam while they await decisions on their immigration visas, advocates and lawmakers said.

Worsening security in Afghanistan as U.S. troops withdraw has led to fears that those who worked with foreign forces may be left vulnerable to Taliban retribution.

We must evacuate our Afghan friends and allies immediately, said a letter sent to President Joe Biden last week by the bipartisan Honoring Our Promises Working Group, which includes 21 House lawmakers led by veteran Reps. Seth Moulton and Jason Crow.

Mohammad Nadir, center, poses with Marines in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in 2017. Nadir served as an interpreter for nearly three years before applying for a U.S. Special Immigrant Visa. Nadir later enlisted in the Marine Corps. (U.S. Marine Corps)

We also recommend that the Presidents Interagency Task Force specifically consider the option of using Guam as a temporary evacuation site before moving our friends and allies to more permanent locations within the continental United States, the letter said.

More than 18,000 applicants have applied for the Special Immigrant Visa, which allows those facing threats after aiding the U.S. to immigrate with their families.

The vetting process for each SIV applicant could take far longer than the 90 or fewer days left until the U.S. withdraws all forces from Afghanistan. Moving families to Guam would allow them to be screened and processed for asylum in safety, the letter said.

Guam has hosted evacuees from Americas wars before. After the fall of Saigon, the U.S. used Guam as a staging area to sort approximately 130,000 Vietnam War refugees, prior to moving them to mainland U.S. military bases for final processing.

In 1996, the island took in more than 6,000 Iraqi Kurds who were persecuted by Saddam Hussein. More recently, Guam housed sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt when a COVID-19 outbreak hit that aircraft carrier last year.

The island is ready to answer the call again if asked, said Jose Terlaje, a member of Guams Senate.

If we did it then, we can do it again, Terlaje said, adding that the primary concerns from islanders are where the evacuees will be housed and how COVID-19 measures will be implemented.

No order from the federal government has been given yet, Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero told the Guam Daily Post last week. A spokeswoman for the governor declined to comment Thursday, as did the State Department.

The U.S. military has been developing plans in case they are required to evacuate the Afghans.

While there are no requests or directives at this time, we remain confident that we have the capabilities and resources to execute such a mission if so tasked, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Robert Lodewick said in an emailed statement.

If flown to Guam, the average Afghan family would require about six months for administrative processing, said Chris Purdy, project manager of the D.C.-based Veterans for American Ideals advocacy group, which is lobbying for the evacuation.

The U.S. may need to build temporary housing, Purdy said, similar to the tent cities U.S. engineers made for Vietnamese evacuees. They could be housed at the large military bases on the island, Purdy said.

They could also stay at Guams hotels, which have more than 8,400 rooms but have been mostly empty over the last year due to the pandemic, Purdy said.

These rooms will soon fill, however, with 6,000 U.S. military personnel rotating to Guam for training from June to the first week of August, he said.

Guam has also launched campaigns aimed at gaining back tourists, who come primarily from Asia.

Some residents of the island told Guams Pacific Daily News that they were concerned that the evacuees may be members of the Taliban and should be kept on base. While the U.S. does background checks on locally hired contractors and employees, military officials have said that Afghans other than SIV applicants could be evacuated.

Guam would also need a robust vaccination and housing plan that defends against COVID-19 should it host Afghan evacuees, Del. Michael San Nicolas, the islands nonvoting representative in Congress, said in last weeks letter.

Afghanistan has seen a rise in deaths from COVID-19 in recent months, but few in the country take the pandemic seriously or are willing to take vaccines.

A pandemic is not an ideal time for a mass evacuation, but this is a matter of life and death, Adam Bates, policy counsel for the New York-based International Refugee Assistance Project, told Stars and Stripes. I would hope that we know enough about COVID mitigation at this point that people can be moved to safety without undue risk to refugees, U.S. government personnel, or the host country.

Buy Photo A view from a room in the Hilton Guam Resort and Spa at Tumon Bay in Guam. Congressional lawmakers and advocates are asking the Biden administration to consider evacuating Afghans who aided the United States and who are waiting for immigration visa processing to Guam, a U.S. territory. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)

In Afghanistan, most applicants waiting for SIVs would welcome going to Guam, said Omid Mahmoodi, spokesman for a group of former interpreters. About 200 of these interpreters gathered at a Kabul mosque Thursday to protest delays in their applications.

We are all seeking a safe place, Mahmoodi said.

In Guam, among those pushing to host Afghan translators and their families is Peter Sgro, a businessman whose family adopted a child who had been evacuated from Vietnam.

He said he has been reading avidly about the SIV issue and hopes that the Afghans can come to his island.

Time is of the essence, Sgro said. (Im) hoping the decision is made soon so our community can prepare.

lawrence.jp@stripes.com

Twitter: @jplawrence3
An Afghan commando fires his M203 grenade launcher during advanced skills training at Camp Commando, Kabul in 2017. Afghan special operations forces will continue to be trained by the U.S.-led NATO alliance, but will probably train in Europe, said Gen. Tod Wolters, head of U.S. European command. (Sean Carnes/U.S. Air Force)

STUTTGART, Germany  Afghan special operations troops could be headed to Europe for a NATO training mission that is expected to continue after the U.S.-led coalition completes its withdrawal from the country, the top U.S. military commander in Europe said.

Gen. Tod Wolters, who serves as head of U.S. European Command and as NATOs supreme allied commander, said the alliance is looking at several possible locations to host Afghan forces.

We are in the process of looking at out-of-country special forces training in certain locations, to bring NATO special forces activities out of Afghanistan, into a remote location, probably somewhere in Europe, Wolters said Wednesday during a discussion at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.

The U.S. and its allies are in the midst of a rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is expected to be complete by September. The U.S. has moved at least 500 C-17 loads of material out of Afghanistan and has turned over six military sites to the Afghan Defense Ministry, according to U.S. Central Command, which as of Tuesday estimated that the U.S. has completed more than 50% of the entire retrograde process.

Wolters said the aim is to continue training Afghan special operations troops in combat tactics and techniques.

On Monday, NATO leaders will gather in Brussels for a summit that brings together allied heads of state, including President Joe Biden. The meetings will focus on NATOs 2030 initiative, which seeks to adapt the alliance for future threats. Among the issues to be discussed is getting NATO more focused on Chinas emergence as an economic and military rival.

Still, the conflict in Afghanistan, where allies have been involved for the past two decades, will factor into the talks. Despite overwhelming superiority in numbers, firepower and mobility, the combined U.S., NATO and government forces havent been able to inflict a decisive defeat on the Taliban guerrillas.

We are still going to find ways to work with Afghanistan from a NATO perspective, Wolters said.

vandiver.john@stripes.com

Twitter: @john_vandiver
The European Union and U.S. said they are deeply concerned about Irans failure to clarify the source of nuclear material found at several undeclared facilities and urged Tehran to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The rebuke could shadow a sixth round of talks aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal that limited Irans atomic activity due to start soon in Vienna. The EU statement on its website expressed deep regret that Iran hasnt provided the IAEA with an explanation for atomic activity at undeclared locations.

Irans obligations under its safeguards agreement with the IAEA are separate from the extra monitoring measures set out by its nuclear pact with world powers.

The Vienna-based agency repeated this month that it has questions over the correctness and completeness of Irans declarations after investigators found decades-old man-made uranium particles at sites suspected of hosting nuclear activities.

Allowing the investigation to stall would both undermine the integrity of the international safeguards system and set a troubling precedent for international efforts to ensure that Iran is adhering to all of its nonproliferation commitments, U.S. envoy Louis Bono said in a statement delivered Thursday to the IAEAs board of governors.

Irans IAEA envoy Kazem Gharibabadi replied in his statement that while his government stands ready to work with investigators, they dont consider the agencys findings consistent, credible or convincing.

Iran remains committed to its obligations, he said. All nuclear materials in Iran are under the agencys safeguards. There is no indication of diversion in declared nuclear material and activities in Iran.

Historically, IAEA questions over transparency have resulted in diplomatic censure of Iran in the form of a resolution passed by the board. The country has been subject to more than a dozen such motions since 2003, including the consequential 2006 referral to the Security Council that set off the subsequent waves of international sanctions that still linger.

This time around, however, Iran wont be hit with a resolution amid the high-level talks aimed at re-instituting the broad international monitoring enabled by the 2015 accord. Should world powers fail to revive the deal, the U.S. envoy suggested that Iran could face administrative action before the next IAEA meeting in September.

IAEA inspectors had their power to call surprise visits curtailed in February after Irans parliament passed a law suspending the agencys so-called Additional Protocol  a powerful set of international monitoring measures. Iran says it will restore the inspections once the U.S. rejoins the nuclear deal and its fully revived.

The agencys director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, on Monday said hes in touch with Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi about clarifying the investigation.
Malala Yousafzai attends an event in London on May 29, 2019. Pakistani officials said Thursday, June 10, 2021, that police have arrested a cleric after a video of him went viral on social media, in which he threatens Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai over her recent comments about marriage. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan  Pakistani police have arrested a cleric after a video of him went viral on social media, in which he threatens Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai over her recent comments about marriage, officials said Thursday.

The cleric, Mufti Sardar Ali Haqqani, was arrested in Lakki Marwat, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Wednesday, said Waseem Sajjad, a local police chief.

In the video, the cleric threatens to target Malala with a suicide attack when she returns to Pakistan, allegedly because of her comments earlier this month to British Vogue magazine about marriage that he claims insulted Islam.

Yousafzai has been living in Britain since 2012, after the Pakistani Taliban shot and seriously wounded her. She was just 15 years old at the time and had enraged the Taliban with her campaign for girls education.

At one point in the Vogue interview, Malala says: "I still don't understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can't it just be a partnership?"

The remark caused a stir on social media in Pakistan and angered Islamists and clerics like Haqqani. Under Islamic laws, couples cannot live together outside marriage.

Malala's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, defended her on Twitter, saying her remarks were taken out of context.

Malala, now 23, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for working to protect children from slavery, extremism, and child labor. She briefly visited Pakistan in 2018.

She remains highly popular in Pakistan but is also widely criticized by Islamists and hard-liners.

In February, Malala's 2012 attacker threatened a second attempt on her life, tweeting that next time, "there would be no mistake." Twitter subsequently permanently suspend the account with the menacing post.

The threat prompted Yousafzai to tweet herself, asking both the Pakistani military and Prime Minister Imran Khan to explain how her alleged shooter, Ehsanullah Ehsan, had escaped from government custody.

Ehsan was arrested in 2017, but escaped in January 2020 from a so-called safe house where he was being held by Pakistan's intelligence agency. The circumstances of both his arrest and escape have been shrouded in mystery and controversy.
Palestinian mourners carry body of Palestinians security officer, Tayseer Issa, in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, June 10, 2021. Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians, including two security officers, in a shootout that erupted in the West Bank town of Jenin during what appeared to be an Israeli arrest raid overnight, Palestinian officials said Thursday. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) (Majdi Mohammed)

JENIN, West Bank  Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians, including two security officers, in a shootout that erupted in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin during what appeared to be an Israeli arrest raid overnight, Palestinian officials said Thursday.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority coordinate security operations in the territory against Hamas and other militant groups seen as a threat to both of them. The coordination has contributed to mounting anger at the PA among Palestinians.

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called a "dangerous Israeli escalation," saying the three were killed by Israeli special forces who disguise themselves as Arabs during arrest raids. The spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, called on the international community and the United States to intervene to halt such attacks.

The Israeli military and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Israeli media reported that special forces went into Jenin to arrest two operatives from the Islamic Jihad militant group when they came under fire. One of the Palestinian suspects was killed, in addition to the two security officers, the media reports said.

There were no reports of any Israeli casualties.

The PA said the two officers who were killed, Adham Aliwi, 23, and Tayseer Issa, 33, were members of its military intelligence force. Islamic Jihad identified the third man as Jamil Alamouri, one of its fighters.

Online video appears to show Palestinian officers taking cover behind a vehicle as gunshots are heard in the background. One shouts that they are exchanging fire with Israeli "undercover" forces.

Under interim peace agreements signed in the 1990s, the Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in scattered enclaves that together make up around 40% of the occupied West Bank. Hamas drove its forces out of Gaza in 2007 when the Islamic militant group seized power.

Israel has overarching security authority in the West Bank and routinely carries out arrest raids in Palestinian cities and towns administered by the PA.

Abbas called off the first Palestinian elections in 15 years in April when it appeared his fractured Fatah party would suffer another embarrassing defeat to Hamas, and he was largely sidelined during last month's Gaza war.

Abbas is committed to a negotiated solution that would create a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, which Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war. But there have been no substantive peace negotiations in more than a decade.
A refugee camp on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey in Idlib province, Syria, is seen on April 19, 2020. Millions of Syrians risk losing access to lifesaving aid, including food and COVID-19 vaccines if Russia gets its way at the Security Council by blocking the use of the last remaining cross-border aid corridor into northwestern Syria, an international rights group said Thursday, June 10, 2021. (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)

BEIRUT  A leading rights group warned Thursday that millions of Syrians risk losing access to lifesaving aid, including food and COVID-19 vaccines, if Russia manages to block at the U.N. Security Council the use of the last remaining cross-border corridor for U.N. aid into rebel-held northwestern Syria.

The warning came as activists and rescuers said Syrian government shelling of several northwestern villages killed at least 11 people and sent hundreds fleeing on Thursday.

The onslaught is part of an apparent escalation of Syrian military operations in the rebel-held enclave. The northwest is home to nearly 4 million people, most of them displaced and living in shelters, dependent on U.N. aid.

The U.N. Security Council mandate for humanitarian aid deliveries from Turkey to Syria's opposition-held region expires July 10. Veto-wielding Russia, Damascus' close ally, has been pressing for the closure of the last remaining aid crossing corridor into the area, insisting the Syrian government should control all assistance going into the country  even to areas outside its control.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said that closing Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey for U.N. aid threatens to totally shut down humanitarian operations most of the area's residents depend on.

In its report, HRW said U.N. agencies will no longer have authorization to procure supplies or carry out or finance others' aid work, particularly during emergencies such as the ongoing military campaign in Idlib or waves of displacement. The U.N., for instance, pays the salaries of 800 doctors and 2,000 nurses there.

A new "humanitarian calamity" will be unleashed on the northwest if Security Council members fail to renew the mandate for aid deliveries, HRW said. At least 75% of the people there depend on aid to meet their basic needs. Some 85% receive the aid from about 1,000 trucks that cross through Bab al-Hawa from Turkey each month, according to the U.N.

"If Russia shuts down those trucks, there won't be any way of getting food to those people and they won't have food," said Gerry Simpson, associated crisis and conflict director at HRW.

Northwest Syria was also among the last places in the world to receive COVID-19 vaccines, with U.N.-secured 55,000 shots reaching the territory for a May inoculation campaign.

Simpson told The Associated Press that if the corridor is shut, it is "unclear how and whether any further vaccines would reach the area." The United States, the U.N and other European countries are campaigning for the crossing to remain open for at least another year.

Syria's civil war has left the country divided, much of its pre-war population displaced and its infrastructure in ruins. Nearly half a million people have been killed while tens of thousands have disappeared.

Last year, and with threats of a Russian veto, the Security Council officially closed three border crossings into Syria  from Iraq, Jordan and Turkey. That shutdown left over 1 million people in northeast Syria, another area outside government-control and where aid used to cross from Iraq, in extreme need, according to the U.N. It forced 19 out of 50 U.N.-supported health centers to shut while authorities struggled to meet essential needs to fight the pandemic.

Sara Kayyali, Syria researcher with HRW, said if Russia vetoes the resolution to extend the use of Bab al-Hawa, that risks sidelining the U.N. in coordinating humanitarian and emergency responses in Syria.

Thursday's shelling hit Ablin village in Idlib where opposition fighters and militants still hold territory. Rescue workers, known as White Helmets who operate in opposition-held areas, said a mother and her child and at least nine other civilians were among those killed. At least 10 shells landed in Ablin, they said.

Turkey and Russia, who support rival parties in Syria's 10-year conflict, had reached a cease-fire deal in March 2020 that stopped a Russian-backed government offensive on Idlib. But military operations have not totally ceased, with limited violence breaking out occasionally as government forces try to make piecemeal advances in the enclave dominated by the al-Qaida-linked militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

Mark Cutts, the U.N.'s deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, tweeted his condemnation Wednesday of what he called the "big escalation in artillery shelling by Syrian government forces in southern Idlib." He said the shelling has caused civilian casualties and hit near a camp for displaced people, destroying a compound used as a school.

Mohammed Halaj, an aid worker who coordinates between local groups and the U.N. emergency responses, said at least 110 families  over 600 people  have fled the shelling.
FORT SMITH, Ark. (Tribune News Service)  On Wednesday morning, Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston, and Tim Allen, president of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, spoke at the Mid- America Aerospace + Defense Summit about the impact of the aerospace industry.

All three speakers shared how Fort Smith becoming the multi-national training site for F-16 Falcon and F-35 fighter jets reflects how the city and state have become a coveted destination for the aerospace industry.

Last week, the Air Force announced the Arkansas Air National Guard base in Fort Smith was chosen as the preferred host site for a long-term contract with a multi-national contingent of fighter jets to begin in 2023.

Fort Smith's Ebbing Air National Guard Base was able to out-compete those in Texas, Michigan, and Colorado to win the project.

"There's not many bases in the country that have the airspace that Fort Smith has," Allen said. "So that really put us over the top."

The governor noted that plans to add 1,300 more feet to a runway at the Fort Smith Regional Airport, home to Ebbing Air National Guard base, also helped seal the deal with Singapore. The additional 1,300 feet will cost $22 million, and the state is providing $17 million to help extend the runway.

The governor credited the state's workforce for making it a destination for the aerospace industry. Hutchinson said the state's workforce being skilled in manufacturing makes it an attraction for the aerospace industry.

Preston explained that one of the benefits of this project will be the 10,000 jobs in the aerospace sector that will be brought to the state. According to ziprecruiter.com, jobs in the aerospace industry can range from $44,000 to $128,000 a year.

Hutchinson and Preston both believe Arkansas still has room to grow when it comes to being a destination for businesses if it wants to compete with states like Texas.

Preston said the state is working on having broadband access to every community in the state by 2022 to make it a more attractive place for businesses.

The governor sees the need to educate the workforce even more to bring more businesses to Arkansas.

"Well, it's all about improving education," Hutchinson said. "We have a great quality of life, we got a credible workforce, but we want to make sure that in terms of education our workforce stays up with new technology. That's why we're emphasizing computer education, our reading initiative as well."

Allen is optimistic that Fort Smith's education system is on the right track to educating the workforce. The Peak Innovation Center near Chaffee Crossing in Fort Smith will host technical training programs.

"We just passed the first school milage in 30 years to build a $14 million technical school in the high school. We're going to have college professors teach inside this K-12 building," Allen said.

(c)2021 Times Record (Fort Smith, Ark.)

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An F-35B Lightning II prepares to land at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Jan. 19, 2017. (Aaron Henson/U.S. Marine Corps)
ATLANTA (Tribune News Service)  An Alpharetta man online insurgent hunters dubbed "the Mad Mongrel" has been charged with multiple felonies related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The FBI arrested Kevin Douglas Creek, 46, Wednesday and charged him with assaulting two police officers on the West Terrace of the Capitol where some of the most intense violence of the day occurred between rioters and police defending the building. Still images taken from police body cameras appear to show Creek punching and kicking police.

The roofing contractor and father of two allegedly admitted to his participation in the riot in an interview with an FBI agent conducted in the presence of Creek's lawyer. According to the agent, Creek talked "in great detail" about his participation in the riot, drawing on a map of the Capitol where he was during the fighting and even admitting to being armed with "mace and a boot knife while at the U.S. Capitol," which could be an aggravating factor in his felony charges.

"Creek admitted the photos were of him," the FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. "Your affiant then played videos of both assaults on federal officers, and Creek admitted the videos looked like him, but Creek said he 'did not remember assaulting any officer.'"

When the agent asked Creek if he regretted participating in the riot, Creek allegedly replied, "50/50."

Creek's attorney was not immediately available for comment.

According to his social media accounts, Creek is a former Marine, and he allegedly spoke about his military service during interviews with the FBI. He is the 11th person with Georgia connections arrested in the riot. So far, federal officials have charged more than 450 people with participating in the riot.

Creek is the second Georgia man arrested in connection with the brutal hand-to-hand fighting on the West Terrace. In April, authorities arrested Locust Grove fencing contractor Jack Wade Whitton for allegedly punching an officer and dragging him into the crowd.

The FBI knew about Creek's possible involvement in the Capitol insurrection for months prior to his arrest. According to the affidavit, the FBI received a tip on Jan. 10 that Creek had talked about his participation in the violence during a visit to Northside Hospital Forsyth in Cumming.

"Creek discussed running up the stairs of the Capitol building and attempting to get inside. Creek talked about having trouble at the door he ran to because the police were (teargassing) individuals at his door," the FBI agent wrote, describing the tip. "Creek also mentioned he was bruised from his activity at the Capitol and admitted to a long car ride to get to DC."

Federal court records remain sealed, so it is not clear whether Creek is in custody or whether bond has been set in the case. Creek does not appear to have a criminal record, but federal judges in other cases have been reluctant to release alleged rioters accused of assaulting police on Jan. 6. Prosecutors claim such people remain a danger to the community.

(c)2021 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.)

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(Tribune News Service)  Supersonic air travel is back  almost. Thats the latest news you may have heard, anyway.

United Airlines announced last week that its ordering a fleet of jets from a Denver startup that can travel at faster than the speed of sound, aiming to carry passengers before the decade is up. President Joe Biden also mentioned supersonic flight when discussing his infrastructure plan in April.

But before that can happen, U.S. regulations would have to be changed. And a team at Hamptons NASA Langley Research Center may be key to the process.

For the past several years, the team of about 60 has been helping lead a $500 million cross-country project to figure out how to quiet sonic booms  those pesky, explosion-sounding side effects of planes moving so fast.

Theres a law against flying commercial supersonic flights over land because of the ... annoyance and startle factors that happen when there are sonic booms coming down on the public, said Craig Nickol, the Langley teams project manager.

What NASA hopes to do is find a way to minimize those booms and allow the restriction to be lifted.

But first, what exactly is a sonic boom?

Its what happens when air around planes moving faster than the speed of sound expands and compresses rapidly, creating shockwaves that produce a loud cracking sound on the ground. A typical sonic boom can be heard for 25 miles on either side of a planes flight path. Hampton Roads residents might have heard such a boom two weeks ago, according to the Navy.

The ability to fly faster than the speed of sound  more than 767 mph miles  isnt new. The first plane did so in 1947. Perhaps most famously, a British passenger airliner  the Concorde  flew over the Atlantic at twice that speed before it was retired in 2003.

Flying supersonically over water is legal. But Nickol said it hasnt been an appealing option for airlines, because the costs outweigh revenue for flights that cant travel inland. Opening land routes would change that.

The current NASA project is building an aircraft specifically designed to muffle the booms. Lockheed Martin, the projects prime contractor, is constructing the plane at its facility in California, while Langley and others provide technical support.

The plane  dubbed the X-59 QueSST  is not meant to be a commercial prototype, Nickol said.

But key aspects of the design will be shared with the industry. So if those features work as NASA hopes, companies could incorporate them.

The plane features a long, slender nose that spreads out the shockwaves so they dont coalesce and form into a very strong boom, he said. Inside, however, its so narrow that theres no central window in the cockpit, preventing the pilot from seeing out front.

Heres where Langleys contributions have been essential to this project.

Research there decades ago to design a Concorde replacement, which was dropped at some point, helped form the technology NASAs using to remedy the no-window problem.

Its called the external vision system. Pilots will look at a computer monitor instead of a window. Two cameras  one on the front of the plane, one on a pop-out below  then serve as a replacement for the human eye. Officials use an algorithm to automatically line up the images from both camera feeds.

Nickol has said this is a unique project for NASA because of its direct impact on the average American. The military has not prioritized or provided funding for the supersonic research.

The X-59 plane is more than halfway constructed and should be finished by the end of the year. Then there will be several rounds of tests to ensure safety and take detailed measurements of boom-producing shock waves. The plane should move at about 940 mph.

By around 2024, NASA plans to fly the plane over several different test communities to get feedback on how annoyed they are with accompanying sounds. Officials previously told The Virginian-Pilot they wouldnt be surprised if Hampton Roads is included, but Nickol said the test sites have yet to be chosen.

The rest is in the hands of officials at the Federal Aviation Administration, which has the power to lift the ban it put in place in 1973.

Were helping to attempt to remove those barriers and open up potentially new markets, Nickol said.

There are some side benefits to flying supersonically, such as opening up airspace because such flights tend to happen at a higher altitude, he said.

But the main goal is just giving everyone more time. A cross-country flight from Los Angeles to New York could take less than three hours, as opposed to more than five.

Time is a very precious resource for everybody, Nickol said.  Anything you can do to reduce time, especially in that travel scenario, has value.

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Timothy R. Thomas, a police officer with the Department of Veterans affairs, is charged with murdering Navy veteran Nicholas Lile, 42, on Jan. 3 while drinking with their spouses and friends in the basement of Liles Lowell, Ind. home. (Lake County Sheriff)

CROWN POINT, Ind.  A suspended U.S. Veterans Affairs police officers attorneys can subpoena a cellphone provider for call records for the man hes accused of murdering, the mans wife and the couples friend, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Lake Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez also granted Lake County prosecutors request to seek employment records for defendant Timothy R. Thomas, including work schedules, disciplinary records and complaints.

Thomas, 40, of Highland, is charged with murdering Navy corpsman Nicholas Lile, 42, on Jan. 3 while drinking with Lile; Liles wife, Jessika Lile; and the couples friend Angela Gauler in the basement of the Liles Lowell-area home.

Gauler and Jessika Lile invited Thomas to the home because Gauler had been casually dating Thomas, records state.

Nicholas Lile died from a gunshot wound to the chest, records show.

Defense seeks phone records

Thomas claims he shot Lile in self-defense, after Lile grabbed him by the throat, threw him down, choked him, punched him, lunged at him and threatened to kill him, according to court records.

Liles wife, Jessika Lile, testified in April she did not see a confrontation between the two men before hearing the fatal gunshot.

Gauler initially told police she saw a confrontation but later recanted. She testified at Thomas bail hearings in April she was too intoxicated to recall what happened before Lile was shot dead.

Thomas has been indefinitely suspended from his job at VA Northern Indiana Health Care System pending the disposition of his criminal case, a spokeswoman said.

Thomas attorney, Ben Murphy, said the defense wanted phone call records for Nicholas Lile, Jessika Lile and Gauler because Jessika Lile secretly recorded two calls with Gauler before Gauler recanted her statement about seeing a confrontation.

The state provided copies of Facebook and text messages between Jessika Lile and Gauler, but the defense wanted phone records to make sure that all available information is handed over, Murphy said.

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Jennie Bell said the defenses request was overly broad and amounted to a fishing expedition. Allowing Thomas attorneys to review all of the womens call records from January until present day would violate their privacy, she said.

This is a grieving window, Bell said.

Vasquez granted the defenses request to subpoena the records after Murphy agreed to limit the time frame from Jan. 2 to Jan. 29, which was the day Gauler gave a second statement to police recanting her previous statement about witnessing a confrontation.

Bell said the state wanted Thomas employment records because he repeatedly told responding officers he was a police officer and his attorneys opened the door by repeatedly referring to him as Officer Thomas during bail hearings.

The lead detective in the case testified he thought Thomas repeated statements about his employment were suspicious, Bell said.

Murphy said Thomas employment records werent relevant to the events leading up to Nicholas Liles homicide.

The judge disagreed.

Vasquez said he could imagine a scenario where Thomas might testify on his own behalf and claim he has never been disciplined or had a complaint filed against him. Without the requested information, prosecutors would have no way of rebutting such statements, he said.

Indiana law allows for a broad interpretation of discovery rules, he said.

Again, I emphasize what may be discoverable does not necessarily mean its admissible at trial, Vasquez said.

Thomas is currently scheduled to stand trial starting Nov. 15.

___

(c)2021 The Times (Munster, Ind.)

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A video screen grab shows Brian Mark Lemley Jr, driving, and Patrik Mathews, passenger seat, passing through a toll booth near Norfolk, Va., en route to Georgia on Sept. 14, 2019. The pair, along with William Garfield Bilbrough IV, plotted to carry out "essentially a paramilitary strike" at a Virginia gun rights rally, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. (U.S. Attorney via AP)

GREENBELT, Md.  Two neo-Nazi group members whose talk of planning an attack at a Virginia gun rights rally was secretly recorded by the FBI pleaded guilty on Thursday to gun charges.

Former Canadian Armed Forces reservist Patrik Jordan Mathews, U.S. Army veteran Brian Mark Lemley Jr. and a third member of The Base were arrested on federal charges in Maryland ahead of the January 2020 rally at Virginia's Capitol in Richmond.

Mathews, 28, and Lemley, 35, pleaded guilty at separate hearings to charges including illegally transporting a firearm and obstruction of justice  they destroyed cellphones when FBI agents raided their apartment.

The third co-defendant, William Garfield Bilbrough IV, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty in December to helping Mathews illegally enter the U.S. from Canada in 2019.

After a prosecutor read aloud a summary of the case against them, the judge asked them the same question: "Did you do the things the government said you did?" Mathews and Lemley both replied that they did.

Patrik Jordan Mathews, a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist, pleaded guilty on Thursday, June 10, 2021, to gun charges and obstruction of justice. ()

Mathews pleaded guilty to four counts that carry a combined total of 50 years in prison. Lemley pleaded guilty to seven counts punishable by a maximum of 70 years. However, in both cases, federal sentencing guidelines likely will recommend a prison sentence that is significantly lower than the statutory maximum.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, who isn't bound by the guidelines, is scheduled to sentence Mathews and Lemley on Oct. 28.

None of the defendants faced terrorism-related charges, and a "stipulation of facts" signed by Mathews, Lemley and prosecutors didn't mention the Richmond rally. But prosecutors are reserving the right to seek a so-called terrorism enhancement at sentencing that could lead to a significant increase in a prison term if the judge agrees to apply it.

Matthews and Lemley, who lived in Elkton, Maryland, discussed "the planning of violence" at the Richmond rally, where thousands of gun-rights activists later gathered peacefully to protest gun-control legislation, Justice Department prosecutors said in a court filing.

Investigators installed a closed-circuit television camera and microphone inside a Newark, Delaware, apartment that Mathews and Lemley shared for several months after Mathews left Canada. The surveillance equipment captured Lemley and Mathews discussing "the next Civil War" erupting in Virginia and talking about committing "targeted acts of violence," prosecutors said in a Jan. 21 court filing.

"I need to claim my first victim," Lemley said, according to prosecutors.

The talk of violence prompted Mathews to say, "I'm worried we're going to become psychopaths," prosecutors wrote.

Bilbrough, 21, of Denton, Maryland, participated in early discussions about traveling to Richmond but had tried to distance himself from the group shortly before his arrest, a prosecutor has said.

Among other white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, the Base has been a leading proponent of "accelerationism," a fringe philosophy that advocates using mass violence to hasten society's collapse. Members often communicated in encrypted chat rooms and attended military-style training camps.

The Guardian identified The Base's founder as American-born Rinaldo Nazzaro, who formed the group in 2018 using the pseudonym "Norman Spear" and was believed to be living in Russia. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Nazzaro worked for the agency from 2004 to 2006, Vice News reported in February.

The case against the three men charged in Maryland was part of a broader investigation of The Base. In January 2020, authorities in Georgia and Wisconsin arrested four other men linked to the group.

The Base has crumbled amid members' prosecutions and revelations about Nazzaro's background, said Joanna Mendelson, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism. Nazzaro has tried but largely failed to resuscitate the group, she added.

"Many within the movement have attempted to distance themselves from him and his activities, as the group is seen as either a honeypot or destined to attract immediate law enforcement attention," Mendelson said.

The unraveling of The Base doesn't eliminate the potential threat posed by extremists who joined the group, she stressed.

"We're talking about adherents who are deeply steeped in an ideology," Mendelson said. "They oftentimes direct their deeply embedded beliefs into other neo-Nazi organizations."

Mathews told investigators that he was living in Beausejour, Manitoba, and working as a carpenter for a construction company before he entered the U.S. Mathews also said he was a combat engineer in the Canadian Army before serving eight years as an Army reservist.

Mathews left Canada after a Winnipeg Free Press reporter exposed him as a member of The Base in an August 2019 article. Bilbrough and Lemley drove to Michigan to pick up Mathews and take him to Maryland.

Mathews and Lemley have remained jailed since FBI agents arrested them in Delaware in January 2020.

Mathews and Lemley were charged in Maryland with illegally possessing and transporting a firearm and ammunition. A grand jury in Delaware indicted them on separate but related charges.

In February, the judge refused to bar prosecutors from using evidence that FBI agents obtained through search warrants. The FBI also had an undercover employee infiltrate the group, visiting the Delaware home and driving with Mathews and Lemley to a gun range in Maryland in January.
(Tribune News Service)  The federal government should regulate toxic PFAS chemicals, New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney told a Senate committee Wednesday.

Kenney testified remotely before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works about the contamination at two Air Force bases.

The hearing also featured testimony from officials in West Virginia and Pennsylvania dealing with PFAS contamination.

"The mission of my department is to protect the health of New Mexicans, and the reality is I can't do so when it comes to PFAS," Kenney said. "It's not for a lack of scientific data or remedial technology. What we're lacking is a federal regulatory framework."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has non-enforceable health advisory levels for two chemicals in the class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which have been found in water supplies across the U.S.

"What we're dealing with here is an almost universal, persistent toxin whose presence in our water  at levels measured in parts per trillion  creates a very real risk of adverse developmental effects to fetuses and breastfed babies," said the committee's chairman, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. "This toxin is also associated with testicular and kidney cancer, liver tissue damage, as well as harmful changes to the thyroid and the immune system."

In 2018, the U.S. Air Force first disclosed the PFAS plumes at Cannon Air Force Base, near Clovis, and Holloman Air Force Base, near Alamogordo.

PFAS levels at Cannon were 370 times the EPA health advisory level. Holloman levels were 27,000 times the EPA advisory.

"This is clearly a public health, environmental and economic crisis for New Mexico and other states," Kenney said.

The toxic chemicals likely leaked into groundwater from firefighting foam used in training exercises.

Earlier this month, the Air Force announced a $16.6 million contract to AECOM/Brice for a water treatment system at Cannon's southeast corner.

Christipher Gierke, Cannon's remedial project manager, said the small-scale pilot project will test methods of removing PFAS from groundwater leaving the base.

"We're aware how long this process feels for the people of Clovis," Gierke said in an Air Force news release. "We've listened to their concerns and worked tirelessly to implement this study to get an interim treatment method in place quickly."

New Mexico is suing the Department of Defense over the contamination.

Kenney said the toxic chemicals pose an "imminent and substantial" threat to residents such as Clovis dairy farmer Art Schaap, who euthanized his cows that had elevated PFAS levels.

"(Schaap) lost millions in milk sales, and is now faced with disposing of thousands of PFAS-contaminated cow carcasses," Kenney said.

A $1 million state Legislature appropriation is funding NMED's study of the military bases and well water supplies in Curry and Roosevelt counties.

The agency is also working with the U.S. Geological Survey to test water across the state.

New Mexico agencies fear that the pollution could harm outdoor tourism, Kenney said, similar to effects from the Gold King Mine spill in Colorado in 2015.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.

(c)2021 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.)

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A coroner has found that Chinese tourist Ji Li died of hypothermia after a series of ill-fated decisions left her tramping solo in the Tongariro National Park in October 2019.

The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council says recommendations adopted by Coroner Matthew Bates highlights many of the common issues trampers and walkers face when exploring in New Zealands outdoors.

These recommendations include choosing the right trip for you, understanding the weather, packing warm clothes and extra food, sharing your plans and taking ways to get help, and taking care of yourself and each other.

Coroner Bates report states while Ji had packed the correct clothing, extra food, shared her plans with her group as well as carrying a cell phone, she did not follow the three other steps of the code.

MSC Chief Executive Mike Daisley says had Ji followed the remaining steps of the code, she may still be alive today.

Ji and three other women travelled from China for a three-week holiday exploring New Zealand.

On the morning of October 18, the group of four set out from the Whakapapa Village on a two-day tramp of the Tongariro Northern Circuit Great Walk.

The groups initial error was missing the Mangatepopo/Lower Taranaki Falls Track turnoff which was their intended direction of travel.

It was not until several hours later, when the group arrived at Tama Lakes, they realised their navigational error.

It was there that three of them decided to return to Whakapapa Village because one of the party was not feeling fit enough and one fell unwell.

Ji decided to continue on and complete the track alone, but in the reverse direction of the groups original plan.

Separating from the group was the second of the significant errors that subsequently lead to Jis death.

When she did not return to Whakapapa Village the next day, as agreed, she was reported missing.

Her body was found at the bottom of Red Crater later that day.

Her exact route after splitting off from the party will remain uncertain but in MSCs report to the Coroner, several scenarios were considered.

Coroner Bates decided the most likely scenario was that Ji stayed overnight at Oturere Hut on October 18, then continued the next day towards Red Crater, with the intention to descend to Mangatepopo Valley and then return to Whakapapa Village.

Overnight and during the morning of October 19, Mt Tongariro experienced blizzard conditions, gale-force winds with a wind chill factor of -4.4C.

Despite being well dressed, Ji became hypothermic as she continued walking, resulting in a decline in cognitive ability and decision-making.

Suffering from hypothermia and experiencing strong gale-force winds resulted in her stumbling regularly, and walking would have become very difficult, the report says.

Eventually, she tried to warm herself by getting into her sleeping bag, however her hypothermic condition was so far progressed that she no longer had the ability to get inside it.

Given the conditions, Ji would have lost consciousness soon afterwards before eventually dying.

Jis death is a tragic reminder of the risks associated with solo tramping and Coroner Bates hopes his recommendations will help reduce tragic deaths, such as Lis, happening again.

MSC Chief Executive Mike Daisley.

Mike says even for the most experienced New Zealand trampers, solo trips have considerable risks.

The groups decision to attempt this three-day trip in two days applied an unnecessary and unrealistic element of complexity and pressure, essentially resulting in the trip becoming an overambitious choice that was unsuited to the weather and timeframes.

Coroner Bates also suggests using the Plan My Walk app by MSC as a planning tool and as another way to notify a trusted contact of your plans.

MSC expresses its sincere condolences to Li Jis family and friends, and her tramping party.

The NZ Land Safety Code is as follows:

1. Choose the right trip for you

Learn about the route and make sure you have the skills for it.

2. Understand the weather

It can change fast. Check the forecast and change your plans if needed.

3. Pack warm clothes and extra food

Prepare for bad weather and an unexpected night out.

4. Share your plans and take ways to get help

Telling a trusted person your trip details and taking a distress beacon can save your life.

5. Take care of yourself and each other

Eat, drink, and rest, stick with your group and make decisions together.
About 10,000 foreign workers on temporary visas are being allowed to stay in the country for another six months to help ease labour shortages while the border remains shut.

Migrants on Working Holiday and Supplementary Seasonal Employment visas due to expire between June 21 and the end of December will have their visas automatically extended.

Those on a Seasonal Employment visa can now also pick up work in any industry, not just horticulture or viticulture.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi says, while employers should try to take on New Zealand workers, this extension will give them some certainty.

"It will also put the minds of visa holders at ease knowing they can stay and work in New Zealand for the foreseeable future."

Six months is the maximum extension by law, Faafoi told Morning Report.

"If things don't markedly change - and at this stage I don't see that happening - we'll look positively at another six-month extension to give some certainty to those workers."

Essential Skills work visas for those earning below $27 per hour would be increased from six months to 12 months.

A little over 6000 working holiday and Supplementary Seasonal Employment visa holders are the country at present, compared to the usual 45,000 at any one time, says Faafoi.

Bringing back the stand-down period - when a migrant must spend at least 12 months outside of New Zealand if they have worked for three years below the median wage - has been postponed until July 2022. All eligible visa holders would be contacted by June 25.

New border exceptions will allow 250 farm workers and vets into the country.

Up to 150 dairy farm workers in management roles on farms, 50 workers in dairy assistant roles, and up to 50 general practice vets, along with their partners and dependent children, would be allowed in.

Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor says the exception comes as the new dairy season kicks-off and will go a long way to relieving labour pressures.

"What we have also made clear to sector leaders is that we need to ensure there is a strong incentive for New Zealanders to take up entry-level roles and develop careers in dairying.

"The government and food and fibres sector have been working hard to mitigate worker shortages by training and upskilling New Zealanders, but we know that takes time. This announcement recognises the immediate need for additional expertise to come through our borders."

Employers can request to bring workers in through this exception by the end of the month.

The workers will have to have a job to come to and employers will be required to pay for the workers' stay in managed isolation and pay their salary while in isolation.

"I'm guessing it will only be those farmers who really can't find anyone else - it's not a cheap exercise for them at all," O'Connor told First Up.

"But they will be experienced farm workers for the most part - 150 of those will be at farm manager or assistant manager level.

"The 50 veterinarians in particular will be of comfort to the whole industry because they need people to look after those animals."

Veterinary Association (NZVA) chief officer Helen Beattie said last month the country was short of between 50 and 100 vets.

O'Connor says there has been a high uptake of apprenticeships and vocational education, but in the short term there are acute needs.

"If there are people around we're still encouraging those [agriculture] employers to help train them. There should be a bigger effort across our whole economy of course to train New Zealanders up ... it's all the trades."

Faafoi says the government is working with the diary industry and also putting pressure on them in the long term to train local workers and provide pay and conditions to make those jobs more attractive to New Zealanders.

"That is a message not just for that sector but for many other sectors who have relied on migrant labour over the last 10 or 15 years.

"We're certainly having very robust discussions with a number of sectors about what they're doing in the long term to make sure we learn from the lessons of the border closures that if we are heavily reliant on migrant labour, that has caused skill shortages in a number of sectors, and we need to deal with that long term."

More than 10,000 critical workers have come in to New Zealand under border exceptions since the border was closed, Faafoi says, many of those for the primary sector.

-RNZ
The nurses and midwives' union and district health boards will be discussing where to from here after failed pay negotiations led to a strike yesterday.

Thousands took to the streets, including nurses and supporters, to protest for better pay and conditions.

The DHBs and New Zealand Nurses Organisation will today discuss a possible further date for negotiations, and listen to feedback from union members.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson says the government is totally committed to getting back to the negotiating table, represented by the DHBs.

"Obviously there are some financial constraints in the wake of Covid but we do understand the importance of this workforce and we want to negotiate in good faith," Robertson told First Up.

The pay settlement in 2018 "made a big difference" but the unfortunate reality is that higher pay rates are available in Australia and have been for some time.

"Nursing is a global environment, but we still think the salaries that are offered are competitive along with other working conditions and clearly, obviously, living here in New Zealand.

"That doesn't stop us from knowing we've got to sit down and have a good negotiation and do that in good faith."

Improving conditions just as important as pay - NZNO

NZNO industrial services manager Glenda Alexander told Morning Report conditions and pay need to improve so essential workers don't look to other sectors for a better salary.

"They're kind of interwoven [pay and conditions]. If we don't pay people what they're worth, what the job is worth, they're not going to stay and we're not going to get new people into the nursing workforce."

Nurses and midwives are exhausted and there is a need to attract more people to replace an ageing workforce that is set to retire, Alexander says.

"If we can't improve conditions whereby new nurses come into the system, we're in serious trouble.

"Nurses do their very best at work to not reveal to patients that they're caring for what's really going on but patients see some of that stuff - they see the nurses running from person to person, they note they haven't had breaks."

The union wanted systems that were agreed to in the last bargaining period put into place, including ensuring the right people were on shifts and boosting capacity to respond to demand.

"We want to see that put well in place ... so that our members have surety that when they come to work they are going to have workloads that are manageable," Alexander says.

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone.

DHBs keen to 'close gaps'

Spokesperson for all the DHBs, Jim Green, says they have been making progress with continuous improved offers, but welfare and staffing levels are of still concern to the workers.

"We've made offers around all those areas - we've made a pay rise increase of up to 8 to 12 percent and of course there's the pay equity settlement that will be coming in on top of that as well," he told Morning Report.

"We think we've been able to address many of their requirements and we're looking to see where some of the gaps can be closed by the nurses and the [union] members."

Further negotiations were needed to see how the problems could be resolved, Green says.

Nearly all non-urgent surgery and outpatient clinics had to be postponed yesterday as a result of the eight-hour strike.

"That will take time to work back into the schedule [the elective surgeries], we're of course doing a lot of work to catch up after the time lost last year around Covid, so it'll add to the work we have to do," Green says.

It's difficult for services to operate during the strike, but they managed, he says.

"It's always difficult to manage during a strike and it really took all of the efforts of all of the people who weren't striking - the volunteers, family members, and of course the life-preserving services provided by the union - to get us through that time."

-RNZ.
UPDATE: Waka Kotahi NZTA states that lanes have been cleared following an earlier crash on State Highway 2 Takitimu Drive.

In a statement, they say that congestion is now easing following the incident involving a logging truck and a car.

Police say they were alerted to the crash at around 2.50pm and no injuries are reported.

Motorists are still advised to pass the scene with care and expect delays.

EARLIER: Reports are coming in of a logging truck and car crash on Takitimu Drive.

A caller to the 0800 SUNLIVE news hotline says the vehicles have collided in the eastbound lane of the highway.

"The crash is located between the Elizabeth Street roundabout and the Chapel Street off-ramp.

"People should expect delays."

Image: Google Maps.

NZTA says the eastbound lanes of the road are blocked just east of the Elizabeth Street roundabout.

A reporter at the scene says there are three police officers at the scene and it looks like they have closed one lane.

The crash has caused traffic to back up. Photo. Brian Pinney.

"People should expect delays. It is right under the footbridge that goes over Takitimu Drive."

SunLive is working on getting more information and will provide an update when we can.

At the scene?

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New Zealand maritime safety advisors will be on deck alongside their Cook Islands colleagues to help ensure their tourist boats are ready for a big influx of visitors over the next few months.

The Pacific Maritime Safety Programme is sending five technical advisors to support a safety campaign led by the Maritime Division of the Cook Islands Ministry of Transport.

The campaign will include undertaking vessel inspections and surveys and providing safety advice to operators and will target tourist and charter vessels to make sure they are all in good shape ahead of the July school holidays.

PMSP manager David Billington said the Cook Islands administration had been proactive in managing their domestic fleet since Covid-19 forced the country to close its borders to tourists.

Their team has been working hard to ensure their domestic fleet has remained in good operating order over the past 12-15 months, says David.

But we know that the beginning of any season is a good time to thoroughly check your boat, check your gear and review your operation.

With the bubble opening with the Cook Islands, its effectively the beginning of what could be a really bumper tourist season  so its the perfect time to launch a big safety campaign and really make sure all their vessels are in good shape.

Were honoured to be invited to support this campaign and looking forward to working alongside our Pacific colleagues for the first time in over a year.

David says the New Zealand team would be working under direction from the Cook Islands.

Cook Islands Secretary of Transport John Hosking says the Maritime Division was committed to ensuring safety standards were high across all their domestic vessels and chartered operators.

At the end of the day, we want everyone to come home safely. Thats our focus and we welcome the support from New Zealand.

The PMSP is a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade programme, funded through New Zealand Aid and delivered by Maritime NZ.
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Lawton, OK (73501)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds light and variable..

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Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) confirmed that it was able to arrest the sellers of Anom encrypted devices, offering these phones to various crime groups.

If you don't know what an Anom mobile phone is, it's a device that can provide users total secrecy when it comes to communications. This means that if you send someone a text message or give them a call, no one will ever know your conversation.

Since the Anom phone can provide 100% privacy, some violent crime groups are using it to communicate with one another without getting caught. This is also the main reason why some individuals are using it to do illegal activities.

To give you more idea, here are other details of the FBI's latest arrest.

FBI Arrested Anom Phone Sellers

According to Computer Weekly's latest report, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's latest activity leads to over 500 arrests of criminals involved in money laundering, violent crime, drug tracking, and other illegal activities.

Also Read: Citizen App Offers Live Monitoring, Digital Bodyguard Features Despite Mistaken Identity Controversy

Because of the Anom phone's efficiency, the arrested distributors described these devices as designed by criminals for criminals. On the other hand, here are the names that the federal agency disclosed:

Abdelhakim Aharchaou

Edwin Harmendra Kumar

Seyyed Hossein Hosseini

Alexander Dmitrienko

Osemah Elhassen

Omar Malik and Miwand Zakhimi

Shane Geoffrey May

These arrested individuals were discovered residing in Spain, Australia, the Netherlands, and other parts of the globe.

FBI Also Uses Anom Phones?

Anom phones are not only used for crimes. FBI also used these devices to catch around 800 suspected criminals. PC Mag reported on June 9 that the security agency used an encrypted chat platform that accommodated various illegal actors.

Thanks to the Anom company's help, the FBI was able to use an entirely different strategy to tackle the challenge of encryption.

"When we took down Phantom Secure in 2018, we found the criminal organizations moved quickly to back-up options with other encrypted platforms," said Jamie Arnold, FBI San Diego Assistant Special Agent in Charge.

Aside from normal crimes, Anom phones can also be used in hacking activities. If malicious actors can execute them properly, it can lead to massive breaches, such as the iConstituent breach.

For more news updates about Anom phones and other security-related devices, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: FBI, Have I Been Pwned Partnership Will Show More Logins That Have Been Compromised

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : GettlyImages/ NASA ) Virgin Orbit rocket

Virgin Orbit announced on June 8 that its upcoming orbital mission called Tubular Bells, Part One after the first album recorded by Virgin Records, is set to launch in the last week of June.

Virgin Orbit stated that its rocket, LauncherOne, has already been shipped to the Space Port located in California and are currently being prepared for its mission.

Virgin Orbit Scheduled Mission

Virgin Orbit's launch system uses a technique called air launch, in which a rocket is launched from under the wing of a 747-400 jet aircraft, called Cosmic Girl, rather than from a traditional launch pad on the ground to Tech Crunch.

In addition to improving the rocket's payload capacity, the technique allows LauncherOne to fly on short notice and from a wide variety of locations to access any orbit.

Also Read: Virgin Orbit Launch: Test Flight Terminated Shortly After Cosmic Girl Released the Rocket

Last week, Virgin Orbit conducted a successful cryoload test, where LauncherOne was filled with liquid oxygen propellant and fully pressurized to flight-like levels, according to Fox.

During the test, the company stated that they were able to achieve all of their planned objectives, including 100% LOX and fuel fill and nominal pressurization of all high-pressure gas systems with no tank leakage.

Virgin Orbit will now push through with a rehearsal to run through all combined launch operations until takeoff. The company added that they will be in the clear to push forward and commit to launching if all looks good.

The satellites from the U.S Department of Defense's Space Test Program, the Royal Netherlands Air Force, and the SatRevolution will all be attached to LauncherOne and will be then released on the orbit.

The Department of Defense is launching three cube satellites as part of the Rapid Agile Launch RALI Initiative program.

SatRevolution is launching two optical satellites named STORK-4 and STORK-5. This is a part of the mission's 14-satellite STORK constellation.

The Royal Netherlands Air Force is launching the first military cube satellite in the Netherlands, known as BRIK II, which was built and integrated by Innovative Solutions in Space, with contributions from the Delft University of Technology, University of Oslo, and Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre.

Virgin Orbit stated that they will be sending their integrated payload stack up to Mojave to soon join the rest of the system.

The mission this month comes after LauncOne's successful launch in January. Comic Girl was sent to a launch site located over the Pacific Ocean during the demonstration.

LauncherOne was then released from the aircraft. A two-stage rocket ignited and blasted the LauchnerOne into the Earth's orbit. By the end of the flight, LauncherOne released 10 satellites that NASA's Launch Services Program selected. It was a part of NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative CSLI.

Almost all of the satellites were designed, built, and tested by universities across the United States, including Brigham Young University, the University of Michigan, and Louisiana at Lafayette.

According to Virgin Orbit, the flight marked the first time an orbital class, the liquid-fueled rocket successfully reached space.

NASA's Partnership with Virgin Orbit

In 2020, NASA-sponsored CubeSats flew on the agency's next Educational Launch of Nanosatellites or ELaNA mission, marking it as the first payload that was carried by Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket, according to NASA.

With the small satellites safely secured inside the payload fairing, and the fairing mated to the rocket, Virgin Orbit launched ELaNa on December 2020, and the flight took place in Space Port in California.

Related Article: Virgin Galactic Announces Another Human-Tended Research Aboard its Spacecraft VSS Unity

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASA just sent their Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on another flight, and it looked extremely good out there.

CNET reports that NASA recorded a basically glitch-free flight for the Ingenuity helicopter, which once again flew above the surface of the Red Planet. It managed to stay airborne for over a minute, traveling a total of 106 meters to a new landing spot south of its most recent one. Here is the tweet sent out by the official NASA JPL (jet propulsion lab) Twitter account:

Another successful flight #MarsHelicopter completed its 7th flight and second within its operations demo phase. It flew for 62.8 seconds and traveled ~106 meters south to a new landing spot. Ingenuity also took this black-and-white navigation photo during flight. pic.twitter.com/amluVq9wbb  NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) June 8, 2021

NASA further confirmed that that flight was, indeed, totally glitch-free. This is an amazing feat in itself, considering that the Ingenuity helicopter's first six flights always had something wrong happen, with its most recent one being an in-flight anomaly.

That sixth flight, according to SpaceFlightInsider, had NASA detecting sudden changes in the helicopter's pitch and speed. This basically made the aircraft almost uncontrollable and practically spinning around in mid-air. Fortunately, the redundant systems aboard Ingenuity allowed it to perform a controlled descent, saving it from a potential total loss.

With the trouble-free success of the seventh flight, NASA hopes to advance further the Mars helicopter's so-called "operations demonstration phase," which in turn would help build better aircraft for the Martian atmosphere.

Read also: Here's How NASA Engineers Communicate With the First Helicopter to Fly on Another Planet, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

NASA and Ingenuity: A Modern Tale of Triumph

NASA first launched the Mars helicopter back in April, making it the first-ever instance of powered and controlled flight on another planet. That is already a big deal on its own since any other flight over a planet has always been a controlled descent. Before Ingenuity, NASA has only been "falling with style." That's a Buzz Lightyear quote for you, Disney fans.

The Mars helicopter's main goal is simple: help prove that humanity can design and deliberately control aircraft that would fly in the very thin atmosphere of the Red Planet. Mars' atmosphere is around 100 times thinner than Earth's, which means that a helicopter's rotors must spin way faster than they would here in order to generate enough lift.

But looking at the big picture, all of the seven missions for the NASA Mars helicopter can still be considered a success. Aside from the flights proving that our tech is up to speed, they also showed that humanity has a certain capability to initiate potential colonization. Never mind that crazy glitch on flight #6 that Ingenuity experienced.

What's Next?

Ingenuity and the rover Perseverance will continue their surveys of the Martian landscape for the foreseeable future. There is no official schedule for the helicopter's next flight yet, but one can assume that NASA is already hard at work planning their next move.

There's a bright future ahead with our current explorations of the Red Planet. And who knows? Maybe our mechanical explorers may find a lot of extremely interesting things--some of which might be the answers everybody has been hoping for.

Related: NASA Ingenuity, Perseverance to Look for 'Ancient Life' on Mars, After Moving on to a New Landing Site

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Written by RJ Pierce

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Alex Wong/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 13: An activist holds a sign during a protest in front of the White House against the Keystone XL pipeline January 13, 2015 in Washington, DC. Activists staged the protest to urge President Obama to reject the pipeline.

TC Energy has terminated the Keystone XL Pipeline project after many years of pushing with it, and fighting with different groups and sectors for its permits to be approved. The project was in and out of court, with it being blocked and reinstated time and time again, making it one of the most controversial pipeline projects in the country.

The Controversial Keystone XL Pipeline Project

When people first learned of the Keystone Pipeline project, a lot were against it, believing the project should not push through because of the pollution it would make. And while this is the biggest issue, it is not the only one, especially as the Keystone XL Pipeline would also take away several patches of lands that are owned by indigenous people, and disturbing their lifestyle.

Despite being against the environment, the project was viewed to not be of economic value to the country, hence its initial rejection during the reign of former President Barack Obama. The project was reinstated or given the chance to raise their permits again during the time where Trump was in office but was shortly rejected again when POTUS Joe Biden came into office.

Read Also: Elon Musk Lifestyle Debunks Anonymous-Only 2 Houses, 1 for Events in Bay Area To Give SpaceX, Boring, Tesla All Fund

TC Energy Terminates Keystone XL Pipeline

The project was controversial, and it went under three administrations until it got rejected again and was finally scrapped by the parent company, TC Energy, for good. The company explained that their efforts were to deliver energy to the public, which is used in everyday settings and lifestyles, making them an essential service.

However, this was opposed by many environmentalists and became the center of most issues and disputes, with people saying that it does more damage than help society. According to the White House's statement in 2015 when Obama was in office, it would pass through the country and carry Canadian crude oil to the Gulf of Mexico.

It was said that it would reduce fuel consumption via shipping, but would also bring pollution during its construction and operations. The company is part of Canada's Big Oil, which is in league with Colonial Pipeline which recently faced a ransomware attack on their hands, among other American giants.

Is Crude Oil, Fuel Still Needed Today?

Currently, a lot of industries still use massive supplies of crude oil and fuel to continue operations and provide services to most citizens in the country, and worldwide. This is amidst the electric mobility and revolution that the world is going through right now.

Despite the many pledges to go fully electric by 2030, there are still those who would need it and would not fully let go of it. The Big Oil companies in the country still fighting for their businesses to continue. Several still believe that "electric" could not fully replace oil, but that is what companies like Tesla are working on to promote sustainability.

Related Article: FBI Reclaims Colonial Pipeline Ransom Cryptocurrency Payment Worth $2.3M from DarkSide Hacker's Wallet-Russian Exposed

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
El Salvador has approved Bitcoin to be a legal currency in their country, and they are the first to do so in their latest majority votes for passing the cryptocurrency law. This is a historic moment for Bitcoin, El Salvador, and the entire world, especially now that cryptocurrencies are being accepted and embraced by different nations, and would surely not stop there.

El Salvador President Approves of Bitcoin

President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador was among the first politicians to show support and fascination over Bitcoins, as most reserve their support for it and were mostly displayed by businessmen. Initially, President Bukele said that Bitcoin would not have any "capital gains" in the country, especially as they plan it to be a legitimate cryptocurrency soon enough.

And that "soon" did not come too far, as developments for the law have been passed to El Salvador's Congress and the House have already voted on it, with a majority of 62 out of 84 members siding with Bitcoin. President Bukele said that it is a "supermajority" win for Bitcoin, and is now a legitimate currency in the country.

The #BitcoinLaw has been approved by a supermajority in the Salvadoran Congress.



62 out of 84 votes!



History! #Btc  Nayib Bukele  (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021

The past 24 hours for Bitcoin's valuation is massive, as according to Coin Market Cap, $BTC has increased more than 11 percent in the past day. Still, the coin's price remains at around $37,000, but its current market value cap is now at $695 billion, a massive high for the coin since in the past weeks, it suffered a significant dent due to Elon Musk's tweets.

Read Also: Elon Musk: Cryptocurrency 'Space Race' with Leading Crypto's New Mission After Dogecoin, Ethereum's Planned Launches

Bitcoin is a Legit Currency in El Salvador, What About in the US?

Massive countries like the United States allow trading Bitcoins and have made a league of its own, not letting them enter the stock market which circulates real money and foreign exchanges. And while the SEC oversees most of it, cryptocurrency is still a form of online coin for the US, and not considered as real money like in El Salvador.

Now that El Salvador has made it a legal currency among its jurisdictions, what does this say to other countries, especially massive ones and world leaders? This law by El Salvador may inspire or spark a change among others, and soon enough, a lot of them would do the same, and not limited to Bitcoin.

However, for the time being, the United States shows no plans of following El Salvador's footsteps, especially as there are still those who are not in favor of cryptocurrency.

1. Great weather, world class surfing beaches, beach front properties for sale.

2. One of the few countries in the world with no property tax.

3. No capital gains tax for #Bitcoin, since it will be a legal currency.

4. Immediate permanent residence for crypto entrepreneurs. https://t.co/j3eugJQCMd  Nayib Bukele  (@nayibbukele) June 6, 2021

Most of El Salvador's Citizens Do Not Own Bank Accounts

And while this is a win for the country, the report on El Salvador shows several concerns on the country's citizens, as they would be one of the significant people to use Bitcoin in their daily transactions.

The concern is that most El Salvadorians do not own bank accounts, and for trading cryptocurrencies like $BTC, they need to secure these among other details.

Related Article: Cryptocurrency Rises Despite Elon Musk's Tweets | Could the Tesla CEO Be Losing His Power?

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Congressman Louie Gohmert wants to stop climate change and to do that, he suggested that the Earth's orbit around the Sun should be changed to alter the effects. Gohmert asks the National Forest Service for help in this matter, and it does not stop on the Earth's orbit, as he said that it can alternatively be the Moon's orbit.

There has been news regarding the Earth's climate and Global Warming has been triggered by a shift in the planet's orbit around the Sun. This was inspired by the study published in Science by Richard Zeebe, a paleoceanographer from the University of Hawaii that suggested orbital triggers caused the drastic change in climate dating back to 56 million years ago.

Currently, efforts to address climate change have governors and state leaders pledging to forego gas-powered vehicles by looking into alternative and sustainable energy sources like electricity. Additionally, the only solution in place against the human-caused crisis is to go carbon-neutral, which was something California is pioneering by 2045.

Read Also: Climate Change Is Forcing The Earth's Axis To Move

Gohmert Asks Forestry to Change Earth's Orbit Around the Sun

In the recent hearing of the Natural Resources Committee of the US Congress, Texas Representative Louie Gohmert has expressed his opinions regarding climate change. He also has asked the National Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management if they can alter the Earth's orbit around the Sun to prevent Climate Change from taking place.

Moreover, he added that it could alternatively be the Moon's orbit that is changed to prevent this phenomenon that the world is facing. Some studies point out to climate change forcing the Earth's axis to move, but humans forcibly changing the orbit of the home planet and/or its natural satellite is a new thing.

Is it Possible for Forestry or Even the Whole World to Do?

Scientifically speaking, it would be difficult and close to impossible, despite the studies made about this certain possibility. The Earth is rotating at 1,000 miles per hour daily, and fully rotates on its axis in under 24 hours, hence the day and night humans experience.

To stop this motion, humans would need to create a massive brake that would make the planet stop moving at 1,000 mph. Alternatively, they would need a force of the same velocity to counteract the Earth's rotation and force it to change courses, either a slower or faster rotation on its axis or orbit around the Sun.

Currently, no technology is capable of changing this, and that the "forced" change into its axis from changing is due to climate change's course of events over the years. So, this would be close to impossible, and astronomers hope not to stop a rotation, as it is linked to numerous important functions.

Related Article: NASA's New Earth System Observatory Could Address Climate Change: Here's How It Works

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Motorola is making sure that this time, the United States will be the first one to test the upcoming Moto G Stylus 5G when it comes to the American market. Previously, the consumer-friendly phones, Moto E and Moto G have been launched in Europe, but not in their originating country. As a result, North American users could only glimpse the smartphones over the internet during the initial release.

This year, the former model of the boasted Moto Stylus has come out for its line-up expansion. However, a lot of fans have been dazed about the actual appearance of the product since many leaks have teased that its design would be far different than the original.

Now, the company clarified that it would be coming with a "slightly" better design for the touch-pen gadget. The good news: US-based users would be the first to experience how it works.

Comparing the Moto G Stylus's Old and Latest Version

According to Slashgear's report on Wednesday, June 9, the earlier model of Moto G Stylus, this year comes close with the appearance of the most recent 5G version. For this part, the Moto G Stylus 5G seems to be bulky and heavier compared to the older edition, but in terms of their specs, the latter has progressed a lot so far.

This June's Moto G Stylus would be donning a high-resolution (1080p) screen that measures 6.8 inches. For its camera, it would sport an upgraded 5MP macro camera, as well as the main cameras which have 48 MP and an 8 MP wide-shooting camera.

It is expected that it would come with the same software that the 2021 version previously featured. Motorola, at the time, guaranteed that users could easily utilize the stylus which would be guided by the smooth screen. You could also conveniently scribble a note in the Moto Notes app besides the lock screen.

Having said this, users should lower their expectations about this smartpen tab. In fact, it won't get near the levels of what Galaxy S21 and Galaxy Note have achieved because there's no pressure sensitivity featured in the Moto G Stylus stick.

The most noteworthy edge of the Stylus 5G is its big-time processor. Compared to the 2021's Snapdragon 678 chip which could not enable 5G connectivity, the latest Moto stylus brags its Snapdragon 480 5G set up for faster processing and rendering. In addition, its 5,000 mah battery would surely provide an everlasting span for your device.

Another big revelation coming from Motorola is the 128GB storage configuration which is one of its major upgrades. The company also said that the Moto G Stylus 5G has 256GB of physical storage and 6GB RAM.

Read Also: Motorola Launches Moto G30, Moto G10: Features and Specs Revealed!

Launch Date and Price of Moto G Stylus 5G

Fans could purchase Moto G Stylus 5G on June 14 at $399.99 despite the downgrade that it received in its Snapdragon 678, GSM Arena reported. You could potentially look for other smartphones at a cheaper price and a similar chipset, however, it all boils down to containing a device-changing stylus which many of them don't have.

Related Article: Moto G100 '100% Beast:' Qualcomm 8xx Processor, Release Date, Specs, Prices, and More!

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Written by Joseph Henry

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Samsung is keen on making the smallest pixel size ever. Yet again, its latest 50-Megapixel mobile image sensor is the hallmark in the industry. But what does it do anyway?

The Isocell JN1 made it possible to fit 50 megapixels in a mini 1/2.75-inch format. To make it feasible, each pixel had to be as little as 0.64m.

Samsung Isocell

In an attempt to produce DSLR-level imaging, smartphones use camera sensors to enhance their photos.

Previously, Samsung already pushed the limit of pixel size on September 23, 2019. It also has 50-megapixels, but it is a little bigger than the latest version. So, its pixels are at 0.7m.

The South Korean giant, in the following year, created another sensor called GN1. It vowed to impressively improve the auto-focus feature of its cameras. However, it has a bigger pixel size at 1.2m.

Smallest Pixel: What For?

According to The Verge, it is common knowledge in camera enthusiasts that the smaller the pixel, the higher noise is seen in images, which, of course, ruins quality.

So, why is Samsung trying to make it smaller than we could ever imagine?

It turns out that it is not for the sake of quality. Instead, it is for the sensor to be available in various cameras that its devices sport. It has now been the norm that smartphones flaunt multiple camera lenses.

For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G has all sorts of it  an ultrawide lens, a telephoto lens, and a wide-angle lens.

"The JN1 is compatible with existing 1/2.8-inch products, allowing the sensor to be used for front-facing, ultra-wide or telephoto cameras, in addition to standard wide camera options," Samsung explained in a press release.

As such, if sensors are remarkably tiny, Samsung could place them in every camera variation available on smartphones without producing an annoying bump on the rear.

Engadget noted that the camera module is thinner by at least 10% due to this latest technology.

Read Also: Samsung is set to Unveil S-Foldable, the Multi-Foldable Smartphone, Rollable Smartphone, and more!

Other Features

The JN1 sensor will also be improving its autofocus ability. It will be using the "double super PD," or phase detect technology of Samsung to improve autofocus even in low-light settings.

Additionally, the sensor could take videos in full HD at 240 fps or 4K at 60 fps. Samsung claimed that the ISOELL 2.0 boosts the light sensitivity at about 16% as well.

Currently, the new technology is under mass production. So, it could not be long enough that we we'll see Samsung devices sporting the sensor with the smallest pixel ever  well, at least not until the South Korean giant creates a smaller one.

Related Article: Samsung's Sam Virtual Assistant to Arrive Soon and Here's the New 3D Version's First Look

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Written by Teejay Boris

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : GettlyImages/ Sean Gallup ) Facebook smartwatch

Facebook is planning to debut its first-ever smartwatch next summer. The smartwatch will feature a display with two cameras that can be detached from the wrist, and it lets users take pictures and videos that can be shared on Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook's First Smartwatch

According to The Verge, a camera on the front of the smartwatch exists for video calling, while the camera on the back can be used for taking pictures and videos when detached from the stainless steel frame.

Facebook is teaming up with other companies to develop accessories for attaching the camera hub to things like a backpack.

The whole idea is to encourage smartwatch owners to use it in ways that smartphones are used now. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to create more consumer devices that circumvent Apple and Google. These two tech giants are accused of controlling Facebook's ability to reach people online.

Also Read: Facebook Messenger Now on Oculus Quest: Update Allows Users to Download Content Outside Store

The device is Facebook's first step at releasing hardware specifically for the wrist, thus opening the competition with Apple at a time when the two companies are already battling their differences in court.

Apple has positioned itself as a protector of user privacy by limiting the data that apps like Facebook can collect. Meanwhile, Facebook has for years been swarmed with scandals regarding its handling of private user data.

That rocky relationship between the two could push Facebook to convince the public to purchase its smartwatch, especially since it plans to position the smartwatch as a fitness device with a built-in heart monitor.

Facebook is now working with the top wireless carriers in the United States to support LTE connectivity in the watch, meaning it won't need to be connected to a phone to work and sell it in their stores.

The watch will come in black, white, and gold, and Facebook aims to have a sales volume in the low six figures, a small portion of the overall smartwatch market, as Apple sold 34 million watches in 2020 by comparison Counterpoint Research.

In the future versions of the smartwatch, Facebook is now planning to serve it as the key input device for its planned augmented reality glasses, which Zuckerberg thinks will one day be at par with mobile phones.

The company plans to use technology it acquired from CTRL-labs, a startup that has created armbands capable of controlling a computer through wrist movements.

Facebook is set to release the first version of the smartwatch in the summer of 2022, and the company is now working on the second and third generations that are set to be released in the next few years.

As for the price, rumors indicate that it might cost around $400, but the price point could change once the smartwatch is launched.

Facebook's History with Devices

Facebook has not had a successful track record with hardware. In 2013, Facebook launched a phone with HTC, but it did not go as well as the company hoped.

The company has yet to release its sales for its Oculus VR headsets or its sales for Portal video chat device for the home, according to The Information.

However, Facebook executives stated that the sales for the Oculus Quest 2 headset had surpassed all of the previous Oculus headset combined.

Related Article: Oculus Quest 2 Update Now Supports Facebook Messenger: How to DM in Virtual Reality

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The U.S. Navy and other military agencies from giant countries such as Russia, North Korea, and Japan are considered have the most advanced defense weapons. This is also the reason why some nations, including China, are trying to copy their war innovations.

And now, the United States Navy confirmed that it will release super-fast missiles that could reach Mach 5 or five times the speed of sound. This could help the big nation to defend its territories if ever there will be some sudden attacks that could happen in the future.

These new rockets are specifically the Conventional Prompt Strike missiles, also known as CPS. To give you more idea of how powerful this is, here are other major details of the upcoming U.S. Navy-made CPS missiles.

U.S. Navy's Own CPS Missiles To Arrive By 2028

According to Forbes' latest report, the advanced missiles are still being developed by the U.S. Navy. When it comes to size, this rocket is nearly 40 feet tall.

Because of its enormous size, the military agency has to make sure that the rocket is to contain both the first-stage booster and the second-stage container.

Also Read: US Military Encourages European Allies to Improve Drone Countering After First 'True' Drone War

The U.S. Navy also confirmed that these parts will specifically be used for the hypersonic glide vehicle that will carry the missile's warhead and seeker.

On the other hand, the military sector of the United States added that it is currently having some issues to contain the new rockets in the Mark 42 vertical missile launchers, which is currently equipped by the Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers or the Mark 57 launchers.

Because of this, the U.S. Navy announced that it will use the Zumwalts, which are larger warships compared to the Burke-class destroyers.

Aside from this, the developers also confirmed that the new CPS missiles could arrive by 2028, together with the new models of Block V Virginia, one of the submarines used by the United States.

Next-Gen U.S. Navy Destroyers To Arrive

Since the U.S. Navy is developing new advanced war rockets, the military agency should also invent bigger and more efficient destroyers, which have the capability to carry the new missiles.

Popular Mechanics reported that the U.S. Navy is now working on its so-called DDG destroyer ship, which is expected to replace the current Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser. The DDG Destroyer and the new CCP missile are just a few of the U.S. Navy's defense innovations.

Aside from the United States, various countries are also trying to improve their defense techs, including South Korea, with its latest KF-X Supersonic Jet.

For more news updates about the U.S. Navy and its upcoming CPS missiles, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: This US Unmanned Carrier-Based Drone Refuels the Navy Super Hornet Jet for the First Time!

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They say a picture paints a thousand words, what do they say about holograms? The last time I spoke with IKIN, CEO Joe Ward walked me through what holographic content is capable of doing in the warehouse, as well as the B2B opportunity by embracing an open ecosystem.

A lot has happened in a few short months, and recently company CMO Michael DArminio and EVP, Marketing Cody Oakland dished on how IKIN is deploying imagination  no, seriously. The IKIN RYZ SDK empowers Unity and C# developers with the ability to create awe-inspiring, emotion eliciting, results driving holographic content.

What type of content are we talking? Anything within Unity. From medical and architectural applications to whatever you can conceive you can literally create utilizing our SDK, Oakland noted.

This months IKIN University will unpack the Unity-based SDK, introducing the nuance and notability of developing holographic, and offering a roadmap for interested developers.

Oakland explained, Were giving the toolkit, this is not a traditional SDK, enabling those with a background developing with Unity, a certain ease, but being a Unity expert is not necessary. In an effort to make sure developers will be successful, IKIN is currently vetting applications to be involved in beta testing and consumer launch.

In March, Joe Ward referenced a deployment with the USMC, they are leveraging the RYZ SDK in warehouse operations. The initial agreement called for IKIN to outfit one warehouse, now theres talks in place to scale the partnership to 4,000 warehouses. But dont pigeonhole holograms to the warehouse.

DArmino mentioned how the hologram company is preparing to break into a brand new vertical  not for public consumption, yet. He continued to tease the horizon, with both hardware and software development underway, noting the robust breath and depth of RYZ and RYZ software applications.

Spanning gaming, independent developers, the enterprise, YouTubers, military and more; the future is vast for IKIN, with B2B and B2C both ripe for holographic content.

Leadership is incredibly disciplined on staying focused. What we have on our plate in coming months will solidify ourselves as not only a player, but a leader, DArmino exclaimed.

Central to success is strategy, as Oakland confirmed, We want to execute with excellence and maximize partnerships. In an effort to do just that, IKIN leadership leaves South Florida on Friday for Mobile World Congress to expand visibility and partner ecosystem.

Every partner has unique needs, a unique problem, that requires a lot of thought, customization and troubleshooting, he continued referencing a couple projects in the cooker. An upcoming consumer launch is in the works, as well. With a plate stacked high over the next few months, Oakland remains confident in delivering.

With IKIN, what you see is what you get. Everybody is living in a 2D world. IKIN offers the Z Axis. As DArmino put it, Its much more engaging seeing things as they really are in full depth. I cant argue.

Join us in Miami for ITEXPO and IKIN University, and gain a roadmap to developing cutting-edge holographic content.

Edited by Maurice Nagle
Baton Rouge hotel occupancy edged past not just pandemic era levels but even traveler demand in 2019 for the weekend before Memorial Day.

The Baton Rouge Area Chamber, which reviews various economic indicators in the nine parish metro region, noted the metric Thursday in its monthly report.

Both occupancy and revenues for hotel operators are even higher than before the coronavirus pandemic began which its in-house data cruncher suggests is an indication that "travel and tourism have rebounded significantly"

Revenue generated by hotels hit $3.2 million between May 23 and May 29 compared to $1.6 million in 2020 and $2.9 million in 2019, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association and STR Inc. a division of CoStar Group which tracks local hotel data.

Likewise, hotel occupancy hit 63% in Baton Rouge during the same time frame, up from 14.6% in 2020 and 53.3% in 2019.

Other economic metrics such as consumer spending and vehicle travel in the region are also above pre-pandemic levels. Consumer spending in East Baton Rouge Parish was up 8.8% compared to January averages in early 2020. In Ascension and Livingston Parishes consumer spending was up 12.3% and 12.6% respectively, according to credit card data.

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The biggest sticking point at this time is the metro area's jobs picture with a "stubbornly high unemployment rate (of 5.8% compared to 3.8% before the pandemic)," said Andrew Fitzgerald, senior director of research at BRAC.

As such, some aspects of the global economic recovery is considered "jobless," meaning consumer spending from federal stimulus money is likely driving growth instead of businesses expanding from customer demand.

The percentage of people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine in the metro area, is lower than the national average. This is considered a "potentially complicating factor in recovery," because if there's another surge of coronavirus cases it may prompt the government to restrict commerce once again in order to control the spread of the disease.

Fewer than 40% of the population in East Baton Rouge Parish has at least one vaccine for COVID-19. West Feliciana Parish, where St. Francisville sits nearby Angola, has at least 72% of individuals with at least one vaccine shot. St. Helena has 19.6% with at least one vaccine shot.
Are you willing to give up a popular deduction on your state taxes in exchange for being assessed at lower income tax rates?

Thats the basic question voters will face in October under a measure given final passage Thursday by the Louisiana Legislature  and that still requires the signature of Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Under the proposed change, both corporations and individuals would be assessed at lower income tax rates in exchange for losing the right to deduct their federal tax payments on their state income tax returns.

Tax experts have long called for the swap, saying the lower tax rates will make Louisiana appear more attractive as a place to live and invest, while canceling the deductions will ensure greater stability for tax collections.

If Edwards gives his approval, voters will decide on Oct. 9 whether to approve the proposed change to the state constitution. At a press conference Thursday night, Edwards said he expects he will sign the measures but needs to study the last-minute changes first to make sure they are consistent with his goals for broadening the tax base, lowering rates and raising about as much in the future as today.

The House and Senate called for the election by passing a package of three bills that are linked together to create the constitutional amendment. Those bills are Senate Bill 159 by Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin; House Bill 278 by Rep. Stuart Bishop, R-Lafayette; and House Bill 292 by Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia. Allain has been the key driver behind the legislative package.

The proposed change will slightly reduce the amount of revenue that the state collects, according to a legislative analysis. Supporters of the proposal say that most taxpayers should pay about the same if the change goes through, although some may pay a bit more or less.

Income tax swap passes House on 2nd try, now goes to Senate. Here's what it would do A complicated tax swap involving individual income taxes cleared a key hurdle Thursday when it won approval from the Louisiana House, but it f

The final package of bills, which won overwhelming support from lawmakers on Wednesday and Thursday, resulted from weeks of negotiations between legislators, outside interest groups and the governors office.

If voters approve the proposed amendment, tax rates set at different income levels in the constitution by voters in 2003 would be replaced by a maximum top rate of 4.75% for individuals and 7.5% for corporations. Those are lower than the top rates today.

If voters pass the amendment, the top individual income tax rate would drop from 6% to 4.25% on net income above $50,000, the 4% rate would drop to 3.5% on net income between $12,500 and $50,000 and the 2% rate would drop to 1.85% on net income on the first $12,500 of income.

Louisiana will have the lowest upper-income bracket of the Southern states that apply an income tax, said state Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia.

Tax experts have said eliminating the federal deductions will cost higher-income taxpayers a bit more on average.

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The five different corporate tax rates under current law would drop from a high of 8% to 7.5% on income above $150,000 and to lower rates at lower income levels.

+4 Louisianas Senate president has twice taken actions that helped lobbyist pal Twice during the current legislative session, Senate President Page Cortez has taken extraordinary steps to help certain gambling companies th

The new rates would be set in statutory law, meaning the Legislature could change them in the future. For example, if the amendment passes, lawmakers could choose to raise the top 4.25% individual income tax rate up to the 4.75% rate set in the constitution. Rates set in the constitution are harder to change because doing so requires legislative and voter approval.

Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, joined with two other senators in opposing the proposed constitutional amendment. She expressed concern that voters could be locking in a top tax rate thats not high enough to generate the revenue needed to provide all the government services the public wants.

Supporters of the tax swap say Louisiana is an outlier in allowing taxpayers to deduct their federal tax payments on their state taxes. Under current law, if Congress and President Joe Biden raise taxes  something Biden has said he plans to do  the state will wind up losing tax revenue because Louisiana taxpayers will take bigger federal tax deductions on their state tax returns.

The tax swap has the support of such groups as the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, the Public Affairs Research Council, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, GNO Inc. and the National Federation of Independent Business.

This plan creates greater stability and predictability, lowers income tax rates, eliminates the punishing franchise tax for 85% of filers, and guarantees that growth of state income will be used to lower rates in coming years, the Pelican Institute said in a statement. The passage of this package of legislation sends a strong message that families and entrepreneurs can thrive in the Pelican state and sends an opportunity to voters this fall to wholeheartedly endorse major reforms to increase Louisianas global competitiveness.

The ballot language that voters will see does not mention a provision that aims to ratchet down tax rates if tax collections and personal income growth are higher than expected and if the state rainy day fund is filled to a certain amount.

+2 Sparked by 'good' slavery remark, Republican infighting flares in the Louisiana House In January 2020, Republicans in the Louisiana House divided into two camps in a bitterly contested election to choose the next speaker.

Jan Moller, the director of the Louisiana Budget Project, had voiced support for parts of the tax package earlier in the session. But he ended up objecting to it because of the language added by conservatives that would mandate cuts in tax rates if those triggers were reached.

The Legislature also passed Senate Bill 161 by Allain that would reduce the franchise tax, a long-time goal of business interests.

Black Democrats overcame initial objections to the tax package after the House Republican leadership agreed to consider several of their initiatives, including a bill to provide a tax credit to companies that hire underprivileged youth (House Bill 680), a bill that extends the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor (House bill 678) and a sales tax exemption for the purchase of feminine hygiene products and diapers (House Bill 7). The Legislature passed all three measures on Thursday.

Supporters of the swap say the reduction in tax rates will lead to more investment and more tax revenue in Louisiana. But the Legislature and then-Gov. Bobby Jindal cut taxes for higher- income taxpayers in 2008, and the state faced years of budget deficits in the following years.
After off and on efforts for years, the Louisiana Legislature gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that would make kindergarten mandatory.

The proposal, Senate Bill 10, passed the Senate 38-0 and was endorsed by the House a few hours later 70-32.

Gov. John Bel Edwards is expected to sign the legislation.

Both chambers had approved slightly different versions of the proposal earlier.

A House-Senate negotiating committee hammered out the lone disagreement between the two chambers  how old children should be when they are required to attend kindergarten.

Mandatory kindergarten nears final approval, 'It just makes sense' A Senate-passed bill that would make kindergarten mandatory neared final approval Thursday when the Louisiana House approved it 59-31.

The Senate voted to require children who turn five by Sept. 30 to enroll. The House changed that to six month earlier, March 31 of the calendar year when school starts, in part to address concerns that the bill was forcing children into kindergarten prematurely.

The final version says children who turn five by Sept. 30 would be required to attend kindergarten unless they are four on the first day of school or are enrolled in a pre-kindergarten program.

Doing so, backers said, gives the families of four-year-olds more flexibility but also brings into the fold most of the children the legislation is aimed at.

"We think we addressed all of the concerns," said Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, House sponsor of the measure.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, is the primary sponsor.

The new requirement would take effect for the 2022-23 school year.

+3 Mandatory kindergarten endorsed by Louisiana Senate without debate; here's what's next Kindergarten would be mandatory in Louisiana under legislation that won approval Wednesday on a 34-1 vote in the Senate.

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Backers said the change is long overdue, especially with the large number of children who are ill-prepared when they begin kindergarten and the fact that barely half of students in first, second and third grades are reading on grade level.

The measure was opposed by the Louisiana Family Forum, whose officials said the decision on when children begin school should be left to parents. Critics said the bill lowers the mandatory school age from seven to five.

Children are now required to attend school from 7-18 years of age unless they graduate from high school early.

State officials have said about 53,000 children attend kindergarten.

+8 Why a battle is shaping up in Louisiana over the latest push for mandatory kindergarten The bid to make kindergarten mandatory in Louisiana, which has been tried before and failed, is about to spark controversy again.

The new rules would require about 2,800 more to enroll either in a public or private school or through home schooling.

Current state law requires all 69 school districts to offer kindergarten but attendance is not mandatory.

A total of 19 states and the District of Columbia require students to attend kindergarten, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Voting for mandatory kindergarten for 5 year olds (71): Speaker Schexnayder, Reps Adams, Bacala, Bishop, Bourriaque, Brass, Brown, Bryant, Carpenter, Carrier, G. Carter, R. Carter, W. Carter, Cormier, Coussan, Cox, Davis, Deshotel, DuBuisson, Duplessis, Echols, Edmonston, Fontenot, Freeman, Freiberg, Gaines, Glover, Green, Hilferty, Hughes, Huval, Illg, James, Jefferson, Jenkins, T. Johnson, Jones, Jordan, Kerner, LaCombe, Landry, Larvadain, Lyons, Mack, Magee, Marcelle, Marino, McKnight, McMahen, D. Miller, G. Miller, Mincey, Moore, Muscarello, Newell, R. Owen, Phelps, Pierre, Pressly, Selders, St. Blanc, Stagni, Stefanski, Thomas, Thompson, Turner, Villio, Wheat, White, Willard and Zeringue.

Voting against SB10 (33): Reps Amedee, Bagley, Butler, Crews, DeVillier, Edmonds, Emerson, Farnum, Firment, Frieman, Gadberry, Garofalo, Geymann, Goudeau, Harris, Hodges, Hollis, Horton, Ivey, M. Johnson, McCormick, McFarland, Miguez, Nelson, Orgeron, C. Owen, Riser, Romero, Schamerhorn, Schlegel, Seabaugh, Tarver and Wright.

Not Voting (1): Rep Beaullieu.

.
Legislation that would expand Louisiana's definition of domestic abuse to include behaviors like coercion and control was temporarily sidelined Wednesday after an emotional outburst on the House floor between the bill's chief sponsor and an opposing legislator.

Rep. Malinda White briefly brought the lower chamber to a halt Wednesday after she abruptly began shouting at Rep. Alan Seabaugh, who moments earlier told her she didn't understand the ramifications of her bill. A colleague intervened to physically remove White from the floor.

The public blow-up came amid a one-on-one conversation over language in House Bill 159  which would allow victims of domestic abuse to obtain protective orders before they experience physical violence.

"When I said you're not a lawyer and you don't understand, she completely lost her mind," Seabaugh said. "As she was dragged away she said either I'm going to get my gun and finish this or let me get my gun and we'll finish this."

This bill would keep guns away from domestic abusers. NRA says it goes too far Louisianas powerful gun lobby is opposing legislation that would make it easier for domestic violence victims to obtain protective orders bar

White said in the heat of the moment, she made comments she probably shouldn't have, but said as a survivor of domestic abuse, she was "triggered" by the notion that she didn't understand the issue at-hand.

"He told me I don't know a damn thing about it  and I suffered it," White said. "Nobody's going to come tell me I don't know about that when I lived it."

White, a Bogalusa Democrat, later apologized on the House floor for the altercation.

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Law professors, victims' advocates and family court judges spent nearly four years crafting HB159 to expand the definition of domestic abuse to include some forms of non-physical, emotional abuse such as coercion, control and intimidation  but only when its used to prevent a victim from escaping a relationship or contacting law enforcement.

Experts argue the language better reflects the realities of domestic abuse, which often begins with controlling behaviors, and will help victims obtain protective orders before their circumstances escalate to physical violence.

Seabaugh, a Shreveport Republican, said the language was too broad and that "people will lose their kids, they will lose their gun rights and all kinds other bad things for a bad text message, an offensive Facebook post or tweet." He also said it would open the door to requiring alimony between dating partners.

Andrea Carroll, an LSU law professor who helped draft the legislation, said that Seabaugh's concerns are unfounded. She said existing law doesn't allow for financial support between unmarried cohabitants and offered to include an amendment reiterating that fact.

White said shes wired up like a racehorse by nature" and said she was also running on little sleep and steroids after dealing with an illness earlier this week. My father comes out of me when my mother should, she said. My father was a fighter.

Seabaugh said he and White are set to meet with House Speaker Clay Schexnayder over the altercation.

"If I had grabbed her arm and threatened to get a gun, Id be in cuffs right now, which I think is kind of ironic when shes bringing a bill on domestic abuse and shes being abusive and threatening," Seabaugh said.

With only a day left in the legislative session, White said she expects HB159 to come up for a vote on Thursday.
The corporation representing Byron Bays traditional owners has rejected an offer of a donation from Netflix, as the streamer continues to battle with local opposition to its controversial reality TV series Byron Baes.

On Thursday, The Arakwal Corporation, representing the Bundjalung people of Byron Bay, issued a short statement following a meeting of its board of directors in which it refuted suggestions that Netflix or its production company Eureka had consulted with the traditional owners of the region prior to commencing work on the docusoap about social media influencers in the area.

Byron Bay locals want the Netflix show Byron Baes to be shut down.

The statement issued by Arakwal general manager Sharon Sloane said the directors do not accept a donation from Eureka Productions or Netflix, that they are not in agreement with the nature of the series, and that they support the wider Byron community in opposing the production.

Byron Baes has attracted stiff opposition since Netflix announced the eight-part series as its first locally commissioned reality show on April 8. A Get Up petition started by local filmmaker Tess Hall has attracted almost 10,000 signatures, a number marginally higher than the population of the town itself and about one-third of the population of the entire Byron Shire.
Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smiths defamation action against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times and three of our journalists has nearly concluded its first week.

Legal Affairs reporter Michaela Whitbourn has been covering both trials and she joins Nathanael Cooper on Please Explain to bring us up to speed on whats happened this week.

A reminder that supporters power our newsrooms and are critical for the sustainability of news coverage.

Becoming a subscriber also gets you exclusive behind-the-scenes content and invitations to special events. Click on the links to subscribe to The Sydney Morning Herald or The Age.
Sexual assault reports have more than doubled in Sydneys eastern suburbs, inner west, northern suburbs and Hills district after thousands of young women shared their stories of abuse.

Data released by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research on Thursday shows reports in Sydney surged 69 per cent above the monthly average in March, driven largely by victims younger than 21 coming forward to report past and recent assaults.

The dramatic jump has been attributed to media coverage and public discussions about rape and consent driven by young women such as Chanel Contos and Brittany Higgins.

In the bureaus report, titled Why did sexual assault reports spike in March 2021?, executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said the rise had occurred sharply and uncharacteristically, with 973 incidents reported across NSW: 360 more than the monthly average.
Under a $1.5 billion pre-budget funding announcement, Queensland-owned power companies will grow their own renewable generation and storage capacity in an effort to lower electricity prices and meet state emissions targets.

The top-up of its renewable energy fund will give the government $2 billion to also invest in new hydrogen projects and manufacturing jobs in its hope of reaching a renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030.

The $1.5 billion injection has been welcomed by conservation and renewable groups, along with the Electrical Trades Union. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Addressing the Queensland Energy Forum in Townsville on Thursday before next weeks budget, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the fund would create a self-reinforcing cycle of investment.

That means not just mining the minerals for batteries and renewables in Queensland - it means processing the minerals and making batteries and renewables here as well, she said.
Loading Residents of Aurora tower have recorded noises higher than 60 decibels that continue into the early hours of the morning. Complaints have been lodged, but residents say these have been ignored. One resident, who also declined to be named because she feared speaking out could affect her tenancy, said the noise had been so disruptive she had to take time off work. Ive tried to move into the front room but [the noise] is everywhere, she said. Once it starts, it doesnt stop. A complaint sent to Auroras management on May 25 labelled Excessive noise described creaking so loud its impossible to sleep. Ive mentioned this in the past and been told the building manager will get back to me with what they can do. But still no reply. Its been over a year now ... Please can someone help with this.

Another complaint sent in September reveals a pattern of inaction. Ive complained about this many times now! It is impossible to sleep with the noise that comes from the building in the wind, to the point where I do not want to live here anymore, a resident wrote. That report was closed on the same day with a note: Your issue has been forwarded to [the] building manager and he will reply on your issue as soon as possible. Meanwhile, creaking noises have persisted at Australia 108. Screenshots from an internal messaging platform show people on multiple floors have been affected this week in what residents have described as hell, insane, ridiculous and a nightmare. I actually dont feel safe, one resident said.

Another said they also didnt feel safe. I cant focus on my work. My instinct is telling me to get the f out of this building, the resident said. Multiplex asked residents to record the noises and place stickers on walls to mark where the sound was coming from. The company told residents this week: We would like to advise that Multiplex are committed to assisting in rectifying these complaints (where possible) and will be in contact with you directly to review each complaint. Australia 108 resident Ken Willis, who moved into the building a month ago, praised the amenities and interior design but said the creaking noises occurred 40 per cent of the time, were frightening and were replicated across the whole building.

Its really hard to explain, the 38-year-old management consultant said. It sounds like a giant robot is trying to bend a huge iron bar. Its like if you can imagine all the joints in the building, the cladding, all ramming together in one split second and its reverberating throughout the entire room and down into the corridors and where the stairs are, the lift area, everything. Ive never heard anything like it. A Multiplex representative said there were no structural problems with Australia 108 or Melbourne Square, adding the noises were caused by extreme wind. Credit:Matt Golding Where residents experience noise in non-extreme weather conditions, we will work with the building managers to make an assessment and determine if any minor rectifications are required, the representative said. This is standard procedure on any new building. Mr Willis, who has lived in high-rises around the world, was unconvinced by this explanation. For them to say this is normal is just false, he said. What can be done? Who knows. This is the sort of thing that could end up in fairly complex construction litigation.

Mr Willis said he was a deep sleeper so the noise had not kept him up at night, but he was concerned about other residents. There are people who could be in a very dangerous mental health state because of whats happening here. Structural engineers have poured money into investigating the problem, which is linked to defective construction materials and techniques used by major developers around the world. Australia 108 resident Ken Willis says the creaking noises are terrifying. Credit:Ken Willis The pressure on the industry was massive after [The Age] articles and still remains today, said resilience consultant Jordan Bartlett. Its a smoking gun. This is a real issue. Manufacturing firm Rondo built a test site and subjected it to winds of more than 35 kilometres an hour, similar to those lashing Melbourne on Thursday, which caused creaking noises and a loud crack.
Charlotte Arenas tips to survive the latest round of remote learning were get the work done and keep smiling.

In common with students across Melbourne, the 13-year-old, who is in year 8 at Eltham High School, has spent the past two weeks studying from home but had an easier experience than last year because she knew what to expect.

Charlotte Arena says this round of remote learning has been easier because she learnt how to cope with it last time. Credit:Jason South

Last time, we were going into remote learning with no idea of what would happen, she said.

This time, our English teacher had a wellbeing check-in every lesson on the Webex, and we said stuff youre grateful for. I was grateful for food and a warm house.
Having, fingers crossed, got through the toughest period of restrictions, we must have a discussion about what lessons have been learnt. With there having been 22 breaches of hotel quarantine across Australia, and with at least six more months before a substantial number of people are vaccinated, it is probably only a matter of time before another outbreak occurs.

However, it would be wrong to call this an end of lockdown. At best, its an easing, with considerable restrictions remaining for at least another week, restrictions that will have a severe impact on many businesses and the mental health of many of people. Can we lock everyone down, again and again, until most of us are vaccinated?

The number of active COVID-19 cases has fallen for several days, as has the number of exposure sites and close contacts forced into home quarantine. It will be a welcome return to some normality to have the majority of businesses reopen and every student back at school. Parents are breathing a sigh of relief.

After two weeks in hard lockdown, Melburnians have been allowed to venture out further again. While there are still COVID-19 infections that are of concern  particularly those linked to the Delta variant and the new unlinked cases in the citys north  it appears the worst may be behind us.

There are some noticeable areas that have vastly improved from last year. Contact tracing is the most obvious. Last year, the system was quickly overwhelmed. Methods of keeping track of cases were outdated and an overly centralised workforce had little local knowledge. Resources for COVID-19 testing have also been bulked up, allowing for peaks during this outbreak of more than 50,000. What is also now a given is that lockdowns need to be hard and fast. That was not the case last year, when it took weeks before the second lockdown was enforced with strict restrictions. By that time, the virus had already spread across the city.

But there is room for improvement. As Professor Brendan Crabb, the head of Melbournes Burnet Institute, said on ABC Radio on Wednesday, we need to obsess far more about mitigation rather than the binary discussion of yes and no when it comes to shutting down sectors in the community. What does that mean? Instead of schools merely waiting for the next orders to return to Zoom classes, he is advocating that far greater effort and thought be put into establishing the conditions that would enable students to stay in the classroom. Vaccinating teachers is essential, but there are other measures, including checking for poor ventilation and moving high-risk activities outside, that could turn closing schools into a last resort, instead of a first step.

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There must also be a continuing focus on aged care homes, a vulnerable setting. The realisation that few private aged care workers and service providers had been vaccinated, despite them being high on the priority list, was a failure not just of the federal government, which oversees the sector. The nursing homes themselves must take some blame for leaving their residents at risk.

Lockdowns are a blunt instrument. As more is understood of how COVID-19 travels through a community, it is essential for governments to continue to tailor their response to the actual threat. Victorians have proven remarkably compliant in following tough restrictions, but this has come at an enormous cost to many peoples wellbeing and finances. A future lockdown is not inevitable, but its likely enough that the Andrews government should begin planning for it once this outbreak fully recedes. We have learnt much since the first lockdown, with those lessons decisive in limiting the spread this time around. If lockdown 5.0 were to happen, we need to ensure that it benefits from a renewed effort to lessen the impact on those worst affected.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan wishes the federal government would stop its combative rhetoric with China, which he says goes against the interests of the nation.

Mr McGowan met on Wednesday afternoon with Prime Minister Scott Morrison during the latters visit to Perth, where the Premier made it clear he had a different view as to how Australia should approach its relationship with the Asian superpower.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and WA Premier Mark McGowan are not seeing eye to eye when it comes to the Australia-China relationship. Credit:WAtoday

Mr Morrison was in the city to give a foreign policy speech on getting agreement from liberal democracies to toughen institutions such as the World Trade Organisation before flying to the United Kingdom for a G7 plus summit.

The Premier has long been a vocal critic of the federal governments recent approach with China which has seen the trading relationship between the two deteriorate  with restrictions on barley, rock lobster, and other products  since calls by Australia for a probe into the origins of COVID-19.
Nationals MP George Christensen has made two secret submissions to Australias privacy watchdog in an attempt to block media access to information about a now concluded police probe into his frequent travels to the Philippines.

For almost two years, Nine News, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have been trying under Freedom of Information laws to access a letter sent by the Australian Federal Police to then-Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on June 25, 2018. The letter advised it was closing the case into Mr Christensen, but warned the Nationals MP remained an ongoing risk of being compromised, according to sources who have seen the letter.

Government MP George Christensen has made two secret submissions to the privacy watchdog. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Christensen was dubbed The Member for Manila by colleagues after it was revealed he spent 294 days in the Philippines between April 2014 and June 2018.

The police investigated his travel for more than a year, which included frequent visits to Angeles City - an urbanised area more than 80km north of the capital Manila which is known for its red-light district.
Southerners crossing the border for a new life in Queensland will have to pay for the privilege, with a new charge expected to raise $17 million.

Treasurer Cameron Dick will announce a new drivers licence transfer fee of $78.75 in next weeks budget, aimed at people who move to Queensland from interstate.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick will announce the licence transfer fee in next weeks state budget. Credit:Attila Csaszar

The tens of thousands of Australians, mostly from New South Wales, who move to Queensland over the next three years will have to pay for the privilege, he said.

Currently, drivers do not need to pay a fee to switch an interstate licence to a Queensland licence.
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Falun Gong practitioners meditating in public in Guangzhou in 1998, before the Communist Party banned the spiritual group in 1999. Such sessions remain forbidden. Image credit: Minghui.org

95 Illegally Sentenced to Jail in China Throughout May for Their Faith in Falun Gong

After 22 years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has not let up in its brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient Chinese spiritual practice consisting of slow-moving meditation exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

The practice grew rapidly in popularity in the 1990s, with 70 million to 100 million people practicing in China by the end of the decade, according to official estimates at the time. Threatened by its popularity, the CCP launched a systematic elimination campaign of the practice in July 1999. Since then, millions have been persecuted in prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured, according to the Falun Dafa Infocenter.

According to the Chinese-language Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that documents the CCPs persecution of Falun Gong, at least 95 Falun Gong practitioners were illegally sentenced to jail throughout May 2021, covering 41 cities in 21 provinces and other autonomous regions.

At the same time, they were fined 691,900 yuan (about $108,000) by the court in total, including 1,000 yuan ($156) robbed by police officers.

Additionally, 14 Falun Gong adherents from Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, have been missing since May 10, according to Minghui.

They are believed to be held in a secret locationan unauthorized black jailin Changshu, a satellite city of Suzhou.

By province, central Chinas Henan and northeastern Chinas Heilongjiang are the worst, with 31 and 10 jailed, respectively.

By age group, at least 13 of them are aged 65 years or older. Two of them are older than 80, including Xie Changxiu and Zheng Jiajin.

Xie, an 81-year-old woman residing in Shifang, a satellite city of Deyang city, in southwestern Chinas Sichuan province, was given a two-year jail sentence with three years probation and a fine of 1,000-yuan.

Zheng Jiajin, an 81-year-old man residing in Xinxiang city, Henan province, on May 19 was illegally sentenced to nine years in prison by a court in Huixian, a satellite city of Xinxiang, and fined 10,000 yuan ($1,560).

According to Minghui.org, Zheng benefited from practicing Falun Gong, recovering his health from jaundice (also known as yellows) soon after he began. He was repeatedly subjected to persecution for his continued faith in Falun Gong. Since September 2020, his pension has been suspended by Henan social insurance authorities.

By gender, a large portion of the illegally sentenced is women. Fifty-eight-year-old Wang Cuiying, a retired official from a Party school in Heze city, Shandong province, and a winner of awards for her outstanding job performance, was sentenced to five years in prison for adhering to her faith.

In 2012, she was detained for two years in a labor camp for her refusal to renounce her belief in Falun Gong, which she said had brought her back to health after her failure to cure her illnesses via modern medical means.
96-Year-Old WWII Veteran Travels 900 Miles to Visit Grave of Marine Who Saved His Life

A 96-year-old World War II veteran from Massachusetts traveled nearly 900 miles to South Carolina to pay tribute to a Marine who saved his life 76 years ago.

At the beginning of the year, Private Anthony Grasso, from Norwood, discovered where Lt. Frank DuBose had been lain to rest.

DuBose gave his life for his comrade, shielding him from a shell blast during the Battle of Hurtgenforest along the Belgian-German border in 1944.

Grasso was thrown 30 feet into the air during the hit, causing injuries to his head and neck, but he survived, Fox News reported. He earned two Purple Hearts during his service.

DuBose, however, took the brunt of the blast and was killed, earning him a posthumous Silver Star for diverting enemy fire.

On May 27, Grasso set out to pay his respects by visiting DuBoses grave at Quaker Cemetery in Camden, South Carolina. He was accompanied by several family members.

Norwood residents, bearing American flags, sent him off in grand fashion; he received a bagpipe tribute, and police escorted him to Bostons Logan Airport.

I never thought Id get this, and I thank everybody, he told NBC, adding just how much DuBoses sacrifice meant: If you wasnt there, you cant realize it.

Grassos story was retold in the book All Souls Day, which inspired several New Englanders to help him pay tribute to the fallen Marine. They stated that veterans of that time are increasingly becoming fewer in number.

The books author, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joseph Pereira, was the man who helped Grasso locate the grave.

His story is a 76-year-old story of two things, Pereira told Fox News. One is fighting PTSD. He had it in the worst way. And the other thing is survivors guilt  those two things have shadowed him throughout his life.

It is very cathartic for him. It is a lifetime of grief and sorrow just lifting off his shoulders.

While in South Carolina, Grasso placed a white rose on DuBoses gravestone, then raised his hand in salute to him. He addressed his comrade with a few words, CBS reported, One final salute. Thank you. God bless you, Frank. Ill meet you soon.

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Arraignment Delay Continues for Mass Shooting Suspect

Its been more than two months since a gunman fatally shot four people in Orange, Calif., but authorities say health issues are continuing to delay an arraignment.

A gunman opened fire on March 31 inside the offices of Unified Homes, killing 50-year-old Luis Tovar, his 28-year-old daughter Jenevieve Raygoza, and his nine-year-old son Matthew Farias. Leticia Solis Guzman, 58, was also killed. Blanca Ismeralda Tamayothe mother of Jenevieve and Matthewwas shot in the head but survived.

Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, the 44-year-old suspect in the killings, remains hospitalized in an undisclosed state after being shot by police responding to the crime scene. He is facing four counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

While his exact condition cant be shared due to privacy laws, Gonzalezs public defender Ken Morrison told The Epoch Times his health is improving.

There has been some positive change in his apparent medical condition, but we still are not at the point where we can proceed with the arraignment or that he can make intelligent decisions about his case, such that he can enter a time waiver, for example, Morrison said. Beyond that, Im not comfortable sharing more publicly, nor do I have authorization to do so at this point in time.

This undated photo provided by the Orange Police Department shows Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, a 44-year-old Fullerton, Calif., man who is the suspect in a shooting that occurred inside an Orange, Calif., business on March 31, 2021. (Orange Police Department via AP)

Members of the defense team subpoenaed various medical records that may give them an idea of how long it might take for Gonzalez to become healthy enough to be charged, though they havent yet received all of the requested information.

Were still waiting for additional subpoenaed records that I have requested and have as of yet not arrived, Morrison said. Those are additional medical records that may shed further light on the progress of his medical condition, and that might assist in making some future decisions about how to proceed.

While Morrison was initially attending court hearings from Gonzalezs hospital room each weekday after the shooting, Orange County Superior Court Judge Cheri Pham on May 21 agreed to change the meetings from daily to weekly.

Tovars wife, Maria Reynosa, told The Epoch Times that she has not been given an update on the situation in weeks, but trusts that authorities know what theyre doing.

Its taking too long, Reynosa said. We dont have any update; this morning I was thinking to call them to know something more, because [its been a] long time and I havent heard [anything] yet.

[Gonzalez] has to face the consequences for what he did.
An Indian pharmacist pulls out a box of medicines from a shelf at a Generic Drug Store at the Victoria Hospital in Bangalore on June 28, 2012. (Manjunath Kiran/AFP/GettyImages)

As COVID-19 Wreaks Havoc in India, the Worlds Pharmacy Exports Slow

News Analysis

India is known as the worlds pharmacy because it is a major global supplier of medicinal ingredients. However, the pandemic has slowed Indias pharmaceutical exports. In May, the Reserve Bank of India stated that Indias pharmaceutical industry is heavily dependent on imports of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) from China.

Since April, over a dozen of Indias 28 federal states have enforced lockdown measures. Consequently, many pillar industries are suffering from the economic shutdown, and factory start-up rates have significantly declined. Among them, Indian pharmaceutical intermediaries and raw material pharmaceutical enterprises have only about 30 percent of the start-up rate, according to Chinese media platform NetEase.

Due to the lockdowns, businesses remain closed, including pharmaceutical companiesthis has hampered Indias supply chain of drug exports to Europe.

Furthermore, 70 percent of APIs in India are imported from China due to low production costs, according to The Indian Express. For instance, paracetamol and ibuprofen are almost 100 percent dependent on China, the report said.

The most commonly used medicines based on ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug, in this undated file photo. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

The pharmaceutical manufacturing supply chain consists of two main stages: the first stage is the production of APIs, which are a vital part of the efficacy of medicines; the second stage is called formulation production in which the drug is produced by auxiliary substances and the API binds the drug into a ready-made medication such as tablets, capsules, creams, and injections.

India and China are the two major producers of medicinal ingredients and drug exporters in the world.

As the worlds third-largest producer of generic drugs, India produces 20 percent of those drugs, and the pharmaceutical industry has become one of the pillars of Indias economy. Indias drugs are currently exported to more than 200 countries worldwide, including the United States, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia.

According to a report by mainland Chinese media Yical Global, in March last year, SBICAP Securities Limited (SSL), a subsidiary of State Bank of India (SBI), said that 85 percent of APIs in India are imported, of which China accounts for 68 percent. Hubei Province, where COVID initially erupted in late 2019, was the main production center, accounting for 35 to 40 percent of Indias import of APIs and raw materials.

Dr. Kunal Dhamesha, a Senior Securities Analyst at SBICAP, told Yicai that antibiotics are the most imported APIs in India, followed by compound vitamins and hormones. More than 90 percent of antibiotics such as penicillin, cloxacillin, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, gentamicin, and neomycin come from China; and more than 50 percent of drugs such as compound vitamins and hormones are sourced from China, Dhamesha said.

Europe Rattled

At the start of the COVID pandemic, European governments were concerned when India banned exports of certain epidemic-related products, causing supply chain disruptions and medicine shortages.

European API manufacturers are mainly concentrated in Italy, Germany, Spain, and France, focusing on low-sale and complex API production.

When COVID began to spread around the world in early March last year, Indias Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued a notice restricting the export of 26 APIs and their production, including paracetamol, tinidazole, erythromycin salts, and clindamycin salts.

A study by Pro Generika, a German generic drugs lobby group, analyzed the global production of 565 APIs and found that 63 percent of drugs from Asia are certified to be suitable for use in medicinal products, about 31 percent more than last year. More than 80 percent of these certificates are in the hands of Indian and Chinese manufacturers.

There are calls for the relocation of production back to Europe. European industry insiders warn that this may be a complex process, and higher labor costs and stricter environmental standards make it impossible for them to compete with Asian suppliers at a price.

Chinas Pharmaceutical Industry Benefits

Chinas Securities Times said in April that COVID is getting worse again in India and that it may negatively impact the countrys economy and spread to the global industrial chain. If the outbreak in India exacerbates the global shortage of medicines, some APIs may continue to have high unit prices. Because the global supply of APIs is heavily dependent on China and India, relevant API companies in China will benefit.

The report also said that since many Indian companies have stopped production, Chinas pharmaceutical industries will most likely benefit.

Moreover, Indian companies are also major suppliers of pharmaceutical research and development services and customized manufacturing for global innovative drug companies. Since many Indian companies have stopped production due to the pandemic, Chinese pharmaceutical companies such as WuXi AppTec have been benefiting from the situation.

Public data shows that WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc., founded in 2000 by Peking University scholar Li Ge and his wife, is known as Alibaba in medicine and Huawei in medicine. The investment capital behind WuXi includes Boyu Capital controlled by Jiang Zhicheng, the grandson of Jiang Zemin, the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The CCP Makes It Harder for India

Indias Economic Daily reported on May 16 that India urged Beijing to stabilize the price of APIs used in COVID-related medicine and to lift restrictions on cargo companies flights. The report quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying that the Indian government and the pharmaceutical association made this request because of the recent spike in the price of APIs purchased from China to produce medicine such as paracetamol, ivermectin, and some antibiotics. For example, the cost of APIs used to make ivermectin has increased by 300 percent. Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic medicine that has been shown to help reduce the mortality rate of COVID patients.

A health worker shows a bottle of ivermectin, a medicine authorized by the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (INVIMA) to treat patients with mild, asymptomatic or suspicious COVID-19, as part of a study of the Center for Paediatric Infectious Diseases Studies, in Cali, Colombia, on July 21, 2020. (Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images)

In April this year, the Times of India revealed that Sichuan Airlines, a state-owned company, announced a 15-day suspension of flights of COVID medical supplies to India. Indian traders also said that Chinese manufacturers raised the price of related materials by 35 to 40 percent, and freight rates increased to more than 20 percent.

At the India Ideas Summit last July, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that India is a trusted ally of the United States. He urged India to be less dependent on Beijing, by moving supply chains away from China and reduce its reliance on Chinese companies in areas like telecommunications, medical supplies, and others.

The Indian government has taken action in developing its own APIs. Last March, the Indian government rolled out a plan which includes setting up three API bulk drug parks and providing financial incentives for domestic manufacturers.
A view from the rooftop veranda at the RH Atlanta: The Gallery at the Estate in Buckhead opening celebration in Atlanta on Nov. 20, 2014. (Ben Rose/Getty Images for Restoration Hardware)

Atlantas Wealthiest District Wants to Secede From City Amid COVID Crime Wave

Some residents of Atlantas wealthiest neighborhood are attempting to create their own city and police force amid a dramatic surge in violent crime citywide that includes a more than 60 percent jump in homicides this year.

A movement is growing in the Buckhead district, which has about 86,000 residents, to become a separate entity from the city of Atlanta.

Given everything thats been going on here, its getting worse and worse and worse, Bill White, CEO and chairman of the Buckhead City Committee, told Fox News on June 9. So what were doing because of the murders going through the roof and the attempted murders, and the lack of leadership and nothing changingthe insanity continuesis were demanding emergency hearings on our cityhood bills.

I say we have three major issues, and thats all we have  crime, crime, and crime, White said.

He said many residents of the neighborhood want to form their own city, establish their own police force, and eradicate crime.

We filed for divorce, and our divorce is final, the committee chairman said of the districts efforts to divorce from Atlanta.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers introduced a bill that could bring a Buckhead City vote on the November 2022 ballot. The committee says it has raised $600,000 to commission a feasibility study and fund future lobbying efforts.

The effort comes as the city of Atlanta is experiencing what Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has described as a COVID crime wave.

Last year, the Atlanta Police Department investigated 157 homicides, up from 99 in 2019, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Police data show that as of May 29, homicides in the city were up 63 percent at 57 compared to 35 in the same period in 2020. Shootings in the city have also increased by 45 percent, from 208 last year to 302 in the same period this year.

Last month, an Atlanta mayoral candidate who had his car stolen by a group of minors said he believes a generational poverty issue exists in the city. Councilman Antonio Brown, who last year had backed a proposal to cut police funding in the city by tens of millions of dollars, said he was at a ceremony in northeastern Atlanta on May 26 when the youths jumped into his vehicle and drove away.

In an interview with FOX 5, the councilman said the minors were between the ages of 6 and 12.

This is a generational poverty issue. These kids, its 12:30 in the afternoon. Why arent they in school? Why arent we enforcing systems to ensure that if they are not in school, theyre in recreational centers? he told WSB-TV.

The Buckhead City Committee, meanwhile, told The Wall Street Journal that residents no longer feel safe while going about their daily lives.

Our residents are genuinely concerned for their safety and the safety of their family members, the committee said.

Residents must be wary and on guard continuously, even when doing routine tasks like going to the gas station, nearby shopping mall, shopping at the grocery store, or just pulling into their driveways, mindful if anyone is lurking in the bushes.

White told Fox News that some of his friends in the neighborhood are too afraid to go to the gas station to pump gas, especially if they have the children in the car.

People believe truly that this is an emergencythats the message Im gettingand that we are living in a war zone, he said.

White emphasized that he doesnt lay any blame for the increase in crime on police but said the number of officers assigned to the area is insufficient.

The chairman took aim at the ongoing calls to defund the police that emerged in the aftermath of George Floyds May death in police custody in Minneapolis.

The diverse community of Buckhead hears that and says, Go to hell, White said of the Defund the Police movement. Ive talked to communities in Atlanta, leaders and, you know, really hard crime areas in Atlanta.  The only thing theyre telling me and begging me to help them with is more police, not less police.

The thing with crime is its colorblind. Its hitting black people, its hitting white people  this has nothing to do with politics.

In June last year, an ordinance that would have defunded the Atlanta Police Department by about $73 million failed in an 87 vote.

More recently, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said the defund the police movement would endanger local communities. He signed HB 286 (pdf) into law on May 7 forbidding large budget cuts for local police.

A spokesperson for the mayors office opposed the Buckhead City Committees proposal, telling The Epoch Times that while Buckhead is an important and valued part of Atlanta, Even if an impermeable wall were built around this proposed new city, it would not address the COVID crime wave that Atlanta, the state, and the rest of the nation are experiencing.

That is why this measure is opposed by many residents and the business community, the spokesperson said. Creating a city is complex and would call for a new school system, the purchase of City owned assets, development of a governing structure, infrastructure, etc. A better use of this energy would be to work together to address the challenges facing our city, not to divide Atlanta.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.

This article has been updated to include comment from the mayors office.
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison (L) is greeted by Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (R) prior to an official welcoming ceremony at Suga's official residence in Tokyo on Nov. 17, 2020. (Eugene Hoshiko / POOL / AFP)

Australia and Japan Join Forces to Hold Beijing Accountable for Its Economic Bullying

Australia and Japan will join forces to oppose Chinas economic bullying, as both countries continue to lose patience with Beijings aggressive international behavior.

In a statement following a joint virtual meeting on June 9, Australia and Japans foreign ministers, Marise Payne and Motegi Toshimitsu, and defense ministers, Peter Dutton and Kishi Nobuo, announced that both countries would commit to opposing coercion and destabilizing behavior by economic means, which undermines the rules-based international system.

Japan and Australia have become increasingly concerned over Chinas behavior, as both countries have been on the receiving end of Beijings belligerent push to become a global power.

Australia has experienced increasing levels of economic coercion from the Chinese communist regime through its use of trade tariffs on eight major exports, including wine, beef, and barley. At the same time, Japan has been forced to increasingly defend its territorial waters from Chinese encroachments, using coast guard vessels and what has been dubbed a maritime militiaa point that Japan and Australia made in the joint statement, noting they were also strongly opposed to the behavior China has displayed in the East and South China Seas.

We express our objections to Chinas maritime claims and activities that are inconsistent with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the statement said. We reinforce our strong opposition to any destabilising or coercive unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions.

The allies also called out Beijing for its human rights abuses against the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Australia Leverages Alliances

The joint statement was released a week after New Zealand and Australia issued a statement declaring their support for each other and also follows the United States declaration that it will continue to support Australia, signaling to the Chinese regime that the liberal democratic nations of the Indo-Pacific will stand together in the face of its increasing push for power and dominance.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks as he greets staff members of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on May 26, 2021. (Alex brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology in Sydney, believes that the Chinese Communist Party currently no longer believes it needs to operate under the rules of the international system.

China feels as though its power has reached a level where it simply does not have to defer to the wishes of other countries, Laurenceson said.

But he noted that it wont escalate tensions with any rash acts of aggression, because that would crystallize a hard balancing coalition against China that would make it harder for Beijing to achieve both its domestic and foreign policy objectives.

Laurenceson believes the best answer to the increasing aggression from Beijing is for countries to continue to prioritize strong ties built on mutual trust.

Mike Green, foreign policy analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, told The Australian it was stunning how aggressive Xi Jinping and the CCP have become.

It seems Chinas assessment is they have a five-to-10-year window to cement their leadership position in Asia, and that explains why theyve been pressuring everyone simultaneously: Australia, India, Taiwan, Japan.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese regime, responded to the joint statement from Japan and Australia by telling both countries to stop hyping up the so-called China Threat and accused them of maliciously slandering China. He urged Australia and Japan to stop meddling in Chinas international affairs and abide by the basic norms of international relations.
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison (L) and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shake hands at the Istana Presidential Palace in Singapore on June 7, 2019. (Wallace Woon / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)

Australia to Discuss Travel Bubble With Singapore

Australian PM Scott Morrison will meet with Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday to discuss the settings for a travel bubble as the country looks to open its borders safely now that CCP virus vaccinations are rolling out.

Singapore will be the first stop on Morrisons international tour to Cornwall for the Group of Seven (G7) Plus summit in the United Kingdom, which will include visits to London and Paris for trade and security talks.

Australia already has a COVID-safe green zone arrangement with New Zealand, but a travel bubble with Singapore would provide a boost to the tourism, education, and corporate sectors.

In March, Trade Minister Dan Tehan also suggested back that he would like to include a three-way travel bubble that encapsulates New Zealand and Singapore. Fiji is also understood to have expressed interest in joining this bubble.

Morrison indicated in May that plans for a Singapore travel bubble were still some way off, given a recent spike in cases in the Asian city and vaccination rate in Australia.

However, a start date for the travel bubble is not expected to be set during the leader-level talks.

Both countries have rolled out a certificate system to verify who has been vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which could make a safe travel corridor easier to establish.

Australias digital certificate has a coat of arms hologram and includes the persons name, date of birth, and a green tick of validity and can be accessed through the Medicare app or online through MyGov once a vaccination provider has reported both doses of either AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna.

Related Coverage Australia to Provide Vaccination Certificates for COVID-19 Vaccines

Australian officials are hopeful some progress can be made during the leader talks on setting out the preconditions for a travel bubble.

Some countries are setting up travel corridors based on 50 to 60 percent vaccination rates.

Singapore Airlines has said the growing pace of vaccinations provides hope for a recovery in international air travel demand.

Airline regional vice president Louis Arul said it was committed to working with all levels of government to reopen Australias borders.

Our commitment to Australia throughout this time has been unwavering, supporting the governments efforts to return Australian citizens, facilitating Australian producers and suppliers to export produce  and ensure the uninterrupted import of essential medical supplies to support the fight against COVID-19, he said.

We are keen to work with key stakeholders and state and federal governments to progress the safe, staged reopening of borders to facilitate the return of more Australians, international students as well as skilled workers and our aviation on the path to recovery.

Singapore Airlines brought the first batch of Belgian-made Pfizer into Australia in February, the same month it became one of the first carriers to operate flights with a full complement of vaccinated pilots and cabin crew.

The airline has received the highest level of international certification for its health safety measures.

It hopes to integrate the International Air Transport Associations (IATA) Travel Pass mobile application for digital health verification into its own SingaporeAir mobile app from mid-2021.

Morrison and Lee will also discuss military training and cooperation and regional security.

At the G7 Plus summit, Morrison will attend three sessionson health, the economy and climateand meet with U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga, and Koreas Moon Jae-in.

After the summit, hell meet with British PM Boris Johnson in London and hold talks in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron.

AAP contributed to this report.
Australians Lost at Least $851 Million to Scammers in 2020

Australians were conned out of $851 million (US$659 million) in 2020, the largest amount ever recorded in a single year, the countrys consumer watchdog has revealed.

The figures were revealed in a report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions (ACCC) Scamwatch and combined the financial losses reported to Scamwatch, other government agencies, and the big four banks.

Investment scams accounted for the most losses, at $328 million. Romance scams were the next biggest category, which caused $131 million in losses, then payment redirection, causing a loss of $128 million.

ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said she believed the true impact of scams were possibly even larger as many victims do not report their situation.

Last year, scam victims reported the biggest losses we have seen, but worse, we expect the real losses will be even higher, as many people dont report these scams, Rickard said. Unfortunately, scammers continue to become more sophisticated and last year used the COVID-19 pandemic to scam and take advantage of people from all walks of life during this crisis.

Payment redirection scams were the most financially damaging to Australian businesses in 2020. Businesses lost 260 percent more to this type of scam compared to 2019.

It is where scammers impersonate a business or its employee via email and asks for a payment that would then be redirected into a fraudulent account.

Small and micro businesses made most of the reports to Scamwatch and experienced an increase in losses in 2020, although larger businesses reported the highest losses, ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.

Scamwatch noted that Victorians suffered the highest losses across the country, reporting more than double the amount lost in 2020 compared to the previous year. A man crosses the normally busy intersection of Flinders Street and Swanston streets in Melbourne, Australia, on May 28, 2021. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

According to the incidents reported to Scamwatch, Victorians suffered the highest losses across the country, reporting more than double the amount lost in 2020 compared to the previous year. Scammers took advantage of the strict government restrictions that were enforced for longer periods of time compared to other states.

We saw scammers claiming the government restrictions meant people could not see items in person before purchase, Rickard said. This was a common ruse in vehicle sale and puppy scams, which both had higher reports and losses.

Elderly people aged 65 and over reported the most losses, accounting for nearly one-quarter of reported losses to Scamwatch alone.

The number one method of scamming was through phone calls (48 percent), followed by email (22 percent), text message (15 percent), and internet or social media (11 percent).

The Australian Cyber Security Centre has stressed that all Australian government agencies would never request to access peoples computers or buy cryptocurrencies and gift cards. They also warn people never to call a number provided by scammers.

It is so important for businesses to stay informed about scams so they can protect themselves, Keogh said. The ACCC provides a range of resources for businesses on how to avoid scams on the Scamwatch website.
President Joe Biden departs the White House via the North Portico, in Washington on May 28, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden Administration Tells Federal Agencies Not to Require Employees to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine

The Biden administration said this week that federal agencies generally shouldnt force their employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine as a precondition for working in person.

The Administration strongly encourages all Americans, including Federal employees and contractors, to be vaccinated, the Safer Federal Workforce task force said in a new posting. Employees should receive paid time off to be vaccinated and to deal with any side effects. At present, COVID-19 vaccination should generally not be a pre-condition for employees or contractors at executive departments and agencies (agencies) to work in-person in Federal buildings, on Federal lands, and in other settings as required by their job duties.

While workers and contractors may share information about whether theyve received a vaccine, agencies should not require federal employees or contractors to disclose such information.

The White House didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Of the 2.1 million federal employees, more than half worked from home during the pandemic, according to a 2020 survey (pdf) released in April. The 59 percent who were teleworking was a jump from just 3 percent before the pandemic.

But as the pandemic subsides, more employees are returning to workplaces, underlining the importance of guidance on vaccination.

The new guidance came after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said companies wouldnt run afoul of federal laws if they decided to mandate vaccinations for workers, provided they carve out exceptions for medical or religious reasons.

Federal employment laws do not prevent an employer from requiring all employees physically entering the workplace to be vaccinated for COVID-19, so long as employers comply with the reasonable accommodation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Civil Rights Act, the commission said.

However, state and local laws could apply, it added.

A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine in Chicago, on June 8, 2021. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Some private businesses have begun requiring workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Houston Methodist, a hospital system in Texas, this week suspended nearly 200 workers who refused to comply with the mandate and didnt claim or were unsuccessful in claiming a medical or religious exemption.

Marc Boom, CEO of the system, said the workers have decided not to put their patients first. They face termination if they continue to decline to get a jab.

Matthew Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, a Christian organization that represents a variety of clients, told The Epoch Times that federal law does appear to bar entities from requiring workers to get vaccinated, because the vaccines currently being administered in the United States are authorized for emergency use, not approved.

Federal law specifically says that no one can be coerced or forced to get one of these EUA-authorized drugs, he said.

It would be a different conversation if theyre fully approved. That, however, is focused only on the federal law, that doesnt take into consideration the independent state law that provides additional rights for employees.

In April, the Defense Department said in a memo (pdf) that supervisors may not generally ask employees if theyve received a COVID-19 shot. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP virus.

The Biden administrations task force previously reacted to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions update to its masking guidance by saying federal employees and contractors who are fully vaccinated can ditch masks and stop social distancing when working onsite. Fully vaccinated refers to a person who has at least two or more weeks prior received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer shot.

The CDC says people who arent fully vaccinated should keep wearing a mask and social distancing while indoors or in crowded outdoor settings, and 25 percent occupancy limits are still in place in all federal buildings. Some Republican lawmakers have called on the administration to move back to onsite work, noting that more Americans are being vaccinated each day while COVID-19 metrics such as cases and hospitalizations have dropped sharply.

It is time to begin transitioning to the workplace, Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) wrote in a recent letter to Kathleen McGettigan, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management. If it is the administrations intention to prolong remote working arrangements, then it is appropriate to hold a comprehensive policy discussion around related issues.
Biden Warns Russia of Robust Response for Harmful Actions as He Begins European Visit

MILDENHALL, EnglandPresident Joe Biden on Wednesday began his first trip abroad since taking office by hailing Americas unwavering commitment to the NATO alliance and warning Russia it faced robust and meaningful consequences if it engaged in harmful activities.

Biden, speaking to about 1,000 troops and their families at a British air base, said he would deliver a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet next week after separate summits with NATO, Group of Seven (G-7), and European leaders.

Were not seeking conflict with Russia, Biden said at the start of his eight-day visit to Europe. We want a stable and predictable relationship  but Ive been clear: The United States will respond in a robust and meaningful way if the Russian government engages in harmful activities.

Biden has said he is determined to rebuild trans-Atlantic ties and reframe relations with Russia.

This is my first overseas trip as president of the United States. Im heading to the G-7, then the NATO ministerial and then to meet with Mr. Putin to let him know what I want him to know, Biden said.

At every point along the way, were going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges, and the issues that matter most to our future.

Biden told reporters as he left for Europe that his goals were strengthening the alliance, making it clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight.

His summit with Putin on June 16 in Geneva is an opportunity to raise U.S. concerns directly with the Russian leader about ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, Moscows aggression against Ukraine and a host of other issues.

In a development further straining U.S.-Russia ties, a Russian court on Wednesday outlawed groups linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, after declaring them extremist. Condemning the decision, the U.S. State Department said it effectively criminalized one of the countrys few remaining independent political movements.

Speaking to U.S. troops based at Royal Air Force Mildenhall base, Biden underscored the U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance but said it needed to modernize and expand its cyber capabilities.

President Joe Biden speaks to American service members at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, on June 9, 2021. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo)

G-7 Summit, Meeting With Johnson

Biden will make his first stop of the trip at the seaside village of St. Ives in Cornwall where he will participate in the G-7 summit. The meeting is expected to be dominated by vaccine diplomacy, trade, climate and an initiative for rebuilding infrastructure in the developing world. U.S. officials see that effort as a way to counter the Chinese regimes growing influence.

His push for a global minimum tax on multinational corporations faces opposition at home. G-7 finance ministers agreed before the summit to pursue a global minimum tax rate of at least 15 percent and to allow market countries to tax up to 20 percent of the excess profitsabove a 10 percent margingenerated by about 100 large, high-profit companies.

Republicans came out against the plan this week, potentially complicating the U.S. ability to implement a broader global agreement.

Biden will have a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday in Cornwall after Britains Brexit break from the European Union. The two countries will issue an updated joint statement of principles between the two countries in honor of the original Atlantic Charter from 1941.

But the two have deep policy issues to discuss, with Biden set to reinforce stalwart U.S. support for the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

The agreement has come into question with the UKs exit from the European Union.

Biden and Johnson will also discuss climate change, a proposal to counter the Chinese regimes global influence on infrastructure and the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan.

The Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline will also be on the agenda when Biden meets with German officials. The Biden administration opposes the $11 billion natural gas pipeline, but Germany wants it finished.

After three days of G7- summitry, Biden and his wife, Jill, will visit Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. The 78-year-old Biden met the queen back in 1982 when he was a senator from Delaware.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk to board Marine One for travel to the G-7 Summit in the UK from the Ellipse at the White House in Washington on June 9, 2021. (Leah Millis/Reuter)

Russia and China

Biden then travels to Brussels for talks with leaders of NATO and the European Union. The agenda is expected to be dominated by Russia, China and the perennial issue of getting NATO allies to contribute more to the common defense.

Biden closes out the trip in Geneva for what could prove to be the most difficult meeting of the tripa session with Putin.

No major breakthroughs are expected from the summit.

Asked by reporters if his meeting with Putin would yield some accord on cybersecurity, Biden was non-committal.

Who knows? said Biden. Its going to be a subject of our discussion.

President Joe Biden talks to reporters prior to boarding Air Force One as he departs on travel to attend the G-7 Summit in England, on June 9, 2021. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuter)

By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt
A 'For Rent' sign is posted in front of an apartment building in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2017. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

California Cities Rush to Provide Relief to Renters

Californias eviction moratorium for renters is set to expire June 30, but some cities and counties are passing emergency ordinances to extend the prohibition on evictions.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on June 7 extended the city and countys moratorium on evictions until September. Its ordinance seeks to extend the renter protection from evictions, non-payments of rent, and late fees.

This is a time of tremendous need, San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston said during the meeting. The ordinance before us is an emergency ordinance to prohibit non-payment evictions for San Francisco tenants facing COVID-related hardships.

Meanwhile, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on May 4 voted in favor of rent control regulations and the prohibition of evictions for all rental units beginning June 3 and lasting for 60 days.

The urgent need of assistance for these families that are facing eviction and possible homelessness  is critical for our communities. Supervisor Nora Vargas said on May 4. Although our region has adopted a moratorium, theres still not enough protections for our tenants, and theres been over 900 evictions since the start of this pandemic.

This action is buying us a little bit of time so that we can avoid larger housing problems, including the need to address homelessness.  This is not about pitting landlords and tenants against each other, this is really about showing a little compassion and doing the right thing.

The agenda item caused controversy as more than 400 San Diego residents requested to speak.

A resident that has lived with her family in a San Diego home for 14 years spoke in support of the prohibition of evictions after being asked by her landlord to leave.

She said the property manager gave her family a 60-day notice and told them he could receive more money out of the property than the family was paying.

Conversely, a San Diego property manager spoke in opposition to the agenda item, arguing that there are tenants who dont follow apartment regulations and ignore agency notices.

The board of supervisors passed the ordinance in a 32 vote.

As the states renter protection moratorium is set to end, some rental housing providers are pleading with lawmakers to not extend the prohibition on evictions.

The California Apartment Association (CAA) is leading a grassroots effort to urge lawmakers to reject an eviction moratorium extension.

I beg you to please end this  moratorium this June 30, a housing provider wrote to lawmakers in a statement. I have three separate tenants that are working and obviously not affected by the COVID situation but decided to take advantage and decided not to pay their rents. This has to end.

The CAA also challenged San Diego Countys newly adopted eviction moratorium in a lawsuit on May 28. The first hearing was on June 3 and a ruling is expected on June 10.

The emergency ordinances came months after the state passed SB91 on Jan. 29 to extend the eviction moratorium law to the end of June. Although under the moratorium renters cant be evicted, they still must pay 25 percent of their monthly rent.
Can You Spot the Raptor Hiding in the Sea of Purple Flowers? (And Identify What Species It Is?)

Take a look at this photo, captured in Lonavala, India, and see if you can spot the raptor hiding in the sea of purple flowers.

Akshay Gotkhindi, 29, from Pune, India, captured the stunning image which shows a bird of prey amidst thousands of 20-centimeter (8-inch) purple pogostemon deccanensis flowers.

The avid photographer, who works in investment banking, took the shot in January 2021.

This place is very much favorable for different raptors all over the world, he said, using the now-popular term raptorwhich refers to birds of prey, such as eagles, hawks, and falcons.

There is one raptor hiding in Gotkhindis photo. Can you pinpoint it?and then determine what species it is?

Can you spot the raptor hiding in the sea of purple flowers? (@counting_feathers/Caters News)

The ****** can be seen taking a pit stop here as it is open land and perfect prey base for these birds, Gotkhindi said.

It is filled with various protein-based insects like caterpillars, grasshoppers and much more, which is the staple food for the raptors to gain more energy for their forward journey, as they will now directly fly to Africa.

Look below to discover the raptors location.

A bird of prey hides in a field of pogostemon deccanensis flowers in Lonavala, India. (@counting_feathers/Caters News)

The photographer added, I was delighted when he flew past and then he landed in those flower beds which were spread out all over the place.

The first thought which came into my mind was how beautifully he was sitting in those flowers.

If you guessed the bird of prey to be an Amur falcon, then youve hit the mark!

Below are a few more incredible shots of the falcon.

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
Capitol Gazette Shooter Planned to Blow up a Building, Studied Mass Shootings Before Annapolis Attack

By Alex Mann

From The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMOREThe man who admitted murdering five employees of the Capital Gazette newspaper nearly three years ago initially planned to blow up a building, then studied police response times to other mass shootings in hopes of eluding capture, according to reports made public in court on Wednesday.

The Capital Gazette gunmans statements to a Maryland Department of Health psychiatrist show he deeply researched the attack, and that he likened his initial plot to the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people. The statementsmade public for the first timeprovide a glimpse of issues facing jurors who will decide whether the gunman should be held criminally responsible.

Their ruling will likely determine whether he spends the rest of his life in prison or is committed indefinitely to a state psychiatric hospital.

Defense attorneys have argued that the man who killed Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters didnt have the mental capacity to be held responsible. Prosecutors counter that the planning and detail exhibited by Jarrod Ramos show he was legally sane at the time.

Wednesdays hearing gave insight into Ramos decision to pursue a plea of Not Criminally Responsible, Marylands version of the insanity defense.

People walk down Main St. during a candlelight vigil to honor the 5 people were shot and killed at the Capital Gazette newspaper the day before, in Annapolis, Md., on June 29, 2018. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

You know I didnt originally want an attorney in this case, Ramos told Dr. Sameer Patel , a forensic psychiatrist who works for the state, according to the descriptions in court. Theres no defense for the crime I committed.

However, Ramos, resigned to the fate of spending the rest of his life in prison, learned that he might have more free access to a computer and the internet at a psychiatric hospital rather than prison. Patels report said Ramos cited the additional freedom as reason to pursue an insanity defense.

In court, prosecutors provided a detailed look at Ramos planning for The Capital attack.

The gunman read textbooks about mass shootings, including a book he quoted on a note he stuffed inside the handle of the pump-action shotgun he employed in the attack that shocked Annapolis, according to testimony Wednesday. From this research, Ramos learned the average response times of law enforcement to active shooter events and figured out how he would stay alive after carrying out his long-planned rampage.

His first way of thinking was a mass destruction and then he changed to a mass shooting, States Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said Wednesday morning, describing in court some of the contents of reports authored by mental health professionals tasked with evaluating Ramos sanity.

He abandoned the bombing idea at some point while researching other mass shootings and killings, including the massacres at Columbine High School in Colorado and in Parkland, Florida, both of which he referenced by name in interviews with Patel. An Anne Arundel County judge ordered Patel to evaluate the gunmans sanity.

A woman holds todays edition of the Capital Gazette newspaper during a candlelight vigil to honor the 5 people who were shot and killed the day before, in Annapolis, Md., on June 29, 2018. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Patels report went further, saying Ramos had fantasies of shooting up the newspaper, which is part of Baltimore Sun Media, or blowing up the building Timothy McVeigh style. McVeigh was the man behind the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Leitess and Ramos defense attorneys at times read line by line excerpts of the reports of Patel and a forensic psychologist who he worked with, as they argued about what parts should be presented to the jury. The snippets revealed more about Ramos life leading up to the long-planned attack, his attempts to manipulate the court system and how he thought about the crimes.

Ramos, 41, already pleaded guilty to the murders, attempted murder and all other charges filed against him. But he maintains he was insane at the time of the mass shooting and has asked for a jury to decide whether he should be held criminally responsible.

Ramos attorneys attempted to get Circuit Judge Michael Wachs to prevent the jury seeing certain parts of the reports.

Wachs redacted parts he considered speculative, irrelevant or otherwise inadmissible per evidentiary standards but allowed portions of dialogue from Ramos to the people interviewing him to remain in the reports.

2021 The Baltimore Sun. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A protester holds a U.S. flag outside of the Chinese consulate in Houston on July 24, 2020. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Diplomats Are the Driving Force in Beijings Foreign Technology Acquisition: Report

A recent report found that Chinese science and technology (S&T) diplomats had acted as Beijings brokers, identifying overseas collaboration, investment, or acquisition opportunities for Chinese entities to acquire foreign technology and advancing the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) industrial policy.

These accomplishments, in turn, contribute to the PRCs (Chinese Communist Partys) going out strategy and goals set forth in state policies including made in China 2025, said the Chinas Foreign Technology Wish List report released in May by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), a Washington-based think tank.

The going out strategy was proposed by the Chinese Communist Party in 1999 to encourage domestic companies to invest overseas. CSET uncovered the partys goal of foreign technology acquisition.

The state-sponsored approaches the diplomats undertook include identifying Chinas domestic needs; monitoring cutting-edge technology among foreign entities, academia, government laboratories, and individual researchers; organizing matchmaking activities to help Chinese companies sign investment, licensing and production agreements with foreign tech companies; and hiring foreign personnel to work in China, the study shows.

It examined 642 reports on cooperation opportunities, involving more than 300 foreign companies, universities, research institutions, and individuals under Beijings interest.

These reports were documented by overseas Chinese embassies and consulates, where over 140 S&T diplomats were stationed worldwide.

The analysis found 190 cases of international technology cooperation involving biotechnology, another 171 related to artificial intelligence and machine learning, and some related to integrated circuit design or semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Most projects came from Russia (112), followed by the United States (77), the United Kingdom (62), and Japan (57).

Thirty diplomat-recommended foreign companies were randomly surveyed by CSET, 14 of which were found to have formed joint ventures, patent licensing agreements, or exclusive deals with Chinese companies, or otherwise have been purchasedthrough which China can successfully acquire its technology.

The report also highlighted the Chinese consulate in Houston for its important role in Chinas global S&T information-gathering operations.

The consulate was shut down last July over allegations of espionage activities related to American research and technology.

Prior to its closure, the Houston consulate referred the most S&T projects of any Chinese embassy or consulate worldwide, the report said. Nearly 90 percent of the U.S. programs had been referred since January 2015.

After the consulate in Houston was closed, only one S&T cooperation project from the United States was released online by the Department of International Cooperation of Chinas Ministry of Science and Technology.

James Lewis, an expert of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said although China still relies on Western technology, the goal is to end its dependence and to dominate the global market.

He expressed concern to VOA News over Beijings mingling of business practices with illegal ones, such as intellectual property theft and espionage.
Chinese workers in the Hunutlu Thermal Power Plant in Adana province, Turkey. (Provided to The Epoch Times by interviewee)

Chinese Migrants Labor Like a Slave on the Regimes Belt and Road Projects

At a coal plant with Chinas biggest foreign direct investment in Turkey, skilled Chinese migrant workers are forced to endure over 12-hour workdays, seven days a week, underpayment, and no hope of recourse.

Liu Qiang (a pseudonym) told The Epoch Times that the touted high salaries of $2,346 per month prompted him to work in the Hunutlu Thermal Power Plant in Turkey during the pandemic.

The Hunutlu coal plant is a flagship project of the Chinese regimes Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure scheme that seeks to increase the regimes influence based on global trade links through investing in infrastructure-based development.

The project in Turkey, with a total investment of $1.7 billion mainly from the Shanghai Electric Power Company, is constructed by the subcontractor China Energy Engineering Group Anhui No.1 Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd. (AEPC), according to the companys website.

The skilled worker who spoke to The Epoch Times reported working 84 hours per week with little protection on the construction site.

Liu said they only have a few hours to sleep every daygetting up at 6 a.m. and finishing work at 11 p.m.

We were told the scheduled working hours was nine, a normal job, Liu said in an interview with The Epoch Times.

But when we came [to Turkey], the company did not sign contracts, nor give any [working] permit, he added, not to mention insurance or medical compensation.

The hot summer weather in Turkey and excessive hours working outdoors leaves them with dizziness and fatigue, Liu said, which led to mistakes or even injuries.

The man claimed that two of his roommates were not given proper medical treatment and could only lay down in a workers dormitory after getting leg injuries. One with deep flesh wound was told he would not be hospitalized unless the bone was broken.

We are afraid that we will not earn much money but will be left with physical injuriesbroken bones or other injurieswhich could be a lifelong condition, Liu continued.

A Chinese worker hobbles on crunches at the Hunutlu Thermal Power Plant in Adana province, Turkey on June 3, 2021. (Provided to The Epoch Times by interviewee)

Over one-third of his monthly payment was cut on the grounds that his skills cannot satisfy the criteria of the work applied for, Liu said.

Among over 1,000 Chinese workers on the site, some paid recruitment fees from $470 to $1,560, Liu added.

Stranded Overseas

Liu told The Epoch Times that the pandemic had worsened the condition.

According to his description, the construction site is surrounded by barbed metal wire, like a prison. Workers movements were strictly limited to the living areas. The food served lacks nutrients and seldom contains meat.

We are tired, ill, and need a break, but are not allowed, Liu said.

The Hunutlu Power Plant managers adopted a closed-off strategy, forbidding anyone from leaving the site due to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, and over 1,800 staff continued working during the pandemic, the Chinese regime reported.

Liu stated that some workers had protested, but they were still held on the site and cannot go back to China.

He said their passports were seized and required documents for entering China could not be obtained from companies.

They said we are only allowed to go back after a full working year. Its horrible here! What is it going to be like after a year? I have no idea.

I have to live and work like a slave, Liu continued.

The man told The Epoch Times the Chinese workers sought help from the Chinese Embassy, but were told that labor disputes with Chinese employers are beyond the working scope of the embassy, which is only responsible for dealing with relationships with foreign parties.

Chinas Embassy in Turkey did not respond to the emailed questions about the workers claim that laborers were left with a lack of safety protections and barred from returning to China.

The Chinese subcontractor AEPC could not be reached via phone call, web message, or WeChat.

According to Lius words, the Anhui Zhenjiang Holding Group (AZHG) is a subcontractor of the APEC. However, the staff of AZHG hung up the phone immediately while being asked about the project overseas, and did not respond to the allegations.

Lius experience is similar to the stories described by several other migrant Chinese workers in a New York-based China Labor Watch report, such as excessive overtime work, withholding wages, inadequate medical care, and passports being withheld.

The report indicated that labors working for the Chinese Regimes BRI projects overseas are victims of human trafficking and forced labor.

Li Xinan contributed to the report.
Coal Price Rally and Power Shortage Pose Risks for Chinas Economy

Shipping prices for coal at Chinas Qinhuangdao port surged, due to tight supply, to $131 per metric tonne on May 28, from $85 per tonne a year before, according to CCTD.com.cn.

The power shortage comes conjointly with the coal price rally. Guangdong Province, the largest GDP contributor of China, has been limiting the power usage of businesses for many cities, including Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province, and Dongguan, the manufacturing hub in the Pearl River Delta. Some factories are forced to stop operation for three or four days a week due to power shortages.

In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times, Hong Kong financial analyst Katherine Jiang Tianming said that coal demand and power consumption fluctuate on a seasonal basis and usually reach their peak in summer and winter when residential demand rises. However, it is uncommon that coal prices surged and power shortages occurred in April and May, which are off-peak months. CCP (Chinese Communist Party) media, people.cn, attributed the power shortage to the fast growth of Chinas economy. However, the CCPs control of the market supply is worth noting, especially in the coal mining sector.

Coal Production Is Constrained By CCP

Chinas coal production fell after the heating season. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, total coal production volume decreased by 1.8 percent year on year to 320 million tonnes in April 2021, after a drop of 0.2 percent in March 2021 when production was recorded at 340 million tonnes. Imported coal also declined by 1.8 percent and 29.8 percent annually in March and April, respectively.

Kaiyuan Securities, a Chinese Security Company, stated in one of its coal industry reports that domestic coal production sees various restrictions set by the government. Those restrictions include the anti-corruption campaign in Inner Mongolias coal mining sector, controlling the sales volume through issuing Coal Sales and Management Ticket, and the safety inspections of coal mines.

Inner Mongolia, one of Chinas top coal mining provinces, is cracking down on illegal coal mines with an anti-corruption campaign to investigate the operational process of coal mines in the past 20 years, including the planning of coal mining, investment review, resource allocation, environmental impact assessment, and approval of mining rights. According to people.cn, the anti-corruption campaign has exposed 1,513 coal mines.

Coal Sales and Management Ticket (CSMT), a unique product under Chinas command economy, is issued by the government to control coal sales volume. In China, every unit of coal must be sold together with the CSMT, whose value is set by the government and therefore the coal output can be effectively controlled. At the end of April 2021, many coal mines in Erdos, a city in Inner Mongolia, had to stop production due to the exhaustion of CSMT, which heightened the tight supply, according to an industry report by TF securities.

A notice issued by the Ministry of Emergency Management of the Peoples Republic of China on March 18 requiring safety inspections of coal mines in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Shaanxi also added to the tight supply.

Jiang said, the CCPs 100th anniversary is on the way, and it requires a quiet period without large coal accidents, which may cause social unrest before July 1. This will lead to a low utilization rate of coal mines, resulting in less coal output and rising coal prices. The coal price rally will squeeze coal-fired power plants profit margins under the current tariff setting mechanism, which lacks cost pass-through. Some coal-fired power plants may not fully operate to preserve a margin, which would intensify the tight power supply.

Power Shortage in Guangdong Province

On May 28, the local government of Dongguan Nancheng district said on its official website that power restrictions may last until the end of this year due to power shortages. Similarly, The Plan of Power Rationalization in Guangzhou, which was approved by Guangzhou Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau on May 10, also pointed out that there are no restrictions on the power grid, but instead, tight power supply in Guangdong Province.

Jiang said lesser imported hydropower from Yunnan, the second-largest fuel source of Guangdong, is another reason for Guangdongs power shortage.

According to the 2020 Annual Report of Guangdong Power Market, coal-fired power is the largest fuel source of Guangdong, accounting for 36.2 percent of total supply in 2020. This is followed by imported hydropower from Yunnan Province, which contributed 29.6 percent of the total power supply. However, power transmitted from Yunnan power grid decreased by 21.23 percent year on year in the first four months in 2021, due to insufficient hydropower supply in Yunnan caused by a lack of rain in 2021, according to a Chinese media, bjx.com.cn.

Jiang said, coal-fired power is more stable than renewable energy, which shows a high intermittency due to the restrictions from natural resources. For example, hydropower cannot fully operate when the water flow is low. Solar power is more likely to underperform on cloudy days or at night. It is hard for renewable energy to safeguard a stable power supply due to its intermittency, as evidenced by the recent power shortage in Guangdong Province.

But China is pushing for renewable energy to achieve carbon neutrality in 2060. Renewable energy has led the installation and investment of the power sector. According to China Electricity Council, in the first four months of 2021, renewable energy accounted for 55 percent of new power generation capacity and 92 percent of power generation capital expenditure.

The CCP needs to balance renewable energy investment and power security, said Jiang. However, the power shortage in Guangdong implies that the CCP has put renewable energy development first, as Xi Jinping has assured the world that China will achieve net-zero emissions in 2060.

Jiang said the coal price surge would raise fuel costs for many enterprises that consume coal, pressurizing the market to reduce their margins. Limiting power usage will also limit economic activities. If this lasts for the rest of the year, as has been expected by the Dongguan Nancheng districts local government, production will fall, which will increase prices and drag down the economy.
People demonstrate against the Toronto District School Board's partnership with the Beijing-controlled Confucius Institute outside the TDSB, in Toronto, Canada on Oct. 29, 2014. (Allen Zhou/The Epoch Times)

Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna Promotes the Chinese Regimes Infiltration in Austria

The Chinese Communist regime has gained a foothold in Austria through its Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna, according to media reports and leaked government documents recently obtained by The Epoch Times from a trusted source.

Confucius Institutes (CIs) promote Chinese language and cultural programs. CIs are operated under Hanban, an organization under Chinas Ministry of Education, which promotes communist ideology and the Chinese Communist Partys (CCPs) agenda, including censoring topics the regime deems sensitive such as the persecution of Falun Gong adherents, Uyghurs, Tibetan Buddhists, and the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna offers courses to Austrian armed officers and its instructors teach at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, according to a May 14 report published by Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

The report revealed that in exceptional cases, the teachers [of the Confucius Institute] also come to the rooms of the armed forces, for example, the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt, and that documents from the Federal Army that are not classified are also translated in the Confucius Institute.

The report mentions the role of Richard Trappl, the Austrian head of the CI at the University of Vienna, in expanding the organization. The embassy of the Beijing regime in Vienna openly recommends him as one of those Austrian experts who understand China the way it wants to be understood.

The CI at the University of Vienna has set up Chinese language courses for Austrias Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Defence Academy, the Diplomatic Academy, and other government institutions, according to its official website.

The CI was established in 2006 as a joint venture between Beijing Foreign Studies University and the University of Vienna, and it is the first CI in Austria.

The website highlights the relationship between the CI at the University of Vienna and the United Nations, stating that Vienna is one of the official locations of the United Nations and an international city. The Confucius Institute and related organizations jointly organize activities such as United Nations Chinese Day, United Nations Peace Day, and World Peace Chorus Festival every year.

In October 2019, the think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute published an article titled, Mind Your Tongue. Professor John Fitzgerald wrote that [t]he Chinese Government engages in a range of visible and acceptable influence operations. At the legitimate end of the spectrum, it targets people outside China through cultural agreements and exchanges.

Fitzgerald pointed out that in Australia, the CCP supplies schools with language learning and cultural studies textbooks, and co-funds Confucius Classrooms in state school systems and Confucius Institutes on university campuses.  No other country has managed to embed its own governments particular reading of history, politics, and culture within other countries educational systems as effectively as the Government of China, he wrote.

Hainan Provinces Close Ties With CI in Vienna

The Epoch Times obtained a series of classified documents from the Hainan provincial government that reveal the CIs role in assisting the CCPs infiltration in Austria and some of its neighboring countries, and how Richard Trappl acted as the middleman in arranging agreements between a local government in Hainan and the CI at the University of Vienna.

A 2016 internal document from the foreign affairs department of Danzhou city, Hainan Province, showed that the authorities reached several understandings with the CI at the University of Vienna during a visit to Danzhou by Trappl, the director of the institute.

A screenshot of a leaked document from the Hainan provincial government, dated 2016, which reveal that Richard Trappl, the Austrian director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna, visited Danzhou city in Hainan Province and brokered several agreements with the local government on behalf of the university. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

As disclosed by the document, Trappl arrived in Danzhou on May 29, 2016, and the next day, he was welcomed at a banquet where he met with Zhang Geng, the mayor of Danzhou, and several other local senior government officials.

The document states that the first consensus reached between the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna and the Danzhou Municipal Government was for Danzhou to provide the institute with teaching materials, books, and research materials on Dongpo Culture.

Dongpo Culture originated from Su Dongpo, also known as Su Shi, who was a famous poet, calligrapher, and statesman in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was exiled to Danzhou in 1097 and lived there for three years. Just like Confucius, his name is now used by the Chinese regime to infiltrate the West in the name of ancient Chinese culture.

In mainland China, education materials and books are important tools for the CCP to brainwash and indoctrinate the public with its socialist and communist ideologies.

Han Chunyong, an official from the Chinese Ministry of Educations Bureau of Teaching Materials, published an article last October on China Education News, quoting the Minister of Education, Chen Baosheng, as saying that the [Chinese Communist] Partys overall leadership of teaching materials should be strengthened and that Xi Jinpings Thought with Chinese socialist characteristics in the new era should be thoroughly promoted in the teaching materials.

The document also reveals that Trappl tried to promote a sister-city relationship between Danzhou and one of the cities in the state of Burgenland in Austria, as the region is a tourist attraction known for its wetlands, unique ways of winemaking and shares similarities with the Chinese city.

A screenshot of a leaked document from the Hainan provincial government, dated 2016, which reveal that Richard Trappl, the director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna, helped promote a sister-city relationship between Danzhou and a city in Burgenland, Austria. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Sister cities are an important tool in the CCPs overseas united front work. In a speech on Sept. 23, 2020, then U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned his audience that China was aggressively attempting to influence state and local governments, including through seemingly innocuous sister-city agreements and that the CCPs sister-city programs are part of its overseas propaganda, which is not so friendly to American interests, according to The Washington Post.

The foreign affairs office of Danzhou disclosed in another document titled, Report on the Key Work Plan for 2018, that one of the CCPs tactics in its infiltration overseas is to use CIs to implement cultural united front work.

The United Front Work Department (UFWD) is an organization directly under the CCPs Central Committee that implements Beijings orders to spread the Partys propaganda and communist ideology around the world.

A screenshot of a document from the Hainan provincial government, dated Oct. 31, 2017. The highlighted parts describe how the CI promotes Chinas soft power through the Belt and Road Initiative. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

The document, published in Oct. 31, 2017, stated, The [Danzhou] citys cultural resources advantage is brought into play to deepen the cooperation and exchange between the citys Dongpo Cultural Base and the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna University, thus integrating the citys culture into the Belt and Road Initiative and enhancing the citys international soft power.'

A 2017 document from Hainans provincial foreign affairs office revealed that Li Xiansheng, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Peoples Congress, led a delegation to Austria, Serbia, and Greece from July 26 to August 4, 2017, to actively promote the Belt and Road Initiative to these countries. During the visit, Li met with the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute of the University of Vienna, Li Kaning, to discuss cooperation in the field of culture and arts.

In its Self-check Report to Meet the State Councils Major Inspection, dated July 16, 2018, the Danzhou foreign affairs office revealed another role of the CIto promote economic exchanges and attract overseas talents.

A screenshot of a leaked document from the Hainan provincial government, dated July 16, 2018, which describes how the CI works with Hainan authorities to collect information and recruit talent from Austria. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times).

In the document, the foreign affairs office reported that our office has actively coordinated with the University of Vienna in Austria and successfully facilitated the establishment of Danzhou Dongpo Cultural Base in the Confucius Institute at the university, and that the purpose of the cultural base was to attract outstanding Austrian talents and overseas students to Danzhou for innovation and entrepreneurship.

The document also states that the office is actively working with the University of Vienna to help collect and collate information of local high-level talents, overseas students and high-tech projects.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna did not respond to a request for comment.

Austria, Other Western Countries Respond to Threats Posed by CIs

The news triggered concerns for Austrian national security amid Western suspicions of Confucius institutes being used as a propaganda tool by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to promote its agenda.

In line with the political positioning of the EU, Austria regards the Peoples Republic of China not only as a partner and competitor, but also as a strategic rival who advocates an alternative governance model, a spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of Austria told Die Presse.

In 2019, Belgium denied a residence permit to Xinning Song, director of the Confucius Institute in Brussels, over accusations of espionage by the Belgian State Security Service.

Sweden closed all of its CIs and classrooms as of April last year out of growing Swedish concern regarding Chinese security, disregard for human rights violations, oppression of ethnic- and religious minority groups and the jailing of Gui Minhai, the Swedish bookseller and poet from Hong Kong, according to a May 2020 report by ScandAsia.

Other Western countries including the United States, Canada, Germany, and Australia are also shutting down the controversial CIs and related Confucius Classrooms.

Long Tengyun contributed to this report.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny stands in a cage during a hearing on his charges for defamation, in the Babuskinsky District Court in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 5, 2021. (Babuskinsky District Court via AP)

Court Outlaws Kremlin Critic Navalnys Network in Pre-Election Knockout

MOSCOWA Russian court on Wednesday outlawed groups linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny after declaring them extremist, a move that bans his allies from elections and will further strain U.S.-Russia ties before a closely watched summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden are due to hold talks in Geneva next week with the fate of Navalny and the crackdown on his movement certain to be on the agenda.

Washington, which has asked Moscow to free Navalny, condemned the court decision, with the State Department calling it particularly disturbing. The Kremlin says the matter is a purely domestic one and not Bidens business. It has portrayed Navalny as a U.S.-backed troublemaker, something Navalny has denied.

Wednesdays ruling, the latest chapter in a long-running crackdown on Putins fiercest domestic opponent, delivers a final hammer blow to a vast political network that Navalny built up over many years to try to challenge the veteran Russian leaders grip on power.

Putin, 68, has been in power as either president or prime minister since 1999. Navalny, in jail for parole violations related to an embezzlement case he says was trumped up, had mounted a bold challenge to Putin via street protests and graft investigations which he had hoped would bring about a change of leadership.

The legal case against Navalnys network was brought by the office of Moscows top prosecutor who had accused Navalny and his allies of trying to foment a revolution by seeking to destabilize the socio-political situation inside Russia with their activity.

A spokesperson for the Moscow prosecutors office told reporters on Wednesday that he was pleased with the ruling which had recognized that Navalnys allies had organized illegal street rallies that had ended in mass unrest.

After a 12.5 hour legal hearing behind closed doors, Navalnys lawyers said in a statement they would appeal and that the evidence presented by prosecutors had not been satisfactory.

The legal offensive mirrors ones waged in the past against right-wing groups, Islamist organizations and the Jehovahs Witnesses which were also declared extremist by courts and banned.

Navalny and his allies denied the prosecutors allegations, casting them as an attempt to try to crush their political opposition to the ruling United Russia party ahead of parliamentary elections in September.

In a message posted on Navalnys Instagram account apparently drafted in anticipation of what was a widely expected ruling, Navalny was cited as urging his supporters to not be disheartened.

Were not going anywhere, the message read.

Well digest this, sort things out, change, and evolve. Well adapt. We wont step back from our aims and ideas. This is our country and we do not have another one.

The prosecutors request formally ends the activity of a network of groups set up by Navalny, 45, who is serving a 2-1/2 year jail term, something many Western countries have portrayed as politically-motivated revenge for his anti-Kremlin political activities.

Specifically, the ruling targets Navalnys Anti-Corruption Foundation which has produced high-profile investigations into alleged official corruption, and Navalnys regional campaign headquarters which have mobilized in the past to organize anti-Kremlin protests.

The authorities now have the formal power to jail activists and freeze their bank accounts if they continue their activities. The case had already prompted Navalnys allies to suspend the groups even before the ruling.

In the run-up to the verdict, Putin last week signed legislation that barred members of extremist organizations from running for office.

Combined with Wednesdays ruling, the new legislation ends hopes by some Navalny allies to run for parliament.

They say they will try to use a smart or tactical voting strategy instead to seek to undermine support for the pro-Kremlin ruling party, a strategy Kremlin sources have belittled.

By Andrew Osborn and Vladimir Soldatkin
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (R), exile Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay (C), and Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile Penpa Tsering (L) gesture to a banner showing pictures of the Dalai Lama at different ages during his 77th birthday celebrations at the Tsuglakhang Temple in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, on July 6, 2012. The Tibetan leader, who fled his homeland for northern India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese communist rule, announced in 2011 that he was giving up his political role to focus on spiritual duties. (STRDEL/AFP/GettyImages)

Dalai Lama Congratulates Newly Elected President of Tibets Government-in-Exile

The Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, India, has recently elected a new Sikyong (President). Penpa Tsering, the new Sikyong, took office as the 16th president-in-exile, replacing former Sikyong Lobsang Sangay.

After two rounds of elections in January and April, 53-year-old Penpa Tsering defeated his rival Kelsang Dorjee Aukatsang, becoming the fifth directly-elected president of Tibetans in exile and the third since the 14th Dalai Lama handed over all political power in 2011.

On May 27, Penpa Tsering took the oath of office at the Songtsam Hall of the Tibetan government-in-exiles Supreme Court. Tibets spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, watched the live streamed ceremony.

In his inaugural speech, Penpa Tsering said the Kashag (cabinet) under his leadership would adopt the Middle Way Approach formulated by the Dalai Lama and seek a non-violent solution to the China-Tibet issue with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The Middle Way Approach refers to the true autonomy for Tibet proposed by the Dalai Lama in 1979 within the framework of the CCPs constitution, which includes autonomy over Tibets culture, religion, language, ethnic identity, and ecological environment.

Penpa Tsering said his government will try to pool the wisdom of the Tibetan people, optimize the global promotion of Tibet, expose and correct the wrong policies of the CCP on Tibet, make every effort to seek interaction between domestic and overseas Tibetans, and make efforts to realize the Dalai Lamas wish to visit China.

In a speech delivered via video, the Dalai Lama congratulated Penpa Tsering on his election and praised former Sikyong Lobsang Sangay for his outstanding contributions during his two terms in office over the past 10 years. The Dalai Lama stressed that the democracy of the Tibetan community in exile is not a sham but a real democracy that is comparable to all other democracies in the world.

On May 26, the day before Tserings inauguration, former Sikyong Lobsang Sangay delivered his farewell speech. Sangay said the past decade had seen the CCPs refusal to engage in any discussion of human rights and democracy, and an escalating belligerence.

On his official foreign visits as the Sikyong, he had experienced first-hand the impact of the CCPs pressure on governments to keep distance from the Central Tibetan administration, leading to last-minute cancellations of meetings or downgrades of meetings to lower-level officials.

Born in 1967 in the Bylakuppe refugee camp for Tibetans in Karnataka, southern India, Penpa Tsering graduated from the economics department of Madras Christian College in Chennai in 1988. He served as the speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile from 2008 to 2016 and the Dalai Lamas representative to North America from 2016 to 2017.

History of the Tibetan Exile Government

In October 1950, the CCP invaded Tibet and forced the Tibetan government to sign a 17-point Agreement. The CCP claimed its actions amounted to a peaceful liberation of Tibet but according to a speech of Lobsang Sangay in Australia in August 2017, the CCPs so-called peaceful liberation of Tibet had resulted in the deaths of millions of Tibetans, the destruction of 98 percent of Tibetan monasteries, and 99 percent of monks and nuns being forced to resume secular life.

According to the official website of the Tibetan Government in Exile, in order to save and preserve Tibets unique traditional culture and Tibetan identity, the Dalai Lama and more than 80,000 Tibetans were forced to flee to India in mid-March 1959, and the Tibetan Government in Exile was established, which was later renamed the Central Tibetan Administration.

The Central Tibetan Administration has administrative, legislative, and judicial organs, implementing the separation of the three powers. In 2011, the government-in-exile began holding elections by universal suffrage to govern for five-year terms. Lobsang Sangay was the first elected Sikyong and served two terms.
DeSantis Tears Into Fauci After Leaked Emails Reignite Wuhan Lab Leak Theories

MIAMIRepublican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tore into Dr. Anthony Fauci during an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation following the release of leaked emails reigniting Wuhan lab theories.

DeSantis sat down with the DCNFs Mary Margaret Olohan Monday morning in Miami, Florida and discussed how he handled lockdowns in his state, Faucis emails, his bill combating Chinas influence on American academics, transgender athletes in sports, and more.

The interview came after the governor signed two bills Monday aimed at combating the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the United States.

To me the most troubling thing was the way they were trying to scurry to tamp down any inquiry in the origins of COVID, the governor said of the Fauci emails. They did not want this lab leak hypothesis to be tested or investigated. And you have to understand why, especially now a year later when we know there really is no other really strong explanation for how this thing could have started.

I think thats because there was U.S. money that has gone to fund this type of research, he continued. I think that some of these grants end up in these charities that can end up in Wuhan. And I think all that needs to be investigated.

By Mary Margaret Olohan

From The Daily Caller News Foundation

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
The statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, on May 20, 2021. (PA Media)

Downing Street Warns Oxford University After Academics Boycott College Over Cecil Rhodes Statue

Downing Street has warned Oxford University that it should take action if students are seriously affected by a boycott of Oriel College by academics over a statue of Cecil Rhodes.

According to The Telegraph, the group of more than 150 academics said they would refuse to tutor undergraduate students, do outreach work, or attend college-sponsored talks, seminars, and conferences.

The boycott came after the colleges governing body ruled last month not to remove the statue of Rhodes, who was prime minister of Cape Colony during colonial times and the creator of the Rhodes Scholarship, the worlds first graduate scholarship.

The Telegraph cited a petition by the academics saying they had no choice but to withdraw all discretionary work and goodwill collaborations after faced with Oriels stubborn attachment to a statue that glorifies colonialism and the wealth it produced for the college.

Robert Gildea, professor emeritus of modern history at Oxford and one of the signatories of the petition, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme on Thursday: One of the options offered by the commission was to retain and contextualise, so if the college put up a notice explaining who Cecil Rhodes was that would be fine. If the college put a placard around his neck at lunchtime today saying Sorry that would also be fine.

He added that sculptor Antony Gormleys suggestion that the statue be turned round to face the wall is also a very interesting idea.

The boycott garnered criticisms from fellow dons and a number of MPs, with the most scathing of them all coming from Oxford alumnus and leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg.

As regards the academics refusing to teach, Im half tempted to say you should be lucky not to be taught by such a useless bunch, but if they are that feeble, what are you missing and what are they doing there? Rees-Mogg said in Parliament.

He added, We must not allow this wokeness to happen.

Prime Minister Boris Johnsons office warned that students will need to be compensated should they be affected by the boycott.

Students rightly expect to get a good deal for their investment in higher education and we would expect universities to take appropriate action should any student be seriously affected by these actions which could include compensation, a spokesman from No. 10 Downing Street said in a statement.

We fully believe in protecting academic freedom but universities have a duty to maintain access to good-quality tuition as a priority, especially given the disruption the pandemic has caused students already.

Oriel Colleges governing body voted in June 2020 to remove the statue after protests by the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, which began in 2015 from the University of Cape Town, and was reignited at the time by Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests worldwide after the death of George Floyd.

It then decided not to remove the statue in May, citing regulatory and financial challenges.

In 2020, a statue of 17th century English slave trader and Bristol benefactor Edward Colston was pulled down and thrown into the harbour by BLM protesters in Bristol on June 7. A statue of Winston Churchill was defaced a day later, in another BLM protest in London, before it was defaced again in September during an Extinction Rebellion protest.

The UK government subsequently introduced a series of measures to protect the statues, including new bills with jail terms for damaging memorials, planning permission for demolishing monuments, and threatening institutions with funding cuts if they remove historical objects over protests.

PA contributed to this report.
A law enforcement official stands at an entrance to a municipal building that was the scene of a shooting in Virginia Beach, Va., on June 1, 2019. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo)

FBI: Perceived Grievances Drove Virginia Beach Mass Shooter

NORFOLK, Va.A city engineer who fatally shot 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal building in 2019 was motivated by perceived workplace grievances that he fixated on for years, according to findings released by the FBI on Wednesday.

The investigation, conducted by the FBIs Behavioral Analysis Unit, found that DeWayne Craddock struggled with how he perceived his own work performance and how others at work viewed him.

The shooters inflated sense of self-importance contributed to this conflict and led him to believe he was unjustly and repeatedly criticized and slighted, the FBI said in a news release. Violence was viewed by the shooter as a way to reconcile this conflict and restore his perverted view of justice.

But the FBI cautioned that no person or group was in a position to see the confluence of behaviors that may have forewarned the attack because Craddock had purposely isolated himself and disengaged from his relationships.

The agency also said that Craddock suffered from significant mental health stressors, although they alone cannot explain the Virginia Beach attack.

It is important to note that only the shooter knew the real reason why he committed this horrific act of violence; however, at this time, the FBI is confident, based on evidence collected, that the above assessment is accurate, the FBI stated.

The FBIs findings appear to go a step further than two previous investigations into the mass shooting in the coastal city of nearly half a million people.

Virginia Beach police said in March that they could not determine a motive.

Despite exhaustive investigative work and in spite of unsubstantiated rumors and accusations, it appears we may never know why he committed this heinous act, the citys report concluded.

Craddock had worked in the citys public utilities department for more than nine years. He killed 11 co-workers and a contractor who was in the building at the time getting a permit. Four others were seriously wounded and a police officer responding to the shooting received a bullet in his tactical vest but escaped serious injury. Craddock was killed in a shootout with police.

The citys report had said Craddocks life began to change around 2017. He was getting a divorce and started to have performance issues at work. In 2018, he received a written reprimand for poor performance, failed to meet expectations on an evaluation, and didnt get a merit raise.

At times, the suspect referenced the belief he was being tasked with work outside of his pay grade, the citys report said. This concern was specifically addressed by his supervisor in 2018. The suspect was told that he had been making improvements and was given encouragement.

Leaders in the department said the shooter would have met job performance standards in his 2019 evaluation, the report said.

The citys report said investigators didnt uncover any indications of violent tendencies or acts of violence committed by the suspect prior to May 31, 2019.

It echoed similar findings released by Chicago-based security company Hillard Heintze in November 2019. The firm offered no clear motive and said that Craddock did not work in a systemically toxic workplace.

The FBIs report, however, is somewhat validating for some of the victims families who have long blamed what they say was a toxic workplace environment and a failure by supervisors to recognize warning signs.

Jason Nixon, whose wife, Kate Nixon, was killed, has long said that the shooter was upset because he was having trouble at work and lost out on a promotion.

Human resources dropped the ball on policies, protocol, and procedures, Nixon said in March. My wife warned them all the time that theres something wrong with this guy.

Nixon said Wednesday that he expects little to come of the FBIs report because Virginia Beach plays by its own rules.

Hillard Heintze did offer several recommendations in its 2019 report to Virginia Beach, such as improving its workplace violence prevention programs and human resources functions. City spokeswoman Julie Hill wrote in an email Wednesday that Virginia Beach has implementedor is in the process of implementinga number of those recommendations.

Mayor Robert M. Bobby Dyer said in a statement Wednesday that no matter how much information we have about some situations, it may never be enough to really explain what happened and why  we have seen the worst evil one person can do, and the very best of what a community can do when people come together.

The rampage in Virginia Beach had been the latest in a string of high-profile mass shootings, happening in between the high school killings in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead and the Walmart massacre in El Paso, Texas, that left 23 dead.

Some of the victims family members have felt that the tragedy was effectively forgotten after the national spotlight moved on to other mass killings. Then the coronavirus pandemic arrived.

The Virginia Beach mass shooting is still under investigation by a state commission that was formed to look into the tragedy. It held its first meeting Wednesday morning, according to Kate Hourin, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Office of the State Inspector General.

The State IGs office is providing staff support for the commission, which will investigate Craddocks possible motives and develop recommendations to minimize the risk of similar shootings.

By Ben Finley
In this screengrab taken from a Senate Television webcast, House manager Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) speaks during impeachment proceedings against then-President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 3, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images)

Florida Rep. Demings Officially Launches Bid to Unseat Sen. Rubio

Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) confirmed on June 9 shes running in a 2022 race for one of the two U.S. Senate seats representing the state of Florida.

Demings, 64, the former police chief of Orlando, Florida, championed her law enforcement experience in her launch video.

When she first went from Jacksonville, Florida, to Orlando, Demings said she was told, we never lower crime. But under her watch, crime dropped.

After serving 27 years in the police department, Demings ran for Congress in 2016 and won. While in office, she notably served as a House of Representatives impeachment manager during former President Donald Trumps 2020 impeachment trial.

Unlike some in Washington, I never tire of standing up for what I believe is right, because no one is above the law. But it turns out, there are some in Washington who prefer the same old tired ways of doing business. Too tired to fight the efforts to suppress the peoples vote, they fall back to tired talking points and backwards solutions, she said.

Im running for the United States Senate because of two simple words: never tired.

Demings said several weeks ago that she was mulling a run but hadnt yet decided if she would do so.

Demings is widely considered the frontrunner to win the Democratic nomination to face Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), 50, who is running for re-election.

In a statement to news outlets after Demings announced her campaign, Rubio said she has no record of results for Florida and has often voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

She supported efforts to defund the police, opposed tax relief for working families, and led the effort to put Washington in charge of Floridas elections, Rubio said. Florida deserves a senator with a proven track record of fightingand winningfor Florida families.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 21, 2021. (Graeme Jennings/AFP via Getty Images)

Demings will benefit in the primary from not having to face Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.).

Murphy, 42, announced last month that she wouldnt vie for the Senate seat.

The reality is that Marco Rubio will not be an easy opponent, especially if its on the heels of a bruising primary, where Democrats spend millions attacking each other instead of using those millions to build the infrastructure we so desperately need to win here, she said in a statement.

Rubio entered the Senate in 2011 after serving in the Florida House of Representatives.

Rubio beat Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) in 2016 by approximately 713,000 votes out of more than 9 million cast.

Aubrey Jewett, associate professor at the University of Central Floridas School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs, in a previous interview, noted that the Democrat gubernatorial primary in 2018 was heavily contested, with multiple strong candidates. Andrew Gillum emerged with well under half the vote.

So without Murphy in there, theres a higher probability that whoever wins the primary will have more than 50 percent, which certainly will be a little more helpful going into the general election, he told The Epoch Times.

Its going to be tough regardless, whoever, whatever Democrat emerges, its not going to be an easy race, Marco Rubio will be tough to beat. Not impossible, obviously, but hell be tough to beat.
Former Rep. Renacci to Challenge Ohios DeWine for Governor

Former Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) announced on June 9 that hell challenge Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in next years Republican primary.

Renacci, a former four-term congressman from northeast Ohio who held office from 2011 to 2019, announced his candidacy on Clevelands WTAM 1100 radio station.

Ohioans cant afford four more years of Mike DeWine as their governor, the businessman and former Wadsworth mayor said in his announcement.

We have seen what failed leadership can do to a once prosperous state. DeWines tenure as governor will be defined as the worst period in Ohios long and rich history, the 62-year-old said. Corruption, indictments, low job creation, shutdowns, rampant crime, and more scandalsthat is DeWines legacy.

In a campaign video, Renacci called DeWine a career politician and accused the first-term governor of being more interested in being the Andrew Cuomo of Ohio, rather than actually helping everyday Ohioans.

COVID happened and he made a choice to rule like [New Yorks Democratic Gov.] Andrew Cuomo instead of leading like President Trump. We need to dump Ohios Cuomo, Mike DeWine, end his Trump-bashing reign, and elect an Ohio-first conservative who fights for you, Renacci said.

The governors office didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Renacci is the first serious Republican challenger to the expected reelection bid of the 74-year-old DeWine, a former state attorney general, U.S. senator, and lieutenant governor. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley is running to be the Democratic nominee.

Speaking on WTAM 1100, Renacci criticized the governors handling of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, echoing remarks from fellow Republicans who have accused DeWine of taking an excessive approach.

He took particular issue with the governors hiring of Dr. Amy Acton as his health director. Acton during the onset of the pandemic guestimated that 100,000 Ohioans had already contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus.

That was a scare tactic. That scared people, Renacci said.

Renacci ran for governor in 2017 before being backed by then-President Donald Trump to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, when Republican Josh Mandel suddenly left the Senate race, citing his wifes health. Renacci lost to Brown.

In January 2019, Renacci founded the Ohios Future Foundation, a political nonprofit dedicated to advocating business-related policies that will make Ohio first. He was also named chairman of the Medina County Republican Party last year.

Trump hinted at a primary for the Republican governor in November 2020, after DeWine suggested Trump should begin the transition to then-President-elect Joe Biden.

Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio? Will be hotly contested! Trump said at the time.

Renaccis gubernatorial bid will be advised by former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Fractured Supreme Court Rules Reckless Crimes Dont Make a Career Offender

A divided Supreme Court sided with a criminal defendant, ruling that a federal law that imposes strict mandatory penalties on federal gun offenders with three prior violent convictions cant be invoked in crimes that require a reckless mental state.

The 54 ruling in the mandatory minimum sentences case known as Borden v. U.S. came on June 10.

The frequently litigated Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) mandates a 15-year minimum sentence for people found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm who have three or more prior convictions for a violent felony. A violent felony is defined by the statute as one that necessarily involves the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.

Charles Borden Jr. pleaded guilty to a felon-in-possession charge, and prosecutors asked for an enhanced sentence under the ACCA. One of the three convictions they argued subjected Borden to the sentence-enhancement provision was for reckless aggravated assault in violation of Tennessee law.

Various lower courts around the country had split over whether the ACCA applies to prior offenses that can be committed recklessly. U.S. criminal law holds that recklessness is near the low end of the culpability scale, lower than purpose and knowledge, but higher than negligence.

Borden argued the offense shouldnt count as a violent felony under the ACCA because a mental state of recklessnessin which a defendant consciously disregards a substantial and unjustified riskwas enough to convict. Only purposeful or knowing conduct satisfies the requirement that the use of force be against the person of another, he claimed.

The trial court disagreed and sentenced Borden as a career offender. That decision was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. The Supreme Court reversed the ruling.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote an opinion that Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Neil Gorsuch joined. Justice Clarence Thomas reluctantly agreed with the result and wrote his own concurring opinion.

The phrase against another, when used to modify the phrase use of force in the statute demands that the perpetrator direct his action at, or target, another individual, which is inconsistent with a reckless mental state, Kagan wrote.

Kagan explained there are four states of mind, as described in modern statutes and cases, that may give rise to criminal liability. Those mental states are, in descending order of culpability: purpose, knowledge, recklessness, and negligence.

A person acts recklessly, in the most common formulation, when he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk attached to his conduct, in gross deviation from accepted standards, she wrote, referencing the Supreme Courts 2016 ruling in Voisine v. U.S.

Treating reckless offenses as violent felonies would impose large sentencing enhancements on individuals (for example, reckless drivers) far afield from the armed career criminals ACCA addressesthe kind of offenders who, when armed, could well use [the] gun deliberately to harm a victim, Kagan wrote, citing another precedent.

Offenses requiring a mental state of mere recklessness shouldnt be considered violent felonies under the ACCA, Kagan wrote. They are not the stuff of armed career criminals.

Congress didnt want the statutes tough penalties to apply to the too-common stuff of ordinary offenders, she wrote.

Thomas disagrees with the courts vagueness doctrine from cases such as the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Johnson v. U.S. The doctrine forces us to choose between aggravating a past error and committing a new one, Thomas wrote. I must choose the former.

Although I am reluctant to magnify the burdens that our [erroneous] jurisprudence imposes, Thomas wrote quoting the 2002 Supreme Court ruling in Ring v. Arizona, I conclude that the particular provision at issue here does not encompass petitioners conviction for reckless aggravated assault, even though the consequences of todays judgment are at odds with the larger statutory scheme.

The elements clause [of the ACCA] does not encompass petitioners conviction because the statute under which he was convicted could be violated through mere recklessness.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the dissenting opinion, which was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett.

ACCA does not ensnare low-level offenders or small-time criminals, Kavanaugh wrote, describing Kagans opinion as mystifying.

Congress enacted ACCAs use-of-force clause in 1986 to cover the prototypical violent crimes, such as assault and homicide, that can be committed with a mens rea [i.e., criminal intent] of recklessness.

Kagans opinion overrides Congresss judgment about the danger posed by recidivist violent felons who unlawfully possess firearms and threaten further violence, Kavanaugh wrote.
Reporters wait outside the courtroom as the 28-year-old man who slapped French President Emmanuel Macron is tried, facing possible jail time and a fine if found guilty of assaulting a public official, in Valence, central France, on June 10, 2021. (Laurent Cirpriani/AP Photo)

French Man Gets 4-Month Prison Sentence for Slapping Macron

VALENCE, FranceA 28-year-old Frenchman who described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right patriot was sentenced to four months in prison Thursday for slapping President Emmanuel Macron in the face.

Damien Tarel was also banned from ever holding public office in France and from owning weapons for five years over the swipe Tuesday, which caught Macrons left cheek with an audible thwack as the French leader was greeting a crowd.

During Thursdays trial, Tarel testified that the attack was impulsive and unplanned, and prompted by anger at Frances decline.

He sat straight and showed no emotion as the court in the southeastern city of Valence convicted him on a charge of violence against a person invested with public authority. He was sentenced to four months in prison and handed an additional 14-month suspended sentence. His girlfriend broke down in tears.

Tarel, who shouted a centuries-old royalist war cry as he hit the president, described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right patriot and member of the yellow vest economic protest movement that shook Macrons presidency in 2018 and 2019.

Police officers leave the courtroom as the man who slapped French President Emmanuel Macron is tried, in Valence, central France, on June 10, 2021. (Laurent Cirpriani/AP Photo)

Poised and calm, he firmly defended his action and his views on Macron, without providing details of what policies he wants France to change.

Tarel acknowledged hitting the president with a rather violent slap. When I saw his friendly, lying look, I felt disgust, and I had a violent reaction, he told the court. It was an impulsive reaction.  I was surprised myself by the violence.

While he said he and his friends had considered bringing an egg or a cream pie to throw at the president, he said they dropped the ideaand insisted that the slap wasnt premeditated.

I think that Emmanuel Macron represents the decline of our country, he said, without explaining what he meant.

He told investigators that he held right- or ultra-right political convictions without being a member of a party or group, according to the prosecutors office.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with a member of the public before he was slapped during a visit in Tain-LHermitage, France, in this still image taken from video, on June 8, 2021. (BFMTV/ReutersTV via Reuters)

The slap called attention to an assortment of ultra-right groups bubbling beneath Frances political landscape, which are considered increasingly dangerous despite their small following.

Macron wouldnt comment Thursday on the trial, but insisted that nothing justifies violence in a democratic society, ever.

Its not such a big deal to get a slap when you go toward a crowd to say hello to some people who were waiting for a long time, he said in an interview with broadcaster BFM-TV. We must not make that stupid and violent act more important than it is.

At the same time, the president added, we must not make it banal, because anyone with public authority is entitled to respect.

Another man arrested in the ruckus that followed the slap, identified by the prosecutor as Arthur C., will be judged at a later date, in 2022, for illegal possession of weapons.

French President Emmanuel Macron is slapped in the face by a member of the public during a visit to Tain-lHermitage, France, on June 8, 2021. (BFMTV via Reuters TV)

The prosecutors office said as well as finding weapons, police who searched the home of Arthur C. also found a copy of Adolf Hitlers manifesto Mein Kampf, and two flags, one symbolizing Communists and another of the Russian revolution.

Neither Tarel nor Arthur C., also 28, had police records, the prosecutor said.

While crimes in France often take months or years to reach trial, in this case authorities used a special emergency procedure to hold a trial within just two days of the slap. Tarel did not object to the procedure.

Videos showed Macrons attacker slapping the French leaders left cheek and his bodyguards pushing the man away during a quick meet-and-greet with members of the public, who were kept back behind traffic barriers in the winemaking town of Tain-lHermitage.

The attacker was heard to cry out Montjoie! Saint Denis! a centuries-old royalist war cry, before finishing with A bas la Macronie, or Down with Macron.
German Panel Recommends Only Children With Pre-Existing Conditions Get Pfizers COVID-19 Vaccine

Germanys vaccine advisory committee on Thursday recommended that Pfizer-BioNTechs COVID-19 vaccine should only be given to adolescents with pre-existing conditions that raise their risk of getting seriously sick if they get the pulmonary illness.

The advisory committee, called STIKO, said in a statement that it was not currently recommending the COVID-19 vaccine be given to those aged 1217 without pre-existing conditions, even though the European health regulator in May approved the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for use in children as young as 12 under a conditional marketing authorization.

STIKO said that, despite its recommendation, doctors may still administer the vaccine to adolescents if the recipients accept the risk.

Ruediger von Kriess, a paediatrics professor and STIKO committee member, said previously it might be preferable to endorse the vaccine for use in children only if they have pre-existing conditions that elevate their risk of serious complications if they contract COVID-19, citing the lack of data on the vaccines long-term effects.

The European Medicines Agency approved Pfizer-BioNTechs COVID-19 vaccine, called Comirnaty, for emergency use on the basis of a trial involving around 44,000 people aged 16 and over, which was later extended to include 2,260 children aged 12 to 15.

Of the 1,005 children receiving the vaccine, none developed COVID-19 compared to 16 children out of the 978 who received the dummy injection, the agency said in a statement. This means that, in this study, the vaccine was 100 percent effective at preventing COVID-19 (although the true rate could be between 75 percent and 100 percent), it added.

Besides noting common side effects like fever, chills, and muscle and joint aches, the agency said some allergic reactions have occurred with the vaccine, including a very small number of cases of severe allergic reactions.

Pfizer-BioNTech said that a pediatric study evaluating the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine in children 6 months to 11 years of age is currently ongoing. The companies expect to have data ready to submit to European authorities in September for two groupschildren 25 years of age and 511 years of age.

Comirnaty was the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive authorization in the European Union and is the first to have its conditional marketing authorization extended to adolescents.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), center, speaks as Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), left, James Lankford (R-Okla.), second from right, and John Barrasso (R-Okla.) listen during a press conference during a break in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 23, 2020. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

GOP Senators Slam Bidens $6 Trillion Budget Proposal as Massive Expansion of Federal Government

Republican senators are pushing back on President Joe Bidens $6 trillion 2022 budget proposal, saying it can be summed up as higher taxes, higher spending, and higher debt while Democrat leaders have praised it as a declaration of their values.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said on Wednesday that the budgets priorities are amiss.

President Biden is proposing higher taxes on working Americans and cuts to our national defense to pay for a massive expansion of the federal government and enactment of the radical progressive demands, like parts of the green New Deal. What cant be paid for is simply put on the nations credit card, adding trillions of dollars of red-ink, Ernst told the senate chamber.

President Joe Biden called his budget proposal a document that highlights Democrats valuesnamely, the wish for economic equity.

Where we choose to invest speaks to what we value as a nation. This years budget, the first of my presidency, is a statement of values that define our nation at its best, Biden said in a May statement.

In a budget fact sheet put out by the White House, the administration highlighted that trillions will be put into government-funded programs for items like childcare, climate change, education, health, and research programs, as well as infrastructure. This includes the American Jobs Plan and American Family Plan.

An Iraqi war veteran who served 23 years in the Iowa Army National Guard, Ernst criticized Bidens $3 billion cut to military spending while doubling the size of the IRS.

Who does the President think he will be able to call on should we need to fight off foreign threats, his new army of IRS agents? We face new threats around the globe and lowering our defenses as President Biden is proposing will only embolden our adversaries, Americans may fear an IRS audit, but Red China wont, Ernst said.

Ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Bidens proposal will not become law if Congress does its job. Grassley said the trillions in the first pandemic relief package were justified given the lockdowns but this new spending is unreasonable.

Americans will see this for what it isa very unserious political document containing a laundry list of liberal wish list policies, unmoored from economic or fiscal reality, Grassley said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the big-spending budget would be a historic investment.

A federal budget should be a statement of our national values. President Bidens budget is an unequivocal declaration of the value that Democrats place on Americas workers and middle-class families, who are the foundation of our nations strength and the key to Build Back Better, Pelosi said in a written statement.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) said the administration is overspending on things like unemployment and that contrary to Bidens message, the May job report was no reason to celebrate.

Since I took office, more jobs than ever been created in the first four months of any presidency in modern history, Biden had said last month.

Barrasso said of the presidents comments, The percentage of Americans in the labor force actually went down, another weak job report. Disappointing but not surprising, and we know why it slowed down. He added that there are more than $9 million in unfilled jobs and that a major factor contributing to this is that people are getting more from unemployment payments.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said the Biden 2022 budget will set the U.S. toward broad inclusive prosperity.

The overall increase of 16 percent in domestic spendingincluding a 41 percent increase for the Department of Education, a 23 percent increase for the Department of Health and Human Services, and a 22 percent increase for the Environmental Protection Agencywill make a tremendous difference in the lives of working families, the middle class, and the vulnerable, DeLauro said in a statement.

Acting White House budget director Shalanda Young told a Senate committee hearing Tuesday that the budget would only be able to go ahead if Congress approves the associated tax hikes for corporations and high-income households to support the proposed increases in spending.

The budget will take debt held by the public from $22 trillion today to more than $39 trillion in 2031. By 2024, debt as a share of the economy would hit a record of 113.8 percent, surpassing the World War II-era level of 106 percent.

While the White House has forecast that the extra spending should be paid off within 15 years from the proposed tax increases, Dr. Daniel Lacalle, chief economist at Tressis, has warned that history shows us that these estimates tend to err on the side of optimism.

Emel Akan and Melanie Sun contributed to this article.
Then President-elect Alejandro Giammattei speaks during a interview with AFP in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Aug. 12, 2019. (Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images)

Guatemalas President Says Biden Administrations Unclear Messaging on Immigration Fueled Border Surge

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei criticized the Biden administration for unclear messaging on immigration, which he said has contributed to the border surge.

You can see that humanitarian messages were used here by the coyotes in a distorted manner, Giammattei told Fox News. Coyote is a slang term for human smugglers.

They said that they were going to support family reunification, Giammattei said, referring to the Biden administrations policy of allowing unaccompanied minors to enter the United States on humanitarian grounds and of seeking to unite them with family members in the United States.

So the coyotes came and took the children and teenagers to the United States, he said. And the border filled up. Not only with people from Guatemala, but lots of people.

Thats why we have suggested that the messaging be clear.

The surge of people migrating from Central American countries has become one of the biggest political challenges to the Biden administration, with Republicans blaming the wave of illegal border crossings on a rollback of Trump-era immigration policies and on messaging that many would-be migrants and human traffickers are interpreting as an invitation to come to the United States.

Reuters interviews in April with nearly two dozen migrants and more than a dozen people identifying themselves as smugglers, as well as an examination of hundreds of posts in closed Facebook groups where smugglers advertise their services, shows that many would-be migrants believe that they are welcome to cross the border.

Theres 100 days of free passage across the border, a Guatemalan smuggler told Reuters, referring to one prevailing perception. Supposedly, the president is letting children in, another told the outlet.

In dozens of interviews with The Associated Press around the same time, migrants said President Joe Bidens relatively pro-immigration positions influenced their decision to leave their homes and seek entry into the United States.

Human smugglers along the border continue to openly advertise their services on social media, with a recent report from The Epoch Times detailing a number of such ads.

We have crossings through Lomas de Arena, Chihuahua. We offer camouflage, backpack with food. Im currently in Chihuahua. Send me [a message to my] inbox or call me at [redacted by The Epoch Times], one Facebook post said.

While the Biden administration has said the border isnt open and that most asylum-seekers are being turned away at the border, the administration is allowing unaccompanied minors into the country, a policy that may be contributing to the sharp rise in children traveling alone at the border. In March, border agents encountered 18,951 unaccompanied minors, the largest number recorded in a single month since U.S. Customs and Border Protection started publishing the figures in 2009. That number dropped slightly in April to 17,148, and again in May to 14,158.

As Vice President Kamala Harris visited Guatemala to address the root causes of migration, Giammattei, in his interview on Fox News, praised Harris for a speech that warned would-be illegal immigrants not to seek entry into the United States, or they would be turned back at the border.

The vice president yesterday sent a very clear message, because she said, Do not come, because we wont let you in,' he said. Thats a clear message.

But if you have a lukewarm message, it opens up the possibility that theres a bad interpretation of it, he said. You can say it in good faith. But there are people who will misinterpret it.

In a separate interview with CBS, Giammattei said he would like to see the United States impose stronger penalties on human smugglers and that hes ready to extradite coyotes to the United States to face charges.

Customs and Border Protection apprehended 180,034 individuals illegally entering the United States in May, slightly higher than the April number.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) attends a concert at George Floyd Square on the first anniversary of Floyd's death, in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 25, 2021. (Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters)

House Democrats Urge Rep. Omar to Clarify Statement on US, Hamas, Israel

A group of House Democrats is urging Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to clarify what she meant when she equated the United States and Israel to the terrorist group Hamas.

Equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided, the group, including Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), said in a joint statement on June 9. Ignoring the differences between democracies governed by the rule of law and contemptible organizations that engage in terrorism at best discredits ones intended argument and at worst reflects deep-seated prejudice.

The United States and Israel are imperfect and, like all democracies, at times deserving of critique, but false equivalencies give cover to terrorist groups. We urge Congresswoman Omar to clarify her words placing the U.S. and Israel in the same category as Hamas and the Taliban.

Omar earlier this week shared footage of her questioning of Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a congressional hearing. She had asked Blinken about how alleged victims of crimes could get justice if the International Criminal Court (ICC) wasnt involved.

I know you oppose the courts investigation in both Palestine and in Afghanistan. I havent seen any evidence in either case that domestic courts both can and will prosecute alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, and I would emphasize that in Israel and Palestine, this includes crimes committed by both Israeli security forces and Hamas. In Afghanistan, it includes crimes committed by the Afghan national government and the Taliban, she said.

So in both of these cases, if domestic courts cant or wont pursue justice, and we oppose the ICC, where do we think the victims of these supposed crimes can go for justice?

Blinken said that the ICC lacked jurisdiction to take up the cases, adding that absent a United Nations Security Council referral or a request by the state itself, thats not appropriate.

The statement that drew the ire of fellow House Democrats was posted on Twitter. In sharing the footage, Omar wrote: We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.

Rockets are launched toward Israel from Gaza City, controlled by Hamas terrorists, on May 18, 2021. (Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images)

The joint statement asking for clarification was from Reps. Schneider, Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Elaine Luria (D-Va.), Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

The letter came after Gottheimer, Luria, and Manning urged President Joe Biden to appoint an ambassador-at-large to combat anti-Semitism.

Omar responded to her colleagues on June 10.

Its shameful for colleagues who call me when they need my support to now put out a statement asking for clarification and not just call. The islamophobic tropes in this statement are offensive. The constant harassment & silencing from the signers of this letter is unbearable, she wrote in a Twitter statement.

Citing an open case against Israel, US, Hamas & Taliban in the ICC isnt comparison or from deeply seated prejudice. You might try to undermine these investigations or deny justice to their victims but history has thought [sic] us that the truth cant be hidden or silenced forever.

Jeremy Slevin, a spokesman for the representative, on June 8 accused the far right of ginning up hate against Rep. Omar for a technical question about an ongoing investigation.

On a deeper level, the implication that a sitting Member of Congress should not dare conduct oversight over the State Department because it mentions crimes by the US is deeply toxic and antidemocratic, he said on Twitter.

Slevin was reacting in part to House Republicans who had condemned the Minnesota Democrats remarks.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) had said in a Twitter statement: Absolutely reprehensible. Rep. Omar is likening the US and our ally Israel to the evil of Hamas and the Taliban. To openly compare the nation that welcomed her as a refugee to terrorist organizations is beyond wrong, ignorant, and hateful. This rhetoric has no place in Congress.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) had written on Twitter: Grouping the U.S. & Israel with the actions of Hamas & the Taliban is disgusting. @Ilhan does not deserve to represent America with these vile & completely false comparisons.

Omar has previously faced criticism for comments on Israel.

Former Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.) in 2019 called for Omar to apologize to Jewish constituents for her remarks that used an anti-Jewish trope that a cabal secretly controls high levels of government and other power centers. Omar did end up apologizing.

Nadler later said that a cartoon promoted by Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) had a vile underlying message.

Omar has frequently stood by her remarks, accusing critics of attacking her for her faith or skin color. Omar, a Muslim, immigrated to the United States from Somalia as a refugee when she was young.
House GOP: Facebooks Zuckerberg Needs to Surrender Communications With Fauci Over COVID-19

House Republicans sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking that he surrender any communications the social media giant has had with Dr. Anthony Fauci and other federal officials regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and James Comer (R-Ky.) cited recently released emails from Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), that suggested Zuckerberg personally communicated with [Fauci] about the COVID-19 pandemic.

In light of Facebooks subsequent censorship of certain COVID-19 contentincluding content about the pandemics originthese communications with Dr. Fauci raise the prospect that the federal government induced Facebook to censor certain speech in violation of the First Amendment, they wrote.

Over the past year amid the pandemic, Facebook has moved to block content suggesting that the CCP virus, also known as the novel coronavirus, may have originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Jordans and Comers letter further stipulated that Facebook hand over all documents and communications between or among Facebook employees and U.S. government employees, which includes Fauci, regarding the virus, treatment, and its origins. Documents regarding Facebooks policies about COVID-19 content moderation should also be surrendered, the representatives wrote.

It also appears that you shared some of Facebooks confidential trade or commercial secrets with Dr. Fauci, as portions of your email exchange with Dr. Fauci were redacted when made publicly available, their letter stated.

Zuckerberg had sent a personal email to Fauci on March 15, 2020, in which the Facebook CEO wrote, This isnt public yet, but were building a coronavirus information hub that were going to put at the top of Facebook for everyone to see to make sure that people can get authoritative information and practice social distancing. The email also asked Fauci to do a question-and-answer session for Facebook, among other requests.

Another mid-March 2020 email, titled Offer from Mark Zuckerberg, included Faucis response after Zuckerberg asked him to do videos on the pandemic. Fauci responded by saying, I will write or call Mark to tell him I am interested in doing this.

In recent weeks, Fauci, who has given hundreds of interviews to news outlets since the pandemic started early last year, has faced significant criticism from Republicans and former White House officials, who said he gave misleading informationor that he liedabout the hypotheses of the CCP viruss origin.

The P4 laboratory on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on May 27, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

EcoHealth Alliances Peter Daszak wrote in an email to Fauci on April 19, 2020, 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, a staunch opponent of the theory that the virus escaped the Wuhan lab, also told the NIAID chief, Your comments are brave, and coming from your trusted voice, will help dispel the myths being spun around the viruss origins.

Fauci responded by writing: Many thanks for your kind note. According to the email trove that was published, Fauci a day before had told George Gao, head of Chinas CDC: We will get through this together. Thank you for your kind note. All is well despite some crazy people in this world.

In a series of media interviews this month, Fauci said the emails have been taken out of context and defended grants worth hundreds of thousands of dollars being given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The Wuhan lab is a very large lab, to the tune of hundreds of millions if not billions of dollarsthe grant that were talking about was $600,000 over five years, Fauci told NewsNow last week.

But on June 9 during an MSNBC interview, Fauci went a step further following recent criticism from GOP lawmakers, who called on him to step down from the NIAID position hes held since 1984.

If youre trying to get at me as a public health official and scientist, youre not only attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci, youre attacking science, he said.

Facebook and NIAID havent returned requests for comment.
How Apple Empowers China, and Disempowers America

Commentary

Apple has a new privacy feature, but not for its customers in China, nor for customers on a list of usual-suspect dictatorships that tend to tag along with China. The new privacy feature masks a customers unique IP address from advertisers, internet service providers, governments, and other third parties with which the customer interacts. Thus third parties cant discover the customers identity or location, and Apple will not know which websites its customers are visiting. That means the privacy of Apple customers improves.

But theres a catch. U.S. law enforcement will find it more difficult to find terrorists and spies in the United States, and the Chinese police will continue to easily track and catch Chinas human rights activists. Thus Beijing increases its power relative to the power of governments in democracies. Thank you, Apple.

The company is laughing all the way to the bank. It garnered $21 billion in revenues from China in 2020, up 57 percent from the year prior. Apple claims to support 2 million jobs in the United States, but it only directly employs 80,000. Compare that to 4.8 million jobs it supports in China. All those jobs and sales in China produce taxes that support the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is committing genocide against its own population, and building missiles aimed at U.S. cities.

So, Apple is no saint. Its new privacy feature is no exception. Apple could have helped U.S. law enforcement catch terrorists and spies by quietly keeping track on its own of customer web browsing, without giving advertisers the data they need for targeted ads. But no. Apple is purposefully making it impossible for itself to help U.S. law enforcement.

Apple customers want total privacy, which is understandable, and Apple gives their customers what they want. Thats the beauty, and achilles heel, of unregulated capitalism. Theres a collective action problem. Each of us wants total privacy, but when all of us have total privacy, our security erodes.

The CCP also likely welcomes Apples privacy feature in the United States, where its spies can use iPhones without worrying about the FBI catching them. Were thus becoming a democratic but disorganized rabble in the face of Chinas highly-disciplined deployment of force, including through keeping Apple aligned with CCP interests.

Chinese internet police in this undated photo. (The Epoch Times)

Apple CEO Tim Cook made the June 7 announcement of the new privacy feature beneath a big sign that says Privacy with a locked apple logo. Cool, cute, and crowd-pleasing. Except for Chinese human rights activists and victims of crime in democracies, where Apples privacy sledge hammer protects the privacy of criminals, where a scalpel would have protected the privacy of only the law-abiding.

The new Apple feature is called private relay and will be unavailable in China and several countries close to China. According to Reuters, these include Belarus, Colombia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, and the Philippines. Leaders in these countries, many of which are dictatorships, arent stupid. Theyre going to hold onto power by violating the privacy of their citizens and catching human rights activists. Either Apple helps them do it, or Apple cant sell in their countries. Apple responds by divulging the data to maximize its profit. Apple and avaricious dictators are two peas in a pod.

Each customer device, like a computer, tablet, or phone, has a unique IP address used to browse the internet. In compliant countries, Apple plans to keep itself, and the world, in the dark about each customers usage of the internet by first stripping the IP address from the traffic, and then routing the traffic through an outside company that assigns the traffic a temporary IP address. So, Apple knows the IP address but not the websites visited, and the outside company knows the websites visited, but not the IP address. That makes it rough-going for advertisers and the government who want to use fingerprinting to discover the characteristics or even identity of the customer by triangulating disparate pieces of information gleaned from customer behavior. Maybe private relay will even keep authoritarian regimes like China from discovering information about Apple users in the United States. Cue cheers from the internet.

But theres an irony and overkill here in that citizens in democracies vote for the rule of law to protect themselves, but Apple is fighting hard to ensure that not only non-democratic third actors are barred from our browsing data, but our own democratic governments will be unable to enforce the laws arrived at by democratic means. Free people want their freedom and privacy, including from government. But this makes it more difficult for democratic governments of the free to catch those who would do free people harm.

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during the Economic Summit held for the China Development Forum in Beijing on March 23, 2019. (Ng Han Guan/AFP via Getty Images)

So, democratic governments are weakened by the freedoms they guarantee, making them more vulnerable to takeover by autocratic governments who are advantaged by Apple because they do not allow the same freedoms to their citizens. Whereas Apple cant get away with anything in China, so it cooperates with the government, it has the latitude to abuse its freedoms in the United States, and so takes full advantage of those freedoms by pressing them so far as to protect criminality.

In 2016, for example, Apple refused a law enforcement request for assistance in unlocking the iPhone of an Islamic State terrorist who killed 14 and injured 22 in San Bernardino, California. Privacy advocates used absurd slippery slope arguments to strike fear into citizens. If Apple opens the phone of this single terrorist, whats to stop the government from requiring that Apple put security cameras in your bedroom?

Answer: The voters (who control the government) do not want security cameras in their bedrooms. They just want to catch the occasional terrorist.

We could think of the problem in market terms, with democracies demonstrating the superiority of their freedoms to non-democracies, whose citizens would overturn their dictatorships as a result. Then we could ignore Apple relatively empowering autocracies against democracies on an informational level, because democracies obtain much more power on a public opinion level through their demonstrations of freedom. Those who live under unfree governance should observe our freedoms and be so impressed as to overthrow their unfree governments. But they dont seem to be doing so very quickly.

In fact the trend is the opposite, with increasing losses to freedom and democracy since 2006, according to Freedom House. Last year, perhaps in part because of the pandemic, was the worst year for freedom since the negative trend began. Almost 75 percent of people lived in a situation of deteriorating democracy in 2020. Incumbent leaders increasingly used force to crush opponents and settle scores, sometimes in the name of public health, while beleaguered activistslacking effective international supportfaced heavy jail sentences, torture, or murder in many settings, according to Freedom House. These withering blows marked the 15th consecutive year of decline in global freedom.

Free people, and the governments they control, have to get smarter about using the tools at our disposal, including big tech, to promote freedom globally. Sometimes more absolute privacy from law enforcement in a democracy will just be used against us by the unfree who infiltrate our democracies in order to do freedom harm. Theres a subtle multi-level balance to be achieved here, and Apple is apparently not leaning in to help.

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.
Demonstrators take part in a protest against the planned construction of Chinese Fudan university campus in Budapest, Hungary, on June 5, 2021. (Ferenc Isza/AFP via Getty Images)

Hungary PM Orban Confirms Referendum on Chinese University After Protest

Hungarys premier Viktor Orban confirmed on Thursday that there will be a referendum on a planned establishment of a campus for Chinese Fudan university, which had triggered a protest over the weekend.

Orban, who faces elections in early 2022, has shelved plans for the Chinese school for now which analysts have said was aimed to defuse political tensions and take the steam out of the oppositions campaign against the university.

Opponents of Orban fear the planned $2 billion campus could undercut the quality of higher education and help Beijing increase its influence in Hungary and the European Union.

Protesters hold placards reading in Hungarian we will not be a colony (L), and No Fudan as they gather in downtown Budapest, Hungary, on June 5, 2021. (Laszlo Balogh/AP Photo)

Orban has built cordial ties with the Chinese regime, including massive joint business projects, and has several times this year blocked EU statements denouncing the Chinese regimes record on human rights, angering his allies. Hungary blocked an EU statement in April criticizing Chinas new security law in Hong Kong, undermining the blocs efforts to confront Beijings curbing of freedoms in the former British colony.

According to media reports, the government was willing to pay for the construction of Shanghai-based Fudan Universitys first campus in Europe with a Chinese loan. The campus would displace a planned local student housing area.

Orban and his ruling Fidesz party face their first competitive elections next year after three successive landslides since 2010. Opposition parties have united against Fidesz for the first time and caught up with them in polls.

Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends a news conference following talks with his counterparts from central Europes Visegrad Group in Lublin, Poland, on Sept. 11, 2020. (Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo)

Political observers say Orban could decide to bide his time on Fudan and return to the idea after the election.

It is hallmark Fidesz to take two steps back to wait until the issue loses political steam, then attempt it again when it is more convenient politically, Political Capital analyst Peter Kreko said.

Orban has abandoned unpopular projects before, such as a tax on internet traffic, a separate administrative court system, and plans to privatize marinas at Lake Balaton.

Gergely Karacsony, the opposition mayor of Budapest and a top contender to challenge Orban in elections next year, said on Saturday the university protest was a symbol of Hungarians rejecting heavy-handed government decisions.

Although we are worlds apart on human rights  we really just dont want a Chinese elite school built at the expense of Hungarian taxpayers, Karacsony told Saturdays rally.

Demonstrators protest against the planned Chinese Fudan University campus in Budapest, Hungary, on June 5, 2021. (Bernadett Szabo/Reuters)

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report
A group of Venezuelans wait to be picked up by Border Patrol after illegally crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into Del Rio, Texas, on June 3, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Illegal Border Crossings Keep Climbing; 180,000 Apprehended in May

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended 180,034 individuals illegally entering the United States in May, the highest number seen in a single month in 21 years.

The agency said the majority, more than 112,000, were expelled under the Title 42 emergency health provision.

Former President Donald Trump implemented Title 42 in March 2020, which effectively closed the border to nonessential travel in an attempt to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

It allowed for Border Patrol to turn back illegal border-crossers almost immediately, rather than for them to be placed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for a more protracted process through deportation proceedings under Title 8.

The Biden administration has already exempted unaccompanied children and many family units from Title 42, whereas single adults from Spanish-speaking nations are almost all still subject to immediate expulsion, according to Troy Miller, acting commissioner for CBP. But Border Patrol is also encountering more illegal aliens from non-Spanish speaking nations, Brazil and Haiti in particular, which Miller suggested arent being expelled.

The number of unaccompanied minors and individuals within family units dropped in May compared to April, but still made up more than 33,000 apprehensions.

Most of these individuals are released into the interior of the United States with a notice to report, meaning the individual is obliged to report to a local ICE office once settled, or a notice to appear, meaning the individual is given a date to appear in immigration court.

The Title 42 restrictions have triggered a higher than normal recidivism rate of illegal crossings as single adults repeatedly attempt to cross and evade capture, according to CBP.

During the month of May, 38 percent of Border Patrol apprehensions were individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months. The average one-year re-encounter rate during the previous five years was roughly 15 percent, CBP said.

In addition, Border Patrol detected, but didnt capture, more than 51,000 illegal border-crossers in May, according to statistics obtained by The Epoch Times.

The Biden administration is under pressure to end the Title 42 restrictions and has hinted it would do so. However, the head of ICE has said its removal is his biggest concern.

Title 42 is absolutely critical, ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson said during a congressional hearing on May 13. I dont think its a situation where its going to just be lifted electivelywe will be mandated, through some sort of court order, to lift it.

Once Title 42 is revoked, the 3,500 to 3,800 single adults that Border Patrol is currently arresting on a daily basis will have to be processed by ICE.

At the same time, ICE has less capacity than it did during the previous border surge in 2019. ICE had approximately 55,000 detention beds in 2019. However, their capacity was reduced to 30,000 beds in the fiscal 2021 appropriations packageenough beds for less than two weeks at the current rates of alien arrivals.

Vice President Kamala Harris is currently traveling to Mexico and Guatemala on a trip that the Biden administration said was to discuss the root causes of the vast numbers of illegal immigrants entering the United States from that region.

We have, and it is a legitimate correct conversation and concern, which is to address what is happening at our Americas southern border, and no question about that. We cannot have that question and have that conversation without also giving equal weight and attention to what is causing that to occur, Harris said while in Guatemala on June 8.

Pressed on why she hasnt yet visited the U.S. southern border, Harris said she plans to visit the border at some point.

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said in an interview with CBS on June 6, before Harriss visit, that he would like to see the United States impose stronger penalties on human smugglers.
Chicago police officers attend a graduation and promotion ceremony in the Grand Ballroom on Navy Pier in Chicago, Ill., on June 15, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Illinois Police Workforce Crisis Exacerbated by Criminal Justice Overhaul

CHICAGOSince Illinois lawmakers passed a major criminal justice reform bill in January, five Illinois sheriffs have retired early and six sheriffs are set to retire this summer, according to Illinois Sheriff Association (ISA) executive director Jim Kaitschuk.

This is the most Ive seen. Theyre quitting as a direct result of the legislation, Kaitschuk told The Epoch Times.

In a typical year, only one or two sheriffs would quit before serving their full terms, according to Kaitschuk. On top of the early retirements, over 20 Illinois sheriffs have decided not to seek reelection when their terms end.

Its sad because these are individuals that have given their life to a profession that they obviously love and are passionate about, and I hate to see them leave under the circumstances that they are, Kaitschuk said.

The recently enacted SAFE-T Act made sweeping changes to the Illinois criminal justice system, including abolishing cash bail in two years, creating a statewide certification program for police officers, mandating body cameras for all Illinois officers by 2025, and allowing anonymous complaints against police officers.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) hailed the SAFE-T Act as ensuring true safety, true fairness, and true justice. But five major Illinois law enforcement organizations, including ISA, derided it as a monster bill that punishes police officers for doing their jobs and allows criminals to roam free.

For example, the SAFE-T Act makes it a felony for officers if they forget to turn on body-worn cameras while on duty, prohibits officers from reviewing body-camera videos before writing police reports, and has ambiguous language that appears to prohibit officers from aiming a taser at an offenders backwhich is a common practice recommended by many taser manufacturers.

A follow-up bill has addressed some police concerns with the SAFE-T Act but Kaitschuk said the original intent and direction remain unchanged. He is also concerned about other police reform bills in the lawmakers pipeline, including one that seeks to abolish the qualified immunity of police officers.

If that one became law, I would quit too, Kaitschuk told The Epoch Times. He has been a police officer with Leland Grove Police Department since 2009.

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (ILFOP,) which represents about 34,000 active and retired rank-and-file police officers statewide, conducted a member survey right before Gov. Pritzker signed the SAFE-T Act in February.

Three in five officers said they were considering early retirement because of the bill. Nearly half said they are looking for positions in other states or jobs outside policing.

The survey was sent to all ILFOP members. About 1,500 responded.

Not only are we losing some of our best officers but its also very difficult to recruit new officers, ILFOP president Chris Southwood told The Epoch Times.

Chicago FOP, the largest lodge within ILFOP, saw 230 members retire between January and May this year. During the same period, it only welcomed 130 new members from the police academy, according to internal data provided to The Epoch Times by Chicago FOP.

Chicago FOP President John Catanzara told The Epoch Times, That bill makes working conditions for police in the whole state untenable forever. If you got the time to leave, there is no reason to be in law enforcement.

As for the dwindling new recruits, Catanzara said, The first thing I tell them is, I have no idea why you want to be sitting in those chairs right now but thank you for joining the circus. You are out of your mind wanting to be a cop in this environment but we will be here to protect you.

Chicago FOP represents about 8,000 active and retired police officer members. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the second-largest metro police department in the nation, with about 10,000 sworn officers.

According to records obtained by The Epoch Times through a Freedom of Information Act request, CPD lost about 330 officers in the first four months of 2021, mostly due to retirements. During the same period, CPD brought on about 100 new recruits.

Smaller police departments in southern Illinois also face hiring woes. At Bloomington Police Department, in the most recent hiring cycle, about 50 applicants passed the written test. In a typical year, there would be around 130, according to Bloomington Police Department public information officer John Fermon.

Out of those 50 applicants, Fermon predicts about 30 will show up for the follow-up physical tests and about 15 will pass the tests and proceed to background checks, after which about seven will pass the checks and head to the police academy. Half of the seven candidates will quit during academy, Fermon estimated.

The old way to recruit was to eliminate as many people as you could and find the best candidates, now you just have to take what you have, Fermon told The Epoch Times.

He said a major reason behind the low job applications is the negative public views of police officers, which he thinks gained foothold after the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014 and intensified with every following police shooting publicized by the national media.

We are talking about a profession in which if something happens with a police officer in California, then everyone across America judges you. When you have a teacher in California molest a child, do you think a teacher in Bloomington is that person as well? Its not fair, Fermon said.

Some Illinois police officers have begun looking for jobs in nearby states where the social and political environment is more tolerant. Several went as far as Gulf Shores, Alabama, according to Gulf Shores Police Department chief Edward Delmore.

Before Delmore moved to Alabama, he had worked in Illinois law enforcement for 30 years, with his last post as chief of police in the city of Fairview Heights.

The two people I hired last month for the only two openings I had came from Illinois, Delmore told The Epoch Times.

One is a 34-year-old police officer from a Chicago suburb, and the other a recent college graduate who would have served in Illinois if not for the recent criminal justice bill, Delmore said. Several other police officers also applied but he doesnt have additional openings.

He said he knew some police chiefs in Indiana and Missouri who also received applications from Illinois officers.

Those who remain on the Illinois police force will simply pull back and quit proactive policing, Delmore said.

Every community gets the kinds of law enforcement it insists on, Delmore said. Society must come to understand that the price they will pay for a more passive police officer is a more aggressive criminal.
A worker carries wood on a hand cart as multiple funeral pyres of COVID-19 victims burn at a crematorium on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, on May 1, 2021. (Ishant Chauhan/AP Photo)

Indian State Sharply Raises COVID-19 Death Toll Prompting Call for Wide Review

BENGALURU/ NEW DELHIAn Indian state has raised its COVID-19 death toll sharply higher after the discovery of thousands of unreported cases, lending weight to suspicion that Indias overall death tally is significantly more than the official figure.

Indian hospitals ran out of beds and life-saving oxygen during a devastating second wave of coronavirus in April and May and people died in parking lots outside hospitals and at their homes.

Many of those deaths were not recorded in COVID-19 tallies, doctors and health experts say.

India has 29.2 million cases and 359,676 deaths, according to health ministry data.

But the discovery of several thousand unreported deaths in the state of Bihar has raised suspicion that many more coronavirus victims have not been included in official figures.

In this Picture taken with a drone, the grounds are prepared for mass cremation of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) victims in New Delhi, India, on April 28, 2021. (Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

The health department in Bihar, one of Indias poorest states, revised its total COVID-19 related death toll to more than 9,429 from about 5,424 on Wednesday.

The newly reported deaths had occurred last month and state officials were investigating the lapse, a district health official said, blaming the oversight on private hospitals.

These deaths occurred 15 days ago and were only uploaded now in the government portal. Action will be taken against some of the private hospitals, said the official, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Health experts say they believe both coronavirus infections and deaths are being significantly undercounted across the country partly because test facilities are rare in rural areas, where two-thirds of Indians live, and hospitals are few and far between.

Many people have fallen ill and died at home without being tested for the coronavirus.

Relatives carry the body of a person who died of COVID-19 as multiple pyres of other COVID-19 victims burn at a crematorium in New Delhi, India, on May 1, 2021. (Amit Sharma/AP Photo)

Widespread Problem

As crematoriums struggled to handle the wave of deaths over the past two months, many families placed bodies in the holy Ganges river or buried them in shallow graves on its sandbanks.

Those people would likely not have been registered as COVID victims.

Under-reporting is a widespread problem, not necessarily deliberate, often because of inadequacies, Rajib Dasgupta, head of the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at New Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Reuters.

In the rural context, whatever states may say or claim, testing is not simple, easy or accessible, Dasgupta said.

A health worker checks the body temperature of a passenger during a COVID-19 screening as he arrives at a railway platform on a long distance train, in Mumbai, India, on June 8, 2021. (Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images)

Overall, Indias cases and deaths have fallen steadily in the past weeks after a surge from mid-March.

The official total of cases stood at 29.2 million on Thursday after rising by 94,052 in the previous 24 hours, while total fatalities were at 359,676, according to data from the health ministry.

The New York Times estimated deaths based on death counts over time and infection fatality rates and put Indias toll at 600,000 to 1.6 million.

The government dismissed those estimates as exaggerated. But the main opposition Congress party said that other states must follow Bihars example and conduct a review of deaths over the past two months.

This proves beyond a doubt government has been hiding COVID deaths,  said Shama Mohamed, a spokeswoman for Congress, adding that an audit should also be ordered in the big states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

By Manas Mishra and Neha Arora
Infographic: Timeline of the Durham Investigation

News Analysis

The investigation by special counsel John Durham into the origins of the FBIs RussiaTrump investigationCrossfire Hurricanehas now been active for more than two years.

Appointed by Attorney General William Barr following the completion of Robert Muellers special counsel investigation, Durham immediately began his work in the spring of 2019.

Click on infographic to enlarge.

The announcement of Durhams appointment was received with much publicity, but conservatives hopes for a thorough investigationwith charges for those who had surveilled the Trump campaignhave slowly faded over time.

Barr initially indicated that Durhams investigation would be completed by the summer of 2020, but as the presidential election loomed closer, it became apparent that the findings of Durhams probe wouldnt not be released until at least 2021.

Just before the 2020 election, Barr appointed Durham as a special counsel, a move designed to thwart potential pushback from a new administration.

And while interest and speculation continue to surround Durhams investigation, few details have been made public. Here, we provide an overview of what we know to date.

The Beginnings of the Durham Investigation

Durham, then-U.S. attorney for Connecticut, was appointed by Barr to look at the factual disconnect between the FBIs official narrative on the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Trump campaign and the actual underlying evidence.

Durhams investigation may have begun sooner than many people are aware. Notably, just three days after Mueller had concluded his investigation on March 22, 2019, Barr and his closest advisers met personally with Durham. Then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was not included in these meetings.

The next month, on April 9 and 10, 2019, Barr testified before Congress that he was reviewing the FBIs RussiaTrump investigation. Three days later, it was reported by CNN that a senior Barr aide arranged for Durham to meet with Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who at the time was investigating the FBI and Justice Departments (DOJs) handling of FISA warrants used in Crossfire Hurricane.

That meeting may have been intended to bring Durham up to speed on the work done by Inspector General Michael Horowitz on the FBIs improper use of FISA warrants, or it may have been to delineate Horowitzs work and the work that Durham was about to embark on.

Barr would meet at least two more times in April with Durham.

On May 13, 2019, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum giving declassification authorization to Barr at his request. Barr later stated in an interview with CBS that he also had ongoing support from U.S. intelligence agenciesspecifically naming Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel as being on board.

That same day, it was reported for the first time, by The New York Times, that Barr had selected Durham to get to the bottom of the Justice Departments investigation into members of the Trump presidential campaign.

Additionally, the investigation that had been reportedly conducted by U.S. Attorney John Huber into FISA abuse was being taken over personally by Durham and his team.

Initial Focus on CIA and Foreign Nations

One of the first steps taken by Durham in June 2019 was to find out more about the CIAs knowledge of details surrounding the alleged Russian interference campaign, along with any intelligence that may have flowed to the FBI from the CIA in the summer of 2016.

In the summer of 2019, Barr met with officials from the United Kingdom. Afterward, a UK official claimed that Barr expressed a belief that the U.S. investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election stemmed from some corrupt origin.

Barr is said to have further expressed a suspicion that information had been improperly gathered overseas about people connected with the Trump campaign and that the British may have unwittingly assisted those efforts, according to an official cited by The Washington Post.

Durhams early focus on overseas aspects of the investigation was confirmed by a Sept. 25, 2019, DOJ statement, which noted that Durham was exploring the extent to which a number of countries, including Ukraine, played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.

The statement went on to say that certain Ukrainians, who werent members of the Ukrainian government, had volunteered information to Durham.

Immediately following the DOJ statement, Barr and Durham both traveled to Italy on Sept. 27, 2019, and an official at the U.S. Embassy in Italy noted that they had to scramble to accommodate Barrs sudden arrival.

Barr and Durhams meetings with Italian intelligence officials occurred after getting authorisation from the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, according to The Guardian. The two men were in Italy, according to the article, in order to find out whether Italy had played a role in the so-called Russiagate affair, whether secret documents had been obtained and, in particular, to collate information on Joseph Mifsud.

Mifsud is supposed to have told Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos that the Russian government had dirt on Hillary Clinton. This claim, while disputed by Mifsud, would not have been particularly unusual, since many journalists and commentators were discussing this issue at the time. Downer later took that information from Papadopoulos to U.S. authorities, an event that the FBI claims kicked off the RussiaTrump investigation.

A Shift in Durhams Investigation

The Italy trip marked a significant shift in Durhams investigationmoving from the gathering of background evidence to the active interviewing of witnesses.

Barr and Durham reportedly had at least two meetings with Italian intelligence officials on Sept. 27, 2019, when they listened to a tape recording of a deposition given by Mifsud after he had applied for police protection in Italy. Additionally, Barr and Durham were reportedly shown other evidence the Italians had on Mifsud.

On Sept. 30, 2019, the DOJ confirmed that Durham was gathering information from numerous sources, including the British and Italian governments. That same day, a news report confirmed that the Australian government was also cooperating with Durham. In an apparent reference to the CIA and FBI, Barr reportedly told foreign officials that he wanted to make sure that the rules governing U.S. agencies had been followed.

In October 2019, Durham personally traveled to the UK for the purposes of interviewing two key witnessesAlexander Downer and his assistant Erika Thompsonwhose roles were integral to the stated reasons behind the FBIs opening of Crossfire Hurricane.

In advance of his meeting with Downer, Durham reportedly reviewed the communication that was sent to the FBI which, according to the FBIs official narrative, instigated its investigation.

Downer is believed to have told Durham and his investigators that he wasnt part of any conspiracy to undermine Trumps election campaignhe was merely passing on information that he received from Papadopoulos.

Around this same time, former CIA Director John Brennan publicly stated that he expected to be interviewed by Durham, telling MSNBCs Nicolle Wallace, I dont understand the predication of this worldwide effort to try to uncover dirtreal or imaginedthat would discredit that investigation in 2016 into Russian interference.

A week after Brennans disclosure, it was reported that Durham was expanding his investigation, adding agents and resources, and had expanded the dates being examined, including a new post-election timeline through the spring of 2017, up to when Robert Mueller was named special counsel.

Additionally, Durham had added several former FBI officials to his investigative team.

As Durham went about the process of his initial interviews, The New York Times reported that he had already interviewed about two dozen former and current F.B.I. officials and that the number of interviews shows that Mr. Durhams review is further along than previously known.

In addition to the dozens of FBI interviews, Durhams investigative team reportedly questioned officials in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Durham also reportedly interviewed around a half-dozen current and former officials and analysts at the National Security Agency, including its former director, the retired Adm. Michael S. Rogers.

Criminal investigation

On Oct. 24, 2019, it was announced that Durhams investigation had shifted once againthis time into a criminal investigation.

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz released his report on the FBIs FISA warrant abuses on Dec. 9, 2019. Horowitz noted that he had not found any information other than the FFG [Alexander Downer] information was relied upon to predicate the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

In a highly unusual move, Barr and Durham immediately issued statements declaring that both disagreed with Horowitzs findings on this matter.

Of particular note was the statement by Durham, who noted that our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.

Durham stated that based on the evidence collected to date, he had advised Horowitz that his team [did] not agree with some of the reports conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.

The next day, during a Wall Street Journal CEO Council conference, Barr detailed material problems with the FBIs FISA applications and the subsequent surveillance of members of the Trump campaign, telling the audience, If you actually spend time looking at what happened, I think youd be appalled.

As Barr said, Its hard to look at this stuff and not think it was a gross abuse.

Throughout 2019, Durhams investigation appeared to gain traction. His probe was expanded, along with the timeline of events he was investigating, and additional resources were added to his team.

On Jan. 9, 2020, the remainder of Hubers investigation was formally closed, with no tangible results. The bulk of Hubers investigation had previously been transferred to Durham when Durham was appointed by Barr, but Huber had been tasked with looking into the Clinton Foundation.

That nothing came of Hubers work raised alarms for many conservatives in relation to the work being done by Durham.

One of the Greatest Travesties in American History

In late 2019 and into 2020, while Durham was in the process of interviewing those involved in the RussiaTrump probe, the DOJ seemed to become increasingly cognizant of the sensitivities that came from operating in an election year.

On Feb. 5, 2020, the day that Trump was acquitted in his first impeachment trial, Barr issued a memo that would have material ramifications for the outcome of the presidential election.

Barr set new rules for investigations of politically sensitive individuals and required that no investigation be opened into a presidential campaign or associated individuals without his direct written approval. Of equal importance, Barr made clear that no publicization of any investigation, new or ongoing, be allowed.

Many in the media portrayed Barrs directive as a swipe at the FBIs 2016 investigation, but the memos real impact would be felt later in 2020 through the DOJs silence on Hunter Biden.

Meanwhile, on Feb. 13, 2020, it was reported by The New York Times that Durham was examining the possibility that former CIA Director Brennan had a preconceived notion about Russia or was trying to get to a particular resultand was nefariously trying to keep other agencies from seeing the full picture, lest they interfere with that goal.

Durham was also reportedly looking into how information from foreign governments or the C.I.A. played any role in stoking suspicions at the F.B.I. about Trump campaign links to Russia.

Then, on April 3, 2020, Trump fired Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson.

Barr pointed out that Atkinson had materially overstepped his authority when he sent a whistleblower complaint directly to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) during the impeachment hearings, ignoring contradictory evidence and bypassing the Executive Branch in the process.

Horowitz, who was fully aware of these details, would later defend Atkinsonclaiming that Atkinson was fired for doing his job.

Barr and Horowitz had previously disagreed on the FBIs reasoning behind its opening of the RussiaTrump investigation.

On April 9, 2020, Barr made some of his strongest comments regarding the Durham investigation, telling Fox News that he was troubled by the findings from the probe of the FBI.

Barr noted that what happened to Trump was one of the greatest travesties in American history, and said: Were not dealing with just the mistakes or sloppiness. There was something far more troubling here.

Barr publicly promised: Were going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted.

Subsequent reporting on Durhams investigation appeared to back Barrs promise. The New York Times reported that Durham was examining the origins of news articles published in early 2017including the felony leak to The Washington Post regarding retired Gen. Michael Flynn.

And on May 14, 2020, a DOJ spokesperson stated that Durham was already looking into the issue of unmasking as part of this broader review.

The unmasking of Trump officials seemed to be aligned with the large number of stories in early 2017 that repeatedly came from anonymous sources within the intelligence community.

It was at this point that divergent information began to suddenly appear.

Events Foreshadow Further Shifts in Durhams Investigation

On May 18, 2020, during a news conference, Barr said that Durhams investigation wasnt focused on either Barack Obama or Joe Biden. Based on the information I have today, I dont expect Mr. Durhams work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man. Our concern over potential criminality is focused on others, he said.

On June 21, 2020, Barr told Fox News that Durhams investigation was progressing rapidly and that he expected more developments before the end of the summer. Barr also noted that Durhams investigation was not going to stop because of the election.

But Barr then added, somewhat ominously, What happens after the election may depend on who wins the election.

During questioning before the House Judiciary Committee, Barr refused to rule out a Durham report in advance of the 2020 presidential electionbut again noted that the investigation wasnt focused, nor was it expected to focus, on either Obama or Biden.

On Aug. 19, 2020, a year-and-a-half into the Durham probe, FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty to a single count of making a false statement stemming from his role overseeing the Carter Page FISA process.

Prior to joining the Trump campaign, Page had been a source for the CIA, providing information on his business dealings in Russia. Had the FISA court known about Pages role as a CIA source, it would almost certainly not have issued a warrant.

Clinesmith hid this fact from the FISA court, altering an email that stated that Page was a source for the CIA, to instead say that Page was specifically not a source. Doctoring evidence is a serious crime, even more so if done by an FBI lawyer during the application process for a FISA warrant.

When Clinesmiths case came before a judge, he insisted that his statement wasnt false, telling the judge that he had altered the email to make it more accurate.

Clinesmith not only altered the email about Pages status, but also falsely claimed that Christopher Steeles sourcewhose stories formed the foundation of the FISA warrantwas based in Russia when he was actually based in Washington. It doesnt appear that Durham ever raised this issue with the court.

The FISA court would almost certainly have refused to issue a warrant based on that information.

Clinesmith was sentenced to probation.

Shortly after the Clinesmith plea, on Aug. 21, 2020, Brennan was interviewed by Durham for eight hours at CIA headquarters. Brennan himself had previously stated his CIA had provided the FBI with information that directly served to prompt the FBI to initiate its investigation.

According to Brennans spokesperson Nick Shapiro, Brennan was told during his interview that he wasnt a target of Durhams investigation.

On Oct. 14, 2020, the New York Post broke the news that it had come into possession of Hunter Bidens laptop, which appeared to show Joe Bidens knowledge and potential involvement with his son Hunters business dealings, directly contradicting public claims made by the presidential candidate.

The DOJ also had a copy of the laptops hard drive and had placed Hunter under formal investigation. Barr ordered DOJ personnel to ensure that the existence of the investigation didnt become public.

After the 2020 election, while Trump was mounting election challenges, Barr effectively put his thumb on the scale when he declared on Dec. 1 in an interview with The Associated Press that he hadnt seen a level of fraud that would have altered the elections outcome.

The sudden and significant shifts that appeared to be occuring at the DOJ were highlighted in December when Barr told The Wall Street Journal that the CIA had stayed in its lane during the RussiaTrump investigation, seemingly contradicting earlier reports.

And a recent CNN article suggested that Durham had apparently found no wrongdoing by Obama-era intelligence officials who worked outside of the FBI.

Durham appears to have come full circle. Having started with looking at the origins of the FBIs RussiaTrump probe, his investigation broadened considerably, only to return and refocus on FBI officials.

Durham did, however, petition a British court to compel Steele to produce documents, and on Dec. 31, 2020, Durham issued a subpoena for the Brookings Institutions records on its former staff member Igor Danchenko, the primary sub-source for the Steele dossier. These actions appear to leave open the possibility that Steele and Danchenko remain on Durhams radar.

Durhams investigation has always fallen under the jurisdiction of the DOJ. Bidens new appointees, which included many of the same people who had promoted the RussiaTrump collusion narrative, raises concerns of potential political interference.

In one of his final acts as attorney general, Barr appointed Durham as special counsel, a move ostensibly meant to insulate Durham from Bidens DOJ.

It remains to be seen whether Durhams appointment as special counsel was sufficient.

Correction: The year in which Barr and Durham traveled to Italy has been corrected. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
JBS Paid $11 Million in Bitcoin to Hackers to Resolve Ransomware Attack

JBS Foods, the worlds largest meat supplier, said Wednesday that the company paid $11 million in bitcoin to hackers to resolve the ransomware attack that disrupted much of its operations in North America and Australia.

The meat-producing giant said that it paid the sum to ransomware attackers to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated.

This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally, said Andre Nogueira, chief executive of Brazilian meat company JBS SAs U.S. division. However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.

Nogueira told The Wall Street Journal that while it was very painful to pay the cybercriminals behind the attack, we did the right thing for our customers.

The payment was made to the hackers after the majority of JBS plants were operating again, he said. JBS said on June 3 that it had resumed normal operations at all of its global facilities.

Third-party forensic investigations are still ongoing, and no final determinations have been made, the company said in its statement. No company, customer, or employee data was compromised in the attack, based on forensic analysis, JBS said.

We didnt think we could take this type of risk that something could go wrong in our recovery process, Nogueira told WSJ of the companys decision to pay the cybercriminals. It was insurance to protect our customers.

The FBI said last week that Russia-linked hacking group REvilalso known as Sodinokibiwas behind the ransomware attack that disrupted operations at JBS.

The prolific ransomware group earlier this year was behind an attack on an Apple Inc. supplier named Quanta Computer. It has previously marketed stolen data on cybercrime forums in Russian.

Following the attack on Quanta Computer, REvil sent extortion threats and demanded a payment of $50 million for the company to regain access to its systems.

Brazil-based JBS Foods has operations in 15 countries and customers in approximately 100 countries, according to the companys website. Its plants are responsible for approximately 25 percent of America and Australias processing capacity.

The cyberattack on JBS Foods comes less than a month after Colonial Pipeline, a major fuel transporting system along the U.S. East Coast, was breached via a ransomware attack that FBI officials believe originated in Russia and Eastern Europe.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last week that she expects President Joe Biden will discuss the incident with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the June 16 summit in Geneva, Switzerland.
Miles of unused pipe, prepared for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, sit in a lot outside Gascoyne, N.D., on Oct. 14, 2014. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Keystone XL Pipeline Abandoned by Developer Months After Biden Executive Order

The company behind the Keystone XL Pipeline, which was blocked by the Biden administration earlier this year, has officially pulled out of the project.

TC Energy, which is based in Calgary, Canada, provided few details as to why its pulling out of the project, which was first proposed in 2008 and would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day from Canada into the United States. The firm said construction activities were suspended on President Joe Bidens first day in office on Jan. 20.

According to a news release, the company said it will continue to coordinate with regulators, stakeholders, and Indigenous groups to meet its environmental and regulatory commitments and ensure a safe termination of and exit from the Project.

We value the strong relationships weve built through the development of this project and the experience weve gained. We remain grateful to the many organizations that supported the project and would have shared in its benefits, TC Energy CEO Francois Poirier said in a statement.

Environmental groups cheered the move.

This is a landmark moment in the fight against the climate crisis, Jared Margolis, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said, according to Reuters. Were hopeful that the Biden administration will continue to shift this country in the right direction by opposing fossil fuel projects.

Biden faced significant blowback from Republicans and industry groups after signing the executive order blocking the pipeline. Critics have said tens of thousands of jobs were lost essentially overnight by the pipelines cancellation.

While asserting that the Keystone project would not serve the U.S. national interest, Biden said that his Jan. 20 order is designed to promote and protect our public health and the environment, and conserve our national treasures and monuments, places that secure our national memory.

The pipeline was slated to carry 830,000 barrels of oil per day from the Alberta oil sands to Nebraska. Environmentalists, Native Americans, and some landowners had opposed the move.

We remain disappointed and frustrated with the circumstances surrounding the Keystone XL project, including the cancellation of the presidential permit for the pipelines border crossing, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a June 9 statement. Reports said that the province had invested roughly $1.1 billion in the pipeline, which means itll now have to take a loss on the project.

Republicans have already seized on TC Energys announcement and have pointed to the recent ransomware attack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline system for several days. The incident triggered mass gasoline shortages while causing prices to skyrocket.

President Biden killed the #KeystoneXL Pipeline & with it, thousands of good-paying American jobs, said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a member of Republican leadership in the Senate, in a June 9 Twitter post. On Inauguration Day [Biden] signed an executive order that ended pipeline construction & handed 1000 workers pink slips. Now 10x that number of jobs will never be created.

Barrasso noted that as gasoline prices are spiking, the White House is celebrating the death of a pipeline that would have helped bring Americans relief.

Roughly 2o Republican-led states filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the pipeline construction suspension.
Trump supporters wave flags outside of Mankato Regional Airport as President Donald Trump makes a campaign stop in Mankato, Minn., on Aug. 17, 2020. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Law Firm Boss Sued Over Dispute in Firing Pro-Trump Employees

Three Minnesota attorneys have filed a lawsuit against their former boss, alleging that he wrongfully fired employees because they posted pro-Trump or pro-police content on social media.

William Kain, Margaret Henehan, and Kelsey Quarberg, all partners of the St. Cloud-based law firm Kain and Scott, are suing Wesley Scott, the law firms president and managing partner, for alleged wrongful termination, StarTribune reported on June 9.

According to the lawsuit, Scott was upset by the Capitol breach on Jan. 6 and sent an email in April to all the lawyers in the firm saying the traitors on Jan. 6 shouldve been shot.

He then allegedly asked an operations manager to fire two racist employees because they had posted pro-Trump and pro-police content on social media, the lawsuit claims.

Supporters wave flags outside of Mankato Regional Airport as President Donald Trump makes a campaign stop in Mankato, Minn., on Aug. 17, 2020. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

The manager refused to do so. Scott then allegedly fired the manager and an employee, threatening to fire another. The three partners told Scott that its illegal to fire employees for their political beliefs in Minnesota. Scott fired the three partners in response.

The complaint alleged that Scott called police to remove Quarberg, who is pregnant, saying that she was trespassing and physically threatening him.

Kain and Scotts website has removed the biographies and contact information of the three partners. The website claims the firm is the top Google-reviewed bankruptcy law firm and the oldest bankruptcy law firm in Minnesota.

The future of the law firm is unknown because the three partners own 50 percent of the firm and have asked the court to dissolve the firm to pay them for their shares.

Scott owns the other half of the firm, according to StarTribune.

Scott told StarTribune on June 8 he hadnt seen the legal complaint and couldnt comment yet. Quarberg said that their attorney had advised her and the other two partners not to comment.

The three attorneys are seeking other remedies as well, such as back pay and benefits.

Scott didnt respond to a request for additional comment by press time.

Cory Olson, a trial attorney in Minnesota, told Minnesota Lawyer that the state is among half of those in which laws protect employees from discrimination based on political activity, the exercise of constitutional rights, or other forms of private political action.

Minnesota Statute Section 10A.36 states: An individual or association must not engage in economic reprisals or threaten loss of employment or physical coercion against an individual or association because of that individuals or associations political contributions or political activity. This subdivision does not apply to compensation for employment or loss of employment if the political affiliation or viewpoint of the employee is a bona fide occupational qualification of the employment. An individual or association that violates this section is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

However, Olson said that Minnesota is also an at-will employment state, which means a private employee may be fired for any reason. Olson said this is an unsettled area of law, and both employer and employee would be wise to take note.
Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 6, 2021. (Matt York/Pool/AP Photo)

Lawmakers From Other States Descend on Arizona to See Election Audit

Lawmakers from multiple states have visited the 2020 election audit in Arizonas largest county in recent days, with more visits planned.

Delegations from Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Alaska were given tours of Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the audit is taking place in Phoenix. Michael McDonald, the Nevada Republican Party chairman, went to the venue to see what was happening, as did others from Colorado. Virginia Sen. Amanda Chase, a Republican, is expected to visit on Thursday.

Its just a revolving door, Ken Bennett, former Arizona secretary of state, told The Epoch Times.

Bennett is the Arizona Senates liaison for the audit.

Lawmakers visiting the audit were shown how workers are hand counting the nearly 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County last year, in addition to evaluating the paper for abnormalities like mail-in ballots not having folds. They learned about audit procedures like how the ballots are being examined and chain-of-custody processes. Many said they hoped to take what they learned back to their states and order a similar audit there.

We have a lot of the same concerns and issues unresolved in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Republican, told The Epoch Times, noting that numerous constituents have told him that they want an audit performed to address fraud concerns.

When you have about 47 percent of the states population questioning the reliability of the election, thats the significance of your problem. And so the only way I could see ahead of this putting this all to restand let the cards fall where they maydo a scientific forensic audit, like Arizonas doing, he added, referencing poll numbers.

The Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee, with the backing of Senate President Karen Fann, last year subpoenaed ballots and other election materials from Maricopa County. After a court battle, which ended with a judge declaring the subpoenas valid, the Senate-hired teams received the materials at the Coliseum in mid-April before commencing with their work.

The Arizona Democratic Party has refused to participate in the effort, pointing to a county-run hand count of about 5,000 ballots that showed no discrepancies and a county-ordered forensic audit of ballot tabulation equipment that found no issues. An attempt to block the audit by the party failed in April, ultimately leading to a settlement agreement. County officials, mostly Republican, called for an end to the audit last month, upset that auditors said they found that a database from an election machine had been deleted.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat running for governor who has not responded to requests for comment, has repeatedly decried the audit, claiming crucial protocols are not being followed and expressing concern that lawmakers from other states could be inspired by the Arizona effort.

Arizona should be leading the nation, but not like this. #fraudit, she tweeted this week about other states aiming for an Arizona-style audit.

Fann, who didnt return a request for comment, said on NPR last month that shes had senators from other states contact her about election-related issues theyve seen in their states. She noted that many of her constituents wonder about the integrity of the 2020 election.

I dont care if youre in Arizona or any state across the nation. If we have those kind of doubts, we owe it to them to answer their question. This will be the basis of a gold standard, she said.

Doug Mastriano, Republican member of the Pennsylvania Senate, speaks at a rally on the National Mall in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Pennsylvania is eyeing using the GOP-controlled Senates authority to conduct an audit of at least one county, though the timeline for such a process remains unclear. A top Republican chairman told The Epoch Times that he supports an audit. Mastriano hopes to audit a Republican county and a Democrat county. He would recommend using the same firms that are conducting the audit in Arizona, including Florida-based Cyber Ninjas.

Im interested in the firms that were involved just because they know how to do it and the steep learning curve that they had, this is unprecedented, the forensic audit thats going on here, he said.

Attorneys for Cyber Ninjas said in a court filing in April that the firm has already performed similar work with respect to an audit undertaken in Antrim County Michigan and expects to have similar business opportunities to undertake such work for other governments around the country.

McDonald, the Nevada GOP chairman, lives in a state where the legislature is controlled by Democrats, who have recently shown little interest in examining election results. He believes there is a path to an audit outside the legislature, but declined to provide details.

Ill have an answer for that probably by Friday, he told The Epoch Times.

The party has a team of attorneys looking at the matter. We intend to take and look at every legal option we have of bringing an audit here to Nevada, McDonald said, adding that he was impressed with what he saw in Phoenix.

The Nevada GOP submitted nearly 123,000 records supporting fraud allegations, amounting to nearly 4,000 unique election integrity violation accusations, the office of Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, said earlier this year.

Cegavske said a probe into the allegations found no evidentiary support for the contention that the 2020 general election was plagued by widespread voter fraud.

A closer look at the letter making the announcement revealed that Cegavske and her office did not investigate many of the allegations or dismissed them through statistical analyses, as opposed to a review of each allegation brought forth.

I think at best they investigated three or four percent of the complaints we turned in. So at that point I knew we had to basically find a way to maneuver this, that we would actually have a voice. Were not letting this go, McDonald said.

Alaska Rep. David Eastman, a Republican, was one of the visitors in Arizona this week. He told the Anchorage Daily News that he hoped to figure out whether information the audit uncovered could be used to improve elections in Alaska.

I am grateful for the efforts that those in Arizona are making to increase confidence in their elections and hope we will be able to increase the confidence that Alaskans have in our elections as well, he said.

Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 6, 2021. (Matt York/AP Photo/Pool)

Georgia Sens. Brandon Beach and Burt Jones, both of the GOP, were given a tour along with Eastman.

Beach said during an appearance on Real Americas Voice that he wants an independent audit done in Georgia but doesnt believe theres enough support in the state Senate.

We dont have the power because were not going to get 29 senators to sign a petition to call for a special session, but I do think if the evidence shows what we think it will show, I think it will force Gov. [Brian] Kemp to consider a special session to get down to the truth and get down to what happened, he said before the trip.

Former Georgia Rep. Vernon Jones, who switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in January, went to the Coliseum on Wednesday as part of his bid to pressure Kemp into ordering an audit.

While Kemp sits behind the gilded gates of the Governors Mansion, Im in Arizona today meeting with those on the frontlines of the effort to restore the integrity of our elections, Jones, who is challenging Kemp from the right, said on Twitter.

Kemp has said he does not have the authority to order an audit, while Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, has noted that several recounts or audits were done following the 2020 election.

Its not clear who from Colorado went to see the audit being done in Arizona. Along with the planned Virginia tour, there will reportedly be a delegation from Wisconsin visiting soon. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) has also stopped by.

Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem, a Republican running for secretary of state, said that he spent time with a number of legislators who have descended on Maricopa County and all have expressed their belief that the trip and time spent was well worth it.

Election integrity is a priority in every community across America. Many state delegates have shown interest in the audit to ensure a future with fraud-free elections as the focus, and I am very pleased that Arizona is leading the way, he said on Twitter. All states need to come here because insecure elections are indeed a national security threat worth fixing.

Were getting a lot of impressive comments about the quality control and procedures, and things that are being done in the audit, so Im pleased with that of course, Bennett, the Arizona Senate liaison, added.
Buildings at the Artux City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center, believed to be a reeducation camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, north of Kashgar in China's northwestern Xinjiang region, on June 2, 2019. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Lawmakers Slam UK Government for Dragging Its Feet on China Forced Labour

A committee of British lawmakers has criticised the government for failing to take timely action in response to the Chinese regimes use of forced labour in Xinjiang.

The Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee in the House of Commons said on June 10 that the UK government had refused to commit to clear timeframes and substantive actions in response to committee recommendations.

In a report entitled Uyghur forced labour in Xinjiang and UK value chains, which was published in March, the committee recommended strengthening the Modern Slavery Act 2015, enhancing the transparency and accessibility of modern slavery statements, and developing options for civil penalties in the event of non-compliance.

The committee expressed disappointment in the government for rejecting many of the reports recommendations.

Nusrat Ghani, a Conservative MP who has been actively campaigning for Uyghur human rights, said the governments response was deeply disheartening.

Given the horrifying evidence of abuses, it beggars belief the government is dragging its feet in bringing forward the tough action needed to help to tackle the exploitation of forced labour in Xinjiang, she said.

The governments response fails to provide reassurance to customers that they arent contributing to supply chains tainted by modern slavery and lets down British businesses who are trying to do the right thing and ensure their supply chains dont profit from forced labour.

Ghani urged the government to think again, revisit the reports recommendations, and give these serious matters the prominence they deserve.

In response to the criticism, a government spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement: Evidence of the scale and the severity of the human rights violations being perpetrated in Xinjiang paints a truly harrowing picture, and the British government will not stand for forced labour, wherever it takes place.

In January, we announced a robust package of measures to ensure no UK organisations are complicit in the serious human rights violations being perpetrated against the Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, and we are taking forward proposals to strengthen the law in this area.

Britain announced sanctions on March 22 in coordination with the European Union, Canada, and the United States against Chinese officials over the alleged human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims.

In response, the Chinese regime imposed sanctions on British individuals and entities it said maliciously spread lies and disinformation about Xinjiang.

The UK Parliament unanimously passed a non-binding motion on April 22 declaring that Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide, and called on the UK government to use international law to bring it to an end.

Lily Zhou contributed to this report.
Long Island MS-13 Kingpin Sentenced to 25 Years

A Long Island La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) transnational gang leader was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment.

Ronald Catalan, 30, also known asStranger and Extrano was allegedly a gang leader of the Brentwood Locos Salvatruchas (BLS).

Catalan pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and other offenses, including a Brentwood shooting in 2009 and a 2015 Bay Shore shooting which caused three people to be wounded.

He was also found guilty of illegally using guns that were involved in violent crimes.

Catalan will deservedly spend decades in prison for the violent and brutal acts he committed and directed others to carry out as a leader of the MS-13. His ruthless and retaliatory attacks on his so-called rivals to enhance his own status in the MS-13 demonstrate his complete and callous disregard for human life, Mark J. Lesko, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said.

Working with our partners on the FBIs Long Island Gang Task Force, this Office will continue its relentless pursuit of justice for the victims of the MS-13 and will not rest until the threat they present to the communities in our district is eliminated.

He was federally arrested in July 2017.

The 2009 shooting involved Catalan and other BLS members, who armed themselves with guns and drove around looking for rival gang members to shoot down with the aim of boosting their reputation in the MS-13 gang. They spotted a group of people that they believed to be part of the Bloods street gang and opened fire on them. One of them was hit and later survived after undergoing surgery.

The 2015 shooting was directed at gang members thought to be part of the Latin Kings gang.

Thanks to the relentless efforts of the FBIs Long Island Gang Task Force and Eastern District of New York, Catalan will be held accountable for his vicious crimes that nearly claimed three lives, Acting SCPD Commissioner Stuart Cameron said.

The SCPD will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to put an end to gangs in our communities and their senseless violence while continuing to seek justice for MS-13 victims.
Man Charged With Capital Murder in Kidnapping, Killing of 4-Year-Old Dallas Boy

An 18-year-old Texas man was charged with capital murder in the kidnapping and slaying of a 4-year-old boy last month.

Darriynn Brown faces the new charge after lab results linked him to Cash Gernon, the child, at the time of the boys death, according to the Dallas Police Department on Wednesday. The department didnt provide any more details.

Evidence submitted to the lab has been returned linking Darriynn Brown to Cash Gernon at the time of his death. Therefore he is also being charged with Capital Murder, said Dallas police.

Previously, Brown was charged with kidnapping and theft charges in connection to the case. Surveillance footage showed him taking Cash from his crib and walking away from the cameras view.

A passerby found the childs body in a street in Dallas on May 15.

Later, the Dallas Medical Examiners office determined that the boys death was a homicide.

Browns mother told local media outlets that her son has mental health problems but claimed he was not capable of violence.

I think that 4-year-old boy was killed at them peoples home and I believe someone had transportation, like a car or truck, and transported his body to the body site, the woman, who wasnt named, said in a previous report.

Browns neighbors painted a different picture of the suspect, saying he was known for causing trouble in the neighborhood.

This guy here, hes on NextDoor where hes busted into cars, busted ring doorbells, seen carrying a hammer, he threatened one other peoples life, said neighbor Joe Bubel. People are asking, why didnt the police pursue that? Thats just his side of the story. I dont know the other side of the story.

Meanwhile, police have said that Brown allegedly attempted to abduct another toddlera 2-year-old girlfrom another home in February, reported Fox23.

As reported by CBS Dallas, Brown is still being housed in the Dallas County Jail.
French President Emmanuel Macron is slapped in the face by a member of the public during a visit to Tain-l'Hermitage, France, on June 8, 2021. (BFMTV via Reuters TV)

Man Who Slapped Macron Tells Court the President Embodied Frances Decay: BFM TV

PARISThe medieval martial arts enthusiast who slapped President Emmanuel Macron across the face told a court he was a right-wing sympathizer who had acted because the president represented all that was rotten with France, BFM TV reported.

Damien Tarel, 28, told the court in Valence that several days ahead of Macrons visit to the southeastern Drome region, he had thought about throwing an egg or a cream tart at the president, the news channel reported.

I think that Macron represents very neatly the decay of our country, he told the court according to BFM TV. If I had challenged Macron to a duel at sunrise, I doubt he would have responded.

Macron later described the attack as an isolated incident and said violence and hate were a threat to democracy.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with a member of the public before he was slapped during a visit in Tain-LHermitage, France, in this still image taken from video, on June 8, 2021. (BFMTV/ReutersTV via Reuters)

Tarel faced a charge of assault against a public official, an offense which carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail and a 45,000 fine.

He struck Macron on Tuesday after the president came over to greet a small crowd of onlookers after visiting a professional training college during a trip to take the countrys pulse as it emerges from the pandemic and ahead of presidential elections in 2022.

Macron reached out Tarel who was standing behind a security barrier, Tarel then shouted Down with Macronia (A Bas La Macronie) and slapped Macron on the left side of his face.

He could also be heard shouting Montjoie Saint Denis, the armys battle cry when France was still a monarchy.

Its a patriots slogan, he was quoted as telling the court.

The unemployed 28-year-old told police investigators that he had been close to the anti-government yellow vest protest movement which shook the Macron presidency.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks as he attends a joint news conference with Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the Presidential Palace in Kigali, Rwanda, on May 27, 2021. (Jean Bizimana/Reuters)

Acquaintances of Tarel described a man who loved period role-play and was not a trouble-maker. The prosecutor said he was not a member of any political or militant group.

Tarel was arrested along with a second man from his hometown of Saint-Vallier.

Police found weapons in the second mans home, local prosecutor Alex Perrin said.

The second man will not face any charges related to the slapping but will be prosecuted for illegal possession of arms in 2022.
Travellers take selfies before their departure for New Zealand at Sydney International Airport on April 19, 2021. (Saeed Khan/Getty Images)

Melbourne Trio Caught Trying to Enter New Zealand From Sydney

A trio of travellers from Melbourne have been put into quarantine after trying to enter New Zealand from Sydney.

New Zealand has a quarantine-free travel bubble arrangement with Australia but paused all travel with Victoria from May 25 due to the outbreak in Melbourne. There are some exemptions for New Zealand residents returning home.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said their mandatory stay in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ), which they must pay for themselves, was a punishment and that the relevant authorities would decide whether to fine them.

She said the case was an example that showed that people looking to enter the country against the rules would be caught and face consequences.

Anyone considering breaching rules we have in place, in this case the family, has been picked up and theyve been put into a managed isolation facility, Ardern told reporters on Wednesday. So there are consequences, but as for fines, those decisions sit elsewhere.

COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the three were picked up by authorities despite providing incorrect information.

The NZ Herald reported that the trio were trying to attend a funeral in New Zealand. They drove from Melbourne to Sydney then boarded a flight across the Tasman Sea last week.

The Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield reported that day-zero test results of the group returned negative and thought the actions of the three were disappointing.

Bloomfield added that he also has not looked into the possibility of charges but said the group may face penalties from the Victorian government for breaching Melbourne lockdown rules.

The breach of rules follows another incident in April where a man from Perth travelled to NZ via Sydney despite a pause in the bubble with Perth at the time.

For somebody whos intent on getting to their end destination, regardless of the rules, its a straightforward option they can take if theyre willing to lie, Immigration Manager Peter Elms told the NZ Herald in April. Quarantine-free travel, certainly when it comes to pauses or suspension, it relies heavily on peoples honesty, peoples ability to understand and follow the rules in place.

Melbourne residents escaping the states most recent lockdown have also put other Australian states on high alert, with Queensland recording one case of community transmission in the last 24 hours after an infectious Victorian woman visiting parts of the state.

The woman and her husband left Victoria on June 1, travelled through NSW and crossed into Queensland at Goondiwindi on June 5.

The couple has since travelled to various locations, including the Sunshine Coast.
An honor guard carries the casket of slain Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez to the hearse following funeral services at the Chapel of St Joseph at Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, Ill., on Nov. 26, 2018. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images)

Memorial Billboard for Chicago Officer Killed in Hospital Shooting Is Vandalized

By Maggie Prosser

From Chicago Tribune

CHICAGOA memorial billboard for a Chicago police officer killed in a 2018 attack at a South Side hospital was vandalized Wednesday morning, police said.

The billboard, which honors Officer Samuel Jimenez, who was killed responding to an active shooter at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in November 2018, was tagged with PROPAGANDA Wednesday morning at the corner of Elston and LeClaire avenues, according to Chicago police.

The billboard was installed by the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation as part of a citywide effort to humanize police, Executive Director Philip Cline said. Cline called the act terrible and tragic.

The defacement of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation billboard is an absolute disgrace and insult to the memory of Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez, the Jimenez family and every other fallen officer and families of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our city, a Chicago police spokeswoman said in a statement.

Jimenez, 28, had been on the police force for two years when he was gunned down coming to the aid of other officers during the Mercy Hospital shooting. He was married with three small children. Two other people, including the shooters former fiancee and a pharmacy resident, were killed during the attack.

Cline described Jimenez as a hero, and dismissed any accusations that the billboards are pro-police propaganda, but rather said they are an attempt to show people that Chicago police are human and have families too.

(The offenders) are not going to deter us by doing this, said Cline, a former Chicago police superintendent. We ask that the good people of the city support their police.

The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation finances more than 60 billboards along highly trafficked roads and expressways, he said.

Clear Channel, the company that owns and maintains the billboards, is working on restoring the memorial to Jimenez, and police are going to pay special attention to the billboards to deter vandalism, Cline said.

2021 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Emma Coronel Aispuro,(C) wife of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman leaves from the US Federal Courthouse after a verdict was announced at the trial for Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman in Brooklyn, New York City, on Feb. 12, 2019. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)

Mexican Drug Kingpin El Chapos Wife to Plead Guilty to US Charges

WASHINGTONThe wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, Emma Coronel Aispuro, is expected to plead guilty on Thursday in federal court in Washington, where she has been accused of helping her husband run the Sinaloa cartel of smugglers, court records show.

Coronel, who prosecutors say played a key role in Guzmans 2015 escape from a Mexican prison, is slated to appear for a virtual hearing at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras.

Reuters could not immediately determine what charges she will plead guilty to, and there was no additional information on the court docket. If convicted on all charges she faces, she could be sentenced to as long as life in prison and fined up to $10 million.

Attorneys for Coronel could not be immediately reached.

The 31-year-old former beauty queen was arrested in February on allegations that she relayed messages to help Guzman conduct drug trafficking from 2012 to early 2014, and continued delivering messages while visiting him in a Mexican prison following his February 2014 arrest.

The FBI in court documents said Coronel, who was born in California and holds both U.S. and Mexican citizenship, and members of her family were deeply involved in the cartels trafficking activities.

Prosecutors have also said she conspired in Guzmans famous July 2015 escape from the Altiplano prison in Mexico through a mile-long (1.6 km-long) tunnel dug from his cell, and began plotting another escape following his January 2016 capture by Mexican authorities.

The FBI said a witness told agents she passed along a message from Guzman to his sons, telling them to purchase land near the Altiplano prison. They also asked that witness to buy a nearby warehouse, firearms and an armored truck, it said.

He managed to escape through the underground tunnel through an entryway bored into the shower inside his cell.

Coronel was charged with conspiring to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine, 1 or more kilograms of heroin, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and 1,000 or more kilograms of marijuana, as well as aiding and abetting.

Guzman, 64, was convicted in February 2019 in a high-profile Brooklyn trial of masterminding a multibillion-dollar drug enterprise for the Sinaloa cartel.

He was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years, and locked up in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

Coronel met Guzman when she was a young beauty queen, and married him in 2007 at age 18. The couple has twin daughters.

She was a regular presence at her husbands trial in New York.

By Mark Hosenball and Sarah N. Lynch
Name of Officer Who Shot Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6 Should Be Released: Rep. Devin Nunes

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) called on officials to release the name of the officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6 and said that thousands of hours of security footage from the U.S. Capitol breach should be released to the public.

He also noted that Babbitts family has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking the officers name and related information, he told Newsmax on June 9.

In any normal circumstance where you have an officer-involved shooting, you have people that immediately go out there and say, Wheres the videotape? Wheres the videotape? We need to know what officer did this,' Nunes said.

Nunes referenced the release of body camera footage after high-profile, officer-involved shootings to question why the same level of scrutiny isnt being applied to the Babbitt shooting.

Why are we living under a different set of rules? he said. I think thats what the Babbitt family is probably asking, and I agree with them.

Approximately 14,000 hours of video footage from inside the Capitol during the breach on Jan. 6 havent been released to the public, Nunes claimed.

Why is that? Why do we not have that? Why do we not have an accounting of the dozens of people that actually broke the windows versus the people who just walked in openly because the Capitol police let them in? he said during the Newsmax interview.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the ranking Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee, on his familys farm in the San Joaquin Valley, Calif., on Sept. 2, 2020. (Brendon Fallon/The Epoch Times)

Last week, Babbitts husband, Aaron Babbitt, filed an FOIA lawsuit against the Metropolitan Police Department to obtain information about the identity of the officer who fatally shot her.

Babbitt family attorney Terrell Roberts told The Epoch Times last week the lawsuit is designed to collect records ahead of a suit that has yet to be filed, asserting the officer violated Ashli Babbitts constitutional rights.

Its commonly done in cases like this, where you can get access to police records and things like that through FOIA actions, he said. The complication here is that the Capitol Police are not subject to FOIA. However, they used the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia to conduct their investigation.

On June 8, Roberts told CNBC that the upcoming financial lawsuit does not hinge on the current FOIA action against D.C.s police department.

The Department of Justice announced in April it closed an investigation into the officer-involved shooting of Babbitt and decided against pursuing charges against the unnamed officer.

Before reaching its conclusion, the DOJ said the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia and other officials reviewed video footage posted on social media, witness statements, statements from the officer, and the results of Babbitts autopsy.

Washingtons Metropolitan Police Department didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.
Syringes with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are placed on a tray in Las Vegas, Nev., on May 21, 2021. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Nearly 800 Reports of Heart Inflammation After COVID-19 Vaccination in US

Federal authorities have received over 800 reports of heart inflammation in people who received a COVID-19 vaccine, a health official said Thursday.

The reports of myocarditis or pericarditis were submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a passive reporting system run jointly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration, through May 31.

Most of the reports, 475, described myocarditis or pericarditis appearing in people ages 30 or younger.

The bulk of the reports described heart inflammation appearing after the second of two doses of either the Pfizer of Moderna vaccines, both of which utilize messenger RNA technology.

Authorities stress that anybody can submit reports through the reporting system but authorities have already verified that 226 of the 475 reports regarding those 30 or younger meet the CDCs working case definition, Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, a deputy director at the agency, said during a presentation of the data. Followup and review are in progress for the rest.

Of the 285 case reports for which the disposition was known at the time of the review, 270 patients had been discharged and 15 were still hospitalized, officials said. Myocarditis typically requires hospital care. No deaths were reported.

A slide on myocarditis reports post-COVID-19 vaccination is shown during the Food and Drug Administrations Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting on June 10, 2021. (FDA/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

The CDC announced last month that it was investigating reports of heart inflammation in teenagers and young adults who received a COVID-19 vaccine, though it took no definitive action besides saying it would continue reviewing case data.

An advisory committee to the agency, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said in a little-noticed update published dated May 24 and published on June 1 that data from VAERS showed that in the 30 days following the second dose of mRNA vaccinations, there was a higher number of observed than expected myocarditis/pericarditis cases in 1624-year-olds.

Data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink, an active reporting system that relies on nine healthcare organizations in seven states, did not show higher than expected cases, it added.

However, analyses suggest that these data need to be carefully followed as more persons in younger age groups are vaccinated, the advisory committees vaccine safety workgroup said in its report.

Israels Health Ministry said that same day that it found 275 cases of heart inflammation among the more than 5 million people in the country who received a vaccine between December 2020 and May. An Israeli study found a probable link between receiving the second dose of the Pfizer jab and the appearance of myocarditis among men aged 16 to 30, the ministry said.

Shimabukuro said the U.S. passive surveillance data are consistent with the surveillance data that emerged from Israel.

The figures are also consistent with other case reports and data from the Department of Defense.

The vast majority of the U.S. reports deal with male patients. Approximately 300 preliminary reports indicated the patients suffered chest pain, with nearly as many having elevated cardiac enzymes.

Family members watch as a 12-year-old is inoculated with Pfizers vaccine against COVID-19 at Dekalb Pediatric Center in Decatur, Ga., on May 11, 2021. (Chris Aluka Berry/Reuters)

A case report examining myocarditis in seven adolescents following vaccination with Pfizers jab, published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, this month, said all seven developed the inflammation within 4 days of receiving the second dose, did not have evidence of COVID-19 infection, and did not meet the criteria for MIS-C, a rare disease.

The seven males, between the ages of 14 and 19, all required hospital care but each was eventually discharged.

Authors, who did not respond to requests for comment, said no link has been established between the vaccines and myocarditis and that the benefits of the vaccines outweigh the risks. But they also urged healthcare workers to consider myocarditis in the evaluation of adolescents and young adults who develop chest pain after COVID-19 vaccination.

A commentary on the study published in the same journal, said there are some concerns regarding this case series that might suggest a causal relationship and therefore warrant further analysis through established surveillance systems.

First, the consistent timing of symptoms in these seven cases after the second vaccination suggests a uniform biological process. Second, the similarities in clinical findings and laboratory characteristics in this series suggest a common etiology. Finally, these cases occurred in the context of a dearth of circulation of common respiratory viruses known to be associated with myocarditis, and thorough diagnostic evaluations did not identify infectious etiologies, they added.

The expected number of myocarditis/pericarditis cases in those aged 16 or 17, based on background incidence rates and the number of doses administered to that population through May 31, is between two and 19. But based on the VAERS reports, the number is 79.

Likewise, the expected number for cases among young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 is eight to 83. The number based on the reports is 196.

In the 16- to 17 year-olds and the 18- to 24-year-olds, the observed reports are exceeding the expected based on the known background rates that are published in literature, Shimabukuro told members of a Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee in the meeting on Thursday, though he cautioned that not all the reports will turn out to be true myocarditis/pericarditis reports.

Of note, of these 528 reports after second dose with symptom onset within 30 days, over half of them were in these younger age groups, 1224 years old, whereas roughly 9 percent of total doses administered were in those age groups, so we clearly have an imbalance there, he added later.

A slide on myocarditis reports post-COVID-19 vaccination is shown during the Food and Drug Administrations Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting on June 10, 2021. (FDA/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink, which comes from nine healthcare groups that have collectively administered over 8.8 million dosesonly some 284,000 of those have been given to 12- to 17-year-oldsdid not indicate safety concerns, with just 60 myocarditis or pericarditis events reported through May 29, the doctor continued.

A Food and Drug Administration surveillance system, the Biologics Effectiveness and Safety Initiative, which utilizes claims data from CVS and two other partners, has detected 99 cases of myocarditis/pericarditis in the 42 days following vaccination among some 3.1 million shots given to people between the ages of 12 and 64, the panel was told earlier by an official from the drug regulating agency.

Another 1,260 were reported in people 65 or older through claims data from Medicare claims data.

Neither number raised safety signals, Steve Anderson, director of the FDAs Office of Biostatistics and Epidemiology said.

Dr. Cody Meissner, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease at the Tufts Childrens Hospital, and a member of the panel that heard from Shimabukuro and others, said after the presentations that he was struck by the fact that myocarditis occurs more commonly after the second dose.

Its a pretty specific interval of time, its primarily after the mRNA vaccines as far as we know, we know that the consistent age, theres a lack of alternative explanations even though these patients have been pretty well worked up, and its a widespread occurrence because, as you said, Israel has found a pretty similar situation, he said during the meeting.

He asked Shimabukuro about the rates of blood clots seen in women between the ages of 30 and 49 after vaccinationmost of the clots appeared in that population after getting a Johnson & Johnson shot, though officials ultimately lifted a pause, saying the benefits outweighed the risksand to restate the rate of incidence of myocarditis in adolescents after a jab.

Shimabukuro said that in contrast with the clotting situation, when data showed strong evidence of a causal relationship fairly early on, further study is needed on heart inflammation.

At this point, I think were still learning about the rates of myocarditis and pericarditis. We continue to collect more information both in VAERS and continue to get more information in VSD, and I think as gather more information well begin to get a better idea of the post-vaccination rates and hopefully will be able to get more detailed information by age group, he said.

Its still early, he added, noting that authorization for a vaccine for 12- to -15-year-olds didnt come until mid-May while immunization of older adolescents largely came later than shots for adults.

I believe that we will ultimately have sufficient information to answer those questions, he said.

A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Sept. 30, 2014. (Tami Chappell/Reuters)

Another panel member, Dr. Jay Portnoy, director of the Division of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology at Childrens Mercy Hospitals & Clinics, asked for a comparison between the adverse events in vaccinated versus unvaccinated persons, saying if the adverse event rate was lower in those who are vaccinated, then it would still be worth getting a jab.

Shimabukuro said a risk-benefit assessment would be provided by the CDCs advisory panel, known as ACIP, on vaccines during a meeting next week.

A CDC spokeswoman also referenced the upcoming meeting, which will take place on June 18, after saying reports of myocarditis remain rare, given that over 300 million doses have been administered in the United States.

Given the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, these reports are rare. More than 18 million people between ages 12-24 have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, she told The Epoch Times via email. CDC continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone 12 years and older. Getting vaccinated is the best way to help protect yourself and your family from COVID-19.

A Pfizer spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the company is aware of federal data indicating rare reports of myocarditis and pericarditis, predominantly in male adolescents and young adults, after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. It noted that federal officials have not concluded that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause either condition, before expressing support for an assessment of suspected adverse events.

With a vast number of people vaccinated to date, the benefit risk profile of our vaccine remains positive, the spokesperson added.

Moderna did not return an inquiry.

Dr. Monica Gandhi, professor of medicine and associate chief at the University of California, San Francisco, told The Epoch Times in an email that in light of the increased risk of myocarditis above expected rates among young people, especially after the second dose, parents should keep a close eye out for when guidance is issued by federal authorities.

Possibilities include only vaccinating children without prior infection as there is an association between prior COVID and this adverse effect; giving 1 dose instead of 2 below the age of 20; addressing the dosage of the vaccine (currently at 30 micrograms down to the age of 12, which is the same dose as in adults); and extending the duration between doses 1 and 2 for younger people, she said. I look forward to ACIP guidance on this over the next few weeks.
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)

Not Concerned: Garneau on Canadian Visa-Application Centres in China Owned by CCP-Affiliated Company

Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said hes not worried that a Beijing-linked visa application company that the Canadian government has contracted will result in the personal data of applicants falling into the hands of Chinese authorities as security protocols have been put in place.

We are not concerned about VFS Global in China, Garneau told the Standing Committee on Canada-China Relations (CACN) on June 7, saying Canada has a rigorous procurement process led by the Public Services and Procurement Canada. He added that the Chinese companys role is limited to logistical and administrative support.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada] officials closely monitor the activities of the visa application centers to ensure strict privacy standards as detailed in the contract that theyre met, and we have lots of proof to show that we monitor this very carefully, he said, adding that the government is acutely aware of the risks of operating in any foreign environment.

Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau speaks during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, on May 19, 2021. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

VFS Global was contracted by the Canadian government in 2008, and renewed in 2018, to process visa applications on its behalf in 83 countries. Concerns arose when the Globe and Mail first reported in February that the company has subcontracted its Beijing operations to Beijing Shuangxiong Foreign Service Company, which is owned by Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Jiten Vyas, regional group chief operating officer at VFS Global, confirmed that Chinese regulations mandate that any state-owned company must recognize the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its articles of association and a party organ must be established in any state firm that hires more than three Communist Party members, in his testimony before the Commons Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM) on Feb. 22, which was included in a special report on Hong Kong submitted by CIMM to Parliament Tuesday.

In addition, all major business and management decisions must be discussed by the party organ before they can be presented to the companys board of directors or management for decision.

The first role of the directors or executive[s] who are party members is to execute the will of the party in performing their duties, the report states.

Joey Siu, a pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong Watch, said that people seeking a visa to come to Canada may hesitate to apply for one once they realize that the visa centres have contracts with Chinese companies with close ties to the CCP.

I believe that a lot of activists, protesters or even random everyday citizens in China would be afraid to apply because that would mean their information would be collected by the Chinese Communist Party. That also means that the Chinese Communist Party would be aware that they are planning to leave the country, Siu told the CIMM on Feb. 17.

Ward Elcock, former director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service, isnt convinced that the processing of information in VFS Globals facility in Beijing is secure.

In reality, that institution or that office functions entirely within the control of the Chinese intelligence services, he told the CACN on May 3. For the foreign intelligence service, that is potentially gold, and the reality is theres almost always a way to access material no matter what security is put in place in a situation like that.

In one of its recommendations, the CIMM report proposes that the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada end its contract with VFS Global and bring the services back in-house at Canadian diplomatic missions in China.
Rep Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) attends a concert at the George Floyd Square on the first anniversary of Floyd's death, in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 25, 2021. (Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters)

Omar Issues Clarification After Comparing US, Israel to Hamas

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Thursday issued a statement after furor that she compared the United States and Israel to the terrorist groups Hamas and the Taliban.

On Monday, I asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about ongoing International Criminal Court investigations. To be clear: the conversation was about accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC cases, not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel. I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems, she wrote.

The statement that drew condemnation, including from fellow Democrats, was posted on Twitter by Omar along with a clip of her pressing Blinken during the hearing in question.

We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban, she wrote.

A group of House Democrats said in response that equating the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban is as offensive as it is misguided, saying the remarks give cover to terrorist groups and called on Omar to clarify her words.

A number of Republicans reacted strongly, with some saying Democrat leaders should remove Omar from her post on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

But other lawmakers defended Omar, including fellow members of the so-called Squad, a group that advocates for certain policies, including some far-left ones.

I am tired of colleagues (both D+R) demonizing Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said earlier Thursday.

Their obsession with policing her is sick. She has the courage to call out human rights abuses no matter who is responsible. Thats better than colleagues who look away if it serves their politics, Tlaib added.

The situation pitted new progressives against more moderate members.

Democrat leaders of the House of Representatives, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), later weighed in, saying they welcomed what Omar described as a statement of clarification.

Legitimate criticism of the policies of both the United States and Israel is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate. And indeed, such criticism is essential to the strength and health of our democracies. But drawing false equivalencies between democracies like the U.S. and Israel and groups that engage in terrorism like Hamas and the Taliban foments prejudice and undermines progress toward a future of peace and security for all, they said in a joint statement.

We welcome the clarification by Congresswoman Omar that there is no moral equivalency between the U.S. and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban.

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), part of the group that called for Omar to clarify her remarks, also responded favorably to the update.

Democracies should never be lumped in with terrorists. I am pleased @Ilhan heard our concerns about her tweet, issued a clarification, and agrees with our point. I hope all can avoid such offhanded statements in the future as we work together to support American jobs & families, he wrote in a statement.
Matthew Murphy, 4, places a rose on a tombstone beside his father, Kevin Murphy, of Springfield, Va., during a volunteer event at Arlington National Cemetery ahead of Memorial Day on May 26, 2019, in Arlington, Va. (Tom Brenner/Getty Images)

Patriotism and Sacrifice

Commentary

In order to thrive, or even survive, a country and culture call on the sacrifice of each generation, in the bearing, raising, and educating of its young and inspiring them to do the same in their turn.

The required sacrifice in each generation also involves the patriotic duty, instilled in young men from an early age in most countries and cultures, to put ones own life on the line if called to do so. Many English schoolboys of my generation, like those before it, had learned from the Latin poet Horace, Dulce et decorum est pro patria moriIt is sweet and fitting to die for ones homeland. In the United States, we honor each year on Memorial Day the profound sacrifice of those who died for this country.

In his recent book, Things Worth Dying For: Thoughts on a Life Worth Living, Charles Chaput, recently retired archbishop of Philadelphia, observes that Cultures unable to inspire the ultimate sacrifice from their people for a commonly shared need or code have no future. Theyre already dead without knowing it.

But no country or cause takes for granted such a willingness to sacrifice. In recent years, many students have been learning to be skeptical, if not cynical, about calls to patriotism. But even in February 1933, the month after Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, students at a debate at Oxford University in England voted for a motion affirming that This House would not in any circumstances fight for King and Country. The motion shocked people throughout the English-speaking world and delighted those Germans seeking to establish a new empire, a Third Reich, of the decadence and passivity of Britains young elites.

As Chaput says, we dont live in a warrior culture in which the patriotic virtues are instilled and universally shared as they were in Sparta, Athens, or Europes Middle Ages.

Its symptomatic, even if an oversight, that the American vice-president, Kamala Harris, tweeted a greeting that wished us all a happy long weekend, with no mention of Memorial Day as a time of mourning for those who had sacrificed their lives for the country. (The next day, after much criticism, and in following days, she acknowledged the purpose and meaning being commemorated.)

What Is Patriotism?

Patriotism is the love or loyalty of an individual for his or her country. Israeli scholar Yoram Hazony distinguished it from nationalism, which he defines as a theory that seeks to establish a world of free and independent nations. Neither patriotism nor nationalism, so understood, requires the subjection of other nations or their subordination to a shared, universal law.

Love of ones own country doesnt entail a desire to dominate others or to impose a global, transnational, rule of lawuniform and universalin the manner of imperialist projects like the European Union or Communist China.

Distrust of Patriotism

One effect of the two world wars of the last century was a distrust of nationalism and patriotism. Hazony argues, as, from a different perspective, had Lenin with respect to World War I, that those wars were forms of inter-imperialist rivalry or struggle for empire, rather than for the freedom and independence of nations within a system of free and independent national states. The development of international and transnational bodies like the United Nations after the war sought to achieve harmony and peace by way of establishing a rule of international law that constrained national loyalties.

A kind of global utopianism, beyond that of world communism in its Stalinist and Maoist forms, developed in the West. It sought to prevent the reemergence of nationalist excesses, especially of Germany, by establishing international and transnational bodies that could impose their will on nations in the name of peace and the rule of law.

More ambitiously, the European Union was designed from the start to limit democratic and patriotic impulses and to impose administrative state and trans-state bureaucracies. The EU was a movement, not just toward an integrated trading zone, as first sold to politicians and voters, but also toward a superstate, run by a democratically unaccountable bureaucracy that could limit and constrain the parliaments and courts of member states, imposing a common law on all. The EU has developed the trappings of a sovereign stateits own flag, anthem, currency (the euro adopted by most members), and aspirations to a common foreign policy and military forces.

Global economic and political integrationthe growth of world trade, political and regulatory bodieshas weakened national sovereignty and at the same time enfeebled patriotism and national loyalty among elites.

As states have become more bureaucratic and national sovereignty limited by global political and economic developments, they have become less apt to win the loyalty of citizens as embodiments of the community. For many, as philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre puts it, the modern nation-state has devolved into a bureaucratic supplier of goods and services that never gives value for money or lives up to its promises. It doesnt and cant embody community or be the repository of sacred values. Yet, from time to time it invites one to lay down ones life on its behalf. The result, he wrote, is like being asked to die for the telephone company.

Patriotism and Democracy

And yet. Modern national states like the United States are not at all like a telephone company. Theres certainly a substantial minority (perhaps 25 percent)members of which have dominated economics and politics for decadesthats both globalist and individualist, favors a borderless world with uncontrolled immigration, and whose view of nation, as of family and local and regional community, is at odds with the values and views of most of the population.

Those who hold such elite views, globalist and individualist at the same time, are wary of or hostile to democracy. They fear the masses and favor the rule of experts, the growth of the regulatory, administrative state, of technocracy, and of transnational institutions and organizations that dont answer to the voters of a democratic polity.

The result has been a democratic deficit and loss of national sovereignty. Elites within and across nations responded with shock and horror to Trumps 2016 victory and to the Brexit vote of the same year. In both cases the outcome was a rejection of the assumptions, worldviews, and advice of the ruling class. But supporters of the losing side saw in the result, not a vindication but a crisis of democracy. It was a warning of what happens when ordinary people have too much power and experts too little.

Patriotismloving ones country and honoring those who sacrifice their lives for itand democracy are linked in this context. Allowing citizens to vote is risky for elites when the country is divided and most do not share their values or views and may not follow their advice. It carries the risk that those with the wrong viewsthose with a strong sense of place and a rootedness in their own country and community, of commitment to family, faith, and flagmay stop or at least hinder the dissolution of such traditions and sentiments devoutly wished for by the better credentialed and more affluent elites.

The problem for our globalist and individualist elites is that they depend on the patriotism and sacrifice of ordinary people while at the same time scorning them and their views.

Paul Adams writes on ethics, marriage and family, and social policy. He is professor emeritus of social work at the University of Hawaii. He has also taught at Case Western University and the University of Texas.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (2nd from left) at the Darling Downs solar farm in Miles, Queensland, Australia on Jan. 23, 2018. (AAP Image/Darren England)

Queensland Pledges $2 Billion for Solar, Wind and Hydrogen Projects

Queensland (QLD) Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced $2 billion (US$1.5 billion) will be spent on energy projects as part of the new Queensland Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund.

The investment is expanding a previous $500 million Queensland Renewable Energy Fund and will go towards emissions reduction projectspart of a plan to generate 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 and achieve net-zero by 2050.

I truly believe that there is no other place in the world as well positioned as Queensland to lead on hydrogen, critical energy minerals and renewables manufacturing, Palaszczuk said in a statement.

Palaszczuk said the investment would include the development of QLDs hydrogen infrastructure to reduce emissions in the transport sectoras well as export the states energy by producing hydrogen via renewable energy, which can then be shipped globally.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks at a press conference at Parliament House in Brisbane, Australia, on Apr. 01, 2021. (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)

The QLD Government had announced this week that it had secured the site for a proposed 3 gigawatt hydrogen export facility, partnering with Japan for its development and potentially supporting up to 5,000 jobs.

The fund will also help develop wind and solar farm projects, along with supporting state-owned businesses in expanding their ownership of renewable energy generation and battery storage.

Crucially, however, Palaszczuk emphasised that part of the expenditure would support local jobs through domestic mining and the manufacturing of wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries.

Currently, in Australia, the majority of wind turbines and solar panels are imported from overseas, most notably China, with data released earlier this year revealing that close to 90 percent of Australias solar panels were made and imported from China.

An aerial view of the Darling Downs solar farm near Dalby, Queensland, Australia February 11, 2020, showing. (AAP Image/APA)

That means not just mining the minerals for batteries and renewables in Queenslandit means processing the minerals and making batteries and renewables here as well, Palaszczuk said.

I want to see hydrogen electrolysers built locally and local assembly of wind turbines and solar panels because that means local jobs.

Queensland holds a multitude of finite, non-renewable mineral reserves required in the production of various emission-reduction technologies.

This includes cobalt, copper, scandium, and nickel for electric vehicles; vanadium and alumina for batteries; bauxite, aluminium, and high purity quartz for solar panels.

Palaszczuk said that $9.9 billion had already seen her government boost renewable energy generation from 7 percent to 20 percent, creating over 5,100 megawatts of power generation, more than forty wind and solar farms, and 7,000 construction jobs.

Queenslands energy grid had previously come under major strain following a fire at one of the states coal-fired power stations, which resulted in power outages that affected 400,000 homes.

The grids energy requirements were reinstated after gas-fired power stations in South Australia were ramped up to make up for the energy shortfall.
A man stands in front of a convoy of tanks in the Avenue of Eternal Peace in Beijing on June 5, 1989. (Arthur Tsang/Reuters)

Romney Pushes Microsoft for Answers Over Apparent Search Censorship of Tiananmen Square Massacre

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on June 8 pressed Microsoft for more information on how and why its search engine returned no results for an iconic Tiananmen Square Massacre image on the anniversary of the communist suppression.

On June 4, searches on Microsoft-powered engines from several countries returned no results for tank man, an iconic photo of an ordinary Chinese citizen standing in the way of an advancing tank.

While the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) infamously censors internet search terms related to the Tiananmen Square Massacre (including Tank Man), the possibility that the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) censorship would be extended to the United States by an American company is unacceptable, Romney wrote in a letter (pdf) to Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella.

While Microsoft blamed the issue on accidental human error, Romney is apparently dissatisfied with that explanation. The Utah Republican posed a list of questions to Nadella, including whether a single Microsoft employee can cause such an error leading to censorship of search terms. Romney also asked what terms, if any, the CCP has asked Microsoft to censor in China and other countries over the past year.

According to the letter, searches for tank man in the United States, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Singapore returned no image results.

Microsofts Bing is one of a few international search engines operating in China. In order to operate there, the company complies with censorship requests from the CCP.

Tank man refers to the iconic image of a standoff between an unidentified civilian and a line of military tanks leaving Beijings Tiananmen Square after a brutal suppression of pro-democracy protesters. The photo has become a symbol of defiance around the world.

After being alerted by reporters, Microsoft said in a statement that the issue was due to an accidental human error and has been resolved. Hours later, images of tank man photographs were returned by the search engine outside China.

The company didnt elaborate on what the human error was or how it had happened. In his letter, Romney demanded more details on the matter, including whether the error took place in the United States or China.

Microsofts largest research and development center outside the United States is in China, and it posted a job in January for a China-based senior software engineer to lead a team that develops the technology powering Bings image search.

Chinese authorities require search engines, websites, and social media platforms operating within the country to censor keywords and results deemed politically sensitive or critical of the ruling CCP.

References to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 are blocked in China, as are images relating to the event, such as tank man.

In China, Bing competes with larger Chinese search engines such as Baidu and Sogou. Bing has a 2.5 percent market share in the country, according to data site Statcounter.

Rival Google exited the Chinese market in 2010 after four years of operation, following disputes over censorship and a major hacking attack that Google believes originated in China.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sen. Lindsey Graham: Trump Would Have Won 2020 Election If Wuhan Lab Leak Theory Was Proven

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said former President Donald Trump would have won the 2020 election if investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and whether it escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, were not politicized.

If COVID-19 had come about due to a Chinese lab leak, the top question on voters minds in the 2020 election would have become who was going to stand up to China. Which candidate would hold the Chinese accountable for unleashing the COVID-19 plague on the world? wrote Graham for Fox News on Thursday.

As a result, Graham argued, Americans would have demanded a tougher line against the Chinese communist regime and would have been looking for a Commander in Chief to lead the charge, and there is no doubt in my mind this would have benefitted President Trump much more than Joe Biden.

Trump early on began saying that COVID-19 came from China and sometimes called it the Chinese virus while highlighting how the virus emerged near the laboratory in Wuhan.

And, according to Graham, instead of validating President Trumps concerns, the scientists early dismissal created a narrative that President Trump was out of touch and spreading right-wing conspiracy theories, while it was a narrative that the elite media, who hated President Trump with a burning passion, was only too happy to help spread.

Trumps handling of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic was the subject of scrutiny and controversy during the 2020 campaign, with media outlets repeatedly highlighting the number of virus deaths and cases reported each day.

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)

If it were known in February that Trump was right [in] 2020, I think hed be president today, Graham told Fox News on Wednesday night.

In recent days, however, U.S. intelligence officials have increasingly signaled that they support the theory that the virus emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the only P-4 lab in China. Researchers at the facility had long studied coronaviruses, including ones from bats.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed to The Epoch Times on June 3 that when he attempted to launch an investigation into the origins of the CCP virus and how it spread from China to the United States, he was met with significant opposition from within the federal government.

I became aware at the end of 2020 that we now had an increased level of confidence in the datapoints that supported what we put out in the middle of January. The clock was clearly running, and I was fighting very hard inside the State Department and even more broadly, Pompeo said.

But he said that intelligence agencies at the time held evidence from him.

There were places outside of the State Department that owned the dataset inside the intelligence community, so we were banging away to get them to give us as much space to write as much as we possibly could, Pompeo continued. We were drafting language that protected classified things that needed to be protected but we wanted to make sure that we got this information out in the public space.

The Wuhan lab leak hypothesis started gaining more traction after President Joe Biden announced last month that the 17-agency Intelligence Community will deliver a report on whether the CCP virus emerged from the facility within 90 days.

Days later, after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from several news outlets, hundreds of emails belonging to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Anthony Fauci were released, with some linking Fauci to the Wuhan laboratory via the EcoHealth Alliance nonprofit that, according to federal records, had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money from NIAID. Fauci has categorically denied that the money was used to conduct controversial gain-of-function research on coronaviruses.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom holds up a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles on Dec. 14, 2020. (Jae C. Hong/Pool/Getty Images)

Southern California Vaccine Distribution Declining Despite Lottery Initiative

Despite Californias $116.5 million lottery initiative to encourage more residents to get vaccinated, the demand for vaccines in Orange County, California, is slowly declining, officials say.

Kaiser Permanente spokesperson Terry Kanakri said that Southern Californiaand Orange County specificallyhave not experienced any significant change in vaccination rates since Gov. Gavin Newsons May 27 lottery announcement.

Newsom has said the incentive aimed to give an extra nudge to those who still need to get vaccinated, but were hesitant to do so.

Getting every eligible Californian vaccinated is how we bring our state roaring back from this pandemic, Newsom said in a press release announcing the initiative. California has already made incredible progress in the fight against COVID-19, with the lowest case rates in the country, while administering millions more vaccines than any other state. But we arent stopping there, were doing everything it takes to get Californians vaccinated as we approach June 15 to help us fully reopen safely.

According to a pharmacist, the rate of inoculation at local pharmacies has also been declining steadily for a few weeks.

Right now, its going down. Since three or four weeks ago, the CVS pharmacist told The Epoch Times.

MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills has observed the same trend.

While we have not seen a significant increase in demand  we will continue to provide education across MemorialCare to help address vaccine hesitancy in our community, the hospitals Chief Operating Officer Catherine Shitara told The Epoch Times.

The decline of vaccine distribution comes a month after news the county would shut its vaccine super point dispensing (POD) site June 6, after observing a decline in demand for the sites.

Orange Countys vaccine demand was high from the beginning of April to April 23 before slowly declining. The peak vaccine distribution date for the county was on April 16, with 40,921 doses administered.

The week of Gov. Gavin Newsons lottery announcement, Orange County was ranging between 14,000 and 16,000 administered doses per day, a decline from between 19,000 to 22,000 per day the week prior.

Following the state lottery initiative announcement, the demand for the vaccine has either remained steady or experienced no significant increase, between 1,000 to 16,000 administered doses per day.

Californias lottery initiative includes a $1.5 million cash prize for each of 10 winners that are to be selected on the states reopening date, June 15. The lottery kicked off with its first drawing on June 4, where 10 names were pulled for $50,000 prizes. A second drawing for 10 $50,000 prizes will be held June 11.

As of June 9, over 1.6 million Orange County residents are fully vaccinated, with over 300,000 receiving at least one dose.
Texas Democrat Urges Harris to Tour Southern Border in Earnest, Not Just Staged Visit

A Texas Democrat who has been critical of the White Houses handling of the border crisis on Thursday called for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to visit the southern border in earnest, saying they should come in and, with all due respect, not do a staged visit.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) made the remarks in an interview on MSNBC, in which he struck a similar tone as when he said in May that the Biden administration was too fixated on the optics of its response to the border surge and was playing a shell game by shifting unaccompanied minors from one tent to another rather than actually addressing the underlying problem.

Cuellar urged Biden and Harris to make the trip to the southern border and hold discussions with local leaders to better understand the surge in illegal immigration.

Somebody needs to listen to our local communities, Cuellar said. With all due respect, just coming and doing a staged visit is not enough. They have to understand.

The Texas lawmakers remarks came as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) reported it had apprehended 180,034 individuals illegally entering the United States in May, the highest monthly tally in 21 years. Asked to comment on the numbers, Cuellar said, the incentives are there for smugglers to keep trying to get people over herethey make six to eight thousand dollars per person, while reiterating a point he made in earlier interviews that both push and pull factors need to be addressed to resolve the problem.

The pull factors refer to border and immigration policies, which if they are lax, tend to encourage illegal immigration. The push factors refer to conditions such as crime, corruption, and lack of economic opportunity, that drive people in Central America from their homes. Cuellar has said in previous interviews that Democrats tend to focus on the push factors, often talking about addressing the root causes of migration, while Republicans typically concentrate on the pull factors, such as tightening border security and tougher messaging on illegal immigration.

Weve got to enforce the law, Cuellar said in reference to the pull factors. Deport people that dont have a right to be here.

Cuellars message for Biden and Harris comes just days after the Vice President visited Mexico and Guatemala, where she downplayed visiting the border as essentially a meaningless grand gesture.

You cant say you care about the border without caring about the root causes, Harris told reporters in Mexico City on Tuesday, while questioning the utility of visiting the border by saying, I dont think that anybody thinks that that would be the solution.

When Im in Guatemala dealing with root causes, I think we should have a conversation about whats going on in Guatemala, Harris added.

Harris faced blowback for her comments, with her grand gesture remark drawing a swift response from Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who in a Tuesday tweet said, Visiting our border is NOT a grand gesture. It means seeing communities that are hurting because of the White Houses absentee leadership.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was on Tuesday asked to address Harriss dismissive comments on visiting the border.

At some point, she may go to the border, Psaki said, adding, I dont have any trips to preview for you or predict or a timeline for that.

Her assignment was to work with countries and leaders in the Northern Triangle [Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador] to address root causes, address corruption, [and] ensure were working together to address humanitarian concerns, she added.

Psaki also said the Biden administration doesnt want advice from Republicans on the border crisis.

Were not taking our guidance and advice from them, Psaki said. But if it is constructive and it moves the ball forward for her to visit the border, she certainly may do that.
People walk with their luggage to travel to the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on June 9, 2021. The federal government says fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents crossing the border into Canada will soon no longer be required to stay at a hotel for part of their quarantine period. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Travel Quarantine Rules Set to Ease for Fully Vaccinated Canadians, Permanent Residents

TORONTOFully vaccinated Canadian citizens and permanent residents who test negative for COVID-19 will likely soon be exempt from two weeks quarantine on return to Canada, the government announced Wednesday, as millions of doses of the Moderna vaccine were expected to arrive.

Starting early next month, the travellers who have received federally approved shots at least 14 days before entering the country will be able to skip staying in a government-approved quarantine hotel. They would still have to isolate until the test they take on arrival comes back negative but then can resume activities outside of isolation guided by local public health restrictions.

Currently, incoming air travellers must spend three days at a quarantine hotel at their expense, then complete their two weeks of self-isolation at their destination. They have to take a second test on Day 8 after arrival, which will no longer be required of fully vaccinated people.

Well be watching carefully here in Canada and around the world as cases change and as vaccination rates rise, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said. These metrics are very important factors.

The new rules would also apply to certain Indigenous Canadians and foreigners already allowed into the country, the Health Ministry said.

Several Conservative MPs said the Liberal government had failed to end its unscientific and unsafe quarantine hotel program, which still remains in effect for many travellers.

What the Trudeau Liberals announced today does not give Canadians clarity on a path forward, they said.

Business groups welcomed the proposed change but said it didnt go far enough. Major airlines and airports said Canada still needed a clear restart plan for international travel.

The government also said seven million doses of Moderna were slated to arrive this month, with shipments starting next week.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand said it will be the first time deliveries include doses from the companys American supply chain. Details of specific shipment dates and quantities will come next week, she said.

Overall, Anand said Canada should have enough vaccine delivered for 80 percent of eligible Canadians to be fully vaccinated by the end of July.

Based on confirmed deliveries alone, Canada is set to receive at least 55 million doses by the end of July, Anand said. That is the minimum.

Currently, 72 percent of people aged 12 and older in Canadaand 63 percent overallhave received a first vaccine dose, helping drive case counts lower.

Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer, said the seven-day average for new cases had fallen below 1,800 for the first time since the fall. Similarly, daily hospitalizations have fallen by about half, and deaths have declined around 40 per cent.

However, Tam warned those who have received only one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to remain wary, especially with circulation of the Delta variant.

Tam also said she was looking at ensuring Canada gets close to 75 percent of eligible people fully vaccinated before she would consider advising looser border restrictions for tourists and business travellers who arent Canadians or permanent residents.

To boost vaccine uptake, Manitoba is joining American jurisdictions in offering incentives to get a jab. The province said it would offer $100,000 cash prizes and $25,000 scholarships.

Anyone who has had, or will receive, a shot would be automatically entered into two lottery draws this summer, with each having seven cash winners. Ten scholarships will go to people aged 12 to 17.

While overall new cases of COVID-19 continue to fall, death counts and those needing life-saving medical help remain stubbornly high in some areas.

Ontario, for example, reported 411 new cases Wednesday, one of its lowest levels this year. However, 33 more people were reported to have died of coronavirus disease, although the Ministry of Health said 11 of the deaths occurred in April and May.

Quebec reported a modest 178 new cases and eight more deaths. It was the fourth straight day the province had reported under 200 new confirmed cases. Sixty patients remained in intensive care.

In New Brunswick, lawyers for a doctor inundated with hate and racism amid erroneous accusations he violated anti-pandemic restrictions and sparked a deadly COVID-19 outbreak urged Premier Blaine Higgs to apologize.

Dr. Jean-Robert Ngola has threatened to sue if Higgs did not publicly apologize by the end of the week for statements made in May 2020. At the time, Higgs referred to a health-care worker under RCMP investigation for failing to self-isolate after returning to the province.

Prosecutors dropped charges against Ngola last week.

Nova Scotia Health said it was easing visitor restrictions at hospitals to allow more support for patients. As of Wednesday, two support people were allowed for patients in intensive care, critically ill patients, and for labour and birth.

Starting June 16, one support person will be allowed for all in-patients and patients in the emergency department, and three for palliative patients and those nearing the end of life.

On Saturday, Manitoba is lifting a ban in place since May 22 on almost all social gatherings to allow people to gather outdoors in groups of up to five people.

Many of Albertas COVID-19 public health restrictions are being lifted Thursday as part of a three-stage plan to reopen by summer.

The province is entering the second stage, which required 60 percent of those 12 and older to have had at least one vaccine shot and fewer than 500 infected patients in hospitals. Officials say 67 percent of Albertans have received their first dose and 329 people are in hospital.

British Columbia reported 148 new cases on Wednesday and three deaths. Health officials said 74.5 percent of all adults in the province have had a first dose of vaccine.
British Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock speaks at a memorial tree planting ceremony at Oxford Botanic Gardens following a G7 health ministers meeting at Mansfield College, Oxford University, on June 4, 2021. (Steve Parsons - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

UK Health Chief Slams Chinas Lack of Transparency, Urges Probe Into COVID-19 Origins

Britains Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Thursday that the UKs early response to the COVID-19 pandemic was hampered by Chinas lack of transparency, and called for a fully independent investigation in China into the origin of the CCP virus.

Appearing before the UK Parliaments Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee, Hancock said he did not know whether theories that the virus originated from a lab leak in Wuhan were correct, but he thought an independent probe was vital to establish the origin of the pandemic.

It is vital that we have a fully independent investigation in China to find out all we can about this, and that that is allowed to happen unencumbered, he said.

Part of the reforms that we need to the way the worldwide systems operate is to make sure that we properly find answers to these questions, because at the moment it is impossible to do it. We do need to get to the bottom of this.

Hancock also said that the UKs early response to the pandemic was hampered by the lack of information coming out of China.

One of the things that hindered our early response was a lack of transparency from China. That must be put right in terms of future preparedness for future pandemics, he said.

It is absolutely vital for the world that China is more transparent about its health information as soon it understands there are problems.

Hancock said he could not obtain information on asymptomatic transmission of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus from either the Chinese authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO).

He said he first heard that there was asymptomatic transmission in China in January 2020.

I was so worried about it I arranged a call with the World Health Organization. I was told on that call with respect to China this was likely a mis-translation, he said. After that we did not get the evidence from China which could have proved it.

I was in a situation of not having hard evidence that a global scientific consensus of decades was wrong but having an instinct that it was.

I bitterly regret that I didnt overrule that scientific advice at the start and say we should proceed on the basis that there is asymptomatic transmission until we know that there isnt rather than the other way round.

The health secretary said unilateral border closure at the beginning of the pandemic would not have made much difference, as China was still allowing people to leave the country.

The only way the world could have stopped this virus getting out of China is if China itself had stopped people leaving China, he said.

As soon as people were allowed to leave China to go to one place, then unless the whole world took action on bordersas they have done nowit would have only delayed [the spread of the disease] to a degree. That was the clear clinical advice.

PA contributed to this report.
US Blacklists Four Nicaraguans, Including Ortegas Daughter

WASHINGTONThe United States on Wednesday blacklisted four Nicaraguans, including a daughter of President Daniel Ortega, as Washington warned it would continue to use diplomatic and economic tools against members of the leftist government engaged in repression.

The U.S. State Department called on Ortega to release detained presidential candidates as well as other civil society and opposition leaders arrested over the past week in what Washington called an increasing wave of repression.

There are costs for those who are complicit in the regimes repression. The United States will continue to use diplomatic and economic tools against members of the regime engaged in this wave of repression, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday slapped sanctions on Ortegas daughter and Coordinator of the Creative Economy Commission, Camila Antonia Ortega Murillo, as well as three others it accused of supporting the government that Washington said has undermined democracy, abused human rights, and enacted repressive laws.

The Treasury accused her of managing television station Canal 13, a family-run media outlet the department said spreads propaganda, while the president uses state spending and tax laws to promote family-run stations and squeeze independent rival outlets.

Also hit with sanctions are: Leonardo Ovidio Reyes Ramirez, president of the Central Bank of Nicaragua; Edwin Ramon Castro Rivera, a deputy of the Nicaraguan National Assembly; and Julio Modesto Rodriguez Balladares, a Brigadier General of the Nicaraguan Army and executive director of the Military Social Welfare Institute.

The Nicaraguan government and army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions.

Wednesdays action freezes any U.S. assets of those blacklisted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.

Nicaraguan police detained two pre-candidates for the presidency on Tuesday, raising the number of recent arrests of potential contenders to unseat longtime President Ortega to four.

International organizations, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, have accused Ortegas government of fabricating false accusations against opponents.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is very concerned by the recent arrests and detentions in Nicaragua and invalidation of opposition leaders candidacies, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Wednesday.

These developments can seriously undermine the publics confidence in the democratic process ahead of the November general elections, Dujarric said, adding that Guterres calls on the authorities to fully respect international human rights obligations and release the political leaders.

Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk, and Tim Ahmann
Adm. John C. Aquilino and Adm. Philip S. Davidson with Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin arrive at at a Change of Command ceremony for the U.S Indo-Pacific Command, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam west of Honolulu, Hawaii, on April 30, 2021. (Cindy Ellen Russell/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)

US Indo-Pacific Commander Requests More Spending to Contain China

Facing the Chinese communist regimes increasing aggression in the Asia-pacific region, the newly appointed Indo-Pacific Commander John Aquilino has recently requested an additional $890 million in spending from Congress to strengthen military equipment in Guam, Alaska, and Hawaii for possible military confrontations. Meanwhile, the Biden administrations top Asia official revealed a new strategy to contain China in the region.

Aquilino said that the spending request is less than 1 percent of the total authorized amount allocated to the Department of Defense, but is critical for deterring Chinas decision calculus, Foreign Policy reported on June 8.

Portions of the additional spending request will be used for missiles and improving facilities$231 million will be used to strengthen air defense and missile defense in Guam, because it is within the range of Chinese missiles; $114 million will be used to improve facilities in Alaska and Hawaii to ensure that they can maintain digital communications with U.S. forces and allies conducting military drills in the Western Pacific. Prior to this, the budget proposed by the Indo-Pacific Command was $5.1 billion.

Aquilino sent a letter to the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith, and other members of Congress last week, emphasizing the importance of increasing funding and proposing plans to seize the initiative by providing a pragmatic and viable approach that deters potential adversaries from unilaterally attempting to change the international rules based order, reassures allies and partners, and shapes the security environment.

He also warned that the time for Beijing to launch an attack on Taiwan may be sooner than what most people think. He said the Hawaii-based military command needs more resources and troops to respond to the Chinese regimes possible rapid attack on Taiwan.

Meanwhile on June 8, the Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the National Security Council Kurt Campbell, talked about a few key areas of a new strategy to contain the Chinese regime in the region, at an event organized by the Center for a New American Security.

Australian Scott Morrison (L) participating in the inaugural Quad leaders meeting with President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a virtual meetingin Sydney, Australia, on Friday, March 12, 2021. (AP Image/Pool/Dean Lewins)

He said the United States is working closely with allies like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and others to assist island nations in the Pacific, especially in South Pacific, where the competition for influence between China, the United States, and allies has intensified in recent years.

He added that the Quad blocthe Quadrilateral Security Dialogue composed of the United States, Japan, India, and Australiawould have another leaders meeting later this year, and it is open to other countries that have shown interest in joining the group to deal with the security threats posed by the Chinese regime in Asia Pacific.

Campbell emphasized that the United States is committed to continuing to provide defensive articles to Taiwan, but he also reminded Taiwan to take measures to step up its own defense capabilities.

Campbell said that China has only itself to blame for a global backlash against its policies, including the militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea, and its aggressive approach to global diplomacy, which Beijings foreign policy establishments know. However, he asked, But is that getting through to the most inner-circle in the Chinese leadership? I think thats a question we cant answer.
Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 12, 2021. (Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

US, Taiwan Officials Discuss Trade, Plan Meeting In Coming Weeks: USTR

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai discussed trade and investment issues with Taiwan minister John Deng on June 10 and agreed to convene a meeting of the countries Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council in coming weeks, Tais office said in a statement.

Ambassador Tai emphasized the importance of the U.S.Taiwan trade and investment relationship and explained the Biden-Harris administrations worker-centered trade priorities, the USTRs office said.

Taiwan had been cautiously optimistic about resuming stalled high-level trade talks with Washington this year, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signaled a possible resumption on June 7.

The Biden administration has moved to reaffirm its strong commitment to the Chinese-claimed, democratically governed island in the face of pressure from Beijing to try and assert its sovereignty.

While Taiwan has long angled for a free trade deal with the United States, trade and investment talks between the two have been stalled since the Obama administration.

A senior official at Taiwans economy ministry told Reuters they hope to resume the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) talks this year.

The USTR statement didnt provide specific timing of the meeting, which it said would come under the auspices of the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States.

The TIFA talks stalled after former President Barack Obama left office in 2016 and his successor Donald Trumps trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, imposed tariffs on China, the worlds second-largest economy.

Any such agreement with Taiwan is likely to anger the Chinese regime, which views the self-ruled island as part of its territory, even though Taiwan has been governed as a distinct entity for more than seven decades.

While Taiwan is a member of the World Trade Organization, many countries are wary of signing trade deals with the tech powerhouse, fearing objections from China, although Taiwan does have free trade deals with Singapore and New Zealand.

Last year, Taiwans government lifted a ban on the import of pork containing a leanness-enhancing additive, ractopamine, removing a major stumbling block to a deal with Washington.

However, Taiwan will hold a referendum in late August on whether to resume the ban on the import of pork containing ractopamine. The outcome could affect trade talks with Washington.
US to Donate 500 Million CCP Virus Vaccines to More Than 90 Countries

The White House announced Thursday that the United States will purchase 500 million CCP virus vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and donate them to more than 90 countries.

The donation will be aimed at 92 low- and lower middle-income countries, and the 55 member states of the African Union. The administration said the goal of the donation is to save lives and end the pandemic and will provide the foundation for additional actions to be announced in the coming days.

It marks the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a single country, according to the White House.

The Biden administration expects 200 million of the vaccines to be delivered by the end of 2021, and the remaining 300 million vaccines to be delivered by June 2022. The United States will work through COVAX to deliver them.

COVAX, or COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, is a worldwide program aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).

President Biden will also call on the worlds democracies to do their parts in contributing to the global supply of safe and effective vaccines, the White House said.

President Joe Biden waves upon arrival at Cornwall Airport Newquay, near Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom, on June 9, 2021. (Phil Noble/Pool/Reuters)

Pfizer and BioNTech confirmed in an announcement that the United States government will purchase the vaccines at a not-for-profit price. The vaccines will be produced at Pfizers U.S. production sites.

Our partnership with the U.S. government will help bring hundreds of millions of doses of our vaccine to the poorest countries around the world as quickly as possible, Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said in a statement.

The White House announcement came ahead of President Joe Bidens meeting in England with leaders of the other Group of Seven advanced economiesthe UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, has been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since cases were confirmed in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

Biden on May 26 announced that the U.S. intelligence community is divided on whether the virus arose from human contact with an infected animal or a lab accident, with no definitive conclusion.

Biden said he asked U.S. intelligence officials further investigate the origins of COVID-19, including any possibility that the CCP virus may have been leaked from a Chinese laboratory. The report is due around Aug. 24.

It comes amid a push by Republican leaders to probe the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on its alleged failure to review grants of American tax dollars funding possible gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Wearing a mask and gloves, a worker re-stocks apples in an Asian grocery store in Falls Church, Va., on April 3, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

US to Issue COVID-19 Rule for Healthcare Workers on Thursday

The U.S. workplace regulator will publish a rule on Thursday requiring healthcare employers to take steps to protect workers from COVID-19, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh told a congressional panel on Wednesday.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will also release non-binding guidance on how other businesses can protect workers, Walsh told a hearing of the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee.

During the Trump administration, OSHA rejected calls by unions, Democrats, and worker advocates for a rule that would apply to most employers. Instead, the agency issued a series of non-binding guidance documents tailored to different industries.

Walsh did not reveal other details of the rule. He said the guidance would apply to the treatment of workers who have not received COVID-19 vaccines.

Walshs announcement immediately drew rebukes from Republicans on the House committee.

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) said that issuing a rule goes against recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that said vaccinated people can largely go about their normal pre-pandemic lives.

I think the answer should be, lets let people go back to work in a normal fashion, Walberg said during the hearing, held via Zoom.

I like the signs of where were headed, Walsh responded. However, people are still dying and are still getting infected.

By Dan Wiessner
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan addresses the media at a press conference at Dumas House in Perth, Australia on Apr. 27, 2021. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

WA Premier Says Prime Minister Should Watch His Tongue About China

Western Australia (WA) Premier Mark McGowan has said that Prime Minister Scott Morrison should be more careful in speaking about China, following Morrisons calls for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to mediate global economic coercion.

The announcement comes amid burgeoning trade tensions that has seen China impose aggressive trade sanctions on Australian coal, wine, barley, beef, timber, and cotton.

Ahead of the G7 meeting, Morrison addressed the need for the WTO to modernise its rulebook, advocating for a free and fair rules-based system for international trade founded on open markets.

Australia stands ready to engage in dialogue with all countries on shared challenges, including China when they are ready to do so with us, Morrison said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivers a keynote address ahead of the G7 Summit at the USAsia Centre in Perth, Australia, on Jun. 9, 2021. (Photo by Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

WA Premier McGowan said he was confused by Morrisons announcement and defended Beijing as simply acting in its best interest.

I dont understand why he would be doing that, McGowan told 6PR. You know, countries act in their own interests.

McGowan also questioned the need for an international system reform when a significant portion of Western Australias and Australias economy depended on exports to China.

We have a massive trade surplus with China, which basically generates hundreds of thousands of jobs for West Australiansand we are the beneficiaries of that, McGowan said. So I dont understand why we would say the system isnt working for us when we are in that position.

Despite a global post-pandemic landscape imbued with ever-growing debt, Western Australias iron trade with China has teed up the state for a strong recovery and is set to deliver a budget surplus of around $5 billion for 2020-21, ABC reported.

WA Premier Mark McGowan speaks to media at Dumas House in Perth, Australia, on Apr. 23, 2021. (Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

In particular, McGowan stated that around 60 percent of WAs products were sold to Chinagenerating a trade surplus of about $96 (US$74) billionand that the states trade was a major contributing factor to the nations economy.

You dont support the nation unless you have customers, and our biggest customer is China. So I just think that our language should be very nuanced, McGowan said.

We just need to be very careful in relation to our language and the way we approach these things because we could be the big losers out of it.

However, Australian Strategic Policy Institute Director of Defence, Strategy and National Security, Michael Shoebridge, said that the push to retain strong trading ties was not detached from other political consequences.

Saying engagement with a foreign power has no strategic or foreign policy dimensions but is simply about jobs and economics is now patently untrue, particularly in the case of engaging with the China market and the Chinese government, Shoebridge previously told The Epoch Times.

Right now, Beijing is also using trade as a coercive weapon against Australia in ways that make a comprehensive strategic partnership nonsense.

McGowan had previously expressed a willingness to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including most recently after meeting with the CCPs newly appointed consul-general in the states capital, Perth, last month.
Protesters hold placards reading in Hungarian 'we will not be a colony' (L), and 'no Fudan' as they gather in downtown Budapest, Hungary, on June 5, 2021. (Laszlo Balogh/AP Photo)

Why Is CCP So Evasive About the Murder of Its Party Secretary at Chinese University?

Commentary

On June 7, Wang Yongzhen, the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) secretary of the School of Mathematical Sciences at Fudan University in Shanghai, was stabbed to death at work by Jiang Wenhua, one of Wangs colleagues in the same department.

However, the statement about the murder case issued by the local police and circulated online was evasive. It didnt disclose Wangs university post as a Party secretary, or even the name of the university involvedFudan University.

So why have these two namesFudan University and Party secretarysuddenly become taboo to the CCP when talking about this vicious murder case?

One apparent answerit coincided with two critical points in time.

First, in an effort to expand its influence in Hungary and the European Union, the CCP just signed a strategic deal in April, between Fudan University and the Hungarian government to build a campus in Budapest by 2024. Once the campus is completed, it will be the first Chinese university campus to be established by the CCP in one of the 27 member states of the EU.

The Hungarian government agreed to use a loan from the CCP, based on the investment mode of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road), to pay for the construction of the $1.9 billion campus, but the decision met with strong opposition from Hungarian dignitaries and the public.

It is worth mentioning that at the end of 2019, Fudan University revised its own university regulations, where freedom of thought was removed from the preamble while academic independence was placed after the new term patriotic dedication. In addition, the CCPs socialist ideological content was significantly added.

On June 5, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Budapest to protest against the planned Fudan University campus, accusing the government of cozying up to Beijing. Opponents of Prime Minister Viktor Orban fear that the planned Chinese campus will undercut the quality of higher education and help promote Beijings influence in Hungary and the EU.

Immediately afterward, on June 7, a malicious murder case involving a Party secretary took place at Fudan University. Naturally, the CCP fears that if it becomes known to the outside world, the regulations and philosophy of the university, which is run by the CCP itself, will be more strongly opposed by the Hungarian public, making its attempt to penetrate the EU through the university even more challenging.

Secondly, the CCP has been busy preparing for its centennial Party celebration in recent months amidst boiling public discontent.

While the celebration day (July 1) is approaching, vicious incidents are becoming more frequent across mainland China. Here are just a few cases that took place over the last couple of weeks, according to Chinese news outlets.

On May 22, a young man of Liaoning Province drove his car into pedestrians at an intersection near a park, killing four people and injuring three others.

On May 24, another man of Liaoning Province set off a bomb in front of a government compound, leaving one dead and five injured.

On May 25, a 66-year-old man of Henan Province beat students with a stick, injuring 14.

On May 29, a 41-year-old man of Jiangsu Province randomly injured seven people with a knife then drove off and ran over his ex-wife.

On June 3, a 42-year-old male of Guangxi, a region in southern China, wielded a knife and severely wounded two people in a residential community.

On June 5, a 25-year-old male of Anhui Province randomly killed six people and injured 14 others with a knife.

On June 7, another murder case popped up on the campus of Fudan University in Shanghai. Regardless of who it is, the loss of a life in such a violent way is truly sad. But because this murder was targeted at a Party secretary, social media posts were overwhelmingly supportive of and sympathetic toward Jiangthe killer. One netizen said, Taking down a Party secretarywhat a nice job! Another internet user wrote, Justice is done! according to Chinese news portal China Gate. Regardless of whether these comments are right or not, the flood of public responses is what the CCP is most fearful of, as it knows it has already lost all credibility with the people due to its tyranny. If the masses of long depressed citizens were to follow suit and begin killing Party secretaries, it would become the CCPs worst nightmare.

It seems that the murder of a Party secretary of Fudan University not only makes the chances of the CCP building a Chinese campus in Hungary even slimmer but also casts a thick layer of gloom on the centennial Party celebration that the CCP has been deliberately concocting. The CCP is deeply concerned.

Li Zhengkuan is a freelance writer who covers Chinas affairs. He started contributing to The Epoch Times in 2020.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Wife of El Chapo Could Face Decade in US Prison After Guilty Plea

WASHINGTONThe wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, Emma Coronel Aispuro, on Thursday pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to helping her husband run the Sinaloa cartel, charges that could lead to more than a decade in prison.

Clad in a green jumpsuit and wearing a white face mask, Coronel appeared before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C., and pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiring to distribute illegal drugs, conspiring to launder money, and engaging in financial dealings with the Sinaloa drug cartel.

As part of her plea agreement, she also admitted to conspiring to helping her husband escape in 2015 from Altiplano, a Mexican maximum-security prison.

Without showing any obvious emotion and her face covered by a mask, Coronel said she understood the charges and the repercussions of her guilty plea.

Everything is clear, she told the judge.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Joaquin Guzman, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, exits the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, following the sentencing of Guzman in the Brooklyn borough of New York, on July 17, 2019. (Brendan McDermid/File Photo/Reuters)

Coronel could face up to life in prison for the drug distribution charge alone. The other two counts against her carry maximum prison terms of 20 years and 10 years, respectively.

However, under U.S. sentencing guidelines, she could be looking at a range of nine years to a little more than 11 years in prison, assuming she accepts responsibility for her actions, according to her plea agreement.

The 31-year-old former beauty queen was arrested in February on allegations that she relayed messages to help Guzman traffic drugs from 2012 to early 2014, and continued delivering messages while visiting him in a Mexican prison following his February 2014 arrest.

Coronel was born in California and holds both U.S. and Mexican citizenship.

Guzman, 64, was convicted in February 2019 in a high-profile Brooklyn trial of masterminding a multibillion-dollar drug enterprise for the Sinaloa cartel.

Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera aka el Chapo Guzman (C), is escorted by marines as he is presented to the press in Mexico City, on Feb. 22, 2014. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images)

He was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years, and locked up in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

As part of her plea agreement, Coronel acknowledged that she acted as an intermediary with the cartel while Guzman was inside Mexicos Altiplano prison, delivering messages back and forth.

In this role, he told her he wanted to escape through an underground tunnel, and asked her to help arrange these plans with his sons and other cartel members.

She later met with someone known as Cleto, who delivered to her more than $1 million in cash, some of which she used to pay off prison officials.

Coronel also met with a second person named Lazaro, and she paid him to buy land close to the prison to where a tunnel could be built.

She kept her husband abreast of all developments as the tunnel was built, and gave her husband a GPS-enabled watch, which he then used to help guide the people building the tunnel from his cell.

As a condition of her plea on Thursday, Coronels assets will be subject to forfeiture, and she will be required to submit to any law enforcement interview regarding all assets within her possession, the agreement says, adding she must fully cooperate in providing any and all financial information and documentation.

The judge set a tentative sentencing date of Sept. 15.
Wisconsin Senate Passes GOP-Backed Election Bills, Including Absentee Voting Restrictions

The Wisconsin Senate passed several Republican-backed bills on June 9 that would place more restrictions on absentee ballotingwhich GOP lawmakers have described as measures designed to safeguard elections in the state, while Democrats claim theyre designed to suppress voter turnout.

A measure approved by voice vote included placing restrictions on ballot drop boxes, which were widely used in Wisconsin during the general election on Nov. 3. The new bill would stipulate that municipalities wont have more than four drop boxes, depending on population.

This bill enables the voters to have another option to vote, and its in a secure place, Republican Sen. Alberta Darling said about the legislation, according to WPR. I think people care about the integrity of elections.

Another bill passed by the Senate would require individuals who are deemed indefinitely confined to provide identification before getting ballots in the mail for future elections. An indefinitely confined voter, according to Wisconsin state law, is someone who is confined because of age, physical illness or infirmity or is disabled for an indefinite period. Such a person may by signing a statement to that effect  [and] require that an absentee ballot be sent to the elector automatically for every election.

Republican Sen. Duey Stroebel said that a large number of people took advantage of the indefinitely confined status during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its important that we accommodate truly indefinitely confined voters, but unfortunately in the last election, we saw other people who werent truly indefinitely confined, and they were abusing that system, Stroebel said, WPR reported.

Republican senators also voted to approve a bill that would prohibit clerks from accepting grant money and equipment from outside groups.

A bill that would place new requirements for voting at nursing homes was also approved. That bill would implement notification requirements for family members of residents about the days that voting assistants could visit.

The measure would create a felony penalty for employees of nursing homes who try to influence a residents voting behavior during the election.

Democrats alleged that state Republicans are trying to suppress voters, and claimed that such restrictions were racist. Several GOP senators also joined Democrats on several of the election bills.

These bills are in seek of a problem that does not exist in the state of Wisconsin, said Rep. Melissa Agard, a Democrat, The Associated Press reported. Theyre making it harder for our friends and neighbors across the state to vote, especially our seniors, especially our people with disabilities, especially people of color.  Plain and simple, this is voter suppression, and that to me is not OK.

But Darling said her GOP colleagues arent attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

The measures, if approved by the state Assembly, will likely be vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat who has previously signaled opposition to previous GOP-backed election bills. Evers has said he wont sign anything that makes it more difficult for people to vote.
Jessica Hicks with Glenn Purbaugh (L), the now-retired Irwindale police detective who investigated her case, and Isaac Oliva (R), who found her as a newborn baby abandoned in the bushes 30 years ago. (Courtesy of Irwindale Police Department)

Woman Abandoned as Newborn Reunites With Man Who Found Her in the Bushes 30 Years Ago

A California woman grew up with very little knowledge of where she came from until a search for answers proved fruitful. Recently, she met the man who found her as a newborn baby, with her umbilical cord still attached, abandoned in the bushes 30 years ago.

Jessica Hicks, now a mom of six from Moreno Valley, took good Samaritan Isaac Oliva by surprise when she called him in late April to confirm his identity.

Upon learning that Hicks was the baby he found wrapped in blankets behind an Irwindale building back in 1990, Oliva was overwhelmed, reported KABC-TV.

I was just full of emotions, and my jaw just dropped, Oliva told the news outlet.

Jessica Hicks with Glenn Purbaugh (L) and Isaac Oliva (R) at the spot where she was once abandoned. (Courtesy of Irwindale Police Department)

Meeting on April 28, Hicks and Oliva embraced and swapped impressions of the amazing story that brought them together.

Glenn Purbaugh, the now-retired Irwindale police detective who investigated Hickss case, also attended the reunion.

Irwindale Police Department shared photos in a social media statement of the trio standing at the exact spot where Hicks was found. We have to admit that we love a happy ending, the police department wrote.

While overwhelmed, Hicks said the reunion helped complete the mystery of how her life began.

Weighing 9 pounds 4 ounces when she was found, sunburned but healthy, Hicks was Jane Doe to the media and the hospital that took her into its care. Never reunited with her birth parents, she was adopted by a woman named Julie Swallow at 15 months of age, reported KABC-TV.

She was a blessing from God and L.A. County, Swallow told the news outlet. I love her very much like she was my very own.

Jessica Hicks with Glenn Purbaugh. (Courtesy of Irwindale Police Department)

Through DNA testing, Hicks has been able to trace members of her birth family.

Just days before her reunion with Oliva and Purbaugh, Hicks met her half-sister, Nicole, and half-brother, David, in Fontana for the very first time. Sadly, their father has passed, yet both siblings welcomed Jessica with open arms.

Its awesome, David told KABC-TV. I cant speak for the past, I cant speak for anybody in the past, but its great that I can make up now and then going forward.

Despite not yet connecting with her birth mom, meeting her rescuers and two siblings has healed wounds for Hicks.

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
(L-R) Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Bulgarian Premier Boyko Borisov speak during an economic forum in Budapest attended by 16 central and eastern European leaders on Nov. 27, 2017. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images)

Xi Fine-Tunes His Wolf Warrior Image but Not His Essence

Commentary

On May 31, Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordered an adjustment to his foreign propaganda at a Political Bureau study session. On the same day, Foreign Minister Wang Yi publicly admitted difficulties in China-Europe relations and said he would calmly reflect on the current difficulties. There are many signs that the regime is adjusting its diplomacy and propaganda toward Europe. But this adjustment is once again rooted in Xis misjudgment of the situation, without any fundamental change in his dictatorship.

In a press conference in Guiyang, joined by Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Wang Yi, the czar of the wolf warriors (Chinese diplomats using confrontational diplomacy) said, We all agree that we should pay attention to and calmly reflect on the current difficulties in China-Europe relations.

This statement was said in a rarely heard softer tone than what usually comes from the regime, but it failed to reveal what was being reflected upon.

Characteristics of Xis Centralized Power System

The regimes central top-level design has become increasingly obvious after Xi took power.

This is manifested in the fact that all Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entities including individuals will follow and implement what Xi instructs. It is also true in diplomacy. Xi established various groups to ensure his instructions would work in coordination throughout multiple sectors. In recent years, the wolf warrior diplomacy, large-scale foreign propaganda, and even the views of Chinese scholars have all been implemented in line with Xis demands at all levels.

In other words, when the official statements from a certain entity or official show an obvious shift from previous ones, it is likely that the demands from the higher-ups have changed. Following this logic, Wang Yis change of tone suggests that Xis requirements for CCP diplomacy, or at least diplomacy with Europe, have changed.

There is circumstantial evidence for this.

Xi Tries to Fine-Tune Foreign Propaganda

On May 31, the Politburos 30th collective study focused on the theme, improving international communication capability. Xi specifically gave his instructions at the study, tell the Chinese story well, improve the amiable image of China, construct Chinas discourse and narrative, and create a reliable, admirable, and respectable image of China.

Xis words actually negated the usual conduct of the wolf warriors. For example, in November last year, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, warned that Five Eyes could be poked blind, referring to the intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In March of this year, Chinas ambassador to France called the French scholar Antoine Bondaz a little thug.

Although Xi requested the adjustments, it does not mean that the CCPs diplomacy and propaganda will change at its core. From the perspective of Xi and the CCP, it is a change of tactics, but not necessarily the strategy. The CCP will not change its ideology of Imperialism will never quit overthrowing China or dismiss Europe and the United States as its imaginary enemies.

This can be seen in one detail.

The person in charge of planning the training for the collective study at the Politburo is Zhang Weiwei, dean of the China Institute, Fudan Universitywell-known for his anti-American views.

Although the content of his training was not made available, his colleague, Zheng Ruolin, a special researcher at the China Institute, admitted in an interview on May 10 that the CCP holds zero tolerance for any comments that even minimally deviate from the official discourse. In this context, journalists and scholars were reluctant to speak out in Western media for the sake of their safety. Over time, people would only hear comments from the Chinese diplomats.

Xi Has No Intentions to Change Diplomatic Strategy

We can assume that in the future, the CCP will make appropriate adjustments in its diplomacy, at least its diplomacy with Europe. The diplomats will continue to be tough, but not as verbally abusive as before. It is expected that on the whole, the propaganda will be coordinated and synchronized. This change can be seen from the fact that Xi demanded that leading comrades at all levels take an active role in personally grasping the task of international communication.

In other words, the CCPs diplomacy is not the issue. Rather, it is the methods that need to be improved, such as softening their words, which could have gone overboard.

This is Xis misjudgment due to the CCPs negative view of the West. His idea of adjustment makes it impossible to fundamentally change. Wang Yis speech is an example.

On May 21, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis publicly announced the country is out of Chinas 17+1 bloc in Eastern Europe. He publicly stated that the 17+1 mechanism is a dividing factor for the EU. He believed that it is high time for the EU to move to a more uniting and therefore much more efficient 27+1. Landsbergis said, The EU is strongest when all 27 member states act together along with EU institutions.

Exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Nathan Law holds a placard outside the Italian Foreign Ministry, ahead of a meeting between Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Rome, Italy, on Aug. 25, 2020. (Yara Nard/ Reuters)

Wang Yi responded indirectly on May 29 at a press conference in Guiyang, stating that the China-CEEC (Central and Eastern European Countries) Cooperation mechanism promotes the accelerated development of CEEC, and is conducive to the balanced development of Europe on the whole, and faster European integration.

But Wang neglected to mention that the CCP manipulated the 17+1 mechanism to woo and use Hungary and Serbia. In fact, Hungary alone twice blocked the EU from speaking out against China over Hong Kong.

If we look at Wangs statement from another angle, imagine if the entire EU as a nation consisted of 27 countries. The CCP actually promotes its rejection of the EUs foreign policy as a whole through one countryHungary. If the EU does the same to China, and engages in some infrastructure agreements with Xinjiang, by influencing Xinjiangs governing officials to veto votes within the Central Committee of the CCP, the CCP would have cut its diplomatic relations with the EU.

What if the EU also issues a statement arguing that this is to promote the accelerated development of Xinjiang and balanced development of various regions in China? I believe the CCP would consider this statement as foreign interference of Chinas internal affairs, sovereignty, and security.

In other words, for many years, the EU has suffered from the CCPs influence on many issues through this political operation of dissenting certain countries. The CCP is unwilling to reverse the long-term inequality in Sino-EU bilateral relations as a vested interest. Therefore, a subtle change in the tone is tolerable to the CCP.

A similar scenario has happened more than once in Sino-European exchanges.

On May 26, the Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao called on France to play an active role in boosting the signing and entry-into-effect of the pact (the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment) as soon as possible, in a video conference with the French Trade Minister Franck Riester, but was rejected. French officials believe that the CCPs sanctions on European parliamentarians are unacceptable. In fact, the EU parliament voted on May 22 to freeze the investment deal for as long as Chinese sanctions on EU individuals and institutions remain in place.

This is a rare scene in international diplomacy. The CCP was seeking help from France under the banner of a win-win agreement, but received a stern rejection instead. Trying to persuade France to overturn the decision just made by the EU Parliament showed the CCPs disrespect for the EU. It is a manifestation of its consistent strategy of interfering in European internal affairs, which is a common CCP sentiment.

Xi Again Misjudges the Situation

Xi believes that as long as he makes small changes in diplomacy and foreign propaganda, and the tactics of struggle, he can gradually improve Beijings international status, but Xi ignores the deteriorating relationship between the CCP and Western countries.

In reality, the EUs demand has risen again during this period. Freezing the China-EU Investment Agreement has strengthened the EUs determination to join hands with the United States to open up Chinas market to foreign countries, something the CCP restricts.

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.
BEIJING (AP)  Beijing has denounced a U.S. bill aimed at boosting U.S. technology to improve American competitiveness, calling it a thinly veiled attack on Chinas political system and an attempt to hinder its development.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of Chinas ceremonial legislature, the National Peoples Congress, issued a scathing statement on Wednesday expressing its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate on Tuesday.

This bill seeks to exaggerate and spread the so-called China threat' to maintain global American hegemony, using human rights and religion as excuses to interfere in China's domestic politics, and deprive China of its legitimate development rights," the statement said.

No force should expect that China will swallow any bitter fruit that harms China's sovereignty, security or development interests," it said. It echoed language used by President Xi Jinping, who has adopted an aggressive foreign policy that responds harshly to any perceived attacks on China's reputation.

The statement also attacked provisions of the bill expressing support for Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China claims as its own territory; references to Hong Kong, where Beijing is accused of rolling back democracy; and criticism of Chinese policy in the northwestern territory of Xinjiang, the site of mass detentions of minority Muslim groups.

Those and related issues are purely China's internal affairs and absolutely no foreign interference will be tolerated," the statement said.

At a daily briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China-related content in the bill was full of Cold War zero-sum thinking  which distorts the facts (and) smears Chinas development path and domestic and foreign policies."

It is a matter for the U.S. itself as to how to develop and enhance its competitiveness. But we firmly oppose the U.S. making an issue of China and treating China as an imaginary enemy," Wang said.

China has enacted various policy blueprints intended to enhance its own competitiveness and build its prowess in advanced technologies. Such plans tend to be focused entirely on the economy and business, areas where the ruling Communist Party and government play a huge role.

The 68-32 Senate vote demonstrated how confronting China is a rate issue that can unite both parties in Congress at a time of intense partisan division.

But Senators have sought to call attention to Chinas growing influence without stoking anti-Asian rhetoric at a time of rising hate crimes against Asian Americans.

The centerpiece of the bill is a $50 billion emergency allotment to the Commerce Department to support semiconductor development and manufacturing through research and incentive programs previously authorized by Congress. The bills overall cost would increase spending by about $250 billion, with most of the outlays in the first five years.

Other parts of the bill spell out national security concerns and target money-laundering schemes or cyberattacks by entities on behalf of the Chinese government. There are also buy America provisions for infrastructure projects in the U.S.

Some provisions reflect concerns over China's handling of the pandemic. One would prevent providing federal money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology as investigations proceed into the origins of the virus and suspected connections to the labs research. Cases of the virus were first recorded in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, but China has rejected any links between the outbreak and the institute.

Its unclear whether the measure will find support in the Democratic-led House, where the Science Committee is expected to soon consider that chambers version.

The bill's passage comes days after President Joe Biden expanded a list of Chinese companies whose shares are off-limits to American investors because of their purported links to the Chinese military and surveillance.

That updated an order signed last year by Bidens predecessor, Donald Trump, that added to antagonisms over trade and technology.

China demanded Washington withdraw the order and said it was prepared to take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.

The executive order, which takes effect Aug. 2, is the latest indication that Biden has not softened the U.S. stance on alleged security risks from companies American officials say are linked to the Chinese military and industrial complex.

Tariffs on Chinese products that were imposed under Trump, triggering similar actions from Beijing, mostly remain in place.
GUILFORD  Butterfly Network, which makes low-cost, pocket-sized ultrasound equipment, will relocate its headquarters to the Boston area next spring, the companys founder and largest shareholder said, but will still maintain a presence in town.

Jonathan Rothberg said Tuesday that the companys headquarters will be moving to Burlington, Mass., in March 2022. The new office will house groups developing new software as well as those involved in headquarters activity, Rothberg said.

We are not moving, we are growing, he said. We are one of the strongest companies in artificial intelligence and integration with hospital systems, and we need access to Boston talent. This is good for us in Connecticut and just makes us stronger!

Rothberg said he expects to add more than 200 employees when the companys new Massachusetts headquarters opens. Butterfly Network currently employs about 400 people, including more than 100 in Connecticut, he said.

Rothberg said Butterfly Network has semiconductor chip designers in northern California, and staff with the companys creative division in a New York City office that opened three years ago.

Next year, we add Boston, he said.

Rothberg said it was unclear at this point how many Butterfly Network workers will relocate to Massachusetts.

Some may, he said. Its up to the individuals where they feel they will be most productive and happy. Just like some moved to New York and some (from) New York moved to Connecticut.

The company on May 27 entered into a 10-year lease for a 61,138-square-foot building at 1600 District Ave. in Burlington, according to a filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

The space is part of a 1.1 million-square-foot complex owned by National Development called The District Burlington.

Terms of the companys lease call for no rent payments for the first eight months, according to the SEC filing. Rent payments will be phased in over the next 20 months, starting $136,667 per month for the next four months and then increasing to $140,000 per month the next eight months after that.

After 20 months, the rental payments will increase to $213,983 per month, according to the SEC filing.

Guilford First Selectman Matt Hoey said he was is disappointed, but not surprised that the company will be moving its headquarters.

This is something that Connecticut deals with all the time and Im thrilled they are going to maintain a presence here, Hoey said. They recently renewed their lease on office space they have on Whitfield Street. The company was born here, grew up here and has become successful here.

This is not the first time a New Haven-area company has moved its headquarters to the Boston area.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals relocated its headquarters from New Haven to Bostons Seaport District, completing the move in summer 2018. But Alexion has retained a presence in New Haven, with more than 500 people working out of the companys offices at 100 College St.

Paul Pescatello, senior counsel for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and executive director of the Connecticut Bioscience Growth Council, said the fact that only Buttterfly Networks headquarters is moving shows that they are very much committed to Guilford and to the innovation that is coming out of Yale.

It also shows how closely connected the New Haven bioscience cluster is to Boston, Pescatello said.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
MIDDLETOWN  Police say two people were apprehended after fleeing from a liquor store burglary early Tuesday morning.

Police said Erica Mason, 36, a Windsor resident who has 10 convictions on her record, was arrested when she was found hiding in a garbage can after ditching the getaway car.

Nicholas Provencher, of Enfield, who is accused of breaking into The Bottle Shop, was found inside the vehicle, police said.

An officer conducting property checks around 4:20 a.m. Tuesday noticed a vehicle parked in front of the liquor store at 520 S. Main St., with its passenger door open, according to a police report.

The glass front door of the building appeared to be damaged, police said. As an officer tried to position her cruiser behind the vehicle, which had an unreadable license plate, the driver sped away, police said.

The officer tried to get the driver to pull over, but the car sped away and she lost sight of it, police said.

Another officer soon found the car in a rear yard on Crescent Street, with Provencher sitting in the passenger seat, the police report said.

Mason ran from the car and was found hiding in a garbage container about 15 feet away, police said.

Video footage revealed Provencher had forced entry into the shop, broke the glass front door, and took about $300 in cash and coins, a $37.99 bottle of liquor, and two cartons of cigarettes worth about $240, police said.

Damage to the door was estimated at about $1,000, police said.

Mason was charged with conspiracy to commit third-degree burglary, fifth-degree larceny and second-degree criminal mischief, interfering with an officer, operating a vehicle under suspension and without minimum insurance, reckless driving, engaging police in pursuit, failure to drive in the proper lane, and improper use of a marker plate.

She has been convicted 10 times for third-degree burglary, twice for sixth-degree larceny, twice for third-degree larceny, and once each for fifth- and fourth-degree larcenies, according to the police report. She has three pending third-degree burglary and six sixth-degree larceny charges, police said.

Mason is being held in lieu of a $75,000 bond and is due in state Superior Court in Middletown July 16.

Provencher, whose age police did not release, was charged with third-degree burglary, fifth-degree larceny and second-degree criminal mischief. He is being held in lieu of a $100,000 bond, and given a July 16 court date.

Police said Provencher has seven burglary convictions, two for sixth-degree larceny, two failures to appear, second-degree breach of peace, third-degree assault, interfering, possession of drugs, sale of illegal drugs, possession with intent to sell, issuing a bad check, third-degree criminal mischief, violation of a protective order and criminal impersonation.
BEIJING (AP)  Chinas Ministry of Commerce said Thursday that a U.S. move to revoke the Trump administrations executive orders intended to ban apps like TikTok and WeChat was a positive step, amid strained relations between the two countries.

We hope that the US will treat Chinese companies fairly and avoid politicizing economic and trade issues, ministry spokesperson Gao Feng said at a regular news briefing Thursday.

Gao said the U.S. move to revoke previous government actions against apps such as TikTok and WeChat was a positive step in the right direction.

The White House on Wednesday revoked some blanket-style orders made under former President Donald Trump against Chinese apps including the messenging app WeChat, short video app TikTok and the Alipay payments app. A new executive order from President Joe Biden said the U.S. would conduct an evidence-based analysis of transactions involving apps that are created, supplied or controlled by China.

Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated at a daily news briefing that China will continue to defend its interests. It urged the U.S. to stop generalizing the concept of national security and abusing state power to suppress Chinese technology enterprises.

Courts blocked the Trump administrations efforts last year to ban TikTok and WeChat, but the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is still conducting a national-security review of TikTok.

The Biden administrations stance reflects concern that users personal data could be exposed by popular apps tied to China if the ruling Communist Party pressures companies to share data.

The administration said in February that it was replacing Trumps approach with a more targeted strategy. It has not actually weighed in yet on whether TikTok and other apps pose a danger to Americans.

A senior administration official said Wednesday that the Trump actions werent always implemented in the soundest fashion. The aim of the review is to set clear criteria to evaluate specific data security and privacy risks for each app, he said.

That could lead to a range of potential future actions on an app-by-app basis.

We want to take a tailored, tough approach here, he said.

CFIUS had set deadlines for TikTok to divest its U.S. operations, but such a sale has not happened.

Last week, the Biden administration expanded a list of Chinese companies on a blacklist from the Trump era purported to have links to Chinese military and surveillance. American companies and individuals cannot invest in these companies, which include telecommunications gear supplier Huawei and Chinese oil company China National Offshore Oil Corp.

Chinese officials and companies have denied that their products and services pose a security threat.

Relations between Beijing and Washington remain testy, with each side having imposed sanctions including tariffs on each others exports.

Chinas legislature passed legislation Thursday laying down the legal basis for retaliation against foreign sanctions over issues such as Hong Kong and the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where China is accused of curtailing freedoms and committing human rights abuses. The anti-sanctions law allows China to refuse to issue visas, deny entry, cancel visas and deport those responsible for formulating and implementing sanctions as well as to seize their assets within China and forbid financial transactions and other interactions with them.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the law aimed to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, dignity and core interests and oppose Western hegemonism and power politics. and to provide legal support and guarantees for the country to counter discriminatory measures by a foreign country in accordance with the law.

Wang lashed out over calls from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for greater attention to Chinas growing military power, accusing Washington of playing the China card as a pretext for increasing U.S. military spending and seeking to contain China.

He also protested Japanese Prime Minister Prime Minister Yoshihide Sugas reference to Taiwan as a country during a parliamentary debate Wednesday. China considers the self-governing island democracy as its own territory and is quick to chastise anyone or any company that refers to it as a country.

Suga made a passing reference to Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia while answering a question about pandemic measures, and then referred to them as three countries.

Wang said the comment violated Japans solemn promise to not regard Taiwan as a country.

We strongly deplore Japans erroneous remarks and have lodged solemn complaints with Japan, demanding that Japan immediately make clear clarifications to eliminate the adverse effects caused by relevant remarks, and to ensure that such situations will not happen again, Wang said.

___

This story has been corrected to show the anti-sanctions law does contain specific measures to punish those formulating and implementing sanctions on Chinese indiviuals and organizations.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  The Minnesota Supreme Court is deciding how to interpret the state's third-degree murder statute in a police killing case that is expected to have repercussions for the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd.

The state's highest court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the case of Mohamed Noor, a former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond. Damond, a dual U.S.-Australian citizen engaged to a Minneapolis man, had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home. Noor was convicted in 2019 of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The main issue before the justices, who did not say when they would rule, is how to properly interpret Minnesota's third-degree murder statute, which has been hotly debated in the prosecutions over both the Damond and Floyd killings. Here's a look at some of the issues involved:

THE STATUTE:

Minnesota law defines third-degree murder as an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life. A central dispute is whether dangerous to others must be read as plural, or if the fatal act can be directed at a single, specific person.

Defense attorney Caitlinrose Fisher argued that the statutory language, backed by case law, requires that a defendants actions be directed at more than one person, and that the law is meant for cases such as indiscriminate killings.

But Hennepin County prosecutor Jean Burdorf cited other cases, including a February decision from the Minnesota Court of Appeals that affirmed Noor's conviction. Those cases held that others could mean just one person. She asked the justices to make the law clear because the proper interpretation has become unclear amid conflicting rulings over the years.

HOW THE RULING COULD AFFECT THE EX-OFFICERS CHARGED IN FLOYD'S DEATH:

Derek Chauvin was convicted in April of second- and third-degree murder, plus second-degree manslaughter. The white former Minneapolis police officer pinned Floyd to the pavement for close to 9 1/2 minutes in May 2020 as the Black man said he couldnt breathe and went motionless. Floyds death, captured on widely seen bystander video, sparked worldwide protests and a national reckoning on racial justice.

Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill will sentence Chauvin on June 25 on just the most serious charge. Prosecutors have asked for 30 years in prison; the defense has asked for probation and time already served. Cahill last fall threw out the third-degree murder charge, but reinstated it in light of the Court of Appeals' ruling on Noor.

If the Supreme Court voids Noor's conviction for the reasons debated Wednesday, Chauvin would have grounds for contesting his conviction on the third-degree murder count. But it wouldn't affect Chauvin's sentence unless he also succeeds in his own appeal of his second-degree murder conviction. A decision in favor of Noor would have had a bigger impact on Chauvin's case if Chauvin had been acquitted on the most serious charge, but it stuck.

Prosecutors have asked the Court of Appeals to allow them to add charges against the three other ex-officers of aiding and abetting third-degree murder, who are due to stand trial in March. They're already charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Adding the lesser count could increase the odds of prosecutors getting convictions, but the count also carries lower sentences. Under Minnesota law, aiding and abetting carries the same sentence as the underlying crime itself.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO NOOR IF HE WINS:

Noor isnt contesting his conviction on the lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter. Fisher urged the justices to send the case back to the trial court for resentencing on that count alone.

While Noor was sentenced to 12 1/2 years on the murder count, which matched the prison term recommended by the states sentencing guidelines, those guidelines recommend just four years for the manslaughter count.

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Find APs full coverage of the death of George Floyd: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden is pursuing multiple paths forward as he looks to muscle his big infrastructure package through Congress  dialing up lawmakers from both parties in search of a bipartisan deal while imploring Democrats to be ready to go it alone if necessary.

Its an approach that shows the political perils ahead for the White House and anxious Democrats eager to make gains on their agenda, but also the potential routes to a $1 trillion-plus investment package that would be a signature accomplishment for the president and his party in power.

In one fell swoop this week, Biden cut off talks with a core group of Republican senators when it became clear there was no bridging the divide between their differing views on the size of an infrastructure investment; started new talks with a bipartisan group of 10 senators working on a deal; and welcomed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan effort from a group in the House.

At the same time, before leaving for his first overseas trip to Europe, Biden instructed Democratic leaders in Congress to prepare the groundwork to pass some or all of the ambitious package on their own if there is no deal to be made with Republican lawmakers this summer.

His view is that there are multiple paths forward, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

The legislative road ahead promises long days and nights of talks, as lawmakers and the administration grind out the details of what would be the most sweeping domestic infrastructure investment in years. It showcases an almost forgotten skill in Washington, the art of negotiation, even as the prospects for a final deal remain seriously in doubt.

The current thinking is that it could very well take all approaches to secure a deal: Perhaps Biden can reach a bipartisan accord on the more traditional roads and bridges projects, and then he will need to depend on a party-line vote for the child care centers, veterans hospitals and family-friendly tax policies he wants in the face of Republican resistance.

On Wednesday, some of the group of 10 senators  five Democrats and five Republicans  who met late Tuesday over pizza huddled again trying to shape the bipartisan backbone of a more traditional infrastructure plan.

Were continuing to refine a proposal that can get support from both sides of the aisle, said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

Portman has been leading the effort with Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona for months and is now drawing in other senators to swap ideas and assess support.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, has put the group's membership at 20 senators and told reporters the group would keep at it until it reaches a deal  or a dead end.

With the narrowly split House and the 50-50 Senate, the White House faces political challenges pushing its priorities through Congress with Democratic votes alone. Most legislation requires 60 votes to advance in the Senate, meaning at least 10 Republicans would be needed to push past a filibuster. Democrats are preparing to use special budget reconciliation rules that allow legislation to be approved with a 51-vote threshold in the Senate, if needed. Bidens party holds a slight majority in the Senate because Vice President Kamala Harris can break a tie.

Talks broke down between Biden and the lead Republican negotiator, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, after the senators offered a $928 billion proposal, which included about $330 billion in new spending  but not as much as Bidens proposed $1.7 trillion.

They could not agree on how to pay for the new spending. Biden has proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, a nonstarter for Republicans, and the president rejected the GOP senators suggestion of tapping unspent COVID-19 aid money to fund the new infrastructure.

Biden, in a fresh round of calls with Sinema and the new group, including Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, encouraged the senators to keep working toward a deal.

It's unclear how much the new group of senators is willing to spend on infrastructure and how it plans to pay for the legislation  pitfalls that doomed the earlier Republican-only effort with Biden. Romney told reporters there would be no new taxes.

Also uncertain is how much support the group of senators is getting from its broader leadership and fellow rank-and-file lawmakers that would be essential for any eventual deal's passage.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., this week embraced Biden's multipronged strategy. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has decried the end of talks with Republicans and been less vocal about the senators' new effort.

The Biden administration views the infrastructure talks with Republicans as having shown signs of common ground, despite the breakup this week with one group.

Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Wednesday that lawmakers in both parties see the broader need to invest in supply chains, domestic manufacturing, research and development and high-speed internet.

Biden's hopes for green energy investments in electric vehicle charging stations or climate resiliency to shore up communities facing weather damage could have new traction with Cassidy, Romney and other Republicans in the new group, who may be more open to some of those proposals.

These conversations have progressed. They continue to progress," Deese said at a virtual event for the news outlet Axios. "And were making progress. Its not always pretty, but thats the legislative process.

As talks with the senators are underway, so, too, is the White House's work with the House.

The Problem Solvers group of Democrats and Republicans led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., agreed to $761.8 billion in new spending over eight years as part of a $1.2 trillion plan, according to a draft. The one-page draft does not include any proposed ways to pay for the package.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP)  Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday named Cami Feek as commissioner of the states Employment Security Department, which last year temporarily suspended unemployment benefits payments after discovering that criminals had used stolen Social Security numbers and other personal information to file fraudulent claims.

Feek's appointment comes following her appointment as acting commissioner in February when the agency's former leader, Suzi LeVine, left to work for the Biden administration. LeVine had previously served as U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Feek served as acting commissioner in 2018, before LeVine was appointed, and as deputy commissioner and chief operating officer for the past three years. She was hired to the agency as the first program director of the Paid Family and Medical Leave program, overseeing the successful launch of the nations first state paid leave program, Inslee's office said.

Inslee said he first worked with Feek related to the paid leave program and was impressed with her knowledge, compassion and ability to work with a variety of divergent stakeholders.

Her leadership through the COVID pandemic and strong advocacy on behalf of ESD employees, claimants, and job-seekers has further demonstrated her ability to move ESD into a new phase, Inslee said.

In 2020, officials disclosed that $650 million had likely been stolen in a fraud scheme that law enforcement officials said was partly based in Nigeria.

Nigerian citizen Abidemi Rufai was arrested in May and has been accused of stealing more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits. Federal officials have called it the first significant arrest in that fraud.

Rufais attorney, Michael C. Barrows, said previously his client denies any involvement in these transactions.

Washington was among the first of dozens of states hit by fraud that siphoned off billions of dollars in federal aid meant for pandemic victims. Washington state officials have said $300 million paid to criminals has been recovered.

Feek said Wednesday she sees the appointment as a unique opportunity to lead a team committed to making real progress for people in communities across Washington  at a time it is most needed.

There is no doubt that it has been a difficult time for all of us, and I go into this role with my eyes wide open," she said. The Employment Security Department is a continuous learning organization, and I am committed to applying all weve learned in this crisis to increasing equitable access to our many services and improving the experience for our customers.

Feek also founded the LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group at the Department, winning the agency the Outstanding Agency Award from the Rainbow & Inclusion Network.

Feek has worked in state government for over 25 years in entry to executive level positions. She earned her bachelors degree from The Evergreen State College.
NEW CANAAN  Prospective buyers of the last house Fotis Dulos built  at 61 Sturbridge Hill Road  will need a $365,000 bank or certified check to bid on the property during a foreclosure auction this month.

The 9,424-square-foot home, which sports five bedrooms and seven bathrooms, has never been lived in, according to attorney Ross Fingold, who is handling the foreclosure for the Savings Bank of Danbury.

Its a beautiful house, Fingold said. Hopefully, there will be a significant amount of interest.

The property has a finished basement with a gym, theater and playroom and full bath, according to appraisal documents. The main floor has a library in addition to a kitchen with high-end appliances, dining room, living room and a mud room.

The master suite has a fireplace and his and her separate closets and a full bath. The house was initially listed for sale at $4.8 million in 2018 before it was completed. The last listing price ranged from $3.97 million to $3.99 million before it was pulled off the market during the foreclosure proceedings, documents said.

Fotis Dulos died by suicide in January 2020 while facing murder and other charges in connection with the death and disappearance of his estranged wife.

The property at 61 Sturbridge Hill Road was completed a few months before his death, making it the last property that he built, Fingold said.

It was one of several properties owned by Fotis Dulos and his high-end real estate development company, Fore Group, that went into foreclosure as police mounted an intense investigation into the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos. The New Canaan mother of five vanished May 24, 2019 and has been presumed dead.

To participate in the June 26 auction, potential buyers will be required to bring a bank or certified check for 10 percent of the appraisal price of $3.65 million. Qualified buyers will be allowed on the property at 11 a.m. with the auction starting at noon, Fingold said.

Anyone who submits a $365,000 bank or certified check and places the highest bid in the auction must come up with the rest of financing for the home or risk losing the deposit, the attorney said.

The Savings Bank of Danbury is looking to recoup the $2.8 million construction loan given to Fotis Dulos to build the property plus interest, late fees and the cost of a receiver maintaining the house and parcel for a total of $3.3 million, Fingold said. The auction price will have to be approved by the court, which handled the foreclosure.

Two of Fotis Dulos longtime friends, Harry Masiello, a Rhode Island businessman, and Ioannis Yannis Toutziaridis, a Greek businessman, have filed claims against the foreclosure, contending they loaned him money that may have been used to develop the property.

Fotis Dulos mother-in-law, Gloria Farber, has also filed a claim against the foreclosure on the grounds she was awarded a $1.9 million judgment in a lawsuit she filed against her son-in-law for business loans the family gave him prior to 2017.

Her attorney, Richard Weinstein, said Fotis Dulos gave mortgages to his friends, but the reality is there are technical legal issues about those claims. Weinstein is challenging the mortgages to Masiello and Toutziaridis in separate court filings.

Like many of the properties owned by Fotis Dulos, the Sturbridge Hill Road home became a focus of the investigation into the disappearance of his estranged wife when neighbors reported hearing loud bangs near a dumpster the morning after the disappearance.

Search warrants indicate that nothing was found on the property to help lead to Jennifer Dulos.

The home was under construction and nearly complete when she disappeared, Fingold said. Fotis Dulos took out the construction loan after his wife left with their children for New Canaan in 2017. The loan was coming due in March 2020, Fingold said.

According to arrest warrants, police said Fotis Dulos used an employees pickup truck to drive from his Farmington home to New Canaan where he was lying in wait for his estranged wife to return from dropping off their children at school the morning of her disappearance.

The employee had been using a truck owned by Fotis Dulos to travel to New Canaan to work on the Sturbridge home, the warrants said. The employee left his personal vehicle and the keys with Fotis Dulos when he used his employers truck, the warrants said.

Fotis Dulos former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, and his friend and former attorney, Kent Mawhinney, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder charges in the case.

Fotis and Jennifer Dulos were embroiled in a two-year divorce and custody battle when she disappeared. Their five children have been under Farbers care since their mother disappeared. Any money culled from the estate of Fotis Dulos or the foreclosures will go to the children, Weinstein said.

For information about the auction, contact attorney Bonnie Lee MacDonald at 203-845-0371.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Former White House counsel Don McGahn told lawmakers in a closed-door interview last week that he regarded President Donald Trump's effort to have special counsel Robert Mueller fired as a point of no return" for the administration if carried out.

McGahn, who resisted Trump's directive that he contact then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to press for Mueller's removal from the Russia investigation, said the demand seemed an inflection point that would have prompted Rosenstein either to fire Mueller or resign himself, according to a transcript released Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee.

We are still talking about the Saturday Night Massacre decades and decades later, McGahn said, referring to when two senior Justice Department officials resigned in 1973 rather than follow President Richard Nixons orders to fire the special prosecutor leading the Watergate probe.

And, looking back, you always, as a student of history, wonder, could things have gone differently if different people made different decisions? And here my thought was, fast-forwarding, you know, what this is going to look like down the road, he said.

McGahns hours-long appearance before the committee last Friday, two years in the making and the product of a prolonged court fight, covered many of the episodes at the center of Muellers investigation into whether Trump had obstructed justice, the 241-page transcript shows. In the interview, he detailed the president's agitation at the special counsel's investigation and various pleas to have McGahn intervene in an effort to control the course of it.

Even if McGahn's recollections were already well-documented in the Mueller report, and even if he was unlikely to break new ground before the House, Democrats had continued pushing for the lawyer's testimony to set a clear precedent that executive branch officials must comply with congressional subpoenas. McGahn was one of many Trump administration officials who ignored Congress through the Russia investigations and two impeachments.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement after the interview that it was a great victory for congressional oversight, although two years had been too long to wait. After Democrats first subpoenaed McGahn, Trump was impeached twice by the House and acquitted twice by the Senate.

McGahn made sure to stick to the ground rules, frequently asking the committee lawyers to refer to pages of Muellers report. He also indicated his memory was hazy on some of the details. Youre putting me back four years and trying to remember what was going through my mind, he told the questioners at one point.

As White House counsel, McGahn had an insider's views of the president's anger toward the investigation and efforts to control it. After learning that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions planned to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, a decision that made Trump irate, McGahn reached out to people close to Sessions, including his personal lawyer and chief of staff.

I certainly was attempting to avert the attorney generals recusal if recusal was not warranted. Okay?" McGahn said under questioning.

Much of the questioning centered on Trump's bid to have McGahn get Rosenstein to fire Mueller because of perceived conflicts of interests, and McGahn's refusal to call Rosenstein. He said he saw the demand as creating a point of no return" and one that left him feeling trapped and contemplating a resignation.

My fear is, if I called Rod, given the atmospherics, given -- you know, I didnt know Rod well at that point, but what I knew of him, my concern was he could potentially react in a way that would cause him to potentially resign, and that would cause a chain reaction that would be not in anyones interest, McGahn said.

After that episode was reported in The New York Times, McGahn refused to demand a correction even though the president wanted one.

He said he was not overly worried about being fired despite being told that might be a possibility.

I would say not surprised I wasnt fired, because when the president and I were in sync, we did a lot of great things and he trusts me to do a lot of important work and a lot of his legacies and judicial selection and that kind of thing, McGahn said,

So I was adding value in a lot of ways, and I thought hes not going to blow up and fire me over this when I was as certain as he was as to what we said in the conversation, he added.
EDWARDSVILLE  Summer is almost here, which means vacationing, barbecuing and swimming, but whats commonly overlooked are the hazards these activities can bring.

Whether its water safety, grilling safety or even attending large events, its important to keep the following tips in mind for a secure and safe summer.

Water safety

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five people who drown each year are children age 14 or younger. For every child who dies from drowning, five more are injured.

One of the big concerns that summer brings is water and swimming issues, said the American Red Cross Sharon Watson, region communications director. Pools, lakes and rivers are appealing activities, so we really encourage people to watch one another in swimming areas.

You should have one person in charge of watching everyone, she said. Usually, there arent any lifeguards in rural areas and things happen quickly, so its important to watch out for each other.

Water safety is serious, so its important to keep the following tips from the American Red Cross in mind when heading to the beach or swimming pool.

 Prevent unsupervised access to water. Put fencing around pools and spas, with adequate barriers, and keep a constant eye for any water dangers, such as portable splash pools/slides, buckets and bathtubs.

 Adults should actively supervise children and stay within arms reach of young children and new swimmers. Kids should follow the rules. Designate a water watcher to keep a close eye and constant attention on children and weaker swimmers in and around the water until the next water watcher takes over.

 Always wear a properly fitted U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket when on a boat, and if in a situation beyond skill level.

 Swim as a pair near a lifeguards chair. Everyone, including experienced swimmers, should swim with a buddy, even in areas supervised by lifeguards. Always maintain constant attention and actively supervise children even when lifeguards are present.

Grill safety

Nothing says summer like a couple of burgers and hot dogs sizzling on the grill. Toss in some iced tea and its a recipe for a perfect day.

But even a perfect day can turn tragic if proper safety protocols are ignored.

Grilling is a concern if youre not careful, Watson said, so we encourage people to supervise their grill.

Dont leave it unattended. Thats when problems happen. Be sure to keep the grill a safe distance from your house. And keep it outside, not in an enclosed area.

According to the American Red Cross, grilling mishaps are the cause of more than 10,000 home fires each year. To make sure this doesnt happen, be sure to abide by the following tips:

 Always supervise a barbecue grill when in use. Dont add charcoal starter fluid when coals have already been ignited.

 Never grill indoors  not in the house, camper, tent or any enclosed area.

 Make sure everyone, including pets, stays away from the grill.

 Keep the grill out in the open, away from the house, deck, tree branches or anything that could catch fire.

 Use long-handled tools especially made for cooking on the grill.

Road trip safety

Watson also said its important to do a refresher on driving rules and safety when planning a road trip, especially since many people didnt do as much driving last year due to COVID-19.

Get plenty of rest and make sure you have a full tank of gas for your vehicle, she said. Be aware of construction zones and look into first aid and CPR courses.

The American Red Cross also has a number of safety apps for handheld devices, just in case. From CPR tips to how to perform first aid on people or pets, the organization has made it easy to conquer summer safety hazards.

View apps at the American Red Cross website www.redcross.org.
MADISON  The Illinois State Police have announced a 24-year-old Madison man was killed Wednesday morning in a St. Clair County accident.

According to state police, at about 11:22 a.m. Wednesday the Madison man whose name has not been released was driving a 2013 Dodge sedan west on Martin Luther King Drive when he failed to stop at an intersection with Collinsville Road and collided with a 2011 Cadillac SUV driven by Brandis Jennings, 30, of Centerville.

The Madison man was pronounced dead at the scene. Jennings was taken by ambulance to a regional hospital with serious injuries. Arthur Williams, a passenger in the Jennings vehicle, also was taken by ambulance to a regional hospital with minor injuries.

State police said the St. Clair County Coroner will release the name of the deceased pending next of kin notification. The crash remains under investigation.
Walking, running and cycling outside are popular activities in the Heights, where one of the most popular spots for getting such exercise is a scenic trail in the southeast part of the neighborhood. The pedestrian bridge along the MKT/Heights Hike-and-Bike Trail, which crosses White Oak Bayou, is in a wooded part of an otherwise urban, []
The landscape architects hired to create a 15,000 square foot public space as part of the Essex Crossing project made their first appearance before Community Board 3s parks committee last night. The takeaway? A more vigorous effort should be made to consult the broader Lower East Side community.

The session was led by Jamie Maslyn Larson, a principal of West 8. The firm, based in the Netherlands, established a New York City office after winning the competition to design Governors Island Park. She brought along the model you see pictured above, depicting the Broome Street parcel where the park will be built.

The open space will sit on site #5 of Essex Crossing, adjacent to a residential building, a still-to-be-named grocery store and, possibly, a new elementary school. As a requirement of the citys agreement with the development team, they must consult Community Board 3 about the design of the park. A Restrictive Declaration, part of the Seward Park land use document, is very specific about what the open space must include. During her presentation, Larson noted some of the requirements, including: various types of seating, play spaces for children, at least nine trees and bright lighting. At least 20% of the park must be green and bicycle parking needs to be provided. She also noted that there is an option of adding some sort of food/beverage kiosk.

One goal, she suggested, is to offer amenities for local residents and shoppers that dont already exist in other public spaces in the immediate vicinity. She flashed up some slides of Washington Square Park and Union Square, two of the more lively public gathering spots downtown. You dont need a big space for there to be a lot of action, she said. Site 5 is one of three parcels in the first phase of construction, scheduled to begin in March of 2015. Larson said the park will need to be tough and rugged, since it will essentially be in the midst of a construction zone even after opening in early 2018. During the evening, the designers hastened to add that they hoped to provide more green space, more trees, etc. than the minimum thats required.

Like the entire Essex Crossing project, park planning is on the fast track. CB3 has 20 days to present initial written comments. Next month, the architects plan a return to the community board with a more specific plan than the one hinted at last night. At that point, theres another opportunity to offer community feedback.

But during the public speaking portion of the presentation, several people said theyd like to see a more robust public process. One group represented last night was Hester Street Collaborative. The organization has helped lead neighborhood-wide visioning sessions for several park plans, including Luther Gulick Park, the Allen Street pedestrian malls and the Hester Street Playground. A staff member, Shelma Jun said, Im a little concerned that the only input is at Community Board 3, adding that the design team appeared to be merely fulfilling the minimum requirements.

Other speakers said theyre concerned that the space truly serve the community. CB3 member Anne Johnson encouraged the designers to be mindful of Lower East Side history and of the the large immigrant population. I dont want the neighborhood to be gentrified any more than it already is, she said. I dont want the park to be gentrified.

Isaac Henderson, representing Essex Crossing developer L+M, said the kiosk would be a good amenity for the neighborhood, and could help draw people into the park. But local residents were skeptical. Linda Jones, chairperson of CB3s land use committee, suggested the kiosk might be a waste of space in a small park. She pointed out that the open space will be surrounded by a variety of shops and restaurants, so it is not as if there will be no place to find a bottle of water. Jan Hanvik, CB3 member and executive director of the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, argued for an informational kiosk. He said the many local arts organizations (which are so far not part of the project) would benefit from a kiosk that highlighted local performances and other arts happenings.

At the end of the presentation, the community board underscored its desire for richer feedback and outreach regarding the park. An official with the citys Economic Development Corp. said the agreement gives CB3 the right to ask for more time to weigh in on the design. It remains to be seen how the developers will respond to the request.

Essex Crossing consists of 1,000 apartments, a large amount of retail space, a new Essex Street Market and community facilities. Last fall, the city awarded a contract to L+M Development Partners, Taconic Investment Partners, BFC Partners, the Prusik Group (an affiliate of Taconic) and Grand Street Settlement (the lead community partner). There are nine parcels set for redevelopment.
Local residents will start to see changes in Straus Square during the next several weeks, as the neglected area at East Broadway, Rutgers Street and Canal Street begins to look more like a full-fledged pedestrian plaza. The changes were outlined last night at a meeting of Community Board 3s Parks Committee.

As previously reported, the community board has already approved the closure of a one block section of Canal Street alongside Seward Park. Last nights presentation before the parks panel dealt with design and programming aspects of the plan. Seward Park is about to undergo a $6.4 million renovation as part of the Parks Without Borders Program. The idea behind the Straus Square changes is to make the plaza feel like its an extension of the park.

Tim Laughlin, president of the Lower East Side Partnership, walked community board members through the plan. His organization is teaming up with the Parks Department to operate the plaza. Temporary seating will be installed in the next few weeks. Benches will be created using jersey barricades (see the rendering below). A more permanent and elaborate plaza setup will be in-the-works in the spring of 2018 (funding needs to be locked down for that).

Laughlin said the Citi Bike station currently located alongside Straus Square will be temporarily removed (probably at the end of this month). It hasnt been decided for certain where it will be relocated. One possibility is the wide sidewalk on Rutgers Street adjacent to Wus Wonton King, a Chinese restaurant. In response to concern from committee members, Laughlin offered assurances that the heavily used station would not be eliminated. It will likely be out of commission for 2-4 weeks.

Another feature of the plaza, to be implemented next year, will be a bike repair operation from Recycle-a-Bicycle and Bike New York. It will be established in a shipping container set up in the plaza. Recycle-a-Bicycle gave of a storefront on Avenue C this past spring after 17 years on the LES, so the operation will mean a return to the neighborhood for the not-for-profit organization.

The repair station will be a regular presence in Straus Square during warm weather months. In addition to bike repair, classes for children and adults and other free programs will be offered. Recycle-a-Bicycle and Bike New York already provide similar services in seven city parks. Staff members, said Laughlin, will be eyes on the street, and be able to assist in breaking down plaza elements like bistro chairs and tables at the end of each day.

In a previous meeting, members of the Seward Park Conservancy raised questions about traffic congestion in the area. City officials conducted a survey that indicated the stretch of Canal slated for closure is used by a lot more pedestrians than cars. In the new configuration, vehicles will continue on East Broadway, rather than having the option of veering off onto Canal. Theyll turn onto Rutgers/Essex Street. In response to the concerns, the Department of Transportation is conducting a traffic study to evaluate the impact of the proposed changes.

Last night, Carol Anastasio, one of the leaders of Seward Park Conservancy, reiterated the concerns about traffic. But she was generally optimistic about the plan. We believe something good has come from this design even though theres not much money (to work with right now). The conservancy does not want to see granite blocks used in the plaza (theyre a prominent feature of some other plazas in the neighborhood).

The parks committee approved a resolution in support of the changes. The area will be resurfaced at the end of this month with installation of the interim seating taking place in July.

You can see the full presentation below.

Straus Square Redesign by The Lo-Down on Scribd
A little more local flavor for the Market Line, the big retail pavilion thats part of the Essex Crossing project.

Via Instagram yesterday, we learned that longtime Lower East Side/Chinatown favorite Pho Grand is joining the subterranean retail bazaar. After years in operation at 277 Grand St., owners Benny and Mick Chen have decided to open a second location of their Vietnamese restaurant in the Market Line.

Back in 2011, JP Bowersock checked out Pho Grand for The Lo-Down, calling the Chinese-Viet diner a charming and inexpensive LES mainstay.

Previously announced local Market Line vendors include the Pickle Guys, the Doughnut Plant, Nom Wah Tea Parlor and Essex Pearl (a new project from Aqua Best seafood market in Chinatown). The first segment of the shopping complex will open later this year at 115 Delancey St.
Its a big blow for the Essex Street Market. On Saturday, a letter went up alongside Saxelby Cheesemongers stall announcing that the business, a stalwart in the historic public market, would be closing its Lower East Side location at the end of this month. Whats more  Anne Saxelby  chief advocate for the vendors over the past decade  will not be making the move to the new Essex Street Market next year. Shes keeping a retail space at the Chelsea Market and bolstering her successful wholesale business, which is based in Brooklyn.

Heres what Saxelby wrote:

I want to reach out personally and let you know that due to certain business pressures and personal circumstances Saxelby Cheesemongers at the Essex Market will close on Sept. 30, 2018 and will not be opening in the new location.

I realize that this will come as a surprise, as Ive personally devoted many years to this project, advocating for the market and its vendor community. However, over the past few years our sales in the market have declined precipitously. After much reflection it is clear to me that I would be unwise to proceed with opening this store as it could jeopardize the future of Saxelby Cheesemongers.

It is not easy to run a small business in New York (or anywhere for that matter!) And while I feel very attached to the Essex Market, I have to be pragmatic and put the sustainability of my business, our employees livelihood and the 50+ farms we support first.

I want to apologize for the timing of this message  so close to the markets move and opening. My partner and I have been exploring every alternative to this conclusion, but at this time we cannot commit to going forward with opening in the new market. I am very sad about this and do not take it lightly for the past 12 years the market has been our flagship, our base and our community, and I am very proud of what we built at Essex. The community of vendors, friends, neighbors and customers is unlike any other in New York, and it has been amazing to be part of this community. The Essex Market was, is and will continue to be an amazing, historic, one-of-a-kind destination in New York City, and I wish the new market nothing but the greatest success.

Saxelby Cheesemongers will continue to operate in the Chelsea Market, and we will continue our wholesale operations from our base in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Thank you for your understanding. It has been an amazing run, and I will dearly miss being part of the Essex Market community.
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If the recent report by the Vanguard Newspaper dated May 30, 2021, which among other remarks stated that the Federal Government may re introduce the water Resources Bill, previously rejected on Tuesday, September 29, 2020, by a majority in the Green Chamber, is anything to go by, then, it means that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration has finally become reputed for generating controversies than goodwill.

Entitled; Exclusive: Presidency may re-introduce controversial Water Bill in June, the Newspaper report noted that a senior staff of the Business and Rules Committee of the House revealed that; the Bill was gazetted in October by the House, preparatory for its second presentation for reconsideration.

Essentially, aside from the awareness that we cannot solve our socio-economic challenges with the same thinking we used when we created it, there are of course, troubling concerns that characterizes this development as a reality to worry about by all Nigerians.

Fresh is the consciousness thatSection 13, of The Water Resources Bill 2020, among other provisions states as follows: In implementing the principles under subsection (2) of this section, the institutions established under this Act shall promote integrated water resources management and the coordinated management of land and water resources, surface water and ground water resources, river basins and adjacent marine and coastal environment and upstream and downstream interests. Section 2(1) of the Bill, says: All surface water and ground water wherever it occurs, is a resource common to all people.

Going by this particular provision, this piece has nothing new to add but to remind the Federal Government more especially the lawmakers about the previously well established arguments, logics and reasons that more than anything portrays the piece of legislation as a body without a soul.

First, the Bill seeks to empower the Federal Government to control all sources of water in Nigeria. The Federal Government can permit anybody or group from any part of the country to go and possess any water resource without the consent of the local communities. If this line of argument is correct. It is equally easy to situate without labor that the greatest ill associated with it(the Bill) lies in its tendency to disenfranchising, and separating Nigerians from ancestral ownership of their water rights and handover same to a set of federal technocrats by confusing Nigerians with the fallacy that ownership rights to water is the same as water use rights.

Also working against the bill is the accompanying belief by Nigerians with critical interest is that the urge to have the bill passed is driven not by love for having the nations water resources judiciously managed or for the nation to develop agriculturally as claimed by the lawmakers, but by sectional and parochial interests such that some pro bill senators are using barefaced inaccuracies to mislead the Senate and drum up support for the bill.

For example, it was at a time claimed on the floor of the Senate that the World Bank is waiting on passage of the bill into law to grant trillions of naira to develop Nigerias irrigation infrastructure. This cannot be further from the truth. The World Bank would never and cannot ask a nation to dispossess her citizens of their inherited and cultural rights to water as a condition for granting loans. Another obstacle that confirms the bill as plagued however seems not to raise so much dust but could be costly in economic and political terms if ignored, is the asymmetrical support structure given to the bill. It is barefaced that virtually all the senators that queued behind the bill were from water-poor states and regions that stand to gain from the passage of the bill when passed.

Interpretatively, this lopsided support given to the bill looking at commentaries was fuelled not by the burning desire for the public good but for sectional gain. Glaringly as it stands, this trend no doubt has become a pernicious problem embedded in our administrative culture that will be too difficult to eradicate. And has also necessitated the question as to how the nation can redistribute lands from land rich states to land-poor states since the bill if passed as it is without amendment could conceivably make inter basin transfers of water to be undertaken by the Federal Government without consent from or even consultation from indigenous communitiesexactly like crude oil and associated problems of mean, wicked and evil inequities.

If allowed, it will again confirm as true the fears by Nigerians with discerning minds that the Federal Government may be more interested in acquiring more power as against devolution of power currently demanded by Nigerians or may be paying lip service to the imperativeness and urgency of having this country restructured. Accordingly, the whole argument by the FG becomes even vaguer variable and ungraspable when one remembers that some of these items will be better handled and serves the greater good to the greater number of the people if left in the hands of the state, the local government or private owners.

From what Nigerians are saying, what has caused serious concern is that the bill viewed from a wider spectrum stands as a telling proof of the present administrations insensitivity to the people of the Niger Delta and other water advantaged areas. This fears expressed by the coastal dwellers cannot be described as unfounded as it was a similar Decree 101 of 1992 which is now incongruously dressed up as an act of the National Assembly (Water Resource Act Cap W2 LFN 2OO4) that robbed every Nigerian of their water rights as it was hurriedly signed into law by the then military Ibrahim Babangida as his parting gift to Nigerians.

Lamentably, this and other sordid laws from the Federal Government in the past has particularly left the Niger Delta/coastal regions in social difficulties with no good record for survival as their environment is daily devastated/destroyed, with their teaming youths unemployed while the communities are periodically dispersed by the flood. To put it differently, environmental experts and development practitioners are particularly not happy that the Federal Government proposed such a bill in the face of an endless list of actions not taken to better the lots of the Niger Deltans and other coastal dwellers.

Allowing this bill, will not just usher in an unjust law but set the table to ushering in another round of hostility as the people are committed to peace by any means necessary but may not be committed to becoming the victims of peace. To succeed in this assignment will entail halting such plan on the National Water Resources bill.

At a broader perspective, the Government must desist from the current non-participatory approach to development in the Niger Delta and other coastal areas and embrace a broad-based consultative approach that will give the people of the region some sense of ownership over their own issues. Above all, this is an auspicious time for the federal government to come up with steps that will aggressively address the issues of youth unemployment in the region, weak regulation on the parts of its ministries and agencies, tackle the oil companies lackadaisical handling of the environment, and ensure compliance with the implementation of the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) so entered with host communities.
Phuket officials repeat domestic entry requirements for Phuket, in English

PHUKET: The Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket) has issued a notice explaining the current entry requirements for domestic arrivals wanting to enter Phuket, this time in English.

COVID-19Coronavirushealthtourism

By The Phuket News

Thursday 10 June 2021, 12:31PM

Image: PR Phuket

The notice explains Phuket Provincial Order no. 2920/2564, which Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew signed and issued on May 28. The order posted in Thai on May 29.

The The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) confirmed the entry requirements for domestic arrivals entering Phuket by plane on May 31.

As noted by the notice now issued by PR Phuket, the entry requirements came into effect on June 1 and will remain in effect until further notice.

The notice reads as follows:

All domestic travellers, with the exception of children under 5 years old, entering through any port of entry on Phuket must have received the full dose of a COVID-19 vaccine approved by the Royal Thai Government and as recommended by the manufacturer, or received 1 dose of AstraZeneca vaccine. Or those who have recovered from COVID-19 no longer than the past 90 days prior to entering Phuket, or have tested negative for COVID-19 via a RT-PCR or Rapid Antigen Test no more than 7 days from the date tested.

If the above requirements cannot be met the travellers are required to self-quarantine for a period of 14 days. Where the Disease Control Officer has issued an order to quarantine in the accommodation (Home Quarantine for Phuket residents or Hotel Quarantine for Domestic visitors) the traveller is to be monitored by officers of the Sub-District Center (EOC, Sub-District, municipality, sub-district administrative organization) throughout the period of quarantine.

Those excluded are as per the list below:

Consumer goods transport vehicles for agricultural products, livestock, animal feed Medical transport vehicles for medical materials, medical supplies, medical chemicals Medical ambulance for emergency patients, lifeguards, rescue teams LPG transport vehicles for fuel and other kinds of energy Cash transfer for banks and other financial institutions Persons ordered by government agencies to perform missions that are urgently needed Vehicles transporting essential items for the provision of public services or a type of business that is urgently needed Construction material transport vehicles and publications eg; newspapers, must provide specific time of entry to be checked and approved by the commander of the Phuket checkpoint or responsible delegate. Drivers and persons traveling with cars, boats or other vehicles with qualifications under Article 1 Temporary travelers entering Phuket or transport of necessities that do not stay overnight in the area of Phuket require an essential travel document or a shipping certificate that must be shown to the checkpoint officer when requested. Once the reason to enter Phuket is complete, the driver must leave Phuket as soon as possible.

All domestic arrivals, with the exception of children under 5 years old, must download and install the Mor Chana application on your smartphone and agree to enable location sharing throughout your stay in Phuket.

They must also register their travel to Phuket through the website www.gophuget.com website, and self-monitor for signs of COVID-19 infection according to preventative measures to control potential spread of the virus and avoid traveling to areas where many people are gathering.

Where domestic travellers enter Phuket and stay in a hotel or other accommodation similar to a hotel, the owner or operator of that establishment [must] undertake the following;

(1) Screening for symptoms and taking of the temperature for guests at the reception on check-in

(2) Verify the guests download and installation of the Mor Chana application on the guests smartphone and online registration through the website www.gophuget.com of the guests.

(3) Prepare a record of tracking individuals, including doing any kind of business or working, specifying the date, time and place. This report must then be submitted to the Sub-District Response Center (Tambon, Municipality, SAO) where the accommodation or hotel is located in order to monitor [guests] according to disease control measures of the Ministry of Public Health.

In the case of staying in a house; The owner or operator of the establishment or any other place is to prepare COVID-19 individual traveller tracking records and submit reports to sub-district response operations center (EOC, sub-district municipality, sub-district administrative organization) in the residential area according to the report form attached to this order

Hotel operators and operators of any other accommodation similar to a hotel; The owner or supervisor of the house, establishment or any other place must supply the tracking and travel logs of the guests according to the report form attached to this order. Failure to comply may be an offense under Section 49 of the Communicable Diseases Act B.E. which could result in imprisonment or a fine not exceeding B10,000 or both.

The notice also marked a request of cooperation from those who travel to Phuket to comply with measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (D  M  H  T  T  A) including:

D  Distancing = keep distance between each other

M  Mask Wearing = Always wear a cloth or hygiene mask.

H  Hand Washing = wash your hands often.

T  Temperature = Have your temperature measured regularly

T  Testing = Test for COVID-19 if unsure

A  Application = Install and scan Thai Chana and Mor Chana applications
Probe starts as woman dies after AstraZeneca shot

THAILAND: Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has vowed a probe into the death of a 46-year-old woman, the first since the nationwide vaccine rollout kicked off on Monday (June 7) with AstraZeneca used as the main vaccine.

CoronavirusCOVID-19healthVaccine

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 10 June 2021, 08:04AM

People can rest assured that the vaccines are safe, said Dr Chawetsan Namwat of the Department of Disease Control yesterday (June 9). Photo: Bangkok Post.

Offering his condolences to the family of Panyapat Itthithanawong, of Bang Khen district, Mr Anutin said a probe was in order.

Key details must be examined, such as whether she had suffered underlying ailments prior to the vaccination or if she developed severe side effects or was allergic to the vaccine.

He said public health and medical experts agreed vaccination may bring on some undesirable conditions and side effects. But the conditions are estimated to occur in very few people. The aftermath of vaccinations is being closely monitored under the national jab rollout, he said.

Panyapat, who died at her home at a housing estate in Bang Khen district on Tuesday night, one day after the nationwide vaccination was launched on Monday.

She was injected with a shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday morning.

According to police, the woman had a high fever, a headache and felt fatigue hours after she returned home from the vaccination. She took two pain killer tablets.

The symptoms appeared to subside except for the headache which worsened.

She then took the medication prescribed by her doctor for easing her migraine, police said.

Some 15 minutes later, she began gasping for air and suffered a seizure before losing consciousness, police said, citing remarks by the womans niece who cared for her at home.

The niece contacted a neighbour for help and called paramedics who failed to revive her.

Pol Col Atthapol Meeseang, chief of Bang Khen police, said relatives informed investigators the woman was on medication to alleviate the migraine. Some doctors have warned people against taking painkillers if they develop side effects after a vaccine.

An autopsy was being performed with results expected in 45 days, according to Pol Col Atthapol.

It was reported that a preliminary examination has shown the woman had irregular blood circulation and congestive cardiac failure.

So far, 28 deaths have been recorded since the first vaccination earlier in the year. Twelve of them have been ruled by a panel of medical experts as having no link to the vaccination, according to the Disease Control Department (DCD).

Dr Chawetsan Namwat, director for emergency health hazards and diseases, said the deaths were defined as coincidental events.

The deaths were from severe undesirable symptoms and were not a result of receiving the vaccine... People can rest assured that the vaccines are safe, Dr Chawetsan said yesterday.

Determining the exact cause of death in each case was a time-consuming process, he added, and took into account the patients medical treatment records, autopsy reports and results of laboratory tests.

These cases were observed and recorded while some 6.7 million doses of both the Sinovac and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered between Feb 28, when the first COVID-19 jab was made, and June 8.

In determining whether these deaths were connected to the COVID-19 vaccination, a formal autopsy and examinations of specimens taken from the bodies are needed, Dr Chawetsan said.
TAT Sandbox release clarifies key conditions, mystifies others

PHUKET: An updated release by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has clarified several key aspects about the conditions of entry for vaccinated tourists under the Phuket Tourism Sandbox scheme from July 1, but openly identified details yet to be confirmed for many critical aspects affecting tourists stays on the island.

COVID-19Coronavirustourismeconomics

By The Phuket News

Thursday 10 June 2021, 04:35PM

Image: TAT

The release, updated late yesterday (June 9), noted that six airlines have announced direct flights to Phuket: THAI, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Hongkong Airlines, EVA Air, Korean Air, Jinair, Cathay Pacific and KLM.

It also formally recognised that international travellers who have received the Thai FDA-approved vaccines AstraZeneca, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm will be allowed to enter Phuket.

Arrivals must be vaccinated more than 14 days to one year before entering Phuket, and proof of vaccination must be submitted when applying for a COE, the release noted.

Children under 6 years of age must travel only with their parents or guardians who have been vaccinated. In the case the parents or guardians are found to have COVID-19, the children are to be placed in isolation for 14 days, the release added.

Regarding which countries tourists will be allowed to arrive from, the release noted that the Phuket Sandbox is applicable only for fully vaccinated international travellers from countries/regions with a low to medium risk of SAR-CoV-2 virus as announced and constantly updated by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).

The list will be available soon, said the release.

High-risk countries are not allowed entry at this stage, it added.

Under the section Visa & Certificate of Entry, the TAT noted, Every traveller must obtain a Certificate of Entry (COE) at https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/. Check the website to see the required documents.

Embassy/Consulate-General takes 3 working days to process the application, it said.

International travellers must have insurance covering treatment and medical expenses including those related to COVID-19 with a minimum coverage of US$100,000. The insurance must cover the total duration of stay in Thailand, the TAT confirmed.

ACCOMMODATION

For tourists arriving under the Sandbox model, it is mandatory to book a SHA Plus hotel for the first 14 nights in Phuket.

Residing in a private residence is not allowed on the first 14 nights for COVID-19 control purposes, the TAT release confirmed.

However, there is no requirement that tourists must stay all 14 of their first days on the island at the one hotel, the TAT confirmed.

You can move between SHA Plus hotels during the 14 days, the release said.

However, bookings must be prepaid, it added..

Standardised cancellation and refund policies for SHA Plus hotels are in place for peace of mind agreed upon by all SHA Plus hoteliers, the release noted.

However, oddly contradicting the current Phuket Provincial Government policy for no members outside a family attending the same residence for any gathering, including sharing meals, in posing its own question, Can a 2nd guest who is already resident in Thailand join a guest who has arrived internationally into a SHA Plus hotel?, the TAT said, Yes, providing the guest follows all rules stipulated for Thais and expats in Thailand.

OFF-ISLAND TOURS

The release updated yesterday pointed out, *On the first 5 days, you are allowed to visit only the islands of Phuket, which are Ko Racha, Ko Naka, and Coral Island.

The TAT explained that Phi Phi Island, Koh Yao (meaning Koh Yao Yai and Koh Yao Noi), Koh Khai, and Phang Nga Bay are NOT a part of Phuket province.

Therefore, you must get a rapid test on Day 5 before going to these places, said the release.

However, for travel to tourist locations near Phuket that are technically in other provinces, the release also noted Information under review.

COVID-SAFE TRANSPORT

The TAT noted that there is no way to confirm that any public transport, in Phuket meaning taxis, passenger vans and tuk-tuks, is currently COVID-safe.

We recommend that you use only SHA Plus certified taxis and transportation, but you may use non SHA Plus, too if you prefer. If there are more than 2 people in a vehicle, masks must be worn at all times, said the release.

Posing the question, Is there an app or website to be able to book SHA+ transport services?, the TAT only noted, Information will be available soon.

Answering whether GRAB taxi is SHA+, the TAT also noted, Information will be available soon.

Under the section Other Activities, the TAT asked itself, Whats open?

To that the TAT also said, Information will be available soon.
Rockville, MD (20850)

Today

Mainly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
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.
FALMOUTH, England (AP)  Group of Seven leaders began arriving at a luxury seaside resort in England on Thursday for a Group of Seven summit where some of the world's richest nations will pledge to share coronavirus vaccines with the poorest, as part of efforts to help a pandemic-scarred world recover.

Since the G-7 last met two years ago, COVID-19 has killed more than 3.7 million people and decimated economies with lockdowns and layoffs.

As British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosts U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwest England, pandemic recovery  and, crucially, getting vaccines to billions who lack them  is at the top of the agenda.

This is the moment for the worlds greatest and most technologically advanced democracies to shoulder their responsibilities and to vaccinate the world, because no one can be properly protected until everyone has been protected, Johnson said in an article published Thursday, a day before the summit's official start.

Johnson, who has faced criticism for months over Britains refusal to send any vaccine doses abroad, pledged to donate 100 million jabs in the next year, the first of them by September, and said the G-7 as a whole is expected to give 1 billion doses. Half of that came in a pledge from U.S. President Joe Biden.

Biden, making his first foreign trip as president, announced that the U.S. will buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine to share with poorer countries over the next year.

"America will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against COVID-19," Biden said.

The summit is seen as a major test for Johnson, a divisive leader at home and abroad whose two years in office have been dominated by the consecutive crises of Brexit and the pandemic.

For a setting, Johnson has chosen the rugged county of Cornwall, at Englands southwestern tip  a region that combines natural beauty with a cluster of innovative tech and ecology businesses. It's also one of Englands poorest regions, where wealthy second-home owners have made housing unaffordable for many local people.

The leaders will visit the Eden Project, a pioneering eco-tourism site built in a former quarry pit, and will enjoy ethically sourced food made by local chefs. Theres even a beach barbecue complete with toasted marshmallows, hot buttered rum and a performance by a sea shanty troupe.

Johnsons eve-of-summit meeting with Biden on Thursday was a chance to underscore the trans-Atlantic alliance and to set out his vision of a post-Brexit Global Britain as a midsized country with an outsized role in international problem-solving.

That may be a challenge, given the distrust in European capitals and Washington surrounding the U.K.s decision to leave the EU and the messy process of separation.

Biden once called the blustering Johnson a clone of former President Donald Trump and has expressed repeated concern about the destabilizing effect of Brexit on Northern Ireland, the only part of the U.K. that borders the bloc.

But after a meeting between the two that lasted well over an hour, Johnson described the new president as a breath of fresh air. Biden said the meeting had been very productive.

Despite the bonhomie, the president and his team have stressed the need to soothe Northern Ireland tensions. Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters aboard Air Force One that the president's commitment to Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace accord was rock solid.

Johnson said protecting the Northern Ireland peace agreement was absolutely common ground among Britain, the U.S. and the European Union. That may be, but EU leaders are furious at what they see as the U.K.'s failure to implement the divorce deal that Johnson agreed to.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that the Brexit agreement signed by Britain and the EU was not up for renegotiation.

Like many prime ministers before him, Johns summoned the spirit of wartime leader Winston Churchill when meeting the president. In a symbolic show of unity, the two leaders agreed a new Atlantic Charter  a 21st century version of the 1941 agreement between Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt that helped lay the foundations for the United Nations and NATO.

The new document commits Britain and the U.S to defend the principles, values, and institutions of democracy and open societies" and build an inclusive, fair, climate-friendly, sustainable, rules-based global economy for the 21st century. The two countries also said they will set up a task force aimed at re-starting trans-Atlantic travel, disrupted by pandemic restrictions.

Before the pandemic, Johnson planned this to be a climate-dominated summit. He had wanted to make it a major staging post to Novembers international COP26 meeting on climate change in Glasgow, eliciting ambitious targets for slashing carbon emissions and expanding green industries.

Thats still on the agenda, but the meeting will be dominated by COVID-19, with discussions focusing on physical and economic recovery and building resilience against future pandemics. Lest anyone forget that the virus is still raging, there will be daily coronavirus tests for attending politicians, diplomats, staff and journalists.

Even without the pandemic, this would be a moment of flux for the rich countries club. Its a first G-7 summit for Biden and for Japans Yoshihide Suga, who took office in September.

Suga said before leaving Tokyo that he would seek support for his determination to hold a safe and secure Olympics starting on July 23 despite the pandemic. The Games face strong opposition in Japan.

The meeting is also a G-7 swan song for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will leave office in the coming months after 16 years in power.

Asked what message Merkel wants to send at the summit, a senior German official replied: The message of the summit overall -- and that stands for what the chancellor has stood for over recent years -- is that multilateralism, and the G-7, is back.

___

Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Angela Charlton in Paris and Danica Kirka in Falmouth, England contributed.
SPRINGFIELD  Catholics across the Diocese of Springfield will be obligated to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation starting June 12, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, according to Bishop Thomas John Paprocki.

It is good that our churches can again be opened to full capacity, Paprocki said. In fact, we have already seen increasing numbers in our churches over the past couple months, as the public health threat has receded.

Since April 11, a particular dispensation had been in place in the diocese in which only people in certain categories  such as those over 65 years old  were not obligated to attend Mass. Prior to April 11, a full general dispensation had been in place because of the pandemic.

Diocese officials on Thursday said church members who believe they should continue to be dispensed from the obligation to attend Mass should speak to their parish priest, who may grant a dispensation in individual cases for a just reason. Those who are ill or may have come in contact with someone with COVID-19 are excused and do not need a dispensation.

A dispensation by its very nature is to cease when the reason for the dispensation ceases, Paprocki said.

In recent weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 has continued to decrease dramatically, he said. Clearly, the full reopening of secular society means that the time has come for the church as well to withdraw all remaining particular dispensations from the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

I pray that those who have not done so will return to full, active participation in the Mass, Paprocki said. It is essential to be physically present celebrating with the community of faith and receiving the real presence of our Lord into our hearts in the holy Eucharist.
SPRINGFIELD  Republican leaders in the Illinois House and Senate filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of the new legislative district maps Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law June 4.

The House and Senate approved new maps on Friday, May 26, less than 24 hours after the final drafts had been introduced. Pritzker signed them into law a week later, on June 4.

Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie, of Hawthorn Woods, and House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Chicago, arguing the maps are based on survey data rather than official U.S. Census numbers and violate the U.S. Constitutions one person, one vote requirement.

Todays filing should come as no surprise to Illinoisans, Durkin said in a news release. The partisan process upon which the legislative maps were drawn flies in the face of strong recommendations made by countless advocacy groups and citizens who testified at the redistricting hearings.

Durkin was referring to groups who urged lawmakers to wait for the release of official data from the 2020 census, which is due for release in mid-August. That, however, would have pushed lawmakers beyond the Illinois Constitutions deadline of June 30 for the General Assembly to adopt maps before the process is turned over to a bipartisan commission.

Instead, House and Senate Democrats based the new maps on population estimates derived from the Census Bureaus American Community Survey, which Republicans and a number of voting rights advocacy groups  including the League of Women Voters of Illinois and Illinois Common Cause  argued is not accurate enough to be used for redistricting.

Republicans had pushed unsuccessfully for the appointment of an independent redistricting commission fashioned along the lines of one that was proposed in a 2016 constitutional amendment, but which the Illinois Supreme Court removed from the ballot that year under a legal technicality.

Today we are entering court on behalf of the thousands of families, small business owners, workers, and taxpayers who said they wanted an independently drawn map, not the one handed down by political insiders desperately clinging to power, McConchie said in the news release. We believe this is our best option to advocate for the 75 percent of voters who were refused an independent process and a map created with accurate data.

The lawsuit alleges the maps violate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which federal courts have frequently cited as the basis for requiring state legislative districts to be drawn so they are substantially equal in population.

McConchie and Durkin allege survey data used to craft the new maps resulted in districts that are both arbitrary in how they were drawn and discriminatory because the surveys that were used tend to undercount certain subgroups of the population.

They want the court to declare the new maps violate the U.S. Constitution and to issue an injunction to prevent their implementation.

They also ask, if valid maps are not adopted before the Illinois Constitutions June 30 deadline, that the court either order the appointment of a bipartisan commission as provided for in the Illinois Constitution or appoint a special master to oversee the drafting of valid maps based on official 2020 census data.

The suit names House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch, of Hillside, Senate President Don Harmon, of Oak Park, and the Illinois State Board of Elections, along with its individual members, as defendants.

Sens. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee, and Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, vice chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee, issued a joint written statement Wednesday that they stand by their maps. As of Wednesday afternoon, the case had not been assigned to a federal judge.
JERUSALEM (AP)  In what appear to be the final days of his historic 12-year rule, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not leaving the political stage quietly.

The longtime leader is accusing his opponents of betraying their voters, and some have needed special security protection.

Netanyahu says he is the victim of a deep state conspiracy. He speaks in apocalyptic terms when talking about the country without his leadership.

They are uprooting the good and replacing it with the bad and dangerous, Netanyahu told the conservative Channel 20 TV station this week. I fear for the destiny of the nation.

Such language has made for tense days as Netanyahu and his loyalists make a final desperate push to try to prevent a new government from taking office on Sunday. With his options running out, it has also provided a preview of Netanyahu as opposition leader.

For those who have watched Netanyahu dominate Israeli politics for much of the past quarter century, his recent behavior is familiar.

He frequently describes threats both large and small in stark terms. He has belittled his rivals and thrived by using divide-and-conquer tactics. He paints his Jewish opponents as weak, self-hating leftists, and Arab politicians as a potential fifth column of terrorist sympathizers. He routinely presents himself in grandiose terms as the only person capable of leading the country through its never-ending security challenges.

Under his term, identity politics are at an all-time high, said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a non-partisan think tank.

It is a formula that has served Netanyahu well. He has led the right-wing Likud party with an iron fist for over 15 years, racking up a string of electoral victories that earned him the nickname, King Bibi.

He fended off pressure by President Barack Obama to make concessions to the Palestinians and publicly defied him in 2015 by delivering a speech in Congress against the U.S.-led nuclear agreement with Iran.

Although Netanyahu was unable to block the deal, he was richly rewarded by President Donald Trump, who recognized contested Jerusalem as Israels capital, pulled out of the nuclear agreement and helped broker historic diplomatic pacts between Israel and four Arab nations.

Netanyahu has waged what appears to be a highly successful shadow war against Iran while keeping Israels longstanding conflict with the Palestinians at a slow boil, with the exception of three brief wars with Gaza's militant Hamas rulers.

The situation with the Palestinians today is remarkably the same as when Netanyahu took office, Plesner said. "No major changes in either direction, no annexation and no diplomatic breakthroughs.

But some of Netanyahus tactics now appear to be coming back to haunt him. The new Biden administration has been cool to the Israeli leader, while Netanyahus close relationship with Trump has alienated large segments of the Democratic Party.

At home, Netanyahus magic also has dissipated  in large part due to his trial on corruption charges. He has lashed out at an ever-growing list of perceived enemies: the media, the judiciary, police, centrists, leftists and even hard-line nationalists who were once close allies.

In four consecutive elections since 2019, the once-invincible Netanyahu was unable to secure a parliamentary majority. Facing the unappealing possibility of a fifth consecutive election, eight parties managed to assemble a majority coalition that is set to take office on Sunday.

Israeli politics are usually split between dovish, left-wing parties that seek a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians, and religious and nationalist parties  long led by Netanyahu  that oppose Palestinian independence. If any of the recent elections had centered on the conflict, then right-wing parties alone would have formed a strong, stable majority.

But the Palestinians hardly came up  another legacy of Netanyahu, who has pushed the issue to the sidelines.

Instead, all anyone seemed to talk about was Netanyahu's personality and his legal troubles, which proved to be deeply polarizing. The incoming government includes three small parties led by former Netanyahu aides who had bitter breakups with him, including the presumed prime minister, Naftali Bennett.

Bennett and his right-wing partners even broke a longstanding taboo on allying with Arab parties. A small Islamist party, which Netanyahu had also courted, is to be the first to join a ruling coalition.

Netanyahu and his followers in Likud have grown increasingly desperate. Initially, Netanyahu tried to lure some defectors from his former allies to prevent them from securing a parliamentary majority.

When that failed, he resorted to language similar to that of his friend and benefactor Trump.

We are witnesses to the greatest election fraud in the history of the country, Netanyahu claimed at a Likud meeting this week. He has long dismissed the corruption trial as a witch hunt fueled by fake news, and in the TV interview he said he was being hounded by the deep state.

His supporters have held threatening rallies outside the homes of lawmakers joining the new government. Some of the parliamentarians say they and their families have received death threats, and one said she was recently followed by a mysterious car.

Netanyahus ultra-Orthodox partners have meanwhile cast Bennett as a threat to their religion, with one even calling on him to remove his kippa, the skullcap worn by observant Jews.

Online incitement by Netanyahus followers has grown so bad that several members of the incoming government were assigned bodyguards or even moved to secret locations.

Some Israelis have drawn comparisons to the tensions that led to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January, while others have pointed to the incitement ahead of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

In a rare public statement, Nadav Argaman, the head of the Shin Bet internal security agency, recently warned of a serious rise and radicalization in violent and inciting discourse" on social media that he said could lead to violence.

Netanyahu has condemned the incitement while noting that he too has been a target.

Late Thursday, Netanyahus Likud Party issued a statement on Twitter in English saying his fraud comments were not directed at the vote counting process and that he has full confidence in it. There is also no question about the peaceful transition of power, it said.

Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Hebrew University, said she expects the coming months to remain volatile.

Were going to see a very assertive and aggressive head of the opposition, meaning Netanyahu, determined to make sure that this coalition of change would be a short-lived one and that we will have another election as soon as possible, she added.

We dont have even a memory of what normal politics looks like, Talshir said.

___

Associated Press writer Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
EDWARDSVILLE  Madison Countys multi-year jail renovation project will end up coming in about $1 million under budget, according to Facilities Director Michael Bold.

Bold made the announcement at Tuesdays Facilities Management Committee meeting.

The project will end up costing the county about $13.5 million, about $1 million less than the original approximately $14.5 million estimate.

Most of the work was completed by March, with contractors now going through and completing punch list items.

Also approved were several requests to use county property.

The Edwardsville Rotary Club will use the St. Louis Street side of the courthouse to play music for the Rotary Club Criterium Bike Race, set for noon to 11 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21.

Also approved was the Madison County Museum request for the use of the Administration Buildings main floor lobby for a reception for the Voices and Votes: Democracy in America exhibit by the Smithsonian Institute.

Also approved was the renewal of a lease of office space at the Wood River Facility by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts.

The Glen-Ed pantry also requested the use of the Fifth Avenue fields adjacent to the detention center from noon-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25.

There was some confusion on this item because a member of the pantry at the meeting said they wanted to use part of the area between the courthouse and Administration Building in July, and he had not known about the September event.
Titan Tree Service is using technology to better serve its customers and employees.

The company recently put a new, custom-made grapplesaw truck into operation, allowing workers to more safely remove trees by using a remote control.

Alec Senofonte, owner of the Olyphant-based company formed in 2001, has run the business for about five years and has been thrilled with its expansion.

Weve grown 410% in that time, he said.

He purchased the truck from the Toronto, Canada-based BIK Hydraulics for $430,000.

Were innovators and were not afraid to spend money on safe and proper equipment which helps us retain very good, very technical employees, Senofonte said. Theyre all very excited about it ... its going to make their lives much easier.

Senofonte said the company started using the new truck this week after two weeks of training.

He added the crane has 104 feet of reach and a 58 -ton weight capacity.

You can sit in a driveway and reach up and over a home and remove a tree in a backyard without having to drive a truck onto the lawn or actually be in the backyard, Senofonte said. We can safely remove tress from the ground via remote control which is super safe and efficient.

While the new equipment also cuts the time of jobs in at least half, Senofonte noted improved safety was the main reason for making the purchase.

Weve been dealing with a lot of really bad, brittle, dangerous ash trees, he said. The emerald ash borer has been decimating all of them in our area, so its been really dangerous for our climbers. With this truck, we really dont have to climb anything at all.

Senofonte is always looking for the next big advancement to move his company forward.

I watch the industry closely, especially with newer implementations, he said. Ive been watching this one the past few years and trying to figure out how we could make it work in residential settings.

Senofonte needed to have adjustments made to the truck to make it a viable option in the community.

We were able to shorten it to 26 feet, so the turning radius is very tight, he said. We can get it into pretty much any residential neighborhood.

Dr. Harry Schmaltz of Waverly used Titan Tree in the past and was excited to see the new equipment in action.

I have a bunch of dead ash trees on my property and there was one huge tree very close to the road that was going to be a big issue, Schmaltz said. They took the tree apart limb by limb. It was really cool to watch the guy on the ground, well out of harms way, manipulate this big arm that barely had to come on my property.
Wico van Genderen, president & CEO of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business & Industry and the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce, will retire at the end of the year, the board of directors announced Thursday.

Lindsay Griffin, the current EVP and COO, will take over as president beginning Jan. 1.

Under his leadership, Wico has transformed the chamber by building upon a mission of economic impact, social diversity, and community value to the region, CBI Board Chair Scott Lynett said. Along with the chamber team and regional coalition he led, he has helped attract and retain businesses, created an entrepreneurial ecosystem with the colleges and businesses and helped retain and attract jobs to the Valley. His work at the chamber has made it an economic center of excellence for the region and I believe his legacy will continue on seamlessly as the board also announces that we will elevate Lindsay Griffin to take the mantle as our incoming president and CEO on Jan. 1, 2022. On behalf of the board, we thank Wico for his transformational leadership and vision, and wish him well in his retirement with the knowledge that the legacy he has created will continue with Lindsay.

Van Genderen joined the chamber in 2014 when it conducted a nationwide search. He brought in 30 years of corporate experience leading global marketing and product management and North American and Asia Pacific operations for Diebold, IBM and Interbold. He led the effort to revitalize and rebrand the chamber, focusing on operational, financial and organizational excellence with a focus on retention and attraction of businesses, workforce and economic impact.

After a 30-year career in corporate America, I wanted to leverage my experiences to give back to a community and found a great welcoming in the Wyoming Valley, a place my wifes family called home, van Genderen said. The mission of any CEO is to not only leave an organization better than when begun, but to have built a leadership and stakeholder team alongside it that can drive it, make it sustainable, and build it even better.Ill truly miss the job, but I feel honored and humbled to have served a great community and could not be more proud of Lindsay and the chamber team and their ability to take the chamber, our businesses, and our community to a whole new level. I truly look forward to watching a re-imagined Wyoming Valley unfold with pride in my retirement!

Griffin joined the chamber in 2015, moving up in leadership roles leading to her current position as EVP & COO. She has been instrumental in the chamber rebrand and focused on building its Young Professionals, Womens Network, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Councils and in the regionalization of its economic development and business advocacy initiatives. Griffin will be the first woman and young professional in the organizations history to lead the chamber.

I am honored to be selected by the board to replace Wico in January upon his retirement, Griffin said. It is with great gratitude, passion, and commitment that I step into this role of leadership in our community.It truly is an incredible opportunity to take this position at an organization with such a strong legacy dating back to 1884 when the chamber was formed. Over the past few years under Wicos leadership, we have revitalized the chamber and leveraged the unique qualities of the Wyoming Valley, while building an outstanding team to continue the growth and innovation needed for the future of our area. I am impassioned each and every day by our mission and the businesses, students, entrepreneurs, non-profits, and community members that I have the great privilege of working alongside. I am excited to build upon our strong foundation and economic excellence to drive to an even brighter and re-imagined chamber and Valley in the future.

Check back later for more on this developing story.
A Scranton woman filed a class-action lawsuit against Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and a staffing agency, alleging officials reneged on a promise to give her and other employees a 15% hazard pay raise for working onsite during the coronavirus pandemic.

Courtlind Davis says Charles Hollow, project manager at the Monroe County pharmaceutical company, advised her and 60 other laboratory technicians of the pay bump, which would be in effect during the pandemic situation, in an April 7, 2020, email. The email stated the increase would halt when the situation ended.

Davis is employed by YOH Services LLC, a Philadelphia-based staffing agency that provides employees at the Sanofi plant in Swiftwater, according to the lawsuit filed in Philadelphia County Court. The suit, filed by Dresher attorney Peter Winebrake, says Sanofi and YOH never fulfilled the promise. Instead, Hollow advised employees in November they would receive three paid days off in the future to thank them for their service.

The suit seeks damages on several counts, including breach of contract, unjust enrichment and violation of the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law.

Michael J. Puma of Philadelphia, an attorney for Sanofi and YOH, recently filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss the case. Puma acknowledged Hollow sent the email, but contends his promise is not binding because the employees signed an employment agreement stipulating their pay rate, which can only be changed if there is a written agreement signed by the employees and company.

Puma also contends the offer is invalid because the email did not define when the wage increase would end, which would make any contract violation unenforceable.

Winebrake had not yet responded to the motion as of Thursday. In an email, he said he believes the promise is legally enforceable under Pennsylvania law.

If the companies did not think their promise was legally enforceable, they should have said so when the promise was made, Winebrake said. This is starting to look like a classic bait-and-switch.
The state Superior Court upheld the 60-years-to-life sentence of convicted child killer Joseph Aulisio, rejecting his argument the sentence equated to a de facto life sentence in violation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Aulisio, 55, was convicted in 1982 of two counts of first-degree murder for the shotgun slayings of 8-year-old Cheryl Ziemba and her 4-year-old brother, Christopher, inside an Old Forge home on July 26, 1981.

He was sentenced in 1987 to life without possibility of parole, but the sentence was later overturned based on a 2012 Supreme Court decision, Miller vs. Alabama, that said juveniles could only be sentenced to life without parole if they are found to be so depraved they could not be rehabilitated. Aulisio was 15 when he committed the crimes.

Lackawanna County prosecutors wanted to again seek a life sentence, but had to abandon the plans after a psychiatric expert testified Aulisio could be rehabilitated. Judge Vito Geroulo resentenced Aulisio in December 2019 to 30 years to life for each of the murders and ordered the sentences run consecutively.

Aulisios attorneys argued the sentence violated the Supreme Courts Miller mandate because Aulisio will be 75 before hes eligible for parole, which essentially equates to a life sentence. They maintained thats illegal since an expert found Aulisio could be rehabilitated. The defense also maintained Geroulo abused his discretion by running the sentences consecutively.

In rejecting the claim, the Superior Court said Geroulo was not obligated to evaluate the case under the standard set in the Miller ruling because prosecutors did not seek life without parole.

Where the Commonwealth does not seek a LWOP sentences, the issue of whether the court made a specific finding of an inability to be rehabilitated is moot, the court said.

The court also upheld the consecutive sentences, finding that prior courts have held that when evaluating a sentence for more than one crime, each sentence must be viewed as if it stood alone as opposed to the aggregate.

Because our current precedential case law hold that a 30-year minimum sentence for a conviction of first-degree murder is not a defacto life sentence ... appellants challenge to his aggregate sentence as a violation of the protections of Miller garners no relief, the court said.
Former Old Forge Borough Council President Robert Semenza Jr. will plead guilty next week to a federal charge that accuses him of taking bribes to help a business owner being sued by the borough, according to investigators.

Semenza, 47, was charged Wednesday with soliciting, demanding and accepting cash payments in exchange for performing and promising to perform official acts between January 2019 and February 2020. In total, Semenza pocketed between $6,500 and $15,000, according to a plea agreement he signed May 18. Semenzas bribery charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, according to his plea agreement.

As part of the plea deal, Semenza agreed to resign from borough council. He also agreed that he will not seek or accept any public office or position of public trust for at least 10 years. His attorney, Jason Mattioli, confirmed Semenza submitted his resignation from council in May, days prior to signing his plea deal. Mattioli declined to provide further comment, writing in a text that, At this time, it would (be) inappropriate for me to comment.

Investigators said Semenzas actions involved a local business owner sued by Old Forge Borough over a dispute about borough zoning ordinances. The councilman agreed to vote on the business owners behalf in matters before borough council, to advocate on behalf of the local business owner with council, the borough solicitor and zoning officials, and to propose a favorable resolution for the civil litigation council and solicitor in exchange for cash payments, according Acting United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler.

The U.S. Attorneys office did not identify the business or its owner, but county court records coinciding with federal charging papers indicate it is Walter Stocki Jr., owner of Scrap Enterprises, Rear 105 N. Keyser Ave.

According to federal charging papers, on or about July 31, 2018, Old Forge Borough Council obtained an injunction from the Lackawanna County Court of common Pleas against a business and its owner. The injunction required the individual to cease all activities violating the borough zoning ordinances, among other things. On or about May 9, 2019, the court determined the business owner was in violation of the July 31, 2018, injunction and ordered the owner to pay a bond of more than $5,000, according to the charging papers. On Aug. 5, 2019, Old Forge council petitioned the court to hold the individual in contempt of the order.

Lackawanna County Judge Thomas J. Munley ordered Stocki on July 31, 2018, to immediately cease any and all activity on the property. On May 9, 2019, Munley gave Stocki 100 days to to immediately cease all business, clean up his property and post a $20,000 bond. Three months later, the borough petitioned the court to hold Stocki in contempt.

Stocki, when reached Wednesday by the newspaper, declined to comment on the charges.

From January 2019 until February 2020, Semenza and a person only identified as Individual No. 3 in federal court papers corruptly solicited, demanded, accepted and agreed to accept money from Individual No. 1, who appears to be Stocki, in exchange for official acts and promises of officials acts, according to federal paperwork. Individual No. 3 is a Lackawanna County resident who owned and operated a consulting firm headquartered in Old Forge.

Individual No. 3 solicited Individual No. 1 on Jan. 10, 2019, to pay cash in exchange for support and votes from Old Forge Borough council. During the meeting, Individual No. 3 called Semenza, who said, Let me know what you need ... Ill do whatever you need, according to federal paperwork.

Semenza demanded payments from Individual No. 1, both directly and through an employee of the individuals, referring to them as loans to make them appear legitimate, according to prosecutors.

Individual No. 1 also gave thousands of dollars to Individual No. 3, who then shared a portion of it with Semenza, prosecutors said. In one instance, on Nov. 1, 2019, Individual No. 3 demanded thousands of dollars from Individual No. 1 and called Semenza, telling him, he would arrange to see him with a little bit of green, according to the federal paperwork. The following day, the person obtained several thousand dollars from Individual No. 1. Before delivering the money to Semenzas home, Individual No. 3 called him, saying, hes being honorable in what he said hes going to do ... you have to really perform now. Semenza replied, okay, according to prosecutors.

On Nov. 4, 2019, Individual No. 3 emailed Semenza a proposed resolution for Old Forges legal action against Individual No. 1, instructing him to give the resolution to the borough solicitor. Semenza presented the resolution to both the solicitor and borough council, prosecutors said.

Council Vice President Russell Rinaldi said he learned about Semenzas bribery charge Wednesday when the U.S. Department of Justice made its announcement. It came as a surprise, he said, explaining he has no memory of Semenza acting in Stockis favor.

I would have to say that the council as a majority was trying to get him to clean that property up in accordance with Munleys decision, Rinaldi said.

Chris Goetz, a borough resident who lives near Stockis property and a zoning hearing board member, frequently brought the scrapyard to councils attention.

Its just another black eye for the borough, unfortunately, and obviously (Semenza) had no moral compass for the wellbeing of the borough residents and actually let down all the residents of Old Forge  not just the neighboring residents, he said.

He couldnt recall Semenza ever publicly supporting Stocki, but hearing of the plea agreement did not shock him.

Nothing ever surprises me here in Old Forge, Goetz said.

Attempts to reach Old Forge Borough Solicitor William Rinaldi and Mayor Robert J. Legg were unsuccessful.

Semenza will appear before U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion for an arraignment and plea hearing at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Borough council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Eagle McClure Hose Company, 375 Milwaukee Ave., to fill the remainder of Semenzas term, which ends Jan. 3, 2022.

The case was investigated by the Scranton FBIs Public Corruption Task Force and Internal Revenue Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip J. Caraballo is prosecuting the case.
A bright red uniform shirt led to Michael Patrick Fraziers arrest Wednesday.

The Scranton Police Department posted stills of surveillance footage on Facebook and asked for help identifying a man pictured, who was wanted for slapping or groping three women in Scranton.

Several people contacted police and identified Frazier as the suspect. His shirt was part of the uniform he wore as an employee of a Scranton grocery store, according to a criminal complaint. Callers also recognized his bike.

Police charged Frazier, 20, 115 W. Main St., Nanticoke, on Wednesday, with three counts of indecent assault.

Police were searching for him after three women reported being slapped or groped in different locations throughout the city.

The first report came on May 27, when a woman told police a man slapped her backside and rode away on his bike that day while she was walking in the 900 block of Capouse Avenue.

Then on Monday, a second woman walking along the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail near Seventh Avenue with her mother said a man passed her on his bike. He turned around, rode by again and grabbed her buttocks.

A third woman reported a similar assault Tuesday on Vine Street near the Scranton Public Library and yelled at the man as he pedaled away.

The Times-Tribune does not publish the names of sexual assault victims.

Police collected surveillance footage from the trail area. The University of Scranton and Lackawanna College also provided footage of the man.

Fraziers bail and preliminary hearing information wasnt available Wednesday.
A nun who ran a Catholic elementary school in Torrance, California, has agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than $835,000 in school funds to pay for her personal expenses, including a gambling habit.

Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was charged Tuesday with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Central District of California. A plea agreement was filed with the charging document.

A statement from Kreuper's attorney, Mark Byrne, said that Kreuper is "very remorseful for what happened," describing how she became a nun at 18 and has dedicated her life to helping others.

"Unfortunately, later in her life she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment and caused her to do something that she otherwise would not have done," the statement said.

A person who answered the phone at St. James Catholic School, where Kreuper was principal for nearly three decades until she retired in 2018, said the school had no comment. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said it had contacted authorities in 2018 when financial reviews showed that a substantial amount of school funds had been misappropriated for personal use by Kreuper.

"The community of faith at St. James was shocked and saddened by these actions and the parish, school and the archdiocese reported the matter and fully cooperated with authorities in the criminal investigation," the archdiocese said in its statement.

In November 2018, the pastor of St. James Catholic Church in Redondo Beach alerted parents in letters that both Kreuper, then recently retired, and Sister Lana Chang, a former teacher, had allegedly misappropriated school funds for their personal use. Chang, who retired at the same time as Kreuper, was an eighth-grade teacher for about 20 years and had served as vice principal for the past several years.

In the weeks that followed, parents told The Times that both nuns, who drove to campus in Volvos, had spoken openly about trips they'd taken to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. Many parents expressed outrage as details of the financial scheme were disclosed during a two-hour meeting at St. James Church and asked if the nuns would apologize to families.

According to a statement filed in support of the plea agreement, Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty as a nun and her living expenses were paid by her order of nuns. All money that she earned at the school was supposed to go toward the order.

As principal, the statement said, Kreuper oversaw the school's financial affairs and managed its bank accounts. She was a signatory on two accounts opened at a credit union in the 1980s and '90s  a savings account for the school and an account that was created to pay for the living expenses of nuns employed by the school.

Kreuper has admitted to embezzling money from the school from as early as 2008 through September 2018 by taking cash and checks that were made by parents to the school and depositing that money into both accounts without the knowledge of school officials.

She used the money to pay for expenses, such as gambling costs and credit card charges, that "the order would not have approved, much less paid for," the filing said.

To conceal the scheme, Kreuper said she falsified monthly and annual school financial reports, failing to include references to both accounts and the full funds that were deposited into and withdrawn from them.

Kreuper, the filing said, "lulled St. James School and the administration into believing the school's finances were being properly accounted for and its financial assets properly safeguarded."

The charges against Kreuper carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors. The agreement said Kreuper recognizes she'll be required to pay restitution totaling about $835,000, although that amount may change.

She will be arraigned July 1.



(Times staff writers Hailey Branson-Potts, Ruben Vives and Javier Panzar contributed to this report.)



2021 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Newport Twp. has its first-ever police dog  a highly trained German Shepherd named Axel.

The dog is the personal animal of Officer William Dubiak of Scranton, who was able to get the dog specialized training for free using his Veterans Administration benefits after exiting the Marine Corps three years ago.

While Dubiak was with the Hop Bottom Police Department in Susquehanna County, he had agreements to use Axel to assist departments in Luzerne, Lackawanna and Susquehanna counties on search-and-rescue missions and to seize firearms and explosives.

But now Axels work will generally be limited to serving the Newport Twp. and Nanticoke areas after Newport Twp. police started its own K-9 unit earlier this week.

Hes 86 pounds of muscle, Dubiak said. His pedigree, his family tree is pretty good. He has six police dogs in his family. He has a good bloodline.

Dubiak, 36, said he purchased the dog directly from the Czech Republic and got him trained at an elite school in New Jersey.

The dog is certified to detect firearms, gunpowder and explosives. Hes also trained in criminal apprehension and search-and-rescue missions.

After getting out of the Marine Corps, Dubiak said he first bought the dog and then inquired about training. He said he learned hed be able to use his VA benefits to train the dog for free.

I was like, Im not going to pass on that opportunity,  Dubiak said.

Dubiak has been using Axel for several years with the Hop Bottom Police Department, where he served as chief until recently.

Since Dubiak has been working for Newport Twp. over the past year, he and township leaders considered starting a K-9 unit with his dog. On Monday, the township officially approved an agreement to utilize Dubiaks dog as its police K-9.

Under the agreement, Dubiak will still be responsible for feeding the dog and his veterinarian bills. Newport Twp. will cover up to $1 million in liability insurance and designated a specially outfitted sport utility vehicle for the use of the dog.

A dog is a great tool for any police department, Newport Twp. police Chief Jeremy Blank said. This is Newports first dog as far as anyone could remember. There might have been one back in the day, but nobody could remember one.

Newport Twp. Commissioner Mike Roke, who is the police chief in Nanticoke, said he looks forward to both departments utilizing Axel.

We work pretty well, hand-in-hand together, Roke said. We help each other out when requested. It will be an asset to the township for sure.

Roke commended Dubiak for getting the dog and himself trained for K-9 work all on his own.

Dubiak said hes glad he got the dog trained for his new assignment.

Hes probably the best partner you can have, Dubiak said. He doesnt argue.
Scranton teachers protested Wednesday outside the Scranton School District Administration Building. Completing their fourth year under an expired contract, the teachers recently did not vote on a pact that would have altered their health insurance plan and provided limited retroactive pay. The school district billed the contract as its "best and final" offer.
HARRISBURG  Personal information collected during coronavirus contact tracing calls in Pennsylvania is still available online in a document accessible to anyone with a link, Spotlight PA has learned, more than a month after the company responsible said the data had been secured.

The information, contained in an active Google spreadsheet, includes the names of people who were potentially infected with the coronavirus, along with their dates of birth, phone numbers, counties of residence, and notes related to their test status or other personal information.

The entries are dated Oct. 22, 2020, to Nov. 10, 2020, and identify approximately 66 people  many of them minors, according to the birthdays listed. The link to the sheet was provided to Spotlight PA as part of a cache of links that included call scripts used by contact tracers, training materials and other resources.

Insight Global  the company the state Department of Health awarded a $23 million, federally funded emergency contract in July to conduct tracing  did not respond to requests for comment.

Health Department spokesperson Barry Ciccocioppo said the department was unaware the additional link was active and was investigating.

The spreadsheet, which remained active as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, is associated with the Google Drive account of a former employee of Insight Global. Reached Wednesday, the employee said she was unaware the information had been stored in her personal account.

The situation raises questions about how many other documents with personal information might exist in the Google accounts of current and former employees, and therefore not immediately apparent to or under the control of the company or state officials.

James Lee, chief operating officer of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego-based nonprofit that tracks security breaches and assists businesses and consumers with cybersecurity issues, also said shutting down the links doesnt solve the problem unless it can be determined with certainty that no information was copied, downloaded, or saved.

Though no financial information was included in the contact tracing data, details like birthdays, family member names and places of residence could be used for phishing scams or to pass authentication tests to recover passwords or apply for programs like unemployment, he said.

These seemingly innocuous pieces of information can be misused, Lee said. And right now, that is a more common use of information than what we have traditionally thought of in terms of data breaches and identity theft.

Security lapse

The state and Insight Global in late April acknowledged the personal information of as many as 72,000 people had been stored insecurely in Google documents accessible to anyone with a link. The statement came in response to a report by Pittsburgh NBC affiliate WPXI, which obtained links to several spreadsheets containing details of those who had been contacted.

In a statement issued April 29, the company apologized for the security lapse and said it was committed to restoring the trust of any residents of Pennsylvania who may have been impacted. The company said it became aware on April 21 that the data was compromised and immediately took steps, completed by April 23, 2021, to secure and prevent any further access to or disclosure of information.

The firm also said it was working with an unnamed information technology security specialist to determine the nature and scope of the incident. Additionally, Insight Global said it would contact those whose information was compromised and offer credit and identity theft monitoring.

A spokesperson for the Health Department told WPXI that its first priority was to isolate and protect the information that was out there. The links WPXI provided to state officials in April were shut down shortly after inquiries about the problem. The Health Department in late May announced it would terminate the contract with Insight Global by the end of this month.

In interviews with Spotlight PA, several current and former Insight Global contact tracers described a chaotic, disorganized work environment exacerbated by a lack of communication between state health officials, the company and its employees. Guidelines for conducting contact tracing calls changed frequently, and tracers were often not trained properly, they said.

Protocols for assigning and logging completed calls were inconsistent, and the platforms used to manage this information  at various points, a combination of Google Drive, Microsoft Forms, Salesforce, and Sharepoint  were glitchy, cumbersome or not suitable for keeping the data organized and secure, the contact tracers said.

I dont think people at Insight Global were surprised that these things became public at all, one former contact tracer told Spotlight PA, adding that the company was well aware that there were security issues.

The employees asked not to be identified in this report because they were not authorized to speak for the company and feared retaliation.

Named in lawsuit

Both Insight Global, which is based in Atlanta, and the state Health Department are named in a federal lawsuit filed May 5 by an Allegheny County woman who was among those whose personal information was exposed. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, alleges the company was aware of security weaknesses as early as November, and that the state was aware as early as February.A Nov. 30 email from a contact tracer to an Insight Global operations manager attached to the lawsuit complaint outlines a range of security problems, including concerns about privacy violations, and the mishandling of personal health and employee information.

We are overutilizing systems that were not provided for us, which presents many issues, as many features are unavailable/limited or not a safe way to handle sensitive information with employees personal email addresses (Google docs, sheets, email, slack, zoom), the contact tracer wrote.

In a separate email attached to the complaint, dated Feb. 25 and sent to the health department legal counsel office, a former Insight Global employee described concerns about the security of health information.

Since IG made no attempt to correct my concerns (I found multiple issues and several exposures), I was unsure of what to do with the knowledge I had about their lack of security, the employees email, referring to Insight Global, said.

Phil DiLucente, the attorney representing those affected by the security lapse in the lawsuit, said he couldnt comment directly on the link active as of Wednesday, but added it again suggested that unsecured files were maintained by Insight Global.

Insight Global was hired by the state health department to deploy more than 1,000 contact tracers. Contact tracers were supposed to call people who came in contact with someone infected with the coronavirus, inform them of the exposure, and discuss quarantine and testing options. It was intended as a strategy to track and prevent spread of the virus.

An emergency procurement request filed by the health department in July said that the department engaged with multiple staffing agency partners to evaluate whether they could launch a contact tracing program quickly.

After at least two conversations with each agency, the department asked several for a pricing proposal, including details about hourly rates for each position, benefits, and equipment they could provide, including a laptop, headset, and cell phone, the request said.

Insight Global met the request in the most expedient manner and was qualified because it had done similar work in New York, the request said.Throughout the pandemic, contact tracing efforts in many areas of the state were severely hampered by people who were unwilling to answer tracers calls or provide personal information, claiming it was an invasion of privacy.

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HARRISBURG  Flanked by Democrats in the House and Senate, Gov. Tom Wolf took to the steps of the Capitol this week to push for more than $1 billion in new funding for public schools, money that would be funneled through a formula meant to ensure that underserved school districts receive adequate funding.

Wolf, a Democrat, said he believed the decades-old state education funding formula is inadequate and has historically shortchanged schools in both urban and rural districts hanging on by a financial thread.

Making sure that we make the investments with a particular eye, continuing to have a very significant laser focus on the investments we make in education that are fair, that are equitable, and do not do any harm to districts across Pennsylvania  thats gotta be our goal and thats what were gonna work towards, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, said.

The Democrats plea comes as Wolf and the GOP-controlled legislature enter the final weeks of negotiations on enacting a state budget by the June 30 deadline.

This year, the two sides have an advantage: Instead of facing financial shortfalls, the state has $3 billion in extra cash on hand from better-than-expected tax collections. That is on top of more than $7 billion in federal dollars Pennsylvania is receiving in coronavirus relief aid.

Although both Democrats and Republicans have said they are committed to providing every student with a fair and equitable education, they disagree on the best way to achieve that goal.

Wolf signed the fair funding formula into law in 2016 to equitably distribute state education dollars to Pennsylvanias 500 school districts. But it only applies to new investments in education  last year, 11% of state funding, or $700 million, went through the formula.

The rest of the state dollars are distributed through a hold harmless approach, which ensures public school districts never lose funding. But some Democrats and Republicans oppose this policy as it fails to recognize rapidly changing student population numbers, as well as its tendency to neglect urban area schools.

What you see is a collaboration of lawmakers from rural districts and urban districts and suburban districts who know that the ZIP code that you live in should not determine your childs livelihood, nor their opportunities for success, said House Minority Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia.

Wolf wants the legislature to distribute all state education funding through the formula, while also providing $1.15 billion to ensure no school districts lose money. In February, when he initially released his budget proposal, Wolf recommended raising the states personal income tax rate to cover the change.

But now, as the states fortunes have shifted, Democrats say lawmakers should tap into the $3 billion surplus to accommodate the change with no need to raise any taxes.

Republican lawmakers, however, appear unlikely to support the plan, raising concerns about the states actual financial situation.

Due to excess deficit spending from the Wolf administration and budget projections dramatically handicapped by an economy languishing under the governors shutdown over the past year, Pennsylvanias budget situation is not as rosy as Democrats would make it out to be, Jason Gottesman, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, said. While Republicans have and will continue to ensure our commitment to funding education, we are not in a position to use what financial flexibility we do have to make promises beyond our ability to fulfill them.

The decision on how to address the gap in education funding may eventually be taken out of lawmakers hands entirely.

A lawsuit brought by school districts, advocates and students that claims Pennsylvania is violating its constitutional duty to provide a thorough and efficient system of public education is set to be heard in Commonwealth Court later this year. If successful, the lawmakers could be compelled to make significant changes to the process of distributing state dollars.

An analysis prepared by the petitioners found Pennsylvanias public school children are being shortchanged by $4.6 billion, with school districts that serve Black and Latino students disproportionately affected. In Norristown Area School District  where 76% of students are Black and Latino  the analysis revealed that there is a shortfall of $4,645 per student.We struggle each year to develop a budget that provides for our students while remaining fiscally responsible to our taxpayers, Chris Dormer, superintendent of Norristown Area School District, said at the state education funding press conference.

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Pennsylvanias waterways need help. The American Rescue Plan can clearly play a major role in providing this assistance.

At least $500 million  or 7%  of state governments $7 billion share of rescue money should be directed to our huge green infrastructure needs:

 Billions of dollars in water investments are needed on a multitude of fronts to restore 25,468 miles of Pennsylvania waterways that are unsafe for drinking, swimming and fishing.

 Lack of investment in addressing stormwater management and flood prevention leaves many Pennsylvanians highly vulnerable to loss of property, health and life.

 Farmers need help to implement conservation practices such as forested stream buffers to keep soil and nutrients on the land instead of running into the water.

 Untreated abandoned mine drainage, desolate abandoned mined lands and uncapped oil and gas wells harm our water and drag down local economies.

Funding these needs out of the American Rescue Plan would be a great fit. These would be lasting capital investments. They are not operational expenditures that have to be supported with state general funds after the federal money is gone.

Millions of dollars in green infrastructure projects are shovel ready. Many more could be ready in short order if money is made available.

The American Rescue Plan presents a momentous opportunity to begin addressing the commonwealths enormous backlog of green infrastructure needs. In addition to water-related projects, other states are moving to invest broadly in other green infrastructure needs. Stimulus dollars might also be appropriate for addressing our state parks and forests, which need nearly $1 billion in restoration and repair work; and local parks and community open spaces, which have experienced a surge in public usage resulting wear-and-tear in this new era of increased interest in outdoor recreation.

Rescue plan revenue applied to green infrastructure would support myriad small businesses and good-paying jobs. Projects involve surveyors, appraisers, legal services, engineers, planners, drafters, environmental remediators, hydrologists, geologists, agricultural consultants, nurseries, architects, landscape architects, landscapers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, heavy equipment operators, painters, roofing contractors, fencing installers, paving contractors, material delivery, sign makers, archaeologists and arborists. Supplies and equipment would be needed from nurseries, lumber yards, quarries, building material suppliers, hardware stores, equipment manufacturers, and equipment rental businesses.

Investing in Pennsylvanias environment makes strong fiscal sense. It is well established that state environmental investments provide tremendous rates of return  whether the measure is job creation and economic activity, costs avoided  such as public health and flooding  net tax revenues or the well-being of people and communities.
Editor: On May 31, Pat Warner criticized a defender of former President Trump (Neighbors far apart on U.S. direction).

It might interest Warner to know that the American Mint, a Cumberland County coin dealer, recently offered the 10 greatest presidents in color coin set. The set includes George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.

Trump took steps to save thousands of lives during the pandemic. He restricted travel from China while then-candidate Joe Biden called him a xenophobe. He send a hospital ship to New York and ordered construction of a temporary hospital. He initiated Operation Warp Speed, which helped to result in the development of vaccines in record time. He spoke of ultraviolet light, which was used to disinfect New York buses and subways.

Trump ended failed policies that robbed Americans of good-paying jobs, such as President Obamas Trans-Pacific Partnership. He renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement and improved border security. He helped to negotiate treaties. He negotiated some big deals and presided over a good economy and stock market.

Ive read news articles about the twice-impeached president that fail to mention he was twice acquitted. Democrats want an investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection. However, the FBI allegedly gave advance notice to appropriate authorities that failed to take action to protect our Capitol. No advance notice went to Trump, who urged the Jan. 6 crowd to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.

RAYMOND SEVER

FOREST CITY

Editor: Its June and that means Dairy Month is here again.

This year, with COVID-19 restrictions lifting, we have even more ways to celebrate.

Now that people are getting out more, dairy farm tours are starting to open up again. This is an amazing way to see the full process of how milk goes from the dairy farm to your table and you can meet some pretty cute cows along the way.

Another way to mark Dairy Month, which goes hand-in-hand with farm tours, are farm breakfasts. They are another fun activity that some dairy farms do before tours, where they feed their guests a farm style breakfast  often including pancakes, eggs, bacon, and of course, tall glasses of cold milk.

A number of dairy farms in Northeast Pennsylvania offer this experience. An additional and easy way to celebrate Dairy Month would be to throw a dairy party. Invite friends over for milk, yogurt, cheese and of course, ice cream. Who would turn that down?

This is also an easy way to get three daily servings of dairy foods. If you really want to spread some smiles, send a thank-you card to local farmers in your community. Tell them just how much you appreciate their hard work and the nutritious dairy products they produce.

CHARLOTTE QUICK

TUNKHANNOCK,

SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY DAIRY AMBASSADOR
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.

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Ferrari owners are statistically more likely to see their exotic motors sail through an MOT at the first time of asking than drivers of any other make of car, according to analysis of test data held by the DVSA.

The Italian supercar company had an impressive MOT pass rate of 93 per cent in 2020 for vehicles aged 3 to 15 years, suggesting that the ultra-expensive supercars are proving they can endure the test of time despite their highly-strung performance parts - and their owners are, as you'd expect, taking extra special care of their cherished motors.

The top of the list was dominated by prestige car makers, including Bentley, Aston Martin and Porsche, while the opposite end of the spectrum shows that Chevrolets have the highest failure rates of all brands.

Fezzas fly though their MOTs: It shouldn't come as a massive surprise that cars with six-figure price tags are performing well in annual roadworthiness checks...

Of the 6,362 Ferraris aged up to 15 years that had an MOT in 2020, just 443 failed - giving the manufacturer a statistically higher pass rate than any other car maker last year.

Unsurprisingly, the top performers for passing the test were predominantly luxury brands - the cars that cover less annual miles and spend most of their time in the garage or private collections.

Bentley (91.2 per cent), Aston Martin (90.3 per cent) and Porsche (88 per cent) were behind Ferrari for the best pass rates of all car brands on average.

The more mainstream orientated brands with a high pass rate included Infiniti (87.3 per cent pass rate) - Nissan's luxury spin-off marque that's no longer sold in the UK.

Tesla was another strong performer, despite the brand being linked to poor production quality in recent years.

Of the 7,853 electric US models tested in 2020, 1,055 failed - an 86.6 per cent pass rate.

This was marginally better than Japanese car firm Lexus - a regular at the top of the rankings for vehicle reliability surveys.

The maker - owned by Toyota - had an 82.6 per cent MOT pass performance, which put it ahead of Maserati, Mercedes-Benz and the surprise manufacturer in the list, DS.

That said, DS Automobiles has only been a standalone brand since 2015 when it was officially no longer recognised as a sub-marque of Citroen, meaning its pool of cars analysed for the study are significantly younger than the averages for most other makes dating back to 2005.

Some 7% of Ferraris up to 15 years old failed their MOT last year - that's the lowest failure rate of all car brands, according to the DVSA figures shared by BookMyGarage.com

Top 10 brands with lowest MOT failure rate in 2020 of cars aged three to 15 years old and with a minimum of 5,000 tests conducted throughout the year

Chevrolet took last place, with just over half (54.4 per cent) of its cars passing first time - though the US brand hasnt sold any of its mainstream models in the UK since 2014 and therefore has a sample of older vehicles only that are more likely to have suffered from wear and tear.

Jessica Potts, head of marketing at BookMyGarage.com, which requested the MOT data from the DVSA, said it was 'no surprise' to see luxury brands like Ferrari perform best for passing an MOT, given they're likely cherished more than a mainstream car - and the quality you'd expect from such a pricey motor.

'Owners of prestige car brands often cover fewer miles annually as the car is unlikely to be the owners sole vehicle and they are usually maintained to very high standards,' she said.

'MOT pass rates are less indicative of brand reliability and more a representation of how well owners maintain their car and how much of a workhorse a particular brands models tend to become.

'That being said, theres a noticeable dominance of more mainstream Japanese brands in the Top 10, which perhaps goes some way to prove the notion that Japanese cars are indeed very reliable.'

Former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland left-back Denis Irwin poses with a Chevrlet Trax donated to a West Sussex dealership to be used to raise money for charity (picture from 2013, before Chevrolet pulled out of the UK market)

Over a fifth of nearly new cars fail their very first MOT, DVSA stats show

A review of cars taking their MOT for the first time (at three years old) showed that Ferraris came out on top there too, again ahead of rivals Bentley and Aston Martin - though with Porsche dropping to sixth place.

Of the more mainstream brands, it was purely Japanese marques that filled the rest of Top 10, with Subaru and Lexus taking fourth and fifth places, and seventh to tenth occupied by Honda, Infinity, Mazda, and Suzuki respectively.

At the other end of the results, SsangYong fared less successfully, coming in last with a failure rate of just 78.1 per cent - a pretty difficult stat to swallow for customers who had forked out on their new cars just 36 months earlier.

However, success at a test centre is as much about the keeper's maintenance as it is about the durability of the motors and their parts.

The most common MOT fails are due to owner neglect - such as the 6.8 per cent of cars that flunk the assessment because of badly worn tyres.

The average pass rate for cars sitting their test for the very first time was 78.1 per cent, the figures show.
Everybody thinks they have a book in them, is the old saying, but I reckon nowadays theres a new version of that: Everybody thinks they have a business in them.

Over the past decade, Britain has seen a surge in entrepreneurial spirit.

Studies have repeatedly shown that many of todays cohort of school leavers and graduates want to start their own business, either now or in the future.

And many say that when they do seek a job, theyd like it be with a company where their entrepreneurial spirit can be harnessed and nurtured.

For many of these ambitious souls, employment is somewhere they can learn the ropes of running a business before one day hoping to start their own.

Dragons' Den judges, such as Sarah Willingham, left, and success stories, such as Levi Roots, right, have also helped increase the profile of entrepreneurial spirit

For a generation that has grown up watching disruptive businesses emerge and become household names in record time, this is no surprise.

On a more accessible level than dreaming up the new Amazon, Facebook or Tesla, is the popularity of entrepreneurs closer to home, such as the Dragons' Den judges and success stories.

But for every twentysomething dreaming of being the next Elon Musk, Sarah Willingham, or Levi Roots, there is also a wiser older head with years of experience in business, who harbours the desire to break out of employment and start up themselves.

And then there are the existing small businessmen and women: the backbone of the British economy.

The people who are out there creating jobs, growing the countrys fortunes, innovating, persevering and making Britain and its towns, cities and villages a better place to live.

And while the past year has almost certainly felt tough for many of our small businesses, there is some good news.

Things are getting better, the economy is reopening and Britons are sitting on an estimated 150billion cash pile of lockdown savings, according to the Bank of England, that many are eager to get out and spend some of.

But even through the gloomy days of lockdowns before the vaccines arrived, there were successful entrepreneurs telling us that tough times can be the best for starting, pivoting, or growing a business.

Peter Hargreaves started Hargreaves Lansdown from a Bristol bedroom with Stephen Lansdown

In an interview with This is Money last October, Peter Hargreaves told us: 'Right now is a fantastic time to launch a business, especially those who are working for companies that are struggling.

'They are in a great position to set up cheaply and challenge the bigger guys.

'People are also doing things they've never done before which entrepreneurs should take advantage of.

Peter Hargreaves is the co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown, a business that revolutionised DIY consumer investing in Britain, and is now a FTSE 100 giant worth almost 8billion.

It was started in a bedroom in Bristol, by Hargreaves and his co-founder Stephen Lansdown, who decided they had an idea for a better way of doing things for individual investors and went for it.

They capitalised on their opportunities, spotted how the emerging digital world could help them and grew a household name from scratch.

'Right now is a fantastic time to launch a business Peter Hargreaves

The pandemic and lockdowns may not seem the time to take a risk, but I have been inspired over the past 15 months by the stories weve heard from small businesses and then told to This is Moneys readers.

People who pivoted their businesses, decided not to abandon their launch, or even came up with ideas and launched them in lockdown.

Lockdown has led to a clear digital opportunity, with talk of five years worth of change in one.

But that doesnt just help those trading online; small businesses tell me it has been a major advantage in reaching customers, finding suppliers, arranging meetings over Zoom or Teams with people they would have once struggled to get with face-to-face. Some say it has even helped with doing deals.

As the economy reopens and lockdown eases, a boom has been forecast by the Bank of England, with Britons expected to spend some of their 150bn of savings built up

In a world of unicorns and high growth disruptive firms, it is easy for digital businesses to grab the headlines, but the small businesses that are the backbone of our economy are not necessarily the hot property ones.

We should pay tribute to the shops, the cafes, the pubs, the restaurants, the delivery firms, the manufacturers, the electricians, plumbers and builders and more  in fact, to all those whose businesses were hugely disrupted.

Some were ordered to shut repeatedly. Meanwhile, those that were deemed essential had to work out how to stay open, while keeping staff and customers safe, and do things such as get shelves stocked, peoples boilers fixed, or items delivered.

All this came while the country was more fearful than at any time since the Second World War, but the stories that we have heard have been amazing.

They were of businesses adjusting, pivoting, and finding new customers, but also working out ways to help out their local communities  perhaps getting the young, the old, the vulnerable everything they needed  and simply putting a smile on peoples faces.

It pales in comparison but editorially we have tried to do our bit to support small businesses: we have fought their corners, argued for better government support, and told their stories.

We want to encourage entrepreneurs and small businesses and help people turn their business ideas and dreams into reality. With a bounce-back boom forecast, now might be the time to do that - come read our Small Business section for inspiration.

This column is an adapted version of a speech Simon Lambert recently gave at the Federation of Small Business Awards.
Hong Kong: HK backs digital transformation

Secretary for Innovation & Technology Alfred Sit

Postponed for more than half a year, the GS1 Hong Kong Summit, together with the GOVirtual Business Expo & Conference, is the first large-scale physical exhibition focusing on virtual business technology since the epidemic. As we have just overcome the fourth wave, I would say today's summit and the expo is indeed an opportune time for the industry to readjust business strategies after consolidating their experiences under the new normal, thereby creating new value for both the business community as well as Hong Kong economy.

COVID-19 epidemic has brought suffering to all. Businesses such as retail sector, brand owners, manufacturers and key distributors have been hard hit for almost one and a half year. While unfortunately some companies were not able to survive the epidemic, those who stayed on were obliged to rethink, repurpose and rebuild their business models in order to keep up with the sales and create new value in the post-epidemic era. Some brands have in fact responded swiftly to the changing economic landscape and still managed to release new products in this challenging time. For instance, to alleviate the global shortage of essential medical devices and help patients, some companies which are well known for their electronic household appliances promptly designed new ventilators in just around 10 days.

We have witnessed in Hong Kong many local manufacturers and businessmen who transformed their own manufacturing facilities into dust-free clean rooms or set up new manufacturing lines in order to produce face masks for local consumption. We have demonstrated to the world our flexibility and capability at every level, from the sourcing of factory space to procuring raw materials and necessary equipment which are all concrete evidence of our strength. In the face of adversity, by and large inevitable at this time, it is important for the business sector to quickly assess business opportunities, create plans, and commit to a way forward where we could all see opportunities, and even more importantly, hope.

Digital transformation is indeed the hope to businesses under the new normal. Anyone who tries to keep its presence in the sector, whichever it is, could no longer turn away from the benefit brought by the transformation. As a matter of fact, for the past few years, companies have gradually made use of robots, autonomous vehicles and drones in the automation of manufacturing and logistics operations, which have significantly reduced their reliance on labour force and potential human error. With the assistance of Internet of Things devices, the movement of raw materials and inventory could be easily tracked. Furthermore, the implementation of blockchain technology and social media analytic tools throughout the production could provide real-time traceability at any point of the supply chain, generate and analyse useful data for management to make prompt strategic business decisions anytime, anywhere, thereby generating more new values to their products and services.

The Government has made strenuous efforts in assisting enterprises throughout the anti-epidemic battle. Apart from the Distance Business Programme launched under the Anti-epidemic Fund to support enterprises to adopt information technology solutions to continue business and services during the pandemic, we also support enterprises and manufacturers through other funding schemes, for instance the Public Sector Trial Scheme, the Technology Voucher Programme and the Re-industrialisation Funding Scheme in realising and commercialising their research and development outcomes, using technological services to improve their productivity and upgrading their business processes, and setting up smart production lines in Hong Kong, all of which are conducive to the development of Industry 4.0 and smart city in the aftermath of the epidemic.

Despite that the epidemic condition in our community is generally under control, in the light of the severity of the epidemic in some countries as well as its variants, it is difficult to say that we are safe. Vaccination is the only and obvious solution to curb the epidemic and its resurgence. I wish to take this opportunity to call on your support, as well as that from your fellow colleagues, to get vaccinated as soon as possible. With this right approach, if not the only one, I am sure that businesses can ride out the storm and become stronger, more agile, and more customer-centric than before.

Secretary for Innovation & Technology Alfred Sit gave these remarks at the GS1 Hong Kong Summit on June 10.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
George Green speaks to the crowd gathered at Ernest Eikel Park during the Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 8, 2019. Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of the last enslaved people of the United States.
ALBANY  Urban residents will have an opportunity to escape summer in the city, thanks to an innovative program supported by a number of organizations and CDTA.

The Nature Bus, as the program is being called, will be the ticket to some of the region's top natural attractions, where families and individuals can spend the day hiking and picnicking. And thanks to the support of organizations including the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, Friends of Thacher Park, Friends of Tivoli Lake Preserve, Pine Hollow Arboretum, Albany County, and MVP Health Care, the program is free.

The Nature Bus will operate on Saturdays beginning this weekend, June 12, through Sept. 25.

Local and state officials gathered Thursday morning at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, one of the attractions the Nature Bus will visit, to announce the program.

Access to nature is something we all need, but not something we all have access to," said Sarah Walsh, conservation director at the Land Conservancy and architect of the partnership. "Through Nature Bus, we will take an important and long overdue step towards ensuring access to these spaces for everyone.

The Nature Bus, Route #872 operates frequently enough that passengers likely can visit more than one stop each day. The CDTA app for iPhones and Androids will provide real-time schedule information and can be downloaded for free at either app store.

The bus stops at each of the following locations in the City of Albany: Livingston and Lark, North Pearl and State, South Pearl and State, Second and South Pearl, Second/Whitehall and Delaware, and Whitehall and New Scotland.

Destinations include Tivoli Lake Preserve and Farm, Albany; Pine Hollow Arboretum, Slingerlands; Albany County Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail, Slingerlands; Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, Delmar; Hilton Barn Park & Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail, Voorheesville; John Boyd Thacher State Park, Voorheesville; Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancys Bennett Hill Preserve, Clarksville; Lawson Lake County Park, Feura Bush; and Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancys Normans Kill West Preserve, Delmar.

Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult when visiting Five Rivers, Thacher Park, and Pine Hollow Arboretum.

"We are committed to providing new and improved ways to enhance transportation services, and the Nature Bus is an innovative program that will

provide services to communities who may not have access to these beautiful, nature sites, said Carm Basile, CEO of the CDTA.

Now that there's a template for providing such services, officials said they hope it can be replicated.

"We look forward to discussions on howto expand the service throughout the Capital Region and New York state in the future," said Walsh. Further details on the program are available here.
This story is part of "A City Divided," a series examining how Albany became divided along racial lines.

ALBANY  It had been 20 days since her last asthma attack, so on this spring morning Gloria McKenzie grabbed her inhaler, took one sweeping breath, and looked out her window.

She saw a family of seven pack their belongings into a U-Haul, preparing to leave Ezra Prentice Homes in the city's South End neighborhood. The subsidized housing complex has been McKenzies home for nearly 50 years. Now it was the place her 38-year-old daughter, Kimberly Jones, was trying to move her from  because, they believe, the area was causing residents health to deteriorate.

Looks like theyre moving out  but that wont be me anytime soon; you can bet on that, McKenzie said as she waited for Jones to drop by and perhaps attempt to persuade her to leave Ezra Prentice for good. It might take a year: Jones expected she would have enough by then for a down payment on a home.

McKenzie, 68, walked back to her green chair. Around her were reminders of how Ezra Prentice, which is roughly 300 yards from the Port of Albany, had possibly damaged her health. There was the air purifier behind her couch. The state Department of Environmental Conservation had found that traffic-related air pollution was high in Ezra Prentice due its proximity to industrial plants. There was the machine that helped her breathe and sleep past the sound of trains rumbling nightly near her one-bedroom apartment. She wondered if the oil they carry contributed to her loss of smell. And to keep McKenzies coughing at bay, there were the two air conditioning units, which the Albany Housing Authority had installed after her doctor wrote them a letter that began: Due to Gloria McKenzies health .... 

This is life in Ezra Prentice, where 16 buildings stand on a site that today would likely not be approved for apartments, much less federally subsidized housing for the citys lowest-income residents, according to historians, former local officials and activists battling what they see as a dangerous case study in environmental racism.

Will Waldron/Albany Times Union

Ezra Prentice is bisected by a major roadway, South Pearl Street, that's regularly used by a large number of diesel trucks serving the port and other nearby industrial concerns. The complex is in close proximity to I-787, Albany Countys wastewater treatment plant, a bulk petroleum storage site and a marine transfer facility.

The placement of the public housing project is rooted in the construction of Empire State Plaza, which began in the 1960s. The project ushered in by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor Erastus Corning II displaced at least 7,000 residents. Most displaced white residents had an easy time finding housing in the the city's outlying neighborhoods and suburbs. But many displaced Black residents were shepherded in the early 1970s by officials and a relocation agency to public housing projects, such as Ezra Prentice, placed in the center of an already sprawling industrial zone on South Pearl, where pollution was higher, air quality was worse and tranquility was nearly impossible due to the sound of screeching trains.

McKenzie moved into the complex in August 1975 as a single parent, carrying boxes of diapers, her two daughters and a hope that her lack of a high-school diploma wouldnt prevent her from providing for her children.

Inside McKenzies unit is evidence of success: her childrens high-school diplomas, honor roll certificates from her grandsons and awards from Albany County recognizing her extraordinary achievements as a former public assistance recipient and moving to economic independence after working as a legal clerk.

We recognize the sacrifices she made, the countys proclamation read. But McKenzie, thinking of where she was living, thinking of how many times the county and the city and the state had diagnosed the problem of pollution but never solved it, has since asked herself: What about the sacrifices to my health?

So she began fighting for her neighbors, becoming president of the Ezra Prentice Tenant Association. But solutions were elusive: Was the answer to take mitigating steps such as rerouting vehicles and monitoring benzene concentrations? Or was it scrapping the complex entirely as irredeemable?

Where will we move to? McKenzie recalled residents asking her.

County Executive Dan McCoy said in 2014 that the best solution was to move everyone. Mayor Kathy Sheehan said that same year that the rail carriers and oil industry had a responsibility to pay for better safety conditions at Ezra Prentice. But there has been no mass exodus and no financial compensation. And threats still continue to arise: This year, Waste Management of New York asked the state DEC to approve a permit modification to allow it to accept municipal solid waste at its transfer station at the port, about 1,000 feet from Ezra Prentice. The company backtracked after public opposition.

McKenzie stepped down as president of the tenant association; she's now treasurer. But she continued to ask similar questions of officials: What would moving look like? Would rent increase?

Over the decades, McKenzies contempt for inaction was tempered by everything about Ezra Prentice that brought her joy. This was, after all, her community  the place where children ran laughing on a nearby playground, where neighbors came over for dinner, where she had seen her kids grow.

But those children were playing beside train tracks; in 2013, 7-year-old Qazir Sutherland had been hit by a car and killed while crossing the road. Some of McKenzie's neighbors had died from cancer or conditions related to breathing issues, and she suspected it stemmed from the pollution. Her children were now grown, and one was spending considerable energy trying to get her out of there.

As McKenzie waited for her daughter to arrive that spring day, Tarea Alston, the vice president of the tenants association, dropped by.

McKenzie told Alston about her daughter's plans: Shes saying, Oh you need to move.

Theres mixed opinions here, said Alston, who was dealing with the consequences of pollution herself: She had developed asthma, and one of her sons had suffered from pneumonia. No one in her family had ever had asthma or breathing issues, but now a doctor was telling her that their conditions could be rooted in environmental causes.

I would rather go back to the way things were, McKenzie said.

We didnt really acknowledge the pollution then, Alston said. But over time, people started getting sick, huh?

McKenzie shifted in her chair, cleared her throat, coughed again. Yeah, she said. People were getting sick. And they didnt want to tell us why.

McKenzie watched Family Feud that afternoon, waiting for her daughter. Outside her window was a view of a train, carrying cargo labeled as limestone slurry.

Surrounding the TV were photos of her family. There on the cupboard was a picture of her father, who had migrated north from South Carolina. Propped against the lamp was an image of her mother, a Native American woman. She thought of how the her mothers ancestors land had been taken, her people forced to live in areas deemed undesirable. She thought of the racism her father had experienced as a Black man in Albany.

And now, as the passing train muffled the sound of the families on the screen, she was reminded of how she was inheriting those struggles.

It's not just Ezra Prentice, either: A 2019 report from the state Department of Health found that South End residents were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized for hypertension and diabetes compared to all Albany County residents, and three times more likely to be hospitalized for acute bronchitis and asthma. As a Black woman with asthma, McKenzie had been more likely to die from COVID-19 before receiving her vaccine.

McKenzie heard a knock, and in walked Jones.

Hey there, McKenzie said.

Mother and daughter love to tease each other, bringing up memories of cookouts, birthdays, proms. But then Jones would also bring up the idea of moving McKenzie away from where those memories had been created. This is whats best, Jones would say.

Jones had enrolled in a first-time homebuyers program, searching for grants after work. One thing was certain in her mind: Whenever she's able to buy a house for her family of four, McKenzie was moving with them.

"I dont care where, but youre coming, Jones said as the two women sat on the couch.

McKenzie shrugged. I just like it here, she said. Im happy. Im satisfied.

Do you feel like your health is getting worse? Jones asked.

No, McKenzie said, and then again, softly, No.

Jones kept her eyes fixed on her mother.

Well, its just my asthma. My asthma, McKenzie said. Thats it.

After an hour, there was no final resolution. Jones left and promised to be back soon. The U-Haul outside drove off in the opposite direction from where the diesel trucks were heading.

A train hummed. A kitchen fan whirred. McKenzie coughed and looked out the window at the side of a metallic-yellow rail car, plastered with a black and bolded sign.

WARNING, it read.
ALBANY  I dont think its going too far to say that the Albany Police Department is in crisis.

Morale is low, with many officers convinced that support from the mayors office is lacking. Some chunk of the populace, meanwhile, is suspicious of the department and its mission.

And, most significantly, the city is experiencing a continuing and terrifying surge in violent crime. Among the six killed just in May were two teenagers, Chyna Forney and Destiny Greene, and a bystander, Sharf Addalim, returning to work from afternoon prayer.

Given all that, and more, Albany needs a police chief committed to the city. It needs a leader determined to chaperone it through the turbulence and stick it out until better times arrive.

That isnt what Albany has.

We just learned that Police Chief Eric Hawkins, 53, is a finalist for the same job in Akron, Ohio, a city twice the size of Albany near Cleveland. The news was not surprising.

Hawkins, who came to the city three years ago from a suburb of Detroit, never seemed likely to stick around. Why would he? Given that much of his family, and perhaps also his heart, remained in Michigan, what would keep him here?

Sure, Hawkins said all the right things. "Im loving the city of Albany," the married father of an adult son and daughter told this newspaper in 2019. "Im looking forward to spending many, many years here."

Yet there has always been a distance to Hawkins atypical of police chiefs in Albany. He didnt buy a house here. He kept himself buffered, living on the far western edge of the city and declining, for what its worth, to give his cellphone number to reporters.

I questioned the hiring of Hawkins when it was announced during the summer of 2018, but the criticism wasn't about him. Hawkins was and is eminently qualified, the consummate professional.

It just didnt make sense to me that Bob Sears, for 18 months the departments acting chief, would be passed over largely because he lived outside the city and wasnt willing to uproot his family to fulfill the residency requirement.

If commitment to Albany was such a vital factor, how did it make sense to cast aside a guy who grew up on Hurlbut Street for someone from 560 miles away?

Sears, meanwhile, was the latest in a string of excellent, reform-minded chiefs who knew Albanys streets and alleys and led with an honest commitment to community policing. The others in the chain, Brendan Cox and Steve Krokoff, were hired from within, proving the quality within the department.

Mayor Kathy Sheehan, also from the Midwest, could justify hiring from outside the city. Newcomers brings new perspectives. And perhaps a Black chief from elsewhere was especially able to see the biases, local and national alike, that infect business-as-usual policing.

I get social injustice because Ive heard the stories from my parents, Ive heard it from my grandparents, I lived it, Hawkins said through a megaphone to a crowd of skeptical protesters last year. "Thats one of the reasons why I wear a uniform."

So, an obvious question: Has Hawkins been a good chief?

The homicide rate would suggest not, but that probably isnt fair. Crime is surging in cities all around the country, so whatever is causing the increase isnt unique to Albany, Hawkins or Sheehan.

And lets acknowledge that his tenure in Albany has been dominated by extreme circumstances unseen by prior chiefs. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted normal policing and is perhaps responsible for pent-up frustration that is leading to more crime.

The killing of George Floyd, meanwhile, led to necessary attention to some of the problems with American policing but has also contributed to that depressed morale I mentioned earlier. This isnt an easy time to be a cop or a police chief.

But if Hawkins leaves for Akron, a three-hour drive from Detroit, will his tenure have left a mark? Will it have been notable for anything at all?

The answer, I think, is no, meaning that if Hawkins wants to leave a legacy, he will need to stick around. Hell need to guide the department through its current crisis. He'll need to implement planned reforms and combat rising crime.

Maybe he will. Hawkins hasnt left yet, after all.

"I hope he stays," Sheehan told Times Union reporter Robert Gavin, noting that the draw of bigger cities is often a lure for the ambitious and highly qualified. "Im not going to wish him luck in his follow-up interview."

If Hawkins does stay, though, residents will know their police chief sought to leave. As it confronts an epidemic of gun violence, Albany will believe Hawkins isnt as committed as the city needs him to be.

And thats a problem.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
PARIS (AP)  French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday announced the future reduction of Frances military presence fighting Islamic extremism in Africas Sahel region.

In a news conference, Macron spoke about the profound transformation" of Frances military operation in Mali and neighboring countries  without giving a timeframe.

France's Operation Barkhane will formally end, he said, and will be replaced by another mission focused on fighting Islamic extremists that relies more on regional partners.

Details will be unveiled at the end of June, he said, including on the number of troops France is keeping in the region. France now has more than 5,000 troops in the Sahel.

The final goal is to reduce our multiple military deployments in the region, he said.

Im saying it again: France is in Africa only at the request of Africans ... to fight against terrorism, Macron added. But the shape of our presence, an operation abroad involving 5,000 troops, is not adapted any more to the reality of the combats.

He said France will focus in the future on deploying special forces, in cooperation with other European countries, as part of the so-called Takuba task force that is meant to play an increasing role in the fight against extremists.

A French top official said it will take several months to implement the changes. Paris will first hold talks with its European and African partners, he said.

Several thousand French troops will remain in the region in total, participating in various operations including the new cooperation mission.

In the end, the French presence in Sahel will remain significant, the official said. He was speaking anonymously in accordance with the presidencys customary practice.

French troops have been present in Mali since 2013 when they intervened to force Islamic extremist rebels from power in towns across the country's north. Operation Serval was later replaced by Barkhane and was expanded to include Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania in an effort to help stabilize the broader Sahel region.

Islamic militants, though, have continued to launch devastating attacks against the militaries fighting them as well as increasingly against civilians. About a week ago, extremists in Burkina Faso launched the deadliest attack in years, leaving at least 132 people dead.

Hundreds also have died since January in a series of massacres targeting villages on the border of Niger and Mali.

While governments in the Sahel have embraced France's military help, some critics have likened their presence to a vestige of French colonial rule.

Conflict analysts say the move could be linked to political instability in Mali. France's announcement comes days after Mali coup leader Col. Assimi Goita was sworn as president of a transitional government, solidifying his grip on power in the West African nation after carrying out his second coup in nine months.

Michael Shurkin, director of global programs at 14 North Strategies, a consultancy based in Dakar, Senegal, said: (The) truth is that Frances strategy can only work if the Malians do their part, which means improving governance. But Goitas serial coups suggest the Malians arent.

Siaka Coulibaly, an analyst with the Center for Public Policy Monitoring by Citizens, in Burkina Faso, said the decision wasnt a surprise, but worried about the consequences of the troop reduction.

The reduction of Barkhane troops will not have an impact on Mali since Russian troops will arrive and replace them. Meanwhile the reduction will have an impact on Burkina Faso, because the terrorists will try to move towards Burkina Faso and they could probably spread to the south, Coulibaly said.

A 31-year-old Nigerien staffer on Barkhanes army base in Nigers capital, Niamey, told the AP its not fair and not normal that the situation in Mali should impact the situation in Niger. The AP is not using his name to protect his identity.

____

AP Writer Sam Mednick contributed to the story from Niamey, Niger.
SARATOGA SPRINGS  The legend of the potato chip being inspired by 19th-century railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt was meant to sell more chips.

But in the city of its origin, it caused a public outcry - a battle between beloved socialite and philanthropist Marylou Whitney and Saratoga County historian Violet Dunn.

First the story. The oft-told tale is set in 1853. It portrays Vanderbilt, known as "The Commodore," as a finicky diner at Moons Lake House on Saratoga Lake who, when served french fried potatoes that he deemed too fat, ordered them back to the kitchen.

The irked chef, George Crum, sliced a tuber so thin that the pieces crisped when fried, sprinkled them generously with salt and sent them back to Vanderbilts table. "The Commodore" loved them.

And thus the Saratoga chip - and all other potato chips to follow - was allegedly born.

The spat between Whitney and Dunn started nearly 125 years later in 1976 when a friend of Whitney's sent her a printed version of the story. The following year, Whitney, wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, grabbed onto the legend and made it the centerpiece of her ball, the glittering gala she hosted annually to usher in the Whitney Stakes at the Saratoga Race Course.

The New York Times covered the party, writing the potato chip theme was as legitimate as could be, because according to Mrs. Whitney, her husbands great-great-grandfather was responsible for the potato chip. The writer than went on to describe the fashion and decor and list the horse racing notables there. And yes, freshly fried potato chips were served on silver trays.

Crunch!: A History of the Great American Potato Chip, by Dirk Burhans, picks up the story.

Dunn stated on local television that, after extensive research, she had found no evidence that Cornelius Vanderbilt was the fussy patron who sent the potatoes back, the book notes.

Dunn then called Whitney an opportunist who merely seized upon the potato chip story as a theme for one of her parties, he wrote.

The books author continues that Whitney defended her choice, saying her assumptions were innocent as they were culled from a newspaper clipping. Then she threatened to take her fashionable balls elsewhere.

Saratoga Springs officials met, some suggesting that historian Dunn had harmed the city of Saratoga, that Mrs. Whitney might sue the county, and that Dunn should apologize, the author wrote. A city official warned Dunn, Saratoga Springs isnt going to forget this, to which she replied I hope they wont.

Apparently, Burhans wrote,"the county Board of Supervisors apologized to Whitney saying the rich and famous were entitled to come to Saratoga free from harassment over trivia.'

Newspaper editorials and published letters, he said, also weighed in on the subject. Eventually, the flare-up died down. It ended with Whitney inviting Dunn to a ball. Dunn accepted and a detente was reached.

The legend, the citys potato chip historian Alan Richer said, is likely a Harvey Noss fabrication. Richer said Noss was promoting the potato chip as the founder of the Snack Food Association of the United States.

Harvey promoted the story, Richer said. I think he did it because putting a famous name to it is more interesting and attractive. If it was Joe Schmoe, no one would care.

Despite Dunn's effort to debunk the legend, the story persists. The History Channels The Food that Built America recently repeated the story while noting it is unfounded. It is also retold on websites like The Original Saratoga Chip and, Richer said, used to be printed on the back of Stewarts Shops potato chips.

Richer also said evidence shows a potato chip recipe was listed in an 1817 cookbook by William Kitchiner. Moreover, The New York Herald in 1849 named Eliza, the cook, whose potato frying reputation is one of the prominent matters of remark at Saratoga. Then there is the story of Kate Wicks, Crum's sister, who supposedly invented the chip after a sliver of potato accidentally slipped into a cruller machine. It could be, Richer said, that more than one person created the chip.

Nobody knows for sure who invented the potato chip," Richer said.

Though aware of its dubious origins, Whitney reprinted the tale in 2003 in her "Potato Chip Cookbook," originally published for the 1977 gala. She sold the reprinted cookbook as a fundraiser for Double H Hole in the Woods. It's unclear if Dunn resurfaced to object.

Regardless, that was more than 40 years ago and few remember the rift. Even Whitney widower John Hendrickson said "it was before his time." But he did admit that Whitney knew the story was suspicious.

She just wanted to throw a party," he said.
An attorney representing a man who told police he was texting when he fatally struck a police officer with his vehicle asked a judge to send the case back to the grand jury when records showed the driver was not on his phone
Authorities say a man arrested in a violent robbery in Delaware earlier this week will face charges in the slaying of a donut shop manager during a robbery that took place over the weekend
Former Wisconsin governors Jim Doyle and Scott Walker dont agree on much, but they are joining together to call for people to get the COVID-19 vaccine in a new public service television advertisement released Thursday
A proposed coronavirus relief fund and policy bill for North Carolinas K-12 schools also would delay by one year the implementation of new social studies standards
[June 10, 2021] AInnovation Completes Series D Financing, Further Focusing on Smart Manufacturing

BEIJING, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, AInnovation announced that it has completed Series D financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2*. After this round, AInnovation will continue to focus on empowering the manufacturing industry with artificial intelligence and become a leading provider of industry intelligence transformation solutions. Dr. Eric Chen, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers: "The smart manufacturing area focused by AInnovation has considerable value-added potential for its customers. We are pleased to support AInnovation in applying its technology to help enterprises and continuing its innovation." Hocking Xu, Co-Founder & CEO at AInnovation: "China has a comprehensive range of manufacturing industries and a large industrial scale, and many fields are worth exploring and upgrading with AI technology. AInnovation focuses on iron and steel metallurgy, engineering and construction, OLED panel, automotive equipment, energy and power, high-tech/3C and other subsectors. We have launched a variety of industry leading and AI products and soutions for specific industries, and have won recognition from many industry benchmark customers."



Based on its computer vision and machine learning technologies, AInnovation has developed three proprietary platforms including ManuVision Intelligent Machine Vision Platform, MatrixVision Intelligent Edge Video Platform, and Orion Distributed Machine Learning Platform, to accumulate algorithm assets and provide rapidly deployable products and solutions. Because of its innovations in applying AI in manufacturing industry, AInnovation has been listed by Gartner as global machine vision "Example vendor" and "Cool Vendor" in AI for Computer Vision. * As of the date of this press release, SoftBank Group Corp. has made capital contributions to allow investments by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 ("SVF 2") in certain portfolio companies. The information included herein is made for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy limited partnership interests in any fund, including SVF 2. SVF 2 has yet to have an external close, and any potential third-party investors shall receive additional information related to any SVF 2 investments prior to closing.

About AInnovation AInnovation was established in March 2018. With the mission of AI empowering business value, it is committed to providing AI-enabled products and business solutions with cutting-edge AI technology to help traditional industries reduce costs, improve efficiency and business value, and realize intelligent transformation. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ainnovation-completes-series-d-financing-further-focusing-on-smart-manufacturing-301309958.html SOURCE AInnovation

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[June 10, 2021] Allfunds and iCapital Network Announce Strategic Partnership to Improve Global Client Access to Private Markets

Allfunds, one of the worlds largest fund distribution platform and wealthtech industry leader, and iCapital Network1, the leading global financial technology platform driving access and efficiency in alternative investing for the asset and wealth management industries, today announced a strategic partnership through which iCapital will provide private market investment opportunities complementing the sub-advisory solutions currently available to the Allfunds global distributor network. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005176/en/ Through the partnership, Allfunds distributors and their individual investors, along with small institutional investors, will be able to leverage iCapital's technology and fund solutions to access a broad range of private market funds from premier managers across geographies and strategies - including private equity, private debt, and real assets - with lower minimum investment levels. The private market funds will be available through Allfunds Connect to Allfunds distributors, including major commercial and private banks, from over 60 different countries. In addition to its fund selection and structuring capabilities, iCapital will provide its digital technology solution that automates the subscription and client servicing processes of alternative investing during the entire investment lifecycle, eliminating the operational difficulties and manual, paper-based processes that advisors and their clients have historically faced when investing in private markets. iCapital's technology will be integrated with Allfunds Connect, a digital ecosystem of tools and services across fund analysis, selection, and trading for distributors and investors. Allfunds distributors will benefit from the scale of the Allfunds platform which provides unique and efficient access to products and solutions from private market managers which are otherwise very difficult to access. The integration of the iCapital technology into Allfunds Connect will provide distributors a seamless investment and selection experience and a true one-stop solution for their liquid and illiquid investment needs. "This partnership with iCapital is demonstrative of our commitment to expand our product offering into private markets with best-of-breed third-party solutions for our Allfunds Connect clients and to continue optimizing fund distribution. iCapital's technology ensures a superior digital client experience when investing in this increasingly important asset class," said Juan Alcaraz, CEO of Allfunds. "iCapital is a global leader and a trusted name in alternative investing solutions and we are delighted to partner with them in bringing this innovative solution to our clients." "We are enormously excited to forge this partnershipwith Allfunds and support their efforts to be at the forefront of expanding access to private markets," said Lawrence Calcano, Chairman and CEO of iCapital Network. "This partnership is emblematic of the great strides iCapital has made to provide better access, efficiency and transparency for the global wealth management industry which is increasingly seeking private market investing strategies for clients."



"Wealth creation is increasingly taking place outside the public market opportunities commonly available to most investors. This unique partnership offers access to the growth and diversification opportunities the private markets can provide for banks and wealth managers to enhance client portfolios," said Marco Bizzozero, Head of International at iCapital Network. "This is a key milestone in our international expansion, and we are extremely pleased to partner with Allfunds, a recognized world leader in fund distribution, to facilitate access to a broader number of investors and advisors to private markets investment opportunities." About Allfunds

Allfunds is one of the worlds largest fund distribution network and a leader in wealthtech solutions. By creating a transparent, independent, and low-cost platform, fund houses and distributors benefit from best-in-class digital tools including data & analytics, portfolio & reporting, research, dealing and regulatory services. Additionally, Allfunds offers through its digital ecosystem solution "Connect", a comprehensive sub-advisory offering via its business arm Allsolutions and revolutionary blockchain technology through its entity Allfunds Blockchain.

Allfunds has more than 1.3 trillion assets under administration and offers more than 100,000 funds from more than 1,960 fund houses. Allfunds has a presence in Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Sweden, France, Hong Kong, Poland, and Miami and access to a network of around 1,500 distributors, including major commercial banks, private banks, insurance companies, fund managers, international brokers, and specialist firms from over 59 different countries. All figures as of 31.03.2021 About iCapital Network

Founded in 2013 in NYC, iCapital Network is a global financial technology company powering the world's alternative investment marketplace. It has transformed the way the wealth management, banking, and asset management industries facilitate access to private markets investments for their high-net-worth clients by providing intuitive, end-to-end technology and service solutions. Wealth management firms use iCapital's solutions to provide clients with quality funds at lower minimums and simplified digital workflows. Asset managers and banks leverage iCapital's technology to streamline and scale their private investments operational infrastructure. Additionally, the iCapital 'flagship' platform offers financial advisors and their high-net-worth clients access to a curated menu of private equity, private credit, hedge funds, and other alternative investments to help meet their investing needs for return and diversification. iCapital's research and diligence team offers robust analysis alongside the firm's extensive suite of advisor education, compliance, portfolio management, and portfolio analytics tools and services. iCapital was recognized on the Forbes FinTech 50 list in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, the Forbes America's Best Startup Employers in 2021, and MMI/Barron's Industry Awards as Solutions Provider of the Year in 2020. As of April 30, 2021, iCapital Network has more than 400 employees and services $75 billion in global client assets across more than 750 funds. Headquartered in New York, it also has offices in Zurich, London, Lisbon, and Hong Kong. For additional information, please visit iCapital Network's website at www.icapitalnetwork.com | LinkedIn (News - Alert) : https://www.linkedin.com/company/icapital-network-inc | Twitter (News - Alert) : @icapitalnetwork See disclosures here. 1 Institutional Capital Network, Inc., and its affiliates (together, "iCapital Network" or "iCapital") View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005176/en/

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[June 10, 2021] AM Best Revises Issuer Credit Rating Outlooks to Stable for Members of Andover Companies Pool

AM Best has revised the outlooks to stable from negative for the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) and affirmed the Financial Strength Ratings (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICRs of "a+" (Excellent) for the members of Andover Companies Pool (Andover), which consists of Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company and its majority-owned subsidiary, Bay State Insurance Company, and its affiliate, Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company. The outlooks of the FSRs are stable. All companies are domiciled in Andover, MA. The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect Andover's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, favorable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). The revised Long-Term ICR outlook to stable from negative is based on AM Best's expectation that Andover will maintain its very strong overall balance sheet strength, benefitting from management's strategic initiatives that will support more stable operating performance over the intermediate term, as well as a rebound in the market value of its substantial equity portfolio. Andover's high common stock leverage is somewhat mitigated by its diversification, through investment guidelines that set minimum investment quality standards and its buy and hold approach to securities. The outlook revision also considers refinement of its assumed property reinsurance business, including non-renewals of select programs and improved terms and conditions, which should benefit its favorable business profile. Andover is one of the largest regional mutual insurers in the Northeast region's personal lines market with a modest share of the homeowners market in Massachusetts



Andover's adequate operating performance assessment is based on underwriting and operating performance metrics, which on average, perform better than the AM Best personal lines composite, despite modest volatility from weather-related events on both its direct and assumed business. Andover's ERM is assessed as appropriate for its risk profile, based on a formal program that includes participation from an ERM team, the executive leadership team and its board of directors.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright  2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005870/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Aptean Extends Food and Beverage ERP Partner Program into New Geographies

ALPHARETTA, Ga., June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Aptean, a global provider of mission-critical enterprise software solutions, announced the launch of its highly successful Food and Beverage ERP Partner Program into the United States as well as plans to extend the program in Canada, Brazil and Mexico.

With more than 20 years of experience serving customers in the food and beverage industry, Aptean is a leading Microsoft independent software vendor with a full, end-to-end food and beverage ERP purpose-built from the ground up and deployed in the Microsoft Azure cloud to serve midsize businesses. With the Food and Beverage Partner Program, Aptean works with leading partners serving customers in the food and beverage industry as they help their clients use their enterprise software to accelerate operational effectiveness, creating a stronger and more efficient business. The Food and Beverage ERP Partner Program originally launched in August 2020 to expand the reach of Apteans proprietary food and beverage application built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform to Business Central, Finance and Supply Chain Management in markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Latin America (LATAM) and Asia Pacific (APAC). Since the initial launch, more than 50 international partners across those regions have joined the program and successfully delivered significant incremental value to their existing food and beverage install base, while also strengthening their position to win new customers to their business. With this further expansion of the rogram into the United States, Aptean will enhance the potential user base for its industry-specific ERP software.



We are incredibly excited to expand our highly successful Food and Beverage ERP Partner Program into North America and Brazil, said Bob Kocis, Chief Revenue Officer at Aptean. Since its initial launch, the program has successfully enabled our partners to provide our world-class technology to food and beverage customers globally. Following increased demand for many food and beverage products as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that many food and beverage companies need modern, purpose-built software solutions to improve operational efficiency and throughput. This expansion of the Food and Beverage ERP Partner Program will help more of those companies achieve their growth objectives. The program is open to select partners in the North America, EMEA, LATAM and APAC regions. To qualify, partners must meet specific criteria with requirements on training, certification and business volume. Partners receive extensive benefits that include training, access to the latest Aptean technology, sales and services support, recognition via various marketing initiatives and ongoing education to ensure customer success.

To inquire about joining the Aptean Food and Beverage ERP Partner Program, click here. About Aptean

Aptean is one of the worlds leading providers of industry-specific software, enabling our customers to be Ready for Whats Next, Now. Our enterprise resource planning and supply chain solutions are uniquely designed to meet the needs of specialized manufacturers and distributors in over 20 industries, while our compliance solutions serve specific markets such as finance and life sciences. In total, Apteans solutions are used by over 6,500 customers around the world. With both cloud and on-premise deployment options, Apteans products, services and unmatched expertise help businesses of all sizes to scale and succeed. Aptean is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. To learn more about Aptean and the markets we serve, visit www.aptean.com. Aptean is a trademark of Aptean, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.



For Media Inquiries Please Contact

Nicole ORourke

Chief Marketing Officer

Nicole.Orourke@aptean.com

(770) 715-0362



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[June 10, 2021] Avolon and Vertical Aerospace Announce World's Largest eVTOL Aircraft Order

Avolon, the international aircraft leasing company, and Vertical Aerospace ('Vertical'), the most advanced electric vertical take-off and landing ('eVTOL') company in the world, announce a ground-breaking US$2 billion order for up to 500 electric eVTOL aircraft. This agreement, which is subject to certain closing conditions, will introduce the ultra-short-haul aircraft category to commercial aviation, a game changing development that will revolutionise air travel with zero emissions aircraft. The agreement will combine Avolon's scale and deep industry relationships with Vertical's leading technological position in the eVTOL space and will see both companies collaborate throughout the development, road map to certification and subsequent commercial roll-out of the VA-X4. Avolon will join Microsoft (News - Alert) , Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, and American Airlines as equity investors in Vertical, working also with Virgin Atlantic who will be a VA-X4 launch airline customer in Europe. The order highlights Avolon's commitment to sustainability and responsible investment and its position as an industry leader and innovator. The commitment to the VA-X4 places Avolon at the forefront of technological change in the industry and underlines Avolon's belief in the electrification of air transport. Avolon's existing young and fuel-efficient fleet will be complemented by an investment in a new category of ultra-short-haul aircraft that will produce zero emissions. Avolon, through its newly incorporated affiliate Avolon-e will become the customer for the VA-X4 and subject to appropriate operating, delivery and business requirements being met, will order aircraft valued at US$1.25 billion with delivery commencing in late 2024, with an option to acquire additional aircraft up to a value of US$750 million. Avolon-e has been established by Avolon to focus on investment in the zero-emissions eVTOL sector. Domhnal Slattery, Avolon CEO, commented: "Avolon is proud to be a launch customer for the VA-X4 aircraft, demonstrating our commitment to a net zero carbon economy and to driving innovation in the global aviation sector. Our order with Vertical will also accelerate the ievitable commercial roll-out of zero emissions aircraft. Before the end of this decade, we expect zero emission urban air mobility, enabled by eVTOLs, to play an increasingly important role in the global commercial aviation market.



This order reaffirms Avolon's position as an industry pioneer. With Vertical, we will revolutionise air travel and continue to reduce the impact of our industry on the environment. In Vertical, we have identified a long-term strategic operator that shares our vision for a cleaner and more efficient mode of air transport. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, air travel will be materially reshaped with airlines needing to embrace emerging technologies that decarbonise air travel. We strongly believe that the VA-X4 will lead this transformation. Our global scale and deep industry relationships, combined with Vertical's technological leadership makes this a winning alliance. We are excited about the synergies and opportunities that both businesses will bring to the agreement. We believe the global reach of the Avolon platform will accelerate the inevitable adoption of eVTOLs as a new, safe and zero emissions mode of ultra-short-haul air transport.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, CEO of Vertical Aerospace, commented: "We are delighted to announce this aircraft order with Avolon, one of the leading aircraft lessors in the world. Avolon's proven management team and strong track record of starting, and scaling, a global leading business made this an attractive opportunity and represents a critical milestone for us. This agreement, with an established aviation company like Avolon will allow us to plug into their global commercial network of airlines, reaching key decision makers in a fast and efficient manner." Vertical Aerospace Vertical Aerospace's mission is to make air travel personal, on demand and carbon free. The company has an unrivalled partner ecosystem including Microsoft, American Airlines, Rolls-Royce, Honeywell (News - Alert) and Avolon, that de-risks execution and its pathway to certification, allows for a lean cost structure, and will enable production at scale. With speeds over 200mph, near silent when in flight, zero emissions and low cost per passenger mile, the VA-X4 is going to open up urban air mobility to a whole new range of passengers and transform how we travel. VA-X4 eVTOL Aircraft The VA-X4 is a piloted, zero emissions electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicle. The VA-X4 will be capable of travelling over 200mph, with a range of over 100 miles and capacity for 4 passengers, and a pilot. The aircraft takes off vertically enabling it to operate in and out of cities and other confined locations.send The VA-X4 is 100 times quieter and safer than a helicopter and is being certified to the highest global standards unlocking global market access. ENDS About Avolon Headquartered in Ireland, with offices in the United States, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, Avolon provides aircraft leasing and lease management services. Avolon is 70% owned by an indirect subsidiary of Bohai Leasing Co., Ltd., a public company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SLE: 000415) and 30% owned by ORIX Aviation Systems, a subsidiary of ORIX Corporation which is listed on the Tokyo and New York Stock Exchanges (TSE: 8591; NYSE: IX). Avolon is the world's third largest aircraft leasing business with an owned, managed and committed fleet, as of 31 March 2021 of 840 aircraft. Website: www.avolon.aero Twitter (News - Alert) : @avolon_aero View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005951/en/

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[June 10, 2021] C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute Announces AI for Energy and Climate Security Grantees

C3 (News - Alert) .ai Digital Transformation Institute (C3.ai DTI) today announced the second round of C3.ai DTI (News - Alert) awards, focused on using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and digital transformation to advance energy efficiency and lead the way to a lower-carbon, higher-efficiency economy that will ensure energy and climate security. C3.ai DTI issued this call for proposals in February 2021, and received 52 submissions. A rigorous peer review process led to 21 awards for research proposals to improve resilience, sustainability, and efficiency through such measures as carbon sequestration, carbon markets, hydrocarbon production, distributed renewables, and cybersecurity, among other topics. The Institute awarded a total of $4.4 million in cash from this call for proposals, the second call the Institute has released since the organization's launch in March 2020. In addition to cash awards, research teams gain access to up to $2 million in Azure Cloud computing resources, up to 800,000 supercomputing node hours on the Blue Waters petascale supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, up to 25 million computing hours on supercomputers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), and free, unlimited access to the C3 AI Suite hosted on the Microsoft (News - Alert) Azure Cloud. "The world's energy infrastructure will need to undergo radical changes to address the impact of global energy generation," said Thomas M. Siebel, chairman and CEO of C3 AI. "In the face of this crisis, the Institute is proud to bring together the best and brightest minds and provide direction and leadership to support objective analysis and AI-based, data-driven science for climate security." "Pursuing a sustainable future via advances in science and engineering is absolutely critical," said Eric Horvitz, Chief Scientific Officer at Microsoft. "We're deeply enthusiastic to join with the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute to support frontier research on energy and climate at leading universities." The 21 projects were each awarded $100,000 to $250,000, for an initial period of one year, in one of nine categories, as listed below by project title, principal investigator, and affiliation. Sustainability - Applying AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics to support sustainability initiatives for energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions: Learning in Routing Games for Sustainable Electromobility (Henrik Sandberg, KTH Royal Institute of Technology) AI-Driven Materials Discovery Framework for Energy-Efficient and Sustainable Electrochemical Separations (Xiao Su, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

- Applying AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics to support sustainability initiatives for energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions: AI for Carbon Sequestration - Applying AI/ML techniques to increase the scale and reduce costs of carbon sequestration: Optimization of Agricultural Management for Soil Carbon Sequestration Using Deep Reinforcement Learning and Large-Scale Simulations (Naira Hovakimyan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Affordable Gigaton-Scale Carbon Sequestration: Navigating Autonomous Seaweed Growth Platforms by Leveraging Complex Ocean Currents and Machine Learning (Claire Tomlin, University of California, Berkeley)

- Applying AI/ML techniques to increase the scale and reduce costs of carbon sequestration: AI for Advanced Energy and Carbon Markets - Enabling dynamic, automated, and real-time pricing of energy-generation sources: Quantifying Carbon Credit Over the U.S. Midwestern Cropland Using AI-Based Data-Model Fusion (Kaiyu Guan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) The Role of Interconnectivity and Strategic Behavior in Electric Power System Reliability (Ali Hortacsu, University of Chicago)

- Enabling dynamic, automated, and real-time pricing of energy-generation sources: Cybersecurity of Power and Energy Infrastructure - Leveraging AI/ML techniques to improve the cybersecurity of critical power and energy assets, along with smart connected factories and homes: Private Cyber-Secure Data-Driven Control of Distributed Energy Resources (Subhonmesh Bose, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Cyberattacks and Anomalies for Power Systems: Defense Mechanism and Grid Fortification via Machine Learning Techniques (Javad Lavaei, University of California, Berkeley) A Joint ML+Physics-Driven Approach for Cyber-Attack Resilience in Grid Energy Management (Amritanshu Pandey, Carnegie Mellon University)

- Leveraging AI/ML techniques to improve the cybersecurity of critical power and energy assets, along with smart connected factories and homes: Smart Grid Analytics - Applying AI and other analytic approaches to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of grid transmission and distribution operations: Scalable Data-Driven Voltage Control of Ultra-Large-Scale Power Networks (Alejandro Dominguez-Garcia, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Offline Reinforcement Learning for Energy-Efficient Power Grids (Sergey Levine, University of California, Berkeley)

- Applying AI and other analytic approaches to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of grid transmission and distribution operations: Distributed Energy Resource Management - Applying AI to increase the penetration and use of distributed renewables: Machine Learning for Power Electronics-Enabled Power Systems: A Unified ML Platform for Power Electronics, Power Systems, and Data Science (Minjie Chen, Princeton University) Sharing Mobile Energy Storage: Platforms and Learning Algorithms (Kameshwar Poolla, University of California, Berkeley) Data-Driven Control and Coordination of Smart Converters for Sustainable Power System Using Deep Reinforcement Learning (Qianwen Xu, KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

- Applying AI to increase the penetration and use of distributed renewables: AI for Improved Natural Catastrophe Risk Assessment - Applying AI to improve modeling of natural catastrophe risks from future weather-related events (e.g., tropical storms, wildfires, and floods): AI for Natural Catastrophes: Tropical Cyclone Modeling and Enabling the Resilience Paradigm (Arindam Banerjee, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Multi-Scale Analysis for Improved Risk Assessment of Wildfires Facilitated by Data and Computation (Marta Gonzalez, University of California, Berkeley)

- Applying AI to improve modeling of natural catastrophe risks from future weather-related events (e.g., tropical storms, wildfires, and floods): Resilient Energy Systems - Addressing how the use of AI/ML techniques and markets for energy and carbon introduce new vulnerabilities: A Learning-Based Influence Model Approach to Cascading Failure Prediction (Eytan Modiano, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Reinforcement Learning for a Resilient Electric Power System (Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, University of California, Berkeley)

- Addressing how the use of AI/ML techniques and markets for energy and carbon introduce new vulnerabilities: AI for Improved Climate Change Modeling - Use of AI/ML to address climate change modeling and adaptation: Machine Learning to Reduce Uncertainty in the Effects of Fires on Climate (Hamish Gordon, Carnegie Mellon University) AI-Based Prediction of Urban Climate and Its Impact on Built Environments (Wei Liu, KTH Royal Institute of Technology) Interpretable Machine Learning Models to Improve Forecasting of Extreme-Weather-Causing Tropical Monster Storms (Da Yang, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

- Use of AI/ML to address climate change modeling and adaptation:



"Improving climate resilience will require profound changes powered by a new era of technology like those C3.ai DTI is supporting today." "A number of energy companies and utilities have used enterprise AI to transform their operations, but as we can see, there's an even greater need for resilience to cyberattacks and large environmental disruptions," said R. Srikant, C3.ai DTI Co-Director and Fredric G. and Elizabeth H. Nearing Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "These projects are designed with those goals in mind."

Award Criteria C3.ai DTI selects research proposals that inspire cooperative research and advance machine learning and other AI subdisciplines. Projects are peer-reviewed on the basis of scientific merit, prior accomplishments of the principal investigator and co-principal investigators, the use of AI, machine learning, data analytics, and cloud computing in the research project, and the suitability for testing the methods at scale. Visit C3DTI.ai to learn more about the Institute's programs, award opportunities, and selected research proposals. About C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute Established in March 2020 by C3 AI, Microsoft, and leading universities, the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute is a research consortium dedicated to accelerating the benefits of artificial intelligence for business, government, and society. The Institute engages the world's leading scientists to conduct research and train practitioners in the new Science of Digital Transformation - operating at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, internet of things, big data analytics, organizational behavior, public policy, and ethics. The ten C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute consortium member universities and laboratories are: University of California, Berkeley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carnegie Mellon University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Center for Supercomputing Applications at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Princeton University, Stanford University, and University of Chicago. Additional industry partners include AstraZeneca, Baker Hughes (News - Alert) , and Shell. To support the Institute, C3 AI is providing the Institute $57,250,000 in cash contributions over the first five years of operation. C3 AI and Microsoft will contribute an additional $310 million of in-kind support, including use of the C3 AI Suite and Microsoft Azure computing, storage, and technical resources to support C3.ai DTI research. About C3.ai, Inc. C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) is the Enterprise AI application software company that accelerates digital transformation for organizations globally. C3 AI delivers a family of fully integrated products: C3 AI Suite, an end-to-end platform for developing, deploying, and operating large-scale AI applications; C3 AI Applications, a portfolio of industry-specific SaaS (News - Alert) AI applications; C3 AI CRM, a suite of industry-specific CRM applications designed for AI and machine learning; and C3 AI Ex Machina, a no-code AI solution to apply data science to everyday business problems. The core of the C3 AI offering is an open, model-driven AI architecture that dramatically simplifies data science and application development. Learn more at: www.c3.ai. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005291/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Charlotte Clegg Bradley Joins Retirement Wealth Specialists

Retirement Wealth Specialists (RWS), a Florida-based wealth management firm with locations in Longwood, Sarasota, and St. Augustine/Ponte Vedra Beach, welcomes Charlotte Clegg Bradley as its new Financial Wealth Advisor. In her role, Charlotte will partner with RWS Co-Founder and President Mitchell B. Walk, AAMS, to provide exemplary client service and grow the firm's presence in the St. Augustine/Ponte Vedra Beach area. She will also work with some of the firm's clients throughout Florida as well as nationally. "Not only is Charlotte adept at asset management, she is extremely dedicated to serving clients - making her a perfect cultural fit for RWS," said Walk. "She seeks to understand each client's unique circumstances and uses her expertise to create tailored strategies to meet their financial goals." Prior to joining RWS, Charlotte worked for PIMCO in New York City where she helped thousands of financial professionals prepare asset allocations and construct portfolios for clients. Charlotte's Wall Street knowledge and experience will significantly benefit and add value to RWS and its client base. She currently holds her Series 7, Series 63, Series 65, and Claritas Investment Certification from the CFA Institute and graduated from Bucknell University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Adminstration in Accounting and Financial Management.



"My mission is to empower clients with a sense of security and confidence in their financial future," said Bradley. "Fueled by this passion, I look forward to continuing RWS' legacy of superior client service and contributing to the firm's ongoing success and continued expansion." RWS was acquired by Bluespring Wealth Partners in January 2020. The partnership is designed to enable RWS' next level of growth through institutional-level capital support.

About Retirement Wealth Specialists Established in 1998, Retirement Wealth Specialists is a client-focused financial firm committed to providing comprehensive wealth management services. Our team of professionals has over 122 years of combined financial services experience, giving us the acumen to go beyond basic financial planning. We incorporate investment management, tax reduction strategies, and family wealth planning into our clients' overall wealth management plan. For more information, please visit www.retirementwealthspecialists.com. Appropriately licensed members of Retirement Wealth Specialists (RWS) offer investment advisory services through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), and offer securities through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Bluespring Wealth Partners, Kestra AS, Kestra IS, and RWS are affiliated companies of Kestra Holdings. About Bluespring Wealth Partners, LLC Bluespring Wealth Partners is dedicated to the acquisition and servicing of wealth management firms, seeking continuity for clients and the business they have built. Bluespring Wealth Partners was established with the express purpose of helping entrepreneurs take their business to the next level of growth through flexible ownership arrangements, and institutional-level capital support. By focusing on partnership as the driver of success, Bluespring Wealth Partners helps business owners ensure a lasting legacy while preserving the core values on which their firms were built. Bluespring Wealth Partners is a subsidiary of Kestra Holdings. For more information about Bluespring Wealth Partners, please visit www.bluespringwealth.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005200/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Edgewater Wireless to Add New Board Member

Edgewater Wireless Systems Inc. (TSX.V: YFI) (OTCQB: KPIFF), the industry leader in Wi-Fi Spectrum (News - Alert) Slicing technology for residential and enterprise markets, is pleased to announce that Ralph Garcea has accepted the Company's invitation to join its Board of Directors pending shareholder approval at the upcoming AGM on June 16, 2021. With more than 22-years of experience in senior positions at major and boutique investment dealers in the US and Canada, Mr. Garcea was a top-ranked research analyst specializing in technology, gaming and industrial companies. Mr. Garcea is the managing partner and co-founder of Focus Merchant Group, a boutique advisory firm offering a full range of financial advisory services. He currently serves as a Director on the board of TSX-listed Converge Technology Solutions (News - Alert) Corp. (TSX: CTS) (FSE: 0ZB) (OTCQX: CTSDF). "We are pleased that Ralph Garcea has accepted our invitation to be nominated as a candidate for a Board position," said Andrew Skafel, President and CEO of Edgewater Wireless. "As a well-regarded technology analyst with deep roots in growing technology companies, we believe his expertise and counsel will be invaluable for the company." Spectrum Slicing

Edgewater's physical layer Spectrum Slicing allows a frequency band to be divided, or sliced, to enable more radios to operate in a given area. Think of Spectrum Slicing like moving from a single-lane road to a multi-lane highway - regardless of Wi-Fi technology. A recent Proof of Concept showed Spectrum Slicing delivering 7 to 18 times performance gains in 75% of homes surveyed1. Investor Relations Engagement

Edgewater also announces that it has retained Venture North Capital Inc. ("Venture North") for strategic marketing, investor relations and capital markets communications services. Venture North will arrange and attend meetings with professional investors, maintain ongoing contact and broaden relationships with the professional investment community on Edgewater's behalf. The Company and Venture North have entered into a consulting agreement for an initial term of three months, after which it will continue on a monthly basis until terminated by either party. In consideration of its services, the Company will pay Venture North CAD $6,500 per month (plus HST). This engagement is subject to TSX-V approval. "Building on the success of our recent PoC, our team at Edgewater has ben focused on commercial engagements with Tier 1 customers and building silicon partnerships to bring Spectrum Slicing to market. We're positioning the company to execute on our growth strategy," said Brian Imrie, Chair of Edgewater Wireless. "We are happy to have engaged with a seasoned investor relations group to tell our unique story to the market."



About Edgewater Wireless Edgewater Wireless (www.edgewaterwireless.com) is the industry leader in innovative Spectrum Slicing technology for residential and commercial markets. We develop advanced Wi-Fi silicon solutions, Access Points, and IP licensing designed to meet the high-density and high quality-of-service needs of service providers and their customers. With 24+ patents, Edgewater's Multi-Channel, Single Radio (MCSR) technology revolutionizes Wi-Fi, delivering next-generation Wi-Fi today.

We make Wi-Fi. Better. For more information, visit www.edgewaterwireless.com or www.aera.io. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. Although Edgewater Wireless believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward looking statements and information because Edgewater Wireless can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. By its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause Edgewater Wireless' actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed. These risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to access to capital markets, market forces, competition from new and existing companies and regulatory conditions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed in this news release or otherwise, and to not use future-oriented information or financial outlooks for anything other than their intended purpose. Edgewater Wireless undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, 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. 1 For further information, see: https://www.totaltele.com/508844/Edgewater-Major-Service-Provider-completes-Proof-of-Concept-demonstrating-outstanding-results View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005971/en/

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[June 10, 2021] EQUIAM Closes Second Quantitative VC Fund and Ramps Up Hiring

EQUIAM, a data-powered, venture capital manager with a mission to democratize venture investing, has announced the close of its second private fund, the EQUIAM Private Alpha Fund, with assets under management of $50 million. The Private Alpha Fund uses the EQUIAM Systematic Ranking (ESR), which applies a suite of proprietary algorithms to distill approximately 10,000 private companies and 10 million data points into an evolving, ranked list of approximately 30 investment targets. In addition to offering diversified access to growth and late-stage companies, the Private Alpha Fund deploys capital faster and allows for a comparatively shorter fund duration and a faster path to liquidity than most traditional venture capital funds. "EQUIAM's Private Alpha Fund marks a new era in growth and late-stage venture investing, where data-powered investment signals replace gut feel," says Ziad Makkawi, Founder and CEO of EQUIAM. "The interest in our pioneering, quantitative approach from both institutions and individual investors shows that quantitative, risk-managed investing is the future of venture capital, where data availability continues to grow exponentially. We expect demand for VC 2.0 to continue growing, and we are building out our investment and distribution capabilities to meet it." EQUIAM adds to investment and operations teams with three new hires Laxus Tat has joined as Investment Engineer with experience automating and optimizing portfolio management using a variety of technologies, building dynamic asset allocation models, analyzing investing strategies and controlling portfolio exposure for different risk factors. Tat's previous experience includes AssetMark and Los Angeles Capital Management. He holds a Masters of Financial Engineering from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Samantha Chow has joined as a Senior Associate, Operations, bringing experience in fund operations, reporting and accounting. Her previous experience includes Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Later this month, Shachi Shah will begin her role as Director, Strategic Operations, drawing on experience managing business operations and leveraging data analytics to accelerate start-up businesses. She joins from Plug and Play Tech Center and previously held roles at ICICI Bank and as a founder of Craftsy. She earned a postgraduate diploma in management from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. About data-powered, risk-managed venture investing The EQUIAM Systematic Ranking (ESR) engine drives EQUIAM's investment process. ESR draws information on an investable universe of more than 10,000 private companies and generates investment signals designed to identify companies with ample, high-quality data, well-established revenues, efficient use of capital and a higher probability of outperformance. ESR is designed to enable EQUIAM to consider a larger opportunity et and construct larger, more diversified portfolios than most traditional venture capital (VC) funds. ESR signals are also designed to avoid overvalued companies during portfolio construction and identify poor performing portfolio constituents for potential divestment.



EQUIAM's operational model seeks to deploy capital faster than many traditional venture capital funds resulting in a comparatively shorter fund duration of four years and a relatively short two-year reinvestment period, and liquidity from any exit afterwards. To access the companies highly-ranked by the ESR algorithms, EQUIAM has built broad sourcing capabilities that include private secondary marketplaces, issuers, VC firms and primary funding rounds. The EQUIAM Funds also have lower minimum investment than is often required for venture capital fund investments and provide exposure to some of today's most sought after late-stage private companies. "Our approach has attracted the interest of larger institutions who see the parallels with data-powered investing in the public markets," continued Makkawi. "Individuals and many family offices, on the other hand, have typically been unfairly locked out of venture capital investing until now. These 'unventured' investors recognize that extensive value-creation is taking place today during the decade or more that the average company remains private. The booming secondary market for private companies demonstrates this increasing investor interest, and we believe the market is in the beginning stages of exponential growth."

About EQUIAM EQUIAM is a data-powered VC manager that has pioneered a quantitative approach to constructing risk-managed portfolios of growth and late-stage private companies. EQUIAM funds are designed to offer diversified access, faster capital deployment and a shorter path to liquidity than many traditional venture fund investments. EQUIAM's first fund, the EQUIAM Private Tech30 Fund held its first closing on February 15, 2019 and its final closing on June 30, 2019. Given the success of the EQUIAM Private Tech30 Fund, EQUIAM launched the EQUIAM Private Alpha Fund. The recently closed Private Alpha Fund uses the proprietary ESR process to analyze the investable universe of growth and late-stage private technology companies. Combined, the two funds represent almost $90 million in assets under management as of June 7, 2021. A third fund is planned for late 2021. Disclosures The material herein is for informational purposes. Nothing contained herein constitutes an offer of services or a solicitation to purchase or sell securities in the EQUIAM Private Tech30 Fund, the EQUIAM Private Alpha Fund, or any fund managed by EQUIAM (each, an "EQUIAM Fund"). In fact, the offering periods of both the EQUIAM Private Tech30 Fund and the EQUIAM Private Alpha Fund have expired and neither of these EQUIAM Funds is holding any further closings. The information contained herein does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the more detailed discussions contained in the EQUIAM Funds' offering documents. Any offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to purchase an EQUIAM Fund's securities shall be made only by formal offering documents which contain additional information not set forth herein, including certain risks of investing, which such additional information is material to any decision to invest in an EQUIAM Fund. Readers should not construe any of the information contained herein as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Prospective investors should consult with their own tax, financial and legal advisors before making any investment decisions with regard to an EQUIAM Fund. The past performance of EQUIAM, the EQUIAM Funds, EQUIAM's principals, or employees is not indicative of future returns of any EQUIAM Fund. There is no guarantee that EQUIAM will be successful in achieving any EQUIAM Fund's investment objectives or that the ESR will perform as anticipated. An investment in an EQUIAM Fund contains risks, including the risk of complete loss of an investor's commitment. No information is warranted by EQUIAM or its affiliates or subsidiaries as to completeness or accuracy, express or implied, and is subject to change without notice. Forward-looking statements contained herein, including observations about markets and industry and regulatory trends, reflect EQUIAM's views as of the date hereof with respect to possible future events. Forward-looking statements may be identified by, among other things, the use of words such as "expects," "anticipates," "designed," "believes," or "estimates," or the negatives of these terms, and similar expressions. Actual results could differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of factors beyond EQUIAM's control. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. No party has an obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements herein. The information herein should be considered current only as of the date of publication without regard to the date on which you may receive or access the information. EQUIAM maintains the right to delete or modify information without prior notice. Statements made herein that are not attributed to any third-party source reflect the views and opinions of EQUIAM. Additional information is available upon request.  2021 EQUIAM View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005561/en/

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[June 10, 2021] eXcentral Blog Rated Among Top Financial Blogs by Readers

LIMASSOL, Cyprus, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a recent survey conducted amongst regular readers of eXcentral's blog , a large majority refer to it as one of the top sources for daily financial information and news. The survey, reaching thousands of readers with different demographic and geographic backgrounds, provides positive findings for the brand and its blog. "It is always exciting to get such flattering feedback from our traders," commented eXcentral's spokesperson on the matter. "Behind the scenes, we work very hard to provide them with nothing but the highest quality of content. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our analysts, our expert writers, our editors, and most importantly our loyal clients who put faith in us and in what we have to offer." The blog can be found on the company's website and is accessible by all, including those who have not registered with eXcentral. This is not the first time that the company's blog reaps such praises, as the spokesperson mentioned that inseveral surveys conducted in the past, the results were very similar.



Battling uncertainty with accurate information The post-pandemic area in the markets is characterized by volatility, resulting in uncertainty and a tendency to opt for short-term trading. However, with the help of a credible source of data and information, it is much easier for one to stick to their trading strategy even in times like these. The eXcentral blog, divided into different sections such as market analysis, regulation, trading tips, economic events and others, seems to satisfy the needs of traders.

Aside from the blog, eXcentral offers other enriching content, deemed popular by traders. While some of this content can only be accessed by registered clients, a significant portion is open to anyone wishing to review it. On the brand's website, traders can find recordings of webinars on an array of different trading-related topics, an updated economic calendar, access to video tutorials, and more. "Our aim here was not just to deliver data, it was to engage our traders. Only this way can our content really unleash the potential in them," added the spokesperson. "We've also organized it in a manner which makes it easier for traders with different goals and at different levels to find what's right and relevant for them. All that's left is for our users, and others who are interested, to dive in."



About eXcentral As one of the veteran brands in the online trading sector , eXcentral today serves as an example for other companies to follow. The brand, fully regulated and licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), offers trading services on CFDs around the globe. Aside from the content discussed above, all traders get access to a proprietary WebTrader, as well as the reputed MetaTrader 4 tool. Mobile and tablet users can also enjoy the company's app with no extra charge, and service is granted through multiple communication channels on a 24/7 basis.

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[June 10, 2021] The Global Blockchain Business Council Welcomes Digital Asset Co-Founder and CEO Yuval Rooz to Board of Directors

GENEVA, Switzerland, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) , the leading global industry association for the blockchain technology ecosystem, announced today that Yuval Rooz, Co-Founder and CEO of Digital Asset, has been appointed to join its Board of Directors.

Roozs appointment to the Board will be formally ratified at the next meeting of the GBBCs General Assembly in September. The GBBC has also announced that Digital Asset, the creators of Daml , a multi-party application platform, has become a GBBC Leadership member. At this membership level, Digital Asset will work closely with GBBC on several strategic initiatives, including GSMI 2.0 , a continuation and expansion of the first comprehensive effort to map blockchain and digital asset standards and regulation globally. Yuvals insight and experience in the DLT industry is an excellent addition to the GBBCs Board of Directors, said David Treat, Senior Managing Director, Co-Lead of Accentures Global Blockchain Business and Board Chair of the GBBC. Central to the next wave of innovation will be collaborative ecosystems and under Yuvals leadership, Digital Asset has been a critical driver to creating seamlessly interconnected business networks. I know Yuval will help the association in driving the potential of this technology across industries. At Accenture we believe this technology opens up a whole new range of game-changing opportunities for our clients when the right value drivers are identified. As Co-Founder and CEO, Rooz has built Digital Asset into a leading enterprise blockchain company, tripling its customer base and doubling its partner ecosystem in 2020. In 2021, Rooz led the company through a $120m Series D financing round to expand the Daml data network. Today, leading organizations around the world rely on Daml o transform disparate silos into synchronized networks, eradicating latency and errors by guaranteeing consistent data. Digital Assets customer base includes organizations across financial services, healthcare, and insurance industries.



I have admired the work Sandra Ro and the GBBC team have done to drive blockchain adoption across a number of industries, said Yuval Rooz, Co-Founder and CEO at Digital Asset. From programs that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals to launching initiatives for universal standards across blockchain projects, the GBBC has become the go-to organization to facilitate dialogue and collaboration across the blockchain ecosystem. I am excited to join the Board of Directors at the GBBC and look forward to contributing to their key initiatives. We are delighted to name a recognized leader in the blockchain space to GBBCs Board of Directors, said Sandra Ro, CEO of GBBC. Yuval brings leadership in driving a new mindset for creating a global economic network based on fully interconnected systems enabled by blockchain to the GBBC. We look forward to working with Yuval and the team at Digital Asset to advance the business of blockchain, and further industry efforts to enhance interoperability and develop standards.

Notes to editors: The Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) is the leading global industry association for the blockchain technology ecosystem with more than 250 institutional members, and 130 Ambassadors from more than 70 jurisdictions and disciplines. GBBC is dedicated to furthering adoption of blockchain through engaging regulators, business leaders, and global changemakers on how to harness this ground-breaking technology to create more secure, equitable, and functional societies. To learn more about GBBC, please visit www.gbbcouncil.org . Click here to follow GBBC on Twitter and LinkedIn . Digital Asset helps companies of all sizes and across industries get distributed applications to market faster, and stay there longer. At the core of our service offering is Daml, an application platform unconstrained by organizational boundaries. Companies can create new multi-party solutions that transform disparate silos into synchronized networks, eradicating latency and errors by guaranteeing consistent data. Digital Asset works with leading organizations in financial services, healthcare and insurance, including 5 of the top 10 stock exchanges in the world. In 2020, CB Insights named Daml as one of the top blockchain networks for capital markets. To learn more about Digital Asset, please visit www.digitalasset.com , and for information about Daml, please visit www.daml.com . Click here to follow Digital Asset on Twitter and LinkedIn . Media Contact:

media@gbbcouncil.org



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[June 10, 2021] Gynesonics Announces Positive Payer Coverage Issued by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (Florida Blue) for the Sonata Treatment

Gynesonics, a women's healthcare company focused on the development of minimally invasive solutions for symptomatic uterine fibroids, announced today Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (Florida Blue) has released a coverage policy for its Sonata Procedure.1 The addition of the Florida Blue policy allows another 5 million covered lives in Florida to have access to this minimally invasive procedure.2 The Sonata technology platform integrates the first and only commercial intrauterine ultrasound system with a proprietary advanced radiofrequency ablation device, providing an incision-free, uterus-preserving, transcervical treatment for symptomatic uterine fibroids. The Sonata Treatment is a breakthrough alternative to hysterectomy and myomectomy, and can treat a wide range of fibroid types, sizes, and locations. Fibroids are treated from inside the uterus, so the Sonata Treatment requires no incisions, no tissue is surgically removed, and the uterus is preserved. "This is a great decision by Florida Blue that recognizes the importance of offering this minimally invasive option to women. There are a large number of women in my practice that are looking for a procedure that can be done without incisions and with a rapid recovery. Many women suffer the symptoms of uterine fibroids rather than have invasive surgery and I look forward to offering my patients the Sonata Procedure," said David Adler, DO, FACOG. "I have seen the evolution of minimally invasive fibroid treatment options and Sonata is the procedure that will allow us to treat symptomatic uterine fibroids in the least costly and most patient friendly setting. The Sonata Procedure also provides exceptional savings to the overall healthcare system." In the SONATA clinical trial, within three months following their Sonata Treatment, 86 percent of women experienced a reduction in heavy menstrual bleeding and 95 percent of patients experienced a reduction in menstrual bleeding by 12 months. Additionally, 50 percent of women return to normal activities the next day. The overall impact of treatment with Sonata was significant for these women, with 97 percent of women at 12 months indicating they would recommend the procedure. Women wer followed in the study long-term which demonstrated durable symptom relief for three years.3



"The announcement of this coverage policy from Florida Blue is exciting and demonstrates the value they place in providing the best possible care for women in Florida. This greatly expands the options available to women suffering with symptomatic uterine fibroids and does so in a way that avoids the cost of traditional surgical treatment," said Chris Owens, President and CEO of Gynesonics. "Florida Blue and other leading health insurance companies are listening to patients and providers. They are recognizing the clinical efficacy of the Sonata Procedure and as a result are creating access to a less invasive treatment option with the Sonata System." For more information about the Sonata System, please visit https://gynesonics.com/us/sonata-system/.

References http://mcgs.bcbsfl.com/MCG?mcgId=02-56000-30&pv=false https://www.floridablue.com/about-us/newsroom https://gynesonics.com/us/publications/ About Sonata System The Sonata System uses radiofrequency energy to ablate fibroids under real time sonography guidance from within the uterine cavity, utilizing the first and only intrauterine ultrasound transducer. The system includes a proprietary graphical user interface (SMART Guide), enabling the operator to target fibroids and optimize treatment. The Sonata System provides incision-free transcervical access for a uterus-preserving fibroid treatment. This intrauterine approach is designed to avoid the peritoneal cavity. Most side effects are typically minor and temporary. The Sonata System is CE marked and is approved for sale in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. About Gynesonics Gynesonics is a women's healthcare company focused on advancing women's health, by developing minimally invasive, incision-free, uterus-preserving, transcervical technologies for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Gynesonics has developed the Sonata System for diagnostic intrauterine imaging and transcervical treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids. Gynesonics headquarters is in Redwood City, CA (News - Alert) . For more information, go to www.gynesonics.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005605/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Hartford HealthCare Selects Upfront as its Partner in Transforming the Patient Experience

Hartford HealthCare (HHC) will leverage Upfront Healthcare's patient engagement and communication platform to further their goal of transforming the digital patient experience enterprise-wide, building on the success with Upfront for COVID-19 vaccine coordination. Upfront delivers dynamic, digital care navigation to improve patient experience, increase necessary visits, reduce no-shows and improve population health performance. Its flexible omnichannel communication capabilities, combined with personalized patient content and calls-to-action, eliminate common barriers to patient engagement and enable Upfront to support a nearly unlimited number of use cases and deliver a world-class patient experience, while driving a significant return on investment for the health system. Hartford HealthCare is Connecticut's only truly integrated healthcare system. With 33,000 colleagues and a medical staff of 4,000 providers, the system offers the full continuum of care with seven acute-care hospitals, the state's longest-running air-ambulance service, behavioral health and rehabilitation services, a physician group and clinical integration organization, skilled-nursing and home health services, and a comprehensive range of services for seniors, including senior-living facilities and CarePartners of Connecticut, the system's Medicare Advantage plan. All told, HHC serves more than 185 towns in Connecticut and beyond. "The opportunity in partnering with a unique organization like Upfront is not just to catch up to the changing environment, but to leapfrog it and lead the provider segment in addressing the increasing consumerization of healthcare," said Dr. Barry Stein, Vice President and Chief Clinical Innovation Officer at HHC. "We have to meet patients where they are and provide as smooth a journey as possible, digitally guiding them to the services that they need. In this sense, Upfront will play a critical role in helping us reinvent the patient experience." Digital communication delivered via personalized landing pages (microsites) embedded in text or email messages, as well as by IVR, will support critical patient initiatives and several key organizational objectives, including: Motivate patients to return for vital preventive care, such as annual wellness visits, mammograms and colonoscopies

Improve medication adherence to promote the health of patients with chronic disease

Enhance access to care for the underserved and those too often left outside the healthcare system

Improve visit adherence and enable real-time rescheduling of visits as needed to drive down cancellations and late no shows

Enable real-time education about the purpose for and scheduling of referrals to avert patient confusion or apathy and eliminate ineffective, expensive outbound calls

Enroll patients in applicable programs with significant benefits, such as care coordination or suicide prevention programs

Achieve the organization's strategic objectives by ensuring equitable communication and recall for patients to complete necessary care, maximize quality measure performance for CarePartners and impact Star Ratings



Necessary Care Completion, with a focus on care gaps, annual wellness visits and medication adherence, Visit Adherence with Embedded Rescheduling, to launch visit confirmations, visit reminders and post-visit surveys, and Enrollment and Optimization to drive awareness and participation in HHC's Medicare Advantage plan, as well as their care coordination and transitions of care programs. Collectively, these solution sets will transform patient experience through digital communication and frictionless self-scheduling, further differentiating HHC from local and regional competitors, helping HHC attract and retain patients and driving greater adoption of HHC's legacy digital investments.

Driving COVID-19 vaccine program success The relationship between the organizations kicked off both urgently and efficiently in February, when HHC partnered with Upfront to educate consumers about vaccines and ultimately ease the vaccination process for them. During the program's first 60 days, 1.4 million patients, many of whom reside in hardship ZIP codes prioritized by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, received customized microsites. These sites contained educational content regarding vaccination and one-click scheduling information, visit reminders, missing second doses and post-vaccination symptoms. With 41 percent of patients engaged with the personalized microsites, scheduling at least their first dose, the campaign achieved an engagement rate roughly four times the industry benchmark. Overall, HHC contacted 39 percent of Connecticut's total population with Upfront and vaccinated 16.3 percent, significantly contributing to the state's top five ranking in percentage of population vaccinated. In addition to high-risk individuals, HHC and Upfront built on the connection established with fully vaccinated patients, guiding them through on-going communications to resume necessary preventive care, such as cancer screenings and wellness visits. Through partnership with Upfront, HHC achieved more equitable vaccine communication and distribution, a doubling of enrollment in HHC's MyChartPLUS patient portal and a 200 percent increase in usage of ClearStep, an online symptom checker. "Upfront has not been a vendor to us, but a true partner," said Debra Hayes, VP and Chief Operating Officer of HHC's clinical integration organization, Integrated Care Partners. "Upfront understands us?our goals, our system and our challenges?and the results we have seen to date have made a significant impact on the health and well-being of our community." "Hartford HealthCare's vision for patient experience holds tremendous promise for the people of Connecticut," said Carrie Kozlowski, Upfront's COO and co-founder. "We are grateful for the opportunity to continue collaborating with such a transformative group of leaders whose hard work and singular focus continues to deliver outstanding results at a speed and scale unheard of in this industry." About Upfront Upfront's Care Traffic Control platform proactively reassures and directs patients to the most relevant care options within the health system. Using advanced analytics, personalized content and strategic calls-to-action, Upfront aligns patient care needs with health system resources through a 1:1 digital experience based on deep healthcare operations and patient engagement experience. With Upfront, more patients will book and complete necessary care, use the most appropriate site of care, enroll in care coordination services, and successfully navigate a care journey or transition. To learn more, visit UpfrontHealthcare.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005299/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Indigenous Art Featured at Hudson's Bay Building in Downtown Winnipeg

Economic Development Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay are excited to announce that after collaboration with community partners, the boards on the windows of the downtown Hudson's Bay building will come down to reveal a beautiful homage to Inuit art and culture. The featured art includes replications from artists Peatr Thomas and Glenn Gear. The dynamic pieces are currently featured in the Winnipeg Art Gallery's (WAG) newly opened Qaumajuq. The large art installations flow in panels across the Bay Downtown's storefront windows on Portage Avenue. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005219/en/ "We have all worked hard to find ways to better use the windows on such a significant landmark in Winnipeg. As we reimagine how this iconic building will evolve and look ahead to welcoming back visitors to our city, we wanted to ensure this important downtown space reflected the culture of the city. It sits across the street from the WAG's Qaumajuq, which is also making history by building stronger partnerships and sharing Inuit art and culture with the world. We're thrilled that the Government of Canada, City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba have stepped up with funding to help make this initiative possible," says Dayna Spiring, President & CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg. Inninew artist Peatr Thomas from the Pimicikamak Territory explains the significance of his featured piece and he hopefulness behind it: "A new sunrise with the new moon. After a time of change and awakening. Turtle Island is new once again, built on truth in the sacred seven ancestor teachings. Ancient knowledge once lost, is taught to us again by Mother Earth in all that she offers."



The hope is that this art installation will draw appreciation from locals and visitors alike as the city promotes tourist attractions and takes another step in the revitalization of Winnipeg's downtown. This is the first phase of the reveal with additional artwork planned on the windows of the western side of the building on Memorial Boulevard. "As we work with partners on the future of the Hudson's Bay building in Winnipeg, we are extremely pleased that it can serve as an exhibit space for some of the incredible artists that are shown at the WAG's Qaumajuq. We also hope to showcase additional Indigenous work from First Nations and Metis artists that has important historical and cultural significance to Winnipeg, and to Canada," added Iain Nairn, President & CEO, Hudson's Bay.

"Revitalizing a prominent and historic building while celebrating Indigenous art is a welcome way to create connections and begin to rebuild community spirit and the downtown economy. Our government is proud to invest in projects that support thriving communities, vibrant local economies, and culturally rich public gathering spaces in towns and cities across the country." - The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada The boards will be removed early morning, Thursday June 10, beginning at approx. 6am and expected to take several hours to complete. About Economic Development Winnipeg Inc. Economic Development Winnipeg Inc. (EDW) is the city's lead economic development agency and champion for local growth. We use expert analysis to highlight the Winnipeg Advantage and prove why we are the best place to live, work and visit. Through the Tourism Winnipeg and YES! Winnipeg business development teams, EDW grows the local economy by attracting business, investment, events, meetings and people to our city. EDW is governed by a private-sector board and driven by the needs of the business community. economicdevelopmentwinnipeg.com About Hudson's Bay Hudson's Bay is a digital-first purpose-driven retailer helping Canadians live their best style of life. As one of the country's most iconic brands, Hudson's Bay operates 87 full-line locations and thebay.com featuring Marketplace -- the 5th largest e-commerce business in Canada. Hudson's Bay has established a reputation for quality and style through an unrivalled assortment including fashion, designer, home, beauty, food concepts and more. The Hudson's Bay Rewards program is ranked second in department store loyalty programs in Canada. Hudson's Bay operates under the HBC brand portfolio. Founded in 1670, HBC is North America's oldest company. The signature stripes are a registered trademark of HBC. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005219/en/

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Insight School of Minnesota Celebrates Commencement with Online Ceremony

Insight School of Minnesota (ISMN) will celebrate the Class of 2021 during a commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 12th, 2021.

Collectively, the Class of 2021 - which includes more than 95 graduates - reports it has been accepted to trade schools, colleges and universities across the country, including: Anoka Technical College, North Dakota State University, St. Cloud State University, University of MN, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.

"No matter where a student goes after graduation, their determination to reach this point should be recognized," said ISMN Head of School John Huber. "This graduation ceremony provides an opportunity for us to come together as a school community and celebrate their many hours of hard work."







With virtual classes and live online learning sessions led by state-licensed teachers, ISMN creates a personalized educational experience for students to ensure their success leading up to and after earning their high school diploma.

Details of the graduation ceremony are as follows:

WHAT: Insight School of Minnesota 2021 Graduation Ceremony

WHEN: Saturday, June 12th, 2021 | 1:00pm

WHERE: Virtual (link available upon request)

About Insight School of Minnesota

Insight School of Minnesota (ISMN) is a tuition-free, full- and part-time online public school program of Brooklyn Center School District that serves students in grades 6 through 12. As a Minnesota public school, ISMN is tuition-free, giving parents and families the choice to access the curriculum 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 ISMN, visit mn.insightschools.net.

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[June 10, 2021] ISW Holdings Update: Announces Delivery of 300 Crypto Miners, JV Partner BIT5IVE Now Positioned as Key El Salvador Bitmain Distributor

LAS VEGAS, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire -- ISW Holdings, Inc. (OTC: ISWH) (ISW Holdings or the Company), a global brand management holdings company with commercial operations in Telehealth and Renewable Energy Cryptocurrency Mining, is excited to announce the delivery of a fleet of 300 cryptocurrency miners to be installed into its new POD5IVE Mining pods. This is a huge step, and we are excited to increase our efficiency and scale with the installation of this large new order of mining rigs, noted Alonzo Pierce, President and Chairman of ISW Holdings. We have more miners heading our way over coming weeks and months as we continue to build out our capacity to monetize the investment we have made in this space over the past year. Management notes that new mining capacity has become increasingly difficult to obtain due to increased demand for mining equipment as well as a global shortage of microchips. Through its partnership with Bit5ive LLC (Bit5ive), the Company was able to take advantage of strong relationships to gain access to expanded production capacity, which will also undergird its process for further expanding production capacity in coming weeks and months. In addition, Bit5ives Central American Bitmain distribution license includes the country of El Salvador, and ISWH is currently exploring related opportunities through their Joint Venture with Bit5ive. The Company is in the process of continuing to ramp up its hashing activity. Given its existing energy deals and the high efficiency of its mining pod design, its mining activities are significantly profitable at current Bitcoin prices. ISW Holdings continues to build toward a carbon-neutral footprint in its cryptocurrency mining activities. About ISW Holdings

ISW Holdings, Inc. (ISWH), based in Nevada, is a diversified portfolio company comprised of essential business lines that serve consumer product demands. Our expertise lies in strategic brand development, early growth facilitation, as well as brand identity through our proprietary procurement process. Together, with our partners, we seek to provide a structure that meets large scalability demads, as well as anticipated marketplace needs. We are able to meet these needs through a variety of strategic innovative processes. ISWH is creating and managing brands across a spectrum of disruptive industries. It maneuvers its proprietary companies through critical stages of market development, which includes conceptualization, go-to-market strategies, engineering, product integration, and distribution efficiency. The company has also partnered with a well-known software development and consulting company, Bengala Technologies LLC, which is developing significant enhancements in the supply chain management space; and the partnership has a vitally needed patent now pending.



The Companys cryptocurrency mining segment, established in partnership with industry leader, Bit5ive LLC, is driven by a mission to mine cryptocurrency with a zero carbon footprint. For more information, visit www.iswholdings.com .

Forward Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology including "could", "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential" and the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggested in this report. Except as required by applicable law, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements so as to conform these statements to actual results. Investors should refer to the risks disclosed in the Company's reports filed from time to time with OTC Markets ( www.otcmarkets.com ). Company Contact:

info@ISWHoldings.com

Public Relations

EDM Media, LLC

https://edm.media



Corporate Communications: InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN)

Los Angeles, California

www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com

310.299.1717 Office

Editor@InvestorBrandNetwork.com



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[June 10, 2021] The IWMF Announces 2021 Courage in Journalism Award Winners

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) today announced the recipients of its 31st annual Courage in Journalism Awards. This year's winners  all reporting from their own communities  include the all-women Dalit reporting and editing staff of Indian news outlet Khabar Lahariya; Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian print and broadcast journalist; freelance U.S. photojournalist Vanessa Charlot; and, imprisoned Belarusian journalists Katsiaryna Andreyeva (Bakhvalava) and Darya Chultsova. Reporters and newsrooms in Belarus , India , Peru , and the U.S. receive international honor for women journalists. The announcement of the 2021 Courage Awards comes at a time when surges of nationalism, social unrest, gendered attacks, and the oppression of a free press remain at alarming highs worldwide. In its 31st year, the awards seek to honor bravery in all its forms, and the diverse journalists who use uncommon strength to tell stories that change the global discourse. "This year's Courage Award winners persist despite incredible odds, including censorship and intimidation both online and offline," said the IWMF's Executive Director Elisa Lees Munoz. "It is an honor to recognize Darya, Katsiaryna, Paola, Vanessa, and the team at Khabar Lahariya for their devotion and determination to keep us informed. For these women, and countless others, participation in public discourse is dangerous and traumatic  we salute them and congratulate their courage." For Katsiaryna Andreyeva (Bakhvalava) and Darya Chultsova, reporting in Belarus cost them their freedom. Both journalists were arrested and imprisoned in November 2020 for covering public protests of political repression; they remain jailed facing a two-year sentence. Paola Ugaz  a correspondent for Spanish newspaper ABC  has spent her career investigating injustice. Ugaz's coverage of abuse within the Catholic church has inspired years of unrelenting legal and physical threats. Independent, hyper-local news outlet Khabar Lahariya is a feminist voice in in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The publication disrupts and interrogates the status quo, where newsmakers have long been male, upper-caste, and politically connected. Vanessa Charlot, a freelance U.S. photojournalist, documented the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement following George Floyd's murder, during the onset of COVID-19. Under an oppressive gaze, Charlot holds power to account while enduring trauma inflicted upon her own community. "In receiving this award, Darya represents every woman journalist in Belarus and worldwide who suffers behind bars, despite the risks," said Chultsova's mother, Natalya Terebilenko. "I consider it my duty to publish," commented Ugaz, who continued, "this recognition will help other women journalists in the world to feel that they are not alone." Charlot noted, "This honor is validation of the work I'm blessed to do and the people whose voices help shape the stories we tell." Khabar Lahariya shared, "As rural Dalit women, we are mindful of being pathbreakers while also navigating the challenges that have intensified. We are thrilled and humbled by the recognition, and hope it promotes the global recognition of work that can only be done by women who've been pushed against a wall for too long." Celebrating 31 years of the Courage in Journalism Awards, the IWMF would like to thank Bank of America, its National Presenting Sponsor for the 15th consecutive year, for its commitment to journalism, diversity in news media and the pursuit of press freedom. Support and funding for the Courage in Journalism Awards sustains critical programs, including direct support for the IWMF's Emergency Fund, which supports women journalists in crisis. About the 2021 Courage in Journalism Winners : Katsiaryna Andreyeva (Bakhvalava)and Darya Chultsova (Belarus)





Broadcast and print journalists Katsiaryna Andreyeva grew up in Minsk and has devoted her life to journalism, developing numerous reporting projects and bylines since 2014. In 2017, she became a reporter for Belsat TV. In co-authorship with Ihar Ilyash, Katsiaryna debuted several investigative reports, and in 2020 they published "Belarusian Donbas" about the role of Belarusians in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In 2017 and 2020, Andreyeva was recognized as Belsat's "Television Person of the Year." She was also a laureate of the BAJ "Free Speech" contest and in 2020, she received the "The Hope of Freedom" award from the Lithuanian Association of Journalists. In 2021, Andreyeva was nominated for the Dariusz Fikus Award by the Press Club of Poland and the Ales Lipay Award in Belarus.

Darya Cultsova was born in Shklou. She graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Mahiliou State University with a major in journalism and began focusing on broadcast reporting. After the 2020 elections, Darya moved to Minsk. In 2021, Darya received Ales Lipay's award (Belarus) and a nomination for Belarusian Human Rights Defenders Community's Journalist of the Year. During the summer of 2020 in Belarus, Andreyeva and Chultsova covered peaceful rallies, reporting live from the streets of Minsk. They were arrested together on November 15, 2020, for broadcasting at a violent dispersal of a gathering in memory of murdered protester Raman Bandarenka. After the rally, armed riot police broke the door to the apartment where the journalists were hiding. On November 20, 2020, they were charged under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code (the organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order). On February 18, 2021, the Frunzenski district court of Minsk sentenced to two years of imprisonment. Read more of Andreyeva and Chultsova's stories here and here. Vanessa Charlot (United States)

Freelance photojournalist: @vanessacharlot_ Vanessa Charlot is a freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer whose work covers the intersection of race, identity, politics, and economics. She has worked throughout the United States, Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. Charlot's work has been commissioned by the New York Times, Gucci, Vogue, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Oprah Magazine, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Apple, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, Artnet News, among other national and international publications. She was recently awarded the Green Family Foundation Award and was among those listed in The New York Times' 5 Art Accounts to Follow on Instagram Now. In addition to Charlot's extensive coverage of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, she also covered the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, former President Trump's rallies in St. Louis, Missouri, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Charlot's other work includes the impact of COVID-19, gun control, and immigration. Her current projects are focused on the lived experiences of migrant workers in South Florida, queer families, and other voices absent from mainstream news. She is a member of Women Photograph, Black Women Photographers, Authority Collective, ROAAAR Collective, and Everyday Projects. Read more of Charlot's story here. Khabar Lahariya (India)

Dalit women-led newsroom: @KhabarLahariya Founded in 2002, Khabar Lahariya is an Indian video-first digital news platform led by a team of all-women Dalit reporters and editors, producing independent news in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. With a hyper-local focus, Khabar Lahariya operates under the premise that, "news in a last-mile village is news, deserving of the same attention as what happens in a city or town." The newspaper seeks to brings a feminist voice to local media, interrogating and disrupting the status quo to uplift those traditionally marginalized in the media landscape. It has broken barriers to establish women as journalists in small towns and villages where newsmakers have long been men, upper caste, and well-connected to the political system. After almost 20 years of this work, Khabar Lahariya's reporters are still the outliers, even as more and more young women step into the field. As rural Dalit women, the paper's staff are pathbreakers across gender and caste, navigating myriad challenges and prejudices that have intensified through the years. Read more of Khabar Lahariya's story here. Paola Ugaz (Peru)

Correspondent, ABC  @larryportera Paola Ugaz is a Peruvian journalist and correspondent for Spanish newspaper ABC, and a host of Lamula.pe's "Diarios de Pandemia." Ugaz began her career in 1999 as an investigative and human rights journalist for Caretas magazine, exposing election fraud and covering protests during former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori's second re-election campaign. In 2001, Ugaz became a correspondent for Europa Press, where reported on stories from Peru. Ugaz later worked for Spanish news agency EFE, and was a founding member of IDL Reporteros, an investigative journalism website. She spent seven years as a correspondent in Peru for Brazilian outlet Terra Magazine. During her time as General Editor of Lamula.pe, Ugaz led a team of journalists to win the Peruvian Human Rights Coordinator's National Journalism Award. Ugaz has published several books, including "Punche Peru" with photographer Marina Garcia Burgos, "Chinkaqkuna," (the Missing Ones in Peru), and "Mitad monjes, mitad soldados," (Half Monks, Half Soldiers) with journalist Pedro Salinas. The latter exposed the physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of former members of Sodalitium, a far-right Catholic organization founded in Peru, earning Ugaz and Salinas the 2016 National Journalism Award and the 2016 Human Rights Award from Peru's National Human Rights Coordinator. Read more of Ugaz's story here. About the International Women's Media Foundation Founded in 1989, the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) is the only global non-profit organization that offers emergency support, safety training, grants, skills building and reporting opportunities specifically for female journalists. We are making more women-produced reporting possible and work tirelessly to ensure a greater diversity of voices represented in the news industry worldwide. Follow the IWMF on Twitter at @IWMF, on Facebook at @IWMFPage and Instagram on @TheIWMF. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-iwmf-announces-2021-courage-in-journalism-award-winners-301309714.html SOURCE The International Women's Media Foundation

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[June 10, 2021] Let's Give It up to the Students! Oregon Virtual Academy Class of 2021 Ready to Take Over the World

After a school year like no other, Oregon Virtual Academy (ORVA), an online public school serving K-12 students throughout the state since 2008, will celebrate its graduates with one virtual commencement ceremony on June 12th at 11:30 am. "While other schools may have struggled with online learning throughout the year, ORVA never missed a day of instruction, which kept our students motivated, excited, and moving forward," said ORVA Head of School Melissa Hausmann. "Their achievements deserve to be shouted from the top of Mt. Hood, and we're so happy to have provided a range of solutions to help all our ORVA families." This year, ORVA will graduate nearly 200 students. Approximately 51 students will graduate with a cumulative GPA above 3.5 and many full-ride college scholarships have reportedly been awarded to the Class of 2021 including a George Fox University Merit Scholarship, Oregon Promise Grant, Portland State Merit Scholarship, VFW Auxiliary Patriotic Art Scholarship, and a Portland State University Four Years Free Scholarship. ORVA's 2021 class has four valedictorians, Amaya Birks, Wayde Harman, Cammy Jackson, and Bethany Brindusesc. The Salutatorian is Hunter Honkanen. "I'm so grateful for ORVA and the life lesons I've learned from the teachers and counselors here," said Bethany. "We were blessed to continue school without any interruptions and that was such a relief for me."



Collectively, the graduating class reports it has been accepted to colleges and universities across Oregon and beyond including Eastern Oregon University, Cascade Culinary Institute, as well as Portland Community College, Oregon Coast Community College, and Salem Community College, and a study abroad program in Japan. Prior to the pandemic, students enrolled in virtual school for a number of reasons- some were looking for a safe and healthy environment to school, and others were looking for more of a personalized and challenging academic experience.

ORVA students access a robust and rigorous online curriculum and attend live virtual classes taught by state-certified teachers. Details of the graduation ceremonies are as follows: WHAT: Oregon Virtual Academy 2021 Graduation Ceremonies WHEN: Saturday, June 12th, 11:30 AM, Link can be found here. CONTACT: For any questions about the celebrations, please contact Melissa Hausmann at mhausmann@oregonva.org. For media inquiries, please contact Ken Schwartz at kschwartz@k12.com. About Oregon Virtual Academy Oregon Virtual Academy (ORVA) is an online and blended public charter school authorized by the North Bend School District which serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade throughout the state of Oregon. As part of the Oregon public school system, ORVA is tuition-free, and gives families the choice to access the curriculum provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of K-12 proprietary curriculum and online education programs. For more information about ORVA, visit orva.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005005/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Making Social Impact: New Corporate Social Responsibility Scholarship Opens to American Companies Working in Middle East

As college students across the globe are beginning to return to universities after Covid-19 put so much on hold, a few select university students at the American University of Iraq in Sulaimani (AUIS) are starting their college careers with new hope, thanks to a new scholarship campaign called "We Share the Future." AUIS, a not-for-profit university and operated for the public benefit, is aiming to improve the lives of students and their families through a new scholarship campaign called "We Share the Future." The scholarships are intended to provide an American-style education to young people from all over Iraq and its Kurdistan region, regardless of their social, ethnic and sectarian background. "I returned home to Baghdad after my graduation and accepted a position with a major bank where I serve as a compliance officer," according to Basma, an Iraqi, AUIS female graduate who recently received her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. "The strong ethics and discipline that I acquired during my studies at AUIS have helped me to succeed on the job." The scholarships are intended to help support AUIS students like Basma. According to UNICEF, in recent years, Iraq has allocated less than 6% of its national budget to the education sector, placing it at the bottom rank of Middle East countries. Currently, $3.2 million school-aged Iraqi children are out of school: a disproportionate amount of them girls. For those students who do graduate from high school, access to higher education can seem out of reach or impossible. To address gender disparity of those receiving a higher education, half of the scholarships will be allotted to women college students. How Your Company Can Help

Seeking further support for the scholarship fund, any company working in Iraq is eligible to contribute to the scholarships as part of their corporate social responsibility campaign. The goal is to help students prepare for quality, high-paying jobs in Iraq's commercial and government sectors. "Recipients of the scholarships not only have their lives, but their families' lives, change for the better," accordingto AUIS President Bruce Walker Ferguson. "The investment in an educated workforce from corporate community support is key to enabling AUIS to attract students from diverse backgrounds and creates a powerful engine both for student success and for the country's economic growth, social benefit, and regional security," Ferguson said.



Creating Impact

Caliburn International, a U.S.-based company which has had a long-standing presence in Iraq with its subsidiaries Sallyport, Janus Global Operations, and Comprehensive Health Services, has become the first to fund the "We Share the Future" campaign with an initial commitment of $250,000. Caliburn CEO Bob Stalick said, "The new scholarship program is another way we can give back to the people of Iraq, where we have worked for many years and have established deep relationships and a respect for the people." He noted that to help develop and support the future workforce in the region, it is critical for the next generation to have the academic and technological background, as well as the critical thinking skills and the collaborative mindset needed to grow.

Caliburn announced in April that they intend to break into two independent companies, Acuity International and Valiance Humanitarian. The company expects the separation into two companies to be completed by fall of 2021. Seeking Additional Support

The campaign is seeking additional U.S. companies doing business in Iraq to follow Caliburn's lead and support new undergraduate scholarships that will further develop the educated and skilled workforce needed to rebuild and sustain the country. Having corporations working in Iraq, like Sallyport and Janus (part of the Caliburn family), partner with the University provides job prospects for AUIS students upon graduation. Graduates of AUIS have the skill sets and worldview to benefit both their employers and their country. AUIS alumni are among the most sought-after university graduates in Iraq, with 80% employed full-time, overwhelmingly in the private sector, or pursuing graduate studies in the U.S., Europe, and beyond. How to Contribute

To learn more about how your company can join Caliburn in donating to support the education of Iraq's future workforce, contact AUIS VP Advancement Liza O'Connor-Stroud at liza.oconnor@auis.edu.krd The AUIS has a charitable organization set up to receive corporate support: The American University of Iraq Foundation (AUIF) is recognized by the IRS as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, so any donations to the "We Share the Future" campaign are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005988/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Moneta Attracts International Investment Strategist as New Chief Investment Officer

Moneta, a 100% partner-owned registered investment advisor (RIA) headquartered in Missouri, is proud to announce the appointment of Aoifinn Devitt, an Ireland native, as its new Chief Investment Officer (CIO). With the addition of its first female CIO, Moneta bolsters its senior leadership team and expands its footprint to Chicago, where Devitt will reside. Bringing more than two decades of financial industry experience and a diverse international background, Devitt will play an integral role in establishing the firm's long-term investment vision, philosophy and strategies. Her responsibilities will include aligning Moneta's investment programs with broader firm goals, as well as overseeing the research, evaluation and selection of asset classes and investment vehicles. "Aoifinn's impressive skill set and extensive experience across asset classes and management structures make her the perfect fit for the CIO role," said Keith Bowles, Chief Operating Officer of Moneta. "We're thrilled to welcome hr to our senior leadership team and are eager to see her make her mark."



Originally from Ireland, Devitt spent her early career working in London as an investment banking associate at Goldman Sachs International and a specialist consultant at Cambridge Associates Limited. Devitt also founded Clontarf Capital, a pan-alternatives research and consulting firm. More recently, she served as CIO for the Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago and head of investment for Ireland at Hermes Fund Managers Ireland Limited. "I am incredibly proud to be joining Moneta as CIO," said Devitt. "The firm's legacy coupled with its leading position as one of America's top 10 independent RIAs make it the ideal place for me. Further, Moneta's strategic approach to growth - attracting like-minded advisors who appreciate the value of shared equity in a member-owned RIA - is one that I can wholeheartedly stand behind. I look forward to leveraging my expertise to help Moneta maximize results and maintain its elevated standard of excellence long into the future."

Devitt is also a licensed attorney who has been a member of the New York Bar since 1996. She earned her law degree from Trinity College Dublin and MBA from INSEAD in France. ABOUT MONETA

Moneta Group Investment Advisors, LLC is a registered investment advisor with $27.4 billion in assets under management, headquartered in the Midwest. Barron's ranked Moneta among the nation's Top 10 Independent RIAs in 2018, 2019 and 2020 for its combination of quality and scale. InvestmentNews ranked Moneta as the nation's second-largest fee-only RIA, with more than $20 billion in AUM in 2019 and 2020. The firm consistently earns praise for the way it invests in and takes care of employees. In 2019, InvestmentNews ranked Moneta among the nation's "Best Places to Work for Financial Advisers" for the second-straight year. In 2021, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ranked Moneta among its "Top Workplaces" for the eighth-straight year, and the St. Louis Business Journal named Moneta as one of its "Best Places to Work" for a sixth-straight year. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005149/en/

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[June 10, 2021] MXC Exchange Rebrands to MEXC Global As Part of Its Globalization Strategy

SINGAPORE, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On June 8, Singapore Standard Time, the MXC Exchange officially rebranded to MEXC Global . The brand upgrade is a vital part of the exchange's strategy to reach global adoption. The rebranding seeks to deepen the platforms global compliance strategy and adapt to changing markets.

Since its launch in 2018, MEXC has been taking crypto to the next level with its unique platform that offers diverse crypto exchanging opportunities for investors worldwide. The rebranding follows up on efforts to expand to exchange communities in countries and regions such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Japan, India, Turkey, Brazil, Africa etc. MEXC Global, abbreviated as "MEXC, has changed the official channels and products to MEXC related brand logos. The brand update is designed to help the exchange extend its reach globally, ensuring that every crypto investor has ample trading opportunities. The Pursuit for Global Compliance Since its inception, MEXC has continued to pursue its global compliance strategy. In 2019, the global trading platform successively obtained Estonian MTR and US MSB under the guidance of the Estonian regulatory agency and the U.S. regulatory agency FinCEN. The Singapore-based crypto platform has since gone on to obtain Canadian MSB, Swiss VQF, and Australian compliance licenses, making it the exchange with the most global compliance licenses. MEXC Global CEO John Chen Ju hailed the latest rebranding effort as an essential part of the exchange's globalization strategy. He reiterated his firm's commitment to continue adhering to the original intention of putting the user first and providing them with better crypto services.



The continued push to achieve global adoption has seen MEXC amass over 5 million monthly visitors from more than 200 countries and regions around the globe. The exchange supports over 850 coins and tokens in more markets than Binance, the worlds biggest bitcoin exchange. The MEXC product platform supports English, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Portuguese, and many other language regions.

To enhance its payments compliance, MEXC is cooperating with Simplex, a European compliant payment firm, and Banxa, a leading payment processing platform in Southeast Asia. The move will facilitate MEXC to directly purchase top cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, BCH and LTC, through VISA and MasterCard cards in Euros or U.S. dollars. The MEXC team is committed to expanding its digital asset services to multiple regions within the compliance framework permitted by law. As a global trading platform, MEXC is committed to expanding into the global crypto market as it seeks to take its place as the best exchange platform. About MEXC Global MEXC Global is a centralized crypto exchange with vast crypto-related services. The global platform has emerged on the top 10 crypto trading platforms that provide excellent digital-asset trading services in the crypto sphere, including futures, spot, derivatives, and margin trading. It also has other offerings, including an IEO Launchpad, DeFi, and PoS staking options. MEXC users enjoy a user-friendly and reliable trading experience on the trading platform, which has a highly intuitive UI. The exchange offers a mobile and desktop app to help crypto traders access the services anywhere, anytime! The Singapore-based exchange has its native MX token that actively participates in multiple trading pairs and will help in service provision. The token is currently trading at $0.8287 and has a market cap of $84,205,021, per data from the crypto ranking website coinmarketcap . MX has been doing well in the crypto market and hit its all-time high of $2.9 on May 12, proving the tokens excellent prospects in the future. To learn more about the newly rebranded global exchange, please check out their social media links below: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MEXC_Global

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mexcglobal

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mexc.global/

Telegram: https://t.me/MEXCEnglish Media Contacts - Name  Alson, CMO Email  alson.liu@mexc.com Company  MEXC Global



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[June 10, 2021] New Research: Telia Carrier Reveals Spike in Network Security Incidents Driven by COVID-19 Pandemic

STOCKHOLM, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new survey from Telia Carrier, almost half (45%) of business leaders claim that their company has experienced more network security incidents as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research, entitled "Enterprise Network Security 2021: A Post-Pandemic Threat Landscape Report" was conducted in the US, the UK, Germany and France  and provides insights into current corporate security concerns at the top of business. New Research: Telia Carrier Reveals Spike in Network Security Incidents Driven by COVID-19 Pandemic Geographically speaking, 55% of US and 49% of UK respondents have experienced the most severe impact to their network security due to these attacks (suggesting that their businesses are more of a target than those in continental Europe) which, in turn, has resulted in a clear majority of respondents (60%) increasing their investment in this area. The Business Impact

A sizeable 68% of leaders said their company has experienced a DDoS attack in the last 12 months with the UK (76%) and the US (73%) experiencing a significantly higher proportion compared to 59% of their German and 56% French counterparts. Additionally, over half of the leaders who participated in the survey confirmed that they specifically experienced a DDoS ransom or extortion attack in that time, with a large number of them (65%) targeted at UK companies, compared with the relatively low number in France (38%). "Due to the sensitive nature of these incidents, the survey didn't ascertain the extent to which cybercriminals were successful in extorting money from enterprises, but the results do highlight the seriousness of the problem and that there is a financial motive behind many DDoS attacks", explained Mattias Fridstrom, Chief Evangelist at Telia Carrier. "The findings also clearly suggest that UK businesses are being specifically targeted and that the heightened fears of US and UK businesses are justified"



COVID-19 has also had an impact on the sense of vulnerability among business leaders, with 51% of them feeling more vulnerable to cyber attacks since the pandemic. In keeping with the other trends identified, the US and UK again appear to feel the most vulnerable. The impact of these DDoS attacks has been dramatic for some, with 11% of respondents saying that such an attack has posed a threat so serious that it could have undermined business continuity. A further 40% said that such an attack had a major impact, resulting in significant disruption and loss of business revenues. The countries most severely impacted were the UK (43%) followed closely by the US (39%), with organizations within the financial service and IT service sectors suffering the most.

Security Pain Points

Startlingly, 78% of leaders revealed that they responded to up to 100 network security incidents in the last 12 months. The figures were highest in the UK and US. As for the nature of the cyber threats faced, it is no surprise to find that phishing (where victims are contacted by fraudsters via phone, email or text message and lured into divulging sensitive information) is regarded by many leaders (56%) as the main cyber threat to their business. What is more telling, perhaps, is the fact that almost as many (49%) view DDoS attacks at the same level. Commenting on these findings, Mattias Fridstrom said: "A comprehensive security solution for enterprises consists of several components, where network security is only one part. However, the network is probably the most vulnerable part of the security stack because of its inherent exposure to the outside world  often across long distances. When it fails, so do all the systems and workflows that depend upon it. It comes as no surprise, when you look at these findings, to know that network security is also by far the biggest security cost for business with 42% of leaders citing it as their greatest security outlay." Mitigating Attacks

To counteract the network security threats, nearly half (45%) of leaders currently mitigate DDoS attacks by using ISP/network provider DDoS protection. A significant number have their own in-house mitigation/scrubbing capabilities (34%). Cloud-based solutions are utilized by less than a fifth, while a small but worrying three in 100 businesses don't mitigate at all. When asked about their familiarity with network service providers' DDoS protection services, more than half (53%) of respondents said that they do not consider themselves to be familiar with the DDoS protection services offered by network service providers. Leaders in the US displayed the highest level of familiarity, while those in France had the lowest. "Enterprises need to evaluate potential security threats throughout their entire ICT ecosystem if they are to successfully face down the ever-increasing severity and unpredictability of evolving threats in an increasingly digitalized and distributed business environment. They will need to act on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and scale their security programs with sufficient headroom to protect their business from future, and as yet unforeseen, threats," concluded Mattias Fridstrom. Study Methodology

Research was carried out online in February-March 2021, with 418 industry representatives in the US, the UK, Germany and France, on behalf of Telia Carrier by Savanta, a global leader in digital data collection. Participants in the survey came from a range of industries, led by: IT services (119); banking (79); manufacturing/engineering (70); and finance/financial services (52). All worked for enterprises of more than 4,000 people. All respondents were involved in decision-making regarding their company's network security and development strategy, with more than half (56%) having the last word. Participants were split between the four markets as follows: US (153); UK (107); France (79); Germany (79). Media contacts:

US

Jeannette Bitz, Engage PR, +1.510.599.5499, jbitz@engagepr.com

UK

Lorena Duke, Ascendant Communications, +44 (0) 20 8334 8041, telia@ascendcomms.net

Telia Carrier

Martin Sjogren, Senior Manager PR and Analyst Relations

+46 (0)707 770 522

martin.sjogren@teliacompany.com About Telia Carrier

Telia Carrier solves global connectivity challenges for multinational enterprises whose businesses rely on digital infrastructure. On top of the world's #1 ranked IP backbone and a unique ecosystem of cloud and network service providers, we provide an award-winning customer experience to customers in 120 countries worldwide. Our global Internet services connect more than 700 cloud, security and content providers with low latency. For further resilience, our private Cloud Connect service connects directly to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud and Oracle cloud across North America, Europe and Asia. Discover more at teliacarrier.com , and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter . View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-research-telia-carrier-reveals-spike-in-network-security-incidents-driven-by-covid-19-pandemic-301309537.html SOURCE Telia Carrier

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[June 10, 2021] Perrone Robotics, Inc. Completes A Series Of Complex Operational Design Domain Demonstrations For Autonomous Vehicles On Public Roads

CROZET, Va., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Perrone Robotics, Inc. , a leading provider of fully autonomous vehicle (AV) technology and turnkey vehicle solutions for the mobility of people and things, successfully completed a series of public road demonstrations in the city of Westminster, Md., as part of an event hosted by the Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory (MAGIC) Autonomous Corridor Project. Following the success achieved in Maryland, a week later the company conducted back-to-back public road tests for customers with a GreenPower AV Star zero-emission transit shuttle, and a Low Speed Vehicle (LSV) neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV), both integrated with Perrone Autonomy (these vehicles are slated for customer deployment later this summer for use in municipal and university transit applications). Westminster, Md. Demonstration For the MAGIC Autonomous Corridor Project event, the on-road demonstrations were conducted with GreenPower Motor Company's AV Star  the world's first and only fully autonomous, all-electric, ADA compliant, FMVSS certified and Buy American shuttle integrated with Perrone Robotics' autonomous vehicle retrofit kit, TONY. Perrone Robotics developed the complex operational design domain (ODD) route with the approval of the Maryland Department of Transportation, the City of Westminster Police Department, county government officials and various other public stakeholders. The complex ODD route required the AV shuttle to successfully navigate a designated neighborhood, left and right turns, around a city park, a 4-way stop and through a historic city neighborhood. "Perrone was able to deploy its AVs over a two-day period across Westminster, Md., in an impressive proof of concept demonstration," said Graham Dodge, executive director at MAGIC. "The vehicles performed flawlessly on our public roads and represent a promising milestone for autonomous transportaton."



Charlottesville, Va. Albemarle County Regional Demonstration In addition to the ODD demonstration in Maryland, Perrone Robotics also completed a series of demonstrations in the Charlottesville, Va. area, that included multiple roundabouts, a stop-off at a post office, busy town intersections and county roads.

Perrone's Autonomy provides a scalable solution built around a patented full-stack platform, MAX, the TONY (short for "TO Navigate You") retrofit kit and a safety certifiable framework, Perrone's Safety Watchdog. The result is an AV retrofit kit that integrates seamlessly into any vehicle for any job applications for use in the autonomous transit of people and goods in geo-fenced and localized operations. Customers are able to accelerate the global deployment of autonomous vehicle fleet solutions across their gas-powered, diesel and electric passenger and cargo shuttles. Perrone Robotics received national recognition several years ago for technically reaching Level 5 autonomy in its 2019 public road demonstrations in Albemarle County, Virginia. The company operated for several months throughout the summer and fall on public roads with zero driver interventions. For more information and the results, please visit: https://www.perronerobotics.com/news/county-shuttle-report . Today the company continues to build on that success with over 30 vehicle types outfitted, 40,000 autonomous miles driven, additional patents and AV applications. Perrone has additional AV transit, cargo and delivery shuttles under development and will be ready for use in public fleets by late summer 2021. "We have been operating in a driverless fashion with our autonomy since 2005, including the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge," stated Paul Perrone, founder and CEO of Perrone Robotics. "It's great to see our pioneering research take hold as a reliable commercial solution that's deployable now." Autono-MaaS Performance milestones like these and continued collaboration with automated mobility service providers are crucial to developing the emerging Autono-MaaS (autonomous-mobility as a service) marketplace. Through real-world demonstrations with Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs), and large shuttles, cargo and delivery vehicles integrated with Perrone Robotics, the company continues to prove that reliable AV technology can help provide innovative mobility and access options for transit and transportation solutions providers. About Perrone Robotics, Inc. Perrone is a leading provider of fully autonomous vehicle systems. The company delivers mobility excellence via TONY (short for "TO Navigate You"), a vehicle independent retrofit kit for use in the autonomous transit of people and goods in geo-fenced and localized operations. TONY embeds inside any vehicle for any job to provide a complete "artificial driver" solution that brings full autonomy in a safety certifiable framework. Proven, piloted and in commercial production, Perrone autonomous systems help commercial, municipal, and governmental customers increase transportation efficiencies, enhance safety, and accelerate zero-emission electric vehicle deployment. The company also offers a portfolio of existing turnkey autonomous shuttles and vehicles pre-integrated with the TONY retrofit kit. Learn more at www.perronerobotics.com or follow us @perronerobotics. Contact Eric Becker

104 West Partners for Perrone Robotics, Inc.

eric.becker@104west.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/perrone-robotics-inc-completes-a-series-of-complex-operational-design-domain-demonstrations-for-autonomous-vehicles-on-public-roads-301310496.html SOURCE Perrone Robotics Inc

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[June 10, 2021] Procore Enhances its Preconstruction Solution for Better Cost and Risk Management

Procore Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: PCOR), a leading provider of construction management software, announced an enhanced Preconstruction solution at today's Procore Innovation Summit. This solution connects people, designs, and data across preconstruction and the course of construction on Procore's platform, with analytics tools to support the entire process. According to a 2018 study conducted by FMI, correcting work that was incorrectly done, or rework, cost over $500 billion in 2018. On average, 52% of that rework was caused by poor project data and communication. Procore Preconstruction is tailored for owners, general contractors and specialty contractors looking to win and build more profitable projects, while reducing risk and rework. Every project stakeholder can now be connected to a project's design, estimates, bidding and budgets within the Procore platform. Improving Estimates by Connecting Estimating to Financials Procore Preconstruction starts with estimating and takeoff, and the data flows into bidding and financials tools. This allows users to better manage project costs through all phases of construction, by connecting the preconstruction teams with the field. Procore acquired construction estimating and takeoff company Esticom in October 2020. Esticom's technology is now integrated into the Procore platform and its user interface, enabling users to: Automatically create their budget and prime contracts directly from an estimate with a single click, preventing important information from being lost in the transition from preconstruction to operations. Streamline change management and ensure their total estimated profit is not lost between systems or teams - made possible by connecting drawing markups to estimating via the Drawings tool. Build more accurate takeoffs faster with Auto-Count, an artificial intelligence feature that assists in symbol recognition. Use Procore's new benchmark data, available within Procore Analytics, to compare the past performance of initial estimates to the final budget at project delivery. The performance of specific specialty contractors across projects of similar size and type can also be compared.



Better Design Coordination to Ensure Constructability

If the first half of reducing cost risk is to make better estimates, the second half is better design coordination to ensure constructability. Constructability review is an all-hands-on-deck process with the design team and the project team collaborating to flag issues and ultimately ensure that the plans put into action can be delivered as designed. Procore Preconstruction has tools for effectively managing design collaboration, including: Coordination issues: This new tool allows teams to track and manage all 2D and 3D design issues in one location, and to perform collaborative design reviews on drawings. "Follow Me" feature in Procore BIM: Users can see all active users reviewing the model and navigate directly to their location with a single click, making design reviews more efficient and effective. Dynamic 2D Views from Procore BIM: Users can create 2D drawing views of the design from the BIM model. Now teams can see all building systems consolidated in a single view to make sure everything is coordinated and properly located prior to construction. Josh Soules, Foreman at North Mechanical Contracting, said, "Having access to elevation drawings, on-the-fly, in Procore, is just one more tool that enables me to do my job more efficiently." Learn more about Procore Preconstruction in this blog post and at https://www.procore.com/preconstruction. Forward-looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements about Procore and its industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release, including, but not limited to: statements regarding the expected performance of Procore's business and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. Procore has based the forward-looking statements contained in this press release primarily on its current expectations and projections about future events and trends that Procore believes may affect its business, financial condition, and operating results. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from Procore's current expectations. You should not place undue reliance on Procore's forward-looking statements. Procore assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that exist or change after the date on which they were made, except as required by law. About Procore Procore is a leading provider of construction management software. Over 1 million projects and more than $1 trillion USD in construction volume have run on Procore's platform. Procore's platform connects key project stakeholders to solutions Procore has built specifically for the construction industry-for the owner, the general contractor, and the specialty contractor. Procore's Marketplace has a multitude of partner solutions that integrate seamlessly with Procore's platform, giving construction professionals the freedom to connect with what works best for them. Headquartered in Carpinteria, California, Procore has offices in Canada around the globe. Learn more at Procore.com. PROCORE-IR View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005884/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Rotunda Capital Partners Acquires and Combines American Equipment, Pacific Crane & Hoist and Allied Crane

Rotunda Capital Partners ("Rotunda"), an operationally-focused private equity firm, has partnered with the management teams of American Equipment, Pacific Crane & Hoist and Allied Crane to form the largest independent provider of overhead crane and hoist solutions and services in the Western U.S. The combined company will operate as American Equipment Holdings (the "Company") with 14 strategic locations throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005273/en/ American Equipment's President and CEO, Adam Zimmerman, will retain a significant equity interest in the Company and will lead the combined business. Michael Perera will also retain an equity interest and will continue to provide complex and highly engineered overhead crane and hoist solutions to customers across a diverse range of end markets throughout North America. Dave Costa will continue to support the Company and its customers as a special advisor. "Rotunda has been looking for an investment in material handling distribution and service for some time," said Ryan Aprill, Vice President at Rotunda. "The combination of American Equipment with Pacific Crane & Hoist and Allied Crane brings together more than 100 years of collective industry experience and creates the premier consolidation platform in the highly fragmented North American overhead crane and hoist market." "This is an incredible opportunity for American Equipment. From our first meeting, it was clear that Rotunda shared similar views as to the foundation we have created and what our company could achieve," said Adam Zimmerman, President and CEO of American Equipment. "Through this partnership, our culture and high-touch customer experience that we are known for won't change, but we gain the expertise and capital to grow in a market with significant opportunity." "This deal continues Rotunda's foundation of acquiring family and founder-owned companies and partnering with strong management teams," said Corey Whisner, Partner at Rotunda. "We look forward to working alongside management to leverage the combined Company's geographic footprint and comprehensive solution capabilities to expand upon its existing value-proposition, while also accelerating expansion into new geographies and markets." "Over the last half century, American Equipment's team has built a leading regional equipment and service business and they are well-positioned for substantial future growth," said Dan Lipson, Partner at Rotunda. "In addition to supporting the acquisitions of Pacific Crane & Hoist and Allied Crane, we are committed to helping the Company build a business of national scale through both organic growth and aditional acquisitions."



"The combination of Pacific Crane & Hoist's advanced and highly engineered system capabilities with American Equipment and Allied Crane is truly unique and will enable us to address any overhead crane and hoist project or service requirement entirely in-house," said Michael Perera, founder of Pacific Crane & Hoist. "It provides me with great pride knowing that the company I built for the last 45 years, and our employees will be joining an organization led by Rotunda and the most experienced overhead crane and hoist executives in the industry," said Dave Costa, founder of Allied Crane.

About American Equipment Holdings American Equipment Holdings is home to a collection of leading overhead crane and hoist distributors and service providers, including American Equipment, Pacific Crane & Hoist and Allied Crane. The consolidated entity is one of the largest independently owned overhead crane and hoist solutions providers in the country, serving over 2,000 customers across 14 strategic locations throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Together, American Equipment Holdings provides comprehensive solutions for everything related to customers' overhead crane and hoist needs, including new and replacement equipment, ISO certified fabrication, automated systems, system modernizations, parts, inspections (including OHSA and Cal-OSHA), preventative maintenance and repair services and training. American Equipment Holdings represents the industry's leading manufacturers such as Detroit Hoist, Columbus McKinnon, ACCO, R&M (News - Alert) , Demag, Gorbel, Spanco, IMS, Harrington, Conductix, Magnetek & PE, among others and customers rely on its design, engineering, fabrication and installation capabilities to meet their unique application needs. American Equipment Holdings serves local, regional and national customers across a variety of end markets, including light & heavy industrial, automotive, mining, public utilities, military, aerospace & defense and energy, among others. For more information, visit www.americanequipmentholdings.com. About American Equipment American Equipment, based in Salt Lake City, UT, provides its customers a one-stop-shop solution for all their overhead crane and hoist needs, including new equipment design, engineering and fabrication, system modernization, installation, inspection, maintenance, repair and training services. For more information, visit www.amquipinc.com. About Pacific Crane & Hoist Founded in 2007 by former Demag Cranes manager and licensed engineer, Michael Perera, Pacific Crane & Hoist is North America's leader in highly engineered and automated crane systems, as well as a leader in the Southern California maintenance, inspection and repair market. For more information, visit www.pacificcranehoist.com. About Allied Crane Allied Crane was founded in 1976 by Dave Costa and is the premier regional provider of full-service, comprehensive overhead crane and hoist solutions in the Northern California market. For more information, visit www.alliedcrane.us. About Rotunda Capital Partners Rotunda Capital Partners is a private equity firm that invests equity capital in established, lower middle market companies. Rotunda partners with management to build data-driven growth platforms within its targeted sectors, including value-added distribution, asset-light logistics and industrial/business services. Founded in 2009, the firm has a long history of helping management teams achieve their goals for growth. The Rotunda team actively provides guidance and draws on deep industry and financial relationships to contribute to the successful execution of Rotunda's companies' strategic plans. The firm has offices in Bethesda, MD and Evanston, IL. For more information, visit www.rotundacapital.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005273/en/

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[June 10, 2021] SecuLetter Promotes Korea's Innovative Security Technologies in Middle East

SEOUL, South Korea, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SecuLetter, a company that specializes in detecting and blocking malicious code and a member of Born2Global Centre, will soon host 2021 K-Security Webinar in Saudi Arabia with Best IT (Best Information Technology System), its partner in the Middle East to promote Korea's outstanding security technologies. The webiar aims to share the latest cyber security threats and best practices for defending against the sophisticated threats. As the business move towards remote working and virtual engagements, cyber attack surface has widened and number of cyber-incident has increased dramatically. Those who are interested in participating may apply through the webinar registration site. (https://seculetterevent.com/2021/seculetter_webinar_219616_eDM.html)



At the webinar, SecuLetter and more Korean security solutions will be introduced to potential Middle Eastern clients, including companies in Saudi Arabia, and will work to expand its supply network. The webinar will feature SecuLetter, Best IT and three major Korean security firms with participants mostly comprising representatives of Saudi Arabia's government and public agency and educational organization. The Korean security company speakers will introduce their security technologies and solutions with the best practices. Proactive Protection against Advanced Cyber Threats

Secure Your Business with Identity and Access Management

The Best Way to Prevent Data Leakage

Untact Networking under COVID19 with Easy 2 Simple, Secure, and Smart Management SecuLetter, the organizer of this webinar is an advanced malware analysis expert which provides the proactive security against the cyber threats. With the SecuLetter automatized reveres-engineering analysis technology, malicious attacks such as evasive threats can be detected and blocked before reaching to corporate email and file systems. Since SecuLetter has attracted investment from Riyadh Valley Company, a Saudi Arabian venture capital firm in 2019, SecuLetter has remained active in the Middle Eastern security market.



Chasung Lim, CEO of SecuLetter said, "As we have attracted investment and secured references in Middle East, we are hoping to provide more Korean outstanding security solutions, various and valuable experience in cyber security to Middle Eastern market."

For more detailed information on SecuLetter, visit www.seculetter.com/content/en/.

To participate in Saudi K-Security Webinar, register on https://seculetterevent.com/2021/seculetter_webinar_219616_eDM.html. Media contact

SecuLetter: benett.choi@seculetter.com

Born2Global Centre: jlee@born2global.com

SOURCE Born2Global Centre

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[June 10, 2021] Spacetalk Launches Fall Detection Technology for Seniors

Highlights Fall Detection launched on all Spacetalk LIFE smartphone watches for seniors

Enabled automatically via a free over-the-air upgrade

Ground-breaking new technology incorporating real time data recording and triangulation, Artificial Intelligence ("AI"), and machine learning; continually enhancing its high accuracy in real time as more people use the devices

World-first for devices designed for seniors and people with special needs SYDNEY, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Spacetalk Ltd. (ASX:SPA) ("Spacetalk" or "Company"), developer of innovative technologies that keep families safe and connected, is pleased to announce the release of Fall Detection on all Spacetalk LIFE smartphone watches for seniors via a free over-the-air upgrade. To learn more about Spacetalk's smartphone GPS watches and app platform, and the Company, visit: https://www.spacetalkwatch.com/. Investor Centre: https://investors.spacetalkwatch.com/. Fall Detection is a significant enhancement to Spacetalk LIFE, incorporating breakthrough technology and considerably broadening its use-case and marketability as an assistive device. Falls are the second leading cause of accidental injury and deaths worldwide. Among the most vulnerable are adults aged 65 years+ who make up most of those who experience serious falls. Falls are Australia's largest contributor to hospitalised injury cases and a leading cause of injury deaths. In 201718, 42% of hospitalised injury cases (222,725 hospitalisations; 898 per 100,000 population) and 40% of injury deaths (5,156 deaths; 20.8 per 100,000 population) were due to falls.[1] Falls can happen to anyone at any location, but falls requiring hospitalisation are more common in older people, with more than 1 in 3 elderly Australians experiencing a fall each year. 58% of hospitalisations for accidental falls (128,926 hospitalisations; 3,347 per 100,000 population) and 95% of falls causing death (4,873 deaths; 126.5 per 100,000 population) were for 65+ year olds.[2]







[1] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Government, Injury in Australia: Falls - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au). [2] Ibid.

How the technology works Accurate Fall Detection is a complex process that not only involves the real time analysis of the wearer's movement data but also the real time application of this data to the person's individual anthropometric, medical and other critical personal information. Spacetalk's onboarding process collects wearers' base fall associated data, which includes age, height, weight, gender, fall history, medication, psychological condition, dizziness and other information. This is stored in a secure and de-personalised manner on the device and Spacetalk's servers, and is used to calculate the wearers fall risk profile and initial device sensor sensitivity setting. Spacetalk LIFE devices have built-in intelligent accelerometer and gyroscope sensors, which continuously record and relay data of users' movements, speed and altitude back to Spacetalk servers. In real time, this data is triangulated with the wearers anthropometric, medical and other critical personal information to determine whether the wearer's current movement should be interpreted as a fall, and if so, activate the Fall Detection Alert process. The wearer has 30 seconds to cancel the Alert process if they are okay or the algorithms calculated a false fall alert. All information and data is used in real time to continuously learn and enhance the accuracy of the overall Fall Detection technology. Updated device firmware and sensor settings are sent as over-the-air updates to the device to improve the technology automatically. Wearer experience Once a fall has been detected, the device will vibrate, sound an alarm and display an alert on the watch face for 30 seconds, during which time the wearer can cancel the alarm. If the alarm is not cancelled, it will SMS all emergency contacts an alert with the wearers' location and sequentially call each emergency contact. If none of the contacts respond, emergency services (000) or third party 24/7 emergency responders are contacted. After successfully contacting emergency responders the watch displays a confirmation message to the wearer for 10 seconds to provide them assurance and then switches to displaying the Medical ID functionality for emergency responders to view the user's relevant medical and other critical details. In developing the technology, the Company worked closely with aged/home care, NDIS and 24/7 emergency services providers to ensure their systems could digitally receive wearers' relevant information and location in the event of a fall or emergency. Predictive analytics Spacetalk LIFE's new real time data collection, AI and machine learning technology advancements lay the groundwork for its future potential capabilities to monitor behaviour in order to predict the increasing risk of an oncoming fall or other medical condition. This technology is breaking new ground and is a step-change and world-first for devices designed for seniors and people with special needs. Spacetalk Founder and CEO Mark Fortunatow said: "The conception, development and roll-out of these ground-breaking features highlights a uniqueness of Spacetalk amongst smartphone watch manufacturers, and especially in the niche of building purpose-built devices for kids and seniors We own the entire end-to-end IP, technology and ecosystem. We own the device design, circuitry IP, firmware, apps and servers. And of course, we own the brand. This tightly integrated and seamless in-house approach means we have full control to build amazing new functionality that really sets us apart. It provides real competitive advantages and gives us the flexibility to move towards new business models; where for instance, responsible sharing of data for the benefit of users (engagement, health, safety, etc.) with their consent, becomes the key value proposition." Medical ID Included in the Fall Detection release, Spacetalk LIFE now has life-saving Medical ID functionality, which provides emergency services and healthcare professionals with the wearers medical, allergy and other critical personal information, to inform the course of treatment when seconds count. After an SOS or Fall Detection process has been completed, the watch pulses a bright red display to alert and draw emergency responders' attention to press a button to view the wearer's Medical ID. A simple on-boarding process has been developed including a VIDEO which makes it user friendly to activate theses new features. Spacetalk LIFE smartphone devices First launched in June 2020 as an all-in-one smartphone watch with GPS for older Australians, Spacetalk LIFE's potential to support the journey of ageing  enhancing independence, healthy living, social connectivity, and safety, while providing reassurance and peace of mind to family and friends  has attracted significant interest from aged/home care providers, NDIS providers and Occupational Therapists ("OTs"). Other LIFE features include SOS alert, GPS locator, 4G phone, water (shower) proof, medication and other reminders, step counter, wearer's medical history information for emergency responders, and a carer-family app to allow easy communication and enhanced interactions at the wearer's discretion. LIFE retails at a price of $399, approximately 40% less than other lower featured devices currently available and requires pairing with the Spacetalk App for a $7.99 per month fee and a 4G SIM. The full cost of the device and the first 12 months of the App fee may be supported by Government funding to eligible persons. Spacetalk Founder and CEO Mark Fortunatow said: "We've just added tremendous value to our Spacetalk LIFE device and platform. Falls among the elderly is one of the most important public health issues in today's aging society. Together with the NDIS Provider accreditation we announced earlier this week, the opportunity for our company in the senior's category has just taken a big step forward. By applying real time AI and machine learning, Spacetalk now has arguably the most advanced and accurate Wearable Fall Detection technology on the market. I am extremely proud of our team who have designed and built this ground-breaking wearable technology. It will make a real and positive impact to wearers' safety and lives." About Spacetalk Ltd. Spacetalk Ltd. (ASX: SPA) is a global technology provider of secure communication solutions for families to stay connected and protected. Spacetalk's range of all-in-one smartphone GPS watches for children (Spacetalk Kids and Spacetalk Adventurer) and seniors (Spacetalk LIFE) are purpose built with tailored features, design qualities and best practice data encryption, security and privacy technologies, for families to stay confidently connected. Fun, fashionable, secure and technologically advanced, Spacetalk devices deliver confidence for the child and senior wearer, enhanced controls for the guardian, and engaging functionalities for the whole family to stay connected. The Spacetalk App is designed to provide a family environment for fun, engaging and secure media consumption beyond its device control functionalities for the guardian. Every linked contact  parents, grandparents, extended family members and friends  regardless of whether they are Android or iOS users, can interact with linked Spacetalk devices and each other through the Spacetalk App. Spacetalk was founded in 2001 and listed on the ASX in 2003 as MGM Wireless Limited, which developed the world's first SMS student absence notification platform for schools and went on to become Australia's most successful school messaging Company. On 12 November 2020 the Company changed its name to Spacetalk Ltd. To learn more about Spacetalk's smartphone GPS watches and app platform, and the Company, visit: https://www.spacetalkwatch.com/. Investor Centre: https://investors.spacetalkwatch.com/. SOURCE Spacetalk Ltd.

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[June 10, 2021] Unique Network and RMRK Partner to Showcase Next Generation NFT Technology

LONDON, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Unique Network, the first NFT chain for Polkadot, announced today that they have formed a strategic partnership with RMRK Association to expand the capabilities of non-fungible tokens across blockchain ecosystems. This partnership demonstrates the first cross-project example of NFTs from different blockchains layering their design in a way that expands their utility, usability, and functionality for the broader metaverse.

Following the successful launch of Chelobricks in May, and $4.3M in fundraising, Unique Network is expanding its developing NFT universe through a collaboration with RMRKs first NFT collection, Kanaria. The intrinsic design of this collection enables each NFT to grow and upgrade over time, the NFTs will first begin as eggs which hatch into unique and rare Kanaria birds, which evolve with the platforms around them. The Kanaria birds will offer additional benefits to holders including permanent platform benefits and entitle owners to fairdrop of $RMRK tokens. Our Chelobrick Collection saw all 10,000 unique, randomly generated, brick-based characters claimed in less than 20 hours, underscoring the consistent global demand for the NFT sector. Our partnership with RMRK takes this sector to its next logical iteration - NFTs that can interact with each other, own each other, evolve with each other, and are governable by DAOs. Through this Kanaria launch, we are showing the world that NFTs are not meant to sit in wallets and gather dust. Theyre meant to take human expression into the next stage of the uture, says Unique Network Co-Founder Alexander Mitrovich.



RMRK and Unique Network formed this partnership to not only expand the scope and vision around what NFTs can do, but also address the scalability and network congestion plaguing the Ethereum network. Given that Ethereum was built to be a network for fungible asset classes, the introduction of NFTs on Ethereum has caused gas prices to skyrocket, inhibited education to new crypto adopters, and ultimately limited its utility. This partnership will broaden and strengthen the usability and scalability of Polkadot and Kusama chains by surpassing the ERC721 and ERC1155 standards. "This partnership demonstrates the power of composable, forever-liquid, multi-resource NFTs which don't just stay in your wallet until the next NFT hype makes them popular, but grow their liquidity and utility well into the future, says RMRK Founder Bruno Skvorc. They do this by being expandible with new looks, and new applications for NFT projects that hadn't existed when they were originally minted. By minting a special NFT item for Kanaria birds, and then adding an additional resource to it for rendering on top of Chelobricks, we are successfully demonstrating the first cross-project NFT integration, an item set shareable and usable by two unrelated NFT collections."

Any existing Chelobrick holder who buys a Kanaria egg will be able to claim a legendary NFT that will be equipable on both the Chelobrick and the Kanaria bird that hatches from the egg. Once a Chelobrick holder acquires a Kanaria egg, they are eligible for NFTs that will upgrade, evolve and grow over time, as well as be eternally liquid by being automatically applicable to any future NFT project. As a demonstration of RMRKs multi-resource NFTs, this single NFT will be wearable by both the Kanaria bird purchased through this link, and the Chelobrick figure. This collaboration marks the first Chelobrick crossover event, but it will not be the last time Chelobricks will be given the opportunity to experience the ecosystems of the future. For more information, please visit Unique Network, and join us on Twitter and Telegram. About RMRK Association RMRK is an association registered in Zug, Switzerland, spearheading the development of the RMRK protocol for creating highly composable art legos using NFTs on Kusama. RMRK is revolutionizing the NFT space by creating features such as: emoting NFTs, custom burn messages, NFTs owning NFTs, conditional rendering (if this, show that), upgradeable NFTs, and NFTs that can be governed as DAOs. RMRK has launched its own set of standards and is rapidly expanding across Kusama into dapps, platforms, and chains launching in this ecosystem. About Unique Network Unique Network is an infrastructure for the next generation of NFTs. The first NFT chain for Kusama and Polkadot, it offers developers independence from network-wide transaction fees and upgrades. The Unique Network team built Substrapunks, the first NFTs on Polkadot, won Hackusama in 2020, and created Substrates pallet for NFTs. Unique Network is launching in summer 2021. For media inquiry, please contact: joe@serotonin.io



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[June 10, 2021] WELL Health Announces Appointment of New Chief People Officer

Shane Sabatino, human resource executive with 25 years of experience, to head up WELL's people and culture objectives to support the Company's rapid growth. VANCOUVER, BC, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) ("WELL" or the "Company"), a company focused on consolidating and modernizing clinical and digital assets within the healthcare sector, today announced the recent appointment of Shane Sabatino as WELL's Chief People Officer. Prior to joining WELL, Shane served as President, TELUS Employer Solutions & Vice President TELUS Health Public Sector Canada over a period of five years. Before that Shane was Senior Vice-President of Human Resources at The Brick where he served over 7,000 team members from over 250 storefronts. Shane also spent close to a decade in an internal HR capacity at TELUS prior to joining the Brick. Hamed Shahbazi, Chairman and CEO of WELL Health commented, "We are very pleased to have Shane join us as the Company's Chief People Officer. Having a highly experienced executive with a tremendous background leading highly successful HR teams for major Canadian corporations, now heading up WELL's People and Culture objectives and building a world-class HR shared services program for our rapidly expanding team is a big win for the Company. With 25 years in the human resource sector, Shane brings a commitment to lead and support WELL in its purpose driven culture objectives." During his last five years at TELUS, Shane was responsible for the implementation of human resources, wellness and digital health solutions for public and private sector organizations across Canada. He led digital health implementations in the areas of remote monitoring, personal health records, virtual care and mental health solutions for Canadians and the healthcare ecosystem coast to coast. Shane holds an undergraduate degree in Physical Education as well as a postgraduate program certification for teaching. He has also completed executive programs offered by Harvard Business School, University of Michigan, and the Universityof Alberta.



Shane Sabatino added, "I look forward to serving and supporting WELL team members in their personal and professional development during this period of rapid growth for WELL. My overarching objective is to be a servant leader, as well as a source of empowerment for the team." 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 global digital Electronic Medical Records (EMR) business serving thousands of healthcare clinics and health systems of all sizes and operates a multi-national portfolio of telehealth services which includes one of the largest telehealth service providers in Canada. WELL is also a provider of digital health, billing and cybersecurity related technology solutions. WELL's wholly owned subsidiary CRH Medical provides various products and services that have supported thousands of Gastroenterology physicians 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 Canadian telehealth service, visit: tiahealth.com, and for corporate information, visit: www.well.company. 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 statement that: WELL is building a world-class HR shared services program for its rapidly expanding team. 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 use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "could", "would", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe", "working on" or "continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and WELL's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information, including: business disruption risks relating to COVID-19; regulatory risks, including those related to healthcare, and technology implementation risks, including those related to privacy and cybersecurity. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information 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. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/well-health-announces-appointment-of-new-chief-people-officer-301309952.html SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp.

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[June 10, 2021] Wisetail Announces One Montana as Winner of the 2020 Wisetail Works Grant, Opens 2021 Program Application

Wisetail, a leader in learning engagement and management software that builds companies into communities, today announced that One Montana is the winner of its 2020 Wisetail Works Grant. The nonprofit works to sustain a vibrant Montana by identifying and resolving challenging social, economic and environmental issues that impact the state's diverse communities. One Montana works throughout the state with stakeholders in rural and urban areas to help their communities become more resilient and sustainable as Montana grows and changes over time. The organization has worked for more than 15 years building trust and implementing creative programs that maintain agriculture and working lands, supporting private land stewardship and preserving Montana's cultural heritage. One Montana accomplishes these goals primarily through two programs: Common Ground and the Montana Way. Common Ground is a three-pronged program that includes advanced hunter education, local food processing and a landowner education and resource network. The Montana Way is the nonprofit's platform for education, communication, stewardship and sustaining cultural values. As the winner of the 2020 Wisetail Works Grant, One Montana will receive a free license to Wisetail's learning management system (LMS). With its new LMS, One Montana will begin ramping up all of its initiatives, including providing a one-stop shop for its landowner partners and providing easier course management and recertification tracking for its Master Hunter Program. The organization's goals are to more than double the number of participants in the hunting program and grow the landowner partner program by tenfold.



"One Montana perfectly embodies what the Wisetail Works Grant stands for," said Ali Knapp, president, Wisetail. "The organization's commitment to preserving the state of Montana produces real, positive impacts in the community, and it is exactly the kind of initiative we want to support with our grant. We look forward to working closely with One Montana and seeing the fruits of their hard work." "One Montana is truly honored and grateful to have received this grant from Wisetail Works," said Sarah Tilt, executive director at One Montana. "The Wisetail LMS will not only help us to better manage our courses and learners, but it also provides a unique opportunity to create a community that can gather and learn from one another online and help us to better meet our mission to connect urban and rural communities."

Wisetail Works was created in 2015 with the mission of helping people live healthier, happier, and more productive lives. Today, the program focuses on conservation to protect the land and waters for the future. Wisetail Works strives to develop partnerships that bring communities together and promote conservation in Montana, Wisetail's home state and across North America. Wisetail is currently accepting applications for its 2021 Wisetail Works Grant. If your nonprofit organization focuses on conservation and would like to apply for the 2021 grant cycle, please click here. Applications are accepted until Aug. 1, 2021. Wisetail also offers a nonprofit discount on products and services to help organizations focus on mission-critical learning for partners, affiliates, volunteers, and communities. About Wisetail Wisetail, an Intertek (News - Alert) company, is a learning and development leader with a different vision - to build companies into communities. We support and strengthen every learner to ensure your brand promise is delivered to your people and the world. We view learning and engagement as the path to a stronger culture and a greater brand - and as vital to building those communities of employees, customers and partners. We've developed solutions for limitless engagement opportunities of blended learning at its best and insights that drive results. Wisetail is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana. To learn more visit www.wisetail.com, or follow Wisetail @Wisetail or on LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005099/en/

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[June 09, 2021] FitTrack Partners with Advanced Human Imaging (AHI) to Integrate New State-of-the-Art Body Scanning

TORONTO, June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FitTrack - the modern health management ecosystem - today partners with human imaging company Advanced Human Imaging (AHI) to announce FitScan. Available early next year across iOS and Android platforms, FitScan will enable its users to privately check, track, accurately assess overall wellness and predict potential health risks -- all from their smartphone. FitTrack users will be able to combine their FitScan results with FitTrack's easy to use Health Scores, marking FitTrack's continued evolution to a complete holistic health solution for consumers across both software and hardware. "It has always been my vision to ensure better health outcomes for our customers by making health management simple and sustainable. We want to give our users the tools to take control of their personal health journeys," says Jeffrey Lee, CEO and Founder of FitTrack. "With AHI as our software partner, we are enabling FitTrack users to use their personal devices to perform simple but cutting-edge health assessments in the safety and comfort of their home. FitScans are self-reported with instant results, at a fraction of the cost of a doctor visit or dexa scan." FitScan's technology will encompass two core elements integral to understanding their health. The Face Assessment is a non-intrusive and easy-to-use scan for measuring key health metrics, including heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and risks associated with cardiovascular disease, heart attacks and strokes. FitScan's Body Assessment scan will combine innovative technology and state of the art image processing techniques that returns over ten unique insights such as body circumference, body composition, and risk indicators for obesity and type-2 diabetes. By delivering a comprehensive and complete overview of personal health and wellbeing, FitScan provides an innovative approach to remote health onitoring and preventative care. Results from scans can be securely exported to a physician or doctor instantly through a personal device, empowering FitTrack's customers to take control of their personal health journey starting at home.



Vlado Bosanac CEO and Co Founder of Advanced Human Imaging comments: "I am looking forward to working with Jeff and the team at FitTrack, as we believe the FitScan will be a valuable addition to FitTrack's existing product suite. Adding physical dimensions along with body composition to the FitTrack application will drive deeper engagement with existing users, whilst opening up the use case to a broader audience that have not yet purchased a FitTrack device." He continues: "FitTrack has a genuine interest in helping people live healthier, longer lives and self awareness is the first, most critical step in this journey. Using FitScan in conjunction with the FitTrack training and wellness plans will help deliver this outcome for users. At the same time it is providing real-time actionable data for the FitTrack team to engage, monitor, and assist their users in reaching their health goals".

The new software will seamlessly integrate into FitTrack's existing ecosystem, which includes an app and multiple hardware devices, to deliver a complete and holistic perspective of health, wellness and progress. The FitTrack suite of products include the Dara Scale, Atria 2.0 Watch, and Beebo Family Scale. Their smartscale products track seventeen unique metrics, deliver personalized and accurate health data, and support goal setting in order to supplement and tailor existing fitness and nutrition programs. Since the debut of its signature product, the Dara scale in 2018, FitTrack has cultivated a global audience of more than 1 million, and collaborates with ambassadors such as Khloe Kardashian, Catherine McBroom, Catherine Giudici (Lowe). FitScan will launch in late 2021/early 2022, making FitTrack the most robust personal health management system on the market. About FitTrack Our mission is to ensure better health outcomes, improving the lives of everyone by making health management simple and sustainable. We believe in giving FitTrack users the resources to make the connections between their daily choices and have an overall picture of their health. For the first time, anyone can gain meaningful insight to their bodies in seconds using our tools and solutions. Within our modern health management ecosystem, we support over 1 million FitTrackers globally, and we're committed to constantly evolving and innovating our products based on creating the best customer experience possible. FitTrack is dedicated to improving each health and wellness journey globally. For more information on FitTrack, visit www.getfittrack.com About Advanced Human Imaging: The Company has developed and patented a proprietary technology that enables its users to privately check, track, and accurately assess over 700 health markers via a mobile phone. Advanced Human Imaging's MultiScan platform simplifies the collection of biometric measurements through the extraction of known markers of chronic diseases and health-related conditions. Through the accurate capture of dimension, body composition, and vital signs, Advanced Human Imaging empowers its global partners to deliver a seamless, private, and accurate monitoring method that leads to better health outcomes through actionable data. For more information on AHI, visit www.advancedhumanimaging.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fittrack-partners-with-advanced-human-imaging-ahi-to-integrate-new-state-of-the-art-body-scanning-301309544.html SOURCE FitTrack

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[June 09, 2021] SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS EBS, PTON, RMO, UI INVESTORS of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuits

NEW ORLEANS, June 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors of pending deadlines in the following securities class action lawsuits: Romeo Power, Inc. (RMO) f/k/a RMG Acquisition Corp. (RMG)

Class Period: 10/5/2020 - 3/30/2021

Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: June 15, 2021

SECURITIES FRAUD

To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-romeo-power-inc-securities-litigation Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (EBS)

Class Period: 4/24/2020 - 4/16/2021

Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: June 18, 2021

SECURITIES FRAUD

To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-emergent-biosolutions-inc-securities-litigation-1 Peoton Interactive, Inc. (PTON)







Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: June 28, 2021

SECURITIES FRAUD

To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-peloton-interactive-inc-class-a-common-stock-pton-securities-litigation Ubiquiti Inc. (UI)

Class Period: 1/11/2021 - 3/30/2021

Lead Plaintiff Motion Deadline: July 19, 2021

SECURITIES FRAUD

To learn more, visit https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-ubiquiti-inc-securities-litigation

If you purchased shares of the above companies and would like to discuss your legal rights and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact us toll-free (844) 367-9658 or visit the case links above. If you wish to serve as a Lead Plaintiff in the class action, you must petition the Court on or before the Lead Plaintiff Motion deadline. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com



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[June 10, 2021] Airwallex and Visa unveil Airwallex Borderless Cards for Businesses in Hong Kong

The Airwallex Borderless Card will allow customers in Hong Kong to instantly generate and issue multi-currency virtual payment cards that can be used to promptly pay third parties.

Leveraging Visa's network and scale, merchants will be able to transact in more than 140 currencies and make payments globally where Visa is accepted.

Introduction of cards into Hong Kong follows its initial debut in Australia last year and subsequent launch in the United Kingdom . HONG KONG, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Airwallex, a leading global fintech platform, and Visa, the world's leading digital payment technology company, today introduced the Airwallex Borderless Card (a good funds card) for businesses in Hong Kong. Starting today, Airwallex customers in Hong Kong will be able to instantly generate and issue multi-currency virtual payment cards that can be used to promptly pay third parties, such as vendors and online subscriptions. With the ability to transact in more than 140 currencies and make payments to merchants globally where Visa is accepted, the Airwallex Borderless Card will enable a more secure, transparent and fast way for businesses to make digital payments across borders. Both single use or multi-use cards are available with individual transaction limits across currency and merchant types, providing total control and visibility over payments. Looking ahead, the Airwallex Borderless Card will also expand to offer multi-currency corporate cards for business owners and their employees, further empowering them to make everyday corporate purchase decisions. A virtual card is a digital alternative to a physical payment card. It is created entirely online and is complete with a 16-digit number, card verification number and expiry date. Designed as a more secure and convenient way to make payments, virtal cards are essentially "card-less" card payments that allow the flexibility and control to make seamless payments in a matter of seconds.



"Demand for virtual cards has been accelerating as businesses look for a modern solution to not only transact money, but to also control their finances, optimise spending and enhance their security and protection," said Kai Wu, Greater China CEO and Group CFO of Airwallex. "As we continue to empower businesses to grow without borders, we are very excited to launch the Airwallex Borderless Card in Hong Kong in collaboration with Visa. The global accessibility and the ability for customers to transact in multiple currencies with this card further bolsters Airwallex's product stack as we look to continuously enhance our offering, providing our customers with a one-stop shop for their cross-border payment needs." Maaike Steinebach, General Manager, Visa Hong Kong and Macau said, "At a time of constant change, we are seeing a greater need for digital solutions to support businesses who operate globally. During the peak of the pandemic last year, 3 in 5 (61%) small and medium enterprises in Hong Kong were selling products online for the first time.[1] As more businesses pivot to e-commerce and expand internationally, many demand for more secure and convenient ways to make cross-border payments. We are pleased to be partnering with Airwallex once again to launch the Airwallex Borderless Card in Hong Kong."

Airwallex and Visa first announced a strategic partnership in February 2020, with the aim to revolutionise the cross-border payments experience for businesses that need to make payments to multiple parties across different geographies. Airwallex and Visa debuted Airwallex Borderless Cards in Australia last year before rolling it out to the United Kingdom and now Hong Kong. About Airwallex Airwallex is a global fintech payment platform with a mission to empower businesses of all sizes to grow without borders, and by doing so, contribute to the global economy. With technology at its core, Airwallex has built a financial infrastructure and platform to help businesses to manage payments, treasury and expenses globally, without the constraints of the traditional financial system. Airwallex has secured over US$500 million since it was established in Melbourne in 2015, and is backed by world-leading investors. Today, the business operates with a team of over 700 employees across 12 global offices. For more information, please visit www.airwallex.com About Visa Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world's leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company's relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for everyone, everywhere.?As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit About Visa, visa.com/blog and @VisaNews.

[1] The Visa Back to Business Study surveyed 2,000 small and medium enterprises and 4,500 consumers in eight markets in June 2020. The eight markets include Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and United States. SOURCE Airwallex

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[June 10, 2021] TCG Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd. organizes Covid vaccination drive for its employees and their families

KOLKATA, India, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TCG Lifesciences, the leading global CRAMS (Contract Research and Manufacturing Services) company, promoted by New York-based Purnendu Chatterjee Group, today said that they have organized a Covid vaccination drive for their employees and their kin. In its resolve to fight Covid, TCG Lifesciences and other Group companies have partnered with Medica Hospitals Private Limited for the drive. The on-site vaccination program will span over multiple days to ensure hassle-free vaccination of employees and their families. Permanent and Contractual Employees will be administered to get their vaccine on the 10th and 11th of June, from 11 am. Their dependents can choose to get their jab on the 22nd or 23rd of June. According to Mr. Anirban Mitra, HR Head, TCG Lifesciences "Our People are our greatest strength. We have been operating continuously since the start of the Covid pandemic with the highest level of health and safety measures at the workplace for our employees, and that was only possible because of our people. It was of immense importance for us to get our entire workforce vaccinated not only to ensure a safe workplace and business continuity but also to make sure that we, a an organization, are aligned with the larger vision of achieving Covid free India. I'm Thankful to the TCG Management to encourage us and provide all support to make this initiative a successful one."



Mr. Swapan Bhattacharya, Managing Director, TCG Lifesciences also states that "The health and welfare of our employees and their dependents are of paramount importance while operating during the Covid scenario. The vaccine is expected to play a key role in beating this virus which has devastated the world. By taking an institutional approach, we are able to inoculate a large number of individuals expeditiously. In addition to that, we have already in place many other safety precautions to protect all stakeholders." With the second wave of Covid impacting the entire country, an initiative taken by TCG Lifesciences to vaccinate all of its workforce and their families will go a long way in ensuring their safety and maintaining business continuity. TCG Lifesciences is taking this opportunity to set an example of true leadership and to establish the organization as an ideal employer that takes care of all its resources in all possible ways.

Media Contact: Sreetama Ghosh, sreetama.ghosh@tcgls.com, TCG Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd. About TCG Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd. TCG Lifesciences Pvt. Limited (formerly "Chembiotek Research International") is a leading global Contract Research and Manufacturing Services (CRAMS) company in the area of drug discovery and development. We started our operations in 2001 in Kolkata, India, and currently have our presence in the United States, Europe, and Japan. We have a strong talent pool of 1000+ qualified and trained scientists (including 200+ PhDs), drawn from the best domestic and international institutes and industry. Our services span chemistry, in vitro and in vivo pharmacology, analytical development and validation, and specialty chemicals. We offer specific/functional solutions to integrated projects across multiple therapeutic areas with a specific focus on Inflammation & Pain, Infectious Diseases, Central Nervous systems, and Oncology. Our research infrastructure includes world-class chemistry and biology laboratories, animal facility, electrophysiology laboratory, BSL 2 laboratory, and cGMP API facilities at our R&D centers and commercial cGMP API production facilities. Learn more at: www.tcgls.com Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tcg-lifesciences-limited/www.tcgls.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432412/TCG_Lifesciences_Chembiotek_Logo.jpg

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[June 10, 2021] OXURION Confirms Institutional Review Board Approval and Submission of the Investigational New Drug Application to the FDA to Start Phase 2 Study Evaluating THR-687 for Diabetic Macular Edema (DME)

THR-687 is a potent pan-RGD integrin antagonist

holding potential as next generation first line therapy for DME Leuven, BE, Boston, MA, US  June 10, 2021  07.00 AM CET  Oxurion NV (Euronext Brussels: OXUR), a biopharmaceutical company developing next generation standard-of-care ophthalmic therapies, with a clinical stage portfolio in vascular retinal disorders, announces that it has received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to initiate a Phase 2 clinical study of THR-687 in patients with Diabetic Macular Edema (study name INTEGRAL). Together with its earlier submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the final protocol to the Investigational New Drug (IND) Application, this is an important step forward for the Phase 2 INTEGRAL study. Tom Graney, CFA, Chief Executive Officer of Oxurion, comments: Together with our earlier submission to the FDA of the final protocol to the IND, IRB approval for the THR-687 Phase 2 trial in DME is an important milestone for OXURION. This follows the completion of enrolment of Part A in our Phase 2 program evaluating THR-149 in DME as we announced earlier this week. The team is now ready to also start this second Phase 2 program, and we are looking forward to working alongside a large team of enthusiastic investigators across the US and Europe, together creating new paths towards improved therapies for treatment of DME, a very important area of unmet medical need in diabetic eye disease. Todays announcement follows the positive data reported from a Phase 1, open-label, multi-center (US), single dose escalation study (n=12) evaluating the safety of a single intravitreal injection of 3 increasing doses (0.4 mg, 1.0 mg, 2.5 mg) of THR-687 for the treatment of DME. A single injection of THR-687 was reported safe and well-tolerated, showing a very encouraging efficacy signal. Across all doses, a rapid onset of action in mean BCVA was oberved from Day 1 with an increase of 3.1 letters, which further improved to 9.2 letters at Month 1. This activity was maintained with a mean BCVA improvement of 8.3 letters at Month 3 following a single injection of THR-687.



A clear dose response was seen with the greatest positive effect on BCVA and Central Subfield Thickness (CST) with the highest dose of THR-687. For this highest dose, a mean BCVA Improvement of 11 letters was noted at Day 14, with a peak improvement of 12.5 letters at Month 3. Similarly, a peak mean CST decrease of 106 m was observed at Day 14 with the highest dose of THR-687. Beyond DME, THR-687 also has development possibilities in additional vascular retinal disorders including for wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (wet AMD) and retinal vein occlusion (RVO), thereby potentially allowing the Company to tap into a broader therapeutic market with a current combined estimated annual value of $12+ billion.

END For further information please contact: Oxurion NV

Wouter Piepers,

Global Head of Investor Relations

& Corporate Communications

Tel: +32 16 75 13 10 / +32 478 33 56 32

wouter.piepers@oxurion.com



EU

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

David Dible/ Sylvie Berrebi/Frazer Hall

Tel: +44 20 7638 9571

oxurion@citigatedewerogerson.com







US

Westwicke, an ICR Company

Christopher Brinzey

Tel: +1 617 835 9304

chris.brinzey@westwicke.com About Oxurion Oxurion (Euronext Brussels: OXUR) is a biopharmaceutical company developing next generation standard of care ophthalmic therapies, which are designed to better preserve vision in patients with retinal vascular disorders including diabetic macular edema (DME), the leading cause of vision loss in diabetic patients worldwide as well as other conditions, including wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinal vein occlusion (RVO). Oxurion is aiming to build the leading global franchise in the treatment of retinal vascular disorders based on the successful development of its two novel therapeutics: THR-149 is a plasma kallikrein inhibitor being developed as a potential new standard of care for the 40% of DME patients who respond suboptimally to anti-VEGF therapy. THR-149 has shown positive topline Phase 1 results for the treatment of DME. The company is currently conducting a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating multiple injections of THR-149 in DME patients who previously responded suboptimally to anti-VEGF therapy.





THR-687 is a pan-RGD integrin antagonist that is initially being developed as a potential first line therapy for DME patients. Positive topline results in a Phase 1 clinical study assessing THR-687 as a treatment for DME were announced in 2020. THR-687 is expected to enter a Phase 2 clinical trial in mid-2021. THR-687 also holds the potential to deliver improved treatment outcomes for patients with wet AMD and RVO.



Oxurion is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and is listed on the Euronext Brussels exchange under the symbol OXUR. More information is available at www.oxurion.com. Important information about forward-looking statements Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and, accordingly, entail and are influenced by various risks and uncertainties. The Company therefore cannot provide any assurance that such forward-looking statements will materialize and does not assume an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or any other reason. Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties affecting the business and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement is contained in the Companys Annual Report. This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities or assets of Oxurion in any jurisdiction. No securities of Oxurion may be offered or sold within the United States without registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or in compliance with an exemption therefrom, and in accordance with any applicable U.S. state securities laws.



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[June 10, 2021] Valneva Completes Recruitment for Phase 3 Lot-to-Lot Consistency Trial of its Chikungunya Vaccine Candidate

Saint Herblain (France), June 10, 2021  Valneva SE (Valneva or the Company), a specialty vaccine company focused on the development and commercialization of prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with significant unmet medical need, today announced that it has completed recruitment for the clinical lot-to-lot consistency Phase 3 trial of its single-shot chikungunya vaccine candidate, VLA1553. VLA1553 is the only chikungunya vaccine candidate in Phase 3 clinical trials at this time. 410 participants aged 18 to 45 years have been randomized in the Phase 3 trial VLA1553-302 and will be followed for a total of six months. The objective of the trial is to show manufacturing consistency of the vaccine by demonstrating that three consecutively manufactured lots elicit equivalent immune responses measured by neutralizing antibody titers on Day 29 after vaccination. Juan Carlos Jaramillo, Chief Medical Officer of Valneva commented, We are pleased to have reached this new recruitment milestone. Weve now enrolled all participants for both our pivotal Phase 3 trial and lot-to-lot consistency trial so our VLA1553 program is progressing extremely well. Chikungunya virus is a major, growing public health threat and we are looking forward to our top line data this summer. The lot-to-lot consistency Phase 3 trial runs in parallel to the ongoing, pivotal Phase 3 trial, VLA1553-301, for which the Company already announced recruitment completion in April 20211. The sponsor of the first chikungunya vaccine Biologics License Application (BLA) to be approved in the U.S. will be eligible to receive a Priority Review Voucher (PRV) 2. About Chikungunya

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a Togaviridae virus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Infection leads to symptomatic disease in 72-92% of humans after 4 to 7 days following the mosquito bite. While mortality with CHIKV is low, morbidity is high. Clinical symptoms include acute onset of fever, debilitating joint and muscle pain, headache, nausea, rash and chronic arthralgia. Chikungunya virus often causes sudden large outbreaks with high attack rates, affecting one-third to three-quarters of the population in areas where the virus is circulating. The high risk areas of infection for travelers are places where chikungunya virus-carrying mosquitos are endemic, including the Americas, parts of Africa, and Southeast Asia. As of September 2020, there were more than 3 million reported cases in the Americas3 and the economic impact is considered to be significant. The medical and economic burden is expected to grow as the CHIKV primary mosquito vectors continue to spread geographically. There are no preventive vaccines or effective treatments available and, as such, chikungunya is considered to be a major public health threat. About VLA1553

VLA1553 is a live-attenuated, single dose vaccine candidate for protection against the chikungunya which has spread to more than 100 countries. It has been designed by deleting a part of the chikungunya virus genome.

In the Phase 1 clinical trial of VLA1553, Valneva observed development of antibodies to chikungunya virus resulting in 100% seroconversion of the 120 healthy participants. Antibody titers were sustained after 12 months. Based on these results and Valnevas discussions with regulators, VLA1553 has advanced directly into Phase 3 clinical development. The Company has also receved confirmation for its proposal to seek licensure under the accelerated approval pathway from the FDA. Under this pathway, Valneva plans to seek licensure of the vaccine based on a surrogate of protection agreed with the FDA that is reasonably likely to predict protection from chikungunya infection.







VLA1553 would expand Valnevas existing travel vaccine portfolio and as such, Valneva intends to commercialize this vaccine, if approved, leveraging its existing manufacturing and commercial operations. The global market for vaccines against chikungunya is estimated to exceed $500 million annually by 20324.

To make VLA1553 more accessible to Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC), Valneva and Instituto Butantan in Brazil signed an agreement for the development, manufacturing and marketing of VLA1553. The collaboration falls within the framework of the funding agreement between Valneva and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) signed in July 2019, which provides funding of up to $23.4 million. About Phase 3 study VLA1553-302

VLA1553-302 clinical lot-to-lot consistency Phase 3 study is a prospective, multicenter, randomized, pivotal Phase 3 study including 410 participants aged 18 to 45 years. Lyophilized VLA1553 are administered as a single intramuscular immunization. Equivalence of immune responses will be determined based on neutralizing antibody titers. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate a pair-wise comparison of the 95% Confidence Interval (CI) on the ratio of GMTs on Day 29 after vaccination in the three vaccine lots. The two-sided 95% CI on the GMT ratio should be within 0.67 and 1.5 in order to demonstrate consistency.

Study volunteers will be followed for a total of six months and overall, the study is expected to last approximately eight months. Additional information, including a detailed description of the study design, eligibility criteria and investigator sites, will be published on ClinicalTrials.gov.

About Valneva SE

Valneva is a specialty vaccine company focused on the development and commercialization of prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with significant unmet medical need. We take a highly specialized and targeted approach to vaccine development, beginning with the identification of deadly and debilitating infectious diseases that lack a prophylactic vaccine solution and for which there are limited therapeutic treatment options. We then apply our deep understanding of vaccine science, including our expertise across multiple vaccine modalities, as well as our established vaccine development capabilities, to develop prophylactic vaccines to address these diseases. We have leveraged our expertise and capabilities both to successfully commercialize two vaccines and to rapidly advance a broad range of vaccine candidates into and through the clinic, including candidates against Lyme disease, the chikungunya virus and COVID-19. Investor and Media Contacts

Laetitia Bachelot-Fontaine

Director Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

M +33 (0)6 4516 7099

investors@valneva.com Dan Sharp

Government & Public Affairs Manager

T +44-(0)7436-244309

communications@valneva.com Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Valneva, including with respect to the progress, timing, results and completion of research, development and clinical trials for product candidates and estimates for future performance. In addition, even if the actual results or development of Valneva are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments of Valneva may not be sustained in the future. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "could," "should," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "aims," "targets," or similar words. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the current expectations of Valneva as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations of Valneva could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development and manufacture of vaccines, unexpected clinical trial results, unexpected regulatory actions or delays, competition in general, currency fluctuations, the impact of the global and European credit crisis, and the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection. Success in preclinical studies or earlier clinical trials may not be indicative of results in future clinical trials. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made during this presentation will in fact be realized. Valneva is providing the information in these materials as of this press release, and disclaim any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. 1 Valneva Completes Recruitment for Pivotal Phase 3 Trial of Chikungunya Vaccine Candidate and Initiates Antibody Persistence Trial

2 https://priorityreviewvoucher.org/

3 PAHO/WHO data: Number of reported cases of chikungunya fever in the Americas. https://www.paho.org/data/index.php/en/mnu-topics/chikv-en/550-chikv-weekly-en.html. Last accessed 13 Oct 2020.

4 VacZine Analytics Chikungunya virus vaccines Global demand analysis. February 2020 Attachment 2021_06_10_VLA1553_L2L_Recruitment_Completion_PR_EN_Final



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[June 10, 2021] Dynasty Targets Global Upscale Real Estate Market With Innovative Cryptocurrency

ZUG, Switzerland, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new and unique cryptocurrency, the DNS, designed to link the benefits of both the crypto and real estate worlds, is being announced by Swiss-based Dynasty Global Investments AG. DNS will be linked to ultra-premium property assets acquired by Dynasty in major centres around the world. "By linking DNS with real estate, we want to bring more solidity and credibility to the market," stated Dynasty's co-founder and CEO, Eduardo Carvalho. In all, 21 million DNS tokens will be issued in four tranches, starting on July 01 via major crypto exchanges. As tokens are sold, funds will be used to acquire more ultra-premium real estate. With revenues from the properties, Dynasty will rebuy DNS from the market to be burnt, increasing their scarcity. The company is already building its property portfolio, with the purchase of nearly 1,000 sqm of high-end commercial office space in Sao Paulo's prestigious Faria Lima Avenue, worth BRL 27,695,000 (USD 5.48 million). Additional prperties being assessed for acquisition are in cities like New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore.



It's no accident that successful Brazilian entrepreneurs Eduardo Carvalho and Fabio Asdurian chose the Swiss canton of Zug as Dynasty's headquarters when they created the company in 2016. The area, known as the Crypto Valley, hosts a number of cryptocurrency-related businesses committed to the region's globally recognised rules, set up to regulate the use of blockchain technology. Dynasty also follows strict rules to prevent money laundering, including the 1988 Know Your Client principles, developed in Basel, with a thorough process to identify buyers of its DNS tokens. Carvalho started his enterprising career early, halting university studies to launch his first business venture at the age of 19. He developed experience in the high-end property market as COO of Imovel A, a property business specialised in the sale of luxury real estate. Co-founder Asdurian is also a seasoned retail entrepreneur, with a number of innovative Latin American e-commerce concepts involving major global brands, launched from his native Brazil.

The DNS's launch coincides with Carvalho's attendance at this year's Ritossa Family Office Investment Summit in Monte Carlo, starting on June 30. He will make presentations and hold meetings at the event, considered the largest and most influential gathering of family wealth, representing USD 4.5 trillion in assets. ON THE WEB:

Dynasty Global Investments AG

www.dynastygi.com INFO FOR JOURNALISTS:

MediaLink

Lucio Mesquita

lmesquita@medialinkbrasil.com

+44 (0) 7816518501 SOURCE Dynasty Global Investments AG

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[June 10, 2021] Johnson Controls Supports Call on G7 to Speed Up Just Transition

CORK, Ireland, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI), the global leader for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, has joined a call to action on the eve of the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Cornwall, UK. Lending its support to an open letter issued by the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, Johnson Controls has urged the G7 and other global leaders to accelerate a just transition in the race to net-zero and climate resilience, calling for bold commitments, policy and actions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. "Reducing energy waste from buildings also saves money, so there is every reason to accelerate action." The Alliance, an informal group facilitated by the World Economic Forum, of which Johnson Controls is a member, is the largest community of Chief Executive Officers in the world committed to climate action  representing 21 countries and 13 industries with combined revenues of $2.4 trillion. In its letter to the G7, it states that the current trajectory for greenhouse gas emissions is leading the world to "current and irreversible outcomes", and says that with just five months to go before COP26 in November, "bold action" across private and public sectors is needed. "There is no time to waste in tackling climate change. Technologies already exist today that can put us solidly on the pathway to net zero by 2050. We know that decarbonization of buildings is part of the solution as buildings represent some 40% of global emissions. Reducing energy waste from buildings also saves money, so there is every reason to accelerate action," said George Oliver, chairman and CEO, Johnson Controls. "The G7 Summit is a critically important opportunity for wealthy nations to show needed leadership, but it has to be a collective effort. Governments can expedite further action from companies; businesses are ready to move fast and boost investments to create a sustainable future." The Alliance letter states that its members have made clear commitments and are working to transition their businesses to net-zero. "Greater collaboration between business and government on achieving our net-zero ambitions can help accelerate this process for the benefit of our economies and societies," it said. Johnson Controls has already set ambitious emissions reductions targets, which were recently approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative  an independent organization that assesses corporate sustainability claims. As part of its environmental sustainability commitments, Johnson Controls aims to cut operational emissions by 55 percent and reduce customers' emissions by 16 percent before 2030. Its OpenBlue platform for optimizing building sustainability will be central to fulfilling these goals and ultimately creating an environment for healthy people, healthy places and a healthy planet. The company has also joined the Business Ambition for 1.5C campaign and is a signatory to The Climate Pledge, an initiative of business leaders co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism. Signatories to the pledge commit to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040  ten years ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement goal. Johnson Controls is continuing to exercise its leadership in climate action through the Business Roundtable, with George Oliver joining the organization as chair of the Energy & Environment Committee in January. Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of America's leading companies. Its Energy & Environment Committee is dedicated to advancing policies that encourage innovation and support an environmentally and economically sustainable future. As a leader in the buildings space for more than 135 years, Johnson Controls has been a pioneer in sustainability. It is ranked in the top 12 percent of climate leadership companies globally by CDP and was recently named again to the World's Most Ethical Companies Honoree List and one of Corporate Knights' Global 100 most Sustainable Companies. Click here for full details on the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders open letter to the G7. To read more about Johnson Controls commitment to sustainability, please visit: https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/corporate-sustainability/environment About Johnson Controls:

At Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI) we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet. With a history of more than 135 years of innovation, Johnson Controls delivers the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through its comprehensive digital offering OpenBlue. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the world`s largest portfolio of building technology, software as well as service solutions with some of the most trusted names in the industry. For more information, visit www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us @johnsoncontrols on Twitter.







INVESTOR CONTACTS: MEDIA CONTACTS:



Antonella Franzen Chaz Bickers Direct: 609.720.4665 Direct: 224.307.0655 Email: antonella.franzen@jci.com Email: charles.norman.bickers@jci.com



Ryan Edelman Michael Isaac Direct: 609.720.4545 Direct: +41 52 6330374 Email: ryan.edelman@jci.com Email: michael.isaac@jci.com

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/johnson-controls-supports-call-on-g7-to-speed-up-just-transition-301308946.html SOURCE Johnson Controls International plc

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[June 10, 2021] Ledger completes a $380 million Series C fundraising valuing the company at more than $1.5 billion, to strengthen its position as the leading secure gateway to digital assets

Ledger, the leading secure gateway for digital assets, today announced a $380 million Series C round, led by 10T Holdings, with strong support from existing investors including Cathay Innovation, Draper Esprit, Draper Associates, Draper Dragon, DCG, Korelya Capital, and Wicklow Capital and other newcomers including Tekne Capital, Uphold Ventures, Felix Capital, Inherent, Financiere Agache (Groupe Arnault), and iAngels Technologies. The Series C fundraising means that Ledger has an implied valuation of more than $1.5 billion, marking its rapid and accelerating growth. Ledger is the market-leading secure gateway for investors looking to access the world of digital assets securely. Ledger's products include the world's most popular hardware wallet for cryptocurrency assets, the most user friendly and secure cryptocurrency management platform, Ledger Live, and the best digital assets security solution for financial institutions, Ledger Enterprise Solutions. Ledger already secures an estimated 15% of all cryptocurrency assets globally, and as a trusted leader, it is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the hypergrowth of digital assets as they become increasingly mainstream. Ledger has sold more than 3 million hardware wallets in 190 countries to date, and has more than 1.5 million monthly users on Ledger Live. Ledger is led by Chairman and CEO Pascal Gauthier, who has significant experience building multi-billion dollar value technology companies. With this Series C investment round, Ledger, which is rapidly growing and profitable, will be able to extend its leading position in cryptocurrency security and services to become the secure gateway to the entire digital asset ecosystem. These plans would mean that Ledger's products and services would underpin the activity of retail investors, financial institutions, and other industries investing in and managing digital assets. The Series C fundraising will allow Ledger to realize these ambitious plans by further innovating its hardware products, giving access to new transactional services via Ledger Live such as Decentralized Finance solutions, and significantly expanding its enterprise capabilities. In addition, Ledger will use its new funding to invest in its proprietary Operating System which runs across all of Ledger's products and services, so that it can support the seamless integration of new third-party services. These ambitious plans will be executed globally as Ledger continues to expand its operational and geographic footprint to match the global nature of the digital asset market. Ledger's mission is to become the easiest way for digital asset investors to start their journey and confidently buy, sell, swap, borrow, and lend digital asset through the Ledger Live platform, which when combined with Ledger's hardware, provides best-in-class security for users in the digital asset environment.



"This Series C announcement marks the transition of Ledger from the leading digital asset security company to becoming the secure gateway to the entire digital asset ecosystem. This industry is fast becoming mainstream and reshaping the entire financial sector and beyond," said Ledger's CEO Pascal Gauthier. "Our products are designed to give users maximum control over their digital assets and provide unparalleled protection against cyber-attacks. We are well-positioned to become the secure gateway to the digital asset world with the potential to integrate our services into nearly every feature of the digital asset ecosystem." Ledger's financial profile has evolved with its operations, with consumer transaction revenue from Ledger Live, and enterprise revenue from Ledger Vault, increasingly diversifying revenue beyond the core consumer hardware revenue.

"10T is thrilled to lead this Series C round for Ledger. We believe Ledger is the premier security company and premier brand name in the cryptocurrency/blockchain space. We see a tremendous future for its new lines of business and expect it to become one the very few dominant firms in the ecosystem," said Dan Tapiero, Founder and CEO of 10T Holdings. Dan added, "On a personal note, I am also thrilled to announce that I will be joining the board of Ledger so that I can help Ledger in the next phase of its exciting journey." Tim Draper, Founder of Draper, said that "The Ledger brand stands for trust and freedom. They are the trusted third party that used to be a bank, but Ledger allows people the freedom to directly hold, save, control, invest or spend their digital money anywhere on the planet (or off it). I believe Ledger technology is the foundation for any crypto security strategy and custody." "As an early investor in Ledger, we are thrilled to continue our support of the company and its team throughout its journey and achieving this exciting milestone. The latest financing, which confers the status of unicorn, is only one step in Ledger's development as a pioneer in securing crypto assets. We believe that Ledger's innovative technology is certain to play a critical role in the future as blockchain becomes increasingly prevalent in our daily lives for any type of transaction," says Jacky Abitbol, Managing Partner of Cathay Innovation. Other investors notably included: Tekne Capital, Uphold Ventures, Rosemoor Capital, Libertus Capital II, Felix Capital, Inherent Private Opportunities, iAngels Technologies, Ascendant, Cygni SPV, MACSF, Financiere Agache, Marcy Venture Partners, Loire Centre Capital/Caisse d'Epargne Loire Centre, Alliance Entreprendre, Scott Galloway, Credit Agricole Centre Loire, Korelya Capital, Cite Gestion, FirstMark Capital, Caphorn Invest, Global Founders Capital, Animoca Brands, Fabric Ventures, Crypto.com Capital, The Maze Group, Cardinal Capital and Warburg Serres. Ledger would also like to thank XAnge for its support throughout the fundraising process. The fundraising process of the Series C round was handled by Cardinal Partners and Hogan Lovells. Ledger previously raised $8.3 million in a Series A round in March 2017 and $75 million in a Series B round in January 2018. To learn more about Ledger, visit https://www.ledger.com and read our latest blog, https://www.ledger.com/category/blog-posts. About Ledger Founded in 2014 Ledger is the all-in-one digital asset management solution serving retail and institutional clients in 200 countries. Headquartered in Paris, with offices in New York, Singapore, London and Vierzon, Ledger has a team of over 360 professionals. From inception, Ledger has become the de-facto standard for securing digital assets through its line-up of hardware wallet devices. Launched In 2020, the Ledger-Live platform allows users to trade, swap, and lend all on one secure platform, making it one of the securest platforms for investors to begin their crypto journey. Disclaimers The information provided on this page contains statements related to our future business or developments involving Ledger and expectations may constitute forward-looking statements. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210609005985/en/

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The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz Announces Investigation of Oscar Health, Inc. (OSCR) on Behalf of Investors

The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz announces an investigation of Oscar Health, Inc. ("Oscar" or the "Company") (NYSE: OSCR) on behalf of investors concerning the Company's possible violations of federal securities laws.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

Oscar provides health insurnce products and services to individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. The company was formerly known as Mulberry Health Inc. and changed its name to "Oscar Health, Inc." in January 2021.







On March 3, 2021, Oscar sold about 37 million shares of stock in its initial public stock offering (the "IPO") at $39.00 a share, raising nearly $1.4 billion in new capital.

On May 13, 2021, the Company announced its first quarter 2021 financial results, reporting an $87.4 million loss or $(0.98) per share, well below analysts' expectations of a loss of $(0.53) per share.

Follow us for updates on Twitter (News - Alert) : twitter.com/FRC_LAW.

If you purchased Oscar securities, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Frank R. Cruz, of The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-914-5007, by email to info@frankcruzlaw.com, or visit our website at www.frankcruzlaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210609005988/en/
[June 10, 2021] Smart Services Leader Plume Secures Major Partnership Wins in Germany

 Deutsche GlasfaserGermany's leading FTTH service providerand BREKO eGGermany's premier broadband associationturn to Plume for next-generation subscriber experiences PALO ALTO, Calif., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Personalized smart services pioneer Plume  today announced that it has reached agreement on two major new partnerships that cement its presence in the German region. Deutsche Glasfaser Groupthe leading fiber-optic service provider in rural Germanywill launch a new bundle of digital subscriber experiences to its residential broadband customers. Additionally, Plume has entered into a cooperation with BREKO eGthe commercial platform of Bundesverband Breitbandkommunikation e.V. and leading broadband association in Germanyto make Plume's platform and services also available to over 200 member Communications Service Providers (CSPs). Central to the Deutsche Glasfaser partnership is the implementation of Plume's cloud- and AI-driven SaaS experience management platform which leverages OpenSync and features HomePassa next-generation front-end Smart Home Services suiteand Haystackintelligent back-end support tools and data analytics. The platform will enable Deutsche Glasfaser to expand its product portfolio with highly personalized service offerings which extend the customer experience throughout subscribers' homes. The OpenSync open-source framework gives Deutsche Glasfaser access to a flexible and cloud-agnostic architecture to enable rapid service curation, delivery, scale, management and support of Plume's digital subscriber services. In leveraging HomePass, Deutsche Glasfaser will build on the super-fast broadband speeds enabled by its fiber-optic broadband network, to bring customers a host of experience-driven benefits including flawless WiFi connectivity, AI-driven cybersecurity and IoT device protection, sophisticated parental supervision, secure access controls, motion awareness, and more. In addition, Haystack incorporates real-time and predictive customer support tools, enabling Deutsche Glasfaser to assist residential subscribers proactively with support requests. Haystack is field-proven1 to increase customer satisfaction and drive significant reductions in support calls and truck rolls. "We are thrilled to partner with Deutsche Glasfaser, one of the fastest growing FTTH providers in Germanythey have made an astute decision in selecting Plume's highly scalable cloud-driven experience management platform that will support their growth plans," said Tyson Marian, Chief Commercial Officer, Plume. "While fiber supports the delivery of incredibly fast speeds to the home, it is Plume's objective to enable providers to further nhance customer experience by providing a new bundle of smart home services that increase customer satisfaction and loyalty."



Commenting on the partnership, Ruben Queimano, Chief Commercial Officer, Deutsche Glasfaser, said: "As a pioneer and pacesetter in the industry and the leading fiber-optic provider for rural areas in Germany, we have already deployed one million FTTH connections and we will accelerate our growth in the future. The partnership with Plumealso a pioneer in their fieldwill help us to deliver the best internet experience to our customers, complementing a high-speed internet connection with a premium smart home experience. This includes the provision of a fully optimized and flawless WiFi experience delivered to every device." Through BREKO eG's new partnership with Plume, cooperative CSP members have the opportunity to launch Plume's SaaS experience management platformincluding smart home and intelligent business suiteswith special pre-agreed terms. Plume's cloud-based approach and seamless integration with back-end systems accelerate go-to-market, enabling service providers to be up-and-running in less than 45 days. The partnership means that BREKO eG's growing number of alternative fixed broadband operators will have access to Plume's solution to increase ARPU and reduce OpEx by optimizing the in-home broadband experience.

"We look forward to working closely with the Plume team. With this cooperation, we can help our network operators understand and implement adaptive WiFi services to substantially improve the in-home experience for their subscribers," said Jurgen Magull, Managing Director of BREKO eG. "Since it can be assumed that the work-from-home era will continue indefinitely, flawless connectivity and robust cybersecurity are high on the agenda of consumers, businesses and the service providers who serve themour members can only benefit from the potential of satisfied customers along with increasing ARPU while reducing OpEx and lowering churn." About Deutsche Glasfaser

The company plans, builds and operates fiber optic direct connections for private households and companies. Deutsche Glasfaser is a key driver to expand the nationwide broadband coverage in rural areas. With innovative planning and construction methods, Deutsche Glasfaser implements FTTH network connections quickly and cost-efficiently in close cooperation with the municipalities  also within the framework of existing funding programs for nationwide broadband expansion. In 2020, the experienced fiber optic investors EQT and OMERS founded the company through a merger of the network providers inexio and Deutsche Glasfaser. With the largest number of customers, Deutsche Glasfaser is the market leader among FTTH providers in Germany. www.deutsche-glasfaser.de About BREKO Einkaufsgemeinschaft eG

As the leading fiber optic association with more than 380 member companies, the Bundesverband Breitbandkommunikation e.V. (BREKO) successfully promotes competition in the German telecommunications market. Its members are clearly committed to future-proof fiber optics and are currently responsible for almost 75 percent of the competitive expansion of fiber optic connections to buildings and homes. As a strong partner for member companies of the Bundesverband Breitbandkommunikation e.V., BREKO Einkaufsgemeinschaft eG was founded as a cooperative in 2010 to offer all network operators and municipal utilities a commercial platform and to create economic added value in fiber optic expansion. As an aggregator, multiplier and facilitator, the BREKO Einkaufsgemeinschaft ensures an attractive and extensive product portfolio, which a large number of member companies use for fiber roll-out in order to strengthen their competitiveness in the long term. www.breko-einkaufsgemeinschaft.de About Plume

Plume is the creator of the world's first SaaS experience platform for Communications Service Providers (CSPs) and their subscribers, deployed in more than 25 million locations globally. As the only open and hardware-independent solution, Plume enables the rapid delivery of new services for connected homes, small businesses, and beyond at massive scale. On the front end, Plume delivers self-optimizing WiFi, cyber-security, access controls, and more. CSPs get robust back-end applications for unprecedented visibility and support. Plume leverages OpenSync, an open-source framework which comes pre-integrated and supported on the leading silicon, CPE, and platform SDKs. Visit plume.com , plume.com/homepass , plume.com/workpass , and opensync.io . Follow Plume on LinkedIn and Twitter . Plume, HomePass, Haystack and OpenSync are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Plume Design, Inc. 1 Source: Total Cost of Ownership Study, Plume, 2020 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1477960/Plume_symbol_wordmark_row_dark_bg_Logo.jpg

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[June 10, 2021] PeopleStrong continues to make strides in its global expansion; Appoints Head of Global Markets and Partnerships in Singapore

The appointment comes as a part of PeopleStrong's 3X growth strategy to expand across global markets and will help them scale their reach & ability to serve enterprises across APAC SINGAPORE, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PeopleStrong, Asia's leading Enterprise Work and HR Tech company, has appointed Sitesh Prasad as Vice President - Global Markets and Partnerships who will join their regional headquarters in Singapore. The appointment comes as a part of PeopleStrong's continuing effort to invest in growth and reach across emerging markets. In the past two years, Multiples PE-backed PeopleStrong has made several key hires, the most recent one included Philippa Youngman as Principal Advisor in Australia & New Zealand, and now Sitesh Prasad. Commenting on the key appointment, Sandeep Chaudhary, CEO, PeopleStrong added, "After India, expansion across emerging markets is a key part of our growth strategy and we are encouragd with our success across South-East Asia. The region is home to numerous growing economies and HR digital transformation is a priority agenda for local organizations. With our agile and personalized technology, we have created many successful transformation stories across Thailand, Philippines & Singapore and are growing rapidly into other parts in the region. In this journey, Sitesh brings a business-rich experience to the table that will add rocket fuel to furthering our vision."



Prior to joining PeopleStrong, Sitesh was a senior leader at Mastercard and brings with him core skills in channel distribution, market expansion, product & strategy across B2B and B2C segments. On joining PeopleStrong, Sitesh Prasad quoted, "The APAC market is employee intensive, and therein lies the opportunity for growth. Our partners are experts in people strategy & HR consulting which complements our technology. PeopleStrong presents a great opportunity today for any organization that intends to elevate their human capital potential & I'm excited to lead the partnership network that will allow us to impact millions of lives on a daily basis."

Kiran Kumar, Chief Global Markets, PeopleStrong said, "Our race to next 5 million employee user-base would primarily be powered by Partner Success & Growth. We have created a strong user base by converging our deep HR & People domain expertise with our robust Work Tech platform. As more & more enterprises across the region aim to transform their HR practices & adopt new-age platforms, Sitesh's joining us will present an experienced business voice in driving this transformation. At PeopleStrong, Sitesh will help in growing the Partnership network for the HR Tech SaaS platform. This would entail delivering on revenue, strategy for GTM, expanding and establishing PeopleStrong's foothold in the APAC region. About PeopleStrong PeopleStrong is Asia Pacific's leading SaaS-based HR Technology company. PeopleStrong's mobile-first, SaaS suite includes robust solutions for Human Capital Management, Talent Management, Collaboration, and Payroll. The company today works with over 350 large enterprises across Asia, with over a million users on the platform. Their clients span 14 industry segments and include the likes of the Tata Group, Aditya Birla Group, Murugappa group, AmaraRaja group, Future Group, Minor International (Thailand), True Corporation (Thailand), Singlife (Singapore), Inspiro (Philippines) and many more across Asia. PeopleStrong is rated amongst the Top 3 (Asia Pacific) HCM platforms for enterprises with 1000+ employees on Gartner's Peer Insights. Media contact:

Rayson Woon

rayson.woon@peoplestrong.com

+65 851130441 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/946957/PeopleStrong_Logo.jpg

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[June 10, 2021] Beike Realsee completed landmark agreement with Malaysia's Jalin Realty to accelerate industry digitalization

BEIJING, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 9th, 2021, Beike Realsee and Jalin Realty, an overseas real estate service company held a signing ceremony to mark the launch of a first-of-its-kind partnership in South-East Asia. DATUK DR. HAJAH ZURAIDA BINTI KAMARUDDIN, Malaysia Housing and Local Government Minister, Ian Chen, Jalin CEO, Xinchen Hui, KE Holdings Inc. VP and Realsee General Manager, amongst other senior representatives from both parties participated in the ceremony. As China's largest real estate focused spatial acquisition reconstruction service platform, Beike Realsee will provide Jalin with its 3D reconstruction technology, working with Jalin to distribute its VR technology across Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Hong Kong SAR, and in doing so redefining the residential service experience for consumers across the region, accelerating the trend towards digitalization across the global real estate industry. Malaysia Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida marked the occasion by extending her congratulations on the landmark agreement between the two parties. Minister Zuraida noted that Beike Realsee represents a new way of doing business across global real estate markets, and that Jalin with its deep roots and istory in Malaysia and across the region was the ideal partner to drive innovation and empower home buyers.



Realsee's Xinchen Hui reaffirmed the group's commitment to reshaping the residential real estate transaction experience through enhancing innovation and transparency, and that this philosophy was also shared by Jalin. Jalin's CEO Ian Chen said that the company was excited by the partnership and looking forward to creating positive change within domestic markets across the region. Mr. Chen also announced that in response to Malaysia entering a post epidemic recovery phase, Jalin in partnership with Beike Realsee would be offering free VR capture and display services for six months in selected markets.

Jalin has a record of accomplishment in international real estate which dates back 30 years, with offices in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The firm offers end-to-end services for international real estate transactions, covering listing classifieds, real estate management, investment, and consultancy. Cross-border real estate transactions is still in a nascent stage, technology will play a vital role in transcending time and space for buyers and sellers around the globe, with this trend highlighted by the recent epidemics has been accelerated by emergence of Covid-19. Realsee's parent company Beike has provided a new benchmark for the power and application of VR technology across Chinese real estate and home services and Jalin is seeking to replicate this success across South-East Asia. As a pioneer in large-scale spatial reconstruction and VR technology Beike has launched an array of applications allowing agents to deliver better service including 3D tours, Audio guided 3D tour, and 'Future Home' AI powered interior decoration technology. In 2020, the daily dwell time on VR property listing increased by 270%, the daily dwell time on VR listings at over 220,000 hours, total VR visits passed 1.29 billion. Beike Realsee is now making its best-in-class VR technology available overseas, partnering with leading firms from around the world. Japanese firm GA, an early adopter of Beike Realsee technology has increased its dwell time over five times since implementing the VR technology. By March 2nd, 2021, Realsee's VR technology is available online in over 14 countries, 188 cities, bringing to life more than 10,080,000 spaces, representing the world's largest VR housing database. SOURCE Beike Realsee

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[June 10, 2021] World's leading rating agency QS I-GAUGE to host State Level RISE Conference on June 18

Renowned academicians from 3 countries, Industry Experts and members of JAC Punjab would be discussing on the issue of attaining Institutional Excellence CHANDIGARH, India, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- World's renowned and leading rating agency QS I-GAUGE will host the first-of-its-kind State Level Virtual RISE Conference (Redefining Institutional Strategy for Excellence) in association with Chandigarh University, Gharuan on 18th June 2021. Renowned academicians from 3 countries including Germany, UK, Australia would be joined by Industry Experts and governing body members of Joint Association of Colleges, Punjab during the one-day virtual conference to discuss the strategy on attaining Institutional Excellence. This was announced by Chancellor, Chandigarh University, Satnam Singh Sandhu. Representatives and administrators of more than 1000 private colleges, institutions and universities of Punjab would be joining for the virtual conference.



While giving details about the conference, Satnam Sandhu said, "The main objective of RISE Virtual Conference is to connect the education leaders of Punjab on one platform to discuss the current scenario of Higher Education in the State. In addition, the conference will focus on the issue of making Punjab as an International Higher Education Hub by improving the academic structure, research facilities, facilities offered to the students and offering programs in emerging areas." The Virtual Conference will have sub-themes and panel discussions on the topic of 'Women in Leadership Championing Excellence and Promoting Quality', 'Benchmark Internally, Implement Locally', 'India is diverse enough to not require foreign faculty and students'.

Dr. Ashwin Fernandes, CEO, QS I-Gauge who is spearheading the idea of organizing the conference would be delivering the opening address which will be followed by keynote address by Mr. Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor Chandigarh University and Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor, Chitkara University. The other dignitaries and speakers who would be taking part in the conference would include Mr. Jagjit Singh Dhuri, President, JAC Punjab, Bharat Jyoti Awardee Dr. Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, Chairman, JAC, Dr. Harivansh Chturvedi, Alternate President, EPSI, Prof. Rajeev Ahuja, Director IIT Ropar while the international speakers would include Dr. Heike Schinnenburg, University of Applied Sciences, Germany, Dr. Apala Majumdar, University of Strathclyde, UK, Dr. Ravi Seethamraju, University of Sydney, Australia, Ms. Ravneet Pawha, Deputy Vice-President and CEO, Deakin University, Australia and Dr. Paul Inman, Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Reading, UK. About Chandigarh University

Chandigarh University is a NAAC A+ Grade University and an autonomous educational institution approved by UGC and is located near Chandigarh in the state of Punjab. It is the youngest university in India and the only private university in Punjab to be honoured with A+ Grade by NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council). CU offers more than 109 UG and PG programs in the field of engineering, management, pharmacy, law, architecture, journalism, animation, hotel management, commerce and others. It has been awarded as The University with Best Placements by WCRC.

Website: https://www.cuchd.in/ Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1530634/Chandigarh_I_Gauge_Conference.jpg

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[June 10, 2021]

Haivision to Host Investor Webcast on June 16, 2021

MONTREAL, June 10, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Haivision Systems Inc. ("Haivision") (TSX: HAI), a leading global provider of mission critical, real-time IP video solutions, announced today that it will host a webcast investor presentation on Wednesday, June 16th, 2021 at 2:00 PM ET.

During the webcast, Mirko Wicha, CEO and Dan Rabinowitz, CFO will conduct a Power Point presentation that will cover key areas of Haivision's business. After the formal presentation, investors will have an opportunity to ask relevant questions through an interactive Q&A portal.

To listen to the webcast or to ask questions during the live event, please pre-register at the following link: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1468340&tp_key=1ee806b59b







An archived version of the webcast and presentation will be available on the company's website, https://ir.haivision.com/overview/default.aspx

About Haivision

Haivision is a leading global provider of mission-critical, real-time video streaming and networking solutions. Our connected cloud and intelligent edge technologies enable global organizations to engage audiences, enhance collaboration, and support decision making. We provide high quality, low latency, secure, and reliable live video at a global scale. Haivision open sourced its award-winning SRT low latency video streaming protocol and founded the SRT Alliance to support its adoption. Awarded an Emmy for Technology and Engineering from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Haivision continues to fuel the future of IP video transformation. Founded in 2004, Haivision is headquartered in Montreal and Chicago with offices, sales, and support located throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Learn more at haivision.com.

SOURCE Haivision Systems Inc.
[June 10, 2021] Brookfield Infrastructure Challenges Inter Pipeline Ltd.'s Inappropriate Defensive Tactics

BROOKFIELD, NEWS, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP; TSX: BIP.UN), together with its institutional partners (collectively, Brookfield Infrastructure) has filed an application with the Alberta Securities Commission (the ASC) challenging the defensive tactics inappropriately employed by Inter Pipeline Ltd. (TSX: IPL) (IPL) and the special committee of its board of directors.

Our application seeks, on behalf of all IPL shareholders, the elimination of the $350 million termination fee (the Break Fee), agreed to by IPL and its board of directors, which threatens to enrich Pembina Pipeline Corporation (Pembina) at the expense of IPLs existing shareholders. This Break Fee was agreed in the face of a clearly superior proposal submitted by Brookfield Infrastructure to IPLs special committee on May 31, 2021 (the Enhanced Brookfield Proposal). The superiority of the Enhanced Brookfield Proposal, combined with the questionable basis for agreeing to the Break Fee, are two of the many reasons why the Break Fee should not be allowed to stand. If successful in eliminating or otherwise reducing the Break Fee, Brookfield Infrastructure will further increase our offer to IPL shareholders by an equivalent amount. The Enhanced Brookfield Proposal offers IPL shareholders a choice between $19.50 in cash and 0.225 of a class A exchangeable subordinate voting share (a BIPC Share) of Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (BIPC)1. As we have previously stated, we believe IPLs board of directors erred in not recognizing the Enhanced Brookfield Proposal to be a superior proposal to all of IPLs other available alternatives. The Enhanced Brookfield Proposal was: Higher than the $19.45 announced value of the transaction entered into with Pembina,

Clearly subject to significantly less conditionality,

Highly actionable as evidenced by Brookfield Infrastructures immediate amendment of its offer to IPL shareholders, and

Clearly superior in composition, with a significant cash component versus the all-share Pembina alternative. 1 Based on the TSX closing price of the BIPC Shares on May 28, 2021. In its application, Brookfield Infrastructure is seeking either (i) an order restraining the payment of the Break Fee, or (ii) a cease trade order, in each case in respect of the proposed acquisition of IPL by Pembina pursuant to an arrangement agreement (the Arrangement Agreement) announced by IPL and Pembina on June 1, 2021. Brookfield Infrastructure is also seeking an order from the ASC cease trading the two shareholders rights plans currently maintained by IPL (the IPL Rights Plans), one of which was adopted as a tactical response to Brookfield Infrastructures offer to IPL shareholders on February 22, 2021. Our position is that: IPL and its special committee have engaged in conduct that is contrary to the public interest.

In entering into the Arrangement Agreement, IPL agreed to the Break Fee, the quantum and payment triggers of which are both excessive and completely unwarranted in a circumstance where IPLs special committee chose to accept the lower-priced and less certain proposal available to IPL shareholders at the time.

As a result, IPLs board has deprived IPL shareholders of potential additional consideration, because Brookfield Infrastructure would be forced to accept that a C$350 million payment will be made to Pembina under the Arrangement Agreement before we are able to offer any additional consideration to IPL shareholders.

If we are successful in the application, Brookfield Infrastructure will increase its offer to IPL shareholders in an amount equal to the reduction of the Break Fee to the degree it is ultimately reduced or eliminated. Additionally, Brookfield Infrastructure submits that the IPL Rights Plans have served whatever limited purpose they originally had. With IPLs execution of the Arrangement Agreement, there is no valid purpose for the IPL Rights Plans to continue to interfere in Brookfield Infrastructures rights under the take-over bid regime in Canada. Brookfield Infrastructure Reiterates the Highlights of its Superior Offer Cash component of offer totalling $5.56 billion representing 74% of the total consideration, compared to zero cash under the Pembina offer.

Brookfield Infrastructure has received all regulatory and anti-trust approvals and can close as early as June 22 nd compared to the alternative transaction which is subject to competition, regulatory and IPL shareholder approvals. As IPLs largest shareholder, we remain unsupportive of the all-share Pembina transaction and intend to vote against it.

compared to the alternative transaction which is subject to competition, regulatory and IPL shareholder approvals. As IPLs largest shareholder, we remain unsupportive of the all-share Pembina transaction and intend to vote against it. Preserves significant jobs for IPLs employees compared to the alternative cost synergy driven transaction entered into by IPL.

Brookfield Infrastructure believes the choice for shareholders is clear; waiting six months for a Pembina transaction that may not occur due to a high degree of uncertainty surrounding regulatory and shareholder approvals versus the Brookfield Offer that provides a high degree of certainty, a clean exit for IPL shareholders and an opportunity to participate in the growth of a high-quality global infrastructure business. Details of the Offer Brookfield Infrastructure encourages IPL shareholders to read the full details of Brookfield Infrastructures offer (the Brookfield Offer) set forth in the original Offer to Purchase and Circular dated February 22, 2021 as modified and supplemented by the Notice of Variation, Change and Extension dated June 4, 2021 (collectively the Offer Documents), which contains the full terms and conditions of the Brookfield Offer and other important information as well as detailed instructions on how IPL shareholders can tender their IPL shares to the Brookfield Offer. The Brookfield Offer is open for acceptance until 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time) on Tuesday, June 22, 2021 and is not conditional upon the outcome of the application filed by Brookfield Infrastructure with the ASC. IPL shareholders who have questions or require assistance in depositing IPL shares to the Ofer, IPL shareholders 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.



Copies of the Offer Documents are 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. 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 . 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 will be 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. NOTICE TO U.S. HOLDERS OF IPL SHARES In connection with the Brookfield Offer, Brookfield Infrastructure has filed a Registration Statement on Form F-4, Amendment No. 1 and Amendment No. 2 thereto with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which contain a prospectus relating to the Brookfield Offer. SHAREHOLDERS AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES INVESTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS OF IPL ARE URGED TO READ SUCH REGISTRATION STATEMENT, AS AMENDED, AND ANY AND ALL OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE BROOKFIELD 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 BROOKFIELD INFRASTRUCTURE, IPL AND THE BROOKFIELD OFFER. Materials filed with the SEC will be available electronically without charge at the SECs website (www.sec.gov) under the issuer profiles for BIP and BIPC, or on request without charge from Brookfield Infrastructure, at 250 Vesey Street, 15th Floor, New York, New York, 10281-1023 or by telephone at (212) 417-7000 and the materials will be posted on BIPs website at www.brookfield.com/infrastructure. BIP and BIPC are foreign private issuers and Brookfield Infrastructure is permitted to prepare the offer to purchase and related documents in accordance with Canadian disclosure requirements, which are different from those of the United States. BIP and BIPC prepare their financial statements in accordance with IFRS, and they may not be directly comparable to financial statements of United States companies. Shareholders of IPL should be aware that the disposition of their common shares and the acquisition and ownership of BIPC Shares may subject them to tax consequences both in the United States and in Canada. The offer to purchase may not describe these tax consequences fully. IPL shareholders should read any tax discussion in the offer to purchase, and holders of IPL Shares are urged to consult their tax advisors. An IPL shareholders ability to enforce civil liabilities under the United States 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 and some or all of the experts named in the offering documents 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. IPL 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. NEITHER THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NOR ANY STATE SECURITIES REGULATOR HAS OR WILL HAVE APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE BIPC SHARES OFFERED IN THE OFFERING DOCUMENTS, OR HAS OR WILL HAVE DETERMINED IF ANY OFFERING DOCUMENTS ARE TRUTHFUL OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE. IPL shareholders should be aware that, during the period of the Offer, Brookfield Infrastructure 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 or make purchases of the securities to be distributed or to be exchanged, or certain related securities outside the Offer, including purchases in the open market at prevailing prices or in private transactions at negotiated prices, as permitted by applicable laws or regulations of the United States, Canada or its provinces or territories. To the extent information about such purchases is made public in Canada, such information will be disclosed by means of a press release or other means reasonably calculated to inform IPL shareholders in the United States of such information. The Brookfield 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 of 1934, as amended (the U.S. Exchange Act). Accordingly, the Brookfield 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 Brookfield Offer is being conducted in accordance with Section 14(e) of the U.S. Exchange Act and Regulation 14E promulgated thereunder. 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 ASCs hearing of complaint filed by Brookfield Infrastructure; statements relating to the Pembina transaction, including the timing and conditions to closing and cost synergies; the Brookfield Offer, including the anticipated timing of closing; the intention to increase the Brookfield Offer in certain circumstance; and statements regarding Brookfield Infrastructures purchase of IPL shares on the TSX. 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.



For more information, please contact: Media:

Claire Holland

Senior Vice President, Communications

Tel: (416) 369-8236

Email: claire.holland@brookfield.com Investors:

Kate White

Manager, Investor Relations

Tel: (416) 956-5183

Email: kate.white@brookfield.com



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[June 10, 2021] Efficiently Connecting Industry Intelligence, New Value Together: Huawei Launches AirFlash Microwave

SINGAPORE, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Huawei launched the full-band AirFlash Microwave enterprise solution. This solution is able to provide high-throughput wireless connections on all microwave bands in a wide range of vertical scenarios, including in the government, education, healthcare, Internet Service Provider (ISP), transportation, and energy sectors. As one of the three communication systems parallel to optical fiber and satellite, microwave broadband wireless communication supports fast access to a large number of information sites with a bandwidth of hundreds of Mbit/s and backbone aggregation transmission of up to 20 Gbit/s. Doing away with the need for complicated fiber and cable engineering, microwave can be deployed on any terrain and features high bandwidth with low line deployment costs, along with the flexible adjustment of private network services. Indeed, microwave can be considered as invisible "air optical fiber." In vertical industries, applications are becoming increasingly intelligent and information-driven: this requires bearer networks to have large capacity, wide coverage, high security, and high reliability. Huawei's AirFlash Microwave solution allows enterprises to easily accommodate such requirements. As such, it is a good way to achieve large-capacity wireless connections in areas where fiber and other wired connections are costly, time-consuming to construct, and difficult to maintain. The launch event brought together more than 693 partners and customers from various industries in the Asia-Pacific region to share insights on "Efficiently Connecting Industry Intelligence" with Huawei's microwave solutions. Denver Zhang, Vice President of the Wireless Marketing & Solutions Sales Dept. for the Huawei Enterprise Business Group (EBG), summarized the development trends unfolding in the microwave industry. Mr. Zhang noted: "During Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021 in Shanghai, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) released its Microwave Backhaul Evolution and Spectrum Report, emphasizing the important role and technical direction of microwave. For enterprises with weak optical fiber infrastructure, microwave is the best solution to balance costs, service rollout time, and network performance." Mr. Zhang also outlined the ways Huawei has been promoting the progress of the microwave industry. Each year, Huawei invests approximately 12% of microwave revenue in Research and Development (R&D) and has built a strong team of more tha 1100 dedicated microwave R&D staff worldwide. Over the past seven years, Huawei has continued to lead the microwave market precisely because of its commitment to ongoing innovation. Last year, Huawei's global microwave market share reached 27.45%. In addition, Huawei continues to contribute to the microwave ecosystem, building the industry chain, and it helped established the millimeter Wave (mmWave) transmission alliance which has grown from 9 founding members to 45 members today.



Brandon Wu, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Huawei Asia-Pacific EBG, highlighted the urgent requirements for efficient connections to address the continued impact of the pandemic. Huawei's AirFlash Microwave enterprise solution supports fast deployment and is cost efficient and easy to operate and maintain across various industrial scenarios. Therefore, it can be widely used to provide broadband coverage to users in remote areas, villages, schools, and residential areas. Huawei's microwave market share exceeds 30% in Asia-Pacific, and the latest full-band products will further expand the options for industries to meet the requirements of wireless broadband connections. Huawei AirFlash Microwave Enterprise Solution Improves Broadband Coverage for Homes, Enterprises, Schools, and Remote Government Workplaces

Harry Zhang, a Senior Marketing Manager for Huawei Microwave, explained the product capabilities and application scenarios of the AirFlash Microwave solution. In wireless broadband connection solutions: Flexible Point To Point (PTP) and Point To Multipoint (PTMP) networking supports zero-footprint installation, suitable for providing quick and stable backhaul transmission.

Flexible Point To Point (PTP) and Point To Multipoint (PTMP) networking supports zero-footprint installation, suitable for providing quick and stable backhaul transmission. In the innovative train-to-ground data transfer solution: Based on 5G wireless technologies, the mmWave product provides a maximum throughput of 1.7 Gbit/s, with full auto-connection for train big data uploads to the ground central office.

Based on 5G wireless technologies, the mmWave product provides a maximum throughput of 1.7 Gbit/s, with full auto-connection for train big data uploads to the ground central office. Supporting stable 100+ Mbit/s or Synchronous Transport Module level-1 (STM-1) backhaul channels over dozens of kilometers for offshore oil wells: The offshore intelligent beam tracking solution adapts innovative beam tracking platforms to the traditional microwave bands, to support stable 100+ Mbit/s or STM-1 backhaul channels over dozens of kilometers for offshore oil wells, eliminating the coverage holes of mobile network services.

The offshore intelligent beam tracking solution adapts innovative beam tracking platforms to the traditional microwave bands, to support stable 100+ Mbit/s or STM-1 backhaul channels over dozens of kilometers for offshore oil wells, eliminating the coverage holes of mobile network services. Long-reach E-band (80 GHz) solution provides a gain 12 dB higher than the industry average: Empowered by intelligent beam tracking and high transit power technologies, this solution can enlarge the E-band microwave transmission distance by 30%, with 10-20 Gbit/s ultra-large capacity in the Asia-Pacific region's heavy rain areas.

Empowered by intelligent beam tracking and high transit power technologies, this solution can enlarge the E-band microwave transmission distance by 30%, with 10-20 Gbit/s ultra-large capacity in the region's heavy rain areas. The unified Network Cloud Engine (NCE) platform: A new Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud-based Network Management System (NMS) supports end-to-end microwave networking, and cross-domain and intelligent management, combined with microwave, optical, and Internet Protocol (IP) router devices. This provides automatic and visualized configuration, intelligent services, and fault diagnosis. George Wang, the Marketing Director for Huawei Microwave, also demonstrated innovative product and reliability test processes through Augmented Reality (AR) demonstrations, direct from the Microwave Cloud Innovation Lab. Highlights included a 4-in-1 Outdoor Device Unit (ODU), modular antenna and frequency replacement, industry-leading Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) capability, and microwave reliability tests at high and low temperatures as well as in salt spray and wind tunnels. The Huawei AirFlash Microwave solution aims to provide zero-touch, efficient, secure, and reliable wireless connections for Asia-Pacific customers across industries to help them realize digital and intelligent transformation. About Huawei Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains - telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services - we are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. Huawei's end-to-end portfolio of products, solutions and services are both competitive and secure. Through open collaboration with ecosystem partners, we create lasting value for our customers, working to empower people, enrich home life, and inspire innovation in organizations of all shapes and sizes. At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. We invest heavily in basic research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. We have more than 194,000 employees, and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees. For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on: http://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei

https://twitter.com/HuaweiEntAPAC

https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiEnterpriseAPAC

http://www.youtube.com/Huawei SOURCE Huawei

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[June 10, 2021] BetterLife Pharma Retains Proactive Investors and Psychedelic Finance for Market Awareness

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BetterLife Pharma Inc. (BetterLife or the Company) (CSE: BETR / OTCQB : BETRF / FRA: NPAU), an emerging biotech company, is pleased to announce that it has retained Proactive Investors (Proactive) and Psychedelic Finance to broaden the Company's reach within a global investor network, as well as to assist with general market awareness.

Proactive will provide editorial coverage of BetterLifes news releases, generate feature articles based on interviews with company executives, and produce video interviews. Proactives first interview with BetterLifes CEO, Ahmad Doroudian and newly appointed director, Henri Sant-Cassia, co-founder of The Conscious Fund, can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JOL8ssNGFg. With six offices on three continents and a team of experienced business journalists and broadcasters, Proactive works with innovative growth companies quoted on the worlds major stock exchanges, helping executives engage with investors. Psychedelic Finance will provide expanded marketing campaign, including social media support, market performance and news features. About Proactive Investors Proactive Investors enables companies and investors to connect intelligently. Proactive is one of the fstest growing financial media portals in the world, providing breaking news, commentary and analysis on hundreds of listed companies and pre-IPO businesses across the globe, 24/7.



For further information, please visit www.proactiveinvestors.com. About Psychedelic Finance

Psychedelic Finance operates a marketing company for its private and public partners, building strategic campaigns leveraging video, media and strategic introductions to its network. About BetterLife Pharma Inc. BetterLife Pharma Inc. is an emerging biotechnology company engaged in the development and commercialization of therapeutic pharmaceuticals as well as drug delivery platform technologies. BetterLife is refining and developing drug candidates from a broad set of complementary interferon-based technologies which have the potential to engage the immune system to fight virus infections, such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and human papillomavirus (HPV), and/or to directly inhibit tumours to treat specific types of cancer. For further information please visit www.abetterlifepharma.com. Contact Information: Ahmad Doroudian, Chief Executive Officer

Email: Ahmad.Doroudian@blifepharma.com

Phone: 604-221-0595



CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS No Securities Exchange has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to product development, licensing, commercialization and regulatory compliance issues and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as will, may, should, anticipate, expects and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations include the failure to satisfy the conditions of the relevant securities exchange(s) and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulations. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable law.



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[June 10, 2021] Globant Launches "Earn Your Apple Watch" Program

SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Globant (NYSE: GLOB), a digitally native company, today announced BeHealthy, a new program that launches the Earn Your Apple Watch app --a solution that offers companies the opportunity to help customers, members, or employees improve their health and wellness. The app is a highly configurable, white label recognition and reward program, developed in conjunction with Apple, to help clients improve the wellness and the quality of engagement with their customers, members, or employees by leveraging and integrating the unique built-in features of Apple Watch including the activity rings. "The Earn Your Apple Watch program is a powerful tool for personal insights in one of the most important areas of our lives  health and wellness. With this platform, our clients can go further in supporting their employees' and customers' wellness by offering a personalized, engaging tool," said Fernando Matzkin, Chief Business Officer of Globant North America. "Employees and consumers receive added motivation and incentive to improve their well-being while driving down healthcare costs and increasing positive engagement." The Earn Your Apple Watch program can be implemented by any company that wants to contribute to te wellness of their employees and customers by encouraging physical activity. The app can help users make better choices, adopt healthy habits, and achieve exercise goals. New features are already planned to support preventative care and health management for conditions such as pre-diabetes and hypertension.



The program is available in two modes: Earn Your Apple Watch  participants can earn refunds toward the cost of a new Apple Watch by being active and meeting monthly exercise goals.

 participants can earn refunds toward the cost of a new Apple Watch by being active and meeting monthly exercise goals. Earn With Apple Watch  participants can earn rewards or unlock discounts by being active and meeting monthly exercise goals. Rewards can be vouchers for goods or services, or credits toward larger purchases or discounts offered by the sponsoring organization. This mode can also be integrated with companies' existing rewards platforms. "Technology can empower consumers to have greater awareness of their health and well-being choices so they can make better decisions. By using Apple Watch, these tools can be used to incentivize better health decisions and outcomes, saving companies money while improving the livelihoods of consumers and employees," said Nicolas Avila, Chief Technology Officer of Globant.

A pilot of the program was launched in April by Canada-based retailer London Drugs, as LDExtras Achieve, an extension of their loyalty reward program. This first-of-a-kind initiative provides customers cash back in the form of LDExtra vouchers that users are able to use toward purchases in-store or online by completing monthly activity goals within the LDExtras Achieve app. The BeHealthy rewards program has been built with software that protects the privacy of all users and has secure data protections at its core. About Globant: We are a digitally native company that helps organizations reinvent themselves to create a way forward and unleash their potential. We are the place where innovation, design and engineering meet scale. We have more than 17,250 employees and we are present in 18 countries working for companies like Google, Rockwell Automation, Electronic Arts and Santander, among others.

We were named a Worldwide Leader in CX Improvement Services by IDC MarketScape report.

We were also featured as a business case study at Harvard , MIT , and Stanford.

, , and Stanford. We are a member of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord. For more information, visit www.globant.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/globant-launches-earn-your-apple-watch-program-301309647.html SOURCE Globant

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[June 10, 2021] Keyavi Data Appoints Board of Directors and Advisory Board

Keyavi Data Corp., a cybersecurity innovator whose breakthrough technology is transforming the very nature of the data security industry, today announced the formation of a four-person board of directors and a three-member advisory board. These leaders are all highly experienced executives at major technology, healthcare, financial services, investment management and national security firms who recognize Keyavi's growth trajectory and prominence as a category-creating leader in self-protecting data security. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005185/en/ Elliot Lewis - Director, Board Chairman, Founder & CEO of Keyavi Data

Mr. Lewis is an internationally renowned cybersecurity expert with nearly 30 years of leadership protecting some of the world's most valuable intellectual property. Before launching Keyavi in 2020, he served as chief security architect at Dell, director of security and identity at Cisco, chief information security officer (CISO) at Merrill Lynch and senior security architect at Microsoft's (News - Alert) Security Center of Excellence. He was also an industry advisor helping hundreds of customers solve their most challenging data security problems, including federal agencies and military defense and civilian contractors. Mr. Lewis studied computer science at Northeastern University and holds five network security patents for Microsoft and Dell (News - Alert) . Todd Demko - Director

Mr. Demko is the founder of Vonzos Partners, an investment group focused on growth-oriented private companies with disruptive innovations. He is a proven revenue generator, successfully growing small- to mid-market companies and expanding their revenue operations. With more than 25 years of experience, Mr. Demko has worked with a wide variety of technologies at firms ranging from small startups to major enterprises, including Samsung (News - Alert) , HP, IBM and Qualcomm. He holds a Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering (B.S.E.E.) from Clarkson University. Jim McDonnell - Director

Mr. McDonnell serves as the global security strategic advisor at Mission Support and Test Services, LLC, a firm selected by the National Nuclear Security Administration to manage and operate the Nevada National Security Site. Mr. McDonnell is a renowned expert in international security, counterterrorism, business operations and risk management, having held senior executive positions in the federal government and private sector. Previously, he was appointed by the President as the Assistant Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office to foil attempts by terrorists or other threat actors to attack the U.S. using a weapon of mass destruction. Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Mr. McDonnell became the founding director of the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Assurance, which is responsible for protecting America's energy infrastructure. He retired from the Navy as a commissioned officer after 20years of service in special operations and counterterrorism. He then founded the National Security Programs business unit at Oak Ridge Associated Universities and managed a number of terrorism-related national security activities, including restructuring the technical response by the U.S. to nuclear terrorism threats. Mr. McDonnell earned a B.A. from Regents College, University of the State of New York, and a Master of Arts degree from Georgetown University.



Heather Callender-Potters - Director

Ms. Potters is the vice chairman, co-founder, chief advocate and shareholder relations officer at PharmaJet, Inc., a technology company whose innovative, needle-free injection devices are being used to deliver multiple vaccines worldwide, including COVID-19 vaccines. The company is also advancing more than 100 novel vaccine and therapeutic development programs globally. Ms. Potters has over 25 years of active investment experience, including private equity fund management and international investment (BCEE; Enterprise Investors) across multiple jurisdictions. She has managed individual investments and financial investor consortiums, ranging from $1 million to more than $100 million. Ms. Potters earned a B.A. in international management from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from Wharton, the University of Pennsylvania. John Friedman - Advisor

Mr. Friedman is the founder and managing partner of the Easton Capital Investment Group, where he oversees capital funds managing several hundred million dollars of investment funds for diversified industries. He also heads the company's healthcare practice. Earlier, he was the founder and managing general partner of Security Pacific Capital Investors, a $200-million private equity fund focused on expansion financings and recapitalizations. Before joining Security Pacific, he was a managing director and partner at E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., Inc., where he spent eight and a half years. Previously, Mr. Friedman was an attorney with Sullivan and Cromwell. During his career he has invested in six transactions that generated 100x-to-1 returns (including a company he co-founded). He holds a J.D. degree from Yale Law School and a B.A. (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) from Yale College.

Jesper Johansson - Advisor

Mr. Johansson is head of technology risk at Robinhood, an online investment company on a mission to democratize finance for all through commission-free trading in stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrency. Before joining Robinhood, Mr. Johansson was chief security architect and chief information security officer (CISO) at GoDaddy, one of the world's largest Internet domain registrars and web hosting companies. Earlier, he was VP and CISO at Yubico, where he designed and implemented a company-wide security strategy, as well as managed a security team in multiple locations across nine time zones. Previously, Mr. Johansson was a senior member of Google's (News - Alert) technical staff responsible for protecting all information assets used by Google, the corporate infrastructure production systems and the Google cloud platform. At Amazon, where he held increasingly senior security leadership roles for nearly a decade, including chief security architect, Mr. Johansson was responsible for the entire company's security strategy outside Amazon Web Services. He was also a senior security strategist at Microsoft and an assistant professor at Boston University. He holds an M.S. degree in information systems and an MBA from the University of Maryland, as well as a Ph.D. in management information systems from the University of Minnesota. Chad Skipper - Advisor

Mr. Skipper serves as global security technologist in the Network and Security Business Unit at VMware, a network and security virtualization company. He has more than 25 years of experience in many executive security technologist and strategist roles at Symantec, Cisco (News - Alert) , Dell, Cylance, Lastline, BlackStratus Inc. and Trident Data Systems. He is an expert in the security design of endpoint, network, cloud and hosted security solutions and a leader in security prevention, management, monitoring, testing and intelligence mitigation. Mr. Skipper also co-authored "Next-Generation Anti-Malware Testing for Dummies." He holds a B.S. in computer information systems from Park University. Recent industry recognition of Keyavi's vision and market leadership include: Three prestigious Cyber Defense Magazine Global Infosec Awards at RSA's 2021 virtual conference last month: Cybersecurity Startup of the Year, Hot Company in Data Security and Self-protecting Data Security.

Creation of a new cybersecurity industry category - self-protecting data - by analyst firm Omdia in its "On the Radar" report, available here for download. About Keyavi Data Corp. Headquartered in Denver, Keyavi Data's transformative cybersecurity technology makes any type of data self-protecting by infusing multi-layered protections into the actual data itself. This innovative technology - now available as an API, client software product, mobile apps and web client - makes data intelligent and self-aware of where it is, who has it and what device it is on to determine whether it is authorized by its owner at that time to allow access. Launched in 2020, Keyavi already has multiple families of patents. For companies and the public sector that need to control confidential and intellectual property from accidental loss or a cyber attack, Keyavi's easy-to-use yet robust security delivers the ultimate peace of mind. In today's growing locations of disparate workforces and partner ecosystems, Keyavi plays a critical role in making data leaks and breaches irrelevant. Follow Keyavi on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. To learn more about Keyavi and its revolutionary technology, visit https://keyavi.com/our-technology/. Keyavi DataTM is a trademark of Keyavi Data Corp. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005185/en/

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[June 10, 2021] IDEMIA Signs With Storstockholms Lokaltrafik "SL" to Launch the World's First Ever Public Transport EMV White Label Cards

Global development of next-generation payment cards is currently fueled by two key factors, namely ushering in EMV interoperability and security compliance and mass take-up of contactless payments. Thanks to its unrivalled embedded security expertise IDEMIA has been able to set the security standards for SL and develop the world's first ever public transport EMV White Label card. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005355/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) This jointly developed hi-tech system is based on EMV White Label, an open contactless payment standard promoted by the White Label Alliance, which enables ready-to-deploy contactless payment solutions. Building on the EMV standard, it facilitates migration to ontactless and interoperability across most system providers.



IDEMIA's solution ushers in both security and convenience, commuters will gain from an enhanced travel experience as they speed through gates armed only with the new SL card provided by IDEMIA. The card taps into SL's existing infrastructure that caters for EMV open-loop payments. The first new EMV White Label cards will be rolled out after the summer. "We're immensely proud to be the first ever EMV White Label card provider for Public Transport in Sweden. We have no doubt our new cards will make life easier for everyone, commuters and transport authorities' alike." said Amanda Gourbault, IDEMIA's Executive VP Financial Institutions.

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 (News - Alert) View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005355/en/

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[June 10, 2021] ZipRecruiter's 'Invite to Apply' Generates 2.5 Times as Many Candidates per Job

Job seekers and employers are praising ZipRecruiter's 'Invite to Apply' tool as a solution to current bottlenecks in hiring. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005513/en/ ZipRecruiter's 'Invite to Apply' is a transformational AI-powered smart hiring tool that delights job seekers and gives more control to hiring managers. (Graphic: Business Wire) "During the pandemic it has been hard to find a job," says Summer Carignan, who was hired by a major hospital through 'Invite to Apply.' "ZipRecruiter allowed an employer to reach out to me," instead of the other way around. "I ended up taking a job that contacted me and the process went so much faster." 'Invite to Apply' acts like a personal recruiter both for job seekers and businesses. It leverages ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology to identify candidates who are a strong fit for a business's open roles and presents them to hiring managers. Businesses can then invite top candidates to apply for their jobs. "'Invite to Apply' is the key to unlocking a faster hiring process and a better candidate experience," says ZipRecruiter co-founder and CEO Ian Siegel. "This is a smarter way for the job market to work." How It Works 'Invite to Apply' finds qualified candidates for open roles even before they apply. It then presents those job seekers to employers. The newly launched redesign shows employers detailed information about the candidate, including previous job titles, years of experience, education, veteran status, certifications, and a rating indicating how strong a match they are for the role. Employers can even see how recently candidates have been active on ZipRecruiter. Once they have reviewed the pool of potential candidates, businesses can then invite their top choices to apply with one click.



Why It Is a Game Changer Jobs where employers use 'Invite to Apply' receive over 2.5 times more candidates.1 And candidates who are invited to apply are nearly three times more likely to get hired.2

In the current climate, 'Invite to Apply' also sends an important signal to job seekers-including people who lost their jobs during the pandemic and parents who were forced to put their careers on hold during school closures-that labor market conditions are rapidly improving and that businesses need their skills and talents. As an added benefit, ZipRecruiter's powerful matching algorithms learn more about employers' preferences when they use 'Invite to Apply,' which enables the tool to get ever better at finding exactly the right candidates for every job. What Job Seekers and Employers are Saying A representative of Reddy Ice, the largest packaged ice manufacturer in the U.S., said "If we see someone with the right skills, we can actually reach out and invite them to apply. That way, they know we're interested. And nine times out of ten, the person moves forward in the hiring process." A job seeker named Tracy C. Bozeman told ZipRecruiter: "I had recently moved to Oregon when the pandemic hit. It seemed hopeless to find an opportunity in this job market. But...then [my employer] found me on ZipRecruiter! So, even when I gave up hope in finding a good job, it found me instead." ABOUT ZIPRECRUITER ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com) is a leading online employment marketplace that actively connects people to their next great opportunity. ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology improves the job search experience for job seekers and helps businesses of all sizes find and hire the right candidates quickly. ZipRecruiter has been the #1 rated job search app on iOS & Android (News - Alert) for the past four years3 and is rated the #1 employment marketplace by G2.4 Visit us at ZipRecruiter.com and ZipRecruiter.com/blog. 1 ZipRecruiter Internal Data, average Jan. 1-Dec. 31 2020.

2 Based on self-reporting by over 10,000 logged in users who reported being hired for a job through ZipRecruiter from September 1, 2020-October 31, 2020.

3 Based on ratings information for the Google (News - Alert) Play Store and Apple App Store from the AppFollow platform, during the period of March 2017 to Feb 2021 for the job seeker apps of ZipRecruiter, CareerBuilder, Craigslist, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn (News - Alert) , and Monster.

4 Based on G2 satisfaction ratings as set forth in G2, Best Job Boards Software, https://www.g2.com/categories/job-boards?utf8=%E2%9C%93&order=top_shelf (last visited January 25, 2021). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005513/en/

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[June 10, 2021] AgJunction Announces Agreement in Principle to Settle Litigation Against Ag Leader

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AgJunction Inc. (TSX: AJX) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Novariant, Inc. (together "AgJunction" or the "Company"), today announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to settle the patent infringement and breach of contract lawsuit it filed against Ag Leader Technology, Inc. in November of 2020. The parties will work diligently to finalize a settlement agreement and related documents in the coming weeks. In the event they are not able to reach a final agreement, the parties will resume litigation in court. About AgJunction

AgJunction Inc. is a global leader of advanced guidance and autosteering solutions for precision agriculture applications. Its technologies are critical components in over 30 of the worlds leading precision Ag manufacturers and solution providers and it holds over 200 patents and patents pending. AgJunction markets its solutions under leading brand names including Novariant, Wheelman, Whirl and Handsfreefarm and is committed to advancing its vision by bringing affordable hands-free farming to every farm, regardless of terrain or size. AgJunction is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol AJX. For more information, please go to AgJunction.com. Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws and is based on the expectations, estimates nd projections of management of AgJunction as of the date of this news release, unless otherwise stated. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information. These statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. Although the Companys management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievement since such expectations are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and political uncertainties and contingencies. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information contained in this press release.



In respect of the forward-looking information, AgJunction has provided such information in reliance on certain assumptions that it believes are reasonable at this time, including, but not limited to, the sufficiency of budgeted capital expenditures in carrying out planned activities; that AgJunction's future results of operations will be consistent with management expectations in relation thereto; availability of key supplies, components, services, networks and developments; the impact of increasing competition; conditions in general economic, agricultural and financial markets; demand for the Company's products; and the continuity of existing business relationships. Since forward-looking information addresses future events and conditions, such information by its very nature involves inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to the risks associated with the industries in which AgJunction operates; competition; inability to introduce new technology and new products in a timely manner; legal claims for the infringement of intellectual property and other claims; negative conditions in general economic, agricultural and financial markets; and reduced demand for the Company's products. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive.

Additional information on other factors that could affect the Company's operations or financial results, are included in reports of AgJunction on file with applicable securities regulatory authorities, including but not limited to, AgJunction's Annual Information Form which may be accessed on its SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and AgJunction undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Contact: Media

AgJunction Inc.

press@agjunction.com Investor Relations

Gateway Investor Relations

Cody Slach or Cody Cree

1-949-574-3860

AJX@gatewayir.com



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[June 10, 2021] Qlik Enables Australian Government Department of Health to Deliver Critical Public Health Information During Pandemic

SYDNEY, Australia, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Qlik today announced that the Australian Government Department of Health is leveraging Qliks technology to deliver data analytics capabilities in support of the Departments reporting of COVID-19 related information to key stakeholders.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Australia in early 2020, the Department of Health has been using Qlik to provide health officials a clear perspective on COVID-19 related statistics. Qliks data visualisation and analytics solutions underpin COVID-19 public announcements, pandemic incident management and COVID-19 updates on the Department of Health website. The Department needed a rapid data solution that was external facing, easily adaptable and could support the National Incident Room to provide curated data on a daily basis so as to keep the Australian public informed on the unfolding COVID-19 situation. This meant clear and swift reporting, with no room for error. Qlik offered an end-to-end solution, allowing Health to join to many disparate datasets quickly and produce a wide range of reporting formats. As soon as the pandemic hit, it took not more than three weeks for a prototype platform to be delivered for the Department of Health. A live public website was available shortly after to provide up-to-date information built to support half million hits a day and up to 5,000 hits a second. The project was ground-breaking from the start, as the Health team were challenged to develop new and innovative data products for many different audiences with the key guiding principles of accuracy, reliability, availability and consistency, all delivered rapidly. Qlik solutions were used across the following areas: COVID-19 public announcements: At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Nick Coatsworth, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, was delivering twice weekly updates via Social Media channels and required the most up-to-date information available to inform the public of the escalating COVID-19 situation.Using the power of Qliks NPrinting reporting solution, the Department was able to supply accurate data and a flexible solution for every instance.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Nick Coatsworth, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, was delivering twice weekly updates via Social Media channels and required the most up-to-date information available to inform the public of the escalating COVID-19 situation.Using the power of Qliks NPrinting reporting solution, the Department was able to supply accurate data and a flexible solution for every instance. Informatic Placemat: Qliks on-demand data generation supported rapid response requests for internal and external information and decision making. Originally, the Placemat was built as a manually constructed visual dashboard highlighting key figures related to the spread of COVID-19. However, this was extremely slow and exposed a risk for error. The Qlik solution enabled automated reporting  reducing time spent by staff in the National Incident Room to curate the information by five to six hours daily.

Qliks on-demand data generation supported rapid response requests for internal and external information and decision making. Originally, the Placemat was built as a manually constructed visual dashboard highlighting key figures related to the spread of COVID-19. However, this was extremely slow and exposed a risk for error. The Qlik solution enabled automated reporting  reducing time spent by staff in the National Incident Room to curate the information by five to six hours daily. Pandemic Incident Management (PIM): A user-centric dashboard was created by combining different data models and Qlik apps to create analytics for internal use. The Departments internal pandemic management team was able to monitor and respond quickly to information on the Departments own workforce volumes, IT capacity, and staff movement to identify and manage employees working remotely or onsite.

A user-centric dashboard was created by combining different data models and Qlik apps to create analytics for internal use. The Departments internal pandemic management team was able to monitor and respond quickly to information on the Departments own workforce volumes, IT capacity, and staff movement to identify and manage employees working remotely or onsite. COVID-19 Impact Assessment : Through analytics, the Department was able to provide a view of national availability for medical devices such as ventilators and PPE, as well as measure hospital capacity. This was achieved by integrating data from a range of sources including the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) and hospital data from Critical Health Resource Information System (CHRIS). Information was updated daily to facilitate strategic decision making.

: Through analytics, the Department was able to provide a view of national availability for medical devices such as ventilators and PPE, as well as measure hospital capacity. This was achieved by integrating data from a range of sources including the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) and hospital data from Critical Health Resource Information System (CHRIS). Information was updated daily to facilitate strategic decision making. COVID-19 Vulnerability Assessment: A separate Qlik application helped integrate data sets from 18 different vulnerable cohorts such as those with chronic disease, disability, or those in remote areas. The dashboard enabled the Departments Data and Analytics Branch to easily find correlations and trends in the data sets by drilling down into age, gender and geography to find areas and people that were most at risk and to aid Department decision making.





Collaboration for success For its pioneering work, the Australian Government Department of Health was recently presented the Qlik Excellence in Healthcare Award at Qliks Australia and New Zealand Health & Public Sector Digital Transformation Awards 2021.

Australias approach to the COVID-19 pandemic is well-regarded globally and this can largely be attributed to a well-coordinated and collaborative effort across government, the healthcare sector as well as the private sector that was underpinned by data-driven decision making, said Charlie Farah, Director of Industry Solutions for Healthcare and Public Sector at Qlik. This enabled the government to swiftly act and provide clear communication to citizens and State authorities on the rapidly changing situation to help limit the spread of COVID-19 within the community. About Qlik

Qliks vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private SaaS company, Qlik provides an end-to-end, real-time data integration and analytics cloud platform to close the gaps between data, insights and action.?By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships.?Qlik does business in more than 100 countries and serves over 50,000 customers around the world.  2021 QlikTech International AB. All rights reserved. All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. The information provided herein is subject to change without notice. In addition, the development, release and timing of any product or functionality described herein remain at the sole discretion of Qlik and should not be relied upon in making a purchasing decision, nor as a representation, warranty or commitment to deliver specific products or functionality in the future. Media Contact: Shelina Mahtani

Shelina.Mahtani@qlik.com



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[June 10, 2021] State Street Launches New Division Dedicated to Digital Finance

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) today announced that it has launched a new division focused on addressing the industry's evolving shift to digital finance. The new division, State Street Digital, will be led by Nadine Chakar, three-decade industry veteran and executive vice president. Chakar will report to Lou Maiuri, chief operating officer of State Street Corporation. "The financial industry is transforming to a digital economy, and we see digital assets as one of the most significant forces impacting our industry over the next five years," said Ron O'Hanley, chairman and chief executive officer of State Street Corporation. "Digital assets are quickly becoming integrated into the existing framework of financial services, and it is critical we have the tools in place to provide our clients with solutions for both their traditional investment needs as well as their increased digital needs." The new division will build on State Street's current digital capabilities and will expand to include crypto, central bank digital currency, blockchain, and tokenization. Our proprietary GlobalLink technology platform will be an integral component of State Street Digital and will be enhanced into a digital multi-asset platform. The objective is to evolve the platform into a multi-asset platform to support crypto assets among other asset classes. The aim will also be to support our peer-to-peer ambitions by creating new liquidity venues for our clients and investors worldwide. "We have been developing a number of digital capabilities and other solutions as well as partnering and investing in the infrastructure that forms the foundation of State Street Digital," said Chakar. "State Street has a major role to play in the evolution of digital market infrastructure and this new division will help us bring our expertise and resources to the conversation. As digital currencies and tokenization not only gain momentum, but transform financial infrastructure and operating models, we can help our clients bridge the gap between the industry of today and the one of tomorrow." Today's announcement builds on State Street's long history of innovation and strong foundationwithin the digital servicing space. In 2019, the company launched State Street AlphaSM, the industry's first front-to-back offering based on the principles of openness and interoperability. In April of this year, State Street announced that it was appointed as the administrator of a planned bitcoin backed exchange traded note (ETN) initiated by Iconic Funds BTC ETN GmbH, a subsidiary of Iconic Funds GmbH. The ETN will be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, following the approval by the German Securities Regulator (BaFin). Separately in March, State Street announced that it was appointed as the fund administrator and transfer agent of the VanEck Bitcoin Trust ('The Trust') a new bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is currently pending approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC (News - Alert) ).



Tony Bisegna, global head of portfolio solutions, FX sales and trading, and research for State Street Global Markets, will become our head of Global Markets effective September 1, 2021. Bisegna's appointment is part of our ongoing succession planning. About State Street Corporation

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is one of the world's leading providers of financial services to institutional investors including investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading. With $40.3 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $3.6 trillion* in assets under management as of March 31, 2021, State Street operates globally in more than 100 geographic markets and employs approximately 39,000 worldwide. For more information, visit State Street's website at www.statestreet.com. * Assets under management as of March 31, 2021 includes approximately $60 billion of assets with respect to SPDR products for which State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC (SSGA FD) acts solely as the marketing agent. SSGA FD and State Street Global Advisors are affiliated. Forward Looking Statements This News Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of United States securities laws, including statements about our goals and expectations regarding our newly launched division focused on addressing the industry's evolving shift to digital finance, State Street Digital, and related matters, including industry and economic trends. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by such forward-looking terminology as "will," "trend," "objective," "aim," "strategy," "goal," "expect," "priority," "intend," "plan," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "seek," and "may" or similar statements or variations of such terms. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, are inherently uncertain, are based on current assumptions that are difficult to predict and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in those statements. Important factors that may affect future results and outcomes include, but are not limited to, those factors set forth in our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K and our subsequent SEC filings. We encourage investors to read these filings, particularly the sections on risk factors, for additional information with respect to any forward-looking statements and prior to making any investment decision. The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release should not by relied on as representing our expectations or beliefs as of any time subsequent to the time this News Release is first issued, and we do not undertake efforts to revise those forward-looking statements to reflect events after that time. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005553/en/

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[June 10, 2021] EY Announces Eric Groves & Venkat Krishnamurthy of Alignable as Entrepreneurs Of The Year, 2021 Award Finalists in New England Competition

BOSTON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) recently announced that Alignable 's Co-Founders Eric Groves and Venkat Krishnamurthy were named Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 New England Award finalists. The Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors unstoppable business leaders whose ambition, ingenuity and courage in the face of adversity help catapult us from the now to next and beyond. Groves and Krishnamurthy were selected by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced during a special virtual celebration on July 28th and will become lifetime members of an esteemed community of Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni. Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive award programs for leaders of high-growth companies. Nominees are evaluated on six criteria: entrepreneurial leadership; talent management; degree of difficulty; financial performance; societal impact and building a values-based company; and originality, innovation and future plans. Alignable's co-founders were among 25 top business leaders selected as finalists in this year's New England competition. Alignable is the largest online referral network built exclusively for small business owners by small business owners with more than 6.5 milion members throughout the U.S. and Canada.



"This is such a prestigious honor and we're delighted to be among such a highly esteemed group of finalists," said Groves. "We're dedicated to supporting our network of 6.5 million+ very resourceful, and creative entrepreneurs, so to be included among New England's Entrepreneur of The Year finalists is especially gratifying. But our members really deserve the spotlight -- they're the true risk takers and problem solvers." Krishnamurthy added, "We've seen entrepreneurs go through many unique ups and downs during the COVID Era, and we've been privileged to bring them together in our network to help them guide each other through this crisis and the recovery, which is finally starting to begin for many. If I had my way, all 6.5 million members in our network would be finalists for this honor."

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, to be announced in November. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for global honors next year. For more information about Alignable or to arrange interviews, contact Chuck Casto at 311912@email4pr.com or 508-314-3284. About Alignable -- With more 6.5 million members, and millions of connections across 30,000+ communities, Alignable is the largest online referral network for small businesses. Small business owners across North America drive leads and prospects, generate referrals, land new business, build trusted relationships, and share advice on our network. Members use Alignable to get the industry answers they need, connect within their local community or coast to coast, and increase buzz for their business. And Alignable has recently launched a new movement to help local businesses bounce back from the COVID Era called #OneMainStreet . View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ey-announces-eric-groves--venkat-krishnamurthy-of-alignable-as-entrepreneurs-of-the-year-2021-award-finalists-in-new-england-competition-301309850.html SOURCE Alignable.com

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[June 10, 2021] Ex-Dun & Bradstreet, Ex-American Express executive Prasad Sonavane joins Innoviti as Chief Revenue Officer

- Move designed to build & nurture partnerships to further accelerate Innoviti's revenue expansion plans BENGALURU, India, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Innoviti, a leading provider of smart payment solutions announced a top-deck appointment of Prasad Sonavane as Chief Revenue Officer - Partner Ecosystem Development. An alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mr. Sonavane comes with 25 years' experience as an accomplished Sales, Marketing, Partnerships & Alliances business leader in a variety of businesses including payment networks, information sales, FMCG. In his last assignment, he was heading the Risk Management Solutions & Data Monetization verticals at Dun & Bradstreet. Prior to that, Mr. Sonavane was associated with American Express where he held various leadership roles in merchant acquiring, strategic alliances, consumer card issuing, and corporate card lending businesses. Prior to that, he has worked with other leading brands like Asian Paints, Titan & Lintas. Mr. Sonavane will be heading Innoviti's Partner Ecosystem wherein he will drive the company's growth and profitability by forging partnerships and alliances to help our enterprise and retail businesses scale up and strengthen our market position while creating value for our bank and brand partners. Bringing onboard senior talent like Mr. Sonavane reaffirms Innoviti's focus on strengthening and rapidly scaling up its partnerships with banks and category-specific brands that would help us with exponential business growt. Innoviti uses payment technology in unconventional ways to turn payment transactions into customer acquisition and retention tools for merchants, bank, and brands, by bringing them on to a common platform, and helping them deliver unique customer experiences, such as this one. Each business gets access to 3X loyal consumers at 1/3rd the cost, accelerating sales with unmatched efficiencies. Innoviti had raised a Series C in 2020 to further its differentiated strategy of servicing the retail market through category and segment-specific products.



Quotes: "Partnerships & Alliances will play a pivotal role in implementing our growth strategy and we are delighted to have Prasad onboard to own this mandate. Prasad's expertise and vast knowledge will help enhance the value for all our bank and brand partners. His deep experience in building and nurturing partnerships will be an asset that blends well with Innoviti's vision using technology to help merchants large and small get an equal opportunity to fuel their growth." - said Ms. Amrita Malik, Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer - New Business Initiatives, Innoviti.

"It is an honor and a matter of pride to be joining the leadership team of Innoviti. The company leads the way in using technology to set new benchmarks for how retail businesses can seamlessly and cost-effectively leverage their payment acceptance processing infrastructure into genuine drivers of business growth. I am thrilled to be joining the company at its inflection point of growth and transformation and I am committed to building and delivering on our vision." - said Mr. Prasad Sonavane, Chief Revenue Officer, Partner Ecosystem Development, Innoviti. About Innoviti Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India. https://www.innoviti.com Innoviti Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd. has been a pioneer in using payment technology to help businesses extract better value from retail transactions than possible otherwise. The company processes over 10B$ of merchant payments from over 1000+ cities with a volume throughput per installation that is 2X of the country's average. Bessemer Venture Partners, USA, FMO, Netherlands, and Catamaran Ventures, India investors in the company. The company has several patents filed for with two awarded. Innoviti is the winner of Mastercard's Innovation Wizards Award, Reliance's Most Promising Growth Consumer Finance Award and Deloitte Fastest Growing Companies in Asia award in 2020. Innoviti is the only Indian payments SaaS company to be awarded the SOC3 seal of excellence for adherence to principles of trust in privacy, security, confidentiality, availability, and processing of transactions. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1041869/Innoviti_Logo.jpg

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[June 10, 2021] Emerging From the Pandemic, 54% of Working Women Spend up to Five Hours Per Day Searching for a New Job

A recent national survey of women commissioned by Strayer University, an institution of higher learning with 72% female students, revealed that women who remained in the workforce during the pandemic are unsatisfied in their current jobs and seeking a change. Over 2 million women left the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic and millions of jobs primarily held by women (in retail, restaurant, travel and hospitality fields) have vanished without certainty they will return. Even as industries reopen, employment opportunities are still sluggish. At April's rate of job growth, it would take more than 2 years to regain pandemic losses. Strayer commissioned Atomik Research, an independent market research firm, to conduct the survey of more than 2,000 women to better understand how to support their reentrance and advancement in the workforce. Among the women who remained in the workforce, the survey found that 54% spend up to five hours per day browsing the internet for a new job - with Black nd Hispanic women conducting job searches at an even higher rate of 64% and 66% respectively.



"The fact that the majority of working women are taking hours out of their already busy schedules to search for new opportunities indicates they are likely unsatisfied with their current working arrangements," said Andrea Backman, President, Strayer University. "That dissatisfaction comes as no surprise. Women have had to make tough decisions throughout the pandemic - balancing work and childcare or juggling virtual meetings with virtual schooling. As a result, they're now looking for better flexibility and support in the workforce." Survey results support that working women are overwhelmed and ready for a change. Many of these challenges and uncertainties are felt by a greater percentage among women of color as the pandemic has laid bare systemic inequities in our professional culture and larger society. In fact, 43% of working women feel they are settling for their current job, including 49% of Black women and 50% of Hispanic women.

More than 1/3 (37%) of working women feel that the COVID-19 pandemic has put them behind on their career trajectory and 45% of all working moms believe they were passed up for a promotion, bonus or other compensation because of the perceived work/life balance of kids being home during the pandemic. Nearly two-thirds of women who faced employment changes in the pandemic believe continuous education is necessary to advance their career and 45% agreed that if the opportunity presented itself, they would go back to college to start or finish their degree to move forward in the workforce. "Women are looking for the chance to reinvest in themselves and it's critical that employers and higher education support them in that effort," said Backman. "Employers can commit to hiring and training women, providing employee tuition assistance programs, and offering the flexibility to work while earning a degree. And higher education providers should provide the flexibility and support women need to continue their education." The University conducted survey fieldwork among women nation-wide in partnership with Atomik Research between May 1 and May 6, 2021. To read full study results, visit www.strayer.edu/workingwomen. About Strayer University: Founded in 1892, Strayer University is an institution of higher learning for working adult students. It offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business administration, accounting, information technology, education, health services administration, public administration, and criminal justice. Strayer University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104 (267-284-5000, www.msche.org). The Commission is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. For more information, visit http://www.strayer.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005145/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Jeffrey 'JPL' Lipson joins FedComply as a Senior Advisor

PHILADELPHIA, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FedComply LLC, a cybersecurity consulting firm focused on helping small and mid-size businesses prepare for the Defense Department's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), announced today the appointment of Jeffrey 'JPL' Lipson, Colonel, United States Marine Corps Reserve, as Senior Advisor.



"We are excited to welcome JPL to the FedComply team," said FedComply founder Jamie Warlick. "JPL brings a long and distinguished career in the Marine Corps, over a decade as a successful entrepreneur, and a wealth of knowledge around cyber risk management, compliance, and consulting. We are thrilled to partner with him as we work to make cybersecurity compliance accessible to all."



Jeffrey 'JPL' Lipson is Chief Executive Officer of Layer 8 Security, a Pennsylvania-based comprehensive cybersecurity services company. He is also a Reserve Marine Colonel with over 27 years of military service, most recently having served at the National Security Agency with Marine Forces Cyber Command. He has deployed overseas numerous times to inlude Iraq, Liberia and Bosnia. A career intelligence and communications officer, Jeff is a recognized subject matter expert in the fields of information assurance and cybersecurity, and he has a Master's degree from The Pennsylvania State University.







"I am delighted to join the FedComply team. FedComply's mission to expand access to cybersecurity capabilities is important, and the effort could not come at a more critical time, particularly as ransomware and other attacks make cyber compliance more meaningful than ever. Small and mid-size businesses are at the heart of the defense supply chain. I look forward to working with the team."



FedComply was founded by a team of U.S. military veterans and cybersecurity professionals committed to helping secure the U.S. defense industrial base from cyber threats. The company's focus is on preparing small and mid-size businesses for the CMMC, a requirement that is set to phase in through FY2026 and will apply to all DIB prime contractors and subcontractors that handle Federal Contract Information (FCI) or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). The compliance requirement is expected to impact over 300,000 companies.





For additional information, please visit FedComply's website at https://www.fedcomply.com/ or contact info@fedcomply.com . View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jeffrey-jpl-lipson-joins-fedcomply-as-a-senior-advisor-301309596.html SOURCE FedComply LLC

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[June 10, 2021] Government of Canada announces investments for business scale-up and productivity in Manitoba

More than $2.4 million in federal funding through Western Economic Diversification Canada will support job creation and market growth in western Canada. WINNIPEG, MB, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - As Manitoba's economy evolves and recovers from the impact of COVID-19, many small- and medium-sized enterprises in the region are embracing technology to seize new opportunities, become more productive, and stay competitive. Businesses are working hard to maintain skilled workforces that provide good, local jobs and produce top-quality products, while finding opportunities to grow at home and expand abroad. Today, Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), announced $2,426,483 in repayable funding for three projects under the Business Scale-up and Productivity (BSP) program. Permission Click Inc. received $1,565,783 to expand their digital records management and approval processes platform across North America .

received to expand their digital records management and approval processes platform across . TRAINFO Corporation received $460,700 to export their train crossing technologies and services to US markets.

received to export their train crossing technologies and services to US markets. Global Drain Technologies Inc. received $400,000 to integrate advanced production capacity into their commercial drain manufacturing business. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises. Ivestments like these help make a positive impact on increased productivity, growth, and the ability to compete in the global marketplace. These investments are also expected to increase export sales, business revenue growth, and create 29 new jobs.



Quotes "The Government of Canada is committed to investing in businesses across the West because we recognize that strong regional economies are essential for Canada's success and sustainability. Our regional development agencies are here to help businesses and innovators grow and create highly qualified jobs, so that our economy and communities can thrive for generations to come."

 The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada

"These investments demonstrate the Government of Canada's commitment to support local efforts for businesses to grow and become more competitive both at home and abroad. The unique products and technologies delivered by these companies are examples of the diversity of the western Canadian economy."

 Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (Western Economic Diversification Canada) and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change (Canada Water Agency) "The WD BSP Program has helped Permission Click tackle the incredible amount of opportunity we see in the market for workflow automation in, for example, schools from kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12). We will be investing in sales and marketing expansion 'ahead of the curve' to grow on an accelerated timeline"

 Chris Johnson, CEO and Co-founder, Permission Click Inc. "Every three hours there is an accident at a rail crossing in North America and 1 in 30 first responder trips are impacted by blocked crossings. TRAINFO has developed innovative smart city technologies to solve these problems and has installed them in over a dozen Canadian and US cities. We are excited to partner with WD's BSP Program to accelerate our growth and implement our life saving solutions in cities around the world."

 Garreth Rempel, CEO and Co-founder, TRAINFO Corp. "Water, once an abundant natural resource, is becoming a more precious commodity due to environmental impacts and overuse. Global Drain Technologies has a focused mission - to make the world safer one drain at a time. Partnering with WD was an important step as we implement "the factory of the future" and enhancing our lineup of manufactured drainage solutions."

- Tyler Gompf CEO and Co-founder Global Drain Technologies Associated links Western Economic Diversification Canada





Business Scale-up and Productivity





Canada's COVID-19 Economic Response Plan Stay Connected Follow WD on Twitter: @WD_Canada

WD Homepage

WD Toll-Free Number: 1-888-338-WEST (9378) TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired): 1-877-303-3388 SOURCE Western Economic Diversification Canada

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[June 10, 2021] R4 Capital Hires Paul Bernardin as Chief Credit Officer

R4 Capital, a nationwide syndicator, lender, loan servicer, and asset manager, welcomes Paul Bernardin as Executive Vice President of R4 Capital, Chief Credit Officer, and Director of Underwriting. Mr. Bernardin will oversee the investment underwriting and risk management functions across the company's LIHTC equity and tax-exempt debt businesses. As Director of Underwriting, he will work closely with staff and the firm's Investment Committee to oversee the due diligence of all proposed investments, including construction, environmental, and insurance risk management. He will be based in the Boston office. Mr. Bernardin brings 30 years of experience in real estate underwriting, asset management, development, finance, and market research. "Paul is an industry veteran with a comprehensivebackground in assessing the investment risk and feasibility of affordable housing assets," notes Marc Schnitzer, President and CEO of R4 Capital. "We are elated to welcome Paul to our team, and are confident our investors will view Paul as a forthright and highly competent risk manager."



Prior to joining R4, Mr. Bernardin spent 11 years as a senior executive at Boston Capital, most recently as Senior Vice President and Director of Underwriting, during which time he underwrote and approved more than $1.9 billion in affordable housing investments and was a voting member of the firm's Investment Committee. Earlier, as Vice President and Assistant Director of Asset Management at Boston Capital, he managed a team of 23 real estate professionals and a portfolio of 950 properties representing $6 billion in affordable housing investments. Prior to that, Mr. Bernardin served as a Vice President at JPI where he underwrote more than $1 billion in acquisition and development production, and negotiated and closed sale transactions valued at more than $600 million. Mr. Bernardin holds a B.S. in Finance from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Mr. Bernardin will succeed Brian Blue as Director of Underwriting. R4 wishes Mr. Blue continued success after ten years of tireless work assuring R4's portfolio is strong and well-positioned for future growth.

About R4 Capital View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005126/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Kite Hill PR Appoints Jason Keller as Senior Director of Growth & Digital Strategy

Kite Hill PR, an award-winning agile tech PR agency, has expanded its core public relations and thought leadership services to include robust digital audit and earned media amplification offerings. The agency has appointed veteran performance marketing professional Jason Keller as Senior Director of Growth and Digital Strategy, reporting to Jeanne Meyer, Chief Client Officer. In this new role, Keller will lead Kite Hill PR's current digital and earned media amplification offerings, which include organic and paid social, native content marketing, SEO and SEM, and expand them further to help clients increase the reach and engagement of the foundational earned media strategies and results that Kite Hill PR delivers. "Jason brings 15-plus years of experience on the agency, digital platform and in-house sides of online and performance marketing, to help us broaden our services and add rocket fuel to the earned media and thought leadership work that is foundational to our business," said Tiffany uarnaccia, CEO and founder of Kite Hill PR.



Keller's digital experience includes his work in performance marketing in the UK, France, and Germany, working with clients including British Airways, Uber, Lyft, Expedia (News - Alert) and Nike. He has previously worked at Webgains and NetAffiliation in France before working at the award-winning independent trading desk GDM Digital (now Ve Global) in London. Keller has been a member of IAB France where he honed his programmatic and data partnership experience. More recently, he oversaw all strategic publisher & SSP partnerships at travel audience - the DSP arm of the Amadeus IT Group. "I am beyond thrilled to join Kite Hill PR and to work with Jeanne, Tiffany and the team. I admire how Tiffany has advanced the agency to mirror innovations ushered in by the technology industry by developing the pioneering PR Sprint (News - Alert)  Workflow -- literally writing the playbook on agile workflow for the communications function," said Keller. "I am delighted to be part of this new chapter of growth in connecting digital and communications with our new services expansion."

To learn more about Kite Hill PR visit kitehillpr.com About Kite Hill PR Based in New York City with an office in London, Kite Hill PR is a leading agile tech PR agency specializing in the media, advertising and tech sectors. Spanning well beyond traditional PR, the agency offers three service divisions. The Kite Hill Content Studio delivers custom content creation from social media to research reports and data-centric white papers. The company's events division, Kite Hill Experiences, creates stand-out events such as roundtables and corporate conferences. Kite Hill PR has been recognized as one of the "Top Specialist PR Agencies" by the New York Observer and a "Top Place to Work in PR" by PR News. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005668/en/

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Workplace Compliance, Policy, and HR Expert Kate Bischoff Joins The Workforce Institute at UKG Board of Advisors

The Workforce Institute at UKG, a think tank that helps organizations drive performance by addressing human capital management (HCM) issues that affect both hourly and salaried employees, today announced that employment attorney and HR professional Kate Bischoff has joined its distinguished board of advisors.

Bischoff founded tHRive Law & Consulting LLC in 2016 with the goal of helping organizations balance compliance with innovation to achieve success. tHRive partners with companies to develop procedures, policies, trainings, and strategies to meet all their organizational goals while staying on top of constantly changing legislative requirements.

Prior to starting her own business, Bischoff served as HR officer for Consulate General Jerusalem and U.S. Embassy Lusaka, Zambia. Bischoff has been recognized by The New York Times, CNN.com, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, National Public Radio, and other journalistic sources as a leading authority on harassment, technology in the workplace, and employment law. She is also co-host of the Hostile Work Environment podcast.

"We are thrilled to welcome Kate to our board," said Chris Mullen, executive director of The Workforce Institute at UKG. "Her deep knowledge of employment law and the HR profession give her a unique perspective on some of the thorniest issues that HR professionals face in their daily jobs. We look forward to learning from her insights and adding her important voice to our cadre of thought leaders."

Bischoff's first contribution to The Workforce Institute, "Should Employers Require Employees to Come Back to the Office Post-Pandemic?", is available now.

Bischoff earned her B.A. in political science at The University of Minnesota- Twin (News - Alert) Cities and her J.D. at William Mitchell College of Law, where she now teaches as an adjunct professor.

"I'm so excited to join this amazing board of HR thought leaders and practitioners," said Bischoff. "The last year has been so difficult for so many employers and employees. Now is an exciting time to try to help organizations move confidently into post-pandemic work life and do well by their people in the process."

Founded in 2007, The Workforce Institute at UKG is known for innovative research on signature issues like unplanned absenteeism, employee burnout, boomerang employees, and trust in the modern workplace. The Workforce Institute has published four books with a special focus on the employee experience of frontline and hourly workers, and curates a biweekly blog that features content from its board of advisors and other guest contributors about the issues impacting work life.







Supporting Resources

About The Workforce Institute at UKG

The Workforce Institute at UKG provides research and education on critical workplace issues facing organizations worldwide. By bringing together a global consortium of HR and workforce management thought leaders, the think tank is uniquely positioned to empower organizations with practical ideas for optimizing today's workplace while also providing an important voice for employees, including frontline and hourly workers. Founded in 2007, a hallmark of The Workforce Institute's research and education - including books, podcasts, surveys, blogs, and its annual list of workplace predictions - is balancing the needs and desires of diverse employee populations with the interests of organizations to manage absenteeism, fight burnout, develop equitable work schedules, and build strong leaders to drive inspired performance. For additional information, visit workforceinstitute.org and join the conversation at @WF_Institute.

About UKG

At UKG (Ultimate Kronos (News - Alert) Group), our purpose is people. Built from a merger that created one of the largest cloud companies in the world, UKG believes organizations succeed when they focus on their people. As a leading global provider of HCM, payroll, HR service delivery, and workforce management solutions, UKG delivers award-winning Pro, Dimensions, and Ready solutions to help tens of thousands of organizations across geographies and in every industry drive better business outcomes, improve HR effectiveness, streamline the payroll process, and help make work a better, more connected experience for everyone. UKG has 13,000 employees around the globe and is known for an inclusive workplace culture. The company has earned numerous awards for culture, products, and services, including consecutive years on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For list. To learn more, visit ukg.com.

 2021 UKG Inc. All rights reserved. For a full list of UKG trademarks, please visit ukg.com/trademarks. All other trademarks, if any, are property of their respective owners. All specifications are subject to change.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005646/en/
[June 10, 2021] Undertone Launches the Uplift Collective, a Curated Media Network that Connects Minority-Owned and Underrepresented Publishers with Likeminded, Committed Advertisers

Undertone, the leader in data-driven, intelligent high impact campaigns, today announced the launch of its newest initiative, the Uplift Collective. The trailblazing network is designed to connect Undertone's collection of minority, women and LGBTQIA+ owned publishers - in addition to publishers that are committed to advancing social justice, environmental sustainability, and equal representation - with advertisers. In turn, the Uplift Collective makes it simple for advertisers and brands to make a real impact through mindful media buys. Publishers in the Uplift Collective, which include Her Agenda, SheMedia, Black Southern Belle and more, reach more than 50 million people worldwide. "As an African American woman and founder of a lifestyle brand, it's always been my focus to support other women through my platform. Particularly, women from small, rural communities are near and dear to my heart, as rural South Carolina is my home base. I'm thrilled to be a part of Uplift Collective, an initiative engaging, supporting, and promoting women business owners," said Michiel Perry of Black Southern Belle. The Uplift Collective consists of both a media network, and a marketing support program - with the goal of a 25% increase in revenue directed towards its members. To further enhance this initiative, publishers in the collective will be provided additional tech, tools, and education, and advertisers will have access to an array of custom, audience-aligned creative services. Undertone will also be donating a portion of the proceeds to charities and organizations selected by the company's publisher and brand partners. "Designed to help bring demand opportunities to well-deserving publishers, while also prviding brands with a straightforward and impactful way to support underrepresented communities and global causes, the Uplift Collective is truly a win-win situation," said Daniel Aks, President of Undertone. "I am immensely proud of the Undertone team for developing this much-needed, highly functional innovation that will truly make a difference for publishers nationwide."



Undertone has long been dedicated to putting its resources towards the people and causes that matter most. Undertone employees are encouraged to log 40 hours of paid time off for community service throughout the year and are given the opportunity to participate in donation drives. Through the #undertonecares program, the company identifies an important cause each month, uses social media platforms to inform, educate and engage audiences, and ultimately donates to a related charity. In addition, Undertone has partnered with Givsly, a social impact corporation that helps companies turn their existing resources into tools for social good to give back to local communities through in-person and virtual events. Undertone was the premier sponsor of Givsly's "Season without Swag" initiative, which raised over $350k for local charities over the 2020 holiday season.

"When we began to engage with publishers about the Uplift Collective, we were overwhelmed with the positive response and feedback from the community, as they confirmed the important need that the network fills," said Karla White, Head of the Uplift Collective. "Not only is it a great opportunity to celebrate worthy publishers, but it also serves as a tangible way to support their long-term business goals through increased revenue opportunities." For more information on the Uplift Collective, visit https://upliftcollective.splashthat.com or email us directly at upliftcollective@undertone.com. About Undertone Undertone creates memorable ad experiences by thoughtfully orchestrating solutions across video, advanced TV, rich media, and social, to drive unmatched brand lift and audience engagement on virtually every screen, and every device. Their award-winning creative team uses the company's 20 years of experience, and billions of impressions worth of data to intelligently craft campaigns that can drive full-funnel KPIs while making meaningful connections with the 200MM+ unique users they can reach every month. Undertone brings the art and science of advertising together to intelligently craft campaigns that uplift consumers, brands, and publishers alike. Visit undertone.com to learn more. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005682/en/

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[June 10, 2021] GoTo Loans, a rising Canadian BNPL Fintech platform, establishes a funding relationship with the asset management division of one of Canada's largest insurance companies

TORONTO, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Today, GoTo Loans Inc., Ontario's leading Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform focusing on the auto service, maintenance and upgrades sector announced a funding agreement with the asset management division of one of Canada's largest insurance companies. Echelon Capital Markets (a member of Echelon Wealth Partners Inc.) acted as exclusive financial advisor to GoTo Loans in the arrangement of the funding facility. This funding partnership allows GoTo Loans the ability to accelerate their lending capabilities and to continue funding the rapid growth seen in their innovative payment offering. "Working with any Tier 1 institutional funding partner with a significant expertise in consumer and commercial lending provides us with stability and allows our management team to remain focused on our technology and growth" says Eric Kaplan, COO of GoTo Loans. "As a company that can be considered relatively new, we are thrilled that the team at Echelon was able to position us in a way that allowed us to demonstrate the value of our technology along with presenting our growth strategy, which ultimatey gained the confidence of our lending partner."



GoTo Loans' accelerated growth in 2020 received recognition in the FinTech industry from the Canadian Lenders Association (CLA), being named as a Canadian Auto Lending Platform of The Year. About GoTo Loans.

Centred around providing simple, transparent payment options GoTo Loans Inc. is a point-of-sale financing provider, also known as 'Buy Now, Pay Later' (BNPL), servicing the automotive accessory, upgrade and service space. Founded in 2018 by consumer lending veterans, GoTo Loans has designed an innovative new technology that simplifies the auto repair loan process and provides a unique and tailored experience unlike any other BNPL platform. The GoTo Loans platform is designed to provide an approval simply by the borrower entering in their vehicle information, and without any personal information, removing roadblocks and pain points experienced in the traditional loan application process. With over 1,200 service centre partners in Ontario, GoTo Loans is the "go to" point of sale lender for mechanics, specialty automotive shops, and service centres province-wide.

About Echelon Wealth Partners

Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. is a Canadian independent wealth management and capital markets firm known for its client-centred approach and innovative, entrepreneurial spirit. The company has approximately 60 Advisor and Portfolio Manager Teams with more than $6 billion in assets under administration and management. Echelon offers a wide range of financial services for individuals, households, institutions and corporate clients from its offices in Toronto, Oakville, Ottawa, London, Montreal, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria. Echelon Wealth Partners is a member firm of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF). For more information, please visit www.echelonpartners.com. SOURCE GoTo Loans

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[June 10, 2021] Aspen Dental Opens 17th Practice in Arizona

Aspen Dental has officially opened its doors in Scottsdale, Arizona with the opening of a brand-new office, bringing two renowned dentists to the community. This is the 17th Aspen Dental practice in the state of Arizona, as Aspen Dental continues to break down barriers and bring comprehensive, affordable care to patients across the country. Located at 8909 E. Talking Stick Way, the office is led by both Dr. David Sung and Dr. Yana Kapustina. Dr. Sung received his DMD degree from the Oregon Health and Science University School of Dentistry. Originally from Phoenix, Dr. Sung has been practicing dentistry since 2010 and has been with the Aspen Dental community for over 10 years. He is a member of the American Dental Association and he speaks English, Mandarin and Spanish. As a dentist in his hometown, Dr. Sung and his dental team, prioritize giving back. His practice is a big supporter of the Aspen Dental Healthy Mouth Movement and volunteer each year for Day of Service. Dr. Sung was also one of 12 volunteers to travel to Peru to provide free dental care to hundreds in need. Dr. Kapustina received her DDS degree from Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine in New York and also completed a General Practice Residency Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell in Manhattan, NY. Dr. Kapustina has been practicing dentistry since 2016 and strives to provide exceptional comprehensive care and patient education with the rest of her Aspen Dental team. She focuses on creating a custom treatment plan, tailored for each patient and their individual needs. Dr. Sung, Dr. Kapustina and their team will provide a full range of dental services ranging from preventive care and general dentistry to dentures and restoration. The opening of this new practice will also create local jobs in the Scottsdale community and increase access to care in the state of Arizona. Independently-owned and operated, Aspen Dental offices offer patient-friendly programs and services that make it easier for patients to get the dental care they need, including: Personalized treatment and friendly service. Each patient receives a comprehensive diagnosis and treatmentplan designed by the dentist, with long-term oral and overall health in mind. Available services may include hygiene, treatment of periodontal (gum) disease, clear aligners, implants, extractions, fillings, oral surgery, whitening, and crown and bridge work. Safe and clean care environments. We've always been committed to the highest safety standards, and in a world where things are changing fast, we have implemented heightened cleaning, hygiene and safety standards, symptom screening for appointments, social distancing at our offices, and now offer virtual visits for our patients. You can learn more about our health and safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic through our Smile Wide, Smile Safe Promise. Affordable dental care. Aspen Dental practices are committed to keeping prices low so that patients can get the care they need. The practice works with all insurance providers and handles the paperwork, saving patients time and hassle, and offers free new-patient exams and X-rays for patients without dental insurance. And since no one likes an unexpected bill, the practice offers a clear, detailed estimate on the cost of treatment to give patients peace of mind. On-site denture labs and Denture Money Back Guarantee. Every Aspen Dental practice is equipped with an on-site denture laboratory, which helps facilitate quick turnaround for denture repairs, relines or adjustments. Convenient hours and location. The office will be open extended hours, including evenings, so that patients can see the dentist at a time that works best for their schedule. Walk-in and emergency patients are welcome.



www.aspendental.com and click on Schedule a New Patient Appointment; or call (480) 296-0379 or 800-ASPEN DENTAL (800-277-3633). About Aspen Dental

The Aspen Dental network includes more than 895 offices, in 43 states, owned and operated by independent practice owners and dentists, who operate with clinical autonomy and share a commitment to creating access to care for those who need it most. These independent practice owners expect to record six million patient visits in 2021, driven by a commitment to breaking down barriers to quality, affordable oral health care. Each dental care team offers patients a safe, welcoming, judgment-free environment to address their dental challenges, including comprehensive exams, cleanings, extractions, fillings, periodontal treatment, whitening, oral surgery, crown and bridge work, and denture services. https://www.aspendental.com/

About Aspen Dental Management, Inc. (ADMI)

Aspen Dental Management, Inc. (ADMI) is one of the largest and most trusted retail healthcare business support organizations in the U.S., supporting 15,000 healthcare professionals and team members at more than 1,000 health and wellness offices across 46 states in three distinct categories: Dental care, urgent care, and medical aesthetics. Working in partnership with independent practice owners and clinicians, the team is united by a single purpose: to prove that healthcare can be better and smarter for everyone. ADMI provides a comprehensive suite of centralized business support services that power the impact of four consumer-facing businesses: Aspen Dental, ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers, WellNow Urgent Care and Chapter Aesthetic Studio. Each brand has access to a deep community of experts, tools and resources to grow their practices, and an unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality consumer healthcare experiences at scale. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005693/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Growing Coalition of Academic Leaders, Policy Experts, and Students Call for Full Funding of Governor Newsom's Proposal to Cut Textbook Costs

A coalition of leading educators, students, and policy experts are calling on legislators to fully fund Governor Gavin Newsom's historic proposal for Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) degree pathways for California students. "The Governor's proposed funding package for ZTC would profoundly impact students across the state and those most in need," they wrote in a letter to the leaders of the California State Assembly and California State Senate. "Recent surveys have shown that 25% of college students needed to work extra hours to afford course materials. 19% said that they decided what course to take based on the cost of materials. Those costs forced one in nine students surveyed to skip meals. These stresses are only greater since the onset of the pandemic." California community college students spend about $700 per year for textbooks. Governor Newsom's May budget provides $115 million for the ZTC program, which allows students to start and finish their degree programs without paying anything for costly textbooks and other instructional materials. "We want to deal with the racket... that is the textbook industry that is abusive," said Governor Newsom at his May 14, 2021 press conference announcing the May budget revision, calling out "the usury nature of the costs associated with textbooks that makes no sense whatsoever except to those that are the beneficiaries of huge rewards on the backs of our children."



Among the organizations represented in the coalition include leaders from Compton College, College of the Canyons, West Hills College Lemoore, San Mateo Community College District, Student Senate of California Community Colleges, CALPIRG, The Education Trust-West, John Burton Advocates for Youth, uAspire, Achieving the Dream, and others. The letter and a full list can be found at https://www.ztc4ca.com/. "We stand in awe of Governor Newsom's visionary commitment to increase college affordability in California," said Gary Michelson, founder and co-chair of the Michelson Center for Public Policy. "In a system where textbooks cost more than tuition at a time when students are struggling with food and housing insecurity, they can ill afford to be taken advantage of. The Governor heard their cries for relief, and his proposal will not only address this crisis now but well into the future."

About the Michelson Center for Public Policy The Michelson Center for Public Policy is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization that propels legislative change through meaningful collaboration with elected officials, government agencies, and civic leaders to achieve positive outcomes in education, equity, medical research, and animal welfare. The Michelson Center for Public Policy is an affiliated but separate organization from the Michelson Philanthropies network of foundations (Michelson 20MM Foundation, Michelson Found Animals Foundation, and Michelson Medical Research Foundation) and complements the Michelson Philanthropies' thought leadership and expertise with bold and effective advocacy. For more information, visit https://www.michelsonpolicy.org/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005241/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Insight School of Washington Class of 2021 Ready for the Next Big Part of Their Lives

This year was a year like no other in American education. But thanks to schools like Insight School of Washington, (ISWA), an online public school serving students throughout the state since 2006, high school graduates will soon move forward to begin the rest of their lives. ISWA will celebrate its graduates virtually with a commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 12th beginning at 1 pm. A link to a livestream of the ceremony will be available at ISWA's Facebook page. "We're excited to see our students graduate and move on to all the amazing next steps in their careers and academic futures," said ISWA Head of School Cecily Kiester. "This was certainly a challenging year, but our students worked hard and deserve to be celebrated for their accomplishments. We're so proud of them!" This year, ISWA will graduate approximately 400 students from all over the state. Collectively, the graduating class reports it has been accepted to colleges nd universities across Washington and beyond, including Eastman School of Music, Boise State University, Washington State University, and several excellent community colleges in the Pacific Northwest. Some ISWA graduates are working on vocational apprenticeships with companies like Provident Electrical, INC, on their way to becoming licensed professionals in the workforce.



Prior to the pandemic, students enrolled in virtual school for a number of reasons-some were looking for the safe learning environment that online school provides, some were looking to get back on track to earn their high school diploma, and others found a community of students and teachers where they could belong for the rest of their academic career and beyond. ISWA students in grades 6-12 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: Insight School of Washington 2021 Graduation Ceremony WHEN: Saturday, June 12th , 2021, 1 PM, Link can be found here. CONTACT: For any questions about the celebrations, please contact Cecily Kiester at ckiester@k12.com. For media inquiries, please contact Ken Schwartz at kschwartz@k12.com. About Insight School of Washington Insight School of Washington (ISWA) is a full-time online public-school program of the Quillayute Valley School District serving Washington students in grades 6-12. As a public school, ISWA 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 ISWA, visit http://wa.insightschools.net View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005004/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Cloud Native Geospatial Ecosystem Community Releases STAC Specification version 1.0.0 to Connect Remote Sensing Data into a Network of Information about the Earth

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Cloud Native Geospatial Ecosystem Community announces the release of the SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) specification version 1.0.0. The STAC specification is an open metadata standard that systemically describes remotely sensed data of the Earth. The specification supports emerging cloud-based geoprocessing engines by allowing spatial data to be indexed and discovered more efficiently. This feature is fundamental when building artificial intelligence applications using Earth imagery.

The Cloud Native Geospatial Ecosystem Community comprises Earth observation data providers from the private and public sectors, developers working with geospatial data, and consumers of spatial datasets. These organizations and individuals from all industries worldwide came together throughout the last three and a half years to increase the interoperability of searching for and discovering satellite images of the Earth. STAC provides a uniform index that describes a range of geospatial information, allowing users to discover spatial data across time, space, and cloud storage locations. This global indexing of Earth imagery and derived products works similar to how search engines use specific HTML tags to index web pages. For data providers, it makes it easier to expose and share Earth imagery across different systems. Developers can manage spatial data without having to write additional code every time a new dataset is released. And data users need to build their pipelines for ingesting spatial data into their system only once. STAC is entirely community-driven, from the initial draft specification in 2017 to its adoption today as the standard for cataloging geospatial data. Dozens of major geospatial organizations and individuals have adopted STAC or built tools to support version 1.0.0. CBERS , one of the early adopters, and NASA Avris data were the first to update their catalog to 1.0.0. Google Earth Engine's STAC ctalog was also updated to the 1.0.0 specification. Several tools and utilities, including STAC Browser , a client to create an interactive website for STAC catalogs, have also been released with support for STAC 1.0.0.



Radiant Earth Foundation , a nonprofit focused on making Earth observations and machine learning (ML) insights more accessible for global nonprofits, humanitarian organizations, and emerging economy governments, has been the driving entity behind STAC. They sponsored the first coding sprint in 2017 that kickstarted the specification and funded a Technical Fellowship program since then to help advance the specification. As a neutral entity, Radiant Earth also managed sponsorships from an extensive range of organizations  such as Microsoft , Planet , Maxar , Azavea , Element 84 , Sparkgeo , Arturo , and many others  that supported STAC. "I would like to thank all the myriad of sponsors and developers that helped to nurture this specification to maturity," said Dr. Hamed Alemohammad, Executive Director and Chief Data Scientist at Radiant Earth. "This is a game-changer for the Earth observation community that will lead to more efficient workflows, especially as it relates to building and maintaining geospatial data pipelines for artificial intelligence applications. This specification embodies what Radiant Earth stands for: open, innovative, and collaborative. We are proud to be part of this historic milestone."

Chris Holmes, a Radiant Earth Foundation Technology Fellow and a Fellow and VP of Product and Strategy at Planet, led the development and overall coordination of this community effort. In a recent blog post , Holmes highlighted the journey to STAC 1.0.0, listing the key organizations, individuals, and tools that led to this stable specification. "It was important from the outset that we provide a foundational layer for the geospatial architectures that were being built for the cloud," said Holmes. "Geospatial data processing in the cloud is the future. And we had an opportunity to get the metadata right for it. Now, data providers have a simple, common language to describe their holdings." In the next couple of months, Holmes will write a series of articles that will delve deeper into the specification. Follow Radiant Earth Insights to receive notifications of these updates. ABOUT

Radiant Earth Foundation is a nonprofit corporation working to empower organizations and individuals with open ML and Earth observation data, standards, and tools to address the worlds most critical international development challenges. Radiant Earth fosters collaboration through a cloud-based open geospatial training data library, Radiant MLHub. Radiant also supports an ecosystem of practitioners to develop standards, expand interoperability around ML on Earth observation, and provide information and training to help advance the capacity of those working in the global sector using ML and Earth observation. Visit us on Twitter , LinkedIn , Medium , and GitHub . CONTACT

Louisa Nakanuku-Diggs

202  596  3603

Louisa@radiant.earth



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[June 10, 2021] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP, a Leading Securities Fraud Law Firm, Announces Investigation of Oscar Health, Inc. (OSCR) on Behalf of Investors

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM"), a leading national shareholder rights law firm, today announced that it has commenced an investigation on behalf of Oscar Health, Inc. ("Oscar" or the "Company") (NYSE: OSCR) investors concerning the Company's possible violations of the federal securities laws. If you suffered a loss on your Oscar investments or would like to inquire about potentially pursuing claims to recover your loss under the federal securities laws, you can submit your contact information at https://www.glancylaw.com/cases/oscar-health-inc/. You can also contact Charles H. Linehan, of GPM at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, or via email at shareholders@glancylaw.com to learn more about your rights. Oscar provides health insurance products and services to individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. The company was formerly known as Mulberry Health Inc. and changed its name to "Oscar Health, Inc." in January 2021. On March 3, 2021, Oscar sold about 37 million shars of stock in its initial public stock offering (the "IPO") at $39.00 a share, raising nearly $1.4 billion in new capital.



On May 13, 2021, the Company announced its first quarter 2021 financial results, reporting an $87.4 million loss or $(0.98) per share, well below analysts' expectations of a loss of $(0.53) per share. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

Whistleblower Notice: Persons with non-public information regarding Oscar should consider their options to aid the investigation or take advantage of the SEC (News - Alert) Whistleblower Program. Under the program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Charles H. Linehan at 310-201-9150 or 888-773-9224 or email shareholders@glancylaw.com. About GPM Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP is a premier law firm representing investors and consumers in securities litigation and other complex class action litigation. ISS Securities Class Action Services has consistently ranked GPM in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report. In 2018, GPM was ranked a top five law firm in number of securities class action settlements, and a top six law firm for total dollar size of settlements. With four offices across the country, GPM's nearly 40 attorneys have won groundbreaking rulings and recovered billions of dollars for investors and consumers in securities, antitrust, consumer, and employment class actions. GPM's lawyers have handled cases covering a wide spectrum of corporate misconduct including cases involving financial restatements, internal control weaknesses, earnings management, fraudulent earnings guidance and forward looking statements, auditor misconduct, insider trading, violations of FDA regulations, actions resulting in FDA and DOJ investigations, and many other forms of corporate misconduct. GPM's attorneys have worked on securities cases relating to nearly all industries and sectors in the financial markets, including, energy, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, real estate and REITs, financial, insurance, information technology, health care, biotech, cryptocurrency, medical devices, and many more. GPM's past successes have been widely covered by leading news and industry publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Bloomberg (News - Alert) Businessweek, Reuters, the Associated Press, Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, Forbes, and Money. 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/20210610005699/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Tavant, LoanBeam Partner to Enhance Digital Mortgage Experience with Automated Income Calculation

Tavant, a Silicon Valley-based provider of AI-powered digital lending technologies, today announced a strategic partnership with LoanBeam, a mortgage technology leader that specializes in data extraction and income calculation, to further enhance the digital mortgage experience with automated borrower income calculation. LoanBeam's APPSolute suite of automated income analysis tools is now integrated with Tavant's FinConnect, helping lenders close loans faster by standardizing and streamlining the application process, removing human error, increasing transparency, and improving accuracy. The integration of LoanBeam's APPSolute tax software with Tavant's FinConnect suite of connectors allows users to simplify the lending process and close loans faster - with the advantage of receiving Representation and Warranty (R&W) from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for select features and functionality. Additionally, Tavant's Digital Loan Factory now includes LoanBeam's configurable income analysis services for straight-through processing automated underwriting, drastically reducing the time it takes loan officers, processors, and underwriters to calculate and review borrower qualifying income. "Like Tavant, our mission is to empower lenders with modern, innovative technology solutions that automate processes and enhance the overall digital mortgage experience," said Jerry Melia, COO, LoanBeam. "We are excited to be included in Tavant's FinConnect hub to provide even more lenders and investors the opportunity to grow thei business while mitigating risk. We are pleased to partner with Tavant on the integration of APPSolute Tax and look forward to working with them on our other products and services including APPSolute Wage, APPSolute Transcripts and APPSolute Payments."



FinConnect is a component of Tavant's AI-powered digital lending suite of products - V?LOX - that seamlessly connects the internal and external systems of the mortgage ecosystem, enabling an intuitive, end-to-end digital mortgage experience. FinConnect is a modern mortgage data and services hub that provides lenders plug-and-play access to 130 connectors from more than 60 service providers, helping lenders close more loans faster, with improved accuracy and reduced risk. LoanBeam, the industry standard in automated income calculation, leverages advanced scanning technologies and patented algorithms to reduce multiple streams of income into a single, easy-to-read electronic output. LoanBeam saves lenders time and money while improving accuracy.

"Our industry has undergone dramatic changes this past year, and we are constantly seeking new ways to help lenders navigate this new normal," said Mohammad Rashid, Head of Fintech, Tavant. "Income calculation is one of those areas that has become even more complex in recent months, and partnering with LoanBeam to automate this process helps lenders close more business faster, without incurring any additional risk. LoanBeam's integration into FinConnect is of immense value to Tavant's customers. Our ongoing commitment to simplifying the mortgage experience, while providing best-in-class technology, is significantly driving the adoption of a fully digital mortgage." Rapidly gaining market share, Tavant's expanding customer base originates one out of every four loans in the United States. Tavant's V?LOX suite of products optimizes the back-office, simplifies mid-office, and transforms the front-end consumer experience into an efficient digital data flow. About LoanBeam LoanBeam, a subsidiary of Navesink Mortgage Services, is a Dallas-based fintech company specializing in document conversion, data extraction, and income calculation. LoanBeam underpins the mortgage approval process of the mortgage industry's most recognizable brands. About Tavant Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., Tavant is a digital products and solutions company that provides impactful results to its customers across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Founded in 2000, the company employs more than 2500 people and is a recognized top employer. Tavant is creating an AI-powered intelligent lending enterprise by reimagining customer experiences, driving operational efficiencies, and improving collaboration. Find Tavant on LinkedIn and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005594/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Clip Becomes Mexico's Fintech Unicorn

Clip, Mexico's leading digital payments and commerce platform, today announced it has received a U.S. $250 million capital investment led by the SoftBank Latin America Fund and Viking Global Investors LP. The investment is the largest ever for a payments company in Mexico and establishes Clip as the first payments Unicorn in the 12th largest economy in the world, with a valuation approaching U.S. $2 billion. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005759/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) Clip pioneered simple and easy access to digital payments and the democratization of financial services in Mexico, with an obsessive focus on delivering superior client experiences and customer service. The Company empowers businesses to seamlessly access a growing range of financial and commerce-enabling solutions through its proprietary technology platform, unique ecosystem of distribution partners and channels, and a highly convenient engagement model that is open to everyone who wants to participate in the digital economy, with the ability to onboard and accept all available payment methods in a few minutes. "We are very proud to partner with two worldclass investors such as SoftBank and Viking and achieve such an important milestone for a Mexican company. Looking ahead, the resources will enable us to continue to grow aggressively and continue building Mexico's operating platform for commerce, fulfilling our vision to have Clip in every business in Mexico," said Adolfo Babatz, CEO and Founder of Clip.



Marcelo Claure, CEO of SoftBank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group Corp., said: "Clip is the exact type of disruptive company SoftBank looks to invest in. Led by an amazing management team, Clip is using technology and AI to disrupt the financial services industry by providing essential digital solutions to merchants and small business owners in Mexico, an economy that stands to benefit greatly from digital payments. We are proud to have Clip in the SoftBank ecosystem." Clip's premier list of investors also includes General Atlantic, Ribbit (News - Alert) Capital, Goldman Sachs, Dalus Capital, Banorte and Amex Ventures among others. The Company, which was founded in 2012 with five employees, now counts 600 "Clippers" across Mexico, the United States and Argentina, doing extraordinary things to help its customers succeed.

Shu Nyatta, Managing Partner of SoftBank Latin America Fund, commented: "Clip was the SoftBank Latin America Fund's first investment, and we have been growing together in the region since then. We remain aligned on our optimism about the potential of technology and entrepreneurship, and equally excited for the opportunity to deepen our partnership." Martin Escobari, Co-President and Head of Latin America at General Atlantic, said: "Clip has established itself as a disruptor in Mexico's digital economy, leveraging new technologies to drive financial inclusion. Since initially investing in 2016, we have partnered with Adolfo and the Clip team to support the rapid, strategic growth of the business. Clip has a unique culture and a strong track record of performance, and we look forward to the company's continued momentum in democratizing payments." Transaction is subject to customary approvals About Clip Clip is the leading digital payment and commerce platform that is empowering Mexicos businesses to engage and transact with their consumers more effectively through innovative technologies, best-in-class customer service and the ability to accept all payment methods digitally. The Company has over 600 employees with offices in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Salt Lake City and Buenos Aires. For more information, visit www.clip.mx. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005759/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Digi-Key Electronics Named Vishay North America Catalog Distributor of the Year and Catalog Semiconductor Distributor of the Year

THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Digi-Key Electronics, the leading global electronic components distributor, was honored with both the Vishay North America Catalog Distributor of the Year and Vishay North America Catalog Semiconductor Distributor of the Year awards for 2020 from Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., one of the world's largest manufacturers of discrete semiconductors and passive electronic components. The awards recognize Digi-Key's contributions to Vishay's North American revenue growth, customer count and more over the past year. Vishay offers a broad passive and semiconductor product offering, and their diverse portfolio is of critical importance to the global engineering community. Digi-Key is proud to partner with and represent their global position in many key industries worldwide including medical markets, automotive, consumer, telecommunications, military, aerospace, industrial and computing. "Both of these recognitions are an honor to the Digi-Key team and represent our team's efforts and dedication to such a significant contributor to the global engineering community," said David Stein, vice president of global supplier management for Digi-Key. "We are proud to partner with a global leader in our industry, and our achievement is a shared partnership success." "Digi-Key consistently demonstrates, in the most challenging environments, the ability to acquire and connect customers to our broad portfolio of essential components," said Dave Valletta, executive vice president of sales at Vishay Intertechnology. "We are pleased to present the Amricas team with the Catalog Distributor of the Year and the Catalog Semiconductor Distributor of the year awards."



For more information, or to order from Digi-Key's full line of Vishay products, please visit any of Digi-Key's global websites. About Vishay Intertechnology

Vishay manufactures one of the world's largest portfolios of discrete semiconductors and passive electronic components that are essential to innovative designs in the automotive, industrial, computing, consumer, telecommunications, military, aerospace, and medical markets. Serving customers worldwide, Vishay is The DNA of tech.TM Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. is a Fortune 1,000 Company listed on the NYSE (VSH). About Digi-Key Electronics Digi-Key Electronics, headquartered in Thief River Falls, Minn., USA, is an authorized global, full-service distributor of electronic components, and provides access to unlimited adjacent products and technologies through their online Marketplace. They offer more than 11.8 million components, with over 2.6 million in stock and available for immediate shipment, from over 1,700 quality name-brand manufacturers. In addition, Marketplace Product provides a singular shopping experience for all things related to technology innovation  IoT, industrial automation, test and measurement and more. Additional information and access to the world's broadest resources for technology innovation can be found by visiting www.digikey.com and on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Editorial Contact

Shelli Lissick

Bellmont Partners

+1 651 276 6922

digikey@bellmontpartners.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/digi-key-electronics-named-vishay-north-america-catalog-distributor-of-the-year-and-catalog-semiconductor-distributor-of-the-year-301310363.html SOURCE Digi-Key Electronics

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[June 10, 2021] Sanofi Canada awards first annual Biogenius Grants, strengthening equity in STEM learning for Canadian students

Inaugural Sanofi Biogenius Grant awarded to four diverse secondary schools across Canada to revitalize science education for their students. Driving towards Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) education equity, a top priority for Sanofi Canada, means breaking down barriers so that all Canadian youth can access hands-on STEM learning to embrace scientific discovery, regardless of where they live, their socio-economic backgrounds or their cultural heritage.

The 2021 Sanofi Biogenius Grant received applications from across Canada in its first year, clearly demonstrating that schools from coast-to-coast are eager to further inspire and nurture the next generation of science innovators.

in its first year, clearly demonstrating that schools from coast-to-coast are eager to further inspire and nurture the next generation of science innovators. As a top investor in biopharmaceutical R&D across Canada , Sanofi is committed to supporting the entire research spectrum, and that starts by nurturing the researchers of tomorrow. LAVAL, QC, June 10, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Stepping forward to drive Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) education equity among Canada's youth and addressing the science funding gap in our education system, Sanofi Canada is very pleased to award four new grants to public high schools across Canada, improving access to hands-on STEM learning and instruction in the classroom as part of the inaugural edition of the Sanofi Biogenius Grant program. "This is about sparking the imagination of the next generation of science innovators. The Biogenius Grant is just one of many efforts that Sanofi is driving to create new opportunities so that every high school student can make the jump to strong and successful careers in health and life sciences," said Marissa Poole, Country Lead, Sanofi Canada and General Manager, Sanofi Genzyme. "All Canadian youth deserve the opportunity for hands-on learning nd instruction in the sciences, regardless of where they live, their socio-economic backgrounds or cultural heritage. We're pleased to be able to help enhance STEM instruction in public high schools to ensure that there are no boundaries to scientific discovery. Empowering more students than ever before and fostering an inclusive learning experience is crucial in today's society, and we're proud to provide critical funding to schools to help those young scientists reach their potential."



The 2021 class of Sanofi Biogenius Grant recipients are: Five Bridges Junior High School ( Hubley NS )

) William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute (North York ON)

Seven Oaks Met School ( Winnipeg MB )

) Caledonia Secondary School ( Terrace BC ) The Sanofi Biogenius Grant program serves to provide diverse Canadian students with access to scientific equipment and learning resources to create opportunities for hands-on learning in school  breaking down barriers, stimulating curiosity and motivating students to explore STEM. Recipients will use these funds to renovate existing laboratory facilities, purchase new science equipment, develop programs that maximize the impact of their lab, or any combination of the above to help pave the way for the next generation of leadersgreat thinkers, innovators, and expert researchers who will shape the future of our country. Applications were closed on May 1, 2021. More information on the Sanofi Biogenius Grant can be found at http://grant.biogenius.ca.

About Sanofi Biogenius Canada

Sanofi Biogenius Canada (SBC) is a national science initiative for youth founded in 1993 by Sanofi Canada. Its signature program is the SBC biotechnology and life sciences competition, a unique science fair opportunity for high school students that has helped over 6,000 young Canadians pursue real-world research projects that have proven to be launch pads to future success. In 2021, Sanofi Canada launched the Biogenius Grant, expanding the impact to public high schools by helping improve access to scientific equipment and learning resources for hands-on STEM instruction, further motivating students to embrace scientific discovery. For more information, please visit our website at www.biogenius.ca or follow SBC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the #SBC2021 hashtag. About Sanofi Canada

Sanofi is dedicated to supporting people through their health challenges. We are a global biopharmaceutical company focused on human health. We prevent illness with vaccines, provide innovative treatments to fight pain and ease suffering. We stand by the few who suffer from rare diseases and the millions with long-term chronic conditions. With more than 100,000 people in 100 countries, Sanofi is transforming scientific innovation into healthcare solutions around the globe. Sanofi entities in Canada employ approximately 2,000 people. In 2018, we invested more than $127 million in R&D in Canada, creating jobs, business and opportunity throughout the country. Follow us on Twitter @SanofiCanada and on YouTube.

Sanofi, Empowering Life SOURCE Sanofi Canada

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[June 10, 2021] Minister Murray releases Canada's Digital Government Strategy

OTTAWA, ON, June 10, 2021 - Digital Government /CNW/ - The Government of Canada is committed to providing Canadians with the online service experience they expect in a digital age. Today, the Honourable Joyce Murray, Minister of Digital Government, released the Digital Government Strategy, "Secure, Reliable and Easy to Access: Transforming your Experience with the Government of Canada." This is the first iteration of a strategy detailing the work underway to modernize the digital capabilities of the federal government to deliver quality digital services to Canadians. From July 2020 to February 2021, the Minister of Digital Government met with 60 stakeholders from the private sector, academia and various levels of government from across the country and around the world through a series of roundtables to talk about how the government can most effectively accelerate the move to digital. These conversations have helped shape the strategy and will inform the government's continued efforts. Ongoing engagement with digital government stakeholders will inform future iterations of the Digital Government Strategy. Under the strategy, the work is organized into four areas: Modernizing the way we replace, build, and manage major IT systems

Providing services to people when and where they need them

Taking a coordinated approach to digital operations

Transforming how we work by tackling long-standing institutional barriers to change and innovation Work in these four areas will ensure the Government of Canada complements its existing in-person services with convenient, seamless digital services that are easier to access for citizens and businesses. Quote "Digital government is about modernizing and adapting the way we work to make the Government of Canada more responsive, resilient and better at serving people and businesses. This strategy unifies our efforts with partner departments and stakeholders to provide digital services that are secure, reliable and easy to use. It's a strong foundation on which to build now with the investments in digital transformation proposed in Budget 2021. I am pleased to release this strategy and look forward to the work ahead." - The Honourable Joyce Murray, Minister of Dgital Government



Quick Facts The Digital Government Strategy is operationalized through the renewed Digital Operations Strategic Plan (20212024) and supported by other foundational policy pieces, like the Digital Standards , the Policy on Service and Digital and the Policy on Government Security .

, the and the . The Digital Government Strategy is informed by Canada's engagement under the Digital Nations Charter, which Canada signed in November 2020 . The Charter commits Canada to work towards core principles of digital development, focusing on user needs, open government, and a commitment to share and learn from other Digital Nations.

engagement under the Digital Nations Charter, which signed in . The Charter commits to work towards core principles of digital development, focusing on user needs, open government, and a commitment to share and learn from other Digital Nations. Budget 2021 outlines an ambitious next phase for Canada's digital transformation, with over $2.5 billion in proposed investments in the highest impact services, like benefits, taxes and immigration, and over $1 billion of that amount in proposed investments dedicated to establishing a coordinated and informed centralized approach to this government-wide transformation effort. Associated Links

Canada's Digital Government Strategy

Digital Government Strategy Digital Standards

Digital Nations Charter

Policy on Service and Digital

Digital Operations Strategic Plan Stay connected Twitter: @DigitalCDN

YouTube: Digital government playlist

Web: Canada.ca/GCdigital SOURCE Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

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[June 10, 2021] InnoCentive Launches World Vision Challenge to Revolutionise Process for Counting of Improved Latrines

LONDON, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Open innovation firm InnoCentive is supporting Christian humanitarian organisation World Vision on a new challenge to find dramatically better ways of counting the number of improved latrines in a community or district. Around 2.3 billion people still use an unimproved toilet or openly defecate regularly, with up to 280,000 people dying annually of diarrhea-related causes attributable to poor sanitation. Additionally, poor sanitation is a factor in several neglected tropical diseases. One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and to end open defecation by the year 2030. There is a need for efficient and reliable methods to verify and track progress against this goal. The challenge - Efficient and Reliable Counting of Improved Latrines - is seeking ways of counting the number of improved latrines in a region. "Sanitation is taken for granted by many but remains an issue for billions of people all over the world," said Jordan Smoke, Director of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at World Vision. "Identifying and tracking progress in a cost-effective and time-efficient way is vital to support government plans, validate populations with access to improved sanitation facilities, and measure progress towards reaching SDG6. Using the InnoCentive Solvers gives us the opportunity to canvas a much broadergroup of experts to help address this challenge."



InnoCentive, a Wazoku brand, is the Open Innovation Marketplace component of Wazoku's Enterprise Innovation Platform, a suite of tools to power innovation at scale across global enterprises. InnoCentive has a strong track record working with NGOs, nonprofits, and businesses, who benefit from the expertise of its global network of nearly 500,000 registered expert problem "Solvers." "Inadequate sanitation remains a day-to-day problem for many people, and the UN has recognised this with its SDG relating to sanitation," said Simon Hill, CEO, Wazoku. "The InnoCentive crowd and platform are used by many organisations to address similar UN SDGs, and I'm sure our Solvers will be able to help World Vision's current Challenge."

Improved latrines - those that separate human excreta from human contact - come in many shapes and sizes and can be constructed of various materials. Methods currently employed for assessing the prevalence of improved sanitation facilities in an area are time-consuming and labor-intensive. World Vision is looking for proven processes currently in use in other contexts that will reduce or eliminate the need for door-to-door surveys - while still retaining a high degree of accuracy. The process should be repeatable so that World Vision can regularly measure community progress on this important development metric. InnoCentive's partner SeaFreight Labs, a crowdsourcing consultancy that delivers solutions to the global seafreight community, supports this Challenge as part of SeaFreight Labs' commitment to the Pledge 1% movement. "Open innovation is becoming the go-to option for organisations looking to address the world's biggest issues," said Harry Sangree, Founder and CEO, SeaFreight Labs. "Effective sanitation is essential, and crowdsourcing will play an important role in helping World Vision to meet this RTP (reduction to practice) Challenge." For further information about Wazoku, https://www.wazoku.com For further information about InnoCentive, https://www.innocentive.com/ For further information about SeaFreight Labs, https://www.seafreightlabs.com/ For further information about World Vision, https://www.worldvision.org/ PR Contact: Paul Allen - Rise PR + 44 (0) 7515 199 487 / paul@risepr.co.uk View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/innocentive-launches-world-vision-challenge-to-revolutionise-process-for-counting-of-improved-latrines-301310377.html SOURCE InnoCentive

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[June 10, 2021] Worldwide Enterprise External OEM Storage Systems Market Revenue Increased 1.7% During the First Quarter of 2021, According to IDC

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, global market revenue for enterprise external OEM storage systems grew 1.7% year over year to $6.7 billion during the first quarter of 2021 (1Q21). Total external OEM storage capacity shipped was up 16.3% year over year to 19.9 exabytes during the quarter. 1Q21 revenue generated by the group of original design manufacturers (ODMs) selling directly to hyperscale datacenters grew at 14.1% year over year to $5.6 billion, while capacity shipped grew 28.3% year over year to 70.2 exabytes. Enterprise storage capacity shipments for the entire market (External OEM + ODM Direct + Server-Based Storage) increased 20.6% to 118.8 exabytes. "After four quarters of market contraction, the first quarter of 2021 represented an important moment of recovery for the external storage systems market," said Zsofia Madi-Szabo, research manager, Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies at IDC (News - Alert) . "While economies around the world are recovering from the prolonged impact of the global pandemic, geographic results for the external enterprise storage market were mixed. Asia/Pacific and EMEA lead the recovery with 11.5% and 4.9% respective increase in spending, while sales within the Americas fell by 5.4% during the quarter. Clearly it is going to take time for the global enterprise storage market to fully recover from the substantial negative impacts of COVID-19." Enterprise External OEM Storage Systems Results, by Company Dell (News - Alert) Technologiesa was the largest external enterprise storage systems supplier during the quarter, accounting for 32.3% of worldwide revenue. NetApp was the second largest vendor during the quarter, with 10.9% of revenue. HPE/H3Cb was the third largest vendor with 9.4% of revenue. Hitachi and Huawei (News - Alert) tied* for fourth place in the market with shares of 5.8% and 5.4%, respectively.







Top 5 Companies, Worldwide Enterprise External OEM Storage Systems Market, First Quarter of 2021 (Revenues are in US$ millions) Company 1Q21

Revenue 1Q21 Market

Share 1Q20

Revenue 1Q20 Market

Share 1Q21/1Q20

Revenue

Growth 1. Dell Technologiesa $2,160.7 32.3 % $2,162.0 32.9 % -0.1 % 2. NetApp $728.9 10.9 % $715.7 10.9 % 1.8 % 3. HPE/H3Cb $626.9 9.4 % $646.3 9.8 % -3.0 % T4. Hitachi (News - Alert) * $390.5 5.8 % $430.3 6.5 % -9.3 % T4. Huawei* $365.1 5.5 % $279.8 4.3 % 30.5 % Rest of Market $2,417.9 36.1 % $2,342.6 35.6 % 3.2 % Total $6,689.9 100.0 % $6,576.7 100.0 % 1.7 % Source (News - Alert) : IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, June 10, 2021.

In addition to the table above, a graphic illustrating the worldwide market share of the top 5 external enterprise storage companies in 1Q21 and 1Q20 is available by viewing this press release on IDC.com. Flash-Based Storage Systems Highlights The total All Flash Array (AFA) market generated $2.7 billion in revenue during the quarter, down 3.3% year over year. The Hybrid Flash Array (HFA) market was worth nearly $2.5 billion in revenue but was up 1.4% from the year ago quarter. Regional External Storage System Highlights On a geographic basis, storage revenue in China grew 34.9% year over year. Japan declined 11.5% in 1Q21 compared to 1Q20, while Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China) was up 2.1%. EMEA grew 4.9% in aggregate on a year-over-year basis. The United States was down 4.9% but Canada grew 12.9%. Latin America was the hardest hit region this quarter, down 28.2%. Notes: * IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide enterprise external storage market when there is a difference of one percent or less in the share of revenues or shipments among two or more vendors. a Dell Technologies represents the combined revenues for Dell and EMC. b Due to the existing joint venture between HPE and H3C, IDC is reporting external market share on a global level for HPE and H3C as "HPE/H3C" starting from 2Q 2016. Per the JV agreement, Tsinghua Holdings subsidiary, Unisplendour Corporation, through a wholly owned affiliate, purchased a 51% stake in H3C and HPE has a 49% ownership stake in the new company. Taxonomy Notes IDC defines an Enterprise Storage System as a set of storage elements, including controllers, cables, and (in some instances) host bus adapters, associated with three or more disks. A system may be located outside of or within a server cabinet and the average cost of the disk storage systems does not include infrastructure storage hardware (i.e., switches) and non-bundled storage software. The information in this quantitative study is based on a branded view of the enterprise storage systems sale. Revenue associated with the products to the end user is attributed to the seller (brand) of the product, not the manufacturer. Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sales are not included in this study. The IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker is a quantitative tool for analyzing the global disk storage market on a quarterly basis. The Tracker includes quarterly shipments and revenues (both customer and factory), Terabytes, $/Gigabyte, Gigabyte/Unit, and Average Selling Value. Each criteria can be segmented by location, installation base, operating system, company, family, model, and region. The Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker is part of the Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker, which provides a holistic total addressable market view of the five key enabling infrastructure technologies for the datacenter (servers, external enterprise storage systems, purpose-built appliances: HCI and PBBA, and datacenter switches). For more information about IDC's Worldwide Enterprise Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, please contact Lidice Fernandez at 305-351-3051 or lfernandez@idc.com. About IDC Trackers IDC Tracker products provide accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries around the globe. Using proprietary tools and research processes, IDC's Trackers are updated on a semiannual, quarterly, and monthly basis. Tracker results are delivered to clients in user-friendly Excel deliverables and on-line query tools. Click here to learn about IDC's full suite of data products and how you can leverage them to grow your business. About IDC International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology, IT benchmarking and sourcing, and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data, and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights. All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005881/en/

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[June 10, 2021]

OliX Pharmaceuticals to Conduct One-on-One Meetings with Potential Partners at BIO Digital 2021 Conference

SUWON, Republic of Korea, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OliX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (KOSDAQ: 226950), a leading developer of RNAi therapeutics, today announced that the Companys management will hold one-on-one partnering meetings at BIO Digital 2021, being held virtually June 14-18, 2021.



Sun Woo Hong, Ph.D., head of R&D at OliX Pharmaceuticals, will be available to discuss global licensing options for the Companys pipeline programs for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and androgenic alopecia (hair loss) as well as core technologies including GalNAc conjugation technology for liver targeting. The Company will also be available to discuss Asian territory licensing for its programs targeting age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

To schedule a virtual meeting, please visit BIO One-on-One Partnering here: https://www.bio.org/events/bio-digital/partnering







About OliX Pharmaceuticals

OliX Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics against a variety of disorders by down-regulating expression of disease-causing genes, based on its own proprietary RNAi technology. The Companys core RNAi platform, asymmetric siRNA (asiRNA), is a unique gene silencing technology based on RNA interference (RNAi), which is considered as the most efficient gene silencing technology. Based on asiRNA technology, OliX has developed cell penetrating asiRNA (cp-asiRNA), a therapeutic RNAi platform to effectively target locally administrable diseases, such as hypertrophic scar, dry and wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), subretinal fibrosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and neuropathic pain. OliX has also developed another therapeutic RNAi platform, GalNAc-asiRNA, to target a variety of liver diseases. For more information, please visit: https://www.olixpharma.com/eng

Media Contact:

Jon Yu

Westwicke/ICR PR

Phone: +1.475.395.5375

jon.yu@westwicke.com


[June 10, 2021] Interlace Ventures Raises $14M for Its Debut Fund Dedicated to Supporting a Post-Covid Commerce World

SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Interlace Ventures, an early stage venture firm dedicated to investing in the next Shopify at its earliest stage, announced it has raised $14 million for its debut fund. Backed by Paypal, Bain Capital Ventures, Carta and some of the most prominent families, executives and entrepreneurs in the commerce space, the firm brings together via its Commerce Platform a broad community of change-makers committed to building a better future of commerce. Introducing Interlace Ventures. Interlace Ventures invests in pre-seed and seed-stage startups building a more personalized and sustainable future of shopping. The firm plans to invest in up to 30 companies, with a current portfolio of 13 emerging companies across commerce infrastructure and sustainability including Alloy Automation , b8ta , CommerceJS , Olive , and Treet . Composed exclusively of former commerce operators in the U.S. and China, the investment team's firsthand experience uniquely positions them to identify and support innovative commerce technologies. To strengthen its team further, the firm recently added two new venture partners , Vibhu Norby and Sydney Werber, who bring deep expertise in new retail experiences and video commerce. "Technology is key to enable more sustainable, personalized and dlightful consumption. It supports legacy and emerging brands to be more consumer-centric," said Joseph Sartre, Managing Partner at Interlace Ventures. "We are investing early and heavily in enhanced commerce infrastructure technology to support the industry's scalability and sustainability transformation for the next 30 years."



Funding Better Commerce. Soon to be the largest and most influential consumer base in the US, Generation Z is the most globally conscious generation and most diverse in U.S. history . Challenged by this new demographic who grew up in an environment of accelerated technological change, the next decade will see the rise of new models, in their image, that will drive our societies to better consumption. Interlace Ventures invests in primarily commerce technologies that operate in one of two ways:

The How: Enabling technologies and infrastructure platforms throughout the retail value chain

The Where: Marketplaces, new distribution platforms or new retail experiences To reflect this new diverse consumer group, Interlace Ventures is actively investing in founders building for and representative of this next generation55% of Interlace's companies are led by founders from underrepresented groups. "As a Black-led investment team made up of immigrants and former commerce operators in Asia and Europe, the experience we bring to the table sets us apart from other seed funds," said Vincent Diallo, Managing Partner at Interlace Ventures. "For us, diversity is not a checked box, it is literally built into our DNA and our networks. We strongly believe that the next big commerce technology companies will be built by founders with diverse backgrounds." A Unique Commerce Platform. Beyond capital, Interlace Ventures offers its portfolio access to its Commerce Platforman active global community of nearly 100 brands and retailers, including companies like Mars Wrigley and Decathlon, eager to gain insights into the evolution of commerce and connect with leading change-makers. Leveraging this strategic partner base, Interlace Ventures actively supports the acceleration of its portfolio, introducing its founders to their first partners and customers. To learn more about Interlace Ventures, be considered for investment or become a brand partner, please visit www.interlaceventures.com . About Interlace Ventures



Interlace Ventures is an early stage fund dedicated to investing in technology companies supporting the transformation of commerce. Based in New York City and San Francisco with operating experience spanning Europe and Asia, the team has invested alongside world-class early stage software and technology venture funds. Backed by Paypal, Bain Capital Ventures, Carta and some of the largest families and executives in retail, fashion and consumer packaged goods (CPG), the firm offers a unique Commerce Platformpowered by an extensive global community of brandsto deliver its portfolio unique access to potential business. As immigrants from diverse backgrounds, the team believes diversity is a strength and ensures its investments reflect those values: 55% of Interlace Ventures' portfolio is led by women, people of color or immigrants. Managing Partner Vincent Diallo is in charge of the event committee at BlckVC and also a mentor at Startout .



Find them at www.interlaceventures.com and follow them on @interlacevc and LinkedIn . Lauren Graffort

PR Representative

BuzzKat, Inc. for Interlace Ventures

6618039432 This release was issued through WebWire. For more information, visit http://www.webwire.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/interlace-ventures-raises-14m-for-its-debut-fund-dedicated-to-supporting-a-post-covid-commerce-world-301310425.html SOURCE Interlace Ventures

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[June 10, 2021] Segra International completes first export of Cannabis plantlets to Portugal for greenhouse cultivation trials with leading multi-national cannabis operator

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Segra International Corp, a leading cannabis agriculture technology company, is pleased to announce its first successful shipment of numerous premium Cannabis tissue culture plantlets to Portugal for greenhouse cultivation trials with a leading multi-national cannabis operator. Under this agreement, Segra has collaborated with the cultivation partner to tailor a suite of cultivars specific to their growing environment in Portugal, with a heightened focus on chemical expression, pathogen resistance, and optimized morphology for scaled cultivation. A second shipment is booked for August 2021 to replicate this trial and further validate these cultivars for additional, recurring supply in the future. This shipment represents the third country Segra has successfully exported plantlets to in 2021 along with South Africa and Germany.

"Tissue culture plantlets are an increasingly attractive option for cultivators in the EU as they offer the cleanest and most consistent possible input when manufacturing pharmaceutical-grade cannabis products under EU-GMP certifications," said Jamie Blundell, CEO of Segra International. "As emerging markets seek legal options to onboard proven genetics, Segra is providing a solution with our Verified Segra Stock Guarantee where there is virtually no risk of pathogen introduction to both a cultivator's facility and the emerging cannabis industry as a whole. With Segra's extensive genetic portfolio, we can offer these in-demand cultivars to emerging markets worldwide, resulting in clean, uniform crops that create reproducible products for recreational and medical cannabis markets alike. Learn more about Segras services and premium cultivars by vieing the 2021 Cultivar and Services Catalogue.



About Segra:

Segra is an agriculture technology company offering plant tissue culture, plant genomics, and pathogen detection services to accelerate the advancement of the cannabis industry. The company's proprietary technologies empower its clients to drive financial performance and mitigate risk while exploring the next frontier of optimized cultivation practices for the rapidly evolving cannabis consumer. Segra has developed industrial-scale laboratories to produce Verified Segra Stock, robust, and DNA-fingerprinted cannabis plantlets for licensed producers globally. Segra has assembled a world-class team of specialists in the fields of agronomy, molecular genetics, plant tissue culture, and regulatory compliance to support this vision. Learn more at segra-intl.com or view the 2021 Cultivar and Services Catalogue. For Further Information:

Carson Otto

Carson.otto@segra-intl.com

Forward-Looking Information:

This news release includes statements containing certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan," "continue," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "may," "will," "potential," "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.



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[June 10, 2021] JC Data Solutions Sets Date for Special Meeting of Shareholders to Vote on Merger Agreement with TerraData.ai

DALLAS., June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- JC Data Solutions (OTC: JCDS) announced today that it has set a date for the special meeting of its shareholders to consider and vote on a proposal to approve the transactions contemplated by the previously announced merger agreement, dated May 20, 2021, pursuant to which TerraData.ai will acquire JCDS in an all cash transaction (the "Merger"). The special meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m., local time, on June 30, 2021 at the 1800 Norwood Dr., Suite 100, Hurst, TX 76054. The board of directors of JCDS set June 9, 2021 as the record date for its special meeting. The completion of the Merger remains subject to other customary closing conditions, including receipt of approval from JCDS stockholders. The Merger is expected to close in Q3 of 2021. About JC Data Solutions JC Data solutions has been a leader in the funds and document distribution industry. Our premier service, Payment Manager, has saved Oil & Gas companies thousands and thousands of dollars - all while improving and streamlining their funds distribution process. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are those that address actvities, events or developments that we intend, expect, project, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future. Forward-looking statements are those that use terms such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "intend," "should," "could," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "predict," "potential," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements contained in this and other written and oral reports are based on management's assumptions and assessments in light of past experience and trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other relevant factors.



The Company's forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ materially from those envisaged by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against the Company related to the Merger Agreement; the inability to complete the transaction due to the failure to obtain the Required Vote or the failure to satisfy other conditions to completion of the transaction, including the receipt of all regulatory approvals related to the transaction; the disruption of management's attention from the Company's ongoing business operations due to the transaction; the effect of the announcement of the transaction on the Company's relationships with its customers, operating results and business generally; the effects of local and national economic, credit and capital market conditions. Factors or events that could cause the Company's actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of them. The statements made herein are made as of the date of this disclosure and the Company undertakes no obligation to update them, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jc-data-solutions-sets-date-for-special-meeting-of-shareholders-to-vote-on-merger-agreement-with-terradataai-301310427.html SOURCE JC Data Solutions

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[June 10, 2021] Enghouse Releases Second Quarter Results

MARKHAM, ON, June 10, 2021 /CNW/ - Enghouse Systems Limited (TSX: ENGH) today announced its second quarter unaudited financial results for the period ended April 30, 2021. All the financial information is in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. Financial and operational highlights for the three and six months ended April 30, 2021 compared to the three and six months ended April 30, 2020 are as follows: Revenue achieved was $117 .3 and $236 .4 million, respectively, compared to record revenue of $140 .9 and $251 .6 million;

.3 and .4 million, respectively, compared to record revenue of .9 and .6 million; Results from operating activities was $36 .9 and $77 .6 million, respectively, compared to $46 .3 and $77 .1 million;

.9 and .6 million, respectively, compared to .3 and .1 million; Net income was $20 .7 and $41 .4 million, respectively, compared to $27 .1 and $43 .2 million;

.7 and .4 million, respectively, compared to .1 and .2 million; Adjusted EBITDA was $40 .2 and $84 .7 million, respectively, compared to $49 .3 and $84 .6 million;

.2 and .7 million, respectively, compared to .3 and .6 million; Cash flows from operating activities excluding changes in working capital was $42 .6 and $84 .3 million, respectively compared to $50 .0 and $85 .2 million. Although revenue achieved for the quarter was $117.3 million, compared to record revenue of $140.9 million in the same period in the prior year, Enghouse continues to generate positive cash flows, operating income and profitability. The decline in revenue was driven primarily by the previous year's significant increase in our Vidyo business that has now returned to levels that are more consistent with pre-COVID volumes. Enghouse continues to expand its cloud offerings and has implemented new initiatives aimed at increasing sales of cloud-based products while offering choice to its customers by providing multi-tenant cloud, private cloud and on-premise solutions to the market. As previously announced on April 28, 2021, Enghouse signed a $29 million multi-year agreement with the Norwegian Government to update its National Emergency Fire Services Technology System. The eight-year agreement builds on the success in the Norwegian market with the $55 million, 12-year agreement with Norwegian Health Care announced in October 2020. The Company closed the quarter with $169.6 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments and no debt after paying $90.5 million in dividends during the quarter. As always, Enghouse prioritizes its long-term growth strategy over quarter-to-quarter results, investing in products while ensuring continued profitability and maximizing operating cashflows. As a result, Enghouse has replenished its acquisition capital, while returning $83.2 million in special dividends to shareholders. Quarterly dividends:

Today, the Board of Directors approved the Company's eligible quarterly dividend of $0.16 per common share payable on August 31, 2021 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 17, 2021. Enghouse Systems Limited

Financial Highlights

(in thousands of Canadian dollars)















For the period ended April 30 Three months

Six months

2021

2020 Var ($) Var (%)



2021

2020 Var ($) Var (%) Revenue $ 117,334 $ 140,900 (23,566) (16.7)

$ 236,434 $ 251,556 (15,122) (6.0)



























Direct costs

33,533

39,699 (6,166) (15.5)



65,041

72,176 (7,135) (9.9) Revenue, net of direct costs $ 83,801 $ 101,201 (17,400) (17.2)

$ 171,393 $ 179,380 (7,987) (4.5) As a % of revenue

71.4%

71.8%







72.5%

71.3%































Operating expenses

46,852

55,046 (8,194) (14.9)



93,362

100,806 (7,444) (7.4) Special charges

57

(121) 178 147.1



440

1,455 (1,015) (69.8) Results from operating activities $ 36,892 $ 46,276 (9,384) (20.3)

$ 77,591 $ 77,119 472 0.6 As a % of revenue

31.4%

32.8%







32.8%

30.7%































Amortization of acquired software and customer relationships

(10,854)

(11,600) 746 6.4



(21,628)

(21,680) 52 0.2 Foreign exchange gains (losses)

1,587

(393) 1,980 503.8



(1,523)

(46) (1,477) (3210.9) Interest expense  lease obligations

(277)

(300) 23 7.7



(606)

(562) (44) (7.8) Finance income

36

131 (95) (72.5)



116

482 (366) (75.9) Finance expenses

17

(16) 33 206.3



(64)

(34) (30) (88.2) Other (expenses) income

(1,122)

811 (1,933) (238.3)



(1,446)

397 (1,843) (464.2) Income before income taxes $ 26,279 $ 34,909 (8,630) (24.7)

$ 52,440 $ 55,676 (3,236) (5.8) Provision for income taxes

5,540

7,820 (2,280) (29.2)



11,059

12,451 (1,392) (11.2) Net Income for the period $ 20,739 $ 27,089 (6,350) (23.4)

$ 41,381 $ 43,225 (1,844) (4.3)



























Basic earnings per share

0.37

0.49 (0.12) (24.5)



0.75

0.79 (0.04) (5.1) Diluted earnings per share

0.37

0.49 (0.12) (24.5)



0.74

0.78 (0.04) (5.1)



























Operating cash flows

39,155

57,533 (18,378) (31.9)



59,702

77,466 (17,764) (22.9) Operating cash flows excluding changes in working capital

42,600

50,033 (7,433) (14.9)



84,317

85,216 (899) (1.1)



























Adjusted EBITDA

























Results from operating activities

36,892

46,276







77,591

77,119































Depreciation

758

758







1,493

1,645



Depreciation of right-of-use assets

2,492

2,368







5,195

4,391



Special charges

57

(121)







440

1,455



Adjusted EBITDA $ 40,199 $ 49,281 (9,082) (18.4)

$ 84,719 $ 84,610 109 0.1



























Adjusted EBITDA margin

34.3%

35.0%







35.8%

33.6%































Adjusted EBITDA per diluted share $ 0.72 $ 0.89 ( 0.17) (19.1)

$ 1.52 $ 1.53 ( 0.01) (0.7)



Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Financial Position (in thousands of Canadian dollars)

(unaudited) As at April 30, 2020 As at October 31, 2020 ASSETS







Current assets:







Cash and cash equivalents $ 165,666 $ 244,792 Short-term investments

3,907

6,999 Accounts receivable

98,381

90,789 Prepaid expenses and other assets

14,457

14,772



282,411

357,352 Non-current assets:







Property and equipment

6,191

6,301 Right-of-use assets

33,947

42,832 Intangible assets

120,624

123,616 Goodwill

220,767

217,426 Deferred income tax assets

19,524

16,119



401,053

406,294

$ 683,464 $ 763,646









LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY







Current liabilities:







Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 68,161 $ 80,339 Income taxes payable

9,395

13,245 Dividends payable

8,879

7,472 Provisions

7,345

5,697 Deferred revenue

104,341

89,927 Lease obligations

9,763

9,914



207,884

206,594 Non-current liabilities:







Income taxes payable

2,925

3,829 Deferred income tax liabilities

19,881

14,782 Deferred revenue

5,324

7,021 Net employee defined benefit obligation

2,734

2,855 Lease obligations

23,910

32,242



54,774

60,729



262,658

267,323 Shareholders' equity







Share capital

104,483

99,405 Contributed surplus

7,130

6,583 Retained earnings

321,378

379,378 Accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income

(12,185)

10,957



420,806

496,323

$ 683,464 $ 763,646

Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (in thousands of Canadian dollars except per share amounts) (unaudited) Three months Six months Periods ended April 30 2021 2020 2021 2020









Revenue







Software licenses $ 25,167 $ 48,791 $ 53,467 $ 77,191 Hosted and maintenance services 70,402 72,024 142,645 136,377 Professional services 18,468 16,087 34,297 31,270 Hardware 3,297 3,998 6,025 6,718

117,334 140,900 236,434 251,556 Direct costs







Software licenses 1,485 3,937 2,686 6,387 Services 30,143 33,080 58,615 61,426 Hardware 1,905 2,682 3,740 4,363

33,533 39,699 65,041 72,176 Revenue, net of direct costs 83,801 101,201 171,393 179,380









Operating expenses







Selling, general and administrative 22,208 29,612 45,159 54,294 Research and development 21,394 22,308 41,515 40,476 Depreciation 758 758 1,493 1,645 Depreciation of right-of-use assets 2,492 2,368 5,195 4,391 Special charges 57 (121) 440 1,455

46,909 54,925 93,802 102,261









Results from operating activities 36,892 46,276 77,591 77,119









Amortization of acquired software and customer relationships (10,854) (11,600) (21,628) (21,680) Foreign exchange gains (losses) 1,587 (393) (1,523) (46) Interest expense  lease obligations (277) (300) (606) (562) Finance income 36 131 116 482 Finance expenses 17 (16) (64) (34) Other (expenses) income (1,122) 811 (1,446) 397 Income before income taxes 26,279 34,909 52,440 55,676









Provision for income taxes 5,540 7,820 11,059 12,451









Net income for the period $ 20,739 $ 27,089 $ 41,381 $ 43,225









Items that may be subsequently reclassified to income:







Cumulative translation adjustment (18,274) 10,140 (23,142) 12,460









Other comprehensive (loss) income (18,274) 10,140 (23,142) 12,460









Comprehensive income $ 2,465 $ 37,229 $ 18,239 $ 55,685 Earnings per share







Basic $ 0.37 $ 0.49 $ 0.75 $ 0.79 Diluted $ 0.37 $ 0.49 $ 0.74 $ 0.78

Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Cash Flows (in thousands of Canadian dollars) (unaudited) Three months Six months Periods ended April 30 2021 2020 2021 2020 OPERATING ACTIVITIES







Net income for the period $ 20,739 $ 27,089 $ 41,381 $ 43,225 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities















Depreciation 758 758 1,493 1,645 Depreciation of right-of-use assets 2,492 2,368 5,195 4,391 Interest expense  lease obligations 277 300 606 562 Amortization of acquired software and customer relationships 10,854 11,600 21,628 21,680 Stock-based compensation expense 835 893 1,445 1,625 Provision for income taxes 5,540 7,820 11,059 12,451 Finance expenses and other expenses (income) 1,105 (795) 1,510 (363)

42,600 50,033 84,317 85,216









Changes in non-cash operating working capital 2,440 10,836 (8,915) 536 Income taxes paid (5,885) (3,336) (15,700) (8,286) Net cash provided by operating activities 39,155 57,533 59,702 77,466









INVESTING ACTIVITIES







Purchase of property and equipment (666) (1,005) (1,344) (1,444) Acquisitions, net of cash acquired* (3,810) 1,235 (32,300) (47,664) Purchase consideration for prior-year acquisitions 444 - 1,105 (546) Purchase of short-term investments (932) (1,795) 1,614 (1,802) Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities (4,964) (1,565) (30,925) (51,456)









FINANCING ACTIVITIES







Issuance of share capital 4,028 788 4,180 5,572 Repayment of loans - - - (62) Repayment of lease obligations (2,091) (1,586) (4,921) (4,452) Dividends paid (90,502) (6,048) (97,974) (12,069) Net cash used in financing activities (88,565) (6,846) (98,715) (11,011)



















Impact of foreign exchange on cash and cash equivalents (5,937) 1,757 (9,188) 2,567









(Decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents (60,311) 50,879 (79,126) 17,566 Cash and cash equivalents - beginning of period 225,977 111,451 244,792 144,764 Cash and cash equivalents - end of period $ 165,666 $ 162,330 $ 165,666 $ 162,330

* Acquisitions are net of cash acquired of nil and $1,463 for the three and six months ended April 30, 2021, respectively, and nil and $6,906 for the three and six months ended April 30, 2020, respectively. Enghouse Systems Limited

Segment Reporting Information

(in thousands of Canadian dollars)







Three months ended April 30, 2021 IMG AMG Total Revenue $ 65,879 $ 51,455 $ 117,334 Direct costs

(16,930)

(16,603)

(33,533) Revenue, net of direct costs

48,949

34,852

83,801 Operating expenses excluding special charges

(24,074)

(12,214)

(36,288) Depreciation of property and equipment

(624)

(134)

(758) Depreciation of right-of-use assets

(1,666)

(826)

(2,492) Segment profit $ 22,585 $ 21,678 $ 44,263 Special charges









(57) Corporate and shared service expenses









(7,314) Results from operating activities







$ 36,892







Three months ended April 30, 2020 IMG AMG Total Revenue $ 89,925 $ 50,975 $ 140,900 Direct costs

(20,874)

(18,825)

(39,699) Revenue, net of direct costs

69,051

32,150

101,201 Operating expenses excluding special charges

(25,632)

(15,412)

(41,044) Depreciation of property and equipment

(518)

(240)

(758) Depreciation of right-of-use assets

(1,386)

(982)

(2,368) Segment profit $ 41,515 $ 15,516 $ 57,031 Special charges









121 Corporate and shared service expenses









(10,876) Results from operating activities







$ 46,276







Six months ended April 30, 2021 IMG AMG Total Revenue $ 136,182 $ 100,252 $ 236,434 Direct costs

(32,387)

(32,654)

(65,041) Revenue, net of direct costs

103,795

67,598

171,393 Operating expenses excluding special charges

(46,737)

(24,339)

(71,076) Depreciation of property and equipment

(1,295)

(198)

(1,493) Depreciation of right-of-use assets

(3,484)

(1,711)

(5,195) Segment profit $ 52,279 $ 41,350 $ 93,629 Special charges









(440) Corporate and shared service expenses









(15,598) Results from operating activities







$ 77,591







Six months ended April 30, 2020 IMG AMG Total Revenue $ 152,798 $ 98,758 $ 251,556 Direct costs

(36,088)

(36,088)

(72,176) Revenue, net of direct costs

116,710

62,670

179,380 Operating expenses excluding special charges

(46,851)

(28,080)

(74,931) Depreciation of property and equipment

(973)

(672)

(1,645) Depreciation of right-of-use assets

(2,444)

(1,947)

(4,391) Segment profit $ 66,442 $ 31,971 $ 98,413 Special charges









(1,455) Corporate and shared service expenses









(19,839) Results from operating activities







$ 77,119 About Enghouse Enghouse is a Canadian publicly traded company (TSX:ENGH) that provides enterprise software solutions focusing on remote work, visual computing and communications for next-generation software-defined networks. The Company's two-pronged growth strategy focuses on internal growth and acquisitions, which, to date, have been funded through operating cash flows. The Company is well capitalized, has no long-term debt and is organized around two business segments: the Interactive Management Group and the Asset Management Group. Further information about Enghouse may be obtained from the Company's website at www.enghouse.com. Conference Call and Webcast A conference call to discuss the results will be held on Friday, June 11, 2021 at 8:45 a.m. EST. To participate, please call +1-647-689-4521 or North American Toll-Free +1-833-235-7649. Confirmation code: 8298201. A webcast is also available at: https://www.enghouse.com/investors.php. **** The Company uses non-IFRS measures to assess its operating performance. Securities regulations require that companies caution readers that earnings and other measures adjusted to a basis other than IFRS do not have standardized meanings and are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures used by other companies. Accordingly, they should not be considered in isolation. The Company uses Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of operating performance. Therefore, Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Adjusted EBITDA is calculated based on results from operating activities adjusted for depreciation of property and equipment and right-of-use assets, and special charges for acquisition related restructuring costs. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA to evaluate operating performance as it excludes amortization of software and intangibles (which is an accounting allocation of the cost of software and intangible assets arising on acquisition), any impact of finance and tax related activities, asset depreciation, foreign exchange gains and losses, other income and restructuring costs primarily related to acquisitions. SOURCE Enghouse Systems Limited

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[June 10, 2021] Anneka Gupta to Leave LiveRamp to Pursue New Opportunity

LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP), the leading global data connectivity platform, today announced that Anneka Gupta, president and head of products and platforms, will leave LiveRamp to pursue another senior leadership opportunity within the technology sector, effective July 1, 2021. Ms. Gupta first joined LiveRamp in 2010 as an early member of the team and has held positions in a variety of functions across the company, including marketing, recruiting, product management and software development. "On behalf of the entire LiveRamp organization, I want to thank Anneka for the instrumental role she has played in the evolution of our company," said LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe. "As one of the earliest members of the LiveRamp team, Anneka has dedicated her entire professional career to growing our company from a 20-person start-up in San Francisco to a 1,200-person global team serving the world's top brands, agencies and publishers. Today, LiveRamp is well positioned for continued growth, with innovative technology and an unwavering commitment to customer success that set us apart within the industry. We're excited to build on this strong foundation and wish Anneka all the best as she begins her next chapter." "It is humbling to have been part of such an incredible team and to have contributed to LiveRamp's hyper-growth and position as the leader in global data connectivity. I couldn't be more proud of what we've accomplished together over the past decade," added Ms. Gupta. "Looking ahead, I am confident this team will keep up the impressive momentum and track record of innovation to achieve new levels of growth. I will always be one of LiveRamp's biggest fans and can't wait to see all that the team achieves." The company intends to elevate two key executive positions within LiveRamp - chief technology officer and chief product officer - to assume Ms. Gupta's role and responsibilities. Mohsin Hussain will continue to serve as LiveRamp's chief technology officer, reporting directly to Mr. Howe. In addition, the company has initiated a search to identify its next chief product officer, with a focus on evaluating external candidates with strong enterprise software experience and proven track records of scaling highly innovative product organizations. LiveRamp has built a talented leadership team within its product organization, and anticipates a seamless trasition process.



About LiveRamp LiveRamp is the leading data connectivity platform for the safe and effective use of data. Powered by core identity capabilities and an unparalleled network, LiveRamp enables companies and their partners to better connect, control, and activate data to transform customer experiences and generate more valuable business outcomes. LiveRamp's fully interoperable and neutral infrastructure delivers end-to-end addressability for the world's top brands, agencies, and publishers. For more information, visit www.LiveRamp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended (the "PSLRA"). These statements, which are not statements of historical fact, may contain estimates, assumptions, projections and/or expectations regarding the Company's financial position, results of operations, market position, product development, growth opportunities, economic conditions, and other similar forecasts and statements of expectation. Forward-looking statements are often identified by words or phrases such as "anticipate," "estimate," "plan," "expect," "believe," "intend," "foresee," "continued," "positioned for" or the negative of these terms or other similar variations thereof. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results and experiences to differ materially from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements. Among the factors that may cause actual results and expectations to differ from anticipated results and expectations expressed in forward-looking statements are uncertainties related to COVID-19 and the associated impact on our suppliers, customers and partners; the Company's dependence upon customer renewals; new customer additions and upsell within our subscription business; our reliance upon partners, including data suppliers; competition; and attracting and retaining talent. Additional risks relate to maintaining our culture and our ability to innovate and evolve while working remotely and within a rapidly changing industry, while also avoiding disruption from acquisition and divestiture activities. Our international operations are also subject to risks that may harm the Company's business. The risk of a significant breach of the confidentiality of the information or the security of our or our customers', suppliers', or other partners' computer systems could be detrimental to our business, reputation and results of operations. Other business risks include unfavorable publicity and negative public perception about our industry; interruptions or delays in service from data center hosting vendors we rely upon; and our dependence on the continued availability of third-party data hosting and transmission services. Our clients' ability to use data on our platform could be restricted if the industry's use of third-party cookies and tracking technology declines due to technology platform changes, regulation or increased user controls. Changes in regulations relating to information collection and use represents a risk, as well as changes in tax laws and regulations that are applied to our customers which could cause enterprise software budget tightening. In addition, third parties may claim that we are infringing their intellectual property or may infringe our intellectual property which could result in competitive injury and / or the incurrence of significant costs and draining of our resources. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, please refer to LiveRamp's Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year 2021 ended March 31, 2021, and LiveRamp's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q issued in fiscal year 2021. The financial information set forth in this press release reflects estimates based on information available at this time. LiveRamp assumes no obligation and does not currently intend to update these forward-looking statements. To automatically receive LiveRamp financial news by email, please visit www.LiveRamp.com and subscribe to email alerts. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005873/en/

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[June 10, 2021] FB Financial Corporation Announces Closing of Public Offering of Common Stock by Selling Shareholder

FB Financial Corporation (the "Company") (NYSE:FBK) announced today the closing of the underwritten public offering (the "Secondary Offering") in which Mr. James W. Ayers (the "Selling Shareholder") sold a total of 2,500,000 shares of the Company's common stock (the "Underwritten Shares") share. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., A Stifel Company, acted as the sole book-running manager for the Secondary Offering. The Company did not sell any stock in this transaction and did not receive any proceeds from the sale of the Underwritten Shares. Mr. Ayers is currently the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company. Upon completion of the Secondary Offering, Mr. Ayers owns approximately 23.5% of the Company's outstanding common stock, including shares owned by Mr. Ayers indirectly through Ayers Asset Management, Inc. The Secondary Offering was made pursuant a Registration Statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-256861) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC (News - Alert) ") and became automatically effective on June 7, 2021. The Secondary Offering was made only by means of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus related to the Secondary Offering may be obtained by contacting: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., A Stifel Company, Equity Capital Markets, 787 Seventh Avenue, NY, NY 10019, or by telephone at (800) 966-1559. Investors may also obtain copies of these documents free of charge by visiting the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.



NO OFFER OR SOLICITATION This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy shares of common stock nor shall there be any sale of the shares of common stock in the Secondary Offering in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

ABOUT FB FINANCIAL CORPORATION FB Financial Corporation (NYSE: FBK) is a bank holding company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. FB Financial operates through its wholly owned banking subsidiary, FirstBank, the third largest Tennessee-headquartered community bank, with 81 full-service bank branches across Tennessee, North Alabama, Southern Kentucky and North Georgia, and a national mortgage business with offices across the Southeast. FirstBank serves five of the largest metropolitan markets in Tennessee and has approximately $11.9 billion in total assets. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements contained in this press release 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, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for "forward-looking statements" provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of the words and phrases "may," "will," "should," "could," "would," "goal," "plan," "potential," "estimate," "project," "believe," "intend," "anticipate," "expect," "target," "aim," "predict," "continue," "seek," "projection" and other variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts. The inclusion of these forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by the Company or any other person that the forward-looking statements will occur. Accordingly, the Company cautions readers of this press release that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or outcomes and are subject to various risks, assumptions and uncertainties. Because of these risks and other uncertainties, the outcome of matters that are the subject of forward-looking statements may be materially different from the anticipated or estimated results discussed in the forward-looking statements in this press release. Readers of this press release should not unduly rely on any forward-looking statements, which represent the Company's beliefs, assumptions and estimates only as of the dates on which they were made, as predictions of future events. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law. New risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict their occurrence or how they will affect the Company. The Company qualifies all of its forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005888/en/

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[June 10, 2021] AM Best Takes Various Credit Rating Actions on Triple-S Management Corporation and Its Subsidiaries; Assigns Credit Ratings to Triple-S Advantage, Inc.

AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of "bbb+" (Good) of Triple-S Salud, Inc. (TSS) and its affiliate, Triple-S Vida, Inc. (TSV). These companies are collectively referred to as Triple-S Management Group. Concurrently, AM Best has affirmed the Long-Term ICR of "bb+" (Fair) of ultimate parent, Triple-S Management Corporation (TSM) [NYSE: GTS]. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. Furthermore, AM Best has revised the outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the FSR of B+ (Good) and the Long-Term ICR of "bbb-" (Good) of Triple-S Blue, Inc., I.I. (TSB). In addition, AM Best has revised the outlook to positive from stable and affirmed the FSR of B+ (Good) and the Long-Term ICR of "bbb-" (Good) of Triple-S Propiedad, Inc. (TSP) (Guaynabo, PR). Lastly, AM Best has assigned an FSR of B++ (Good) and a Long-Term ICR of "bbb+" (Good) to Triple-S Advantage, Inc. (TSA). The outlook assigned to these ratings is stable. All companies are domiciled in San Juan, PR, unless otherwise specified. The ratings of Triple-S Management Group reflect the group's aggregate balance sheet strength, which AM Best categorizes as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). The risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), for Triple-S Management Group, is very strong and has been able to withstand some volatility in earnings over the last year. The insurance entities have good liquidity and financial flexibility with access to borrow from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and credit from repurchase agreements. Furthermore, the parent organization, TSM, has access to the credit markets. TSM has low financial leverage of 5% at year-end 2020 and strong earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) interest coverage at over 10x. Triple-S Management Group has diversified sources of earnings from managed care and life insurance products. The group's earnings trend remained profitable in 2020; however, gains were lower, attributable to higher managed care benefit costs. Premiums have trended favorably in recent years, with higher premiums from its Medicare, Medicaid and commercial lines of business. Medicare and Medicaid premiums have increased in the last two years as the result of higher membership and premium rates. Commercial medical premiums, which had trailed for some time, increased during 2020, reflecting higher fully insured premiums, favorably contributing to the overall results. Furthermore, TSV has experienced premium growth due to new sales and the acquisition of a block of business from another insurer on the island. AM Best also expects TSV's suite of life and ancillary products to contribute to premium growth over the medium term as the group continues to expand its product offering. The entities of Triple-S Management Group operations are largely from Puerto Rico, which continues to operate in an environment still feeling the effects of COVID-19 pandemic as the commonwealth is in the process of vaccinating its residents. Puerto Rico's economy was in the process of recovery prior to the pandemic, and the impact of the pandemic likely will further delay the recovery. However, TSM continues to be a large presence in Puerto Rico, holding market share in each of its products, spanning from life insurance to health care services, and benefits from name recognition and branding from the Triple-S name and the Blue Cross Blue Shield trademarks.



The ratings of TSP reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and marginal ERM.

The positive outlooks reflect continued improvement in TSP's overall balance sheet strength in recent years. AM Best expects the company to continue to stabilize its balance sheet, while maintaining the strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by BCAR, supported by organic capital generation in support of modest premium growth. In addition, the company is expected to continue its profitable operating performance as it executes its business plan. TSP's operating performance assessment is adequate due to its improved underwriting and operating performance largely driven by management initiatives, which includes revising underwriting guidelines, culling unprofitable books of business and significant rate increases. However, AM Best views the company's business profile as limited due to its geographic concentration in Puerto Rico, which exposes its results to weather-related events and regulatory challenges. AM Best categorizes the company's ERM program as marginal, as risk management capabilities do not align fully with its risk profile. TSP demonstrated weakness in the company's reinsurance purchasing decision for the enterprise as the company significantly exceeded the catastrophe reinsurance program with losses from Hurricane Maria. While the losses associated with Hurricane Maria were unprecedented in nature, the size of the loss led to the marginal assessment. Since then, TSP made changes to its overall risk management program with reductions in its retained loss tolerance, increase in the level of reinsurance protection as well as more regular modelling and stress testing. While management has refined and enhanced the overall ERM framework and capabilities, more time is needed to determine the ultimate effectiveness of these changes. The rating assignments for TSA reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as weak, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate ERM. TSA's risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by BCAR, is weak. Additionally, financial support has been provided primarily via surplus notes, which has resulted in financial leverage in excess of 24% at TSA. The strong operating performance assessment reflects solid operating results over the last two years, stemming from growth in Medicare Advantage, which is the core business of this entity. Underwriting income at TSA has exceeded $60 million each of the past two years as the company has experienced significant growth in its Medicare Advantage business, following a higher star rating achievement in 2018 that has resulted in higher average premium rates and membership growth over the last two years. TSA has become a larger part of the TSM organization, reporting net premiums of more than $1 billion in each of the last five years, and eclipsing $1.5 billion in 2020. Furthermore, improvement in operating performance the past few years has favorably contributed to the overall earnings of TSM. In addition, TSA has received capital support from its TSS and TSM in the form of surplus notes, which have allowed the entity to sustain its business growth while still managing some organic capital growth. TSA is fully integrated within the Triple-S organization and easily identifiable as a part of the TSM organization as it carries the name and trademark of the parent. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright  2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005972/en/

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[June 10, 2021] Restaurant365 Acquires Compeat to Create Market Leader in Restaurant Management Software

IRVINE, Calif. and AUSTIN, Texas, June 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Restaurant365, the leading all-in-one restaurant management platform, today announced the acquisition of Compeat, well-known in the industry for pioneering feature-rich restaurant back office, workforce and business intelligence software. The combined business will be led by Tony Smith, CEO of Restaurant365, and will serve over 28,000 restaurants. The acquisition extends Restaurant365's leadership in the space and further enables its commitment to helping restaurants thrive. Restaurant365 is excited to now deliver an even broader set of capabilities. "The last year has been full of challenges for the restaurant industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but restauranteurs are tenacious and we're in awe of their incredible creativity to adapt," said Smith. "We provide technology to support ther ingenuity and see this as the perfect time for this bold move to expand our offering and help restaurants rethink and streamline their operations."



"A love for serving the restaurant industry is built into the DNA of our organization," said Brendan Reidy, CEO of Compeat. "In Restaurant365 we found a similar-minded group, very complementary in solutions and in approach. We're thrilled to unite with them to accomplish this important mission." Restaurant operators have long been underserved by generic software solutions. Compeat and Restaurant365, from their inceptions, share a common heritage of focusing all of their attention and solutions to this industry only. Customers often see a 2-5% reduction in food and labor costs by administering their accounting, payroll, operations and purchasing in one unified platform. Equally important, the time savings allows restaurant operators to focus on providing their guests an exceptional dining experience. Already the most comprehensive platform to simplify day-to-day restaurant management, Restaurant365 is excited to now deliver an even broader set of capabilities.

Upon closing, Restaurant365 will continue to support Compeat products and customers. "We have a lofty vision to transform how restaurants operate and this combination significantly expands our market share and resources," said Smith. "Compeat is full of incredible employees that we can't wait to welcome to our team to grow this business together." William Blair and Goodwin Procter LLP served as financial and legal advisors, respectively, to Restaurant365. Robert W. Baird & Co and Choate, Hall & Stewart and Polsinelli served as financial and legal advisors, respectively, to Serent Capital and Compeat. Restaurant operators can learn more about Restaurant365 by scheduling a demo here. About Restaurant365 Restaurant365 is the industry leading all-in-one, accounting, inventory, scheduling, payroll and HR solution developed specifically for restaurants. The R365 platform simplifies day-to-day management for restaurant operators, allowing them to control food costs and optimize labor costs. Integrations and open APIs enable Restaurant365 to connect with other systems including POS providers, vendors and banks. The result is accurate, timely reporting that provides a clear and complete view of their businesses. Restaurant365 allows operators to focus on what matters  their guests. Backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, ICONIQ and Tiger Global Management and now Serent Capital, as part of this transaction. Restaurant365 is based in Irvine, California with an office in Austin, Texas. Additional information is available at Restaurant365.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/restaurant365-acquires-compeat-to-create-market-leader-in-restaurant-management-software-301310518.html SOURCE Restaurant365

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[June 10, 2021] Special Needs Assistance Program Subsidy Helps Mississippi Woman

With two children, nine grandchildren and one great grandchild, Penny Lee, a 57-year-old food service employee in Jackson, Mississippi, knows the importance of spending time with family. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005979/en/ A Special Needs Assistance Program subsidy provided by BankPlus and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas funded repairs for a Jackson, Mississippi, homeowner. (Photo: Business Wire) A long-time Jackson resident, she has lived in her current home for more than 20 years. But over time, the home where she consistently hosted her family began to need repairs she couldn't afford. The roof leaked, porch rails were broken and there were holes in the walls from years of grandchildren playing within the home. Miss Lee had handymen patch things until a $7,000 Special Needs Assistance Program (SNAP) subsidy from BankPlus and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) funded more substantial repairs including a new roof, trim, porch railings and repairs to interior walls. "I thank God every day for you all. People are giving me so many compliments. 'Oh Penny,' they say, 'I just love it.' I am so, so happy," Miss Lee said. "I appreciate what this program is doing for people who are struggling." She learned about SNAP through her neighbor and applied through Habtat for Humanity, which worked as a partner with BankPlus to identify potential SNAP recipients.



"FHLB Dallas offers many programs that help us make a meaningful impact on our neighbors and communities," said Mark Ouellette, first vice president and director of affordable housing at BankPlus. "The SNAP subsidy enabled Miss Lee to make several needed improvements to her home." Through member institutions such as BankPlus, SNAP provides subsidies for the repair and rehabilitation of owner-occupied housing of eligible, special-needs individuals. The maximum SNAP award per household is $6,000 unless the member or another lender contributes $350 toward the rehabilitation costs and/or inspection fees. Then the maximum award per household is $7,000.

FHLB Dallas set aside $2.5 million of its 2021 Affordable Housing Program funds for SNAP, and all SNAP funds were allocated in January for the highly sought-after program. Last year, FHLB Dallas awarded $2.5 million in SNAP subsidies that assisted 421 families. Since the program's 2009 inception, nearly $20.5 million in funding has been awarded across FHLB Dallas' five-state District. "Struggling to maintain aging homes is a real concern for homeowners, particularly during the pandemic. We are pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with BankPlus to help area residents improve their homes," said Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. To learn more about SNAP, visit fhlb.com/snap. About BankPlus Founded in 1909, BankPlus is one of the Southeast's premier regional banks serving consumers and businesses with the latest technology through a full suite of financial services, including retail banking, commercial banking, mortgage lending and wealth management. With approximately $5 billion in total assets, BankPlus operates 79 financial centers throughout Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. For more information about BankPlus, visit bankplus.net. About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $61.1 billion as of March 31, 2021, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 800 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit our website at fhlb.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210610005979/en/

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. Tennessee youth placed into the custody of the Tennessee Department of Childrens Services for delinquent behavior now have new options for learning and career development to prepare for a successful next chapter in life.

An innovative mix of online and in-person advanced education programs is now available to youth at three contracted juvenile justice residential treatment facilities who have earned a High School Equivalency (HSE) credential to begin advanced education through partnerships with Bethel University and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) statewide network. Depending on the options chosen by young men and women participating in the higher education programs, they can earn college credit toward an associate degree or begin a vocational career track by the time they leave the youth treatment facilities and return to their communities.

At present, 11 youth residents at treatment facilities operated by Wayne Halfway House are enrolled in classes either at Bethel or TCAT campuses. Ten of the students are residents of Mountain View Academy in Dandridge. With more residents of Tennessee youth treatment centers having just earned high school diplomas in May, advanced education enrollment is expected to rise in the fall. A total of 44 youth at Wayne Halfway House facilities earned high school diplomas or passed the HiSET exam this fiscal year.

The advanced education partnerships have the potential to improve lives, reduce recidivism and provide Tennessee with a model for reforming re-entry of youth adjudicated delinquent for committing criminal offenses. The opportunity was sparked by the mutual interests of the Department of Childrens Services (DCS) and Wayne Halfway House, each of whom is committed to the states mission of rehabilitating delinquent youth with education and job skills options. As a strategic approach to better prepare youth who will be rejoining their communities, DCS and Wayne Halfway House focused on creating advanced education affiliations. The education partnerships have been operational since early 2021.

There is nothing greater we can do as a department than help these young men and women become positive and productive members of our communities. By providing them with the opportunity to continue their education through learning a trade skill or post-secondary education, we help set them up for successful and fulfilling lives when they exit state custody and reach adulthood, Commissioner Jennifer Nichols said.

We are big believers that the mistake you made as a young person that landed you in our care does not have to define who you are, said Jason Crews, president of Wayne Halfway House, a Wayne County-based provider that operates Hollis Residential Treatment Center in Columbia, Mountain View Academy in Dandridge, Standing Tall in Nashville, and Hollis Academy in Waynesboro. All of these young people have the opportunity to commit to a more purposeful future. We emphasize that pathway to them every day and urge that they pursue the education, skills and career training programs that are available within and outside our facilities. They have the ability to leave their mistakes behind and have a successful next chapter in life.

Through its nationally recognized College of Professional Studies (CPS), Bethel offers classes to earn college credit toward an associate degree. The courses are five weeks each and the program requires the completion of 60 credit hours. Funding for the program is available through student aid and Bethels ability to cover any remaining costs through scholarships and grants. Graduating students can enter the workforce free of any student debt.

Part of our role is to be a servant where we can reach out to offer help and encouragement to those who need it, said Bethel University President Walter Butler. There are people who can be very productive in our society and they just need help sometimes. Were very honored to be able to partner with the Tennessee Department of Childrens Services to help deliver a positive impact on the lives of these young people.

Getting the students acclimated to interacting with their peers and instructors is a key to building a good start, said Dr. Mandy Fisher, Bethel Dean of Academic Studies.

The students learn to communicate with other students and higher education personnel to establish effective communication opportunities for future employment, she said. I have witnessed the students reach out to their professors through email communication to discuss remediation areas. These signs of communication are showing me these students want to learn and do better for themselves. If a student has the will to learn, I have the will to help them learn.

Tennessees TCAT program offers an array of vocational education programs across Tennessee. The Crump TCAT has a specialty in industrial electricity that it has made available to Hollis Academy residents since many of the programs core courses can be transferred to other programs across the TCAT system. Because Hollis Academy is a staff-secured facility (unlike Mountain View, which is a hardware-secured facility), youth residents have more freedom to attend the Crump TCAT campus with a staff escort. They can participate in field training projects to help wire large industrial, commercial, residential, and institutional building projects. If a Hollis resident completes the industrial electricity program at TCAT Crump he or she would be prepared for employment as an electrician.

Crews believes that the advanced education program has the potential to become a more established initiative and grow across Tennessees network of providers that offer services to delinquent youth.

If we can continue to show these kids what success looks like and how with some focus, determination and hard work they can achieve for themselves, then I am confident that many more of them will choose it as the right path, he said. If we do that, we can help turn around more lives and livelihoods that is good for Tennessee families and communities.
Educator Preparation Programs at the following universities have been awarded a competitive Additional Endorsement Grant to provide teachers with coursework and preparation in a virtual environment over the next 12 months:

In education, ensuring all students have access to great teachers is one of the most important things we can do, and this funding will help build teacher capacity across the state by providing a no-cost pathway for current teachers to earn additional endorsements, said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. Educators who are nominated by their district to earn one of these endorsements for free will gain new tools, knowledge and skills to help them grow in their practice and to better support our students.

Six additional endorsement grants, totaling $1 million, have been awarded to Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) to deliver courses in a virtual environment. With over 450 seats available across six EPPs, each district will be able to select one teacher per additional endorsement offeredproviding up to three teachers per district with a free endorsement in one of these areas.

Nashville, TN- Today, the Tennessee Department of Education announced the award of $1 million in grant funding to support students and school districts by providing current Tennessee educators free access to earn an additional teaching endorsement in each of the following areas: English as a Second Language (ESL), Special Education (SPED), and Secondary Mathematics (Secondary Math). These grants will help address shortages of teachers with the needed endorsements to effectively serve all students.

Teachers must be nominated by their district to participate in one of the additional endorsement pathways, and districts are asked to nominate a different individual for each endorsement pathway.



In order to nominate teachers from their district to participate in each of these additional endorsement pathways, Directors of Schools or a Designee should complete the primary participant and alternate participation nomination forms below by June 15:

District, school, and EPP leaders commented on how these funds will help fill critical vacancies and meet essential needs among Tennessees teacher population.

Jackson County Schools is excited and eager to take advantage of the additional endorsement opportunities for our educators, said Kristy Brown, Director of Schools, Jackson County Schools. Qualified teachers in the areas of ESL, Special Education, and Secondary Math are more challenging for small, rural districts to recruit and retain. This program will enable our existing teachers to increase their instructional capacity and earn endorsements that will benefit the students in our district.

We are excited to partner with the Tennessee Department of Education to help provide no-cost pathways to teachers across the state for endorsements in 6-12 mathematics, said East Tennessee State University Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Clemmer College Department Chair Karin Keith. Helping our state address certification needs to ensure students have licensed, trained staff is critical in helping all our students receive a high-quality education.

Getting more teachers endorsements in ESL education is essential for our state as many of our districts are seeing increased enrollment of English language learners, said Freed-Hardeman University College of Education Director of Literacy and ESL and Assistant Professor of Literacy Suzi Miley. We are thrilled to have been awarded an Additional Endorsement Grant from the department and to work with school districts on building up the states educator workforce.

I am so excited for the many Tennessee educators who will participate in the additional endorsement opportunity, said Hannah Hopper, ESL Teacher at Fairview-Marguerite Elementary School, Hamblen County Schools. This amazing partnership allows educators to pursue their passions while strengthening educational opportunities for students.

Teachers participating in the endorsement program will receive services at no cost for programming or fees, as costs for the program will be funded through the supplemental use of federal ESSER funds. Programming will allow teacher participants to earn their endorsement while completing coursework online. Pending successful completion of coursework and passage of all required licensure assessments, this grant will allow participating educators to earn their endorsement in one of the specified areas before the start of the 2022-23 school year, with some participants earning their additional endorsement as early as Spring 2022.

This is the fifth grant program made available by the department in recent months to support LEAs in serving students with disabilities, building off the Special Education additional endorsement grants for the 2020-21 school year, and the first grant offered by the department that allows teachers to gain an additional ESL or Secondary Math endorsement for free. To read more about last years Special Education additional endorsement grants, click here.

For Tennessee Department of Education media inquiries, contact Edu.MediaInquiries@tn.gov.

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Rich white dudes want help to another luxury hotel near the mostly empty Kansas City convention hotel.



This should be an automatic "NO" but Mayor & Council have been extremely unpredictable as late. Armed with free money stimmy there's really no telling how they'd like to spend it.



More info here for subscribers regarding the ongoing misadventures of desperate local developers . . .


Kansas City prepares to spend more cash on the homeless than at any other time in local history.

Funding for ultra-violent model lodging and a sketchy homeless village will likely pass council today.



As usual, resident input and consent was mostly overlook at the bulk of these funds were mandated my the current mayoral administration.



To be fair, there has been some pointed questions from Council on how this cash is being spent and already we're seeing debate over motel non-payment along with the establishment of a sketchy homeless administrative bureaucracy.



Nevertheless . . .

Right now we share upbeat reports of a Kansas City's homeless village disaster in the making which has ignored the rise in violence at new freebie digs funded by taxpayers.

Read more . . .



Kansas City Council Considers Constructing Tiny Home Village To Serve Houseless Community A Kansas City Council committee endorsed a plan Wednesday to create a "tiny home" village that would serve about 200 unhoused people. The measure goes to the full Council for a vote Thursday.

Kansas City Housing Committee calls for details on $4.7M in homeless hotel spending KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In a meeting Wednesday, city council members on the Housing Committee questioned Lotus Care House about where the money for hotels housing the homeless has been going. The mayor announced a plan to move people from homeless encampments to hotels back in early April without details for funding.

Developing . . .
The Kansas City discourse have become increasingly confusing amid the advent of social media.



For the uninitiated, online digital content creators can seem more influential than leaders who have spent decades building a reputation within their communities.

What's worse is that many prominent people sometimes feel compelled to match the captivating rhetoric of online pundits as they give into envy over mostly meaningless likes and shares that are only really built as part of a system to boost user participation, engagement and advertising views.

And so, the online discourse brings us to more serious questions betwixt local clergy and police.

To wit . . .

KANSAS CITY MINISTER DARRON LAMONTE EDWARDS CALLS OUT MEAN TWEETS PENNED BY FOP HONCHO BRAD LEMON!!!



This month the minister has earned a bevy of local media coverage by highlighting tragic video of a deadly KCPD arrest and claiming the altercation was an "execution" by police.

Here's his appraisal of rhetoric from the police leader in a public post this morning . . .



Again, to be fair, the quotes from the FOP leader were in reference to protesters who threatened police by way of a nasty coffin presented at KCPD HQ . . .



Even more context . . . Lets not forget that Sgt. Lemon found himself in a bit of hot water last year when audio of tough talk against a tow truck driver earned the local news spotlight.



Again, in fairness, very often people dealing with sketchy tow truck drivers go on a "chicken nugget rampage" and say some pretty horrible stuff in anger.



Nevertheless . . .



Sadly, the social media discourse is now a critical component of Kansas City's conversation about police, race, protest and politics. Moreover, comments among friends, followers and supporters often confront scrutiny from opponents engaged in real world power struggles.

You decide . . .


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.
A U.S. delegation, led by President Joe Biden, plans to discuss the Nord Stream 2 pipeline issue and its implications for Europe and Ukraine at a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said this during a press gaggle on Wednesday, June 9, according to Ukrinform.

"I expect Nord Stream 2 will come up in conversations with the Germans," Sullivan said when asked if Biden planned to discuss the Russian pipeline issue with Merkel.

He said he did not want to negotiate publicly on this issue, but, according to him, Germany "understands well the concerns" of the United States.

"But we do want to talk to them about what the implications of this pipeline are for energy security in Europe and for Ukraine," Sullivan said.

Biden began his visit to the United Kingdom on June 9. He plans to take part in the G7 summit and hold a series of bilateral meetings.

Photo: dpa
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Italian Foreign Luigi Di Maio have opened the Ukrainian-Italian business forum, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow not only to the people but also to the countries' economies. However, trade between Ukraine and Italy continues, and we want to increase it even more. That is why today we are creating an opportunity for Ukrainian and Italian companies to establish new business ties, sign new contracts, and discuss new promising projects for development," Kuleba said.

He assured Ukrainian businesspeople present at the forum that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, through the mechanism of the Council of Exporters and Investors, was ready to provide them with maximum assistance in entering foreign markets.

Di Maio, in turn, said that restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic had to some extent affected the economic relations between Italy and Ukraine.

"We need to develop both economic and financial cooperation. Today we came together aware of the importance of this and with hope for economic recovery," Di Maio said.

Di Maio is on an official visit to Ukraine on June 10.

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The Exporters and Investors Council under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic signed a memorandum that will facilitate the establishment of contacts and the development of cooperation between entrepreneurs of the two countries.

As the Embassy of Ukraine in the Czech Republic informs, the document was signed by Ambassador of Ukraine to the Czech Republic Yevhen Perebyinis and President of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic Jaroslav Hanak.

The document provides for establishment of cooperation between the parties in order to disseminate information that can enhance trade between Ukraine and the Czech Republic, provide information and advisory support to members of the Exporters and Investors Council and the Confederation during visits to Ukraine and the Czech Republic, mutual support in economic and investment activities, assistance in establishing contacts and developing cooperation between Ukrainian and Czech entrepreneurs, the statement reads.

During the meeting, the Ambassador of Ukraine and the President of the Czech Confederation of Industry discussed the current state and prospects of expanding UkrainianCzech cooperation in trade, economic, and investment spheres, including in the context of overcoming the negative economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

The parties also exchanged views on the bilateral economic measures planned for this year, in particular, the preparation for the next meeting of the UkrainianCzech Joint Commission on Economic, Industrial, and ScientificTechnical Cooperation which traditionally hosts the UkrainianCzech Business Forum.

On May 31, the Exporters and Investors Council under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency signed a memorandum that will help intensify cooperation between Ukrainian and Slovak enterprises.

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About 150 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the frontline territories of Ukraine have taken advantage of the assistance of the European Union under the FinancEast programme, which is being implemented in partnership with the Entrepreneurship Development Fund as part of the EUs EU4Business initiative.

Christian Ben Hell, Head of Agriculture Sector at the EU Delegation to Ukraine, said this during the presentation of the annual report of the Entrepreneurship Development Fund for 2020, an Ukrinform correspondent reports

He recalled that the programme was initiated in 2017. First, European partners financed it for EUR 15 million. Now this amount has grown to EUR 75 million.

The support programme for the eastern regions of Ukraine is based on four components, namely: governance and decentralization, security, reforms in various areas, as well as economic recovery and the development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

The European Union has decided to provide flexible and affordable assistance to SMEs in the region. The work is carried out in two directions  grants to reduce banking risks when lending to businesses and direct grants that compensate 50% of the cost of investment projects.

The EUs ultimate goal is to restore banks' confidence in lending to entrepreneurs working close to the contact line, where the risks are much higher. By restoring trust and confidence in the results, we can ensure sustainable access of micro, small and medium-sized businesses to financial resources and help rebuild these territories," Hell summed up.

On December 19, 2019, the German-Ukrainian Fund and three Ukrainian banks  OTP Leasing, Oschadbank, Ukrgasbank  signed subsidy agreements on the implementation of FinancEast programme as part of the EUs EU4Business initiative. This programme is aimed at restarting financing of SMEs in government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, economic recovery of Donbas and improving its investment attractiveness.

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The Russian Federation is a party to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, and it must show the best political will to achieve a peaceful settlement.

"We need political will on such important issues as stabilizing the regime of silence. To do this, first of all, Moscow must use its influence in eastern Ukraine. Moscow is a party to this conflict. And we have expectations of such Moscow's position," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Berlin on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

According to the German minister, a constructive approach is needed in the Normandy format negotiations. Within the framework of a peaceful settlement, it is important to demonstrate tangible progress in security and humanitarian spheres, disengagement of troops, mine action, exchange of detainees, and implementation of the so-called Steinmeier formula.

As Maas noted, Germany is concerned about the security situation in eastern Ukraine which remains unsatisfactory in recent months.

In addition, the German minister reminded of the large-scale build-up of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine in the spring. According to him, Ukraine "reacted very prudently and its actions were aimed at de-escalation." "The right way was chosen to solve this situation," he added.

Maas also encouraged Kyiv's appeal to the OSCE on this issue and assured Ukraine of support from Germany, EU, NATO, and G7.

As reported, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba made a working visit to Germany on June 8-9. During the visit, Kuleba held talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and held bilateral meetings with parliamentary leadership, members of the government, heads of leading political parties, and representatives of the German business community.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba is convinced that the German governments refusal to supply weapons to Ukraine is a political decision.

Ukraine is a country that has been attacked and it defends itself. It does not use weapons to seize foreign territories, to kill citizens of another country in war. That is why we understand that the decision made by the German government is political, Kuleba said during a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Berlin on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

As Kuleba stressed, there is no international rule that would limit Ukraine's ability to receive or buy weapons from abroad, and there is no legal prohibition in German law that does not allow the sale of weapons to Ukraine.

At the same time, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine stressed that Germany had the right to make such decisions and thanked Germany for focusing on the political settlement of the war in eastern Ukraine.

Germany is a sovereign state. It has the right to make decisions that it considers effective and efficient. We are grateful to Germany for focusing on the political settlement, and we sincerely hope that these efforts will allow us to stop the war and de-occupy our territories, the minister said.

At the same time, he expressed concern over possible escalation of the situation and new attacks by Russia.

But we must be honest that if these efforts [of political settlement] do not succeed and President Putin ignores the views of Berlin, Paris, Washington, Kyiv and starts another hot phase of the war, then [we must understand that] the Russian army is armed with more modern weapons, it will attack Ukraine again, and we will defend ourselves with what we will have at that time, Kuleba stressed.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed hope that this scenario would not happen, and no one will ever regret that Ukraine was not helped to strengthen its defense in order to discourage Putin from attacking. The high-ranking official added that Ukraine favored peaceful and political settlement of the conflict in which according to him, Germanys support is absolutely fundamental.

As reported, on June 1, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated that he would like weapons from Germany to be supplied to Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas responded by saying that arms supplies would not help settle the conflict.

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Representatives of the Swiss and British embassies got acquainted with the work of checkpoints on the administrative border with the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has reported.

"Yesterday, Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova Claude Wild, diplomatic representatives of the UK Embassy in Ukraine, and Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Anton Korynevych paid a working visit to the administrative border with the temporarily occupied Crimea. Representatives of the delegation discussed the defense and security situation both in the region and on the administrative border with the occupied Crimea," the report reads.

The diplomatic representatives visited the Kalanchak and Chaplynka checkpoints, where they got acquainted with their work and the conditions for passing citizens across the administrative border with the occupied Crimea.

The Swiss ambassador noted that the international community supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine and hopes for the early return of the occupied territories of Ukraine.

As reported, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to Ukraine Juris Poikans, Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to Ukraine Kaimo Kuusk, and Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine Bartosz Cichocki visited Kramatorsk, where they met with the leadership of Donetsk region and the Joint Forces Command.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin considers that the meeting proposed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky should be devoted to the problems of RussiaUkraine relations.

"It seems to me that so many problems have massed up in our bilateral [RussiaUkraine] relations that we should talk about it," Putin said, the Izvestia newspaper reports.

He added that the leaders of the two neighboring countries "always have something to talk about."

In addition, according to Interfax, the Russian president said that there were no guarantees that Ukraine would fail to join NATO and that U.S. statements claiming that President Biden had not spoken to Zelensky about granting Kyiv a plan to join NATO could be linked to a future summit of the presidents of Russia and the United States.

As Putin noted, if Ukraine joins NATO, "the flight time of missiles from Kharkiv or Dnipropetrovsk to central Russia and Moscow will be reduced to 7-10 minutes", calling it a "red line" for the Russian authorities.

The Russian president also called the Ukrainian bill on indigenous peoples "absolutely unacceptable" and "inconsistent with international law," comparing it to "the theory and practice of the Nazi Germany."

On June 8, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that there had been no progress in preparing for a possible meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.

On April 20, Zelensky addressed Putin, inviting him to meet "anywhere in the Ukrainian Donbas where the war is going on."

On April 22, Putin announced that he was ready to meet with Zelensky in Moscow, but the issue of ending the war in eastern Ukraine would be discussed only after talks between the Ukrainian authorities and the leaders of puppet "DPR" and "LPR".

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and American philanthropist of Ukrainian descent George Chopivsky have discussed the importance of strengthening Ukraine's international image and the diaspora's assistance in attracting international investors to the country.

According to Ukrinform, the head of government wrote this on Telegram after a meeting with the businessman.

"We discussed the importance of strengthening Ukraine's international image and the diaspora's assistance in attracting international investors to our country. We have a common goal: Ukraine should become a regional leader in terms of political and economic development," Shmyhal wrote.

According to him, Ukrainians abroad are a driving force behind the promotion of the country in the world. "I was glad to meet with George Chopivsky, an American philanthropist of Ukrainian descent who is one of the sponsors of the Ukrainian program at Stanford University," he said.

Shmyhal also added that Chopivsky had been contributing to the development of Ukrainian business for many years and, together with his family, he had supported a number of humanitarian, charitable and cultural programs for the development of Ukrainian society.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Italian Republic Luigi Di Maio has said that Italy supports Ukraine's European aspirations.

He said this after talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I want to make it clear that Italy recognizes Ukraine's European aspirations and will fully support it on this path," Di Maio said.

He noted that Italy's actions are constantly aimed at maintaining due attention to Ukraine among the international community. As an example, he cited the support of the G7 countries, which includes Italy, for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine.

The Italian foreign minister also drew attention to the importance of strengthening Kyiv's relations with the European Union.

I am sure that strengthening relations between Brussels and Kyiv is very important for both parties. Therefore, we are proud to have supported the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and Free Trade Agreement, Di Maio emphasized, adding that Italy is satisfied with the results provided by the Association Agreement.

He stressed that Italy welcomes Ukraine's reforms and cooperation with the EU, and assured that they "stay by Kyivs side" for further reforms under the above-mentioned Agreement.

The minister paid special attention to Ukraine's partnership with NATO.

"We support and appreciate the partnership that Ukraine has reached with NATO, because it is the driving force that should increase the internal strength and defense capabilities of our country," he added.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio is on an official visit to Ukraine on June 10.

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During the G7 summit, the European Union will draw the partners' attention to the destructive policy of Russia, which is not a mediator but a party to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"Russia will be one of the main topics [of discussion in the foreign affairs bloc of the summit]. G7 partners share common views on Russia's subversive actions. The EU condemns Russia's illegal, provocative, and destructive actions against the EU and its member states and beyond. I emphasized this in a telephone conversation with President Putin this week. In the conflict in eastern Ukraine, I repeat, we see Russia as a party to the conflict, not a mediator. We do not recognize and will not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia," European Council President Charles Michel said at a press conference, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He also said that the G7 leaders would consider coordinating measures in response to the actions of the Belarus regime and hijacking of a civilian plane by the country's authorities in violation of international aviation safety rules and regulations to arrest an opposition journalist and his girlfriend.

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Members of the French National Assembly have visited the contact line to see the consequences of Russias aggression against Ukraine and to convey objective information to French MPs, according to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar met with a parliamentary delegation of the National Assembly. The parties discussed a wide range of issues on the bilateral, European and international agenda.

Bodnar thanked the French MPs for their visit to Ukraine and their readiness to visit the contact line in the zone of the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict.

He also spoke about political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict, informed the interlocutors about the goals and objectives of the Crimean Platform.

The participants in the meeting expressed mutual interest in deepening Ukrainian-French cooperation at the communal and regional levels.

In turn, the National Assembly members noted the active implementation of reforms in Ukraine, in particular the success of the decentralization reform, and assured of further support for the country at the parliamentary level.

A delegation of members of the National Assembly is on a visit to Ukraine until June 13.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has invited Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel to take part in the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform in August.

Kuleba said this during a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Berlin on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I am grateful to Germany for supporting this initiative and the idea of holding the Crimean Platform summit in Ukraine on August 23. We look forward to meeting the German chancellor at this event, an invitation has been sent to her," Kuleba said.

The minister added that in connection with new international problems, the issue of Crimea "is getting lower and lower on the list of the international agenda," therefore Ukraine came up with the initiative of the Crimean Platform.

We believe that Crimea is an issue that deserves great attention, since Germany has always consistently advocated the protection of international law and human rights; and it is difficult to imagine a place in Europe where international law and human rights are violated more than ever since the end of World War II," Kuleba emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported, on June 9, Maas said that Germany supports Ukraine's initiative to de-occupy Crimea, the Crimean Platform, and hold the corresponding summit in Kyiv in August.

The Crimean Platform is a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine to improve the efficiency of the international response to the occupation of Crimea, respond to growing security challenges, step up international pressure on Russia, prevent further human rights violations, protect victims of the occupation regime, and achieve the de-occupation of Crimea.

The first Crimean Platform summit is scheduled for August 23, 2021.

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New recordings of telephone calls of four defendants have been made public at today's court hearing on the merits in the MH17 criminal proceedings in the Netherlands.

As an Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague informs, defendant Sergey Dubinskiy in a conversation with a man, who went by nickname Boatswain, which took place at 17:42 on July 17, 2014, said that a Su plane was managed to be shot down as militants had received Buk-M missile system. Dubinskiy also said that "after receiving Buk-M in the morning, it became easier for them to conduct military operations."

In a conversation between Dubinskiy and another man, Igor, which took place at 18:20, it was said that journalists reported a Boeing to be shot down 80 km of Donetsk. At first, Dubinskiy thought it was a Su plane that was mistaken for a Boeing. However, when it becomes clear that a passenger plane was shot down, the militants started to say that the Su plane shot down the Boeing, and they had downed the Su plane.

Another defendant, Leonid Kharchenko, talks on the phone with soldier Gilazov at 21:32 on July 17, 2014, saying that a fighter from the Buk crew got lost.

Kharchenko's conversation with defendant Oleg Pulatov, which took place at 21:40 on the day of the tragedy, refers to the crew of the Buk system installation.

A fragment of conversation between Igor Girkin and Dubinskiy, which took place the morning after the tragedy, was presented in the courtroom. In particular, Dubinskiy says that Buk is already in Russia: "A machine has been in Russia for a while now."

The video and maps of the transportation of the Buk missile system were presented in great detail at the hearing.

Judge Dagmar Koster, who read out the case details, reiterated that all published files were the result of the investigation, and the court would express its opinion only after the hearings on the merits were completed.

As reported, the District Court of The Hague continues to consider the issues of weapons from which the MH17 Flight was shot down, a place where the missile was launched, as well as the role of the four defendants in the terrorist attack.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over occupied area of Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. All of them died. The international Joint Investigation Team reported that the plane had been shot down from a Buk missile system that belonged to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.

On June 19, 2019, the JIT named four suspects believed to be involved in the transportation and combat use of the Buk missile system, from which MH17 flight had been downed. Three of them are Russians: Igor Girkin (Strelkov), former colonel in Russia's FSB intelligence service and former so-called defense minister of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic"; Sergey Dubinskiy, general (at the time of downing  colonel) of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and head of the so-called "Main Intelligence Directorate of the Donetsk Peoples Republic"; Oleg Pulatov, lieutenant colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The fourth suspect is Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian civilian, who fought on the side of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic.

In March 2020, the District Court of The Hague began the consideration of the case over the downing of Flight MH17 in the sky over Donbas.

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ON JUNE 3, 2021, the New Hampshire Senate voted to approve its version of the two-year state budget. This version of the budget would spend a total of $5.4 billion in state general and education funds for the two fiscal years that begin on July 1, 2021 and 2022. The Senate-passed budget will
(@FahadShabbir)

New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :Blocked by US President Joe Biden, Canada's TC Energy said Wednesday it had officially terminated the Keystone XL Pipeline project, throwing in the towel on a controversial initiative opposed by environmental activists.

TC Energy will coordinate with regulators, indigenous groups and other stakeholders "to meet its environmental and regulatory commitments and ensure a safe termination of and exit from the project," the company said in a press release, confirming that it had notified the government of the province of Alberta.

Biden formally rescinded a permit for the pipeline, first proposed in 2008, by executive order on his first day in office in January 2021.

He had vowed during the presidential campaign to end the project over environmental concerns, a reversal of the stance taken by predecessor Donald Trump.

While the project has long been backed by Canada, Keystone XL had been opposed by environmentalists and indigenous groups, who have organized rallies against the pipeline in Washington, Ottawa and in the affected areas throughout the last decade.

The 1,210-mile (1,950-kilometer) pipeline, starting in 2023, was to transport up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from the Alberta oil sands to Nebraska and then through an existing system to refineries in coastal Texas.

TC Energy argued that bringing so much oil from friendly, neighboring Canada would reduce US dependence on the middle East and Venezuela by up to 40 percent.

The State Department estimated the plan would have created 42,000 temporary jobs over the two-year construction period, but opponents noted that just 35 permanent jobs would be created for pipeline maintenance.

The Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan are likely to pay the price for the pipeline termination, according to experts.

Alberta will "explore all options to recoup the government's investment" in the pipeline, a statement by the province said, adding that it would ultimately be on the hook for about Can$1.3 billion (US$1.1 billion).

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said he was "disappointed and frustrated" with the cancellation.

"Alberta will continue to play an important role in a reliable, affordable North American energy system," he said. "We will work with our US partners to ensure that we are able to meet US energy demands through the responsible development and transportation of our resources." The US Environmental Protection Agency had raised an objection to the project under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and former president Barack Obama vetoed Congress's approval of the Keystone proposal in 2015.

Trump, however, supported the pipeline as part of a push for "gleaming new infrastructure" and tried to revive the operation, but was thwarted by court rulings to halt construction in 2018 -- before again approving a permit in early 2020.

Alberta's tar sands are considered to have the "dirtiest" oil on the planet. Unlike traditional crude which gushes from a well, tar sand oil must be dug up and essentially melted with steaming hot water before it can be refined. It results in huge lakes of polluted water and the strip-mining of millions of acres of once-pristine boreal forests.

Environmentalists argue tar sand oil contains a harmful and corrosive component -- bitumen -- which makes pipeline ruptures or leaks more likely and carries greater health and safety risks.

TC Energy argued that buried pipelines are far safer for transporting oil than ships or trains, but critics noted the existing portion of the Keystone pipeline developed a dozen leaks in its first year of operation.

Kendall Mackey, a campaigner with the activist group @350, said the project's demise was a harbinger of more casualties as environmentalists challenge fossil fuels.

"The fight to stop Keystone XL was never about one pipeline," Mackey said in a news release. "This victory puts polluters and their financiers on notice: terminate your fossil fuel projects now -- or a relentless mass movement will stop them for you.""After more than 10 years -- we have finally defeated an oil and gas giant! Keystone XL is DEAD! We are dancing in our hearts for this victory!" the Indigenous Environmental Network tweeted Wednesday.
The Japanese government's expert coronavirus advisory panel on Thursday approved a plan to lift the COVID-19 quasi-state of emergency in three prefectures on Sunday as scheduled, according to local media

TOKYO, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :The Japanese government's expert coronavirus advisory panel on Thursday approved a plan to lift the COVID-19 quasi-state of emergency in three prefectures on Sunday as scheduled, according to local media.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK said the quasi-state of emergency measures in place for Gunma, Ishikawa and Kumamoto prefectures are set to end on Sunday.

The three prefectures have been under the restrictions since May 16.

The plan, approved by the expert panel, is expected to be finalized by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga later in the day.

Under the quasi-state of emergency, the affected prefectures have seen bans placed on restaurants serving alcohol and such businesses are required to close by 8 p.

m. local time.

In addition, large events have a cap of 5,000 people attending.

Those not following the anti-virus measures are subjected to smaller fines, however, than those breaking the rules in prefectures under a fully-fledged state of emergency.

Amid concerns over the spread of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus, 10 prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka remain under a fully-fledged state of emergency set to end on June 20.

Along with five other prefectures that are still under a quasi-state of emergency, NHK said decisions on lifting these measures will be made next week.
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The number of corona patients in two big hospitals, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar and Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar have gradually been decreasing, a spokesperson of the LRH Muhammad Asim told media men here on Thursday

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :The number of corona patients in two big hospitals, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar and Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar have gradually been decreasing, a spokesperson of the LRH Muhammad Asim told media men here on Thursday.

He said in LRH there are 112 corona patients currently under treatment including six patients remaining in the ICU while a total of 517 beds have been allocated for corona patients initially.

However, the administration of the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) confirmed that they have 106 beds for Corona patients and currently Corona patients are admitted to 53 beds.

The hospital has 25 ventilators for Corona patients, he said, adding at least 15 patients are in intensive care at the hospital in KTH while 13 other corona patients are being treated at HDU.

He said twenty-five patients are being treated for Low Oxygen levels and one more corona patient has been admitted on Thursday. He said, three patients have been confirmed dead due to coronary heart disease.
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ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 10th Jun, 2021) H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, received today Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdymukhamedov, to exchange views over a number of issues of common interest.

During the meeting, which was held at Qasr Al Watan, ways of accelerating the bilateral relations at the economic, trade and investment levels were discussed in order to achieve the common interests of the two friendly countries and their peoples.

The meeting was attended by Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Cabinet Member and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, and Berdiniyaz Matiyev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.
Yangon, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been hit with fresh corruption charges, state-run media reported Thursday.

The Anti-Corruption Commission found evidence that she had committed "corruption using her rank", according to the Global New Light of Myanmar. "So she was charged under Anti-Corruption Law section 55."
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New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :For the second time in a month, the United States on Wednesday demanded Mexico look into a case of a company in the auto industry blocking worker efforts to unionize.

US President Joe Biden ran for office as a champion of American workers, and pledged to take action to ensure they are protected from unfair competition from cheap labor in other countries.

The US Labor Department and the US Trade Representative formally called on the Mexican government to review whether workers at the Tridonex auto parts facility in Matamoros were denied rights of collective bargaining guaranteed under the continental free trade pact.

Last month, Washington filed its first formal complaint under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) over allegations of "serious violations" of worker rights during a recent union vote at a GM plant in Silao, in the state of Guanajuato.

The latest action is in response to a formal complaint lodged against Tridonex, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Cardone Industries Inc, by labor organizations including the US labor federation AFL-CIO and Mexico's SNITIS industrial workers union.

The complaint said workers were "harassed and fired for trying to organize with SNITIS, an independent Mexican union," rather than the management-backed union, and labor lawyer Susana Prieto Terrazas was imprisoned by local authorities.

"Workers' ability to exercise their fundamental human rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining without retaliation is essential to building independent unions in Mexico," US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said.

"Using the labor enforcement mechanisms in USMCA is a critical step in assuring that US and Mexican workers share in the benefits of trade." Under the USMCA, Mexico has 10 days to conduct a review to determine if a violation took place and 45 days to attempt to address it.

The Mexican government late Wednesday acknowledged receiving the request, and said it will review it to "determine with facts and legal elements whether or not there is a denial of labor rights based on the commitments assumed" in the USMCA.

If so, a joint statement from the ministries of Economy and Labor said they will seek to reach "a path of reparations" with its US counterparts.

If the two sides cannot agree the issue has been resolved, the United States may request that a panel make a determination.
LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar Thursday said that the opposition had been indulging in negative political activities to create unrest in the country and destabilise the government.

However, he added, such elements had been fully exposed before masses.

In a statement, he said the opposition irresponsibly behaved during the corona pandemic and disappointed masses. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was standing with the people while the negative politics of opposition leaders had become part of the history, he said.

The opposition had also ignored the national interest, but the government had no threat from it. The government would complete its constitutional term, he added.

Usman Buzdar said the hollow slogan of giving respect to vote had vanished into the thin air and those trying to disrupt the development journey would gain nothing, he added.

Practically, the opposition remained busy in making the usual uproar while failing to do anything for the citizens. It was the reason that people have been disappointed with the negative politics of such dual-face politicians, the CM added.
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ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi Thursday directed the Chairman of Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to take cognizance of the 'selective action' by Facebook management against Pakistani and Kashmiri Social Media activists and take appropriate action in this regard.

The directions were passed during the 18th meeting of the Parliamentary Kashmir Committee chaired by Shehryar Afridi here. Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chairman PTA, delegation of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and others also attended the meeting. Chaudhry Zafar, President of Canada-Pakistan Global Congress also attended as an observer from Canada.

The Committee also passed two unanimous resolutions to denounce the recent Indian maneuvers and army deployment in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and the recent terrorist attack on a Muslim family in Canada amid rise of Islamophobia.

The Committee gave a nod to the roadmap of international visits for lobbying on Kashmir. Briefing the committee on the future engagement with diplomatic corps, Chairman Kashmir Committee said that in wake of significant reduction in Covid-19 pandemic, the Committee delegations would soon be visiting Turkey, Central Asian states, US and UK to lobby on Kashmir Dispute. He said other than the Kashmir Committee members, the APHC leadership would also be a part of these delegations.

The Committee gave a detailed hearing to Chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Maj. Gen (R) Amir Azeem Bajwa over the action taken against the Facebook management on the recent suspension of accounts and pages of Pakistani users.

He said that the PTA had sensitised about the concerns of Pakistan and Kashmiris about censorship of activists on human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the reduction of complaints reflected that there was a change in the mindset of the social media sites management.

However, Chairman Kashmir Committee Shehryar Afridi questioned the PTA chief why the managements of Facebook and Twitter did not set up their offices in Pakistan yet. Referring to a recent statement of Facebook management about suspension of several accounts and pages of Pakistani users, Afridi asked what action had been taken by the PTA against the Facebook team.

Chairman KC said why the Facebook team had refused to turn up in the Kashmir Committee meeting and directed PTA to ensure that Facebook representative must attend the next meeting of the Committee.

Chairman PTA said that PTA was engaging with Facebook management and would do whatever it takes to protect the rights of the Pakistani and Kashmiri users in accordance with the Pakistani laws.

He said Pakistan had directed Facebook management to set up its office in Pakistan.

Chairman Kashmir Committee Shehryar Khan Afridi argued how Facebook management was not adhering to the directives of a country with 220 million population and how can any company violate basic rights of over 220 million people.

Afridi said why PTA had failed to take action against Facebook management and why the Facebook was not blocked in Pakistan if it fails to comply with the directions of Government of Pakistan.

Khurram Dastagir MNA said that Pakistan needed to form a new law to help social media companies comply with the aspirations of the people of Pakistan.

Chairman Kashmir Committee asked Chairman PTA to bring his legal team to the Kashmir Committee meeting next time so as a legal course could be taken against Facebook management.

Secretary National Security Division Amir Hassan said that there was a need to amend the PTA law to empower it to take suo-motu action against the social media companies working in Pakistan. He also proposed that FIA's cyber team may take suo-motu action against Facebook management. Chairman Kashmir Committee directed to summon other stakeholders in the next meeting to deal with the issue.

Syed Faiz Naqshbandi, convener of APHC, lauded Shehryar Afridi's new parliamentary move to include the Kashmiri component in the Kashmir discourse and said that Kashmiris were very happy over the diplomatic overtures of the government of Pakistan.

He briefed the Committee on the latest developments taking place in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and said that there were rumours that India was planning to move the capital of Jammu of Kashmir from Muslim majority Srinagar to Hindu majority Jammu in a bid to consolidate their illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

Khurram Dastagir also showered praises on Shehryar Afridi for his 'stewardship' and transparency in running the Kashmir Committee keeping its neutrality intact and giving the opposition lawmakers enough space and opportunity to raise issues at the Committee meetings.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry briefed the meeting on the developments taking place in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the measures being taken by the government of Pakistan.
Algeria holds a parliamentary election Saturday under the shadow of a protest movement boycott and deep scepticism the North African nation can escape political paralysis and worsening economic crisis

Tunis, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :Algeria holds a parliamentary election Saturday under the shadow of a protest movement boycott and deep scepticism the North African nation can escape political paralysis and worsening economic crisis.

The poll comes as authorities seek to bolster their legitimacy and take the wind out of the sails of the Hirak, the protest movement which returned to the streets in February following an almost year-long break due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Back in 2019, the Hirak mobilised hundreds of thousands to force longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika into resignation, after he launched a bid for a fifth term.

It has urged boycotts of all national votes since then. A presidential election 18 months ago, won by Abdelmadjid Tebboune, attracted a turnout of less than 40 percent, even according to official figures.

Last month, the International Crisis Group said Algeria's situation had "deteriorated", noting that the authorities had "stepped up repression" against Hirak supporters ahead of the polls, "quashing demonstrations and arresting scores".

Tebboune's government claims to have responded to the Hirak's main demands "in record time" and dismisses them as "counter-revolutionaries" in the pay of "foreign parties" hostile to Algeria.

For the protest movement, Tebboune's status as a former prime minister under Bouteflika dovetails into its narrative that the old guard remains unashamedly at the helm.
Woburn, MA (01801)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has raised concerns about the unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines among nations and urged the international community to reverse such tendency.

"We are very concerned that 90% of the vaccines that have been produced are in the hands of 10% of countries and that seems to us to be a great inequity," Fernandez said on Wednesday, while speaking at a press conference during the official visit of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Buenos Aires.

The president highlighted Argentina's efforts in starting the local production of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. In addition, Argentina aims to advance with the possibility of doing the same with the Chinese Sinopharm, as has already been done, in conjunction with Mexico, with the AstraZeneca vaccine. According to Fernandez, this local production will accelerate the process of providing Latin America with much-needed vaccines.

"What we need is a commitment to make the vaccine a global asset and transfer the technology to different countries so that production scales and accelerates, reaching every inhabitant of the planet," he added, after noting that Europe has donated 50% of its vaccines to the UN COVAX mechanism aimed to provide equitable access to coronavirus vaccines globally.

Moreover, the leaders of both countries called for liberalizing COVID-19 vaccine patents and providing all the countries with vaccines. Argentina and Spain are ready to change the world together, they said.

"From the multilateral point of view, Argentina and Spain are defending the liberalization of vaccines, that are considered to be a global public good," Sanchez said.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the death toll in Argentina has risen to 83,272 people, and the number of detected cases to more than 4 million people.

The Spanish prime minister met with the Argentine president in Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning to relaunch the strategic relationship between the two nations. In addition, he held meetings with businessmen and the Spanish diaspora in Argentina, the largest outside Spain. Sanchez is set to visit Costa Rica next as part of his Latin America tour.
HELSINKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) Estonian Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets appealed to the European Commission over Finland's travel restrictions for workers, the ministry announced on Wednesday.

According to the Estonian foreign ministry, Liimets sent a letter to European transport commissioner Adina Valean, home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson, justice commissioner Didier Reynders and jobs commissioner Nicolas Schmit concerning disproportional travel restrictions enforced by Finland.

"Estonia considers the restrictions on free movement currently in force in Finland disproportionate and unjustified. The foreign minister would like the European Commission to assess whether they are in line with European Union law," a statement read.

The motion followed Helsinki's decision to allow entry to people working in Finland starting June 7 on the condition that they arrive by plane. This means that Estonian workers cannot use the ferry, which is the most popular and affordable way to cross the Gulf of Finland to enter the country.

The Estonian ministry noted that the justification for these restrictions remained unclear.

Estonian members of the European Parliament have earlier also sent a joint appeal to the European Commission, calling on the EU to ensure that the Finnish authorities observe the principle of free movement of people.

Estonian media reported that currently, tens of thousands of the country's citizens work in Finland.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) An armored car exploded during a check of the patrol route of the Russian military police in Syria's northeastern province of Al-Hasakah, leaving one serviceman killed, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

"On June 9, 2021, an armored vehicle exploded after tripping an unidentified explosive device while checking the patrol route of the Russian military police in the Al-Hasakah province of the Syrian Arab Republic," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

One Russian serviceman died, and three fellow servicemen who traveled in this car were taken to hospital and received the necessary medical assistance, the ministry added.

"The Russian Defense Ministry will provide all the necessary assistance and support to the family of the killed serviceman," the statement read.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) The US Defense Department has set up a new security studies center for the Arctic regions, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.

"Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III is proud to announce the establishment of a new Department of Defense Regional Center, the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies," the Defense Department said in a press release on Wednesday.

The center is named after a former US senator from Alaska and it will seek to boost cooperation on the challenges and security concerns related to the Arctic region, the release explained.

The new center "will address the need for US engagement and international cooperation to strengthen the rules-based order in the region and tackle shared challenges such as climate change," Austin said in the release.

The center will develop collaborative insights with allies and partners and will support the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance direction to address the need for US engagement and international cooperation to strengthen the rules-based order in the region, Austin added.
US securities regulators are examining ways to update trading rules, including how assets are priced, to ensure they keep up with current technology, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jun, 2021 ) :US securities regulators are examining ways to update trading rules, including how assets are priced, to ensure they keep up with current technology, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.

"I believe it's appropriate to look at ways to freshen up the SEC's rules to ensure that our equity markets reflect our mission: to maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, while ensuring we protect investors and facilitate capital formation," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a speech.
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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered several new Department of Defense initiatives to deal with the growing security threats from China, the Department of Defense announced on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th June, 2021) US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered several new Department of Defense initiatives to deal with the growing security threats from China, the Department of Defense announced on Wednesday.

"Based on final recommendations submitted by the Department of Defense China Task Force, Secretary Austin issued a directive today initiating several major department-wide efforts to better address the security challenges posed by China as the United States' number one pacing challenge," the department said in a press release.

The initiatives, some of which will remain classified, are designed to focus Departmental processes and procedures and help Pentagon leaders contribute to whole-of-government efforts to address the challenge from China, the release explained.

"I asked a lot of them, and they delivered. Now it is time for us to move forward. The efforts I am directing today will improve the department's ability to revitalize our network of allies and partners, bolster deterrence, and accelerate the development of new operational concepts [and] emerging capabilities," Austin said.

The directive also established Austin's authority to directly oversee the Department of Defense's China-related policies, operations, and intelligence as the Task Force's recommendations are incorporated into ongoing reviews and processes, the release noted.
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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that he discussed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the upcoming June 14 NATO summit and the situation in the region

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that he discussed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the upcoming June 14 NATO summit and the situation in the region.

"Spoke with President @ZelenskyyUa of our valued partner #Ukraine.

We discussed the upcoming #NATOSummit, the security situation in the region & #Russia's unacceptable military build-up. I stressed our continued political & practical support & encouraged their reform process," Stoltenberg tweeted.
Tajikistan would like to host a conference on Afghanistan for the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in July, Tajikistani president Emomali Rahmon said Thursday

DUSHANBE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) Tajikistan would like to host a conference on Afghanistan for the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in July, Tajikistani president Emomali Rahmon said Thursday.

"Tajikistan, as the current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization suggests that the foreign ministers of Afghanistan and member states discuss the entire range of Afghanistan-related issues in Dushanbe in July as part of the SCO-Afghanistan contact group," Rahmon said at the press conference following the visit of Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the president of a fellow SCO member, Uzbekistan.

Rahmon said that regional safety is the top priority now for Shanghai Pact members and regional partners.

"We are of one mind, that attention of the world community to needs and problems of this country shouldn't fade. We agreed to continue contributing to support of peace process in Afghanistan and to social-economic development of our common neighbor," the president said.

Afghanistan remains an unstable region, where military attacks regularly claim lives. The latest incident occurred on June 5, when a roadside bomb went off; the blast was blamed on the Taliban, who haven't given any comment yet. International troops are being withdrawn from the region now, but peace is as elusive as ever.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) US statements on reimbursing Kiev for possible transit losses due to Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will not affect Moscow's position: the project will be implemented, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with Sputnik.

Earlier, the US State Department said that Washington's goal "remains to ensure that Russia cannot use energy as a coercive tool against Ukraine or anyone else in the region." US State Secretary Antony Blinken said Washington is also working with Germany to make up for possible loss of Kiev's gas transit fees due to the pipeline bypassing Ukraine.

"[The United States] is not alone on the planet, surrounded by satellites and clients.

Therefore, it is deeply mistaken that this kind of reasoning somehow changes our position or affects it. It only strengthens us in that we are on the right track - Nord Stream 2 will be built!" Ryabkov said.

"Time will pass, and generations that have changed, including in the United States, will understand that those who ensured the energy security of Europe for decades to come, including through the implementation of this project, were right... Nord Stream 2 will become an element of modern architecture of energy security of Europe and Eurasia," he said.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) US Air Force Security Forces Squadron commander at Lackland, Lt. Col. Brian Loveless, said on Wednesday that security forces are trying to confirm whether two gunshots were fired at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

"No injuries reported and we are investigating certain leads and trying to confirm whether gunshots did occur from off the installation," Loveless said in a press conference.

Earlier in the day, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland went on lockdown due to reports of an active shooter situation.

Loveless said that around noon security forces received a report about two gunshots fired at the base from an off-base location. He said they have received no reports of people witnessing any gunshots fired at the base.

The base said the lockdown is completely lifted and the military installation is secure.
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The US military is mulling whether to authorize airstrikes in Afghanistan if Kabul or other cities are in danger of falling to the Taliban, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing senior American officials

NEW YORK, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jun, 2021 ) :The US military is mulling whether to authorize airstrikes in Afghanistan if Kabul or other cities are in danger of falling to the Taliban, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing senior American officials.

The officials told the newspaper that military officials are actively discussing how to respond to potential consequences following the withdrawal of US troops, slated to be completed by September.

President Joe Biden and his administration had said previously that air support would also end, except for strikes that target terrorist groups that could impact American interests, the Times noted.

The officials said that decisions to potentially allow airstrikes following troop withdrawal haven't been made yet, but one option now would be to recommend US warplanes or armed drones intervene in a major crisis, such as the fall of Kabul.

One official told the newspaper that intervening to help Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city, would be far less certain.

The US is not likely to provide additional air support to Afghan forces in rural areas, many of which are under Taliban control. Military help is also not likely at government enclaves across the country, the report said.

Additional airstrikes would require Biden's approval, the Times noted.

Even then, the officials indicated that such air support would be hard to sustain over a lengthy period because of the enormous logistical effort that would be necessary given the American withdrawal. The United States will leave all its air bases in Afghanistan by next month, and any airstrikes would most likely have to be launched from bases in the Persian Gulf.

The National Security Council declined to comment to the Times on the options being discussed.

The White House and the Pentagon have offered no comments on the report.

The report comes as the US military reaches the halfway point of withdrawing forces.

Biden said in April that all US troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that sparked the conflict.

The president said at the time that the US would continue to provide humanitarian assistance and support peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban Still, questions remained about how the US would handle threats from the region.

Concerns over a rise in violence have grown amid clashes between the Afghan military and the Taliban since Biden announced the withdrawal.

Biden is also under pressure to evacuate Afghans who helped US forces during the conflict and are at risk of being hunted by the Taliban.
Vaccine manufacturer Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided to extend the company's coronavirus vaccine shelf life from three months to four-and-a-half months

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) Vaccine manufacturer Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday that the US food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided to extend the company's coronavirus vaccine shelf life from three months to four-and-a-half months.

"We are pleased to confirm the US Food & Drug Administration has authorized an extension of the shelf life for the Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine from three months to four-and-a-half months," Johnson & Johnson said in a release.

The FDA made its decision based on data from ongoing studies that have demonstrated that the vaccine remains stable for up to four-and-a-half months when refrigerated at temperatures between 36 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit (2-8 degrees Celsius).

The company also reiterated the effectiveness and importance of their single-shot vaccine, adding that they plan to continue working with the US government and other health authorities to support the continued use of the vaccine.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that the Azerbaijani military opened fire near the border in Armenia's Gegharkunik region

YEREVAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) The Armenian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that the Azerbaijani military opened fire near the border in Armenia's Gegharkunik region.

"On June 10, the Azerbaijani armed forces once again tried to carry out engineering work in the border area of the Gegharkunik region of Armenia.

Units of the Armenian armed forces responded and forced [the Azerbaijani side] to stop work. In response, the Azerbaijani side opened fire on the Armenian positions. The Armenian military moved to retaliatory actions," the ministry said in a statement, adding that there were no casualties on the Armenian side.
Pope Francis rejects the resignation of Cardinal Reinhard Marx as Archbishop of Munich. Thank you for your Christian courage, which does not fear to be humbled before the reality of sin, the Pope writes to the Cardinal. Taking up the crisis, personally and communally, is the only fruitful path.

By Vatican News

If you are tempted to think that by confirming your mission and not accepting your resignation, this Bishop of Rome (your brother who loves you) does not understand you, think of what Peter felt before the Lord when, in his own way, he presented his resignation, by presenting himself as a sinner, and received the answer, Shepherd my sheep. It is with this image that Pope Francis concludes his letter in which he rejects the resignation presented by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising. In a letter to the Pope dated 21 May  which was later published  the German Cardinal explained the reasons for his gesture. He said he had asked the Pope to step down from the leadership of the German diocese because of the abuse scandal in Germany and the response of the episcopate, which he considered insufficient.

Pope Francis responded with his own letter, written in Spanish and published in Spanish and German by the Holy See Press Office on Thursday. In it, the Pope thanks Cardinal Marx for the Christian courage that does not fear the cross, that does not fear being humiliated before the tremendous reality of sin. Francis recalls that the whole Church is in crisis because of the abuse issue, maintaining that the Church today cannot take a step forward without addressing this crisis because the politics of the ostrich leads nowhere, and the crisis must be addressed by our Paschal faith. Sociologisms and psychologisms are useless. Therefore, he adds, taking up the crisis, personally and communally, is the only fruitful way, because we do not come out of a crisis alone but in community.



The Pope agreed with the description of the crisis Cardinal Marx proposed in his letter: I agree with you in describing the sad history of sexual abuse, and the way the Church has dealt with it until recently, as a catastrophe. To become aware of this hypocrisy in the way we live our faith is a grace, it is a first step we must take. We must take ownership of the history, both personally and as a community. We cannot remain indifferent to this crime. Taking it up means putting ourselves in crisis.

It is true, Pope Francis continued, that historical situations must be interpreted with the hermeneutics of the time in which they occurred, but this does not exempt us from taking ownership of them and taking them up as the history of sin that besets us. Therefore, the Pope added, in my opinion, every bishop of the Church must take it upon himself and ask himself: what must I do in the face of this catastrophe?

The Pope recalls the mea culpa already repeated many times in the face of so many historical errors of the past. Today, he explains, We are asked for a reform, which  in this case  does not consist in words but in attitudes that have the courage to face the crisis, to assume reality whatever the consequences may be. And every reform begins with oneself. The reform in the Church was made by men and women who were not afraid to enter into crisis and let themselves be reformed by the Lord.

This, said the Bishop of Rome is the only way, otherwise we will be nothing more than ideologues of reform who do not put their own flesh on the line, as Jesus did, with His life, with His story, with His flesh on the cross. And this, Francis acknowledged, is the way, the way that you yourself, dear brother, have taken in presenting your renunciation, because burying the past gets us nowhere. Silence, omissions, giving too much weight to the prestige of institutions only leads to personal and historical failure.

Pope Francis said it is urgent to allow the Spirit to lead us to the desert of desolation, to the Cross and resurrection. It is the way of the Spirit that we must follow, and the starting point is the humble confession: We have erred, we have sinned.

In his letter, the Pope insisted that; Neither polls nor the power of institutions will save us. We will not be saved by the prestige of our Church, which tends to hide its sins; we will not be saved by the power of money or the opinion of the media (so often we are too dependent on them). We will be saved by opening the door to the only One who can [save us], and by confessing our nakedness: I have sinned, we have sinned... and by weeping, and stammering, as best we can, Depart from me, for I am a sinner,  the legacy that the first Pope left to the Popes and Bishops of the Church.

In doing so, the Pope explained, we will feel that healing shame that opens the doors to the compassion and tenderness of the Lord who is always close to us. Francis also said that he appreciates the ending of Marx's letter and his willingness to continue to be a priest and bishop of this Church, committing himself to spiritual renewal.

And this is my answer, dear brother, the Pope concluded. Continue as you propose, but as Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Recalling that the Bishop of Rome, Successor of that Peter who had said to Jesus, Depart from me, for I am a sinner, can understand him well, and invites him to listen to the answer that the Nazarene gave to the Prince of the Apostles: Tend my sheep.
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The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on socioeconomic development in the world and in Vietnam.

BAC A BANK offers a new programme for businesses using its app

However, seen from a positive angle, the pandemic has been giving opportunities for banks to increase digital transformation in the context of growing demands for smart financial solutions with no use of cash, and the public habit shifting from offline to online transactions.

Currently in the market, many banks are prioritising upgrading and perfecting technology in service of e-payment infrastructure and applying attractive policies to help customers improve their experience and maximise their benefits.

Rolling with this trend, BAC A BANK has been offering a preferential programme on installing its app for enterprise customers, running from June 1 to December 31.

The beneficiaries of the programme are divided into three groups.

The first group includes the first 500 new businesses, opening customer information files (CIFs) after the programme start.

The second group includes BAC A BANK's existing business customers who have yet to register Internet Banking and Mobile Banking.

Meanwhile, the third group embraces individual customers who are directors or chief accountants of the enterprises listed in the first and second groups.

Accordingly, BAC A BANK will allow customers to use the money transfer service via e-bank free-of-charge for two years for the first group of customers and one year for the second and third groups.

In addition, to offer more diversified experiences to customers, BAC A BANK also provides a free-of-charge service for opening nice account numbers for the customers of the first and third groups. These accounts are believed to bring good luck to customers.

In the time to come, BAC A BANK will continue carrying out promotion programmes for faithful customers over the past years.

For further information, please contact BAC A BANK's transaction offices throughout the country, or visit www.baca-bank.vn or Customer Care 1800 588 828.
The number of businesses in Ho Chi Minh City suspending operations in the first five months of this year increased by nearly 24 per cent. Photo: Nhan Tran

The pandemic situation in the area is still complicated, Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, said in the meeting between the committee, the city's leaders, experts, and businesses.

Regarding business activities, since the beginning of the year, 1,365 businesses have reported difficulties due to the pandemic, more than 42,500 workers lost their jobs or stopped working, 410 businesses needed loans to pay wages to workers, and 2,274 enterprises completed dissolution procedures.

The chairman expects the business community and people in the area to join the government to overcome this difficulty. He stated that, currently, Ho Chi Minh City has to spend about VND7 billion ($304,350) a day on testing. The city's goal is to vaccinate its entire population.

It is very difficult to access vaccines now because supply still cannot meet the demand," Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Committee said and urged people who know of guaranteed vaccine supply to contact the city.

Meanwhile, Le Thi Huynh Mai, director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment, said that in the first five months, more than 6,400 businesses resumed operations.

However, the business community is facing difficulties, with the number of enterprises registering for dissolution increasing by 5 per cent over the same period last year (2,458 enterprises) and the number of enterprises temporarily suspending operation increasing nearly 24 per cent with more than 9,800 enterprises.

There are five common difficulties that businesses are facing, including a decrease in the labour force involved in production, incurring expenses for the prevention of COVID-19, employees having their work hours cut or forced to quit, disruptions in access to customers and supply chains, and lack of raw materials for production.

Chu Tien Dung, head of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Business Associations (HUBA), expressed concerns, saying that more businesses withdrew from the market in the first two quarters than those entering.

A quick online survey of over 100 businesses by HUBA showed that over 84 per cent of small- and medium-sized enterprises have been facing difficulties since the fourth outbreak of COVID-19. Accordingly, 40 per cent of respondents claimed to have had difficulties from a lack of capital, 80 per cent from market disruptions, 52 per cent from downsizing employment, 14 from interruptions to raw material supply chains, and more than 50 per cent suffered from social distancing measures.

Although some enterprises in key industries have quickly reconnected the source of raw materials and re-adjusted their operations, they are facing the biggest pressure from the lack of capital and the rising price of raw materials, raising manufacturing costs and reducing competitiveness.

Many businesses want to restructure, apply new technologies, or digitally transform to promote online shopping, but lack capital for it.

"The first support packages for businesses and employees were timely but the implementation has not had a clear impact on businesses. Some policies such as tax exemption, social insurance reduction have helped businesses reduce difficulties in terms of liquidity and cash flow, but the application time is short and the number of these packages is not large, so it cannot help businesses overcome their difficulties," said Dung.
Climate activists and top leaders worldwide are looking for some traditional activities to be phased out and replaced by greener alternatives. Photo: Shutterstock

At the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 summit (P4G) in Seoul last week, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said, Vietnam is determined to pursue its goals despite numerous challenges. This means curbing the pandemic effectively while fostering fast and sustainable socioeconomic recovery and development. Our country is striving to ensure harmonious, rational, and effective development, as well as balanced economic growth with cultural and social factors, environmental protection, and climate adaptation.

These objectives will be accomplished while including the growth model transformation, economic restructuring, green growth, market demand, newly-emerging industries, and the enhancement of productivity as directions for development. The PM emphasised that the people are placed at the centre and considered the greatest resource, the most important driver, and the highest goal of further development.

Vietnam resolutely rejects the model of growth first, clean-up later and does not condone growth at all costs without sustainability. We will certainly not pursue pure economic growth at the expense of social progress and equality, the prime minister added.

As one of the seven founding members and official partners of P4G, he proposed several recommendations. The two-day summit was the second following the inaugural meeting held in Copenhagen in 2018 and is focused on public-private partnerships (PPPs), especially in developing countries. The P4G is considered a stepping stone for the UNs COP26 climate summit, to take place in Scotland in November.

Vietnam is committed to continuing reducing electricity usage and increasing use of sustainable energy sources, targeting a coverage with these sources of 30 per cent of the nations total primary energy sources by 2045, while internalising international treaties on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The country is also deploying a programme to plant a billion trees nationwide by 2025.

Pham Minh Chinh - Prime Minister We must be of one mind and join hands to strike a balance between the urgent need for economic recovery and the demand for greener and more sustainable growth in this era. This is both an objective and a pressing requirement for the development of all nations. Accordingly, I would like to make the following proposals. Firstly, green recovery, a green economy, and the circular economy must be vigorously pursued at the national, regional, and global levels under the general framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We need to alter the way of thinking and develop a practical approach and shift from passive response to harmonious, compatible, and effective combination of active responses and transition towards a green economy. By so doing, we will be able to avoid inversion causing shock effects. Secondly, a green transition requires a suitable roadmap. And, it is critical to take into account different conditions and capabilities of countries. Developed countries should continue to take the lead in realising their emission reduction commitments. They are also expected to provide financial, technological, and institutional assistance to developing countries and severely affected nations by climate change. Thirdly, it is imperative to develop institutions to encourage the support and engagement of all stakeholders, particularly the business community and the people. It is indeed crucial to promote public-private partnership projects for green growth and establish new value chains and sectors through greening industrial and agricultural production and services. Fourthly, it is essential to enhance adaptability for the regions worst hit by climate change, including the Greater Mekong Subregion and Vietnams Mekong Delta. The severe challenges in those regions call for close and responsible cooperation from the international community, especially in the sustainable management and use of cross-border water resources. This will help ensure food and water security in the region and the world. Fifthly, preventing and curbing the COVID-19 pandemic successfully are most urgent for growth to bounce back. The efforts of each country are of paramount importance, but effective international cooperation is indispensable. Such collaboration spans from empathy for the emotional and material loss of others, sharing of technological, financial, and medical resources, especially vaccines, as well as facilitating international trade and investment in enabling transportation and movement of people and goods between countries while avoiding disruption of the global supply chain. Sixthly, we need to uphold the spirit of unity, responsibility, and mutual respect among countries in the common interest of humanities given the current situation. We must sustain a favourable international environment and continue to promote peace, stability, and cooperation for development. This will benefit our economic recovery and international cooperation.

Last week, COP26 president-designate Alok Sharma said, Vietnam is one of the countries with the fastest economic growth in the world, and we know that as a country it is becoming a big industrial hub in the world. But at the same time, Vietnam is also vulnerable to climate change. If we reach 2C of global warming, it means that 40 per cent of the Mekong Delta will be flooded, affecting 17 million lives.

Sharma added that it is vital for the world to act to limit average temperature rises to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century, to avoid the worst effects of climate change, in line with the Paris Agreement.

Thats why it is so important for all countries to transition to clean energy. We know that 70 per cent of Vietnams emissions come from energy and thats why transitioning away from coal to wind and solar energy is so vitally important, he emphasised.

Vietnam wants to transition from a brown economy to one based on green and renewable energy with low carbon emissions, with a roadmap suitable to the countrys development needs and capacity. The roadmap is accompanied by adequate technological and financial support from developed countries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the P4G summit, Big or small, developing or developed, we all have to invest in a green transition and adapt to the coming changes in our climate. It is a matter of self-interest, of mutual interest, and collective interest.

She added that this includes plans for an ambitious nationally-determined contribution update ahead of COP26, in line with net-zero targets, and announcements of an end to overseas coal financing.

P4G invests in over 50 PPPs with projects in developing countries. It is a collaborative partnership among 12 partner countries including Chile, Denmark, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea, South Africa, and Vietnam, and is funded by the governments of Denmark and the Netherlands and hosted at the World Resources Institute.

Other partner organisations include C40 Cities, the Global Green Growth Institute, the International Finance Corporation, United Nations Global Compact, and the World Economic Forum.
Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jrgensen

Denmark is a top country in regards to eligible partnerships for P4G funding, with 90 per cent of proposals meeting the criteria. What was your message at the second P4G summit?

There is no doubt that close cooperation between governments, the private sector, and civil society is crucial to the global green transition and our collective action against climate change. From Hanoi to Copenhagen and from Seoul and common ways to catalyse investments, accelerate innovation, and create successful public-private partnerships (PPPs). At the same time, we must do this in the most fair and inclusive way possible for citizens in all corners of the world. This is exactly what P4G is all about and why this summit was crucial as a stepping stone to the COP26 summit in Scotland later this year.

As Vietnams economy is experiencing significant growth, so is its demand for energy consumption. The industrial sector, followed by transport, requires the highest growth rate while also consuming the largest amount of energy. What are your views on Vietnams efforts to reduce carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement?

I am happy to see that the Vietnamese government is committed to the Paris Agreement and aims to ensure sustainable development in accordance with climate and environment. For example, Vietnam has presented ambitious legislation to promote energy efficiency in the industrial sector, and Denmark has assisted in developing energy effi-ciency action plans for all 63 prov-inces based on Danish and international experiences.

Denmark is also assisting Viet-nam in identifying realistic paths to achieve the national climate and energy goals for 2030 and with a 2050 perspective. There is still great potential to create even greater environmental and climate effects through energy efficiency and renewable energy. Through energy efficiency and lower energy consumption, Vietnam achieves major societal benefits such as less air pollution, improved security of supply, and fewer fuel imports.

What are the possibilities for both countries to boost cooperation in green areas?

The Vietnamese-Danish government partnership started in 2013. Together, our two countries share knowledge and are carrying out efforts on longterm energy planning, integration of renewable energy in the electricity system, and energy efficiency in the industrial sector.

Since 2019, Denmark has also assisted Vietnam in developing a roadmap for offshore wind in close collaboration with the World Bank. I hope that we can expand this co-operation even further within off-shore wind power where Denmark is world leading. Our two countries are both surrounded by the ocean and by using the enormous potential of wind energy at sea to create green electricity, we are able to improve the everyday life of our peopie and fight global climate change.

What strengths does Denmark bring to help Vietnam enterprises?

Denmark aims to be a global green frontrunner that inspires other countries. We are world leading in transforming our energy sector from fossil fuels to renewable energy and have several decades of experience and useful knowhow within energy planning, integration of renewables, offshore wind, and energy efficiency that we are able to share with Vietnamese authorities and companies.

Denmark also has years of experience with PPPs, and we have established 13 climate partnerships with the Danish business community. They have presented more than 400 recommendations for the green transition and we have included many of them in political climate agreements and proposals. Hopefully, Vietnam will be able to do the same.
Freight costs weigh down on disrupted businesses. Source: freepik.com

Phan Van Viet, chairman of jeans and khaki producer Viet Thang Jean Co., Ltd. (VitaJean), said that the costs to ship goods in a shipping container have tripled during the global health crisis. The rate for a container from Vietnam to Europe has risen from $3,000 pre-pandemic to $10,000 last month, the highest on record. This has caused several obstacles for VitaJeans export activities to overseas markets.

Viet further noted that despite rising shipping-container rates, the company could not increase selling prices with the contracts already signed before. High ocean-freight rates discourage customers to place new orders while some make slower payments than usual. As the situation continues to deteriorate, it is likely to weigh on the firms profit margin this year.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Dinh Tung, general director of fruit exporter Vina T&T Group, told VIR, We have dealt with the challenges caused by rising ocean freight rates since July last year. This year, the company has to pay $6,000 per container to export its goods from Vietnam to the United States, which is three times higher than the rate of $1,800-2,000 last year. Headwinds in ocean freight result in several challenges including rising expenses and higher prices, which in turn lowers the competitiveness of made-in-Vietnam products.

Although international carriers raise the freight rates, there is still strong demand in the market. Many companies accept higher fees to export their products from Vietnam to the US and Europe. While this trend hurts exporters and importers, ocean carriers are enjoying growing profits.

While companies are struggling with the difficulties from another major outbreak in Vietnam, the rise of seaborne-freight costs sees no sign of cooling down. Thus, I hope that the government can work with foreign ocean carriers to address this problem soon, Tung added.

According to the Vietnam Logistics Association (VLA), the spike in ocean freight rates comes from the fluctuating supply and demand in the market. US and European importers are ramping up the restocking of goods to serve the surging consumption demand. Meanwhile, the pandemic has disrupted the trade flow and affected the turnaround time of container vessels, which results in a shortage of empty containers. Thus, freight costs are projected to wind down when the demand for imports go down.

According to data from container liner Maersk, due to the pandemic there was a precipitous drop in the demand for container services in the second quarter of 2020. The demand plunged from 2.2 per cent in the preceding quarter to minus 8.3 per cent.

Starting from the second half of 2020, the restocking in the US and Europe has been raising demand whilst global measures to contain the pandemic have been causing severe strains across the supply chain, from a lack of vessels, containers, and trucks to significantly reduced productivity across ports, warehouses, and inland terminals.

And on top of these bottlenecks in the global supply chain, issues like the Suez Canal blockage and Yantian Port closure continue to put pressure on supply chains. A spokesperson from Maersk explained that the current market situation is exceptional. The current supply/demand picture has caused freight rates to spike, also driven by increased network costs from less efficient vessel operations, steep increases in charter rates, and box prices as well as alternative solutions to support customer supply chains.

Equipment supply and the repositioning of empty containers remains a concern, but to further lessen the impact on our customers supply chains, given the extraordinary market conditions triggered by the global pandemic, we are accelerating the injection of new dry containers into our fleet, she added. By the end of the second quarter, we will have added around 260,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). This comes after the 400,000 TEUs already added to our fleet from July 2020 to January. We also have deployed all available vessels in our fleet and chartered in all available capacity.

The Drewry World Container Index released on May 27 showed the rate for a 40-foot container from Asia to the Europe shot above $10,000 for the first time on record. Industry insiders predict that the trend of high freight costs will continue to the third quarter of 2021, impacting exporters business results.
Many Vietnamese people are at the risk of "growing old before becoming rich"

Vietnam is enjoying a golden population structure, the most balanced development stage of each country when the proportion of the labour force is double the number of dependents. 75 per cent of the population is of working age, making a crucial contribution to driving Vietnam's GDP growth  the fastest in Southeast Asia. However, this optimism will not last for long. From 2040, Vietnam will transition into an undesirable stage: a period of the ageing population.

Phuong Tien Minh, CEO of Prudential Vietnam

Meanwhile, concerns are rising as the majority of people are unprepared for the risk of population ageing. A survey conducted by Prudential Vietnam on 500 people in the 30-45 age bracket in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi revealed that only four out of 10 respondents are confident of being financially independent in their old age. The Prudential survey reflects the current social picture. Our goal is to change the perception among the community so that anyone can start preparing for independent seniority, said Phuong Tien Minh, CEO of Prudential Vietnam.

Putting the situation of an ageing population in the context of low per capita income, Le Van Thanh, Deputy Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, identified the risk of many Vietnamese people growing old before becoming rich.

Where are the senior citizens in the big picture?

The expansion of urban areas has attracted a wave of young migrants seeking jobs, leaving behind nearly 30 per cent of senior citizens living alone in rural areas. Nguyen Xuan Truong, director general of Population Structure and Quality said that 70 per cent of old adults in Vietnam are making their own living with the offsprings support; only 25.5 per cent of them live on pensions and social benefits.

Dr. Giang Thanh Long, associate professor of the National Economics University, also estimated that the current governments support policies only cover about 8 per cent of the senior group. Meanwhile, it is forecast that by 2049, the medical needs of this group will increase by 2.5 times compared to today. Consequently, when Vietnam enters the aging population period, it will not only place many financial pressures on the young generation but also create a burden on social security.

Early action, early financial freedom

According to Dr. Long, many developed countries have successfully prepared for their aging population period based on three pillars: economic, health, and social preparedness. He said that insurance organisations, banks, and the like should be encouraged to actively participate in the provision of life insurance-related services. This diversity not only supports middle-income earners and above but also creates income safety nets and protects the health of low-income people.

CEO Minh of Prudential Vietnam said that an aging population is a challenge. While governors must resolve the macro problem, everyone can actively participate by preparing a personal financial plan. People have different perceptions of finance per life stage. The earlier you prepare, the easier it is to achieve financial freedom and independent seniority, said Minh.
GRDP in the first nine months is expected to gain 5.74 if the pandemic will be well-controlled and manufacturing will improve in the second quarter

Tran Hoang Ngan, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies (HIDS), drew up three scenarios for the citys economy in the meeting between Ho Chi minh City People's Committee, the city's leaders, experts, and businesses.

Under the first scenario, the COVID-19 outbreak will continue until August and several localities will have brought the pandemic under control, the GRDP of Ho Chi Minh City in the first nine months would rise 5.02 per cent and economic growth for the whole year would be 4.9 per cent.

In the second scenario, the pandemic will last until July while production in the city will see stable recovery, and enterprises will be able to secure part of their raw material demand. GRDP growth in the first nine months and economic growth for the whole year are expected to reach 5.26 and 5.53 per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, under the most positive scenario, the pandemic will be well-controlled and manufacturing will improve in the second quarter. Besides, the investment environment, public investment disbursement, as well as measures to support social security for employees have been improved. GRDP in the first nine months and economic growth for the whole year are expected to gain 5.74 and 6.37 per cent, respectively.

Vaccination is important for the city economy to recover, Vo Thanh Phong, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee stated. He added that the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ho Chi Minh City has already set up a group for vaccination. In the coming days, the committee will meet suppliers and enterprises to seek out reasonable vaccine sources for the city.

Phong stated that Ho Chi Minh City plays an important role in delivering products between localities in the southeast region. He also praised the contribution of enterprises who are willing to aid the city in the vaccination. Up to now, with supplies from Russia, the United States, and the UK, Vietnam has gradually moved towards the goal of purchasing 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 to immunise 75 per cent of Vietnam's population.

According to the MoH, Vietnam will have over 120 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. As of June 6, Vietnam received five million doses of vaccines from Moderna, 20 million doses of Russian Sputnik V, 30 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, 31 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech, and 38.9 million doses from the COVAX programme.
Delegates at the forum on the implementation of the IAI Work Plan IV (2021-2025) (Photo: VNA)

Jakarta  Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Hai Bang on June 8 stressed the significance of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) in narrowing development gap between ASEAN countries and building the ASEAN Community, especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at an online forum on the implementation of the IAI Work Plan IV (2021-2025), Bang said the IAI Work Plan IV has made significant contributions to the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework.

It has also supported ASEAN countries, especially Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), in digital economic transformation to improve their recovery capacity after the pandemic, he added.

The ambassador thanked partners of ASEAN for their contributions and coordination during the implementation of the initiative, particularly the sponsorship of the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Programme (AADCP II) of Australia.

The ASEAN partners have committed to further contribute to the IAI in the time ahead.

Delegates at the forum also raised proposals on ways to roll out IAI projects more effectively given the complex developments in the region.

Adopted by ASEAN leaders in 2000, the IAI aims to narrow the development gaps between ASEAN countries, and assist CLMV in fully integrating into the regional economy.
Illustration photo. Source: internet

Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) recently proposed to the prime minister an investment plan for the O Mon III thermal power plant in a bid to remove the bottlenecks for the Block B gas complex.

After the Law on Public Investment took effect in 2020, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) proposed to the prime minister to apply the provisions of the law to appraise and decide on the investment policy for the O Mon III. Meanwhile, the ministry proposed amendment and supplement of Decision No.1015/QD-TTg dated August 2019 on the establishment of a state appraisal council to appraise the projects feasibility study. However, some obstacles have emerged during the implementation of investment policies, especially the authority to approve investment policies.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the MPI, the National Steering Committee for Power Development, and the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC) have submitted many reports to the government to tackle difficulties in the investment procedures for the project.

Last December the government submitted a report to the National Assembly Standing Committee on this issue. According to its conclusion, the use of official development assistance (ODA) loans for enterprises to borrow 100 per cent for the O Mon III is not within the scope of the Law on Public Investment as well as under the prime ministers authority to approve investment policies. It has been nearly two years since EVN submitted the project to the CMSC to request for investment policy. However, the authority to approve the investment policy for this project has not been determined.

The O Mon III was approved by the government to be on the list of ODA projects funded by the Japanese government in 2012. EVN was the investor of the project and signed the ODA loan contract with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). In 2013, Vietnam and Japan signed a commitment note to grant the first loan worth $254 billion for the O Mon III. The JICA loan agreement would be signed by the parties following the result of negotiation and signing of a gas purchase and sale contract.

Foreign investors have often raised their voices about the obstacles hindering the Block B gas project. In 2015, US oil giant Chevron decided to withdraw from the project by transferring stakes to PetroVietnam.

In July 2020, Japans Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. (MOECO) and Thailands PTT Exploration and Production Public Co., Ltd. (PTTEP) also submitted letters to the prime minister about their concerns for the slow approval of the onshore power project, which has caused tremendous challenges for the Block B gas project chain and delayed the final investment decision (FID). Thus, the target of the first gas flow by the end of 2023 will be missed.

Two months later the foreign investors sent another letter to the prime minister noting that the first gas for the project is expected in September 2024 at the earliest. Due to the delayed approval of investment policy, the investors could not make the FID in 2020 while the first gas flow by the end of 2023 became infeasible.

EVN said the delayed approval of the investment policy is due to the inability to identify the agency responsible for this project, which slows down the progress and efficiency of the project chain. Meanwhile, the wellhead gas price has been calculated since 2016 with the price slippage of 2.5 per cent per year and the transportation price slippage of 2 per cent a year, which has raised investment and electric production costs.

Commenting on the conditions for borrowing ODA loans from JICA, EVN said that the plan has better economic efficiency than the commercial loan plan. In addition, the Japanese government has confirmed to continue to provide ODA loans for the O Mon III. However, to make efficient use of the loans, it needs to establish the authority to approve investment policy for the project. Up to now, the project is still waiting for the amended decree to be approved for implementation.

To issue the amended decree, it is necessary to get feedback from relevant ministries and sectors. It will take a great deal of time, even though FID needs to be made this October.

EVN has formulated a plan to use domestic and foreign commercial loans to remove bottlenecks at the O Mon III. With this plan, the power generation progress of the project will take place in the third quarter of 2026, 18 months earlier than the plan of using the ODA loan. However, the biggest obstacle for the new plan is the increase in the total investment, mainly due to the loan interest.

On May 7, the Government Office issued a document announcing the opinion of Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, assigning the CMSC to cooperate with the MoIT and relevant agencies to handle EVNs proposal and report it to the prime minister soon.

In 2018, when calculating the O Mon III and IV projects using gas fuel, EVN proposed the electricity selling price of VND2,355 (10 US cents) per kWh and a maximum of about VND2,840 (12 US cents) per kWh to ensure efficient financing of these projects.

The Block B gas pipelines are being implemented by Phu Quoc Petroleum Operating Company (PQPOC) and South West Pipeline Operating Company (SWPOC), along with PTTEP and MOECO. The approval of O Mon III is the premise to finish commercial negotiations and select the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor.

The bidding packages will expire in bid validity in October, and investors expect the investment policy to be issued by August to open commercial bidding packages. If delays continue, PQPOC could have to extend the EPC bidding validity for the fifth time for contractors. In the worst scenario, PQPOC would have to reorganise the international bidding, which would likely delay the whole project for more than a year.
Samsung seeks direct energy route

According to information released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Samsung Electronics leaders held a meeting with Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien last week. The MoIT is collecting feedback for a draft circular on pilot implementation of direct power purchase agreements (DPPA) between renewable energy farms and end-users, in line with the governments request to review the Power Development Plan VIII (PDP8).

Samsung Electronics, which boasts four major subsidiaries in Vietnam, confirmed with VIR that it has proposed the MoIT to participate in the DPPA model, but did not disclose further details.

In 2020, Samsung Vietnam earned $67 billion in revenue, accounting for 25 per cent of the countrys GDP of $268.4 billion. Samsung Electronics Thai Nguyen arm contributed the largest sum among the four subsidiaries, at $26 billion.

Looking at the MoITs draft model, Samsung Electronics fulfils most of the criteria for electricity consumers to join the DPPA pilot project. Accordingly, consumers purchasing electricity for industrial production at a voltage level of 22kv or higher can directly negotiate and purchase electricity from renewable energy farms under a fixed-term contract. Power purchase transactions will be made through the spot market in compliance with the regulations on competitive electricity market operation issued by the MoIT.

Samsung Electronics proposal could set a precedent for multinational corporations in Vietnam to join the DPPA programme.

Samsung Electronics wants to buy electricity directly. This is one of the three study directions that we want to deploy in 2021, said Vu Nguyen, head of sales at Shire Oak International.

Shire Oak, a wholly-owned British company, is working through the United Kingdom Embassy and a number of organisations to promote the sale of electricity from rooftop owners via Electricity of Vietnam (EVN). Shire Oak is also considering investment of transmission line links.

Factories in industrial zones have high power consumption. However, the current legal framework has yet to allow the direct sale of rooftop solar power to factories. With mounting pressure from the community, we hope to be able to do this next year, Nguyen added.

Shire Oak cancelled a project to develop solar power in combination with agriculture in 2019, when the rooftop solar power mechanism was first established. We still hope there is a way to make the project financially and legally viable, he added.

Revenues would have come from both agriculture and rooftop solar power. Such a project might still have been feasible in 2020, but is no longer so as the new feed-in tariff for rooftop solar energy is reduced by 30 per cent.

Samsung Electronics proposal immediately attracted the attention of analysts and the business community given that the government may approve the PDP8 this month.

Nguy Thi Khanh, director of GreenID, an organisation promoting of sustainable development in Vietnam, said that the national energy development policy should support the participation of domestic enterprises rather than foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs), which already enjoy several benefits.

Nguyen Tien Lap, a senior partner at NHQuang & Associates, also warned, Samsung Electronics proposal needs to be evaluated very carefully. Global corporations like Samsung do not make random proposals. Indeed, this is a strategic proposal and it will change investment policy sooner or later.

Lap added that Vietnams energy security is facing problems including the governments power planning, EVNs power grid and dispatching issues, and project investment as a business right. However, the PDP is developed from the perspective of the MoIT. Thus, if being applied as a general legal basis, it will turn into a hindrance to the investment climate. Therefore, the implementation of the PDP may need to be changed.

Samsung Electronics proposal is to be exempt from carbon taxation, commented Pham Xuan Hoe, former deputy director of the Banking Strategy Institute at the State Bank of Vietnam.

Up to now, Vietnam has yet to implement carbon pricing although both the Law on Environmental Protection and a draft decree regulating greenhouse gas emission reduction and ozone layer protection require the Ministry of Finance to revise the regulation on carbon pricing.
Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam - Sting brand sponsors VND5 billion for COVID-19 Vaccine

To spread the message that Vietnam will surmount the pandemic challenges, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam and the Sting brand are contributing to accelerating the pace of vaccination in favour of local people and spreading the spirit of humanity and positive energy to everyone.

The programme Sting  We Will Win features the following activities:

First, the Sting brand gives cash sponsorship worth VND5 billion ($217,390) to the COVID-19 Vaccine Fund.

Second, the Sting brand will launch a limited-edition package of "We Will Win" from June 22 nationwide. Inspired by the "V" in Vietnam, Vaccine, and Victory, Sting hopes that the limited-edition design will spread the positive energy to everyone and enhance the trust that Vietnam will overcome the pandemic.

Sting will launch the limited-edition package design We Will Win"

Third, Sting brand envisages launching a series of activities within the framework of the programme on Facebook to encourage the spirit of fighting the pandemic in Vietnam, slated from June 19.

The highlight activities are the music video We Will Win and the creative photo contest Trust to Win inspired by the limited-edition can design. These activities hopefully not only help to spread the positive spirit but also enhance the confidence in the community that Vietnam will overcome the pandemic.

These activities hopefully not only help to spread the positive spirit but also enhance the confidence in the community that Vietnam will overcome the pandemic!

After previous successes over the COVID-19 epidemic, worries about a new wave of COVID-19 and new mutation are still present in people's minds and the desire to return to normal life is greater than ever.

Understanding that vaccination is one of the long-term and appropriate solutions to end the pandemic, Sting and Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam's brands wish to share the burden and support the community in the faster roll-out of vaccination for Vietnamese people.

Through the move, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam and the Sting brand are joining hands to contribute to bringing positive energy during the pandemic, a good future for the community, and making the wishes of all people come true.
Unsecured debts require regulation, illustration photo (source: freepik.com)

VietinBank has just announced an auction to sell consumer loans to recover debts  the very first commercial bank exploring this option.

The package of nine debts includes small loans, valued from VND1.68 million ($73) to VND17.58 million ($770). The consumer loans are unsecured and the starting selling prices are equal to their book value. The total value of nine debts is around VND75.5 million ($3,300).

The bank will select the buyer with the highest bid that is at least equal to the starting price of each debt. The starting price does not include any costs regarding to fee for ownership transfer and other costs, if any, when purchasing the debt.

These costs shall be solely borne by the auction winner. The down payment is also equal to the starting price of the debt.

Loan sales are not a new phenomenon. Collateral-backed loans are quite common as a part of banks asset and liability management, said Truong Thanh Duc, director of ANVI Law Firm. They often sell loan packages with collateral such as real estate, machinery, equipment, factories, and cars, among others, while unsecured consumer loans sales are among the first of its kind for a commercial bank.

A representative of VietinBank said that selling consumer loans is one of the banks normal operations, according to regulations, to handle and recover debts.

Perhaps this is the first time that a commercial bank has offered unsecured loans sales to the public, so it attracts a tonne of attention. We will continue follow our precedent cases on debt sales. At the first stage, we set the initial price equal to book value. If these debts cannot be sold, we would lower the price later on, the representative said.

Duc of ANVI said that it is not just a walk in the park to sell consumer loans at a book value, coupled with interest and late payment penalty interest. Banks can only sell loans at a price equal to 50-70 per cent of their book value even for collateral-backed ones.

The question of whether or not VietinBank could successfully execute their sales still remains unanswered, but it could set a precedent for other lenders to follow suit.

Financial expert Huynh Trung Minh noted that in other countries, trading unsecured debts is familiar to financial institutions and debt buyers, and consumer debts are important for buyers to expand their customers database and information.

According to Vietnams revised Law on Investment, debt-collecting businesses are now banned in Vietnam as part of local government action to protect customers rights.

However, this is considered a strict approach to consumer finance companies, since the majority of their customers are underbanked or unbanked.

Currently, there are nearly 20 consumer finance companies operating in the country. In the last 10 years, FE Credit has emerged as the top player, accounting for around 52 per cent of market share, far ahead of the rivals Home Credit (17 per cent) and HD Saison (11 per cent).

Masataka Sam Yoshida, head of the Cross-border Division of RECOF Corporation and CEO of RECOF Vietnam said, Putting a stop to the operation of debt collectors poses challenges to lenders or creditors where their collection performance will be affected. Consumer finance companies need to make changes to meet these evolving regulatory requirements. This will be inconvenient, time-consuming, and expensive at first but creates an opportunity for the consumer finance companies to rethink their collections strategies and operations.

On the other hand, Duc of ANVI shared his concern that it would be tough to take advantage of unsecured debts. Therefore, he hypothesised that the sale of the debts is just another approach to dodge the debt collection service ban. Duc also stated most debt collectors, after the Law on Investment took effect, have not dissolved, but instead converted their business to debt trading/buying to be legally in line with the current law.

If banks can sell their unsecured loans, it is likely that they will transfer their debts to ensure operational efficiency. Furthermore, driving forces behind loan sales may stem from a better cashflow statement and financial information to the public.

We might also see an increasing trend of selling or trading the debts from those who are not strong enough in debt collection. Debt sales can be an effective tool for certain accounts, especially those with low expected recoveries. However, it might be better implemented if policies and procedures for debt sales could have clearer guidance from the government, Yoshida of RECOF added.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a supplier of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in the United States, has a history of serial criminal fraud. As with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the J&J vaccine has been granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but not FDA approval.

J&J, founded in 1886, has operations in 60 nations around the world and employs 135,000 people. In 2020, it generated revenues in excess of 82.6 billion dollars. However, the company has been involved in several lawsuits related to defective products, dishonest marketing, and other issues.

In 1995, J&J subsidiary Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation was fined 7.5 million dollars for shredding documents in an attempt to thwart a federal investigation. At the time, authorities were investigating whether the company had illegally marketed its Retin-A acne cream as a wrinkle remover. Ortho later confessed to instructing its employees to shred the documents.

J&J was forced to pay an undisclosed amount in 1996 for making false claims about the failure rate of its condoms. Then, in 2001, the company was fined 860 million dollars for misleading customers to throw away disposable contact lenses prematurely. The lawsuit, filed by multiple customers and later combined into a class action suit, alleged that the disposable lenses could be worn for up to two weeks despite J&Js recommendation to use them only once.

In 2004, J&J fined 90 million dollars after patients claimed that the companys Propulsid drug for heartburn was linked to heart problems. Almost 4,000 plaintiffs were included in the settlement, with an estimated 300 deaths from consuming the medicine. The product was pulled from the U.S. market in July 2000, and banned in India and the Philippines in 2011.

In 2010, two J&J subsidiaries, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC, agreed to pay 81 million dollars in damages from the illegal promotion of epilepsy drug Topamax. The drug was approved by the FDA for treating partial-onset seizures, but Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical was caught promoting the drug for off-label psychiatric uses.

Through a practice known as the Doctor-for-a-Day program Ortho-McNeil hired outside physicians to join sales representatives in their visits to the offices of health care providers and to speak at meetings and dinners about prescribing Topamax for unapproved uses and doses, said a Department of Justice (DoJ) press release.

In 2013, J&J and its subsidiaries were fined over 2.2 billion dollars to resolve civil and criminal liabilities for the companys promotion of Risperdal, Invega, and Natrecor for uses not approved by the FDA.

Risperdal was only approved for the treatment of schizophrenia, but the company promoted its use in treating psychotic symptoms and associated behavioral disturbances among elderly patients who were not suffering from schizophrenia. The DoJ called the resolution one of the largest health care fraud settlements in U.S. history.

Links to cancer

In 2016, the multinational corporation was asked to pay 417 million dollars to a woman who said that she had developed ovarian cancer due to using products like Johnsons Baby Powder. Four years later, a Missouri appeals court ordered J&J to pay 2.1 billion dollars to several women alleging that prolonged use of the companys baby powder, which contained asbestos, resulted in ovarian cancer. The court ruled that J&Js conduct was outrageous because of evil motive or reckless indifference.

Then, in 2019, the company recalled tens of thousands of bottles of baby powder after the FDA found a sample containing trace amounts of asbestos. J&J revealed that it would be stopping the sale of talcum-based baby powder in the United States and Canada in May 2020, and settled over 1,000 talcum powder lawsuits for 100 million dollars in October 2020.

As of February 2021, the company faced 27,168 talcum powder lawsuits, with victims complaining of ovarian cancer and mesotheliomas, a type of cancer occurring in the tissue layer covering internal organs. J&J continues to sell its baby powder in the UK, India, France, the Philippines, and other countries.

The companys anticoagulation medication Xarelto has generated 13,511 lawsuits, with reported injuries including wound leaks, blood clots, deadly bleeding events, and infections.

Vaccine adverse events

With regard to the companys COVID-19 vaccine, the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated in May that the jab was responsible for 28 blood clots. A woman from Oregon reported developing blood clots in her brain, stomach, throat, and lungs after being inoculated, reported KGW8.

In Michigan, a 35-year-old woman died after receiving the vaccine. The family stated that she had developed complications from the jab. According to the CDC, the J&J one-shot vaccine was 66.3% effective in clinical trials (efficacy) at preventing laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 illness in people who had no evidence of prior infection.

However, the CDC and FDAs Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database contains reports through May 28, 2021 with 377 deaths, 1,925 hospitalizations, 87 cases of anaphylaxis, 139 cases of Bells Palsy, 213 heart attacks, and 1,689 cases of blood clots and strokes after J&J vaccine administration.

With reporting by Arvind Datta.
Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, opposition politicians in Cambodia are regrouping and forming new parties ahead of local commune elections to be held next year and general elections in 2023.



Among them are rehabilitated past lawmakers from the illegal Cambodian National Rescue Party and the former prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who spent three years recovering from a car accident that kept him off of the 2018 ballot.



Last month, former CNRP acting president Pol Horm and senior leader Phan Chansak were politically rehabilitated after submitting separate letters of request to the Interior Ministry. Their inclusion will help legitimize elections often derided as rigged by free speech advocates. Phan Chansak has said he will join the Cambodian reform party. Pol has not declared his intentions.



Analysts said the desertions were not expected to stop opposition CNRP leaders such as Sam Rainsy and Mu Sochua, who live in self-exile, campaigning against Prime Minister Hun Sen from abroad.



However, Gavin Greenwood, an analyst with Hong Kong-based security firm A2 Global, said their persistent efforts  including promises to return and lead a popular rebellion  were unlikely to have much of an impact.



Cambodia has gone, I think in global terms, its gone pretty dark, he said.



He said Sam Rainsy, who faces arrest, was incapable of returning from Europe after airlines bowed to the Cambodian government and refused him passage.



Exiled CNRP figures are unable to generate "a great deal of interest in their countries of exile which would embarrass or in any way affect Hun Sens position, he said.



At least 22 of the banned CNRP politicians have been rehabilitated since mid-April, enabling them to campaign and contest elections for other political outfits, including Hun Sens long-ruling Cambodian Peoples Party.



They were among 118 opposition officials banned from politics for five years when the Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in late 2017, allegedly for attempting to overthrow the government after refusing to accept election results in 2013 amid unsubstantiated allegations the poll was rigged.



Since then, hundreds of CNRP supporters have been detained and are before the courts in mass trials, with human rights activists accusing Hun Sen of establishing a dictatorship.

In response the European Union withdrew trade perks afforded Cambodia under its Everything But Arms policy.



Last week, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Cambodia in five years, meeting with Hun Sen and CNRP leader Kem Sokha, who is awaiting trial in Phnom Penh for treason.



Sherman pressed the government to reopen civic and political space  which along with independent journalism has been severely curtailed  before the commune and national elections.



Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said he was not surprised arrests were leading to defections, adding Hun Sen had always offered a way out, particularly for CNRP politicians who defected to Hun Sens CPP.



That if someone, who they pressure with repression and harassment and in some cases arrest, is willing to go to the CPP then all is forgiven, he said.



Robertson added this was a logical extension of a pressure campaign mounted against the CNRP inside Cambodia.



The government is quite clearly trying to wipe out the CNRP, he said.



I think that they are trying to eliminate any vestige of it. They are certainly trying to uproot all their networks and theyre even prepared to arrest or imprison people, or have people throw their hands up and join the CPP, he said.



The CPP won all 125 seats contested at the 2018 ballot, after the CNRP was dissolved. Some 20 parties contested that poll, but human rights groups claimed 16 of them were merely CPP proxies.



Another three opposition outfits  the Khmer Will Party, League for Democracy Party and the Grassroots Democracy Party  all failed to have any impact.



A new list of political parties, including the Cambodian Reform Party, the Khmer Conservative Party and the Cambodian Nation Love Party  all formed from the ranks of former CNRP members  risks splitting opposition votes further, prompting speculation that a coalition could be formed.



Analysts said the return of Ranariddh to the political fray could bolster the chances of any political party, outside of the CPP, winning at least some seats at the national polls in 2023.

According to the government-friendly Khmer Times his royalist Funcinpec party is committed to a merger with the Khmer National United Party and to challenging the CPP.



The Khmer National United Party was established in 2016 by former Funcinpec members upset by their partys dismal performance over the previous decade and complaints of fraud and corruption.



However, analysts said, none were likely to pose a real threat to the ruling elites.



All Prime Minister Hun Sen really has to do is not do anything egregious to the opposition and he does, it seems, to be quite clever in terms of how theyve dealt with the opposition members to date, Greenwood said.



Another independent analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the CPP still commands intense loyalty, particularly in the countryside, because it ended a 30-year war in 1998 and none of the political parties can match the CPP in terms of party machinery and reach.



The government also expects to bolster its support by holding the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year and the Southeast Asian Games in May 2023, two months before the national election.



Cambodia has been run as a kleptocracy for decades and at times it has passed the democratic tests and at times its failed. At the moment the CPP holds all the cards, the analyst said.



This country has been a one-party state since the 2018 election and that is unlikely to change but the inclusion of more political parties will at least add some legitimacy to the next elections, he said.
The High Court has found the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Luke Malaba, not in contempt of court for returning to work following a ruling by the same court that the extension of his term of office by the president was null and void.

According to a VOA Correspondent based in Harare, Justices Amy Tsanga and Slyvia Chirawu-Mugomba ruled today that Malaba followed proper procedures when he returned to work after the Attorney General and the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage filed an appeal against the High Court order that invalidated his extension of office.

Musa Kika of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum filed an urgent court application seeking the incacertation of Malaba for a six-month jail term claiming that Malaba was in contempt of court.

Kika's attorneys indicated that they go back to court Friday to challenge the High Court ruling.

One of Kika's attorneys, Thabani Mpofu, said on Twitter, "We have taken note of the judgment of the High Court. We will be approaching the courts tomorrow with our next course of action."

Kika filed an urgent court application seeking the committal of Malaba to Chikurubi Prison for a period of six months for allegedly defying the High Court order issued by Justices Happias Zhou, Edith Mushore and Jester Charewa a week ago.

Kika, who was the applicant in the matter which was joined with another application filed by the Young Lawyers Association of Zimbabwe, secured a declaratory order in terms of which the High Court declared that Malabas tenure as a judge and chief justice of Zimbabwe came to an end on May 15, 2021.

When seeking an order for Malaba's incarceration, Kika said, ... In complete defiance of this order the former chief justice presented himself at his office on May 24, 2021. The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) secretary, Walter Chikwanha, was quoted in the Herald newspaper as having confirmed the return of Malaba because of an appeal which the JSC noted.

Kika argued in his founding affidavit that the JSCs view that the appeal field by the government has suspended the operation of the judgment of the High Court is incorrect as the judgment of the court is a declaratur and is for that reason not suspended by the noting of an appeal.

He further stated that as a jurist of distinction, Malaba is aware of this position but has simply decided to be in contempt of court.

Kika sought to have the prison term suspended on the grounds that Malaba shall forthwith cease and desist from exercising the functions of the chief justice either in a judiciary or administrative capacity.

Kika also sought to have an order that the record of these proceedings be placed before the Law Societys Disciplinary and Ethics Committee for it to take any action that it may find advisable and appropriate, considering the circumstances of the matter.

The three High Court judges ruled that  Extension of the time provided for in Section 186 does not apply to CJ (the chief justice) and any sitting but not acting judges of the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court and there shall be no order as to costs.

YLAZ, Kika and a war veteran, Frederick Mutanda, a liberation war veteran, filed an urgent chamber application at Harare High Court seeking an order to stop Malaba from continuing as the head of the Constitutional Court after he reached the age of 70.

His term of office was extended by President Emmerson Mnangagwa following the enactment of the Zimbabwe Constitution Amendment (Number 2) Act.
A 63 year-old Bulawayo resident is suing the Zimbabwe Republic Police Commissioner-General, Godwin Matanga, and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister, Kazembe Kazembe, for RTGS$3 million as compensation for violation of her fundamental rights after she was allegedly brutally assaulted by police during last years COVID-19 national lockdown.

According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Lydia Chapalapata, of Nkulumane high-density suburb, was allegedly assaulted by Assistant Inspector Brighton Muchingami on April 1, 2020, while she was queuing to purchase maize meal at Nkulumane Sekusile Shopping Centre.

Muchingambi allegedly harassed and assaulted her all over her body with a truncheon claiming that she was violating national lockdown regulations.

The ZLHR says Muchingambi threatened Chapalapata stating there was no recourse at law for her as he was empowered by the national lockdown regulations promulgated by government to assault her.

Chapalapata sustained injuries on her back, thighs, head, and on her knees and suffered trauma, anxiety and shock as a result of the incident and had to be hospitalised at Mpilo Central Hospital for treatment and was later referred for specialized medical attention.

Following the assault, Chapalapata engaged Prisca Dube of the ZLHR, who recently filed summons at the Bulawayo Magistrates Court suing Muchingami, the Officer in Charge of Nkulumane Police Station, Matanga and Kazembe, whom she cited as respondents, claiming payment of damages amounting to RTGS$3 million for pain and suffering as well as medical expenses she incurred.

In her summons, the ZLHR says, the Bulawayo resident is claiming that as a result of the defendants conduct, she suffered damages amounting to RTGS$3 million broken down as RTGS$2.5 million being damages for pain and suffering, trauma and nervous shock while RTGS$500,000 will cater for future medical expenses.

Muchingami, Matanga and Kazembe were unreachable for comment. The Zimbabwean government announced soon after it announced its first COVID-19 lockdown measures that it would punish those that broke the regulations. Thousands of people have been arrested since the outbreak of the disease in Zimbabwe in 2020, according to police reports.

The Ministry of Health also reports that as at June 10, 2021, Zimbabwe had 39,496 confirmed cases, 36,940 recoveries and 1,626 deaths.
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The Biden Justice Department on Wednesday afternoon updated its court filing in a case where it is defending the right of religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students after a backlash from critics and a statement from plaintiffs in the case saying they felt 'betrayed.'

Attorneys from the Justice Department amended their filing to stress that, while they will defend the law in court, the policy surrounding the federal law is being reviewed by the Department of Education.

The federal law at issue, part of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally assisted education programs, but allows for a religious exemption for organizations with religious objections.

The filing came in a federal lawsuit in Oregon from students at religious schools who are suing the government for providing funding to schools with discriminatory policies. Tuesday, DOJ had said that it will continue to defend it.

In the amended filing, government attorneys wrote: 'The Department of Education is conducting a comprehensive review of its regulations implementing [the law], which sets forth the current administration's policy on guaranteeing an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex.'

The filing added, 'But until that process is complete, it would be premature to conclude that the government is an inadequate representative.'

RELATED: Biden's attorney general defends controversial Justice Department arguments related to Trump

Attorneys at the Justice Department are arguing against intervention in the case from three religious schools -- Western Baptist University, William Jessup University, and Phoenix Seminary -- saying the administration shares the 'same ultimate objective' as those religious institutions.

Tuesday's initial filing seemed to conflict with the Biden administration's March memo from the DOJ's Civil Rights Division pledging that '[a]ll persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation,' but it also aligned with the DOJ's duty to defend federal laws.

The Justice Department did not comment on why it made the change. But this is the latest example of the Justice Department's positions in court having come under question from critics on the left expecting or anticipating different policies under Biden.

Earlier this week, the DOJ argued that it should be allowed to substitute itself for former President Donald Trump in the defamation lawsuit filed by magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. The Justice Department argued that since Trump was an employee of the government when the allegedly defamatory comment was made, the DOJ, rather than Trump personally, should serve as the defendant in the case. In late May, the DOJ argued to continue to keep portions of a 2019 memo from former Attorney General William Barr into whether Trump obstructed the Russia investigation from the public.

Attorney General Merrick Garland was questioned in a Senate hearing Wednesday about the department's positions in court. Garland explained that 'the job of the Justice Department in making decisions of law is not to back any administration, previous or present.'

'It is not always easy to apply that rule,' Garland continued. 'Sometimes it means that we have to make a decision about the law that we would never have made, and that we strongly disagree with as a matter of policy. But in every case the job of the Justice Department is to make the best judgment it can as to what the law requires.'

RELATED: Biden's DOJ appeals order to release full memo on why Trump wasn't charged with obstruction

After the initial filing Tuesday, the group representing the plaintiffs in the case said they felt abandoned.

'My clients feel betrayed by an administration the promised to protect LGBTQ+ students,' Paul Carlos Southwick, director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, said. 'The Biden administration did not need to defend this unconstitutional religious exemption, and they certainly did not need to say that it 'shares the same ultimate objective' as anti-LGBTQ extremist group Alliance Defending Freedom.'
June is a fine time for a Martian road trip if you're a robotic rover.

Perseverance began driving away from its Octavia E. Butler landing site on June 1. The Mars rover left the scenic overlook where it captured images and video of the Ingenuity helicopter's flights and is heading for another one that will reveal some of the oldest geologic features of Jezero Crater.

The crater, which hosted an ancient lake 3.9 billion years ago, could contain evidence of ancient microbial life if it ever existed on Mars.

Along the way, the rover will continue flexing and preparing to explore Jezero Crater by testing and fine-tuning its auto-navigation and sampling systems. The samples Perseverance collects, which could contain microfossils, will be returned to Earth in the 2030s.

Perseverance has already checked off some impressive achievements since landing on February 18. It has successfully generated oxygen on Mars, supported the first flights of the Ingenuity helicopter, captured audio of Mars using its microphones and taken more than 75,000 images of its surroundings.

"We are putting the rover's commissioning phase as well as the landing site in our rearview mirror and hitting the road," said Jennifer Trosper, Perseverance project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in a statement.

"Over the next several months, Perseverance will be exploring a 1.5-square-mile (4-square-kilometer) patch of crater floor. It is from this location that the first samples from another planet will be collected for return to Earth by a future mission," Trosper said.

Perseverance is officially starting its main science mission to study Jezero Crater and piece together the geologic and climate history of the area, as well as collect rock and dirt samples.

The scenic route

The first few hundred sols, or Martian days, of the mission will be spent exploring some of the deepest and oldest layers of exposed bedrock in the crater. Perseverance will start with the area of Jezero scientists have named Crater Floor Fractured Rough, as well as Seitah, which means "amidst the sand" in the Navajo language. Seitah is full of intriguing features besides bedrock, including ridges, layered rocks and sand dunes.

"To do justice to both units in the time allotted, the team came up with the Martian version of an old auto club-style map," said Kevin Hand, an astrobiologist at JPL, in a statement. "We have our route planned, complete with optional turnoffs and labeled areas of interest and potential obstructions in our path."

Hand is a co-lead of this science campaign with JPL planetary scientist and systems engineer Vivian Sun.

Seitah, which is shaped like a mitten, is not without obstacles -- the main one being sand dunes. Perseverance will use a boundary line between the site and the Crater Floor Fractured Rough to navigate this area. Occasionally, the rover may venture into Seitah if specific areas of interest appear.

"Starting with the Crater Floor Fractured Rough and Seitah geologic units allows us to start our exploration of Jezero at the very beginning," Hand said. "This area was under at least 100 meters (328 feet) of water 3.8 billion years ago. We don't know what stories the rocks and layered outcrops will tell us, but we're excited to get started."

The science team will instruct the rover to collect one or two samples from this area and determine four areas of interest that help tell the history of Mars. This science campaign will wrap up once Perseverance returns to its landing site, having traveled between 1.6 and 3.1 miles (2.6 and 5 kilometers) and filling up to eight of the 43 sample tubes the rover carries.

This will be followed by a second science campaign where the rover travels northwest to the ancient river delta that flowed into the crater.

This unique intersection may contain evidence of carbonates, or minerals that can preserve signs of ancient life.

And the most exciting part? Perseverance is just getting started.
In one of its latest steps to erase Trump administration policies, the Biden administration has withdrawn a controversial proposal that could have kicked 3 million Americans off of food stamps and cost nearly 1 million children automatic eligibility for free school meals.

The proposal, issued in 2019, would have tightened the rules governing who qualifies for food stamps. It would have curtailed so-called broad-based categorical eligibility, which makes it easier for Americans with somewhat higher incomes and more savings to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the formal name for food stamps. Republicans have long argued that this expanded eligibility option is a 'loophole' that permits those with higher incomes and assets to get public assistance.

RELATED: Biden administration expands pandemic aid to feed 30 million low-income children this summer

Children would have been particularly at risk from the proposed rule change since their families would have lost benefits, and they might have lost access to meals at school, said Luis Guardia, president of the Food Research & Action Center, a left-leaning group. Childhood hunger can affect academic performance, behavior and mental health.

The move comes a few months after the Biden administration put an end to another Trump-era rule that could have stripped food stamps from nearly 700,000 people. That measure, announced in late 2019, would have required more food stamp recipients to work in order to receive benefits by limiting states' ability to waive existing work mandates.

A US district court judge blocked it from being implemented in March 2020 before striking it down in October. The Justice Department under the Trump administration initially appealed the decision, but after President Joe Biden took office, the agency asked the appellate court to dismiss the appeal, which it did.

A separate US Department of Agriculture report released this week showed that reinstating work requirements for certain food stamp recipients after the Great Recession did not increase their employment or annual earnings. Able-bodied adults without dependents are typically limited to three months of food stamps in any 36-month period unless they work or participate in certain activities -- though that mandate has been waived during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Biden administration has pushed to expand access to and generosity of food stamps, saying the safety net program is critical to helping struggling Americans get through the pandemic. Hunger had spiked at the start of the outbreak, though it has fallen since then.

The President's $1.9 trillion relief package, which he signed into law in March, extended a 15% boost to food stamp benefits through September. And the administration announced in April that 25 million Americans would see an increase in their benefits under an early federal coronavirus relief provision.
The wife of Mexican drug boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman pleaded guilty Thursday to drug trafficking and money laundering charges related to her husband's narcotics empire.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, entered her plea in a federal court in Washington nearly two years after Guzman was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise as well as drug trafficking and firearms charges as leader of the murderous Sinaloa Cartel.

A former beauty queen with an interest in fashion, Coronel wore a green prison uniform and white face covering Thursday as she told US District Judge Rudolph Contreras -- through an interpreter -- that she understood and accepted the conditions her plea agreement.

'Are you entering this plea because you are guilty and for no other reason?' Contreras asked Coronel, for each of the three counts.

'Si,' Coronel, a dual US-Mexican citizen, answered in Spanish.

Coronel was arrested in February on international drug trafficking charges at Dulles International Airport and remained detained pending trial.

Her attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said before the hearing that Coronel -- who married Guzman in 2007 -- hoped to some day get back to their young twin daughters.

'This is an arm's length plea agreement,' Lichtman said. 'She's happy to take responsibility ... (to) get on with her life.'

Attorney Mariel Colon, also representing Coronel, said of her client's plea: 'The only thing I can tell you is that she is at peace with her decision.'

Coronel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine for importation into the US; conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; and violating the Kingpin Act by engaging in transactions and dealings in property of her husband, a significant foreign narcotics t rafficker designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

She will sentenced September 15.

'The defendant aided and abetted the objectives of the Sinaloa Cartel,' Anthony Nardozzi, Deputy Chief of Litigation at the Justice Department, told the court.

'And it allowed Guzman to resume his leadership role at the Sinaloa Cartel and in doing so, furthered the cartel's drug trafficking business.'

Nardozzi said prosecutors had evidence and witness testimony showing Coronel's involvement in the cartel from 2011 to 2017. Coronel often served as a go between for her husband and cartel associates while he was incarcerated in Mexico, he said.

Nardozzi also said there was evidence Coronel facilitated the trafficking of thousands of kilograms of narcotics, including cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

Coronel was a regular at her husband's months-long trial in Brooklyn federal court in 2019, often exchanging waves and smiles with one of the world's most feared drug lords.

New York tabloids regularly reported on her fashion choices and one day she and Guzman wore matching velvet jackets in court.

After Guzman was convicted, he signed away the rights to his name so that Coronel could start an El Chapo-branded clothing line featuring his signature, according to Coronel's attorneys.

'It is a project dedicated to our daughters,' she told CNN in a statement in March 2019.

The complaint at the time of Coronel's arrest cited her alleged involvement in Guzman's 2015 escape from a Mexican prison.

The kingpin dramatically escaped on a motorcycle through a tunnel that had been dug to his cell at the Altiplano maximum security federal prison.

Coronel brought messages from Guzman to the group that planned the breakout after visiting him in prison, according to testimony at his trial.

In 2001, Guzman also escaped from now-closed Puente Grande prison hidden in a cart filled with dirty laundry.

In February 2019, Guzman was convicted on 10 counts, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, international distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs. He is serving his sentence in Colorado's Supermax prison.

In Guzman's trial, a cooperating witness testified that Coronel and others worked together to coordinate details of Guzman's last escape.
The city of Guntersville has until July 5th to resolve some sewage issues, or else they'll be sued by the environmental group, the Tennessee Riverkeeper. The group filed an intent to sue the city over sewage spills into Lake Guntersville.

From January until March of 2021, more than 700,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled into Lake Guntersville.

Within the past 5 years, over 1.7 million gallons of untreated sewage spilled into the lake. The founder of Tennessee Riverkeeper, David Whiteside, said it needs to be fixed immediately because untreated sewage can have pathogens and bacteria in it.

The biggest public health threat is that this can end up leaking into someones backyard, or their creek or their neighborhood, their pets can go swim in the creek and bring it back into the house," said Whiteside. "It can also get into Lake Guntersville.

He said the city of Guntersville actually reported the incidents where sewage spilled into the waterways. They intend to sue the city so some action can be made to keep it from happening any more.

This water belongs to all of us, and when our government fails their job at protecting it, then the citizens have a right to do so," said Whiteside.

If the state isn't going to do anything about it to fix it, then some action should be taken where it does get fixed," said Gino Moriggi a Guntersville resident.

The last incident the city reported was in March. The general manager of the Guntersville Water Board, Bay Chandler, said as of June 9, 2021, there are no current issues.

These issues are related to previous issues, theyre not current, and theres no imminent and/or danger to anyones drinking water or health at this point," said Chandler.

These are often coming from different things like manhole leaks, or leaky pipes, or a leaking septic tank, or even a clogged toilet, things like that," said Whiteside. "It can be all sorts of different wastewater, none of it is clean and its really important we clean it up.

Whiteside did point out that the city of Guntersville is always willing to fix the issue to make sure Lake Guntersville stays clean for people to enjoy.

Below is the group's intent to sue the city of Guntersville.
Some Morgan County students are taking part in summer literacy camp. The camp is designed for students who have a learning deficit and may need to catch up on their reading skills.

Union Hill School principal, Honi Smith, said, "Students have to have a deficit in certain areas of reading whether it be liter knowledge, comprehension, vocabulary."

The pandemic caused students across the country to struggle academically. While students balanced classes in person, they also had some days where they were taught virtually.

Emily Hadden's son is attending literacy camp. She said her son, Cole is always coming home with something new that he learned.

"Its a small group of kids and they get to break out and go to different areas," said Hadden. "Theyre learning these literary skills that some of them didnt get."

At Union Hill School, 120 students were invited to participate in summer literacy camp. 55 students now attend the camp.

"This is going to give our kids a good foundation going into the next school year, were working really hard to pinpoint specific reading skills that students have holes and gaps in," said Smith.

Hadden says the theme of "summer camp" is spread all throughout the classrooms. This way students really feel like they're at summer camp and not school.

"All the rooms are decorated with the camping theme, and there are tents in there and little lawn chairs and campfires," said Hadden.

Morgan County Schools were given $5 million dollars by the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Fund to help run a summer literacy camp. Breakfast, lunch, transportation, and paying summer teachers were all supported by federal funding.
Politico reports that Alabama U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby is endorsing Katie Boyd Britt to replace him in Washington, D.C.

Britt once served as the chief of staff for Shelby, who is retiring from public office this year.

Read Politicos full interview with Shelby HERE

This marks another Senate election when Shelby has not endorsed the same candidate as former President Donald Trump.

In this Senate race, Trump has endorsed U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks of Huntsville. Currently, the Republican primary includes Lynda Blanchard, Britt and Brooks.

Shelby also went against Trump in 2017 by not endorsing Roy Moore, who was trying to replace Sen. Jeff Sessions.

In 2020s Republican primary, Shelby endorsed Sessions attempt to return to the Senate. Trump endorsed Tommy Tuberville in the primary and the general election, where he easily won.
The American University of Rome is seeking to appoint a Digital Content Creator working within the Marketing & Communications department.

The Digital Content Creator will play a significant role in creating content that is both engaging and inspiring across a range of channels including paid media, social media, and the institutional website. The Digital Content Creator will be confident in the creation of mixed media formats - written word, photographic, and video - and is expected to be technically and creatively proficient in the development of each media type.

The Digital Content Creator will serve as a significant communications conduit between the various stakeholders of the university and their external audiences through the complete student lifecycle. This will involve working directly with the academic and service areas of the university to create compelling content around their current and future activities, as well as working directly with students to authentically represent their experiences at the university.

The successful candidate will be a creative and impassioned content producer who has the ability to tell engaging stories through multiple channels & media.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities

 To create compelling & engaging content that clearly supports and enhances the universitys value proposition.

 To proactively maintain close relationships with key faculty and administrative offices in order to highlight current and ongoing activities to both external & internal audiences.

 To maintain and increase the universitys strategic use of visual & written media for brand enhancement and direct recruitment.

 In partnership with other team members, to develop and maintain the university website(s) content.

 To undertake administrative tasks in relation to the efficient functioning of the department.

 To undertake any other similar duties of this level as required by the department Director.

Qualifications / Education / Training

 At least two years of experience in a similar role.

 A bachelor's degree in a related field.

Experience

 Recent experience of working in a similar content production role.

 Experience of working within higher education would be beneficial.

 Experience of writing for new media (web & social).

 Experience of updating websites through a CMS (an understanding of CSS/HTML would be beneficial).

 Video & photographic production experience. Expertise in the use of the Adobe Creative Suite.

 Some experience of SEO would be beneficial.

Skills, Knowledge and Level of Competency

 Native English speaker level (fluency in Italian would be viewed very favorably).

 Excellent, demonstrable English writing skills.

 Excellent media production sills (a portfolio will be required from shortlisted candidates).

 A diplomatic, customer-focused solutions provider focused on outcomes and able to work on their own initiative.

 Ability to communicate ideas and narratives effectively to multiple audiences of differing backgrounds & experiences.

 Ability to adapt and customize materials for use and re-use across various communications channels.

 Ability to produce clear, accurate, effective outputs to agreed deadlines.

Personal Qualities

 A team worker with an adaptable and flexible approach to work

 Creative, imaginative and entrepreneurial thinker

 A highly organized individual with the ability to manage multiple projects.

 Enjoys working collaboratively and seeking collaborative opportunities.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Salary: In the range of 23-27k, dependent on experience

Application procedure: Please email your CV and a covering letter outlining why you see yourself as a suitable candidate for this role to applications@aur.edu (quote re: Digital Content Creator MRK/2021 ),

Proposed start date: August 23rd, 2021.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and only short-listed candidates will be notified.

The American University of Rome is an equal opportunities employer.
Italy looks back on the 40th anniversary of the Vermicino tragedy whose doomed rescue attempts unfolded on live television.

On this day 40 years ago, a small boy fell deep into a well in a village near Frascati, about 20 km south-east of Rome.

Alfredo Rampi, known as Alfredino, was six years old.

On the evening of 10 June 1981, the boy asked his father if he could walk back across the field to the family's holiday house. It is a short walk and his father says yes.

When his father returns home later there is no sign of Alfredino. His alarmed parents begin looking for him and soon they are joined by a police search party.

Alfredino Rampi

The search party comes across a well in adjoining property but initially it is excluded it as it is covered with a sheet of metal weighed down with rocks.

Shortly afterwards, however, a fire fighter insists on checking the well and, sticking his head into the abyss, he makes out the moans of little Alfredino.

'Mamma,' comes the faint voice from far below.

It transpires that the owner of the land had covered over the well, which was dug illegally, without realising that the little boy was trapped inside.

An emergency operation to save Alfredino begins.

The rescue is complicated from the outset: the mouth of the well is only 28 cm wide and the tunnel is 80 metres deep, with very irregular walls.

After rescuers lower a lamp inside it is revealed that the child is stuck at a depth of about 36 metres, blocked by a recess.

Alfredino's mother, Franca Rampi, with rescue officials and volunteers. Photo ANSA.

The first attempt to save Alfredino turns out to be a disaster: the rescuers lower a wooden board into the well, to allow the child to cling to it, but it gets stuck at a depth of 24 metres and the rope tied to it snaps.

The well is now blocked.

During the night, technicians from the state television broadcaster RAI arrive on site and, by lowering their equipment into the well, allow the rescuers to communicate with Alfredino.

Speleologists from the Alpine Rescue volunteer to lower themselves into the well in an attempt to remove the board blocking the rescue operation.

The attempts fail.

It is decided to start digging two tunnels, one vertical and one horizontal, in a bid to reach Alfredino who by now is asking for water.

However the digging is hampered from the start by the tough terrain, then granite, which makes it difficult to tunnel.

Alfredino, who suffers from congenital heart disease, drifts in and out of sleep.

Day break, 11 June. Later in the morning RAI begins broadcasting live from the rescue site in Vermicino. The intention is to film the lead-up to the rescue of Alfredino, expected imminently.

Tragically, this does not go according to plan.

As the day goes by millions of people tune in to watch the rescue attempts. Thousands of people have gathered around the site to watch.

Rescuers work unceasingly, their work impeded frequently by technical obstacles. The cameras keep rolling.

The non-stop television coverage is attracting up to 21 million viewers at peak times. The president of Italy, Sandro Pertini, visits the scene to offer comfort to Alfredino's parents.

President of Italy, Sandro Pertini, visits the Vermicino site. Photo ANSA.

A visibly distraught Pertini vows not to move until Alfredino is rescued.

Alfredino's condition begins to deteriorate.

Then, on the morning of 12 June (a day and a half after his fall) Alfredino stops responding to rescuers.

By that evening, the drilling of the tunnels is complete, with the horizontal tunnel reaching a depth of 34 metres.

Rescuers then make a terrible discovery.

Vibrations from the drilling have caused the little boy to slip an estimated 30 metres further down the well.

With the boy now not responding and trapped about 60 metres below ground, the only option is to lower someone into the remaining part of the well.

After multiple failed attempts by trained speleologists, rescuers began to choose the smallest, slightest men they could find, to fit into the narrow and increasingly deep abyss.

A volunteer steps forward. His name is Angelo Licheri.

He has travelled from Rome specifically to offer his services.

Liccheri strips to his underwater and is lowered into the shaft, upside down.

Angelo Licheri. Photo ANSA.

After descending for 60 metres, Licheri reaches Alfredino who is very weak but still responsive.

Licheri tries to lift the boy's spirits. He promises to buy him a new bicycle, that he will take him fishing.

All Licheri's attempts to place a harness on Alfredino fail, as do his sustained efforts to pull him upwards, out of the mud. Alfredino slips deeper.

After 45 minutes - far more than the maximum 25 minutes considered safe for an upside-down mission - a desperate Licheri blows Alfredino a kiss, says "Ciao piccolino" and makes the agonising call to be lifted up without the boy.

When Licheri resurfaces, he faints and would be hospitalised for a month from injuries sustained in his mission.

Subsequent attempts by others to save Alfredino fail too. The last miniature volunteer to reach the boy was Donato Caruso. It was dawn on 13 June.

"He's not breathing."

Caruso managed to secure Alfredino with handcuffs but his wrist slipped out and he fell further. Caruso could not budge his inert body from the mud.

After lowering a sonar probe, doctors could not detect a heart beat.

Alfredino Rampi was declared dead at 06.36 on Saturday 13 June. His death was announced on live on air, through tears, by television presenter Massimo Valentini.

Alfredino's body would not be recovered until 11 July, a month after he fell.

Aftermath

Alfredino's death would lead to the creation of Italy's civil protection agency. The live broadcasting of the rescue attempt also triggered a major debate in Italy about media ethics and privacy. Photos ANSA.
Enrico Michetti is the centrodestra candidate for mayor of Rome, running alongside Simonetta Matone.

The leaders of Italy's centre-right parties have agreed on lawyer and radio broadcaster Enrico Michetti as their candidate for mayor of Rome in elections to be held later this year.

The centrodestra alliance comprises the right-wing Lega party, led by Matteo Salvini; the far-right Fratelli d'Italia, led by Giorgia Meloni; and the centre-right Forza Italia, led by Silvio Berlusconi.

Born in Rome in 1966, Michetti will be on a ticket with magistrate Simonetta Matone, who is running to be deputy mayor.

Michetti, a professor of law at the University of Cassino and a host on Radio Radio, was endorsed strongly by Meloni who convinced her allies to back the candidate she describes as "an extraordinary professional."

Simonetta Matone and Enrico Michetti

Michetti said he is "happy and excited, grateful for the trust shown in these days, for the affection received," telling news agency Adnkronos that "now is the time to give back to the Eternal City what it deserves, the role of caput mundi."

Speaking on Radio Radio, Michetti assured: "It will be a very civil election campaign. I will not speak ill of anyone and I will speak only with projects and programmes."

Michetti recently made headlines for suggesting on his radio show that it was time to re-evaluate the stiff-armed Roman salute because it would be more hygienic in the covid-19 era.

The centre-right has waited a long time to announce its candidate to challenge incumbent mayor Virginia Raggi who is seeking a second five-year term in office.

The most talked-about potential candidate for the centre-right in recent months was Guido Bertolaso, the former civil protection chief who pulled out of the Rome mayoral race in 2016.

However, despite the pressure, Bertolaso frequently denied any intention of running again.

High-profile candidates in the 2021 race for Rome mayor include former Italian finance minister Roberto Gualtieri, for the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD), and Carlo Calenda, leader of the liberal Azione party.
The neighborhood of Ostia is one of Romes most important and yet easily forgotten districts.

Seated on the coast, just south of the airport town of Fiumicino and next to the mouth of the Tiber, the history of Ostia is as old as the city itself. Ostia Antica , now an archaeological site, was once the ancient port of Rome. However, the city lay in ruin for hundreds of years until the 19th century when Rome was made the new capital of the Kingdom of Italy . With Rome now the capital, it was obvious that a resurrection of the once great harbor was necessary.

The modern neighborhood of Ostia was founded in 1884. Situated near the remains of Ostia Antica after the nearby marshland that was infested with malaria was reclaimed. The first inhabitants to settle in Nuova Ostia were peasants who came from the city of Ravenna in the northern region of Romagna. Then in the 20th century, the Via Ostiense, which was opened in 1907, connected Ostia with central Rome.

Later, the neighborhood became the favorite sea resort for the Romans after the Roma-Ostia railway was opened in 1924. Ostia underwent in greatest expansion during the Fascist period as the government envisioned it being Romes front doorstep. Another road, the Via del Mare, was built during this period along the promenade and a water airport.

It wasn't until after World War 2 however that the neighborhood experienced a real boom in tourism. This was largely due to many bathing establishments being built along the seaside, adding to the appeal of the neighborhood. Yet another road was also built, the Cristoforo Colombo Avenue, to connect Ostia with the district of EUR in Rome. The influx of tourism did not last long as the popularity of Ostia quickly dropped due to sea pollution which became apparent during the 1970s. It was during this same decade, in 1976, that Ostia officially became a part of the X Municipio of the comune of Rome.

Today, Ostia is home to around 230,000 people. If it were its own city, it would be the 14th largest in the entire country. However, while locals may flock to the beaches on hot days, the neighborhood still sees little in terms of tourism. Although the quality of the beaches has improved, it still hasn't managed to attract the same kind of popularity that it did during the post-war years. Considering it is the closest beach to Rome, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, it seems surprising that Ostia would remain somewhat forgotten. This begs the question as to why, and while it certainly can't be down to one thing, in particular, the influence of the mafia certainly has a huge part to play.

Who are the Spada?

Who is CasaPound?

Luca Marsella and Roberto Spada. Ph: Repubblica

While they are not the only criminal organization in the neighborhood of Ostia, they have been perhaps, having risen to prominence after another criminal organization, known as the Fascians, were all but wiped out. Originally from Abruzzo , the Spada are a large family of Sinti that arrived in Rome during the 1950s. Investigations over the years have revealed that the heads of the family also act as leaders of the criminal organization. They have been known to extort protection money from local traders, intimidate other criminal groups, and manage the allocation of public housing.In addition, the Spada also controls, which have long been free for local youth to attend. This is perhaps the best example of how the clan maintains control over the local population. Nuova Ostia is a neighborhood made up of very underprivileged and largely public housing. Many people who live in the neighborhood do not have jobs and therefore have no source of income. The Spada exploit this by offering to help those in need by effectively replacing the state. They have become a mix of. Helping those in need while violently and ruthlessly disposing of those who oppose them., the most powerful and well-established criminal organization in the region of Lazio with estimated assets amounting to around 90 million euros. Around a dozen members of the Spada family and their allies have been sentenced since 2016. This includes an incident in 2017 when Roberto Spada, one of the top members of the family, attacked a journalist for asking questions about the Spadas links to neo-fascist organization CasaPound. Roberto Spada was sentenced to life imprisonment in January of 2021.CasaPound is a neo-fascist movement and former political party that was founded in 2003. Over the past few years, investigators have noticed an increasingly close relationship betweenThe relationship started when CasaPound began distributing food packages in the poorest neighborhoods, such as Nuova Ostia, something the Spada family had been doing for years.

Roberto Spada even openly supported Luca Marsella, the CasaPound candidate for the Municipality of Ostia. According to several newspapers, on the day of the vote, the polling stations were manned by CasaPound activists and friends of the Spada family. They received more than 20 percent of the votes in Nuova Ostia.

Mafia Capitale

To be specific, the only true mafia organizations in the country are Cosa Nostra in Sicily, Ndrangheta in Calabria, and Camorra in Campania. Other criminal organizations dont fall into the same category, though they do operate in a similar fashion to these groups. However, in 2015 Andrea Tassone, PD president of Municipio X, was involved in the Mafia Capitale investigation for having done favors for Salvatore Buzzi, one of the bosses of the group.

The investigation into the Mafia Capitale was sparked by Rome's chief prosecutor, Guiseppe Pignatone, who uncovered a wide network of corrupt relationships between some politicians and criminal organizations in the capital. The criminal actions of the group centered around the recent influx of migrants to Italy, who took advantage of the situation by gaining public contracts to manage the migrant reception centers. They also used their connections to secure lucrative public contracts, before accepting payments for substandard, or sometimes nonexistent services. Those investigated include former mayor Gianni Alemanno as well as bosses Salvatore Buzzi and Massimo Carminati. Carminati is a former member of the neo-fascist militant organization Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari and the Banda della Magliana.

Members of the Calabrian mafia organization 'Ndrangheta were also tried. The former president of Ostia was among those arrested in 2014 when a 1200-page arrest warrant was issued. This is one of the only times that a real mafia influence has been detected in the neighborhood of Ostia. The events of the Mafia Capitale investigation are the basis for the 2015 film Suburra, and the 2017 Netflix series Suburra: Blood on Rome.

Is the Mafia present in Ostia?

In the city, no one has ever been convicted of a mafia-type criminal association, butAccording to many, this signals that a climate of fear, silence, and intimidation has been created. Everyone knew who they had to respect and what the consequences were if they crossed those in charge. In recent years there have been frequentagainst those who were not willing to pay the protection money, or who crossed a ruling family in some other way.

While the Spada clan have reigned supreme in Ostia more recently, the criminal groups that have ruled over f the city have changed often over the years. This rapid turnover is the result of clashes between various factions as well as arrests of many prominent members. At the beginning of this last decade, the heirs of Banda della Magliana, the largest and most powerful criminal organization which commanded the city and whose influence was particularly strong during the late seventies and early eighties, had control over Ostia. Their influence however diminished, especially after two of their members, Francesco "Sorcanera" Antonini and Giovanni "Baficchio" Galleoni, were killed in an ambush in broad daylight in the center of Ostia in 2011.

The murder of Antonini and Galleoni signaled the end of the most violent phase of the struggle for power over the city, which began in the early 2000s. After the Banda della Magliana, theover the city, followed by the, who were severely hit by a series of arrests in 2013. Then, finally, we arrive at the, the latest to take power. Official investigations show that they rose to significant power in 2013, around the same time that the Fascians fell. However, after reaching the height of their national notoriety, the family's power seems to have entered a downward phase.

This is largely due to the attention brought to them by the Roberto Spada incident and the 32 arrests made during operation "Eclipse" in January of 2018. The question is then, how long will the Spadas grip on power last, and when they do inevitably fall, as so many others have before them, who will take their place? One thing is certain though, whoever takes power next, Ostia will be a crucial part of the bid for power over the city. The neighborhood on the coast which has seemingly been left to its own devices by the authorities has long been the center of the struggle for power over the city.
RECOVERY CENTER PLANS - The Select Board last night sanctioned a plan from a Lowell-based substance abuse treatment provider to establish a 24-bed recovery center for adolescents at the former Daniels House Nursing facility by the Reading Public Library. (Photo by Bob Holmes)
The excitement on Jeff Bezoss face was obvious. I want to go on this flight because its a thing Ive wanted to do all my life, he said in a video posted on Instagram. Its a big deal for me.

The worlds richest man, who has amassed a fortune worth $US186 billion ($240 billion), this week revealed he would travel into space next month using a reusable rocket developed by his company, Blue Origin.

His enthusiasm comes as little surprise; Bezos says he has dreamed of going into space since the age of five. But sweeter still than achieving a childhood dream? Beating his billionaire peers in their race to space.

Jeff Bezos is planning a trip to space with his brother. Credit:Bloomberg

The main challenger to Bezoss potential crown is Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX is hoping to put astronauts on the Moon by 2024, and Mars soon after. Sir Richard Branson, meanwhile, has been targeting a personal space flight as soon as this summer, with rumours circulating on social media yesterday that he was seeking to take a Virgin Galactic trip on the weekend of July 4 - 16 days earlier than the Amazon founders intended launch date.
Technology and property stocks fired the Australian sharemarket to its best session of the week, with the ASX 200 index closing Thursdays trade above 7300 for the first time in history.

The local bourse ignored a weak Wall Street lead and a sagging US futures market to close 0.4 per cent higher at 7302.5, a new record finish.

Only the energy and materials sectors finished lower, with BHP down 0.8 per cent to $48.30.

The ASX closed higher on Thursday. Credit:Tamara Voninski

Markets software firm IRESS was the best performer, rising 16.8 per cent to $12.79 on rumours investment banks were sniffing around for shares.

Elsewhere in technology, accounting software firm Xero gained 3 per cent to $133.11, Wisetech Global rose 2.7 per cent to $30.96, and Afterpay gained 1 per cent to $99.85.

The tech sectors collective 2 per cent rise was bettered only by a 2.4 per cent gain for property stocks.

Goodman Group added 2.3 per cent to $20.71, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield climbed 3.9 per cent to $6.48, Scentre Group rose 2.5 per cent to $2.91, Mirvac was 1.7 per cent higher, and Dexus climbed 3 per cent to $10.95.

Asian markets were generally stronger on Thursday, even if US investors took risk off the board ahead of crucial inflation data, which may provide further clues on the future of ultra-supportive monetary policy and interest rates.

GSFM investment strategist Stephen Miller said while the inflation debate has been a key focus for investors in 2021, it seems that markets are by and large accepting of the US Fed narrative that the recent acceleration of inflation is transitory.

OANDA Asia Pacific analyst Jeffrey Halley said the divergence between strong equities market and lower bond yields suggested an element of complacency or confusion about inflation and its implications.

Despite the gentle retreat this week, equity markets remain a hairs breath away from record highs, while the US longer-dated yields have fallen to lows not seen since the third quarter last year, he said.

With gold, oil and commodities at or near multi-month highs, either the street think the inflation story is overdone, or there is a severe degree of complacency out there. US data over the past two months has not confirmed the story one way or the other.

Local sentiment was perhaps lifted on Thursday by the impending lifting of Victorias strictest COVID lockdown measures.

Melburnians must continue to wear masks in outdoor settings as well as indoor venues, but even the reporting of four new local cases wasnt enough to extend the citys three-week curfew.

On the ASX, the communications sector also rose strongly.

Telstra finished flat at $3.57 but REA Group rose 1.6 per cent to $167.70, News Corp gained 1.5 per cent to $32.95, and Seek climbed 3.7 per cent to $31.05.

Whitehaven Coal hit a post-COVID high and finished 5.2 per cent higher at $2.03 to continue a four-week surge.
Federal MPs and senators will receive no pay rise for the second year running because of the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision from the Remuneration Tribunal bodes poorly for minimum wage workers across the country, who are expected to learn whether and what pay rise they will receive this year within weeks.

The House of Representatives. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Senators and members of the House of Representatives earn $211,250 annually as a base salary but various roles come with more pay, ranging from a 75 per cent boost for the opposition leader to 3 per cent for the chairs of some committees.

The Prime Minister earns an extra 160 per cent of the base salary, equalling $549,250 a year, while cabinet ministers earn about the same as the opposition leader.

Some senior public servants pay is also affected by the ruling.

In its reasons, the tribunal said it had looked at economic data and projections.

The tribunal notes the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is stronger than expected, but recognises the uncertainty that remains, it said.

The national minimum wage stands at about $39,000 a year for a full-time worker.

It is set by a different independent panel, which the government has suggested should take a cautious approach this year.
The images of Tharnicaa on a hospital bed are ones that no one can or should look away from, a three-year-old child in deep physical distress and pain with sepsis and pneumonia, a child who spent 10 days vomiting, with diarrhoea and high fever before she was medically evacuated from the prison she is held in.

But its not just one image that has shocked us.

Tharnicaa and her sister Kopika in hospital on Christmas Island on Sunday, June 6.

The cruel and inhumane treatment of Priya and Nades Murugappan and their Australian-born children Kopika, 5, and Tharnicaa, 3, started long ago. They were brutally ripped away in the early hours of the morning without warning from their home in Biloela over three years ago to a detention centre in Melbourne, and since 2019 have been trapped in detention on Christmas Island.

The long-term harmful impact of detention on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of people, in particular children, has been well documented. In the past 24 hours, there have been renewed calls for the familys release by medical bodies such as the Australian Medical Association and Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
The Reservoir family includes a man in his 80s, a woman in her 70s, a man in his 50s and a man in his 20s. The first case in the family, the man in his 80s, became symptomatic on June 7 and got tested the next day, meaning exposure sites were limited. Professor Cheng nonetheless cast doubt on lifting more restrictions next week, a move the government had foreshadowed on Wednesday. As Ive said before, once we get down to small numbers, what happens next is very dependent on who those last cases are, what they do and how infectious they are, Professor Cheng said.

I think one thing we were very keen to make sure  was that there werent any links to sensitive settings like schools or disability settings or public housing or anything like that, Professor Cheng said. Despite them having no link to those high-risk settings, he said the four cases were the strongest reminder that we are in no means out of the woods yet. So, depending on how things go in the next week, and as the last weeks case have shown it really is very much a day-to-day proposition, we may need to hold the current settings a little longer, he said. But obviously well have more to say on this as investigations proceed.

There were no new cases in hotel quarantine recorded on Thursday and there are now 78 active cases in the state. The state administered 20,784 doses of coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday taking the total number of state-administered doses to 725,049. COVID-19 response Commander Jeroen Weimar said 19 of the 210 testing sites across the state had been suspended due to wild weather overnight. Vaccination centres have not been affected and have been slightly quieter over the past few days. Mr Weimar said the public health team had also contacted all primary close contacts isolating in areas that were at risk of flooding.

[We] gave them advice on procedures should they need to be evacuated and how to do that safely, Mr Weimar said. He said health authorities would contact anyone in that situation, especially those in vulnerable locations and that there was advice for people who need to check on regional properties on the departments website. New exposure sites New exposure sites include Marco Fine Food and Groceries in Reservoir, a BP in Thomastown, the Coles at Bundoora Square and Bunnings Warehouse in Thomastown.

If you have been to those locations in the times indicated on the government exposure site list, its important you get tested as soon as possible. Melbourne couple infectious during travel to Queensland Authorities are also still working to trace the movements of the Victorian couple who drove to Queensland earlier this month before testing positive on the Sunshine Coast. The Queensland government announced on Thursday morning that the husband of a Melbourne woman who tested positive the previous day had also tested positive. The husband was tested in Sunshine Coast University hospital overnight.

The pair travelled from Melbourne on June 1, arriving in Queensland by car on June 5. Professor Cheng said the Melbourne couple became symptomatic on June 3, meaning they were infectious from about the time they left home. Loading While we cant pinpoint the source of this infection, were aware that one of the cases checked in near the Craigieburn shopping centre on May 23  weve had nine cases linked to that shopping centre to date, he said. The couple were first interviewed by Queensland health authorities and then NSW, with Victorian contact tracers to speak with them later on Thursday. Its still unclear how the couple became infected.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said there was a very real risk to the state posed by the couple. Meanwhile, Queensland Health Minister Yvette DAth said she would not judge anyones behaviour until she had all the facts as to why the couple travelled from Melbourne to Brisbane while Victoria was in lockdown. Federal Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly also officially lifted the hotspot declaration over Greater Melbourne on Thursday. The hotspot was originally declared for a week from May 28 before it was extended on June 4 until 11.59pm on Thursday.

Loading The end of the hotspot designation means federal financial support for Melburnian workers affected by the COVID-19 lockdown announced last week will come to an end. Mr Merlino revealed that Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas had unsuccessfully asked his federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg to extend the income support. My understanding is the Commonwealth arent going to reconsider the timing or the nature of their income support. Thats a matter for them, the acting Premier said. Professor Kelly also said that a second woman had died from a severe form of the rare blood clotting syndrome linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Loading The 52-year-old from NSW had a blood clot in the brain. Three other cases of the rare clotting disorder - called Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) were also confirmed in the last week. Professor Kelly said more than 3.6 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in Australia with only two deaths. I will point out that this remains an extremely rare event to get these serious clots, he said. But when they happen, as weve seen in this case, it can have tragic circumstances so my heart certainly goes out to the family and to all the friends and colleagues of this particular person.
Assembled in a makeshift commercial kitchen on a side street in Melbournes north, 15 volunteers with the Muslim Womens Council of Victoria take on their own mystery box every Friday.

They rustle through donations of food from local charities and businesses: spare vegetables, rice, spice packets, sometimes chicken or beef.

Afshan Mantoo (centre) and her group of volunteers preparing food at their kitchen in Coburg. Credit:Penny Stephens

Their assignment? Come up with a meal to serve the vulnerable Victorians who visit for Friday lunch in Coburg. Demand has peaked and troughed since mum-of-four Afshan Mantoo, the councils president, started the initiative at the start of the coronavirus pandemic last March.

We got up to 300 people visiting us in the second wave. By the start of May we were down to 100. People were honest, they said thank you, we no longer need it, were back in jobs and things are looking better.
Morale at Perths strained hospitals has reached another low with doctors and nurses feeling so overwhelmed and burned out they are turning down shifts.

As workers refuse to work double shifts and overtime, hospitals already operating with minimal resources are running out of options to staff the wards.

Nurses and doctors protest ourside Perth Childrens Hospital on May 25. Credit:Hamish Hastie

Australian Medical Association WA president Andrew Miller said front-line workers were concerned they would be thrown under the bus after junior nurses were reported to the national watchdog following the death of seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath at Perth Childrens Hospital in April.

The ongoing poor treatment of senior staff, in particular, has led to a situation where the morale is low, the culture is poor, and finding the staff to run these hospitals is becoming more and more difficult, Dr Miller said.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan says the Morrison government should let a Tamil asylum-seeker family detained on Christmas Island settle permanently in Australia.

During a press conference on Thursday morning, Mr McGowan said the issue had become internationally embarrassing and it was time for the federal government to sort it out.

Sister Kopika comforts Tharnicaa with in hospital on Christmas Island this week before she was evacuated to a Perth hospital.

If that means they need to use one of their exemption powers under the act, just do it, and resolve the issue, he said.

We actually need workers in Australia at the moment and to get this very unfortunate and somewhat internationally embarrassing issue behind us.
Australians are becoming less charitable as the share of people making donations falls to its lowest level since the 1970s, with only the generosity of some of the nations richest people easing the struggle facing the charity sector.

In a development experts argue is due to a range of factors from the decline of Baby Boomers to poor wages growth, new data from the Australian Tax Office reveals less than 29 per cent of the nations 14.7 million taxpayers made a tax deduction for gifts or charities in 2018-19.

Community Council for Australia chief executive David Crosbie said there had been a clear fall in the proportion of people giving to charity since the end of the global financial crisis.

He said there was a close connection between charitable giving and consumer confidence - the more optimistic people were about the economy and their future, the more likely they were to give.
Unions representing aged care staff, ambulance workers and teachers are wary of the federal governments call for mandatory coronavirus vaccinations as they contend with a membership base that includes some anti-vaxxers as well people who passionately support a jab.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said last week that state, territory and federal health leaders had agreed in principle there should be mandatory vaccines in aged care but only Western Australia has given a timetable, with mandatory shots due in August.

Unions say they fully support vaccination but have a sceptical view of the Morrison governments push to mandate it for some workers. Credit:Eddie Jim

The unions say they back vaccines and will support the health authorities if they decide to make a coronavirus vaccine a condition of employment, but argue the main barrier to having workers vaccinated are problems with supply and distribution.

You cant mandate what you cant get, said Lloyd Williams, the national secretary of the Health Services Union, which represents staff in aged care homes.
Singapore: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been advised to try and engage with a rising and assertive China by his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong before Mr Morrisons first face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden in Britain.

Morrison visited Singapores presidential palace, the Istana, on Thursday night in a brief stopover on the island nation en route to the G7-plus meetings in Cornwall.

Scott Morrison meets his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong at a stopover on the way to the G7 in Britain. Credit:Twitter/leehsienloong

The two leaders said they would begin developing the infrastructure for a travel bubble between the countries including a mutually recognisable digital vaccine certificate.

There was no timetable set for a corridor to open and Morrison flagged that quarantine-free travel from Singapore was some way away. But he agreed to a request by Lee for the return of Singaporean students to Australia to be a priority, saying they would have first access to any bubble between the nations.
London: Buckingham Palace has refused to back the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in a row with the BBC over whether the couple sought the Queens permission to name their daughter Lilibet.

Lawyers instructed by the couple said it was false and defamatory for the BBC to suggest the couple did not ask the Queen if they could use her highly personal pet name for their second child.

Prince Harry and Meghan claimed they would not have used the name if the Queen had not been supportive of their choice. The palace, rather than confirming their version of events, refused to deny suggestions that the Queen was never asked.

The London Telegraph understands the Queen was told about the name after the baby was born last Friday, rather than her permission being sought in advance, according to royal sources unable to speak on the record.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rid the Sea of Marmara of the scourge of marine mucilage, as workers embarked on a massive effort to vacuum up the foul-looking substance that has been plaguing coastal communities for weeks.

Thick layers of the viscous, slimy mucus colloquially known as sea snot have been wreaking havoc along the countrys coastline, washing up on beaches, choking harbours and clogging up fishermens nets while suffocating marine life. Scientists say that untreated sewage, agricultural run-off and other forms of pollution are responsible for the phenomenon, but that warming water temperatures caused by climate change appear to be making it even worse.

A huge mass of marine mucilage at the Bostanci shore on the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday. Credit:AP

The unappetising muck has become a source of national embarrassment and rising anger. On Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), Erdogan vowed to designate the Sea of Marmara, which is between the Black and Aegean Seas, as a conservation area.

Meanwhile, government officials launched a massive clean-up operation, using tanker trucks with suction hoses that park along the shoreline and effectively act as giant vacuum cleaners. Similar methods have been used to remove toxic blue-green algae from waterways in Florida.
Washington: US President Joe Biden is preparing to announce a plan to send 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses manufactured by Pfizer to other countries, a move the US hopes will be a turning point in the global battle against the coronavirus.

Biden is expected to officially announce the plan to share vaccines with about 100 countries as early as Friday (AEST) during his trip to the United Kingdom for the G7 summit.

US President Joe Biden addresses US Air Force personnel at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk. Credit:Getty

The visit, to be followed by one to NATO headquarters in Brussels and a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, is Bidens first overseas trip since entering the White House in January.

Addressing US troops and their families at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, shortly after landing, Biden declared the United States was back on the world stage.
Washington: The White House dropped Trump-era executive orders intended to ban the popular apps TikTok and WeChat and will conduct its own review aimed at identifying national security risks with software applications tied to China.

A new executive order directs the Commerce Department to undertake what officials describe as an evidence-based analysis of transactions involving apps that are manufactured or supplied or controlled by China. Officials are particularly concerned about apps that collect users personal data or have connections to Chinese military or intelligence activities.

In revoking some of President Donald Trumps blanket-style orders against Chinese tech companies and replacing them with a narrower approach, the Biden administration has not actually weighed in yet on whether TikTok and other apps pose a danger to Americans.

But a senior administration official said on Thursday (AEST) that the Trump actions werent always implemented in the soundest fashion and the aim of the review is to set up clear criteria to evaluate data security and privacy risks for each app. He said that could lead to a range of potential future actions on an app-by-app basis.
BERLIN (AP)  Germany's health ministry on Wednesday downplayed the possible impact on the country's coronavirus vaccine campaign after reports that the shot being developed by local company CureVac could face further delays getting regulatory approval.

Manfred Lucha, the health minister for Baden-Wuerttemberg state, where CureVac is based, said Tuesday that there were complications with CureVac's clinical trials, German news agency dpa reported. Lucha quoted federal Health Minister Jens Spahn saying authorization for the shot might not happen before August.

Spahn's spokesman, Hanno Kautz, declined to comment on the report, saying the conversation cited by Lucha was confidential.

But what I could tell you is that CureVac isn't really relevant for the current vaccination campaign, said Kautz, adding that German authorities had planned to receive 1.4 million doses of the shot during the second quarter that ends June 30.

Asked whether the ministry expects to get any doses of the CureVac vaccine this year, he said: We have no information to the contrary.

German daily Augsburger Allgemeine reported that CureVac's late-stage clinical trial has suffered from a lack of infections in the control group, due to the falling number of COVID-19 cases.

It quoted a company spokeswoman, Sarah Fakih, saying that CureVac is confident it will soon be able to get the 160 COVID-19 cases among almost 40,000 trial participants required for the study, and hopes to submit the data to the European Medicines Agency by the end of June.

In its vaccine, CureVac uses mRNA technology that's also employed in the BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna shots.

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Follow all of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
The CDC has awarded the Indiana State Department of Health and the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County $40,705,446 to address COVID-19-related health disparities.

The funding, part of a $2.25 billion nationwide investment, seeks to advance health equity by expanding state, local, US territorial, and freely associated state health department capacity and services. This is CDCs largest investment to date to improve health equity in the United States.

These grants demonstrate our steadfast commitment to keeping equity at the center of everything we do, said CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH. They are an important step in our unwavering efforts to strengthen our communities readiness for public health emergenciesand to helping everyone in America have equal opportunities for health.

The intended outcomes of these grants are to:
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Subaru of Wakefield selected Make-A-Wish as its Hometown Charity of Choice, raising $32,800 this year and $180,000 over the past four years. Make-A-Wish representatives were at Subaru of Wakefield to congratulate the team and to present them with an award recognizing their achievement (from left to right) George Deveney, Make-A-Wish Chief Advancement Officer; Kimberly Kelley, Subaru of Wakefield; Sal Barbagallo, Managing Partner, Subaru of Wakefield; Sean Holleran, Make-A-Wish Chief Executive Officer; and Hillary Muntz, Make-A-Wish Corporate Partnerships Manager. (Courtesy photo)
The UK's first all-black, all-female Shakespeare Company has been formed.

Founded by actresses Maisey Bawden, Gabrielle Brooks, Danielle Kassarate and Jade Samuel, the company will tackle ways in which representation is treated in classical texts, as well as how Shakespeare works with Black audiences.

It is supported by Arts Council England, BAFTA Award Winner Amma Asante, The Young Vic, The Arcola, Chichester Festival Theatre, The Citizens Glasgow, Queens Theatre Hornchurch, The Mercury Colchester, Royal and Derngate, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and Arts Educational Schools.

The company will stream a series of short Shakespeare pieces in collaboration with Talawa Theatre as part of its first project, launching at the end of August.

The company's ambassador is Sharon D Clarke, who said today: "Mawa! The UK's first all Black, all Female Shakespeare Company! I am thrilled to be associated with Mawa Theatre Company. We have waited a long time for a company like this and I'm excited to see them produce some ground-breaking, thought provoking, innovative work. The industry desperately needs more Black led female companies and I cannot wait to see Mawa break and slay new ground."
Revered stage and screen star Ian McDiarmid will star in a stage version of Julian Barnes' The Lemon Table, set to tour this autumn.

Directed by Michael Grandage (Frozen) the piece will open at Salisbury Playhouse (part of Wiltshire Creative) on 15 October, with a preview on 14 October, before touring to Sheffield Theatres, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, HOME Manchester and Malvern Theatres.

Grandage and McDiarmid have worked together on a variety of shows including The Doctor's Dilemma and The Jew of Malta at the Almeida.

McDiarmid, who adapts the book, said today: "Two connected stories from Julian Barnes' The Lemon Table, his witty and touching reflections on mortality and the workings of love, seem positively to invite the engagement and tensions of live performance.

"It's a delight to be working once again with Michael Grandage and, at this particular time, to be embarking on a tour of the English regions with the enthusiastic support of a cohort of producers and venues."

Further creatives are to be revealed.
Williamson, WV (25661)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 89F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline pulled the plug on the contentious project Wednesday after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office.

Committee Ranking Member Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WVa., speaks during a hearing to examine the nomination of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, D-Mich., as she testifies before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during a hearing to examine her nomination to be Secretary of Energy, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline pulled the plug on the contentious project Wednesday after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office.

Calgary-based TC Energy said it would work with government agencies "to ensure a safe termination of and exit" from the partially built line, which was to transport crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska.

Construction on the 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) pipeline began last year when former President Donald Trump revived the long-delayed project after it had stalled under the Obama administration. It would have moved up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily, connecting in Nebraska to other pipelines that feed oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Biden canceled the pipeline's border crossing permit in January over longstanding concerns that burning oil sands crude could make climate change worse and harder to reverse.

In this Dec. 18, 2020 photo, pipes to be used for the Keystone XL pipeline are stored in a field near Dorchester, Neb. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his officials have been in frequent contact with President-elect Joe Bidens incoming administration making the case for a long disputed oil pipeline that reports say Biden will cancel on his first day in office. (Chris Machian /Omaha World-Herald via AP)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had objected to the move , raising tensions between the U.S. and Canada. Officials in Alberta, where the line originated, expressed frustration in recent weeks that Trudeau wasn't pushing Biden harder to reinstate the pipelines permit.

Alberta invested more than $1 billion in the project last year, kick-starting construction that had stalled amid determined opposition to the line from environmentalists and Native American tribes along its route.

Alberta officials said Wednesday they reached an agreement with TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, to exit that partnership. The company and province plan to try to recoup the government's investment, although neither offered any immediate details on how that would happen.

"We remain disappointed and frustrated with the circumstances surrounding the Keystone XL project, including the cancellation of the presidential permit for the pipelines border crossing," Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a statement.

The province had hoped the pipeline would spur increased development in the oil sands and bring tens of billions of dollars in royalties over decades.

FILE - In this March 11, 2020, file photo provided by the Bureau of Land Management, shows the proposed route of the Keystone XL oil pipeline where it crosses into the United States from Canada in Phillips County, Mont. Calgary-based TC Energy, sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline, said Wednesday, June 9, 2021, that it was pulling the plug on the contentious project after Canadian officials failed to convince President Joe Biden to reverse its cancellation of its permit on the day he took office. (Al Nash/Bureau of Land Management via AP, File)

Climate change activists viewed the expansion of oil sands development as an environmental disaster that could speed up global warming as the fuel is burned. That turned Keystone into a flashpoint in the climate debate, and it became the focus of rallies and protests in Washington, D.C., and other cities.

Environmentalists who had fought the project since it was first announced in 2008 said its cancellation marks a "landmark moment" in the effort to curb the use of fossil fuels.

"Good riddance to Keystone XL," said Jared Margolis with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of many environmental groups that sued to stop it.

On Montanas Fort Belknap Reservation, tribal president Andy Werk Jr. described the end of Keystone as a relief to Native Americans who stood against it out of concerns a line break could foul the Missouri River or other waterways.

Attorneys general from 21 states had sued to overturn Bidens cancellation of the pipeline, which would have created thousands of construction jobs. Republicans in Congress have made the cancellation a frequent talking point in their criticism of the administration, and even some moderate Senate Democrats including Montana's Jon Tester and West Virginia's Joe Manchin had urged Biden to reconsider.

Tester said in a statement Wednesday that he was disappointed in the project's demise, but made no mention of Biden.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate energy committee, was more direct: "President Biden killed the Keystone XL Pipeline and with it, thousands of good-paying American jobs."

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on TC Energy's announcement. In his Jan. 20 cancellation order, Biden said allowing the line to proceed "would not be consistent with my administrations economic and climate imperatives."

TC Energy said in canceling the pipeline that the company is focused on meeting "evolving energy demands" as the world transitions to different power sources. It said it has $7 billion in other projects under development.

Keystone XLs price tag had ballooned as the project languished, increasing from $5.4 billion to $9 billion. Meanwhile, oil prices fell significantly  from more than $100 a barrel in 2008 to under $70 in recent months  slowing development of Canadas oil sands and threatening to eat into any profits from moving the fuel to refineries.

A second TC Energy pipeline network, known simply as Keystone, has been delivering crude from Canada's oil sands region since 2010. The company says on its website that Keystone has moved more than 3 billion barrels of crude from Alberta and an oil loading site in Cushing, Oklahoma.

Follow Brown on Twitter: @MatthewBrownAP
CORNWALL, ENGLAND - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau landed in England on Thursday ahead of a three-day summit with fellow G7 leaders amid growing pressure on Canada to share COVID-19 vaccines with low-income countries.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives to hold a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 8, 2021. Trudeau leaves Canada today for a G7 summit as the country is seized by tragedy and demands of justice for Indigenous peoples and Muslims. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

CORNWALL, ENGLAND - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau landed in England on Thursday ahead of a three-day summit with fellow G7 leaders amid growing pressure on Canada to share COVID-19 vaccines with low-income countries.

As Trudeau arrived under grey skies, greeted by a mask-wearing ceremonial guard and local officials, President Joe Biden separately promised the U.S. will donate500 million doses to speed the end of the global pandemic and said his G7 counterparts will soon announce their own plans.

"We're going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners," Biden said in England, adding the doses would be shared with "no strings attached."

The U.S. commitment comes on top of 80 million doses Biden has already pledged to share by the end of the month.

Late Thursday, Canada became the only country in the G7 yet to announce plans to share any of its vaccines. That evening, before the summit formally began, the U.K. announced it would donate five million doses in the "coming weeks" to inoculate people living in some of the world's poorest countries, and give away at least 100 million doses within the next year.

In a statement, the British government said "G7 leaders are expected to agree to provide 1 billion doses via dose sharing and financing to end the pandemic in 2022."

A Canadian government official speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed Canada will be part of that package.

The country has guaranteed delivery of more than 100 million doses for the year when giving the population two doses requires 76 million. It has committed $440 million to help vaccine-sharing initiative COVAX buy doses directly from manufacturers.

France, Germany, Italy and Japan have all committed to provide different amounts of shots to COVAX, which is aimed at ensuring low and middle-income countries have access to inoculations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives at the airport in Newquay, United Kingdom for the G7 Summit, Thursday June 10, 2021. Trudeau will participate in the G7 Summit in the United Kingdom and a NATO meeting in Belgium. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Johnson had asked leaders to come to the summit with concrete commitments on how to end the pandemic by the end of 2022. He wrote in The Times of London newspaper that it was now time for wealthy countries to "vaccinate the world."

U.S. officials hope the summit will conclude with a communique showing a commitment from the G7 countries and nations invited to participate to do more to help vaccinate the world and support public health globally.

The trip marks the first time Trudeau has been in another country since early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada. Among the officials who greeted him in England was Ralph Goodale, a former Liberal cabinet minister who is now Canada's high commissioner to Britain.

He will spend the next few days meeting with world leaders in a village near the English coast for the first in-person gathering of G7 leaders since 2019. From there he will travel to Brussels for a NATO summit, followed by a meeting between Canada and the European Union.

Ending the pandemic, recovering the global economy  including for international travel  and getting vaccines to less wealthy countries dominate the agenda for the G7.

This is also Biden's first trip abroad since being elected to the White House last fall, providing the first chance for him and Trudeau to talk face-to-face since he took office.

New York Rep. Brian Higgins said Thursday the White House has confirmed Biden and Trudeau are set to meet on the margins of the G7 summit, and that they will discuss plans to reopen the Canada-U.S. border. Higgins, one of the most vocal U.S. critics of the ongoing border restrictions, was taking part in a panel discussion on the issue alongside Liberal MP Wayne Easter.

"This is the most exclusive club in the world," said John Kirton, director of the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto.

"Sometimes it's what I've called the lonely hearts club  or group therapy session. Nobody but the fellow leaders of the most powerful democratic countries in the world governing advanced economies can understand how tough that job is."

Trudeau travels having received one of his two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot. His office said he will quarantine for up to three days at a hotel in Ottawa when he returns next week.

The G7 includes Canada, the U.S. and United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy and Germany, as well as the European Union.

Summit observers say Trudeau enters being the leader who has served the second-longest, next only to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Heading into the G7, Trudeau's office said besides the pandemic, he will focus on climate change  a major policy plank for his Liberal government  as well as economic growth and co-ordinating approaches to promote gender equality and human rights.

Recently though, Canada has been gripped by an outpouring of grief over the targeted killing of a Muslim family, and a First Nation's discovery of what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school.

Trudeau spoke at a vigil two days ago in London, Ont., for the Afzaal family. Four members of the family died when a man drove a truck into them while they were out for a walk Sunday evening. A nine-year-old boy survived.

The prime minister called it a terrorist attack.

His Liberal government has also faced questions over its lack of progress on a promise to implement the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into Canada's former residential school system.

As well, Trudeau has been urging Pope Francis to apologize for the Catholic Church's role in operating these facilities, where generations of Indigenous children suffered abuse and isolation from their families and culture.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.

 With files from James McCarten in Washington, D.C., and The Associated Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the United Kingdom would donate at least one million COVID-19 vaccine doses within the next year.
July 2008: TC Energy Corp.  then called TransCanada Corp.  and ConocoPhillips, joint owners of the Keystone Pipeline, propose a major extension to the network. The expansion, dubbed Keystone XL, would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oilsands bitumen from Alberta to Texas.

A yard in Gascoyne, ND., which has hundreds of kilometres of pipes stacked inside it are shown shown on April 22, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alex Panetta

July 2008: TC Energy Corp.  then called TransCanada Corp.  and ConocoPhillips, joint owners of the Keystone Pipeline, propose a major extension to the network. The expansion, dubbed Keystone XL, would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oilsands bitumen from Alberta to Texas.

2009: As the U.S. State Department wades through comments based on an environmental assessment of the project, TransCanada starts visiting landowners potentially affected by the pipeline. Opposition emerges in Nebraska.

June 2009: TransCanada announces it will buy ConocoPhillips's stake in Keystone.

March 2010: The National Energy Board approves TransCanadas application for Keystone XL, though the OK comes with 22 conditions regarding safety, environmental protection and landowner rights.

April 2010: The U.S. State Department releases a draft environmental impact statement saying Keystone XL would have a limited effect on the environment.

June-July 2010: Opposition to Keystone XL begins mounting in the United States. Legislators write to then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton calling for greater environmental oversight; scientists begin speaking out against the project; and the Environmental Protection Agency questions the need for the pipeline extension.

July 2010: The State Department extends its review of Keystone, saying federal agencies need more time to weigh in before a final environmental impact assessment can be released.

March 2011: The State Department announces a further delay in its environmental assessment.

Aug. 26, 2011: The State Department releases its final environmental assessment, which reiterates that the pipeline would have a limited environmental impact.

August-September 2011: Protesters stage a two-week campaign of civil disobedience at the White House to speak out against Keystone XL. Police arrest approximately 1,000 people, including actors Margot Kidder and Daryl Hannah as well as Canadian activist Naomi Klein.

Sept. 26, 2011: At a demonstration on Parliament Hill, police arrest 117 of 400 protesters.

Nov. 10, 2011: The State Department says TransCanada must reroute Keystone XL to avoid an ecologically sensitive region of Nebraska.

Nov. 14, 2011: TransCanada agrees to reroute the line.

December 2011: U.S. legislators pass a bill with a provision saying President Barack Obama must make a decision on the pipelines future in the next 60 days.

Jan. 18, 2012: Obama rejects Keystone, saying the timeline imposed by the December bill did not leave enough time to review the new route. Obama said TransCanada was free to submit another application.

Feb. 27, 2012: TransCanada says it will build the southern leg of Keystone XL, from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast, as a separate project with a price tag of $2.3 billion. This is not subject to presidential permission, since it did not cross an international border.

April 18, 2012: TransCanada submits a new route to officials in Nebraska for approval.

May 4, 2012: TransCanada files a new application with the State Department for the northern part of Keystone XL.

Jan. 22, 2013: Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approves TransCanadas proposed new route for Keystone XL, sending the project back to the State Department for review.

January 2013: Pipeline opponents file a lawsuit against the Nebraska government claiming the state law used to review the new route is unconstitutional.

Jan. 31, 2014: The State Department says in a report that Keystone XL would produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than transporting oil to the Gulf of Mexico by rail.

Feb. 19, 2014: A Nebraska judge rules that the law that allowed the governor to approve Keystone XL over the objections of landowners was unconstitutional. Nebraska said it would appeal.

April 18, 2014: The State Department suspends the regulatory process indefinitely, citing uncertainty about the court case in Nebraska.

Nov. 4, 2014: TransCanada says the costs of Keystone XL have grown to US$8 billion from US$5.4 billion.

November-December 2014: Midterm elections turn control of the U.S. Congress over to Republicans, who say theyll make acceptance of Keystone XL a top priority. But Obama adopts an increasingly negative tone.

Jan. 9, 2015: At the Nebraska Supreme Court, by the narrowest of margins, a panel of seven judges strikes down the lower-court decision.

Jan. 29, 2015: The U.S. Senate approves a bill to build Keystone XL, but the White House says Obama would veto it.

Feb. 24, 2015: Obama vetoes the bill.

June 30, 2015: TransCanada writes to then-secretary of state John Kerry and other U.S. officials saying the State Department should include recent climate change policy announcements by the Alberta and federal governments in its review of Keystone XL.

Nov. 2, 2015: TransCanada asks the U.S. government to temporarily suspend its application.

Nov. 4, 2015: The U.S. government rejects that request.

Nov. 6, 2015: The Obama administration rejects TransCanadas application to build the Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada CEO Russ Girling says he is disappointed, but continues to believe the project is in the best interests of both Canada and the U.S.

Jan. 6, 2016: TransCanada files notice to launch a claim under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, alleging the U.S. government breached its legal commitments under NAFTA. The company also files a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court in Texas arguing that Obama exceeded his powers by denying construction of the project.

May 26, 2016: Republican presidential contender Donald Trump says he would approve Keystone XL if elected, a pledge he repeats several times during the campaign.

Nov. 8, 2016: Trump is elected president.

Jan. 24, 2017: Trump signs an executive order that he says approves Keystone XL, but suggests the United States intends to renegotiate the terms of the project. He also signs an order requiring American pipelines to be built with U.S. steel.

Nov. 9, 2018: A U.S. federal judge blocks the pipeline's construction to allow more time to study the potential environmental impact.

March 29, 2019: Trump issues a new presidential permit in an effort to speed up development of the pipeline

May 3, 2019: TransCanada changes its name to TC Energy.

March 31, 2020: Alberta agrees to invest $1.5 billion in Keystone XL, followed by a $6 billion loan guarantee in 2021.

April 7, 2020: Construction begins, despite calls from Indigenous groups and environmentalists to pause their efforts.

May 18, 2020: Joe Biden, then the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, vows to scrap Keystone XL if elected, but doesn't set out a timeline for doing so.

Nov. 3, 2020: Biden is elected president.

Jan. 17, 2021: TC Energy announces a plan for Keystone XL to achieve net-zero emissions.

Jan. 20, 2021: Biden revokes Keystone XL's presidential permit on his first day in office, hours after TC Energy said it would halt work on the project.

May 7, 2021: In reporting quarterly earnings results, TC Energy says it is taking a $2.2-billion writedown on the cancelled project. Shippers including Cenovus Energy Inc., Suncor Energy Inc. and Imperial Oil Ltd. had previously reported non-cash writedowns on earnings related to their commitments to Keystone XL.

June 9, 2021: TC Energy announces termination of the project.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX: TRP)
FALMOUTH, England (AP)  Group of Seven leaders began arriving at a luxury seaside resort in England on Thursday for a Group of Seven summit where some of the world's richest nations will pledge to share coronavirus vaccines with the poorest, as part of efforts to help a pandemic-scarred world recover.

FILE - In this Aug. 25, 2019, file photo, French President Emmanuel Macron, center, U.S. President Donald Trump, right, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, second right, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, second left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel , center left, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, rear right, and European Council President Donald Tusk attend a session during the G7 summit in Biarritz, southwestern France. Helping countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic will be at the top of the agenda for the Group of Seven summit when Johnson welcomes President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwestern England on Friday, June 11. (Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP, File)

FALMOUTH, England (AP)  Group of Seven leaders began arriving at a luxury seaside resort in England on Thursday for a Group of Seven summit where some of the world's richest nations will pledge to share coronavirus vaccines with the poorest, as part of efforts to help a pandemic-scarred world recover.

Since the G-7 last met two years ago, COVID-19 has killed more than 3.7 million people and decimated economies with lockdowns and layoffs.

As British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosts U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwest England, pandemic recovery  and, crucially, getting vaccines to billions who lack them  is at the top of the agenda.

This is the moment for the worlds greatest and most technologically advanced democracies to shoulder their responsibilities and to vaccinate the world, because no one can be properly protected until everyone has been protected, Johnson said in an article published Thursday, a day before the summit's official start.

Johnson, who has faced criticism for months over Britains refusal to send any vaccine doses abroad, pledged to donate 100 million jabs in the next year, the first of them by September, and said the G-7 as a whole is expected to give 1 billion doses. Half of that came in a pledge from U.S. President Joe Biden.

FILE - In this June 9, 2021, file photo, President Joe Biden listens as first lady Jill Biden speaks to American service members at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Helping countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic will be at the top of the agenda for the Group of Seven summit when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomes Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwestern England on Friday, June 11. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Biden, making his first foreign trip as president, announced that the U.S. will buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine to share with poorer countries over the next year.

"America will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against COVID-19," Biden said.

The summit is seen as a major test for Johnson, a divisive leader at home and abroad whose two years in office have been dominated by the consecutive crises of Brexit and the pandemic.

FILE - In this May 26, 2021, file photo, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London. Helping countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic will be at the top of the agenda for the Group of Seven summit when Johnson welcomes President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwestern England on Friday, June 11. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

For a setting, Johnson has chosen the rugged county of Cornwall, at Englands southwestern tip  a region that combines natural beauty with a cluster of innovative tech and ecology businesses. It's also one of Englands poorest regions, where wealthy second-home owners have made housing unaffordable for many local people.

The leaders will visit the Eden Project, a pioneering eco-tourism site built in a former quarry pit, and will enjoy ethically sourced food made by local chefs. Theres even a beach barbecue complete with toasted marshmallows, hot buttered rum and a performance by a sea shanty troupe.

Johnsons eve-of-summit meeting with Biden on Thursday was a chance to underscore the trans-Atlantic alliance and to set out his vision of a post-Brexit Global Britain as a midsized country with an outsized role in international problem-solving.

FILE - In this June 3, 2021, file photo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks with Debs Scott, Clinical lead for UCLH's mass vaccination centre, after receiving his second jab of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, at the Francis Crick Institute in London. Helping countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic will be at the top of the agenda for the Group of Seven summit when Johnson welcomes President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwestern England on Friday, June 11. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool, File)

That may be a challenge, given the distrust in European capitals and Washington surrounding the U.K.s decision to leave the EU and the messy process of separation.

Biden once called the blustering Johnson a clone of former President Donald Trump and has expressed repeated concern about the destabilizing effect of Brexit on Northern Ireland, the only part of the U.K. that borders the bloc.

But after a meeting between the two that lasted well over an hour, Johnson described the new president as a breath of fresh air. Biden said the meeting had been very productive.

FILE - In this June 9, 2021, file photo, German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting of the German government at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany. Helping countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic will be at the top of the agenda for the Group of Seven summit when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomes President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwestern England on Friday, June 11. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool, File)

Despite the bonhomie, the president and his team have stressed the need to soothe Northern Ireland tensions. Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters aboard Air Force One that the president's commitment to Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace accord was rock solid.

Johnson said protecting the Northern Ireland peace agreement was absolutely common ground among Britain, the U.S. and the European Union. That may be, but EU leaders are furious at what they see as the U.K.'s failure to implement the divorce deal that Johnson agreed to.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that the Brexit agreement signed by Britain and the EU was not up for renegotiation.

FILE - In this June 9, 2021, file photo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, visits the Scottish Power Carland Cross Windfarm to view new construction on a solar farm in Newquay, Cornwall, England. Leaders of some of the worlds richest nations will be meeting at the English seaside for a three-day Group of Seven summit in a world that has changed hugely since their last gathering two years ago. Before the pandemic, Johnson planned this to be a climate-dominated summit. (AP Photo/Jon Super, Pool, File)

Like many prime ministers before him, Johns summoned the spirit of wartime leader Winston Churchill when meeting the president. In a symbolic show of unity, the two leaders agreed a new Atlantic Charter  a 21st century version of the 1941 agreement between Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt that helped lay the foundations for the United Nations and NATO.

The new document commits Britain and the U.S to defend the principles, values, and institutions of democracy and open societies" and build an inclusive, fair, climate-friendly, sustainable, rules-based global economy for the 21st century. The two countries also said they will set up a task force aimed at re-starting trans-Atlantic travel, disrupted by pandemic restrictions.

Before the pandemic, Johnson planned this to be a climate-dominated summit. He had wanted to make it a major staging post to Novembers international COP26 meeting on climate change in Glasgow, eliciting ambitious targets for slashing carbon emissions and expanding green industries.

Thats still on the agenda, but the meeting will be dominated by COVID-19, with discussions focusing on physical and economic recovery and building resilience against future pandemics. Lest anyone forget that the virus is still raging, there will be daily coronavirus tests for attending politicians, diplomats, staff and journalists.

Even without the pandemic, this would be a moment of flux for the rich countries club. Its a first G-7 summit for Biden and for Japans Yoshihide Suga, who took office in September.

Suga said before leaving Tokyo that he would seek support for his determination to hold a safe and secure Olympics starting on July 23 despite the pandemic. The Games face strong opposition in Japan.

The meeting is also a G-7 swan song for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will leave office in the coming months after 16 years in power.

Asked what message Merkel wants to send at the summit, a senior German official replied: The message of the summit overall -- and that stands for what the chancellor has stood for over recent years -- is that multilateralism, and the G-7, is back.

Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Angela Charlton in Paris and Danica Kirka in Falmouth, England contributed.
SEATTLE (AP)  Corporate and tech employees at Amazon wont have to work in offices full time after coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

FILE - In this March 20, 2020, file photo, the Amazon campus outside the company headquarters in Seattle sits nearly deserted on an otherwise sunny and warm afternoon. Corporate and tech employees at Amazon won't have to work in offices full time after coronavirus restrictions are lifted. The online retail giant said in a company blog post Thursday, June 10, 2021, that those workers can work remotely two days a week. In addition, the employees can work remotely from a domestic location for four full weeks each year. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

SEATTLE (AP)  Corporate and tech employees at Amazon wont have to work in offices full time after coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

The Seattle Times reports the online retail giant said in a company blog post Thursday that those workers can work remotely two days a week. In addition, the employees can work remotely from a domestic location for four full weeks each year.

Amazons work policy update follows backlash from some employees to what they interpreted as the expectation they would have to return to the office full time once states reopen.

Some tech companies had launched recruiting campaigns that seemed targeted in part at Amazon workers dismay over an end to remote work.

Most Amazon employees will start heading back to offices as soon as local jurisdictions fully reopen  July 1 in Washington state  with the majority of workers in offices by autumn, the company said previously.

Amazon has about 75,000 employees in the greater Seattle area. The companys new remote-work plan is similar to other large tech companies.

Google said last month that it expected roughly 60% of its workforce to come into the office a few days a week, and for 20% to work from home full time. Google also gave all employees the option to work remotely full time four weeks per year. Facebook and Microsoft have both said most workers can choose to stay remote.

Amazons new policy could add to the challenges faced by Seattles traditional business core. In pre-pandemic times, tens of thousands of Amazon workers commuted into the South Lake Union neighborhood north of downtown every day. Most haven't returned.

More than 450 downtown retailers, restaurants and other street-level business locations have closed permanently in the 16 months since the pandemic sent office workers home, according to a Downtown Seattle Association survey.

Of the roughly 175,000 people who worked in downtown offices before the pandemic, 80% continue to work remotely, according to association data.
NEW YORK (AP)  As more children go back to the physical classroom and families look to restart their lives, back-to-school spending this year could top pre-pandemic levels, according to one key spending measure.

FILE - In this May 18, 2021 file photo, fifth graders wear face masks are seated at proper social distancing spacing during a music class at the Milton Elementary School in Rye, N.Y. As more children go back to the physical classroom, families are expected to spend robustly on a wide range of items, particularly trendy clothing for the critical back-to-school season, according to one key spending measure. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

NEW YORK (AP)  As more children go back to the physical classroom and families look to restart their lives, back-to-school spending this year could top pre-pandemic levels, according to one key spending measure.

Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all payment forms including cash, forecasts that spending will be up 5.5% between July 15 and Sept. 6. That's compared with the year-ago period when sales were up a modest 1.2% as the pandemic wreaked havoc on schools' reopening plans and back-to-school shopping.

In a more telling sign of a rebound, back-to-school sales should increase 6.7% on a two-year basis, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. The figures exclude sales from autos and gas.

Last year, parents focused their spending online and bought supplies and electronics to help their children set up work stations at home. When it came to apparel, they limited their purchases to sweatpants and other comfy clothes for their kids and avoided department stores.

The rosy forecast issued Thursday comes as retailers, particularly mall-based stores, are seeing a strong recovery as newly vaccinated shoppers feel safe going out and socializing. On Wednesday, the National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, sharply revised its annual outlook for retail sales. It now expects the increase to be anywhere from 10.5% to 13.5% compared to an earlier forecast made in February of at least 6.5%.

"The economy and consumer spending have proven to be much more resilient than initially forecasted, Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the retail trade group, said in a statement. The combination of vaccine distribution, fiscal stimulus and private-sector ingenuity have put millions of Americans back to work."

While NRF noted risks related to worker shortages, an overheating economy, tax increases and over-regulation, it pointed out that overall households are healthier, and consumers are showing their ability and willingness to spend.

The downside is that many retailers may not be able to fully capitalize on this sudden surge of spending. For many items produced overseas, stores had to place their orders at least six months ago, and they were conservative, says Steve Sadove, senior adviser for Mastercard and former CEO and chairman of Saks Inc. He also cited the logjam at ports, making it difficult for retailers to bring in goods to their stores.

The supply chain is backed up. The ports are backed up, he said. You're going to find scarcity." He said that a number of retailers he has spoken to are having to air ship items instead of transport them by boat in order to have them in stores in time for back-to-school.

For this back-to-school season, Sadove said clothing should enjoy a stronger-than-expected rebound, with Mastercard SpendingPulse forecasting a 78.2% sales increase compared with last year. On a two-year basis, the figure is expected to be up 11.3%. Sadove said that retailers are seeing a shift in consumer spending toward trendier items like cropped tops and mini skirts.

In particular, department stores are enjoying a solid recovery after struggling last year with stiff competition from discount stores like Walmart and Target. The department sectors sales should be up 25.3% during the back-to-school period, compared to a year ago. Sales should rise 9.5% on a two-year basis.

Sadove told The AP that department stores are reaping the benefits of their moves to expand into online services like allowing online shoppers to pick up orders at the stores. They're also expanding into new categories like wellness.

Consumer electronics should have strong sales growth compared to a year ago and on a two-year basis. But online sales are expected to drop 6.6% for this period compared to last year when shoppers focused mostly on buying online. Still, that figure should be up 53.2% on a two-year basis, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  U.S. plans to donate 500 million more COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries were met Thursday with both celebration and hesitation amid questions over whether the effort will be enough to help poor regions desperate for doses.

People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks out of an underpass tunnel as they head to work in Beijing, Thursday, June 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  U.S. plans to donate 500 million more COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries were met Thursday with both celebration and hesitation amid questions over whether the effort will be enough to help poor regions desperate for doses.

Some health officials and experts expressed hope that the pledge would encourage more donations to ease the inequities in vaccine supplies that have become pronounced in recent months. Other observers stressed that the doses needed to roll out quickly.

Saving lives requires shots in arms now. Not at the end of 2021, not in 2022, but now, said Kate Elder, senior vaccines policy advisor to the Doctors Without Borders organization. The donated vaccines better come in sufficient volumes and urgently.

Hours after the U.S. President Joe Biden's administration committed to the donation, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the Group of Seven nations were set to share at least 1 billion coronavirus shots with the world, with half coming from the U.S. and 100 million from the U.K. The announcement on the eve of the G-7 summit in England previewed a coordinated effort by the world's advanced economies to make vaccination available everywhere.

The first 200 million doses from the U.S. will start to arrive in countries in August, the White House and manufacturer Pfizer said, with the rest following in the first half of 2022.

Seniors sit next to a basketball court in the 23 de Enero neighborhood to be vaccinated during a COVID-19 vaccination drive for seniors and those considered high risk for contagion in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 9, 2021. ( AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Inoculation campaigns in several richer countries have surged ahead while efforts have barely begun in many poorer nations. The recent surge in cases in India offered a searing reminder of how COVID-19 can devastate entire countries when vaccines are scarce or nonexistent.

Weve seen that the virus is not over. It might feel like its nearly over for some of us living in countries where were lucky enough to have been vaccinated. But in other parts of the world, the virus is still absolutely raging out of control," said Lily Caprani, head of vaccines advocacy for UNICEF.

The Biden administrations decision to donate Pfizer vaccines raised doubts about whether the doses would reach the poorest of the poor because those doses need to be stored in ultra-cold conditions. Many low-income countries with limited infrastructure will probably be unable to take them to their most remote areas.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would advise its countries to use the Pfizer shots in major cities.

Still, the administration's promise was clearly a cause for celebration, said Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC, particularly at a time when infections are increasing on the continent of 1.3 billion people, and some countries still have not administered a single dose.

Absolutely, it's going to be a big help, Nkengasong said.

FILE - In this May 3, 2021, file photo, an Indian man walks through a gate that displays a banner with information about vaccine shortages outside a primary health center in Hyderabad, India. The Biden administration plans to provide 500 million shots purchased from Pfizer to 92 lower income countries and the African Union over the next year through the U.N.-backed COVAX program. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)

The donation of the Pfizer shots is crucial because the global disparity in vaccination has become a multidimensional threat: a human catastrophe, a $5 trillion economic loss for advanced economies and a contributor to the generation of mutant viruses, said Jerome Kim, head of the International Vaccine Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to making vaccines available to developing countries.

The U.S. will work with the global COVAX vaccine alliance to deliver the shots.

The G-7 summit might also give an indication of whether and how far other nations in the elite club are willing to follow the U.S and the U.K. on vaccine sharing. Richer countries have been the focus of widespread criticism that they have fallen woefully short of lofty promises of fairness when the vaccines were being developed. Germany and France have each promised to donate 30 million doses by the end of the year.

The gaps in vaccine access are clear: The U.S. and Britain have fully vaccinated more than 40% of their populations, according to a global tracker kept by Johns Hopkins University. Countries like Haiti, on America's doorstep, Burundi and many others have vaccinated few, if any, of their people.

So far, 77% of all the vaccines administered have gone into the arms of people in 10 countries, said COVAX Co-Chair Jane Halton. Now that has got to change.

The inequality is not just a matter of fairness. There is also increasing concern over virus variants emerging from areas with consistently high COVID-19 circulation. At least three variants are circulating in Africa, the African CDC said, and driving infections. Even countries like Britain, with high rates of vaccination, have cited variants as an ongoing concern.

While Bidens plan is welcome, it is a small piece of the puzzle, and it doesnt help countries that are struggling now, said Fifa Rahman, who is a civil society representative on a World Health Organization body focused on increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines.

She cited the East African nation of Uganda as an example, saying the countrys intensive care units are already full, and it has only small numbers of vaccines left.

Biden's announcement is also tangled up in geopolitics. He hopes to put the U.S. and its allies at the forefront of the global virus fight in the face of a growing supply of Chinese and Russian vaccines.

China has exported 350 million doses of its vaccines to dozens of nations, according to its Foreign Ministry. While those vaccines have faced scrutiny because of a lack of transparency in the sharing of clinical trial data, many poorer nations were eager to receive anything at all.

The shots promised by the Biden administration will go to 92 lower income countries and the African Union. Pfizer said the doses are part of a previous pledge, with its partner BioNTech, to provide 2 billion doses to developing countries over the next 18 months.

The White House had earlier announced separate plans to share 80 million doses globally by the end of June, most through COVAX.

Some experts said donations alone will not be enough to close the huge gaps in supplies and called for allowing qualified companies around the world to manufacture vaccines without intellectual property constraints.

The U.S. has expressed support for suspending IP protections on vaccines, and some other countries have agreed it should be explored. But in an indication of the disjointed response from the G-7 nations, Germany on Thursday repeated its opposition to such a waiver.

Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writers Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan; Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia; Ken Moritsugu in Beijing; Maria Cheng in London; Jill Lawless in Falmouth, England; Angela Charlton in Paris; Geir Moulson in Berlin; and Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed.
CARBIS BAY, England (AP)  Striking a warm tone, President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson used their first meeting Thursday to highlight a commitment to strengthening their nations' historic ties while setting aside, at least publicly, their political and personal differences.

FILE - In this April 22, 2021 file photo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson listens to U.S. President Joe Biden, on screen, during the opening session of the virtual global Leaders Summit on Climate, as he sits in the Downing Street Briefing Room in central London. Their nations may have a famed special relationship but President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet for the first time Thursday, June 10, against a backdrop of differences both political and personal. (Justin Tallis/Pool Photo via AP, File)

CARBIS BAY, England (AP)  Striking a warm tone, President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson used their first meeting Thursday to highlight a commitment to strengthening their nations' historic ties while setting aside, at least publicly, their political and personal differences.

Beginning a week of diplomacy across the Atlantic, Biden hopes to use his first overseas trip as president to reassure European allies that the United States had shed the transactional tendencies of Donald Trumps term and is a reliable partner again. Long a believer in alliances, Biden stressed the deep bonds with the United Kingdom as a lynchpin of his call for Western democracies to compete against rising authoritarian states.

We affirmed the special relationship -- its not said lightly -- the special relationship between our people, Biden said after the meeting. We renewed our pledge to defend the enduring democratic values that both of our nations share that are the strong foundation of our partnership.

Though thorny issues like Brexit and the future of Northern Ireland shadowed the meeting, Biden and Johnson began their sit-down by immediately striking a tone of conviviality as the news media watched.

I told the prime minister we have something in common. We both married way above our station, Biden joked after a highly choreographed walk with their spouses.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden with first lady Jill Biden walk outside Carbis Bay Hotel, Carbis Bay, Cornwall, Britain, ahead of the G7 summit, Thursday June 10, 2021. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

Johnson laughed and said he was not going to dissent from that one. But then he seemed to hint that he would be looking to only improve relations with his American counterpart.

Im not going to disagree with you on that, said Johnson, "or indeed on anything else.

But there are areas of friction. The president staunchly opposed Brexit, Britain's exit from the European Union that Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern over the future of Northern Ireland. Biden once called Johnson a physical and emotional clone of Trump.

President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visit during a bilateral meeting ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday, June 10, 2021, in Carbis Bay, England. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The British government has worked hard to overcome that impression, stressing Johnsons common ground with Biden on climate change, support for international institutions and other issues. But Johnson, host for the Group of Seven summit opening Friday, has been frustrated by the lack of a new trade deal with the United States.

Johnson on Thursday, however, described the new U.S. administration as a breath of fresh air.

Speaking after his first face-to-face meeting with Biden, Johnson said "it was a long, long huge session. We covered a good range of topics. He added that protecting the Northern Ireland peace agreement was absolutely common ground among Britain, the U.S. and the EU.

President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson look at copies of the Atlantic Charter, during a bilateral meeting ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday, June 10, 2021, in Carbis Bay, England.The Atlantic Charter is a copy of the original 1941 statement signed by FDR and Winston Churchill. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Before their formal discussions, the two men looked back on illustrious wartime predecessors, inspecting documents related to the Atlantic Charter. The declaration signed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt in August 1941 set out common goals for the post-World War II world, including freer trade, disarmament and the right to self-determination of all people.

Reaffirming their nations' longstanding ties, the two men authorized an updated version of the charter, one that looks to the challenge posed by countries like China and Russia with its promises to promote free trade, human rights and a rules-based international order, and to counter those who seek to undermine our alliances and institutions.

The new charter also took aim at interference through disinformation in elections and murky economic practices, charges that the West has levelled at Beijing and Moscow. The leaders also promised to build stronger global defenses against health threats on the eve of a summit where discussion of the coronavirus pandemic is expected to take center stage.

President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson look at copies of the Atlantic Charter, during a bilateral meeting ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday, June 10, 2021, in Carbis Bay, England.The Atlantic Charter is a copy of the original 1941 statement signed by FDR and Winston Churchill. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The leaders had planned to visit the spectacular island of St. Michael's Mount but the trip was scrapped because of bad weather. Instead, they met above the beach at the G-7 site in Carbis Bay, staring out at the ocean while trading pleasantries.

Both couples  Johnson is newly married  held hands as they walked. First lady Jill Biden's black jacket had LOVE embroidered on the upper back  a fashion move that recalled her predecessor Melania Trump's decision to wear a jacket with I Really Don't Care, Do U? written on the back during a 2018 trip to a Texas border town.

The leaders also announced a new U.S.-U.K. task force to work on resuming travel between their countries. Most such travel has been banned since March 2020.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are greeted and walk with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson, ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday, June 10, 2021, in Carbis Bay, England. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Both sides have stressed publicly that the meeting would be about strengthening ties between longtime allies in a week in which Biden will look to rally the West to rebuff Russian meddling and publicly demonstrate it can compete economically with China.

Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish roots, has warned that nothing should undermine Northern Irelands 1998 Good Friday peace accord. Some on the British side have viewed Biden warily because of his heritage. White House officials have said the United States does not plan to be involved in the negotiations.

After Brexit, a new arrangement was needed for the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, because the European Union requires certain goods to be inspected and others not to be admitted at all. Ahead of a June 30 deadline, ongoing negotiations over goods  including sausages  have been contentious and have attracted the attention of the White House.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, from left, White House communications manager Kate Bedingfield, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Amanda Sloat, senior director for Europe on the National Security Council, and Yael Lempert, Charge d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in London, stand on a balcony as President Joe Biden speaks about his administration's global COVID-19 vaccination efforts ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday, June 10, 2021, in St. Ives, England. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

One-on-one talks between Biden and Johnson lasted about 10 minutes before advisers joined for a larger meeting that lasted about an hour, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. The leaders also discussed climate change, the pandemic, creating an infrastructure financing program for developing countries and Afghanistan, and launch a bilateral commission to research and defeat cancer.

But Trumps presence was still felt on Thursday. Johnson and Trump, for a time, appeared to be kindred spirits, both riding a wave of populism that in 2016 delivered Brexit and upended the American political landscape.

Biden, for his part, has expressed a mistrust of Johnson, who once unspooled a Trump-like insult of President Barack Obama, saying that Bidens former boss was half-Kenyan and had an ancestral dislike of Britain.

Since World War II, the trans-Atlantic special relationship has been sustained by a common language, shared interests, military cooperation and cultural affection.

Brexit has tested those bonds. But Biden has made clear that he intends to rebuild bridges with the EU, a frequent target of Trumps ire. That suggests Berlin, Brussels and Paris, rather than London, will be uppermost in his thoughts.

Britain hoped to secure a quick trade agreement with the U.S. after its official departure from the EU in January. The change in administration in Washington leaves prospects of a deal uncertain.

And there may be one more, though admittedly small, obstacle to nurturing the special relationship  the very phrase itself.

Johnson has said he did not appreciate special relationship, used by the U.S. president, because to the prime minister it seemed needy and weak. Johnson's spokesperson said this week: The prime minister is on the record previously saying he prefers not to use the phrase, but that in no way detracts from the importance with which we regard our relationship with the U.S., our closest ally.

Lawless reported from London. Madhani reported from Mildenhall, England. Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Baltimore and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
ST. IVES, England (AP)  The Group of Seven nations are set to commit to sharing at least 1 billion coronavirus shots with the world, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday, with half coming from the U.S. and 100 million from the U.K. as President Joe Biden urged allies to join in speeding the pandemics end and bolstering the strategic position of the world's wealthiest democracies.

President Joe Biden and Jill Biden are escorted by Colonel Edward Bolitho, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, after stepping off Air Force One at Cornwall Airport Newquay, Wednesday, June 9, 2021, in Newquay, England. The Bidens are en route to the G-7 summit in Carbis Bay, England. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

ST. IVES, England (AP)  The Group of Seven nations are set to commit to sharing at least 1 billion coronavirus shots with the world, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday, with half coming from the U.S. and 100 million from the U.K. as President Joe Biden urged allies to join in speeding the pandemics end and bolstering the strategic position of the world's wealthiest democracies.

Johnson's announcement on the eve of the G-7 leaders' summit in England came hours after Biden committed to donating 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and previewed a coordinated effort by the advanced economies to make vaccination widely and speedily available everywhere.

Were going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners, Biden said, adding that on Friday the G-7 nations would join the U.S. in outlining their vaccine donation commitments. The G-7 also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

The prime minister's office said the first 5 million U.K. doses would be shared in the coming weeks, with the remainder coming over the next year. Biden's own commitment was on top of the 80 million doses he has already pledged to donate by the end of June.

At the G7 Summit I hope my fellow leaders will make similar pledges so that, together, we can vaccinate the world by the end of next year and build back better from coronavirus," Johnson said in a statement referencing the U.S. president's campaign slogan.

President Joe Biden listens as Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speaks Thursday, June 10, 2021, in St. Ives, England. Biden spoke about his administration's global COVID-19 vaccination efforts ahead of the G-7 summit. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Earlier Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the U.S. commitment and said Europe should do the same. He said France would share at least 30 million doses globally by year's end.

I think the European Union needs to have at least the same level of ambition as the United States, he said at a news conference. He added that time was of the essence, saying, Its almost more important to say how many (doses) we deliver the next month than making promises to be fulfilled in 18 months from now."

The G-7 leaders have faced mounting pressure to outline their global vaccine sharing plans, especially as inequities in supply around the world have become more pronounced. In the U.S., there is a large vaccine stockpile and the demand for shots has dropped precipitously in recent weeks.

Biden predicted the U.S. doses and the overall G-7 commitment would supercharge the global vaccination campaign, adding that the U.S. doses come with no strings attached.

Our vaccine donations don't include pressure for favors or potential concessions, Biden said. "Were doing this to save lives, to end this pandemic, thats it."

He added: "Our values call on us to do everything that we can to vaccinate the world against COVID-19.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures during a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden (not pictured) ahead of the G7 summit, at Carbis Bay Hotel, Carbis Bay, Cornwall, Britain, Thursday June 10, 2021. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

The U.S. commitment is to buy and donate 500 million Pfizer doses for distribution through the global COVAX alliance to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union, bringing the first steady supply of mRNA vaccine to the countries that need it most.

The Pfizer agreement came together with some urgency in the last four weeks at Bidens direction, said a senior White House official, both to meet critical needs overseas and to be ready for announcement at the G-7. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans, added that the Biden administration was to apply the same wartime posture applied to the vaccine rollout in the U.S. to its effort to share vaccines globally.

Biden said the 500 million U.S.-manufactured vaccines will be shipped starting in August, with the goal of distributing 200 million by the end of the year. The remaining 300 million doses would be shipped in the first half of 2022. A price tag for the doses was not released, but the U.S. is now set to be COVAX's largest vaccine donor in addition to its single largest funder with a $4 billion commitment.

The well-funded global alliance has faced a slow start to its vaccination campaign, as richer nations have locked up billions of doses through contracts directly with drug manufacturers. Bidens move, officials said, was meant to ensure a substantial amount of manufacturing capacity remains open to the wealthy nations. Just last month, the European Commission signed an agreement to purchase as many as 1.8 billion Pfizer doses in the next two years, a significant share of the companys upcoming production  though the bloc reserved the right to donate some of its doses to COVAX.

COVAX has distributed just 81 million doses globally and parts of the world, particularly in Africa, remain vaccine deserts.

White House officials said the ramped-up distribution program fits a theme Biden plans to hit frequently during his week in Europe: that Western democracies, and not authoritarian states, can deliver the most good for the world.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Wednesday that G-7 leaders are converging around the idea that vaccine supply can be increased in several ways, including by countries sharing more of their own doses, helping to increase global manufacturing capacity and doing more across the chain of custody from when the vaccine is produced to when it is injected into someone in the developing world.

Biden, in his remarks, harked back to the Detroit-area workers who 80 years ago built tanks and planes that helped defeat the threat of global fascism in World War II.

They built what became known as the arsenal of democracy, Biden said. Now a new generation of American men and women, working with todays latest technology, is going to build a new arsenal to defeat the current enemy of world peace, health and stability: COVID-19.

He noted that Pfizer's main COVID-19 vaccine plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is not far from Detroit.

Last week, the White House unveiled plans to donate an initial allotment of 25 million doses of surplus vaccine overseas, mostly through the World Health Organization-backed COVAX program, promising infusions for South and Central America, Asia, Africa and others.

Officials say a quarter of that excess will be kept in reserve for emergencies and for the U.S. to share directly with allies and partners, including South Korea, Taiwan and Ukraine. Johnson said the U.K. would follow a similar model with its doses, holding 20% in reserve for bilateral agreements but sending the vast majority to COVAX.

China and Russia have shared their domestically produced vaccines with some needy countries, often with hidden strings attached. Sullivan said Biden does want to show  rallying the rest of the worlds democracies  that democracies are the countries that can best deliver solutions for people everywhere.

The U.S.-produced mRNA vaccines have also proven to be more effective against both the original strain and more dangerous variants of COVID-19 than the more conventional vaccines produced by China and Russia. Some countries that have had success in deploying those conventional vaccines have nonetheless seen cases spike.

Miller reported from Washington. Lawless reported from Falmouth, England. AP writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Jonathan Lemire in Plymouth, England, contributed to this report.
Some 9,000 Canadian Border Service Agency workers are preparing for strike votes starting next week, even as Canada-U.S. border reopening talks get underway.

A Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) sign is seen in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019. A union representing Canadian Border Service Agency staff says more than 9,000 personnel will start voting next week on whether they should go on strike. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Some 9,000 Canadian Border Service Agency workers are preparing for strike votes starting next week, even as Canada-U.S. border reopening talks get underway.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada union said Thursday that its 5,500 border services officers, 2,000 headquarters staff and other workers at Canada Post facilities and in inland enforcement jobs will begin strike votes on Wednesday, which will then continue throughout the month.

The workers, employed by the CBSA and Treasury Board, have been without a contract for nearly three years and say talks broke off between the two sides in December.

The union and the employers have been unable to agree on better protections for staff that the union argues would bring them in line with other law enforcement personnel across Canada and address a "toxic" workplace culture.

CBSA employees have been on the front lines of the pandemic since day one; keeping our borders safe, screening travellers for COVID-19 and clearing vital vaccine shipments, said PSAC's national president, Chris Aylward, in a release.

Our members have stepped up for Canadians, but now its time for the government to step up for them.

The office of the president of the Treasury Board said in an email that it has the "greatest respect" for border officers and is disappointed the union rejected a "fair" offer that included wage adjustments.

"We remain committed to reaching agreements with all bargaining agents that are fair to employees, mindful of todays economic and fiscal context and reasonable for Canadians," the statement said.

"Out of respect for the collective bargaining process, we will not comment further on negotiations."

PSAC's strike talk comes as New York congressman Brian Higgins said Thursday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden will discuss plans to reopen the Canada-U.S. border at the G7 summit this week.

The border has been closed to non-essential travel since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began and officials scrambled to lock down their countries and stop the spread of the virus through travel.

As vaccination efforts have increased significantly since then, politicians including Higgins have been pushing for the border to reopen.

The latest border closure will remain in place until June 21.

As the deadline nears, PSAC and the alliance's Customs and Immigration Union have been urging the government to resolve the issues that could push their members to strike.

The unions said they met with Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, urging them to return to the table with a new mandate to avoid a labour dispute that could impact travellers at the border.

Were ready and willing to return to the table to negotiate a fair contract that recognizes our commitment to Canadians, said CIU national president Jean-Pierre Fortin in a statement.

But were fed up with the disrespect our members have been shown by the employer.

When asked about the matter, Blair's office directed questions to the CBSA, which said it will respond quickly to any job action in order "to maintain the security of our border, ensure compliance with our laws, and keep the border open to legitimate travellers and goods."

"We expect that our officers will continue to fulfil their duties with the highest level of integrity and professionalism," it wrote in an email.

As the two parties try to resolve their issues, they are waiting to receive recommendations from a public interest commission they appeared before in May to present arguments around compensation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Democratic leaders in the California Legislature announced Thursday the state would cover the estimated $215 million cost to stage an expected recall election that could oust Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office, potentially allowing the contest to be held at an earlier date this year.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom listens to questions during a news conference in San Francisco, on June 3, 2021. It will cost California counties an estimated $215 million to stage an expected recall election this year that could oust Newsom from office. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

LOS ANGELES (AP)  Democratic leaders in the California Legislature announced Thursday the state would cover the estimated $215 million cost to stage an expected recall election that could oust Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office, potentially allowing the contest to be held at an earlier date this year.

The announcement came shortly after state analysts released the cost projection, based on figures submitted by the state's 58 counties that conduct elections.

This funding will allow for an earlier recall election, Senate leader Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said in a joint statement, adding that the Legislature also would waive a 30-day review of those costs.

No election date has been set at this point, and it wasn't immediately clear how the leaders' announcement might influence that decision, which is part of a lengthy process managed by the Secretary of State.

The election was widely expected to be held sometime in the fall, based on required financial reviews before the state authorizes the recall and sets the date.

For example, the Finance Department has 30 days to review the cost estimate for the election. The agency issued the preliminary $215 million estimate Thursday, but its analysts have not started its formal review. It wasn't clear how long that might take.

FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2020, file photo, voters cast their ballots at a polling place in Newport Beach, Calif. It will cost California counties an estimated $215 million to stage an expected recall election this year that could oust Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

With the moves in the Legislature, it appears Democrats are eager to get the recall on the ballot as quickly as possible, with recent polling showing the embattled governor would survive the recall attempt after his popularity tumbled during the worst of the pandemic.

John Burke, a spokesman for Republican candidate and former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, said in a statement that Gavin Newsoms allies can schedule this election any time they like. Mayor Faulconer is ready and will win regardless.

The preliminary cost projection came about a month after a coalition of county officials urged the Legislature to provide funding to cover those bills, warning that they otherwise would strain local budgets already stretched thin by the coronavirus pandemic.

Without state financial help, those costs fall squarely on the shoulders of counties, creating a severe financial burden, the counties warned.

The preliminary figures were provided by counties that estimated what it would cost for everything from printing and mailing ballots to providing face masks and gloves for election workers.

Legislative leaders and the governor's office continue to negotiate a deal on the new budget, which must be in place by July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

The Newsom administration will support the funding for the counties, based on their request, said H.D. Palmer, a Finance Department spokesman.

Projected election costs varied widely, from $49 million in Los Angeles County, home to about 10 million people, to about $36,000 in sparsely populated Modoc County, in the state's rural northeast corner.

In Los Angeles, its projection to stage the recall was roughly half of the $96 million the county spent to run the November presidential election.

State officials earlier announced a preliminary tally that found recall organizers had gathered more than enough petition signatures to qualify the recall for the ballot.

Democrats supporting Newsom have called the election a waste of taxpayer money, noting that he will stand for re-election in 2022 if he beats back a recall attempt in the fall.

Republicans who deride Newsom as a failure see the election costs as money well-spent in their effort to drive him from office.

The recall took root last year, driven largely by public dismay with Newsoms long-running virus restrictions that shuttered schools and businesses.

The list of Republican challengers who have signaled an intention to enter the race continues to grow, though no consensus front-runner has emerged. State Assemblyman Kevin Kiley this week became the latest to announce he is considering stepping in.

Other Republicans in the race include businessman John Cox, who was defeated by Newsom in 2018, reality TV personality and 1976 Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner, and former congressman Doug Ose.
PARIS (AP)  Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions, in hope of luring back tourists  and their dollars  to the continent's trattorias, vistas and cultural treasures. But travelers will need patience to figure out who's allowed into which country, how and when.

FILE - In this Tuesday, June 8, 2021 file photo, a tourist take photos at the Parthenon temple during a media tour for the Foreign Correspondents organised by the Greek Cultural Ministry at the Acropolis hill in Athens. Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions. European governments hope to lure back tourists - and their dollars - back to the continents trattorias, vistas and cultural treasures. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)

PARIS (AP)  Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions, in hope of luring back tourists  and their dollars  to the continent's trattorias, vistas and cultural treasures. But travelers will need patience to figure out who's allowed into which country, how and when.

As the European Union's doors reopen one by one to the outside world for the first time since March 2020, tourists will discover a patchwork of systems instead of a single border-free leisure zone, because national governments have resisted surrendering control over their frontiers amid the pandemic. And post-Brexit Britain is going its own way altogether.

Meanwhile, the welcoming mood isnt always mutual. U.S. borders, for example, remain largely closed to non-Americans.

Here's a look at current entry rules in some popular European tourist destinations. One caveat: While these are the regulations as written by governments, travelers may meet hiccups as airlines or railway officials try to make sense of them.

FRANCE

If you're vaccinated, come to France. But only if you got one of the four EU-approved vaccines: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. That works for Americans  as long as they can produce official proof of vaccination  but not for large swaths of the world like China and Russia where other vaccines are used.

France's borders officially reopened Wednesday. Vaccinated visitors from outside Europe and a few green countries will still be asked for a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours, or a negative antigen test of no more than 48 hours. Unvaccinated children will be allowed in with vaccinated adults, but will have to show a negative test from age 11.

Tourists are banned from 16 countries wrestling with virus surges and worrisome variants that are on a red list that includes India, South Africa and Brazil.

Non-vaccinated visitors from orange list countries  including the U.S. and Britain  can't come for tourism either, only for specific, imperative reasons.

ITALY

FILE - In this Monday, June 7, 2021 file photo, tourists arrive at Barcelona airport, Spain. Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions. European governments hope to lure back tourists - and their dollars - back to the continents trattorias, vistas and cultural treasures. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

Americans  the second-biggest group of foreign tourists to Italy  have been welcome since mid-May. However, they need to self-isolate upon arrival for 10 days unless they arrive on so-called COVID-tested flights. That means passengers are tested before and after the flight and must fill out documents about their whereabouts to facilitate contact tracing if required.

COVID-tested flights from the U.S. started in December and have also been operating since May from Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

Italy also started allowing tourists from Britain and Israel last month, meaning they no longer need an essential reason to visit and dont have to self-isolate, providing they present proof of a negative COVID test taken no more than 48 hours prior to arrival.

The same rules apply to travelers from EU countries and those on COVID-tested flights from the U.S., Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

GREECE

Tourism-reliant Greece started opening to American travelers back in April, and now visitors from China, Britain and 20 other countries are also allowed to visit for nonessential travel.

All must provide a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test and fill in a passenger locator form on their plans in Greece. This directive expires on June 14, but could be extended.

Athens long pressed for a common EU approach, but didn't wait for one to materialize. On June 1, Greece, Germany and five other bloc members introduced a COVID certificate system for travelers, weeks ahead of the July 1 rollout of the program across the 27-nation bloc.

SPAIN

Spain kicked off its summer tourism season Monday by welcoming vaccinated visitors from the U.S. and most countries, as well as European visitors who can prove they are not infected.

Americans and most other non-Europeans need an official vaccine certificate by a health authority. Spain accepts those who were inoculated with the four EU-approved vaccines as well two Chinese vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization  as long as visitors are fully vaccinated at least two weeks before the trip.

Arrivals from Brazil, South Africa and India are banned at the moment because of high infection rates there, and non-vaccinated Americans and many other non-EU nationalities cannot come to Spain for tourism for now.

But there are exemptions for countries considered at low risk, such as citizens from Britain, who can arrive without any health documents at all. EU citizens need to provide proof of vaccination, a certificate showing they recently recovered from COVID-19, or a negative antigen or PCR test taken within 48 hours of arrival.

BRITAIN

There are few, if any, American tourists in the U.K. at present. Britain has a traffic-light system for assessing countries by risk, and the U.S. along with most European nations is on the amber list, meaning everyone arriving has to self-isolate at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days.

U.K. and U.S. airlines and airport operators are pushing for a travel corridor to allow tourism to resume, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to raise the issue when he meets President Joe Biden at a G-7 summit in England this week.

Meanwhile, anyone traveling between Britain and continental Europe, be warned: In addition to the isolation requirement for those arriving or returning to U.K. shores, rising concern about the delta variant of the virus has prompted some other countries to introduce special restrictions for those arriving from Britain.

EUROPEAN UNION

The 27-nation EU has no unified COVID tourism or border policy, but has been working for months on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus. EU lawmakers endorsed the plan Wednesday.

The free certificates, which will contain a QR code with advanced security features, will allow people to move between European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival.

Several EU countries have already begun using the system, including Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland. The rest are expected to start using it July 1.

It's mainly meant for EU citizens but Americans and others can obtain the certificate too  if they can convince authorities in an EU country they're entering that they qualify for one. And the lack of an official U.S. vaccination certification system may complicate matters.

Associated Press reporters around Europe contributed.

Follow more of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  The Keystone XL is dead after a 12-year attempt to build the oil pipeline, yet the fight over Canadian crude rages on as emboldened environmentalists target other projects and pressure President Joe Biden to intervene  all while oil imports from the north keep rising.

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2017 file photo, workers make sure that each section of the Enbridge replacement Line 3 that is joined passes muster in Superior, Wisc. The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline says it's pulling the plug on the contentious project, Wednesday, June 9, 2021, after Canadian officials failed to persuade the Biden administration to reverse its cancellation of the company's permit. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  The Keystone XL is dead after a 12-year attempt to build the oil pipeline, yet the fight over Canadian crude rages on as emboldened environmentalists target other projects and pressure President Joe Biden to intervene  all while oil imports from the north keep rising.

Biden dealt the fatal blow to the partially built $9 billion Keystone XL in January when he revoked its border-crossing permit issued by former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, sponsors TC Energy and the province of Alberta gave up and declared the line "terminated."

Activists and many scientists had warned that the pipeline would open a new spigot on Canada's oil sands crude  and that burning the heavily polluting fuel would lock in climate change. As the fight escalated into a national debate over fossil fuels, Canadian crude exports to the U.S. steadily increased, driven largely by production from Alberta's oil sands region.

Even before the cancellation, environmentalists had turned their attention to other projects, including Enbridge Energy's proposal to expand and rebuild its Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota, the target of protests this week that led to the arrest of some 250 activists.

"Dont expect these fights to go away anytime soon," said Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future, an energy and environmental think tank in Washington. "This is going to encourage environmental advocates to do more of the same."

Bill McKibben, an author who was arrested outside the White House while protesting the Keystone XL in 2011, said its defeat provides a template to kill other pipelines, including Line 3 and the Dakota Access Pipeline from North Dakota's Bakken oil field.

Describing Keystone XL as "a carbon bomb," McKibben said Line 3 is the same size and "carries the same stuff. How on earth could anyone with a straight face say Line 3 passes the climate test?"

Enbridge said the cancellation of Keystone XL will not affect its projects, describing them as "designed to meet current energy demand safely and in ways that better protect the environment."

A second TC Energy pipeline network, known simply as Keystone, has been delivering crude from Canadas oil sands region since 2010. The company says the line that runs from Alberta to Illinois, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast has moved more than 3 billion barrels of oil.

FILE - In this March 2, 2014, file photo, several hundred students and youth who marched from Georgetown University to the White House to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline wait to be arrested outside the White House in Washington. The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline says it's pulling the plug on the contentious project, Wednesday, June 9, 2021, after Canadian officials failed to persuade the Biden administration to reverse its cancellation of the company's permit. . (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Canada is by far the biggest foreign crude supplier to the U.S., which imported about 3.5 million barrels a day from its neighbor in 2020  61% of all U.S. oil imports.

The flow dropped slightly during the coronavirus pandemic but has largely rebounded. Import volumes have almost doubled since the Keystone XL was first proposed in 2008, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Thursday that it expects no immediate effect on production from Keystone XL's cancellation, but the group predicted more oil would be moved to the U.S. by rail.

A series of fiery accidents occurred in the U.S. and Canada after rail shipments of crude increased during an oil boom on the Northern Plains, including a 2013 incident in which 47 people were killed after a runaway train derailed in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic.

The dispute over Keystone XL and other lines raised diplomatic tensions between the two countries, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau adopted a conciliatory tone with Biden, who canceled the pipeline on his first day in the White House.

Canada uses much less oil than it produces, making it a huge exporter, and 98% of those exports go to the U.S., according to the Natural Resources Canada.

Trudeau raised Keystone XL as a top priority with Biden while acknowledging that the president had promised in his campaign to cancel the line.

Both leaders have taken heat at home over Keystone, with Republicans slamming Biden for shutting it down while construction was underway, costing hundreds of jobs. The project was meant to expand oil exports for Canada, which has the third-largest oil reserves in the world, and provincial officials in Alberta wanted Trudeau to do more to save it.

The White House declined to comment on the cancellation. Spokesman Vedant Patel declined to say if Biden plans to address increased crude exports from Canada or intervene in other pipeline disputes.

His action on Keystone "signals at least some appetite to get involved," but pipelines that have operated for years would be tougher targets, Raimi said.

Winona LaDuke, executive director of the Indigenous-based environmental group Honor the Earth, called on Biden to withdraw an Army Corps of Engineers permit for Line 3 and to order a new study.

"He could stop the project," she said. "Dont ask us to be nice to Enbridge. Theyre all over our land. Theyre hurting us."

The Biden administration has been "disturbingly quiet" on Line 3 and the Dakota Access line, said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. He urged the administration to declare both unacceptable.

Fiercely opposed by Native Americans, the Dakota Access pipeline was the impetus for protests that were quashed by law enforcement. The Biden administration has not sought to stop the line, and it's still in court after a judge revoked its permit but allowed oil to keep flowing.

Alberta sank more than $1 billion into Keystone XL last year to kick-start construction. Officials in the province are considering a trade action against the U.S. to seek compensation.

Keystone XLs price tag ballooned as the project languished, increasing from $5.4 billion to $9 billion.

Another question: What to do with pipe already in place at the U.S.-Canada border and other infrastructure along its route.

Jane Kleeb, a pipeline opponent in Nebraska, said state regulators should revoke the permit they approved for a route through the state. Otherwise, she said, TC Energy might try to sell the easements to another company.

Until the state acts, farmers and ranchers will continue to face TC Energy attorneys in court, "protecting their property from an eminent domain land grab by a foreign corporation," she said.

Daly reported from Washington and Flesher from Traverse City, Michigan. Rob Gillies contributed from Toronto and Grant Schulte from Omaha, Nebraska.

Follow Brown on Twitter: @MatthewBrownAP
OTTAWA - The scam is a common one: a phone call claiming to be the Canada Revenue Agency demanding an immediate payment.

OTTAWA - The scam is a common one: a phone call claiming to be the Canada Revenue Agency demanding an immediate payment.

If you think it might really be the government calling you about your taxes, you should verify it is before you do anything, experts say.

KPMG financial crimes expert Cherolle Prince, shown in this undated handout image, says you want to trust, but verify you really are dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency before you give out any information if you contacted by someone saying they are from the tax agency. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-KPMG*MANDATORY CREDIT*

Cherolle Prince, a financial crimes expert at KPMG, says you want to trust, but verify you really are dealing with the CRA before you give out any information.

"Ask the right questions to yourself, does this call make sense," she said. "Why does the CRA need that information? Have I provided that to them already? What would they be doing with that information and why do they need it now?"

Prince says a red flag may be if the caller is asking for information over the phone that CRA should already have if they are calling you.

"If you call them, they may ask for personal information as a way to identify you, it is part of their authentication protocol, but they would not call you for that information," she said.

CRA spokesman Paul Murphy says if you're unsure it really is the tax agency calling that you should to ask the caller for their name, which CRA office they are calling from and their phone number.

Then, Murphy says, hang up and contact CRA using the general inquiry number on the agency's website before you provide any information and ask them to verify that the call was legitimate.

"The call display option isn't always the best because these scammers will use technology to spoof that they are calling from Canada, that they are calling from Ottawa or what have you," he said.

Murphy says CRA will never demand immediate payment in Bitcoin or gift cards.

Another red flag, Murphy says, is if the caller tells you not to talk to anyone such as a family member or your accountant about the matter.

"That's not something a CRA employee would ever demand of you. You have a right to have representation, you have the right to talk to somebody about your personal tax dealings before you deal with the CRA," he said.

Just because CRA is calling it doesn't mean you're facing an audit. In most cases, the agency says, it is a routine check.

Depending on the circumstances, if you filed your tax return electronically, the agency may be seeking things like RRSP or charitable contribution receipts that would have been filed if you had filed a paper tax return.

Carmela Pallotto, a tax partner at KPMG, says an initial phone call from CRA is very rare.

"It is not unheard of, but normally they would correspond by mail and not by email either," she said.

"They do not email unless you've already entered into some sort of dialogue with them and you've asked them to email you something and even then they are extremely hesitant to email you anything, that's just not the way they operate."

Pallotto said if the caller is demanding immediate payment, that's just not how CRA works.

"It's never immediate. They usually give you a period of time to respond to a request because they understand you might not have everything readily available," she said.

"You shouldn't be afraid to have to call CRA back."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version included an imprecise description of when the CRA may ask for personal information.
WASHINGTON (AP)  SKYROCKETING MURDER RATES, claimed the National Fraternal Order of Police. An explosion of violent crime," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Democrat-run cities across the country who cut funding for police have seen increases in crime, tweeted U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2020, file photo a protester holds a sign that reads "Defund Police" during a rally for the late George Floyd outside Barclays Center in New York. Some police organizations and Republican politicians are blaming Democrats and last year's defund the police effort for a troubling rise in homicides in many cities across the country. The increases are real, and some cities did make modest cuts to police spending. But the claims by Republicans overlook the fact homicides are up in many cities, including ones that increased police spending or have Republican mayors. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

WASHINGTON (AP)  SKYROCKETING MURDER RATES, claimed the National Fraternal Order of Police. An explosion of violent crime," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Democrat-run cities across the country who cut funding for police have seen increases in crime, tweeted U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

On social media and in political speeches, some Republicans and pro-police groups say last year's calls to slash spending on law enforcement have led to a dramatic rise in killings in cities overseen by Democrats.

The increases they cite are real, and several big cities did make cuts to police spending. But the reductions were mostly modest, and the same big increases in homicides are being seen nationwide  even in cities that increased police spending. At the same time, the rates for burglaries, drug offenses and many other types of crime are down in many cities across the country.

The effort to blame Democrats for crime may offer a preview of Republicans' strategy for upcoming elections: a new twist on an old law and order argument from the party's past, harkening back to President Richard Nixon.

Just as it did half a century ago, the argument ignores the complicated reasons for fluctuations in crime rates  a list that today includes the upheaval wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and protests that erupted after the killing of George Floyd by police.

2020 was just a crazy complicated year where lots of things happened, and there are lots of potential explanations for why we saw these big changes, said David Abrams, a University of Pennsylvania Law School professor, who tracks crime rates and is studying the impact of the pandemic. The bottom line? It's complicated.

Late last month, the National Fraternal Order of Police posted a graphic on social media showing big increases in the homicide rate in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon  all cities currently led by Democrats. The leadership in all of these cities turned the keys over to the Defund the Police mob, the post read.

The numbers in it were alarming: Homicides in Chicago, up by 22% through late May compared with the same period last year. In Minneapolis, homicides were up by 56%; in Portland, 800%.

Top Republicans have taken up the claim, too.

Look at whats happening where theyre defunding the police," former President Donald Trump said Saturday at the North Carolina GOP convention, echoing an argument he made on the campaign trail last year. "The crime rate is going up by 50, 60, 100%, 131% in one city.

Killings have been on the rise since 2020, but the numbers don't tell the whole story about reductions in police spending or a troubling increase in homicides being seen throughout the country.

Last year in Minneapolis, city officials shifted $8 million  less than 5% of the police budget  to programs focused on community mental health and violence prevention. In February, they approved $6.4 million to hire new police officers after an unprecedented number of officers retired or went on extended medical leave following Floyd's killing.

In Portland, homicides were up from six in the first five months of 2020 to 38 in the first five months of 2021, according to city police data, a more than 530% increase. That's lower than the 800% increase claimed by the Fraternal Order of Police, which said it was based on homicides through May 25.

The city, a center of defund police efforts, trimmed its police budget last year by less than 4%, far short of the $50 million in cuts sought by activists.

This year, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, has sought greater funds for programs targeting gun violence, which he said is a national problem. It has reached crisis proportions, he said in March.

Los Angeles and Chicago have also seen double-digit increases in their homicide rates this year, and they did reduce spending on police. Chicago cut its police budget by 3%, largely by eliminating vacant positions. Los Angeles reduced spending on police by about 5% overall.

Yet homicide rates are also increasing in cities that didn't cut spending.

In Houston, a city led by a Democratic mayor, killings have increased, but so, too, has funding for police.

Nashville, Tennessee, also led by a Democratic mayor, increased the police budget but has seen homicides spike 50% so far this year over last.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Fresno, California, have also seen more killings so far in 2021. Both cities have Republican mayors.

Meanwhile, other types of crime are down, according to preliminary statistics and researchers who say crime initially dropped around the world after the pandemic began. While cities are reporting jumps in their homicide rate, there's been no similar increase in other crimes, like burglaries, robberies or drug offenses.

That's not what you'd expect if calls to defund the police were leading to a rash of crime, Abrams said.

Any theory explaining the rise in homicides would also have to explain why we havent seen a spike in other kinds of crimes, he said.

So why are killings up?

Economic losses and personal stress brought on by the pandemic are one suggestion. COVID-19 also disrupted in-person education and many community programs designed to quell violence. It put a strain on police departments, hospitals, courts and other institutions tasked with dealing with the impact of crime.

Other possibilities include rising gun ownership and the protests over police killings that could have emboldened criminals. Then there are the host of factors that contribute to localized violence, including gangs, drugs and poverty.

James Alan Fox, a criminologist and professor at Bostons Northeastern University, said small changes to a police budget, or the party affiliation of a particular mayor, aren't likely to play a big role. Some violence fluctuations are part of long-standing problems.

It's not related to which party is ruling," Fox said. But you can win a lot of votes by pushing fear.

Nixon used a similar argument in his successful 1968 presidential campaign, arguing that protests over civil rights have torn 300 cities apart." The strategy helped galvanize support among white voters concerned about racial integration, according to Elizabeth Hinton, a Yale Law School professor who studies the history of criminalization in America.

Now, just as then, misleading claims about crime seem designed to exploit racism among white voters while ignoring the real reasons behind the increase in homicides, she said.

Instead of linking this to COVID and mass unemployment and general anxiety, theyre saying that somehow calls to defund the police are behind this, as a way to justify more policing as a response, Hinton said.

Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles, Don Babwin in Chicago and Terrence Fraser in New York contributed to this report.
TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (20,002.27, down 63.65 points.)

BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX:BB). Technology. Down 80 cents, or 4.19 per cent, to $18.30 on 11.7 million shares.

Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. (TSX:XLY). Health care. Down five cents, or 14.71 per cent, to 29 cents on 10.7 million shares.

Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ). Energy. Down 82 cents, or 1.8 per cent, to $44.83 on 7.7 million shares.

Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Down 30 cents, or 0.98 per cent, to $30.32 on 7.2 million shares.

Imperial Oil Ltd. (TSX:IMO). Energy. Up 24 cents, or 0.59 per cent, to $41.25 on 6.8 million shares.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE). Energy. Up nine cents, or 0.76 per cent, to $12.01 on 6.5 million shares.

Companies in the news:

TC Energy Corp. (TSX:TRP). Up 26 cents to $64.47. TC Energy Corp. says it is walking away from the Keystone XL pipeline project and ending a decade-plus battle that pitted the energy industry against environmentalists as oilsands producers sought to export Canadian crude. Construction on the pipeline was suspended earlier this year after newly elected U.S. President Joe Biden fulfilled a campaign promise to cancel its presidential permit in January. TC Energy last month took a $2.2-billion writedown on the cancelled project, which pushed the company to a loss in its most recent quarterly earnings. The Alberta government in March 2020 agreed to take a $1.5-billion equity stake in Keystone and provide a $6-billion loan guarantee to ensure work started immediately. The government said Wednesday its final costs are expected to be $1.3 billion. Some 200 kilometres of pipeline have already been laid, including across the Canada-U.S. border. The Keystone XL project was first approved by the National Energy Board in 2007.

Transcontinental Inc. (TSX:TCL.A). Up $1.78 or 7.9 per cent to $24.19. Transcontinental Inc. says its net income attributable to shareholders surged to $35.6 million in the second quarter as its printing sector marked the first organic growth since the beginning of the pandemic. The Montreal-based packaging and printing company says it earned $35.6 million, up nearly 39 per cent from $25.7 million a year earlier. It included $7.5 million from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, down from $8.2 million in the second quarter of 2020. That translated into earnings of 41 cents per share, up from 30 cents per share in the second quarter of 2020. Excluding one-time items, adjusted profits rose almost 10 per cent to $47.8 million or 55 cents per share, from $43.6 million or 50 cents per share in the prior year. Revenues for the three months ended April 25 were $623.3 million, down from $625.1 million. Transcontinental was expected to post 45 cents per share in adjusted profits on $626.2 million in revenues, according to financial data firm Refinitiv. In addition to positive organic growth, the printing sector had a 36 per cent increase in adjusted operating earnings. CEO Francois Olivier said the company is encouraged by the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and expects an increase in printing volumes in the coming quarters. Its media sector delivered significantly higher revenues and profitability while its packaging sector experienced robust customer demand.

Indigo Books and Music. (TSX:IDG). Up one cent to $4. Ontario's reopening plan is being lambasted by some of the country's top retail and cinema executives, who argue the plan will further gut businesses after enduring one of the world's longest lockdowns. Indigo Books and Music CEO Heather Reisman said the company has been closed, except for a few days, since November. The first step of Ontario's reopening plan begins on Friday, which will allow all non-essential retail to reopen at 15 per cent capacity but keep retail stores in malls closed unless they have a street-facing entrance. While many of Indigo's stores will be allowed to open, some are located in malls and will remain shuttered. The price retailers have paid to remain closed during the pandemic has been devastating, she said. Meanwhile, movie theatres will not be able to open until Step 3 of Ontario's reopening plan, a situation Cineplex president Ellis Jacob called "insane." The reopening plan also leaves 5,000 workers in the lurch, he said. The Retail Council of Canada is calling on Ontario to allow all retail to open at the same time  including those within malls.

Dollarama Inc. (TSX:DOL). Down 93 cents or 1.7 per cent to $53.34. Dollarama Inc.'s sales climbed by double digits in its latest quarter despite some of its stores facing tougher new retail restrictions amid rising COVID-19 cases, the Montreal-based retailer said Wednesday. The discount chain's same-store sales grew at a torrid pace in the first nine weeks of the quarter before more stringent measures to combat the pandemic reined in shoppers and curbed sales. Still, overall sales increased 13 per cent, with the company reporting earnings of $113.6 million in its latest quarter, up from $86.1 million a year ago. The Ontario government's stay-at-home order issued in April banned the in-person sale of non-essential goods, limiting purchases in brick-and-mortar stores to groceries, cleaning supplies and other essentials. The province has announced the ban will be lifted Friday. The store, which sells a broad assortment of food, general merchandise and seasonal items, has 1,333 locations across Canada with about 40 per cent located in Ontario. Sales grew to $954.2 million, up from $844.8 million in the same quarter last year, the chain said. Its profit for the quarter totalled 37 cents per diluted share, up from a profit of 28 cents per diluted share a year ago.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2021.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina senators approved a bill on Thursday to bar women from getting abortions on the basis of race, sex or a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome.

FILE - In this May 27, 2021 file photo, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks to the gathered media after his tour of a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Pine Hall Brick plant in Madison, N.C. North Carolina's Senate approved a measure on Thursday, June 10, to prohibit doctors from performing abortions if a woman is seeking it because of race, sex or a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. (Woody Marshall/News & Record via AP, File)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina senators approved a bill on Thursday to bar women from getting abortions on the basis of race, sex or a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome.

With the Senate's party-line vote, the prohibition Republicans are seeking now heads to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who is likely to veto it, having rejected previous anti-abortion restrictions.

Abortion rights groups say the GOP-led bill, which was universally opposed by Senate Democrats and supported by only six Democratic House lawmakers, would prevent women from having open conversations with their doctors and deny their constitutional right to an abortion.

Abortions on the basis of sex selection are already prohibited in North Carolina. House Bill 453, approved in the Senate by a vote of 27-20, would expand and strengthen the existing law by requiring physicians to report, with a signed confirmation, that an abortion was not desired due to sex, race or the likelihood of being born with Down syndrome.

Republican proponents say prenatal tests that confirm the presence of Down syndrome can sometimes be inaccurate, prompting women who wouldn't otherwise do so to terminate their pregnancy. Sen. Joyce Krawiec, a Forsyth County Republican, said the measure prevents discrimination and modern-day eugenics."

Children should not have to pass a genetic test to earn the right to be born," Krawiec said.

The conservative North Carolina Values Coalition supports the bill.

Cooper can veto the bill or sign it. The measure will become law if he declines to act within 10 days of receiving it, but even then, it's certain to be challenged in court.

Ford Porter, a spokesman for Cooper, said the governor is concerned about the proposal interfering with a woman's medical deliberations.

The governor has concerns about putting government in the exam room between a woman and her doctor, and he will review the bill, Porter said in a statement by email.

Some Democratic lawmakers have warned that the bill could force women to carry out pregnancies if they tell their doctor that a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome factored into their decision not to go through with the pregnancy, even if it was not the motivating force.

Sen. Sarah Crawford, a Democrat who represents Franklin and parts of Wake County, described how she has personally experienced joy serving children and adults with disabilities through her role as the head of the Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities. But she acknowledged some parents may not feel equipped to take care of a child with Down syndrome and said those parents shouldn't be compelled to give birth.

This bill is not about the joy that people with disabilities bring to the world," Crawford said. This bill is about controlling women. Simple as that.

The American Civil Liberties of Union of North Carolina and Planned Parenthood South Atlantic are urging Cooper to reject the proposal.

Politicians should never have control over private family decisions nor should they force a person to carry a pregnancy to term against their will," said a statement from Susanna Birdsong, North Carolina director of public affairs of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.

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.
NEW YORK (AP)  The Biden administration has exempted most employers from long-awaited rules for protecting workers from the coronavirus, angering labor advocates who had spent more than a year lobbying for the protections.

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 16, 2021, file photo, a health care worker watches a rally by New York State Nurses Association nurses from New York Presbyterian and Mount Sinai from an overpass at Mount Sinai Hospital, in New York. The Biden administration has exempted most employers from long-awaited rules for protecting workers from the coronavirus, angering labor advocates who have have spent more than a year lobbying for the protections. The Labor Department included only health care workers in its new emergency temporary standard published on Thursday, June 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

NEW YORK (AP)  The Biden administration has exempted most employers from long-awaited rules for protecting workers from the coronavirus, angering labor advocates who had spent more than a year lobbying for the protections.

The Labor Department included only health care workers in its new emergency temporary standard published Thursday.

The rules require employers to draw up a virus protection plan, and tighten requirements for recording and reporting COVID-19 cases among workers. They also require employers to provide workers with paid time off for COVID-19-related absences, including getting vaccinated and recovering from the shot's side effects.

Rather than issue mandatory rules for other workplaces, the Biden administration released new nonbinding guidance that relaxed some recommendations. Most workplaces where people are fully vaccinated no longer need to provide any protection from the coronavirus, according to the guidance issued by Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the federal agency responsible for protecting workers. In separate order, Biden government also lifted a 25% cap of employer capacity inside federal buildings, though it kept in place flexible remote work policies.

The decision comes as many stores and other companies are already relaxing mask and other protection policies in response to new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it also represents a step back from President Joe Biden's earlier indications that he would reverse the Trump administration's refusal to issue mandatory protection rules for workers.

The new standard represents a broken promise to the millions of American workers in grocery stores and meatpacking plants who have gotten sick and died on the frontlines of this pandemic, Marc Peronne, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents 1.3 million workers, said in a statement.

Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA official who now works at the National Employment Law Project, said the new rules fail to protect many low-wage workers, such as slaughterhouse employees who work shoulder-to-shoulder on production lines.

"We are glad that OSHA is finally moving to protect health care workers, but disappointed that they failed to protect all other workers at risk, Berkowitz said.

Biden raised expectations for an emergency standard covering all workplaces when he signed an executive order soon after taking office, giving OSHA until March 15 to issue the rules. But the Labor Department missed that deadline, and the landscape surrounding the pandemic shifted, with vaccination rates rising and the CDC relaxing its own guidance surrounding distancing and masking.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh cited the changed reality and the new CDC guidance in a House Education and Labor Committee hearing Tuesday, where he faced questions from Democratic lawmakers about why the standards would not cover workers outside health care.

OSHA had no rules for workplaces to navigate disease outbreaks on the scale of a pandemic. While some state agencies issued temporary emergency standards, the Trump administration issued only guidance for how employers should protect workers.

Labor advocates had hoped new federal standards would signal Biden's commitment to strengthening OSHA, which has been criticized for conducting few inspections and issuing fewer citations over COVID-related complaints.

In statement, U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, the Democratic chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, criticized the new standard as too little, too late for countless workers and families across the country.

OSHA said the standard, which will be in place for six months, was justified for healthcare workers because the virus poses a grave danger to them. The agency noted nearly 500,000 health care workers have contracted the virus as of May 24 and more than 1,600 of those had died.

Jonathan Snare, a former acting assistant secretary of OSHA during the George W. Bush administration, said the federal watchdog must prove that a situation poses grave danger when issuing emergency temporary standards. Snare, a partner at Philadelphia-based global law firm Morgan Lewis, said the Biden administration likely felt it could face legal challenges from other workplaces if it imposed stringent regulations as the pandemic starts to recede.

Many employers, however, had hoped for a firm set of rules since the start of the pandemic, said Brian Kropp, chief of research of consulting firm Gartners human resources practice. The latest nonbinding guidance adds more uncertainty, especially for companies grappling with when and how to bring employees back to offices, Kropp said.

Only a small fraction of companies, for instance, plan to ask employees about their vaccination status before returning to work. That makes it hard for companies to decide whether they can drop safety standards for vaccinated employees, Kropp said. The new guidelines say employers should implement distancing and provide masks for unvaccinated workers, customers and visitors.

What employers want is simplicity and clarity and hard-and-fast rules they can follow, Kropp said. It allows them to say they are just following rules, rather than having difficult conversations with employees about one set of activities versus another. It lets them pass the buck."

Associated Press Writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this story.
WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden will discuss plans to reopen the Canada-U.S. border when they meet on the margins of the G7 summit, a New York congressman said Thursday amid ongoing pressure to further ease travel restrictions.

United States President Joe Biden listens via video as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaksduring a press conference in Ottawa, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. A New York congressman says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden will discuss plans to reopen the Canada-U.S. border when they meet on the margins of the G7 summit. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden will discuss plans to reopen the Canada-U.S. border when they meet on the margins of the G7 summit, a New York congressman said Thursday amid ongoing pressure to further ease travel restrictions.

The White House said the pair, who are in the United Kingdom for the three-day summit that gets underway Friday, will discuss the matter before the weekend, Rep. Brian Higgins told a panel discussion hosted by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.

"I have confirmed from the White House last night that U.S. President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are going to meet either later (Thursday) or (Friday) on this issue," said Higgins, who has been one of the most vocal American champions of reopening the border.

"In the end, these are the only two decision-makers that matter. They can make a game-changing decision; this could be an inflection point."

Alongside Higgins on the panel was Liberal MP Wayne Easter, a fellow co-chair of the bilateral committee known as the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group and himself a recent champion of accelerating efforts to relax the limits on travel at the shared border.

On Wednesday, the federal Liberal government said that by early July, Canadian citizens, permanent residents and essential workers who have had a full course of a COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be automatically required to spend 14 days quarantining upon their arrival in Canada.

Eligible travellers will be tested when they arrive and able to leave isolation once their test comes back negative. The government will also exempt eligible and fully vaccinated travellers from having to spend their first three days in a federally approved hotel.

None of that goes far enough, Easter said: "In my view, we have to go farther than who is currently permitted."

Fully vaccinated seasonal residents  U.S. citizens who own property in Canada  should be allowed in, given the role they play in the regional economy and the local community, he said.

"They can come in a safe fashion, they can add to our economy, they're going to renovate their seasonal residences, and they will do it in a safe fashion. So I do think that we that we have to get there."

Easter acknowledged that there are those in Canada who remain worried about the prospects of U.S. residents being allowed to travel north, given how widely COVID-19 was able to spread south of the border throughout last year.

And he conceded that while such fear served an important purpose at the height of the pandemic by helping to enforce mobility restrictions and keep the virus from spreading, it's time to move on.

"It was useful in the beginning in terms of getting people to stay home, wear masks, social distance, etc. But we really did make people fearful," Easter said.

He said he knew that when he and Higgins issued a call in March for a plan to reopen the border, that it might not go over well with constituents in his Prince Edward Island riding.

"I think I said to Brian, 'Look, my phone will light up in my office because I'm going to catch hell from people who are saying, you can't open that border; we're fearful of letting Americans in here,'" Easter said.

"But you do have to provoke the debate."

A new online poll from Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, conducted last weekend with 1,539 Canadian participants, found 66 per cent of respondents wanted the border reopened in order to allow travel to resume in both directions.

An additional 31 per cent said they wanted it reopened solely so they could travel to the U.S., while only three per cent of respondents said they wanted it open to allow U.S. residents to travel to Canada.

Asked what they hope to do in the U.S. once travel resumes, 25 per cent said visit family and friends, 20 per cent cited cultural attractions, 18 per cent said they plan to go to the beach and 16 per cent cited the chance to go cross-border shopping.

Polling industry experts say online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

Canada's tourism sector is in danger of losing operators if the travel restrictions eat into another all-important summer travel season, said Beth Potter, the president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.

Travellers, business and pleasure alike, need to at least be able to start making plans, which they are unable to do without some sense of when the restrictions will finally start to lift.

"There is this sense of unending, 'We don't know,'" said Potter, who urged the government to either provide a timeline for ending the travel limits or keep in place the federal aid programs and wage subsidies that have allowed tourism operators to stay afloat.

"What we are trying to get to with this conversation is that the 'never-ending maybe' is too much," she said. "We need a plan, and we need a plan now."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.
FILE - In this Feb. 19, 2021, file photo a man watches the sunset from a peak at Papago Park in Phoenix. Millions of Americans are struggling through life with few people they can trust for personal and professional help, a disconnect that raises a key barrier to recovery from the social, emotional and economic fallout of the pandemic. That's according to a new poll from Impact Genome and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

NEW YORK (AP)  Karen Glidden's loneliness became unbearable during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 72-year-old widow, who suffers from vision loss and diabetes and lives far from any relatives, barely left her house in Champion, Michigan, this past year, for fear of contracting the virus. Finally vaccinated, she was looking forward to venturing out when her beloved service dog died last month.

It doesn't help that her circle of trusted friends has dwindled to one neighbor she counts on to help her shop, get to the doctor and hang out.

"I feel like Im in a prison most of the time and once in a while, I get to go out, said Glidden, whose adult children live in California and Hawaii, where she was born and raised.

She is not alone in her sense of social isolation.

Millions of Americans are struggling through life with few people they can trust for personal and professional help, a disconnect that raises a key barrier to recovery from the social, emotional and economic fallout of the pandemic, according to a new a poll from The Impact Genome Project and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll finds 18% of U.S. adults, or about 46 million people, say they have just one person or nobody they can trust for help in their personal lives, such as emergency child care needs, a ride to the airport or support when they fall sick. And 28% say they have just one person or nobody they can trust to help draft a resume, connect to an employer or navigate workplace challenges.

FILE - In this April 26, 2021, file photo a person stands on an observation tower as the moon rises in New Albany, Ind. Millions of Americans are struggling through life with few people they can trust for personal and professional help, a disconnect that raises a key barrier to recovery from the social, emotional and economic fallout of the pandemic. That's according to a new poll from Impact Genome and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

The isolation is more acute among Black and Hispanic Americans. Thirty-eight percent of Black adults and 35% of Hispanic adults said they had only one or no trusted person to help navigate their work lives, compared with 26% of white adults. In their personal lives, 30% of Hispanic adults and 25% of Black adults said they have one or no trusted people, while 14% of white adults said the same.

Researchers have long debated the idea that the U.S. has suffered from a decline in social capital, or the value derived from personal relationships and civic engagement.

The General Social Survey, a national representative survey conducted by NORC since 1972, suggests that the number of people Americans feel they can trust had declined by the early 2000s, compared with two decades earlier, although there is little consensus about the extent of this isolation or its causes. The rise of social media has added another layer of debate, as experts explore whether it broadens networks or lures people in isolating echo chambers.

The Impact Genome/AP-NORC poll sought to measure how much social capital Americans can count as they try to pick up the pieces of lives fractured by the pandemic. The findings suggest that for many Americans, the pandemic has chipped away at whatever social capital they had going into it.

Americans were more likely to report a decline than an increase in the number of people they could trust over the past year. Just 6% of Americans said their network of trusted people grew, compared with 16% who reported that it shrank. While the majority of Americans said the number of people they could trust stayed the same, nearly 3 in 10 said they asked for less support from family and friends because of COVID-19.

Community bonds have proved to be critical to recovery from calamities such as Superstorm Sandy in 2012, said Jennifer Benz, deputy director of The AP-NORC Center.

But the nature of the pandemic made those bonds difficult or even impossible to maintain. Schools, community centers, churches, synagogues and mosques closed. People couldn't ask neighbors or grandparents for help with child care or other needs for fear of spreading the virus.

About half of Americans are engaged in civic groups such as religious institutions, schools or community service groups, according to the new poll. And 42% of all adults said they have become less involved with civic groups during the pandemic, compared with just 21% who said they became more engaged.

Compared to the way social capital can be leveraged in other disasters, the key difference has been that this is a disaster where your civic duty was to be on your own, Benz said.

Surveys from the Pew Research Center suggested that relocation increased during the pandemic. While some people moved to be closer to family, more relocated because of job loss or other financial stresses.

Warlin Rosso, 29, has moved often in pursuit of financial stability, often at the cost of his social ties.

He left behind his entire family, including 14 siblings, when he immigrated to the U.S. five years ago from the Dominican Republic. He worked at a warehouse in Chicago for three years, sharing an apartment with a girlfriend. But when that relationship fell apart, he couldn't afford to move out on his own. In December 2019, he relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, where a childhood friend let him move in.

That friend, Rosso said, remains the only person in Jackson he can trust for help. As the pandemic closed in, Rosso struggled in a city where the Hispanic community is tiny.

Through social media, he found work with a Nicaraguan man who owned a construction business. Later, he found a training program that landed him a job as hospital aide.

His co-workers are friendly, but he feels isolated. Sometimes, he said, patients bluntly ask to be helped by a non-Latino worker. He hopes eventually to get a similar job back in Chicago, where he has friends.

It's not always welcoming for Hispanics here, Rosso said. Here, I'm alone."

The AP-NORC poll of 2,314 adults was conducted March 25-April 15 using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Californias workplace regulators have withdrawn a controversial pending mask regulation while they consider a rule that more closely aligns with Gov. Gavin Newsoms promise that the state will fully reopen from the pandemic on Tuesday.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Californias workplace regulators have withdrawn a controversial pending mask regulation while they consider a rule that more closely aligns with Gov. Gavin Newsoms promise that the state will fully reopen from the pandemic on Tuesday.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Boards revised rule, adopted last week after it was initially rejected, would have allowed workers to forego masks only if every employee in a room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. That contrasts with the states broader plan to do away with virtually all masking and social distancing requirements for vaccinated people in concert with the latest recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The board's decision late Wednesday to withdraw that worksite rule before it goes into effect allows the board to consider changes at its June 17 meeting and potentially have them go into effect by months end.

But some business leaders on Wednesday kept up their pressure on Newsom to override the board.

After the confusion and lack of clarity on reopening guidelines at the Cal/OSHA hearing tonight, the statewide business community must once again request the governor issue an Executive Order before June 15 to provide all employers with the consistency and certainty in guidelines, Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said in a statement after the vote. That, he said, "will be the catalyst for a full economic reopening and create a powerful incentive to get even more Californians vaccinated.

The goal of the unanimous vote, said board chairman David Thomas, is to change the workplace regulation so that it matches up with the CDC and the California Department of Public Health, so that were all on the same page. Thats what this is about, so were not out of step with everybody else.

The safety boards staff was not specific on what changes it will recommend next week, other than it will try to more closely conform the workplace rules with public health guidelines.

But Eric Berg, deputy chief of health for Californias Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, said the public health guidelines generally allow anyone who is vaccinated to skip wearing a mask indoors. Under those rules, he said, a vaccinated person would not have to wear a mask at work.

The reversal came after State Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon reiterated to board members at a hastily scheduled special meeting that the state next week will end most masking rules for people who are vaccinated, while continuing to require face coverings for unvaccinated people in indoor public settings and businesses.

Exceptions where everyone must remain masked include public transit, indoor school classes, in health care and correctional facilities, and in places like homeless shelters and cooling centers, Aragon said. Individual businesses are also free to require everyone to remain masked under the general rules, he said.

Helen Cleary, director of the Phylmar Regulatory Roundtable, a coalition of large businesses with major California operations, was among numerous business representatives urging the board to conform its rule with public health requirements.

Employers cannot plan with this high level of uncertainty, she said. We are disappointed and frustrated with the confusion, the process, the substance and the lack of leadership.

The workplace boards more restrictive approach put Newsom in an awkward position as he battles a pending recall election, though he was reluctant to override a board that he appoints.

The public doesnt draw a distinction between this board and the rest of the Newsom administration, Michael Miiller, California Association of Winegrape Growers government relations director, told board members before the vote. What they hear is the Newsom administration say that wearing masks at work may be here to stay.

Pressure on the board built before the meeting when a dozen business groups including the California Retailers Association and organizations representing manufacturers, farmers, tourism interests and other industries sent a letter to Newsom asking him to rescind the boards regulations.

Requiring masks unless all are vaccinated in a workplace would create yet another barrier to rehiring and reopening at a time when we need to be providing incentives to bring people back, they said. Moreover, they said requiring masks for people who are fully inoculated could lead the public to believe the vaccine isnt really effective.

Board member Laura Stock said it is important to keep protecting employees who dont have a realistic choice but to go to work.

For instance, state data shows that in the retail sector in the last 30 days there were 70 outbreaks, more than two a day, said Stock, who directs the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley. Outbreaks are still occurring.

Business groups also want the board to withdraw its proposal to require employers to start providing the most effective N95 masks for voluntary use by employees who work indoors or at large outdoor events and are not fully vaccinated, starting July 31. That would be costly and compete with the needs of health care workers, they said.

But the N95 is the one that checked all of those boxes for safety, Stock said.

The Cal/OSHA boards regulations apply in almost every workplace in the state, including workers in offices, factories and retail. Its pandemic rules apply to all employees except those working from home or where there is a single employee who does not have contact with other people.

Even prior to Wednesdays vote, board members emphasized that their revised rules were temporary, and they appointed a subcommittee to continue working on revisions.
TAKOMA PARK, Md. (AP)  A plump robin wearing a tiny metal backpack with an antenna hops around a suburban yard in Takoma Park, then plucks a cicada from the ground for a snack.

An American robin sits in a nylon net at sunrise, Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Silver Spring, Md. Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams uses nets to catch robins and possibly fit them with an Argos satellite tag. Its astounding how little we know about some of the most common songbirds, said Ken Rosenberg, a conservation scientist at Cornell University. We have a general idea of migration, a range map, but thats really just a broad impression. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

TAKOMA PARK, Md. (AP)  A plump robin wearing a tiny metal backpack with an antenna hops around a suburban yard in Takoma Park, then plucks a cicada from the ground for a snack.

Ecologist Emily Williams watches through binoculars from behind a bush. On this clear spring day, shes snooping on his dating life. Now Im watching to see whether hes found a mate, she said, scrutinizing his interactions with another robin in a nearby tree.

Once the bird moves on at season's end, shell rely on the backpack to beam frequent location data to the Argos satellite, then back to Williams' laptop, to track it.

The goal is to unravel why some American robins migrate long distances, but others do not. With more precise information about nesting success and conditions in breeding and wintering grounds, we should be able to tell the relative roles of genetics versus the environment in shaping why birds migrate, said Williams, who is based at Georgetown University.

Putting beacons on birds is not novel. But a new antenna on the International Space Station and receptors on the Argos satellite, plus the shrinking size of tracking chips and batteries, are allowing scientists to remotely monitor songbird movements in much greater detail than ever before.

Were in a sort of golden age for bird research, said Adriaan Dokter, an ecologist at Cornell University who is not directly involved with Williams study. Its pretty amazing that we can satellite-track a robin with smaller and smaller chips. Ten years ago, that was unthinkable.

The device this robin is wearing can give precise locations, within about 30 feet (about 10 meters), instead of around 125 miles (200 kilometers) for previous generations of tags.

That means Williams can tell not only whether the bird is still in the city, but on which street or backyard. Or whether its flown from the Washington, D.C., suburbs to land on the White House lawn.

Avian ecologist and Georgetown University Ph.D. student Emily Williams measures the beak of an American robin as she gathers data to possibly fit the bird with an Argos satellite tag, Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Silver Spring, Md. The American robin is an iconic songbird in North America, its bright chirp a harbinger of spring. Yet its migratory habits remain a bit mysterious to scientists. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A second new tag, for only the heaviest robins, includes an accelerometer to provide information about the birds movements; future versions may also measure humidity and barometric pressure. These Icarus tags work with a new antenna on the International Space Station.

That antenna was first turned on about two years ago, but there were some glitches with the power-supply and the computer, so we had to bring it down again with a Russian rocket, then transport it from Moscow to Germany to fix it, said Martin Wikelski, director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, whose scientific team is honing the technology. After the usual troubleshooting for space science," the antenna was turned back on this spring.

As researchers deploy precision tags, Wikelski envisions the development of an Internet of animals  a collection of sensors around the world giving us a better picture of the movement of life on the planet.

The American robin is an iconic songbird in North America, its bright chirp a harbinger of spring. Yet its migratory habits remain a bit mysterious to scientists.

Its astounding how little we know about some of the most common songbirds, said Ken Rosenberg, a conservation scientist at Cornell University. We have a general idea of migration, a range map, but thats really just a broad impression.

An earlier study Williams worked on showed some robins are long-distance migrants  flying more than 2,780 miles (4,480 km) between their breeding area in Alaska and winter grounds in Texas  while others hop around a single backyard most of the year.

What factors drive some robins to migrate, while others dont? Does it have to do with available food, temperature fluctuations or success in mating and rearing chicks?

Williams hopes more detailed data from satellite tags, combined with records of nesting success, will provide insights, and she's working with partners who are tagging robins in Alaska, Indiana and Florida for a three-year study.

Scientists have previously put GPS-tracking devices on larger raptors, but the technology has only recently become small and light enough for some songbirds. Tracking devices must be less than 5% of the animals weight to avoid encumbering them.

In a Silver Spring, Maryland, yard, Williams has unfurled nylon nets between tall aluminum poles. When a robin flies into the net, she delicately untangles the bird. Then she holds it in a bander's grip"  with her forefinger and middle finger loosely on either side of the birds neck, and another two fingers around its body.

On a tarp, she measures the robins beak length, takes a toenail clipping and plucks a tail feather to gauge overall health.

Then she weighs the bird in a small cup on a scale. This one is about 80 grams, just over the threshold for wearing the penny-sized Argos satellite tag.

Williams fashions a makeshift saddle with clear jewelry cord looped around each of the birds legs. She then tightens the cord so the tag sits firmly on the birds back.

When she opens her hand, the robin hops to the ground, then takes a few steps under a pink azalea shrub before flying off.

In addition to providing very precise locations, the satellite tags transmit data that can be downloaded from afar onto Williams laptop. The data on older tags couldnt be retrieved unless the same bird was recaptured the following year  a difficult and uncertain task.

Wilkeski hopes the new technology will help scientists better understand threats birds and other creatures face from habitat loss, pollution and climate change.

It is detective work to try to figure out why a population is declining, said Ben Freeman, a biologist at the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia. Better information about migration corridors will help us look in the right places.

A 2019 study co-written by Cornells Rosenberg showed that North Americas population of wild birds declined by nearly 30%, or 3 billion, since 1970.

He said tracking birds will help explain why: Where in their annual cycles do migratory birds face the greatest threats? Is it exposure to pesticides in Mexico, the clearing of rainforests in Brazil, or is it what people are doing in their backyards here in the U.S.?

Follow Christina Larson on Twitter:@larsonchristina

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.
TORONTO - Supreme Cannabis shareholders have voted in favour of the company being sold to Canopy Growth Corp. for $435 million.

Staff work in a marijuana grow room that can be viewed by at the new visitors centre at Canopy Growth facility in Smiths Falls, Ont., Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018. Supreme Cannabis shareholders have voted in favour of the company being sold to Canopy Growth Corp. for $435 million. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

TORONTO - Supreme Cannabis shareholders have voted in favour of the company being sold to Canopy Growth Corp. for $435 million.

Supreme says 81.05 per cent of the votes cast were in favour of the deal.

The sale needed at least a two-thirds majority vote to be approved.

Under the deal, Supreme shareholders will receive 0.01165872 of a Canopy common share and 0.01 of a cent in cash for each Supreme share held.

When Canopy announced it was buying Supreme in April, it had already garnered support from the boards of both companies but required approvals from shareholders and regulators.

The deal will unite Smiths Falls, Ont.-based Canopy's brands including Tweed, Tokyo Smoke, Quatreau and Doja with Supreme's 7Acres, Sugarleaf and Hi-way lines.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:WEED, TSX:FIRE)
Introducing Edward Kennedy for his 24th and last annual general meeting as CEO of the North West Company, Sandy Riley, chairman of the board, said someone once told him that CEOs tenures should be measured in dog years.

Introducing Edward Kennedy for his 24th and last annual general meeting as CEO of the North West Company, Sandy Riley, chairman of the board, said someone once told him that CEOs tenures should be measured in dog years.

"That is, one year as CEO is the equivalent to seven normal working years," he said. "If thats true Edward has been CEO for the equivalent of more than 150 years. He has had an extraordinary career marked by remarkable growth and great financial results."

On Aug. 1, Dan McConnell will take over as CEO of the Winnipeg-based company that was formed when the Hudsons Bay Co. spun off its Northern Stores division in 1987.

McConnell, speaking from his current base in Boca Raton, Fla., where he has headed the companys international operation, said the prospects of leading the company are exciting.

"I love this company," said the native Winnipegger who just bought a home here and will be moving back to his hometown and the companys headquarters.

"Ive worked at the company for 19 years under Edwards tutelage and it has been an incredible experience," he said.

The past 15 months have tested the mettle of the company in that many of the communities in northern Canada and Alaska that the retail company services had to rely on it for almost everything of importance because of travel restrictions brought on by the pandemic.

Community support has been a message that has grown throughout Kennedys time as head of the company and its something that McConnell said will be of top priority for him as CEO as well.

"We may be a large company (2020 revenue was $2.4 billion) but we operate as a small company," McConnell said in an interview with the Free Press.

"Community relations are always top of mind," he said. "We take a long-term approach. We will be building on what we already have which are very successful relationships, but there is lots of room to grow."

After having run the international operations for the past few years  which includes 12 Cost-U-Less stores in the Caribbean and South Pacific islands, McConnell said the company will always be looking for growth opportunities where "we can layer on our core competencies to positively impact communities."

For those who might still not be able to understand how and why the North West Company is in the Caribbean, McConnell said there are a lot of synergies.

"The impact we have on the communities we serve in the Caribbean is equal to that of the impact we have in communities in Alaska and northern Canada" he said. "No matter what  pandemic, floods, hurricanes... God forbid... the communities know they will be able to rely on us for food security. We put our hand up and make sure we are there for whatever the community needs."

The company released its first-quarter results on Wednesday and while sales decreased seven per cent to $551.0 million, that was mostly due to the sale and closure of most of its Giant Tiger stores that were part of the companys operation in the first quarter of 2020 as well as foreign currency losses.

But average same store sales at its 290 locations were up 3.8 per cent, a strong showing considering the first quarter last year saw same store sales increase by 15.5 per cent.

Among other things the company-owned cargo airline, North Star Air, had a solid quarter with the possibility of doing more third-party work in the future.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
CARBIS BAY, England (AP)  The Latest on the Group of Seven nations meeting being held in England and the talks Thursday between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden:

FILE - In this June 9, 2021, file photo, President Joe Biden listens as first lady Jill Biden speaks to American service members at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Helping countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic will be at the top of the agenda for the Group of Seven summit when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomes Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwestern England on Friday, June 11. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

CARBIS BAY, England (AP)  The Latest on the Group of Seven nations meeting being held in England and the talks Thursday between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden:

FALMOUTH, England  President Joe Biden has given British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a new bicycle.

The United Kingdom was Bidens initial stop on his first foreign trip, and he met Johnson for the first time on Thursday.

The White House says Biden gave Johnson an American-made bicycle and bike helmet custom-made by Bilenky Cycle Works, a small family business located in Philadelphia. Biden was born in Pennsylvania.

The White House says the gift was a gesture of friendship and in recognition of their shared interest in cycling.

Johnsons office says the prime minister gave Biden a framed photo of a mural in Edinburgh of Frederick Douglass. Jill Biden got a first edition Daphne Du Maurier novel. Much of her work is set in Cornwall.

FILE - In this May 26, 2021, file photo, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London. Helping countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic will be at the top of the agenda for the Group of Seven summit when Johnson welcomes President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwestern England on Friday, June 11. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

FALMOUTH, England  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Group of Seven leaders will pledge to share 1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines with poorer countries during a meeting of the wealthy nations club in southwest England.

Speeding the global recovery from the pandemic is a dominant issue at the summit. While countries like the U.S. and Britain have already given vaccine shots to most adults, many nations, especially in Africa, have few doses or none.

Johnson said Thursday that the G-7 leaders pledges at the summit mean we can vaccinate the world by the end of next year and build back better from coronavirus.

The U.K. didnt disclose details of the commitments, but President Joe Biden says the U.S. will give 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine over the next year, and Johnson says Britain will give 100 million doses. Chancellor Angela Merkel said last month that Germany is prepared to donate 30 million doses by years end.

Its also unclear how they will be manufactured and distributed. The British government says that the vaccines will be provided through dose sharing and financing and that expanding vaccine manufacturing will be part of hitting the target.

PARIS  French President Emmanuel Macron is welcoming as great news the decision of the United States to donate 500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the poorest countries.

In a news conference Thursday, Macron said, I think the European Union needs to have at least the same level of ambition as the United States, and be able to make a similar announcement.

FILE - In this June 3, 2021, file photo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks with Debs Scott, Clinical lead for UCLH's mass vaccination centre, after receiving his second jab of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, at the Francis Crick Institute in London. Helping countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic will be at the top of the agenda for the Group of Seven summit when Johnson welcomes President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwestern England on Friday, June 11. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool, File)

Macron added that the schedule of deliveries needs to be specified.

The U.S. commitment is to buy and donate 500 million Pfizer doses for distribution by mid-2022 through the global COVAX alliance to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union.

France has been insisting on the importance of helping Africa, in particular, with vaccines since last year.

France was the first rich country to donate via COVAX, sending 100,000 doses to Mauritania in April, and Macron said that the country would donate half a million doses by mid-June and 30 million doses by the end of the year.

FALMOUTH, England  A hotel hosting media and security staff for the Group of Seven summit in England has temporarily shut down because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Pedn Olva in St. Ives shut down for a deep clean, according to its owners, the St Austell Brewery. The shutdown came after an undisclosed number of staff contracted COVID-19.

The owners said Thursday that the hotel will reopen after the deep clean and after they have enough staff to run it.

FILE - In this June 9, 2021, file photo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, visits the Scottish Power Carland Cross Windfarm to view new construction on a solar farm in Newquay, Cornwall, England. Leaders of some of the worlds richest nations will be meeting at the English seaside for a three-day Group of Seven summit in a world that has changed hugely since their last gathering two years ago. Before the pandemic, Johnson planned this to be a climate-dominated summit. (AP Photo/Jon Super, Pool, File)

G-7 leaders begin three days of meetings Friday in Carbis Bay, a small seaside village.

While locals in the community are accustomed to crowds and traffic in the summer, disruptions caused by the summit are rather more extreme.

Some 5,000 extra police officers have been deployed to the area, and authorities have even hired a cruise ship with a capacity of 3,000 to accommodate some of the extra officers.

ST. IVES, England  President Joe Biden says the United States is buying and donating hundreds of millions of doses of Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine to help save lives, not to get favors or potential concessions from the nearly 100 low-income countries that will be receiving the shots.

Hes also calling on other countries to follow the American lead, saying it is in all of our interests to see the global economy recover.

Biden is outlining U.S. global vaccine-sharing plans in St. Ives, England, after a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Biden, Johnson and other leaders of the worlds largest economies are meeting for a summit that begins Friday in Cornwall, England.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, stands next to a solar panel as he visits the Scottish Power Carland Cross Windfarm in Newquay, Cornwall, England, Wednesday, June 9, 2021. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the company on Wednesday to view new construction on a solar farm. (AP Photo/Jon Super, Pool)

Biden says the U.S. will buy 500 million doses, with 200 million to be delivered this year and the remainder in the first half of 2022.

ST IVES, England  President Joe Biden says his meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in England was productive, and he's affirming the nations' special relationship as allies on climate change, global security and fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden says the leaders updated the 80-year-old Atlantic Charter, which led to the United Nations and NATO.

The American president says the alliance is addressing challenges that include cybersecurity, new technologies, global health and the climate crisis. Biden says he and the prime minister discussed a U.S.-hosted climate summit in April and an upcoming climate meeting scheduled for later this year in Scotland.

Biden says the talks also covered Afghanistan and the coming withdrawal of troops, as well as how to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

CARBIS BAY, England  The leaders of Britain and the United States are vowing to defend their countries enduring values against challenges old and new, in a far-reaching document set out ahead of a Group of Seven summit in England.

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who met for more than an hour on Thursday, signed a document building on the commitments and aspirations set out 80 years go by predecessors Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in the Atlantic Charter.

FILE - In this June 9, 2021, file photo, German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting of the German government at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany. Helping countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic will be at the top of the agenda for the Group of Seven summit when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomes President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada to the cliff-ringed Carbis Bay beach resort in southwestern England on Friday, June 11. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool, File)

That document led to the United Nations and NATO. The new one looks to the challenge posed by countries like China and Russia with its promises to promote free trade, human rights and a rules-based international order, and to counter those who seek to undermine our alliances and institutions.

The new charter also took aim at interference through disinformation in elections and murky economic practices, charges that the West has levelled at Moscow and Beijing.

The two leaders also promised to build stronger global defenses against health threats, ahead of a summit dominated by the coronavirus pandemic.

CARBIS BAY, England - U.S. first lady Jill Biden showed up to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife wearing a dark jacket with LOVE embroidered on her upper back.

She said she and President Joe Biden were bringing love from America.

Biden is using his first overseas trip in office to send the message to European allies that America is back following the America first, go-it-alone approach of his predecessor, Donald Trump.

But Jill Bidens fashion choice immediately reminded White House watchers of another first lady who once sported an entirely different message on her back.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are greeted and walk with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson, ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday, June 10, 2021, in Carbis Bay, England. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Former first lady Melania Trump wore a green jacket that said, I Really Dont Care, Do U? on a 2018 trip to a Texas border town to visit migrant children housed in shelters. She wore a different jacket while visiting the children.

CARBIS BAY, England  President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson looked back on illustrious wartime predecessors as they met ahead of a Group of Seven summit in England.

At their first meeting in the seaside resort of Carbis Bay, the two leaders inspected documents Thursday related to the Atlantic Charter, a declaration signed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in August 1941 setting out common goals for the world after World War II. Those goals included freer trade, disarmament and the right to self-determination of all people.

Johnson noted that the charter laid the foundation for the United Nations and NATO. Yeah, I know, Biden said.

At their meeting, the two leaders plan to sign what theyre calling a new Atlantic Charter, pledging to defend the principles, values, and institutions of democracy and open societies.

The original charter is often cited as a cornerstone of the trans-Atlantic special relationship.

Johnsons predecessor, Theresa May, gave a copy of the charter to Donald Trump in 2019 as part of efforts to charm the volatile then-president. It had little success; Trump publicly disparaged May and derided international bodies such as the U.N.

US President Joe Biden, left, talks with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during their meeting ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall, Britain, Thursday June 10, 2021. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

TOKYO  Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, before heading to a British seaside town in Cornwall to attend the Group of Seven summit, told reporters that he hopes to frankly discuss the pandemic, climate and other key issues with other leaders who share universal values.

It will be Sugas first face-to-face multilateral talks since he took office in September last year.

At this G-7 Summit, I hope to have a frank discussion with other G-7 leaders who share universal values on important issues such as coronavirus measures, climate change, economy and regional affairs. I plan to explain Japans position on those issues and contribute to the summit talks, Suga said.

He also said he plans to gain support for his determination to host the Summer Olympics starting on July 23 despite the pandemic.

I would like to explain our determination to thoroughly implement the anti-infection measures to achieve safe and secure Games and gain understanding from the leaders, Suga sad.

His departure was delayed for about 90 minutes due to a mechanical trouble on the government plane he was to fly.

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First lady Jill Biden turns around to show the word "love" on the back of her jacket as she speaks with reporters after visiting with Carrie Johnson, wife of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday, June 10, 2021, in Carbis Bay, England. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

PLYMOUTH, England  President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet for the first time Thursday against a backdrop of differences both political and personal.

Biden hopes to use his first overseas trip as president to reassure European allies that the United States had shed the transactional tendencies of Donald Trumps term and is a reliable partner again. But tensions may simmer beneath the surface of Bidens meeting with Johnson.

The president staunchly opposed the Brexit movement, the British exodus from the European Union that Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern with the future of Northern Ireland. And Biden once called the British leader a physical and emotional clone of Trump.

The British government has worked hard to overcome that impression, stressing Johnsons common ground with Biden on issues such as climate change and his support for international institutions. But Johnson, the host for the Group of Seven summit that will follow his sit-down with Biden, has been frustrated by the lack of a new trade deal with the United States.

The two leaders were expected to announce the creation of a U.S.-U.K. task force that will move toward resuming travel between the two nations, according to a White House official. Most travel has been banned between the two nations since March 2020.

LONDON  President Joe Biden will be welcomed with a military Guard of Honor and afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle when he meets the monarch on Sunday.

The queen will host the president and First Lady Jill Biden in her royal residence on Sunday, after the couple leaves the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, southwestern England.

From left, US President Joe Biden, Carrie Johnson, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and First Lady Jill Biden walk outside Carbis Bay Hotel in Cornwall, Britain, Thursday June 10, 2021. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

The monarch will greet the Bidens in the castles quadrangle, where assembled soldiers from the Queens Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards will give a royal salute and the U.S. national anthem will be played.

The president will then be invited to inspect the Honor Guard and watch the military march-past with the queen.

Biden will be the 13th American leader to meet the monarch, with Lyndon B. Johnson the only one the queen has not met. She has received four other U.S. presidents at Windsor Castle: President Donald Trump in 2018; Barack Obama in 2016; George W. Bush in 2008; and Ronald Reagan in 1982.

BERLIN  Germany is sticking to its opposition to easing patent protection on COVID-19 vaccines as it goes into the Group of Seven summit.

While many developed countries with strong pharmaceutical industries hesitated or were outright opposed to the idea, the debate received a jolt last month when the Biden administration announced support for granting waivers for vaccines.

But a senior German official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity in line with department rules, said Thursday: We dont think a waiver is helpful or is actually the problem, and nothing has changed about that.

The official noted that talks are ongoing at the World Trade Organization in Geneva and said they may achieve improvements within the system.

President Joe Biden speaks about his administration's global COVID-19 vaccination efforts ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday, June 10, 2021, in St. Ives, England. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla listens at right. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Asked whether Germany plans to announce to give more vaccine to poorer countries after the U.S. unveils plans to donate 500 million doses around the globe, the official said Germany has done a great deal on three tracks: sharing doses, financing purchases via the COVAX program, and exports.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said last month that Germany is prepared to donate 30 million doses by the years end to poorer countries assuming, of course, that the vaccines we have ordered actually arrive. That would be part of a broader donation of 100 million doses by the European Union.

Germany hasnt said when the donations will start.

BERLIN  Germany sees one big message from this years Group of Seven summit: multilateralism is back.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is attending her last G-7 summit after nearly 16 years in power, has been a leading advocate of taking a multilateral approach to world affairs  in contrast to the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Asked what message Merkel wants to send at the summit, a senior German official replied: The message of the summit overall  and that stands for what the chancellor has stood for over recent years  is that multilaterism, and the G-7, is back.

The official, who said that there has been much common ground in pre-summit negotiations, stressed that issues such as climate change, the pandemic and many others can only be solved together.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department rules.

LONDON  U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being criticized for flying to the Group of Seven summit meeting in Cornwall, rather than taking the train, as he presses world leaders to do more to fight global warming.

Environmental activists bombarded Johnsons Twitter feed with suggestions that the prime minister should practice what he preaches after he posted a photo of himself climbing off the plane accompanied by a call to make the world better, fairer and greener.

This is how serious Boris Johnson is about combating the climate emergency: He flew to Cornwall, Zarah Sultana, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party, tweeted in response.

According to figures posted on the U.K. government website, domestic flights generate about six times more greenhouse gases than rail travel. A train journey to Cornwall takes about five hours, compared with less than 90 minutes for a flight.

Johnson is hosting leaders from the worlds seven richest democracies during this weekends summit at the Carbis Bay resort in Cornwall. The agenda includes talks on climate change, the global response to COVID-19 and the taxation of multinational corporations.

LONDON  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the nations of the world must set aside the beggar my neighbor attitude that led to squabbling over medicines and treatments for COVID-19.

Johnson said Thursday that Group of Seven leaders meeting this weekend in Carbis Bay, southwest England, will commit to vaccinating the world by the end of 2022.

The British leader wrote in The Times of London that it was time for wealthy countries should shoulder their responsibilities and to vaccinate the world.

But he faces criticism because the U.K. has yet to send any doses abroad and has cut its international aid budget, citing the economic blow of the pandemic.

Johnson said Thursday that Britain would donate millions of doses from surplus stocks -- though he didnt say when.

Johnson also noted that the British government helped fund the development at Oxford University of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which accounts for 1 in 3 vaccine doses around the world.

President Joe Biden is announcing Thursday that the U.S. will buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine to share with poorer countries over the next year.

BRUSSELS  Top European Union officials are joining calls to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, ramping up the pressure on China to be more open about the virus, ahead of the Group of Seven summit.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday that we have to know where it did come from in order to draw the right lessons and to develop the right tools to make sure that this will never happen again.

Von der Leyen says the investigators need complete access to whatever is necessary to really find the source of this pandemic. She said Europe had responded reasonably well to the heavy economic impact of virus restrictions because it had drawn the right lessons from the 2008 financial crisis.

European Council President Charles Michel says the world has the right to know exactly what happened.

Last month, President Joe Biden ordered U.S. intelligence officials to redouble their efforts to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, including any possibility the trail might lead to a Chinese laboratory.
Transat AT Inc. is optimistic about the upcoming winter season as the tour operator and airline aims to be a leaner company with lower operating costs after flying is slated to resume on July 30.

Transat AT Inc. is optimistic about the upcoming winter season as the tour operator and airline aims to be a leaner company with lower operating costs after flying is slated to resume on July 30.

The travel company suspended operations on Jan. 29 after Ottawa requested a suspension of travel to Mexico and the Caribbean as well as the adoption of new quarantine measures and testing requirements.

The quarterly results for the period ended April 30 reflected the company's lack of operations, with a net loss attributable to shareholders of $69.6 million or $1.84 per diluted share for the quarter.

The result compared with a loss of $179.5 million or $4.76 per diluted share a year earlier at the start of the pandemic in Canada.

Revenue for what was the company's second quarter totalled $7.6 million, down from $571.3 million in the same quarter last year.

Transat's new CEO Annick Guerard said the company which includes Air Transat has already seen a mass of travellers booking in the previous week, and expect more activity after the federal government announced Wednesday that fully vaccinated travellers would no longer have to quarantine on return to Canada.

Guerard said bookings for the winter season in the past week had matched pre-pandemic levels in 2018 and 2019.

"We are pretty excited around that, but again we want to be careful," Guerard said in a conference call with analysts.

She called on the government to produce a comprehensive reopening plan for international travel so it can plan operations for the coming months.

Guerard pointed to the continued closure of the border for non-residents, saying she hopes the border will reopen as vaccinations increase.

Meanwhile, Guerard said Transat is taking steps to become a leaner company, more focused on its airline business, with less of a focus on tour operating and the services as a travel agency.

It will also plans to discontinue the hotels that it owned in certain destinations.

At the same time, the airline has let go of some older aircraft, including Boeing 737s and Airbus A310s, in an effort to consolidate its fleet to newer models of Airbus A330s and A321s that will lower operating costs.

It will also end winter aircraft leasing and increase a focus on transborder routes to ensure aircraft are fully utilized.

On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $103.3 million or $2.74 per share for the quarter, compared with an adjusted loss of $38.8 million or $1.03 per share a year ago.

However, Transat's stock has seen a nearly 30 per cent increase over the last month, which analyst Benoit Poirier of Desjardins Capital Markets attributed to ongoing discussions with businessman Pierre Karl Peladeau about a potential takeover.

Transat said Thursday those talks continue and follow the termination of a takeover by Air Canada, after the European Commission indicated it wouldn't approve the deal.

"Overall, while we believe Transat's strong exposure to (visiting friends and relatives) travel will be a key differentiator for the recovery of air travel, we do not expect the company to participate fully until the latter part of the year given its operations are grounded," he wrote in a report.

Guerard said Transat will move cautiously while ramping up operations, and it will not offer as many seats as usual this winter.

"We don't want to plan an operation that is too high, because we never know what's going to happen. We don't want to go through what happened last year," when the airline was forced to cancel operations after reopening mid-pandemic, said Guerard

"We are being prudent and going day-by-day progressively."

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ)
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  The Biden administrations plan to revive protections for some wetlands and streams that got eliminated during Donald Trumps presidency isn't likely to restore federal oversight of a proposed mine outside the Okefenokee Swamp's vast wildlife refuge.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  The Biden administrations plan to revive protections for some wetlands and streams that got eliminated during Donald Trumps presidency isn't likely to restore federal oversight of a proposed mine outside the Okefenokee Swamp's vast wildlife refuge.

On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced the first steps toward undoing and replacing the Trump-era environmental rule that narrowed the types of U.S. waters that qualify for federal protection from pollution under the Clean Water Act. A review ordered by President Joe Biden found at least 333 projects had that would have required a federal permit no longer needed one after the Trump administration's rule change took effect last year.

Among the beneficiaries of the 2020 change was Twin Pines Minerals. The Alabama-based company has spent two years seeking permits to mine titanium dioxide on land 2.9 miles (4.7 kilometers) from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge near the Georgia-Florida line.

Federal scientists have warned that mining near the Okefenokees bowl-like rim could damage the swamps ability to hold water. Regardless, the Army Corps of Engineers declared last October that it no longer had permitting jurisdiction over the project because the rule change under Trump excluded wetlands on the site from federal protection.

Even if Biden moved swiftly to reverse Trump's rule, it's probably too late to force Twin Pines and other project developers already cleared of federal permit requirements to reapply for them, said Kelly Moser, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center.

That's because decisions on whether projects need Clean Water Act permits last for five years, unless there's a specific reason to revisit a particular project.

Moser is handling a federal lawsuit in South Carolina by conservation groups challenging the rollback under Trump. She said getting a court to rule that the Trump administration changed the rule illegally is probably the only way to restore federal oversight of projects like the mine outside the Okefenokee.

A Biden rule wont reverse the removal of federal clean water protections, only a court ruling will, Moser said Thursday. Thats why we remain in court fighting against the unlawful rule.

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge covers nearly 630 square miles (1,630 square kilometers) in southeast Georgia and is home to alligators, bald eagles and other protected species. The swamps wildlife, cypress forests and flooded prairies draw roughly 600,000 visitors each year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuge.

EPA spokesperson Nick Conger said in a statement that protecting treasures like the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a key reason for replacing the Navigable Waters Protection Rule enacted under Trump.

Still, Conger said the Trump-era rule will continue to be implemented, with decisions on permitting requirements lasting five years, until a replacement rule is completed.

In February 2019, the Fish and Wildlife Service wrote that the proposed mine outside the Okefenokee could pose substantial risks to the swamp, including its ability to hold water. Some impacts, it said, may not be able to be reversed, repaired, or mitigated for.

Steve Ingle, president of Twin Pines, has insisted his company can mine the site without harming the Okefenokee. Ingle has said mining will occur on a ridge above the swamp and wont go deep enough to cause underground leaks.

In a statement regarding Biden's plan to replace the Trump-era rule, Ingle said: Right now it would be pure speculation as to what it might or might not be.

We will follow the guidelines that are in force now and in the future, Ingle said, and will continue to do what the regulators instruct us to do.

Without federal oversight, sole permitting authority over the proposed mine now rests with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, and others have asked state regulators to enlist help from federal scientists as they review five permit applications from Twin Pines. But the Georgia agency has been cool to the offer.

Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, has declined to take a stand on the proposed mine.

The onus remains on Governor Kemp and Georgia EPD to accept the offer of assistance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to cooperate in the investigation of the proposed mines impacts on the Okefenokee," said Josh Marks, an Atlanta environmental attorney who opposes the Twin Pines mine.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Johnson & Johnson said Thursday that U.S. regulators extended the expiration date on millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by six weeks.

FILE - This Saturday, March 6, 2021 file photo shows vials of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy in Denver. On Thursday, June 10, 2021, Johnson & Johnson said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the expiration date on millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by an extra six weeks. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Johnson & Johnson said Thursday that U.S. regulators extended the expiration date on millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by six weeks.

The company said a Food and Drug Administration review concluded the shots remain safe and effective for at least 4 1/2 months. In February, the FDA originally authorized J&Js vaccine for up to three months when stored at normal refrigeration levels.

Thursday's announcement comes after state officials warned that many doses in storage would expire before the end of the month. The change gives health providers more time to try and use remaining J&J shots sitting at pharmacies, hospitals and clinics. Many states have adopted a first-in-first-out approach to try and use their oldest vaccines first.

Vaccine expiration dates are based on information from drugmakers on how long the shots stay at the right strength. J&J said the FDA added six weeks based on data from ongoing studies assessing the vaccines stability.

The FDA has been reviewing expiration dates on all three U.S. authorized vaccines as companies have continued to test batches in the months since the shots first rolled out. Vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, authorized in December, have a six-month shelf life.

The J&J extension will help maintain vaccine supplies even as the number of Americans getting shots has slipped. The country averaged about 800,000 new injections per day last week. That's down from a high of nearly 2 million daily shots two months ago. Government officials and companies have turned to incentives to encourages shots, including paid time off and $1 million lottery prizes.

As vaccinations have slowed it's become clear the U.S. is unlikely to meet President Joe Biden's goal to have 70% of adults partially vaccinated by July 4. Roughly 64% of Americans older than 18 have had at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

J&Js vaccine was highly anticipated because of its one-and-done formulation and easy-to-ship refrigeration. The shot was expected to play a key role in vaccination campaigns in rural areas and low-income countries with limited health care infrastructure.

But rival drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna, which started shipping shots months earlier, have already supplied more than enough doses to meet U.S. demand. More than 129 million Americans have been fully vaccinated with the companies two-dose shots. By comparison, just 11 million Americans have been vaccinated with the J&J shot. About 10 million more J&J doses have been sent to states, according to the CDC.

Use of J&Js vaccine has been hurt by links to a rare blood clot disorder. That issue led U.S. health officials to pause use of the shot for an 11-day review. Officials lifted the hold in late April after concluding that the vaccines benefits outweighed its risks

J&J's rollout has also been slowed by contamination problems at a Baltimore factory that helps make the shots. The facility was shuttered after an FDA inspection uncovered unsanitary conditions and other problems in April. None of the vaccines made there have been distributed.

AP Health Writer Linda A. Johnson contributed to this report.

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.
OTTAWA - The prime minister's special adviser on the downing of flight PS752 says as long as Iran refuses to tell the whole truth about the crash, the country's airspace remains unsafe.

Ralph Goodale attends a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday, Aug 6, 2019. Goodale, the prime minister's special adviser on the downing of flight PS752 in Iran last year says as long as Iran refuses to tell the whole truth about the crash, the country's airspace remains unsafe. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - The prime minister's special adviser on the downing of flight PS752 says as long as Iran refuses to tell the whole truth about the crash, the country's airspace remains unsafe.

"Canada should, in my view, be raising this issue in every forum, (the International Civil Aviation Organization), in other agencies of the United Nations, through every channel and means to make sure that the world does not forget," Ralph Goodale said Thursday at the House of Commons transport committee.

Goodale, a former Liberal cabinet minister, is now the Canadian high commissioner in the United Kingdom. But in 2020 he was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a special adviser to help guide Canada's response to the crash.

He delivered a report last year critical of existing international rules for investigating plane crashes, which allow the country where the crash happens to lead the investigation, even in a situation like this where Iran was responsible for the crash.

Iran, Goodale told the committee, has been evasive and misleading from day one.

"The world needs to take this seriously," he said. "There is no reason for anyone to believe that the skies over Tehran are any safer today than they were in January of 2020."

The Ukrainian Airlines flight was shot down by Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Jan. 8, 2020, killing all 176 passengers and crew including 85 Canadians and permanent residents. Two missiles were fired at the plane in the minutes after it took off.

Iran issued a report in March which blamed "human error" for the crash, which occurred as tensions were high, hours after Iran had fired missiles at U.S. airbases in Iraq.

Goodale said that report was late, "shambolic" and lacking a "shred of evidence."

He said Iran should have closed the airspace, and warned commercial airlines of the tensions. They did neither, and he added Iran also concluded that they would make the same calls again if the situation were to arise another time.

"Iran has displayed an attitude of impunity divorced from any remorse or responsibility for their deadly conduct," he said.

"Yes, the families should be outraged, and so should the entire international community. We have not been told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And without that no one can or should feel at all safe or secure in the still dangerous skies over Iran."

International plane crash investigations are governed by the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization, known as ICAO. But Kathleen Fox, chair of the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board, told the committee that the rule leaving prime authority for the investigation to the country where the crash occurred, never took into account the idea that a government might have shot down the plane itself.

Goodale said this is the third attack on a civilian airliner since 2014, including the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, which was shot down by pro-Russian rebels over Ukraine, and last month's "state-sponsored hijacking" of a Ryanair flight in Belarus.

The plane was in Belarusian airspace, flying from Greece to Lithuania when the Belarusian government ordered it to land in Minsk because of a bomb threat, sending a military fighter jet to accompany it to landing. But there was no bomb, and when the plane landed the government arrested dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.

Several family members whose loved ones died when the Ukrainian jetliner crashed told the committee after Goodale appeared that Canada needs to be doing more to go after Iran for its deliberate act of terror.

Hamed Esmaeilion, the president of the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, said ICAO did nothing as Iran destroyed evidence and the belongings of crash victims, or criticized, and the families still wait for signs governments are going to force Iran be held to account.

Esmaeilion's wife, Parisa Eghbalian and their nine-year-old daughter, Reera, were killed in the crash.

"It seems as if an entire airplane has been lost in the clouds of international diplomacy," he said.

He said Iran's explanation is made up of "convenient lies, disguised as mistakes and incompetence to disguise wilful murder."

The families want Canada to launch its own criminal investigation, take Iran to the International Criminal Court, and list the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist entity.

"Without our government we have no recourse to bring the perpetrators of this inhumane crime to justice," Esmaeilion said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10,2021.
GREENBELT, Md. (AP)  A neo-Nazi group member whose talk of planning an attack at a Virginia gun rights rally was secretly recorded by the FBI pleaded guilty on Thursday to gun charges and obstruction of justice.

GREENBELT, Md. (AP)  A neo-Nazi group member whose talk of planning an attack at a Virginia gun rights rally was secretly recorded by the FBI pleaded guilty on Thursday to gun charges and obstruction of justice.

Patrik Jordan Mathews, a 28-year-old former Canadian Armed Forces reservist, and two other members of The Base were arrested on federal charges in Maryland ahead of the January 2020 rally at Virginia's Capitol in Richmond.

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police shows Patrik Mathews. The neo-Nazi group member whose talk of planning an attack at a Virginia gun rights rally was secretly recorded by the FBI has pleaded guilty to gun charges and obstruction of justice. Mathews entered his plea on Thursday, June 10, 2021. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police via AP)

Mathews pleaded guilty to illegally possessing and transporting a firearm, and obstruction of justice  he destroyed a cellphone when FBI agents raided his apartment.

After a prosecutor read aloud a summary of the case against Mathews, the judge asked him, "Did you do the things the government said you did?"

"Yes, your honor," Mathews replied.

The four counts carry a combined maximum sentence of 50 years in prison. But federal sentencing guidelines will likely recommend a lower sentence.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang is scheduled to sentence Mathews on Oct. 28.

Co-defendant Brian Mark Lemley Jr., a 35-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Elkton, Maryland, is scheduled to appear before the same judge on Friday for a rearraignment, which typically signals a plea deal. The third defendant, William Garfield Bilbrough IV, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty in December to helping Mathews illegally enter the U.S. from Canada in 2019.

Matthews and Lemley discussed "the planning of violence" at the Richmond rally, where thousands of gun-rights activists later gathered peacefully to protest gun-control legislation, Justice Department prosecutors said in a court filing.

Investigators installed a closed-circuit television camera and microphone inside a Newark, Delaware, apartment that Mathews and Lemley shared for several months after Mathews left Canada. The surveillance equipment captured Lemley and Mathews discussing "the next Civil War" erupting in Virginia and talking about committing "targeted acts of violence," prosecutors said in a Jan. 21 court filing.

"I need to claim my first victim," Lemley said, according to prosecutors.

The talk of violence prompted Mathews to say, "Im worried were going to become psychopaths," prosecutors wrote.

Bilbrough participated in early discussions about traveling to Richmond but had tried to distance himself from the group shortly before his arrest, a prosecutor has said.

Among other white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, the Base has been a leading proponent of "accelerationism," a fringe philosophy that advocates using mass violence to hasten societys collapse. Members often communicated in encrypted chat rooms and attended military-style training camps.

The Guardian identified The Base's founder as American-born Rinaldo Nazzaro, who formed the group in 2018 using the pseudonym "Norman Spear" and was believed to be living in Russia. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Nazzaro worked for the agency from 2004 to 2006, Vice News reported in February.

The case against the three men charged in Maryland was part of a broader investigation of The Base. In January 2020, authorities in Georgia and Wisconsin arrested four other men linked to the group.

The Base has crumbled amid members' prosecutions and revelations about Nazzaro's background, said Joanna Mendelson, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism. Nazzaro has tried but largely failed to resuscitate the group, she added.

"Many within the movement have attempted to distance themselves from him and his activities, as the group is seen as either a honeypot or destined to attract immediate law enforcement attention," Mendelson said.

The unraveling of The Base doesn't eliminate the potential threat posed by extremists who joined the group, she stressed.

"Were talking about adherents who are deeply steeped in an ideology," Mendelson said. "They oftentimes direct their deeply embedded beliefs into other neo-Nazi organizations."

Mathews told investigators that he was living in Beausejour, Man., and working as a carpenter for a construction company before he entered the U.S. Mathews also said he was a combat engineer in the Canadian Army before serving eight years as an Army reservist.

Mathews left Canada after a Winnipeg Free Press reporter exposed him as a member of The Base in an August 2019 article. Bilbrough and Lemley drove to Michigan to pick up Mathews and take him to Maryland.

Mathews and Lemley have remained jailed since FBI agents arrested them in Delaware in January 2020.

Mathews and Lemley were charged in Maryland with illegally possessing and transporting a firearm and ammunition. A grand jury in Delaware indicted them on separate but related charges.

In February, the judge refused to bar prosecutors from using evidence that FBI agents obtained through search warrants. The FBI also had an undercover employee infiltrate the group, visiting the Delaware home and driving with Mathews and Lemley to a gun range in Maryland in January.

This story has been updated with federal officials now saying that Mathews is 28, not 29.
Winnipegs infill construction strategy will move forward, with a committee seeking to delete some of its most hotly debated items.

Winnipegs infill construction strategy will move forward, with a committee seeking to delete some of its most hotly debated items.

On Tuesday night, councils property and development committee voted 3-1 to support the strategy. Coun. Kevin Klein cast the sole vote against, arguing the city failed to invest sufficient resources to prepare the plan.

The decision included a few key changes the committees chairwoman said are meant to "strike a balance" on whats become a contentious topic.

"I think infill is really important as we grow our city and try to meet our climate change targets Were trying to look at ways on how we (can avoid prohibiting) our infill development," said Coun. Cindy Gilroy.

Pending council approval, the committee voted to scrap: a cap that allows just two residential infill developments per block per year; a limit to development on streets serviced by gravel or mud back lanes; a requirement that surface parking lots be permitted to cover a maximum of 25 per cent of a lot; and a guideline that development sites wider than 100 feet "should" have at least 50 per cent of their parking underground.

Several developers and infill supporters lobbied for those changes at Tuesdays committee meeting, and a previous one in April. They warned some of the rules could make certain infill projects too difficult or expensive to pursue.

A local developer said hes encouraged by the committees changes.

"I think were moving in the right direction. I think theres a lot of work still to be done... (but overall) Im optimistic," said Tim Comack, vice-president of development for Ventura Land Company.

Dylon Martin, spokesman for the pro-infill group YIMBY (Yes, in My Backyard), welcomed the potential removal of the per-block, or development pacing, limit.

He said the per-block limit would reduce the number of infill builds. If that happens, that could also prevent such construction from helping the city combat climate change, since adding homes in established neighbourhoods is expected to help lower greenhouse-gas emissions by shortening drives to workplaces and amenities.

"As the guidelines stand right now, I think that theyre an imperfect first step at getting a solid infill policy framework in place," said Martin.

He said the city should further relax the rules, such as by lowering the number of parking spaces required for each build.

However, others were disappointed by the outcome.

Coun. Brian Mayes said the proposed changes threaten to ignore key concerns from Glenwood neighbourhood residents. Mayes said hes received hundreds of complaints about frequent lot splits that place multiple homes at properties that had previously contained just one in that area, which the per-block limit could address.

"I think whats so frustrating is theres no planning in the neighbourhood. The planners have approved 130 applications in a row. Theres no effort to try and regulate this and then (residents who complain) are berated (as being anti-infill)," he said.

If council deletes the pacing limit, the city should instead create a secondary plan for Glenwood that makes it easier for developers to build duplexes instead of splitting lots, Mayes said.

The St. Vital councillor has also supported building restrictions along gravel back lanes, which he said deteriorate quickly under increased traffic. One of Tuesdays amendments would only restrict development served by mud back lanes, not gravel ones.

"I have to say, Im disappointed. It seems to ignore reality," said Mayes.

Ray Hesslein, a member of the Glenwood Neighbourhood Association, also told the property and development committee duplexes would be best suited to densify the area, which could better preserve yard space and trees.

"Our once beautiful tree canopy is being destroyed by the lot split variance developments consistently approved by the (city)," said Hesslein.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
OTTAWA  The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg has bolstered the paperwork required to ship samples of viruses internationally after two Chinese scientists were removed from the lab in 2019.

OTTAWA  The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg has bolstered the paperwork required to ship samples of viruses internationally after two Chinese scientists were removed from the lab in 2019.

The policy change is mentioned in 290 pages of redacted internal documents from the Public Health Agency of Canada, which were released to the public by a House of Commons committee Tuesday.

MPs had demanded information about a shipment of Ebola virus and Henipah virus to China in 2019, and the dismissal of researchers Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng.

Ottawa insists the scientists removal and the shipments are not linked.

The documents show that in 2018, the Wuhan, China lab informally requested the samples through Qiu, whom Public Health had sent to Wuhan for various conferences and research tasks.

Qiu was told shipping the viruses would require a material transfer agreement, which is a formal contract that governs intellectual property protocols and safety and liability issues related to the use of samples.

Qiu told colleagues she didnt see the point of a material transfer agreement because the samples were raw viruses, instead of the results of intellectual property.

"Most of these viruses are from outbreak isolates and technically no one owns the (intellectual property)," Qiu wrote in July 2018.

"I will check with them and try my best to push. But again, (material transfer agreement) usually takes quite a long time in our agency."

In September 2018, the Wuhan lab issued a formal request, and the head of the Winnipeg lab immediately insisted a material transfer agreement was needed.

"I have some concerns here. No certifications are provided, they simply cite they have them," wrote Matthew Gilmour, who was the scientific director general at the lab at the time.

"(Material transfer agreements) would be required, not generic guarantees on their storage and usage."

Gilmour questioned why China would ask Canada for those samples, instead of seeking them from a country closer to it.

The head of the special pathogens division, who oversaw Qiu, said that probably wasnt possible.

"Historically, its also been easier to obtain material from us, as opposed to U.S. labs. I dont think other, closer labs have the ability to ship these materials," wrote David Safronetz.

"We would, of course, not send anything out without appropriate paperwork, (material transfer agreements and) certifications," Safronetz said.

The federal agency signed off on shipping the sample on Oct. 25, 2018, but it wasnt sent from Winnipeg until March 28, 2019.

Immediately after the shipment occurred, officials in Ottawa had questions.

The federal agencys risk-assessment centre asked what samples were shipped, and why they were sent to China.

The head of biosafety and biocontainment operations separately asked Winnipeg employees for the same information.

"We didnt do anything wrong just that because of the nature of the pathogens and where it was going, (the higher-ups in the agency) wanted to know if we did our due diligence," wrote a lab employee.

Qiu and Cheng were escorted from the lab by RCMP officers in July 2019.

The Free Press has reported on finger-pointing within the lab over the shipment. In an email dated July 17, 2019, a union representative demanded her colleagues attend if supervisors started questioning employees who work in the specimen shipping-and-receiving area.

"Any processes our members performed at the request of Qiu or Cheng were done as per the standard operating procedures, and with the understanding that what was received or shipped was recorded in the transport documentation," the emails read.

"There was no requirement to examine or verify the identity of these specimens shipped or received," she wrote, asking that the union be made aware if shipping staff are questioned about "any duplicity by Qiu or Cheng."

Two weeks later, the Free Press reported that the samples were sent without a material transfer agreement, which the federal agency confirmed, but later said officials determined that documentation on biosafety and the transport of dangerous goods was sufficient.

Yet a March 2021 briefing binder shows the agency now requires such material transfer agreements.

"As of early 2020, for clarity to employees and safeguards for our science, (they) are required for all sharing or receiving of biological materials with other research organizations," reads notes prepared for a parliamentary committee.

That was the result of "strengthening policies and processes that allow for appropriate scientific collaboration, while adhering to established security controls," the note says.

The federal agency says it fired Qiu and Cheng in January 2021 over what it vaguely referred to as an "administrative matter" involving "possible policy breaches."

However, Ottawa has recently started to say the incident involved national security.

The Globe and Mail has reported that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service urged the lab to revoke the couples security clearances, specifically due to the Wuhan shipment.

The government has been reluctant to discuss the matter. Thats created an information vacuum where the Wuhan shipments have been linked to unsubstantiated theories that the Chinese lab created or accidentally leaked the virus that causes COVID-19.

On Monday, the House of Commons law clerk notified Parliament the Trudeau government has refused to comply with an order to provide all uncensored records to the Speaker, so an independent officer could redact sensitive information instead of the department.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  Manitoba's three grand chiefs say they're disappointed in the Pallister government's response to a national reckoning around residential-school burial sites, with other Prairie premiers promising more specific action.

OTTAWA  Manitoba's three grand chiefs say they're disappointed in the Pallister government's response to a national reckoning around residential-school burial sites, with other Prairie premiers promising more specific action.

"Almost all these individuals, on the provincial level, have my cellphone number; they're more than free to text me. But no one has made an effort to do so," said Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas.

He said the assembly's women's council is trying to book a meeting with provincial officials.

"It sort of speaks truth to the issue of the disconnect that exists between these institutions and how they are incapable of working with us in a meaningful way," Dumas said Wednesday.

Premier Brian Pallister chalked that criticism up to politics.

On June 1, provincial Indigenous and Northern Relations Minister Eileen Clarke wrote to 117 Indigenous leaders, promising that Manitoba would work with Indigenous groups and Ottawa on "researching graves of missing children."

Almost all these individuals, on the provincial level, have my cellphone number; they're more than free to text me. But no one has made an effort to do so  Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs

The letter was sent to every band council in the province, as well as prominent outreach centres and foster-care agencies.

A day prior, the other two Prairie provinces made more specific pledges.

"I am announcing the Alberta governments intention to fund research into the undocumented deaths and burials of hundreds of Indigenous children who did not make their way home," Alberta Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson wrote on May 31.

That same day, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said research is need on possible burial sites "including radar ground search. Saskatchewan is prepared to support this work through the Ministry of First Nations, Metis and Northern Affairs."

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Premier Brian Pallister.

Pallister did not explain when asked Wednesday why Manitoba isn't doing the same.

He instead said Dumas was trying to score political points as he seeks re-election.

"We actually have offered ongoing support, on an ongoing basis," the premier said, in response to questions from the Free Press.

"There is an AMC grand chief election on right now, (so) measure your need for a response based on the reality of that election campaign that is presently underway."

The NDP Opposition had similarly pressed Pallister last week to promise the same actions as Alberta and Saskatchewan; the premier instead said the former government didn't do enough for reconciliation.

There is an AMC grand chief election on right now, (so) measure your need for a response based on the reality of that election campaign that is presently underway.  Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak said the PC cabinet reached out a few days after 215 unmarked childrens graves in Kamloops, B.C., came to light, and discussed the implications in Manitoba of burial sites.

The organization is hoping the province will soon outline specific ways it can help.

SARAH LAWRYNUIK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Northern Grand Chief Garrison Settee: This is just the beginning of the conversation; we need to continue to talk."

"This is just the beginning of the conversation; we need to continue to talk," said northern Grand Chief Garrison Settee.

The Southern Chiefs Organization says it wants the province to join those declaring the actions of residential schools to be a genocide, arguing that this will help communities heal.

The organization said it isn't aware of any promised actions, but did appreciate the PCs offering condolences shortly after the news broke in Kamloops.

"I don't think we've heard much more than that from the provincial government."

Local MP to have Commons vote on genocide label OTTAWA  Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan will ask her fellow 337 MPs on Thursday to unanimously declare that residential schools committed genocide. "It's time that this government acknowledges the truth, that Canada and churches perpetrated genocide on Indigenous peoples, specifically children, Gazan told reporters. "If we are going to move forward, this truth needs to be told." click to read more OTTAWA  Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan will ask her fellow 337 MPs on Thursday to unanimously declare that residential schools committed genocide. "It's time that this government acknowledges the truth, that Canada and churches perpetrated genocide on Indigenous peoples, specifically children, Gazan told reporters. "If we are going to move forward, this truth needs to be told." Around 2 p.m. on Thursday, she will seek unanimous consent from the House of Commons to recognize that what happened at Indian Residential Schools was an act of genocide, under the United Nations Genocide Convention. Gazan cited clauses in the convention that include causing serious bodily or mental harm to an identifiable group and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. She said the term cultural genocide used by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission does not exist in international law. Advocates have said formally recognizing a genocide would help families feel understood. Yet scholars debate what tangible impact such a designation would have under international law, or whether it would help global organizations to push Canada for policy changes. If the motion fails, there will be limited opportunities for the NDP to ask for debate and vote on a similar motion before the looming summer recess.  Dylan Robertson Close

Ottawa has reallocated a previously announced $27-million fund for commemorating residential schools to allow bands to do archaeological searches. But many don't understand how to apply for funds, while volunteers and corporations are offering to do this work free.

Researchers have urged the Trudeau government to implement standards for burial-ground searches, to prevent potential criminal evidence from being altered, though the Liberals have only said they're open to such an idea.

"There is no response to the things that were demanding," Settee said.

"There is a lot of investigation that need to be done; theres nothing thats happening right now to help us move forward."

Chiefs also said Wednesday they need more federal funding for support programs for residential school survivors, which former Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Murray Sinclair says is severely lacking.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Public health officials have informed colleges and universities their best projection is that life in Manitoba will be near normal after Labour Day with few, if any, restrictions  a promising sign there could be a robust return to in-class learning on campus this fall.

Public health officials have informed colleges and universities their best projection is that life in Manitoba will be "near normal" after Labour Day with few, if any, restrictions  a promising sign there could be a robust return to in-class learning on campus this fall.

On Tuesday, infectious disease experts, representatives from the advanced education department, and school presidents met virtually to discuss reopening higher education during the pandemic.

Dr. Jazz Atwal, deputy chief public health officer, spoke about what is most likely to be the situation in the province during the back-to-school season and addressed planning questions.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Dr. Jazz Atwal, deputy chief provincial public health officer.

"They told us that the most likely scenario for fall is that essentially restrictions will go away and we will be in a near-normal state. So, we are trying to plan for that," said James Currie, interim president and vice-chancellor at the University of Winnipeg. "There's obviously uncertainty, but we are hoping that we will be face to face."

Currie said school leaders were informed that true vaccine escape  meaning the evolution of virus variants renders vaccines less effective  is "extremely unlikely" and the main challenge is boosting vaccine uptake.

When answering questions about public health protocols on campus, Atwal suggested there may be no restrictions, Currie said, noting the doctor indicated if there are capacity limits on classes, they could be 80 per cent or higher.

On the subject of mandatory vaccines, the interim president said challenges with privacy concerns and charter rights were raised at the meeting.

They told us that the most likely scenario for fall is that essentially restrictions will go away and we will be in a near-normal state. So, we are trying to plan for that.  James Currie, interim president and vice-chancellor at the University of Winnipeg

In an email sent to staff Wednesday, Currie wrote that it is both reasonable and necessary to plan for a return with the removal of social distancing, mandatory mask-wearing and other restrictions.

A mix of remote and in-class learning is still expected at University of Winnipeg to some degree, as it is on other campuses; that ratio will depend on the institution.

Red River Colleges blended model will be adjusted to expand services, supports and activities on campus based on public health directives. The blended delivery of its programs for the fall will remain unchanged.

Brandon University will only hold classes on campus if there are fewer than 25 attendees.

"Every student would love to be back in-person in September, but this announcement was made two months ago," said Brendan Scott, president of the U of Ms students union, noting the school requires time to plan.

Scott said the student union is hopeful it will be able to run events on campus around Thanksgiving, even if students are still mainly learning at home, so students can start to readjust to lively campus life.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS James Currie, interim president of the University of Winnipeg: There's obviously uncertainty, but we are hoping that we will be face to face.

There are mixed feelings among educators at the U of W when it comes to a robust fall return, said Peter Miller, president of the schools faculty association. Some are "chomping at the bit"  Miller included  to get back onto campus, while others have serious safety concerns, he said, adding no faculty member will be forced to return.

Approximately half of the courses in the classics department, which Miller chairs, are expected to be in-person.

While the potential of a full return may seem "mind-blowing" amid this devastating third wave, a lot can change in three months, said Currie.

During the Tuesday meeting, Atwal was joined by Dr. Joss Reimer, who has been overseeing the vaccine rollout, Dr. Marcia Anderson of the First Nations Pandemic Response Co-ordination Team, and Dr. Pierre Plourde, medical officer of health with Winnipegs health authority.

Conversations about reopening plans are ongoing between the department, public health and post-secondary leaders.

Institutions are making preparations to resume in-class activity, but ultimately, a full or partial return to in-class learning will be based on public health recommendations, said Wayne Ewasko, minister of advanced education, who attended the meeting, in a statement Wednesday.

Ewasko added, "We are actively encouraging all students, faculty, and post-secondary staff to get vaccinated, in order for everyone to return safely back to the classroom."

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
WINNIPEGS mayor is urging the province to reveal exactly how personal health information tied to its new immunization cards will be used and who will be able to access it.

WINNIPEGS mayor is urging the province to reveal exactly how personal health information tied to its new immunization cards will be used and who will be able to access it.

Mayor Brian Bowman, a non-practising privacy lawyer, said Manitobas announcement Tuesday about the creation and future distribution of immunity certificates left many questions unanswered.

"Any time you collect, use or disclose personal health information, it should be limited to specified purposes only. And the lack of clarity about what the vaccine passport can or should be used for, and what it should or should not be used for by governments, not-for-profits or (the) private sector, is one of those basic due diligence steps you would have expected to be disclosed," Bowman said Wednesday.

"Getting the passport itself (requires) personal health information. You can only get the passport if youve had your two (COVID-19 vaccine) shots."

The mayor said he doesnt oppose the immunization card itself, as long as the province is diligent to protect privacy. He said measures to do so should incorporate input from the Manitoba ombudsman, a provincial authority on privacy, while the card should also have a clear expiry date.

Bowman added hes concerned the program risks creating negative side-effects. Since the cards qualify Manitobans for specific privileges, not having one could lead those who arent vaccinated to be denied services, he said.

Such an effect could be magnified if companies, and not just government, are permitted to require the cards as proof of immunization, he said.

"The risk, of course, is unintended consequences, if you dont structure a program like this properly."

For now, the cards exempt fully vaccinated Manitobans from having to quarantine after they travel between provinces, and will qualify them to visit fully vaccinated loved ones in hospital.

Information is lacking on what other privileges could be linked to the card in the future and whether any options have been ruled out, Bowman said. "It would serve everybody to know what it can and cannot be used for, just so that folks know what the ground rules are."

When asked to respond to the mayors comments, a provincial spokesperson said Premier Brian Pallisters Tuesday news conference addressed the issue.

At that time, the premier stressed the only personal information linked to the immunization card is a persons full name and vaccination status.

The premier also said the cards are meant to be temporary. He did not comment on who could access the information, if details could be shared beyond government officials nor what specific privacy protections are in place.

In a brief emailed statement, a provincial spokesperson stressed such information is carefully controlled.

"With regards to any privacy concerns, the mayor and all Manitobans can rest assured that the same stringent rules which already govern personal health information will apply with respect to the Manitoba immunization card," the statement said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
The Pallister government has contracted out work to a private developer in a second provincial park, angering the union for conservation officers and environmental groups, who demand an end to the privatization of public assets.

The Pallister government has contracted out work to a private developer in a second provincial park, angering the union for conservation officers and environmental groups, who demand an end to the privatization of public assets.

Manitoba Parks has signed an agreement to allow Turtle Mountain Adventure Huts Ltd., to construct up to three non-serviced cabins near Adam Lake, as part of a five-year pilot project. The request for proposals was issued in February and, after the project is evaluated, a longer lease could be signed.

"It's privatizing a provincial park," said Eric Reder of the Manitoba chapter of the Wilderness Committee.

"If you want to run new cabins, you could buy land outside of the park and build it there. These parks have already been paid for by taxpayers' money and now we're giving them back to private investors."

The news comes days after the Free Press reported the campground at St. Ambroise Beach Provincial Park, on Lake Manitoba, is being operated, under a 21-year lease, by a private businessman who is also responsible for looking after the beach.

"We have money for all sorts of things. If you ask Manitobans should they pay Mr. Pallister's salary or renovate a campground, I know what Manitobans would say."  Eric Reder

Reder said no one would consider privatizing schools to principals or privatizing emergency rooms.

"We have money for all sorts of things," he said. "If you ask Manitobans should they pay Mr. Pallister's salary or renovate a campground, I know what Manitobans would say."

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Eric Reder of the Manitoba chapter of the Wilderness Committee.

A provincial spokesman said the pilot project was undertaken because the park has no commercial places for anyone to stay and there is little accommodation in the area.

"Manitoba is continuing to encourage new and unique methods to address provincial park visitor needs and expectations while minimizing service demands on existing park infrastructure," said the spokesman.

"It is hoped that this commercial option will address much of the oversubscribed interest in the James Lake Cabin"

Ron Thiessen, executive director of the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, pointed out the project is not allowed under provincial rules that govern parks.

"A privately owned cabin rental operation conflicts with Turtle Mountain's park management plan, which makes it clear these types of accommodations should be located outside the park."  Ron Thiessen

"A privately owned cabin rental operation conflicts with Turtle Mountain's park management plan, which makes it clear these types of accommodations should be located outside the park," said Thiessen.

"What we need are affordable, low-impact facilities within our parks that uphold the health of the environment and are accessible to all."

Michelle Gawronsky, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union, said a recent survey it conducted found a large number of Manitobans  71 per cent  oppose transferring management of parks to the private sector. Eighty-five per cent support the province creating new parks.

"They should not be privatized in any way," said Gawronsky, whose union represents conservation officers who work in the parks.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Ron Thiessen, executive director of the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

"We are proud of these parks and Manitobans want the government to invest in these parks."

Meanwhile, during questioning on Wednesday, Premier Brian Pallister denied a private businessman had signed a lease for both the campground and beach at St. Ambroise Provincial Park.

"Mr. Pallister can play all the word gymnastics that he wants, but at the end of the day his government is making park access more expensive."  NDP leader Wab Kinew

"There wasn't a lease on the beach at St. Ambroise," said Pallister.

"In fact, after the flood effects, that beach was in disrepair for close to a decade. The contract was with a gentleman, a local gentleman, to open a campground and he can charge people to use that campground if he wishes. It is an additional service that hasn't been there for over a decade.

"The previous government didn't repair the beach or the campground area at all and so this is a measure that we've taken to restore services to an area that is beautiful. I would encourage Manitobans to use it and they will be able to use it with their park passes."

Pallister's reference was to handwritten signs erected at the beach last weekend that demanded visitors pay the private businessman, Sterling Ducharme, a $10 daily fee, or $50 seasonal fee, to access the public beach. People were told their annual provincial park passes weren't valid.

On Monday, a spokesman for Conservation and Climate Minister Sarah Guillemard called it "some recent misinformation" and "confusion" about the park passes and insisted they are valid at the park.

But Manitoba Park's own website for the park said on Monday that "provincial park vehicle permits are not required" and users would have to contact the private businessman for information about park entrance fees.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Michelle Gawronsky, MGEU President.

Pallister government accused of privatizing provincial park Click to Expand RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Local - St. Ambroise Beach Photo of sign when you arrive at the beach with provincial park lettering blacked out. For Kevin Rollason's story on how the province is selling or leasing out Manitoba parks. June 07, 2021 Posted: 7:00 PM Jun. 7, 2021 Premier Brian Pallister's government may have told Manitobans it would never sell provincial parks  but it didn't say they wouldn't be leased. Until Monday, Manitobans who went to St. Ambroise Beach Provincial Park were told their provincial park passes were invalid after a 21-year lease was awarded to Manitoba businessman Sterling Ducharme in January to operate the 46-hectare of Crown land. Read Full Story

After the Free Press reported on the fee issue, the website was changed to say "valid Manitoba park vehicle permits can be used to access St. Ambroise Beach Provincial Park. Alternatively, an exclusive day or St. Ambroise Beach seasonal pass is available at Surfside resort."

The service agreement signed between the province and Ducharme states he has the responsibility to "remove chairs, towels, personal items, life-jackets, floatation devices, toys and other swimming or recreational products from (the) shoreline and water daily after use."

On Wednesday, the minister's spokesman insisted the partnership at St. Ambroise is no different than a couple of other long-standing agreements at other parks "allowing them to charge camping fees, at many other Manitoba provincial parks, while the NDP was in government.

"At least two of those agreements with independent operators, at the Overflowing River and Margaret Bruce parks, were established under the NDP in 2000 and 2012 respectively."

"Our government is figuratively and literally cleaning up the mess the NDP left behind and we will absolutely not take lessons from them."

NDP Leader Wab Kinew reiterated his party is opposed to the campground lease at St. Ambroise.

"Mr. Pallister can play all the word gymnastics that he wants, but at the end of the day his government is making park access more expensive," said Kinew.

"They're doing de facto privatization because of additional fees that are going to private hands. That's not the right approach. Let's keep our public parks public."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Thirty Manitoba COVID-19 patients are still receiving intensive care out of province as health officials look for ways to increase local ICU capacity.

Thirty Manitoba COVID-19 patients are still receiving intensive care out of province as health officials look for ways to increase local ICU capacity.

As of Wednesday morning, 151 Manitobans were in ICUs, both in Manitoba and in neighbouring provinces, including 67 COVID-19 patients in Manitoba ICUs. Before the pandemic, Manitoba had 72 ICU beds. In the second wave, ICUs scaled up to 121 beds.

A total of four patients have died after being transferred to Ontario. On Wednesday, Shared Health chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa reported the deaths of a man in his 70s and a woman in her 60s. They were both transferred on May 25. Last week, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 50s also died in Ontario ICUs. A fifth Manitoban, a woman in her 30s, died in Manitoba after an attempted transport.

No Manitoba patients have been transferred out of province since June 4, but those transfers are expected to continue. Apart from COVID-19 patients, Manitoba is sending patients to other provinces for surgery. Two heart patients were transferred out last week; one to Ontario and one to Quebec.

"Our goal remains to create as much capacity locally to care for all those who need our care in ICU, however, we anticipate that the support of other provinces will remain an important resource for us in the coming weeks," Siragusa said during a news conference Wednesday.

As part of federal help expected to come to Manitoba, 14 more nurses have been brought in to emergency rooms, medicine and surgery units, Siragusa said. More recovering COVID-19 patients are being monitored virtually at home, and hundreds of patients have been transferred from hospitals to personal care homes to free up space. Since April 20, 418 hospital patients who were suitable for personal-care homes have been moved.

As of Monday, there were 43 COVID patients recovering at home through the virtual monitoring program, 31 of them on oxygen, Siragusa said.

Patients are also being transferred to hospitals within Manitoba where space and trained staff are available.

Siragusa said Manitoba needs to hire more nurses and "be very intentional" about recruitment, retention and training. She suggested they could "cross-train" nurses to work in different areas.

"It's a complex undertaking, but there are definitely lots of conversations and calculations going on right now in order to build that capacity for the future," Siragusa said. "We're talking months. There's going to be short-, there's going to be medium- and long-term initiatives."

Long-term COVID-19 patients will need more rehabilitation, and that will have to be a part of hospital capacity planning, Siragusa said in response to a reporter's questions.

In a statement, NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara called on the province to hire more nurses.

"Our ICUs have been at a critical state for weeks, and while more nurses working in emergency rooms and surgery wards is a positive step forward, in ICUs the province seems to be content with sending patients out of province for care. We need to boost investments in critical care wards  hire and recruit more ICU nurses now and add back the beds this government cut.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
At least 11 people were killed and seven injured when a building collapsed after heavy monsoon rains in Mumbai, India.

The Vegas Golden Knights can become the fourth team to advance to the Stanley Cup semifinals with a home win over the Colorado Avalanche tonight. The Knights lead the series 3-2.

The man accused of running down and killing four members of a Muslim family in London, Ont., is set to appear in court this morning. The Manitoba Islamic Association will hold a drive-in vigil tonight to honour the victims.
IF the provincial government wants to sharpen the focus on its changes to education, it should return to teachers the right to strike.

Opinion

IF the provincial government wants to sharpen the focus on its changes to education, it should return to teachers the right to strike.

While that suggestion sends chills down the spines of politicians, parents and teachers, it would bring a jolt of reality to the current debate on changes to the education system.

Public school teachers gave up the right to strike in 1956. In exchange, the government agreed disputes would be settled by independent arbitration panels. The system has benefited both sides. Teachers are paid fairly for the work they do, and no schools have lost a single day of instruction because of a strike.

On the other hand, strikes and near-strikes are often settled through increases in non-salary benefits, something teachers have not enjoyed.

Unlike most other unionized and many non-unionized workers, they fund their own employee assistance and disability programs, they dont get paid overtime and are not compensated (except minimally, in some cases) for extracurricular work. For more than 100 years, two months vacation in the summer has been the unstated compensation.

A handful of government administrations have not liked the arbitration system, because they havent been able to dictate how and how much teachers are compensated.

The current government is Exhibit A.

In its bundle of education "modernization" plans is a backdoor attack on the arbitration system. In two separate bills, it mandates that arbitration panels must take into account the governments "ability to pay" when determining settlements. In other words, it wants independent arbitrators to settle on what the government is willing to pay, not what is fair. It doesnt like the fact union staff build such persuasive arguments in front of arbitration panels. It wants to put its thumb on the scale.

Its not a new tactic. It has been tried before, without success because some arbitration panels ignored government wishes. Now, however, the government will soon be directly involved in teacher negotiations, as they will be handled provincially rather than division by division.

Its a point at which morality and politics diverge. If it wants to destroy a 65-year-old agreement, fine  up the stakes by letting teachers withhold their services. Anyone who has faced a strike vote or gone on strike knows the process brings a whole new perspective to issues.

That goes for the other side, too.

The teachers union, The Manitoba Teachers Society, has been in high dudgeon over changes the province plans to make in education, including its chipping away of the independent arbitration system. The union seems to be now opposed to everything the government is doing, using the threadbare argument to "keep politics out of the classroom."

Spoiler alert: we elect governments to make changes, whether we like them or not. Its their job.

Opposition forces can continue raving, because there are no real consequences.

The government will ignore the union, more so now that it has joined the Manitoba Federation of Labour, generally thought of as the provisional arm of the NDP. It has removed the fig leaf of "non-partisanship" it has so often claimed. Keep politics in the classroom!

At the beginning of the pandemic, the union had a tenuous working relationship with the government on COVID-19 safety and operations of schools, but the MFL alliance was likely the final kiss goodbye on both sides.

So be it. But how much different might have been the latest arguments, had the prospect of a teachers strike perhaps moderated the discussion. Maybe both sides would think about the possible, eventual consequences of their actions.

The government might consider that both its underhanded and obvious intentions might anger a lot of teachers who care both about education and their compensation. The union might be less inclined to try to rile up members on every issue, big and small, if it ended with members rejecting any settlement with the government.

The union sometimes talks of "going nuclear" over government policy, apparently forgetting it disarmed in 1956. If members had the right to withhold services, it would hopefully give leadership pause to focus on whats important to those members. Its easy to yell and scream; its not so easy to walk a picket line.

Of course, no government, of any stripe, will ever return the right to strike to teachers. Nobody wants to bring back lawn darts, either.

And now, both sides should get a grip.

Even without that cliff edge in front of it, the government should not tamper with the detente that has existed in bargaining for decades. If thats a problem, let them strike. And the union could focus its opposition on issues that matter. Currently, it is opposed to the whole of Bill 64, the education modernization legislation, presumably even those parts that promise action on recommendations made by the union itself.

Its like the old joke about complaining that the food in a restaurant is not any good  and the portions are so small, too.

George Stephenson is a Winnipeg writer.
We were strolling the Danube promenade in Budapest when we came upon them. The day had been a lovely one  warm temperatures, a slight breeze off the river, fluffy clouds playing hide-and-seek with the late afternoon sun. We were alone on our saunter until, some 20 metres ahead of us, we saw a number of people who had gathered in small groups looking down on what appeared to be a long row of cast iron shoes placed on the concrete embankment level to and adjacent to the walkway.

Opinion

We were strolling the Danube promenade in Budapest when we came upon them. The day had been a lovely one  warm temperatures, a slight breeze off the river, fluffy clouds playing hide-and-seek with the late afternoon sun. We were alone on our saunter until, some 20 metres ahead of us, we saw a number of people who had gathered in small groups looking down on what appeared to be a long row of cast iron shoes placed on the concrete embankment level to and adjacent to the walkway.

Some were placing flowers there. Others, heads bowed, hands covering their mouths, appeared transfixed and lost in thought. When we came upon the memorial, we were stunned into disbelief. The memorial plaque read: "To the memory of victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-45."

The Hungarian Arrow Cross fascist government, dutiful henchmen of the German Nazis and equally reprehensible, would line up Jewish children, women and men on the embankment, shoot them and watch gleefully as they fell into the river. The images, especially of the childrens shoes, beggared belief, but beyond that it was a public acknowledgment by Hungarians of what their own government had done to their fellow citizens.

How remarkable that the dozens of heart-wrenching memorials which have spontaneously appeared on the steps of legislatures and churches across the country, most consisting of 215 pairs of childrens shoes, would remind us of that horror we encountered in Budapest. There are few damning words that have not already been spoken and written about the monstrous tragedy of discovering the unmarked graves of more than 200 children at the Kamloops residential school. Children lost in the loneliness of dying alone, their bodies disposed of, literally covered up like so much awkward chattel, their parents left to grieve in the never-ending wallow of uncertainty and loss.

The complicity of a racist government hell-bent on solving "the Indian problem by taking the Indian out of the child," and the supposedly "Christian" church communities only too willing to do the governments bidding, represent one of the darkest and most shameful periods of the disgraceful relationship Indigenous people have been forced to endure by their "founders."

One of the many calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which this federal government has ignored for the past six years (as in, "we remain in consultation with Indigenous communities on the best way forward"), is to provide the means and resources to uncover other mass graves of children on the properties of the 132-plus residential schools across the country. Now that the federal government has been embarrassed into fulfilling that resource commitment, that promise must be monitored.

We cannot allow that promise to be buried along with the countless dozens of Indigenous children. Without claiming that its investigation was exhaustive, the TRC has estimated that more than 4,100 children died in the custody of their keepers.

Canadians are not that naive about their politics. We all know that one of the most effective ways of shunting a disturbing issue off the front pages of the media is to establish a royal commission or a committee of notables "to examine the issues and present recommendations." These issues are often like meteorites, blazing across the midnight sky until they disappear from sight and mind into another hidden corner of the universe. On the issue of these dead but not forgotten children, these shooting stars continue to blaze, and until the media relegates the ongoing story to the back pages, now is the opportunity to magnify the blaze.

It is time to demand that the federal government provide all the necessary resources to leave no stone, no weed-filled back lot, no paved subdivision, no mall unturned until Canada can account for the location of every unmarked, covered-up residential school cemetery in the country and the children who lie there. Can we abide countless Tombs of the Unknown Child? Can we do any less? Commitments made must be promises kept.

It is no longer enough for Canadians to lament and proffer the lame excuse, "This was not me; I did not do this. It was done more than 50 years ago." There is no such thing as a Canadian without history. Ancestral or not, we all bear the responsibility and the burden of this shame. Accountability is collective.

When then-national chief Phil Fontaine fought for and secured the formal apology of the federal government for its role in the residential-schools debacle and set in motion the structure of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 13 years ago, there was no turning our collective backs on these dishonourable and lethal chapters of our history.

Canada and Canadian church communities, with one glaring exception, have formally apologized for the incarceration of these innocents. Perhaps the government of the Vatican can now summon the decency and courage to do the same. These children cry out for accountability and the justice denied them during their short lives. We cannot heal, we cannot reconcile, until their pain moves us to action.

Beverly Sabourin retired as the vice-provost of Indigenous initiatives at Lakehead University, and is a member of the Pic Mobert Ojibwe. Peter Globensky is a former senior policy adviser on Indigenous affairs in the Office of the Prime Minister. They invite your comments at basa1@shaw.ca
The European Commission recently published a proposal for a regulation on artificial intelligence (AI). This is the first document of its kind to attempt to tame the multi-tentacled beast that is artificial intelligence.

Opinion

The European Commission recently published a proposal for a regulation on artificial intelligence (AI). This is the first document of its kind to attempt to tame the multi-tentacled beast that is artificial intelligence.

"The sun is starting to set on the Wild West days of artificial intelligence," writes Jeremy Kahn. He may have a point.

When this regulation comes into effect, it will change the way that we conduct AI research and development. In the last few years of AI, there were few rules or regulations: if you could think it, you could build it. That is no longer the case, at least in the European Union.

There is, however, a notable exception in the regulation, which is that is does not apply to international organizations such as the United Nations.

Naturally, the European Union does not have jurisdiction over the United Nations, which is governed by international law. The exclusion therefore does not come as a surprise, but does point to a gap in AI regulation. The United Nations therefore needs its own regulation for artificial intelligence, and urgently so.

AI in the United Nations

Artificial intelligence technologies have been used increasingly by the United Nations. Several research and development labs, including the Global Pulse Lab, the Jetson initiative by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees , UNICEFs Innovation Labs and the Centre for Humanitarian Data have focused their work on developing artificial intelligence solutions that would support the UNs mission, notably in terms of anticipating and responding to humanitarian crises.

United Nations agencies have also used biometric identification to manage humanitarian logistics and refugee claims. The UNHCR developed a biometrics database which contained the information of 7.1 million refugees. The World Food Program has also used biometric identification in aid distribution to refugees, coming under some criticism in 2019 for its use of this technology in Yemen.

In parallel, the United Nations has partnered with private companies that provide analytical services. A notable example is the World Food Programme, which in 2019 signed a contract worth US$45 million with Palantir, an American firm specializing in data collection and artificial intelligence modelling.

No oversight, regulation

In 2014, the United States Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded a US$20 billion-dollar contract to Palantir to track undocumented immigrants in the U.S., especially family members of children who had crossed the border alone. Several human rights watchdogs, including Amnesty International, have raised concerns about Palantir for human rights violations.

Like most AI initiatives developed in recent years, this work has happened largely without regulatory oversight. There have been many attempts to set up ethical modes of operation, such as the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs Peer Review Framework, which sets out a method for overseeing the technical development and implementation of AI models.

In the absence of regulation, however, tools such as these, without legal backing, are merely best practices with no means of enforcement.

In the European Commissions AI regulation proposal, developers of high-risk systems must go through an authorization process before going to market, just like a new drug or car. They are required to put together a detailed package before the AI is available for use, involving a description of the models and data used, along with an explanation of how accuracy, privacy and discriminatory impacts will be addressed.

The AI applications in question include biometric identification, categorization and evaluation of the eligibility of people for public assistance benefits and services. They may also be used to dispatch of emergency first response services  all of these are current uses of AI by the United Nations.

Building trust

Conversely, the lack of regulation at the United Nations can be considered a challenge for agencies seeking to adopt more effective and novel technologies. As such, many systems seem to have been developed and later abandoned without being integrated into actual decision-making systems.

An example of this is the Jetson tool, which was developed by UNHCR to predict the arrival of internally displaced persons to refugee camps in Somalia. The tool does not appear to have been updated since 2019, and seems unlikely to transition into the humanitarian organizations operations. Unless, that is, it can be properly certified by a new regulatory system.

Trust in AI is difficult to obtain, particularly in United Nations work, which is highly political and affects very vulnerable populations. The onus has largely been on data scientists to develop the credibility of their tools.

A regulatory framework like the one proposed by the European Commission would take the pressure off data scientists in the humanitarian sector to individually justify their activities. Instead, agencies or research labs who wanted to develop an AI solution would work within a regulated system with built-in accountability. This would produce more effective, safer and more just applications and uses of AI technology.

Eleonore Fournier-Tombs is an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa and a senior consultant to the World Bank and McGill University.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP)  The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli troops shot and killed two security officers during clashes in the town of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Thursday.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP)  The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli troops shot and killed two security officers during clashes in the town of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Thursday.

Online video appears to show Palestinian officers taking cover behind a vehicle as gunshots are heard in the background. One shouts that they are exchanging fire with Israeli "undercover" forces.

The ministry said a third Palestinian was severely wounded in the shootout. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

A poster circulated on local media identified the two dead as members of the Palestinian Authoritys Military Intelligence force.

Israeli raids in autonomous West Bank areas administered by the Palestinian Authority are common, and they are usually meant to arrest wanted Palestinians. However, clashes with the Palestinian forces are rare as such operations are believed to be coordinated between the sides.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)  The man who shot and killed five people at a Maryland newspaper told a state psychiatrist he wanted to destroy a building Timothy McVeigh-style and that there was no defense for the crimes he committed, attorneys said during a court hearing Wednesday.

FILE - In this June 29, 2018, file photo, photos of five employees of the Capital Gazette newspaper adorn candles during a vigil across the street from where they were slain in the newsroom in Annapolis, Md. Jarrod Ramos, who killed the five told a state psychiatrist there is no defense for the crimes he committed and that he would kill more people if he were somehow acquitted, because he wanted to be incarcerated, attorneys said Wednesday, June 9, 2021 during a court hearing. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)  The man who shot and killed five people at a Maryland newspaper told a state psychiatrist he wanted to destroy a building "Timothy McVeigh-style" and that there was "no defense" for the crimes he committed, attorneys said during a court hearing Wednesday.

Attorneys said Jarrod Ramos spoke of thinking about destroying the Capital Gazette office during an interview with a state psychiatrist . He also talked about targeting the building where Maryland's two appellate courts are located.

Ramos also studied books on mass shootings and police response times, according to court testimony.

Lawyers for Ramos tried to persuade a judge to redact statements their client made to a state psychiatrist in a report that will be part of the second phase of his trial to determine whether he is criminally responsible for the June 2018 attack at the Capital Gazette due to his mental health. Ramos already has pleaded guilty but not criminally responsible due to insanity.

Matthew Connell, one of Ramos lawyers, argued that reports by expert witnesses in the case were "hearsay" and "prejudicial" and should not be admissible. Judge Michael Wachs ruled the reports were admissible, but he said some material in them would be redacted.

Dr. Sameer Patel, a psychiatrist with the state Health Department, interviewed Ramos after the shooting as part of a mental health evaluation and found him to be legally sane. The report has been under seal. Attorneys for Ramos have said experts on the defense team reached a different conclusion.

In addition to referring to McVeigh, whose fertilizer truck bomb ripped apart the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people, Ramos also mentioned the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead, and the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in suburban Denver that left 12 students and one teacher dead, the psychiatrist wrote in his report.

He wrote that Ramos also told him initially he didnt want a lawyer because "there is no defense for the crime I committed."

Ramos' attorney Katy O'Donnell argued that the references should be redacted from the record because they are prejudicial to her client. But Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Anne Leitess contended the references pointed to Ramos' thoughtful planning of the attack and indicated that he understood the criminality of his actions.

Wachs denied the request for redaction on those points.

The court has started preparing to select a jury in the high-profile case in Maryland's small state capital by summoning 300 people to the courthouse to fill out a questionnaire. Jury selection is set to begin June 23. Opening statements are scheduled to begin June 29, a day after the third anniversary of the attack.

Ramos, 41, had a well-documented history of harassing the newspapers journalists. He filed a lawsuit against the paper in 2012, alleging he was defamed in an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case in 2011. The defamation suit was dismissed as groundless, and Ramos railed against staff at the newspaper in profanity-laced tweets.

Ramos also was angry at the courts for dismissing his case. One of three letters he sent on the day of the shooting went to Maryland's Court of Special Appeals, the state's intermediate appellate court, addressed to retired Judge Charles Moylan Jr., who decided against Ramos in his defamation case.

Ramos pleaded guilty in October 2019 to all 23 counts against him for killing John McNamara, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, Rob Hiaasen and Rebecca Smith.

If Ramos were found not criminally responsible, he would be committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital instead of prison.

Under Maryland law, a defendant has the burden to show by a preponderance of the evidence that he is not criminally responsible for his actions. State law says a defendant is not criminally responsible for criminal conduct if, because of a mental disorder or developmental disabilities, he lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct.
The Wits Quantum Initiative launches at Wits

WitsQ will provide first a forum for quantum scientists in all fields across the continent to connect.

The Wits Quantum Initiative, WitsQ, has launched today with its brand new website as the first step in creating a forum for quantum scientists in all fields to connect.

WitsQ is a strategic initiative of the University to be a driver of quantum technologies, making Wits the leading quantum institute on the continent.

Led by Professor Andrew Forbes, from the Wits School of Physics, as Director, WitsQs vision is to strategically promote and advance Quantum Technology at Wits, with a focus on the research, innovation, business, education and outreach, and ethics of quantum technologies.

The aim is to create a collaborative forum that includes the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, health and business.

The Initiative will grow a vibrant and productive quantum community at Wits, engage with relevant national and international entities across sectors, and provide a forum for experts and non-experts to interact, says Forbes. The focus on Quantum technology is a strategic leg of Wits centenary celebrations and one of the fields Wits intends to use to launch South Africa  and Africa  into the new technology revolution.

South Africa and Africa have missed the rise of the electronic industry. Our focus on Quantum technology gives us the opportunity to leapfrog into the Quantum world and be a major player in the field, says Forbes, who co-authored the countrys Quantum Roadmap, which was approved by the Department of Science and Technology in March.

Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi  himself a nuclear physicist  sees Quantum technology as key player in both the economics and security of the country, and as a key research area for Wits.

The focus on Quantum technology is crucial in a whole range of aspects of South Africas future, whether it is water security, communication, banking and finance or in the military space, says Vilakazi. Our research focus in this area will set Wits apart as a research institution on the continent and make South Africa a key player in setting the pace for the application of Quantum technologies in the future.

Quantum mechanics is a theory that has been in existence for over a century, with the first quantum revolution giving birth to disruptive technologies such as the laser and the transistor, both at the very heart of our digital world. Despite being a venerable topic, quantum mechanics is experiencing a resurgence of late, spurring new technologies based on quantum entanglement, that spooky action at a distance so abhorred by Einstein. This has given rise to a second quantum revolution, promising new disruptive technologies.

By harnessing the quantum world, we open an exciting future that is developing before our eyes: seeing smaller, better and with less light for enhanced medical imaging (quantum ghost imaging), networks that are fundamentally secure and unbreakable taking cybersecurity beyond its man-made limitations (quantum secure communication) and exponentially faster computers (quantum computing) to solve assumed unsolvable problems, from finance to drug design, says Forbes.

Quantum technologies are closely integrated with artificial intelligence and machine learning, and considered a core security component of devices that will fuel the fourth industrial revolution. WitsQ sees the university as the main driver of South Africas Quantum Technology Initiative (SA QuTI), launched in March 2021 to move South Africa into the quantum future.

The WitsQ website can be found here.
Wits neuropsychologist awarded prestigious global scholarship

Dr Sahba Besharati in the Department of Psychology is one of just 19 CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars, a programme that supports early-career researchers.

CIFAR (pronounced see-far) is the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, established some 40 years ago at the University of Toronto, Canada.

The CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars programme supports outstanding early-career researchers through mentorship, a global network, professional skills development, and $100,000 in unrestricted research support for two years. The Azrieli Foundation funds the scholarship.

The scholars join CIFAR Research programmes for two years, collaborating with fellows and contributing new approaches toward the most important questions facing science and humanity.

Besharati joins the 2021-2023 cohort of leading early-career researchers from joining six research programmes. She is one of three researchers awarded the scholarship in the Brain, Mind & Consciousness programme.

My research addresses the question of how we become aware of ourselves and others in the world, and how our environment influences this construction of the self, she says.

Besharati is a neuropsychologist and Senior Lecturer in cognitive neuroscience in the Department of Psychology, School of Human and Community Development at Wits. She completed a collaborative PhD in neuropsychology at Kings College London and the University of Cape Town, having previously trained in psychological research and clinical neuropsychology.

Besharatis research specialises in the area of human social  cognitive  affective neuroscience. Her research integrates neuroimaging, neuropsychological and experimental methods to investigate self-consciousness, and social cognition.

Besharatis fellow global scholars in the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars Brain, Mind & Consciousness programme include Michael Cohen of Amherst College, USA, whose research focuses on understanding the limits of visual perception, memory, and awareness, and Adeel Razi, from Monash University, Australia, whose cross-disciplinary approach combines engineering, physics, and machine learning to answer questions in neurobiology.

This years diverse cohort of scholars was chosen from more than 300 qualified applicants. The 19 CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars represent eight countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, China, France, the UK, the USA, and South Africa.

Nine of the researchers identify as women, and 10 identify as men. The scholars will contribute to six CIFAR research programmes:
UTICA, N.Y.  As part of the effort to revitalize downtown Utica, the state office building has had many updates over the past five years, and on Wednesday, new sidewalks was added to the list.

RoAnn Destito, commissioner of the New York State Office of General Services, was at a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday morning to celebrate the improvements.

Building upon the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award Gov. Cuomo announced last month, OGS has made significant investments in our building in downtown Utica, making it a more secure, energy-efficient, and attractive place for our tenants and the public, Commissioner Destito said. We are grateful to Mayor Palmieri and our local partners in City Hall for contributing to this effort by installing beautiful new sidewalks in Utica, including in front of the state office building.

Other improvements made to the building include new waterproofing and drainage systems, energy code-compliant insulation, a reinforced concrete deck, new pavers, LED lighting, benches, planters, and outdoor furniture.

About 1,100 new energy-efficient, insulated windows were also installed using DRI funding.
SYRACUSE, N.Y.  Southwest Airlines will begin offering daily flights out of Syracuse Hancock International Airport this November.

Thats good news for people looking to book direct flights to Orlando or Baltimore/Washington. There will also be service to more than 50 cities through connecting flights from the Baltimore airport.

Southwest will initially offer three daily flights to Baltimore/Washington starting Nov. 14, and weekly Saturday flights to Orlando beginning Nov. 20.

We are beyond thrilled to welcome Southwest Airlines as they launch their first ever daily service here at SYR, said SYR Executive Director, Jason Terreri. This is such a win for our community who have been telling us for years that they want Southwest at SYR. With this new nonstop service, our community will have access to more than 40 destinations within the Southwest network. This announcement is the culmination of a multi-year effort by the airport and the Central New York Community to bring some LUV to the region and I look forward to our partnership."

Southwest plans to use Boeing 737 aircraft on the new routes from Syracuse.
COLESVILLE, N.Y.  New York State Police located and arrested a Broome County man who allegedly shot a trooper Wednesday evening and the trooper has now been released from the hospital

Around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a call to check the welfare of an individual at a home on East Windsor Road. Thats when police say 34-year-old Jason D. Johnson shot Trooper Becky Seager in the hip area. She was taken to the hospital for treatment, non life-threatening and was released to a swarm of troopers that to support her.

Johnson evaded police for nearly 20 hours, but was found and taken into custody in Colesville just after 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at a river bank off of a roadway.
UTICA, N.Y.  Utica police arrested a man accused of attempted murder during a traffic stop on Sunset Avenue Wednesday.

According to Utica Police Department, officers stopped a car with illegal temporary Texas license plates on Sunset near Court Street.

During the traffic stop, police say the passenger in the vehicle gave a fake name to the first officer. When another officer walked over to the vehicle, he recognized the man as 33-year-old Travis Eddington, who currently lives in Utica but is wanted on two warrants out of New York City for attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

Eddington was arrested and the driver of the vehicle was issued several tickets for traffic violations.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, INd. (WLFI)The national eviction moratorium is coming to a close in three weeks. President Biden extended the moratorium in March. It protects tenants who are financially struggling during the pandemic.

June 30th will put the cap on the CDC's eviction moratorium. According to Eviction Lab landlords in Indiana alone have filed more than 45,000 evictions since September 2020. Narrowing it down to Lafayette, since May this year, 108 evictions have been filed to date.

"We are really anxious about what July brings," Said CEO, LTHC, Jennifer Layton.

Layton said now is a good reminder for people who may need services, to get them.

"I'm just not so sure people will be able to get the rental assistance that they need," said Layton.

Right now people can still file to receive money from the emergency rental assistance program on IndianaHousingNow.org

"What we are really preparing for are people who haven't been paying rent and they didn't qualify for the state program, maybe they didn't just lose income because of a COVID related reason," said Layton.

Layton said LTHC is currently providing rental assistance for more than one hundred people.

'It just continues to be a challenge for people that are not able to afford and sustain their housing," said Layton.

-and she said the number of people facing that challenge will unfortunately increase.

"Go to Indiana Housing Now dot org and apply for rental assistance. If you have any covid related reason why you've had a loss of income. They do have substantial financial resources to help."

But it's not just renters who are struggling. Home owners are too. Layton said if you are having a tough time paying your mortgage contact Homestead CS, a local organization.

For more information on any of the websites mentioned, click on any bolded word.
Phoenix, Az. (Arizona Cardinals)  The entire Cardinals' draft class is under contract after second-round pick Rondale Moore signed on the dotted line Wednesday.

The speedy slot receiver's deal is for $6.9 million over four years, including a $2.9 million signing bonus, according to salary cap website Spotrac.

Moore, who worked hard to become a high draft pick, is expected to contribute in the return game immediately, and is hoping to find an early role on offense as a rookie.

The Cardinals have three veteran wide receivers  DeAndre Hopkins, A.J. Green and Christian Kirk  that are expected to start, but Moore's yards-after-catch ability should help him carve out playing time.

The final day of minicamp is on Thursday, but the rookies are expected to stick around awhile longer to get acclimated to the NFL.
Equinor will sell its refining business in Denmark to Klesch Group. Here is the refinery in Kalundborg, which is part of the sale.

STAVANGER, NORWAY: Equinor said it has entered into an agreement with the Klesch Group for the sale of its refining business in Denmark. Further commercial details on the transaction will not be disclosed.

The agreement covers the Equinor Refining Denmark A/S (ERD) company consisting of the Kalundborg refinery and terminal in the northwest of Zealand, the Hedehusene terminal near Copenhagen as well as associated infrastructure and industrial property. All ERD employees will be transferred to the Klesch Group with equitable employment terms as within Equinor.

The Kalundborg refinery was built in 1961 and was acquired by Equinor in 1986 before significantly increasing capacity in 1995. The plant can process 107,000 barrels a day of crude oil and condensate for gasoline, diesel, propane and heating oil. Annual production capacity is up to 5.5 million tonnes of oil products.

The two refineries, Kalundborg and Mongstad, are independent and separate enterprises, with separate markets and largely their own competence bases. Equinor will continue to develop the refinery business at Mongstad. Mongstad is tightly integrated into Equinors oil & gas value chain and plays a significant role in the development of new value chains, such as hydrogen, biofuel and ammonia.

This transaction does not affect Equinor's ownership and/or operation of Danske Commodities, headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark.

This transaction supports Equinors strategy to focus its portfolio around core areas. Equinor will concentrate its refining position around Mongstad, Norway, where the company can leverage its integrated industrial cluster, expand the portfolio of low carbon energy products provided and contribute to Equinors efforts in the energy transition. Over the years, Kalundborg has provided solid results and strong efforts have been made to maintain safe and reliable operations, said Irene Rummelhoff, Equinors executive vice president for Marketing, Midstream andProcessing.

The Klesch Group has been in refining for over 10 years and is well positioned to take the business further. I am so pleased that we were able to reach an agreement today to purchase the Kalundborg refinery from Equinor. The refinery is first class and so are its people. It was challenging during the covid pandemic to undertake this acquisition. Given the proximity of our refinery in Germany, Im sure there will be lots of opportunities for both refineries to work together; especially when it comes to deploying our decarbonisation strategy, said A. Gary Klesch, chairman of Klesch Group.

 Worldofchemicals News
The Petersburg borough is offering $10,000 in prizes during June to encourage residents who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot.

The Sleeves Up Petersburg drawing is sponsored by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, with money distributed through the Alaska Chamber of Commerce. Its part of a campaign to increase the states vaccination rate by 25%.

Thats the drive from the start, to increase our vaccination rate and get out of this pandemic, said Petersburg Incident Commander Karl Hagerman. Lets get back to normal through vaccination.

The...
MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP) announced the launch of Cohort 8 of its Global program, which includes teams of participants from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, USA, Colombia, Northern Ireland, Brazil, and Belgium. MIT REAP Global teams participate in a two-year program focused on accelerating innovation-driven entrepreneurship (IDE) in their regional innovation ecosystems and are provided opportunities to collaborate with teams within and across their cohort.
Virgel Hale has been traveling to Alaska to tune pianos across the state - including Wrangell - since 1959. At age 81, he is retiring. This photo is from a piano assignment in Sitka in 2016.

Upright pianos in Skagway bars dating from the Gold Rush. Grand pianos worth tens of thousands of dollars in Anchorage and Sitka. Bob Hope's piano while he was on a USO tour in Alaska.

Plus private, church and school pianos in Wrangell.

Virgel Hale has tuned them all in his 51-year career traveling around Alaska.

But now, at age 81, he's retiring, and will be staying home with his wife, Patsy, who has health problems, in Mountain Grove, Missouri, closer to kids and grandkids.

"I hate to call it quits," he said. "I'll miss Alaska."

Can he estimate how many Alaska pianos and piano owners he's...
84% of all eligible adults in North Wales have received at least one coronavirus vaccine

Eighty four per cent of all eligible adults in North Wales have now received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine according to the now regular health board update.

779,846 vaccinations (486,924 first doses and 292,922 second) have been carried out since the rollout began in December 2020.

This means that 84% of all eligible adults in the region, including sixty-four per-cent of 18-29 year-olds, have now had a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while half of the eligible population have had the full protection of both doses.

The vaccine has now been offered to everyone who is eligible to have one currently, with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board urging 87,500 people who have yet to come forward to book an appointment using the new online booking service.

Those aged 30-39 are described as being a key target group, with take up is currently lowest among this age group.

In Wrexham the numbers of people vaccinated in each cohort, include:

Residents in Older Persons Care Homes (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  106% and 96%

Staff working in Older Persons Care Homes (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined  90% and 79%

People aged 80 years and over (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  99% and 95%

Frontline Healthcare workers (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  97% and 88%

Frontline social care workers (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  97% and 87%

People aged 75 to 79 years (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  98% and 95%

People aged 70 to 74 years (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  97% and 94%

All those aged under 16-69 yrs who are clinically extremely vulnerable (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  95% and 88%

All those aged 65 years and over (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  95% and 89%

Moderate risk adults under 70 years of age (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  88% and 59%

All those aged 60  64 years (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  89% and 44%

All those aged 55  59 years (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  86% and 34%

All those aged 50  54 years (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  86% and 23%

All those aged 40  49 years (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  78% and 3%

All those aged 30  39 years (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  58% and 2%

All those aged 18  29 years (1st / 2nd dose vaccinated or declined)  47% and 1%

Gill Harris, executive director of nursing and midwifery, said: Thanks to the incredible efforts of our staff and volunteers, we are continuing to play a key role in Wales world leading vaccination rollout.

We are continuing to store the vaccine in peoples arms, administering our supply as quickly as it is received.

In the coming weeks, well be stepping up our efforts to ensure that nobody is left behind.

Getting the remaining 15 per cent of our eligible population vaccinated before the Delta variant, or other variants of concern take hold, could have a significant impact on our ability to return to life as normal and continue to enjoy some of the freedoms that have recently been restored.

This is especially important as we welcome tourists from across the UK during the summer months.

Those aged 30-39 are a key target group, as take up is currently lowest among this age group.

In the coming weeks we will send text messages and letters to the 87,500 people who have yet to book a first dose. We will also undertake radio advertising, a social media campaign, publish information in the local press, and carry out engagement with hard to reach groups in our communities.

Our vaccination teams will continue to hold information sessions in local supermarkets, shopping centres and other areas of high footfall, in order to answer and address any questions or concerns people have about the COVID-19 vaccine. We will also be targeting communities where take up of the vaccine is lower than average.

Please dont worry if youve not been able to book your appointment just yet, or you turned down the vaccine when it was first offered and have since changed your mind. The door is always open and its not too late to change your mind.

If you have any concerns about receiving the vaccine, please book and attend your appointment, so we can take the time to discuss any concerns you have, before you decide whether to go ahead.

We are again appealing for people who are hesitant about receiving the vaccine to make an informed decision about whether to be vaccinated, based on the latest information from trusted sources. The Public Health Wales website is a great place to start.

Ms Harris also urged anyone due for their second dose of the vaccine to come forward when invited.

She added: Real world data shows that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are highly effective against the strain of the Delta variant after two doses, so its vital that people continue to attend their second dose appointments, in order to obtain the most effective protection.

We are continuing to carefully monitor cases of the Delta variant in our communities, and have the ability to bring forward second dose appointments using our first dose supply, if necessary.

This is being regularly reviewed, based on the latest available evidence and data.

You can now book appointments online for your coronavirus vaccine here.
Coleg Cambria the first in Wales to launch Huawei ICT academy

A multinational technology leader will launch its first training academy in Wales this year.

Coleg Cambria has been approved as a Huawei ICT Academy and begins delivering a range of cutting-edge courses from September.

Huawei has rolled out free training programmes in more than 90 countries with 3,000 instructors and 60,000 learners worldwide.

Now Cambria is to be the first in Wales to host such programmes, a move welcomed by Nigel Holloway, Director of Business Solutions.





Based at the colleges Yale site in Wrexham, he said: This is a big honour for us and will enable Coleg Cambria to work in partnership with Huawei to equip people with the digital skills needed to meet demand, especially in the workplace.

The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated how vital technology is to our everyday lives, and that need is only going to increase in the future.

We have yet to finalise which courses we will be introducing for the next academic year, but the themes are around cloud computing, big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), cyber security and 5G, among others.

Nigel added: As the relationship develops, Im sure interest will grow and grow; this is a fantastic opportunity for employees to upskill and for companies wanting to prepare their workers for further technological advances.

It is also another example of how Coleg Cambria is at the forefront of academia and industry in Wales  we cant wait to get started.

Bespoke courses of different lengths can be tailored to meet requirements and there will be evening classes available virtually and in person subject to Coronavirus restrictions, offering accessibility and flexibility for participants.

Huawei continues to build a global structure of learning, certification, and employment, and is focused on helping build a talent ecosystem to improve communication between industry and education and bring through the next generation of skilled IT workers.

Pallavi Malhotra, Director for the Huawei ICT Academy Programme in Western Europe, welcomed Coleg Cambria to the programme.

The Academy provides so many free opportunities for the ICT sector and is totally flexible, which is why we have had such a positive response worldwide and its popularity has grown and grown, she said.

We would encourage employers to explore the wide range of choices available for CPD (Continuing Professional Development) as there are options that would be beneficial for them.

We are providing the latest industry information, which is fantastic for their staff as well as the learners, so there will be a high level of upskilling as demand continues to rise.

Pallavi added: Im so pleased to have Coleg Cambria join us. It is one of the largest and most ambitious colleges in the country, so we are delighted they are our very first academy in Wales.

For more information visit Computing Courses for Adults  Coleg Cambria

Pictured: Pallavi Malhotra
Plans for new drive-thru McDonalds on Plas Coch rejected by councillors

Plans to build a new drive thru McDonalds in Wrexham have been rejected amid concerns the development would worsen existing traffic issues in the area.

The proposals for the eastern corner of The Range / Argos car park had been recommended for approval by Lawrence Isted, Wrexham Councils chief planning officer.

In his report Mr Isted described the proposed development as acceptable in terms of scale and design and that the increased in traffic generation is not significant and is considered to be negligible in terms of its impact upon the existing highway network.

However this was disputed at the afternoons planning meeting, with several committee members arguing that the development would cause gridlock and exacerbate congestion in the area.





There were also concerns about the loss of car parking space for those visiting The Range and Argos.

Cllrs REJECT the planned McDonalds drive thru  details on the debate that got to that point soon. https://t.co/QV4cxNAb9r  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) June 7, 2021

Grosvenor councillor Marc Jones said that whilst there is no doubt that there is demand for another McDonalds in Wrexham, he questioned whether this was a suitable location.

He said: The main issue is traffic, congestion and the potential for gridlock.

Plas Coch retail park has seen several incremental developments in recent years that increase traffic  an expanded supermarket, a new hotel, a drive-thru coffee shop  as well as a new housing development on Glyndwr University campus  recently reduced from 410 to 90 (due in part to the concerns about road capacity).

In addition, Ysgol Plas Coch has expanded in recent years to 315 pupils and that also means increased traffic flows at certain times of the day. There is also a planning application for 450 new houses beyond the school.

There is an acknowledgement in the Highways assessment that the B&Q roundabout is already approaching capacity at peak times and that it would be over-capacity by 2036  that means we face gridlock on the main entrance to the largest town in north Wales in only 14 years away and the highways consultant seems to be saying that this is acceptable.

The Highways report admits that The existing road network leading to and serving the retail park suffers from capacity issues during weekday peak times and at the weekend when significant queuing / delays are experienced. The existing A483 / A541 junction, Plas Coch roundabout(s) and New Road / Stansty Road junction suffer from capacity issues and would not benefit from any significant increase in vehicle movements.

The highways report also admits that it has not factored in the extra homes granted planning permission on Plas Coch Road into additional traffic flow until 2036. But those houses are likely to be built in the next few years meaning the 2036 over-capacity problem could be with us much earlier.

Phillip Isherwood, senior acquisition surveyor responsible for purchasing new site, said the new development would prevent a 16 mile round trip that some within Wrexham currently make to the Chirk drive thru and that 65 new jobs would be created.

He said: The highway offices have confirmed the level of parking provision for the proposed restaurant and existing retail units is acceptable to serve the users of the site and that safe vehicular and pedestrian access has been secured.

The increase in traffic generation is not significant and is considered to be negligible in terms of impact upon the existing network.

The approval of this application will also see the implementation of a pedestrian crossing, ensuring that all pedestrians using all of the operators will know retail park will have a safe place to cross.

But Brymbo councillor Paul Rogers said the addition of a drive through McDonalds is only going to create matters worse for local residents.

He added: As the economy has started to unlock in recent weeks its already visible that the Plas Coch roundabout is extremely busy at peak times.

The residents of New Broughton and the Caego area already have problems at peak times in crossing to the other side of town, particularly the Mold Road.

I think many many residents are already frustrated by the problems with all the traffic around Plas Coch school at peak times.

I cant understand the why the highways officer hasnt made greater recommendations against it quite frankly, because many residents in this area are literally up to here with the problems that are faced on a daily basis.

This was echoed by Gwersyllt West councillor Gwenfair Jones, who said: The residents of my ward very often get gridlocked on the way into town, along Summerhill Road and the main road into town and theyre very often stuck in traffic.

Also as the governor of the children of Plas Coch school I know that we have concerns on behalf of the parents, theyve even asked the children what they think.

I know its their decision whether they go there or not, but its not going to help their health. We as a council have got some guidance regarding having fast food restaurants within 400 metres of a school.

However planning officer David Williams said the evidence being provided in terms of traffic generation suggests its not significant and is considered to be negligible in terms of its impact on this on the existing highway network.

He said: The revised traffic assessment has taken into account all the committed developments within the vicinity of the site and the modelling was unaffected by the pandemic, which has been obviously an issue recently in terms of data collection to justify and to look at these sort of issues. This data was collected outside this period.

So its a true reflection of the traffic flow and the capacity of the network and is reasonable to assume that the information and the modelling is a correct representation of what is is likely to occur.

Whilst theres been concerns in relation to the increased queuing, the evidence again will indicate the proposed restaurant will have a negligible impact upon the roundabout.

Yes, theres congestion at key times, but theres congestion in all parts of all towns at certain times of the day.

It was also acknowledged that B&Q roundabout is already close to capacity at peak periods, adding I stand by whats in the report, I think that would deter customers from driving to the facility of the restaurant at that particular time

It becomes self regulating to a certain a certain extent.

One application is for a 'totem pole' signage, so that could exist in a solitary burger beacon in the middle of an empty car park  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) June 7, 2021

With regards to car parking, Mr Williams said: The highways authority have confirmed that the level of parking provision for the proposed restaurants and existing retail units is acceptable and that a safe vehicle and pedestrian access has been secured

The amended plans show a reduction in the public floor area of the restaurants, which means that the 29 spaces provided accords for the maximum provision as per guidence.

Whilst there is a reduction in the number of existing spaces, serving the retail units, the car parking surveys that were undertaken demonstrated that there is spare capacity at peak times and that there is space within the surrounding retail park, which has the capacity to absorb the additional vehicles are busy times during the day.

Penycae councillor, John Phillips, proposed that the application is refused stating it will almost certainly add to congestion in the area.

He said: Im not against drive thrus as long as its in the right location.

In my opinion, the location would immensely benefit the applicants as its very busy, but the loss of the existing car parking spaces which serve the existing retail developments is totally unacceptable.

If this application is successful, it will almost certainly add to the congestion and potentially impact on highway safety.

With that mind I will not be supporting this application and I propose we refuse officers recommendation on the grounds of loss of existing car park spaces, increased traffic congestion and highway safety.

The application was refused with a majority of councillors voting against the plans  and then refusing several connected application for signage on the site.
Plans to replace Wrexham night shelter with 19 apartments receive unanimous backing

Plans to demolish a night shelter in Wrexham to make way for 19 apartments for homeless people have been unanimously approved.

Clwyd Alyn Housing Association applied earlier this year to create self-contained accommodation and a homeless support centre to replace the existing Ty Nos night shelter on Holt Road.

It followed 2.2m being made available by the Welsh Government to fund the project.

The proposals show the development on the edge of the town centre will include five buildings, each measuring two storeys in height.





The scheme was recommended to receive the green light by officials at Wrexham Council ahead of a planning committee meeting held yesterday (Monday, 7 June).

Local councillor Becca Martin told community leaders it would deliver a number of benefits for the area.

She said: I feel its very important that the changes are made to Ty Nos as its going to provide the homeless community with much-needed modern and high quality residential units, which in turn is going to support rehabilitation and integration into the wider community.

This isnt just going to benefit the client group, but it will then benefit Wrexham as a whole.

At the moment, the site cant really be described as aesthetically pleasing, so I think the new buildings will visually enhance the site as well.

The amount of people presenting as homeless in Wrexham has increased significantly since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March last year.

The proposals at Ty Nos form part of a set of measures introduced to address the issue, as well as turning the former Grove Guest House on Chester Road into temporary homeless accommodation.

Cllr Frank Hemmings questioned whether the construction of the new apartments would cause a disturbance to a neighbouring Quaker meeting house, but was told noise levels would be controlled via a planning condition.

The plans were backed by every committee member present at the end of their deliberations.

By Liam Randall  BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Three men jailed for spate of rural burglaries across West Cheshire and North Wales

A gang of three who targeted properties in the rural areas of Cheshire and North Wales are behind bars following an 18-month operation by the two police forces.

Lukaz Lawin, 36 from Trevor Street, Wrexham, Patryk Korybolski , 27, from North Road, Wrexham and Patryk Knapik, 25, from Hermitage Drive, Wrexham pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and money laundering at an earlier hearing.

They appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on 9 June to be sentenced. Lawin was sentenced to five years eight months in prison. Korybolski was given a five year three month sentence and Knapik was sentenced to four years and four months.

Their crime spree came to an end following an investigation by Cheshire Police and North Wales Police.





The trio stole property with a combined value of 450,214.98 between 23 July 2018 and 2 July 2019 targeting high value items such as quad bikes, motorbikes and horse tack. In total there were 75 offences  47 in North Wales and 28 in Cheshire.

As the net closed in on the gang, officers raided addresses in North Wales and arrested Korybolski at his home address, Lawin and Knapik had fled back to Poland so were extradited back to the UK to face justice.

The men were subsequently charged and sent to court.

Detective Superintendent Simon Draco said: I want to thank the officers from Cheshire and North Wales for their dedication and commitment  this was a very complicated and painstaking investigation which took a great deal of skill and determination to bring to court enough evidence to cause the defendants to plead guilty before a trial.

I understand the rural communities were rightly concerned about the series of burglaries and I hope now that justice has been done they see that we were tirelessly working behind the scenes to arrest and put the offenders before the courts.

The financial impact of burglary can be significant, but its the emotional effect of being burgled which often lasts much longer and should never be underestimated.

As a force we understand this and we hope this conviction goes as a warning to criminals, that in policing there are no borders, we work together to get criminals off the streets and will not stop sharing information and working together to keep our communities safe.

Sergeant Jenna Wyn Hughes of North Wales Police said: This was a complex and protracted investigation, which highlights the benefits of our close working relationship with colleagues from Cheshire. Borders will never act as a barrier to assist criminals in the execution of crimes like these.

I welcome the sentences handed down, which serve as a clear warning that we will relentlessly pursue offenders, regardless of where they may flee to evade justice.

Pictured left to right: Lukaz Lawin, Patryk Knapik, Patryk Korybolski
Warning after fire crews attend Gresford property fire as cooking left unattended

The North Wales Fire & Rescue Service have issued a warning this morning after a call out in the early hours of today.

They were called at 12.50am this morning to a property in Gresford.

Two appliances from Wrexham attended the fire and a man was assisted from the property by fire service personnel.

The cause of the fire was cooking left unattended.





Group Manager Jami Jennings said: This incident highlights the consequences of leaving cooking unattended and the value of having a working smoke alarm in your property.

If youd like a free safe and well check for your property, please call us on 0800 169 1234 between 9-5 Monday-Friday or fill in our online form: http://ow.ly/I6zB50F3SM8 
In a criminal maneuver, the municipal educators unions in Sao Paulo have ended a four-month strike against the homicidal reopening of schools.

Teachers are being sent back to deadly classrooms at a critical moment of the pandemic in Brazil and around the world. According to the Brazilian public health institution Fiocruz and prominent scientists, the country is entering a third, even deadlier wave of cases and deaths, driven by the nationally promoted back to normalcy policy and the dangers of the new Delta variant already circulating in the country.

Return to school in Brazil (Wikimedia Commons)

This week, the state of Sao Paulo reached its highest COVID bed occupancy rate since April, and registered a 35.1 percent increase in the number of infections, with an average of more than 14,000 daily cases. There has also been a 19.5 percent rise in the number of deaths in the state, with an average of 417 daily. On Tuesday, Brazil as a whole registered 2,693 new deaths, the highest number in more than a month, of which 767 occurred in Sao Paulo.

Faced with these deadly prospects, the SINPEEM and other unions that comprise the so-called Forum of Entities negotiated a return to in-person classes posing the same deadly dangers to educators, students and families, as well as a potentially catastrophic effect on the circulation of the virus in Brazils largest city.

The proposal presented by the Forum for ending the strike placed the sole demand on the government that it pay wages denied teachers for the days on strike with them now working extra hours. This means that the strike will be paid by the workers themselves who, for the next few months, will have to increase their shifts to make up for the four months on strike, consequently increasing their exposure to the deadly virus. Meanwhile, the unions maintain their multimillion coffers untouched at the disposal of the bureaucracy, without having spent a single penny on strike pay.

The unions tried to sell as achievements a series of vague promises by the government, such as allowing part of the extra hours to be worked online, studying the establishment of a relay of teachers working in-person, and an acceleration of the vaccination of teachers, which had already begun.

This sell-out agreement was endorsed in online meetings that took place on Monday night, the determining one being held by SINPEEM (the largest union), which was widely denounced by the workers as a scam.

A number of educators reported being improperly excluded from the online meeting halfway through the event and prevented from returning. The union also ended the voting process early, before everyone had voted, and with a narrow 48.5 percent to 44.6 percent margin of approval (with 7 percent abstaining). Even the chat on the online event was blocked, according to union president Claudio Fonseca, to avoid disturbancethat is, any expression of opposition from rank-and-file workers.

This criminal decision and the whole bureaucratic process surrounding it provoked a wave of anger among the teachers. They pointed to the hypocrisy of the union organizations that only days earlier were proclaiming their unconditional defense of life.

On May 18, SINPEEM had issued a statement pretending to oppose government policy, declaring: The occurrence of increased COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths and warnings of a third wave of the disease require that the government recognize that maintaining face-to-face classes and activities in educational facilities puts everyone at risk.

But the unions have now unquestionably exposed their decisive role in the imposition of the murderous herd immunity policy that has as its greatest advocate Brazils fascistic President Jair Bolsonaro.

On the Facebook pages of the SINPEEM and other unions, hundreds of comments from infuriated workers rained down. Teachers wrote:

He closed the vote before the time was up. Didnt wait three minutes to secure the right to vote! Why is that? Chat closed! Why? It wasnt a plenum. I dont know what it was! Actually, we did not decide, the union decided!

This meeting was a disgrace! They removed members from the meeting without any justification.

The strike came to a frightening end, and the worst thing is for someone to think it was a victory. Not even the minimum of demands were accepted. ... face-to-face return, no vaccine, no tests, nothing. Otherwise, dreams. ... No guarantees. ... Total servility. A pity. Very incoherent, where is the stay at home, to fight in the streets is incoherent and other such lines? The strike demands, which were fair, thrown into the trash.

A singular kind of denialism [i.e., to deny the existence of the pandemic, as Bolsonaro has systematically done]. When the Genocidal President of the Republic does it, everyone identifies it. But when we accept returning to the schools with empty promises, and putting our lives and the lives of family members, as well as the lives of students, at risk, it is called an evaluation of the correlation of forces.

Congratulations on the beautiful maneuver. Who will take responsibility for the deaths? Its past time to disaffiliate [from the union], thats the solution.

A real shame. ... Returning with our tails between our legs, looking like an idiot and worse, for NOTHING. ... When they say that the unions run together with the government, from today, I dont doubt it anymore. ... Its shameful and revolting.

I am not believing that I will go back to school tomorrow, take buses without being vaccinated until the end of July. What good is this strike? Tomorrow I am resigning from the SINPEEM and APROFEM. The worst thing is that there are people who dont even know about it and will be absent tomorrow. Irresponsible unions, all of them!

The revulsion of workers over such a grotesque betrayal is absolutely legitimate. But it must be recognized that it began long before last weeks negotiations, which were only the conclusion of a long process of sabotage of the teachers resistance to the herd immunity policy of the ruling class.

As the World Socialist Web Site has widely documented, the unions called a strike only after the emergence of a movement in the ranks against the reopening of schools scheduled for February. Aware that they could lose political control over the workers, the unions called a strike on the eve of the return to school, without any prior preparation.

Over the following four months, the unions acted to isolate and wear down the most militant workers. No action was taken to make the strike effective. No pickets or campaigns to join the movement were organized at the school gates. The unions left the strikers completely in the dark, without communicating how many schools were on strike or how strong the mobilization was. Despite this, estimates made independently by the workers pointed to an important growth of the movement in this first period, overcoming the unions sabotage.

But the protracted isolation and actions of the unions to disarm the teachers, and the wage cuts that were promoted by the governments (which were not compensated by any form of strike payment from the unions), served to wear down the most militant workers and open the way for a betrayal.

An especially great effort was employed to keep this strike isolated from struggles that were breaking out in other school districts and other sections of the working class against the same homicidal policy in relation to the pandemic.

In the same week that the teachers struck in the municipal network, educators in the Sao Paulo state network went on strike against the reopening of their schools. To prevent a unification of these movements, which together would have joined hundreds of thousands of workers, the unions of municipal educators, together with the APEOESP (the state teachers union), and the pseudo-left groups made a joint effort. They were able, however, to bury the state teachers  strike much earlier, through a maneuver as criminal and bureaucratic as the one implemented last week by the SINPEEM.

Other teacher strikes against school reopenings have erupted in different states in Brazilfrom Acre in the far north to Parana in the south. These strikes continue to happen, as was the case last week in Manaus, capital of Amazonas, and are being systematically kept in isolation from each other by the National Confederation of Education Workers (CNTE), which brings together education unions from all over the country.

The WSWS also reported how Brazils union federations have actively worked to prevent the powerful strike movement that has erupted among bus drivers and other transport workers against the pandemic began from developing into a general strike.

As with the municipal educators in Sao Paulo, the unions acted in all these struggles by pretending to represent the legitimate interests of workers to defend lives and for the implementation of a scientific program to fight the pandemic. However, their actions were aimed at the opposite: isolating and wearing down these movements, diverting them from a direct confrontation with capitalism, and making them culminate in empty appeals to the bourgeois state, such as the acceleration of vaccinations.

Because of this betrayal by the unions, the massive protests that exploded in cities all over Brazil two weeks ago against the murderous conduct of the pandemic by the Bolsonaro administration did not include the presence of the working class as an organized force. This was critical for the corrupt leaderships of these protests, linked to the Workers Party (PT) and its allies in the Party for Socialism and Liberty (PSOL) and othersthe same forces behind the corporatist unionsbeing able to render these demonstrations harmless to Brazilian capitalism.

The next period, of deepening political and social crisis and of the COVID-19 pandemic, will see an eruption of even more intense struggles among the Brazilian and the global working class, bringing them into conflict with their illegitimate union leaderships.

It is necessary to prepare for these struggles by drawing the necessary political conclusions. Workers need to break definitively with the unions that shackle them and sabotage their struggles.

This means a battle as well against the middle-class forces of the pseudo-left that are fighting at all costs to sustain these decadent unions. This was demonstrated in the Sao Paulo educators strike by the actions of the PSOL and other organizations such as the Morenoites of the PSTU and the MRT, linked to the Esquerda Diario, which tried to channel the workers revolt against the unions into a program of union reforms.

They have created so-called strike committees, which have as their real goal that of reinforcing the authority of the discredited unions over the workers movement. Despite pointing the finger at the SINPEEMs lifetime president, Claudio Fonseca, these committees had nothing to offer to the workers once the union decided to end the strike against their will. They didnt even denounce it on their public pages.

Workers need to create real rank-and-file committees, directly elected by them, representing their interests, and completely independent of the unions. The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is the one political force promoting this initiative among workers struggles internationally. This initiative is inseparable from the struggle to build a true revolutionary leadership among the working class, a Brazilian section of the ICFI.
After only two days, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is rushing to end the strike by 34 teachers at Urban Prep Academies in Chicago, announcing Wednesday that they had reached a tentative agreement with the network of charter schools. The tentative agreement (TA) is said to be for three years, with a reopening of the deal next summer, while the date when teachers will vote on the agreement has not been reported. Basic facts about the TA have also not been made public, with the Chicago Tribune noting, Neither side has provided details on what the tentative contract provides in pay and benefits.

Teachers began striking on Monday after bargaining between both parties dragged on for the past three years, leading to a unanimous strike authorization vote last month. Rank-and-file teachers demanded proper funding for special education students and programs, wages equal to that of other CTU members teaching in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and other conditions and benefits.

Teachers holding press conference announcing the beginning of their strike (Source: Facebook)

The announcement of the TA is being presented by the CTU and the corporate media as a done deal, despite teachers not yet having time to study or vote on the contract. The CTU characterized the TA as a win for adding language to the contract that mandates Urban Prep provide funding for special education. However, according to the CTUs press release, this does not go further than to request that the school follow federal special education law.

The unions press release also mentions that the TA will include improvements to teacher evaluations and new teacher provisional periods, although the CTU did not specify what these changes would include. Urban Prep maintains long provisional periods for teachers in order to keep wages low and hold the threat of arbitrary firing over teachers heads, establishing what is essentially a two-tier salary system. The CTU also claims that the agreement includes a limit to classroom sizes but does not specify the new limit.

CTU stated that the agreement will give salary increases moving them closer to other teachers throughout the district. This is a thinly veiled way to say that the contract will not pay the charter teachers as much as public school teachers, who earn on average roughly $11,000 more annually.

The rapid conclusion of the strike is a deliberate move by the CTU to isolate the Urban Prep Teachers and sign an agreement just as more Chicago charter teachers are coming into struggle against the private charter school companies. On Wednesday, students and teachers at Epic charter school on the South Side held a rally to demand that four teachersKeShawn Williams, Priscilla Dixon, Lawrence Marshall and Erik Thibaultbe reinstated after they were arbitrarily fired.

The Epic teachers have also been in contract negotiations. The CTU recently reached a TA, but teachers have put off voting on the contract until the victimized teachers have been reinstated. Three of the four fired teachers are members of the schools bargaining committee and are suspected of being targeted as a threat to others who oppose the poor conditions in the classrooms. In a press release, the CTU also alleges that Williams was targeted for being the adviser of the schools LGBTQIA+ club.

Teachers at Epic demanding the reinstatement of their colleagues have been threatening to strike if the firings are not reversed. For this reason, the CTU made sure to wrap up the Urban Prep strike as quickly as possible to avoid any joint struggle across several charter schools.

The isolation of strikes has been a tool used by trade unions like the CTU for decades to browbeat workers back on the job. Rather than mobilizing the largest number of workers possible in a united strike against the wealthy charter administrators, the CTU works to ensure that no two strikes occur simultaneously so that they can be easily smothered.

Teachers should reject this framework entirely and form their own rank-and-file committees to organize themselves and mobilize the immense strength of educators and the broader working class in Chicago and the surrounding region. Educators, parents and students at Urban Prep, Epic, and all other charter schools and public schools must join together in a united struggle against low wages and dilapidated conditions in the schools, which have become hotbeds for COVID-19 infections. Significantly, the CTUs own website tracking COVID-19 infections at Chicago schools has been down during the Urban Prep strike, while the union issued no demands pertaining to safety in the schools.

Conditions in Chicagos charter schools are abysmal, mirroring those of the poorly funded public schools, most of which are located in working-class neighborhoods that face an immense social crisis. Just in the past year, three Urban Prep students have been shot in unrelated incidents, with one student, Rashad Verner, being killed. The working-class areas where the charter schools are located were the most heavily affected by the pandemic over the past year.

The CTU functions not as a union but as an ally of the city and management in forcing teachers back on the job in hazardous conditions. Furthermore, the union accepts the basic framework in which privately run charter schools are able to siphon millions of dollars in public education funding each year.

In their own statement, the CTU admits that they fundamentally accept the privatization of public schools, writing, Throughout bargaining, Urban Prep families, teachers and staff remained deeply committed to the companys mission to nurture and support young Black menand to holding management accountable in embracing and enacting its charter vision and mission  (emphasis added).

The press release goes on to note the immense corruption of the Urban Prep management, noting that they paid out over $1.6 million in 2020 to merchant cash advance businesses, and acknowledging that Lenders have raked in profits as high as 50% on Urban Preps sale of future revenue. The CTU offers no means of fighting this setup, which is geared toward enriching a tiny layer of corporate managers.

The way forward for Urban Prep teachers is to join and help build the Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, which was formed by Chicago teachers in January to organize themselves independently of the pro-corporate CTU and the Democratic Party that conspired to reopen schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In their fight, teachers can look to the example of the Volvo autoworkers in Virginia, who returned to the picket line this week after voting overwhelmingly to reject a sellout contract presented by the United Auto Workers (UAW).

The Volvo workers have formed their own rank-and-file committee, which is calling for full income for striking workers, mass picketing, unification with all other striking workers, and no return to work until the minimum demands are met and voted on by the workers themselves.

Urban Prep teachers should follow this example and organize themselves to study the contract, reject it if it does not meet their demands, and stay on strike until their own demands are met. To sustain their fight, they must demand that the CTU provide strike pay equal to workers salaries for as long as necessary. The World Socialist Web Site will help facilitate the building of the Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, and we urge all Urban Prep teachers who wish to deepen their struggle to sign up today to join this committee .
Over the past week, the United States has massively expanded its conflict with China through a series of military, economic, diplomatic and propaganda initiatives aimed at strangling China's economic development, demonizing it in the eyes of the worlds population and preparing for military conflict.

On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a directive declaring China to be the number one focus of the US military. Austins statement echoed the words of former acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, who stressed last year that the focus of the US military must be China, China, China.

President Joe Biden speaks to American service members at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Austins statements followed the passage Tuesday in the Senate of what senators referred to as the China competitiveness bill, a massive $250 billion package of corporate subsidies and sanctions that the New York Times termed the most significant government intervention in industrial policy in decades.

The spending package includes tens of millions of dollars in subsidies to major technology corporations for relocating semiconductor production to the United Stateswhich would be critical in the event that China ends trade with the United States in a military conflict. Semiconductors power not only all modern consumer devices, but are critical to the production and operation of advanced weapon systems.

The bill bans US officials from attending the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and falsely declares that China is committing genocide against its Muslim population.

It directs the US government to impose sanctions against Chinese companies that it claims are violating the intellectual property rights of US firms, and creates a framework for the US and its allies to prevent the export of Chinese goods that the US claims violate its intellectual property rights.

As the South China Morning Post commented, the bill is the most formal recognition yet that Washingtons deep distrust of Beijing was not merely a feature of the Trump administration  but reflects a consensus spanning the congressional political spectrum  that the US must urgently work to out-compete China or lose its status as the worlds most powerful nation.

Senator Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, said: Today we declare our intention to win this century, and those that follow it as well.

Republican John Cornyn added: For everything from national security to economic policy, theres a clear and urgent need to reorient the way our country views and responds to the challenge from China.

US President Joe Biden hailed the passage of the bill, declaring: We are in a competition to win the 21st century, and the starting gun has gone off.

In response, China is expected to pass its own anti-sanctions bill, which would provide a framework for Chinese companies to seek damages for sanctions by the United States and Europe. This will be the first major move by China to retaliate against US sanctions, which used as a pretext Chinas actions in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

The bill follows a June 3 administrative order by the Biden administration blacklisting 59 Chinese companies deemed to have military ties.

According to the Global Times, the Biden administration will this week initiate trade talks with the island of Taiwan following the visit by three senators to the island over the weekend. Both measures are aimed at chipping away the USs One China policy that had been operative since the 1970s.

The passage of the bill set the stage for Bidens trip to Europe for G7, EU-US and NATO summits, where, in the words of the Guardian, Biden will seek to recruit allies for the next cold war.

Biden will attend the G7 summit in the UK Friday, then head to Belgium for the NATO summit the following week then to Geneva to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an insightful comment by Rafael Behr, the Guardian bluntly spelled out the issues at stake.

Washington sees Moscow as a declining force that compensates for its shrunken influence by lashing out where it can Putin is seen as an irritant, not a rival. That is in marked contrast to the view of Chinaan actual superpower and the eastern pole that Biden has in mind when he talks about reviving an alliance of western democracies.

Behr notes that while the European governments may have hoped that after the Trump administration, the White House would set the clock back to a calmer, less combative epoch, in reality Biden is coming to tell Europe to get its act together in the coming race for global supremacy with Beijing.

For its part, the Financial Times observed: Ever since he entered the White House in January, Joe Biden has articulated one foreign policy goal above othersto work with allies to restrain China.

Biden hopes to persuade his counterparts to rebuke China over its persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, its economic coercion of countries such as Australia, and its aggressive military activity in the South and East China Seas.

As the US sanctions demonstrate, it is the US and its allies that are applying economic coercion against Beijing, as well as aggressively boosting their military exercises and capabilities close to China.

The final component of Washingtons full-court press against China is the acceptance by the US press that claims by the extreme right that the COVID-19 pandemic may have been released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology are credible, encouraging the fascist right to demand an even more aggressive stance against China.

Speaking last week, former US President Donald Trump demanded 100 percent sanctions on Chinese imports, and demanded that China pay reparations to the United States for having allegedly created the pandemic.

This campaign is aimed at creating the ideological basis for the US threats against China, manufacturing the belief that the United States has been attacked, and driving the type of xenophobia and nationalism necessary for a military conflict.

It goes without saying that all of these developments are immensely dangerous. American society is being reorganized for great power conflict, a type of economic and military competition that twice in the 20th century spilled over into world war.
The primary law firm in the $641.25 million Flint water crisis settlement is ignoring warnings from the manufacturer that the radiation-emitting device used to measure lead in the bones of Flint residents is not to be used on humans. On June 8, the Napoli-Shkolnik law firm notified Thermo Fisher Scientific that despite its warnings against using the device on humans, the firm will continue using the scanner.

Downtown Flint, Michigan (Credit: WSWS)

Last week, a May 12 letter sent to Napoli by Thermo Fisher became public. The letter to Napoli is explicit about how the analyzer cannot be used. As you are aware in your rental agreement with Thermo Fisher, Napoli agreed to be solely responsible for the prudent operation of the XL3t. Thermo Fishers letter to Napoli reiterates the companys safety instructions, to never point the analyzer to yourself or another person when the shutter is open. We further advise you that Thermo Fisher has not validated the safety of the XL3t when used in a manner inconsistent with its safety instructions.

In defiance of this warning however, Napolis letter to Chloe Hansen-Toone of Thermo Fisher states, As you are likely aware, our lead testing of Flint residents has garnered media attention, and recent news reports have included inflammatory and inaccurate statements, accusing our tests of being unethical, unapproved, and unsafe. We refute these accusations. Be advised that we plan to continue providing the tests. They serve an important purpose, provide valuable benefits, and there are no reasonable alternative means of obtaining the lead measurement data the tests produce.

The law firm has made clear its disdain of medical professionals, including Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Dr. Lawrence Reynolds, Dr. Catherine Wilkerson and others, who have raised legitimate questions of safety, reliability and other related ethical questionsincluding the possibility of unauthorized medical experimentation.

Dr. Reynolds, a pediatrician and former president and chief executive officer of Mott Childrens Health Center in Flint, previously told the WSWS, The risk of radiation does not balance out the total lack of benefit, other than getting more dollars in compensation in the settlement. So there is an element of coercion there. This is outrageous.

The device has been used since at least September 2019 and thousands of residents have had a scan done. However, Dr. Reynolds told the WSWS that the device was not registered by Michigans Licensing and Regulatory Agency (LARA) until February 2021.

Dr. Hanna-Attisha, whose analysis of blood testing helped to expose the Flint water catastrophe, does not recommend bone scans for children. She says the risk, even if low, comes without benefits. She described as maddening the news that the scanner was used on a pregnant woman at the end of April.

In addition, Dr. Catherine Wilkerson, a board-certified physician of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, has raised serious ethical concerns about the bone scan device. She recently told the WSWS, Ironically, Napoli may be so desperate that he is blind to the implications that his law firms defense might amount to claims of engaging in medical experimentation.

Many Flint residents have also spoken out against the bone scans after they unwittingly had the test administered in the hope of getting a few hundred, or at most a few thousand, dollars from the settlement. The State of Michigan which is a party to the settlement, approved the terms which are designed to limit the amount of compensation that will go to the victims of the water poisoning. It is very likely that the amount of compensation residents receive will not even cover their bills for water they still do not use.

Those who received the bone lead scans were not informed that the device was originally designed for industrial scanning of scrap metal. The tests were not administered in a medical setting but in Napolis Flint law offices. Nor were residents told the device was not approved by the FDA. It also appears that women may not have been asked if they were pregnant since 22-year-old Amber Stebbens, visibly pregnant at 28 weeks, was not even provided a shield to protect her fetus from radiation.

Napoli states in his letter to Thermo Fisher that the device provides valuable benefits. The lawyers representing Flint residents in the settlement, including the Napoli law firm, will be provided with a 32 percent share of their clients settlements. The Napoli firm is the only one with the device and therefore has the majority of the clients. Residents who are represented by firms not affiliated with Napoli, or who do not have legal representation, must pay a $500 fee which will be deducted from their settlement.

More than seven years ago residents of Flint, a working class city of more than 90,000 people, and the home of the historic 1936-37 sit-down strike by autoworkers, were willfully poisoned when, in the interests of a money-making scheme hatched by the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA), the citys safe source of water for 50 years, Lake Huron, was switched to the toxic Flint River without adding anti-corrosion controls.

Lead, a dangerous neurotoxin, and other harmful chemicals were leeched from pipes into the water, causing deaths, life-long illnesses, miscarriages, loss of income and declining home values. The most vulnerable segment of the affected population is approximately 9,000 children. Due to the rapid development of their bodies, lead poisoning can stunt growth and cause neurological and behavioral damage which can continue for a lifetime.

Public officials on every level from the local, state and federal, Democrat and Republican alike, are implicated in this social crime, as well as its cover-up. For more than seven years, no one has been held accountable. Those responsible include the former Republican administration of Governor Rick Snyder whose token prosecution is slowly winding through the courts. Snyder faces barely a slap on the wrist.

President Barack Obamas trip to Flint in May 2016 will forever be remembered as a major insult as he encouraged residents to drink the water, your kids will be okay. Obamas Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) turned a blind eye to residents protests. The present Democratic administration of Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed off on the rotten and paltry settlement and is moving to bury the case.

Also party to the cover-up is the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. Norwood Jewell, a former Flint UAW official who was convicted of bribery, pushed the KWA scheme and has close connections to the Democratic Party. GM quietly switched its water source from the Flint River in the fall of 2014 because its engine parts were being corroded. Neither GM nor the UAW warned the Flint population of the damaging effects of lead even though residents who were protesting the foul-tasting water and rashes went unheard.

It is clear that the requirement that Flint residents must submit themselves and their family members to the degrading and dangerous process of having to prove they were damaged by lead-in-water and other contaminants must be lifted. Given the warnings issued by Thermo Fisher and medical doctors, the use of the bone scan must be halted. Workers must receive full and adequate compensation without having to prove they were harmed.

There must be full disclosure to all Flint residents and the public at large of all information related to the use of the device, including all correspondence between Thermo Fisher, the manufacturer and all attorneys.

The sealed and confidential 500-page deposition taken from Aaron Specht, the Harvard research associate who modified the device and is collecting data and $500 fees from residents at his Boston, Massachusetts office, must also be made public.

All Flint residents must be guaranteed lifetime medical care for all children and adults free of charge and on a completely equal basis, as well as lifetime educational and social programs to provide for special needs children.

There must be full replacement not simply of the lead service lines, but of the entire water infrastructure system. All residents must be fully compensated for declining home values, loss of income as well as compensation for seven years of paying high water bills for water that residents do not drink.

Finally, all those responsible for the water poisoning and its cover-up must be criminally prosecuted.

Justice for the people of Flint will not be secured through the capitalist courts or by appealing to the politicians from either capitalist party. The last seven years have proven the futility of directing any appeals to the Democrats or Republicans. They are all beholden and accountable to the financial oligarchs.

A real fight must be waged which involves a political struggle by the working class against the capitalist system for socialism. The vast resources of society must be marshaled to meet the needs of Flint residents as part of the fight of autoworkers, teachers, health care workers and logistics workers in the US and internationally.

We urge those who agree with these demands to form an independent Flint Workers Action Committee which will be affiliated with the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees and will fight for what Flint residents need to be made whole.
Last Friday, Judge Roger T. Benitez of the US District Court for the Southern District of California overturned the states 32-year ban on assault rifles, such as the AR-15, calling it unconstitutional and a violation of Californians right to bear arms. The 1989 Roberto-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act has been the target of gun rights advocates for much of its existence, and its overturning has been hailed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) as a historic victory of individual liberty and a much-needed defense of constitutional rights. Neither claim can hold up to any scrutiny.

The injunction is a reactionary ruling handed down by a George W. Bush appointee, who seems to otherwise be quite comfortable with the dismantling of democratic, constitutionally guaranteed rights. It reflects the populist rhetoric of the right-wing, fascistic elements within and around the Republican Party to the extent that it manages to incorporate a blatant lie about the deadly effects of the COVID-19 vaccine in a judicial pronouncement about assault weapons. Judge Benitez callously proclaimed, More people have died from the Covid vaccine than mass shootings in California.

That being said, the reactions from the Democratic Party leaders ring extremely hollow. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the ruling a direct threat to public safety and the lives of innocent Californians and promised that his administration would not back down from this fight. Presenting gun safety laws as the main crucible of social struggle has been part of the Democratic Partys repertoire for several decades. However, the notion that reforms of that sort will end the horrific phenomenon of mass shootings or cure the ills of American society is fundamentally misleading and only serves to obscure the fact that it is the capitalist system that poses the greatest threat to the very lives of the American people.

FN SCAR 17s and FN SCAR 16s (Image Credit: Flickr/Mitch Barre)

Judge Benitezs 94-page ruling begins by claiming: Like the Swiss Army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. The insensitivity and inhumanity underlying this comparison boggles the mind, particularly given the use of assault rifles in the surge of mass shootings around the country.

Fred Guttenberg, a gun safety activist whose daughter was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, told CNN: My daughter is in a cemetery because a Swiss Army Knife was not used, because it was an AR-15. ... If a Swiss Army Knife were used, my daughter and most of those other kids and adults would be alive today.

Tina Meins, whose father was killed in a mass shooting in San Bernardino in 2015, was equally disgusted, calling out the equivalence between an assault weapon and a Swiss Army knife an obtuse comparison and an insult to common sense.

Dismissing the phenomenon of mass shootings, the ruling insists that the focus needs to be on the nature of the weapons that were being unfairly targeted. As Benitez put it, this case is not about extraordinary weapons lying at the outer limits of Second Amendment protection.  The banned assault weapons are not bazookas, howitzers, or machine guns. Those arms are dangerous and solely useful for military purposes.  Firearms deemed as assault weapons are fairly ordinary, popular, modern rifles.

If assault rifles have acquired a reputation, so to speak, Benitez assures us it is nothing but media propaganda: One is to be forgiven if one is persuaded by news media and others that the nation is awash with murderous AR-15 assault rifles. The facts, however, do not support this hyperbole, and facts matter.

Here, then, are the facts. A week before Judge Benitezs ruling, a heavily armed, disgruntled California public transit employee shot and killed nine people in San Jose. A law enforcement search of the shooters home, which was set ablaze shortly before the attack, turned up 12 guns, around 22,000 rounds of ammunition and suspected Molotov cocktails. This shooting came on the heels of a series of mass killings in Florida, Indiana, Colorado and Georgia in recent months.

On a broader level, if one looks at killings across the country, according to the FBI, the handgun was the most commonly used weapon in murders and accounted for 6,368 victims in 2019. Knives or cutting instruments accounted for 1,476 murders; rifles accounted for 364 murder victims; and firearms, type not stated, accounted for 3,281 victims.

However, when it comes to mass shootings, it is the AR-15-style rifle that has been the weapon of choice. In recent decades, such weapons have been used in murderous rampages across the country, including in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado; a synagogue in Pittsburgh; a musical festival in Las Vegas; a church in Texas; a nightclub in Orlando; a high school in Parkland, Florida; and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

As the New York Times reported, this past year has seen a record increase in gun sales and a surge in gun ownership in the US, with the number of weekly federal background checks surpassing one million. In California, more than one million pistols, rifles and shotguns were sold in the last year, with more than a third being purchased by first-time buyers. For the record, there are already over 185,569 assault rifles legally registered in California.

Therefore, to claim, as Benitezs ruling seems to do, that the ban on assault rifles is getting in the way of people acquiring firearms is patently ridiculous. The ruling, however, goes beyond those claims to frame itself as a defense of constitutional rights. In Benitezs words, the case is about what should be a muscular constitutional right and whether a state can force a gun policy choice that impinges on that right with a 30-year-old failed experiment. This, the judge claimed, should be an easy question and answer. ... Government is not free to impose its own new policy choices on American citizens where constitutional rights are concerned.

From a historical and political standpoint, the question of the Second Amendment is an important and complex one. But its resurgence in American politics, in the guise of the fulcrum around which a campaign to protect constitutional rights needs to be organized, is nothing but a reactionary sham.

As the WSWS noted in its commentary on the Supreme Courts majority opinion in the landmark District of Columbia v. Heller case more than a decade ago, the declaration that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution provides an individual right to gun ownership, has nothing to do with an actual defense of democratic rights. It is an exercise in specious legal reasoning and historical falsification, carried out for definite, and thoroughly reactionary, political purposes. The same can be said of Judge Benitezs ruling, which is unsurprising given his political pedigree.

Benitez, a graduate of San Diego State University and Thomas Jefferson School of Law, was appointed to the Federal bench by George W. Bush in 2003. At that time, his supporters made much of his story as an immigrant from Cuba, who had fled the country as a 10 year old when his family was targeted by Fidel Castro for being US sympathizers.

However, all the trumpeting of Benitez living the American Dream did not quite work initially. As the New York Times noted, the American Bar Association (ABA) gave him a rare not-qualified rating, holding up his confirmation for 10 months. In Senate hearings, ABA officials called him arrogant, pompous, condescending, impatient, short-tempered, rude, insulting, bullying, unnecessarily mean and altogether lacking in people skills. Despite this, Benitez was eventually confirmed and has in recent years been associated with several rulings that find favor with the gun lobby.

In 2017, Benitez ruled against Californias nearly two-decade-old ban on the sale and purchase of magazines holding more than 10 bullets. In that ruling, he claimed that the problem of mass shootings is very small. Last year, Benitez blocked a 2019 California law requiring background checks for anyone buying ammunition, snidely claiming that the Second Amendment gets even less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. The fact that all these rulings can be traced to a single judge is not a coincidence and is made possible by an obscure rule that allows related cases to be channeled to one judge with expertise on the legal issues rather than randomly assigned.

For now, the California ban on assault weapons remains in place since Judge Benitez has issued a 30-day stay on his injunction. The case is headed for a three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and is potentially on its way to the Supreme Court. Before that happens, the US Supreme Court is also due to hear a challenge backed by the gun lobby to a New York law that restricts the carrying of firearms outside the home. It will be the first major case involving the Second Amendment heard by the nations highest court in more than a decade, since Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion supporting the individuals right to gun ownership.

These rulings and upcoming cases are important, as an illustration of the intensification of the right-wing drift of the ruling class and its institutions. However, the response to this drift cannot rest on the Democratic Partys calls for greater gun control or safety measures. The notion that somehow a more robust set of laws regulating gun sales or usage will address the root causes of the horrifying epidemic of mass shootings in the United States is an illusion that the working class cannot afford.

As the WSWS noted in response to the Sandy Hook massacre, this blatant misdirection is promoted by an American ruling class that has lost the capacity for self-examination. It knows that any serious analysis of the roots of this and other tragedies points back to itself and the society it dominates.
In the second major container ship accident in Sri Lankan waters in the past year, the X-Press Pearl, which was awaiting entry to Colombo port, caught fire on May 20 after a chemical leak.

All attempts to douse the fire failed and the ship sank about 10 nautical miles off the west coast of Sri Lanka, creating major problems for the environment, fisheries and the health of coastal communities.

Fire damaged X-Press Pearl just before it sank (Credit: Sri Lankan Air Force)

Last September, a super tankerthe MV Diamondcaught fire off Sri Lankas southeast coast. The blaze raged for days, discharging contaminated water and oil into the sea, before the ship was towed away.

The two incidents demonstrate major safety failures in the global shipping industry and the criminal disregard of the corporations that dominate it, and national governments, for peoples lives and the marine environment.

According to reports, the crew of X-Press Pearl, a Singapore-flagged ship, discovered nitric acid leaking from a container while the vessel was still in the Arabian Sea. They sought permission from Hamad Port in Qatar and Hariza Port in India to offload the problematic container. Both ports rejected the request, saying they lacked the capacity to handle the problem.

The ships captain, now in Sri Lankan police custody, claims that Colombo port authorities were informed about the leaking container. Colombo Harbour Master Nirmal Silva said he did not receive any such information, until after the vessel caught fire.

The leaking container had within it 25 tons of nitric acid and other flammable material. It is apparent that the port authorities and the Sri Lankan government were either unable to assess the risk on board or recklessly underestimated it.

Port authorities and the Sri Lankan Navy spent two days trying to douse the fire with sea water and chemical powder during which 23 X-Press Pearl crew members, including two suffering injuries, were rescued. It was clear from the beginning, however, that Sri Lankan authorities had no capacity to deal with the disaster and international assistance took days to arrive.

Salvage workers from the Dutch firm Smit arrived on May 24, five days after the fire started, and Indian Navy support did not come until May 27. When they also failed to extinguish the fire, President Gotabhaya Rajapakse ordered that the ship be tugged out of Sri Lankan waters. This failed after part of the vessel sank and became wedged in the sea-bed, rendering any further movement impossible.

Debris and plastic pellets contaminating Sri Lankas western coastal beaches (Credit: Marine Environment Protection Authority)

Several containers of small plastic pellets, called nurdles, broke open during the fire, spilling tons of nurdles into the sea and washing up along five kilometres of beaches and tidal areas along the countrys western coast. Thousands of dead fish, disfigured turtle and seabird carcasses have been washed ashore, some with visible acid burn marks and nurdles in their respiratory and digestive tracts.

The ship, which had over 1,400 containers on board, has now sunk, along with more than 6,000 tons of nurdles, 500 tons of fuel and lubricant and 6,000 tons of miscellaneous cargo. While photographs show murky plumes leaking from the sinking vessel, it is impossible to determine the exact chemical composition without thoroughgoing analysis.

Leading scientists and environmental activists have warned of a possible massive oil spill and the release of more plastic pellets, both extremely hazardous to coastal life and near-shore fishing in the long and medium term.

As yet, neither X-Press Feeders shipping company nor the Sri Lankan authorities have released a full inventory of the vessels cargo. If there were large stocks of hazardous chemicals on board, as many environmentalists believe, the wreckage will continue to contaminate the coastal environment for months, if not years to come.

As Dr. Irushinie Wedage, Sri Lankan director of Parley for the Oceans, warned in an online discussion, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and some heavy metals (both found in industrial chemicals), can attach themselves to plastic pellets and organic particles, entering the food chains of fish and crustaceans and leading to seafood contamination.

According to the media, over 4,500 local fishermen have suffered serious and immediate disruption to their livelihoods. Fishing is now banned along the west coast between Negombo and Panadura, impacting on tens of thousands of fishermen. Despite vague promises by the fisheries minister, the government has provided no compensation. Seafood fulfils more than 70 percent of protein needs in Sri Lankan households.

The Global Food Security Program and the National Aquatic Resources Authority have warned of long-term damage on fishing produce from the area. While the social and economic impact of the latest environmental disaster is yet to be assessed, the catastrophe clearly exposes the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems and communities to the hazards of a reckless and profit-hungry global shipping industry.

Several experts have raised potential procedural and technical discrepancies that could have caused the accident, including improper container stacking and inadequate or illegal violations of international fire safety measures. The use of seawater by port authorities to try and suppress the fire has also been highlighted as an aggravating factor.

While these concerns are entirely valid, there are other broader questions. Firstly, the catastrophic delay in mobilising international support to deal with the accident. With timely intervention, the disaster may have been completely averted or considerably mitigated.

Secondly, the incident is another manifestation of the increasing frequency of maritime accidents, especially container ship fires. A report from maritime insurer Gard last November noted that one containerised cargo fire is now happening, on average, every two weeks.

Container shipping volumes have massively grown in the last few decades, a situation further aggravated by disruptions to air and overland haulage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Global Container Throughput Index, which measures international container traffic, hit a record high last September.

Shipping companies are scrambling to profit from the disruption of the pandemic, putting their own crew and marine environments at risk. A recent report by Nikkei Asia revealed that shipping workers are being dangerously overworked, with more than 400,000 sailors now compelled to labour beyond their 11-month legal limit at sea. Most of them are also confined to their ships, due to quarantine regulations in the ports.

A large share of container traffic today consists of materials and goods transported multiple times across the globe to various cheap labour platforms, based not on what is most efficient, but what is most profitable. Millions of tons of fuel are burnt in this process.

The eco-social risks posed by massive volumes of potentially hazardous cargo, often transported thousands of kilometres in an unsafe manner, are one expression of the insane and damaging reality of contemporary capitalism.
Julian Assanges father and brother, John and Gabriel Shipton, are touring the United States to call for the WikiLeaks founders release. They are visiting several American cities including Miami, Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, San Francisco and Denver, before finishing in Washington DC.

Assange is a multi-award-winning journalist. His most significant work, carried out through WikiLeaks with the heroic whistleblower Chelsea Manning, is the publication of the Iraq and Afghan war logs and the US diplomatic cables in 2010 and the Guantanamo files in 2011. These releases exposed war crimes, torture, coup plots and corruption by the US and its allies across the globe.

For this reason, Assange has been subjected to more than a decade of vicious uninterrupted persecution by the imperialist powers. He is currently in Londons Belmarsh maximum-security prison, fighting extradition to the US, where he faces a potential 175-year sentence for charges under the Espionage Act.

Gabriel Shipton addressing a 2019 event in London in support of Julian Assange (credit: WSWS media)

On January 4, UK judge Vanessa Baraitser barred Assanges extradition to the US on the grounds that doing so would be oppressive by virtue of his mental health and risk of suicide in the US prison system. However, Baraitser upheld every other aspect of the American governments flagrantly anti-democratic case for extradition. The ruling therefore placed Assanges case in a holding pattern while the outcome of former US president Donald Trumps fascist coup plot was still unclear. Assange has since been denied bail and kept in Belmarsh while the US prepares its appeal to the High Court.

His continued incarceration is inhuman. The only charge Assange faces has been ruled out of order by the British court, yet the same court has ordered that he remain in prison. He is kept in a ten-square-yard cell for 22 hours a day, allowed out to take a shower, exercise and collect food and anti-depressants.

Stella Moris, Assanges partner, recently described him as barely hanging on inside Belmarsh this feels like an endless punishment. At times he is in such despair he thinks he is a burden, so suicide is a very real fear.

Moris continued, He needs human interaction and mental stimulation. I have seen him in a terrible state, unable to even string a sentence together.

It's tough, navigating life inside. The prison has its own criminal justice system and he has been in trouble [with his guards] for the smallest things such as asking for a spoon when he wasn't entitled to one.

John Shipton protesting outside Belmarsh prison in February 2020 (credit: WSWS media)

The Shiptons visit to the US, which follows tours of Australia and Europe, is a recognition that, should the appeal verdict go against Assange, the main front in the campaign for his freedom will be fought in America.

There is no reason to exclude such a rotten ruling. One of the first acts of the incoming Biden administration was to signal its determination to continue the pursuit of Assange instigated by Trump. The British state will therefore feel far more at ease shipping the WikiLeaks founder to America than it did when Trumps coup hung in the balance.

The threat of extradition that has prompted the American tour in defence of Assange brings the question of questions in his defence campaign to the fore: which social force can secure his release?

The tour of the US by the Shiptons highlights the most politically consequential feature of Assanges casehis systematic slandering and isolation by the media and the pseudo-left groups.

Nowhere is this truer than in America. For the best part of a decade, the major news organisations ganged up to slander the WikiLeaks founder as a hacker, terrorist, sexual predator, or Russian agent. This has not been fundamentally reversed by the eleventh-hour acknowledgement of the chilling implications of his case for democratic rights by the New York Times and other publications. Such protests as have been made are framed as humble appeals to President Biden that do not risk so much as embarrassing his administration.

John Shipton at a Candles 4 Assange event in Berlin in 2019 (credit: WSWS media)

The wholesale degeneration of the US media into an appendage of the national security state will be thrown into sharp relief this Sundaythe 50th anniversary of the first release of the Pentagon Papers by the New York Times. At that time, the paper was prepared to publish documents leaked by whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg detailing the disastrous state of the US invasion of Vietnam, and to defend itself against state prosecution in court.

Pseudo-left organisations like Socialist Alternative joined the witch-hunt of Assange by lending credence to the Swedish states fabricated claims of sexual assault, or else kept quiet like Jacobin and the Democratic Socialists of America. Jacobins stony silence has only been recently broken with two comments published before Biden took office, and an interview in April quoting former CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling that Assange will not receive a fair trial. The warnings belatedly made of the threat posed to press freedoms and democratic rights only underscore a politically criminal refusal to mobilise anyone in Assanges defence.

No faith whatsoever can be placed in such soporific gestures tailored to the political imperative of supporting the Democrats. The US ruling class is determined to see Assange destroyed as a pre-emptive strike against mass opposition to its imperialist warmongering.

The only force which can secure Assanges release is a movement of the international working class, whose American contingent must play a leading role.

Yesterday, John and Gabriel Shipton were in Boston to receive the 2021 Sacco-Vanzetti Memorial Award for Social Justice from the Community Church of Boston, on behalf of Assange. The award is entirely appropriate.

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian anarchists framed for murder and executed in the 1920s, at the height of a red scare which saw the arrests of thousands of left-wing figures. This included the use of the Espionage Act to imprison and censor socialists, originally for their opposition to the imperialist slaughter of the First World War.

A massive global campaign was launched to secure Sacco and Vanzettis release. But over time the campaigns organisers side-lined efforts to organise a fightback by the working class in favour of respectful appeals to progressive politicians, elements of the state and judiciary. In the words of Max Shachtman, who soon after played a role in founding the American Trotskyist movement, Because it failed or refused to understand the intensely class nature of the case, the defense succumbed to the demands of the lawyers; it exchanged the movement of the workers for the motions of the lawyers; it sold the class birth-right of Sacco and Vanzetti for a mess of liberal milk and pap.

The World Socialist Web Site stands in the tradition of those who sought Sacco and Vanzettis freedom by the only means possibleclass struggle. Now as then, Assanges fate rests in the hands of American workers and their class brothers and sisters internationally.

Under conditions in which the Biden administration and the US media are spewing the poison of the Wuhan lab lie in preparation for military confrontations with China, in which news of COVID-19 outbreaks is suppressed, and striking workers suffer a press blackout, the fight for truth and democratic rights against lies and war will grip the working class masses. The campaign to free Assange is the spearhead of this struggle.
Peru is entering its fourth day since Sundays second-round presidential election with no announcement of an official winner and a razor-thin margin between the two candidates, former teachers strike leader Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of a former dictator and leader of the Peruvian right.

As of Wednesday, with 98.5 percent of the ballots counted, Castillo was leading Fujimori by a margin of 50.2 percent to 49.8 percent, or just 67,250 votes out of the 17,420,330 thus far tabulated.

Still being counted are ballots from roughly 1,300 voting tables where one or more votes were challenged for irregularities. It is widely predicted that the official declaration of the election results will not come until the end of the week, if not later.

Supporters of presidential candidate Pedro Castillo gather near a ballot counting site, in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, June 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

While the corporate media had virtually anointed Fujimori as the winner based on the first votes counted from the capital of Lima, as votes from the more impoverished areas of the interior came in, Castillo sustained his narrow lead. He proclaimed himself the winner from the balcony of his Lima headquarters Tuesday night, taking off his iconic straw hat, throwing his arm out and declaring, The people have spoken. He also claimed that some Latin American governments had already recognized his victory but named no countries.

Fujimori and her party, Fuerza Popular, have made unsubstantiated claims of fraud by Castillos supporters in the Peru Libre party. Her vice-presidential running mate, Luis Galarreta, couched these allegations in the kind of rhetoric that has dominated Fuerza Populars campaign, declaring communism knows how to commit fraud in all the countries where it takes power.

A team of attorneys from Limas most prominent corporate law firms has been assembled with the mission of nullifying the results from pro-Castillo precincts in the interior based upon unsubstantiated allegations of improper collaboration between election officials and Castillos Peru Libre party.

This last-ditch operation follows a sustained propaganda and intimidation campaign by major employers and the corporate media against Castillo. Employers subjected workers to compulsory meetings where they were told to vote for Fujimori and that they would lose their jobs if Castillo won. The medias propagandizing was so blatant that a dozen journalists resigned from two of the major news shows stating that they had been ordered to slant all coverage in favor of Fujimori.

Meanwhile, supporters of Fujimori called a march for late Wednesday afternoon on the headquarters of the Peruvian Armed Forces Joint Command in the southern Lima neighborhood of Santa Beatriz, with the apparent purpose of appealing to the military to intervene against a Castillo victory.

Earlier in the day, the Defense Ministry issued a statement declaring that the military is subordinate to the constitutional power and that any call for it not to comply with this mandate is improper for a democracy. The statement followed the widespread sharing on social media of what was presented as a statement of the Peruvian high command vowing that the military would intervene to save the country from Castillo and communism. The military said that the document was a fake.

There has been open talk of a coup in the media. The right-wing novelist and prominent Fujimori supporter Mario Vargas Llosa wrote a column for the Spanish daily El Pais after Castillo was the leading candidate in the first round of the election, declaring that if he were to win the second round it would probably mean a military coup in short order in Peru.

Leading Peruvian columnist Juan Carlos Tafur, while warning against civilian and military hotheads trying to overturn the election, allowed that a restorationist coup might be required if Castillo were to take radical measures.

Most blatant was the right-wing daily Peru21, which on the eve of the second round carried on its front page the headline The political risks of communism which is today being irresponsibly promoted. It featured a large photograph of Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet side-by-side with President Salvador Allende, who was overthrow in the 1973 coup led by the general, ushering in 17 years of dictatorship and bloody repression. The article stated that Allende had provoked the coup by seeking to alter the economic system that then ruled in Chile, warning that Castillo would do the same in Peru.

While the right wing has grown increasingly belligerent in its threats, Castillo and his supporters have worked to calm the markets by disavowing any radical measures. On Monday, after a dramatic fall in the value of Peruvian sol and a sell-off on the financial markets, Castillo issued a statement affirming that as president he would respect the autonomy of the Central Bank and guarantee payments on Perus crushing foreign debt, now equivalent to roughly 40 percent of the countrys gross domestic product.

He went on to declare, We reiterate that we have never considered in our economic plan nationalizations, expropriations, confiscation of savings, exchange controls, price controls or import prohibitions. Instead, he is now calling merely for improved tax collection on corporations and seeking a better deal on royalties from the transnational mining companies. As far as an agrarian reform, his campaign has also foresworn any expropriation or redistribution of land.

The statement seemed to have had the desired effect, with Peruvian bonds regaining half the value they lost and the stock market rising on Tuesday.

The elections have provided a distorted reflection of the immense social divide that exists in Peru. While wealthier Lima neighborhoods like Miraflores and San Isidro voted between 80 and 90 percent in favor of Fujimori, impoverished regions in the interior like Ayacucho, Cusco and Huancavelica, voted by similar margins for Castillo.

Peruvians have suffered the highest COVID-19 per capita death toll in all of Latin America, and the health care system is in a state of collapse. The countrys economy contracted by more than 11 percent last year, wiping out millions of jobs and pushing what is expected to be more than 3 million people into abject poverty and hunger. At the same time, the criminal policies of the government and the employers have sparked strikes by miners, health care workers, public employees and other sectors of the working class.

The fear among the most conscious layers of the Peruvian bourgeoisie and transnational mining, finance and other sectors invested in Peru is not of Castillo, but rather the radicalization and growing militancy among those who voted for him. Their concern is that a Castillo presidency, with its slogan of No more poor in a rich country could arouse expectations of change that will not be realized, leading to a social explosion.

The bourgeoisie has already gone through the experience of Ollanta Humala, the former army officer who initiated his presidential campaign in 2006 as a 21st century socialist, only to pack his cabinet with reliable representatives of capitalist interests and carry out repression of workers struggles.

Kurt Burneo, an ex-deputy finance minister who is now an InterAmerican Development Bank executive in Washington and considered a likely presidential economic adviser to Castillo, told the daily La Republica, When you look at Peruvian history, it is not unusual for someone to campaign from the left and govern from the right.

Such sober assessments from representatives of the bourgeoisie, born of the experience of the so-called Pink Tide in Latin America, are entirely lacking among layers of the pseudo left, both in the region and in North America and Europe, which have hailed the prospect of a socialist president in Peru.

Among the crudest examples of this tendency is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which sent a delegation to Peru to observe the elections. It issued a statement declaring that this election lights the way for other Latin American movements that seek revolutionary social change and that the DSA itself wanted to emulate Castillos example.

This promotion of illusions that the way forward for the Latin American working class and oppressed masses lies in some kind of revival of the Pink Tide under the leadership of bourgeois parties like Peru Libre can only help pave the way to new defeats. It is entirely in line with the interests of the US State Department in channeling the upsurge of the Latin American working class behind safe left bourgeois governments that can serve only as antechambers of a new wave of military dictatorships.

The struggle in defense of living standards and basic democratic rights can be advanced only on the basis of the political independence of the working class from all bourgeois parties as well as their affiliated corporatist trade unions. A new revolutionary leadership must be built as sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in Peru and throughout the region.
On June 8, ProPublica published the first in a projected series of articles documenting the massive scale of legally sanctioned tax evasion carried out by Americas ever-expanding class of billionaires. The article, based on an exhaustive study of leaked Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documents, focuses on the period from 2014 through 2018. It demonstrates that in the course of those five years, the 25 richest Americans paid federal taxes on their increased wealth at a far lower rate than the typical US household.

The report also cites tax data on billionaire oligarchs such as Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk and Michael Bloomberg going back to the first decade of the current century, showing that they paid little or no taxes regardless of which big business partyDemocrats or Republicansoccupied the White House. It explains as well that even were the Biden administration to carry out its promised increases in income tax rates for the rich, the impact on the vast fortunes of todays robber barons would be minimal.

The authors state that in determining the increased wealth of Americas top 0.001 percent, they included not simply their salaries, which in many cases comprise only a small share of their actual income, but also investments, stock trades, gambling winnings and even the results of audits.

Billionaires Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Elon Musk (All originals from Wikimedia Commons)

The result, they note, demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most. They continue: The IRS records show that the wealthiest canperfectly legallypay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year.

ProPublicas revelations provide insight into how the capitalist system and its various state institutions and rigged legal system promote a parasitic financial aristocracy that lives in a world apart from the rest of humanity. Unlike workers, who depend on their wages to survive and pay the full income tax rate, the ultra-wealthy avoid taxes by obtaining massive loans from banks, borrowing against the value of their ever growing and artificially inflated assets, such as stocks and real estate, which are not taxable until they are sold.

In order to calculate what ProPublica terms the true tax rate of the 25 richest Americans, the report compares how much in taxes these individuals paid over a given period to how much their wealth grew, using wealth estimates published by Forbes magazine.

Between 2014 and 2018, Forbes estimated that these 25 people saw their wealth increase collectively by $401 billion. The documents obtained by ProPublica show that these same individuals collectively paid $13.6 billion in federal income taxes over the same time period, for a true tax rate of only 3.4 percent. By contrast, ProPublica found that between 2014 and 2018, a typical US worker in his or her 40s experienced a net wealth expansion of about $65,000. That same workers tax bills were almost as much, nearly $62,000, over that five-year period.

Over that same period, according to ProPublica, Warren Buffetts wealth increased by $24.3 billion, but the Berkshire Hathaway mogul paid only $23.7 million in taxes, resulting in a true tax rate of 0.10 percent.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos wealth soared by a staggering $99 billion, but he paid just $973 million in taxes, yielding a true tax rate of less than 1 percent.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is another pandemic profiteer. He saw his wealth skyrocket this past year, in part by violating a state-ordered shutdown and illegally restarting production at the Fremont, California, Tesla factory, leading to hundreds of coronavirus infections. Between 2014 and 2018 his wealth grew by $13.9 billion, while he paid $455 million in taxes, resulting in a true tax rate of 3.27 percent.

The reporting confirms the Marxist analysis of the capitalist state, described in the Communist Manifesto as  a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. The various loopholes and tax avoidance schemes employed by the ruling class are legal, have been for decades, and will continue to be so under Biden or any other Democratic administration.

As then-candidate Joe Biden assured wealthy donors at a Manhattan campaign fundraising event in January 2019, should he become president, no ones standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change. Nearly six months into his presidency, Biden has kept his promises to his wealthy benefactors, as evinced by his recent retreat from his proposal to raise corporate taxes by a few percentage points.

Among other facts included in the ProPublica report:

Bezos, the worlds richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes in 2007 and 2011. In 2011, despite his overall wealth holding steady at $18 billion, Bezos filed a tax return in which he claimed to have lost money. The IRS not only approved the billionaires tax return, it granted him a $4,000 tax credit for his children!

Musk, now the second richest person in the world, did not pay any federal income taxes in 2018.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as billionaire investors Carl Icahn and George Soros, have also had years when they paid nothing in federal income taxes. Soros, worth an estimated $8.6 billion as of March 2021, paid no federal income taxes for three years in a row.

According to the ProPublica report, when the super-rich do pay something in income taxes, their true tax rate is far lower than that of the typical working class household, with a median income of $70,000. For instance, between 2006 and 2018, while Bezos wealth surged by over $120 billion, he paid, on average, $1.09 in taxes for every $100 in wealth growth. But over the same period, the median American household paid $160 in taxes for every $100 in wealth growthpaying more in taxes than it gained in wealth.

Overall, ProPublica found that the richest 25 Americans pay a far lower income tax rate, an average of 15.8 percent of adjusted gross income, than do many workers, once taxes for Social Security and Medicare are included. To highlight the point, ProPublica found that by the end of 2018, the 25 richest Americans were worth $1.1 trillion and collectively paid a federal tax bill of $1.9 billion.

The $1.1 trillion in collective wealth hoarded by 25 people equals the combined annual wages of roughly 14.3 million American workers, who in 2018 paid $143 billion in federal taxes, or over 75 times more than the billionaires.

On Tuesday, in response to a reporters question about the ProPublica report, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had nothing to say about its damning content. Instead, she threatened criminal prosecution of those who leaked the IRS documents to ProPublica.

Any unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information by a person of access is illegal and we take this very seriously, said Psaki. She added that the IRS commissioner has referred the matter to investigators and that the FBI and Justice Department would also be investigating.
Crane operators in South Korea announced on Tuesday that they would strike following a string of worksite accidents in recent weeks. The workers, who overwhelmingly approved industrial action with 83.1 percent voting in favor, are demanding the government improve safety measures before they return to the job.

The crane operators join a growing wave of struggles internationally, as workers fight back against attacks on wages and working conditions.

The impetus for the latest walk-out was an accident that took place on June 5 in the city of Incheon, when a crane dropped construction materials, injuring a worker. Another worker was similarly injured on May 8, when a cranes line snapped, dropping materials and hitting another laborer. Approximately 3,300 workers belonging to the Korean Construction Workers Union (KCWU), affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), then voted to approve strike action.

Gimpo airport cranes (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Accidents involving small-cranes have become widespread. On May 16, a worker was killed in the city of Donghae when a crane collapsed on top of him at a cement factory. On April 24, a worker in Incheon fell from a crane and died. The KCWU stated that, Since April 24, there have been at least 8 small-tower crane accidents nationally that have led to the death of one worker while three others have been injured.

Many of these accidents have been caused by equipment that had previously been deregistered by the government due to safety concerns. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) had deregistered a total of 369 cranes, citing equipment problems, ostensibly preventing them from being used. Last year, MOLIT inspected around 10 percent of registered cranes, or 590 units, and found 4,000 defects in the equipment.

This has not stopped construction companies from using the faulty equipment in order to cut costs at the expense of safety. Crane operator Hyeon Byeong-seok told South Koreas MBC News that The equipment was concerning to operate because it had been deregistered, but the site manager didnt care and told us to use it anyways.

Striking workers are demanding the proper supervision of all small-tower cranes beginning July 1, an immediate halt to the use of all equipment that has been deregistered and direct engagement in negotiations with the head of MOLIT, No Hyeong-uk.

The dangers facing workers are not new but have been ongoing for a number of years. Crane operators also struck in 2019 citing safety concerns and demanding higher wages. Since then, deadly accidents have continued to occur, including at least three workers who were killed in crane accidents in January of last year.

Construction workers are therefore understandably in fear for their lives. However, it is a situation that is being repeated around the world, particularly under the COVID-19 pandemic. The ruling class in every country has done everything possible to keep workers on the job generating profits for big business. This is also true in South Korea, where outbreaks of the deadly virus did nothing to halt operations in workplaces like distribution centers and auto factories.

The fight for safety on construction sites must be seen in this broader political context. The same big business profit interests dictating the use of dangerous equipment to cut costs also underlie the homicidal drive to force workers back on the job as the virus is circulating widely.

The South Korean construction workers are therefore posed with the need for a struggle, not only against dishonest business owners, but the entire capitalist system. Their allies are not politicians and union bureaucrats who make vague pledges to improve safety, but the entire international working class.

The KCTU and KCWU are attempting to convince workers that their safety concerns can be addressed by the government, and therefore under capitalism. Jeon Jae-hui, an official with the KCWU, appealed to the Moon Jae-in administration, not other workers, saying, They say these are small cranes, but there are a lot of accidents involving them. There are many accidents across the country, so its a dangerous piece of equipment. We have continually requested to MOLIT to provide supervision over this.

Moon campaigned in the 2017 presidential election pledging to halve workplace fatalities to approximately 500 annually. In other words, Moon came to office, backed by the KCTU, announcing that 500 workers deaths a year were acceptable.

A new law passed in January will supposedly reduce workplace fatalities according to the Moon administration and its ruling Democratic Party (DP). The law, which only takes effect next year, supposedly will subject business owners or senior officials at a company to one year in jail or a fine of up to one billion won ($US897,000) in the event they are found liable for a workers death. Small and medium sized businesses have been given a two-year grace period, despite the fact that most accidents occur at these companies.

DP lawmaker Gang Byeong-won stated on May 31, We are aware of concerns that the industrial accident law will not be effective on small- and medium-sized industrial sites, accounting for 80 percent of all related deaths.

The paltry promises of reform have changed little. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 882 workers died last year while on the job, or more than two per day. This was an increase of 27 from 2019. In the first quarter of this year, 238 employees have died at work, putting the total number of deaths on pace for 952 this year.

In addition, ninety-four of the workers killed last year were non-Koreans, largely migrant workers employed in construction and factories. Despite this, the KCTU and its affiliated unions regularly whip up anti-foreign sentiment.

In May, the KCWU in the city of Gwangju launched a series of protests demanding companies only hire local Korean workers while denouncing illegally hired foreign workers. In other words, while Korean and foreign workers face the same, exploitative and dangerous conditions, the unions are attempting to divide them and shift blame on to foreign laborers.

There is no reason to believe the new labor law will have a significant impact on protecting workers. Similar laws have done little to reduce widespread industrial accidents in South Korea and are filled with loopholes to protect businesses and their profit margins. Workers must turn to their class brothers and sisters throughout the country and internationally to wage a genuine struggle for workplace safety and against capitalism.
The courageous stand taken by Volvo Trucks workers in Virginia, who went on strike Monday after decisively voting down a second sellout agreement pushed by the United Auto Workers (UAW), has inspired workers throughout the US and internationally.

In recent days, the WSWS has published statements of support for the nearly 3,000 striking workers at the New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia, that have been sent by auto and auto parts workers, educators and Amazon workers in the US, and autoworkers in India who have carried out wildcat strikes against Ford, Hyundai, Maruti-Suzuki and other corporations that have kept their factories open while the deadly pandemic spreads through their plants. German workers have also sent statements of solidarity.

Volvo workers during their first strike in April (UAW Local 2069/Facebook)

Striking workers in Virginia, including those who formed the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee to lead the opposition against the sellout contracts, have said the outpouring of support for their struggle from around the world has lifted their morale and bolstered their determination to fight both the company and the UAW.

On Tuesday, the World Socialist Web Site received a statement of solidarity from a General Motors worker at the companys Silao, Mexico, factory. The Silao workers have built a rank-and-file movement against the pro-company Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM).

Three of the victimized Silao workers

Raziel, a worker at the Silao plant, said, Courage, fellow Volvo workers, from the trenches of GM Silao, Mexico. I send my regards and best wishes. We can only change those parasitic unions if we stand together. We share the same conditions at Silao in our struggle against the CTM. The government supports the charro [corrupt] unions, so we are on a losing path; they dont even want [fair] elections. We send to you all of our support to get rid of those parasitic unions!

In the weeks leading up to the 2019 GM strike in the US, the Silao workers resisted efforts by GM to increase production at the Silao complex, where 6,000 workers manufacture the companys most profitable vehicles, the Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks, for $2.25 an hour. For their courageous act of solidarity, GM and the gangster-ridden Confederation of Mexican Workers union tracked down the leaders of the rebellion and fired the workers, including several who had more than 20 years of seniority at GM. The victimized workers issued an open letter to US workers who supported the Silao workers as they fought to get their jobs back.

Support for the Volvo workers has also come from Detroit autoworkers, including workers at Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler). Former Vice President General Holiefield who was caught taking bribes from Fiat Chrysler was responsible for the signing contracts at Fiat Chrysler and Volvo Trucks that introduced the hated two-tier wage system.

Angie, a worker at the Stellantis Jefferson North Assembly Plant (JNAP) said, I sympathize with the Volvo workers. They are united and taking a stand against the UAW. There is power in numbers: 90 percent is awesome. The UAW is speaking very loud and clear that they dont care about you. The contract they tried to sell you was a slap in the face. How do you justify that? She said, Workers in all the different auto plants should stand in solidarity with them.

Angie described the experiences of workers at JNAP and other Fiat Chrysler plants in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Canada who carried out job actions in defiance of the UAW in order to force a two-month shutdown of production in March 2020 because of the spread of the deadly virus.

The UAW engineered a return to work under still unsafe conditions. They tried to make it look good, it wasnt clean, as soon we got back to work, it was business as usual. It went from where if one person got COVID, the whole team was quarantined to only one or two people, or no people. The UAW wasnt in support of the workers. You dont get paid if you come in contact with someone who has COVID.

She said that Stellantis workers were building rank-and-file committees in their plants too.

My suggestion, she said, is to work with the rank-and-file committee. It is more obvious than ever that the UAW is not for workers. They have completely sold the workers out and that will not change going forward. What has to change is the actions of the workers themselves, just like the Volvo workers.

Angie concluded, The fight has to be international to be truly effective. It is not just local to us. It has to be international. We all want solidarity and fairness. We all want living wages where we can be comfortable; to be able to not struggle.

Educators who have been engaged in a struggle against federal and state authorities and the unions over the reopening of schools during the pandemic have also expressed their support for the Volvo workers.

The WSWS spoke to a teacher from northern Michigan. I think it is fantastic that they voted it down and the people are standing up, the teacher said. There was also a contract up at a parts plant [Nexteer] near me, here in Michigan, just recently. I know the workers there are questioning the ballot tally, and it was reported as very close. They are questioning whether it was counted fairly by the UAW. But the vote at Volvo was overwhelming against.

So, the UAW called them back out. They are probably going to do the same thing they did at American Axle when they only paid $200 a week in strike benefits during that strike in 2008. Then the company cut off health insurance. I remember my husband was really livid back then when they cut off the insurance and the union did not step in to help. Single parents were in an impossible situation. They could not afford to pay to go out and get the health insurance. At that time, you could not go on an exchange and just buy it either."

The UAW eventually sold out the three-month American Axle strike, leading to deep wage cuts and the elimination of half the jobs at its Michigan and New York plants.

"With the strike at Volvo, buying power is not what it was before now. So, there are going to be even more economic worries for that reason. What they pay out at the UAW for strike benefits does not even amount to minimum wage, not even close."

She then described the struggle of educators to protect their health and lives and those of their students and communities against the bipartisan rush to reopen the schools. Referring to the hypocrisy of the teacher unions, she said, We saw how things actually go when they told us the same type of thing when we were fighting over COVID issues at the beginning of the school year. I would hear the Michigan Education Association (MEA) say the laws and other things prevented us from doing anything about it. It was all about knocking on doors and getting Biden elected.

But they have truly got a case of cognitive dissonance. They claimed Trump was the problem and it was important to support Biden because he was the lesser evil. But ever since Biden took office there has been a coordinated effort to get teachers back and schools open fully. [Michigan Governor] Whitmer claimed she was following the science but as soon as Biden got in office all that following the science stuff was thrown out the window.

So, I am very happy to see people fighting back against this situation. When we teachers wanted to strike statewide in 2011, the MEA told us we had to get 90 percent of the teachers in the state to vote for such a strike or it was a no-go. They made up that number as needed because of the anti-strike legislation.

What they really were telling us was what an impossible thing it would be to get that percentage. So, I am glad to see such a turnout there in Virginia. Ninety percent against what the UAW brought back? That shows some real solidarity, she said.
Tharnicaa Murugappan, a three-year-old member of a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee family, imprisoned on Australias Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, was denied proper medical treatment for ten days, while she had a high fever, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Last Monday night, she was finally medically evacuated from her refugee prison to a children's hospital on the mainland in Perth, the capital of Western Australia. By that stage she had developed septicaemia, a life-threatening blood condition, due to untreated pneumonia.

Her mother Priya was allowed to accompany Tharnicaa to Perth, but her father, Nades, and five-year-old sister Kopika, were forced to remain imprisoned on Christmas Island.

Nades, Priya, Kopika and Tharnicaa. (Credit: @hometobilo)

Tharnicaa is the youngest of the Tamil refugee family, who were arrested more than three years ago in their home in the central Queensland town of Biloela. Having been born just prior to her arrest, Tharnicaa has spent most of her life in Australias inhumane refugee detention system.

There is mass opposition to the familys torturous imprisonment, and to attempts by Scott Morrisons federal Liberal-National government to deport them. Spearheading the call for their release is the community in Biloela, which has been fighting for more than three years through the Home to Bilo campaign.

Situated in rural central Queensland, Biloela is a hub for coal mining operations and has a large abattoir that employs a number of immigrants and refugees. The stand taken by the working-class people of this town, as well as the mass support they have received across the country, blows apart the myth of popular support for the criminal war on refugees that has been waged by Labor and Liberal governments alike since the 1990s.

Angela Fredericks, one of the Home to Bilo campaign leaders, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): My blood was absolutely boiling just listening to the familys treatment by the staff at the detention facility. The medical officers, that are purely there to look after this family at that detention facility, failed in their responsibilities.

Fredericks said Tharnicaa had symptoms for two weeks prior and was seen by medical staff, who simply prescribed her paracetamol and ibuprofen.

For five days before her evacuation, she had consistent high fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. Her temperature was 40.7 degrees Celsius before she was taken to the hospital on Christmas Island.

On the weekend, [Priya had] been asking for her to be taken to the hospital and she kept getting told no, shes not bad enough, shell be fine, Fredericks explained. It wasnt until Tharnicaa was literally falling over that they finally got her to the hospital.

Similar treatment was meted out to Priya in July last year, when she was denied proper medical treatment for a month, including two weeks of severe abdominal pain and vomiting, before being transported to Perth.

The Australian Medical Association Western Australian branch president Andrew Miller is very concerned about the prospect of Tharnicaa being returned to Christmas Island. He stated: We should be having a long, hard think about whether, in a psychological and social sense, it is safe to discharge her from hospital back to the environment she came from. This was set up to happen by having little children living in an isolated location in lockdown conditions.

The familys lawyer, Carina Ford, told the Guardian on Monday that she had forwarded numbers of medical reports to Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, calling for the familys release into community detention. Ford said the reports confirm the difficulties that children are now having as a result of long-term detention, which includes sleep disturbance, sensitivity to sound, difficulties sleeping, etc.

This is consistent with findings by medical professionals on the long-term psychological impact of indefinite detention on children. They can develop what is called resignation syndrome. Caused by extreme depression, it can lead victims to withdraw into a catatonic state.

Both Alex Hawke and Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews have refused to release the family, despite having the ministerial authority to do so. Andrews initially appeared to raise the possibility of resettling the family to the US or New Zealand, something never communicated to the familys lawyers, only to insist, when interviewed on the Sunrise television program this morning, that this was not the case.

When asked why the family was being treated in this manner, Andrews said it was in line with long-standing policies. She stated: Quite frankly, I am not going to have people dying trying to come to Australia by sea on my watch Im not going to open the gates to the people smugglers.

This line has been promoted by successive Labor and Liberal governmentsbarbarous and blatantly illegal treatment of asylum seekers is justified as a means of providing a suitable deterrent to other refugees thinking of fleeing to Australia. That rationale has now been extended in defence of the lifelong detention and denial of proper healthcare to a three-year-old child.

The Labor opposition has sought to make a limited appeal to the widespread revulsion over the Murugappan familys case. Labors shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally visited the family on Christmas Island in April, and has called for the sad, sorry saga to come to an end, and for the government to allow this family to come home to Biloela.

This demand is saturated with hypocrisy, and is aimed at covering over the Labor Partys record in helping create the border protection regime that is responsible for the Murugappan familys indefinite detention.

Keneally herself criticised the Coalition government from the right in 2019, accusing it of losing control of the borders, after statistics were released on the number of asylum claims from people arriving in Australia via airports.

She also condemned then Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton for allowing a temporary break in coordinated Australia-Sri Lanka military patrols targeting Tamil and other refugees. Keneally issued a statement on Twitter: Mr Dutton needs to explain why he stopped these crucial border patrols.

Julia Gillards Labor government, with the critical backing of the Greens, established the policy of immediate repatriation of all Sri Lankan asylum seekers who reach Australia by boat. Negotiated with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, the agreement saw 700 asylum seekers deported, and an unknown numbers of others blocked by the Australian navy and forced to return.

Labor continues to uphold the entire framework of mandatory detention that it originally developed, and which is aimed at abrogating the internationally-protected right of refugees to seek asylum.

What is happening to Tharnicaa exemplifies the treatment of refugees by the political elites in Australia and internationally. The answer is not to appeal to the very political parties that are responsible for the nightmarish conditions inflicted upon refugees. The orientation of any movement for their freedom must be directed towards the working class, and coupled with the fight for the right of any person to live and work wherever they want in the world.
The Labor government in Victoria announced yesterday that a two-week lockdown of the state capital, Melbourne, will end at midnight this evening, even though transmission of the coronavirus, including highly-infectious strains that originated in India, is continuing to result in new cases each day.

The ending of the lockdown was primarily a political decision, not a public health one. The announcement was made some 36-hours before the restrictions were scheduled to expire. This was a transparent attempt by the Labor government to placate the corporate and financial elite, which has been waging a ferocious campaign against any extension of the shutdown.

When they have imposed lockdowns previously, a number of state governments have insisted that it is not safe to overturn the measure until successive days without transmission.

Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino announcing the end of the lockdown yesterday (Screenshot ABC News)

This was the case during a protracted lockdown introduced by the Victorian government late last year, in response to the worst outbreak in Australia to date. Restrictions were only eased after nine days in which no new infections were recorded. Government ministers repeatedly declared that it would be reckless to lift the measures before the rolling average of new cases was approaching zero over 14-days, the potential COVID-19 incubation period.

Now, however, the same government is abolishing a lockdown as new cases are reported every single day. There are still hundreds of exposure sites, which were visited by people while they were infected, throughout Melbourne.

State authorities touted the fact that only one infection was announced on Wednesday, following two on Tuesday, as justification. On Monday, however, eleven cases were revealed, and today another four were reported. The latter are all from one family household. Indicating ongoing community transmission, the source of their infection is not known. They take the total number of active cases in the state to 91.

The dangers of a broad spread of the disease, with the lifting of restrictions, were underscored yesterday when it was revealed that a woman had tested positive on the Sunshine Coast in the north-eastern state of Queensland. The woman and her husband, who is also now infected, travelled from Melbourne, through Victoria and the neighbouring state of New South Wales (NSW) before arriving at their destination. There are at least 15 exposure sites in NSW, including in major regional centres such as Dubbo.

The pair have immediately been branded as reckless and irresponsible by health authorities across multiple states. Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino was compelled to acknowledge today that if the couple were permanently relocating, they may not have broken Melbourne restrictions, but Queensland authorities have claimed they did not have a permit to enter that state.

In any event, the lifting of the Melbourne lockdown, allowing for the movement of people who are potentially infected in a city of more than five million, is an act of greater recklessness than anything two private individuals could carry out.

The majority of the infections in Victoria have been of the Kappa variant, which originated in India, and is more contagious than previous iterations of the virus. Last week, however, infections of the Delta strain, which is more virulent still, were first detected, followed by more cases this week. The spread of the Delta variant has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe in India, and a resurgence of cases in a number of other countries, including Britain.

Even when Kappa was the only variant circulating, Victorian authorities stated that the current outbreak involved a more rapid spread of the virus than ever before in Australia. They noted incidents of transmission involving fleeting contact between strangers in public places.

This morning, Merlino reiterated that the lockdown will end. He sought to present this as a medically-responsible course of action, declaring: Today we are moving ahead, but we are on high alert.

In truth, his governments decision is part of a drive by the political establishment to end all lockdowns, regardless of the public health consequences, so as to remove any barriers to the profit-making activities of big business.

It flows directly from a meeting last Friday of the national cabinet, an extra-constitutional body that has frequently governed by decree throughout the pandemic. The state and territory leaders at the gathering, most of them from the Labor Party, accepted a proposal from the federal Liberal-National government that meagre Commonwealth assistance to those thrown out of work by lockdowns would be tied to a narrow definition of coronavirus outbreaks.

Under the federal guidelines, which the states had previously opposed, a COVID hotspot is only declared in an area if there are an average of at least ten cases per day over three consecutive days. Current recorded rates of transmission in Melbourne would not qualify, nor would any previous outbreak in Australia this year. In other words, the definition is effectively a decree against lockdowns, and mandates that they only be considered when mass transmission is already underway.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison gave practical application to the new doctrine on Monday, publicly-demanding the scheduled end of the Melbourne lockdown even though eleven new infections were recorded on that day.

The policies of the state and federal government amount to a gamble with the health and lives of working people.

When the lockdown was extended in Melbourne for an additional week, but ended in regional Victoria, the Labor government decreed that Year 11 and 12 high school students and teachers return to face-to-face learning in the city.

Now, the schools are to be fully reopened from tomorrow. Teachers, many of them with age and health vulnerabilities, will be forced into overcrowded classrooms with dozens of pupils. In last years Victorian outbreak, and internationally, schools have acted as vectors of the disease, resulting in large clusters and spreading the virus more broadly in the community. As has previously been the case, the Australian Education Union, which collaborates closely with the Labor government, will enforce the full reopening.

Cafes and restaurants are permitted to resume indoor dining, with a maximum-cap of 50 patrons and fewer for smaller venues. Offices, which were the source of one of the largest clusters this outbreak, will reopen, but with a 25 percent capacity limit. Outdoor gatherings are restricted to ten people with mandatory mask wearing required. Melbourne residents are permitted to travel within a 25-kilometre radius, but as before there are exemptions for work and other activities deemed essential.

The government has touted more stringent QR code check-in requirements, including for businesses that do not have public customers, as a means of limiting mass COVID spread. They have continued a ban on visiting other peoples houses. But the size of Melbourne and its population density mean that the largely unchecked movement of millions of people will make contact-tracing far more difficult.

The government failures that resulted in the current outbreak, moreover, have not been resolved. The majority of cases stem from a leak in a South Australian hotel quarantine. The private hotels, where the bulk of international arrivals are required to self-isolate, do not have protections against airborne transmission and have been the source of the majority of Australian outbreaks.

Despite a memorandum of understanding between the Victorian state government and the federal government for a new purpose-built quarantine facility in Melbourne, there is no definite timeline on the initiative.

The federal governments vaccine rollout continues to be a shambles. An untold number of health and aged-care workers in Melbourne, numbering in the tens of thousands, have yet to receive a dose. Most teachers are not inoculated.

Significantly, despite the end of the lockdown, the response of the financial elite to the Victorian announcement has been overwhelmingly negative.

A flurry of articles in the Murdoch-owned Australian have denounced the remaining safety measures. An editorial in the paper this morning summed up the line, asking: Why prolong the agony with the new post-lockdown restrictions? Where is the health advice? And why not lift the lockdown a day early after just a single Covid-19 case was reported on Wednesday?

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg submitted a nauseating opinion piece to Murdochs Herald Sun yesterday, bemoaning the impact of the lockdown, and especially the school closure on children, not as a politician, but as a parent. Kids have had enough of the brief periods of online learning, the treasurer informed readers, before insisting that they and teachers must be in the schools, whatever the spread of the virus.

Because there would likely be recurrent outbreaks for some time, Frydenberg stated it was essential that we do all we can to keep our schools open as their closure should only be a last resort.

This is the program of the ruling elite internationally that has led to mass illness and death around the world. Workers, the poor and even children must be exposed to the risk of infection and death. The alternative, a scientifically-grounded public health program aimed at eliminating the virus, is unacceptable, because of its potential impact on the profits and wealth of the oligarchy.
The global heavy-truck maker Volvo is ratcheting up its attempts to crush the strike and incipient rebellion by nearly 3,000 manufacturing workers at its New River Valley (NRV) plant in southwestern Virginia. On Sunday, workers courageously voted down and defied a second United Auto Workers-backed sellout contract by 90 percent.

Volvo brought in vans full of scabs on Wednesday, workers reported to the World Socialist Web Site. At the main entrance they brought in 10-12 black vans full of people, said Sam, a worker at the plant whose name has been changed to protect him from retaliation.

Volvo workers on the picket lines this week (UAW Local 2069/Facebook)

There is a growing recognition among workers that the UAW is deliberately undermining the strike, enabling the companys scabbing operations to proceed. Since the second walkout began Monday, the UAW ordered workers to retreat away from roads into the plant and allow strikebreakers to pass, as well as limiting the size of pickets. There were signs up everywhere at the union hall saying that you are not to stop any vehicle, Sam said. They posted too that if you cause a disturbance, you will be removed by state police.

However, a number of the pictures of the picket lines on Facebook Wednesday showed large groups of workers standing in the roads, ignoring the UAWs commands.

UAW Local 2069 reported Wednesday that the company will be sending out termination letters, claiming that this is a normal part of the process. The local had reported Tuesday that the company had cut off workers health care coverage, a provocative and aggressive action that the union gave no indication of opposing.

Later in the day Wednesday, workers responded angrily when Local 2069 announced on Facebook that strike paychecks should be available June 21. We waited two weeks last time [but] we never ended the strike you just made us go back to work why do we have to wait again? one worker commented, referring to the unions unilateral shutdown of the first two-week walkout on April 30. The UAW doles out only a miserable $275 a week in pay, less than the federal minimum wage, from its $790 million strike fund.

The cutoff of health benefits and the pittance being issued in strike pay have been denounced in statements circulated by the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee. The committee, which workers have said was the catalyst for opposition to the UAWs first two sellout agreements, has demanded that there be no new negotiations until health coverage is reinstated, and that strike pay be immediately increased to cover workers full income.

Fearful of the growing rebellion among the rank and file and feeling itself under siege, the UAW is working with a definite strategy to isolate and hamstring workers. If anything, it is now seeking to force through an even worse contract than the first two pro-company deals.

Workers told the WSWS that they believe they are being punished by the UAW for voting down its pro-company contracts by 90 percent two times. In both cases, the agreement would have raised health care costs, maintained the hated multi-tier pay and benefit system, entailed an effective cut in real wages, ended the eight-hour day, and placed retirees health benefits in jeopardy.

In an obviously vindictive move, on Wednesday the UAW told workers, including those who are older and may have health problems, that they may not bring chairs to sit while at the picket.

Some older fellows brought lounge chairs and the UAW said they had to stand at all times, Sam said. They told the strike captain screw you, we are not going to stand the entire time. Workers said the order to not bring lounge chairs to the pickets came from Local 2069 President Matt Blondino himself.

Blondino gave a brief interview to a local CBS affiliate that was aired on Tuesday. If the appearance was meant to save face among workers, it had the opposite effect. He appeared too scared to say anything, thats what everyone says, Sam said. He added that workers felt that if he had so little to say about their struggle, that means he cant be fighting for us.

While the World Socialist Web Site has been publishing multiple daily reports on the walkout, bringing the struggle to workers attention both in the US and internationally, the strike has been virtually blacked out from the national media in the US, with coverage largely confined to local news outlets. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal have published no articles on the latest strike as of this writing, and the Washington Post carried only a short reprint of an Associated Press report Monday morning.

The media silence reflects a deepening unease among the corporate and political establishment, as well as among the well-paid executives who run the trade union apparatus on their behalf. Neither the UAW nor the AFL-CIO, the main trade union federation in the US, has posted information about the strike on their websites, nor have they done anything to inform their members about it.

There can be little doubt that both Volvo and the UAW have been in discussion with Virginias Democratic Party-led state government and the Biden administration since Sundays humiliating defeat of the union-company contract. Since coming into office, Biden and the Democrats have sought to shore up the position of the unions, seeing in them a bulwark against the rising tide of working-class anger. Biden lent his support to the unionization drive at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, which was rejected by a two-to-one margin by workers, who were overwhelmingly alienated from the campaign.

The White House also has initiated a pro-union task force, composed of top national security and economic policy cabinet members. The task force is holding virtual listening sessions with union leaders through the end of the week, discussing policies the union heads hope to see implemented by the Biden administration, according to Bloomberg Law.

The capitalist state is seeking to strengthen the grip of the unions over workers and integrate them more closely into its strategic discussions in the hopes of heading off a looming social explosion. Throughout the United States and in other countries, there has been an initial upsurge in strikes this year against declining pay and working conditions, as well as the deadly impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In each case, workers have immediately come into collision with the pro-corporate unions, which have worked to isolate walkouts, cripple their effectiveness, and disarm workers in the face of increasingly vicious attacks by the companies.

At Warrior Met Coal in Alabama, where miners have been on strike since the end of March and voted down a United Mine Workers-backed deal by 1,006 to 45 in April, a growing number of picketers have been hit by strikebreakers cars. Tenet Healthcare has been hiring permanent replacement workers and increasingly terminating striking nurses at the St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. And the United Steelworkers has kept a series of workers struggles isolated from each other, including striking ATI steelworkers in several states and nickel miners for Vale Inco in Canada, as well as locked-out ExxonMobil oil refinery workers in Beaumont, Texas.

The critical task for workers in each of these struggles is to break out of the artificial separation imposed by the unions, unify their forces, and mobilize far broader sections of the working class, both in the US and internationally. But for this unification to happen, a network of new organizations is required, made up of rank-and-file committees like the one formed by Volvo Trucks workers.

There is a powerful reservoir of desire in the working class for unity and a collective fight to finally put an end to the decades-long corporate assault.

A worker for Mack Trucks (which is also owned by Sweden-based Volvo Group) in Allentown, Pennsylvania, told the WSWS that workers at his plant were following the strike at NRV closely and wanted to give their support. Addressing himself to striking workers, he said, If we were all together and shut down Allentown, Hagerstown, Maryland and the other plants, that would really hurt Volvo. We are in the same boat and should be under the same contract. Volvo keeps making money and we keep giving up contract after contract.

Our contract comes up in two years, and we support you guys and want you to get better than we did in 2019. We were on the picket line, and I hated that we were only paid $275, while the UAW has all that money in the strike fund. Everybody is paying attention here and wants you to get what you need.

The cabs for our day trucks and Mack Anthem trucks are painted at NRV. The Hagerstown plant makes engines for us here and at NRV. We dont want to handle anything coming from NRV during the strike, but we have to be unified so management cant suspend or fire us.

The UAW shop chair, the president of the local are all against a rank-and-file committee but we need one at our plant too. I say to the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee: stay strong and fight for what the workers deserve.

Volvo and Mack workers can contact the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee at volvowrfc@gmail.com or by text to (540) 307-0509.
Several Warrior Met coal miners in Brookwood, Alabama have been struck by vehicles being driven through their picket lines by strikebreakers in recent days, according to a press release earlier this week by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). More than 1,100 miners have been on strike since April 1 fighting to restore pay cuts and oppose further attacks on health care and working conditions.

On June 4, a miners wife tweeted a video of a picket being struck by a truck leaving the Number 7 East Portal. A further video in a WBCR Birmingham news report showed a truck ramming through 12 pickets on its way to the mine.

In a June 7 statement, the UMWA said, Three separate incidents of vehicular assault by persons working for Warrior Met Coal, Inc. have occurred on legal picket lines set up by members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in the last three days, raising questions as to whether the company has determined that violence and the threat of bodily harm are its best responses to the ongoing strike by UMWA miners at the company.

Two incidents of strikers being hit by trucks. (Image Credit: UMWA)

UMWA President Cecil Roberts said the assaults were conducted either by management or nonunion workers. We have members in casts, we have members in the hospital, we have members who are concerned about their families and potential of violence against them if they come to the picket line.

The violent assaults are certainly serious. They follow the issuing of a court injunction by company-friendly judges who have restricted the number of pickets, a constant presence of state troopers and sheriffs deputies to back Warrior Mets strikebreaking operations, and repeated complaints by miners and local residents that private security forces are using drones to spy on their communities.

On the UMWA Facebook page one miner drew the connection with violence employed by the coal bosses during the Mine Wars of the 1920s. I would imagine that local law enforcement and state troopers now carry Baldwin Felts credentials, he said, referring to the notorious private detective agency hired by the coal operators to terrorize striking miners. During a May 19, 1920 shootout in southern West Virginia, known as the Matewan Massacre, seven agents and two miners were killed after the gun thugs unsuccessfully tried to evict striking miners.

Another post accused the state police of acting as babysitters for the scabs, saying that without their presence, no one would cross the picket line. Another post frankly said, Fight fire with fire. Thats how you stop that.

There is a widespread sentiment among miners and broader sections of the working class to break the isolation of the strike. However, the UMWA, the Alabama AFL-CIO and unions like the United Steelworkers union at US Steels Fairfield Works have left the embattled miners to fight alone, making them vulnerable to such violence.

Roberts made it clear he was opposed to organizing such a struggle. At the same time, the UMWA president warned Warrior Met bosses that they were taking a dangerous course of action that can swiftly lead to events spiraling out of control. That is the last thing anyone should want, Roberts declared.

The UMWA president who has spent decades betraying and isolating struggles, including the AT Massey and Pittston strikes in the 1980s, is trying to warn the coal bosses that they are provoking an explosion from miners who have a long tradition of fighting fire with fire, which the UMWA will not be able to control. He ends his statement by pleading with Warrior Met to back away from violence and finally come to the bargaining table in good faith, ready to hammer out a fair and reasonable agreement.

Framed Kentucky miners: (left to right) Donnie Thornsbury, David Thornsbury, Arnold Heightland and James Darryl Smith

The fact is the UMWA has repeatedly tried to ram through the companys demands but has continually run up against the resistance of rank-and-file miners. Less than two weeks into the strike, Roberts tried to sell miners a deal that would have restored only $1.50 out of the $6.00 an hour workers lost five years ago, while cutting medical coverage and retaining the hated attendance system. Miners voted down the UMWA-backed contract by a staggering margin of 1,006 to 45.

The coal operators and the government have always employed violence against the miners. Warrior Mets miners have staged the first UMWA strike in 25 years on the centenary year of the Battle of Blair Mountain, when the federal and state governments partnered with the coal bosses to bomb striking miners from airplanes.

This is why the miners developed militant traditions of mass, collective struggles, and played the vanguard role in the semi-insurrectionary struggles in the 1920s and 1930s that finally led to the organization of the mass industrial unions in the rubber, steel and auto industries. The miners, particularly, championed the principle of an injury to one is an injury to all and industry-wide strikes of union and non-union miners until every operator signed the national agreement.

This ended when Richard Trumka and Cecil Roberts took over the UMWA in 1982 and introduced the disastrous policy of selective strikes. The isolation of individual strikes opened the door for coal operators and the government to launch a wave of violence against the miners not seen since the 1920s.

In 1987, four Kentucky AT Massey minersDonnie Thornsbury, David Thornsbury, Arnold Heightland and James Darryl Smithwere sent to prison for 35-45 years after being framed up for the death of a scab truck driver. In 1989, nine West Virginia miners, members of UMWA Local 5948 on selective strike at Milburn Collieries for five years, were arrested and framed up on charges of arson, bombing and conspiracy. The UMWA pressured eight of the nine miners to plead guilty, while a ninth miner refused and was later acquitted.

The refusal of Trumka and Roberts to oppose the frame up of the AT Massey and Milburn miners, despite the overwhelming demand of miners to defend them, gave the green light for the most murderous attackthe ambush of UMWA miners on January 16, 1990, which killed John F. McCoy in southern West Virginia. Trumka and Roberts refused to call a memorial shutdown of the mines to honor the murdered miner, boycotted the funeral and immediately cut his widow off of his strike benefits.

All these attacks against miners were supported and abetted by the police, as well as the state and federal agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF), Democrats and Republicans alike, with no serious opposition from the UMWA leadership. While forcefully opposing a nationwide miners strike, Trumka and Roberts organized the same impotent and debilitating civil disobedience stunts as today.

The violent attack on May 22 by UMWA District 20 officials Larry Spencer and James Blankenship on Dixieland of the Proletariat podcasters, whom the UMWA thugs mistook for supporters of the World Socialist Web Site, has disgusted miners and local residents. The assault also demonstrates that the UMWA executives are far more hostile to socialists fighting to rally miners against their sellouts than they are against management and the state.

Miners must take the picket line assaults as a warning. Emboldened by the UMWA and the Alabama AFL-CIOs isolation of the strike, the companys violence will continue. In response, workers must fight for the expansion of the strike throughout the coalfields and among workers in other industries.

Warrior Met miners should follow the lead of the Volvo truck workers in southwestern Virginia, who have formed a rank-and-file committee, which led the opposition to defeat two sellout contracts pushed by the United Auto Workers union. The Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee (VWRFC) is now fighting to expand the strike of nearly 3,000 workers at the New River Valley factory, and to unite with Alabama miners, Massachusetts nurses, Texas ExxonMobil workers and ATI steelworkers in Pennsylvania and other states.

The struggle by miners in the US has been strengthened by an upsurge by mineworkers globally, including in Chile where miners have struck BHP Hilton, and in Canada where 2,400 Vale Inco nickel miners and 2,400 ArcelorMittal iron ore miners have walked out. We urge Warrior Met miners to contact the WSWS about forming a rank-and-file committee to break the isolation of their struggle and coordinate their fight with workers throughout the US and the world through the building of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC).
This weekends G7 summit in the UK will be dominated by US President Joe Bidens efforts to consolidate an anti-China axis.

In a piece for the Washington Post published last Saturday, Biden stated that his mission is to ensure that the US and its allies not China or anyone else write the 21st century rules around trade and technology. His comments echo his speech to Congress this April when he said, to a standing ovation, Were in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st century. On Tuesday, the US Senate passed a $250 billion China competitiveness bill in preparation for escalating trade and military conflict.

US President Joe Biden, left, talks with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during their meeting ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall, Britain, Thursday June 10, 2021. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

Securing the support of the European powers is key to this strategy. In an opinion piece for Bloomberg, former NATO chief and US Navy admiral James Stavridis explained, Only Europe has the population, geography, values andabove alleconomic heft to meet the needs of the U.S. in achieving a credible counterweight in this emerging cold-war pas de deux

Only in Europe can the U.S. find the confluence of values, economics, military capability and technology on the scale necessary to stand up to the Chinese threat.

Biden, a 50-year political veteran, is refining Trumps frenetic, transactional anti-China policy into a long-term strategy, drawing allies into a new cold war which will be framed, as before, as a struggle for freedom against authoritarianism.

In his first speech as president in the UK, to the US airbase at RAF Mildenhall, Biden declared, We are going to make it clear that the US is back, and democracies of the world are standing together That were committed to leading with strength.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited Australia, South Korea and India to the summit to further this agenda, prefiguring proposals for an expanded D-10 group of ten market democracies.

Political commentators have made much of the distance between the US and Europe over China. The European powers have their own economic and strategic interests which they will not willingly sacrifice purely for the benefit of American imperialism. China overtook the US as the EUs largest trading partner last year and is the UKs largest import market and Germanys largest export market.

But the trajectory towards a more militant anti-China stance is clear. France, Germany and the UK have sent warships to participate in US provocations in the South China Sea. The EU has put on hold a major investment deal with China after an exchange of sanctions over the Uyghur question.

The G7 summit will build on these foundations. Its leaked draft communique not only commits signatories to action against Beijing over its treatment of the Uyghurs. It centres on calls for a new World Health Organisation investigation into the origins of Covid-19, promoting the noxious lie that the virus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Yesterday, the EU signalled its support for this toxic war propaganda, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen stating, Investigators need complete access to whatever is necessary to really find the source of this pandemic.

Biden will also push for a G7-led infrastructure investment plan to block Chinas Belt and Road initiative. At the US-EU summit next week, Biden and his European counterparts will discuss plans for a US-EU Trade and Technology Council to boost co-ordination on 5G, semiconductors, supply chains, export controls and technology rules and standards, according to the Financial Times. This will establish a framework for members to pursue their opposed economic ambitions while still jointly opposing China.

The UK and the US have announced a related Atlantic charter setting out eight areas of cooperation, including collective security, defending democracy, dealing with cyber attacks and strengthening a fair trading system. A British official told the FT, Its not unreasonable to see a read-across to China.

These agreements are underpinned by bellicose militarism. In his speech to US troops stationed in the UK, Biden told them, You are the solid steel spine of America around which alliances are built and strengthened. He added that the United States one truly sacred obligation was to prepare and equip its armed forces.

On Monday, Biden will attend the NATO summit in Brussels to make good this obligation and develop the alliances war plans against China. At a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Monday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the organisation was stepping up our response to growing global competition, accusing Russia and China of leading an authoritarian pushback against the rules-based international order.

While threats against Russia have been sidelined to an extent, so Biden can focus on building the anti-China alliance, the president reminded Moscow of its place on US imperialisms agenda. To cheers and applause, he said in his Mildenhall speech that he would be meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin next Wednesday to let him know what I want him to know The US will respond in a robust and meaningful way when the Russian government engages in harmful activities.

The draft G7 communique calls on Russia to tackle cybercrime groups within its borders.

Johnsons hopes to use Britains hosting of the summit as a means of reasserting the UKs position on the world stage after Brexit were dashed before the event even began. Whereas Trump embraced Brexit, based on his America First agenda of breaking up the European Union (EU), Biden considers the special relationship between the US and Britain useful only if Britain can carry out US diktats in Europe.

Even before Biden landed, he and his leading officials lambasted Britain for its ongoing rupture with the EU over the Northern Ireland border. At a press briefing to the BBC aboard Air Force One, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, Any steps that imperil or undermine the Good Friday agreement will not be welcomed by the US.

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement, negotiated by Tony Blairs Labour government along with Bill Clintons Democratic Party administration, ended a three-decades-long armed conflict in Northern Ireland to create a more stable economic environment for corporate investment in the North.

Sullivan added, The president was not issuing threats or ultimatum [!], but The agreement must be protected.

Sullivans comments followed a meeting between the US charge daffaires Yael Lempert and UK Brexit negotiator Lord Frost, during which Lempert demanded a negotiated settlement with the EU. According to the Times, Yael Lempert, Americas most senior diplomat in Britain, told [UK Brexit negotiator] Lord Frost that the government was inflaming tensions in Ireland and Europe with its opposition to checks at ports in the province.

Lempert was instructed to issue London a demarche, a formal diplomatic reprimand which is hardly ever resorted to between declared allies. The Times reported that at a June 3 meeting, Frost was told of Bidens great concern over his stance in a tense encounter at which Lempert was said to have slowly and gravely read her instructions [from Washington] aloud.

The interventions by the Biden administration were timed to bolster the EU as it seeks concessions from Britain in the fractious talks over Northern Ireland.

Brussels has pledged to retaliate with trade sanctions if Johnson unilaterally suspends parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, which obviates the need for a hard border on the island of Ireland. On June 30, the EU plans to ban chilled meats being exported from Britain over the Irish Sea into Northern Ireland. Britain has threatened to unilaterally extend the grace periodthat had been granted for businesses to adapt to new rulesthat require checks on the export of the chilled meat exports.

The two sides failed to reach agreement in two meetings held Wednesday. Vice president of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic, said, If the UK were to take further unilateral action in the coming weeks, the EU will not be shy in reacting swiftly, firmly and resolutely to ensure that the UK abides by its international law obligations.
Far-right mobster Sedat Pekers videos making detailed allegations of ties between the mafia and the Turkish political establishment continue to shake President Recep Tayyip Erdogans Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

His latest videos have raised Turkish involvement in US-led wars in the Middle East and North Africa and the AKPs resulting conflicts with its NATO imperialist allies. With nearly 80 million views, Pekers videos focus on conflicts within the Turkish state apparatus and Erdogans closest circle.

The posters on the vehicles read Dozens of 4x4 off-road vehicles from Sedat Peker to the Free Syrian Army. (Photo posted on Instagram by Peker in March 2018)

Peker, who has not directly targeted Erdogan but only his associates, recently stated he will address Erdogan directly in his next video: Our President, brother Tayyip, called me an international conspiracy without saying my name. When did we meet, when did we face, I will explain this in the next video. You are our big brother. We will say our goodbyes.

He said he would issue this video after Erdogans June 14 meeting with US President Joe Biden, pointing to the international nature of the campaign he is waging.

Amid a deepening economic crisis and growing social anger exacerbated by the homicidal response to the pandemic, Pekers allegations are undermining Erdogan and the AKP. Their impact finally forced Erdogan, who has been silent for weeks, to issue a statement defending Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. Erdogan described Pekers accusations as part of an international conspiracy to overthrow his government.

Speaking at the end of May, Erdogan declared: We have stood with our Interior Minister [Soylu] in his fight with criminal and terrorist groups; we are and will be standing with him. He said: These are organized by international organizations under various names, and added, We bring these criminals to our country and hand them over to the court.

After opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) leader Kemal Klcdaroglu said Tuesday that The third partner of the Peoples Alliance [between AKP and its far-right ally, Nationalist Movement Party, MHP] is the mafia, Erdogan attacked the opposition parties, claiming that they are relying upon Pekers slanders.

In a May 25 TV appearance, Soylu said: I am not the subject, the target is Turkey. Their allegations and slanders are completely empty, but they are targeting the state. He linked this alleged operation to conflicts between Ankaras interests and US wars in the Middle East.

He said: Today, there is an attempt to establish a state in northern Syria. US bases in Syria increased from 6 to 14 in 2020 and 2021. There is also an economic attack against Turkey. [They want to see] Turkey fall into the position of countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. 17-25 December [ corruption scandal ], 6-7 October [ Kobane protests in Turkey], and [the NATO-backed coup attempt on] 15 July [in 2016]  In all these, Turkey is subjected to an operation.

Peker released a video last Saturday on a Facetime conversation with Serdar Eksi, the husband of Erdogans niece, discussing arms deliveries to Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militias in Syria. During a friendly video call, Eksi said he met with Pelikanists and asked Peker not to make any further statements on this group. The Pelikanists are described as a faction within the AKP, including Erdogans son-in-law and former Finance Minister Berat Albayrak.

In his eighth video, Peker discussed alleged Turkish arms deliveries to Al Nusra, the Al Qaeda branch in Syria backed by the NATO powers and Gulf monarchies.

It is an undeniable fact that in the war in Syria, NATO-backed Islamist groups are armed and financed by the CIA, the Gulf monarchies and Turkey. It is also known that the CIA and the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) sent weapons by truck. In 2014, amid deep conflicts within the Turkish ruling class, a Gendarmerie operation seized trucks allegedly belonging to the MIT. In his statement, Peker claims that after the MIT trucks were exposed, he prepared a project to send UAVs, clothes, radios, steel vestsbut they are too many in number, enough for all the fighters there.

We talked the project with a deputy friend. He conveyed this idea to the necessary officials. And then they said, We can give you additional trucks and they can go together with your trucks, he said, before adding: We were sending all the equipment. But other vehicles were going [to Syria] under my name. We thought that these were going to Turkmens in other places. We didnt know what was inside them. I mean, there were weapons.

Peker claimed only that this operation was not organized by the MIT but by SADAT. Founded in 2012, International Defense Consulting Construction Industry and Trade Inc. (SADAT) defines itself as a company that provides consultancy and military training in the field of defense. It is rumored to conduct operations in many regions in the interests of the Turkish state.

SADAT conducts military advisory activities in at least 22 Muslim countries, according to the French Intelligence Research Center think tank. There are also allegations that SADAT has supported the forces fighting against French- and Russian-backed Khalifa Haftar in Libya. The Russian Federal News Agency claimed that SADAT teams took Free Syrian Army militias to Libya to fight Haftars forces. SADAT founder Adnan Tanrverdi became one of Erdogans most prominent advisors after the 2016 NATO coup in Turkey.

Peker also alleged that the resignation of Fayez al-Sarraj, the prime minister of the Turkish-backed Government of National Reconciliation in Libya, was caused by anger in Libyan business circles at tenders given to Turkish companies. Our President told him [Sarraj], Let these tenders be given to these and such companies. Then he [Sarraj] resigned, everyone asked why he resigned, I didnt know either. I just learned it.

Early last year, Turkey sent soldiers and Islamist rebels to support Sarrajs Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA). Haftars Libyan National Army, on the other hand, was supported by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Peker reportedly lives. Such conflicts over oil and strategic advantage in Libya and the eastern Mediterranean have repeatedly caused explosive standoffs between French and Turkish ships in the region.

NATO wars in Syria and Libya led to an ongoing conflict between Ankara and its imperialist allies, as well as the ongoing conflicts within the Turkish ruling class.

The moves by Washington and the other major imperialist powers to abandon Islamist militias and adopt Kurdish nationalist militias as their main proxy force inside Syria provoked a bitter conflict with the AKP government. This disagreement culminated in the NATO-backed coup attempt in 2016, as Erdogans government established closer relations with China and Russia, the main rivals of the United States.

Just several weeks after the failed NATO-backed coup attempt to topple Erdogan, he ordered the first Turkish invasion of Syria, Operation Euphrates Shield, targeting US-backed Kurdish nationalist Peoples Protection Units (YGP) forces. This was followed by several Turkish military operations to smash the Kurdish-led proto-state there and chase YPG militias linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) out of the region.

Pekers allegations cannot be separated from the 30-year imperialist war and the destruction in the Middle East in which the entire Turkish political establishment is complicit. As the World Socialist Web Site explained, Peker is not speaking as a friend of the working class. The decisive question is the independent and international mobilization of the working class against imperialism and all factions of the bourgeoisie.
WABASH VALLEY, Ill. (WTHI) - After many months of COVID-19 restrictions, the State of Illinois will reopen on Friday.

Businesses, events, and venues will be able to operate at full capacity. Establishments may still choose to have stricter measures in place.

Face coverings will continue to be required on public transportation, congregate settings, and health care settings,

The state will continue to recommend masking for unvaccinated people.

The reopening follows weeks of case decreases as well as higher vaccination rates.

In a written statement, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said, "A strong economy requires that people not only feel safe, but truly be safe, as they go about their lives as workers, neighbors, consumers, and friends  and thanks to the lifesaving power of vaccinations, that day is finally here for Illinois. I invite all Illinoisans to feel the hope and joy of this moment while also recognizing that this pandemic is still very present for the world at large  not to mention those here at home who have not been or cannot be vaccinated. As we take this next step forward, lets do so with a renewed commitment to empathy, to community, and to making each day together count. You did it, Illinois.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - A local college is looking to help get the community vaccinated.

Ivy Tech Community College in Terre Haute opened its doors to help with vaccination efforts.

Ivy Tech opened all of its 19 campuses in Indiana to offer walk-in vaccinations on Thursday.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was offered.

Those who received the shot were entered to win a free laptop from Ivy Tech.
CARLISLE, Ind. (WTHI) - Police continue to search for people of interest in a shooting that left a teenager dead.

It happened just after midnight at Lewis and Ledgerwood Streets in Carlisle.

Indiana State Police say around Midnight Sullivan County Dispatch received a 911 call of multiple gunshots being fired at the intersection of Lewis and Ledgerwood in Carlisle, Indiana.

The preliminary investigation by Putnamville State Police Post detectives indicates that there was a large gathering of two groups at the intersection of Lewis and Ledgerwood.

Indiana State Police are working to identify two persons of interest in connection to the shooting. That shooting killed 15-year-old Mezmariah Wilson.

Mezmariah's grandmother told News 10 she was a student at Terre Haute South.

Indiana State Police Sergeant Matt Ames told News 10 the groups were from different areas across the Wabash Valley.

We are still working on learning more about what led to the disagreement. Police have not made any arrests yet.

Ames said this is an isolated situation and there's no reason to believe anyone should be in danger.

"Such a small town like Carlisle, everyone knows each other, their neighbors are watching out for each other. These are people who traveled into the community. There weren't necessarily from Sullivan County. Why they choose Carlisle, Indiana, as a meeting point? Well, that's still a part of our investigation, too," Ames said.

John Dillon is a resident of Bicknell but often comes to Carlisle for work. He says this news was hard to hear.

"Everybody should keep that in mind. Everybody is somebody's son, brother, father, sister, mother. I mean, I've still got my parents. I've told mom I said you guys gotta outlive me, and I don't want to have to bury any of my kids," Dillon said.

Police say if you know anything, contact Indiana State Police. That number is 765-653-4114.

Wilson's grandmother set up a GoFundMe page to help with hospital bills and funeral expenses. To make a donation, click here.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Once dismissed by most public health experts and government officials, the hypothesis that COVID-19 leaked accidentally from a Chinese lab is now receiving scrutiny under a new U.S. investigation.

Experts say the 90-day review ordered on May 26 by President Joe Biden will push American intelligence agencies to collect more information and review what they already have. Former State Department officials under President Donald Trump have publicly pushed for further investigation into virus origins, as have scientists and the World Health Organization.

Many scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, say they still believe the virus most likely occurred in nature and jumped from animals to humans. Virus researchers have not publicly identified any key new scientific evidence that might make the lab-leak hypothesis more likely.

Virologists also say it is unlikely that any definitive answer about virus origins will be possible in 90 days. The work to fully confirm origins and pathways of past viruses  such as the first SARS or HIV/AIDS  has taken years or decades.

A look at what is known about the U.S. investigation of the virus.

WHAT ARE INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES REVIEWING?

Biden ordered a review of what the White House said was an initial finding leading to two likely scenarios, an animal-to-human transmission or a lab leak. The White House statement says two agencies in the 18-member intelligence community lean toward the hypothesis of a transmission in nature; another agency leans toward a lab leak.

One document drawing new attention is a State Department fact sheet published in the last days of Trumps administration. The memo notes that the U.S. believes three researchers at a Wuhan, China, lab sought medical treatment for a respiratory illness in November 2019. However, the report is not conclusive: The origin and severity of the staffers illness is not known  and most people in China regularly go to hospitals, not primary-care physicians, for routine care.

The memo also pointed to gain of function studies  which in theory could enhance the lethality or transmissibility of a virus  allegedly done at the Wuhan lab with U.S. backing. However, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins has since adamantly denied that the U.S. supported any gain-of-function research on coronaviruses in Wuhan.

David Feith, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under Trump, said he supported Bidens call for an enhanced review. Implicit in the presidents statement is that there is more to analyze and more to collect than has been analyzed or collected to date," Feith said.

The Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

IS CHINA HAMPERING INVESTIGATIONS?

The White House statement criticized China for a lack of transparency, echoing previous criticisms by Democrats and Republicans. The failure to get our inspectors on the ground in those early months will always hamper any investigation into the origin of COVID-19, the White House said.

The Associated Press has reported on Chinas interference in the World Health Organizations probes of the virus and its fanning of conspiracy theories online. China has also forced journalists to leave the country in recent years and silenced or jailed whistleblowers from Wuhan and elsewhere.

The lack of transparency in China is a significant and familiar challenge. But that does not in itself signal that something in particular is being hidden.

The problem is when you make that announcement (Bidens call for investigation) in a highly politicized environment, it makes it even less likely that China will cooperate with efforts to find the origins of the virus, said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.

WHAT DO SCIENTISTS BELIEVE ABOUT VIRUS ORIGINS?

The most compelling argument for investigating the possibility of a lab leak is not any new hard evidence, but rather the fact that another pathway for virus spread has not been 100% confirmed.

The great probability is still that this virus came from a wildlife reservoir, said Arinjay Banerjee, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Saskatchewan, Canada. He pointed to the fact that spillover events  when viruses jump from animals to humans  are common in nature, and that scientists already know of two similar beta coronaviruses that evolved in bats and caused epidemics when humans were infected, SARS1 and MERS.

However, the case is not completely closed. There are probabilities, and there are possibilities, said Banerjee. Because nobody has identified a virus thats 100% identical to SARS-CoV-2 in any animal, there is still room for researchers to ask about other possibilities.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CONFIRM THE ORIGIN OF A VIRUS?

Confirming with 100% certainty the origin of a virus is often not fast, easy, or always even possible.

For example, scientists never confirmed the origin of smallpox before the disease was eradicated through a global vaccination program.

In the case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)  a disease caused by a beta coronavirus, like the current coronavirus  researchers first identified the virus in February 2003. Later that year, scientists discovered the likely intermediary hosts: Himalayan palm civets found at live-animal markets in Guangdong, China. But it wasnt until 2017 that researchers traced the likely original source of the virus to bat caves in Chinas Yunnan province.

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO UNDERSTAND THE ORIGIN?

From a scientific perspective, researchers are always keen to better understand how diseases evolve. From a public health perspective, if a virus has transitioned to being spread mostly by human-to-human contact, discovering its origins is not as essential to strategies for containing the disease.

Questions of origins and questions of disease control are not the same thing once human-to-human transmission has become common, said Deborah Seligsohn, an expert in environment and public health at Villanova University.

Republicans have pressed for more inquiries into a possible lab leak as part of a broader effort to blame China and vindicate Trump's handling of the pandemic. Nearly 600,000 people in the United States have died of COVID-19, the highest toll of any country.

WHAY HAPPENS AFTER THE 90 DAYS?

Many scientists caution that it's unlikely a 90-day investigation will yield definitive new answers.

We rarely get a smoking gun,'" said Stephen Morse, a disease researcher at Columbia University. Even under the best of circumstances we rarely get certainty, just degrees of likelihood."

Any findings will likely be politically explosive, especially if new evidence comes to light supporting or dismissing the zoonotic transfer or lab-leak theory. And a failure to reach definitive conclusions, almost inevitable after a 90-day review, could provide grist for Trump supporters and opponents alike, as well as embolden conspiracy theorists.

Meanwhile experts like the Council on Foreign Relations' Huang suspect China may simply clamp down more, adding another complication to already tense relations. This will likely make it even more challenging to extract concessions from China to allow another team to visit Wuhan, or have unfettered access to investigate there, he said.
TUNICA, Miss. (AP)  The state of Mississippi has approved its first wind turbine facility to generate electricity in the Mississippi Delta.

The Mississippi Public Service Commission announced that the electricity generation facility will be built on 13,000 acres in Tunica County and will consist of up to 100 turbines.

The facility will generate enough power to provide energy to approximately 70,000 homes.

Construction on the project is expected to begin this summer.

Central District Commissioner Brent Bailey said Tunica Windpower LLC requires a minimal footprint for installation and will utilize existing farm roads.
PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP)  A shipyard that's the largest private employer in Mississippi says it is planning to hire about 3,000 new fulltime employees.

Ingalls Shipbuilding held a hiring event Wednesday in Pascagoula.

Its parent company, Huntington Ingalls Industries, says in a news release that it has been recruiting potential workers in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

Ingalls is hiring ship fitters, electricians, pipefitters, pipe welders and structural welders.

It is seeking people with mechanical, hot work or carpentry experience.

The company says free training is available to those without the required skills or work experience.
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By Anna Mehler Paperny and Moira Warburton

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada has reached a proposed settlement with a group of indigenous survivors of the now-defunct residential schools for the abuse they suffered, a federal minister said on Wednesday, ending a 14-year fight for justice.

The settlement comes as the government is scrambling to deal with a national outcry after the remains of 215 indigenous children were discovered at a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. The government has been under pressure to stop legally opposing indigenous people's requests for compensation and acknowledgement in court following the discovery.

Under the latest agreement, the government will provide C$10,000 ($8,259.00) to each survivor involved in the class action lawsuit and create a C$50 million indigenous-led nonprofit to support wellbeing and cultural learning.

The settlement does not include an explicit admission of wrongdoing by the government. Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said the plaintiffs had hoped for an official apology and "while this is not part of a settlement agreement, we will be listening to their concerns, as we work together on this request."

The estimated 12,000 to 20,000 survivors in the lawsuit attended residential schools during the day and went home at night. Because of this, they were not included in a previous settlement for residential school survivors.

Between 1831 and 1996, Canada's residential school system forcibly separated about 150,000 indigenous children from their parents, bringing them to institutions with the stated purpose of assimilation. They were malnourished, beaten and sexually abused in what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called cultural genocide in its landmark 2015 report.

The proposal is open for comments from plaintiffs until August 2021, and will be presented along with the comments to the court in September for approval.

Bennett told reporters at a Wednesday news conference that the government will continue to work with survivors and their families and others to resolve remaining childhood claims.

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"Together we will move forward on the path to reconciliation," she said.

CANADA IS A "REPEAT OFFENDER"

Several plaintiffs spoke at the conference, describing the pain the residential schools and the years-long lawsuit brought them.

"This has been a really long process, 14 years, returning to court, regurgitating trauma," Charlotte Gilbert, a representative for the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, said.

A separate class action, still ongoing, deals with residential schools' cultural damage and involves 105 indigenous bands.

"No amount of compensation can change the legacy of residential schools," Diena Jules, a survivor of the schools, said. "Nothing can restore us to being whole."

The government remains embroiled in several ongoing lawsuits involving indigenous people in Canada. A Canadian Human Rights Tribunal case involving discrimination through the systemic under-funding of child and family services against indigenous children - resulting in a disproportionate number of indigenous children in foster care - has a hearing next week.

The Canadian government has admitted its child and family services funding system "was broken and needed immediate and substantial reform." But in its most recent filings it argued the tribunal was the wrong venue for this dispute and that individual compensation was not appropriate in this instance.

"It's a really dangerous argument," said Cindy Blackstock, a member of the Gitxsan nation and executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, which brought the legal action.

Canada is "a repeat offender" when it comes to abrogating the rights of indigenous children, she said. "It needs a heavy hand for deterrence."

($1 = 1.2108 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto and Moira Warburton in Vancouver; Editing by Denny Thomas and Aurora Ellis)
Vice President Kamala Harris closes out her first foreign trip Tuesday in Mexico. She'll meet with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a key but complicated ally in the Biden administrations efforts to curb migration at the U.S. border. (June 8)

Video Transcript

KAMALA HARRIS: I thought it was a good visit. I think, you know, we accomplished our goal of having direct conversations-- being on the ground. You know, there's obviously a lot of work to do, but there really is a lot of reason to note that there is hope in this region.

I am here because the root causes are my highest priority in terms of addressing these issues, and we need to-- and we need to deal with it, both in terms of the poverty we are seeing, the hunger that we are seeing, the effects of the hurricanes and climate-- extreme climate conditions. What we are seeing in terms of the pandemic, one of my first conversations that I had when I arrived, but even before, was about our assistance in terms of vaccines.

So I'm very clear about what our role and responsibility is. We need to address the root causes. Also the acute causes-- those that are more recent, but also the longstanding issues like corruption-- that probably, of any subject that I had discussed today with all of the group, probably the number one issue aside from vaccines and the pandemic.

The relationship with Mexico-- we have a partnership, a longstanding partnership. You know, other than Canada, we are the closest neighbors to each other. So there is that, and that is the basis of the conversation that I will have with them is with that spirit. That we have to be partners. That we are neighbors, the closest neighbors in the region.

There's the issue of what we need to do around addressing-- as neighbors and as partners-- what Mexico's role can be as it relates to this region, to Guatemala, to the surrounding countries.
TOKYO (AP)  Japan and Australia on Wednesday shared concern about Chinas increasingly assertive actions in regional seas and expressed strong objections to coercive or destabilizing behavior.

Foreign and defense ministers from the two countries agreed in the online talks to strengthen their security ties as China presses its claims to contested areas in the Asia-Pacific region.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters after the talks that the officials shared their concerns about China's activity in the East and South China Seas as a challenge to the international community. Motegi was joined by Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi and their Australian counterparts, Marise Payne and Peter Dutton.

Japan regularly protests to China over its coast guard presence near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls Diaoyu. Chinese vessels routinely violate Japanese territorial waters around the islands, sometimes threatening fishing boats, Japanese officials say.

Japan and China are also in dispute over the development of undersea resources in the area.

We reinforce our strong opposition to any destabilizing or coercive unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tension in the East China Sea," Japan and Australia said in a joint statement released after the talks. The behavior undermines the rules-based international order," they said.

In the South China Sea, China's sweeping territorial claims have clashed with those of its neighbors, which accuse Beijing of militarizing one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

The joint statement expressed serious concerns about the recent negative developments and serious incidents in the South China Sea, including continuing militarization of disputed features, dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia,' and efforts to disrupt other countries' resources exploitation activities.

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We reaffirmed our strong opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by China, Motegi said. He also added that the four ministers shared grave concern over Chinas human rights abuses in Hong Kong and the western Xinjiang region, where Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities live.

The statement called on China "to grant urgent, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent international observers including the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

The meeting also reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, where China has recently stepped up a campaign of pressure on the self-ruled island.

China responded that it is determined to defend its sovereignty, security and development interests.

China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their nearby waters, and over the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily briefing in Beijing.

Issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong are Chinas internal affairs that no foreign country should intervene. China firmly rejects Japan and Australias efforts to smear China and interfere in Chinas internal affairs, Wang said.

Japan and Australia are in the final stages of a defense cooperation deal that will allow the Japanese Self-Defense Force to protect Australian military assets, which will be only the second for Japan outside of its alliance with the United States.
Facing mounting criticism from hospitals and doctors groups, health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare said it will delay a policy that would scrutinize payments for non-urgent emergency room visits.

The policy to review and potentially clamp down on some hospital payments drew outcries from the American Hospital Association and the American College of Emergency Physicians about potential harm of patients' health and finances.

In a Thursday statement, the Minnesota-based insurer said the policy will be halted until the end of the pandemic.

"Based on feedback from our provider partners and discussions with medical societies, we have decided to delay the implementation of our emergency department policy until at least the end of the national public health emergency period," Tracey Lempner, spokeswoman for the Minnesota-based insurer, said in a statement.

'Lawmakers are feeling pressure': States push ahead on public health insurance to lower costs, improve access

American Hospital Association officials urged the insurer to abandon the policy altogether. If enacted, the policy "would have a chilling effect on patients seeking emergency services, with potentially dire consequences for their health," said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the hospital group.

Similarly, the American College of Emergency Physicians said it feared the change would cause patients to avoid using emergency rooms because they will be responsible for their hospital bills when UnitedHealthcare rejects them.

UnitedHealthcare this month told its network hospitals in 34 states that it will assess emergency room claims to determine if visits were indeed medical emergencies.

Facing mounting criticism from hospitals and doctors groups, health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare said it will delay a policy that would scrutinize payments for non-urgent emergency room visits.

Under the now-delayed policy, claims that are determined not to be tied to emergencies would be subject to no coverage or limited coverage based on the patients insurance plan, according to the insurers notice sent to hospitals. As many as 1 in 10 claims could be rejected, said Lempner, spokeswoman for the Minnesota-based insurer

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UnitedHealthcares policy affects commercially insured patients with employer-sponsored plans and does not apply to patients with Medicare Advantage or contracted Medicaid coverage with UnitedHealthcare, Lempner said.

Experts say health insurers frequently clash on payment policies with hospitals and emergency-care providers over the rising cost of medical care. Hospitals have higher overhead costs and typically charge more for similar procedures when compared to outpatient settings, said Benedic Ippolito, an American Enterprise Institute resident scholar and health economist.

Insurers "have a big incentive to try and steer people to the most cost-effective sites of care," Ippolito said. "In concept, the idea is sound  Whether this is the right way precisely to do it is a separate question."

COVID was a tipping point for telehealth: If doctors and patients have their way, virtual visits are here to stay.

Lempner said unnecessary use of emergency rooms cost $32 billion annually and drives up health care costs for everyone.

We are taking steps to make care more affordable, encouraging people who do not have a health care emergency to seek treatment in a more appropriate setting, such as an urgent care center, she said.

If one of our members does receive care in an emergency room for a non-emergent issue, like pink eye, we will reimburse the emergency facility according to the members benefit plan."

In the notice to hospitals announcing the now-delayed policy, UnitedHealthcare says emergency room claims will be evaluated based on the patients presenting problem, the intensity of diagnostic services performed and other patient complicating factors and external causes.

When claims are denied, hospitals can submit evidence an emergency room visit met the definition of an emergency that is consistent with the prudent layperson standard, according to the insurer notice.

The national emergency physicians group believes the delayed policy is in direct violation of the federal layperson standard, according to a June 8 statement about UnitedHealthcares new policy.

The federal policy requires insurance companies to provide coverage of emergency room care based on the presenting symptoms that brought the patient to the emergency room and not the final diagnosis, according to the physician group.

While were dismayed by Uniteds decision, we are not, unfortunately, surprised to see an insurance company once again try to cut its costs at the expense of necessary patient care, Dr. Mark Rosenberg, president of the emergency physicians group, said in a statement.

UnitedHealthcare is expecting patients to self-diagnose a potential medical emergency before seeing a physician, and then punishing them financially if they are incorrect, Rosenberg said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3% of emergency room visits are non-urgent, the emergency physicians group said.

With 90% of symptoms overlapping between non-urgent and emergent conditions, in many instances even physicians cannot know if a patients symptoms require emergency treatment without conducting a comprehensive medical examination, the physicians group said.

UnitedHealthcares Lempner said the policy complies with federal regulations and the layperson standard.

UnitedHealthcares new policy is more detrimental to patients than the one adopted by Anthem in 2018 in many states that led the emergency physicians group to file the lawsuit against Anthem that is still pending, said Wooster of the physicians group.

Anthem began denying payment for emergency room services in a handful of states when the insurer decided the member did not face an emergency. As a result, patients were getting stuck with the bills.

They have largely rolled it back, Wooster said. They are not enforcing it."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UnitedHealthcare delays ER claims policy following backlash
(BT)

One of the biggest broadband companies in Europe today stunned the industry by splashing out 2 billion on a 12.1% stake in BT in what was seen as a huge vote of confidence in the companys turnaround plans.

Altice UK, part of French billionaire Patrick Drahis telecoms giant Altice, built up its huge stake in the last two days.

Founder Patrick Drahi phoned BTs chief executive and chairman last night to explain his plans.

He declared himself supportive of BTs strategy to roll out superfast broadband to 25 million UK homes and had no intention of launching a takeover.

The pledge not to launch an offer now prevents it making a bid for a minimum of six months under UK takeover rules.

It came with a caveat, that it could bid for BT if it was agreed by the board or if another company made a takeover offer.

Analysts said Altice was likely to want a board seat to influence its future direction.

The share purchase makes it BTs biggest shareholder, a shade ahead of Deutsche Telekom. DT has one board member.

In a statement, the French group said: Altice UK has made this significant investment in BT as it believes that it has a compelling opportunity to deliver one of the UK governments most important policies, namely the substantial expansion of access to a full fibre, gigabit-capable broadband network throughout the UK.

BT has recently won a pricing framework from regulators that will enable it to roll out fibre to 25 million homes by the end of 2026.

Its shares have dramatically underperformed in recent years but Jansens turnaround plans, which include a sale of its sport broadcasting arm and massive investment in broadband, have recently started to reverse the slide.

Drahi has French, Israeli and Portuguese citizenship but lives in Switzerland.

He built up his empire over the last 20 years and has a reputation for driving extremely aggressive growth. He bought into, then took over Frances SFR telecoms group and has operations in the US, Portugal and Israel, with a combined 40 million customers.

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Drahi said in a statement that he holds the board and management team of BT in high regard and is supportive of their strategy.

Friends said he was impressed by Jansens ambition to drive BTs transformation hard - an ambition that reportedly put him at odds with chairman Jan du Plessis, who subsequently announced his retirement.

Drahi set up Altice UK specifically to make the investment in BT. The share purchases were handled by Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas. Morgan Stanleys Jean Abergel is seen as a close adviser to the tycoon who has a reputation for astute financing and leverage in his deals.

Big overseas investors have been in a dash to build broadband networks here as the UK plays catch up to gain faster Internet speeds after what has been seen as years of underinvestment.

Alternative networks to BT - known as Altnets - have been backed by billionaire Mikhail Fridman, Goldman Sachs and other long term investors with deep pockets looking for decades of guaranteed returns from subscribers.

Drahis decision to invest 2 billion in BT will be seen not only as a huge endorsement of the former monopolys strategy, but means he will not be deploying the cash with a rival such as Goldman-backed CityFibre, which has been reportedly seeking a new investor.

Drahi has met informally in the past with BT chief executive Philip Jansen and Openreach boss Clive Selley but only to talk broadly about industry matters.

Jansen has been seeking to find investors to take a longer term view of the company as it embarks on its vast investment programme that will only start paying back investors in future decades.

Drahis arrival may have caught the company by surprise, but could also be seen in that light, analysts said.

Drahi called Jansen and outgoing chairman Jan du Plessis at 4pm last night to explain his plans before flying off to Tel Aviv.

Sources in the Drahi camp did not dispute that he would be seeking a board seat but firmly denied that he would be seeking to influence BT directors on their hiring of a new chairman to replace du Plessis.

We want a seat at the table to bring our expertise to bear at BT, but hiring the chairman is entirely a matter for the board, said one.

Quite how it brings that expertise to bear remains to be discussed.

Read More

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Jun. 10AFTER THE U.S. SENATE passed measures Wednesday designed to help the United States compete with China's technological innovation and manufacturing, Sen. Maggie Hassan pointed out several provisions she had pushed  from a measure to help high-schoolers take college classes, to a move for the Department of Homeland Security to identify risks to critical infrastructure, and funding to help U.S. companies compete in the 5G equipment field with Chinese firms like Huawei.

Hassan noted the list of Republicans she worked with on the United States Innovation and Competition Act  Sens. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), John Thune (R-S.D.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.)

President Joe Biden praised Republican and Democratic leaders alike in a statement, saying the bill includes some of the measures in his infrastructure plan.

What remains to be seen is if such a broad coalition can be assembled again  or if competition with China is the only issue that can unite Congress.

Echoing notes Biden often sounds about the future of democracies in a world where autocracy seems to be on the rise, Hassan said in a statement that the bill's passage sends the message that divided democracies can still get things done.

"By passing the United States Innovation and Competition Act, our country has sent a strong message to the rest of the world that we are united across political parties to continue to be the world's leading military and global economic power," Hassan said. "Members on both sides of the aisle agree that we need to take on the Chinese government in order to strengthen America's national security and economy."

Hassan said she hoped the Senate could build on the cooperation, and keep working together.

Could the desire to out-compete China help drive consensus on, say, an infrastructure package? Biden has posited infrastructure as key to making sure the U.S. stays competitive.

Infrastructure bill

Then again, maybe competing with China isn't enough to bridge ideological divides.

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Americans for Prosperity-NH, the local chapter of the national fiscal-conservative advocacy group, held an event in Exeter Wednesday aimed at Biden's infrastructure proposal, terming it a "spending spree."

The event is part of what Americans for Prosperity is terming a "seven-figure" national campaign to oppose Biden's $1.7 trillion infrastructure proposal, and the proposal to raise taxes on large businesses and people who make over $400,000 a year  though a possible bipartisan compromise put forward Wednesday by a group of moderate Senators, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, would not raise taxes.

The campaign promises ads, events with local officials like the Wednesday event with state Reps. Michael Vose (R-Epping) and Hershel Nunez (R-Pelham), and "aggressive direct outreach to Hill offices." Pity the summer interns taking those "aggressive" calls.

Tax on water companies

Shaheen and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are taking another run at undoing a piece of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that has left local water companies with higher tax bills than before.

The Union Leader reported in 2019 that the Hampstead Area Water Company was stuck with an unanticipated $1.15 million tax bill for a project in Atkinson. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act took away a tax exemption for water and wastewater utilities  Shaheen's bill would put it back.

In a statement, Commissioner Bob Scott of the state Department of Environmental Services said the tax made it harder for water utilities to undertake big projects that will make drinking water safer.

"These critical investments must be made without sticking local communities with an unexpected bill," Shaheen said in a statement.

Rep. Annie Kuster introduced a bill to deal with the issue in 2020, and Shaheen sponsored the Senate version of the bill last year. Neither the House nor the Senate took any action on that bill. Shaheen's office said they were not sure how much revenue was generated when the tax exemption was undone.

Contact Josie Albertson-Grove at jgrove@unionleader.com.
white samoyed dog running on snow and ice

Zanna Pesnina / 500px / Getty

An ice-breaking ship made quite the rescue last week when it came across a small, white dog wandering the arctic ice fields in northern Russia.

The dog, a Samoyed named Aika, had been missing from a village, Mys Kamenny, for more than a week, CNN reports. The Russian crew of the Alexander Sannikov icebreaker lowered a ladder for her to come aboard.

"We put out the ladder, by which the dog climbed aboard on its own. Later, with the help of [a] mobile phone, we established contact with the local population, found the owner of the dog," navigation assistant Evgeny Nagibin said, per CNN.

Video footage from the rescue shows Aika seeing her saviors, wagging her tail a little bit, and then walking carefully over to the boat. Once she climbed aboard she wagged her tail some more as she received what we're guessing were many, many pets. Without her rescuers, Aika had almost no chance of surviving much longer.

RELATED: Kitten Found Walking on Exposed Bone Stumps Is Now Happy And Healing With His New Family

According to her owner, Svetlana Chereshneva of Mys Kamenny, Aika ran away during their walk around the village days before.

"The dog didn't go anywhere without us, we have no idea how she got there," Chereshneva said, per CNN.

How our little friend survived several days alone in the arctic weather is a mystery, but we're guessing her weather-resistant double coat probably had something to do with it. The breed traces its origins back to Siberia, and there are few places colder on Earth. We're just glad she didn't fall asleep and end up on an entirely different continent.
Tim Castilleja told jurors Wednesday that he was afraid to testify against the accused killer of Alillia Lala Minthorn.

Minthorn, 25, of Toppenish was shot to death May 3, 2019, north of Brownstown in a closed area of the Yakama reservation.

Jordan Stevens is accused of shooting her. Hes facing a first-degree murder charge in U.S. District Court. His trial began Monday.

Two witnesses, Samantha Tainewasher and Jasmine McCormack, say Stevens shot and killed Minthorn because she spoke to FBI agents about an incident in which he and McCormack were involved. They say they were with him when the shooting occurred.

Stevens, Tainewasher and McCormack allegedly visited Castillejas tavern in Brownstown shortly after Minthorn was killed.

Castilleja told investigators hed testify in court, but never showed. He was arrested Wednesday and forced to testify.

He said the three showed up in the early afternoon of May 3, 2019, and were playing pool. A few minutes later, McCormack went out to Tainewashers Yukon, drove it around back and began cleaning it out, he said.

A few minutes later, Castilleja said he went out to talk to McCormack as she was cleaning the center of the SUV.

He said she looked upset.

She looked at me and said she had done it  she really done it, Castilleja said.

He wouldnt elaborate or provide more context.

When Prosecutor Ben Seal asked what she meant by that, Castilleja paused and his voice shook as he said: Its pretty rough. You hit a crossroads. It gets pretty hectic out there.

Castilleja said Stevens and Tainewahser were inside kissing while he spoke to McCormack. He and McCormack went back inside, and Tainewahser, McCormack and Stevens left together not long afterward.

Castilleja said Stevens was carrying a rifle outside.

It looked like a 30-30 to me, he told the court. I asked him if he wanted to sell it. He said no, I need it right now.

He said the three were there for about an hour and then all left together.

That was the last I seen of them, Castilleja said.

Defense attorney Karla Kane Hudson pointed out inconsistencies in Castillejas testimony and what hed previously told an FBI agent.

He had told investigators that McCormack had only spent a few nights at his tavern, where he has rooms to rent.

But during the trial, he said he rented her a room for about a year.

She also questioned Castilleja about what he told FBI agent Clint Barefoot in an earlier interview  specifically, that the three had spent the night at his tavern the day they showed up.

Earlier Wednesday, Barefoot testified about his working relationship with McCormack, who provided him with initial information about the case.

On Tuesday, Defense attorney Ulvar Klein questioned McCormack about the roughly 100 calls between her and Barefoot over a year and suggested she had a thing for him.

Klein suggested that Barefoot promised her a better outcome on charges shes facing in a another case if she testified against Stevens.

McCormack didnt come forward until May 28, 2019, after Barefoot reached out to her while she was held in the Klickitat County jail following a police pursuit in a stolen car.

Barefoot said maintaining a working relationship with McCormack was to foster trust with her as a witness, and that he documented all calls.

McCormack understands her culture, jail culture and street lingo, which is all valuable to a case, he said

Being a white officer on a reservation  Im an outsider but the only one with the ability to investigate these cases, he said.
UPDATED 5 p.m.: Yakima police arrested 19-year-old Jose Angel Ortega, who is accused of shooting Jonathan Spear outside his home in the Barge-Chestnut neighborhood Sunday.

A warrant was issued, and Yakima police Capt. Jay Seely said Ortega was arrested Wednesday afternoon near Fiesta Foods in Yakima.

It was the second arrest in the case. Police on Tuesday arrested a 22-year-old man they believe was driving the car. The 22-year-old was expected to make a preliminary court appearance today.

"I'm so proud of patrol Officer (John) Oliveri for finding the car so quickly," he said. "He found it within four hours and that's what really started opening the case. I'm super proud of the detectives."

Spear, 35, was struck by three bullets, including one that hit his spine. He was working in his yard at the time.

He underwent surgery Monday, according to a GoFundMe account set up by his brother, Caleb Spear, and was moved out of the ICU and into acute care on Wednesday.

The GoFundMe account had raised $112,000 as of Wednesday.

Seely said the case will be turned over to the prosecutor's office.

My hope is this will help bring some relief to the shooting victims family and help the Barge-Chestnut area feel some restored sense of safety and security, he said in a news release.

This story is developing and will be updated.
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Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - On Sunday, at approximately 9:34 a.m., the Yuma Police Department responded to the Humane Society of Yuma in reference to an animal cruelty incident.

The initial investigation revealed that unknown subject(s) left four kittens in closed cardboard boxes and an adult female cat in a zipped up suitcase outside along a wall in the 4400 block of E. 40th Street. The boxes and suitcase were left in the direct sunlight.

The four kittens were found to be suffering from heat illness and the adult female cat was deceased.

The Yuma Police Department encourages anyone with any information about this case to please call the Yuma Police Department at (928) 783-4421 or 78-Crime at (928) 782-7463 to remain anonymous. Remember, if your information leads to an arrest you may receive up to a $1,000 cash reward. In addition, the Humane Society of Yuma is offering a $5,000.00 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect(s).
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For over a decade, the author has been following this case, studying the files, speaking to witnesses, police officers, prosecutors, fire experts, forensic doctors and criminologists, to gain a very disturbing picture. The research has revealed a mix of factors which at the time of the crime were not just exclusive to Saxony-Anhalt. This followed a brutal tradition of the GDR police force, paired with openly everyday racism and violent right-wing radicalism. All this has been played down by top people in administration and politics - with some of it now becoming a nationwide problem.

Margot Overath conduct an interview with Dr. Kurt Zollinger, fire investigation expert from Zurich

This five-part feature series documents the arduous search for the truth regarding the death of Oury Jalloh and two other citizens of Dessau. It also reveals why victims of police violence often have very little chance, and how the spirit of comradeship and misunterstood loyalties in law enforcement can pose a threat to the rule of law. The author tells how a police scandal turned into a legal scandal which has in the meantime reached a political level. There is still hope of a late clarification of this here. If not, the European Court of Human Rights could soon be dealing with the question of whether there is a civil gap in Germany with regard to "victims of minor importance".

Part 1: The Body is to Blame

Video starten, abbrechen mit Escape Part 1: The Body is to Blame. Dok 5 - Das Feature. . 31:42 Min. . Verfugbar bis 06.05.2022. WDR 5. Von Margot Overath.

Barely an hour after the discovery of the charred body, the persons responsible at Dessau police force have made up their minds: The man in the cell is said to have set himself on fire. They will stick firmly to this version; over many years and court cases, against all logic and against ever new evidence. It cannot be what must not be. Correspondingly, the investigations will be conducted from the first moment on.

Part 2: Laid on the Stomach

Video starten, abbrechen mit Escape Part 2: Laid on the Stomach . 27:27 Min. . Verfugbar bis 06.05.2022. Von Margot Overath.

Under public pressure, the criminal prosecution authorities have the fire reconstructed - it cannot be explained without an accelerant. A senior public prosecutor wants to investigate on suspicion of murder - and is thwarted by his superior. New findings come to light - Oury Jalloh must have been severely maltreated before his death. Officials report anonymously how authoritarian structures and brutal police traditions live on.

Part 3: The Citizen Slept Soundly

Video starten, abbrechen mit Escape Part 3: The Citizen Slept Soundly . 30:05 Min. . Verfugbar bis 06.05.2022. Von Margot Overath .

The asylum-seeker Oury Jalloh was not the first dead person in and around Dessau police station. The author unfolds files that have been closed for a long time and sets off on a search for clues together with criminologists and forensic experts - in the process she discovers frightening parallels to the current case.

Part 4: Victims of Lesser Importance

Video starten, abbrechen mit Escape Part 4: Victims of Lesser Importance . 30:05 Min. . Verfugbar bis 06.05.2022. Von Margot Overath.

Right-wing radicalism and racism are not special features of Dessau. But hints of such tendencies - even within the police force - were not welcome here. The author asks which structures encourage corps spirit and the covering up of violence - and which again and again lead to victims elsewhere.

Part 5: The Higher Worth

Video starten, abbrechen mit Escape Part 5: The Higher Worth. 31:42 Min. . Verfugbar bis 06.05.2022. Von Margot Overath.

Elaborate investigations against a state apparatus or discontinuation of the proceedings? Faced with this alternative, the State Attorney General of Saxony-Anhalt opts for the latter. And the highest court follows suit. The suicide thesis is revived - and the clock is turned back 15 years. In the state parliament the question is raised what is worse for the constitutional state - that police officers burn a person or that it will come to light ?

Mouctar Bah (at centre) and two other friends of Oury Jalloh

Broadcasted 17. May to 14. June 2020

Author: Margot Overath

Commissioning Editor: Thomas Nachtigall

Production: WDR 2020

Stand: 07.05.2021, 15:59
Hungary has reached agreement with Cyprus on the mutual recognition of each others Covid-19 immunity certificates.

Under the agreement, Hungarians who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 will no longer be required to stay in isolation in Cyprus or present negative tests when travelling there from next week, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told public media.



Inoculated Hungarian citizens will be allowed to enter Cyprus without restrictions irrespective of which vaccine they received, the minister said.



Hungary is in talks with many countries on the mutual recognition of immunity certificates, he noted.



Though many people are planning trips abroad during the summer, travelling is fairly complicated right now as many countries still have restrictions in place, Szijjarto said.
Hungary has reached an agreement with Morocco on the mutual recognition of each others Covid-19 immunity certificates, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after talks with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita in Rabat.

From Thursday, Hungarian and Moroccan citizens who have been inoculated against Covid-19 will no longer be required to stay in isolation or present negative test results when entering each others countries, Szijjarto told a joint press conference.



The minister noted that some 26,000 Hungarians had visited Morocco in the year before the pandemic. Szijjarto said that like Hungary in Europe, Morocco was leading the Covid vaccination drive in Africa.



The reason for this, he said, was that neither country had approached the issue of vaccines from an ideological or geopolitical perspective and both had purchased both Western and Eastern jabs.



Both countries governments view vaccines as means for saving lives, he added.



The two countries also consider it important to learn the right lessons from the pandemic and establish the conditions for strategic sovereignty, Szijjarto said, adding that this meant being in a position to produce protective equipment, including vaccines.



Szijjarto said the pandemic posed serious economic, health and security challenges for the entire world, adding that this made cooperation between the European Union and Africa even more important.



He said North Africa played a crucial role when it came to the EUs security. If the North African region is unstable and not peaceful, it cannot function as Europes line of defence against migration waves, he said. Szijjarto underlined the need for the EU to strengthen its cooperation with its southern neighbours on the basis of mutual respect.



Morocco, he added, was crucial to North Africas strength.



Hungary and Morocco apply similar approaches to a number of global political dilemmas, he said, adding that this had led to a strategic alliance and friendship between them. He noted that both countries considered sovereignty important in terms of their past, present and future.



Hungary therefore is a strong supporter of Morocco both within the EUs neighbourhood policy and at a bilateral level, the minister said, noting Hungarys support of Moroccos candidacy for membership on the UN Security Council.



Hungary is also providing financial support for the UN opening its counter-terrorism directorate in Rabat this month. Hungary remains a participant in the UNs mission in Western Sahara and is prepared to have the Visegrad Group support Moroccos border protection efforts.



Concerning economic ties, Szijjarto said Hungarys Eximbank has opened a 250 million dollar credit line to help finance Hungarian-Moroccan business cooperation.





MTI Photo
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...
Most people in Hungary have withstood the economic crisis linked to the pandemic, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a business conference, adding that he could not think of a single social group that had gone to the wall.

Orban said that Hungarys health-care system had performed better than those of several Western countries during the pandemic and online learning had switched overnight with surprising speed and efficiency.



Neither did families go bankrupt, even though many parents had to stay home with their children, he added. The prime minister said that whereas businesses had been broadly affected by the crisis, employment figures showed that Hungarians want to work and companies want to provide it.



More than 4.5 million have a job in Hungary today, he noted, only 50,000 fewer than in the same period of 2019, adding that not only must 50,000 jobs be created this year but the target was double that figure thereafter.



The prime minister said Hungarys rejection of a global minimum tax was crucial to preserving jobs. He said the issue was not just a problem of sovereignty, it raises economic policy concerns, too. Hungarys low corporate tax rate is good because it brings real investments to Hungary, he said.



Taking that away would remove the countrys ability to attract real investments, he added. Hungary needs lines of defence that can protect jobs if a global minimum corporate tax rate is rolled out, Orban said.



He said the million dollar question was what the global, European and Hungarian economic orders would be like after the crisis. Though no one can provide an exact answer to that at this point, what is certain is that Hungary will have to be smart in adapting to the new economic order, he added.



Orban said the crisis had shown the fragility of the European and global economy, adding that the world and Europe would be aiming primarily for security in the future.



So we will all want the economy and life to be more secure than before the crisis  so that they cant be shaken by a crisis like the one weve been experiencing for the last 16 months, he said.



He said countries could not depend on others to fight an epidemic. We must create the means to protect ourselves, he said, noting the need for protective equipment, medicines and vaccines and the capacity to produce them even when there is no epidemic.



Vaccines will be required quickly when it comes to a future epidemic, Orban said. We must build up capacity for a speedier response.



The prime minister said Hungary could not afford to hew solely to the West. The Eastern direction is also important, he said, adding that this was a fact of economic policy because the centre of gravity of the global economy was constantly shifting Eastwards. We must adapt to that.



Orban also said a primary aim was to ensure that the poorest regions could catch up. Whereas Budapests level of development is 110-130% of the European average, Hungarys four poorest regions are among the EUs twenty worst-off.



EU funding, he added, would have to be channelled to these regions not only because doing so would be fair and economically rational, but also because villages, small towns and cities must be preserved instead of making way for megacities'.



Orban called for a change in the business model in tourism, saying the models of hotspots of Paris and Rome should serve as an example. The ratio of foreign and domestic tourists in those cities was healthier than in Budapest, where 90% of tourists are foreign, he added.



Cities seeking revenues from tourism cannot afford to ignore domestic tourism, the prime minister said, calling on professional organisations to put forth their proposals.



As a next step to restarting the economy, two operative boards will be set up, one in charge of restarting the economy and the other tasked with relaunching social life, he said.



The board focusing on the economy and will be led by Peter Szijjarto, the minister of foreign affairs and trade.



The other will be led by Katalin Novak, the minister in charge of family affairs, Orban said. At times of crisis theres no normativity, Orban said.



A crisis cannot be resolved with a consistent economic policy guided by liberal principles because this leads to austerity.



In such a situation, he added, the principle of equal treatment of players must be altered and those who suffered the most or could provide the most for a recovery in particular should be handled differently.





MTI Photo
Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy met Union Minister Prakash Javadekar in the national capital on Thursday. He met the senior BJP leader at his residence shortly after arriving in the national capital.

Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy meets Union Minister Prakash Javadekar in Delhi pic.twitter.com/147MhghgM6  ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2021

The Chief Minister is also scheduled to meet Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and others during his two-day trip to the national capital.

According to reports, the YSRCP chief is seeking financial support from the Centre for the Polavaram irrigation project.

CM Jagan Reddy would discuss pending issues of the State, including the release of funds for Polavaram irrigation project, with the Union Ministers, a state government release said.

"He will negotiate with them about the Polavaram Project and other issues pertaining to the state," the statement added.

The Andhra Chief Minister was supposed to visit New Delhi on Monday, but with his appointment with Amit Shah getting cancelled, the former put off the trip, sources said.

It may be noted that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is strongly opposed to the Polavaram project. He had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that if the project on the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh continues then it will cause "permanent injury" to the interests of Odisha.

"If the project is allowed to be completed before the resolution of all the pending cases, it will cause permanent injury to the interest of the state of Odisha and its people," Patnaik had said in a letter to PM Modi.

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New Delhi: In view of COVID-19, the government has accepted the request of stakeholders to give jewellers some more time to get prepared for implementation and resolve issues. Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery is now set to begin from June 16, 2021 which was earlier expected to be implemented from June 1.

In an exclusive interview with Reema Sharma of Zee Media, Sudheesh Nambiath, Head, India Gold Policy Centre, IIM- Ahmedabad, discusses a few pertinent questions associated with the government's order on mandatory hallmarking of Gold Jewellery from next week. Excerpts from the interview...

1. How does buying hallmark gold jewellery will benefit users?

Hallmarked articles are certification and confirmation of the quality that provides assurance of gold purity in the consumers mind. Mandatory hallmarking safeguards the consumer against lower karatage gold jewellery and ensure that customers are not misled by the jeweller and receive the purity as stated in the article. This implies that if a consumer is buying 22K hallmarked gold jewellery, it will actually mean that 22/24 parts are gold and the rest is alloy, allowing him to calculate the purchase and resale value of gold at the forefront.

The purity of the gold cannot be contested by another jeweller when a consumer would want to scrap it or exchange for old jewellery. The consumer could with all the details of jewellery piece can take the seller of the piece to the court.

The purity certification helps the consumer get better value while collateralising it.

A consumer would be able with the Unique Identification be in a position to confirm the authenticity of hallmarking.

2. Govt has not included certain Karatages in the mandatory hallmarking regime, how do you view this?

As of now, BIS has only allowed mandatory hallmarking on 14k, 18k, and 22k of Gold articles while International standards approve all kinds of Karatage (9K to 24K) and lay down no restriction. Gold has a traditional value in India and different regions have unique demands for different karatages. In some religions, wedding jewellery is not complete without 24k ornaments. Moreover, in neighboring countries like China, Nepal, Srilanka, Bangladesh, and Bangkok, the majority of the sale of gold jewellery is 24k. So I think, gradually in near future, BIS would give liberty to Jewellers to sell other karatage, if the jeweller has the necessary machinery and expertise to manufacture it.

3. What are the major components one must look at while buying gold? (In gold hallmarking)

First of all, one should always buy Gold from a BIS-certified Gold Jeweller. Secondly, one should look at the four signs of Hallmarking on the gold article with the help of a magnifying glass of 10 X magnification available with the Jeweller. Those four signs are BIS Mark, Purity in Carat and Fineness for Gold, Assay centers identification mark/number, Jewellers identification mark/number. Thirdly, the Customer should always take the bill of his purchases and verify that it mentions hallmarking cost (not more than Rs.35/- + GST per piece for gold), net weight of the precious metal, purity in carat, and fineness on the bill.

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#mute
New Delhi: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made it mandatory for the businesses in the country to write the FSSAI license/registration number on every bill.

The food regulator issued this order to empower the consumers to complain about a particular food item through this number. The business involved in food items will be able to check their FSSAI license/registration number on the official website- https://www.fssai.gov.in/.

The food regulator also added that this rule will come into effect from October 1, 2021.

The order mandates the business to declare the 14-digit FSSAI License or Registration number on cash receipts/purchase invoices/cash memo /bills etc.

It shall enable the consumers to have access to information about a particular food business which is publically available at FSSAIs portals. Consumers can visit the FSSAIs portal and Food Safety Connect app for accessing information about FSSAI License or Registration by inputting the 14 digit FSSAI License/Registration number, the food regulator said.

In case of any grievance, a consumer can lodge an online complaint against a particular food business using the FSSAI number. Many complaints remain unresolved due to lack of specific information, it added.

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New Delhi: The auspicious occasion of Shani Jayanti, celebrating the birthday of Lord Shani or planet Saturn is being marked this year on June 10. Shani Jayanti is also known by the name of Shani Amavasya. Lord Shani - one of the important Navgrahas and as per Hindu mythology, the Lord of planet Saturn.

Shani Dev is the son of Surya Dev - the sun god. As per Hindu mythology, each day of the week is dedicated to a deity, therefore, Saturday is ruled by Saturn LordShani Dev. There is a mention of the lord in ancient Puranas, medieval texts and scriptures.

SHANI JAYANTI PUJA TIMINGS:

Shani Jayanti on Thursday, June 10, 2021

Amavasya Tithi Begins - 13:57 on Jun 09, 2021

Amavasya Tithi Ends - 16:22 on Jun 10, 2021

(According to drikpanchang.com)

According to the North Indian Purnimant calendar, the Shani Jayanti is marked on Amavasya Tithi during Jyeshtha month whereas as per the South Indian Amavasyant calendar Shani Jayanti falls on Amavasya Tithi during Vaishakha month. The Lunar month name differs but in both these calendars, the date of Shani Jayanti remains the same.

It coincides with Vat Savitri Vrat on June 10 this year which is observed on Jyeshtha Amavasya in major North Indian states in the country.

Also, on June 10, the world will witness its first Solar eclipse or Surya Grahan.

Rituals of Shani Jayanti:

On Shani Jayanti, devotees take a bath, wear clean clothes and observe a fast. Later in the day, visit a Shani temple to seek the Lord's blessings. Shani Dev is the god of justice, so whoever works hard, prays with utmost devotion, performs his duties rightfully gets rewarded by the Lord.

All those who suffer from any sort of Shani-related dosha can seek the Lord's blessings by worshipping him on this day. You can also recite Shani Dev mantras and meditate in silence.

You can visit any Shani Temple and offer jaggery and chana (black chickpeas or Gram) to the Lord. Also, black lentils (urad black dal) can be offered to the Lord as well. It is believed that the Saturn God also likes black colour and the mettle Iron (Loha) is associated with him. The devotees can give eatables along with the mettle utensils to the needy also.

Helping the poor and needy on this day can please the Lord and in turn, he will bless you.

Blessings of Lord Shani:

There is often a sense of fear which is invoked in most people while praying to the lord, as Shani Dev's 'sadhesati' and 'dhaiya' make people dread their fate more.

However, we must understand that the Lord is also another name for justice, so each individual goes through whatever Karma he or she has done.

Pray to Shani Dev with a pure heart, mind and soul.

Here's wishing a very Happy Shani Jayanti to everyone - Jai Shani Dev!
New Delhi: The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government will start taking applications from June 10, Thursday for liquor shops that want to run a home delivery in service amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 1, the Delhi government had said it would allow home delivery of liquor through mobile apps or websites. The announcement came after the excise rules governing the trade of alcohol in the national capital were amended.

However, people in Delhi won't be able to order liquor home from tomorrow, the process is such that vendors have to first apply for licence from tomorrow for home delivery service.

On Monday, the Delhi Excise (Amendment) Rules, 2021, notified that the L-13 license holders can deliver liquor at the doorstep of Delhiites.

The rules also permit the holders of the necessary licences to serve liquor in open spaces such as terraces, the courtyards of clubs, bars and restaurants. However, no delivery can be made to any hostel, office, or institution.

The liquor shops, malls and markets have been shut in Delhi since the lockdown was announced by Arvind Kejriwal on April 19. The national capital is currently under lockdown till June 7, where apart from essential activities, only factories and constructions have been allowed.
New Delhi: The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) is expected to release the exam notification for recruitment of Constable (General Duty or GD) soon.

To fill the GD posts in CAPFs, NIA, SSF, and Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles, SSC is likely to notify about the GD examination 2021 between June 10- 15, as per media reports. However, there has been no official confirmation yet.

Interested candidates are advised to keep checking SSCs official website  ssc.nic.in for updates.

The recruitment of GD constable will fill nearly 40 thousand posts.

Eligibility criteria:

Indian citizens who have passed Class 10 from a recognized board can apply for the SSC GD exam. They should have scored at least 50 percent in Class 10. The age limit to apply for this national-level examination recruiting candidates for an entry-level job is 18 to 23 years.

Selection process:

Candidates will be selected on the basis of written exams, a physical test and verification of documents.

Earlier, SSC GD constable notification was scheduled to release in the first week of May but was postponed due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic. The commission had declared that the notification will be out after assessing the situation caused by the deadly pandemic.

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New Delhi: Former Bigg Boss contestant and model Sofia Hayat has once again hogged the limelight. She dropped a post on Instagram with a long note dedicated to bashing superstar Salman Khan. She slammed the actor for various reasons - from cliched storylines to casting a young actress - Sofia pointed fingers at everything.

Sofia Hayat also revealed that she herself chose not to share the Bigg Boss finale stage with him owing to her morality.

She wrote: Salman Khan has been using the same tricks every time he releases a movie. He releases on Eid, using the religious festivity as a promotional day, profiting from a spiritual day. He also releases the same cliched story lines, same cheesy looks to camera, same cliched girl meets boy story, (always using a younger model each time, isn't it about time you cast a girl your own age to star opposite you?), and same cliched cheesy lines. What he has not done is to grow. His audiences have clearly grown and are fed up with the same regurgitated story lines that are quite clearly brain numbing, even watching the trailer of Radhe, I thought, haven't I seen all of this before?

Watching Randeep Hooda was painful. He is a good actor, and his acting has gone to waste on such an over the top and badly written role. Did he take the role because he got to work with Salman because it gives him credibility? That's the issue with the industry. Roles are taken for prestige. Imagine if Randeep said, "the character is badly written, and very cliched". He probably would have been outed from Bollywood. I myself chose not to appear on stage on BB final next to Salman because my morality and truth is stronger than my ego.

We have entered the Golden age, and humanity has evolved in every way.

The people of India are not stupid, they are intelligent and evolving every day. Maybe Salman should try this to. Namaste Shalom Salaam Satnam

Mother Sofia Maria Hayat

Cosmic Mother

#radhe

Quick reacting to her post was Kamaal Rashid Khan aka KRK, who has been slapped a defamation notice by Salman Khan for bad-mouthing his Being Human foundation. KRK called Sofia a brave girl and tweeted in her favour.

You are a brave girl @sofiahayat! Keep it up!  KRK (@kamaalrkhan) June 8, 2021

Sofia has on previous occasions too expressed her strong opinion against Salman Khan.
New Delhi: Eleven people died and seven suffered injuries as a residential building collapsed on another structure in Malad West area of Mumbai at around 11 pm on Wednesday.

Search and rescue operations are still going on in New Collector compound, Malad West, ANI reported.

Maharashtra: Search and rescue operation continues in New Collector compound, Malad West of Mumbai, where residential structures collapsed last night. 11 people died, 7 injured. Visuals from the spot, this morning. pic.twitter.com/ct7HhErNHF  ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2021

The search and rescue operation by the fire brigade is still going on, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed.

"It's an unfortunate incident. It was a G+2 building that fell on another building. 18 people have been rescued, of whom 11 died. Police will carry out a proper investigation and take further action: Dilip Sawant, Additional CP, was quoted as saying by the news agency.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Minister Aslam Shaikh blamed the incessant rains for the building collapses. "Buildings have collapsed due to rain. Rescue operation is underway. Injured people have been shifted to the hospital. Debris of the buildings being removed to see if more people are stuck under it," he told ANI.

With the onset of monsoon on Wednesday (June 9) in Maharashtra, heavy downpour disrupted life in Mumbai and caused several incidents of landslide, wall and bridge collapse in Thane city and neighbouring Palghar districts. The deluge lashed Mumbai and brought the city to a standstill. It disrupted local train services, led to water-logging in various parts of the city, pushing the traffic police to shut four subways.

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New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party received over Rs 785 crore in donations from electoral trusts, corporate and individuals in 2019-20, which is the highest amount of funds received by any political party in India.

The amount received is about five times more than what Congress got in the same period. The Congress party received Rs 139 crore that year.

The Election Commission put the information regarding BJPs funding on its website this week. The party had submitted its contribution report to the commission in February this year.

The top contributors for the BJP included electoral trusts, corporates and party leaders. Among the leaders who made the contribution included Piyush Goyal, Pema Khandu, Kirron Kher and Raman Singh.

ITC, Kalyan Jewellers, Rare Enterprises, Ambuja Cement, Lodha Developers and Motilal Oswal were some of the corporate houses that contributed to the party fund.

New Democratic Electoral Trust, Prudent Electoral Trust, Jankalyan Electoral Trust and Triumph Electoral Trust also made significant contributions.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress received Rs 8 crore, CPI got Rs 1.3 crore and CPI (M) received Rs 19.7 crore as contributions.

Notably, the contribution report only mentions donations above Rs 20,000.

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New Delhi: The Russian envoy to India Nikolay Kudashev said that the annual summit has been planned for this fall. India is the current chair of the BRICS or Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa grouping.

Nikolay Kudashev, speaking at a virtual event hosted by the Confederation of Young Leaders (CYL), said, "In the framework of multilateral efforts to address existing challenges and threats, BRICS remains a major factor in international politics and economics".

"Annual BRICS summit is planned for this fall. At the previous BRICS summit, our leaders have reaffirmed, the importance of BRICS people to people contact in enhancing friendship between people, especially the younger generation, he added.

On June 1, India hosted the BRICS FMs meet virtually. As the chair of the grouping, nearly 50 events have been held, and many more are scheduled during the rest of the year. This is the third time India is holding the BRICS chairship, after 2012 and 2016.

Kudashev highlighted that both countries, India and Russia, remain committed to "further expand our financial cooperation and extend the use of national currency in bilateral and international trade", pointing out that Russia is the "only foreign country so deeply involved in Indian nuclear power sector contributing to the national energy security".

Russia has been involved in Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. He said, We would be very encouraged with regard to the decision of the Indian government on the second site for construction of more nuclear reactors of Russian design.

Amid the COVID pandemic, both countries supported each other. Kudashev said, "In the hour of need, India helped Russia with the supplies of anti-virus medicines. Russia on its part provided a huge part of humanitarian assistance to India.

Russia supplied 20 tonnes of life-saving equipment and medicines to India earlier this year to deal with the crisis. These include oxygen production units, lunge ventilating machines and drugs such as Remdesivir. India will be manufacturing the Sputnik V COVID vaccine.

Chairman of the Confederation of Young Leaders, Suwan, speaking at the event extended his gratitude to Russia for the outreach amid the COVID crisis. He said, "Right from Oxygen concentrators to Sputnik vaccine, such efforts to extend India a lifeline underscores the need to strengthen popular support for the long-term development of the Russia-India relations."
New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday visited a vaccination center in Rajkiya Sarvodaya Vidyalaya situated at Lancer Road, designated under the new 'Jahan Vote, Wahan Vaccination' initiative of the Delhi government. CM Arvind Kejriwal encouraged those in the 45+ category to get vaccinated by visiting the nearest polling booths converted into vaccination centers under the 'Jahan Vote, Wahan Vaccination' campaign.

CM Kejriwal stated that the Delhi government has received a thunderous response on this campaign and has also arranged for e-rickshaw to travel from home to vaccination centers. He further added that just like BLOs give slips from door to door before voting, in the same way, they are giving slips of scheduled slots to people for vaccination.

He also emphasised that those who do not come to the center and get their jab even after getting the slot, the BLO will go again to their house and clear the doubts, adding that with multiple rumors rapidly spreading, giving heat to the issue of vaccine hesitancy, it is the responsibility of all of us to dispel them. Kejriwal declared that within the next four weeks, the entire population of 45+ will be vaccinated with the first dose all over Delhi.

The CM went on to substantiate that Indias electoral structure is competent enough, if we use it all over the country, we can vaccinate everyone in two to three months: CM Arvind Kejriwal

CM Arvind Kejriwal, A new initiative, namely 'Jahan Vote Wahan Vaccination' has been launched by the Delhi government. We have seen in Delhi that for those above the age of 45 years, around 50% of people have been vaccinated, and 50% of people are left to be vaccinated. In Delhi, there are about 57 lakh people above the age of 45 years. Around 27-28 lakh people have been vaccinated and around 30 lakh people are left to be vaccinated. But now we were observing that not many people were turning up to the vaccination centers, all over Delhi. We thought that we had to invite people from their homes and make them aware. So, is this is a new initiative that you get vaccinated where you vote.

He said, "In every Vidhan Sabha, the electoral machinery is very elaborate. So, where the people go to vote, they will be vaccinated there at the polling station. So, like this polling station, here the people who come to vote, just the way the booth level officers go to their houses to give election chits before the elections and inform them about the date and other details of the election, similarly the BLO would go to the house of each and every person and will give them slots for the vaccination center so that it does not get crowded. Some people will be given the slots for 10 am, some for noon. So, the BLO will invite the people and people will have to come with the slots given by the BLO.

Kejriwal said, Right now I have talked to some people and they are very happy people. The arrangements for E -rickshaws for their transportation have also been made, to bring people from their houses. BLOs are making the people aware in case the people are apprehensive about the vaccination for example I met an elderly woman right now who was apprehensive because she had blood pressure and sugar. The BLOs are also removing any apprehensions. So, the BLOs will cover their area in 2 days and the next 2 days the vaccination will be administered.

He further said, Those who do not show up, the BLOs will go for a second round. Again, their apprehensions will be removed. So BLOs will be going to the house of each and every person. This has been initiated in 70 wards today and there are 272 wards in Delhi along with the 2 Vidhansabha in Delhi where there are no wards, so if we are to include them, there are around 280 wards in Delhi. So, the vaccination for all above 45 years will be completed in Delhi within 4 weeks. If we had the vaccines for 18-44 years then they could have also been vaccinated the same way. We have an extraordinary administrative structure and electoral framework, if we are to use that then we can vaccinate the entire country in 2-3 months.

CM Arvind Kejriwal said, It is our responsibility, and of the society and the media, and my responsibility that we ward off any rumors regarding the vaccination. Today so many people will go after getting vaccinated and will tell their neighbors that they are not facing any consequences after getting vaccinated. So, it is our responsibility. People have to be made aware. The rumors have to be warded off.

He said, It is a very good thing that starting 21st June, the Central Government is going to provide us with the vaccines. So, if we get the vaccines, then we will start vaccinating everyone under this scheme. We are very thankful to the Supreme Court, it was only after their pressure that it was questioned that why the people between 18-44 years were being charged, while it was free for the other and why the private hospitals were allowed to charge such exorbitant costs. But even though it was after the pressure from the Supreme Court, whatever happened was for the good of the country and I hope that the vaccination drive runs smoothly. The real challenge now is that of availability, if availability improves then I think the entire country can be vaccinated in 2-3 months.
New Delhi: Bharat Biotech, the Hyderabad-based COVID vaccine manufacturer, on Wednesday (June 9, 2021) said that the company is going to conduct a phase 4 trial of its COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, in order to check the real-world effectiveness.

The company revealed that the results for the phase 3 trial will be published next month, adding that following which the company will apply for full licensure.

The statement comes amid a Twitter feud between Bharat Biotech's Raches Ella and Kolkata researcher Dr. Aswadhesh Kumar Singh over Covaxin versus Covishield.

Even though the Centre has already said that both the COVID-19 vaccines are made differently and hence, cannot be compared, many scientists and researchers have embarked on the journey to find the answer to the question of which vaccine is better between Covaxin and Covishield.

A pre-print study has recently claimed that both COVID-19 vaccines showed a good immune response after two doses, but the Serum Institute of India's Covishield produced more antibodies than Covaxin. However, the study is yet to peer-reviewed.

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech's business development head Dr Raches Ella took it to his Twitter account to reveal that the study has its limitations.

@Teensthack @singhak_endo surprised that media/researchers are concluding based on non-peer-reviewed work. Limitation 1: Spike-based IgG's are not appropriate when evaluating Covaxin, which induces broad antibody responses to Spike, N, and M. Recommend live virus neutralization, he wrote on Twitter.

@Teensthack @singhak_endo surprised that media/researchers are concluding based on non-peer-reviewed work. Limitation 1: Spike-based IgG's are not appropriate when evaluating Covaxin, which induces broad antibody responses to Spike, N, and M. Recommend live virus neutralization. https://t.co/kdCbfjwFbv  Dr. Raches Ella (@RachesElla) June 7, 2021

"A recent comparative report on an evaluation of immunogenicity responses to spike protein after the first and second dose of Indian manufactured vaccines study had lots of flaws. The journal that stated the comparative report said more antibodies produced by Covishield than COVAXIN[?]. This is not a peer-reviewed publication, nor do it a statistically and scientifically designed study. The study design and conduct reflect an ad hoc analysis, rather than a predetermined hypothesis," the company said.

Additionally, the company also added that, so far, the vaccine's overall efficacy on 78 percent and its efficacy against hospitalisation is 100 percent. The 4th phase trials will be also be conducted to ensure that the vaccine met every rigorous standard, the company said.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday (June 10) visited the 57 MT oxygen storage and generation centre in Siraspur. He said that oxygen facilities are being created at various places in Delhi so that people do not struggle in case a third COVID-19 wave emerges. 19 more plants are to be inaugurated within a day or two. The Delhi CM said that the Delhi government has already installed three oxygen storage plants till now of 57 MT each, total capacity 171 MT, and work is done on a war footing.

CM Arvind Kejriwal said, "The Delhi Government is rapidly making arrangements in case a third wave comes. In the second wave, the biggest challenge that was faced was shortage of oxygen, because of which the people of Delhi had to struggle a lot for a few days. Therefore, the preparations for that are being made that in case a third wave emerges then there should be no shortage of oxygen. Today, we are standing in front of the 57 MT oxygen storage center in Siraspur. Two more oxygen storage centers have been made in Babasaheb Ambedkar hospital and the DDU hospital. So, three oxygen storage tanks of 57 MT capacity each, a total of 171 MT have been installed in Delhi."

Following the visit to Siraspur oxygen storage center, CM Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "Visited Oxygen Storage Center at Siraspur today for future preparations. A cryogenic tank of 57 metric tonnes of oxygen storage capacity is being installed here, along with an oxygen generation plant with a production capacity of 12.5 tonnes per day. Preparations for Delhi are in full swing in Delhi."

He said, "Two oxygen generation plants are to be set up whose combined capacity will be 13,500 MT. So, this way, oxygen facilities are being created in various places in Delhi so that in case a third wave emerges, the people would not have to struggle. 19 more plants are to be inaugurated within a day or two. So, all over Delhi, facilities for oxygen storage, oxygen generation are being created. We faced a lot of problems regarding the tankers such that when we had to get oxygen from Haryana and other states, we did not have tankers. So, we are also getting tankers. All preparations are in swing."

He also tweeted, "We have already installed 3 oxygen storage plants till now of 57 MT each, total capacity 171 MT. Work done on a war footing. Grateful to all those who made it happen."

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New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Thursday (June 10) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) for sharing of resources and expertise in the area of academics, research and training.

Delhis Commissioner of Police SN Shrivastava signed the MoU with RRU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Bimal N Patel in a formal ceremony held at Vimarsh Conference Hall in Delhi Police Headquarters.

The objective of the MoU is to synergise the expertise of Delhi Police and RRU with the aim of undertaking skill up-gradation and training and encouraging innovation and research in the field of law enforcement and allied areas of policing. Through collaboration, the two organizations will assess and focus on specific requirements of Delhi Police and the RRU regarding training, research and extension programmes including other areas of mutual interest. They will jointly facilitate online and offline training activities, design research projects and take up any other problem areas as mutually agreed in the realm of technology and academic research, the Delhi Police said in a statement.

Speaking on this occasion, the CP appreciated the remarkable growth of RRU in a short span of time and the help RRU has extended to Central and State police organizations in improving their competence and work efficiency.

Terming Delhi as the heartbeat of the nation, Shrivastava said that Delhi Police has innumerable fronts to engage with daily and its range of activities has wide expanse.

He expressed the hope that together the Delhi Police and RRU will carve out learning, research and application which will be of value to all police forces and establishments.

As police dimensions keep changing, CP said, there is a need to impart training as to how best to handle law & order situations.

There will be provision for accreditation and joint certification of academic projects and training programmes. The scope of internships and experiential learning will also be available for both the organizations and they may mutually agree to take up consultancy and advisory projects to further their respective mandates.

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Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the construction work of Delhi's first smog tower at Connaught Place and it will now be ready by August 15.

The Delhi cabinet had approved the project in October last year. The 20-metre-tall structure, being set up to improve air quality in a radius of around 1 km, was supposed to be ready by June 15. "The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the construction work of the smog tower, the first-of-its-kind in India. The work is being expedited. Now, it will be ready by August 15," Rai said.

He also said that many experts have different views about the efficacy of smog towers. "This is a pilot project. Experts will monitor its utility and thereafter, the government will take a call on building more such structures," he said.

Tata Projects Limited (TPL) is implementing the Rs 20-crore project on the ground with technical support from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. National Building Construction Corporation India Ltd. Has been appointed as project management consultant.

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New Delhi: What if one morning you walk back to your home to find indiscriminate firing going on? What if those bullets are fired by someone living in your own neighbourhood? This is exactly what happened in Kolkata. On June 9, indiscriminate firing started in a residential area of New Town, one of the safest areas of the city. The complex houses about 22,000 flats with over one lakh people residing in it. Naturally, the people were scared.

Zee News Anchor Aman Chopra on Thursday (June 10) narrated the recent event that occurred in Kolkata to explain the risk of not knowing ones neighbour.

In the Kolkata incident, when the noise of the bullets stopped, people came to know that two big gangsters from Punjab were hiding among them in the society. The two gangsters were identified as Jaipal Bhullar and Jaspreet Jassi. The wanted criminals had five pistols and live cartridges. No one in the society had any idea that they were harbouring such notorious criminals.

This incident throws light on an important issue. Nowadays, most people are not acquainted with their neighbours. And this can be very dangerous.

28 percent of people in India's urban areas live in rented houses. People coming from villages to cities for jobs, students coming for studies and many families live in different cities for various reasons. Before renting out a place, police verification of the tenants is required. But this practice is often not taken seriously.

In Delhi in 2020, 3,440 cases were registered against landlords because they did not get the police verification of their tenants done. Apart from this, cases were registered against 226 people who did not get the police verification done for the people working in their houses.

It is possible that today many of you are feeling that you have also done this at some point or the other. But imagine what can happen if a terrorist gets a house on rent.

The risk of improper police verification is quite worrying.

A few days ago a survey was conducted on the brokers who offer house rentals in Mumbai. It was found in this survey that only 20 percent of the brokers get the police verification of the tenants done. This carelessness can have dire consequences.

In March this year, notorious gangster Kuldeep Mann alias Fazza was hiding with a weapon in a residential apartment in Delhi. The people living in the neighborhood had no idea that a notorious criminal was living here, who had escaped from the police custody three days ago. However, the police tracked him and this gangster was killed in an encounter.

In another incident last year, Delhi gangster Jitendra Mann alias Gogi was hiding in a residential area of Gurugram. Even then the people of the area had no information about it. They came to know about it only when gunshots were heard during the encounter there.

The same happened with the Batla House encounter of 2008. In September 2008, four terrorists were hiding in the Batla House building of Jamia Nagar, Delhi. These terrorists had carried out bomb blasts in Delhi. After the blasts, all these terrorists were living peacefully in the rented flat. On September 19, when the police got information about their hideout, an encounter took place.

All these incidents bring us to the same question  How well do you know your neighbour?

If only, police verification had been done properly, the Kolkata shootout and other incidents like that could have been avoided.

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New Delhi: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on his meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that he does not require a visa to meet a CM.

Tikait had met Banerjee on Wednesday (June 9) in Kolkata, where the duo discussed several issues including the ongoing farmers protest.

The farmers' leader said he will meet all the CMs to deliberate on state policies. I met CM and not a party chief. Did I meet Afghanistan President, for which I had to take Govt of India's permission? Does it require a visa to meet a CM? We'll meet all CMs over state policies. Uttarakhand has BJP govt and Punjab has Congress govt, we'll meet them too, Tikait was quoted as saying by ANI.

Elaborating on his discussion with CM Banerjee, Tikait said that he told her the opposition in the country is weak. We said that the Opposition in the country is weak. We're sitting on streets now, had the Opposition been strong we need not have done that. Opposition should be strong, we told her this, he said.

During the meeting, the TMC chief had assured Tikait of full support to the farmers' ongoing protests against the Centres three contentious farm laws. She promised to rally opposition-ruled states in support of the agitating farmers, and said she aims to "remove the Narendra Modi government from power", PTI reported.

Banerjee's support for the farmers' unions comes within days of the Trinamool Congress announcing that the party plans to spread its footprints outside West Bengal. Several states including Uttar Pradesh will go to polls next year.

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi: The Dominica High Court has adjourned the bail hearing of fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi till June 11, local media reports stated.

Choksi had approached the high court after the magistrate rejected his bail petition.

The bail hearing took place before high court judge Wynante Adrien-Roberts through video-conferencing on the plea of Choksi's local legal team comprising Julien Prevost, Wayne Norde, Wayne Marsh and Cara Shillingford-Marsh.

The government side represented by Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Sherma Dalrymple "strongly objected" to Choksi's plea calling him a flight risk, Dominica News Online reported.

The judge adjourned the matter till June 11, it said.

The high court is also hearing a separate matter of habeas corpus filed by Choksi's team in which the hearing has also been adjourned.

Choksi had mysteriously gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been staying since 2018 as a citizen.

He was detained in neighbouring island country 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.

The businessman was also brought before a Roseau magistrate on the orders of high court judge Bernie Stephenson, hearing the habeas corpus matter, to answer charges of illegal entry where he pleaded not guilty but was denied bail.
New Delhi: As Mumbai welcomed the onset of monsoon early on Wednesday (June 9), incessant showers disrupted life in Mumbai and caused several incidents of landslide, wall and bridge collapse in Thane city and neighbouring Palghar district in Maharashtra.

While no casualties were reported, at least six vehicles were damaged after trees fell on them during the downpour, PTI quoted Santosh Kadam, the chief of the Thane Municipal Corporation's (TMC) regional disaster management cell as saying.

Panvel-Kalwa road and Mumbra Bypass Road, both in Mumbra witnessed landslides due to the heavy downpour. Rescue teams reached the scene to clear the roads and ensure smooth movement of vehicles, the official added.

Moreover, three incidents of wall collapse occurred in Thane city, however, no one was injured. A bridge in Kolgaon village of Palghar district collapsed, the Chief of the District Disaster Management Cell Vivekanand Kadam told the news agency. No casualties were reported in the bridge collapse, but transport link to villages around the bridge was cut off, Kadam informed.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts, for the coming four days. It also issued an orange alert for Pune, Satara and Kolhapur districts in western Maharashtra on Saturday and Sunday, and for Bhandara, Gondia and Gadchiroli districts in the Vidharbha region on Sunday.

The heavy deluge lashed Mumbai and brought the city to a standstill. It disrupted local train services, led to water-logging in various parts of the city, pushing the traffic police to shut four subways.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Chennai: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) will be developing an indigenous Vessel Traffic Management Software and hardware used in ports. Currently, Indian Ports use foreign options for fulfilling the same purpose, thus leading to higher costs. A Memorandum of Understanding between IIT-M and the VO Chidambaranar (VOC) Port Trust in Tuticorin was signed for this software development project.

Led by the National technology Center for Ports Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC), a Centre of Excellence at IIT Madras, this project is in line with Atmanirbhar Bharat(self-reliant India) and Digital India. The present VTS at VOC Port has been operational for nearly seven years. Given the rapid increases in maritime traffic in India and abroad, a more VTS effective system would help create higher safety levels.

According to T.K. Ramachandran, IAS, Chairman, VOC Port Trust, Tuticorin, theirs is the first major Indian port to sign a MoU with NTCPWC for indigenous software development. He said this home-grown alternative would be a game-changer in Indian Maritime Industry.

Zee Media spoke to Prof. K. Murali, Professor In-charge, NTCPWC-IIT Madras, to understand the advantages of this project, its larger significance in comparison with foreign options.

According to him, when buying from foreign companies, they offer very expensive, complete hardware-software packages, whose internal workings are not known to the user. Whereas, in the case of indigenous development, software can be developed here and upgrade of hardware can be done based on in-house experts recommendation. The hardware so required is meant to be directly procured by the ports, thus working out to be 50% cheaper.

Though ours is a maiden initiative, the software is expected to be ready in less than a year. Our software will be developed using open-architecture. It will be flexible and interoperable, which means it can be integrated with other existing systems that ports use for daily operations Prof. Murali told Zee Media.

In a positive step for this home-grown initiative, it is said that talks are on with more Indian ports to adopt this software. There is also no limit to the number of vessels this indigenous software can manage, as this capability can be scaled up on the hardware side.
New Delhi: India recorded 94,052 new COVID-19 cases and 6,148 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Thursday (June 10, 2021).

India's total coronavirus caseload has now increased to 2,91,83,121, of which, 3,59,676 have succumbed to the virus, while 11,67,952 are active cases.

India reports 94,052 #COVID19 cases, 1,51,367 discharges & 6148 deaths (highest in one day) in last 24 hrs, as per Health Ministry Total cases: 2,91,83,121

Total discharges: 2,76,55,493

Death toll: 3,59,676

Active cases: 11,67,952 Total vaccination: 23,90,58,360 pic.twitter.com/hS9rDOCDuq  ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2021

Additionally, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealed that 37,21,98,253 samples tested for COVID-19, up to June 9, 2021. Of these, 20,04,690 samples were tested yesterday.

The health ministry also revealed that the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered across the country has increased to 23,90,58,360.

The Centre on Wednesday come out with a comprehensive guideline for the management of COVID-19 among children key among which is the non-prescription of anti-viral drug Remdesivir, also, rational use of HRCT imaging has been suggested.

"There is lack of sufficient safety and efficacy data with respect to Remdesivir in children below 18 years of age," the guidelines said not recommending Remdesivir (an emergency use authorization drug) in children.

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New Delhi: A four-storey building in the Malvani area of Malad West in Mumbai collapsed on Wednesday (June 9, 2021) night. As per the reports, at least eleven people died in the incident, while seven others were injured.

Maharashtra Minister Aslam Shaikh visited the place of the incident at around 3 in the night and said that the buildings have collapsed due to rain. Rescue operation is underway. Injured people have been shifted to the hospital. Debris of the buildings being removed to see if more people are stuck under it.

Buildings have collapsed due to rain. Rescue operation is underway. Injured people have been shifted to the hospital. Debris of the buildings being removed to see if more people are stuck under it: Maharashtra Minister Aslam Shaikh pic.twitter.com/Jwixu8FmgJ  ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2021

15 people including women & children have been rescued & are shifted to the hospital. There is a possibility of more people stuck under the debris. Teams are present here to rescue people," says Vishal Thakur, DCP Zone 11, Mumbai.

The search and rescue operation by the fire brigade is still going on. As per updates, 11 people have been reported dead so far, said Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials.

Meanwhile, Mumbai on Wednesday witnessed heavy rainfall throughout the day, which led to water-logging in parts of the city and even resulted in the closure of roads and rail tracks.

Moreover, the city also reported three incidents of wall collapse occurred in Thane, however, no one was injured. A bridge in Kolgaon village of Palghar district collapsed but no casualties were reported, the Chief of the District Disaster Management Cell Vivekanand Kadam told the news agency.

Fire brigade and other agencies immediately rushed to the spot and started a search and rescue operation, the official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. Eight children and three adults died in the incident, officials said.

According to civic and fire brigade officials, some people might still be trapped under the rubble and the search and rescue operations were on. According to BMC officials, the house collapsed on another single-storey structure. An adjoining three-storey building was also unstable, they said.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi: Gurjit Bhandal, one of the persons reportedly named in the "abduction" of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, who is held in Dominica after his mysterious disappearance from Antigua and Barbuda on May 23, has denied any link to the case.

In his complaint to the Antigua police, Mehul Choksi has named Gurmit Singh Bhandal, Narendar Singh, Jabarica and other unidentified persons for his alleged abduction.

However, according to local media reports, Gurjit Bhandal has denied any link to the Choksi case and claimed that he had left the Caribbean island on May 23 morning on a yacht.

As per a PTI report, Bhandal, who is into property business in Midlands, United Kingdom, has claimed that he had gone sailing in the Caribbeans with his friend Gurmit Singh in April-May. Denying any association with the alleged abduction of Choksi, Bhandal, an Indian-origin person, said he would "co-operate and help the police" in the investigation, but the Antigua police have not approached him so far.

The report also revealed that Bhandal and Singh were at English Harbour in Antigua and after clearing immigration late morning, they left for Dominica. Bhandal claimed that he reached Dominica at night but cleared the customs the next day.

"We reached Dominica on May 23, Sunday night. On the same day, we started from Antigua and cleared the customs the next day on May 24," Bhandal was quoted as saying.

In his complaint, Choksi has alleged that he was abducted from Antigua on May 23 evening and taken on a yacht, adding that the yacht later took him to the waters of Dominica the next morning, where he was handed over to the Coast Guard of Dominica on a boat.

The report also quoted Bhandal as saying that he and his friends had a plan to go to St Lucia from Dominica but Bhandal, who claimed to be a regular sailing aficionado, said he got "seasick" en route and dropped any further sailing plan after reaching Dominica.

Bhandal also added that he and Singh "often go sailing together" in the Mediterranean Sea, but this time, they decided to do it in the Caribbeans. "We took a charter from there (Dominica) to Barbados," Bhandal said.

As per the report, when he was asked about Mehul Choksis friend Barbara Jabarica, Bhandal said he does not know Jabarica but keeps meeting hundreds of people while taking flights in the Caribbeans.

"There were 21 flights to the Caribbeans, but during Covid, there are only two flights in a week now, so this increases the possibility that we bump into the same people again and again," he said.

Bhandal, according to the report, also said that he has been sailng with his friend Singh in the area since April and had stayed in Antigua for four days, Dominica for one and St Lucia for four days.

Meanwhile, Mehul Choksi is wanted in a Rs 13,500 crore PNB fraud case in India and had mysteriously gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda, where he has been staying as a citizen since 2018.

He was detained in the neighbouring island country of Dominica for illegal entry, after a possible romantic escapade with his rumored girlfriend.

Choksi's lawyers alleged that he was abducted from Jolly Harbour in Antigua by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian, and brought to Dominica on a boat.

(With PTI inputs)
NEW DELHI: Fugitive Indian diamantaire and PNB loan fraud scam accused Mehul Choksi has been declared a prohibited immigrant in Dominica. According to media reports, the Dominican government had on Thursday declared Choksi as a prohibited immigrant in their country.

This new twist in Mehul Choksis case is likely to boost Indias effort to deport him back to the country to face trial in the PNB scam case.

An order issued by the Ministry of National Security and Home Affairs that said, in accordance to section 5(1)(f) of the Immigration and Passport Act Chapter 18:01 of the 2017 Revised laws of the Commonwealth of Dominica, you, Mr Mehul Chinubhai Choksi, are hereby declared a prohibited immigrant.

The order, dated May 25, 2021, signed by Dominican Minister Rayburn Blackmoore said, You are, therefore, not permitted to enter the Commonwealth of Dominica and the Chief of Police has been instructed to take all the necessary actions to have you repatriated.

By powers vested in me in accordance with Immigration & Passport Act of 2017 revised laws of Dominica, Mehul Choksi is declared a prohibited immigrant. Necessary action be taken to have him removed from here: Dominica's National Security & Home Affairs Min,in order dated 25th May  ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2021

Meanwhile, the Dominica High Court has adjourned the bail hearing of fugitive diamond merchant Mehul Choksi till June 11, local media reports stated. Choksi had approached the high court after the magistrate rejected his bail petition.

The bail hearing took place before high court judge Wynante Adrien-Roberts through video-conferencing on the plea of Choksi's local legal team comprising Julien Prevost, Wayne Norde, Wayne Marsh and Cara Shillingford-Marsh.

The government side represented by Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Sherma Dalrymple "strongly objected" to Choksi's plea calling him a flight risk, Dominica News Online reported. The judge adjourned the matter till June 11, it said. The high court is also hearing a separate matter of habeas corpus filed by Choksi's team in which the hearing has also been adjourned.

Mehul Choksi had mysteriously gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he has been staying since 2018 as a citizen. He was detained in neighbouring island country 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.

The businessman was also brought before a Roseau magistrate on the orders of high court judge Bernie Stephenson, hearing the habeas corpus matter, to answer charges of illegal entry where he pleaded not guilty but was denied bail.

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New Delhi: Even as the "widespread rainfall" is likely to bring down the mercury and pollution levels in Delhi on the weekend, the teams of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have jointly started preparations to deal with the waterlogging problem during monsoon season in Gurugram.

The teams of GMDA and NHAI on Wednesday jointly organised a mock drill at Hero Honda Chowk and Rajiv Chowk in Gurugram to avoid waterlogging in underpasses during monsoon season in Gurugram.

Pradeep Sharma, Chief Engineer, Infrastructure-II Division of GMDA, told IANS that the authority organised the mock drill to check the water drainage system in all Gurugram underpasses ahead of the monsoon season.

Sharma said that similar mock drills would be conducted at other underpasses and major places of the city like Rajiv Chowk, IFFCO Chowk, Signature Tower, Shankar Chowk and Subhash Chowk, adding "If there is any deficiency, it will be resolved before the monsoon session."

GMDA Superintending Engineer Rajesh Kumar Bansal was quoted by IANS as saying that the GMDA is working seriously at all levels to ensure that there is no problem of waterlogging in the city.

Bansal further said that with an initiative of the CEO of the Development Authority, Sudhir Rajpal, the dispute which has been going on for years on 33 meters of Badshahpur drain has also been resolved. After the resolution of this dispute, it will be possible to drain the water with a full capacity of 2,300 cusecs from the present 800 cusecs and it will bring huge relief near the Hero Honda Chowk on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway.

The IMD, however, has stated that the likely formation of a low-pressure area over north Bay of Bengal around June 11 and its movement towards north-westerly direction may lead to "fairly widespread to widespread rain and thundershowers over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and west Uttar Pradesh on June 12 and June 13."

It also predicted 'heavy' rainfall at isolated places in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Delhi on June 13.

(With Agency Inputs)

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New Delhi: At least eight children and three adults were killed after a single-storey residential building collapsed on another structure in Malwani area of Mumbai.

Three of the deceased, aged 8, 9 and 13, were identified so far, while the eight other victims were yet to be identified, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official told PTI.

He further informed that out of the seven others injured, the condition of one of them was critical.

The incident occurred around 11.15 pm on Wednesday at the New Collector Compound on Abdul Hamid Road. People rescued from under the debris have been admitted to nearby hospitals.

The search and rescue operations are undergoing as some people are still feared to be trapped under the rubble, the civic and fire brigade officials told the news agency.

The Mumbai Police has decided to lodge a case against the contractor and owner of the building which collapsed on Wednesday night.

"Mumbai Police to register case u/s 304 (2) of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against the owner of structure that collapsed and the contractor. They had recently made some structural changes after cyclone Tauktae," Vishwas Nangre Patil, Jt CP (Law & Order) was quoted as saying by ANI.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Minister Aslam Shaikh blamed the incessant rains for the building collapses. "Buildings have collapsed due to rain. Rescue operation is underway. Injured people have been shifted to the hospital. Debris of the buildings being removed to see if more people are stuck under it," he told ANI.

With the onset of monsoon on Wednesday (June 9) in Maharashtra, heavy downpour disrupted life in Mumbai and caused several incidents of landslide, wall and bridge collapse in Thane city and neighbouring Palghar districts. The deluge lashed Mumbai and brought the city to a standstill. It disrupted local train services, led to water-logging in various parts of the city, pushing the traffic police to shut four subways.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Chennai: A person travelling from Dubai was arrested at the Chennai International Airport on charges of smuggling gold.

The 26-year-old, identified as Kabari Samino Jesaiah of Kanyakumari, arrived from Dubai by a Fly Dubai flight was intercepted at the exit on suspicion of carrying gold.

On search by the Chennai Air Customs officials, nine packets of gold paste weighing 1.42 kg were found stitched inside the waist belt and ankle portion of his jeans.

On extraction 1.25 kg of 24 K purity gold valued at Rs 63.20 lakhs was recovered and seized under Customs Act.

Further investigation is under progress, according to the officials.

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Mumbai: Days after the one-on-one meeting between Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said that the ''PM is the top leader of the country and the BJP.''

The Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP made the statement in response to a question on whether he felt that PM Modi's popularity is on a downslide as media reports suggested that the RSS is contemplating to project state leaders as the face in the upcoming state elections.

"I don't want to comment on this...I don't go by the media reports. There is no official statement about this... The BJP owes its success to Narendra Modi in the last seven years and currently, he is the top leader of the country and his party," Raut said.

I believe that Narendra Modi is the top leader of the country and Bharatiya Janata Party. No one can deny the fact that the success which the Bharatiya Janata Party has got in the last 7 years is only because of Narendra Modi: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut pic.twitter.com/lYAqcmEtdS  ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2021

The Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member, who is currently on a tour of north Maharashtra, was speaking to reporters in Jalgaon. ''The Shiv Sena's stand has always been that a Prime Minister belongs to the entire country and not a particular party,'' he said, adding, "Hence the PM shouldn't get involved in election campaigning as it puts pressure on the official machinery?

Replying to another question on Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil's remarks that his party would make friendship with tiger (Shiv Sena's symbol) if PM Modi wished, Raut said, No one can make friendship with a tiger. It is the tiger that decides whom he wants to be friends with."

When asked about his tour of north Maharashtra, he said it was part of the Shiv Sena's efforts to strengthen the organisation. "All Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies have a right to expand their base and strengthen the parties. It is also the need of the hour. We are also holding meetings on strengthening our coordination among each other," he said.

Reacting to Mamata Banerjee's victory in the West Bengal assembly elections, Raut had then said that the TMC leader has shown to the world that ''PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are not invincible.''

It may be noted that Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has been critical of PM Modis governments handling of the COVID-19 pandemic but the regional party has always voiced its support to the Centre over issues of paramount national importance.

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New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded that every person walking into a COVID-19 vaccination centre should get the jab, arguing that those who do not have access to the internet also have the right to life.

Congress has been battling for vaccines for the poor, especially those living in far-flung and rural areas, who do not have digital access or smartphones. The opposition party has also been demanding that COWIN registration should not be mandatory for getting the Covid vaccine.

"Online registration is not enough for the vaccine. Every person walking in at a vaccination centre should get the vaccine. Those who do not have access to the internet also have the right to life," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

    online       walk-in                     Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 10, 2021

Congress has been critical of the government's vaccination policy and its handling of the Covid situation in the country. The Centre had on Tuesday released the revised guidelines for the national COVID vaccination programme under which the central government will procure 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the manufacturers in the country.

According to the notification issued by the Centre, the revised guidelines will be implemented from June 21 and "will be reviewed from time to time".

"The government of India will procure 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the manufacturers in the country. The vaccines procured will continue to be provided free of cost to States/UTs as has been the case from the commencement of the National Vaccination Programme. These doses will be administered by the States/UTs free of cost to all citizens as per priority through Government Vaccination Centres," the notification said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Monday announced a centralised procurement system for Covid-19 vaccines, beginning from June 21, with 25 per cent of the procurement being made available for the private sector, as well as free vaccinations for everyone above the age of 18.

He had also announced a cap of Rs 150 on the amount private hospitals can charge over the cost of the purchase of the vaccine from the manufacturer. In respect of the vaccine doses provided free of cost by the Government of India to the States, the Centre said that the vaccination will be prioritised as the following- Health Care Workers; Front Line Workers; Citizens more than 45 years of age; Citizens whose second dose has become due; and Citizens 18 years and above.

As per the guidelines, within the population group of citizens over 18 years of age, the Centre said States/UTs may decide their own prioritisation factoring in the vaccine supply schedule.

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New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission released the dates for the interview of UPSC CSE 2020 on Wednesday (June 9, 2021). The candidates, who have qualified in the CSE mains examination, will be able to check the details on the official website, upsc.gov.in.

The candidates who are eligible to sit in UPSC CSE 2020 interview need to note that, as per the revised interview date, the test will begin on August 2. Earlier, the test date was deferred by the commission due to the unprecedented rise in the COVID cases.

The e-Summon Letters of personality tests (interviews) will be made available shortly to the candidates.

ALSO READ: UPSC NDA/NA II Exam 2021: Registration begins on upsc.gov.in, check eligibility, dates and other details here

Heres a step-by-step guide to download the schedule:

Step 1: Visit the web link of the Union Public Service Commission

Step 2: Go to the Whats New section available on the homepage.

Step 3: Click on the link, Interview Schedule: Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2020.

Step 4: Download and print the schedule for any future reference.

The test will be conducted in two different batches, the morning session from 9 am and the afternoon session from 1 pm.

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New Delhi: Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and MLA Atishi released the vaccination bulletin on Wednesday and stated that after the two-week-long distress of no vaccination, a sigh of relief for Delhi as vaccine stock arrives for the youth. Atishi further added that for the youth between 18-44, we have received 1.25 lakh doses of Covishield and 20,000 doses of Covaxin.

Free-of-cost vaccination for youth will kick start again after 2 weeks, youngsters can register on the CoWIN app. For 45+, we have received 30,000 doses of Covaxin which are being distributed to different centres of Delhi today. Covaxin for 45+ will be used to administer only the second dose. For 18-44, we have Covaxin available for the second dose and 8 days of Covishield. For 45+, we have 2 days of Covaxin and 27 days of Covishield available

Atishi said, Yesterday, on 8th June, a total of 48,411 doses of the vaccine were administered. Out of these 25,847 were first doses and 22,564 were second doses. Along with this, the total tally of vaccines administered in Delhi has reached up to 57,81,988 and 13,40,000 people have been administered both doses. Yesterday, we had shared with everyone that the stock of Covaxin is over in Delhi and it was unavailable for the 45+ at many centres. Yesterday, late in the evening, Delhi received 30,000 doses of Covaxin and they are being distributed to different centres of Delhi today. So, from tomorrow onwards, doses of Covaxin will be available for those above the age of 45 years. This means, whichever government centres where Covaxin was being administered to the 45+, there the second dose will be made available. Right now, we are administering Covaxin only to those are to be given the second dose, amongst the 45+."

She said, Secondly and most importantly, we have been sharing that since the past 2 weeks, the stock of vaccines for those between 18-44 years had been over, because of which all the government centres which were operating in the government schools had been shut since the past 2 weeks. Today we are very happy to announce that Delhi has received 1.25 lakh doses of Covishield and 20,000 doses of Covaxin. This means that the second dose for those between 18-44 years who had been administered with Covaxin is now available. Many such youngsters had been administered the first dose but were not able to find any place to get vaccinated with the second dose. Now Covaxin is available and people and people can get the second dose."



The senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party and MLA Atishi said, Most importantly, the vaccination which had been shut for the youth, has been opened up from today. So, if you log in to the CoWIN app, then the youth of Delhi can get vaccinated for free in the Governmental centres. You have to register your location on the app and you can book a slot at the nearest location where the vaccination is taking place, to get vaccinated."

"This is essential for the youth of Delhi because a lot of people have been telling us for the past 2 weeks that they want to get vaccinated but it is not available anywhere. The private hospitals were administering the vaccines at exorbitant costs. But now, the vaccines are available at the government centres of Delhi, free of cost. So, if we are to see the stock position then for 45+, we have 2 days of Covaxin and 27 days of Covishield and for 18-44 years we have Covaxin available for the second dose and 8 days of Covishield stock available, which means vaccination stock is available for the youth for the next 8 days, she added.
NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath arrived in the national capital on Thursday for a crucial meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda.

Shortly after his arrival in the national capital, CM Yogi went straight to meet Amit Shah at his residence.

Delhi | Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath arrives at the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah He is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow pic.twitter.com/m8Fn03Fqqt  ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2021

CM Yogi is expected to meet the PM on Friday, top party sources said. He will then met top party leaders including BJP national president JP Nadda and Amit Shah.

The meeting holds significance since it is taking place in the backdrop of intense rumours about a leadership change in the most politically crucial state ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. CM Yogi's Delhi visit comes a day after Jitin Prasada, a former Congress leader who comes from a well-known Brahmin family of Uttar Pradesh, left the party to join BJP.

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are just a few months away, and the chaotic COVID-19 situation and the allegations made by the Opposition leaders that the Yogi Adityanath-led administration mismanaged its handling has become a concern for the BJP high command in Delhi.

This led to intense speculations about a rejig of the party organisation and the induction of a few new faces in the state council of ministers in the days to comes, just ahead of assembly elections in the state.

But, the BJP central leadership has thrown its weight behind Yogi Adityanath and backed the Chief Minister, quelling rumours about an impending leadership change in the state, ahead of the next years Assembly elections.

Party sources said that the partys central leadership is trying to iron out the rough edges in the relationship between the UP government and the state unit of the saffron party.

Recently, BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh and party vice president Radha Mohan Singh, also the party in charge of Uttar Pradesh, had met senior party leaders and ministers in the state and had submitted a report to the partys national president J P Nadda.

Based on the report, Amit Shah and Nadda are likely to chart out the next course of action in the state.

Refuting talks of a possible change in the chief ministership and the state BJP leadership, partys Uttar Pradesh in-charge Radha Mohan Singh had on Sunday denied reports of possible expansion of the state Cabinet and said though there are vacant posts in the cabinet, it is Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths prerogative to fill them as and when he likes to.

Singh also categorically refuted reports of an alleged rift between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adityanath, describing the CM as the most competent person to fulfil the PMs dream.

Retaining power in UP in 2022 is crucial for the BJP, and a good performance in the state will surely be the keys to Narendra Modi remaining prime minister in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections too. UP is Indias most crucial state in the Lok Sabha elections, given that its number of MPs  80  is almost twice that of the next state on the list, Maharashtra (48).

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New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday (June 10) announced that lockdown restrictions will continue in at least 11 districts of the state which have reported high positivity rate till June 21. However, the other parts of the state have been given some relaxations from June 14. The COVID-19 curfew will be imposed from 7 pm-5 am and weekend curfew will be imposed from 7 pm on Friday to 5 am on Monday, after the current lockdown in the state comes to end on June 14.

We take a look at the restrictions in Karnataka after the fresh announcement on Thursday:

In districts with high positivity rate - Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Davangere, Mysuru, Chamarajanagara, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Bengaluru Rural, Mandya, Belagavi and in Kodagu- there will be no changes in the current guidelines.

The relaxation in lockdown measures will be in place from 6 am on June 14 to 6 am on June 21.

All industries have been permitted to operate with 50 per cent staff strength, however, garment industries can operate with 30 per cent staff strength.

Shops selling essential goods have been permitted to operate till 2 pm by extending their duration from 10 am earlier.

All construction activities will be permitted, and shops needed for construction activities like cement, steel among others have also been allowed to open.

Parks will be opened from 5 am to 10 am for walkers.

Street vendors can do their business from 6 am to 2 pm.

Auto and taxis are allowed to ply with maximum two passengers.

Public transport buses are not permitted to operate in Karnataka until further notice.

Hotels and restaurants will continue to do parcel service and bars will be open for takeaways till 2 pm.

Karnataka on Thursday (Juen 10) reported 11,042 new cases of COVID-19 and 194 deaths, taking the total number of infections to 27,39,290 and the toll to 32,485. The day also saw 15,721 discharges. Bengaluru Urban logged 2,191 new cases, as the city saw 4,846 discharges and 47 deaths.

As of June 10 evening, cumulatively 27,39,290 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 32,485 deaths and 24,96,132 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin.

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India wrestler Sushil Kumar and his associate Ajay were sent to 14 days of judicial custody last week after the 2-time Olympic medalist was in police custody after being arrested in connection with the murder of 23-year-old wrestler Sagar Rana in Delhi.

While a fight over property was established early in the investigation, it has come to light that the feud between Sushil and Sagar wasnt just about property.

Notably, Police are yet to find the real motive behind Sagar Rana's murder but as per Sonu Mahal, who is the key witness in the case and was the friend of the deceased, Sushil wanted to teach a lesson to Sagar, who was challenging the decorated wrestlers hold at the Chhatrasal stadium.

In an exclusive interview with Zee News, Sonu narrated the whole incident, which took place on May 5 and led to the murder of Sagar Rana.

I and Sagar were sitting in our rented room when 30 to 40 people, who were with Sushil, came to our room and took us downstairs on the gunpoint and forced us to sit in a car, in which Sushil was already present, Sonu said.

Then they took us to the Chhatrasal Stadium and as soon as we stepped out of the car at 11:30 pm, they started beating us. The group of 30-40 people also consisted of some wrestlers and goons. Even a few members from Neeraj Bawana Gang and Asoda Gang were also part of the group and some of them also fired shots to make us feel afraid," he added.

Sushil and Sagar couldnt stand each other

As per Sonu, Sushil was jealous of Sagar as he was a promising budding wrestler and had already made name for himself among young wrestlers in Chhatrasal stadium. The issues between the two wrestlers escalated when in 2020, Sagar managed to get himself a different arena for practice in the stadium by approach and around 40 disciples of Sushil also left with Sagar to practice with him due to which Sushil felt insulted and wanted to take revenge from the young wrestler.

We had vacated Sushils wife flat a long time back, so that wasnt the reason behind the brawl, Sonu claimed.

Sushil has always been indulged in hooliganism and vandalism. He is even in contact with numerous gangsters, including Bhatti and Lawrence Bishroi. Sushil was even friends with Kala Jethari, who is my cousin brother, the eyewitness said.

According to Sonu, Bhura, who is a close aide of Sushil Kumar, drove the wrestler to the Haridwar ashram after Sagars murder.
Mumbai: Bollywood veteran Anupam Kher on Thursday alleged that his follower count on Twitter has reduced drastically in the last 36 hours.

The actor tweeted revealing the figures and said he is curious to learn whether it is a technical glitch or something else.

"Dear @Twitter and @TwitterIndia! I have 80,000 less followers in the last 36 hours! Is there a glitch in your app or something else is happening!! It is an observation. Not a complaint.. yet," Kher tweeted on Thursday.

Dear @Twitter and @TwitterIndia! I have 80,000 less followers in the last 36 hours! Is there a glitch in your app or something else is happening!! It is an observation. Not a complaint.. yet.:)  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) June 10, 2021

On the work front, the actor is all set to anchor and narrate the upcoming documentary film "Bhuj: The Day India Shook", the trailer of which was released earlier this week.

The documentary talks about of the devastating earthquake of 2001 and captures first-person accounts of survivors, rescuers, journalists, photographers, and earth scientists. The film is scheduled to release on June 11 on discovery+.
New Delhi: In a recent development in the Nusrat Jahan controversy with her estranged husband Nikhil Jain, the latter has recently issued an official statement about the on-going marital discord and made some important revelations in it.

After allegations were made against him and his family in the past few days, he decided to reveal some important facts about his relationship with Nusrat.

He wrote, "I proposed to Nusrat which she gladly accepted and we went for a destination marriage in Bodrum, Turkey in June 2019 followed by a reception at Kolkata."

Jain claimed that even though he devoted all this time to her, within a short period of time, her attitude towards him changed.

"Since August 2020 during the shooting of a film, my wife's behaviour started changing towards me, for reasons best known to her," he added.

According to his statement, he had requested her to get their marriage registered multiple times but she avoided all his requests.

He revealed, "On Nov 2020, she left my flat with bag and baggage along with her personal values, papers and documents and shifted to her Ballygunge flat and thereafter we never stayed together after being husband-and-wife. The rest of her personal belongings along with the documents (IT returns etc) were also sent to her shortly after her shifting."

Later, on March 8, 2021, he filed a Civil Suit against her in Alipore Judges' Court for annulment of their marriage.

He concluded the statement by saying that, "After marriage, to get her released from the heavy interest burden for a home loan, I had the same liquidated by transferring money from my family accounts to her account. Any money-transfer made by her from her account to my family account was repayments of the loan. The allegations made by her are all baseless and derogatory and devoid of truth. One need not find or create proof, the proof is always there, my bank statements and credit card statements are proof enough. My family has only given with both arms to her in the capacity of a daughter, not knowing, we would see this day."

Check out his statement:

For the unversed, TMC MP Nusrat Jahan and Nikhil Jain who tied the knot in June 2019 in Turkey, have been making headlines due to marital discord and cheating allegations on the former.

Hindustan Times reported that Nusrat alleged that her estranged husband Nikhil withdrew money from her bank accounts illegally, even after the separation. She said that her clothes, bags, accessories are still with Nikhil's family. Even all the family jewellery that was gifted to Nusrat by her parents, friends and other family members are in Nikhil's family's possession.

She recently announced her split with husband Nikhil Jain and released an official statement as well. Amid these speculations, Nusrat Jahan's intimacy with BJP's actor-turned-politician Yash Dasgupta has also gained ground. Yash and Nusrat worked together in the Bengali film SOS Kolkata in 2020.
New Delhi: The second wave of COVID-19 dealt a severe blow to India's real estate sector with the industry seeking urgent relief for recovery.

According to the survey report by Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI), over 95% developers feel inevitable project delays if no urgent relief measures are injected in the sector by the government and RBI. These delays are attributed to a range of factors, with 92% developers experiencing labor shortage at sites, 83% developers are working with less than half the workforce, and over 82% of developers are facing project approval delays.

CREDAI released findings of its first ever industry survey conducted across North, East, West and South zones between 24th May and 3rd June, 2021, to assess the impact of second wave of COVID-19 on real estate sector in India. Conducted with stratified sampling method, the exploratory survey witnessed a first-of-its-kind extensive participation of 4,813 developers from 217 cities, providing crucial insights on the industry sentiment and the range of challenges faced by the real estate sector.

A staggering 98% developers are facing reduced customer enquiries and 42% developers are experiencing a 75% decline in customer enquiries. Furthermore, the report reveals that the second wave has caused 95% of customers to postpone their purchase decisions.

The apex developers body also feels that reducing cost of construction materials, implementing single window clearances for project approvals and work commencement, and allowing input tax credit for all sectors will help the business.

CREDAI deems that continued and adequate policy support is critical for the revival of Indian economy, as the real estate sector accounts for 67% of GDP, is the second largest employer, and is a business generator for over 270 ancillary industries in the country.

The real estate sector showed tremendous resilience in bouncing back on a cautious recovery path post the first wave, despite little relief measures. However, the second wave has prompted us to reflect and re-evaluate the growth path of the industry, and we felt it was vital to assess the challenges faced by the customers and industry partners in light of the recent developments. The findings reveal that the second wave has had a more debilitating impact on the real estate sector than the first wave, Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President, CREDAI National said.

"Added factors such as recent spike in construction materials including steel, cement etc have contributed to more than 10% increase in construction cost for more than 88% developers. Various financial constraints and liquidity crunch are further adding to the problem, with 77% developers experiencing issues in servicing of existing loans, 85% developers facing disruptions in planned collection, and 69% are facing issues in disbursement of customer home loans," he added.

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#mute
CHENNAI: In a major medical breakthrough, doctors in Chennai have successfully performed a live-donor liver transplant on a 26-year old, who was comatose after suffering acute liver failure.

What made this medical procedure even more complicated for the patient and the operating doctors was the fact that he had tested COVID-19 positive. This meant heightened the risk for doctors and healthcare staff of the MGM Hospital, who attended the patient and performed surgery on him.

The patient, Ragul Gandhi, was physically fit and a Kabaddi Player but had lapsed into a comatose state, two days after his liver failed. Once he tested Covid-19 positive, it was also clear to medical professionals that he had only about 48 hours to live, without an emergency liver transplant.

Luckily for the patient, his own brother had agreed to be the liver donor, at a time (COVID-19 pandemic) when there are hardly any cadavers available for giving a lease of life.

The donor was brought to the Chennai hospital and found suitable for the procedure. Clad in full-body PPE suits, two teams with a total of 50 (fully vaccinated) medical professionals performed the 12-hour procedure in two separate Operation Theatres - one for the COVID-19 positive patient and another for the donor.

Special filters and technology was used to ensure that the doctors dont get infected with Covid-19, owing to the long duration of exposure. According to the hospital, none of the doctors or healthcare staff tested positive, after this procedure.

The patient has been discharged after surgery and is recuperating from home, he has also defeated COVID-19. Doctors of MGM healthcare said that he would be able to live a normal life post-transplant and could even resume playing Kabaddi in about a years time.

When asked about the causes of such sudden acute liver failure in a young and fit sportsman, Senior Transplant surgeon Dr Thaigarajan Srinivasan of MGM Healthcare said that liver failure suddenly happens in previously normal patients.

In our part of the world, the commonest causes of acute liver failure are overdose of anti-tubercular drugs. It could be the overdose of drugs meant for Hepatitis A, E, B or even some Ayurvedic medicines. In this case, it was an accidental overdose he told Zee media.

Doctors also advised those with existing liver complications to stay safe at home, get vaccinated and strictly follow the COVID-19 norms.

In case of such individuals getting infected by Covid-19, Doctors urged them to go ahead and seek immediate medical attention to prevent further deterioration.

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New Delhi: After banning micro-blogging site Twitter indefinitely, the Nigerian government has officially joined the Indian social media app Koo, the co-founder of Koo said on Thursday.

"The official handle of the government of Nigeria is now on Koo!" Aprameya Radhakrishna, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Koo, wrote on its platform while announcing the Nigerian government`s entry on the platform.

"A very warm welcome to the official handle of the Government of Nigeria on @kooindia! Spreading wings beyond India now," Radhakrishna wrote.

On Wednesday, the Nigerian government said that Twitter is seeking dialogue in a bid to resolve the issues leading to the suspension of its activities in the West African country.

Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed told reporters that he has received a message from the micro-blogging platform earlier in the day, seeking a dialogue with the Nigerian government.

"They (Twitter) are now ready to hold senior-level discussions with us," Mohammed said. Also Read: Heres why Koo benefits the most from Twitter-government fight

Aside from suspending Twitter`s activities, Nigeria`s broadcast regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission, has ordered all local outlets to suspend their use of the social media platform.

The Nigerian government on June 4 said it was indefinitely suspending Twitter`s operations in the country.

The decision was taken two days after the social media network removed a post from President Buhari where made a reference to the country`s 30-month civil war in 1967-1970, warning "those who wanted the government to fail" to desist from fomenting trouble.

Twitter said it had deleted the tweet because it violated the site`s rules against abusive behaviour. Also read: Koo eyes expansion in Nigeria market after African country suspends Twitter indefinitely
New Delhi: In a new development in the Pearl V Puri rape case, Aarti Puri, a family member of the victim's mother Ekta Sharma has spoken about the issue on her Instagram handle and made shocking revelations.

She wrote, "Dear All, we as Ekta Sharmas extended family would like to let you all know that she has been in an extremely toxic marriage for 10 years and does not have her daughter also since 2 years. We including Ekta support Pearl V Puri, and hope that justice is out soon."

Puri further explained that the victim's mother Ekta had been fighting for her daughter's custody for years and this case is a devious ploy by her husband to gain custody.

Ekta Sharma has been fighting for her daughters custody for a long time now and here here husband creates this whole mess and blame game and eventually finds a devious way of damaging Ekta Sharmas reputation in front of the judicial system so that she does not get custody of the child, she explained.

Elaborating further, she said, She (Ekta) is totally shattered and shall find her ground to come out in the open. She needs your support fully and she herself supports Pearl V Puri because Pearl is innocent. She also understands that pearl has been unecessarily framed and is all out to support him. This is one of the cheapest screenplays ever written by her husband Anil Dhonde. We defintely believe that eventually the truth will prevail.

Later, the girl's mother Ekta Sharma had taken to her Instagram to reshare actress Aarti Puri's post.

Check out her post:

For the unversed, a Vasai Court, on June 5, had sent television actor Pearl V. Puri to 14 days' judicial custody. Puri was arrested on alleged charges of molesting and raping a five-year-old girl two years ago.

The 31-year-old 'Naagin 3' actor was booked by Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar Police Commissionerate, invoking charges of IPC Sec. 376 AB and POCSO Act, 4, 8, 12,19, 21 for the rape of the minor girl, said the officials.

Several celebrities showered support for the actor. Besides Karishma Tanna, producer Ekta Kapoor, actress Anita Hassanandani among others dismissed it as a false charge and showed support for Pearl.
New Delhi: The 'Broken But Beautiful 3' actor Sidharth Shukla has once again topped the list of the Times Most Desirable Man on TV 2020 and fans are ecstatically celebrating on social media.

In an interview with ANI, Sidharth opened up on his second consecutive win and said, "I like it! Who doesn't want to be desirable? I don't mind a permanent spot on this list."

He further said, "Honestly, I don't expect anything. I'm happy doing my work, entertaining my audience, and I leave the rest to them. It's ultimately their love that gets us the rewards."

While Sidharth is on cloud nine after bagging the first position as the most desirable man on television, fans are right up there celebrating with him! Check out these tweets by some of his fans:

FIRST THING I WOULD MENTION IS I AM SOO SOO DAMNN PROUD OF THIS MAN @sidharth_shukla #MostDesirableManSidharth pic.twitter.com/H5l97go9sm  (@SidkiFanRiya) June 10, 2021

Passion for the craft, zeal to excel, talent in abundance, sincerity and honesty in actions, simplicity of heart, humility in disposition, goods looks and charm as an added bonushe has it all!#MostDesirableManSidharth@sidharth_shukla #SidharthShukla pic.twitter.com/gtN3q6cfUz  Subha AgastyaRao (@sulachi11) June 10, 2021

According to the ANI report, Parth Samthaanat was at number 2, Aly Goni at number 3 and Shaheer Sheikh was at number 4. Other actors that made it to the list were Mohsin Khan, Shivin Narang, Sharad Malhotra, Asim Riaz, Dheeraj Dhoopar and Nishant Malkhanitake.

Interestingly, Sidharth Shukla had topped the Times Most Desirable Man on TV last year as well. On the work front, Sidharth Shukla had made his digital debut with ALTBalajis web series Broken But Beautiful season 3 this year, where he plays the role of Agastya Rao, an angry young man who is also an aspiring director in a theatre. He falls in love with a rich and privileged girl Rumi Desai played by Sonia Rathee, his muse.

The story is a complete roller coaster ride full of drama, love, hatred, jealousy, revenge, and obsession. The lead couples chemistry is completely unmissable.

The web series is getting rave reviews from the critics and has managed to make its way to the Streaming Top 5 List of Film Companion and Ormax Media in just two days of its release, as shared by Ekta Kapoor.

(With ANI inputs)
London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden will meet in-person for the first time on Thursday (June 10) in Cornwall, ahead of the UK-hosted G7 Leaders' Summit starting on Friday (June 11).

The leaders are expected to agree to a new Atlantic Charter, modelled on the historic joint statement made by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1941 setting out their goals for the post-war world, Downing Street said.

The original Atlantic Charter included landmark agreements, leading directly to the creation of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

The 2021 Atlantic Charter is designed to echo those values and cover new partnerships, including a new Travel Taskforce for renewed US-UK exchanges.

While Churchill and Roosevelt faced the question of how to help the world recover following a devastating war, today we have to reckon with a very different but no less intimidating challenge - how to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic, said Johnson.

And as we do so, cooperation between the UK and US, the closest of partners and the greatest of allies, will be crucial for the future of the world's stability and prosperity.

The agreements President Biden and I will make today [Thursday], rooted as they are in our shared values and outlook, will form the foundation of a sustainable global recovery," he said.

"Eighty years ago the US President and British Prime Minister stood together promising a better future. Today we do the same, he added.

The new Atlantic Charter will outline eight areas to work together, around values of defending democracy, reaffirming the importance of collective security, and building a fair and sustainable global trading system, Downing Street said.

The principled commitments made in the new Atlantic Charter will be underpinned by a series of new policy priorities expected to be agreed by the two leaders ahead of the formal G7 deliberations.

These include working to open up travel between the UK and US as soon as possible.

"Many people in the UK and US have been prevented from seeing family and friends for over 400 days as a result of coronavirus travel restrictions. Before the outbreak of coronavirus more than 5 million Brits visited the US and over 4.5 million Americans visited the UK every year - more than any other country," Downing Street said.

Biden and Johnson expected to agree to work to relaunch UK-US travel as soon as possible through a new Travel Taskforce, which will make recommendations on safely reopening international travel.

The taskforce will work to explore options and to ensure that the UK and US closely share thinking and expertise on international travel policy going forward.

It's also expected that the leaders will agree to pursue a landmark bilateral technology agreement, to be signed next year.

"The agreement will start a new era of strategic cooperation by reducing the barriers British tech firms face when trying to work with their US counterparts. By combining our shared expertise in areas like AI and quantum technology, the UK and US have the potential to transform the way we live," Downing Street said.

It added that the two leaders will agree to work together to harness their power to address modern challenges like climate change, fighting cancer and antimicrobial resistance, as well as strengthening our strategic advantage on the international stage as like-minded democracies.

To strengthen UK and US efforts to beat the coronavirus pandemic and prevent any future outbreaks, the two leaders are expected to agree to "scale up" joint work on genomic sequencing and variant assessments.

This includes the UK Health Security Agency's new Centre for Pandemic Preparedness linking up with its US counterpart, the proposed National Center for Epidemic Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, as part of an integrated global surveillance system.

Discussions between the Prime Minister and President Biden are also expected to cover other areas of bilateral cooperation.

ALSO READ: US Senate approves bipartisan legislation against China's rising economic influence
Mildenhall: President Joe Biden on Wednesday (June 9) began his first trip abroad since taking office by hailing America`s unwavering commitment to the NATO alliance and warning Russia it faced "robust and meaningful" consequences if it engaged in harmful activities.

Biden, speaking to about 1,000 troops and their families at a British airbase, said he would deliver a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet next week after separate summits with NATO, G7 and European leaders.

"We`re not seeking conflict with Russia," the Democratic president said at the start of his eight-day visit to Europe.

"We want a stable and predictable relationship ... but I`ve been clear: The United States will respond in a robust and meaningful way if the Russian government engages in harmful activities."

Biden has said he is determined to rebuild trans-Atlantic ties and reframe relations with Russia after four rocky years under Republican former President Donald Trump, whose tariffs and withdrawal from treaties strained relations with major allies.

"This is my first overseas trip as president of the United States. I`m heading to the G7, then the NATO ministerial and then to meet with Mr. Putin to let him know what I want him to know," Biden said, drawing cheers from the troops.

"At every point along the way, we`re going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges, and the issues that matter most to our future."

Biden told reporters as he left for Europe that his goals were "strengthening the alliance, making it clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight."

His summit with Putin on June 16 in Geneva is the capstone of the trip, an opportunity to raise U.S. concerns directly with the Russian leader about ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, Moscow`s aggression against Ukraine and a host of other issues.

In a development further straining U.S.-Russia ties, a Russian court on Wednesday outlawed groups linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, after declaring them "extremist." Condemning the decision, the U.S. State Department said it "effectively criminalized one of the countrys few remaining independent political movements."

Speaking to U.S. troops based at Royal Air Force Mildenhall base, a huge American flag behind him, Biden underscored the US commitment to the NATO alliance but said it needed to modernize and expand its cyber capabilities.

Biden also comes to Europe with a goodwill gesture, the planned announcement that the United States will buy and donate 500 million Pfizer Inc/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine doses to about 100 countries over the next two years, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Biden is expected to announce the deal on Thursday. The United States has faced criticism over securing access to much of the initial stockpile of the most promising vaccines.

G7 SUMMIT, MEETING WITH JOHNSON

Biden will make his first stop of the trip at the seaside village of St. Ives in Cornwall where he will participate in the G7 summit.

The meeting is expected to be dominated by vaccine diplomacy, trade, climate and an initiative for rebuilding infrastructure in the developing world.

US officials see that effort as a way to counter China`s growing influence.

His push for a global minimum tax on multinational corporations faces opposition at home.

G7 finance ministers agreed before the summit to pursue a global minimum tax rate of at least 15% and to allow market countries to tax up to 20% of the excess profits - above a 10% margin - generated by about 100 large, high-profit companies.

Republicans came out against the plan this week, potentially complicating the US ability to implement a broader global agreement.

Biden will have a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday in Cornwall, a chance to renew the US-British "special relationship" after Britain`s Brexit break from the European Union.

The two countries will issue an updated joint statement of principles between the two countries in honor of the original Atlantic Charter from 1941.

But the two have deep policy issues to discuss, with Biden set to reinforce stalwart U.S. support for the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

The agreement has come into question with the United Kingdom`s exit from the European Union.

Biden and Johnson will also discuss climate change, a proposal to counter China`s global influence on infrastructure and the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan.

The Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline will also be on the agenda when Biden meets with German officials.

The Biden administration opposes the $11 billion natural gas pipeline, but Germany wants it finished.

After three days of G7 summitry, Biden and his wife, Jill, will visit Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. The 78-year-old Biden met the queen back in 1982 when he was a US senator from Delaware.

RUSSIA AND CHINA

Biden then travels to Brussels for talks with leaders of NATO and the European Union. The agenda is expected to be dominated by Russia, China and the perennial issue of getting NATO allies to contribute more to the common defense.

Biden closes out the trip in Geneva for what could prove to be the most difficult meeting of the trip - a session with Putin, who enjoyed friendly relations with Trump.

No major breakthroughs are expected from the summit.

Asked by reporters if his meeting with Putin would yield some accord on cybersecurity, Biden was non-committal.

"Who knows?" said Biden. "It`s going to be a subject of our discussion."



ALSO READ: Joe Biden embarks on 8-day trip to Europe to repair damage done in Donald Trump's Presidency
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has decided to further expand his cabinet for the second time, a CPN-UML leader confirmed.

Seven new ministers and a minister of state will be inducted in the Oli-led cabinet, a CPN-UML leader Bishnu Rijal said in a tweet. All the ministers will be sworn in by President Bidya Devi Bhandari at her official residence, Shital Niwas.

Lila Nath Shrestha Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs told WION that Khagaraj Adhikari will be the new Home Minister, while Nayankala Thapa will be given Minister for Information and Communication portfolio.

Shrestha also confirmed that Narad Muni Rana will be given the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Jawala Kumari Sah as Minister for Agriculture and Mohan Baniya will be appointed as a minister without a portfolio.

A senior leader Raj Kishore Yadav as Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies and Ganesh Pahadai Minister for General Administration have been appointed. Asha Bishowkarma will be appointed Minister of State for Forest and Environment.

According to government sources, the Ministry of Defense will remain with Prime Minister Oli.

Earlier on June 4, Oli had reorganized his cabinet and included ten Janata Samajwadi Party leaders in the cabinet.

The decision comes after the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an order seeking a written response from the government within 15 days, on its decision to reshuffle the cabinet.
Cornwall: Devon and Cornwall Police arrested a 20-year old man under the suspicion of a bomb hoax near Falmouth on Thursday (June 10) morning.

Devon and Cornwall Police took on Twitter to inform about the arrest. The tweet read: "A 20-year-old man from Falmouth has been arrested on suspicion of a bomb hoax and has been taken into police custody."

The Police were called at around 3:15 am on Thursday (June 10) following reports of a suspicious package having been located on the grounds outside of the Falmouth Hotel, Cliff Road in Falmouth.

UPDATE: 9.30am - A 20-year-old man from Falmouth has been arrested on suspicion of a bomb hoax and has been taken into police custody.  Devon & Cornwall Police (@DC_Police) June 10, 2021

The Falmouth Hotel and neighbouring buildings were evacuated after the suspicious package was found lying on the ground outside.

Around 100 people were displaced and a cordon was placed for the safety and security of the public which was later removed and a smaller guard was put as the Royal Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal team declared that the device was not harmful.

The town is hosting the international media centre for the G7 summit, which will begin in Carbis Bay on Friday (June 11).

ALSO READ: US President Joe Biden to hold first in-person meeting with Boris Johnson ahead of G7 Summit
In a 94 page decision, Judge Roger T. Benitez said Californias ban on AR-style rifles is unconstitutional. Read the judges decision yourself since he wrote in language that even a journalist can understand. At best I can summarize a few of my favorite parts. The judge said-

"The AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment.. the kind of versatile gun that lies at the intersection of the firearms protected under Heller, and Miller, yet, the State of California makes it a crime to have an AR-15. When a citizen complains that the government is infringing, then it is the government that must carry the burden of justifying its restriction of Second Amendment rights. ..that a civilian rifle has design features similar to a military rifle does not detract from its constitutional protection, it actually enhances a firearms constitutional protection for militia readiness. The Court finds that the prohibited features do not change an AR-15 rifle from a benign weapon into an incredibly effective killing machine. This Court therefore declares the California statutes to be unconstitutional."

..the assault weapon epithet is a misnomer. Like all guns, these prohibited guns are dangerous weapons that can be used for ill or for good. They could just as well be called home defense rifles or anti-crime guns. .....

"Government is not free to impose its own new policy choices on American citizens where Constitutional rights are concerned. The Second Amendment takes certain policy choices and removes them beyond the realm of permissible state action."

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TORRANCE, Calif., June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Honda offered a first glimpse of the all-new 2022 Civic Hatchback today ahead of its global reveal on June 23 at 6 p.m. PDT during the Civic Tour "Remix" virtual concert on YouTube. The Civic Hatchback builds on the sporty and youthful design of the 11th generation Civic Sedan while showcasing European-inspired exterior styling, enhanced five-door versatility, and an available, fun-to-drive 6-speed manual transmission. Built in the U.S. for the first time, the Civic Hatchback will be produced at Honda's Greensburg, Indiana manufacturing facility and will arrive at Honda dealerships later this year.

2022 Civic Hatchback Global YouTube Debut: Civic Tour "Remix" Concert Event

Continuing the excitement around the fan-favorite Honda Civic Tour, the 2022 Honda Civic Hatchback will make its world debut during the Civic Tour "Remix" virtual concert on Wed., June 23, at 6 p.m. PDT on the Honda Stage YouTube channel: youtube.com/HondaStage.

Fans can tune in to the 2021 Civic Tour "Remix" featuring a performance by OVO Sound Recording artists and burgeoning pop duo, Majid Jordan, who will collaborate with Civic Tour headliner H.E.R. on a remix of her April 28 Civic Tour virtual concert. View the Civic Tour Remix announcement video here.

More information on the 2022 Civic Hatchback, plus photography and video, will be released on June 23.

About Honda

Honda offers a full line of clean, safe, fun and connected vehicles sold through more than 1,000 independent U.S. Honda dealers. Honda has the highest fleet average fuel economy and lowest CO 2 emissions of any major full-line automaker in America, according to the latest data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Honda lineup includes the Civic, Insight, Accord and Clarity series passenger cars, along with the HR-V, CR-V, Passport and Pilot sport utility vehicles, the Ridgeline pickup and the Odyssey minivan. Honda's electrified vehicle lineup includes the Accord Hybrid, CR-V Hybrid, Insight hybrid-electric sedan, and the Clarity Fuel Cell and Clarity Plug-In Hybrid.

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Honda has been producing automobiles in America for over 38 years and currently operates 19 major manufacturing facilities in North America. In 2020, more than 95 percent of all Honda vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts.

For More Information

Additional media information including detailed pricing features and high-resolution photography of all current Honda models is available at hondanews.com. Consumer information is available at automobiles.honda.com. To join the Honda community on Facebook, visit facebook.com/honda.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/all-new-2022-honda-civic-hatchback-teased-ahead-of-global-debut-during-civic-tour-remix-concert-301309561.html

SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Press Release

June 9, 2021 De Lima and lawyers file criminal raps vs Capones, gangmates Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima and her lawyers have filed separate criminal complaints against Prosecution witness, convicted murderer and commander of the Sigue Sigue Sputnik gang Joel Capones, for trading and selling illegal drugs while serving as an inmate of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) which he confessed under oath and in open court. In her Complaint-Affidavit filed today (June 9) at the Office of the City Prosecutor (OCP) in Muntinlupa City, De Lima stressed that despite such unequivocal confession, Capones up to now has not been charged with any crime in relation to the crime he confessed in open court. The lady Senator from Bicol further stressed she has "personal knowledge of the fact of Mr. Capones' testimony and the contents thereof" because she was physically present in court when Capones made his confession. "Mr. Capones' judicial confession that I personally witnessed constitutes evidence under Sec. 33, Rule 130 of the Revised Rule on Evidence that Mr. Capones indeed committed the crime of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading and that he should be held liable and prosecuted therefor," she said. "Here, the judicial confession made by Mr. Capones may be used against him. First, Mr. Capones' confession clearly involves acknowledgment of his participation in the crime of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. Second, the confession was categorical and definite." "Third, the confession was knowingly and voluntarily made by Mr. Capones, and he was even assisted by a counsel of his own choice, Atty. Mauricio Ulep. Mr. Capones knows or ought to know that the statements were made in open court and under oath, and his counsel conferred with him and explained to him the full consequences of his confession," she added. It may be recalled that during the Prosecution's Direct Examination by Prosecutor Ramoncito Bienvenido Ocampo Jr, Capones confessed his participation in the commission of the crime of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading, together with his 13 mayores in Sigue Sigue Sputnik, including one Ferdie Morellos, one Reynaldo Punga and one Anton Miya. The other co-conspirators of Capones, including Morellos, Punga, Miya and 10 other unidentified mayores of Sigue Sigue Sputnik Gang in 2014, are included in the said criminal complaint for the same crime. Notably, De Lima's legal counsels, namely, Attys. Teddy Esteban Rigoroso, Filibon Tacardon, Dino De Leon, Rolly Francis Peoro, and Raymond Marvic Baguilat also filed a similar criminal complaint against Capones. "As counsels on record for one of the accused, Attys. Teddy Esteban F. Rigoroso, Filibon F. Tacardon, Dino S. de Leon, Rolly Francis C. Peoro were present during the trial dates on 16 & 23 February 2021. They have personally witnessed and heard Mr. Capones make the judicial admission on both hearing dates," their Complaint-Affidavit read. "Atty. Baguilat, on the other hand, joined the other complainants on 23 February 2021 and personally witnessed Mr. Capones admit to the crime of illegal drug trading and conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading," it added. De Lima's legal counsels stressed that "any lawyer would be remiss of their duties to promote respect for law and legal processes if they ignore that a person admits to a crime and remains impervious." De Lima, in a separate statement, questioned why Capones remains "untouched" despite his confession. "We are wondering why Capones remains untouched; why the DOJ is not filing a case against him. It's clear to me that his perjured testimony implicating me in the drug trade is in exchange for exemption from criminal charge. It's a bargained for testimony. A palpable case of selective prosecution," she said. In a personal letter to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra dated Feb. 22, De Lima urged him to use all the powers available under his office to prosecute anyone, without fear or favor, who has been involved in illegal drug trading in NBP such as Capones.
Hong Kong: Govt to attract more funds to HK

Financial Secretary Paul Chan

Here in Hong Kong, we are in a decidedly good place today, having recovered from last year's contraction of 6.1%. Our first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth reached a heady 7.9%. I believe the rousing performance to date this year is underpinned by real momentum for recovery, locally and also globally.

It helps that our healthcare system and prudent government measures have kept the virus largely at bay. The rollout of our free COVID-19 Vaccination Programme is now into its fourth month. If you have yet to be vaccinated, I urge you to do so. It is only with your participation that our connectivity with other financial markets can fully resume.

Speaking of connectivity, 64% of Hong Kong's US$3.7 trillion in assets under management was sourced from non-local investors at the end of 2019. That flourishing international relationship is critical to maintaining and expanding our role as a leading asset and wealth-management hub.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government's determination to boost our asset and wealth-management business is driven by a four-step strategy.

The first step was to modernise our fund structure regime. Over the past three years, we had introduced the open-ended fund company and the limited partnership fund (LPF) regime respectively. These have, I'm pleased to say, been well received. For example, over the past eight months, there were more than 200 funds registered under the LPF regime.

I've been told that the industry appreciates the contractual latitude that allows parties to adopt continually evolving terms. Let me say that it reflects your association's valuable input in the Government's policymaking.

We are looking to further bridge capital markets and the real economy with this regime, one in which private equity leaders play a pivotal role.

We are hopeful that our limited partnership funds will fuel innovation and technology startups in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The second cornerstone in the Government's strategy is to attract more funds to set up and operate in Hong Kong. In this respect, we are introducing legislative amendments to provide tax concessions for carried interest payable by private equity funds.

This together with the other tax concessions already granted to funds will certainly shape how fund sponsors choose a domicile for their next generation of private equity funds.

Our third step was seizing the opportunities presented by the OECD's (Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development) on-shoring drive. We are encouraging foreign funds to look to Hong Kong, to take advantage of our comprehensive and competitive fund regimes as well as tax and financial incentives.

The end result, of course, is to encourage you to establish a presence in Hong Kong.

The fourth plank in our multi-pronged strategy is financial incentive. We are offering grants to open-ended fund companies and real-estate investment trusts that set up in Hong Kong over the coming three years.

Up to US$130,000 will be handed out to each open-ended fund company, and more than US$1 million to each real-estate investment trust. In short, your rewarding future in Hong Kong begins the day you arrive.

And, let me assure you, you'll be in good company. Hong Kong is second only to New York as the world's billionaire city. In 2019, our billionaire population recorded the largest net increase of any city in the world.

The Asian region's ascent to wealth accumulation is a major magnet for family offices. Some 1,300 of the world's 7,300 single-family offices can be found in the Asia-Pacific. And we are committed to making Hong Kong the region's new family office hub.

InvestHK and the Monetary Authority (HKMA) have set up a one-stop shop for potential family office clients. It offers personalised assistance to family offices, wherever in the world they may be, to help them find their way to us, Asia's world city.

Our financial regulators are equally supportive. The Securities & Futures Commission (SFC) and the HKMA have made exemptions from a number of requirements for family offices. For example, a single family office only serving its group companies would not require a licence from the SFC.

And there's more. InvestHK will soon launch a dedicated family office team to target private wealth clients worldwide. I am hopeful it will bring you a wealth of business opportunities.

The Greater Bay Area will certainly realise a wealth of business prospects for Hong Kong companies, and the companies that work with Hong Kong.

In 2019, the bay area's GDP per capita exceeded US$23,000. And the cluster city development of nine cities in southern China, together with Hong Kong and Macau, is just getting started.

Hong Kong's central role in the bay area presents boundless promise for the asset and wealth-management sector. For each and every one of you.

That includes the bay area's Wealth Management Connect scheme, which is expected to be launched very soon.

The new connect scheme will expand your customer base and boost Hong Kong's role in managing the flow of capital in and out of the Mainland.

It will also promote the use of renminbi, reinforcing Hong Kong's standing as the world's offshore renminbi business hub.

COVID-19 has been a sobering reminder that we are all susceptible to natural perils. It also reminds us that the financial system and larger considerations such as sustainability and inclusivity are inextricably linked. I'm pleased to see that the forum will feature a spotlight on responsible investing - on integrating environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions.

I can tell you that Hong Kong's financial future will be green and sustainable, and that includes achieving carbon neutrality before 2050.

Our Green & Sustainable Finance CrossAgency Steering Group was created to help Hong Kong become the region's leading green finance hub. I'm confident our fund managers will profitably support us in this ambitious undertaking.

Since the launch of the Government Green Bond Programme in 2018, the Hong Kong SAR Government has issued green bonds in two batches, one of which remains the longest-tenor, US dollar-denominated government bond in Asia.

Our green commitment is working hand-in-hand with market forces. The issuance of green bonds in Hong Kong last year rose to new heights. And we remain Asia's most popular green-bond listing venue.

And there's more to come. We will double the borrowing ceiling of the Government Green Bond Programme to nearly US$26 billion. That will allow us to issue green bonds totalling some US$23 billion over the next five years. And we plan to issue retail green bonds to engage the general public as well.

We will also promote Hong Kong as a centre for Chinese companies looking to raise funds for green projects.

The Hong Kong Exchange last year launched its Sustainable & Green Exchange (STAGE). STAGE, as it's known, is Asia's first multi-asset sustainable investment product offering. I'm confident it will become a central hub for data and information on green finance investment throughout the region.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan gave these remarks at the AIMA APAC Annual Forum 2021 on June 10.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
With LGUs closing vaccination centers due to zero supply

Nancy to DOH, IATF: 'Release all remaining vaxx in govt facilities'

...says A4 vulnerable to more contagious variants

Senator Nancy Binay urged the Department of Health to fast track the release of all the COVID-19 vaccines in stock to help address the increased demand due to the A4 priority group.

"Ilarga na't i-release yung lahat ng vaccines na nasa government storage facilities. Sayang yung panahon kung paghihintayin pa natin ang mga tao hanggang next week. By then, baka tinubuan na ng mga dahon ang bakuna bago makarating sa centers. Clearly, there should be no excuses," she added.

Binay said she considers the closure of some inoculation centers in Metro Manila "unacceptable" because of the DOH's failure to deliver vaccines on time.

"As of this week, marami pang bakunang nakaimbak sa storage facilities ng DOH kaya parang ang hirap tanggapin na walang maibigay sa mga vaccination centers sa Maynila, Marikina at Antipolo. Habang mayroong di nailalabas sa warehouse at nakakarating sa tao ang bakuna, technically, it does not serve its intended purpose. May buhay na nakokompromiso," she noted.

To date, about 9.3 million vaccines are in stockpile; 8.6 million have been deployed; and more than 6 million have been administered, with still close to a million doses stored in government facilities.

"Meron pang 2 million doses ng Pfizer na darating bukas plus 1 million each ng Sputnik and Sinovac. Sana i-release kaagad at ilabas na ang mga bakuna ng DOH para mapakinabangan ito agad ng ating mga kababayan," Binay pointed out.

Many local executives claim that vaccines stored in the national government's facilities have yet to reach densely-populated cities and far-flung municipalities.

"Dapat nga lahat ng 1st dose vaccines ay nai-release na, at kung meron mang naiwan sa storage, yung mga 2nd dose na lang. Kung nag-decide man ang IATF na buksan na ang A4 category, dapat handa rin ang DOH to cover the necessary requirements tulad ng syringes at iba pang gamit," the senator added.

Government data show that there are approximately 13 million workers in Metro Manila and other areas in NCR Plus 8 who belong to the A4 category.

Another 22.5 million workers are in areas outside NCR Plus 8, bringing the total estimated number of workers to 35.5 million.

"Lahat naman tayo gustong maging maayos na at manumbalik na ang ekonomiya. If these vaccines remain stored in warehouses and do not reach the LGUs on time, not only will we be seeing a lot of empty tents and chairs--we are exposing a big percentage of our workforce to more contagious variants," Binay noted.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS ON LOCALIZED PROTOCOLS FOR RETURNING OFWs

I strongly support the Province of Cebu for coming up with localized protocols in responding to the pandemic. This demonstrates their confidence in their capacity to contain the spread of COVID-19.

I am certain they have taken into account their situation, as well as the plight of our OFWs, before coming up with these measures.

I trust that the provincial government knows what is best for their own constituents.
Press Release

June 10, 2021 SENATE LOCGOV PANEL APPROVES CREATION OF METROPOLITAN DAVAO DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY The Senate Committee on Local Government, chaired by Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino, has approved the creation of the Metropolitan Davao Development Authority (MDDA) as part of efforts to spur economic growth and hasten delivery of services in the area. Tolentino on Thursday announced during the committee hearing the approval of various measures, seeking to create the MDDA, which will be composed of Davao City and certain cities and municipalities from the provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Davao de Oro, and Davao Occidental. Senate Bill Nos. 2116, 2153, and 2157 were filed by Senators Imee Marcos, Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, and Christopher "Bong" Go, respectively, while the counterpart Bill in the lower house House Bill No. 8930 was filed by Davao City 3rd District Rep. Isidro Ungab. During the committee hearing on Thursday, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte expressed support for the creation of the MDDA, but said she would consult the regional development council on some proposed matters, such as the power to grant franchise to public utility vehicles operating within MDDA and the election of MDDA chairman. The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) also backed the creation of the MDDA, as the move is consistent with the national and regional development plans of the government. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), through Regional Director Alex Roldan, also supported the creation of the MDDA, adding that DILG is willing to restructure its offices in the area if needed. Roldan added that MDDA will also be of great help when it comes to coordination with different local government units. Undersecretary RJ Echiverri of the DILG also lauded the efforts being done to create the MDDA, saying it would help the region keep pace with the development in Metro Manila. Senator Dela Rosa, for his part, pushed for the inclusion of municipalities of Padada, Hagonoy, Sta. Maria, and Malalag, Davao del Sur in the MDDA. On this note, Mayor Duterte said that Davao City interposes no objection to the inclusion of these municipalities. LGU officials of the said municipalities are thankful to the Senate Committee on Local Government as this would help stimulate economic growth in their localities.
DOH Leon Provides Week 25 Update on COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts

DOH Leon Provides Week 25 Updates on COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts

Tallahassee, FL --- The Department of Health in Leon County (DOH Leon) in partnership with the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and multiple public and private sector partners, continues its mission to get all Leon County residents vaccinated as quickly, safely, and equitable as possible. All of this as we continue our collective efforts related to limiting the spread of the virus and protecting public health.

This week, actions to continue a proactive approach to vaccination efforts in Leon County include the following as of June 9:

New Developments:

The Florida Department of Health will no longer release a daily COVID-19 report of state cases, deaths, hospitalizations, and vaccination rates. FDOH will begin issuing a weekly report every Friday. In announcing the reason for the change last Friday (June 4), the Governors office stated that COVID-19 cases have significantly decreased over the past year, and our state is returning to normal, with vaccines widely available throughout Florida.

DOH Leon Vaccination Clinic Highlights:

We have so far sponsored 43 vaccination clinics.

We have successfully administered nearly 30,000 doses through our health department to date.

The vaccine team is administering Pfizer vaccinations to the 12 to 15-year-old priority group. Parents or guardians must be present for their child to receive the vaccine.

The department continues offering vaccinations to those 12 years of age and older at the Roberts & Stevens Clinic at 1515 Old Bainbridge Road. Staff will administer doses every Tuesday from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. through the month of June.

Additionally, as of June 8, 48% of all eligible Leon County residents have been vaccinated. See the table below for COVID-19 vaccinations by age groups:

COVID-19 VACCINATIONS BY AGE GROUPS (AS OF 06/08/2021) Age Group Total people Vaccinated (Percentage of age group population) Series Complete (Percentage of age group population) 12-14 16% 5% 15-24 22% 17% 25-34 38% 31% 35-44 49% 41% 45-54 58% 50% 55-64 68% 61% 65+ 85% 77% ELIGIBLE 48% 41% Overall 42% 36%

The Leon County Vax Map helps citizens find convenient locations that offer COVID-19 vaccinations. The online easy-to-use resource allows users to select a location from the existing map or search for a known address. In addition, permanent and pop-up COVID-19 testing sites can also be found on the countys Vax Map.

Among this weeks community mobile COVID-19 vaccination events: Old West Enrichment Center (2344 Lake Bradford Road) hosts a free COVID-19 vaccination event Thursday, June 10 in Tallahassee. The site will offer all three vaccines, with the Pfizer vaccine available to anyone 12 years of age and older. Minors will need a parent or guardian with them to receive the vaccine. The Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines are available to people 18 years of age and older. An informational flyer for the event is attached.

The state continues to encourage homebound individuals to sign up and receive a COVID-19 vaccine at their home. Individuals can begin the registration process by calling 833-930-3672 or email homeboundvaccines@cdrmaguire.com. Find and complete a pre-screening survey at: https://homebound.patientportalfl.com/. Only individuals who meet the U.S Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services criteria for homebound, are currently eligible for the vaccine.

Community partners continue programs offering free rides to help people reach their COVID-19 vaccine appointments. 2-1-1 Big Bend and Lyft are offering transportation to COVID-19 vaccination sites through the Lyft Ride United Program. The project provides safe and reliable door to door rides to COVID-19 vaccine appointments at walk-up COVID-19 vaccination sites to those who are eligible to receive the vaccine. Rides can be set up by calling (850) 617-6325 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Additionally, Tallahassees Elder Care Services continues helping residents 60 years of age and older get to community vaccination sites. They can call (850) 921-5554 to schedule transportation. Individuals do not have to be officially enrolled in the Elder Care Services Program to take advantage of this opportunity.

Situation Update for COVID-19 in Leon County (6/06-6/12). Leon County COVID-19 key metrics are generally trending in the right direction. Our 7-day rolling average for new cases has averaged 18 per day for the past two weeks. So far for this week, the average number of cases has decreased to 12 per day. The COVID-19 test positivity rate has been 3.57% for the past two weeks, and so far, this week, we have decreased to a 3.17% positivity rate. As of June 9, Leon County has a known total of 32,046 confirmed cases and 334 deaths.

For any additional questions about the vaccine at this time, the State COVID-19 Call Center can be reached by calling 1-866-779-6121 or emailing COVID-19@flhealth.gov and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please note: The states call center will end operations at the end of August. COVID-19 inquiries will transition back to county health departments.

# # #

Submitted by:

Pamela Saulsby | Public Information Officer
Italy has summoned a UAE envoy to the European country to protest against the denial of the Emirati airspace to an Italian military jet carrying journalists attending a ceremony in Afghanistan.

The Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Ettore Sequi, reports say, summoned Tuesday Omar Al Shamsi to express Romes surprise and disappointment for an unexpected gesture that is hard to understand, the Italian foreign ministry indicated.

The Gulf country angered Rome after it prevented Boeing 767 of the Italian Air Force, carrying a group of some 40 journalists, from flying over the territory of the UAE.

The jet was carrying a group of 40 journalists heading to the Afghan city of Herat, where Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini arrived earlier on Tuesday for a flag-lowering ceremony at the countrys military base, reports said. The plan was forced to land in the port city of Dammam in Saudi Arabia to refuel before using a different route.

The ceremony reportedly was delayed several hours as result of the refusal.

Italy and UAE bilateral ties have turned sour after Rome in January canceled permits for the export of missiles and aerial bombs to the UAE and Saudi Arabia due to their involvement in Yemen where both countries have been since 2015 engaged to restore the rule of ally Mansour Hadi flashed out of the country by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) has prohibited the import of poultry meat, table eggs, and their products from the French regions of Landes, Pyrenees-Atlantiques and Gers, reports say.

The move according to the SFDA is made after reviewing a report by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) regarding the registration of new cases of bird flu in these three areas.

This is meant for guaranteeing elimination of the flu virus and provided that these products conform to health requirements and standards, with enclosing a health certificate issued by accredited relevant authorities in France proving that these products are free from the virus, the authority added in a statement.

The Gulf country has previously imposed a ban on poultry imports from Frances Saint-Geours-de-Maremne region as a result of the spread of the same disease, reports note.
The Strasbourg based European Institution has discussed this Thursday a resolution that was sponsored by the Spanish Ciudadanos party, member of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, which was expecting a strong condemnation of the North African country amidst the migratory incidents of last May in the occupied enclave of Ceuta.

However, the lot of those behind the resolution was a great disappointment as the European legislative institution insisted rather on the strategic scope of the relationship between the EU and Morocco and the need to preserve this relationship in the best interests of both parties.

Some isolated political groups within the European Parliament believed they would succeed in dragging MEPs into the Spanish governments adventure of Europeanizing its current diplomatic crisis with Morocco. However, it was not long before these groups found out that they had made a big mistake.

Actually, MEPs perfectly diagnosed the situation and acted accordingly. They realized that the Spanish Government was seeking to involve the European Union in its crisis with Morocco, which was considered a purely bilateral crisis, on the one hand, and that some political groups attempted to harm the privileged Morocco-EU partnership, on the other. And of course, the European Parliament opted for preserving the EUs unique strategic relationship with the North African Kingdom, instead of aligning with Spains narrow agendas.

The emergency resolution tabled by the Ciudadanos party was largely amended and just refuses in a small paragraph, the alleged use of migration as a political instrument by Morocco, while its authors were expecting strong denunciation. On the contrary, the European Parliament insists in the resolution that as a close neighbor, Morocco is a privileged partner of the EU in the field of political and economic cooperation as well as trade, technical and development cooperation.

The European Parliament also recalls that Morocco has an advanced status with the EU and that these privileged relations with the European Union must be preserved.

It also calls for the implementation of the new EU agenda for the Mediterranean () in which Morocco is invited to strengthen its partnership with the EU.

The European Parliament also underscored the paramount importance of King Mohammed VIs instructions to facilitate the return of unaccompanied Moroccan minors to Europe.

Thus, the show that was expected by Moroccos adversaries as a prosecution against the Kingdom turned into a plea in its favor and in favor of its strategic partnership with the European Union.
A Nairobi county official has denied dressing inappropriately during a Zoom meeting with the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday morning.

Mr Hitan Majevdia, the County Executive for Health, was allegedly dressed in a bathrobe when he appeared before the committee to answer queries on the utilization of Covid-19 funds in Nairobi county.

As reported by the Star, Majevdia also had his mouth full when he logged in to the Zoom session. Other unverified reports claim he was also drunk.

Majevdia was also unprepared as he had not submitted any documents pertaining to the probe. I dont have the responses with me as the County Secretary and the Deputy Governor have them, he said.

Wajir Senator Abdullahi Ali castigated the Health CEC saying he was taking the committee session for a ride.

It is very disrespectful for a whole County official to appear before Senate committee not properly dressed and yet he has no responses for us, he said.

Trans Nzoia Senator Michael Mbito, the committee chair, ordered the CEC to leave the meeting immediately saying he was not serious.

The CEC is in a bathrobe and is not properly dressed. The Covid-19 funds is not a joke and he should take this matter seriously, he said.

Majevdia, however, explained that he was not wearing a bathrobe, but an indian attire. He also denied being drunk saying he is a teetotaler who has never even taken a glass of wine.

I was not in a robe. I wore a pashmina shawl. The fact that it was maroon in colour made people think that it is a bathrobe, the CEC said.

The county official said he apologised and that the zoom meeting went on as scheduled.
South Africa: Public invited to comment on forthcoming local elections

The Inquiry into Ensuring Free and Fair Local Government Elections during COVID-19, has invited the public to submit their views on the forthcoming Local Government Elections, to be held on 27 October 2021.

In a statement on Thursday, the inquiry invited the public to provide their views on whether the Electoral Commission will be able to ensure that the forthcoming general local government elections are free and fair, in view of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the measures promulgated by the government to curb the continued spread of the pandemic.

[On Wednesday], the inquiry launched its new website, which can be visited at https://www.elections.org.za/freeandfair/. Members of the public will be able to make submissions about the forthcoming local government elections on the website.

Members of the public may also email their submissions to the Inquiry at freeandfair@elections.org.za or send voice notes to the Inquirys whatsapp number 063 863 4623. The final day for submissions from the public is Friday, 18 June 2021, the inquiry said.

The inquiry said it will publish all submissions received from key stakeholders on its website in order to ensure that the inquiry is transparent, and that the public has the necessary information to engage meaningfully with the inquiry.

The inquiry last week received submissions from the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commissions submissions are available on the inquirys website.

The inquiry has also invited other key stakeholders to make submissions to it, which may have a bearing on the freeness and fairness of local government elections earmarked to be held in October 2021.

Invitations to make submissions have been issued to independent health institutions, medical experts and electoral monitoring bodies, whose submissions are due on Tuesday, 15 June 2021.

"Invitations have also been issued to the relevant Ministers and government departments, political parties and civil society organisations, all of whose submissions are due on Friday, 18 June 2021, the inquiry said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
President Kenyatta on Wednesday presided over the burning of 5,144 illegal firearms as well as obsolete state-owned small arms and light weapons.

Speaking during the event at the Regional Traffic Police Training Centre in Ngong, Kajiado County, Uhuru urged anyone in possession of illegal firearms to submit them to the authorities under the Governments amnesty programme and warned of dire consequences for those who will ignore the offer.

An illegal gun makes you less safe, not more. An illegal gun, no matter your good intentions, makes you a criminal and liable to face the full force of the law, President Kenyatta said.

He assured that the Government is ready at all times to address the security needs of all Kenyans, saying his administration has sustained a progressive reduction of crime in recent years saying, he sees no reason for people to own illegal guns or to take the law into their own hands.

In this regard, the President called on all Kenyans to let the authorities know about any information of illicit weapons in their communities.

Such small efforts will bring peaceful days to you, your children, and your grandchildren in the future, the President said.

At the same time, President Kenyatta warned that the Government will not tolerate leaders who fuel inter-clan conflicts and blame it on terrorism.

We intend to fight and we have fought Al-Shabaab. But we do not and will never allow leaders and individuals to use the name of Al-Shabaab to continue inter clan animosities and conflicts, the President said.

Uhuru underlined the importance of peaceful resolution of conflicts through dialogue, saying the Government is more than happy to engage all Kenyan citizens in such endeavours.

A peaceful Kenya, a united Kenya is for the good of all of us. And that can only be achieved if we work together and find peaceful solutions through dialogue and through conversations which we, as a Government are more than happy to engage all Kenyan citizens.

Because at the end of the day, the security of our nation is not just our collective responsibility but also our individual responsibility, he said.

The President directed agencies that hold Government firearms to ensure strict accountability and proper management as well as control of the arms under their charge so as to guard against pilferage, diversion, and misuse.

He reiterated the Governments commitment to continue weeding out illegal firearms saying, the state had a constitutional mandate to secure the lives of all Kenyans.

By publicly destroying illicit weapons, Kenya once again openly demonstrates that we are determined and ready to face the challenges posed by small arms and light weapons, the President said.

The President noted that Kenyas recovery of illicit small arms and light weapons is in tandem with the Africa Unions call for Silencing the Guns in Africa by the year 2020.

Although the AU target has not been fully achieved by the deadline year, individual countries, Kenya included, have made excellent progress towards that goal, the President said.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiangi said the destruction of the illegal firearms is further testament that the reforms initiated by President Kenyatta in the security sector were working.

Dr Matiangi singled out the Presidents multi-agency approach to the management of security, saying it had delivered commendable results within a short time.

The photos.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has extended an olive branch to illegal gun-makers in Kenya, promising to give them steady jobs at the newly opened gun manufacturing factory in Ruiru.

The President made the unusual offer on Wednesday during the burning of 5,144 illegal firearms recovered from the wrong hands and obsolete state-owned small arms and light weapons.

We have seen a variety of homemade weapons, it is first of all negative but it is also positive, I want to make an offer, Uhuru said at the Regional Police Traffic Training Centre in Ngong, Kajiado County.

Kenya has now begun making our own small arms and light weapons and for you out there who are engaged in making these guns for criminals, come let us give you a steady job to make legal weapons. Help grow our economy and defend our country.

PHOTOS  Uhuru Commissions Gun Manufacturing Factory in Ruiru

The President added: Nimewapatia hiyo offer nyinyi wenzangu waKenya najua mko huku. Badala ya kuwa huko kungojea risasi ya askari jameni njoo useme hiyo kazi umewacha tukupatie kazi. Hiyo ujuzi ukonaye utusaidie kutengeneza silaha halali.

(Fellow Kenyans, Im making this offer to you, I know youre there. Instead of waiting for police bullets, come to us and tell us that you have stopped that crime and we will give you a job. Help us make legal weapons with the skills you possess).

Uhuru said anyone interested in the offer should contact security officers, renounce their past, and apply for government employment.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has told Ethiopians that the entry of Kenyas technology giant Safaricom will help transform their country by positively impacting most sectors of the 112 million population economy.

Using the example of Safaricoms impact on the Kenyan economy over the years, President Kenyatta lauded Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed and his administration for choosing to liberalize the countrys telecommunications sector.

Todays ceremony is the first step in an exciting and rewarding opportunity for Ethiopia. Kenya has seen the great gains and opportunities unleashed by Safaricom across the entirety of our socio-economic landscape.

Ethiopia now stands at the cusp of making even greater strides in Safaricoms areas of strength; which include digital presence, mobile money, telephony, data and fibre connectivity, and business solutions, President Kenyatta said.

The President spoke Tuesday evening in Addis Ababa during the issuance of an operation license to the Safaricom-led Global Partnership for Ethiopia consortium which won a Kshs 91.8 billion bid to operate in the country.

Global Partnership for Ethiopia which brings together Kenyas Safaricom, South Africas Vodacom, UKs Vodafone, British finance agency CDC Group, and Japans Sumitomo Corporation won the 15-year license in a competitive bidding process making it the first private telecoms player in the country.

With the issuance of the license, the consortium will officially start its operations in the Horn of Africa nation next year and is expected to expend over Kshs 864 billion in ten years, making it the largest FDI in Ethiopias history.

At the historic agreement signing ceremony held at the iconic Friendship Park in Central Addis Ababa, the President told the Ethiopian Government to consider opening up opportunities for mobile money services as part of the telecommunications liberalization process.

In Kenya, the success of M-PESA, Africas, if not global, first mobile money platform, is a classic example of what possibilities lie in mobile financial services, if fully exploited.

Studies have shown that enhanced access to mobile financial services, have a great potential to reduce poverty as more people are enabled, easier and safer savings and in effect, greatly influencing the kind of choices they make in life, President Kenyatta said.

He said mobile financial services are key in addressing various societal gaps particularly gender disparities as they open up opportunities for women to participate fully in economic development.

Right from the villages to the cities, financial services have been made possible by mobile financial platform. Women, have particularly been empowered by these services, and are now able to participate meaningfully in the economy, alongside men. This is an area we must devote our collective efforts as we usher in the digital economy, the President said.

Alongside provision of robust telephony services, President Kenyatta said the entry of Safaricom will help Ethiopia create over 1.5 million new job opportunities for its citizens.

On his part, Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed said the award of the telecommunications license will catalyse inclusive prosperity.

Dr Abiy said competition will create a vibrant telecommunications sector that will significantly contribute to the growth of the economy through creation of jobs and the rise of new MSMEs.

Other speakers at the colorful event were the Chief Executive Officers of Safaricom Peter Ndegwa, Ethiopian Communications Authority Bacha Reba and Vodafone South Africa Shameel Joosub.

President Kenyatta was accompanied by Cabinet Secretaries Raychelle Omamo (Foreign Affairs) and Joe Mucheru (ICT).
According to information published by the Greek City Times website on June 10, 2021, the Greek Ministry of Defense has shortlisted six countries for evaluating proposals for the acquisition of four new frigates for the Hellenic Navy.

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Greek frigate HS Spetsai, F-453, transits the Mediterranean Sea during Phoenix Express. (Picture source U.S. Navy)

The acquisition of new frigates for the Hellenic Navy is a top priority for the Greek government, as well as the upgrade of existing warships. Greece could invest 5 billion euros for the acquisition of four new frigates.

Citing the Greek City Times website, the Greek government has accepted proposals from five countries including the United States with the Multi-Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC) from Lockheed Martin, France with the company Naval Group and its Belharra HN, Netherlands with Damen ship Sigma 11515, the United Kingdom with the type 31 Arrowhead from Babcock, Germany with the company TKMS with MEKO A200NG and Italy with its FREMM built by the company Fincantieri.



Citing Daniel Darling from Forecast International, faced with an increasingly confrontational situation with neighboring Turkey in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, Greece is embarking on an upgrade of the Hellenic Armed Forces a decade after the countrys sovereign debt crisis put military modernization on hold. Under the latest capabilities upgrade initiative announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on September 12 all three major service branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces will be bolstered via modernization acquisitions.



The Hellenic Navy will be one of the main beneficiaries of this new modernization effort. Tasked with meeting the challenge presented by an increasingly capable and expanding Turkish Navy the Hellenic Navy as launched the program involving the procurement of four new multi-role frigates.



The Hellenic Navy maintains a large number of surface vessels and submarines in its inventory. However, the 10 years of economic recession (2009-2019) that affected the country particularly hard, have also affected the Navy's development plans. The Hellenic Navy relies mainly on frigates as its primary surface heavy boats. The fleet consists of thirteen frigates. The types operated are the Hydra class (Type: Meko-200HN) and the Elli class (Type: Kortenaer). The Elli class frigates HS Elli and HS Limnos were sold to Greece during construction, the rest were bought directly from the Dutch Navy. The Hydra class vessels were constructed in Greece by Hellenic Shipyards Co., except from HS Hydra that was constructed by the German company Blohm and Voss based in Hamburg.
Jaypee Infratech's Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain has filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking extension of timeline for completion of its resolution process till the first week of July.

State-owned NBCC and Suraksha group are in the fray to acquire the debt-laden realty firm Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL) and complete over 20,000 pending flats for homebuyers. The 45 days' time granted by the Supreme Court to complete the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) expired on May 8.

In the last meeting of JIL's Committee of Creditors (CoC), Jain informed that an application was filed before the court on May 6 to seek an extension by 30 days, sources said. On the instructions of the CoC members, Jain filed another application on June 3 seeking further extension by 30 days. The applications are likely to be heard in the first week of July, they added.

Jain informed the CoC that the CIRP of JIL has to be completed by July 7, subject to the Supreme Court's decision on extension of timeline. He also said all decisions taken by the CoC after May 8 related to the approvals of resolution plans submitted by the two contenders will be subject to the decision of the apex court on the two applications filed on May 6 and June 3 seeking extension.

Earlier this week, the financial creditors decided to consider the bids of both state-owned NBCC and Suraksha group to acquire the embattled realty firm at their next meeting scheduled on June 10 (Thursday). Just before the start of the meeting of the CoC on Monday, Suraksha group submitted its revised bid, offering more funds to banks while reducing the timeline to complete some stalled projects for benefit of homebuyers.

The Mumbai-based firm did not submit its resolution plan on June 4 and rather sought at least seven days' extension to sweeten its offer for both homebuyers and bankers. NBCC, however, submitted its resolution plan on June 4. This is the fourth round of the bidding process in the matter of JIL bankruptcy case. JIL went into the insolvency process in August 2017 after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted an application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium.

In the first round of insolvency proceeding, the Rs 7,350-crore bid of Lakshadweep, part of Suraksha Group, was rejected by lenders. The CoC had rejected the bids of Suraksha Realty and NBCC in the second round held in May-June 2019.

The matter reached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and then the apex court. In November 2019, the Supreme Court directed the completion of JIL insolvency process within 90 days and ordered that the revised bids be invited only from NBCC and Suraksha.

Then in December 2019, the CoC approved the resolution plan of NBCC with 97.36 per cent votes in favour during the third round of the bidding process. In March 2020, NBCC had got approval from the NCLT to acquire JIL.

However, the order was challenged before the NCLAT and later the Supreme Court, which on March 24 this year ordered that fresh bids should be invited only from NBCC and Suraksha. The apex court had also directed that the resolution process be completed in 45 days, which lapsed on May 8.

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IT services major Wipro on Thursday said its step-down subsidiary, Wipro IT Services, has approved a proposal for issuing US dollar denominated notes of up to $750 million.

The net proceeds of the notes, which are proposed to be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, are intended to be utilised for refinancing existing debt and general corporate purposes, a regulatory filing said.

"...Wipro IT Services, a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of Wipro, incorporated under the laws of Delaware, United States of America (issuer) has approved the proposal for issuance of US dollar denominated notes in an aggregate principal amount of up to $750 million," it added.

The notes will be guaranteed by Wipro vide a corporate guarantee, it said.

The board of directors of the company, at their meeting held on June 9, 2021, granted its approval to "unconditionally and irrevocably" guarantee the due and prompt payment of the principal and interest and any additional amount payable in respect of the notes, as and when the same shall become and payable, Wipro said.

The guarantee is subject to the aggregate liability of the company not exceeding $865 million (115 per cent of the principal amount of the notes), it added.

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India on Thursday asked China to allow Indian citizens to travel to that country especially those who work or study there, and said that essential two-way travel should be facilitated, especially keeping in view the fact that Chinese nationals are able to travel to India. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also said that it was in touch with the Chinese side in order to seek an early resumption of travel by Indian citizens to China.

"While we recognize the need to ensure safety and strictly follow COVID- related protocols, essential two-way travel should be facilitated, especially keeping in view the fact that Chinese nationals are able to travel to India," MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during a media briefing.

Noting that Chinese nationals are able to travel to India despite the absence of direct connectivity, he said, "however, for Indian nationals, travel to China has not been possible since last November as the Chinese side had suspended existing visas".

The spokesperson said,"we have been in touch with the Chinese side in order to seek an early resumption of travel by Indian citizens to China, especially for those who work or study there,"

In March this year, the Chinese Embassy issued a notification about facilitating visas for those taking Chinese-made vaccines, Bagchi said.

"It is understood that several Indian nationals have applied for Chinese visas after getting vaccinated in that manner but are yet to be issued visas. Since these Indian nationals have apparently met the requirements laid down by the Chinese side, we hope that the Chinese embassy would be able to issue them visas soon," Bagchi said.

Also Read: COVID-19: Centre close to granting indemnity to Pfizer, other foreign vaccine makers
New Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Thursday reported successful usage of Monoclonal antibody therapy for treating two COVID-19 patients, The patients were suffering from fast progression of symptoms within the first seven days of the disease. Both patients were given REGCov2, which has been developed to produce resistance against SARS-CoV-2. Both COVID-19 patients managed to recover from their ailments and were discharged within 12 hours.

A 36-year-old healthcare worker with high-grade fever, myalgia, severe weakness, cough and leucopenia was given REGCov2 on day six of the disease, according to a press release of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. According to the hospital, the patient's health parameters improved within 12 hours and they was discharged.

The second COVID-19 patient who recovered is 80-year-old RK Razdan. He had a high-grade fever and cough and was diabetic and hypertensive. As per a CT scan, Razdan had a mild COVID-19 infection and his oxygen saturation level was at 95. "He was given REGCov2 on Day 5 of disease. Patient's parameter improved within next 12 hours," the release added.

Monoclonal antibodies are identical copies of an antibody that targets one specific antigen. This type of therapy has been used previously for treating deadly pathogens like Ebola and HIV. The REGCov2 is developed by Regeneron. The firm is conducting the phase-3 COVID-19 prevention trials.

"Monoclonal antibody could prove to be a game-changer in times to come if used at an appropriate time. It can avoid hospitalisation in high-risk groups and progression to severe disease. It can help escaping or reducing the usage of steroids and immunomodulation which would further reduce the risk of fatal infections like Mucormycosis, secondary bacterial and viral infections like CMV," said Dr Pooja Khosla, a senior consultant of the Department of Medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

"The awareness about early identification of high-risk category in our population and timely therapy with Monoclonal antibody as day care treatment may reduce the burden of cost on healthcare sector," she added.

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Also read: US to buy 500 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to share via COVAX alliance
This is the number of research papers on Covid-19 that have been published in reputed medical journals till now. A majority of India's main Covid warriors, its doctors, have not been able to read even a tiny fraction of these as they are busy fighting the virus. But the reality is that Continuous Medical Education (CME) had taken a backseat long ago, say experts. "India has some 12.5 lakh allopathic doctors, and around 4.5 lakh non-MBBS doctors. Except for the 15-20 per cent in metros and Tier-1 cities, most are unable to stay up to date with innovations in their field," says Bhagwat Dhingra, former CEO of Unichem Laboratories and an industry veteran. Doctors usually update themselves through CME programmes organised by pharmaceutical companies and annual meetings of their associations. Another source is interactions with medical representatives. "If I remember correctly, using the Reliance cyber cafes, Apollo Hospitals telecast a live surgery connecting specialists in 60 centres. That was one of the first digital CME programmes in India," says Dhingra. That was 10-12 years ago. Things did not change for years after that.

CME is not the only area where India's healthcare sector is lagging. A total of 6,000-7,000 hospitals across the world are performing robotic surgeries compared to less than 100 in India. When it comes to data, most non-corporate hospitals keep hard copies of files in dusty storerooms. Lack of digitisation also plagues drug distribution and delivery.

However, all this is set to change with technology, whether in research and development or healthcare delivery, with adoption of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics. These and other cutting-edge digital technologies are steadily revolutionising the way doctors learn, perform surgeries and assess patients. Even drug companies are digitising their sales operations. The digital healthcare market in India, valued at Rs 11,611 crore in 2018, is estimated to reach Rs 48,543 crore by 2024, expanding at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.41 per cent, says a Research and Markets report.

Digital Lessons

Bhagwat Dhingra, along with Abhishek Ghosh, runs MediSage, an e-learning CME content platform. The two-year-old MediSage publishes global experts' evidence-based advice in video and podcast format, and also enables live interactions with national and international experts. Additionally, it brings updated news feed from globally reputed journals and runs multiple discussion forums . "We have a reach of over 430,000 doctors, and had over one million views this year," says Ghosh. The content is sponsored by over 25 top pharmaceutical firms. MediSage has partnered with universities, medical associations and experts. Its target is to earn Rs 700-800 crore in revenues in five years from last year's Rs 70-80 crore and become the knowledge partner of over one million healthcare professionals. It is also planning to launch courses in collaboration with leading global universities. Similar platforms include Gurugram-based Curofy and US-based UpToDate and PEPID.

Delivery Promise

A large number of people are embracing digital health with the help of thousands of health apps and wearable devices. In order to tap into the trend, several companies - Practo, Lybrate, DocsApp, 1mg, DOCASAP, Welcome Cure and Zoylo, to name a few - have started working in the field of patient-doctor interactions. The rollout of the National Digital Health Mission is attracting even global digital health management players. "The biggest issue for patients in India is getting in touch with the best doctor and services. Our operations in India will try to address such issues," Sigal Atzmon, Founder & CEO of Medix Global, told Business Today in a recent interaction. London-based Medix, which operates in 90 countries with 40 lakh clients, plans to start with seven cities, employ 1,000-2,000 people and lay pan-India digital infrastructure for tele-medicine and offline medical solutions.

Cure Goes Digital

Apollo Hospitals recently rolled out Apollo 24/7, an omni-channel healthcare platform built with Microsoft, to take healthcare solutions to consumers through an easy-to-use web and mobile interface. It connects over 7,000 doctors across Apollo hospitals and clinics, offering round-the-clock virtual consultation with Apollo-certified doctors within 15 minutes. It also delivers medicines across 15,000 PIN codes with the help of more than 4,000 Apollo medical stores in India. Fortis Healthcare, one of India's largest healthcare providers with 28 hospitals and over 410 diagnostic centres, has also worked with Microsoft to facilitate virtual visits on Microsoft Teams with integrated telephonic and video consultations. Patients receive a URL when they book an appointment. They just have to click on the link to talk to the doctor on Teams.

"The path forward is to build a connected health ecosystem that can harness data, provide insights to improve health outcomes, reduce the cost of care and enable healthier lives. The Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare's connected cloud is designed to address these needs," says Rajiv Sodhi, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft Corporation (India). He says physicians frequently do not get the right data, at the right time and in the right format to make informed decisions. The Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare includes Azure API (application programming interface) for FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), which enables rapid exchange of data. It is backed by a managed platform as a service, an AI-powered health bot and an IoT connector to track a patient's health, monitor his or her adherence to treatment plans and provide personalised care. Its other solutions include medical imaging and AI-powered data analytics of medical records.

elemedicine, remote medicine and IoT-based technological solutions are also catching on in a big way. "At Aster DM Healthcare, we saw a sharp uptick in demand for telemedicine services, which enabled us to onboard 800 doctors across GCC (Gulf Council Countries) and India who managed to provide more than 1,00,000 consultations in just eight months," says Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare.

Automation and asset management expert Honeywell, which employs over 5,000 engineers in research and development in India, has also come up with a series of innovations. One is a bed management system for hospitals so that the patient does not have to wait at the time of admission. Another is a Lifecare platform that helps easing the pressure on ICU beds by remotely monitoring the patient with connected devices to track ECG, oxygen saturation, heartbeat, pulse and breathing rate and sends an alert when any of these reach dangerous levels. "We have developed several such innovations. Take constant monitoring of temperature during shipments and logistics, which is crucial in modern day healthcare delivery," says Ajeya Motaganahalli, Chief Technology Officer, Honeywell SPS India. Another innovation is a sophisticated satellite terminal to monitor high-value assets in remote parts of the world where there is no Cellular or GPS signals, using the 'Inmarsat' satellite constellation. For Honeywell, only Orbcomm is a competitor and has a similar technology. "The entire development of this product starting with its conception and design has been done from here in India," says Motaganahalli. Other innovations include thermal scanners than can check temperature from 30 feet, robotic UV disinfectant systems that reduce radiation and can operate in aeroplanes/hospitals and an AI-powered vision platform that can alert how many people are not wearing mask in a crowd, says Motaganahalli.

Surgeries and Drugs

Even therapy is going digital. Mumbai-based digital therapeutics (DTx) startup Wellthy Therapeutics is going international and expanding into new areas. Backed by companies such as Bayer Pharma AG, Cipla and some private equity investors, Wellthy Therapeutics helps patients reverse, control or prevent chronic conditions such as type-II diabetes, hypertension and respiratory diseases with AI-powered data analysis. "In the last two years, half our revenues have come from outside India, with business growing 100-200 per cent every year," says Abhishek Shah, CEO & Co-founder, Wellthy Therapeutics. The company was started in 2015 and works on a B2B2C model.

The DTx market is expected to grow with increasing awareness among patients regarding its benefits. Data Bridge Market Research estimates that the global DTx market will be worth Rs 64,875 crore by 2027 by growing at a CAGR of 22.95 per cent between 2020 and 2027. The Indian DTx market is also expanding with companies such as FitterFly, Twin Health and HealthifyMe entering the fray.

"Over 100-crore people globally have or are at the risk of a cardiometabolic condition with a global cost of over $2 trillion. Asia has 24-crore diabetics. Close to 80-crore hypertensives are projected to live here by 2025. Our target beneficiaries are individuals suffering from chronic diseases globally, and our goal is to help the healthcare stakeholder improve these," says Abhishek Shah.

AI and machine learning are also revolutionising the medical device segment. One example is small pace makers with a long life that can be inserted through arteries, says Mani Prakash, Vice President, Enterprise R&D of Medtronic, the worlds leading medical devices maker. "In diabetes, AI innovations will decide how much insulin needs to be delivered to a patient by measuring the kind and quality of food he or she is eating," he says.

New-age AI-powered robotic-assisted surgeries are also changing the world of healthcare. "We have installed about 75 da Vinci surgical systems in India. At least one-third are either the latest fourth generation systems or have been upgraded at the end of their life cycle," says Mandeep Singh Kumar, VP & GM, Intuitive India. US-based Intuitive's da Vinci systems have cornered almost 90 per cent of the global market with 6,000 machines which perform over 12 lakh surgeries in a year.

The global surgical robot market is expected to grow from Rs 28,400 crore in 2018 to Rs 47,323 crore by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 10.4 per cent, say market experts. "India has some 40,000 hospitals. Only 80-90 are capable of doing robotic surgeries. The opportunity is huge," says renowned robotic cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Sudhir P. Srivastava, who will soon launch India's first and 'cheapest in the world' general robotic surgery system. His SS Innovations plans to initially make 100 units of the multi-arm Mantra surgical robotic systems, which will cost only Rs 4-5 crore per piece; a robotic surgery system like da Vinci sells for Rs 15-17 crore. CMR Surgical, a UK-based company behind surgical robotic system Versius, has also started selling in India. SS Innovation has so far invested Rs 300 crore and plans to invest another Rs 1,000 crore to scale up production. "We have about 100 letters of intent from Indian hospitals. The response has been very good," says Dr. Srivastava.

ohnson & Johnson's general surgery robot system Ottava is expected to go for first human studies by 2022. J&J was working on general surgery robotics with Google's parent company Alphabet's life sciences research arm, Verily, through a joint initiative called Verb Surgical. J&J bought out Verily's stake in Verb Surgical. Medtronic had already launched its Hugo RAS system in 2019. About a dozen other global medical devices companies are also selling specific robotic surgery systems for knee, spine and cardiac surgeries.

Training surgeons for future robotic surgeries is the need of the hour, says Mandeep Singh Kumar of Intuitive India. The company is planning to train about 500 doctors this year. Intuitive India, together with AIIMS-New Delhi, has developed an educational programme called the Intuitive Robotic Onboarding Program and Education to familiarise resident surgeons with robotic-assisted surgery. Intuitive is driving this programme in many renowned government medical institutions, including AIIMS (New Delhi), AIIMS (Bhubaneswar), Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (New Delhi) and Armed Forces Medical College (Pune). As a pilot, AIIMS (New Delhi) ran this programme for 70 fellows in its Oncology division. Based on the feedback by the surgical students, Intuitive extended this programme to other specialities and institutions across India. More than 200 resident surgeons are going through this programme across institutions.

These fast-paced changes may propel Indian healthcare industry among the top users of technology in the world.

@pb_pbjayan
There are still believers of the flat earth theory," says S.P. Kochhar, Director-General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), a lobby body representing Indian telecom operators. "The doubting community will always be there. It's not black and white. Enough studies have been done already," he says on the issue of fresh concerns over possible links between 5G technology and the spread of Coronavirus.

Over the past couple of months, telcos and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials have been fighting a perception battle against a group of people who believe that 5G could harm humans. Last month, telecom towers in certain parts of Haryana and Punjab were vandalised and DoT issued an official statement to allay concerns. "It has come to the notice of the DoT that several misleading messages are being circulated on various social media platforms claiming the second wave of Coronavirus has been caused by the testing of 5G mobile towers... these messages are false and absolutely not correct... the general public is hereby informed that there is no link between 5G technology and spread of Covid-19... Moreover, it is informed that testing of the 5G network has not yet started anywhere in India," according to the statement.

The anti-5G lobby got greater prominence when Bollywood actor Juhi Chawla recently filed a petition in the Delhi High Court against the roll-out of 5G in the country. Though the court dismissed her petition and fined her Rs 20 lakh for "abusing the process of law", the matter is unlikely to die down soon. Why?

A telecom consultant says the reasons are two-fold: malicious intent of some people, and lack of information about the effects of radio waves on living beings. "There are two types of people behind it. Those who have a vested interest, and have an axe to grind. The second type is sitting on the fence, but if someone creates a doubt in their minds, they start to believe in the worst," he says, adding, people who spread rumours mask pertinent details. "Nobody wants to go into the depth of it. The government should step in to take action against people with bad intent. As for fence-sitters, the industry needs to spread awareness," he says.

Truth vs Hype

The race for 5G in India began early this year when Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel became the first telecom operator to demonstrate live 5G services over a commercial network in Hyderabad. Last year, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani indicated that Reliance Jio would launch 5G services in the second half of 2021. That seems unlikely, given that its 5G test runs have just started, and the government is yet to auction 5G spectrum (3,300-3,600 megahertz or MHz).

Some experts are apprehensive of the launch of 5G services even next year since telcos will need to put up more towers and small cell sites, an area they are likely to face resistance from public, and RWAs (resident welfare associations) in particular. "5G works on higher frequencies, and by design, it would require street furniture (installing small cells over billboards, light poles, park benches, utility poles, traffic signals, etc.) for propagation, especially in dense urban locations. This requirement could delay the launch since health concerns have heightened due to the pandemic," says an industry expert.

Initially, telcos are expected to launch 5G in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, before heading to rural areas where setting up street furniture might not be required. "Smaller towers need less power to function, and hence, they emit less radiation compared to large ones. Higher frequencies cannot even warm up the body, forget penetrating it. I cannot do future gazing, but I don't see any roadblocks for 5G launch as of now," says COAI's Kochhar. Typically, a small cell tower covers a radius of less than a kilometre, compared to 3-3.5 kilometres for existing ones.

Rules in Place

The Centre has been proactive in addressing radiation concerns from mobile towers. Part of the reason being that the issue keeps cropping up after every few years as it had with 2G, 3G and 4G. In 2017, for instance, the DoT launched Tarang Sanchar portal, which gives easy access to radiation levels of mobile towers. If users have an issue with any particular tower, they can call for a re-check. Similarly, the DoT has prescribed norms for exposure limit for base station emissions, which are 10 times more stringent than safe limits prescribed by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

But, experts say the government needs to do more than just relying on the findings of WHO or the ICNIRP (a private industry body) since the anti-5G lobby has evidence to show. A two-year study commissioned by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) proves cancer in male rats and some in female rats when exposed to the kinds of radiation emitted from 2G and 3G phones.

Then, in September 2017, over 180 scientists and doctors from 35 countries recommended a moratorium on the roll-out of 5G until potential hazards for humans and the environment are fully investigated by scientists.

"India needs to discuss a 5G radiation strategy to safeguard environment, human and living beings. The main argument in defence is that there is no concrete evidence to show any negative impact of the technology on living organisms. That is also the official stand of the government. Nobody has done any research or study to assess the impact. Everybody just relies on the ICNIRP report of 1998 when 4G and 5G were non-existent," says N.K. Goyal, Chairman Emeritus, Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India (TEMA). TEMA says it supports the government's view, which is based on ICNIRP/WHO studies.

Last year, the ICNIRP released guidelines to protect people from adverse health effects of radio frequencies in the range of 100 kHz (kilohertz) to 300 GHz (gigahertz), such as 5G. The guidelines ensure mobile radiation does not result in excessive temperature rise due to brief exposure. However, some leading physicists have raised questions on these guidelines, stating that they do not differ much from the 1998 guidelines, and therefore offer no protection.

"Some scientists have done research and informed about the risks. They were shot down by standard arguments that their sample size is small, that they have ulterior motives and that the results were not concrete evidences," says the telecom consultant quoted above.

Consultancy firm Deloitte says the power transmitted from mobile telephony, including 5G, is far lower than that from light bulbs, television, radio towers, or even sunlight on an overcast day. "The quantity of this power is measured in watts, and a single watt is a tiny quantity of energy. The power transmitted by mobile phones used in 2021 and into the foreseeable future can reach up to two watts, depending on the age of the phone; it can be as low as 0.001 watt, with the vast majority of devices in use this year peaking at 1 watt. By comparison, the power transmitted by CB (citizens band) radios, which have been in use for decades, reaches up to four watts," says a recent Deloitte report.

The report also says a person less than half a meter away from a 25-watt bulb is exposed to thousand time more radiation than the one standing 10 meters away from a high-powered 5G base station. "People absorb five times more radio frequency exposure from FM radio and TV broadcasts than from mobile network base stations," it adds.

The biggest argument in favour of 5G is that there have been no incidents of health hazards in countries where 5G networks are commercially live for more than a year. According to Internet speed monitoring firm Ookla, there are over 65,000 live 5G deployments across the world with a majority of them in the US, Germany, and China. "When a technology is being developed just now, how can we have concrete evidences in its support?" asks TEMA's Goyal.

The large-scale launch of 5G is still some time away, but arguments against the technology are showing no signs of slowing down. For the sector, the next few months will be crucial to work on raising awareness while dispelling rumours with hard facts.

@manukaushik
South Africa: South African Rooibos makes list of EU's protected designations

The Western Cape government has welcomed the European Commissions registration of Rooibos in its lists of Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).

According to a statement released by the EU delegation to South Africa, the countrys favourite tea is the first African food to receive the status.

Product names registered as PDO have strong links to their origin, since every production, processing, and preparation aspect must take place in that specific origin using recognised know-how, the Western Cape government explained in a statement.

In contrast, PGI requires that at least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation takes place in the place of origin.

The provincial government said the recognition by the EU was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 31 May 2021.

According to reports, Rooibos has joined the likes of Champagne and Irish whiskey to be included in the EUs Protected Geographical Indication register.

Western Cape Agriculture MEC, Dr Ivan Meyer, has described Rooibos as one of the most iconic products in the province.

Its inclusion in the EUs Geographical Indication Register will signal its unique quality to consumers, not only in Europe but all over the world.

The registration will also allow South Africas Rooibos industry to use the EU logo that is well recognised by consumers in Europe, which will indicate its value as a unique and exclusive product.

It will also enable South African producers of Rooibos or Red Bush to market their products better in the EU. We expect that this will lead to an increase in demand by discerning consumers with the benefits eventually trickling back to farms in the designated production area.

The decision also means people cannot call tea Rooibos if it was not cultivated or wild-harvested in designated local municipalities of the Western and Northern Cape.

The provincial government said the department has been working with the Rooibos industry since the 1990s to prevent the name from being misused by others.

In this way, we safeguard our heritage for posterity, said Meyer.

The decision by the EU creates the ideal platform for growing the Rooibos industry.

Safeguarding our traditions and culture will certainly advance the Rooibos industrys commercial interests and lead to an increase in production, exports and jobs, Meyer said.

The provincial department quoted the South African Rooibos Council, which said the industry provides income and employment to approximately 8 000 agricultural workers.

Other jobs are created in upstream activities such as processing, packaging and retailing.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-06-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
India Inc is staring at a hybrid work paradox, with nearly three-fourths of Indian employees saying they want more flexible remote work options, while almost an equal number also crave more in-person time with their teams, a Microsoft survey released on Thursday found.

As many as 74 per cent of Indian employees want more flexible work options and 73 per cent of them want to spend time with colleagues, according to the Microsoft Work Trend Index India Findings.

The findings are from a study of more than 30,000 people in 31 countries. It has also analysed aggregate productivity and labour signals across Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn.

With the research also indicating that almost 62 per cent of India's workforce (including 51 per cent of Gen Z employees) wants to switch jobs this year, Microsoft India COO Rajiv Sodhi pointed out in his note that "an organisation's approach to hybrid work will ultimately impact who stays, who goes, and who seeks to join the company".

Also read: Hot jobs: Healthcare, technology, manufacturing to remain key hiring sectors in 2021

Remote job postings on LinkedIn increased more than five times in the last year. Being able to work remotely now, nearly 68 per cent of Indian workers are likely to move to a new location, the survey found.

While several firms have said the future of work is hybrid, there is little consensus on what constitutes a hybrid work model, how many days a week employees will be called in or how performance will be evaluated when a few of them work from home, while others come into office.

"Every organisation will need to adapt differently to access and deliver the needs of their employees," said Sodhi.

A number of large organisations began calling employees back to office this year, but the more virulent second wave of the pandemic meant the plans had to be junked in favour of WFH again.

Currently, most organisations are in wait-and-watch mode as the Covid-19 infections in the country are just about abating.

The survey, however, showed that 73 per cent of business decision makers are considering redesigning physical spaces to better accommodate hybrid work environments. The report also pointed out that apart from flexibility, employees also need the tools to contribute from wherever they happen to be.

While employees adapted to the WFH culture and kept up productivity levels, it was at a human cost, the report found.

Also read: Indians strong in math but lag in data skills, finds Coursera study

Nearly 62 per cent of the Indian workforce says their companies are asking too much of them at a time like this and 13 per cent say their employer doesn't care about their work-life balance. More than half (57 per cent) of Indian employees feel overworked and 32 per cent feel exhausted.

With digital intensity of workers' days increasing substantially in the last year, it is the digital natives or Gen Z that appears to be suffering and need to be re-energised.

Nearly 71 per cent of this generation -- those between the ages of 18 and 25 -- say they are merely surviving or flat-out struggling. Survey respondents reported that they were more likely to struggle balancing work with life and feel exhausted after a typical day of work when compared to older generations.

Gen Z also reported more difficulty feeling engaged or excited about work, getting a word in during meetings, and bringing new ideas to the table when compared to other generations.

Also read: Good news! Job hiring to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2021
Highlights El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is backing Bitcoin.

Nayib Bukele passed a bill making Bitcoin legal tender.

Bukele is optimistic about cryptocurrency.

He is young, seen as a brash outsider by many, lives his life on social media, wears backwards hat with jeans, believes in the power of cryptocurrency and turns to memes to express his feelings. The description might fit Tesla CEO Elon Musk but, I am talking about El Salvador President Nayib Bukele who is becoming equally popular among crypto enthusiasts. Reason? He has become the first global leader to back cryptocurrency and proposed a bill to make Bitcoin a global tender, which was passed by the Congress on Monday.

Bukele's bill got 62 out of 84 possible votes, making El Salvador the first country to accept Botcoin as legal tender, despite concerns about its potential impact on the environment and El Salvador's program with the International Monetary Fund. Bukele is very optimistic about Bitcoin and believes it will boost country's economy. It is worth mentioning that the country doesn't have its own currency and uses US Dollar as the official currency.

"It will bring financial inclusion, investment, tourism, innovation and economic development for our country," Bukele said in a tweet shortly before the vote in Congress.

The law also says that the state will "promote the necessary training and mechanisms so that the population can access bitcoin transactions." It adds that almost 70 per cent of the country's population doesn't have access to traditional financial services.

The unconventional political leader

Nayib Bukele is not your usual political leader or President. He wants to change the way politics happens in El Salvador. The 37-year-old believes that his country is under attack, and he is here to save it. His actions are to consolidate power, and he often takes to social media to troll his haters something you rarely see from the head of a state.

Yet, Bukele is very popular in his home country as El Salvador has witnessed a dip in gang related violence and homicide that has long plagued the nation for long. Of course, there are others who remain concerned.

Bitcoin's new Godfather?

Bitcoin gained popularity because it was backed by some prominent names including Elon Musk. It had a heartbreak moment last month when Musk announced that Tesla will not accept payments in Bitcoin and raised questions around the digital currency's environmental concerns. Bitcoin has largely been on a slide and Bukele might be the new Godfather it needs.

The El Salvador President claims that he plans to mine Bitcoin sustainably. Bukele said that he instructed state-owned geothermal electric firm LaGeo to develop a plan to offer bitcoin mining facilities using renewable energy from the country's volcanoes. He also plans to build a Bitcoin mining hub around the country's geothermal potential.

He has also talked about providing some sort of security to investors in the otherwise volatile market. The El Salvador government has created a one-of-its-kind $159 million trust at the country's development bank BANDESAL to ensure Bitcoin convertibility to dollars. The law also asks the firms to accept Bitcoin as payment for goods and services. Tax contributions can also be paid in the cryptocurrency.

"If you go to a McDonald's or whatever, they cannot say we're not going to take your bitcoin, they have to take it by law because it's a legal tender," Bukele said in an online conversation.

While Musk and others talked about the potential of Bitcoin and what it can do in the future, Bukele is making it happen. He has emerged as the baton holder for cryptocurrency when others seem to be backing away. It is yet to be seen if other countries will follow El Salvador in making Bitcoin a legal tender or not.

Time will tell if Bukele is a revolutionary ahead of the time or a gambler who went too far to please people.
Every day for the month of March 2021, I watched the numbers of Covid-19 cases in Kenya climb and climb. Family and friends sent me messages that the cases were rising. Friends and friends of friends started falling ill. The graph of Covid-19 cases in Kenya at the visual dashboard in the Covid-19 Data Repository by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University showed a rising line that begins to crest in April 2021. Surrounded by the language of waves and surges from the Health Cabinet Secretary in Kenya, Mutahi Kagwe, newspapers, as well as local and international news about South Africa, Tanzania, the UK, the United States, Brazil or Italy, people around me talked of a third wave in Kenya. And the government seemed to be doing nothing. Nevertheless, a friend of mine, who had tested positive for Covid-19 in Nairobi, raised the provocative question, but have we really had our first wave?

I find this question intriguing. What is a wave? The visual dashboard in the Covid-19 Data Repository has three distinct bumps in the graph indicating increased Covid-19 cases in Kenya: July through August 2020; October into December 2020; and then March through April 2021. Each bump is a little larger than the last and each with a rather rapid dip after the government restated or increased lockdown and other Covid-19 mitigation measures, such as restricting large group gatherings (political rallies, specifically), extending curfew hours, and mandating mask-wearing. In addition, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), by April 27th there were 156,981 confirmed cases in Kenya and 2,643 confirmed deaths. However, to call this a wave, one would have to arrange these case numbers in relation to case numbers of the past, and establish some connections between these numbers and the cases yet to come. It is this past and future together that form an entity that could be defined as a wave.

In this piece, I ask how we might give significance to the relationships between past and future numbers, and between local and distant cases; and to how these numbers and cases have been transformed into predictions about Kenya and Africa more generally. I argue that predictions, if made at all, cannot be abstracted, narrow, or universal. Rather, they must be particular and parochial, yet expansive enough to fit the needs of specific local dynamics. I also suggest that we look at how, what, and why information is compiled into predictions and given significance. As such, I interrogate the idea of being able to know a wave or a surge. I also question how that knowledge is constituted and then used for policy in light of failed past predictions.

Back in February 2020, at the beginning of the awareness about Covid-19, the heads of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong and Wessam Mankoula, singled out Africa as a space of greatest concern in facing a pandemic, citing weak health care systems, inadequate surveillance and laboratory capacity, scarcity of human resources, and limited finances. Kenya was assessed to have moderate risk with variable capacity to respond and high vulnerability from a virus that at that time was predicted (and therefore modeled) to arrive in Africa from China. By October 2020, however, Kenya appeared to have different Covid-19 dynamics than what had been anticipated. Clinician Jon Fielder, commenting on the dynamics in Kenya, specifically, and Africa more broadly, argued that dire consequences were originally predicted because Kenyas population is medically vulnerable due to conditions like HIV, tuberculosis, heart disease, and hypertension and to the fragility and limited capacity of the medical systems. These underlying conditions have not changed. Nevertheless, the predicted total devastation has yet to be seen.

Many theories have been put forward as to why this is so, including that African populations were used to pathogens and thus more able to fight them. This of course contradicts the previous claim that Kenyans are more medically vulnerable due to high rates of other diseases. There have been many other explanations proposed for the differences between Africa and the rest of the world regarding Covid-19 consequences, including arguments about genetics, demographics, pathogens, inoculations, warm weather, and the idea that much of the population was already exposed to or had already contracted Covid-19. Similar arguments were used as recently as November 2020 and February 2021 to explain why India was less affected than Europe or the Americas. At least until March, anyway. What a difference that a month makes. With skyrocketing cases in India, analysts of India have had to relook at these assumptions about immunity.

In early March 2021, I travelled to the United States and, while there, saw a doctor. At the doctors office, I was required to fill out a form that asked: In the last two weeks have you been in a place where Covid-19 was surging? I hesitated for a minute. Were we surging in Kenya? By March 4th, there was a noticeable uptick in the number of cases, but was it there when I left on March 1st? Was this a surge? Was it there in the past two weeks? I couldnt really say for sure. The next few weeks would see an alarming rise in cases followed by a pronouncement by the Kenyan state of increased mitigation measures on March 26th and then a significant drop in numbers of cases.

Yet, in early March, was it a surge? If we take into account the cases over the last year, have we yet had the first wave? How would we know? The problem with the idea of a surge is that it is a forward prediction and nothing about Covid-19 in Kenya (or Africa) has been predictable. How do you make governmental decisions in unpredictable times? Of course, these times are unpredictable everywhere. Yet, similar to the weather, one knows that although it is not very predictable, in some countries weather forecasts allow you to dress without getting wet. Those forecasts are pretty accurate over a small geography. Not so in Kenya, where they are generally wrong on a daily basis and even for small geographical areas. In Kenya, weather forecasts are generally right only in the most generalized terms. For instance, the weather forecasts in Kenya in the 1990s used to say scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoons east and west of the Rift Valley almost every day of the year. Or, to put it another way, somewhere east and west of the Rift Valley it will rain at some point in the afternoon. This may or may not be where you are, even if you are east and west of the Rift Valley, but rain will happen somewhere. Basically, this is as useful as the saying it is Happy Hour somewhere right now. It is both true and unhelpful for your particular place. But, I argue, this does suggest something about predictability, specificity, spatial dynamics, and making one statement that is meant to cover broad areas of time and space.

If we say these are unprecedented times, this is a past projection that we can all agree on. But a surgeor the recognition that these are not waves and the big one is comingrequires that forward pattern recognition that what we see now, and what we see elsewhere, can tell us something about what we will see here, later. It is a problem of both time and space. This is also part of the problem of knowing whether or not we have had a first wave. If looking at a data visualization graph, it looks like distinct waves of Covid-19 cases. If looking at elsewhere in the world, say the US or Mexico or France, it doesnt look similar at all. Are the specifics of what is happening in Kenya related to phenomenon on a global scale? Is it even an issue of scale?

In the case of Covid-19, this predictability and relationality across time and space has not really worked in regard to Kenya or most of Africa. When the rest of the world was so hard hit in the first wave, we were sure, given the limited resources, the lacking health services, the small economies, and the supposedly inept governments, that this would mean total devastation for Africa. This is in spite of differences in speed of lockdown, curfew, mask wearing, and governmental regulation; in the continent-wide coordinated response; in the uptake of sanitation measures; in the demographics of age, density, obesity, and in the urbanization of population.

When this anticipated devastation did not come to pass in Kenya, we thought that with lockdown partially lifted and the exodus from cities, national spread would happen. Sure enough, a second wave hit. But its slow take off and fast turn down was a surprise (in spite of speed of government response, remaining curfew, mask wearing, and the demographics of age, density, obesity, and urbanization of population). Then came the threat from the south, midway through March 2021. A new variant. Sick people crossing borders. Members of East African governments falling ill. A surge? It definitely looks like a surge.

On March 26th 2021, I was incensed that it took Uhuru Kenyattas government so long to finally see what I understood as a surgethree weeks too late. In his presidential speech on March 26th, Kenyatta admitted that whatever they thought on March 12th, they no longer believed two weeks later. Masks were demanded. Curfew extended. Schools closed. Public gatherings restricted. Political rallies banned. Lockdown again. Nairobi back as a containment zone. Our positivity rate was at 22%. I imagined we would end up like South Africa, the UK, or Brazil, with their uncontrollable variants. But, this didnt happen. Rather, after increased Covid-19 mitigation rules put in place by the government, the curve quickly turned down. These mitigation measures were relaxed on May 1st as cases continued to decline.

There was substantial pressure on the government to relax mitigation measures and to own up to their part in the spread of Covid-19. In particular, political rallies connected to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI)a proposal to change the National Constitution by those in powerwere seen as contributing to a surge in numbers. As one social media post shared on WhatsApp by Depressed Kenyan put it: I work as a waitress at Alfajiri grill, Kilimani. Prior to surge in numbers there were political gathering all over in the name of pro & anti BBI. Unfortunately, me and other low-class Kenyans are paying for this carelessness by losing our jobs #UnlockOurCountry. Depressed Kenyan and I saw the same problem of politics increasing Covid-19 cases. But not the same solution. Looking at their jobs, they wanted to unlock the country, and looking at rising numbers, I wanted to re-lockdown. For, again, a problem is a look to the past and a solution needs forward projection, but we were solving different issues caused by continuing political rallies.

In April 2021, even the Kenyan Interfaith Council decided that cases were surging and canceled celebrations of Easter, Ramadan, and Hindu feasts. So yes, there must be a surge, right? After all, in the West religious institutions seem incapable of responding to the pandemic in any way that takes the life of their congregants into account. But then, is it only life that counts? What about quality of life or sanity or sanctuary that in theory religious institutions provide? Who is to decide?

So, are we surging? With new ultra-contagious, more deadly variants? Well, yes and yes, butthere seems to be a downward trend of the curve now a month later. So fast? Is this wishful thinking or an actual turn? And as the weeks pass, the turn continues to trend downward. Why did we not follow a trajectory like India, which is out of control in the opposite direction? How much difference a few days make. How do we make sense of something that doesnt seem to behave the same in different places? How much is this a result of geography? Demographics? Sociality? Government response? Religious response? Does it matter if we and our neighbors count cases or not? What are the protective networks and the deadly ones, and to whom? And, finally, what is the cost of this African unpredictability in the virus for the economies of African countries and for the healthcare systems of the world? How do we plan?

You see, poverty also kills. Paul Gubbins of Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya points out that two million people in Kenya were reduced to poverty in the process of last year. Two million! Our hospitals were not yet overwhelmed but our economy was hit hard and the effects disproportionally felt in terms of poverty and education. Looking back, should we have done things differently from the beginning? How should we have decided what information to give significance to when building local forecasts? Should we have not believed that what has happened elsewhere will happen here? Or was the difference because we took faster, earlier measures (in virus time) as we had a bit of warning being off the beaten track of world commercial networks? Did this buy us a year? Did our policy response have a problem of believing narratives about Africa or our governments or our untouchability that stopped us from doing a very differentbut equally effectivevirus prevention with less economic consequences? Again, only in hindsight does any of this become obvious. What is needed to make predictions? Are we in a surge? Is this a real wave? How would we know?

Bettina Ngweno, an associate professor in African American and African Studies at the University of California, Davis, is from Nairobi, Kenya. Trained as an anthropologist at Johns Hopkins University, she studies space, citizenship, cities, and states in Latin America, Africa, and the Indian Ocean region. Working from personal, familial, ethnographic, and archival history and experience, her current book and film project brings to life a Nairobi centered on the railways, the dreams and aspirations of long-term residents, and the complicated spatial and temporal dynamics of the city. Recent publications include Reimagining Indian Ocean Worlds (Routledge) and Developing Global Leaders: Insights from African Case Studies (Palgrave).

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Elizabeth Anne McCoy Hayes, 68, passed away peacefully at home with her family by her side in Leonardtown on June 6th, 2021. She was born in Scotland, Maryland of Fred and Beth McCoy, one of 12 children.

Married Walter Edwin Hayes in 1976 with three children, Walter Ian Hayes, Matthew Brendan Hayes, and Mary Elizabeth Hayes. She is survived by a large family of McCoys and is deeply admired and loved by her brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews.



Anne attended St. Mary's Academy, and graduated University of Maryland School of Nursing (1975) and was a Registered Nurse, Certified Diabetes Educator and administered care to thousands of patients across Maryland. As a nurse she practiced in hospice, pediatrics, public health, and diabetes and served on the board of directors of the St. Mary's Nursing Home.



She was the spiritual heart and acting matriarch of the McCoy family who ensured that her siblings remained a tight knit family. She was an inspiration of strong faith, compassion, sincerity, unity and caregiving. She was a true giver, an advocate for those who most needed her help and attention and exemplified unconditional love without judgement in her actions and dedication to her family, friends and patients.

A gathering will be held at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Leonardtown, MD at 9:30am, eulogy at 10:15, and a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 AM with Father Ryan Pineda officiating. Interment will follow in the church cemetery, with a reception following in the church hall.



Instead of flowers, in her honor, reach out to your family, friends and neighbors who are less fortunate and need help without judgement.
To catch sight of a fast radio burst is to be extremely lucky in where and when you point your radio dish. Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are oddly bright flashes of light, registering in the radio band of the electromagnetic spectrum, that blaze for a few milliseconds before vanishing without a trace.

These brief and mysterious beacons have been spotted in various and distant parts of the universe, as well as in our own galaxy. Their origins are unknown, and their appearance is unpredictable. Since the first was discovered in 2007, radio astronomers have only caught sight of around 140 bursts in their scopes.

Now, a large stationary radio telescope in British Columbia has nearly quadrupled the number of fast radio bursts discovered to date. The telescope, known as CHIME, for the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, has detected 535 new fast radio bursts during its first year of operation, between 2018 and 2019.

Scientists with the CHIME Collaboration, including researchers at MIT, have assembled the new signals in the telescope's first FRB catalog, which they will present this week at the American Astronomical Society Meeting.

The new catalog significantly expands the current library of known FRBs, and is already yielding clues as to their properties. For instance, the newly discovered bursts appear to fall in two distinct classes: those that repeat, and those that don't. Scientists identified 18 FRB sources that burst repeatedly, while the rest appear to be one-offs. The repeaters also look different, with each burst lasting slightly longer and emitting more focused radio frequencies than bursts from single, nonrepeating FRBs.

These observations strongly suggest that repeaters and one-offs arise from separate mechanisms and astrophysical sources. With more observations, astronomers hope soon to pin down the extreme origins of these curiously bright signals.

"Before CHIME, there were less than 100 total discovered FRBs; now, after one year of observation, we've discovered hundreds more," says CHIME member Kaitlyn Shin, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Physics. "With all these sources, we can really start getting a picture of what FRBs look like as a whole, what astrophysics might be driving these events, and how they can be used to study the universe going forward."

Seeing flashes

CHIME comprises four massive parabolic radio antennas, roughly the size and shape of snowboarding half-pipes, located at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in British Columbia, Canada. CHIME is a stationary array, with no moving parts. The telescope receives radio signals each day from half of the sky as the Earth rotates. While most radio astronomy is done by swiveling a large dish to focus light from different parts of the sky, CHIME stares, motionless, at the sky, and focuses incoming signals using a correlator -- a powerful digital signaling processor that can work through huge amounts of data, at a rate of about 7 terabits per second, equivalent to a few percent of the world's internet traffic.

"Digital signal processing is what makes CHIME able to reconstruct and 'look' in thousands of directions simultaneously," says Kiyoshi Masui, assistant professor of physics at MIT, who will lead the group's conference presentation. "That's what helps us detect FRBs a thousand times more often than a traditional telescope."

Over the first year of operation, CHIME detected 535 new fast radio bursts. When the scientists mapped their locations, they found the bursts were evenly distributed in space, seeming to arise from any and all parts of the sky. From the FRBs that CHIME was able to detect, the scientists calculated that fast radio bursts, bright enough to be seen by a telescope like CHIME, occur at a rate of about 9,000 per day across the entire sky -- the most precise estimate of FRBs overall rate to date.

"That's kind of the beautiful thing about this field -- FRBs are really hard to see, but they're not uncommon," says Masui, who is a member of MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. "If your eyes could see radio flashes the way you can see camera flashes, you would see them all the time if you just looked up."

Mapping the universe

As radio waves travel across space, any interstellar gas, or plasma, along the way can distort or disperse the wave's properties and trajectory. The degree to which a radio wave is dispersed can give clues to how much gas it passed through, and possibly how much distance it has traveled from its source. For each of the 535 FRBs that CHIME detected, Masui and his colleagues measured its dispersion, and found that most bursts likely originated from far-off sources within distant galaxies. The fact that the bursts were bright enough to be detected by CHIME suggests that they must have been produced by extremely energetic sources. As the telescope detects more FRBs, scientists hope to pin down exactly what kind of exotic phenomena could generate such ultrabright, ultrafast signals.

Scientists also plan to use the bursts, and their dispersion estimates, to map the distribution of gas throughout the universe.

"Each FRB gives us some information of how far they've propagated and how much gas they've propagated through," Shin says. "With large numbers of FRBs, we can hopefully figure out how gas and matter are distributed on very large scales in the universe. So, alongside the mystery of what FRBs are themselves, there's also the exciting potential for FRBs as powerful cosmological probes in the future."

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This research was supported by various institutions including the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, McGill University and the McGill Space Institute via the Trottier Family Family Foundation, and the University of British Columbia.



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